Page:Elizabeth Fry (Pitman 1884).djvu/140

 known until after her death, when a most interesting letter, addressed to the children of Mrs. Fry, was published. This letter was sent to them by Mr. John Venning, brother to the Walter Venning who had opened the correspondence, but who had, like the benevolent lady with whom it was maintained, “passed over to the majority.” From this correspondence it was found that the Emperor and Empress of Russia, the Princess Sophia Mestchersky, Prince Galitzin, and many ladies of high rank, had been stirred up to befriend those who had fallen under the strong arm of the law, and to make their captivity more productive, if possible, of good results. Not only so, but lunatics, more helpless than prisoners, had been cared for, as the outcome of Mrs. Fry’s visits to St. Petersburg, and her communications with the powers that were at that era. With these preliminary words of explanation, the subjoined letter speaks for itself:—

“I cheerfully comply with your desire to be furnished with some of the most striking and useful points contained in your late beloved mother’s correspondence with myself in Russia, relative to the improvement of the Lunatic Asylum in St. Petersburg. I the more readily engage in this duty, because I am persuaded that its publication may, under the Lord’s blessing, prove of great service to many such institutions on the Continent, as well as in Great Britain I begin by stating that her correspondence was invaluable, as regarded the treatment and management of both prisoners and insane people. It was the fruit of her own rich practical experience communicated with touching simplicity, and it produced lasting benefits to these institutions in Russia. In 1827, I informed your dear mother that I had presented to the Emperor