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SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE 
 
REVIEWS OF THE PSESS. 
 
 " This book is full of varied interest, and reveals a character of great force, of 
 sturdy independence, of real elevation, and of genuine generosity. It is in many 
 respects a valuable contribution to the political, social, intellectual, and even 
 revolutionary history of our time." — Times. 
 
 " This is a book which veteran reformers will read with great interest, and from 
 which the Liberals of the younger generation may derive much profit and instruc- 
 tion." — Daily News. 
 
 " One of the greatest merits of Mr. Holyoake is the pertinacity with which he 
 brings forward the names of comparatively unknown reformers and thinkers, and 
 claims for them their title to the world's recognition. These obscure agitators, 
 who have done a great deal to build the England of to-day, are found at every 
 page, and their adventures and characters do much to enliven these interesting 
 volumes." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 "Mr. Holyoake always speaks like a gentleman about women. His various 
 references to his wife and his praise of her are very pleasant things indeed, in 
 thorough taste, without gush and with feeling, and nearly as good as such things 
 can be." — Saturday Review. 
 
 ' ' The book is full of interest : it produces a vivid personal impression, it con- 
 tains contemporary notes on men and women of the century, it has shrewd and 
 vigorous sentences, and illustrates our own progress in civilising thought." — The 
 Spectator. 
 
 " The instructiveness of Mr. Holyoake's book is even deeper than its interest, 
 and 1 should advise any statesman to read it who ponders the socialistic problem 
 before him, and wishes to ' look into the seeds of time and see which grain will 
 grow and which will not.' " — Truth. 
 
 ' ' Having played an active and important part in public affairs for more than 
 half a century, Mr. Holyoake has set down his reminiscences of what he has seen 
 for the benefit of a generation that has grown up since. The world in general 
 has recognised his steadiness of aim, and looks upon changes, for advocating 
 which he was persecuted, as part of the necessary order of things." — The 
 Athenaum. 
 
 "Mr. Holyoake is not one who merely champions an 'ism* and is satisfied 
 when it is adopted. He has always stood for a principle — the principle of free 
 enquiry. He has been more interested in trying to induce others to think out 
 opinions for themselves, than in persuading them to accept his." — The Academy. 
 
 "With certain phases of English life Mr. Holyoake knows absolutely what he 
 is talking about. The subjects he discusses simply justify the aggressiveness of 
 his title. May we try to guess what will be the estimate of the future upon this 
 indefatigable propagandist ? They will find him as we do, a courageous and con- 
 tentious man, very lucid, somewhat intellectually proud, boundlessly unselfish, with 
 two main characteristics — absolute honesty and absolute clearness of design." — 
 Black and White. 
 
 "Mr. Holyoake says he never put himself forward as representing other than 
 the average stupidity of mankind. Stupidity is not the word. Mr. Holyoake is 
 an honest, humorous, witty, strong person. His chapter on ' Murder as a Mode 
 of Progress' is temperate, philosophic, and even Aristotelian." — National 
 Observer. 
 
 " We all know Mr. Holyoake as a co-operator. He has been well-nigh every- 
 thing else. His autobiography is as miscellaneous a collection of facts and 
 reminiscences as could be constructed from any man's memory. As a contribution 
 to the history of Radicalism and the progress of Democracy in England, they 
 have a value which time will add to rather than diminish."— Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 "Mr. Holyoake's threescore years of public life is laid before us in these two 
 interesting volumes. A fascinating biography. It should find an immediate 
 resting-place in every free library in the kingdom." — Weekly Star. 
 
SIXTY YEARS 
 
 OF AN 
 
 AGITATOR'S LIFE 
 
 GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "HISTORY OF CO-OPERATION IN ENGLAND*'; " SELF-HELP IOO YEARS AGO " 
 " TRIAL OF THEISM," ETC. 
 
 1 In order to become acquainted with an age or a people we must also 
 know something of its second-rate and obscure men. It is in 
 the beliefs, sentiments, and lot of unimportant individuals 
 and unknown families, that the lot, the senti- 
 ments, and beliefs of the country 
 are to be found." — Guizot 
 
 VOLUME II 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 gOttWtt 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 MDCCCXCIII 
 -5 
 
THE 
 
 REFORMER'S 
 
 BOOK-SHELF. 
 
 Each in large crown Svo, cloth, 3s.6d. per vol. 
 
 I. The Knglish Peasant. Studies: His- 
 torical, Local, and Biographic. By Richard 
 Heath. 
 
 II. Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life. 
 
 A cheap re-issue of the Autobiography of George 
 Jacob Holyoake. z vols., with front, portrait. 
 
 III. The Labour Movement. By L. T. 
 
 Hobhouse. With Preface by R. Haldane, M.P. 
 
 IV. The Life of Samuel Bamford. In- 
 
 troduction by Henry Dunckley. 
 
 OTHER VOL UMES IN PREPARA TION. 
 
 London : T. FISHER UNWIN. 
 
 'S V^V 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Unsuspected Spies (1855) 1 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 Unpublished Letters of Walter Savage Landor 
 (1856-7) 10 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 In Charge of Bombshells (1856) 19 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 Orsini the Conspirator (1856) 26 
 
 chapter lxii. 
 A French Jacobin in London (1856) . . . .31 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 The Story of Carlo de Rudio (1857-62) . . .36 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 Stabbing Spies in London (1857) 40 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 Parliamentary Candidature in the Tower Hamlets 
 (1857) 42 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 A London Revolution (1858) 4 8 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER LXVII. 
 Murder as a Mode of Progress (1859) . . . 5 8 
 
 CHAPTER LXVIII. 
 Defending a Pole (1858) 63 
 
 CHAPTER LXIX. 
 A Lost Will (1858) 69 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 Mr. Secretary Walpole and the Jacobin's Friend 
 (1858) 72 
 
 CHAPTER LXXI. 
 
 Lord Palmerston and Feargus O'Connor's Sister 
 (1858-64) 76 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 Thomas Scott — the Friend of Bishop Colenso (1858) 82 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 How Bishop Colenso became Converted (i860) . . 85 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIV. 
 Lord Coleridge and Thomas Henry Buckle (1859) . 92 
 
 CHAPTER LXXV. 
 
 Bequest of a Suicide (i860) . ... . . .97 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVI. 
 Visit to a Strange Treasurer of Garibaldi (1861) . 102 
 
CONTENTS. vl! 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Famous Fights (1863) io 8 
 
 chapter lxxviii. 
 The Last Lessons of the Hangman (1864) . .115 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIX. 
 An Adventure with Garibaldi (1864) . . .119 
 
 CHAPTER LXXX. 
 
 Unpublished Incidents in the Career of W. E. 
 
 Forster (1864) 126 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXI. 
 Napoleon III. in London (1865) 134 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXII. 
 Visits from a Murderer (1865) 137 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIII. 
 Among the Fishermen of Cromer (1867) . . . 142 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIV. 
 Story of the Limelight on the Clock Tower (1868) 146 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXV. 
 Parliamentary Candidature in Birmingham (1868) . 149 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVI. 
 A Dangerous Visitor (1868) 152 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVII. 
 Reporting Speeches which never were Made . .156 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 An Untold Story of the Fleet Street House (1868) 160 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIX. 
 Lord Clarendon's Confession (1869-72) . . . 167 
 
 CHAPTER XC. 
 Assassination by a Journalist (1870) . 173 
 
 CHAPTER XCI. 
 The Story of the Ballot (1868-71) .... 180 
 
 CHAPTER XCII. 
 Adventures at the Home Office (1870) . . . 186 
 
 CHAPTER XCIII. 
 Story of a Lost Letter (1870) ...... 191 
 
 CHAPTER XCIV. 
 The Scott-Russell Plot (187 1) 194 
 
 CHAPTER XCV. 
 Reticence of the Bishop of Peterborough (1872) . 199 
 
 CHAPTER XCVI. 
 Generosity of the Bishop of Oxford (1872) . . 202 
 
 CHAPTER XCVII. 
 
 Flight of the Emperor Napoleon from Brighton 
 
 (1872) 209 
 
 CHAPTER XCVIII. 
 Origin of the Jingoes (1873) . ... 216 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 CHAPTER XCIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Story of the Anti-Corn Law League (1874) . . 219 
 
 CHAPTER C. 
 The Orators of the Anti-Corn Law League (1874). 226 
 
 CHAPTER CI. 
 Career of a Bohemian Artist 232 
 
 CHAPTER CII. 
 The Picture Restorer further Delineated (1877) . 240 
 
 CHAPTER CHI. 
 Ernest Jones, the Chartist Advocate . . .248 
 
 chapter civ. 
 Parliamentary Candidature in Leicester (1884) . 255 
 
 CHAPTER CV. 
 Three Remarkable Exiles (1884) .... 258 
 
 CHAPTER CVI. 
 Remarkable Working-Class Politicians (1884) . . 263 
 
 CHAPTER CVII. 
 Quite a New View of John Bright (1887) . . 270 
 
 CHAPTER CVIII. 
 Personal Characteristics of Mr. Bright . . .277 
 
 CHAPTER CIX. 
 
 Mr. Bright's Oratorical Method and Manner of 
 
 Mind .281 
 
x CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER CX. 
 
 FAGB 
 
 Origin of Secularism (1850-1890) .... 290 
 
 CHAPTER CXI. 
 The Knight who Uplifted the Dead Hand . . 295 
 
 chapter cxii. 
 Apology to the Reader 299 
 
 [All these 112 chapters, save three, are revised from the 
 Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 1891-2. The new chapters 
 are "Famous Fights," " Murder Considered as a Mode of 
 Progress," and " Reporting Speeches which Never were 
 Made."] 
 
SIXTY YEARS 
 OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 UNSUSPECTED SPIES. 
 
 (I85S-) 
 
 Spies are of two classes — those in the pay of despotism, and 
 those who watch and report upon the proceedings of the enemies 
 of the people. The vocation of the spy is at best a repulsive 
 pursuit. Deceit, false pretences, and treachery constitute the 
 capital of the business, and its success is the success of a traitor. 
 In war it has its only justification. Where murder is the object 
 of both sides, treachery does not count ; it may abridge, or pre- 
 vent, worse disasters. But in peace it is doing evil that good 
 may come, and introduces baseness into policy. In avowed war 
 the spy of a forlorn hope of a patriotic cause is a pathetic figure. 
 He lives under a double suspicion, and his lite is in peril at the 
 hands of foe and friend. He is killed if discovered by the 
 enemy, and he often shares the same fate from his friends, 
 who suspect him from observing his intercourse with the foe. 
 Bound by his mission of secrecy and peril, he is unable to 
 explain himself to any who may be ignorant by whose instruc- 
 tion he acts. And when he succeeds in what he has under- 
 taken, he may find that those to whom he looked for defence 
 and honour may have themselves perished in the same conflict 
 before his dangerous undertaking is over. 
 vol. 11. 2 
 
2 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 The spies of which I write are the venal and baser sort. 
 Some of them do not restrict themselves to discovering plots, 
 but devise them and seduce men to engage in them, in order to 
 betray them. 
 
 One of these was Edwards, the spy of Fleet Street, who was 
 employed to prevent the publication of Thomas Paine's works, 
 by finding out the persons engaged in their secret issue, or, 
 failing that, to implicate Richard Carlile in some plot by which 
 he might be got rid of. Edwards, under which name this spy 
 went, was a clever man, who took a room opposite Carlile's 
 shop, professing to be a sculptor, an art for which he had talent. 
 Avowing great sympathy with Carlile's intrepid efforts for free- 
 ing the press, and not less admiration for the author of " The 
 Rights of Man," he made a statue of Paine in proof of his 
 sincerity, and presented it to Carlile, who made it one of the 
 ornaments of his shop. The statue is now an ornament in one 
 of the ancient halls of Northumberland. Edwards did not 
 succeed with Carlile, who had such plentiful experience with 
 Government prosecutions as to have vigilant suspicion of all 
 overtures from strangers. 
 
 There were several spies in the pay of the Government in 
 the Chartist agitation of 1839. They attended at the meetings 
 of the Chartist Union, whose leaders were against physical 
 force and sought the extension of the suffrage by moral means. 
 These spies sent to congenial papers reports of venomous 
 speeches which were never made, leading the public to regard ' 
 the speakers as wild and dangerous insurgents. The Morning 
 Chronicle was one of the papers open to these reporters. One 
 morning a leader appeared saying — " If the ruffianly language 
 held at the Snow Hill meeting on Friday night — language so 
 foul, so flagitious [which was never uttered], that we reluc- 
 tantly sullied our columns with expressions which reflect scandal 
 upon an assembly of Englishmen, and are calculated to bring 
 the privilege of free discussion itself intd odium and disgrace — 
 if such ' open and advised speaking ' is to pass with impunity, 
 then truly the law is a dead letter, and the Government 
 deserves all the contempt with which it is assailed." 
 
 The Morning Chronicle described two meetings held at 
 Farringdon Hall, Snow Hill, as "Chartist and Irish Con- 
 federate gatherings." They had been neither. They were 
 
UNSUSPECTED SPIES. 3 
 
 called by the Co-operative League, a body bent more on social 
 reform than political agitation. The meeting, on Friday night, 
 stated to have been held at the " King's Arms " Tavern, Snow 
 Hill, was held in Farringdon Hall, a building quite distinct 
 from the tavern. It was stated that several of the Foot Guards 
 were there. Only one was present, and he in undress uniform. 
 Mr. Ewen was announced as chairman. The chairman was 
 Mr. Youll. Mr. Walter, reported to have seconded the resolu- 
 tion, was Mr. Cooper ; and an indecent expression attributed to 
 Mr. Shorter was never uttered by him. It was stated, also, 
 that the Co-operative League was under the auspices of 
 Douglas Jerrold and William Howitt, who were never seen or 
 heard of in connection with the body. These facts were made 
 known at the time, but with little effect. 
 
 About that period there was a small black man bearing the 
 absurd name of Cuffy — a name, however derived or acquired, 
 he foolishly retained, though continually ridiculed by adver- 
 saries because of the appellation. He was about the stature of 
 George Odgers, who, many will remember, was once nearly 
 elected member for Southwark. Cuffy was a victim of spy 
 machinations, and was transported. His name contributed to 
 convict him, yet he was an honest, well-conducted man, and 
 much sympathy was felt for him. Mr. Cobden showed him 
 respect by employing Mrs. Cuffy in some domestic office in his 
 household. 
 
 The favourite and most successful device of the spies was to 
 advise " speaking out." Their cry was, " The time has come to 
 let the Government know what men think ! " Measured and 
 reasonable speech, calculated to impress power without irritat- 
 ing it, was described " as mealy-mouthedness," and men were 
 sent to meetings to applaud, on a secret signal, any outrage of 
 speech by which both speaker and meeting were made to 
 compromise the cause advocated, and justify the repression by 
 force and prosecution, which " friends of order " were always 
 ready to counsel. Their policy was to alarm the timid, who 
 knew nothing of the facts, by a terror which did not exist, and 
 who therefore gave their vote for " strong measures " for ex- 
 terminating a small struggling party with right and misfortune 
 on their side. Then there would appear among the Radicals a 
 plausible person affecting to burn with patriotic indignation, 
 
4 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 and professing to have military and chemical knowledge which 
 he would place at their service. By judiciously giving a sub- 
 scription to their fund, which he represented as coming from 
 persons who did not wish to be known, he acquired confidence, 
 and created the impression that there were powerful persons in 
 the background willing to aid, provided a blow was struck 
 which would " prove to the Government that the people were 
 in earnest." One of these knaves produced an explosive liquid, 
 which he said could be poured into the sewers, and, being 
 ignited, would blow up London from below. This satanic pre- 
 paration was tried in a cellar in Judd Street, while I was taking 
 tea in the back parlour above. I did not know at the time of 
 the operation going on below, or it might have interfered with 
 my satisfaction in the repast on which I was engaged. 
 
 Another person induced to join in this subterranean plot was 
 a young enthusiast, who had impetuosity without experience, 
 and who was afterwards the subject of many friendly attentions 
 from a Conservative peer. The enthusiast is still living, and 
 there is no reason to suppose that he was not an honest man. 
 He was the type of the men, ardent without foresight, who 
 come into this lumbering, slow-moving world, and are indignant 
 that it does not mend its ways all at once. Their honourable 
 but uninstructed ardour is the material upon which a treacher- 
 ous spy selects to work. The two spies I next describe were of 
 a superior class. I had personal communication with them 
 extending over several years. 
 
 One went under the name of Andre, a suspicious name, for 
 Washington hanged one of the family. This Andre was as fat 
 as a Frenchman could be. He was handsome, literally smooth- 
 faced, and mellow ; he was quite globular, and when he moved 
 he vibrated like a locomotive jelly. His speech was as soft as 
 his skin. He had an unaffected suavity of manner, and an 
 accent of honesty and enthusiasm which entirely beguiled you, 
 save for a certain vagueness of statement which warned you to 
 wait for its interpretation in action before you entirely trusted 
 it. He had large commercial views with an indefinite outline, 
 a faculty for finance proposals difficult to fathom, and an 
 instinct for the friendship of men who, possessing money, had 
 philanthropic aspirations without business experience. He first 
 appeared as the friend and counsellor of a group of generous- 
 
UNSUSPECTED SPIES. ^ 
 
 minded disciples of Professor Maurice, who became known as 
 Christian Socialists. When they became interested in the 
 organization and the extension of co-operation, his subtle 
 penetration enabled him to see that a business agency might 
 be founded in London for the supply of stores. There was 
 then no Wholesale Buying Society such as that afterwards 
 founded in the North, and which has attained great magnitude. 
 Premises were taken in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, which 
 became costly by the alterations made for the transaction of 
 wholesale business before there existed stores sufficiently 
 numerous to support the agency created for serving them. 
 The antecedents of Andr6, so far as they were known, were 
 calculated to inspire confidence in him. When a young man, 
 he was one of the enthusiastic followers of St. Simon, in Paris, 
 distinguished for intrepidity and devotion in their cause, and 
 he had created a strong impression by his eloquence and pro- 
 pagandist fervour. It was difficult to conceive that a rotund 
 gentleman of luxurious habits could ever have been an ardent 
 apostle ; but, with all his soft obesity, he had the energy of 
 Count Fosco, whom Wilkie Collins has depicted in his 
 " Woman in White," and, like that energetic hero, was not 
 unacquainted with secret conspiracies. When Enfantin and 
 other leading St. Simonians sought effacement, he sought 
 employment — without delicacy or scruple as to the nature of it. 
 He came to England on a political mission devised by the con- 
 spirators of fhe Empire. He was, I believe, an agent in the 
 purchase of the Morning Chronicle in the interest of the French 
 usurper, but this was unknown to the gentlemen of the party 
 with whom he connected himself. His business here was that 
 of a spy of the Empire. 
 
 The better to effect this object, and to justify his secret 
 employment, it was necessary that he could prove his acquain- 
 tance with insurgent parties in England, and his connection 
 with so respectable a body of social agitators as the disciples of 
 Mr. Maurice not only ensured him from suspicion, but afforded 
 him the means of influencing popular opinion in favour of his 
 political paymaster. He became acquainted with famous 
 Chartist leaders, and, as I was personally acquainted with the 
 friends of Mazzini and Garibaldi, he showed me many acts of 
 courtesy. 
 
6 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 At that time Christian Socialists were generously promoting 
 the interests of working men and desirous of establishing 
 co-operative workshops. As many of these existed in France, 
 and many were subsequently subsidised by the Emperor with a 
 view to making the Empire popular with working men, Andr£, 
 who had been among them, had precisely that kind of know- 
 ledge useful to gentlemen who honestly thought that working 
 men would become more interested in Christianity if they were 
 better cared for, and a considerable fortune was expended by 
 one of the most generous of the party, Mr. E. V. Neale, in 
 establishing co-operative workshops. They did not sufficiently 
 appreciate that the elevation of the working men can only be 
 affected by education within, rather than from without, and 
 that their training is most sure when they employ and risk 
 their own capital. Working men may be aided in their efforts, 
 but they quickliest acquire prudence when they peril their own 
 money as well as that of others. 
 
 Andre inspired me with a feeling of friendliness towards him 
 which has never left me. He was the greatest artist in espion- 
 age of any spy I have known. He never asked me for any 
 information which would have awakened suspicion in me, but 
 he gave me opportunities of mentioning things. As, however, 
 my habit was to consider as their own the affairs of others in 
 which I was in any way concerned, I never added to Andrews 
 political knowledge, but I have no doubt he knew how to turn 
 his acquaintance with me to his private professional advantage, 
 and in ways of which I was unconscious. 
 
 As I had never seen Oxford, and had a great desire to learn 
 something of its interior life, Andre had penetration enough to 
 see that a visit there would be agreeable to me. He had a 
 personal interest in influencing the Dean of Oriel as a subscriber 
 to the capital of a new business project of his own, which he 
 called by the well-chosen title of the " Universal Purveyor." 
 The Dean, like many other excellent Christians, believed that 
 the neglect of the social condition of the people was the cause 
 of popular alienation from Christianity. It never occurred to 
 them that its evidences were defective, and that the alienation 
 the Christian deplored arose in most minds from difficulties it 
 presented to the understanding. The interest I took in any 
 proposal of theirs tending to infuse morality into trade, giving the 
 
UNSUSPECTED SPIES. 7 
 
 workmen participation in the profit of his industry, appeared 
 to them to proceed from growing reconcilement to church 
 tenets, especially as I openly honoured and worked willingly 
 with any Christian person who would render help in this direc- 
 tion. Andre knew how to colour that action with theological 
 hope. Accordingly, he took me down to Oxford, where I 
 became for awhile the guest of the Rev. Charles Marriott, 
 then Dean of Oriel. I then saw Oxford for the first time, and 
 the happy days I stayed there will always dwell in my memory. 
 The rooms occupied by Mr. Ward, who afterwards became a 
 convert to Rome, were entered through the Dean's chambers, 
 and when we were dining Mr. Ward would sometimes have 
 occasion to pass through. Only once, when he was entering, 
 did I catch a glimpse of his florid face and well-fed figure, so 
 different from Mr. Marriott, who was pallid, thin, and gentle in 
 speech and manners. As Mr. Ward passed through, he carried 
 his hat on the side of his face — a delicate consideration, so that 
 Mr. Marriott's guests might not be under conscious observation. 
 I thought it betokened a gentlemanly instinct, but it also 
 prevented us from observing him. 
 
 One day Mr. Marriott conducted me round several of the 
 colleges, showing me things he thought might interest me, and 
 we discoursed on the way on matters of opinion. I told him 
 that I did not share the confidence he had in the premises of his 
 faith, though desiring as much as himself to know the will 
 of Deity, and to do it when I did know it. I was restrained by 
 the difficulty I had of knowing what the Infinite Will might 
 be, except through the works of nature and the necessity of 
 justice, truth and kindness in society. I remember he paused 
 in his walk, and, turning to me, said : " Mr. Holyoake, I would 
 rather reason with a thinking atheist than with a Dissenting 
 minister. I find the minister has always a little infallibility of 
 his own which you can never reach ; while the atheist, who 
 proceeds upon reason, is open to reason, and there is a common 
 ground upon which evidence can operate." 
 
 By this time much of the wealth of the Christian Socialists had 
 been dissipated. Andre appeared alone as the projector of the 
 Universal Purveyor. His prospectuses were models of plausi- 
 bility and just sentiments, of which the only thing certain was 
 the expensiveness of putting them into practice. As I approved 
 
8 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 of his professed object, he had a right to count on my aid ; but 
 he sought it in a form for which I was unprepared. It was 
 that I should put my name to a bill for him to negotiate in the 
 City to meet some immediate requirement of his business. I 
 explained to him the rule on which I acted in such cases, which 
 was never to put my name to a bill unless I was able to pay it 
 if the drawer did not, and was willing to pay it if he could not. 
 
 Some time afterwards he returned to Paris, and when, subse- 
 quently I inquired for him there, on grounds of friendship, I 
 heard he was in a Government office under the Empire. When 
 the Empire happily fell, it transpired that he was in the pay of 
 the Emperor as Director of the Secret Bureau of Espionage, 
 where his personal knowledge of the English parties and press 
 rendered him a competent and useful agent. He had been a 
 spy all the while he was in England. The last I heard of him 
 was a report of his death, which was probable, as he was too fat 
 to live long ; but the report may have been but a form of 
 effacing himself peculiar, to the St. Simonian order to which he 
 formerly belonged. It is a resort of many, no longer solicitous 
 of personal recognition, to put in circulation a rumour of their 
 decease. 
 
 A man of a different stamp, inasmuch as he had scruples of 
 
 honour, was a certain Major W , in whom I had more trust, 
 
 because he had more ingenuousness of manner, and by reason 
 of the company in which I found him. He professed to me to 
 be an agent of Mazzini, to whom I believe he was really 
 attached. He never awakened more than a transient suspicion 
 in that penetrating Italian leader. The major often came to 
 me to give me information, intending to enlist my confidence 
 in his zeal. Now and then he would make me a present of a 
 new patent pen, or some other little novelty which he thought 
 might interest me. He was a well-built, good-looking man of 
 about forty, possessing considerable strength. He lived at 
 Fulham, in comfortable lodgings, and always appeared to have 
 means. This observation led me to inquire, from his friends, 
 whence they were derived, as at the Cafe d'Etoile, Windmill 
 Street, I often found the major playing billiards with other 
 foreigners, manifestly having time on his hands and money to 
 spend. Occasionally he disappeared, at the time of the rising of 
 the Italian patriots or some affair of Garibaldi's, when he would 
 
UNSUSPECTED SPIES. 9 
 
 send me a small paragraph for insertion in the papers. Some- 
 times there would appear from other hands a paragraph in the 
 
 incidental way of news, stating that Major W had been 
 
 wounded, which probably never occurred. When the Empire 
 fell, and the list of Napoleon's agents found at the Tuileries 
 was published, we were all very much surprised to find, in 
 addition to the name of Andre, that of the major. There was 
 no doubt that he communicated to the enemy information of 
 the forces and resources of the insurgents. But there was reason 
 to believe that he made, as many other Italian spies were known 
 to do, a resolution never to betray Mazzini, nor compromise any 
 movement under his instructions. 
 
 A sensuous obesity had much to do with Andre's success. 
 Fatness is a force in politics, though its influence is overlooked. 
 Cassius would never have been suspected by Caesar had he not 
 been lean. Blatant bulk without sense goes further with a 
 popular audience than bones with intelligence. The Tichborne 
 Claimant would never have had so many followers had he been 
 thin. A fat person is always graceful ; his motions are without 
 angularity, even the inclination of the head is self-limited ; the 
 nerves themselves are so embedded that they betray no emotion 
 on the surface. This was shown in the Claimant, who, when 
 his friends and the noble lord who was his supporter returned 
 to the Claimant's chambers in Jermyn Street, all depressed and 
 unmanned by the adverse turn affairs were taking, he was 
 entirely unperturbed, maintaining an easy air, which shamed 
 and reassured his dismayed friends. A peer could not have 
 manifested more dignity, or a philosopher more calmness. It 
 was all owing to the physical impossibility of his manifesting 
 solicitude. 
 
CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 UNPUBLISHED LETTERS OF WALTER 
 SAVAGE LANDOR. 
 
 (1856-7.) 
 
 Walter Savage Landor, whose age at his death exceeded 
 ninety, enjoyed for seventy years reputation as a poet. As is 
 the case of few poets, he excelled in prose as well as verse. In 
 all his life there was hardly any tyranny against which his 
 brave spirit did not utter an indignant protest. In early man- 
 hood, after he had dealt with his patrimony in land with more 
 than princely splendour, he led a troop to join the Spanish 
 patriots who rose against Napoleon I. On every act of national 
 heroism he lavished splendid praise. Late in life an action was 
 brought against him by a lady in Bath, who had provoked him 
 by acts which he regarded as implying meanness and ingrati- 
 tude. Against her he wrote verses with a satiric vigour which 
 belonged to him alone, which even Swift did not equal. Judg- 
 ment was given against Landor, when he asked me to print for 
 him a justification of himself, and desired me to transmit copies 
 to certain persons whose names and addresses he gave me. 
 Though he knew his publication would involve him in serious 
 consequences if traced to him, he made no stipulation that I 
 should keep the commission secret. Nor did I (though, as 
 printer, I was liable in law in like manner) make any stipula- 
 tion for indemnity. In applying to me, I supposed he had 
 reason to believe that he could trust me in a matter where con- 
 fidence might be of importance to him. I had Landor's 
 manuscript copied in my own house, so that no printer should 
 by chance see the original manuscript in the office. My 
 
UNP UBLISHED LE TTERS. 1 1 
 
 brother Austin, whom in all these things I could trust as I 
 could trust myself, set up and printed with his own hands 
 Landor's defence, so that none save he and I ever saw the 
 pamphlet, until the post delivered copies at their destination. 
 A reward of ^"200 was offered for the discovery of the printer, 
 without result. Twelve years later, Landor being then dead, I 
 told Lord Houghton I was the printer of his " defence," but 
 until this day I have mentioned it to no one else. 
 
 In his first letter to me, Landor contemplated my publishing 
 the copies, but this idea was soon abandoned, as appears in his 
 letters. The action against him, which had then recently been 
 decided, had cost him more than £ 1,500, and another action 
 might arise had I placed the " Defence " on sale. 
 
 The eight-paged octavo pamphlet bore the title — 
 
 MR. LANDOR'S REMARKS 
 
 on a 
 
 SUIT PREFERRED AGAINST HIM 
 
 at the 
 
 Summer Assizes in Taunton, 1858, 
 
 Illustrating the 
 APPENDIX TO HIS HELLENICS. 
 
 Landor's first letter to me was the following : — 
 
 " Florence, March, 22, 1859. 
 
 "Sir, — I know not whether you will think it worth your 
 while to publish the papers I enclose. Curiosity, I am assured, 
 will induce many to purchase it, my name being not quite 
 unknown to the public. For my own part, I can only offer you 
 five pounds for 100 copies — the rest will remain yours. The 
 esteem in which I have ever held you induces me to make this 
 proposal. — I am, sir, very obediently yours, 
 
 " W. S. Landor. 
 
 "No action was brought against the tradesmen for their 
 reports, which I twice published in Bath, and the publications 
 were bought up by Mr. H. Yescombe ; nor dared he produce 
 them in his action against me. The action was for verses 
 which the judge would not permit to be recited in court, where 
 two falsifications might be pointed out, one of which (as a jury- 
 
12 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 man is reported to have said), would have altered the case, and, 
 of course, the verdict. W.S.L." 
 
 Landor did not take into account that further indictable 
 matter after the conviction would be regarded by the Court 
 very seriously. The " falsification " he refers to in the preced- 
 ing letter is a curious instance of the value of a comma. The 
 appellation which the lady who brought the action against him 
 took to herself was Caina, which is in Dante a region of hell. 
 The judge did not remember the meaning of the name, and 
 appears to have assumed that Landor applied it to her. 
 Landor, using Milton's allegory of " Sin and Death," whose 
 offspring would not be fair to look upon, alluded to a young 
 lady whom he considered had been ill-treated by Caina, and 
 wrote : — 
 
 "Thou hast made her pale and thin 
 As the child of Death by Sin." 
 
 " That is, begotten by Death on Sin. But the plaintiff's 
 lawyer," Landor said, " inserted a comma which was not to be 
 found in his lines." The lawyer, by placing a comma after 
 Death, would make it appear that Caina was guilty of some 
 horrid sin. The jury found out too late what had been done. 
 
 After he had received a proof of his " Defence," to use his 
 own term, he wrote : — 
 
 " Your letter has highly gratified me. Would you kindly take 
 the trouble to send copies to the following ? — 
 
 To Phinn, M.P 3 
 
 Monckton Milnes, M.P 3 
 
 The Judge whosoever he was (It was Baron Channell)... 3 
 
 Lord Brougham 3 
 
 Mr. Hall, Highgate 3 
 
 And the principal periodicals, newspapers, &c, Leigh Hunt, 
 Linton, and whoso else you please. The rest to me at Florence." 
 
 In another letter he further directed me to send copies to 
 other persons, and named the papers he wished to receive 
 
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS. 13 
 
 them — Times, Daily News, Literary Gazette, Examiner, 
 Edinburgh Review, Quarterly Review. John Forster, Mon- 
 tague Square, 3 copies ; Kossuth, Admiral Gawen, Sir W. 
 Napier, Scinde House, Clapham Park, 3 copies ; 20 to Florence ; 
 the remainder to Charles Empson, Esq., The Walks, Bath. 
 In a further letter he wrote, saying : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I forgot, it seems to me, a few persons to whom 
 it seems desirable a part of my hundred copies should be 
 sent : — 
 
 3 to Mr. Carbonell, Camden Street, Camden Town. 
 
 3 to Mrs. West, Ruthen Castle, Denbighshire. 
 
 3 to some Masters in Chancery, whose sorry adversaries 
 have tried to obtain an injunction that nothing should be paid 
 to me or my family out of my estate. — I remain, Dear Sir, truly 
 yours, W. S. Landor." 
 
 As I had become unwell from overwork, my brother Austin 
 reported what had been done, and the following letter Landor 
 wrote to him : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I am grieved to hear of your brother's illness. 
 I very much esteem him, and hope he may soon regain his 
 usual health. 
 
 " Many thanks for your care in sending the copies according 
 to my direction. 
 
 " I know nothing of the American publishers, but will inform 
 my friends in that country that they may obtain copies from New 
 York. My opinion is that many would be sold in that country. 
 I am, Dear Sir, yours very truly, W. S. Landor. 
 
 " Mr. Austin Holyoake. 
 
 "Pray send 3 or 4 copies to J. Forster, Esq., Montague 
 Square, London" (not remembering that he had mentioned 
 them before). 
 
 His next letter was to me : — 
 
 " My Dear Sir, — I am as sorry to hear of your continued 
 illness as at my failure of obtaining redress in my grievous 
 wrongs. It may be necessary that the title page containing 
 
14 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 your name should be torn off; but surely then it would be 
 quite safe to send a dozen copies to Captain Brickman, Beaufort 
 Buildings, Bath, with my compliments. Could not the whole 
 come out as printed at Genoa ? This is suggested to me as 
 being safe and practicable. Of what is now printed, send me a 
 dozen, without the title page containing your name. I have 
 promised them to friends about to leave Rome and Florence 
 for a tour in Switzerland. — I remain, my Dear Sir, with high 
 esteem, yours, W. S. Landor." 
 
 In the letters I quote of Landor's in relation to his defence, I 
 omit many remarks and also names which, however justifiable 
 they were from his pen in relation to his own cause, I, who 
 have no resentment to pursue, do not reproduce. They would 
 be painful to others or the survivors of others. Forster in his 
 " Life of Landor " quotes some letters which ought to have 
 been omitted for the same reason. What is true, unless it has 
 public interest or instruction, should have no place either in 
 history or biography ; and what is known to be untrue, and 
 which Landor, being a man of good faith, would not persist 
 in when it was shown to be untrue, should be precluded from 
 repetition. 
 
 The next letter I quote in full : — 
 
 Florence, Oct. 5. 
 " My Dear Sir. — On the tenth of last month I wrote a few 
 lines to you enclosing a letter, in reply to a very polite one, 
 remonstrating on mine to Emerson. A few days ago, I found 
 my few lines intended for you in my desk. Pray let me hear, 
 at your leisure, whether this reply ever reached you ; for 
 several of my prepared letters entrusted to a servant never 
 arrived at their destination. — Believe me, Dear Sir, very truly 
 and thankfully yours, W. S. Landor." 
 
 Forster, in his " Life of Landor," if I remember rightly, 
 relates that Emerson had seen some wonderful microscopes in 
 Florence, and spoke of the uses to which they were applied ; 
 but he found that Landor despised entomology, yet in the same 
 breath said, " The sublime was in a grain of dust " : which 
 anticipated the fine saying by Herschel about the microscope 
 
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS. 15 
 
 and telescope being explorers of the infinite "in both direc- 
 tions." 
 
 So far as I know, Landor's reply to the friend who re- 
 monstrated with hirn concerning his letter to Emerson has not 
 been published. It covers four large quarto pages. Singularly, 
 being from Landor, it was against the impending war for the 
 extinction of negro slavery. It is a remarkable defence of the 
 Southern side of the argument. I cite here only a few sentences 
 in which his bright precision is visible in every one : — 
 
 " Interest is a stronger bond of concord than affinity. 
 Beware of inculcating unintelligible doctrines. Men quarrel 
 most fiercely about what they least understand. Laws are 
 religion ; let these be intelligible and uncostly. It is pleasanter 
 at all times to converse on literature than on politics. How- 
 ever, on neither subject are men always dispassionate and 
 judicious. They form opinions hastily and crudely, and defend 
 them frequently on ground ill chosen. Few scholars are critics, 
 few critics are philosophers, and few philosophers look with 
 equal care on both sides of a question." 
 
 One day I received the following letter : — 
 
 " 6, Clifford Street, July 7, 1872. 
 " Dear Mr. Holyoake, — I remember well having a little 
 talk with you. At what time of the day are you at home, as I 
 should like to renew the acquaintance. — I am yours sincerely, 
 
 " Houghton." 
 
 I answered Lord Houghton, saying I should appreciate 
 the honour of his calling. Ordinarily I was at 20, Cockspur 
 Street, where I then resided, from 5 to 9 p.m. When the 
 House of Commons sat in the morning, I was home much 
 earlier ; but it was an act of mercy to say that my chambers 
 were at the top. Once there it was a pinnacle from which 
 could be seen all the kingdom of London and the glory thereof ; 
 but I include no other feature in the reference, remembering 
 Lord Brougham's admonition, " Beware of Analog}'." 
 
 Afterwards Lord Houghton asked me " to give him the 
 pleasure of breakfasting with him at Clifford Street at 10.30 on 
 Saturday next, the 20th instant." 
 
[ 6 SIXTY YEA RS OF AN A GIT A TOR'S LITE. 
 
 The breakfast justified the celebrity Lord Houghton's 
 morning repasts had obtained. Several breakfasts and dinners 
 remain in my mind. Even the flavour as well as the charm I 
 can recall ; but for profusion and variety of joints, birds, fish, 
 wines, fruits, coffee, and cigars, Lord Houghton's breakfast 
 exceeded all. I remember the astonishment he expressed to a 
 new footman who brought in coffee half an hour before the birds 
 and wine ended. On an easel near the table was a new portrait 
 in oil of Landor, which was shown to every one. This led me 
 to mention that I had several letters of Landor's, at which Lord 
 Houghton expressed great interest, and I promised he should 
 see some of them. I made up a parcel, with notes explaining 
 them. Being precious in my eyes, I left them myself at his 
 house. I heard no more of them. At times I sat behind him 
 when he came to the Peers' Gallery in the Commons, and 
 expected he would refer to them. At length I wrote and asked 
 for their return. In July, 1873, he wrote from the House of 
 Lords to say, " he was distressed to find that, acting on the 
 supposition that I had given him the Landor MSS., he had 
 bound some of them up with one of his books. If worth while, 
 he would take them out again and send them." As he had 
 never acknowledged their receipt, I did not understand how he 
 came by the impression that I had given them to him. It was 
 as proofs of Landor's confidence in me that I most valued them, 
 and also as evidence of the risks I was willing to incur for him. 
 The letters his lordship had bound up I told him " I was quite 
 content should remain in his possession, as it would be a 
 pleasure to think they would be preserved by him." As Lord 
 Houghton was a valued friend of Landor's, I felt that he was a 
 congenial custodian of relics of him. He sent me copies of the 
 letters he retained, and others which accompanied them he 
 returned, writing : — 
 
 " Fryston Hall, Ferrybridge, Nov. 28, 1873. 
 "My Dear Sir,— I am obliged for the loan and the gift. 
 I am afraid Landor's repute still remains in the world of men 
 of letters, and not in that of national literature. There is no 
 doubt that with him the thing said is less important than 
 his manner of saying it. Every day we become less and less 
 careful of style for its own sake. — Yours sincerely, 
 
 " Houghton." 
 
UNPUBLISHED LETTERS. 17 
 
 On such a subject no opinion of mine is comparable with 
 Lord Houghton's ; nevertheless, I own I value Landor's writing 
 for its sense as well as its style, and think that his " repute " in 
 " national literature " is higher and more assured than Lord 
 Houghton supposed. 
 
 Landor did me the honour to write to me many times (after 
 the affair of his pamphlet) on Italian affairs. Some communica- 
 tions I sent to the Newcastle Chronicle, where they would be 
 more influential than in any paper of mine ; some, relating 
 more to social life and character than to public affairs, I 
 inserted in the Journal I edited. Landor made scarcely a 
 correction in his proofs. He was sure of what he wanted 
 to say, and said it in unchangeable terms. He seldom 
 dated his letters. In one from Scena, July 3 (during the 
 Italian struggle), he remarks : — " If I had any photograph, 
 I would gladly send it you. Three were sent to me from Bath, 
 but I know not the name of the artist. Ladies have all three." 
 He wrote with enthusiasm of Garibaldi, saying, " I hope Sicily 
 may become independent, and that Garibaldi will condescend 
 to be its king under the protection of Italy and England." 
 The following sonnet he sent me ends with a fine line on 
 Garibaldi : — 
 
 Again her brow Sicaria rears 
 Above the tombs : Two thousand years 
 Have smitten sore her beauteous breast, 
 And war forbidden her to rest. 
 
 Yet war at last becomes her friend, 
 
 And shouts aloud 
 
 ' Thy grief shall end. 
 
 Sicaria ! hear me ! rise again ! 
 
 A homeless hero breaks thy chain? ' ' 
 
 Walter Savage Landor I admired for his force, simplicity, 
 directness, and the wonderful compression of his style : for 
 his singular fearlessness, ,, determination of thought, and his 
 Paganism. As I was precluded from engagements on the press 
 by reason of my name, I adopted that of " Landor Praed." 
 Landor in his graceful way sent me his authority to use it, 
 for reasons I may not repeat, as they existed alone in his 
 generosity of judgment. 
 
 One night near the end of his days, after Charles Dickens 
 
 VOL. 11. 3 
 
i8 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 and John Forster had left him on their last visit, he wrote his 
 own epitaph in these noble words : — 
 
 " I strove with none — for none were worth my strife : 
 Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art. 
 I've warmed both hands before the fire of life : 
 It sinks, and I am ready to depart." 
 
 He said, in his incomparable way, " Phocion conquered with 
 few soldiers, and he convinced with few words. I know of no 
 better description of a great captain or a great orator," which 
 might be said of himself. 
 
CHAPTER LX. 
 
 IN CHARGE OF BOMBSHELLS. 
 
 (1856.) 
 
 It was at Ginger's Hotel, which then stood near Westminster 
 Bridge, that I first saw the bombs whose construction was 
 perfected afterwards for use in Paris, in the attempt to kill the 
 Emperor Napoleon III. The bombs were in sections then. 
 When strangers came into the coffee-room, Dr. Bernard laid 
 them back on the seat between him and a friend. Under- 
 standing machine work, I could judge whether they were well 
 devised for their purpose, which was my reason for being there. 
 At a later stage I was told that Mazzini thought they might 
 be useful in the unequal warfare carried on in Italy, where the 
 insurgent forces of liberty were almost armless. 1 
 
 He who gave the order in Birmingham for their manufacture, 
 also gave his name and address at the same time, and went 
 down to see the maker when there was delay through doubt 
 as to the kind of construction specified. He used no disguise 
 or concealment of any kind. He acted just as an inventor 
 might act who wanted a new kind of military weapon made. 
 When two of the shells were afterwards delivered to me to 
 make experiment with, I understood that they were a new 
 weapon for military warfare in Italy, to be used from the house 
 tops by insurgents, when the enemy might be in the streets 
 
 1 Many persons imagine that novel deadly projectiles are a device of insur- 
 gents and are of modern date. Whereas "Infernal Machines " were used by 
 the English at Dunkirk and St. Malo, and at Havre de Grace by the English 
 arid Dutch, under King William. The first inventor of them, or the first 
 kiiown to employ them, was Frederick Jambelli, an Italian engineer, at the 
 siege of Antwerp, under the Duke of Parma, 1585. 
 
20 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 firing into houses, as the Louis Napoleon troops did in the days 
 of the Presidential butchery in Paris at the coup d'etat of 1852. 
 At the time of the meeting at Ginger's Hotel, if there was any 
 thought of operating in Paris, the design was known only to 
 the six persons ultimately concerned — among whom neither 
 myself nor Mazzini was included. 
 
 When the war-balls came into my hands I had small concep- 
 tion of what I had undertaken in consenting to test them. The 
 detonating powder with which they were filled had been pre- 
 pared for quick explosion. "Elizabeth," a courageous young 
 woman engaged in the household in which Orsini resided, had, 
 well knowing the danger, superintended the drying of the 
 powder before the kitchen fire, where, had accident happened, 
 she had been heard of no more, and any persons above would 
 have been made uncomfortable. Percussion caps were on the 
 nipples of the shells (which, like porcupine quills, stuck out all 
 round them) when I received them. Their bulk being from 
 four to five inches in diameter, they were heavy enough to be 
 quite a little load to carry about ; and thinking that any force 
 used in removing the caps, which were firmly fixed, might cause 
 an explosion, for which I was not provided, I left them on. 
 Deeming it best to carry them apart, lest coming into collision 
 with each other they might give me premature trouble, I put 
 one into each of the side pockets of my coat. As I went along 
 the street it occurred to me, that it was undesirable to fall 
 down, as I might not be found when I wanted to get up. 
 
 When I arrived at home I packed the bombs considerately in a 
 small, harmless-looking black brief bag ; but where to put the 
 bag was the question. I had no closet which I was accustomed 
 to lock, and to do it might occasion questions to be put which 
 I did not want to answer, as the truth might create apprehension 
 that the inscrutable things might go off of themselves, which 
 for all I knew they might. This was, however, the only futile 
 apprehension that occurred to me, for my wife made no trouble 
 about the matter, and found a place of safety for the parcel. 
 She had respect for those for whom I acted, and readily aided. 
 
 The next morning found me setting off to Sheffield, where I 
 had an engagement to lecture, and in which town I had pro- 
 posed to try this new weapon of war. The insurgent leaders 
 of that day had no funds to spare ; and by choosing a time 
 
IN CHARGE OF BOMBSHELLS. 21 
 
 when I had to travel anyhow, it avoided the expense of a special 
 journey. The selection of Sheffield was made by me as being 
 a noisy manufacturing town, where the addition to its uproar 
 of a bomb going off would be little noticeable. Going on the 
 journey out to the railway station, I did not take a cab through 
 fear the cabman or porter might snatch up the bomb-bag in 
 which I had placed the shells, and afterwards throw it down care- 
 lessly. So I carried that bag in one hand and my portmanteau 
 in the other. At the station I found opportunity of putting the 
 contents of the bag into my pockets. I was afraid of the bag in 
 the carriage : it required so much watching. A passenger might 
 at any minute suddenly remove it to make room for some box 
 which might strike against it, and as suddenly disperse the 
 travellers themselves. Besides, I could never leave the train 
 for refreshment, with the bag in it ; and the third-class journey 
 was long in those days from London to Sheffield — the Midland 
 Company not having set the generous example of carrying 
 third-class passengers with swift trains. With a shell as large 
 as a Dutch cheese in each pocket, I looked like John Gilpin 
 when he rode with the wine kegs on either side of him. But I 
 passed very well as one who had made ample provision for his 
 journey. My only anxiety was that some mechanic with his 
 carpenter's or plumber's basket might choose to sit down by my 
 side, when a projecting hammer or chisel might be the cause of 
 an unexpected disturbance. For the same reason I thought it 
 wiser not to sit in the corner of the carriage, where one of my 
 pockets oscillating against the side by sudden motion of the 
 train might occasion difficulties there. 
 
 On arriving at Sheffield the trouble did not end. In the 
 house where I lodged new perplexities arose. I might ask for 
 a closet in which I might lock up my peculiar luggage, but my 
 landlady might have a duplicate key and be just curious to see 
 what I was so careful in securing ; and thus some accident 
 might ensue upon the discovery. This fear deterred me from 
 that expedient. My watchfulness kept me a prisoner in the 
 house, and when I went below to write I took the bag and 
 placed it on the table, keeping pens and paper in the same 
 receptacle to divert attention from the other contents. Sunday 
 was an entirely troublesome day with my percussioned com- 
 panions, because I had to carry the bag twice to the morning 
 
22 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 and evening lecture and place it upon the table before me while 
 I spoke. As I took my notes and papers from the bag, its 
 presence on the table was a matter of course. It was not 
 prudent to put it under the table, lest the toes of some excited 
 adversary might kick against it there. Had my opponents, 
 who were numerous at that period, had any idea of the contents 
 of my bag, they would have been very brief in their observa- 
 tions. At night I was again solicitous, fearing something should 
 occur in the house, where there were many inmates. 
 
 Monday was welcome to me when I could take one of the 
 missives out with me and seek a place for its explosion. As I 
 might need to move rapidly after throwing it, I concealed the 
 one I left behind between the mattress and the bed in my room, 
 after the bed was made for the day. Had anything happened 
 to me to prevent my return, the next lodger sleeping in the bed 
 had found something quite inexplicable under him. I had lived 
 in Sheffield and knew my way about, having walked through 
 its suburbs with Ebenezer Elliott and other rambling friends of 
 that time. But I had never observed the roads with a view to 
 present requirements. I walked in various directions until 
 afternoon, before finding a sufficiently straight road, without 
 houses upon it. It was necessary to command with my eye a 
 long sweep of way, since I must operate in the middle thereof, 
 and be sure that no person could enter upon it from either 
 extreme without my seeing him. Besides, I had to examine 
 both sides of the road to be certain there was no lane or bye- 
 path by which unseen persons could emerge and be struck by 
 any flying fragment about at that minute. After all my trouble, 
 pedestrians, or vehicles, or horsemen, were continually coming 
 into sight ; and I had to return home without making any 
 attempt that day. And night was useless, it being more 
 dangerous for my purpose than day. Had I had a companion 
 to keep watch with me, we might have found an opportunity ; 
 but it was my duty not to trust any one with a knowledge of 
 my object. There was no knowing what alarm he might take 
 at being in my company with the uncertain missives I bore 
 about me. 
 
 The next day I took a different course — that of selecting a 
 disused quarry, as that would test the quality of the bombs 
 under the most favourable circumstances. If one would not 
 
IN CHARGE OF BOMBSHELLS. 23 
 
 explode by its own momentum of descent on so hard a floor, it 
 would show that its construction was an entire failure. The 
 quarry was in an immediate suburb, not very far from the 
 centre of the town. There were several villas in sight of it, 
 with gardens that came near to the verge of it. What would be 
 the amount of noise I should create, or what would be the effect 
 of it, I could not tell. I hid to trust that it might pass among 
 other commotions to which Sheffield was subject. Having 
 examined the quarry to ensure that there was no one in it, and 
 finding no one above, I threw the bomb from the top — from a 
 point where I could shelter myself in case the explosion brought 
 any fragments my way. The sound was very great, and rever- 
 berated around. Expecting people would run from their houses, 
 I quickly arose and sauntered away. I met a person hastening 
 towards the spot. " Did you hear that great noise ? " he asked. 
 " Oh, yes ! " I answered. " I think it came from the quarry," 
 he replied. " Had it come from there I must have seen it," I 
 answered, " as I passed by it. It might be some cannon firing. 
 If you can show me a pathway to yonder field, we should see if 
 there is anything going on there." He turned and went with 
 me, but we found nothing there. I was desirous he should not 
 get to the quarry until the smoke had disappeared. Later in 
 the day I returned to the place, lest some portions of convexed 
 nippled iron should lie about, which being found might excite 
 curiosity ; but nothing was to be seen. I posted a paper to 
 London, without address or signature, saying :— 
 
 " My two companions behaved as well as could be expected, 
 One has said nothing ; perhaps through not having an oppor- 
 tunity. The other, being put upon his mettle, went off in high 
 dudgeon. He was heard of immediately after, but has not since 
 been seen." 
 
 Finding the deposited shell in the bed where I had left it, I 
 returned to town with it, when it was proposed that I should 
 take another shell with the one I had, and proceed to Devon, 
 where dwelt one who had the courage for any affair advancing 
 the war of liberty. For this journey I received thirty-two 
 shillings, as the distance was great ; and this was the cost of 
 the third-class fare. It was the only expense to which I put 
 
24 SIXT V YEARS OF AN AGIJA TORS LIFE. 
 
 the projectors of these wandering experiments. The object 
 was to ascertain whether the new grenades would really 
 explode, when thrown as high as a man could throw them, and 
 falling on an ordinary road. The journey West was less trouble- 
 some than that to the North, as the railway carriages were less 
 crowded, and mechanics carrying tools were much fewer. My 
 friend lived in " The Den." This was the actual name of his 
 residence, and not inappropriate, considering the nature of the 
 business we had on hand, when we two issued from it. The 
 vigilance falling to me was much diminished, as my host could 
 take care of my " brief bag " when I needed personal liberty. 
 
 We soon found a suitable highway. My friend watched the 
 way, and, being tall, could take a wide range of view ; but it 
 was necessary to choose a field which had a stone fence, where, 
 after throwing the bomb into the air, I could at once lie down 
 and be protected while the fierce fragments flew around. There 
 was, however, little need of the precaution, as no explosion 
 followed. The nipples buried themselves in the earth, and the 
 obstinate shell remained fixed and silent. I had not foreseen 
 this, and it was necessary to remain on the ground a while lest 
 the thing might go off after some time. It was not possible to 
 wait long, for a signal told me a passenger was descried. The 
 difficulty then was to get the perverse ball out of the earth, 
 since plucking it might occasion an abrasion of the cap, and 
 cause it to burst while I was over it. Happily, I restored the 
 wilful shell to my pocket and I went to meet the traveller to 
 ask him " if he knew where there was a good place for football 
 about " — in case he had observed the unusual movements on 
 the way. 
 
 Having no taste for further trials on the common roads, we 
 found opportunities of throwing the two portable thunderbolts 
 on a really hard surface, where, with loud report, every frag- 
 ment flew into untraceable space. It was not without satisfac- 
 tion that I saw, or rather heard, the last of my perplexing 
 companions. My next report to London said : — 
 
 " Leniency of treatment was quite thrown away upon our two 
 companions. As a man makes his bed, so he must lie upon it ; 
 still out of consideration, we wished it to be not absolutely 
 hard. But that did just no good whatever. The harder treat- 
 
IN CHARGE OF BOMBSHELLS. 25 
 
 ment had to be tried : and I am glad to say it proved entirely 
 successful. But nothing otherwise would do." 
 
 The result of the experiments was that the bombs in the 
 first state in which they were perfected were proved to be 
 inefficient ; unless thrown to a great altitude in the air they 
 would not explode on an ordinary roadway. If the percussion 
 caps did act, they failed to ignite the contents of the shell. 
 Except upon a well macadamized and hardened ground, or upon 
 flagstones, they could not be depended upon for the purposes 
 for which they were intended. They would not answer for 
 ordinary military operations, where the surface might be soft 
 ground or grass land. Whether the bombs used in Paris were 
 improved, or whether the choice of Rue Lepelletier, where the 
 ground was firm, was determined by the experiments upon 
 which I reported I never inquired. 1 If my report ever became 
 known to any one concerned in that affair, it probably had 
 some instructive result. 
 
 1 Some time ago sections of the shells used in Paris were drawn and pub- 
 lished. They certainly were not of bombs which passed through my hands. 
 
CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 ORSINJ THE CONSPIRATOR 
 
 (I8 S 6.) 
 
 Orsini was an egotist, but, like Benvenuto Cellini, he had 
 something to boast of. His love of heroic distinction helped to 
 make him a patriot ; the passion for renown helped him to 
 excel all other patriots in daring and in doing things of which 
 Italian patriotism may always be proud. The escape of Baron 
 Trenck was not more wonderful than Orsini's escape from the 
 impregnable fortress of San Giorgio. The narrative of his 
 astonishing adventures, published under the title of " The 
 Austrian's Dungeon," and translated by Madame Mario, shows, 
 in force of narration, that he was a good writer as well as an 
 intrepid soldier. When it was ready for the press he came to 
 me, through the instructions he had received, for suggestions 
 as to the best mode of issuing it. I see him now as he stood in 
 the shop in Fleet Street, the sun falling upon his dark hair, 
 bronzed features, and glance of fire. I told him I would bring 
 out his book gladly, but that Routledge was able to put many 
 more thousands into the market than I was, and would no 
 doubt give him £$o for the MS., which, though it did not 
 amount to much, was of moment to an exile. Routledge did 
 give him £$o. The title, " The Austrian Dungeons in Italy," 
 was one of interest at the period, but, if reprinted under the 
 title of " The Wonderful Escape of Orsini," or some other which 
 indicated its marvellousness, it would have interest in the 
 literature of adventure as permanent as Silvio Pellico's story. 
 There were heroes in Italy all about. Bystanders took Orsini, 
 lame and stained with mud and blood, on the morning of his 
 
 26 
 
ORSINI THE CONSPIRATOR. 27 
 
 escape, and secreted him with a certainty of themselves suffering 
 torture and death in the same fortress, were they discovered. 
 The whole district was then overrun with spies. He who 
 realises this will appreciate the courage and resource of the 
 peasant people — only to be matched in Ireland. I know of no 
 single book concerning Italy which more stirs the blood of 
 indignation at Austrian subjugation than Orsini's narrative. 
 The address appended to his book (he could give his address in 
 England) was 2, Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park, July 10, 1856. 
 A year later he was headless. 
 
 Felice Orsini relates that an Austrian colonel was one day 
 galloping through Mercato di Mezzo, followed by a large dog. 
 A youth of sixteen was passing by with a smaller dog, which 
 was attacked by the colonel's and almost killed. To save his 
 dog, the youth picked up a stone and hurled it at the colonel's. 
 By chance it struck its head, and it fell dead. By order of this 
 colonel the youth was arrested and sentenced to 30 blows on the 
 cavaletto, which meant 90 strokes of the bastinado — for three 
 strokes counted as one blow. When the unfortunate youth 
 was removed from the Cavaletto he was dead. On the following 
 day the colonel was sitting with some of his fellow officers in 
 the Cafe dei Grigioni. A man suddenly appeared in their 
 midst, and after despatching the colonel with several stabs of 
 his poniard, disappeared before any one could arrest him. This 
 was the father of the boy who had died under the bastinado. 
 That was a righteous assassination. 
 
 Orsini, by his attempt to destroy the French usurper, intended 
 also to avenge Italy upon the false President of the Republic 
 who sent troops to put down the heroic Republic of Rome. 
 Orsini perilled his head to do for France what thousands wished 
 done, and no one else attempted, with the same determination. 
 When Cato visited the palace of a tyrant and saw the persons 
 he put to death, and the terror of the citizens who approached 
 him, he asked, " Why does not some one kill this man ? " 
 Orsini came forward in like case to do it. Those who engage 
 in political assassination should have no hesitation in sacrificing 
 themselves. If they are careful for their own welfare, they lose 
 their lives all the same. By using bombs, Orsini imperilled the 
 lives of others, and, being wounded by a fragment which filled 
 his eyes with blood, was unable to complete his design. 
 
28 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 After his execution at La Roquette, a compromising article 
 appeared in the Westminster Review, upon which I addressed 
 the following letter : — 
 
 " 147, Fleet Street, June 17, i860. 
 
 "TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'WESTMINSTER REVIEW.' 
 
 " Dear Sir, — On the part of the colleagues and friends of 
 Orsini, I am requested to solicit your attention to the following 
 passages in the Review for January, i860. We believe we 
 shall not appeal to you in vain to do justice to the dead. 
 What is asked is the correction or proof of the statements 
 questioned. 
 
 " You say — ' Through a confidential agent, he (Louis Napo- 
 leon) conveyed a solemn assurance of his intentions to Orsini, 
 who had been a member of the same Carbonaro conspiracy in 
 1831 with the Emperor. Orsini declared himself satisfied with 
 this communication. He gave the persons who brought it a 
 list of friends in Italy, whose co-operation was to be sought at 
 the proper time, and then wrote as the testament of his dying 
 convictions the famous letter, pointing to Napoleon III. as the 
 coming liberator of his country, which was printed in Turin, 
 having been sent thither by the Emperor for publication. 
 Soon followed the interview at Plombieres with Count Cavour, 
 and the project succeeded rapidly towards execution.' 
 
 "In connection with this statement, I submit the following 
 facts : — 
 
 " Orsini was not born until the end of December, 1819. 
 
 "In 1831, when he is alleged to be a joint conspirator with 
 Louis Napoleon, Orsini was a boy at school, being only eleven 
 years of age ; and he remained at school until 1836 — until he 
 was sixteen. 
 
 "It was not until 1843 that he was a member of any secret 
 society. 
 
 " He never was a member with the Emperor. He never was 
 a Carbonaro at all. 
 
 " He never saw Louis Napoleon before the year 1857. 
 
 " The ' famous letter ' referred to was not in Orsini's French. 
 He did not write French well. The letter appeared in pure 
 Florentine Italian. Orsini was educated as a Bolognese, and 
 was by no means a master of good Italian. 
 
ORSINI THE CONSPIRATOR. 29 
 
 " Without proof it is not to be believed that Orsini, of all 
 men, would ' give a list of his friends ' to the man whom he 
 sought to kill. He was not the man to do it to save his own 
 life. Was he likely to have done it when his life was not to be 
 saved ? Without proof, no assertion of this kind is to be 
 believed. It is a serious calumny upon Orsini, and to be 
 resented. 
 
 " Again you state that—' The Emperor learnt at Milan, from 
 the mouth of his own couriers. ... and especially of that con- 
 fidential one whom we have repeatedly mentioned, and who 
 brought to Milan the discouraging results of his interview with 
 Orsini's friends, whom he had found deaf to Bonapartist sug- 
 gestions.' 
 
 " No doubt they were found ' deaf.' Were they ever found 
 at all ? No such persons have ever been visited. A confidential 
 agent of the Orsini party has been sent over the whole ground, 
 each capi or chief of sections has been inquired of, and the 
 answer of each is that no Bonapartist emissary nor any such 
 pretended communication has ever reached them. The ' con- 
 fidential one' whom the writer ' repeatedly mentioned ' was M. 
 Pietri. 
 
 " The Wesiminster Review has given too many proofs of its 
 profound sympathy with Continental liberty, and for those who 
 have given their lives to promote it, for the friends of Orsini to 
 be under any other impression than that you have been mis- 
 lead or misinformed of the facts of Felice Orsini's character and 
 career. — Yours faithfully, G. J. Holyoake." 
 
 With his usual fairness and promptness the editor inserted 
 this letter at the end of the next issue of the Westminster 
 Review, regretting that he had inserted the communication, 
 which he believed at the time to be trustworthy. 
 
 When in England Orsini was for many weeks the guest of a 
 friend in the North, whose doors were always open to exiles. 
 His daily habit was to ride through the country, and his fine 
 figure and handsome resolute face was met by passengers as he 
 galloped through splendid scenes and over sterile moors where 
 the volcanoes of industry reminded him of those of his own 
 brighter land. 
 
 When Madame Herwegh presented Orsini with white gloves, 
 
3c SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 he laid them aside to wear on the morning of his execution, 
 although he was then free. He had so often been near death 
 that he thought death always near him, and, as it was impossible 
 for him to cease to conspire for the freedom of Italy, he regarded 
 himself as destined to the scaffold. He had known the perils 
 of prisons — he had mastered the language of stone walls — the 
 language of misery — by which the last messages of the con- 
 demned are struck from cell to cell. When the last hour came 
 and Pierri, who was with him, faltered, Orsini, not only un 
 daunted but bright and daring as was his wont in danger, 
 counselled Pierri to be of good courage and acquit himself as a 
 patriot should. 
 
CHAPTER LXn. 
 
 A FRENCH JACOBIN IN LONDON, 
 
 (1856.) 
 
 From 1851 to 1856 we had a real French Jacobin active in 
 England, sprung like a Revolutionary Phoenix from the ashes 
 of the Parisian clubs of 1793 — Dr. Simon "Bernard le Clubiste," 
 as he signed himself in his first letter to The Times. Dr. Bernard 
 was born in Carcasonne in 18 17. A physician by education, he, 
 as surgeon on board a man-of-war, displayed intrepidity in two 
 or more sea battles. He was a Phalansterist of the school of 
 Fourier. He edited insurgent papers, and was chairman of the 
 club of the Bazaar Bonne Nouvelle, where he addressed five 
 thousand people nightly. Unintimidated when his colleagues 
 were shot, he carried the agitation to Belgium, and was soon in 
 prison and on his trial there. He got into trouble about Robert 
 Blum, the publisher, who was shot by the Austrians in Vienna. 
 Eight prosecutions had spent their rage upon him, when in 
 1851 he came to England, and practised as a physician at 40, 
 Regent Circus, Piccadilly, London. Before two years were 
 well gone he was in Newgate. His knowledge of the 
 physiology of elocution, in which he excelled, and of the cure 
 of the impediments of speech, would soon have brought him 
 fame and fortune. His skill in Belgium had brought him great 
 renown.' We who knew him, liked him for his simplicity, 
 genuineness, and courage. Becoming involved in the Orsini 
 affair, he was tried for his life at the Old Bailey, in London, 
 and would have been condemned had it not been for the 
 defiant spirit of a city of London jury, who would not convict 
 any one at the bidding of a foreign power. Louis Napoleon, the 
 
32 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 usurper, was understood to ask that Dr. Bernard should be put 
 upon his trial, which was done. The case lasted five days. 
 Edwin James, an advocate politically popular in his time, 
 defended the doctor. I was in court, and heard with amazement 
 his ornate appeal so materially destitute of facts. He was unac- 
 quainted with what he was supposed to know, or might have 
 known — and should have known. The Attorney-General, Sir 
 Fitzroy Kelly, who prosecuted, made it a point of horror that a 
 letter from Orsini found in Dr. Bernard's room inquired " How 
 about the Red and Co.," which the jury were told, with up- 
 turned eyes and uplifted hands, referred to the "Red Republic," 
 for which the doctor and his terrific correspondent were plotting. 
 All the while Orsini's letter merely inquired after a lady, the 
 colour of whose hair he exaggerated because she had refused his 
 offer to marry her. He always afterwards referred to the com- 
 mittee of which the lady was a member as the " Red and Co." 
 Mr. Edwin James had no explanation to give. He had not 
 inquired into the facts of the case which a question would 
 have elicited. The Attorney-General Kelly was he who shed 
 tears before the jury in attesting the innocence of the Quaker, 
 Tawell, who had confessed to Kelly that he had murdered the 
 woman at Berkhampstead, for which Tawell was hanged. From 
 Sir Fitzroy, pious without scruples, Dr. Bernard had nothing 
 to expect. Edwin James, his counsel, trusted entirely to the 
 hereditary spirit of English defiance of foreign dictation, and 
 modelled his appeal to the jury on the famous reply of Mirabeau 
 to the message of the king. Fortunately for Dr. Bernard, this 
 intrepid eloquence succeeded. Spoken in a loud, strong, im- 
 perious voice, the following is the passage which won, or justified, 
 the verdict : — 
 
 "Gentlemen, I need not remind you that it has been of 
 the greatest advantage to this country that her free shores have 
 been open to exiles from other lands. The revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes drove to our shores the Saurins, the Romillys, 
 and the Laboucheres, who have shed a lustre on this country. 
 Will you, then, at the bidding of a neighbouring despot, destroy 
 the asylum which aliens have hitherto enjoyed ? Let me urge 
 you to let the verdict be your own, uninfluenced by the ridicu- 
 lous fears of French armaments or French invasions, such as 
 
A FRENCH JACOBIN IN LONDON. 33 
 
 were raised in Peltier's case. You, gentlemen, will not be 
 intimidated ; you will not pervert and wrest the law of England 
 to please a foreign dictator ! No. Tell the prosecutor in this 
 case that the jury-box is the sanctuary of English liberty. Tell 
 him that on this spot your predecessors have resisted the 
 arbitrary power of the Crown, backed by the influence of Crown- 
 serving and time-serving judges. Tell him that under every 
 difficulty and danger your predecessors have secured the 
 political liberties of the people. Tell him that the verdicts of 
 English juries are founded on the eternal and immutable 
 principles of justice. Tell him that, panoplied in that armour, 
 no threat of armament or invasion can awe you. Tell him that, 
 though 600,000 French bayonets glittered before you, though 
 the roar of French cannon thundered in your ears, you will 
 return a verdict which your own breasts and consciences will 
 sanctify and approve, careless whether that verdict pleases or 
 displeases a foreign despot, or secures or shakes, and destroys 
 for ever the throne which a tyrant has built upon the ruins of 
 the liberty of a once free and mighty people." 
 
 Lord Campbell — one of those Whigs who apologise for their 
 honourable sympathy with liberty by acts which Tories might 
 covet, and then wonder why they are not popular — summed up 
 for conviction. As the jury were about to retire, Dr. Bernard, 
 lifting his hands and standing erect in the dock, exclaimed with 
 great fervour, " I declare the words which have been used by 
 the judge are not correct, and that the balls taken by Georgi 
 to Brussels were not those which were taken to Paris. I have 
 brought no evidence here, because I am not accustomed to 
 compromise any person. I declare that I am not the hirer of 
 assassins, that Rudio has declared in Paris, on his trial, that he 
 asked himself to go to Orsini. I was not the hirer of assassins. 
 Of the blood of the victims of the 14th of January there is 
 nothing on my heart any more than on any one here. We want 
 only to crush despotism and tyranny everywhere. I have con- 
 spired — I will conspire everywhere — because it is my duty, my 
 sacred duty, as of every one ; but never, never, will I be a 
 murderer." 
 
 On the verdict of acquittal being given, men waved their hats, 
 the members of the bar cheered, ladies stood on their seats and 
 
 vol. 11. 4 
 
34 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 waved their handkerchiefs or their bonnets, and cheered again, 
 and again, the crowd outside catching indications of the nature 
 of the verdict, sent back in still louder cheers, their greet- 
 ings at the result. 
 
 "At length," says The Times reporter, " silence was restored, 
 and Bernard, whose eye sparkled, and whose frame quivered 
 with intense emotion, said, in a loud voice, " I do declare that 
 this verdict is the truth, and it proves that in England there 
 will be always liberty to crush tyranny. All honour to an 
 English jury ! " 
 
 Thus the great Jacobin escaped being hanged. Unhappily 
 he came to a more lamentable end. A bewitching angelic 
 traitor was sent as a spy to beguile him, and to her, in fatal 
 confidence, he spoke of his friends. When he found that they 
 were seized one by one and shot, he realized his irremediable 
 error, lost his reason, and so died. 
 
 Dr. Bernard had every virtue save prudence. I observed with 
 apprehension that he would talk in a loud voice in the streets, 
 of things it were best to whisper with circumspection in private. 
 It suggested itself to me that if I conspired it would be well to 
 watch the ways of him I conspired with. Dr. Bernard had that 
 fervour which made him imagine all the world had come to his 
 opinion, and took the town into his confidence. Partly it was 
 England that misled him, he could not imagine that spies were 
 in English streets. 
 
 Edwin James was not a man of many scruples. When he 
 was a candidate for Marylebone he spoke one day at the usual 
 hustings at the Regent's Park end of Portland Place. His 
 adversary put himself forward as a " Resident Candidate," when 
 James exclaimed, " I may be one day a happy resident — but, 
 alas ! as yet I have no wife and family." "You old incubator," 
 exclaimed a loud-mouthed and abrupt elector, " you have three 
 families in the borough already, and you know it ! " The 
 " gentle Edwin " was not abashed, but laughed and spoke on. 
 The electors knew when they voted for him that he would sell 
 them if he could get a price for them, calculating that, if he 
 couid not, he would serve them well. In which they were right. 
 Within twenty minutes of his entering the House of Commons 
 after being declared duly elected, I heard him take part in a 
 debate, and offer himself to Lord John Russell. But Lord John, 
 
A FRENCH JACOBIN IN LONDON. 35 
 
 when the opportunity came to him, would not buy, and James 
 remained a popular member — until Lord Yarborough gave him 
 the choice of leaving England or being indicted here. He went 
 to New York, where the enemies of the Republic said the bar 
 had fewer scruples as to its associates. Edwin James found to 
 the contrary. After many years banishment he returned to 
 England. Re-admission at the bar being impossible, he began 
 a new legal career, and kept terms in a solicitor's office, to come 
 up for examination as a new candidate. I often met him walk- 
 ing to the city at an early hour, pale, sedate, unostentatious — 
 his ruddiness, grossness, and pomposity gone out of him. I felt 
 respect for his courage and perseverance. Death intervened, 
 and he came to his end without attaining his purpose. 
 
CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 THE STORY OF CARLO DE RUDIO. 
 
 (1857-62.) 
 
 Rudio — " Count Carlo de Rudio " I he called himself, but there 
 was little of the " Count " about him — was an Italian, and 
 one of the shell-bearers when Orsini and Pierri made their 
 attack on the Emperor Louis Napoleon in Paris. Rudio bore 
 a shell, but whether he threw it is doubtful. " He could not 
 get near enough," he said. Though deported to Guiana for his 
 reputed share in the transaction, he escaped, it was believed by 
 connivance of the French authorities there. In a small boat he 
 managed to reach the English colony of Berbice, and after- 
 wards worked his passage to England. Dr. Bernard stated on 
 his trial at the Old Bailey that Rudio came and was not sought. 
 Why he came, or who sent him, demanded scrutiny by those 
 who received him before employing him, or suffering his parti- 
 cipation. He may have been impelled to join in the enterprize 
 by patriotism, and afterwards have shrunk from the conse- 
 quences. The Daily Telegraph of August 30, 1861, described 
 him as one who " betrayed his confederates," and stated that 
 " the revelations he made were of considerable help towards 
 the prosecution of Dr. Bernard." The allusion must be to 
 information given at the time of Rudio's own apprehension. 
 Nothing transpired at Bernard's trial as to " revelations " made 
 by him. 
 
 In England Rudio afterwards asked my advice and aid to 
 bring out a Life of himself, of which some pretentious numbers 
 
 1 I remember he traced his descent from Nosa Danus, whom the Emperor 
 Otone the Great, in the ninth century, made Governor of Belluno. 
 
 36 
 
THE STORY OF CARLO DE RUDIO. 37 
 
 appeared. Probably I published some numbers for him. He 
 went about lecturing. At some places, as the Telegraph 
 reported, he complained that he was underpaid for his expedi- 
 tion to Paris, and that " Dr. Bernard only gave him £1^ and 
 his railway ticket" ; further, that "Mazzini refused to recom- 
 mend him to the Revolutionary Committee." Making these 
 statements looked like the act of a traitor. It was, as far as his 
 word could go, fixing on Dr. Bernard a complicity of which he 
 had been acquitted by a jury, and doing so in a form which no 
 one had attempted to prove against him. Though Rudio's 
 words did not affect Mazzini, who refused to recognize him, 
 they served to give the public the impression that Rudio had 
 a right to look to Mazzini as a patron. My wish was to decline 
 any communication with Rudio, and I would have done so but 
 for the request of a friend of Dr. Bernard, who, too generously 
 commiserating Rudio's condition, besought me and also Mazzini 
 to aid him. 
 
 Mazzini, always forgiving to his enemies, had pity for Rudio, 
 because he was an Italian who had, perad venture, entered into 
 conspiracy and peril for his country, and because he thought 
 that probably fear had led him to betray others. At that time 
 attempts were made in Parliament, and in the press of the 
 governing classes, to connect Mazzini with every act of insur- 
 gency or outrage in Europe, as was afterwards done towards Mr. 
 Parnell with respect to Ireland. Yet Mazzini incurred the peril 
 of affording a colourable pretext for this imputation against 
 him, as he had often done, from motives of humanity. 
 
 One of Rudio's letters to me was the following : — 
 
 " 4, Felix Place, Barker Gate, Nottingham, 
 11 Feb. 16, 1861. 
 " Dear Sir, — I have received a letter from yoursfriend, 
 
 which tells me that you offer yourself to help me in my publi- 
 cation. Of course my letter is to let you know that my publi- 
 cation cannot go further for the want of pecuniary means, and 
 I am obliged to leave off, as I have resolved to leave this town 
 and go elsewhere, where I hope I shall find means of subsis- 
 tence for myself and my poor unhappy family. But, as I am 
 without the most necessary means of carrying out my views, I 
 will take the liberty to make you an offer ; and that would be 
 
38 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 to sell you the copywrite of my pamphlet, leaving at your 
 consciousness the value of it. I assure you, dear sir, that no 
 man of my condition has more suffered than I, in this last few 
 months especially. Many a day we have been without any 
 thing to eat — without coal to warm us ; twice some proposi- 
 tions very brilliant has been offered to me ; but them was 
 brilliant to those that have another heart than mine. With 
 strength of mind I have rejected them, and preferred to suffer 
 than become a spy. To you, then, I appeal as a man of re- 
 ligious and political principles equally to those that I am proud 
 to have ; no, sir, no human power shall have the chance of 
 turning me out of that path that I have been for twelve years. 
 Death only shall put a stop at my principles, but until I shall 
 have a drop of blood in my veins I shall always be ready to run 
 against the danger for the benefit of our noble cause, though I 
 have been repayed with the blackest of ingratitude. Still I will 
 pessever while my heart still beats within me, and the taske I 
 have undertaken is unaccomplished. Hoping of a reply, I with 
 my wife and child, send our best expression of gratitude, and 
 believe me, Dear Sir, your truly and fellowman, 
 
 " C. Carlo de Rudio. 
 " P.S. — I hope you will excuse my bad styl of the English 
 language ; I have a great presentiment, ' and that is only 
 the aliment that keeps me a life,' that I shall no longer stay 
 without that my person will again be sacrificed for the great 
 principle of patriotism, liberty, and honour." 
 
 This letter, creditably written for one in humble society who 
 had taught himself, had the fault of protesting his fidelity to 
 one who did not question it, nor believe it. Interest in the 
 American Civil War led Rudio to wish to go to that country. 
 By that time he had his English wife, whom he married at 
 Nottingham, and two children. He wrote to me, January 13, 
 1864, saying, "Mr. Bradlaugh had promised him aid," and 
 Rudio entreated me for more. I had sent him £6 on the 
 second of that month (as I see from the cheque before me). 
 The following letter to me relates to these affairs : — 
 
 " My Dear Friend,— I shall be very grateful for all that you 
 will do with W. to help our collecting. I did most unhappily 
 
THE STORY OF CARLO DE RUDIO. 39 
 
 give toRudio the £1. But if £\ shall be wanted for his going, 
 you may reckon on another one from me. It will be economy 
 too, for if he remains I shall have to help him often. — Ever 
 faithfully yours, Joseph Mazzini." 
 
 At length the means for a voyage were collected, and I gave 
 Rudio a warm poncho to protect him from the cold at sea. At 
 that time I was expecting daily apprehension for selling un- 
 stamped papers at Fleet Street, and this poncho, as I have said, 
 was kept under the counter with biscuits and a small flask of 
 eau de vie. I had had experience of apprehension, and knew the 
 value of warmth and refreshment the first night. As Rudio 
 was leaving me, I thought this would protect him from the 
 Atlantic blasts. Whether he perished in the war, or on 
 which side he fought, I never heard, nor have I heard of him 
 since. 
 
CHAPTER LXIV. 
 STABBING SPIES IN LONDON. 
 
 (1857.) 
 
 jspotism is the nursing mother of murder. It employs spies 
 betray patriots to the scaffold. The friends of liberty have 
 :en no choice but to conspire and kill in self-defence. Some- 
 nes these desperate feuds, originating in Naples or St. Peters- 
 rg, in Berlin or Paris, were fought out in London. 
 One day an announcement appeared in the London papers 
 at a young Italian, on patriotic duty, had stabbed four 
 ■eigners in a restaurant in Panton Street, Haymarket. They 
 :re all seriously wounded by thrusts which had the vigour of 
 sassination in them. It was a miracle none were killed. They 
 ;re conveyed to an hospital, and the active assailant, who had 
 tacked them with such invincible rapidity that they were un- 
 le to detain him, was " wanted " by the police. The question 
 is put to me whether I would provide for him. I readily 
 reed to do so, as I held a house convenient for that purpose, 
 le back rooms overlooked open-gate grounds, and I could 
 itch the arrival of the police in that direction if they made a 
 scent in the rear. So if they came at the back, I could let 
 y active guest out at the front — if they came at the front, he 
 uld escape at the back. If they came both ways at once, I 
 .d an apartment at the lower end of the garden, and as soon 
 they had passed over him to enter the house, a signal would 
 able him to leap into adjacent gardens before they could be 
 rare of the movement. I had information that my guest 
 Duld probably refuse to be taken alive, and a desperate en- 
 unter would have caused alarm in my family, in which there 
 
STABBING SPIES IN LONDON. 41 
 
 was illness. As a guarantee against this could not be given, 
 other arrangements were made for the determined visitor. 
 Afterwards I much regretted having made the inquiry as to his 
 intended resistance, as he was not brought to me, and I lost the 
 pleasure of succouring so alert and brave a man, for whose safety 
 I had matured preparations. The four wounded men were foreign 
 spies supposed to be in the pay of the Emperor Napoleon, and 
 mouchardism is a profession v** did not recognise in London. 
 
 When the men in the hospital recovered, they went their 
 way. They knew very well who their assailant was, but would 
 never tell, nor could the police induce them to appear before 
 the magistrates and make any charge. They had sufficing 
 reasons for not allowing their own identity, or the nature of 
 their business, or the name of their employer, to be known, and 
 the fourfold attempted assassinations in Panton Street conse- 
 quently passed out of the memory of London. Their intrepid 
 assailant knew the spies very well. He had tracked them to 
 their lair, and fallen upon them with almost superhuman fury. 
 He kept his own counsel, and no one who knew it spoke his 
 name. The. contest had to be renewed elsewhere — at another 
 time. The terrible silence of the perilous enterprise was never 
 broken. 
 
CHAPTER LXV. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURE IN THE 
 TOWER HAMLETS. 
 
 (I857-) 
 
 was in 1857 that I first became a Parliamentary candidate, 
 was in opposition to Sir William Clay, who had for twenty- 
 jr years represented the Tower Hamlets, but who was 
 warded as a stationary Liberal. 
 
 Eleven years later (1868) — never being impatient — I 
 dressed the electors of my native town, Birmingham, 
 fteen years afterwards, in 1884, I was a candidate at Leicester, 
 
 the retirement of Mr. P. A. Taylor. My object this time 
 is to promote the passing of an Affirmation Bill for members 
 Parliament, which would open the doors of the House to all 
 rsons who found the ecclesiastical terms of the oath not in 
 :ordance with their personal belief. As I should on this 
 Dund have refused to take the oath, I might have aided the 
 use of affirmation had I been supported by a constituency 
 lose self-respect lay in the same direction. But that was not 
 be. On addressing a public meeting at Leicester, twenty- 
 re questions were put to me. Nine of them were still-born, 
 :re ideal and impracticable, and never had working life in 
 zm. The other twenty I had invented myself or advocated 
 ing put to candidates years ago when in Leicester, before the 
 estioners were out of their cradles. The answers therefore 
 :re easy to me. 
 
 My candidature in the Tower Hamlets was the first claim 
 er made to represent labour in Parliament ; and it was the 
 5t time Mr. Mill supported such an intention. It was at 
 
 42 
 
PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURE. 43 
 
 my request that Mr. Mill's subscription of £\o was not made 
 public, as I knew his generosity would do him more harm than 
 it would do me good. Mr. Mill would have accepted the conse- 
 quences, but it was not for me who profited by his friendship to 
 impose the risk upon him. Some years later, when he sought 
 to re-enter Parliament for Westminster, it was reported that he 
 had, at the same time, given a subscription to support the can- 
 didature of Mr. Bradlaugh at Northampton, as little popular as 
 myself — and it cost Mr. Mill his seat. 
 
 My Committee Room was at 4, West Street, Cambridge 
 Heath, N.E., and Mr. Charles Bradlaugh was one of my 
 committee. My address to the constituency was the following, 
 which shows the questions in the minds of those regarded as 
 " advanced " Reformers of that day : — 
 
 " Gentlemen,- — During sixteen years in which I have been 
 engaged in the public advocacy of Industrial and Religious 
 Reforms, I have only been solicitous to be of service. The last 
 prosecution in this country for the independent expression 
 of theological opinion was sustained by me. I was the last 
 person against whom the Queen's Exchequer Writ was issued 
 for the part taken in securing the Repeal of the Newspaper 
 Stamp, and but for the risks thus incurred the public might 
 still be struggling with that question. I have constantly helped 
 public movements, not the less when those who accepted my 
 services thought it well not to acknowledge them — the rule of 
 modern political life being to ignore those who do the work 
 lest you should discourage those who never do anything. In 
 all this I have acquiesced, because it is the first duty of a pub- 
 licist to help without permitting any personal consideration to 
 hamper the public cause. 
 
 "I should vote for Residential Suffrage; and the Ballot, 
 which would make it honest ; and for Triennial Parliaments, 
 which would make it a power ; and for Equal Electoral 
 Districts, which would make it just. A public opinion which 
 can only make itself heard in the streets, and cannot reach the 
 Cabinet, is impotent. In the late war the only character that 
 stood the test was the character of the people. When aristo- 
 cratic administrators failed, the people were efficient. Therefore, 
 if English honour was safe in the hands of the common soldier 
 
SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 the bloody defiles of Inkermann, it may equally be trusted 
 the common people at the polling booth. 
 " First among social improvements is the measure introduced 
 Sir Erskine Perry for giving, under just conditions, married 
 >men an independent right to their property and earnings. 
 " Next is the demand that the State should establish well- 
 vised Home Colonies upon the waste lands of the Crown, 
 lich might eventually extinguish pauperism — home colonies 
 lere the labourer in distress, instead of taking his wallet for 
 s parish loaf, need only take his spade to dig his honest bread 
 home colonies which should be training schools of emigrants, 
 
 10 might leave England not as now so often to perish help- 
 sly out of our sight, but as qualified to support themselves as 
 ricultural experience alone can enable them to do. 
 
 " In this country there is a decided element of active and 
 ogressive opinion, systematically denied recognition ; and 
 lich is misjudged, because never legitimately represented, 
 lis is nowhere more evident than in the Tower Hamlets. 
 " There wants more than the abolition of Church Rates. All 
 igious endowments are but a tax imposed by the strong 
 on the consciences of the weaker party. 
 " Then why should a Christian State accept the credit of the 
 (thschild House, and refuse Parliamentary position to a 
 :mber of the family ; and where is the religious equality in a 
 ite which admits the Catholic and excludes the Jew ? 
 :ligious liberty is not in half the danger from the Chief Rabbi 
 at it is from the Pope. 
 
 11 Public justice requires that the oath, like marriage, should 
 a civil or religious rite, at the option of those concerned. 
 ithout a law of Affirmation in favour of those who conscien- 
 usly object to the oath as now administered, the magistrate 
 made a judge of religious opinion, and awards to unscrupulous 
 rsciences advantages denied to veracity. 
 
 "In this country, where the mass of the people are so hard 
 irked, Sunday recreation is both a necessity and a mercy ; 
 d, where it can be accompanied by instruction, it is also a 
 >ral improvement. Hence I should support the opening of the 
 ystal Palace, the National Gallery, the British Museum, and 
 lilar places on the Sunday afternoon. Since nonconformity 
 creed is permitted among us, uniformity of conduct should 
 
PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURE. 45 
 
 not be enforced by Act of Parliament. The poor man who is 
 a slave to-day and a pauper to-morrow should not be dictated 
 to as to how he shall spend the only day which is his : whether 
 ji seeking the fresh air from which he has been six days 
 excluded, or in affording instructive enjoyment to his family. 
 To deny him this humble freedom is surely the worst of the 
 insolences of opinion. 
 
 "All progress is a growth, not an invention. Legislation 
 can do little more than enable the people to help themselves. 
 But this help, given with a personal knowledge of their wants, 
 and in a spirit free from the temerity which would precipitate 
 society on an unknown future, and free from the cowardice 
 which is afraid to advance at all, may do much. — I am, gentle- 
 men, your obedient servant, George Jacob Holyoake. 
 
 " 147, Fleet Street, March 23, 1857." 
 
 Looking at this address with its manifold proposals so long 
 before their day, the reader will not wonder at my not being 
 elected. 
 
 Mr. Acton Smee Ayrton was popular in the Tower Hamlets 
 because he promised more thoroughness in Liberalism than 
 Sir William Clay, who was a gentleman of fine manners and 
 fixed principles — fixed also in the sense of not moving forwards, 
 and this made many electors wish for a member capable of 
 progress. Mr. Ayrton's election was uncertain, my candidature 
 could not be successful, but by persisting in it I might imperil 
 his chances ; so I wrote to him to the effect that I would retire 
 and advise my friends to vote for him. At midnight he wrote 
 me a grateful letter of acknowledgment. 
 
 On the day of the declaration of the poll, I was on the plat- 
 form. Mr. Ayrton was not only hoarse, but his voice had that 
 vinous impediment of utterance that Lord Garlies manifested 
 when addressing the House of Commons on the Disabilities of 
 Women, or Viscount Royston's when he spoke upon the Game 
 Laws late at night. The returning officer, seeing Mr. Ayrton's 
 distress, with kindly consideration procured an orange, no easy 
 thing to get on that crowded platform, and handed it to Mr. 
 Ayrton, saying — " Here, sir, try an orange, it may relieve you." 
 A Tower Hamlets election mob thirty years ago was not a very 
 dainty crowd, but they had an instinct for an act of public 
 
46 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 courtesy, and cheered the returning officer who showed it. To 
 their astonishment Mr. Ayrton tossed the orange back, into the 
 giver's face, saying, with incredible rudeness, " I want no orange ! 
 That's what they offer people when they are going to be hanged " 
 — accusing the returning officer of treating him as a culprit. 
 The remark was probably meant to be a witticism, and the 
 speaker looked to the audience as though he expected the 
 crowd would laugh. Their astonished silence did them credit. 
 The returning officer never offered any more oranges to dis- 
 tressed members elect, but left them to roar unrelieved. 
 
 At the end there was a cry among some of the electors for 
 me to speak. The majority of the crowd refused to hear 
 anybody speak but Mr. Ayrton, and the returning officer, who 
 was courteous to every one, said to him, " They will hear you ; 
 just speak to them, and procure Mr. Holyoake a hearing." 
 Though he had so recently written to me a letter of thanks for 
 having contributed to his success, he turned away, and refused 
 compliance with the request. As his election was assured, 
 nothing could harm him further. But civility was contrary to 
 his nature, nor could the obligation of gratitude reconcile him 
 to it. The habit of offensiveness never forsook him. When 
 he became the Right Hon. Commissioner of Works, he was 
 always throwing the orange in somebody's face. 
 
 Mr Ayrton came into St. James's Hall after the great Radical 
 procession to Hyde Park, and reproached the Queen for not 
 being present in the Mall to see it pass. Mr. Ayrton himself 
 was not there. It was then Mr. Bright arose and made his 
 famous defence of the Queen. The Board of Works, of which 
 Mr. Ayrton became Commissioner, suggests familiarity with 
 scaffold poles, excavations, and brick carts, and Mr. Ayrton's 
 manners were in keeping. He addressed Mr. Barry, the archi- 
 tect of the House of Commons, as though he were a jerry 
 builder, and he compared Sir Joseph Hooker, the great botanical 
 professor at Kew, to a " market gardener." These uncivil 
 outrages cost Mr. Ayrton his seat at the Tower Hamlets, and I 
 own to feeling gratification when discomfiture befel him. His 
 unpopularity excluded hifn from Parliament ever after. 
 
 Long before his death I aided in promoting his return to the 
 House of Commons by writing words to his advantage, where 
 they were likely to be influential (in the Nineteenth Century) : 
 
PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURE. 47 
 
 because, though manners are much in politics, principle is 
 more, and Mr. Ayrton had principles to which, in his offensive 
 way, he was true. The interest of the public service required 
 that the architects' accounts and the Kew Gardens accounts 
 should be audited by the Board of Works. Mr. Ayrton was an 
 honest minister, and he encountered hostility enough on this 
 ground without augmenting it by ill taste. It was to his credit 
 that he opposed every system of centralisation, aided the repeal 
 of the taxes upon knowledge, and procured the extinction of 
 the editorial sureties. He had the credit when in the House of 
 being the only member who read every bill brought in. He 
 knew all that was attempted, and if he sometimes made mis- 
 chief he stopped much. I ought also to mention that it was 
 Mr. Ayrton who, finding in the archives of his office my 
 suggestion made to Lord John Manners to have a light on the 
 Clock Tower, put it up. 
 
CHAPTER LXVI. 
 A LONDON REVOLUTION. 
 
 (1858.) 
 
 Thirty-three years have elapsed since the parcel of papers 
 and placards relating to the " Anti-Conspiracy Bill Committee" 
 of 1858 (which were for the first time untied February 21, 
 1 891) were laid aside. Most of those who took part in the 
 agitation, which overthrew Lord Palmerston at that time, are 
 now dead. Of Parliamentary men, Bright, Byng, Baines, 
 Cobden, Disraeli, Gibson, Gilpin, Roebuck, Lord John Russell, 
 Sir John Shelley ; of members of the Committee, Mr. Ashurst, 
 Mr. Shaen, Col. A. B. Richards, Mr. Richardson, and Mr 
 Mackintosh have all died. 
 
 Few persons of the general public now have any definite idea 
 of what took place in London in the third week in February, 
 1858. After the attempt of Orsini to kill the Emperor of the 
 French in Paris, it was believed the Government would be 
 asked to, and would, give up Dr. Bernard and another London 
 citizen, reputedly associated with him. Some French colonels 
 who happened to be in Paris at the time made warlike and 
 menacing speeches, expressive of their readiness to come to 
 London and fetch Dr. Bernard to be disposed of in Paris. This 
 was an outrage upon the Queen, as it proclaimed a hostile 
 invasion of her capital ; but the Emperor of the French did 
 not cause to be introduced into the French Parliament any 
 bill to deal with these belligerent and compromising colonels. 
 On the contrary, he directed Count Walewski to bring a charge 
 against the English Government of " sheltering assassins and 
 actually favouring their designs." Lord Palmerston, a friend 
 
A L ONDON RE VOL UT10N. 49 
 
 of Louis Napoleon, who connived at and encouraged his usurpa- 
 tion, made no reply to this insolent despatch, but brought in a 
 bill to call foreigners to account who in this country conspired 
 against a friendly government abroad. The bill was reasonable, 
 but untimely. Being brought in immediately after Walewski's 
 despatch, it gave the people of England the impression that 
 we were going to alter our laws, or make laws, at the dicta- 
 tion of a foreign Power. To this Englishmen never consent. 
 Neither Radical, Whig, Tory, nor Quaker would countenance 
 this un-English proceeding. Then I witnessed the only per- 
 emptory revolution occurring in England in my time, of which 
 I saw the beginning and the end. 
 
 Lord Palmerston brought in his Conspiracy Bill, and the 
 House of Commons passed the first reading. The next day, 
 Mr. W. H. Ashurst, Mr. James Stansfeld, Mr. P. A. Taylor, 
 Sir John Bennett, and Mr. Shaen, subscribed £$ each ; Colonel 
 A. B. Richards, George Leverson, Alderman Healey of Roch- 
 dale, Mr. John Mackintosh, and Mr. Connell subscribed lesser 
 amounts ; and I see, on the list made at the time, the name of 
 C. Bradlaugh for 5s., of which he had very few in those days. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon it was resolved to call a meeting for 
 Monday night, in the Freemason's Hall, though the intimation 
 of it, owing to shortness of time, could only be given by word 
 of mouth to political societies. On Monday, a meeting was 
 held in the Secular Room at my house, 147, Fleet Street. Mr. 
 W. H. Ashurst, Mr. W. Shaen, Mr. J. Stansfeld, Colonel 
 Richards (a Conservative, and then editor of the Morning 
 Advertiser), Mr. John Mackintosh, Mr. J. B. Langley, Mr. 
 George Leverson, Mr. Connell, and others were present. I 
 was asked to take the chair, and a committee was appointed of 
 those present, with power to add to their number. Funds 
 were to be collected, and I was elected treasurer. A demon- 
 stration was projected, if it could be brought about, to be held 
 in Hyde Park on Sunday. 
 
 On Monday evening, when we arrived, the Freemasons' Hall 
 was so crowded that the conveners of the meeting were unable 
 to get in. Mr. Stansfeld spoke to the manager of the hall, 
 who conducted us through the wine cellars to a private passage 
 that led on to the platform. In a small gallery on the opposite 
 side of the hall, fronting the platform, were two French spies, 
 
 vol. 11. S 
 
So SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 disguised as gasfitters — assumed to be placed there b 
 manager in case their services should be required. The} 
 admitted in the interests of the French Emperor. There 
 no foreigners on the platform, nor were they observable 
 meeting. It was an English meeting called to consid 
 English question. The variety and excitement of the aud 
 who knew not who had called them together, was metrop< 
 and we saw that the question was in the hands of the p 
 It then occurred to the leaders on the platform that they 
 proceed to call a public meeting in Hyde Park on the foil 
 Sunday, where the people of London could assemble tc 
 their opinion on the steps taken by the Government coi 
 ing the honour and reputation of the country. We had 
 tions to holding political meetings in Hyde Park on the S' 
 except on a great national emergency, when the voice of Li 
 required to be heard. Owing to business pursuits, the ] 
 in imposing numbers could be assembled on no other da 
 was thought that the occasion justified a Sunday meet 
 the Park, and I was asked to announce it. The audiei 
 the hall was tumultuous, and, fearing I might not speak 
 sufficient loudness for every one to hear, I asked several g 
 men to make the announcement for me. They, hoi 
 proved unwilling to take the responsibility of it. I exp 
 that the committee took that onus, and merely warn 
 borrow a voice. Mr. Mackintosh, who wrote as " Nor: 
 brian " in Reynolds's Newspaper, who had been a schooln 
 and had stentorian lungs, finally complied with my re 
 For a time he demurred ; but on my saying " Use my 
 and say you give the notice at my request," he consented, 
 committee desired notice given to that meeting, as then 
 not sufficient funds to make known to the whole of L 
 their intention. 
 
 From the way in which the announcement was rec 
 there was no doubt those present would extend the pu 
 of it. At eleven o'clock on that Monday night it was a i 
 of doubt if London could be interested in the protest a 
 the proposed bill. Yet on the following Friday morni 
 London was in the streets. I mever knew London chai 
 in a few days. Not one shopkeeper in a hundred take 
 part in public affairs. Probably not one man in a thous 
 
A LONDON REVOLUTION. 51 
 
 the four millions of population can be counted upon to appear 
 in public agitation ; yet on that Friday morning the shop- 
 keepers in Oxford Street, from Holborn to the Marble Arch, 
 were at their doors conversing with passers-by, and discussing 
 the motion of which Mr. Milner Gibson had given notice for 
 the rejection of Lord Palmerston's Bill. The first reading of 
 that bill had been carried by the enormous majority of 200. 
 To destroy that majority in a week was an unusual under- 
 taking. The Government were not merely confident — they 
 were jubilant. Mr. Baxter Langley placed his office in 3, 
 Falcon Court, at our disposal for placard purposes ; and the 
 committee, at 147, Fleet Street, issued the following circular to 
 known publicists, societies, and clubs in town and country, for 
 none of us expected that success would come so swiftly as it 
 did:— 
 
 " You are urgently requested to co-operate with the great 
 movement which has commenced with the meeting at the 
 Freemasons' Tavern on Monday night, for the purpose of 
 opposing, by all legal means, the iniquitous Act of Lord Pal- 
 merston, called the Conspiracy to Murder Bill. We shall be 
 happy to receive delegates from the provinces to appear at our 
 public meetings in London, and we beg to impress upon you 
 the value of haste, in order that support may be given to those 
 members of Parliament who have voted against the bill, and 
 that the supporters of Palmerston may receive a warning from 
 their constituencies that if their votes be repeated they will lose 
 their seats. We intend now to hold meeting upon meeting, as 
 rapidly as possible, in every quarter, in order to elicit from the 
 people and the press a full expression of the wide and deep 
 feeling of disgust which pervades the public mind in London." 
 
 We need not have been so solicitous. Resentment at foreign 
 interference we found to be instinctive in the English heart. 
 In the meantime we issued placards. The longest, which fol- 
 lows, was drafted by Colonel Richards : — 
 
 " THE PEOPLE OF LONDON 
 
 will meet in Hyde Park on Sunday next, the 21st February, at 
 3 o'clock p.m., to protest by their peaceable and orderly presence 
 
52 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 against the new Conspiracy Bill, introduced by Lord Palmerston 
 under the dictation of the French Emperor, Louis Napoleon. 
 
 " Think of your countryman, the Engineer Watts, driven 
 mad at Naples. 
 
 " Think of the insults of the French colonels. 
 
 " Are Foreign Spies and Police to be allowed to act on British 
 Soil? 
 
 " Let those who attend in Hyde Park on Sunday next 
 Maintain perfect order. 
 " By order of the Freemasons' Hall Meeting Committee." 
 
 The next two were written by me :— 
 
 " ENGLISHMEN, 
 
 " On Monday, at Bow Street, an English magistrate presided 
 at a political trial, under the surveillance of French Police 
 Agents. Sir Richard Mayne sat on one hand, and a French 
 Agent on the other. Is it come to this in London ? 
 
 " Keep the Peace. Attend at Hyde Park, 
 
 " Break no Law. On Sunday, at 3 o'clock. 
 
 " Beware of all who attempt it." 
 
 The second was as follows : — 
 
 " MEN OF LONDON, 
 
 " Lord John Russell has said that, whoever may vote for Lord 
 Palmerston's Bill, dictated by the French Government, ' that 
 shame and humiliation he will not share.' 
 
 " Let all who would not share it either be present in Hyde 
 Park on Sunday, at 3 o'clock." 
 
 Another placard was a passage from The Times, not compli- 
 mentary to Lord Palmerston. We did not know then that The 
 Times attacked him in the interests of despots : — 
 
 " It is impossible to mention a spot from the Tagus to the 
 Dardanelles, from Sicily to the North Cape, where Lord Pal- 
 merston has founded one solid tangible claim to our gratitude 
 and confidence. We will not measure him as a Russiar 
 
A LONDON REVOLUTION. 53 
 
 Minister, or an Austrian Minister, or a French Minister, be- 
 cause, if we do, we must admit that he has given Russia a plea 
 for successful aggrandisement ; that he has helped to aggravate 
 and confirm the Austrian dominion in Italy, rend her influences 
 in Germany ; and that he may even claim a share in the honour 
 in making France what it is. He has played the game of our 
 national rivals and political antagonists, or, to borrow a sentence 
 from Mr. Osborne, he has merged into a tool and automaton 
 whose hands have been directed, and whose moves have been 
 made, by the will and unseen influence of a foreign prompter. 
 There is no constituted authority in Europe with which Lord 
 Palmerston has not quarrelled ; there is no insurrection that 
 he has not betrayed. The ardent partizans of Sicilian, Italian, 
 and Hungarian independence have certainly no special cause 
 for gratitude to a minister who gave them an abundance of 
 verbal encouragements and then abandoned them to their fate." 
 — The Times, June, 1850. 
 
 There was another side to Palmerston's character. He 
 expressed more sympathy with " struggling nationalities " than 
 any other foreign Minister of his day, which, from one in his 
 position, was an advantage to them. Foreign leaders in some 
 cases expected military aid to follow, and in their disappoint- 
 ment condemned him for not doing what he had not promised. 
 Lord Palmerston must have had good in him and have done 
 some, since every despotic government abroad, save Louis 
 Napoleon's, detested him. We next placarded Lord John 
 Russell's famous speech against the Conspiracy Bill. 
 
 " ' The threat (of France) has been somewhat too barely 
 exposed, somewhat too loudly uttered ; it has been so uttered 
 that I confess if I were to vote for this bill I should feel shame 
 and humiliation in giving that vote. Let those who will 
 support the bill of the Government ; that shame and 
 humiliation I am determined not to share.' (Tuesday, 
 February 9, 1858.)" 
 
 We enjoined order on every placard and suspicion of all who 
 did not observe it. London was overrun by foreign spies, and 
 is, indeed, never free from them. " Ignorant men, strangers 
 
54 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 to public affairs, accuse in general the police of itself fabricating 
 the plots which it discovers." Thiers said this, and his word 
 has to be taken into account, as he had had great State 
 experience. The police are often accused in this matter 
 wrongfully ; but experience also shows that they are at times 
 accused rightfully. They have invented plots in England, as 
 they do in Ireland to this day. There are always " fool friends " 
 of progress who commit the cause quite enough without police 
 plots. 
 
 We issued smaller bills for shop windows and for hand 
 to hand circulation. 
 
 " Will you submit to surrender your rights and liberties at 
 the demand of a Foreign Sovereign ? If not — if you have 
 still the same spirit your fathers had — attend in Hyde Park to 
 protest against Lord Palmerston's Conspiracy Bill dictated by 
 the French Government." 
 
 A meeting of delegates from England and Scotland was 
 assembled in London then. Mr. Alderman Livesey, of Roch- 
 dale (a school-fellow of John Bright), presided, and made the 
 most British speech delivered from any platform at that time. 
 At this meeting I moved a petition to Parliament which set 
 forth that no foreign prince ought to have power or jurisdiction 
 in this realm, and that the " French Colonels' Bill " — as it had 
 become to be called — was unnecessary, impolitic, and humi- 
 liating to the British nation. On receiving the petition, Lord 
 John Russell wrote to me from Chesham Place saying he 
 should have pleasure in presenting it. 
 
 Our meeting at the Freemasons' Hall was held on Monday 
 night, February 1 6. On Friday, in the same week, Mr. 
 Milner Gibson moved the rejection of the bill by an amend- 
 ment drawn, as the press of the day said, " with his consummate 
 skill." Mr. Walpole spoke against the bill, and so did Mr. 
 Byng. Mr. Gladstone, too, made a speech against it, which 
 Mr. Byng — a very good judge — said " excelled the finest efforts 
 of Burke or Fox." Sir Robert Peel made against it the most 
 sustained and dramatic speech he had delivered in the House. 
 The Government had employed a Mr. Bodkin to prosecute Dr. 
 Bernard. The way in which Sir Robert pronounced " Lawyer 
 
A LONDON REVOLUTION. 55 
 
 Bodkin " filled the House with laughter. That night every 
 Liberal speaker seemed nationalized. Though only one public 
 meeting had been held and one Hyde Park meeting arranged, 
 the excitement of the country had taken possession of the 
 House. I have witnessed many great debates in Parliament, 
 but I never saw the same vehemence and national spirit as was 
 displayed from eleven o'clock till twenty minutes past two 
 o'clock on Saturday morning. I saw the proceedings from the 
 Reporters' Gallery. Those who think Mr. Gladstone cannot 
 speak with directness, compression, and economy of words, 
 should have heard his speech that night. Lord Palmer- 
 ston was never less happy or less relevant. His voice was 
 thick and halting, as though he foresaw defeat. When the 
 division came, the 200 majority of the Government changed 
 sides or vanished, and, instead, a majority of 19 was recorded 
 against the " Colonels' Bill." Hats were waved (an unusual 
 thing in the House then) when the announcement was made. 
 The lobbies were crowded, and Palace Yard contained a large 
 throng of publicists and patriots waiting to learn the decision. 
 They went huzzaing along the streets, and people leaned out of 
 their bedroom windows to learn and cheer the good tidings. 
 
 A Cabinet Council was held the next afternoon, and the 
 Government resigned. From an early hour we were busy 
 endeavouring to undo what we had been energetically doing — 
 namely, to prevent the meeting we had called in Hyde Park. 
 The Government being overthrown, and the " Colonels' Bill " 
 dead, we wished to save London from tumult. We therefore 
 issued the two following announcements : — 
 
 1. " The committee of the Freemasons' Hall meeting, who 
 have been making arrangements for a great open-air demon- 
 stration in Hyde Park on Sunday, have resolved on abandoning 
 such meeting in consequence of the defeat of Lord Palmerston's 
 Conspiracy Bill by the House of Commons on Friday night." 
 
 2. " This morning a deputation from the committee for 
 arranging the Hyde Park meeting waited upon Sir Richard 
 Mayne to obtain his advice as to the best means of preventing 
 the public inconvenience from the announced meeting." 
 
 We spent more money on the Saturday and Sunday to 
 
56 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 prevent an assemblage in the Park than we had spent all the 
 week. We had notices of abandonment of the meeting posted 
 at all points indicated by the police, where they would meet 
 the eye of the East End throngs who might set out to the 
 Park. However, the people went all the same, and it was 
 computed that 200,000 were present on the Sunday afternoon, 
 who came to rejoice instead of to protest. 
 
 There were some cases of disorder before the courts the next 
 day, when the London magistrates were offensive and brutal to 
 the people, as they usually are when political issues arise. 
 Some cases of pocket-picking occurred, as they do even at the 
 Lord Mayor's Show. Mr. Beadon, the Marlborough Street 
 magistrate, said the committee who brought the people 
 together were " morally as guilty as the pickpockets." Calling 
 upon the public to meet in defence of national honour is legal, 
 and it was the duty of the magistrate to aid the committee on 
 asserting that right, and to punish and denounce only those 
 who abuse a public right. But London magistrates acted other- 
 wise. The police authorities well knew that the committee kept 
 on legal lines. We had nothing to conceal. I sent to Sir 
 Richard Mayne and the Home Secretary copies of all placards 
 and circulars the moment they were issued. We had no idea 
 that a vast meeting would result from any appeal we could make. 
 It was well for us the bill was defeated, or London in still 
 greater numbers would have been in the Park, and the excite- 
 ment would have been beyond our control. But for that the 
 Government alone would have been " morally " responsible. 
 
 The most memorable contribution to the agitation was the 
 following brilliant answer to Louis Napoleon by Walter Savage 
 Landor. The French Government described England as " a 
 den of assassins." The poet published in the Daily News this 
 " Reply from the ' Den '" :— 
 
 " We encourage assassins ! Sir 1 Have no fear, 
 No hold has the murderer or sympathies here: 
 England loathes an assassin, and loathes him no less 
 Whether shameful by failure or great by success — 
 Whether hiding from sight, or set high on a throne — 
 Whether killer of thousands, or killer of one — 
 Whether bribe or revenge, or the hope of a name, 
 Or the dream of a ' Destiny ' ' damn him to fame.' 
 Whatever the prompting, whatever the end, 
 Has he slaughtered a people he swore to defend ; 
 
A LONDON REVOLUTION. 57 
 
 Has he banded with ruffians, like him, to slrike 
 At a brother assassin — we loathe him alike ! 
 
 E'en where, Cain-like, by Providence guarded from ill, 
 With a mark set upon him that no man may kill ; 
 Where prosperity seems all his projects to crown, 
 We've no faith in his Favour — no fear of his Frown : 
 Undismayed by his Fortunes — unawed by his Fate, 
 We smile at his ' Destiny ' — Watch him and Wait." 
 
 People did so — and saw the dynasty of the Usurper go down 
 under the sword of Germany and the assegai of a Zulu. 
 
CHAPTER LXVII. 
 MURDER AS A MODE OF PROGRESS. 
 
 (I859-) 
 
 My experience at one time made me a connoisseur in assassina- 
 tion — a question often defended but seldom discussed in a 
 practical way. Unconsidered applause on one hand and un- 
 instructive reprobation on the other, are all that meet the 
 public ear. Professor Tyndall made a notable contribution to 
 physical science, entitled " Heat a Mode of Motion." It is not 
 less useful in political science to consider the question of 
 "Murder as a Mode of Progress." If the theory of political 
 murder were understood, it would not command many 
 followers. Yet, in consequence of its being treated as a sup- 
 pressed question, it has for many persons the enchantment 
 which belongs to the " forbidden." 
 
 Intelligence may be revolutionary, but ignorance, especially 
 if it be hungry, always is. Its impulse is change by force — 
 its reason a sense of unendurable wrong. It has no plan — its 
 future is only a day or a week, yet retaliation as a remedy is far 
 from being the doctrine of the ferocious. I have known persons 
 of real tenderness and sympathy, and for whose humanity 1 
 could unhesitatingly answer, who yet have had a reserve of 
 sanguinary principles for advancing political progress. Those 
 who look to see not what they expect to see, but what is to be 
 seen, will find that a Government which upholds its authority 
 by the discriminate killing of adversaries, accepts itself the 
 principle of progress by murder. Seeing this, persons of strong 
 purpose whom I have known come to think that the oppressed 
 may use the same means. Despotism being mere force, wielded 
 
 58 
 
MURDER AS A MODE OF PROGRESS. 59 
 
 by irresponsible will, tyrant killing, undertaken for public ends, 
 with a view to temper or suppress despotism, is not regarded 
 by moralists as murder. It is apparently a necessity of progress 
 there and at that stage only, and is only defensible when done 
 under such circumstances that armed resistance cannot be 
 reasonably attempted. Where the justification of irremediable 
 oppression does not exist, tyrant-killing is a mistake. 
 
 It is admitted now that the old theory of kingship is worn 
 out. Formerly a man was regarded as a lawful ruler who 
 reigned by what he called " divine right." Since representative 
 government began, a king is regarded as a despot unless he 
 reigns by Parliamentary right. A ruler may be good or bad, 
 but he is still a despot if he rules by his own authority, or 
 prevents any one else ruling by public appointment. If he be 
 a good ruler, he is called " Paternal " — if bad, he is called a 
 " Tyrant." But in both characters he is a despot. Force used 
 without public consent officially expressed, is tyranny, and he 
 who employs it is a tyrant, whether his purpose be good or 
 evil. Mankind are prone to be enslaved, and are generally 
 content so long as they are enslaved pleasantly. If a succession 
 of good kings could be secured, paternal government would be 
 eternal. The indolence of mankind would never attempt the 
 honourable trouble of self-government. Therefore the good 
 tyrants are seldom attacked. Yet they render manliness and 
 progress impossible. Every man who seeks self-government 
 himself, or seeks it for his countrymen, is a judge and adversary 
 of him who renders it impossible. Nevertheless the good despot 
 who rules justly cannot be usefully killed, since one cannot 
 be sure that an untried government, introduced by force, 
 could rule better than he. Self-government is justified as' 
 offering greater security for peace and wider progress, and 
 cannot consistently be begun by blood. But the base ruler, 
 whose power is personal and regulated by his own will for his 
 own ends, and not by public law for the public good, is the 
 enemy of an intelligent people : and if he withstand by force 
 the advocacy of liberty, the law of progress exposes him, like a 
 beast of prey, to be destroyed when met. Despotic rulers know 
 this well. 
 
 The doctrine of tyrant killing is not a doctrine of the people 
 merely : it has been accepted by kings as well as peoples. 
 
60 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 Silas Titus was accorded a colonelcy under Charles II., because 
 he had published a pamphlet of deadly purport against the 
 chief ruler — the Lord Protector Cromwell. The English 
 Tories favoured the assassination of Napoleon I., and he in his 
 turn pensioned a man who meditated the assassination of the 
 Duke of Wellington. Charlotte Corday's knife was applauded 
 by the monarchs of France. Royalist assassins always abound. 
 Lord Beaconsfield in a famous triplet — " Blessed the hand that 
 wields the regicidal steel." Mr. Froude shows that Catholics 
 and Protestants have alike approved tyrannicide and used it. 
 The doctrine is not confined to the class of " agitators." 
 Governments hold the doctrine and act upon it. They often 
 cause persons to be put to death on principle. They have often 
 held it to be good policy to kill a few popular leaders in order 
 to strike terror into their followers. Carlyle favoured this 
 policy, Governor Eyre put it in practice in Jamaica, and he 
 found Canon Kingsley (just minded as he was in most things) 
 and men more eminent than he came forward to approve it. 
 
 Four things seem necessary in him who assumes to act by 
 his single hand as the agent of a nation : 
 
 i. That the tyrannicide must have intelligence sufficient to 
 understand the responsibility of setting himself up as the 
 redresser of a nation. If set upon the work by others he is a 
 tool, or secondhand operator- — an instrument in the hands of 
 others ; a bravo rather than a self-determined patriot. 
 
 2. He who proposes to take a life for the good of the people 
 must at least be prepared to give his own if necessary — both as 
 atonement for taking upon himself the office of public avenger 
 and to secure that his example shall not generate other than 
 equally disinterested imitators. The many failures of tyrannicidal 
 attempts have been mainly owing to the precaution taken by 
 the actors for their own safety, and who end by bestowing upon 
 the tyrant the reputation of " bearing a charmed life," when 
 retaliatory oppression is brought upon others. Colonel Titus, 
 the royalist pamphleteer who wrote "Killing no Murder," which 
 advised that some one should put Cromwell to death, was with- 
 out pretension to the dignity of a tyrannicide, since he was a 
 mere inciter of assassination which somebody else was to take 
 the risk of committing. 
 
 3. The adversary of the despot must not be weak, vacillating, 
 
MURDER AS A MODE OF PROGRESS. 61 
 
 or likely to lose his head in unforeseen circumstances, nor be 
 deficient in the knowledge and. skill needful for his purpose. 
 Without these qualities he should keep clear of an undertaking 
 where failure will prove dangerous to those he professes to free. 
 4. He should have good knowledge that the result intended 
 is likely to come to pass afterwards. History tells us how 
 many noble men have been sacrificed ; how many a holy cause 
 has been put back for years, or for centuries even, by untimely 
 self-sacrifice. Curtius would have been an idiot if he had 
 leaped into the gulph before he was well-assured that doing so 
 would close it. 
 
 If tyrannicide is to be approved as a policy the business of 
 the despot-ender should be an art, and praise should be given 
 under conditions. The public avenger is one who aspires to 
 the foremost place which patriotism can occupy. He, by his 
 single hand, is the deliverer of a nation from an overshadowing 
 terror and danger. He voluntarily accepts supreme peril that 
 his country may escape it. More disinterested than the hero 
 who perishes in battle, where he has chances of escape, he 
 ranks with the martyr who gives up his life for the freedom of 
 others. For him we change the dread epithet of " murderer " 
 and call him by the proud name of " Avenger of the People." 
 He should be no mean man for whom we do this. 
 
 In days when men were wanted for forlorn hopes, I received 
 letters from persons whom I knew and could trust, offering to 
 engage in any work involving death which I might commend. 
 I cculd not advise where I took no risk. The decision I left to 
 them when they knew the circumstances of the occasion : and 
 the higher the ideal of duty and peril in their minds the less 
 likely they were to act heedlessly or needlessly. 
 
 Once I was asked to meet a number of ladies, two or three 
 were wives of members of Parliament. Politics interested them, 
 and they had capacity for public affairs. They asked my opinion 
 upon tyrant killing, which they favoured, and there were else- 
 where many ready to act upon their sanction. I answered that 
 " at the time preceding the French Revolution many ladies 
 held the same opinion, and if these English ladies spread the 
 doctrine with the same fervour and had the same influence, 
 they would assuredly share the same fate. For myself, I had 
 not made up my mind that murder was a mode of progress." 
 
62 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 I saw that character of the doctrine had not occurred to them, 
 nor that it was a doctrine that may have unpleasant adherents. 
 " Disciples," I said, " might arise of more advanced views than 
 their own, and who might, in the interests of public progress, 
 apply the doctrine to them." 
 
 It was because death by private hands begets death that it 
 came to be limited by law. The French revolutionists of 1793 
 were insurgents created by oppression, who, having no experience 
 of the limitations of freedom, contrived to make Liberty a 
 greater terror than despotism. They killed on suspicion. 
 Tyrannicide became a profession, and thousands followed the 
 calling. Mrs. Francis Pulzsky once said to me at her own 
 table, " Mr. Holyoake, when we had power we gave our 
 influence to prevent any throat being cut. But no sooner were 
 our enemies secure, whom we had saved, than they cut the 
 throats of our party. When we get power again," said the 
 brilliant little lady, " we will cut theirs without mercy." 
 I said " I hoped not, for the forbearance she regretted was the 
 noblest example democracy ever set." Leniency may fail for a 
 time, but in politics it is a noble error. Acts of kindness will 
 fail in private life, but kindness in the long run proves the first 
 of virtues. She was speaking not of her own country, but of 
 the policy of 'the Continental defenders of liberty, among whom 
 were the Hungarian patriots, who suffered everywhere when 
 the " Saviours of society " again got the upper hand. 
 
 In a free country " tyrannicide " is a worn-out theory. Under 
 representative Government, the ballot-box, penny newspapers, 
 and the right of public meeting, those who cannot extend the 
 bounds of freedom do not understand their business. The 
 printing press has made opinion a force in politics. If all those 
 who depend upon the knife for improvement were to display 
 half the amount of self-sacrifice which they have to make 
 in their perilous method of extermination, they would see. 
 accomplished what they wish earlier and more surely. 
 
CHAPTER LXVIII. 
 
 DEFENDING A POLE. 
 
 (1858.) 
 
 When a publisher in London, I had my business to consider, 
 but so often as a public question arose I found myself under 
 some unprofitable impulse to take part in it, when others with 
 a more prudent sense of personal interest abstained. Louis 
 Napoleon, in one of his disquieting and menacing New Year 
 Day addresses, had announced that — "The Empire seeks a 
 strong power capable of overcoming the obstacles which might 
 stop its advance." " I do not," he said, "fear to declare to you 
 to-day that the danger, no matter what is said to the contrary, 
 does not exist in the excessive prerogatives of power, but in the 
 absence of repressive laws" This is exactly what has often 
 been said of Ireland. 
 
 The President of the Senate, addressing the Emperor in 
 reply, said — " Sire, your glorious House sits as firmly as the 
 throne of England. The revolutionary spirit has been driven 
 from France. [The Emperor having made the bloodiest 
 revolution on record.] It is from foreign strongholds, situated 
 in the centre of Europe [meaning England] that hired assassins 
 are sent. Foreign Governments and people do not take 
 measures to give a legitimate support to the cause of order :" 
 
 Mr. William Carpenter, the author of the best " Political 
 Text Book " of the time, was chairman of the Discussion Forum, 
 which the French Government described as " a coffee-house 
 near Temple Bar," and he had to write to the Emperor inform- 
 ing him that " the members were for the most part substantial 
 tradesmen and men of business, who discussed the question ' Is 
 
 63 
 
64 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 Regicide Justifiable ? ' without reference to existing govern- 
 ments or politics." The Emperor replied that he was satisfied 
 with the explanation, which he well might be, as he knew all 
 about it, and had hung about the Fleet Street Forum himself. 
 
 At this time (1858), Felix Pyat, M. Besson, and A. Talandier 
 published a " Letter " in French, entitled " Parliament and the 
 Press." Proceedings were taken against a Pole, Stanislaus 
 Tchorzewski, for publishing the letter here. I thought that 
 the ground of the prosecution, and the manner of it, were alike 
 objectionable and unnecessary. The English could not read 
 the letter in French, and the few Frenchmen likely to see it 
 in this country were not likely to be influenced by it, as it told 
 them nothing they did not already know. I asked Professor 
 Newman for his opinion upon it, as one far more competent 
 than myself to judge it. He answered (Reasoner ', No. 615) that 
 " the outline of thought in the pamphlet was judicial and its 
 conclusion breathed no spirit of blood-thirsty revenge. It 
 reminded us that Louis Napoleon was deposed and condemned 
 for high treason by a lawful court, and that after this, being no 
 longer a lawful officer, he had slaughtered citizens for doing 
 that which the law commanded them to do — namely, to uphold 
 the Constitution against him ; and that by such lawless violence 
 he had seized and kept supreme power." There could be little 
 danger from the Pyat Letter since it took Lord Derby, who 
 was then in power, three weeks to make up his mind whether 
 it ought to be prosecuted. The proceedings against the Polish 
 publisher were believed to have been taken at foreign instiga- 
 tion, and amounted to denial of freedom of speech for the exiles 
 among us — exiles who, being friendless, were entitled to our 
 sympathy, and who, being residents in England, were entitled 
 to equality ; who, being our guests, were entitled to our protec- 
 tion. I objected to the policy of prosecuting the publisher of 
 Felix Pyat's " Letter," because it in no way endangered the 
 life of Louis Napoleon. The conspirators who are to be feared 
 are, as a rule, not those who are weak enough to proclaim their 
 wishes, ®r suicidal enough to publish their intentions. By doing 
 so they invite observation to themselves and fix suspicion upon 
 their friends. Conspirators who publish their plans usually give 
 hostages to the police that they shall never succeed. 
 
 The prosecution of Tchorzewski was a purely French prose- 
 
DEFENDING A POLE. 65 
 
 cution, conducted with a political indecency alien to English 
 sentiment. On the left hand of Mr. Jardine, at Bow Street, 
 there sat, during the investigations, Sir Richard Mayne, the 
 chief of the Metropolitan police, and on the right, agents 
 of the French police ; and we saw an English magistrate 
 so unmindful of British dignity as to sit under their surveil- 
 lance and act like a French official, and, forgetting his character 
 as an English gentleman and his duty »> an English magistrate, 
 deliver himself of sentiments which we could only suppose were 
 dictated to him. When Mr. Sleigh, speaking as a British 
 barrister should, in the presence of the British people, uttered 
 a few words which found their way to the heart of some poor 
 exiles in court (who, glad to believe that a foreign servility was 
 not tainting every English tongue, gave utterance to their 
 feelings), Mr. Bodkin made offensive remarks upon Mr. Sleigh, 
 who deemed it necessary to apologise for his own manliness. 
 Mr. Bodkin (Sir Robert Peel's Bodkin), the prosecuting counsel, 
 all the while spoke himself to that interfering Tuileries public 
 whom, instead of his own countrymen, he represented. No 
 demagogue in London, nor all the pamphlets published by 
 exiles, had produced so much ill-blood between the two nations 
 as the proceedings in Mr. Jardine's court. We cheer the 
 demagogue and forget his speech. We invite the violent exile 
 to dinner, and neglect his exhortation ; but we remember as an 
 abiding degradation when the English magistrate insults us in 
 the eyes of the foreigner, and that too in London, where the 
 countryman comes with wonder, the artizan with pride, and the 
 provincial gentleman to watch our highest public manners. I 
 was in Sheffield when I read the account of these proceedings 
 against Tchorzewski. I consulted no one. My own sense of 
 duty dictated the step I took, and I telegraphed to London to 
 instruct my brother Austin to procure a translation and put it 
 in the press. 
 
 The newspapers soon acquainted the Government that one 
 result of their prosecuting an unknown Polish bookseller in 
 Rupert Street, for having issued a French pamphlet, which few 
 would ever see, was that a publisher in the city of London had 
 issued an English edition which everybody could read. As I 
 had no wish to be Bodkinized or Jardinized, I begged the 
 Attorney-General to distinguish between this act of public 
 
 vol. 11. 6 
 
66 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 defence and one of defiance. In the preface I wrote to the 
 English edition I issued at Fleet Street, I stated that it was not 
 my interest to incur imprisonment, that I knew what it was and 
 was not covetous to renew that experience, and that I neither 
 wanted notoriety nor martyrdom. Therefore, I prayed the 
 Government not to honour me with their perilous attentions. 
 I sent the first copy of the Tchorzewski pamphlet in English to 
 Lord Derby, who was then Premier, saying — 
 
 " My Lord, — Permit to me the liberty of enclosing to you a 
 pamphlet which I deem a public duty to publish. I do not 
 send it to each member of the Cabinet — that might appear a 
 defiance. Not to send it to any one would be a discourtesy ; I 
 therefore send it to your lordship as one who, in the opinion of 
 the people, views all political questions in an unprejudiced 
 English spirit." 
 
 In the silence of abject submission which reigned in France, 
 we heard only the chains of the slave and the voice of the 
 informer. That state of things concerned us. Despotism so 
 near cast its shadow over England. To extend liberty here was 
 a reproach to our ally ; every discussion upon it in London 
 made Paris uneasy. Every plea for it here was an indirect 
 reflection upon the ruler there. Still England did not desist, 
 For myself I sought shelter under no technicality. I invited 
 no consequences, nor did I evade them. I did but justify an 
 English act by English reasons. 
 
 The pamphlet published by Stanislaus Tchorzewski was 
 signed by the " Committee of the Revolutionary Commune — 
 Felix Pyat, Besson, A. Tallandier." Tchorzewski I never saw"; 
 Pyat I did not know, nor Besson. Tallandier was a friend of 
 mine. He was the first who translated my " History of the 
 Rochdale Pioneers " into the French language ; but no personal 
 reason induced me to publish the manifesto of the Commune 
 in English. My object was to vindicate the liberty of the 
 English press. In my note to the English edition I said, " I 
 regretted the inopportune appearance of the Letter. Being 
 issued while the fate of Orsini was undecided, it was calculated 
 to ensure his execution. It was so illtimed that the Emperor 
 might have been suspected of instigating its appearance." But 
 
DEFENDING A POLE. 67 
 
 at the request of Tallandier I omitted these words. Mazzini 
 wrote me a letter approving of the Tchorzewski publication in 
 English, as calculated to convince the Government of the futility 
 of these prosecutions. Upon re-reading the prosecuted letter 
 of Pyat, many years later, I thought its style neither so good, 
 nor its sentiments so bad, as they were both believed to be then. 
 At the same time I commenced editing a series of " Tyran- 
 nicide Literature," and began with a cheap edition of " Killing 
 no Murder," by Colonel Titus, to show Englishmen what the 
 Royalist doctrine of assassination was. I also published a 
 remarkable poem entitled, " The Peace of Napoleon," by my 
 friend, the late Mr. Percy Greg, and signed with the name 
 under which he usually wrote for me — Lionel H. Holdreth. 
 The poem was more indictable than anything which the 
 Government honoured by prosecution. I quote a few prophetic 
 verses : — 
 
 " Peace ! Hark, the voices of despairing men 
 Pining in exile, squalor, solitude, 
 Cry ftom the deadly swamps of far Cayenne — 
 ' God ! give us blood for blood ! ' 
 
 Since that sad morning when December's sky 
 
 Scowled on the brave who fruitlessly withstood 
 The Perjurer's arms, the stones of Paris cry 
 ' God ! give us blood for blood ! ' 
 
 And thou, fair partner of the Perjurer's throne, 
 Recreant to virtue, truth, and womanhood I 
 Think, if perchance he should not fall alone, 
 'Twill but be blood for blood 1 
 
 I pray thou may'st be scathless — spared in scorn — 
 Husband, child, empire gone, till thou hast rued 
 In bitter tears the hour that thou wert born 
 When God sends blood for blood ! 
 
 Blood shall have blood ere long, if One on high 
 
 The prayer of earth hath heard and understood ; 
 To whom the nations ceaselessly do cry — 
 
 ' God ! give us blood for blood ! ' " 
 
 Notwithstanding, no proceedings were taken against me. By 
 what reason the Government were actuated I know not — 
 probably it was the City that saved me. I was a freeman of 
 the city of London, which always sets itself against prosecutions 
 of the press. My friend, Edward Truelove, at that time pub- 
 
68 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 lished a pamphlet entitled " Tyrannicide," and his house being 
 west of Temple Bar, he was arrested and taken to Bow Street. 
 My house being in the City, I must have been taken to the 
 Mansion House. It was impossible to prosecute the Pole for 
 his French publication, and I be left unmolested. In the end 
 the prosecution of Tchorzewski was dropped, and that against 
 Mr. Truelove was compromised. Miss Harriet Martineau, Mr. 
 William Coningham, M.P. for Brighton, Mr. John Stuart 
 Mill, and Professor F. W. Newman publicly subscribed to a 
 fund for Mr. Truelove's defence, names which may have 
 induced the Government to desist from the prosecution they 
 had commenced against him. 
 
 When the Government ceased to prosecute, the tyrannicide 
 literature ceased also. The object was not persistence in it, but 
 to vindicate the liberty of the press. Just resistance is of public 
 advantage even when not successful in its aim, as in the case 
 here related it appeared to be. Thiers said of Orsini's bombs 
 — " They missed the Emperor, but they killed the Empire.'' 
 
CHAPTER LXIX. 
 A LOST WILL. 
 
 (1858.) 
 
 Mr. Fletcher, a gentleman of Kennington, often came to the 
 Fleet Street House. One day he proposed to make me a loan 
 of £ 250 in the form of a bill for three years, which I was to get 
 discounted. I offered it to W. Devonshire Saul, who dealt in 
 bills and wine, and who knew Mr. Fletcher. Without giving 
 reasons, he declined it. To put it in circulation I must sacrifice 
 a large proportion of the amount. As I felt bound to repay 
 Mr. Fletcher, a large discount would render me unable to do it. 
 All the while he intended to give the sum to me, but did not 
 say so. Eventually I returned the bill, lest I incurred an 
 obligation beyond my power to meet. This act no doubt 
 wounded his commercial pride, and also gave him a deplorable 
 impression of my business ability. Had I been a " smart " man, 
 I should have got what I could for the bill, and have left him 
 to take it up. Had I had business wit, I should have kept the 
 bill and had it presented by a confederate, when matured, and 
 thus have profited. It was the feeling of being bound in honour 
 to repay the money if I received it which prevented my retain- 
 ing it. Herein scrupulousness was a disadvantage. 
 
 Mr. Fletcher showed no resentment, and made his will in my 
 favour. At that time he estimated his fortune at ^"30,000. 
 Having fair expectation of life, he invested a large portion in 
 purchasing an annuity of ^"2,000 a year, expecting that in due 
 course the proceeds of the annuity would make him still richer. 
 The will he handed to me in a sealed parcel, which my brother 
 Austin kept for me. At the end of two years he asked for the 
 parcel again. One day he invited Robert Cooper and me to 
 
 6g 
 
7° SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 tea, and afterwards in my presence handed him the will. Mr. 
 Fletcher had acquired a prejudice against me, being told by the 
 chief person in my employ that fair play had not been given at 
 Fleet Street to Mr. Cooper's works — he being an author 
 and lecturer like myself. This was entirely untrue. Had I 
 been aware of what had been told to Mr. Fletcher, it would 
 have been easy to disabuse his mind. If my conduct had been 
 what he believed, he would have been justified in resenting it. 
 Mr. Cooper was editing the Investigator. He considered him- 
 self a rival to me, and his paper frequently contained attacks 
 upon me, not conceived with the intention of being pleasing. 
 But I published his paper all the same, never caring what any- 
 body said. Never did any one, save Lloyd Garrison, of America, 
 publish more articles against himself than I did. In the 
 Reasoner similar articles were constantly published, nothing 
 being omitted save dishonouring imputations upon others. My 
 chief clerk at Fleet Street was formerly a local preacher, who 
 seemed trustworthy. Finding that he owed his last employer 
 £zo y I lent him the money to pay it, as I declined to take an 
 indebted man into my service. This person ultimately appro- 
 priated to his own uses upwards of ^"ioo of my money. For 
 reasons of his own he told Mr. Fletcher that I kept back Mr. 
 Cooper's books, although I had enjoined him that Mr. Cooper's 
 publications should be kept prominently in sight — and they 
 were so kept — that he might have no cause for jealousy. 
 
 No doubt in due time Mr. Fletcher would have found that 
 he had been misinformed and would have restored his will to 
 me, but in a few months he unexpectedly died. Being penuri- 
 ous, though rich, he was insufficiently clothed in inclement 
 weather, and, being overtaken by a storm, the effects were fatal 
 to him in a few days. Mr. Cooper received the remainder of 
 his fortune, which, however, did not do him much good, as 
 he went into a banking business and lost it. For three days 
 only after Mr. Fletcher's death the sense of my loss was a sharp 
 discomfort, but it passed away then. During the time the will 
 was in my possession, I was constantly away debating with 
 adversaries in distant parts of England and Scotland, and 
 seldom had time to see Mr. Fletcher, or I should have found 
 out what influence he was under. Thus absorption in public 
 work was against me. 
 
A LOST WILL. 71 
 
 When the local preacher referred to ceased to be in my 
 employ, he owed me ^"112. He then sought an engagement 
 as minister among the Unitarians. The Rev. Samuel Martin, 
 hearing of this, told Mr. Kendrick, in whose hands the appoint- 
 ment rested, that he " had better see Mr. Holyoake before he 
 made it." How Mr. Martin came to know of the indebtedness 
 to me I was never aware, though I was indebted to Mr. Martin's 
 consideration. Mr. Kendrick came to me and asked my opinion 
 of the candidate. My reply was that " he had zeal and doubt- 
 less good intention, but was wanting in self-control, but 
 under clear and strong direction he might make a useful 
 preacher." As I had once trusted him, I was unwilling by any 
 word of mine to stand in the way of his future. 
 
 Mr. Kendrick then asked me for what sum, if any less than 
 that owing, the candidate's indebtedness could be condoned, as 
 they could not receive him into their communion unabsolved. 
 My answer was that, as " I had once told him, if he repaid me the 
 half of that which he owed me, I would acquit him, I would do 
 so still." That sum was sent me, and I owed that sum to Mr. 
 Kendrick's Unitarian sense of honour. I wrote a letter at Mr. 
 Kendrick's request, which enabled the appointment to be made. 
 No acknowledgment was ever sent me by the person concerned 
 for the consideration shown him, nor any return made for the 
 half amount in equity due to me, when it became possible to 
 him to make it. 
 
CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 MR. SECRETARY W ALP OLE AND THE JACOBIN'S, 
 FRIEND. 
 
 (1858.) 
 
 A Government ought to be more scrupulously just and more: 
 considerately generous than private individuals, for they have: 
 unlimited powers of damage, annoyance, and penal revenge ini 
 their hands. They can strike at the innocent and guilty alike,, 
 and that passes for commendable vigilance in them which im 
 individuals would be seen to be rank spite. The Dr. Bernard! 
 trouble did not end with his acquittal. One not a Frenchman,, 
 but because he was a friend of Dr. Bernard, became a person of.' 
 so much interest or anxiety to the English Government that: 
 they offered ^"200 for his head. They did not put it in that: 
 plain way, but their object was to try him for his life. He was, 
 known as a man of noble friendships and generous courage, or 
 he had not permitted himself to be regarded as Dr. Bernard's' 
 personal acquaintance. 
 
 His high spirit, his disinterestedness, his philosophic mind 
 and personal intrepidity, were a constant cause of inspiration to 
 all who knew him. He became, as I have said, the subject of 
 solicitude on the part of the Government, who thought they had 
 international reason for hanging him. They had no just cause 
 for such belief, but made a show of assiduity in the matter, to 
 gratify the susceptibility of the Emperor of the French, who 
 was then considered our " good ally." The friend whose death 
 was sought Dr. Bernard and I sometimes met at the White 
 Swan Hotel, Covent Garden, and at Ginger's Hotel, which, as 
 I have said, then stood near Palace Yard, Westminster Bridge 
 Road. 
 
MR. SECRETARY WALPOLE. 73 
 
 After the Lepelletier affair, the Government were induced to 
 offer a reward of ^"200 for the discovery of my friend, who, 
 having means of knowing what was in their minds, was nowhere 
 apparent in the British dominions. For two years he was an 
 exile. The reward for his apprehension being still in force at 
 the end of that period, I and Mr. Baxter Langley waited upon 
 the Home Secretary, who in those days was Mr. Spencer Wal- 
 pole. We presented ourselves to him as persons who had a 
 friend to sell, provided we were sure of payment. We were not 
 so lost to self-respect as not to put a price upon our virtue. We 
 were prepared to be perfidious for ^"200. On our being guaran- 
 teed the reward, the gentleman the Government desired to see 
 would appear. He had no objections to being hanged if that 
 was thought right, but, being accustomed to outdoor life, he 
 objected to be imprisoned, but would (he instructed us to say) 
 present himself on the day appointed for trial. We stated that 
 the reward offered for his appearance, which we applied for, was 
 to defray the cost of his defence, as it was not reasonable that 
 any one void of offence should be put to expense to prove it. 
 Though aided by gratuitous services on many hands, Dr. Ber- 
 nard's defence cost him ^"850. He, with no means but his 
 earnings, had many lectures, lessons, and prescriptions to give 
 before he paid that serious bill. All we asked further was that 
 when our exiled friend appeared within British precincts, the 
 police who might become aware of it should not have a right 
 of reward as against us, who brought him within their range. 
 The Government took time to consider the proposition. The 
 sagacious Home Secretary surmised some plot, and Mr. H. 
 Waddington, writing from "Whitehall, June 18, 1858," told us 
 that " he was desired by Mr. Secretary Walpole to inform us 
 that the reward of two hundred pounds offered by the Govern- 
 ment in the case referred to by us had not been withdrawn." 
 This was so far assuring — the money was to be had if we could 
 induce Mr. Walpole to sign a cheque for it. 
 
 My friend the " Man in the Street " (the writing name in the 
 Morning Star of Mr. Langley) took steps in his way, and I in mine, 
 to cause Mr. Walpole to know that the object of the application 
 made to him was simply the return home of the political wan- 
 derer in whom the Government had taken such complimentary 
 but mistaken interest. Mr. Milner Gibson put one of his skilful 
 
74 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 questions in the House of Commons. Mr. William Coningham, 
 M.P. for Brighton, always for justice, spoke with Mr. Walpole. 
 In twenty-four days Mr. Waddington wrote a much more 
 intelligent and satisfactory letter, thus : — 
 
 " Whitehall, July 12, 1858. 
 
 " Gentlemen, — I am directed by Mr. Secretary Walpole to 
 inform you that, since the date of my answer to your applica- 
 tion, the law officers of the Crown have been consulted and 
 have expressed the opinion that it is not advisable to take any 
 further steps in the prosecution in question. The Government 
 have consequently determined to put an end to the proceedings 
 against that gentleman and to withdraw the offer of a reward 
 of ^200 for his apprehension. — I remain, Gentlemen, your 
 obedient servant, H. Waddington. 
 
 "Mr. G. J. Holyoake— Mr. J. B. Langley." 
 
 This letter was a charter of freedom. Mr. Walpole, in his 
 gentlemanly way, so intended it. It was explicit and complete. 
 We have had Home Secretaries and Irish Secretaries who would 
 have gone so far as to say that the reward was withdrawn, and 
 have kept silence as to whether other " proceedings " might 
 or might not take place at the discretion of the Govern- 
 ment. The terms of our letter of inquiry as to the reward 
 would have been answered and no more. All the requirements 
 of cold, contemptuous, red-tape courtesy would have been ful- 
 filled, and we could have made no complaint. Besides, Mr. 
 Walpole was under no necessity of showing civility to one 
 reputed to be a friend of Orsini and Dr. Bernard, however dis- 
 tinguished his social position might be. In the opinion of Mr. 
 Walpole's class, insolence would not only have been condoned, it 
 would have been applauded, as we have since seen with Irish 
 gentlemen. Silence as to future proceedings would have been 
 thought politic. The Emperor of the French had his views of 
 the affair ; and silence as to whether "further steps were put an 
 end to " would have amounted to an unexpressed ticket-of-leave, 
 without incurring the odium of formally issuing it, although no 
 trial had been held and no verdict of guilty given. Dr. Ber- 
 nard's friend, as a gentleman of independent spirit, would have 
 still remained under accusation and must have stayed abroad. 
 
MR. SECRETARY WALPOLE. 75 
 
 But this was not Mr. Walpole's way. He did not agree with us 
 on any question of opinion or politics, but he was a man of 
 honour — an adversary of generous instinct — and his letter was a 
 charter of acquittal. Withdrawing the reward, he withdrew 
 the charge. And the exile returned to England, and dwelt 
 many years in the land with honour. 
 
CHAPTER LXXI. 
 
 LORD PALMERSTON AND FEARGUS O'CONNOR'S 
 SISTER. 
 
 (1858-64.) 
 
 Lord Pai.merston was a Minister for whom I had respe 
 without sympathy. He was without prejudice, and witho 
 enthusiasm. Mr. Cobden said of him he was absolutely ir 
 partial, having no bias, not even towards the truth. This w 
 not a general estimate of him, but provoked by an incident 
 to what Mr. David Urquhart called the "falsification of tl 
 Burnes despatches." Personally Lord Palmerston was capab 
 of generous things, but in politics he was a Minister of tl 
 stationaries, and for years was kept in office by Whig and Tor 
 because he could be trusted not to do anything. He never sa 
 he was the enemy of reform, but he never " felt like " pr 
 moting it. 
 
 The author of no great measure, the advocate of no gre 
 cause ; like the singer, the dancer, and the actor, Lord Palme 
 ston's genius was personal, and died with him. His power 
 waiting was something like Talleyrand's. He became gre 
 simply by living long and keeping his eyes open. His leng 
 of days was an advantage to him in diplomacy, as he knew ; 
 the tricks of two generations of intriguers all over the worl 
 and had Palmerston any passion for the service of the peop 
 he had opportunities to do them good. His face was wrinkli 
 with treaties. If pricked, he would have bled despatches. 
 
 The best thing ever said of him was that foreign tyrants hat< 
 him. It was not clear in his day why they did. The reason beii 
 he was seldom ready to befriend them. He caused the recogr 
 tion of Louis Napoleon's usurpation which disgraced Englai 
 
 76 
 
LORD PALMERSTON. 77 
 
 and set France against us. Yet Palmerston had merits which 
 those whose aspirations he opposed were unable to estimate, or 
 Mr. Gladstone would not have esteemed him so highly as he did. 
 It was brought against him by Liberal leaders abroad, that he 
 held but to them hopes of assistance, but rendered none when 
 the time for it came. Still it was to his credit that he had 
 diplomatic sympathy with their aims. It was seldom they 
 found that in an English Foreign Minister. Any foreign leaders 
 whom I knew, who spoke to me on the subject, I warned against 
 expecting anything more than sympathy (and they might be 
 glad if they got that), as the Foreign Office was quite indepen- 
 dent of the people, and very often a generous Minister could 
 not, under dynastic restraints, do what he wished. 
 
 About 1838 I was asked to join a political society which 
 met at Mr. Jenkinson's (No. 6, Church Street, Birmingham), a 
 bookseller and politician. It proved to be a Foreign Affairs 
 Committee, established by David Urquhart. The object of 
 the society I found to be to cut off Lord Palmerston's head. 
 Things were bad among workmen in those days, and I had no 
 doubt somebody's head ought to be cut off, and I hoped they 
 had hit upon the right one. The secretary was a Chartist 
 leader named Warden, who ended by cutting his own head 
 off instead, which showed confusion of ideas by which Lord 
 Palmerston profited. Poor Warden cut his own throat. He 
 was a man of ability, and had a studious mind. He gave me a 
 volume of the speeches of Demosthenes, which he often read. 
 It bore his name written in a neat hand. Lord Palmerston 
 was not to be assassinated, but " impeached " in a constitu- 
 tional way, and the block at the Tower was to be looked up, 
 and the too long disused axe was to be furbished and shar- 
 pened for the occasion. This was my first introduction to 
 practical politics. 
 
 Lord Palmerston always had an airy indifference of manner 
 — Punch drew him with a straw in his mouth, as though he 
 regarded politics from a sporting point of view. Buoyancy was 
 his characteristic. Shortly before his death, when he was more 
 than 80, I watched him crossing Palace Yard, one summer 
 evening when the House was up early. Cabs were running 
 about wildly, but he dodged them with agility, and went on foot 
 to Cambridge House, in Piccadilly, where he resided. 
 
78 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 This notice of Lord Palmerston is, of course, confined to 
 matters of personal knowledge, or of the influence he exercised 
 on agitations in which I was concerned or interested. Cobden 
 warned all reformers anxious for an extension of the franchise 
 that nothing would be done while Lord Palmerston lived. 
 There was no hope until heaven called him away. When at 
 length he died, I wrote that "the political atmosphere was 
 fresher, if not sweeter." The Reform Club draped itself in 
 black as his remains passed by its doors. The Carlton Club 
 might have done this consistently. The Princess of Wales sat 
 at the window of St. James's Palace, next her own house, to see 
 the Premier's funeral pass. How they bury public men in 
 Denmark I know not. She could not be favourably impressed 
 with the English way. A dreary, ugly hearse, with horses 
 carrying on their ribs a tinfoil, gingerbread-painted plate of 
 the Palmerston arms, was the tinsel centre of the pageant — 
 not inappropriate considering the noble lord's career as far as 
 the people were concerned. 
 
 He learnt from Lord Melbourne the art of doing nothing. 
 Melbourne valued most those advisers who could show him 
 how a public question could be let alone. Palmerston had the 
 merit in his turn of impressing Disraeli with the advantage of 
 gaiety in politics. The rich were glad to have reform put back 
 with a jest, but working men had not the same reason for 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Towards the end of his life, Lord Palmerston was invited to 
 Bradford to lay the foundation-stone of the new Exchange. On 
 that occasion, the working men were desirous of presenting an 
 address to him, upon their wish for an extension of the fran- 
 chise. Mr. Ripley, chairman of the Exchange Committee, 
 utterly ignorant of Lord Palmerston's nature, refused to permit 
 any approach to him. The worst enemy of Lord Palmerston 
 could not have done him a worse service. Nothing would have 
 pleased him better than to have met a working-class deputa- 
 tion. His personal heartiness, his invincible temper, his 
 humour and ready wit would have captivated the working men, 
 and sent them away enthusiastic, although without anything to 
 be enthusiastic about. 
 
 At that time, 1864, 1 was editing the English Leader, read 
 by many working-class leaders in Bradford. What I could do 
 
LORD PALMERSTON. 79 
 
 by articles and lectures in the town to encourage them to main- 
 tain public silence on Lord Palmerston's visit I did. They put 
 out an address in which they told the people that more was 
 involved in the visit than the ceremony of laying a foundation 
 stone. 
 
 " The principal actor," they said, "being no less a personage 
 than the Prime Minister of England, the working classes 
 will be expected, by the promoters of the visit, to assemble 
 in thousands, and give his lordship welcome — receiving him 
 with plaudits without a thought as to whether the object ot 
 their homage is a friend or foe to their just rights and privi- 
 leges. But will it be wise on your part — who are as yet 
 unenfranchised, and mainly so through the influence of this 
 Minister's antagonistic policy — to greet him with demonstra- 
 tions of gladness ? What has he ever done to merit it ? 
 Nothing. Then reserve your enthusiastic cheers for such 
 men as have with talent and influence — on the platform and 
 by the pen — advocated your social and political advancement 
 in society as a class. Working men, would it not be more 
 manly and becoming to exhibit, in some measure, your disap- 
 pointment at the manner in which your claims have been 
 received — not by hisses and groans — but by a dignified and 
 significant abstinence from all cheering, or other noisy demon- 
 strations of joy ?" 
 
 This was a remarkable address. I urged adherence to this 
 policy, saying, "The middle-class cannot cheer like the people. 
 Gentlemen never do it well ; they don't think it respectable. 
 It is contemptuously said that the working class will cheer 
 anybody, and Lord Palmerston is just the man to make an 
 argument against the people, if they run after him. He is 
 sure to say that ' they receive him with acclamations as they 
 do Mr. Gladstone ; that their voices go for nothing, for they 
 have not the self-respect to keep their mouths shut, or sense to 
 tell a friend who would give them a right from one who will 
 give them nothing.' " 
 
 Bradford men did act on the advice given them. There 
 were said to be 30,000 in the streets. The Exchange Com- 
 mittee and friends of their way of thinking, did set up a cheer 
 for Lord Palmerston, but, not being taken up by the people, it 
 had a faint-hearted effect, and soon ceased. Lord Palmerston, 
 
8o SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 as Mr. W. E. Forster afterwards told me, was " touched and 
 pained " at standing as it were alone in that vast and voiceless 
 crowd. No hissing or groans would have produced such an 
 effect. Hooting would have called forth counter-cheers, which 
 would have been magnified in the press into effective applause. 
 Silence could not be misrepresented. 
 
 Lord Palmerston, apart from Liberalism, had popular quali- 
 ties. He had boldness and common sense. No Minister save 
 himself had ever told the Scotch elders that it was useless to 
 proclaim a public fast to arrest the cholera until they had 
 cleaned the city. He thought more of scavengers' shovels 
 than bishops' prayers. 
 
 In anything I wrote of him it was always owned that he had 
 generous personal qualities which adversaries might trust. On 
 one occasion I wrote to him, informing him " there was a Miss 
 O'Connor living, a sister of Feargus O'Connor, and the only 
 survivor of the family. She had more eloquence than her 
 brother, but the poor lady was in very straitened circum- 
 stances ; and although Feargus O'Connor often denounced his 
 lordship, 1 believed he would not remember that against his 
 sister in her day of need. It would he regarded as a very 
 generous thing by the Chartists if his lordship would advise 
 her Majesty to accord some slender pension to Miss O'Connor." 
 
 She had written to me at times, by which means I became 
 incidentally aware of her necessitous condition. My friend 
 Mr. Thornton Hunt conveyed my letter to Lord Palmerston, 
 who kindly sent me word that " though it was not in his 
 power at that time (the appointments of the Civil List being 
 made for the year) to propose a pension, yet if the gift of £100 
 would be acceptable to Miss O'Connor, that sum should be at 
 her disposal." 
 
 I sent her the letters, which otherwise I should quote here. 
 I never heard further from her. The poor lady often changed 
 her address. Whether the letters ever reached her — whether 
 she died in the meantime — whether she accepted the offer and 
 informed Lord Palmerston privately of it as I advised her, I 
 never heard. But Lord Palmerston's generosity is a matter I 
 record in his honour. 
 
 It was on Thornton Hunt's representation that Lord 
 Palmerston agreed to procure me a seat in Parliament. He 
 
LORD PALMERSTON. 81 
 
 said " he knew Mr. Holyoake would often vote against him, 
 but at the same time he should find in him a fair adversary." 
 Lord Palmerston's object was to show that a working-class 
 representative could be brought into Parliament, and therefore 
 there was no necessity for a Reform Bill for that purpose. 
 Lord Palmerston's death prevented him carrying his intention 
 into execution. Therefore I had reasons personally to respect 
 Lord Palmerston. But respect does not imply coincidence of 
 opinion, and it was on public grounds of political policy alone 
 that I ever wrote dissenting words concerning him. He had 
 secular views which I could well agree with. When Sir 
 James Graham spoke in the China debate of the approval of 
 conscience and the ratification of a Higher Power, Lord 
 Palmerston declared that for his own part he did not look so 
 far, and was content with the support of that House. This 
 was the real Palmerston. The approval of conscience was 
 always to be regarded, but he took a just view when he 
 suggested that peace or war was better determined in Parlia- 
 ment by human than by ecclesiastical considerations. 
 
 VOL. D. 
 
CHAPTER LXXI1. 
 
 THOMAS SCOTT— THE FRIEND OF BISHOP COLEN 
 
 (I8 S 8.) 
 
 One morning, at the Reception Room we kept at 147, F 
 Street, a gentleman was announced who wished to see me. 
 was a tall man, of military bearing, with a long grey be; 
 abundant hair, and a voice of explosive power. It was 
 Thomas Scott, then of Ramsgate, well known among scho 
 for his attainments in Hebrew literature. After some conve 
 tion on means of circulating works of theological criticism 
 was issuing, he said, with a pleasant frankness which I af 
 wards knew to be characteristic, " I had a great repugnano 
 meeting you, but I have come at the suggestion of Bis 
 Colenso. I was making in his presence some remarks aga 
 you, when the bishop said, ' You go and see Holyoake ; 
 will find the devil is not so black as he is painted.' " In t\ 
 days I was commonly thought of under some Satanic similiti 
 and Bishop Colenso was the first ecclesiastic who suggested 
 abatement in the colour. I suppose I fulfilled the bishop's fi 
 cast in point of hue, as Mr. Scott's acquaintance passed i 
 friendship which only ended with his death ; and many v 
 the happy days I spent when his guest at his home in Ra 
 gate and Norwood, which Mrs. Scott made enchanting to 
 visitors. 
 
 Mr. Scott, I understood, had been employed in some milil 
 capacity among North American Indians. He told me he 
 camped out for two years at a time, without sleeping i 
 house. The son of a Scotch professor of great learning, he 
 Hebrew in his blood, and when he came home he was a 1 
 
THOMAS SCOTT. 83 
 
 in politics and a Liberal in religion. Dr. Colenso had so much 
 confidence in his critical erudition that he submitted the proofs 
 of his celebrated works to him. Mr. Scott presented to me a 
 bound volume of proof sheets which he had corrected or revised 
 for the bishop. 
 
 When Bishop Colenso went down to Claybrook, in Leicester- 
 shire, to preach, the then Bishop of Peteiborough (the pre- 
 decessor of Dr. Magee) sent an inhibition. Mr. Scott, who was 
 skilled in things ecclesiastical, was waiting in the churchyard 
 the arrival of the inhibition. The bishop's messenger did not 
 appear until Sunday morning, shortly before the service would 
 commence. Mr. Scott met him and demanded the inhibition 
 from him. Whether, from Mr. Scott's magisterial manner or 
 authoritative voice — for he had the appearance of one of the 
 Sanhedrim — the messenger thought he was Bishop Colenso, or 
 an official representative thereof, was never known, but he at 
 once handed the inhibition to Mr. Scott, who dismissed him 
 and put the document in his pocket. As Bishop Colenso found 
 the inhibition never came, he preached in due course. The 
 inhibition would have been respected had it been delivered ; 
 but as it was not, the Bishop of Peterborough could do nothing 
 against Dr. Colenso. All the bishop could learn was that his 
 messenger had delivered his inhibition to a gentleman whom 
 he supposed to be authorised to receive it, and who neglected 
 to deliver it to Dr. Colenso until after the sermon had been 
 delivered. Dr. Colenso knew nothing of it until after, and was 
 no party to its being intercepted. 
 
 Mrs. Scott, who was in earlier years a ward of Mr. Scott, was 
 a lady of singularly bright ways — and the aptest, most inde- 
 fatigable post parcel maker in the world. The innumerable 
 pamphlets issued from their house were mostly made up by her. 
 No committee could have conducted the remarkable propagan- 
 dist bureau Mr. Scott administered. He being a gentleman, 
 writers with a secret as to their authorship could trust him, 
 when a committee, however honourable, could not command 
 the confidence which was accorded unhesitatingly to one. 
 He was an institute in himself. Ecclesiastics (Bishop Hinde was 
 one) professors, and others to whom it was not convenient to 
 give their names to the public, wrote tor him. His house was 
 a theological pamphlet manufactory. Ladies were among his 
 
84 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 contributors. In some cases atheists wrote, whose names it 
 would not have been prudent in Mr. Scott to print, as their 
 arguments on independent subjects would have been misjudged. 
 Mr. Scott himself was an ardent, unswerving Theist. His own 
 works were as remarkable as any he published from the pens of 
 others. He issued more than two hundred separate works to 
 my knowledge — none of them mean or unimportant. The 
 whole constituted a pamphlet library of controversy never 
 equalled. 
 
 Mr. Scott died, and no successor has appeared. As the wise 
 adviser and intrepid friend of Bishop Colenso, he will long live 
 in the memory of all who knew how great his services were. 
 To others, the old warrior devoting his years to scholastic re- 
 search and criticism, with the enthusiasm of a young professor, 
 will be a singular figure. He was the greatest propagandist by 
 pamphlets of his own origination ever known to me, in reading 
 or experience. 
 
CHAPTER LXXIII. 
 
 HOW BISHOP COLENSO BECAME CONVERTED. 
 
 (i860.) 
 
 On one or two occasions I met Bishop Colenso. His earnest, 
 alert, inquiring demeanour, his frankness and tolerance would 
 suggest to any one that he was for truth first and faith after- 
 wards. 
 
 One Sunday night I was lecturing at the Hall of Science, 
 City Road. At the conclusion notice was given out that it was 
 expected Bishop Colenso would speak in that place next 
 Sunday. He had been invited to lay his views before the 
 audience assembling there. Simple as a child in matters of 
 duty, he was ready to vindicate his views before any whom he 
 supposed to be earnest inquirers. He never counted the risks ; 
 he never thought of them. Though he rejected the literary 
 and arithmetical errors of the Scriptures, he was deeply 
 Christian, while the audience he would have met were not so. 
 I at once said it would be unfortunate for the bishop's cause if 
 he came there, and I wrote and told him so. The Hall of 
 Science had an atheistic reputation, and his enemies, who were 
 then very fierce against him, would never dissociate his appear- 
 ance at the Hall of Science from sympathy with the far-reaching 
 heresy promulgated in it. It would have been a distinction to 
 the side to which I belonged that the bishop should appear 
 among us, but it would not have been generous in us to have 
 permitted it at his peril. The audience, I was glad to see, 
 thought so too. 
 
 The bishop sent me a brief note of thanks, and did not appear 
 there. He may have had this incident in his mind when he 
 
 85 
 
86 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 told Mr. Scott that 1 was a paler sort of Satan than I was 
 usually' represented to be. 
 
 Or Bishop Colenso may have had in memory an earlier inci- 
 dent. When he was appointed to the See of Natal, he selected 
 (I forget how it came to pass) an intelligent Secular carpenter 
 and frequent correspondent of the Reasoner — Robert Ryder — 
 to go out and build his church and school-house. Mr. Ryder, 
 when I first knew him, was employed at New Leeds, near 
 Bradford. He afterwards came to London, and kept a small inn 
 off Gray's Inn Road, which he gave up to go to Natal. As 
 Ryder had never been abroad, he asked my advice as to going, 
 and I encouraged him to accept the Natal engagement. He 
 had become acquainted through the Reasoner with Herbert 
 Spencer's writings, and was his earliest disciple whom I knew. 
 His fascination was the first edition of " Social Statics." It was 
 to him as a new Gospel. He had a copy with him wherever he 
 went. Its contents had coloured his mind, and he took the 
 book with him to Natal. He was in the bishop's employ several 
 years, and sent me photographs which he had taken of the 
 actual Zulus who were said to have converted the bishop, long 
 before any such conversion was heard of in England. This 
 English carpenter and builder was an agnostic, an enthusiast, 
 and a ready disputant. Zulus were workers under him, and the 
 bishop saw them daily and conversed with them as to their 
 religious views, so far as they had any. They were very shrewd 
 and good at argument, as the bishop admits in one of his works. 
 My friend told me that the Zulus used to remark upon the fact 
 that the bishop had a room built in the rear of the church, in 
 which he stored an eighteen-pounder. They knew what that 
 cannon was for, and they thought that the bishop, fair-spoken 
 as he was, did not place his ultimate reliance on the " Good 
 Father " in whom he told them to trust. 
 
 Afterwards the bishop's builder came to consider that his con- 
 tract was not fairly fulfilled by the bishop, and sent me particu- 
 lars for publication in the Reasoner. I endeavoured to dissuade 
 him from an action at law which he contemplated. Being a 
 mathematician, the bishop was more likely to be right in 
 matters of charge than he. Besides, the bishop was a gentle- 
 man as well as a Christian, and therefore to be trusted. Further, 
 it would be a scandal for a Secularist to go to law with a good 
 
HOW BISHOP COLENSO BECAME CONVERTED. 87 
 
 bishop, who had incurred the enmity of his order by his splendid 
 tolerance. It came to pass that Mr. Ryder had to sue the 
 bishop, when occurred the only instance in which the bishop 
 displayed the prejudice and injustice too often the characteristics 
 of his profession. 
 
 It was years before Bishop Colenso's criticisms of the Old 
 Testament were "noised abroad," when my friend Robert Ryder 
 became his mechanical manager of works in the diocese of Natal. 
 Mr. Ryder, in a letter which I published in the Reasoner in 
 June, 1858, said : — 
 
 " I am the same R. R. I was when you knew me in England 
 I have laboured for the last three years to prove that it is pos- 
 sible for an atheist (so-called), holding extreme speculative views, 
 to work with a party, for a secular object, whose views are dia- 
 metrically opposed to mine. I endeavour to prove in my own 
 person that duty, faithfulness, and honesty are moral qualities 
 independent of creed. I have risen to the highest honour and 
 confidence my employer can bestow upon me — not for what I 
 believe, but for what I have done, and the manner in which I 
 have served the mission in general. The bishop is quite familiar 
 with my views, but he is one of those noble men who adorn 
 Christianity by his consideration, his kindness, his life, and his 
 freedom from all intolerance. He often comes to get one of your 
 works out of my library. I have my esteemed employer's certi- 
 ficate that I have served the cause well, and faithfully discharged 
 my duties for three years, and am going on for two more years. 
 I have been entrusted with thousands of pounds. I have built 
 three churches, three schools, a corn-mill, a 20-feet water wheel 
 fitted up with lathes and smithy, potter's wheel, and simple 
 machines ; also an industrial training school for the natives, one 
 hundred of whom we have in training, chiefly young boys. We 
 do not attend much to the old ones. I brought a brick and tile 
 machine from England, with which we have made about a 
 million bricks. The natives have made a great number by 
 hand, a thing they never did before. I am now building the 
 Bishop's Palace, 120 feet frontage, with two wings of 80 feet 
 each, in the Elizabethan style of architecture." 
 
 This passage is interesting as showing how early and to how 
 great an extent the bishop provided, not only for the spiritual, 
 
88 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 but for the material comfort and education of the Zulus. In 
 publishing Mr. Ryder's letter, I divested it of all names and 
 allusions by which any readers in England could connect it with 
 the Natal Mission. A letter from Brazil and one from Mexico, 
 equally divested of personal references, had brought my corre- 
 spondents trouble. Therefore no mention was made of any 
 place in Africa, and, as there was no reason to suppose that the 
 Reasoner circulated there, it was concluded that any person re- 
 ferred to was sufficiently protected. However, the Rev. Calvert 
 Spensley, being in England, called at the Reasoner office and 
 purchased some numbers, one of them containing the letter in 
 question. He recognized that the scene of Mr. Ryder's work 
 was at Ekukanyeni, and sent the letter in the Reasoner to the 
 editor of the Natal Mercury, who reprinted it under the 
 imaginative title of " Atheistic Socialism in Natal." Mr. Ryder 
 had been before described by the editor of the Mercury as "the 
 bishop's very liberal-minded, shrewd, and independent agent." 
 All that could be brought against Mr. Ryder was that in 1848 
 he had been on a deputation to Paris to congratulate the 
 Government on the establishment of the " Republic Democratic 
 and Social." The bishop was now assailed for employing such 
 an agent, and charged with disseminating "Atheistic Socialism." 
 Not a thought was given nor a word of consideration said that 
 Mr. Ryder had, in spite of his convictions, generously devoted 
 himself to aiding the mission work and in increasing its reputa 
 tion and influence by building the churches and schools, all the 
 while keeping silence on his own opinions that the bishop and 
 his work might not be compromised. 
 
 The Rev. C. Spensley was engaged upon a rival Dissenting 
 Mission, and his party naturally took pleasure in disparaging 
 the Church Mission ; but it was not justifiable to do it by untrue 
 and venomous accusation. 
 
 Mr. Ryder defended himself in a clear, manly letter in the 
 Natal Star. He said : " I have never made a profession of 
 atheism. I engaged to the Bishop of Natal as mechanical 
 manager to the Mission. My labours have been perfectly secu- 
 lar, having nothing whatever to do with either Theism or 
 Atheism. Neither have I taken any part in matters political 
 or religious, private or public, or sought to obtrude any views 
 of mine on those subjects since I came to this colony." 
 
HOW BISHOP COLENSO BECAME CONVERTED. 89 
 
 He accounted for the hostility of the Natal Mercury, the 
 organ of the Dissenting Mission, by stating that the editor had 
 made overtures to join the Church, and " offered himself to the 
 bishop body, soul, and paper," which being refused, the editor 
 was resentful. 
 
 The rival mission succeeded in doing the Church Mission 
 some harm. As soon as Mr. Ryder's letter to the Reasoner 
 appeared in the colony — in which letter Mr. Ryder had said 
 " the Zulus had intelligence, truth, probity, and chastity, all 
 the virtues of the Christian nations without their vices, and he 
 did not see what Christianity could do for them " — the bishop 
 discharged him, lest the Church Mission should suffer ; and 
 Mr. Ryder was obliged to appeal to the law to recover the claim 
 he had against the bishop. The decision was given in Mr. 
 Ryder's favour. The bishop then appealed against it and lost. 
 The judges confirmed the decision in favour of his late agent. 
 An attempt was made to disqualify Mr. Ryder's evidence by 
 reason of his opinions, but his word was believed against the 
 bishop. The judge who gave the judgment of the court said : 
 " If I followed feeling and class prejudice, I should decide in 
 favour of the educated man of my own class, rather than for the 
 uneducated man Ryder. But justice stands in the way." Ryder 
 had no written engagement, but his character went with his 
 word. 
 
 It is singular that the bishop, whose characteristic was just- 
 mindedness, should have been unfair to one who was not a 
 Theist. He was prejudiced against heresy when he was 
 ignorantly described as having sympathy with it. He after- 
 wards saw, when Christian persecution befel him, that truth 
 and fairness often co-existed in persons who did not hold his 
 theistical belief — from which belief he never departed himself. 
 
 Mr. Ryder had seen frequent accounts and quotations in the 
 Reasoner of Lieut. Lecount's " Hunt after the Devil," and 
 probably had the book in his library. There was nothing 
 about the " Devil " in Lecount's three volumes, which were 
 filled with calculations of the dimensions of the ark, with 
 reference to its required capacity. The chief statements of the 
 Old Testament which could be tested by figures, Lecount, 
 being a great mathematician, had presented with an originality 
 and vividness not before shown. If the bishop had not seen 
 
90 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 the book, it was a remarkable coincidence that he should go 
 over the same ground in the same way, applying the same 
 methods, and arriving at similar results. 
 
 Any reader of this chapter will see the bishop had ample 
 means of becoming acquainted with the intellectual difficulties 
 of heretics. Being himself an accomplished arithmetician, the 
 investigation by which he became distinguished was natural to 
 him, and it was quite out of the line of any Zulu to suggest it. 
 The Zulus were strongest concerning the difficulties of Theism ; 
 but the bishop was never in any degree moved by their argu- 
 ments, except so far as their intelligence and earnestness may 
 have inspired him with tolerance and respect for extreme 
 difference of belief. The Zulus had a quick sense of moral 
 preception, of the discrepancies between profession and practice, 
 but these were points upon which the bishop did not deal in his 
 Pentateuchal criticisms. He dwelt mainly with intellectual 
 and scientific objections. 
 
 When his first volume on the Pentateuch came out it was 
 said of him — 
 
 " To Natal, where savage men so 
 Err in faith and badly live, 
 Forth from England went Colenso, 
 To the heathen light to give. 
 
 But, behold the issue awful ! 
 
 Christian, vanquished by Zulu, 
 Says polygamy is lawful, 
 
 And the Bible isn't true ! " 
 
 The bishop had not said this, but it was quite as near to the 
 truth as clerical criticism usually gets on its first effort. Dr. 
 Cumming was one of his adversaries. He was an ingenious 
 prophet who predicted the end of the world in a certain year, 
 and at the same time negotiated a lease of his house for a much 
 longer period, whereby he obtained a reduction of rent to 
 which he was not morally entitled. He issued some frenzied 
 pamphlets entitled " Moses right, Colenso wrong," which I 
 answered by another series entitled " Cumming wrong, Colenso 
 Right ; by a London Zulu." Bishop Colenso certainly showed 
 that an educated Christian gentleman, who had sympathy for 
 the people and a genial toleration of the pagan conscience, 
 could do much for their elevation in the arts of life. 
 
HOW BISHOP COLENSO BECAME CONVERTED. 91 
 
 The bishop took his beautiful electrical apparatus and 
 delivered lectures with experiments in Natal to the great 
 delight of the Zulus, who in their grateful and appreciative 
 way called him Sokululeka, Sobantu, " Father of raising up " 
 — " Father of the People." No Zulu heart would apply such 
 honouring words towards Dr. Cumming, whose divinity was a 
 snarl and his orthodoxy a sneer. One day I sent the bishop a 
 set of the pamphlets I had written in reply to his adversary. 
 Here in his answer dated from Pendyffryn, Conway, July 25, 
 1863 :— 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I am much obliged by your note. I enclose 
 a letter from Professor Kuenen, of Leyden, which you may 
 like to see. He ranks not merely among the first — but, I 
 believe, as the first — of living Biblical critics, and treats my 
 book rather differently from Dr. Cumming and Co. — Faithfully 
 yours, J W. Natal." 
 
 The bishop also sent me the third part of his " Examination 
 of the Pentateuch " on its publication. 
 
 Next to Hue and Gabet's Travels in Tartary, Bishop 
 Colenso's " Ten Weeks in Natal " is the most alluring mission- 
 ary book I ever read. Had ecclesiastical appointments gone by 
 merit in Colenso's time, he would have been made Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, as he had more learning and more Christianity, 
 in the best sense of the term, than any contemporary prelate. 
 With noble self-sacrifice he ended his days among the Zulu 
 people. He was the friend of their kings — he was ceaseless in 
 pleading for justice to Cetewayo. He was the only bishop for 
 centuries who won the love of a barbarian nation. 
 
 Mr. Ruskin, whose regard is praise, presented his large 
 diamond to the Natural History Museum on the condition that 
 the following words should always appear on the label descrip- 
 tive of the specimen : — " The Colenso diamond, presented in 
 1887 by John Ruskin in honour of his friend, the loyal and 
 patiently adamantine first Bishop of Natal." 
 
CHAPTER LXXIV. 
 LORD COLERIDGE AND THOMAS HENRY BUCKLE. 
 
 (I8S9-) 
 
 Mr. Justice Erskine, in his address to me, said in 1841, that 
 " the arm of the law was not stretched out to protect the 
 character of the Almighty. The law did not assume to be a 
 protector of God." But he used it so all the same. His 
 words, however, admitted that blasphemy, as respects Deity, is 
 not a crime which the law takes cognizance of. Blasphemy is 
 only a secular concern, a crime that affects the peace and taste 
 of society. 
 
 Blasphemy is an erminic creation. In the eyes of a Theis- 
 tical moralist, orthodox Christianity is blasphemy of a bad 
 kind. Yet a judge seldom considers that the conscience of an 
 atheist is outraged by ordinary Christian language. Usually 
 the judge protects Christians alone, and, according as he is 
 bigoted or tolerant himself, his definition of blasphemy is 
 malignant or generous. In cases 01 opinion judges make the 
 law, and when a Lord Chief Justice is tolerant it is fortunate, 
 since his judgment becomes a precedent which minor judges 
 respect. Lord Coleridge, in giving judgment on certain publi- 
 cations two or more years ago alleged to be blasphemous, said 
 to the jury : — 
 
 " If the law as I laid it down to you is correct — and I believe 
 it has always been so ; ' if the decencies of controversy are ob- 
 served, even the fundamentals of religion may be attacked, 
 without a person being guilty of blasphemous libel. There 
 are many great and grave writers who have attacked the 
 
 1 If so, it has been disregarded by most judges. 
 
LORD COLERIDGE AND THOMAS HENRY BUCKLE. 93 
 
 foundations of Christianity. Mr. Mill undoubtedly did so ; 
 some great writers now alive have done so too ; but no one can 
 read their writings without seeing a difference between them 
 and the incriminated publications, which I am obliged to say 
 is a difference not of degree, but of kind. There is a grave, an 
 earnest, a reverent, I am almost tempted to say a religious 
 tone in the very attacks on Christianity itself, which shows 
 that what is aimed at is not insult to the opinions of the 
 majority of Christians, but a real, quiet, honest pursuit of 
 truth. If the truth at which these writers have arrived is not 
 the truth we have been taught, and which, if we had not been 
 taught it, we might have discovered, yet, because these conclu- 
 sions differ from ours, they are not to be exposed to a criminal 
 indictment. With regard to these persons, therefore, I should 
 say, they are within the protection of the law as I understand it." 
 
 This judgment gives protection against Christian penalties 
 to such writers as Buckle, Carlyle, Harriet Martineau, Huxley, 
 Tyndall, Morley, and Spencer. It is the amplest Charter of 
 Free Discussion yet promulgated on high authority in any 
 nation or in any country. 
 
 One day Mr. William Coningham, then M.P. for Brighton, 
 took me to call on Thomas Henry Buckle, who was re- 
 siding with his mother in Sussex Square in that town. Mr. 
 Coningham had often spoken to me of Mr. Buckle as one who 
 had long been engaged on a great work which woujd make an 
 impression upon the age. It proved to be the " History of 
 Civilization," which was afterwards published. It was Sunday 
 morning when our visit was made. Mr. Buckle wore a light 
 dress ; he had a fresh complexion, a welcoming manner, and 
 appeared to me as a country squire with unusual ease and 
 readiness in conversation. He did not give me the impression 
 that he was a philosopher, a man of ideas, of studious and im- 
 mense research ; but I knew all this when I subsequently read 
 his review in Fraser's Magazine for May, 1859, of John Stuart 
 Mill's famous treatise on "Liberty." After thirty years I 
 have read the review again with equal wonder and admira- 
 tion. We have no such reviews in these days. We have 
 writers whose sentences of light and music linger in the ear of 
 the mind, but we have none who have Buckle's passionate 
 
94 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 eloquence and generous eagerness in defence of unfriended 
 heretics. 
 
 It was in that review that he animadverted on the trial of 
 Thomas Pooley before Mr. Justice Coleridge, at Bodmin, in 1857, 
 and on the part taken by Mr. John Duke Coleridge (now Lord 
 Chief Justice Coleridge), who was the prosecuting counsel plead- 
 ing,before his father. I had written a narrative of the career and 
 trial of Pooley, having been down to Cornwall, at the instance 
 of the Secularists of that day, to report upon Pooley's case. 
 Mr. J. D. Coleridge replied to Mr. Buckle in defence of his 
 father, Sir John Coleridge, and himself, and stated, in his re- 
 marks in Frase/s Magazine, for June, 1859, "that every fact 
 mentioned by Mr. Buckle is to be found in the aforesaid report, 
 and often nearly in the language of Mr. Holyoake." It was so. 
 Mr. Mill had mentioned my name in " Liberty," and that of 
 Pooley, which led Mr. Buckle to inquire of me what the facts 
 of the case were. I sent him my published narrative. Though 
 I had been long before, and was at the time, exposed to a storm 
 of clerical persecution, no resentment colours that story. 
 There is no publication of mine which I would more willingly 
 see reprinted, and by which I would consent to be judged as a 
 controversialist narrator, than by that. But in any such reprint 
 I should withdraw the phrases in which I represent that Mr. J. 
 D. Coleridge " concealed facts from the jury," or was otherwise 
 consciously unfair ; nor should I use the same accusatory words 
 I did in speaking of Sir John Coleridge, the judge. After- 
 wards, when the remission of Pooley's sentence was sought, 
 and the Judge consulted upon it, he wrote to say that " he saw 
 no reason why Pooley should not receive a free pardon under 
 the circumstances stated." At the same time he remarked that 
 he did not suspect Pooley's insanity, that " there was not the 
 slightest suggestion made to him " thereunto, nor had he been 
 led to inquire into it, and " he should have been very glad " to 
 arrive at the conclusion he was insane and have " directed his 
 acquittal on that ground." Mr. J. D. Coleridge on his own 
 part said in his reply to Mr. Buckle : — " I took pains to open 
 the case in a tone of studied moderation. I carefully ex- 
 plained to the jury that the prosecution was not a prosecution 
 of .opinion in any sense. I mentioned, and I beg their pardon 
 for here repeating, the names of Mr. Newman, Mr. Carlyle, 
 
LORD COLERIDGE AND THOMAS HENRY BUCKLE. 95 
 
 and Miss Martineau, as persons who maintained what I and 
 others might think erroneous opinions, but who maintained 
 them gravely, with serious argument and with a sense of re- 
 sponsibility, and whom no one would dream of interfering with. 
 I said that the time was long gone by for persecution, which 
 I thought as foolish as it was wicked ; but that as liberty of 
 opinion was to be protected, so was society to be protected from 
 outrage and indecency." This is riot only entirely fair ; it is a 
 generous interpretation of freedom of speech, and is consistent 
 with what Mr. Coleridge, as Lord Chief Justice, avowed in yet 
 more remarkable language twenty-six years later. There was 
 no report of the trial. No one whom I could meet in Cornwall 
 was aware of what had been said to the jury, and the strange 
 severity of the sentence hid from my mind the probability of 
 its being said. The letter of the judge and the speech of the 
 counsel I have quoted show that I was wrong in saying 
 that there was a " concealment " of facts, or " shameful reti- 
 cence " on his part, or in suggesting conscious unfairness on his 
 father's part. As I am the only person remaining on Pooley's 
 side, conversant with the facts of the trial as they subsequently 
 transpired, it is a duty in me to make the correction. 
 
 Pooley had no counsel, no friend, and his side was not put 
 before the court. The Spectator, which in those days was 
 always well informed on these cases, had the only report which 
 appeared in the London press ; the writer, probably a barrister 
 present, was struck with the signs of insanity in Pooley. He 
 remarks, however, that " Mr. Coleridge was quite correct in 
 his statement of the law as it stood." 
 
 My own opinion of the clergy of Liskeard, of public opinion 
 there 'and in Bodrhin, of the extraordinary indictment, of the 
 lack of discernment in the jury, and of the strange extent of 
 the sentence pronounced, remain the same. At the same time, 
 it must be owned that Pooley's manner of acting, with which, 
 as my narrative shows, I did not sympathize and did not con- 
 ceal, must have ' set all uninquiring, unsuspecting persons 
 'against him. 
 
 "■*■ Had What i learned of Pooley's life been known to the 
 counsel and judge, their" trial of Pooley would have ended, 
 differently. Had I known what limited knowledge of facts the 
 court had of Pooley's history, I should have written differently 
 
96 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 of those who conducted the trial and decided his fate. It did 
 not seem to me to be possible that the pathetic facts of Pooley's 
 life, for fifteen years known to his family, neighbours, and em- 
 ployers, could be unknown to gentlemen in the same town. It 
 was not then known to me that Truth is more lame-stepping 
 than Justice, and is very dilatory in making known what she 
 knows. It was not then known to me that the rich know no 
 more of the lives of the poor than persons on land know or care 
 to know of the ways of fish in the sea. It was not known to me 
 that theological prejudice may so close the eyes and ears of the 
 mind that it neither sees nor hears outside itself. It was not 
 known to me then, as it has been since, that in political war- 
 fare educated gentlemen on one side do not believe in the 
 integrity of equally educated gentlemen on the other side, and 
 not only put on their acts a construction never thought of by 
 the actors, but will report as true the falsest charges after they 
 have been publicly and often confuted. So I did think, with- 
 out misgiving, that the pagan insensibility of Pooley had ex- 
 cited the indignation of counsel and judge, and led them to 
 ignore the facts which I supposed them to know. Mr. Buckle, I 
 doubt not, were he living to revise the statement he made, would 
 cancel all imputations upon the personal honour or conscious 
 unfairness of judge or counsel in this case, for Mr. Buckle him- 
 self invited all readers of his to peruse the defence of Mr. J. D. 
 Coleridge, and he reprinted and circulated the most vehement 
 passages against himself, and they were hardly less fierce than 
 his own. Mr. Buckle always had fairness in his mind, and his 
 publishing and circulating the strongest passages in reply to 
 himself which his adversary had penned, is a proof of it. Only 
 a candid man who cared more for the truth than for himself 
 would do it. 
 
 That such a prosecution could take place and such a sentence 
 as that upon Pooley could be pronounced excited Buckle's 
 generous indignation. His brilliant defence of the poor, crazed, 
 but intrepid well-sinker of Cornwall, is the only example in 
 this generation or this century of a gentleman coming forward 
 in that personal way, to vindicate the right of Free Thought 
 in the friendless and obscure. Mr. Mill would give money, 
 which was a great thing, or use his influence, which was more, 
 to protect them, but Mr. Buckle descended personally into the 
 arena to defend and deliver them, 
 
CHAPTER LXXV. 
 
 BEQUEST OF A SUICIDE. 
 
 (i860.) 
 
 It is the common experience of those who advocate liberty in 
 some new direction to receive an unforeseen and undesirable 
 adhesion of all the " cranks," religious, social, and political, 
 extant in the innovator's day. I mean by a " crank " one who 
 mistakes his impressions for ideas, or, having ideas resting on 
 proof only perceived by himself, insists, in season and out of 
 season, on attention being given to them. He is a crank, 
 whatever his " views " may be, who persistently claims notice 
 for them before he has thought them out to their consequences 
 and described the grounds on which they rest, so that others 
 can discern and test them. The number of " cranks " are 
 much larger in most parties than are supposed. 
 
 An innovator who knows his business presents his case as 
 that of reasoned truth. The " crank," not knowing the justi- 
 fication and conditions of innovation, rushes at you from all 
 directions to carry his fad forward. But discrimination is 
 necessary, lest you repel a thinker who seeks direction or con- 
 firmation, which your experience may afford him. Sometimes 
 a well-convinced but too ardent pioneer has fallen into evil 
 environments from which he cannot see his way out. Among 
 these was Bombardier Thomas B. Scott, 7th Battery, 8th 
 Brigade, Royal Artillery, Cove Common, Aldershot. Having 
 the making of a good soldier in him, he enlisted in the Royal 
 Artillery, on being assured by the recruiting officer that he 
 should have the rank and pay of a bombardier from the date 
 of his entering the service. On this condition he entered, but 
 
 vol. 11. 8 Q7 
 
98 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 he soon found, as Mr. Bradlaugh found, that faith is not kept 
 with recruits in the army. Scott found the condition was 
 ignored, and when he complained, he was told it was un- 
 authorised and used merely as an inducement for him to enlist. 
 He concluded, therefore, that as his enlistment was false. and a 
 fraud, it was illegal, and he wrote to Mr. Sydney Herbert, who 
 did not deny the fraud, but did not redress it. The reply of 
 the Secretary of War was sent to me, which I returned or I 
 would quote it. It seems strange that a man of Sydney 
 Herbert's high character for honour neither accorded censure 
 nor redress for admitted deceit. Scott's personal character 
 was good, but the position assigned him was that of a gunner 
 merely. He was employed as schoolmaster, and received 
 certificates of competency from the General Inspector of Army 
 Schools, from two head normal schoolmasters, and from his 
 colonel, captain, and officers. He was requested to stand exami- 
 nation as a candidate for a studentcy in the Military Asylum 
 at Chelsea. He did so, and passed. He might have risen from 
 the ranks, as was his ambition, had it not been for his specula- 
 tive opinions and his untimely zeal. He had in camp some 
 works I had written, and others, " Volney's Ruins of Empires " 
 among them. This becoming known, he was arraigned before 
 his colonel and officers on the charge of being an " atheist," 
 though Volney was a Theist. A soldier enlists for the purpose 
 of being killed, as the exigence or convenience of war may 
 warrant. Scott did not object to this, and it does not appear 
 what these officers had to do with a gunner's opinions on out- 
 side questions, entirely apart from his duty ; and his trial for 
 the purely ecclesiastical offence was irrelevant. 
 
 Scott made the mistake of considering it his duty to do as 
 the apostles did (which is only counted meritorious in them) of 
 standing by his opinions. For doing this he was sent back to 
 do his duty as a gunner, was denied the privilege of entering 
 the Normal School, and his prospects of military advancement 
 were cut off. This made him despondent. 
 
 In December the same year (i860) Scott had written to me 
 to advise him as to some mode of obtaining his discharge ; but 
 as I had no means of procuring funds for that purpose then, I 
 counselled him to observe circumspection as to his opinions 
 until he could be bought off. He then, through his captain, 
 
BEQUEST OF A SUICIDE. 99 
 
 sought to speak to his colonel on the subject of Mr. Sydney 
 Herbert's letter. He was received in a very forbidding way. 
 The colonel denounced him for his opinions, and told him that 
 if he would abandon them, he would do something for him, 
 and further told him that, until he did, he should not allow him 
 to hold any rank or appointment in the Royal Artillery. Scott 
 replied that his convictions were involuntary, which he could 
 not change until stronger evidence appeared before him ; that, 
 if the colonel believed him to be in error, it was his duty, as a 
 Christian, to convince him rather than coerce him. Where- 
 upon the colonel sent for the sergeant-major and ordered him 
 to confine Scott in the guardroom, and the charge of insubor- 
 dination to be entered against him. After two days' imprison- 
 ment, Sunday occurred, and he was marched under guard to 
 church. Scott, therefore, desired a communication to be made 
 to the officer in charge to the effect that he did not wish to 
 enter the church, as his habit was to attend the Wesleyan 
 Chapel, which he frequented, as all soldiers are obliged to 
 attend some place ot worship. Scott did not refuse to go, but 
 expressed his wish not to go to church, and claimed liberty of 
 conscience, as he did not agree with what he should hear in 
 church. Being offensively addressed by the officer, he refused 
 to go. He was then sent back into confinement, and an 
 additional charge of " insubordination " was entered against 
 him. Eventually he was taken before a court martial. Twelve 
 hours prior to his trial, a copy of the charges against him was 
 given to him, and he was told to frame his defence, but was denied 
 writing material. He sent me a very dramatic account, on eight 
 foolscap pages, of the whole affair. Around a large table in 
 the mess-room sat three lieutenants, two captains, one major, 
 and one colonel. On the table lay the Articles of War, a large 
 Bible, and Jamison's Code. The officers seized the Bible, and, 
 placing finger and thumb upon it, each kissed it, like cabmen, 
 and swore to give justice on all sides, which they could not 
 intend to do, being a military court without ecclesiastical func- 
 tions or competence. 
 
 Scott found the court martial a mere department of the 
 Church. Every scrap of evidence was made the most of against 
 him ; but when he attempted to correct the misstatements of 
 his judges, he was put down. He stood up manfully for his 
 
ioo SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 principles, which was considered a new offence. He said he 
 was ready to render the best service in his power to her 
 Majesty, and give his life in discharge of his duty, but his con- 
 science was his honour, and he could not change. They might 
 drive him to suicide, but he would not deny his conviction. 
 They did drive him to suicide, which was discreditable in 
 gentlemen. Scott, on his own showing, spoke very plainly, 
 and the court resented his contumaciousness ; but they should 
 have remembered that they had got him into their power by 
 fraud, and after knowing it, they kept him there. Being an 
 intelligent, logical-minded man, this injustice preyed upon him. 
 How long he was imprisoned I never heard. His health was 
 broken, and he became an inmate of the hospital. There he 
 had been two months when I next heard of him. He was 
 daily harassed about his opinions. The doctor, the chaplain, 
 the lieutenant, a captain's wife, and others assailed him from 
 time to time. He stated to a Roman Catholic comrade, who 
 had great regard for him, that he would give four years' service 
 to any one who would get him bought out, as I learned after- 
 wards. His own family were unable to do it. He had religious 
 connections better able ; but his opinions prevented his being 
 aided in that quarter. Solicitous always and to the end that 
 no discredit should come through him to the cause he espoused, 
 he provided that all his few debts should be paid. His pros- 
 pects in the army ended, friendless and assailed, he died by his 
 own hand. A faithful comrade of his, having occasion to write 
 to me in 1862, informed me, in answer to my inquiry after 
 Scott, that he had long been dead, of which no notice was 
 sent me, although he had bequeathed what little property he 
 had to me. I wrote to the colonel of his troop, and otherwise 
 obtained information of his bequest. On learning that his 
 family had need of anything he had, I transferred all his 
 possessions to them, valuing all the same this proof of the 
 dying regard of which he intended to assure me. Thus 
 closed the career of the brave suicide, who will have no record 
 save this. 
 
 In the Indian mutiny of 1857 the Mahometans would save 
 any one who would consent to profess himself a Moslem. Those 
 who would not were knocked on the head. Only one half- 
 caste saved his life by denying his faith. Mr. A. C. Lyall, an 
 
BEQUEST OF A SUICIDE. 101 
 
 eminent Indian official, wrote lines of noble praise of their 
 heroic honesty. One of those who thus died held the same 
 opinions as poor Scott. In Mr. Lyall's poem he tells of the 
 honest soldier's convictions and fate : — 
 
 " A bullock's death, and at thirty years ! 
 
 Just one phrase, and a man gets off it. 
 Look at that mongrel clerk in his tears, 
 
 Whining aloud the name of the prophet ! 
 Only a formula easy to patter, 
 And, God Almighty, what can it matter ? 
 
 I must be gone to the crowd untold 
 
 Of men by the cause which they served unknown, 
 
 Who moulder in myriad graves of old, 
 Never a story and never a stone 
 
 Tell of the martyrs who die like me, 
 
 Just for the pride of the old countree. 
 
 Aye, but the word, if I could have said it, 
 
 I by no terrors of hell perplext — 
 Hard to be silent and get no credit 
 
 From man in this world, or reward in the next. 
 None to bear witness and reckon the cost, 
 Of the name that is saved by the life that is lost." 
 
 These lines may fitly serve as Scott's epitaph. The con- 
 scientious heroism of the heretic is as noble as that of the 
 Christian. 
 
 Other soldiers have written to me at times, who had found 
 that volunteering to fight for the liberty of others did not 
 include freedom for themselves — not even of their own minds. 
 
CHAPTER LXXVI. 
 VISIT TO A STRANGE TREASURER OF GARIBALDI. 
 
 (1861.) 
 
 In the year i860 I was acting secretary to the London " Gari- 
 baldi Fund Committee." In many towns money was generously 
 given for "the General,'' as Garibaldi was popularly and 
 affectionately called. In some cases money so subscribed was 
 sent to Garibaldi ; in others taken to him, to prevent misad- 
 venture. Some local treasurers neither sent it nor took it. Thus 
 some sums were lost, and others held back by persons who did 
 not know where to send them to ; and in some cases a treasurer 
 would refuse to part with the funds in his hands until he was 
 personally and specially certain of its reaching the General. 
 For the convenience and satisfaction of all who held funds 
 given for him, Garibaldi appointed Mr. W. H. Ashurst, his 
 personal friend, as his treasurer. Mr. Ashurst was known in 
 America as well as England for patriotic services and high 
 character. 
 
 In an important town — not Newcastle-on-Tyne and not 
 Birmingham — it was known that a banker held upwards of 
 ^"400, which the General needed, but which never came to 
 hand. I do not mention the name of the banker, because he 
 was much and justly esteemed for his personal honour and 
 interest in public affairs. In this narrative I therefore speak 
 of him as Mr. Marvell, itself an honourable name in history. 
 Mr. Ashurst wrote to him from 6, Old Jewry, London, E.C. 
 (April 15, 1861), saying : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I received on Saturday a despatch from General 
 
VISIT TO A STRANGE TREASURER. 103 
 
 Garibaldi, from which I beg to forward you the following ex- 
 tract : — 
 
 '"I have already by my last letter requested you to act as 
 treasurer, or collector-general, in your country, of all monies 
 raised in aid of the cause of Italy, and subject to my order, and 
 this position I request you still to hold — advising me as before 
 Df the amount in hand, as to the disposal of which you shall 
 from time to time receive instructions from me. 
 
 " ' I now urgently call upqn you to let it be known to the 
 various committees and friends 1 of Italy throughout Great 
 Britain, that funds are greatly needed to complete the good 
 work of aiding in the emancipation of those parts of our country 
 which are still subject to priestly misrule and foreign oppression, 
 and the liberation of which will require all the efforts of the 
 patriots of Italy.' 
 
 "I have the pleasure of bringing this instruction under 
 your notice, and request that you will forward to me the 
 balance remaining in your hands on the General Garibaldi 
 account. — I am, dear sir, yours respectfully, 
 
 "ToD. M., Esq. W. H. Ashurst." 
 
 To this friendly letter the following singular reply was sent, 
 April 17, 1861 : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — We have peculiar notions on some subjects, 
 and do not sympathise in all the views set forth in your favour 
 of the 13th inst. 
 
 "We decline to send any contributions to London, as we 
 prefer to act independently, and shall take our own course 
 when the proper time arrives, — I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
 
 " D. M." 
 
 It had been known for some time that this gentleman was 
 unwilling to pay over the money in his hands to the General's 
 treasurer. At length the London Committee of the "Gari- 
 baldi Fund " instructed Captain de Rohan, the General's aide- 
 de-camp, to ask him for a special authorisation to be shown for 
 the fuller satisfaction of hesitating and " independent " persons. 
 Mr. Ashurst, on April 25, 1861, wrote again to the banker in 
 question : — 
 
104 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — I received your letter of the 17th inst, and 
 communicated its contents to the committee. I found that 
 they had already communicated with General Garibaldi in 
 order to obtain from him some authority which should satisfy 
 you as to the mode in which you should apply the money in 
 your hands collected for him ; and it is now my duty to enclose 
 to you the original authority from General Garibaldi, received 
 by me this day, to send to me, as his treasurer, the money you 
 have in hand. I have kept a copy of the authority and of the 
 translation. 
 
 "In yours of the 17th, acknowledging mine of the 15th, you 
 say that you ' do not sympathise in all the views set forth ' in 
 mine of that date. On reference to my letter you will find I 
 set forth no views, but simply enclosed you the translation of a 
 letter from General Garibaldi, and requested you to act upon it. 
 
 " To me personally it is of course indifferent what you do 
 with the money the various contributors have confided to you 
 for the Garibaldi Fund ; my duty is simply to follow out the 
 instructions of General Garibaldi. 
 
 " I request the favour of your prompt acknowledgment of 
 this letter, stating the course you intend to pursue, and remain, 
 dear sir, yours faithfully, W. H. Ashurst." 
 
 To this Mr. Ashurst received no reply. 
 
 Time went on and needs increased, for Garibaldi was still in 
 the field — but the money came not. Mr. E. H. J. Craufurd, 
 M.P. for the Ayr Burgh, being the Chairman of the Garibaldi 
 Fund Committee, then wrote to the banker resenting the dis- 
 trust and non-compliance of the request the general treasurer 
 made in the name of the committee. No notice was taken of 
 this communication, and there was no prospect, therefore, of ob- 
 taining the money. There was no legal remedy, and, had there 
 been, the committee would not have felt justified in expending 
 any funds to obtain it. I therefore proposed to the com- 
 mittee that they should give me 30s., which would be the third- 
 class fare to and fro, to go to the town where the money lay (I 
 paying my personal expenses myself), and I would collect the 
 money for them. No one thought I should succeed, but, as 
 they were unable to obtain the money themselves, leave was 
 given me to try. 
 
VISIT TO A STRANGE TREASURER. 105 
 
 On arriving in the town I went to a society of working men, 
 some of whom had been subscribers to the local fund, and in- 
 formed them that the money intrusted to their treasurer had 
 aever. been paid over, although a request to do so had reached 
 trim from Garibaldi. Then I asked them to make that fact 
 known to other subscribers. Knowing members of the congre- 
 gation where Mr. Marvell worshipped, I asked them whether it 
 svas possible that he could not be a man of good faith, or that 
 be could have any object in withholding the Italian fund which 
 had been intrusted to him from the uses for which it had been 
 subscribed. We could not understand in London why he should 
 disregard the written request of the General which had been 
 sent him to forward the money to his treasurer. My calcu- 
 lation was that Mr. Marvell would very shortly have inquiries 
 addressed to him by persons whose opinions he would not be 
 likely to disregard. He being mayor of the town, I next com- 
 municated the information to such members of the Town 
 Council as were known to me, who were promoters of the 
 subscription. They were astonished to learn that the money 
 was still in Mr. Marvell's hands. I remarked that we under- 
 stood him to be a man of unquestionable honour, which they 
 said was the case. I asked whether it was common in that 
 town for a banker to withhold money contrary to the wishes of 
 the subscribers ; besides, it was not respectful to Garibaldi (to 
 whom it was due), whose friend he professed to be. 
 
 When I thought that news of these remarks made in the 
 town by me, as acting secretary of the Garibaldi Committee, 
 who must know what he was speaking of, had had time to 
 reach the bank, I called there myself, and asked for an inter- 
 view with Mr. Marvell, on business of personal importance. I 
 was told that he was absent at his home, through indisposition, 
 and I was asked whether it was business the manager could 
 transact for him. I said I would explain my business to him, 
 and he might himself judge. I said we understood in London 
 that Mr. Marvell was a man of honour — that he not only kept 
 public faith, but as a magistrate was bound to vindicate it. 
 The manager said that was so, and wished to know on what 
 ground any question to the contrary could be raised. I answered 
 that he was aware that his principal was treasurer to the Gari- 
 baldi Fund, and that subscribers in that town entrusted their 
 
106 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 money to him in the implicit belief that it would, in reasonable 
 time, be paid over for the use of the General. But that was not 
 the case, as several hundred pounds were still detained at that 
 bank. 
 
 He admitted that the money was detained there, but said 
 there were reasons why it had not been paid over. I answered 
 that I knew that, but I had come down to inquire what those 
 reasons were. Had not Mr. Marvell received communications 
 from the General authorising and requesting him to pay all 
 money in his hands for the General's use to his treasurer in 
 London, Mr. Ashurst ? The manager admitted Mr. Marvell 
 had received them, but he was not satisfied with them. "That 
 means," I said, " that Mr. Marvell doubts their authenticity. 
 If they were genuine, he had no choice but to comply with 
 them ; and if he thought they were not genuine, how came it 
 to pass that he had taken no steps in consequence ? If they 
 were not genuine, they were forgeries, and it was an attempt, 
 being practised upon him, to obtain by forged documents money 
 in his possession. Yet he had taken no steps to expose the 
 forgery, or warn the subscribers or the public that he held 
 proofs of so infamous a proceeding in his hands. The manager 
 looked a little confused at that aspect of the question. I there- 
 fore added — " You are well aware who the persons are who 
 have sent these fraudulent communications from the General. 
 One is Mr. W. H. Ashurst, the Solicitor of her Majesty's Post 
 Office, and the other is Mr. E. H. J. Craufurd, a member of 
 Parliament, and counsel for the Mint. If they have taken to 
 forgery, and have acquired such confidence in their success that 
 they can venture to practise upon a banker and a magistrate, so 
 distinguished for sagacity and public spirit as Mr. Marvell, that 
 is a very serious thing, which ought not to be concealed from 
 the public. The law ought to have been set in motion long 
 ago. The Attorney-General should have been informed of the 
 proceedings of the Solicitor of the Post Office, and the Speaker 
 should have been made acquainted with this conduct of a member 
 of Parliament and counsel for the Mint. If Mr. Marvell doubted 
 the authenticity of Garibaldi's communication, he could have 
 sent it to Count Corti, or the Marquis D'Azeglio, the Italian 
 Minister in London, who knew the General's handwriting well, 
 and in twenty-four hours Mr. Marvell could have taken pro- 
 
VISIT TO A STRANGE TREASURER. 107 
 
 ceedings ; but he had, now for two months or more, concealed 
 or condoned this extraordinary and scandalous forgery. If he 
 would give me Mr. Marvell's address, I .would at once proceed 
 there, and speak to him upon the subject." 
 
 Upon being informed of his residence, I took a cab and drove 
 straight to his house in the suburbs, where I was received by 
 Mrs. Marvell, who informed me that her husband was unwell, 
 and unable to see visitors. I said in that case I would await his 
 recovery, although the matter upon which I wished to see him 
 was serious and of public importance. Upon her remarking 
 that if it were a matter which I could communicate to her she 
 might, at a convenient opportunity, mention it to him, I told 
 her precisely what I had told the manager of the bank, which 
 she appeared to hear with some consternation. I learned by 
 post shortly after that Mr. Ashurst had received £<\i 1 from Mr. 
 Marvell, the amount of all the subscriptions received by him. 
 
 I knew all the while why this banker wished to retain the 
 money in his hands, until he had opportunity of sending it 
 to the General himself. It was because he thought Garibaldi 
 might direct its employment by Mazzini, who was doing every- 
 thing in his power to send reinforcements into the field to aid 
 the General. It was Mazzini who inspired the men who shed 
 their blood under Garibaldi's standard, and not one sixpence of 
 the money would have been used except in Garibaldi's service. 
 It was not the province of any treasurer to dictate how money 
 should be applied which was subscribed for services in Italy, of 
 which he was merely the custodian, and every hour he withheld 
 it he was in danger of imperilling Garibaldi's interest and his 
 fortunes in the field. 
 
CHAPTER LXXVII. 
 
 FAMOUS FIGHTS. 
 
 (1863.) 
 
 Are science and courage a match for overwhelming strength ? 
 Can a man skilled in the art of hand-fighting overcome an 
 antagonist immensely his superior in stature and power ? I 
 saw this done at Wadhurst in 1863. 
 
 After the fight between Sayers and Heenan it became a 
 question whether Heenan could be beaten. He certainly was 
 not beaten by Sayers. In his contest with Heenan, Sayers 
 made a high name for English pluck. Seldom had a short- 
 built David of pugilism undertaken to fight such a ponderous 
 Goliath of Heenan's altitude. A single blow disabled Sayers ( s 
 left arm. Heenan struck like a battering-ram. It implied no 
 mean skill and pluck in Sayers to parry and return the blows 
 of such a tremendous assailant for many rounds, in that dis- 
 abled condition. Had not the ring been broken by the crowd, 
 Heenan would have killed his adversary. A subscription was 
 made for Sayers at the House of Commons, Lord Palmerston 
 subscribing the first guinea. Exhaustive training, excitement 
 of victory and subsequent excess, have death in them, and soon 
 laid Sayers low. No contests or feats of great danger ought to 
 be encouraged. All whose presence incites them are morally 
 participants in self-murder, disguised as a spectacle in which the 
 actor kills himself for renown. 
 
 Heenan having a name of international repute, I reported the 
 last of his battles — which was with Tom King — for the Newcastle 
 Daily Chronicle. Washington Wilks, a journalist whom you 
 could always trust for chivalry, represented the Morning Star 
 
FAMOUS FIGHTS. 109 
 
 and we agreed to go together. I knew Mr. Feist, editor of the 
 Sporting Life, whose office was next to mine in Fleet Street, 
 and by his invitation we joined him. From him I obtained a 
 railway ticket to the fight for £2 10s. At that time I was 
 publishing in the English Leader Dr. Shorthouse's articles on 
 the " Biology and Pedigree of Racing Horses." The Doctor 
 afterwards continued them under the title of The Sporting 
 Times. He understood his subject so well that one year he 
 predicted the winner of the Derby, which no one else foresaw. 
 Dr. Shorthouse, knowing I had to write an account of the 
 fight while it was progressing, suggested that I should have a 
 '* nurse." On consulting Feist, he named Johnny Broome as 
 my " nurse," who in consideration of a guinea, undertook to 
 protect me from molestation probable in that belligerent 
 society of which I was not a recognised member. The duty 
 of a " nurse " is to secure you a good place close to the ring 
 and to " punch anybody's head " who interferes with you. 
 Johnny was himself a pugilist of renown. Some time later he 
 killed himself, for which I was sorry, for he was a good fellow 
 according to his calling. He rode with us to the fight. Feist 
 wore a dark fur cap, which well became him, and moreover was 
 of excellent service in a blast or a rush. When, some years 
 later, Sir John Sinclair, M.P., sent me £$ to buy something I 
 liked, I bought a sealskin cap like Feist's, and had it on when 
 run over by an omnibus at Charing Cross. It kept well on my 
 head ; had I worn a hat that day it would have fallen off, and 
 getting under the horses' feet embarrassed them in their friendly 
 efforts not to tread upon me, in which they succeeded. 
 
 It was midnight early in December, 1863, when the fighting 
 party assembled at the London Bridge railway station. There 
 we hung about the waiting-rooms until word was given to take 
 the train, which had glided noiselessly into the station. None 
 of us knew where we were going. About five o'clock we 
 alighted in Sussex, at a place thought convenient for the 
 business in hand. A mounted policeman being observed by 
 the scouts sent out, it was conjectured he might ride for aid 
 and interfere, so we were recalled to the train and proceeded to 
 Wadhurst, where we again alighted and started about two 
 miles or more to the interior. Rain had fallen during the 
 night, and the run over fences, ditches, and stiles was more 
 
I to SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 diverting than agreeable. We were a rough, strong-footed 
 gang. The wet, clayey mounds were as slippery as hillocks of 
 soap, and one or two noblemen, as well as others, were soon on 
 their knees. A field was chosen and the stakes set. Tom 
 King, though nearly as tall as Heenan, was but a handsome 
 stripling compared with him. Both were pallid, and their lips 
 were pale and bloodless. Experts said they were overtrained. 
 Their flesh seemed concreted as though no blow could indent 
 it. Heenan won the toss 'both for the higher ground and for 
 the shade, and King had to take the declivity of the field with 
 the sun in his eyes. I had a seat on the ground next the ring, 
 in the circle of those who had paid for near places. As the 
 excitement of the fight grew, surrounding spectators pressed 
 down, and would have trampled on me had not the vigilant 
 eyes of Johnny Broome been upon them, who passed the word 
 that he was " nursing " me. That was sufficient to the wise 
 who knew they would have to answer to him on the spot if 
 they incommoded me. And those who were not wise soon 
 became so when they were subjected to a volley of Johnny's 
 threats, expressed in the minatory language of the Prize Ring 
 Otherwise I could not have maintained my place when the fury 
 of the fight became contagious. At first King merely sparred 
 at his great antagonist, dancing round him, alluring him to 
 parts of the ring in shadow. This lasted some minutes. At 
 last King struck Heenan a series of blows on mouth and 
 face with a rapidity the like of which I had never seen. 
 Heenan was not dazed, but amazed. Before he could get his 
 elephantine arms into play he was again and again subjected to 
 a rain of blows, resembling the Chinese punishment with the 
 flat bamboo, in which short, rapid strokes produce intensity of 
 effect. These King delivered in showers, and leaped back like 
 a kangaroo, and Heenan was never able to retaliate effectually. 
 The monster could have knocked his assailant over the ropes 
 into the adjoining field could he have got a fair blow at him. 
 But the nimble King took care this chance should not occur. 
 Never was a more majestic figure than Heenan beheld in the 
 ring ; such splendour of strength I have never seen since in 
 combat. As he stood up, his broad chest and massive arms 
 were defiant, and more so his mien, as, raising erect his 
 colossal frame, he planted his spiked boots well in the grass 
 
FAMOUS FIGHTS. ill 
 
 and strode down like a buffalo to his adversary, with conscious 
 pride of power and contempt for his foe. Up till the seventh 
 round he smiled as he met King ; but it was observed then 
 that his smile was a squirm, as his mouth was so swollen that 
 the laughing-lip was no more in use ; but his savage courage 
 kept him from knowing it. After this Heenan commenced 
 his native mode of fighting. After the battle with Sayers he 
 said he would never again be fettered by English rules, in 
 which his prairie prowess could not express itself. His policy 
 was to seize his opponent, crush, like a boa constrictor the 
 strength out of him, throw him down, and fall upon him with 
 his elbow on his neck. He did this. No doubt he could 
 kill any single antagonist who was unable to evade his strong 
 grip. He rushed on King, and compressed him under his arm. 
 King was entirely helpless. He fibbed away with one arm at 
 Heenan's back in a feeble, ineffectual way. He was thrown down 
 and fallen on. When he was picked up his face was black. 
 Heenan had beaten him. King could not be brought up to 
 time. But " time " was not called according to rule. He was 
 given more. The barbaric restoratives of the ring were 
 applied, when he reappeared before his foe alert as a fox. 
 Before long Heenan became blinded by King's incessant blows. 
 By the sixteenth round we were all excited. We of the inner 
 circle sat on the ground that the outer crowd might the better 
 see. But the fury of the battle took possession of us. We all 
 arose. When the combatants were on my side of the ring it 
 seemed as though they would fall over the ropes upon us. 
 Both fighters were raging, especially King, probably from spirit 
 given him, but more from the madness of battle. His eager- 
 ness to get at his opponent was such that his feet were on the 
 knees of his second and he sat upon his shoulder. Instead of 
 being behind, he was now ready before his time. Cans of 
 water were thrown in their faces to refresh Heenan's eyes and 
 enable him to see King. By this time Heenan fought wildly. 
 His senses were going under the fierce unparried blows of 
 King. The Jupiter of the Prize Ring was beaten : over- 
 whelming strength was defeated by science which waited for 
 its chance and knew how to profit by it. 
 
 By that time some policemen were on the ground, more 
 anxious to witness the fight than to prevent it. They were 
 
ii2 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 too few to stop it, and they were told it would' all be over 
 before they could collect aid, which they were quite willing to 
 believe, and made no attempt to do so. Subsequently the 
 combatants were tried at the Lewes Sessions, but no evidence 
 was forthcoming and they were acquitted. Yet there was no 
 doubt of the fight. Heenan was led by his seconds to the 
 train. Besides being unable to see his way, his strength had 
 been so reduced that his arms were supported on the shoulders 
 of his guides. Tom King, with scarcely a mark upon him, 
 came gaily round the carriage windows to collect, as is the 
 custom, a present for the loser of the battle. We made 
 up about X 2 S- 
 
 Accustomed to write on the railway, in boats, in cabs, 
 and crowds, making on occasion notes on a short man's 
 hat, whom I allowed to stand on my toes in order to 
 raise himself higher, I had no difficulty in getting my 
 account of the fight (two thousand words) ready for the 
 telegraphist when I got to town. It was calculated that two 
 thousand words were all we could then get over the wires in 
 time for the afternoon edition. I was the first person at the 
 telegraph office with a report of the fight. The chief of the 
 department on seeing it, came to me to ask whether I could 
 allow him to delay sending it on to Newcastle that he might send 
 it to Windsor, as the Prince of Wales wished to see the first 
 account of the fight. I answered the report was the property 
 of the paper I represented ; I had no right in its disposal, but 
 had no doubt Mr. Cowen would himself assent to such an 
 act of courtesy to His Royal Highness ; but I must ask that no 
 other account should be sent anywhere over the wires until the 
 Chronicle report was despatched. My condition was assented 
 to, and the Prince first received the description of the fight, 
 which was at least unlike any other common in that day, or 
 since. There was no slang of the ring in it, no technicalities of 
 experts which confuse the general reader. My object was to 
 give a brief, vivid account of what took place which a gentle- 
 man might peruse, and which would tell the readers of the 
 Chronicle what actually took place. Prize-fighting is not 
 necessary for the cultivation of public courage ; but the last 
 fight of Heenan, in which science was matched against strength, 
 was not without instruction, and not without national pride in 
 the victory of skill. 
 
FAMOUS FIGHTS. 113 
 
 To this day I look back with satisfaction to the Titan fight 
 on that December morning — it was the 10th — on the plateau 
 at Wadhurst. The passion of Newcastle-on-Tyne is for the 
 oar, the naval sceptre of the Norse kings, but one cannot carry 
 an oar about for inland defence — hence the Wadhurst fight 
 had interest on the Tyne. Its purpose, its swiftness, its pluck 
 were unexampled in my experience. Passion, pride and power 
 struggled on both sides for mastery ; the grand gleam of 
 disdain and conscious strength which shone in the eyes of the 
 American Ajax during the earlier rounds was a sight not seen 
 more than once in a generation. For fighting as Englishmen 
 fight, King was the regal type. Sayers was King's chief second, 
 who astonished the boxers present by appearing in a yellow 
 shirt. English prejudice against anything new at once burst 
 out. The colour was too glaring, but some distinctive 
 colour was the right thing. But it was jeered down, and 
 Sayers who never gave in at a blow was beaten by a laugh, and 
 put on a coat over his yellow shirt. Why should not seconds 
 be distinguished from the umpire ? Were jockies to ride in their 
 daily attire, the race for the Derby would be as dull as a run of 
 mounted costermongers. Sayers deserved credit for the sense 
 and courage of his picturesque device. Sayers died a year or 
 two later, and his colossal dog lay on his master's rug on his car 
 and was chief mourner at his grave. King died not long ago, 
 well regarded for his character and accomplishments. Heenan 
 is no more now, and Ada Isaacs Menken, the dreamy-eyed, 
 spiritualistic poetess, whom we knew at the exhibition of the 
 Davenport Brothers, and as " Mazeppa " at Astley's — who was 
 as lovely as she was dreamy — was personally attached to the 
 Benicia athlete — is also dead : so is Feist ; and Dr. Short- 
 house, for whom I had great regard. He was a lineal descendant 
 of Dr. Johnson's wife, who was a Shorthouse. He became an 
 LL.D. as well as an M.D. because he was proud of his descent, 
 and he wilfully resembled the Doctor in a rough frankness of 
 manner ; but though he had the bear in his speech, he had an 
 angel in his heart. He practised, when I knew him, at Car- 
 shalton, and every poor creature for miles round could 
 command his services and his medicines, although they were 
 never able to pay him. Once, when I was unwell, I was a guest 
 six weeks in his house* and I saw what took place among his 
 vol. 11. 9 
 
ii4 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 poor patients, who had no other friend in their sickness. At 
 my request Dr. Shorthouse visited many publicists who 
 needed the skill of the physician. Though his speech was 
 not encouraging or attractive, his kindly acts won every heart. 
 The only time I ever engaged in sporting was when he asked 
 me to join a sweepstake. I took two tickets, and forgot all 
 about them. Some time after he remarked to my brother 
 Austin that he had £$o due to some claimant who had never 
 appeared ; and one day my brother Austin, who remembered 
 I had tickets, looked among my papers and found that one of 
 them was the ticket wanted, and the ^"50 was paid to me. 
 Alas ! the excitement of the turf was too much for Dr. Short- 
 house, and he died all too soon for those who had affection for 
 him. 
 
 In my youth I had barbaric taste enough to look' with favour 
 on fighting, and had some ambition that way. Once I went 
 out on that business. A tendon of one wrist had been cut 
 when a boy, which lamed me for life, and otherwise I found 
 that prize fighting was not my vocation. The war spirit, en- 
 gendered by Napoleonic battles, had not abated in my youth. 
 Shaw, the famous Life Guardsman at Waterloo, was a prize 
 fighter. The Ring was popular in Birmingham in my time, 
 and would be again did invasion threaten us. Phil Sampson 
 was a local hero and, had Hammer Lane been successful in his 
 amour, I should have been nearly related to him. The first fight 
 I witnessed was between two women. It took place on the 
 Old Parsonage ground, which was then open previous to its 
 being built over. The combatants were two lusty women, 
 between thirty and forty years old, as far as I judged. They 
 had come from courts adjoining the open ground. Having 
 quarrelled, they challenged each other to fight. In their neigh- 
 bourhood fighting would be common, their husbands might be 
 boxers. There were few persons about, and the women fought 
 because they were enraged. Each was so far stripped that 
 their bosoms and arms were bare. They had full breasts, and 
 the strangeness of their appearance caused me to stop and look 
 at them. They sparred in the usual way, but after a few blows 
 they closed, and then seized each other by the hair. Some 
 women who had become aware of the fight rushed up and 
 parted them. There was only one round. That was the first 
 fight I saw. I have given an account of the last. 
 
CHAPTER LXXVin. 
 
 THE LAST LESSONS OF THE HANGMAN. 
 
 (1864.) 
 
 For fourteen years I wrote against the hangman, intending to 
 abolish him so far as any influence I had might go — and if not 
 abolish him repress him as a public teacher. Had I not been 
 myself a teacher in Glasgow, and found that pupils never 
 seemed eager to come up for instruction, I should never have 
 felt jealousy of my successful rival, Jack Ketch, who in those 
 days was put forward with great parade and circumstance as 
 the chief moral teacher of the Government. I had some 
 knowledge of murderers besides that acquired by connection 
 with the press, through being ordered to report public execu- 
 tions. In the days of the Leader newspaper, I was required to 
 supply an account of the hanging of a man and woman in Jail 
 Square, Glasgow. It was then (1853) I first became envious of 
 the success of the Professor of the Gallows in drawing crowds 
 of scholars to his classes. 
 
 The most eminent teachers lament the indocility of mankind 
 to receive moral impressions. They exhaust all the arts of 
 blandishment and persuasion, and win but scant pupils and 
 reluctant learners. All the while the Government were in 
 possession of a secret which genius, earnestness, and solicitude 
 had failed to discover. Exchange the blackboard of the 
 teacher for the black cap of the judge, the desk for the 
 gallows, and the scholars rush up in crowds ; every student 
 is eager : you cannot count their numbers ; you require strong 
 and far-extended barriers to restrain their impatience for. 
 instruction. 
 
n6 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 In Jail Square at an early hour of a Glasgow summer morn- 
 ing I found the Trongate impassable. At every angle per- 
 spiring mobs of dirty men and tattered women came down 
 like an avalanche. Hans Smith Macfarlane and Helen Black- 
 wood were out in Jail Square, and the operation of strangling 
 them was about to commence. The Salt Market was wedged 
 full of raw depravity. You could take the dimension of villainy 
 by the square inch. The cubic measure of Scotch scoundrelism 
 in the city of Glasgow could be ascertained that morning. 
 
 A fog hung over the city, and the approaching spectator 
 could only discern the edge of the struggling mass in Glasgow 
 Green. Its thick murmur resounded like the coming of the 
 cholera cloud, said to be heard by its first victims. The vast 
 span of the bridge adjoining Jail Square was covered with 
 human heads, gilded by beams from the bursting sun. All 
 beyond and before that living arch was an undefined sea of 
 glaring life. The huge city appeared to have lined its square 
 and streets to welcome home some national hero. The city 
 welcomed no victor — it was regaling its villains. The Lord 
 Provost had bestowed on the public another moralising and 
 deterring spectacle of a public strangling ; the policeman and 
 the gaoler profitted — and thus civilisation was advanced. 
 
 Eleven years later (in 1864) I had to report for the Morn- 
 ing Star the " public killing " (as Douglas Jerrold called 
 hanging) of Franz Muller. That morning was devoted by the 
 Government to public instruction by the hangman. His 
 subject was a German murderer. 
 
 In London professional debauchery and well-fed brutality 
 transcend in quantity that of Glasgow. Calcraft, the teacher, 
 had announced that he should give a lesson at Newgate. A 
 surging throng attended his summons. Housetops, windows, 
 and streets were crowded with pupils though a heavy rain 
 was falling. What a commonplace, contracted, unsightly, 
 uncomfortable, hideous area is the popular schoolroom of the 
 Old Bailey ! Well may the murderous teacher exult in the 
 punctuality of his pupils. No Pestalozzi, no Fellenburg, no 
 Arnold, no Key, no Temple, no De Morgan was ever able to 
 command the painful, prompt, and spontaneous allegiance of so 
 many scholars. Neither Cambridge nor Oxford can compare 
 with the University of Newgate. Ratcliffe Highway, Shore- 
 
THE LAST LESSONS OF THE HANGMAN. 117 
 
 ditch, Houndsditch, and every other ditch that harbours a 
 thief ; Billingsgate, the Seven Dials, and the Brill of Somers 
 Town sent their choicest representatives. The knave and the 
 burglar had run and raced from every purlieu of the metropolis 
 in order not to miss their Newgate lecture. The pickpocket 
 was there. The ticket-of-leave man was present. The 
 drunkard and the wife-beater found means to profit by this 
 great State opportunity. The sickly, the consumptive were 
 among the throng — defying the cold, which must be misery, 
 and the damp, which may kill. Eager for the instruction the 
 gallows imparts, the most vicious business is suspended. The 
 garotter lets his intended victim pass ; the burglar leaves the 
 shutter half splintered, and hastens on when the hangman is 
 teaching. An influence stronger than lust, more alluring than 
 vice, more tempting than plunder, is exercised by this seductive 
 instructor. The condemned has been kept a fortnight within 
 hearing of the very footstep of Death, daily coming nearer and 
 nearer to him. He is brought out upon the scaffold. Twenty 
 thousand strange eyes glare upon him, with hungry terror- 
 striking warning. He is shown to the excited mob before his 
 face is covered. The spectators see the last spark of hope die 
 out of his soul. No reprieve has come ; no horseman rushes 
 up to the throng ; no shout of pardon is heard ; no possible 
 rescue, which always lingers in the mind of the doomed, occurs. 
 The wretch stands face to face with inevitable, pitiless, pre- 
 meditated Death, and the crowd know that he knows it. They 
 see the frame quiver and the blood rush to the neck. A thrill 
 passes through the congregated scoundrels whom the Govern- 
 ment has thus undertaken to entertain. If Godfrey Kneller said 
 he never looked upon a bad picture but he carried away a dirty 
 tint, we may be sure that no eye looks upon the scaffold but it 
 takes or transmits a tint of murder. 
 
 I was not much before my time in urging these arguments 
 upon public consideration. Two days after my last letter upon 
 the subject appeared in the Star (November 16, 1864), news- 
 papers wrote against the spectacle which had never so written 
 before. No doubt the distrust of public killing had crept into 
 many minds. The Times had a leader which might be taken 
 as a summary of my statements (so closely was it analogous to 
 them), and admitted that public executions were disastrous in 
 
nS SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 London ; but arguing that the hangman's lessons told on those 
 who were absent, treating the gallows as a school where only 
 those pupils profit who do not attend ! The Standard after- 
 wards published a poem strenuously deploring the effect upon 
 the public of the appearance at the gallows of two teachers 
 together — the Clergyman and the Strangler, the one preaching 
 mercy and the other murder. Soon after the Grand Jury at 
 Manchester protested against executions in that city, and 
 advised that they should " take place within the precincts of 
 the gaol for the hundred of Salford." This the law eventually 
 conformed to, and public instruction by the hangman ended. 
 
CHAPTER LXXIX. 
 
 AN ADVENTURE WITH GARIBALDI. 
 
 (1864.) 
 
 Incidents when Garibaldi was at Brooke House in 1864, are 
 worth relating. I was, by instruction, in attendance upon him. 
 I had been since he was received at Southampton. The Ripon, 
 which brought him there, was stormed by crowds of deputa- 
 tions and persons who, in his day of insurgency and unpopu- 
 larity, never showed him friendship or sympathy, but were 
 even among his defamers. They were all anxious now to show 
 themselves as his friends. The only persons who displayed 
 dignity, self-respect and knowledge of the situation were Mr. 
 Joseph Cowen — the general's old friend in adversity — and the 
 Duke of Sutherland. The Duke simply greeted Garibaldi, and, 
 neither officious nor persistent, gave him an invitation to his 
 house in London when it suited him to come, and then went 
 away. Mr. Cowen (Garibaldi's eyes brightened as he greeted 
 him) explained to Garibaldi the English situation, and what 
 course would be best for Italy for him to pursue, and left 
 him. 
 
 After I had been a week at the Isle of Wight — often seeing 
 Garibaldi, once dining with him, and sometimes joining him in 
 his morning walk in the gardens of Brooke House — all Mr. 
 Seely's guests returned to England in the Medina. It was 
 stated by members of Parliament on board that 100,000 men 
 intended to file before the General at Nine Elms. As it was 
 desirable to save him the fatigue of standing five hours while 
 this was done, a wish was expressed that a different arrangement 
 should be acted upon, but no one was willing to take the 
 
120 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 responsibility of suggesting it. Mr. W. E. Forster, M.l 
 therefore, said to me, " Holyoake, you do it." 
 
 Not being able to understand why Mr. Forster or any o 
 should hesitate about doing a right thing, I drew up ai 
 telegraphed to London to personal friends at the head of t 
 proposed procession, as follows : — 
 
 " On board the ' Medina,' 
 
 " 10 o'clock, Monday. 
 " If the 100,000 persons, as reported here, are to file before t 
 General at Nine Elms, he will have to stand five hours. I 
 will be weary ; his entry into London will be delayed till du= 
 If practicable, let the General go first, and the procession folic 
 and defile before him at Stafford House. Nobody else here w 
 take the responsibility of saying this, although every one wish 
 it said." 
 
 There was also in the train a vain Italian tradesman who p 
 himself forward as representing the Italians in the metropol 
 All the years while the English friends of Italy had been wor 
 ing and subscribing to promote Italian freedom, the name 
 this person was never heard ; nor was he ever seen at any 
 their meetings. He had no colour except that of an enemy 
 Mazzini. He had met me in the Isle of Wight, and knowii 
 me to be in communication with Mazzini, had conceived agair 
 me hostility on that account. With the wit which sm 
 enmity sometimes has, he discerned that Mr. Seely might 
 acted upon. He went to him, and, speaking English, whi 
 the General and Menotti (Garibaldi's son) had but limit 
 knowledge of, obtained from Mr. Seely authority, even usi 
 Mazzini's name, to remove me from the train on the preterj 
 that my presence in it, on arriving at London, might coi 
 promise the General. He then informed the stationmast 
 one Mr. Godson, who (an exception to railway officers) was 
 discourteous person, that he had Mr. Seely's authority for r 
 removal from the train at the Micheldever Station. 
 
 As I was the representative of the Newcastle Daily Chroni 
 and the Morning Star, I had a seat in the press carriaj 
 Menotti was with his father. Mr. Charles Seely, M.P. 1 
 Lincoln, whose guest Garibaldi had been at Brooke House, m 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH GARIBALDI. 121 
 
 with them. When we arrived at the station my removal was 
 attempted. My colleagues on the press, representing The Star, 
 Times, Standard, Daily News, Telegraph and Morning Post, 
 were in the same compartment with me. When Mr. Godson 
 demanded that I should leave, not one of them resented this 
 proceeding, though two of them had depended on me daily for 
 information — which I alone could give them — for their journals. 
 For one of them I had myself, at a cost of fifteen shillings, 
 driven across the island to telegraph for his paper news in my 
 possession which he desired to have sent ; and I had lent 
 him thirty shillings to pay his hotel bill, when he fell short 
 of money. Neither of these sums were ever repaid. I refused 
 to leave the train, and told Mr. Godson it Was an outrage on a 
 member of the English press. 
 
 Seeing on the platform my friend Mr. Forster, whose guest 
 I had twice been, and who the night before had obtained from 
 me private information of what had taken place concerning 
 Garibaldi during the week he had spent in the Isle of Wight, 
 I felt sure of friendly interference. Stepping out of the 
 carriage, I told him what was being done, and said, " Please 
 speak to Mr. Godson, and tell him that an English member of 
 the press cannot be removed from a public train at the instiga- 
 tion of a foreigner. A word from you, a member of Parliament, 
 will prevent this." He turned away, however, saying, " he 
 could not interfere." I saw then that he knew all about it, and 
 was a party to it. 
 
 The stationmaster, seeing Mr. Forster turn away, prevented 
 me from returning to the carriage. Baffled thus, I would have 
 opened the General's carriage door, and leaped in. I well knew 
 he would never allow me to be removed, as I was the represen- 
 tative of the paper of Mr. Cowen, his earliest and greatest 
 English friend. But this would have caused a scene. It 
 would have got into the papers, and been taken advantage of 
 by the enemies of the Italian cause. So I said to Mr. Godson 
 that, " as the objection was to my entering London in the train 
 of the General, I would give my word that I would leave the 
 train at Nine Elms." I was then allowed to return to my 
 carriage. 
 
 When we arrived at Nine Elms, I did what I could to fulfil 
 my promise ; first waiting until the General and all other persons 
 
122 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 had passed out. Then I found the station in possession of the 
 police, who informed me they had orders to prevent any one 
 going out save through the station exit. In a minute I was 
 nearly under horses' feet in the midst of the mighty throng. 
 Here I found a number of carriages waiting. I was invited by 
 the Garibaldi Committee to take a seat with them, but I pre- 
 ferred the private carriage of a friend, having first procured a 
 seat for Basso, who was in attendance upon Garibaldi. I had met 
 Basso in company with Menotti. Not knowing a word of 
 English, he was hopelessly lost amid the half million of people 
 who lined the streets between Nine Elms and Pall Mall. 
 
 Without perceiving it, the carriage I had chosen was next to 
 the General's, and thus, without any intention of my own, I 
 rode right before Garibaldi, in the centre of the mighty throng 
 which lined the road all the way to the Duke of Sutherland's. 
 
 The conduct of the eccentric Italian was all the more pre- 
 posterous, since I was elected at a large meeting of the London 
 Tavern on the same reception committee as himself, and I had 
 as much right to prevent him appearing in the General's train 
 as he had to present me. Yet this man, who never rendered 
 assistance nor made sacrifice in any of those enterprises which 
 had built up Garibaldi's reputation, now thrust himself forward, 
 even to the exclusion of Menotti from his father's carriage, tak- 
 ing his seat himself. 
 
 Mr. Washington Wilks, who was in the train on the part 
 of the Morning Star, was the only gentleman among the 
 reporters of the press present. His chivalry towards me I have 
 never forgotten. He expressed his contempt for my press col- 
 leagues in the carriage, because of their cowardly silence when 
 I was attacked in their company. Afterwards, when some of 
 them went abroad for their papers in the Franco-German war, 
 and met with outrage in a country in which they were 
 foreigners, at the hands of the inhabitants who had a right to 
 object to them, they had reason to remember their own con- 
 duct in tolerating and conniving at an outrage instigated by a 
 foreigner in their own country. When it came to their turn, 
 they sent home shrieks to the Foreign Office for protection. 
 
 Mr. Wilks went down to the House of Commons the same 
 night. Mr. Forster told me that he attacked him with fury in 
 the lobby, and Mr. Seely also. Mr. Forster assumed not to 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH GARIBALDI. 123 
 
 know what the occasion of his resentment was. The proprietor 
 of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, with his customary public 
 spirit, at once made known the personal indignation with which 
 he regarded this interference with its representative. The 
 Morning Star, as might be expected from its independence, 
 held the same tone. The editor of the Daily News was prompt 
 to animadvert upon the proceeding in its columns, not know- 
 ing that its own reporter, to whom I had twice supplied infor- 
 mation, connived at it. 
 
 When Mazzini heard that his name had been used for a pre- 
 text for the proceeding recounted, he at once sent me the 
 following letter : — 
 
 "April 22, 1864. 
 
 " My Dear Friend, — It is with a deep regret and sense of 
 humiliation for Italy that I have heard of the uncourteous, 
 ungentlemanly, ungrateful conduct of an Italian towards you. 
 I have written to him [Negretti] that he has offended me, too, 
 through the unwarranted use of my name. Let me apologise 
 for him to you. If he was different from what he is, I might 
 proceed further, and insist on his apologising to you. But he 
 is, in intellect, tendencies, and manners, belonging to that class 
 of men whom I call ' irresponsible.' Forget him, and be con- 
 tented with knowing that I and we all are, not only esteeming 
 and loving you, but grateful for your efforts in our cause. — 
 Ever faithfully yours, Joseph Mazzini." 
 
 In justice to the Italian nation, it ought to be said that 
 every public man who became acquainted with the facts 
 volunteered his personal regret. Guerzoni, Major Woolf, and 
 others were foremost. On the day that his illustrious father 
 visited the House of Commons, Menotti stepped across the 
 lobby, from the side of the Earl of Shaftesbury, with whom he 
 was conversing, to stand by me and show by that act his dis- 
 approbation of the occurrence. It is due to Italians to say that 
 the outrage Menotti resented was the act of a single " irrespon- 
 sible " Italian. 
 
 The outrage was aimed at Mazzini (whose name had been 
 treacherously used), who could not be reached, and in whose 
 place it was an honour to stand. But the professional conse 
 quences were a very different affair. A newspaper proprietor 
 would have on important occasions to despatch another repre- 
 
124 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 sentative to accompany me, to take my place when under arrest, 
 which would not conduce to engagements. 
 
 When Garibaldi learned what had occurred, his indignation 
 was unmeasured. My friend Mr. James Stansfeld, to whom 
 meanness or cowardice of any kind was instinctively abhorrent, 
 did not conceal from Mr. Forster or Mr. Seely his opinion of 
 their conduct at Micheldever. 
 
 Mr. Seely was really a generous, kind-hearted man, but with- 
 out strength of intellectual conviction. I have seen him come 
 out of the House of Commons, and finding in the lobby two 
 Chartist agitators without means necessary for their work, give 
 a £$ note to each. He joined with Mr. Forster and Mr. 
 Mundella in providing permanent means of comfort in his 
 declining years for another Chartist, Thomas Cooper, whose 
 honesty and ability they knew ; and Colonel Seely, with the 
 same honourable kindness, continued the payment after his 
 father's death. I wrote to Mr. Seely to ask for an explanation, 
 whether he had given authority for my removal from the train. 
 MJ» Seely gave no denial, but drove over to my house and left 
 word with my son, I being out, that he wished me to call on 
 him and talk the matter over. This I declined, as " no private 
 word was a compensation for a public affront." I wrote to him 
 saying : — 
 
 " Either you were a party to the outrage upon me or you 
 were not. If you were, why should you hesitate to say so ? 
 
 Mr. , whom you authorise to write to me, fixes upon you as 
 
 the authority under which he acted. I always understood that 
 an English gentleman neither did a wrong nor suffered the 
 imputation of sanctioning it ; his pride dictated, if his honour 
 did not, instant reparation. Hadn^t you and your confederate 
 calculated that my independent opinions would prevent me 
 having friends to publicly take my part, you had not ventured 
 to treat me thus — neither he by his act, nor you by your 
 silence." 
 
 Shortly afterwards Mr. Forster again met me at the House 
 of Commons, when he mentioned Mr. Wilks's vehemence to 
 him, and said he had no power to interfere with the arrange- 
 ment of the train. I answered, " That was not it, Mr. Forster ; 
 you did not want to know me in public. I did not ask you to 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH GARIBALDI. 125 
 
 know me — I did not appeal to you as a friend. I addressed 
 you as I would any other member of Parliament whom I knew 
 to be such. I claimed, as a stranger might, your political pro- 
 tection of my civil right, and you refused it. Had it been Mr. 
 Newdegate who, though Tory and Churchman, was passing as 
 you were, and I had claimed his interference, he would have 
 stopped twenty trains before he would have permitted an 
 Englishman to be seized and detained at the instigation of a 
 foreigner." Mr. Forster spoke some general words of regret, 
 and hoped I would dismiss the subject from my mind. On 
 leaving me, he offered me his hand, which I took, because I 
 had memory of his former courtesy, and had been his guest ; 
 but I addressed him no more for twenty years. 
 
 At the end of his Irish Secretaryship, and when he had 
 volunteered to go back after the murder of Mr. Burke and Lord 
 F. Cavendish, notwithstanding the many perils of assassination 
 through which he had himself passed, I again conceived a great 
 admiration of his courage and noble spirit of duty. I was proud 
 that an Englishman should show these qualities. For when 
 intimidation or murder is attempted, it is not English to sub- 
 mit to it, and not English to give in, and I forgot and forgave 
 everything. One night at the House of Commons, as I was 
 standing in the lobby, Mr. Forster came by. I assured him I 
 had honour for his courage, and was glad that adversaries he 
 had tried to serve had not succeeded in killing him. He said 
 " They certainly did their best." He asked kindly after Mr. 
 Thomas Cooper and the comforts of his home, of which I gave 
 him an account. We parted friends again, and remained so all 
 his days, and he saw many proofs in the press of my regard for 
 him. 
 
 In accepting the office of Irish Secretary in succession to 
 Lord Cavendish, Mr. George Otto Trevelyan was in one sense 
 yet more to be honoured. Mi. Forster was naturally indifferent 
 to danger, and rather liked it. Mr. Trevelyan was less adven- 
 turous by nature. His was the courage of duty ; he was in- 
 trepid by force of will. One night when I spoke to him of the 
 manner in which he had undertaken the Irish Secretaryship he 
 appeared gratified, and added lightly, " They do not particularly 
 wish to kill me, but to make a protest against English rule." 
 " Yes," I rejoined ; " but it is not particularly pleasant to be 
 fhe subject of the protest " — at which he went away laughing. 
 
CHAPTER LXXX. 
 
 UNPUBLISHED INCIDENTS IN THE CAREER OF 
 W. E. FORSTER. 
 
 (1864.) 
 
 Mr. ForsTer has been described mainly by those who happened 
 to agree with him in the respects in which he was wrong, 
 saving Mr. Justin McCarthy, who, differing from him discern- 
 ingly, gave, in an article in the Contemporary ior August, 1888, 
 a true impression of him. 
 
 Mr. Forster was ambitious, and without recognising that there 
 is no understanding him. Ambition was stronger in him than 
 any other sentiment. Humanity and liberal principles were, 
 to the end of his days, characteristic of him, and he preferred 
 advancing his personal ascendency by these means ; but they 
 had not the personal dominion over him that ambition had. 
 
 When I first knew him he gave me this impression. He did 
 not profess to share my opinions, but he had an inquiring 
 mind, and wished to know what the opinions of others were, 
 and on what they were founded. Had he not been of a liberal 
 and just mind himself, he would not have cared to know such 
 views as I held. His choice would have been not to know 
 them. He would have judged them without knowing 
 their.. Because Mr. Forster was friendly to me, I never 
 assumed that he agreed with me. I never assume this of any 
 one, unless he tells me so. It would make friendship impos- 
 sible with independent thinkers, if it were held to imply coin- 
 cidence of ideas. 
 
 Mr. Forster told me at that time the nature of his opinions 
 on education. Had he likewise told his friends in Bradford, 
 
UNPUBLISHED INCIDENTS. 127 
 
 and they had understood him as I did, they would not have 
 been disappointed in their reliance on his educational policy, 
 as they would never have had any expectation of his going in 
 the direction they wished. 
 
 What he said to me was — " Those who stand at the head ot 
 society and argue that the minds of the people must be left 
 alone or they will break loose from the religious ties which are 
 supposed to bind them, and drift away no one knows whither, 
 must take a new course, as the people are already free from 
 those ties ; and they who mean to guide them must guide them 
 speedily, or some one else will do it for them." 
 
 Mr. Forster had been present at lectures and discussions in 
 which I took part. He was surprised very much to see that 
 the majority of large meetings were entirely in sympathy with 
 what were then regarded as the heretical views submitted to 
 them. He was then quite resolved, should he attain power, 
 that the authority of the State Church should be the agent of 
 national religious instruction. My impression was that his 
 marriage with Dr. Arnold's daughter further excited his 
 ambition to serve the ends of the Church. 
 
 In my time I have seen many men treat every principle in 
 which they were interested as subordinate to ambition. Also, 
 I have seen opponents who, disliking the ambition, shut their 
 eyes to every other quality the ambitious man had, and over- 
 look the services he might render to right principles when 
 they did not interfere with his personal ends. I have known 
 many men promote movements they did not much care for, 
 their object being to obtain influence in them in favour of 
 some view of their own. Thus the recruiting sergeant will 
 have honest admiration of a straight, well-made man, because 
 he has the qualities of a soldier in him. The sergeant will be 
 civil to such a man, will praise him, will take an interest in 
 him, and even desire his welfare from a professional point of 
 view ; but his main object all the while is to enlist him. 
 
 Thus the Rev. Frederick Denison Maurice took interest in 
 co-operation, not because he cared for it for its own sake. As 
 he said himself, " His great wish was to Christianise Socialism, 
 not Christian-socialise the universe." So far as co-operation 
 infused morality into trade Mr. Maurice did care for it, and 
 his sympathy was of great service to it. I have known many 
 
128 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 Christians, whose ability and good feeling commanded regard, 
 take part in social and political efforts, without caring intrinsi- 
 cally for them ; but, as Comtists do in like cases, they sympa- 
 thised to what extent they can from quite a different motive 
 from that which inspires those whom they serve. It would, 
 however, be most unjust to many not of my way of thinking 
 to conceal my knowledge that they do often promote the 
 interests of others without any considerations of their own. 
 For myself, I never cared one jot whether the persons whose 
 movements I promoted adopted my views or not. I never, 
 with a view to their adopting my views, treated Christians 
 with fairness and respect, or spoke with courtesy to them. I 
 acted so solely because courtesy, fairness, justice, and discern- 
 ment of the good qualities of others were right principles in 
 themselves, and should for their own sake be observed towards 
 all persons, whether adversaries or friends. 
 
 A fortnight before his marriage Mr. Forster had driven me 
 over to Burley for a night's conversation. We did not set out 
 until after my lecture that night in Bradford. Burley was ten 
 or more miles away. We had a fine high-stepping horse ; the 
 night was dark, and the roads were steep. Never before nor 
 since have I ridden with any one who drove so furiously as Mr. 
 Forster. I fully expected to be found next morning distributed 
 on the wayside banks between Bradford and Burley. The 
 anecdote of Mr. Forster's dare-devil driving which Mr. Wemyss 
 Reid relates in his " Life " of Mr. Forster accords with my 
 experience. 
 
 Shortly after his marriage, I was again a guest at Burley. 
 Mrs. Forster appeared to me a pretty and gentle lady — in 
 every way a contrast to her tall and energetic husband. She 
 lent me the travels of Hue and Gabet in Tartary, which has 
 seemed to me, ever since, one of the brightest of all books of 
 missionary adventures. She walked by my side as we went 
 down to dinner. Being a stranger, and diffident, I did not 
 offer her my arm, doubtful whether it might not be presuming. 
 Afterwards I asked Miss Martineau what I was free to do under 
 such circumstances. With that ready condescension and 
 instructiveness, always a conspicuous grace in her, she wrote 
 me a letter of great interest, telling me that, being a guest, I 
 was for the time being an equal, and might have complied 
 
UNPUBLISHED INCIDENTS. 129 
 
 with the opportunities of the hour with propriety. Some 
 time previous to Mr. Forster's death I mentioned the letter to 
 him, and he asked me to let him see it, but some person who 
 admired it had retained it. 
 
 In a town of influence where the question of education was 
 much discussed, Mr. Forster one day sought an interview with 
 the leaders whose influence might facilitate his entrance to the 
 Cabinet. He had a communication to make of importance, it 
 was said. Those interested in hearing it were present in 
 assembly. Mr. Forster suggested that it would be better not 
 to have reporters present, as what he wanted to say might, in 
 the hands of adversaries, produce obstacles. The communica- 
 tion was made, and filled the little assembly with enthusiasm 
 for the ascendency of one so likely to carry their wishes into 
 legislation. When Mr. Forster obtained the position in which 
 he could give effect to what he was understood to have in his 
 mind, his proposal and his speeches did not correspond with 
 the expectations entertained by his hearers. They thought 
 they might have misunderstood him, and were about to refer 
 to some independent record of what he did say, when they 
 remembered his objection to reporters being present. The 
 impression they had, therefore, was that they had been out- 
 witted ; and they certainly thought that what appeared 
 reasonable diplomatic precaution was a trick. Whether 
 they ever wrote to Mr. Forster to ask him what he did say, 
 I know not. They probably distrusted him then so much that 
 they thought the proceeding futile. Mr. Forster was a man 
 of truth, and would probably have answered frankly, as he 
 was not lacking in courage to stand by what he had thought 
 proper to do. Judging of Mr. Forster by his antecedents, they 
 might have interpreted his words through his character and 
 Nonconformist predilections, while his actual words might have 
 admitted of the interpretation he put upon them. But the 
 indignation with which the narrative was related to me by one 
 who was present showed that the impression was strong that 
 they had been deceived, and that they had used influence they 
 never would have exercised had they understood what was 
 afterwards to happen. 
 
 I was in the House when Mr. Forster made his declaration 
 that " he had Puritan blood in his veins." He held out his 
 
 vox., n. I0 
 
130 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 arm as he spoke, as though he would bare it that the House 
 might see the blood throbbing. I said at the time, to a 
 member who was speaking to me, that if Mr. Forster would 
 put a drop of that Puritan blood into his bill, his adversaries 
 would all be satisfied. Afterwards I asked Professor Huxley 
 or Professor Tyndal to get a drop of that Puritan fluid and 
 analyse it, to see if some adulteration were not present. 
 
 Soon after, at a large deputation of Nonconformist ministers 
 at Downing Street, Mr. Forster put to them the plain question 
 whether, as the character of religious education to be given in 
 Board Schools seemed to present irreconcilable difficulties, they 
 were prepared to give education without the Bible. There 
 was an immediate and general response " without." Mr. 
 Forster in the House described this deputation of three hundred 
 Nonconformist ministers as though they were three hundred 
 infidels ; though any one of them had stronger religious 
 convictions than Mr. Forster, who said at the same time that 
 " there was no Church which satisfied him to which he could 
 attach himself." It was this rancorous tone on the part of Mr. 
 Forster, unbecoming in a Minister and unseemly in him, which 
 embittered the controversy. He might have said that it was a 
 question between no national education at all and the conces- 
 sions he made to the ascendency of the Church ; and that he 
 would have done better if he could, but he thought so much 
 of national education that we had better have it, and leave the 
 Church to manipulate it, than to be without it. This would 
 have justified Mr. Forster. Such a policy might have been 
 the necessity of statesmanship. Nonconformists might have 
 thought Mr. Forster wanting in judgment in not better inter- 
 preting the temper or liberalism of the nation, but there would 
 have been no abiding anger, and he would never have forfeited 
 the personal respect of his adversaries of another way of 
 thinking. Mr. Forster did not do this. He said he would not 
 do other than he did if he could. He spoke in Parliament in 
 terms which seemed intended to elicit the applause of the ancient 
 enemies of Nonconformists, and at times spoke of Nonconform- 
 ists as unpleasantly as ever they did of him. They spoke in 
 defence of their traditional principle, and he spoke in defence 
 of his departure from it. This came from his early Quaker 
 training, which made resentment in him more determined and 
 
UNPUBLISHED INCIDENTS. 131 
 
 persistent than in other Christians, for reasons which I explain 
 elsewhere in the chapter on Mr. Bright. 
 
 To give ascendency to the Church as against the Noncon- 
 formists, and say he " would not do better if he could," took 
 all his neighbours and supporters by Surprise. Their familiar 
 friend, whom they had placed where he was, was henceforth to 
 them a man of almost unknown principles. 
 
 When the election came again he refused to trust those who 
 had trusted him, and appealed to the Tories whose interest he 
 had served, and who had done their best to keep him out of 
 Parliament. This was neither chivalry nor gratitude, nor 
 cordiality to those who had been his friends when other friends 
 he had none. If they were less enthusiastic for him than here- 
 tofore, it was not he who could reproach them. Mr. Forster 
 had his reasons, and they the disappointment. A man cannot 
 command trust and not reciprocate it. One bold, frank, 
 generous speech such as Mr. Forster at other times was 
 capable of, would have bound his old constituents to him all 
 his days. 
 
 Towards the close of his career, he made a speech, or gave 
 some vote, the effect of which was hostile to Mr. Gladstone, or 
 was so interpreted by the Tories. I was given to understand 
 by a confidential friend of his that Mr. Forster regretted this. 
 This was like his real self, whose instincts were liberal. One of 
 his last speeches in Bradford was too plaintive, and made too 
 much of the " anxieties " of statesmanship. He went to 
 Ireland, he said, with a "heavy heart," and he had more 
 reason for disquietude than we know. Yet it is the common- 
 place experience of statesmanship to find difficulties. To have 
 a " heavy heart " about it is entirely a waste of time. Un- 
 pleasantnesses fall to every statesman who does his duty. One 
 half of his friends will complain of him not going far enough ; 
 the other half for going too far ; and his adversaries will 
 denounce him whichever way he goes, and not less if he stands 
 still. However, Mr. Forster made it clear that, while Liberal 
 Irish advocates were denouncing him for considering landlord 
 interests, the landlords denounced him because he was utterly 
 neglecting them. They were right ; Mr. Forster in his heart 
 was always with the people. 
 
 I was myself of Mr. Forster's opinion that a law should be 
 
132 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE 
 
 enforced against crime that was clearly crime. It seemed to 
 me that Irish Americans were attempting to run secession in 
 Ireland, as they had tried to do in America — out of spite to 
 England, and not unnaturally, so long as Nationalist aspiration 
 was regarded as a form of crime. The more a Minister exerted 
 himself and conferred upon them local benefits to divert their 
 minds from nationality, amelioration seemed hateful to them. 
 The Chartists in England manifested precisely the same spirit 
 when they were offered ameliorative measures to divert their 
 minds from enfranchisement. When the Irish were generally 
 enfranchised, and they sent eighty-six members to represent 
 the national demand for self-government, and Mr. Gladstone 
 showed that that was possible without separation, the Irish 
 people became our friends, and no longer desired separation. 
 The offer of substantial independence cancelled the hatred and 
 distrust of seven centuries. 
 
 One day, when the agitation for a real Reform Bill in 
 England was in progress, a conference was held in Leeds to 
 promote it. A gentleman entered the room who had spent 
 more money than any man in England to bring it to pass. His 
 mode of attire was far from fashionable. He despised fashion 
 — but he cared for service. Seeing Mr. Forster, whose political 
 interests he had strenuously promoted, he went up to him first 
 to greet him. Whether it was that Mr. Forster thought a 
 further acquaintance unimportant, or whether he did not care 
 to identify himself with a man of the determined views his 
 friend was known to entertain, Mr. Forster took no notice of 
 him. Mr. Bright at once rose to greet the unimportant looking 
 delegate. Then Mr. Forster went over and offered his hand, 
 which the repulsed delegate in his turn declined to take, long 
 afterwards entertaining contempt for Mr. Forster. Many years 
 later, when both were members of Parliament, I was with the 
 delegate at Wimbledon Station when Mr. Forster stood there 
 in volunteer uniform waiting for a train ; but my friend kept 
 me in conversation, walking up and down the platform lest 
 Mr. Forster, to whom he would not speak, should accost him. 
 For some reason I never knew, my friend afterwards became 
 reconciled to him. Something inexplicable had been explained. 
 
 When I was in frequent communication with Mr. Forster, 
 he passed me by without notice when I stood by accident in 
 
UNPUBLISHED INCIDENTS. 133 
 
 his way. When I came to know that Mr. Forster was short- 
 sighted, I thought this explained much ; men engrossed in 
 thought will often pass by persons without seeing them, and, if 
 short-sighted, may do this without knowing it. Many persons 
 are indignant at being slighted when no slight is intended. If 
 we only knew everything, many men would be acquitted who 
 are now condemned. 
 
 In 187^, when an annuity was given me, there appeared in 
 the list, " An Old Friend," ^"20. I asked who that was, but 
 was told I was not to know. After Mr. Forster's death Major 
 Bell told me the " Old Friend " was Mr. Forster. I never 
 experienced any act more delicate and generous than this. It 
 was during our feud when he sent the subscription which he 
 suspected I should refuse if I knew who gave it ; or he might 
 think that if I knew I might regard it as intended to mitigate 
 my anger against him. He was too manly to incur that 
 suspicion. But he wished to serve me, and took a way of 
 doing it which I could neither resent nor acknowledge. When 
 I learned this I was glad we had become friends, and that I 
 had done him some service in his later years, which he 
 acknowledged in a letter he sent me from Torquay shortly 
 before his death. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXI. 
 
 NAPOLEON III. IN LONDON. 
 
 (1865.) 
 
 Landor's injunction — " Watch him and wait " — was followed 
 both by the Government and the people. Every year Louis 
 Napoleon was on the throne of France it cost us millions a 
 year to watch him, since no Bonaparte was to be trusted. 
 Palmerston, though a comrade of the false President, never 
 trusted him. The people waited, and they saw him twice — 
 once a visitor and then a fugitive. Had a bill been passed for 
 giving up Dr. Bernard, no Royal exile had any more found 
 peace on these shores. 
 
 When the Queen went to Paris on a visit to the Emperor, I 
 was instructed by the Leader to proceed there and report the 
 features of the Royal journey. I then saw the Emperor for 
 the first time. He was smoking a cigar on a verandah in 
 Boulogne. His 70,000 troops were massed for review below, 
 awaiting the arrival of the Queen. The Emperor was then 
 in the prime of his usurpation. The next time I saw him it 
 was before my door in Fleet Street, where he stopped some 
 time and read some placards which interested him, and which 
 met his inquiring eye. 
 
 It came about in this wise. He was then on a visit to the 
 Queen in London. Great preparations had been made for his 
 safety, as he had not many friends in the metropolis, and' the 
 natural anxiety of the Court was that nothing unpleasant 
 should happen to him on that occasion. In those days Daniel 
 Whittle Harvey was Commissioner of Police in the City of 
 London, and things were always pleasant between the City 
 
 ■/ 
 
NAPOLEON III. IN LONDON. 135 
 
 police and the people. The City police always treated the 
 working class as citizens, and as such entitled to protection in 
 their political processions ; whereas Sir Richard Mayne, as all 
 Metropolitan Commissioners do, treated the working class as a 
 criminal class, and more frequently attacked them than assisted 
 them. Commissioner Harvey, therefore, knew he could count 
 upon the good-will of the people in any regulation he wished 
 observed. Sir Richard Mayne had no such ground of con- 
 fidence ; and, on the night before the arrival of the Emperor, 
 he and Commissioner Harvey met together on horseback in 
 Fleet Street before my publishing house, to consult as to what 
 they should do with regard to it. They suspected that some 
 unpleasant persons might be within who had good reasons not 
 to be amiable towards the Emperor. Police agents had been 
 to me several times, making inquiries, which I answered in a 
 manner calculated to satisfy them that they need be under no 
 apprehension on my account. I said I regarded the French 
 Emperor as the guest of the nation, and should oppose any dis- 
 courtesy being shown to him while he appeared in that cha- 
 racter. At that time Mazzini and Professor Francis William 
 Newman were both contributors to the Reasoner, and, with 
 the " courage of conviction " characteristic of them, permitted 
 me to make the announcement. It happened that their names 
 appeared in large red letters on a placard which stretched 
 across the fanlight of my door. The question discussed by the 
 two Commissioners when they met, was whether I should be 
 asked to take that placard down, lest it might meet the eye of 
 the Emperor and produce disquietude in his mind. Mazzini 
 had addressed an eloquent and indignant "Letter to Louis 
 Napoleon " which had not contributed to his peace of mind. 
 The Commissioners came to the conclusion that they had no 
 right to ask me to take down a business placard, and, next, 
 they did not think I should do it if they did. Commissioner 
 Harvey respected City independence. 
 
 The next day the Emperor duly came by, accompanied by 
 guards, and seated in a carriage said to be lined with plates of " 
 steel, lest a stray shot from some Fieschi might strike the panel. 
 There was a great throng in the street, and every house had its 
 windows let to curious and other spectators. I gave orders 
 that my house should be closed as on Sundays, and that no 
 
136 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 persons employed in it should appear at the windows. I would 
 show the unwelcome visitor no active disrespect, neither would 
 I show him any attention, and least of all any jubilation. 
 It happened that at that time Mr. Samuel Bright, brother of 
 John Bright, was at the office of Diogenes, with which he was 
 connected. It had a window in Fleet Street, but he did not 
 wish to appear there, and he came over with his pretty wife, to 
 whom he had not long been married, to ask me if I would 
 allow them to see the Emperor from my window. This was 
 contrary to the rule I had laid down ; but as I had been his 
 guest at Spotland, I could not refuse him. He had just returned 
 from the Continent. He had a dark flowing beard, and wore 
 a high Hungarian hat, and might be mistaken for a brigand or 
 for the heir-at-law of William Tell. As he sat on the window- 
 sill he certainly looked a suspicious person. The Emperor 
 could not fail to see him as he glanced up the street. The 
 moment he arrived opposite Mr. Bright, his horses reared and 
 the carriage suddenly stopped. The air was filled with thou- 
 sands of pieces of white paper, like a heavy snowstorm. This 
 sudden descent of floating, flickering flakes had frightened the 
 horses. Not knowing what could be the matter, the Emperor 
 looked for a moment out of the carriage at the house, and then 
 his eye met the name of Mazzini in red letters, which was not 
 reassuring. In a minute the horses were calmed, and the pro- 
 cession passed on. 
 
 The next house to mine was the office of the Sporting Life, 
 then a new journal. Mr. Feist had printed 50,000 small bills 
 announcing the paper, and the printers were out on the house- 
 top showering them down on the procession. It was this that 
 caused the procession to stop. It was odd that it should have 
 occurred before my door. 
 
 There were many patriots very indignant at the Queen for 
 kissing the Emperor on his arrrival, and they said so in the 
 newspapers. It might be a regal ceremony, but it was not 
 pleasant to think of. It was bad enough to have such a visitor, 
 but to kiss " false, fleeting, perjured Clarence " was worse. It 
 made people think that Royalty was unfortunate, or was not 
 fastidious. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXII. 
 
 VISITS FROM A MURDERER. 
 
 (1865.) 
 
 When I had chambers in Cockspur Street, London, a man 
 called upon me several times who stated himself to be " Ernest 
 W. Southey." His real name' was Stephen Forward. I sup- 
 pose, from what I afterwards knew of his character, that he had 
 taken the name of " Southey '" as more imposing, and as sug- 
 gesting that he was a possible relative of the poet ; but his 
 proper name, Forward, much better suited his disposition. 
 He was a somewhat handsome man, with a glistening, feverish 
 eye. He had a grievance which he represented was against 
 Lord Dudley. So far as my visitor was known to have an 
 occupation, it was that of a billiard-marker at some hotel in 
 Brighton. His story was that Lord Dudley, being there, had 
 sometimes played with him (which he might have done for 
 practice when he found no one else at hand, Forward being an 
 intelligent person). His account was that Lord Dudley played 
 him a match for £ipoo, and of course lost it. He refused to 
 pay it. If Forward had lost, it is quite clear he could never 
 have paid it ; and it is not supposable that his lordship would 
 play a match for such a sum with a billiard-marker who had 
 no money. His primary grievance was the claim for this debt 
 of honour. Afterwards he went down to Witley Court, Wor- 
 cestershire, Lord Dudley's country seat, with a person profess- 
 ing to be his wife, and demanded of Lord Dudley the billiard 
 money. In the end, a charge was brought against Lord 
 Dudley of accosting the woman in the Court grounds and 
 making some improper overtures to her. The case was heard 
 
138 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 at the local police court, and, being without any foundation, 
 was dismissed. As " Southey " pressed his tale of distress upon 
 me, I procured him some aid from friends, and sometimes met 
 him in the lobby of the House of Commons. He had written 
 to Mr. Gladstone and Lord Russell, representing he was in dis- 
 tress and should commit some dreadful crime unless he had 
 assistance. Earl Russell gave him five pounds. One day, after 
 a protracted visit, he told me that, since he could not get his 
 ^"1,000 from Lord Dudley, he should murder his wife and 
 children. I told him that " it was very absurd to kill them 
 because of the fault of another. The logical thing was to go 
 and kill Lord Dudley ! " My impression was that a man who 
 talked of killing people was not at all likely to do it. Great 
 was my astonishment when, a few days later, I found from the 
 newspapers that he had killed seven persons — his wife and six 
 children. Five children of his by another person he took to a 
 coffee-house off Holborn, and poisoned the whole of them in 
 one night. Then he went down to Ramsgate, and killed his 
 wife, who resided there, and one of two children whom she 
 provided for. The other child fortunately escaped. 
 
 His object was to make a great sensation by a great crime. 
 Tropmann in France had obtained notoriety even in the English 
 press in this way. " Southey " coveted this sor-t of attention. 
 He knew that any one who perpetrated a murderous atrocity 
 could depend upon having his statements and remarks pub- 
 lished in the newspapers. He knew that ladies, who forgot 
 that their sympathies were due to the unhappy victims or their 
 unhappy relatives, sent delicacies to the cells of famous mur- 
 derers. Clergymen were assiduous in their attentions to them, 
 and promised them certain and early admission to Paradise. 
 This notoriety and distinguished attention induced Forward to 
 qualify himself for them. I thought it impossible, until I knew 
 him, that any man would sacrifice his life for this brief and 
 perilous applause. I remembered afterwards that he had said 
 that he thought it would be " a fine thing to call attention to 
 the injustice of society," which neglected persons in his con- 
 dition — meaning the hard-heartedness of gentlemen who would 
 not give money to an intelligent man who was not willing to 
 work. I understood too late that killing his wife and children 
 was the " fine thing " he had in his mind. 
 
VISITS FROM A MURDERER. 139 
 
 After he had committed the crime, he wrote to me from 
 Sandwich Gaol inviting me, as "a leader of enlightened opinion, 
 and connected with the press," to come down and see him early, 
 as I might thereby " serve my own interests by striking a blow 
 at the hypocrisies and superstitions of the country." He in- 
 formed me that "he was aiding, as far as he could, in the work 
 in which I was engaged " — that was, any one would think, mur- 
 dering innocent persons wholesale ! His desire was, he said, 
 " to obtain respect for the class of opinions we mutually hold." 
 This monstrous letter I knew would be read by the governor 
 of the gaol before he despatched it to me. I read it with 
 indignation, as the governor must have regarded me as a con- 
 federate abroad, engaged in the atrocious propagation of opinion 
 by blood. The following are copies of his letter, and the 
 reply which I returned to it : — 
 
 " Prison House, Sandwich, 
 
 " Sunday, August 13, 1865. 
 " Sir, — As a leader of enlightened opinions, as an advocate 
 of the abolition of capital punishment, as a man connected with 
 the press and publishing houses, if you would run down here 
 and see me at an early opportunity, I assure you you might 
 find such an opportunity of serving your own interests, as 
 well as an opportunity of striking a great blow against the 
 hypocrisies, superstitions, and ignorance of the country, such 
 as you could not estimate. I ask you to send me a line, for I 
 am aiding so far as I can in the work you are also engaged in, 
 and with help I may be enabled to assist in obtaining respect 
 for that class of opinion we mutually hold, and which I should 
 be sorry to be the means of bringing into disrepute. — I am, 
 dear sir, yours faithfully, Ernest W. Southey." 
 
 " 20, Cockspur Street, London, S.W., 
 
 " August 14, 1865. 
 " Mr. Stephen Forward. 
 " Sir, — I am reluctant to kick a man when he is down, even 
 though he be a murderer ; but the letter you send me strongly 
 inclines me to do it. I am sorry to give you pain, unless I 
 could increase the deep remorse which I trust you are beginning 
 to feel for the frightful guilt you have incurred. I can have 
 
Ho SIXry YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 no ' interest ' to serve by seeing you. Were you innocent, I 
 would not try to make anything out of your misfortunes, and 
 I scorn to do it out of your crimes. I know not what you 
 mean by ' opinions ' we mutually hold. I knew you had a 
 grievance, and I was sorry to hear you say your family were 
 suffering. You came to me a stranger. I never saw you but 
 four times. I treated you kindly, because I thought your mind 
 unhinged. When I last saw you at the House of Commons I 
 counselled you to dismiss the idea of suicide from your mind, 
 and with your busy intelligence not to be afraid of honest work 
 to extricate yourself. Don't write to me any more. Your 
 prate about justice must end, now you have imbrued your 
 hands in blood. I can only feel sorrow for you if you show 
 contrition. G. J. Holyoake." 
 
 The vain scoundrel did not attempt to kill the mother of the 
 five children whom he put to death, probably because she was 
 inaccessible, being out at work earning means to feed the poor 
 things. The wife who was keeping, by her own industry, her 
 two deserted children he did kill, and one of the little ones. 
 The knave had religious belief, and carried a Bible in his 
 pocket. It may be that he pretended to be a Christian, as he 
 pretended to be of my opinions, with a view to obtain money 
 and notice. 
 
 Afterwards I reflected that, had he acted on my preferential 
 suggestion, and killed Lord Dudley, and said that I had advised 
 it, it had been unpleasant for me. He murdered for publicity. 
 It was a frightful taste, but it was his. Madame Tussaud put 
 the scoundrel in her Chamber of Horrors. It was his grim 
 ambition to figure there. 
 
 On the last Sunday before his execution, he arose in the 
 chapel, and addressed his fellow-criminals there assembled. 
 No murderer before had thought of this expedient for obtain- 
 ing notice in the press. There is no doubt " Southey " would 
 make a speech in the infernal regions if they would condescend 
 to hear him there, and he thought the Satanic reporters would 
 publish it. When on the scaffold he had the impudence to 
 stop the chaplain in the prayer he was reading, and request 
 him to say only what he would dictate, which the compliant 
 chaplain did. It was imprudent in the chaplain to consent, 
 
VISITS FROM A MURDERER. 141 
 
 for " Southey " might have said something which it would 
 be unbecoming in a clergyman to repeat, and an altercation 
 with a man with a noose round his neck would not have been 
 edifying. He had the effrontery to make the chaplain " com- 
 mend him, his brother, to God who had redeemed him." Not 
 even the gallows could repress his lust of notoriety. 
 
 Wherever I could I called attention in the press to the evil 
 effects of publicity at that time accorded to murderers ; as I 
 had previously written against hanging in sight of a crowd of 
 ruffians, who were afforded the gratification of " assisting " at 
 murder without responsibility. Forward's trial was but briefly 
 mentioned in the newspapers, and less distinction has since 
 been accorded to murderers. 
 
 A writer, signing himself " H. B. Dudley," wrote to the 
 Newcastle Chronicle, apparently with authority, to explain that 
 the gentleman who played with " Southey " was a " relative " of 
 Lord Dudley, whom Southey understood to be Lord Dudley. 
 I wrote to " H. B. Dudley," who professed to have written 
 " without consulting any member of the late lord's family," for 
 such authentication as would warrant me in making corrections 
 due to the late lord. But no answer came. Nor did Lord 
 Dudley himself question my statement, which I sent to him at 
 the time. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXIII. 
 
 AMONG THE FISHERMEN OF CROMER. 
 
 (1867.) 
 
 It is at once incredible and amusing to contemplate the 
 primeval spiritual subjugation which parts of this little island 
 are still under. I was wandering in 1867 on the stormy coast 
 of Cromer. The boisterous sea visible there was once covered 
 by cliff and forest. Druidical temples, Aryan altars, villages 
 and churches had all been beaten down by the fierce waters 
 which now roll over their sites. The noble church of lofty 
 arches and majestic towers which now stands in Cromer would 
 have been swept away ere now had not a stout sea wall pro- 
 tected it. The great ocean, being free, had no doubt suggested 
 to the inhabitants round about that thought ought to be free 
 also. I had never been in the place, but on the morning of my 
 arrival it was noised abroad that I was the guest of a Quaker of 
 repute thereabout. On Sunday I attended church. In a new 
 town I take the first opportunity of hearing the most dis- 
 tinguished preacher in it. Preachers of different denominations 
 often utter noble sentiments in a noble way, and hearing them 
 enables one better to appreciate the eclecticism of piety. The 
 preacher at the church was a greyheaded, dignified ecclesiastic 
 in the maturity of his powers. He was a dean who preached. 
 He said that there was a class of persons of high character, of 
 perfect intellectual probity, who had that living morality which 
 bound society together. Yet they professed not the Christian 
 name. Nevertheless, it must be observed that, while morality 
 bound man to the world, it was spiritual life which bound man 
 to God. The sentences were clearly cut, as though chiselled by 
 the hand of Woolner. Nor were the sentiments taken back 
 
AMONG THE FISHERMEN OF CROMER. 143 
 
 again in any part of the discourse, as is often the case with 
 some preachers. One often hears a fine concession at the 
 beginning of a sermon which is explained away at the con- 
 clusion. 
 
 The next day it was represented to me that many inhabitants 
 of the town, and especially the fishermen, would like to hear 
 from me a lecture on the " Orators of the English Parliament." 
 A messenger was sent miles away to the nearest printing press, 
 and early next morning, as I went down to the beach, I found 
 neat little placards in every shop window announcing my 
 lecture for the evening. In some windows which faced the 
 town two ways, placards were exhibited on each, announcing 
 that I would speak in the evening. Outside the Bible Society's 
 Depot one of the bills appeared. So amicable was everything, I 
 thought I had alighted in an unfrequented corner of the 
 Millennium ! The fishermen's room was readily granted by 
 two of them who had authority over it. It was in that room 
 that an eminent member of Parliament, Charles Buxton, used 
 to deliver annual summaries of Parliamentary proceedings, 
 which ranked among the classics of political criticism. He was 
 dead then ; and a memorial window of great beauty of colour 
 and design, which I was told cost a thousand guineas, had been 
 put up in Cromer Church to his memory. The clouded and 
 chastened light which passed through the window recalled 
 those fine sentiments he used to express, in which philosophy 
 had softened and variegated the fierce light of the controversies 
 of his day. 
 
 Before noon a great change had come over Cromer ; there 
 was consternation in the place. Muffled whisperings were 
 heard behind every counter. The vicar had been in the town. 
 The bill on the Bible Society's door had attracted his attention. 
 He did not know me, but he knew I was not one of the apostles. 
 Though my name is partly Biblical, the vicar had the announce- 
 ment bearing it removed. He went to the shopkeepers and 
 requested them to take the bills from their windows, and not to 
 go to the lecture. He admitted my subject was not in itself 
 objectionable, but then I might say something else in speaking 
 upon it. He was told that I regarded it as a breach of faith to 
 announce one subject, and, after inciting people to come to 
 hear that, to speak upon another. Whether the vicar was con- 
 
144 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 vinced, I know not ; but, as he did not call again at the places 
 he visited to reverse his request, the bills were not replaced, 
 and by the afternoon not a single copy was to be seen anywhere 
 in the town. Had Mr. Buxton, whose guest I had been, been 
 living at hand, things would have been different. 
 
 In the meantime I composed, in case the fishermen had a 
 choir, a variation of one of Byron's Hebrew Melodies — begin- 
 ning, as they say in chapel, at the second verse : — 
 
 " Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, 
 Placards in the windows at sunrise were seen ; 
 Like the leaves of the forest when autumn has blown, 
 The placards at sunset lay withered and strown. 
 
 The vicar of Cromer came in with the blast, 
 
 And spoke at the door of each shop as he past ; 
 
 And the hearts of the keepers waxed deadly and chill ; 
 
 Their souls but once heaved and thenceforward grew still." 
 
 When I returned from a tour of inspection, I sent word to 
 the fishermen who had let their rooms to me, that if they 
 thought anything would happen to their families through their 
 act, they were quite at liberty to recall it. I thought it likely 
 that the vicar might be the almoner of many kind-hearted and 
 wealthy families in the neighbourhood, and the people might 
 fear being passed over when they wanted help in the hard 
 seasons that befell them. " Tell the men," I said, " that I am 
 no pedlar of opinions ; I do not hawk my principles about the 
 country ; and if Cromer would rather I should not speak in the 
 town, I had no wish to speak to unwilling ears." 
 
 The stout fishermen probably reflected that they earned 
 their bread in the tempest, by day and by night, holding 
 their lives in their own hands, while the vicar passed his days 
 secure from harm, and that they would get through my lecture 
 as they had through other storms. Hence they answered " they 
 should light their best candles for Mr. Holyoake, and make 
 their room as bright and cheerful as they could, if he chooses to 
 come." When nightfall arrived, I marched through the village 
 with my host (whose Quaker blood was a little stirred) to 
 lecture. Not a soul was moving in Cromer. Nearing the 
 rooms, we observed a solitary man emerging from a cottage in 
 the direction of the Lecture Room. His back was made visible 
 by a penny candle in the window. " There does not appear," 
 I said to my friend, " any great stampede to the lecture, but I 
 
AMONG THE FISHERMEN OF CROMER. 145 
 
 shall deliver it to you, and our friend, whose back we have seen, 
 should he arrive there." 
 
 On entering the room I was astounded by an immense shout 
 of welcome. The fishermen were there in force. A respectable 
 inhabitant of the place was voted to the chair, and a gracious 
 little speech of introduction was made by the gentleman, Mr. 
 Kemp, whose guest I was. 
 
 I delivered my lecture. As I explained the difference between 
 oratory and mere public speaking, and the characteristics of 
 Bright, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lowe, Bernal Osborne, Buxton, Sir 
 Wilfred Lawson, Stansfeld, and others, and pointed out the 
 gradations of that art by which men climb on phrases to power, 
 signs of discernment arose sufficient to satisfy any speaker. A 
 reverend visitor, Mr. Valpy, whose father was a great classic 
 authority, made a neat little speech at the end. 
 
 We said not a word about the vicar. I made no allusion to 
 him, direct or indirect. It is a long time since those little 
 peculiarities of the ecclesiastical mind, which he had displayed, 
 affected or concerned me ; and the audience imagined I did not 
 notice what he had done. I doubt not he was a kind-hearted 
 gentleman to whom many have been indebted for words of 
 counsel and acts of humanity. He was, perhaps, a little apt to 
 forget that the people of Cromer were citizens as well as 
 Christians, and had a right to know what affected them as 
 Englishmen — that they needed to understand the secular merits 
 of those great men who influence their destinies and make the 
 English name distinguished on the earth. The Cromer men 
 had no doubt reasons for respecting the vicar in removing the 
 placards which were distasteful to him, and respected them- 
 selves by giving a courteous hearing to what a stranger had 
 to say to them. 
 
 In any other town in England it is necessary to advertise a 
 lecture two or three days ; but in Cromer it is sufficient to 
 advertise a lecture for three hours, and this may have been the 
 reason why they took the placards out of the windows at mid- 
 day. However, to the inexperienced visitor, it seemed that 
 Church courtesy in Cromer had contracted the qualities of the 
 East wind, and dictation of the Romish type, which many 
 thought obsolete in England, was still in force in that remote 
 corner of East Anglia. 
 
 vol. 11. JI 
 
CHAPTER LXXXIV. 
 
 STORY OF THE LIMELIGHT ON THE CLOCK TOWER. 
 
 (1868.) 
 
 During several pleasant years i was secretary to a member o:' 
 Parliament. His residence being at a considerable distance from 
 the House of Commons, he had no means of knowing when 
 " the House was up." Some days there would be an early 
 " count out." Most members daily leave the House during 
 what is termed " dinner hours " to dine, but it sometimes 
 happened that the House would be counted out in the dinner- 
 time. Then the return journey to the House was needless. A 
 member in constant attendance at committees and Parliament 
 would be glad to absent himself until later in the evening, 
 when a division in which he was interested might be taken. 
 But though the House might adjourn before the usual time ; 
 there was no means of discovering this until he drove into 
 sight of Palace Yard. 
 
 At that time the limelight was coming into use, and I thought 
 it might be made available to prevent this inconvenience to 
 members. The present Duke of Rutland was then at the 
 Board of Works, and I addressed to him a letter on the subject 
 which remained some years in the archives of the Board of 
 Works, and is probably there now. I have no copy of the 
 letter, but I well remember its purport. It was to this effect : — 
 
 " Being secretary of a member of Parliament, I have observed 
 that considerable inconvenience arises by members having no 
 means of knowing when the House is up, at times when they 
 
 146 
 
THE LIMELIGHT ON THE CLOCK TO WER. 147 
 
 are unable to foresee it. There are no means by which a merrf- 
 ber can know it, unless he provides some one to send him a 
 telegram to an address which he would have to renew every 
 night, according to the place where he expected to be after 
 leaving the House sitting. If he dined at one of the great clubs, 
 he would learn when the House was up there, by members 
 coming in who had recently left the House, or from the arrival 
 of the hourly report of the proceedings in Parliament. But he 
 might be dining four or five miles away, and must drive to one 
 of the clubs to get the information. It is true that in Palace 
 Yard gas lights, which have three arms, have only the centre 
 one left burning — to indicate to persons arriving there that the 
 House is up. But any one must drive to the bottom of Parlia- 
 ment Street before the single light can be discerned. It is a 
 probable calculation that many members in the course of a 
 session drive five hundred miles before they can reach Palace 
 Yard to learn that the House is up. Reporters and others who 
 have business with members at the House at night are subject 
 to similar inconvenience. All this might be prevented if a 
 limelight were placed at the summit of the Clock Tower. It 
 could be seen six or seven miles in most directions, and mem- 
 bers could learn at will whether the House was sitting or not." 
 
 This letter was longer than would seem necessary ; but it was 
 needful to explain in detail the inconvenience to which members 
 were subjected which might be so simply obviated. It was 
 necessary to show that all the existing means of information 
 were taken into account by the writer, for if any one had been 
 omitted the suggestion might be thought based upon insuffi- 
 cient information — the official mind being always quick to show 
 that there is no necessity for doing what it does not want to do. 
 
 Lord John Manners, the name by which the Duke of Rutland 
 was then known, acknowledged the receipt of the communica- 
 tion, but without indicating whether it would be considered. 
 Nothing came of it until Mr. Ayrton became Commissioner of 
 the Board of Works. Though he excelled all Ministers in 
 making himself unpleasant in debate, he also excelled in being 
 the most vigilant of servants of the public in Parliament, being 
 tireless in his attendance and reading more Parliamentary 
 papers than any four members. He found my letter in the 
 
148 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 pigeon-holes of the Board of Works, and put up the limelight 
 on the Clock Tower, which has made the House of Parliament 
 as it were a beacon light visible all over London during the 
 night sittings. An article upon it in The Times, after Mr. 
 Ayrton had ceased to be Commissioner, giving a description of 
 this Tower light, began by the remark that " a former Com- 
 missioner of Works found the suggestion in the office." The 
 article was evidently written by a well-informed but reticent 
 writer. It implied that the Commissioner who put up the 
 light did not originate it, but it was not said how the sugges- 
 tion came into the office, or who sent it there. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXV. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURE IN BIRMINGHAM 
 
 (1868.) 
 
 My second candidature was in Birmingham. It was constantly 
 said that the working class had no reasonable measures to pro- 
 pose which the middle class would not pass. This was not, and 
 is not, true ; for the master class no more feels as the workmen 
 feel than the old aristocratical class before 1830 felt, or as the 
 middle class proved they did, when afterwards the}/ came into 
 power. And if it were true that the middle class would now 
 do all the working men want, it is better that the working men 
 should do it for themselves. For these reasons I sought the 
 opportunity of addressing my own townsmen, to whom I could 
 naturally speak with most freedom, upon the conditions and 
 consequences of working-class representation. 
 
 In my address delivered in the Town Hall I said — 
 
 " More than thirty years ago I was a member of your Political 
 Union, and since that time there has been no combination 
 (sometimes called " conspiracy '' ) in this country to bring 
 general enfranchisement about, which I have not, by speech 
 and pen, advocated without intermission. Now we have a con- 
 siderable extension of the suffrage, there are things of evil to 
 cancel, and conditions of progress to create. 
 
 " We have, though limited, a ' political commonwealth ' at 
 last, and one result is that wcrking men will, sooner or later, 
 find their way into Parliament. Venturous of it myself, it is 
 my townsmen whom I address. My ancestors lie here ; I know 
 most of, and naturally care much for, Birmingham. In all my 
 
ISO SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 writings I have looked on public affairs in the light of the 
 workshop. A Democracy is a great trouble. Everybody has 
 to be consulted. The Conservative is enraged to have this 
 necessity put upon him ; the Whigs never meant it to come to 
 this ; and I am not sure that many of the Radicals like 
 it. 
 
 " Several things will happen now. i. The Irish Church will 
 go. Well I remember the horror with which the news was 
 received in the workshops of this town of the massacre of 
 Rathcormac, when a clergyman of the Irish Protestant Church 
 had the sons of the poor Widow Ryan shot before her eyes for 
 the non-payment of tithes. The middle class mother cannot 
 feel resentment as a poor woman can ; she can afford to pay 
 tithes, and no dragoon shoots her children down. But Widow 
 Ryan's sons were labourers — they belonged to us. The shriek 
 of the mother reached us. We in England could do nothing 
 to avert or avenge their murder. But let us not have the base- 
 ness to forget it. Now that slow, tardy, long-lingering retribu- 
 tion has put the Irish Church in the noose, let us hope it will 
 be allowed a good drop. 
 
 "2. We shall have compulsory education. There is no 
 ascendency for the people without sense. We live in a world 
 where the battle of life can no longer be fought by fools ; and 
 the child who is turned out into it ignorant is bound, hand and 
 foot, in the conflict. We shall put away with contempt that 
 pitiful, fitful, partial, mendicant instruction with which volun- 
 taryism has cheated and degraded us so long. 
 
 " 3. Pauperism will be put down as the infamy of industry. 
 A million paupers — a vast standing army of mendicants — in 
 the midst of the working class, depending for support upon the 
 middle class, is a reproach to every workman now. Every law 
 which deprives Industry of a fair chance must be attacked ; 
 whatever facilitates the accumulation of immense fortunes and 
 tends to check the natural distribution of property must be 
 stopped. 
 
 "4. We shall have the ballot. Open voting is merely an 
 insolent device for getting at those electors who do their duty. 
 The poll-book is a penal list, first made publishable by those 
 who intended to act upon it — and it is acted upon by all who 
 are enraged at defeat." 
 
PARLIAMENTAR Y CANDIDA TURE. 1 5 1 
 
 It does good to create a popular belief that the day of pro- 
 gress has arrived ; that men need no longer despair of improve- 
 ment, or seek to obtain it by conflict of arms, as they were 
 formerly justified in doing under the hopelessness of obtaining 
 it by reason. In my address I ventured to say that the Irish 
 Church would go ; that we should have compulsory education ; 
 that pauperism would be regarded as the infamy of industry ; 
 that elections would be decided by ballot. I had heard the 
 four things I had spoken of, hoped for, agitated for, and they 
 seemed no nearer, and were believed to be no nearer, than the 
 right of women to sit in Parliament is now. Yet each of these 
 things, then regarded as words of Utopian enthusiasm, have 
 come to pass. 
 
 The object of my being a candidate at Birmingham was to 
 test and advocate the question of working-class representation. 
 At that time there was no strong feeling on the part of the 
 working class in favour of the representation of their order. 
 Had I sought I could have obtained a sufficient support from 
 . Conservatives to have embarrassed the prospects of Mr. Bright 
 or his colleague, and the Conservatives would have obtained 
 the credit of supporting a principle for which they did not care 
 and would disown when their own end was served. I might 
 have obtained some publicity useful to a candidate by such an 
 alliance, but it never seemed to me to be any more right in 
 politics than in morals to do evil that good may come. For 
 thirty-six years the representation of Birmingham had been in 
 the hands of the middle class, and though the working class 
 were twenty times more numerous than they, it had never 
 occurred to the middle class that the industrious majority were 
 entitled to any personal representation. Certainly they never 
 offered or facilitated it. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXVI. 
 
 A DANGEROUS VISITOR. 
 
 (1868.) 
 
 A few years ago, London was startled by the discovery of a 
 murder in Whitechapel which recalled the Red Barn murder 
 of Maria Martin, by William Corder, half a century before. A 
 woman was shot in the rear of some business premises in 
 Whitechapel and buried there, and her murderer, one Wain- 
 wright, was caught in the streets twelve months later, conveying 
 the body to another hiding-place. 
 
 Some time previously a public writer, for whom I had much 
 regard, became unwell. One day a lady came to me at Cock- 
 spur Street saying that he was very ill, that she was his wife 
 and needed aid for his succour. She met my offer to visit him 
 by assuring me that he had a malignant fever, and I had better 
 not call. This was to deter me from calling, but I did not sus- 
 pect it. Soon after she came again in deep mourning, in the 
 character of his widow. She was a handsome, voluptuous 
 woman, with great dramatic talent. Her speech, tears, and 
 gestures were very eloquent, and I promised to ask for sub- 
 scriptions for her. This entertaining applicant gave me to 
 understand that she had been upon the stage in earlier years, 
 and certainly she showed qualifications for acting which war- 
 ranted what she said. I knew that my lost friend, who was 
 really dead, had at one time ^"30,000 in a public company, 
 which yielded 10 to 12 per cent., when he lived opulently in a 
 house in Piccadilly. Afterwards his income fell to zero. In his 
 prosperous days he had given eighty guineas for a jewelled 
 watch, and presented it to Samuel Bailey, of Sheffield, in testi- 
 mony of appreciation of his philosophical writings. 
 
A DANGEROUS VISITOR. 153 
 
 In the end I fulfilled my promise to the distressed lady in 
 black, and published the substance of the story told to me by 
 her. The eventual result was some ^"40 or £$0. The first 
 and second £$ I remitted to her. The lady paid me a further 
 visit of thanks, and asked me to call upon her and take break- 
 fast at a suburban cottage, at which she resided with a female 
 friend, as it would save my time in writing, and I could bring 
 any further subscription which might be to hand. Not wishing 
 any personal acquaintance, which might raise expectations of 
 aid beyond my means of procuring, I asked my brother Austin 
 to make a call at his convenience, and leave further remittances 
 for her ; and sometimes a clerk in my employ was sent. I never 
 went myself. 
 
 It was fortunate I did not. On the apprehension of Wain- 
 wright, I saw in the papers accounts that his brother — who was 
 afterwards transported for his complicity in the murder — was 
 supporting a mistress, and was frequently at the very house to 
 which I had been invited. Had I accepted the invitation to 
 breakfast, I might have been found there by the police officers 
 who went to the place in search of the brother. As the mur- 
 derer was a lecturer at institutes of the kind I had promoted 
 and been present at myself, my intimacy with him would have 
 been inferred. Had my name been mentioned as that of a 
 visitor at Rosamond Cottage when the address with other 
 interesting particulars were published, I should have found it 
 difficult to persuade everybody of the disinterested nature of 
 my visits, especially as I could only have explained that my 
 business there was to take money to a lady who had invited me 
 there. My brother had simply called and left the sums I gave 
 him, and neither of us suspected that she was not the wife of 
 my friend. 
 
 Before the Whitechapel affair transpired, the enterprising 
 pretender had written to several public persons on her own 
 account. As it was my practice always to print in the paper I 
 edited all sums for whatever purpose sent, the "widow " could 
 see who were the friends who had answered my appeal, and she 
 wrote to them and others whom she thought had knowledge 
 of her alleged husband, enclosing what I had written upon him 
 on her behalf. She was what the Scots would call an "in- 
 genious body." All her letters to me bore a deep mourning 
 
i 5 4 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 border. Several members of Parliament wrote to me to ask 
 whether they were warranted in giving money. In my replies 
 I said I had no knowledge of the new applications made to 
 them, nor was there any public claim on them, though I under ■ 
 stood there was need of help. Several cheques were sent to 
 me for her. When I found that I had been misled, I gave 
 notice to all who afterwards wrote to me, and publicly cancelled 
 my appeal and informed the applicant to that effect. 
 
 The judge at the trial of Wainwright was Lord Chief Justice 
 Cockburn. The summing-up of some judges is often so 
 learnedly elaborate, involved, dreary, and inartistic, that it is 
 a species of penal infliction on the jury and only merciful to 
 the doomed, upon whom it acts as the drugs given to the 
 Suttee, which stupefies and makes insensible to the fatal fire. 
 Sir John Holker, as Attorney-General, conducted the prosecu- 
 tion. Sir John was a Conservative. It was frequently said 
 there was a good deal in him, but it did not come out on this 
 occasion. Mr. Moody made the speech for the defence, in 
 which he said nothing wrong and nothing strong. There was 
 no glamour of light, or pathos, or ingenuity in any one. 
 
 But when Lord Cockburn rose, the hand of the master 
 appeared. The ornateness which he sometimes showed in 
 speeches out of court was chastened down. His sentences 
 were expressed with pure nervous force. Nothing was 
 repeated, no phrase nor even idea recurred. The story of the 
 evidence was clear, direct, vivid, brief, complete, and conclusive. 
 The first sentences of the summing-up against Wainwright had 
 death in them. The jury could see, as in a panorama, the per- 
 petration of a foul murder, the source of the blow, and the 
 ghastly procedure of successive concealments, as plainly as 
 Hamlet displayed the process of the death of his father to his 
 mother and the king. In sleuth-hound sentences the stealthy 
 steps of the brutal, calculating murderer were tracked. Wain- 
 wright must have seen the noose in every passage. Lord 
 Cockburn's address to the jury was an unequalled piece of 
 forensic reasoning, so far as any charge of the kind has come 
 within my knowledge. Its coherence was not only evident to 
 the jury — it was never out of sight. It had picturesque terms 
 which had colour in them. The crisp, penetrating voice- of 
 Cockburn suited the finished structure of his address. Juries 
 
A DANGEROUS VISITOR. 
 
 155 
 
 charged by him were instructed ; the prisoner at the bar, who 
 had taste, was afterwards proud to have been condemned with 
 such classic art, and the sentiment of the Court was raised 
 above the level of crime by the genius of the judge. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXVII. 
 
 REPORTING SPEECHES WHICH NEVER WERE MADE. 
 
 A good deal of reporting has fallen to me in my time, chiefly 
 of the descriptive kind. During several years that I had 
 opportunity of hearing nightly the speeches made in Parlia- 
 ment, I found that all the new ideas expressed there could 
 easily be taken down in long hand, since they occurred seldom 
 and were far between. A newspaper, not having space to 
 report everything said, might entertain and much instruct its 
 readers by giving merely the new ideas of the debates, or 
 remarkable ways of presenting a familiar case. Once a Cabinet 
 Minister, who was going into the provinces to make a speech, 
 he wished to see reproduced in London papers, asked me what 
 he should do to secure that what he said should not be open 
 to misinterpretation. I answered that, if he was sure of saying 
 exactly what he intended, he might ask the editor of the 
 leading local paper to send a reporter to take down his speech 
 exactly as he made it. Good stenographers so abound that he 
 would get what he wanted. But were he doubtful of being 
 quoted at full length in the London press, he had better take 
 a summary reporter with him, since a verbatim reporter, by 
 his habit of literalness, would lack the faculty of bringing into 
 focus the genius of a speech. To produce a telling summary 
 the reporter need not be able to make the speech, but he must 
 be able to measure the mind and discern the purpose of the 
 speaker. 
 
 When in America in 1879, I found in some parts a class of 
 Reversible Reporters. After an interview I found next day in 
 the paper sentiments put down to me the very reverse of what 
 I had expressed. Once I tried the experiment of saying the 
 
 155 
 
REPORTING SPEECHES NEVER MADE. 157 
 
 opposite of what I meant, and next day it came out all right. 
 It was not perversity nor incapacity which misrepresented me, 
 it was owing to professional confidence in young reporters that 
 they knew better than any speaker did what he ought to say. 
 
 Once a friend of mine, a Jew, who knew this world as well 
 as the Talmud, was the proprietor of a newspaper in a country 
 town, within an hour's, ride from London, asked me to come 
 down and give an account of laying the foundation stone of a 
 new town building and report the speeches at the banquet 
 which was to follow at night. Some members of Parliament 
 came down with whose ways of thought I was familiar, and I 
 made summaries of their speeches which I knew they would be 
 willing to circulate among their constituents. If the object is 
 to promote the circulation of the paper, the effective portion of 
 what a speaker says must be brought out, or there will be no 
 orders for copies sent to the office. A reporter may make a 
 clever report of a speech and prefix it with the remark that 
 " the meeting was small." There are no copies of that paper 
 bought by the speaker or his friends for circulation. If the hall 
 is crowded it is well to say so. But no public persons care to 
 circulate information that few care to listen to them. If the 
 object is to discredit a speaker the question is one of policy not 
 circulation. 
 
 Now, there was a rival paper in the town to which I went. 
 The proprietor of the paper I represented wished his paper to 
 excel that, which was not difficult, as it was sleepy and un- 
 enterprising. So I wrote a leader upon the speeches at the 
 stone-laying. A speaker who has ability is pleased to see it 
 discerned and handsomely acknowledged. A man who acquits 
 himself well may without vanity be pleased with the credit 
 he has fairly earned ; and he who does not excel in expression 
 may have merit of character and purpose to which it is the 
 interest of the public to accord recognition. 
 
 The banquet in the evening was prolonged and boisterous. 
 No reporter was present from the rival paper and I was 
 instructed to report the speeches. On seeing the composition 
 of the guests, I consulted with my Jewish friend, who, like all 
 his race was shrewd and foreseeing. We examined the toast 
 list and then I inquired the characteristics of the speakers, 
 their manner of mind, peculiarity of expression and antecedents 
 
153 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 of family, public service, and other particulars. One old 
 farmer was reputed to represent a generation of predecessors 
 who had held the same land from the Norman Conquest. By 
 the time the toasts began the whole company was more 
 hilarious than coherent. Some never could speak in public, 
 and little was expected from them. A few when they began 
 to speak were unable to stop. Some had forgotten what they 
 intended to say, and others had nothing to forget. Some 
 could speak better before the banquet began than after, and 
 some acquired boldness in consequence of it, and made up by 
 audacity what they lacked in relevance. By eleven o'clock I 
 had sent out speeches for them all, and by midnight their 
 orations were all in type, and the paper was out in the early 
 morning. The town was astonished at the enterprise to which 
 it was unaccustomed. The principal orator had a speech of 
 some brightness to read at his breakfast, of which he was 
 unconscious when he retired to rest. My friend the proprietor 
 of the paper had misgivings when he read the report. He said 
 the town would be surprised that such speeches were made. I 
 answered, " the town was not present. The guests who did 
 not speak were not in a condition to know what was said, and, 
 take my word for it, no speaker will disown what he is reported 
 to have said." And no one did. As a leader upon the pro- 
 ceedings of the day confirmed and illustrated the report by 
 descriptive characteristics of the speakers, which the town 
 knew to be true, my friend received many congratulations on 
 the variety and vivacity of that issue of his Gazette. The 
 office was not rich, and for all the writing from midday till 
 midnight my remuneration was but thirty shillings, but I 
 served my friend and increased for that week the reputation of 
 his paper and its commercial value when he transferred it, as it 
 was his intention shortly after to do. 
 
 " Reporting speeches which never were made " is a title 
 open to the objection of being incomplete. The speeches were 
 made, but not in the manner which met the public eye. Two 
 or three of the festive orators had sagacity and brightness, 
 though, on that occasion, not of the consecutive kind. Every 
 provincial assembly of speakers furnishes instances of native 
 wit or idiomatic humour. If these points are preserved in the 
 report of the proceedings, an interesting monograph of the 
 
REPORTING SPEECHES NEVER MADE. 159 
 
 meeting is the result. Every night in Parliament occur 
 notable relevant passages, occasional flashes of common sense, 
 sometimes overlaid with words, and sometimes insufficiently 
 expressed, of which an epitome would be good reading. Every 
 day the Parliamentary reports of speeches presents them in a 
 more effective form than the hearer was sensible of during the 
 delivery. When The Times sought to destroy the popularity of 
 Orator Hunt of a former day, it reported his speeches verbatim. 
 There are many speakers in Parliament who would suffer in 
 public estimation if their repetitions and eccentricities of 
 expression were recorded. On one memorable occasion the 
 Morning Star reported a passage from a speech of Mr. 
 Disraeli's, with all its bibulous aspirates set forth, which 
 few forgot who read it. It was on the night of his famous 
 financial speech when Lord John Manners carried into the 
 House five glasses of brandy and water to refresh him — 
 which got at last into his articulation. The late Sir John 
 Trelawny told me that he had preserved notes of speeches made 
 after midnight in the House of Commons over a period of 
 twelve years. At late sittings scarcely a reporter remains, and 
 the necessity of going to the press with some account of the 
 proceedings obliges the editor to give but a brief summary 
 in which the speeches are not only divested of flesh and blood, 
 but are almost boneless. Yet things are said at those times 
 which the public would read with amazement both for their 
 instruction and their boldness. Sir John said he did not intend 
 his notes to be published until after his death. It will be 
 a remarkable volume when it appears. 
 
 A London daily paper of age and pretension, often describes 
 speeches of note which are never found in the report in its 
 columns. Sometimes it quotes sentences of distinction which 
 nowhere appear in the speech in its pages. Only one paper 
 gives a full Parliamentary report. Once five papers did it. 
 On the great debate when the Taxes on Knowledge was the 
 question before the House, five daily papers gave full reports. 
 So marvellously accurate were they, that there was scarcely a 
 variation of a word in them. I heard all the speeches and 
 compared the reports the next day. Competition in reporting 
 produced a perfection which exists in London no longer. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 
 
 AN UNTOLD STORY OF THE FLEET STREET 
 HOUSE. 
 
 (1868.) 
 
 This chapter illustrates the wisdom of the proverb that zeal 
 without experience is as fire without light. 
 
 It was an early ambition of mine to have a publishing house 
 in Fleet Street. There Richard Carlile had established the 
 right of heretical opinion to publicity. I was for continuing it 
 there. The Duke of Wellington headed a society to drive 
 Carlile from the street. He did not intimidate him, nor was 
 the society able to remove him except by procuring his further 
 imprisonment. Resentment at this incited me to succeed him. 
 Fleet Street was one of the highways of the world. A million 
 curious people pass through it every year, of every travelling 
 nationality under the sun. 
 
 We had won the right to say what we pleased, and the 
 question arose, What did we please to say, and how were we 
 going to say it ? In the combat for the right to speak, very 
 picturesque invective had been used. In the use of that 
 weapon our adversaries much excelled us ; but, we being the 
 party of the minority, the blame of employing it fell upon us. 
 When we had won the field we could hold it only by fairness 
 of speech, the " outward and visible sign " of just intention and 
 just principles. 
 
 William and Robert Chambers had established a secular 
 publishing house in the High Street of Edinburgh. I proposed 
 to my brother Austin that we should do the same thing for 
 Freethought, in Fleet Street, London. The printing business 
 
AN UNTOLD STORY. 161 
 
 was to be his — the publishing and its risks mine. The re- 
 sponsibility of capital, trade salaries, rent, and taxes remained 
 with me. My name alone was on every bond. 
 
 Mr. James Watson had been, since the days of Julian 
 Hibbert, the publisher of Carlile's works, taking like peril. 
 As the new house in Fleet Street would necessarily affect his 
 business, which was his only means of subsistence, I asked him 
 what would compensate him for loss of trade thus caused. He 
 said ^"350, which, with what he had, would provide for him in 
 the future. According to the accepted morality of trade, I was 
 under no obligation to consider his interests. A man sets up 
 in business next door to one in the same line, doing what he 
 can to lure away his neighbour's custom, and it is not counted 
 dishonourable. It seemed baseness to me, and I promised Mr. 
 Watson the money. This proved an unfortunate thing for me. 
 When he came to know the indispensable business expenses of 
 the new house were X3°° a y ear i he did not see how I was to 
 meet them, apart from fulfilling my promise to him, and, being 
 of an apprehensive nature, be could not conceal his misgivings ; 
 and as he knew the chief country agents upon whom I de- 
 pended, his fears transpired in personal communications with 
 them and to my chief friends whom he knew, they having as 
 much regard for him as for me. The effect of this was 
 disastrous on a young business. My solicitor, who had ad- 
 vanced me purchase money of the lease, asked me what I was 
 to have for the money to be paid to Mr. Watson. He thought 
 me imprudent. I had nothing to produce, save the right of 
 selling his books, which never yielded £$0. Nevertheless I 
 kept my promise. My brother Austin was as solicitous as I 
 was to do it. Seeing Mr. Watson on the opposite side of the 
 street, looking in his wistful way at the house, I sent my 
 brother with the only £60 in hand to go over and pay him 
 the final instalment, which he did. The transaction was in 
 every way unfortunate to me, but I never regretted it. Nor 
 do I now. The curious thing was that no one respected me 
 for it or believed it, and no one ever made any acknowledgment 
 of it, not even Mr. Watson. Mr. W. J. Linton in his " Life 
 of Watson " omits it, although it made the end of Watson's 
 days pleasant. It was treated as incredible, and for the first 
 time I came to understand the sagacious maxim of the Italians, 
 
 vol. 11. I2 
 
1 63 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AG1TA TORS LIFE. 
 
 " Beware of being too good." I had known few persons in 
 danger of transgressing the rule, and did not suspect I was 
 one. 
 
 A valued colleague, Charles Southwell, took a very different 
 view from Mr. Watson as to the profits obtainable in Fleet 
 Street, and thought I was making riches there, as many others 
 thought, so what was loss to me was envy to others. Southwell 
 published pamphlets on my prosperity. One day I sent for 
 him, showed him the bonds I had signed, and that I owed all 
 the money he thought had been given me. His exclamation 
 was a full acquittal — " Jacob, you are a damned fool ! " I 
 asked him to publish it. " No, I won't own I was wrong ; but 
 I will no more say what I have said," was all I could get. The 
 financial part of the story may end here. The ^"250 given me 
 after the Cowper Street debate, ^"650 given me subsequently, 
 a gift of X 2 S° an d a ll I could earn by lectures and writing — 
 over the needs of my household — were all lost. 
 
 Propagandism is not, as some suppose, a " trade," because 
 nobody will follow a " trade " at which you may work with the 
 industry of a slave and die with the reputation of a mendicant. 
 The motives of any persons to pursue such a profession must 
 be different from those of trade, deeper than pride, and stronger 
 than interest. 
 
 Afterwards there came mischief of another kind, which I had 
 bespoken without knowing it. As a co-operator I was an 
 advocate for profit-sharing, and I made this arrangement with 
 those I employed. As the law then stood, this made them my 
 partners, and gave them an equal claim with me to the pro- 
 perty. One who had some knowledge of law, and was hostile 
 to me, incited two servants to act on their " rights." They 
 might have carted the stock away, and could only be prevented 
 by force, which I had reason to avoid. An assault case would 
 then have come on at the Mansion House which would have 
 had an effect bad for the secular cause. The addresses of my 
 friends were copied from my books, and letters sent to them, 
 which cost me for many years many valued friendships, for 
 reasons I could not answer — not knowing them. The manager 
 of the newsagents' department was instructed that he might 
 take away the business books, and did it. It was two years 
 before I could recover them by process of law. Then I had 
 
AN UNTOLD STORY. 163 
 
 to keep outside the court because, were I called upon to give 
 evidence, I could not take the oath, and that fact would have 
 set the court against me. The judge said that had I come into 
 court he would have given the man twelve months' imprison- 
 ment. 1 This affair put me to ^"200 expense — besides losses 
 through having no proof to adduce of the balances of news- 
 agents due to me. Had the law which, later, Mr. Wm. 
 Scholefield, M.P. for Birmingham, caused to be passed, been in 
 force then, I should not have been at the mercy of enemies. 
 Now-a-days, an employer giving profits to servants does not 
 constitute them partners. 
 
 Just then, when my fortunes were least to my mind, Mr. 
 Ross, at that time an optician of repute, learning that I was 
 being unfairly used, came down and gave me a cheque for 
 ^"250. That was a bright, unparalleled morning which I shall 
 never forget until remembrance of all things fades. 
 
 Despite all difficulties, " 147, fleet Street " was kept in force 
 from 1853 to 1861. Its objects were — 
 
 1. Promoting the solution of public questions, on secular 
 grounds, apart from theology. 
 
 2. Obtaining equal civil rights for all excluded from them by 
 conscientious opinion not recognised by the State. 
 
 3. Maintaining a publishing organisation which should 
 influence public affairs. 
 
 4. Maintaining a centre of personal communication open to 
 publicists at home and from abroad. 
 
 5. Stimulating the free search for truth, without which it is 
 unattainable — the free utterance of the result, without which 
 search is useless — the free criticism of it, without which truth 
 must remain uncertain — the fair action of conviction, without 
 which public improvement is impossible. 
 
 6. Maintaining an organ which should be open to all 
 writers, without regard to coincidence of opinion, provided 
 there was general relevance and freedom from odious per- 
 sonalities. 
 
 The shop was made bright, and, by removal ot partitions, 
 spacious. All new books of progress were on sale, and 
 
 ' He was a Wesleyan and of good integrity, until seduced by prospect held 
 out to him of setting up himself with my business. 
 
1 64 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 advertised in papers of the house without cost to the authors. 
 A large room was fitted up for meetings and for the use of 
 visitors. In each panel hung a portrait of some eminent 
 writer. Visitors from every part of the world interested in 
 New Thought came and found information respecting all 
 lecture halls and places they wished to see. We published a 
 catalogue of all the chief works of advanced thinkers (giving 
 the prices and the names of the publishers to promote their 
 sales), by whomsoever issued. No other house ever printed a 
 catalogue like it. The house was an Institute. There have 
 been other houses in Fleet Street since with similar objects, 
 but none like it — none having the same features. The main 
 object was the advancement of new opinion : business was an 
 appendage to be well attended to ; but it stood in the second 
 place. 
 
 When the peace of 1856 was proclaimed — though the great 
 nations of the Continent were left still enslaved — we illuminated 
 in front of the house those nobly reproachful words of Elizabeth 
 Barrett Browning, which said : — 
 
 " It is no peace. 
 Annihilated Poland, stifled Rome, 
 Dazed Naples, Hungary fainting 'neath the throng, 
 And Austria wearing a smooth olive leaf 
 On her brute forehead, while her troops outprees 
 The life from Italy." 
 
 These words were read by a quarter of a million of people. 
 Every newspaper in London agreed that this was the sole 
 illumination which expressed the political truth of the hour. 
 These things could never have been done save in a house 
 standing in one of the highways of the world, where those 
 must pass whose eyes it was worth while engaging, and where 
 nothing can well be ignored which was done. On other public 
 occasions Garibaldian and Italian flags greeted memorable pro- 
 cessions. 
 
 In 1857 there was the Day of Humiliation proclaimed on 
 account of the Indian Mutiny. Instead of joining in it, a 
 placard appeared in our windows which attracted crowds of 
 readers. It was entitled, " Objections to the Humiliation." 
 
 " 1. It is an ineffective proceeding, seeing that temporal 
 deliverance is not to be obtained by intercession of Heaven. 
 
AN UNTOLD STORY. 105 
 
 2. It is offensive, as imputing to the judicial act of God the 
 blunders of the East India Company. 
 
 3. It is impolitic, if we have enemies in India, to give them 
 the satisfaction of thinking that they have brought Great 
 Britain to confess ' humiliation.' " 
 
 Without a publishing house we could not have rendered the 
 service in the Repeal of the Taxes upon Knowledge mentioned 
 in a previous chapter. In the affair of the opposition to the 
 Conspiracy Bill, the committee met in the Fleet Street house, 
 as did the Garibaldi Committee at the time when the British 
 Legion were sent out to Italy. Then, for several days, a com- 
 mittee of soldiers sat in the visitors' room, and the shop was 
 constantly crowded with Garibaldians who volunteered to join 
 the Legion. My brother was as much occupied as I was. This 
 was international service, but it was not business. 
 
 We published works forMazzini,RobertOwen, Kossuth, Louis 
 Blanc, Professor Newman, Dr. Arnold Rouge, January Searle, 
 Major Evans Bell, William Maccall, W. J. Birch, and many 
 others. 
 
 I had a bust of Kossuth made by a Hungarian sculptor, and 
 one of Mazzini by Bizzi. The original of Mazzini was purchased 
 by Mr. Ashurst. The mould, which cost me £7, was ne ver 
 returned to me by the bust maker. It was said it had been 
 broken. A few years later I saw several busts in a window 
 cast in my mould, which I judge still exists. 
 
 We printed and published also the " Manifesto of the Re- 
 publican Party," by Kossuth, Ledru Rollin, and Mazzini. 
 Though written by Mazzini, he modestly, as was his wont, put 
 his name last. All the publications I issued bore my imprint 
 as printer as well as publisher, for the law makes the printer 
 responsible. Were there no printing of books, there could be 
 no publishing of books. The publisher may be a nominal 
 person, of residential address unknown ; but the printer is real, 
 and commonly has a plant of type which may be confiscated, 
 while he himself can readily be found and incarcerated. The 
 law aims mostly to intimidate the printer. I, therefore, took 
 the responsibility of the printer as well as publisher. 
 
 Julian Hibbert gave Carlile £1,000 with which to furnish 
 his shop when he opened it, and he had like sums from him on 
 
166 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 other occasions for publishing purposes. Notwithstanding the 
 vicissitudes which befell us, we should have succeeded in a 
 " business point of view " had we had money sufficient to 
 continue when hostilities were surmounted. As it was, we did 
 enough to justify the expectation of usefulness which induced 
 so many to support the undertaking. 
 
 When we opened this house the voice of the Socialist was 
 silent in the land and the watch-fires of the Chartist were 
 extinct. As far as we were able, we intended to maintain the 
 claim of Socialists and Chartists and some other causes for 
 which they cared not. We cared for political freedom at home 
 and abroad, for unless it prevails abroad it can never be secure 
 at home. There is an aristocracy of sex quite as offensive as an 
 aristocracy of peers. Manhood suffrage was popular with the 
 Chartists, but they cared nothing for women's enfranchisement. 
 
 In a passage which I quote from a manifesto of Kossuth, 
 Rollin, and Mazzini, which did but express our ambition : — 
 
 " A great movement must have an arm to raise the flag, a 
 voice to cry aloud — The hour has come ! We are that arm and 
 that voice. . . . Advanced Guard of the Revolution, we shall 
 disappear amid the ranks on the day of the awakening of the 
 peoples. . . . We are not the future ; we are its precursors. 
 We are not the democracy ; we are an army bound to clear the 
 way for democracy." 
 
 It was my intention to " disappear in the ranks." As soon 
 as I had extinguished all the liabilities I had incurred, I volun- 
 teered to hand over the place to the promoters. I thought if 
 others had the profit which might accrue they would continue 
 the work without direction. This was my mistake. To me it 
 was of no consequence who had the advantage if the house was 
 maintained. But nobody believed this. 
 
 Freethought is of the nature of intellectual Republicanism. 
 All are equal who think, and the only distinction is in the 
 capacity of thinking. I never set up as a chief. I never 
 talked of loyalty to me, but of loyalty to principle alone. In 
 freethought there is no leadership save the leadership of ideas. 
 I went into this undertaking with this conviction, and as I went 
 in I came out. 
 
CHAPTER LXXXIX. 
 
 LORD CLARENDON'S CONCESSION 
 
 (1869-72.) 
 
 This chapter describes another instance of work which, my 
 being of the Secularistic persuasion, I was incited to attempt. 
 In my Christian days I had been taught that the safety of my 
 own soul was the supreme object I should keep before me ; but 
 experience showed me that the human welfare of others was a 
 more honourable solicitude, and more profitable to them. 
 
 It has been the custom of the Government, since 1858, to 
 instruct her Majesty's Secretaries of Embassy and Legation to 
 prepare "Reports on the State of Manufactures and Commerce 
 Abroad." It seemed to me that the same persons might collect 
 information of not less importance to working men. At times, 
 during several years, I made attempts to get this done. Through 
 Mr. Milner Gibson, I obtained a copy of the original circular 
 of instruction for the preparation of the manufacturers' reports 
 on commerce, as I intended to base on them a plea for reports 
 on labour. 
 
 At length, in April, 1869, Lord Clarendon being Foreign 
 Minister, whose generous sympathy with those who live by 
 industry was known, I concluded he might, on due representa- 
 tion, make this concession. It was then I wrote to Mr. Bright, 
 whose attention was always given to proposals which could be 
 shown to be reasonable, useful, and practical ; for that which 
 is reasonable may not be useful, and that which is useful may 
 not be practical, while a project which is at once relevant, bene- 
 ficial, and possible, is self-commended: Seeing me next mid- 
 night at the House of Commons, he called me to him, saying, 
 " Tell me now what you want." On hearing it, he answered, 
 
 167 
 
168 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE- 
 
 " Write me a letter with your reasons in it, and I will give it to 
 Lord Clarendon." By the courtesy of Mr. William White, 
 chief doorkeeper of the House, I wrote in his room the letter 
 the same night, and posted it in the Lobby before two o'clock. 
 The next day (April 19, 1869), Mr. H. G. Calcraft (Mr. Bright's 
 secretary, he being then a Minister) wrote to say, " Mr. Bright 
 would ask Lord Clarendon to take into consideration my 
 suggestions." On April 21st following, Mr. Calcraft again 
 wrote, " by Mr. Bright's request, to say that Lord Clarendon 
 thought my proposal an admirable one, and that he had given 
 instructions that the information may be obtained from the 
 several Legations." My letter upon which Lord Clarendon 
 acted set forth that workmen needed information of the con- 
 dition of labour markets abroad as much as their employers. 
 Strikes against reduction of wages take place, which reduction 
 is often owing to competition abroad, but is not believed, owing 
 to the knowledge upon which the employer acts being unknown 
 to the men. Authentic information accessible to trade unionists 
 would be instructive and useful. Emigration is promoted by 
 Government. Some who go out suffer great disappointment 
 from want of knowledge of the right places to which to go. 
 This becoming known, many are deterred from emigrating, and 
 thus miss good opportunities of advantage through ignorance 
 of where the right labour markets in other countries lie. In 
 Turkey 6,000 stone-masons were suddenly wanted for one of 
 the Sultan's new palaces, while masons were emigrating to 
 countries where stones were not used in buildings. I enume- 
 rated certain kinds of information secretaries of Embassy and 
 Legation could furnish from the countries in which they were 
 stationed. 
 
 Questions to which I asked answers were : — 
 
 1 . What was the state of the labour market ? What open- 
 ings were there, if any ? And what kind of workmen were 
 wanted ? 
 
 2. How would English workmen be hired and housed ? 
 What kind of dwellings would they find ? What wages would 
 they be offered ? What rent would they have to pay ? In 
 what quarters would they have to dwell, in healthy or 
 unhealthy places ? Would they find tenements available — 
 ventilated, drained, and free from air poisoning ? 
 
LORD CLARENDON'S CONCESSION. 169 
 
 3. What was the purchasing power of money in other coun- 
 tries ? All prices should be reduced to English values. A 
 workman at home earning £2 a week, on hearing he could 
 earn £6 a week abroad, would resolve to go put ; whereas the 
 cost of food, clothing, and rent might be thrice as high as in 
 England, and his £6 in a new country might go no farther 
 than £2 at home. 
 
 4. What is the dietary and habits to which an Englishman 
 must conform in another country, as respects health-preserving 
 power. Should a workman live in some places abroad as he 
 lived in England, he would be dead in twelve months. Work- 
 men who have overcome every industrial disadvantage and 
 have raised themselves to competence abroad, yet rush down 
 the inclined plane of excess, the bottom of which is social per- 
 dition. A report which afterwards came from Egypt said — 
 " Spirits must be avoided. Temperate workmen keep their 
 health well. The intemperate die." The report from Reunion 
 said, " Rum is rank poison to the European. None who con- 
 tract the habit of drinking it can remain in this country and 
 live." These are torpedo sentences which arrest the attention 
 of the unthinking transgressor. In the mining districts of 
 Alabama night air is deadly. 
 
 5. School questions need also to be asked. If an emigrant 
 took out a family, what education could he get for his children ? 
 
 6. What is the standard of skill among native artizans with 
 whom the Englishman would have to compete ? Do they put 
 their character into their work, or are they without artizan 
 pride ? Would they make a stand against doing bad work as 
 they would against bad wages ? In what degree would good 
 quality in work have effect in raising wages ? A workman 
 might deteriorate among new comrades if they were shabby, 
 bungling, careless workmen. 
 
 All these questions were not contained in my first letter. 
 They were increased by permission of Lord Clarendon, as 
 mentioned hereafter. The additions incorporated were three 
 — (a) those relating to health-preserving power abroad, (5) to 
 means of education of children, (c) to the quality of artizan 
 skill. 
 
 A few days after these suggestions were made (April 26), Sir 
 Arthur (then Mr.) Otway informed me that " he was to state 
 
J7o SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 that Lord Clarendon, who fully shared my views as to the 
 interest and importance of such information, had received my 
 suggestions with much pleasure, and that it was his lordship's 
 intention to instruct her Majesty's Secretaries of Legation to 
 furnish reports on this subject, which Lord Clarendon proposed 
 eventually to present to Parliament in a collective form, which 
 he hoped might meet the objects indicated in my letter." When 
 the first volume of these " Reports upon the Condition of the 
 Working Classes Abroad " appeared, they received from the 
 New York Tribune the name of the " People's Blue Book," 
 given, I believe, by Mr. G. W. Smalley. The volume was 
 found to be of unexpected interest, and abounding in curious 
 information. Some Secretaries of Embassy excelled in bright- 
 ness, variety, and relevance. As each volume appeared, I wrote 
 a letter in The Times describing it. On April 13, 1870, and on 
 September 26, 1871, leaders in The Times were written, illus- 
 trating the value of the reports, concurring also in my repre- 
 sentations of their usefulness. Lord Clarendon was pleased to 
 express the satisfaction with which he read my first letter to The 
 Times. His death unfortunately occurred soon after. 
 
 In Lord Clarendon's instruction to the Secretaries of Lega- 
 tion, I observed that he had changed my phrase "purchasing 
 power of money " into " the purchase power of money." 
 " Purchasing power " was a phrase new to the Foreign Office, 
 nor was I aware that it had been used in this financial sense 
 before I employed it. It seemed a fair form of the participle. 
 The term afterwards came into general use, and is quite common 
 now. ■ 
 
 Occasionally a consul of an inquiring mind, who happened 
 to be in England when the instructions were first issued, had 
 doubts as to their purport. Lord Clarendon sent him to me, 
 at Cockspur Street, where I then had chambers, and I had the 
 honour of explaining the nature of the information sought. 
 
 In due course, Mr. Robert Coningsby, a young working 
 engineer, known at that period as the author of letters on 
 social questions having a Tory tinge, wrote to The Times, 
 saying, " It was all very well for Mr. Holyoake to connect his 
 name with these Blue Books. The Society of Arts is entitled 
 to the credit of bringing the subject before the Government, 
 and the credit of bringing the subject to the notice of that 
 
LORD CLARENDON'S CONCESSION. 171 
 
 society belonged to him." The Society of Arts did not 
 corroborate Mr. Coningsby, nor did he know how early had 
 been my efforts in this matter. Nor did he pretend that he 
 conceived or defined the scope of the questions, or method of 
 obtaining the information required. The Foreign Office 
 frankly accorded me permission to cite the communication 
 received from them. I therefore explained in The Times that 
 Lord Clarendon sent me the minute he had forwarded to the 
 Embassies beginning with the words — " Mr. Holyoake has 
 made a valuable suggestion as to the steps to be taken to 
 ascertain the facts as regards the position of the artizan and 
 industrial classes in foreign States." This minute was also 
 sent to me for my consideration with the intimation " that Lord 
 Clarendon would be happy to consider any suggestions I might 
 have to offer, as to any other matters connected with foreign 
 countries in which the industrial classes in this country take 
 an interest, on which the Secretaries of her Majesty's Legations 
 might be instructed to report." This I did, as the reader has 
 seen, in the enumeration already given of questions to be 
 answered. Sir Arthur Otway, with the spontaneous courtesy 
 usual with him, wrote to me, saying that "these reports which 
 were found so useful and interesting were mainly due to my 
 suggestions, and that the late Lord Clarendon, as also the late 
 Mr. Spring Rice, spoke to him more than once of my services 
 in this matter in terms which would be very gratifying to me." 
 After these facts appeared in The Times, Mr. Coningsby made 
 no more claim of being the originator of these People's Blue 
 Books. Three volumes of reports, of nearly 1 ,000 pages, were 
 issued. Had the trades unions subscribed ^"20,000 and sent 
 out commissioners, they could not in five years have collected 
 and published the same amount of accurate, verified, and trust- 
 worthy information contained in these volumes thus supplied 
 without cost to them by the Foreign Office. It was believed 
 that these reports would be furnished at intervals of five or ten 
 years. Twenty have elapsed since the last was issued. Changes 
 in artizans' condition, interests, and aims have occurred since 
 then, and new reports would now have new uses and new 
 influence. Before the People's Blue Books appeared, the 
 information necessary for industrial advancement abroad 
 depended mainly on chance and charity, and as Madame de 
 
172 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 Stael said of M. de Calonne, whether he meant mischief or 
 service, " he did not do it with ability " — for want of know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Men learn patience if not contentment by a comparison of 
 their condition with that of others, which may be no better 
 or worse than their own. They may be encouraged by 
 examples of success attained under discouraging circumstances. 
 A workman can appreciate industrial causes in operation apart 
 from himself, which he fails to discern or estimate through 
 familiarity and prejudice, while he is in contact with his own 
 condition. Principles true in our own streets are discerned 
 more vividly when their operations are traced in the destiny of 
 strange and distant communities. Artizans gain expansion of 
 knowledge, like that which travel gives, when they are brought 
 into the presence of international facts, and are inclined to 
 respect a Government which, instead of lecturing them or 
 coercing them, gathers the experience of nations into a page, 
 and bids them read it for themselves. 
 
CHAPTER XC. 
 
 ASSASSINATION BY A JOURNALIST. 
 
 (1870.) 
 
 About the time of the sixth volume of the Reasoner (that is 
 not an accepted calender of events, though it enables me to fix 
 the date of many) two young Irishmen came to London seeking 
 their fortune in literature, and to them I was able to be of some 
 service. Both made acknowledgments of it in after years, 
 which I did not often experience in other instances. One of 
 them, Mr. Gerald Supple, came from Dublin ; for him I had 
 regard because, out of his slender earnings, he always sent a 
 portion for the support of his mother and two sisters. He had 
 seen patriotic service in 1848, having been concerned in an 
 insurrection planned in Meath. He wrote for me in the Rea- 
 soner on secular subjects. Afterwards he wrote in the Empire 
 and Morning Star, to which I introduced him. At length he 
 went to Australia, studied law, and became a barrister. As is 
 the case with the best Irishmen, his sympathies were with 
 liberty and freedom everywhere, and he never forgot the claims 
 of his country. He had many friends at the bar, and no one 
 who knew him could fail to be impressed by the generous 
 qualities in his character. In 1848, he had been a contributor 
 to the Nation, then at its best, and several national ballads 
 written by him are to be found in Hayes's collection, to which 
 good judges assigned great merit. Mr. Ebenezer Syme said in 
 the Argus that Mr. Supple " always wrote with extreme modera- 
 tion and good taste, never permitting his private predilections 
 or animosities to influence his public writings. On several 
 subjects outside the newspaper sphere, he had a fulness of know- 
 
 173 
 
174 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 ledge, and wrote upon them with a judgment that was 
 admirable. He wrote on Irish genealogies and antiquities in a 
 manner no other Australian journalist could approach." 
 
 In 1870 news came that he was under sentence of death in 
 Melbourne. Newspaper controversialists, as is common in new 
 colonies, are addicted to primitive forms of invective. Melbourne 
 resembled then the amenities of journalism which prevailed in 
 Canada, a much older settlement, until Mr. Goldwin Smith 
 infused refinement in it ; and my friend in Melbourne believed 
 that no reformation in certain quarters there was possible except 
 by the pistol. He therefore resolved to shoot an imputative 
 adversary, one George Paton Smith, at sight — and did it, the 
 shot taking effect in his arm. Mr. John Walshe, a retired 
 police officer, hearing shooting about, with the instinct of his 
 profession, rushed forward to defend the man assailed. Mr. 
 Supple, being near-sighted, mistook the ex-officer for his enemy, 
 shot and killed him. It was his near-sightedness which caused 
 him to entertain unfounded resentment against many persons 
 whom he thought showed him public disrespect by passing him 
 without notice, who had no unfriendly intentions towards him ; 
 he was simply unable to observe their recognition. His brother 
 barristers considered that he had suffered in his professional 
 career by loss of briefs through his infirmity of sight, and he had 
 become moody and unhinged in mind. They therefore set up 
 a plea of insanity to save him. This Mr. Supple repudiated in 
 court, stating that he knew perfectly well what he was doing, 
 and that he intended to kill Mr. Smith, but did not intend to 
 kill Mr. Walshe. 
 
 Many persons who commit brutal outrages, or even commit 
 murder in a brutal manner, when it comes to their turn to 
 suffer, squeal and whine to be saved from that which they have 
 inflicted upon others. It was not so with Mr. Supple. In his 
 speech to the Court, before sentence was pronounced, he 
 declared " his purpose was to teach certain persons in Melbourne 
 a lesson in manners. He well knew the consequences of what 
 he had undertaken, and did not object to be hanged." Mr. 
 Supple continued : — " Some years ago I quarrelled with G. P. 
 Smith because of his scurrilous abuse of the people of my 
 country, written by his pen and published in the newspaper he 
 edited. I was the only Irishman on that paper, and I resented 
 
A SSA SSINA TION BY A JO URNALIST. 1 7 5 
 
 it. He who will not stand up for his country is a paltry person. 
 From that time Mr. Smith slandered me. In this colony there 
 is no check on slander. An action for libel does not arrest it. 
 The duel does not exist here. If any man sent a challenge he 
 would be handed over to the police, and his challenge treated 
 as a farce, as a piece of swagger or bravado. In England public 
 opinion acts as a check on slander. There is nothing of the sort 
 here. I have done this colony good service in reviving some- 
 thing of old-fashioned honour, in the middle of this coarse 
 and wholly material civilization — this mean and sordid thing, 
 in which little seems to be valued higher than the dinner or the 
 bank account. The time will come, and my act will hasten it, 
 when the community will cease to tolerate the assassin of cha- 
 racter. As for me, I hope to give my life very cheerfully in this 
 cause. Hanging cannot disgrace me. The gallows cannot 
 disgrace me — I shall confer honour upon it. I shall be glad to 
 get away from this colony, and I can leave it no other way than 
 by the gate of death.'' 
 
 This manly speech could not but inspire respect for the 
 prisoner, however much one must feel that society would be 
 impossible if everybody should resent slander in the deadly way 
 he had adopted. Mr. Supple was sentenced to death. But his 
 counsel appealed against it, on the ground that it was not 
 justifiable to hang a man for an act he never intended to com- 
 mit. A plea good in morals, but not in law. Mr. E. J. 
 Williams, who was in the Gallery of the House of Commons, 
 and who knew of my early friendship for Mr. Supple, having 
 intimation of the appeal, asked me to aid in saving him from 
 execution. To this end I made the following affidavit, which 
 Sir Wilfrid Lawson did me the favour of attesting for me : — 
 
 " I, George Jacob Holyoake, of 20, Cockspur Street, London, 
 County of Middlesex, do truly and solemnly make declaration 
 that I knew well Mr. Gerald H. Supple, now imprisoned, as I 
 am informed, in Melbourne, Australia, on charge of murder. 
 When he was in England he was employed by me in journa- 
 listic work : I assisted in procuring him engagements. I had and 
 still have great respect for him as an honourable man ; but I 
 observed a moodiness in his manner, varying from impulsive 
 generosity of speech to inexplicable reticence. His shortness of 
 
176 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 sight was greatly against him. He seemed a despairing man at 
 times, and I used to consider him a person whom some great 
 calamity would one day overtake. From the difficulty his 
 manner put in the way of his friends serving, or indeed being 
 sure when they were serving him, I feared great suffering 
 would befall him. Though very intimate with me, and as I 
 believed having personal regard for me, he went away without 
 saying such was his intention, and never communicated with 
 me at the time, 1 nor mentioned me in writing to friends of 
 mine who had served him at my instigation. I doubt not he 
 had acquired some distrust of me, utterly without reason. No 
 doubt he was liable to dangerous delusions. 
 
 " George Jacob Holyoake. 
 " Signed in the presence of Wilfrid Lawson, Justice of the 
 Peace for the County of Cumberland." 
 
 Having rendered political service to Lord Enfield in his 
 Middlesex candidature, I asked him if he could do me the 
 favour of enclosing my affidavit in the Foreign Office bag, he 
 being then in that department. The transmission would then 
 be surer and probably swifter. Lord Kimberley, who became 
 aware of my request, directed (Aug. 4, 1870) me to be informed 
 (which I was by Mr. J. Rogers) that my " affidavit would be 
 forwarded by the next mail to the Governor of Victoria." But 
 Lord Kimberley did much more than this, as I afterwards 
 learned. Seeing that a man's life was at stake, his lordship, 
 from motives of humanity and kindness, directed that the 
 substance of my affidavit be telegraphed to the Governor 01 
 Ceylon with instructions to transmit it to Lord Canterbury at 
 Victoria. By good fortune, which ought always to attend on 
 so generous an act, the telegram was received in Melbourne on 
 the very day before the appeal, and, being delivered by the 
 Foreign Office messenger, it was a welcome surprise to Mr. 
 Supple's counsel, and gave the Court the impression that the 
 Government at home were desirous that the prisoner should 
 have the advantage of whatever evidence existed on his behalf. 
 The result was that, instead of the sentence of death being con- 
 
 1 Afterwards he did, and I was of service to him by sending him letters of 
 introduction. 
 
ASSASSINA T10N BY A JOURNALIST. 177 
 
 firmed, Mr. Supple was granted a new trial on the ground of 
 his mental condition. 
 
 Four months later a letter arrived from Lord Canterbury 
 upon the subject. Lord Kimberley, still remembering my 
 interest in the fate of my friend, desired Mr. H. T. Holland to 
 transmit to me a copy of the following despatch from the 
 Governor of Victoria : — 
 
 " lord canterbury to the earl of kimberley. 
 "Government Offices, Melbourne, 
 
 Sept. 7, 1870. 
 " My Lord, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt 01 
 your lordship's telegram forwarded to me through the Governor 
 of Ceylon, relative to the mental state of health of G. H. 
 Supple (now under sentence of death), and stating that a 
 despatch and affidavit would be forwarded by the next mail. 
 
 "I lost no time in forwarding this telegram to the Law 
 Officers of the Crown. I may mention that a point of law was 
 reserved at Supple's trial which comes on for argument before 
 the full court to-morrow. — I have the honour to be, &c, 
 
 " Canterbury." 
 
 It is clear from this despatch that but for Lord Kimberley's 
 calculating promptitude my affidavit had been all too late. 
 
 The next communication I received was dated Melbourne 
 Gaol, October 4, 1870, from the prisoner, saying : — 
 
 " My dear Mr. Holyoake, — How can I thank you for your 
 friendship and kindness in stepping in so promptly to my help ! 
 That telegram must have been an expensive one — I understand 
 from £15 to ^"18. My friends only ascertained from the 
 Government the day before the last English mail left that it is 
 you who thus came forward for me. 
 
 " I have been thirteen years in this country now. Ebenezer 
 Syme was my very good friend, thanks to the favourable things 
 you said of me in your letter of introduction to him. 
 
 " I calculated upon getting into trouble for what I did, but I 
 cheerfully accept the consequence as a smaller evil than endu- 
 rance. The medical commission found I was no lunatic. I was 
 %o be hanged last month, when, two days before the morning 
 
 vol. 11. 13 
 
178 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 fixed, leading members of the bar picked flaws in the legal 
 proceedings, the public was stirred with interest, and the 
 Government granted a reprieve and an appeal to the Privy 
 Council. I was notified of a new trial — the same case under 
 another aspect. My legal friends insisted on the plea of insanity. 
 I would have no more of it, and defended myself. The jury 
 were half for acquittal and half for conviction. I may not be 
 hanged for some time yet. 
 
 " I often think of those days in London in '50 and '51, and 
 again in '56, when you and Mrs. Holyoake made me feel as if I 
 were at home. — Ever yours sincerely and gratefully, 
 
 " Gerald H. Supple." 
 
 In the end he was sentenced to imprisonment during her 
 Majesty's pleasure. A year later (Aug. 11, 1871), he wrote 
 again from his gaol, saying : — 
 
 " I am unable to express what I feel, and how grateful I am, 
 for what you have done for me, so kindly and ably in such 
 various ways, at a time " when a friend is twice a friend." Your 
 articles in the press, your telegram, and Lord Kimberley's kind 
 interference, thanks to you, have each andall had a great effect in 
 my favour on public opinion here. Your article in the Reasoner, 
 which I saw (as well as that in the Birmingham Post, which 
 you enclosed to me), was put into one of the papers here, the 
 Herald, and has done me much service. The public in 
 Australia are much influenced in all social matters by opinion 
 at home, and your word goes a long way here as well as in 
 England, even among people who may differ from you in 
 politics and theology. After the appearance of that article I 
 had an unusual number of visiting strangers, including three or 
 four members of the Legislature, cordially promising me their 
 good offices at opportunity." 
 
 How difficult Mr. Supple was to serve was shown by Sir 
 Charles Gavan Duffy. When he was in office at Melbourne, 
 Supple, at that time a law student and journalist, asked him for 
 permanent Government employment. Several months after- 
 wards, he offered him a post with a salary of ^"400, which had 
 been previously held by another journalist, one of Supple's 
 
ASSASSINATION BY A JOURNALIST. 179 
 
 friends. Supple had a short time previously been called to the 
 bar. He indignantly resented the offer, which made Sir Gavan 
 think his mind was affected. He was a singular being,'but his 
 courage, disinterestedness, and noble scruples, were honourable 
 singularities. He had done that for which, as a lawyer, he 
 knew he deserved hanging, and felt bound in honour as a 
 gentleman not to shrink from nor evade the penalty. Eight 
 years' imprisonment in Melbourne Gaol elicited from him no 
 murmur. He wrote articles with his dim eyes, and continued 
 his support of sisters who needed aid. Mr. Eaton, of the 
 Treasury Department in Melbourne, was a valued friend of 
 Supple's. On his visit to England we consulted how Supple's 
 imprisonment might one day be changed into banishment, and 
 ultimately the Government considerately permitted him to 
 reside in New Zealand, where he followed pursuits of literature 
 to the advantage of himself and his connections, and he had 
 ever a grateful word for whoever had served him. 
 
CHAPTER XCI. 
 THE STORY OF THE BALLOT. 
 
 (1868-71.) 
 
 Having been foremost, or at least publicly persistent, in main- 
 taining that the secular duties of this life had precedence in 
 time and importance over ecclesiastical considerations, it became 
 incumbent on me to follow my own precepts, and, as far as in 
 my power lay, to improve the opportunities of daily life. 
 Being a member of the Council of the London Reform League 
 in 1868, I undertook to vindicate the claim for the Ballot by 
 a " New Defence " of it, of which 10,000 were circulated. Mr. 
 Henry F. Berkeley, M. P., who succeeded Mr. George Grote as 
 the advocate of the Ballot in Parliament, wrote a letter to the 
 press asking attention to my " Defence." He had previously 
 written to me, saying " a greater than I has arisen " — not 
 meaning that I was great and he less than before, but merely 
 that the argument for the Ballot was not exhausted, as the 
 House of Commons supposed, and that I, a young man, might 
 continue an advocacy which the nearness of death to him 
 would soon compel him to abandon. Mr. Bright also was of 
 opinion that the reasons for the Ballot had all been gathered in, 
 and he wrote to me, saying " yours is the only original 
 argument I have seen," which implied no more than that all 
 advocacy of it had proceeded from the points of view of the 
 party politician and the electioneering agent. No one had 
 treated it from the point of view of the working-class voter, 
 which constituted the distinction, whatever it amounted to, of 
 my argument. , 
 
 Mr. John Stuart Mill, notwithstanding the long champion- 
 
 180 
 
THE STORY OF THE BALLOT. 181 
 
 ship of the Ballot by his friend Mr. Grote, declared that " it 
 ought to form no part of a measure for reforming the repre- 
 sentation of the people. He thought it unmanly that men 
 should not resent intimidation and defy it. It did not occur to 
 him that it was unmanly on the part of Liberal politicians to 
 allow the means of intimidation to exist. Like Mr. Herbert 
 Spencer, Mill was for individuality and self-help — not thinking 
 that self-help has its limits. To help yourself as much as you 
 can, and as far as you can, is a condition every man must fulfil 
 before he has a claim for the aid of others where his own 
 strength is insufficient. There is no sense in telling a man 
 whose legs are broken he ought to walk unassisted. Under 
 open voting none who depend upon others for employment can 
 be independent without ruin, and it is not practical politics to 
 expect from the people impracticable virtue. Liberals in my 
 time were overwhelmed with the prestige of mad manliness, 
 and used to apologise for the Ballot by saying they " wished 
 the people were strong enough to do without it." Whereas 
 the Ballot was no crutch : it was protection. It was a device 
 which destroyed intimidation by rendering it impossible. Mr. 
 Mill, who, like Jeremy Bentham, was a master of what an 
 American would call "ironclad " phrases, said that the Ballot 
 meant " secret suffrage " — that was the merit of it. Secret 
 suffrage is free suffrage — it means an impenetrable, an 
 impassable, a defiant suffrage ; since intimidation could not 
 touch it in the case of those who could trust to the secrecy of 
 the ballot box. There is a base secrecy which men employ in 
 mean, furtive, or criminal acts, but there is a manly secrecy 
 when a man locks his door against impertinent and intrusive 
 people meddling with his affairs without consent. Privacy in 
 what concerns a man vitally — concerns him alone — is manly 
 and justifiable. My argument was that of the following 
 paragraph : — 
 
 The old doctrine was that voting was a duty the elector 
 owed to his country. Then it was the duty of the country to 
 take care that he did discharge it. Voting, therefore, should be 
 made compulsory, and intimidation impossible in the discharge 
 of a public duty. The voter is a known person : he is selected 
 by the State — his qualifications are approved : he has recog- 
 nised interests at stake. He has assigned to him a duty to his 
 
1 82 SIXTY YEARS OF Ah AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 country and to his conscience. It is only by a secret suffra 
 that he can without " let or hindrance " discharge it. I a 
 said to be an " independent " elector, I am told it is my du 
 to be independent. Then why should any one want to knc 
 the facts of my vote ? It is no affair of my neighbour how 
 vote, or for whom I vote, or why I vote, since I exercise i 
 power nor use any freedom which he does not equally posse 
 I am not called upon to consult my neighbour as to what 
 shall do. If I am obliged to consult him, he is my mastt 
 But he has no business with a knowledge of my affairs ; and 
 he wants it, he is impertinent — if he insists upon it, he 
 offensive, and means me mischief if I decline to do his biddin 
 The theory of Representative Government calls upon me 
 delegate my power to another for a given time. Once in sev< 
 years I am master of the situation ; afterwards I am at tl 
 mercy of the member of Parliament I elect. He may tax m 
 he may compel the country into unjust and costly wars ; ] 
 may be a party to base treaties ; he may limit my liberty ; 1 
 may degrade me as an Englishman, but I am bound by r 
 acts. From election to election, he is my master. I mu 
 obey the laws he helps to make, or he will suspend the Habe 
 Corpus Act, and put a sword to my throat, or fire upon n 
 with the latest improved rifle he has made me pay for in tl 
 estimates. I may howl, but I cannot alter anything. IV 
 only security is that a time will come when I shall be mast 
 again without fear from my neighbour, or customer, < 
 employer, or creditor, or banker, or landlord, or priest. I sh; 
 taste of power for one supreme minute when I shall stand 1 
 the ballot box. Then I can vote to displace the member wl 
 has betrayed me, and choose another representative in r. 
 stead. Representative Government confers upon the Englii 
 citizen one minute of liberty every seven years. It is not mui 
 to ask. It is little to be content with. It is a wondrous pro 
 of the people's docility that they yield obedience on such tern 
 The State ought to keep faith with the elector one minute 
 every three millions of minutes which elapse on the averaj 
 between one General Election and another. 
 
 The enemies of the Ballot thought fit to oppose this slend 
 concession. Sydney Smith derided it. Lord Palmerston he 
 that it was un-English. According to this reasoning, the u 
 
THE STORY OF THE BALLOT. 183 
 
 of armour-plates is cowardly, and it is un-English for a gunner 
 to fire from a casemate. It is madness, not manliness, in a man 
 who opposes his single head to twenty swords. His foolhardi- 
 ness will merely deter others, and the reputation for courage he 
 will acquire will not outlive the coroner's inquest upon him. 
 There might be more individuality of character than there is if 
 every man rejected the enervating equality of the law, which 
 protects the weak against the strong. Then even the coward 
 must fight and the weak must struggle or perish. But it is 
 insanity of individuality which wantonly enters upon unequal 
 conflicts ; and open voting is of that nature. Secret suffrage 
 is the needle-gun which places the proletariat and the proprietor 
 upon an equality in the electoral combat. 
 Whittier understood this when he wrote : 
 
 " We have a weapon firmer set, 
 And better than the bayonet ; 
 A weapon that comes down as still 
 As snowflakes fall upon the sod, 
 Vet executes a freeman's will, 
 As lightning does the will of God, 
 And from its force no bolts or locks 
 Can shield you — 'tis the ballot-box." 
 
 Much more to the same end was in " The New Defence of 
 the Ballot," which it was said at the time did something in 
 determining the minds of many members of Parliament when 
 they came to vote for the bill who had never looked upon the 
 Ballot from the working class point of view. 
 
 After being before the House of Commons for forty years, 
 the Ballot Bill went up to the Lords — a body of gentlemen 
 endowed with legal power to maim or stifle any live measure of 
 progress which they may deem premature. To allay the fear 
 of change which constitutionally agitates them, I said, wherever 
 I had the opportunity of being heard, that the first effect of 
 the Ballot would be to give us a Tory Government for ten 
 years. I wrote to The Times, Daily News, and Echo, urging — 
 
 " The two great fears of the 3allot are these. One is that 
 electors will vote so differently under it as to disturb the 
 balance of parties in many boroughs. The other and greater 
 fear is that such numbers will vote under the Ballot who never 
 
184 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 voted before, that nobody will know what will happen any- 
 where. For three centuries the political vote in England has 
 been a trust, under the condition that the elector used it under 
 the cognizance and in accordance with the views of somebody 
 else. Tory and Whig, employer and squire, Radical and 
 Quaker, have all done their best to enforce this doctrine of 
 trust. Relieve the electors of this hereditary pressure, and 
 after allowing for much that habit will do, and less for the 
 action of intelligence, we come down to what the late Lord 
 Derby needlessly dreaded — the dark, unknown land of ignor- 
 ance, prejudice, passion, of honest but blind hope. The 
 Liberals do not quite like that risk, the Conservatives shudder 
 at any change, and the Radicals think of the cost of providing 
 for the neglected political education of the people, which must 
 then be attended to if they are to hold their own. [The rise of 
 Liberal Clubs, never before heard of, soon proved this.] The 
 Conservatives who collect the suffrage of stolidity will be the 
 first to profit by the Ballot. In an uneducated nation the 
 ' stupid ' are always the majority, and the Tories have so often 
 profited by the fact, that they will be the ' stupid party ' them- 
 selves if they throw away the mighty chance now before them. 
 
 " The working class accept the Ballot, not because it will very 
 early benefit their order, but because it is an indispensable 
 condition to their being able to benefit themselves. Therefore, 
 let no one be apprehensive of the change which will approach 
 with the Ballot. In politics nothing approaches ; everything 
 has to be fetched. 
 
 " The fear of the Ballot is as old as England. It is the fear 
 lest another should take his own way, and not take yours. It 
 is in religion as well as in politics, and not easily eradicated. 
 Error (it was an early maxim of mine) is like a serpent alive at 
 both ends ; if severed, it may still sting ; while it wriggles, it 
 lives, and those who mean to end it must chop at it." 
 
 It would be futile to recite now this prediction concerning 
 the Ballot, if the reader could not turn to the Echo, August 
 5, 1871, and read it there. The first election after the Ballot 
 gave us a Tory Government, and old London Reformers 
 bewailed to me that, after having laboured for fifty years to 
 give the working class the power to be their own friends, they 
 
THE STORY OF THE BALLOT. 185 
 
 used it to vote for those who always opposed their having a 
 vote. The nature of a nation does not change all at once with 
 power. All history gives examples which seem to be un- 
 observed. The French Revolutionists did but do as they had 
 been done by. It may be regretted that they did not do better. 
 To pour on the Revolutionists the censure of Europe, and 
 conceal that the censure belongs to those who made them 
 what they were — is ignorant criticism. Liberty does not take 
 care of people. It is intended to enable them to take care of 
 themselves, and it generally takes them a long time to learn 
 how to do it. 
 
 The story of the Ballot illustrates the characteristics of the 
 English political mind in the last generation 
 
CHAPTER XCIL 
 
 ADVENTURES AT THE HOME OFFICE. 
 
 (1870.) 
 
 It is good advice that a man should guard himself from mis- 
 conception. But, do what he will, misconceptions will come 
 to him. Then all he can do is to explain — stand to the truth 
 and never mind. 
 
 At the time of the Reform League agitation in 1866, being a 
 member of the executive, I was one of a deputation to the Home 
 Office, to confer with Mr. Walpole concerning a meeting the 
 League intended to hold in Hyde Park. The Government 
 was then Tory, and the Tories are always against public meet- 
 ings, as being unnecessary and inconvenient. Then (1866) they 
 said : " We had Trafalgar Square to go to, and what better 
 place could we have ? Hyde Park was impossible." In 1888, 
 twenty -two years later, they said "we could not have a better 
 place than Hyde Park, and that Trafalgar Square was impos- 
 sible." 
 
 Mr. Walpole showed an honourable anxiety to prevent 
 collision between the police and the people, for fear of 
 "bloodshed," which Mr. J. S. Mill said in Parliament, the' 
 next night, " the League firmly believed would result." Mr. 
 Walpole stood in the recess of a window at the Home Office, 
 and our small deputation stood near him. 
 
 Mr. Beales stated that our object was " not to censure the 
 Government, but to declare the public sentiment on the 
 franchise," and therefore we demanded permission to hold a 
 public meeting in the park on Monday. Mr. Walpole (depre- 
 catingly) : " Don't ask me that." After consulting with Lord 
 
ADVENTURES AT THE HOME OFFICE. 187 
 
 J. Manners, Mr. Walpole said, "Well, put your request in 
 writing to me. I will consult my colleagues, and, that there 
 may be no mistake, I will send an answer in writing." It was, 
 however, agreed that we might occupy a platform that night in 
 Hyde Park to dissuade people from assembling further. 
 
 Afterwards, being at the House of Commons, T told all this 
 to many members who inquired what had occurred at the 
 Home Office. Later, I went to Hyde Park to attend the dis- 
 persion meeting, and, being on the platform, I heard Mr. 
 Beales announce that we had permission to hold a meeting on 
 Monday night. Whereupon I asked him whether Mr. Walpole 
 had since given him permission to do so, as I did not so under- 
 stand him at our interview. The next morning a letter 
 appeared from Mr. Walpole in The Times, stating that Mr. 
 Beales's letter had been received, but no answer had been 
 given. The same morning placards appeared, issued by the 
 League, stating that a public meeting would be held in the 
 park by Mr. Walpole's permission. 
 
 That morning, Mr. George Howell, secretary of the League, 
 sent me by hand to Waterloo Chambers, Cockspur Street, a 
 summons to attend another deputation to Mr. Walpole at 2 
 o'clock. At that hour I went there, but, seeing none of my 
 colleagues, I supposed they had already arrived, and were in 
 some room awaiting the interview. I asked to be shown to 
 the deputation to Mr. Walpole, and I was told " there was no 
 deputation ; and Mr. Walpole himself was not at the Home 
 Office." I said that was incredible, as I had been summoned 
 to attend a deputation to him at 2 o'clock. Seeing that I was 
 unconvinced, an officer said, I " had better see Mr. Walpole's 
 secretary and satisfy myself." Accordingly I did so, and was 
 told that " Mr. Walpole really had declined to receive any 
 deputation." I answered that, " as the League had sent me 
 notice to attend the interview, they should have sent me word 
 it was not to be. I understood we were to see Mr. Walpole 
 respecting his letter to The Times, and that I intended to say 
 I tor one thought Mr. Walpole right in his letter. The placard 
 assumed that the meeting was agreed to, which was not my 
 impression." 
 
 The secretary asked whether he might state that to Mr. 
 Walpole. I answered "certainly." I went at once to the 
 
1 88 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 Reform League, and explained to Mr. T. Bayley Potter, M.P., 
 and other friends of the League present, what I had said at the 
 Home Office, and learned then, for the first time, that Mr. 
 Beales was decidedly under a different impression. Mr. P. A. 
 Taylor asked me at the House of Commons the same day to put 
 in writing what took place with Mr. Walpole, which I did, and 
 placed it in the hands of Mr. John Stuart Mill, who, I knew, 
 was always for the truth. 
 
 In the meantime Lord Derby in the House of Lords, speak- 
 ing in defence of the Home Secretary, accused by his party of 
 indecision, said : " Mr. Holyoake, one of the members of the 
 deputation to Mr. Walpole, having seen the placard, came this 
 morning to repudiate in the strongest terms Mr. Beales's pro- 
 clamation. He spoke to many Liberal members last night at 
 the House of Commons, informing them that Mr. Walpole had 
 not given his consent to the meeting announced." 
 
 Mr. Walpole, on his part, stated in the House of Commons 
 that, " in justice to a member of the Reform League, who is 
 known to many members in this House, and who was present 
 with the deputation — I mean Mr. Holyoake — he, in a manner 
 which reflects infinite credit on him, volunteered to come to my 
 office to-day. I was so busily engaged I could not see him, but 
 he saw my private secretary, who came into my room immedi- 
 ately afterwards, and told me what had passed between them. 
 I (Mr. Walpole) said, ' The words which you say were used by 
 Mr. Holyoake are so important, let me, while they are fresh in 
 your recollection, take them down.' The words taken down 
 are these : ' He came to repudiate in the strongest terms Mr. 
 Beales's proclamation. He perfectly understood Mr. Walpole 
 to decline to sanction any meeting in the park, and to ask that 
 an application for that should be made in writing. He spoke 
 to many Liberal members last night, and also to Mr. Beales, 
 when the proclamation was being posted! " 
 
 Reciting these incidents serves to show by authentic instances 
 how difficult it is to get at the truth of history, and how the 
 simplest facts become transformed into what Carlyle would 
 have called "curiously the reverse of truth." Even when the 
 facts are fresh — not even an hour old — variations of them 
 occur even while passing through the minds of educated official 
 persons. Neither Lord Derby, Mr. Walpole, nor his secretary, 
 
ADVENTURES AT THE HOME OFFICE. 189 
 
 could have any intention of perverting the truth, and yet the 
 perversion transpired on the part of each of them. Mr. 
 Walpole said that I " volunteered to come to his office." I did 
 not " volunteer " to go to the Home Office. It never entered 
 into my mind to go — I certainly never should have gone on 
 any notion of my own. My going was solely through the 
 instruction sent me by the secretary of the Reform League. It 
 was quite unforeseen by me that I should enter the secretary's 
 room. It was purely incidental that I was asked by an official 
 to do so. It was to account for my acquiescence in seeing the 
 secretary that I mentioned the subject of the placard. The 
 officer in the corridor of the Home Office told me " Mr. Wal- 
 pole was not in the building." Yet Mr. Walpole said " he was 
 busily engaged there." My words as related by the private 
 secretary, and as taken down by Mr. Walpole, were that " I 
 came to repudiate in the strongest terms Mr. Beales's procla- 
 mation." I did not go for any such purpose. The words taken 
 down represent me as saying " I spoke to Mr. Beales when the 
 proclamation was being posted." I never saw Mr. Beales at 
 that time. I was not present when the proclamation was 
 posted. My words were : " I spoke to him the same night at 
 Hyde Park." That was before the placards were printed. 
 
 The Express, the evening issue of the Daily News, remarked 
 that the Tory papers commended me, the Standard describing 
 me as " a man of high honour and probity, whose opinions, 
 however offensive to the general feeling of society, had not 
 prevented him from commanding the respect of all who knew 
 his reverence for truth, and his thorough loyalty in all dealings 
 with friend or foe." 
 
 It is not a matter of suspicion when any one is commended 
 by his adversaries, unless it appears that he has abandoned his 
 professed principles to win their praise. 
 
 Notwithstanding my explanations, the Reform League 
 regarded me as a traitor who had gone down to the Home 
 Office privately, and made a communication against them. A 
 great meeting was held, within a few days of these events, at 
 the Agricultural Hall. Mr. Mill asked me to accompany him 
 from the House of Commons to the hall, and afterwards I 
 returned with him to the House. It was well I was in his 
 company, as my colleagues of the Reform League were wrathful 
 
19© SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 with me. Had I done what they supposed, their indignation 
 would have been justified. Certainly the version of the affair 
 given by Ministers was calculated to confirm their impressions. 
 
 Mr. Walpole for a time fared no better at the hands of his 
 colleagues than I did with mine. They accused him of weak- 
 ness in giving way to the League Radicals. They even said 
 he wept before the deputation. Lord John Manners could 
 have contradicted that, as he was present, but he made no sign. 
 Had it not been for my accidental testimony, which, being that 
 of a political opponent, satisfied both Houses, it was said that 
 Mr. Walpole must have resigned. On the following Sunday 
 he sent me a handsome letter of acknowledgment. At no time 
 did I ever speak to Mr. Walpole, nor did he ever speak to me. 
 My action with regard to him was public and not personal. 
 
 Afterwards some Radicals enclosed bread pills in small 
 bottles, labelled them " Walpole's tears," and sold them at 
 Reform League meetings, which was ill treatment of a Minister 
 who had shown honourable scruples against firing upon them. 
 
 Mr. Walpole was the first Home Secretary who, so far as we 
 knew, ever showed consideration for the people at his own 
 peril. 
 
 On the day when the Hyde Park railings fell, the Reform 
 League went in procession to the gates. As I was one of the 
 executive, I accompanied my colleagues. Mr. Beales was to 
 attempt to enter the gates, when, the police opposing him, a 
 question of assault was to be raised, and legal opinion taken as 
 to the legality of closing the gates against the people. The 
 throng was dense about the entrance. A man in a rough cap 
 and round jacket — in appearance like an ostler — thrust a watch 
 in my vest pocket, saying, " Take care of that the next time." 
 I thought he might be a thief who, being followed, was 
 planting a watch he had stolen on me to get rid of it. But on 
 taking out the watch I saw it was my own. I had no time to 
 thank the man, who darted through the crowd to keep the real 
 thief in sight. The man was a detective, who had seen the 
 theft of my watch, had taken it from the man, and restored it 
 to me. 
 
 Thus ended my adventures on the Hyde Park question. 
 
CHAPTER XCIII. 
 STORY OF A LOST LETTER. 
 
 (1870.) 
 
 In 1 870 I had expressed, in some journal or speech, the opinion 
 that Lord Palmerston's wilful and hasty recognition (1851) of 
 the Government of the usurper, Louis Napoleon, was discredit- 
 able to the Crown and injurious to the English nation, as 
 openly sanctioning the massacre of thousands of French 
 citizens, of the imprisonment of its Parliament and expatria- 
 tion of many eminent men, who withstood the illegality of the 
 false President. It was a great affront to the majority of 
 Frenchmen, who would be incensed at England giving official 
 countenance to Bonapartist treachery and assassination. In 
 what way this opinion came under the notice of Mr. Gladstone 
 I now forget, but he was kind enough and considerate enough 
 to write me a letter, in which he explained the facts of that 
 affair. 
 
 On February 3, 1852, Lord John Russell explained that 
 Lord Palmerston had sent an approval to Lord Normanby, 
 our ambassador at Paris, of the usurpation of Louis Napoleon. 
 Lord Palmerston said " it was a misrepresentation of the fact 
 to say that he had given instructions to Lord Normanby incon- 
 sistent with the relations of general intercourse between 
 England and France. 
 
 What Lord Palmerston did was this. He wrote to the 
 British ambassador at Paris (Lord Normanby), December 5, 
 1851, saying that he had been commanded by her Majesty to 
 instruct him not to make any change in his relations with the 
 French Government. " It is her Majesty's desire that nothing 
 should be done which would even wear the appearance of an 
 
I9 2 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 interference of any kind in the internal affairs of France." 
 the same time M. Turgot said he had heard from M. Walew 
 (the French ambassador in London) that Lord Palmerston r 
 expressed to him his entire approbation of the act of \ 
 President, and his conviction that he (Louis Napoleon) coi 
 not have acted otherwise than he had done. Lord Norman 
 complained that this " placed him in an awkward position 
 misrepresentation and suspicion." Lord Palmerston repl: 
 next day that if " Lord Normanby wishes to know my o- 
 opinion on the change which has taken place in France, ii 
 that such a state of antagonism had arisen between 1 
 President and the Assembly that it was becoming every c 
 more clear that their co-existence would not be of long du 
 tion ; and it seemed to me better for the interests of Fran 
 and through them for the interest of the rest of Europe, tl 
 the power of the President should prevail." 
 
 The representative of the French nation naturally regard 
 this as the opinion of the Government, being given by 
 Minister of the Crown at the Foreign Office, and it was cit 
 by the confederates of the usurper as proof that Libe 
 Parliamentary England was in favour of a murderous despoti; 
 being imposed by arms on the French people. 
 
 On February 17, 1852, Lord John Russell advised the d 
 missal of Lord Palmerston from the office of Foreign Secrets 
 on the ground that " he had, first, in a conversation with t 
 French ambassador, and next, in a despatch to Lord Normanl 
 expressed officially his approval of the recent proceedings 
 Louis Napoleon," contrary to the following instructio: 
 laid down by her Majesty in 1850, for the guidance of 1 
 Secretary : — 
 
 " The Queen requires, first, that Lord Palmerston v 
 distinctly state what he proposes, in a given case, in on 
 that the Queen may know as distinctly to what she is givi 
 her royal sanction. Secondly, having once given her Ro 
 sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altei 
 or modified by the Minister. Such an act she must c< 
 sider as failing in sincerity towards the Crown, and jus 
 to be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right 
 dismissing that Minister. She expects to be kept informed 
 
STORY OF A LOST LETTER. I93 
 
 what passes between him and the foreign Ministers before 
 important decisions are taken based upon that intercourse ; 
 to receive the foreign despatches in good time, and to have 
 the drafts for her approval sent to her in sufficient time to 
 make herself acquainted with their contents before they must 
 be sent oif." 
 
 Lord Palmerston was dismissed, and was succeeded at the 
 Foreign Office by Earl Granville. 
 
 From this instruction it appears that Lord Palmerston two 
 years previously had sent instructions to foreign Courts with- 
 out the knowledge of her Majesty, and had in other cases 
 changed the purport of what had been submitted to her. The 
 Queen's note is also instructive to those foolish, misleading or 
 uninformed politicians who continually assure the people that 
 the English monarchy is practically a democracy, and that the 
 interfering power of the Crown is ideal. The Crown has the 
 power of vetoing any international instruction the Demcroacy 
 may wish to give through its representatives. The Foreign 
 Minister is simply the mouthpiece of the Crown. The Crown 
 has a voice — and the people are dumb. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, with a brevity beyond my power, explained 
 to me that the Crown did in the case of Lord Palmerston's 
 conduct what the people would have done. The Queen 
 deserves very high credit for her action in dismissing him, 
 reassuring the French people that England was neutral, 
 intended no interference in their affairs, and lent no en- 
 couragement or sanction to the usurpation imposed upon them. 
 
 After receiving (1870) the letter of Mr. Gladstone, in which 
 he explained all this, I placed it in the Edinburgh Review of 
 that date and left it in a cab. After fruitless efforts to recover 
 the lost articles, they were advertised for in The Times, in one 
 of the numbers of that journal which was photographed for 
 circulation in Paris during the siege. The photographed 
 copies of The Times were dropped over Paris from balloons, 
 and the contents were magnified and well scanned, but as my 
 lost letter was never heard of, I concluded that it had probably 
 got into the hands of some intelligent and covetous reader, 
 and T have sometimes attended sales of autograph letters 
 expecting to find it. 
 
 vol. 11. 14 
 
CHAPTER XCIV. 
 
 THE SCOTT-RUSSELL PLOT. 
 
 (1871.) 
 
 A few years ago, the Liberal world in London and at large — 
 so far as the outer world took notice of metropolitan affairs — 
 were surprised by an announcement that eminent peers, not 
 before known for Radical partisanship, were about to place 
 themselves at the head of a new movement, which was to do 
 great things. The working classes were to be taken from 
 pestiferous dwellings in crowded towns and put, as Lord 
 Hampton said, out " in the open," and other advantages, never 
 dreamt of by the unenterprising Liberals who had hitherto 
 been looked up to by the people, were to be bestowed upon 
 them. Mr. Scott-Russell, a naval enthusiast, who had built 
 the Great Eastern ship, was the constructor of this new political 
 vessel for carrying Tory Democratic passengers into the Con- 
 servative haven. 
 
 Certain working class leaders J were invited to form a 
 committee or syndicate of popular sponsors of the new project. 
 All were known to be on the Liberal side, but some, like the 
 teetotal cabmen, were not bigoted ; they preferred fishing in 
 Liberal waters provided fish were to be caught, but, if not, 
 they had no invincible repugnance to trying another stream. 
 They called this " being above the narrowness of party " ; 
 sometimes they represented it as " taking an independent 
 view " of things — phrases honestly used by men of conscien- 
 tious conception of principle, but whose scruples these patriots, 
 
 1 The best known were Robert Applegarth, George Howell, H. Broadhurst, 
 Lloyd Jones, George Potter, Daniel Guile, P. Barry. 
 
THE SCOTT-RUSSELL PLOT. 195 
 
 with principles turning on a universal pivot, burlesqued. 
 There were others among them, men of consistency, who were 
 curious to find out what these unexpected friends of the people 
 (whom Mr. Scott-Russell assumed to represent) really intended. 
 They asked time to consider the project to which they were 
 to be committed. Their meetings were held at a pleasant 
 restaurant near King Lud's in Ludgate Hill, and, as good 
 dinners were provided to assist their deliberations, they were 
 not impatient to come to a decision. Like men having re- 
 sponsible business on hand, they felt precipitation unbecoming ; 
 they took time and dinners, too. They made suggestions, and 
 adjourned until Mr. Scott-Russell had considered them. Then 
 it became necessary to dine again to receive his opinion. 
 When adjournments were played out, they, with show of reason, 
 intimated that it was desirable that they should know who the 
 noblemen were who were at the head of the project which they 
 were to commend to the working class, whom these leaders were 
 supposed to influence. A further dinner was necessary for 
 receiving and weighing this information. It was conceded by 
 the constructor of the Great Eastern that this committee 
 should see a list of the names, which, however, were not to be 
 divulged. 
 
 If there really were persons of eminence desirous of rendering 
 some new service to the people, the intention was to be re- 
 spected. There was one member of the committee, Mr. Robert 
 Applegarth, who never thought there was anything in the 
 scheme, and there were others who did not feel any sure 
 ground under their feet. Thus the inspection of the list of 
 peers who had popular ideas ready to put in force, was interest- 
 ing. That the names were to be held secret did not inspire 
 confidence. How could honest leaders of the people command 
 a project of which they could not disclose the authority which 
 alone could inspire trust. Mr. Applegarth prudently suggested 
 to his colleagues that, since they were not to possess or copy 
 the list, and might not remember all the names upon it, it 
 would be well that one of them should fix in his memory the 
 first two names, another should notice the second two, and so 
 on through the list. Afterwards, when they met, they could 
 verify the whole list of names appended to a document which was 
 to be published without the names. It was observed that the 
 
196 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 names were all in the same handwriting as the text of the 
 address prepared for their issue. 
 
 In a way never explained to the public, the list of the 
 names — which, in the way described, came into the hands 
 of the committee — met the sharp journalistic eyes of Mr. 
 Stephen Girard, of the New York Herald, and were by 
 him made known, much to the chagrin of Mr. Scott-Russell 
 and to the astonishment of the peers, who instantly became 
 subjects of comment. Each of them immediately wrote to 
 the papers disavowing any knowledge of the affair or com- 
 plicity in it. Thus it happened that the political Leviathan 
 ship for carrying Democratic passengers into the sea of Con- 
 servatism never set sail. 
 
 Knowing all the members of the Scott-Russell Committee, 
 their proceedings interested me, and I wrote in the public press 
 reasons for regarding the project as suspicious in origin and 
 tendency. 
 
 Mr. Scott-Russell had genius in his own walk. His con- 
 ception of a great ship, so ponderous that the waves should 
 not vibrate beneath it, so powerful that the storm should not 
 retard it, showed naval daring ; but the sea of politics was 
 unknown to him, and the craft he put upon it was of antiquated 
 build. 
 
 Every aspirant for power, who has ambition for personal 
 ascendency, every despot who understands his business, holds 
 out promises of what excellent things he will do if he be only 
 secured a position whereby he may be able to act. When the 
 power is once put into his hands, he is able to defy those who 
 dare to claim the fulfilment of their expectations, as did Louis 
 Napoleon, who promised great things to the working classes, 
 and shot them when they asked for them. In the meantime 
 the policy of holding out great hopes of this kind has its 
 success. Like the " confidence trick," it finds a succession of 
 credulous persons ready made. There are always a number of 
 people ready to have something done for them, and very un- 
 willing to be put to the trouble of doing it for themselves. 
 
 My reason for opposing the Scott-Russell plot was that 
 Liberal working men could not join in it without foregoing 
 their principles. A man is free to change his principles with- 
 out reproach when his honest view of duty dictates it. But he 
 
THE SCOTT-RUSSELL PLOT. 
 
 i 97 
 
 should know what he is doing, and not go on pretending to be 
 on one side when he has gone over to another. If working 
 men calling themselves Liberals accept Tory leadership, they 
 have left their party. If they accepted this Tory-peer scheme, 
 in the belief that the Tory party would carry it out, they must 
 at elections canvass for and vote for Tory candidates. It were 
 vain to adopt a programme and not provide a majority in Par- 
 liament to give effect to it. He who chooses new leaders 
 proclaims his distrust of his old ones, and has changed sides 
 whether he knows it or not. Not thinking it to the credit of 
 the working classes to be under illusions, I publicly explained 
 the nature of the Tory democratical scheme. 
 
 If Conservatives come to profess, as they sometimes do, to be 
 in favour of a Liberal measure, respect such concession, and 
 give them, so far as such measure extends, aid and credit for 
 it. But that is a different thing from changing sides and 
 undertaking to sustain a party opposed to the main principles 
 you profess to hold. 
 
 The names of the peers who were alleged to be the " high 
 contracting parties " in this plot were Lord Salisbury, Lord 
 Derby, Mr. Disraeli, the Earls of Carnarvon and Lichfield, 
 Lord Henry Lennox, Lord John Manners, Sir John Pakington, 
 Sir Stafford Northcote, Mr. Gathorne Hardy, and the Duke 
 of Richmond. Mr. P. Barry wrote to The Times saying that 
 "Mr. Scott-Russell had the signatures of the lords," which 
 they naturally repudiated in successive letters to the news- 
 papers. The Seven-Leagued programme to which these 
 noble Socialistic Democrats were alleged to have given their 
 assent, is not without historic interest to-day. Its planks were 
 as follows : — 
 
 i. Something like the United States Homestead Law, with 
 modern improvements, is to be enacted, by which " the families 
 of our workmen " may be removed from the crowded quar- 
 ters of the towns, and given detached homesteads in the 
 suburbs. 
 
 2. The Commune is to be established so far as to confer 
 upon all counties, towns, and villages, a perfect organisation 
 for self-government, with powers for the acquisition and dis- 
 posal of lands for the common good, 
 
198 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 3. Eight hours of honest and skilled work shall constitute a 
 day's labour. 
 
 4. Schools for technical instruction shall be established at 
 the expense of the State, in the midst of the homesteads of the 
 proletariat. 
 
 5. Public markets shall be erected in every town, at the 
 public expense, for the sale of goods of the best quality, in 
 small quantities at wholesale prices. 
 
 6. There shall be established, as parts of the public service, 
 places of public recreation, knowledge, and refinement. 
 
 7. The railways shall be purchased and conducted at the 
 public expense and for the common good, as the post-office 
 service is now conducted. 
 
CHAPTER XCV. 
 
 RETICENCE OF THE BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 (1872.) 
 
 The Bishop of Peterborough was a prelate remarkable alike 
 for timidity and boldness. The public were often amazed at 
 his ecclesiastical candour. But he had apprehensive intervals, 
 as this chapter will show. In 1 87 1 he and the Dean of Norwich 
 announced their intention to deliver controversial discourses in 
 that city. 
 
 Wet, half-melted snow covered the ground, the sky above 
 was dark and disturbed, a cold haze made chill and damp the 
 crowd which stood in the silent cathedral yard on Tuesday 
 night (December 12, 1871) waiting for the cathedral doors to 
 open. No city in England has been so fortunate as Norwich 
 in its bishops. It has had no bad bishop in our time. The 
 memory of man runneth not back to the contrary. The 
 preacher, however, whom we waited to hear was not the Bishop 
 of Norwich, but the Bishop of Peterborough. In the pulpit 
 this bishop appeared somewhat short, stoutly built, and had the 
 look of a man who ate more than his spiritual profession 
 required. Nevertheless the bishop's discourse was admirable. 
 It had the chief qualities of an oration. It was delivered with 
 elasticity : the action, though not always graceful, was pleasantly 
 vehement, and there was a manly energy in the preacher's 
 
 tones. 
 
 Dr. Goulburn, the Dean, was a very pleasant gentleman to 
 see. He was one of those radiant divines who diffuse a sense 
 of satisfaction around them, looking on life with a dignity that 
 appears never to have been distressed. You saw at once that 
 
200 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 his " lines had fallen unto him in pleasant places, and that he 
 had a goodly heritage." Yet, notwithstanding Dr. Meyrick 
 Goulburn's sunbeam aspect, he threw out some venomous little 
 epithets at his supposed adversaries which need not be recounted 
 here. 
 
 The Bishop's alluring subject was the " Demonstration of the 
 Spirit." Who could expect the future Archbishop of York, 
 whose revenue would be princely, whose palace looked down 
 on the lotus waters of the Ouse, whose earthly home an angel 
 might envy, to be appreciative of the humble ethical philosophy 
 which knew none of these things ? To the Bishop of Peter- 
 borough whose worldly welfare was provided for by a happy 
 destiny and a powerful patron, Christianity must seem 
 " demonstrably " true. Mean, poor, and even wicked must 
 seem the scruples of those who find themselves condemned to 
 perplexity and patience ; while to others, who mean no better 
 and strive less to realise human good, opulence and honour 
 fall. To the prelates of that day, the efforts of obscure 
 moralists, who, with penurious means, unaided and contemned, 
 struggled to multiply secular comfort, to cheer the unfortunate 
 with the consolations of duty, and kindle the fire of reason in 
 cold and abandoned minds, must seem pitiful, and to be suffi- 
 ciently recognised by being scolded into grace. 
 
 In the cathedral city of Norwich, where prelatical doctrine 
 had the advantage of State splendour and official advocacy, it 
 might be expected that civil equity would prevail under its 
 supreme influence. Yet the ratepayers there had no right to 
 the use of the public halls for which they paid. To obtain one 
 in which to reply to the Bishop of Peterborough was impossible. 
 
 A Dissenter in Norwich, who was proprietor of a hall eligible 
 for the proposed review of the " Cathedral Discourses," said he 
 would let it for the purpose if he knew that it would not be 
 displeasing to the Lord Bishop of Peterborough. I thereupon 
 wrote to the bishop upon the subject. My chambers were then 
 at 20, Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square, London. The Bishop 
 was at the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, and our correspondence 
 was conducted hardly a hundred yards apart. 
 
 Several letters passed between us. I did not ask that the 
 Bishop should advise the cathedral authorities to use their 
 influence in favour of controversial equity, or that he should 
 
RETICENCE OF THE BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH. 201 
 
 interfere in the affairs of a diocese in which he had no 
 authority, but simply to say on his own part whether it was 
 distasteful to him that a hall should be conceded in which his 
 Discourses should be reviewed on the part of those whose 
 attention and concurrence he had challenged. 
 
 In his first discourse, the Bishop urged that it was " the duty 
 of the Christian to manifest the truth in love " ; but he declined 
 to manifest it at all. He told us how the first apostles went to 
 Christ, saying, " Master, tell us." But the Bishop was not of 
 his Master's mind, and would tell us nothing. 
 
 In the end I did deliver a review of the Bishop's polemical 
 orations ; but it was owing to the independence of Mr. R. A. 
 Cooper, who lent a large room in his Albion Mills for the pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Why should the Bishop show such timidity in giving an 
 opinion asked of him ? He had nothing to fear. No one in 
 Norwich could harm him. A bishop is set high above clergy 
 and deans that he may be independent and discharge even 
 Christian duty fearlessly. 
 
 Had he spoken the one word which would cost him nothing, 
 he had taught a lesson of toleration to a city which wanted it 
 much, and have won for Christianity a respect on the part of 
 adversaries which the most brilliant clerical argument would 
 fail to create. 
 
 A curious circumstance occurred while Dr. Magee was in 
 Norwich. Mr. R. A. Cooper, before mentioned, the largest 
 sugar baker in East Anglia, had a place of business opposite the 
 cathedral. During a successful career in Cincinnatti he had 
 acquired American ways of vivid speech, and as Dean Goulburn 
 was an adversary of ponderous orthodoxy, Mr. Cooper offered 
 to take the cathedral as a sugar bakery, it being little used and 
 he in want of larger premises. The Bishop being the Dean's 
 guest at the time was told this bit of American irreverent 
 humour when the clever Bishop went elsewhere and declared 
 that the Liberation Society of the Nonconformists had " shown 
 itself willing to turn churches into drinking saloons or shoe 
 
 factories " though the Nonconformists had no knowledge of 
 
 Mr. Cooper's isolated saying, had no more to do with it, or 
 sympathy with it, than Dr. Goulburn himself. 
 
 The Nonconformists resented the wanton imputation upon 
 them, without knowing how it originated. 
 
CHAPTER XCVI. 
 
 GENEROSITY OF THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. 
 
 (1872.) 
 
 In two instances I had personal opportunity of forming an 
 opinion of Dr. Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, and in 
 both he displayed more fairness and candour than I expected 
 from a bishop. Perhaps my limited acquaintance with prelates 
 obliged me to judge them from a narrow standpoint. The 
 Bishop of Exeter had not given me a favourable impression of 
 the clerical bench. I knew of no case among my friends in 
 which a reference to them in the case of injustice or intolerance 
 had been favourably entertained, and we all knew that in the 
 House of Lords the votes of the prelates were mostly given 
 against the people. 
 
 Oddfellows as well as the co-operators were liable before 1852 
 to be robbed by their officers without redress in law. A secre- 
 tary had appropriated ^"4,000 of the money belonging to 
 widows and orphans of the Manchester Unity. When placed 
 in the dock in that city, he was dismissed, as the law then gave 
 no protection to such societies. When the Friendly Societies 
 Bill in 1852 came before the House of Lords, the Bishop of 
 Oxford raised objections to the legalisation of the Manchester 
 Unity, on the ground that I had written their Prize Lectures, 
 which he therefore concluded must be atheistic. 
 
 The Grand Master of that day, Mr. W. B. Smith, hearing 
 this objection, asked, " Has your lordship ever read them ? " 
 The Bishop said very frankly he had not. "Does not your 
 lordship think," rejoined the Grand Master, " that you ought 
 to do so before pronouncing a deterrent judgment on them ? " 
 " Well," said the Bishop, " perhaps I ought. Send me a copy 
 
GENEROSITY OF THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. 203 
 
 and I will do so." At the next interview, the Bishop said can- 
 didly that, " after reading them, he must admit that they were 
 not irreligious — neither were they religious." 
 
 The Grand Master replied : " We have a quarter of a million 
 of members in our Order, and among them are included some 
 of every religious persuasion in the land. How could the 
 Lectures be ' religious ' in your lordship's sense without leading 
 to dissent and theological controversy in all our lodges — which 
 would be an evil, and inconsistent with that concord and 
 brotherhood our Order is designed to promote ? " 
 
 The Bishop admitted the force of this representation, and 
 withdrew his opposition to the Friendly Societies Act, which 
 was afterwards passed. 
 
 Some years later when, acting as Commissioner of the 
 Morning Star, I was writing upon " Rural Life in Bucks," I 
 became acquainted with the condition of the labourers of 
 Gawcott, who had, as they believed, a grievance. A com- 
 modious schoolhouse in which their little children were 
 educated had been taken from them, and the school was held 
 in a cottage quite inadequate for the purpose. The parents 
 believed that the schoolhouse was given to them by the kind- 
 ness of the wife of a former vicar. For years the poor people 
 had been lamenting their deprivation of the schoolroom. No 
 one was able to help them. I said to a friend who sympathised 
 with them, " Why do they not put their case before the Duke 
 of Buckingham, who lives within four miles of them ? If there 
 be an injustice, what is the advantage of ducal influence, of 
 which we hear so much, if it be not exercised for redress in 
 such a case as this ? " The answer was, " No one had trust or 
 hope in the Duke, and the poor people are rather afraid of 
 him." " Then why not apply to the bishop of their diocese ? " 
 I answered. " These poor people, who mostly attend the 
 church, have claims upon him, and surely he is not afraid of 
 the Duke ? " That remedy was thought to be more hopeless 
 still. 
 
 Upon hearing this, though I was not exactly the person to 
 put their case before the Bishop with advantage, I offered to do 
 so and accordingly I wrote to the Bishop of Oxford. Since they 
 were hopeless, no harm could come of it. Things could not be 
 worse if no redress resulted. My letter was as follows : — 
 
204 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 " My Lord, — Standing without the pale of your lordship's 
 communion, I have no personal claim upon your attention, but 
 I unhesitatingly assume that this circumstance will not disin- 
 cline you to give ear to a demand if commended by fitness and 
 humanity. 
 
 " It is this. At Gawcott, in Bucks, is a commodious village 
 school erected by the active charity of the wife of the then 
 incumbent — to be held and used in trust for the benefit of the 
 Gawcott poor. This school, the villagers say, has been appro- 
 priated to the purposes of a Middle Class School by the Rev. 
 Mr. Whitehead. For twelve years the infant poor of Gawcott 
 have been displaced, ill-trained, and personally ill-treated — 
 suffering in health and morals. Their situation is a public 
 scandal. Herewith I beg to enclose your lordship certain 
 public letters written by myself after personal inspection of the 
 place. In fairness I add others defensive of the incumbent. 
 The Rev. Mr. Whitehead, the reputed appropriator, is now 
 leaving Gawcott, if I am correctly informed, and is about to sell 
 the schoolhouse, which, if suffered, will complicate or com- 
 promise the claim of the poor to its use. There may be a 
 remedy for this wrong in equity, but these poor villagers can 
 never invoke it. The Rev. Mr. Whitehead is undoubtedly a 
 kind-hearted gentleman, who has done much in his way for the 
 Gawcott poor. The villagers speak affectionately of him in 
 many respects, but nevertheless say ' he has defrauded us of 
 our school.' 
 
 " My lord, whether these poor people are acting under a 
 painful delusion, or suffering, as I believe, a great wrong, they 
 are equally entitled to your all-powerful consideration, which I 
 am told is never refused to the humblest person in your diocese 
 who really deserves it. If these villagers are under a wrong 
 impression, let an inquiry dispel it ; let the Trust Deed be pub- 
 lished. They will be instructed, they will be satisfied : and, if 
 they are in error, the Rev. Mr. Whitehead will be vindicated. 
 If, however, the reverend gentleman has acted wrongfully, none 
 but your lordship can do these poor villagers justice. You can 
 prohibit the sale of the school, and restore to these poor children 
 that education which a merciful lady of your Church once pro- 
 vided for them. The people of Gawcott are poor, are timid, 
 are despairing. They pray for a powerful friend. They hoped 
 
GENEROSITY OF THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. 205 
 
 and ought to have found one in the Mayor of Buckingham. 
 He, however, is silent, fearing the ducal influence he would 
 confront. The Duke does not — as it would be graceful and 
 noble to do — volunteer them protection. These poor villagers 
 should be able to obtain redress from their own clergyman, but 
 he is the alleged offender. You, their bishop, high in holy and 
 independent authority, may not hesitate to act where mayors 
 fear and dukes neglect, and for the sake of these friendless 
 villagers I entreat your lordship's interference. — I am, your 
 lordship's obedient servant, 
 
 " George Jacob Holyoake." 
 
 The Bishop sent a courteous reply, and said that he would 
 request the Rural Dean to inquire into the case, and when he 
 received the report he would send it to me. 
 
 The cottage room in Gawcott, in which the poor children 
 received their humble instruction, was as unsatisfactory as any 
 school I ever entered. From fifty to sixty children occupied 
 raised seats, as in a theatre. The young woman who 
 acted as teacher stood in their midst, without room to move 
 among them. Indeed, they were so crowded that any of them 
 could be reached with the cane. Without other ventilation in 
 the room than the fireplace, the air was unbreathable, and the 
 pallid, consumptive look of the teacher showed that she found 
 it so. The parents complained that if one child caught the 
 measles all the children had it, and then the school was closed 
 for a time. The description of the state of things as I found 
 them, which I published in the Morning Star, I enclosed in my 
 
 letter. 
 
 The Bishop was as good as his word, and in due time sent 
 me the report of the Rural Dean and a copy of the Trust Deed, 
 asking my opinion upon them, whereupon I wrote to the 
 Bishop as follows, from which the reader will gather what the 
 Rural Dean's report was : — 
 
 "My Lord, — I am under obligation for the courtesy and 
 consideration with which you have made inquiries respecting 
 the allegations of my letter of February 1st, and sent for my 
 perusal the replies you have received. These enable me to 
 present to the villagers a clearer and more definite view of the 
 
206 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 case than I was able to put before. There is clearly an en 
 the alarm that the Rev. Mr. Whitehead is about to sell 
 school. That gentleman's denial is conclusive. I dismiss 
 point. The grievance of the villagers is substantially this : 
 
 "They say the schoolhouse was built for the benefit of 
 infant poor of Gawcott ; that the instruction given was tc 
 under the direction of the incumbent is not in question. 
 
 "They say that the object of the benevolent foundress of 
 school, the wife of the incumbent of that day, was to pro 1 
 a place where the infant children of the poor wives of 
 village could be sent during the day. 
 
 " They say that this was the meaning of the words in 
 Trust Deed ' to permit and suffer the said schoolhouse tc 
 used and enjoyed in such manner for the religious instruc 
 of the poor children of the said hamlet.' They say that 
 schoolhouse was used in this way for the eight years prev 
 to the Rev. Mr. Whitehead's coming to the hamlet, w 
 he turned the poor children out of the school. 
 
 " They say that the poor children, 70 in number, were crow 
 for years into a small room unfit and unhealthy, where it 
 a sin to put them and a scandal to keep them. 
 
 " It is never difficult anywhere to find middle-class subscri 
 who, lured by the offer of a superior education for their s 
 will not be of opinion that their own interests include 
 rights of others usurped by them. 
 
 " The Trust Deed shows that Mr. Whitehead had a righ 
 use the place as he saw fit, but for ' the instruction of the j 
 children? But the use to which he put it was not that, 
 was for the benefit of the middle-class children. The ben 
 he offers do not meet the want of an infant school and \ 
 not so intended, as he has kept up a cruel sort of child- 
 under the name of an infant school, in the village. Is the r 
 dean aware that Mr. Whitehead's offer of instruction is a 
 age when the children begin to go to work and cannot use 
 It is a good, but comes too late. Mr. Whitehead's Mi 
 School is entirely praiseworthy and needed in Gawcott, ; 
 had these middle-class parents built a school for themse! 
 there would have been but one unmixed feeling of gratii 
 towards the reverend founder. 
 
 " Mr. Whitehead's evidence shows that he found the sch 
 
GENEROSITY OF THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. 207 
 
 house occupied as an infant school. Only three children under 
 eight are now in the school. There were eighty under that age 
 before Mr. Whitehead's time. 
 
 " Mr. Whitehead admits that he found the room in the occu- 
 pation of an infant school. He does not deny that it had been 
 so occupied for the eight years during which it had been built. 
 He states that he called together the subscribers of the school. 
 But he does not say whether these were the parties to the Trust 
 Deed, and who subscribed to build the school. Should he not 
 have called together the parents of the poor children who were 
 to be turned out to make way for the children of these sub- 
 scribers ? Had these parents consented, Mr. Whitehead's case 
 would be made out. 
 
 " Apart from any truth or relevance there may be in these 
 representations — which do not affect the right to dispose of the 
 school for other uses than those which the villagers desire — 
 power to redress the evil which exists is, I believe, nevertheless, 
 in your lordship's hands. Were you to express an opinion that 
 you think, under the circumstances, the farmers, whose children 
 are now educated in the schoolhouse, should build a new school 
 for their own use, they would, under the encouragement of your 
 lordship's opinion, do it. They are well able to do it, and I 
 have ascertained from personal inquiries that many would be 
 disposed to take that course, if commended to them by your 
 lordship. I have the honour to be, your lordship's faithful 
 servant, 
 
 " George Jacob Holyoake." 
 
 Before making these representations I visited Gawcott again, 
 called upon the officers of the church and several of the farmers, 
 and suggested the erection of a schoolhouse for themselves, 
 which would be honourable to them and insure the gratitude 
 and good feeling of the villagers. The Bishop very generously 
 did express his opinion and advised them to build for themselves. 
 A new schoolhouse was built, and the old one restored to the 
 villagers, which they enjoy to this day. 
 
 Considering how unlikely, and I fear how unacceptable, a 
 person I was to interfere in the matter, the willing and courteous 
 attention given to my representations impressed me, as it did 
 all the people in the district who knew or heard of the corre- 
 
2 o8 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 spondence, with grateful admiration of the impartial generosity 
 of the Bishop of Oxford. 
 
 The Bishop was not my adversary. He had not, as the 
 Bishop of Peterborough had done, delivered lectures against 
 views I held, and in a manner challenged my answer. I was 
 not a resident in Bishop Wilberforce's diocese, and had no 
 right, except on purely public grounds, to interfere in its affairs. 
 It showed an intrinsic love of justice on his part that he should 
 give heed to what he might rightfully regard as alien repre- 
 sentations. 
 
 When the Bishop died some years after, from a fall from his 
 horse, one night in the House of Lords I listened to various 
 encomiums on his character. Speaker after speaker pronounced 
 eulogiums on his zeal, his eloquence, and his various attainments 
 — no one gave any instance which impressed the public mind 
 as to the qualities of his heart and mind ; and, though I was 
 not the person qualified to lay a chaplet on the Bishop's grave, 
 I wrote to The Times citing his conduct at Gawcott in illustra- 
 tion of his character. 
 
CHAPTER XCVH. 
 
 FLIGHT OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON FROM 
 BRIGHTON. 
 
 (I8 7 2.) 
 
 Those who otherwise followed Landor's advice and " waited," 
 next saw Napoleon III. afugitive and an exile. In 1872, he was at 
 Brighton at the time of the meeting of the British Association. 
 There arrived also a Frenchman of repute both as a politician 
 (who had fought at the barricades) and as a man of science — 
 Wilfrid de Fonvielle. He and his brother Ulric were my 
 oldest friends in Paris. I had been their guest. Ulric, a man 
 of accomplishments and courage, had had trouble with the 
 Bonapartes. It was he who accompanied Victor Noir on his 
 visit to Prince Pierre Napoleon. But he was not an amiable 
 person to call upon, for he shot Victor Noir dead without 
 provocation, and fired three times at his friend Ulric de 
 Fonvielle, but without killing him. The Emperor had saved 
 the Prince from being hanged as he ought to have been. If 
 the reader bears this in mind, he will understand the pertur- 
 bation of the Emperor on having to confront Wilfrid de 
 Fonvielle, who was not indisposed to avenge the attempt to 
 shoot his brother Ulric, as I have to relate. 
 
 It was with Wilfrid that I was most intimate. On arriving 
 in Brighton he came to consult with me about lodgings, as the 
 list at the Reception Room was exhausted. His intention was 
 to join his friend and co-balloonist, Mr. Glaisher, who had 
 taken rooms at Cannon Place, in the rear of the Grand Hotel. 
 As Mr. Glaisher had not arrived, I induced the landlady to 
 allow M. de Fonvielle, his friend, to occupy his chambers until 
 
 vol. 11. T5 3 °9 
 
210 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 he came. Thus he resided within a few yards of the apartments 
 of the Empress, and from her window she could see his house. 
 But he neither intended, nor sought, nor wished that situation. 
 
 The Napoleonic fete day immediately preceded the meeting 
 of the British Association, and many Frenchmen, who were 
 then in Brighton, had congregated a good deal about the hotel.. 
 Thinking the sound of the " Marseillaise " might remind the 
 Emperor that liberty was still living in France, some Frenchmen 
 paid a band to play it under the Emperor's window ; but M. 
 de Fonvielle very properly stepped into the hotel to inquire if 
 there were any objection to it on the part of the proprietors, 
 who were responsible for the convenience of their guests. Not 
 obtaining the information, he descended the steps. The band- 
 master, seeing him come from the hotel, thought he was one of 
 the Emperor's suite, and one of them asked whether it was 
 right to play. On being told by Fonvielle that " he did not 
 know," the bandsman said, " Do you not belong to the hotel? 
 Seeing you come out, I thought you belonged to the Emperor's 
 party." It would have been easy to mislead the band and get 
 the terrible " Marseillaise " played, but the answer was that of 
 a gentleman — " No, I do not belong to the hotel ; I am not of 
 the Emperor's party." It ended in no music being played. 
 The band offered to go to Cannon Place, and play the 
 " Marseillaise " to De Fonvielle. 
 
 On the night of the address of the President (Dr. W. B. 
 Carpenter) in the Dome, I was standing near him, and De 
 Fonvielle next to me. All at once the audience on the platform 
 and floor of the Dome rose, we knew not why. Looking 
 round, I said to de Fonvielle, " Here is the Emperor," who was 
 walking, with the aid of a stick, towards us. M. de Fonvielle, 
 not remembering where he was, was disgusted to see such 
 deference paid to the expelled adventurer who had brought 
 such misery on the people of France. De Fonvielle and other 
 Frenchmen cried out, " Shame ! " " Shame ! " " Don't do 
 that ! " I said ; " remember you are on English ground, and 
 that the Emperor is an exile here. As such, he is the guest of 
 the nation. We receive him as we would a Republican or a 
 Communistic exile. Tyrant and patriot stand here on neutral 
 ground." My friend at once desisted, but his excitement was 
 pardonable. 
 
FLIGHT OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. -zi\ 
 
 The quick eye of the Emperor knew De Fonvielle, and they 
 steadily looked at each other. The brilliant audience in the 
 Dome settled down, and Dr. Carpenter was proceeding with 
 his address, when a local agitation was observed opposite the 
 ex-Emperor, between the small, compact, quick de Fonvielle 
 and a large, diffusive, rather phlegmatic clergyman of the 
 Church of England (Dr. Griffiths), one of the secretaries of the 
 local committee. Rapid and subdued words, a sharp flash of 
 the eyes on the part of the French aeronaut, a sort of aquarium 
 look on the part of the divine, and a hasty seizing of a small 
 parcel by the Gaul, were all that could be made out. Im- 
 mediately de Fonvielle arose with a shrug of excitement. 
 Doubling his marine cap under his arm, and raising himself 
 erect, he marched in front of the Emperor straight out of the 
 Dome, merely stopping as he passed me to say, " I shall see 
 you again." 
 
 Not all the practised sagacity of the Emperor could make out 
 that series of movements, of ambiguous meaning. Doubt soon 
 reached the point of perturbation, for the dark-headed, square- 
 shouldered, gleaming-eyed Frenchman returned, and striding 
 in front of the Emperor, who might well feel relieved when he 
 had passed him, De Fonvielle was next seen in fierce altercation 
 with Dr. Griffiths, to whom he presented some oval packet not 
 much unlike a small Orsini shell (as the Emperor might think 
 who had remembrances of those missives), and then withdraw 
 it, thrusting it into his own pocket. Immediately the clerical 
 gentleman began an excited speech, whereupon the Frenchman 
 threw the packet to him. The Doctor opened it, and said 
 something to De Fonvielle which appeared to appease him. 
 Meanwhile Dr. Carpenter, knowing nothing of the bye-play 
 under his reading desk, went on quoting Pope until the end. 
 
 The imperial visitor must have given the Empress that 
 evening a curious account of the mysterious proceedings in 
 which, to his astonishment, a respectable clergyman of the 
 Church of England appeared to take a conscious part. The 
 mystery was never explained to his Majesty ; but it was all 
 comedy, not tragedy. Dr. Griffiths, amid his many labours as 
 local secretary, had acquired a sore throat, and it occurred to 
 him that while the President was speaking he might find time 
 to try a lozenge as a remedy. Seeing De Fonvielle in aeronaut 
 
212 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 marine dress, he took him for one of the assistants provide) 
 the forethought of Mr. Alderman Hallett, and said to him 
 should be glad if you would take a parcel for me to 
 Glaisher." " Mr. Glaisher, do you say ? " "Yes, Mr. Glaish 
 replied Dr. Griffiths. " Then I will go with pleasure. I ] 
 been all over Brighton looking for my friend Mr. Glais 
 Please put his address on the parcel, and I will go and inq 
 for him." And accordingly he left the Dome as I have reh 
 Mr. Glaisher and De Fonvielle were joint editors of a worl 
 ballooning. De Fonvielle was the first man who took a bal 
 out of Paris during the siege, over the German lines, anc 
 was most anxious to meet Mr. Glaisher. It was one oi 
 objects in coming to Brighton, and for the hope of meeting 
 early he was willing to forego the pleasure of hearing 
 presidential address. In his eagerness to meet his friend, 
 Fonvielle had forgotten all about the Emperor, and pa 
 before him without even seeing him. 
 
 When, however, he reached Mr. Glaisher's, he was disc 
 fited and astounded. It was a chemist's shop. " Mon Di 
 exclaimed the curious Frenchman, " is my friend Glaish 
 chemist and in business in Brighton, and he never to £ 
 word about it ? How reticent these English are ! You i 
 live among them to understand them." And he plunged 
 the shop. 
 
 " I want to see Mr. Glaisher, I have a message for him 1 
 a gentleman — a priest, I think — now at the Dome mee 
 Tell him M. de Fonvielle wishes to see him." " I am 
 Glaisher," said the chemist. " I have not the pleasur 
 knowing you. But what can I serve you with ? " " 1 
 what is this ? " exclaimed the indignant balloonist, preser 
 his packet. " Why, it is a note from Dr. Griffiths, inclosi: 
 shilling, saying he has a bad cold, and asking for a be 
 throat lozenges." " Mon Dieu ! And has he sent me on 
 infernal errand ? And I have lost the President's addres 
 buy lozenges for a person I don't know ; and you are not 
 friend Glaisher, but a chemist ? " And he darted from 
 shop, leaving the paper and the shilling. But soon reflei 
 that as a gentleman he was bound to account for the mom 
 had received, he stepped back and consented to take the b 
 
 Returning to the Dome he again marched up the repoi 
 
FLIGHT OP THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 213 
 
 gangway, passing again before the Emperor, but no more 
 regarding him in his new indignation at Dr. Griffiths, of whom 
 he demanded whom he had taken him for, and why he had 
 sent him to buy his lozenges. " You shall not have them," 
 exclaimed the irate Gaul, after displaying them, and he thrust 
 them back into his pocket. " You sent me to a chemist, sir, 
 and not to my friend Glaisher." Dr. Griffiths, understanding 
 at last what a mistake he had made, apologised ; his indignant 
 messenger relented, and, handing the Rev. Doctor the box, 
 peace was made. But the mystery of it was unintelligible to 
 the Emperor and to the audience, who observed these Gallic 
 movements. They certainly seemed ominous to me until De 
 Fonvielle came and explained them. 
 
 It was known that the Empress did not regard the matter with 
 the equanimity of her Imperial husband. The lady actually 
 had fears of some attempt at assassination, which were not 
 allayed by learning that De Fonvielle was actually living in 
 Cannon Place, within a few yards of her own apartments in 
 the Grand Hotel. He did not intend being there ; it was too 
 far from the sections. This, however, was not known, or the 
 Mayor, Mr. Cordy Burrows, who was rightly and assiduously 
 solicitous for the comfort of the Empress, would have explained 
 the matter to her. Mr. J. E. Mayall, the famous photographer, 
 and chairman of the hotel company, gave orders that no French 
 gentleman not of the Emperor's suite should be permitted to 
 have apartments or to enter the hotel, and, at inconvenience 
 to himself, acted as a guard of etiquette and peace while the 
 Imperial visitors remained at the Grand Hotel. 
 1 But for the Empress, the Emperor would have remained in 
 Brighton. He liked the gaiety of the New Pier, and the 
 brightness of the scene from the Grand Hotel windows. The 
 perilous journey the poor lady made to this country, after the 
 affair of Sedan, and the affairs in Paris subsequently, had not 
 been of a nature to reassure her. The Empress went over 
 Hove Place House (the property of Mr. Mayall), which the 
 Emperor contemplated taking. It seemed admirably suited to 
 him — enclosed grounds, a handsome house, near the pier, yet 
 out of the way of the town, and overlooking the open country 
 Dykewards, where he could drive for days unobserved. But 
 nothing could reconcile the illustrious lady to stay in the 
 town. 
 
214 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 There were other French gentlemen in Brighton besides M. 
 de Fonvielle, but they were all engaged in scientific inquiry, 
 and had no intention of diverting their attention from those 
 pursuits. They were desirous, nevertheless, of showing the 
 Emperor that they still maintained their political hostility 
 towards him. When an Englishman has triumphed over his 
 political adversary, he will be civil to him, and even pay 
 him honour. The Emperor might have remained in Brighton 
 with perfect security. The Scriptures say that certain people 
 flee when no man pursueth. In a few days the novelty of the 
 Imperial visit would have subsided. The Association would 
 be gone ; the Frenchmen, too, would have departed to their 
 homes. They were all philosophers engaged on ideas, and 
 that never means other than limited resources to them. They 
 remain poor that society, which disregards them while they 
 live, may grow rich when they are dead. 
 
 Most lovers of the good fame of England have noticed how 
 Court journalists and Court officials continually gave to the 
 ex-Emperor and family their full reigning titles, ignoring the 
 French people and the Republican Government who had 
 expelled them in the public interest. This was international 
 offensiveness. It was done at Brighton. M. de Fonvielle, 
 being deputed by the French Government to report upon the 
 laws of storms, resented the description of the late Emperor as 
 " His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the French," and wrote 
 to Mr. Griffith (not Dr. the Griffiths whose name has occurred in 
 this narrative, but the Assistant-General Secretary) saying : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I find that M. Louis Bonaparte and family are 
 styled in a manner which is disregardful of the whole present 
 state of things in France. I have no objection to meet the 
 ex-Emperor in a scientific forum, but I should not be willingly 
 a party in an Association which could be considered as giving 
 some assistance to any demonstration against the French 
 Government ; and I should protest energetically, humble as 
 may be my individual position, against such a perversion of 
 science for promoting the ends of hostile factions. Consequently 
 I think I am justified in asking on what authority the 
 Association has done this ? 
 
 " (Signed) W. de Fonvielle." 
 
FLIGHT OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 215 
 Mr. Griffith replied, saying — 
 
 "Dear Sir, — It is to be regretted that you have felt it 
 necessary to give a political significance to a matter which has 
 in no way a political bearing. [This was not true.] It is as a 
 foreigner who has always taken a prominent interest in science 
 that the ticket has been given to the late Emperor of the 
 French. By this course the Association has not intended to 
 express any opinion on the position of the late Emperor of the 
 French as either de facto or dejure ruler of France. [But it 
 did it.] " (Signed) G. Griffith." 
 
 The action of Mr. Griffith was better than his explanation. 
 The next day a new list of foreigners attending the meeting 
 was issued, in which " His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of 
 the French " was changed into " His Imperial Majesty 
 Napoleon III." Whether the ex-Emperor inquired why his 
 title was changed I never heard. 
 
 The next time I saw the Emperor he was dead. I saw him 
 twice at Chislehurst after his decease. Death had lent dignity 
 to his face which it lacked when living. When he resided here 
 as a libertine, when he returned as an Emperor, and again as 
 an exile, the expression of his face was always that of an 
 adventurer. Seeing his end in exile without honour, it was 
 impossible not to feel that this world is not so bad as it is 
 painted. Napoleon I. might have continued to sit on the 
 throne of the Caesars could his word have been depended upon, 
 and the dead Usurper renewed and confirmed the impression 
 of the world that no Bonaparte could be believed on his 
 word nor trusted on his oath. When Napoleon III. made a 
 triumphal entry into Bordeaux soon after the Coup d'Etat, it 
 was arranged that from an arch of flowers, under which he was 
 to pass, an imperial crown should hang, surmounted by the 
 words, "He well deserves it." But the wind blew away the 
 crown, and when the Emperor passed under the arch only a 
 rope with a noose at the end of it dangled there, with " He well 
 deserves it " standing out in bold relief above it. The noose 
 still hangs over him in history, and the legend also. 
 
CHAPTER XCVIII. 
 ORIGIN OF THE JINGOES. 
 
 (I873-) 
 
 One Sunday afternoon, in March, 1878, a meeting was held in 
 Hyde Park in support of Mr. Gladstone's policy on the Eastern 
 Question. The two principal persons taking part in it were the 
 Honourable Auberon Herbert and Mr. Bradlaugh. The chief 
 supporters of the Conservative Government of the day were 
 the music-hall politicians, a class of persons little distinguished 
 for sober discernment in public affairs or for patriotic service. 
 A wild and vain glorious ditty, calculated to excite the con- 
 tempt of foreigners, was sung with ostentatious applause in 
 their convivial halls. Its best known lines were — 
 
 "We don't want to fight, 
 But by Jingo if we do, 
 We have the ships, we have the men, 
 And have the money too." 
 
 A certain Lieutenant Armitt, not much heard of previously 
 in war or politics, assembled these jocund politicians in the 
 park, and a conflict ensued. It was reported in the papers that 
 Mr. Herbert was chased and had his clothes torn, and that Mr. 
 Bradlaugh drew a new truncheon from his pocket, which he 
 fortunately did not use — probably because those who kn<jw 
 him thought it undesirable to incite him to do it, as he was 
 not a man to be intimidated in maintaining the right of public 
 meeting. Afterwards a portion of the assembly set out to 
 Harley Street, and broke Mr. Gladstone's windows. The poet 
 of the music-hall patriots received a Royal letter of approval of 
 
ORIGIN OF THE JINGOES. 217 
 
 his production, and those vinous politicians thought themselves 
 called upon to give some public proof of their quality. It was 
 not advisable that truncheons should be produced at a Sunday 
 meeting by any party. As I was an advocate of the freer use 
 of Sunday than was customary, I thought fighting on that day 
 would compromise the claim, and that a belligerent meeting 
 was better held on the Saturday, since the Sunday succeeding 
 would give the humbler combatants time to recover before their 
 workshop duties on Monday commenced. I, therefore, said 
 the leaders of the Jingoes were better left to their own devices 
 on church day. I entitled my letter to the Daily News " The 
 Jingoes in the Park." This was the origin of the term 
 " Jingoes," and was the first time it was used. The public 
 reading it in the Daily News on the morning of March 13, 
 1878, the term was taken up generally, and it was added to the 
 nomenclature of political literature. We had then a Music 
 Hall majority in the House of Commons, and the patriotism of 
 the singing saloons and the spread-eagleism of Lord Cranbrook, 
 would produce a bad impression of England on the public 
 opinion of Europe if no one openly expressed dissent. 
 
 Mr. Justin McCarthy, in the first edition (and probably in 
 others) of his " History of Our Own Times," said " The origin 
 of the term was ascribed to Mr. Holyoake." The editor of the 
 World subsequently remarked, "It is a common belief that the 
 term Jingo was first applied to a certain political party by Mr. 
 G. J. Holyoake," to whom I answered (November 27, 1878) 
 that it was so, as I had certainly intended to mark, by a con- 
 venient name, a new species of patriots who, often found in the 
 germ state in their native haunts, had propagated in the 
 bibulous atmosphere of a Tory Government, had begun to 
 infest public meetings, and were unrecognised and unclassified. 
 Their characteristic was a war-urging pretentiousness which 
 discredited the silent, resolute, self-defensiveness of the British 
 people. Sir Hardinge Giffard, the Solicitor-General of the day, 
 in a speech at Salford, reported in the Standard, deprecated the 
 application of the term to the Conservative Government, 
 saying the " phrase was presented to the Liberal party" by Mr. 
 George Jacob Holyoake, who, he (the speaker) thought, 
 " might claim better than the accredited leader in the House 
 to be the leader of the Liberal party in the country, as he found 
 
218 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 brains for them." Of course he did not mean this. His object 
 was to disparage his political antagonists in Parliament. A 
 term to obtain currency must be brief, relevant to the time, 
 and easily spoken. The qualities I did not invent. I had no 
 merit save that of discerning them in the new political preten- 
 sions of the Music Hall party and their Jingo song. 
 
 The Irish World (March 30, 1878), of New York, gave a 
 cartoon, in which the British Lion, with a knife and pistol in 
 his belt, a revolver in one hand, and a waving Union Jack in 
 the other, is calling upon the Jingoes in the park to follow him 
 to demolish Mr. Gladstone's house. The scene had a special 
 application in the New York paper, as a Jingo riot had broken 
 out in Toronto. The central figure in the cartoon is the first 
 of the Jingoes, upon whom volumes have since been written. 
 
 In controversy which arose on this subject, Mr. G. J. Harney 
 cited St. Gingoulph as the origin of the term Jingo who 
 may be taken as a patron saint. The World newspaper is in 
 favour of an origin more German — that of the Salisburia or 
 gingko-tree (mentioned by Mr. A. R. Wallace in the Fortnightly 
 Review, 1878) — " a pine with a foliage like that of a gigantic 
 maidenhair fern." The World says the Jingo tree received 
 the name of Salisburia from Smith so long ago as 1796. If 
 this be true, it had not outgrown its name in 1 87 8. The Ranger 
 might plant a Salisburia in the Park. Then we should have a 
 Jingo tree as well as a " Reformers' tree." There is an abuse 
 of the term when applied to politicians of intelligence and 
 sober thought who are for the consolidation of the empire or 
 for imperial policy. The Jingoes are mainly the habitues of 
 the turf, the tap-room, and the low music halls, whose inspira- 
 tion is beer, whose politics are swagger, and whose policy is 
 insult to foreign nations. 
 
CHAPTER XCIX. 
 
 STORY OF THE ANTI-CORN LA W LEAGUE. 
 
 (1839-1874.) 
 
 In 1874, trie projectors of " Johnson's American Cyclopaedia " 
 desired to include in it an article on the Anti-Corn Law League. 
 It came to pass that, on the advice of Mr. Smalley, I was asked 
 to write it. I remember well that when I delivered it to the 
 European agent of the " Cyclopaedia," a poet known as "Hans 
 Breitman, " he asked me what he should pay me. I had not 
 thought of that, thinking there was a tariff already fixed which 
 I should be paid per column, as is usual in these cases. Three 
 pounds seemed to me a probable sum. I answered : " As I had 
 to go to Basingstoke to see Mr. Paulton, I would add £\ on that 
 account," and named ^"4. Producing a handful of sovereigns, 
 Mr. Leland said, " You had better take seven." As I had 
 expended time in research and correspondence upon the paper, 
 and as there was nothing in my circumstances that made £*] 
 inconvenient to me, I took it. The incident is still in my 
 memory, as that form of payment was new to me. It was 
 freedom of payment consistently applied to an article on 
 freedom of trade. 
 
 Before writing it I asked Mr. Leland if he had any suggestions 
 to make as to the character of the article. His reply was 
 sensible and characteristic. He answered : " It would be 
 useless. I would say, however, that I find a great disposition 
 (and it is very creditable) among English writers for American 
 publications to write so as to please Americans. It is a very 
 hazardous experiment, and frequently fails." I was not likely 
 to run this risk. My wilfulness in writing would preserve 
 me from it. My policy is simply to tell the reader the truth 
 
220 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 relevant to the subject, so far as I know it, without implying 
 that the reader is a fool if he takes a different view, for I never 
 forget that the readers who differ from me may be better 
 informed than myself. No reader is displeased who is treated 
 with candour and respect. 
 
 In the days of the Morning Star there appeared a short 
 letter from Mr. Bright to a correspondent in which the case of 
 Free Trade was stated with a completeness I had never seen 
 equalled. I wrote to Mr. Bright to ask if it remained in his 
 mind, and if there were any special sources of information I 
 ought to consult — provided " his leisure, or health, or oppor- 
 tunity, or wishfulness permitted him to answer." He kindly 
 replied as follows : — 
 
 "Rochdale, Sept. 23, 1874. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Holyoake, — I am glad you are to write the 
 article on the League, but I do not know how I can help you. 
 The doings of the League are written in detail in the ' Anti- 
 Bread-Tax Circular ' and in the League newspaper, and some 
 copies of these exist. From them, by research and study, 
 everything connected with the movement may be learned. 
 
 "To write much is to me burdensome, and my correspondence, 
 diminished as it is, is still burdensome ; so I cannot sit down to 
 tell you anything, and indeed I do not feel as if I had anything 
 special to tell you. If I were in London, and could spend an 
 evening with you, perhaps something might be said that would 
 assist you. My friend Mr. Paulton is a great authority on 
 League matters. He was its private and confidential secretary, 
 and a great personal friend of Mr. Cobden and myself. He is 
 living at Boughton Hall, near Woking ; but he is in poor 
 health, and I doubt if he would be able to enter into the 
 matter at all or not. 
 
 " I do not remember anything about the letter in the Star to 
 which you refer. 
 
 " A good article on the League might do great good in 
 America, and I hope you will be able to write it so as to please 
 yourself. I feel sure you will do justice to your subject. 
 
 "If there is any special point on which you think I can give 
 you an opinion, I shall be glad to hear from you again. — Yours 
 very truly, " John Bright. 
 
 "Geo. J. Holyoake, Esq., 22, Essex Street, London." 
 
STOR Y OF THE ANTI-CORN LA W LEAGUE. 221 
 
 Mr. Thomas Thomasson, of Bolton, who better understood 
 the political economy of trade than any other manufacturer of 
 those days, and whom both Cobden and Bright consulted when 
 they were young men, sent me, with his usual friendliness, 
 information respecting all the works accessible of Prentice, 
 Dunckley, and others, as did Mr. W. E. A. Axon also. After- 
 wards I had the pleasure of visiting Mr. Paulton, of Boughton 
 Hall. He reminded me of Charles Reece Pemberton. Still 
 retaining the contagious enthusiasm of his youth, he might be 
 described as having an electric animation of manner. One 
 thing he said I remember, because it was similar in sentiment 
 to one Francis Place once expressed to me : — " I do not do 
 what I can for men because I have hope of men as they are, but 
 because of what they may be." It surprised me that two men 
 so dissimilar as Place, the solid-minded, and Paulton, the 
 mercurial, should have the same despair of the present and 
 confidence in the future. Another remark Mr. Paulton made 
 has been made elsewhere, and must occur to many observers 
 and actors in agitations — namely, " There would be no rogues 
 were there no fools." 
 
 I was a member of the League, and my impressions of its 
 career, principles, and orators may, therefore, have interest for 
 readers of this generation. The notes Mr. Bright made on my 
 narrative when shown to him I indicate in brackets in this and 
 the next chapter. 
 
 Anti-Corn Law League was a name taken by a famous 
 association of Manchester manufacturers [and others], founded 
 in 1839, for abolishing all fiscal imposts on corn. The first 
 Manchester election of members of Parliament, which took 
 place in 1832, carried Free Trade candidates, that electoral 
 issue being then raised for the first time in England. In 1834, 
 the first meeting of the Manchester merchants was called to 
 consider the question of Corn Law repeal. In 1836, a mis- 
 cellaneous Anti-Corn Law Society was formed in London 
 which included twenty-two members of Parliament. Among 
 the names of the adherents were those of George Grote, the 
 historian ; Joseph Hume, the economist ; Sir William Moles- 
 worth, editor of the works of Hobbes ; John Arthur Roebuck, 
 
222 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 historian of the Whigs ; Ebenezer Elliot, the Corn Law 
 rhymer ; W. H. Ashurst, a leading promoter of the Penny 
 Postage System ; Francis Place, the chief of working-class 
 agitators [Place was not a working man in the common use 
 of the term. He was a tailor at Charing Cross in good 
 circumstances and of gentlemanly education. — J. B.] ; and 
 William Weir, subsequently editor of the Daily News ; Gen. 
 Perronet Thompson, the great exponent of Free Trade. 
 But no intellect, however eminent and various in its force, 
 could avail against monopoly without money and popular 
 opinion ; and of these forces the precursor was W. A. 
 Paulton, a young surgeon of bright, incessant enthusiasm, 
 with a genius for agitation. 
 
 In 1838, a Dr. Birnie had announced at the theatre, Bolton, 
 Lancashire, a " Lecture on the Corn Laws." The doctor was 
 laden with notes, in which he got so entangled that he could 
 not tell what he had to say. Mr. Thomas Thomasson, after- 
 wards the executor of Cobden, a man of striking energy of 
 character and commercial sagacity, being among the auditors, 
 said to Paulton, who was near him, " You can speak ; go down 
 on the stage and deliver the doctor." The spontaneity and 
 capacity which Paulton showed on that occasion led to his 
 being invited to lecture himself, and ultimately he delivered 
 three hundred lectures against the Corn Laws throughout 
 Great Britain. He became the private and confidential 
 secretary of the future League, which his eloquence and 
 thoroughness mainly instigated. At * dinner given to him at 
 Bolton, Mr. Bright made the first public speech delivered 
 out of his native town, Rochdale. Later in the same year 
 Dr. Bowring, then of Free Trade repute, being entertained to 
 dinner in Manchester, Mr. James Howie cried out, on Mr. 
 Paulton's health being drunk, " Why could not we have a 
 Free Trade Association ? " A week later one was formed, 
 consisting of seven persons, of which the chief was Mr. 
 Archibald Prentice, founder of the Manchester Examiner, who 
 had himself, as early as 1828, advised the foundation of such a 
 society. A subscription of five shillings each was adopted ; 
 ^"5,000 each was wanted before Corn Law repeal was carried. 
 Some members paid that amount, and Mr, Thomasson much 
 more. 
 
STOR Y OF THE ANTI-CORN LA W LEAGUE. 223 
 
 In 1838, Mr. Cobden first became prominent in the Man- 
 chester Chamber of Commerce for resistance to the restrictive 
 commercial policy of the manufacturing trade of the country. 
 In 1839, delegates from the manufacturing districts were 
 appointed to proceed to London to press their opinions upon 
 the Legislature. Mr. Charles Pelham Villiers, who ten years 
 later became President of the Poor Law Board, undertook to 
 represent the Free Trade question in the House of Commons. 
 On February 19th, 1839, Mr. Villiers moved that certain 
 manufacturers be heard by counsel, before the bar of the House 
 of Commons, against the Corn Laws, as injurious to their 
 private interests. The motion was rejected by an overwhelm- 
 ing majority. On March 12th following, the day on which 
 the Anti-Corn Law League originated, Mr. Villiers again moved 
 " that the House resolve itself into a committee of inquiry on 
 the Corn Laws," when only 195 members could be found to 
 vote for inquiry [I doubt whether so many voted so. — J. B.], 
 while 342 voted against it. 
 
 Discouraged and dismayed, the partisans of inquiry, who had 
 come up from Manchester to await the result of the motion, 
 rushed over to Herbert's Hotel, then standing in Palace Yard, 
 opposite the House of Parliament, to consider what could be 
 done. It was in that crowded room that Cobden, leaping on a 
 chair, reminded the delegates of the victorious effects of the 
 Hanseatic League, which, three centuries previously, had freed 
 the trade of Hans Towns from the imposts of German princes. 
 "Let us," cried Cobden, "have an Anti-Corn Law League, 
 which shall free corn and trade also." It was then and there 
 that the League originated. Cobden proposed that a fund of 
 ^"50,000 be raised, and a considerable portion of that sum was 
 subscribed in the room. The chief Manchester commercial 
 houses followed with subscriptions of ^"50 and ^"100 each. 
 
 The English Corn Laws, which had for their object the 
 restriction of the trade in grain, date as far back as 1360. At 
 that time the prohibition was against exportation. It was not 
 until 1462 that an Act was passed prohibiting its free importa- 
 tion. The object of the Anti-Corn Law League of 1839 was 
 stated by the chairman (Mr. J. B. Smith) on the occasion of 
 Paulton's first lecture, in the Manchester Corn Exchange, '' to 
 be the same righteous object as that of the Anti-Slavery Society, 
 
224 SIXTY YEARS OF AA AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 which sought to obtain for the negro the right to dispose of 
 himself ; and the object of the League was to obtain for the 
 people the right to dispose of their labour for as much food as 
 could be got for it, in whatever market the exchange could be 
 made." The Leaguers little foresaw at the time the formidable 
 work they had undertaken, and only gradually learned them- 
 selves, as the great agitation proceeded, the principles they had 
 to establish. What they discovered was that monopoly always 
 had advocates ready made, who, sharing in its exclusive ad- 
 vantages, had reasons for being enthusiastic in its defence. 
 Any tradesman would profit could he exclude from the market 
 rival articles of those in which he dealt. His profits would 
 increase at the expense of the purchaser. The monopolist 
 dealer considers this protection, but the public, who are 
 customers of the market, find it to be but protection on one 
 side — the protection of the seller, while he has his hands in the 
 pocket of the buyer. What the public want is free purchase in 
 a free market, the power to procure what they want from 
 whomsoever has it to offer. Free buying — that is protection 
 to the customer. The doctrine of the purchaser is as much 
 food as a man can buy, for as much wages as a man can earn, 
 for as much work as a man can do ; and is the natural and 
 ought to be inalienable birthright of every man who has the 
 strength to labour and the will to work. 
 
 In other things besides corn, protection was always on the 
 side of the seller, until the Anti-Corn Law League freed all 
 English industry from restrictive imposts. These "Free 
 Traders," as the Leaguers were styled, were opposed by an 
 organised party, who took the title " Protectionist," and 
 maintained — 
 
 (i) That Protection was necessary to keep certain lands in 
 cultivation ; (2) that it was desirable to cultivate as much land 
 as possible, in order to improve the country ; (3) that if 
 improvement by that means were to cease, there must be 
 dependence on the foreigner for a large portion of the food of 
 the people : (4) that such dependence would be fraught with 
 immense danger. In the event of war, supplies might be 
 stopped, for the ports might be blockaded, the result being 
 famine, disease, and civil war. (5) That the advantage gained 
 by Protection enabled landed proprietors and their tenants jto 
 
STORY OF THE ANTI-CORN LA W LEAGUE. 225 
 
 encourage manufactures and trade ; so much so that, were the 
 Corn Laws abolished, half the country shopkeepers would be 
 ruined. That would be followed by the stoppage of many 
 mills and factories ; large numbers of the working classes would 
 be thrown idle, disturbances would ensue, capital would be 
 withdrawn, and no one would venture to say what would be 
 the final consequences. 
 
 By this formidable enumeration, it was made to appear that 
 the end of England was certainly at hand if the corn monopoly 
 was disturbed. No country in the world can hope to put on 
 record a more appalling set of consequences if protection is 
 menaced. In England they exercised a commanding influence, 
 even over the working people, who were induced to believe 
 that it was for their interest that bread was made dear. The 
 learned as well as the ignorant, the aristocracy as well as the 
 small shopkeeper, were under the same uninstructed terror. 
 Even Sir James Graham declared in Parliament, when a fixed 
 duty on corn instead of a fluctuating one was proposed by Lord 
 John Russell, that "it would not be the destruction of one 
 particular class in the State alone, but of the State itself." 
 Sir Robert Peel at first met the effort of the League by a 
 sliding scale, varying with the price of wheat. This was a 
 thoroughly English device, worthy of the genius of a people 
 who never precipitate themselves even into the truth. Had 
 Moses been an English premier, instead of making the Com- 
 mandments absolute he would have proclaimed a sliding scale 
 of violation. 
 
 VOL. II. lb 
 
CHAPTER C. 
 THE ORATORS OF THE ANTI-CORN-LAW LEAGUE. 
 
 (1839-1874-) 
 
 The Anti-Corn-Law League instructed the people, its 
 organisation enabled the people to express their opinion, but 
 it was the platform orators who inspired the opinion. The 
 struggle of the League lasted seven years, and cost half a 
 million of money. In the fourth year of its activity, Mr. 
 Paulton stated that the League employed upward of 300 
 persons in making up electoral packets of tracts, and 500 other 
 persons in distributing them among the constituencies. In 
 England and Scotland alone they distributed to electors 
 5,000,000 tracts and stamped publications, while to non-electors 
 of the working class they distributed 3,600,000 publications. In 
 addition, the League had stitched up in monthly magazines 
 and other periodicals 426,000 tracts. The entire number of 
 tracts and stamped publications issued by the League in the 
 single year 1843, was 9,026,000, weighing upwards of 100 tons. 
 Such were the business features of this famous association. 
 But its success came from its inspiration, and its inspiration, as 
 I have said, came from its remarkable leaders. Ebenezer 
 Elliott wrote fiery rhymes for it ; Gen. Thompson wrote its 
 Catechism ; George Wilson, the chairman of the League, 
 admittedly the most efficient chairman in England during his 
 day [organised its popular action] ; James Acland, a vigorous 
 speaker, acquainted with the people, was a sort of outrider to 
 the League, going into market towns on market days on a white 
 horse, perhaps as a pacific emblem, but partly as a means of 
 drawing attention. He took the fighting among the belligerent 
 
 226 
 
THE ORATORS OF THE ANTI-CORN LAW LEAGUE. 227 
 
 farmers, so that when Bright and Cobden came [here Mr. 
 Bright changed the order of names and put Cobden first] the 
 strength of the enemy was known, and the local stock of 
 turbulence being expended, the peripatetic orators obtained a 
 hearing. Cobden mainly addressed himself to the villagers. 
 He foresaw the great jam industry, and predicted to mothers 
 cheap sugar and abundant fruit preserves. Oxfordshire 
 cottagers tell to this day of the happy tidings their mothers 
 brought home after listening to the League orators in the 
 Market Place. Bright dealt more with the landlords and 
 farmers, into whose cold understanding he poured the hot shot 
 of League logic. 
 
 The League was the first body of agitators who introduced 
 method into public meetings. In the hour of argument in 
 the Covent Garden Theatre, Mr. Villiers' mastery of the 
 question was heard, his high character lending influence to the 
 cause. Mr. Milner Gibson, another Parliamentary voice, had 
 a graceful and cogent eloquence which always commanded 
 attention. Mr. W. J. Fox, a Unitarian minister, and subse- 
 quently M.P. for Oldham, surpassed all the orators of the 
 League of that day in brilliance of speech. Shorter and more 
 rotund than Charles James Fox, he, notwithstanding, produced 
 effects of rhetoric transcending those of his great namesake. 
 The term " brilliant " does not entirely describe them. You no 
 more thought of his appearance while he was speaking than 
 you did of Thiers's insignificant stature. His low, clear, lute- 
 like voice penetrated over the pit and gallery of Covent Garden 
 Theatre. " You saw in the papers yesterday," he would begin, 
 " the case of a poacher who was seized, indignantly treated, 
 summarily tried, and sentenced to a serious term of degrading 
 imprisonment. If this," he exclaimed, " be the rightful treat- 
 ment of the poor man who steals the rich man's bird, what 
 ought to be done to the rich man who steals the poor man's 
 bread ? " In words to this effect he spoke. Men remember 
 that argument to this day. It constituted the first words of his 
 speech. He began with it. No first words of any speech in 
 my time ever produced the same effect upon an audience. 
 
 The public and the press were allured by the great names of 
 Cobden and Bright. Mr. Cobden, " the palefaced manu- 
 facturer," whom the landowners believed, and the farmers were 
 
228 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 persuaded to believe, was a Manchester enemy of agriculture, 
 and a paid emissary of the Socialist insurgents of the Continent, 
 was himself the son of a Sussex farmer, whose ambition was to 
 die one of that class, and did so die, seeking and accepting no 
 other distinction than that which his genius cast around his 
 name. He was the logician of the League. As a master of 
 lucid statement on the platform or in Parliament, he left no 
 equal at his death. When he had made a statement, he looked 
 at it and around it, as though he saw it in the air before him. 
 What was deficient he supplied, what was redundant he with- 
 drew, by putting the question in another way, in which he 
 omitted any mischievous word, or qualified any phrase he had 
 used which might mislead, so that he could not be misunder- 
 stood by accident, nor his meaning perverted by design. This 
 contributed to give the League great ascendency, since all its 
 adherents could quote without fear of contradiction what he said, 
 and his speeches of one day became the authority of the next. 
 
 Mr. Bright's was a grander, more imposing and impassioned 
 order of eloquence. Cobden presented the facts. Bright put 
 fire into them. With the finest voice of any European orator, 
 he displayed a measured vehemence on the platform which 
 gave the impression of unknown power. He was the Vulcan of 
 the movement ; he forged at red heat, and hurled the burning 
 bolts which finally set Protection on fire. 
 
 Finally there came the collection maker of the League, R. R. 
 R. Moore, with a voice that fell on a meeting like the bursting 
 of a reservoir. It was not what he said, so much as the sound 
 he made, that produced the effect. The maddest clamour was 
 not hushed — it was overwhelmed by the new roar, which was 
 always reserved to the end of the meeting. His function was 
 to appeal for subscriptions, and he exactly answered that end, 
 for when his astounding voice fell upon the meeting no one 
 seemed to have the power of going away. I do but describe 
 my impressions ; but here Mr. Bright remarks : [" His speeches 
 were often logical and very good. The description of his voice 
 is greatly exaggerated. He worked hard and was of great 
 service to the League. — J. B."] 
 
 These were the great propagandists of Free Trade Economy, 
 who made conquest of the Premier, Sir Robert Peel, who won 
 for himself an imperishable name, by repealing in 1846 the 
 
THE ORATORS OF THE ANTI-CORA' LAW LEAGUE. 229 
 
 Corn Laws ; thus " giving the people bread no longer leavened," 
 as he proudly said, "by a sense of injustice." Never was there 
 such a wreck of political reputations as took place within a few 
 years of the abolition of Protection in Corn. Nothing happened 
 which had been predicted by the prognosticators of disaster. 
 Poor lands were more cultivated than before ; no stoppage of 
 imports by war occurred ; manufacturers and shopkeepers 
 throve beyond their forefathers' dreams of prosperity ; instead 
 of rents of land falling, the aristocracy, the chief owners of it, 
 grew rich while they slept — as they do still ; and farmers found 
 " ruin " a very pleasant thing to them. The working classes 
 became better instead of worse employed, and their wages in 
 some places excite the jealousy of curates, while the agricul- 
 tural labourers are at last able to insist upon improved provision 
 for themselves. A stimulus, inconceivable before, was given to 
 trade ; fluctuations in the price of corn decreased ; apprehen- 
 sions of insufficient harvests no longer excited dread, and the 
 British race became physically one-half larger in bulk and one- 
 half heavier in weight than in the days before Cobden and 
 Bright arose. The victory of the Anti-Corn-Law League was 
 the greatest ever won by reason in the history of human 
 agitations. Neither in piety, nor morals, nor trade are men for 
 trusting one another. Everybody is for protecting his neigh- 
 bour from benefiting himself. Nobody is for leaving freedom 
 free. The principle of progress in commerce and social life is 
 not to limit liberty, but to limit injury. It was the establish- 
 ment of this principle in trade that caused this League to be 
 regarded as one of the historic forces of British civilisation. 
 
 Mr. Cobden told me one night at the House of Commons 
 that, despite all the expenditure in public instruction, " the 
 League would not have carried the repeal of the Corn Laws 
 when they did, had it not been for the Irish famine and the 
 circumstance that we had a Minister who thought more of the 
 lives of the people than his own continuance in power." 
 
 George Wilson was a great chairman. In a short, strong 
 speech he explained the position of the question (to be 
 considered) out of doors, and the case to be submitted to the 
 meeting. But in conducting the meetings he was despotic. 
 There was no code for their regulation then in England nor 
 now, and despotism alone brought them to an end. 
 
230 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 During a thousand years the theory of public meetings in 
 England has not been revised. In Saxon times, we are told, the 
 wise men of the commune assembled under a tree and took 
 counsel together. If public meetings were limited to "wise men " 
 in these days they would seldom be crowded. Saxon public 
 meetings were not so numerous but that every one could give 
 his opinion who had an opinion to give, and the theory of the 
 Saxon public meeting was that every one present had a right 
 to be heard. Upon this theory meetings to-day are held when 
 they amount to ten thousand persons, or, as at Bingley 
 Hall, Birmingham, when Mr. Gladstone was there, to thirty 
 thousand. In the days of Thomas Attwood a Newhall Hill 
 meeting in Birmingham washeld, when Daniel O'Connell spoke, 
 at which two hundred thousand persons were present. Had 
 each person " stood upon his right to be heard," the meeting 
 would have lasted a year. Whenever disorder is intended,' 
 persons are put forward to " demand " a hearing. The friends 
 of the impossible " right " yell for it, and the friends of order 
 yell against it. The chairman all the while is as helpless as a 
 windmill. When Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P., was Mayor of 
 Birmingham, he was insulted by Tories for two hours. They 
 stopped the meeting over which he presided. They had 
 made a large drawing of the head of an ass, and suspended it 
 from the gallery in front of Mr. Collings, loudly calling his 
 attention to it. At last he ordered the police to remove the 
 asinine rioters, who indicted him for assault, which a Tory 
 magistrate (Mr. Kynersley) sustained. At Brighton, during the 
 Tory Government of Mr. Disraeli, no Liberal meeting could be 
 held for five years, because the Liberals were unwilling to 
 physically fight the Tories who were ready with a contingent 
 of ruffians for that kind of disturbance. In Rochdale, when 
 Mr. T. B. Potter was first elected, men were sent into the town, 
 armed with sticks, to break up the meeting. I therefore 
 advised that thick-headed Liberals should be put in the front, 
 and they proved to be the most valuable members of the party 
 of order, since they could best resist the arguments of insurgent 
 sticks. Patriots of cranial tenuity were of no use. 
 
 It is singular and absurd that the right of public meeting 
 should be a boasted English institution, at which no chairman 
 can lawfully preserve order, and the proceedings can only be 
 
THE ORATORS OF THE ANTI-CORN LAW LEAGUE. 231 
 
 regulated by riot, or by the cloture of clamour, as in the House 
 of Commons. The organisation of democracy is a long way off, 
 and Liberalism is deliberate enough to reassure the most 
 alarmed and apprehensive Toryism in the kingdom not to have 
 established, one hundred years ago, the right of order at public 
 meetings, and promulgated a code of procedure suitable to the 
 conditions of modern days. The resolutions to be proposed 
 should be described by the Chair. They should be few, the 
 speakers few, and the time of each allotted and time for amend- 
 ments provided and limited, and the authority of the Chair as 
 to order should be made legal. 1 
 
 1 In this and the previous chapter I have used annotations by Mr. Bright. 
 He then and always deprecated any words of praise applied to himself, but I 
 did not wholly leave them out on that account. 
 
CHAPTER CI. 
 
 CAREER OF A BOHEMIAN ARTIST. 
 
 (1847-1877-) 
 
 About 1847, two young men came to London from Oxford, 
 not so much to seek their fortunes as to find occupation more 
 genial than that they followed. Still they both had the instinct 
 of distinction in them. One was George Hooper, who after- 
 wards wrote, in the Reasoner, some articles under the signature 
 of " Eugene." He brought some knowledge of Latin to town, and 
 continued to read the classics in his leisure, which was much 
 to his credit. I spoke of him to Mr. Thornton Hunt, and when 
 the Leader was started he was assigned a place upon it. He 
 pursued journalism and authorship, and made himself a name 
 in military literature. His companion, Henry Merritt, came to 
 reside in my house, where he continued nearly eighteen years, 
 employing himself in picture restoration, in which he ultimately 
 acquired skill and repute. 
 
 His life had been one of vicissitude. His social condition as 
 a youth in Oxford was below hope, save by self-help. He had 
 been in a charity school, an errand boy about the colleges, had 
 filled various humble and precarious situations. In London he 
 had been a Bohemian with art-love in his mind, honesty in 
 his heart, and nothing in his pocket ; with no patrons save 
 a watchmaker in a passage off Drury Lane and a Jew coffee- 
 house keeper in the Strand, both " good fellows " in their 
 way. 
 
 When about Graves's shop (the printseller's) in Oxford, he 
 had become acquainted with Mr. Delamotte, who, seeing the 
 youth's taste, kindly gave him encouragement ; and what was 
 more valuable, he gave him instruction in art, for which 
 
CAREER OF A BOHEMIAN ARTIST. 233 
 
 Merritt was grateful all his days. He dedicated his first book, 
 " Dirt and Pictures Separated," thus : — 
 
 To 
 
 William Alfred Delamotte, Esq., 
 Who, when I was a boy — a stranger, 
 
 Unknown to him even by name, 
 
 Carefully and gratuitously instructed me 
 
 In the rudiments of art, 
 
 I inscribe this little Volume 
 
 With long-cherished feelings of respect. 1 
 
 As he resided with me, I had opportunities of introducing 
 him to my friends, and at times he shared invitations with me. 
 He occupied two rooms in my house (one being his studio), 
 and had the use of the dining-room. He paid seven or eight 
 shillings then. Sometimes he was in arrears several pounds, as 
 I see from his account-book of that time. When money came 
 to hand he paid up arrears, for he was as honest in his dealings 
 as in his work. 
 
 When I removed to a lodge near Regent's Park, Merritt 
 went with me by his own desire. There he worked for two 
 years upon the oldest picture in England, Richard II., brought 
 there from the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, and 
 entrusted to him by Dean Stanley, Mr. Richmond the elder 
 superintending its restoration. Mr. Dennison, the Speaker of 
 the House of Commons, and other eminent persons, oft came 
 to witness the progress of the work. It was a delight to me to 
 see this picture day by day, and see the king revealed whose 
 face no eye had seen for 150 years. In the last century the 
 House of Commons appointed one Captain Broome to brighten 
 up the portrait, who knew no more of restoration than a house 
 painter. He put upon the panel a new portrait in which the 
 king was lost, and a staring, treacle-faced young man appeared 
 in his place, with a sceptre as short and stumpy as a policeman's 
 staff. Underneath Broome's paint was found the true present- 
 ment of the pensive, timorous king whom Shakespeare drew, 
 
 1 Merritt never heard of his friend more. Yet all the while he was pursuing 
 his art in Brighton and executed some works for Joseph Ellis, who told me he 
 had much regard for Delamotte. 
 
234 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 holding a graceful sceptre in his hand. Broome had forgotten 
 that the tails of the king's ermine pointed down, and had 
 painted them up. The reader may see the real Richard II. in 
 the Jerusalem Chamber now. 
 
 As remarkable in its way is the ponderous panel on which 
 the life-sized king was painted. It is more than an inch thick, 
 and is composed of three planks of oak, not only as sound as 
 when they were sawn five hundred years ago, but as unwarped 
 as a plane of steel. Mr. Hans Holbein, who believed himself a 
 descendant of his famous namesake, could not by a microscope 
 discover the suture where the clever carpenter who made it had 
 joined the panel. 
 
 At the Lodge the ground rent exceeded £2% and house 
 charges were considerable. Merritt occupied four rooms ; the 
 two chief having folding doors, made him a spacious studio. 
 He took up the whole time of a servant, and the Lodge grounds 
 were yielded to him for recreation. Here he paid £1 a week. 
 Like most persons born and reared in indigence, he was 
 alarmed at any new expense, even when he could well bear it. 
 He was distressed and apprehensive even at this charge, and 
 never paid more to the end of his tenancy. But I had other 
 interest than profit in continuing it. It was partly friendship 
 ■ — partly liking, and partly the love of seeing pictures, curious 
 or choice, about my rooms — a pleasure otherwise unattainable 
 by me. It was diverting in another way to see, in the earlier 
 years, the straits of impecuniousness in artist life. Well I 
 remember when at Woburn Buildings, Mr. Parrington, a friend 
 of mine, called with a picture for Merritt to test or restore. It 
 happened he had no solvent of any kind by him, by which he 
 could clean the surface or remove encrustations of varnish. 
 Then Mrs. Holyoake secretly sent out for what he wanted, so 
 that the visitor might not be aware of its scarcity ; for a patron 
 with a valuable picture would be loathe to leave it if he sus- 
 pected the need of the artist might lead him to pledge it. Then 
 when the solvents came it was found that there was no linen 
 with which to apply or absorb them at the critical moment, 
 when the household collection had to be drawn upon, and sent 
 into the studio — as from a store-room where he was supposed 
 to keep his rolls of old soft linen. 
 
 Besides the interest of these episodes, Merritt was ordinarily 
 
CAREER OF A BOHEMIAN ARTIST. 235 
 
 excellent company to talk to, or contradict. As Hartley 
 Coleridge said of one of his friends : — 
 
 " Fine wit he had — and knew not it was wit 
 
 And native thoughts before he dreamed of thinking ; 
 Odd sayings, too, for each occasion fit, 
 
 To oldest sights the newest fancies linking. 
 
 What I most honoured my friend for was his honesty in art. 
 By falsifying pictures, making new ones look old, and finding 
 the signature of the master under the paint where it had never 
 been put, inventing for a picture a pedigree and a character, 
 he might have made money as others did, but he preferred 
 poverty to deceit. After many years he had his reward. He 
 could be trusted. He was known to know his art ; his word 
 could be believed, and his opinion was worth money. Con- 
 noisseurs so eminent as Mr. Gladstone in Merritt's later years 
 consulted him. 
 
 My brother William, Curator of the Art Schools of the Royal 
 Academy, was useful to Merritt, as he was to others in his 
 way ; but Merritt could not paint, and therefore he could be 
 trusted to restore. He had colour in his blood. He had the 
 patience of Gerard Dow (whom Merritt was fond of citing), 
 who was said to spend days in painting a broom. I have seen 
 Merritt spend days over a few inches of injured canvas, until, by 
 careful stipling, he matched the colours, and replaced the lost 
 tints, so that no ordinary eye could tell where the effacing 
 fingers of neglect or decay had wrought mischief. No one who 
 could paint could be depended upon to take this trouble, when 
 he could in an hour paint in the defective parts ; whether such 
 a one could do it better or worse, or as well, he would not 
 represent the genius of the master nor restore his work. 
 
 When we lived at No. 1 , Woburn Buildings, a window over- 
 looked the grounds of Charles Dickens, who resided then at 
 Tavistock Place, made Merritt's working-room the best room, 
 because it looked on trees. On Sundays Dickens would have 
 a friend* or two in the garden, and a tray of bottled stout, 
 "churchwardens," and tobacco would be brought from the 
 house. We were told that this was Dickens's protest against the 
 doleful way of keeping Sunday then thought becoming. Tavi- 
 stock House was the one formerly occupied by " Perry of the 
 
236 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 Morning Chronicle" as he used to be described, but in my time 
 it was divided into two houses. One was occupied by Frank 
 Stone the elder, who died there— a very genial person to know. 
 The other was occupied by Sidney Milnes Hawkes, afterwards 
 by Mr. James Stansfield. Mazzini was frequently there in those 
 times. One morning, when Dickens resided there, a person 
 purporting to be Mazzini called, and solicited aid. Dickens 
 sent down a servant, who presented a sovereign on a silver 
 tray. The visitor took the gift with thanks. When this came 
 to be known to Mazzini's friends they were filled with amaze- 
 ment at Dickens's thoughtlessness, to say the least. How 
 could he imagine that a gentleman whom he had met in society, 
 as a man of reputation for honour and self-respect, would come 
 to his door soliciting alms, like an adventurer or an impostor ? 
 And, if he believed the applicant to be Mazzini, some inquiry, 
 some commiseration and identification was necessary to make 
 sure that one so eminent was suddenly in distress so abject. 
 Mazzini had a hundred friends who would have aided him 
 before he need have been a suppliant at Dickens's door. 
 
 Though he hardly knew it, Merritt had the ambition of 
 authorship in him, but he cost me infinite trouble to make him 
 believe it. He began by writing for me in the Reasoner under 
 the signature of " Christopher." Sometimes I suggested the 
 subjects, and revised what he wrote. At length I urged him 
 to write about his own profession, as nothing distinctive or 
 readable existed upon it. At last he wrote some chapters 
 on the Art of Restoration. At that time Mr. Hans Holbein, 
 then stationmaster at Euston, was frequently at my house. 
 His passion was to collect all the engravings of Holbein he 
 could afford to purchase. He induced Merritt to call his little 
 treatise " Dirt and Pictures Separated " — a purely technical 
 title which could interest nobody but connoisseurs. I added 
 the line " in the Works of the Old Masters " to render the title 
 more human. At that time Merritt was not apt with his pen, 
 but there was originality and fervour in him which showed 
 he had literary taste. He had read no books save odd 
 volumes of the letters of Pope, Defoe, or an old dramatist 
 or two, which he had picked up on second-hand bookstalls. 
 He had had no education save the Charity School sort — 
 Church Catechism, chiefly, which leaves a youth helpless and 
 
CAREER OF A BOHEMIAN ARTIST. 237 
 
 abject in the battle of life. But he had the education of the 
 streets — an excellent school for those who have sense enough 
 to learn in it. He knew that an acquaintance of mine who made 
 a name as a tragedian had learned grammar from a book I had 
 written, which he had read when he resided in the house of my 
 sister Caroline. I had put on the title-page of the book the 
 words : — " No department of knowledge is like grammar. A 
 person may conceal his ignorance of any other art ; but every 
 time he speaks he publishes his ignorance of this. There can 
 be no greater imputation on the intelligence of any man 
 than that he should talk from the cradle to the tomb, and never 
 talk well." 
 
 These words incited Merritt, who had the instinct of a simple 
 and manly style in him. Like every person of taste, he was 
 dissatisfied with his first efforts, not only dissatisfied but dis- 
 mayed and despairing, and threw his chapters on Restoration 
 six or seven times into the fire, where they would have perished 
 had not my wife rescued them until a more hopeful mood came 
 to him. Again and again they were enlarged and improved, 
 and again thrown on the fire. To encourage him, I induced 
 the editor of the Leader newspaper, by my accounts of their 
 intrinsic excellence, to publish them in the " Portfolio " of that 
 journal, where the chief chapters first appeared. 
 
 To this end I invented reasons to prove their insertion would 
 be relevant, and wrote the introduction to the chapters in the 
 Leader, and also a handbill about them, which was sent out to 
 artisan readers in all the towns where I was in the habit of 
 speaking. What I said was this : — 
 
 " The interesting discussion which several times has arisen 
 respecting the preservation of the pictures in the National 
 Gallery renders it necessary that every man having regard to 
 the credit of the nation in this respect should be able to form 
 an intelligent opinion upon pictures. 
 
 "Hitherto this has not been practicable to the mass of the 
 people, because nearly all works on the subject of painting are 
 written from the professional point of view, and abound in 
 technicalities unintelligible to the general reader. 
 
 " Newspaper criticisms are usually written for the initiated 
 
238 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 alone. The editor of the Leader, therefore, has thought it 
 useful to insert a series of 
 
 PAPERS ON THE PAINTINGS OF THE OLD MASTERS. 
 
 which are written in popular language, and by explaining the 
 artistic processes employed in creating a great painting, and in 
 restoring it when unhappily damaged by accident, time, or 
 neglect, shall enable the general reader to understand pictures 
 and learn to appreciate them, and take part in the discussions 
 which relate to them. 
 
 " A great painter sheds renown on his country, and refinement 
 on all people who have the good fortune to gaze on his work. 
 Taste for the fine arts is a proof of the civilisation of a nation. 
 English artisans would not be behind those of any on the Con- 
 tinent, if knowledge of the right kind was submitted to them. 
 The names of poets and philosophers are become household 
 words in our land — why should not the painters become equal 
 favourites ? They would if equally well known. If political 
 economists and politicians attain popularity, surely the day of 
 the great artists is come. Raphael sounds as well as Ricardo, 
 Titian may stand by Torrens, the canvas of Correggio is as 
 attractive as Cobbett's Paper against Gold." 
 
 Had the Leader not possessed that heroic sentimentality in 
 favour of usefulness which practical men despise, Merritt's 
 papers had never appeared. He was paid, as I considered, 
 liberally, but such was his nature that he was dissatisfied, 
 although it was the first money he received for any writing, 
 save such limited compensation as I was able to make him for 
 his papers in the Reasoner. 
 
 The name of the errand boy of Oxford appearing in the 
 Portfolio of a famous journal, with those of George Eliot, 
 Herbert Spencer, Harriet Martineau, and George Henry Lewes, 
 was reputation. Merritt had not the money to purchase the 
 distinction, and could not have bought it if he had. Yet it was 
 not until I threatened to abandon him that he gave up his 
 purpose of writing to the office a letter of discontent at his 
 payment. He was as difficult to befriend as Rousseau. Yet his 
 papers in the Leader were the beginning of his fortune. He 
 became known to connoisseurs who otherwise had never heard 
 
CAREER OF A BOHEMIAN ARTIST. 239 
 
 of him. Mr. Boxall (afterwards Sir William) could then afford 
 to know his Bohemian townsman. 
 
 The chapters would have ended with the Leader had I not 
 induced him to complete them and make a little book of them, 
 which I printed in. the " Cabinet of Reason " series, although 
 the subject was not suited thereto. The preface was wholly 
 mine, and the table of the painters named in the work. In 
 concert with its purpose, I added here and there in the book 
 remarks to enlist the interest of outside readers in a subject 
 which would strike them as being alien. The publication 
 brought him picture clients from the provinces. The book 
 had a new kind of genius, and the genius was all his own. It 
 showed knowledge, devotion, and enthusiasm, qualities Merritt 
 alone put into the book. 
 
CHAPTER CII. 
 THE PICTURE RESTORER FURTHER DELINEATED. 
 
 (1847-1877.) 
 
 Henry Merpitt had some delightful qualities, but he was 
 the most timid, the most irritable and inconsistent of all the 
 children of genius whom I have known. He now possessed 
 the status the Leader had given him. Next opportunity 
 occurred of introducing him to the Empire, set up by Mr. 
 Livesey, the founder of Teetotalism. The editor was John 
 Hamilton, who had the passion of a prophet in him, and with 
 whom I had public discussion, and for whom I had great 
 regard. Hamilton became editor of the Morning Star, and 
 Merritt came to write on art in both papers. Through the 
 Star, he contributed for a time to the Manchester Examiner, 
 and he went to Manchester on the occasion of an exhibition 
 of pictures in that city. Then I was able to give him an 
 introduction to Mr. Stephen Pettitt of Merchants' Hotel, 
 where he made friends and had pleasant days. It was a 
 pleasure to me to be useful to him. 
 
 An intimate friend of mine on the staff of the Standard, Mr. 
 Percy Greg, was a constant visitor at my house, and I enlisted his 
 influence to obtain the appointment of Merritt as its art critic. 
 When he came home in Gallery days he was sometimes unable 
 to write out his notes in time for the Standard 'the same night. 
 Then it fell to me to write them out for him, which involved 
 many hours of close work. Sometimes this occurred two or three 
 times in a week. For no week, even when I spent the day at 
 the Gallery, did I receive more than £1 for work for which he 
 received £6. Nor shouid I have taken what I did had not this 
 
THE PICTURE RESTORER. 241 
 
 work prevented me from doing my own. He would have been 
 as ready to help me in like case. 
 
 When, in a season of illness, he was unable to attend the 
 Galleries, he would ask me to go and make notes for him. 
 Devoid of his critical knowledge of pictures, long familiarity 
 with them enabled me to describe their features and the story 
 the artist had told by his pencil. Merritt found from the art 
 notices in other newspapers, which he subsequently perused, 
 that my reports were to be trusted. He knew the kind of 
 work produced by each artist who habitually exhibited. His 
 notices sent to the Standard, written upon my report, were 
 confined to descriptions of the subjects and the general 
 characteristics of the painters, reserving technical criticisms 
 until he was able to run down to the Galleries and see for 
 himself. On the occasions when I went for him some droll 
 experience befell me, such as recalled Boswell in a forgotten 
 passage, preserved by Hazlitt in his " Memoirs of Thomas 
 Holcroft." The comedian, who knew Boswell, records in his 
 diary that one morning Boswell, calling on Johnson, found him 
 writing a letter for a Mr. Lowe. On Lowe leaving, Boswell 
 followed him, and with insinuating professions began : " How do 
 you do, Mr. Lowe ? I hope you are very well, Mr. Lowe. 
 Pardon my freedom, Mr. Lowe, but I think I saw my dear 
 friend Dr. Johnson writing a letter for you." " Yes, sir." " I 
 hope you will not think me rude, but if it would not be too 
 great a favour you would infinitely oblige me if you would just 
 let me have a sight of it. Everything from that hand is so 
 inestimable." " It is on my own private affairs." " I would 
 not pry into any person's affairs, my dear Mr. Lowe, by any 
 means. I am sure you would not accuse me of such a thing, 
 only if it were no particular secret." " Sir, you are welcome 
 to read the letter." I thank you, my dear Mr. Lowe ; you are 
 very obliging. I take it exceedingly kind " (having read it). " It 
 is nothing, I believe, Mr. Lowe, that you would be ashamed of." 
 " Certainly not ! " "Why, then, my dear sir, if you would do 
 me another favour, you would make the obligation eternal. If 
 you would but step to Peele's coffee-house with me, and just suffer 
 me to take a copy of it, I would do anything in my power to 
 oblige you." " I was overcome," said Lowe, " by this sudden 
 familiarity and condescension, accompanied with bows and 
 vol. 11. 17 
 
242 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 grimaces. I had no power to refuse ; we went to the coffee- 
 house, my letter was presently transcribed, and as soon as he 
 had put his document in his pocket, Mr. Boswell walked away 
 as erect and as proud as he was half an hour before suppliant, 
 and I ever afterwards was unnoticed." Lowe added that he 
 was left to pay for the coffee he had ordered to give Boswell 
 opportunity of copying his letter. 
 
 A countryman of Boswell's, one of the habitual critics of the 
 Galleries, knew me well, and would come to me in the most 
 desultory way, with cordial greetings and incidental inquiries 
 as to " what paper I wrote for," " why was I there," and " whom 
 did I represent." I then wrote for three papers, but not upon 
 art subjects. " Did I write art notices for them ? " he would 
 inquire. " Merritt writes for the Standard, does he not ? Is 
 he here ? " Beguiled by cordial familiarity, I incautiously 
 said " my friend was unwell, and I was looking round for him." 
 Immediately he mentioned in the paper for which he wrote — 
 the Reader — that Mr. Merritt's criticisms in the Standard 
 were done by another hand. This would have given great 
 pain to Merritt, whom my questioner knew and for whom he 
 always expressed the greatest regard. Had the treacherous 
 information come under the eyes of the Standard, it might 
 have cost my friend his appointment. When the inquisitive 
 critic next put his familiar question to me, I said " his solicitude 
 was very interesting, but I observed he never prefaced his 
 inquiries by informing me what he was doing and for what 
 paper he was writing." His curiosity there and then ceased. 
 I suspected him of seeking Merritt's place. Of course I kept 
 the incident from Merritt, and kept the Reader out of his 
 sight. 
 
 Mr. Merritt remained art critic of the Standard until the 
 time of his death. His criticisms were written on a theory we 
 had often discussed ; it was that of subordinating merely 
 technical criticism, giving mainly an animated description of 
 the character of the pictures and design of the painter, with 
 his characteristics as an artist. By limiting technical criticism 
 to such points as were necessary for the connoisseur and 
 picture buyer, and describing in what respect the pictures 
 were additions to the scenic glory of art, his notices were 
 always, and are still, readable, and they sent more persons to 
 
THE PICTURE RESTORER. 243 
 
 the Galleries to see the pictures for themselves than any other 
 art criticisms of his time. Art critics mostly wrote not to 
 interest the public in art, but to show off their skill as critics ; 
 just as most books on education are written, not to explain 
 difficulties to uninformed students, but to show how much the 
 author is better informed than his rival teachers. Always 
 distrustful of his own work, Mr. Merritt cast aside his criticisms 
 after they appeared. I kept copies of them all, and made them 
 up into four volumes, which he afterwards was glad to refer 
 to and show. 
 
 " Robert Dalby and his World of Troubles," Merritt's best 
 work, I copied out several times for him. The " Oxford 
 Professor," which he never finished, I was to re-write for 
 him, just so far as to show him my idea how it should be 
 treated. In everything I did for him, I did but polish the 
 diamond : the diamond was his, not mine. Merritt had no 
 inside life. In description of outside life he had genius. 
 Separate passages were perfect and inimitable. He attained 
 a spontaneous grace which change could only mar. This 
 needs no testimony, since Mr. Ruskin wrote to him : — 
 
 " You have given great pleasure to Carlyle by your report, 
 and you always give much to me whenever you write to me. 
 I have no other friend who says such pretty things to me, in a 
 way that reminds me of the little courtesies of old days, when 
 people were graceful by kind act in a letter as much as in a 
 quadrille, and when flattery was the naughtiest of one's faults 
 to one's friends — never carelessness," 
 
 In later years, when we were still home companions, Merritt's 
 health became precarious. For two years his life was a daily 
 uncertainty. The whole household was absorbed in attending 
 upon him. Often I rose once or twice in the night, and went 
 to his room to see if he were alive, or needed aid. After he had 
 left me, he was again in danger, and when he became delirious 
 I sat up all night with him. When his death occurred I wrote 
 a solicitous letter to the editor of the Standard to procure the 
 art criticship for one to whom he had left his fortune, as I was 
 always willing to serve any one whom a friend of mine be- 
 friended. 
 
 Merritt never married until within a few weeks of his death. 
 
244 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 Though a Bohemian in freedom and precariousness, he was 
 Bohemian in nothing else ; yet all his life his most amusing 
 satire had been upon the peril and subjection of marriage, and 
 he could not bear to tell me or any one that he had married. 
 On his death I made it known in the papers, that she whom he 
 had married might not be exposed to incredulity, for none of 
 his friends would have otherwise believed in his marriage. The 
 last time I saw him, scarcely a fortnight before he died, he be- 
 sought me to come to him soon, as he had many things to tell 
 me. He said that in his will he had left small bequests of ^"50 
 each to two of my children, but he should arrange to fulfil 
 another promise he had often made. I received a telegram 
 from a common friend summoning me from the country, as he 
 was in great danger. I at once returned, but he was in other 
 hands, and no opportunity occurred to me of seeing him again. 
 He had no idea that his days would be so short, and thought 
 he had time to do everything he meditated. He bequeathed 
 shortly before his death several thousand pounds which he had 
 honourably earned, and never doubted that he should earn 
 more for his own use. 
 
 After his death, what purported to be a " Memoir " of him 
 appeared by persons who had not known him long, and were 
 unacquainted with the circumstances of his life, in which it was 
 said that " the persons with whom he lived shared the benefits 
 of his increased earnings." Again, "It was touching to see 
 how often he supplied one family especially who depended 
 upon him for every comfort with the means of that enjoyment 
 in the country or by the sea-shore, while he remained at home 
 literally to work for them." A reference to Merritt's friend 
 and townsman, George Hooper, was still worse. Mr. Basil 
 Champneys, the editor of the book, vouches that these things 
 " are done with perfect tact and graphic fidelity." I attempted 
 to obtain some correction of these statements from the editor 
 and the publisher, but found I had no resources to obtain it 
 legally, and expectation of its being done from a sense of 
 justice there was none. Besides my family, some eminent 
 friends in London and many friends elsewhere who would see 
 the book, knew of Merritt's long residence with me, and that 
 these references related to me. After fourteen years there 
 comes to me this opportunity of correcting them. 
 
THE PICTURE RESTORER. 245 
 
 Merritt had all the irascibility of the artist, but he was 
 honourable and truthful at heart, and would have been very 
 wild had he lived to see these statements made in his name. 
 All the years he resided with me we seldom went to the country 
 or seaside but we took him with us, increasing our expenses to 
 which for many years he was unable to contribute his share. 
 His querulousness with our friends always embittered our days, 
 and made us glad when the unpleasantness ended. To do him 
 justice, he regretted this, but could not help it, and he strove 
 to make amends in his way. I used to say to him he was like 
 Dr. Johnson's good-natured, angry man — " he spent his time 
 in injury and reparation." When he came to acquire means of 
 his own he became more insupportable, and, as his income was 
 good, I besought him to take apartments elsewhere. He wrote 
 to me saying " I was killing him, as I had given him nineteen 
 notices to leave my house." Were I " living upon him," it 
 was very injudicious in me to beseech him " nineteen times " 
 to do me the favour of going away. To mitigate the tone of 
 my request, I used to repeat the lines of Martial — 
 
 " In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, 
 Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow, 
 Hast so much wit and mirth and spleen about thee, 
 That there's no living with thee nor without thee." 
 
 But I could "live without him," and I had ceaseless relief 
 when I recovered the control of my house. 
 
 He did leave at length, but my personal regard for him never 
 changed, nor his for me. Not long before his death he wrote 
 to my friend Major Bell, saying, "It is nearly thirty years 
 since my friendship for Holyoake commenced, and it is not 
 likely to terminate till death." 
 
 When a person has arrived at years of discretion (some arrive 
 very late, I am afraid : I have not reached that period yet), he 
 sees many things which were always palpable, but which he 
 did not observe until experience opened his eyes. Then he 
 sees irritating things dispassionately. Many times I have tried 
 to analyse the complex character of my artist friend. I often 
 say of the inhabitants of a famous town which I know well, that 
 God has given to them more humility and more pride than He 
 has vouchsafed to any other collection of His creatures. Merritt 
 
246 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 was not born on the Tyne, but he had these qualities. He had 
 an insatiable expectancy of the recognition by others of qualities 
 he disclaimed having. Charles Lamb excelled all English 
 humourists in the American wit of exaggeration. When, he 
 said, Coleridge met him on his way to the India House and 
 took him by the button to discourse to him, he, with his 
 penknife, deftly released himself, and on returning in the 
 evening found Coleridge still holding the button, preaching 
 to it. No one misunderstood Lamb, who merely put a halo 
 round a fact which he left palpable. Merritt, with less than 
 Lamb's art and genial restraint, had the bright gift of enlarge- 
 ment, and misled, without meaning it, those who did not know 
 him. 
 
 We say of some men that they are nervous, meaning all the 
 while that they have no nerves. Merritt had none. But, in 
 lieu of them, he had a set of organised electric filaments, 
 which, the moment you touched him with a harmless phrase, 
 gave you a shock. He was the first person in whom I observed 
 supernatural sensitiveness, who, starting at the slightest reflec- 
 tion upon himself, would say habitually things which it exceeded 
 mortal self-respect to tolerate. In those moods you avoided 
 him, and forgave him because it was his nature, to which he 
 had never taught restraint. When he became eminent he 
 kindly undertook to teach my eldest son his art. It was a 
 distinction to be his pupil. But, with frequent kindness, there 
 were outbursts of imputation which imperilled manliness itself 
 to submit to. I have seen his best physician refuse further to 
 attend him in consequence of his porcupine episodes. Yet, 
 being just at heart, he would, like Carlyle, speak generously of 
 the same persons, and, if others disparaged them, would defend 
 them with many a bright and graceful phrase. Merritt thought 
 that no one would remember what he never meant. Had I 
 not known what heredity and circumstances do for all of us, I 
 should have had sharp and permanent contempt, where I had 
 only compassion and forbearance. Pained as an honourable 
 man is that his nature should so betray him against those 
 whom he regards, Merritt made, when he had means, what 
 reparation he could by gifts. These he made to persons in 
 whom I was interested, which was his way of giving me (as he 
 thought) pleasure. In vain I besought him not to do it. For 
 
THE PICTURE RESTORER. 247 
 
 myself, I never had any gift from him, nor did I seek one, and 
 he knew it. Thus in some instances he destroyed my natural 
 authority by attracting expectation to himself, and left me a 
 legacy of mischief which made me say on one occasion that 
 Merritt with the best intention brought great misery on others 
 and requited some one else. His friendship was a pleasure to 
 me and a misfortune. Merritt had the elements of a noble 
 character in him, and, counting the disadvantages which he 
 surmounted and the eminence he attained in art and in litera- 
 ture, owing everything to his honesty and skill, he deserves a 
 place in the annals of remarkable men. A wise ancient said, 
 " Know thyself." Merritt did not know himself. Of all know- 
 ledge possible to him he lacked this alone. 
 
CHAPTER CIII. 
 ERNEST /ONES, THE CHARTIST ADVOCATE. 
 
 (1848-1867.) 
 
 I own I have the sympathies of Old Mortality. In my time I 
 have perpetuated the memory of many unregarded heroes, who 
 gave their strength, and in some cases their lives, in defence of 
 the people who had forgotten, or who had never inquired, to 
 whom they owed their advantages. 
 
 Ernest Charles Jones will, however, be long remembered by 
 Chartist generations. He was the son of a Major Jones, of 
 high connections, who had served in the wars of Wellington, 
 and was at Waterloo. He was subsequently equerry to the 
 Duke of Cumberland, afterwards Ernest I. of Hanover, and 
 uncle of Queen Victoria. Major Jones's mother was an Annesley, 
 daughter of a squire of Kent. His only son, Ernest, was 
 born in Vienna, in January, 1819. His father having an estate 
 in Holstein, on the border of the Black Forest, Ernest Jones 
 passed his boyhood there, and in 1830, when eleven years old, 
 he set out across the Black Forest, with a bundle under his 
 arm, to "help the Poles." With a similar precarious equip- 
 ment, he in after years set out to help the Chartists. He was 
 educated at St. Michael's College in Luneburg, where only 
 high-caste students were admitted, and where he won distinc- 
 tion by delivering an oration in German. In 1838, he became 
 a regular attendant at the English Court, where he was 
 presented by the Duke of Beaufort. He married into the 
 aristocratic family of Gibson Atherley, of Barfield, Cumberland, 
 the name being borne by his son Atherley Jones, now member 
 of Parliament. We of the Chartist times all knew the gentle 
 lady who lived in Brompton during the dreary days of her 
 husband's frightful imprisonment. 
 
 243 
 
ERNEST JONES, THE CHARTIST ADVOCATE. 249 
 
 In 1844, Ernest Jones was called to the Bar of the Inner 
 Temple. All along he had high tastes and high prospects. 
 Thus he was reared under circumstances which did not render 
 it necessary that he should have any sympathy with the people. 
 But the inspiration of poetry came to him. The influence of 
 Byron may be seen in his verse. He had no mean capacity of 
 song. With better fortune than befell him when he had cast 
 his lot with Chartism, and with more leisure, he would have 
 been a poet of mark : but he threw fortune away. His family 
 did not like the idea of his being a Chartist rhymer. His 
 uncle, Holton Annesley, offered to leave him ^"2,000 a year if 
 he would abandon Chartist advocacy. If not, he would leave 
 the fortune to another — and he did. Mr. Jones must have had 
 in him elements of a valorous integrity to refuse that splendid 
 prospect. He knew well what he was about, and that the 
 service of the people would not keep him in bread. They whom 
 he served were not able to do it — they had too many needs of 
 their own. He had declined his uncle's wealthy offer in terms 
 of noble but disastrous pride, and the fortune he relinquished 
 was given to his uncle's gardener. Though he had chosen 
 penury, he retained the patrician taste natural to him, and 
 made a point of not taking payment for his speeches and 
 addresses. There was more pride than sense in this. Those 
 who consumed his days in travelling and his strength in 
 speaking could and would have made him some remuneration. 
 Without it his home must be unprovided. Making a speech 
 has as fair a claim to payment as writing an article. Honest 
 oratory is as much entitled to costs as honest literature. Mr. 
 Jones often walked from town to town without means of 
 procuring adequate refreshment by day or accommodation by 
 night. On some occasions an observant Chartist would buy 
 him a pair of shoes, seeing his need of them. Ernest Jones 
 published the People's Paper — the sale of which did not pay 
 expenses. The sense of debt was a new burden to him. On 
 one occasion when I printed for him, and he was considerably 
 in arrears, he said, " I must go to my friend Disraeli." An 
 hour later he returned, and handed my brother Austin three of 
 several £$ notes. He had others in his hand. That politic 
 Minister inspired many Chartists with hatred of the Whigs, 
 whom he himself disliked, because they did not favour his 
 
250 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 circuitous pretensions ; and when he found Chartists of genius 
 having the same hatred, he would supply them with money, 
 the better to give effect to it. I never knew any Chartist in 
 the habit of taking money, who took it for the abandonment of 
 his principles ; nor do I believe Disraeli ever gave it them for' 
 that purpose. Their undiscerning hatred answered Tory ends. 
 
 It was July, 1843, when Mr. Jones was sentenced to two 
 years' solitary imprisonment, and to find two sureties of ^~ioo 
 each and himself X 20 ° f° r three years after his release — for 
 saying, " Only organise, and you will see the green flag floating 
 over Downing Street ; let that be accomplished, and John 
 Mitchell shall be brought back again to his native country, and 
 Sir G. Grey and Lord John Russell shall be sent out to 
 exchange places with him." This was simply amusing, and 
 there was no more danger of this happening than of a flock of 
 pigeons stopping a railway train. In the same speech for which 
 he was condemned, he gave the same advice to the meeting 
 that I had given to the delegates to the Convention in the 
 John Street Hall, on the night before the loth of April, 1848. 
 
 When Jones was imprisoned, it was sought to humiliate him. 
 The Whigs did it, but the Tories would have done the same — 
 yet the Whigs were more bound to respect the advocates of the 
 people. Jones was required to pick oakum. Being a gentle- 
 man, he refused to be degraded as a criminal. Politics was not 
 a crime. In the case of Colonel Valentine Baker, the Govern- 
 ment had just respect for a gentlemen ; but not when the 
 gentlemen was the political advocate of the poor, though Jones 
 was socially superior to Baker. 
 
 Mr. Jones was kept in solitary confinement on the silent 
 system — enforced with the utmost rigour for nineteen months. 
 He complied with all the prison regulations, excepting oakum 
 picking. That he steadfastly refused, as he would never bend 
 himself to voluntary degradation. To break his firmness on this 
 point he was again and again confined in a dark cell and fed on 
 bread and water. 
 
 When suffering from dysentery, he was put into a cell in an 
 indescribable state from which a prisoner who died from 
 cholera had been carried. It may be reasonably assumed that 
 it was intended to kill him. The cholera was then raging in 
 London, and, had Jones died, no question would have been 
 
ERNEST JONES, THE CHARTIST ADVOCATE. 251 
 
 asked. Still the authorities never succeeded in making him 
 pick oakum. 
 
 In the second year of his imprisonment he was so broken in 
 health that he could no longer stand upright, and was found 
 lying on the floor of his cell. Only then was he taken to the 
 hospital. He was told, if he would petition for his release and 
 abjure politics, the remainder of his sentence would be remitted. 
 This he refused, and he was sent back to his cell. Let any one 
 consider what those two dreary years of indignity, brutality, 
 peril, and solitude must have been to a man like Ernest Jones — 
 nervous, sanguine, ambitious, with his fiery spirit, fine taste, 
 and consciousness of great powers — and restrain if he can 
 admiration of that splendid courage and steadfastness. Un- 
 regarded, uncared for, he maintained his self-respect. Thomas 
 Carlyle went to look at the caged Chartist through the bars of 
 his prison, and increased, by his heartless and contemptuous 
 remarks, public indifference to the fate of the friendless prisoner. 
 Carlyle wrote : — " The world and its cares quite excluded for 
 some months to come, master of his own time, and spiritual 
 resources to, as I supposed, a really enviable extent." This 
 shows that, like meaner men, Carlyle could write without facts, 
 or even inquiring for them. Ernest Jones, " master of his own 
 time," had to pick oakum, or spend his days in a dark cell. 
 Thus his " spiritual resources " were limited. He was refused 
 a Bible even, and had to write with his blood. His " really 
 enviable " condition was that of knowing that his wife was 
 ignorant whether he was dead or alive, and he was denied the 
 knowledge what fate in the cholera season had befallen her or 
 his children, for whom no provision existed. 
 
 In his savage imprisonment he did write poems, but it had 
 to be done with his own blood — not from sensationalism, but 
 from necessity, pen and ink being denied him. Undaunted, he 
 returned on his liberation to his old advocacy of the people. 
 Mr. Benjamin Wilson, of Salterhebble, Halifax, who knew 
 Jones well, has given many facts not before known of his career 
 in the " Struggles of Old Chartists." 
 
 Ernest Jones and I were associated in Chartist agitation 
 while it lasted. I was a visitor at his fireside at Brompton. 
 Mrs. Ernest Jones, a lady of great refinement, shared the 
 vicissitudes of his Chartist days, which shortened her own. 
 
252 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 Mr. Jones left London in 1859, and went to Manchester with a 
 sad heart. Practice at the Bar had to be won. One night, 
 after attending the court at Leeds, he was met by Mr. Moses 
 Clayton, who found he had no home to go to. A home was 
 found him at Dr. Skelton's, and a brief also next day. He had 
 come to the resolution that night that he would see no morning. 
 Afterwards better fortune came to him. He had the chance of 
 being member for Dewsbury. He was nearly elected member 
 for Manchester, and the reversion of the seat to him was 
 likely when he suddenly died. His grand energy, fatigue, and 
 exposure killed him. Had he reached Parliament, he had all 
 the qualities which promised a great career there. Shortly 
 before his death he spent some hours with me in my chambers 
 in Cockspur Street, overlooking Trafalgar Square, discussing a 
 favourite theory of his — the manner in which an actor on the 
 stage of the world should quit it. 1 
 
 In every workshop in Great Britain, in mine and mill, and 
 in other lands where his name was familiar, there was sadness 
 when his death was known. His friend in many a conflict, 
 George Julian Harney, sent from America to the Newcastle 
 Daily Chronicle an impassioned account of the effect of the 
 news on him as he read it in a telegram in Boston. 
 
 Mr. Jones had a strong musical voice, energy and fire, and a 
 more classic style of expression than any of his compeers in 
 agitation. When he spoke at the grave of Benjamin Rushton 
 of Ovenden, he began : — " We meet to-day at a burial and a 
 birth — the burial of a noble patriot is the resurrection of a 
 glorious principle. The foundation stones of liberty are the 
 graves of the just ; the lives of the departed are the landmarks 
 of the living ; the memories of the past are the beacons of the 
 future." 
 
 Despite his popular sympathies and generous sacrifices for 
 the people, the patrician distrust of them, now and then, broke 
 out, as when he wrote : — 
 
 " 111 fare the men who, flushed with sudden power, 
 Would uproot centuries in a single hour. 
 
 1 After his death an " Ernest Jones Fund " was proposed. Lord Armstrong, 
 then Sir William, sent two guineas to the Punch office, which was sent to me 
 
 for the Fund 
 
ERNEST JONES, THE CHARTIST ADVOCATE. 253 
 
 Gaze on those crowds — is theirs the force that saves ? 
 What were they yesterday ? — a horde of slaves ! 
 What are they now but slaves without their chains ? 
 The badge is cancelled, but the man remains." 
 
 There is some truth in these lines. The abatements I take 
 to be these: — 1. You can't " uproot centuries" if you try. 
 2. The " crowds " are always ^better than they look. 3. The 
 " slaves " are always free in spirit long before they get rid of 
 "their chains." 4. When the "badge is cancelled," the "man" 
 who " remains '' generally turns out a gladsome, practical 
 creature. 
 
 In the nobler vein which so well became him, he vindicated 
 with a poet's insight his own career :— 
 
 " Men counted him a dreamer? Dreams 
 Are but the light of clearer skies — 
 Too dazzling for our naked eyes. 
 And when we catch their flashing beams 
 We turn aside and call them dreams. 
 Oh ! trust me every thought that yet 
 In greatness rose and sorrow set, 
 That time to ripening glory nurst, 
 Was called an ' idle dream ' at first." 
 
 Mr. Morrison Davidson has published the most comprehensive 
 sketch of the career of Ernest Jones which has appeared, and a 
 noble volume might be made of his poems, speeches and 
 political writings. Because he opposed middle-class projects 
 and broke up their meetings, little attention was paid to his 
 views by those who would have been most impressed by them. 
 Before their day he was as well informed as Karl Marx or 
 Henry George on questions of capital and land, and held 
 eventually wider views of co-operation than were advocated in 
 his time. It would have been economy to mankind to have 
 pensioned Ernest Jones, that he might have devoted his genius 
 to oratory, literature, and liberty. 
 
 Those of this generation who have not in their memory any 
 instance of Ernest Jones's eloquence, may see it in the following 
 passage from his Lecture on the Middle Ages and the Papacy. 
 
 " You have been told that the Church in the Dark Ages was 
 the preserver of learning, the patron of science, and the friend 
 of freedom. The preserver of learning in the Dark Ages ! It 
 was the Church that made these ages dark. The preserver of 
 learning ! Yes, as the worm-eaten oak chest preserves a manu- 
 
254 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 script. No more thanks to them than to the rats for not 
 devouring its pages. It was the Republics of Italy and the 
 Saracens of Spain that preserved learning — and it was the 
 Church that trod out the light of those Italian Republics. The 
 patron of science ! What ? When they burned Savonarola 
 and Bruno, imprisoned Galileo, persecuted Columbus, and 
 mutilated Abelard ? The friend of freedom ! What ? When 
 they crushed the Republics of the South, pressed the Nether- 
 lands like the vintage in a wine-kelter, girdled Switzerland 
 with a belt of fire and steel, banded the crowned tyrants of 
 Europe against the Reformers of Germany, and launched 
 Claverhouse against the Covenanters of Scotland ? The friend of 
 freedom ! When they hedged kings with a divinity ! Their 
 superstitions alone upheld the rotten fabric of oppression. 
 Their superstitions alone turned the indignant freeman into a 
 willing slave and made men bow to the Hell they created here 
 by a hope of the Heaven they could not insure hereafter. There 
 is nothing so corrupt that the Papacy has not befriended, and 
 but one gleam of sunshine flashes across the black picture, in 
 the architecture of its churches, the painting of its aisles, and 
 the music of its choirs." 
 
CHAPTER CIV. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURE IN LEICESTER. 
 
 (1884.) 
 
 The Liberals of Leicester had sent deputations to London in 
 support of Mr. Bradlaugh, who was excluded from his seat in 
 Parliament on the ground of atheistical opinions, which were 
 held to disqualify him from taking the oath. The appearance 
 at the bar of another member equally disqualified to make oath 
 would have strengthened the argument for affirmation. A 
 vacancy occurring at that time in the representation of the 
 borough, I offered myself as a candidate. My primary qualifi- 
 cation consisted in my being the only public man in England — ■ 
 not a Quaker — who on no occasion and for no private or public 
 advantage had ever taken an oath. I made it clear that, if 
 chosen as member for Leicester, I should take no oath either 
 by speech or pantomime, nor profane the oath in the opinion 
 of men of Christian conviction, by solemnly repeating words 
 which indicated no corresponding belief in my mind. But if 
 any tribunal, exacting the oath and knowing my opinions, 
 treated the oath as a mere secular undertaking of good faith, 
 there would be neither profanity nor deceit in taking it, though 
 there would be repugnance in using a form of words otherwise 
 disingenuous, ambiguous, and misleading. 
 
 Apart from this question, the chances were against me, as I 
 had been long known as one having decided views on public 
 questions ; whereas the most presentable candidates are men 
 who have spoken no word of principle — written no books — 
 made no effort — taken no side — professed no principle — helped 
 in no contest — shared in no sacrifice — served in no forlorn 
 
 25s 
 
256 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 hope. Men who have done nothing, who are uncommitted to 
 anything, and upon whom no one has any reason to depend, 
 are the candidates mostly chosen. The cowards who kept on 
 the outskirts of the field while the fight was going on — all the 
 supine and superfine, who sat before the cosy fire with their 
 feet upon the fender, while the combatants were out in the 
 tempest — find laid at their feet the spoils of progress which 
 others have won. 
 
 As to my professions, I said I was no Tory Radical, profes- 
 sing to be more " advanced " than anybody else, and helping 
 the enemy on every occasion. I was no Social Democrat, 
 offering the people comfort as a charity instead of putting in 
 their hands the right and means of commanding it by honest 
 effort. I was no reformer by confiscation. I was not a Liberal 
 who would trust, without conditions, the wise with the fortunes 
 of the many, nor the many with the fortunes of the wise, nor set 
 one against the other — but would charge both equally with 
 responsibility for the honour and welfare of the State. I 
 followed the path of the great Minister who brought in our 
 new Franchise Bill. All other Ministers bringing in Reform 
 Bills have studied how many they could exclude from it. Mr. 
 Gladstone has been the first Minister who has studied how 
 many he could include in it. I am for trusting the Minister 
 who trusts the people, and for supporting with my vote that 
 foreign policy which is just without sentimentality — brave 
 without swagger — which keeps faith with treaties adversaries 
 have made — fights with English courage for English honour, 
 and does not knowingly murder for prestige. 
 
 Mr. Herbert Spencer's opinions on Parliament were pub- 
 lished at the Leicester election. He, being a thinker and an 
 opinion maker, was well fitted for Parliamentary service. He, 
 however, declined, as he was for individuality and for indepen- 
 dence of the views of constituencies. On Mr. Spencer's principle 
 every man would have his will and nobody have his way. He 
 thought " the influence possessed by members of Parliament " 
 was rated too high — the representative being too " subject to 
 his constituents." Mr. Spencer held that " laws were practically 
 made out of doors and simply registered by Parliament." He, 
 like Lord Sherbrooke, regarded the duties of the delegate as 
 merely mechanical. Yet could there be a nobler function dis- 
 
PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATURE IN LEICESTER. 257 
 
 charged or nobler office filled than that of explaining the 
 opinions of those who had no other way of being heard save 
 by the mouth of their member ? Is a member a machine 
 because he is a delegate ? Where is there such a delegate as a 
 judge upon the bench ? His instructions are not merely given 
 by word of mouth, or at a poll, but discussed in Parliament, 
 fixed with strictness and printed in books ; so that the instruc- 
 tions of a judge are so defined that, when perfect, he can neither 
 misunderstand nor misinterpret them. And yet is there not 
 scope on the Bench for the greatest forensic genius ? If a delegate 
 to Parliament was confined as a judge is, he would have ample 
 scope for his independence and individuality. But there is a 
 much wider margin in Parliament. Many who were prominent 
 in smaller circles, as in the Vestry or Town Council, found 
 themselves powerless in Parliament, because there was required 
 more art and persuasiveness — there a man has to see farther, 
 to hear more, to understand better, to master all the points 
 pertaining to a question, to accord regard to the convictions of 
 others, and present a question in a light so clear, and with 
 arguments so conclusive, that he can create conviction on the 
 side of public justice. There is no assembly in the world where 
 there is greater room for the display of the highest powers in 
 representing a constituency, interpreting its views, maintaining 
 them when assailed, and, when need demands, storming the 
 fortresses of the enemy. 
 
 There were in Parliament several members disqualified like 
 myself by conviction from taking the oath, and Leicester was 
 the one town most likely to be desirous of opening a door 
 through which an honest man might enter the House of 
 Commons without humiliation. It proved not to be so, and 
 thus my candidature ended. 
 
 VOL. 11. 
 
CHAPTER CV. 
 
 THREE REMARKABLE EXILES. 
 
 (1884.) 
 
 England has often been enriched by the inventive genius of 
 industrial exiles who have sought our shores for religious 
 liberty. Not less has it been indebted to political exiles, who, 
 seeking freedom here, extended it by their teaching and exalted 
 it by their example. 
 
 Kossuth was the chief of the few foreigners who took at once 
 a higft place as a public speaker in a new tongue. No sooner 
 had he landed than he appeared as an English orator, displaying 
 not only mastery but imposing force. Neither Bright nor 
 Gladstone had then attained like ascendency on the platform, 
 and Joseph Rayner Stephens, who might be compared with 
 Kossuth for his mastery of tongues, was silent. Since Kossuth's 
 day only one orator has with the same suddenness engaged 
 public imagination — -Joseph Cowen. But Kossuth's distinction 
 was the greater because he spoke in a tongue foreign to him. 
 And what was not less striking, his reputation was as much 
 owing to what he said as to his manner of saying it. In his 
 speech on Poland he said : " In the public life of nations, never 
 is anything accidental. There everything is cause and effect. 
 An act of political morality can never be neglected with 
 impunity. Every such neglect is fraught with the necessity of 
 atoning it with sacrifices, increasing step by step, which, how- 
 ever, never will remedy the evil, unless the wrong occasioned 
 by that neglect be redressed. In politics a fault is equivalent 
 to a crime, and no false political step can ever escape punish- 
 ment." 
 
 258 
 
THREE REMARKABLE EXILES. 259 
 
 In speaking in the House of Legislation, Ohio, Kossuth 
 said : " The spirit of our age is democratic. All for the people 
 and all by the people. Nothing about the people without the 
 people. That is Democracy." The conception of the popular 
 aspiration and the idiomatic expression of it are alike remark- 
 able. He instructed as well as declaimed. In Kossuth's 
 speeches you found definition as in Paine or John Stuart Mill, 
 which is rare in popular orators and writers. 
 
 I published Kossuth's oration on the " Independence of 
 Poland," delivered in Sheffield, June, 1854 > ^ ut ms speeches 
 on the "War in the East " and " The Alliance with Austria," 
 delivered in Sheffield and Nottingham the same year, were 
 " published by himself." They were printed by Tucker, Perry 
 Place, Oxford Street, and sold by him. As Kossuth had no 
 place of business, he could not " publish by himself." Probably, 
 by saying so, he merely meant to indicate that they appeared 
 by his authority. 
 
 Louis Blanc was long resident in this country. He spent 
 twenty years of exile among us, and understood men and 
 things in England, our politics and prejudices, and more faith- 
 fully interpreted them to the French people than any other 
 exile who ever dwelt in England save Mazzini. Mr. G. W. 
 Smalley, an American, not an exile, has excelled in the same 
 art. Kossuth, on the other hand, sometimes entertained 
 suspicions which fuller information would have made impos- 
 sible. An attempt to serve him would seem to him, as it 
 did to Weitling, something very different. Foreigners as a 
 rule are liable to suspicion, but Kossuth was so distinguished 
 for cosmopolitan attainments that anything ordinary became 
 noticeable in him. 
 
 In another respect, not of contrast, but of similarity, Kossuth 
 may be compared with Louis Blanc. Kossuth was regarded as 
 a man of flexible principles, yet, like Blanc, he proved to have 
 inflexibility to a degree unforeseen. Kossuth lacked the pene- 
 tration of Mazzini, and put such trust in Louis Napoleon as to 
 snter into negotiation with him when he was Emperor ; yet he 
 preferred to live an exile rather than acknowledge an order of 
 things in his own country he disapproved. 
 
 Louis Blanc was distrusted because the policy of French 
 Republicanism which he espoused was deemed materialistic. I 
 
26o SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 published the manifesto of Kossuth, Ledru Rollin, and Mazzini, 
 and also Louis Blanc's " Reply " thereto. Yet Louis Blanc 
 possessed an inflexibility on questions of principle as austere as 
 Mazzini himself. He was many times besought to return to 
 Paris, and offers of a Parliamentary seat were made, to which 
 he answered — 
 
 " Duty could only call me to Paris to take part in Parlia- 
 mentary struggles, if the electors should assign me a post. But 
 this post no power on earth can make me occupy, so long as I 
 must needs, in order to do so, take an oath which is not in my 
 heart. 
 
 " Do the people really wish to be the sovereign ? Let them 
 elect those who refuse to take the oath ; let them elect them, 
 not in spite of, but because of their refusal." 
 
 These sentiments are all the more remarkable since few 
 public men in England have expressed them or acted upon 
 them. 
 
 This resolution was as noble as the warning was wise, and 
 Louis Blanc remained an exile until Sedan swept the false 
 Emperor away. His exile lasted twenty years. I knew him 
 from the beginning to the end, during his residence in London 
 and Brighton. It was said of him, and of his distinguished but 
 more demonstrative brother Charles, that Charles was a reed 
 painted like iron, while Louis was iron painted like a reed. 
 This was true. Beneath Louis Blanc's passionless cordiality 
 lay impassable determination, which neither profit, nor applause, 
 nor obscurity, nor neglect could divert from honest principle. 
 Though a small man, smaller than the First Napoleon, he had 
 none of the self-assertion by which little people often seek to 
 conceal their diminutiveness. Louis Blanc was a self-possessed 
 man, and, alike when he conversed or spoke on the platform, 
 you never thought of his stature under the boldness of his 
 tones and his commanding gesture. 
 
 He ranked among the great political historians of France. 
 Like M. Thiers, he made history a stepping-stone to power. 
 The " History of the Consulate and the Empire " led to 
 Thiers becoming a statesman ; and the " History of Ten 
 Years" mainly inspired the Revolution of 1848, and made 
 
THREE REMARKABLE EXILES. 26 r 
 
 Louis Blanc a member of the Provisional Government. Unlike 
 Ledru Rollin, whom he resembled in a noble irreconcilability, 
 Louis Blanc had literary genius and capacity for statesman- 
 ship, which consists in understanding what measures are best 
 conducive to the greatest happiness of the greatest number, 
 and acting with large toleration. Blanc continued to maintain 
 his influence as a commanding force in French politics until 
 his death. It seemed as though all Paris followed him to the 
 tomb. Since the burial of Thiers so great a concourse had not 
 marched to a tomb until Hugo died. I was proud to be one of 
 his English friends invited by Louis Blanc's family to follow 
 him to his grave. 
 
 Ledru Rollin was another exile of note who had a singular 
 career. When he did return to France, another generation 
 had grown up, to whom he was unknown. Exile is a fatal 
 power in the hands of tyranny : since it not only kills influ- 
 ence, it kills reputation. Louis Blanc having literary powers, 
 his pen kept his name before his countrymen. Rollin's power 
 was in the courts, on the platform, and in the Senate. Exile 
 destroyed it. Mazzini said of him that he was the only French- 
 man who gave up a public position and sacrificed himself for 
 the welfare of a country not France, and for a cause not French. 
 He incurred exile by his generous championship of the cause of 
 Italy. He was what he appeared in Madame Venturi's painting 
 of him — of manly bearing, of conscious power, yet withal un- 
 obtrusive in manner. That Barthelemy — a duellist whom some 
 regarded as a murderer, and who was eventually hanged at 
 Newgate for an undoubted murder — was hostile to the famous 
 tribune is proof that he was less extreme than he was taken to 
 be. Some politicians speak better than they act : Rollin acted 
 more wisely than he spoke. The Royalist press of England 
 decried him because of the title of a book he published 
 some time after his arrival in England — " The Decadence of 
 England." That work contained nothing but what we knew 
 — nothing but what we had said ourselves. Had the great 
 Republican lawyer entitled his volume, " Extracts from the 
 Morning Chronicle" or " England drawn by Horace Mayhew," 
 or the " Fall of the English Foretold by Themselves," any one 
 of these titles would have expressed the character of the work. 
 But because the author employed another title, the public were 
 
262 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 incited to take offence at the book. Six out of every seven 
 titles of books have no relation to their contents. 
 
 The sagacious French jurist, no doubt, saw signs of decadence 
 in England, in aristocratic incumbrance. With the millstone of 
 noble incompetence hanging round the neck of the nation, he 
 might well think Britain was going to sink "ten thousand 
 fathoms deep." What Ledru Rollin could not see was that 
 England has the power of renewing its youth. The Sindbad 
 of Britain will not carry the Old Man of Privilege on its back 
 for ever. Soaring, it will drop the aristocratic tortoise on some 
 well-chosen rock, and smash it. Rollin thought he saw the old 
 English lion stuffed with cotton. The noble brute who, in the 
 days of Cromwell, could roar until he made the isles resound 
 and Europe reverberate, seemed turned into a puff-bellied, 
 flaxen-hearted old beast, whose lungs were a pair of steam- 
 boilers, his breath condensed vapour, his molars spinning- 
 jennies, and his royal old tail a horizontal factory chimney. 
 With these signs before him, Ledru Rollin might conclude the 
 English nation was declining. 
 
 When the recruiting sergeant went to Manchester and 
 Preston, did he not find the men too stunted to reach the 
 standard and too weak to wield a sword ? The race had been 
 spun up in Jacquard looms. Many who condemned Ledru 
 Rollin's book hastened to abolish these signs of the decline of 
 manhood in our manufacturing towns. We needed a foreigner 
 to tell us this fact which our own statesmen did not see, or did 
 not own, and did not alter, and have not done it wholly yet. 
 
CHAPTER CVI. 
 REMARKABLE WORKING-CLASS POLITICIANS. 
 
 (1884.) 
 
 Before mentioning those who are the chief subjects of this 
 chapter, I cite two who will have no other biographer. One is 
 Allan Davenport, known at the beginning of this century as an 
 enthusiastic advocate of the Spencerian system — not the new 
 one of Herbert Spencer, but his of agrarian repute. Davenport 
 wrote verse. His last publication he dedicated to me. I re- 
 member it, because it was the first time that distinction came 
 to me. The poet was thin, and pale, and poor. He lived 
 about the East End, was known at every workman's political 
 meeting, and any surplus over his personal needs arising from 
 his daily labour, was spent in publications giving information to 
 men of his order, whom he sought to serve. 
 
 The other was John Weston — the thinnest, wiriest, gentlest, 
 yet most ardent, prompt, and demonstrative of working-class 
 politicians. There was nothing of him save his voice and his 
 ceaseless energy. He was a workman who owed everything to 
 himself. He was a cow-boy and a page-boy in his youth, and 
 at last hand-rail maker — a trade he learned himself. And no 
 man knew it better, or so well, for he wrote a book upon it, 
 which is an authority in the trade. He lived to be seventy- 
 two, working ten to twelve hours a day at the bench, and 
 making speeches when evening came With the independence 
 which only a good workman can afford to show, he carried his 
 principles into every house, high or low, where he went, and 
 gave his opinions upon public questions to the noblest employer 
 who fell into conversation with him. He stood none of the 
 Imperialistic Communism and State Socialism of Carl Marx, 
 
 263 
 
264 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 but confronted that master of agitation, and carried resolutions 
 against him. Whatever good movement was on foot anywhere 
 in the metropolis, Weston was soon in it, if, indeed, he were 
 not there first ; and yet there were more home difficulties in 
 his way, of the Zantippe type, than any man save Socrates had 
 to encounter. But no discomfort deterred him. Of all men of 
 gentle spirit I have known he was the fiercest worker : a jelly- 
 fish in speech, he was dynamite in action. He had the genuine 
 passion of progress which brings good to others, but only grati- 
 tude and poverty to those who have it. 
 
 Those who look back fifty years usually remember a few 
 persons among working-class politicians of whom they find no 
 parallel at the present day. In diplomacy, in oratory, indeed 
 in every department of human professions or trades, some 
 observe the same thing. Fifty years hence, people will look 
 back upon these days and distinguish a few men in every class 
 who surpassed all others in conspicuousness of service, manifest- 
 ing qualities unlike any of their compeers. The reason is that 
 there is excellence in every generation, but not of the same 
 kind. The Quintin Matzys and Benvenuto Cellinis have been 
 superseded by machinery ; but the genius which conceives the 
 wonderful machines that now do the work of the world is but 
 another form of genius, and surpasses in its way anything 
 which preceded it. Henry Hetherington, Richard Moore, and 
 James Watson, three working-class politicians, had remarkable 
 qualities not common now, though no doubt there are men ol 
 this day as remarkable in relation to their time and the new 
 work now requiring to be done. 
 
 Henry Hetherington was. a Londoner, being born in Compton 
 Street, Soho, 1792. He was apprenticed to the father o. Luke 
 Hansard, the Parliamentary printer. For some time he worked 
 in Belgium. In London he was the most energetic working 
 man who assisted Dr. Birkbeck in establishing Mechanics' 
 Institutions. Though then a Radical politician, he was de- 
 sirous that working men should have knowledge — the better 
 to use the increase of freedom they were then seeking. In 1830 
 he was chosen by his Radical colleagues to draw up the " Circular 
 for the Formation of Trades Unions," out of which arose the 
 National Union of the Working Classes ; and out of that union 
 arose Chartism. 
 
REMARKABLE WORKING-CLASS POLITICIANS. 265 
 
 In 1831, Hetherington commenced to print and publish his 
 famous unstamped paper, the Poor Man's Guardian, at one 
 penny, when newspapers were sixpence and ninepence each. 
 This was the first messenger of popular and political intelligence 
 which reached the working classes. Three convictions were 
 soon obtained against him. He was imprisoned for six months 
 and again imprisoned for six months. The names of 
 " Hetherington, Watson, and Cleave " were in the mouths 
 of every newsvendor and mechanic in the three kingdoms, 
 Hetherington's name being always mentioned first. On 
 the title-page of the Poor Mail's Guardian appeared the 
 candid but perilous words, " Published in defiance of the law, 
 to try the power of right against might." This was not a 
 profitable business. He had to leave his shop disguised, and 
 return to it disguised — sometimes as a Quaker, a waggoner, or 
 a costermonger. After one of his flights he returned to London 
 to see his dying mother, when a Bow Street runner seized him 
 as he was knocking at the door. To distribute his paper, 
 dummy parcels were sent off by persons instructed to make all 
 resistance they could to constables who seized them, and in the 
 meantime real parcels were sent by another road. His shop- 
 men were imprisoned, his premises entered, his property taken, 
 and men were brought into the house by constables who broke 
 up, with blacksmith's hammers, his press and his type ; as the 
 reader has seen recounted in the chapter, " The Trouble with 
 Queen Anne." 
 
 In 1840 he was sentenced to four months' imprisonment for 
 publishing " Haslam's Letters to the Clergy " — a performance 
 which would not disquiet General Booth, and which Mr. 
 Spurgeon would dismiss with the feeble censure of being a 
 " down grade " book. Hetherington defended himself, Lord 
 Denman saying he had " listened to him with sentiments of 
 respect." Acting on the militant advice of Francis Place, 
 Hetherington indicted Moxon for publishing Shelley's works, 
 when Serjeant Talfourd discovered that the power of indicting 
 gentlemen for publishing the works of gentlemen " was a 
 fearful engine of oppression," which led eventually to restric- 
 tion being put upon that " right of action " dear to the clerical 
 mind. He died in London, 1849, of cholera, through trusting 
 to his habitual temperance and distrust of medical aid. At his 
 
266 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 burial at Kensal Green, 2,000 persons assembled, and I made 
 the first funeral oration it fell to me to deliver. I spoke from 
 the tomb of " Publicola " of the Weekly Dispatch, who had oft 
 defended Hetherington in the dark days of conflict. Hether- 
 ington had a strong, honest voice and genial manners. He 
 was the first trade unionist who told his colleagues that the 
 co-operative workshop was the bulwark of the strike, and that 
 they were not to rob any class, but take care no class robbed 
 them — or, as Carlyle put it later, " Thou shalt not steal ; thou 
 shalt not be stolen from." 
 
 James Watson was a Malton man (Yorkshire), distinguished 
 as a Radical and Liberal publisher by integrity, courage, and a 
 Puritan inflexibility of character. He came up to London to 
 act as shopman to Richard Carlile, and underwent successive 
 imprisonments when judges were insulting and their sentences 
 merciless. A magistrate being ostentatiously Christian was no 
 guarantee of justice or civility in his time. Becoming familiar 
 with Mr. Owen's views, Hetherington undertook in 1828 the 
 agency of the Co-Operative Store at 36, Red Lion Square, 
 and in 1829 he went through Northern towns promoting the 
 formation of co-operative, political, and free inquiry societies. 
 When he came to London, in 1823, it was to defend Carlile, 
 whom he had never seen, and who was then in Dorchester 
 Gaol. Mrs. Carlile had just been liberated after two years' 
 imprisonment. Carlile's house was then 201, Strand. For 
 selling a copy of Palmer's " Principles of Nature," which no- 
 body cared for then and nobody understands now, Watson 
 was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. This was in 
 1823. Three of his fellow-shopmen were sentenced in 1824 to 
 three years' imprisonment. For ten years the Government 
 did business chiefly in sentences. In 1825, Watson was at- 
 tacked by cholera, followed by typhus and brain fever. Julian 
 Hibbert took him to his house at Kentish Town and nursed 
 him eight weeks. Watson had learned printing, and Hibbert 
 employed him to set up a Greek work he was writing at that 
 time. Afterwards Hibbert gave Watson press and types, and 
 left him 450 guineas in his will, which Watson spent in bring- 
 ing out editions of forbidden books. In 1832, when gentlemen 
 went abroad to escape the cholera, and left a Fast Day at home 
 for the poor, Watson was arrested for organising a public 
 
REMARKABLE WORKING-CLASS POLITICIANS. 267 
 
 procession of protest against a Fast, when the people needed 
 less labour and more food. Watson and his friends Lovell and 
 Benbow completed their " fast " in the lockup at. Bow Street, 
 which was the way to give them cholera. In 1833 he received 
 six months' imprisonment for selling the Poor Man's Guardian. 
 In 1834, within a month of his marriage, he was again subjected 
 to six months' imprisonment. But nothing moved him from 
 his purpose. To disparage these sacrifices, it was said in the 
 hostile press that those who incurred imprisonment were toois 
 and were unable to defend themselves. Then they did defend 
 themselves ; when the judges made it worse for them. Watson, 
 Hetherington, Carlile, all who defended the right of the free 
 publicity of Radical or unorthodox opinion, were straightfor- 
 ward and defiant. Whether they fought against the Crown or 
 the Church, they denied nothing they had done, they explained 
 nothing away, they evaded nothing, and they never asked for 
 mercy. Watson published Bronterre O'Brien's " Life of Robes- 
 pierre," and Babceuf's " Conspiracy," and Thomas Cooper's 
 " Purgatory of Suicides." I was his successor in business. 
 
 Hetherington and Watson were friends. Neither would 
 accept any business which one thought the other ought to 
 have, or would like to have. Of the same pursuits, they 
 engaged in the same contests, were inspired with the same 
 ideas, worked for the same public objects. Both suffered in 
 the same way, for the same cause. Both regarded the cause 
 they represented as sacred ; both had pride ; both exalted their 
 principles by their character. 
 
 Another who did this was Richard Moore (born in London, 
 1 8 10), a wood-carver in Hart Street, Bloomsbury. He took an 
 active part in Westminster and Finsbury politics. He was one 
 of the Radicals who acted under the inspiration of Francis Place. 
 He and James Watson married two sisters, who shared their 
 interest in public affairs. The People's Charter was signed by 
 six members of Parliament and six working men. Moore was 
 one of the six, and was one of the Council of the National 
 Political Union of 1830, and of the Chartist Convention ot 
 1839. For twelve years he was chairman of the Association 
 for Repealing the Taxes on Knowledge. Though interested 
 mainly in politics, he was, like Watson and Lovett, active in 
 the Socialist movement of Robert Owen, in which he acquired, 
 
268 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 as others did, placability of character. He rendered Mr. Owen 
 aid at Gray's Inn Rooms, when Mr. Owen gave the use of his 
 large apartment on Sundays for his friend Edward Irving to 
 preach in, when he had been expelled from the Scotch Church, 
 Regent's Square, for heresy. Moore, as member of the council 
 of the National Union, took part in opening a political news- 
 room on Sunday, the first time working men had the indepen- 
 dence to do it. Mr. C. D. Collett, in his life of Moore, relates 
 that W. J. Fox approved of it, saying working men had as 
 much right as gentlemen had to enter their newsroom on a 
 Sunday. All his life Moore worked at his trade, never seeking- 
 anything for himself. He was unnoticed, because he had no 
 speciality save disinterestedness, energy, and good sense. He 
 had no arrogance, or egotism, or bluster, which destroy 
 political associations among the middle as well as among the 
 working class, where enthusiasm in adherents has often been 
 dissipated by personal ambition in leaders. Moore was the 
 reverse of all this. Never swerving from well-considered 
 principle, abating no demand which was ascertained to be just, 
 never imperilling a claim by putting it forward in an offensive 
 way, he persisted in it to the end. On the way to the end, 
 concession of some portion of the demand became oft imperative. 
 These he would accept, and in due time proceed with the advo- 
 cacy of the remainder. 
 
 When the Lodger Franchise Association of Finsbury closed, 
 Moore himself discharged the balance of its expenses remaining 
 unpaid (^"20). As he left little at his death, a presentation 
 was made to Mrs. Moore. Mr. Milner Gibson sent £ 25, Mr. 
 Stansfeld, M.P., Mr. Cowen, Mr. Novello, and others joined. 
 In these days, when newspapers fill columns with notices of the 
 known who have done nothing, it is but justice to devote a 
 little to the unknown who have done much. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. White, the Speaker's chaplain, as was befitting, 
 the end of the old Parliamentary Reformer, read the service at ' 
 his grave in Highgate Cemetery, at which Mr. Joseph Cowen 
 was present, which would have given gratification to Moore 
 could he have known it. 
 
 William Lovett, with Watson, Moore, and Hetherington, 
 made a quadrilateral of remarkable working-men politicians. 
 Lovett was a Cornish man. In 1828 he was the first manager 
 
REMARKABLE WORKING-CLASS POLITICIANS. 269 
 
 of the Greville Street Co-operative Store, where men afterwaids 
 famous, as J. A. Roebuck, J. S. Mill, and others, oft attended 
 meetings for promoting social progress. It was Lovett's hand 
 which drew the People's Charter, which Roebuck revised. 
 Lovett was the first person who drew up and sent to Parliament 
 a petition for opening museums and art galleries on Sunday. 
 In 1839 he was imprisoned two years with John Collins in 
 Warwick Gaol for having issued a protest against the violence 
 of the Government in putting down public meetings in the 
 Bull Ring, Birmingham, by London policemen. Lovett pub- 
 lished a scheme, devised in Warwick Gaol, of political 
 education for the people, for he was always for intelligent 
 liberty. Lovett was an excellent political secretary. He 
 observed everything, made notes of everything, and kept 
 everything relating to important conference. His fault was 
 that he had too much suspicion of the motives of others not 
 taking his view of things. Later in life he was teacher and 
 superintendent of the' only secular schools we had in London, 
 established and supported by William Ellis, an early colleague 
 of Mr. Mill. Lovett died in 1877, and I spoke at his grave at 
 Highgate, quoting as relating to him the words of W. R. 
 Greg : — " It is not by the monk in his cell, or the saint in his 
 closet, but by the valiant worker in humble sphere and in 
 dangerous days, that the landmarks of liberty are pushed 
 forward " — a sentiment which applies to all of whom I have 
 here written. 
 
CHAPTER CVH. 
 
 QUITE A NEW VIEW OF JOHN BRIGHT. 
 
 (1850-1889.) 
 
 Mr. Bright resembled a Company Limited. Compared with 
 average men he was a company in himself, but, not being 
 registered under the Companies Act, few noticed that his 
 trading capital of convictions (if his noble qualities may be so 
 spoken of) was limited. No other simile I can think of so well 
 describes what was not understood about him. 
 
 In politics there is more eagerness than observation. Public 
 men are not adequately regarded for what they do, and are 
 often praised for what they do not intend to do. Champions 
 of a popular question are taken to be champions of all that the 
 people desire. Those who have long observed public men 
 know where and on what questions they will fail the people. 
 Hardly ten leaders in a hundred are thorough and can be 
 trusted all round — not so much because they are base, as 
 because they are limited in knowledge or sympathy, and are 
 for a question without knowing or caring for the principle of 
 it. The safe rule is to accord leaders full credit for the service 
 they do render, and not count on more, unless they give reason 
 for such expectation. 
 
 The Tory hatred of Mr. Bright which long prevailed was 
 without foundation, and the eulogies passed upon him since 
 his death for merits but lately discerned, have given the public 
 no consistent or complete idea what manner of man he was 
 politically. Not being under youthful illusions as to public 
 men is an advantage. I may do them more justice for the 
 service they do render, and not defame them, nor feel disap- 
 
QUITE A NEW VIEW OF JOHN BRIGHT. 271 
 
 pointment at their not doing what is not and never was, in their 
 nature to do. 
 
 Mr. Bright was not a political tribune of the people, though 
 his fame was political. He was a social tribune — though he 
 was against Socialism. Working men distrusted Mr. Bright 
 when he first became known to them, because he was against 
 the Factory Acts, which he regarded as opposed to free trade 
 between employer and workman, and did not see that where 
 humanity comes in, humanity is to be respected, and is not to 
 be subjected to laws of barter. Mr. Bright was for Free Trade 
 before everything, and the Chartists were of the same mind, 
 being for political freedom before everything. We have lived 
 to see men of higher position than Chartists persist in their 
 own views to the peril of every other interest. Mr. Bright 
 professed no sympathy with Chartist aims, and they knew he 
 was not with them ; but when Free Trade brought them 
 better wages and fuller employment they respected Mr. Bright 
 for his defence of it, and when he advocated the suffrage they 
 thought he was with them in their political theories, not seeing 
 that Mr. Bright was still Conservative, and moving in a plane 
 apart from them. He never expressed sympathy for struggling 
 nationalities. The patriots of Poland — -of Hungary, of Italy, of 
 France — never had help from his voice. He was silent on 
 Neapolitan and Austrian oppression which moved the heart of 
 Mr. Gladstone. He was incapable of approving the perjury and 
 usurpation of Louis Napoleon, but no protest came from him. 
 He was for the extension of the suffrage, because it was a 
 necessity — not because it was a right. With him the franchise 
 was a means to an end, and that end was the creation of a 
 popular force for the maintenance of Free Trade, international 
 peace, and public economy. Politically, he regarded the voter 
 not as a man, but as an elector — nor did he think it necessary 
 that all men should be electors. He was content if the majority 
 of the people had a determining power, and whatever franchise 
 gave this was sufficient in his eyes. He had no sympathy with 
 manhood suffrage, and less for womanhood suffrage. He 
 believed in the aristocracy of sex, and thought the political 
 equality of women unnecessary, a perplexing and disturbing 
 element in electoral calculations. That manhood suffrage gave 
 dignity to the individual, by investing him with power and 
 
272 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 responsibility, was not much in his mind. Womanhood 
 suffrage, enabling half the human race to bring their quicker, 
 gentler, and juster influence to bear on public affairs in which 
 their welfare and that of their children are concerned, was out- 
 side Mr. Bright's sympathies. 
 
 There are two sorts of Tories — those who seek power for 
 ends of personal supremacy ; and the better sort, who seek to 
 retain power in order to do good, but the good is to be good 
 they give the people — the Tory belief being that the people 
 cannot be trusted to determine what is good for themselves. 
 Mr. Bright was better than the better sort of Tories. He 
 believed a majority of the people were to be trusted. So far 
 he was for Liberalism — but he was for Liberalism Limited. 
 The Whigs of 1832 put down boroughmongeringand entrusted 
 the franchise to a " worshipful company of ten-pound house- 
 holders." Mr. Bright was for enlarging that company by the 
 admission of six-pound householders. When the Duke of 
 Wellington heard new prayers read which were not to be found 
 in the old, crude prayer book of the Established Church, he 
 refused to join in them, as being " fancy prayers." Following 
 in the Duke's steps Mr. Bright contemptuously called any new 
 scheme of enfranchisement, which increased the number of 
 electors indefinitely, " fancy franchises." * The Duke was for 
 addressing Heaven by regulation prayers, and in the same 
 spirit Mr. Bright was for " standing on the old lines." He was 
 against working-class representation just as the Tories were 
 against middle-class representation. Those in possession always 
 think they sufficiently represent those excluded. Mr. Bright 
 was of this way of thinking. He had this defence : he meant 
 to be just to all outsiders, and did not deem it necessary that 
 they should be able to enforce their own claim in person. 
 Later he applied this doctrine to the whole Irish nation. 
 
 He was against the ascendency of the Church as allied to the 
 State, not because its ascendency was an offence against equality, 
 but because it was contrary to the simplicity of Christ's teaching 
 as he read it, and because a State Church gave religious sanction 
 to State war. As a man Mr. Bright put Christianity in the 
 
 1 He applied this phrase to my proposal, that proof of intelligence, such as a 
 workman could give and which I denned, should be a certificate of enfran- 
 chisement 
 
QUITE A NEW VIEW OF JOHN BRIGHT. 273 
 
 first place as a personal influence — as a politician he regarded 
 it chiefly as a public force to be appealed to on behalf of social 
 welfare. What he hated was injustice ; what he abhorred was 
 cruelty, whether of war or slavery ; what he cared for was the 
 comfort and prosperity of common people. Whatever stood in 
 the way of these things he would withstand, whether the 
 opposing forces were spiritual principalities, or peers, or thrones. 
 If they fell, it would be their own fault — the forces of humanity 
 must triumph. He would not set up privilege, nor would he 
 put it down — provided it behaved itself. He was no leveller, 
 he envied no rank, he coveted no distinction ; but he was for 
 the honest, industrious people, whether manufacturers or work- 
 men, having control over their own interests — come what would. 
 
 It was to this end that he opposed the Corn Laws and 
 advocated Free Trade and the repeal of the taxes on knowledge. 
 He desired that the people might learn what their social 
 interests were. He was for the extension of the suffrage, that 
 those who came to understand their commercial and industrial 
 interests should be able to insist upon attention, and not have 
 to supplicate for it. If the governing classes had given heed to 
 social interests, Mr. Bright would never have invoked the 
 power of the people. Like Canning, he was for calling in a 
 " new world " [of power] to redress the persistent injustice of 
 " the old." He would no more have sought the suffrage than 
 Robert Owen would the support of the people, if his aims 
 could have been realised without them. Owen went from 
 court to court ; he waited in the ante-chamber of Sidmouth 
 and Liverpool in vain ; and when courts and Ministers gave no 
 heed he appealed to the people. Because he did so, Liberals 
 and Radicals thought he was with them, but all the while he 
 was a Tory. Bright, like Owen, cared for the people more 
 than for theories ; and the people, whose principles were 
 opposed to thrones, thought the great social tribune was with 
 them all through. This was the mistake which they, and 
 wiser men than they, have made. Bright aided the extinction 
 of slavery because it shocked his sense of justice and humanity ; 
 but had the slave been well treated, and not bought and sold' 
 and flogged, he might, like Owen, have seen no such harm in it 
 as to warrant the disturbance of States to put it down. But 
 when its immorality and cruelty became authentically known 
 
 vol. 11. 19 
 
274 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 to Bright, his noble sense of humanity was outraged, and his 
 splendid eloquence, like O'Connell's, was exerted on behalf of 
 the slave. 
 
 He was friendly to co-operators — he spoke for their protec- 
 tion, but never in favour of their principle. Like Bastiat, he 
 believed in the divinity of competition. He was at once 
 the advocate of Peace and Competition — the principle of 
 sleepless and pitiless resistance to the interests of others. With 
 him adulteration was but a form of competition. This is true. 
 But if adulteration be its concomitant, that is the condemnation 
 of both. Mr. Bright thought this reasoning Utopian. 
 
 Mr. Bright, like Mr. Disraeli, had little respect for philoso- 
 phers. He did not dread them like Lord Beaconsfield, but he 
 mistrusted them in politics. The region of the philosopher is 
 the region of the possible. Bright's mind ran always in 
 the region of the practical. His tendency was to regard new 
 rights as "fads." The philosophers laid down new lines — he 
 was content with the old. He, as I have said, ridiculed a 
 franchise founded upon intelligence, as a " fancy franchise." 
 Yet he sat in the House himself under a " fancy franchise." 
 The concession which enabled the Quaker to affirm was a 
 " fancy franchise ; " the Jews were brought into the House by 
 a " fanciful " alteration of the oath to meet their tribal but 
 honourable fastidiousness. It was not well that he should have 
 contempt for new paths discovered by thought ; but he was 
 not without merit in his preference for established roads, since 
 many men give all their time to searching for new precepts who 
 would be the better for practising the good ones they already have. 
 
 If, however, the great Tribune had the characteristics herein 
 described, the reader will ask, " How is it that he was so widely 
 mistaken for an aggressive and uncompromising Liberal ? " 
 Most men think that because a man goes down the same street 
 with them he is going to the same place. Bright accepted the 
 aid of the men of right, without sympathy with the passion for 
 right, beyond the helpfulness of its advocates in the attainment 
 of the public ends he cared for. Cobden did the same, but he 
 owned it, and sought such aid. Bright did neither, but did 
 not decline alien aid when it came. He was the terror of the 
 Tories, and they never discerned that he was their friend. 
 He opposed them for what they did. not for what they were. 
 
QUITE A NEW VIEW OF JOHN BRIGHT. 275 
 
 When riotous Radicals of 1832 had became fat and contented 
 middle-class manufacturers, and were shrieking as dismally as 
 Conservatives against a transfer of power to workmen, Mr. 
 Bright, deserted by his compeers in Parliament, appeared alone 
 on provincial platforms, pleading for larger enfranchisement. 
 Members of Parliament, themselves Liberals, thought the 
 question of the suffrage hopeless for years to come, and said to 
 me, " Why does Bright go about flogging a dead horse ? " 
 Tories expressed contemptuous scorn for his enthusiasm. Had 
 he been silent or supine, working men would be without sub- 
 stantial enfranchisement now. What Ebenezer Elliott wrote 
 of Cobbett they may, with a change of name, say of Bright : — 
 
 ' ' Our friend when other friend we'd none, 
 Our champion when we had but one ; 
 Cursed by all knaves, beneath this sod 
 Brave John Bright lies — a man by God." 
 
 Yet he had limits in his mind beyond which he would not, 
 and did not, go. In 1870, he deprecated the admission of 
 working men in Parliament as likely to increase the evils of 
 class legislation, yet all the while the House of Commons is, 
 and always has been, full of class interests. Mr. Bright and his 
 friend Cobden were the great representatives of the middle 
 class, yet he did not propose that middle-class representation 
 should cease so that the evils of class representation 
 might cease or diminish. If any class at all ought to be 
 represented in the House of Commons, surely it is the working 
 class, who exceed all other classes in numbers and usefulness 
 in the State. But the idea of democracy was not in his mind, 
 and women, as part of the human race, having political 
 interests was simply abhorrent to him. He was always for the 
 Crown, the Bible, and the Constitution as much as any Conserva- 
 tive. He was against the Tories — when they put passion in 
 the place of principle and their interests in the place of duty — 
 but not otherwise. 
 
 It is quite a vulgar error to suppose that the democracy are 
 more undiscerning than patricians. They made as many mis- 
 takes about Mr. Bright as the people did. An illustrious poet 
 could write of him as : — 
 
 «* This broad-brimmed brawler of holy things, 
 Whose ear is cramm'd with his cotton, and sings 
 Even in dreams, to the chink of his pence." 
 
276 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 True, this was said long ago. But no one who per: 
 knew Bright, at his advent in public affairs, could thinl 
 Bright was no "brawler of holy things." Sincerit 
 reverence were always deep in his heart. There w 
 " cotton in his ears." He knew Free Trade and peace 
 benefit the manufacturer, but would benefit the people 
 No politician of his day was less influenced by the " ch 
 his pence " than John Bright. Carlyle, with all his clan 
 philosophy, made the same mistake as the poet, in hi 
 temptuous remark upon the " cock-nosed Rochdale Ra 
 who had as fair a nose as the scornful " Sage of Chelsea.' 
 
 All the while Mr. Bright's eloquence was directed 1 
 maintenance of an honest garrison in the fortress of autl 
 He was the one platform warder of the constitution, 
 must minister to freedom and justice. He spoke no 
 against the throne from his first speech until his last. Q 
 ask protection from power ; they never seek to subvert ] 
 Their doctrine of non-resistance makes them the natural 
 of monarchs. Penn had the ear of Charles II. Edmrj 
 had ready audience of King James. Shillitoe prayed wil 
 Emperor of Russia, who knelt by Shillitoe's side. Qi 
 were not spies against freedom, but honest reporters of 
 done, whose honest impartial word kings could trust. 
 Bright was always of the Quaker mind. He regarded aut 
 as of God, but he held that authority was responsib 
 righteous rule. He was a courtier with an honest cons< 
 He was for the perpetuity of the Crown, and also, and mi 
 for the welfare of the people. In one of his great speed 
 avowed : — 
 
 " There is a yet auguster thing, 
 
 Veiled though it be, than Parliament or King." 
 
 Mr. Bright was always for freedom of conscience, and e 
 for freedom of action, at the dictate of conscience. " Are 
 kind to stand still ? " he asked in one of his earlier spe 
 He was for order, but with order there must be progres 
 was this conviction which made him insurgent again: 
 policy of doing nothing. Now he is gone, there is no 
 popular Conservative force left, save Mr. Gladstone. 
 
CHAPTER CVIII. 
 PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MR. BRIGHT. 
 
 (1850-1889.) 
 
 Of Mr. Blight's political appreciation of orthodoxy, an 
 instance occurred in connection with the Repeal of the Taxes 
 on Knowledge. It was proposed that I should move, and Mr. 
 C. D. Collet second, an amendment at the London Tavern, 
 at a public meeting convened by Mr. Peter Borthwick, M.P., 
 for the purpose of founding a separate association for repealing 
 the Paper duty, leaving out the repeal of the Stamp duty, 
 which he did not desire — the Tories being opposed to it, 
 and being also against the abolition of the newspaper stamp, 
 which prevented the people having newspapers in their 
 interests. Mr. C. D. Collet, the secretary, defended my being 
 appointed to make the anti-Borthwick speech, on the ground 
 that I was the most likely person to perform a disagreeable 
 duty in the least disagreeable manner. Mr. Bright, when told 
 of the appointment, objected on the score of policy — it not 
 being advisable that the society should be represented on so 
 conspicuous an occasion by a person of my known opinions on 
 other subjects. " We might be described by the enemy as a 
 society of atheists." Mr. Cobden, who was always for carrying 
 a point by whatever force was at hand, said, when the arrange- 
 ment was mentioned to him, that "for his part he saw no 
 objection to my moving the amendment in question, as he 
 would accept the assistance of the devil in a justifiable enter- 
 prise, provided he observed such regard to personal appearances 
 as might preclude his identity at an untimely moment." As I 
 was considered a person who would fulfil these conditions, I 
 
278 S/XTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 was appointed. There was no doubt in any mind as to my 
 identity with the sable agitator who had been named. I and 
 Mr. Collet made our speeches, and our resolution was carried. 
 Mr. Milner Gibson, who had remained in an ante-room until 
 the success of the motion was clear, came forward and took part 
 in the meeting, it being thought best that he should not appear 
 at all, unless Mr. Borthwick's proposal was doomed to defeat. 
 Thus it came to pass that the resolution against Mr. Borth- 
 wick's separatist project was carried (January 2, 1851), and 
 the Advertisement Duty, the Newspaper Stamp, and the Paper 
 Tax were kept unitedly before Parliament until they were all 
 repealed. Mr. Bright's objection to me was on grounds of 
 policy alone. Personally he was always friendly to me. 
 
 As I have said, he possessed a strong sense of personal 
 religion ; there was no narrowness in his judgments. He 
 cared more for the conduct of men than for their professions. 
 A Cabinet colleague of Mr. Bright has related that one day 
 objection was made by some one as to the opinions he supposed 
 me to hold, when Mr. Bright, who was present, stopped him 
 by saying, " Holyoake is a very good Christian, and does not 
 know it." 
 
 At the burial of Samuel Lucas, the editor of the Morning 
 Star, I accompanied Mr. Bright to the grave of his sister, who 
 died soon after her marriage. She was considered beautiful, as 
 most of the Bright family are. Afterwards, speaking of many 
 things, I asked him if he remembered a Moslem said to have 
 been in his father's employ who was considered a famous 
 manipulator of colours. 1 The man was unable, even for 
 reward, to communicate his secret. His sense of the quality of 
 colour was an instinct, and he decided the proportions by 
 feeling (by feelth as the Saxons would say more expressively) 
 on passing the colour through his fingers. On my early visits 
 to Rochdale I often heard him spoken of by workmen, he being 
 a foreigner and a Mohammedan. He attended church and 
 passed as a Christian during his lifetime. When, however, 
 his end came, it was found that he had the Koran under his 
 pillow, and that he turned his face to Mecca to die. Christian- 
 ity did very well for him to live by, but he could not trust it to 
 
 1 Mr. Bright did not remember him. Mr. J. A. Bright tells me there is no 
 tradition of him in the family, and he must have worked elsewhere in Rochdale. 
 
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MR. BRIGHT. 279 
 
 die by. In the most unoriental of towns — Rochdale — he 
 preserved his trust in his Oriental faith. Mr. Bright was much 
 interested in the story of the man. He might, had he been in 
 Mr. Bright's employ, have lived openly as a Moslem, and no 
 disadvantage would have accrued to him on the part of his 
 employer. Mr. Bright had in his works men of all political, 
 religious, speculative, and socialistic convictions, who never had 
 reason to conceal their opinions from him. 
 
 The last time I saw Mr. Bright was at One Ash, his residence 
 in Rochdale, a few months before his death. He showed me 
 the political presents in his rooms, especially those from 
 America, and pointed out portraits of members of his family 
 known to me. We conversed on many things. He was the 
 same to me as ever, although he knew that with his later 
 opinions I could never be brought to agree — even by the aid 
 of machinery. 
 
 He was the friend of his workpeople ; respecting their views, 
 he asked no questions, but they might ask him any, and he 
 was often stopped in the mill yard when his advice was wished 
 in some personal trouble. A visitor might at times see Mr. 
 Bright, while walking home, overtake one of his waggoners, 
 and converse with him as they went along, side by side. 
 
 At Lord Palmerston's desire, conveyed to me by Mr. 
 Thornton Hunt, I undertook to ascertain whether Mr. Bright 
 would take office, being of opinion myself that it was not 
 advantageous for a great leader to remain outside the Cabinet, 
 to criticise it for not doing more, and not to go in when it was 
 open to him and attempt to do what he could, where his 
 presence would at least be a deterrent influence against evil 
 measures to some extent. Mr. Bright thought differently, and 
 he was more competent than myself to form an opinion upon 
 that proposal, which concerned himself alone. Years later, 
 when, in obedience to what he was assured was the public 
 interest, and under the influence of Mr. Gladstone's friendship, 
 Mr. Bright took office, he had to present himself to the Queen 
 as one of her Ministers. The Queen, with that personal con- 
 sideration by which she was often distinguished, remembering 
 that Mr. Bright was a Quaker and might have scruples at 
 kneeling to a monarch, who refused to uncover his head in the 
 presence of God — therefore caused it to be made known to Mr, 
 
2 8o SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 Bright that he might, if he pleased, omit the ceremony of 
 kneeling on kissing hands. A friend of Mr. Bright's, thinking 
 this act of fine consideration for the feelings of others ought to 
 be made public, asked me to state it. When I had ascertained 
 that there was no objection to the fact being mentioned in print, 
 I communicated it to the Newcastle Chronicle ; but either 
 from misreading or from the printer having no letter " n " in 
 his case, it was printed " or " instead of " on " ; and it went 
 forth that Mr. Bright was at liberty to dispense with kneeling 
 or kissing hands on his presentation to the Queen, which was 
 quite a superfluous concession, as a Quaker is never wanting in 
 ceremonial courtesy to a lady, and Mr. Bright — himself a 
 Monarchist by conviction — would never demur to kissing the 
 Queen's hands. The paragraph was copied into The Tunes 
 with the same error in it ; it went through the press in the 
 same way. Mr. Camden Hotten, in his edition of the 
 " Speeches of John Bright," repeated it. I wrote to the New 
 York Tribune correcting the error in America. Nevertheless, 
 owing to the error of a single letter, it has passed into English 
 history that Mr. Bright neither knelt nor kissed hands when he 
 became Minister of the Crown. 
 
 Mr. Paulton, who knew as much as most men of the early 
 history of the Anti-Corn Law League, told me that both " Mr. 
 Bright and Mr. Cobden were taught and confirmed" in the 
 principles of commercial freedom they espoused by Mr. Thomas 
 Thomasson. Mr. Thomasson was a manufacturer of Bolton, 
 who understood the political economy of trade better than any 
 other manufacturer of his day. Mr. Thomasson being a 
 Quaker, it. was natural that Mr. Bright should be impressed by 
 him. The first time Mr. Bright went out to deliver a lecture, 
 he was doubtful of his success. He had well considered what 
 he would say, but on his way to the hall he called upon Mr. 
 Thomasson to take his advice as to the quality of his arguments. 
 Mr. Paulton said Mr. Cobden had often consulted Mr. Thomas- 
 son in a similar way. 
 
CHAPTER CIX. 
 
 MR. BRIGHT 'S ORATORICAL METHOD AND MANNER 
 OF MIND. 
 
 (1850-1889.) 
 
 Though engaged in business, with little time to spare for study, 
 Mr. Bright became a great orator — on the principle explained 
 by the Irishman, who said " a short sleep did for him, because 
 when he slept he paid attention to it." Force of expression was 
 natural to Mr. Bright. His fine voice and public applause 
 made him conscious that excellence in public speaking was 
 possible to him. But force and finish of expression came 
 slowly. The great speeches of Sheridan and Fox do not — from 
 such accountsas we have of them — justify their great reputation. 
 That is owing probably to their not being adequately reported. 
 When a speaker is master of his subject and sure of his terms, 
 an exact report will give him fame. But if his speech be 
 summarised, his reputation may suffer — unless he who makes 
 the summary is capable of making the speech. Dr. Johnson 
 was a man of this capacity, and his summaries made the fame 
 of the orators of whose speeches he condescended to give an 
 account. Porson said : " Pitt carefully considered his sentences 
 before he uttered them, but Fox threw himself into the middle 
 of his, and left it to God Almighty to get him out again." Fox 
 got himself out before his auditors, by his overmastering energy, 
 but his reader needed aid. Pitt's later speeches, fully reported 
 (as I judge from reading some of them), had captivating fluency. 
 When Bright's speeches are read, they justify the reputation 
 assigned to them. He moved the hearers as Danton and 
 Mirabeau did the audiences they addressed. Mr. Beresford 
 
282 SIXTV YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 Hope's description of Mr. Bright — when he was advanced in 
 years — as "the white lion of Birmingham " could best be under- 
 stood by those who heard him. One night, at Birmingham, 
 when he had delivered a long, forcible, but not brilliant speech, 
 on Ireland, a vote of thanks was accorded to him late in the 
 evening. In acknowledging the vote, there came a storm of 
 oratory from him awakening a fury of enthusiasm in the some- 
 what languid meeting. " If you, my countrymen," he ex- 
 claimed, " are unanimous that justice should be done to 
 Ireland, it shall be done." He spoke the words as though he 
 were the tribune of the kingdom, and his resolute and com- 
 manding tone gave the impression that he was able to cause it 
 to come to pass. 
 
 In the earlier elections in which Mr. Bright was concerned in 
 Birmingham, he spoke at various ward meetings, when his 
 language was often disjointed, and sometimes incomplete. It 
 might be owing to the work of inferior or wearied reporters to 
 some extent, but the language was that of an ordinary and 
 excited speaker. Mr. Bright himself might be exhausted, but 
 the defects of style were such as exhaustion would not occasion. 
 It was the original manner, which cultivation had not then 
 effaced. 
 
 At a Covent Garden meeting, October, 1843, Mr. Bright, 
 in the course of his speech in defence of Free Trade, ex- 
 claimed : — 
 
 " Oh ! then, innocently brave, 
 We will wrestle with the wave 
 Where commerce spreads her daring sail, 
 And yokes her naval chariots to the gale. " 
 
 The loud and long-continued cheering evoked was owing to 
 the orator's manner rather than his matter. Twenty-five 
 years later Mr. Bright showed far greater taste in selecting 
 quotations from the poets. Speaking in Birmingham on 
 January 13, 1868, he said — 
 
 " Religion, freedom, vengeance, what you will, 
 A word's enough to rouse mankind to kill, 
 Some cunning phrase by faction caught and spread 
 That guilt may reign, and wolves and worms be fed." 
 
 There was instruction as well as honest rage in these lines. 
 At the Anti-Corn Law meeting of 1843, as may be read in 
 
MR. BRIGHT' S ORATORICAL METHOD. 283 
 
 the League newspaper reports and elsewhere at that period, 
 Mr. Bright told us, in various terms, that the cost of the army 
 and navy was maintained in the interest of the upper class. 
 Twenty-five years later I heard him recur to this idea at a 
 banquet in the Birmingham Town Hall, but no longer in the 
 crude form of earlier days. The flint-headed hatchet was 
 exchanged for a flashing scimitar. He said that " the army and 
 navy were but a gigantic system of out-door relief for the 
 aristocracy." The effect upon the audience was notable. The 
 satire of the expression was caught at first only by the quicker 
 part of the audience, who cheered — when immediately a larger 
 number saw the point and the cheering was doubled — then 
 everybody saw it, and the hall resounded with cheering and 
 laughter and striking the plates with knife and fork. The 
 next day Lord Lyttelton wrote a letter denying that the words 
 were cheered : but the banquet committee had to pay a con- 
 siderable sum for breakages which occurred at that particular 
 time. 
 
 Some years later Mr. Bright was speaking at St Martin's 
 Hall. Mr. Ayrton came in. It was on the day of, or the day 
 after, the great Reform procession which had passed through 
 the Mall. Complaints had been made by the Tories that the 
 procession should have been allowed so near Buckingham 
 Palace. Mr. Ayrton uttered reproaches of the Queen that she 
 had not condescended to witness it Then Mr. Bright arose 
 and made his famous defence of the Queen. He could not 
 foresee that Mr. Ayrton would come in, nor foreknow what he 
 would say — yet his language was as perfect as though pre- 
 meditated. I sat by him as he spoke, and concluded from that 
 night that a style of dignity and grace had become habitual to 
 him. In earlier years he had spoken of the Queen at Covent 
 Garden meetings with studied respectfulness, but never with 
 the felicity of phrase which he had now acquired. He had the 
 voice of an organ, at once strong and harmonious, which 
 swelled but never screeched. A resolute face and a resolute 
 tone gave him a commanding manner, which, united to a 
 stately way of thinking, gave him ascendency in oratory. Dis- 
 regarding details, he put the relevance of a question so strongly 
 that it is difficult to express in other words the same idea with 
 equal force. This is the mark of the style we call Shakespearean, 
 
284 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 Miltonic, or Tennysonian — noble thought put in unchangeable 
 terms. A single passage in one of his orations makes clear his 
 method of speech. " I believe, he said, " there is no permanent 
 greatness to a nation, except it be based on morality. I do not 
 care for military greatness or military renown ; I care for the 
 condition of the people among whom I live. There is no man 
 in England less likely to speak irreverently of the Crown and 
 Monarchy of England than I am ; but crown, coronets, mitres, 
 military displays, pomp of war, wide colonies, and a huge 
 empire are, in my view, all trifles light as air, and not worth 
 considering, unless with them you can have a fair share of 
 comfort, contentment, and happiness among the great body of 
 the people. Palaces, baronial castles, great halls, and stately 
 mansions do not make a nation. The nation in every country 
 dwells in the cottage." Here is the Homeric, realistic tread of 
 simplicity and power — not among metaphysical abstractions 
 which flit before the mind like shadows, but among men and 
 things palpable to every mind and touching living interests. 
 
 The Quaker gets from his self-chosen faith self-sufficiency, 
 concentration, and force, and to this Bright owed his simplicity, 
 directness and massiveness of speech. 
 
 In his earlier speeches he made furious personal imputations 
 upon the landlords of the aristocracy who stood in the way of 
 the Repeal of the Corn Laws. They thought he hated them. 
 That was their mistake. On the contrary, he said that, if they 
 would take the part of the people, he should welcome them in 
 council and would " defer to their opinions." 
 
 Mr. Bright's invective was owing to his Quaker belief, and 
 he was never free from invective. An everyday man will 
 think his adversary has some common sense, and that if facts 
 could be put before him his opinion would change. But a 
 Quaker says, "I have an inner light which tells me what the 
 truth is, and what is more, you have the same inner light 
 which tells you the truth, and you are sinning against it." 
 The true Quaker regards the " inner light " as the very voice 
 of God, and is more wroth in terms than other men, and has 
 more difficulty in forgiving dissent from his views. 
 
 Though a peace-lover from humanity as well as from faith, 
 I once heard Mr. Bright express interest in battle. It was the 
 third year of the American war, and the House of Commons 
 
MR. BRIGHT'S ORATORICAL METHOD. 285 
 
 derided his predictions of the success of the Union, because it 
 had obtained no signal advantages in the field. An eminent 
 American came down to the House and spoke with Mr. Bright 
 on their prospects. Mr. Bright said to me, " If they would give 
 us a victory, we should soon put things right here " — meaning 
 in the House of Commons. 
 
 There hung, some years ago, in the National Portrait Gallery, 
 a portrait of George Fox in leathern garments, with a face of 
 great sensual beauty. No wonder the women of fifty towns 
 were in love with him. The portrait inspired me with respect 
 for a man of his nature, who gave up the worship of women for 
 his life in gaols. Seeing Mr. Bright in one of the rooms, I said, 
 " Go and see George Fox's portrait," which he had not noticed ; 
 " you will understand why he came to wear a leather dress and 
 attain his strange ascendency." He went to see it, and took 
 Mrs. Bright with him, who was then in town. 
 
 Mr. Bright never distinguished that sentimentality is the 
 sense of what ought to be, and practicality is the sense of what 
 can be. He had both senses, though he denied it. One night, 
 in the Smoke Room of the House of Commons, I asked him to 
 present a petition for me upon a question he thought unattain- 
 able. Seeing a Minister near, he said, " Take it to him. He 
 parts his hair down the middle. He is a man of sentiment — 
 just the man for you." He forgot that he came from the 
 Puritan stock who all parted their hair. He was himself a 
 shareholder in the Morning Star. All London was amazed 
 when the hard-headed Manchester school elected to be repre- 
 sented by the sentimental title of old Utopian journals. 
 
 Mr. Bright had moral imagination beyond any political orator 
 of my time. The ethical passion glowed in his speeches. It 
 was that which won for him popular trust. One night he had 
 quoted in Parliament George Fox — whom he did not name — 
 a fine passage to the effect — When death shall divest the soul 
 of its human garments of passions and prejudices, and we come 
 to know ourselves as we are, we shall wonder to find how much 
 our intentions have been the same. Speaking to Mr. Bright as 
 he came out of the House, I said : " That peroration was a 
 sermon which only you would have the courage to preach 
 there, and from you only would they listen to it." He 
 answered, " This is a House where sermons are more needed 
 than any place I know." 
 
286 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 It may be said of Mr. Bright as Ben Jonson said of Lord 
 Bacon, " There happened in my time one noble speaker, who 
 was full of gravity in his speaking. His language, where he 
 could spare, or pass by a jest, was nobly censorious. No man 
 ever spoke more neatly, more pressingly, more weightily, or 
 suffered less emptiness, less idleness in what he uttered. He 
 commanded where he spoke. The fear of every man who 
 heard him was lest he should make an end." 
 
 One morning, at a breakfast at Mr. Gladstone's, he said, " I 
 want to speak to you about your book," meaning the " History 
 of Co-operation in England," which he had permitted me to 
 dedicate to him. " There is only one thing in which I think 
 you wrong. You speak of capital as injurious in itself." I 
 said that was not in my mind. He answered quickly, putting 
 his hand on my shoulder, " But it is in your book." This 
 was true. I had not distinguished that it was certain acts of 
 capitalists which I deprecated. 
 
 In 1882, I took to America the fine, almost life-size photo- 
 graph of Mr. Bright, by Mayall, which I presented to my friend 
 James Charlton, of Chicago. That represents Bright as he 
 appeared when he took the floor in Parliament, with fire and 
 defiance in his face. The Century gave an engraving of it. 
 Mr. G. W. Smalley, of the Tribune, was to write a paper on 
 Bright. Not being able to do it at the time, it was given to 
 Mr. Escott, a coadjutor of Captain Hamber on the Hour. I 
 was indignant at seeing Mr. Bright depicted before the American 
 nation by dashes of Tory disparagement, and resented it wherever 
 I wrote. 
 
 One orator whom Mr. Bright would never admit that he 
 equalled, was Wendell Phillips, whom he regarded, he said, 
 " as the greatest orator who spoke the English tongue." In 
 1879, as Mr. Phillips was showing me the memorable buildings 
 in State Street, Boston, Mr. Bright's son came up. He was 
 visiting America at the time, and I introduced Mr. Phillips to 
 him. Mr. Phillips took off his hat and stood uncovered all the 
 time of the interview, after the Indian manner of doing honour 
 to the father by treating his son with distinction. I wrote Mr. 
 Bright of this fine act of courtesy on the part of Mr. Wendell 
 Phillips. On my return to England he passed me on the plat- 
 form of the Birmingham Town Hall as he was about to address 
 
MR. BRIGHT S ORATORICAL METHOD. ^87 
 
 his constituents. Not expecting to meet me so soon he turned 
 back and said, " Why, Holyoake, you are always somewhere." 
 
 During several years I heard all the principal debates in the 
 House of Commons. For two sessions he was continually 
 assailed for his Franchise speeches. So constantly was this 
 done, that every measure he was supposed to favour was 
 condemned, until it seemed that his sympathy with a Liberal 
 bill was dangerous to it. All the while the Tory party had 
 come to see that he was right and had made up their minds to 
 further enfranchisement, and this was the way in which they 
 disguised the concession which had become inevitable. It was 
 exactly the case described by the American poet at the collapse 
 of the Slaveholder's Confederacy : — 
 
 "Not all at once did the skunk curl up ; 
 We saw it bounce and heard it lie — - 
 But all the while it was looking about 
 For a hole in which to die. " 
 
 Shortly after, Mr. Bright became the most popular man in the 
 House and the country, and his approval valuable to politicians 
 in difficulties. 
 
 The views of Mr. Bright's character I have described are 
 such as impressed me who knew him in movements he liked 
 and in those he disliked. Despite his avowed contempt for 
 sentiment, he was the most sentimental member of the House 
 of Commons. He had the same aversion to philosophers as 
 Lord Beaconsfield, but for different reasons. He had great 
 humility, as Mr. Gladstone has ; but in Mr. Bright it was the 
 humility of genius falling below its own ideal — in Mr. Gladstone 
 it is the humility of duty falling short of the obligation of 
 service due to the Giver of his great powers. Mr. Bright was 
 no friend of democracy ; he had no sympathy for it. With 
 political principles, as thinkers define them, he little troubled. 
 His great passions were for justice, public prosperity, the 
 comfort and contentment of the people. To these ends he 
 devoted his great powers. Of these he was the foremost 
 champion of our time. All else was to him as though it were 
 not. As far as he was concerned, thrones might stand. To 
 him intellectual rights were impracticable ideals. But within 
 the limits in which his mind ranged he commanded the 
 admiration and gratitude of the English people. 
 
288 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 This is why the people had honour for Mr. Bright, and put 
 trust in him. He was a Liberal who strove for progress, 
 vindicated it, pleaded for it, urged it forward, attacked all who 
 withstood it. A Tory studies how he can stop it — defames it, 
 obstructs it, and denounces all who are friendly to it : and 
 when, despite of him, it comes to pass, he claims to have 
 originated it. 
 
 When Mr. Bright's last illness came, bulletins went out 
 which led the press to make remarks that his end was near. 
 Mr. Bright might not see the papers, but they could not but 
 affect his attendants, and he was too quick an observer not to 
 divine foreboding in their faces ; so it came to pass by a 
 friendly suggestion to the bulletin maker that they were less 
 frequent and more placid. Mr. Bright was always cheered by 
 friendly remembrances by his townsmen, and, having to address 
 a great meeting of co-operators in Rochdale, representing 
 twelve thousand of his neighbours, I moved that we sent a 
 message (not a condolence) to him, saying — 
 
 " That this assembly, celebrating the forty-fourth anniversary 
 of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers' Society, desires to send to 
 Mr. Bright a message of regard for acts of neighbourly friend- 
 ship and counsel to the early Pioneers, and for his aid in 
 Parliament in procuring legal protection for societies of self- 
 help in their unfriended days. The Rochdale members send 
 him their grateful wishes. They know he is sustained by a 
 simple and noble faith, and by a conscience rich in a thousand 
 memories of services to those who dwell in cottages or labour 
 in our towns. The days of one who gave his strength for the 
 benefit of the people ought to be " long in the land," and they 
 who send him this message are glad to believe that his days 
 will be yet long extended." 
 
 It gave Mr. Bright pleasure. It was the only resolution of 
 sympathy made public having no dash of the undertaker in it. 
 
 He was the friend of industrious working people everywhere ; 
 what is more, he had personal friendliness towards them, and 
 sympathy with them, and helped them in difficulty, in old age, 
 and need, as his own work-people knew. His choice was to 
 dwell among his own people. He lived among them, he died 
 
MR. BRIGHT S ORATORICAL METHOD. 289 
 
 among them ; he elected to be buried among them, and he left 
 the lustre of his name to their town. 
 
 What Lord Tennyson said of the Duke of Wellington may 
 be written on the tomb of Mr. Bright : — 
 
 " His voice is silent in your council hall 
 For ever ; ... yet remember all 
 He spoke among you, and the man who spoke 
 Who never sold the truth to serve the hour. " 
 
 A new fact concerning Mr. Bright, which illustrates his 
 noble passion for justice beyond all instances I have known, 
 has just been published in the Rochdale Congress Hand- 
 book. There is in that town, works known as the Mitchell 
 Hey Mill, started by workmen on co-operative principles, 
 giving the right of profit to all concerned in making it. As 
 soon as the shareholders were numerous enough, they took the 
 workmen's shares of profit from them. " Mr. Bright ex- 
 pressed disapproval of the decision," and meeting one of 
 the co-operative leaders (Mr. A. Greenwood) " inquired if it 
 could not be reversed. A large number of Members of Par- 
 liament had taken great interest in the experiment, and he 
 also knew," he said, "manufacturers who would have been, 
 quite willing to allow workmen to share in a certain amount 
 of the profits." Mr. Bright accepted the principle that a share 
 in profit was included in equity to labour ; and had Mitchell 
 Hey Mill been permitted to prove that equity could succeed 
 in manufacture, he would have put his own mills on the same 
 plan- 
 
 VOL. it 20 
 
CHAPTER CX. 
 
 ORIGIN OF SECULARISM. 
 
 (i 850-1 890.J 
 
 As my name has been associated with Secularism for forty 
 years, and as I have no intention of disconnecting myself from 
 it, nor evading any responsibility for having originated it, I give 
 some account of it before ending the present autobiographical 
 series. 
 
 Not seeing in my youth what better I could do in a world 
 where no one seemed infallible than to think for myself, led to 
 my acquiring opinions different from other people. For a 
 time it distressed me very much to find that I differed from 
 the world, until it occurred to me that the world differed from 
 me ; then I had no more anxiety. Those who believe because 
 others believe the same, are without claim to authority ; while 
 those who hold opinions because they have thought them out 
 for themselves, have used the same liberty I had taken, and I 
 was guilty neither of presumption nor singularity. If the world 
 differed from me, it was doubtless in self-defence, and if I differed 
 from the world, it was in self-protection. And, as the world 
 did not make any arrangement to answer for my opinions, it 
 was but common sense that I should myself select the principles 
 for which I was to be responsible. 
 
 At Carlile's lecture, to which he invited me, 1 he took the line 
 he adopted in his Christian Warrior, in which he taught that a 
 scientific and mythologic explanation could be given of the 
 main facts of the Bible. When I spoke, I explained the ideas 
 from which I never departed — namely, that mythologic and 
 astronomic modes of accounting for scriptural doctrine could 
 
 1 See " Carlile the Publisher," vol. i. chap. xxxv. p. 87. 
 
 250 
 
ORIGIN OF SECULARISM. 291 
 
 never be made intelligible and convincing except to students of 
 very considerable research. Such theories, I contended, must 
 rest, more or less, on conjectural interpretation, which could 
 never command the popular mind nor enable a working man 
 to dare the understanding of others in argument. Scientific 
 interpretation, I maintained, lay entirely outside Christian 
 acquirements, and seemed to them as disingenuous evasions 
 of what they take to be obvious truths. My contention was 
 — " The people have no historic or critical knowledge enabling 
 them to judge of the authenticity or genuineness of the 
 Scriptures — their astronomic or mythologic origin. That 
 controversy must always be confined to scholars. On the 
 platform he who has most knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, or 
 Latin will always be able to silence any dissentient who has 
 not equal information and reputation for learning and research. 
 If by accident a controversialist happened to have this know- 
 ledge, it goes for nothing as authority, unless he has credit for 
 classical competency. In matters of controversy it is not 
 enough for a man to know ; he must be known to know, before 
 his conclusions can have acceptance. To myself it was not of 
 moment whether the Scriptures were authentic or inspired. 
 My sole inquiry was — Do they contain clear moral guidance 
 which would increase our certainty of aid from God ? If they 
 do, I accept that guidance with implicitness and gratitude. If 
 I find maxims obviously useful and true, judged by human 
 experience, I adopt them, whether given by inspiration or not. 
 If precepts did not answer to this test, they were not acceptable, 
 though all the apostles in committee had signed them. To 
 miracles I did not object, nor did I see any sense in endeavour- 
 ing to explain them way. We all have reason to regret that no 
 one performs them now. It was our misfortune that the power 
 delegated with so much pomp of promise to the saints had not 
 descended to these days. If any preacher or deacon could, in 
 this day, feed five thousand men on a few loaves and a few small 
 fishes, and leave as many baskets of fragments as would run a 
 workhouse for a week, the Poor Law Commissioners would 
 make a king of that saint. But if a precept enjoined me to 
 believe what was not true, it would be a base precept, and all 
 the miracles in the Scriptures could not alter its character : 
 while, if a precept be honest and just, no miracle is wanted to 
 
292 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 attest it — indeed, a miracle, to allure credence in it, would only 
 cast suspicion on its genuineness. The moral test of the 
 Scriptures was sufficient, and the only one that had popular 
 education in it, and needed neither ridicule, nor scorn, nor 
 bitterness to enforce it, since it had the commanding advantage 
 of appealing to the common sense and best sense of all sorts 
 and conditions of men, of Christian or of Pagan persuasion. 
 Ethical criticism has this further merit, that on the platform 
 of discussion the miner, the weaver, or farm labourer, are on 
 the same level as the priest. A man goes to Heaven upon 
 his own judgment : whereas, if his belief is Dased on the 
 learning of others, he goes to Heaven second hand." 
 
 My mind being given to open thought, I came to consider 
 whether a simple theory of ethical duty was possible, which 
 would save from indifference the increasing class of thinkers 
 who regarded the theology then in vogue as vague, uncertain, 
 irrelevant, or untrue. It seemed to me that doing good was 
 being good — that it was good to do good, and that if a God of 
 Goodness existed he would count goodness as merit ; and if 
 no such God did exist, goodness was the best thing men could 
 do in this world. It was best for ourselves for its satisfaction 
 and its example, and it was best for others as they would profit 
 by it. It was not less plain that there was no mode of doing 
 good open to us so certain as by material means. What were 
 called spiritual means could not be depended on ; the preacher 
 who put his trust in aid from above still found it necessary to 
 take up a collection. Looking to Providence for protection 
 against epidemics or famine, still left a good deal for physicians 
 and Poor Law Guardians to do. Those who, like Mr. Spurgeon, 
 could fill their meal barrels by prayer, had no unfailing formula 
 they could patent, of which the public could purchase the 
 royalty. Clearly science is the only Providence which can be 
 depended upon. Therefore, the morality of duty and material 
 effort were the practical precepts of Life, yielding preservation 
 in this world, and furnishing the best credentials to present iiv 
 any other. 
 
 These principles being few, practical, and demonstrable to 
 any capable of observation and reflection, they constituted an 
 independent code of conduct which, owing nothing to ancient 
 revelations, adherents of such views were under no obligation to 
 
ORIGIN OF SECULARISM. 293 
 
 waste time in reconciling the truth of to-day with error of the 
 past. Distinct from received opinion, the form here described 
 is at least equal to it, for, in the words of the Oriental motto 
 before cited, "There is no religion higher than Truth." 
 Secularism, it was hoped, would aid the " coming of the king- 
 dom of man," to which Professor Clifford looked forward. 
 
 In my youth I had borne the burden of theologic hopes and 
 fears until my mind ached, and if I could lead others into a 
 simpler, surer, and brighter way, I was wishful to do so. The 
 " Principles of Secularism," which I published, were submitted 
 to the better judgment of others. Not being a fanatic, insist- 
 ing on opinions without reason or relevance ; nor a prophet 
 claiming authority for his word ; nor having a " mission " for 
 which there was no necessity ; but being one of the few 
 persons extant who had no impression of his own infallibility, 
 I sought confirmation from better instructed minds. One was 
 Mr. John Stuart Mill, who approved my proposal as a useful 
 departure from the theologic thought of the day, ever obstructive 
 of secular improvement. The reader may see the nature of 
 these principles in " Chambers's Encyclopaedia " in an article 
 which I wrote at the request of the editor, who " wished an 
 account of Secularism by one responsible for it, and not one by 
 a dissentient, which might be a caricature." Professor Francis 
 William Newman, to whom I was indebted for the better 
 expression of some points than was possible to me, regarded 
 all who believed that duty to man is prior in time and im- 
 portance to duty to God, as Secularists — and in this sense he 
 might be so classed himself, though he maintains Theism with 
 a noble earnestness like that of Theodore Parker. 
 
 That this secular form of opinion implies Atheism is an error 
 into which many fall. Secularism, like mathematics, is inde- 
 pendent of theistical or other doctrine. Euclid did not ignore 
 the gods of his day ; he did not recognise them in geometry. 
 They were not included in it. But if pagan theology under- 
 took to contradict mathematical principle, Euclid might have 
 joined issue thereupon. But his province was geometry. At 
 one time the only two men of note in England who maintained 
 that the Secular was Atheistic, were Dr. Magee, the late Arch- 
 bishop of York, and Mr. Bradlaugh. Twice I discussed this 
 point with Mr. Bradlaugh— first about 1856, and again in 1870. 
 
294 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 The reader may see the report of the last debate in " A Little 
 Book About Great Britain," by Azimat Batuk, an agent of the 
 Napoleonic dynasty, who wrote under a Turkish name. My 
 argument was that a man could judge a house as to its 
 suitability of situation, structure, surroundings, and general 
 desirableness, without ever knowing who was the architect or 
 landlord ; and if as occupant he received no application for 
 rent, he ought in gratitude to keep the place in good repair. 
 So it is with this world. It is our dwelling place. We know 
 the laws of sanitation, economy, and equity, upon which 
 health, wealth, and security depend. All these things are 
 quite independent of any knowledge of the origin of the 
 universe or the owner of it. And as no demands are made 
 upon us in consideration of our tenancy, the least we can do is 
 to improve the estate as our acknowledgment of the advantage 
 we enjoy. This is Secularism. 
 
 When I first knew the party of independent opinion, it had 
 no policy. Its sole occupation was the confutation of error, 
 or what it took to be error, and went no further. Any- 
 thing more was not then to be expected. The confutation of 
 theologic error was a forbidden right, and they who exer- 
 cised it did it at their peril, and they did much who main- 
 tained that right. But the time came when those who 
 had succeeded in proving certain received principles to be 
 wrong, were called upon to show what independent and self- 
 dependent principles, in accordance with reason and conscience, 
 could take their places and guarantee the continuance of public 
 and private morality, and not only continue them but improve 
 their quality. It was to this new theory of secular life, the 
 sequel and complement of free criticism, that the name of 
 Secularism was given. 1 Some societies, simply anti-theological, 
 have taken the secular name, which leads many unobservant 
 persons to consider the term Secularism as synonymous with 
 atheism and general church-fighting ; whereas Secularism is a 
 new name implying a new principle and a new policy. It 
 would be an impostor term were it merely a new name 
 intended to diguise an old thing. 
 
 1 In Chambers's " Encyclopedia," in Molesworth's " History of England," 
 in Cassell's " Encyclopaedic Dictionary," in Dr. Murray's Oxford Dictionary, 
 the reader will see definitions of it. In theological literature readers may 
 meet with fair estimates of it. "Mr. Holyoake taught us many years 
 ago those truths of Secularism which are happily no longer neglected by 
 Christian teachers." — Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, in New Review. 
 
CHAPTER CXI. 
 
 THE KNIGHT WHO UPLIFTED THE DEAD HAND. 
 
 The " dead hand " has destroyed the grace of many gifts, as 
 when a man endows a church on the condition that certain 
 doctrines are to be for ever preached in it. This precludes 
 progress in thought and furnishes a premium to the gentleman 
 in the pulpit to go on preaching what is no longer true, and if 
 true no longer useful to the hearers. The doctrine is dead, 
 but the dead hand cannot be lifted. Though the object of the 
 endower was no doubt that truth should be preached, yet the 
 spirit of his provision cannot be acted upon owing to the terms 
 of his gift not providing for this. In the case of charity schools 
 it is different. The dead hand gets uplifted by cupidity. 
 Schools founded for the education of poor scholars or poor 
 children are perverted to the uses of children of the rich. 
 The intent of the founder, his spirit and letter are alike set 
 aside. 
 
 I knew one great donor who left no dead hand on his gifts, 
 though they amounted to half a million. In Birmingham 
 there lived, until lately, one Josiah Mason, who, when I and 
 others were advocates of Social views in Lawrence Street 
 Chapel, used to be one of the hearers. Josiah Mason had an 
 inquiring, an observant, and ambitious mind, but his ambition 
 was the wholesome ambition of usefulness. He had risen from 
 the humblest occupation. When a young man he held a situ- 
 ation as manager of a business in which his master promised 
 him a partnership. Under the inspiration of this promise he 
 had put into his service the zeal and sagacity of a partner. At 
 length he found that the promise was not to be fulfilled ; he 
 left, and no inducement, not that of a salary higher than he. 
 
296 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 had any prospect of obtaining elsewhere, could induce him to 
 stay. He had self-reliance and self-help in him. No honest 
 duty was beneath him, and industry and probity did the rest, 
 He knew that thrift was fortune. He became a manufacturer 
 eventually, and when the day of prosperity came, he built a 
 great orphanage at Erdington, open to children of any sect and 
 of any race. Neither opinion nor colour was a bar to admission. 
 He had acquired Robert Owen's passion for the formation of 
 character, and concluded that wholesome conditions and good 
 practical education would go a good way towards it in the 
 young. One day he explained to me himself his arrangements, 
 which showed that he was a kindly student of child nature. 
 He had their baths made of wood, and the spaces around on 
 which they stepped into the bath also of wood, so that no cold 
 or discomfort should be associated with a healthy habit, render- 
 ing it distasteful and repugnant. He had all the doors in the 
 buildings made so that they would open in or out by a child 
 pushing them, that the little ones might not be impeded nor 
 kept in or out by knobs difficult to turn. He had the beams of 
 the roof left visible, that a child who could not, understand 
 why the ceiling was kept up might see it was supported and 
 would not fall down. The gas and water pipes he had left 
 visible, so that they might understand everything that was 
 liable to instruct them or excite their curiosity. In the chapel 
 in which they were assembled on Sundays he prescribed that a 
 preacher of any denomination might conduct the service, pro- 
 viding he was willing to discourse a wise and kindly morality, 
 omitting the awful tenet of eternal punishment, which he 
 thought a fearful terror to the young mind and a barbaric 
 conception of God. 
 
 Adopting a wise provision, suggested by a philosophical 
 lawyer he consulted (Mr. G. J. Johnson), he gave the whole 
 property in trust to persons half chosen by himself and half by 
 municipal authority ; and at his decease the trust was to be 
 entirely controlled by the town. A further wise provision was 
 that, at the end of every thirty years, the trust should be open 
 for two years for suggestions of improvement in its objects 
 needed to meet new requirements which time and experience 
 might develop. Thus was substituted the authority of the 
 public interests for the dead hand of the donor. I dp not 
 
E KNIGHT WHO UPLIFTED THE DEAD HAND. 297 
 
 ember any like instance of tolerant and sagacious thought- 
 ess enabling a great public gift to be kept in line with, 
 lie progress, 
 he trustees chosen by Mr. Josiah Mason for the administra- 
 
 of the orphanage were nearly all personal friends of mine, 
 rting some of them shortly after the endowment (which 
 runted to nearly a quarter of a million of money) was placed 
 leir hands, I asked "Under what circumstances they received 
 id by what ceremony it was accompanied. Did they assemble 
 
 citizens in the Town Hall and receive from his hands the 
 ndid gift with circumstances of public honour ? " It trans- 
 d that they had met him at luncheon at the Orphanage, 
 ived the transfer of the building and its opulent endow- 
 lts, and wished him good morning. Considering that the 
 sr of so unusual a gift was entitled to public honour, I 
 lired why did they not ask a knighthood for him ? Honour 
 
 the wine of old age, and such a recognition would be 
 [itable to the town. The answer was they did not see how 
 as to be done, but if I thought it possible I might take any 
 s to tt at end with their concurrence. Then I mentioned 
 matter to such members of Parliament as I thought might 
 ; an interest in municipal equity. I wrote upon the subject 
 he papers, and asked Mr. Walker, the then editor of the 
 'ly News, who was always ready to promote any project for 
 1 or public good, to mention the matter in his columns, 
 ilic honour conferred upon mere worth is hard to be 
 lined until the public take interest in it, and to do this it is 
 issary that they have information. It was also necessary 
 
 the knighthood I suggested should be concurred in by the 
 ibers of Parliament for the borough in which Mr. Mason 
 It. Mr. George Dixon readily assented, and supported 
 proposal ; but Mr. Bright saw objections to it, and asked 
 " Whether I thought it a good principle that a man should 
 tiade a knight because he had given ^"200,000 to a town ?" 
 swered, " If the question was whether an order of knight- 
 1 or other social distinctions should be created, its usefulness 
 
 open to contention ; but, knowing as he did how knights 
 ; made, how men who never rendered any public service 
 ived that distinction, and many because they had become 
 essed by ways unknown of ^"100,000 — it did seem to me 
 
298 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 not an unprofitable principle to establish that any one who had 
 given ^"200,000 to the community should be eligible for a 
 knighthood." Mr. Bright admitted there was some reason in 
 that view, and when he learned that Mr. Mason had not 
 proposed to leave this money at his death liable to dispute and 
 doubtfulness of application — but had actually divested himself 
 of it while living, and placed its administration in the hands of 
 the municipality — he concurred in the proposal. 
 
 In the deed of trust which Mr. Mason executed, he stated 
 that when he first entered Birmingham as a youth he sold 
 muffins in the streets. No bell had a purer tinkle than his. 
 No muffins were warmer or cosier than his in the clean green 
 baize which covered them. From that humble beginning he 
 had risen by industry and integrity to the possession of great 
 wealth, which he had devoted to a well-considered public 
 purpose. I asked a member of the Government, Mr. Stansfeld, 
 whose friendliness to unrecognised service I knew, to put Mr. 
 Mason's candid and manly story into the hands of the Queen, 
 who I believe would be interested in it. She was interested, 
 and considerately ordered that Mr. Mason's knighthood should 
 be gazetted that he might be saved the necessity of appearing 
 at Court to receive the distinction, at his age, which was then 
 78. Thus the benefactor who made a great gift and attached 
 no dead hand to it became Sir Josiah Mason. When I received 
 intimation of the Queen's decision, Mr. George Dixon, M.P., 
 said it was for me to communicate it to Mr. Mason because I 
 had caused it to occur. I had pride in it, because it added 
 well-earned dignity to one who was the providence of little 
 children, and had done a generous thing in an unexampled 
 way, and who would otherwise have remained unrecognised by 
 any public distinction. Sir Josiah Mason afterwards gave a 
 quarter of a million more to found and endow the Mason College 
 in which no creed or want of one is any disqualification for 
 entering it. 
 
CHAPTER CXII. 
 
 APOLOGY TO THE READER. 
 
 Many books at their close need this : and he who has perused 
 these chapters has probably thought some apology was due long 
 ago. The story of many persons and many events remain 
 untold in them ; should I ever tell them, as in those I have 
 related, one characteristic will be found — that of depicting the 
 manners, prejudices, and progress of my time, so far as, judging 
 from my own experience, may be of use to others. In any 
 manifesto of a committee, of which I have been one, I have asked, 
 in mercy to others, for brevity and clearness. Having myself a 
 full share both of perversity and dulness, the statement which 
 compelled my assent might be intelligible to the public ; for I 
 never put myself forward as representing other than the average 
 stupidity of mankind. In this way I have been of service to 
 men wiser than myself. Only in this way I may have been of 
 service to the reader, who, being better informed than the writer, 
 has been saved time in making out his meaning. 
 
 Forty of my colleagues of former years, all counted, have 
 died by my side, and I should be dead also had I been as strong 
 as they. Being otherwise, I had to keep both work and pleasure 
 within the limits of my strength, whereas they, being like Dr. 
 Wendell Holmes's " one-horse shay," equally strong in every 
 part, went down, without suspicion or foreboding, altogether. 
 
 In my life one constant source of pleasure has been — that of 
 laughing at the absurdity of the things I like. Seeing prin- 
 ciples as objects apart from me, I could not but notice the 
 grotesque way in which unconsciously they were sometimes 
 carried out. A friend of mine who had progress in his heart 
 and was bent upon the redemption of the world, which has been 
 
3oo SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATORS LIFE. 
 
 the ambition of noble men in all ages, founded a " Redemption 
 Society " — a big business surely — and we began to acknowledge 
 the weekly receipts in the Leader, which ran — Leeds, 7d. • 
 London, iojd. ; Glasgow, is. 3d. These small sums for a vast 
 end made it look absurd. I suggested that the contributions 
 should be allowed to accumulate before inserting them, which 
 caused me to be counted unsympathetic. In speech, in conduct, 
 as in judgments, I am for proportion. In social and political 
 aims credence depends upon proportion between progression 
 and possibility. Far be it from me to pretend to be without 
 points of amusement in the judgment of others. The only 
 apology for absurdity lies in admitting it when you have com- 
 mitted it. There is no 1 safeguard against ridiculousness, save 
 by looking outside yourself, and observing the reflection which 
 conduct makes in the mirror of circumambient eyes. 
 
 Many who enter on the path of public service are repelled, 
 as I have seen, by the prevalence there of aspirants for the 
 position of pontiffs, chiefs, and lesser popes and potentates. 
 Yet it is a good sign that this ambition exists. When, however, 
 these persons are found decrying the thing another is doing, 
 which you therefore conclude to be wrong and extol them for 
 their wiser perception — you are discouraged on finding that they 
 did not consider the thing wrong, but sought to prevent another 
 doing it in order to have the credit of doing it themselves. 
 Carlyle, proclaiming the doctrine of silence in order that his 
 own voice might be alone heard, is an instance of the same 
 thing in literature. Surprise on the first discovery of this 
 artifice is one of the instructive shocks of experience. 
 
 The ambition of distinction is wholesome so long as it per- 
 mits equal opportunity to others. In democracy there is no 
 chieftainship to which others must submit their judgment 
 against their reason. There is no legitimate leadership, 
 save the leadership of ideas, no allegiance save that of 
 conviction, no loyalty save loyalty to principle. The pas- 
 sion of personal ascendency — the more than impatience, the 
 dislike such persons have of submitting their conduct to the 
 judgment of others — their belief that they are superior persons 
 and all others inferior — the desire to keep others separate 
 and apart — the reluctance to consult them except when 
 applause or suffrages are necessary to the success of their aims 
 
APOLOGY TO THE READER. 301 
 
 — lies deep in the hearts of those who seek personal ascen- 
 dency. When the genius of democracy enters the mind and 
 teaches a leader to aim at the elevation of his cause or his coun- 
 try, rather than the elevation of himself, then he says with 
 Byron — 
 
 " I wish men to be free 
 As much from mobs as kings — from you as me." 
 
 Those who look back on life disappointed because it has not 
 been what they wished it to be, should be put back again into 
 the kingdom of the unborn — they do not understand the world 
 into which they have come. Those who look on their days 
 with regret because they have not been what they might have 
 been had they availed themselves of the opportunities they have 
 had, have not adequately observed what has gone on around 
 them. No one does avail himself of all his opportunities. 
 Every one has to regret fatal or irreparable omissions. The 
 dice of life are loaded by unseen agents before we throw them, 
 and we may be glad if we win anything, not discontented 
 because we do not win all. 
 
 My information, all told, does not amount to much ; but the 
 best and surest part of it has been gained in discussion, and in 
 listening to criticisms. It is wise to believe in the Arabic pro- 
 verb : — 
 
 " Men are four. 
 
 " He who knows not, and knows not he knows not. He is a 
 fool ; shun him. 
 
 " He who knows not, and knows he knows not. He is simple ; 
 teach him. 
 
 " He who knows, and knows not he knows. He is asleep ; 
 wake him. 
 
 " He who knows, and knows he knows. He is wise ; follow 
 him." 
 
 Sayings are like glowworms. It is only in the night of 
 experience that we discern the light in them. One reads the 
 saying of Pascal : " What an enigma is man ! What a strange, 
 chaotic, and contradictory being. Judge of all things, feeble 
 earthworm, depository of the Truth, mass of uncertainty, glory 
 and butt of the universe ! " It was a long time before it became 
 
302 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 evident to me that these contradictions which Pascal discerned 
 of men in the aggregate are true of every man. Each indi- 
 vidual has within himself, latent or operant, all the charac- 
 teristics of the race, which opportunity or circumstance (more 
 enduring than opportunity), brings out. Byron saw that man 
 was " half dust, half deity." Like Carlyle, a man may be at 
 once brutal, contemptuous, and tender — unjust, yet loving 
 justice — reverencing right in man, yet exhorting them to 
 despotism. Seeing that every person possesses all the qualities 
 of mankind in proportion, what remains but to look with 
 unexpectant eyes upon all, waiting to see what baser elements 
 have been repressed or transmuted by wise education and 
 noble conditions of life, or what lofty principles have been 
 exalted and confirmed. Only on such considerations can a 
 man protect himself from mistaken judgments and irreparable 
 disappointment. 
 
 It is less difficult to inspire persons with the passion for 
 knowledge than to induce them to extend the advantage of it 
 to others. Too many despise those in the condition from which 
 they have escaped ; their contemptible philosophy is that of the 
 Coptic song which tells us that everywhere 
 
 " This, and but this, was the gospel alway : 
 
 Fools from their folly 'tis hopeless to stay, 
 Mules will be mules by the law of their mulishness ; 
 Then be advised and leave fools to foolishness — 
 
 What from an ass can be got but a bray ? " 
 
 But mankind are not asses, though he is who thinks them so. 
 Certainly there are men of mulish minds, and their muline 
 judgments have to be tolerated on grounds of heredity. But 
 none knew better than Goethe, who wrote the Coptic song, that 
 the average man could be exalted. To this he contributed by 
 his splendid genius. He who alleges the unimprovability of 
 others as an excuse for his doing nothing for them — and thinks 
 only of himself — forfeits his right to exist. There is no place 
 or need for him in another life ; and were he raised from the 
 dead, it would bring resurrection itself into contempt. 
 
 Once I had opportunity of aid unforeseen by me. A valued 
 friend (Mr. W. H. Dingnan), whom the Government of the day 
 desired to requite for public service, generously proposed that I 
 should be requited in his stead. It being intended, I wrote to 
 
APOLOGY TO THE READER. 303 
 
 Mr. Gladstone " not to give heed to it as I- could not accept 
 anything, I had spent many years in teaching working men 
 the lesson of self-help, and that it was the duty of the people 
 to support the State, and not the State the people. Should 
 blindness come again or age render me incapable of my ac- 
 customed work, I might think differently." Age, with noiseless 
 and unnoticed steps has arrived, and friends with it, who have 
 mitigated its disablement. In 1876 Mr. John Stephens Storr, 
 and in 1888 Mr. Thomas Allsop, were the cause of it. On 
 each occasion a Committee, whose names will always be in my 
 mind, 1 enabled all future work by me to depend on choice and 
 pleasure. 
 
 A curious feature was this : Some whom I had served, not 
 without cost and peril to myself when I might rightly have 
 served myself instead, were as the Levite and passed by on the 
 other side ; while others I had never known, even by name, 
 whom I had never seen, upon whom I had no claim, whom I 
 never had opportunity of serving, with others whose thoughts 
 were alien to mine, showed me a disinterested friendliness. 
 The world is a field sprinkled with generous seed which 
 springs up in unexpected and unknown places. Whatever I 
 have done since, I owe to these diversified friends. They gave 
 me length of days and pleasure greater than they can know. 
 
 Every one who has taste in ideas, and is above adopting 
 second-hand opinions — because they can be had cheap — incurs 
 trouble in selecting those of the best quality and testing them 
 himself. He who does this has trouble, but his pleasure and 
 pride in true thinking is greater than the slovenly and shabby 
 minded ever know. If a man could believe in everybody's 
 creed, it would make things pleasanter in this world, and per- 
 haps safer for the next ; since surely some of them must be the 
 right ones. But he thinks meanly of the arbiters of Heaven if 
 he supposes its doors are open to applicants of indolence, calcu- 
 
 1 Among them were George Anderson, Robert Applegarth, Major Evans 
 Bell, Lord Brassey, Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, Thomas Burt, M.P., Right 
 Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., Right Hon. Sir Charles Dilke, Bart., Rev. 
 J. R. Green, Judge Hughes, Walter Morrison, M.P., E. Vansittart Neale, 
 Rev. Joseph Parker, D.D. To Drs. George Bird and Hugh Campbell I owed 
 the recovery of my health, and to Mr. Brudenell Carter the restoration of my 
 sight. Nor can I be unmindful that Professors Bain, Huxley, Newman, and 
 Tyndall, that Harriet Martineau, Herbert Spencer, and many others, were 
 among those to whose friendship I was indebted. 
 
3 o4 SIXTY YEARS OF AN AGITATOR'S LIFE. 
 
 lation and low taste. The " land of the leal " belongs to those 
 who, like Savonarola, judge not authors according to their fame, 
 nor accept opinions because they are in vogue, but always keep 
 their eyes fixed on truth and reason ; not to those who, in 
 Diderot's words, think it more prudent to be mad with the 
 mad than be wise by themselves. This is my apology to the 
 reader for that wilfulness of opinion which I fear has often 
 perplexed or perturbed him in these pages. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, i. 174 
 Abinger, Lord, i. 107 
 Ackworth, Rev. Dr., i. 255 
 Acland, James, League agent who 
 
 rode a white horse, ii. 226 
 Adamses, the, i. no, 150, 158 
 Adler, Dr. , the wise Rabbi, i. 262 
 Admiralty, the, connives at deceit, 
 ii. 98 
 
 dventures with loaded shells, ii. 
 20, 23 
 Age imparts sense of proportion, i. 2 
 Albert, Prince, early ideas of Inter- 
 national Exhibitions, i. 19, 46, 
 198 ; a supporter of Sunday music, 
 i. 270 
 Alexander, Mr., the Bubb barrister, 
 
 i- 159 
 Alexander, Mrs., i. 159 
 Allday, J., i. 28 
 Alliance News, i. 272 
 Allsop, Thomas, the elder, i. I 
 Allsop, Thomas, ii. 303 
 Ambition, its limits, ii. 166; charac- 
 teristics and policy, ii. 127, 196 
 Anderson, George, ii. 253, 303 
 Anderson, Rev. Dr. "Willie," i. 
 
 263 
 ' Andre, St., Jules Chevalier, ii. 6 
 Anne, Queen, i. 273-4 
 Anti-Corn Law League, origin of, 
 
 ii. 224 ; its publications, ii. 226 
 Applegarth, Robert, ii. 194 ; ii. 303 
 Arabic Proverb, ii. 301 
 Arnold, Dr., ii. 127 
 
 VOL. II. 21 
 
 Ashurst and Son, i. 98, 155, 182-3 
 287, 290 
 
 Assassination, a righteous instance, 
 ii. 27 
 
 Athenceum, i. 278, 281 
 
 Atherley, Gibson, ii. 248 
 
 Attwood, Thomas, i. 26, 45, 103 ; 
 ii. 230 
 
 Audience, curious varieties in an, i. 
 138 
 
 Aveling, Dr., i. 269 
 
 Axon, W. E. A., ii. 221 
 
 Ayrton, A. S., civility contrary to 
 his nature, ii. 46 ; yet true to prin- 
 ciples, ii. 47, 147 
 
 Babceuf, Gracchus, i. 96 
 
 Bacciochi, Count, i. 91 
 
 Bailey, Samuel, ii. 152 
 
 Bain, Prof. A., ii. 303 
 
 Baker, Col. V., ii. 250 
 
 Baker Daniel, i. 15 
 
 Bakounine, the giant refugee, i. 95 
 
 Balfour, Clara Lucas, i. 122 
 
 Balfour, A. J., i. 86 
 
 Ballantyne, Thomas, i. 234, 238 
 
 Ballantyne and Lord John Russell, i. 
 
 234 
 Ballot, new defence of, ii. 181-2 
 Bally, Monsieur, the evasive Swiss, 
 
 i. 62, 66-68 
 Bandiera, the Brothers, i. 173 
 Barker, Joseph, without the sense of 
 
 taste, i. 126 
 Barrister, choosing a, i. 158 
 
3°6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Barthelemy, M. ; ii. 261 
 
 Bate, F., i. 202 
 
 Bathurst, Bishop, the prolific, i. 109 
 
 Batuk, Azimat, ii. 294 
 
 Beaconsfield, Lord, ii. 274 
 
 Beadon, Mr., an un-English magis- 
 trate, ii. 56 
 
 Beales, Edmond, ii. 186-7-9 
 
 Beaufort, Duke of, ii. 248 
 
 Beesley, Prof., i. 267 
 
 Belcher, James, i. 77, 84 
 
 Bell, Major Evans, ii. 245, 303 
 
 Belloc, Madame, i. 225 
 
 Bern, General, i. 96 
 
 Benares, motto of the Maharajahs 
 of, i. 140 
 
 Bentham, Jeremy, i. 189, 215 
 
 Berkeley, Henry F., letter from, ii. 
 180 
 
 Berkeley, Craven, M.P., i. 153 
 
 Bernard, Duke of Saxe Weimar, his 
 definition of Owenism, i. 127 
 
 Bernard, Dr. Simon, i. 91 ; ii. 19, 
 
 33. 34 
 Bertani, Dr., i. 101 
 Besson, M., ii. 64 
 " Beware of being too good," ii. 162 
 Bezzi, Sig., i. 96 
 Binney, Rev. Thomas, the first 
 
 preacher of Secular Christianism, 
 
 i. 259 
 Birch, J. W., i. 118, 175 
 Bird, Dr. G., ii. 303 
 Birkbeck, Dr., ii. 264 
 Birmingham Weekly Post, i. 9 
 Birnie, Dr., ii. 222 
 Birth, its irresponsibility, i. 15 
 Bismarck, Prince, i. 239 
 Black, Dr., i. 279 
 Blacksmith, a, of the Ruskin type, 
 
 i. 20 
 Black Dwarf, i. 4, 27, 31, 129 
 Blackwood, Helen, in Jail Square, ii. 
 
 116 
 Blanc, Louis, saying of, i. 93 ; 
 
 character of, ii. 260 
 Blind, Karl, i. 95 
 Blood-money, an offer of it, i. 113 
 
 Blue Books for working class, ii. 168, 
 1 70-1 
 
 Blum, Robert, ii. 31 
 
 Bodichon, Madame, i. 225 
 
 Bodkin, Mr., Sir Robert Pefl's 
 " Bodkin," ii. 65 
 
 Bomba, King, i. 124 
 
 Bombardier Scott, his trial and fate, 
 ii. 100 
 
 Borthwick, Peter, i. 281 ; ii. 277 
 
 Boswell, up to date, ii. 241 
 
 Bottesini, Sig., i. 91 
 
 Bowring, Dr., ii. 222 
 
 Boxall, Sir Wm., ii. 239 
 
 Bradlaugh, Charles, ii. 43, 49, 98, 
 216, 255, 293, 303 
 
 Bradley of the silver cradle, i. 27 
 
 Brassey, Lord, ii. 303 
 
 Breadalbane, Marquis of; i. 124 
 
 Brickman, Captain, ii. 14 
 
 Bright, John, letter from, ii. 180; 
 his emendations, ii. 222-229 > a 
 social tribune, ii. 271 ; limits of 
 his principles, ii. 272 ; his sym- 
 pathy with monarchy, ii. 275 5 his 
 tolerance as an employer, ii. 279 ; 
 his first appearance at Court, ii. 
 278 ; his step-by-step attainments, 
 ii. 282; his method of mind, ii. 
 283 ; message to him from the 
 Pioneers, ii. 288 
 
 Bright, J. A., M.P., ii. 278 
 
 Bright, Samuel, disquiets Napoleon 
 III., ii. 136 
 
 Brindley, Rev. Dr., i. 48-50 
 
 British Association, the, amends its 
 description of Napoleon III., ii. 
 
 Broadhurst, H., ii. 194 
 Brooke, Rev. Stopford A., i. 80, 256 
 Brooks of Oxford Street, i. 220 
 Broome, Johnny, ii. 1 10 
 Brougham, Lord, ii. 12, 31, 40 
 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, ii. 164 
 Bubb, the Cheltenham, i. 149 
 Buchannan, Robert, father of the 
 
 poet, i. 141, 183 
 Buckingham, Duke of, ii. 203 
 
INDEX. 
 
 307 
 
 Buckingham, Rev. Mr., i. 12 
 Buckle, Thomas Henry, his appear- 
 ance, ii. 93 ; his brilliant defence 
 of the Cornish well-sinkers, ii. 94 
 Builder, i. 278 
 
 Bull Ring, Birmingham, i. 83, 84 
 Burnes's Despatches, ii. 76 
 Burns, Robert, i. 207 
 Burrows, Cordy, ii. 213 
 Buxton, Charles, M.P., ii. 143 
 Byng, Mr., M.P., ii. 48, 54 
 Byron, Lord, his wish, ii. 301 
 Byron, Lady Noel, i. 304 
 
 Cadbury, John, i. 48 
 
 Calcraft, the teacher of murder, ii. 
 
 116 
 Calcraft, H. G.,ii. 168 
 Calonne, M. de, ii. 172 
 Cambridge House, i. 227 
 Campbell, Lord, the Whig Judge, 
 
 "• 33 
 
 Campbell, Rev. Dr., 258 
 
 Campbell, Dr. Hugh, ii. 303 
 
 Canning's accusation, i. 279; ii. 273 
 
 Capper, Mr., i. 145 
 
 Carbonell, Mr., ii. 13 
 
 Carlile, Richard, i. 101, 112, 129, 
 
 164, 189 ; ii. 22 
 Carlyle, " Jean Welsh," i. 194 
 Carlton's warning, i. 265 
 Carlyle, Thomas, i. 76, 104, 191, 
 
 192; Janet, visit to herin Canada, 
 
 i. 193, 290 ; ii. 303 
 Carnarvon, Earl of, ii. 197 
 Carpenter, William, ii. 63, 211 
 Carter, Brudenell, ii. 303 
 Cartwright, Major, i. 31 
 Carvallo, Mr., i. 251 
 Castlereagh, Lord, i. 276 
 Canterbury, Lord, his letter to Lord 
 
 Kimberley, ii. 177 
 Cato's question, ii. 27 
 Cavendish, Lord, ii. 125 
 Cavour, Count, ii. 28 
 Cellini, Benvenuto, ii. 26 
 City House of Commons, i. 154 
 
 Chamberlain, Joseph, ii. 303 
 Chambers Brothers, i. 217; ii. 160 
 Chambers's Journal, i. 217 
 Chambers's Encyclopaedia, ii. 293-4 
 Champneys, Basil, ii. 244 
 Channell, Baron, ii. 12 
 Chappell Smith, Mrs., i. 122 
 Chapman, Dr. John, i. 239, 258 
 Charlton, James, i. 2 
 Chartist policy of resentment, i. 85 
 Chatterton, Mrs., i. 216 
 Chesson, F. W., i. 98 
 Cheltenham in 1841, i. 145-6 
 Chevalier St. Andre, the Napoleonic 
 spy, ii. 4 ; his fascination and re- 
 source, ii. 5 
 Chichester, Mrs. , i. 162 
 Chilton, W., i. 142 
 Christian Socialists, the, ii. 6 
 Christs, the two, i. 260 
 Claimant, the, ii. 9 
 Clarendon, Lord, ii. 167, 170 ; 
 letter to, ii. 168 ; concedes work- 
 ing class Blue Books, ii. 168 
 Clay, Sir William, ii. 42, 45 
 Clayton, Moses, ii. 253 
 Cleave, John, i. 102 ; ii. 265 
 Clifford, Prof., ii. 293 
 Close, Rev. Francis, 148 
 Cloture of Clamour, ii. 231 
 Coates, Mr., i. 49 
 Cobbett, William, i. 120 
 Cobbett, Miss Helena, i. 220 
 Cobbett, James, i. 221 
 Cobden Club, the, i. 237 
 Cobden, Richard, on the rashness of 
 doing nothing, i. 148 ; his predic- 
 tions, i. 289 ; his shrewd estimate 
 of Palmerston, ii. 76 ; his kind- 
 ness to a convict's wife, ii. 3 ; on 
 the final success of the League, ii. 
 229 ; his judgment of Gladstone, 
 ii. 212 
 Cockburn, Lord, his Wainwright 
 
 charge, ii. 154, 282 
 Colenso, Bishop, messenger from 
 him, ii. 82 ; perils of his zeal, ii. 85 ; 
 strange lawsuit of, ii. 89 ; Lieut- 
 
3 o8 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lecount,ii. 89; defence of Colenso 
 
 against Dr. Cumming, ii. 91 
 Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice, his 
 
 new Charter of Free Discussion, 
 
 ii. 92 ; his controversy with Buckle, 
 
 ii. 94 
 Coleridge, S. T., his description of 
 
 the Socialists, i. 49 ; ii. 246 
 Collet, Dobson Collet, his genius as 
 
 a secretary, i. 281 ; Cobden's 
 
 testimony, i. 280, 281, 285 
 Collet, Sophia Dobson, i. 225 
 Collings, Jesse, the Tory portrait of 
 
 him, ii. 230 
 Collins, John, i. 103 ; ii. 269 
 Collins, Wilkie, ii. 5 
 Combe, George, incidents in his 
 
 career, i. 49, 60-5 
 Combe, Dr. A., i. 63 
 Commissioners, Mayne and Harvey, 
 
 "■ 135 
 Communism, English, denned, i. 196 
 Comte, Auguste, i. 120 
 Comtists, the, ii. 128 
 Coningham, William, M.P., ii. 68 
 Coningsby, Robert, ii. 1 70-1 
 " Congress," introduction of the 
 
 term, i. 134 
 Contemporary, ii. 126 
 Controversialists adjacent, i. 303 
 Conversion under difficulties, i. 168 
 Conway, M. D., i. 269 
 Co-operative League, the, of 1839, 
 
 ii. 3. 
 Cooper, Rev. Robert, i. 165 
 Cooper, Bransby, i. 164-6 
 Cooper, Robert, ii. 69 
 Cooper, R. A., bewilders Bishop 
 
 Magee, i. 98 ; ii. 201 
 Cooper, Thomas, i. 103, 104, 172 
 Cooper, Bransby, a magistrate of 
 
 " tumultuous passions," i. 165 
 Corbett, Mr., Pauline agitator, i. 32 
 Corday's, Charlotte, knife, ii. 60 
 Corder, William, ii. 150 
 Corti, Count, ii. 106 
 Cowen, Joseph, i. 26, 119, 296 ; ii. 2, 
 
 258, 268 
 
 Cranbrook, Lord, i. 108 
 Crank, the, definition of, ii. 97 
 Craufurd, E. H. J., the conquering 
 
 " Zero," i. 283, 284; ii. 104 
 Crisp, J. S., i. 258 
 Cromer, courage of the fishermen 
 
 there, ii. 144 ; vicar of, ibid. 
 Crompton, Mr., the copper mer- 
 chant, i. 20, 48 
 Crompton, Rev. W., i. 48 
 Cromwell, Lord Protector, ii. 60 
 Crown, the, unsuspected power of, 
 
 ii. 193 
 Cruikshank, George, i. 292, 293 
 Cuffy, the black Chartist, ii. 3 
 Cuffy, Mrs. , ii. 3 
 Cumming, Dr., ii. 90 
 Curtius's calculation, ii. 61 
 
 Daily News, i. 245, 281 ; ii. 56 
 D'Alembert's motto, i. 134 
 Davenport, Allan, the pale poet, ii. 
 
 263 
 Dawson, George, i. 48, 237 
 D'Azelio, Marquis, ii. 106 
 Dead agitators, ii. 48 
 Dean of Oriel, visit to the, ii. 7 
 Deedes the dull, i. 293 
 Delamotte, W. A., ii. 233 
 Delegate, the, an advocate, ii. 257 
 Democracy, the trouble of it, ii. 
 
 150 
 Dennison, Mr. Speaker, ii. 233 
 Derby, Lord, letter to, ii. 66, 188 
 De Rohan, Capt., ii. 103 
 Despair of Reform in 1824, i. 31 
 De Stael, Madame, i. 225 
 Deterring the inactive, i. 5 
 Detrosier, R., first preacher on 
 
 geology, i. 188 
 De Ville, M., i. 61 
 Devyr, T. Ainge, Irish prophet and 
 
 publicist, i. 107, 178 
 Dickens, C, his Inland Revenue 
 
 troubles, i. 283 ; protest against 
 
 the London Sunday, i. 285 ; 
 
 strange gift to Mazzini, ii. 236 
 Dickson, Major, M.P., i. 270 
 
INDEX. 
 
 309 
 
 "Dictionary of National Bio- 
 graphy," i. 101 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, ii. 302 
 
 Discussion, a guarantee of good 
 faith, i. 144 
 
 Disraeli, his famous definition of 
 News, i. 295 ; votes against free- 
 dom of knowledge, i. 296 
 
 Dixon, George, M.P., i. 197 
 
 Donaldson, Thomas, i. 209 
 
 D'Orsay, Count, i. 193 
 
 Doubleday's " Life of Peel," i. 220 
 
 Douglas, Robert Kelly, i. 30 
 
 Douglas, Frederick, i. 99 
 
 Drab fiend, a, i. 86, 89 
 
 Dress conflicts in English prisons, 
 i. 167 
 
 Dudley, Lord, ii. 137, 140 
 
 Duffy, Sir C. Gavan, ii. 178 
 
 Duignan, W. H., i. 2 ; ii. 302 
 
 Dunckley, Dr., ii, 221 
 
 Eagle Foundry, Birmingham, i. 
 
 u, 19 
 East, Rev. Timothy, i. 46, 47 
 Easthope, Sir John, i. 83 
 Eaton, Mr., ii. 179 
 Echo, i. 270; ii. 183-4 
 Economy in salvation, i. 166 
 Edinburgh Review, i. 129 
 Edmonds, George, i. 27, 31, 32 
 Edmondson, G., i. 202 
 Edmundson and King James, ii. 
 
 276 
 Edwards, Passmore, i. 279 
 Edwards, the spy of Fleet Street, 
 
 ii. 2 
 Elcho, Lord, testimony for, i. 267 
 Elements of Social Science, i. 126 
 Eliot, George, i. 177, 199. 239 5 
 
 ii. 238 
 " Elizabeth," ii. 20 
 Elliott, Ebenezer, visit to him, i. 
 
 136 ; ii. 22, 222, 275 
 Ellis, William, i. 177 ; ii. 269 
 Ellis, Joseph, ii. 233 
 Empire, ii. 173 
 Empson, Charles, ii. 13 
 
 Empress Eugenie alarmed at 
 
 Brighton, ii. 213 
 " Encyclopedic Dictionary " (Cas- 
 
 sell's), ii. 294 
 Enemies within the gate, i. 69 
 Enfantin, Pere, ii. 5 
 Enfield, Lord, ii. 176 
 English Churchman's testimony, i. 
 
 297 
 English Leader, ii. 78 
 Enthusiasm, proportion in it, ii. 3( o 
 Equity Law Life Office, i. 152 
 Erskine, Mr. Justice, his descent 
 
 and character, i. 92, 161 
 Esdras, the prophet, i. 81 
 Ethical Church, the first, i. 116 
 Evans, Sir de Lacy, i. m 
 Ewen, Mr., an invention, ii. 3 
 Examiner of Plays, the, i. 238 
 Executions, public, the end of them, 
 
 ii. 118 
 Express, ii. 189 
 Eyre, Governor, i. 191 ; ii. 60 
 
 Faliero, Marino, i. 51 
 
 Families in industrial cities, i. 129 
 
 Fatness a force in politics, ii. 9 
 
 Feist, Mr., ii. 109, 136 
 
 Ferrand, Busfield, i. 48 
 
 Fiddler, a night with a, i. 70 
 
 Fildes, Mrs., i. 130 
 
 Fines incurred, i. 288 
 
 Finlay, Thomas, i. m 
 
 First letter to a newspaper, i. 73 
 
 Fleming, G. A., i. 142 
 
 Fleet Street House, its principles, 
 ii. 163 
 
 Fletcher, Mr., ii. 69 
 
 Flinn dismissed, i. 246 
 
 Fonvielle, Ulric de, shot at by Prince 
 Pierre Napoleon, i. 93 ; ii. 209 ; 
 Wilfrid de, perturbs Napoleon in 
 Brighton, i. 93 ; ii. 209 ; his letter 
 to the British Association, ii. 214 
 
 Foote, G. W., defence of, i. in, 
 269 
 
 Foreign mind, the uncertain, ii. 259 
 
3i° 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Forster, W. E., his singular con- 
 duct at Micheldever, ii. 121 ; feud 
 with him for twenty years, ii. 125 ; 
 his ambition, ii. 126 ; Noncon- 
 formist judgment of him, ii. 129; 
 his distrust of his friends, ii. 131 ; 
 his faithfulness in Ireland, ii. 131 ; 
 generosity to an adversary, ii. 
 
 133 
 
 Fortnightly Review, ii. 218 
 Forum, the Fleet Street, alarms the 
 
 French Government, ii. 61. 
 Forward, Stephen, ii. 137 
 Foster, Dr. Michael, i. 118 
 Foster, John, ii. 18 
 Fowler, John, i. 39, 136 
 Fox, C. J.,ii. 281 
 Fox, George, ii. 285 
 Fox, W. J., on the platform, i. 39, 
 
 103, 243 ; ii. 227 
 Francis, John, his remarkable ser- 
 vices, i. 291, 292 
 Frazer's Magazine, ii. 93 
 Freemasons' Hall, scene in, ii. 50 
 Free Trade, its results, ii. 229 
 Free Thought policy in the dock, ii. 
 
 267 
 " French Colonels' Bill," the, night 
 
 scenes on the defeat of, ii. 55 
 French Revolutionists but did as 
 
 they had been done by, ii. 185 
 Frost, John, sword of, i. 104 
 Froude, J. A., his honourable 
 
 fidelity, i. 194 
 Fry, Mr., an abstemionist without 
 
 bigotry, i. 162 
 Fulton, Robert, i. 120 
 
 Gai.PIN, William, i. 202 
 
 Gambetta, Leon, i. 136 
 
 Garibaldi, ii. 17 ; telegram from 
 the "Medina," ii. 120; an unre- 
 corded outrage, ii. 120 
 
 Garibaldi, Menotti, at the House of 
 Commons, ii. 123 
 
 Garlies, Lord, ii. 45 
 
 Garnett, Jeremiah, i. 130 
 
 Garrison, Lloyd, i. 98 ; ii. 70 
 
 Gawen, Admiral, ii. 13 
 Gentleman, signs of a, i. 118 
 George, Henry, i. 274-6 ; ii. 253 
 Georgi, the conspirator, ii. 33 
 Gibson, Thomas Milner,i. 281, 293; 
 
 ii. 227, 268 
 Giffard, Sir Hardinge, on the term 
 
 " Jingoes," i. 130; ii. 217 
 Gillespie, W. Honyman, i. 301 
 Gillybrand, Mrs., i. 22 
 Ginger's Hotel, ii. 19, 20, 72 
 Girard, Stephen, ii. 196 
 Gladstone, W. E., letter from, on 
 
 recognition of the usurper, ii. 191 ;. 
 
 Mr. Byng's testimony, i. 284, 288 ; 
 
 ii. 23, 54, 138, 145,191,276,287, 
 
 3°3 
 
 Glaisher, ii. 209 
 
 Gloucester Gaol, i. 5 
 
 Goethe, ii. 302 
 
 " Go for Gold," i. 220 
 
 Godby, J. P., i. 290 
 
 Godin, St. Jean Baptiste, i. 4, 116 
 
 Godson, Mr., ii. 120, 121 
 
 Godwin, William, i. 216 
 
 Goldsmid, Sir Isaac Lyon, i. 201 
 
 Gordon, Lindsay, i. 227 
 
 Goulburn, Dean, ii. 101, 199 ; 
 
 radiant and unpleasant, ii. 200 
 Graham, Sir James, last days of, i. 
 
 153. l6 9> 174 
 Granville, Earl, ii. 193 
 Greaves, John Pierrepont, i. 162 
 Greeley, Horace, i. 178, 293 
 Green, John, i. 72 
 Green, J. R., ii. 303 
 Greg, Percy, i. 82 ; ii. 67 
 Greg, W. Rathbone, ii. 269 
 Grey, Lord, i. 223 
 Griffith, Mr., ii. 214 
 Griffiths, Rev. Dr., his mistake, ii. 
 
 211 
 Grote, George, i. 216; ii. 180 
 Groves, Richard, i. 8 
 Groves, Catherine, i. 10 
 Guerzoni, ii. 123 
 Guizot in England, i. 19, 198 
 Gwynne, " Aliquis," i. 301 
 
INDEX. 
 
 3" 
 
 Hallett, Alderman, W. H., ii. 
 
 272 
 Hamilton, John, ii. 240 
 Hansom, Mr., Socialist Architect, 
 
 i. 202 
 Harcourt, Sir W. V. , i. 269 
 Hardy, Gathome, ii. 197 
 Harney, George Julian, i. 84, 106, 
 
 148 ; ii. 252 
 Harris, Mr., i. 14 
 Harvey, Daniel Whittle, ii. 134 
 Haslam, J. C, ii. 265 
 Hawkes, Timothy, the Methodist, 
 
 i. 21 
 Hawkes, William, i. 21, 22 
 Hawkins, Dr. Blissett, i. 17 1-2 
 Hawksford, Mr., i. 16 
 Hayward, A., i. 129 
 Hazlitt, W., ii. 241 
 Healey, Alderman, ii. 49 
 Hebrew melodies in Cromer, ii. 
 
 144 
 Heenan's mode of fighting, ii. 1 1 1 
 Heinzen, the Russian agitator, i. 95 
 Herbert, George, i. 6 
 Herbert, Sydney, ii. 98 
 Herbert, Hon. A., ii. 216 
 Herwegh, Madame, ii. 29 
 Herzel, Rudolph, i. 113 
 Herzen, Alexander, Editor of the 
 
 Kolokol, i. 94 
 Hetherington, Henry, Editor of the 
 Poor Man's Guardian, i. 47, 102, 
 112,264, 275,277 
 Heywood, Abel, i. 102, 277 
 Hibbert, Julian, ii. 161, 165, 186 
 Hickson, W. E., i. 291 
 Hill, Sir Rowland, i. 183 
 Hinton, Col. F. H., i. 98 
 Hinton, Rev. Howard, i. 256 
 Hinton, James, i. 256 
 Hoggins, Mr., Q.C., i. 290 
 Holbein, Hans, ii. 234-6 
 Holbery, Chartist prisoner, i. 171 
 Holcroft, Thomas, his philosophical 
 foresight, i. 116; the precursor 
 of Robert Owen, i. 117 
 Holdreth, Lionel H., ii. 67 
 
 Holker, Sir John, ii. 154 
 
 Holland, H. T., ii. 177 
 
 Hollick, Dr. F., i. 60, 65 
 
 Holmes, Dr. O. W., ii. 299 
 
 Holyoake, Austin, i. 266 ; ii. 153, 
 160 
 
 Holyoake, Jacob, i. 7 
 
 Holyoake, Mrs., i. 80, 147 
 
 Holyoake, William, i. 235 
 
 Home Secretaries, imprisonment of, 
 i. 174 
 
 Hooker, Bishop, i. 212 ; ii. 46 
 
 Hooper, Bishop, unforeseen coinci- 
 dences, i. 211 
 
 Hooper, George, i. 232, 238 ; ii. 243 
 
 Hope, Beresford, ii. 282 
 
 Horn button days in Birmingham, 
 i. 10 
 
 Hotten, Camden, ii. 280 
 
 Houghton, Lord, ii. 11, 192, 261; 
 letters from, ii. 15, 16 
 
 Howell, George, M.P., ii. 187, 194 
 
 Howie, James, ii. 222 
 
 Howitt, William, ii. 3 
 
 Hue and Gabet's Travels, ii. 91 
 
 Hughan, James, i. 246 
 
 Hughes, Judge, ii. 303 
 
 Hughes, Rev. Hugh Price, ii. 294 
 
 Hugo, Victor, ii. 261 
 
 Humiliation days, danger of them, 
 ii. 164 
 
 Hume, Joseph, M.P., i. 221 
 
 Hunt, Leigh, not " Harold Skim- 
 pole," i. 100, 233 ; his honour- 
 able regard for Lord John Rus- 
 sell, i. 234, 275 
 
 Hunt, Orator, ii. 159 
 
 Hunt, Thornton, the journalist, i. 
 186, 226, 227 ; his mistake con- 
 cerning Cobden, i. 229; sagacious 
 idea of Napoleon III., i. 231 ; 
 ii. 279 
 Hunt, Seth, i. 98 
 Hunt, Knight, i. 157 
 Hutton, Rev. H. , i. 30 
 Huxley, T. H., i. 130 ; ii. 303 
 Hyde Park, expected conflict there, 
 ii. 186 
 
312 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ick, Dr., curator, i. 66 
 Ignorance, the abjectness of it, i. 
 
 163 
 
 Imprisonment for opinion brutalised, 
 i. 164 
 
 Individualist policy, i. 4 
 
 Infernal machines, their English 
 origin, ii. 19 
 
 Inge family, the, i. 15 
 
 Ingersoll, Col. R. G., i. 2, 99 
 
 Inland Revenue Board, i. 277 ; the 
 Revenue Board War, i. 286 ; In- 
 land Revenue cry, "Stop or 
 Stamp," i. 288 
 
 Inn-keeper, adeceitful Matlock, i. 70 
 
 Ion's degeneracy, i. 267 
 
 Irish Question, the, in the "Bull 
 Ring," i. 84 
 
 Irish World., ii. 218 
 
 JACOB, meaning of the name, i. 18 
 
 Jacobs, Mr., i. 134 
 
 Jail Square, Glasgow, education in, 
 ii. 116 
 
 Jambelli, Frederick, ii. 19 
 
 James, Edwin, his Mirabeauan 
 oration, ii. 32, 34 
 
 James, Rev. John Angell, i. 13, 33, 
 254, 256 
 
 James, King, ii. 276 
 
 Jardine, Mr., lowers the repute of 
 English justice, ii. 65 
 
 Jelf, Rev. Dr., his wonderful syl- 
 logism, i. 241 ; ii. 60 
 
 Jenkinson's, Mr. , ii. 77 
 
 Jerrold, Douglas, i. 292; ii. 3, 116 
 
 Jewish rights defended, ii. 44 
 
 Jingoes, origin of the term, i. 217 
 
 Johnson, J. G., his wise suggestion, 
 ii. 296 
 
 Jones, Lloyd, i. 131, 141, 184 ; ii. 194 
 
 Jones, Rev. S., i. 149, 166 
 
 Jones, Ernest, his march through 
 the Black Forest, ii. 248 ; his 
 vicissitudes and integrity, ii. 249 ; 
 his courage in prison, ii. 250 ; as 
 an orator, ii. 253; his poetic force, 
 ii. 253 
 
 Jones, Atherley, M.P., ii. 248 
 Jones, Major, ii. 248 
 Jones, Mrs. Ernest, ii. 25 1 
 Jonson, Ben, ii. 286 
 Judge, the, a delegate, ii. 256 
 Just, St., saying of, i. 93 
 
 Kelly, Sir Fitzroy, ii. 32 
 
 Kemp, William, ii. 145 
 
 Kent, Duke of, i. 270 
 
 Kentish, Rev. Mr., i. 48 
 
 Kenrick, Rev. Mr., ii. 71 
 
 Ketch, Jack, as an official teacher, 
 ii. 115 
 
 Key, Prof. J. H., i. 279 
 
 Killed by a letter, i. 55 
 
 Kimberley, Lord, ii. 176-7 
 
 King, Tom, ii. 108 
 
 King, Katie, i. 124 
 
 Kingsley, Canon, his strange accu- 
 sation, i. 241 ; ii. 60 
 
 King and Heenan, a night ride to 
 the fight, ii. 109 
 
 Kneller, Sir Godfrey, ii. 117 
 
 Knight, Charles, i. 244 
 
 Knowles, James, i. 2 
 
 Kossuth, Lajos, his inflexibility, i. 
 96 ; his distinction as an orator, ii. 
 13, 258 ; his definition of a demo- 
 cracy, ii. 165, 259 
 
 Krapotkin, Prince, i. 95 
 
 Kydd, Samuel, i. 121 
 
 Kynersley, Mr., ii. 230 
 
 Lady tyrannicides, ii. 62 ; a sus- 
 picious, ii. 153 
 Lamb, Charles, i. 228 ; ii. 246 
 Lambeth Garden, a night in a, i. 
 
 154 
 Landor, Walter Savage, his offer, 
 101 ; letters to the author, ii. II - 
 14 ; his defence, ii. 1 1 ; on con- 
 troversialists, ii. 15 ; sonnet to 
 Garibaldi, ii. 17 ; his epitaph, ii. 
 18 ; reply from the " Den," ii. 56 
 Lane, Hammer, ii. 114 
 Langford, Dr. J. A., i. 47, 292 
 Langley, Dr. J. Baxter, i. 112 
 
INDEX. 
 
 313 
 
 Larken, Rev. E. R., first clergyman 
 
 who wore a beard, i. 237 
 Lawrence, Mr., the famous 
 
 surgeon, i. 189 
 Lawson, Sir Wilfrid, i. 174, 271 ; 
 
 ii. 145, 176 
 Lawson, Sir Edward, i. 231 
 Leader, the, its origin and principles, 
 
 i. 142, 185, 236, 285 
 Leaping with a coffin, i. 73 
 Le Blond, Robert, i. 299 
 Lecount's, Lieut., "Hunt after the 
 
 Devil," i. 47 ; ii. 89 
 Leland, Mr., his judicious advice, 
 
 ii. 219 
 Lennon, a sea rover, i. 248 
 Lennox, Lord H., ii. 197 
 Letter, the, when dead the creed is 
 
 dead, i. 261 
 Lewes, G. H., his intellectual in- 
 trepidity, i. 186, 238, 243 
 Lewes, Mrs., i. 239 
 Lewis, Sir George Cornwall, i. 295 
 Limelight, the, on the Clock Tower, 
 
 ii. 147 
 Linton, W. J., his speech at the 
 Whittington Club, i. 58, 98, 238; 
 ii. 161 
 Liverpool Daily Post, i. 240 
 Livesey, Alderman, ii. 54 
 Livesey, Joseph, "T-t-totaller," i. 
 
 272 
 Lloyd, Edward, publisher, i. 287 
 Lloyd, Mr., banker, i. 24 
 Logan, William, missionary, i. 263 
 Logic of magistrates, i. 1 73 
 London, proposal to blow it up, 
 London, first lecture in, i. 155 
 Lonsdale's, Lord, colliers, i. 247 
 Lords of the Treasury deny and 
 
 admit, i. 297 
 L'Overture Toussaint, i. 98 
 Lovett, William, the prisoner of 
 Warwick Gaol, i. 103, 177 ; ii. 
 269 
 Lowe, Mr., Dr. Johnson's friend, 
 
 ii. 241 
 Lucas, Samuel, i. 294 ; ii. 278 
 
 Luton banquet oratory, ii. 158 
 Lytteltoni Lord, ii. 283 
 Lyall, Sir A. C, ii. 100 
 Lyndhurst, Lord, abrogates a law, 
 
 i. 277 
 Lying, the, of the law, i. 151 
 Lytton, Sir Bulwer, i. 37, 295 ; his 
 
 fine speech on Steele, i. 295 
 
 McCarthy, Justin, record in 
 
 " Our Own Times," ii., 126, 217 
 Macaulay, Lord, i. 233 
 Maccall, William, ii. 165 
 M'Donnel, Rev. T. M., i. 30 
 Macfarlane, Hans Smith, ii. 116 
 McGuffog, Mr., i. 117 
 Magee, Bishop, in the pulpit, ii. 199 
 Mahomet, his wisdom, i. 140 
 Malmesbury, Earl of, i. 214 
 Malthus, the anti-populationist, i. 
 
 129-30 
 Man, each a reflex of all, ii. 302 
 Manchester Examiner, ii. 222 
 Manchester Guardian, i. 129 
 Mandeville, Mr., i. 173 
 Manners, Lord John, ii. 147, 157, 
 
 187 
 Mansel, Dr., i. 16 
 Mantle, G. J., 104, 105 
 Manx Herald, i. 73 
 Mario, Madame Jesie M. W., i. 100 
 Mario, Alberto, i. 90 
 Marriott, Rev. C, Dean of Oriel, 
 
 ii. 6 
 Marsden, M. Eagles, i. 292 
 Marston, J. W., i. 164 
 Marston's question, i. 164 
 Martin, Mrs. Emma, i. no, 122 
 Martin, Rev. Samuel, ii. 71 
 Martineau, Harriet, i. 78, 79, 98 ; 
 
 ii. 128, 303 
 Martyrdom, mistakes about it, i. 
 
 152 ; the Faliero side of, i. 51 
 Marvell, Mr., the banker, ii. 102 
 Marx, Karl, ii. 253, 263 
 Mason, Captain, i. 153, 161, 162, 
 
 169, 171 
 
314 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mason, Sir Josiah, his thought for 
 children, ii. 296 ; leaves no dead 
 hand on his gifts, ii. 297 ; the 
 Queen's consideration for him, ii. 
 298 
 
 Massey, Mrs., i. 15 
 
 Matchboxes in pre-Lucifer days, i. 8 
 
 Matthews, i. 84 
 
 Matzys, Quentin, ii. 264 
 
 Maurice, Rev. F. D., his strange 
 report, i. 241 ; his Socialistic 
 policy, i. 79 ; ii. 127, 128 
 
 Mayall, J. E., ii. 213 
 
 Mayer, i. 183 
 
 Mayhew, Horace, ii. 261 
 
 Mayne, Sir Richard, i. 135 ; ii. 52, 
 56, 62 
 
 Mayor of Buckingham, ii. 205 
 
 Mazzini, Guiseppe, i. 90, 91, 94, 
 137 ; his generous risks, ii. 39 ; 
 letter from, ii. 123, 160 ; bust of, 
 ii. 165 
 
 Mechanics, their condition sixty 
 years ago, i. 22, 23 
 
 Menken, Ada Isaacs, ii. 113 
 
 Melbourne Argus, ii. 173 
 
 Melbourne, the let-alone Lord, ii. 
 
 78 
 Merritt, Henry, his early days, ii. 
 232 ; writes in the Leader, ii. 237 ; 
 his conscientiousness, ii. 235 ; his 
 first book, i. 236; letter from 
 Ruskin to him, i. 243 ; strange 
 memoirs of him, ii. 244, 292 
 Miall, Edward, i. 295 
 Midland mind, the, i. 35, 42 
 Mill, J. S., i. 29, 105, 120, 128- 
 130 ; his perilous sympathy, ii. 
 43, 180; night with him at the 
 Agricultural Hall meeting, ii. 
 189; his praise of his wife, i. 76 
 Mill, James, i. 128 
 Milnes, Monckton, M.P., ii. 12 
 Milton half right, i. 254 
 Mitchell Hey Mill, the, ii. 289 
 Molesworth, Rev. Dr. , of Rochdale, 
 
 ii. 294 
 Molesworth, Sir Wm„ ii. 221 
 
 Moody, Mr., ii. 154 
 
 Moore, R. R. R., ii. 228 
 
 Moore, Richard, his imitable career, 
 
 ii. 268 
 Moorson, Constantine, i. 46 
 Mordan, i. 187 
 Morley, S., a philanthropist who 
 
 gave while it was day, i. 112, 
 
 IS7-IS9. 257 
 Morning Advertiser, i. 49 
 Morning Chronicle, the malignant, 
 
 ii. 2 
 Morning Post, i. 281 
 Morning Star, i. 229 ; ii. 73, 108, 
 
 120 
 Morris, John, i. 183 
 Morrison, James, i. 72 
 Morrison, Davidson, ii. 253 
 Morrison, Walter, ii. 303 
 Moslem workman, the, who died 
 
 with his face to Mecca, ii. 278 
 Mott, Lucretia, her maxim, i. 183 
 Miiller, Franz, ii. 116 
 Muntz, G. F., i. 28, 30, 36, 48 
 Muntz, P. H., i. 28 
 Murder for applause, ii. 138 
 Murderer, dangerous advice to a, 
 
 ii. 138, 140 ; a letter from a, ii. 
 
 139 
 Murphy, John Lowther, i. 62, 134 
 Murray's, Dr., Oxford Dictionary 
 
 ii. 294 
 My Lords, i. 290 
 Mystery, the white, i. 140 
 
 Nadaud, Martin, workman, i. 94 
 Napier, Sir Charles, i. 84 
 Napier, Sir William, ii. 13 
 Napoleon I., i. 120; Napoleon III., 
 
 ii. 8 ; doctrine of despotism, ii. 
 
 63 ; peace of, ii. 67 ; his alarm 
 
 in Fleet Street, ii. 136 
 Napoleon, Empress, ii. 213 
 Napoleon, Prince Pierre, i. 93 ; ii. 
 
 209 
 Natal Mercury, ii. 84 
 National Reformer, i. 278 
 Neale, Edward Vansittart, ii. 6 
 
INDEX. 
 
 315 
 
 Nearly strangled, i. 24 
 Negretti, Signor, ii. 123 
 Newcastle Daily Chronicle, i. 179 ; 
 
 ii. 112, 123, 108, 120, 280 
 Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, i. 262 
 Newell, Rev. Dr., i. 149 
 New York Herald, ii. 196 
 New York Tribune, i. 177, 295 ; ii. 
 
 170, 280 
 Newhall Hill, the song of the 
 
 Unions, i. 30 
 Newman, F. W., i. 97, 126, 229; 
 
 ii. 64, 94, 165, 293, 303 
 New Moral World, i. 72, 142 
 Newspaper inventions, ii. 2, 3 
 Newsvendor's terror, i. 287, 289 
 New York Herald, ii. 196 
 Nightingale, Miss, i. 100 
 Nineteenth Century, ii. 46 
 Noble democrats, ii. 197 ; how 
 
 their names were discovered, ii. 
 
 196 ; the planks of their plat- 
 form, ii. 192 
 Normanby, Lord, ii. 191 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, ii. 197 
 Northern Liberator, i. 107 
 Norwich, singular address to political 
 
 women in, 1833, i. 29 
 Nosa Danus, ii. 36 
 Novello, Alfred, ii. 268 
 
 Oastler, Richard, i. 104-7 
 Oathlessness, sole instance of, ii. 
 
 . 2 SS 
 O'Brien, Bronterre, i. 107 ; ii. 267 
 O'Brien, William, M.P., i. 86, 173 
 O'Connell, Daniel, i. 36, 37 ; ii. 230 
 O'Connor, Feargus, i. 106 
 O'Connell on Lord Russell, i. 234 
 O'Connor's first madness, i. 227 
 O'Connor, Miss, ii. 60 
 Oddfellows' Lectures, old and new, 
 
 i. 205-207 ; ii. 202 
 Oddfellows, honest, i. 207 
 Odgers, George, ii. 3 
 Ogden of Gloucester, i. 157 
 Oliphant, Mrs., i. 124 
 Opinions, taste in, ii. 303 
 
 Oracle of Reason, \. no; its defiant 
 motto, i. 142, 160 
 
 Orator, characteristics of the, i. 136 
 
 Orsini, visit from him, i. 94; ii. 26 ; 
 answered the question of Cato, ii. 
 27 ; vindicated against the Em- 
 peror, ii. 28 
 
 Osborne, Bernal, M.P., ii. 53 
 
 Ossoli, Countess, i. 244 
 
 Otone the Great, ii. 36 
 
 Otway, Sir Arthur, M.P., ii. 169, 171 
 
 Owen, Robert, i. 4, 40, 48, 94, 102, 
 115 ; his fine temper owing to his 
 principles, i. 118; letter from, i. 
 
 122 ; his political programme, i. 
 
 123 ; ii. 165, 267, 273 
 
 Owen, R. Dale, i. 112; his scrupu- 
 lous honour, i. 124 
 Oxford, Bishop of, i. 210 
 
 Padmore, Sally, i. 16 
 
 Pailleron, M., i. 93 
 
 Pakington, Sir John, ii. 197 
 
 Paley, Dr., i. 65 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, message from, 
 i. 228 ; disliked by most tyrants, 
 ii. 76 ; a Committee to be- 
 head him, ii. 77 \ betrayed by 
 his friends in Bradford, ii. 79 > 
 received by a voiceless crowd, 
 ii. 80 ; his generosity to Miss 
 O'Connor, ii. 80 ; his friendliness 
 to the author, ii. 81, 279 
 
 Paine, Thomas, i. 115; tne Fleet 
 Street statue of, ii. 2 
 
 Pare, William, i. 40, 41, 77, 141 
 
 Parker, Rev. Joseph, D.D., ii. 303 
 
 Parkes, Josiah, i. 85 
 
 Parkes, T., i. 121 
 
 Parrington, Mr., ii. 234 
 
 Parry, i. 292 
 
 Parry, Serj. John Humphry, i. 155, 
 156, 177 
 
 Pascal, Blaise, ii. 301 
 
 Paterson, i. Ill, 135 
 
 Paterson, Thomas, i. ill, 135 
 
 Partnership in industry, ii. 162 
 
3<6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Paulton, Mr., and Place, ii. 219, 
 
 221, 226 
 Peace of 1856, ii. 164 
 Peel, Sir Robert, i. 46; ii. 54, 225 
 
 22S 
 Peltier's case, ii. 33 
 Pel Verjuice, i. 38 
 Pemberton, Charles Reece, i. 37- 
 
 39, 85, 132, 221 
 Pemberton, William, i. 85, 132 
 Penalties of opinion, i. 177-181 
 Penn and Charles II. , ii. 276 
 People's Review, i. 58 
 People who know everything, i. 1 38 
 Perry, Sir Erskine, ii. 44 
 Perry of the Morning Chronicle, 
 
 ii. 236 
 Persistence, policy of, i. 176 
 Peterborough, Bishop of, ii. 199, 
 
 293 
 Pettitt, Stephen, ii. 240 
 Philippe, Louis, at Farnborough 
 
 Station, i. 197, 198 
 Phillips, Wendell, meets Bright's 
 
 son in State Street, i. 137, 238 ; ii. 
 
 286 
 Philpotts, Bishop, i. 109, 141 
 Phinn, Q.C., M.P., i. 290 ; ii. 12 
 Pierri entangled, i. 307 ; ii. 30 
 Pietri, M., the newspaper's agent, 
 
 ii. 29 
 Pitman, Isaac, i. 24 
 Pitt, W., ii. 281 
 Place, Francis, the Radical tailor of 
 
 Charing Cross, i. 5, 85, 120, 177 ; 
 
 his interview with the Duke of 
 
 Wellington, i. 218 ; his letter to 
 
 the author, i. 217 ; his walks with 
 
 Jeremy Bentham, i. 215, 222, 265 
 Plank bed, a, i. 149 
 Police audience, a, i. 148 
 Police plots, ii. 54 
 Political predictions in 1868, ii. 150 
 Pooley, Thomas, his trial, i. 1 1 1 ; ii. 
 
 94 
 "Poor" Holbery, i. 171, 172 
 Porson on the methods of Pitt and 
 
 Fox, ii. 281 
 
 Postmaster of Cheltenham, i. 169 
 
 Potter, George, ii. 194 
 
 Potter, Stuart, local preacher, i. 250 
 
 Potter, T. Bayley, M.P„ ii. 188, 
 230 
 
 Praed, Landor, i. 266 
 
 Prentice, Archibald, ii. 221 
 
 Prince Consort, i. 270 
 
 Prison theology, i. 167 
 
 Prize Ring, " nurse " defined, ii. 109 
 
 Propagandism not a trade, ii. 162 
 
 Prospero's question, i. 19 
 
 Protectionists, their terrible predic- 
 tions, ii. 224, 225 
 
 " Publicola " of the Weekly Dispatch, 
 i- 153 
 
 Pulzsky, Francis, i. 97 
 
 Pulzsky, Madame, i. 97 ; her despair 
 of clemency, ii. 62 
 
 Punch, i. 281 ; ii. 77 
 
 Purchasing power, a new phrase in 
 1869, ii. 176 
 
 P. Y., Dr., i. 47 
 
 Pyat, Felix, i. 74, 94 ; ii. 64 
 
 Quarterly Review, its nameless 
 authors, i. 180 
 
 Queen, Her Majesty the, her re- 
 monstrance to Palmerston, ii. 
 134, 136, 192, ; in Prince Albert's 
 days, i. 198 ; visits Napoleon III., 
 i. 134; Anne, her infamous act, 
 put to death, i. 294 ; ii. 192, 283 
 
 Queensberry, Duke of, i. 35 
 
 Queenwood Hall, its building and 
 fate, i. 201, 202 
 
 Querulous Radicals, i. 32 
 
 Questions, law of irrelevant, i. 142 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, i. 97 
 
 Race, the instincts of, i. 34 
 Radical Tailor of Charing Cross, 
 
 the, i. 218 
 Ramsay, Mr., i. 112, 269 
 Reader, the, ii. 242 
 Reasoner, the, ii. 89, 173 ; advised 
 
 by the Postmaster to make a false 
 
 declaration, i. 391 
 
INDEX. 
 
 3i7 
 
 Reclus, Elisee, and Elie, i. 94 
 Red and Co., the, explained, ii. 32 
 Red Republican, i. 106 
 Reed, R. B., i. 2 
 Reid, Wemyss, ii. 128 
 Reign of Terror questions, i. 263 
 Reporters, reversible, ii. 156 
 Representation, working-class, de- 
 fended, ii. 151 
 Retford, Rev. Dr., i. 245 
 Revolutionary placards in London, 
 
 "• 51-54- 
 Reynolds' Newspaper, ii. 50 
 Rice, Mr. Spring, i. 171 
 Richard II. in the Jerusalem 
 
 Chamber, ii. 233 
 Richards, Colonel A. B., ii. 49 
 Richmond, Duke of, ii. 197 
 Rintoul's religion, i. 228-9 
 Ripley, the obtuse, ii. 78 
 Roalfe, Matilda, i. no 
 Roberts, Mr., glass grinder, i. 16 
 Roberts, Wm. Prouting, i. 105 
 Robespierre, M., i. 137 
 Robinson, Henry, of Edinburgh, i. 
 
 Ill 
 Rodgers, Paul, i. 136 
 Roebuck, J. A., i. 129, 130, 154 
 Rogers, J., ii. 176 
 Rogers, Professor T. E. Thorold, 
 
 i. 6 
 Rollin, Ledru, condemned for a 
 
 title, i. 92 ; ii. 165, 262 
 Rothschild House, the, ii. 44 
 Routledge, E., ii. 26 
 Royal Academy, a, Boswell, ii. 241 
 Royal Family always friendly to 
 
 co-operation, i. 270 
 Royston, Viscount, ii. 45 
 Rudio, Carlo de, i. 93 ; his suspicious 
 
 speeches, ii. 33, 37; letter from 
 
 him, ii. 37-8 
 Ruge, Dr. Arnold, i. 95 
 Rushton, Benj., of Ovenden, ii. 
 
 252 
 Ruskin, John, his Colenso diamond, 
 
 i. 91, 34; ii. 243 
 Russell, Mr. , the Song seller, i. 32 
 
 Russell, Lord John, his reply to Bal- 
 lantyne, i. 234, 275 ; ii. 138, 192 
 
 Russell, Scott, adventures in politi- 
 cal seas, ii. 194, 195 
 
 Rutherford, Rev. Dr., i. 263 
 
 Rutland, Duke of, ii. 146 
 
 Ryall, Maltus Questell, i. 142 
 
 Ryder, Robert, Bishop Colenso's 
 builder, ii. 86-88 
 
 Ryland, Arthur, i. 32 
 
 Saffi, Aurelio, i. 91, 284 
 
 St. Simonians, ii. 5 
 
 St. James's Gazette, i. 238 
 
 Salisbury, Lord, i. 86, 273 
 
 Salt, Thomas Clutton, i. 29, 45, 103 
 
 Sampson, Phil, ii. 114 
 
 Sargant's Life of Owen, i. 131 
 
 Sayer, Hon. Andrew, i. 166 
 
 Sayers, Tom, an artist in the Ring, 
 ii. 108, 113 
 
 Scarlett, Rev., i. 12 
 
 Schnadhorst, Mr., i. 14 
 
 Schoelcher, Victor, i. 93 
 
 Schofield, William, M.P., his ser- 
 vices to industry, ii. 162, 163 
 
 Scholefield, Joshua, i. 27, 31 
 
 Scott, Thomas, baffles the Bishop of 
 Peterborough, ii. 83; his pamph- 
 let manufactory, ii. 84 
 
 Scott, Mrs., ii. 83 
 
 Scott, Thomas B., Bombardier, ii. 
 
 97 
 Search, Edward, i. 98, 132 
 Secularism, the ethics of this life, ii. 
 292 ; founded on human consider- 
 ations only, ii. 292 ; entirely dif- 
 ferent from Atheism, ii. 294 
 Seeley, Charles, letter to him, ii. 119, 
 
 124 
 Searle, January, i. 192 
 Sensationalism, effects of, i. 300 
 Serle, " Caustic," i. 179 
 Shaen, William, i. 183 ; ii. 49 
 Shaftesbury, Earl of, ii. 123 
 Sharman, Rev. William, i. 12 
 Shaw, the Waterloo boxer, ii. 114 
 Shelley, Sir John, i. 293 ; ii. 48 
 
3i8 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sherbrooke, Lord, ii. 256 
 
 Shiel, Lalor, i. 136 
 
 Shillitoe and the Czar, ii. 276 
 
 Shiloh's silver cradle, i. 27 
 
 Shorter, Thomas, traduced, ii. 3 
 
 Shorthouse, Dr., ii. 109, 113 
 
 Simplicity, the, of morality, i. 139 
 
 Sinclair, Sir John, M.P., ii. 109 
 
 Skelton, Dr., ii. 252 
 
 Skimpole, Harold, the theory of, ii. 
 
 233 
 Slack, H. J., i. 101, 275 
 Sleigh, Mr. , ii. 65 
 Smalley, G. W., i. 170, ii. 259 
 Smith, W. B., Grandmaster, ii. 
 
 202 
 Smith, Hawkes, i. 45, 47-49, 60, 
 
 62 ; ii. 203 
 Smith, Toulmin, i. 97 
 Smith, Joseph, of Wissahickon, i. 72 
 Smith, Samuel, i. 21 
 Smith, Sydney, i. 7 ; ii. 182 
 Smith, J. B. , ii. 223 
 Smith, John Stores, i. 234 
 Smith, George Paton, ii. 174 
 " Social Missionary," origin of, i. 135 
 Sojourner Truth, her discernment, 
 
 i- 137 
 
 Southcote, Joanna, i. 27 
 Southey, Robert, i. 112 
 Southey, Ernest W., i. 112 ; ii. 137 
 Southwell, Charles, i. 109, 142 ; ii. 
 
 162 
 Speaking out, Traitorous, advisers 
 
 of, ii. 3 
 Spectator, the, i. 228 ; its service to 
 
 the unfriended, ii. 95 ; in the days 
 
 of Rintoul, i. 228, 229 ; Steele's 
 
 killed by Queen Anne, i. 274 
 Spencer, Herbert, i. 142, 243 : 
 
 undervalues Parliament, ii. 240, 
 
 256, 263 
 Spencer, Rev. Thomas, M.A., i. 291 
 Spensley, Rev. Calvert, ii. 88 
 Sperry, the Cheltenham poet, i. 143 
 Spies silent under the dagger, ii. 41 
 Spirt cf the Age, i. 183, 184 
 Spurgeon, Re'r. C. H., i. 69 
 
 Spy, the life of a, ii. I 
 
 Stael, Madame de, ii. 171 
 
 Standard, the, ii. 118, 124, 240 
 
 Stanley, Dean, ii. 233 
 
 Stansfeld, James, resents the Michel- 
 dever affair, i. 24, 236, 292 ; ii. 
 124, 268 
 
 State Colonies, demand for, ii. 44 
 
 Steele, Sir Richard, i. 274 
 
 Stephens, Rev. J. Rayner, i. 104; 
 ii. 258 
 
 Stephenson, George, i. 24 
 
 Sterling, John, i. 5 
 
 Storr, J. Stephens, ii. 303 
 
 Supple, Gerald, shoots the wrong 
 person, ii. 174; did not object to 
 be hanged, ii. 174 ; affidavit on 
 his behalf, ii. 175 ; saved by Lord 
 Kimberley's kindness, ii. 176; 
 letter from Mr. Supple, ii. 177 
 
 Sutherland, ii. 121 
 
 Sutherland, Duke of, ii. 119 
 
 Swinbourne, the Actor, i. 137 
 
 Swindlehurst, Mr., i. 112 
 
 Syme, Rev. Alexander, i. 258 
 
 Syme, Rev. Ebenezer, i. 250, 258 ; 
 ii- 173. 177 
 
 Talfourd, Serjeant, i. 2, 38 ; ii. 
 
 265 
 Tallandier, A., French exile, ii. 66 
 Talleyrand, Prince, i. 137 ; ii. 76 
 "Taxes on knowledge," origin of 
 
 the phrase, i. 294 
 Taylor, John Edward, i. 129 
 Taylor, P. A., i. 293 ; ii. 42 
 Taylor, Sir Henry, i. 5 
 Tchorzewski, Stanislaus, the Pole, 
 
 ii. 64 
 Teetotalism, its merciful side, i. 271 
 Telegraph, Daily, i. 227 ; on Rudio 
 
 ii. 36, 121 
 Temple, Dr., ii. 116 
 Tennyson, Lord, ii. 289 
 Theology always in power, i. 181 
 Threstlecock, Mr., i. 23 
 Thiers, Adolphe, saying of, ii. 68, 
 
 227, 260 
 
INDEX. 
 
 319 
 
 Thomas, Mr. Serjeant, i. 158 
 Thomasson, Thomas, ii. 221, 222 ; 
 
 ii. 280 
 Thompson, General Perronet, i. 158; 
 
 ii. 222 
 Thompson, George, i. 31, 98 
 Thompson, "Contrition," i. 158 
 Times, The, i. 220 ; testimony of, 
 
 ii. 34, 117, 148 
 Timm, Mr., his difficulties, i. 282 
 Timmins, Sam, i. 2, 37, 281-2 
 Titan fight at Wadhurst, ii. 113 
 Tithes paid in kind, i. 253 
 Titus, Silas, the Royalist assassin, 
 
 ii. 60 
 Tolerant ambition explained, ii. 301 
 Tory alliance, what it means, ii. 197 
 Tory Radicalism defined, ii. 256 
 Towell, the murderer, ii. 32 
 Townley, Rev. H., i. 259 
 Trades Unionist editor, i. 72 
 Trafalgar Square policy, i. 84 ; ii. 186 
 Tragedies, undesigned, i. 52 
 Treasurer of Garibaldi, an opinion- 
 
 ative, ii. 102 ; conceals a forgery, 
 
 ii. 103 ; letters to him, ii. 104 
 Trelawny, Sir J., his midnight 
 
 record of Parliament, ii. 159 
 Trevelyan, Arthur, i. 302, 303, 304 
 Trevelyan, G. O., his courage of 
 
 duty, ii. 125 
 Trevelyan, Sir W., i. 304 
 Tropmann, ii. 138 
 Trouble with the chaplain, i. 167 ; 
 
 with the oath, i. 153 
 Truelove, Edward, i. 112 ; ii. 68 
 Tucker, Mr., ii. 259 
 Turgot, M., ii. 192 
 Turner, George, i. 120, 284 
 Twamley, Miss L. Anne, i. 66 
 Tyndall, Prof. John, i. 202 ; ii. 58, 
 
 3°3 
 Type, the deadliest form of lead, 1. 
 
 273 
 Tyrannicide, Landor's defence of it, 
 i. 101 ; a doctrine of rulers and 
 ruled, ii. 60 ; conditions of, ii. 
 60, 61 
 
 Tyranny defined, ii. 59 
 
 Unitarian honour, ii. 70 
 
 Uriel, the angel, i. 81 
 
 Urquhart, David, ii. 76 
 
 Useful knowledge, new knowledge, 
 i. 40 
 
 Usurper, the, his legend at Bor- 
 deaux, i. 215 
 
 Vallance, Mr., i. 63 
 Valpy, Mr., at Cromer, ii. 145 
 Venturi, Madame, her portrait of 
 
 Ledru Rollin, ii. 261 
 Village school, a, in Gawcott, ii. 
 
 204 
 Villages of co-operation, when first 
 
 named, i. 27 
 Villiers, C. P., M.P., ii. 223 
 Vincent, H., i. 102, 104 
 Visit from Orsini, ii. 26 
 Voluntary education mendicant in 
 
 quality, ii. 150. 
 
 Waddington, H., ii. 74 
 
 Wages raised by workmanship, i. 23 
 
 Wainwright, the Whitechapel mur- 
 derer, ii. 153 
 
 Wales, Prince of, ii. 78 ; telegram 
 to him, ii. 112 
 
 Walewski, Count, ii. 48, 192 
 
 Walker, Mr., ii. 197 
 
 Walking public-house, a, i. 305 
 
 Wall, post-office thief, i. 169 
 
 Wallace, A. R., ii. 218 
 
 Walpole, Mr. Secretary, negotiation 
 with, ii. 73 ; his generous letter, 
 ii. 74 ; his fairness and firmness, 
 ii. 186 ; his statement in Parlia- 
 ment, ii. 188 ; letter from him, ii. 
 190 
 
 Walshe, John, marked for death, ii. 
 
 174 
 Walter, Mr., non-existent, ii. 3 
 War, a political policy, i. 230 
 War Chronicles, the, i. 285 
 War Chronicle campaign, i. 286 
 
320 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ward, Mr., the convert, ii. 7 
 Warden the Chartist, ii. 77 
 Warren, Sir Charles, i. 84 
 Watson, James, Radical publisher, 
 
 i. 102, 112 ; ii. 161, 267 
 Watts, Dr. John, i. 293 
 Wayside nights, i. 71 
 Wayside days, i. 71, 72, 75 
 Weekly Dispatch., i. 153, 179 
 Weir, Wm., ii. 222 
 Weitling, Wilhelm, the German 
 
 Communist, 95, 96, 137 
 Wellington, Duke of, without sym- 
 pathy for his soldiers, i. 213 ; his 
 singular credulity, i. 214 ; leads 
 an attack on Carlile, ii. 160, 289 
 Welshmen, their peculiarity in argu- 
 ment, i. 119 
 West, Mrs., ii. 13 
 Westminster Review, ii. 28 
 Weston, John, the thin patriot, ii. 
 
 263 
 Wetherall, Sir C, i. 109 
 What ailed him, ii. 107 
 White, William, i. 1 ; ii. 168 
 White, George, English in name, 
 
 Irish in danger, i. 104, 107 
 White, Rev. Mr., ii. 268 
 Whitehaven platform, fortifications 
 
 in, i. 249 
 Whitehaven Herald, i. 249 
 Whitehead, Rev. M., ii. 204 
 Whittier, J. G., ii. 183 
 Whitty, Ed., his historic phrase, i. 
 
 240 
 Wicks, Rev. Mr., i. 246 
 Widow Ryan, the, ii. 150 
 Wilberforce, Bishop, his candour, ii. 
 202 ; letters to him, ii. 204-6 ; his 
 courage and kindness to Gawcott 
 children, ii. 207 ; letter to The 
 Times in his honour, ii. 208 
 
 Wilderspin, S., i. 291 
 Wild words, cost of, i. 299 
 Wilks, Washington, his manliness, 
 
 i. 266 ; ii. 108, 122' 
 Williams, Alderman James, of 
 
 Sunderland, i. 106 . 
 Williams, Capt., i. 153-4 
 Williams, E. J., ii. 175 
 Wilmot, Sir Eardley, i. 231 
 Wilson, George, the great chair- 
 man, ii. 226-9 
 Wilson, Benj., of Salterhebble, ii. 
 
 251 
 Wise tailors, i. 74 
 Wollstonecraft, M., i. 225 
 Woolf, Major, ii. 8, 123 ■ 
 Woolner, Thomas, ii. 142 
 Wolseley, Sir Charles, Bart., M. P. 
 
 for Birmingham, i. 31 
 Wolseley, Lord, i. 213 
 Woman's, a, mind, i, 78 ; fight, a, 
 
 in Birmingham, ii. 114 
 Womari s Journal, a, i. 224-5 
 Women, origin of their agitation for 
 civil rights, i. 223-5 J platform 
 speakers, the first, i. 222 
 Wooler, Jonathan, i. 4, 31, 129 
 Words, peril of, i. 265, 266 
 Wordsworth, W., i. 139 
 Workman who dressed well, i. 
 
 22 
 Workshop life, its advantages, i. 
 
 World, the, ii., 218 
 Wright, Daniel, i. 14, 45, 46 
 Writing in the. dark, i. 174 
 
 Yarborough, Lord, ii. 35 
 Youll, Mr., ii. 3 
 Young, Anthony, i. 137 
 
 UNW1N BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHII.WORTH AND LONDON. 
 
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