i) ilfHo ■ ■*'' V VJ ,'X s" "^^p^ •'> A^ 0^ ,0' .-V •^ -, V ■* .M ; y ^^. ^^ c; .^ -^c^. 6 ^^-^ o' v^" ^^v^ : \- .-0 ^ ^' ^ n^^ AUTHOR'S EDITION. Stereotyped and Printed by Rand, Avery, <5r' Co., Boston. PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. npHESE biographic sketches of "Eminent English -*- Liberals " appeared in the old country shortly before the fall of the Beaconsfield administration. That event fulfilled the hopes and anticipations of the writer so completely, that, in preparing this edition for the American press, he has deemed it inexpedient to alter the original text in almost any particular. The only important change eifected is one of name : ' ' Liberal ' ' has been substituted for ' ' Radical ' ' on the » title-page to avoid possible misinterpretation. Truly regarded, Americans and Englishmen form but one mighty people, moved by common instincts and identical interests. Especially ought the great contemporary thinkers and doers of both countries to be made common property ; and, should this volume contribute in some little measure towards so desirable an end, its primary object will have been attained. J. M. D. Uxioisr Club, Boston, September, 1880. iii PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. rpHESE brief sketches of eminent Radicals were -^ originally contributed to the London "Weekly Dispatch." They were each written at a single spell, and it was not at first intended that they should be republished. They, however, attracted an attention gratifying to me in proportion to its unexpectedness. Many brother journalists and several distinguished members of the legislature, whose judgment I was bound to respect, urged reproduction. Hence this volume, which owes much to the enterprise of the publishers. As regards the sketches themselves, their chief merit, if they have any, consists in this, that they have not been "written to order," but express as nearly as possible the sentiments of the writer regarding twenty- four representative Radicals, with most of whom he is personally acquainted. These ' ' Men of the Left ' ' I regard as the salt of our V VI PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. political world. Nevertheless, I can say with truth, that, if I have set down nothing in malice, neither have I consciously extenuated in aught. To complete the roll of eminent Radicals, at least a score of other honorable names ought to be added. " There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported. And some there be that have no memorial ; but these also were merci- ful men, whose righteousness shall not be forgotten. With their seed shall remain a good inheritance, and their glory shall not be blotted out. The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will show forth their praise." J. M. D. 6 Pump Court, Temple, London, January, 1880. 001S"TE]SrTS. EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Page William Ewabt Gladstone 1 John Bbight 13 Peteb Alfred Taylor 25 Sin Charles Wentworth Dilke .... 36 Joseph Cowen 51 Sir Wilfrid Lawson 64 Henry Fawcett 75 Joseph Chamberlain 89 Thomas Burt 103 Henry Kichard 115 Leonard Henry Courtney 128 Anthony John Mundella 139 Charles Bradlaugh 149 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. John Morley 167 KoBERT William Dale 179 Joseph Arch 192 Edward Spencer Beesly 204 Charles Haddon Spurgeon 217 James Beal 231 MoNcuRE Daniel Conway 241 James Allanson Picton 253 Frederick Augustus Maxse 263 The Hon. Aubebon Hebbebt . . . . . 275 Edward Augustus Freeman 288 vii EMINENT ENGLISH LIBERALS. I. WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. " His strength is as the strength of ten, Because his heart is pure." MR. GLADSTONE has himself defined a Radical politician as a Liberal who "is in earnest." I thankfallj^ accept the definition, and unhesitatingly place his honored name at the head of this series of biographical sketches of eminent Radicals. He is, and has ever been, pre-eminently in earnest, — in ear- nest, not for himself, but for the common weal. The addition, "for the commonweal," is essential to the definition ; for time was, of course, when Mr. Gladstone was not numbered with eminent Radicals, but with emi- nent Tories, whose characteristic it is, if they are in earne'st at all, to be in earnest chiefl}^ for themselves or the interests of their class. Of this latter reprehensible form of earnestness, I venture to affirm Mr. Gladstone has at no time been guilty. While 3^et in his misdirected youth among the Tories, he was never realty of them. " He only in a general, honest thought, And common good to all, made one of them." 1 2 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. The circumstances of his birth and education almost necessarily determined that he should enter public life as "the rising hope" of Toryism. The strength, candor, generosity, and innate nobility of his nature have with equallj' irresistible force made his whole sub- sequent career a slow but sure process of repudiation of ever}^ thing that Tories hold dear. Forty-six years ago, when he entered Parliament for Newark as the nominee of the Duke of Newcastle, he was the hope of the High Tory party ; to-day he is the hope of the undaunted Radicalism of England, which, despite Con- servative re-actions and Whig infidelities, knows nothing of defeat ; which in adversity, like Milton, — blind and fallen on evil times, — "bates not a jot of heart or hope, but steers right onwards." Old as he is, his true place is where he is, — at the helm of the Radical barque. Who can foresee himself ? William Ewart Gladstone is the fourth son of Sir John Gladstone of Fasque, Kincardineshire, first baro- net. He was born on the 29th of December, 1809, at Liverpool, where his father, who had originall}^ come from Leith, was then famous as a successful merchant, and as an influential friend and partisan of. Canning. The name was originally spelt Gladstanes or Gledstanes ; gled being Lowland Scottish for a hawk, and stanes meaning rocks. It is still not uncommon in man}^ parts of rural Scotland to call a man b}'' the place of his abode at the expense of his proper patronj-mic. In earlier times such local appellations often adhered permanently to individuals, and it is to this process that the Glad- stone famil}^ is indebted for its name. The Premier's mother was the daughter of Mr. Andrew Robertson, Provost of Dino:wall, whose descent WILLIAM EWAET GLADSTONE. 3 the crednloLis Burke traces from Robert Bruce, the patriot King of Scotland. Be this as it may, Mr. Gladstone is of pure Scottish blood, — a fact of which he has oftener than once expressed himself proud. Indeed, the perfervidum ingenium Scotorum is his in a remarkable degree ; and it has its influence on public opinion across the border, notwithstanding his English training and his antipathetic High-Churchism. How- ever England may abase herself before the gorgeous Lord Benjingo, Scotland will never turn her back on the undecorated Gladstone. There lives not a Scots- man that is not inwardly proud of him ; for blood is, after all, thicker than water. Evicted from one English constituency after another for his devotion to Liberal principles, there is a sort of " fitness of things," not without a certain pathos, in the gallant and successful eflfort which the country of his forefathers has made to seize a seat for him from between the teeth of the great feudal despot of the North, " the bold Buccleuch." From a very tender age 3^oung Gladstone exhibited a wonderful aptitude for learning, and an almost super- human industry, which age, instead of abating, seem- ingly increases. His daily autograph correspondence with high and low, rich and poor, conducted chiefly by the much-derided post-card, would afford ample employ- ment for about six Somerset House clerks working at their usual pace. He possesses, I should saj^, without exception, the most omnivorous and untiring brain in England, — possibly in the whole world. No wonder that his course at Eton and at Oxford was marked by the highest distinction. A student of Christ Church, he graduated " double first " in his twenty-second 3^ear, a superlative master of the language and literature of 4 EMINENT LIBEEALS IN PARLIAMENT. Greece and Rome. He availed himself of every advan- tage the university could bestow ; and, unlike most other scholars who subsequently become politicians and men of the world, he has never ceased to add to the immense store of his academic acquirements. He has published Latin sacred verses not appreciably inferior in grace to those of Buchanan and Milton ; and as a Homeric student his " Studies of Homer and the Homeric Age " entitle him to no mean place among scholarly critics. Unfortunately, however, for him, the sciences of observation — chemistry, botany, geology, natural history, and the like — were in his day almost wholl}^ neglected at Oxford ; and in place thereof an incredible mind-distorting theology was in vogue, from the evil consequences of which the Premier has not j^et been able altogether to emancipate himself. It has laid him open to manj^ false charges, and to some true ones. It. made him for j'ears a defender of the utterly indefensi- ble Irish Establishment; and, when at last " the slow and resistless force of conviction " brought him to a better frame of mind, the change was attributed by thousands who ought to have known better to a con- cealed conversion to Romanism. In vain has he striven in pamphlet and periodical to rebut the allegation, and to make intelligible to the English people his theologi- cal stand-point. Newman, Manning, Capel, — the most redoubtable champions of Roman Catholicism in Eng- land, — he has met foot to foot and hand to hand on their own ground, and foiled with their own weapons. He has proved, with amazing learning and ingenuit}'^, worthy of the schoolmen, that the Papac}' has at last succeeded in "repudiating both science and histor}^'* and that his Holiness himself is next door to Antichrist. WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 5 He, a simple layman, has demonstrated that he is one of the greatest theologians of the age. Still, much as I admire learning in every department of human intelli- gence, I must confess that I should have liked Mr. Gladstone better had he been more of a Gallio in such matters. One would almost as soon see a noble intel- lect like his exercising itself about the exploded theo- ries of the astrologists or alchemists, as about the decisions of church councils, early or late. His personal religion is, however, altogether another matter. It is the chief source of his overpowering sense of duty, of his righteous indignation, of his tender humanity. He is as much a Christian statesman as Pym, Sir Harry Vane, or Oliver Cromwell. His unaffected ipiety has opened up to him the hearts of his Nonconformist fellow-countrymen as nothing else could have done. Where he is best known he is most esteemed ; viz., at his seat of Hawarden, — a fine prop- erty bought by his wife's ancestor. Sergeant Glynne, chief justice to Oliver Cromwell, on the sequestration of the Stanley estates, after the execution of James, the seventh Earl of Derby. Every morning by eight o'clock Mr. Gladstone may be seen wending his way to the village church of Hawarden to engage in matins as a prelude to the work of the day. Even when Prime Minister of England, he has been found in the hum- blest homes reading to the sick or dying consolatory passages of Scripture in his own soft melodious tones. The best controller of the national exchequer that the country has ever had, his personal charities are almost reckless. In the course of his long walks in the neighborhood of Hawarden, his pockets have an astonishing knack of emptying themselves ; and amus- 6 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. ing stories are told of his having had to walk home inconvenient distances of ten and twelve miles in the dark because of his inability to raise so much as a third- class railway fare. As Prime Minister he refused an increase of salary ; and when he quitted office he was so impoverished, that his famous collection of china is said to have been sold in consequence. All his known habits and recreations are of the most innocent and healthy kind. He has nothing either of the jocke}'' or the gamekeeper in his composition, — a fact which ma}^ account for a good deal of the antipathy exhibited towards him by the enlightened squirearchy of England. Yet Mr. Gladstone has none of. the " lean and hungry look" of a Cassius. He is not a total abstainer ; but he is next door. His is pre-eminently a mens sana in corpora sano. As is well known, he is one of the most stalworth tree-fellers in England. His skill with his axe would not disgrace a Canadian back- woodsman ; and he has curious taste in carving and pottery, which is almost scientific. Never was there a public man whose private "rec- ord " has been more blameless. In his zeal for domes- tic purity, he has not hesitated to rebuke the " conjugal infidelit}' " which, since the death of the Prince Consort, has developed itself in close proximit}^ to the throne. In a word, he is a Christian statesman, with all the advantages and disadvantages which adhere to that character. Let me now say a word of his renown as an orator. As a speaker I should be disposed to place him midway between Bright at his best and Beaconsfield at an}' time. For moral earnestness Mr. Bright is not his inferior ; and in the command of pathos, humor, clear- WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 7 cut thoughts, and chaste, limpid English, he is un- doubtedl}^ his superior. On the other hand, in versa- tilit}'', in capacity for receiving new ideas, and of marshalling multitudinous details, Mr. Gladstone has no living equal. He is the orator of affairs. He has done what no one has ever done before him, — made budgets eloquent, and figures to possess a lofty moral significance. Lord Beaconsfield unquestionably possesses in an eminent degree some of the first requisites of oratory. He is more witty, more ornate, and more audacious than Mr. Gladstone ; but all is spoiled by levity, hope- less inaccuracy, and, I fear, essential insincerit}^ " Can there be," Mr. Carlyle has asked, "a more horrid object in creation than an eloquent man not speaking the truth?" Was it "the cool, conscious juggler," the "miraculous Premier" of yesterdaj", that the Prophet of Chelsea had in his mind's eye when, 3'ears ago, I heard him put this important interrogatory on the occasion of his rectorial address to the students of Edinburgh University? Again, I fear, yes. Mr. Gladstone's oratory is marred b}^ excessive copiousness of diction ; jet there is a charm in this rare defect. He plunges right into a sea of words, from which there seems no possible extrication ; and, when he emerges safe and sound, his hearers feel like those who, "in the brave daj's of old," beheld Horatius " plunge headlong in the tide : " — " And when above the surges They saw his crest apj)ear, All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry; And even the ranks of Tuscany Could scarce forbear to cheer." 8 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Mr. Gladstone's conduct as a parliamentary leader has been severely censured by professed Liberals, and his resolution to dissolve Parliament in 1874 has been specially instanced as a proof of strategic unwisdom. I distinctly demur both to indictment and proof. Those who say that he is not a good leader are not ' ' in ear- nest," and such men can never be expected to follow Mr. Gladstone with much comfort to themselves. He is the natural leader of the Advanced Liberals in the House. The Brights, Dilkes, Chamberlains, Taylors, and Courtne3^s find no difficulty in following his lead. As for the dissolution of 1874, so much complained of, no Liberal Minister professing to govern, as every Liberal Minister is supposed to do, in accordance with the will of the people, could, in the face of the adverse by-elections which had taken place, honestl}^ refrain from directly appealing to the constituent authority. Indeed, the pity is, it seems to me, that the appeal was not made sooner. If that had been done, all might have been well. The Conservative re- action, which gave birth to Jingo and so many sorrows, might have been nipped in the bud. It remains to notice in very brief compass a few of the more important events in the Premier's public life, giving preference to the more remote. In 1832 he was returned for Newark in the Conservative inter- est, a'nd in 1834 Sir Robert Peel made him a Junior Lord of the Treasury. In 1835 he found himself Under-Secretary for the Colonies. Shortly after. Sir Robert's administration fell ; and Mr. Gladstone, in the cool shade of opposition, found leisure to write his oft- quoted works, "The State in its Relations with the Church," and "Church Principles considered in their WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. 9 Eesults." Lord Macaula}^, in "The Edinburgh Re- view," thus spoke the judgment of posterity: "We dissent from his opinions ; but we admire his talents. We respect his integrity and benevolence, and we hope that he will not suffer political avocations so entirely to engross him as to leave him no leisure for hterature and philosophy." In those days Mr. Gladstone held the untenable doc- trine that it is the business of the State to uphold " the true religion." He ardently strove to find for the State Church a moral basis and justification which it can never have. In so doing he was "in earnest," but oblivious of the wisdom of One who understood the genius of Christianity better than himself: "My kingdom is not of this world." Since then " the slow and resistless force of conviction " has come to his aid. In 1841 Sir Eobert Peel came back to office, and Mr. Gladstone was made Vice-President of the Board of Trade. In 1843 he became President of the Board, and for the first time his wonderful genius as an admin- istrator had full scope. In 1845 he resigned office rather than be a party to adding to the endowments of the Eomanist college of Maynooth, Ireland, which he had condemned in his work on "Church and State." Shiel wittily remarked that "the statesman had been sacrificed to the author." In point of fact, his resig- nation is a standing rebuke to those who have basely accused him of place-hunting. From this time onwards Mr. Gladstone exhibited, in increasing measure and in numerous ways, his leaning towards Liberal opinions. Canningite and Oxford influences began to lose their hold over him. "I trace," he said at Oxford in December, 1878, "in the 10 EMINENT LIBEBALS IN PAELIAMENT. education of Oxford of my own time one great defect. Perhaps the fault was mine : but I must admit that I did not learn, when at Oxford, that which I have learned since; viz., to set a due value on the imper- ishable and inestimable principles of human liberty." In the budget of 1845 he defended a proposal to put slave-grown sugar on a less favorable footing than free ; and, when the corn-law question became a " burning " one, he resigned his seat for Newark because of the anti-repeal views of the Duke of Newcastle. His powerful pen was, however, at the service of the re- pealers ; and, when the battle was fought and won, he was returned in 1847 for the University of Oxford. He was still, of course, nominally a Tory ; but one of his first acts was to support the removal of Jewish disabilities, to the confusion of many of those whose " rising hope " he was still supposed to be. In the session of 1849 he made a powerful speech in favor of the reform of our colonial policy, from which much benefit has indirectly flowed to the colonies. In 1851 " circumstances purely domestic " took him to Naples, and there his humanity was stirred to its very core by the unheard-of brutalities of King Bomba. His passionate cry for redress resounded throughout the civilized world : " I have seen and heard the strong and true expression used, ' This is the negation of God erected into a system of government.' " For once Lord Palmerston was on the side of justice, and the sword of G-aribaldi eventually wrought out for the Nea- l^ohtans the just vengeance which Mr. G-ladstone had invoked on their tyrants. In the administration of 1859, Mr. Gladstone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, was instrumental in the WILLIAM EWAET GLADSTONE. 11 repeal of the paper duty, and in contracting the com- mercial treaty with France. Of his remission of taxes and reductions of the national debt, it is unnecessary to speak. They are achievements engraved with an iron pen on the financial records of his country. Two great questions, and two only, of his time has he completely misjudged, — the Crimean war and the American war. Of the first he was, to some extent, particeps criminis; and, with regard to the latter, a sin- gularly rash and hostile utterance by implication num- bered him with the friends of secession. For the for- mer he has atoned by his late almost superhuman efibrts to prevent its recurrence ; and for the latter there is ample compensation in our wisest international act, the Alabama arbitration. It is no small misfortune that, in the course of his busy life, Mr. Gladstone has never found time to visit the generous land of ' ' our kin be- yond the sea." Such an experience would have taught him that it is better to be enshrined in the heart of a great people than to obtain the favor of all the courts and courtiers in Christendom. Of the mighty impulse which he gave to the move- ment which ended in household suffrage being conferred on " our own flesh and blood," of the imperishable achievements of his ministry of 1868 in passing the Bal- lot Act and the Education Act, in abolishing purchase in the army, and, above all, in disestablishing the Church of Ireland and reforming in some measure the land laws of that unhappy country, what need to speak? To no Englishman of our time has it been given to perform such eminent service to his country and to mankind. His Radicalism, commencing to meander more than forty years ago among the stony uplands of 12 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Toryism, is now, as the limit of life is approached, a majestic river, whose ample flood will never be stinted or stayed till it is lost in the ocean of eternity. At the general election of 1874 the British Philistine was fat, and kicked. The constituencies deliberately cried out, " Not this man, but Barabbas ! " Is it ne- cessary to add the emphatic, "Now, Barabbas was a robber"? But since then many things, as Earl Bea- consfield would say, have happened. The general elec- tion of 1880 reversed the verdict of 1874 with a deci- siveness that fairly astonished all parties. In opposi- tion, though no longer ostensible leader of the Liberal host, Mr. Gladstone had evinced a moral grandeur and an intellectual vigor never equalled b}^ any British states- man ; and on all hands he was felt to be the man of a very difficult situation, of which the end is not jet. In proportion as he succeeds or fails will be the nation' ^ gain or loss. In any case, if he has not done enough for humanity, — if he has still, as he says, a whole catalogue of "unredeemed pledges" to submit, — he has done enough, and more than enough, to enshrine his name imperishably in the hearts of all good men : — " His hfe was gentle; and the elements So mixed in Mm, that Nature might stand up, And say to all the world, This was a ManI " 11. JOHN BRIGHT. Thou art e'en as just a man As e'er my conversation coped witlial." THERE is a quaint- passage in " Ecclesiasticus '' wMch expresses better than any thing I can think of my conception of the way in which Mr. Bright will be regarded by a not distant posterity. " Let us praise famous men," it nms, " and our fathers that begat us. God hath wrought great glor}^ by them through His great power from the beginning ; men renowned for their power giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies ; leaders of the people by their counsels and by their knowledge meet for the people, wise and eloquent in their instructions ; rich men fur- nished with ability, living i^eaceabl}^ in their habita- tions." "All these," it is added, "were honored in their generations, and were the glory of their times." And, assuredly, if characteristics such as these apper- tain to any man of our day and generation, it is to John Bright. What leader of the people has given wiser counsel, more eloquent instruction, — nay, de- clared more prophecies ? As applied to him, the title of Right Honorable is, for a wonder, fully deserved. It fits like a glove. From the beginning of his career until now "great glory has been wrought by him," 13 14 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. and that, too, " through His great power," Mr. Bright would be the first to postulate. Least of all our public men is the illustrious tribune of the people an adventurer, self-seeker, or demagogue. I do not know that he can be described as a " rich ' ' man. ' ' Riches " is a specially comparative term in this aristocracy-ridden land ; but certainly the anti-corn law agitation found him a well-to-do man, "furnished with abilit}^, living peaceably in his habitation" at Rochdale, where he might have remained to this day hardly distinguishable from the mass of his fellow-citi- zens, had he not had what, in the phraseology of Puri- tanism, is named a "call." He was at the mill, as Elisha was at the plough, when the divine messenger laid hold of him in the guise of a gaunt, starving mul- titude, for whose wrongs he was imperatively com- manded to seek redress at the hands of a heartless and stupid legislature. The corn laws repealed, the hori- zon of his public duties widened ; but the spirit in which he has continued to act has remained the same. He is the great Puritan statesman of England, ever con- sciously living, as did his favorite poet Milton, " in his great Taskmaster's eye." This is the ke}^ to his sim- ple but grand character, as it is to that of the much more complex Gladstone, — a singular fact, certainly, in view of the grave doubts now entertained in so many not incompetent quarters with respect to the objective reality of all religious beliefs. Mr. Bright has completed his sixty-eighth year, hav- ing been born in 1811, in his father's house at Green- bank, near Rochdale. Needless to say his ancestors did not "come over at the Conquest." So far as is known, there is not a single " de " among them. The JOHN BRIGHT. 15 jBrst discoverable local habitation of tbe Brights is a place still called " Bright' s Farm," near Lyneham, in Wiltshire. Here, in 1714, a certain Abraham Bright married Martha Jacobs, a handsome Jewess ; and shortly afterwards the couple removed to Coventry, where Abraham begat William Bright, who begat Jacob, who begat Jacob junior, who, coming to Eoch- dale in 1796, was espoused to Martha Wood, the daughter of a respectable tradesman of Bolton-le- Moors, and became in due course the father of John the Great, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Bright 's ancestry abounds in Abrahams and Jacobs, Marthas and Marys. He has a sort of vested interest in scriptural characters and scriptural knowl- edge, which comes as instinctively to him as fox-hunting to a squire of the county. He is a hereditary Noncon- formist ; nearl}?- all his relatives, as is well known, being members of the Society of Friends. He may be said to have been born resisting church rates. His father, a most estimable man, could never be induced to pay them, and was, in consequence, as familiar with execu- tion warrants as with the pages of his ledger. Not a bad example, assured^, for a youthful people's tribune ! Bright the elder had started life as a poor but honest weaver, working, as his right honorable son has told all the world, for six shillings a week ! In 1809 he took an old mill named Greenbank. Some Manchester friends who had confidence in his intelligence and integ- ' rity supplied the capital ; and, hj the time that the ex- President of the Board of Trade had attained years of discretion, the famity were in easy circumstances. The business has since been much developed ; but the knowl- edge that Mr. Bright, from the first, possessed a sub- 16 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. m stantial "stake in the country," has given a cogency to his more Radical and humanitarian opinions in the eyes of the middle class, which no amount of mere argument could have ever supplied. Was Mr. Bright equally happy in his education? The question is one of great difficulty ; but, on the whole, I am disposed to think he was. True, he did not learn much at the Friends' schools which he frequented ; but, on the other hand, — unlike Mr. Gladstone, with his great academic acquirements, — he learned noth- ing which it has been necessary for him, by a pain- ful process, to unlearn. If, lilve Shakespeare, he " knows little Latin and less Greek," he knows uncom- monly well how to do without them. At the Ackworth and York schools his heart was cultivated, if his head was not crammed. The foundations were laid deep and strong of a placid, free, wise, and upright man- hood. "Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers." It was the educational aim of the friends of Bright 's childhood to instil wisdom first, and to leave knowl- edge pretty much to take care of itself. I do not like to contemplate what might have happened to Mr. Bright if he had gone to Eton and to Oxford with Mr. Glad- stone, and drunk in all the pernicious ecclesiastical and political nonsense which the Premier imbibed in his mis- directed youth. Mr. Gladstone has survived Oxford, and come out clothed and in his right mind ; but it is highly doubtful if Mr. Bright would have been equally fortunate. He is by temperament a Conservative, who has been singularly faithful to all the ideas with which he stai'ted in life. What he is to-daj^ he was forty-five years ago. His principles are far-reaching, and suscep- tible of varied application ; but I ventm-e to affirm, JOHN BEIGHT. 17 that, if they were once realized, he would be about the last man in England to find new ones. He is the incar- nation of Quakerism, summing up in his own person all its noble law and all its prophets. The sect which has been numerically so weak and morallj-^ so strong will never produce another such. Its theory of the public good, though perhaps the highest of any, is limited after all. One part of Mr. Bright 's education which was not neglected, and which has been to him from boyhood a source of real inspiration, I ought not to overlook ; viz., his study of the great poets. He has a genius for ap- propriate quotation ; and, if I might give a hint to my young readers, let me recommend them to verify, as oc- casion offers, the sources from which he draws. They will be well repaid for the trouble. Like most generous and humane natures, he is fond of the lower animals, more especially of dogs ; but his canine, I am sorry to say, are not equal to his unerring poetic, instincts. In this respect he is not much above the shockingly low average taste of Lancashire. In his youth he was a good football-player, a smart crick- eter, an expert swimmer, and during a period of con- valescence, more than twenty years ago, he acquired the art of salmon-fishing, which he has since, for rec- reative reasons chiefly, brought to considerable perfec- tion. He is a total abstainer ; and what with a steady hand, a quick eye, and indomitable patience, few better amateur anglers appear on the Spey. He is a charming companion, with a weakness for strolling into billiard-rooms. Once at Llandudno, the story goes, he played in a public billiard-room with a stranger, who turned out to be a truculent Tory manu- 18 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. facturer from Yorkshire. While the game was proceed- ing, the Yorkshireman's wife chanced to ask some of the hotel attendants how her husband was engaged, and was beside herself with alarm on learning that he was in the company of one against whom she had so often heard him express the most bloodthirsty senti- ments. "Are they fighting?" she asked, and could with difficulty be pursuaded that no altercation was going on. About a couple of hours afterwards the hus- band turned up, rubbing his hands, and told his wife with much satisfaction that he had just been having a game at billiards with a most pleasant casual acquaint- ance, and that they had arranged for another trial of skill next day. "Why," exclaimed the lady, "it is John Bright you have been playing with ! ' ' The manufacturer's countenance fell ; but, speedily recover- ing himself, he observed, in extenuation of his conduct, that the newspapers always told lies about people, and, so thoroughly was he now satisfied of Mr. Bright 's entire harmlessness, that, in given circumstances, he should vote for him himself. At home, at One Ash, Mr. Bright enjoj^s universal respect. His abode, though most unostentatious, is a model of comfort and good taste. His library is note- worthy, being specially rich in history, biography, and poetry. At the close of the corn-law agitation up- wards of twenty-five thousand dollars were subscribed by his admirers, and twelve hundred volumes purchased therewith, as some slight acknowledgment of his pow- erful advocacy of the good cause. As of yore, he regularly attends the services at the humble meeting- house of the Friends ; and, as age advances, the sources of his piety show no symptom of drying up. His charities, and — JOHN BEIGHT. 19 " That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love," which are in reality numerous, are seldom recorded, because Mr. Bright, like his father before him, declines to blow a trumpet when he does a good deed. He acts on the principle of not letting his right hand know what his left hand doeth in such matters ; and, as a consequence, his benefactions are better known to the beneficiaries than to the public. As to Mr. Bright 's relations with his work-people, many lying legends were at one time circulated by the Tory press. They practically, however, received their quietus on the 25th of January, 1867, when the alleged victims of Mr. Bright 's tyranny met and unanimously passed resolutions so complunentary to their employer, that for shame's cause the Conservative organs had to look about for fresh subjects of vilification. At that time Mr. Bright was able to say, " From 1809 to 1867 is at least fifty-seven years ; and I venture to affirm, that with one single exception, and that not of long duration, there has been during that period uninter- rupted harmony and confidence between my family and those who have assisted us and been employed in it." How few employers in this age of ' ' strikes ' ' can say as much ! With respect to Mr. Bright' s oratory, I agree with all competent judges that it is as nearly as possible per- fect. He is the prince of English speakers. I have been told by some authorities who have heard Wendell Phillips speak, that he is equal to Mr. Bright ; but, from speeches by the celebrated American which I have read, I should very much doubt it. The heart, the 20 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. conscience, the intellect, Mr. Bright can touch with equal ease. His speech is the natural expression of a mind at once beautiful and strong. The whole man speaks, and not, as is the case with most other speak- ers, only a part of him. His words glide like a pleas- ant brook, without haste and without rest. His rising in the House is always an event. I remember by chance being in the Speaker's Gallery on a Wednesday afternoon when he made his now celebrated speech on the Burials Bill. He had seldom spoken since his severe illness, and was not expected to address the House. The debate had been of the poorest select vestry stamp, without abilit}^ and without human inter- est of any kind, when suddenly a movement of expec- tation was visible on both sides of the House : — *' And hark! the cry is, ' Astur!' and lo! the ranks divide, And the great lord of Luna comes with his stately stride. Upon his ample shoulders clangs loud the fourfold shield. And in his hand he shakes the brand which none save he can wield." The effect was magical. Languid and recumbent legislators sat erect, and were all attention in a mo- ment. It was curious to observe how the occupants of the Conservative benches, the majority of whom in the late Parliament looked for all the world like a band of horse-jockej^s and prize-fighters, were affected. Mr. Bright talked to them with all the simplicity and confi- dence of a good paterfamilias addressing his family circle with his back to his own mantel-piece. And such talk ! No wonder that they listened with silent re- spect. The whole House was transformed by it, and began to feel something lilie a proper sense of its own duty and dignity. Before he had spoken five minutes, JOHN BRIGHT. 21 the level of the debate had been raised fifty degrees at least ; and there was not an honorable, nor, for the matter of that, a dishonorable, member present who did not feel that the Government was morally and logi- cally routed, whatever its numerical triumph might be. Mr. Bright does one thing of which so many mem- bers are oblivious : he never in any of his speeches in Parliament forgets that he is in the great council of the nation ; and, however violent may be the supposition, he always assumes that his opponents are there to be convinced, if only the matter at issue is put in a proper light. The prevailing tone of his mind is one of hope- fulness. He has large faith, and believes in the inevi- table progress of humanity and the ultimate invinci- bility of truth. As he once said, "There is much shower and sunshine between the sowing of the seed and the reaping of the harvest ; but the harvest is reaped after all." But, though his nature is large and forgiving, in sol- emn earnestness of rebuke he is unmatched. Once or twice Lord Palmerston, in the very height of his power and popularity, was made to wince like a convict under the sentence of a judge ; and, if we except the unique moral insensibility of a Beaconsfield, it would be diffi- cult to conceive of a more arduous undertaking than that of reaching the conscience of Lord Palmerston. In the terrible struggle which threatened to rend the great American Eepublic to pieces, the innermost soul of the tribune of the people was stirred within him, and he touched the limits of actual prophec}^ In the dark- est hour of the fortunes of the North he declared, ' ' The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gladstone) as a speaker is not surpassed by any man in England, and 22 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. he is a great statesman. He believes the cause of the North to be hopeless, and that their enterprise cannot succeed. ... I have another and a far brighter vision before my gaze. It may be a vision ; but I will cherish it. I see one vast confederation stretching from the frozen North in unbroken line to the glowing South, and from the wild billows of the Atlantic westward to the calmer waters of the Pacific main ; and I see one people and one language, and one law and one faith, and over all that wide continent the home of freedom and a refuge for the oppressed of every race and of every clime." It remains to notice, however briefly, some of the more noticeable events of Mr. Bright's public life. They have not been so numerous as might, on first thoughts, be supposed : for he has all his dsijs been a sower of seed, and not a reaper ; and, of much that he has sown, future generations will reap the fruit. His " record " will be best found in his collected speeches, which are, in my opinion, the finest in the language, whether as regards matter or diction. I know no poli- tician who has been more uniformly in the right when others have been in the wrong, and I know no greater master of the English tongue. His first public appearance was made at Rochdale, in 1830, in his nineteenth year. It was in favor of tem- perance, and is said to have been a success. Like most young speakers, he commenced b}^ committing to memory what he intended to utter on the platform, but soon abandoned so clumsy and exhaustive a method of address. Instead of memoriter reproductions, he held impromptu rehearsals at odd hours in his father's mill before Mr. Nicholas NuttaU, an intelligent workman JOHN BEIGHT. 23 and unsparing critic ; but even now his perorations are written out with the greatest care. Like most young men in easy circumstances, he had a desire for travel, which was gratified by a visit to Jerusalem. On coming within sight of the Holy City, he was melted to tears. In the month of October, 1838, the Anti-Corn Law League had its insignificant and unpromising beginning. Five Scotsmen, — W. A. Cunningham, Andrew Dalzell, James Leslie, Archibald Prentis, and Philip Thomson, residents in Manchester, — along with William Rawson, a native of the town, met like the apostles of old, in an " upper room," and decreed the origin of the mammoth association. In the printed list of the members of the provisional committee Mr. Bright 's name stands sec- ond. He had found his vocation ; and, in the course of the memorable campaign that followed, he and the late Mr. Cobden contracted a friendship which has justly become historic. In speaking in the House of Mr. Cobden 's decease, the strong man, bowed down with the weight of his sorrow, was barel}^ able to utter, ' ' After twenty years of most intimate and almost brotherly friendship with him, I little kfiew how much I loved him until I found that I had lost him." Siste^ viator ! In 1843 Mr. Bright first took his seat in Parliament for Dm"ham, and in 1847 he was returned for Man- chester without opposition. In 1852 he was re-elected after a contest ; but at the subsequent general election of 1857 he lost his seat on account of his unbending opposition to the Crimean war, and to the swagger of Palmerston in China. In the autumn of the same year, however, he was returned by Birmingham at a by- election, and has continued to represent the great Radical Mecca in Parliament ever since. 24 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. His memorable defeat at Manchester was, for him, the gi'eatest moral victory of his life, and he has had many. With a sublime courage, which has never been surpassed, he strove almost single-handed to arrest in its mad career a whole nation in pursuit of a mischiev- ous phantom. In the American war his services to his own country and to America were unrivalled, and happily more successful. That he is one of the best and most intelligent friends of India, of Ireland, and of the unenfranchised and unprivileged masses of Englishmen and Scotsmen will go without saying. As a member of Mr. Glad- stone's cabinet he was introduced at court, and is said to be a favorite there. I should have lilted him better had he continued — to use his own words — "to abide among his own people." Evil communications have a tendency to corrupt the best manners, and Mr. Bright has never been at his best since he made the acquaint- ance of royalty. Latterly the brunt of the fighting has fallen on Glad- stone, who, by an arduous heart-searching process, has, at seventy, reached conceptions of the public good which were familiar to Mr. Bright's mind at twent}^ It is Mr. Bright's turn to put his powerful hand to the plough. He looks vigorous as ever, and it has not been his wont to spare himself in great emergencies. Let him remember the wisdom of Ulysses addressed to the " great and godlike " Achilles, — " To have done, Is to hang quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail, In monumental mockery." I III. PETER ALFRED TAYLOR. "And I have walked with Hampden and with Vane, Names once so gracious in an English ear." HAVING- now portrayed, however imperfectly, our two most illustrious Radical statesmen, — Mr. Glaclffto-- -^nd Mr. Bright, I come to deal with one who is not a statesmaxi, - ^-^^o- makes no prptc-r.':.ii lo statesmanship, — but who, as a politician, has never- theless ' ' been fashioned unto much honor. ' ' His name will not be found, I think, even among that multitude which no man can number, the " Men of the Times." Nor is the omission so culpable as may at first sight appear ; for Mr. P. A. Tajdor belongs at once to the Radical past and the Radical future rather than to the opportunist present. He is the most unique figure in the House of Commons, — a man who, in the daj^s of the Long Parliament, would have been after gentle Lucy Hutchinson's own republican heart, and who, in those of Queen Victoria, has been best appreciated by such gifted pioneers of progress as Mazzini and Mill. He hks now represented Leicester in Parliament for eighteen years, and all that time he has neither led nor followed, — neither been misled by the leaders of his party, nor been found following the multitude to do evil. If he has led at any time, it has been as the 25 26 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PABLIAMENT. captain of forlorn hopes, the champion of forgotten rights, the redresser of unheeded wrongs. He is the Incorruptible of the House. In evil and in good report he has striven to subject every issue that has presented itself to the test of general principles of human well- being. I am not now considering whether he has been uni- foi-mly right in particular deductions from thes^ prin- ciples : he may, or he may not. All I say is, that he has been uniformly true to his principles from his youth up. They alone have been his leaders. Of " doctrines fashioned to the varying hour," he has known nothing, and, from the constitution of his mind, will never know. Mr. Taylor is generally considered aT» ^^o^i~^ir^ nieni1)fe?jJ??-t^^^ eccentrjcity is wholly on the surface. Once understand his principles, or rather solitary prin- ciple of action, —viz., that liberty, liberty, liberty, is the best of all things in all things political, religious, social, or commercial, — and the course which the senior member for Leicester will pursue on any given question may be predicted almost with mathematical certainty. I always remember a curiously instructive telegraphic summary of a speech delivered by Mr. Taylor to his constituents about the time of the republican agitation in 1870. It was a model of compression ; but it illus- trates admirably what I have been saying. It appeared among other items of " election news," and ran thus : " Mr. P. A. Tajdor, the member for Leicester, ad- di-essed his constituents last night. He declared for the republic and against the Permissive Bill." I don't know whether the intelligent reporter saw any kony in the juxtaposition into which the republic and the Per- PETER ALFRED TAYLOR. 27 missive Bill were thus brought; but sure I am that Mr. Taylor would have recognized none. According to his views, the one was in favor of, the other in oppo- sition to, liberty. Hence his support and his antago- nism. Both flowed naturally from the same source, — a source at once of strong personal conviction and ancestral pride. It may appear somewhat strange to attribute ances- tral pride to an out-and-out democrat like Mr. Taylor ; but it is impossible fully to understand his character without taking the markedly liberal tendencies of his forefathers, both in politics and religion, into account. Mr. Taylor may be described as a hereditary Radical of two and a half centuries standing. The pseudo-science of heraldry is coming to have an unexpected value as an aid to the study of the laws of heredity. Mental, like physical characteristics, are shown to persist and recur from generation to generation, contrary to all our preconceived notions of the determining causes of the opinions of indi- viduals and the way in which they are formed. The acquisition of riches is vulgarly supposed to make the best of Radicals Conservatives. Self-interest, it is held, induces them instinctively to throw in their lot with the privileged classes ; but the history of some of the most respectable and well-to-do families in England proves the very opposite. The instinct in favor of progress may fail for a generation ; but it soon re- appears. Mr. Taylor's genealogy'' is in itself a standing refuta- tion of ordinarily accepted theories. The name is distinctly of plebeian origin ; but, as early as the reign of Edward III., Mr. Taylor's progenitors possessed 28 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. large estates in Huntingdonshire. They " bore arms " of course ; and evidently with the desire, if possible, to aristocratize their name, they called themselves Tay- lards. And this continued to be the spelling till the close of the sixteenth century, when the patronymic was restored to the more ancient plebeian form by an irate Taylard who considered that he had had enough of aristocracy. The head of the family had died, leav- ing a pregnant wife behind him, and a wUl which inten- tionally or otherwise omitted the normal word " male." A girl was born ; and an astute gentleman, named Brudenell, who afterwards became Earl of Cardigan, married the heiress and her estates in her fourteenth year. The Tajdards took the matter into chancery, but failed to secure the succession ; and, being greatly impoverished, their chief representative came to Lon- don, and established himself on the spot where Messrs. Longmans' well-known publishing-house now stands as plain "Mr. Taylor, Haberdasher." He prospered in business, and was a stanch sup- porter of the Commonwealth, which rewarded his zeal by several important appointments. He was a warm friend of the regicides, and added to his political mis- conduct religious heresy. He ably defended the noted Socinian preacher of the day, Goodwin. At the Restoration, William Taylor, son of this re- publican haberdasher, was pardoned by Charles II. for his father's manifold offences on the pa^Tnent of a heav;y^ fine, — pardoned (he was but fourteen !) "'for all manners of treacheries, crimes, treasons, misprisions, ... all and singular murders." Passing rapidly down the stream of time, we come to the Rev. Henry Taj'lor of Portsmouth, who matricu- PETER ALFRED TAYLOR. 29 lated at Cambridge University in 1729. He is better known as Ben Mordecai, from the production of a very clever book entitled "The Apology of Benjamin Ben Mordecai for embracing Christianity." He possessed all the family characteristics in an eminent degree. In religion he was an Arian and a Universalist, and neither menace nor persuasion could ever induce him to read the Athanasian Creed from his pulpit. He tried hard to get the Prayer Book reformed, and all but succeeded in procuring the objects for w&h Broad Churchmen still sigh. He denounced the game-laws, and would not turn on his heel to be introduced to royalty when it came in his way. Albeit a churchman, he was in all respects the prototype of the honorable member for Leicester, — Radical in politics as in religion, with a caustic vein of drollery, of which the following extract from a circular to the clergy, found among his papers, may serve as a specimen. It reminds one forcibly of Mr. Taj^lor's own very clever contribution to the " Pen and Pencil Club," styled "Realities." It is fittingly labelled " Impudent," and begins : " One hundred and fifty sermons, such as are greatly admired and are but little known, engraved in a masterly running-hand, printed on stout writing-paper, and made to resemble manuscript as nearly as possible ; in length from twent}^ to twenty-five minutes, as pithy as possible, intelligible to every understanding, and as fit to be preached to a polite as to a country congregation," &c. Nor is Mr. Taylor descended from a Radical stock on the paternal side alone. His maternal grandfather was George Courtauld, who travelled much on philanthropic missions in America, and was the fast friend of Dr. Priestley and Thomas Paine. The first of the Court- 80 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PAELIAMENT. aulds is said in infancy to have been smuggled to Eng- land in a pannier by his Huguenot guardians at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Not only was George Courtauld a zealous- Unitarian, but his political sympathies appear also to have been republican. Writ- ing from America to a relative in England, he shrewdly remarks, " I cannot but think with Mr. Paine that you have no constitution. You have, indeed, a form of government ; but how you came by that it is very diffi- cult to say, — certainly it was not that form which, af- ter mature deliberation, the people of England chose for themselves." Within the last few years Lord Beaconsfield has de- monstrated to all whom it may concern that Mr. Tay- lor's grandfather and Mr. Paine were not far wrong in divining that the English people have ' ' no constitu- tion," only "a form of government," which, in the hands of a despotic Minister, may be twisted into the most dangerous imperialistic shape. " Our glorious constitution " is a political imposture and superstition which the member for Leicester, the descendant of such a clear-sighted race of iconoclasts, can hardly be ex- pected to swallow without protest. Mr. P. A. Taylor, M.P., was born in London in 1819. He is the eldest son of Peter Alfred Taylor, of the old and highl}' respected firm of Courtauld, Taylor, & Courtauld, siDv-manufacturers, Bocking, Braintree, Halstead. He was educated in the first instance at the Unitarian school at Brighton, then taught by the Rev. J. P. Malleson. At fourteen years of age he was re- moved to London, and for a short time he attended University College. Of the Unitarians, as a sect, it has been wittily said, PETEE ALFRED TAYLOR. 31 that, if they can only see their way to believe in one God, they invariably pay twenty shillings in the pound. The J are an eminently rational, upright, and progres- sive people ; and politically their services to the country have been invaluable. In all respects Mr. Taylor's educational and social advantages were of the most en- viable kind. His father was an ardent opponent of the corn laws, of church rates, and of a limited franchise. The friends of Mr. Taylor's youth were reformers of the highest intellectual grasp, including Mill, Mazzini, Col. Perronet Thomson, and Ebenezer Elliot, the corn-law rhymer. The man, however, to whom Mr. Taylor owed most was the celebrated W. J. Fox, the minister of South- place Chapel, Finsbmy, where the Taylors, father and son, attended for many years. Mr. Fox was a preach- er of extraordinary talent and energy. From being the "Norwich Weaver-Boy," he became simultaneously minister of the most intellectual congregation in the metropolis, member of Parliament for Oldham ; and last, not least, he wielded the powerful pen of " Publicola '* in " The Weekly Dispatch." After his death, Mr. Taylor, in one of the best speeches he ever delivered, said of him, with much truth, "• His political principles were not so weakly based that he feared to trace the result in the history of various kinds of government ; nor his religion so poorly grounded as to fear scientific inquiry. He searched after truth, and followed wher- ever it might lead him." In portraying Fox's virtues, Mr. Taylor described the leading features of his own mind. Very early in life Mr. Taylor entered his father's business, for which he showed aptitude of the highest 32 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. order, and by 1866 he was able to retire from the firm with a handsome competency. This fact is all the more gratifying that for upwards of twenty years previ- ously he had been giving up much of his time to the public service. In quitting connection with the firm, Mr. Taylor ad- dressed a characteristic circular to all the employes. " My friends," it said among other things, " with the close of the old year has ceased, as you all probably are aware, my connection with the business, and therefore with 3^ou. I cannot let such a connection cease with- out just one word of kindly farewell, of hearty good wishes. In wishing you farewell, I reflect with satisfac- tion that the name of Taylor will still be represented in the house by my brother. Finally, let me say, that, should my name ever reach you in connection with any question of public interest, I can promise beforehand that it will only be on the side ever upheld by my fa- ther before me, — that, viz., of justice for all, and of political enfranchisement for the working- classes." In Parliament Mr. Taylor is rapt and solitary, living in the world of his own ideas. Nevertheless, his sin- gleness of purpose, accuracy of statement, genuine humor, originality of ideas, and clear, effective speak- ing never fail to secure for him a respectful hearing, however distasteful may be the subject of his address. At home he is a delightful host, an inveterate joker of jokes. His wife, a lady of great accomplishments, is hardly behind him in zeal for the public good. Every post brings heaps of letters from aggrieved subjects of her Majesty in all parts of the world. They are all carefully considered, and parliamentary or extra-parlia- mentary redress invoked, according to circumstances. PETER ALFRED TAYLOR. 33 In his capacity of redresser-general of unheeded wrongs and oppressions, Mr. Taylor has quite a business to attend to ; and in this character have some of his great- est senatorial successes been achieved. He is the terror of the " great unpaid," whose cruel antics throughout rural England he has done much to curb. Every day "justices' justice " is more of a by- word and a reproach. He has striven hard to remove the inequalities of Sunday legislation ; and the poor of London in partfcular owe him a debt of gratitude for taking the sting out of the great harasser of their lives, that too " busy bee," Bee Wright. It is but the other day that Mr. Taylor, at a cost of more than ten thou- sand dollars, presented the workingmen of Brighton with a People's Club, which will secure to them on Sun- days something like the advantages of a local Carlton or Reform. In the attempt to bring General Eyre to justice, he was hardly less active than Mr. Mill. The " cat," he has satisfied all humane minds, is twice accursed, — cursing him that administers, and hun to whom it is administered. The game-laws he has had the courage to expose in all their naked infamy to a country stiil held tight in the vice of feudalism. He has been one of three in resisting the spoliation of the exchequer by royal princes and princesses ; and the most important perhaps of all future parliamentary reforms — the paj^ment of members — he has made peculiarly his own. His speech on the latter subject is one of the most convincing ever delivered by him or any other living member of the House. As president of the ' ' People ' s International League , ' ' 34 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Mr. Taylor in his younger days was untiring in his endeavors to liberate Poland, Hungary, and Italy from the oppressor's grasp. By voice, pen, and purse, he did his best for the popular cause. The only conspicuous blunder of his life was his advocacy of the Crimean war in opposition to Cobden and Bright. The wrongs of Poland rankled in his breast and blinded his judgment, as it fatally darkened the understanding of so many other true friends of free- dom. In the American civil war, needless to say, his S3'mpathies were entirely with the North and the policy of abolition, of which he had long been a strenuous advocate. In America the name of P. A. Taylor is perhaps as well known as in England, and it will be better known to posteritj?^ than to his contemporaries. Nor is this to be wondered at ; for in this royalty and aris- tocracy ridden land the member for Leicester is a " rare ' ' figure, and precious as he is rare. He is, in a sense, a " survival " from the great era of the Commonwealth, — a mind of the type of Vane, Ludlow, Hutchinson, Scott, and Hazelrig, — an idealist in politics, but withal a practical idealist. He is more human than English, his principles being more or less applicable to all times and^ to all places. Having embraced a principle, he holds to it with the tenacity of a buU-dog, fearlessly pushing it to its remotest consequences. This was the distinguishing mental characteristic of all the great republicans of the seventeenth century. Since then an extraordinary blight has fallen on the political intelligence of Englishmen. The}^ waste their best intellect in the defence of palpable anomalies and pernicious compromises. Even Gladstone and Bright PETER ALFEED TAYLOE. 35 have not escaped the contagion of compromise. They go to court, and are caught in the net of "society," which sticks to them like a Nessus shirt. Peter Alfred Taylor has never been caught. He has gone to no court but that of the sovereign people. I honor the man and the constituency which has so long honored itself by honoring him. " Stainless soldier on the walls, Knowing this and knows no more, — Whoever fights, whoever falls, Justice conquers evermore; And he who battles on her side, God, if he were ten times slain, Crowns him victor glorified, — Victor over death and pain." IV. Sm CHARLES W. DILKE. "A greyhound ever on the stretch To run for honor still." IN treating of Gladstone, Bright, and Taylor, who have preceded the senior member for Chelsea in this series, I have in some measure felt on sure ground, — the ground of history or accomplished fact. The 3^oungest of the above trio is sixty, and had entered the arena of public life ere the subject of this memoir had well left his cradle. One could, conse- quently, speak of them almost with as much confidence as of the dead. Their lengthened past was a clear index to their necessarily briefer future. In due course they will pass over to the majority, and the places that know them now will know them no more. With Sir Charles Wentworth Dillie it is altogether different. He belongs exclusively to the immediate present. It will take him thh-ty-five more j'^ears to attain the ven- erable age of the woodcutter of Hawarden. He is emphatically a contemporar}^, as fine an example as can well be found of the culture and aspirations of this generation. It is his future that is most important, and it is full of promise. As Mr. Gladstone in his youth was pronounced " the rising hope of Toryism," so Sir Charles W. Dillve may SIR CHARLES W. DILKE. 37 with better assurance be hailed as the rising hope of Radicalism, — of all that is sincere, capable, and of good repute in English politics. The odds are heavily in his favor. He has youth, health, wealth, birth, strength, talent, industry, firmness of character, spe- cial training, and moral courage of a very high order on his side. Such a combination of advantages sel- dom fails. If he is spared to his country for the next twenty years, he will almost certainly be able to say with regard to her fortunes, whatever these may be. Magna pars fui. " Never prophes;^," said the wise Quaker, "unless thou knowest ! " Nevertheless, I venture to predict, that, sooner or later, Charles "VYent- worth Dilke will be called upon by the people of Eng- land to take a very high place, — it may be the highest, — and he will succeed, too, by the right of the fittest. Like his friend Gambetta, he has been tried in the fiery furnace of political calumny and social hate, and has not been found wanting. "Society" undertook to put him down, and he has put down society. Of the two he has proved himself the stronger, and a better proof of capacity to serve the nation it would be impossible to adduce. " That which is bred in the bone," says the proverb, "will come out in the flesh." The anti-monarchical sympathies of the Dillies, like those of the Taylors, are at least as much inherited as acquired. No fewer than three of the Dilke ancestry were among the judges of Charles I. ; viz., the resolute Bradshaw, who presided over the High Court of Justice, Sir Peter Wentworth, and Cawley. All were stern foes of " one-man govern- ment," whether that one man were the " divine right " Charles Stuart, or the Puritan Bonaparte, Oliver Crom- 38 ElVnNENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. well. " For what king's majesty," asks the immortal defender of the regicides, Milton, " sitting on an ex- alted throne ever shone so brightly as that of the people of England then did, when, shaking off that old super- stition which had prevailed a long time, they gave judg- ment on the king himself, or rather upon an enemy who had been their king, caught, as it were, in a net by his own laws, and scrupled not to inflict on him, being guilty, the same punishment which he would have inflicted on any other? . . . This is the God," he continues, " who uses to throw down proud and unruly kings . . . and 'utterly to extirpate them and their family. By his manifest impulse being set at work to recover oiu* almost lost liberty, we went on in no ob- scure but an illustrious passage pointed out and made plain to us by God himself. ' ' At his trial Charles vainly declined to recognize the authority of the court, on the silly pretext that he him- self was " the fountain of all law." " If you are the fountain of all law," curtly observed Bradshaw, "the people are the source of all rights." When the Crom- wellian coup d'etat took place. Sir Peter Wentworth was, I think, the last man in the House to protest against the violence offered to the representatives of the people ; and Bradshaw afterwards told the military usurper to his face, "We have heard what you did, and all England shall know it. Sir, you are mfstaken in thinking Parliament is dissolved. No power under heaven can dissolve them but themselves. Take you notice of that." One of Sir Peter Wentworth' s sisters was married to Bradshaw 's brother ; while another, Sybil Went- worth, became the wife of Fisher Dilke, from which SIR CHAELES W. DILKE. 39 union the distinguished representative of Chelsea in Parliament is lineally descended. The Dilkes were probably of Danish origin, and are to be found settled at Kirby Mallory, in Leicestershke, as early as the middle of the sixteenth century. Fisher Dilke was a Puritan of the Puritans, much given to angling, and piety of an extravagant kind. He was a Fifth Monarchy man, and, like his sect, would have prepared the ways of King Christ, and made the paths of his speedy return straight by first abolishing all ex- isting authority and cancelling all bonds of human allegiance. He was doomed to sore disappointment. His co-sectaries mustered strong in Barebone's Parlia- ment, but in the eyes of the pious Lord Protector did no good whatever, though they never deliberated with-' out meanwhile setting apart a committee of eight of their number to seek the Lord in prayer. Their mit- timus came speedily from the Protector in the memo- rable words, " You may go elsewhere to seek the Lord, for to my certain knowledge he has not been here for many years." At the restoration of the monarchy Fisher Dilke is said to have died of sheer grief, having first dug his own grave. Of all Sir Charles's ancestors, however, the most remarkable was Peter Wentworth, the grandfather of Sybil, wife of Fisher Dilke, leader of the Puritan op- position in Parliament in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and brother-in-law to the famous Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham. This Peter and his brother Paul were seldom out of trouble. Hallam calls them "the bold, plain-spoken, and honest, but not very judicious Wentworths, the most undaunted assertors of civil liberty in his reign." 40 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PAELIAMENT. In the Parliament of 1575 Peter made a stiff speech in defence of the rights and privileges of the Commons. It is on record. "I find," said he, "within a little volume these words in effect : ' Sweet is the name of libert}^, but the thing itself a value beyond all estimable treasure.' So much the more it behooveth us to take great care lest we, contenting om-selves with the sweet- ness of the name, lose and forego the thing. . . . Two things do great hurt in this place. The one is a rumor which runneth about sajdng, ' Take heed what you do : the queen liketh not such a matter. Whoso preferreth it she will be offended with him.' The other, a mes- sage is brought into the House either commanding or inhibiting, very injurious to the freedom of speech and consultation. I would to God these rumors and mes- sages were buried in hell ; for wicked they are : the Devil was the first author of them, from whom proceed- eth nothing but wickedness." And so on he went reprobating the venal flatterers of royalty who "make traitorous, sugared speeches," " send to her Majesty a melting heart that will not stand for reason," and who blindly follow their leaders instead of voting " as the matter giveth cause." Peter was not permitted to finish his speech, but was given into the custod}^ of the sergeant-at-arms, pending an examination of the delinquent by a committee of the House." His apology is recorded : " I heartily repent me that I have hitherto held my peace in these causes, and I do promise you all, if God forsake me not, that I wiU never during m}^ life hold my tongue if any message ts sent in wherein the liberties of Parliament are impeached ; and every one of you ought to repent you of these faults, and amend them." SIR CHARLES W. DILKE. 41 He was, of course, sent to the Tower, wliere he re- mained over a month, when "her Majesty was gra- ciously pleased to remit her justl}'^ occasioned displeas- ances." He returned to the House ; but in the following session he was recommitted for a similar offence. Indeed, he appears latterly to have spent more of his time in the Tower than at St. Stephen's ; and in the Tower the stout-hearted, liberty-loving man is believed ultimately to have perished. His plainness of speech had aroused against him more than royal ire. He and Paul were both at con- stant feud with the prelates. On one occasion the Archbishop of Canterbury announced, in the hearing of Peter, that it was the function of Parliament to pass articles of religion approved of by the clergy without note or comment. " No," said the indomitable icono- clast, " by the faith we bear to God, we will pass nothing before we understand what it is ; for that were but to make you popes. Make you popes who list, we will make you none." Through the member for Chelsea, Elizabethan Peter yet speaketh. And how modern is it all ! How little real progress have the English people made in liberty since these indignant words were uttered three centuries ago ! 'Nsij, may it not even be doubted whether in some respects we have not even lost ground ? Have we not stni bishops thrusting down our throats articles of religion which neither the}^ nor we can understand? Have we not likewise our royal " messages " respecting manifold dowries and annuities, duly heralded by sinis- ter " rumors " of royal " displeasance," which inconti- nently convert honorable members into a troop of com't 42 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. flunkies, and make even Liberal Ministers deliver them- selves of " traitorous, sugared speeches," enough to make Peter and Paul Wentworth turn in their coffins ? "Age, thou art shamed! Eome, thou hast lost tlie breed of noble bloods ! Oh ! you and I have heard our fathers say There was a Brutus once, that would have brook' d The eternal devil to keep his state in Eome * As easily as a king." Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, M.P., is the eldest son of Sir Charles Wentworth Dillie, first baronet, and grandson of Charles Wentworth Dilke, the celebrated critic, whose literary judgment and administrative talent were the chief stock in trade both of ' ' The Athenaeum ' ' and " The Daily News " in their younger days. Sir Charles's father, as is well known, was much devoted to matters affecting art and industry, and was a leading promoter of the great Exhibition of 1851. As some acknowledgment of his eminent services, he was offered, and accepted, contrary to the advice of his father the critic, a baronetcy. The old gentleman was an inflexible Radical ; and Sir Charles may be said, in all his mental and moral characteristics, to be the son of his grandfather rather than of his father. He was the preceptor and companion of Dilke 's youth. He was an antiquary as well as a critic, and loved to trace the descent of grandson "Charley's" mother from the gentle and unselfish regicide Cawley as a noble pattern for her to set before her son. The future member for Chelsea was born in the borough which he now represents in September, 1843. He is consequently in his tMrty-seventh year. At the second of two private schools which he attended in the SIR CHARLES W. DILKE. 43 metropolis, he displayed mathematical talent ; and in due course he matriculated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, with the intention of pursuing with assiduity his favor- ite study, in which he obtained a scholarship. He soon, however, changed his mind, and betook himself to law, as calculated to bear more directly on a parlia- mentary career, for which he very early determined to qualify himself. He worked hard, and was easily senior in the Law Tripos for 1865. In 1866 he was called to the bar by the Honorable Society of the Middle Temple. Shortly afterwards he started on a " round the world " journey of two years' duration. The trip bore excellent fruit in the well- known work "Greater Britain," which, in the first year of its publication, ran through four editions. In 1868 he was returned to Parliament for Chelsea by a majority of nearly two to one ; and again in 1874 he headed the poll, notwithstanding an opposition of unexampled violence. Sprung from a race of journalists and litterateurs^ his pen is never long idle. Since the publication of ' ' Greater Britain ' ' he has found time to publish the "Fall of Prince Florestan of Monaco," and to edit, under the title " Papers of a Critic," his grandfather's .chief contributions to the pages of " The Athenaeum," which paper he owns and occasionally edits-. Since his former travels he has been ' ' round the world" a second time, his chief object being to ac- quaint himself with the state and prospects of Japan. He has visited every English-speaking corner of the globe, is thoroughly conversant with the condition of our Indian Empire, and is better acquainted with the language, literature, people, and government of Russia than any man in the House. 44 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. He is perhaps the first thoroughly competent English- mau who has ever seen and described the men, manners, and institutions of the United States as they reall}^ are, and not as they are wont to appear to the jaundiced eye of national jealousy and aristocratic aversion. The American Republic is substantial!}^ Sii' Charles's " Greater Britain," to which he foresees the hegemony of the English-speaking race is ultimately destined to fall. He believes in the possibility of one omnipotent, all-embracing federation of English-speaking men, of which the United States shall at once supply both the nucleus and the model. In the study of foreign affairs he has taken nothing for granted. Every thing he has examined on the spot and verified with his own eyes. As Under-Secre- tary for Foreign Aff'airs, and mouthpiece of the Govern- ment in that department of state in the House of Com- mons, Sir Charles inspires universal confidence. Like Mr. Gladstone, he is an untiring toiler, and from the first he has worked on the most profitable lines. Whether as law-student, traveller, author, jour- nalist, or politician, whatever he has done, he has done faithfully and well. Ever}^ recess he shuns delights, and spends laborious holidays at his romantic pro- vincial retreat at La Sainte Campagne, near Toulon, in digesting materials for a magnum opus, " The His- tory of the Present Century." He is personally a total abstainer, though opposed to the Permissive Bill, and is in all things a pattern of method and regularity of habits. At Cambridge he was a finished oarsman. He is likewise a vigorous long-distance walker, a good marks- man, and a deft fencer. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE. 45 In nothing has he shown such marked improvement as in liis style of public speaking. Though twice pres- ident of the Union Debating Society at Cambridge, he was at first a most unimpressive speaker : I hesitate to use his own term, " lugubrious." But now it is not so. He is fluent, easy, and agreeable, — one of the best level business speakers in Parliament. As for the mat- ter, that has at all times been such as to redeem the worst faults of manner ; just a little too much of it at a time, perhaps, — more, at least, than can be well digested by a mass meeting even of Chelsea electors, — but not one word in bad taste, " nothing extenuated, nothing set down in malice." When he has been reviled, — and who ever was more villanously overwhelmed by a hurricane of abuse ? — he reviled not again. Like the soul of honor that he is, he has never stooped to personal invective. Under the severest provocation he has said nothing to wound the susceptibilities of the most sensitive. In this respect he has set an example to some of our foremost public men. Comes this extraordinary forbearance of grace or of nature? it may be asked. By nature, I should say. To him opposition from men or things is of exactly the same character. It is something to be overcome by patience and pressure in the line of the least resistance. In other words, the member for Chelsea is lacking in sympathy. He is fitted to be- come a great parliamentary leader rather than a popu- lar agitator. His political aims, it is true, are much the same as were those of passionate old Peter Went- worth, his ancestor ; but it would never for a moment occur to him to wish that the most impudent of royal begging messages should be incontinently buried in 46 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. hell. Indeed, if in insisting on some explanations being given with respect to the monstrous abuses of the civil list, and if in affirming his preference for a con- stitutional republic based on merit to a monarch}^, however limited, founded on birth, he had shown more anger and less reason, sneers would have been regarded as the only weapon necessary to employ against him. It was the very fact that he used arguments which every snob in England knew to be unanswerable that the royalist tempest — what I ma}^ call the ' ' white terror ' ' — was evoked. It may here be convenient to consider the repub- lican episode in his career. There can be no doubt that ro3^alty was alarmed, that its numerous hangers-on were alarmed, and that the privileged classes generally, whose own existence depends on the maintenance of the monarchical superstition as an article of the popular faith, were thoroughl}^ alarmed. "Kings most commonly," sa^^s Milton, "though strong in legions, are but weak at argument, as they who have ever been accustomed from their cradle to use their will only as their right hand, their reason always as their left. Whence, unexpectedly constrained to that kind of combat, they prove but weak and puny adversaries." The Eoj^alists made up for the weakness of their arguments by the weight of their brickbats. At Bolton, while Sir Charles was addressing a large audience admitted by ticket, the place of meeting was assailed by a furious mob of Ro3^alists, who succeeded in murdering one peaceable Radical, William Scofield, a working-man, and wounding several others. The magistrates and the police both scandalously failed in their duty on the occasion, and to this da}^ their con- duct has never been adequately explained. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE. 47 If the blood of an innocent man had been shed by republican hands, what a howl for vengeance would there not have been heard ! At Reading, the late Mr. George Odger, than whom a more able and upright politician never lived, was within an ace of meeting the fate of Scofield. The leading organ of the "party of order," "The Standard," threatened the representative of Chelsea with physical violence. " The attachment of English- men for the royal family," it said, "may take an unpleasantly practical form if Sir Charles Dilke should ever insult a party of gentlemen by repeating in their presence calumnies such as he was permitted to utter with impunity before the ' roughs ' of Newcastle." It is here worth putting on record the worst that Sir Charles did say in the famous address alluded to. The meeting was held in November, 1871 ;'Mr. Joseph Cowen in the chair. This was the head and front of his offending : ' ' There is a widespread belief that a republic here is only a matter of education and time. It is said that some day a commonwealth will be our form of government. Now, history and experience show that you cannot have a republic without you possess at the same time the republican virtues ; but you answer, Have we not public spirit ? have we not the practice of self-government? are not we gaining gen- eral education? Well, if you can show me a fair chance that a republic here will be free from the polit- ical corruption that hangs about a monarchy, I say for my part, — and I believe that the middle classes in general will say, — Let it come." The answer should have been. We Englishmen have not public spirit ; we have not the practice of self-gov- 48 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. eminent ; we do not possess the republican vii-tues of independence and self-respect, without which there can be no genuine republic. We love to deceive both our- selves and others. It is the "name" of liberty that we affect : the " thing " itself is unknown to us. Is it to be wondered at that Sir Charles Dilke, fresh from brighter countiies, like the United States, where self-government is a reality, should have misconstrued the reply of an oracle so ambiguous and untrustworthy ? But no harm has been done by his miscalculation, — rather much good. The country has been made to know that it has at least one public man of first-rate ability and dauntless courage, who is not afraid to rec- oncile administrative practice with the best political theory whenever the people are prepared to abandon their unworthy idols, and to look the facts of history, experience, and common sense straight in the face. And, as for Sir Charles, he is an imperturbable, good- natured man, who doubtless considers that he took ample revenge on his unscrupulous calumniators when he published anonymously his clever brochure^ the " Fall of Prince Florestan of Monaco." Several lead- ing ToTj journals advised him to lay the lessons taught by the Radical Prince of Monaco to heart. How he must have chuckled ! It is only natures of the largest and healthiest mould that are thus capable of looking amusedly at the comical aspect of their own doings. In the domain of current domestic legislation, Sir Charles has played no ununportant part. It is to him we owe the popular constitution of our school boards, it having been Mr. Forster's original intention to intrust the duties .of school management to committees of boards of guardians. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE. 49 His also was the clause wMch conferred the munici- pal franchise on female ratepayers. He procured for the working-men of London a most desirable boon in the extension of the hours of polling ; and in ever}?- thing appertaining to the better representation of the people in Parliament he has taken a leading part. On the all- important question of the redistribution of political power in particular, he is, it is not too much to say, the greatest authority in the House. Like John Bright, he loves the big constituencies, and would, as far as possi- ble, make them all numerically equal. He is not ordinarily an amusing speaker ; but one of his speeches on the unreformed corporations will rank among the wittiest delivered by smj member since he entered the House. His collected speeches on elec- toral reform, the civil list, free trade, free land, and free schools, are a ready repertory of trustworthy facts, which ought to be in the hands of every re- former. With respect to the Zulu war, in the session of 1879, he was intrusted with the lead in opposition to the Government polic}^, — a sufficient indication of the respect entertained for his judgment in critical issues. In every department he is a friend of economy. In Parliament he is ever vigilant, and never fussy. When he speaks, it is always to contribute some new fact or unused argument to the debate ; and he never fails to catch the ear of the House, which is never insen- sible to straightforwardness, manly bearing, and unre- mitting attention to parliamentary duty. He is well versed in the forms of the House. Above all, he has honesty and excellent common sense to guide his steps aright. 50 EMINENT LIBEKALS IN PARLIAMENT. If, with all these endowments, he should fail in the not distant future to achieve great things for his coun- try, both I and many other observant sympathizers, " whose judgment cries in the top of mine," will feel just cause for sore disappointment. V. JOSEPH COWEN. ** Like one of the simple great ones, Gone for ever and ever by." I SHALL never forget one delightful forenoon I spent with Mr. Cowen since his entrance into Parliament. Previous to his coming to St. Stephen's, he had been well known to me by reputation, but by- reputation only. As the disciple whom Mazzini, the prophet and high priest of modern democracy, loved, I was curious to know what manner of man the great Northumbrian Radical really was. I arrived early, and found him in his library in the act of finishing his morning corre- spondence. I had just time to glance at his books before engaging with him in conversation. A man may be known by his books as by the company he keeps. They were almost exclusively composed of the mo^t recent productions of the democratic press, such as one would expect to find on the shelves of an intel- ligent artisan politician rather than on those of the possessor of a residence in Onslow Square. And the appearance of Mr. Cowen himself was exactly in keep- ing. His features bore no trace whatever of having been imported "at the Conquest." There he sat, a genuine workman from Tyneside, the descendant of 51 52 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PAKLIAMENT. generations of honest toilers, — plain and homely to a degree. Nothing but the lofty dome of brow betrayed the mental superiority of the man ; and, when subse- quently he put on the never-failing slouched hat, even that not infallible sign of greatness was remorselessly hidden away. Presently we began to talk as freely as if we had been acquainted for years. The villanous Northum- brian intonation was at first somewhat of an impedi- ment in my way. I have never learned Northumbrian, and, being a fair linguist, did not like to acknowledge my ignorance. One or two proper names he was good enough to spell for me. As, however, he gradually became more animated, his English became better and better, until at last he was one of the most articulate-speaking of Englishmen I had ever met. It was a lovely day ; and we decided on a stroll in the direction, as it turned out, of the modest house where Mazzini conspired against the crowned heads of Europe for so many years. On the way he spoke of that gifted friend of his youth and manhood, — the greatest man, Mr. Cowen thinks, and I am half in- clined to accept his estimate, that Europe has produced for centuries ; of Garibaldi and Orsini, of Kossuth, of Herzen and Bakounin, of Ledru Eollin and Louis Blanc, but, above all, of the Polish revolutionary lead- ers, Worcell, Darasz, Mieroslawski, Dombrowski, and Langiewicz. I inquired why, of all the continental exiles, he appeared to have been most drawn towards the Poles. He replied with profound feeling, "Because they seemed the most forlorn." There was no getting over JOSEPH CO WEN. 53 this answer, which throws a flood of light on the de- plorable action which Mr. Cowen has seen fit to take with regard to the Eastern question. For years his house at Blaydon Burn, near New- castle, had been an asylum for the victims of Russian tyranny. For years he had spent two-thkds of an ample income in keeping alive the patriotism of the Polish insurgents and other enemies of the White Tsar. To him Poland was and is a land of heroes and mar- tyrs ; Russia every thing that is the reverse. So thor- oughly indentified was Mr. Cowen with the anti-Russian sentiments of the Polish and Hungarian exiles, that orders were issued by all the despotic powers of Eu- rope — by Russia, Prussia, France, Spain, and Italy — for his arrest should he venture to set foot on their soil. Not able to catch the son, the police twice arrested his father, the late Sir Joseph Cowen, in his stead. His home at Blaydon Burn was incessantly watched by the spies of continental governments. When Cowen and Mazzini met, it was neither in Newcastle nor London, but generally in some quiet mid- way town or village, where they could not readily be subjected to espionage. The despots of the continent had, in point of fact, very good reason to regard Mr. Cowen as a dangerous personage. He was not merely a wealthy Englishman who gave of his substance freely in order that the axe might be laid by others to the root of the upas-tree of their authority, but one who did not scruple, when occasion offered, to levy war against the oppressors, so to speak, on his own ac- count. During the last rising in Poland he fitted out, at his 64 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAIVIENT. own charges, a vessel, which it was intended should hoist the Polish flag, and, like another "Alabama," sweep Russian commerce off the seas. She escaped from the Tyne without much difflcult}^ and reached Barcelona in safety. Her next destination was the coast of the little island of Elba, where a Polish commo- dore of experience, who had come all the wa}'' from the Russian naval station at Kamtchatka, — on French leave, of course, — was waiting with a full complement of marines to take possession in the name of the Pro- visional Government at Warsaw. They waited in vain. The drunken ravings and cowardice of the English crew brought about the seizure and confiscation of the ves- sel by the Spanish authorities almost in spite of them- selves. The chief naval authority of the port was at that time a brother of General Prim, himself a revo- lutionary. He winked hard ; and it so happened, curi- ously enough, that the only Spanish man-of-war availa- ble for seizing her was under the command of an Englishman, formerty a Newcastle engineer, who, on being sent to inspect the ship and her papers, winked harder still. With reasonable promptitude she might have got clear off, but did not, to the great grief of Mr. Cowen and the Provisional Government of Poland. The above is but one out of scores of daring enter- prises with a similar object in which Mr. Cowen has been engaged. Once he had a wonderful box con- structed, and well lined with notes suitable for issue by the Secret Conmaittee of Government over which Langiewicz presided. It was given in charge to a faithful messenger, with instructions to seek the head- quarters of the insurgents by a somewhat devious route. No sooner did he set foot on the continent, JOSEPH COWEN. 55 however, than he was seized by the police and put in prison. He was never tried, and never told his offence ; but the contents of the well-filled purse with which he had started from England were weekly disbursed to pay his board for the space of a whole year. At the end of that time he was put on board a ship bound for London, and landed penniless. Regarding the adventures, misadventures, and hair- breadth escapes of proscribed Poles, Italians, and Hun- garians, Mr. Cowen has many a curious and pathetic tale to tell. He was the chief banker and general agent in this country of the European revolutionaries. Nearly all their more important correspondence passed through his hands on its way to and from the continent ; and for long his commanding position as a British manufac- turer and shipowner, doing business in all parts of Eu- rope, effectually baffled the most vigilant espionage of the despotic powers. Having seen the abode of the great Italian, we turned into Hyde Park, and under the shadow of Albert the Gilt conversed of current politics and Radical living politicians. He was very candid, and I remarked with interest how similar were his judgments of men and things to those which I could readily suppose Mazzini would have formed in similar circumstances. One able member of Parliament was an atheist to the backbone ; and wh}^ such a one should be a Radical rather than a Tory, or why, indeed, being a wealthy man, he should care to trouble himself about politics at all, was a irjs- terytothe member for Newcastle. Another was lack- ing in any thing lil^e genuine sympathy for the people, and had fallen into the abyss of wire-pulling and politi- cal beadledom. All unconsciously he had become as 56 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. earnestly eloquent as if he were addressing a considera- ble audience, his usually homely features admirably mirroring the thoughts which rose spontaneously to his lips. Mr. Cowen's abhorrence of atheistic or unbelieving politicians was to me all the more impressive, that his own mind was evidently not untinged by sadness, — had not altogether escaped the influence of that great de- spair with respect to the supernatural which has in our day overtaken the bravest and the best. On taking leave of Mr. Cowen, I had no hesitation in concluding that I had never met a more singular combi- nation of simplicity of manner, business-like shrewd- ness, intellectual vigor, comprehensive sjrmpathy, and powerful imagination. These qualities appear to me to mingle in disproportionate measure ; but their co-exist- ence in his mind affords a clew to the surprising splen- dor of his imagery, which, if the House had had a few more samples of it, might almost justify me in ranking him next to Bright as a master of senatorial eloquence. If great poets are born, not made, so lUiewise are great orators ; and sure enough Mr. Cowen is one of the few realty great orators in the House. His style is nei- ther that of Bright, Gladstone, nor Beaconsfield. His best periods have an antique, Roman-lU^e stateliness, which is to me peculiar^ attractive. In their majestic roll they are more like those of the late Ledru RoUin than of any modern speaker. Mr. Cowen was born at Blaj^don Burn, near New- castle, in the month of July, 1831. His father. Sir Joseph Cowen, knight, who preceded him in the repre- sentation of Newcastle, was originally a working black- smith. He was of an inventive turn of mind ; and, when JOSEPH COWEN. 57 the discovery of gas began to be utilized, lie hit on sev- eral ingenious contrivances for facilitating its manufac- ture. Before long- he was a wealthy man, and one of the most respected and public-spirited citizens of New- castle. It is to his untiring exertions and foresight that Newcastle in a great measure owes its mercantile pros- perity. He found the Tyne a shallow stream, up which vessels of the smallest draught could with difficulty sail. He left it so deepened that it is now one of the most navigable of rivers. The merit of this great achieve- ment was publicly recognized by Mr. Gladstone, who, in consequence, had him dubbed knight, — a distinction, however, to which he was indifferent. From the begin- ning to the end of his career he was a Radical reformer. The Cowens are a somewhat numerous family, and have been settled in and around Blaydon Burn for about three centuries. They came originally from Lin- disfarne, or Holy Isle, of which the stock had been denizens from a remote antiquity. The Cowens were among the first genuine English co-operators on record, — co-operators in production as well as in distribution. They were for generations members of a singular society, instituted about the middle of the seventeenth century by an enterprising manufacturer, Crowley — the " Sir John Anvil " of Addison's " Spectator," — whose members worshipped in common, fed in common, and shared equally in the common profits of their industry. This society was not disrupted till 1814, in the life- time of Mr. Cowen's grandfather. Since then, it may be worth remarking, co-operation has again, under Mr. Cowen's fostering care, taken a firm hold on BlajTlon- on-Tyne. Though Blaydon is a mere village, Mr. Holyoake, in his " History of Co-operation," declares .58 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT, that next to Rochdale it has the most remarkable store in England. It has grown from a house to a street. The library contains upwards of fifteen hundred vol- umes of new books. The profits for 1876 amounted to eighty-five thousand dollars. The society has an education fund of two thousand dollars per annum. When the Co-operative Congress met at Newcastle in 1873, Mr. Cowen, not then M.P., was elected president, and delivered an address the remembrance of which still lives in co-operative circles. Mr. Cowen' s earl}^ education was received at a good local school, whence he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, which then, by reason of the renown of its professors, enjoyed something lU^e European fame. Russell, Palmerston, Lansdowne, had been there before him. Christopher North still lectured, and Lord Macaulay represented the city in Parliament. With no professional object in view, young Cowen sought simply culture ; and that he found to more purpose, perhaps, than it would have been possible for him to do elsewhere. He studied what subjects he pleased, preferring the time-honored classics ; became president of the University Debating Society ; and entered hearti- ly into the political and social life of the citizens. His chief extra-mural instructor was the Rev. Dr. John Ritchie, — a really great man in a small community. Though a preacher, and a Scottish preacher too, he was above sophistry, an intrepid Radical, and a first- rate platform speaker. About this time, also, Mr. Cowen, while yet an Edin- burgh student, made the acquaintance of Mazzini, who subsequently exercised over him an influence so remark- able. 'Young as he was, Mr. Cowen had entered an JOSEPH COWEN. 59 indignant public protest against the infamous and, till it was proved, incredible violation of the illustrious exile's letters by Sir James Graham and the post-office officials. Mazzini was interested in his youthful de- fender, thanked him by letter, and to Mr. Cowen were addressed the dying patriot's last written words. On returning to Blaydon, Mr. Cowen engaged actively in his father's business of fire-proof brick and retort manufacture, the firm normally employing as many as a thousand hands. At the Bla^^don works there have been no strikes, for the very good reason that Mr. Cowen, though an employer of labor, has always been regarded as an intelligent exponent of trades-union views, — in short, as a trusted trades-union leader. His support of the nine-hours movement was from first to last of a most decided character, and such as every- where to evoke the warmest feelings of gratitude among workmen. His persistent efforts, too, to found, im- prove, and federate mechanics' institutes all over the populous Tyneside district ought not to be forgotten. For many years he personally discharged the duties of a teacher in one of these institutions, which owe so much of ^their success to his enthusiasm and talent as organizing secretary. Nor has Mr. Cowen been less active in the domain of pure politics, whether local or imperial. He is now president of the Northern Reform League, — an organization which has been in existence in one form or another for more than twenty j^ears. He was pres- ent at its inception, and acted as its first treasurer. In the Reform demonstrations of 1867 the league played an important part, calling out an array of supporters which the metropolis itself could hardly match. 60 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. To add to all these manifold activities, Mr. Cowen has for twenty years been the proprietor and polit- ical director of " The Newcastle Chronicle," one of the most influential journals in provincial England. It has writers, who, for range of political knowledge and absolute fidelity to principle, have no superiors in or out of London. The result was seen at the general election of 1874. When the Conservative re-action ran high everywhere else, the Northumbrian Liberals smote their Tory opponents hip and thigh all along the line. Twelve Liberals to one Tory were the Durham district returns. In 1852 appeared "The English Republic" and "The Northern Tribune," republican prints, pitched in a very lofty key ; and to these Mr. Cowen con- tributed largely in prose, verse, and, what was even more essential, money. In those days Mr. Cowen was in fact, I presume, what he now is only in theory^ a stanch republican. With regard to Mr. Cowen' s parliamentary career, it is hard to speak with impartiality. His fervid Jingoism has affected with profound regret his warmest admirers, myself among the rest. There have not even been wanting some base enough to attribute his support of the wicked and disastrous foreign policy of the Beaconsfield government to motives other than disinter- ested. The true explanation of his aberration is quite otherwise. He is still a Hungarian, a Polish insur- gent. Nothing is changed. Russia is his mortal foe. Like a true Bourbon, he has neither learned nor for- gotten. Any stick is good enough to beat the Musco- vite dog with. He advocated the Crimean war in the hope that something might ' ' turn up ' ' for his exiled JOSEPH COWEN. 61 clients. Nothing came of it ; but a fig for experience ! Mr. Cowen is, like the great author and finisher of his faith, Mazzini, essentially an idealist, a poet with intense s^^npathy and vivid imagination. His sj^mpa- thy and imagination have temporarily overwhelmed his reason : . that is all, — nothing better, nothing worse. If I were to have the making of two perfect Eadical politicians, I should mix Dilke and Cowen together. The one is two-thirds reason and one-third imagination ; the other, two-thirds imagination and one-third reason. Give C. one-third of D.'s reason, and D. one-third of C.'s sympathetic fancy, and then you would have a correct balance of powers. Bright' s is the only powerful intellect in the House in which reason and imagination are blended in just and equal proportions, the imagination acting as a stimulus to the reason, but never as a controlling power. I will illustrate what I mean by a passage from Mr. Cowen' s magnificently unwise Jingo speech in the House on the occasion of the supposed Russian ad- vance on Constantinople : "I ask English Liberals if they have ever seriously considered the political conse- quences of an imperial despotism bestriding Europe, — reaching, indeed, from the waters of the Neva to those of the Amoor, — of the head of the Greek Church, the Eastern Pope, the master of many legions, having one foot on the Baltic, planting another on the Bosphorus. When icebergs float into southern latitudes, they freeze the air for miles around. Will not this political ice- berg, when it descends upon the genial shores of the Mediterranean, wither the young shoots of libert}?^ that are springing up between the crevices of the worn-out fabrics of despotism ? " Now, all this is very striking, 62 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. — nay, appalling; but John Briglit, I am sure, know- ing that icebergs have a habit of melting long before they reach the shores of the Mediterranean, would never have been guilty of bringing any berg of his so far south. As it is, the political iceberg from the north has liberated Bulgaria, while that from the south, pushed on by English Jingoes, has ineffectually striven to roll its icy mass over the young shoots of Roumelian liberty. Apart, however, from this deplorable Jingo infatua- tion, Mr. Cowen's parliamentary achievements have in no way belied the high hopes that his friends reposed in his great abilities and immense experience. His speeches on the Friendly Societies Bill, on the County Suffrage Bill, on Mr. PlimsoU's bill, on the County Courts Bill, the Licensing Boards BUI, and, above all, on the Royal Titles BUI, have given evidence of a varied capacity for legislative work which has not been equalled by any member of his own? standing in the House. During the parliamentary contest in Newcastle, oc- casioned by the death of his father, Mr. Cowen de- livered a series of speeches on political questions and public policy which justly arrested national attention. They have been collected, and will abundantly repay perusal. They are, without exception, as fine elec- tioneering speeches as I ever read, and, if he had never opened his lips again, would have entitled him to no mean place among English orators and statesmen. On one point only did he show a disposition to lower the Radical flag, — to be unfaithful to himself and his glorious antecedents. He was repeatedly taxed with being a republican ; and his explanation was, that he JOSEPH CO WEN. 63 held the republican form of government to be in theory the highest known to man, but that in practice he was devoted to the British monarchy. Now, to my mind, this is wholly illogical, and not altogether honest. Having discovered a true or best theory, it is the duty of every honest man to act on it, whether it be in the domain of politics or mathematics. If there is a better way, we have no right to fold our hands and content ourselves with the worse. " Ye cannot serve God and Manunon." To the sincere mind all compromise in such circumstances is impossible. It will not do to say, " Well, no doubt in theory the worship of God is the correct thing ; but for all practical purposes the ser- vice of Mammon is preferable." Least of all living English politicians could I have conceived of Mr. Jo- seph Cowen appearing on a public platform with such an impotent formula in his mouth. In the case of others ' ' thrift might follow fawning ; ' ' but with Mr. Cowen it was not, and is not so. That he should not have been able to say to this contemptible spirit of subterfuge, " Get thee behind me, Satan," is to me a mystery even unto this day. VI. SIR WILFRID LAWSOK ** And though that he was witty he was wise, And of his port as meke as is a mayde: He never yet no vilanie ne sayde In alle his lif , unto no manere wight — He was a veray parflt gentil knight." I BELIEVE with all sound Christian people, our mendicant archbishops and bishops included, that it is as impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. My experience has likewise agreed with that of the pagan Fronto, who, Marcus Antoninus says, told him ' ' that the so-called high-born are for the most part heartless." But, as is generally admitted, there are exceptions to all rules, and Sir Wilfrid Lawson is an exceptional man. He is a baronet, and so wealthy that I am almost afraid to particularize with regard to his income. Having never suffered the least inconvenience from the deceitfulness of riches myself, I prefer to speak of matter more within the scope of my knowledge. With respect to Sir Wilfrid Lawson, however, I am sure of two things. In spite of his baronetcy he is a ' ' joll}^ good fellow ; ' ' and in spite of his riches he may reasonabl}^ hope to enter in at the celestial gates, unless they are barred by John Calvin himself, — a contingenc}^ which there is less and less reason to apprehend. 64 SIR WILFRID LAWSON. 65 In any case there would be very little good of send- ing him to "the other place." Like the jovial monk of the old church legend, he would almost certainly, if ordered downstairs, make a little heaven of mirth in his own more immediate neighborhood, and so disturb general arrangements that it would speedily be found necessary to have him removed to more comfortable quarters. For not only is he witty in himself, but the cause that wit is in other men. It is impossible to con- verse with him for five minutes running without becom- ing in some measure infected by his irresistible spirit of "gay wisdom," as Earl Beaconsfield has felicitously ^ designated his peculiar humor. It is a total mistake to suppose that Sir yVilfrid's jokes are mere closet reproductions. He is even more witt}'^ in private than in public ; and you never meet him that he has not the air of a man who has just experi- enced 'some extraordinary piece of good luck, in which you are called upon, if you are not an absolute churl, to participate. He is brimful and running over with sprightly sallies and clever epigTams. Indeed, they seem to come as nataralty to him as dulness to most of us. And his wit is of the best kind. It is never used to wound the feelings of any, but to laugh men out of their follies, pretences, and insincerities. His keenest shafts are never envenomed, and are never sped except with a moral purpose. Were it otherwise, he might be classed with the humorous light horsemen of debate, — of whom Mr. Bernal Osborne was a favorite specimen, — in which case he would, of course, be entitled to no place in this series. As it is, I believe Sir Wilfrid Lawson to be one of the most earnest and trustworthy Radicals in the House 66 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. of Connnons. Some there are, doubtless, who hold that true moral earnestness is never to be found clothed in quasi-comical attire, — that facetiousness and Eadi- cahsm are incompatible. My reply is, that the honorable member for Carlisle finds genial satire to be by far the most effective weapon in his intellectual armorj", and that, like a wise man, he puts his special talent to the best use he can. In skilful hands the scimitar of Sal- adin will strike home as surely as the battle-axe of King Richard. After some consideration of the matter, I have ar- rived at the conclusion that great Radicals, like great poets, are born, not made. They inherit, rather than acquire, the qualities of intellect and heart which enable them to point the path of human progress. Radicalism is a rare and generous fruit, which it takes generations to grow in any thing like perfection. . Sir Wilfrid's grandfather — jovial old Mr. Wybergh — was the counterpart of his grandson in wit and in politics, except that he required the aid of something stronger than either tea or cold water in order to keep in good form. An obituary notice of him, not long since unearthed by Mr. George Augustus Sala, credits him with an ' ' uninterrupted gaiete de coeur, which not even pain or sickness had power to subdue." When Lord Brougham made his historic descent on Cumber- land in the Liberal interest, the old gentleman was one of his most active supporters, and much harm did he do to the Tories by the inimitable raillery with which he assailed them. On one occasion, observing that the Conservative side of the hustings was crowded with clerg^nnen, he stretched out his hand towards them, and prefaced a spirited onslaught with the text, " The Lord SIR WILFEID LAWSON. 67 gave the word, and great was the company of the preachers." He was not a Lawson at all, but the representa- tive of an old Yorkshire family who had become connected with the county of Cumberland through marriage with Miss Hartley, whose sister was the wife of the then owner of Br ay ton. Old Wilfrid Lawson, having no descendants, left his estates and name to his godson and nephew by affinity, — the father of the present baronet. He — the late Sir Wilfrid — married a Miss Graham of Netherby, the sister of Sir James Graham, the well-known Minister of state, who was consequently the member for Carlisle's uncle. Sir Wilfrid, senior, was a stanch Liberal, who did not permit family connections to hamper him in the dis- charge of his public duties. When Sir James Graham vacillated in his allegiance to Liberalism, his brother-in- law, who was universally esteemed for his many virtues, set an example to the constituency of fidelity to princi- ple by being among the first to record his vote against him. The poll was then open and of two days' dura- tion, and the consequence was that the Minister lost his seat. On repentance only was he permitted to re- sume it. The witty champion of the Permissive Bill was born in the year 1829 at Brayton Hall, Aspatria, Cumber- land. He succeeded to the family estates and the baronetcy — which has existed, with a break, for about two centuries — on the death of his father in 1867. His education was, for a youth of his social status, of a very limited kind. He was never either at a public school or at college ; and, if you ask him what instruc- tion he received, he replies, with evident satisfaction. 68 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. that he never had any. His father was a very " Low " or Evangelical Churchman, — a teetotaler, too, for many years, — who dreaded the contaminating influences of university life on his boys more than he coveted for them academic distinctions. What happened, accord- ingly, I cannot better describe than in the words of Sir Wilfrid' s brother William, the author of ' ' Ten Years of Gentleman Farming," a singularly candid and inter- esting book. "I had the advantage," he saj^s, "of being the son of parents who were more anxious that their children should be happy and good than that they should be learned or great. My father had my educa- tion conducted — in a religious manner — at home, where I acquired a little Latin and Greek, and a few other things ; and where, as is the case with many other youths, any thing in the shape of lessons was not attractive to me, and I learned as little as possible. I had, before I was eighteen, travelled several times on the continent of Europe, and had visited Egypt and Palestine ; but circumstances never brought me in con- tact with rich or great people, and I had not much of wliat is called ' knowledge of the world ; ' nor, as I alwa3^s had the prospect of enough wealth to enable me to live without working, did I form what are called ' business habits.' Trained as a shooter of animals, a hunter of Cumberland beasts with hounds, and a trapper of vermin, I found myself in the spring of 1861, in my twentj^-fifth year, without an occupation, without many acquaintances, — except among the poor, whom I had not learned to despise because they spoke bad grammar, and took their coats off to work, — and without the reputation of having been successful in any undertaking except that of the mastership and huntsmanship of my brother' s foxhounds . ' ' SIE WILFEID LAWSON. 69 As a consequence of this sort of training, Sir Wilfrid Lawson is almost entirely devoid of personal ambition. Goodness, not greatness, is the object at which he aims. He is rich ; but his sympathies with the poor are as fresh and keen as if he were one of them. He has not been deluded b}^ the deceitfulness of riches, nor is •■ ' rank ' ' to him other than the poor ' ' guinea stamp ' ' in comparison with the pure gold of genuine manhood. I know no one in any station of life who seems to me to realize more fully that " Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood." For fifteen or sixteen years he hdlfe been a total abstainer, simply from a sense of duty towards his fellows, and not from any personal or physical antipathy to stimu- lants. While the world standeth, he will do nothing to cause his brother to offend ; nay, more, he will do his utmost to remove stumbling-blocks from his brother's path. In so acting, he may be right or he may be wrong ; but at all events the motive is eminently respectable. In 1859, in his father's lifetime, he entered Parlia- ment as member for Carlisle, and found a more useful and honorable occupation than that of " a hunter of Cumberland beasts with hounds." In March, 1864, he first brought in a bill, since known as the Permissive Bill, " to enable owners, and occupiers of property in certain districts to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors within such districts." He lost his seat in con- sequence, and from 1865 to 1868 he was out of Parlia- ment. Then the tide turned ; and the cathedral city reversed its verdict, many publicans and sinners doubt- less repenting them of the evil they had done. 70 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Like most places blessed with a dean and chapter, the Carlisle electors are in truth an^^ thing but a model constituency. It is but likely that an obnoxious ex- mayor of the cit}' petitioned against the return of two municipal councillors on the ground of briber}^ and treating, and had them duly unseated, the joke of the affau' being that among the more systematic treaters figured some of the most active members of Su' Wil- frid' s committee. Altogether the trial revealed a state of social habits and political practices so reprehensible, that one can onl}^ be thankful that so questionable a constituenc}^ should elect to be represented in Parlia- ment b}^ so unquestionable a member as Sir Wilfrid Lawson. It is one of the advantages of virtue that vice is alwaj^s compelled to paj^ it a certain unwilling homage. It remains to speak of Sir Wilfrid' s legislative career, and of certain conceptions of the common weal with which his name has become indissolubl}^ associated in the public mind. Two interests of transcendent impor- tance — one social, the other political — he has made peculiarh'^ his own; viz., those of temperance and peace. He is the sworn foe of publicans and soldiers. He regards both as Jiostes humani generis^ whom it is the dut}^ of all good citizens to unite to extupate. In place of strong di'ink he offers us cold water, and in place of war a court of arbitration. Was there ever such a visionary? Whj^, since the dawn of human his- toij till now, these are the twin Molochs to which count- less generations have sacrificed their first-born. Who are we that we should depart from the wisdom of our ancestors ? Did not the Son of man himself come eat- ing and drinking? Are not the princes and poten- SIR WILFEID LAWSON. 71 tates of the earth — our "sovereigns and statesmen" — they who set armies in motion? And do not all manner of priests, whether Protestant or Romanist, fer- vently thanli God when the bloody work has been effectual^ accomplished ? David going out with sling and stone against Goliath of Gath did not require to possess one-twentieth part of the sublime faith of him who undertakes to rout a combined array of publicans and Jingoes. A wide survey of history seems to show that the essential habits of individuals and of nations are inerad- icable. The asceticism of the Commonwealth was followed by the unbridled license of the Restoration ; the austere vu'tues of the Roman Republic by the un- limited vices of the Empire. Human nature is so im- perfect that there is an undoubted danger in being " righteous overmuch." What, then, is the true motto of the temperance reformer ? It is to be found in the words of Goethe, " Without haste and without rest.'' The drinking habits of the people must be eradicated gradually, one branch of the upas tree being lopped off here, and another there, till at last the time may come when it will be safe to strike at the trunk itself. I do not for a moment mean to affirm that Sii' Wilfrid Lawson is so ignorant of human nature as to be likely to dash his head incontinently against it ; but he has many intemperate^ temperate followers who habitually do so, to the great detriment of the cause which they and all well-intentioned citizens have at heart. Enthu- siastic temperance reformers are so apt to underestimate the warping influence of social customs and of early acquired habits, even on the healthiest consciences. I, for example, through force of association, am not an 72 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. abstainer, though I often feel that it would be right I should be so ; yet I am Pharisee enough to thank Heaven as often as opportunity offers, that I am not like that inhuman ' ' hunter of Cumberland beasts with hounds," Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bart., the apostle of temperance, whose devotion to the public weal and domestic purity of life I so greatl37" admire. I would rather get hopelessly di^unk every day in the week than even for once " Blend my pleasure or my pride With sorrow of the meanest thing that lives." Howbeit, had I been born a fox-hunting squire like the baronet of Brayton, there are ten chances to one that I should have been as arrant a Nimrod as he. "That monster custom, which all sense doth eat of habit's devil," is too much for us all, if not in one particular, then in another. Lilve all friends of temperance who aim at possible reforms, I rejoice that Su' Wilfrid, during the session of 1879, saw fit to substitute "Local Option" for the Permissive Bill. The latter had a detestable plebisci- tary flavor about it which made it stink in the nostrils of every man who believes that representative institu- tions afford the safest guaranties at once for liberty- of the citizen and efficiency of administration. From this objection Local Option is free, and a flag is now un- furled around which may rally every one who is not the blind partisan of a " trade ' ' whifch openty boasts of prefeiTing its own small and not over-creditable "in,- terest" to ever^^ consideration of national welfare. For years the publicans have openly identified them- selves with every re-actionary " cry," and they will SIR WILFRID LAWSON. 73 have themselves to blame if at last they find themselves at deadly feud with the whole Liberal party. It is per- fectly^ intolerable that such a body of licensed monopo- lists should be permitted longer to make and unmake governments. To this conclusion has Sir Wilfrid Lawson' s persistent efforts brought us ; and who shall say it is not a long way ? With regard to Sir Wilfrid's enlightened advocacy of peace principles, no exception whatever need be taken. He is not, so far as I know, a " peace-at-any- price man ; ' ' but he is the very incarnation of the righteous spirit of anti-Jingoism. Historically Jingo- ism is a ghastly recrudescence of all the brutal, blood- thirsty passions of bygone generations. Sir Wilfrid was one of the few members of the House, who, at the moment that we seemed on the very brink of commit- ting the incalculable folly and unforgivable crime of rushing into a second Crimean war, most clearly appre- hended the true character of the impending calamity, and courageousl}^ pointed it out to Parliament and the country. It is in such crises that true Radicals, genu- ine patriots, come to the surface. It is not every man who, when such tried friends of freedom and national rectitude as Mr. Joseph Cowen are found fervently preaching the immoral and parochial doctrine of ' ' my countr}^ right, or my countr}^ wrong," has the fidelit}^ to affirm, " I have a mightier countrj^ than you, and a larger interest to protect. The globe is my country, and its entire inhabitants are my countrymen. Eternal justice is the interest which I desire to see conserved." This was the spirit in which Sir Wilfrid spoke when nearly every one else feared to utter words of truth and soberness ; and his constancy ought not to be forgotten. 74 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. His cause, the cause of international arbitration, is a growing one. In spite of appearances, the day-dream of Mazzini will yet be realized. There will be a United States of Europe, as of America, and the sad Italian — "Who, rowing hard against the stream, Saw distant gates of Eden gleam, And did not dream it was a dream " — will be numbered among the world's greatest seers. Sir Wilfrid has likewise, in the matter of the royal grants, along with Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. P. A. Taylor, done all that one faithful representative could to rescue the people's hardly earned money from the devouring maw of useless princes and princesses. For the rest, the member from Carlisle, on subjects with which he is less familiar, alwaj'^s follows the best lead ; and his vote will never be found recorded among the ayes when it should be among the noes. He is not what can be called an orator ; but his stjde of speaking is admirably adapted to the matter, which is no less closely reasoned than wittily conceived. He is the readiest and perhaps the most pungent wiiter of satirical verses I ever met. If he were setting him- self to it, he could fill columns of "Punch" every week, to the great advantage of the proprietors. I subjoin a very recent specimen, consisting of a para- phrase of the ministerial reply to Mr. Samuelson's question regarding the language officially used in Cyprus : — "About Cyprus we scarce know what language to speak, Whether English, or Turkish, or Russian, or Greek ; There's only one language we can't speak, forsooth, — T\Tien Cyprus is mentioned we never speak truth." VII. HENRY FAWCETT. ** This is he who, felled by foes, Sprang harmless up, refreshed by blows." FOR twenty-one years the brightness of noonday has been to Henry Fawcett, " member for Hack- ney and Hindostan," as the blackness of midnight. As is well known, he has been stone blind during the whole period of his public life. The fact is a most painful one, which I allude to thus early, not for the purpose of exciting sympathy, but because it is impos- sible to estimate aright the magnitude of Mr. Fawcett' s achievements if the heaviness of the odds against which he has had to contend is not duly taken into account. There are always clever people read}^ to demonstrate that untoward calamities, which do not happen to themselves, are somehow blessings in dis- guise; Are 3^ou lamed for life? So much the better for you. Is there not thus effected an immense saving of shoe-leather? For the future you are independent of shoemakers. Are you deprived of sight? Good for you again ; for is it not a fact that the blind have a marvellous gift of groping their way in the dark ? Do not, for example, the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii testify that in their last agony the doomed inhabitants sought the aid of sightless guides to direct 75 76 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. their flight? Most true, there is generally some com- pensation for the heaviest misfortune ; but, it is, alas ! as a rule, far too small for the loss sustained. And such, no doubt, has been the experience of the eminent politician and economist, Hemy Fawcett. Bereft of sight, he has achieved much ; with sight, he would beyond question have achieved still more. For his is an exceedingly strong and healthy nature, as little prone to succumb to the enervating influences of prosperity as to the prostrating blows of adversity, — a true Samson Agonistes, whose locks, however closely shorn by unlucky chance, were bound to grow some day and somehow. His intellect is characterized by a vigor that is almost redundant, a tenacity of purpose that turns not back, and a personal courage curiously combined with caution, which it would be exceedingly difficult to match inside or outside of Parliament. Physically he is a picture of health and streng-th, one of the tallest men in the House, with long sinewy limbs and that peculiar poise about the shoulders suggestive of a leonine bound, which is generall}^ observable in persons of extraordinary intrepidity of character. As might be expected of one in such fine animal condition, Mr. Fawcett' s habitual mood is cheerful, even to mirth- fulness. He has escaped being a mere athlete by becoming a scholar ; and it is pretty certain, that, if he had not been a philosopher, he would have been a dem- agogue. He has strong natural affinities for the "un- washed" multitude. "March without the people," he would say with Ledru Rollin, "and 3^ou march into night : their instincts are a finger-pointing of Pi'ovi- dence, always turned towards real benefit." Men cast in such a big mould as Mr. Fawcett are HENRY FAWCETT. 77 almost inevitably democrats. The mere gaudium cer- taminis of politics is life for them. With culture and honesty of purpose such as the Cambridge professor possesses, robust, hearty natures of this stamp make the most trustworthy Radical politicians. They have what is so necessary for political life, "staying power." They do not despair of progress because for a time there is an ebb in the popular tide. They know that high-water mark will again be reached before long ; and, if they cannot do better, they are content to wait the event. Henry Fawcett, M.P., was born in the neighborhood of Salisbury in the year 1833. His father. Alderman Fawcett of Salisbur}^, was born at Kirby Lonsdale in 1793, and is now consequently in his eighty-sixth year ; and a haler old gentleman or more resolute Radi- cal it would be difficult to find in all England. He came to Wiltshire from Westmoreland in his j^outh, and, after engaging for some time in trade, betook him- self to the more congenial occupation of a gentleman farmer. His energy and intelligence as an agriculturist were conspicuous ; and, when the anti-corn law agita- tation was initiated, both were heartily enlisted on behalf of the league. Even yet he is an effective public speaker, and is a personal friend and warm admirer of Mr. Bright. Mr. Fawcett' s mother is no less remarkable. Like her husband, the alderman, she is a sort of semper eadem no less in mind than in body. She is a keen politician, — on the right side, of course ; and to her does Mr. Fawcett attribute, in no small measure, the strength of his own Radical convictions. Thus happy in his parentage, the member for Hack- ney was no less so in other essential particulars affect- 78 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. ing his childhood and youth. He was country bred, — and such a country, too, — imbibing no taste that was not equally good for head, heart, and body. Health, the essential condition of all great achievements, he stored up abundantly, while at the same time the dis- cipline of his mind was by no means neglected. His family were neither rich nor poor, but in that "just middle ' ' state which neither suggests to the youth that exertion is superfluous, nor inflicts on him the labor of acquirement as an unavoidable drudgery. Till his fourteenth year he attended a local school in the vicin- ity of Salisbury, whence he was removed to Queenwood College , Hants , where he remained for two years . There he had the good luck to benefit by the teaching of Pro- fessors Tyndall and Frankland. He next attended King's College, London; and in 1852 he was duly entered as a student of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. To Cambridge young Fawcett brought with him an un- quenchable love of all manner of rural pursuits, the frame of an athlete, the ringing voice of a hunts- man, and a tolerable store of learning. He did not neglect his opportunities at the university. He was an adept at boating, skating, riding, angling, walking, rackets, cricketing, and prize-taking. In 1856 he graduated seventh wrangler, and was subsequently elected a fellow of his college. From a very early age he had displayed premonitory symptoms of a more than ordinary devotion to politics. "While still an undergraduate, the writings of the late John Stuart Mill made a deep impression on his mind, and partl}^ determined him to seek an entrance into Parliament by the time-honored avenue of the bar. He according!}" commenced to ' ' keep terms ' ' at Lin- HENRY FAWCETT. 79 coin's Inn, where he would have been duly " called" had not the terrible calamity to which I have already alluded intervened. In the autumn .of 1858 he was one day out with a small part}^ engaged in partridge-shooting. A covey rose, and flew over a slight elevation, on the remote side of which Mr. Fawcett had momentaril}^ disap- peared. A companion unfortunately fired at the instant his head topped the rising ground ; and two pellets, with something like diabolic precision, neatly perforating the spectacles he was wearing, lodged them- selves in the retinae of the eyes, and " at one stride came the dark." From that da}' to this, " Those eyes, though clear, To outward view, of blemish or of spot, Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot; » Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear Of sun, or moon, or star throughout the year. Or man or woman." The pain of the accident was soon over, and it remained for Mr. Fawcett to consider how far so irreparable a mischance had necessarily affected his habits of life and future prospects. His invincible pluck did not desert him for a moment. Luckily his academic train- ing was completed ; and the benchers of Lincoln's Inn, on hearing the sad facts of the case, considerately offered to ' ' call ' ' him to the bar without further to- do. He might succeed as a counsel in spite of his blindness. Armed with logic, imperturbabilit}', and physical endurance such as his, one might undoubtedly accomplish much. Still, the drawbacks to a successful professional career were undeniable ; and Mr. Fawcett, wisety it seems to me, resolved not to encounter them, but to take a straighter cut to Parliament. 80 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Except in this particular, however, he determined that his blindness should make ' ' no difference ; ' ' and it is wonderful how little it has actually affected his habits and intentions. In the very heart of London he has contrived to secure a modest house with a garden one-tenth of a mile long, where he can promenade all alone to his heaii;' s content. He is never so happy as in the open air, and in his native Wiltshire his pedes- trian feats have become almost proverbial. His topo- graphical knowledge is so minute, that when his guides are at fault he not unfrequently directs them, — from earl}^ recollections of natural objects of course. He religiously frequents the university boat-race on the Thames, and is as heartH}^ interested in the proceed- ings of the day as the keenest-eyed observer. At Cambridge he is stroke-oar of the ' ' Ancient Mariners' ' ' boat; and a better stroke no crew of "mariners," ancient or modern, need desire. He is a good swim- mer. Yv^hen the fens are frozen, he takes to his skates as natiu"ally as a duck in the water takes to her webs. On such occasions his daughter, a graceful maiden of eleven winters, precedes her father, whistling pla^^full}^ He is likewise an ardent equestrian ; and, when in resi- dence at the university, seldom a da}^ elapses that the professor of political economy mnj not be seen, accompanied by some one of his numerous friends, cantering fearlessl}^ on Newmarket Heath or Across Flat. He occasionally even follows the hounds on a well-trained steed ; and so hard a rider is he said to be, that the livery-stable keepers have two tariffs, — one ordinary for those who have not been seen in the society of Professor Fawcett, and one extraordinary for those who have. Add to this that Mr. Fawcett is one of the HENEY FAWCETT. 81 best and most indefatigable amateur sabnon and trout fishers that can well be imagined, and it will readily be admitted that no gTeat ' ' difference ' ' has overtaken him with regard to outdoor recreations. But, if this is the case with respect to his personal habits, it is none the less true of his political inten- tions. He had hoped to enter the House as a success- ful counsel. As it was, he had to seek admission with- out the aid of that quasi-passport, without fame, and without what is even still more indispensable to a par- liamentary candidate, money, — not that he was bj?^ any means a poor man in the strict sense of the word. He has always been in comfortable circumstances, thanks to a provident father and his own exertions ; but rather in the sense that his wants have been few and legiti- mate, rather than that his income has been large. But he has had no superfluous thousands with which to oil the electoral wheels of any constituency. He has, however, invariably got over this difficulty with charac- teristic boldness and commendable candor. His first venture was with the electors of Southwark, in 1861, on the death of Sir Charles Napier, "Black Charlie." He did not know a soul in the borough, which he invaded with his secretary in a cab. They went straight to a printer's, and ordered a number of bills to be issued announcing the candidature of Henry Fawcett in the Eadical interest. He had previously spoken in public, — once in Exeter Hall on trades-union- ism, and once at Glasgow, at the Social Science Con- gress, with considerable acceptance ; but to all, except the merest fraction of the electors, his very name was unknown. And, worse and worse, when they came to meet him, he was blind ; and they soon had it from his 82 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. own lips that he was not rich, and would employ neither paid agent nor canvasser. Was there ever such a mad- man? Howbeit, the great ability and striking gallantry of the blind candidate soon began to tell with the con- stituency ; and there is no saying what might have hap- pened if Mr. Fawcett had not been over-persuaded to retire before the poll to avoid the charge of creating a division in the Liberal ranks. The experience he had gained, however, was of the most valuable kind. It went to prove, incredible as it may appear, that the portals of the ' ' rich man' s club ' ' at Westminster ma}^ be successfully forced at the cost of a few hundreds bj^ candidates at once poor and honest, if only they have the requisite faith and ability to make the venture. In 1863 Mr. Fawcett contested the borough of Cambridge on the same principles that he had found to answer so unexpectedly well in Southwark. He was defeated, but by an insignificant majority. He next contested Brighton in 1864, warmly espousing the cause of the North in its struggle with the slaveholding States of the American Union. Again he was unsuccessful ; but the following year, nothing daunted, he returned to the charge, and was elected by a large majority. In 1868 he was once more victorious ; but at the general election of 1874 — the annus mirabilis of Tor}^ re-action — both he and his Liberal colleagues in the representation were thi-own out, and replaced by Conservative nobodies. It was impossible, however, that such a man should long be excluded from the legislature. In two months' time a vacancy occurred in the representation of the vast metropolitan constituency of Hackney, and the eyes of the Liberal electors were at once turned with one accord towards Mr. Fawcett. He was elected HENRY FAWCETT. 83 without difficulty ; his great services to India, and his persistent opposition to all encroachments on Epping Forest and the New Forest, weighing heavily in his favor in the electoral balance. In Parliament Mr. Fawcett' s career has been one of no ordinary success. The blind Postmaster-General is recognized by all parties in the House as a speaker of decided mark, and his vote is always to be weighed as well as counted. He entered the legislature with a bod}^ of well-defined principles, and he has stuck to ther^i manfully through evil and through good report. His political conceptions are, in a great measure, those of his friend, the late Mr. John Stuart Mill. Unlilve Goethe, for example, it was the special function of that great and generous thinker to fertilize, not sterihze, the minds of other men. " And methinks the work is nobler, And a mark of greater might ; Better far to make a thinker Than to make a proselyte, — Nobler, for the sake of manhood. Better, for the cause of truth, Though your thinker be but rugged, And your proselyte is smooth." Mr. Fawcett' s ideas may be described as ultra-indi- vidualist in their tendency. He is an " administrative Nihilist," who believes that government is at best a necessary evil, and that the less the people .have of it, and the more they are left to seek thek own happiness in their own waj^, the better for them. In a country lilie Germany, with its autocracy on the one hand and its socialism on the other, he would be between the upper and the nether millstone, and would assuredly, 84 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. politically speaking, be speedily pounded to atoms. Here and in the United States the tendencj^ is decid- edly towards a more and more comprehensive individu- alism ; but it is very doubtful whether, in several in- stances, Mr. Fawcett has not given us somewhat "too much of a good thing." His opposition, for example, to Mr. Mundella's Factory Acts Amendment Bill, limiting the labor of women in factories to nine hours, was, to say the least, an attitude of doubtful wisdom. If women could protect themselves from oppressive toU, then, of course, Mr. Fawcett was right ; if the evidence was the other way, then he was wrong. The question is one of evidence solely ; and I for one am of opinion that Mr. Fawcett' s judgment was not in accordance with the evidence. He was willing — nay, has exerted himself manfully — to extend the benefits of factory legislation to the children of agiicultural laborers, on the ground that they could not help themselves. How much better off were the majority of those for whose benefit the Nine Hours Bill was introduced ? In reality hardly any. Again : with respect to the licensing question, Mr. Fawcett' s position has somewhat too much of the 7ion possumus about it. The problem is one, doubtless, of very great dififlculty ; and certainly the Permissive Bill was a crude attempt to deal with it. But to tell us that local option is as objectionable as the Permissive Bill, or even more so, is to affirm one of two things, — either that the present licensing sj^stem is perfect and inviolable, or that free trade in liquor is the true remedy for the monstrous evils of intemperance to which society is on all hands admitted to be a prey. If no remedy is the true remedy, then we ought to know it. HENEY FAWCETT. 85 These positions, however, which the member for Hackney defends with so much gallantr}^ and so little regard for his own popularity, are, generally speaking, vu-tues in excess, and cannot for a moment be permit- ted to weigh with any rational mind in judging of his career as a legislator. • Who can ever forget the evening when the blind member was the only representative of the people who saw his wsij into the lobby where Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. P. A. Taylor were tellers against the dowry to the Princess Louise ? What Londoner can ever be too grateful to him for preserving from imminent alienation the ancient rights of the people in Epping Forest ? If he had been member for Hackney at the time he was fighting so doggedly against the threatened enclosures, there might have been some suspicion that it was done merety to gratif}^ his constituents. As it was, not even that pardonable kind of self-interest can be laid to his charge. It will lU^ewise be long remembered by the skilled artisans of London with what courage and de- votion he acted as chairman of the late Mr. George Odger's committee in vSouthwark, when that republican artisan statesman was so near obtaining a well-merited seat in the legislature of his country. In theory Mr. Fawcett is himself a republican ; but his practice, alas ! has not always squared with his principle. But it is as the ' ' member for India ' ' that Mr. Fawcett' s name will be handed down to posterity. He has the largest constituency of any man in the world ; and his responsibilities have become as real as if they were im- posed by law. He is the true Minister for India, who- ever ma}^ fill the office. It is not to Lord Hartington, but to Henry Fawcett, that millions of Indians look for 86 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. redress of grievances, for words of sympathy and com- fort. The unique position which the member for Hack- ney holds in the hearts of the Indian people of itself makes Mr. Fawcett a power in the state. His presence at the India office would do more to secure India than twenty Afghan expeditions* This being so, the minis- terial wisdom of his appointment as Postmaster-General is by no means obvious. Mr. Fawcett has been at enormous pains to acquaint himself with the actual state of India ; and yet his first application to the subject was more like an accident than any thing else. He happened to oppose, as a gross and shameful injus- tice, the proposal of the Government of the day to saddle the Indian exchequer with the cost of a i3ar- ticular entertainment given to the Sultan of Turkey. Bit by bit his knowledge of the systematic manner in which India is ' ' exploited ' ' by England gTew ; and he at last resolved to subject the whole question of Indian finance and Indian administration to a patient and searching analysis. For years he worked four hours every day at the tangled skein as one would for an ex- amination ; and, when data failed him, he had influence enough to secure the appointment of a parliamentar}' committee on Indian finance, which sat for three whole sessions. At the end of the investigation he had as fuUy mastered the subject as it was possible to do. He has all the more important figures by heart, and can hurl them with crushing eflfect at the head of who- ever takes it upon him to unfold the Indian budget. It is one of the beneficial effects, if I msij so speak, of Mr. Fawcett' s blindness, that he speaks, and does not read, his figures to the House. These, through his youthful but smart secretary, he selects so appropri- HENRY FAWCETT. 87 ately and uses so sparingly that his financial statements are singularly lucid and unencumbered, each set of figures being the evidence of some solid argument. By dint of great perseverance, the country has at last, in some measure, been got to realize that India is as near as possible a sucked orange ; and that, if we do not retrace our steps and repent us of the evil we have been doing, the "brightest gem in her Majesty's diadem" will speedily be in pawn. At this moment an Indian bankruptcy stares us in the face, with all its terrible consequences. The limit of taxation has been reached, while the expenditure of the administration is unlimited as ever. To Mr. Fawcett, more than to any other man or half-dozen of men, do we owe our knowledge of the appalling condition of the "brightest gem," which, if one could imagine a gem being so ill-behaved, may explode any day with such violence as to shake to its 'foundations the throne not merely of the " Empress of India," but that of the Queen of England also. In this grave relation the voice of Henry Fawcett has been as the voice of one cr3dng in the wilderness. If the Brit- ish people have not made their paths straight, it has not been his fault. The Indian people are frequently taxed by Anglo-Indians with ingratitude. I may men- tion, by the way, that Mr. Fawcett has not found it so. Some time previous to the last general election, a gi^eat number of very poor Hindoos subscribed a sum sufficient to defray the cost of his return for Hackney. The fund was invested for the purpose in the names of Sir Charles Dilke, Professor Cowell, and Mr. Dacosta. Mr. Fawcett is not merely an excellent platform speaker and a trenchant parliamentary debater, but he is a political economist of no mean order. His ' ' Man- 88 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. ual of Political Economy" has run through five edi- tions, and ought to be in the hands of every j^outhful student of economic science. The " Economic Posi- tion of the British Laborer" is likewise a valuable con- tribution towards the elucidation of a painful subject ; while " Pauperism : its Causes and Remedies," though, in my opinion, mistaken in some of its conclusions, is 3^et an eminently suggestive book. In addition to the above works Mr. Fawcett pub- lished in June, 1879, " Free Trade and Protection," one entire edition of which was shipped for Australia and the United States, while another was taken up b}^ the Cobden Club. There is, besides, a goodly volume of his collected " Speeches," which will well repay perusal, and another of "Essays," the conjoint production of Mrs. Fawcett and himself. In conclusion, I cannot mention the name of this ac- complished lady without according her my small meed of praise. If it was passing sad that Mr. Fawcett should lose the use of his own eyes, it was passing for- tunate that he should obtain the aid of such another pair. When I think of this, it almost repents me that I should have spoken so slightingly of the compensation theorists in the first paragTaph of this sketch. VIII. JOSEPH CHAMBEKLAIN. * ' I am your mayor. Few things have failed to which I set my will ; I do my most and best." SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, in his days of rotundity, could recollect a time when he was slim enough to "creep through an alderman's thumb-ring." But there are aldermen and aldermen. The Cockney type, with which Shakespeare was, and we Londoners, alas ! are, but too familiar, is an ignorant, obese, pompous being, "who struts and stares and a' that," — a glutton and a wine-bibber, an inveterate jobber, and a Jingo. The subject of this sketch, Alderman Chamberlain, M.P., the renowned ex-Mayor of Birmingham, is the exact reverse of this picture. Of all living Englishmen he has deservedly earned the highest reputation as a municipal administrator, and he remains a pre-emi- nently courteous and cultivated gentleman, — a lover of books, of paintings, and of flowers. Indeed I have heard an excellent judge say of the ex-dictator of Birmingham, with his lithe limbs and classical features, that he is perhaps the best bred man in Parliament ; and, if he is not the most learned, he is certainly one of the most studious, members of the House. There is a 89 90 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. certain "pale cast of thought" on Mr. Chamberlain's youthful, handsome face, which gives an added interest to his charm of manner. Democracy, it has been alleged, both produces, and is partial to, coarseness in its representatives. The re- verse is nearer the truth. Really good manners — the happy way of doing things — can never be acquired in an exclusive or aristocratic society, by reason of the paucity and uniformity of the models ; and it is an in- disputable fact that Radical constituencies, cceteris pari- bus, prefer to be represented by men of culture and refinement. Witness the choice b}^ Paris of such repre- sentatives as Victor Hugo, Ledru Rollin, and Louis Blanc ; and by Massachusetts, of Webster, Adams, Charles Sumner, and many others such. If in England the union of culture and Radicalism is less observable, the reason is not far to seek. Excepting Birmingham, which returns Bright and Chamberlain to Parliament, there are scarcely any genuinely democratic constituen- cies in this country. We are aristocratic, and therefore coarse in our preferences. But this does not help me with the ex-mayor, who is not merely a thoughtful political student, but one with whom it is impossible to converse, however briefly, without discerning that he is a man of genuine good feeling, strict integrity, resolute purpose, and unques- tioning belief in the people as the only legitimate source of authorit}''. If he is admired by the men of Birmingham, the admiration is at least mutual. He is a singular example of a prophet who is honored in his own country, and who makes no concealment of his conviction that that country is ' ' the hub of the uni- verse." JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. 91 His remarkable self-possession, his detractors in Par- liament have been pleased to call overweening self-con- fidence. It is reall}^ nothing of the kind. There are more parliaments than that mongrel thing which assem- bles at St. Stephen's to do little but mischief. Is there not the town council of Birmingham, the threshold of which it is as difficult for a Tory to pass as for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven ? and has not Mr. Chamberlain for ye-ars sat princeps inter pares in that Radical Witanagemot, plajdng the part of a ter- restrial Providence to an entire community ? If Parlia- ment could be constituted as the town council of Birmingham is constituted, then Mr. Chamberlain might begin to respect it. As it is, he feels that it is below rather than above the level of his experience. The parliamentary machine is vaster than the muni- cipal ; but its mechanism is less perfect, and the re- sults are ever}^ way less satisfactory. If he were asked whether the town council of Birmingham could not manage the afiairs of the nation better than the entire paraphernalia of Queen, Lords, and Commons, I have little doubt what his answer would be ; and I am not at all sure that he would be wrong. Parliament has, in fact, reached an unparalleled state of incompetenc}^ and inertia ; and it is onty men like Mr. Chamberlain, who come to it with fresh eyes and with an undoubted capacity for the conduct of affairs, that are able to estimate its performances at their true value. Mr. Chamberlain has shown himself to be what I may call a great municipal statesman ; and, being so, he has perpetually before him a valuable standard of comparison, such as is not possessed in an equal degree by any other member of Parliament. No one else 92 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. stands exactly on the same political plane ; and no one in so brief a space — it is scarcely ten years since he made his first speech in suppoi-t of Mr. Dixon' s candi- dature for Birmingham — ever contrived to attach to himself a more numerous and respectable following in the countr}^ Mr. Chamberlain was born in London in July, 1836. He is consequently in his forty-fourth j^ear ; but in ap- pearance he is more like a man of thirty-four than of forty-four. The Chamberlains were originally a family of Wiltshire 3^eomanr37^, settled at Shrivenham ; but, for a hundred years previous to the removal of the late Mr. Chamberlain to Birmingham, they had carried on, from father to son, on the same spot in Milk Street, Cheapside, and under the same name, an extensive business as leather-merchants and shoe-manufacturers. In religion the family was Unitarian, and almost, as a matter of course, Radical in politics. " Take a thorn- bush," said the once renowned Abd-el-Kader, "and sprinkle it for a whole year with water ; it will yield nothing but. thorns. Take a date-tree, leave it without culture, and it will always produce dates." And so it was with Mr. Chamberlain. He was not left without culture ; for a Unitarian upbringing is generally an edu- cation in itself : but for one that has since evinced so marked a capacity for literary expression, both spoken and written, his scholastic training appears to have been but meagre. He was, indeed, a pupil of Univer- sity College School for some time ; but at the esLvlj age of sixteen he was put to business. In his eighteenth year his father became one of the partners of the great screw-manufacturing firm of Net- tlefold & Chamberlain at Birmingham, and thither the JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. 93 future mayor went with the family. There he devoted himself assiduously to the development of the paternal industry, which ultimately assumed gigantic propor- tions, the firm employing as many as two thousand " hands." Throughout, emploj^'ers and employed were on the best of terms ; and when, in 1875, Mr. Chamber- lain, after his father's death, finally retired from the business in order to devote himself exclusivelj' to the public service, he did so with an ample fortune and the best wishes of the numerous operatives of the firm, who embraced the opportunity to bestow on him a hand- some token of their regard in the shape of a valuable piece of plate. Mr. Chamberlain has oftener than once acted as an arbitrator in labor disputes, and alwaj's with the utmost fairness and good sense ; his most notable award, perhaps, being one which substituted a sliding-scale for a fixed rate in the memorable coal-mining strike in Stafi'ordshire in 1873-74. Mr. Chamberlain was thhty-two jesiYS of age before he ever addressed his fellow-citizens ; and he at once made his mark as a singularly clear, articulate, method- ical speaker. The fact is peculiar, but not altogether inexplicable. For ^'-ears before, he had been a diligent reader, utilizing all his spare time in his library, the shelves of which are filled with some three thousand well-selected volumes. He had thus acquhed much knowledge ; and, what with a ready tongue and rare nerve, he felt fully equipped for the brilliant public career on which he entered in 1868. Onerous and honorable duties were at once thrust on him. In 1868 he accepted the chairmanship of the famous Education League, and in the same year he became a member of the town council. In 1870 he was 94 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. returned as one of the members of the School Board of Bu-mingham ; and in 1873, when the Secularists, so called, secured a majority on the board, he was elected chahman. In 1873 he was likewise unanimousl}' elect- ed mayor, and in 1874 and 1875 a similar honor awaited him. At the general election in 1874 he contested Sheffield in the Radical interest ; but the town of Roe- buck, Broadhead, and " The Sheffield Telegraph," knew itself better than to seek the services of so reputable a representative. He was at the bottom of the poll, the " frightful example" to all Radicals, Roebuck being at the top. An arm}^ of one thousand five hundred publi- cans worked night and day for this result. The whole town was given over to indescribable riot ; and Mr. Chamberlain, who exhibited the greatest personal inti'e- pidity and good humor, was oftener than once exposed to serious risks. Roebuck, singularl3^,^enough, was supported by " The Daily News." Nol^^many months elapsed, however, before Mr. Dixon retired from the representation of Birmingham, and the mayor took his place in Parliament unopposed. One event that occurred in Mr. Chamberlain's may- oralty I must not forget. In November, 1874, the Prince of Wales practically invited himself to Birming- ham, and much curiosity was felt as to the manner in which the mayor would receive the heir- apparent. Mr. Chamberlain has never concealed his preference for republican institutions, and the visit was necessarily of a somewhat embarrassing character. Na}^, more, the court ])8iYty probablj^ intended it to embarrass. The}^ had scored an immense triumph, and they were deter- mined to follow it up by bearding Radicalism at head- quarters. They had succeeded in cementing the JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIISr. 95 shattered reputation of his 'Royal Highness with surpris- ing cunning. After the theatrical and almost blasphe- mous apotheosis of the prince at St. Paul's on the occasion of his recovery from an illness which it would take a great deal to convince me was not purposely exaggerated, it was evidently felt that almost sluj thing might be attempted in the way of humbugging the people. Vult populus decipi et decipiatur . The repub- lican mayor was to be put on his metal ; and what he did was this : he agreed to receive the prince as the guest of the town ; but he voted against defraying any portion of the expenses of the royal visit out of the public rates. Rather than that, he would be host him- self. For the rest, to have received the young man at all, Mr. Chamberlain could not have gone through the performance with less offence to republican feeling. His language was a miracle of dexterous steering be- tween lojslij^ the people and loj'^altj' to the prince, — two interests forever incompatible. All the same his Royal Highness had the best of it. What royalty want- ed was a big gratis advertisement at the expense of the Radical Mecca, and it got it. The British monarchy exists, as quack medicines exist, by dint of wholesale "puffing;" the only difference being that the first is gratuitously advertised by its dupes, while notices of the latter are paid for by the parties directly interested. Now the naayor unquestionably placed himself among the dupes of royalty ; but I am free to admit he was in a strait place. But Mr. Chamberlain' s mayoralty was distinguished by more useful, if less ornamental, work than that of entertaining worthless princes. In the successive years during which he presided over the town council with 96 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. consummate tact and administrative talent, he coura- geously grappled with three gi'eat questions aifecting the welfare of the borough. UnlUie most towns of more ancient date, Birmingham possessed no revenue but the rates when Mr. Chamberlain took office. He looked about, and soon found another source of civic income. He resolved that Birmingham should no longer be at the mercy of private companies for its gas-supply. He made up his mind that the corporation should possess itself of the undertakings of the Birmingham Gas- light and Coke Company, and of the Birmingham and Staffordshire Gaslight Companj^, and he was man- fully backed by the council. And with what result? In three years' time four hundred thousand dollars have been appropriated in aid of the rates, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars allocated as a reserve fund, two hundred thousand dollars as a sinking fund ; while the cost of gas to the consumers has been reduced twelve cents per thousand cubic feet, being equivalent to' a saving of three hundred thousand dollars per annum. Having thus disposed of the two gas companies' undertaldngs, Mr. Chamberlain next resolved to deal with that of the Birmingham Waterworks Company. It also, after the inevitable calculations, negotiations, and parliamentary action, became the property of the corporation ; and, though it has not been deemed advis- able to raise revenue out of such a primary necessary of life as water, a good reserve fund has been laid past, and a thoroughly efficient supply secured to the com- munity. Like other towns, Birmingham is not without its ' ' slums ; ' ' and to these the mayor next tm-ned his attention. Taking advantage of the provisions of the JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. 97 Artisans' Dwellings Improvement Act, and borrowing at the three and a half per cent rate, the corporation has ah'eady purchased for the sum of seven million five hundred thousand dollars the area covered by all the vilest habitations in the borough. The act em- powers the municipal authorities to pull down, but not to re-erect. The private individuals, however, to whom the corporation may convey a title, will have to rebuild under conditions conformable to the health of the community and to the special convenience of the working-class. It need surprise no one if Mr. Cham- berlain be yet found to have been a better sort of Haussman to Birmingham. Nor are the daring schemes of this municipal in- novator yet exhausted. Not content with giving the people light, water, and wholesome dwellings, he is the author of a scheme to make them the proprietors of their own public-houses ; and, from the favorable man- ner in which the Lords' Committee on Intemperance have spoken of his proposals, it is not at all unlikely that Parliament will permit the capital of the midlands to make the experiment which her ex-mayor desires. What he proposes is, that the corporation should possess itself of all the public-houses in Birmingham, — some eighteen hundred in number, — the owners having first been expropriated on a scale of compensation fixed by the legislature. Thereupon one thousand are to be abolished at a stroke, and the remainder equipped in such a manner as to supply aU. the legitimate wants of the communit}^ And the scheme, he calculates, will pay, and pay well. It has several obvious advantages. The servants of the corporation would, unlike the publicans, have no 98 EMINENT LIBEEALS IN PAKLIAMENT. interest either in the insohriet}^ of their customers or the adulteration of the liquor sold. The poor man's drink would be as good as the rich man's, which is far from being the case at present ; the political power of the publican would be annihilated ; and last, not least, the necessit}' for police espionage would be almost at an end. There is no one cure for drunkenness : but this seems as feasible as any for a great community ; and, if the ratepaj^ers of Birmingham are willing to risk their money in giving so bold an application of the Gothenburg S3'stem a fair trial, there can be no reason in the world why the}' should be restrained. It may be that Birmingham is destined to initiate a public- house reform as contagious as has been the example which she has set to other places in respect, for ex- ample, of education and Liberal organization. As chairman of the School Board of Birmingham, and as president of the National Education League, Mr. Chamberlain has achieved neai'h' as great things in the educational as in the municipal world. Under his chairmanship of the Binningham boai'd, a complete separation was effected between secular and religious instruction, w^hile fom'teen thousand live hundred chil- dren were added to the boai'd schools, and nine thousand seven hundred to the denominational. The league, of course, was not able to embody its ideal of a free, universal, compulsor}', and seculai' system of education ; but all the same it did a world of good in curbing the vagaries of Mr. Forster, and the insolent pretensions of churchmen. In 1876 the league was dissolved ; but its spuit j^et liveth, and may perchance before long take unto itself a new bod}'. Should this uot be so, its programme is JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. 99 nevertheless as certain to be ultimately realized as has been the case with the ' ' points ' ' of the ' ' People' s Charter." It is unnecessary to enlarge further on Mr. Chamber- lain's local achievements. He has a manifest genius for administrative detail, and, as President of the Board of Trade, it is universally acknowledged that he is in his right place. His speeches in Parliament on the County Boards Bill and the Prisons Bill would alone have stamped him as a master of every thing that pertains to a " spirited domestic policy," of which the country stands so much in need, and of which the evil spirit of Jingo has permitted it to hear so little. Mr. Chamberlain, however, has greater claims on the Liberal party than any that I have yet adduced, and these are of a special and most important character. When our spirits have failed us, and the majority have seemed disposed to be "led," — whither, our "lead- ers" would not or could not tell us, — he has always come cheerily up in the pages of " The Fortnightly" with a new "programme" to put in our hands. He has rallied us to the cry of free land, free church, free schools, and free labor ; and, when that was not enough, he has set himself to "re-organize" and put us in marching order with our faces to the foe. Like all true men and brave spirits, he is greatest and most helpful in adversity. For why ? Is he not the father of the much-derided, much- denounced "caucus," which is yet destined to be such an important factor in the political life of England ? Mr. Chamberlain, however, claims no special credit in connection with the so-called caucus. He simply regards it as in some form inevitable, and therefore he 100 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. tries to make the most of it. With the old restricted franchise, when the electors were a select and privileged class, no such party discipline was required. A caucus in the English sense is simply an elected committee. Sixty voters may require no such committee to prepare their business for them, simply because they are practi- cally a committee already. It is quite another matter when the numbers rise to six hundred, or six thousand, or sixteen thousand, as the case may be. Then some understanding must be come to, some suitable machinery must be devised to give effect to the general desires. In such circumstances the English race naturall}^ and instinctively have recourse to popular election to rectify matters ; and this, after all, is the worst sin that can be laid at the door of the " caucus." The great matter, Mr. Chamberlain insists, is to insm-e that your hundred, three hundred, or six hundred be truly representative of the party voters. If that is secured, all is well ; if not, not. Whoever distrusts the caucus honestly worked, distrusts the people as the true source of power. The part}^ vote need not be one whit less honestly recorded because it is informal. Such, as I understand it, is Mr. Chamberlain's position, and it seems wellnigh un- answerable. What then are the advantages of such an organization of the Liberal forces ? They are various. One is, and it is perhaps the most obvious, that it tends to put a strong check on what Scotsmen call " divisive courses" at elections. At the general election of 1874 twenty-six votes on a division were lost to the Liberal cause through a suicidal multiplication of Liberal candi- dates at the polls ! There is, however, it must be ad- mitted, another and a much more certain method of preventing such disasters; viz., the French method JOSEPH CHAMBEHLAIN. 101 of compelling by law a second ballot where no one can- didate has secured a clear majority of the voters. It is perhaps too much to expect that any such sensi- ble rule will ever be adopted by the British legislature ; but Mr. Chamberlain admits that is the true remedy, although that provided by the caucus is, of course, not inconsistent with it. But it is not on this ground so much that Mr. Chamberlain justifies the caucus. He regards it as an invaluable school for political instruc- tion. Nor is that all. The National Liberal Federa- tion, of which Mr. Chamberlain is president, has in more than one sudden emergency shown a promptitude in bringing pressure to bear on the Government b}^ means of powerful deputations and concerted public meetings that never could have been rivalled by any conceivable isolated action. ■ Mr. Bright, in introdu- cing to Lords Hartington and Granville the great na- tional deputation in favor of peace, summoned by the federation and the National Reform Union, pointedly described it as " a remarkable deputation, such a one as" I have not seen before in mj political experience." Of course, with a more constitutional Premier than Bea- consfield at the helm of the state, the occasions on which the federation will require to review its forces will be few and far between ; but certainly, in the light of the late " imperial " menace, the Liberal party owes the president of the federation a deep debt of gTatitude for the disinterested sagacity he displayed in striving to furnish it with such a potent weapon of defence ready to its hand. The National Liberal Federation was constituted at Birmingham in May, 1877 ; and Mr. Gladstone, it will be remembered, was one of its sponsors. It then num- 102 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PAKLIAMENT. bered fortj^-six associations ; it has now risen to over a hundred, and every week adds to its strength and effi- ciency. At the late general election the caucus vindi- cated its power with such emphasis wherever it had taken root, that, from the election agent's point of view, the Liberal victory was its victory. It combines in a marvellous manner complete local autonomy with a ca- pacity for concerted action something like that which existed amongst the Hanse Towns of the middle ages. Mr. Chamberlain has done surprising things as a party organizer ; but this is distinctly his masterpiece. IX. THOMAS BURT. ** Go far and go sparing; For you'll find it certain, The poorer and baser you appear, The more you'll look through still." THE results of the general election of 1874 were surprising in many respects, and to many persons, but probably to none more so than Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P. While other prospective legislators were study- ing or wassailing at Oxford and Cambridge, the honor- able member for Morpeth was laboriously ransacking the bowels of the earth in grimy Northumberland for coals wherewith to supply the complex wants of the British public. Like Goldsmith's village preacher, " he ne'er had changed, nor wished to change, his place ; " and, when his fellows first advised him of their intention to bring him forward as a candidate for parliamentary honors, he replied in the words of the anti-Utopian, — " O brothers! speak of possibilities, And do not break into these wild extremes." But elected he was to take his seat among his "bet- ters ' ' — among lordlings and milUonnalres — in the choicest of West-end metropolitan clubs, and that, too, with an ease which contrasted sharply with the ill suc- cess in other constituencies of more widely known " la- bor candidates." 103 104 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. This efltect, howen^er, was not without an efficient cause. Apart from the fact that the Morpeth register was in a condition exceptionally favorable to the return of a genuine working-man, Mr. Burt was in reality, with all his seeming diffidence and meagre presence, an exceedingly formidable candidate. He is able and "canny" to a degree, and conspicuously devoid of those faults that do more easily beset trades-union leaders. He never, for example, speaks on any sub- ject with which he is not thoroughly conversant, and his range of topics is by no means limited. He never tells you on the first occas-ion that j^ou are alone with him, that every other exponent of the claims of labor, except himself, is a fool or a knave ; and, when he makes an engagement, he keeps it with all the punctu- ality of a good middle-class man of business who knows the value of time. He is, in truth, a singularly fair-minded man, as capable of looking at any issue arising in the labor market from the point of view oif the emploj^'er as of the employed. From contact and observation he has learned to combine, in a great meas- ure, the characteristic virtues of both classes, while discarding their special vices. His s^anpathies are, of course, entkely with the working-man ; but the impar- tiahty of his judgment saves him from au}^ thing like indiscriminate partisanship . His workingmanism, too, is of such a catholic kind as practically to obliterate the hateful distinctions of class altogether. It does not stop at hand-workers, but em- braces all honest brain-workers as well. It is only with the monstrous army of rojsil and aristocratic Do- nothings and Eat-alls, which in this England of ours is permitted to such an unparalleled extent to la}^ waste THOMAS BUET. 105 the harvest of honest industry, that Mr. Burt is at war. In politics he is a very intelligent English Radical, and nothing more. He is actuated by no Socialistic or subversive passions ; and, if he gives the best portion of his legislative attention to the interests of his own class, it is simply because he thinks, and thinks justly, that these are the most neglected at St. Stephen's. We hear of "officers and gentlemen." If he is a workman, he is likewise a gentleman. Like the late Mr. Odger, he has succeeded in completely emanci- pating hunself from the warping influences of class feeling ; and by dint of a severe course of reading and reflection he has arrived at conceptions of the public good which may be truly called statesmanlike. There are not many men in Parliament regarding whom it would be honest to aver as much. But the politics of the pit are manifestly more enlightened, more national in scope, than those of church or castle, bar or barrack- room ; and, if Mr. Thomas Burt be a fair specimen of "pitmen" politicians, I have no hesitation in saying that it is a misfortune for the country that there are so few of them in the House. Wonderful to relate, he represents his constituents in Parliament, not himself. In the path of such a man, if the truth were told, at least as many snares are apt to be laid at Westminster as at Washington ; and, to my certain knowledge, Mr. Burt has, on more occasions than one, resisted the machinations of the tempter with scrupulous fidelity. Mr. Burt was born at Murton Row, a small hamlet about two miles from North Shields, Northumberland, in November, 1837. His ancestors, needless to say, did not " come over at the Conquest." The fact is not recorded ; but I believe they were in England long lOG EMINENT LIBEKALS IN PARLIAMENT. before that great national calamity. His father, Peter Burt, was an upright, hard-working miner, much addicted in his spare hours, if he may be said to have enjoyed such, to Primitive Methodism, trades-unionism, and reading. He was a "local preacher ;/' and his literary tastes, as may be readily imagined, had a strong theological bias. But he was distinctly a superior man, and no mere narrow-minded sectarian. The truly apos- tolic Channing was among his treasured authors, — an insignificant fact perhaps in itself, but one which helped materially to stimulate the youthful intelligence of his son, and to cast his character in a noble mould. Thomas Burt' s mother was likewise no ordinary per- son. She possessed a solid judgment and a tender heart ; and while she lived she was the angel of the lowly household, which saw many ups and downs before the member for Morpeth reached man's estate. When Burt was but seven years of age, the great Northumberland strike began ; and he thus earty tasted something of the bitter fruit of these labor struggles, which he has since exerted himself so strenuously to avert. Burt, senior, being a prominent striker, his family, with many others, was evicted from its humble abode, and might have perished from exposure but for the benevolent intervention of a neighboring farmer, who contrived to accommodate no fewer than three households in two small rooms. At the end of the strike, Burt's father, being a "marked man," and re- garding discretion as the better part of valor, retreated to Helton, in the county of Durham, where he found employment for about a yeai\ Subsequently the family moved to Haswell Blue House, — a hamlet midway between Haswell and Sholton Collieries ; and in the THOMAS BURT. 107 former of these mines Thomas Burt, M.P., commenced work as a "trapper" on his tenth birthday. His schooling had necessarily been of an irregular kind ; and though not without — " The gleams and glooms that dart Across the schoolboy's brain, The song and the silence in the heart, That in part are prophecies, and in part Are longings wild and vain,"— Burt entered the Inferno of Haswell Colliery without having exhibited any conspicuous talent ; and, to all appearance, the gates of night closed remorselessly behind him. It may be of interest to those, if there be any such, who still believe in the luxurious miner of the news- paper legend, with his curious taste in champagne, pianos, and greyhounds, to know something of the hon- orable member's underground experiences; and these, I may premise, were by no means exceptional. He commenced as a "trapper," at twenty cents per day of twelve hours. A "trapper" is a doorkeeper who sat, or sits, in utter darkness, peering wistfully into the ' ' palpable obscure ' ' for the approach of any mortal with a lamp. Such occupation might suit a notorious criminal of a philosophical turn of mind, but none other. Promotion, however, soon came Mr. Burt's way. He became a subterranean " donkej^'-driver," and his wages rose eight cents per diem. Then fol- lowed " management of an inclined plane " at Sherburn House Pit, between Durham and Thornley, wages from thirty-two to thu-ty-six cents ; and, later, two years' " putting," or pony-driving, at Dalton Colliery, wages from thu'ty-six to fifty cents per diem. In 1851 the 108 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. family ceased to sojourn in Durham, and returned to its native Northumberland, settling ultimately for a period of eight or nine j^ears at Seaton Delaval. Here further promotion awaited young Burt. He became a "water-leader," and his wages varied from sixty to eighty-four cents per day. " Water-leading " is not a specially amusing occupation. Before you know where 3'ou are, you are frequently up to the waist in the sub- terranean liquid, which has about as much fancy for being "led" as a Tipperary pig. Add to this that the hours of labor, though nominally twelve, were practi- cally thirteen " from bank to bank," and that the dis- tance to and from home was a good two miles' walk, and it will readily be granted that the honorable mem- ber for Morpeth' s opportunities for self-culture were in no way enviable. At fifteen years of age he had, besides, recklessly cut himself off from the consolation of champagne by becoming a total abstainer ; and somewhat later he had to cure an inherited weakness for the cultivation of music, simpty because he had no time to spare. In his eighteenth year, however, he graduated as a pitman. He became a " hewer," and his wages rose as high as a dollar or even a dollar and a quarter per diem, the hours of labor sensibly diminishing at the same time. And so on Mr. Burt went, "toiling, rejoicing, sor- rowing," till the autumn of 1865, when he was elected b}^ his brother-workmen general secretary of the North- umberland Miners' Association. Then, after eighteen 3^ears of unremitting undergTound toil, and the usual miners' hairbreadth escapes with his life, Mr. Burt got permanently to the surface ; and eight years later his apparition startled the " rich men" at St. Stephen's. THOMAS BUET. 109 From pit to Parliament is assuredly a long way and an arduous. It may not be a very great or even de- sirable distinction to be able to write M.P. after one's name ; but nobod}^ will deny, that to earn the right, as matters stand, is an achievement of almost fabulous difficulty for a man that has neither birth nor wealth to recommend hun. In Mr. Bm-t' s case both these pass- ports to electoral influence were conspicuous only by their absence ; jet here he is with perhaps as attached a constituency as any in England behind him. Other members pay vast sums for the honor of being per- mitted to represent their constituents in Parliament. Here, on the contrary, you have a body of electors who voluntarily tax themselves in order to pay their member a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars a jear. for representing them. Was there ever a more daring out- rage on constitutional propriety ? And, what is stranger still, this phenomenal member, whose praises are alilie in the mouths of ministerialists and opposition, is an avowed foe of royalty and aristocracy, of "beer and the Bible." There is scarcely' an " ism," from repub- licanism downwards, that he cannot swallow without so much as making a wr}^ face. Since Andrew Marvell's time there has been no such marvel in Parliament as Thomas Burt, the chosen of Morpeth. At about fifteen years of age he began, all uncon- sciousty of course, to educate himself for the discharge of his present responsible duties. And he educated himself to some purpose. While "his companions slept," this physically feeble but mentally strong Northumbrian miner was ' ' toiling upwards in the night." He eschewed the public-house, and kept the very best society, — the society of Channing, Milton, 110 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Emerson, and Carlj-le ; of Shakespeare, Tennj^son, Longfellow, Wordsworth, Shellej^, and Burns ; of Burke, Grattan, and Curran ; of Macaulaj^ Gibbon, and Hume ; of Scott, Thackeray, Dickens, and George Eliot ; of Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Bastiat, Fawcett, Thorn- ton, and other illustrious intellects. Latin and French he hammered out as best he could from the pages of " Cassell's Popular Educator," while Euclid and short- hand received no inconsiderable share of his attention. And whatever he read he mastered, and assunilated with a rare appreciation of all that he found true and beautiful. Then came the application of all this acquirement, — a ti'ue and beneficent application. He did not wrap his talents in a napkin, but devoted them ungrudgingly to the elevation of his fellow- workmen. He lectured on temperance, trades-unionism, arbitration, co-opera- tion, education, the advantages of mechanics' insti- tutes, politics, and gTaduall}^ became a clear, judicious, and convincing public speaker. He was a Sunda}^- school teacher, a da3'^-school secretar}^, and an organizer of temperance societies. He came to read men, as he had read books, with intelligence and S3anpath3' ; and the miners on then- pai-t were quick and generous to discern that they had found in tliek fellow-workman a true friend and able counsellor. In 1800 the Burts left Seaton Delaval, and settled at Choppington, now a portion of the paiiiamentar}' bor- ough of Morpeth ; and here it was that the gi*eat administrative talents of the honorable member first displaj^ed themselves. He speedil}" became the dele- gate of the Choppington men, and ultimately, in 18G5, general secretary of the Northumbrian Miners' Mutual Confident Association. THOMAS BURT. Ill The union was then under a heav}^ cloud. There was but one hundred and fifteen dollars in the exchequer, and an extensive strike — the Craniling1:on — was proceeding. The new secretary was bitterly attacked by " A Coalowner ' ' in the columns of ' ' The Newcastle Chronicle." He replied with characteristic dignity and spirit. ' ' I was chosen agent for this asso- ciation," he wrote, " for the purpose of doing the best I could to aid the workmen in securing justice. I did not force mj^self on the men ; they urged me to take the office ; and, as soon as they can dispense with my services, I am prepared to resign. But so long as I am in office I will do my best to serve my emploj^ers. Four months since I was a hewer at Choppiugton Col- liery. As a working-man I was in comfortable circum- stances, serving employers whom I respected, and who, I believe, respected me. I had been at that colliery nearly six years, and during that time I had never a wrong word with an official of the colliery. ' A Coal- owner ' may ask there whether I was a ' demagogue ' or an ' agitator.' I left the colliery honorably, and I have no doubt I can get my work again at that place if I want it. If not, I can get work, I doubt not, else- where, and under good employers too ; for I long since made up my mind not to work for a tyrant. I say this merely to let your readers know that the position I hold is not degrading either to myself or the men who em- ploy me." Largely as the result of this rare combination of moderation and firmness on the part of the secretary, external aid flowed freely into the coffers of the asso- ciation. When the strike ended, a surplus of thirty- five hundred dollars remained over. 112 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. B}^ Mr. Burt's advice this sum, instead of being divided among the several collieries in the union, was made the nucleus of a central fund, which in a few years increased to eight}^ thousand dollars, while the membership of the union was quadrupled. Though in Parliament, Mr. Burt is still the adviser- general and appellant-judge of the association, whose solidarity and wise counsels have done so much to inspire both employers and employed in Northumber- land with feelings of amity and mutual respect. Recentl}^ there has been a sensible decline in the mem- bership of the union, owing chiefly to the wholesale depopulation of certain districts consequent on the pro- longed depression of trade and the enforced stoppage of the less remunerative pits. Within the last three and a half years the miners of Northumberland, to then' credit be it recorded, have expended nearly eighty-five thousand dollars in support of brethren thus thrown out of emplo^onent. Indeed, that they should have hitherto been able to face the crisis so manfully and eflEicientl}^ can only be regarded as another miracle of thrift and self-sacrifice worthy of the men who, by returning Mr. Burt to Parliament as then- " paid mem- ber," were the pioneers of one of the most necessary and important political reforms of the futm-e. The circumstances attending the return of the mem- ber for Morpeth to Parliament have never yet received the general attention and commendation they deserve. They were most remarkable. Two pitmen, Mr. Robert Elliot (a poet of no mean merit) and Mr. Thomas Glassej", along with two brothers, Drs. James and Robert Trotter, local medical practitioners, did the heaviest portion of the electioneering, which, at the THOMAS BURT. 113 height of the Tory re-action, resulted in 3,332 votes being recorded for Mr. Burt, against 585 for his amiable Tory opponent, Major Duncan. Never was there such unbounded enthusiasm. The prophet of Choppington was indeed honored in his own country. His election expenses were defraj^ed by public subscription. He had nothing to do but address the electors, and prepare to draw his parliamentary salar3^ which, if not large, is perhaps amply sufficient for his modest wants and limited deskes. At the late general election the Con- servatives dared not even challenge his seat. Well may Morpeth, the borough of the derided " Howkies," with their short lives, — computed to reach an average of only twenty-eight 3'ears, — their sore toil and pitiable pay, say to the most virtuous con- stituency in the kingdom, "Go thou and do likewise." " Go on until this land revokes The old and chartered lie, The feudal curse whose whips and yokes Insult humanity." And, as for the fortunate member for Morpeth, he has in Parliament, I think, redeemed all the legitimate expectations that were formed of him. His speeches on the Count}^ Franchise Bill, on the Employers' Liabil- ity for Injury Bill, on the grants to Wales and Con- naught, and, above all, his hearty denunciation of the Afghan war, leave nothing to be desked. With regard to the Medical Bill, he showed somewhat too great a confidence in quack doctors and unlicensed bone-setters ; but that is a small matter. For the rest, as I have said before, his conduct in the House has evoked the praise of all parties. The worst 114 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. of Tories admit that he is " fair," and herein perhaps hirks a danger for the member for Morpeth. Reformers of great wrongs cannot afford to cultivate this spirit of fairness to excess. Be fair, be fair, be not too fair ! "• Beware ye when all men speak well of you, for so did they of the false proj^hets that were before vou." X. HENRY RICHARD. " And evermore beside him on Ms way The unseen Christ shall move." IN the House of Commons are to be found a good many members who profess the Christian rehgion, — at all events in public ; but, excepting Mr. Henry Richard, there are very few, so far as I know, who make the smallest pretence of literally squaring their politics by the precepts of the New Testament. The politics of Rome and of Canterbury — of the Papal and Anglican priesthoods — are, of course, well repre- sented at St. Stephen's ; but thek relation to Christianity proper is so remote, or indeed antagonistic, as to merit no recognition in this connection. They are merely ecclesiastical intrigues, and in no true sense Christian or even religious in their aim or tendency. But Mr. Richard's position is different. He is distinctly a Chris- tian politician, and herein lies his strength or weakness as a legislator. The estimable ' ' Apostle of Peace ' ' is, wonderful to relate, a gospel Radical, and it is by that difficult standard that it will be necessary in some measure to try him. He believes that Christianity sup- plies the politician, as it does the individual, with a true, or rather the true, conduct-chart ; and his pamphlet, " On the Application of Christianity to Politics," leaves 115 116 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. US in no doubt as to his canons of biblical interpreta- tion. " I have no hope," he tells us, " for the future of this world that is not connected with Christianity." When ' ' every thought shall have been brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," then only will Mr. Richard feel satisfied that we are politically on the right rail. There are not two moralities, he maintains, — a private and a public, a personal and a political. Mr. Richard' s method with the Jingoes is the shortest of any. Is it not written, "Thou shalt not kill"? Therefore is the occupation of the soldier forever cursed, cursing alike conqueror and conquered. According to this exegesis, such gallant Christians as Sir Henry Havelock and Capt. Hedley Vicars of pious memory were little better than public cut-throats or licensed murderers. So be it. Mr. Richard will shrink from none of the consequences of his understanding of Holy Writ. The commandment is absolute. "Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath ; for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." "Resist not evil." "See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men." " If ye do well and suflEer for it, and ye take it patiently, this is acceptable unto God." These are hard words for flesh and blood to apply literally; but Mr. Richard, in his "Defensive War," makes it plain that he will, no more than Hosea Biglow, admit of any dodging : — "If ye take a sword and dror it, And go stick a feller through, Guv'ment ain't to answer for it: God will send the bill to you." HENRY EICHARD. 117 If a robber assail you with murderous intent, there are "three courses" open to you. You may expostuUte with him on the error of his ways ; you may exert mod- erate force to restrain him from burdening his soul with a great crime ; and, lastly, you may exhibit true moral courage b}^ running away as fast as ever your legs will carry you : but on no account are you to lay the flatter- ing unction to your soul that, under any circumstances, is there such a thing as "justifiable homicide " possible. Similarly with regard to other questions of vital public interest, — such as the support of religion by state, whether in church or school, — the member for Merthyr finds something like absolute prohibitions where the great majority of professing Christians appear to dis- cover the reverse. How wonderful is Mr. Richard in his exegesis ! How wonderful are the majority of Christians in theirs ! How marvellously malleable are the memorials of the Christian faith themselves ! Humanly speaking, one would say some of them must be at fault, but which, I am pleased to think, it is not my province to determine. Infidel Radicals are, in these days of general apostasy, as thick as blackberries. It is refreshing occasionally — for the sake of variet}", if for nothing else — to encounter one who is thoroughly orthodox. " The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." Nor am I unmindful of the warning, "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken ; but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder." Suffice it for my purpose to postu- late that Mr. Richard is as good a Radical as he is a Christian, and that with him the terms are in a great measure convertible. May Heaven multiply this par- 118 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. ticular school of Christians ! for never were they more sorely needed than at present. " Keep thou the childlike heart That shall His kingdom be ; The soul pure-eyed that wisdom led E'en now His blessed face shall see." Henry Richard, M. P., was born at the little town of Tregaron, Cardiganshire, in 1812. The locality is peculiarly Welsh in all its aspects ; and the ' ' member for Wales " is, as is befitting, of pure Welsh descent, his mother's maiden name having been Williams. His father and grandfather were both ministers of the Calvinistic Methodist persuasion, the latter for the long space of sixty years. In one of his addresses to his constituents at MerthjT, Mr. Richard told them, with manifest pride, "that he had come of a good stock, who had served Wales well in days gone by." And so it was. His father, the Rev. Ebenezer Richard of Tregaron, was no ordinary man. Welshmen, even more than Scotsmen, appear to benefit by the kind of instruction which is convej^ed in ' ' sermons ; * ' and Richard, senior, was a powerful preacher, the memory of whose pulpit oratory is still cherished in South Wales. Nor was he prominent only in spiritual things. For man}' 3^ears he was general secretary to his denom- ination : and, along with the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, he conferred on the principalit}^ what was at the time an inestimable boon;" viz., a thoroughly compre- hensive S3'stem of Sunday-school education, which had regard to the wants of adults as well as of juveniles. His home at Tregaron was the rallying-point of much of the religious and philanthi'opic activity of HENRY EICHAKD. 119 South Wales. The chief actors concerned believed, and not without reason, that they were engaged in a work no less momentous than the regeneration of the principality ; and their earnestness, as might have been expected, made an indelible impression on the open mind of young Eichard, whose earliest memories are of fervent "revivals," " seasons of refreshing," &c. From the doctrines imbibed in his childhood he has never appreciably departed ; yet the tenacity with which he sticks to his creed is not to be confounded with bigotry. In the sphere of civil action there is not in all England a more enlightened advocate of the broadest freedom. His human S3'mpathies are as gen- erous and keen as they were fifty years ago. In his case there has been none of that — '* Hardening of the heart that brings Irreverence for the dreams of youth," such as, I am bound to say, it has been mine to observe in but too many victims of early Calvinistic training. But it must not be supposed that his education was altogether of a religious complexion. At an early age he was sent to Llangeltho Grammar School, and sub- sequently, when eighteen, he became a student of the Highbury Independent College, London, the Calvinistic Methodists having then no theological school of their own. At both places the instruction was sound so far as it went ; and Eichard, as was to be expected from a youth of his conscientious disposition, did not fail fully to avail himself of his opportunities. At the close of his theological curriculum he joined the Independent Communion, and became minister of Marlborough Chapel, Old Kent Eoad. The congregation was mori- 120 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. bund ; but the Eev. Henrj^ Ricliard. was equal to the occasion. In a short time the attendance greatly in- creased, a considerable debt was paid off, schools were built, and a literary institute was established. It was not long, however, before Mr. Eichard found a wider field for his talent, and perhaps a truer vocation. In 1843 occurred in Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire what were known as the ' ' Rebecca Eiots.' ' The Welsh roads were then encumbered with turnpike-gates to an unendurable extent ; and some of the 3'ounger men among the tenant farmers, despairing of relief by more legitimate means, had recourse to nocturnal acts of demolition. The principality was ovenvhelmed with obloquy in consequence ; and but for the courageous stand taken by Mr. Richard, who publicl}^ explained the origin and narrow limits of the disturbances, there is no saying to what foolish acts of repression the Govern- ment of the day might not have been induced b^' the panic-stricken magistrac}^ to have recourse. But tHe matter did not end with the Rebecca Riots. In 1846 a government commission was sent into Wales to inquu-e into the state of education in the principality. The commissioners' report duty appeared in three formidable volumes, formidable alike for their contents and size. The Welsh were deliberately described as the most debased, ignorant, lewd, and vicious people under the sun. The misrepresentation, it cannot be doubted, was most vile. Something like a wail of anguish broke from the heart of the ancient Cymric race. The com- missioners had apparently listened to nothing but the calumnies poured into their ears by territorial justices of the peace and Anglican parsons with empty churches. Again Mr. Richard came forward as the champion of HENRY RICHARD. 121 his slandered countrymen ; and in a masterly lecture, which he delivered in Crosby Hall in the spring of 1848, he vindicated the character of the Welsh people, and succeeded in a great measure in rolling back the rising tide of English prejudice and calumny. Further, in 1866, Mr. Eichard contributed to '^ The Morning Star " an exhaustive series of letters on the " Social and Po- litical Condition of Wales," the value of which Mr. Gladstone thus handsomely acknowledged in the speech which he delivered as president of the national Eistedd- fod, held at Mold in 1873 : "I will frankly own to jon that I have shared at a former time, and before I had acquainted myself with the subject, the prejudices which obtain to some extent with respect to Wales ; and I am come here to tell 3^ou how and why I changed my opin- ion. It is only fair that I should say that a countryman of 3^ours — a most excellent Welshman, Mr. Richard, M.P. — did a great deal to open my eyes to the true state of the facts by a series of letters which, some years ago, he addressed to a morning journal, and subsequent^ published in a small volume, which I recommend to all persons who may be interested in the subject." Not without reason has Mr. Richard been dubbed "member for Wales." He incarnates all the best characteristics of his race. If he is trusted as a good Welshman, he is none the less so as a stanch Noncon- formist. Welshmen are born Dissenters, and it is natural that they should follow Mr. Richard in such matters ; but it is a higher compliment to him to say that the confidence of his countrymen is heartil}^ in- dorsed by the whole body of English and Scottish Nonconformists. There is not a better representative Nonconformist in Parliament than the member for 122 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Merthyr. His opposition to the obnoxious clauses of the Education Act of 1870 was as hearty as that of the most pronounced " Secularist " in the House, and went || a long way to prove that Christianit}^ properly under- stood and applied to politics means something far other , than priestcraft and obscurantism. The member for I' Merth}T spoke with all the more authorit}^, that for 3^ears he had been one of the most active promoters of popular education in Wales. He was one of the first L members of the Congregational Board of Education ; ■ and, when that bod}^ ultimatel}^ showed too strong a partiality for denominational interests, he joined the Voluntary School Association, founded on a broader and more unsectarian basis ; and during the whole sub- sequent period of its useful existence he was its honor- ary secretarj", travelling, speaking, and writing on its behalf, and taking an active part in the establishment and control of its normal schools. It is, however, neither as Welshman, Nonconformist, nor educationist that Mr. Richard's name is destined to go down with honor to remote posterity. It is as the strenuous advocate of peace that he will be entitled to lasting remembrance. In 1848 he was appointed secretary of the Peace Society ; and in 1851 he finally abandoned the ministry in order to devote himself soul and bod}^ to the good cause. He felt that it was not enough to denounce the blood-guiltiness of war. Wars are but barbarous methods of settling international dis- putes. Let us m-ge on "sovereigns and statesmen," he reiisoned, "a better waj', — one at least not a dis- grace to civilization and Christianit3^ Let us boldty bring forward in the legislature a resolution in favor of arbitration as a substitute for the sword.' ' In 1848 Mr. HENEY EICHAKD. 123 Cobden was appealed to, and assented to become the standard-bearer of the Peace Society ; and to his intense gratification tlie resolution which he moved the following session was supported by no fewer than seventy-nine votes. On the continent, likewise, the work went bravely forward. From 1848 to 1852 International Peace Congresses, promoted by Mr. Richard and Mr. Elihu BuiTitt, were held at Brussels, Paris, Frankfort, Lon- don, Manchester, and Edinburgh. The Paris Congress was presided over by Victor Hugo, while the London Conference was attended by Garrison, Phillips, Lucre- tia Mott, and other distinguished Americans. Bright, Lamartine, Arago, Humboldt, Liebig, Suringar, Coquer- el, Brewster, Cormentin, Girardin, Beckwith, Garnier, and many other illustrious persons, were among the foremost advocates of the movement. But ' ' Messieurs les Assassins ' ' were not prepared to let slip their bloody pastime so easily. Louis Napoleon perpetrated his exe- crable coup d'etat^ and the war-spirit was again evoked with fourfold violence. The Crunean war followed, and the exertions of Mr. Richard and the Peace Society were perfectly paralyzed. The press ridiculed them : they became a byword. At the close of the war in 1856, when the plenipoten- tiaries were sitting in congress at Paris, negotiating terms of peace, it occurred to Mr. Richard and his friends that an effort ought to be made to get the prin- ciple of arbitration recognized in the treaty. Lord Palmerston was seen b}^ an influential 'deputation, but held out no hope. Still Mr. Richard persevered. Ko one, however, could be induced to accompany him to Paris. At last he addressed himself to the guileless 124 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. 1 Quaker, Joseph Sturge. "Thou art right," was the instant reply ; "and, if no one will go with thee, I will." They started accordingly, along with Mr. Hindley, the member for Ashton, and thek faith was rewarded. Lord Clarendon earnestly pleaded their cause with the plenipotentiaries, who unanimously declared in favor of recourse being had to the good offices of some friendly power before any appeal should be made to the arbitra- ment of the sword. This formal sanction given to the principle of inter- national arbitration has not been wholly inoperative. In the settlement of the Alabama claims, England and America set a memorable example of moderation and good sense to the entire family of nations, — an exam- ple, alas ! which has since then been but too seldom im- itated. For why ? Something more must be done to restrain the illimitable horrors of war than to provide a feeble substitute for multitudinous homicide after the causes have come to a head. The causes must them- selves be eliminated. Could arbitration ever restrain a Napoleonic coup d'etat, or influence for a moment such d3^nastic exigencies and ambitions as brought France and German}^ into their last terrible death-grapple? The French and German peoples had no quarrel with each other. The quarrel was entirel}^ one between their rulers, supported by the governing oligarchy of the two countries. In the same way the English people have had no cause of discontent with the poor Afghans or Zulus. War is wholly the work — the infamous work — of "sovereigns and statesmen." Sovereigns must have wars. However peaceful their professions, they have a direct and overwhelming interest in the maintenance of HENKY KICHARD. 125 division and discord among nations. Were it not for wars, the occupation of kings would be gone, and the credit of the kingly form of government would sink to zero. In other words, Europe must become a feder- ated, self-governing republic, before the world can hope to attain to a permanent peace. Until the people are sovereign, until the "United States of Europe" have been established, "the ogre of war," as Bastiat has well said, "will cost as much for his digestion as for his meals." Till democracy has in every state put down all her enemies under her feet, there cannot, in the nature of things, be any genuine disarmament. Let Mr. Richard ponder this matter, and prepare to deal less gently than he has been in the habit of doing with the causes of war, — with the aforesaid sovereigns and statesmen. Does he want a text to warrant him in seeking to rid the world of these illustrious vultures? Here is one that ought to suit him : ' ' Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles ex- ercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you ; but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. And whosoever shall be the chiefest shall be the servant of all." They who exercise lordship over us tell" us of patriot- ism. What is patriotism? I have seen some of the votaries of the patriotic goddess at their devotions. I witnessed the loathsome exploits of the Hyde Park Jin- goes, and I saw the Cannon-street Hotel sacked by the unconvicted thieves of the Stock Exchange. I have had enough of patriotism for a lifetime. I agree with Dr. Johnson that ' ' patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. " There is but one fatherland, — the world ; 126 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. and one body of countiymen, — the human race. I know of but one patriotism, that of the ancient Ro- man, — " Uhi bona ibi patria." Instead of a blessing, it is often a misfortune, to have been born in a particular locality or country. " In what land the sun doth visit, We are brisk whate'er betide; To give space for wandering is it That the world was made so wide." Mr. Richard first entered Parliament for Merthyr in 1868 under the mbst honorable circumstances. Nearly the whole of the available suffrages were recorded for him, the Hon. Mr. Bruce (now Lord Aberdare) and Mr. Fothergill dividing the second votes between them. The Welsh landlords never received so sharp a lesson. They retaliated by evicting some two hundred of Mr. Richard's supporters. He shortly impeached the trans- gressors in one of the boldest speeches that had been heard at St. Stephen's for a very long time, and his fearless exposure of the delinquents had not a little to do with the passing of the Ballot Act. In 1873 occurred perhaps the greatest triumph of his life. He proposed an address to her Majest}^, praying that she would instruct the Secretary of State for For- eign Affairs ' ' to enter into communication with foreign powers with a view to the establishment of a general and permanent system of international arbitration." Mr. Gladstone opposed the motion ; but the Govern- ment was beaten by a majority of ten in a house of nearly two hundred members. Addresses of congratu- lation poured in on Mr. Richard from all parts of the world, — one from Italy being headed by Gen. Gari- HENRY RICHARD. 127 baldi. Charles Sumner wrote from the Senate House at Washington, " It marks an epoch in a great cause. This speech alone, with the signal result, will make your life historic." In the following September he visited nearly all the capitals and many of the chief cities of the continent. Everywhere he was received with open arms, and hailed as a sort of " saviour of society." More eloquent testimony to the unbearableness of the military yoke, beneath which the nations of the continent are groan- ing, could not have been. His progress was converted by the grateful multitudes into something like a tri- umph in honor of the herald of that better time which shaU be — " When the war-drums throb no longer, And the battle-flags are furled, In the Parliament of Man, The Federation of the World." ^i XI. LEONARD HENRY COURTNEY. " Can rules or tutors educate The democrat whom we await ? " IN Mr. Thomas Burt, the member for Morpeth, we had an excellent example of what the mine and the trades-union can do to form the mind and character of a legislator. Similarly, in Mr. Leonard Henry Court- ney, member for Liskeard, we have an equally perfect sample of what an institution so far removed from the mine as the university, working at high pressure, cau effect. Mr. Courtney has been but a short time in Parlia- ment, and I feel that it is consequently somewhat pre- mature to take his political horoscope. He, however, entered the House so exceptionally well equipped for the discharge of his legislative duties, and has on the whole executed them so efficiently, that his claims to recognition as an eminent Radical cannot be over- looked. He is, bej^ond all question, a very able man, whatever his critics in or out of the House may say to the contrary ; and, among the younger members of the Commons, I know no one whose futiu^e conduct will be better worth watching. He is one regarding whom it may be safely predicted, that, to use a Scotch proverb, he will speedily " either make a spoon or spoil a horn." 128 LEONARD HENRY COURTNEY. 129 His detractors say that he has akeady spoiled the horn, chiefly by want of tact. He is accused of the unpardonable parliamentary offence of " lecturing " the House, instead of address- ing it ; and it must be admitted that the charge is not wholly groundless. Even those who are discerning enough to recognize his rare intellectual accomplish- ments and powers of close reasoning cannot endure this sort of thing. It is in human nature in such circum- stances to call out — "If thou art great, be merciful, O woman of three cows! " In the debate on Mr. Trevetyan's motion in favor of the county franchise, the member for Liskeard told the House, with very little circumlocution, that it had de- generated, and that the members generally were no- bodies. The inference, of course, was unavoidable that the speaker was somebody. Well, I readily admit both proposition and deduction, but " hold it not hon- esty to have it thus set down." The great majority of Mr. Courtney's colleagues, it is true, are mere rule-of- thumb legislators, whereas his knowledge of politics is, by comparison, scientific. But the uninstructed are there to be persuaded, " educated " if j^ou will, by the better disciplined intellects ; and there is no surer test of genuine culture than the habitual exhibition of a tender regard for the feelings of the ignorant. Not that Mr. Courtney means it in the least. He is as little of a prig as any man I ever met, — a downright hearty good fellow, as true as steel to his convictions of what is for the public good, and without any fundamental egotism of character. In private he has not a particle 130 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. of the " professor " about him ; and, as this fact comes to be commonly recognized, it may be hoped the memory of his public forwardness will be effaced, and full justice done to his remarkable acquirements and good intentions. Mr. Courtney, M.P., was born at Penzance in Juty, 1832. His father, John Sampson Courtney of Alver- ton House, was a native of Ilfracombe, where his ancestors had been settled for two hundred years at least. Courtney, senior, earl}^ in life took to banldng, and has for half a century been connected with the fii'm of Bolitho, Sons, & Co., bankers, Penzance. At an early age young Courtney was sent to the Regent House Academy, the chief school in the neigh- borhood ; and from the first he displayed conspicuous talent. Latterly his studies were superintended by Dr. Willan, a private tutor. Then for a short time he was employed in the bank of Messrs. Bolitho, Sons, & Co. ; but finaU3^, in his nineteenth 3^ear, it was recognized that a university career would best suit his strong love of study and remarkable powers of application. Ac- cordingly, in 1851, he was entered as a student of St. John's College, Cambridge ; and in 1855 he graduated with honors which speak volumes in themselves. He was second wrangler and Smith's prizeman. Needless to say, such honorable achievements were not long without their reward. He became a fellow of his college, and was speedily immersed in lucrative private tuition. His preliminary training had not been specially adapted to secure him such distinctions, and it is, therefore, impossible to withhold our admiration for the vigor of mind and body which enabled him to triumph so signally. LEONAED HENEY COUETNEY. 131 How far marked aptitude for mathematical studies is indicative of general intellectual superiority has been the subject of much controversy. Lord Macaulay kept an exhaustive catalogue of senior wranglers who always remained juniors in every thing but mathematics, and Sir William Hamilton estimated the disciplinary value of the study at a very low rate. The truth, however, seems to be that the gift or knack which enables one man to manipulate algebraic quantities so much more readily than another may or may not co-exist in the mind with other, it may be, greater endowments. One thing only is very certain, — the process of intense ratio- cinative specialization, to which wranglers must neces- sarily subject themselves, cannot fail to seriously dwarf their other faculties. Off their special tox)ics the writ- ings of great mathematicians have nearly always struck me as peculiarly bloodless and uninteresting, and it is no small praise to Mr. Courtney to say that he is an exception to this rule. In point of both reasoning and style, his contributions to " The Fortnightly," for ex- ample, and his reported speeches, bear but few traces of the depletory process to which I have alluded. This exemption may, to some extent, be accounted for by the fact, that, on completing his university curriculum, he broke vigorously into intellectual fields and pastures new. In 1858 he was called to the bar by the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn ; and in 1872 he became pro- fessor of political economy at University College, a post which he retained for nearly three years. During that time he acquainted himself with all the best writers on the subject, and became a warm advocate of the special views of John Stuart Mill. From Mill it is 132 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. easy to see that he derived a great deal more than from the Alma Mater of which he is a senior fellow. With respect to the representation of minorities, and the female franchise more particularly, the mantle of the deceased philosopher has fallen on his shoulders. Mill was Ubver at a university ; yet it has been his part to fructify the intellects of such distinguished university alumni as Courtne}^ and Fawcett. Without his influ- ence there is no saying what they might not have been. Oxford and Cambridge are in reality huge forcing- houses for the production of young aristocrats, main- tained at scandalous cost, in no sense national institu- tions, and about the last places in the world where one would dream of going in order to acquire the art of thinking. Such exceptionally intelligent and public- spirited emanations as the members for Hackney and Liskeard are in reality rather a misfortune than other- wise. Theu^ " fellowship " is a snare. ''The name of Cassius honors this corruption, And Chastisement doth therefore hide his head." It is hardly too much to say, that if Oxford and Cam- bridge were erased from the map of England to-mor- row, and the intellect of the country permitted to flow into freer channels, the political and general intelli- gence of the people would be elevated by the change many degrees. Besides discharging the duties of the political econ- om}^ chair at Universit}' College, Mr. Courtney has held several other appointments, which have necessarily ex- tended the range of his intellectual vision. He has been an examiner in literature and history for the Indian Civil Service, and examiner in the constitution- LEONARD HENEY COURTNEY. 133 al history of England for the University of London. Since 1864 he has, moreover, been a " Times " leadei*- writer, with all that that implies. When he left his seat in the gallery to take his seat on the opposition benches, he entered the actual arena of politics armed, so to speak, cap-a-pie. In addition, he had travelled much, and examined on the spot the working of the political machinery of many lands. He had visited nearly every European country, the United States twice, as well as Canada, India, Turkey, and Eg3,T)t. His first attempt to force the gates of St. Stephen's was made at the general election of 1874, when he boldly threw down the gauntlet to that clever but un- stable politician, the late Right Honorable Edward Horsman. Mr. Horsman won by the narrow majority of five votes. A somewhat acrimonious war of words followed, wherein Mr. Courtney had not the worst of it. Towards the close of 1876 Mr. Horsman died ; and Mr. Courtney and Lieut. -Col. Sterling entered the field, the former polling 388, and the latter 281 votes. Mr. Courtney's poll was the largest ever recorded for a candidate at Liskeard, and, coming as it did when Liberal fortunes were very low, did a good deal to re-invigorate the party in Parliament. It remains to consider, however inadequately, a few of the more prominent questions with which Mr. Court- ney has identified himself. He is now the chief advo- cate in Parliament of the representation of minorities and of women, or, to be more gallant, of women and minorities. Now, with regard to the question of mi- nority representation, much may be said pro and con. 134 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Mr. Mill undoubtedly regarded Mr. Hare's scheme of ' ' proportional representation " as a political discovery of the most important character, and any such opinion of Mill's is of course entitled to respectful considera- tion. But Mr. Courtney is so enamoured of "three- cornered constituencies ' ' and ' ' cumulative votes ' ' that he positive!}^ refused to support Mr. Trevelyan's County Franchise Bill because it contained no provision for the realization of a " principle which would re-create political life, raising it out of the degradation which overlaid it." Mr. Courtne}'- tells us we are about to be overwhelmed by the billows of a tempestuous demo- cratic ocean abounding in unknown terrors. There is but one escape : we must all put out to sea in tiny "three-cornered" boats, on pain of universal political shipwreck. Was there ever so great faith seen in or out of Israel ? One recalls the exclamation of the Bre- ton mariner, — "How great, O Lord, is thy ocean! and how small is my skiff ! ' ' Trtie danger to be appre- hended is no less than the gradual extinction of the ' ' independent member. ' ' Now, apart from the fact that the independent mem- ber is generally a member who is not to be depended on, is it a fact that our experience of the actual work- ing of the ' ' cumulative vote ' ' and of the ' ' three- cornered constituency" has been so encouraging as to induce us to withhold the franchise from the county householder untU the requisite number of ' ' corners ' ' and "cumulations" can be created? I chance to know the electoral cu'cumstances, parliamentary and scholastic, of two important cities in the north, — the one retm-ning three members to Parliament by the three-cornered artifice ; the other, thirteen members to LEONARD HENEY COURTNEY. 135 the school board by the cumulative process. In the former case the Tories, at the general election of 1874, managed to return their candidate, simply because no human ingenuity could, with the secrecy of the ballot- box to contend against, so evenly apportion the two votes of each Liberal elector among the three Liberal candidates as to keep the Conservative at the bottom of the poll. With an open vote, it was quite possible, though unnecessaril}^ difficult ; but under the ballot it was a preposterous game of blind man's buff, — the veriest ne plus ultra of legislative folly. The minority succeeded with a vengeance. In the other case three school-board elections have taken place. On the first occasion the Radical (" Secularist ") minority put up too many candidates, and returned none ; next election they carried two, who found themselves powerless to influence the decis- ions of the ultra-orthodox majority. These two stood again, but as acquiescing in the ecclesiastico-educa- tional policy favored by the mass of the electors, and lost their seats, as they deserved to do. An intelli- gent and active minority with a just cause was thus effaced. It would be very unsafe to found any argu- ment on such slender data ; but it is quite possible that the ultimate effect of minority representation, at all events in its present shape, may be found to have the very opposite effect of what Mr. CoiuTtney anticipates. Its tendency appears to be to confirm majorities in erroneous opinions, while hopelessly discouraging right- thinking minorities from further propaganda. When once we have obtained something like true electoral majorities, it will be time enough to provide for the representation of minorities. 136 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. At the election of 18G8, Lancashire, as Mr. Court- ney has pointed out, with its included towns, returned twentj^-two Conservative to eleven Liberal representa- tives ; 3'et the Liberal vote was one hundred and four thousand strong, while the Conservative was only one hundred and two thousand. Suppose the distinction of town and count}^ were abolished once and for all, and each shire or aggregate of shires were permitted to vote for a group of candidates in proportion to its elec- torate, on something like the old French S3"'stem of scrutin de liste, would not that give a fairer chance to ' ' independent members ' ' and candidates ' ' above me- diocrity ' ' than thoroughly artificial corners and cumu- lations ? Let Mt. Courtney consider the matter ; for certainly the minority-representation craze has landed him in strange seeming contradictions. On the one da3' he opposed the enfranchisement of the county householder, and on the next he proposed to remove the electoral disabilities of women, tie would plead, doubtless, by waj^ of extenuation, that this was not a lowering, but an assimilation, of the fran- chise, and that he was not consequently compelled by consistency to encumber his bill with any three-cornered contrivances. But the point is all too fine ; and the House showed its sense of the incongruity of the situa- tion b}^ recording a majority of a hundred and fourteen votes against the measure, as compared with eight}'" the 3'ear before, and this notwithstanding the fact that the member for Liskeard' s arguments were most cogent. It is hardly necessarj^ to observe, that, like all ardent advocates of female rights, Mr. Courtney is a bachelor. But there is one question with respect to which the most captious Radical can have nothing but words of LEONARD HENRY COURTNEY. 137 praise to bestow on Mr. Courtney. Since he first entered Parliament he has never ceased, in season and out of season, to oppose witli rare foresight the disas- trous policy of which the upshot has been the serious and discreditable war with the Zulus. His fidelity in this matter ought never to be forgotten. On the 7th of August, 1877, he moved the following resolution with respect to the annexation of the Trans- vaal : " That, in the opinion of this House, the annexa- tion of the South-African Eepublic is unjustifiable, and calculated to be injurious to the interests of the United Kingdom and of its colonies in South Africa." " We had formerl}^ agreed," he said, " not to carrj^ our arms into the middle of Africa, and to allow the Dutch Boers themselves to go into the interior. We had reversed that policj^ We had taken on ourselves the immense burden of administering the affairs of the Transvaal. We had made ourselves responsible for what that re- public had done, and would have to take up its quarrels with the native chiefs. The cost would not be borne b}^ the colonies, and would have to be borne by us at home. The vote of to-night was the first symptom of the considerable expenditure which the country would have to bear for many years in connection with this matter." Most true! "The pity is 'tis true." I reproduce these words from Hansard, because they are an imper- ishable monument of Mr. Courtnej^'s sagacity as a counsellor of the nation in the conduct of difficult affairs. He demonstrated that Sir Theophilus Shepstonc had, with a high hand, violated both the conditions b}^ which the Colonial Office sought to bind him in his deal- ings with the Transvaal. He had issued his annexa- 138 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. 1 tionist proclamation without the sanction of the High Commissioner, and against the wishes of the Boers, who publicly protested against the outrage in the proportion of twelve to one. The subjugation of the Transvaal was perhaps the most treacherous act, the basest mani- festation of our ' ' spirited foreign polic}^ ; ' ' and yet, alas ! Lord Sandon, in the debate on Sir Charles Dilke's memorable resolution, was able to say with truth, " The honorable member for Liskeard has a right to raise the question of the Transvaal ; but most of those opposite can scarcely do so with good grace. The annexation of the Transvaal was accepted generally by the two great political parties in the House." Having done our best to restore the emancipated Koumelians to the hateful yoke of the Sultan, it was perhaps fitting that we should seek to subject these brave Dutch republicans to that of the Empress of India. O tempora, mores! I congratulate the mem- ber for Liskeard that in this infamous transaction his hands at least ai'e clean. XII. ANTHONY JOHN MUNDELLA. " O heavens ! what some men do While some men leave to do ! " THERE is no better example in Parliament of what is called a " self-made man " than Anthony John Mundella, the irrepressible representative of Sheffield Radicalism. An apologist of the late Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, once urged, in the hearing of Thaddeus Stevens, that " Andy " was at least a " self- made man.' ' The retort of that bitterest of politicians was crushing : "I am glad to hear it ; it relieves Prov- idence of a heavy responsibility." Now, one has at first a little of this sort of feeling with respect to Mr. Mundella. The edifice which the self-made man erects is apt to appear so much more elegant to the architect than to the public. Besides, the honorable member for Sheffield is a cmious combination. His coat is one of many colors. He is half Italian, half English. He has been everything, from a "printer's devil" to a " captain of industry," and each avocation has left some traces of its influence on his character and sym- pathies. He is half workman, half employer. He is a churchman, and a warm advocate of religious equality ; a Radical, and a supporter of the royal grants. He is 139 140 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. a living illustration of the truth of a profound saying in Ecclesiasticus, " All things are double." Add to this that his energy is irrepressible ; that he is not afflicted, to put it mildly, with mock modesty ; that he represents, on pure principles, a constituency which is pre-eminently the most rascally in England ; that he is, withal, fundamentally an able and honest politician, justly regarded b}^ ihe working-class as one of its great- est benefactors, and it will readily be admitted that first impressions of such a man are apt to be erroneous. Among so many seeming contradictions it is difficult to find the reconciling principle or central fact ; but, lOve all other men and politicians, Mr. Mundella ma}^ be known by the surest of all tests, — by his " fruits." I shall merely premise, before recounting the leading facts of his career, that it would have, perhaps, been better to classify the member for Sheffield as an emi- nent Democrat rather than as an eminent Radical. He is emphatically a man of the people, rightly or wrongly feeling as they feel, thinking as they think ; and I doubt if there be in England, excepting Mr. Brad- laugh, a more effective out-of-door speaker, a more powerful haranguer of mass meetings. He is at home in a multitude, however vast or however rude. He is one of the very few members of the House of Commons who can beat down a refractor}^ public meet- ing by unflinching resolution and sheer strength of lung. In the town of Broadhead such a qualification is simply invaluable ; and, but for the unsparing exercise of it at the elections of 1874 and 1880, the Liberalism of Shef- field would have showed but poorly indeed. Anthony John Mundella, M.P., was born at Leices- ter in March, 1825, the eldest son in a family of five. ANTHONY JOHN MUNDELLA. 141 Mundella, senior, was a Lombard refugee, a native of Como, who, taking part in the insurrectionary move- ment against the Austrians in 1820, was driven into exile. He landed in England almost penniless, and settled eventually in Leicester, where he endeavored to earn a livelihood as a teacher of languages. Instruc- tion in modern tongues was then a luxury in which but few indulged, and the luckless Antonio, in consequence, frequently broke the exile's bitter bread, — endured what his immortal countryman Dante has called ' ' the hell of exile." Educated for the Roman Church, he had no regular profession on which to rely. His in- come was consequently at all times precarious. He married, however, a remarkable woman, — Rebecca Allsop of Leicester, a lady richh^ endowed mentally, and possessed of some little property. She was an adept in lace-embroidery, then a remunerative art, and her skill and unremitting industry in the main support- ed the Mundella household for the first ten years of her married life. Then there came a crisis. Her eyesight almost com- pletely failed ; and Anthony had in consequence to be removed from school in his ninth year, in order to put his childish shoulder to the wheel. So far his educa- tion had been carefully superintended. Mrs. Mundella had a wide knowledge of English literature, was a dili- gent Shakespearian scholar, and little Anthony had been as quick to learn as she had been apt to teach. His acquirements accordingly secured him employ- ment in a printing-office, where he remained till his eleventh year. Thereupon he was apprenticed to the hosiery trade. He was most fortunate in his employer, a discriminating man, whose son, a member of Parlia- 142 EMINENT LIBERALS IK PARLIAMENT. ment, was the first to welcome Mr. Mundella to St Stephen's on his return for Sheffield in 1868. In his eighteenth year his apprenticeship was at an end. He had mastered his trade thoroughly, and contempo- raneously he had learned all that could be acquired at the Mechanics' Institute of the town, and a great deal more. He was an indefatigable reader. In his nine- teenth year, so conspicuous was his business capacit}', that he was engaged as manager of a large enterprise in the cotton trade. At twenty-three he removed to Nottingham, to become junior partner in a firm which shortly transacted the largest hosiery business in the Midlands, — Hone, Mundella, & Co., — emplo^dng as many as three thousand " hands." Of this flourishing companj^ Mr. Mundella is still a director, though not interfering very actively with the management. He is, moreover, chairman of the Connnercial Union Insur- ance Company, and is a director of the National Bank and of the Bank of New Zealand. To very few " printers' devils" or " stockingers " is it given thus to have a finger in the grande commerce of the country'- ; but Mr. Mundella climbed the ladder steadily and skilfully, and it cannot be said of him that when he got to the summit he forgot the condition of the less fortunate toilers whom he left below. On the contrary, no working-man in England has striven more earnestly or intelligently for the elevation of the mass than the member from Sheffield, as a bare enumeration of his political and legislative res gestce will readily show. Always precocious, MundeUa's political career began in mere bo3'hood. The Austrian t3'rann5^, which had driven his father from his native land, and the miserable ANTHONY JOHN MUNDELLA. 143 condition of the ' ' stockingers ' ' among whom his lot was cast, naturallj^ disposed him to become a partisan of the " Charter," which was at that time being ear- nestly advocated in Leicester by the well-known Thom- as Cooper, author of the "Purgatory of Suicides," a work written in Leicester Jail. Cooper, in his inter- esting "Autobiography," published in 1872, gives us a vivid glimpse of the adolescent representative of Shef- field : "I had been appealing strongly one evening to the patriotic feelings of young Englishmen, mention- ing the names of Hampden, Sydney, and Marvell, and eulogizing the grand spuit of disinterestedness and self- sacrifice which characterized so many of our brave fore- runners, when a handsome young man sprang upon our little platform, and declared himself on the people's side, and desired to be enrolled as a Chartist. He did not belong to the poorest ranks ; and it was the con- sciousness that he was acting in the spirit of self-sacri- fice, as well as his fervid eloquence, that caused a thrilling cheer from the ranks of the working-men. He could not have been more than fifteen at the time. He passed away from us too soon, and I have never seen him but once all these years. But the men of Sheffield have signalized their confidence in his patriot- ism by returning him to the House of Commons ; and all England knows, if there be a man of energy, as well as uprightness, in that House, it is Anthony John Mun- deUa." This picture is obviously somewhat overdrawn ; but in the main it is doubtless correct. At Leicester, from 1840 to 1848, Mr. Mundella agitated by voice and pen for the " Charter," and had the satisfaction of hearing reform ballads of his own composition sung in the streets. 144 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. When he removed to Nottingham in 1848, new public duties awaited him. He was made successively town councillor, sheriff, alderman, justice of the peace, and president of the Chamber of Commerce. These local experiences were, of course, valuable to him as a legis- lator and minister in posse ; but it was in another and more original field that he first did signal, and, I might say, inestimable, service to the entire community. He was the author in 1860, as he was the president for eleven years subsequent^, of the Nottingham Board of Arbitration and Conciliation for the Hosier}^ Trade, — the harbinger of so many others. Wearied with inces- sant "strikes" and "lock-outs," Mr. Mundella, after many weeks of fruitless negotiation, at last got employ- ers and employed together. After three daj^s' discus- sion, the then existing strike was closed by mutual concession, and a resolution agreed to, that, in future, all questions aflfecting wages should be authoritatively settled by a board consisting of nine duly elected representatives of the masters, and nine of the men. The board held its first meeting on the 3d of December, 1860. In an article on " Conciliation and Arbitration " in " The Contemporary Review " for 1870, ten j^ears later, Mr. Mundella thus sums up the results of the experiment: "Since the 27th of September, 1860, there has not been a bill of any kind issued. Stril?:es are at an end also. Levies to sustain them are unknown ; and one shilling a year from each member suffices to pay all expenses. This — not a farthing of which comes out of the pockets of their masters — is equivalent to a large advance of wages. I have inspected the balance- sheet of a trades-union of ten thousand three hundred men, and I found the expenditure for thhteen months to amount to less than a hundi-ed iDounds." 1 ANTHONY JOHN MUNDELLA. 145 No sooner was the Nottingham method of settling trade disputes by arbitration recognized as feasible, than Mr. Mundella, as its author, was invited by many towns, and, among others, by Sheffield, to give popular expositions of his system. Sheffield had suffered man}^ things at the hands of Broadhead and his infamous crew ; and so pleased was the cream of the working- men with the prospect of escape from the vicious circle in which they were involved, that, in 1868, they invited the chairman of the Nottingham board to come forward as their candidate. He was returned at the head of the poll, notwithstanding the strenuous support given to Roebuck by the assassin Broadhead at trades-union meetings. On entering Parliament, the honor of seconding the address was conferred on him by Mr. Gladstone. Since then his efforts to benefit the working-class have been unflagging, and, on the whole, most successful. His speech on the second reading of the Education Bill was pronounced by Mr. Gladstone to be the most important delivered on the occasion. He had exam- ined into the educational systems of America, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, on the spot, and was there- fore in a position to speak with authority on the all- important theme. His persistent efforts to repeal the Criminal Law Amendment Act, that the equality of workmen before the law might be established, and to pass the Factory Nine Hours Bill, in order that the hours of labor might be shortened to hapless women and children, have been rewarded. The late Tory Government itself did what it would not permit him to do. All the same, the credit must be accorded to Mr. Mundella, whose views 146 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. on labor and factory legislation were at the general election of 1874 made test questions all over the north of England. In 1878 he succeeded in carr3dng a useful bill for the preservation of fresh-water fisheries, so as to increase the supply of food and give harmless sport to the poorer class of anglers. In the- subsequent session his bill to abolish property qualifications in connection with all local government and municipal bodies was lost by onl}^ six votes. To some, such legislative achievements may appear small and commonplace ; but it should be recollected that in legislation, as in other matters, it is " the mean and common, the things of the eternal j^esterday," that it is most desu'able and least agreeable to tackle. I have said that Mr. Mundella is a Democrat rather than a Radical, and I shall finall}^ give an illustration of what I mean. On the vote to pa}^ the cost of the Prince of Wales' mischievous jaunt to India, he sided with the majorit}^ in favor of the royal subsid3^ and he had the temerity to assign his reasons for so doing : "As long as we had a monarch}^, we should be ashamed to have a cotton-velvet or tinfoil sort of monarchy. He did not believe in a cheap, shabby, brummagem monarchy ; and he always would give his vote loj'ally and in consistency with those opinions, which he believed to be the opinions of his constitu- ents." Now, it is impossible to say whether the Radicalism or the logic of this sentence is the worse ; jet, I suppose, it must be admitted that such clap-trap is regarded by the demos of Sheffield — to use the language of our late democratic-imperialist Premier — as " the voice ANTHONY JOHN MUNDELLA. 147 of sense and truth." In the first place, apart from the fact that an advanced Radical might reasonably be expected to be ashamed of having a monarchy of any kind, cheap or dear, Mr. Mundella knew, as every other member knew, that the reasons set forth for the prince's trip were not the true reasons. In the second place, as a friend of the people, and knowing, as he so weir knows, the sore privations of the masses, how could he, with a clear conscience, hint that a royal family, which directly costs the nation five million dol- lars per annum, is either cheap or shabby? The presi- dency of the United States costs fifty thousand dollars a 3^ear ; and no impartial observer has ever yet affirmed that the simple courtesies and hospitalities of the White House compare unfavorably with the ridiculous tom- fooleries of the Court of St. James. In the thn-d place, it is not the part of a good Radical, as Mr. Mundella seems to think, implicitly to follow the multi- tude, even if the multitude consist of one's constitu- ents. There is a following of the multitude to do evil which the true Radical will resist, when necessary, at all hazards, in the interest of the people themselves. When great principles are at stake, the genuine Radical must ever be ready to go out into the wilderness, if need be, alone. " Far in front the Cross stands ready, And the crackling fagots burn, While the hooting mob of yesterday In silent awe return To glean up the scattered ashes Into History's sacred urn." Mr. Mundella has likewise a curious disposition to adorn his conversation with quite unnecessary allusions 148 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. to the opinions of " lords " and other great people of his acquaintance, who are intellectually greatly his inferiors. In aristocracy-ridden England this is nearly always a marked trait of the self-made man. The fact is, the honorable member for Sheffield, with all his vigor of intellect and many virtues, has not altogether escaped the "society" contagion of which the court is the centre, which has made so m&nj strong men weak, and caused "the currents of so many enter- prises of pith and moment to turn aside and lose the name of action." " O thou that sea-walls sever From lands un walled by seas ! Wilt thou endure forever, O Milton's England, these? Thou that wast his republic, Wilt thou clasp their knees ? — Those royalties rust-eaten, Those worm-corroded lies That keep thy head storm-beaten And sunlike strength of eyes From the open air and heaven Of intercepted skies." XIII. CHARLES BKADLAUGH. " There is heresy here, you perceive: for the right Of privately judging means simply that light Has been granted to me for deciding on you ; And in happier times, before atheism grew^, The deed contained clauses for cooking you too." I HAVE been warned by kind friends who have been pleased to commend several of the foregoing sketches much beyond their deserts, — friends whose good opinion I highly value, — that, whatever I do, I must on no account allow ' ' Bradlaugh ' ' to appear in this series. To very many " Iconoclast" is still mon- strum Jiorrendum cui lumen ademptum. But my reply has invariably been. How are you to keep him out? The man is altogether too big to be passed over, if one is not to lose sight of every thing savoring of reasona- ble proportion. Besides, though due regard must be had to the " single life," it is of yet greater importance to consider the " tj^pe ; " and a more marked type of Radicalism than that which is incarnated in Mr. Charles Bradlaugh does not exist. He is the grim captain of that section of English Radicals, far more powerful than is generally supposed, who boldly inscribe on their banner the watchwords, Atheism, Malthusianism, Re- publicanism. These formidable isms^ which philoso- 149 150 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. phers have excogitated in the closet or whispered in the salo7i, Mr. Bradlaugh has with stentorian voice proclauned from the housetop. It is not that his opin- ions differ so much from those entertained by many most respectable and intelligent members of ' ' society : ' ' his offence consists in having conveyed the news to the " man in the street." He has insisted on popularizing doctrines which ' ' vested interests ' ' desire to see im- parted only to a select body of initiated. In all such matters, however, there is really but one question to be asked : Has the propagandist acted in good faith ? has he been true to his own convictions ? Now, Mr. Bradlaugh is a very big man, as well in mind as in body, and large objects ought never to be inspected with a microscope. He has been the hero of a hundred fights, and it may well be that he has not on all occa- sions conducted himself with the perfect chivalry of a knight of romance. Still, taking him all in all, and having due consideration for the many hardships and temptations of a career such as his, I cannot doubt that he has been valiant — singularly valiant — for the truth as he has known it, and that he will be justly regarded by posterity as one of the most remarkable figures of his time and country. His anti-religious ideas are in the main repugnant to me, as I dare say they are to most of my readers ; but let us not judge Mr. Brad- laugh or any other public -spirited citizen by our par- ticular standard of spiritual rectitude. "Those who have not the law are a law unto themselves, their con- science accusing or excusing one another." To his own Master, to the light which lighteth every man who Cometh into this world, Mr. Bradlaugh must stand or fall. Judge not that 3 e be not judged. Rather let us CHAELES BRADLAUGH. 151 say, as did Oliver Cromwell in a somewhat similar case, " Sir, the state, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions : if the}^ be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies. I advised j^ou formerly to bear with men of different minds- from yourself. . . . Take heed of being too sharp or too easily sharpened by others against those to whom 3^ou can object little, but that they square not with you in every opinion concern- ing matters of religion." It is a work of some difficulty to summarize the checkered career of Mr. Bradlaugh. He himself has attempted it with indifferent success in a brief ' ' Auto- biography," clear enough so far as the narrative of events is concerned, but lacking somewhat in human interest. He was born at Hoxton in 1833. His father was a struggling, indefatigable solicitor's clerk, who could but ill afford to give his son Charles the scanty educa- tion which he actuall}^ received. At seven years of age he attended a national school in Abbey Street, Bethnal Green. Subsequently he was sent to a small private school in the same quarter, and in his eleventh 3'ear he completed his meagre educational curriculum at a boys' school in Hackney Road, having acquired little be^^ond a knowledge of the three R's. He is, consequently, for the most part a self-taught man ; but he has taught himself to some pmpose. His mind is in a splendid state of disciphne. You can account for the fact when you see his library, which is as extensive as it is curi- ous, — the well-worn accumulations of a life devoted to stormy controversy abroad and intense study at home. I never remember to have seen such a serviceable col- lection of argumentative shot and shell as on Mr. Brad- laugh's shelves. 152 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Mr. Bradlaugh was first employed as errand-boy to the firm which his father served. In his fourteenth year he was equal to the more important duty of acting as wharf-clerk and cashier to a firm of coal-merchants in Britannia Fields, City Eoad. While so engaged, the serious troubles of his life began. In his sixteenth year he was a model young Christian, an enthusiastic Sundaj^-school teacher, — altogether a promising neo- phyte of the Church as by law established. But he had not, like Mr. Spurgeon, attained to that chronic state of conversion, that sublime superiority to reason, which should enable him to dote with unutterable joy on such empty words as "Look, look, look! " The Bishop of London was announced to hold a confirma- tion in Bethnal Green ; and the incumbent of St. Peter's, Hackney Eoad, in an evil hour, requested his youthful Sundaj^-school teacher to be prepared with suitable an- swers to any questions that might be put by the Right Reverend Father in God aflecting the Thirty-Nine Articles and cognate matters. Lil^e an obedient son of the Church, young Bradlaugh complied, and began to compare the Articles with the Gospels ; but finding, as well he might, that they difl'ered, he wrote a respect- ful note to his clergyman, asking to be piloted through one or two of his difficulties. The ill-advised incum- bent replied by informing the lad's parents that their son had turned atheist, and that he had been sus- pended from his functions as a Sunday-school teacher for a period of three months. It is not given to the clerical profession, as a rule, to know much about human nature ; but this was an exceptional blunder. I do not know that Mr. Bradlaugh is constitutionally a doubter, — indeed, I think not; but he is a born CHARLES BRADLAXJGH. 153 fighter, a dialectical athlete revelling in the gaudium certaminis as a strong man rejoices to run a race. The young tiger had tasted blood. He refused to attend church during the interval of his suspension as a teacher, and soon began to spend his Sundays else- where and otherwise. The time (1849) was one of great religious and political ferment ; and Bonner's Fields, near where the Consumption Hospital now stands, was the habitual resort of disputants of all kinds. Thither Bradlaugh repaired to mingle with 3^outhful ardor in the fray, — at first on the orthodox Christian side, then as a deist, and ultimately as a full- fledged atheist or ne plus ultra infidel. How great a spark the rash, intolerant incumbent of St. Peter's had kindled ! Mr. Bradlaugh's next step on the downward path was to become a teetotaller, and this brought matters to a crisis. At the instance of the reverend gentleman, Mr. Bradlaugh's emplo^^ers gave him "three daj^s to change his opinions, or lose his situation." He might have swallowed one at a time ; but ' ' beer and the Bible " made his gorge rise. Rather than succumb, the poor boy elected to go out from his father's house a social outcast, and throw him- self on the stony-hearted world. Whether pride or principle had most to do with this hegira, it might be hard to say ; but, in any case, the die was irrevocably cast. He soon became known as a boy-preacher of the most audacious infidelity ; but it did not pay. Unlike Spurgeon's godliness, Bradlaugh's ungodliness was by no means " great gain." In his seventeenth year he found himself reduced to such straits that he was compelled to enlist in the Seventh Dragoon Guards ; and with this regiment he served for three years in Ireland, and 154 EMINENT LIBEEALS IN PAKLIAMENT. there he did not neglect his opportunities. He studied the grievances of the Irish people on the spot, and hence his never-failing sympathy with that much- enduring race. By his hand was drawn up the famous manifesto of the Irish Republic which ushered in the Fenian agitation. In 1853, through the death of an aunt, he inherited a small sum of money, out of which he purchased his discharge, and returned to London, quitting the regiment with a ' ' very good character ' ' from his colonel, who all along treated him with marked consideration. He was soon lucky enough to find emplo\^ment in the chambers of a solicitor named Eogers, a liberal-minded man, who was proof against all the shafts of anonymous bigotry which were showered on him as the harborer of Iconoclast. In this oflice Mr. Bradlaugh acquired a knowledge of legal principles and procedure of which the most eminent counsel at the English bar might well be proud. He again began to lecture in various metropolitan free- thought institutions, more particularly the Hall of Science, City Road, of which my friend, Mr. Evetyn Jeri'old, has recently given an account so just and graphic. In 1855 Mr. Bradlaugh had his first encounter with the police authorities in regard to the right of public meeting in Hyde Park. He carried his point, and was publicly thanked by the Royal Commission of Inquiry for the value of the evidence given by him on the occasion. In 1858 Mr. Edward Truelove, the weU- known and personally estimable free-thought publisher, was arrested for issuing the pamphlet, " Is T^^'annicide Justifiable ? ' ' while Simon Bernard was at the same time incarcerated, at the instance of the French Gov- CHARLES BEADLAUGH. 155 ernment, for alleged complicity in the Orsini con- spiracy. In the defence of both Mr. Bradlaugh ren- dered material assistance. " In October, 1860," said Mr. Bradlaugh in his "Au- tobiography," "I paid my first visit to Wigan, and certainly lectured there under considerable difficulty, the resident clergy actually inciting the populace to physical violence and part destruction of the building I lectured in. I, however, supported by a courageous woman and her husband, persevered, and, despite bricks and kicks, visited Wigan again and again until I had, hon gre^ mal gre^ improved the manners and customs of the people, so that I am now a welcome speaker there. I could not," he naively adds, "im- prove the morals of the clergy, as the public journals have recently shown ; but that was their misfortune, not my fault." In 1861 Mt. Bradlaugh was arrested at the instance of the Young Men's Christian Association of Plymouth ; but he succeeded, thanks to his forensic skill, in wring- ing from an unwilling bench of magistrates a prompt certificate of dismissal. Mr. Bradlaugh then, in turn, raised proceedings against the Plymouth superintend- ent of police for illegal arrest. The verdict, one far- thing damages, though unsatisfactory in the main, had yet two important results : it made the Plymouth au- thorities pay sweetly for their intolerance in the shape of costs, and it secured the right of free speech in Plymouth and adjoining towns. In 1862 a Church of England clergyman was guilty of a foul libel aflfecting the late Mrs. Bradlaugh and her two amiable and highly accomplished daughters, whom to know is to respect. "This fellow," says 156 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. Mr. Bradlaugh, " I compelled to retract every word he had uttered, and to pay a hundred pounds, which, after deducting costs, was divided amongst various charitable institutions. The reverend libeller wrote me an abject letter, begging me not to ruin his prospects in the Church by publishing his name. I consented, and he has since repaid my mercy by losing no opportunity of being of- fensive. He is a prominent contributor to ' TheEock,* and a fierce ultra-Protestant." Mr. Bradlaugh' s rela- tions with the Anglican priesthood, it must be ad- mitted, have at all times been most unfortunate. To the Reform League, in 1867, Mr. Bradlaugh rendered most valuable services, — services which, when his connection with the association ceased, were handsomely acknowledged in writing by the president, Mr. Beales, and the secretary, Mr. George Howell. To his marvellous courage and perseverance is it like- wise owing that the last fetter has been struck off the press of England. Up to 1869 every newspaper was required by law to give secm^ities to the extent of four thousand dollars against the appearance of blasphemous or seditious libels. Mr. Bradlaugh, refusing compliance, printed his journal " in defiance of her Majesty's Gov- ernment," and so repeatedly baffled the law officers of the crown in their prosecutions, that the statute had finally to be repealed, the late Mr. J. S. Mill writing thus to the defendant in connection with the event : ' ' You have gained a very honorable success in obtain- ing a repeal of the mischievous act by your persevering resistance. ' ' Mr. Bradlaugh was liliewise instrumental, after much costly litigation, in establishing the com- petenc}^ of freethinkers to give evidence in courts of law. He carried a case in which his testimony as CHABLES BRADLAUGH. 157 plaintiff was objected to from court to court till the Evidence Acts of 1869 and 1870 eventually relieved freethinkers from the disability so grievous and unjust. No sooner was he returned to Parliament than he found himself confronted by a similar difScult}^ So fresh in the public mind and so dramatic were the circumstances attending the attempt to exclude him from the House, that they need not be narrated here. Suffice it to say that the courage, ability, and tact with which Mr. Bradlaugh conducted his case have been handsomely acknowledged even by bitter opponents. During the Franco-Prussian war, Mr. Bradlaugh took no active part in favor of either side till the installation of the provisional republican government. Then, as might have been expected, he used his utmost influence on behalf of France. Great meetings were held in London, and in the leading provincial towns, to ex- press sympathy with the struggling republic, which, it was hoped, might ultimately be able to drive the in- vader from French soil. Twice was Mr. Bradlaugh put under arrest — once by the provisional govern- ment, and once by M. Thiers — for his presumed sup- port of dangerous sections of the republican party ; but his loj^alty to the cause of free government in France did not go unacknowledged. The Tours government thanked him for his fraternal efforts in a long and flat- tering letter signed by Gambetta, Cremieux, Glais Bi- zoin, and Fourichon ; while M. Tissot, the French charge d'affaires in England, and Emmanuel Arago, a mem- ber of the provisional government, addressed him in- dividually, the last-named eminent man concluding his note with the words : " Mr. Bradlaugh est et sera toujours dans la republique notre concitoyen." 158 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. In 1873 Mr. Bradlaugh conveyed to the short-lived republican government of Spain the congratulations of a great Eadical meeting held in the Town Hall of Birmingham, and was received bj^ the republicans of nearly every shade with open arms, notwithstanding an intimation, lodged by Mr. Layard in his ambassadorial capacit}^, that the Queen of England w^ould regard any manifestations of confidence in Mr. Bradlaugh as a personal affront. The speech which the English icono- clast delivered at the gi'eat banquet given in his honor at Madrid was marked by singular moderation of tone. He was perhaps the first Englishman who foresaw the accession of the Alphonsists to power. Towards the end of 1873 Mr. Bradlaugh visited the United States of America, and commenced an exten- sive lecturing tour, dealing with such subjects as Eng- lish republicanism, the Irish land question, &c. ; and, wisely shunning the field of religious controversy, he lectured in all the chief towns of New England and the middle States, and met generallj^ with a most cordial reception. At Boston — cultured, critical Boston — Wendell Phillips, '' the silver-tongued Demosthenes of America," presided at Mr. Bradlaugh' s lecture, with Senator Sumner and Lloj^d Garrison on the platform beside him. Mr. Phillips introduced* the gi-eat bug- bear of English public life as ' ' the Samuel Adams of 1873," the Samuel Adams of 1766 being " that austere patriot alwa3's faithful and true " who spoke the first words of defiant protest against the tjTanny of English monarchical rule in New England. The lecturer real- ized on an average the handsome sum of one hundred and sixty dollars per lecture. On the occasion of the Prince of Wales' mischievous CHARLES BRADLAUGH. 159 and insidiously planned jaunt to India, Mr. Bradlaugh was not wanting to the popular cause. He called the people together in Hyde Park, in which he may be said to have preserved the right of public meeting, and entered a spirited though unavailing protest against the subsidy ; and petitions bearing one hundred and thirty- five thousand signatures were in consequence laid on the table of the House of Commons. The shameless Tichborne imposture he relentlessly exposed, and throughout the late disgraceful Jingo episode in the history of the nation he was faithful even to the shed- ding of blood. At the second of the two memorable Jingo demonstrations in Hyde Park, he would in all probability have been killed but for his enoimous bodily strength and personal intrepidity. As it was, his left arm, with which he protected his head from the savage blows of his assailants, fell powerless by his side before he could cleave his way with a heavy trun- cheon to a place of safety. Erysipelas supervened, and for three weeks his life was in peril. It is but fair to add that five of his foemen found their way to St. George's Hospital. I have mentioned these matters with perhaps tedious minuteness, because in public life Mr. Bradlaugh, like politicians in better repute, has a right to be judged by his "fruits." It is but too common in respectable circles to regard him as a vulgar, self-seeking dema- gogue. Now, demagogue he may be, but certainly not in the objectionable, accepted sense of the word. He has never concealed his anxiety to get into Parlia- ment ; but of all the roads by which St. Stephen's may be approached he has certainly chosen the least likely and the most arduous. He has been at a world of 160 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. pains to spoil Ms own chances. All the great " in- terests " — royalty, aristocracy, plutocracy, church, chapel, public house — have arra3''ed themselves against him. Yet, excepting Mr. Gladstone, this man has per- haps the most attached personal following of any poli- tician in England. This unique position he has won by his daring, by his intellect, by his Titanic energy, and by his general thoroughness of character. If he is not a real hero, he is a surprisingly clever counterfeit. In his own way, and by his own example, he has in- spired many thousands of the most abject of his coun- trymen with re-invigorated feelings of self-reliance and renewed hope on earth. He has taught them the ines- timable lesson of self-help, of righteous indignation against oppression. On the other hand, like nearly all atheists whom I have known, he is a consummate egotist. He who rec- ognizes in nature no power greater than himself almost necessarily rises rapidly in self-esteem. There is very little room left for the Christian virtues of patience, hu- mility, charity. Indeed, these are pretty much what Mf. Bradlaugh attributes to Christ as faults of charac- ter. There is no God, and Charles Bradlaugh is his prophet. This is the secret of his power. Not that I mean to affirm in the least that Bradlaugh 's egotism is incompatible with the common weal. In a different way from Beesly or Spurgeon, he has arrived at cer- tainty. That is aU. He might sslj, like Faust, — " No scruples or doubts in my bosom dwell, Nor idle fears of devils in hell." Hurrah for the "Everlasting No!" On this sure foundation let the edifice of human happiness be erected. CHARLES BEADLAXJGH. 161 Absolute selfishness more or less enlightened — call it individualism, or by whatever name you will — is the way, the truth, and the life. Whenever any great world-synthesis of religious or moral ideas has broken down, this has been the inevitable result of analysis. But the human race can never permanently live on negations. In the heat of conflict, while the old system is dying and the new is unborn, they may appear almost like gospel truths ; but, when the ground has once been fairly cleared, their significance is at an end. Men once more begin to recognize in nature a more profound pur- pose, a more all-pervading intelligence, a more sacred continuity, than before. Comte attempted to piece to- gether the broken links of our faith, but failed. Mr. Bradlaugh merely dances an Indian war-dance in paint and feathers among the debris. It is, in my opinion, a poor and questionable occupation for so able a man. The Deliverer is yet to come, and there are many signs that he cannot now be far ofi". Meantime wise men will possess their souls in patience, awaiting with confi- dence the dawn of the better day. ' ' Almighty God ! thou wilt cause the daj^ to dawn ; but as yet struggles the twelfth hour of the night. Nocturnal birds of prey are on the wing ; the dead walk ; the living dream." But all this has little to do with Mr. Bradlaugh 's politics, which are of this world, and not of the next. He is peculiarly wanted at this moment at St. Stephen's, where a disease worse than paratysis has seized on the legislative bod}^ If the corpse can be revivified, he is the man to do it ; and Northampton has deserved well of the country at large in securing his return, should we even take no higher ground than this, that desperate diseases require desperate remedies. 162 EMINENT LIBERALS IN PAELIAMENT. I am, moreover, bound to say this in favor of Mr. Bradlaugh as a politician, that in all my experience I have never known him take the wrong side on any pub- lic question. And what he has been in the past he will be in the future. He could not now betray the people though he were to try. It is a disgrace to any system of government pretending to be representative that the acknowledged chief of militant English republicanism, and, what is of less consequence, of organized secular- ism, should have so long been excluded from the legis- lature of a country which he has done so much by ceaseless toil to preserve from sinking into political apathy. A better plea than the protracted exclusion of Mr. Bradlaugh from the House of Commons could not be adduced in favor of Mr. Hare's scheme of pro- portional representation. It remains to glance, however briefly, at Mr. Brad- laugh's published writings. These consist chiefly of theological and political essays. Of the former, the philosophical or expositional portion is, for a very diff'erent reason, about as worthless as those of Mr. Spurgeon ; while the historical — as, for example, the lives of David, of Jacob, and Jonah — is, to say the least, very amusing, though I should scarcely have thought the game worth the candle. Of his political works, on the other hand, all are accurate and of immediate in- terest. "Hints to Emigrants to the United States," in particular, no intending emigTant should be without. It is a plain, unvarnished tale, told by the most compe- tent and impartial observer who has yet applied his mind to this important subject. His sketches of Crom- well and Washington, though biography is by no means his forte, display statesmanlike insight. I conclude with the words of final '' Contrast : " — CHAELES BRADLAUGH. 163 " A fitting emblem for Oliver Cromwell is presented by'the grandly glorious western sunset. Still mighty in the fierceness of its rays, few eyes can look steadily into the golden radiance of that evening sun : the strongest must lower their glances, dazzled by its bril- liance. Every cloud is rich with ruddy gilding, as if the mere presence of that sun made glorious the very path it trod. And yet, while one looks, the tints deepen into scarlet, crimson, purple, as though that sun had been some mailed warrior, who had gained his grand pre-eminence by force of steel, and had left a bloody track to mark his steps to power. And, even while you pause to look, the thick dark veil of night falls over all, with a blackness so cold, complete, and impenetrable, as to make you almost doubt the reality of the mighty magnificence which yet has scarcely ceased. In the eventide of his life's day such a sun was Cromwell. Few men might look him fairly in the face as peers in strength. His presence gives a glory to the history page which gilds the smaller men whom he led. And yet Tredah and Worcester, Preston and Dunbar, and a host of other encrimsoned clouds compel us to remember how much the sword was used to carve his steps to rule. And then comes the night of death, — so thickly black, that even the grave cannot protect Cromwell's bones from the gibbet's desecration. And not unfittingly might the sunrise, almost without twi- light, in the same land, do service as emblem for George Washington. He must be a bold man who, in the mists and chills of the dying night, not certain of its coming, would dare to watch for the rising sun. And yet, while he watches, the silver raj^s, climbing over the horizon's hill, shed light and clearness round ; 164 EMIKEXT LIBERALS IN PARLIAMENT. and soon a golden warmth breathes life and health and beauty into blade and bud, giving hope of the meridian splendor soon to come. George Washington was the morning sun of a day whose noontide has not yet been marked, — a day of liberty rendered more possible now that slavery's cloud no longer hides the sun ; a day the enduring light of which depends alone on the honest republicanism of those who now dwell in that land where Washington was doorkeeper in Liberty's temple." EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELIAMEKT. EMINENT LIBEEALS OUT OF PAELIAMENT. I. JOHN MORLEY. " He was a scliolar, and a ripe and good one, Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading." OF all Swift's bitter sayings, the bitterest, perhaps, was his observation that mankind are about as well fitted for flying as for thinking. If this be true, — and it is not necessary to be much of a misanthrope to admit, that, generally speaking, the human mind is a very imperfect instrument, — nothing can be more de- plorable than the slight esteem in which the ablest thinkers are held by the majority of English electors. " Thirty millions of people, mostly fools," and with- out so much as the capacity to discern the importance of putting the helm of the state into the hands of the least foolish ! Howbeit, the phenomenon is not new. " There was a little cit}^, and few men within it ; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now, there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city ; yet no man remembered that same poor man." The true " saviours of society" are, after all, its ori- ginal thinkers. Of these England has at no time been 167 168 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. without her share ; and, in her treatment of them, politi- cally speaking, she has walked with remarkable fidelity in the footsteps of the men of "the little city." Wit- ness Mill and Westminster. Westminster, in a moment of illumination, elected as her representative in Parlia- ment the greatest political thinker in the kingdom, but soon felt the honor she had thus done herself more than she could bear, and retm'ned in haste to her vomit. In no other civilized country except England could such a man have been excluded for any length of time from the national councils. In France half a dozen signed articles would probabty have brought him about as many offers of seats in the legislature, while in the United States he would, to a certainty, have been made an ambassador of the first rank. Even Spain values her Castelars and Pi y Margalls. England alone keeps on, if not absolutely stoning the prophets, at least studi- ously neglecting them. The result we see in the heavy arrears of domestic legislation, the helplessness and criminality of our diplomacy abroad, and, worse than all, the disgust with representative institutions which a ParUament of intellectual imbeciles is sure, sooner or later, to inspire. That so distinguished an authority as Mr. Morley, on nearly every one of the great questions — political and ethical — which agitate modern societ}^, should never yet have found a place at St. Stephen's is a standing impeachment of the political sagacity of popu- lar constituencies. And it would be an additional cause for rejoicing if a scholar and a gentleman like Mr. Mor- ley could be made to replace one or other of the corrupt ring of ignorant, vainglorious, aldermanic gluttons who have taken so many of the London constituencies cap- JOHN MORLEY. 169 tive. The contrast of political type would be sharp and salutary, and an important outpost of the city Tammany might thus be carried. Westminster, after discarding Mr. Mill, was hardly entitled to have it placed in her power to reject the greatest of his disci- ples. As in the case of most speculative writers, the story of Mr. Morley's life is exceedingly simple, — almost necessarily an autour de ma cliamhre affair. His life is in his books, which have influenced the thoughts of many who have never read them. He was born at Blackburn in December, 1838, the son of a physician in good practice. The father set great store by learning, was somewhat eccentric, and a not wholly judicious parent. As might be expected in such circumstances, the future editor of " The Fortnightly" went the regu- lar round of school, college, and bar. He was educated at Cheltenham College, whence he proceeded to Oxford, where he graduated in 1859. Subsequently he kept terms at Lincoln's Inn, and was duly "called" to the bar by that honorable society, but never practised. It is not a little remarkable that all this time Mr. Morley showed no particular aptitude or even liking for study. He who has since dug so sedulously about the very roots of the tree of knowledge, among the primary conceptions of the human race, he who is now in the very vanguard of " free thought," was at college something of a mooning " Evangelical." Who in this mysterious world can foresee himself? What a contrast, for exam- ple, is here to the experience of his friend Mill, whose old pagan father, James, is credibly said to have im- parted to him when an urchin the somewhat startling intelligence that there is no God, coupled with a prudent 170 EMINENT LIBEEALS OUT OF PABLIAMENT. injunction to keep the information to himself ! Yet John Stuart Mill, if he had lived much longer, was apparently bidding fair to take a high place, not, certainly, among orthodox believers, but among the worthies of the Uni- tarian calendar. Most powerful intellects are either religious or religiously anti-religious, superstitious or superstitiously anti-superstitious. Mr. Morley belongs to the latter category, and the fact is not inexplicable. At a certain period of youth, when the passions are strong and reflection is weak, religious emotions very frequently come in — and come in opportunely — to supply the restraining influence of reason. When they are no longer needed, they die out ; and, if they have been very fervid, the more ingenuous order of minds is but too apt to resent them as idle delusions, and to rush into opposite extremes. Weaker and less ingenuous natures profess to feel them after they have ceased to influence, and so become religious hj^ocrites. The transition is not easy to make, and I am not sure that Mr. Morley has been quite successful in the operation. Throughout his writings, with all their patient truth- fulness and candor, I think I can discern a certain undercuiTent of unconscious bias on the question of religion, as if the pendulum of reason had swung back with such violence as to become slightly overbalanced. Unlilve Mill, who approached the subject from a unique stand-point of unpartialitj', he makes at once too much and too little of the theme. But, of this, more anon. In 1860 Mr. Morle}^ commenced his career as a jour- nalist and man of letters, and from the fii'st he laid the hand of a master on whatever he touched. His earliest contributions were to " The Leader," then an organ of advanced Liberalism, of which George Henry Lewes JOHN MORLEY. 171 was the first editor. He worked with a will, and soon became known to those whose business it is to gauge intellectual capacity. In 1863 he joined the staff of "The Saturday Review," on which he remained for five or six years. During that period he had for col- laborateurs three of the most formidable intellectual gladiators in England; viz., Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Sir William Vernon Har court, and Sir Henry Maine. " Tis heavy odds against the gods When they will match with Myrmidons." But Mr. Morley was equal to the occasion. Many of his " Saturday Review" articles were characterized by striking originality of thought and fearlessness of ex- pression. One in particular, entitled "New Ideas," made so deep an impression on Mr. John Stuart Mill, that he wrote to a friend anxiously inquiring who the author might be ; and thus were laid the foundations of a lifelong friendship of no ordinary intimacy and reciprocal esteem. I know hardly any thing finer in prose than the reverence, without obsequiousness, which pervades Mr. Morley 's article on the death of Mill. It is tl^e verj" poetry of a manly sorrow. " The nightin- gale which he longed for fills the darkness with music, but not for the ear of the dead master : he rests in the deeper darkness where the silence is unbroken forever. We ma}'- console ourselves with the reflection offered by the dying Socrates to his sorrowful companions : He who has arrayed the soul in her own proper jewels of moderation and justice and courage and nobleness and truth is ever ready for the journey when his time comes. We have lost a great teacher and example of knowledge 172 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. and virtue ; but men will long feel the presence of his character about them, making them ashamed of what is indolent or selfish, and encouraging them to all dis- interested labor, both in tr3dng to do good and in trying to find out what the good is, which is harder." Ever ready to do battle in the front rank of Liberal- ism, Mr. Morley chivalrously undertook to edit " The Morning Star " at a time when, for reasons chiefly connected with the commercial management, success was no longer possible. Through no fault of his, it was permitted to expire, and Radicalism thus lost a most faithful and competent advocate. From that day till the moment when he recentl}^ assumed the editorship of " The Pall Mall Gazette," that loss remained unre- paired, and it has been one of no ordinary seriousness to the party and to the country ; for since that time metropolitan Radicalism can hardly be said to have been represented in the daily press. In 1867 Mr. Morley succeeded Mr. Lewes in tlie editorship of " The Fortnightly," and in his hands a hitherto colorless magazine soon became the recog- nized medium of all manner of new and, not unfre- quently, very unpopular ideas. And this bold, uncompromising policy, I am glad to think, has met with a gTatifjdng measure of success. "The Fort- nightly" is a tower of strength to Radicalism in all its higher wallvs, and its editor is ever vigilant and resolute to " hold the fort" against all comers. In the same year that Mr. Morley became the editor of "The Fortnightly," he paid a short visit to the United States, and was introduced at the White House to the then President, Andrew Johnson. He did not, like certain weak-minded travellers, with whom we are JOHN MOELEY. 173 all acquainted, return professing to be cured for life of republican ideals. On the contrary, he came back favorably impressed with the simplicity of American official life, and confirmed generally in his democratic sympathies. In 1869, at a by-election, Mr. Morley contested his native Blackburn in the Radical interest, but without success. The "Conservative working-man" was against him. In certain Lancashire constituencies it can no longer be doubted that this anomalous being exists, and exists in force. Conservatism implies that there is something to conserve ; but in these God- forsaken regions you have the effect without the cause, — men guarding rigorously what they never possessed. It is as if a slave witii freedom within his grasp should cling tenaciously to his chains. Howbeit, Mr. Morley made as stubborn a fight as he did at Westminster at the last general election, and showed himself as cogent with his tongue on the platform as with his pen in the closet. He is a most skilful and persuasive speaker, with hardly a trace of those oratorical defects which general^ mar the public utterances of great authors. He knows the difference between the written and the spoken linguistic mould, and can deftly cast his thoughts in either. Dissenting, as he does, even from the most heterodox Dissenters, I have yet heard him speak with rare acceptance on a Liberation Society's platform to the pink and fiower of English Noncon- formity. Such a spectacle of ' mutual toleration is among the most hopeful signs of English public life. But it is at home in his literary workshop that the editor of ' ' The Fortnightly ' ' will be seen to most ad- vantage. The appointments of Berkeley Lodge, Put- 174 EMINENT LIBEBALS OUT OP PARLIAMENT. ney, are such as to make the mouths of more obscure journpjists water. The ample library looks out on a beautifully embowered lawn, while every domestic detail is /perfect. A man who cannot write well with such liappy surroundings has hopelessly mistaken his calling. And best of all is the frank, truthful, earnest conver- sation of the host himself. There is no evasion, no hedging. When I first met him, we plunged right into the questions of Deity, of the immortality of the soul, of the republic, of Robespierre, of Burke, of his friend Chamberlain, et de omni scibUi, in an hour's time. In reflecting, he has a curious habit of listening, as it were, to the tones of some far-off voice. I could not agree with many of his positions, but felt the greatest difficulty in maintaining my own. . His religious scepti- cism is very deep and subtle. He might, I dare say, if hard pressed, admit that there are evidences of divine arrangement in the universe amounting to a low degree of probability ; and, as regards a life beyond the grave, he might go the length of dreading, with Ham- let, " what di'eams may come in that sleep of death." But, in any case, he would turn away from such con- jectural speculations, and substitute social for religious duties. This at once raises the intricate question of the influence of religion on morality. Is the connection necessary, or accidental? It would not be difficult, for example, to show that the pagan Cetewaj^o was, throughout the Zulu troubles, a pattern of justice as compared with our eminently Christian High Commis- sioner, Sir Bartle Frere ; or that so public-spirited a citizen and infidel as Mr. Charles Bradlaugh would be a much more trustworthy custodian of other people's moneys than the pious directors of the City of Glasgow Bank. JOHN MORLEY. 175 But, granted that a man's religion has little or no influence over his moral conduct, what then? Man will ponder the strange problem of his destiny ; and those who believe that religion is a mere mental in- firmity must be prepared boldly to sum it up in the terrible words of Richter : " Of the world will become a world-machine, of God a force, and of the second world a coffin." Such teaching, it can hardly be doubted, would profoundl}^ alter the hopes, if not the moralities, of the more energetic portion of the human family. Bm-ns, in his most despairing poem, sang — " The poor, oppressed honest man Had surely ne'er been born Had there not been some recompense To comfort those who mourn." No comfort, alas ! no recompense. In such sore plight humanity, I fear, would be disposed to say with Marcus Antoninus, " It were well to die if there be gods, and sad to live if there be none." With respect to the question of a republic, Mr. Mor- ley's attitude, as might be expected in so courageous a political thinl^er, is clearly defined. He recognizes that, until the republican banner is boldly unfurled, we who are Radicals are condemned to strike at phantoms. He is, of com^se, at the same time, no partisan of any revolution other than a revolution of public opinion. In his powerful treatise on " Compromise," he says, " Our conviction is not, on the present hypothesis, that monarchy ought to be swept away in England, but that monarchy produces certain mischievous consequences to the public spirit of the community. And so what we are bound to do is to take care not to conceal this 176 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. conviction ; to abstain scrupulously from all kinds of action and observance, public or private, which tend ever so remotely to foster the ignoble and degrading elements that exist in a court, and spread from it out- wards ; and to use all the influence we have, however slight it may be, in leading public opinion to a right attitude of contempt and dislike for these ignoble and degrading elements, and the conduct engendered by them." This is not the language of saponaceous bishops or of turtle-fed aldermen ; but it is " the voice of sense and truth," albeit it was never heard at the Guildhall. With nearly all that Mr. Morley has written on Vol- taire, Rousseau, Diderot, Turgot, and the French Rev- olution, I cordially concur. To Robespierre alone I think he has done scant justice, while to Burke he has been more than kind. With the impartiality of a judge, and the insight of a statesman rather than of a man of letters, he has succeeded in dispelling much of the ob- scurity in which Mr. Carlyle is chiefly responsible for having involved the greatest movement of the mind of modern Europe. Carlyle' s "French Revolution" is undoubtedly a work of genius ; but so has a lurid ' ' noc- turne ' ' by Mr. Whistler been pronounced to be a work of genius. The trouble is that neither has the smallest resemblance to the original. The time is coming when, it is to be hoped, the English people will have forgotten all about the " sea-greenness " of Robespierre, and re- member only his unquestioned and unquestionable ' ' in- corruptibilitj^ " Mr. Morley' s objection to Carlyle 's bogey does not lie in a nickname ; but I think he would, perhaps, have regarded Robespierre with a kindlier eye if he had not been the author of the dictum, " Atheism JOHN MORLEY. 177 is aristocratic. The idea of a Great Being who watches over oppressed in7iocence and punishes triumphant crime is essentially the idea of the people,''^ Mr. Morley' s admiration for Burke I am wholly un- able to comprehend. To bracket him with Milton is lilve comparing a penny whistle to an organ. Nay, those who thought only of dining when he thought of convincing were not so culpable as has been insinuated. It would have been greatly to the advantage of England and of Europe if Burke had never crossed St. George's Channel. As a practical politician, Mr. Morley has strenuously exerted himself to secure two great objects, — to level down the Church politically, and to level up the work- ing-class socially, with a view to unite the whole people in the pursuit of national as distinguished from sectional ideals. As president of the Midland Institute, in 1876, he delivered a remarkable address on " Popular Cul- ture " in the Birmingham Town Hall, — an address which will be found to embody opinions of the highest wisdom, and sentiments of the noblest aspiration. It ends thus, and with it this notice must also end : " When our names are blotted out and our place knows us no more, the energy of each social service will remain, and so, too, let us not forget, will each social disservice re- main like the unending stream of one of Nature's forces. The thought that this is so may well lighten the poor perplexities of our daily life, and even soothe the pang of its calamities. It lifts us from our feet as on wings, opening a larger meaning to our private toil and a high- er purpose to our public endeavor ; it makes the morn- ing as we awake to its welcome, and the evening like a soft garment as it wraps us about ; it nerves our arm 178 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. with boldness against oppression and injustice, and strengthens our voice with deeper accents against false- hood, while we are yet in the full noon of our days ; jes, and perhaps it will shed some ray of consolation when our eyes are growing dun to it all, and we go down into the Valley of Darkness." 11. ROBERT WILLIAM DALE. " Well done ! thy words are great and bold: At times they seem to me. Like Luther's in the days of old, Half battles for the free." EADICALISM is like a great world-haven which many ships reach by divers ocean-tracks. It is a generous fruit which grows on trees of many species. The editor of ' ' The Fortnightly,' ' about whom I had somewhat to say in the preceding article, and the Won- hearted pastor of Carr's-lane Chapel, Bkmingham, — what a contrast ! How far apart their motives ! how closely allied their pubhc aims ! The earnest ' ' ration- alist" and the earnest religionist are sworn brothers in political conflict, — the one, because, like Abou Ben Adhem, he is content to be written down simply " as one that loves his fellow-men ; " the other, because he is penetrated by the apostolic conception that he is a "co-worker" with his Divine Master in the sacred cause of humanity. Mr. Dale is a political Christian, a sort of spiritual ultilitarian of a remarkable type, — the best living em- bodiment of the traditions of the sect to which Ohver Cromwell belonged ; not orthodox certainly, as the Scribes and Pharisees hold orthodoxy, but still, for so powerful an intellect, strangely orthodox. 179 180 EMINENT LIBEKAXS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. " I am very sensible," says Swift, in his "Argu- ment to prove that the Abolishing of Christianity might be attended by some Inconveniences," "how much the gentlemen of wit and pleasure are apt to murmur and be shocked at the sight of so many dag- gled-tail parsons who happen to fall in their way and offend their e^^es ; but, at the same time, these wise reformers do not consider what an advantage and feli- city it is for great wits to be alwaj^s provided with objects of scorn and contempt in order to exercise and improve their talents and divert their spleen from fall- ing on each other or on themselves. . . . We are daily complaining of the gi-eat decline of wit among us ; and would we take away the greatest, perhaps the only, topic we have left?" Well, if there are any such great wits about who have a desire to exercise their talents in this particular way, I should strongly recom- mend them to go down to Birmingham, and break a lance with the minister of Carr' s-lane Chapel. He' is a man of the people, and will give them a kindly wel- come. If they do not find him at home in his formida- bly equipped study, deep in the production of some sj^stematic theological treatise on the Atonement or the Ten Commandments, they will be pretty sure to dis- cover him either at* a Liberal ward committee, at the Liberal Association Rooms in consultation with the taciturn strategist Schnadhorst, or haranguing an ob- streperous multitude of electors in the Town Hall. \Yhen he is disengaged, he will be at their service ; and, if they get much amusement at his expense, I wonder. A happier, heartier man than Mr. Dale — he dis- claims the "Rev." as a rag of priestcraft — I never met, combining as he does in no ordinary measure BOBERT WILLIAM DALE. 181 the laureate's desiderata of manhood, — " heart, head, hand." His practice squares with his theory of life to a nicety. His soul is in his work. Like Cromwell, he pra3^s to God, and keeps his powder dry. What good, he is never tired of asking, is the petition, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," if a man is not prepared at the call of duty to take off his coat and descend into the political arena to wrestle with the powers of Conservative darkness? In one of his "Nine Lectures on Preaching," delivered as L^^man Beecher lecturer at the University of Yale, Connecti- cut, — a series of papers not less distinguished by prac- tical wisdom than literary merit, — he told the students of the theological faculty, — ' ' In your pastoral preaching you ought not to omit to illustrate the law of Christ in relation to public duty. Perhaps you have sometimes met good people who have informed jou, in a tone of spiritual self-complacency, that they have never been in a polling-booth. They do not seem to understand that the franchise is a trust, and that it imposes duties. A secretary of state might as well make it a religious boast that he habitually neglected some of the work belonging to his depart- ment. The duties of an individual voter may be less grave than the duties of an official politician ; but neg- lect in either case is a crime against the nation. I think it possible that the time may come when men who refuse to vote will be subjected to church disci- pline, like men who refuse to pay their debts. The plea that the discharge of political duty is inconsistent with spirituality ought to be denounced as a flagrant piece of hypocrisy. It is nothing else. The men who urge it are not too spiritual to make a caup in cotton or 182 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. coffee. Although they profess to be alarmed at the spiritual terrors of the ballot-box and of an occasional hour in a political conunittee-room, they are not afraid that their spirituality will suffer if they spend eight hours every day in their store or their counting-house. Their spirituality is of such a curious temper that it receives no harm from pursuits — no matter how secu- lar — by which they can make money for themselves ; but they are afraid of the most disastrous consequences if they attempt to render any service to their country. The selfishness of these men is as contemptible as their hypocrisy. They consent to accept all the advantages which come from the political institutions of the nation, and from the zeal and fidelity of their fellow-citizens. . . . People who are so very spiritual that they feel compelled to abstain from political life ought also to renounce the benefits which the political exertions of their less spiritual fellow-citizens secure for them. They ought to decline the services of the police when they are assaulted ; they ought to refuse to appeal to such an unspiritual authority as a law court when their debts are not paid ; and when a legacy is left them they ought piously to abstain from accepting it, for it is only by the intervention of public law that they can inherit what their dead friends have left them. For men to claim the right to neglect their duties to the state on the ground of their piety, while they insist on the state protecting their persons, protecting their property, and protecting from disturbance even their religious meetings in which this exquisitely delicate and valitu- dinarian spirituality is developed, is gross unrighteous- ness. It is as morally disgraceful as for a clerk to claim his salary from his employer after leaving other EGBERT WILLIAM DALE. 183 men to do the work for which his employer pays him." Plain speaking of this sort from the Carr's-lane and other Nonconformist pulpits of BuTiiingham has mate- rially helped to preserve the borough from the arrow of Barnaby which flieth by day, and the pestilence of Jingo which stalketh by night. Mr. Dale was born in London, in December, 1829. His early education was received chiefly at a private school in Finsbury Square, kept by a Mr. Willey. After a brief period of probation as an assistant master, he removed to Birmingham to attend Springhill Col- lege, a training-school of the Congregationalists, — the religious denomination of his parents. Here he re- mained for the whole curriculum of six yeai^ ; and in 1853 he graduated at London University, carrying off the gold medal in the department of philosophy and political economy. Among his tutors at Springhill was Henry Rogers, author of the once popular work, "The Eclipse of Faith." Rogers had a fine literary taste, with which he did not fail to imbue his pupils. A strong friendship sprang up between the old man and Dale, and to this day the latter acknowledges his obli- gations to his master with almost juvenile warmth. Another remarkable friend of Dale's youth was a man renowned in the world of Evangelic Nonconformity, John Angell James. He was for over half a century the pastor of Carr's-lane Chapel, and Dale had no sooner finished his studies than he was appointed his colleague and successor. James imagined that he him- self was a stanch Calvinist. But Calvinism his suc- cessor could not swallow ; and, shortly after his appoint- ment, he one Sunday opened a vigorous fire on its cardinal dogma, and set the congregation by the ears. 184 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELIAMENT. James, appealed to by alarmed church-goers, magnani- moLisl}' defended his colleague. ' ' He is a 3^oung man,' ' he said ; ' ' but the root of the matter is in him. Wait: you will see." They waited, but did not see ; for the young man hardened his heart, and to this day repudiates the doctrine which " sends ane to heaven and ten to hell, a' for Thy glory," as unscriptural and revolting. James himself had a naive excuse for practically banishing it from his preaching. " Ah, well ! " he would say, " you see the Scriptures don't say much about it." In relation to eternal punishment, Mr. Dale's position is that of an exegetical Darwin. He believes that hereafter the spiritually fittest will alone ultimately sur- vive. With him the spiritual, and not the material, is the real. There is a Light which lighteth every man that Cometh into this world, be he Jew or Gentile, Christian or pagan. It is a plastic theory, of which much may be made by a humane mind. Accordingly, Mr. Dale is a very cosmopolitan sort of Christian. He is a strong admirer of Mr. Moody, of Moody and Sankey fame ; and he is a sworn friend, at the same time, of Mr. Crosskey, the leading Unitarian heresiarch of Birming- ham. "Of old things all are over-old, Of good tilings none are good enough ; He'll sliow that he can help to frame A Church of better stuff." The Carr' s-lane congregation consists of over fifteen hundred "souls," though I fear their pastor counts them as frequently by "votes." They are largely composed of working-men and small tradesmen, — near- ly all Liberals. A sprinkling are quasi-Conservatives ; EOBEET WILLIAM DALE. 186 among the latter a wealthy alderman, about whom Mr. Dale tells with glee how he described one of his special expositions of Christian truth as " a brilliant farrago of democratic nonsense . ' ' And this has struck me as a peculiar feature of Bir- mingham Radicalism. It is intense, without being bit- ter or personally rancorous. It may be different in the actual throes of an election contest, which I have never witnessed ; but ordinarily there is a gratifjdng exhibition of mutual respect among political opponents. There is, at all events in the Dale f amity, a kindly tendency to regard a Tory as an " undeveloped Liberal," who will do better by and by. The political evangel, like the religious, is not completely closed to any. I shall never forget my first impression of the Dale household. A ward election was impending at the time ; and Mrs. Dale, a lady not less remarkable than her husband for vigor of mind and public spirit, was in the thick of it canvassing the women electors, note-book in hand, as if the salvation of the borough depended on the issue. I had alwa^^s regarded canvassing as more or less demoralizing work ; but it depends largely on the spirit in which it is conducted. Mrs. Dale was a model canvasser, using no argument — even with the most ignorant — which did not appeal to their better reason. The result was mutually beneficial. The accomplished lady had her sympathies with the poor braced, and her knowledge of their wants extended ; while her less fortunate sisters had their political education, to some extent at least, improved by coming in contact with a superior mind. The interest taken in politics by the youngest members of the family, hardly in their teens, would have been comical if it had not been so genuine and intelligent. 186 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. The political soundness of Birmingham Mr. Dale traces back to the old Dr. Priestley leaven, which is still at work in the community. The good which that great man did has not been interred with his bones. The Tory mob of his day stoned him ; but the present gen- eration has built him a worthy sepulchre. The solidarity of the Bii'mingham Liberal vote is less easy to account for. Mr. Dale thinks the large number of small em- ployers of labor, who are onl}^ a few degrees removed from the condition of their employes^ has much to do with it ; and he is probably right. There is more of what the French call egalite in Birmingham than in any other town in England. No doubt there are snobs there as elsewhere ; but I have not had the misfortune to meet them. Eich men like Mr. Chamberlain are devoted to Radical principles, and that sets the fashion. Given, moreover, culture and religion on the same side, and the worst Conservative foe that remains to be over- come is ignorance. This last-named obstacle to the triumph of Radical- ism Mr. Dale has set himself vigorously to combat. He was one of the most strenuous champions of the famous National Education League, which had for its object the complete separation of religious from secular instruction in board schools. To seek to disestablish religion in the church, and to hasten to estabhsh it in the school, did not seem to some Nonconformists too glaring an inconsistenc3^ The minister of Carr's Lane thought otherwise, and was returned at the first school- board election in the purely " secular" interest, along with Chamberlain, Dawson, Wright, Dixon, and Vince. They were in a minorit}^ on account of the inexperience of the party managers in working the cumulative vote. EGBERT WILLIAM DALE. 187 At the ensuing election, however, the}^ succeeded in securing a bare majority ; and public education in Bir- mingham was " secularized" at a blow. Since then, alas ! there has been a certain retrogression. The board, which consists of fifteen members, is subdivided into five committees, — Finance, Education and School Management, Sites and Buildings, General Purposes, and Night Schools ; and it requires no small amount of skilful manipulation to supply each of these with a Liberal chairman. Mr. Dale has acted as chairman of the hardest-worked of all the committees ; viz.. Education and School Management. He is, moreover, under the new government scheme for the better conduct of the grammar-school with its large revenues, a governor ; having been appointed to that honorable office by the University of London. But, though the School Board of Birmingham has discharged its duties with exemplary efficiency, Mr. Dale is opposed, on principle, to the multiplication of such authorities. He would strengthen the local parliament, the Birmingham Town Council, and place everj" civic interest in its keeping. The corporation already man- ages the gas and water supplies, and Mr. Dale would not shrink from charging it with the control of educa- tion and of the liquor traffic as well. I cannot but think he is right. Every thing that tends to fritter away the authority and dignity of our municipalities is an injury to the public spirit of a community, and there is no surer mode of bringing about a result so undesirable than the senseless multiplication of local boards. It is the latest application of one of the most ancient maxims of tyranny. Divide et impera. There is neither inside nor outside Parliament a more 188 EMINENT LIBEEALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. eloquent and uncompromising advocate of church dises- tablishment than Mr. Dale. He approaches the ques- tion primarily from the old Puritan stand-point; viz., that the State cannot rightfully legislate for the Church. The latter is to the former what the conscience is to the individual. The things of Csesar and the things of God must be kept asunder. Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo. The union of Church and State is a foul liaison, which use can never convert into just matri- mony. Such is his theory. Now for a statement of the practical disadvantages of the Anglican establish- ment. " To a Nonconformist," he says in his "Im- pressions of America," — a series of admirable sketches, political, social, educational, and religious, contrib- uted to " The Nineteenth Century-," — " travelling in America, one of the freshest sensations arises from the absence of an ecclesiastical establishment. In England I am reminded wherever I go that the State is hostile to my religious opinions and practices. Diocesan episcopacy, in my judgment, deprives the commonalty of the Church of many of their rights, and releases them from many of their duties ; but in ever}^ parish I find an Episcopal clerg3inan, who, according to Mr. Forster's accurate description, is a servant of the State. Though I am a minister of religion, the civil government has placed me under the spiritual charge of the Vicar of Edgbaston : that excellent gentleman is my pastor and religious teacher. I am not obliged to hear him preach ; but the State has thought it neces- sary to intrust hun with the duty of instructing me iu Christian truth, and celebrating for my advantage the Christian sacraments. The doctrine of baptismal re- generation seems to me a mischievous superstition ; but EOBEET WILLIAM DALE. 189 I cannot say this to anybody without being in revolt against a great national institution. Now and then I am bound to liberate my conscience, and I tell my con- gregation what I think of the doctrine ; but within a couple of hundred yards there are two national build- ings, in which, under the authority of the State, the State clergy give thanks to Almighty God for the regeneration of every child they baptize, and in which gi'own men and women are taught that in baptism they were made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. The law is against me. It tolerates me, but condemns me. It barks, though it does not bite. It describes me as being among those people in divers parts of this realm who, ^ following their own sensuality and living without knowledge and due fear of God, do wilfully ancl schis- matically refuse to come to parish churches.' It has provided a Book of Conunon Prayer, that ' every person within this realm may certainty know the rule to which he is to conform in public worship.' I am permitted to break the rule ; but the rule stands. It is the policy of the State to induce the country to accept or retain religious doctrines which seem to me to be erroneous, and an ecclesiastical polity which seems to me to be unfriendly to the free and vigorous development of the rehgious life. The position of a Nonconformist in this country is, to say the least, not a pleasant one. His religious work is carried on in the presence of a gov- ernment which condemns his creed, condemns his modes of worship, condemns his religious organization, and sustains the authority of a hostile Church. In the United States I breathed freely." Mr. Dale has travelled in the East and in the West. 190 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. He has visited Egypt, the Sinaitic Desert, and Pales- tine. His American wanderings, however, have borne the most valuable fruit. His published "Impressions" of the States are the best compliment to Sir Charles Dilke's " Greater Britain " with which I am acquainted. They supply exactly the sort of information one desires with regard to that mighty theatre of new social and political experiments. That so many competent ob- servers are now turning theh footsteps towards the far West is a subject for unqualified congratulation. " Was ' The Mayflower ' launched by cowards ? Steered by men behind their time ? Turn those paths towards past, or future, That make Plymouth Rock sublime ? " It is a Western and not an Eastern policy of which England stands most in need. Overthrow the aris- tocrac}^ of this countrj^, and there will be no insuperable barrier to a grand re-union of the two great branches of the English-speaking race. When the pressure of Mr. Dale' s pastoral and politi- cal duties is considered, the tale of his literary labors is immense. They include a "Life of John Angell James," a volume of "Week-Day Sermons," "The Atonement,' ' which ran through seven editions in four years, "Lectures on Preaching," "Discourses on Special Occasions," " The Ten Commandments," " Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews," an " Essay on Lacordahe," another on "George Dawson," "A Reply to Mr. Matthew Arnold' s Attack on Puritanism," " The Necessity for an Ethical Revival," &c. Besides contributing to "The British Quarterly," " The Fort- nightly," " The Contemporary," and " The Nineteenth BOBERT WILLIAM DALE. 191 Century," he has acted as joint editor of" The Eclectic Review, ' ' and for seven years as editor of ' ' The Con- gregationalist," the organ of his denomination. In regard to many of these multifarious matters, I am far from being able to see eye to eye with him ; but he is always earnest, honest, able, tolerant, the steady, stout- hearted friend of civil and religious liberty, as he un- derstands civil and religious libertj^ In one of the hymns compiled by Mr. Dale, still sung at Carr's-lane Chapel, I read, — " Unlearn not the lore tliy Wycliffe well learned, Forsake not the cause thy Milton approved, Forget not the fire where thy Latimer burned, Nor turn from the truth thy Cromwell so loved." To younger Eadicals among us, who draw inspiration from less venerable historic sources, such injunctions may appear superfluous. But they are still real to many of the best men and women in England, with whom it should be our pride and pleasure to co-operate. Mr. Dale can pour new wine into old bottles without accident. He is likewise perfectly familiar with the uses of the newest bottles of Liberalism, as will be dis- covered by any one who cares to read his presidential address delivered to the members of the Birmingham Junior Liberal Association in October, 1878. He is one of the most effective platform speakers in Great Britain, and would make a heaven-born parliamentary candidate for a great popular constituencj^ Is it past prajdng for that such a man should be translated from Carr's Lane, Birmingham, to the wider sphere of use- fulness at St. Stephen's, Westminster? III. JOSEPH ARCH. " Men rough and rude pressed round To hear the praise of one Whose heart was made of manly, simple stuff, As homespun as their own." SINCE Wat Tyler perished b}^ the hand of the assas- sin Maj^or of London, Walworth, the agricultural laborers of England have had no more sincere and capable leader than Joseph Arch. To sketch his career is in a gTeat measure to depict the condition and characteristics of his class, — a numerous and unportant section of Englishmen, — of whom, until quite recently, less, perhaps, was known for certain than of Afghans, Zulus, or the Ten Lost Tribes. For centuries they had been forgotten helots, — mute bearers of other men's burdens, — the starved, unlettered, hereditar}^ bonds- men of " merr}^ England." Their miser}' gave the lie direct to our boasted prosperity and freedom. The statue might be imposing ; but the feet were obviously of cla}^ " And behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter ; and on the side of the oppressors there was power." Yea, ver}' great power and vcr}^ tenible oppression. On the agi'icul- tural laborer of England rests to this day the curse of the Norman Conquest, — the economic damnation of 192 JOSEPH ARCH. 193 the " three profits," — of which our " miraculous Pre- mier" is so enamoured, that he has taken to demon- strating that the arrangement is a law of nature. The English laborer is the true servus servorum. the slave of the farmer, who is in turn the slave of land- lord and parson. On him presses with crushing weight the whole fabric of " society." He is the subject-mat- ter, the corpus vile of the great unpaid. Where were the judicial dignity of Justice Shallow but for the pec- cant Hodge who pilfers a turnip, gathers a mushroom, or knocks over a hare? Where were the pride of "officers and gentlemen," were there no regiments of full privates recruited from rural England to command ? On whom could the so-called National Church unctu- ously enjoin contentment with the condition of life wherein it has pleased God to place them, were there no serfs of the soil among her presumed adherents ? Indeed, for man}^ generations the combination of powers spiritual and temporal against the English agri- cultural laborer has been so irresistible, that the marvel is he has the smallest manhood left. Reform after re- form has passed him by unheeded, or rather has in- creased the distance between him and other classes of the community. The Protestant Reformation deprived him of the charities of the monasteries, and in their place piit in force poor laws of unexampled barbarity. It found him sunk in ignorance, and it kept him so. In time reform bills came ; but who should bestow fran- chises on a being so abject? Free trade gave a new impetus to British commerce ; but, let the economists explain it as best they maj^, the Manchester cornuco- pia never poured any of its abundance into Hodge's lap. He was seemingly bej^ond the beneficent opera- 194 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. tion even of economic laws. For five and twenty years he had, with more or less variation, been going from bad to worse. So much indeed was this the case, that the opening of 1872 found the actual tillers of English soil in a state of " depression" bordering on actual famine. Then it was that the Agricultural Laborers' Union took root, and Mr. Joseph Arch first became known to the public as the Moses who had been raised up to lead his down-trodden brethren out of the house of bondage. Like his prototype, he might have gone over to the oppressor, much to his own advantage, in the capacity of land steward to a local Pharaoh ; but he had resisted the temptation, and, when the hour struck, the man was ready. Joseph Arch, founder and president of the Agricul- tural Laborers' Union, was born in November, 1826, at Barf or d, — a beautiful village, of some eight hundred souls, about three miles from the historic town of War- wick. All about are stately mansions of the great, and Shakespeare' s Avon winds close by through lovely meadows studded with majestic trees. Like himself, Arch's father and grandfather were industrious, ill-re- quited hewers of wood and drawers of water. How- beit, — " Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys and destiny obscure; Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor." The life-story of Mr. Arch's father is short enough, and sad enough. Unlike his son, he was a man of peace, disposed in all things to conform to the behests of the powers that be ; but he ' ' drew the line some- where," and not to his advantage. He was sufficiently JOSEPH ARCH. 195 ill-advised to refuse to sign a petition in favor of the corn laws, and so became by one rash act a " marked man," on whom "quality" never after smiled. For more than fift}^ jesus he toiled ; and, when at last he was no longer able to drag his weary limbs to the fields, he took to bed, and sorrowfully turned his face to the wall. The savings of a lifetime of painful industry and fru- gality amounted to four shillings and sixpence ! The denoument I cannot better describe than in the words of the Rev. Mr. Attenborough, whose faithful sketch of Mr. Arch I cordially recommend to those who may wish further information regarding the origin of the National Agricultural Laborers' Union, and the early career of its founder : — "The worn, crumbling Arch, just tumbling down, was to be propped up with ' good support,' and there was four shillings and sixpence towards providing it. ' Give him some beef- tea, get him a drop of good wine if you can, and take this prescription to the chemist's." The poor patient's friends sat wondering, and weighing his four and sixpence against the doctor' s counsel : it was nowhere. The old man wept, knowing he was, after all his work, to become a burden to those he loved, and who, as he knew, had barely enough for themselves. ' I be afeared, Joe, the parish will give thee nothin' for me, be'n as yer a Dissenter.' Joe was not anxious they should : but Joe' s wife had been in the habit of earning a couple of shillings a week at char- ing ; and, now that the old man wanted nursing, she had to give this up, and stop at home. To the guardians Arch made a reasonable offer. ' Gentlemen, I don't want you to support my aged father ; but if you will give my wife one" shilling and sixpence towards nursing 196 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. liiin, now that she is cut off her charing, I shall be much obliged to you. It isn't much ; it's less than the loss of my wife's earnings, and nothing towards the expense.' — ' Certainly not, Arch : yoiu" father can go to "the house," and you must pay one and sixpence towards his support.' — ' Good morning, gentlemen. I'd sooner rot under a hedge than he should go there.' The old man lingered for ten months ; and, during the last few weeks of his life, the parish, against Arch's will, but with the consent of his wife, allowed him one shilling and sixpence and a loaf ! Then he died ; and his son bought him a coffin, and hid him down in the earth, on whose broad, bountiful breast there seemed to be no room for him. Fifty 3^ears a worker, thirt}^ j^ears a ratepayer, a life's saving of four shillings and six- pence, a choice between the workhouse and his son's poor cottage, eighteenpence and a loaf for two months, — this was the life-story of Arch, senior !" Nor was this in ante-union da}' s an isolated instance of hardship. On the contrary, so far from being the exception, it was the rule. Work as hard and live as sparingly as one might, the inevitable goal was the workhouse. Wages would admit of no- other result ; and this in Christian Jingo England, with its ' ' miracu- lous Premier ' ' and its capacity for undertaking unlim- ited campaigns ! The thought burns like a hot iron, and the warning word ' ' Beware ! ' ' rises to indignant lips, — '' Lest, when our latest hope is fled, Ye taste of our despair, And learn by proof in some wild hour How much the wretched dare." It was not from his father, but from his mother, that JOSEPH ARCH. 197 Mr. Arch inherited his moral stamina. She was a wo- man of well-defined views in religion and politics, lean- ing strongly towards Nonconformity and Radicalism. She could both read and write, — rare accomplishments for one in her lowly station of life ; and, before her boy was six years of age, he could, thanks to her tuition, do likewise. Thereupon he was sent to the village school, where he remained for two years and three-quarters ; and then his education was pronounced complete. Money was wanted above all things in the Arch household ; and at the ripe age of eight years and three-quarters young Arch commenced to earn his livelihood as a bird-scarer or " crow-kepper,'* with wages at the rate of fourpence per diem. In South Warwickshire the living scare- crows are dressed as nearly as possible like the more common inanimate objects with which farmers are wont to adorn their potato-fields. They are supposed to be more eff'ective than the voiceless stationary " keppers," inasmuch as from dawn till eve they move from field to field, emitting all manner of strange and alarming sounds. Their garb is, however, so grotesque, that the birds, it is hinted, draw near for the purpose of laugh- ing at them ; and so the provident husbandman's lauda- ble aim is frustrated. At ten years of age Joseph was considered ripe for the more responsible occupation of plough-driving. All day long the poor lad would trail his heavily clogged boots by the side of the horse, to whose gearing he would occasionally have to cling from sheer exhaustion. Thereupon the furrow would bulge, and the incensed ploughman, dexterously hurling at him a great clod, would lay him prone, face downwards, on the just up- turned soil. 198 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PABLTAMENT. Nor did material hardships constitute his sorest trials. As he grew older, and entered on his " teens," he was promoted to drive a team in harvest-time, and felt him- self every inch a man. His employer, thoughtlessly taking advantage of his youthful elation of spirits, plied him with excessive quantities of liquor ; and, but for the peremptory steps taken by Mrs. Arch to keep her bo}^ in the strait path of sobriety, the apostolate of the agricultural laborers might have been rendered forever impossible in the person of Joseph Arch. In his six- teenth 3^ear this kind, judicious mother was no more ; but her admonitions were indelibly impressed on her son's mind. To his mother Arch ascribes whatever good he has been able to achieve. At twenty years of age Arch's character was no longer to form. He was a local preacher, and earning the highest wages to be made as an agricultural laborer; viz., eleven shillings a week. Several eligible opportunities occurred for bettering his condition ; but he resolved, instead, to " stand by the old man." Shortly after, he married the daughter of a local arti- san, — a woman of great natural endowments both of head and heart. Though uneducated, technically speaking, she is perhaps superior to her husband as a speculative politician. At every step she has stimulated his zeal b}^ steady devotion to great principles, — greater, perhaps, than it would naturally occur to him to advo- cate. In due course two children were born to them, and Arch' s wages unhappily fell to nine shillings a week. Four persons to maintain at the rate of say fourpence per head per diem ! The thing, Mrs. Arch declared, could not be done ; and so she took a bold step. She partially returned to her ante-nuptial employment, while JOSEPH ABCH. 199 her husband took up his tools, and scoured the country in quest of more remunerative work than was to be had in the neighborhood of Barford. For months he never crossed his own threshold. In his wanderings he encountered poverty beside which even the Barford standard was one of comparative plenty. In Hereford- shu-e he found able-bodied men with wives and families toiling from morning till night for seven shillings a week. With one of these he once lodged. How the wife and children subsisted Arch could never ascertain ; but the husband fared thus : " Breakfast, a dry crust ; dinner, ditto ; supper, — the great meal of the day, — sometunes ' scald-chops,' a dainty dish consisting of broken bread moistened by pouring hot water upon it, and sometimes a pint of cider warmed over the fire and a crust dipped into it. This from Monday till Satur- day, and on Sunday occasio7ially a bit of bacon." He beheld the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter ; and he vowed in the bitterness of his heart, that, if ever an opportunity should present itself, he would try to be that comforter. The clock struck sooner than he expected. Presently he was enabled to return to Barford to undertake "jobs" which required the assistance of other " hands." As an employer he was not merely considerate, but generous. His own special- ty as an agricultural laborer is hedge-cutting : he is the champion hedge-cutter of all England. All his life Mr. Arch has been addicted to reading. His earlier studies were chiefly of a pietistic character : he devoured the Bible, the " Pilgrim's Progress," Pike's " Early Piety," " Pearson on Infidelity," et hoc genus omne. He still preaches to vast audiences, generally twice and sometimes three times on Sundays. Origi- 200 EMINENT LIBEKALS OUT OE PARLIAMENT. nally a Primitive Methodist, he has latterly laid aside the shibboleths of sect altogether, and taken his stand on the common ground of Christ's humanitarian precepts, and the example of his spotless, self-sacrificing life. His experience as a local preacher in addressing large audiences is to a great extent the secret of his success as a political agitator. The National Agricultural Laborers' Union was start- ed in this wise : " On the 5th of July, 1872," — I quote Mr. Arch' s own unvarnished narrative of ' ' The Rise and Progress of the National Agricultural Laborers' Union," — "two farm-laborers, named Henry Perks and John Davis, were sent by their fellow- laborers from Wellesbourne, in Warwickshke, to the village of Bar- ford. The object of the deputation was to wait upon me to ask me to help them to form a union. . . . Fortu- nately I was at home when they arrived. I went inside to see the men, who said, ' We are come over to see you about our having a union. We formed a bit of one under the hedge the other day ; but we can' t go on very well without some one to put us right. The men are all ready for it, and we appeal to you.' — ' But,' I said, ' do you mean to stick together? ' — ' Yes,' was the reply. ' Well, now,' said I, ' jou go back and get some of the best men in Wellesbourne, and ask Mrs. Baker to let you have the club-room ; and I will be over on Wednesday night at seven o'clock. But, remember, 3^ou must be prepared for conflict, as the farmers will be sure to oppose 3^ou.' The leplj was, ' You come : it can't be worse for us than it is.' " Thus simply was the " Revolt of the Field," the most remarkable social upheaval of the day, commenced. The news spread like wildfire, and on the Wednesday night Mr. Arch ad- JOSEPH ARCH. 201 dressed over a thousand fellow-laborers under a great chestnut-tree at Wellesbourne. Meetmg followed meet- ing in rapid succession. Arch was ubiquitous and untiring ; and at last, at a memorable meeting at Leam- ington, the National Union was formed, with Joseph Arch as chakman, assisted by an executive committee of twelve laborers and an influential consultative coun- cil, comprising Professor Beesly, Mr. Jesse CoUings, Mr. J. C. Cox, Mr. Ashton Dilke, the Hon. Auberon Herbert, Mr. E. Jenkins, and others. The moderation of the demands of the union was no less remarkable than the violence of the opposition offered by landlords, parsons, and farmers. Bishops menacingly alluded to ' ' horseponds " as fitting recep- tacles for agitators. Then foUowed the memorable Chipping Norton prosecution and conviction of labor- ers' wives, and the important trial at Faringdon to test the right of public meeting, where Sir James Fitzjames Stephen and Mr. Jenkins held a brief for the union with such signal success. But it is not my business to write a history of the National Agricultural Laborers' Union. Suffice it to say that in most instances the immediate object of the union has been attained. Wherever the men have stood manfully by the union, wages have gone up, agricultural depression notwith- standing, from fifteen to twenty per cent. In South Warwickshke wages, which in 1872 stood at from $2.40 to $2.88, now range from $3.12 to $3.60 a week. Within the executive of the National Agricultural Laborers' Union, harmony, I regret to say, has not uniformly prevailed. The urban unionists, who have exerted themselves, I believe, with perfect disinterest- edness for the emancipation of the agricultural laborer, 202 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. have never regarded Mr. Arch's lead with much confi- dence, and the latter has not failed to reciprocate this sentiment of distrust. The reason, I think, is that Mr. Arch is a thorough agricultural laborer, with all the vhtues and some of the faihngs of his class. He has seen so little real generosity exhibited towards the serfs of the soil, that he is somewhat over- suspicious on their account. He fears the Greeks, even when they bring gifts to his clients ; and this attitude, I am bound to sa}^, has not always been without justification. It served him notably in Canada when he came to negotiate with the unscrupulous ring of emigration crunps who, in the fall of 1873, formed the Macdonald Cabinet. Canada is, in truth, a country where it is difficult to say whether the rigor of the climate or the corruption of the Govern- ment is the more unendurable. If he had listened to the warbling of the official sirens, and deported large numbers of English laborers to the inclement shores of Canada, it would have been enough to wreck the union forever. Mr. Arch's sojourn in the United States was less satisfactory. The New York working-men, intending nothing uncomplimentary, had advertised him to speak at the Cooper Institute without his consent, — more Americano. He declined with quite unnecessary blunt- ness. He did not proceed far enough west ; for there, if an^^where, is it possible to find the promised land of the English agricultural laborer. On a futm^e tour of inspection it is to be hoped he wiU repah so great an oversight, inasmuch as it is prett}'' certain that emigi'a- tion has all along been the sheet-anchor of the union. Under the auspices of the National Agricultural Labor- ers' Union, and partly aided by its funds, some seven JOSEPH ARCH. 203 hundred thousand souls have left our shores, or migrated from country to town, since 1872. At that time mem- bers could with difficulty pay three cents a week to the union ; now the subscription is five cents, and there is still a solid phalanx of twenty-five thousand subscribers. But the good work is hardly begun. The laborer has to obtain the franchise, and the land has to be com- pletely defeudalized before Mr. Arch' s mission will have been fulfilled. I have never met a man who, from per- sonal observation, has grasped so comprehensively the evils of our land monopoly. In his own neighborhood Mr. Arch is an encyclopaedia of information regarding the past and present produce of the various adjacent estates. Within the last twenty-five years, cattle and sheep, he will tell you, have in most cases decreased by more than one-half, without a single rood of pasture- land being broken up. Instead of "three profits," there will hardly be enough for one if the present sys- tem is to obtain much longer. Feudalism is eating itself up in England.' These be truths which no one could inculcate with greater authority at St. Stephen's, whither it is a cause for profound regret he was not sent, at the last general election, by the borough of Wilton to explain his view of the " three profits,' ' and who ought to reap them. IV. EDWAED SPENCER BEESLY. " Thou, Humanity, art my goddess: to thy law My services are bound; wherefore should I Stand in the plague of custom ? " LAST issue, in writing of Mr. Joseph Arch, I ran no inconsiderable risk of losing sight of the man in the magnitude of the cause with which his name is identified. This week I am in similar and greater peril ; for, if it be one thing to face National Agricul- tural Unionism as the subject-matter of Eadical effort, it is quite another to tackle the whole dutj^ of man — the religion of humanit}" — as revealed in the fulness of these later times b}^ Auguste Comte. To those who know anj^ thing of the writings of that extraordinar}' man, I need sc^rcel}^ say, that, whatever may be thought of his ulterior conclusions, his was one of the most powerful, laborious, and all-embracing intellects of an}' tune or clime. If one cannot accept his ideas, it is still necessary to revise one's own in the light of them ; for, as Moses was fitted for his mission b}^ being learned in all the learning of the Egj'ptians, so assuredl}^ Auguste Comte was superlativelj' conver- sant with all modern sciences, — with astronomy, phj^s- ics, chemistrj'', biology ; and, being so conversant, he made, some sixtj^ 3'ears ago now, a notable discovery. 204 EDWAED SPENCER BEESLY. 205 He found that each of these sciences had in the course of its development passed through three stages, — a theological, a metaphysical, and a positive. Take, for example, life in man and brute : what is it? The an- swer of primitive man — the theological answer — is, God breathed into their nostrils the breath of life, and they became living creatures. Then came the meta- physical explanation : they live because their blood is pervaded b}^ a mysterious sublimated essence called "vital spirits,' ' or " physiological units." Then at last the question loliy they live is given up as hopeless ; and it is only asked how they live, and by what means the conditions of life can be modified for their profit or loss. This is the last or positive stage which is ulti- mately reached in every science. From 1822 to 1842 Comte was busily engaged in verifying the above profound generalization in detail. Heureka ! He had found a master-key to the whole history of mankind, religious, philosophical, moral, and political. The foundations of a true science of soci- ology might at last be confidently laid. The gods and the metaphysicians might now be safel}^, nay, advan- tageously^, bowed out of the great Temple of Humanit}', in appropriate niches of which should be placed such miscellaneous benefactors of the race as Moses, Christ, Mohammed, the Buddha, St. Thomas Aquinas ; Plato, Socrates, ^schylus, Confucius, Shakespeare, Dante ; Thales, Archimedes, Newton, Kepler ; Ariosto, Cer- vantes, Moliere ; Julius Caesar, Trajan, Danton, and a great company of other prophets, who, in their day and generation, had worked hard in the sacred cause of Humanity, without, of course, apprehending very clearly what they w;ere about. Some of them, no 206 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. doubt, had concerned themselves much about super- naturalities, immortalities, and such like childish things, according as they were in the theological or metaphysi- cal stage ; but they had all agreed in this, " to live not for themselves, but for others." Here then, is the "Open sesame" of the future. The pillars which support the great fane of Humanity are three, — Affection, Order, Progress : the first repre- senting the principle ; the second, the basis ; the third, the end of the new creed. And whosoever builds on any other foundation, let him be anathema maranatlia. Not quite so strong as that, perhaps, but still not far from it ; for good Comtists attribute the sum of politi- cal strifes and social miseries to the conflict which neces- sarily arises from the fact that large masses of man- kind are some of them still in the theological, some in the metaphj^sical, and only an elect few in the i^ositive, stage of belief. Until all have been brought into the positive fold, wars and rumors of wars are inevitable. Lilve other millenniums, alas ! that of the positivists has been postponed sine die, and to a necessarily dis- tant day too. I should be sony indeed if any one were to suppose that the above is other than the faintest outline of the creed of which the learned professor of history in Uni- versity College, London, is so devoted and fearless an exponent. It cost him ten j^ears' patient study to attain to settled convictions on the subject, and even yet he is not in the priesthood of positivism. He is only a sort of lay deacon, or stalworth doorkeeper, at the Temple of Humanity. This being so, I feel that it is not a little presumptuous in me, who haA^e given but little attention to this new and most difficult of cults. EDWAED SPENCEE BEESLY. 207 to attempt in any way to pass judgment on it ; and, were it not that Mr. Beesly's political conduct and historical writings have been so directly inspired by Comtism, I should most willingly give it a wide berth. There is so much that is admirable, and so many things at the same time that traverse one's most cherished opinions, — prejudices, a Comtist would doubtless say, — in the system of Comte, that it becomes a matter of no ordinary difficulty to review Mr. Beesly's career, sunple as have been the incidents, with impartiality and discrunination. Edward Spencer Beesly was born at Feckenham, Worcestershu-e, in Januar}^, 1831. His father was vicar of the place, — a sincere, sober-minded evangelical of the old school, who kept up intimate relations with the leaders of his own part}?' in the Church, and with few others. His son Edward he found leisure to educate at home till the 3^oung man was of age to be entered as a student at nowise illustrious " Wadham," Oxford. This home training may in some measure account for the fact that the Englishman who in public life . has most frequently and audaciously made light of the tenderest susceptibilities of all manner of reputable people "with gigs," is in the bosom of his famil}^ a model of gentleness and every domestic virtue. At Wadham College Mr. Beesly was lucky in his friend- ships, having for tutor Mr. Congreve (then the Rev. Eichard) , and for fellow-students Mr. Frederic Harri- son and Mr. J. H. Bridges. Congreve was a man of admitted abilitj?-, — one of the most accomplished Aris- totelians of his day. Sincere but eccentric, no one was very much astonished when, one fine morning, it was rumored in Oxford that he had been formally ad- 208 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. mitted into the church of Auguste Comte. In time he was followed by Beesly, Harrison, and Bridges ; Bees- 1}^ as I have said, taking ten years to acquaint himself with the evangel of the Parisian before relinquishing that of the Nazarene. In 1854 Mr. Beesly graduated with honors, and was appointed an assistant master in Marlborough College. Subsequently he sought for and obtained the position of principal of Universit}^ Hall, Gordon Square, London, in succession to Dr. Carpenter, who had been preceded by Mr. Hutton, now of " The Spectator," by the gifted Arthur Clough, and nominally by F. W. Newman, the first principal desig- nate who had never acted. The hall is tenanted by students of all religious denominations, and no prose- lytizing is permitted. There is a complete pax ecde- siastica maintained at University Hall, almost unknown in similar institutions. In 1860 Mr. Beesly was ap- pointed professor of history in University College, — an office the duties of which he was peculiarly fitted both by predilection and training to discharge. The professor in his class-room is always interesting. He is unconventional without being familiar, and he has a happy knack of presenting the purely human aspect of his subject, however far it may appear to be removed from the domain of current interests, which seldom fails to leave the desired impression. The Comtian principle of the continuity of human life enables Mr. Beesly to irradiate the darkness of the past by the light of the present with no ordinar}^ suc- cess. T]ie last time I was in his class-room (the class is a mixed one of young ladies and gentlemen, the propriety of whose behavior is a standing disproof of the fears of timid moralists), he was comparing the I EDWARD SPENCEE BEESLY. 209 cardinal features of the religion of ancient Rome with those more particularly of Christianity. The great goddess of the Romans was really Roma, the " abstract double" of the Eternal City. There was one Rome built by the hands of many generations of Romans, and another built up by the imaginations of many genera- tions of Quirites. This process of creating a divinity after their own image did not shock the Roman people. They were in the theological stage of development. Well, it struck me very forcibly that this delusive object of Roman worship was hardty less an imposture than the object of Comtist veneration, — the Being of Humanity. The Being of Humanity is the thinly dis- guised "abstract double" of an indefinite number of men and women, past, present, and to come, " mostly fools," with a considerable infusion of knaves. I, for one, absolutely refuse to worship at the shrine of such a Mumbo Jumbo. Having been once brought out of the theological wilderness by a process so painful, I positive^ decline to be again led back into it by a shabbier road than I entered it. Of course I shall be told that I do not understand the Comtist religion, or perhaps that I am incapable of un- derstanding it ; for, like all possessors of absolute truths, Comtists have a short waj^ with unbelievers. My only consolation is, — and I admit it is a poor one, — I am still in a majority in this country. I do not forget, for example, that Christianity was once in a minority of one ; and, if the avowed English co-religionists of Mr. Beesly number only some sixty or seventy souls at present, I am free to grant that thej have among them proportionally by far the best brains in England. And they are diligent in season and out of season, — zealous 210 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. in every good work, as they understand good works. Mr. Beesly's labors in connection, for example, with the translation of Comte' s ' ' Politique Positive ' ' into English, are enough to make any member of the com- pany of biblical revisers blush for very shame. He is likewise a frequent contributor to the columns of "La Revue Occidentale," the organ of {he orthodox positivists, conducted by the primate of the body, Pierre Laffitte, — a personal disciple of Comte. It may be necessary to explain how it comes to pass that Mr. Beesly is an orthodox, and not a heterodox, positivist. The seamless coat of Comte has, alas ! alread}^ been rent. Dr. Congreve has disavowed the headship of Laffitte, and so has become schismatic, taking half of the Comtist Church in England and its dependencies with him. He has turned his back on Paris, as Henry VIII. turned his back on Pome. He has set up an independent island Church, and may be regarded as a sort of Comtist Protestant. On the other hand, Mr. Beesly, Dr. Bridges, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Ver- non Lushington, Mr. Cotter Morison, and others still remain Ultramontanes, repairing from time to time to Paris to engage in the solemnities which annually take place at Comte 's old abode on the anniversary of his death. The house is kept exactly as when the founder of the new religion died, and is the sacred rendezvous, the kaaba, of the faithful. The meeting-place of the orthodox is the Cavendish Rooms, Mortimer Street, Langham Place, where a course of lectures of an expo- sitional character are delivered on Sunday evenings during the winter months by Mr. Beesly, Mr. Harrison, and other qualified laymen. It remains to glance at some of Mr. Beesly's political EDWARD SPENCER BEESLY. 211 opinions, acts, and historical writings, whicli are one and all penetrated tlirough and through by the princi- ples and spirit of his master, Comte. Thej^ have all for their central idea or governing principle the far- reaching Comtian dictum, " The working-class is not, properly speaking, a class at all, but constitutes the body of society. From it proceed the various special classes which we regard as organs necessary to that body." Woe to the aforesaid special classes if they cease to be necessary organs ! Woe to Mr. Gladstone, woe to Earl Beaconsfield, woe to Parliament, woe to all men who are unduly friendly to special classes ! Let them but show their baneful partiality, and the professor will smite them with remorseless impartiality. To him the Trojan Whig and the Tyrian Tory have ever been much alike. Nay, he has even been known to speak disrespectfully of parliamentary institutions themselves, as Sydney Smith said Lord Jeffrey once spoke depre- ciatingly of the equator. He has scoffed at the respec- tability of our middle class, and treated our greatest plutocrats as if they were nobodies. In all things he is pre-eminently un-English, affirming, as he does, the immense superiority of Frenchmen and French institu- tions over Englishmen and English institutions. Eng- land' s function among the nations is merely to play the part of the " horrible example." She will do nothing at home that is not base and h}^30critical ; nothing abroad that is not tyrannical and suicidal. The cup of her iniquities is almost full to overflowing. Mr. Beesly would give up India to-morrow, to say nothing, of course, of Afghanistan. He would make an ample apology to Cetewayo, and replace him on the throne of Zululand. He would surrender Gibraltar to 212 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. Spain, and make a present of Ireland to Mr. Parnell or to anybody else who might care to take it off our hands. He would concentrate all our military and naval strength in and around Great Britain ; and, having thus fortified the island by lopping off its rotten outlying members, the country would be in a position to enter on the dis- charge of international duties meet for civilization, conformable to the religion of humanity. England, along with France, would then be in a position to pro- tect free Denmark, free Holland, free Belgium, from German or other autocratic aggression ; and, as oppor- tunity occurred, a blow for the resuscitation of Poland might perchance be struck. The neo-imperialists, at all events, can hardl}^ be expected to regard this as the ' ' voice of sense and truth ; ' ' but it is unques- tionabty positive politics as understood by Auguste Comte, and his disciple is not the man to shrink from any of the consequences of his master's teaching. With respect to only one point in this programme do I care meantime to pronounce an opinion. The Com- tists have never ceased to protest against our conquests in Hindostan, and our opium wars with China. Mr. Beesly in particular has lifted up his voice against these cold-blooded enterprises, which fill the mind of every sagacious observer with the gloomiest forebod- ings, with an energy that does him the greatest credit. It is one of the saving graces of the Comtist creed that it includes the most abject sons of men in the adorable Being of Humanity. They may be in the backward metaphysical state, like the Hindoos, or in the jet more unredeemed theological condition of the Zulus ; but they are not, therefore, fit subjects for Christian oppression. They are where the most civilized peoples EDWARD SPENCER BEESLY. 213 once were, struggling weary and footsore along the dusty highway of human progress, which all must tread. If they fall among thieves, it is ours to play the part of the good Samaritan, and lift them out of the ditch into which the footpads have cast them. But we, alas ! are the footpads. I shall not speedily forget the right- eous indignation with which Mr. Beesly recently spoke to me of the Zulu war. He felt the misdeeds of our representatives as a stain on his personal honor. The name of Frere, even more than that of Eyre, ought to go down with infamy to the latest posterity. The mentioning of Eyre recalls to my mind an inci- dent in Mr. Beesly' s career which brought down on his head an extraordinary torrent of journalistic and other invective. At a public meeting held in connection with the Broadhead murders in 1867, he somewhat infelicitously observed that Ej-re ' ' had committed his crime in the interest of employers, just as Broadhead had committed his crime in the interest of workmen." The wealthy class, he argued, had approved, while the working-class had condemned, murder. This was enough : he was declared to have ' ' apologized ' ' for Broadhead' s crimes, and even to have converted him "into a hero." So far was this from being the fact, that it was subsequently proved that Mr. Beesly had, on the first intimation of the atrocities, gone out of his way to urge the unions to ' ' ferret out any member guilty of a breach of the law, and drag him to justice." This was, however, not enough. A victim was wanted, and for a time the vials of class calumny continued to be poured out on the professor's devoted head. Had he been a weak man, he would have succumbed to the violence of the storm. As it was, he stood erect and 214 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. immovable as a pillar, and the tempest gradually died away. But the Broadhead incident was by no means Pro- fessor' s Beesly' s first offence against society. On the twenty-eighth day of September, 1864, he had actually presided at the first meeting of " the International," in a room of St. Martin's Hall, Long Acre. There Tolain submitted his memorable project, and Marx, Eccarius, Odger, Lu craft. Llama, and Wolff were named as a provisional committee. Here at least was one highly educated English gentleman with the courage of his opinions, whom no political Mrs. Grundy could intimi- date. In 1875 occurred the iniquitous conviction of the five cabinet-makers — Read, Weiler, Ham, Hibbert, and Matthews — for the offence of picketing. Again Mr, Beesly came boldly to the front. During the term of their imprisonment he lectured at the Eleusis Club on their behalf. When they were released, he was among the first to welcome them at the prison-door ; and he presided at the complimentary dinner at which they were subsequently entertained, supported by the Hon. L. Stanley, Mr. John Morley, Dr. Congreve, Mr. Ashton Dilke, Professor Hunter, and others. In March, 1877, died George Odger, the Epaminon- das of English politicians. He was interred in the Brompton Cemetery ; and, from a broken column near his grave. Professor Beesty pronounced a befitting eulo- gium on his career in presence rather than in the hear- ing of a countless multitude. "George Odger," he said, "was not only a good, but a great citizen, — one who put his public in the first rank of duties, and was prepared to sacrifice all private interests to that consid- eration," — a meed of praise not less deserved by the EDWABD SPENCEE BEESLY. 215 eulogized dead than by the living eulogist. There is not, I am sure, a more inflexibly honest politician or cultivated gentleman in England than Professor Beesly. But I am bound to say that I think many of his po- litical conceptions are mistaken. Like all Comtists, his admiration for France is excessive, and he dangerously undervalues the importance of parliamentary govern- ment. I acknowledge with gratitude the immense sac- rifices which the French people have made in the cause of human emancipation. France is pre-eminently " The poet of the nations, That dreams on and wails on While the household goes to wreck." All the same I cannot conceive with Mr. Beesly that English workmen, as such, have any very vital stake in the evolution of the social and political life of France. If they cannot, with the aid of the less selfish and more intelligent section bf the middle class, combine in then* own way to establish on the ruins of monarchy and aristocracy in England a stable republic, not based on birth and privilege, but on merit and equal rights, then let them throw up the sponge once and for all, and, betaking themselves, not in then- thousands, but their millions, to the free, open-armed United States of America, leave behind them a solitude wherein their oppressors may meditate at their leisure on the con- sequences of their own selfishness and folly. A word or two on Mr. Beesty' s vigorous vindication of Catiline, Clodius, and Tiberius, and I am done. To him these besmirched historic personages are stand- ard-bearers of the Roman Revolution, the lineal de- scendants of the illustrious Gracchi and of Drusus. 216 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELTAMENT. According to this view, Cato and Cicero, Brutus and Cassius, were the Beaconsfields and Salisburj^s, while the Catilines and the Clodii were the Dilkes and Cham- berlains of the time. The cause of the latter triumphed eventually when Julius Caesar crushed the Senate and became the saviour of society, —the great world-proto- t3'pe of personal rulers. In a sense the advent of Ro- man imperialism was a popular gain. It replaced many t3'rants by one. But it gave the death-blow to whatever little public spirit remained, in Rome, and that calamity was irreparable. I grant the republican oligarchy was largely corrupt and oppressive. Unhap- pily, it never occurred to any one to renovate the Roman legislative assemblies b}^ the admission of rep- resentatives from the provincial communes. Repre- sentative government as now understood was the dis- covery of a later age. As it was, Cato and Cicero, Brutus and Cassius, saw the image of constitutional freedom receding day by day, and they clung desper- ately to her skirts. In such evil times Radicals became Conservatives, and Conservatives ostensible Radicals. Mr. Beesly seems to me to forget that even a hateful middle class may be crushed at too great a cost. Like all Comtists, he is too partial to able men placed in authority by brute masses. For my part, had I lived in the days of Brutus and Cassius, I am certain that I should have been among the republican legionaries who were cut to pieces at Philippi, just as I should have been at the coup d' etat, or as I should be if ever M. Gambetta, for example, were to show symptoms of fol- lowing in the footprints of Napoleon. E V. CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON. *' God forgive me if ever I Take aught from the Book of that Prophecy, Lest my part, too, should be taken away From the Book of Life on the Judgment Day! " ^ROM Professor Beesly's Comtism to the Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon' s Christianity, what a dis- tance to travel ! Mr. Beesly once somewhat uncharitably accused Mr. Gladstone of being more concerned about his "contemptible superstitions than about politics." What would he not say of the views of the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle? You might search the whole world and find no one whose mind was more thoroughly under the domination of theological ideas than Spurgeon' s. To a positivist the reverend gentle- man must appear like a survival, not of the fittest, but of the unfittest, — a painful anachronism to remind good positivists and advanced thinkers generally of the lowly estate from which they have emerged. Not even reached the metaphysical stage ; and yet Mr. Spurgeon has thousands and thousands of excellent men and women who hang on his every word, spoken and writ- ten, as if it were the very bread of life. With hardly an attempt at direct political propa- gandism, Mr. Spurgeon contrives to be the greatest 217 218 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. single influence in South London in favor of Liberalism. At elections, school board and parliamentary, his fol- lowers display an energ}^ and discipline which leave nothing to be desired. They are men of faith, who do not lose heart in times of adversity and re-action. Their human s^^mpathies, as well as their spiritual, have been warmed by the flame which burns in the bosom of the devout and fearless Great Heart of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. If the common characteristic of men of progress, of genuine Radicals, be that they "live not for them- selves but for others," then it would be hard to find a better Radical than Mr. Spurgeon. As his Divine Master went about doing good, so has His disciple ever struggled hard to follow in His footsteps. So much I readily gTant. My heart is entirely with this pure-minded, unsophisticated believer ; but my unsancti- fied head will not, alas ! follow it. I go to the Taber- nacle, and I admire the vastness of the audience, the simple unconventional eloquence of the preacher, the pith and mother-wit of many of his sayings ; but, on the whole, the phraseology, if not strange, is almost meaningless to me, and I return to my place about as little edified as if the good man had been talking in some dead language to which I had no key. Instead of attracting me, his familiarity with the Almighty and His waj'S repels me. He is more intimate with Hi7n than I am with my dearest friend. Is this the unre- deemed condition of the theologically-minded spoken of by the Prophet Comte? I ask m^^self ; or what is it? — " It is growing dark! . . . I come again to the name of the Lord ! CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON. 219 Ere I that awful name record, That is spoken so lightly among men, Let me pause a while and wash my pen: Pure from blemish and blot must it be When it writes that word of mystery." To Mr. Spurgeon there is no mystery at all. He hnows the decrees of God, and he has escaped the wrath to come. Hallelujah ! Mr. Spurgeon is a con- verted man ; and that makes all the difference. Now, how was he converted ? This becomes an im- portant question ; for on his early conversion hangs the whole of Mr. Spurgeon' s future career. He is one of the elect, and in regard to so important a matter I much prefer that he should speak for himself. The event took place on Dec. 15, 1850, in the Primitive Methodist Chapel, Colchester, in Mr. Spurgeon' s six- teenth year : — ' ' It pleased God in my childhood to convince me of sin. At last the worst came to the worst. I was mis- erable ; I could do scarcely any thing. My heart was broken in pieces. Six months did I pra}^, — prayed agonizingly with all my heart, and never had an answer. I resolved that in the town where I lived I would visit every place of worship, in order to find out the way of salvation. I felt I was willing to do any thing and be any thing if God would onl}^ forgive me. I set off, determined to go round to all the chapels, and I went to all the places of worship ; and though I dearly vene- rate the men that occupj^ those pulpits now, and did so then, I am bound to say that I never heard them once fully preach the gospel. I mean b}^ that, the}^ preached truth, great truths, many good truths that were fitting to many of their congregation, spiritually minded peo- 220 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELIAMENT. .pie ; but what I wanted to know was, How can I get my sins forgiven ? And thej never once told me that. I wanted to hear how a poor sinner under a sense of sin might find peace with God ; and when I went I heai'd a sermon on ' Be not deceived : God is not mocked,' which cut me up worse, but did not say how I might escape. I went another dsLj, and the text was something about the glories of the righteous ; nothing for poor me. I was something like a dog under the table, — not allowed to eat of the children's food. I went time after time, and I can honestly say that I don't know that I ever went without praj^er to God; and I am sure there was not a more attentive hearer in all the places than myself : for I panted and longed to understand how I might be saved. At last one snowy day — it snowed so much I could not go to the place I had determined to go to, and I was obliged to stop on the road, and it was a blesssd stop to me — I found rather an obscure street, and turned down a court, and there was a little chapel. I wanted to go somewhere ; but I did not know this place. It was the Primitive Methodists' Chapel. I had heard of these people from man}^, and how they sang so loudly that they made people's heads ache ; but that did not matter. I want- ed to know how I might be saved ; and, if they made my head ache ever so much, I did not care. So sitting down, the service went on ; but no minister came. At last a very thin-looking man came into the pulpit, and opened his Bible, and read these words : ' Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.' Just set- ting his eyes upon me as if he knew me all by heart, he said, 'Young man, you are in trouble.' Well, I was, sm*e enough. Says he, ' You will never get out CHARLES HADDON SPURGEOK. 221 of it unless you look to Christ.' And then, lifting up his hands, he cried out as only, I think, a Primitive Methodist could do, ' Look, look, look ! It is only *' look," ' said he. I saw at once the way of salvation. Oh, how I did leap for joy at that moment ! I knew not what else he said. I did not take much notice of it, I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, they only looked and were healed. I had been waiting to do fifty things ; but, when I heard this word ' Look ! ' what a charming word it seemed to me ! Oh ! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away ; and in heaven I will look on still in my joy unutterable." Here, then, is an authentic narrative of the election of Charles Haddon Spurgeon ; and what could be more ingenuous? He was converted by the word "look," as the sinful old Scotchwoman was brought from nature to grace by the solemn emphasis with which Dr. Chal- mers pronounced the word Mesopotamia. In a simi- larly unhappy frame of mind George Fox sought advice from a clergyman, and was admonished to " drink beer and dance with the girls." There is in truth a great variety of cures for such spiritual maladies. Edward Spencer Beesly finds great joj^ in believing in Comtism, John Henry Newman in embracing Romanism, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon in flying to the iron rock of Calvinism. They are all converted from uncertainty to certainty. ter quaterque beati ! I would to Heaven I were as sure of any thing as these men are of every thing. Similar phenomena are common among Mo- hammedans and Buddhists. The great mistake that is made by such religionists as Mr. Spurgeon is to sup- pose that there is no law of conversions as of other 222 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. mental moods. A true grammar of spiritual assent has 3^et to be written ; and when that has been fairly executed by some competent investigator of psycho- logical phenomena like Professor Bain, for example, there will be nothing startling or abnormally significant in the experience of the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The element of mystery will inevitably be eliminated, and evangelical conversions will come perchance to be classified as a sort of measles or small- pox of the intellect. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born at the village of Kelvedon, in Essex, in June, 1834. Like so many other families who have left their mark on the religious life of England, the Spurgeons are the descendants of pious Continental refugees. Driven from the Nether- lands by the persecutions of Alva, they settled in Essex, and produced a line of pastors — each of them remarka- ble in his own way — which has remained ahnost withr out a break until now. Preaching has become quite a hereditary occupation or passion with the Spurgeons. In the phraseology of the sects, "They have never wanted a man to stand before the Lord in the service of the sanctuar}^" Mr. Spurgeon' s grandfather, James Spurgeon, was for over half a century pastor of the Independent Church at Stambourne, in Essex. " Like Luther,' ' sa3^s his grandson in an article in " The Sword and the Trowel," "he had a vivid impression of the realit}^ and personality of the great enemy, and was accustomed to make short work with his suggestions." An extraordinary narrative follows, which I fear must be ranked with " contemptible superstitions." He had been converted under a particular tree in a wood ; and the Devil, appearing to him in a dream, threatened CHARLES HADDON SPUEGEON. 223 to tear him to pieces should he venture to repair to the hallowed spot by a particular path. Greatly daring, he went ; and discovering, of course, no fiend at the tree, he exclaimed, "Ah, cowardly Devil ! you threatened to tear me In pieces, and now you do not dare to show your face." Instead, however, of finding Satan at the rendezvous, his eye lighted on what was much to be preferred ; viz., a massive gold ring, for which, mj'steri- ously enough, there was no claimant. But the sequel to the stor}^ is the best. The old man continued annu- ally to visit the spot for devotional exercises, till at last a wheat-field occupied the site of the wood. He then knelt down among the wheat to pray, but had hardly commenced when he was sternly reminded that his sacred grove had not been cut down for nothing, and that' he must seek the Lord elsewhere. " Maister," cried a harsh voice on the other side of an adjoining hedge, " thayre be a creazy man a-saying his prayers down in the wheat over thayre ! " John Spurgeon, the son of this venerable grove-wor- shipper, and father of the subject of this sketch, was the second of a family of ten. For many years he was engaged in business in Colchester ; but, like so many of his family, he eventually drifted into the ministry, doing duty successively atToUesbury ; Cranbrook, Kent ; Fetter Lane, Holborn ; and at Islington. When a mere child, his son, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, became an inmate of his grandfather's house at Stambourne, and at once came under the most pietistic influences. When ten years of age (see " Sword and Trowel"), a man of God, the Rev. Richard Knill, made him the subject of a prophecy, which of course came to pass : — " Calling the family together, he took me on his knee, 224 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. and I distinctly remember his saying, ' I do not know- how it is, but I feel a solemn presentiment that this child will preach the gospel to thousands, and God will bless him to man}^ souls. So sm-e am I of this, that, when m}^ little man preaches in Rowland Hill's Chapel, as he will do one day, I should like him to promise me that he will give out the h^^mn commencing, — ■ * God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.' " This sort of half-insinuated miracle is of not infre- quent occurrence in Mr. Spurgeon's writings, and it is by no means the most satisfactory feature. Whenever I stumble on such things, I recall the story of the un- sanctilied Yankee politician, who said he did not so much object to twaddle as to the people who igno- miniously believed in it. Twaddle, he admitted, might have its uses. There were two taverns, in this shrewd man's town, of unequal repute. One of them was the headquarters of the anti-Masonic leaders (anti-Masonry was the " cry" of the hour) ; the other was the resort of the body of theu* followers. At the beginning of the legislative session our politician had taken up his quarters at the tavern frequented b}- the anti-Masonic rank and file. After a little while, however, he aston- ished the anti-Masonic leaders at the other tavern by presenting himself at their table. "What brings j^ou here ? ' ' they asked : "we thought j'ou had cut us to go to the other place." — "So I did," he rephed ; ''but I can't stand the nonsense of your d anti- Masons down there!" — "Well," they laughingl}^ responded, " how have 3'ou bettered j^ourself here? for we are all anti-Masons too." — "True enough," said CHARLES HADDOK SPUEGEON. 225 the clear-headed legislator ; ' ' but there is a great dif- ference. Those d fools down yonder beheve in it!" It is this unfaltering " believing in it," nevertheless, that is at once the source of Mr. Spurgeon's weakness and of his strength. When Robespierre made his first appearance in the Assembly, he was derided by all but Mirabeau, who, more discerning, observed, " That man will go far: he believes everj'- word he says." So it is with Mr. Spurgeon. He has gone a long way, and will continue to go a long way ; for he believes every word he says. So has it been with Newman, who, firmly mooring his bark to the rock of papal infallibil- ity, has become a prince of the Roman Church. One only requires to shut one's eyes and walli by faith in order, to achieve great things ; yet there are disadvan- tages connected with this contemning of one's sight. I have, for example, been at pains to glance at most of the productions of Mr. Spurgeon's prolific pen, and I can find nothing that does not bear an utterly ephem- eral impress. His mind, it is true, is thoroughly saturated with the ideas and the literature of the Hebrew race, — the least scientific of all the great nations of antiquity ; but I cannot discover that he is abreast of any other kind of knowledge. The sacred writings of other peoples are seemingly sealed books to him. Neither by the development hypothesis, nor by the comparative historical method, — the two great clarifiers of modern thinking, — has Mr. Spurgeon apparently benefited in the least. In a lecture on " The Stud}^ of Theology," delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association at New- ington, he explained the manner in which he dealt with 226 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. refractory texts. When books failed him, he offered, he said, this prayer: "O Lord! teach me what this means. ' ' And he added, " It is marvellous how a hard, flint}^ text struck out sparks with the steel of prayer. ' ' I admit the sparks : but I desiderate the light of a genuine scholarship ; and, though it would be most unjust to speak slightingly of Mr. Spurgeon's acquire- ments, I cannot but think that his influence for good would have been immensely more lasting had he acted on his father's sensible advice, and subjected himself to a sound collegiate training before becoming a teacher of other men. The motive which determined him to reverse the sound maxim, Disce ut doceas, was characteristic. ' ' Still holding on to the idea of entering the collegiate institution, I thought of writing, and making an imme- diate application ; but this was not to be. * That after- noon, having to preach at a village station, I walked slowlj^, in a meditative frame of mind, over Midsummer Common to the little wooden bridge which leads to Chesterton ; and in the midst of the common I was startled by what seemed to me to be a loud voice, but which may have been a singular illusion. Whichever it was, the impression it made on my mind was most vivid. I seemed very distinctly to hear the words, ' Seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not ! ' This led me to look at my position from a different point of view, and to challenge my motives and inten- tions. . . . Had it not been for these words, I had not been where I am now," &c. Either a loud voice or a singular illusion, but in any case good enough to prevent a lad of eighteen, alreadj^ acting as a pastor at Waterbeach, from seeking to com- CHAHLES HADDON SPUEGEON. 227 plete his legitimate studies! "Backed like a weasel, or very like a whale," — it is all the same. Well, one might think such things ; but if I were Mr. Spurgeon I should not say them. However they may affect the unthinking mass, they cannot but make the judicious grieve. They are a direct incentive to ignorant spiritual self-sufficiency. What is the consequence to Mr. Spurgeon himself? He began to preach when he was sixteen, and between hiB earliest and his latest discourses there is but little to choose, whether as regards matter or manner. From the first he was popular, — a great preacher, but a very indifferent thinker, — the prophet of incipient reflection, the high priest of emotional religion. He had scarcely passed his nineteenth year when he was appointed pas- tor of his present metropolitan charge. His first Lon- don sermon, in December, 1853, was addressed to two hundred hearers ; in three months' time he counted auditors by the thousand. Since then he has touched nothing which has not prospered, and his industry has been enormous. In 1859 was laid the first stone of the vast Metropolitan Tabernacle, which, completed in 1861 at a cost of $156,660, accommodates with ease an audience of six thousand persons. In connection with the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and owing its origin to Mr. Spurgeon's persistency, is the Pastors' College, an institution maintained at great cost for the education of Baptist preachers ; the Stockwell Orphanage, the Colportage Association, and a great variety of other benevolent institutions, large and small, which bear eloquent testimony to the enduring zeal of Mr. Spur- geon in promoting what he regards as the truest inter- ests of humanity. In addition to all these achieve- 228 ELHNENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELIAMEKT. ments, Mr. Spurgeon's publications of one kind or othei have been innumerable. Of his sermons some twenty- two volumes have already been published, and single copies have been known to attain a circulation of two hundred thousand. Who shall say that the theological age of the world has 3^et been outlived ? And it is not because Mr. Spur- geon preaches soothing doctrines to his flock that they are attracted by him. He is the mainstay of Calvinism in England. The elect few alone are to be saved ; the rest go to eternal perdition. He will not hear of the smallest limitation to their torments. This diabolic dogma, worthy of the man who betrayed the noble Ser- vetus to the stake, — a man head and shoulders above Calvin, both as a theologian and as a man of science, — is not worthy either of the head or heart of the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Were it true, the crea- ture would then indeed be more just than the Creator, and all but the vilest reprobates would refuse to become "breeders of sinners." Virtuous men would every- where conspire to bring the race to speedy extinction, so as to balk the malevolent Demiurgus of his prey. The doctrine is rendered forever incredible by its very enormity. I took some exception to the religion of humanity in the preceding article ; but this may be called the religion of inhumanity, and it I totally repu- diate. " A plague on both j^our houses ! " more espe- cialty the latter. Burns was more humane, and perad- venture not less Christian, when he wrote of the " ai'ch enemy ' ' — " But fare ye weel, auld JSTickie-Ben I Oh, wad ye tak' a thought and men', Ye aibhns might, I dinna ken, CHAELES HADDON SPUEGEON". 229 Still ha'e a stake: I'm wae to tliink upon yon den, E'en for your sake." At the London School Board election of 1870, Mr. Spurgeon materially aided in cementing the compro- mise by which Scripture-teaching has been retained in rate-supported schools. He forgot the admonition of Christ, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." He called in the arm of the flesh to levy rates from athe- ists and all manner of unbelievers for the support of^ what was delusively termed non-sectarian education. In but too many instances those who have most urgent- ly demanded the disendowment of religion in the Church have rushed with the greatest haste to. endow it in the schools. They have abolished church formularies, and made every teacher a formulary unto himself or her- self. Instead of one creed being taught, we have at present twenty or more in full swing ; for I defy Mr. Spurgeon or any other to impart non-sectarian biblical instruction. The thing is impossible. Mr. Spurgeon' s recent discourse on the crisis now passed or passing was what may be described as a model political sermon. " ' But,' saith one, ' we hope we shall have national prayer.' I hope so, too ; but will there be a national confession of sin ? If not, how can mere prayer avail ? Will there be a general desire to do that which is just and right between man and man ? Will there be a declaration of England's policy never to trample on the weak, or pick a quarrel for our own aggrandisement ? Will there be a loathing of the principle that British interests are to be our guiding star instead of justice and right? Personal interests 230 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. are no excuse for doing wrong. If they were so, we should have to exonerate the worst of thieves ; for the}^ will not invade a house until their personal interests invite them. Perhaps the midnight robber ma}^ jet learn to plead that he only committed a burglary for fear another thief should take the spoil, and make worse use of it than he. When our interests are our polices nobilit}'' is dead and true honor is departed. Will the nation repent of any one of its sins? If stern reformation went with supplication, I am persuaded that prayer would prevail ; but, while sin is gloried in, my hopes find little ground to rest upon. It ma}^ be that my text will be the sole answer of the Lord : ' I will go and retm-n to my place till they acknowledge their ofi'ence and seek my face ; in their affliction they wiU seek me early.' " VI. JAMES BEAL. " We cannot bring Utopia by force; But better, almost, be at work in sin Than in a brute inaction browse and sleep." THERE is not in England's vast metropolis, or per- adventm-e in all England, a Radical who, during the last thirty years, has more consistently acted on this principle than Mr. James Beal, the noted Regent- street auctioneer and land-agent. He is the typical Radical citizen of London, — a bour- geois untainted by any of the political failings of the English middle class. These consist of indifference to the claims of intellectual superiority on the one hand, and to the demands of suffering humanity on the other. The British shopkeeper is not without his virtues ; but he is neither the friend of thinkers nor of the prole- tariate. In both these respects Mr. Beal has risen conspicuously above the class to which he belongs. For more than a quarter of a century this busy, bus- tling auctioneer has contrived to devote some portion of his day — often the best portion of it — to the fur- therance of this scheme or that of municipal or national reform. Without fee or reward, in evil and in good report, he has gone steadily forward, studying, writing, 231 232 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. lecturing, organizing on behalf of some good cause or other, — " One of much outside bluster: for all that, Most honest, brave, and skilful." Mr. Beal has made the public interest his interest to an extent that has not been excelled b}' smy private citizen of the day. His achievements beai' eloquent testimony to the good which it is possible for individual Eadicals to etiect who may never even aspu-e to a seat in the House. The self-forge tfulness which enables such public-spirited citizens as Beal to feel gi-eater pleasure in returning to Parliament political thinkers of the eminence of JMill and INIorlev, than in being themselves returned, is one of the most hopeful signs of Knglish public life. It points to the ultimate con- quest of Philistia b}' the forces of humanity and right reasou : and in that sacred warfare Mr. Beal has earned for himself imperishable distinction. In Philistia, he is not of it. On the contrary, he has assailed the Philis- tines in then* chief sti'ongholds of vestiy, guild, and corporation, with a vigor which has caused them oft- times to tremble behind their intrenchments. But I must not anticipate. My. Beal's public work, like his private business, has been of a strictly practical character, and will be best treated in brief chronological sequence. Whatsoever his hand has found to do. he has done it with his might. There are many good men willing to discharge public duties at the solicitation of others : but Mr. Beal is not one of these. It has been his function to in- vent duties for himself and othei*s, as the sequel wUl show. JAMES BEAL. 233 *'No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him: there is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will : And he who waits to have his task marked out Shall die, and leave his errand unfulfilled." James Beal was bom in Chelsea (Sloane Square) in February, 1829. His father was a respectable old Tory tradesman, who had originally come from Yorkshire. He died before Beal had completed his seventeenth year, living long enough, however, to satisfy the sub- ject of this memoir that he and his male parent pos- sessed few or no sympathies in common. It was different with Beal's mother. She was a woman as remarkable for vigor of mind as of body, and from her her son inherited most of his mental and physical char- acteristics. Without brothers, and without access to his father's sympathies, Beal naturally enough "took after" this strong-minded mother, whose memory he still reverently cherishes. There was no London School Board in those times, and young Beal's education was accordingly of a some- what meagre kind. He attended several local schools kept by private teachers, but never got beyond the "beggarly elements" of the three R's. He was eventually put to business in his fourteenth year, the consequence being that Mr. Beal is substantially a self- taught man. No one who has gone through the regular scholastic mill could doubt this for a moment. The matter of his writings is always excellent ; but the man- ner is generally very ixigged. His arrows have terrible barbs, but no feathers. They do not kill at long range ; but they are very formidable in a hand-to-hand encoun- ter. As a journalist, the directness, not to say the 234 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELIAMENT. fury, of his method of attack — so different from that of the professional scribe — arrests, and is bound to arrest, attention by its very novelty, if for no better reason. Mr. Beal's business training was in every way more fortunate than his educational. He commenced as clerk in a solicitor's office ; and before he had completed his sixteenth year he had mastered Blackstone, and acquired a general knowledge of legal forms and principles which could not fail to be of the greatest use to him as a man of business in after-life. About this time he had for- tunately few companions except his books ; and these he read with avidity, storing up much valuable infor- mation, which he shortly found most serviceable. One of his few friends happily possessed a large and well- selected library ; and Beal, having the run of it, did not neglect the opportunity to make up for the short- comings of his school-training. Subsequently Mr. Beal entered the office of an up- holsterer ; but before he was twenty-one he found him- self a partner in the extensive auctioneer and land- agency business of which he has now for many years been the principal. This Radical of the Radicals has bought and sold more real estate, let and hired more aristocratic mansions, than perhaps any land-agent in England. Such a fact, so antecedently improbable, speaks volumes for the integrity and capacity of the man. In 1848 Mr. Beal began to apply his mind to politics " in earnest ; " that is to say, he became a confirmed and immovable Radical. He had previously induced his father, much to the old man's subsequent astonish- ment, to record his vote for Cochrane, then Radical JAMES BEAL. 235 candidate for Middlesex, — a thoroughly characteristic act ; for Beal, with all his fiery zeal, has a wonderful knack of converting foes into friends, if only an oppor- tunity of exerting his personal influence is afforded him. His own mind is so thoroughly made np, that he will speedily make up yours, if you are not on your guard. He became a member of the " Discussion Classes " which then met at the National Hall, Holborn ; and there he made the acquaintance of such well-known apostles of Radicalism as Hetherington, Lovett, Wat- son, and Place. The first reform with which his name is associated was the abolition of the penny stamp on newspapers. Brougham had succeeded, in 1834, in eff'ecting a reduc- tion of the obnoxious impost from fourpence to a penny ; and Hetherington, Place, Beal, and others, in 1848, formed a committee for its total removal. In further- ance of the movement, Beal, in 1849, published an ex- cellent pamphlet entitled ' ' A Few Words in Favor of the Liberty of the Press, and the Abolition of the Penny Stamp on Newspapers. ' ' The committee was ultimately merged in an association for the repeal of both the advertisement duty and the paper duty, — objects which were eventually attained. In 1850 Mr. Beal contributed to "The Freeholder" a valuable series of letters on the land question. They were reprinted in 1855 ; and a second edition, entitled "Free Trade in Land," appeared in 1876. Both as regards theor}^ and practice, the author shows himself a thorough master of his subject. He has read and he has observed, and both reading and observation have convinced him that our whole system of land-tenure is simply barbarous. From 1851 to 1855 he was actively 236 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. engaged in establishing freehold-land societies through- out England and Scotland. Many suburban estates were bought and subdivided among the shareholders as sites for cottages ; one out of many advantages of the arrangement being that thousands of artisans, then without the franchise, were thus enabled, by a flank movement, to obtain it. About the same time Mr. Beal came prominently forward in the character of an ecclesiastical reformer, addressing a series of trenchant letters to the Bishop of London on certain popish practices observed in the Church of St. Paul, Wilton Place, and of St. Barna- bas, Pimlico. A memorable action, " Westerton and Beal V. Liddel," ensued. The legality of ritualism had never been legally challenged since the Reforma- tion. Mr. Beal appeared in person before the Privy Council, and obtained a favorable judgment, but with- out costs, which were cheerfully defrayed by public subscription. The agitation resulted in the Public "Worship Act, and the end is not yet. In 1857 Mr. Beal entered on a long and arduous struggle with the gas-companies of the metropolis. These companies had ' " districted ' ' London among themselves, and ruled the consumers with a rod of iron. Mr. Beal contrived to effect a combination of vestries against the companies, — on the principle, I suppose, of setting a thief to catch a thief, — and after a contest which lasted all through '57, '58, '59, and '60, the Metropolitan Gas Act was passed, which improved the quality of the gas-supply, limited its price, cm-tailed dividends, and effected a net saving to the consumers of three million one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars per annum, — a sum equivalent to the entire school-board rate. JAMES BEAL. 237 In 1870 Mr. Beal induced the Government to give notice of its intention to improve the water-supply of London. Unfortunately, the good intention, like so many others, went to pave the unmentionable region spoken of by Dr. Johnson ; but the subject has not been allowed to drop. It has been demonstrated at influential public meetings, recently held, that the present metropolitan water-supply is unsatisfactory as regards purity, cost, and the poundage principle of assessment. Put the water-supply under representa- tive instead of company control, and it is calculated tJiat seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum can readily be saved to the ratepayers. In attempting to deal with this question, the late Home Secretary acted with such imprudence as to precipitate the dissolution that wrecked the Government, Mr. Beal skilfully fanning the flame of discontent excited by his monstrous proposals. In 1876 Mr. Beal broke new and most important ground. Fearing lest an increased education-rate should render the cause of scholastic enlightenment unpopular, he set himself to investigate other possible soiu-ces of revenue, and an altogether remarkable series of papers on " The Corporation Guilds and Charities of the City of London," contributed to "The Dis- patch" and signed " Nemesis," was the result. The revelations were simply astounding. The corporation, with a revenue of three million dollars per annum derived from the " common good ; " the liveries, with more than five million dollars issuing out of trust funds ; and the city charities, with a good five hundred thousand dollars annual income, — were shown to be one vast network of corruption and malversation. Ab uno cUsce omnia. 238 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. In 1513 the mercers held a hundred and sixty acres of trust-land, located chie% in Marylebone and West- minster (Bradbury's trust). They now retain eight and a half acres ; and no man can or will tell what they have done with the rest of the estate. The eight and a half acres yield a rental of a hundred and thirty-seven thousand eight hundi'ed and seventy-five dollars ; and the trustees make a return to the Charity Commission- ers of a fixed " annual pajanent of £1 10s. per annum to St. Stephen, Coleman Street." Having done this, they feel they have discharged then' duty towards the " pious founder" and the public, and pocket the little balance for the trouble they have taken. In New York certain malefactors connected with the municipality, who in a similar manner sought to convert public trusts to private uses, speedily found their way to jail amid a hurricane of popular execration. If they had been in " famous London town," they would have been central figures at the Lord Mayor's show, clothed, not in sack- cloth and ashes, but in purple and fine linen, the ob- served of all observers. Mr. Beal holds, and I heartily agree with him, that these nefarious city jobbers must be compelled to disgorge at least half their revenues for metropolitan education, or justice will remain a laugh- ing-stock. Mr. Beal, almost single-handed, has earned dismay into their camp. The Grocers' Company has given a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to the London Hospital, and the guilds are organizing a technical college to cost a hundred thousand dollars per annum. But these are not tokens of genuine repent- ance. They are mere dissembling peace-ofierings to be set aside b}' the public with contempt. The existence of so many anomahes and gigantic JAMES BEAL. 239 abuses convinced Mr. Beal, as early as 1861, that what is really wanted is a single municipality for the whole of London. In that 3^ear a committee of the House, before which Mr. Beal was examined, considered the whole subject ; and ever since his views have been rap- idly winning public approval. Mill, Buxton, Elcho, and Shuttleworth have each unsuccessfully brought in bills embodying Beal's ideas. Latterly Mr. Gladstone has promised his powerful support, and placed the reform of the municipality of London at the head of his long list of " unredeemed pledges." Eventual triumph is, accordingij'-, as good as certain. When it comes, it will be the cleansing out of the biggest Augean stable in Christendom. Mr. Beal, as is well known, was the moving spirit in the generous electioneering effort which, in 1865, re- sulted in the return of the late John Stuart Mill for Westminster free of expense ; and it was owing to his enlightened action that the first London School Board had among its members such distinguished men as Lawrence, Huxley, and Morle}^ And what he did for Mill' he strove hard to do for the greatest of his dis- ciples, Morley, but in vain. ^Mr. Cross's vaunted Artisans' Dwellings Act Mr. Beal would have rendered workable, if the right honor- able gentleman had only had the good sense to profit by his advice. His plan was, not to enforce sales to the local authority, but to compel the owners of dilapi- dated tenements themselves to incur all risks in con- nection with the pulling down and re-erection of condemned buildings owned by them. As it is, the Metropolitan Board is at a standstill, having lost four million dollars of the ratepaj^ers' money in the vain 240 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OP PAEIJAMENT. attempt to sell the sites of " rookeries " for as much as they cost. Verily, wisdom is justified of her children. In conclusion, it may be said, that in no progressive movement, national or municipal, since,1848, has Beal failed to play a manty and singularly disinterested part. In 1851, when Joseph Hume and Sir Joshua Walmsley endeavored to revive public interest in parliamentary reform, Beal " stumped " London for them, and mate- rially helped to convince Earl Russell of the inexpe- diency of adhering to his " finality " policy. He had his reward in the legislation of 1867. Nor have Mr. Beal's sj^mpathies been confined to London or England exclusively. He was a determined partisan of the North during the American civil war ; and, at a public meeting held in London in the interest of the Confederates, he tore down the "palmetto flag" from the wall, and trampled it under foot at the risk of serious personal violence. When Garibaldi was wounded at Aspromonte, he raised a fund of five thousand dollars to send out Professor Partridge, to give the noble general the ben- efit of first-rate surgical skill. Indeed, as I have said, it is Impossible to mention almost any good pie for thh-ty j^ears past in which this indefatigable friend of humanity has not had a finger. One stands simply amazed at the multitude of his good deeds, which have no smack of self-conscious- ness. It would be impossible to imagine a reformer with less cant or nonsense about him than Beal. He has no "unction" of any kind, — a hearty, sharp, decisive man, ordained to be a Radical and pioneer of progress from the foundations of the world. " Wha does his best," said Burns, "will whiles do mair." James Beal, methinks, has oft done mair. VII. MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY. " His hearers can't tell you on Sunday beforehand If in that day's discourse they'll be Bibled or Koraned; For he's seized the idea (by his martyrdom fired) That all men (not orthodox) may he inspired." MR. CONWAY'S inspiration may be questioned, but none wiU gainsay his total heterodoxy. If he is not a prophet, it is not his fault : he is the least orthodox preacher in London. "His faith has centre everywhere, nor cares to fix itself to form." The congregation of South-place Chapel, Finsbury, are Nonconformists who non-conform very much. Their Bible is called "The Sacred Anthology," — a book of ethiiical Scriptures, collected and edited by Mr. Conway. The purpose of the work is simply moral. " He has aimed," he says in the preface, " to separate the more universal and enduring treasures contained in ancient Scriptures from the rust of super- stition and the ore of ritual ; ' ' and he has succeeded in his aim. To good rationalists " The Sacred Anthol- ogy ' ' ought to be what ' ' The Garden of the Soul ' ' is to good Romanists. "The utterance does not whoUy perish which many peoples utter ; nay, this is the voice of God." At South Place the condemnation of the Pharisees 241 242 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. who, for a pretence, make long prayers, is not incurred. No praj^ers are offered up. There has been substituted what is called "meditations," or moral soliloquies, and the finest music. The whole atmosphere of the chapel is ' ' advanced ' ' to such a degree that Unitarians of the older school, when they occasionally enter it, are almost as puzzled as orthodox Trinitarians what to make of it. The average intellectual level of the con- gregation is, I should imagine, the highest in London. Men and women who could not be induced to listen to any other preacher go readily to hear Mr. Conway. Nowhere will you find a finer collection of human heads ; and yet Mr. Conway is not an orator in any sense of the word. His predecessor, the celebrated W. J. Fox, " Pub- licola " of " The Dispatch," and member of Parhament for Oldham, was a different man. He combined all the qualities of a popular, if heretic, preacher. It is what Mr. Conway sa3^s, and not how he says it, that attracts. He is hardlj^ even a scholar in the English and strictly technical sense of the term, and in matters of detail he is occasionally inaccurate. But he is an original and fearless thinker, — a born instructor of other men in whatever is true, beautiful, and good, with an ear deli- cately attuned to catch the faintest accents of the " still, small voice" of conscience. What he hears in the closet he has the courage to proclaim from the housetop. His discourses consequently bear an oracular impress. They have, moreover, an aroma of mysticism, faint but sweet, — a breath of New England transcendentalism peculiarly grateful to unaccustomed Cockney nostrils. It were curious to speculate what would happen if say Spurgeon and Conway were to exchange pulpits for a MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY. 243 month or so. Both churches, I imagine, would be com- plctel3' emptied. To the eclectics of South Place Mr. Spurgeon's doctrines would be mere foolishness, while to the Calvinists of the Tabernacle Mr. Conway would be worse than a stumbling-block : he would be Antichrist. Yet there is a golden bridge over this terrible chasm of conflicting beliefs. Mr. Conway and Mr. Spurgeon have a common object for which they toil; viz., the moral elevation of manldnd. Where this essence of all true religions is present, the form is of secondary consequence. Creed or no creed, for the good the path of duty is the same. '' The soul is still oracular: amid the market's din List the ominous, stern whisper from the Delphic cave within, ' They enslave their children's children who make compro- mise with sin.' " Moncure Daniel Conway, it need scarcely be recorded, is b}^ birth an American. He was born in 1832 near Fredericksburg, Stafford County, Ya., where his father, Walker Pe^'ton Conway, a gentleman of independent fortune, enjoj^ed universal esteem. The elder Conway was both a county magistrate and a member of the State legislature. The stock had come originally from Wales, and in the course of a century or more had multiplied rapidly in Stafford County. Intermarriage with other ' ' leading families ' ' of Moncures and Daniels had been very frequent. The Moncures were of Scot- tish Jacobite extraction, while the Daniels were English. The father of young Conway's mother was John Mon- cure Daniel, a graduate in medicine of Edinburgh University, and surgeon-general of the United States arm3^ Among her ancestors was likewise Stone, the 244 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. fii'st colonial governor of Maryland ; while her grand- father, Thomas Stone, enjoyed the proud distinction of being one of the signatories of the famous Declaration of Independence. These were matters of some moment in a State where slavery was an institution, and ' ' mean whites " were treated with contempt. Supported by troops of affluent friends and kinsmen, Conway's path in life seemed at its commencement nowise steep or arduous. As a politician he might hope to climb the ladder of power and dignity in the republic easil}^ and rapidly ; but the lion of slavery crouched in the way. His father was, unfortunately, a large slave-owner, — a humane man, it is true, but still, lilie his neighbors, an owner of scores of hmnan chattels. "Few," saj^s Mr. Conwa}^ in his "Testi- monies concerning Slavery," "are the really peaceful days that I remember having smiled on in my old Vir- ginian home. The outbreaks of the negroes among themselves ; the disobediences which the necessary dis- cipline can never suffer to be overlooked ; the terrors of devoted parents at the opportunities for the display of evil tempers and the inception of nameless vices among their sons, — I remember as the demons haunt- ing those days. I have often heard my parents say that the care of slaves had made them prematurely old." Conway's earl}^ education was the best that the neigh- borhood afforded. As a child he attended several pri- vate schools, and subsequently he became a pupil of the Classical and Mathematical Academ}^ in Fredricks- burg. Here he made rapid progress, and in due course was entered as an undergraduate of Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1849. The stu- dents were mostly from Marjdand and Virginia, with I MONCUEB DANIEL CONWAY. 245 strong pro-slavery sympathies ; and young Conway re- turned to his Virginian home in his eighteenth year as full of anti-Northern prejudices as the rest. He com- menced the study of law at Warrenton, and, while thus engaged, fell under the influence of a remarkable man, his cousin John M. Daniel, the formidable duellist editor of the notorious " Richmond Examiner." Daniel was the best educated man in Richmond, a profound student of Spinoza, Hegel, Kant, Fichte, Feuerbach, Fourier, Cousin, Voltaire. His range of vision far exceeded that of any man Conway had known, and it is scarcely to be wondered at that Daniel made a strong impression on his youthful kinsman's mind. He professed to rest slavery on a quasi-scientific basis of racial inferioritj^ "We hold," he declared in his journal, to which Con- way became, a contributor, ' ' that negroes are not men in the sense in which that term is used by the Declara- tion of Independence. Were the slaves men, we should be unable to disagree with Wendell Phillips." Thus fortified in his pro-slavery ideas, Conway's next step was to become the secretary of a Southern rights, otherwise a secessionist, club, whose sole raison d'etre was to break up the Union in the interest of the " peculiar institution " of the South on the first availa- ble opportunity. So much for the pernicious teaching of his misanthropic cousin. But happil}^ other consid- erations began to weigh with Conway. If circum- stances had leagued him with the oppressor, kind Na- ture had made him at heart an irrepressible Radical. In 1850, before the completion of his eighteenth jxar, appeared his first pamphlet, entitled "Free Schools in Virginia," which was distributed among the people, and laid on the desk of every member of the State Con- 246 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. vention which met that year for the revision of the Vkginian Code. I have read this plea for free schools to educate the "mean whites," and can only wonder that a lad of eighteen should have had the abihty or patience to produce so masterly an appeal. The effect was, nevertheless, most disappointing. He was viru- lently attacked by the journals as one who, by advo- cating a " mob road to learning," was jeopardizing the very existence of Southern society. The mean whites, lOve the servile blacks, must be kept in ignorance. It is not, however, so long since representatives of our own ' ' agricultural interests ' ' were in the habit of giv- ing expression to views equally enlightened. But Mr. Conwa}^ was not thus to be put down. Reason, con- science, compassion, told him that the cause he had espoused was just and beneficent. He had not taken it up, as he had taken slavery, on trust. He had thought out the problem for himself, and he remained unshaken, in his convictions. Whether he knew it or not, he had taken a distinct step awsiy from the slaveholding oligar- chy in the dkection of freedom. In order to promote his laudable object, he threw up the law and took to the gospel. He became a Methodist preacher as the like- liest means of reaching the hearts and heads of the people whom he desired to benefit. The Baltimore Methodist Conference speedily appinted him to the charge of some twelve congTegations. One of these happil}'- lay in a section of countr^^ settled by Quakers, and consequently unpolluted b}'' any taint of slavery. He saw prosperous agiiculturists and happy, free, edu- cated negro laborers, and the scales began to fall from his eyes. He had never di-eamed of such a state of society. At first he was bewildered ; but an aged MONCUEE DANIEL CONWAY. 247 Quaker, whose acquaintance he had made, eventually enabled Mm to turn a steady, admiring gaze on the rising sun of negro emancipation. " Up, up! and the dusky race Tl&at sat in darkness long, Be swift his feet as antelope's, And as behemoth strong." "Again," says Mr. Conway, "I visited the old Quaker patriarch, and told him with what delight I had found that the interior of Sandy Spring was even more attractive than its exterior. ' Now, friend, can thee account for this evident superiorit}^ of the Friends' neighborhood over the rest of this count}', or of thy own State? ' — ' Well,' I ventured, ' doubtless you have certain habits of thrift and industry which others have not.' — ' Perhaps it is so,' said the old man, gravely. After which followed a long silence, which I felt belonged to him, and was for him to break. Then he turned his eyes — at once luminous and keen — full upon me, and said, ' But there is one habit of our people to which thee will find, should thee search into it, is to be traced all the improved condition of our lands and our homes ; that is, the habit of taking care that our laborers get just wages for their work. No slave has touched any sod in any field of Sandy Spring.' " These snnple words eventual^ converted the reluc- tant secretary of the Southern Rights Club into an uncompromising abolitionist. Henceforth his duty, with respect to the great social problem of his time and countrj^, was clear to him. The change in his religious conceptions was no less 248 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. striking. About the time of the Moody and Sankey revivals, Mr. Conway gave an account of his own conversion almost unparalleled in its -candor : "It was my destiny to be born in a region where this kind of excitement is almost chronic. . . . When the summer came the leading Methodist families — of which mj father's was one — went to dwell in the woods in tents. About two weeks were there spent in praying and preaching all the day long, pausing only for meals ; and during all that time the enclosure in front of the pulpit was covered over with screaming men and women, and frightened children. . . . While I was there women came and wept over me ; preachers quoted Scripture to me. No one whispered to me that I should resolve to be better, — more upright, true, and kind. Hundreds were converted by my side, and broke out into wild shouts of jo}^ ; but I had no new experience whatever. I was not in the least a sceptic,: I believed every word told me. Yet nothing took place at all. On a certain evening I swooned. When I came to m3^self I was stretched out on the floor with friends singing around me, and the preachers informed me that I had been the subject of the most admirable work of divine gTace they had ever witnessed. I took then- word for it. All I knew was that I was thor- oughly exhausted, and was ill for a week." But he did not take their word for it for an unreasonable time. In 1852 his religious as well as his social ideas under- went modifications so unportant that he determined to betake himself to Harvard Universit}^, where the dominant theolog}' is Unitarian. Here he graduated B.D. in 1854, having in the interval contracted lasting friendships with Emerson, Parker, Sumner, Phillips, and others, the best hearts and heads in the republic. MOKCUEE DANIEL CONWAY. 249 After completing his studies, he returned with fond hopes to his home in Virginia. But it was only to find that, as an abolitionist, his own flesh and blood regard- ed him as a leper. Eventually a company of young men confronted him in the street, and warned him that he must henceforth regard himself as a perpetual exile from Virginia, kindly adding that he had been spared tar and feathers solely on his parents' account. There- upon he again turned his steps towards the free North, and in 1854 he was appointed minister of the Unitarian church in Washington, but did not long find rest for the sole of his foot. An antislavery sermon which he preached, in denunciation of the dastardly outrage on Senator Sumner by Preston Brooks, led to his dismissal by the most liberal and antislavery congregation in Washington. In 1856 he was invited by the Unitari- ans of Cincinnati to become their pastor, and there some of his most useful and brilliant discourses were delivered. But his mind was absorbed in the impend- ing conflict with the slave-power, and he ultimately became an abolitionist lecturer in Ohio and the Middle States. And his pen was as busy in the work of eman- cipation as his tongue. In 1858 were published "Tracts for To-day ; " in. 1861 came "The Eejected Stone;" in 1862, " The Golden Hour." All these were powerful weapons put into the hands of the abolitionists; "The Rejected Stone," in particular, making a deep impression on the mind of the martyr- president, Abraham Lincoln. Subsequently he be- came the first editor of " The Boston Commonwealth," — a high-class weekly, primarily started as an abolition organ. Meanwhile, his father and his two brothers threw in their lot with the secessionists, the young men both receiving wounds in the fratricidal struggle. 250 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. At last, when the tramp of the Federal soldiers was heard in the streets of the little town whence Conway had been driven in 1854, he hastened to the spot to assist the slaves of his father's household to escape to the free North- West. By dint of great exertions he found the fugitives. The old woman who had nursed him sprang forward, and folded him in her arms as if he were still a child. ' ' Far ihto the night we- sat together ; and they listened with glistening eyes as I told them of the region to which I meant to take them, where never should they ' Feel oppression, Never hear of war again.' At the Baltimore Railway Station all was nearly lost. A threatening mob beset the station, and the ticket- agent peremptorily intimated, ' I cannot let these negroes go on this road at any price.' I simpl}^ pre- sented my military order to this ver}^ disagreeable and handsome agent, and he began to read it. He had read but two or three words of it, when he looked up with astonishment, and said, — " ' The papers say these are your father's slaves.' — 'They are,' I replied. 'Why, sir, you could sell them in Baltimore for fifty thousand dollars ! ' — ' Pos- sibly,' I replied. Whereupon (moved, probabty, by supposing that I was making a greater sacrifice than was the case) the young man's face was unsheathed : ' By God ! you shall have every car on this road if jou want it, and take the negroes where you please ! ' Then, having sold me the tickets, he gave his ticket- selling to a subordinate, and went out to secure us a car to ourselves ; and from that moment, though the MONCUP.E DANIEL CONWAY. 251 imprecations around us went on, our way was made smooth." In 1863 Mr. Conway was commissioned by the friends of abolition to come to England to try to influence English as he had American opinion in favor of the Federal cause, and in this good work he was engaged when the Confederacy suddenly collapsed. At that juncture South-place Chapel was in need of a pastor ; and who so able to discharge the duties as this transatlantic iconoclast and idealist, who brought with him to the old world the best manhood of the new? In 1875 he revisited the West on a lecturing-tour, and was received by his long-estranged family, and by his countrymen generally, with open arms. He was offered the pastorate of Theodore Parker's old church in Boston, but preferred to return to England, where the battle with theological obscurantism and political oligarchy is more arduous. England has sent so many of her good and brave men to America, that it is but right that the latter should begin to return the compli- ment. Mr. Conwa}-, needless to say, remains a stanch republican. Like all intelligent American citizens whom I have known, the more he has studied our po- litical institutions, the less he has been captivated by them. His little work, "Republican Superstitions," is the best commentary on the working of ' ' our glori- ous constitution" that I know. Therein he shows, with incontrovertible logic, and complete mastery of details, that it is precisely the monarchical elements, thoughtlessly or superstitiously imported into the Con- stitution of the United States by its framers, that have 252 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. worked all the mischief in the republic. He would have but one chamber, returned bj^ equal constituencies, with a chief magistrate and executive directly eligible by, and responsible to, the legislature. A second chamber, if it is opposed to the popular house, is noxious ; if it is in harmony with it, it is superfluous. Mr. Conway has learned, by the sad experience of his own beloved republic, how disastrous a thing is the doctrine of state rights or home rule. Let this Radical of Radicals speak a word in season tq those undiscern- ing ones in England, who in this matter seem in haste to confound purblind re-action with action, retrogression with progression : — ' ' Could there be a more cruel concession made by England to Ireland than that very home rule for which so earnest a demand is now made ? Whether England should concede complete independence to Ireland may be a question ; but to raise up in Ireland ambitions that at some point must be checked, to give embodi- ment to aspirations and interests which no sooner reach their development than thej^ will be certainly crushed, were the gift of weak indulgence, and by no means that of true generosit}^ For everj^ concession the Northern people made to ' state sovereignty ' in the South, several thousand Southerners had to be slain in the end." VIII. JAMES ALLANSON PICTOlSr. " * Come wander with me,' she said, ' Into regions yet untrod, And read what is yet unread In the manuscripts of God.' " JAMES ALLANSON PICTON, the author of" The Mystery of Matter," is one of those rare per- sons who, to use his own quaint phrase, have "gone through materialism, and come out at the other side." Such an explorer, it will readily be admitted, well de- serves a place in this or any other series of pioneers of progress. But I would rather not be the chronicler of his toUsome journey. No wonder if the St. Thomas's- square congregation, Hackney, found difficulty in fol- lowing their spiritual guide on his dim and perilous way. But, though the path which Mr. Picton has cleft through the materialistic jungle be arduous for ordinary mortals, to tread, it is, in my opinion, the best that has yet been cleared. ' ' Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Mr. Picton makes a clean sweep of the supernatural, but imparts to the natural a lofty significance which more than com- pensates for the loss. "All forms of finite existence may, for aught I care, be reduced to modes of motion ; but motion itself has become to me only the phenom- 253 254 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAKLIAMENT. enal manifestation of the energy of an infinite life, in which it is a joy to be lost. To me the doctrine of an eternal continuity of development has no terrors ; for, believing matter to be, in its ultimate essence, spiritual, I see in every cosmic revolution a ' change from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.' I can look down the uncreated, unbeginning past without the sickness of bewildered faith. My Father worketJi hitherto. My sense of eternal order is no longer jarred by the sudden appearance in the universe of a dead, inane substance foreign to God and spiritual being." " Thus at the roaring loom of time I ply, And weave for God the mantle thou seest him by." All religions, properly so called, conceive of phe- nomena as the outcome of an eternal, incomprehensible power, ' ' which makes for righteousness ' ' throughout the universe. Ever}^ irreligious S3^stem, on the other hand, regards the phenomenal altogether apart from its som-ce. The question then arises. Which way of look- ing at the mighty enigma is the more philosophic ? The positivists repty, and Mr. Bradlaugh repUes, " We know nothing of the source, nor can know." But their parade of ignorance almost presupposes the reality of that of which the}^ profess to be ignorant. ' ' The same intellectual constitution which makes science possible — the impulse to seek after the reason of things and their completeness — implies in its very germ an alread}^ existing, though inarticulate, belief in ultimate substance and in an infinite unit}^ Further, the very fact that our mental faculties cannot work without suggesting this dim majesty which is beyond their ken, compels a constant reference thereto, which, JAMES ALLANSOK PICTON". 255 as it is involved in the laws of thought, cannot be without practical import." Our positlvist brethren will, of course, seek to impugn the validity of such reasoning ; but they are, as a rule, persons so super- stitiously anti-superstitious that their objections may be discounted almost by anticipation. In any case Mr. Picton believes that he has passed clean through the prevalent materialism, and emerged into a spiritual effulgence, which irradiates, in some degree, the darkest crannies of human destiny. He has unbounded faith, that is to say loyalty, to the divine will, as he appre- hends it. But, if his own faith in the Eternal overflows, his charity towards those who have stopped midway in the ascent of the materialistic hill of difficulty is equally without limit. ' ' Take the philosopher, ' ' he says, ' ' who thought out, or thinks he has thought out, his system of the universe. Finding no place therein for a God such as he was taught to speak about and dream about in his childish years, he calmly says, ' There is no God at all. ' . . . He is confident in his system of the uni- verse, and is assured that it always works together under the same conditions to the same ends. He would stake his life upon the certainty that impurity and du- plicity and dishonesty must bring misery and confusion into the commonwealth. Now, such a man has far more trust in the Lord than ever he supposes. Through despair of presenting that inconceivable Being in any form whatever to his consciousness, he fancies that he dispenses with the thought entirely. But the more nearly he comes to a realization of oneness in that system of the universe which he thinks he has wrought out, the more nearly does he come to the thought of 256 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. God. The more confidently he rests in the certain working of moral as well as of physical laws, the more does he manifest that which, in om* minds, is equivalent to trust in the Lord. Under any form of religion, and under no form of professed religion, then, the exhor- tation of the text, ' Trust in the Lord and do good,' may be carried out, and its creed asserted." In a word, Mr. Picton's charity induces him to ascribe religion to the professedly irreligious. He compels them to come in. Discussing the problem of the immortality of the soul, he says, " We should not repine if the larger life beyond death remains a hope too grand for any earthly form. I live, — this I know; and all around me is a Power, immeasurable, inscrutable, of which I can only think that it lives more grandly and mightily than I, folding me in its embrace, and making a reverent feel- ing of my own nothingness the supreme bliss. Whence I came I know not ; whither I go I cannot tell : but every moment of true communion with the Infinite opens out eternity. Whatever tenfold complicated change has happened or may come, however strangely the bounds which now limit my personal life may be broken through, however unimaginably my conscious- ness of God may be enlarged, it is impossible that the more real can be merged in the less real ; and, whilQ material phenomena are but phantoms, God himself only is more real than I." The above quotations give but a faint impression of this remarkable work, ''The Mystery of Matter," which, along with an earlier volume, " New Theories and the Old Faith," goes further towards revivifjdng true rehgion, by rendering it credible, than all the JAMES ALLANSON PICTOIT. 257 heavy tomes of orthodox theology which have appeared within the last decade. Mr. Picton has combined science, logic, disciplined imagination, and fervent piety in the execution of a task of immense difficulty ; and the result is a cogent testimony to the indestructi- bility of essential religion in the soul of man. " Still Thou talkest with Thy children Freely as in eld sublime; Humbleness and truth and patience Still give empire over time." James Allanson Picton was born in Liverpool in the historic year of reform, 1832. His father, whose name was recently so honorably before the public as the originator and chairman of the Liverpool Free Library and Museum, was then a well-to-do architect, a stanch Liberal in a communit}^ abounding in political re-action- aries, a cultivator of letters in a hive of commercial industry. He is the author of the "Memorials of Liverpool," a model work of the kind, and would now have been occupying the maj'oralty chair in the town council but for unscrupulous aldermanic partisan- ship. At an early age young Picton was sent to what was then known as the High School, the upper branch of the Mechanics' Institution, where up to his sixteenth year he continued to make steady progress in all the ordi- nary, and some of the extraordinary, branches of stud}^ On leaving school, Picton entered his father's office, and for the next three years of his life diligently set himself to master the requirements of the paternal pro- fession, which, if he had continued to follow it, would pretty certainly have been to him a lucrative calling. 258 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. Bat eventually he abandoned it for, as he believed, a higher, if less remunerative, occupation. Inspired from his youth up with philanthropic senti- ments, Picton had become an enthusiastic Sunday- school teacher ; and this experience led him to think of the ministry as a suitable sphere of action. He was never very orthodox in his religious beliefs : how could a mind capable of such profound speculation so be? But he had an eye to his main object, — the moral elevation of the poor and ignorant ; and he decided that the pastoral fulcrum of Independent Nonconformity was the best for his purpose, which ma/ be doubted. Ac- cordingly, at nineteen j^ears of age, he resumed his studies, and was entered simultaneously as a student of the Lancashire Independent College and of Owens Col- lege, Manchester. At the latter institution he stood first in classics at his final examination. In 1855 he took the master's degree in classics at London Univer- sity, and his academic studies were at an end. In 1856 Mr. Picton 's career as an Independent minister began. The start was not promising. Suspected of heterodoxy, he was black-balled by the zealous shep- herds of the Manchester ministers' meeting, who ap- pear to have applied to him pretty much the now some- what obsolete argument, ' •• He is an atheist. Ecce sig- num! he doesn't believe in the Devil." *' Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word." The orthodox pastors, however, had gone a step too far. Public opinion strongly manifested itself against such an act of barefaced intolerance ; and, by a suspen- JAMES ALLANSON PICTOl^. 259 sion of rules, Mr. Picton was admitted to the pastorate of a congregation at Cheetham Hill, Manchester. His work there lay chiefly among the poor and desti- tute, for whom no man seemed to care. For the chil- dren he composed a model little ' ' Catechism of the Gospels ; ' ' and for the instruction of adults he and Mr. Arthur Mursell delivered weekly lectures on suitable subjects in the large room of a " ragged school." In 1862, however, while thus beneficently engaged, the bull's-eye of orthodoxy was again turned on him. In connection with the centenary of ' ' Black Bartholo- mew," he published a discourse entitled " The Chris- tian Law of Progress," which was pronounced to be "of dangerous tendency." Thereupon the heretic re- moved to Leicester, where he succeeded to Dr. Legge's charge ; but his " tendencies," it is deplorable to relate, became worse instead of better. He fell into bad com- pany, particularly that of Mr. Coe, the Unitarian min- ister, and a powerful contingent of Radical working- men, whom he was in the habit of addressing in his chapel on Sunday afternoons on such unhallowed topics as "True Radicalism," "The Rights of Man," the death of Ernest Jones, the Jamaica outrages under Gov. Eyre, &c. As in Galilee, so in Leicester, the common people heard their teacher gladly ; but the un- common folks took a different view of the matter. What amounted to a vot« of want of confidence in Mr. Picton' s ministry was passed ; and, though very active steps were taken to prevent his departure from Leices- ter, the heresiarch felt constrained to turn his face to- wards oiu" metropolitan Babylon, which, with all her drawbacks, is generally large-hearted enough to wel- come able and earnest exponents of the most diverse ^ opinions, whether religious or political. 260 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. In 1869 Mr. Picton succeeded to the pastorate of vSt. Thomas's Square, Hackney. Here his " tendencies '* were as bad as ever. He resumed his evil habit of Sunday lecturing, and the intelligent artisans of the neighborhood flocked to hear him. For two successive seasons the critical period of English history from the reign of Elizabeth to the revolution of 1688 was sub- jected to systematic criticism, and Mr. Picton was never more gratified than by the appreciation of solid instruc- tion exhibited by his auditors. A working-men's club was next started, — an institution which survives in the Borough of Hackney Working-men's Club, one of the most useful and prosperous undertakings of the kind in London. In 1870 preparations for the first London School Board election began, and Mr. Picton was among those who were solicited by the electors to offer them- selves as candidates. He complied ; and, though then necessarily but little known to the general London pub- lic, secured a seat through the devotion of his friends, more particularly those of the working-class. And the confidence then reposed in him was twice renewed with even greater emphasis by the constituency. For three years he filled a most responsible post on the committee of school management, before which are laid all the details of school aff'airs. Throughout an advocate of " education, secular, com- pulsory, and free," he was not unnaturall}^ believed by many besides mj^self to have deserted the Radical standard in favor of the present immoral ' ' compro- mise " of the religious difficulty, — the offspring of a foul liaison between church and chapel. But this, I am assured, is a misapprehension of Mr. Picton 's position. Finding that the compromisers, while pre- JAMES ALLAKSON PICTON. 261 tending to exclude from the schoolrooms one catechism, had practically introduced as many creeds as the total number of sects to which board teachers belong, he exerted himself, with very limited success, to mitigate the evil by increasing the moral at the expense of the theological instruction. As it is, Mr. Picton, after nine years' hard work on the board, has been com- pelled, chiefly by the unsatisfactory state of his health, to seek a temporary respite from public duties ; and the minds of our children are meantime at the mercy of a motley crew of Romanist, Anglican, Ritualist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, and atheist instructors, to make or mar at their good pleasure. The result is easy to predict, — a general sapping of the foundations, both of religion and morals. Birmingham in this matter has fallen low enough ; but she has not j^et reached the metropolitan depth of degradation. Some months ago Mr. Picton resigned his pastorate of the St. Thomas's- square congregation, and he is at present enjoying a well-merited rest from his labors. He does not intend to resume ministerial functions, I believe, but possibly to throw his entire energies into literar}^ and political pursuits. The gifted authoress of ' ' The True Historj' of Joshua Davidson ' ' hazards the prediction that if Christ, who "went about doing good," were to re-appear on the earth in our day, it would be in the character of a Radical politician ; and, if it is meant simply that the platform and the press are now more powerful agencies for good or evil than the pulpit, it were hard to difl^er from her. Able, single-minded men like Picton are sadly wanted in Parliament ; and the churches will, as a rule, be glad to be rid of persons of such "dangerous tendencies." His political con- 262 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. tributions to "The Fortnightl}'," " Macmillan," and " The Weekl}^ Dispatch," have, apart from his platform utterances, marked him out as a vigorous political thinker, on whom Eadical constituencies should keep an eye. He is a tried soldier in the ranks of democ- racy, who well deserves promotion at the people's hands, all the more so because he would be the last to seek it. IX. FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MAXSE. ** To side with Truth is noble When we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit And 'tis prosperous to be just." IT is now several years since I first chanced to meet Rear- Admiral Maxse at a Reform conference ; but, until quite recently, I have had no opportunity of verif3dng my early impressions. These, with certain reservations, were of a most favorable kind ; and they have been abundantly confirmed on closer acquaintance. Maxse is, what so very few Englishmen are, an ideal- ist in politics, a singularly poor hand at a compromise. Instead of accommodating his theory to the facts, he strives to bend the facts to his theory. With sailor-like single-mindedness, he has an awkward trick — awkward in a politician — of making use of language in order to express his meaning, instead of concealing it, as a good wire-puller should. His more candid political friends, consequently, complain that he cannot be got, even at critical electoral seasons, to recognize the advantage of calling a spade an elongated agricultural injplement. Hence the damning suspicion which obtains in certain quarters that the admiral is, with all his ability, " im- practicable." An Englishman, and not "practical"! 263 2G4 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. ITovv (lould such tx one hope to enter in at the strait ^ate whicli leadcth to St. Stephen's? Impracticability were a grievous fault, and grievously did the gallant admiral answer it at Southampton in 18G8, and in the Tower Hamlets in 1874. But the fault, and I frankly ndinit its (^xist(uuH^ lay at least as much with the admiral's (Titics as with himself. If he were too much devoted to the ideal, they were too little. I agree, for once, with the prophet of "sweetness and light," that ' '• Philistia has come to be thought by us as the true laud of promise. The born lover of ideas, the born hater of connnonplaces, must feel in this country that the sky over his head is of brass and iron." Now, Admiral Maxse is a born lover of ideas, a born hater of commonplaces, and he has never been adequate- ly able to apprehend how inaccessible are the vast majority of his countrymen to such sentiments. In this sense has he shown himself really impracticable. Among a quicker-witted and more logical people lilie the French, the chances are that he would have found himself quite at home. He ouglit to have known Eng- lishmen better. A London constituency, unlike a Parisian, will rdwa^'S prefer a gluttonous alderman with a marked aversion to the letter h to the profoundest l)liilosopher or to the truest philanthropist. Blessed is the cultivated Kadical who expects little of the average English elector, for he shall not be disappointed. Admiral Maxse, 1 have heard it said, has been seriousl}'" disappointed b}'' his poUtical experiences. Not disap- pointed, though disenchanted he has certainly been. But, lil^ie other true soldiers of democrac}", he has '' learned to labor and to wait." The disillusioning process is always a painful one for FEEDERICK AUGUSTUS MAXSE. 2G5 a lofty, ardent nature like Maxse's ; but it is salutary all the same. It does not alter, by a hair's breadth, one's sense of duty, while it teaehes invaluable lessons of method and arJaptation in relation to the soeial environment. Progress, though inevitable, is seldom to be obtained by a coup. " We see dimly in the present what is small and what is great; Slow of faith, how weak an arm may turn the iron hchu of fate." Frederick Augustus Maxse was bom in London in the year 1833. He is now consequently in the full vigor of manhood, lithe of limb, and intrepid of car- riage, — every inch an " officer and a gentleman." lie is on the retired list ; but in an emergency he might well become the Blake of a second commonwealth. Speculative, perhaps somewhat chimerical, in religion and politics ; he is yet obviously a man of action, a bom commander of men. His father, James Maxse, was a Tory squire of the old schof^l, who harl inherited immense wealth, honorably acquired by the Maxse family as merchants in Bristol. He was one of the best heav3^-weight riders across country' of his gener- ation ; and, as for his feats, have they not been duly recorded by Nimro^l in connection with the famous Melton meets? On the mother's side the admiral is a Berkeley, his mother being Lady Caroline Maxse, daughter of the fifth Karl of Berkeley, llie Berkeleys have for generations been not^^d for great physical toughness and consistent jjolitical Whiggerj', the late "Ballot" I'^erkeley, M.P. for Bristfjl, being Maxse's uncle. Family j>olitics, however, never influenced the admiral's opinions in the least. He left home too 266 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELIAIVIENT. early for that. He was afloat in his thirteenth year, having previously attended successively good private schools at Brighton, Hampton, and Paris. In Paris he acquired a mastery of the French language, which he has since found of the greatest benefit. His interest in French politics is at least as keen as in those of his own country. He is on terms of intimacy with nearly all the great men of the Third Republic, with whom he has so much more in common than with the ruck of English Liberals. Excellent busts of Hugo and Gambetta — the best I have seen — adorn his mantel-piece at The Chestnuts, Wimbledon, where all things bespeak the apple-pie order of the captain's cabin. One room is entirely hung with marine drawings, consisting chiefly of ships in which the owner had sailed. His first ship, which he joined on passing the examination then set to cadets, was " The Raleigh," Captain Sir Thomas Herbert. "The Raleigh" sailed for the South American station, where she remained for three years. There was a naval brigade on shore to protect the town of Montevideo ; and ' ' The Raleigh ' ' lay lazily off the coast to succor the marines if need were, "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." These three 3'ears Maxse as good as completely lost. He was supposed to learn navigation ; but the chaplain, who was his instructor, knew little or nothing about the subject which he was supposed to teach. In his sixteenth 3^ear he returned to England, but was speedily again afloat as midshipman in H.M.S. " Frolic," Captain Vansittart. " The Frolic " went to the Mediterranean. In 1852 he served as lieutenant on board H.M. sloop " Espiegle " in the West Indies, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MAXSE 267 whence he was invalided home just in time to take part in the Crimean war. He was appointed acting flag- lieutenant to Sir Edmund Lj^ons, and sailed for the scene of conflict. No sooner had the allied troops dis- embarked than his commanding officer recognized his special fitness to act as naval aide-de-camp to Lord Raglan. He was attached to the headquarter staff" in naval uniform, but with a cavalry sword. Prompt, dar- ing, intelligent, an opportunity for earning distinction was not long in occurring. He carried an important message to the fleet from headquarters, riding across the head of the Bay of Sebastopol, a distance of fifteen miles, through a territory alive with Cossacks and fugi- tive Russian regulars. Happily the gallant youth ac- complished his task in safety ; but it might well have been otherwise. So much was Lord Raglan impressed with this act of courage that he made it the subject of special commendation in an early despatch, and 3^oung Maxse was at once promoted to the rank of commander. The admiral, who is as modest as he is brave, makes light of the matter ; but the example was much needed, and it had its effect on older officers, who, it may be remembered, were at the time much hampered in the discharge of their military duties by "urgent private aff'airs." Maxse was subsequently engaged in the bat- tle of Inkermann, and witnessed "the six hundred" ride " into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell,'* at Balaklava ; his brother. Col. Fitzhardinge Maxse, acting on the occasion as aide-de-camp to Lord Cardi- gan. On the death of Lord Raglan, whose memory he fondly cherishes, he returned with his remains to Eng- land on board H.M.S. " Caradoc," and was shortly afterwards appointed to the command of the steam-cor- 268 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. vette "Ariel" in the Mediterranean. Thereafter his promotion in the service was, and would have contin- ued, rapid ; but circumstances arose which tended mate- rially to divert his thoughts from purely professional objects. Maxse' s education had been purely naval. It ought, I think, to have been literary or philosophic. Ideas take possession of him with overpowering force. He is their servant rather than their master. He has read extensively and closely, but with passion, — I do not say prejudice. The consequence is, that he is at times apt to see objects in considerable disproportion, — a defect which a more systematic scholastic training in youth would have done much to cure. While yet a " middy," he had read star-ej^ed Shelley ; and the hu- manitarian impression made on his mind has never been effaced. The seeds of Radicalism were thus early laid, though they took some little time to germinate. " There is no wind but soweth seeds Of a more true and open life, Which burst, unlooked for, into high-souled deeds, With wayside beauty rife." Let US hear the admiral's own account of his conver- sion to the gospel of aggressive Eadicalism : ' ' M3'' profession has been that of a naval officer. I was brought up to the tune of ' Rule Britannia ' and ' Britons never shaU be slaves.' Ignorant of politics, when at sea I was indifferent to politics. If I had been poUed for my vote as a young lieutenant, I dare say I should have voted Conservative, indifferentism forming a main element of Conservatism. What made me an active politician was, when I came to live on shore, observing FEEDERICK AUGUSTUS MAXSE. 269 the condition of the English agricultural laborers, I found that a large number of Britons loere slaves, — slaves to artificial oppressive circumstances, for the maintenance of which the governing classes stood, in my eyes, responsible ; and upon the discovery of this I determined, that, if during the whole of my life I could carry but a single handful of earth towards the foun- dation of a better state of society, that handful I would carry." Accordingly, the admiral, acting on his well- worn maxim, "People who do not care for politics do not care for their fellow- creatures," has twice, as has been said, sought the suffrages of popular constitu- encies. At Southampton, in 1868, he addressed himself more particularly to questions affecting the land and educa- tion. He is a fluent, forcible speaker, too earnest to be amusing, but always attractive because instructive. You feel that his mind is made up, and that what he says he will infallibly perform. But he does not see the by-play of electioneering ; and, from sheer honesty of purpose and detestation of chicane, he falls into the most obvious traps laid for him by the enemies of his cause. "Leading questions" are put to him, which he answers with ruinous candor. He knows nothing of the Scotsman's art of answering one inconvenient question by asking another. He seems never even to have profited by the illustrious example of Mr. Glad- stone's " three courses," which intimates to the caviller, " You pays your money, and you gets your choice." It is seemingly impossible to get into the admiral's head what is almost an axiom in electioneering; viz., that the shortest line that can be drawn between two politi- cal points is often a mighty circumbendibus. Neither 270 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. at Southampton nor in the Tower Hamlets did the gal- lant admiral evince the smallest appreciation of these elementary campaigning truths. In the Tower Hamlets, though personally an abstain- er, he took strong ground against the Permissive Bill ; and he would have nothing to do with the publicans. Both parties, of course, voted against him. Again : Liberal churchmen would have none of him because of his strong advocacy of disestablishment ; while the Nonconformists, to their everlasting discredit, threw him completel}^ overboard because of his advanced views regarding the opening of museums on Sundays. The committee of the Tower Hamlets Nonconformist Liberal Association had actually the indecency to issue a manifesto during the contest, wherein, after premising that they had carefulty considered the claims of the various candidates, they went on to say, " Captain Maxse, b}'' his advocacy of the opening of museums on Sunda}^ and his S3anpathies in favor of ' home rule,' precluded a consideration of his name." This being the enlightened verdict of Little Bethel, the defeat of the Radical candidate is not, perhaps, much to be won- dered at, especially when it is added that only seventeen thousand electors took the trouble to go to poll for five candidates out of a constituenc}^ of thirtj^-two thousand. Some of these ' ' fixes ' ' the gallant admiral could never be put in again ; the advocates of the Permissive Bill, for example, having themselves abandoned then- meas- ure, and in its stead substituted " local option," a change of front which will enable Admnal Maxse and many other genuine Radicals in future to render them willing aid. By way of equivalent it will be their duty to help to keep off" the land-sharks that prey on FEEDERICK AUGUSTUS MAXSE. 271 candidates of such exceptional honesty of purpose as the admiral. His high courage, resolute purpose, and lofty enthusiasm would be a very clear addition of strength to the flaccid Radicalism of St. Stephen's. His failings outside Parliament would very closely re- semble virtues inside. Admiral Maxse's name is closely identified with several questions of vital interest to the nation, more particularly with electoral reform, land-tenure reform, religious equality, national education, the enfranchise- ment of the agricultural laborers, and woman suffrage. He has probed the inequalities of our representative system to the core ; and if there be any one who still believes in the delusion that this is a self-governed land, and has any desire to know the naked truth, I cannot do better than recommend htm to peruse Maxse's pamphlet, " Whether the Minority of Electors should be represented by a Majority in the House of Commons." Thirty thousand electors, he shows, in small constituencies, elect forty-four members of Par- liament, while five hundred and forty-six thousand in large boroughs return only thirty-five. Thirty thousand electors thus outvote five hundred and forty-six thou- sand. At the last general election eighteen thousand electors of Manchester, who recorded their votes in favor of a candidate, failed to return him ; while eigh- teen thousand electors, living in petty boroughs or rural constituencies, seated no fewer than thirty hon- orable members ! Fourteen thousand electors in Buck- inghamshire return eight members ; fifty thousand in Lambeth have but two allotted to them. Commenting on such stupendous anomalies, the admiral indignantly observes, " The splendid outcome 272 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. of our parliamentary system is that a minority of electors appoint a majority of members of Parliament, and the majority of electors appoint their minorit}^ to be steadHy outvoted and beaten ; and all the while statesmen and journalists vie with one another in national brag, and tell the deluded people that they are blessed above all other peoples in their institutions and in their laws. And the story is circulated so persistently that at last, as people are ultimately con- vinced by a perpetual advertisement, they think that it is even so." During the autumn of 1874, chiefly through the exertions of the admiral, was formed the Electoral Reform Association. It had for its chief object the equalization of constituencies, and started with the promise of a most useful career. It made shipwreck, however, unfortunately, over the question of woman suffrage, against which Admiral Maxse set his face with, I think, most injudicious vigor. It is a problem which may be safely left for such good3^-goody senti- mental people to solve, in their own fashion, as we see voting for incompetent women in preference to compe- tent men in school-board elections. I have read with some curiosity the admiral's " Woman Suffrage, the Counterfeit and the True : Reasons for opposing Both," and can only feel astonishment that he should have been at so much pains to argue so stoutly either on the one side or the other. Female suffrage would have done very well if only the admiral had had the good sense to let it alone. It is a topic which females and feminine men should be permitted wholly to monopolize. It will please them, and do no one much injur}^ As a member of the executive council of the Land- FREDEEICK AUGUSTUS MAXSB. 273 Tenure Reform Association, Maxse did yeoman's ser- vice. He lectured on the subject in various towns, and always with effect. At the great public meeting held in Exeter Hall in March, 1873, presided over by the late John Stuart Mill, Admiral Maxse moved the first resolution, and anticipated in his speech much that is now being forced on public attention by the agricultural distress which has set in with such severity. The as- sociation was perhaps before its time somewhat ; but its attitude was prophetic. Maxse' s best known pamphlet, which has had a deservedly large circulation, is entitled "The Causes of Social Revolt," being the substance of a lecture delivered in London, Portsmouth, Bradford, Nottingham, and other towns. It will repay careful perusal. It is not often that Admiral Maxse has concerned himself about foreign affairs ; but his letters to ' ' The Morning Post" on "the German yoke" in Alsace- Lorraine were most valuable contributions towards the proper understanding of a nefarious ' ' imperial ' ' pro- ceeding, which, it is safe to prophesy, will yet cause much blood and many tears to be shed. The bravest of the brave and a Crimean hero, he has been through- out our ' ' spuited foreign policy ' ' a steady anti- Jingo and a foe to militarism. Indeed, wherever the admiral has erred, it has been on the side of a frankness rare in English public life. With his aristocratic and profes- sional connections he might years ago have entered Parliament either as a nominee of the Whigs or the Tories. Instead of that, "he humbly joined him to the weaker side ' ' with the usual result. His choice of sides is an eloquent and spontaneous testimony to the grievances endured by the English people at the hands 274 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. of an oppressive oligarchy. Such men as Frederick Augustus Maxse are an honor to any class, but belong to none. Their capacity for self-sacrifice is then- true patent of nobility, and that no sovereign can either con- fer or take away. X. THE HON. AUBERON HERBERT. " They are slaves who dare not he In the right with two or three." "TTTHEN a patrician like the Hon. Auberon Edward V V William Molyneux Herbert comes to figure as a strenuous people's tribune, it is not unnatural that his motives should be subjected to searching analysis. Of thorns men do not ordinarily gather figs, nor of aris- tocratic bramble-bushes gather they democratic grapes. Nevertheless, when it does happen that grapes are pro- duced in such circumstances, they are sometimes of the choicest quality. They are like the strawberry that has ripened under the nettle. In the society of a man like Herbert you feel that noblesse oblige is not quite an empty phrase. There is a certain chivalry in his Radi- calism, a knight-errantry if you will, — a combination of courage and courtesy, gentleness, and independence, which it would be hard indeed to match in these unro- mantic days. "For manners are not idle, but the fruit Of loyal nature and of noble mind." By one or two critics I have been accused of fanatical abhorrence of aristocracy ; but it is not so. On the contrary, I should say of such men as Herbert, "I 275 276 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. have not found so great faith, no not in Israel." I could name several members of his order who, for pur- ity of motive, sense of justice, and genuine love of their fellow-men, have no superiors, or perhaps equals, in the ranks of those whose political principles may be said by comparison to bear interest. The aristocracy of England has never been absolutely without some redeeming representatives. If it had been wholly nox- ious it could not have survived so long. But it was founded in conquest and rapine ; and it has all along clung to birth, and not merit, as the chief justification of its existence. The House of Lords is the most extraordinary anachronism in the political world. The idea of a hereditary legislator is even more absurd than that of a hereditary butcher or baker ; and, if English- men had had au}^ sense of the ludicrous, the peerage would have been laughed, if not kicked, out of exist- ence long ago. Notwithstanding some appearances to the contrary, the baronage of England, Mr. Herbert maintains, and I agree with him, is now as effete as the Sublime Porte. There is but one thing they can now do with advantage, — efface themselves as speedily as possible, and fall into line in the great army of democ- racj^, which, often retarded in its advance, never really turns back; which, "like death, never gives up a victim." When an aristocrat by birth becomes a democrat by reflection, when a royalist by association becomes a re- publican by S3^mpath3^ the process of conversion can never be without interest. Those of us who, like my- self, were at no time any thing if not Radical, are apt to set but too little store by principles which one in Mr. Herbert's position prizes lilie so much treasure-trove. THE HON. AUBEEON HEEBERT. 277 Converse with Mr. Herbert on such matters, and you are made to feel as if you had been entertaining angels unawares. The ethical superiority of the Radical creed which 3^ou may have assumed, he will demonstrate to you with a freshness of logic and a fervor of conviction that I have never heard surpassed ; not that I agree with all or nearly all of the practical conclusions at which he has arrived. Of some of these I shall have a few words to say by and b}^ It is the frank, gener- ous spirit, void of the faintest suspicion of arriere pen- see, in which he approaches every political problem, that is the great matter. Auberon Herbert was born in London in 1838, his father being Henry, third Earl of Carnarvon, and his mother Henrietta Anna Howard, niece of the twelfth Duke of Norfolk. The father of the first Earl of Car- narvon, the Hon. Major-Gen. William Herbert, was a son of the eighth Earl of Pembroke. Henry, the first earl, was raised to the baronage as Lord Porchester of High Clere, Southampton, in 1780, and in 1793 he was made Earl of Carnarvon. He was a gentleman of intrepid bearing, and is said to have earned his claim to a peerage by drawing his sword and threatening to run Lord George Gordon, of riotous memory, through the body unless he undertook on the spot to withdraw the mob from the precincts of St. Stephen's. The second earl afiected Whiggery ; the third, the author of "Portugal and Galicia," — an authoritative book of travel of no inconsiderable literary merit, — was a Tory ; while the fourth, the late colonial secretary (Mr. Herbert's brother) , whose resignation was the first clear intimation to the country that Beaconsfield and the Jingoes in the cabinet meant serious mischief, it is 278 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PABLIAMENT. hoped will eventually sever his connection entu-ely with the unconstitutional party, and join the Liberal party, with which he is so much more in sympath}^ Mr. Herbert is married to Lad}'^ Florence Amabel, a daughter of the sixth Earl of Cowper. She is a woman as remarkable for simplicity of manners as for the vigor of her intellect and the kindness of her heart. If Mr. Herbert is speculative, she is the incarnation of common sense. Tennyson's daughter of a hundred earls was not one to be desired. It is diifercnt with Lady Flor- ence. She has fewer airs than the opulent green-grocer's wife round the corner, who might learn much from her in domesticity. With her, as with her husband, no- blesse oblige. Mr. Herbert's early education was superintended by tutors, to the personal rather than to the scholastic influence of some of whom he was much indebted. In 1857 he proceeded to Oxford, where he became a stu- dent of St. John's College, but studied steeple-chasiiig and kindred pursuits more than the ancient classics or any other kind of literature. The spirit of adventure was strong within him, and after two years of desultory reading he determined to enter the sa'my so as to see service abroad. Accordingly, in 1859, he joined the Seventh Hussars at Canterbury, and subsequently served in India for a period of six months, attaining the rank of lieutenant. Here, perversely enough, he was as studious as at Oxford he had been idle. He edited a little magazine called ^'The Crusader," and began to qualify himself for staff duties. With this object in view, he returned to Oxford to complete his university curriculum, and graduated B.C.L. in 18()2. On taking his degTce, not caiing to resume his militaiy THE HON. AUBERON HERBERT. 279 career, he devoted himself to university tuition, and subsequently obtained a " Founders' Kin " fellowship. In 1864 the man of " blood and iron " had matured his first great crime by procuring the invasion of Schleswig-Holstein by an irresistible Austro-Prussian army. Mr. Herbert, deeply sympathizing with the gallant Danes, abandoned his academical pursuits, and hastened to the Dybbol lines in order to encourage the defenders by succoring their wounded. He rendered valuable aid, was oftener than once under fire, and became a great favorite both with officers and men. The government subsequently signalized its gratitude by conferring on him, for his labor of love, the order of the Danneborg. The distinction was otherwise well merited ; for Mr. Herbert pleaded the Danish cause with the English people in a series of " Letters from Sonderborg " in a way that would have stirred their hearts to active intervention if any thing could have aroused them from their apathy. When England is prepared to fight innumerable campaigns, it is, alas ! not done on behalf of Danes, but of Turks, — not for freedom, but for despotism. The Sonderborg letters are replete with manly feeling and shrewd military observation. They have been re- published in a little volume entitled ' ' The Danes in Camp," which every student of liismarckian rascality ought to peruse. I make but two brief extracts, illus- trative of its tone: "As you will easily conceive, the conduct of England has placed neither our nation nor our policy in a favorable light. The Danes are sorely hurt at our desertion of their fortunes. They feel it tJie more acutely because between them and England there has existed a silent brotherhood. English is the laa- 280 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PAELIAMENT. guage which is taught in their schools and colleges, and which forms a regular part of their education. Their customs, their feelings, then- ways of thought, their character, and sometimes their very look, are English. To English literature they have turned in the attempt to oppose it to that of Germany. English is the lan- guage which they seem to have chosen even in prefer- ence to French or German, which would have afforded a better link of communication between themselves and the nations of that great continent on whose outer edge then" fortunes are cast, and to which they cling desper- ately, with nothing but the bravery and the stern virtues of the old Norse race to maintain them on their jiarrow foothold." "Dark as are the clouds, and cruel as is the game which is being played out, I am deteimined to remain constant to my belief that I have both visited Arcadia and seen a ' patriot army.' Do you blame me in this nineteenth century for cherishing two such illusions, if illusions they are ? ' ' While I am about it, I may as well finish the record of Mr. Herbert's warlike experiences. No sooner had he left the Dybbol lines than he sought those before Richmond, where the silent, inflexible Grant had at last got secession firmly by the throat. The taciturn gen- eral gave him a kindly reception, but was not to be " drawn." Not a man on the staff could move him to the faintest demonatrativeness. At last a dispute arose as to the distance between two places. One offi- cer said five miles, another four, another six. " Three and a half," interjected Grant with a tone of decision. He alone was right. The general had been drawn, and everybody was satisfied. President Lincoln, to whom THE HON. AUBEKON HERBERT. 281 Mr. Herbert was introduced at Washington, impressed him very differently. Sagacity and honesty were his obvious characteristics. His implicit trust in Grant made Grant be trusted. The general had many ene- mies, some of whom accused him of intemperance. " Does Grant get drunk? " asked the President of one of these maligners. ' ' They say so. " — " Are you quite sure he gets drunk? " — " Quite." The President paused, and then gravely ejaculated, " I wonder where he buys his whiskey." — " And why do j^ou want to know?" was the astonished rejoinder. "Because, if I did," replied Lincoln, " I'd send a barrel or two of it round to some other generals I know of. ' ' When Mr. Herbert went to America he was still a Conservative. What he saw and heard, however, of the great republic was not without its influence on his future conduct. "The easy, powerful current of life, the mixture of classes, the respect shown to all, made a deep impression on me. Eeady to see all the faults of democratic government, I saw them, and yet felt the power and depth of tlie tide as if I had passed from some narrow lake out on the sea." In the Franco-German war Mr. Herbert was once more a ministering angel to the wounded. " When in the Luxembourg train, I heard the sound of firing, jumped out, took my place in a coach going to a nearer point, saw the battle of Sedan going on from a rising ground, collected some lint, and, with a large pitcher of water, started for the field. It was a long distance, and I found myself for the greater part of my road abso- lutely alone. The villages through which I passed were almost entirely deserted. In the afternoon the firing ceased. It was nightfall before I reached the 282 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. field. Some German officers asked for a drink of my water, but considerately accepted my excuse that it was for the wounded. ... In the morning I found a country house full of wounded French who had not yet been taken to hospital. I spent the whole morning in appl3'ing the few simple lessons I had received in wash- ing wounds and bandaging, and I think the belief that they had a doctor amongst them, which I took care not to disturb, did more good to them than my bandages. It was a prett}^ little country house ; and, as I tore up sheets and curtains for what I wanted, I could not help thinking of the return of the luckless owners, who, however, perhaps came back with an exceedingly grate- ful feeling that any house at all remained to them." This simple narrative admu-ably illustrates the leading features of the writer's character, — his self-reliance and his humanity. To come now to Mr. Herbert's political acts an^i principles, which should have been reached sooner. He started life, to be sure, as a Tory ; but I cannot discover that he had ever the root of the matter really in him. He called himself a Conservative long after he had become more liberal than most Liberals. At Oxford, however, he must have had the reputation of being a sound Conservative ; for he was elected pres- ident of the Union Debating Society over a Liberal opponent, and in 1865 he stood unsuccessfully for Newport, Isle of Wight, in the " Liberal-Conserva- tive " interest. In 1866 a safe Conservative seat was ofiered to him ; but he had resolved to throw overboard the Irish Church, and with the Irish Chm'ch necessarily went the safe seat. More decided steps followed. He went down to Newport, and frankly told his old friends THE HON. AUBERON HERBERT. 283 that he could no longer conscientious^ act with them ; and, what testified still more strongly to the sincerity of his motives, he resigned his private secretaryship under Sir Stafford Northcote, and engaged in the less lucrative occupation of furthering various working-class movements in which Mr. Hodgson Pratt took an inter- est. The conversion was complete, but not sudden. It had been produced by several considerations, the cumulative effects of which were simply uTcsistible. On his way to serve in India he had stopped long enough in Venice to take sides against the Austrian tjTant ; and on his return to Oxford the writings of Mill, more particularly his famous treatise on "Lib- erty," Buckle's "History of Civilization," and the per- sonal influence of Goldwin Smith, had the effect, so to spealii, of regenerating his entu'c political nature. When he made the final plunge into Radicalism he felt like an escaped prisoner on the first day of freedom. In 1868 he made a gallant but unsuccessful effort to wi'est a seat from the Tories in Berkshire. It was not long, however, before a much more suitable constitu- ency sought and secured his services. In 1870 he was returned for Nottingham by a large Radical majority, and remained in Parliament till the dissolution of 1874, when, to the disappointment of many enthusiastic friends and supporters, he retired from the representa- tion of the borough. His health had suffered, and his notions of the true functions of a legislature had in the interval undergone a change of which he could not at the time foresee the consequences. He required leisure to think them out. But of this more anon. In Parliament Mr. Herbert was not, generally speak- ing, 2i grata persona. He was too conscientious to be 284 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. a good party man, too Radical all round both for Con- servatives and Liberals*. The cut and color of his coats, moreover, scandalized honorable members. They were light green when they ought to have been of a more sombre hue, and it was oftener than once debated by certain of the weaker brethren whether the speaker's attention might not with advantage be drawn to the irreverent attire of the member for Nottingham. This, however, was not Herbert's greatest enormity. In seconding Sir Charles Dilke's famous motion re- specting the civil list, and commenting on the justly suspected frauds connected therewith, Mr. Herbert, while alluding to the actual occupant of the throne with all the superstitious reverence which a degraded public opinion could possibly exact, had yet the manhood to affirm his conviction that a republic is preferable to a monarchy in a community such as ours. Thereupon one honorable member " spied strangers in the gallery,',' and had the press ejected, while a noble lord manifest- ed his loyalty to the crown by " cock- crowing " ! So great was the uproar, raised chiefly by the ' ' party of order," that for the space of an hour the member for Nottingham could scarcely ejaculate more than a word or two at a time. The speaker pronounced the scene the most "painful" he had ever witnessed; j^et I have never heard any one allege that Herbert uttered one untrue or offensive syllable in his speech. The fault was entirely with the fault-finders. It was the old story, — Great is Diana of the Ephesians : the silversmiths were all in arms. Howbeit, — *' They have rights who dare maintain them: We are traitors to our sires, THE HON. ATJBERON HEBBERT. 285 Smothering in their holy ashes Freedom's new-lit altar fires. Shall Ave make their creed our jailer ? Shall we, in our haste to slay, From the tombs of the old prophets Steal the funeral lamps away To light up the martyr fagots Eound the prophets of the day ? " The religious provisions of the Scotch Education Bill of 1872 Mr. Herbert criticised with commendable can- dor, and a rare appreciation of the evil effects of eccle- siastical uniformity on the character of the Scottish people. The justice of his strictures, to which no mem- ber from Scotland dared give expression, was gratefull}^ acknowledged b}'^ enlightened Scottish opinion. In 1873, in criticising the army estimates, Mr. Her- bert took occasion to impugn the organization and question the efficiency of our standing arm}^ He proved by irrefutable statistics that the British army is consumed by loathsome disease, and thinned by inces- sant desertion to an extent that is almost incredible. '' Officers and gentlemen," needless to say, were horri- fied, more especially when they were told by a member, who might be regarded as one of themselves, that a territorial citizen force, a simple extension of the vol- unteer system, would be more effective in the field than a standing army, and incomparably less costly to the British taxpayer. Mr. Herbert's kindly nature was never seen to great- er advantage than in the untiring efforts he made ' ' to provide for the protection of wild birds during the breeding-season. ' ' He set forth the virtues of thrushes, blackbirds, jays, and sparrows with something like pa- 286 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. ternal pride, and begged the House, with a genuine ardor which aroused its sympathy, "to have compas- sion on creatures which were so entirely within their power. ' ' So true it is that — " He prayetli well who loveth well Both man and bird and beast." Since Herbert has been out of Parliament he has devoted himself to agricultural pursuits ; but no serious call to public duty has found him wanting. The Bulga- rian atrocities filled his mind with horror. He came to London, and " lobbied " for weeks in order to put cour- age into the breasts of tunid Liberal members. The St. James's Hall conferences owed him much for the success which attended them ; and he gave a striking proof of his personal intrepidity by presiding at the second anti-Jingo meeting in HjTle Park, where the herculean strength of Mr. Bradlaugh with difficulty' availed to save himself from a violent end. As a politician Mr. Herbert has latterly adopted the ultra-individualist theories of Mr. Herbert Spencer, and started a "Personal Rights and S elf-Help Asso- ciation " as the outward manifestation of his new faith. The Personal Rights Association abhors socialism in every form. What is socialism? It exists whenever the state does for individuals what they might volun- tarily achieve for themselves. Thej^ are the best laws which repeal laws. The church as by law established is a socialist institution, — down with it. National education is socialist, — down with it. The poor law is socialist, — repeal it. The liquor laws are socialist, — away with them. Factorj^ legislation is socialist, — undo it. What is wanted is absolute free trade in THE HON. AUBERON HERBERT. 287 every thing, — religion, ignorance, whiskey, destitu- tion, and over- work. The hotter war, the sooner peace. The individual must save himself. By throwing away the state crutch is it alone possible to learn to walk. The true sphere of government is merely to preserve the internal and external police of the realm. When more is attempted it is an illegitimate and baneful exercise of authority, an arrest of progress, a stunting of the national growth. Either the state must do every thing for the individual, or the individual must do every thing for himself. Neck or nothing ! It is the ideal social democracy of Germany against the ideal individualist democracy of England. Unfortu- nately the problem is complicated, and will remain insoluble until monarchy and aristocracy have disap- peared from both countries. A privileged aristocracy at the top of the social pj^ramid necessai'ily implies protected poverty at the base. Deal with the cause before you meddle with the effect. When some simple form of republican government, based on universal suffrage, such as Mr. Herbert desires, has been at- tained, it will be time enough seriousl}^ to concern ourselves about the intrinsic consequences of social- ism and individualism. With a complete democracy, socialist and individualist conundrums will solve them- selves. Let Mr. Herbert seek fii'st the republic, and all else will be added to him. XI. EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. *' The Politics are base; The Letters do not cheer; And 'tis far in the deeps of History The voice that speaketh clear." AMONG eminent English Radicals, Freeman the historian occupies a unique place. He goes forward by going backward. He is a Radical because he is a Conservative. He is a democrat because he is a student of antiquity. Addressing the Liverpool In- stitute in November last, he described himself as " belonging to that old-fashioned sect that dreads noth- ing so much as the change of novelt}'." It is his boast to be one of the trusty few who ' ' cleave to the old faith that there is something in the wisdom of our fore- fathers, and that the right thing is to stand fast in the old paths." The Tories are dangerous innovators. Our political progress has consisted in setting aside ' ' the leading subtleties which grew up from the thir- teenth centmy to the seventeenth," and reverting " to the plain common sense of the eleventh or tenth, and of times far earlier." The most primitive institutions of the English race were based on universal suffrage. The Swiss Republic is the oldest polity in Europe, and the best. In all history there is hardly a more picturesque 288 EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. 289 chapter than that with which Freeman's " Growth of the English Constitution ' ' opens : ' ' Year by year, on certain spots among the dales and mountain-sides of Switzerland, the traveller who is daring enough to wan- der out of beaten tracks, and to make his journey at unusual seasons, may look on a sight such as no other corner of the earth can any longer set before him. He may there gaze and feel what none can feel but those who have seen with their own eyes, what none can feel in its fulness but once in a lifetime, — the thrill of look- ing for the first time face to face on freedom in its purest and most ancient form. He is there in a land where the oldest institutions of our race — institutions which may be traced up to the earliest times of which history or legend gives us .any glimmering — still live on in their primeval freshness. He is in a land where an immemorial freedom — a freedom only less eternal than the rocks that guard it — puts to shame the boasted antiquity of kingly d3aiasties, which by its side seem but as innovations of yesterday. There jeai by year, on some bright morning of the springtide, the sover- eign people, not intrusting its rights to a few of its own numbers, but discharging them itself in the majesty of its own corporate person, meets in the open market- place or in the green meadow at the mountain's foot to frame the laws to which it yields obedience as its own work, to choose the rulers whom it can afford to greet with reverence as drawing their commission from itself. Such a sight there are but few Englishmen who have seen. To be among those few I reckon among the highest privileges of my life. ' ' Let me ask you to follow me in spiiit to the very home and birthplace of freedom, to the land where we 290 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. need not myth find fable to add aught to the fresh and gUiddonuig feeling with which we for the first time tread the soil and drink in the air of the immemorial democracy of Uri. It is one of the opening days of Ma}^ ; it is the morning of Sunda3% for men there deem that the better day the better deed. They deem that the Creator cannot be more truly honored than in using in his fear and in his presence the highest of the gifts which he has bestowed on man. But deem not, that, because the day of Christian worship is chosen for the great yearly assembly of a Christian commonwealth, the more du'ect sacred duties of the da}' ai-e forgotten. Before we in our luxurious island have lifted ourselves from our beds, the men of the mountains — Catholic and I'rotestant alike — have alread}^ paid the morning worship in God's temple. The}' have heai-d the mass of the priest, or they have listened to the sennon of the pastor, before some of us liave awakened to the fact that the morn of the holy day has come. And when I saw men thronging the crowded church., or kneeling, for want of space within, on the bare ground beside the open door ; and, when I saw them mai'ching thence to do the highest duties of men and citizens, I could hai'dly forbear thinking of the saying of Holy Writ, that * where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' '' From the mai'ket-place of Altdorf, the little capital of the canton, the procession makes its wa}^ to the place of meeting at Bozlingen. First marches the little arn\y of the canton, an army whose weapons never can be used save to drive back an invader from their land. Over their heads floats the banner, the bull's head of Uri, the ensign which led the men to victor}^ on the fields of Sempach and Morgai'ten ; and before them all. EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. 291 on the shoulders of men clad in a garb of ages past, are borne the famous horns, the spoils of the wild bull of ancient daj^s, the very horns whose blast struck such dread into the fearless heart of (yharles of Burgundy. Then, with their lictors before them, come the magis- trates of the commonwealth on horseback, the chief magistrate, the landamman, with his sword by his side. The people follow the chiefs whom tlujy have chosen to the place of meeting, — a circle in a green meadow, with a pine forest rising above their heads, and a mighty spur of the mountain range facing them on the other side of the valle^^ 'J'he multitude of freemen take their seats around the chief ruler of the commonwealth, whose term of office comes that day to an end. 'J 'he assembly opens. A short space is first given to prayer, silent pra3xr, offered up by each man in the temple of (>od's own rearing. Then comes the business of the day. Jf changes in the law are demanded, they are then laid before the vote of the assembly, in which each citizen of full age has an equal vote and an equal right of speech. The yearly magistrates have now discharged all their duties : their term of office is at an end. The trust which has been placed in their hands falls back into the hands of those by whom it was given, — into the hands of the sovereign people. The chief of the commonwealth, now such no longer, leaves his seat of oflSce and takes his place as a simple citizen in the ranks of his fellows. It rests with the free will of the assembly to call him back to his chair of office, or to set another there in his stead. ' ' Men who have neither looked into the history of the past, nor yet troubled themselves to learn what happens year by year in their own age, are fond of de- 292 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. claiming against the caprice and ingratitude of the peo- ple, and of telling ns that under a democratic govern- ment neither men nor measures can remain for an hour unchanged. The witness alike of the present and of the past is an answer to baseless theories lilie these. The spirit which made democratic Athens year by year bestow her highest offices on the patrician Pericles and the re-actionary Phokion still lives in the democracies of Switzerland, and alike in the Landesgemeinde of Uri and in the Federal Assembly at Berne. The min- isters of kings, whether despotic or constitutional, may vainly envy the same tenure of office which falls to those who are chosen to rule b}^ the voice of the peo- ple. Alike in the whole confederation and in the sin- gle canton, re-election is the rule : the rejection of the outgoing magistrate is the rare exception. The Land- amman of Uri, whom his countr3'men have raised to the seat of honor, and who has done nothing to lose' their confidence, need not fear that when he has gone to the place of meeting in the pomp of office his place in the march homeward will be transferred to another against his will." In the foregoing extract the reader has Freeman at his best, — Freeman the Liberal politician and Freeman the devout Christian. His politics and his religion, like Gladstone's, inspire all his writings. His life has been one strenuous endeavor to vindicate by precept and example the noblest traditions of the one and of the other. As a man of Teutonic stock, he has at all times talcen strong ground against unhappy Celts ; and, as a follower of Christ, he has assuredl}^ never shown undue compassion for the disciples of Mahomet. Yet it were hard to tax Mr. Freeman with prejudice. The EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. 293 strength and honesty of his intellect no man can ques- tion. Of historians he is the most industrious and ac- curate, and he is by no means deficient in imagination. In this last quality he is of course immeasurably in- ferior to a prose poet like Carlyle ; but there is compen- sation. He has never sunk a Vengeur, and I could scarcely conceive of him having the philological credulity to connect " king " with '' cunning man." History is but past politics, just as politics are present history. This cardinal truth Mr. Freeman, as a narrator of events, fully apprehends ; and this it is that gives such lucidity and value to all his writings. He has, more- over, moral courage of the highest order, and admira- ble tenacity of purpose. To his own mind his objects are invariably clear ; and he takes the most direct, if sometimes not the most pleasant, means of clarifying the mintJs of others. For such constitutionally inaccu- rate persons as Beaconsfield and Froude he has, like experience, proved himself a hard taskmaster ; but the public has reaped the benefit of his occasionally " bru- tal frankness." Yet with all these varied qualifications, moral and intellectual, Mr. Freeman is not without his limita- tions. His mind is a peculiarly English mind, strong in facts and shrewd at inferences, but weak and timid in the application of first principles. Original specula- tors like Spencer or Bain might logically overthrow the very foundations of his political and religious beliefs, and he would never know or care. He is an accom- lolished specialist in letters, and he is content so to be. Living all his days the life of a squire of his county, his habits of thought are as realistic as those of the class of which he is so great and unwonted an orna- 294 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARTIAMENT. ment. All the difference is that his historical recol- lection is better than theirs. Things that they regard as sacred by reason of their antiquity, he knows to be of comparatively modern origin. In a note to "The Growth of the English Constitution," he makes the following manly declaration with regard to the monar- chical superstition which is so sedulously fostered in this country : ' ' There really seems no reason wh}'' the form of the executive government should not be held as lawful a subject for discussion as the House of Lords, the Established Church, the standing army, or any thing else. It shows simple ignorance, if it does not show something worse, when the word ' republican ' is used as synonymous with cut-throat or pickpocket. I do not find that in republican countries this kind of language is applied to the admkers of monarch}^ ; but the people who talk in this way are just those -s^dio have no knowledge of republics, either in past history or in present times. They may very liliel}^ have climbed a Swiss mountain ; but they have taken care not to ask what was the constitution of the country at its foot.' ' Edward Augustus Freeman was born at Harborne, in the neighborhood of Birmingham, in 1823. He unfortunately lost both parents before he was one year old; his father, John Freeman, Esq., of Fedmore Hall, Worcestershire, d3dng at the comparatively early age of forty. His paternal grandmother, who resided at Northampton, became his guardian, and with her he had his home till his removal to Oxford in 1841. Be- fore proceeding to the university, he had attended for several jears a school at Cheam, Surrey ; a private tutor, the Rev. Mr. Gutch, subsequently preparmg him for matriculation at Trinity College. There his great EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. 295 talent and' industry were not without their reward. He was elected a scholar, and in 1845 he became a fellow of his college. Twelve years later, after the publication of several of his historical works, he was made examiner in law and modern history, and, in 1873, examiner in the school of modern history. Both universities have vied with each other in recogniz- ing his vast attainments ; Oxford conferring on him the honorary degree of D.C.L., and Cambridge that of LL.D. Like many other Oxford men who have . subsequently arrived at a knowledge of the truth as it is in Radicalism, Mr. Freeman was brought up in the strictest bonds of political and ecclesiastical Tory- ism. His grandmother had sown seed at Northampton which the tractarians, then in the ascendant, watered at Oxford. Among his college friends was Patterson, now Monsignor, and other incipient Romanists of dis- tinction. About this period, likewise, he wrote verses, and very good verses too, as regard form, of an ultra- royalist or Jacobite character ; Carlos, a maternal ascendant, who, tradition says, was the last^man to strike a blow for the king at Worcester, being a favor- ite subject of his muse. But so sound an intelligence as Freeman's could not long draw sustenance from such unrealities. In 1847 he married an estimable lady, the daughter of his former tutor, Mr. Gutch, and gradually put away the more childish things of political and ecclesiastical re- action. Slight, and it might be said almost whimsical, considerations at first weighed with him. Always an interested and critical student of history, church his- tory at first more particularly, he was struck with the unsatisfactory bearings of two ecclesiastical facts or 296 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. fictions. Edward the Confessor had a wife, and the kingdom sorely wanted an heir to the crown ; but the saintty character of the monarch conld onh' be sus- tained by practical celibacy. Was this asceticism rational sanctit}'? Again, the salvation of some mil- lions of unfortunate Swedes was made to turn on the sufficiency of the consecration of a particular bishop of the sixteenth century. Was this reasonable theology ? Clearly the chaff of ritualism must be separated from the older and more solid grain of Anglicanism. The tractarian movement was not, however, all loss to jVIr. Freeman. It made him a profound student of architecture, and a clever sketcher of ecclesiastical buildings. In such matters he has often been con- sulted by the greatest authorities, among others by Sir Gilbert Scott. His ''Historj^ of Architecture" (1849), " An Essay on Window Tracery " (1850), and '^ The Architecture of Llandaff Cathedral " (1851), his ' earliest publications, are still works of acknowledged merit. While I am dealing with chm-ch matters, I may as well note the progress which this enlightened church- man has made in respect of the question of disestab- lishment and disendowment. He heartily supported the abolition of the Irish establishment ; and in 1874 he published a curiously tentative volume, in which he dis- cussed the position of the English Church, arriving at the somewhat novel conclusion that the property of the national church is not national propert}'. Its revenues, he argues, are in precisely the same position as those of Nonconformist communions. The sovereign power, however, being absolute, may appropriate whatever it has a mind. A neater little juggle with Austin's defmi- EDWAED AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. 297 tion of sovereignty I do not remember to have seen. True, the state may never have by any formal act, as Mr. Freeman alleges, endowed the church as by law established ; but surely Mr. Freeman will not deny that there was a time when the church and the people were co-extensive, and in theory they are still one and indi- visible. In practice the so-called state church is merely a monopolizing sect which has fraudulently ap- propriated the shares of all the other sects. These latter, when they are strong enough to bring sovereign authority to bear, will eject the dispossessor, and com- pel him to disgorge his ill-gotten gains. He would be a bold churchman, indeed, who should propose to deal similarly with the revenues of Nonconformist commun- ions. More recently, however, the attitude of the state church towards the struggling Christian popula- tions of Turkey has satisfied Mr. Freeman, that, having ceased to act as the conscience of the nation, its moral justification is at an end. It is to be hoped Mr. Glad- stone and other zealous churchmen will likewise dis- cern how faithfully the Nonconformists of England have done what the established sect has so conspicu- ousty left undone. In the autumn of 1869 Mr. Freeman pricked the national conscience in a memorable manner regarding the "morality of field-sports." He held up the bar- barities of the battue to the shame and scorn of man- kind. The withers of ' ' quality ' ' were mercilessl}' wrung, from those of the Prince of Wales downwards. There were nunjberless attempted defences, but not one that Mr. Freeman was not able to break down with the greatest ease. The contemptible hypocrisy of persons like his Royal Highness who act as patrons of societies 298 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. for the prevention of cruelty to costermongers' don- keys, while themselves delighting in the cruel and unmanly massacre of tame pigeons and semi-domesti- cated pheasants, was thoroughly exposed in the course of the controversy, and a well-aimed blow struck at the heart of the abomination of the game-laws, which have so long disgraced the statute-book of the country. " Strange that of all the living chain That binds creation's plan, There is but one delights in pain, — The savage monarch man !" It is hardly necessary to say, that, with perhaps the single exception of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Freeman is the greatest living master of the Eastern question in all its details. He was four years of age when the battle of Navarino was fought, and he remembers the receipt of the intelligence. He may be said to have been inter-' ested in the emancipation of the Eastern Christians ever since. At the time of the Crimean war his pen was incessantly employed in combating the national madness. The number of persons in this country who then understood the real issues in the East was insig- nificant, and Freeman was one of the few. He may be said to have advocated the ' ' bag and baggage ' ' polic}'' from the beginning ; and he never lost sight of his object. When the city fell down and worshipped the Sultan on the occasion of his visit to London, Mr. Free- man almost alone entered a spirited protest against the base idolatry, and described the Oi;iental tjrrant in befitting terms. When the Herzegovinian insurrection broke out he was one of the first who strove to range his countrymen on the side of the oppressed. By EDWARD AUGUSTUS TREEMAN. 299 innumerable letters to the newspapers, and speeches in various towns, he did an immense deal to enlighten public opinion ; and he succeeded personally in raising no less a sum than fifty thousand dollars'in furtherance of the good cause. In 1877 he visited Greece, and was received by the people of such places as Zante, Corfu, Ithaca, and Athens, with unbounded enthu- siasm and gratitude. He addressed them in their own tongue, and, as he himself has related, was not merely cheered but kissed by certain of his audience. Among the Christian population of the Balkan Peninsula the names of Gladstone and Freeman are deservedly re- garded as household words. The greatest impeachment, in my opinion, of the soundness of Mr. Freeman's political judgment, was his justification of the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine — I beg a thousand pardons, Elsass-Lothringen — by the Germans at the conclusion of the Franco-German war. He boldl}^ argued that Germany was entitled to rend from France a portion of territory which had once been Teutonic, whatever the inhabitants, who were notoriously French in sympathy, might say to the con- trary. The consent of the governed, the necessary condition of free government, was nowise needed when the precious Teuton had his fish to fry. Now, I admit that France had many offences at her back for which it was right that she should atone ; but had the ' ' man of blood and iron ' ' and the Majesty of Prussia none ? What of bleeding Poland? what of Silesia? what of Hanover? what of Schleswig-Holstein ? All this Pan- Teutonism conveniently overlooked. And what has been the result ? A war of revenge has been rendered a dead certainty. 300 EMINENT LIBERALS OUT OF PARLIAMENT. " Out of evil evil flourishes ; Out of tyranny tyranny buds." An imperial despotism has been established in Germany, at least as detestable as that which Louis Napoleon Bonaparte set up in France. The iron of that tyrsmnj has entered into the very soul of the German people, and, so long as it can be pretended that a Gallic revanche is possible, there will it remain. How Mr. Freeman could have justified such a palpable sowing of dragons' teeth, I have never been able to fathom. In 1868 Mr. Freeman contested Mid-Somerset in the Liberal interest, but without success. His failure, I consider, was a public loss of no small magnitude. He is a good speaker, and his special knowledge would, on many occasions in recent sessions, have been of the highest utility in Parliament. For five and twenty years he was a " Saturday Reviewer," and he wrote much in "The Pall Mall Gazette" in its more Liberal days. The House of Commons contains no member who, as a student of constitutional history, could compare for a moment with the author of the "Norman Conquest," the "History of Federal Government," and "Com- parative Politics." Any legislature might well be hon- ored by the presence of such a scholar, and any con- stituency in the kingdom might be proud of such a representative. I r :?) .0' , -1 'p - . ^' ^^/r??^J^ '^.^ A^ .-^^ o U^ ^' ^>^/,^m*:^ .<^ ^ '^^^ V) '1^, '."^ ■'.^^ / / .^'^ ^ i I -> S -^-^' ^ ■ > s^ ^ '^ '■ / -1^ ''x ^ >J ^ ,^^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IS tiii 020 662 295 7 laiiimmmtMi