A Letter from a Garibaldian
Sir,—I beg to enclose a copy of a letter I forwarded to The Boston Herald, U.S.A., and other American papers, in answer to an attack made upon me by J. W. Fletcher. I hope you will kindly publish it in The Spiritualist.
Sir,—There are so many technical inaccuracies in the Fletcher story as published in your issue of July 18 th, that I cannot for a moment believe that your reporter can have got hold of the notorious Fletcher; therefore, I refrain from denouncing him and his story in the language they would have otherwise deserved. Your reporter describes having found one Fletcher in his tent at Neshaminy Fall Grove, “in a light gray suit, gold embroidered cap and patent leather boots. His scarf ring was a double snake jewel, with emeralds; diamonds and brilliants also flashed from his shirt studs and wrist buttons,” &c.,—in fact a princely costume. Now, Sir, my reasons for not believing that man to be the real Fletcher are the following:—The Fletcher I have known, was introduced to me by a friend on the 20th April, 1877. He had been travelling with a family named Smith, now living in Boston Highlands, U.S.A. At the request of Fletcher I called upon the family, and asked Mr. Smith, who was returning to America, to leave Fletcher in London, to "which he consented. I know not in what capacity he was travelling with the family, if as a valet or companion; he had no wife with him. At that time he was so shabby in his appearance that I was obliged to apologise to the family and friends to whom I introduced him on the very second day after his arrival in London; and from that day, till he left again for America last year I did all I could to help him in his career in every possible way. Therefore, I do not think he would have repaid me with so much ingratitude; besides, how could the true Fletcher I have known, have been sporting precious stones? An act of imprudence that Fletcher would never have committed. J. W. Fletcher is the son of M. H. Fletcher, who is now employed by Messrs Cutter and Walker, manufacturer of braces and shoe-linings at Lowell, Mass., and not the son of a Divine (as he said he was when in London).
The reporter besides speaks of “one Rondi, Colonel under Garibaldi,” a brandisher of revolvers, the witness of the horrible scene of a lady being stung by a snake; but as none of these things have the slightest reference to me, I cannot be the “one Rondi” alluded to by the false Fletcher. Therefore your reporter must have been bamboozled by a most facetious individual, and I should like very much to know the real name of that man. True, I was in America last year, and was called upon as a friend, by both parties, to settle that most disagreeable affair amicably. I did my best, but I failed, however, in my hard task, for reasons better not to be alluded to here.
The Theosophical Society
By George Wyld, M.D., President of the London Branch of the Theosophical Society.
Being out of town I only this morning received The Spiritualist of the 12th inst.
You there quote from my presidential address, 1880, but your quotation should have been taken from the latest reprint of that address.
This will be found in my book on Theosophy, p. 112, where I say, “No woman, so far as I know, was ever admitted as fully an adept,” and I also say, “The adept uses his powers for his own high ends.”
I have not Colonel Olcott’s criticism on my address before me as printed in The Theosophist, March, 1880, but if my memory serves me correctly, it is the following quotation from my address he chiefly dissents from.
On page 112, of “Theosophy,” say as follows:—
“In one word the Christian is fully developed by so emptying the Soul of Self that the Father, becoming manifest in bis Son, illuminates and regenerates the world.”
This total abnegation of Self, in order that being thus empty of Self Will, we may become filed by the Will of God is the essential doctrine of the Saint or Christian Adept.
In one sense this is the reverse of the view held by Colonel Olcott, who teaches that the highest is to be reached by the Will power of the Soul.
My view is that we may become one with God by ardent desire and submission to the Holy Spirit.
The Oriental view is rather that the Spirit of Man can assert its sonship, and thus become by Will force one with the divine.
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Editor's notes
Sources
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London Spiritualist, No. 470, August 26, 1881, p. 107
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London Spiritualist, No. 470, August 26, 1881, pp. 101-2