ENRY Pease 
 
 A SH ORT gX? NGXg- 
 STORY 6X5X9">6XS^ 
 
 OF HIS LIFE (5X5^ 
 
 BY M. li. R 
 
BX 7757 .P37 P37 1898 
 Pease, Mary Henry Lloyd, 
 
 1826-1909. 
 Henry Pease 
 
HENRY PEASE. 
 
 A SHORT STORY OF HIS LIFE. 
 
Digitized by 
 
 the Internet Archive 
 
 
 
 in 2015 
 
 
 
 https://archive.org/details/henrypeaseshortsOOpeas 
 
Henry Pease. 
 
 A SHORT 
 
 MAY 11 1918 
 
 STORY 
 
 OF HIS LIFE 
 
 By M. H, i^.fea^ej 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 WITH AX 
 
 INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 Sir JOSEPH W. PEASE, BART., M.P. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HEADLEY BROTHERS, 
 
 14, BISHOPSGATE STREET 
 WITHOUT, E.G. 1898. 
 
HEADLEY BROTHERS, 
 PRINTERS, 
 LONDON AND ASHFORD, KENT. 
 
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 
 
 My Dear Children — 
 
 This little sketch of your beloved father's life was 
 written during the first winter after his death. It 
 was a solace to me to weave together from his 
 journals, letters, and other sources, this story of 
 his useful, industrious life. I felt to shrink rather 
 from publishing it then, and the manuscript was laid 
 aside ; but now, before those who knew and loved 
 him have all passed away, I send it forth, just as it 
 was written in the first freshness of feeling, with a few 
 slight additions and verbal alterations as regards 
 statistics, to bring it up to date. 
 
 His outward life was widely seen and known ; 
 this short record reveals some of the secret springs 
 that influenced his actions. And I have a hope that, 
 imperfect as it is, this sketch of an honourable, and in 
 many respects successful career, may not be without 
 some valuable lessons in this busy stirring age, when 
 some of the things he laboured for are bearing fruit, 
 
vi. 
 
 and when advantages from education, and other 
 causes, beyond what he could have conceived, are 
 adding to the responsibihties and influence of each 
 individual. 
 
 To you, his children, this record is not needed to 
 keep him ever in your loving remembrance, but you 
 will be interested in some details which time already 
 may have partly obscured, and you will also value it 
 for your children's sake in days to come. 
 
 May his example prove an incentive to all to seek 
 to do the day's work in the day, and faithfully use 
 the talents committed to their care ; if any resolve of 
 the kind is strengthened by this little effort to portray 
 your father's life and character it will not have been 
 written in vain. 
 
 Your loving Mother, 
 
 Mary H. Pease. 
 
 Pierremont, iSgy. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Parentage — Edward Pease, his Marriage Character, 
 Family — Henry Pease's Birth — George Stephenson — 
 Opening of the Darlington and Stockton Railway 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Henry Pease's early life — Railway extensions — Middlesbro' 
 — The Reform Bill — Joseph Pease, the first Quaker 
 returned to Parliament 15 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Henry Pease's religious convictions — His first Marriage — 
 Birth of his eldest son — His wife's Death — Blackwell — 
 Westbrook — Pierremont — Irish Famine - - 27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The War Panic — Journey to St. Petersburg — Audience 
 with the Czar — Failure of the Mission — Peace deputa- 
 tion to Paris 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 He visits America — Opening of the Railway to Tebaj' — His 
 interest in various Water Works and other schemes 
 for the improvement and developing of the country 
 
 68 
 
viii. 
 
 CONTENTS {continued). 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Henry Pease returned to Parliament for South Durham — 
 His second Marriage — Death of his Father — Stanhope 
 Castle — Saltburn — Retires from Parliament - "78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Death of his brothers, John and Joseph Pease — Railway 
 Jubilee — Visit from Dean Stanley - - - 94 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 His serious illness — Death of his grandson — Tour in Spain 
 — Yearly Meeting — Attack of Bronchitis — Visits, 
 Torquay, Falmouth, Stanhope, London — Closing Scene 
 — Funeral 105 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Portrait of Henry Pease - - Frontispiece. 
 
 Portrait of Edward Pease - - - - 8 
 
 Pierremont 34 
 
 Stanhope Castle 88 
 
 Saltburn 92 
 
 View of Pierremont from South 
 
 Park Garden 95 
 
I 
 
INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The demand for a second edition of Mrs. Henry- 
 Pease's Short story of the life " of her husband, 
 Henry Pease, my uncle, has proved that others 
 besides his children, to whom the book was dedicated, 
 have been interested in it. 
 
 It has been kindly suggested to me that being the 
 eldest surviving member of the succeeding generation, 
 and having been for man}- years perhaps his most 
 intimate companion (outside his own household) in 
 social and business life, a few words of mine, by way 
 of introduction, might be of interest for some of that 
 fresh circle of readers for whom a new edition is 
 more especially intended. I own that I have 
 hesitated to undertake the task, as I fear in any way 
 to spoil the dedicatory lines which so beautifully and 
 accurately describe the feeling which gave rise to the 
 conception of the story of his life and the motives 
 which attended its issue. 
 
 Although at the time only about eight years old, I 
 clearly recollect Henry Pease's first marriage, and his 
 bringing his bride to Darlington. I was present at 
 her funeral at Uxbridge in 1839. Her only 
 descendant was the late Henry Fell Pease, M.P. ; he 
 was only about eighteen months old at the time of his 
 mother's decease, and he spent most of his earlier 
 life with his grandmother, Mrs. Fell, at Uxbridge. 
 
xii. 
 
 It was owing perhaps to this circumstance that I 
 was so much the recipient of my uncle's kindness 
 and instructive companionship during my boyhood, 
 and as I grew older he made me the confidential 
 friend of his domestic and business life. In 1845 I 
 entered business, and in that year I accompanied 
 him (as in several subsequent years) on his summer 
 holidays, driving a favourite pair of piebald ponies 
 through North and South Wales. Railways, steam- 
 boats, and great hotels were then unknown, and 
 there was no pleasanter way of seeing a country than 
 by a tour thus pleasantly carried out. In 1846 we 
 continued with the same ponies our tour through 
 Devonshire and Cornwall. The following year we 
 were in Scotland, and in 1849 I accompanied my 
 uncle to Ireland. The distress at that time was 
 terrible. We went the entire round of the West 
 Coast as far as Skibbereen, Bantry, and Cork. 
 Starvation, nakedness, and evictions were the sad 
 sights of each day's journey, leaving with us 
 both memories that time cannot obliterate. In 1851 
 we were companions again in Norway. I have 
 mentioned these holidays, as it has been well said 
 that travelling together indicates more than any 
 other way what men are made of. I found my uncle 
 not only an affectionate but a most interesting com- 
 panion, always seeing what was to be seen, and 
 explaining to me as we drove along the history of the 
 district and the logic of facts. This close companion- 
 ship and friendship, and the memories of these 
 
xiii. 
 
 pleasant days justify me, I think, in some degree at 
 any rate, for the few introductory remarks I am 
 making to this memoir. 
 
 My uncle was warmly attached to the Society of 
 Friends, in which he had what is known as a birth- 
 right membership. My grandfather's views and 
 actions were in strict accordance with what were 
 then the orthodox rules of the Society. What were 
 termed "plainness of speech, behaviour, and apparel" 
 were the characteristics of himself and his household. 
 Shakespeare, Scott, and similar authors were not seen 
 on his shelves, and no piano or instrument of music 
 found its way within his doors. Whilst inheriting 
 these opinions and practices my uncle's views 
 gradually expanded, and he felt more and more, as 
 years advanced, that in modes of life, amusements 
 and occupations, to his own Master each must stand 
 or fall. 
 
 In business, there is no doubt that railway enter- 
 prise was the great interest of his life. He witnessed 
 and participated in the enormous strides of invention 
 and the improved communication which took place 
 between the time of the opening of the Stockton and 
 Darlington Railway, and the period of his death in 
 1 88 1 — developments in which he was conscious of 
 having taken his part, and which had produced such 
 great and beneficial results. 
 
 During the elections of 1857 and 1859 I v/as much 
 with him. He was in all respects a good platform 
 speaker, clearly explaining his general view of politics 
 
xiv. 
 
 on Christian and moral grounds, without entering 
 into details on the history of laws and their 
 application to Society. The House of Commons 
 was not a very congenial atmosphere for his quiet 
 mind, and whilst duly discharging his duty, he 
 disliked the publicity of its life, and the constraints of 
 London existence. His invariable courtesy and 
 highly honourable reputation won him many friends, 
 and when I was elected to the seat he had so well 
 filled, and from which he so gladly retired, I found 
 that my position was the easier from the favourable 
 impression he had left upon an often hypercritical 
 assembly. 
 
 I cannot conclude these few and imperfect 
 memorial thoughts without a few words about his 
 tenancy of Stanhope Castle and the surrounding 
 moors. Here he always seemed to be in the full 
 enjoyment of his life. The bracing air invigorated 
 him. The fine physique, and the religious character 
 of the Dales folk, with whom he was a favourite, 
 interested, and were much appreciated by him. 
 Whilst seldom using a gun, he was most keenly 
 interestly in the shooting parties, often consisting of 
 the sons of his relatives and old friends, which 
 assembled under his kind hospitality at the Castle. 
 He despised the late hours of the times. Those who 
 were to shoot were called at six, breakfast was ready 
 at seven, and he was disappointed if it was after 
 nine o'clock when the first shot was heard on the 
 moor. 
 
XV. 
 
 Henry Pease was an upright and honourable man, 
 of quiet and lovable character. Those who knew 
 him best loved him most. His thoughts and con- 
 sequently his words were never of the type that 
 either the Christian or the moralist could condemn. 
 The many friends and neighbours who stood around 
 his grave felt that not only had they lost a friend but 
 also an example. 
 
 In that quiet God's Acre behind the Friends' 
 Meeting House at Darlington a simple stone records 
 the name and age of the pilgrim who rests below. 
 Had lines or texts been permitted, there might have 
 been added in full faith to the simple record on his 
 memorial stone — 
 
 " Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." 
 
 Joseph W. Pease. 
 
 Hutton Hall, 
 Guisborough, 
 3rd mo., 1898. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Parentage. Edward Pease, his Marriage, Character, 
 Family — Henry Pease's Birth — George Stephenson — 
 Opening of the Darlington and Stockton Railway. 
 
 DWARD PEASE, whose name in connection 
 
 A \j with the commencement of railways is now 
 of world-wide celebrity, little anticipated that any 
 such fame was in store for him when, in 1796, 
 he brought his young bride to the modest house 
 in DarHngton he had prepared for her. 
 
 His family had long been respected in the town 
 — his grandfather, Edward Pease, came to Darling- 
 ton in 1774 and established the woollen business 
 there, w^hich the family have carried on ever 
 since. Previously to coming to Darlington he had 
 joined the Society of Friends. 
 
 His eldest son, Joseph, born in 1737, married 
 Mary Richardson in 1763 ; their first son died in 
 infancy; Edward, their second son, was born in 
 1767. 
 
 On his marriage with Rachel Whitwell of Kendal, 
 in 1796, Edward Pease, in writing to one of his 
 friends, thus playfully describes his new home : 
 " Our drawing-room, dining-room, and library, 
 are all exactly alike, being one and the same 
 
 2 
 
2 
 
 room." But though the young couple began Hfe 
 so simply, they had the best inheritance that 
 children can have, in the sound good sense, and 
 deep reHgious feeling, which their ancestors on 
 both sides possessed in no common degree. 
 
 In 1800 they removed to the house in North- 
 gate, where Edward Pease continued to reside till 
 his death in 1858. 
 
 The encroaching town has so nearly swept away 
 all traces of the old paternal home that a short 
 description of it, as it appeared when it was 
 filled by a large and happy family, and was the 
 scene of much simple hospitality, may not be 
 uninteresting. A plain, three-storied house, it faced 
 the then quiet street, being the last house but one 
 on the right on leaving the town. At the back the 
 windows of the library and the drawing-room 
 opened on to a lawn, at the foot of which ran 
 a stream spanned by a rustic bridge ; on the 
 other side was the fruitful garden, with its hot- 
 house and the orchard ; beyond these the ground 
 rose again, and on these sloping fields, towards 
 the top, within view from his windows, Edward 
 Pease planted trees, which, as he used to say, 
 ''grew while he slept," till, in after years, 
 children and grandchildren enjoyed to wander 
 beneath their shade, for on this pleasant spot 
 his eldest son John built East Mount, the snug, 
 pretty residence, where he lived mo^ of his 
 useful, honoured life. 
 
3 
 
 When Edward Pease thus began Hfe in 
 DarHngton it contained only about 5,000 inhabi- 
 tants, instead of the 40,000 or more it now 
 numbers. Its chief industry was the woollen 
 manufacture, imported into it by his own ancestors, 
 as before mentioned. It w^as, however, even then a 
 busy place for its size, and among other manu- 
 factures was noted for the spinning of flax, 
 having the honour of being the first place w^here 
 flax was spun by machinery. 
 
 In the centre of the town, near the Market 
 Place, on a site now covered with houses and 
 shops, Edward Pease's grandfather had a large 
 orchard, in w^hich, tradition says, he kept a deer, 
 presented to him by Lord Darlington. 
 
 In place of the railways, forges, and furnaces, 
 that now, on the north side of the town, 
 blacken the fair face of nature, there were 
 pleasant fields and trees and quiet streams ; and 
 so silent was the now busy thoroughfare of 
 Northgate, that if a step was heard on the 
 pavement approaching the house, Edward Pease 
 and his family supposed, and generally correctly, 
 that it was that of someone coming to their 
 door. There was a quaint simplicity in those 
 days which was looked back upon with a sort 
 of fond regret by those who could remember 
 it, and who lived to see the more artificial and 
 pretentious customs of the present time. There 
 were no formal dinner parties, but the invitations 
 
4 
 
 were for tea at five o'clock." All would sit 
 round the table, and there would be a wonder- 
 ful display of cakes and confections, each hostess 
 vieing with her neighbours to provide the most 
 tempting variety. The ladies, however, had their 
 "at homes," though designated with the homely 
 name of "clean apron afternoons"; then they 
 would sit in their best parlours and receive 
 visitors, or, knitting in hand, cross the street in 
 their pattens to call upon a cousin or friend, or 
 up the street to have half-an-hour's chat with 
 another neighbour. There was no formality of 
 knocking, or ringing the hall-door bell, but the 
 handle was turned and the friend's house was 
 entered, a gentle tap at the sitting-room door being 
 all the warning needed. 
 
 We seem far removed from the present when 
 we speak of a time when the first umbrella was 
 seen in Darlington, an aunt of Edward Pease 
 being the happy possessor of the luxury. 
 
 Edward Pease and his wife, even in their early 
 married life, held a responsible position among 
 their friends. The latter became a minister, and 
 was much beloved and respected. They brought 
 up their children in strict accordance with the 
 principles at that time strongly enforced by the 
 religious body to which they belonged. But full 
 of life and natural vivacity, their youthful spirits 
 were curbed, not broken, and while "self restraint, 
 and filial obedience" were enjoined, and they 
 
5 
 
 were taught that duty must come before every 
 other consideration, there was a wide margin left 
 for enjoyment, and few can look back on a 
 happier home life than that of which the old 
 home in Northgate was the scene, 
 
 Henry, the youngest of Edward and Rachel 
 Pease's eight children, was born on May 4th, 1807. 
 He grew up a lively, active boy, fond of all out- 
 door pursuits. He was educated at a school in 
 Darlington, then in some repute in the north of 
 England, kept by H. F. Smith, a member of the 
 Society of Friends. Lessons were not easy to 
 him, but he was conscientious, and painstaking. 
 He has often related how, on summer mornings, 
 he would get up before the family was astir, and 
 clamber out on the roof of the house, and there 
 in a sheltered nook, with only the chirping 
 sparrows for companions, master the morning task, 
 often accomplishing it in time to meet the post- 
 man a mile or two out of town, and bring home 
 the family letters to the breakfast table at eight 
 o'clock. 
 
 On leaving school, as he had somewhat out- 
 grown his strength, he was apprenticed to a 
 tanner, his parents thinking that the manual 
 work in the tan-yard would be better for his 
 health than a more sedentary occupation. The 
 work was distasteful to him, but he threw into it 
 his accustomed energy, finding the best antidote to 
 the rough and coarse companionship it introduced 
 
6 
 
 him to, in the refinement and purity of his home. 
 His mother's character had a great influence 
 over him. He always spoke of her with rever- 
 ence, as of a saint on earth. Her shghtest wish 
 VJ2LS law to him. Years afterwards he wrote : 
 How does memory call to mind the figure, 
 actions, and sweetness of her whom a kind 
 Providence permitted to be my mother. May He 
 bless her descendants with a portion at least of 
 her more than earthly sweet spiritedness." 
 
 His father also was a noble example to his 
 children of integrity, diligence, and kindness of 
 heart. Many were the stories respecting him 
 his sons delighted to repeat ; some so character- 
 istic of a bygone age we may be permitted to 
 rescue one or two from oblivion. 
 
 In the long journeys he used to take into 
 the north on wool buying expeditions, Edward 
 Pease was often amused by the shrewdness of 
 the canny Scot, and also his fondness for 
 flattery. On one occasion the farmer, feeling he 
 had met with his match, exclaimed with a doubtful 
 smile : Eh ! Maister Pease, I was just agoing 
 to flatter ye, but I ken ye are ower wise to be 
 flattered." 
 
 Edward Pease had a store of anecdotes which 
 he could tell well, with a good deal of quiet 
 humour. When the day's work of examining and 
 buying the wool was over, the farmers would 
 gather round him in the wide ingle of the farm 
 
7 
 
 house where he had arranged to spend the night, 
 and in those troublous times, when news came 
 slowly and scantily, they would often begin the 
 talk they had been looking for all day by ex- 
 claiming, " And now, Maister Pease, let's hear the 
 cracks of the war." 
 
 With his ready wit and clear, good sense, 
 Edward Pease was often appealed to by his 
 neighbours to settle differences, or clear difficulties 
 — domestic, commercial, or mental. The tact with 
 which this was done may be instanced by the 
 case of a poor woman who came one day bur- 
 dened by a great anxiety she could only tell to 
 him. 
 
 Now, my good woman ! what is it ? " said 
 he, after kindly making her sit down. 
 
 Well, Mr. Pease, it is this, I am fairly beat ; 
 every day when I sit down to my spinning a 
 little eft comes, and sits and grins on the top of 
 the wool, and I can't get rid of it ; and so I 
 have to leave my spinning undone, which is a 
 sore trouble to me." 
 
 Is that it," said he quite gravely. " I think 
 I can cure that trouble." 
 
 He then went to his wTiting table and wrote 
 some words on a piece of paper, which he folded 
 and covered up carefully with the various coloured 
 wafers then in use, and handing is to her, told 
 her she must fasten it on the exact spot where 
 the eft was accustomed to sit — adding, If this 
 
8 
 
 is done, I think I may promise thee thou wilt 
 never see thy Httle tormentor again." 
 
 The poor woman came in a day or two to 
 say, with tears of gratitude, that the cure had 
 been perfectly successful. The explanation was 
 never attempted of either the complaint or the 
 remedy. 
 
 Edward Pease, though much engrossed in 
 business, and conscientious in his attention to the 
 affairs of the Church, in which he held the 
 position of Elder and Overseer, still contrived to 
 devote much time and thought to his children. 
 In the long winter evenings he would bring his 
 ledger into the sitting-room, and post his books, 
 while listening to the reading or the lively talk 
 that went on, joining in by an occasional pithy 
 remark or anecdote, thus proving that he at least 
 was not bound by ordinary limits, but could do 
 two things at once. 
 
 The eldest son, John, was of a thoughtful 
 disposition ; at the early age of nineteen he spoke 
 as a minister in their meetings, and from that time 
 till his death, at the age of seventy, he was a rare 
 example of dedication of heart and conscientious 
 following of what he believed to be right. He 
 married in 1823, Sophia Jowitt. Like-minded with 
 himself, they travelled and laboured together as 
 ministers, in beautiful harmony of thought and aim. 
 
 The second son, Joseph, was the life of the 
 home circle — tall, pleasant looking, with winning 
 
9 
 
 manners, he was popular wherever he went. With 
 a strong influence, acute powers of observation, 
 and fluency of language, he naturally came to 
 the front in every enterprise. The position might 
 have been a dangerous one if there had not 
 been the ballast of deep religious feeling. In 
 1826 he married Emma, daughter of Joseph 
 Gurney of Norwich, and became the father of a 
 large family — eight sons and four daughters — Sir 
 Joseph W. Pease, the present Member for the 
 Barnard Castle Division of Durham, being his 
 eldest son. 
 
 Of two other sons, Isaac died young, and 
 Edward's death occurred in 1835, after some 
 years of failing health. A daughter, Mary, was 
 also called away in her youth. The two re- 
 maining daughters, Rachel and Elizabeth, grew 
 up into sweet, serious womanhood. Elizabeth 
 became the wife of Francis Gibson of Saffron 
 Walden, and Rachel married Richard Fry of 
 Bristol. 
 
 But at the time of which we now write the 
 family band was all complete and at home, and 
 this slight sketch seemed needful in order to 
 understand the surroundings that helped to mould 
 the mind and character of the youngest member 
 of the interesting group. 
 
 He had a loyal faith in his brothers, and, next 
 to his parents, his brother John had the most 
 marked influence over him ; his decided Christian 
 
10 
 
 course was as a living epistle, while his sermons, 
 week by week, were reverently Hstened to by 
 the young brother, and, as appears in a journal 
 he kept for many years, were not infrequently 
 felt by him to be the word in season he needed. 
 
 But events were hastening on that were 
 destined strongly to affect the life and whole 
 career of Edward Pease and his family. 
 
 The necessities of an age stimulate invention. 
 This was, no doubt, the case with the discovery 
 of the advantage of the iron rail and the motive 
 power of steam. With an ever increasing popu- 
 lation, to so great a degree dependant on manu- 
 facture and easy carriage, it became a necessity 
 that there should be some improved facility for 
 conveying goods, and public attention had been 
 for some time called to the question. 
 
 Edward Pease, with his far-seeing mind, seized 
 the idea, and in 1817 projected a scheme for 
 laying down a tramway to bring the coals from 
 the colleries beyond West Auckland to Stockton. 
 He had at first no idea of any motive power but 
 horses. The scheme was, however, ridiculed, and 
 strongly opposed. It was necessary to get an Act 
 of Parliament for its construction, but the pro- 
 jected line went too near one of the Duke of 
 Cleveland's fox covers. This sealed its fate ; the 
 Duke exerted all his powerful influence, and the 
 Bill was thrown out by a majority of thirteen. 
 Nothing daunted, Edward Pease and his friends 
 
II 
 
 and supporters surveyed a new route, but the 
 sudden dissolution of Parliament, owing to the 
 death of George III., caused another session to 
 be lost. Undismayed by these and other diffi- 
 culties, another attempt was made, and at last, in 
 1 82 1, an Act was granted for a line of railway 
 to be called The Stockton and Darlington 
 Railway." 
 
 Meanwhile, George Stephenson, the engine- 
 wright at the Killingworth Colleries, near Newcastle, 
 was working out his idea of a " Travelling Engine." 
 Hearing of this new line — so far more important 
 than any that had 3-et been devised — he came 
 over to Darlington to see the spirited projector 
 who was working against such odds. 
 
 The first memorable interview between the 
 great inventor and his subsequent patron, graphi- 
 cally described by Mr. Smiles in his " Life of 
 George Stephenson," was followed by others, the 
 result being that George Stephenson was appointed 
 engineer of the line, and another Act was obtained, 
 empowering them to use upon it the newly- 
 invented locomotive engine. This excited a new 
 storm of opposition, in which the trustees of the 
 turnpike roads were especially active ; but the 
 work went on, and under the supervision of 
 George Stephenson, with his friend Edward Pease 
 to support him, success was assured. 
 
 It can easily be imagined how the active 
 minds of the young men in the house at 
 
12 
 
 Northgate were stirred by the discussions that 
 took place, as every inch of the way had, as it 
 were, to be fought over. 
 
 The plain engine-wright, George Stephenson, 
 with his provincial dialect, became a frequent 
 visitor. Fame had not yet breathed his name, 
 but Edward Pease and he recognized in each 
 other the same integrity, foresight, and indomitable 
 perseverance, and a firm and lasting friendship 
 was formed. 
 
 It was on one of these visits that the little 
 incident occurred that made the subject of a 
 picture exhibited in the Royal Accademy Exhibi- 
 tion some years ago. George Stephenson, whose 
 fingers had been trained by early necessity to 
 many useful arts, undertook to teach the young 
 ladies a new stitch of embroidery. He is repre- 
 sented as sitting down before the frame on 
 which their work was stretched, the two young 
 ladies, in their neat Quaker attire, watching him 
 with amused interest, their father also looking 
 on. A pretty gHmpse into the quiet, domestic 
 life, that came as a welcome interlude in the 
 midst of the anxieties of those years of toil and 
 frequent disappointment. 
 
 At last, after eight years of constant, unabated 
 energy and resolve on the part of the little 
 band of faithful co-workers, among whom we 
 would especially mention Thomas Richardson * and 
 
 * The founder, with John Overend, of the well-known firm of Overend 
 Gurney & Co. 
 
13 
 
 Jonathan Backhouse, without whose support, in a 
 financial point of view, the scheme could not 
 have been carried through, the great work was 
 completed. 
 
 The iron rails were laid, the travelling engine, 
 the Experiment," and the passenger carriage 
 emblazoned with the motto, Periadum privatum^ 
 utilitas publica,^^ were ready, a train of wagons 
 prepared, and all was arranged for the grand 
 opening ceremony to take place on September 
 27th, 1825. 
 
 On the day before, a select party were in- 
 vited to make a trial trip. Edward Pease and 
 his sons were of the number. After his brother 
 Joseph's death in 1872, Henry Pease used to 
 remark that he was the last survivor of that 
 little company who, by making this short journey 
 the day before the line was opened to the 
 public, could say they were the first to travel 
 by the aid of steam. They included those with 
 whom afterwards he worked side by side, in 
 committees and board rooms, or in the more 
 arduous labour of surveying for new lines, year 
 by year with unflagging interest, enlarging and 
 consohdating the great enterprise which now was 
 so auspiciously begun. 
 
 But when the morning dawned, and hundreds 
 flocked into Darlington to witness the novel 
 spectacle, and banners were flying, and the usually 
 quiet streets resounded with bands of music and 
 
14 
 
 the tramp of processions, the family that had 
 done most to achieve this triumph could not 
 share in it, but listened with sorrowful hearts, 
 behind closed blinds, to the distant sounds of 
 rejoicing that filled the air ; for, that night, the 
 Angel of Death had entered the home, and the 
 beloved son and brother, Isaac, had passed away. 
 He had been in delicate health for some time, 
 but the end came unexpectedly, to those around 
 him, as is often the case, even when to the 
 looker on there seems every reason to expect it. 
 
 It was a striking instance of the mixed 
 nature of all earthly things, often experienced 
 afterwards by Henry Pease in his long Hfe, but 
 never more acutely felt than on this day of 
 victory and rejoicing, and sore sorrow and bereave- 
 ment. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Henry Pease's early life — Railway extensions — Middles- 
 brough — The Reform Bill — Joseph Pease, the first 
 Quaker Member of Parliament. 
 
 HENRY PEASE was now twenty-one, and 
 released from his apprenticeship to the 
 tanning trade, he turned his attention to the 
 woollen manufactory, at that time the chief busi- 
 ness of his family. 
 
 He worked faithfully at it for many years, 
 amid the many fluctuations and discouragements 
 that often attend a manufacturing business ; 
 sharing in the frequent journeys, both for wool 
 buying and for orders. 
 
 One of his marked characteristics through life, 
 which early displayed itself, was his diligence in 
 whatever he undertook. He had a real pleasure 
 and zest in work ; as he grew older he could 
 enjoy rest and relaxation for short periods, but 
 only after he felt he had earned them ; at this 
 time his rest and relaxation came by varied work. 
 
 He was all his life an early riser. When young, 
 in the winter mornings, he made use of the time 
 thus gained for reading carefully many standard 
 works, especially of history ; in the summer he 
 
i6 
 
 worked in the garden, tending his mother's 
 favourite flowers, making with his own hands 
 minature frames to protect his seedhngs, and in 
 other ways indulging his taste for the cuUivation 
 of flowers, which was one of his chief pleasures 
 through life. Throughout the day, engagements of 
 various kinds claimed him — business hours were 
 long at that time. In the evening, however 
 weary he might be, he was the last to retire, 
 that he might see the lights extinguished and 
 all the bolts and bars attended to, for having 
 taken this duty upon himself, he carried it out 
 with the faithfulness that characterised him. 
 
 These may seem small incidents to mention, 
 but it is in the trivial round, the daily task,'' that 
 the true character shows itself even more than 
 in the larger transactions of life, and it remains 
 true — " He that is faithful in the least is faithful 
 also in much." 
 
 But we must now turn from these domestic 
 details, to see him coming to the front in the 
 more public enterprises that quickly followed each 
 other though the next eventful years. 
 
 The present generation, as they sit at ease 
 in cushioned carriages, and are borne swiftly and 
 safely through tunnels, and across embankments, 
 over deep rivers, and treacherous morasses, can 
 form Httle idea of the toil and anxiety, the hopes 
 and fears of the pioneers in that mighty work which 
 has covered our land with a network of railways. 
 
17 
 
 Besides all the physical difficulties which had 
 to be overcome, and which with no precedents 
 to guide them taxed all the known resources 
 and ingenuity of the engineers, and with financial 
 difficulties which often threatened to put a stop 
 to the whole undertaking, they had also to 
 encounter the increasing opposition of those who, 
 from the natural bent of their minds, disliked and 
 distrusted innovations, or who feared their per- 
 sonal interests might be touched, and this last 
 was the most hard to meet and to bear patiently. 
 It had, however, the effect of drawing the little 
 band of projectors together — it put them upon 
 their mettle, and made them determine to succeed, 
 no matter at what personal cost or risk. 
 
 We have seen how the railway between Dar- 
 lington and Stockton was opened in 1825 with 
 public rejoicings ; this was quickly followed by 
 branches more or less connected with it. Mean- 
 while a new and unexpected idea was developing. 
 At this time the river Tees, flowing past Stockton, 
 made it way to the sea through a flat, and 
 almost uninhabited district. On each side of the 
 river there was an expanse of sand and mud, 
 and beyond this stretched wide fields, with a 
 few storm-driven trees and an occasional farm 
 house. Twice in the day, when the tide came 
 up, overflowing the sand and mud, the Tees 
 became navigable to Stockton, and the idea was 
 started that Stockton might become a place for 
 
 3 
 
i8 
 
 the exportation of coal. The idea quickly 
 fructified, and on the 26th of January, 1826, the 
 first cargo of coal was shipped. 
 
 The next suggestion speedily followed — Why 
 not make the port nearer the sea, where the 
 river is deeper, and thereby a great bend be 
 avoided ? It was a thought soon acted upon, and in 
 1828 Parliamentary authority was obtained for mak- 
 ing the Stockton and Middlesbrough branch railway. 
 
 It must have seemed a very visionary scheme 
 to onlookers. Middlesbrough, the intended terminus, 
 was only a farm house with one or two labourers' 
 dwellings, and a few trees, among them a notable 
 willow, which long survived its fellows, and when 
 a few years before his death the extension of the 
 station obUged it to be cut down, Henry Pease 
 caused the blackened trunk to be removed to his 
 South Park garden — one of the many relics of the 
 past which he liked to collect and preserve, with a 
 touch of poetic sentiment, which was as much a 
 part of his character as the practical power which 
 was more apparent. 
 
 Though few were found to sympathise in the 
 enterprise, Joseph Pease, who now had had some 
 years of experience in railway work, with his 
 usual foresight and decision, did not falter. The 
 permission of Parliament was granted, an elegant 
 suspension bridge was thrown across the river — 
 afterwards found too light for heavy traffic — and 
 the line was opened in 1830. 
 
19 
 
 Meanwhile a company had been formed, 500 
 acres of land had been bought, and all was 
 ready for taking advantage of the facilities for 
 trade the new railway would bring. 
 
 A pottery manufactory and iron works were 
 started, a town was laid out to an approved plan, 
 and the lonely farm on the marsh became in a 
 few years the centre of a hive of industr}-. It 
 now numbers 90,000 inhabitants, and its jubilee 
 was celebrated October, 1881, amidst much public 
 rejoicing. 
 
 But while their work remains, the busy hands 
 and clever, contriving brains have passed away. 
 
 Of all that large company met together to 
 inaugurate the commencement of the under- 
 taking, by a banquet in a low wooden wagon 
 shed, on a cold January night of 1831, on that 
 solitaiy spot with no past history, but by the 
 hopes of those undaunted men invested with a 
 future so assured that they could choose for its 
 motto ''Erimus" (we shall be); of all that 
 company but one remained in 1881 to sit down 
 to the banquet on the jubilee anniversary, to 
 celebrate the more than fulfilment of their hopes. 
 
 These years were not only made memorable 
 by the commencement of railways, but by other 
 changes also which made it a marked period in 
 the histor}' of our country. 
 
 The need of reform, on many points besides 
 the mode of locomotion, was beginning to be 
 
20 
 
 strongly felt, and, with increasing numbers »and 
 intelligence, the people felt it imperative to 
 be allowed to make their voices heard in the 
 legislation of their country. The vexatious delays 
 and difficulty of getting any measures passed 
 through Parliament for the construction or exten- 
 sion of railways was only one example of the 
 continual opposition that every measure of progress 
 had to undergo from those who, holding the reins 
 of power, felt jealous of the ever growing activity 
 and influence of the masses. 
 
 We cannot here enter into the political strife 
 that at this time agitated the minds of both old 
 and young, rich and poor, throughout the kingdom ; 
 but at last those in power were forced to yield 
 to the voice of the nation, and in order to 
 avoid worse consequences to grant the Reform 
 Bill of 1832. 
 
 Among those who watched the struggle, and 
 felt great issues depended on it, were Edward 
 Pease and his sons, and when, by the re-dis- 
 tribution of seats. South Durham became entitled 
 to send two members to Parliament, and Joseph 
 Pease, by a numerously signed requisition, was 
 invited to stand as one of the representatives of 
 this Division, we may imagine the conflicting 
 feelings of the family circle. 
 
 They were staying at Seaton, a seaside village 
 which they often resorted to, when the anxious 
 question had to be discussed. Joseph Pease had 
 
21 
 
 a young family growing up ; to get to London 
 from the North of England was a far more for- 
 midable journey than that to Paris is now ; he 
 was engaged in important mercantile under- 
 takings which demanded his presence and 
 oversight ; and he belonged to a religious com- 
 munity which at that time discouraged its 
 members from taking part in political strife. 
 '* Let the Potsherds of the earth strive with the 
 Potsherds," was often quoted by them.* 
 
 It was natural that his pious mother's anxiety 
 that her child should be kept unspotted from 
 the world should lead her to take the side of 
 discouragement, but his father, though it was like 
 giving up his right hand to lose his son from 
 his side, felt it was a call that must not be dis- 
 obeyed ; and so, fortified by his father's sanction, 
 and still further stimulated by the belief that it 
 was in Divine ordering this path opened for him, 
 with all the natural ardour and determination of 
 his nature, Joseph Pease threw himself into the 
 excitements and anxieties of a contested election. 
 
 What that excitement was then can scarcely 
 be conceived by those whose only experience of 
 elections has been since numerous reforms have 
 shortened the period of tension, and strictly 
 
 • In replying to some of these objections Joseph Pease writes, " If 
 I thought there was to be an ultimate triumph of evil over good I 
 should not go, but as I believe good is to triumph over evil, i go to do 
 my best." 
 
22 
 
 controlled the means for exciting and influencing 
 the people. 
 
 When the canvassing was carried on week 
 after week, when bribery was so universal it 
 scarcely excited a sense of shame, and each party 
 vied with the other in its display of banners and 
 music, and other excitements, it is no wonder 
 that the more quiet and conscientious shrank 
 from entering into the strife. 
 
 The straightforward honesty of Joseph Pease's 
 intentions and his independent tone may, however, 
 be seen by the printed address which he issued 
 on accepting the challenge. In it he says, " In 
 no point of view can I agree, but especially not 
 through a demoralizing pecuniary expenditure, to 
 purchase a seat in the House of Commons. I will 
 never buy what I will never sell. I will never 
 seek to obtain by unworthy means what I have 
 pledged myself to use worthily. If my sentiments 
 be your sentiments, if I be the man of your 
 choice, it is well, with the blessing of Heaven, I 
 will do my duty as a man and a Christian." 
 
 But though he would not use any foul means 
 he employed every fair one with diligence and 
 tact, going from town to town, canvassing and 
 haranguing ; winning every one as much by his 
 courtesy and pleasant manner as by his forcible 
 oratory. 
 
 His brother Henry shared in these labours, 
 working not only for his brother, but for the 
 
23 
 
 cause. He shared also in the almost delirious 
 excitement of the day of election, when from 
 every polling district came, by horse express, the 
 last returns, which placed Mr. Pease at the head 
 of the poll, the numbers standing — 
 
 Pease . . . . 2278 
 
 Bowes .. .. 2218 
 
 Shafto .. .. 1 84 1 
 But another difficulty had to be encountered. 
 Joseph Pease belonged to a religious Society 
 which held as one of its tenets that our Saviour's 
 command, "Swear not at all," extended even to 
 judicial oaths, and holding this view conscientiously 
 he could not take the oath administered to every 
 newly elected Member on taking his seat in 
 Parliament. 
 
 He had gained his seat honestly, in fair fight, 
 and now left the issue quietly in the hands of 
 those in power. When counselled by some of 
 his advisers to petition, he replied with decision, 
 " I will petition nobody. I am sent here accord- 
 ing to the law of the land as a representative 
 in Parliament for South Durham, an important 
 county constituency, and it shall never be said 
 that South Durham, in my person, was brought 
 down upon its knees to beg for its rights." A 
 Committee of all the principal men of the day 
 was appointed by the House, which was com- 
 pelled to recognize the unique position of the 
 Society of Friends, and the already acknowledged 
 
24 
 
 right of individual conscience ; a form of affirma- 
 tion was drawn up, which Joseph Pease did not 
 hesitate solemnly to take, and thus took his seat 
 in Parliament, about a fortnight after his election, 
 the first Quaker that ever held that responsible 
 position. 
 
 This removal of his brother to another and 
 distant field of labour brought Henry Pease more 
 into the fore-front ; and though he shrank from 
 the responsibilities involved, it was no doubt 
 useful to his character, for his humility would 
 have led him to follow his more brilliant and 
 enterprising brother, rather than take the leading 
 part, which he was found quite capable of doing 
 when thrown upon his own resources. 
 
 It is not necessary to attempt to describe 
 all the railway and commercial undertakings 
 which made the next few years full of anxious 
 yet interesting toil. The following list of rail- 
 ways, with the dates of their openings, in the 
 construction and maintenance of which Joseph 
 and Henry Pease took a prominent part, gives a 
 glimpse of their industry in that direction : — 
 
 Feb. 29th, 1825. — The Stockton and Darlington Ry. 
 
 Oct. 17th, 1825. — Yarm Branch. 
 
 Oct. 27th, 1829. — Croft Branch. 
 
 May ist, 1830. — Haggerlease's Branch. 
 
 Jan. 1st, 1 83 1. — Middlesbrough Branch. 
 
 1838. — Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway. 
 
 1841. — York and Darlington Railway. 
 
25 
 
 1842. — Shildon Tunnel. 
 
 1844. — Darlington and Gateshead Railway. 
 
 1846. — Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway. 
 
 1847. — Wear Valley Railway. 
 
 But the two railways in which Henry Pease took 
 the liveliest personal interest, though dimly seen 
 in the future, were not destined to be made 
 realities till many years after this date. We 
 allude to that between Darlington and Barnard 
 Castle, and its further extension over Stainmoor 
 to Tebay. 
 
 Other and important changes meanwhile took 
 place in his life, to which we must now turn. 
 In the year 1833 he was called to pass through 
 one of the greatest sorrows of his life, in the 
 death of his beloved mother. She had left 
 home to accompany her eldest son and his 
 wife as far as Liverpool, on their journey to 
 Ireland. Taking leave of them there, accom- 
 panied by her husband and youngest son, she 
 went to Manchester to pay a visit to some near 
 relations. Her son Henry left her, apparently 
 in her usual health, and proceeded on a business 
 journey. With that dwelling upon details, which 
 memory so loves to do when bereaved of those 
 most dear to us, he notes in this journal, years 
 afterwards, that he was the last of her children 
 to receive a mother's kiss, for, a few hours after 
 parting from her, she was attacked with, sudden 
 illness, and after a short period of unconscious- 
 
26 
 
 ness gently breathed her ast. On his business 
 journey, not knowing what had taken place, he 
 felt a strong impression that he must return 
 home. Wondering that he should have the feel- 
 ing, he yet obeyed the impulse, and thus joined 
 the sorrowing family soon after the affecting news 
 of their loss had reached them. 
 
 This incident strengthened his belief in im- 
 pressions being given at times as a warning 
 of an impending calamity — a belief which, with 
 his sensitive temperament, might have led to 
 morbid anxiety, if it had not been watched 
 against. As it was, the whole circumstance deeply 
 affected him, and may account for the tinge of 
 melancholy that certainly rested on his spirit 
 about this period of his hfe and for some years 
 afterwards. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Henry Pease's religious convictions — His first marriage — 
 Birth of his eldest son — His wife's death — Black- 
 well — Westbrook garden — Pierremont — Irish Famine 
 — Visit to Ireland. 
 
 HIS description of the character and career 
 
 JL of Henry Pease would be a very imperfect 
 one if it did not mention those deep religious 
 convictions which he felt even in childhood, and 
 which strongly influenced him throughout his life. 
 
 We have an insight into these secret exercises 
 of his soul through a series of journals which 
 he kept at intervals, year by year, from 1835 to 
 1858, after which but few and isolated fragments 
 are found. These entries contain a touching 
 record of anxieties and heart searchings, of hopes 
 and fears, as regards his spiritual condition in 
 the sight of God. 
 
 They are especially interesting as showing him 
 to be a man of prayer from his youth. In the 
 midst of life and busy enterprise, he set apart 
 a short time every evening for private reading 
 of the Scriptures and communion with God. 
 Occasionally his journal records regret at not 
 
28 
 
 being faithful to his duty in this respect. In 
 1840 he writes : — " I beHeve I sustain great loss 
 from not persevering in daily retirement to wait 
 upon Him who is abundantly worthy to be 
 worshipped. I endeavour to persuade myself that 
 my aspirations are so constantly to Him that it 
 is not needful, but this excuse does not feel to 
 be accepted." May we not believe that not only 
 spiritual blessings were granted in answer to these 
 secret petitions, but also that strength and guid- 
 ance were given to meet the varied duties of 
 his busy life, and that thus he found the promise 
 fulfilled — **If any man lack wisdom let him ask 
 of God, Who giveth to all men liberally, and 
 upbraideth not." 
 
 At the same time, far more often than any 
 record of felt success, there is the confession of 
 deep humiliation and abasement of soul in the 
 presence of his Creator. His ideal was high, and 
 he was ever striving after a deeper religious life 
 than he had attained to. 
 
 One of the most marked features of his journal 
 in earl}^ life is the frequency of his fervent 
 prayers to be permitted to be of some use to 
 his fellow creatures. We may believe that these 
 prayers were answered in the ability and oppor- 
 tunity given him to help forward, in one way or 
 another, almost every effort set on foot in his 
 own neighbourhood to enlighten, instruct, and 
 encourage the people in all that was likely to do 
 
29 
 
 them good. And this by no sudden enthusiasm 
 and starting of new schemes, but which is more 
 difficult, and requires more conscientious effort, 
 by patiently working on when the eclat is gone, 
 and the interest of others has flagged ; plodding, 
 unseen, unappreciated work ; evening after evening 
 leaving the social circle to attend committees of 
 the Mechanics' Institute, charitable societies, or 
 town's business. 
 
 With an eye always open to do what he 
 could, opportunities for usefulness crowded upon 
 him, but still from time to time the prayer went 
 up that God would yet further fit him to be 
 an instrument in His hand for the good of his 
 fellow men. 
 
 We will not anticipate by showing how this 
 prayer was still further answered — by his being led 
 into wider paths of usefulness as life advanced — 
 but will return to the year 1835, which was 
 marked by an important change in his life, viz., 
 his marriage with Anna Fell, only daughter of (f 
 Richard and IMary Fell of Uxbridge. \ 
 
 The following short extract from his journal 
 will show the prayerful spirit in which he entered 
 on this step : — 
 
 "2nd AIo., 1835 — My thoughts often much engaged 
 in the reflection, that this was probably the last day 
 I should be an inmate under the parental roof, which 
 has been such a favoured home to me. My mind 
 surveyed the past, the present, and dived a little into 
 
30 
 
 the future. On retiring to rest, the feeble yet sincere 
 prayer of my heart was for unfeigned gratitude for 
 mercies innumerable in the past, and that the Lord 
 would work in me to love to do His will, so that He 
 might be my guide in days to come." 
 
 The marriage took place on February 25th, 
 at Uxbridge, and after a short wedding tour he 
 had the joy of bringing his bride to the home 
 he had prepared for her, and introducing her to 
 the family circle. 
 
 The cup of happiness was not, however, per- 
 mitted to long remain unmixed ; symptoms of 
 delicate health appeared, which caused his affec- 
 tionate heart much anxiety. Frequent changes of 
 air were resorted to, and everything that love 
 and care could suggest was done to strengthen 
 the beloved invalid. 
 
 On November 13th, 1837, they removed to a 
 furnished house at Middleton-St.-George, as country 
 air w^as recommended. In this pleasant spot, com- 
 manding a fine view of the Cleveland range, 
 they passed a quiet winter together, and there, 
 on April 28th of the following year, their son 
 was born. 
 
 As health and strength did not return after 
 this event, as was hoped, a change to her native 
 air was advised. He therefore took her and her 
 infant, accompanied by her mother, by easy 
 stages to Uxbridge; but the hopes he fondly 
 cherished as he started on this journey were 
 
31 
 
 not destined to be fulfilled. Her health gradually 
 but continually declined. The journal records his 
 feelings of anxiety when separated from her, his 
 long and anxious journeyings when able to leave 
 his business cares to go to see her, and his dis- 
 tress at seeing her so surely fade away. 
 
 In July, 1839, while at Tunbridge Wells, where 
 they had gone in the hope that the change might 
 bring some alleviation, he had the added distress 
 of hearing of his brother Edward's death. He 
 hastened home to attend the funeral, but returned 
 as speedily as possible to share with his mother- 
 in-law in watching over his beloved wife. 
 
 In the hope that the sea breezes might revive 
 her, they removed their frail charge from Tun- 
 bridge Wells to St. Leonards, and here, after a 
 few days of increasing weakness, her gentle spirit 
 passed away in his arms. 
 
 It is not possible to describe what this sorrow 
 cost him. His nature was to be somewhat exclu- 
 sive in his love, and the one to whom he had 
 given his heart's affections was taken from him. 
 He especially prized domestic happiness, and he 
 was left without a home. He had not even the 
 solace of his child, as he would not take him 
 from the tender care of his sorrowing grand- 
 mother. He returned therefore alone to the 
 North, feeling homeless and bereft, suffering per- 
 haps all the more because for the most part 
 silently. His journal probably portrays thoughts 
 
32 
 
 and feelings he gave little utterance to, even 
 though he had tender sympathisers round him — 
 especially in his brother John and his wife, 
 vi^hose loving sympathy and Christian counsel he 
 frequently mentions gratefully in his journal. 
 
 As he had given up his own house, and to 
 make his home again at his father's was more 
 than he could bear under his altered circum- 
 stances — so many touching memories of the happy 
 past lingered round it — and the marriages of his 
 two sisters had so greatly altered the character 
 of that once cheerful home, Henry Pease took 
 for a time a house at Blackwell, about a mile 
 and a half from the town. 
 
 This choice little abode was pulled down 
 many years ago, when the present house, which 
 stands on a more commanding site, was built. It 
 was most attractively situated ; the long windows 
 of the drawing-room opened on to a terrace, and 
 between the evergreens, which gave a sense of 
 shelter and seclusion, lovely glimpses were gained 
 of the river Tees below, with the bridge and the 
 woods and fields and blue distance beyond. It 
 was a home exactly suited to his tastes, and he 
 much enjoyed laying out the garden, and plan- 
 ning walks and seats. But still it was heavy 
 work to do these things alone, and he scarcely 
 could have borne up against the depression this 
 caused him if he had not been able at times to 
 feel the comfort of prayer. 
 
33 
 
 On August I2th, 1839, he writes — 
 
 "At business, which falls heavily upon me. Went 
 up to Blackwell, spent some time quietly alone. My 
 thoughts were of a very tender, 3^et peaceful character. 
 My humble yet earnest petition was put up, that He 
 who has shown me sore trials and vicissitudes would 
 be pleased to enable me to go in and out acceptably 
 before Him. My feelings and reflections the remainder 
 of the day were of rather a comforting character. A 
 considerable time was spent at Westbrook in the 
 evening." 
 
 This mention of Westbrook requires a little 
 further explanation. Not far from his father's 
 house, and near the railway station, there was a 
 sloping irregular bank ; once it had been a gravel 
 pit ; at the foot flowed a small stream, a few fine 
 trees grew in the hollow, and pleasant fields rose 
 on the other side. 
 
 Here Henry Pease, before his marriage, while 
 living at his father's house, had exercised his 
 taste in laying out a garden. The little nook 
 became a favoured spot, where the earliest fruits 
 and flowers of the season flourished. His father, 
 who began by calling it Henry's Folly," 
 delighted afterwards to take his numerous 
 visitors to see how his son's ingenuity and skill 
 had made the desert spot to blossom as a rose. 
 
 The terms on which he took the house at 
 Blackwell caused him to have a shorter tarriance 
 there than otherwise he would have preferred. It 
 belonged to his cousin, John Backhouse, and on 
 
 4 
 
34 
 
 his son, John Church Backhouse, becoming 
 engaged to Anna, only daughter of J. J. Gurney, 
 of Norwich, and, requiring it as a residence, 
 Henry Pease had to seek another home. 
 
 He removed to a house in Northgate, having 
 the double inducement of being near his father, 
 and near his favourite Westbrook garden. He 
 did not, hou^ever, remain there long. For some 
 time he had had under his notice a house that 
 was being built in the outskirts of the town, and 
 when it was offered for sale he became the pur- 
 chaser, and thus Pierremont passed into his 
 hands on October 27th, 1845. 
 
 The town then not having stretched far in 
 that direction, the house, which stood on rising 
 ground, was pleasantly surrounded by fields ; it was 
 not large, frequent additions since having much 
 changed it from the small but well-built villa 
 of that day. The plantations were young, and 
 the gardens had yet to be made. 
 
 The feelings with which he entered his new 
 home are best seen by his own words — 
 
 4th mo., 1846. ..." Returned from Stockton by 
 mail train, and went pretty direct to Pierremont, hav- 
 ing fixed to enter this day, it being my dear boy's 
 birthday, eight years of age. I received a letter from 
 him, as exactly at the completion of the eighth year 
 as I can tell. My mind was full in the remembrance 
 of some of the many scenes through which an 
 invisible hand has led me. I feel wholly unworthy to 
 occupy such a house, and possess so much of the 
 
35 
 
 blessing of almighty God, before whom the knee was 
 bent, pouring out the prayer that He would preserve 
 me, and enable me to go in and out rightly before 
 Him ; to show by my walk before men that the fear 
 of God is before my eyes ; that the Lord would bless 
 my dear boy, and if left alive years yet to come, 
 would preser\^e him from evil, and enable him to live 
 to the ser\dce and praise of his Creator." 
 
 The journal from this time mentions pleasant 
 hours spent working in his plantations and 
 garden ; the laying out of the garden being an 
 especially congenial employment, as he had much 
 skill and taste in landscape gardening. And when 
 on the death of his mother-in-law, towards the 
 close of this year, his young son was restored 
 to him and settled in Pierremont with his tutor 
 some of the domestic happiness his affectionate 
 heart yearned for was granted him. 
 
 From the letters and journals of this period, 
 however, it appears that these years were often 
 full of anxiety and toil to him. His brother 
 Joseph was much in London during the eight 
 years of his Parliamentar}^ career, and the w^eight 
 of their commercial and other enterprises rested 
 in consequence more heavily upon the brother 
 left at home. 
 
 And when because of their business responsi- 
 bilities, and the claims of his large family, Joseph 
 Pease relinquished his seat, the pressure of care 
 was still felt to be very heavy, the collieries and 
 
36 
 
 other business arrangements having become much 
 extended. The experience of Hfe thus gained 
 left an abiding impress, and caused Henry Pease 
 to feel especial sympathy for those who, on 
 entering life, were called to pass through busi- 
 ness difficulties and disappointments. 
 
 From 1838 for several years there was 
 throughout the country great depression in trade, 
 and a general want of prosperity* in the manu- 
 facturing districts. This distress was intensified 
 by a succession of bad harvests, and as the high 
 protective duties prevented the free admission of 
 foreign corn, the price of flour — which was also of a 
 very inferior quality — rose to an almost famine height. 
 
 The suffering of the poor from this scarcity 
 of food aroused Henry Pease's deepest sympathy, 
 and led him warmly to espouse the cause of the 
 Anti-Corn Law League, and he was proud to 
 number Richard Cobden, John Bright, and Henry 
 Ashworth, the chief originators and supporters of 
 this great movement, among his personal friends. 
 He watched the contest with great interest, aiding 
 it by voice or pen, when opportunity occurred, 
 and rejoiced when at last victory crowned the 
 efforts of these patriots in 1846. 
 
 * Miss Martineau, referring to this period in lier "History of the Thirty 
 Years' Peace," says, "The distress had now so deepened in the manufacturing 
 districts as to render it clearly inevitable that many must die, and a multitude 
 be lowered to a state of sickness and irritability for want of food, while there 
 seemed no chance of any member of the manufacturing classes coming out of 
 the struggle at last with a vestige of property wherewith to begin the work 
 again." 
 
37 
 
 One of the events which led to the abrogation 
 of this ''iniquitous law" — as John Bright often 
 characterised it in his burning and eloquent 
 speeches — was in itself a terribly sad one, the 
 failure of the potato crop in Ireland in 1845. 
 
 Henry Pease joined in the noble efforts that 
 were made to send succour to the perishing 
 thousands of that bhghted land. Owing to his 
 many other duties he did not, however, take a 
 prominent place in the work. But in connection 
 with this subject we may mention that he visited 
 Ireland in 1849 with one of his nephews, and it 
 may be interesting, as showing how some improve- 
 ment has taken place, to see how the state of 
 the country and the people struck the traveller 
 nearly fifty years ago. 
 
 He writes from Limerick to his brother Joseph — 
 
 " Before arriving at Donegal, the evidences of evic- 
 tions and famine became numerous ; this state of things, 
 in the main, continues through the district to this place. 
 The people wretched, the land in many places unculti- 
 vated, and, as there are no trees, this melancholy state 
 fills the eye for miles together. Evictions are yet going 
 on. We yesterday witnessed the dismal effects of one 
 that had taken place two weeks ago near Galway. 
 The poor creatures with a few rags were huddled 
 together in the corners of their ruined cottages, and 
 the shrivelled children followed us with an appeal and 
 an importunity that made the heart heavy for long. 
 Oh, to leave these fellow mortals to die by inches!" 
 
38 
 
 He then alludes to an effort he made to send 
 relief to these special cases, and continues — 
 
 In the midst of this state of things, soldiers and 
 armed police swarm, and the only buildings, except a 
 very large college at Galway, of any consequence which 
 I have seen are poor-houses, court-houses, and gaols ! 
 Can anything be more rotten ? In Enniskillen there are 
 67,000 people, of whom 37,000 are paupers ! and the 
 gaol rate is ;^20,ooo. If you see any work going on, 
 'It's the Board of Works set it on foot.' 
 
 " Everywhere the feeling is strong against the land- 
 lords. Probably many of them are very much to be 
 pitied, but when for miles together on one side of the 
 road we see neat cottages and a smiling harvest ready 
 for the sickle, and on the other, land that once has been 
 cultivated full of thistles, cottages in ruins, and a 
 desolation that seems to chill every feeling of comfort; 
 when these contrasts occur, as they often do, one is 
 tempted to unite in the feeling against the landlords. 
 Excuse any warmth of expression ; the desolation of a 
 fine island, and the misery of a people literally fading 
 from the land, and all this part of our own country, 
 is it not excusable to feel keenly?" 
 
 In connection with this period of his life we 
 may allude to the great interest he took in the 
 education of the people. As we have mentioned 
 before, one marked trait in his character, existing 
 even with extended sympathies and interests, was 
 a concentration of affection on particular objects. 
 This was seen in his love for his native town, 
 and, taking a wider scope, in his ardent desire 
 
J 
 
 /aoL^ "^UxA^ .... fLe.^L£jiX^ -^dJ^, 
 
39 
 
 for the prosperity of his country. He looked upon 
 education not only as affecting the individual, but 
 also the nation, beUeving that in order to main- 
 tain her position England must bestir herself, 
 or other countries would get before her in the 
 race. The benefit of education for the masses 
 was not held forty years ago so universally as it 
 is now. It w^as asserted that we should have 
 worse domestic servants, and less dependable 
 mechanics, and the words were often quoted, "A 
 little learning is a dangerous thing." As an example 
 of the idea that existed that the working classes 
 should be merely machines, Henry Pease often 
 related an anecdote of an old friend of his, who, 
 on his servant beginning to excuse himself by 
 saying "I thought," interrupted him by exclaiming, 
 Thought ! who paid thee for thinking, thy only 
 business is to obey ! " 
 
 Among the various means for educating the 
 people that Henry Pease originated or fostered 
 in his own neighbourhood, Mechanics' Institutes 
 took a prominent place. He diligently attended 
 the committees of the one in his own town, and 
 
 j assisted in forming similar institutions in Shildon, 
 Middlesbrough, and the other fast rising towns in 
 
 ^ the neighbourhood. He did not read his speeches, 
 and generally, especially in later years, trusted to 
 
 ^ the inspiration of the moment, but we have 
 before us some memoranda, showing how anxious 
 
 ~; he was to make use of those opportunities for 
 
40 
 
 instilling wise thoughts and good principles into 
 the young minds around him. 
 
 On one of these occasions he inculcated the 
 necessity of self-knowledge and self-control in 
 starting any scheme for mental improvement. 
 After dwelling on the advantage of having a 
 plan, and having it suited to their means and 
 powers, he adds — " I take for granted that the 
 aim is worth the effort. He who would achieve 
 success must correctly estimate his powers, par- 
 ticularly his perseverance, without which, as a 
 rule, there is no success, and even perseverance 
 results from self-control." 
 
 On the opening of a debating club, he thus 
 speaks — 
 
 "One of your objects is to attain a clear and 
 forcible method in public speaking. The present state 
 of the community in connection with philanthropic and 
 other objects renders this a very desirable and useful 
 power ; but in order to do this, there must be a clear 
 and decided judgment, based upon useful reading, aided 
 by observation and reflection. So that, in fact, good 
 public speaking implies a great deal of mental dis- 
 cipline. Those who, for the sake of improvement in 
 this respect, take a prominent part in the discussions 
 you are about to start, will find that argument and 
 temper are two very different things ; the former calls 
 out the greatest powers of mind, the latter may waste 
 those powers at the very juncture when most required. 
 
 "The use of satire is for the most part to be 
 avoided. There are few who can use it with good 
 
41 
 
 feeling, and with a really gentlemanly bearing, and, after 
 all, there is nothing magnanimous in the disposition 
 that is gratified by wounding the feelings of an 
 opponent. A few more accessories to improvement 
 ought to be hinted at. Possibly I am not wrong in 
 placing foremost amongst these association — the choice 
 of every-day companions. I have passed the young 
 man's period of life, but I have vivid recollections of 
 the strength of early and sincere affection for not a 
 few. Some I meet with pleasure to this day, some 
 can only be cherished in memory, that silence which 
 overtakes the whole human family has already over- 
 taken them." 
 
 There is more that is autobiographical in these 
 fragments than at first sight appears, for we 
 believe that the mental discipline and self-control 
 which he recommended are what he endeavoured 
 very faithfully to practise for himself. 
 
 Another short extract, prepared for a similar 
 occasion, w^e will quote, as it is unconsciously 
 biographical. Speaking of self-indulgence in sleep, 
 he says — 
 
 "When we consider the effect of this kind of lazi- 
 ness on health, and the useful hours at our disposal 
 thus lost, I greatly doubt whether it is not an absolute 
 sin thus to indulge. Do I overstate the case when I 
 say that in the great majority of constitutions the 
 want of reasonable early exercise lessens the powers 
 throughout the day. I do not say greatly, I will 
 estimate it only at a twenty-fourth part, or half an 
 hour in the twelve, but if another hour is needlessly 
 spent in bed, we have one and a half hours in every 
 
42 
 
 twenty-four worse than lost. Now take this over six 
 working days for forty years, and what is your loss ? 
 Will you believe it ? Four years of working days ! 
 This is a subject on which I feel strongly, I therefore 
 leave it for your reflection." 
 
 He did not, however, confine his efforts for 
 the mental improvement of those around him to 
 the poor or less educated. In conjunction with 
 one or two others he started an Essay Meeting 
 Society among his friends The first meeting was 
 held by the invitation of Jonathan and Hannah 
 Backhouse at Polam in the autumn of 1830. 
 These meetings have been kept up, without any 
 break, winter after winter, to the present time. 
 Held once a month during the winter, they cir- 
 culate among the houses of the members, and 
 are of a social character. It was touching to 
 see how he maintained his interest in these 
 meetings to the last. Though his contemporaries 
 were fast passing away, and a younger genera- 
 tion had taken their place, he entered into the 
 instruction or amusement of the hour with as 
 keen an interest as any of those present, feeling 
 a sort of personal pride in the character of 
 the meetings being kept up, with a little warmth, 
 it may be, defending the old lines, when they 
 seemed likely to be departed from. The pieces 
 he wrote himself were generally of a practical, 
 and often of a statistical character, but he was 
 ever ready to appreciate the more humorous 
 
43 
 
 contributions by others, and much enjoyed the 
 cheerful social tone of these gatherings. The 
 last evening party he attended was an Essay 
 Meeting at Polam in 1880, closing the series for 
 him in the same house in which they had begun 
 fifty years before. The hostesses, IMiss Jane and 
 Miss Elizabeth Proctor, welcomed him with their 
 usual hearty warmth and kindness. He was then 
 feeble from recent illness, but they as full of 
 life and vivacity as ever ; years that brought 
 changes to others scarcely seemed to touch them. 
 A few months passed, and all three were gone ! 
 leaving vacant places in these familiar scenes, and 
 memories that in many hearts will never pass away. 
 
 In connection with this subject we would also 
 mention the Philosophical Meetings " held in the 
 intervening fortnight. In these meetings one 
 longer essay is read, and afterwards discussed. 
 The pleasant way in which he would often com- 
 mence the discussion, seeking to draw out others, 
 while humorously lamenting his own ignorance 
 of the subject, will long be remembered. 
 
 No story of his life would be complete 
 without mentioning these social gatherings, which 
 he always looked forward to as among the 
 pleasures the winter season had in store. But 
 the reminiscences connected with them have caused 
 us to overleap the date, and in the next chapter 
 we must return to the period our history has reached. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The War Panic — Journey to St. Petersburg — Audience 
 with the Czar — Failure of the Mission — Peace 
 Deputation to Paris. 
 
 IN 1 85 1 the Great Exhibition, the first com- 
 mingHng of all the nations of the world for 
 the peaceful object of exhibiting their resources 
 in art and manufacture, and thus promoting 
 commerce and general enlightenment, seemed to 
 many like the dawn of a new era in civiliza- 
 tion, and the dream was indulged in that such 
 a union would knit the nations together in a 
 bond of brotherhood, making war from hence- 
 forth almost impossible ; a dream destined to be 
 soon and rudely dispelled. But a few months 
 rolled away before England was plunged into 
 one of those panics which every now and then 
 have disgraced her annals. 
 
 A dispute had arisen between Russia and 
 Turkey on some question relating to the privi- 
 leges of the Greeks in their use of the Holy 
 Sepulchre and other places in Jerusalem. It was 
 insinuated in our papers that the Russians had 
 some deeper, motive than the protection of their 
 co-religionists, that this question was only a cloak 
 
45 
 
 to cover a deep design, which the Emperor 
 Nicholas had conceived, of subjugating Turkey, 
 and thus of obtaining an easy road to our Indian 
 Empire, which would, no doubt, next fall a victim 
 to his unbounded rapacity, and greed of dominion. 
 Monstrous as this idea now appears, it was so 
 insisted upon by the papers, instigated by speakers 
 both in Parliament and out, that the panic spread 
 like wildfire. From the Queen on the throne, to 
 the artisan in the workshop, there seemed but 
 one thought, that Nicholas was a dangerous 
 despot, who must be restrained — or with his vast 
 empire, and unlimited resources, the whole civi- 
 lized world would be in danger from his ambition. 
 
 Meanwhile, events of grave import had been 
 taking place in France. The coup d^etat had 
 placed Louis Napoleon on an uncertain throne, 
 and England had given way to a frenzy of fear 
 and excitement. That one of that dreaded name 
 and race should be in powder seemed to threaten 
 untold evils of retaliation and revenge. France, it 
 was said, would never be satisfied till Waterloo 
 was avenged. 
 
 While some panic-mongers were thus stirring 
 up the people with the danger of invasion and 
 attack from the French, the cry against Russia 
 was raised, and soon the strange spectacle was seen 
 of France and England united in close alliance 
 against the common foe. To the adventurer who 
 had just ascended the throne of France, through 
 
46 
 
 deeds of bloodshed and treachery, this alHance 
 was of the deepest importance, and he eagerly 
 hailed the diversion in his favour. Turkey, who 
 if left to herself, would probably have conceded 
 to the Emperor's demands, finding sh& had such 
 powerful supporters, took a menacing attitude. 
 War thus seemed inevitable, unless Nicholas could 
 be induced to withdraw his claims and leave 
 the Greeks to their fate. 
 
 The belief in the unlimited power of the 
 Czar may be seen from Mr. Kinglake's description 
 in his " History of the Crimean War." The 
 language seems to us now exaggerated, and the 
 picture overdrawn, but it well depicts the general 
 tone of feeling of the day respecting him — 
 
 "From head to foot a vast empire was made to 
 throb with the passions that rent the bosom of the one 
 man Nicholas. If for a few months he harboured 
 ambition, the resources of the State were squandered 
 in making ready for war. If his spirit flagged, the 
 ambition of the State fell tame, and preparations ceased. 
 If he laboured under a fit of piety, or rather of 
 ecclesiastical zeal, all the Russians were on the verge 
 of a crusade. He chafed with rage at the thought of 
 being foiled in diplomatic strife by the second Canning, 
 and instantly, without having counsel from any living 
 man, he caused his docile battalions to cross the 
 frontier, and kindled a bloody war." 
 
 But the frontier had not yet been crossed ! 
 and notwithstanding the opprobrious epithets heaped 
 upon him, and the descriptions that made him 
 
47 
 
 worse than any nursery ogre, there were some who 
 could still look upon the Czar, not only as a man, 
 but as one who held on essential points the same 
 Christian truths with themselves, and who thought 
 that if it were possible to reach his ear and in- 
 fluence his feelings and his conscience, the terrible 
 calamity of a European war might yet be averted. 
 This thought was strongly impressed on the mind 
 of Joseph Sturge, a member of the Society of 
 Friends, whose life of active benevolence had 
 already caused him to be widely known, and he 
 was warmly encouraged in it by Mr. Cooper, his 
 friend and zealous fellow worker in many benevo- 
 lent schemes, especially in the anti-slavery cause. 
 They had, with others sharing their feelings in 
 regard to war, done all they could, b}^ means of 
 public speaking and writing, to check the war 
 spirit that had taken possession of England. 
 But all in vain ! and now, despairing of influencing 
 their own country, they turned to Russia. If 
 they could, by a personal interview with the 
 Emperor, and by every powerful appeal they 
 could employ, persuade him to remove the cause 
 that had fanned this flame, they felt it would be 
 worth any sacrifice to achieve such a result. 
 Joseph Sturge communicated this idea to his 
 friends when assembled in their Standing Com- 
 mittee, known still by the name given to it in 
 their days of persecution and trouble — The 
 Meeting for Sufferings." 
 
48 
 
 The thought was warmly responded to, and 
 sympathised in. A memorial, addressed to the 
 Emperor, was drawn up, and Robert Charleton 
 of Bristol and Henry Pease having offered them- 
 selves for the mission, they were appointed to- 
 accompany Joseph Sturge, to deliver it in person. 
 
 That this may not seem the dream of mere 
 enthusiasts, it is necessary to understand the 
 position the Society of Friends held in Russia. 
 The Emperor Alexander had heard of this little 
 sect of Christians in such a way, that, requiring 
 someone to oversee the draining of some morasses 
 near St. Petersburg, he set his heart on ha ring 
 a Friend to superintend the work. Daniel 
 Wheeler accordingly went in 1818, and abundantly 
 fulfilled the Emperor's expectations. He said on 
 one occasion, It was not the cultivation of 
 morasses, or any outward object that led me to 
 wish to have some of your Friends to come and 
 settle here, but a desire that, by their genuine 
 piety and uprightness in life and conversation, an 
 example might be set before my people for them 
 to imitate, and your friend Wheeler sets just 
 such an example." 
 
 A few months after Daniel Wheeler had settled 
 with his family in Russia, William Allen and 
 Stephen Grellet paid a missionary visit to that 
 country. They remained several months, and had 
 many interviews with the Emperor and Prince 
 Galitzin. Three years after their departure, the 
 
49 
 
 Emperor said one day to Daniel Wheeler, " I have 
 often thought of you; there has not been one day, 
 not one day, but I have thought of you and 
 Messrs. Allen and Grellet, and always felt myself 
 united to you three in spirit." Another Friend, 
 Thomas Shillitoe, visited Russia in 1824, and was 
 kindly received by the royal family. 
 
 The Emperor Alexander died in 1825, and 
 was succeeded by his son Nicholas. Daniel 
 Wheeler continued at his post till 1832, w^hen 
 other duties made him wish to be liberated. 
 
 The kind feeling that thus w-as know^n to 
 exist towards Friends in the Russian Court made 
 it reasonable to hope that an audience with the 
 Emperor ^\ ould be granted, and that their words and 
 the memorial they took w^ith them would have 
 some weight and influence. Their chief reliance, 
 however, was in the power of the Lord, in 
 whose name the Society desired to send their 
 messengers, trusting that He would be with them, 
 giving them a mouth and wisdom that could not 
 be resisted. 
 
 That such a mission was not undertaken by 
 those who thus voluntarily went forth on so 
 difficult, and, owing to the state of public feeling, 
 so unpopular an errand, without a deep personal 
 conviction that it was their solemn duty, looking 
 upon it even as a call from God, we cannot doubt. 
 
 A letter written since Henry Pease's death, 
 by one who was at this time intimately associated 
 
 5 
 
50 
 
 with him, gives us a Httle glimpse into what 
 his feelings were on this occasion. 
 
 After alluding to many interesting conversations 
 he had with him, the writer adds — 
 
 " I refer more especially to his utter detestation of 
 war, and its inconsistency with the Christian faith. 
 One remark he made to me, with the whole force of 
 his nature, made a deep and lasting impression, and 
 gave a bent to my own mind, which lies at the root 
 of any efforts I have made in the cause of peace, 
 viz., that if there was one cause above all others 
 to which he felt he could devote the whole energies 
 of his life, it was that of promoting 'Peace on Earth,* 
 on the true Gospel Ground. And abundant proof 
 we had that these were no mere words, in the Hfelong 
 sacrifices he made of time, money, and trouble, in the 
 interests of the. cause he had so much at heart. The 
 solemn feeling with which he communicated to me one 
 night the decision which, after a long and prayerful 
 struggle he had come to, to unite with J. Sturge and 
 R. Charleton in proceeding to see the Czar Nicholas ; 
 all this has been vividly recalled, and is not likely 
 ever to be forgotten." 
 
 Armed with the proper credentials and letters 
 of introduction, the three Friends set forth at 
 once on their mission, January 20th, 1854. It 
 was the depth of winter, but they pressed on, 
 travelling day and night, except Sunday. They 
 felt that time was precious ; any day the 
 smouldering sparks might be fanned into a flame, 
 and war be declared. 
 
51 
 
 The histor^^ of this journey, and the reception 
 of the three Friends in St. Petersburg, has been 
 so often given, it might seem unnecessary to 
 repeat it here, but the story of Henry Pease's 
 Hfe would not be complete without some refer- 
 ence to this important episode in it, and another 
 generation having grown up, to whom the details 
 may be new, a short account is given, chiefly 
 drawn from his own letters. It must be remem- 
 bered there was no telegraph in those days, 
 and travelling and postal communications were 
 extremely slow ; therefore, when Henry Pease 
 and his companions had once left England 
 they were completely cut off from any means 
 of knowing what was taking place in the 
 political world, and thus, as no direct news could 
 reach them while on their distant mission, the 
 whole responsibility of carrying it out rested with 
 them. 
 
 Their first Sunday was spent at Dusseldorf ; 
 starting again on ^Monday they travelled by rail 
 to Berlin, and then to Konigsburgh. With minds 
 fully alive to the objects of interest they were 
 passing, they would not pause or turn aside for 
 a single hour, but pressed on as fast as the 
 train would take them, intent only on performing 
 their mission. 
 
 At Konigsburgh, the railway then not going 
 further, they had to take to a carriage. For two 
 days and nights they travelled on, taking both 
 
52 
 
 rest and food without leaving their vehicle, and 
 by thus pressing forward they reached Riga on 
 the Saturday evening. Sunday was spent quietly, 
 reading together, as was their wont, in the 
 Scriptures, and calling upon the one or two 
 persons to whom they had letters of introduction. 
 
 From Riga the use of wheels had to be dis- 
 pensed with, owing to the depth of the snow, 
 and their carriage was fastened on to a sledge. 
 While waiting for this to be done, Henry Pease 
 wrote to his young son — 
 
 " What was there to do but to look out of the 
 window into a street more busy than any I have seen 
 in a town of the size, say 55,000. Everything is on 
 sledges, with bells, until one's ear was weary. A large 
 proportion of these sledges were laden with merchandise 
 of infinite variety, not omitting the frozen pig, standing 
 up as pigs are wont to stand when alive. I much 
 admired some of the sledges, handsomely built, with 
 fine horses, capital harness, and portly drivers, dressed 
 in well made, slate coloured cloaks, with red sash, noble, 
 high, round caps, a little raised in the corner, made 
 of dark rich red or blue velvet, upon a black velvet 
 forehead piece ; whilst the occupant of the sledge was 
 dressed in rich furs, with an apron of fur. 
 
 At last, after a long delay, at which their 
 spirits chafed, all was ready. The travellers 
 mounted their carriage, the driver with shout 
 and flourish dashed through the streets of Riga 
 out into the wide snow-covered plains beyond, and 
 thus began the 400 miles that still lay between 
 
53 
 
 them and their goal — St. Petersburg. Henr}^ Pease 
 thus describes the scenery — 
 
 " The whole of the part of Russia through which 
 we have passed is a flat. For a stage or two some 
 undulations and portions very picturesque ; very few 
 gentlemen's residences; the villages not attractive, built 
 of wood, same as the Non\'egian, generally on wide 
 extended bare flats of country. The forests are \ery 
 extensive, with but little fine timber. I cannot describe 
 how charming is the eifect of these forests of stately 
 pines, standing on a white carpet, their green branches 
 tipped with snow, whilst the forests of silver birch, 
 every twig encrusted with ice, may be compared to 
 trees of glass, united with all the graceful elegance of 
 which thou canst suppose the birch to admit." 
 
 Through the clear, frosty air, amid scenery as 
 thus described, they travelled on, sometimes in 
 good style " with seven horses, four attached to 
 the sledge and three in front, and with one or 
 two slight misadventures from the upsetting of 
 the sledge, and sticking fast in deep snow drifts, 
 when they had to get out and help the driver 
 to drag the sledge again upon the track, they at 
 length reached the city on the Neva, Februar}^ 
 2nd, feeling, amid all the exhilaration of foreign 
 travel, the solemn responsibility of the mission 
 that brought them there. 
 
 Kind friends had written and provided com- 
 fortable accommodation for them, and after three 
 days and nights spent on the sledge with merely 
 the food they carried with them — except the 
 
54 
 
 occasional cup of hot tea at the post-houses when 
 changing horses — the luxury of a well-cooked 
 dinner and comfortable beds w^as fully appreciated. 
 
 Their first care was to send a note to Count 
 Nesselrode, the Chancellor, requesting him to name 
 a time when they might call on him to explain 
 the nature of their mission. In a few hours he 
 sent a messenger with a note in reply, naming 
 one o'clock on Monday for the interview. The 
 messenger was also instructed to offer to show 
 them any objects of interest they might w^ish to 
 see. On Monday morning the Count sent another 
 note to say that the Emperor having sent for 
 him, he probably would not be at liberty to see 
 them till 1.30. This little act of politeness gratified 
 and cheered them, for every indication of kindness 
 and good- will was noted by them thankfully as 
 an augury of success. The Chancellor received 
 them courteously, listened to the address, expressed 
 his satisfaction, and said that the Emperor would 
 appoint a time to see them, and express his 
 hearty concurrence with the sentiments it con- 
 tained, and that they should also probably see 
 the heir-apparent. On leaving, he politely accom- 
 panied them out of the room, again offering an 
 escort to places of interest. 
 
 While waiting day after day in somewhat 
 anxious suspense for the promised summons to 
 the Emperor, they employed themselves in visiting 
 some of the sights of the city. 
 
55 
 
 In writing to his son, Henry Pease says — 
 
 "One afternoon I went to see a celebrated church, 
 the granite columns are surprising, there must be 50 
 of them, rising 40ft., 3 ft. 6in. diameter — each column 
 one piece. The altar was nearly all massive silver — 
 but there was so much bowing to the ground, muttering 
 prayers, and making the sign of the cross before par- 
 ticular saints, that I came away thoroughly depressed, 
 because I feared the form was taken for the substance. 
 Then to see Peter the Great's house, a small, wooden 
 house — now built over to protect it ; the best room, and 
 the one in which he lived, might be i6ft. by 15ft.; 
 the bedroom, not half the size, is now used by the 
 priests. There they have a picture of a * Saint ' ; 
 before this about a score of wax candles were flaming 
 away, softened by their own combined heat. Two 
 priests were chanting and perspiring, as well they 
 might." 
 
 But the sight which most impressed him was 
 a visit to the Palace called the Hermitage. Words 
 seemed to fail him in attempting to describe its 
 size and magnihcence, and the treasm-es of art 
 it contained. 
 
 At last the long hoped for summons to the 
 Palace came. They drove first to Count Nessel- 
 rode's office. After waiting a short time, exposed 
 to the inquisitive gaze of some of the minor 
 officials, Baron Nicholay, in gorgeous uniform, 
 appeared, and in a pleasant, simple manner, 
 said — I shall have the pleasure of going with 
 you to his Majesty." 
 
56 
 
 Henry Pease relates — 
 
 "A short drive brought us to the Palace; plenty 
 of great fellows to open the carriage door, and take 
 our cloaks; and plenty of guards in the hall. A very 
 likely looking palace servant, dressed in black with 
 scarlet stripes here and there, and a beautiful black 
 plume in his cap, led the way upstairs. Upstairs, 
 upstairs, along galleries, through rooms, here soldiers 
 of one province, and there attendants of another sort ; 
 arrived at the top, three fine fellows in white uniform, 
 bright helmets and spears, who had there to bide 
 their turn, allowed to evince as much animation as the 
 stones they stood upon. Enter the ante-room a little 
 before time, chat with Baron Nicholay at the window 
 overlooking the Neva — about the sledge races, and the 
 burning of the Palace a few years since — trying to 
 appear at ease when in reality it was not so. — Observed 
 that he who keeps the door of the Emperor's Cabinet 
 has no armour or sword, he is nearly black, quite 
 eastern in costume, with turban, and scarlet shawl. — 
 Entei". The Emperor coldly inclines toward us — a fine, 
 powerful, tall frame, with an unmistakable countenance, 
 which one thinks quite capable of saying, 'Silence!'" 
 
 As soon, however, as the double doors were 
 fairly shut, the stern countenance relaxed into a 
 kindly expression, and he shook hands with them. 
 Joseph Sturge then requested permission to 
 read the address, which was granted to him. 
 The Emperor Hstened attentively, and then replied 
 in the following short speech, which had evidently 
 been carefully prepared, and which was afterwards 
 presented to them in writing : — 
 
57 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S SPEECH. 
 
 " I wish to offer some explanation of the circum- 
 stances which led to the present unhappy dispute. 
 
 "We received the blessings of Christianity from 
 the Greek Empire, and this has established, and 
 maintained ever since, a link of connection, both 
 moral and religious, between Russia and that power. 
 The ties that have thus united the two countries have 
 subsisted for 900 years, and were not severed by the 
 conquest of Russia by the Tartars ; and when, at a 
 later period, our country succeeded in shaking off that 
 yoke, and the Greek Empire in its turn fell under the 
 sway of the Turks, we still continued to take a lively 
 interest in the welfare of our co-religionists there, and 
 when Russia became powerful enough to resist the 
 Turks, and to dictate the terms of peace, we paid 
 particular attention to the well-being of the Greek 
 Church, and procured the insertion, in successive 
 treaties, of the most important articles in her favour. 
 I have myself acted as my predecessors had done, and 
 the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 was as explicit as 
 the former ones in this respect. Turkey on her part 
 recognised this right of religious interference, and 
 fulfilled her engagements till within the last year or 
 two, when, for the first time, she gave me reason to 
 complain. 
 
 " I will not now advert to the parties who were 
 the principal instigators on that occasion, suffice it to 
 say, that it became my duty to interfere, and to claim 
 from Turkey the fulfilment of her engagements. My 
 representations were pressing but friendly, and I have 
 every reason to believe that matters would soon have 
 been settled if Turkey had not been induced by other 
 
58 
 
 parties to believe that I had ulterior objects in view ; 
 that I was aiming at conquest, aggrandisement, and 
 the ruin of Turkey. 
 
 have solem7ily disclaimed, and do now 
 solefnnly disclaim, every such motive. I do not desire 
 war. I abhor it as sincerely as you do, and am 
 ready to forget the past, if only the opportunity be 
 alforded me." 
 
 He then expressed his great esteem for their 
 Queen and country, and how deeply wounded he 
 had felt by the unfair construction put upon his 
 actions. That it was beneath his dignity to feel 
 any resentment for personal insults and invectives, 
 he was ready to hold out his hand to his 
 enemies in a true Christian spirit, but he could 
 not be indifferent to what concerned the honour 
 of his country. 
 
 The interview did not end here, the Emperor 
 requested the three Friends to be seated, and 
 drawing up a chair near to them, he gave them 
 an opportunity of still further expressing their 
 views. 
 
 Perhaps no stranger vis-a-vis ever took place 
 before or since. The booted Czar," buckled 
 tight in his uniform, with his majestic height and 
 mien, which seemed so well to accord with his 
 unlimited power over the destinies of Empires, 
 and the three plainly dressed, unknown, untitled 
 strangers from a foreign land, but whose behef 
 in the power of One far greater than the 
 
59 
 
 potentate before them, whose will above all 
 things they desired to do, gave a fearlessness to 
 their demeanour, and a dignity and pathos to 
 their words. Joseph Sturge was the principal 
 spokesman ; in a few earnest words he contrasted 
 the ^Mahometan religion, which avowedly justifies 
 the employment of the sword, with the religion 
 of Him whose reign was to be emphatically one 
 of peace, and dwelt on the misery that would 
 fall upon innocent victims — men, women, and 
 children — in the event of a European war. 
 
 On thanking the Emperor for their kind 
 reception, Joseph Sturge added that though they 
 would probably never see him again on this side 
 eternity, they wished him to know that there 
 were those in England who desired his temporal 
 and spiritual welfare as much as his ow^n subjects 
 did. 
 
 The Emperor then shook hands very cor- 
 dially, and accompan3'ing them to the door shook 
 hands again. His heart was evidently full of 
 conflicting thoughts and emotions, but he merely 
 said, My wife wishes to see you.'' The inter- 
 view with the Empress is thus described by 
 Henry Pease : — 
 
 "We were then again escorted, I cannot tell thee 
 where, but listless, well-fed, liveried and wondering 
 servants abounded everyv^'here — a part of the five 
 thousand constant residents at the Imperial Palace — 
 until the large, folding, gilt doors opened for us to 
 
6o 
 
 enter the Empress's suite of rooms. She, though lady- 
 like, is very shaky, and has ever been so since the des- 
 perate deeds on the Emperor's ascending the throne. 
 Her salutation was, ' I have just seen the Emperor, 
 he had tears in his eyes.' [A shorter and private 
 route had enabled him to reach the Empress first, and 
 warn her that they were coming to see her.] 
 
 "We were then requested to sit down, and we 
 remained a short quarter of an hour with her and the 
 Princess Olga. The latter, speaking to me, seemed to 
 think it not just that the English should fraternize 
 with the Emperor of a year, and deal so hardly with 
 one who had been thirty years or nearly so, before 
 the world." 
 
 The chief object of their mission being ac- 
 complished, they were now anxious to turn their 
 faces homewards as soon as possible. These 
 interviews took place on a Thursday, and they 
 hoped to be able to start on the following Mon- 
 day, but on Sunday afternoon Baron Nicholay 
 called on them, bearing four messages from the 
 Emperor, first, that he wished them to delay 
 their departure a day or two, that he might 
 present them with copies of his address to them 
 in two languages, signed by Count Nesselrode ; 
 second, that his widowed daughter. Princess 
 Mary of Leuchtenburg, who had visited England 
 the preceding summer, wished them to call upon 
 her at 12 o'clock on Tuesday ; third, that in 
 order to make up for the delay in starting, the 
 Chancellor would send a Government courier 
 
6i 
 
 before them, that post-horses might always be 
 ready at every station, which would so facilitate 
 the journey they w^ould scarcely be two hours 
 later at Konigsburgh than if they had started as 
 intended ; and lastly, that the Emperor wished 
 to present them with a souvenir in remembrance 
 of their visit to the Palace, and requested them 
 each to select any article they might like. 
 
 They agreed to remain, and to visit the 
 Princess as desired, and accepted the kind offer 
 of the courier with many thanks ; but this last 
 suggestion that they should accept a souvinir 
 put them in some difficulty. They merely told 
 the Baron they would write a note in reply ; 
 but when he left they found they were quite 
 unanimous in feeling they must decline the offer ; 
 though they felt sure it was only made in kind- 
 ness, they feared that receiving a gift might 
 interfere with their freedom of speech and action 
 on returning home, as it might possibly be said 
 they had been bribed by the Emperor, when they 
 gave the favourable report which they felt they 
 would be bound to do. But how to word the 
 refusal was a difficult matter ; the three Friends 
 sat up late that night writing and re-writing it, 
 till at last they were satisfied that they had 
 written as courteous and suitable a note as w^as 
 possible. How the Emperor received it we are 
 not told ; probably he would understand and 
 respect their motive. But the plot was thickening : 
 
62 
 
 even while these peaceful interviews were going 
 on, and the Emperor, both in speaking and 
 writing, w^as expressing his earnest desire for 
 peace, news was on its way which he considered 
 took the responsibility out of his hands, and 
 made it impossible for him to draw back. 
 
 The three Friends, unconscious of what that 
 morning's post had divulged of the bitter ani- 
 mosity that found vent in the speeches in 
 Parliament and in the public press, went, according 
 to appointment, to call on the Princess Leuchten- 
 burg. They were coldly though civilly received. 
 They saw a look of constraint and depression on 
 every countenance, and felt sure some adverse 
 news must have arrived. Therefore, notwith- 
 standing their favourable reception by the Czar, 
 and the hopes this had reasonably raised, they 
 started on their homeward journey that very 
 afternoon, with feelings of foreboding anxiety. As 
 they travelled on day after day on their cold, 
 monotonous route they had, however, the comfort 
 of feeling they had done what they could ; and 
 they endeavoured to leave the issue trustfully 
 with God, in whose hands are the hearts of 
 princes. 
 
 It was not till they reached their native land 
 that they fully understood how utterly fruitless 
 their mission had been, owing to the war spirit 
 which had taken possession of the people. They 
 found themselves also assailed by a storm of 
 
63 
 
 ridicule and abuse, some, in defiance of fact 
 and date, even asserting that they had by their 
 interference helped to bring about that which 
 they had sacrificed so much to prevent. 
 
 To us, who read this story in the light of 
 history, when fear, and passion, and jealousy no 
 longer distort the truth, there seems something 
 pathetic in the way the much misrepresented and 
 abused Czar, stung to the quick by the false 
 motives that were ascribed to him, yet dreading 
 war, not feeling prepared for it, and knowing that 
 his vast empire, still in its infancy as regards 
 civilization, needed the commerce and friendship 
 of England, stretched out his hands eagerly to 
 these messengers of peace, overlooking their 
 humble and unofficial position, in his earnest 
 desire that through them his true sentiments 
 might reach their Queen and country. Bitter 
 must have been his disappointment when the 
 warlike news that morning's post conveyed, 
 showed that the last hope of an amicable under- 
 standing was at an end. 
 
 The chief actors in this great drama are now 
 all gone to their final account. The iron nerves 
 of the great Nicholas gave way under the cruel 
 calamities that befell his soldiers and country. 
 He died March, 1855, it may be said, of a 
 broken heart. The Empress who had in so 
 touching a manner spoken of his tears, soon 
 followed him ; and the three brave, devoted 
 
64 
 
 emissaries of peace now rest from their labours^ 
 having their reward, for He who said "Blessed 
 are the peace-makers" does not measure faithful 
 service by the success following its performance. 
 
 The depth of Henry Pease's feelings on the 
 subject of war may be seen by the following 
 extract from his journal, written a few weeks 
 after his return home — 
 
 "3rd month, 14th, 1854. — After breakfast my thoughts 
 turned to the contemplation of war, and on the bended 
 knee I ventured to implore the Lord to permit the 
 entreaty that He would constrain and restrain the 
 Potentates, who had the lives of thousands in their 
 hands, so that bloodshed and slaughter might not take 
 place and the religion of Jesus be not blasphemed — 
 that He would be pleased to remember with pity those 
 districts which were in misery through war — that if con- 
 sistent with His perfect wisdom, peace might prevail, 
 and that it might be manifest that His power had 
 brought it to pass. I do not remember to have ever 
 been equally broken in spirit, and helped in a season 
 of prayer, as if I were only the vessel through which 
 the prayer went." 
 
 The following notice of this mission appeared 
 in the Manchester Examiner and Times, May 17th, 
 
 1877- 
 
 "Thus ended unsuccessfully the Friends' mission to 
 St. Petersburg. The gallant little life-boat had been 
 wrecked by the mad violence of the crew it sought to 
 save. But nevertheless the noble effort was not made 
 in vain; it proved to the world what indeed at that 
 
6s 
 
 moment sorely needed proof, that all Christian feeling 
 was not extinct in England. It presented a fine 
 example of moral heroism, for it required a far higher 
 order of courage to do what these good men did, in 
 the state of English public opinion which then prevailed, 
 than that which suffices to push men into ' the 
 imminent deadly breach.' Dr. Macgowan, the dis- 
 tinguished medical missionary to China, states that 
 while travelling in the interior of that countr}--, he found 
 that the story of this mission to St. Petersburg had 
 somehow floated into that remote region, and had 
 strangely impressed the not very susceptible people of 
 China as a practical illustration of the real life and 
 power of Christianity." 
 
 Two other journeys may here be mentioned 
 which Henry Pease made in the cause of peace. 
 One in 1867, when he formed one of a deputation 
 from the Peace Society in London, to solicit the 
 Emperor Louis Napoleon to grant permission for 
 a Peace Congress to be held at Paris, at the 
 time of the Exhibition. 
 
 The Emperor received him and his companions 
 in a room in the Palace of the Tuileries, the 
 windows of which commanded the long vista 
 closed by the "Arc de Triomphe." 
 
 Their reception, though civil, had none of the 
 empressement that marked his interview with the 
 Czar, but the position of the two Emperors and 
 the objects of the missions were so different, the 
 same amount of feeling and deep interest could 
 not be expected. 
 
 6 
 
66 
 
 The advocacy of peace was not likely to be 
 congenial to Napoleon ; probably he was even then 
 meditating a far different policy. He listened to 
 the address which the deputation presented to 
 him with a stolid pre- occupied air. His answer 
 was quite courteous, professing to agree with all 
 the sentiments expressed, but so ambiguous as 
 regarded the special object of the request, the 
 deputation took it as a denial, which, in truth, 
 it was, for a few hours after they left a more 
 decided refusal was conveyed to them. 
 
 On Henry Pease's next visit to Paris in 1871, 
 Louis Napoleon was an exile in England, and as 
 he stood among the ruins of the Tuileries, and 
 looked up through the charred beams to the 
 blackened walls, which were all that remained of 
 the sumptuous room where he had stood face to 
 face with the Emperor three years before, and 
 gazed on the broken, disfigured trees and other 
 marks of desolation and destruction, it w^as an 
 eloquent commentary on the cruel uncertainties 
 and miseries of war. 
 
 Eleven years after this refusal of the Emperor, 
 an International Peace Congress w\is held in Paris, 
 viz. in 1878, at the time of the next Great Exhibi- 
 tion in that city. Henry Pease, as president of 
 the Peace Society, which office he had held since 
 his brother Joseph's death in 1872, attended it 
 as a delegate from that body. He was much 
 interested in meeting so many persons from different 
 
67 
 
 lands who were warmly interested in the cause, and 
 the kind reception he met with was cheering and 
 gratifying. 
 
 He had made an effort a year or two before 
 to disseminate peace principles in France, by 
 getting Dymond's Essay on War translated into 
 the French language, under the auspices of the 
 venerable and Christian historian St. Hilaire. 
 The Httle publication was sent forth with the 
 earnest hope it might prove a word in season, 
 and cause some to turn their attention to the 
 subject. 
 
 Almost the last public meeting over which he 
 presided was the annual meeting of the Peace 
 Society held in May, 1879. He made a short 
 opening speech, expressing his deep interest and 
 sympathy in the subject. It was not then anticipated 
 that his working days for this, and every other 
 cause for which he laboured, were so nearly 
 ended. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 He visits America — Opening of the Barnard Castle and 
 Tebay Line. 
 
 IN 1856 Henry Pease visited America, accom- 
 panied by his son, and his cousin, Edwin L. 
 Pease. 
 
 The object of the journey was partly social, 
 and partly religious, but still more was it under- 
 taken as a thorough break and relaxation from 
 business pursuits and cares. There was much also 
 to attract him to America, in the friendships he 
 had already formed with many who had come 
 over to this country, and his brother John's long 
 missionary tour there, would, he knew, cause every 
 heart and home where he was known to be 
 thrown open to him. 
 
 They sailed from Liverpool on April 5th in the 
 Africa. The voyage was safe and uneventful, but 
 sufficiently stormy to make them very thankful 
 when, after fourteen days, they reached New York. 
 
 According to expectation they were most 
 cordially received by all the Friends they met 
 with. 
 
 Their first experience was at Philadelphia, to 
 which city they went immediately on landing, as 
 
69 
 
 the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends was 
 then taking place there. This gave them the 
 opportunity of seeing many they knew, and the 
 days were closely filled up in attending meetings, 
 paying social visits, and making excursions in the 
 neighbourhood. They then went north, visiting 
 among other objects of interest the great Mammoth 
 Cave of Kentucky and the Falls of Niagara. 
 
 Even these and other grand feature of nature, 
 from the ever encroaching works of man, have 
 undergone a change since then, and the America 
 of forty years ago must have been very different 
 from the America of to-day. Where our travellers 
 found then the solitary wooden hotel at the rail- 
 way terminus, or the half completed streets of a 
 city surrounded by forest land or prairie, stately 
 buildings and a teeming population are now found. 
 Henry Pease believed in the future of America, 
 and the enterprise and energy which he every- 
 where saw exhibited, awoke his warm sympathy 
 and admiration. 
 
 At Niagara he was taken seriously ill, which 
 detained the party there a few days. When he 
 was sufficiently recovered to travel they w^ent 
 forward, crossing lake Erie to get a glimpse of 
 Canada. At Montreal he left his young companions 
 to visit Quebec and other points of interest, while 
 he made his way south to Newport, in order to 
 be in time to attend the Yearly Meeting held 
 there. Here he was joined in a few days by his 
 
70 
 
 son and cousin, and the meetings being over, they 
 proceeded to New York. 
 
 After some days spent in that city visiting 
 their friends and making excursions, they went to 
 Boston, from which city they started on their 
 homeward voyage on July 2nd, reaching England 
 on the 13th. 
 
 This rapid sketch gives no adequate idea of 
 the deep interest and pleasure this tour afforded 
 him. 
 
 With his accustomed wish to make others 
 share as much as possible in every advantage or 
 means of instruction that came across his own 
 path, he prepared a lecture on his return home, 
 which he gave first in his own town, and after- 
 wards by request in many neighbouring places. 
 
 During his absence in America an event 
 occurred in his native land deeply interesting to 
 him, viz. the completion of the Darlington and 
 Barnard Castle line of railway. 
 
 For fifteen years the idea was not lost sight 
 of that a line of railway connecting these two 
 towns would prove a great desideratum, the people 
 of Barnard Castle showing a laudable ambition 
 to be annexed. The scheme, however, met with 
 so much opposition from some of the great land- 
 owners through whose estates it must pass that it 
 was allowed to slumber and to wait for a more 
 propitious time to bring it forward. This at last 
 arrived, and on the 20th of July, 1854, the first 
 
71 
 
 sod was cut by the Rev. T. Witham, of Darlington 
 Hall, chairman of the line, and the second sod 
 by Henry Pease, as one of the first promoters. 
 The work had progressed and was nearly com- 
 pleted before he went to America, and the opening 
 ceremony took place on July 5th, while he was 
 on his homeward voyage. 
 
 In those days when the district lay all ready 
 for development by far-seeing enterprising men, 
 the completion of one undertaking was only the 
 signal for commencing another, and thus Henry 
 Pease, on returning home, immediately began to 
 devise a scheme for uniting the east and west of 
 the island, by an extension of this new line of 
 railway from Barnard Castle to Tebay, and there 
 effecting a junction with the London and North 
 Western line. This railway, of all those in whose 
 construction he took a personal part, was the one 
 in which he felt the livehest interest, and to 
 which he devoted most time. His brother Joseph 
 wrote — 
 
 " I2th month 8th, 1856. 
 
 "My beloved brother, 
 
 " Should the busy, bustling, whistling raihvay ever 
 traverse Stainmoor's wintry wastes, or the inhabitants 
 beyond be supplied with cheapened and excellent fuel, 
 or a first-class highway be established between the 
 German wave and the Great Atlantic, they that profit 
 thereby, and rejoice therein, will doubtless have much 
 to thank thee for in thy exertions and perseverance." 
 
72 
 
 The whole country now is so intersected with 
 railways that the construction of a new line awakens 
 scarcely any interest in the community at large, 
 but it was very different in those early days of 
 railway enterprise. The passing of a Railway Bill 
 was made the occasion of a pubhc hoUday ; and 
 the cutting of the first sod was an important 
 ceremony. So though the following description 
 that appeared in a short sketch of Henry Pease's 
 life some years after the railway was opened 
 may seem rather high flown or exaggerated, it so 
 well describes the scenery of that desolate moor 
 which he so often had to traverse in all weathers 
 on a pioneer engine, and the difficulties that had 
 to be surmounted, that we venture without further 
 apology to insert it — 
 
 "From Barnard Castle westward, stretches a wide 
 expanse of moorland and mountain, peopled only by a 
 few shepherds and farmers, who pastured their flocks 
 on the hills and prepared for winter as for a siege. It 
 was a desolate land. Even to this day, when hurrying 
 trains cross and recross the iron road laid by the 
 engineer over the mountain barrier which forms the 
 watershed between the two seas, the region is one of 
 the most solitary to be found in England. A stone 
 house here and there, worn by the winter storms which 
 rave among the hills, alone relieves the monotonous 
 expanse of moor and hill. The pee-wit wheels, crying 
 over her nest ; shaggy ponies canter away from the 
 noisy train ; sheep, black with peat stains, bleat to 
 
73 
 
 their truant lambs ; but for mile after mile no human 
 being meets the eye. 
 
 "It was across this dreary region that Henry Pease 
 determined to carry the railway, and it was across this 
 tract of mountainous countr}' that Henry Pease did 
 carry the railway in spite of all difficulties. Although 
 the Bill authorising the construction of the new line 
 passed without opposition, so greatly had times changed 
 since dukes rode post-haste to London to defeat 
 railway Bills which interfered with their fox covers, 
 the diflSculties of constructing this line would have 
 appalled many an engineer. Right athwart the path 
 which perforce must be taken by the iron horse, lay 
 the mountainous back-bone of England, the huge range 
 of hills known as Stainmoor. Time was, and that not 
 forty years before, when George Stephenson and 
 Edward Pease could devise no better means for sur- 
 mounting Brusselton Bank, a hill only 150 feet high, 
 than by the expedient of an inclined plane and a 
 stationary engine. It is needless to sa}^ no such 
 expedient was resorted to for the passage of Stainmoor. 
 
 " Engineering science and the power of the locomotive 
 had advanced with gigantic strides since No. i was 
 made for the Stockton and Darlington line, and Henry 
 Pease, ably seconded by his engineering allies, the 
 Bouches of Shildon, attempted and succeeded in 
 carr}dng a railway to Stainmoor. Deep dales had to 
 be bridged, and the bridges, which, bye the bye, were 
 the first in the district made entirely of Cleveland 
 iron, are still among the most graceful erections of 
 the railway engineer. By a long and steady ascent 
 Stainmoor was crossed, and although at the summit 
 the train is 1,374 feet above sea level, there has never 
 
74 
 
 been any difficulty in working- the line with all descrip- 
 tions of traffic. The enterprise was one of the boldest, 
 the success was complete. Stainmoor was crossed, and 
 Henry Pease had the satisfaction of carrying on the 
 line to Kirkby Stephen, and from thence to Tebay, 
 where it effected a junction with the London and North 
 Western. 
 
 " ^ ^ Like all the other undertakings which Mr. 
 Pease projected, it has been uniformly prosperous. The 
 rapid development of the hematite mines of the West, 
 the ironstone of Cleveland and the coalfields of South 
 Durham, fully justified the prescience of its projector; for 
 the line was no sooner opened than it was found to be 
 indispensable to the prosperity of the districts which 
 it connected. The line was amalgamated with the 
 Stockton and Darlington in 1862, and the year after 
 that again, the Stockton and Darlington itself, with all 
 its branches, was absorbed by the North Eastern." 
 
 We are indebted to Sir Joseph W. Pease for 
 the following information respecting the members 
 of the staff, with whom Henry Pease was 
 associated in these early days, without which we 
 feel even this short sketch of his Hfe would not 
 be complete : — 
 
 "First on the list naturally come the two Stephen- 
 sons, George and his son Robert, whose fame became 
 world-wide. In connexion with them I may add John 
 Dixon, George Stephenson's first pupil and resident 
 engineer on Chat-moss, afterwards consulting engineer 
 on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and personal 
 friend of every member of the Board. In natural 
 sequence follow the Railway Secretaries, Samuel 
 
75 
 
 Barnard, Oswald Gilkes, and Thomas Macnay ; the 
 Locomotive Engineer William Bouch and his brother 
 Thomas, aften\'ards Sir Thomas Bouch, who engineered 
 the South Durham and Lancashire line over the wilds 
 of Stainmoor. Neither can we omit the solicitor and 
 trusted friend for at least three generations of the 
 Pease family, Francis Newburn, the first man who passed 
 a railway Bill through Parliament. 
 
 "With him was associated Henry Hutchinson, his 
 hard-working partner and son-in-law, whose financial 
 ability was of great service to the infant railway life. 
 Nor must his other able son-in-law, John Shields Peacock, 
 be forgotten. He was solicitor to the owners of the 
 Middlesbrough Estate and the lawgiver to the young 
 borough in which he ultimately made his home. It 
 was with these men, all of marked sterling qualities 
 and abilities, that Henry Pease worked in the details 
 of early railway enterprise, and this at a time when 
 precedent had to be made, not sought for in the records 
 of the past." 
 
 The railway enterprises, in which Henry Pease 
 was so much interested, formed, however, but a 
 small part of his business cares at this period 
 of his life. The spinning and weaving mills 
 claimed much of his time and attention till he 
 retired from the partnership in 1870. 
 
 It may not be inappropriate to mention that, 
 in common with his fellow partners in the 
 collieries, he felt the employment of so large a 
 number of work-people involved a grave res- 
 ponsibility. Care was taken that suitable dwel- 
 lings should be provided for the pitmen, with 
 
76 
 
 gardens where this was possible, that these men 
 and boys, condemned by their work to spend so 
 many hours in darkness underground, might have 
 a healthful employment and recreation when 
 released from their toil. Schoolrooms were built, 
 and first-rate teachers engaged, with the gratifying 
 result that generally some of the colHery schools 
 stood higher in the Government examiner's report 
 than any others in the neighbourhood. Mission- 
 aries w^ere also employed, and a colporteur, who 
 took round in his cart from village to village 
 attractive and interesting, but moral and rehgious 
 books. This colportage was one of the many 
 benevolent schemes of his nephew Edward Pease. 
 
 Besides his private business claims, there were 
 also the public works, in which he took an 
 active part. Among these public enterprises the 
 Water Works may be especially mentioned. He 
 looked upon them not only as commercial under- 
 takings, but as essential to the comfort and 
 prosperity of the people. To provide the poor 
 with a plentiful supply of good water at their 
 very doors was an intense satisfaction to him. 
 The population had increased so rapidly that it 
 required much foresight and decision to be pre- 
 pared to meet the wants of so fast an extending 
 district. With this pleasure in the practical work 
 and development of the enterprises he had helped 
 to set on foot, he felt it a personal disappoint- 
 ment, and as if called to give up a cherished 
 
77 
 
 possession, when in 1875, after a hard fought 
 struggle before a ParUamentary committee, the 
 Stockton and Middlesbrough Corporations obtained 
 power to force a compulsor}^ sale of the works 
 that had for years suppHed these towns with 
 water pumped up from the River Tees, near 
 Darlington. He had laboured zealously and faith- 
 fully as chairman of these works to make them 
 a success, and the money compensation, though 
 large, could not make amends for all he felt in 
 giving them up. 
 
 A better compensation lay in helping to carry 
 out other works with a similar object which were 
 commenced in 1865 among the moorland hills 
 above Stanhope. The little lake at Waskerly, 
 amid its heather-covered moors, and its com- 
 panion Tunstall, were projected to supply a great 
 need in the neighbouring thickly-populated colliery 
 district, where the want of good water was greatly 
 felt. The mention of these important public 
 works, w4th others which we cannot now particu- 
 larize, is necessary to show how full of enterprise 
 and energy his life was, for the chairmanship of 
 these and similar companies was no sinecure, 
 especially to one who felt the responsibility of 
 holding office as he did ; but it has led us to 
 forestall the date, and we must now return to the 
 year 1857, when his energies were to have a wider 
 field, though still closely connected w4th the district 
 whose prosperity was ever very near his heart. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Returned as Member for South Durham — Second mar- 
 riage — Death of his Father — Marriage of his eldest 
 son — Stanhope Castle — Saltburn — Retires from Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 IT was not probable that one so active and 
 public spirited, and by bis position so often 
 brought to the fore-front, would escape being 
 solicited to embark on a political career. 
 
 So far back as 1841 the question of repre- 
 senting the Southern Division of the County of 
 Durham had been brought before him. On this 
 occasion he writes in his journal — 
 
 "6th Month 14. — There was some excitement to-day 
 about the Election — Lord H. Vane and Bowes being in 
 the town. I was closely pressed to agree to stand as 
 candidate ; but I seem easy in declining, believing that 
 the Divine arm will be more seen by me in this thing, 
 if in His ordering. And yet a secret doubt suggests 
 itself, if I have really done with the matter." 
 
 Again, six years later, in 1847, he was much 
 urged to stand, and again he felt he must 
 decline, as no light seemed to shine upon the 
 path. 
 
79 
 
 It was not till 1857, when Lord Palmerston 
 appealed to the country after his defeat on the 
 Chinese war, that he felt the time h^d come to 
 respond to the call. 
 
 The Reform Bill of 1832 had divided the 
 County of Durham into two Divisions, and given 
 two Members to each Division. No borough had 
 at that time been enfranchised in the Southern 
 Division, the representation included, therefore, 
 several thriving, populous towns, both inland and 
 on the sea coast. 
 
 It had since the Reform Bill been a Liberal 
 seat. In 1847 and 1852 the Liberal Party were 
 not prepared with a second candidate, and it was 
 in the hope of regaining it to the Liberal side 
 that Henry Pease, in 1857, was asked once more to 
 come forward with Lord Harry Vane, afterwards 
 Duke of Cleveland, and the last to bear the title. 
 
 The requisition, couched in the following 
 gratifying terms, was numerously signed — 
 
 To Henry Pease, Esq., of Pierremont. 
 
 " We, the undersigned electors of the Southern 
 Division of the County of Durham, being satisfied with 
 your general political principles which are well known 
 to us, appreciating your ever ready exertions for the 
 social improvement of the people, believing also that 
 your connection with the great mining, railway, and 
 commercial interests of this Division eminently qualify 
 you to represent it in the House of Commons, 
 earnestly solicit you to come forward as one of the 
 
8o 
 
 candidates for the representation of the Division at the 
 coming election, and hereby pledge ourselves to use 
 every effort necessary to secure your return." 
 
 As was his wont, he took counsel of his father 
 and brothers ; his father, who at first opposed it, 
 was won over, saying at length — " Well, I have 
 always liked Christian men being sent to the 
 House of Commons ! " 
 
 His brother Joseph, who was in London, wrote — 
 "Wood's Hotel, London, 3/19, 1857. 
 ** My beloved Brother, 
 
 ** Surely this is an unfavourable place, and my circum- 
 stances are still more so, for quiet thought. All my 
 tenderness is drawn out towards thee, if thou art to 
 pass through half what I did — I hope not. ' Something 
 of God' in thy own soul must be thy warrant if thou 
 accedes — thy own comfort, peace and happiness are 
 nearly concerned. I thought thou might be brought 
 to this, but it did not seem my place to offer any 
 previous opinion. If thy mind turns to it, be fi}-77i, 
 firm. Answer, I will not think of it unless you can 
 satisfy me that a majority desire it." 
 
 Henry Pease was satisfied as regards the desire 
 of the majority, and as the call had again come to 
 him unsought, and some difficulties that had before 
 deterred him had lessened, he believed the time 
 had come to consent to come forward, trusting 
 that, if returned, it would be an opening for 
 further usefulness, and that in this important 
 position he might be enabled to uphold the cause 
 of truth and righteousness. 
 
8i 
 
 There was some difficulty in the outset of his 
 candidature, owing to his well-known peace 
 principles, and the question of the war with 
 China being so prominent a one with the 
 supporters of Lord Palmerston ; but while firmly- 
 adhering to his views on the subject of peace, 
 he could so fulty promise to support the Govern- 
 ment in its general policy that this question was 
 not allowed to stand in his way, and he had 
 the gratification of finding himself, wherever he 
 went, surrounded by loyal and enthusiastic sup- 
 porters, and on the day of election was returned 
 at the head of the poll. 
 
 It is not needful to dwell on all the excite- 
 ments of a contested election, or to attempt to 
 follow his course from town to town, haranguing 
 in market places, answering questions, meeting 
 old friends, and making many new ones. All the 
 crucial topics of the day had, as it is the wont 
 on these occasions, to be touched upon — education, 
 temperance, peace, the Maynooth grant, etc. On 
 the day of nomination he underwent an ordeal 
 which he thought scarcely fair ; a set of questions, 
 prepared by an acute mind, were fired off at 
 him without any warning, and impromptu answers 
 expected. A little ready wit and quick repartee 
 helped him to turn the laugh against the 
 questioner. 
 
 On the day of election, when the triumph 
 was complete, there was much merriment when 
 
 7 
 
82 
 
 the sword was buckled to the side of such a 
 sturdy upholder of peace principles, but he looked 
 upon it as emblematic of the power of the State 
 to be a terror to evil doers, and by no means 
 as a pledge that he would uphold the military 
 system. 
 
 The intentions and hopes w^ith which he 
 entered upon this new field of labour may be 
 seen from the following passage in his electoral 
 address — 
 
 "The representative of so intelligent a constituency, 
 in a district teeming with industrial development, must 
 not sleep at his post, work he must. I was born and 
 have lived among you. I have associated with you in 
 every walk in life, and whether for commercial or 
 railway enterprises, in struggles for political reforms 
 and general education, in the service of science or 
 philanthropy, you know I have not shrunk from work. 
 If, however, instead of cordial co-operation with you 
 at home, I am to serve you in a more extensive sphere 
 elsewhere, I feel no doubt that my long cherished 
 local friendships, and my known love for South Durham, 
 will afford you sufficient guarantees that your interests 
 will ever occupy my earnest attention." 
 
 That he fulfilled these promises as far as lay 
 in his power will be the testimony of all who 
 knew how faithfully he laboured to meet the 
 requirements of so large a constituency. 
 
 At this time of his life he often suffered from 
 severe nervous headaches, and the anxiety to get 
 
83 
 
 through his correspondence when physically unfit 
 was not unfrequently a great strain upon him. 
 The late hours and the heated atmosphere of the 
 House did not suit his health, and he felt the 
 noisy streets of London a poor exchange for his 
 favourite haunts in his quiet gardens. But he 
 recognised also the compensations. He was not 
 insensible to the honour of being a member of 
 one of the oldest, and, as he felt it, one of the 
 most dignified assemblies in the world ; or to 
 the mental advantage and the interest of being 
 brought into contact with some of the finest 
 minds of the day, with some of whom he became 
 on pleasant terms of friendship. 
 
 He came to the House at a stirring time, 
 when there was, perhaps, an unusual degree of 
 intellectual vigour to be found in it. John 
 Bright was in the zenith of his strength, electri- 
 fying the House by his speeches, which were 
 given with so little apparent effort that men 
 scarcely perceived their power, till they found 
 themselves thinking his thoughts, using his words, 
 and adopting his similes. 
 
 Richard Cobden, too. was there, with the 
 power of influence that honest conviction gives, 
 persuading men to his views by convincing 
 them — so that, if success be a test of orator}-, 
 he might, as Mr. ^IcCarthy says of him, be 
 considered one of the greatest orators England 
 has ever known. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli 
 
84 
 
 were also there, carrying on that long Parlia- 
 mentary duel which only knew a truce when at 
 the close of the session in 1876 Mr. Disraeli 
 crossed the threshold of the House of Commons 
 for the last time, thenceforward to. take his 
 place among the peers as Lord Beaconsfield. A 
 truce since these words were written yet more 
 completely closed, by the silence of death over- 
 taking one of these great rivals. 
 
 Lord John Russell ; Robert Lowe, afterwards 
 Lord Sherbrook ; Roundell Palmer, created Lord 
 Selborne ; Sir Bulwer Lytton, who became Earl 
 of Lytton ; and many others might be mentioned. 
 
 And leading this brilliant assembly, with an 
 almost magic power, was the aged veteran, Lord 
 Palmerston, who had sat in that House for forty 
 years, and to whom everyone seemed ready to 
 offer a respectful if it might not even be called 
 an affectionate deference, While Lord John 
 Russell's reserve and coldness repelled. Lord 
 Palmerston's genial courtesy and kindness drew 
 all hearts toward him. Occasionally as their path 
 across the Park lay in the same direction, in the 
 early morning, with the day just breaking, 
 Henry Pease would offer his arm to the 
 veteran statesman, which was always accepted 
 with You are very good, Sir,'' — and a pleasant 
 chat would follow. 
 
 Finding that he had some wish to be pre- 
 sented at Court, Lord Palmerston offered to 
 
85 
 
 present him, and kindly undertook to get him 
 the necessary information in regard to the 
 formula to be gone through — but the time was 
 allowed to slip by and Henry Pease never availed 
 himself of this kindness. 
 
 He used to relate as an example of the 
 cheerful temperament that made Lord Palmerston 
 so popular, that once, when dining at his house, 
 the conversation turning on the electric telegraph 
 and other new inventions, one of the company 
 exclaimed, My Lord, we have lived fifty years 
 too soon, 'tis a pity we are not sucking calves, 
 to begin life again." 
 
 " No, no," laughed his Lordship, we have 
 done very well, we have had a good time of it, 
 for my part I am quite content to leave the 
 good things in store for those who come after me." 
 
 It was in the midst of Henr}' Pease's parlia- 
 mentary career that an event occurred that greatly 
 affected all his future life — his second marriage 
 on January 19th, 1859.* 
 
 It is not possible to lift the veil fully on this 
 part of the sacred past. This portraiture will have 
 been a very imperfect one if it has not made it 
 apparent that he possessed those qualities that 
 eminently fitted him both to appreciate the bless- 
 ings, and fulfil the duties, of home life. But no 
 pen can portray, at least she who is left cannot 
 
 • Henry Pease married on Jan. 19th, 1859, Mar>- Lloj-d, daughter of Samuel 
 and Mary Lloyd, Woodgreen, Wednesburj'. 
 
86 
 
 attempt it, the tenderness of his nature, the 
 chivah-y that gave a sort of poetic fervour to his 
 affections, the sensitiveness, partly bred of past 
 sorrows, that made it exquisite pleasure to try and 
 shield him from the annoyances and troubles of 
 life, which he was at times apt to feel too keenly, 
 beyond what the occasion merited. 
 
 And when the little children were given, the 
 affection which hitherto had been lavished on 
 his only son was shared fully by them. He 
 seemed to grow young again as he played with 
 them, ever devising new schemes for their amuse- 
 ment or profit. Only those who saw him with his 
 arms around them, the tender light in his eye, and 
 the endearing pet name on his lips, can know the 
 wealth of tenderness and love that vanished when 
 he was taken. 
 
 His old and faithfully attached servants must 
 here be mentioned. Before his coachman died, 
 about two years before his own death, he used 
 to remark that the united years of service of his 
 coachman, gardener, and butler amounted to nearly 
 one hundred. On his coachman's death he felt 
 as if he had lost a personal friend ; he erected a 
 monument to his memory in the cemetery where 
 he was buried. On an open Bible lies a whip ; 
 on one page are the words, " In hfe trusted " — on 
 the other, "In death trusting." His butler was 
 his affectionate attendant and nurse during his 
 years of failing health. 
 
87 
 
 In the autumn preceding his marriage, two 
 events occurred which deeply affected him ; the 
 death of his beloved brother-in-law, Francis 
 Gibson, of Saffron Walden, and that of his vener- 
 able father at the age of 91. This remarkable man 
 retained his faculties in full force to the end. A 
 journal which he kept till within a few months of 
 his death reveals the clearness of his thoughts and 
 the warmth of his affections, as, surrounded by 
 loving children and grandchildren, the closing years 
 of his long life glided by. The veneration and 
 affection with which his son Henry regarded him 
 may be seen from the following entry in his journal, 
 dated November ist, 1841 — 
 
 " Evening chiefly spent with my beloved father, who 
 seems remarkably endowed with Christian graces, as 
 years creep on. A subdued mind, yet very cheerful and 
 active ; a clear and intelligent, and comprehensive 
 understanding, a benevolent heart ; cautious and 
 charitable in conversation, though possessed of an 
 unusual fund of practical and select knowledge ; blessed 
 by a kind Providence with a meek and quiet spirit ; 
 living in the affections of his children and grandchildren ; 
 beloved by his friends ; revered by all the good and 
 discerning who properly know his character and worth." 
 
 It seemed a merciful provision for his affection- 
 ate son that the severing of this tender tie, and 
 the breaking up of the old family home, were so 
 quickly followed by the absorbing interests of his 
 new domestic happiness. 
 
88 
 
 On his marriage he took as his summer residence 
 Stanhope Castle in Weardale. It had been un- 
 inhabited for many years, and the plantations had 
 remained uncared for, while the kitchen garden 
 had been merely stocked with what the gardener 
 left in charge found profitable to sell. It was a 
 work very much to his taste to put the house 
 into habitable order, and to improve and beautify 
 the gardens and surroundings. Year by year saw 
 some new improvement effected, or some pleasant 
 scheme carried out, till he used playfully to say 
 that there was nothing left for him to do. 
 
 In this favourite home many of the happiest 
 days of his life were passed. His children will 
 ever remember how their father shared in the 
 enjoyment of the delightful summer afternoons 
 spent on the Waskerly Reservoir in their boat 
 Sunbeam^ and the picnics at Kettle Bay. Also 
 their rambles up the wooded glens, following the 
 course of the tributary streams, that over rock and 
 boulder made their way to the river Wear. Even 
 when his power of walking lessened, to the last, 
 with almost as much pleasure as any of the youthful 
 party round him, he would join in the excursions 
 which by driving could be shared in. 
 
 The line bracing air suited his health, and he 
 never tired of the moorland scenery surrounding 
 Stanhope, but returned to it, even after the grandeur 
 of Switzerland or the colouring of Italy, with a 
 loving appreciation, feeling deeply thankful that 
 
STAXHOPE CASTLE. 
 
89 
 
 such a retreat, embracing so much that he delighted 
 in, should be permitted him. 
 
 His humble gratitude to the Giver of every 
 good and perfect gift will ever be remembered 
 by his children in connection with their hfe in 
 this pleasant spot. "These things," he would 
 say, " do not come as a matter of course, let 
 us thank the Lord who so loadeth us with 
 benefits." 
 
 We would here mention his intense and 
 almost reverential love for flowers. He would 
 stand before a rose tree in beautiful bloom, 
 transfixed in admiration almost amounting to 
 worship ; and this tenderness for flowers made it 
 almost a pain to him to see them ruthlessly 
 plucked or thrown away. In 1863 a fresh interest 
 and pleasure w^as brought into his life by the 
 marriage of his son Henry Fell, with Elizabeth, 
 elder daughter of John Beaumont Pease. This 
 pleasure was greatly increased by his son's new 
 house, Brinkburn, being near to Pierremont, the 
 grounds adjoining one another, so that when at 
 home almost daily intercourse could be maintained. 
 
 To return to the summer of 1859, Y^^^ 
 his own marriage ; while staying a few days with 
 his brother Joseph's family at his sea-side house at 
 Marske-by-the-Sea, Henry Pease one afternoon dis- 
 appeared, and returned late for dinner, heated and 
 exhausted. He explained afterwards that he had 
 walked along the sand-hills to where the burn, 
 
90 
 
 which gave the name of Saltburn to a few 
 fishermen's cottages under the cHff, met the sea ; 
 and that, seated on the hill-side, he had seen, 
 in a sort of prophetic vision, on the cliff before 
 him, a town arise, and the quiet, unfrequented 
 glen, through which the brook made its way to 
 the sea, turned into a lovely garden. It was not 
 a new thought to him, but from that time it took 
 a practical shape. He imparted his ideas to his 
 fellow railway directors, and they warmly took up 
 the scheme. 
 
 We have seen how, years before, it was 
 thought a great venture to take the railway as 
 far as Middlesbrough. Great changes, however, had 
 taken place in the neighbourhood since then, 
 and, following the curve of the coast, it had 
 reached Redcar, and then Marske ; two-and-a-half 
 miles more of rail were alone needed to open 
 out this charming site to all health and pleasure 
 seekers. His recent visit to America, where he 
 had seen cities, the marvellous growth of a few 
 years, rising up in the wake of every new rail- 
 way, no doubt helped to make him sanguine 
 that a speedy and brilliant success would attend 
 a watering-place endowed with all the natural 
 advantages that Saltburn possessed. 
 
 That others shared in his hopes and enthusiasm 
 was seen by the large, palatial hotel which was 
 at once planned, and in the course of time erected 
 at the terminus of the railway. The land, chiefly 
 
91 
 
 purchased from Lord Zetland, was laid out to a 
 plan, and it may truly be said that he watched 
 almost every house with interest as it developed 
 his scheme, and brought others to take an interest 
 and pleasure in the spot. 
 
 The gardens were, however, his chief delight ; 
 he so intensely admired and enjoyed them, he 
 wondered that every one that had the power did 
 not come and luxuriate in the combination of 
 charms to be found in them. 
 
 There was, perhaps, a shade of disappointment 
 as years went on that Saltburn did not grow as 
 rapidly as at first it seemed to promise to do, 
 but on the other hand there was much to 
 gratify in its steady increase, and, as every- 
 thing was well done, he could still indulge 
 the hope that a prosperous future was in store 
 for it. 
 
 The three or four weeks spent almost every 
 summer in his house. No, 5, Britannia Terrace, 
 formed a very happy part of his children's 
 holidays. The fine hard sands for driving or 
 walking, the boating and fishing, and listening to 
 the band in the gardens on the warm summer 
 evenings, will ever be remembered by them 
 in connection with their dear father as he 
 shared these pleasures with them. Fishing was 
 the only sport of the kind he indulged in. On 
 a calm evening, accompanied by his boys, he 
 occasionally enjoyed to spend a quiet hour or 
 
92 
 
 two, dropping the line into the deep sea, 
 and sharing in their excitement at success. 
 
 The Convalescent Home built by his nephews 
 and himself was a continual source of pleasure 
 and satisfaction to him. It was built to accom- 
 modate sixty patients at a time, all to be ad- 
 mitted free of charge, and each season more than 
 500 poor invalids have had the advantage of change 
 of air and good food. Two or three rooms are 
 set apart for patients in a different position in 
 life. This has proved a great boon, and very 
 timely refreshment to many toiling Bible-women, 
 town missionaries, worn-out school-mistresses, and 
 others who could not otherwise have the rest and 
 change they so much need.* 
 
 But all these things did not spring up at 
 once. The planning and building of a town is 
 not accomplished without much thought and 
 labour. Henry Pease never shrank from his 
 share of the work, and a large share therefore 
 devolved upon him, but it was a work much to 
 his taste, and Saltburn became one of the great 
 interests of his life. 
 
 With so much occupation, and so many things 
 claiming thought and time near home — with also 
 an almost passionate love for the seclusion and 
 stillness of the country — it can be imagined that 
 
 * It is now found necessary to make a charge (21s. for a three weeks' 
 residence, 30s. for private patients). We are thankful to believe that those for 
 whose benefit the Home was intended have not suffered in consequence. 
 
93 
 
 he felt the attendance at Parliament involved a 
 severe sacrifice of taste and inclination. 
 
 He endeavoured to lessen this sacrifice in 
 one respect by living in the country within easy 
 reach of London. In the beautiful neighbour- 
 hood of Reigate and Dorking, pleasant homes 
 were found during several sessions, and though 
 this plan caused a good deal of separation from 
 his w^ife and children, he felt the restful quiet 
 and the country enjoyments thus gained were 
 more than a compensation. 
 
 But with all his interests in politics, and in 
 the questions of the day, his heart was not in 
 city life, and it was a great relief to him, on 
 Parliament being dissolved in 1865, to feel the 
 time had come when he might reHnquish his seat, 
 his nephew, now Sir J. W. Pease, succeeding 
 him in it. 
 
 Mingled with the relief there could not, how- 
 ever, but be some feeling of regret in parting from 
 colleagues who had ever shown him the greatest 
 kindness and cordiality. His voice was not often heard 
 in the House, but he was a hard working member, 
 conscientious in attending to give his vote, and taking 
 a useful part in Committees. Lord Brougham said 
 of him, ''A more respectable or a more useful 
 member, I will venture to say, the House of 
 Commons does not possess. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Death of his brothers John and Joseph Pease — Railway 
 Jubilee — Visit from Dean Stanley. 
 
 IN giving up his seat in Parliament Henry Pease 
 wrote to his constituents, Allow me to say 
 that in returning to private life, it will ever be my 
 desire to unite with you, so far as opportunity 
 offers, in promoting the further development of the 
 district, and in aiding local efforts having for their 
 object its general weal. These are the considerations 
 which, to a large extent, mitigate the sincere regret I 
 feel in severing our present relations toward each 
 other." 
 
 As a railway director, a chairman of water and 
 gas works, and other companies, as chairman also of 
 the Board of Health, and on the Town obtaining a 
 corporation, elected first Mayor — continuing in office 
 two years — he had abundant opportunities of fulfilling 
 his promises, and earnestly and faithfully did he 
 endeavour to do so. 
 
 But though these duties which he so voluntarily 
 undertook made him almost a busier man than when 
 he was in the House, he was more master of his own 
 time and actions, and he took advantage of this 
 liberty by indulging in the relaxation that travelHng 
 always brought him. 
 
95 
 
 His delight in beautiful sceneiy was enthusiastic, 
 and added much to the pleasure of these journeys. 
 Switzerland was visited several times, Italy and 
 Sicily, Germany and the north of France. And not 
 only did he turn his steps to these more distant 
 parts : Scotland, Ireland, and Wales were also 
 visited, and many quiet nooks in his native land. 
 On these journeys nearer home he was generally 
 only accompanied by his wife, and the quieter the 
 spot, the more complete the seclusion, the more did 
 he luxuriate in it, the only regret being that the 
 days spent in these cherished holidays too quickly 
 glided by. 
 
 In alluding to the relaxations he permitted him- 
 self, the pleasure and enjoyment his gardens gave 
 him must again be mentioned. 
 
 In 1873, he laid out a new garden in a piece 
 of ground opposite his house, which he called 
 Pierremont South Park. This became a continual 
 source of interest to him ; he seemed to enjoy it 
 doubly from allowing others to share it also. All 
 were freely admitted who applied at the garden 
 door for permission — and the liberty thus granted 
 was never abused. In the six 5'ears since a visitors' 
 book was placed in the entrance more than 10,000 
 entered their names singly, or in smaller or larger 
 parties. This figure, large as it is, probably does 
 not represent the full number of those who took 
 advantage of enjoying the sight of flowers and 
 fruit in full beauty from careful cultivation, as 
 
96 
 
 many were in the habit of visiting it without 
 entering their names. 
 
 This was not the only w^ay in which he showed 
 his desire that his neighbours should share in his 
 pleasure in the beauties of nature. He planted 
 trees along some of the roads leading to the town, 
 and while he had the satisfaction of seeing them 
 spring up into vigorous growth and beauty, he 
 often said, I have planted them for others, who, 
 I hope, when I am gone, will admire and enjoy 
 them." 
 
 He supported the different Flower Shows 
 annually held in the neighbourhood, feeling an 
 especial interest in those in the villages round 
 Stanhope — estimating with an understanding sym- 
 pathy the ingenuity and personal toil required to 
 obtain the gratifying results exhibited. 
 
 In the summer of 1868, he lost his beloved 
 brother John, who died at his country house at 
 Ayton after a short illness, and in 1872, after a 
 more protracted decline, his brother Joseph's active, 
 useful life was closed. 
 
 He felt these events intensely. He had ever 
 been bound to his brothers by more than the 
 tie of blood ; they shared the same religious 
 interests, taking sweet counsel together, and 
 walking to the House of God in company." In 
 times of commercial anxiety they had mutually 
 supported each other, and in poHtical and philan- 
 thropic efforts they had ever stood side by sidc^ 
 
97 
 
 proving the strength of the threefold chord " in 
 many a testing experience. 
 
 And now he stood alone as regards these and 
 other beloved friends and advisers of his younger 
 days, which isolation, his natural temperament and 
 the circumstances of his past life caused him 
 peculiarly to feel. 
 
 But yet more touching to his heart than the 
 removal of his contemporaries in years was the 
 cutting down of the young and strong in the 
 fulness of their life and usefulness. And though 
 he bowed in submission, and could feel deeply 
 thankful for the mercies mingled in the cup, the 
 deaths of his nephews, Gurney and Charles Pease, 
 were personal and tenderly felt sorrows — calling 
 forth also all the sympathy of his heart towards 
 those on whom the blow fell most heavily. 
 
 Among the events that marked the next few 
 years, none stands out with greater prominence than 
 the Railway Jubilee of 1875. The idea of making a 
 grand celebration in Darlington on the jubilee of the 
 opening of the first public railway originated with 
 Henry Pease, and was warmly seconded by the 
 Directors of the North Eastern Board when he 
 brought the subject before them in the early part of 
 the year. 
 
 There was much to appeal to his feehngs in such 
 a celebration. It seemed partly like doing honour to 
 the memory of those who were gone. His father 
 and brothers, and most of those who had planned the 
 
98 
 
 Opening ceremony fifty 5^ears ago, had passed away. 
 He felt as if he stood almost alone of all those 
 who were present at it — and as if a sort of re- 
 sponsibility rested upon him not to let the occasion 
 pass mmoticed. 
 
 B}' bringing thousands free of cost from every 
 part of England to Darlington by means of this 
 wonderful agency, which had grown from that small 
 beginning till it had transformed the Hves and habits 
 of the people all over the world, influencing their 
 every thought and feeling, he wished to stamp the 
 historical fact of its local commencement and its 
 subsequent growth on the minds of all. 
 
 The gigantic strides that Invention had made 
 during these fifty years was also illustrated by placing 
 the first engine, No. i, side by side with its powerful 
 successors in one large engine shed.* 
 
 It w^as like acting history, and he intensely felt 
 the significance of the day, and laboured hard to 
 make it a success, assisted by his son, Henry Fell, 
 who as Mayor of the town, took an important and 
 very helpful share of the work. A stormy night, 
 which put in peril the large banquet tent, was 
 succeeded by a bright, breezy morning. Thousands 
 flocked into the town from far and near. The 
 Market Place was at first the centre of attraction, 
 for there the statue of Joseph Pease, presented by 
 
 * The weight of No. i in working order is 6J tons, and it is of 16 nominal 
 horse power. The weight of the most recent among those exhibited then was 
 31 tons, and its power nominally that of 520 horses. No. i now stands on the 
 platform of the station at Darlington. 
 
99 
 
 the subscribers to the Corporation, was to be un- 
 veiled by the Duke of Cleveland. 
 
 Never before or since has the town put on such 
 a festal appearance. The sun shone on the banners 
 and bannerets, on the gay balconies filled with 
 spectators, and on the dense crowd, through which 
 the procession of trades and guilds and other bodies, 
 bearing their insignia, defiled slowly for hours to the 
 strains of inspiriting bands. When the Lord Mayor 
 of London appeared on the scene, resplendent in his 
 robes, with his trumpeters in their gorgeous array, 
 the enthusiasm of the people reached its height, and 
 notwithstanding the presence of a Duke, a Bishop, 
 and other noble personages, the Lord Mayor in his 
 grandeur w^as the hero of the hour. Then the 
 unveiling took place, with kindly words said for the 
 departed and the living. There was a grand banquet 
 in the evening, at which Henry Pease presided as 
 chairman. Some hundreds sat down to it. Toasts, 
 proclaimed in due course by the trumpeters, and 
 speeches followed ; then fireworks, and an illumina- 
 tion of the town ; and graduall}^, as night drew 
 on, the vast multitude dispersed. The success of 
 the day was a great gratification to him, especially 
 as his native town was thus publicly recognised 
 as the cradle of railways. 
 
 This sketch of my husband's life and character 
 w^ould not be complete without alluding to the 
 strong attachment he had for the religious Society of 
 which he was a member. 
 
100 
 
 He was not only a Friend " by birthright 
 membership, but by deep conviction. He beheved 
 their principles to be those of the New Testament^ 
 and he reverenced them accordingly. 
 
 Though brought up in a strict school, at a time 
 when the peculiarities were strongly enforced, he was 
 not rigid in his adherence to them in later years. 
 He laid aside the plain coat " when travelling, or in 
 his undress at home, for one of more comfortable cut, 
 not that he was ashamed of his colours, and where 
 conscience intervened he was firm. 
 
 The various duties that devolved upon him as 
 member of a Christian Church he fulfilled with great 
 conscientiousness and diligence. For many years he 
 filled the office of Elder, which he felt a solemn 
 responsibility — remembering the injunction of the 
 Apostle, " Feed the Flock of God." He did not 
 often speak in Meetings for Worship, but when his 
 voice was heard it was because he felt the way some 
 passage of Scripture had been opened out before his 
 mind, in his silent prayerful waiting before the Lord, 
 showed it was not intended for his own comfort and 
 instruction alone. And the force and simplicity of 
 these short expositions, going home as they did to the 
 hearts of those who heard him, seemed to show that 
 he was not wrong in believing that the message was 
 intended also for others. 
 
 But if he waited for best help and guidance before 
 venturing to exhort his fellow worshippers, he felt 
 this still more necessary before engaging in prayer. 
 
lOI 
 
 And the occasions on which he did thus pubHcly seek 
 to lead the petitions of a congregation will never be 
 forgotten by some who heard him. It was the cry of 
 a soul wresthng with God for a blessing, approaching 
 the Mercy-seat with deep reverence, and yet w4th 
 filial confidence. In the small Meeting, which, 
 during the last few years he attended with his family 
 during the summer months while at Stanhope, he 
 generally said a few words, and frequently knelt 
 in prayer. He often spoke of these seasons of 
 almost silent worship as sweet and refreshing to him. 
 
 There were times, particularly in his earlier life 
 when cares and anxieties were pressing upon him, 
 when the periods of silence in meetings were often 
 full of conflict and distress. This is not unfrequently 
 mentioned with deep self-abasement in his journal ; 
 and then again, as patience had its perfect work, 
 comes the grateful acknowledgment of help and 
 comfort given. 
 
 But inwardly, as well as outwardly, the clouds 
 that often shadowed his path in his meridian days 
 were permitted to disperse, and in the evening-tide 
 there was light. 
 
 He was a diligent attender of the meetings for 
 transacting the affairs of the Church. His long train- 
 ing in business habits enabled him to take a valuable 
 part in maintaining the discipline of the Society. 
 Notwithstanding his deep reverence for the past, 
 he was able to take a hopeful view when changes 
 were introduced, when these did not interfere with 
 
102 
 
 the principles which he held dear. The deep thank- 
 fulness which filled his heart when he saw the 
 younger generation coming forward to fill the places 
 of those who had been taken to their rest above 
 was often touchingly expressed with words of loving 
 sympathy and encouragement. 
 
 But though he was from heart and conviction a 
 Friend, his sympathies and interests were not 
 restricted to that body. He was ever ready to 
 welcome to his house those who came to plead the 
 cause of Truth and Righteousness. Especially did 
 he feel it a privilege to hold out the right hand of 
 fellowship to those who laboured on behalf of the 
 Bible Society. The Dean of Ripon was more than 
 once his guest, and the venerable Lord Teignmouth. 
 
 Among those whose acquaintance he thus had the 
 pleasure to make, was the beloved and lamented 
 Dean Stanley. 
 
 He came in March, 1877, to inaugurate the open- 
 ing of the new building for the Training College for 
 Teachers in connection with the British and Foreign 
 School Society. 
 
 The gentle, courteous manners for which he was 
 so conspicuous, won the hearts of all. And his 
 brilhant conversation on Macaulay versus Hume, on 
 Dr. Arnold, and other kindred topics, was an 
 intellectual treat to those who were privileged to 
 share in it. 
 
 But to his host, the attraction was deeper, to find 
 their views were in accord as to the spiritual nature 
 
103 
 
 of worship, and on other points which the brief visit 
 gave opportunity for touching on, drew his heart 
 toward him. As was his invariable custom when : any 
 minister of religion was present, Henry Pease asked 
 him to engage in prayer or take any part he liked in 
 the morning "reading." The Dean, however, wished 
 all should be conducted as usual, and Henry Pease 
 read the chapter in the impressive, feeling manner, 
 habitual to him in reading the scriptures, and then a 
 short pause for silent prayer ensued. Dean Stanley's 
 beautiful and expressive face showed with what deep 
 reverence he entered into the simple service. 
 
 In parting, Henry Pease presented him with 
 some books explaining the peculiar doctrines of the 
 Society, which he accepted with evident pleasure and 
 interest. 
 
 It was, perhaps, not a coincidence so much as a 
 natural sequence — from the train of thought thus 
 induced — that Dean Stanley on the following Sunday 
 in Durham Cathedral advocated the introduction of 
 periods of silent prayer into all seasons of public 
 worship. 
 
 They never met again, but Dean Stanley wrote 
 the following spring — 
 
 " I look back on my visit to Darlington as a bright 
 spot in my life. This year I have been prevented from a 
 similar expedition to the north by a long and severe illness, 
 but I trust that I am mending, and that I may yet be 
 allowed to do something for the good of my country ' before 
 I go hence and be no more seen.' " 
 
I04 
 
 The day's work was more nearly ended for them 
 both than probably either of them anticipated. 
 
 These two men, the course and direction of 
 whose energies and interests through life had been 
 widely sundered — one the active man of business, the 
 originator of railways and the founder of towns, the 
 other the earnest thinker and writer — meeting felt a 
 bond of union on the common ground of one faith 
 and hope, and parted, may we not believe, to meet 
 again where all creeds and differences disappear, in 
 the presence of their Saviour, the one foundation of 
 light and love both here and there ? 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 His Serious Illness — Death of his Grandson — Tour in 
 Spain — Yearly Meeting — Attack of Bronchitis — 
 Visits Torquay, Falmouth, Stanhope, London — 
 Closing Scene. 
 
 AS this short story of Henry Pease's life will 
 probably fall into the hands of some who 
 never saw him, a few words respecting his personal 
 appearance may not be without interest. He was 
 above the usual height, being 6ft. 3in. ; his hair 
 became grey rather early in life ; in manner he w^as 
 courteous, with mingled dignity and sweetness. 
 
 The frontispiece gives a good idea of how he 
 looked when he stood before an audience in his 
 frequent position as chairman, though it does not 
 give a hint of the brightness, and the play of words 
 that often characterised his short speeches. 
 
 His health had improved with advancing years 
 up to the winter of 1878-9. He no longer suffered 
 from the severe headaches that at one period much 
 troubled him. He rose early, took long walks, and 
 had few of the infirmities of age. But in the 
 February of 1879 he was suddenly seized with a 
 severe illness, which was called by his medical 
 attendants catarrhic fever." His strength was 
 greatly reduced, and for some weeks he lay in a 
 
io6 
 
 precarious state. When sufficiently recovered to 
 leave home he went to Stanhope. Here he wonder- 
 fully revived ; the fine bracing air was just what 
 he needed, and he quickly regained life and 
 vigour. 
 
 He was, however, called to pass through a great 
 sorrow at this time in the death of his beloved little 
 grandson, Norman Henry, who died at Cannes, 
 May ist, aged about 13, a boy of singular beauty and 
 promise. Besides his own sense of loss, he felt the 
 tenderest sympathy for his beloved son and 
 daughter in having to surrender such a treasure. 
 
 Though scarcely fit for the exertion, he was 
 anxious to attend the annual assembly of the 
 Society, which takes place in London in May. The 
 meetings last about a fortnight. He had not missed 
 one of these, to him deeply interesting and im- 
 portant occasions, since giving up his seat in 
 Parliament in 1865. 
 
 He bore the journey and the fatigue of the 
 meetings and seeing his friends better than was 
 expected, and during the following summer, which 
 was spent chiefly at Saltburn and Stanhope, his 
 health gradually but decidedly improved. 
 
 In the autumn a short driving tour among the 
 Lakes was much enjoyed, and pleasant visits were 
 paid to relations in the neighbourhood of Birming- 
 ham. All seemed to tend to bring back a great 
 measure of health and strength, but a weakness of 
 the heart continued, which awoke grave anxiety. 
 
107 
 
 He thought little of it himself, as he had apparently 
 no feeling of illness, except a difficulty in breathing 
 in attempting to walk up-hill. 
 
 The winter passed much as usual. He could 
 scarcely be persuaded to give up attending any of 
 the committees and meetings he was interested in, 
 and as the spring advanced he astonished those 
 who knew how far from strong he really was by 
 the energy and hopefulness with which he planned a 
 journey to the south of Spain. 
 
 His nephew Edward, who had been for some 
 time in a very suffering state of health, joined the 
 party at Folkestone, and crossed with them to Paris. 
 After a day spent together there, Edward went 
 forward to Cannes to meet his sisters, who had been 
 spending the winter in the south of France. His 
 health had improved even during his short stay in 
 Paris, and for a time this improvement continued 
 after reaching Cannes ; but on leaving for the north 
 of Italy he became worse, and at Lucerne, on the 
 homeward journey, in May, he fell asleep in Jesus. 
 His last words were, " Thou hast compassed me 
 about with songs of deliverance." 
 
 To return to the rest of the party. After leaving 
 Paris they travelled by easy stages through France to 
 Perpignan, where they got their first glimpse of the 
 snow-covered Pyrenees. At Barcelona they stayed 
 several days, and at Tarragona and Valencia. Then 
 crossing Spain by rail they reached Cordova, from 
 whence they visited Granada, returning by Madrid, 
 
io8 
 
 and resting a week or two at Biarritz before taking 
 the journey home. 
 
 Though every name calls up a host of tender 
 recollections of Henry Pease's cheerfulness and 
 patience, his unselfish desire for the enjoyment of 
 others, and his lively interest in the new scenes that 
 day by day were unfolded, this brief mention of his 
 last distant journey must suffice — except we would 
 dwell for a moment on the extreme pleasure he felt 
 in seeing the natural productions of this wonderfully 
 fertile, though in many parts neglected, land. The 
 palm groves and the orange gardens delighted him. 
 True to his love for horticulture, he always sought 
 out the gardens wherever he went, and nothing 
 could exceed his admiration of a garden at Cordova, 
 when from one terrace to another, under the shade 
 of orange trees in full fruit and blossom, with rose 
 trees in magnificent bloom, he came out upon a 
 platform commanding a view of the plain and the 
 city below and the snowy range of the Sierra Nevada 
 stretching with delicate outHne along the horizon. 
 The garden of the Generaliffe at Granada, with its 
 ever flowing fountains and water courses and avenues 
 of cypress, and that of Madame Calderon, which, 
 though a wilderness of rare beauty, greatly delighted 
 him, made him feel half envious of a climate that 
 could produce such results. 
 
 He returned home from this long journey 
 decidedly invigorated in health — attended the Yearly 
 Meeting of 1880 in May with much interest and 
 
109 
 
 without appearing overdone. The summer was spent 
 as usual at his sea-side house, and at Stanhope. 
 A Httle driving tour in Northumberland, reaching 
 as far north as Melrose, was much enjoyed, and 
 on returning to Pierremont in October, he seemed to 
 have more nearly regained his former health than at 
 any time since his serious illness. This, however, 
 was of short duration ; an attack of bronchitis quickly 
 reduced his strength, and aggravated the alarming 
 symptoms of his heart. The weather was unusually 
 severe, obliging him to keep close prisoner to the 
 house. He felt this much, though he was very- 
 cheerful and hopeful about himself, and wished to 
 have his house full of young guests at Christmas as 
 usual, that his children might have a happy holiday. 
 He seemed more anxious even than usual that 
 nothing should interfere with their pleasure, making 
 an effort to share as far as possible in all that was 
 going on. 
 
 The cheerfulness and self-forgetfulness beguiled 
 all around him ; no foreboding that it was the last 
 time they would gather round their beloved father 
 in their happy home shadowed his children's 
 pleasure. 
 
 As soon as he could prudently leave home he 
 hastened to seek warmth and sunshine further 
 south. At Torquay about three weeks were 
 pleasantly spent. He drove out every day in an 
 open carriage, and sat in the garden of the hotel 
 enjoying the spring sunshine. Then to Penzance, 
 
no 
 
 where he undertook long drives to the Land's End 
 and other excursions without appearing too much 
 fatigued by them. Falmouth was next reached, 
 where dear and loving relations gave a most kind 
 welcome, and this in addition to the beauty of the 
 scenery made the few days spent amongst them 
 especially delightful. 
 
 A few quiet days with a brother and sister at Hall 
 Green, near Wednesbury, completed the little tour. 
 Gratitude and peace seemed the clothing of his mind 
 throughout. 
 
 On returning home the family moved to Stanhope 
 for their spring sojourn. All his children who were 
 privileged to be with him on this which proved to be 
 his last visit felt that there was a peculiar sweetness 
 and tenderness about his manner, that makes it now 
 a precious time for them to look back upon. He 
 looked well and his voice and manner had much of 
 their accustomed brightness and energy, but the 
 oppression on his breathing in walking continued, 
 giving painful evidence that the weakness of the 
 heart was still there. 
 
 There seemed reason, however, to hope that it 
 might with increasing strength be in measure over- 
 come, and as throughout the spring he had never 
 relinquished the hope of being able to attend the 
 Yearly Meeting, and as on former occasions he had 
 borne the fatigue so w^ell, it seemed better to yield to 
 his wishes and arrange to go as usual. 
 
 He went up to London on May i6th, and settled in 
 
Ill 
 
 with some of his family at his accustomed quarters in 
 Finsbury Square. 
 
 On the following evening, hearing that his son 
 Lloyd was seriously ill at Cambridge, he made with 
 his wife a hasty and anxious journey there. He 
 returned the next morning to town, relieved about 
 his son, and did not seem over fatigued by this 
 unexpected exertion, but attended part of the meet- 
 ings on Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday 
 evening, however, he felt weak and exhausted ; but, 
 with his usual hopefulness, looked forward to 
 resuming his attendance at the meetings the follow- 
 ing week. 
 
 Dr. Davies, at whose house he was staying, and 
 who was unremitting in his attention and kindness 
 during his illness, saw him the next morning, and 
 took from the first a serious view of his case. As 
 his symptoms became more grave, on Monday Dr. 
 Wilson Fox was called in. The dear invalid was so 
 bright, and had so much apparent vigour, that Dr. 
 Fox was able to encourage the hope that by the end 
 of the week he would have regained his former 
 measure of strength — a hope not destined to be 
 fulfilled. A gradual but decided failure in strength 
 followed. His thoughtfulness for those around him 
 and his lovely patience were very striking. Owing to 
 the great heat of the weather, the windows of his 
 room were kept open, and the sounds of the great 
 city filled the air ; but though he had such an intense 
 love for the stillness of the country, this did not seem 
 
112 
 
 to ruffle him, and he never expressed the least wish 
 to be anywhere but where he was. 
 
 On being told that the doctors considered his 
 case a critical one, he showed no anxiety, but seemed 
 able to leave all the future peacefully. 
 
 His absent children were summoned, including 
 his son Frank, who was in Italy, and who, by travel- 
 ling day and night, came in time to be recognised by 
 his beloved father and receive a loving embrace. 
 Peacefully and almost painlessly he sank into that 
 last sleep, in which, on Monday evening. May 30th, 
 1881, his soul gently passed away, his wife and all 
 his children around him. 
 
 The funeral took place at Darlington on June 3rd^ 
 and was attended by a large concourse of his fellow 
 townspeople, and by representatives of the 
 corporations, societies, and companies with which he 
 was connected. He was laid in the quiet graveyard 
 behind the Meeting-house, where so many of his 
 beloved ones had already found their last resting- 
 place. 
 
 " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from hence - 
 forthj yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labours, and their works do follow them." 
 
i