THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE 
 
 GIFT OF 
 Dr. Gordon Watkins
 
 Olortom *. Hatkittu
 
 HENBY FAWCETT
 
 
 4 j5$/ 
 
 a 
 
 
 rlooHace
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 BY 
 
 ;* LESLIE STEPHEN 
 
 itb fcfoo Uoriraiis 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 LONDON 
 SMITH, ELDER, & CO, 15 WATERLOO PLACE 
 
 1886 
 
 [All ri<j/itt rtterved]
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 NOT long after Fawcett's death, Mrs. Fawcett requested 
 me to write a memoir of her husband. She added that 
 the other members of his family concurred in the request. 
 I, of course, could not hesitate to accept the task, though 
 fully sensible of the responsibility as well as of the 
 honour. I was qualified for the duty in this respect, 
 that Fawcett had been for thirty years one of my most 
 intimate and valued friends. It would be strange if, 
 during that period, I had not learnt to understand one 
 of the simplest and most transparent of men. Our 
 mutual regard never cooled ; it rather grew warmer ; but 
 after the first ten years our intercourse had ceased to 
 be so frequent as before. I had not followed with any 
 minute attention the details of his political career, and 
 I could therefore not have hoped to put together a satis- 
 factory narrative, had I not counted upon the help of 
 better informed persons. Any shortcomings in the fol- 
 lowing pages must, however, be due to faults of my own ; 
 for I have had most generous assistance, which it is 
 now a pleasure and a duty to acknowledge in detail. 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett has done everything in her power. 
 She has placed at my disposal all the letters and other 
 documents in her possession which can throw any light
 
 VI PREFACE 
 
 upon the facts. She has also been kind enough to n ;nl 
 each portion of the work as it was written ; and she has 
 made numerous suggestions of the greatest value. I 
 will add that, although she has helped me at every point, 
 and has often modified my opinions and cleared up 
 difficulties, she has not in any way placed me under 
 restraint. I have said nothing which does not appear 
 to me to be strictly true, and I have concealed nothing 
 which, in my judgment, can be revealed without breach 
 of confidence. 
 
 I must, in the next place, offer my grateful thanks 
 to my friend's sister, Miss Fawcett. Miss Fawcett has 
 communicated to me many recollections of her own and 
 of her parents. She had made a practice, from the 
 beginning of her brother's career, of preserving reports 
 of his speeches, and newspaper articles referring to him. 
 She kindly entrusted these collections to me, and I have 
 found them exceedingly serviceable. 
 
 I have also to thank Mr. Dryhurst, who was Fawcett's 
 private secretary from 1871, and was treated by him as 
 a confidential friend. Mr. Dryhurst has been most 
 zealous in helping me, both by communicating his own 
 recollections and by collecting and arranging statements 
 of fact. My readers have also to thank him for the 
 index, which he has been good enough to prepare. 
 
 Another old friend of Fawcett's, Mr. E. Hunter, now 
 Solicitor to the Post-Office, has placed me under an 
 obligation, the full extent of which I find a difficulty to 
 acknowledge adequately. I cannot quite say that the chap- 
 ter upon Commons Preservation is his instead of mine, 
 or the actual words are my own, and I am entirely
 
 PREFACE Vll 
 
 and solely responsible for every opinion expressed. But 
 he provided, if I may say so, the whole stamina of the 
 chapter, and he in conjunction with Mr. Dryhurst helped 
 me equally in my account of the Post-Office. But for 
 his assistance I should not only have had much addi- 
 tional labour, but should have been forced to be content 
 with a far more incomplete account of the facts. 
 
 Two old college friends of Fawcett's have been es- 
 pecially helpful. Mr. C. B. Clarke, now of the Education 
 Department in India, was the most intimate of all 
 Fawcett's friends in college days ; and his recollections 
 of Fawcett down to the end of 1865, when they were 
 separated by Clarke's departure for India, have oeen 
 very useful. Mr. W. A. Porter, formerly a fellow of 
 Peterhouse and since of the Indian Education Depart- 
 ment, has given me some recollections and made some 
 valuable suggestions in regard to the chapter upon 
 India. 
 
 I must also thank the following, who have helped me 
 in regard to various details : Mr. Willmore, now President 
 of Queenwood College, and Messrs. J. Mansergh, William 
 Milne, and H. P. Blackmore, schoolfellows of Fawcett at 
 the same college ; Sir John Lambert, Mr. A. T. Squarey 
 of Liverpool, Mrs. Hodding and Dr. Eoberts of Salisbury, 
 old family friends; Mr. Wright of Salisbury and Mr 
 Wheaton, now of St. Bartholomew's Hospital ; Mr. W. 
 H. Hall, of Six Mile Bottom ; Sir John Pope Hennessy ; 
 Mr. Hawke, of Liskeard ; the Eev. F. L. Hopkins and 
 Mr. Dale, Fellows of Trinity Hall ; Mr. Sedley Taylor, 
 Fellow of Trinity College ; Dr. Besant, formerly Fellow 
 of St. John's ; Prof. Wolstenhohne, of Cooper's Hill
 
 Viil PREFACE 
 
 College ; Mr. Alexander Macmillan, the publisher ; Mr. 
 Halpin, of the Hospital Saturday Fund, formerly resident 
 in Southwark ; Messrs. Willett, Merrifield, and Botting, 
 of Brighton ; Mr. Fitch, of the Education Department, 
 who has helped me very kindly in regard to Fawcett'n 
 part in school legislation ; Sir Charles W. Dilke, Mr. 
 Mundella, Mr. Leonard Courtney, Mr. Shaw Lefevre, and 
 Mr. John Morley ; Mr. G. A. Critchett and Dr. Latham, 
 of Cambridge. Finally, I must thank the Eev. J. C. 
 Egerton, vicar of Burwash, Sussex; Mrs. Hodding, of 
 Salisbury; Mrs. Hertz, Mr. F. Darwin, and Mrs. Cairnes, 
 widow of the late Professor Cairnes, for communicating 
 or allowing me to use various letters. No approval could 
 be so welcome as the opinion of these and others of 
 Fawcett's friends that I have not been an inadequate 
 representative of the sentiments common to us all. 
 
 The portraits in this volume are from photographs, 
 one taken a year or so before his accident, the other, by 
 Messrs. Bassano, in the last year of his life. I may 
 mention that M. Kicheton has prepared, and is, I 
 understand, about to publish an etching which repre- 
 sents with remarkable fidelity Fawcett's expression in 
 later years. The only portraits taken during life were 
 one by Mr. Ford Madox Browne, now in possession of 
 Sir Charles Dilke (this picture includes a portrait of 
 Mrs. Fawcett) ; and a chalk-drawing and two oil-paint- 
 ings by Mr. Harold Rathbone, executed in 1884. A bust 
 was taken during life by Mr. Pinker, who exhibited a later 
 bust at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1885. 
 
 LESLIE STEPHEN. 
 LONDON: November 1885.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ( 'HAITKP. 
 
 I. EARLY LIFK 
 
 II. BLINDNESS 
 
 III. CAMBRIDGE 
 
 IV. POLITICAL ECONOMY 
 
 V. EARLY POLITICAL LIFK 1S2 
 
 VI. MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 218 
 
 VH. COMMONS PRESERVATION . . . . . . . 21 
 
 VIII. INDIA 341 
 
 IX. THE POST-OFFICE 402 
 
 X. CONCLUSION 44'J 
 
 APPENDIX 46'J 
 
 INDEX . 473
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 HENEY FAWCETT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 HENRY FAWCETT was born at Salisbury on August 26, 
 1833. His father, William Fawcett, born at Kirkby , 
 Lonsdale, Westmoreland, on March 31, 1793, had left 
 his native place for London about 1812. He was in one 
 of the crowds which welcomed the allied sovereigns in 
 1814, and there achieved the honour of shaking hands 
 with Bliicher. In April 1815 he moved to Salisbury, 
 and soon afterwards turned to account the remarkable 
 clearness and power of his voice by springing upon a 
 coach to read out the news of the battle of Waterloo. 
 At Salisbury, which he has never quitted, he was first 
 employed in the shop of Mr. Pinckney, a leading draper, 
 who treated him with great kindness. Upon Mr. 
 Pinckney 's retirement in 1825, Mr. Fawcett set up 
 in business for himself, opening a draper's shop in the 
 market-place. On April 25, 1827, he married Mary
 
 2 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Cooper (born 1804), daughter of a solicitor who was 
 agent for the Liberal party in the town. His other chil- 
 dren, William, Sarah Maria, and Thomas Cooper, were 
 born in 1828, 1830, and 1839. Mr. Fawcett prospered 
 in business, and in the year of the Reform Bill (1832) 
 was Mayor of Salisbury. His election by a close corpor- 
 ation, the majority of which belonged to the opposite 
 political party, was a remarkable proof of a popularity 
 acquired by various qualities. 
 
 Mr. Fawcett was a man of great athletic vigour, 
 though throughout a long life he has never enjoyed very 
 robust health. In the North he had practised jumping, 
 then a popular amusement in the schools, and had in 
 particular a surprising power of leaping from great 
 heights. The place is still shown where he astonished 
 his southern companions by leaping from the second 
 ring at Old Sarum a height of thirty feet. He was a 
 keen sportsman, a good shot, and a first-rate fisherman 
 in a district where the clearness of the chalk streams 
 raises the sport to the level of a fine art. He was 
 thoroughly sociable : he laid in a good cellar of wine and 
 played a good rubber of whist. These tastes were trans- 
 mitted to his son, who inherited other and higher 
 qualities. The son strikingly resembled the father (as 
 Sir John Lambert, an old friend of both, has remarked 
 to me) in perseverance, manly straightforwardness, and 
 in a warmth of friendship specially shown to those who, 
 from sickness or distress, were most in need of it. 
 Henry was strongly influenced by the political views of 
 both his parents. For Mrs. Fawcett, like her husband, 
 was an ardent reformer. She took a keen interest in
 
 EARLY LIFE 3 
 
 politics, and her son not only inherited her strong 
 common sense but, doubtless, received an early intel- 
 lectual bent from the combination of paternal and 
 maternal influence. Mr. W. Fawcett was active in all 
 electioneering matters. He was a remarkably good 
 speaker a better orator, as I have been told, than his 
 son; more skilful in modulating his voice, and more 
 felicitous in finding apt expressions on the spur of the 
 moment. He was generally put forward as proposer or 
 seconder of the Liberal candidate. Until quite recently 
 he attended political meetings, especially some held in 
 support of his son, and showed that age had not de- 
 stroyed oratorical powers manifested long before. He 
 presided at a great dinner held in the market-place at 
 Salisbury on June 27, 1832, to celebrate the passing of 
 the Reform Bill. Processions with banners, decorations 
 of houses, illuminations representing Minerva, Mercury, 
 Victory, and Britannia trampling on the hydra of cor- 
 ruption, whilst Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington 
 uttered appropriate maledictions in the background, had 
 testified on the previous day to the exultation of Salisbury ; 
 sheep were roasted whole in the streets, and meat and 
 beer distributed to the poor. An old inhabitant (Mr. 
 T. H. Hayward) wrote to Henry Fawcett fifty years later 
 to give his recollections of the day, which was wound up 
 by a ball, in which the mayor ' led off the merry dance 
 with an elderly lady in the Green Croft cricket-ground.' 
 Liberalism, when not quenched by the shadow of a 
 cathedral, burns there perhaps with an intenser flame. 
 In spite of the burst of enthusiasm evoked by the advent 
 of the millennium in 1832, years were to come in which 
 
 x 2
 
 4 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Mr. Fawcett's zeal was to encounter plenty of opposition. 
 The upper ranks of society in and round Salisbury, the 
 clergy and country gentlemen, were nearly to a man 
 staunch Tories and Protectionists. An almost solitary 
 exception was the Earl of Eadnor, of Longford Castle, 
 close to Salisbury. Lord Eadnor's political activity 
 brought him into connection with Mr. Fawcett, to 
 whom, in 1841, he gave a lease of the home farm of 
 Longford. The comfortable farmhouse lies about three 
 miles to the south of Salisbury, where the valley of the 
 Avon is entered by the smaller valley of the Chalke, 
 coming down from the west. Mr. Fawcett was on the 
 pleasantest terms with his landlord. His eldest son, 
 William, and a bailiff generally occupied the farmhouse, 
 until 1851, when Mr. Fawcett settled there himself for 
 seme years. Mr. Fawcett thus became that rare pheno- 
 menon an anti-Protectionist farmer. In the year 1843, 
 Messrs. Cobden, Bright, and Moore visited Salisbury to 
 carry the agitation for free trade into the heart of the 
 enemy's country. After their meetings, they used to 
 sup alternately with Mr. Fawcett and with Mr. Squaroy, 
 another leading Liberal, and some knowledge of what 
 was going on doubtless reached the little Harry (the 
 name by which he always went in his family), whose ears 
 were already open to the talk of his elders. 
 
 The influences which surrounded Fawcett's infancy 
 have been thus sufficiently indicated. A boy brought up 
 at Salisbury might well have been impressed by some 
 of the many historical traditions of the district. An 
 antiquarian, a High-Churchman, or a Tory might derive 
 ample nourishment for his characteristic prepossessions
 
 EAELY LIFE 5 
 
 in the neighbourhood. Fawcett's family associations 
 impressed upon him from the first a different set of 
 convictions. To trace the influences of his ' environ- 
 ment ' we must not turn to the mysterious antiquity of 
 Stonehenge, or the aristocratic splendour of Wilton, or 
 the almost unrivalled symmetry of the most perfect of 
 English cathedrals. It will be more to the purpose to 
 open Cobbett's ' Kural Bides,' a book in which Fawcett 
 took great pleasure in later days. In August 1826 that 
 sturdy demagogue, who was not only a master of ver- 
 nacular English, but, in spite of all errors, had a keen 
 eye for rustic beauty and a genuine interest in the rustic 
 population, came riding down the valley of the Avon 
 from Milston (Addison's birthplace) to Salisbury, moral- 
 ising after his fashion. 
 
 He was in ecstasies at the beauty of the scenery 
 the steep chalk downs standing out into the valley like 
 piers into the sea; the sheltered bottoms below; each 
 farm with its portion of down, arable, and water 
 meadow; its orchards and clumps of noble elms; and 
 the rich harvests which had been gathered into the great 
 farmyards. ' This is certainly,' he exclaims, ' the most 
 delightful farming on earth.' But then he asks, what 
 of the people who produce the food ? Each family, he 
 calculates, raises enough to support five families, and 
 yet those who do the work are half-starved. They get 
 at the outside about 9-s. a week. Whence is help to 
 come ? He rages as he goes ; he curses ' the monster 
 Malthus ; ' he declares, after computing the number of 
 churches and manor-houses, that the inhabitants are 
 fewer than of old spite of the twaddle of ' beastly
 
 6 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Scotch feelosophers,' and the fellows that call themselves 
 country gentlemen, who prate of over-population. It is 
 ' the worst-used labouring people upon the face of the 
 earth ; ' and somehow or other the mischief is caused, he 
 thinks, by the taxes and paper-money, which drain the 
 population away to the 'Wen' (London, to wit). A 
 cure, however, may be hoped. As he rides he comes to 
 the ' accursed Hill ' of Old Sarum. He meets a man 
 going home from work, who says that the times are bad. 
 ' " What times ? " said I ; " was there ever a finer summer, 
 a finer harvest; and is there not an old wheat-rick in 
 every farmyard?" "Ah," said he, "they make it bad 
 for poor people for all that." " They ? " said I, " who is 
 they ? " He was silent. " Oh, no, no ! my friend," said 
 I, "it is not they : it is that accursed Hill that has 
 robbed you of the supper that you ought to find smoking 
 on the table when you get home." I gave him the price 
 of a pot of beer and on I went, leaving the poor dejected 
 assemblage of skin and bones to wonder at my word.' 
 
 The 'accursed Hill' was stormed in 1832; but 
 Cobbett's question, ' Who is they ? ' might still be asked ; 
 and Fawcett, who in his childhood saw the same scenes 
 as Cobbett, and may have talked to the same dejected 
 peasant, learnt very early to take a keen interest in a 
 problem still unsolved. For the present it hardly 
 weighed upon his mind. As a child he was not preco- 
 cious, at any rate at his lessons. His first teacher, Mr-. 
 Harris, mistress of a dame-school in Salisbury, said that 
 she had never had so troublesome a pupil. His head 
 was like a cullender. ' Mrs. Harris says that if we go 
 on we shall kill her,' was Master Harry's version of the
 
 EARLY LIFE 7 
 
 case to his mother ; ' and we do go on,' he added wist- 
 fully, ' and yet she does not die ! ' The boy, it seems, 
 preferred the streets to the schoolroom for a study. 
 His house opened upon the market-place and was just 
 opposite the hustings. There he found matters more 
 attractive than the ABC. His father's patience was 
 often tried by the ceaseless string of questions prompted 
 by his early curiosity. What is the price of cheese or of 
 bacon ? What was it yesterday and what will it be to- 
 morrow, and why ? This eager curiosity was doubtless 
 a proof, though at the moment not the most acceptable 
 proof, of intellectual activity, and took a form oddly 
 characteristic of the future economist. About 1841 
 Fawcett was sent to his next schoolmaster, Mr. Sopp (at 
 Alderbury, five miles from Salisbury, on the line to 
 Eomsey). Family traditions seem to imply that he 
 had been petted at home, and resented a little his first 
 entrance into a larger circle. He used to tell how he 
 once demanded at dinner ' more meat, well done, no fat, 
 and plenty of gravy.' The schoolmaster seems to have 
 responded more generously than might have been ex- 
 pected, and made his pupil comfortable enough. Frag- 
 ments of letters of somewhat doubtful authenticity 
 (they depend upon oral and not quite consistent tra- 
 dition) are recalled to show a certain recalcitrance. ' I 
 have begun Ovid : I hate it,' is one such passage ; and 
 another, ' This is a beastly school milk and water, no 
 milk ; bread and butter, no butter. Please give a 
 quarter's notice.' But this apparently represents the 
 first plunge into school life ; his family agree that he 
 was really well treated, and evidence to the same effect
 
 8 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 appears a short time later in a quaint contemporary 
 document. 
 
 Before he left Mr. Sopp's school, Fawcett had been 
 seized by the normal attack of diary-writing. A little 
 pocket-book contains the records of his childish expe- 
 riences during September and October 1846, and from 
 March to October 1847. The handwriting is excellent, 
 the contents fragmentary. Frequently the young author 
 is forced to condescend to bare meteorology : ' It was a 
 very fine day,' is often the sole entry. We gather, how- 
 ever, that he often goes home for a half-holiday, and 
 has a full share of the true delights of a country-bred 
 lad. Fishing, his life-long recreation, comes in for 
 frequent mention : on June 21,1 847, he has the pleasure 
 of recording the capture of the first fish he ever took with 
 a fly, ' an Humber ' (i.e. grayling) ' of about lb.' He 
 receives a present of a hedgehog with four young ones ; 
 he sees a party rabbit-shooting ; he pays a visit to the 
 Isle of Wight and goes on board H.M.S. Howe of 120 
 guns. He goes once to the theatre and once or twice gets 
 into court at sessions and hears ' Mr. New's girl tried.' 
 He begins Greek on September 16, 1846; which day had 
 also its compensations, for ' Trollope had a cake come.' 
 On July 3, 1847, he notes the state of the poll at the Salis- 
 bury election, but refrains from any comment indicative 
 of his own views. On October 3 following we read with a 
 sympathetic twinge that he had a new tooth extracted with 
 ' the corkscrew instrument it hurt very much indivil ! ' 
 The later part of the journal records an important change 
 in his life. On August 3, 1847, he enters Queenwood 
 College. The house at Queenwood had been built in
 
 EARLY LIFE 9 
 
 1841 by the famous Robert Owen for his last socialistic 
 experiment, and was then called ' Harmony Hall.' In 1 847 
 it had been opened as a school and agricultural college by 
 Mr. Edmonson, Fawcett being the first pupil to arrive 
 on the opening day. Mr. Edmonson was an enthusiastic 
 educationalist. He had previously kept a school in 
 Lancashire, and upon starting at Queenwood he engaged 
 several of the assistants of Fellenberg, whose establish- 
 ment at Hofwyl had just been broken up. Mr. Edmon- 
 son tried to carry into practice some ideas not familiar 
 in England. The course included a good scientific 
 training, and much attention was paid to English litera- 
 ture. At Mr. Sopp's, as we have seen, Fawcett had 
 begun Greek; he had also practised writing letters to 
 his sister in French ; and he had acquired some know- 
 ledge of shorthand (on Pitman's system). He had not 
 gone far in the usual line of an English classical educa- 
 tion, for which he never showed any aptitude. But 
 his intellectual powers were rapidly developing. On 
 Saturday, August 14, the diarist tells us, ' we fixed the 
 election for various officers on the following Wednesday.' 
 On the 1 8th he says, ' We elected the various college 
 officers : J. Mansergh and I were elected without opposi- 
 tion editors of the " Queenwood Chronicle." ' This choice, 
 within a fortnight of his arrival, seems to prove that he 
 must have speedily impressed his fellows with his literary 
 propensities. His father promises (August 29) to take 
 him to Stonehenge upon hearing that he had been elected 
 to this office, and also that he had been ' studying most 
 determinedly.' One of Mr. Edmonson's educational 
 schemes was the issue of a juvenile paper. I have seen
 
 LO LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 some copies of the ' Queenwood Reporter ' (apparently 
 a continuation of the ' Chronicle,' but edited by the school 
 authorities). It contains some articles signed 'H. F.' 
 One or two are solutions of elementary mathematical 
 problems. Another, upon ' The End of the Half- Year,' 
 at Christmas 1848, contains a reference to the death of 
 a schoolfellow creditable to the writer's feelings. Another 
 (without signature) is a description of a visit to London, 
 and is continued through two numbers August and 
 October 1848. The original manuscript is still pre- 
 served. 
 
 The diary gives us sufficient proofs of Fawcett's 
 interest in his lessons. On August 21, we are told, ' Mr. 
 Tindal, the surveyor, came.' Afterwards we find that 
 Mr. Tyndall (whose name is now spelt in the fashion known 
 to all the world as that adopted by the person indicated, 
 now Professor Tyndall) takes the boys out surveying and 
 lectures them ' on the skin.' Fawcett renewed his ac- 
 quaintance with Professor Tyndall in after years. One 
 of his colleagues was Dr. Frankland, now professor at the 
 School of Mines, who lectured upon botany and chemistry. 
 Fawcett was interested in the scientific lectures. Mr. 
 Edmonson, he tells us, lectured on fire, and the learner 
 notes that ' there is fire in almost everything, even in ice.' 
 He works in the laboratory, and on October 5 ' finishes 
 his first substance in the laboratory ; it was some bi- 
 chromate of lead or chrome yellow.' His English composi- 
 tions are also noticed. On September 8 he notes, ' I began 
 writing my lecture on phonography, on the uses of steam ' 
 (some slip of the pen seems to have run two lectures 
 into one), ' without copying any of it.' A fragment
 
 EARLY LIFE 11 
 
 of the lecture on phonography is still extant, which, 
 after stating that out of 50,000 words in the language 
 only fifty are written as they are pronounced, goes off 
 into a eulogy of Mr. Pitman's system of shorthand, and 
 is followed by several pages written apparently in that 
 character. The lecture on the uses of steam had more 
 important results. On September 16 he acknowledges 
 the receipt from his sister of some mining journals, 
 a paragraph of which is required for his lecture. 
 The lecture fully written out is described as ' delivered 
 by H. Fawcett at Queenwood College, September 27, 
 1847.' On October 2 he goes home and reads the 
 lecture to the family party. They were ' all much 
 pleased with it,' and 'papa promised to give me a 
 sovereign for it.' It was, as Miss Fawcett tells me, the 
 first thing which convinced the father that there was 
 really ' something in the boy.' The lecture is, in fact, a 
 very promising performance for a boy of fourteen. There 
 are abundant traces of the future economist. The 
 lecturer gives a great many statistics as to the cost of 
 construction of railways, the number of passengers and 
 so forth ; for some part of which he was doubtless in- 
 debted to the mining journals. He explains with perfect 
 clearness the advantages to the Wiltshire farmer and 
 the London consumer of a cheap transport of cheese. 
 It is evident that his mind was already running upon the 
 same topics which interested him in later life, and had the 
 same tendency to reason upon the facts of daily observa- 
 tion. In another direction the essay shows a tendency 
 which afterwards diminished. It is highly rhetorical. 
 He begins with an edifying passage upon final causes and
 
 12 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the great Power which amongst other things has pro- 
 vided steam for human use ; he becomes florid in 
 dwelling upon the wonders of modern civilisation and 
 the glories of the nation which has produced Watt and 
 Shakespeare ; and he winds up with some ' striking 
 verses,' called the ' Song of Steam,' extracted from an 
 American paper. 
 
 An exuberance of high-flown language, if not a 
 merit, is at least a very venial fault at fourteen. 
 Fawcett's flow of language at this time indicates very 
 considerable intellectual energy. Other more or less 
 fragmentary essays survive. There is a long one upon 
 ' Keflection,' dated May 19, 1848, enlarging upon the 
 difference between man and brute ; another (title and 
 beginning lost) which points out that statesmen depend 
 upon their brains, and then passes into a long eulogy 
 upon phrenology ; there is a short paper called ' A Visit 
 to Netley Abbey ; ' and another described as ' Reflections 
 upon a First Visit to London,' published, as we have seen, 
 in the ' Reporter ' ; and some fragments upon ' Satire,' 
 ' Angling and Izaak Walton,' and one upon Ireland. 
 
 A sufficient specimen of this boyish rhetoric may be 
 taken from the essay called 'Reflection.' Inventions 
 of all kinds, as the essayist remarks, are the fruit of 
 reflection ; and he illustrates their value by an imaginary 
 traveller. This person, after experiencing the benefits 
 of bells, newspapers, and a ' buss ' (which knocks down 
 two or three people, but has wheels so formed that 
 ' they get up again quite uninjured ' an invention of 
 the future, apparently), gets into a railway, where the 
 heating of a few gallons of water takes him at a rate of
 
 EARLY LIFE 13 
 
 sixty miles an hour, now elevated at a fearful height, 
 'and now in a dungeon far below the earth.' ' Unfortu- 
 nately, as he is getting from the carriage he slips and his 
 leg is very seriously injured, in two minutes after the 
 accident is heard of in the town some hundreds of miles 
 distant from where he had just come, it gets no better, 
 soon he has to have it amputated, it is done, and under 
 the most pleasant feelings possible he lays in an hotel, 
 more like a palace, in fact, than anything else ; ' he goes 
 in a steamship past Spain, where Fawcett moralises 
 on the phenomena often noticed in his later studies of 
 a people ' made poor by gold ; ' and so to Egypt, the 
 ancient glories of which are enumerated, whilst we are 
 told parenthetically to depend upon it that Mahomet was 
 ' in many respects a worthy man ' (had Professor Tyndall 
 been lecturing on Carlyle's ' Hero-worship ' ?) ; and finally 
 reaches India, where a small body of men, ' occupying a 
 house of no very considerable size in London, have, 
 entirely from their enterprise and powers of mind, 
 got possession of many thousand acres of land.' He 
 winds up by quotations from Shakespeare (his ' Ode to 
 Mercy ' i.e. the passage in Portia's speech) and Cicero's 
 Oration on Yerres, both of which, as he justly observes, 
 show powers of reflection. 
 
 The quaint boyish declamation is already directed to 
 subjects which occupied much of his later thought; the 
 general line of remark being of course a version of many 
 contemporary eulogies on progress, familar enough to 
 the Radicals of that day. Fawcett used to tell us how 
 he had once ventured into poetry, the subject being 
 a 'Prairie on Fire,' and the sole surviving fragment
 
 14 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 describing the 'bisons in despair,' and stating that they 
 ' tore their grizzly hair.' A letter to his father dated 
 November 17, 1848, throws some light upon the in- 
 fluences which presided over his early eloquence. He 
 has been taking lessons in elocution ; he has ' pro- 
 nounced a very impassioned speech in presence of the 
 whole school ' as composedly as if he had been repeating 
 it to himself. Such composure, as he observes, is a 
 desirable acquirement for one who wishes to speak well. 
 He has learnt various famous passages from Shakespeare 
 and Addison's ' Cato.' The elocution master certainly 
 seems to have been consulted in the composition of 
 the letter, which is full of moral reflections after the 
 manner of Mr. Barlow. ' What talents will not do,' says 
 the lad, after professing his own resolutions to be indus- 
 trious, ' industry will. This was a maxim ever in the 
 mind of Napoleon.' He observes in the same letter 
 that Cambridge students are henceforth to know some- 
 thing of political economy, history, and science, as well 
 as classics and mathematics, and states that in a recent 
 examination he has been first both in history and 
 geography. 
 
 Fawcett, as his schoolfellows remember, was at this 
 time tall for his age, loosely made, and rather ungainly. 
 He preferred study to boyish sports, and, in spite of 
 prohibitions, would desert the playground to steal into 
 a copse with his books. He was best at mathematics, 
 caring little for Latin and French. He learnt long 
 passages by heart, and would wander in the fields 
 repeating them aloud. In an old chalk-pit, which was a 
 favourite greenroom, he would gesticulate as he recited,
 
 EARLY LIFE 15 
 
 till passing labourers had doubts as to his sanity. Even 
 at this time, when the boys talked of their future lives, 
 he always declared that he meant to be a member of 
 Parliament an avowal then received by ' roars of 
 laughter.' The rather peculiar course of study cer- 
 tainly seems to have been favourable to his development. 
 On December 15, 1880, he presided at a dinner of old 
 Queenwood scholars, and spoke cordially of the value of 
 the training. He insisted especially upon the absence 
 of injudicious forcing, and upon the charms of the free 
 country life in a retired situation. 
 
 His Queenwood experience only lasted some eighteen 
 months. He was sent to King's College School after the 
 Christmas holidays, 1848-9. He was now shooting up 
 rapidly to his great height, and had for the time outgrown 
 his strength. It was thought desirable that he should 
 live as near as might be to the school ; and after a short 
 residence with Dr. Major, the head-master, he was 
 therefore transferred to the house of a Mr. Fearon. Mr. 
 Fearon, who was in some way connected with Fawcett's 
 family, was for many years a chief office keeper in the 
 Stamps and Taxes Department in Somerset House, and 
 consequently had apartments there, in convenient proxi- 
 mity to King's College. Fawcett's delicacy at this time 
 was probably some hindrance to his studies. Mr. C. B. 
 Clarke, who had been at school in Salisbury and knew 
 his parents by sight, was also at King's College School 
 at this time. He remembers Fawcett as 'a very tall 
 boy, with pale whitey-brown hair, who always stood at 
 the bottom of the lower sixth class.' The master of 
 this class was Thomas Markby, a good scholar, who was
 
 16 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 afterwards lecturer at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. A boy's 
 position in the school was determined exclusively by 
 his classical attainments. Fawcett's knowledge in that 
 direction was scanty enough. Fawcett (as Mr. Clarke 
 believes) distinctly refused to have anything to do with 
 Beatson's ' Iambics,' and was serenely indifferent to 
 the petty distinctions between aorists, perfects, and so 
 forth, which are not beneath the notice of Greek gram- 
 marians. Markby had the good sense to excuse him from 
 the .hated verses, being satisfied that he was at work in 
 other directions. Mr. Cunningham, secretary to King's 
 College, kindly informs me that Fawcett gained the 
 arithmetic prize in the Easter Term 1849; the 'class 
 work ' prize in the Michaelmas Term 1 849 ; the first 
 prize for German and the second for French in the same 
 term (a fact which implies, I fear, that the contem- 
 porary standard of foreign languages was not exalted) ; 
 a prize for mathematics in the Lent Term, 1850; and 
 the first prize for mathematics in the Michaelmas 
 Term 1850. The mathematical master at that time (as 
 Mr. Clarke tells me) was Mr. James Hann, a self-taught 
 man who had begun life in a coal-mine, and retained 
 the appearance of a miner. When once detected in a 
 perusal of Horace, he apologised on the ground that, 
 although Horace could not teach you to make a steam- 
 engine, there was pretty reading in him when you were 
 not in working humour. Hann was a shrewd observer. 
 He recognised Fawcett's mathematical power and took 
 him on from Euclid to the Integral Calculus a range 
 of reading then very unusual before entering the Uni- 
 versity. I may add that in July 1849 his master,
 
 EARLY LIFE 17 
 
 the Eev. J. Edwards, reports that Fawcett showed 
 'great power in writing English prose.' At Easter 1851 
 Fawcett left the school and attended the mathematical 
 and classical classes at the college until the summer of 
 1852. Here, for the first time, he became intimate with 
 Mr. C. B. Clarke, who was attending the same mathe- 
 matical lectures under Professors Hall and Goodeve. 
 The friendship was destined to be lifelong. At this 
 time Fawcett was the best mathematician of the two. 
 It does not seem, however, that he made any special 
 mark at the college. He always attributed much influ- 
 ence to his conversations with Mr. Fearon. I am told 
 that he played cribbage unweariedly with Mrs. Fearon 
 in order to have greater opportunities of hearing her 
 husband talk. Mr. Fearon, as I learn from Sir John 
 Lambert, was a keen politician, though not a highly 
 educated man. He was a Unitarian in religion, a 
 staunch Liberal in politics and creed, and especially a 
 strong free-trader. Fawcett preserved a high respect for 
 Fearon' s common sense, and in later days often recalled 
 his ' quaint and forcible ' phrases in conversation with 
 Sir J. Lambert. I have a faint recollection that Fawcett 
 told me that he had even at this time found his way to 
 the gallery of the House of Commons. He occasionally 
 played cricket, though King's College had not the athletic 
 advantages of some other schools, and he acquired some 
 skill at billiards. 
 
 The then Dean of Salisbury, Dr. Hamilton, was con- 
 sulted by Mr. Fawcett senior, who showed him some of 
 the boy's mathematical papers. The dean said empha- 
 tically that the lad ought to go to Cambridge. This 
 
 c
 
 18 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 opinion fortunately decided the question. The expense 
 was a matter of some importance, as Mr. Fawcett was 
 not a rich man, and University education was not usual 
 for a man of Fawcett's social position. The choice of 
 a college was characteristic. Parents generally seem to 
 consider that the choice of the place at which a young 
 man is to be under the most decisive influences of his 
 whole life is of so little importance that it may be decided 
 by the most trivial circumstance. Boys themselves are 
 more likely to think of the position of the college boat 
 than of more serious merits. Fawcett, however, was 
 already thoughtful enough to choose his college for more 
 weighty reasons. He chose Peterhouse 1 deliberately, on 
 the ground that its Fellowships were supposed to be of 
 more than the average value and were tenable by lay- 
 men. He had already to some extent chalked out his 
 future career ; though I am unable to say precisely at 
 what period his mind had been made up. 
 
 I saw Fawcett for the first time a few months after 
 his entrance (in October 1852). The circumstances imply 
 that his appearance was then sufficiently striking. My 
 memory is very irretentive of such matters in general ; 
 but I could point to the precise spot on the bank of 
 the Cam where I noticed a very tall, gaunt figure 
 swinging along with huge strides upon the towing-path. 
 He was over 6 feet 3 inches in height. His chest, 
 I should say, was not very broad in proportion to his 
 height, but he was remarkably large of bone and massive 
 of limb. The face was impressive, though not hand- 
 
 1 I cannot bring myself to the barbarism of ' St Peter's College,' 
 under which the oldest college in the University has apparently tried to 
 conceal its identity.
 
 
 / 
 
 London.Piiblisted.~by Smith Elder&rC?16,Waterloo Place.
 
 EAELY LIFE 19 
 
 some. The skull was very large ; my own head vanished 
 as into a cavern if I accidentally put on his hat. The 
 forehead was lofty, though rather retreating, and the 
 brow finely arched. The complexion was rather dull, 
 but more than one of his early acquaintance speaks of 
 the brightness of his eye and the keenness of his glance. 
 The eyes were full and capable of vivid expression, though 
 not, I think, brilliant in colour. 1 The features were 
 strong, and, though riot delicately carved, were far from 
 heavy, and gave a general impression of remarkable 
 energy. The mouth, long, thin-lipped, and very flexible, 
 had a characteristic nervous tremor as of one eager to 
 speak and voluble of discourse. In after years, the 
 expression rather suggested that his inability to see 
 stimulated the desire to gain information through his 
 other senses. A certain wistfulness was a frequent shade 
 of expression. But a singularly hearty and cordial laugh 
 constantly lighted up the whole face with an expression 
 of most genial and infectious good-humour. 
 
 On my first glimpse of Fawcett, however, I was 
 troubled by a question of classification. I vaguely specu- 
 lated as to whether he was an undergraduate, or a young 
 farmer, or possibly somebody connected with horses at 
 Newmarket come over to see the sights. He had a cer- 
 tain rustic air, in strong contrast to that of the young 
 Pendennises who might stroll along the bank to make 
 a book upon the next boat-race. He rather resembled 
 some of the athletic figures who may be seen at the side 
 
 1 In the portrait from an early photograph engraved in this volume, 
 the rather peculiar expression of the eyes results, I think, from the weak- 
 ness of sight presently to be noticed, which made him shrink from any 
 strong light. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 of a North-country wrestling ring. Indeed, I fancy that 
 Fawcett may have inherited from his father some of 
 the characteristics of the true long-legged, long-limbed, 
 Dandie-Dinrnont type of North-countryman. The im- 
 pression was, no doubt, fixed in my mental camera 
 because I was soon afterwards surprised by seeing my 
 supposed rustic dining in our college hall. 
 
 I insist upon this because it may indicate Fawcett's 
 superficial characteristics on his first appearance at 
 Cambridge. Many qualities, which all his friends came 
 to recognise sooner or later, were for the present either 
 latent or, it may be, undeveloped. The first glance 
 revealed the stalwart, bucolic figure, with features 
 stamped by intelligence, but that kind of intelligence 
 which we should rather call shrewdness than by any 
 higher name. The earliest anecdote of his college days 
 is significant of the impressions which he made. There 
 was at Peterhouse a youth nicknamed the ' Captain '- 
 apparently by way of tribute to his sporting tendencies. 
 The Captain saw first in Fawcett only the country bump- 
 kin, and challenged him to a game at quoits. Fawcett 
 could beat most Salisbury lads at this, which was a 
 Salisbury game, and made short work of his antagonist. 
 The Captain then proposed the more refined game of 
 billiards. They played a single game of 100. After a 
 time the Captain had scored ninety-six to Fawcett's 
 seventy-five. Fawcett was to play, and the spectators 
 taunted him with offers of ten to one on his opponent. 
 Fawcett accepted all bets offered at this, and then at 
 lower rates. He then played, and made the necessary 
 twenty-five in a single break. ' The bets,' he said to
 
 EARLY LIFE 21 
 
 Clarke, ' were forced on me ; but the odds were really 
 more than ten to one against my making twenty-five in 
 any position of the balls, though I saw a stroke which I 
 knew that I could make and which would leave me with 
 a fine game.' Clarke thinks that Fawcett was in his first 
 week of residence. He won what seemed a large sum 
 to undergraduates and obtained a reputation for shrewd- 
 ness which earned for him for a short time the nickname 
 of the ' Old Serpent.' One of Fawcett's intimates tried 
 to repeat his success, and challenged the Captain to a 
 game of chess. The Captain, however, was no fool, and 
 won his game triumphantly. 
 
 Fawcett's remarkable nerve and powers of rapid cal- 
 culation would have made him a formidable antagonist 
 in such games of skill. But he never condescended to 
 gambling. He was a good whist-player, but he gave up 
 billiards, and when some of his college acquaintance fell 
 into a foolish practice of playing for more than they 
 could afford, he did what he could to discourage them, 
 and spoke of their folly with hearty contempt. He had, 
 in truth, too much sense and self-command to sav 
 
 t/ 
 
 nothing of higher motives to fall into errors of this 
 kind. I may add here and the testimony of a college 
 contemporary before whom no reserve was necessary 
 may be taken as sufficient that as a young man he was 
 free from errors too common in the undergraduate world 
 of those days. The moral standard of Cambridge was, 
 in certain respects, far from elevated ; but Fawcett, 
 though no ascetic or strait-laced Puritan, was in all 
 senses perfectly blameless in his life. 
 
 Fawcett's friends soon came to value him for
 
 22 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 intellectual qualities displayed in a higher sphere than 
 that of games. The strong, shrewd common sense of 
 the man was the first quality to be recognised; and 
 upon that head there could be no mistake. The circle 
 of friends to which he belonged was propitious to its 
 early development and recognition. The years spent at 
 the University, when the buoyancy of the schoolboy 
 blends with the exulting sense of manly independence 
 and the growing consciousness of power, are amongst 
 the most delightful in the lives of most men, especially 
 when they have the good fortune to find congenial 
 spirits. We can still form friendships with boyish faci- 
 lity, which are yet more than the mere comrade-ship of 
 boyish days. Of all men whom I have ever known, 
 Fawcett most lully retained the power of forming new 
 friendships till later years. Yet even he probably made 
 more friendships at this than at a later period, and, 
 what is more remarkable, he never lost a friend once 
 attracted. An undergraduate's ' set ' generally repre- 
 sents the most important influences of his academical 
 career. Half-a-dozen promising lads can do more to 
 educate each other than all the tutors and professors 
 can do for them. Fawcett's set included several men 
 of distinguished ability. Peterhouse was a small college, 
 in which everyone could soon become known to everyone 
 else. There he became acquainted with his seniors, Tait, 
 Steele, Routh, and W. D. Gardiner. His King's College 
 connection brought him into friendly relations, through 
 his special intimate C. B. Clarke, with Messrs. E. Wilson, 
 Rigby (now Q.C.), Daniel Jones, and M. M. U. Wilkinson 
 (now vicar of Reepham, Norfolk).
 
 EAKLY LIFE 23 
 
 These last formed a kind of inner circle. Clarke 
 and Rigby were at Trinity and in Fawcett's own year. 
 All the set were mathematicians and reading men. 
 Some of them were musical, though Fawcett at this 
 time took the unappreciative view of the difference 
 between tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. He was also 
 pre-eminent for classical ignorance, and was often rallied 
 by his friends for his literary deficiencies. Literature, 
 indeed, was not the strong point of the set. They were 
 typical Cambridge men : believers in hard facts and 
 figures, admirers of strenuous common sense, and hearty 
 despisers of sentimentalism. They seem to have carried 
 on the tradition of the earlier set, described in Mill's 
 ' Autobiography,' of which Charles Austin was the leader, 
 who swore by Bentham and used the dyslogistic words, 
 ' sentimentalism,' 'declamation,' and 'vague generalities,' 
 as a kind of Shibboleth. The phrase current in Fawcett's 
 set, by which a man was placed beyond the pale of 
 serious notice, was ' gush.' ' Is he not a gusher ? ' meant 
 ' Is he not a consummate imbecile ? ' The whole set, it 
 must be remembered, were still in the semi-schoolboy 
 stage, looking upon their studies as a clever schoolboy 
 regards his lessons chiefly as a providential machinery 
 for prize-winning. They played whist and billiards and 
 had constant social meetings, ' wines,' and ' tea-fights,' 
 and did not condescend ('muscular Christianity' was 
 hardly on foot) to take much part in athletic games. 
 They had, however, genuine intellectual interests. At 
 that period the more ' sentimental ' youth learnt Tenny- 
 son by heart, wept over ' Jane Eyre,' and was beginning 
 to appreciate Browning. If more seriously disposed, he
 
 24 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 read ' Sartor Besartus ' and the ' French Kevolution ' ; 
 he followed the teachings of Maurice and had some 
 leaning to ' Christian Socialism.' But the sterner utili- 
 tarians looked to Mill as their great prophet. They 
 repudiated Carlyle as reactionary, and set down Maurice 
 as muddle-headed. The chief of Fawcett's set in these 
 matters was Edward Wilson, three years his senior, who 
 was eighth Wrangler in 1853, and whose place in the 
 Tripos very inadequately represented his real abilities. 
 Wilson specially delighted in discussing political economy, 
 and vindicating Mill. When an outsider joined the 
 parties of the set, he was liable to be entrapped into an 
 argument upon the theory of population or the wage- 
 fund ; and Wilson, after tearing to pieces the fallacies 
 of some ignoramus, would always add sententiously, 
 ' Bead Mill ! read Mill ! ' Fawcett took the advice to 
 heart. 
 
 Meanwhile he applied himself resolutely to mathe- 
 matics. In his first year he read with Steele, and after- 
 wards with W. Hopkins. 1 Peterhouse had then a re- 
 markable mathematical reputation. Mr. Fuller, now 
 Professor of Mathematics at King's College, Aberdeen, 
 had been fourth Wrangler in 1 842 ; (the present Sir 
 William) Thomson was second in 1844; W. A. Porter, 
 one of Fawcett's closest friends, was third in 1849; 
 James Porter, another close friend, now Master of Peter- 
 
 1 There is an odd conflict of testimony on this point ; but I have 
 little doubt that I am correct. The question is whether Fawcett was 
 ever a pupil of Mr. Bouth's. Mr. Bouth thinks that Fawcett did some 
 papers for him ; and others have told me that Fawcett himself said the 
 same thing. But I cannot reconcile the statement with undeniable 
 dates.
 
 EAELY LIFE 25 
 
 house, was eighth Wrangler in 1851. In 1852 Tait, 
 now the eminent professor at Edinburgh, was senior 
 Wrangler, and Steele, Fawcett's first tutor, who died 
 young, was second. In 1854 Mr. Kouth, the most 
 eminent mathematical tutor at Cambridge for a great 
 number of years, was again senior, and J. Clerk Max- 
 well, the great physicist, who was second, had also been 
 entered originally at Peterhouse. All these except the 
 two first, who had left Cambridge, became friends of 
 Fawcett. One of Fawcett's qualifications for making 
 friendships was his utter incapacity for being awed by 
 differences of position. He was as sensitive as anyone 
 to the claims of intellectual excellence, but his freedom 
 from affectation or false pretensions saved him from 
 any awkward shyness. He was equally at his ease with 
 an agricultural labourer, or a prime minister, or (what 
 to me seemed more surprising) a senior Wrangler. To 
 this day I do not realise though on purely intellectual 
 grounds I accept the fact that even a senior Wrangler 
 is made of flesh and blood. I cannot forget the surprise 
 with which I once found Fawcett chatting on terms of 
 perfect equality with the great Tait and Steele, then 
 in all the glory of recent pre-eminence in the Tripos. 
 Fawcett always took other people for what they were, 
 and expected to be taken in the same way himself. He 
 was capable, I think and he was, I may say, the only 
 man I have ever known capable of joining cordially in 
 a laugh at a false quantity made by himself ; not that he 
 often ventured into the regions environed by such perils. 
 He was no more ashamed of his deficiencies as a scholar 
 than of the shape of his nose.
 
 26 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 He thus became intimate with men apparelled in all 
 the terrors of seniority and academic reputation. With 
 none did he become more friendly than with Hopkins, 
 an old Peterhouse man (B.A. 1827) then Esquire-Bedell, 
 and for many years the leading mathematical ' coach ' at 
 Cambridge. He always spoke of Hopkins with en- 
 thusiasm. In 1880 Fawcett had some correspondence 
 with the family about an intention of writing some 
 account of his old tutor's work in the University (Hopkins 
 had died in 1867). The intention fell through, probably 
 on account of the pressure of official work, which fully 
 occupied Fawcett's energies. I can, however, say with 
 certainty that he would have rejoiced to do justice to his 
 teacher. Hopkins used to form a class of select pupils, 
 admitting only those who in their first year had shown 
 themselves to be qualified for a good place amongst the 
 Wranglers. A weak point of the Cambridge system was 
 the tendency of students to think too exclusively of 
 winning marks in the Senate-house. Hopkins was con- 
 spicuous for inculcating a more liberal view of the studies 
 of the place. He endeavoured to stimulate a philoso- 
 phical interest in the mathematical sciences instead of 
 simply rousing an ardour for competition. Fawcett 
 had no desire nor the necessary aptitude to be a mathe- 
 matical specialist. He meant to win a Fellowship by 
 examination ; and his success was to be a stepping-stone 
 to his future career. He used to say that he would rather 
 be senior Wrangler in the worst year than second to a 
 Sir Isaac Newton. No man was more fully awake to the 
 tangible commercial utility of a good degree. But it 
 was very characteristic that his robust common sense
 
 EARLY LIFE 27 
 
 led him to aims which lay beyond the range of mere 
 temporary expediency. He did not despise the pecuniary 
 rewards of intellectual prowess, but he saw distinctly that 
 it would be the reverse of sensible to win such rewards 
 at the expense of his intellectual development. He read 
 for honours and with a view to a Fellowship, but he 
 worked in the spirit of the official Cambridge theory, 
 expounded in its best sense by Hopkins that the true 
 value of the mathematical training was its excellence as 
 a branch of intellectual gymnastics. He formed what 
 was (in my own opinion) an even excessive estimate of 
 its merit, in this respect ; and in later life took more than 
 one opportunity of saying that, although he had been 
 forced by circumstances to drop his mathematics entirely, 
 he did not regret a single hour spent in the study. 
 Fawcett's keen appreciation of this advantage was doubt- 
 less due in part to Hopkins's mode of treatment and the 
 direct personal influence of his singularly lofty character. 
 In any case, he always regarded Hopkins as one of the 
 best representatives of all that he most admired in his 
 well-loved University. Another occupation was charac- 
 teristic in the same sense. One day at the beginning of 
 his third year (October 1854) Fawcett looked in at the 
 Union, and was prompted to speak in the debate which 
 was proceeding. He became from that time a regular 
 debater. Many young men of ability have first tried 
 their powers in that arena. Charles Austin, Macaulay, 
 Monckton Milnes, and others had been famous orators 
 in the early years of the century. Just before Fawcett's 
 time Sir William Harcourt and Mr. Justice Stephen had 
 been protagonists in many keenly contested debates.
 
 28 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Since Fawcett's time many conspicuous orators from the 
 
 Union have distinguished themselves in various public 
 
 careers ; yet there was a kind of tacit agreement amongst 
 
 the undergraduates, who specially affect a stern contempt 
 
 for all kinds of ostentatious display, to treat debates at 
 
 the Union as legitimate matter for ridicule. The shame- 
 
 facedness of British youth is unfavourable to oratory. 
 
 Perhaps success at the Union is a promising symptom 
 
 just because it indicates superiority to this prevalent 
 
 weakness. Fawcett, at any rate, the least shamefaced 
 
 of men, perceived that common sense might recommend 
 
 a practice ridiculed by sensible men. His friends mocked 
 
 at his efforts and held aloof from the Union. He wt-nt 
 
 steadily to work, and after some comparative failures 
 
 became one of the most prominent orators. He not 
 
 only spoke but sometimes carefully prepared his speeches. 
 
 I find amongst his papers two rough drafts of speeches 
 
 upon National Education and University Eeform, upon 
 
 both of which subjects he opened debates. He thus at 
 
 any rate acquired the power which, as we have seen, he 
 
 desiderated at Queenwood, of addressing an audience 
 
 with perfect composure. Between November 1854 an d 
 
 the summer of 1856 (when he was a young B.A.) he 
 
 made many speeches recorded in the Annals of the 
 
 Union. The most conspicuous of his rivals were II . M. 
 
 Butler (subsequently Head-master of Harrow, and now 
 
 Dean of Gloucester), to whose remarkable powers as a 
 
 youthful orator I can still bear witness, Mr. Vernon 
 
 Lushington, Mr. W. C. Gully, Mr. A. G. Marten (all of 
 
 them now Queen's Counsel), Mr. (now Sir) J. E. Gorst 
 
 (now Solicitor-General), Mr. E. E. Bo wen (now Master
 
 EARLY LIFE 29 
 
 at Harrow), and Mr. W. T. Marriott (now Judge Advocate- 
 General). 
 
 The main topic of the debates was provided by the 
 Crimean War. Had the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia 
 listened to Fawcett, Butler, and a great majority of the 
 Union, they would have formed an alliance with England 
 in November 1854. Fawcett, again in a majority, held 
 that the character of the late Emperor Nicholas \vas not 
 worthy of respect. In May 1855 he held with a small 
 minority that the independence of Poland must be secured 
 as a condition of a satisfactory peace. In October 1855 
 he objects to a Prussian alliance. In November he 
 argues with Mr. Marriott and against Mr. Bowen that 
 the time has not yet come for negotiating a peace. In 
 the same month he defends the ' Times ' against Mr. 
 Gorst, who maintains that its conduct has been un- 
 patriotic. In February 1856 he objects to the Eussian 
 proposals, which are approved by Messrs. Marriott, 
 Bowen, and Butler. In March he holds that Lord John 
 Bussell deserves the gratitude of his country, and in 
 May 1856 that the annexation of Oude was justifiable. 
 
 Fawcett was clearly not at this time in sympathy 
 with the party opposed to the war. His other speeches, 
 however, show that he was already avowing the prin- 
 ciples to which he adhered throughout his life. On 
 December i, 1854, he brings forward a resolution in 
 favour of an unsectarian system of National Education. 
 In March 1855 he supports a motion for the abolition of 
 purchase in the army; in May 1855 he holds (in a 
 minority of four to twenty-two) that the 'party called 
 the Cobdenites have done the country good service ; '
 
 30 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and in December 1855 he approves of a 'considerable 
 extension of the franchise.' One motion brought forward 
 by him on February 5, 1856, is worth giving, as it ex- 
 presses an opinion upon which he was soon to take 
 decided action. He moves, ' That it is highly desirable 
 that the term of tenure of Fellowships should be limited ; 
 that the restriction of celibacy should be abolished ; that 
 all who have ever been Fellows should have equal claim 
 with present Fellows to college livings, and should have 
 a voice in the presentation to Church patronage.' His 
 notes show that he elaborately argued for this resolution, 
 of which he was the only supporter in the debate, and 
 which was rejected by thirty-seven to sixteen. His chief 
 ground of argument was the evil effect of celibacy and 
 clerical restriction in lowering the character of Fellows. 
 He said that many men of high power waited for 
 college livings until they were fit for nothing better 
 than making brilliant puns in combination rooms. His 
 practice at the Union seems to have led Fawcett to 
 overcome that boyish tendency to stilted rhetoric which 
 appears so quaintly in his early essay. Perhaps the 
 last trace of it was in a college essay (in 1854 or 1855) 
 upon the merits of Pope's poetry, of which he has left 
 a fair and a rough copy. It is not more and perhaps not 
 less likely than more pretentious essays upon English 
 men of letters to throw new light upon that venerable 
 topic. 
 
 Fawcett when he joined the Union had been for more 
 than a year a member of Trinity Hall. He was admitted 
 as a pensioner at that college October 18, 1853, and won 
 a Scholarship in the college examination of the following
 
 EAELY LIFE 31 
 
 May. He had found that his chances of a Fellowship at 
 Peterhouse were diminished by the presence of several 
 strong competitors. He therefore ' migrated ' (in the 
 college phrase) to Trinity Hall, which had recently been 
 at its very nadir. The story ran that Mr. Latham (who 
 was appointed tutor from Trinity College at Christmas 
 1847) asked his colleague a short time afterwards when 
 the freshmen were coming up ? The reply was, that 
 they had all come up ; the numbers were too small to 
 be visible to the naked eye. Trinity Hall has steadily 
 risen under Mr. Latham's judicious government to a 
 leading place amongst the small colleges. Its depression 
 had been partly due to the fact that its Fellowships had 
 been regularly confined to law students, and very little 
 interest was then taken in law studies at Cambridge. 
 It had now been decided that Fellowships should be 
 given to men distinguished in the ordinary Triposes. 
 Several migrations took place of men who, like Fawcett, 
 desired lay Fellowships and anticipated vacancies at 
 Trinity Hall. The change of college made little imme- 
 diate difference to Fawcett except by the addition of some 
 new friends to his circle. I may boast that I was of the 
 number, and so gained one of the greatest privileges of 
 my life. 
 
 Fawcett's set had read to the last term of their 
 undergraduate course with a vague belief that the 
 honours of the Tripos would fall to St. John's College. 
 It then began to dawn upon them that they, too, were 
 mathematicians. Fawcett was thought to show most 
 promise ; and though it was generally held that Hadley 
 of St. John's was the best man of his year, it began to
 
 32 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 be whispered that Fawcett had some chance of even the 
 senior Wranglership. The contest for that honour is 
 always most exciting. In the Tripos, for, as I imagine, 
 the first and last time of his life, Fawcett's nerve failed 
 him. He could not sleep, though he got out of bed and 
 ran round the college quadrangle to exhaust himself. 
 He failed to gain the success upon which he had counted 
 in the concluding papers. 1 Not only was Hadley senior 
 Wrangler and far ahead of the second, but Fawcett 
 sank to be seventh. His intimates, Rigby and Clarke, 
 were second and third. In spite of his comparative 
 failure he had shown marked ability. Dr. Besant, one 
 of the Moderators for 1856, tells me that he was much 
 impressed by Fawcett's work. Fawcett was wanting in 
 technical skill and the manipulation of mathematical 
 analysis. He overcame his deficiency by sheer mental 
 force and his power of directly applying mechanical 
 principles. He used plain English where most can- 
 didates would apply mathematical machinery. Fawcett 
 had in any case done more than enough to win a Fellow- 
 ship at his college, where he was far ahead of all rivals. 
 He was elected to a Fellowship at Christmas 1856. 
 
 Fawcett had clearly decided upon his plan of life. 
 
 1 Dr. Wolstenholme, junior examiner for the Tripos in 1856, has 
 kindly shown me the marks. Fawcett was seventh at the end of the 
 first three days (which then formed a separate section of the exami- 
 nation). He rose to be sixth, passing C. B. Clarke, on the first of the 
 five days, and at the end of each succeeding day was seventh on the 
 total marks, neither passing nor being passed. On the separate days' 
 marks he was sixth on the first day, second on the fourth, and only 
 thirteenth, twelfth, and tenth on the second, third, and fifth days 
 respectively. He was distanced by Rigby and Clarke on the last day 
 especially, when he had probably hoped to gain places.
 
 EARLY LIFE 33 
 
 I cannot fix the precise date at which his mind was 
 made up : even at Queenwood his mind, as we have 
 seen, had been fixed upon political success, and his desire 
 of acquiring the art of public speaking was probably 
 significant of the same boyish ambition. It was known 
 to all his friends whilst he was yet an undergraduate. 
 He was, however, a poor man. He had no income 
 beyond his Fellowship (worth about 250^ a year), 
 and such allowance as could be made by his father, who 
 was not a rich man, and had three other children. He 
 resolved therefore to approach Parliament through a 
 successful career at the bar. He was justified in count- 
 ing upon such success as almost a certainty. His indo- 
 mitable energy, his strong practical intellect and aptitude 
 for business, combined with his remarkable power of fall- 
 ing into friendly relations with men in all classes, were 
 admirable qualifications for a young barrister. He had 
 also reason to be certain that an opening would not be 
 wanting to him. Mr. A. T. Squarey, whose family was 
 long connected with Salisbury, had known him from 
 childhood and had formed a high opinion of his abilities. 
 Mr. Squarey was now at the head of one of the principal 
 firms of solicitors in Liverpool, with a very large mer- 
 cantile practice. He encouraged Fawcett to go to the 
 bar, and promised that he should have opportunities 
 of showing his powers in the conduct of important 
 business. 
 
 Fawcett had entered Lincoln's Inn on October 26, 
 1854. After his degree, he considered that he had a 
 right to a short holiday. He was at Cambridge in the 
 summer of 1856, and for a time he took lodgings on
 
 34 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Putney Heath, to be near an old family friend, Mrs. 
 Hodding. In November he settled in London to begin 
 his legal studies. He attended some of the reader's lec- 
 tures, upon which he made careful notes, still preserved 
 amongst his papers. I remember the warm admiration 
 which he expressed for the lectures of Mr. (now Sir 
 Henry) Maine ; and, indeed, he never came in contact 
 with a man of marked ability without being moved to 
 enthusiasm. He continued to practise himself in public 
 speaking. He was a member, as Sir John Pope Hen- 
 nessy (now Governor of Mauritius) kindly informs me, of 
 the Westminster Debating Society, which met in an old- 
 fashioned room in the Westminster Tavern, near West- 
 minster Bridge. Several young barristers and journal- 
 ists belonged to this society, which imitated the forms of 
 the House of Commons. The tradition ran that Sir E. 
 B. Lytton had once paid it a visit, and said afterwards 
 that he had entered in a fit of abstraction, mistaking 
 it for the House of Commons. He only discovered his 
 error upon finding that there were no dull speeches and 
 no one asleep which seems to prove that it must have 
 been a very remarkable society indeed. Fawcett became 
 leader of the Eadical party in this mimic Legislature, 
 and Sir J. Hennessy remembers his 'resonant voice,' 
 ' wild hair,' and ' expressive eyes.' No contemporary of 
 Fawcett's, I should imagine, can have entered the strug- 
 gle of life better qualified to take his own part, or with 
 greater confidence of success. None of his friends had 
 the slightest doubt that in some way or other he would 
 force his way to the front. We recognised as fully as 
 at a later period his energy and his keen intelligence.
 
 EARLY LIFE 35 
 
 If we were still a little blind to some of his nobler quali- 
 ties, we at least recognised in him the thoroughly ' good 
 fellow,' whose success would be as gratifying to his 
 friends as it was confidently anticipated. But soon 
 after he had taken his degree the shadow of a great 
 calamity fell across his path. In the winter of 1856-7 
 he wrote to his friend Clarke to say that something was 
 wrong with his eyesight. In the early part of 1857 he 
 consulted Critchett, one of the first oculists of the day. 
 Critchett (as his son, Mr. G. Anderson Critchett, kindly 
 informs me) found that Fawcett was suffering ' from a 
 sprained condition of the ciliary or adjusting muscles, 
 consequent upon over-use of the eyes. The retina had 
 also become very sensitive to light, but no organic change 
 had taken place to threaten any serious or permanent 
 loss of sight.' Critchett ordered perfect rest, forbidding 
 him to try his eyes by reading or by exposure to strong 
 light. This warning certainly caused some anxiety. 
 I do not myself, nor do the surviving members of his 
 family, remember that his spirits were visibly depressed. 
 Clarke, however, to whom he paid a visit shortly after 
 this time, says that at no point of his career was Faw- 
 cett so unhappy. I think that on this, as upon other 
 occasions, he was careful to conceal his anxieties unless 
 circumstances prompted some special confidence, and 
 especially to conceal them from the parents and the 
 sister who would have been so deeply pained by a full 
 knowledge of his misgivings. 
 
 His temporary incapacitation and the possibility of 
 permanent disqualification for his chosen career must 
 in any case have been a severe trial for the young man. 
 
 7) 2
 
 36 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 then in the first flush of his ambition. In 1857 he found 
 some employment by taking a pupil, Charles Cooke, 
 nephew of the Master of Trinity Hall, who was reading for 
 a military examination. With Cooke and Miss Fawcett, 
 Fawcett went to Paris towards the end of 1857, where 
 the pupil might learn French whilst he read mathema- 
 tics with his tutor. Fawcett hoped for some advantage 
 from change of scene, and consulted some of the French 
 oculists. In a letter dated November 9, he wrote to an 
 old friend, Mr. Egerton, then curate of Nunton, close to 
 Longford, and now rector of Burwash, Sussex. He has 
 spent six weeks in Paris and his sister is about to leave 
 him. He has been under the care of Sichel, who says 
 ' that it is one of the most extraordinary cases he has 
 ever had,' but hopes to be of some service. Should 
 his eyes not improve by Christmas, Fawcett says that he 
 shall go to Diisseldorf. Miss Fawcett tells me that her 
 brother consulted two oculists at Paris, one of whom 
 ordered high and the other low living. Fawcett followed 
 the latter prescription, but derived from it no distinct 
 advantage. 
 
 Fawcett's letter to Egerton, as I may remark in 
 passing, contains some remarks upon French charac- 
 teristics which are I fear of the conventional British 
 type. No man, to say the truth, could well be more out 
 of his element. The weakness of his eyes now made him 
 specially dependent upon his favourite resource of con- 
 versation ; but in spite of his linguistic successes at 
 school, Fawcett was through life even oddly incapable of 
 acquiring new languages. His tongue, fluent enough 
 in the vernacular, was a stubborn member, and adhered
 
 EARLY LIFE 37 
 
 rigidly to the tricks of early days. Some Wiltshire forms 
 of speech hung about him, I think, to the last. I 
 doubt whether he ever perceived the difference between 
 ' February ' and ' Febuwerry ' ; and I remember how 
 hard we found it to convince him that although Pro- 
 fessor Tyndall might be right in saying that glacier ice 
 was a 'viscous fluid,' he had never asserted it to be 
 * vicious.' 
 
 Fawcett came back from Paris by Christmas as true 
 a Briton as he had set out. The state of his eyes had 
 not improved. Idleness was still enforced upon him ; 
 and for a few months he spent his time chiefly, I 
 believe, at his father's house, occasionally writing a 
 few letters to the papers upon topics of the day. The 
 accident was soon to happen which brought this period 
 of suspense to a strange and unexpected close. For 
 reasons which I have tried to explain, Fawcett's charac- 
 ter had not hitherto been fully revealed to his friends, 
 even so far as it had hitherto been fully developed. The 
 kind of stoical severity which was our pet virtue at 
 Cambridge, the intense dislike to any needless revela- 
 tions of feeling, had certainly its good side. It was at 
 worst an exaggeration of a creditable and masculine 
 instinct. We preferred to mask our impulses under a 
 guise of cynicism rather than to affect more sensibility 
 than we really possessed. I for one should be sorry to 
 see the opposite practice come into fashion. But it 
 must be admitted that the habit of systematically acting 
 the cynic may generate a real cynicism. Fawcett was a 
 man of cordial and generous nature, and of exceedingly 
 strong domestic affections. But he rarely trusted him-
 
 38 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 self at this time to utter his emotions, especially to the 
 friends who were inclined to an excessive severity. 
 Staunch utilitarians and political economists, we were 
 always on our guard against sentimentalism and keenly 
 alive to the absurdity of excesses in that direction. 
 Fawcett sympathised fully with our prejudices ; and it 
 was only as he grew older and his character became 
 mellowed that the juvenile affectation finally passed away, 
 and that he came not only to appreciate but to act 
 openly, without false shame, upon the great truth that 
 warmth of heart is not incompatible with, but essential 
 to, a thoroughly masculine nature. Though no one 
 could think him brutal or cynical, early acquaintance 
 might still think him hard. It is fortunate, however, 
 that his friend Mrs. Hodding has preserved some letters 
 of this period which prove that he had higher motives 
 than he cared to lay bare to the ordinary circle, and 
 could relax his severity under the influence of feminine 
 sympathy. I will quote some passages from them (by her 
 kind permission). Perhaps they show some touches of 
 his youthful magniloquence ; but the genuineness of the 
 sentiment is proved by his later fulfilment of the early 
 aspirations. Fawcett, as I have said, had been loduin^ 
 near her on Putney Heath, in the summer of 1856. She 
 left England for Australia shortly afterwards. He writes 
 to her on September 21, 1856 : 'I regard you with such 
 true affection that I have long wished to impart my mind 
 on many subjects. . . . You know somewhat of my 
 character ; you shall now hear my views as to my future. 
 I started life as a boy with the ambition some day to 
 enter the House of Commons. Every effort, every
 
 EARLY LIFE 39 
 
 endeavour, which I have ever put forth has had this 
 object in view. I have continually tried and shall, I 
 trust, still try not only honourably to gratify my desire, 
 but to fit myself for such an important trust. And 
 now the realisation of these hopes has become something 
 even more than the gratification of ambition. I feel that 
 I ought to make any sacrifice, to endure any amount of 
 labour, to obtain this position, because every day I 
 become more deeply impressed with the powerful con- 
 viction that this is the position in which I could be of 
 the greatest use to my fellow-men, and that I could in 
 the House of Commons exert an influence in removing 
 the social evils of our country, and especially the para- 
 mount one the mental degradation of millions. 
 
 ' I have tried myself severely, but in vain, to discover 
 whether this desire has not some worldly source. I could 
 therefore never be happy unless I was to do everything 
 to secure and fit myself for this position. For I should 
 be racked with remorse through life if any selfishness 
 checked such efforts. For I must regard it as a high 
 privilege from God if I have such aspirations, and if 
 He has endowed me with powers which will enable me 
 to assist in such a work of philanthropy. 
 
 ' This is the career which perhaps the too bright 
 hopes of youth have induced me to hope for. Speaking 
 of myself, I trust that I bear little malice to anyone. 
 Still I know and am well aware that I am impetuous.' 
 
 On November 3 he says that he has an invitation to 
 the ' great manufacturing centres,' where he is ' particu- 
 larly anxious to observe certain things with respect to 
 the social condition of the people in those parts.'
 
 40 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 On November 20 he reports that his trip has been 
 delightful. He has met many friends and seen many 
 interesting objects. Especially he met the 'great philan- 
 thropist,' Mr. Wright, of Manchester a 'second Howard,' 
 who showed him gaols and ragged schools, and received 
 him hospitably in his family. ' I have never met,' says 
 Fawcett, ' so line and perfect an example of a venerable 
 Christian.' 
 
 On February 22, 1857, he has heard the Budget 
 debate. He had gone at one o'clock and spent twelve 
 hours in the House. ' No one,' he says, ' need fear ob- 
 taining a position in the House of Commons now ; for 
 I should say never was good speaking more required. 
 There is not a man in the Ministry can speak but Lord 
 Palmerston ; Disraeli is the support of the Opposition ; 
 but although he was considered to have achieved a suc- 
 cess that night, it was done by uttering a multitude of 
 words and indulging in a great deal of claptrap. Glad- 
 stone made the speech of the evening, and he is a fine 
 speaker. He never hesitates, and his elocution and 
 manner are admirable ; in fact, in this he resembles 
 Bright, but is, in my opinion, inferior to Bright in not 
 condensing his matter. Wilson's speech showed by far 
 the most sound sense, but he is no orator ani therefore 
 was hardly listened to. You who know so well my 
 deep ambition to be one day in Parliament will believe 
 that I shall use every endeavour to fit myself for the 
 duties of such a life, and I now see no reason to despair 
 of having my desire gratified and of obtaining what to 
 me would be by far the greatest of worldly triumphs 
 namely, the assurance of my own conscience that
 
 EAKLY LIFE 41 
 
 my days had been usefully passed in behalf of my 
 country. 
 
 ' Long before you went to Australia, I had eagerly 
 desired to visit that country, for to my mind it must 
 within a few years exercise a most important influence 
 on the future of England. India, too, is the land I much 
 desire to see and know ; and it ought to be by anyone 
 who takes part in public life.' 
 
 On March 9, 1857, we have an account of his eye 
 troubles, which shows him, perhaps for reasons similar 
 to those already suggested, in a more cheerful mood than 
 Clarke's recollections would imply. 
 
 ' I must tell you that my eyes Have not been well 
 lately. 1 therefore went with my father to one of the 
 first oculists of the day, as I was naturally becoming 
 somewhat alarmed. However, his opinion was very 
 consoling; he tells me that for a twelvemonth I must 
 relinquish all reading ; but, as there is no disease what- 
 ever, he feels no doubt at all that I shall then find 
 them as strong as ever they were, and I myself have 
 every confidence in their becoming so. I cannot be suffi- 
 ciently thankful that it has occurred just now, when 
 perhaps I can spare the time with so little incon- 
 venience. I go home to-morrow. Maria will resign her 
 needle with great composure to devote herself to reading 
 to me. I shall thus get quite as much reading as I 
 desire, and I can well foresee that, far from being a 
 misfortune, it may become an advantage, since it will 
 perhaps for the next year induce me to think more 
 than young men are apt to do; it will give me an 
 opportunity to solidify and arrange my knowledge,
 
 42 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and you will know how happy Maria and I shall be 
 together. 
 
 ' Not being able to read, in the evening I have been 
 a constant visitor to the House of Commons. I heard 
 the whole debate on China, which certainly elicited the 
 best of our parliamentary talent and which resulted 
 (most sadly to the people of India) in the defeat of the 
 Ministry. 1 He goes on to criticise the chief speakers. 
 Lord Derby's intellect ' is by no means of a high order,' 
 but he has every qualification for oratory except a good 
 voice. Gladstone's ' mind is too subtle,' but he has 
 made the most effective speech to which the hearer 
 ever listened. ' It caused a great excitement, . . . and 
 I could not help feeling it was a triumph which you may 
 well devote a lifetime to obtain. He discussed the 
 question on high moral grounds ; his speech was said 
 to have obtained many votes, for Lord Palmerston 
 lost his temper and seemed entirely to fail in replying 
 to it.' 
 
 I will only call attention to the interest already mani- 
 fest in the great social questions of the day and in the 
 condition of India. I may add that the events of 1857 
 were calculated to strengthen any impressions already 
 formed upon Indian matters. His thoughts upon these 
 subjects were to have a predominant influence upon his 
 future career. At this time, however, the accident 
 happened which appeared to everyone but himself to 
 put a conclusive end to any political ambition. The 
 hopes so deeply rooted in his nature were to be ap- 
 parently blasted at once and for ever.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BLINDNESS. 
 
 ON September 17, 1858, Fawcett went out shooting with 
 his father upon Harnham Hill. Harnhani Hill commands 
 a view of the rich valley where the Avon glides between 
 the great bluffs of the chalk downs and beneath the un- 
 rivalled spire of Salisbury. It is one of the loveliest 
 views, as Fawcett used to say, in the south of England. 
 He now saw it for the last time. The party was crossing 
 a turnip field and put up some partridges, which flew 
 across a fence into land where Mr. Fawcett had not the 
 right of shooting. In order to prevent this from happen- 
 ing again, Fawcett advanced some thirty yards in front of 
 his party. Shortly afterwards another covey rose and 
 flew towards him. His father was suffering from in- 
 cipient cataract of one eye. He therefore could not see 
 his son distinctly, and had for the moment forgotten 
 their relative change of position. He thus fired at a 
 bird when it was nearly in a line with his son. The 
 bird was hit by the greatest part of the charge, for it 
 was ' completely shattered.' A few pellets, however, 
 diverged and struck Henry Fawcett. Most of these 
 entered his chest, but, passing through a thick coat, only 
 inflicted a trivial wound. Two of them went higher.
 
 44 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 He was wearing tinted spectacles to protect his eyes from 
 the glare of the sun. One shot passed through each 
 glass of the spectacles, making in each a clean round 
 hole. 1 Their force was partly spent, and was further 
 diminished by the resistance of the spectacles. They 
 might otherwise have reached the brain and inflicted a 
 fatal injury. As it was, they passed right through the 
 eyes, remaining permanently embedded behind them. 
 Fawcett was instantaneously blinded for life. 
 
 Fawcett's first thought, as he told his sister, was 
 that he should never again see the view which he had 
 just been admiring in the light of a lovely autumn 
 afternoon. He was put into a cart and taken to the 
 Longford farmhouse about two miles and a half distant 
 whilst doctors were summoned from Salisbury. His 
 sister received him as he got down at his home, and 
 his first words were, 'Maria, will you read the newspaper 
 to me ? ' They were prompted by the wish to encourage 
 his family by showing his own calmness. He was, how- 
 ever, persuaded to go to bed and keep himself as quiet 
 as possible. There was very little hope from the first. 
 The doctors, indeed, declined to pronounce an absolute 
 sentence. At the outside, they could scarcely have ex- 
 pected more than some faint perception of the difference 
 between light and darkness. The general condition of 
 the patient was happily as favourable as possible. He 
 was in thorough health, and he suffered no actual pain. 
 About six weeks after the accident he regained for a 
 short time some power of perceiving light ; but after 
 
 1 The spectacles thus injured are still in possession of the family.
 
 BLINDNESS 45 
 
 about three days this last glimmer vanished, and he 
 passed the rest of his life in complete darkness. In the 
 following June his left eye began to waste : and he then 
 (and only then) suffered a good deal. About the end 
 of the following October, Critchett performed an opera- 
 tion for making an artificial pupil in the remaining eye, 
 in the faint hope that he might yet regain some useful 
 perception of the difference, at least, between light and 
 darkness. The retina, as it turned out, had been too ex- 
 tensively injured. Fawcett took lodgings with his sister 
 and his attendant near Critchett's house, and the opera- 
 tion was performed under chloroform. For two or three 
 days his eyes were bandaged. His friend W. Porter 
 was with him constantly, and remembers the ' terrible 
 anxiety ' with which he tried the first experiments upon 
 his power of vision, and asked whether the sun was 
 shining. Yet he bore himself calmly and cheerfully, and 
 submitted without apparent emotion to the final discovery 
 that there was no longer room for any hope whatever. 
 
 The calamity was crushing. The father deserved 
 pity almost as much as the son, for the son had been 
 the very pride of his heart. A year or two before I 
 had been to Longford, where I had been struck by the 
 eager delight with which the father had spoken of the 
 son's University honours, and the superabundant cor- 
 diality of the welcome which he had bestowed upon me 
 as one of his son's friends. Clearly, nothing could be 
 too good for anyone whom Harry honoured by his friend- 
 ship. The relations between the two men were sugges- 
 tive rather of affectionate comrade-ship than of the more 
 ordinary relation, where affection is coloured by deference
 
 46 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and partial reserve. The father shared the son's honour- 
 able ambition, or rather made it his own ; and the son's 
 hopes of success included the liveliest anticipation of the 
 delight which it would cause at home. The close union 
 was the more remarkable because neither father nor son 
 could be accused of sentimentalism, and both of them 
 were rather apt to condemn the excessive sacrifices 
 sometimes made by parents to children as implying a 
 kind of vicarious selfishness, injurious to both parties 
 in the long run. Fawcett's family affections (for his love 
 of his mother and sister was as marked as his love of 
 his father) were through life unusually strong. Perhaps 
 the severest letter which he ever wrote to a real friend 
 was prompted by the belief that the friend had spoken to 
 his father in a way calculated to produce uneasiness. 
 And now it seemed that the father's hand had ruined the 
 son's brilliant prospects. When I visited Longford a few 
 weeks after the accident, I found Fawcett calm and even 
 cheerful, though still an invalid. But the father told me 
 that his own heart was broken, and his appearance con- 
 firmed his words. He could not foresee that the son's 
 indomitable spirit would extract advantages even from 
 this cruel catastrophe. One of Fawcett's favourite 
 quotations ever afterwards (he had not a large stock of 
 such phrases, for his verbal memory was as weak as his 
 memory for facts and figures was retentive) was the 
 phrase from Henry V. : 
 
 There is some soul of goodness in things evil, 
 Would men observingly distil it out. 
 
 The danger in which Henry V. stood before Agincourt
 
 BLINDNESS 47 
 
 was not a more efficient stimulus to his heroism than 
 the shot through his eyes to Fawcett's resolute temper. 
 
 Meanwhile, though Fawcett was surrounded by the 
 tenderest cares of his family, he had a sore trial to go 
 through. He said a few years later l that he had made 
 up his mind ' in ten minutes ' after the accident to 
 stick to his pursuits as much as possible. But that last 
 clause admitted a wide margin of uncertainty. How 
 far was it possible for a blind man, a man without 
 fortune and without any great family connection, even to 
 approach a parliamentary career ? Success at the bar, 
 by which alone he had hoped to achieve an independent 
 position, was apparently out of the question. As he lay 
 in his darkened room he meditated upon this problem. 
 Letters of condolence poured in upon him. He found, 
 as he told a friend soon afterwards, that they gave him 
 'more pain than comfort.' The impression seems to 
 have been deep. ' Nothing,' he said in the speech just 
 quoted, ' pained him so much as the letters he received 
 after the accident.' The reason, as I gather, was that 
 the letters fell into the ordinary form, and consisted of 
 well-meant exhortations to resignation, assuming that 
 his life was ruined, though, somehow or other, the ruin 
 was to be a blessing. Only be resigned ! But though 
 resignation to the inevitable is a clear dictate of pru- 
 dence, the question remains, What is inevitable ? How 
 distinguish between cheerful acceptance of the dictates 
 of fate or Providence and the cowardly abnegation of 
 duty under apparent difficulty ? Fawcett insisted upon 
 
 1 Speech in St. James's Hall, May 17, 1866.
 
 48 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 having the letters read to him by his sister ; and he put 
 them aside with a sigh. They depressed him, and he 
 appeared for a time to be at best in a fixed state of stoical 
 calm. The blow had apparently stunned him. 
 
 At last, however, a letter came pitched in a differ- 
 ent key. It was from his old and revered friend 
 Hopkins. He said to his sister, ' Keep that letter for 
 me ; ' and from that time his mood changed and he took 
 a more cheerful and resolute tone. I am happy to be 
 able to give the timely word of good cheer, spoken so 
 much in season : 
 
 Cambridge: Oct. 10, 1858. 
 
 ' I have rarely been more grieved, my dear Fawcett, 
 than I was by your father's letter, which informed me 
 of the very sad accident you have met with. Your 
 father writes almost broken-hearted and requires comfort, 
 I doubt not, almost as much as yourself. 
 
 ' That you will receive from him every comfort which 
 the thoughtful affection of a parent can suggest, I well 
 know ; and I feel equally certain that you will give to 
 him the best consolation he can receive by cultivating 
 as cheerful a tone of mind as your sad deprivation will 
 admit of. It would indeed be not only useless, but false, 
 to endeavour to console you by pretending that loss of 
 sight, the having wisdom at one entrance quite shut 
 out, is not one of the greatest afflictions that can happen 
 to us. It is so ; and though especially so to those who 
 delight in all the varied aspects and beauties of external 
 nature, it cannot but be deemed, alike to all, one of the 
 severest bodily calamities that can befall us. But
 
 BLINDNESS 49 
 
 depend upon it, my dear fellow, it must be our own 
 fault if such things are without their alleviation. It 
 has always seemed to me a beautiful and touching form 
 of the expression of this sentiment, that " God tempers 
 the wind to the shorn lamb ; " and so, I doubt not, you 
 will find it, even should the injury you have received 
 realise your worst fears. 
 
 ' Yesterday I saw the letter you have sent to the 
 college porter for the perusal of your friends. Mr. 
 Critchett's statements afford evidently some ground of 
 hope, but of the expectations which they justify I am, of 
 course, unable to judge. I have no hesitation, however, 
 in recommending you not to build your hopes upon 
 them. Give up your mind at once to meet the evil in 
 the worst form it can hereafter assume. 
 
 ' The course of life and ob PCGS of study which you 
 may heretofore have proposed to yourself must of 
 necessity be much modified, and you will be obliged by 
 circumstances to depend on intellectual pursuits almost 
 entirely for your future happiness, so far as it may de- 
 pend on efforts of your own. Now it seems to me that 
 your mind is eminently adapted to many of those studies 
 which may be followed with least disadvantage without 
 loss (the help ?) of sight. 
 
 ' You must almost necessarily exclude, more or less, 
 those subjects which involve practical details and facts ; 
 and I would suggest your directing your attention to 
 subjects of a philosophical and speculative character, 
 such as any branch of mental science and the history 
 of its progress ; the Philosophy of Physical Science, as 
 Herschel's work in " Lardner's Encyclopaedia," Whewell's 
 
 E
 
 50 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 "Inductive Philosophy," &c., or any work treating on 
 the general principles, views, and results of physical 
 science. Political economy, statistics, and social science 
 in general are assuming interesting forms in the present 
 day. 
 
 ' What a wide range of speculative study, full of 
 interest, do these subjects present to us ! for any part of 
 which, if I mistake not, your mind is well qualified. How 
 often have I wished I had more time to devote to them 
 myself! I know that I should find in them a great 
 compensation (as I trust you will yourself) for any 
 circumstances which might restrict me to the pursuit 
 of them. But still I can throw out all this as affording 
 suggestions to you, and possibly an inducement and 
 encouragement to look forward with determination and 
 courage to the future, and to the formation of some 
 systematic plan for your intellectual pursuits. 
 
 'The evil that has fallen upon you, like all other 
 evils, will lose half its terrors if regarded steadfastly in 
 the face with the determination to subdue it as far as it 
 may be possible to do so. 
 
 'But I seem, my dear fellow, to be writing you a 
 hard-hearted letter, something like a hard-hearted doctor 
 prescribing for a suffering patient ; and yet I could weep 
 while I write, to think of the bright hopes and aspi- 
 rations, so naturally entertained on the threshold of 
 life, which must be crushed under this sad calamity. 
 But again I say, "Courage." Cultivate your intellectual 
 resources (how thankful you may be for them!), and 
 cultivate them systematically ; they will avail you much 
 in your many hours of trial. Under any circumstances
 
 BLINDNESS 51 
 
 I hope you will visit Cambridge from time to time ! I'll 
 lend my aid to amuse you by talking philosophy or reading 
 an act of Shakespeare, or a canto from Byron. 
 
 ' I shall certainly avail myself of the first opportu- 
 nity I have of paying you a visit at Longford, and shall 
 engage you for my guide across the chalk hills. I may 
 then perhaps find the means of indoctrinating you with 
 a few healthy geological principles. Mrs. Hopkins desires 
 to unite with me in kindest regards to your father and 
 sister, whom we do know, and also to your mother, to 
 whom, though we do not know her personally, we 
 equally extend our sympathy. I have not yet seen your 
 brother, but I suppose we shall hear of you soon through 
 him. A great many men will not be up before the end 
 of next week. 
 
 ' Believe me, dear Fawcett, 
 
 ' Yours very truly, 
 
 ' W. HOPKINS.' 
 
 This affectionate and judicious letter showed how 
 clearly Hopkins had divined the mental condition of his 
 old pupil. The right key was struck, and Fawcett, 
 roused from his temporary prostration, responded 
 gallantly to the inspiring summons. Though crippled, he 
 would not fall out of the ranks; rather he would keep 
 step with the stoutest. I do not doubt that in any 
 case the reaction would have come, and that Hopkins's 
 letter was rather the occasion than the cause of his 
 speedy and victorious reaction. In truth, it would be 
 unworthy of Fawcett were I to exaggerate the force of 
 the blow ; and he would have been the last to sanction 
 
 E 2
 
 52 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 any phrases which might exalt his own courage at the 
 price of appearing to justify discouragement in men of 
 less stalwart mould. The calamity was severe enough. 
 But it was not so severe as to mean permanent disable- 
 ment for a man in the full flush of youth, health, and 
 mental energy. Blind men have done much and are 
 often said to lead happier, at least more placid, lives 
 than others. And I do not think that it would have 
 been more than might have been expected if Fawcett 
 had gradually roused himself and worked out some 
 tolerable solution of the great problem before him. 
 What was wonderful, however, and beyond the powers 
 of any but the bravest, was the indomitable resolution 
 with which he immediately encountered his misfortune. 
 He determined not that he would in some way evade, but 
 that he would conquer his fate ; not that he would find a 
 new path by which the new difficulty might be turned, 
 but that he would persevere in the old ; not only this, 
 indeed, but that he would go all the straighter to his 
 mark and take by storm the position which he was to 
 have assailed by the usual approaches. 
 
 For a time, he had even some thoughts of being 
 called to the bar. The benchers of Lincoln's Inn con- 
 sented in 1859 to his dispensing with the usual certificate 
 from the Council of Legal Education. In June 1860, 
 however, he finally abandoned this plan, from which lie 
 probably anticipated little at any time, and took his name 
 off the books. Very soon, though I cannot fix the 
 precise date, his friends knew that he had resolved to 
 stick to his old ambition. Blind, poor, unknown, he 
 would force his way into the House of Commons. And
 
 BLINDNESS 53 
 
 within a year or so from the accident he was taking the 
 first steps in his difficult career. It will be my task to 
 describe his success in the following chapters. Here I 
 propose to bring together some of the facts which illus- 
 trate the spirit with which he bore himself in the daily 
 conduct of life. I must ask my readers hereafter to bear 
 in mind what his courageous cheerfulness often tended 
 to make us forget the fact that everything I have to say 
 of him is said of a blind man. Fawcett had resolved 
 within ten minutes to do as far as possible whatever 
 he had done before. This from first to last was the 
 principle upon which he acted through life. He deter- 
 mined for one thing that he would still be as happy as 
 he could, and I will not quote moral philosophers to 
 prove that this resolution was not only wise but virtuous. 
 Fawcett was no ascetic. He heartily enjoyed all the 
 good things of life a good glass of wine, a good cigar, 
 or a bit of downright gossip, not less than more in- 
 tellectual recreations. ' One of the first things I re- 
 member about him,' says his wife, ' was his saying 
 how keenly he enjoyed life.' He expressed, she adds, 
 some impatience with people who avowed or affected 
 weariness of life. ' There is only one thing that I ever 
 regret,' he would say, 'and that is to have missed a 
 chance of enjoyment.' He would, for instance, seriously 
 ponder at the end of a frost whether he could not have 
 contrived another hour's skating. He intended, he 
 would tell me, to live to be ninety and to relish every 
 day of his life. Should anyone be offended at a doctrine 
 which seems to me more sound than easy to put in prac- 
 tice, he must remember that all Fawcett's enjoyments
 
 54 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 were wholesome and innocent, that they emphatically 
 included a strenuous exertion of all his faculties, and 
 excluded with equal emphasis every tinge of ill-nature. 
 No man was more persistently cheery and genial. He 
 never enjoyed anything which could give pain to others. 
 He never fully enjoyed anything unless his pleasure 
 were shared by others. Nothing, for instance, would 
 have induced him to keep a horse for his own riding 
 unless he could have his wife or daughter to ride 
 wifh him. When towards the end of his life to mention 
 a trivial but characteristic incident he was ordered 
 to drink champagne, he resolutely refused to touch it 
 until he was promised that his family should have a share 
 of it. 
 
 At first cheerfulness required some effort. We who 
 watched him as friends immediately after his accident de- 
 tected occasional fits of depression. They vanished even 
 then under the influence of society, and disappeared alto- 
 gether with the trying period of suspense. Eyes guided by 
 stronger affection than ours detected no permanent de- 
 pression. A phrase or two in his letters suggests that 
 he had occasional trials in the way of low spirits, and at 
 times a slight shade of weariness would seem to come 
 over his features in repose. He was careful to conceal 
 any such feeling, if he was ever conscious of it, and 
 especially to conceal it from those dearest to him. But 
 it may, I think, be safely said that to very few men is 
 granted so large a share of happiness or an enjoyment of 
 life qualified by so few drawbacks. There was only one 
 thing, he told his sister, which he dreaded namely, a
 
 BLINDNESS 55 
 
 loss of energy. Life might become a burden if life no 
 longer meant action. He was spared that trial. 
 
 "With his usual good sense Fawcett set to work to 
 provide himself with means of enjoyment. He deliber- 
 ately learnt to smoke, for example. He never worshipped 
 tobacco with the zeal of some devotees ; but he thought 
 that it would help to smooth some weary hours. He 
 resolutely set himself to improve his taste for music, 
 the recreation most open to a blind man. It is also one 
 of the few recreations, as he used to observe, which a 
 blind man may enjoy without immediate dependence 
 upon others. Fawcett was unable to exemplify this in 
 his own case, as he could not learn to perform upon any 
 instrument. He did, however, acquire so much musical 
 taste as to enjoy an evening at a concert or the opera, and 
 his enjoyment increased observably in the last two years 
 of his life, when, after his illness, he had more enforced 
 leisure. At the same period he also tried successfully 
 to play cribbage and ecarte with packs marked for 
 the purpose. He, with his secretary, Mr. Dryhurst, 
 devised a system of pricking them, and learnt to play 
 correctly with remarkable quickness. Three days after 
 he had begun the experiment he could play and win a 
 game, without making mistakes and without hesitating 
 over the cards longer than his antagonist. He had tried 
 the same experiment immediately after his accident, but 
 had then given it up. 
 
 He tried for some time to continue writing with his 
 own hand, and I have seen an autograph letter of his 
 dated in 1860. He found the practice irksome, however, 
 as is, I believe, the general experience of men who lose
 
 56 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 their sight, and soon confined himself to dictation. He 
 thought that the habit was useful to him as a speaker, 
 because it accustomed him to produce a regular flow of 
 grammatical sentences. In some little things Fawcett 
 never acquired the dexterity of the blind from birth. 
 He had lost his sight too late. 
 
 He kept up more successfully the various athletic 
 sports to which he was already devoted. I have, indeed, 
 noticed that during his undergraduate days he could 
 scarcely be called an athlete, as judged by a more modern 
 standard. He would have thought it foolish to sacrifice 
 his reading to mere sport. He never went into regular 
 training or belonged to a racing crew, except of humble 
 pretensions. The Peterhouse boat of those days was low 
 on the river, and he did not belong to the first crew at 
 Trinity Hall. That he occasionally performed in the 
 second boat I remember by this circumstance, that I 
 can still hear him proclaiming in stentorian tones and 
 in good vernacular from an attic window to a captain 
 of the boat on the opposite side of the quadrangle, and 
 consequently to all bystanders below, that he had a 
 pain in his inside and must decline to row. I have 
 some reason to think that he had felt bad effects from 
 some previous exertions, and had been warned by a doctor 
 against straining himself. I have an impression that 
 there was some weakness in the heart's action. Fawcett, 
 like many men who enjoy unbroken health, was a little 
 nervous about any trifling symptoms. One day we 
 found him lying in bed, complaining lustily of his suffer- 
 ings, and stating that he had despatched a messenger 
 to bring him at once the first doctor attainable. A
 
 BLINDNESS 57 
 
 doctor arrived, and his first question as to the nature 
 of Fawcett's last dinner resolved the consultation into 
 a general explosion of laughter, in which the patient 
 joined most heartily. A steady pull down the Cam was 
 one of his favourite amusements in later years. He used 
 to row stroke to a club of graduates founded by Augustus 
 Vanssittart, and christened the ' Ancient Mariners ' by the 
 well-known scholar, Dr. Donaldson. Fawcett took pains 
 to get up a crew three times a week during his later 
 residences at Cambridge. It was a good healthy exer- 
 cise, and the age of his comrades was a security that 
 they would not over-exert themselves. He had played 
 cricket fairly, and I once saw him felled to the earth by 
 an over-excited fieldsman, who had forgotten to allow 
 for his last six inches of height. I remember, too, 
 his racket- playing, because my own temper broke down 
 under the irrepressible amusement with which he wit- 
 nessed some of my vagaries as a learner. 
 
 These games, of course, became impossible. He 
 adhered to other exercises resolutely. He had always 
 been a regular and vigorous walker, and I am much 
 inclined to measure a man's moral excellence by his love 
 of this pursuit. All Cambridge men believed (I hope 
 they still believe) in a daily ' constitutional ' as one of 
 the necessities of life. Very soon after his accident, he 
 went out for a walk with his elder brother and a friend. 
 He went between them and chose a path through the 
 water-meadows, where some guidance was necessary. 
 Yet, even on the first experiment, he was rather the guide 
 than the guided. In later years he was constantly to 
 be encountered upon the roads round Cambridge. He
 
 58 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 rather despised the familiar round by Granchester and 
 Trumpington as ' an old gentleman's walk.' He pre- 
 ferred to all other walks the ascent of what, by an abuse 
 of speech pardonable at Cambridge, are called the 'hills,' 
 or, more familiarly, the ' Gogmagogs,' pr, by an affec- 
 tionate diminutive, the ' Gogs.' The air, he used to 
 declare, was fresher there, because there was nothing 
 higher than a molehill between him and the Ural Moun- 
 tains. He would pause on what passes for the summit 
 to point out to his friends the distant view over King's 
 College Chapel to the towers of Ely. He often strode 
 down the towing-path to ' see ' (in his own phrase) a 
 boat race or the practice of the crews. He was as keenly 
 interested as anyone in the success of the college eight, 
 and as ready to give a shrewd opinion as to its right 
 constitution. He was a regular attendant at the Oxford 
 and Cambridge contests at Putney till almost the end of 
 his life. He walked with a friend through the streets, 
 but dropped a guiding arm as soon as he was fairly on 
 the road, and it was no slight effort for the short of 
 wind or limb to keep up with his vigorous strides. The 
 best plan was to equalise the strain on the lungs by 
 engaging him in a steady flow of talk no difficult task 
 when, especially if a steady gale were blowing in his 
 teeth, his pace might be kept within reasonable limits. 
 
 Fawcett retained a very accurate recollection of all 
 the places he had known before his accident. When, 
 after his marriage, he went to Alderbury, where he had 
 been at school as a child, he could direct his wife 
 through all the intricacies of the surrounding lanes. 
 Within the college, of course, he could ramble about
 
 BLINDNESS 59 
 
 alone, and the sound of his stick tapping on the walls 
 for guidance was a familiar sound, sometimes a little 
 disturbing the light sleepers when he would indulge in a 
 meditative stroll at dead of night. When walking in 
 London, he could tell by the difference in the echo and 
 by the current of air when he was opposite to the 
 opening of a cross street. In all these walks he took a 
 special pleasure in listening to his companion's descrip- 
 tions of the scenery whether to retain his hold on the 
 vanishing pictures of old days or to endeavour to con- 
 struct some image of the now invisible world. He still 
 loved the works of Nature, he said, and had associations 
 with the light of sun and moon unknown to him before 
 he was blind. I do not imagine that Fawcett would at 
 any time have cared to indulge in the rhapsodies about 
 the beauties of scenery which have become fashionable 
 of late. But he certainly loved most heartily the country 
 sounds, as the rustle of leaves, the song of birds, and the 
 leap of a fish, which he had learned to appreciate in 
 early days. The picture of a glorious moonlight night 
 with a long trail of silvery cloud on the hills above 
 Longford, in a stroll which we took together before his 
 accident, remains with me; and though I believe that 
 our talk was of supply and demand, and though we 
 certainly made a burglarious assault on the larder when 
 we returned, I am equally sure that Fawcett was fully 
 sensitive to its beauties. In after days he delighted in 
 driving about the country with his sister and friends, 
 and would always stop the carriage at certain favourite 
 points and go with them to places where he could enjoy 
 the view through their eyes. His friend, Mr. Botting, of
 
 60 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Brighton, tells me that Fawcett often telegraphed to him 
 beforehand to take him for a walk along the cliffs to 
 Eottingdean. The delightful air, the smooth turf of the 
 chalk-down, and the murmur of the waves below never 
 failed to throw him into a reverie, and he would say that 
 it was for him the most charming walk in England. 
 Another friend, Mrs. Eoberts, saw him in the last 
 autumn of his life waiting in Salisbury Close, and on 
 being asked where he was going, he said that he wanted 
 to see the Clarendon Woods, as he understood that the 
 autumn tints were especially fine this year. One 
 summer (1872) he went to Switzerland, and there made 
 the ascent of the Cima di Jazzi, a well-known point of 
 easy access for the enjoyment of the keen mountain 
 air and a vast panorama of snowy peaks. The blind, 
 I believe, usually employ the language of sight, but it was 
 certainly startling at times to hear Fawcett's remarks. 
 ' How old so-and-so is looking ! ' he said to me once ; 
 ' but when men with hair of that colour turn grey, they 
 do look prematurely old.' Such language was, one may 
 say, part of his system of behaving in his blindness as 
 much as possible as he behaved when he could see. 
 Once, as a friend tells me, Fawcett was speaking to him 
 of another friend, known to him only after his blindness, 
 who had an odd trick of moving his limbs. Fawcett re- 
 marked upon this, and, to explain his meaning, gave a 
 lively mimicry of the gesture in question. 
 
 Though not specially dexterous, his nerve was sur- 
 prising. He walked from the first with absolutely un- 
 faltering steps, and he kept up his skating with equal 
 courage. Before his accident, his weight and length of
 
 BLINDNESS 61 
 
 limb made him a very powerful skater, though he had not 
 acquired more than the rudiments of the art of figure- 
 skating. He told me that he once accompanied a race in 
 the Fens, keeping up on the rough ice outside with the 
 competitors, who had the advantage of the smooth swept 
 course within the bounds. I accompanied him on his first 
 attempt after the accident. After a few strokes the only 
 difficulty was to keep his pace down to mine. We each 
 held one end of a stick, and, as we were on the crowded 
 Serpentine, we came into a good many collisions. As, 
 however, we were a couple, and one of us a heavy man, 
 we had decidedly the best of these encounters, especially 
 as the conscience of our antagonists was on our side 
 when they saw that they had tripped up a blind man. 
 Some severe winters followed, and I shall not forget the 
 delights of an occasional run beyond Ely on the frozen 
 Cam. I remember how we flew back one evening, at 
 some fifteen miles an hour, leaning on a steady north- 
 easter, with the glow of a characteristic Fen sunset 
 crimsoning the west and reflected on the snowy banks ; 
 whilst between us and the light a row of Fenmen, follow- 
 ing each other like a flight of wild fowl, sent back the 
 ringing music of their skates. As we got under shelter 
 of the willows above Clayhithe, the ice became trea- 
 cherous and we began to remonstrate after a threatened 
 immersion. ' Go on ! ' said Fawcett ; ' I only got my legs 
 through.' That, however, seemed a sufficient quantity 
 of the human body for sub-glacial immersion, and the 
 rest of us insisted upon putting the final edge upon 
 our appetites by a tramp homewards to a Christmas 
 dinner along the towing-path. He kept up the practice,
 
 62 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and declared in 1880 that no one had enjoyed more 
 than he a skate of fifty or sixty miles in the previous 
 frost. 
 
 In later years, Fawcett used to insist that everyone 
 in the house, except an old cook, should partake of his 
 amusement. His wife and daughter, his secretary, and 
 two maids would all turn out for an expedition to the 
 frozen Fens. On the wide open spaces he would skate 
 quite alone, guided only by the sound of his companions' 
 voices and skates. When his daughter was about nine, 
 she guided him in this fashion, whistling to give him 
 notice of her whereabouts. 
 
 A pursuit in some ways more difficult was riding. 
 In the early days, Fawcett rode rarely, partly because it 
 was an expensive amusement, and also, I think, because 
 one or two narrow escapes (he was nearly crushed 
 against a cart at Salisbury) made the prudence doubtful. 
 Later, however, and especially after his illness of 1882, 
 when his walking powers rather declined, he rode 
 regularly and with great enjoyment. He speaks of the 
 delights of a gallop over the turf which borders the roads 
 round Cambridge. He generally had with him a riding- 
 master whom he could trust. He constantly went out 
 with large parties of friends. Miss McLeod Smith, of 
 Cambridge, was a very frequent and always most welcome 
 companion. One of his especial friends in later life, 
 Mr. W. H. Hall, of Six Mile Bottom, near Newmarket, 
 tells me that Fawcett often rode over to see him, some- 
 times staying over the Sunday, when he would walk his 
 friends off their legs, as he would try his horse's legs 
 on the other days. He had a ' perfect passion ' for a
 
 BLINDNESS 63 
 
 gallop over Newmarket Heath, where there was abun- 
 dant space and the best of air. He would ride over 
 from Cambridge at Christmas time with a box of sand- 
 wiches, to provide luncheon on the sunny side of the 
 ' Devil's Ditch.' He loved the chalk-down, and often 
 stopped at a cottage to ask for a draught of the sparkling 
 water from the deep wells. He always enjoyed, too, a 
 gossip with the shepherds about the flocks ; for his 
 early interest in agricultural matters was through life a 
 marked characteristic. Occasionally he came across the 
 harriers, which often meet in the neighbourhood, and 
 would then, as Mr. Hall says, 'join in our gallops, 
 trusting implicitly to the sagacity of his horse to select 
 the most favourable gaps in our stunted hedgerows.' 
 
 Of all his recreations there was none which he enjoyed 
 so heartily as his fishing. He had, as we have seen 
 from his early diary, been educated as a fisherman from 
 his childhood. His father was a keen fisherman, and 
 caught a trout so late as his ninetieth year. Fawcett's 
 great height and strength of arm enabled him to throw 
 a fly with remarkable power and precision. Clarke tells 
 me how, in early days, Fawcett w r ould combine two 
 favourite amusements. He would wade in the river, 
 fishing slowly up stream, whilst Clarke was instructed 
 to walk along the bank at such a distance from the 
 river as not to throw his shadow upon the water, and 
 then to talk to his heart's content. Trout, as Fawcett 
 said, hear very badly (and, it may be added, care 
 nothing for the soundest political economy), but see 
 remarkably well. A letter from his first secretary, 
 Edward Brown, tells how he used to go with Fawcett
 
 64 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 to the river, where, in the intervals of sport, they could 
 retire to an outhouse, drink tea, and read Mill's ' Political 
 Economy.' Fawcett had resumed the sport very soon 
 after his accident. In April 1868 I find him saying 
 that he and a friend had caught twelve pike ; the friend 
 had caught the largest, weighing 15 lb., but Fawcett 
 had caught ten of the twelve, one of them an eleven- 
 pounder. He remembered his native stream with minute 
 accuracy. The letters written to his father during the 
 last four or five years of his life are full of references to 
 past and future expeditions. Whenever he can spare 
 a few hours, he delights to run down to Salisbury. He 
 gives directions about his fishing- boots ; makes appoint- 
 ments with Wright, a famous performer, who generally 
 accompanied him ; asks to have the weeds cut at a 
 particular point, or suggests the most promising scheme 
 for inveigling some wily monster, whose fame has spread 
 in the neighbourhood, and who lies ensconced under 
 some hardly approachable bank. 
 
 Many friends in the neighbourhood of Salisbury and 
 elsewhere were glad to give him opportunities of fishing, 
 and Fawcett was always delighted to accept their kind- 
 ness. Lord Normanton was especially kind in offering 
 salmon fishing at Ibbesley on the Avon, between Ring- 
 wood and Christchurch. Lord Nelson, with equal kind- 
 ness, gave him trout and jack fishing in the Avon 
 below, and Lord Pembroke at Wilton above, Salisbury. 
 Lord Mount-Temple made him welcome to the Itchen at 
 Broadlands. In the summer he often visited Scotland, 
 where his old friend Mr. Bass received him at Glen 
 Tulchan on the Spey. The late Duke of Roxburgh often
 
 BLINDNESS 65 
 
 gave him fishing on the Tweed, where he used to stay 
 in the house of an old fisherman at Kelso. Fawcett 
 enjoyed the surroundings of the sport as well as the 
 sport itself. He often combined an excursion to the 
 New Forest with his salmon fishing at Ibbesley. At 
 Ibbesley he often stayed at the house of the fisherman, 
 Samuel Tizard, and his wife, where he liked to enjoy a 
 friendly supper and a good chat with his hosts. Their 
 place is full of birds, whose singing gave him particular 
 pleasure. 1 Here he caught a large salmon, part of which 
 he contributed to the feast upon the golden wedding of 
 his father and mother. 
 
 On his expeditions round Salisbury he was generally 
 accompanied by Mr. Wright, already mentioned, and by 
 Mr. Wheaton, of Salisbury, now student of medicine, 
 both of whom have been kind enough to give me their 
 recollections. They agree that Fawcett was a remark- 
 ably good fisherman. He performed, if anything, better 
 than the seeing, whether because he waited more 
 patiently to strike until he felt his fish, or because he 
 was more docile in following the directions of his skilled 
 companions. He had great success in catching salmon and 
 trout, and in trolling for pike in the winter. He showed 
 his usual nerve in crossing narrow planks across streams, 
 though he once had an immersion with Mr. Wright, 
 whose comparative shortness of stature made it total in 
 his case. He would wade in the streams where necessary, 
 
 1 I remember, however, that Fawcett told me how he had once been 
 tried beyond bearing by the song of a nightingale close to his bedroom 
 window, and how he had at last risen and endeavoured to drive away 
 the intruder by pelting at it with the only available missile a piece 
 of soap. 
 
 F
 
 66 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and Mr. Wheaton remembers his hearty enjoyment of a 
 rough drive in a donkey-cart full of fish, along a road 
 in Wales, where they made a month's expedition in 
 October 1 879. As memorials of his sport, I have found 
 among his papers an envelope containing the hook ' that 
 caught the 20 Ib. salmon,' and another huge envelope 
 turns out to be the canvas on which is drawn (by Mr. 
 Wheaton) the pencil outline of ' a trout caught by me at 
 Mr. Hoare's (in Hertfordshire) with an Alexandra fly.' 
 The data is July 9, 1881. The trout was 2 if in. in 
 length and weighed lolb. Fawcett, as Mr. Wheaton 
 tells me, was a remarkably good judge of the weight and 
 condition of a fish. A local journal, which makes the 
 same remark, adds that at Ringwood ' he was seen 
 smoking a pipe in our streets ; ' it is a more character- 
 istic statement that he made there the acquaintance o'f a 
 local postman, and obtained for him an annual holiday, 
 and an appointment entitling him to a superannuation 
 allowance. It was, in fact, one of the collateral charms 
 of fishing to Fawcett, that it brought him to easy and 
 friendly intercourse with men in a humble position of life. 
 A friend once made some remark to Fawcett upon 
 the cruelty to animals involved in fishing. Without 
 discussing that point (though upon other occasions he 
 would adduce some of the familiar arguments against 
 the existence of any keen sensibility in fish), Fawcett 
 apologised for his own delight by a very important 
 consideration. He could not, he said, relieve himself by 
 some of the distractions which help others to unbend. 
 Every strenuous worker knows the worrying persistency 
 with which the swarm of thoughts which occupy his
 
 BLINDNESS 67 
 
 business hours returns to tease and distract his hours 
 of relaxation. No small part of the art of living consists 
 in learning to command the spells which lay these vexa- 
 tious spectres and conjure them into temporary quiescence. 
 But Fawcett's blindness made many modes of relief 
 impossible or difficult. He could not, for example, 
 glance through the pages of a magazine or a novel, or 
 join in the games of the young, or could only do so with 
 difficulty, and in constant dependence upon others. 
 Blindness increased concentration by shutting out dis- 
 tractions. We close our eyes to think, and his were 
 always closed. His mental strength and weakness, the 
 power with which he grasped certain principles, and the 
 comparative want of versatility and consequent indif- 
 ference to many of the literary amusements which re- 
 lieve the strain of some men's minds, made every avail- 
 able relaxation more important, and fishing served 
 admirably to give enough exercise to muscle and mind 
 to keep his faculties from walking the regular treadmill 
 of thought from which it is often so hard to escape. 
 His delight in conversation was unfailing ; and if possible 
 for it is hardly possible he became more sociable as 
 life went on. Yet our conversation is apt to return to 
 the well-worn grooves of thought; and nothing served 
 so well to vary his life as throwing a fly on the Scotch 
 rivers or his beloved Salisbury Avon. 
 
 What I have said will show how Fawcett adhered to 
 his great maxim, to let blindness interfere as little as 
 possible with his course of life, whether in his serious 
 pursuits or his amusements ; and he was never tired of 
 enforcing this maxim for the benefit of his fellow -sufferers. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 In conversation he very rarely referred expressly to his 
 blindness. In reading his speeches, I noticed one oc- 
 casion upon which another debater spoke of Fawcett's 
 having something read to him. Fawcett took up the 
 phrase and said in his reply, not that he had read the 
 passage in question, but that it had been read to him. 
 This recognition of his disqualification struck me as 
 something quite exceptional, and implied, I think, a 
 shade of annoyance at any notice being taken of his 
 blindness as an excuse for a supposed inaccuracy. He 
 claimed tacitly to have no allowance made for him ; and 
 the feeling, as we shall see, comes out on one or two 
 occasions of his political life. He naturally felt it to be a 
 duty to speak of himself when he delivered addresses on 
 behalf of various institutions for the benefit of his fellow- 
 sufferers. But he shrank from such efforts. He observes 
 in one of the first I have seen (May 16, 1866) that he had 
 never felt so nervous in speaking ; and I believe that this 
 feeling was always present to him. Of course it did not 
 prevent him from speaking, and from speaking very 
 effectively. But he no doubt felt the difficulty of 
 citing his own case without appearing in the attitude, 
 most painful to him, of one putting forward a plea for 
 compassion ; or in the attitude, only less disagreeable, of 
 one who is making a boast of his own courage. In fact, 
 however, no one can read the speeches without being 
 stirred to sympathy by the unobtrusive gallantry of his 
 spirit. Briefly, his advice to his fellows was always, 'Do 
 what you can to act as though you were not blind ; be of 
 good courage and help yourselves ; ' and his advice to the 
 seeing was, ' Do not patronise ; treat us without reference
 
 BLINDNESS 69 
 
 to our misfortune ; and, above all, help us to be inde- 
 pendent.' The principle applied in this case blended, as I 
 may briefly observe, with his general political sentiments. 
 
 He spoke on behalf of various benevolent institutions, 
 and always very much to the same purpose. In one meet- 
 ing, an eminent philanthropist who was to precede 
 Fawcett accidentally came late and had to follow. 
 Fawcett insisted upon his usual topics, and wound up by 
 saying that on previous occasions he had heard remarks 
 which unintentionally gave the utmost pain to some of 
 the hearers. Nothing was so hard to bear as to hear 
 people assume a ' patronising tone towards the blind, as 
 if they were suffering from something for which in some 
 mysterious way they should be thankful. The kindest 
 thing that could be done or said to a blind person was, 
 not to use patronising language, but to tell him as far as 
 possible to be of good cheer, to give him confidence that 
 help would be afforded him whenever it was required ; 
 that there was still good work for him to do, and the 
 more active his career, the more useful his life to 
 others, the more happy his days to himself.' 
 
 The unlucky philanthropist came just in time to hear 
 these observations, primed with a speech in the exact 
 spirit condemned recalling the usual 'pity the poor 
 blind ' of the professional beggar. He could not strike 
 out a new path, and was forced to go through his regular 
 appeal, after an apology to the eminent professor, ' but 
 still,' and so forth. No one, I am told by a hearer, more 
 heartily enjoyed the awkward performance than the 
 eminent professor himself. I may add here that when 
 Fawcett in his walks met one of the blind beggars in
 
 70 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 question, he always spoke to him kindly, without ad- 
 ministering needless didactic remarks, and gave him a 
 trifle in spite of political economy. 1 
 
 Amongst the various institutions which he helped 
 to support, he was specially interested in the Eoyal 
 Normal College founded at Norwood, in March 1872, 
 by the efforts of the energetic Dr. Campbell. Its great 
 merit, in his opinion, was that it enabled a large propor- 
 tion of the blind to earn their own living. In an appeal 
 made for it in 1875, he observes that the greatest of 
 all services to the blind was to give them this power, 
 and that it was the special object of the institution to 
 render that service. Five years later, June 30, 1880, he 
 insists upon the same point. He found that eighty per 
 cent, of the pupils were earning their own living. He 
 urged that the Gardner bequest (of 300,000?.) would be 
 applied most efficiently if a considerable portion of it 
 were devoted to the development of existing institu- 
 tions such as the Normal College ; and he ended by a 
 characteristic remark. He protested against ' walling up ' 
 the aged blind in institutions. For training the young 
 they are of course necessary ; to the old they are actually 
 prisons. ' Home associations,' he said, ' are to us as pre- 
 cious as to you. I know from my own experience that 
 the happiest moments that I spend in my life are when 
 I am in companionship with some friend who will forget 
 that I have lost my eyesight, who will talk to me as if 
 I could see, who will describe to me the persons I meet, 
 
 1 I mention this on unquestionable authority, that of his constant 
 companion, Mr. Dryhurst, because an anecdote implying a contrary 
 practice appears in one of the obituary notices. It must have been in 
 some way mistaken.
 
 BLINDNESS 71 
 
 a beautiful sunset, or scenes of great beauty through 
 which we may be passing. For so wonderful is the 
 adaptability of the human mind that when, for instance, 
 some scene of great beauty has been described to me, 
 I recall that scene in after years and I speak about it 
 in such a manner that sometimes I have to check myself 
 and consider for a moment whether the impression was 
 produced when I had my sight or was conveyed by the 
 description of another. Depend upon it, you have the 
 power of rendering invaluable services to the blind. Read 
 to them, talk to them, walk with them, and treat them in 
 3'our conversation just in the same way as if you were 
 in the companionship of one who was seeing.' He 
 made some remarks to the same effect in the last year 
 of his life (March 18, 1884), enlarged upon the services 
 rendered by Dr. Campbell, who possessed, he said, a 
 genius for organising the best methods of educating 
 the blind, and begged his hearers to help to * replace the 
 depressing misery of dependence by the buoyant activity 
 which comes from self-reliance and from the conscious- 
 ness of the power to earn one's own living.' In the same 
 speech he approvingly notices a plan which was soon 
 afterwards decided upon, but which, though let drop for 
 a time in consequence of his death, has been recently 
 revived, for the appointment of a Eoyal Commission to 
 examine into the best means of educating the blind. 
 
 Another remark may be made, and not the least 
 characteristic. Speaking on February 18, 1880, he 
 says : ' The chief compensation, the silver lining to the 
 dark cloud, is the wonderful and inexhaustible fund of 
 human kindness to be found in this world, and the
 
 72 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 appreciation which blind people must have at every 
 moment of their life of the cordial and ready willingness 
 with which the services which they needed were gener- 
 ously offered to them.' I am glad to think that these 
 simple and pathetic words represented Fawcett's own 
 experience, and prove that his trouble was alleviated, not 
 only by his own energy, but by the sympathy of his 
 innumerable friends. They, indeed, could claim little 
 credit for showing kindness to one so ready to help 
 himself and so grateful for all the help given by others. 
 But in this eager recognition of the kindness upon which 
 he had so paramount a claim, we may notice, as in 
 many other ways, how misfortune affected Fawcett as 
 it only affects a large-hearted man. It not merely 
 brought out his buoyant vigour of character, but mel- 
 lowed and sweetened his nature, and strengthened the 
 tenderness which at all times underlay his masculine 
 courage, by making every little service, given or received, 
 a new bond in the great web of kindly attachments 
 which connected him with his family and the wider 
 circle of his friends. Fawcett's friendship always seemed 
 to be tacitly blended with gratitude; and he rendeivd 
 an}* little service, not as one who is conferring a favour, 
 or even as one who is simply fulfilling the duty of a 
 friend, but as one who is unobtrusively recognising an 
 obligation for previous kindness. No one ever took 
 more obvious pleasure in helping those whose claims 
 were only that they had not been neglectful of a friend's 
 duty. Sometimes his eagerness on such occasions was 
 felt by them (though certainly not by him) as almost a 
 tacit reproach for not having been more zealous in their 
 own duty to him.
 
 73 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 SOON after his accident Fawcett returned to Cambridge, 
 which continued to be his headquarters for some years, 
 and was his home for part of every subsequent year. 
 He took rooms in Trinity Hall. Although the Univer- 
 sities should be natural homes of tradition, the gene- 
 rations of students succeed each other so rapidly that 
 minor details are soon forgotten. I will therefore specify 
 that Fawcett's rooms were on the first floor between the 
 two staircases on the north side of the main quadrangle. 
 They were entered from the eastern staircase, whilst he 
 could reach the other through a lecture-room into which 
 his sitting-room or, in the Cambridge phrase, ' keeping- 
 room ' opened. His bedroom also opened out of the 
 keeping-room, and above were some garrets occupied by 
 the lad whom he now engaged to act as guide and 
 amanuensis. This was Edward Brown, son of a college 
 servant at Corpus Christi College, an intelligent boy whom 
 Fawcett treated with great kindness and familiarity, and 
 who was warmly attached to his employer. 1 From my 
 
 1 Soon after Fawcett's marriage in 1867 Brown entered Trinity 
 College with a view to taking orders, but in 1869 or 1870 emigrated to 
 Natal. Bishop Colenso was very kind to him, and had agreed to ordain
 
 74 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 own rooms I could pass through the lecture-room into 
 Fawcett's; and until the end of 1864, when I ceased 
 to reside in Cambridge, I considered his rooms to be 
 almost part of my own. C. B. Clarke, who had become a 
 Fellow of Queens' College, was on the old terms of friendly 
 intimacy. Fawcett's other undergraduate friends (with 
 the sole exception of Mr. M. M. U. Wilkinson) had left 
 the University ; but he speedily acquired a large circle of 
 new acquaintance, and within a very short time be- 
 came one of the most familiar figures in the society of 
 Cambridge. 
 
 That society had some characteristics which are 
 already modified and which, under the influence of 
 recent changes, are likely to undergo still greater modi- 
 fications. I do not doubt that the changes have been in 
 the main for the better. The old state of things had, 
 however, its merits, and merits which were singularly 
 congenial to Fawcett's temper. He loved Cambridge so 
 well as to pardon or even to approve what others held to 
 be its faults. A quaint phrase often occurs in biographies, 
 according to which schools and colleges receive credit 
 for having ' produced ' all the remarkable men whom they 
 have not suppressed. Cambridge might claim with more 
 than the usual plausibility to have ' produced ' Fawcett, 
 were it not that the affinity between his University and 
 himself may be better explained as a case of pre-estab- 
 lished harmony. He was a typical Cambridge man, 
 
 him after a year's probationary work. Before the year was completed 
 Brown died of dysentery, in 1870 or 1871. Brown was succeeded by 
 Mr. Albert Haynes, and Haynes in 1871 by Mr. F. J. Dryhurst, who 
 remained with Fawcett till the end, and is now in the Post Office.
 
 CAMBRIDGE 75 
 
 whether as moulded by Cambridge or as one of the class 
 by which Cambridge has been itself moulded. 
 
 Fawcett's residence coincided with the culminating 
 period of the old college system. An undergraduate 
 belonged to his college exclusively. He knew of ' out 
 college ' men only through school friendships or meetings 
 in the rooms of his private tutor. The University was 
 for him a mere abstraction, except when it revealed itself 
 as the board of examination for ' little go ' and degree. 
 His chief ambition, if of a studious turn, was to win first 
 a Scholarship and then the more permanent dignity of 
 a Fellowship in his own college. To the Fellow the 
 college became a substitute, sometimes a permanent 
 substitute, for a family. To a certain number, indeed, a 
 Fellowship represented merely a stepping-stone towards 
 professional success. The resident Fellows were more 
 closely bound to the colleges. Had their celibacy been 
 permanent they might, like monks, have lost their identity 
 in the corporate body. But celibacy during the tenure 
 of a Fellowship implied the possibility and generally the 
 desirability of a divorce. As the normal desire of a young 
 man is to acquire a wife, the college bond soon became 
 irksome to most of us. The clerical Fellows, a large 
 majority amongst the residents, began to long for a retir- 
 ing pension in the shape of a college living. University 
 society thus consisted mainly of young men who at about 
 the age of thirty departed, or were eager to depart. A 
 few belated seniors remained behind as bachelors by 
 predilection or. compulsion. Some were waiting for a 
 good college living whose incumbent survived with incon- 
 siderate vitality ; some had found a life amongst libraries
 
 76 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and in a circle of scholarlike tastes too congenial to be 
 hastily quitted ; and some had conie to think that the 
 vicinity of the college cellar and kitchen would be ill 
 exchanged for the comparatively crude arrangements by 
 which a country parsonage endeavours to supply the 
 needs of a large circle of hungry mouths. A drawback 
 to the society of the place was the extraordinary rapidity 
 with which the more permanent residents became super- 
 annuated in the eyes of their colleagues. A don of thirty 
 was ten years older than a rising young barrister of 
 forty. 
 
 The youthfulness of the majority, however, had its 
 charms for the youthful. We were young men, sanguine, 
 buoyant, and sociable. We might boast of such superi- 
 ority to the average intellectual standard as was indi- 
 cated by the fact that we had won our places in an open 
 contest; and we were naturally not inclined to under- 
 estimate the value of that test of excellence. A youth 
 just fresh from his first classmanship often impresses 
 his seniors as a little too condescending. We gave too 
 frequent ground for the famous admonition of the pre- 
 sent Master of Trinity: 'We are none of us infallible, not 
 even the youngest of us.' Yet a certain innocence tem- 
 pered our youthful arrogance. The young don's socia- 
 bility among his fellows was unbounded. His appetite 
 for many intellectual pursuits was keen and genuine. 
 Though he was not rich, his income more than supplied 
 the wants of a bachelor at college, and he found it easy 
 to be hospitable and to freshen his wits during the 
 bountiful vacations by a run across the Continent or 
 an indulgence in London society. Amongst a number of
 
 CAMBRIDGE 77 
 
 bright, sociable young men, full of many interests, 
 Fawcett, the most heartily sociable of all, soon gained a 
 wide popularity, and was welcome in most of the college 
 halls. If grave seniors, dwelling in the empyrean atmo- 
 sphere of Master's lodges, thought the young Radical 
 ' dangerous,' they were speedily disarmed by his unmis- 
 takable good humour in personal converse. 
 
 Our own college, Trinity Hall, was founded in 1350 
 by Bishop Bateman. That farsighted prelate had been 
 alarmed by the terrible Black Death. He founded the 
 college to guard against the sad possibility of a scarcity 
 of lawyers. His statutes were still nominally in force ; 
 though, in process of time, the Fellows, instead of devoting 
 themselves, as he intended, to the canon and civil law, 
 had become for the most part barristers of the ordinary 
 type. Three clerical Fellows resided to act as tutors ; 
 the remaining ten were practising or courting practice in 
 London, and visited Cambridge with a view to auditing 
 accounts and granting leases at Christmas. A later 
 benefactor had provided that we should relieve ourselves 
 during that dry employment by a modest conviviality ; 
 first raising our minds to a due elevation by a service in 
 chapel, where a Latin oration was delivered in praise of 
 the Civil Law. The Christmas ' exceedings,' as they 
 were called in our official language, had a certain re- 
 putation. A dinner is, of course, strictly speaking, a 
 dinner ; but the college feast, though resembling from 
 the materialist point of view the ordinary meal, might 
 also be regarded poetically as possessed of a certain 
 historic dignity. It was almost a religious ceremony. 
 If we could not rival the luxury of a civic banquet, there
 
 78 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 was an impressive solemnity about the series of festivi- 
 ties which lasted some ten days at Christmas time. The 
 college butler swelled with patriotic pride as he arranged 
 the pyramid of plate the quaint little enamelled cup 
 bequeathed by our founder, which had, I think, a shadowy 
 reputation for detecting poison ; the statelier goblet given 
 by Archbishop Parker, which made its rounds with due 
 ceremonial that we might drink 'in piam meinoriarn 
 fundatoris ; ' and the huge silver punchbowl, which re- 
 presented Lord Chesterfield's view of the kind of con- 
 viviality likely to be appreciated by the Fellows of his 
 own period. 
 
 The Master, Dr. Geldart, a most kindly, old-fashioned 
 gentleman, beamed hospitality from every feature as he 
 presided at the table, prolonging the after-dinner sitting 
 till the port and madeira had accomplished the orthodox 
 number of rounds. At an earlier period dinner had 
 begun about the middle of the day, and the fine old race 
 which was laying in our supplies of gout had felt itself 
 in need of supper as a crown to the proceedings. Civi- 
 lisation, postponing the hour of dinner, had npt yet 
 dared to abolish so solemn an institution on the prosaic 
 ground of its superfluity. From the hall, therefore, we 
 adjourned in due time to the combination room, lighted 
 from silver sconces on the dark oak panels whence Lord 
 Chesterfield, with other more rosy-faced dignitaries of 
 the last century, gazed approvingly on boar's head, and 
 game pie, and oysters, and certain tins of baked apples 
 ripening before a generous fire, and credited with a 
 medicinal virtue for preventing any evil consequences of 
 the accompanying milk-punch. Legends told how many
 
 CAMBEIDGE 79 
 
 glasses of that seductive fluid, the great boast of our 
 butler, Miller, had thus been rendered innocuous to 
 Judge Talfourd and other distinguished guests of a pre- 
 vious generation. The younger withdrew for a time to 
 enjoy an interlude of tobacco ; whilst the steady old 
 dons settled comfortably to their orthodox rubbers of 
 whist. 
 
 No one entered more cordially into the spirit of such 
 convivialities than Fawcett. In later days the strain 
 upon the digestive faculties of the guests has, I under- 
 stand, been lightened. But Fawcett was a steady con- 
 servative as to the essentials. He kept up the hospitality, 
 and delighted in bringing down old friends to revisit the 
 scenes of youthful pleasure and chat over the old days 
 and knit closer the bonds of college friendship. The 
 talk was always most animated and the laughter loudest 
 in the neighbourhood of his chair. Amidst the clatter 
 of forty pairs of knives and forks and the talk of forty 
 guests, his ringing volleys t)f laughter would assert their 
 supremacy. "VYe used to argue whether Fawcett or one 
 of his friends, whose lungs could emit a crow of super- 
 lative vigour, was capable of the most effective laughter ; 
 but if the single explosion of his rival was most startling, 
 no one could deny that Fawcett was superior in point of 
 continuous and infectious hilarity. 
 
 These Christmas performances showed the convivial 
 Fawcett in all his glory. But there was also a con- 
 tinuous current of pleasant sociable gatherings. Other 
 colleges held their grand days in term-time. There were 
 dining-clubs of one or two of which Fawcett was a mem- 
 ber. One of these brought together periodically the dons
 
 80 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 of Oxford and Cambridge ; and in it Professor Henry 
 Smith and Fawcett might be taken as typical represen- 
 tatives of the two Universities. Curiously contrasted as 
 they were in many ways, they were rivals in diffusing a 
 thoroughly social spirit, and each heartily appreciated the 
 other's good qualities. There was no lack of less formal 
 meetings down to the simple tete-a-tete with an old 
 friend, when the talk, if less noisy, was more intimate and 
 serious. Visions come before me of quiet talks in quaint 
 old college rooms, to which we retired as the curfew was 
 sounding to hold a tobacco-parliament till St. Mary's had 
 long given notice of midnight. And summer brought 
 pleasant hours in the charming college gardens and 
 bowling greens ; above all in the Fellows' garden at 
 Trinity Hall, which Mr. Henry James a most capable 
 judge pronounces to be unsurpassed in Europe. There 
 we would take our wine in the shade of the noble chest- 
 nut trees, whose boughs make a cascade of flowers and 
 foliage down to the dry smooth-shaven green, or enjoy a 
 meditative stroll when the nightingales at the ' backs ' 
 were singing their loudest in the pleasant May Term. I 
 remember a friend who came to see Cambridge for the 
 first time, and, strolling into the garden after breakfast, 
 found it so strongly impregnated with the genius loci 
 that he decided to cut short his round of sight-seeing at 
 its first stage. Sitting there all day, he felt that he had 
 imbibed the very essence of Cambridge life. In logical 
 phrase, the intensity of his experience more than 
 atoned for its want of extension. 
 
 Fawcett was never tired of praising Cambridge 
 society. He exalted it far above the frigid formality of
 
 CAMBRIDGE 81 
 
 what passes for society in London. In Cambridge there 
 could still be real talk such as Johnson enjoyed at the 
 Mitre or the Turk's Head. London has become a chaos ; 
 society means intercourse for a couple of hours with a 
 fortuitous concurrence of human atoms ; little circles 
 are swept away in the great current ; you make a small 
 journey to a friend's house ; you are set down by a 
 stranger and have to beat the bush for an hour before 
 you discover what little segment of the vast circle of 
 human interests is common to both ; you must be on 
 your guard in view of possible collisions, and keep to the 
 superficial topics which hurt no sensibilities because they 
 excite no real interest. Fawcett specially detested the 
 early break-up of the guests at a London dinner-party 
 enforced by the dismal ceremonial of ' at homes,' gather- 
 ings which he absolutely declined to attend. In Cam- 
 bridge it was otherwise ; friends could meet daily by 
 crossing a court or a couple of streets. There was no 
 formality where all were equal, and no tentative dally- 
 ing with topics where each man's tastes and prejudices 
 were known to all his fellows ; the parts in the dialogue 
 were assigned beforehand and could be taken up at once ; 
 and we were young and eager enough really to discuss 
 important questions and to fancy that our discussions 
 were enlightening. In our gatherings, we could realise 
 Johnson's familiar requirements : there a man could 
 ' fold his legs and have his talk out ; ' there he could 
 find plenty of men ready fairly ' to put their minds to 
 his ; ' and there, too, though the circle was small, there 
 was enough come and go from the outside world to 
 
 G
 
 82 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 prevent any danger of stagnation or of the painful 
 discovery that we had exhausted each other's topics. 
 
 Some distinguished men came to us at Christmas or 
 at other times; and Fawcett's constantly widening circle 
 of friends offered abundant variety. Once, in the early 
 time, we walked over to Babraham, and, with some 
 audacity, called on Mr. Jonas Webb, the famous breed' r 
 of Southdown sheep, whose statue now stands in the 
 Cambridge Corn Exchange. Though we interrupted his 
 Christmas dinner, he politely sent a shepherd to exhibit 
 his flocks ; and he returned our visit to talk agriculture 
 with Fawcett and his father in our college hall. A 
 nearly contemporary guest was an Oxford don who 
 proclaimed his favourite study to be ' dogmatic theology,' 
 but who had struck up a friendship with Fawcett, 
 certainly not from any common interest in the study. 
 Fawcett was not the less hospitable or less hearty in his 
 laughter, when our theologian had a sharp encounter 
 with a friend from the opposite pole of the circle who 
 boasted that he was a ' hard-headed Scotchman,' and 
 scoffed at all the wiles of Jesuits in disguise. Other and 
 more famous friends were glad of a day or two at 
 Cambridge. Fellow disciples of Mill's, Professor Cairnes, 
 Mr. Hare, and W. T. Thornton were amongst the most 
 welcome. Fawcett, as I find by an early letter, had the 
 courage to invite Mill himself at Christmas 1859 to 
 meet Hare, who was already a guest. The philosophic 
 recluse did not come to try our milk-punch. Thackeray 
 had promised to come to stay with Fawcett at the 
 Christmas of 1863; and only put us off at the last 
 moment, just before we heard of his death. Cobden
 
 CAMBRIDGE 83 
 
 came to see Fawcett in the summer of 1 864 ; and I do 
 not know whether the dons were more impressed by the 
 charming urbanity of the great agitator, or Cobden 
 himself by the discovery that dons could be as free from 
 political and sectarian prejudices as any class of the 
 community. Lawyers, politicians, and men of science (I 
 especially remember Professor Huxley) were glad occasion- 
 ally to breathe the academic atmosphere, and Fawcett was 
 always anxious to welcome them. Our home resources, 
 however, were not despicable. It may be that I am 
 under an illusion ; but it certainly seems to me that I 
 have never heard such excellent talk as I heard in Cam- 
 bridge in those days. My appetite for talk was doubtless 
 keener and my faculty for admiration less blunted ; and 
 yet I think that the conditions already described were 
 really favourable, whilst we were free from that uneasy 
 desire to justify a reputation which is so injurious to the 
 talk of more famous conversationalists. There were 
 several men of real talent in the art. There was W. G. 
 Clark, the graceful scholar and wit, who brought more 
 than usual knowledge of the outside world to our academic 
 retirement ; and J. L. Hammond, who in those days was 
 the brightest of companions. With a singularly penetra- 
 tive voice, a very retentive memory stocked with many 
 anecdotes, a keen interest in politics as well as in more 
 academic topics, and a wit always tempered by good- 
 nature, he often became the centre of conversational 
 attraction to all guests in the Trinity combination room. 
 Once, indeed, as he was declaiming with more than 
 usual freedom, Fawcett's secretary came hastily into the 
 room and announced the fact that a group of Hammond's 
 
 a 2
 
 84 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 pupils were seated outside the open window drinking 
 in the overflow of their tutor's remarks. Fawcett was 
 rather more delighted than Hammond. Then, too, 
 there was Gunson, of Christ's, a big North-countryman 
 with a Cumbrian burr, whose figure was not unlike 
 Fawcett's, but who, unlike Fawcett, prided himself es- 
 pecially on his Greek, and had done more than any 
 college tutor of his time to raise his pupils in the Tripos. 
 It was Fawcett's special delight to indulge in some 
 outrageous confession of classical ignorance by way of 
 oblique flattery to Gunson ; and he would chuckle with 
 intense appreciation of the simple-minded utterances 
 of harmless vanity which he succeeded in provoking. I 
 have not mentioned those who are still with us. This, 
 alas ! does not now prevent me from mentioning H. A. J. 
 Muuro, the pride of all Cambridge scholars, whose 
 extraordinary classical attainments were combined with 
 a charming simplicity, unaffected kindliness, and a 
 refreshing bluntness of speech, and who used to delight 
 Fawcett by his talk, especially by his enthusiastic cele- 
 brations of Miss Byron and Clarissa Harlowe. Three of 
 the Fellows of Trinity Blore, Hotham, and Munro, whose 
 names are most associated with the Trinity of those days 
 have died since Fawcett ; and only a dwindling minority 
 is left of those who some twenty years ago joined in our 
 friendly meetings. 
 
 These names remind me of one very marked feature 
 of Fawcett's character. I first discovered it one day, 
 when I heard to my shame that a common friend had 
 been for some time in bad health, and that Fawcett had 
 been visiting him regularly. Nothing gave him greater
 
 CAMBEJDGE 85 
 
 pleasure than to render such services. Hammond suf- 
 fered cruelly under a protracted and painful disorder, 
 of which he ultimately died. It was depressing to the 
 spirits, and he fell into a rather morbid state of feeling, 
 creating the imaginary grievances natural to the sick. 
 Fawcett was the friend who adhered most closely to 
 him. When refusing other invitations, Hammond would 
 always go to Fawcett's house ; and I remember the 
 good-natured triumph which Fawcett expressed to me 
 upon inducing his old friend to pay him a visit at 
 Cambridge and cheering him into forgetfulness of his 
 sufferings. Once, when an old gentleman who shared 
 some of Fawcett's tastes was on his deathbed, Fawcett 
 was admitted to a talk, and with such cheering results 
 that the old man became his former self, sent for his 
 fishing tackle, and even proposed, I think, a bottle of 
 his famous port. The family were so scandalised by the 
 introduction of such topics at a period when meditation 
 on death seemed to them to be the only proper occupa- 
 tion, that they objected to any fresh administration of a 
 similar cordial. He was equally ready to visit humbler 
 friends who had fallen into any variety of distress. I may 
 safely say that Fawcett never forgot a friend and never 
 missed an opportunity of this kind of service, which is 
 too frequently omitted even by the good-natured. When- 
 ever I met him in later years, I was sure to hear from him 
 the last news of friends, some of whom had drifted away 
 from the rest of their circle, but who never lost their 
 hold, whether depressed in mind or body or fortune, 
 upon his cordial goodwill. 
 
 There was another maxim upon which he would
 
 86 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 sometimes insist, which coincides with a remark of 
 Johnson's. The doctor spoke of the importance of 
 keeping friendships in repair and of filling up gaps by 
 new acquisitions. Fawcett would often tell me that he 
 made it a principle to make friendships with younger 
 men; and this, he said, was the great secret of his 
 continued enjoyment of Cambridge society. He did 
 not, like some of us, age prematurely. He never drifted 
 away from the sympathies of the young or became a 
 ' don ' in the offensive sense of the word. Many of the 
 most distinguished of the younger men found him a warm 
 friend. Amongst them, I may especially mention Mr. J. 
 F. Moulton, and the late Professor Clifford, in whose 
 exuberant and almost boyish spirits and good-humour 
 there was something especially congenial to Fawcett' & 
 taste. After Clifford's premature death, Fawcett was 
 foremost in pressing upon Mr. Gladstone the claims of 
 his widow to a proper recognition of her husband's in- 
 tellectual achievements. He had been, he said, ' one of 
 Clifford's most intimate friends,' and it was ' only pos- 
 sible for those who enjoyed his intimate friendship fully 
 to understand the beauty and worth of his character.' 
 Good judges, he said, agreed that if Clifford had livid 
 he might have ranked with Laplace or Lagrange. The 
 metaphysical writings to which Clifford had latterly de- 
 voted his attention had drawn public attention from his 
 merits as a mathematician. Fawcett's judicious advocacy 
 was rewarded with success ; though, of course, he was one 
 of many influential applicants. 
 
 What, I have sometimes asked myself with a certain 
 wonder, did we talk about in those pleasant days, when
 
 CAMBRIDGE 87 
 
 sleep seemed an impertinent interruption to a perpetual 
 flow of conversation? I have gone to breakfast with 
 Fawcett at Christmas time, read and discussed the 
 newspapers till lunch, taken a good constitutional, re- 
 turning just in time to dress for dinner, and then dined, 
 talked, and smoked till past midnight, having enjoyed, 
 and most heartily enjoyed, some fifteen hours of uninter- 
 rupted talk. What supplied the matter of this abundant 
 flow ? I must reply, in the first place, that Fawcett 
 was not above the trivial. Of course we talked of the 
 events of our little circle : who was to be the next senior 
 Wrangler, or stroke to the University boat, or to succeed 
 to the vacant Fellowship or Mastership ? On all such 
 matters his interest was unfailing, and I have heard him 
 discuss the last boating news from the Thames with a 
 member of the London Bowing Club as eagerly as he 
 would discuss proportional representation with Mr. Hare. 
 Nor did he despise downright personal gossip. Once his 
 friends observed him deeply engaged in what was supposed 
 to be a profound political discussion with a member of 
 Parliament ; when Fawcett was suddenly heard to inquire 
 eagerly, ' Was it his fault or hers ? ' He would often tell 
 a story, showing how he had been one link in a chain by 
 which an outrageous and entirely fictitious bit of scandal 
 had been circulated all round Cambridge between breakfast 
 and dinner time, so as to reach the person affected and give 
 if custom had sanctioned the practice occasion for a 
 duel. He was not puritanical in such matters ; he used to 
 say that other people loved gossip as well as he did, and 
 only differed from him in dissembling their love. I fancy 
 that he also differed by retaining in full measure the eager
 
 88 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 curiosity of his childhood. But it must be at once added 
 that I never heard Fawcett say an ill-natured thing or 
 intentionally spread a possibly mischievous rumour. He 
 despised certain classes of mankind heartily enough ; but 
 his social influence was invariably on the side of kindly 
 feeling and judicious reticence. Still he delighted im- 
 measurably in any little anecdote bringing out the 
 harmless foibles of his acquaintance. I shall not forget 
 his intense enjoyment of an anecdote which used to be 
 spun out through several courses at dinner by the simple 
 narrator a well-known Cambridge don. It told of the 
 series of ingenious manoeuvres by which a turtle had 
 been transported from Bristol to a remote part of 
 the Highlands in time for conversion into soup, and 
 of the anxiety which supervened when it was discovered 
 that there was not a lemon within thirty miles ; and 
 there was a final tableau picturing the assembled guests 
 looking out, like sister Anne, for the approach of the 
 horseman who had been despatched on the chance of 
 bringing back the necessary condiment. Another narra- 
 tive of equal length told of the sad consequences of the 
 inconsiderate death of an elderly connection in the same 
 gentleman's house. But for an almost providential coin- 
 cidence, which brought the son of the deceased to remove 
 the body to a distant burial-place, the unhappy man 
 would have lost a day's fishing. Fawcett, instead of 
 being bored, enjoyed the repetition of these famous nar- 
 ratives as if he had been assisting at a comedy. Few 
 people, indeed, were less easily bored. He would beg 
 with a kind of childlike eagerness for the repetition of 
 some story familiar to him for a quarter of a century.
 
 CAMBRIDGE 89 
 
 One of his friends had a marvellous power of reviving 
 both the voice and the characteristic language of old 
 Cambridge dons of the port- wine period, now for the most 
 part vanished from an uncongenial world. Fawcett 
 never to the last day of his life lost his power of relishing 
 these admirable anecdotes which I would fain hope 
 may be embalmed in some future volume of remini- 
 scences. He would begin to listen with anticipatory 
 delight, and as the well-known anecdote proceeded, every 
 muscle of his body would quiver with enjoyment, and he 
 would end by laughter-choked petitions for more. 
 
 If our conversation did not exclude such topics, its 
 main staple was serious enough. It included constant and 
 eager discussions of political arid economical problems. 
 In those days the most exciting topic was the Civil War 
 in America. Fawcett, as a staunch advocate of the 
 Federal cause, was, as he was so often destined to be in 
 later life, the champion of a small minority. We had 
 long arguments as to the merits of Mr. Hare's scheme ; 
 the prospects of an extension of the franchise; or the 
 principles represented by Cobden and Palmerston, Glad- 
 stone and Disraeli. In Clarke's rooms the conversation 
 often ran upon points of political economy ; for Clarke 
 was not only a keen economist and a most ingenious dis- 
 putant, but had a singular faculty for producing (from 
 memory or imagination) the most crushing statistical 
 statements, with which Fawcett especially delighted to 
 wrestle. We used to say that no event in history could 
 be mentioned which Clarke could not instantaneously 
 match by a parallel from his native town of Andover 
 such is the power of acute observation.
 
 90 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 Perhaps a listener would have been more inclined to 
 complain of the dryness than of the frivolity of our talk. 
 The dominant influences of Cambridge in those days 
 were indeed favourable to a masculine but limited type 
 of understanding. The intellectual atmosphere, bracing 
 as it might be to congenial minds, was not so propitious 
 to the development of the less robust varieties. The 
 average student scarcely contemplated the existence of 
 any kind of culture except that represented by the two 
 old-fashioned Triposes. Classical or mathematical train- 
 ing w r as the only alternative suggested, and in either 
 case the study was confined within the limits of a rather 
 narrow definition. The attempt made under the influence 
 of Whewell to introduce the study of moral and physical 
 sciences, was still in its infancy. The new Triposes 
 flagged and showed no signs of really taking root. The 
 University, as was often pointed out, was little but a 
 continuation of the public school. Cambridge men 
 could, of course, defend this characteristic narrowness 
 by a good a priori theory ; although, in truth, it was less 
 the product of any conscious theory than the natural 
 outcome of the indigenous system of competitive exami- 
 nation. When challenged for a defence, they would lay 
 down the very sound principle that education should be 
 directed rather to train the faculties than to store the 
 memory. The best education was that which afforded 
 the best course of mental gymnastics ; not that which 
 imparted the greatest quantity of practically useful 
 knowledge. They would add, and with equal truth, that 
 the Cambridge course provided in fact a most strenuous 
 and masculine training ; success was impossible for the
 
 CAMBKIDGE 91 
 
 most skilfully crammed ; it was open to hard-headed, 
 thoroughly practised intellectual athletes, and to them 
 alone. Fawcett was heartily convinced of the truth of 
 these assertions. He felt, I have no doubt rightly, that 
 his own mental fibre had been invigorated by the mathe- 
 matical course, though he had derived from it no know- 
 ledge useful in the ordinary sense. His gratitude to the 
 University for this service was unfailing. He held that 
 it had turned him out, and, of course, had turned out 
 others, thoroughly well equipped for the battle of life. 
 He triumphantly confuted the narrow utilitarianism of 
 the cram theory. A senior Wrangler, as he would urge, 
 might be absolutely ignorant of law ; but three years 
 after his degree he would be a far better lawyer than the 
 man who had been crammed with legal knowledge in 
 place of being trained in the use of his logical faculties. 
 Having confuted the vulgar objection, Fawcett took 
 for granted too easily that he had won his case. Grant- 
 ing that the true function of a University is to supply a 
 good course of mental gymnastics, and granting that 
 Cambridge supplied such a course, there was still a gap 
 in his logic. Studies which found no favour at Cam- 
 bridge have also this pre-eminent virtue. The mind may 
 be trained as well as stored by philosophical, and scien- 
 tific, and historical, and literary studies. For some 
 minds such studies may even be more stimulating than 
 the regular classical and mathematical round. Gym- 
 nastics are good for the body, though they do not train 
 a man for the specific trade by which he is to gain his 
 living. But it does not follow that they should be limited 
 to lifting weights and pulling an oar. The Cambridge
 
 92 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 system might be criticised as resembling a physical system 
 which should thus train only one set of muscles or one 
 mode of applying them. This peculiarity was connected 
 with the excessive value attached to the competitive 
 system. Having got a test, excellent in its way for 
 fairness and severity, Cambridge did not care to look 
 further. In all competitions there is a tendency to 
 regard the test too much as an ultimate end. Cam- 
 bridge looked askance at all studies which did not lend 
 themselves to examination. It disliked studies in which 
 cramming was possible or probable : historical studies, 
 for example, because in them it is easier to test the 
 quantity of knowledge than the power of investigation ; 
 and studies which by their nature are not so suscep- 
 tible of a definite numerical test of excellence, such as 
 philosophical studies, where it is impossible to say, as 
 in arithmetic, that a result is clearly right or clearly 
 wrong, and where, in consequence, it is harder to dis- 
 tinguish the pretence from the reality of originality. 
 For such reasons Cambridge was content with the sound 
 masculine training which it actually provided, and 
 which had merits now, perhaps, in some danger of being 
 overlooked. Any new-fangled scheme had great difficulty 
 in establishing itself alongside of the old course, in 
 which there was an accepted and thoroughly well-under- 
 stood test of relative merit. Fawcett's high estimate of 
 the value of a fair and open competition increased his 
 respect for a system vigorous, if narrow, which at least 
 gave plain, tangible, definable results. 
 
 His complete satisfaction with the Cambridge system 
 limited any inclination which he may have had to extend
 
 CAMBRIDGE 93 
 
 the area of his studies. He worked hard after his 
 degree ; but he did not make many excursions into new 
 fields. His own education had been limited ; his ten- 
 dency fell in with the general disposition of the society 
 to which he belonged. Cambridge men were rather 
 proud of their limitations. The limitations represented 
 contempt for mere intellectual frippery and empty pre- 
 tence. It was exceptional for a don of that day to 
 extend his inquiries into new fields of speculation. He 
 was content to make his knowledge more thorough within 
 the accepted sphere, without annexing new regions of 
 thought. Whether from this or from other causes, Cam- 
 bridge was curiously indifferent to certain controversies. 
 It is strange to turn from the Cambridge of this period 
 to the Oxford so vividly described by the historians of 
 the Newman generation. It is like passing to the history 
 of a remote century or a different civilisation. Theo- 
 logical discussion had doubtless (as Pattison's memoir 
 has lately told us) ceased to excite the old interest at 
 Oxford itself. At Cambridge it was difficult to realise 
 that such controversies could ever have occupied any 
 reasonable mind. Arguments upon the merits of alchemy 
 would hardly have been a greater anachronism at Cam- 
 bridge than argument about the Via Media, or the rival 
 claims of Keason and Authority. We had, of course, 
 our High-Churchmen and our Evangelicals, and I have 
 no reason to doubt that the great majority did more than 
 simply acquiesce in the creed to which they were pledged. 
 But there was no active spirit of theological investigation. 
 The cardinal virtue in such matters, according to us, was 
 a common sense which might be taken to imply a liberal
 
 94 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and tolerant spirit or simple indifference. Indifference 
 was certainly the characteristic of Fawcett's inner circle 
 and of Fawcett himself. There were, in fact, wide 
 spheres of thought which he scarcely cared to enter. 
 Once, when directly asked for his opinion upon a ([ii( ~- 
 tion which to most philosophers seems to be of primary 
 importance, he replied with his usual simplicity, ' I IK \ t 
 could bring my mind to take any interest in the 
 subject.' 
 
 Within a certain limit Fawcett's mind was surprisingly 
 active and powerful. I have never known a man to 
 whose judgment I should have more readily deferred in 
 all matters in which he was really at home. But his 
 mental activity was strictly confined within certain 
 limits. His want of interest in the questions generally 
 called philosophical was no doubt due in part to his 
 perception of the familiar fact that such questions are 
 never finally answered and have no immediate bearing 
 on the questions which must be answered. That con- 
 sideration, however, would have failed to deter any man 
 who had the natural aptitude from an inquiry which to 
 men so qualified is delightful in itself, even where they ;IH 
 convinced beforehand that the inquiry must be fruitless 
 of any definite result. Fawcett's intellect was not of the 
 type which would prefer the search after truth to the 
 truth itself. On the literary side, Fawcett's tastes were 
 at this period equally undeveloped. His classical train- 
 ing had been of the scantiest, and his Cambridge friends 
 had few purely literary interests. Nor did Fawcett ever 
 make the slightest pretension to be a literary connois- 
 seur. His enjoyment of good literature when it came in.
 
 CAMBRIDGE 95 
 
 his way was probably not the less keen, and certain]}" 
 was all the freer from affectation. At leisure hours he 
 took pleasure in listening to some of the masterpieces of 
 our literature. He heartily enjoyed a sonorous passage 
 from Milton or Burke. He was fond of Shelley and 
 Wordsworth and of Lamb's and De Quincey's essays ; he 
 read all George Eliot's novels ; he read and re-read 
 'Esmond' and 'Vanity Fair,' and he was very fond of Miss 
 Austen and the Brontes. He enjoyed, too, a conversation 
 with men of more literary pretensions upon their special 
 subjects, as with Mr. Aldis Wright upon Shakespeare or 
 Bacon. Whenever, indeed, he was convinced that any 
 man was a genuine worker in any department he re- 
 spected him accordingly. Even if his friends ventured 
 into the barren fields of metaphysics he was generous to 
 excess in crediting them with real accomplishments. 
 
 Believers in ' Culture ' naturally set him down as 
 a Philistine, a name which as I have elsewhere ven- 
 tured to suggest is best definable as that which a 
 prig bestows on the rest of the species. Between 
 Fawcett and a prig there was a natural antipathy. 
 The only human beings more objectionable to him 
 were those whom Cambridge men used to describe as 
 'impostors' a phrase equivalent to Carlyle's 'quacks.' 
 Thoroughness was our pet virtue. An impostor is one 
 who substitutes fine phrases for thoughts. He flourishes 
 pre-eminently in the region of metaphysics. If we too 
 summarily identified metaphysicians with impostors we 
 perhaps went a little too far. But the opinion is tenable. 
 
 I have dwelt upon these considerations because they 
 help to explain Fawcett's characteristic qualities and his
 
 96 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 enthusiastic love of the Cambridge system. He delighted 
 above all things in its absolute fairness. He would say 
 that Cambridge was almost the only place where a man 
 won his position exclusively on his merits. There was 
 no real taint nor even suspicion of unfairness in the 
 distribution of the prizes. When a man had won a 
 position the respect paid to him was proportioned to his 
 intrinsic merits. No one inquired into his social position 
 or the length of his purse. There was no sordid interest 
 in money making. If success in University competitions 
 might be valued too highly, it was at least a genuine test 
 of real ability. No point about the University more 
 endeared it to Fawcett than the homage thus paid to 
 the moral or intellectual excellence. The little world of 
 Cambridge had the republican spirit in the best sense of 
 the word. It despised all adventitious claims to respect. 
 Fawcett's chief desire as a University reformer was to 
 bring all classes and sects within the influence of its 
 generous encouragement. The intellectual vigour fostered 
 by the open competitions, and the masculine common 
 sense encouraged by the positive nature of the studies, 
 were thoroughly congenial to him. What he learnt he 
 learnt well. Political economy, to which he had already 
 paid attention in undergraduate days, became his main 
 pursuit. He always studied it in connection with actual 
 experience. In his infancy he had preferred the market- 
 place to the dame-school. He treated the theories of 
 Mill and Ricardo by applying them to the facts, so 
 familiar to him, of agricultural life in Wiltshire. He 
 widened his knowledge by following with the keenest 
 interest the course of contemporary politics. He read
 
 CAMBRIDGE 97 
 
 the parliamentary debates from end to end. He would 
 complain pathetically of one friend who used to shorten 
 his own labour and Fawcett's enjoyment by skipping the 
 peroration or, as he contemptuously called it, the ' blow 
 off.' Through life his appetite for newspapers was 
 omnivorous. One of his favourite enjoyments was to 
 collect all accessible newspapers and spend a quiet 
 Sunday in reading them steadily through. He enriched 
 his mind less by indulgence in abstract theory than by 
 persistently immersing it in the discussion of affairs in 
 actual course of transaction. 
 
 Fawcett was sufficiently familiar with the English 
 literature of his favourite study. I used to maintain 
 that he had read no book except Mill's ' Political Economy.' 
 This was, of course, untrue ; but it was true that he had 
 then read no book so thoroughly and elaborately. In 
 some of his later addresses he recommended his hearers 
 to study some good book until they were prepared to give 
 the substance and fully to analyse the argument of every 
 chapter. He would suggest Mill's ' Political Economy ' 
 as desirable for the purpose, and his advice was founded 
 upon his own experience. Besides Mill, he had read such 
 authors as Adam Smith, Malthus, and, above all, Eicardo, 
 in whose terse logic he especially delighted. I remember, 
 too, the frequency with which he would clench an argu- 
 ment by a reference to that entertaining work, Tooke's 
 1 History of Prices.' His admiration for Mill led him to 
 study the ' Logic ' and the later works in which his 
 favourite teacher deals with questions of political philo- 
 sophy, and to read them with almost unconditional accept- 
 ance. The affliction of his eyesight and his subsequent
 
 98 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 blindness had naturally limited his studies in the years 
 following his degree. He was, however, greatly impressed 
 by two books which stirred the minds of all young men 
 of his generation. 
 
 The first volume of Buckle's ' History of Civilisation ' 
 appeared in 1857. Some letters from his friend Mr. 
 Egerton show that he was eagerly discussing it soon 
 afterwards. Buckle impressed many men (Mark Pat- 
 tison amongst others) of intellectual temperament very 
 different from Fawcett's by his daring and (in a literary 
 sense at least) brilliant generalisation. Fawcett's enthu- 
 siasm was roused by this bold attempt to apply scientific 
 methods to historical inquiry. He was not, indeed, 'blind 
 to the weak side of Buckle. He thought that Buckle's 
 language betrayed a superficial knowledge of political 
 economy. He used, too, to tell with some amusement 
 an anecdote of a (probably fictitious) feminine disciple 
 of the new prophet who went about proclaiming that she 
 was ' panting for a wider generalisation.' His admiration 
 for Buckle, however, was not quenched by these suspicious 
 symptoms of that writer's affinity with the great class 
 ' Impostor.' In February 1 860 he lectured at Bradford 
 on ' The New School of History.' Adopting a view taken 
 by Mill, he maintains that history which had previously 
 belonged to mere partisans like Hume and Voltaire, and 
 afterwards to the graphic or imaginative writers, like 
 Macaulay and Carlyle, was in the hands of Buckle to 
 become a genuine science. Fawcett was venturing with 
 the courage of youth beyond his proper province, and the 
 lecture is only valuable as indicating his sympathies. 
 
 A greater impression was made upon him by Darwin's
 
 CAMBRIDGE 99 
 
 ' Origin of Species.' Though Fawcett's scientific studies 
 had hardly gone beyond the mathematical theories in- 
 cluded in the Tripos, he took a general interest in 
 scientific methods. In 1859 the publication of Darwin's 
 great book initiated the most fruitful controversy of the 
 day. Fawcett became an enthusiastic Darwinian. He 
 was disgusted at the bitterness of the theological on- 
 slaught upon the new teaching, and at the tone of un- 
 generous hostility exhibited by some of the old-fashioned 
 men of science. He had been present at the smart 
 passage of arms (in 1860) between Professor Huxley 
 and Bishop Wilberforce at the British Association meet- 
 ing in Oxford ; and in the December of the same year 
 published an article in ' Macmillan's Magazine ' in which 
 he came to the rescue. He states with his usual firm- 
 ness the true logical position of Darwin's theory; dis- 
 tinguishing carefully between a fruitful hypothesis and 
 a scientific demonstration ; exhibiting the general nature 
 of the argument and the geological difficulty with great 
 clearness, and taking some pains to prove that religion is 
 in no danger from Darwinism. In any case, he says, life 
 must have been originally introduced by an ' act of 
 creative will.' His old friend Hopkins criticises him in 
 a very kind letter. Hopkins was of the old school in 
 this respect, and thinks that Darwinism ' utterly fails ' 
 by confusing the difference between hypothesis and 
 proof. Fawcett did not bow to his teacher's authority ; 
 and at the British Association meeting at Manchester 
 (September 1861) he read a paper which was substantially 
 a reassertion of the arguments in his article. This con- 
 troversy, which went no further, led to a correspondence 
 
 M 2
 
 100 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 with Darwin himself. I quote a passage or two from 
 Darwin's letters, as anything that can throw additional 
 light upon their writer is of interest. 
 
 'You could not possibly have told me anything,' 
 writes Mr. Darwin, July 20, 1861, 'which would have 
 given me more satisfaction than what you say about 
 Mr. Mill's opinion. Until your review appeared I began 
 to think that perhaps I did not understand at all how 
 to reason scientifically.' Fawcett has told me that Mill 
 had said to him that the ' Origin of Species ' was admir- 
 able as a piece of thorough logical argument (I forget 
 the precise phrase), and. I presume that Fawcett had 
 repeated this to Mr. Darwin. The later letter, dated 
 September 18 (1861), refers to Fawcett's paper at the 
 British Association : 
 
 'My dear Mr. Fawcett, I wondered who had so 
 kindly sent me the newspapers, which I was very glad to 
 see ; and now I have to thank you sincerely for allowing 
 me to see your MS. It seems to me very good and 
 sound ; though I am certainly not an impartial judge. 
 You will have done good service in calling the attention 
 of scientific men to means and laws of philosophising. 
 As far as I could judge by the papers, your opponents 
 were unworthy of you. How miserably A. talked of my 
 reputation, as if that had anything to do with it. ... 
 How profoundly ignorant B. [who had said that Darwin 
 should have published facts alone] must be of the very 
 soul of observation ! About thirty years ago there was 
 much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not 
 theorise ; and I well remember some one saying that at
 
 CAMBRIDGE 101 
 
 this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and 
 count the pebbles and describe the colours. How odd 
 it is that anyone should not see that all observation 
 must be for or against some view if it is to be of any 
 service ! 
 
 ' I have returned only lately from a two months' visit 
 to Torquay, which did my health at the time good ; but 
 I am one of those miserable creatures who are never 
 comfortable for twenty-four hours ; and it is clear to me 
 that I ought to be exterminated. I have been rather 
 idle of late, or, speaking more strictly, working at some 
 miscellaneous papers, which, however, have some direct 
 bearing on the subject of species ; yet I feel guilty at 
 having neglected my larger book. But, to me, observing 
 is much better sport than writing. I fear that I shall 
 have wearied you with this long note. 
 
 ' Pray believe that I feel sincerely grateful that you 
 have taken up the cudgels in defence of the line of 
 argument in the " Origin ; " you will have benefited the 
 subject. 
 
 ' Many are so fearful of speaking out. A German 
 naturalist came here the other day, and he tells me that 
 there are many in Germany on our side ; but that all 
 seem fearful of speaking out, and waiting for some one to 
 speak, and then many will follow. The naturalists seem 
 as timid as young ladies should be, about their scientific 
 reputation. There is much discussion on the subject on 
 the Continent, even in quiet Holland, and I had a 
 pamphlet from Moscow the other day by a man who 
 sticks up famously for the imperfection of the " Geological 
 Eecord," but complains that I have sadly understated
 
 102 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the variability of the old fossilised animals ! But I must 
 not run on. With sincere thanks and respects, 
 ' Pray believe me, 
 
 ' Yours very sincerely, 
 
 ' CHARLES DARWIN.' 
 
 The influence of evolutionist doctrines has been 
 hardly less marked in philosophy than in the scientific 
 movement. Fawcett, however, did not follow such dis- 
 cussions far ; nor did he, I think, care for any applications 
 of the same ideas to questions of political theory. He 
 was becoming more and more absorbed in the political 
 questions of the day. And here he still preserved his 
 early zeal for Mill's teaching. The influence upon his 
 opinions will be shown in my next chapter. Here I may 
 note one or two proofs of his feeling towards Mill, before 
 the growth of a personal intimacy. In the letter already 
 noticed (December 23, 1859) Fawcett calls himself 'per- 
 sonally a stranger to you,' but mentions ' the very kind 
 sympathy you have expressed to me.' He tells Mill 
 that his books are producing a deep impression on many 
 young men in Cambridge. ' For the last three years,' 
 he says, 'your books have been the chief education of 
 my mind. I consequently entertain towards you such a 
 sense of gratitude as I can only hope at all adequately to 
 repay by doing what lies in my power to propagate the in- 
 valuable truths contained in every page of your writings.' 
 
 There is another undated fragment, clearly intended 
 for Mill, and possibly referring to the expression of 
 sympathy noticed in the last. ' My dear Sir,' he says, 
 ' pray accept my most sincere thanks for your letter. I
 
 CAMBRIDGE 103 
 
 cannot tell you how much I value your words of kind 
 encouragement. Often, when I reflect on my affliction, 
 I feel that it is rash on my part to attempt anything 
 like a career of public usefulness ; and again and again, 
 I am sure, my heart would fail me if I was not stimulated 
 by your thoughts and teaching. I can, therefore, assure 
 you that your kind words will remove many an obstacle 
 to my course.' 
 
 No teacher could ever boast of a more ardent and 
 attached disciple. He never lost an opportunity of re- 
 ferring to Mill and the value of his teaching. In dis- 
 tributing prizes at Manchester on October i, 1866, he 
 remarks on the value of converse with great minds. 
 'As I was reading Mill's "Liberty,"' he says, 'perhaps 
 the greatest work of our greatest living writer, as I read 
 his noble, I might almost say his holy, ideas, I thought 
 to myself, If everyone in my country could and would 
 read this work, how infinitely happier would the nation 
 be ! How much less desirous should we be to wrangle 
 about petty religious differences ! How much less of 
 the energy of the nation would be wasted in contemptible 
 quarrels about creeds and formularies ; and how much 
 more powerful should we be as a nation to achieve works 
 of good, when, as this work would teach us to be, we were 
 firmly bound together by the bonds of a "wise toleration ! ' 
 
 We used sometimes to rally Fawcett upon his enviable 
 and really honourable absence of the modest awkward- 
 ness so common with over-sensitive youth. He would 
 reply, ' If you could ever see me meeting Mill, you would 
 see me awkward enough ! ' The introduction came about 
 through Mr. Hare, I believe, who had himself made the
 
 104 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 acquaintance of Fawcett as an energetic advocate of his 
 own scheme.. Whether Fawcett was awkward at the first 
 meeting I know not ; he met our inquiries with a resolute 
 refusal to confess ; but, in any case, the two men soon 
 became familiar, and Fawcett could talk to Mill as easily 
 as to anyone. He soon perceived the peculiar charm of 
 a feminine tenderness underlying a character which 
 superficial readers of his books had taken to be stern 
 and chilling. In a speech upon unveiling Mill's statue 
 (January 26, 1878) Fawcett said that Mill possessed 
 qualities supposed to be the peculiar privileges of women 
 a gentleness and tenderness such as no woman could 
 exceed. His adherence as a disciple was blended with 
 strong personal affection; something of the chivalrous 
 desire to stand up for a friend blended with the spirit in 
 w r hich he defended their common beliefs, and, as some 
 people thought, made him less impartial than usual in 
 giving a hearing to their common opponents. 
 
 From the date of his return to residence in Cambridge, 
 Fawcett had a double set of interests. His main energies 
 were soon diverted into the political direction. But 
 through life, in spite of all distractions, he clung fondly 
 to Cambridge and his college. I shall here bring together 
 the main incidents of his purely academical career, before 
 taking up the thread of political affairs. Fawcett was 
 elected to a Fellowship at Christmas 1856. He found 
 the college on the eve of a revolution. Our five- 
 hundredth anniversary had been celebrated in 1850, 
 and during our whole previous existence we had jogged 
 along quietly, without any nominal alteration in the
 
 CAMBRIDGE 105 
 
 old statutes. It was, however, beginning to be under- 
 stood that the University was to be overhauled. New 
 studies were beginning to be introduced; and it was 
 coming to be understood " that the constitution of the 
 colleges would require a corresponding change. A com- 
 mission of inquiry had reported, and in the session of 
 1856 an Act had been passed, appointing an executive 
 Commission to carry out suggested improvements. The 
 colleges were permitted to frame new statutes before 
 January i, 1858. If no settlement had been effected 
 by that time, the Commission might itself propose new 
 statutes, which could only be rejected by a majority of 
 two-thirds of the governing body. It was farther pro- 
 vided that no religious test should be imposed for the 
 ordinary degrees or for Scholarships ; but no one was 
 to acquire a vote in the senate or to hold a Fellowship 
 until he had declared himself to be that rather indefinite 
 entity ' a bond fide member of the Church of England.' 
 This last provision marks the point in removal of 
 religious tests which had then been reached by re- 
 formers. It afterwards became the cause of a prolonged 
 agitation hi which Fawcett took a very prominent part 
 as a politician. For the present, however, our hands 
 were tied, and we could do nothing to affect the connec- 
 tion between the Church and the Universities. 
 
 The main desire of the reformers, both at Oxford 
 and Cambridge, was simple. Their primary object was 
 to do away with all restrictions which hampered the full 
 efficiency of the prizes offered to intellectual excellence. 
 The function of the University was education ; the 
 mainspring of the educational system was the rewards
 
 106 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 obtainable by success in examination ; the more attrac- 
 tive the prizes, and the more open the field, the greater 
 would be the success of the system. Another school of 
 reformers has since arisen, which holds that Universities 
 should be also institutes of learning, and which took 
 for its watchword the 'endowment of research.' This 
 view was partly represented under the Commission of 
 1856, in so far as it was proposed to do something 
 towards strengthening the professorial system. The 
 Commissioners proposed to levy a tax of five per cent, 
 upon the college incomes for University purposes. 
 
 At Cambridge generally there were few of the close 
 Fellowships which were a main grievance with the 
 Oxford reformers. At Trinity Hall there were none. 
 Cambridge Fellowships, however, unlike those at Oxford, 
 were by custom confined to members of the college. 
 The small colleges invariably accepted success in the 
 University examinations as the test of merit. The 
 Commissioners suggested the advantage of imitating 
 Oxford in this respect, and electing to Fellowships by 
 examinations open to the University. Cambridge men 
 generally clung to their own system; and a meeting 
 (held October 24, 1857) protested so unanimously against 
 the proposed change that the Commissioners withdrew 
 their proposal. Fawcett, I find, was almost alone in 
 advocating the Oxford system. He argued, in a letter to 
 the ' Times,' that under that system there would be less 
 uncertainty j the standard of merit would not vary from 
 one college to another, and the supply of vacancies would 
 be more regular ; colleges would be compelled to attract 
 students by improving their educational staff, instead of
 
 CAMBRIDGE 107 
 
 keeping up their numbers by confining the offer of prizes 
 to' members of their own body. His own case was in 
 point ; for he had ' migrated ' to Trinity Hall to improve 
 his chances of a Fellowship, not for any superiority in the 
 college itself. His arguments, though certainly deserving 
 attention, failed to affect the existing prejudice. 
 
 Another point gave us far more trouble at Trinity 
 Hall. The Fellowships were tenable for life, subject 
 only to the condition of celibacy. Of our thirteen 
 Fellows ten were barristers. A barrister who does not 
 marry is, as a rule, of the class called ' briefless.' The 
 result was that the prize for youthful excellence became 
 too often a pension for adult incompetence. The number 
 of vacancies was diminished by a system which clogged 
 the college revenues by creating small sinecures for 
 men who had failed in the open field of professional 
 enterprise. 
 
 This was clearly an abuse of the prize system. The 
 obvious remedy was to limit the tenure to a term of 
 years. The value of the reward would hardly be 
 diminished, for no clever young man cares much for the 
 prospect of securing his retreat when he is setting out 
 on his adventures. What was lost by this change would 
 be more than made up by allowing marriage, and by the 
 increased number of vacancies resulting from the limita- 
 tion. Fawcett's great object, therefore, was to limit the 
 Fellowships, and remove the restriction of celibacy. A 
 battle raged over this question for many months ; and 
 Fawcett's part in it was too characteristic to be passed 
 over. The changes affected only one small college, and 
 subsequent legislation has made our discussions obsolete.
 
 108 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 Yet the struggle in our combination room resembled in 
 its conduct and in the principles at issue more important 
 battles waged in the House of Commons, and curiously 
 illustrates some of Fawcett's permanent principles. 
 
 Fawcett was the leader of the opposition. His 
 followers were E. Campbell, F. Fitzroy, and myself (his 
 seniors in the University by a year or two), and Lumley 
 Smith (now Q.C.), his junior by a year (elected Fellow, 
 June 1857). Our opponents, the Master and the older 
 Fellows, were in a majority of eight or nine to five. I 
 remember vividly Fawcett's first appearance in the field. 
 At the college meeting at which he was elected Fellow 
 (Christmas 1856) the statutes came up for discussion. 
 The new Fellow proceeded at once to expound his 
 theories in a speech of some length. A dignified senior 
 then began a few observations, destined to an abrupt 
 close. At an early pause, Fawcett interrupted and told 
 him in the plainest English that he had said quite 
 enough. Dumb surprise ensued, and the startled senior 
 collapsed on the spot. This was the only occasion I can 
 remember upon which Fawcett was not only brusque but 
 distinctly rude. Whether from the essential good-humour 
 beneath his occasionally rough manner, or from a similar 
 quality in his opponents, or from the harmonising influ- 
 ences of the evening's milk-punch, the sun never went 
 down upon any serious irritation. We wrangled up and 
 down ; we wrangled long and sore ; we got into tangled 
 skeins of logic, till we hardly knew what were the issues 
 before us; but the spirit of good fellowship was never 
 extinct, and before long Fawcett was on the best of 
 terms with everyone. At this first meeting we were out-
 
 CAMBKIDGE 109 
 
 voted. The statutes, framed by the majority, adopted 
 the essential points of the old system. Life Fellowships, 
 subject to the restriction of celibacy, were still to be the 
 rule. The Commissioners, however, for some reason did 
 not act upon our proposals. It was not till February 
 1859 that they sent us a scheme of their own, making 
 an essential alteration in our draft. The Fellowships 
 were to be tenable for ten years from the M.A. degree, 
 whilst the restriction of celibacy was to be preserved. 
 This suited neither party. The war broke out afresh. 
 We met and wrangled and broke up into several sections, 
 each of which drew up its own platform for the con- 
 sideration of the Commission. We printed and circu- 
 lated professions of our various faiths. In one which 
 (I do not remember why) Fawcett signed alone, the youth- 
 ful Eadical roundly informs the Commissioners that he 
 can ' neither understand nor imagine the reasons ' which 
 have induced them to preserve the restriction of celibacy 
 along with a limited tenure. Nor, to say the truth, 
 can I. At last, however, this tangled controversy came to 
 an end. The minority triumphed by a diplomacy of which 
 Fawcett often spoke with complacency. The essential 
 point was this. The statutes proposed by the Commis- 
 sion could only be rejected by a majority of two-thirds 
 of the governing body. The majority objected both to 
 the limitation of tenure and to the abolition of celibacy. 
 The minority were in favour of both. Either party, 
 being more than a third of the whole, could secure the 
 adoption of a proposal of the Commission by abstaining 
 from voting against it. If, therefore, the Commission 
 adhered to their proposal, it was possible that it might
 
 110 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 be rejected by our united votes. But the majority might, 
 if they pleased, retain celibacy, though only on the dis- 
 agreeable terms of also accepting limitation of tenure ; 
 whilst the minority could obtain all they required if the 
 Commission would withdraw the restriction of celibacy. 
 The great point with the Commission was to secure a 
 limited tenure ; and we of the minority took care that 
 they should understand that they could secure this by 
 withdrawing the condition of celibacy, whilst, if they 
 proposed both, it was possible that they might unite the 
 whole college against them. 
 
 This consideration apparently was conclusive. The 
 Commissioners were probably glad to have the thing 
 settled ; at any rate they accepted our view. They sent 
 down statutes hi the corresponding form desired, and, as 
 the requisite two-thirds majority could not be obtained 
 against them, we were one of the first colleges in the 
 University to carry out the now accepted system of 
 Fellowships of limited tenure without any restriction 
 upon marriage. Great was our triumph ! 
 
 On certain collateral issues we were less successful. A 
 distinction was made in the statutes between the ten lay 
 Fellowships to be held by lawyers, and the three clerical 
 Fellowships intended for the educational staff of the 
 college. The last were still to be celibate, though under 
 certain conditions. A life Fellowship free from restriction 
 might be voted to them as a reward for services of a 
 certain length. We protested reasonably, I think that 
 celibacy was specially injurious in the case of the clerical 
 Fellows, because it hindered the adoption of teaching 
 as a permanent career. We held that no professional
 
 CAMBRIDGE 1 1 1 
 
 condition should be imposed, for every such condition 
 depreciated the value of the Fellowship, and that the 
 only difference should be a permission to retain Fellow- 
 ships during service in a college office. Our seniors 
 were greatly scandalised by our audacious proposal, 
 which would, they held, destroy the connection of the 
 college with the bar, besides rendering unnecessary its 
 connection with the Church. We failed, at the time, in 
 this, and in another protest (specially insisted on in 
 Fawcett's letter) against a provision that ' open secession 
 from the Church of England ' should vacate a Fellowship. 
 
 One other controversy bore upon a different point. 
 The proposed levy of five per cent, on the colleges for 
 University purposes broke down. Seniors and juniors 
 agreed in rejecting it, and we juniors stated in explana- 
 tion of our part in the protest that we were very willing 
 to contribute to strengthen the professoriate ; but that 
 we preferred a different scheme. We objected to taxing 
 Fellowships, but we were quite ready to sacrifice our 
 Master. Let his office be annexed to a professorship, a 
 contribution which would be more than the proposed 
 five per cent. I remember Fawcett's delight in securing 
 the adhesion of one of the senior Fellows to this (as it 
 was thought) audacious proposal. The poor man weakly 
 admitted that he could not answer Fawcett's arguments, 
 and was then fairly terrorised by appeals to his con- 
 science into the logical consequence of signing a proposal, 
 which thus received the adhesion of half the Fellows. 
 But the interference with so delightful a sinecure was 
 too much even for reforming zeal at the time. 
 
 I owe gratitude to one of our opponents who collected
 
 112 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and deposited in our college library the documents bearing 
 upon this dispute. He has prefixed to it a pious aspira- 
 tion that the evils which he foresees may not fall upon 
 the college. It may perhaps be now admitted that, in 
 some respects, our opponents saw farther than we did. 
 Undoubtedly we were striking a blow at the old autonomy 
 of the colleges. The holder of a prize Fellowship is no 
 longer connected by such close ties as of old with his 
 college. We were virtually acting upon the principle 
 that the college is not an end in itself, but merely a part 
 of a larger body, to whose needs its own interests must 
 be subordinated. The changes made by the Commis- 
 sion appointed under the Act of 1877 brought out the 
 tendency of the reform. Our statutes, instead of obtain- 
 ing the venerable antiquity of their predecessors, barely 
 reached their majority. Their provisions became obsolete 
 whilst the ink was fresh. Under the new statutes (finally 
 approved on March 16, 1881) there is no longer any 
 question of a religious test; there is no restriction to 
 professions, legal or clerical ; there is no mention of 
 celibacy in any case ; and the tenure is restricted within 
 still narrower limits. A Fellow holds for only six years 
 from the date of appointment, but Fellowships are tenable 
 during the tenure of college offices, and twenty years of 
 such tenure may be rewarded by a life Fellowship. 
 
 The effect of these changes is that part of the college 
 revenue is to be devoted to prize Fellowships, implying a 
 very transitory connection with the college ; whilst the 
 remainder goes chiefly to the support of a permanent 
 educational staff. Fawcett considered that the tenure 
 was too short, for he continued to attach great value to
 
 CAMBRIDGE 113 
 
 the prize Fellowship system. For the same reason he 
 looked with doubtful approval upon another change of 
 great importance. It was now decided that a large con- 
 tribution should be levied upon the colleges for University 
 purposes. The old system of a lax federation of seven- 
 teen independent bodies, each teaching the same subjects, 
 involved great waste of power and implied a most defective 
 organisation. Professors' lectures were mainly of the 
 ornamental kind ; college lectures, given by men anxious 
 to go off to a living, and confined to the students who 
 entered a college for any other reason than its educational 
 advantages, were almost equally ineffective. The real 
 work was done by private tutors, and the college endow- 
 ments, mainly devoted to rewarding competitors, increased 
 instead of diminishing the expense of education. To 
 remedy these evils, it has seemed desirable to most 
 reformers to re-organise the whole University system ; to 
 make each college co-operate instead of competing with 
 its neighbours ; to subordinate it to the University ; and 
 to put fresh life into the central body, which should 
 thus be not only capable of teaching more efficiently, 
 but become an institute for ' original research ' and a 
 leading organ of national education. 
 
 Fawcett looked with a certain suspicion upon these 
 proposals. His view was indicated very frankly in a 
 speech in June 1876, when the new Commission was in 
 prospect. It is true that as the speech was made after 
 dinner, on the occasion of the presentation to the college 
 of a portrait of Chief Justice Cockburn, it should not be 
 taken too seriously. He spoke, as usual, of his grati- 
 tude to the old college. ' There was,' he added, ' a 
 
 i
 
 114 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 certain school, not a great school, which, having gained 
 great advantages from the emoluments and rewards of 
 the Universities, turned round and said poor men wore 
 not to be helped ; examinations were not to be rewarded ; 
 young men were not to be encouraged ; but everything 
 was to be thrown into an undefined hodge-podge of what 
 they called " original research." ' He claimed to have 
 as much sympathy with the ostensible end as its pro- 
 fessed advocates ; but he earnestly hoped that the 
 number of Fellowships might not be diminished. He 
 proposed an amendment to this effect (June 4, 1877), 
 during the passage of the University Bill of 1877. 
 
 Fawcett was in fact a Conservative, as viewed by the 
 younger school of reformers. What he really valued in 
 the University system, as he said again and again, was 
 that it provided, however imperfectly, a ladder by which a 
 young man might climb to success by the exercise of his 
 own talents, in a fair contest, however poor or socially 
 depressed. To reform the University meant with him 
 chiefly to remove all obstructions which limited the 
 beneficial influence of this open competition to any 
 particular class. He held, too, that the new system was 
 in danger, if not of encouraging jobbery, at least of 
 favouring ' impostors.' The ' endowment of research ' 
 is a pretty phrase ; but it may cover much that was 
 condemned by the old narrow but masculine school. It 
 might mean the foundation of comfortable posts for 
 gentlemen who prefer regions of inquiry which do not 
 always atone by loftier merits for their want of immediate 
 practical utility. Instead of the old strenuous competi- 
 tion, the students would be encouraged to listen to pro-
 
 CAMBRIDGE 115 
 
 fessors spinning fine phrases and creating sham sciences 
 to justify the existence of their chairs, rather than to 
 extend the borders of genuine science. He held that 
 the obligation to take part in the actual work of educa- 
 tion would serve as a beneficial restraint upon such 
 waste of energy, and was really compatible with original 
 research. A prize openly offered and fairly won has 
 certain definite and intelligible merits. A post created 
 to enable a gentleman to air his last new philosophical 
 crotchets may contribute to the multiplication of empty 
 verbiage and sham illumination. And possibly a little 
 body of gentlemen connected by family ties may not 
 show that aversion to jobbery which Fawcett regarded 
 as the most honourable characteristic of the old order. 
 
 I will not argue the question. I only wish to show 
 the natural tendency of Fawcett's strong common sense 
 and love of the definite and tangible. I may add that 
 he did not object to the principle of raising some con- 
 tribution to the University, though he was doubtful as 
 to the special method proposed. Change became the 
 natural state of the Universities when once the old 
 system was broken up, which had seemed to be almost a 
 part of the necessary order of nature. Fawcett confined 
 himself to criticising some of the proposed measures in 
 detail. He was anxious that the contribution should 
 not be so levied as to be a first charge upon the college 
 revenues. He feared that bodies dependent in great 
 part upon landed property, and therefore likely to suffer 
 from agricultural depression, were liable to be seriously 
 crippled by such a charge. And he held that whatever 
 materially lowered their power of rewarding success in 
 
 i 2
 
 116 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 examinations would be a very heavy fine to pay for the 
 endowment of readers and professors. 
 
 I have anticipated events in order to bring together 
 Fawcett's views upon this group of questions. It will, 
 I think, appear hereafter that his attitude in regard to 
 them throws some light upon his later divergence from 
 one school of Eadicals. I now return to an earlier 
 period. 
 
 -During his first years of residence Fawcett was 
 rapidly making himself known both within and without 
 the University. He was becoming conspicuous as a 
 speaker at the British and the Social Science Associa- 
 tions, and as a candidate for a seat in Parliament. He 
 was becoming known as an expounder of economic 
 principles. Amongst our friends of those days was 
 Mr. Alexander Macmillan, already rising as a publisher, 
 though his business was still limited to Cambridge. 
 Fawcett contributed to the early numbers of the maga- 
 zine. Macmillan was often in our rooms, trying rather 
 fruitlessly to stimulate Fawcett's interest in the writings 
 of Carlyle, Maurice, and Kingsley. At Macmillan's we 
 occasionally met men of some literary eminence, whom 
 we respected with juvenile simplicity. Macmillan, I 
 believe, was the first to suggest an undertaking which 
 was of great importance in Fawcett's career. He pro- 
 posed that Fawcett should write a popular manual of 
 political economy. The result was profitable to both 
 parties ; and I will add that Macmillan always con- 
 tinued to be both friend and publisher a combination 
 happily more common than the complaints of some 
 querulous authors would suggest. Fawcett was at work
 
 CAMBEIDGE 117 
 
 upon his book in the autumn of 1861, and it appeared 
 in the beginning of 1863. It was favourably received 
 from the first ; and the reputation gained was of great 
 service. Professor Pryme had received the title of 
 Professor of Political Economy in May 1828. He was 
 now breaking in health and announced his intended 
 resignation. It was generally understood that a more 
 substantial professorship would be created when a 
 vacancy should occur. Fawcett naturally desired such 
 an appointment, and Macmillan had pointed out to 
 him the advantage of having some public proof of his 
 capacities as one reason for writing the book. Pryme 
 resigned in the summer of 1863 (he died in December 
 1868), and the professorship, with a salary of 3OO/. a 
 year, was founded by grace of the senate, October 29, 
 1863. The choice lay with the electoral roll a body con- 
 sisting chiefly of resident M.A.'s, with a few examiners 
 and others as ex-ojficio members. Ultimately, four candi- 
 dates declared themselves. Besides Fawcett, they were Mr. 
 Joseph Bickersteth Mayor, of St. John's ; Mr. Leonard 
 H. Courtney, also of St. John's, who has now made 
 a wider reputation ; and Mr. Henry Dunning Macleod, 
 of Trinity. The electoral poll was tolerably certain to 
 prefer a resident, personal friendship counting for a good 
 deal in a body too large to have a keen sense of re- 
 sponsibility. Mr. Macleod, though a learned writer upon 
 the subject, was not only a non-resident, but generally 
 regarded as an economical heretic. Courtney's abilities 
 were already generally recognised ; but he, too, was non- 
 resident, and the contest came to be between Fawcett 
 and Mayor. Mayor had lectured on political economy
 
 118 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 in his college, but had given no public proofs of his 
 capacity. Fawcett's book stood him in good stead, and 
 he produced a strong body of testimonials from Sir 
 Stafford Northcote, Robert Lowe, Thorold Rogers, pro- 
 fessor at Oxford ; R. H. Mills, professor at Cork ; J. 
 Waley, professor at University College, London; Cliffe 
 Leslie, professor at Belfast ; R. H. Hutton, G. W. Nor- 
 man, W. Newmarch, W. T. Thornton, J. S. Mill, and 
 Herman Merivale, formerly professor at Oxford. Most 
 of them refer to his book, and some to his discussions at 
 the London Political Economy Club, of which he had 
 become a member in 1861. I will not quote from a kind 
 of literature proverbially untrustworthy and abounding 
 in platitude, even in the hands of eminent men beyond all 
 suspicion of insincerity. The names, however, show that 
 Fawcett was already widely known amongst the official 
 representatives of the science. He could certainly pro- 
 duce far stronger evidence of fitness for the post than his 
 most dangerous rival. But much was to be set against 
 him. There were some real doubts as to the power of a 
 blind man to preserve order in his classes. One at least 
 of his most intimate friends withheld his support upon 
 this ground. Yet I think that no one who knows the 
 average undergraduate will doubt that he has too much 
 good feeling to take advantage of an infirmity in a man 
 at least who knows how to make himself respected. 
 Other considerations told against him. Fawcett's Radi- 
 calism had scandalised the older members of the Uni- 
 versity. He had contested Southwark, and in the pre- 
 ceding summer Cambridge itself under the very eyes 
 of the dignitaries. He was an active and pugnacious
 
 CAMBRIDGE 119 
 
 antagonist of Conservatism in and out of college. He 
 had encountered the great Whewell, too, on an economic 
 question : he read a paper at the British Association 
 meeting at Oxford in 1860, in which he assaulted 
 Whewell's preface to the works of Eichard Jones. A 
 large meeting had gathered to witness the encounter. 
 Fawcett had learnt by heart a sentence from Whewell's 
 preface. Whewell replied and repudiated the phrases 
 quoted. Fawcett slowly and accurately repeated the 
 words, which Whewell again disavowed. Then Fawcett 
 called to his secretary, E. Brown, to produce the volume 
 in which the unlucky sentence had been marked. The 
 chairman, Nassau Senior, read it out, when Fawcett's 
 quotation appeared to be perfectly correct. He thus 
 gained an apparently conclusive triumph. ' There were 
 not half a dozen people in the room,' he observed, ' who 
 would have understood if I had got the best of the argu- 
 ment as to the inductive method ; but they all heard the 
 passage repeated distinctly three times.' The common 
 impression was that Whewell had been defeated by his 
 junior. Whewell has left a traditional reputation for 
 roughness ; and yet, though his manner was at times 
 overbearing, he was thoroughly magnanimous. I can 
 testify from personal experience to his real courtesy to 
 young men who had to take a part with him in Univer- 
 sity work and were almost grotesquely his inferiors in 
 knowledge and reputation ; and on this occasion, instead 
 of owing Fawcett a grudge, he was from that time on 
 thoroughly good terms with his antagonist. Still it was 
 not to be expected that he, a good Conservative, should 
 support a young Radical with unsound views of true
 
 120 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 methods. Whewell, and the dons of highest dignity, 
 were in favour of Mayor. 
 
 Against Mayor, indeed, there was only one word to 
 be said. His character and abilities were all that could 
 be desired. But if it were right to bestow the chair upon 
 the man who had given the most unequivocal public 
 proofs of his capacity, Fawcett's claim was undeniably 
 superior. The election really turned upon other questions 
 than this, which would surely be the main question in a 
 satisfactory contest. One consideration turned out to be 
 decisive. Members of St. John's College, unless they 
 were belied, had a private decalogue, including the com- 
 mandment, Thou shalt not vote against a Johnian. 
 Fawcett had some very warm friends in St. John's, who 
 sincerely thought him the best man, but who would not 
 allow that opinion to divert them from the plain path of 
 duty. Courtney, however, was a Johnian as well as 
 Mayor; and, though his chances were known to be 
 infinitesimal, they could vote for him without inconsis- 
 tency. Such votes would be taken from Mayor, though 
 not transferred to Fawcett. Fawcett's chance thus 
 came to depend upon Courtney's continuing to stand, 
 and thus to divide the solid Johnian phalanx. The fact 
 that the election, in this and other ways, turned upon 
 considerations quite irrelevant to the merit of the candi- 
 dates may be some excuse for one manoeuvre of Fawcett's, 
 to which, I think, he would not have condescended at a 
 later time. Fawcett managed to secure the nomination 
 to an examinership, and therefore to a place on the 
 electoral roll, of one gentleman at least upon whose vote 
 he had reasons not generally obvious for counting.
 
 CAMBRIDGE 121 
 
 He was, I must add, a thoroughly competent examiner. 
 The result was that all the examiners in one department 
 voted for Fawcett, and Fawcett was rather wickedly 
 amused, when a friend remarked upon this coincidence 
 without suspecting it to be other than purely accidental. 
 The anecdote, perhaps, shows more of his characteristic 
 shrewdness than of the scrupulous fairness to antagonists 
 for which his later conduct was always conspicuous. 
 He had, however, a sufficient majority without such a 
 device, which, at the outside, only secured one or two 
 votes. Courtney fortunately held that he was pledged to 
 his supporters to go to the poll, and they held him to the 
 pledge. His action, though serviceable to Fawcett, was 
 therefore not decided by a personal friendship, which 
 afterwards became very intimate. 
 
 The great day came on, and Clarke, who delighted in 
 such affairs, acted as Fawcett' s amateur agent, calculated 
 the votes, and directed Fawcett's supporters when to poll. 
 The result is given in a letter from Fawcett, dated 
 Trinity Hall, November 28, 1863 : 
 
 'My dear Mother, I hope you duly received the 
 telegram. The victory yesterday was a wonderful 
 triumph. I don't think an election has produced so 
 much excitement at Cambridge for years. At last excite- 
 ment was greatly increased by its being made quite a 
 Church and political question. All the masters opposed 
 me, with two exceptions, but I was strongly supported by 
 a great majority of the most distinguished resident 
 Fellows. My victory was a great surprise to the Uni- 
 versity. I thought on the whole that I should win, but
 
 122 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 I expected a much smaller majority. Clarke, however, 
 was very confident. He managed the election splendidly 
 for me, and curiously enough predicted that I should poll 
 exactly ninety votes, and made a bet with Stephen that 
 I should beat Mayor by ten or twelve. We are going to 
 publish a list of the votes, which I shall send to you. 
 My great strength after all was in Trinity. This says 
 much for the independence of the college, as the Master 
 was one of my strongest opponents. At the end of the 
 first hour I was five behind. I might then have easily 
 had a majority, but we kept many of our safe voters in 
 reserve, as we thought if we got ahead of Mayor it would 
 make his party more active. Directly the polling com- 
 menced in the second hour, we put on a majority of ten, 
 and kept steadily ahead until the close. 
 
 ' All my friends in the town regard it as a great 
 political triumph. The Fosters [who had supported him 
 in the election for Cambridge] were in a wonderful state 
 of delight, and I have been quite overwhelmed with 
 congratulations. I must now conclude, as I have many 
 more letters to write. Give my kindest love to Maria, 
 and believe me to be, dear Mother, ever yours affec- 
 tionately, ' HENRY FAWCETT.' 
 
 The actual numbers were Fawcett, 90 ; Mayor, 80 ; 
 Courtney, 19 ; Macleod, 14. 
 
 The election was of great value to Fawcett. It was 
 a proof that he not only was respected by the University, 
 but trusted to discharge duties rendered difficult by his 
 blindness. It also secured him a certain income. With 
 the Fellowship at that time worth about 2 sol- or 300^.
 
 CAMBRIDGE 123 
 
 a year and his professorship, he had an income suffi- 
 cient for a bachelor. He continued to deliver his annual 
 course of lectures for the rest of his life. His pro- 
 fessorship bound him to a residence of eighteen weeks 
 annually, an obligation which to him was a pleasure. 
 
 Since Fawcett's election the view taken of a pro- 
 fessor's duties has materially changed. At an earlier 
 period, professors' lectures were considered to be mainly 
 ornamental. Few students attended, and they scarcely 
 formed a part of the real educational system. When it 
 was thought desirable to introduce more vigour into this 
 part of the University, the lecture-rooms were filled by 
 compelling the ' poll ' men to attend a certain number of 
 lectures, though it was felt that it would be cruel to 
 waste the time of candidates for honours by such 
 exactions. Whilst this regulation remained in force, 
 Fawcett had a large share of the compulsory attendance. 
 In 1876 the regulation was repealed. After that time 
 his lectures were, for a short period, nearly deserted ; but 
 in his later years he had again a respectable audience. 
 
 Fawcett was, I believe, the only professor who 
 objected to the withdrawal of compulsion. In a letter 
 to the Vice-Chancellor, dated January 1876, he gives his 
 reasons. He had been convinced by experience that his 
 hearers profited more than he had anticipated. Exami- 
 nations showed that they had really acquired useful 
 knowledge. He did not feel the objection, upon which 
 his colleagues chiefly insisted, that they had to lecture 
 above the capacities of their compulsory audiences, or 
 to lower the standard of their lectures. He should not, 
 he said, alter in any case the character of his own
 
 124 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 lectures. This opinion is characteristic of the view 
 taken by Fawcett of his subject, upon which I shall 
 have more to say. It illustrates, also, the merits and 
 the shortcomings of his lectures. 
 
 According to him, in fact, the leading principles of 
 political economy, and those which were really valuable, 
 were few, simple, and therefore capable of an exposition 
 on the level of average intelligence. Eefined and subtle 
 reasonings were not required to set forth the great truths 
 which had really been established, and which alone pos- 
 sessed much importance or bore directly upon the really 
 interesting questions. His exposition of these was alwa} T s 
 forcible and lucid, and did, in fact, stimulate many of his 
 hearers. Nor, it may be added, did Fawcett confine him- 
 self to setting forth the A B C of the science, or, like 
 many of his predecessors, confine himself to a repetition 
 of his previous courses. The substance of several 
 courses has been published, and shows the keenness with 
 which he followed the illustration of his principles by 
 the great events of contemporary history. His lectures 
 upon pauperism and free trade are those of a man who 
 values his science, not as a field for logical subtlety, but 
 for the light which it throws upon great political topic* 
 of pressing interest. The freshness of this method was 
 well calculated to stimulate the interest of his hearers, 
 and is enough to show that he never fell into the 
 academical indolence which is content with the mere 
 dry bones of established formulae. 
 
 Fawcett's main energies were of course directed to 
 politics. He could not therefore fulfil the ideal of those 
 who think that a professor should have no duties beyond
 
 CAMBRIDGE 125 
 
 those of his chair, and devote all his energy either to 
 teaching or to extending his science. Fawcett did, how- 
 ever, as much as was required, and more than had been 
 customary. Few professors' lectures at Cambridge had 
 been of equal value as real contributions to the study of 
 their respective topics. And it may be asked whether it is 
 not a greater advantage on the whole to secure a part of the 
 energy of an eminent man who always keeps his studies 
 fresh by application to outside interests, than to secure 
 the whole energy of a purely academical student. 
 
 I am also bound to say that exception was taken by 
 some of the younger men to one aspect of Fawcett's 
 teaching. They held, rightly or wrongly, that political 
 economy needed to be re-written, that Eicardo and Mill 
 were obsolete, and that a professor should have had his 
 eyes more open to recent speculations in Germany and 
 elsewhere. I am certainly not prepared to say that this 
 criticism was groundless. My own opinion is that it 
 represents the failing natural to an intellect wanting in 
 versatility and less open to new ideas than powerful in its 
 grasp of the old. But this is a question of theory upon 
 which I cannot now enter. It is enough to say that, accept- 
 ing Fawcett's own point of view, he discharged his duties 
 vigorously and did his best to keep his hearers alive to the 
 vast importance of the principles in which he believed by 
 applying them to the great problems of the day. 
 
 Fawcett's professorship attached him permanently 
 to Cambridge. In the autumn of 1866 an event oc- 
 curred which was of the greatest importance to his future 
 life. He was engaged to Miss Millicent Garrett. 
 
 The prospect of marriage made a considerable differ-
 
 126 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ence in his academical status. He had remained under 
 the old college statutes ; for, at the time, to have placed 
 himself under the new regulations would have been to 
 sentence himself to lose in 1869 his only independent 
 means of support. His Fellowship, however, would be 
 vacated by marriage. But his professorship, which on tin; 
 old system made no difference in the tenure of his 
 Fellowship, would, under the new regulations, enable him 
 to hold it even after marriage, so long as he continued 
 to be professor. At Christmas 1866 he therefore re- 
 signed his Fellowship and offered himself for re-election 
 under the new statutes. The re-election made to him 
 the difference of retaining half his independent income. 
 I cannot resist the pleasure of quoting from a letter in 
 which he announces his success. It was, he says, ' most 
 fortunate that I decided to resign at the present time, 
 for if Stephen had given up his Fellowship [as I was about 
 to do soon afterwards] I should have had no chance of 
 being re-elected. There were only two or three votes to 
 spare, and two or three would probably not have voted 
 for me if they had not been influenced by Stephen's 
 strong will and earnest determination.' I would gladly 
 take all the credit I can for this, which was my last 
 action as a Fellow of the college. But I am bound to 
 add, first, that whatever I did was only returning a very 
 similar service which Fawcett had rendered to me a 
 couple of years before ; and, secondly, that my difficulty, 
 so far as I can remember, was not to prove that the 
 re-election was desirable, for we were nearly unanimous 
 upon that point, but that it was legally within our 
 powers. In fact, our beautiful new statutes were a
 
 CAMBRIDGE 127 
 
 constant source of difficulty. They declared that the 
 lay Fellowships were designed for persons intending to 
 pursue the legal profession. Fawcett certainly had no 
 such intention, and some of us had prejudices, which 
 I will hope that I helped to soften, against making a 
 breach in our bran-new constitution. 
 
 Fawcett was married on April 23, 1867. I write 
 under conditions which compel a certain reserve. I 
 must confine myself therefore to saying that Mrs. Faw- 
 cett was the daughter of Mr. Newson Garrett, of Aide- 
 burgh, Suffolk, and that she was fully qualified to take an 
 interest in all Fawcett's intellectual pursuits, and shared 
 his main political principles. They published together a 
 volume of lectures and essays, which is sufficient to show 
 that in political and social questions their alliance implied 
 the agreement of independent minds, not the relation of 
 teacher and disciple. In the prefaces to his books, 
 Fawcett invariably acknowledges with due gratitude the 
 assistance which he had received from his wife's revision 
 and suggestions. He took an equally keen interest in 
 her independent writings. When Mrs. Fawcett was 
 invited to address a meeting at Brighton upon women's 
 suffrage, some of his constituents protested that it would 
 cause a prejudice against himself. Fawcett emphatically 
 refused to listen ; and he was always ready to support 
 her efforts in a cause in which she naturally took the 
 leading part. Those who have the best means of judging 
 are convinced that his marriage was a main source of 
 the happiness and success of his later career. I will 
 only add that on one occasion Fawcett gave a public 
 expression to his feelings during the election contest at
 
 128 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Brighton in February 1874. Mrs. Fawcett was starting 
 for a ride with her husband, when her horse fell with 
 her, and she was thrown with great force and rendered 
 unconscious. Eye-witnesses have told me of his terrible 
 agony, and of the pathetic weeping of the strong man. 
 It was hard to persuade him that he was not being 
 deceived, and that the unconsciousness was not a name 
 for death. Fawcett was unable to attend political meet- 
 ings that night, but on the next day, February 4, he 
 met a large gathering in the Dome, and there made 
 one touching reference to his anxiety. He thanked the 
 constituency which was about to reject him for its 
 previous generosity, and added that if he had overcome 
 obstacles, it was because of the assistance given by others, 
 and because he had had ' a helpmate whose political 
 judgment was much less frequently at fault than his 
 own.' Many later circumstances prove that this was no 
 mere phrase, but an expression of his genuine feeling. 
 
 Upon his marriage, Fawcett took a house at 42 
 Bessborough Gardens, and in 1874 one at 51 The 
 Lawn, Lambeth, which he occupied during the parlia- 
 mentary sessions until his death. The last house, with 
 which his friends especially associate his memory, is 
 in a region not very attractive at first sight. It is 
 within hearing of the ceaseless roar of trains at Vauxhall 
 Station, in the smoky and grimy neighbourhood which 
 welcomes the astonished stranger on entering London 
 by the South-Western Eailway. But it had the great 
 recommendation that it was within an easy walk, chiefly 
 along the Embankment, of Westminster Bridge and the 
 Houses of Parliament. The inferiority of the district
 
 CAMBRIDGE 129 
 
 in a social sense implied cheapness, and therefore enabled 
 him to have a strip of garden, about three-quarters of an 
 acre in extent, in which he could at any moment enjoy a 
 stroll. It included a couple of small greenhouses, in 
 which he could raise flowers, and it was his special pride 
 to send presents of asparagus and sea-kale to his parents 
 to show the superiority of the London climate for the 
 growth of vegetables. The house itself was small, but 
 a very pretty old-fashioned residence, suitably adorned 
 by the taste of his wife. In this he always took a lively 
 pleasure. He preserved a letter from his friend, Munro, 
 apparently on account of a reference to their house at 
 Cambridge. 'Again and again,' says this gentleman, 
 ' I have been on the way to call on you and Mrs. Fawcett 
 and see your new house, the beauty and taste of the 
 decorations of which throw, I am told, my own poor 
 rooms entirely in the shade.' The said 'poor rooms,' it 
 should be added, were amongst the sights of the most 
 distinguished college at Cambridge. 
 
 During his periods of residence he lived in furnished 
 houses in various parts of Cambridge, until in 1874 he took 
 a lease of 1 8 Brookside. He was always glad to run down 
 during intervals of his parliamentary work, and occasion- 
 ally occupied rooms in his old college. At Cambridge he 
 made a special point of keeping up sociable relations 
 with old friends and cultivating the younger men who 
 were graduating and taking their place as Fellows. 
 Fawcett was not only sociable but a really serviceable 
 friend. No one was a better adviser on all matters 
 within his scope. He was at once cordially sympathetic 
 and scrupulously careful not to encourage false hopes
 
 130 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 or give way to personal partialities. In the old college 
 meetings I can remember more than one occasion on 
 which his strong sense of justice came into effective 
 play. No one was more righteously indignant than he 
 when he fancied (erroneously or otherwise) that some 
 attempt was being made to dispose of just claims by a 
 side-wind. He hated all injustice, and injustice com- 
 plicated by a want of straightforwardness was the fault 
 most opposed to his whole nature. I do not say that 
 there was any risk of such errors being committed even 
 in Fawcett's absence ; but, so long as he was present, 
 there was small chance indeed of their escaping notice 
 or succeeding in spite of it. 
 
 He thus acquired a very strong popularity amongst 
 the younger men of his old college, as well as in the 
 University generally. A strong proof of this was 
 given on the death of the Master, T. C. Geldart, on 
 September 17, 1877. The Mastership is not one of 
 great value. The salary is that of two Fellowships, and 
 it gives also a right to occupy the lodge. It would, 
 however, have this advantage that, as the duties are 
 scarcely more than nominal, Fawcett would be able to 
 hold it permanently even if he should abandon his 
 professorship. Residence is not obligatory, though half 
 the salary depends upon residence for a certain period. 
 Fawcett's popularity amongst the junior Fellows seemed 
 to give him a good prospect of success. Whatever the 
 fairness of elections to Fellowships, the same character 
 hardly attaches to elections for Masterships. They have 
 generally been considered as sinecures, in the appoint- 
 ment to which personal friendships and private interests
 
 CAMBKIDGE 131 
 
 may have their share ; and many legends are current 
 in Cambridge combination rooms of the peculiar prac- 
 tices which have sometimes been brought to bear. On 
 the present occasion no vote was determined by private 
 interest ; but a very warm dispute arose and some tem- 
 porary bitterness of feeling. The first meeting for elec- 
 tion was held on October 6, when the votes of the twelve 
 electors present were equally divided between Fawcett 
 and Mr. Latham. Fawcett's wide reputation beyond 
 the University might be alleged in his favour. On the 
 other hand, Mr. Latham completed at Christmas, 1877, 
 his thirtieth year of service as a college tutor. During 
 his tenure of office, and mainly owing to his manage- 
 ment, the college had risen from almost the lowest place 
 to the very front rank amongst the smaller colleges. In 
 the college, and still more in the University, there was a 
 strong feeling that such services deserved the reward of 
 the Mastership. On the other hand, there was a college 
 tradition in favour of electing a layman. Trinity Hall 
 had been, until recent changes, almost the only college at 
 which a layman could be a Master. It had come to be a 
 kind of principle to elect a lawyer who should maintain 
 the legal character of the college, and at any rate not to 
 bestow the office upon one of the class which had a mono- 
 poly elsewhere. Against this, it was again said that the 
 election of Fawcett a known Eadical and a strong op- 
 ponent of all ecclesiastical restrictions would tend to 
 throw the college into a Nonconformist connection ; and 
 to some prejudices this was a formidable consideration. 
 
 I need not go into the details of a contest carried on 
 so recently. The election was adjourned to the 22nd of 
 
 K 2
 
 132 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 December, then again to the 24th, and afterwards to 
 the 2/th. The deadlock had so far continued. If no 
 election could be made the appointment would lapse 
 to the Chancellor. Meanwhile many and complicated 
 diplomatic processes had been going on to secure a solu- 
 tion by combining the votes on a third candidate. It 
 was announced at the Christmas meetings that either Sir 
 Alexander Cockburn or Sir Henry Sumner Maine would 
 be willing to accept the post. Cockburn was a contempo- 
 rary of Lord Lytton at Trinity Hall ; he had been Fellow 
 and afterwards Honorary Fellow, and was a candidate 
 for the Mastership on the last election in 1852. Sir 
 Henry Maine, though a Pembroke man, had been for 
 a short time tutor of Trinity Hall and held college 
 rooms as Professor of Civil Law. A small college has 
 rarely had before it such a list of distinguished candi- 
 dates. At the meeting of December 24, Fawcett pro- 
 posed certain resolutions, savouring a little of the 
 complexity attributed to Hare's scheme, for gathering 
 the opinions of the Fellows on various hypotheses as to 
 the withdrawal of Mr. Latham and himself. No agree- 
 ment could be reached, and some of the Fellows preferred 
 a lapse of the appointment to the Chancellor. At last, 
 however, the deadlock was broken up by Mr. Latham, 
 who proposed the retirement of Fawcett and himself and 
 the unanimous election of Sir Henry Maine. 
 
 The college undoubtedly secured a most distinguished 
 Master, eminently fitted to carry on the legal tradition ; 
 and I believe that both the rival candidates came to be 
 satisfied with the result. This, like every other contest 
 in which Fawcett engaged, left no personal bitterness.
 
 CAMBRIDGE 133 
 
 The principal combatants, so far from being alienated, 
 were afterwards upon more cordial terms than before. 
 I have, however, to say that Fawcett came to regret his 
 own part in the contest. He had become eager, and did 
 his best to win ; but on cooler reflection he thought that 
 a purely academical honour of this kind would mean 
 more to Mr. Latham than to himself, and be a fitting 
 close to a singularly successful career in a college office. 
 The discussion of the new statutes which followed in 
 the next year has been already noticed. I may, there- 
 fore, here close my account of Fawcett's academical 
 career. Radical as he was called, and as in many ways 
 he rightly claimed to be, no staunch old Conservative 
 or High-Churchman, from the days of Bishop Bateman 
 downwards, was ever a more loyal member of the old 
 foundation. His action may have tended materially to 
 alter and, as Conservatives may hold, to lower its posi- 
 tion. But Fawcett's intention was to develop and 
 strengthen both the college and the University, and 
 only to widen their influence upon every class of his 
 countrymen. In Cambridge, his reluctance to make 
 rash changes hi the system which he valued so highly 
 caused him to be reckoned as so Conservative that, as I 
 have been told, it was even contemplated to nominate him 
 as a Conservative candidate for the council. At any rate, 
 no man could be a stauncher admirer of the high quali- 
 ties, the fair play, and the manly industry which he speci- 
 ally loved in his favourite place. And Cambridge men soon 
 came to return his affection, and consider him not only 
 as one of the familiar figures of the place, but as one who 
 had an almost unique hold upon their regard and esteem.
 
 134 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 BEFORE following Fawcett into active life, it will be con- 
 venient to speak of his contributions to economic litera- 
 ture. It may be said at once that he did not claim a 
 place beside the founders of the science. He confined 
 himself chiefly to expounding or applying principles 
 already enunciated by his predecessors. No new theory is 
 specially identified with his name. In his first book, the 
 ' Manual of Political Economy,' he frankly avows his 
 dependence upon Mill. Mill's great treatise, he thinks, 
 ' will be remembered amongst the most enduring literary 
 productions of the nineteenth century.' He would not 
 have published the ' Manual ' had he thought that readers 
 could regard it as a substitute for his teacher's work, 
 rather than as an introduction. Some parts of the 
 ' Manual,' indeed, .especially in the first edition, are al- 
 most a summary of the corresponding passages in Mill. 
 Fawcett was never a passive recipient of Mill's teaching, 
 for he always tested and frequently departed from its 
 conclusions ; but he was so much a follower of Mill and 
 of the ' orthodox ' economists, that to criticise him would 
 be to criticise the whole school. It is only in considering
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 135 
 
 the first teachers of a doctrine that such a discussion 
 would be desirable or permissible. 
 
 Nor can it be said that Fawcett's work has any 
 special claims to consideration on the ground of literary 
 elegance. He never attempts rhetoric or epigram, or ad- 
 duces such felicitous illustrations from remote depart- 
 ments of speculation as enliven the pages of some 
 economists. His style is a good plain homespun, 
 thoroughly congenial to the substantial merits of his 
 work. For the ' Manual ' has striking merits as an 
 exposition of the orthodox creed. It shows in every 
 page the downright masculine thinker, thoroughly con- 
 vinced of the truth and importance of the doctrines set 
 forth. He is less anxious to be elegant than to be clear 
 and solid, and he wins the respect of his readers even 
 where he does not produce full conviction. He has the 
 merit much rarer in such a case of remarkable fresh- 
 ness. He writes as from personal experience. The 
 true secret of his success is given in the incidental 
 remark, that we can only become familiar with economi- 
 cal principles by applying them to the problems ' sug- 
 gested by the facts of everyday life.' It is to his constant 
 observance of this precept in his own case that the book 
 owes its highest merit. The doctrines are no mere play- 
 things for the schools. They will stand the test of real 
 work, for they are selected by a real worker, and ex- 
 pressed in the forms which he has found helpful in his 
 own labours. Fawcett prepared himself in the first 
 instance, not only by studying Mill, but by obtaining 
 information from official sources and from men of 
 practical experience, such as the founders of the ' Roch-
 
 136 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 dale pioneers,' with whom he had much correspondence 
 in the years 1859-60. He carefully revised every later 
 edition of the book, re- writing many chapters with a vi< \v 
 to the latest discussion on the subject. His books on ' The 
 Economic Position of the British Labourer,' on ' Pauper- 
 ism,' and on ' Free Trade and Protection ' may be put in 
 the same class. Some of Fawcett's writings (a list of 
 which will be found in the Appendix) will be more properly 
 noticed in the story of his active life. Those of which I 
 now speak are of less special application ; but they lay 
 down so clearly the principles by which his public con- 
 duct was invariably guided, that some account of them 
 will form the best introduction to an account of his 
 political career. 
 
 Fawcett was an economist almost from his infancy. 
 His shrewd mathematical understanding and remarkable 
 command of figures made him a born statistician. He took 
 positive pleasure in dealing with a budget or a balance- 
 sheet. He was therefore attracted rather than repelled 
 even by the driest parts of his subject. The Preface to 
 the ' Manual ' expresses his confidence that an acquaint- 
 ance with the first principles of political economy will 
 produce such a perception of its ' attractiveness and 
 importance ' that the study once begun will not be re- 
 linquished. He once asked me, purely in the tone of a 
 man applying for information, why Carlyle called political 
 economy the ' dismal science ' ? Few of Carlyle's oracular 
 sayings require less interpretation for the average reader. 
 
 The antagonism between the disciples of Mill and 
 the disciples of Cartyle upon this topic is indeed signi- 
 ficant. Mr. Euskin once challenged Fawcett to a dis-
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 137 
 
 cussion upon the first principles of political economy. 
 Fawcett sensibly declined a discussion which would at 
 most have been an amusing illustration of argument at 
 cross purposes, with an utter absence of any common 
 ground. I should conjecture that, in any case, part of 
 Mr. Buskin's assault would have been represented by the 
 statement that political economy is radically opposed to 
 Christianity. Political economists, as Mr. Froude puts 
 it in his ' Life of Carlyle,' hold that the proper end of 
 man is money-making, whereas Christians profess to 
 hold that the love of money is the root of all evil. The 
 antithesis is therefore complete. 
 
 Fawcett's answer to assaults of this kind was simple. 
 Political economy, in the first place, is a science, not a 
 code of morality. It deals with ' laws ' in the scientific, 
 not in the moral sense. It tell us what actually happens, 
 not what ought to happen. It does not pronounce the 
 ' proper end of man ' to be money-making, or to be any- 
 thing else. It confines itself to showing what are, in 
 point of fact, the conditions and the consequences of 
 money-making and money-spending. The economist, as 
 such, no more assumes that the summum bonwn of man 
 is to make money than the physiologist assumes that the 
 summum bonum is to digest. A newspaper article which 
 Fawcett was fond of quoting described Malthus as a 
 morose and coldhearted old man, whose principles were 
 now happily exploded. Both' statements are curiously 
 wide of the mark ; but, in any case, the warmth or cold- 
 ness of Malthus's heart has no more to do with the validity 
 of his principles than the moral qualities of Newton with 
 the validity of the law of gravitation. Malthus's ' law '
 
 138 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 is a statement of general fact : it is true or false, but 
 is no more right or wrong in the ethical sense than the 
 statement that the planets describe their orbits under 
 the influence of gravitation. 
 
 Our scientific theory and our ethical system are, 
 indeed, closely connected. A strong conviction as to the 
 facts implies almost necessarily certain moral preposses- 
 sions. St. Simeon Stylites, one may conjecture, would 
 have cared little for theories of supply and demand. 
 The more ascetic the religious principle the greater will 
 be the indifference to all theories of money-making; 
 and, conversely, interest in such theories generally im- 
 plies a belief in the innocence of the pursuit. If we are 
 convinced that the love of money is the root of all evil, we 
 shall be the less disposed to investigate calmly the work- 
 ings of the evil principle. Before admitting, however, 
 that Christians are bound to condemn professors of eco- 
 nomic science, we must venture to ask, What is really 
 the Christian view ? Is all love of money bad ? So far 
 as love of money means greed and selfishness it means 
 qualities condemned by all moralists. But love of money 
 or desire for wealth includes, hi the language of econo- 
 mists, the hatred of starvation. Nine men out of ten 
 desire wealth chiefly in the sense of wishing to supply 
 the most pressing material wants of themselves and 
 their wives and children. It is with this desire that 
 economists are mainly concerned. Does Christianity con- 
 demn such a desire as radically evil ? If so, Christians 
 will doubtless condemn most teachers of political eco- 
 nomy. If, however, Christianity admits that such a de- 
 sire is innocent or even praiseworthy, Christians may
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 139 
 
 sanction the morality generally taught by economists. 
 Whether consistently or inconsistently, most Christians 
 of the present day disavow the extreme asceticism of 
 some earlier teachers. The rhetoricians who denounce 
 political economists take advantage of the equivocation. 
 Political economists, they declare, are un-Christian. 
 That is true, but not damnatory, if all who object to the 
 grinding poverty of the masses are un-Christian. It is 
 damnatory, but not true, if those alone are un-Christian 
 who refuse to condemn selfishness, luxury, and avarice. 
 Political economists are proved to be ' un-Christian ' in 
 the first sense, and reviled for being ' un-Christian ' in the 
 second sense. 
 
 I think, indeed, that Carlyle was justified in some 
 applications of his scorn. Some of the older economists 
 may be plausibly, and I think truly, accused of having 
 looked too exclusively and complacently upon the growth 
 of national wealth without considering its diffusion. 
 They took for granted too easily that when some grew 
 rich all would be made happier. They were inclined to 
 the practical fatalism which regarded the helpless poverty 
 of the millions as the normal and inevitable condition of 
 things. They were often blind to many vital conditions 
 of national welfare which lay outside their own special 
 sphere. But, however true this might be of some 
 reasoners (and it would be necessary to make great de- 
 ductions from this admission if I were writing a history 
 of the study), it was more nearly the reverse of the truth 
 when applied to men like Mill and Fawcett. They will 
 not receive the barest justice unless we fully recognise 
 the fact that their interest in political economy was
 
 140 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 rooted in an ardent desire for the elevation of the masses. 
 That is no mere phrase, but an expression of their 
 strongest convictions. Fawcett's great principle (which, 
 of course, he shared with Mill) was one which would 
 only be disputed in general terms by an Egyptian an- 
 chorite or an Indian faquir. Live in camel's-hair raiment, 
 and you may fairly denounce the rich and regard poverty 
 as a blessing. Fawcett, who preferred broadcloth, held 
 that the master evil of the day was the crushing poverty 
 of great masses of the population. To make men better, 
 you must make them richer that is, less abjectly poor, 
 less stunted and shackled by the ceaseless pressure of 
 hard, material necessities. Eeligious, moral, and intel- 
 lectual reforms are urgently needed, but they cannot 
 become fruitful unless the soil be prepared. Apply all 
 your elevating influences, but also drive the wolf from 
 the door or they will never have fair play. Men ought 
 to desire more, or rather ought to have further-reaching 
 desires. They should be more prudent and thoughtful 
 oftener at the savings' bank and less often at the public- 
 house. That was the pith of Fawcett's teaching as an 
 economist, and few who call themselves Christians will 
 admit that it is condemned by Christianity. Fawcett 
 often referred to a little anecdote which gives the key to 
 his real sentiment. A common friend remembers how 
 strongly Mill was affected when Fawcett related the inci- 
 dent in conversation. Fawcett went to see a Wiltshire 
 labourer a man of more than average ability and found 
 him going to bed at the dusk of a whiter day. The man 
 gave as his reason that he could not afford to buy candles, 
 and that, even if he could, he had not learnt to read.
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 141 
 
 Why should he spend money uselessly or sit up in the 
 dark? And how, asked Fawcett, could such a man's 
 spirit be raised or his interests widened, whilst he had to 
 keep a wife and family on gs. a week ? That was Cob- 
 bett's old question, not answered, as it now turned out, 
 by the disfranchisement of Old Sarum. Mr. George has 
 recently excited the public mind by asking it in order to 
 suggest a very different remedy. Fawcett had put the 
 same question with equal lucidity. After giving the 
 familiar statistics about the growth of national wealth, 
 he asks ' again and again, Why has this increase of 
 wealth done so little for the poorest? 'Let us en- 
 deavour,' he says, ' to understand the true causes of 
 poverty.' That is the vital problem. His answer differs 
 from that of his opponents, for he applies a different 
 method. It is the method of a man of science, not that 
 of an inspired reformer. He wishes, like Spinoza, ' neither 
 to mock, to bewail, nor to denounce men's actions, but to 
 understand them.' Most people prefer the denouncing 
 and bewailing, and consistently object to those who 
 think it essential to begin by constructing as coolly and 
 completely as they can a tenable theory of the true 
 causes of poverty, or (which is the same thing) of the 
 true causes of wealth. Shrieking is easier and more 
 popular. Fawcett preferred, with such helps as lay at 
 hand, to study the question first and propose remedies 
 afterwards ; but he was as anxious as any philanthropist 
 that sound remedies should be discovered and applied. 
 
 The different, and far more difficult, question remains : 
 how far the method adopted by Mill and Fawcett was 
 1 E.g., Manual (ist ed.), p. 154.
 
 142 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Bound, or the conclusions to which it led them valid ? 
 Mill, and his most original disciple, Cairnes, held that 
 a science of political economy had been definitely con- 
 stituted. The foundations were securely laid, and we 
 might proceed to erect a superstructure. They were 
 apt to regard opponents as illustrating Hobbes's famous 
 aphorism : ' If reason be against a man, a man will be 
 against reason.' Some people would argue against 
 Euclid as readily as against Malthus, if they had an 
 interest in maintaining that two sides of a triangle were 
 less than the third. On the other hand, recent doubts 
 as to the finality and completeness of the science have 
 led to depreciation of its value, even within its own 
 sphere. If political economy be not a science, is it 
 not a mere bundle of prejudices ? Our guides are not 
 infallible. Should we follow them, even upon their own 
 ground ? Such doubts, rightly or wrongly, have clearly 
 tended to discredit the old doctrines in public opinion, 
 and even its professors have abated something of the old 
 authoritative tone. The great cause of misunderstanding 
 lies in the very nature of the method adopted. Political 
 economy, as all its teachers admit in one sense or 
 other, begins by making an abstraction. It deals in 
 the facts, only so far as they come within a certain 
 category. Every social phenomenon, even if it has an 
 economic aspect, has other aspects which must be re- 
 membered when we pass to concrete applications. The 
 abstraction, as a logical artifice, is not merely convenient, 
 but necessary, in the discussion of all complex industrial 
 phenomena. It may, however, lead, if its true nature 
 be not recognised, to important errors in practice to a
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 143 
 
 one-sided dealing with the most vital problems, and an at- 
 tempt to settle great social questions upon grounds which 
 leave out of sight the most essential considerations. 
 Ample illustrations of such fallacious processes might 
 be drawn from the writings of distinguished economists. 
 On the other hand, the weakness of the more impulsive 
 and imaginative minds is that they instinctively resent 
 all analysis. They think that to take one question at a 
 time is to ignore all other questions. Not content with 
 pointing out the danger of a misunderstanding, they 
 denounce the method itself. They decline to reason 
 upon the only terms on which any approach to scientific 
 reasoning is possible. Instead of saying, as may be truly 
 said, that the most vital laws of social growth cannot be 
 deduced from economical formulae about supply and 
 demand, they refuse to pay any attention to arguments 
 in which the application of such formula is essential, 
 within a certain sphere, to all sound reasoning. 
 
 Political economy, as the word is generally under- 
 stood, includes many inquiries corresponding to the 
 various elements of the problem which come successively 
 into view. The narrowest and driest part of the subject 
 corresponds to the old theory, according to which, politi- 
 cal economy was simply a kind of national book-keeping. 
 From this point of view the economist was mainly occu- 
 pied with the old problems about the balance of trade, 
 the ebb and flow of the currency, and the effects upon 
 prices of variations of supply and demand in different 
 branches of trade. Such problems are analogous to 
 questions about the equilibrium of the forces in a piece 
 of mechanism, and may be discussed without taking into
 
 144 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 account principles other than such as may be called 
 mechanical. It may freely be granted that these dis- 
 cussions form a tolerably ' dismal science.' Arguments 
 as to the Bank Charter Act or the advantages of ' Bi- 
 metallism ' are amongst the dreariest to which the human 
 intellect can apply itself. They are the chosen ground 
 upon which the most consummate bore delights to dis- 
 port himself. It would, however, be silly to deny the ad- 
 vantage of forming sound opinion upon questions of this 
 class. If dry, they are not barren. It is not amusing to 
 inquire into the principles involved in a sound currency; 
 but the possession of a sound currency system is of vast 
 importance to the welfare of a nation. 
 
 For questions of this order, Fawcett had a genuine ap- 
 titude. He possessed the logical faculties which enabled 
 him to argue them forcibly, and the exercise of the 
 faculties was a source of genuine pleasure. Some of his 
 earliest essays deal with the effects of the great discoveries 
 of gold. He lectured at Warminster on March 7, 1858, 
 on the rather ambitious topic of ' Spain and England.' 
 The lecture is mainly an attempt to compare the effects 
 of the gold discoveries of the Spaniards in America with 
 the effects of the later gold discoveries in California and 
 Australia. The drain of precious metals to the East is 
 noticed in this lecture, and occupied him at intervals 
 during many years. An early paper upon this subject 
 at the British Association meeting at Aberdeen in 1859 
 attracted the notice of Cairnes, Jevons, and other econo- 
 mists; and, in later years, his interest in the subject 
 qualified him for speaking weightily upon one of the 
 most perplexing difficulties of Indian finance. In the
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 145 
 
 first edition of the ' Manual ' he shows his command of 
 similar questions in an independent criticism of Mill's 
 opinions upon the currency. His thorough command 
 of intricate considerations involved, puts the remarkable 
 independence and soundness of his judgment in the 
 clearest light. 
 
 If a mastery of currency questions takes us but a 
 short step towards the solution of deeper social problems, 
 it is not the less true that it is a step of importance. 
 Till we have made it, our footing is unsafe. For the sociat 
 quack finds one of his favourite lurking places amidst the 
 intricacies and perplexities of these regions. There he 
 can find plausible cover for the various nostrums which 
 are to remedy all social evils by some ingenious sophisti- 
 cation. Sound book-keeping will not, by itself, make a 
 prosperous merchant, nor supply the place of industry 
 and honesty. But it is not less important that a mer- 
 chant should keep his books accurately, if he would avoid 
 the most ruinous illusions. Political economy, considered 
 merely as national book-keeping, has a similar value. 
 Figures, we know, can be made to prove anything. 
 Although dexterous book-keeping cannot alter facts, it 
 may mystify the ignorant. Mystification on a large scale 
 is the great weapon of economical sophists. They have 
 . been able to disguise bankruptcy and the plunder of 
 creditors under plausible names, and to prove that a 
 nation can be made rich or poor by processes which 
 amount to skilful manipulation of balance-sheets. To 
 unravel their labyrinthine sophistries is an excellent 
 application of a clear intellect. 
 
 Thus, for example, many of the arguments still 
 
 L
 
 146 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 current in regard to the question of free trade and pro- 
 tection are simply a rehabilitation of old sophistries of 
 this class. The ancient fallacy of the balance of trade 
 constantly reappears, and may be exposed without going 
 beyond a sound theory of supply and demand. To these 
 questions Fawcett had paid special attention. He gave 
 a course of lectures in the October Term, 1877, which 
 were published as ' Free Trade and Protection 'in 1878, 
 and have just (1885) reached a sixth edition. It is 
 perhaps his ablest book. It is singularly terse, tempe- 
 rate, and exhaustive. He had spent much time and 
 labour in studying the arguments of the heretics, and 
 had got up the most recent statistics with his usual 
 command of figures. The result is, I think, an un- 
 answerable refutation within a moderate space of the 
 leading arguments of his opponents. He can, of course, 
 advance no arguments of substantial novelty upon so 
 well-worn a topic. But as a thorough-going applica- 
 tion of established principles to recent facts, his book is 
 masterly and conclusive. 
 
 One conspicuous merit of Fawcett's book is his clear 
 perception of the true logical limitations of his inquiry. 
 He carefully limits himself, in the first place, to the 
 purely commercial argument. The function of the 
 economist is simply to show what is the actual profit or . 
 loss due to a certain policy. When he has shown the 
 economical advantage or disadvantage of a given tax or 
 duty, he has fulfilled his proper function. It is still open 
 to the statesman to argue, if he pleases, that political con- 
 siderations make it worth while to incur the loss, or, 
 possibly, that some ulterior social benefit may arise from
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 147 
 
 the temporary sacrifice of commercial profits. What 
 Fawcett attempts to prove, and, as I think, proves 
 triumphantly, is simply that protection implies a sacri- 
 fice, and not, as his opponents maintain, an immediate 
 advantage. His argument is limited in another sense, 
 which deserves special attention. Opponents of free 
 trade often take advantage of the vulgar prejudice 
 against theorists. They call upon us to prefer practical 
 men to abstract reasoners and the spinners of pretended 
 sciences. In point of fact, the protectionist is at least 
 as open to this line of attack as his opponent. He has 
 quite as definite a theory. The misfortune is that his 
 theory is self-contradictory. He asks for a tax in order to 
 encourage trade. The assumed connection between the 
 suggested cause and the anticipated effect is a theory just 
 as much as the contrary assertion. Fawcett points out 
 that it is a theory made out by an arbitrary selection of one 
 set of consequences. It assumes that we may fix our minds 
 exclusively upon the advantages gained by one class of 
 producers, without attending to the consumers or the 
 nation generally. Explicitly and fairly stated, the argu- 
 ments generally advanced by protectionists may, as he 
 urges, be shown to involve a variety of familiar fallacies. 
 They take for granted that wealth consists exclusively of 
 money ; or that we can buy without selling ; or that a 
 people as a whole can be enriched by transferring wealth 
 from one set of pockets to another ; or that arguments, 
 admittedly true in respect of provinces, cease to be true 
 when the provinces are called states. Their reasoning 
 would imply that you can increase the volume of a 
 stream by pumping water from below to pour it into the
 
 148 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 source ; or that it would be wise to darken the sun to 
 encourage the gas companies ; or, as Mandeville urged, 
 that the fire of London was an advantage, because it 
 gave employment to the masons and carpenters. To 
 press home these fallacies, to show that they were essen- 
 tially involved in the protectionist theory, was Fawcett's 
 aim. He does not, so far, set up a rival theory, nor 
 is he under any obligation to do so. A proposed tax 
 is justified by a theory. The theory cannot be right, for 
 it contradicts itself, or leads to admitted absurdities. 
 Therefore the policy which embodies the theory cannot 
 be wise. To admit this is to give up the whole case ; for 
 it is all that Fawcett urges. His theory is simply that 
 his opponents' theory is inconsistent with itself; and 
 unless they can meet this contention, they are so far 
 confuted. A direct appeal to facts is of course still open. 
 It may be urged that, theory or no theory, protectionist 
 countries prosper, and free-trading countries decline. 
 On this ground, Fawcett was fully prepared to meet his 
 adversaries ; but with this I am not at present concerned. 
 Political economy, which to the popular mind meant 
 chiefly the theory of free trade, has so far what may be 
 called a negative value. It is, in substance, a negation 
 of vital errors. It does not set up in their place a 
 positive theory as to the conditions of prosperous trade. 
 Certain restrictions are bad, because they imply incon- 
 sistent aims. It does not follow that the mere absence 
 of bad restrictions will make trade prosperous. The 
 conditions of prosperity include such things as honesty, 
 energy, industry, and social welfare generally, which lie 
 to a great extent beyond the sphere of the economist.
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 149 
 
 Moreover, a belief in free trade is not even, as Fawcett 
 was careful to say, necessarily connected with an accept- 
 ance of the general principle of laissez-faire. The clearest 
 proof that this mode of State interference is foolish does 
 not prove (though it may suggest some presumption) 
 that all modes of State interference with trade are 
 absurd. Some of them are clearly not obnoxious to the 
 same objections. It would be as wrong to lay down the 
 general principle at once as to say that because the old 
 method of bleeding was mischievous, therefore all sur- 
 gical operations must be mischievous. It is conceivable, 
 so far at any rate, that the State may foster commerce by 
 judicious methods, though the kind of interference most 
 generally adopted has been injudicious because hope- 
 lessly illogical. 
 
 The importance of these considerations appears, as I 
 think, equally in regard to those deeper social questions 
 in which Fawcett found his main impulse to the study. 
 Political economy, as I venture to think, has been espe- 
 cially valuable in what I have called its negative aspect, 
 It has been more efficient in dispersing sophistries than in 
 constructing permanent theories. Economic writers have 
 exploded many absurd systems, though, unfortunately, 
 a system too often survives when its absurdity has been 
 demonstrated. They have so far cleared the way for an 
 application of sounder methods. But the complexity of 
 the problem is so great, and the working of industrial 
 forces so essentially bound up with other more inscrut- 
 able forces, that I confess to a certain scepticism as to the 
 truly scientific character of their more positive conclu- 
 sions. The importance, however, of the service rendered
 
 150 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 by clearing the air of sophistry is not diminished. An 
 important illustration of the principle may be found in 
 one of the most fundamental economic principles. The 
 great book of Malthus was first suggested by the facile 
 optimism of Godwin and his followers. He was accused 
 of brutality and heartlessness because he brought out 
 with unanswerable force a fatal obstacle to the schemes 
 by which mankind w r as to be regenerated out of hand. 
 The Malthusian doctrine is for that reason still a 
 stumbling-block with all believers in some speedily 
 attainable Utopia. Its importance in the history of 
 political economy is comparable to the importance of 
 Darwin's generalisation of the same principle in the 
 history of recent speculation. Fawcett, in particular, 
 was profoundly impressed by the teaching of Maltlms. 
 He always speaks of Malthus with especial respect, and 
 retorts the scorn of the popular assailants of his vital 
 principle. Malthus was not the first to call attention to 
 the evils which he specially denounced. Nobody is ever 
 first in such discoveries. Nor was he aware no one is 
 ever aware of the full import of his own theories. But 
 his theory was of the highest importance because it in- 
 volved the implicit recognition of a cardinal truth. A 
 great principle which lay beneath his arguments is HOAY 
 more generally recognised. Society is not a mere a;. 
 gate of independent atoms, but a complex living organ- 
 ism. However faulty may be its operations, it represents 
 a system worked out by the experience of generations. 
 Its structure has been developed by the wants of man- 
 kind ; the principles on which it rests have been felt out, 
 not reasoned out ; and though it is undoubtedly in need
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 151 
 
 of constant improvement and, perhaps, of thorough re- 
 construction, genuine reform is only possible by a careful 
 examination of the functions discharged by its various 
 constituent parts and a provision for the wants by which 
 their constitution has been actually, if unconsciously, 
 determined. The rash reformers, who undertake to cut 
 and carve and re-mould in obedience to some a priori 
 guesses, or in wrath provoked by real grievances, are 
 mangling it at the risk of vital injury. Malthus confined 
 himself to a particular application of this truth. The 
 revolutionists, as he showed, had mistaken the nature 
 of the evil which they proposed to cure. Lazarus, they 
 said, is starving whilst Dives is revelling ; yet Lazarus 
 is as good a man as Dives. The remedy is obvious. 
 Cut up Dives and distribute his wealth amongst the 
 multitudinous representatives of Lazarus. Malthus 
 pointed out that, unluckily, Lazarus was capable of in- 
 definite multiplication. To relieve a pauper may be a 
 blessing for the individual pauper ; but, if the pauper 
 class multiplies in proportion to the relief bestowed, the 
 end of charity is the boundless increase of the class of 
 paupers. The remedy is therefore founded on a neglect 
 of the most important fact. You are not simply redis- 
 tributing wealth amongst a set of independent and in- 
 variable units, but trying to tamper with the processes 
 of growth and nutrition of a living organism. Granting 
 that the unequal distribution of wealth involves gross 
 injustice, it has yet been a condition of all progress 
 above barbarism, and must be a condition of further 
 progress until at least some radical remedy can be 
 worked out. When, therefore, Godwin and the believers
 
 152 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 in ' perfectibility ' anticipated, as the result of absolute 
 equality, a vast population governed only by pure laws 
 of reason, Malthus pointed out the inevitable obstacles. 
 Population has an indefinite elasticity. It is already 
 pressing everywhere upon its means of support. "War, 
 famine, and disease are the ' positive checks ' which keep 
 it within bound. They are the symptoms of the universal 
 ' struggle for existence.' The only real remedy is to en- 
 courage the 'preventive check' in other words, to raise 
 the standard of prudence, which will make the struggle 
 less severe and diminish the operation of the causes of 
 the worst evils which afflict mankind. 
 
 I need not inquire how far Malthus himself was led 
 into a misstatement of his argument, and gave a pretext 
 for the common accusation of his opponents that he 
 looked upon the ' positive checks ' as a providential, and 
 therefore inevitable, arrangement. Fawcett, at any rate, 
 took him in the sounder sense. Poverty and its atten- 
 dant evils may be diminished, but diminished only by 
 judicious measures, by looking beyond the momentary 
 need, and especially by raising the moral standard of the 
 poor themselves. Whoever professes to raise the position 
 of a class without elevating its character is a charlatan. 
 The principle was especially relevant to the great ques- 
 tion of pauperism, upon which he had thought much 
 and felt strongly from his earliest years. The crying 
 evils which led to the new poor-law system of 1834 had 
 made the subject sufficiently familiar to the economists 
 of Fawcett' s school. He differed from many contempo- 
 raries, not in his theory, but in the strength of his con- 
 victions and of his aversion to the method of the mere
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 153 
 
 sentimentalists. He held that the poor-law system was 
 responsible for a great deal of the misery which it pro- 
 fessed to remedy. The principle is, of course, simple, 
 and had been more or less recognised by many observers 
 in pre-Malthusian periods. By the generation of econo- 
 mists which followed Malthus it had been both expounded 
 and partly applied in legislation. Fawcett was strongly 
 impressed by the necessity of maintaining and extending 
 their views. The relief of beggars, as we all know, may 
 come to mean the support of beggary as a permanent 
 institution. ' You may have as many paupers as you 
 choose to pay for,' was a phrase of his friend Clarke, 
 often on his lips. His book upon ' Pauperism ' gave a 
 forcible application of this principle. It helped in par- 
 ticular to call attention to the abuses springing from a 
 lax administration of outdoor relief. A poor-law in- 
 spector, in one of whose reports Fawcett had been greatly 
 interested, says some years later that his first clear ideas 
 upon the subject had been derived from Fawcett's book. 
 Fawcett brought home, in this as in many cases, the 
 ' theoretical ' objection to men of practical experience. 
 One special application may be cited in illustration of 
 his method. The ' boarding-out ' system had at this 
 time (1871), as he says, received the unanimous approval 
 of the press. Kindly philanthropists had been content 
 to contrast the comfort of the rescued children with their 
 previous misery. Fawcett points out the set-off to the 
 benefit. The system, in the form advocated by enthu- 
 siasts, meant, as their figures proved, that a labourer 
 might receive as much for the support of two pauper 
 children as he would gain by his whole labour for him-
 
 154 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 self and his family. A man, therefore, would do better 
 for his children by deserting them than by maintaining 
 them. It would be an act of folly to provide for his 
 family by insuring his life. He would do better for his 
 children as well as for himself by raising an illegitimate, 
 than by raising a legitimate, family. The prudent, who 
 supported their own children, would be taxed for the 
 support of the immoral and the imprudent. So soon, 
 therefore, as the system began to work there would be a 
 direct discouragement to prudence and a premium upon 
 demoralisation. Even if we suppose that some safeguard 
 may be found against these abuses, no safeguard was 
 contemplated in the scheme actually proposed. In any 
 case, therefore, Fawcett was calling attention to a 
 danger overlooked by philanthropists, which threatened 
 the moral standard of the class which they desired to 
 benefit. No one, I think, can doubt the extreme impor- 
 tance of these warnings, or the danger of shutting our eyes 
 to such consequences in the name of a spurious charity. 
 Fawcett, it must be observed, admitted fully that the 
 poor-law was a practical necessity. He saw and re- 
 gretted the socialistic tendency involved in it. But he 
 held, not merely that it could not in fact be abolished, 
 but that it might be worked in accordance with his 
 fundamental principle. If the mischievous system of 
 outdoor relief were duly restricted, and the principle of 
 local responsibility maintained, it might serve to correct 
 the worse evil of promiscuous charity, and prevent the 
 bitterness which prevails where the State simply washes 
 its hands of all responsibility. His real principle, 
 moreover, was not that of absolute non-interference.
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 155 
 
 The ' crucial test,' he says, ' of the value of all agencies 
 which are brought into operation to improve the condi- 
 tion of the labouring poor is this : Do they exert a 
 direct tendency to make the labourer rely upon self- 
 help ? ' This in fact was the fundamental consideration. 
 It does not condemn all attempts at meeting the evil, but 
 those alone which really stimulate the true cause of the 
 evil. Wise Malthusians do not proclaim an absolute 
 non-possum us : they only assign one necessary condition 
 of all permanent improvement. The ' preventive check ' 
 must be brought into play. In other words, men must be 
 made more prudent and self-reliant, or all the schemes of 
 reformers will be a mere weaving of ropes of sand. This 
 principle runs through all Fawcett's criticisms of schemes 
 for the amelioration of the poorer classes. 
 
 Other great principles, generally associated with the 
 name of Eicardo, are connected with that of Maithus. 
 Malthus had pointed out how the struggle for existence 
 imposes certain conditions upon the growth of society as a 
 whole. Its internal structure is equally determined by 
 that struggle. Society becomes organised into classes in 
 attempting to meet the pressure upon the means of subsis- 
 tence. Those who are able to secure certain natural advan- 
 tages become possessors of a monopoly, the nature of which 
 is explained by the theory of rent. The class, again, which 
 lives from hand to mouth must depend upon the wealth 
 accumulated by others, and by trying to work out the 
 conditions on which they will secure a share of the 
 products, we reach the theory of the ' wage-fund.' Rent 
 constitutes a separate fund, rigidly denned by natural 
 conditions, which may belong to a special class, or be
 
 156 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 appropriated by Government, or distributed amongst the 
 actual labourers, but which in any case grows accord- 
 ing to certain laws as the social pressure on a given area 
 increases. The labourer's wage depends equally on fixed 
 conditions. To increase it is to diminish the share of 
 the capitalist and therefore to retard the accumulation of 
 capital. To diminish it would conversely increase profits 
 and therefore the wage-fund. There is therefore a 
 fixed rate about which the actual rate may oscillate, but 
 from which it can never permanently or widely diverge. 
 By the help of various assumptions which I need not 
 pause to specify, the whole economist theory is thus 
 rounded off and assumes a kind of mathematical 
 symmetry. If the labouring class chooses always to 
 multiply up to the verge of its means of subsistence, the 
 rule is greatly simplified and gives rise to what has been 
 called the 'iron law' of Eicardo. His critics, as the 
 phrase implies, sometimes speak as if he had intended 
 to demonstrate the absolute impossibility of a permanent 
 rise of wages. That is only true on the assumption of 
 the improvidence of the labouring class. His argument 
 is substantially that they can only raise the price of their 
 services by limiting the supply that is, by keeping down 
 their own numbers. Assuming that they have sufficient 
 self-command to raise the standard of comfort, the action 
 of supply and demand will be in their favour, as, in the 
 contrary case, it will be against them. 
 
 The doctrine thus elaborated was used to crush all 
 manner of socialist schemes, and used with the air of con- 
 clusive demonstration. Socialists denounced it, without 
 perhaps taking the trouble to understand it ; and political
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 157 
 
 economists were supposed to accept a fatalistic theory, 
 announcing the utter impossibility of all schemes for 
 social regeneration. Fawcett, of course, did not accept 
 this reading of their doctrines. Economists, he held, 
 pointed out the crucial difficulty, and a clear recognition 
 of its nature must be the first step towards surmounting 
 it. Fawcett was himself satisfied of the substantial truth 
 of the wage-fund theory. He, like Cairnes, adhered to it 
 when Mill abandoned it in consequence of Thornton's 
 attack. In the first edition of his ' Manual ' Fawcett 
 used some unguarded phrases which have been quoted 
 against him. He pronounces it to be ' physically impos- 
 sible that any permanent rise in wages should take place 
 without a corresponding diminution of profit.' 1 In later 
 editions, the chapter was rewritten, and this statement 
 disappeared. Even in the first edition there are ex- 
 planations which considerably modify the sweeping cha- 
 racter of the phrase just quoted. He was, however, 
 fully satisfied of the general validity of the main 
 principle. He held that it really contained the fatal 
 objection to the crude schemes of socialism. Hasty 
 thinkers assume, whether consciously or otherwise, that 
 the rate of wages is something arbitrary, which can be 
 fixed by the will of legislators or indefinitely altered by 
 an agreement between the parties concerned. They 
 attribute therefore the inadequate remuneration to the 
 tyranny or avarice of the employers. Fawcett insisted 
 upon the necessity of looking beyond this to the 
 permanent conditions imposed by the structure of 
 society. The rate of wages is fixed by such conditions, 
 
 1 Manual (ist ed.), p. 264.
 
 158 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 even though the economic theory may be in various ways 
 an imperfect expression of their precise nature. A 
 summary interference will defeat its own ends. The 
 necessity of attracting capital ; the impossibility of arbi- 
 trarily raising wages without interfering with the profits 
 of others, and diminishing the immediate demand for 
 labour is undoubtedly one of the main conditions of the 
 problem. It may be stated too absolutely, but cannot be 
 neglected without fatal consequences. 
 
 Fawcett did not speak as a mere closet theorist. On 
 several occasions he discussed these questions with large 
 bodies of artisans. He had visited Manchester, as we 
 have seen, so early as 1857, to examine social questions. 
 He had made the personal acquaintance of the leaders 
 in the remarkable co-operative movement at Kochdale. 
 In 1859 he discussed the question of strikes at the meet- 
 ing of the British Association at Bradford. Sir James 
 Kay Shuttleworth, who presided, was much struck by his 
 speech ; and at Shuttleworth's request he held a meeting 
 at St. Martin's Hall in the following spring, and dis- 
 coursed very successfully to the workmen, then excited 
 by a great strike in the building trade, upon the true 
 principles of political economy. A Tory statesman and 
 friend came to him on this occasion to say that he 
 thought him the most dangerous man in England. 
 Fawcett had, again, a remarkable conference at Sheffield 
 on October 11, 1865, with the Filesmiths' Union. The 
 men defended themselves against the charge of encou- 
 raging outrages, whilst they expressed their strong dis- 
 like to a proposed introduction of machinery. Fawcett 
 argued with them frankly and forcibly. He denounced
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 159 
 
 intimidation, and pointed out the risk of their cutting 
 their own throats by driving business elsewhere. His 
 theories were thus strengthened by a familiarity with the 
 immediate practical arguments which could be brought 
 home to sensible men on both sides. Even if his doc- 
 trine was too rigid, it was thoroughly to the point, and 
 brought out the merits of the actual discussions in work- 
 shops and counting-houses. 
 
 So far Fawcett's teaching fell in with that laissez- 
 fniri' doctrine which was generally ascribed to economists 
 of his school, and which is now, it appears, rather out of 
 fashion. It is represented by enthusiasts as a barren 
 fatalism, and an excuse for evading the most important 
 problems of the day. If it be true, they say, the struggle 
 for existence must be allowed to work itself out ; all that 
 rulers can do is to stand by, keep the peace, and let the 
 poor starve, to teach them that poverty is an evil. I 
 have tried to show that Fawcett was as far as possible 
 from holding that because difficulties must not be blinked 
 they must be regarded as insuperable. He was also far 
 from holding that Government could safely or justly 
 limit itself to a mere policy of inaction. The point is one 
 of great importance in regard to his whole career, and 
 deserves a brief consideration. 
 
 Fawcett's intellect, as I have said, was eminently shrewd 
 and practical. He cared comparatively little for abstract 
 discussions of the primary grounds of political or ethical 
 principles. He was content, so far as he cared at all, to 
 take his doctrine pretty directly from Mill. I do not 
 think that he was specially interested in the more ab- 
 stract arguments against State interference advanced
 
 160 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 by some theorists. He refers indeed to Mr. Spencer ' 
 as giving ' the most powerful and exhaustive statement ' 
 of the argument on that side. But he regards the 
 association of political economy with the laissez-faire 
 school as in some sense ' accidental.' To my mind this is 
 of doubtful accuracy ; but it is true that, upon Mill's prin- 
 ciples, the a priori objections to State interference are 
 scarcely available. Fawcett only followed his teacher in 
 declaring, emphatically and frequently, that every pro- 
 posed measure must be considered on its own merits. 
 He observes that opponents of socialism are accused of 
 being slaves to the laissez-faire theory. He is, on the 
 contrary, ' quite prepared to admit that nothing is more 
 hazardous than to pay a too implicit obedience to any 
 such principle.' He frequently repeats the same view with 
 even greater emphasis in regard, for example, to such 
 questions as State education. He is, in brief, a consistent 
 empiricist. The one general principle is that Government 
 should do what experience proves it can do efficiently. 
 
 It is, however, undeniable that on most of the impor- 
 tant questions of the day Fawcett's judgment was on 
 the side of non-interference. His strong objection to in- 
 creased action of the State separated him emphatically 
 from a large and growing section of his own party. He 
 adhered to the doctrines of the earlier Radicals, and saw 
 a serious danger in the leaning of their successors to the 
 socialistic movement. This was not simply the result of 
 what was certainly a characteristic of his powerful mind 
 an indisposition to accept new theories which occa- 
 sionally savoured too much of unreasoning prejudice. 
 1 Essays and Lectures, p. 32.
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 161 
 
 He was, in fact, governed by a principle already stated. 
 He held, as I have said, that each case must be tested by 
 itself. He therefore did not consider himself entitled to 
 reject any proposal without further hearing on the 
 ground of its incompatibility with some general formula. 
 He asked whether it could or could not be supported by 
 specific reasoning, and in his own arguments he always 
 relies upon definite practical objections. But his real 
 conviction appears from the test which he invariably 
 applies. It is that which, as we have already seen, he 
 calls the ' crucial test ' in all proposed remedies for 
 poverty : Does the remedy tend to raise or to lower the 
 spirit of self-help ? If you make the poor more depen- 
 dent, no immediate benefit will compensate for the moral 
 injury. Help them to be prudent and self-reliant, and you 
 do more than can be done by any machinery whatever. A 
 society in which every class does not take its own part 
 is one in which the surviving energy will be oppressed 
 by an ever-growing and ultimately insuperable burden. 
 To call out therefore the energy of all classes, to open 
 the widest field for the application of all their faculties, 
 is the aim which should preside over every genuine effort 
 for social improvement. How strongly Fawcett was 
 penetrated by this conviction will appear as we proceed. 
 For the present I shall only observe that the laissez- 
 faire doctrine, so far as it falls in with this view, is 
 entirely free from the blame insinuated in the popular 
 travesty of its teaching. It implies the very reverse of 
 any want of sympathy with suffering. The advocates of 
 toleration are sometimes charged with indifference to 
 truth, because they object to drive their own conceptions 
 
 M
 
 ]62 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 of truth into reluctant minds by main force. They 
 reply, triumphantly as I think, that it is precisely 
 because they believe the power of truth that they refuse 
 to attempt its propagation by force. A method which 
 begins by imposing insincerity will not end by favouring 
 truth. The case is the same in regard to other modes 
 of State interference now less out of .fashion. Fawcett's 
 sympathy with the poor and the helpless was not only 
 deep and genuine ; it was the mainspring of his most 
 energetic political action. For that very reason he was 
 heartily opposed to all the quack remedies which, whilst 
 professing the same aim, injured the only force which 
 can permanently raise the poor namely, their own self- 
 respect. To him the principle of laissez-faire commended 
 itself by its nobler aspect. It did not mean, Leave the 
 blind struggle to work itself out, and apply no remedy 
 to the most cruel grievances. It meant, on the contrary, 
 Give free play to all men's intellects and faculties ; be 
 exceedingly jealous of all restrictions upon the energies 
 of any class, especially of the poorest class. There is 
 no social restriction which cannot find some appropriate 
 plea. Slavery of the worst kind ever known was justi- 
 fied by the supposed interests of the slave. Privileges 
 of all kinds, political and social, have been defended on 
 the ground that the excluded were the better without 
 them. Even laws which were undoubtedly the product 
 of benevolent motive have failed wherever they have tried 
 to force people to be better off without enabling them to 
 be better in themselves. All new proposals therefore 
 should be subject to a jealous scrutiny, and we should 
 not approve till we are satisfied that the motives alleged
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 163 
 
 are genuine and that the means are calculated to stimu- 
 late the energies of the persons affected instead of to 
 force them into the mould of some mechanical system. 
 Interference, briefly, may be tyranny in disguise, even 
 when it makes the most virtuous professions and is 
 really based on amiable motives. A chivalrous sympathy 
 with the helpless is not the exclusive property of either 
 side, but it may certainly render a man jealous of State 
 interference as well as eager to apply it. Whether 
 Fawcett's view was the product of mere indifference or 
 of a desire that sympathy should be guided by fore- 
 thought and sound principle will best appear from other 
 applications of his doctrine. 
 
 Many of the schemes of modern reformers un- 
 doubtedly sinned against his fundamental criterion. A 
 weighty article in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for July 1883 
 (which has been reprinted separately, and is added to 
 the last edition of the ' Manual ') sets forth his objec- 
 tions to State socialism and the nationalisation of the 
 land. Such schemes, as he urged, regarded the State as 
 a kind of supernatural milch cow a body capable of 
 making something out of nothing, of directly command- 
 ing supplies of manna from the heavens and water from 
 the rock; whereas, in point of fact, they were simply 
 schemes for taking money from the prudent and hand- 
 ing it over to the idle. On the other hand, he was from 
 the first profoundly interested in schemes of co-operation. 
 That system, instead of discouraging self-help, implies a 
 voluntary process of self-education in thrift. It strikes 
 at the evil system of credit, which directly encourages 
 imprudence, and it enables the poor man to find invest- 
 
 1*2
 
 164 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ments for saving. He had been greatly impressed by 
 the Eochdale experiment at a time when co-operation 
 was comparatively in its infancy. An article upon 
 strikes, published in the 'Westminster Review,' which 
 had the honour of attracting the notice of George Eliot, 
 led to a more important practical result. It was read 
 by Mr. Briggs, of the Whitwood Colliery, at Methley, 
 near Leeds, and led to an adoption by the proprietors 
 of the system suggested by Fawcett. Throughout his 
 career, Fawcett was a warm advocate of the co-operative 
 system, and outspoken in its defence when speaking out 
 was by no means the way to conciliate constituents. His 
 zeal rather strengthened than otherwise, and towards the 
 end of his life he said that, if he should resign office, he 
 would join his friend, Mr. Sedley Taylor (author of 'Profit- 
 sharing between Labour and Capital'), in a systematic 
 attempt to promote the spread of the co-operative system. 
 In his first edition, Fawcett says that he has just 
 heard of the co-operative farms at Assington, and gives 
 some information supplied by their founder, Mr. Gurdon. 
 His permanent interest in this experiment was charac- 
 teristic. Through life he kept up his interest in agri- 
 culture and his personal relations with agricultural 
 labourers. He speaks of his ' intimate friendship ' with 
 some of them ; his knowledge of their wants and feelings 
 was at first hand, and his sympathies correspondingly 
 keen. Mr. Wright, the Salisbury fisherman, gives me 
 a significant anecdote. Fawcett, after a day's fishing, 
 had some beer with a farmer, who told him that the 
 labourers' wages were to be lowered after the harvest. 
 Fawcett, after vainly protesting, refused more beer and
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 165 
 
 walked home. On his way he met one of his labouring 
 friends, who accounted for his best clothes by saying that 
 he was going to a harvest-home celebration at the church. 
 Fawcett fell into a long reverie, and at last asked Mr. 
 Wright how he would like to give thanks for a bountiful 
 harvest when his wages were to be docked of a shilling 
 a week. Such little incidents often gave him food for 
 reflection, and this apparently prompted a letter upon the 
 subject which appeared in the ' Times.' Many of the pro- 
 posed remedies seemed to him impolitic. He accepted, 
 to a great extent, the views of Mill and Thornton as to 
 the advantages of peasant-proprietorship ; but I think 
 that in earlier times he thought that the English condi- 
 tions were scarcely suitable to its introduction here, and 
 he was decidedly opposed to a direct legislative attempt 
 in that direction. The great changes in later years 
 rather modified his opinion upon this point. His 
 writing, however, was chiefly in support of the opinions 
 prevalent with his school. He argued against the 
 obstacles imposed upon the easy sale of land by settle- 
 ments and entails. A better system, he thought, would 
 make room for the desirable state of things in which the 
 cultivators should also be the owners of the land. He 
 had a smart controversy in 1 868 with the lawyers upon 
 the general question. Some of the experts, indeed, came 
 to his help anonymously ; though the general professional 
 view was of course in favour of the perfection of the 
 existing system. He would not follow Mill's theory about 
 the ' unearned increment,' which has been turned to 
 account by socialists. He held that proposals founded 
 on this doctrine tended to hinder the most essential
 
 166 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 improvement, ' the free flow of capital to agriculture.' ! 
 He saw also that the ownership of land was in this 
 respect in precisely the same position as other kinds of 
 property, and that it was therefore grossly unjust to 
 subject it to special burdens. 
 
 Co-operation was, in fact, Fawcett's great panacea. 
 In spite of the small success which has hitherto attended 
 its application to agriculture, he clung to this belief. 
 He thought that co-operation would reconcile the ad- 
 vantages of large and small farming, and that in all 
 industries it represented the only solution of the per- 
 petual conflict between labour and capital. It would 
 lead workmen to recognise the necessity of leaving suffi- 
 cient profits to the capitalist, give them interest in their 
 work, and ultimately replace some of the advantages of 
 the old domestic system which had been broken up 
 under the growth of gigantic factories. 
 
 Co-operation, though attacked by some rigid econo- 
 mists of the older generation, has won its way to general 
 favour. Fawcett did something, along, of course, with 
 many others, in promoting the change of opinion. The 
 sternest advocate of laissez-faire might so far go with 
 him. Co-operation was valuable in his eyes just as it 
 was a mode of elevating the poor by the application of 
 their own resources. But other consequences followed, 
 where the laissez-faire theorist begins to have his qualms. 
 Admitting that many modes of State interference are 
 suicidal, admitting that the moving power must come 
 from the energy of the labourers themselves, it may still 
 be asked whether the State cannot do more than simply 
 
 1 Manual (6th ed.), pp. 286, 7.
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 167 
 
 look on or remove the impediments which now hamper 
 private energy. Can it not so act as to stimulate instead 
 of simply permitting private energy ? In certain respects 
 Fawcett held that it could, and upon these questions he 
 separated himself from the school of absolute laissez-faire, 
 or, as Professor Huxley calls it, of State nihilism. In 
 the first place came one great question. The main 
 obstacle to the spread of co-operation was the want of 
 intelligence of the classes which most needed it. The 
 labourer who had to go to bed with the sun was cut off 
 from the intellectual influences of the superior artisan. 
 His mental darkness isolated him ; he could not take 
 advantage of a rise in wages elsewhere, for he heard 
 nothing of what was going on in regions as strange to 
 him as the remotest part of Australia. The periodical 
 press now acts like a nervous system of the nation, 
 spreading every central impulse to the most distant 
 ramifications of the social body. The man who cannot 
 read or write is out of touch with all the impulses of his 
 day. To raise the educational standard of the labourer, 
 especially in agricultural districts, was therefore a first 
 condition for bringing direct impulses to bear. This, 
 as Fawcett held, could only be done effectually by a 
 national and unsectarian system of education. Even in 
 his Cambridge days he had brought this question 
 forward at the Union. It became one of his strongest 
 political interests. As we shall see hereafter, there was 
 no subject to which he devoted more time and attention. 
 He spoke constantly and laboured strenuously in Parlia- 
 ment and elsewhere on behalf of the introduction of a 
 compulsory system of education into the agricultural
 
 103 LIFE CF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 districts. He defended the proposal even upon the 
 strictest grounds of political economy. To the argument, 
 for example, that such a system would impose additional 
 burdens upon the poor, he replied that the wages of 
 agricultural labourers were in fact determined, not by 
 open competition, but by a consideration of what was 
 absolutely necessary to keep soul and body together. The 
 payment for schools would therefore not come out of 
 their pockets, but be made up in their wages. The 
 employer would be repaid either by a reduction of his 
 rent or, it might be confidently hoped, by the increased 
 efficiency of new labour. A man is repaid by keeping 
 his horses in good condition whilst he leaves his labourers 
 in a state of semi-starvation. To use the machinery of 
 legislation to break up the isolation and intellectual 
 darkness of the agricultural labourer was an end which 
 thus appeared to him to be recommended by all the 
 principles most deeply rooted in his mind. 
 
 There were many other methods in which he held 
 that the State could interfere, and was therefore bound to 
 interfere, without infringing his fundamental principles. 
 Thus, for example, it may do much to encourage thrift. 
 The support of savings-banks, the provision of a 
 system of deferred annuities, and plans for facilitating 
 the investment of small sums in national securities, 
 are instances of a kind of interference which may stimu- 
 late instead of depressing the tendency to self-help. All 
 such schemes had therefore his heartiest approval and, 
 in time, his effectual help. His jealousy, indeed, was 
 not to be laid asleep. The recent outcry about the 
 dwellings of the most abject classes did not lead him to
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 169 
 
 favour spasmodic remedies. At a much earlier period 
 he had maintained that the State might legitimately do 
 something towards improving the dwellings of the poor. 
 But in the last edition of his ' Manual ' he points out 
 the dangers of ineffectual administration, of burdening 
 those who are just above pauperism by taxing them to 
 help those who are just below, and, above all, of dis- 
 couraging the efforts to self-help exemplified by the 
 growth of building societies. In 1875 he explained with 
 great clearness the obstacles which, as he thought, and I 
 believe rightly, as shown by subsequent experience, would 
 neutralise the working of Sir Eichard Cross's Building Act 
 in that year. 
 
 I have tried to show briefly how far Fawcett might 
 be properly called an adherent of the laissez-faire school. 
 He leaned generally, and I think more decidedly, as he 
 grew older, against many applications of the opposite 
 principle. In theory, he denied that either principle 
 could be regarded as true without qualification. In 
 practice he became more jealous of a tendency which 
 was growing more pronounced. Those who approve of 
 the tendency will of course regard him as so far anti- 
 quated or even reactionary. Others will consider him as 
 a faithful Abdiel upholding the true Radical theory, from 
 which modern Radicals are too apt to depart. Without 
 arguing so wide a question, I shall only venture to sug- 
 gest certain considerations, sufficient, I think, to justify 
 Fawcett's good feeling and good sense. 
 
 Fawcett was sometimes condemned for a supposed 
 inconsistency. It was observed that this great opponent 
 of State action became the head of the department which,
 
 170 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 more than any other, infringes his favourite principle. 
 He was active in setting up a State education which is 
 crushing the voluntary system, and he had a main share 
 in extending the action of the State in regions previously 
 left to private enterprise. I have shown indeed, or tried 
 to show, that Fawcett was thoroughly convinced of the 
 propriety of State interference in these cases. That, it 
 may be urged, is not a sufficient apology. By encourag- 
 ing State interference in cases where he approved, he 
 actually encouraged it in cases where he strongly dis- 
 approved. The ' logic of facts ' was too strong for him. 
 He helped to set in motion forces which he was unable 
 to control. 
 
 I do not think that Fawcett would himself have 
 denied the partial truth of this criticism. Fawcett, like 
 Mill, was a democrat, and yet, like Mill, strongly con- 
 vinced that democracy had a very evil side. His strong 
 conviction of this was shown by his persistent advocacy 
 of Mr. Hare's doctrine of proportional representation. 
 He held that in the adoption of that principle in some 
 form lay the only remedy against the great danger of an 
 oppression of minorities. Upon that question he entirely 
 sympathised with the views of his teacher, and his 
 feeling is only one more illustration of his intense hatred 
 of all oppression in whatever shape it may be masked. 
 One very important form is that of State interference. 
 The tendency of recent times to an extended action of 
 the State is only a fresh illustration of the old truth. 
 Power has been conceded to the ignorant and helpless. 
 It is only too likely that they will often use it ignorantly 
 and oppressively. They will fancy, as of old, that as
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 171 
 
 soon as they have votes they can order that the three- 
 hooped pots shall have ten hoops. As the old governing 
 classes tried to keep down the rate of wages, the new 
 governing classes will try to raise wages by a summary 
 process. They are the new emperor, and above the 
 laws of political economy. 
 
 This, it may be said, is simply the old Tory doctrine. 
 Such views may be permissible to a reactionary, but not 
 to an advocate of democracy. Fawcett would substan- 
 tially answer that adherence to democratic principles 
 did not involve blindness to the evil side of democracy. 
 He was a democrat, in the first place, because he thought 
 the advance of democracy inevitable. The attempt to keep 
 up the old system, which was incompatible with the whole 
 tendency of social development, was hopeless and absurd. 
 Democracy will come ; all we can do is to try to introduce it 
 in the best shape. But he was also a democrat because 
 he believed in the justice of the democratic principle. 
 The old privileges were unjust, because they imposed 
 arbitrary disqualifications upon men's employment of 
 their own faculties. This, he argued, sinned against an 
 indefeasible principle, and, moreover, was injurious as 
 well as unjust. The fact that new grievances might 
 arise does not justify us in retaining the old. But, 
 finally, he was also a democrat because he held that 
 democracy would be in the long run beneficial. There 
 is a common kind of political fatalism which assumes 
 that the fashionable principles of the day are justified 
 by their existence, and irrevocable when once asserted. 
 Because the new rulers of the State have fancied them- 
 selves omnipotent and adopted all kinds of quack remedies
 
 172 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 for the grievances which once seemed irremediable, it is 
 assumed that anyone who opposes their blunders may 
 be set aside as a mere theorist and ridiculed as an 
 antiquated doctrinaire. Fawcett had more faith in the 
 power of reason and the ultimate common sense of his 
 countrymen. He saw that a new current of erroneous 
 opinion had acquired power and carried many politicians 
 off their legs ; but he did not doubt that it might be 
 successfully opposed and, like other prejudices, gradually 
 dispersed by manly and outspoken criticism. And, 
 finally, I may repeat what I have already said in regard 
 to special cases. Fawcett followed the orthodox econo- 
 mists in pointing out certain grave obstacles to easy- 
 going schemes for off-hand social regeneration. He 
 asked for a definite and specific answer to his allega- 
 tions. He never held that the obstacles were incapable 
 of being in some way surmounted. On the contrary, it 
 was his great aim to surmount them. But he would not 
 ignore a difficulty because it was easier and more popular 
 to deny its existence. Now, whatever may be thought 
 of his views, I certainly think that he was so far amply 
 justified. The evils may be cured ; they may be cured 
 by means not contemplated by Fawcett ; but, at the 
 very lowest, he did good service by resolutely calling 
 attention to the difficulties in question, and by unmasking 
 the common sophistries used by those who would ignore 
 their existence. We must all hope that social evils may 
 admit of some remedy; but our progress in finding 
 a remedy will depend upon our willingness to adopt 
 Fawcett's method of looking facts in the face and care- 
 fully considering every proposal on its merits, without
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 173 
 
 giving way to the shrieks of charlatans, ready to drown 
 all opposition to their favourite nostrums, and without 
 flattering our new masters by assigning miraculous 
 powers to the laws they would impose. 
 
 The application of these principles to matters political 
 as well as economical may be briefly illustrated. If 
 Fawcett often agreed with the laissez-faire theory where 
 it condemned schemes prompted by short-sighted bene- 
 volence, he was its enthusiastic supporter in its nobler 
 aspect. He was prejudiced against restrictions in general. 
 He hated restrictions which held the hands of the weak 
 for the benefit of the strong. He approved a competition 
 which gave the prize to the most vigorous, but was 
 righteously indignant when it was so contrived as to 
 impose additional burdens on the feeblest. He was upon 
 such grounds a chivalrous supporter of women's rights. 
 He cared comparatively little for the abstract reasonings 
 which have sometimes been used upon that question 
 and have thrown some discredit upon its allies. He 
 does not urge that women are ' naturally ' equal to men, 
 but maintains that they should in any case have equal 
 opportunities for developing whatever faculties they 
 possess. He supported the first proposal for admitting 
 women to the Cambridge local examinations in a speech 
 for which he was warmly thanked by the Conservative 
 head of a house. This gentleman had female relations 
 who had been compelled to earn their living as gover- 
 nesses. Fawcett had dwelt upon the vast importance 
 to women in that position of obtaining a weighty tes- 
 timonial to their qualifications. He dwelt with keen 
 sympathy upon the number of women condemned under
 
 174 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 our present system to profitless and inactive lives. He 
 was greatly touched by facts which showed how difficult 
 it was for them to earn an independent living. He 
 would refer, for example, to a fact which came under his 
 notice at the Post Office, where there were 900 candidates 
 for forty places of 65 1. a year, though the vacancies had 
 been scarcely advertised. Serious evils of this kind 
 touched the noblest part of his nature, roused his 
 interest in the political question, and made him specially 
 indignant at the flippant dismissal of such evils too 
 common with his opponents in controversy. His charac- 
 teristic mode of feeling appears in one case which may be 
 taken separately as it lies outside the main line of his 
 political career. 
 
 In 1873 a report was made by Dr. Bridges and Mr. 
 Holmes as to the sanitary condition of persons employed 
 in the textile manufactures. A bill was brought in dur- 
 ing the session of that year by Mr. Mundella imposing 
 restrictions upon the hours of labour of women and 
 children. Ultimately the matter was taken up by the 
 Government, and in 1874 a bill was introduced by 
 Mr. (now Sir Eichard) Cross, then Home Secretary, which 
 adopted Mr. Mundella's main proposals and was passed 
 with general approval. Fawcett stood almost alone as a 
 determined opponent of that part of the measure which 
 imposed restrictions upon the labour of adult women. He 
 investigated the question with great pains. He corre- 
 sponded with many of the persons interested and best 
 able to give information. He carefully studied the 
 attainable documents, and he made himself conspicuous 
 by speeches of which the general criticism seems to have
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 175 
 
 been that they were too logical an epithet which, 
 somehow or other, is considered by many people to be a 
 conclusive refutation. The advocates of the bill relied 
 upon the evidence which proved, as they thought, that the 
 existing hours of labour were injurious to health, and 
 upon the precedent of the Factory Acts, which are 
 generally supposed to justify all proposed interference 
 with labour. Many issues were raised, as to the exact 
 effect of the evidence, and so forth, which need not be 
 considered. Fawcett's position was simple. He distin- 
 guished, in the first place, between the cases of women 
 and of children. Compulsory education, as he fre- 
 quently urged, is not only justifiable, but eminently de- 
 sirable, because children are necessarily dependent. The 
 non-interference of the State means the irresponsible 
 power of the parents. A parent may be forced to teach 
 his children by the same right as that by which he may be 
 forced to feed or clothe them. But this does not apply to 
 the case of adult women, unless, indeed, as his opponents 
 were sometimes driven to argue, they too must be con- 
 sidered as virtually slaves. Fawcett repudiated this doc- 
 trine as a mere pretext put forward to justify the proposed 
 interference. Against all such interference he urged the 
 familiar arguments the risk of foreign competition, the 
 rigidity of any Government action, which is necessarily 
 incapable of adapting itself to various trades, and the 
 great superiority of the action of the persons concerned, 
 which had already shown itself capable of limiting the 
 hours of labour. But his special point was the covert 
 injustice to women. He considered the movement to be, 
 in part at least, the result of the jealousy so often exhibited
 
 176 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 by trades-unions. The effect of limiting women's labour 
 was necessarily to make it less available to employers. 
 He produced evidence to show that manufacturers would 
 be driven to employ men where, but for this restriction, 
 female labour would have been more advantageous. 
 Fawcett was, of course, opposed to a strong popular 
 prejudice. He was accused of inconsistency because in 
 his first Parliament (in 1 867) he had supported an exten- 
 sion of the Factory Acts. He frankly admitted that he 
 had changed his mind upon further reflection ; and I need 
 only mention the charge because it illustrates the fact 
 that he had changed in a direction opposed to that of 
 his party generally. He was accused of pedantic 
 adherence to the precepts of a cold-blooded political 
 economist, though his motives were generally appreciated 
 even by his opponents. His warm friend, though on this 
 occasion his determined antagonist, Mr. Mundella, 
 certainly did full justice to the generosity of his motives, 
 though disapproving his conclusions. Secure himself of 
 his own purity of motive, Fawcett stuck resolutely to his 
 views, though he was in 1873 representative of a popular 
 constituency just slipping away from him, and in 1874 
 newly elected for Hackney, where many voters were 
 likely to be alienated by his action. 
 
 The bearing of this controversy upon the question 
 of women's votes is obvious. Fawcett considered it to 
 be one illustration of the fact that women's interests 
 were neglected because they could bring no pressure to 
 bear upon the Legislature. His strong conviction that 
 such injustice constantly resulted from their exclusion 
 from the franchise, much more than any theory about
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 177 
 
 abstract rights, stimulated his zeal for their admission. 
 He argued that the evils of pauperism were clearly con- 
 nected with this question. A large proportion of able- 
 bodied paupers are women. This mischief, he said, was 
 intensified by all legislation which interfered with their 
 power of taking up any employment of which they were 
 capable. Every such restriction forces more women to be 
 crowded into the employments still left open, and more, 
 of course, to toil for wages insufficient to maintain them 
 in the barest decency. Their would-be benefactors 
 forgot that any industry was better than dependent 
 pauperism, 1 or, as he said in the debate, that there was 
 one thing worse than work namely, want. Social 
 customs and legal enactments, he says, 2 combine to 
 discourage women of every class from earning their 
 livelihood. This, he argues, is one fruitful cause of 
 pauperism. He looked upon the franchise as a powerful 
 lever for breaking up this system of enforced idleness, 
 and invariably based his arguments upon this solid 
 practical ground. He did not, I think, anticipate any 
 great change in the ordinary career of women he 
 admitted that, for the most part, it would continue to 
 lie chiefly in the domestic circle ; but his sense of justice 
 revolted against the virtual condemnation of a large 
 number of women in every class to inability to use 
 their faculties freely, and he held that their political 
 disabilities were one more obstacle to freer and more 
 varied activity. 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to point out Fawcett's lead- 
 ing principles. When he first entered active political 
 
 1 Manual (6th ed.), p. 593. 2 Essays and Lectures, p. 104. 
 
 N
 
 178 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 life, I was frequently asked whether he was not a fana- 
 tical and pedantic theorist : one who, like Robespierre, 
 would unflinchingly enforce doctrines in his case the 
 doctrines of ' cold-hearted political economy ' in the 
 name of benevolence. I used then to make the (very 
 inadequate) reply that Fawcett was one of the shrewdest, 
 most hard-headed, and practical of men, and that his 
 common sense was the quality by which he would force 
 his way to the front. Though either statement taken 
 alone would be a misrepresentation so gross as to be a 
 caricature, both were founded upon observation of some 
 real characteristics. Fawcett was often called a doctrin- 
 aire in his earlier years, and the name was, up to a 
 certain point, merely the reverse aspect of a most 
 honourable quality. Every man must be in some sense 
 a theorist who is not a mere timeserver. Unless his 
 theory is that of simple self-interest, or unless his mind 
 is a mere kaleidoscope of shifting views, he must have 
 some fixed principles. It was one of Fawcett's finest 
 qualities that he had the strongest conviction of the 
 truth of certain principles. The policy which would in 
 his opinion do most to raise the condition of his country- 
 men was the policy to which he manfully adhered. He 
 would not sacrifice it either to his party or to his consti- 
 tuents. He would not flatter his leaders or truckle to 
 immediate popularity ; and it is one of his special merits 
 that he thus achieved a well-founded reputation for abso- 
 lute political honesty. I should not, however, be speak- 
 ing openly if I did not admit that in my opinion he had 
 also some of the defects indicated by the criticism. I 
 cannot deny that he had some of the rigidity and
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 179 
 
 narrowness of a mind attached to the solid and practical, 
 and immersed from infancy in a rather exclusive con- 
 sideration of one set of topics. Culture may be pushed to 
 mere dilettantism and flippancy. But no man's culture can 
 be conspicuously narrow without some injury to his mind. 
 I have explained the circumstances which narrowed 
 Fawcett's intellectual sphere, and probably his mind was 
 from the first indisposed to a wider sphere of thought. 
 In reading his speeches and essays, one is struck by the 
 recurrence of particular views expressed in the same 
 phrases ; and it would be easy enough to give illustra- 
 tions of the consequent limitation of his views of many 
 great questions. I may safely leave the task to other 
 critics. If Fawcett might be in some respects called a 
 man of one idea, we must remember first that the real 
 possession of a single idea indicates an unusual wealth 
 of thought, and confers remarkable power upon the 
 possessor. Firmly to grasp any belief, to hold to it un- 
 flinchingly in spite of good and evil report, is unfortu- 
 nately to be an exception amongst politicians, and perhaps 
 amongst any class. And, moreover, the phrase would be 
 unjust, except so far as it indicates a dominant tendency 
 to approach all questions from a particular direction. 
 
 I think, again, that I was justified in referring to 
 Fawcett's strong common sense as a sufficient guard 
 against any excessive impracticability. My account of his 
 career should be a sufficient proof of his possession in an 
 eminent degree of this quality. It showed itself in the 
 soundness of judgment which he displayed in his poli- 
 tical campaigns, and equally in the character of his 
 more abstract doctrines. He never lost himself in mere 
 
 N 2
 
 180 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 generalities, but was prepared to show in detail and to jus- 
 tify by specific arguments the application of his theories 
 to tangible facts, and was therefore eminently fitted on 
 all occasions to put the doctrines of his political teachers 
 into the dialect of the. market-place. But I must add 
 here emphatically what will, I hope, become more obvi- 
 ous as we proceed. The shrewdness which all his early 
 friends recognised in Fawcett, and which in youth was 
 perhaps his most conspicuous quality, was combined with 
 another quality of more importance I mean, of course, 
 the thorough kindliness and generosity of his nature. 
 I have spoken more than once of Fawcett's chivalrous 
 feeling. It is the epithet which recurs to me most 
 frequently in dwelling upon his career. It is the more 
 striking, because the phrase often calls up certain asso- 
 ciations of external graces which seem scarcely in har- 
 mony with the robustness and the sturdiness and even, in 
 some sense, the apparent roughness of Fawcett's man- 
 ner. The last phrase, indeed, was applicable only in his 
 youth, and was even then compatible with substantial 
 gentleness. But, essentially, I have never known a man 
 of more chivalrous nature. For chivalry of feeling, as I 
 understand the word, means a refinement of the sense of 
 justice an instinctive capacity for sympathising with 
 everyone who is the victim of oppression in any of its 
 forms ; and this was really the chief constituent of the 
 character which we all came to recognise. A sponta- 
 neous and intense hatred of everything unfair showed 
 itself in all his most active impulses; whether it took 
 the form of sympathy for the ignorant and depressed 
 agricultural labourer, for the children deprived of the
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY 181 
 
 means of cultivating their intellectual faculties, for women 
 ousted by men from the provinces of labour in which 
 they could achieve independence, for the townspeople 
 shut out from the only places in which they could enjoy 
 healthy recreation, or for the millions of India governed 
 by an alien race too apt to neglect the real interests 
 of the subject or to allow their policy to turn upon 
 totally different considerations. Fawcett was invariably 
 upon the generous side. It seems to me that the interest 
 of his character is mainly due to this rare combination. 
 He was a man of superlative common sense, who could 
 see that common sense dictated the noblest line of con- 
 duct, and whose sound judgment of facts always led 
 him to judge justly, because he judged reasonably, and 
 to find the best field for his intellectual vigour by employ- 
 ing it in obedience to the dictates of a large and generous 
 heart. What was harshest in him became softened ; and 
 before we had lost him we had found out how imper- 
 fectly w r e had at first estimated the gentleness, which had 
 been overlaid, though never suppressed, by the strength 
 of his character.
 
 182 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER. 
 
 I MAY now take up the history of Fawcett's first attempts 
 to realise the dreams of his boyhood. His success has 
 made it difficult fully to realise the apparent extravagance 
 of his enterprise at the time. He was not the man to 
 win the favour of such patrons as could still dispose of 
 family boroughs. Yet he was not in all respects a pro- 
 mising candidate for a popular constituency. A success- 
 ful orator had occasionally been carried into Parliament 
 by some great wave of public feeling. But this was the 
 period of political calm, when Palmerston was the ap- 
 propriate representative of the prevailing sentiment. 
 Free trade had triumphed, and fault proposals for parlia- 
 mentary reform had expired amidst general indifference. 
 Nor was Fawcett likely to give complete satisfaction to 
 the Radical leaders. He had identified himself with 
 theories most obnoxious to the practical man. If the 
 regular party managers had an instinctive suspicion of 
 Mill as a theorist and a crotchet-monger, they were not 
 likely to be favourable to Mill's ardent disciple. They 
 would greatly prefer some rising barrister, or a successful 
 merchant who was ready to pay his money and accept 
 the regular platform without dispute. Fawcett's blind-
 
 EAELY POLITICAL CAREER 183 
 
 ness added a conclusive argument. A good-natured man 
 would regard it as a claim to some tenderness, but not 
 the less as a sufficient reason for suppressing, as gently 
 as might be, a too romantic aspiration. It was really a 
 kindness to intimate quietly, but firmly, that his ambition 
 was illusory, and coax him back to his study to amuse 
 himself with speculations on- abstract polities. Even 
 Fawcett's friends, so far as I can remember, were inclined 
 to fear that he might be flying too boldly in the face of 
 common sense. They could not refuse admiration to his 
 audacity, but they were unable to feel confident in his 
 success. Fawcett, however, set to work undauntedly. 
 He had to make his name known, to show that his 
 blindness did not prevent him from dealing with matters 
 of business, and to convince practical men that he could 
 force them to take him seriously. During the years 
 which immediately succeeded his accident he was vigor- 
 ously putting himself forward in every direction. Wher- 
 ever he became known he made friendships, and was 
 recognised as a man of genuine force of mind. His first 
 public appearance, I think, was at the meeting of the 
 British Association at Aberdeen in September 1859. 
 He went there accompanied only by the lad, Edward 
 Brown, and his solitary journey was regarded as rather 
 adventurous. At this meeting he read a paper upon the 
 ' Social and Economical Influence of the New Gold.' 
 He astonished an audience, to most of whom even his 
 name had hitherto been unknown, by the clearness with 
 which he expounded an economic theory and marshalled 
 the corresponding statistics as few men could have done 
 even with the advantage of eyesight. The discovery of
 
 184 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 Fawcett was the most remarkable event of the meeting. 
 He came south to attend the Social Science Association 
 at Bradford. Here he read a paper upon the ' Protection 
 of Labour from Immigration,' and the paper already 
 mentioned upon the theory and tendency of strikes which 
 so much impressed Sir James Kay Shuttleworth. He 
 made several friends at Bradford, especially Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hertz. Some of them were so much impressed by 
 his abilities as to consider the possibility of procuring an 
 invitation for him to stand for some Northern borough. 
 Nothing, however, came of this. A discussion took place 
 at the Bradford meeting upon proportional representa- 
 tion, papers having been read by Mr. Hare and A. T. 
 Mayo. It was on this occasion, I think, . that Fawcett 
 .first made Mr. Hare's acquaintance. He returned to 
 town to undergo the operation which finally dissipated 
 all hopes of eyesight. In the following year he served 
 on a committee appointed by the Social Science Asso- 
 ciation to investigate the question of strikes, and in the 
 September of that year took part in a discussion of the 
 report presented by this committee at the Glasgow 
 meeting. Fawcett decidedly preferred meetings of the 
 British Association to those of its younger rival. The 
 latter body was less unpropitious than might have been 
 desired to the emptier kinds of rhetoric. It brought 
 him into contact, however, with some men of real dis- 
 tinction, who, as a matter of course, became his friends. 
 He saw a little of Lord Brougham, who had become the 
 perpetual president of the association. Brougham, whose 
 powers were now decaying, was put forward in a way 
 which suggested more desire to exploit a great reputation
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER 185 
 
 than care to avoid an exhibition of his infirmities. 
 Fawcett would have been the last to object to a respect- 
 ful treatment of the veteran reformer, but he was 
 disgusted by what he took to be downright servility. 
 He would be content, he said, if they would permit 
 Brougham to be contradicted. His annoyance became 
 marked when in 1863 Brougham indulged in some re- 
 marks upon the American "War which, as Fawcett says, 
 ' drove me half wild.' He attended a meeting, however, 
 at Sheffield in 1865, when it may be worth noting that 
 he took part in a discussion on the management of rail- 
 ways by the State, and said that Government had a right 
 to interfere with the monopoly, though he suspended his 
 opinion until further inquiry. Until he became absorbed 
 in political life, he was a pretty regular attendant at the 
 British Association, where he enjoyed the society of emi- 
 nent men of science, and occasionally read papers upon 
 economical questions. 
 
 By this time he was coming forward more decisively 
 as a politician. He put forward a kind of manifesto in 
 two pamphlets published in 1860. They attracted, so 
 far as I know, very little notice. The first of them, as 
 C. B. Clarke tells me, was even suppressed, because it 
 seemed to identify him too completely with the details 
 of a scheme of which he never concealed his general 
 approval, but which was not yet ripe for practical ap- 
 plication. This was a popular exposition of Mr. Hare's 
 scheme. The second was a plan for a newBeform Bill, 
 suggested by the abortive measure introduced by Lord 
 John Kussell on March I, 1860. These pamphlets, 
 written under the influence of Mill and Mr. Hare, are
 
 186 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 chiefly remarkable as illustrating a point noticed in the 
 last chapter. Fawcett called himself a Radical, and 
 even professed to hold extreme opinions. Yet, Radical 
 as he was, and writing with the specific intention of 
 calling attention to his political pretensions, he is chiefly 
 preoccupied with the dangerous tendencies of democracy. 
 He holds, and he thinks that even a wise Conservative 
 must admit, that progress in the direction of democracy 
 is inevitable. But a Radical should be equally ready to 
 admit that democracy may be favourable to the tyranny 
 of the majority. The first pamphlet argues that the 
 adoption of Mr. Hare's scheme would provide a sufficient 
 safeguard against this serious danger. Although he 
 labours to prove the practicability of this scheme, he 
 could scarcely expect to attract many converts from the 
 ranks of active politicians. In his second pamphlet he 
 admits that there is at present no chance of the adoption 
 of his proposal. He suggests, therefore, a partial appli- 
 cation of the principle, by allowing each member of a 
 constituency to vote for only one candidate. In order 
 to secure a further advantage to intelligence, he would 
 give the franchise to all who had saved 6ol. under 
 certain defined conditions. This proposal takes up a 
 plan suggested by Disraeli in 1859, with modifications 
 intended to obviate the objections which had been fatal 
 to the original proposal. The constituencies are to be 
 BO redistributed as to give a voice to all interests. Can- 
 didates of more intelligence than wealth are to be en- 
 couraged by throwing the cost of elections upon the rates. 
 Fawcett in later years ceased to care for some of the 
 details of these plans ; but he invariably and inflexibly
 
 EAKLY POLITICAL CAKEEB 187 
 
 adhered to the main principles in after life. They express 
 with all possible clearness his dominant conviction that 
 political justice demanded, above all things, that a career 
 should be thrown open to all men of ability, and that a full 
 and fair hearing should be assured to every member of the 
 body politic. They show that, from the first, he was as 
 anxious to guard against the abuses of power generally 
 condoned by Radicals, as against those which they de- 
 nounce. The doctrine of proportional representation, 
 which seemed to him, as to Mill, to secure these objects, 
 had through his life his heartiest support. Although, as 
 I have said, he thought it impossible, for the present, to 
 introduce a complete embodiment of the scheme into any 
 political platform, he was anxious to bring its discussion 
 forward as much as possible. In the course of 1860 he 
 made the personal acquaintance of Mill, with whom he 
 had already been in correspondence during the early part 
 of that year, chiefly in reference to possible ways and 
 means of bringing Mr. Hare's scheme into greater pro- 
 minence. No practical result appears to have followed, 
 though there was some talk of the formation of a com- 
 mittee and some discussion of the best recruits to be 
 enlisted. In one letter Mill, after expressing his pride 
 that his teaching had been regarded as useful to such 
 a disciple, congratulates Fawcett on his selection of a 
 political object. He speaks of the importance of meet- 
 ing the political dangers of the future by securing the 
 adoption of Hare's scheme. Time presses, for if the 
 democracy once seize power, untrammelled by such 
 conditions, it will be no more inclined than would a 
 single ruler to abandon its despotic rule. The only
 
 188 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 chance, however, is to recommend the scheme from the 
 Liberal point of view. Conservatives show their blindness 
 by resisting and pouring scorn upon this truly Conserva- 
 tive principle ; and here, as in many other cases, Radicals 
 will have to play the part which ought to be assumed by 
 Conservatives. In another letter Mill cordially en- 
 courages Fawcett to persevere in his political ambition. 
 His loss of sight could only be a disqualification so far 
 as it had depressed his zeal. He has only to take all 
 fair opportunities of showing his powers in public, and 
 his misfortune will then turn out to be an advantage, 
 because it will excite sympathy, neutralise jealousy, and 
 help to spread his reputation. 
 
 Fawcett was no doubt encouraged by this judicious 
 opinion. His zeal was stimulated by the cordial good 
 will of the teacher, who was soon to become a warm per- 
 sonal friend. He was now looking out in every direction 
 for an opening into political life. He had called upon 
 men in high position. He had an interview with 
 Lord Stanley (the present Lord Derby) about the 
 Eeform Bill, introduced by the Derby Cabinet in 1859. 
 Lord Stanley, as Fawcett reported to Clarke, ' thought 
 me, I fancy, rather young.' He had visited the Marquis 
 of Exeter (then Lord High Steward of Cambridge) upon 
 a scheme for opening Fellowships to Dissenters. He had 
 also made inquiries at more than one borough supposed 
 to be in want of a candidate. In October 1860 Mr. 
 Bright, to whom he had spoken about some Scotch 
 borough, gave him very good reasons against the parti- 
 cular place, and recommended him, kindly but decidedly, 
 to wait until he had made himself better known.
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAEEER 189 
 
 Fawcett, however, was straining for a start. He soon 
 afterwards took a step which showed in the most em- 
 phatic way his remarkable moral courage. The death 
 of Sir Charles Napier, the admiral (November 6, 1860), 
 made a vacancy in the representation of Southwark. 
 Fawcett shrewdly perceived that the absence of local 
 interest, fatal in a small borough, would be of less ac- 
 count hi a shapeless slice from the wilderness of London. 
 But another circumstance induced him to come forward. 
 A report in the ' Morning Star ' of November 8 stated 
 that a meeting of Southwark electors had been held 
 the day before; speeches had been made denouncing 
 the bondage of electors to paid agents ; it was said 
 that Mr. John Locke, the sitting member, had been 
 forced to spend io,oooL on an election; and a com- 
 mittee was appointed to look out for some indepen- 
 dent candidate who would stand upon principles of 
 purity. Fawcett saw this report, which gave exactly 
 the opening he wished. On the following day, as we 
 learn from the ' Morning Star,' the committee was 
 waited upon by ' a Mr. Fawcett, who announced himself 
 as of Norfolk Street, Strand, and a Fellow of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge.' He stated that he had read the 
 report of the previous proceedings, and gave a satisfac- 
 tory account of his principles. He brought as his 
 credentials a letter from Lord Brougham, who had, as I 
 have said, seen Fawcett at the Social Science Association, 
 and had, no doubt, felt a genuine sympathy for a youth- 
 ful audacity, in which, if in little else, there was some 
 likeness between the two. 
 
 The Southwark committee was so far impressed that
 
 190 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 its chairman, Mr. Love, consented to preside at a meeting 
 to be held next day (Saturday, November 10) at the St. 
 George's Tavern. It was, I fancy, to this meeting that 
 a story applies which Fawcett used to tell with consider- 
 able glee, and which probably received a little colour in 
 the telling. Mr. Love and Mr. Archer, who had made 
 the speeches denouncing money influence at the first 
 committee meeting, both attended ; but few people had 
 come to hear the unknown candidate. Fawcett there- 
 fore sent to the bar of the tavern for an increase to his 
 audience, and moreover undertook to supply the report of 
 his speech, presenting a guinea to the gentleman whose 
 function he discharged. His speech at any rate ap- 
 peared in the ' Morning Star.' He spoke of Brougham, 
 and of Mill's encouraging letter, and pledged himself to 
 conduct the election on terms of absolute purity. He 
 expounded his principles, and made so good an impres- 
 sion that his future meetings were full and rapidly 
 became overflowing. He declared emphatically that 
 he would not spend a shilling to influence votes. The 
 meetings passed resolutions declaring rather guardedly 
 that his claims deserved attention. On the i$th he 
 issued an address. Five days ago, he says, he had been 
 an entire stranger. Three most influential meetings 
 had now passed unanimous resolutions declaring that 
 his claims deserved serious attention. He promises to 
 attend a series of meetings and allow the electors to 
 question him. Meanwhile he declares his main principles. 
 He would have supported their late member, Sir William 
 Molesworth, as a political leader. Molesworth, in fact, 
 was one of the philosophical Eadicals, whose tradition
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER 191 
 
 had been inherited by Fawcett. He is for a lodger 
 franchise ; abolition of church-rates ; removal of religious 
 restrictions (as he has shown at Cambridge) ; economy ; 
 the volunteer movement ; the equalisation of poor-rates, 
 and the reform of local government in London. He will 
 go to the poll if he can obtain the support of ' any 
 considerable section of the electors,' and he will devote 
 himself to his duties, having no profession to distract 
 him. His vigorous popular speaking, the interest 
 attracted by his blindness, and the coolness, good 
 humour, and frankness with which he replied to cross- 
 questioners soon won ardent support. Hearers soon came 
 from all parts of London, and the street outside the 
 place of meeting was often crowded. Mr. Halpin, who 
 was present, tells me, as a specimen of his answers, 
 that he was asked whether he approved of the separation 
 of married couples at workhouses a question which 
 then excited some feeling. He answered that they need 
 not perhaps be separated after sixty, but that he could 
 not wish the workhouses to be converted into breeding 
 establishments. At a 'crowded meeting' on the i6th, 
 a Mr. Dredge, who became a most ardent supporter, 
 moved that the meeting should pledge itself to elect him, 
 and the resolution was carried unanimously. 
 
 By this time the more regular forces were coming 
 into play. Mr. Apsley Pellatt came forward, but retired 
 on the 1 7th. Mr. Scovell, a gentleman cf local influence, 
 who had previously contested the borough, had mean- 
 while been induced to stand. His first meeting resolved 
 itself into a mere bear-garden ; furniture was smashed, and 
 speaking became impossible. Fawcett, a few days later,
 
 192 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 held a most successful meeting at the same place (Tay- 
 lor's South London Repository, opposite the Elephant 
 and Castle). The smashed furniture had been removed, 
 and perfect order prevailed in testimony to Fawcett's 
 command of his audience. He won another remarkable 
 triumph. A small meeting was held (on November 21) 
 of some influential electors who were supposed to be in 
 Mr. Scovell's interest. Mr. Dredge attended and 
 carried a motion expressing preference for Fawcett by 36 
 to 7. A deputation, however, was appointed to wait upon 
 another and more formidable candidate Mr. (now Sir 
 Austin Henry) Layard, whose name had for some time 
 been mentioned. 
 
 Hitherto Fawcett had carried on the game with sur- 
 prising success. He had, as he used to tell the story, a 
 committee room, duly announced by external placards ; 
 but the committee consisted solely of himself and his 
 boy, and the porter's orders were simply to admit no one 
 on any pretence. This may have been a humorous 
 exaggeration. He certainly had a committee of a more 
 substantial character before the election had gone on 
 long ; but, at any rate, he had still to fight against the 
 difficulty of an absence of influential support, and the 
 doubts of his bond fide action were increased by his 
 inability to pledge himself definitely to go to the poll. 
 I believe that he never seriously expected that he would 
 be able to do so, unless by some fortunate and very im- 
 probable combination of circumstances; though his 
 surprising success seemed at times to make it possible. 
 Mr. Layard' s acceptance of the candidature made the 
 prospect far less hopeful, for he was a man of wide
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER 193 
 
 reputation, and he was understood to be the Government 
 candidate, and the influence of the great employers of 
 labour was decidedly upon his side. Fawcett, however, 
 fought on gallantly. He spoke every night. He pro- 
 posed in vain that a mass meeting of electors should de- 
 cide between his claims and Mr. Layard's. Should they 
 reject him, he said, he would retire ; should they accept 
 him, he would pledge himself to poll against Mr. Scovell ; 
 but the proposal was not accepted. Fawcett's blindness 
 now became almost the principal topic of the election. 
 It roused the enthusiasm of his friends, and his antago- 
 nists pronounced it to be a fatal objection. He com- 
 plained that the deputation to Mr. Layard had, without 
 authority, declared him to be disqualified in the opinion 
 of the electors by this defect. Mr. Layard himself stated 
 that he regarded the objection as an insuperable one, 
 whilst professing personal respect for his antagonist. The 
 gallantry and perfect good temper with which Fawcett 
 defended himself on this point roused the heartiest en- 
 thusiasm of his hearers. On November 30 he replies to a 
 letter in the ' Times ' signed ' Common Sense,' which had 
 put this difficulty in a way which, one must suppose, 
 seemed sensible. ' Common Sense ' wanted to know how 
 Fawcett would find his way into the lobby ; how he 
 would catch the Speaker's eye, and so forth. The last ar- 
 gument would have been more to the purpose if Fawcett 
 had been a candidate for the Speakership. Fawcett had 
 no difficulty in rebutting such attacks. He challenged 
 Mr. Layard to argue with him any point supposed tore- 
 quire eyesight, when he would show his power of dealing 
 with statistics and figures. One elector asked him how he
 
 194 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 could understand local questions, in regard, for example, 
 to laying out new streets. Fawcett explained how he could 
 inform himself thoroughly by putting pins in a map. 
 Friends came forwards to bear witness to his powers. Mr. 
 Duncan McLaren, who had heard him at Glasgow, came 
 without notice to a meeting and spoke of him in the 
 warmest terms. Sir James Kay Shuttleworth sent an 
 enthusiastic letter, saying that the supposed obstacle had 
 only strengthened Fawcett's powers. Mr. Washington 
 Wilks then, I think, the editor of the ' Morning Star '- 
 attended another meeting to deliver a vigorous popular 
 oration. The general sympathy became intense, and 
 Fawcett used to speak of the energy with which unpaid 
 supporters had circulated the necessary bills. He had 
 (as he announced on December 2) been able to fight a 
 large borough for a month for less than 250?. At last, 
 however, the struggle came to an end. Fawcett was com- 
 pelled to decide that his prospects of success were not 
 sufficient to justify him in going to the poll, though he 
 had been able some time before to count upon 2,000 votes. 
 In an address dated December 8 he announces his 
 retirement. The poll took place on the nth, and Mr. 
 Layard was returned by a majority of more than 1,000 
 over Scovell, the latter obtaining over 3,300 votes. The 
 defeat was a victory. Shortly afterwards I find Fawcett 
 telling a friend that he is certain that his contest will 
 enable him to succeed on another occasion. He had 
 conclusively proved, in spite of all odds, that he was 
 a dangerous antagonist in a popular constituency. But 
 there was still much to be done. He had to show that 
 he could convert vague enthusiasm into active support.
 
 EAELY POLITICAL CAKEEE 195 
 
 The prominence given to the ' physical infirmity ' argu- 
 ment, upon which his opponents were constantly dwell- 
 ing, though with ostensible reluctance, showed plainly 
 enough that the objection was still insuperable in the 
 eyes of practical men. 
 
 The Mr. Dredge of the South wark contest was for 
 some time an important figure in Fawcett's parliamen- 
 tary campaigns. He was an intelligent citizen, earning 
 2l. or 3?. a week by ' wool sorting,' and possessed of a 
 shrewdness which would have qualified him to be an 
 admirable solicitor or election agent. His enthusiasm 
 for Fawcett was, I believe, perfectly genuine, though 
 some years afterwards he fell into difficulties and be- 
 haved badly to his old friend. For the present he was 
 an ally who could be very useful, but was not altogether 
 safe. Fawcett's position was a difficult one. He had 
 not merely to impress himself upon the public at large, 
 but to carry on negotiations with the under-world of 
 politics, the party managers, wirepullers, and so forth, who 
 had strong objections to any interference with their 
 established modes of procedure. Every candidate in 
 those days perhaps the case is not altogether changed 
 was tempted to make friends with the mammon of 
 unrighteousness. The temptation was of course especi- 
 ally strong for a man who was regarded as an intrusive 
 outsider. Fawcett's conduct in these matters, so far as 
 he was personally concerned, was strictly and invariably 
 honourable. He did his best to keep clear of personal 
 entanglements ; he never allowed himself to be inveigled 
 into giving pledges to which he could not fully adhere in 
 spirit as well as in letter ; he never acted ungenerously 
 
 o 2
 
 196 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 to friend or foe ; and it may, I think, be safely said that 
 no active politician has ever been freer from any suspicion 
 of want of straightforwardness. But some of his allies 
 and supporters were not conspicuous for delicacy. The 
 ordinary code of political morality admits of manoeuvres of 
 which it may be said that their adroitness is more conspi- 
 cuous than their lofty morality. Fawcett would never at 
 any time have lent himself to any such manoeuvre which 
 was tainted by a want of generosity or by political dis- 
 honesty. But I may say frankly that at this period his 
 own shrewdness and his hearty appreciation of shrewd- 
 ness in others led him to take rather too lenient a view of 
 some ingenious devices. His sense of humour was tickled, 
 and he could not help enjoying a stratagem which was 
 free from malevolence. He looked at it rather in the 
 light of a good practical joke, and could not find it in 
 his heart to be over-severe upon the contriver. 
 
 His friend Dredge acted as a kind of volunteer agent. 
 Fawcett of course paid his expenses, which were very 
 moderate compared with those of a regular professional, 
 and believed implicitly in Dredge's disinterested zeal. 
 Dredge went about to various constituencies. He made, 
 as I find, inquiries at Finsbury, Canterbury, Bolton, 
 Oldham, Leicester, and probably elsewhere ; and at such 
 places was apt to surround himself with a mysterious 
 halo of political importance not corresponding very ac- 
 curately to his real position. Some anecdotes as to his 
 respectful reception by local magnates, who would cer- 
 tainly have been less effusive had they known his true 
 position, caused a good deal of amusement in Fawcett's 
 inner circle.
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER 197 
 
 For two years, however, nothing came of these diplo- 
 matic proceedings. Fawcett was active intellectually, 
 and was rapidly enlarging his circle of friends. He 
 was working at his ' Manual,' and writing articles in 
 ' Mucmillan's Magazine ' and elsewhere. He was espe- 
 cially becoming intimate with some friends of Mill's. 1 
 Mr. Hare, as we have seen, was at Trinity Hall at 
 Christmas 1859. Another friend of Mill's, Mr. W. T. 
 Thornton, then Secretary to the Public Works Department 
 in the India Office, became especially intimate with 
 Fawcett and with C. B. Clarke at this time. He was a 
 man of singular amiability, of calm, slow-working in- 
 tellect, who would go on cross-examining any acquaintance 
 who had thrown out a remark not perfectly intelligible 
 with an amusing persistency. His favourite virtue was 
 candour, and it was not the less genuine because, like 
 other very candid people, he had a certain mild obstinacy 
 which secured him from the risk of conversion, however 
 benevolently he could listen to arguments. The self- 
 approbation fairly won by calmly listening to an opponent 
 rather strengthened the firmness of his adherence to his 
 own views. It was characteristic that he was practically 
 quite ignorant of agriculture, although he had written a 
 book of real value, for it was founded upon painstaking 
 research, upon peasant proprietorship. Fawcett was a 
 good deal amused by the difficulty of explaining to this 
 most exemplary official, responsible to some extent for the 
 
 1 Fawcett became a member of the Political Economy Club (almost 
 the only place, I think, at which Mill was then to be met with in society) 
 on March 7, 1861. He introduced questions for discussion in 1862, 18631 
 and 1 866. As Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge he resigned the 
 ordinary membership and became honorary member in February 1867.
 
 198 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 vast public works of India, the system of irrigation of 
 the water-meadows round Salisbury. Yet Thornton's 
 patient brooding over problems for which he had little 
 apparent qualifications led him to some useful results, 
 and he had the credit of converting Mill in regard to the 
 wage-fund doctrine. In two letters of November 1862 
 I find Thornton supplying Fawcett with some statistical 
 information about Indian products and railways, to be 
 used in the ' Manual.' In the previous month he writes 
 to Fawcett a letter, which I venture to quote, as it gives 
 an interesting description of their common teacher, 
 whilst it illustrates their feeling about him. 
 
 1 St. Vevan, Avignon, October 1862. 
 
 ' My dear Fawcett, You will, I feel sure, be interested 
 by a letter from this place, where I have been staying for 
 a week domiciled with our friend Mill. It seems to be 
 the custom in the South of France for all inhabitants of 
 towns who can afford it to have a little country box, 
 called in different places bastide, campagne, or jxiriUon, 
 and consisting of one, two, three, or four rooms, to which 
 they walk or drive on Sundays and holidays to pass a few 
 hours, locking it up and leaving it empty on their return 
 home in the evening. One of these campagnes Mill 
 has bought and enlarged. It stands about a mile from 
 Avignon, or, at least, from that part of it in which the 
 hotel and shops are situated. You walk to it by the side 
 of the beautiful Rhone, and then of an irrigation canal, 
 through green meadows where the third crop of hay is 
 now being cut, and through vineyards and plantations of 
 mulberries. In front of the house is an oblong garden,
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREEE 199 
 
 \vith an avenue of sycamores and mulberry-trees down 
 the middle, and at the end a trellis-work supporting a 
 vine, which serves as a verandah to the dwelling itself. 
 This is a small square building, whitewashed, with a tiled 
 roof and green Venetian blinds without, and within three 
 small sitting-rooms on the ground floor and two on the 
 floor above, all fitted up very simply, but with English 
 comfort and neatness, and a mixture of French and 
 English taste. Two of the lower rooms are the drawing 
 and dining-rooms ; the third is my bedroom, at the 
 window of which, looking into the garden, I am now 
 writing. Above are the bedrooms of Mill and Miss Taylor, 
 opening upon a terrace from which is a view of green 
 fields backed by ranges of mountains of most graceful 
 forms and constantly changing colours. At eight o'clock 
 we breakfast ; then, if there is no special plan for the day, 
 Mill reads or writes till twelve or one, when we set out 
 for a walk which lasts till dinner time. In the evening 
 Mill commonly reads some light book aloud for part of 
 the time. This, I fancy, is the ordinary mode of life 
 while here ; but he is now laying himself out to enter- 
 tain me, and almost every other day we make a carriage 
 excursion, starting directly after breakfast, and driving 
 twenty or thirty miles on end, and not returning till 
 sunset or later. We have already visited in this way 
 Petrarch's Valley of Vaucluse, the Eoman monuments 
 at St. Remy, and the curious feudal remains of Les Baux ; 
 and to-morrow we are to go to the famous Pont du Gard. 
 Mill tells me that they seldom let a week pass without 
 making some such excursion, but that this year they have 
 postponed all until my arrival. I am enjoying myself,
 
 200 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and no small part of my pleasure consists in seeing how 
 cheerfully and contentedly, if I may not say how happily, 
 Mill is living. I feel convinced that he will never be 
 persuaded permanently to abandon this retreat ; for here, 
 besides the seclusion in which he takes an almost morbid 
 delight, and a neighbourhood both very interesting and, 
 in its own peculiar way, very beautiful, he has also close 
 at hand the resting-place of his wife, which he visits daily ; 
 while in his step-daughter he has a companion in all 
 respects worthy of him. I hope you will not find all these 
 details tedious. At any rate, having filled my paper with 
 them I must bid you good-bye, begging you to remember 
 me to Mr. Stephen and to Clarke, and to believe me 
 ' Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 'W. T. THORNTON.' 
 
 Thornton remained a warm friend during life. 
 Another friend who had a very strong influence upon 
 Fawcett was the late Professor Cairnes. Fawcett writes 
 to him on September 27, 1862, asking him to be his 
 guest at the meeting of the British Association which 
 was about to be held at Cambridge, and expressing warm 
 admiration for Cairnes' s book on the ' Slave Power.' I 
 think that Cairnes was present. At this time he was still 
 in good health. Some time afterwards an accident brought 
 on the insidious disease which slowly crippled and finally 
 killed him. There was hardly anyone for whom Fawcett 
 entertained a more cordial affection. For years Cairnes 
 was a helpless invalid, and suffered cruelly. Fawcett, in 
 the midst of all engagements, was constantly running 
 down to his friend's house at Blackheath, cheering him
 
 EAELY POLITICAL CAREER 201 
 
 by his conversation, doing all he could to spread Cairnes's 
 reputation, encouraging him to collect and republish his 
 essays, bringing down anyone whom he thought likely to 
 be an amusing companion, and taking counsel with him 
 on the political measures in which they were both inter- 
 ested. The kindness was only part of Fawcett's invari- 
 able system, of which I have already given instances ; and 
 in this case Cairnes's vigorous intellect, which was never 
 weakened by his illness, made the congenial alliance pro- 
 fitable to both parties. During Fawcett's parliament- 
 ary career, Cairnes, so long as he lived, was one of his 
 most intimate advisers, whilst Mr. Leonard Courtney 
 made a third in this friendly union. 
 
 It was during this period that Fawcett gave a very 
 remarkable proof of his business powers, which may 
 come in here as a characteristic episode. His father 
 had been interested in Cornish mining, and had shown 
 the energy, inherited by his son, in the case of one ad- 
 venture. ' After many years of fruitless and dishearten- 
 ing toil and anxiety ' (as Sir John Lambert tells me) ' he 
 brought to success a large mining undertaking in Corn- 
 wall, in consideration of which he was entertained at a 
 banquet by the shareholders and presented by them with 
 a costly service of plate.' Fawcett had himself made ex- 
 cursions in Cornwall with his father, and had been speci- 
 ally interested in the mining captains an intelligent and 
 independent class whom he greatly respected. He wrote 
 several letters to the papers upon the condition of Cornish 
 miners and the mischief done by dishonest speculation. 
 He was also interested in some geological theories bearing 
 upon mines. A great rise in the value of some shares
 
 202 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 in which his father was interested excited him and his 
 friends about this time, and I remember a good many 
 conversations at Cambridge upon the subject. Fawcett 
 for a time took part in speculations upon the mining 
 exchange. It is, I imagine, very rare for an outsider to 
 venture into such regions and come back without loss. 
 Fawcett clearly showed that he could hold his own, and 
 something more. He soon found, however, that such 
 an occupation would be incompatible with the political 
 career now opening before him. He withdrew at once 
 and entirely ; and the only permanent result of his 
 operations was (as usual) an addition to the list of his 
 friendships. Mr. Hawke, of Liskeard, in particular, was 
 a lifelong friend. Fawcett stayed with him in 1868, 
 when he especially enjoyed some long swims in the sea, 
 which he visited from Mr. Hawke' s house ; and he went 
 there again in February 1883, after his dangerous illness 
 two months previously. Mr. Hawke tells me that it was 
 always thought that Fawcett could have made his for- 
 tune if he had devoted himself to mining speculations. 
 Fawcett himself refers apparently to something of this 
 kind in a speech made at Brighton before the election 
 of 1865. His friends had told him that he could never 
 get into Parliament, and that he had ' better go on to 
 the Stock Exchange and make a fortune.' ' I replied,' he 
 says, ' " No ; I am convinced that the duties of a member 
 of the House of Commons are so multifarious, the ques- 
 tions brought before him so complicated and difficult, 
 that, if he fully discharges his duty, he requires almost a 
 lifetime of study." I said, " If I take up this profession, 
 I will not trifle with the interests of my country ; I will
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAKEER 203 
 
 not trifle with the interests of my constituents by 
 going into the House of Commons inadequately pre- 
 pared because I gave up to the acquisition of wealth 
 the time which I ought to have spent in the acquisition of 
 political knowledge." ' The sacrifice, as will be seen, was 
 genuine. 
 
 Towards the end of 1 862 it became known that there 
 was to be a vacancy in the representation of Cambridge. 
 Some of the leaders of the Liberal party in the town 
 had naturally become known to Fawcett and had spoken 
 to him of a possible candidature. Except for this local 
 association, Cambridge was not a very suitable borough. 
 It was a comparatively small constituency, much under 
 the influence of party managers, and a good deal dis- 
 tracted by rather bitter feelings between Churchmen and 
 Dissenters. No promising opening, however, had turned 
 up since the contest for Southwark, and that contest had 
 left some doubts of his ability to carry out a campaign to 
 its legitimate conclusion. It might, therefore, be worth 
 while to show that he could fight in earnest. A meeting 
 of Liberal electors had resolved to put forward Colonel 
 Adair (now Lord Waveney) as their candidate. A certain 
 party of Liberals, however, objected to Adair, their chief 
 reason being apparently that he did not sufficiently satisfy 
 the Dissenters. A requisition, signed by 263 electors, was 
 presented to Colonel Adair when he came to hold a public 
 meeting in January 1863, in consequence of which he 
 immediately retired from the contest. One of the leaders 
 of the discontented party had seen Fawcett's friend 
 Dredge, and now, without consulting Fawcett, made use 
 of Dredge in getting up this requisition. Dredge had
 
 204 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 not the delicacy to perceive the probable meaning of such 
 a manoeuvre. He was horrified when he heard Fawcett's 
 view of the matter. Fawcett was, of course, shocked at 
 such a proceeding, which had taken place during his 
 absence and entirely without his knowledge. Fawcett, 
 in fact, had done his best to keep entirely apart from the 
 little squabbles of the place. The movement was calcu- 
 lated, if not intended, to make him the tool of the dis- 
 satisfied section. It would have been an underhand 
 proceeding, entirely alien to his nature, to have got up a 
 movement of this kind against a rival candidate. But 
 if it had come out that a man so closely connected with 
 him as Dredge had been concerned in the matter, the 
 candour of political opponents would not have been 
 equal to accepting his disavowal. As it was, Fawcett 
 was accused by his political opponents of being turned 
 to account by the malcontents ; and that section may, of 
 course, have been encouraged by the expectation that he 
 would come forward. 
 
 With this, however, Fawcett had no concern. His 
 friend Macmillan was entirely free from any connection 
 with such intrigues, and had taken no part in any local 
 politics. His warm appreciation of Fawcett's abilities 
 made him eager to seize any opportunity of opening a 
 career to his friend. As soon as Colonel Adair retired, 
 Macmillan went to Fawcett and begged him to issue an 
 address. If Fawcett would write an address, he said, 
 it should be all over the town by the next morning 
 Fawcett consented. ' If I am anybody's candidate,' he 
 said at the time, ' I am Macmillan's candidate ; ' but he 
 endeavoured to be nobody's candidate. The address
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER 205 
 
 appeared on January 28, 1863, and the contest at once 
 began. Fawcett's University friends did what they 
 could to support him. Abdy, then Eegius Professor of 
 Civil Law, acted as his official election agent. Macmillan 
 took the chair at his meetings ; his friends Latham and 
 Hopkins, then tutors of Trinity Hall, Gunson, Hammond, 
 Clarke, Pryme, the Professor of Political Economy, and 
 others appeared on the platform ; and Mr. Fawcett 
 senior came from Salisbury to support his son. The 
 local Conservative journal of course assailed him, and 
 published letters from ' Caustic ' in the approved style 
 of the provincial Junius. The worst they could say of 
 Fawcett was that he was an advanced Eadical, and that, 
 although he called himself a member of the Church of 
 England, he was ready to abolish Church rates, and, 
 horror of horrors ! to admit Dissenters to Fellowships. 
 A terrible picture was outlined of well-known Dissenting 
 ministers at Cambridge seated in Masters' lodges. The 
 imputation that he was put forward by a clique of mal- 
 contents was also worked and probably to more effect. 
 The party which resented Colonel Adair's expulsion 
 abstained from voting. At the poll (February 10, 1863) 
 Mr. F. S. Powell received 708 votes and Fawcett 627. 
 The Conservative majority of 81 had been 67 at the 
 previous contest of 1859; but the election, according to 
 the Liberal organ, w r ould have gone the other way had 
 not the adverse section held aloof. 
 
 The contest cost some 6ooL, and was not very satis- 
 factory. My clearest recollection refers to a dinner 
 which was held in the college lecture-room to celebrate 
 the event. The party numbered twenty-one, and I was
 
 206 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the only person present who had not the honour of being 
 the subject of a toast. The college servants were a 
 little scandalised at having to wait upon the strange 
 collection of Radicals and Dissenters which gathered 
 on this occasion within the academic precincts. Fawcett 
 enjoyed the excitement and fun of the election ; but he 
 gained by it only the proof, whatever it might be worth, 
 that he would go to the poll as well as make speeches. 
 Had he come forward again he would, I believe, have 
 united the Liberal party ; but he had seen enough of 
 the then condition of Cambridge politics to have little 
 desire for closer intimacy. 
 
 In. the same year, as I have said, Fawcett was elected 
 to the chair of political economy ; and the triumph was 
 all the greater after so recent a manifestation of Eadical 
 zeal. Soon after this, Fawcett at last found a chance, of 
 which he made good use, and which finally gave him a 
 firm foothold in politics. A vacancy occurred at Brighton 
 by the retirement of Mr. Coningham. The Liberals 
 were understood to have a safe majority in the borough, 
 and several candidates appeared. Mr. Kuper Duni, 
 member of the Stock Exchange, was the first to begin a 
 canvass. Mr. (now Sir Arthur) Otway, who had already 
 represented Stafford ; Mr. (now Sir Julian) Goldsmid, 
 who had much local influence, and Fawcett came forward 
 as Liberals. The Conservatives put up Mr. Moor, a 
 highly respectable resident, who had previously contested 
 the borough. To meet the danger of a split in the party, 
 a meeting of Liberal electors was held on January 19. 
 It was resolved to appoint a committee. The function of 
 this committee, as the mover of the resolution expressly
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREEE 207 
 
 stated, was not to take a final decision, but to report 
 upon the merits of the candidates and to arrange for a 
 meeting at which they should make their own statements. 
 The final decision was then to be made by a show of 
 hands. Mr. Dumas declined to come before this com- 
 mittee, considering, apparently, that he had acquired a 
 right by being first in the field. The other candidates 
 agreed to accept its decision ; and Fawcett in particular, 
 in a letter written next day, declared very unequivocally 
 that he would be bound by its report. Until the report 
 was presented he would take no further steps in his 
 canvass. He and his rivals had interviews with the 
 committee. The committee told Fawcett expressly that 
 the final decision did not rest with them. They further 
 gave (as he said, without contradiction) a ' distinct and 
 solemn pledge ' that he should have an opportunity of 
 addressing the electors. They told him that he had 
 removed from their own minds any impression that 
 his blindness was a disqualification, but they doubted 
 whether he could remove that impression from the minds 
 of the constituency. This was a matter of vital import- 
 ance for him. The committee were only to report upon 
 his merits, and, if their opinion were otherwise favourable, 
 would leave him to convince the electors that his blind- 
 ness was not a fatal disability. The obstacle, as we have 
 seen, had been sincerely regarded as insuperable by many, 
 both at Southwark and at the Cambridge professorship 
 contest. It was certainly irremovable, and now again be- 
 came a most prominent consideration. The committee 
 agreed upon a report and called a meeting for the 25th. 
 It became known that the report virtually set Fawcett
 
 208 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 aside. Hereupon he wrote to the committee stating that 
 he should attend the meeting ; that if their report were 
 adopted, he should retire at once ; but, if it were rejected, 
 he should, if called upon, address the meeting. 
 
 The committee apparently thought that the letter im- 
 plied unwillingness to carry out his agreement. At the 
 request of some of its members, Mr. Willett, a gentleman 
 well known in Brighton for his high character and 
 public spirit, called upon Fawcett, then an entire stranger 
 to him, in order to discuss the matter, and was satisfied 
 with his explanations. At the meeting, the report was 
 duly read. It stated that Mr. Otway was the most 
 eligible candidate. It then mentioned Mr. Goldsmid in 
 favourable terms ; and said, finally, that though Fawcett 
 had every virtue, the committee, ' with deep regret, fear 
 that the constituency would deem that ' his blindness 
 ' would be some drawback to his usefulness.' The com- 
 mittee, it must be noticed, did not express their own 
 opinion, but rested then* decision upon an anticipation of 
 the opinion of the constituency. This was to anticipate 
 precisely the point which (as Fawcett understood) had 
 been expressly reserved for settlement with the voters. 
 What else could be the sense of the promise that he 
 should have an opportunity of addressing them ? The 
 reading of the report brought about a most dramatic 
 scene. Mr. Willett moved in formal terms that it 
 should be accepted. The meeting, however, was crowded 
 by the friends of Mr. Dumas, who had been entirely set 
 aside by these proceedings. One of them immediately 
 moved an amendment in favour of his candidate. The 
 meeting was uproarious. After much turmoil, the amend-
 
 EAELY POLITICAL CAEEEK 209 
 
 ment was put ; and the chairman, after an inconclusive 
 show of hands, had at last to pronounce that it was carried. 
 Hereupon the meeting became a mere chaos of inarticu- 
 late hubbub. The chairman, apparently at his wits' end, 
 called upon the candidates to speak. Messrs. Dumas, 
 Otway, and Goldsmid uttered spasmodic professions of 
 political faith which were swallowed up in the tumult. 
 Then Fawcett came forward, and won probably the 
 greatest oratorical triumph of his life. He began amidst 
 great interruption ; but after a few sentences, says the 
 reporter in a hostile paper, the vast body of electors ' lis- 
 tened with breathless attention.' You could have heard 
 a pin drop, as a hearer has told me. Fawcett began by 
 pointing out that the committee was appointed not to 
 decide, but to recommend, and that it was pledged to give 
 the candidates an opportunity of speaking to the electors 
 a matter of the most critical importance in his case. 
 And then he told them his story. ' You do not know me 
 now,' he said, ' but you shall know me in the course of 
 a few minutes.' He proceeded with the account of his 
 accident, during which, says the reporter, ' a deep feeling 
 of pity and sympathy seemed to pervade the meeting.' 
 He told them how he had been blinded by two stray 
 shots ' from a companion's gun ; ' how the lovely land- 
 scape had been instantly blotted out ; and how he knew 
 that every lovely scene would be henceforth ' shrouded 
 in impenetrable gloom.' ' It was a blow to a man,' he 
 said simply ; but in ten minutes he had made up his 
 mind to face the difficulty bravely. He would never ask 
 for sympathy, but he demanded to be treated as an 
 equal. He went on with the story of his previous 
 
 p
 
 210 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 attempts to enter Parliament, and ended with a pro- 
 fession of his political principles. I do not think that 
 Fawcett ever again referred to his accident in public, 
 except in speaking to fellow-sufferers. His blindness was 
 apparently being made an insuperable obstacle ; his best 
 and most natural answer was to tell the plain story of 
 his struggle, and he told it with a straightforward manli- 
 ness which completely overpowered the audience. 
 
 The meeting separated, and everything was now in 
 confusion. Mr. Otway told Mr. Coningham that night 
 that in his opinion ' Fawcett was the man for Brighton.' 
 Next day he had an interview with Fawcett, and asked 
 him what he should do under the circumstances. Faw- 
 cett replied at once that he now felt bound to persevere 
 for a time. If in a week he found that a majority of the 
 Liberals did not support him, he should retire. Mr. 
 Otway hereupon at once retired, and advised the com- 
 mittee to support Fawcett. Mr. Otway, if any man, was 
 the aggrieved party. As in all cases where important 
 conditions are left to be understood by verbal communica- 
 tions, angry charges were made, and Fawcett was accused 
 of having broken his pledge. Mr. Willett spoke to Fawcett 
 upon the subject. Fawcett at once challenged his ac- 
 cusers to attend a meeting which he held on Thursday, 
 January 28. They declined to come. A resolution was 
 passed all but unanimously, on the motion of Mr. Willett, 
 acquitting Fawcett of all imputations. Whatever the 
 weight of such a resolution, I think that upon this, 
 the only occasion of his life upon which any charge was 
 seriously made against his thorough straightforward- 
 ness, no real blame can be fixed upon him. He had, it
 
 EAKLY POLITICAL CAKEEE 211 
 
 must be observed, nothing whatever to do with the 
 rejection of the report. He had taken no steps whilst 
 the committee was sitting, and he only spoke, with the 
 other candidates, when he was called upon by the chair- 
 man. The only question could be whether he was justi- 
 fied in declaring to Mr. Otway on the next day that he 
 intended to proceed with his candidature. The best 
 possible test of a man's action in a case of this kind is 
 the opinion of those who know all the circumstances, 
 Fawcett won not only the acquittal but the active 
 support and permanent friendship of honourable men. 
 Colonel Fawcett (no relation to his namesake), a hearty 
 and effective political leader, who had seconded the motion 
 for the committee of selection, became the chairman o 
 his committee. There was a story, I remember, that 
 Colonel Fawcett had been making a speech on some 
 previous occasion, when one of the smooth round pebbles 
 which have been so lavishly provided for the benefit 
 (amongst other things) of Brighton roughs, cut open his 
 cheek. He went on without moving a muscle, with the 
 blood streaming from the wound, and was ever after- 
 wards a popular hero upon Brighton platforms. The 
 colonel was from this time a cordial friend. Mr. Willett, 
 who had made Fawcett's acquaintance through the 
 dispute, became his vice-chairman, and threw himself 
 into the cause with such enthusiasm that when, soon 
 afterwards, the money obstacle threatened to be fatal 
 he undertook to pay the costs of the election, and thus 
 incurred a very considerable expense. Another friend 
 whom I must mention was Mr. Merrifield, a barrister 
 resident at Brighton, who warmly defended Fawcett in 
 
 p 2
 
 212 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 the press and became his life-long friend. Mr. Coningham, 
 the previous member, also joined the committee. It 
 was, I think, the view of these gentlemen that the com- 
 mittee were inclined to regard Fawcett as an intruder, 
 and had been anxious to get rid of him by interpreting 
 their powers, no doubt in good faith, but in a sense not 
 properly admissible. 
 
 The split in the party now became hopeless. Various 
 attempts were made to secure some arbitration. It was 
 impossible to arrange any acceptable terms, and before 
 long Fawcett, Goldsmid, and Dumas were all pledged to 
 go to the poll. A trifling additional element of confusion 
 was the candidature of a Mr. Harper upon purely Pro- 
 testant principles. Fawcett set to work with his usual 
 energy. He spoke constantly and effectively. During the 
 heat of the contest Fawcett had to deliver his inaugural 
 lecture at Cambridge (on the 3rd of February). He left 
 Brighton in the morning and returned in time to address a 
 public meeting in the evening. Dredge and C. B. Clarke 
 were active in the committee-room ; and Fawcett's father 
 and sister came over from Salisbury. One part of the 
 campaign gave us a great deal of amusement. The local 
 papers had taken the side of one or other of the rival can- 
 didates. We could not obtain insertion in them for an 
 article which I had written on behalf of Fawcett's claims. 
 Hereupon it was suggested by (I think) Mr. Washington 
 Wilks, who had supported him at Southwark, that Faw- 
 cett should start for the nonce a paper of his own. Mr. 
 Wilks sent down a sufficiency of type from the ' Morning 
 Star ; ' and during a week before the election we published 
 a small newspaper now, I fancy, of extreme rarity
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREER 213 
 
 entitled the ' Brighton Election Reporter.' It was sold 
 for the modest sum of a halfpenny ; and, as the newsboys 
 were allowed to keep the proceeds, it attained a very 
 lively circulation. I had the honour of being installed 
 as editor ; and I may boast that I was also the chief con- 
 tributor. I cannot say upon a fresh perusal of its pages 
 that its wit or logic were such as to entitle it to a per- 
 manent place in literature. So much, however, may be 
 said of more important organs of public opinion. In any 
 case, it gave us the means of putting forward Fawcett's 
 claims, and enabled us to answer the imputations rising 
 out of the decision of the committee. A contest between 
 four Liberals necessarily turned a good deal upon personal 
 topics. We told the story of Fawcett's life; insisted 
 upon his vigour and independence ; and pointed out that 
 our antagonists relied upon local influence, and that their 
 statements were in some instances trimming and am- 
 biguous. We considered ourselves to be eminently witty, 
 forcible, and at the same time laudably free from un- 
 worthy personalities* It is enough, however, to illustrate 
 our sentiments by quoting a few phrases from a final 
 appeal. We pointed out the difficulty of deciding be- 
 tween candidates, all professing the same principles in 
 general terms ; and suggested that it was better for con- 
 stituents to attend meetings and cross-examine the can- 
 didates themselves instead of trying to interpret carefully 
 prepared addresses. ' Let them go to judge whether he 
 (Fawcett) is not perfectly straightforward and honest in 
 the enunciation of his political opinions, and whether he 
 will not give a plain answer to a plain question. They 
 will certainly have the advantage of hearing manly and
 
 214 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 sterling eloquence ; and, if they know a man when they 
 see one, they will not come home without the pleasant 
 conviction that they have seen a true specimen of the 
 English variety of the breed. They will probably 
 share our conviction that we have a chance of electing a 
 representative who will be a name and a power in this 
 country before many years are over.' 
 
 After a noisy nomination, in which rotten eggs and 
 Brighton pebbles played their part, the election finally 
 took place on Monday, February 15. Fawcett headed 
 the poll in the early hours, when the working-men voted, 
 but he was passed before eleven, and at four o'clock the 
 votes were Moor, 1,663; Fawcett, 1,468; Goldsmid, 775 ; 
 Harper, 82. Mr. Dumas polled 175 votes, and retired, 
 being in a hopeless minority, at ten o'clock. There was 
 some natural but, I believe, quite unreasonable irritation, 
 that Mr. Goldsmid had not felt himself at liberty to do 
 the same, as the addition of any considerable part of his 
 voters would have secured the Liberal triumph. Fawcett, 
 however, took his defeat with perfect cheerfulness and 
 good humour ; and indeed, though his friends were less 
 philosophical, he had some reason for complacency. He 
 had won such a position that it was now certain that he 
 must be the accepted Liberal candidate at the next elec- 
 tion. Unless there should be a sudden change in the 
 balance of parties, his speedy success was therefore 
 assured. He was, in fact, elected at the General Election 
 of 1865. In the interval, he addressed various meetings 
 at Brighton. His most remarkable speech was an 
 address upon parliamentary reform on September 13, 
 1864. The question was now beginning to excite popular
 
 EARLY POLITICAL CAREEE 215 
 
 attention. Fawcett spoke of the honourable attitude of the 
 working-classes during the American war, and upon the 
 reception of Garibaldi in London. They proved, he said, 
 that the questions which really roused enthusiasm in 
 the English people were those which appealed to their 
 moral sentiments. He argued that something must be 
 rotten if a man at 2Os. a week had not as much interest 
 in the peace and prosperity of the country as his neigh- 
 bour with io,ooo/. a year. The sufferings inflicted by a 
 war fall chiefly upon the poor ; and any argument which 
 implied that they should be rightfully excluded from the 
 franchise as incompetent and indifferent, was an argu- 
 ment denoting a degraded and unwholesome state of 
 feeling. He proceeded to argue against the theory that 
 the rich would be swamped by the poor voters on the 
 ground that working-men were as much divided in 
 opinion as other classes. He urged, however, signifi- 
 cantly that any measure of reform should be judged in 
 accordance with our answer to the question, ' Do we think 
 it will cause the various sections of opinion to be more 
 independently and honestly represented ? ' He argued, 
 in fact, on the lines of his pamphlet on reform, though 
 without committing himself to special details or dis- 
 tinctly mentioning schemes of minority representation. 
 He feared, as I learn from a letter addressed to him by 
 Mill, that his language about Mr. Hare's scheme would 
 not be considered as sufficiently outspoken by its most 
 eminent supporter. Mill replies that, on the whole, he 
 had been more favourably impressed than otherwise. 
 The speech was greatly superior to election speeches in 
 general. He objects, however, to the argument against
 
 216 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the probability of a union of opinion amongst working- 
 men. It tends to depreciate the danger against which 
 Hare's scheme is directed, and is really unsound. 
 Working-men may be divided on other points, but not 
 the less united upon matters touching their own class 
 interests. Fawcett, as appears from later speeches, was 
 not convinced by this criticism. 
 
 When the election approached, a joint committee 
 was formed for Fawcett and Mr. White, the sitting 
 Liberal member. A great meeting was held in the 
 riding-school of the Pavilion, at which the two Liberal 
 candidates appeared, and resolutions in their favour 
 were passed; Colonel Fawcett and Mr. Willett both 
 speaking in their support. Fawcett's father was also 
 present, and enthusiastically received. Fawcett's own 
 speech indicates some of the difficulties which he had 
 to encounter. A Tory, he said, had summed them up 
 by saying that he would have to contend with ' 1,500^ 
 from the Carlton and a cart-load of slander.' The 
 slander seems to have been mixed; but the serious 
 arguments were that Fawcett was a poor man and 
 that he was plotting the ruin of the tradesmen by his 
 advocacy of co-operation. He replied with manly 
 eloquence by adopting both charges. He certainly had 
 advocated co-operation, and considered it the best remedy 
 for poverty. He certainly was poor; he had won an 
 income enough for independence by his own exertions in 
 an open field, and had deliberately preferred the study 
 of politics to the acquisition of wealth. Cobden then 
 just departed was a poor man ; but he had ' vanquished 
 a proud aristocracy ; ' he had destroyed a gigantic mono-
 
 EAKLY POLITICAL CAKEEK 217 
 
 % 
 
 poly and given bread and prosperity to millions of his 
 countrymen. When Fawcett visited the House of 
 Commons, he had found, he said, that every word ut- 
 tered by Cobden made its impression, whilst the words 
 of millionaires might pass unnoticed ; and he inferred 
 that poverty would not destroy a man's influence in the 
 House if he were thoroughly qualified for his position, 
 nor prevent his return by an independent constituency in 
 spite of all ostentation of wealth by richer men. Faw- 
 cett's independence excited respect and enthusiasm 
 enough to secure his return. But his avowed incapacity 
 to spend money was felt as an objection by some part of 
 the constituency. I do not think that I do injustice to 
 Brighton by saying that it contained some voters with a 
 preference for gentlemen who could encourage trade and 
 give handsome subscriptions to the races. For the 
 present, however, Fawcett's appeal to their higher feel- 
 ings was triumphant. The objection to his blindness 
 seems to have vanished. The difficulty of catching the 
 Speaker's eye, he says, has ' become an interesting relic 
 of the past.' The number of the constituency had in- 
 creased by 1,000. On the day of election (July 12, 1865), 
 6,492 out of 8,661 electors polled, and the numbers 
 were White, 3,065; Fawcett, 2,665; Moor, 2,134. 
 The total expense of Fawcett appears to have been a 
 little over 900?., towards which, I believe, there was some 
 subscription from his friends.
 
 218 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 f 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON. 
 
 FAWCETT had thus, at the age of 32, achieved the great 
 object of his ambition. He was at last a member of 
 Parliament. His friends used often to talk over the 
 probabilities of his success. He had shown by undeni- 
 able proofs that he could command the attention of 
 a popular audience. The question remained whether 
 he would be equally successful in the more fastidious 
 assembly where, it is generally supposed, success de- 
 pends upon some mysterious and indefinable aptitude. 
 Critics who knew nothing of him personally took him 
 to be an impracticable Kadical, fitter to maintain ab- 
 stract theses in a debating society than to take part in 
 serious legislation. The better-informed felt no shadow 
 of doubt that his force of character and intellect would 
 make themselves felt in any assembly in the long 
 run. But they doubted whether he might not have a 
 severe ordeal to go through. He might, they feared, be 
 too dogmatic and audacious ; whilst his blindness would 
 be some obstacle to his acquiring the true orator's in- 
 stinctive perception of the temper of his audience. He 
 might be tempted to fall too much into the tone of a 
 lecturer addressing obsequious pupils. Fawcett himself 
 was fully alive to the possible dangers of speaking too
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 219 
 
 much, or upon subjects where he had not some claims to 
 speak as one having authority. 
 
 In the first Parliament (1865-68) he therefore re- 
 mained comparatively quiet. The Parliament was one 
 which prepared the way for changes of vast importance. 
 The political condition originated by the Eeform Bill of 
 1832 was coming to an end. Two of the great figures 
 of the preceding period passed away in this year : 
 Cobden died on April 2, and Palmerston on October 18, 
 1865. Cobden had been a warm personal friend. 
 Fawcett said in a speech at the Cobden Club, two years 
 later, that he revered the great agitator more than any 
 man he had ever met. The phrase, which I take from a 
 condensed report, was probably qualified in some way, 
 for he would hardly, even on such an occasion, have 
 implied that anyone came before Mill in his scale of 
 veneration. He had a regard, too, for Palmerston, 
 Cobden's greatest antagonist ; and, in a speech shortly 
 after Palmerston's death, explained his reasons. The 
 true secret, he said, of Palmerston's success was that 
 through life he showed ' a genial and an honest and 
 warm heart,' and never deserted a friend. To this, 
 which was a characteristic indication of Fawcett's own 
 sympathies, it may be added that Fawcett was fully 
 prepared to appreciate Palmerston's patriotic sentiments. 
 Though a Eadical, Fawcett was as thoroughly hearty an 
 Englishman as any Conservative. In spite of his con- 
 viction that the Cobdenites had deserved well of their 
 country, he thought that their view of foreign politics 
 was in certain cases too much biassed by commercial 
 considerations. It was plain, however, that a new era
 
 220 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 was approaching. The most remarkable election in 
 1 865 was that of Mill for Westminster. Mr. Gladstone, 
 rejected for Oxford, came in for South Lancashire. 
 The period was beginning during which he and Disraeli 
 were to be the representatives of the chief opposite 
 tendencies. For the present, Mr. Gladstone still served 
 under Lord Kussell, and Mr. Disraeli under Lord Derby. 
 The main result of the labours of the Parliament was 
 the singular series of operations by which the Eeform 
 Bill of 1867 was ultimately carried. In 1866 the 
 modest bill introduced by Lord Kussell's Government 
 was ruined by the famous defection of the ' Cave.' Mr. 
 Lowe and Mr. Horsman expressed the hearty distrust 
 entertained by the genuine Whig of the new social 
 strata to be brought within the sphere of politics. The 
 bill broke down, and Lord Eussell finally disappeared 
 from active political life. In 1867 Disraeli succeeded 
 in educating his party ; it turned out that household suf- 
 frage was really a Conservative measure, and the nation 
 proceeded, as Carlyle puts it, to ' shoot Niagara,' with 
 consequences which will some day have to be summed up 
 by the impartial historian of the future. 
 
 Fawcett, though necessarily a subordinate in this 
 campaign, took, as will appear, a decided part in the 
 operations. I give the letter in which he describes his 
 first experience to his father : 
 
 ' 123 Cambridge Street, Warwick Square, London : 
 
 February i, 1866. 
 
 ' My dear Father, I have just returned from my first 
 experience of the House of Commons. I went there 
 early in the morning, and soon found that I should have
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 221 
 
 no difficulty in finding my way about. I walked in with 
 Tom Hughes about five minutes to two, and a most con- 
 venient seat close to the door was at once, as it were, 
 conceded to me ; and I have no doubt that it will always 
 be considered my seat. Everyone was most kind, and I 
 was quite overwhelmed with congratulations. I am glad 
 that my first visit is over, as I shall now feel perfect 
 confidence that I shall be able to get on without any 
 particular difficulty. The seat I have is as convenient a 
 one as any in the House, and a capital place to speak 
 from. I walked away from the House of Commons with 
 Mill. He sits on the bench just above me, close to 
 Bright. I sit next but one to Danby Seymour ; White [his 
 colleague for Brighton] is three or four places from me. 
 
 ' Mother has indeed made a most wise selection in 
 my lodgings. They at present seem everything I could 
 desire ; the rooms are larger than I expected, and Mrs. 
 Lark and the servant are most civil and obliging. This 
 is everything in lodgings. I can walk to the House of 
 Commons in exactly a quarter of an hour ; this is not 
 too far. 
 
 ' Accept my best thanks for the hamper. Everything 
 has arrived quite safely, and all the contents will prove 
 most acceptable. We are going to have the fowl for 
 dinner to-night at seven. I hope now that I am so 
 comfortably settled, some of you will often come to 
 London. When am I to expect Maria ? 
 
 ' Give my kindest love to mother and her, and in 
 great haste, to save post, 
 
 ' Believe me, dear Father, 
 
 ' Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 ' HENRY FAWCETT.'
 
 222 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 I may just notice that Fawcett's voice was heard 
 almost for the first time in the House of Commons on 
 February 23, 1866, when he asked why the wages of 
 certain letter-carriers had not been raised by the Post- 
 Office. Soon afterwards, he made his first serious 
 experiment in a set speech upon the Reform Bill, on 
 March 13. From Mr. Courtney, who was present, and 
 from various contemporary references, I learn that it was 
 decidedly successful ; although, not unnaturally perhaps, 
 it provoked some expressions of impatience. It was in 
 any case characteristic. The sneers of the ' Cave ' at the 
 classes about to be enfranchised, and the insincerity of 
 the previous treatment of the question by politicians, had 
 roused Fawcett's indignation. He began with a spirited 
 assault upon the prophetic warnings of Messrs. Lowe, 
 Horsrnan, and other dreaders of democracy, and passed 
 to a eulogy upon the high political instinct shown by the 
 workmen during the American contest. He pointed out 
 that the great questions of the future were those affecting 
 labour and capital ; and urged the importance of admitting 
 the classes most deeply interested to a direct share in 
 their decision, whilst maintaining (in spite of the pre- 
 viously noticed criticism from Mill) that the working- 
 classes would not vote en masse more than any other 
 class. The measure which he particularly noticed as 
 likely to be favoured by reform was an extension of the 
 Factory Acts. Confidence in the working-classes, who had 
 been unjustly maligned by the sneers of his opponents, and 
 the conviction that their enfranchisement would lead 
 to a serious opening of the great social questions, was 
 in fact the keynote of the speech. Probably dissentients
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 223 
 
 did not as yet fully recognise the strength of his con- 
 victions or distinguish his utterances from those of the 
 mere dealers in academic commonplaces ; and it was 
 some of these phrases about the good sense of the working- 
 classes which appear to have struck his audience as 
 superfluous. Fawcett regretted, when addressing his con- 
 stituents soon afterwards, that the Liberal Government 
 did not dissolve upon the defeat of their bill ; but he 
 spoke warmly of Mr. Gladstone's leadership. Gladstone, 
 he said, was attacked by the leading journals because 
 they knew that he would not 'joke away the great 
 question of reform.' The sincerity of Gladstone's zeal 
 was proved by the rancour of his assailants, and Fawcett 
 called upon his hearers to express their determination that 
 he should be the ' great leader of the people of England.' 
 In the following session, however, Fawcett found himself 
 in a peculiar position. His leaders, Mr. Gladstone and 
 Mr. Bright, were dissatisfied with the Eeform Bill 
 introduced by Disraeli. Although in Opposition, they 
 were still in a majority, and could therefore hope to 
 compel the Government to modify its measure so as to 
 meet their wishes. In the political campaign which 
 followed, both parties had occasion for all their skill in 
 parliamentary tactics. The mysterious compound house- 
 holder made his appearance at the most critical stage of 
 the proceedings and introduced intricate discussions not 
 easy and here quite needless to unravel. Fawcett's one 
 aim was to get the largest measure of reform, whether 
 it should come from the hands of the Government or 
 the Opposition. On the most critical occasion he had to 
 make a difficult decision. After some strange manoeuvring
 
 224 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 the House was about to go into Committee on the bill. 
 A meeting of Liberal members was held at Mr. Glad- 
 stone's house on April 5, at which it was decided to 
 move certain ' instructions' to the Committee. The effect 
 of the motion, if carried, would have been to upset the 
 Government, and probably to postpone indefinitely the 
 settlement of the question. Moreover, the instructions 
 were drawn so as to imply that the Liberal party were 
 for a narrower measure than the Conservatives. Messrs. 
 Gladstone and Bright were in favour of some limitation of 
 the franchise which would exclude the so-called ' residuum ; ' 
 and it was proposed to draw a line somewhere above 
 household suffrage pure and simple. Hereupon forty- 
 eight Eadicals (of whom Fawcett was one) held a meeting 
 in the tea-room of the House of Commons. They became 
 famous (for a brief period !) as the ' Tea-room party ' ; 
 they were denounced by the faithful as renegades and 
 mutineers, and compared to the Adullamites of the pre- 
 vious session. They were reproached for trusting the 
 natural enemies of reform instead of showing confidence 
 in their old leaders. 
 
 Fawcett was one of a deputation of five who waited 
 upon Mr. Gladstone to lay before him the resolution 
 adopted at the tea-room. Some private letters written 
 at the time, as well as speeches to his constituents, 
 explain his motives. He speaks with warm admiration 
 of Mr. Gladstone. He is obviously and sincerely 
 distressed at being forced to take up the attitude, 
 afterwards more familiar to him, of opposing his party 
 leaders. Mill, as well as Bright and Gladstone, had to 
 be opposed. He feels, however, that the Radicals cannot
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 225 
 
 allow themselves to act as though they had changed places 
 with the Conservatives, and were for restricting instead 
 of enlarging the proposed extension of the franchise. 
 Disraeli had manoeuvred to place them in that position. 
 Mr. Gladstone gave way to the remonstrance of the Tea- 
 room party, and the objectionable part of the instruction 
 was withdrawn. The effect of this concession was that the 
 bill was allowed to go into Committee. An amendment, 
 however, was proposed in Committee by Sir J. Coleridge, 
 embodying the remaining proposals of the Opposition. It 
 was now drawn in such terms that the Radicals could vote 
 for it ; and Fawcett considered that Disraeli had been 
 ' checkmated.' To his disappointment, Disraeli triumphed. 
 The dissatisfaction of a small section of Tories pro- 
 duced no serious desertion from the ranks, whilst forty 
 Liberals voted for the Government. Some of them, 
 says Fawcett, wanted to annoy Mr. Gladstone ; others 
 dreaded a dissolution ; but the remainder held that to sup- 
 port Disraeli was the shortest road to a satisfactory bill, 
 and that they wo aid be able before long to get rid of the 
 various checks still proposed. Fawcett agreed to a great 
 extent with this opinion, though he did not feel justified 
 in again voting against his party. He perceived that 
 Disraeli was resolved to pass a measure, and inferred that 
 he could be got to pass a satisfactory one. The prevision 
 was fulfilled ; and, though Fawcett expresses his regret 
 at Mr. Gladstone's vexation, he felt that his own action 
 had been fully justified. The Liberals had been prevented 
 from taking up a false position, and their ends had been 
 achieved more completely than they could have hoped, 
 though by the hands of their antagonists. 
 
 Q
 
 226 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Fawcett was thus giving proof of independence, and 
 came in for some of the reproaches directed against tin; 
 Liberal seceders. The question, however, soon passed 
 out of sight. On other matters, he appeared as a 
 supporter of Mill in the questions which they both had 
 most at heart. He spoke on behalf of Mill's amend- 
 ment for admitting women to the franchise, which was 
 rejected by 196 to 73 on May 20, 1867; and, with Mill, 
 he supported a motion for a partial application of the 
 principle of cumulative voting brought forwards by Mr. 
 Lowe (July 5), and rejected by 314 to 173. Mill's great 
 reputation had excited much curiosity, and some of his 
 speeches were heard with respect and admiration. I do 
 not know whether he succeeded in quite persuading the 
 House of Commons that a philosopher could also be a 
 man of business. Fawcett, I remember, used to regret 
 that Mill erred by an excess of conscientiousness in his 
 parliamentary capacity. He spoke rather ruefully of 
 the hours wasted by the great thinker, who felt it a duty 
 to nail himself to his seat whilst country gentlemen 
 dilated at merciless length upon the cattle plague. But 
 he also felt very strongly that Mill did much to raise the 
 moral tone of his audience, and they were in close 
 intercourse upon all the great questions of the day. In 
 one question connected with the Reform Bill Fawcett 
 appeared as the leader and Mill as the supporter. An 
 Act for the Suppression of Corrupt Practices was got 
 through the House in 1 868 as a natural corollary to the 
 Reform Bill. Fawcett protested more than once against 
 the insincerity or half-heartedness of Liberals in regard 
 to it ; and in July proposed one of the reforms to which
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 227 
 
 he always attached great importance. He moved that 
 the expenses of the returning officer should be thrown 
 upon the rates. Reform had certainly not hitherto tended 
 to make access to the House easier for poor men. The 
 expensiveness of election contests was an obstacle which 
 he had good reason for appreciating at its full weight. He 
 declared l that the chief danger which threatened represen- 
 tative institutions was the great and increasing cost of elec- 
 tions. When he exhorted young men of ability to adopt a 
 political career, their answer was almost invariably that 
 their first election would ruin them. It was impossible, 
 he urged, to exaggerate the mischief of thus shutting out 
 the ablest men from political life. To meet one obvious 
 objection to his scheme, he proposed that every candidate 
 should deposit a certain sum in order that mere men of 
 straw might not come forward for the sake of notoriety. 
 The difficulty of satisfactorily arranging this proviso was 
 the cause or the pretext of the rejection of his proposal. 
 On July 1 8 his clause was carried against the Govern- 
 ment (after another favourable division of 78 to 69) 
 by a majority of 84 to 76. Mill spoke soon afterwards 
 (July 23) of the ' profound satisfaction ' with which this 
 vote had been received throughout the country, and de- 
 clared that if the Government were wise they would adopt 
 the proposal themselves. They preferred, however, to 
 meet it by tactics which are not now worth examination. 
 When Fawcett complained, Disraeli replied that the 
 ' proviso ' difficulty had turned out to be really insur- 
 mountable instead of being a mere pretext for evading 
 a direct raising of the main issue ; and Fawcett's last 
 
 1 Speech at Brighton, January 27, 1868. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 attempt to get the bill recommitted in order to introduce 
 his plan was defeated (July 24) by 102 to 91. 
 
 By this time Fawcett's position in the House had 
 evidently become stronger. He was recognised as a 
 man whose utterances carried weight. He had already 
 shown his power of dealing with questions which were to 
 occupy a large part of his later activity. He had spoken 
 upon popular education ; upon University endowments ; 
 upon various financial questions ; and upon India. The 
 long wrangle over reform had occupied the attention of 
 the House, and the great questions had obviously to be 
 left over for settlement by the new constituency. 
 
 The education question was one of the most pressing. 
 ' We must educate our masters ' was the phrase which 
 expressed one common sentiment. Since we are com- 
 pelled to admit the unwelcome guest, we must try to 
 make him presentable. The argument from Fawcett's 
 point of view was precisely the most conclusive justifi- 
 cation of reform. It admitted, as he had asserted, that 
 reform must lead to a system of national education, of 
 which he had been an advocate from his boyhood. The 
 only difference was in the spirit with which the change 
 was contemplated. To his opponents, education was the 
 best palliative for a necessary evil. To him, it was the 
 natural corollary from a great act of justice. It was right 
 to confer upon classes most deeply concerned in the 
 national welfare a share in determining the national 
 action. He did not doubt that, as one immediate result, a 
 system of education would be claimed by them as a privi- 
 lege, not imposed by their superiors as a defensive mea- 
 sure. He put this at a later period, when supporting
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 229 
 
 Mr. Trevelyan's motion for household franchise in coun- 
 ties (April 26, 1872). Mr. Lowe, he said, had been con- 
 verted by the Keforrn Bill of 1867 to the policy of 
 ' educating our masters,' and he now hoped that a 
 similar process would bring people to see the necessity of 
 educating the agricultural labourer. When advocating 
 reform in January 1867,' he had expressed his view 
 forcibly. He explained that he had no sympathy with the 
 people who thought it necessary to ' stem the tide of 
 democracy/ He desired to make the Government truly 
 national, in order to promote the prosperity of all classes. 
 The most prominent fact of the day was enormous wealth 
 associated with the direst poverty. Beasts were so well 
 protected, because ' powerfully represented in Parliament,' 
 that all legislation was stopped till remedies were devised 
 for the cattle-plague. Railways, because they were strong 
 in parliamentary influence, were allowed to destroy the 
 homes of thousands of the working classes and drive them 
 to die in crowded fever dens without hopes of redress. 
 The Factory Acts had been opposed by the rich on the 
 ' paltry or cold-hearted plea that they would interfere 
 with industry ; as if it were the mission of a great nation 
 simply to produce bales of goods and to swell exports and 
 imports, even at the cost of sacrificing the health and 
 blighting the minds of the young.' Why were not these 
 Acts extended to the agricultural districts, where in many 
 villages there was not one young man who could read the 
 newspaper ? It was because landlords and tenants were 
 represented, whilst the agricultural labourers had not 
 a single representative. This and other social reforms 
 
 J Speech at Brighton, January 15, 1867.
 
 230 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 were, in his mind, essentially connected with political 
 enfranchisement, and he was doing his best to call 
 attention to the subject both in and out of Parliament. 
 
 In the House he endeavoured to bring forward a 
 measure which always had a special and personal inte- 
 rest for him the extension of the Factory Acts system 
 to the agricultural labourers. He moved a resolution to 
 this effect (on February 26, 1867), in a forcible speech, 
 withdrawing the resolution on Mr. Walpole's assurance 
 that Government meant to deal with the question. The 
 report of a Commission upon the employment of women 
 and children in agriculture had called attention to the 
 mischiefs of the ' gang ' system. Fawcett, in seconding a 
 resolution moved by Mr. Dent in favour of some appli- 
 cation of the Factory Acts to agriculture, contrasted, as at 
 Brighton, the interest taken in the cattle-plague by some 
 members with the want of interest in the ' more terrible 
 plague which was ruining thousands of the constituents ' 
 of the same gentlemen. He had received ' scores of letters ' 
 corroborating the sickening details set forth in the Com- 
 missioners' report. He spoke emphatically of the neces- 
 sity of rescuing the children from their degradation, 
 and referred significantly to a remark recently made by 
 Mr. Gladstone. TJie leader of the Opposition had said, 
 with ' mingled dread and amazement,' that some agri- 
 cultural labourers would be enfranchised by the Govern- 
 ment measure. What a sarcasm on the existing system 
 that such terror should be roused by a proposal to give 
 a few thousand labourers a voice in the only body which 
 could remedy their grievances ! 
 
 Fawcett himself introduced a measure, intended, of
 
 MEMBEE FOR BRIGHTON 231 
 
 course, only to enforce attention to the subject, and 
 withdrawn at the second reading. It proposed that 
 agricultural children should have to attend school on 
 alternate days, and gave magistrates the power of 
 ordering schools to be built at the expense of the rate- 
 payers. The proposal, as critics could easily remark, 
 was no doubt crude enough, but it helped on a question 
 which was now rapidly coming to the front. In the 
 session of 1868 a Government bill was introduced, and 
 another was brought in by Mr. Bruce (now Lord 
 Aberdare), but both were withdrawn. Fawcett took one 
 more opportunity, in the debate upon Mr. Bruce's bill, 
 to enforce the claims of agricultural labourers ; but by 
 this time Parliament was moribund, and only desirous 
 of handing over all important questions to its more 
 democratic successor. 
 
 There was another group of measures connected with 
 education in which Fawcett had the advantage of speak- 
 ing as an expert, and in which he accordingly took a 
 leading part. The second speech which he delivered 
 (April 26, 1866) in the House was on going into Com- 
 mittee upon a bill introduced by Mr. Bouverie for opening 
 Fellowships to Dissenters. Fawcett's view of the whole 
 question was perfectly clear and straightforward. Every 
 religious test which excluded any sect from the Universi- 
 ties should be abolished. Oxford and Cambridge should 
 be the culminating bodies in a great organisation of 
 national education, as popular schools, yet to be founded, 
 should be its base. The main difficulty was that colleges 
 still considered themselves to be sacred institutions, 
 bound onlv to embody the wishes of their founders, and
 
 232 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 claiming freedom from all external interference and 
 vulgar tests of utility. Fawcett's pride in his University 
 and his warm appreciation of its merits might lead him 
 to sympathise in some degree with its claims to indepen- 
 dence, but not to such independence as would interfere 
 with its national character. Neither colleges nor Uni- 
 versities could occupy a position worthy of them till 
 every test was swept away which excluded any part of 
 the nation. The greatest glory of Cambridge was that 
 its rewards were given with absolute impartiality to 
 intellectual excellence, but with the proviso that it 
 must not be intellectual excellence in a Dissenter. That 
 irrelevant proviso should be summarily and thoroughly 
 abolished.* 
 
 Fawcett's view has prevailed ; nor do I think that 
 many people will doubt that it was the statesmanlike view. 
 The Liberal party, however, or its leaders, were slow to 
 accept this, and preferred to go on nibbling at the 
 question for years in a half-hearted fashion, proposing 
 compromises and safeguards, and dealing with one frag- 
 ment after another, till at last they contrived to sidle 
 and twist into the position which Fawcett would have 
 had them occupy at first. People who prefer such 
 roundabout processes naturally resent the action of the 
 plain straightforward persons who prefer to make only 
 one bite at the cherry. Whether, as a matter of policy, 
 it is or is not desirable to introduce a half measure in 
 order to conciliate the prejudices of opponents is a ques- 
 tion of expediency upon which it is always difficult to 
 pronounce a judgment, especially at some distance of 
 time, when the arguments for a half-measure have ceased
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 233 
 
 to be intelligible. Considering the rapidity with which 
 conversion has taken place, we may be inclined to think 
 that an open assertion of the plain principle would have 
 been the safest as well as the most straightforward 
 course. Fawcett was probably justified in thinking that 
 the reluctance with which his leaders took up the only 
 firm ground in the matter covered some real distrust of 
 the principle itself. 
 
 The question, meanwhile, was oddly complicated. 
 There were, in the first place, tests upon taking degrees. 
 At Cambridge a compromise had been arranged by 
 which Dissenters were allowed to take the degree of B.A. 
 without reserve ; and to take the titular degree of M.A. 
 without acquiring the privilege of a vote in the senate, 
 almost the only tangible privilege which it conferred. 
 At Oxford no degree could be taken by a Dissenter. In 
 the next place, the Act of Uniformity imposed a test 
 upon all Fellows ; though, whilst this test was actually 
 imposed at Cambridge, it had, oddly enough, fallen out 
 of use at Oxford, because, I presume, Dissenters were 
 there sufficiently excluded by the University regulations, 
 which compelled all students to sign the Thirty-nine 
 Articles. A Fellow had to take a degree, and was there- 
 fore incidentally compelled to be a member of the 
 Church of England. In practice, many Dissenters of all 
 varieties were admitted as students at Cambridge, and 
 had distinguished themselves in examinations. They 
 could also hold Scholarships, although they were for- 
 bidden to gain the higher reward of a Fellowship, and 
 consequently of a place in the governing bodies of the 
 colleges. Besides these tests, many Fellowships in both
 
 234 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 Universities could only be held on condition of taking 
 orders in the Church of England. Fawcett had already 
 taken an active part in agitating for the removal of these 
 restrictions. He had done what he could in the dis- 
 cussion of the college statutes. He had got up a petition 
 at the end of 1861 for throwing open the Fellowships, 
 which was signed by seventy Fellows, including twenty- 
 eight Fellows of Trinity, and was presented to Parliament 
 in the next session. In the two sessions of 1864 and 
 1 865 a bill for the abolition of tests at Oxford had been 
 brought in ; it was thrown out upon the third reading 
 in 1864 by 173 to 171, and withdrawn in 1865 after the 
 second reading had been carried by 206 to 190. 
 
 In 1866 the same bill was brought in by Mr. (now 
 Lord) Coleridge, and passed its second reading by a large 
 majority (217 to 103), but, after getting through Com- 
 mittee, was withdrawn in July ; the change of Ministry 
 having probably made its further progress hopeless. 
 This bill applied only to degrees ; but in the same session 
 Mr. Bouverie introduced a bill for repealing the clause 
 in the Act of Uniformity which imposed a test upon 
 Fellows of colleges. A debate took place on the motion 
 for going into Committee, in which Fawcett made his 
 second speech. He said that ' the lifespring of the 
 University ' was the principle of electing the most dis- 
 tinguished men to Fellowships. Mr. Coleridge had appa- 
 rently thought that Dissenters would be satisfied by ad- 
 mission to degrees. He claimed for them what was far 
 more important, that they should ' have the full right to 
 enjoy the endowments of the Universities.' Ironical 
 applause from the Opposition benches showed that this
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 235 
 
 claim was still taken to represent a monstrous greediness 
 on the part of the Dissenters. Fawcett had pointed out 
 that the grievance was not one which existed only in 
 theory. Trinity had not had a senior Wrangler since 
 1 846. Mr. Stirling, senior Wrangler in 1 860, and the 
 first to break this run of ill-fortune, had been excluded 
 from a Fellowship because he was a Scotch Presby- 
 terian. The senior Wrangler of 1 86 1 , again from Trinity, 
 Mr. Aldis, was excluded because he was an English 
 Dissenter. Mr. Aldis's two younger brothers had greatly 
 distinguished themselves in 1863 and 1866, and were 
 equally excluded. In many other cases the same re- 
 striction had caused injury to the college and injustice to 
 the candidates. It was, indeed, a curious comment upon 
 the ostensible motives of the supporters of the old 
 system that Scotch Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Baptists, 
 and Catholics should be excluded in order to maintain 
 the purity of the faith in institutions where every clever 
 lad studied Mill's Logic or Comte's Philosophy, and 
 which were in point of fact the very centres of free 
 speculation in the country. But it was not the interest 
 of either party to insist upon this illustration of the 
 national attachment to forms, however futile. This bill 
 got into Committee by 206 to 186, and passed a third 
 reading, but was finally withdrawn. 
 
 In 1867 both bills reappeared, with the addition of a 
 third bill brought in by Mr. Ewart, allowing the admis- 
 sion of non-collegiate students. This bill was referred, 
 on Fawcett's motion, to a Select Committee by 253 to 
 1 66 (April 10, 1867). He moved and carried that the bill 
 for abolishing University tests should be made to apply
 
 236 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 to Cambridge as well as Oxford. The success of his 
 motion was unexpected, and, as he says, so discouraged 
 opposition that the bill was allowed to pass without 
 alteration. It reached the House of Lords, where, on 
 July 25, the second reading was defeated by 74 to 46. 
 Fawcett also moved the second reading of the bill for 
 throwing open Fellowships ; and upon this occasion Mr. 
 Gladstone made a speech indicating rather obscurely his 
 own view of the subject. He was, it seemed, in favour 
 of doing something in regard to the endowments as well 
 as degrees, but he desired some securities for religious 
 education after the admission of Dissenters to college 
 authority. He decided, on the whole, to vote against 
 the bill, the second reading of which was carried by 
 200 to 156 (May 29, 1867). The third reading was not 
 moved till August 7, when the bill was lost by 41 to 34. 
 Before the session of 1 868 Fawcett had a rather sharp 
 correspondence with some of his allies. The Oxford re- 
 formers had come to the conclusion that it would be best 
 to separate from Cambridge, and to bring in a bill which, 
 besides combining the two bills for throwing open degrees 
 and Fellowships, should carry out various changes in the 
 constitution of Oxford, not directly applicable to Cam- 
 bridge. Fawcett protested vigorously in the name, of 
 the Cambridge Liberals. He could not understand the 
 policy of mixing the question of religious tests with an 
 entirely different set of questions, making the bill, he 
 said, ' an extraordinary jumble of discordant elements,' and 
 that at a time when success upon the main issue seemed 
 to be within reach, and many men were actually await- 
 ing election as soon as tests should be removed. His
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 237 
 
 Oxford allies were apparently not convinced by this very 
 sound sense ; but though they remonstrated, they at 
 last gave way upon Fawcett's declaring that he should 
 persist in moving the inclusion of Cambridge. An ' Oxford 
 and Cambridge Universities Bill ' was accordingly intro- 
 duced by Sir J. Coleridge, Mr. Bouverie, and Mr. Grant 
 Duff; the second reading was carried by 198 to 140 on 
 July i, though three weeks later the bill was withdrawn. 
 The proposal was now to abolish all tests upon degrees 
 (except degrees in divinity) and Fellowships, so far as 
 these tests were imposed by Parliament. This would still 
 leave untouched the tests imposed by college statutes ; 
 which might be altered after a more or less cumbrous 
 process by the colleges themselves, with the approval 
 of their visitors. 
 
 The question had reached this stage in Fawcett's first 
 Parliament. He had been the leading representative of 
 the Cambridge reformers. Another Parliament, with a 
 strong Liberal majority really meaning business, might 
 be expected to make short work of the remaining 
 obstacles. 
 
 I leave to a future chapter an account of Fawcett's 
 action upon another matter of the highest importance. 
 He had already taken a share in certain discussions upon 
 India which were destined to determine the direction 
 of a great part of his parliamentary activity in later 
 years. It is enough to say now that he had made a 
 decided impression. He had worked upon some impor- 
 tant committees, especially upon that which considered 
 Mr. E wart's bill for University reform, and upon one 
 which considered the extension of the Factory Acts. He
 
 238 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 had established beyond all dispute that his blindness 
 was no disqualification for taking an important part 
 in business or for the discussion of various financial 
 questions in which he had shown his power of dealing 
 with figures as well as abstract principles. Nor had he 
 done anything so far to make his independent attitude 
 offensive to his own party in general. The ' tea-room ' 
 seceders could say that their action had been justified by 
 the passage of a measure of enfranchisement sufficient to 
 mark a substantial transference of political power. If he 
 had been a little too thoroughgoing for his party leaders, 
 a Radical constituency would find no fault with him. The 
 elections of November 1868 gave a large Liberal majority 
 in the country generally, but Fawcett had a rather sharp 
 contest. He was opposed by Mr. Moor, his previous 
 antagonist ; by Mr. Ashbury, a Conservative who kept a 
 yacht ; and by his old Liberal predecessor, Mr. Coningham. 
 Some complaints had arisen in part of the constituency 
 who would have preferred a rich resident. The poll was as 
 follows: White, 3,342 ; Fawcett, 3,081 ; Ashbury, 2,917; 
 Moor, 1,232; Coningham, 432. 
 
 Fawcett's position at the time will be best understood 
 from the following correspondence with Cairnes. Fawi-rtt 
 writes to Cairnes, on August 23, 1868: 
 
 ' I begin to be very confident that Gladstone will 
 obtain a great majority. The Irish Church would have 
 been a good cry to have appealed to the old constituencies, 
 but working-men neither care about the Irish Church nor 
 any other Church. The election, though satisfactory in a 
 party sense, will, I fear, return a House scarcely superior 
 in character to the last. Few good new men are coming out,
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 239 
 
 and more over-rich manufacturers and ironmasters are 
 standing than ever. Before the next general election after 
 the coming one, the working-men will have felt their power 
 and will have learnt, perhaps by bitter experience, that 
 Liberals do not all belong to the same species ; in fact, a 
 consummate naturalist, like Darwin, would classify Mill 
 and Harvey Lewis as belonging to different and well- defined 
 genera. Something must be done immediately Parliament 
 meets to check election expenses. When last I saw you in 
 Dover Street, I little thought that late that evening the 
 Government would give notice of reversing the clause I 
 passed for throwing necessary election expenses upon the 
 rates. The shabby tactics of Disraeli have done much to 
 make the country favour the clause. If I am returned 
 I shall embody the clause in a bill and introduce it the 
 first night of the session. I have had no news about 
 Westminster since leaving London, but I cling to the 
 conviction that Mill is safe. I spent a day at Brighton 
 about a fortnight since, and everything there looks as 
 promising as possible. Did you read Hooker's Address 
 to the British Association ? Some portions of it were 
 most masterly ; the " Spectator " is, I think, just in its 
 criticism of his sweeping hostility to all metaphysics. 
 When the next essay is written on peasant proprietors, 
 the 26,000,000?. which have been subscribed in cash, a 
 great portion of it by French peasants, to the recent loan, 
 will provide a strong argument in favour of cultivation 
 by the owner. I am staying in the midst of what is 
 considered to be one of the most prosperous agricultural 
 districts of England. It would be almost impossible to 
 find a labourer who had saved a sovereign, and not one
 
 240 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 in a thousand of these labourers will save enough to keep 
 him from the poor-rates when old age compels him to 
 cease work. Yet nine Englishmen out of ten think that 
 it is in agriculture that we show our great superiority to 
 the French.' 
 
 Cairnes writes from Nice, November 21,1 868 : 
 
 ' My dear Fawcett, I cannot repress the impulse to 
 send you a line of heartiest congratulation on your 
 triumph at Brighton, of which I have just received 
 intelligence. . . . But alas ! that our exultation should 
 be dashed by the deplorable disaster at Westminster ! I 
 can hardly describe the mortification it has caused me : 
 even the great gain of the Liberal party on the whole is 
 for me no compensation for this one loss. The majority 
 was already large enough, if it were only of the right sort ; 
 and who shall estimate the injury not only to Parliament, 
 but to the country, of being deprived of that exemplar of 
 far-seeing statesmanship, commanding views, and lofty 
 moral purpose which Mill's presence in the House 
 secured ? And then to think how the enemies of truth 
 and light will blaspheme ! How the Philistines will 
 triumph ! Is there any chance that any other constituency 
 will have the virtue to elect him ? Greenwich, I see, 
 has elected Gladstone. In the event of G.'s being returned 
 for S. Lancashire, would it be possible to substitute 
 Mill at Greenwich ? 
 
 ' I observe also with great regret that all the working- 
 men's candidates have been rejected a most unsatis- 
 factory feature in the case. 
 
 ' It will be a relief to you that the hustings struggle 
 is over ; and now will come on the struggle in Parliament.
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 241 
 
 But with such a majority as Gladstone will have all will 
 for a time be plain sailing ; it is when the Irish land 
 question and the education question, English and Irish, 
 come forward that the quality of our Liberalism will be 
 tested, and it is then that Mill will be missed.' 
 
 Fawcett replies from Cambridge, December i r , 
 1868: 
 
 ' You and I feel alike about the rejection of Mill. 
 Those who have watched him in the House of Commons 
 can perhaps fully realise the injury which his rejection 
 has inflicted on English politics. He diffused a certain 
 moral atmosphere over an assembly whose average tone 
 is certainly not high. A letter which I received from 
 Mill yesterday confirms me in the belief I have long 
 entertained that Parliament involved to him a most 
 severe personal sacrifice. He speaks almost with en- 
 thusiastic joy of being restored to freedom, and he is 
 evidently supremely happy in the prospect of being able 
 to work uninterruptedly. Still I am sure his sense of 
 public duty is so high that he would at once accept a 
 seat if one were offered to him. The working-men know 
 what a friend he is of theirs, and I believe they are deter- 
 mined to return him the first time a good opportunity 
 offers. 
 
 ' The Liberal majority at the general election is of 
 course eminently satisfactory, but there is much in the 
 constitution of the present House which is very dis- 
 appointing. Intellectually it is inferior to the last, 
 and wealthy, uneducated manufacturers and merchants 
 are more predominant than ever. Mill always predicted 
 that this would be the case, thinking that the new voters 
 
 R
 
 242 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 would require two or three years to understand the power 
 which has been given to them. I had a hard fight at 
 Brighton. Not only was there disunion in my own party, 
 got up by a small section who thought I did not spend 
 enough money in the town, but the Tory who opposed 
 me was very rich, and all that wealth could do against 
 me was done. My success was peculiarly satisfactory, 
 because it was obtained without a paid agent or a paid 
 canvasser ; and we never held even a meeting at a public - 
 house. I quite agree with you that the present Govern- 
 ment will have to be most narrowly watched with regard 
 to what they do upon education and the land question in 
 Ireland. Lowe, upon the subject, is as much in the dark 
 as any Tory.' 
 
 Mill's letter here noticed says that though the elec- 
 tions have gone against the most advanced party, they 
 have produced a House sufficient for the immediate pur- 
 pose of making Gladstone Minister, and disestablishing 
 the Irish Church. Before the next general election the 
 working-classes will have had time to organise and in- 
 sist upon due consideration of their claims. Meanwhile 
 Fawcett will be in the House to assert great principles, 
 and is as unlikely as any man to be discouraged. The 
 misgivings which find utterance in the above letters as to 
 the action of Mr. Gladstone's Government 'were prophetic. 
 In the Parliament, which lasted until January 1874, 
 Fawcett came to occupy a position in the House, and 
 before the country, which was remarkable, and may in 
 some respects be called unique. A Eadical member under 
 a Liberal Administration is naturally part of a forlorn 
 hope. It is his proper function to condemn the caution of
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 243 
 
 leaders who lag behind a full acceptance of his principles. 
 Fawcett had plenty of allies ready to find fault with Mr. 
 Gladstone for not going fast or far enough. But his dis- 
 approval had a special colouring of its own. He was 
 an almost isolated dissentient upon several important 
 matters. He insisted upon exercising his right of private 
 judgment. He held firmly to certain principles which 
 involved a disagreement with some of his closest allies ; 
 and he especially devoted himself to the defence of 
 causes which, as he thought, were neglected both by his 
 official leaders and by the smaller band of thorough- 
 going Radicals. 
 
 Such a position has its obvious dangers. I may as- 
 sume, what no one, I think, ever doubted, that Fawcett 
 acted upon principle ; and, if it were necessary to prove 
 the point, it would be sufficient to say that his action was 
 not only unpalatable to the Government, but, in many 
 ways, to his own constituents. Yet, whilst giving him the 
 fullest credit for sincerity and uprightness, some critics 
 might still maintain that he was crotchety or captious ; 
 that the love of independence degenerated into a desire 
 of finding fault for the sake of fault-finding ; and that he 
 was not free from the weakness of courting the applause 
 which is easily won by any man who speaks against his 
 party. The answer to such a judgment, will, I hope, ap- 
 pear as we proceed. I shall, I think, be able to prove that 
 his antagonism to the Government was not only upright 
 and in full consistency with his strongest convictions, but 
 also implied soundness (though certainly not infallibility) 
 of judgment and generosity of feeling. This, however, 
 must be shown by giving in detail the main objects of 
 
 R 2
 
 244 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 his political activity. For the present I will venture to 
 point out one cause of difficulty which had an effect 
 upon his position throughout. Mr. Gladstone's personal 
 popularity became from this time one of the marked 
 factors in the political situation. It was due, as I think 
 I may say, to the fact that the great bulk of the con- 
 stituents were convinced that he was thoroughly in 
 earnest ; that he meant really to carry out great measures 
 of reform instead of making them mere stepping-stones 
 to power ; and that he appealed to high moral principles 
 instead of questionable prejudices of temporary ex- 
 pediency. Fawcett shared this sentiment to a great 
 extent. He had spoken warmty of Mr. Gladstone's 
 sincerity upon the Eeform question, and held him to 
 deserve the thoroughgoing loyalty of the Liberal party. 
 His private letters fully confirm his public utterances. 
 But there was a curious contrast between the two men. 
 Mr. Gladstone, if I may say so, was as typical a repre- 
 sentative of the Oxford which obeyed the impulse of 
 Newman, as Fawcett of the comparatively plain, practical, 
 and downright Cambridge. Mr. Gladstone's astonishing 
 versatility of mind, the power of interesting himself in 
 ancient Greece or in modern theology which relieves his 
 political energy, was a source of wondering amusement 
 to Fawcett's strong, but comparatively limited, intellect. 
 He was rather scandalised than amused by the singular 
 subtlety and ingenuity in presenting unexpected inter- 
 pretations of apparently plain doctrines which makes the 
 history of Mr. Gladstone's opinions so curious a subject 
 for the psychologist. And these peculiarities led to one 
 important source of misunderstanding. No one admired
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 245 
 
 Mr. Gladstone as a financier more heartily than Fawcett. 
 He often told anecdotes to illustrate Mr. Gladstone's 
 power of grasping the most complicated figures, and of 
 assimilating spontaneously the details of business ques- 
 tions, to the amazement of professional experts. But 
 when Mr. Gladstone entered a different region Fawcett 
 could no longer follow him so easily. As soon as the 
 theologian showed through the financier he was annoyed 
 by what enemies describe as the Jesuitical quality of 
 the Premier's mind. He summed up his own opinion in 
 a phrase which occurs in one of his speeches, and which 
 I find written down on a separate scrap of paper. ' Glad- 
 stone,' said Fawcett, ' will go as far as he can in the direc- 
 tion of commercial liberty, and as far as he is forced in 
 the direction of religious liberty.' Questions in which 
 religious liberty was concerned played an important 
 part in this Parliament, and Fawcett's distrust of Mr. 
 Gladstone's sentiments affected his political attitude. 
 The first matter of this kind was the old struggle over 
 University tests, which, though not of the first order in 
 politics, may be at once dealt with. Fawcett was espe- 
 cially interested in it, and the action of the Government 
 made a considerable impression on his mind. 
 
 The bill of 1868 was again introduced by Sir John 
 Coleridge (now Solicitor-General) hi 1 869, and supported 
 by members of Government, though not as a Government 
 measure. The second reading was carried (March 15) 
 by 251 to 75. The effect of the bill was to remove all 
 tests so far as imposed by Acts of Parliament ; but Dis- 
 senters would still be excluded from a share of endow- 
 ments until the colleges had altered their own statutes.
 
 246 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Fawcett urged that the matter should be settled for, not 
 by, the colleges. He desired that in any case the pro- 
 cess of removing tests from their statutes should be 
 facilitated. He therefore proposed an amendment by 
 which the colleges would have been enabled to remove 
 the tests by a simple vote of the governing body instead 
 of being forced to apply to their visitors or to the Queen 
 in Council. This change was resisted by the Govern- 
 ment. Fawcett's amendment was lost by 234 to 147. The 
 bill passed the Commons, but was defeated in the Lords 
 by 91 to 54. Fawcett thought that if Government had 
 supported the bill, as they should have done, it might 
 have been passed in this session. 
 
 In the next session (1870) Sir J. Coleridge once 
 more introduced the bill, and now as a Government 
 measure. The Government had by this time moved up 
 to the position previously occupied by Fawcett. Sir 
 J. Coleridge admitted explicitly that Fawcett had been 
 right and that he had himself been wrong. The college 
 tests were to be abolished without reference to the con- 
 sent of the colleges. Fawcett, so far justified in his pre- 
 vious action, was still far from satisfied. He pointed 
 out that many Fellowships (at least 130 at Oxford and 
 30 at Cambridge) were still tenable only by clergymen. 
 He moved that these clerical restrictions should be abol- 
 ished and that no one should hold a Fellowship or a 
 Headship the longer in virtue of being in Orders. This 
 amendment was rejected by 157 to 79, and the bill went 
 up to the House of Lords. 
 
 Its reception there was remarkable. Lord Salisbury 
 no longer met it with unqualified opposition. He
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 247 
 
 virtually accepted the principle, which had seemed so 
 scandalous a short time before, that Dissenters must be 
 admitted not only to degrees but to Fellowships. He en- 
 dorsed the view which had been taken by Mr. Gladstone 
 in the previous Parliament. He pointed out what was 
 indeed sufficiently obvious that the tests, if intended to 
 fulfil their ostensible purpose of protecting the religious 
 faith of students, excluded the wrong persons. They 
 would keep out Mr. Stirling (the Presbyterian senior 
 Wrangler of 1860), or Mr. Hartog (the Jewish senior 
 Wrangler of 1869), but they let in essayists and 
 reviewers, and by no means eradicated the leaven of 
 Agnosticism. There, as he said with undeniable force, 
 was the real danger ; and he moved that the bill should 
 be referred to a Select Committee, which might suggest 
 such safeguards for a religious education as would be 
 necessary after the admission of diverse sects. The 
 motion was carried by the small majority of 97 to 83. 
 
 The Committee sat accordingly, was reappointed in 
 the next session (1871), and produced a report. Mean- 
 while, the old bill had been again introduced in the 
 Commons, and passed its, second reading without a divi- 
 sion. Fawcett renewed his attack upon clerical Fellow- 
 ships in Committee. He was beaten by 182 to 160, and 
 hereupon had a sharp passage of arms with Mr. Glad- 
 stone. He hoped, he said, that the Government would 
 carefully consider their position ; for though Mr. Gladstone 
 had won a narrow triumph, a Liberal Government had 
 never before found fewer Liberal supporters on a vital 
 point of Liberal principles. Mr. Gladstone retorted that 
 Ministers had pondered their position, and that their
 
 248 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 decision was irrevocable. They acted, as he had before 
 explained, in deference to the House of Lords, which had 
 shown itself ready to consider the question favourably, 
 and which should therefore not have additional demands 
 made upon it. At a later period of the session Fawcett 
 had occasion to remind Mr. Gladstone of this (as he held) 
 excessive politeness towards the Upper House. 
 
 The Lords now amended the bill in the light of their 
 Committee's reports. They proposed to erect a barrier 
 against the dangerous intrusions of Freethought by im- 
 posing a declaration upon tutors that they would teach 
 nothing contrary to the authority of Holy Scripture ; by 
 making chapel services obligatory, exempting Heads of 
 Houses from the bill, and one or two minor changes. 
 The amendments were carried by small majorities (71 to 
 66 on the main point) ; but it is needless to inquire 
 whether they would have done anything to keep at bay 
 an enemy who was already within the walls. The House 
 of Commons rejected them with a trifling concession 
 about providing religious services for members of the 
 Church of England. The House of Lords did not insist, 
 and so at last the struggle ended, and the tests finally 
 vanished. A restriction very injurious to Dissenters was 
 removed, though it can hardly be affirmed that the in- 
 fluence of such feeble trammels upon freedom of thought 
 was of any particular importance in other respects. 
 
 The impression upon Fawcett's mind was strong. 
 Government had shown little energy at first in pushing 
 the measure ; they had slowly come to admit that the 
 position which he had taken from the first was the right 
 one; and they had still withheld one most important
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 249 
 
 part of the measure (the abolition of clerical Fellowships), 
 alleging a scruple founded upon tenderness to the House 
 of Lords, which certainly had little weight in other im- 
 portant matters. A straightforward and thoroughgoing 
 policy from the first would, Fawcett thought, have saved 
 much trouble and have proved that their hearts were in 
 the matter. It may be briefly mentioned, as some illus- 
 tration of the rate at which opinion changes in such 
 matters, that under the Commission appointed in 1877 
 by the Conservative Government the abolition of clerical 
 Fellowships, for which Fawcett struggled so hard under 
 the Liberal Government, was quietly carried out (I believe 
 with scarcely an exception), and so far as I know excited 
 no protest. 
 
 Before this, other questions had arisen of greater 
 importance. Fawcett had expressed himself decidedly 
 in the first session (1869) of the new Parliament upon 
 various questions, in some of which he adopted the 
 ordinary Radical principles, though in most of them his 
 own personal convictions gave a special character to his 
 criticisms. He had again brought forward his proposal 
 for throwing election expenses upon the rates. He had 
 moved (April 9) that appointments in the civil and dip- 
 lomatic services should be given by open competition. 
 This resolution was opposed by Government as too sweep- 
 ing, although they contemplated a measure for intro- 
 ducing the same principle, and the resolution was rejected 
 by 281 to 30. He had attacked with some warmth some 
 provisions of a measure for regulating the pensions 
 granted to the holders of the great political offices. The 
 question seems to have stirred him considerably, as did
 
 250 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 every question in which the purity and fairness of Govern- 
 ment patronage came under suspicion. He alleged facts 
 to prove that such pensions were often bestowed upon 
 men who did not need them, or had merited them by 
 no real services ; and he complained that, whilst dock- 
 yard labourers were turned off at the first demand for 
 economy, care was taken that the economic impulses of 
 Government should not injure men in influential posi- 
 tions. Both in Parliament and in addressing his con- 
 stituents he refers to this with some indignation. He 
 interfered more emphatically in another more exciting 
 piece of legislation, where there was also some question 
 of imperfect purity. The great Liberal measure of 1 869 
 was the Disestablishment of the Irish Church. Upon the 
 main question Fawcett was, of course, in complete 
 harmony with his leaders. The Church Establishment 
 was doomed as soon as it was seriously attacked. But 
 it was always intolerable to Fawcett that a measure, just 
 in itself, should be advanced by anything savouring of 
 jobbery. The stronger the case in point of principle, 
 the more it should be independent of any appeal to lower 
 motives. Mr. Gladstone had proposed an ingenious 
 arrangement which was, perhaps, a little puzzling to the 
 ordinary mind. The Irish landholders were to pay the 
 tithe rent-charges for fifty-two years ; and at the end of 
 that time they would have redeemed the whole sum and 
 be in possession of their estates without any charge what- 
 ever. Mr. Gladstone explained how this would be carried 
 out by certain advances of funds, in such a way that all 
 parties concerned would make a good bargain. Fawcett 
 mentioned that this was, in fact, to make a present to
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 251 
 
 the landlords, the value of which (that is, as I understand, 
 of the ultimate capitalised value of the tithe rent-charges) 
 he estimated at 7,000,000^ ; and he declared it to be 
 part of a process properly, though vulgarly, described as 
 ' greasing the wheels ' of the measure. His protest was 
 unavailing. The clause was passed by 181 to 33. When 
 the Lords' amendments were under consideration, 
 Fawcett made a final protest, and complained that he 
 had been the only Liberal member to object to the 
 scheme. That his conduct was regarded as proof of an 
 impracticable disposition is probable enough ; and he had 
 not even the complete sympathy of his most valued ally. 
 Fawcett had, as usual, consulted Mill upon the point. 
 Mill thought that as a matter of tactics the Government 
 might be justified in making a present to the Irish 
 landlords which cost it nothing and, in fact, only amounted 
 to giving them the benefit of its better credit. He pointed 
 out difficulties in the way of any other appropriation of 
 the funds; and, though admitting that criticism in 
 Fawcett's sense might be desirable, inclined against any 
 directly hostile movement. Fawcett, however, acted upon 
 his own view, the soundness of which I need not discuss. 
 If on such points he was too much of a puritan, it was, 
 at least, an honourable error. 
 
 In the following session (1870) questions arose of far 
 more importance, upon which the division of sentiment 
 between the Government and its supporters became more 
 decidedly accentuated. Two great measures were passed 
 the Irish Land Bill and the Bill for Elementary Educa- 
 tion the last of which was probably the most perman- 
 ently important of all the legislation of the time, and
 
 252 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 that in which Fawcett was most profoundly interested. 
 The Irish Land Bill apparently received his complete 
 approval. He took no part in the debates ; but his view 
 may be sufficiently gathered from an address to his con- 
 stituents delivered (October 18, 1869) in anticipation of 
 the Government measure, the nature of which was, of 
 course, still unknown. Fawcett then stated that he had 
 been much impressed by a pamphlet recently published 
 by Mr. (now Sir) George Campbell. He proposed, on the 
 strength of the Indian precedents adduced by Mr. Camp- 
 bell, to have a periodical Government valuation of farms 
 at intervals of twenty or thirty years. The tenant would 
 have fixity of tenure in the interval, and at the end of 
 each period would also have a right to the benefit of his 
 own improvements. Fawcett was careful to point out 
 that by this scheme no injustice would be inflicted upon 
 the landlord. It has often been pointed out that fixity 
 of tenure is incompatible with freedom of sale. If the 
 tenant can part with his rights, the result of such a 
 scheme may be only the creation of a new set of tenants 
 in a worse position than the first. Fawcett therefore 
 added that there should be in all cases a strict covenant 
 against under-letting. He proposed, further, that if the 
 tenant had injured instead of improving the land, the 
 landlord should have the same claim to compensation 
 as the tenant in the opposite case. Fawcett apparently 
 justified the interference of the State on the ground that 
 the existing sentiment in Ireland did in fact deny the 
 existence of the landlord's absolute right in the soil ; and 
 that it was idle to overlook the facts or assume an ' ideal ' 
 state of society. His anticipation that such a measure
 
 MEMBER 1 FOR BRIGHTON 253 
 
 would satisfy the demands of the Irish population was 
 clearly erroneous. He thought, however, that the scheme 
 involved no interference with the rights of property in 
 the taking away from anyone of a single farthing which 
 properly belonged to him. And it may be worth while 
 to note what was his view before the question had passed 
 into a different stage. 
 
 The Education question, however, was that which 
 really aroused his closest interest. As I have already 
 shown, the foundation of an efficient system of national 
 education was the measure which, of all others, he had 
 advocated from his earliest years ; which he believed, on 
 theoretical grounds, to represent the most legitimate 
 method by which legislation could contribute to the eleva- 
 tion of the people ; and which he had already done his 
 best to bring before the attention of Parliament. He had 
 seen with satisfaction that public interest in the question 
 had been rapidly developing, and that an adhesion to 
 proposals for compulsory education was now popular, 
 where four or five years before it had been regarded 
 as a dangerous avowal. In the session of 1869 he had 
 (March 1 2} opposed a motion by Mr. Melly for a further 
 inquiry, on the ground that the time was already come 
 for immediate action. On June 25 he had proposed a 
 resolution calling for legislation upon that branch of the 
 question which was of all others most interesting to him 
 the education of agricultural labourers. Government, he 
 said, could not do much by direct legislation to improve 
 the lodging or raise the wages of this neglected class ; 
 but the extension of education was in their power and 
 was of vital importance. He complained that the Factory
 
 254 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 Acts had been extended to every class except this whirh 
 most needed it. 
 
 The growth of public interest in the question was in- 
 dicated and stimulated by the formation, in 1869, of the 
 Birmingham League. Fawcett joined the League and 
 spoke vigorously on its behalf at a congress held at Bir- 
 mingham in October. His adhesion afterwards gave him 
 some regret. Upon the main principle, as he understood it, 
 there was indeed no difficulty. The aim of the League 
 was the establishment of a universal system of compul- 
 sory education. Where necessary, the schools were to be 
 supported by rates. Fawcett, as I have said, looked for- 
 ward to a period in which there should be a complete 
 system of graduated education from the elementary 
 schools to the Universities, so that every meritorious 
 person, of whatever class or creed, might have the chance 
 of developing his faculties to the fullest possible extent. 
 This was throughout the ideal which he contemplated and 
 endeavoured to advance by every means in his power. 
 
 Questions, however, immediately arose, some of 
 which were answered by the Birmingham League in 
 what seemed to him a questionable manner. There wan, 
 in the first place, the difficulty of the relation between 
 the new schools and the voluntary institutions which 
 already existed, and which were almost universally 
 associated with the Church of England or with some 
 religious sect. The tests which still shackled the Uni- 
 versities were in process of removal ; but it was a far 
 more difficult problem how to reconcile universal com- 
 pulsion with perfect religious equality. If secular and 
 religious education could be absolutely separated, in-
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 255 
 
 struction in the purely secular matters might be secured 
 by the State for every child, whilst the various sects 
 might be allowed to provide religious teaching. The 
 simple principle would therefore be that the State schools 
 should be purely secular ; and this was Fawcett's own 
 view. Catholics, Protestants, and Secularists have the 
 same letters, and accept the same rules of arithmetic, 
 and might learn them at the same schools. Catechisms 
 and creeds might be instilled elsewhere by priests and 
 ministers. The Birmingham League, however, shrank 
 from the name of irreligious and adopted the compromise 
 of proposing that the Bible should be read ' without note 
 or comment.' The schools, it was said, should be ' un- 
 sectarian,' but not ' secular.' Fawcett characteristically 
 confessed that he had found it rather hard to see the 
 difference between the two words. He was willing, how- 
 ever, to accept the proposal for the present ; though he 
 afterwards expressed his regret for not having taken in 
 this, as in other cases, the most plain and unequivocal 
 position. 
 
 Beyond this, however, lay a more difficult point. 
 Eate- supported schools might come into conflict with the 
 voluntary schools. Fawcett, to whom it seemed infinitely 
 more important that children should be taught some- 
 where than that their teaching should be confided to any 
 particular sect, was willing to make use of all the exist- 
 ing machinery. He had no hostility to the existing 
 schools. He hoped, he said, that their supporters might 
 be stimulated to greater efforts in order to avoid the im- 
 position of rates. The League, however, advocated a prin- 
 ciple which, if fully accepted, would tend to the rapid
 
 256 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 destruction of all voluntary schools. One part of their 
 programme was that education should be gratuitous as 
 well as compulsory. Fawcett does not seem fully to 
 have appreciated the bearing of their proposal in this 
 direction at the time. The scheme had not been reduced 
 to detail so as to reveal its tendencies ; and all who de- 
 sired a national and compulsory system of education, 
 and thought that the religious difficulty might be easily 
 set aside, could support the League in general terms. 
 Fawcett, however, objected to the gratuitous system upon 
 a different principle. It was, as is sufficiently clear, 
 entirely opposed to his general economical principles. 
 The fatal error was, as he urged, that it would diminish 
 the sentiment of parental responsibility. Government 
 might rightly interfere on behalf of defenceless children 
 and insist upon the parents teaching as well as feed- 
 ing and clothing them. To bring a child into the world 
 was to incur a grave responsibility, and no action of the 
 State should tend to obscure that fact. But to relieve 
 a parent from the cost of his children's schooling would 
 most emphatically diminish his motives for forethought. 
 Yet Fawcett was so strongly impressed with the impor- 
 tance of working for State education that, for the 
 present, he consented to overlook the point of difference. 
 He said that it was ' only a detail,' and that he was 
 ' perfectly willing to sacrifice his own individual views.' 
 
 Mr. Forster introduced his measure on February 17, 
 1870. Fawcett immediately made the criticism which 
 determined his action during the session. The vital 
 question with him was that of universal compulsion. 
 The Government measure dealt with the difficulties of
 
 MEMBER FOE BRIGHTON 257 
 
 introducing the new principle by what was called 
 'permissive compulsion.' The school boards were to 
 be empowered, but not compelled, to frame bye- laws for 
 enforcing attendance. This was, according to Fawcett, 
 the great blot upon the Government proposal. He wrote 
 a letter to the ' Times ' (February 26), in which he 
 summed up very forcibly his objections to the principle. 
 He spoke upon an amendment to the second reading, 
 moved by Mr. Dixon, the representative of the Birming- 
 ham League, to the effect that no system would be satis- 
 factory which left the question of religious instruction in 
 rate-supported schools to be decided by the local authori- 
 ties. Fawcett took care to disavow unqualified sympathy 
 with the League, but upon this point he supported them. 
 The effect of the measure, he said, would be to set up a 
 religious difficulty in every school district. He maintained 
 that there should be an absolute separation between 
 religious and secular teaching, and he denounced per- 
 missive legislation as a fatal mistake. The amendment 
 was withdrawn. As the session proceeded Fawcett's 
 opposition became more pronounced. The provision for 
 ' permissive school boards ' was a timid, feeble compro- 
 mise, implying a ' semi-paralysis ' of Government. He 
 complained (July 8) that Government had not dared to 
 accept the principle of compulsion ; he said that they had 
 no definite policy, and declared that their half-measure 
 was doomed to ' melancholy and disastrous failure.' ' Is 
 it well,' he had asked in his letter to the ' Times,' ' that our 
 statesmen should always wait to be influenced by platform 
 speeches, public meetings, and all the other forms of 
 popular agitation ? If Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues
 
 258 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 boldly declared that any policy were right and just, would 
 they not thus do much to make the country accept it ? ' 
 The criticism applied to many other questions besides this 
 of education, and expresses one of his characteristic prin- 
 ciples. A strong downright assertion of vital principles 
 was the thing to command Fawcett's respect and excite 
 his sympathy. He demanded it much more frequently 
 than he got it. 
 
 Upon this point, however, it may be well doubted 
 whether he did not miscalculate. Mr. Forster had stated 
 distinctly that he was in favour of compulsion. But he 
 thought it undesirable to be in advance of public opinion. 
 An attempt to introduce compulsion without general 
 support from those whom it would affect might un- 
 doubtedly have provoked a failure. It is impossible to 
 say now whether he could safely have moved faster than 
 he actually did in introducing a principle still so novel 
 and so little accepted. The main question, after all, 
 was whether the pressure would implant a system likely 
 to be further developed or whether it would lead, as 
 Fawcett predicted, to a disastrous failure. Fawcett quoted 
 precedents of the frequent breakdown of measures 
 framed upon the permissive principle. He argued that 
 the Factory Acts would certainly have failed had they 
 not been compulsory ; he urged that exceptional 1 
 lation was always unpopular, and that a varying 
 practice would make compulsion hateful in the districts 
 which adopted it. He asked why the districts which had 
 proved their zeal in the cause by a provision of adequate 
 schools, and in which therefore the formation of school 
 boards would not be required, should be deprived of the
 
 MEMBER FOE BRIGHTON 259 
 
 benefits of compulsion. Perhaps there was some incon- 
 sistency in this reasoning. If the benefits of compulsion 
 were recognised, the introduction in some districts might 
 be expected to facilitate its introduction elsewhere. 
 That was Mr. Forster's view, who argued that in two 
 or three years we should be in a better position for de- 
 manding universal compulsion. Experience, I fancy, 
 has proved that Mr. Forster was right. Indeed, Fawcett 
 seems to me to have overlooked one principle which, hi 
 the light of later experience, seems to be tolerabty clear. 
 Permissive ' compulsion ' may naturally fail when the 
 restrictions imposed are unpopular with the class affected, 
 or acceptable only on the condition of their being equally 
 applied elsewhere. But in this case the power of com- 
 pelling attendance was to be part of the privileges of the 
 new school boards, and one to which they would naturally 
 cling. Now a body of this kind once established has a 
 wonderful vitality ; it acquires a corporate spirit ; it is 
 anxious to make itself felt ; and it is much more likely 
 to grow and to develop itself at the cost of rival institu- 
 tions than to die out for want of power. School boards 
 once set up had no difficulty in taking root. There was 
 in reality a greater danger that they would develop the 
 ordinary vice of official bodies, demand wider privileges, 
 and consider themselves to be infallible and immaculate 
 institutions. 
 
 It is not wonderful, however, that the early predic- 
 tions as to the mode of working of a new system should 
 be as fallacious in this as in almost every case. Fawcett's 
 real complaint came to be that the system, as originally 
 devised, failed to affect the class for which his sympathies 
 
 s 2
 
 260 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 were the liveliest. The agricultural districts were com- 
 paratively untouched. No compulsion was imposed upon 
 them. The old national schools were left pretty much as 
 before, and no attention was paid to Fawcett's frequent 
 complaint that there was less need of more school accom- 
 modation in the country than of more security that exist- 
 ing schools should be filled. He called attention to this 
 on May 27, 1870, in connection with the report of the 
 Commission upon agricultural labour. He said that 
 in many districts schools had multiplied whilst educa- 
 tion declined, because the tendency was now to set 
 children to work at an earlier age than formerly, and the 
 schools were often not half filled. He maintained that 
 some system of universal compulsion was the only pos- 
 sible remedy. Mr. Bruce stated that he preferred to 
 wait till compulsion had been tried elsewhere ; and soon 
 afterwards the House was counted out. 
 
 The differences between Fawcett and the Birmingham 
 League did not hinder his co-operation at starting, but 
 they became gradually more pronounced. They were, 
 in fact, vital. The debates in 1870 turned to a great 
 extent upon the religious difficulty, the provision of an 
 adequate conscience clause, and the conditions under 
 which payments were to be made to the denominational 
 schools. The famous twenty-fifth clause, under which 
 the fees of children at such schools might be paid by the 
 gchool boards, passed without discussion at the time, but 
 afterwards gave rise to a prolonged controversy. The 
 Dissenters, who were a main support of Mr. Gladstone's 
 Government, were alienated by the inadequate treatment 
 of their claims ; and much eloquence was spent upon
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 261 
 
 various forms of the religious or ecclesiastical question. 
 Tenderness for the consciences of parents and children 
 was of course the ostensible motive. No one could pro- 
 pose that a child should be forced to a school teaching 
 doctrines to which its parents objected. The question 
 was how far the difficulty should be allowed to limit 
 compulsion. The difficulty, it may safely be said, was 
 one which looks more formidable on paper than in prac- 
 tice. Children and even children's parents were suffi- 
 ciently guarded by a profound indifference to all dog- 
 matic theology from any excess of scrupulosity as to the 
 tenets taught in the schools. The English working-man 
 unfortunately is quite incompetent to be a Davie Deans, 
 with a keen sense for right-hand defections and left-hand 
 backslidings. He would care little enough for any of 
 the dogmatic controversies which divide the Protestant 
 sects. But the objections raised covered also the differ- 
 ences which are rather ecclesiastical than religious. The 
 Established Church derived a certain prestige from its 
 position as the most effective organ of national education, 
 even if its school teaching did little enough in the way of 
 attracting converts. The jealousies between Churchmen 
 and Dissenters found ample expression under the guise 
 of an excessive desire to save the consciences of the most 
 indifferent and ignorant classes. 
 
 Fawcett's great anxiety in this matter was that educa- 
 tional interests should not be sacrificed to such jealousies. 
 Compulsory education could not be secured if the matter 
 were not satisfactorily settled. Parents might be indif- 
 ferent enough, and yet be ready to set up scruples as a 
 pretext for avoiding responsibility. They might become
 
 262 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 sensitive to the heresies of their teachers, if upon that 
 ground they might leave their children untaught. The 
 League aimed at meeting the difficulty by the establish- 
 ment throughout the country of a system of free ' un- 
 sectarian ' schools, to which everyone might be compelled 
 to go. The free school would be a terrible competitor 
 for the denominational school. Few parents would 
 prefer school fees and orthodoxy to gratuitous teaching 
 and ' unsectarianism.' To this, if it could be carried out 
 fairly, and with general consent, Fawcett did not object. 
 But he heartily distrusted any excess of Government in- 
 terference. He did not wish to attack the denomina- 
 tional schools, except by providing better schools and 
 allowing a fair competition. The competition would not 
 be fair if one set of schools were to be gratuitous and the 
 other supported by fees ; and, as we have seen, he objected 
 emphatically, on still more vital principles, to the gratui- 
 tous system. His adherence to the League was therefore 
 always qualified. He would let the denominational 
 schools die out if a better substitute could be found. 
 But he was also perfectly willing to use them if they 
 could be made useful. The question as to a single system 
 of rate-supported schools or a system admitting of 
 voluntary schools was with him a secondary point, whilst 
 with the Birmingham League it was primary. Secure 
 education for every child that was the one main point ; 
 neither sacrifice the essential to the interests of religious 
 bodies nor to the enemies of religious bodies. 
 
 Two years later he expressed his views emphatically. 
 Mr. Dixon then moved a resolution to the effect that the 
 Education Act was unsatisfactory, because it did not
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 2H3 
 
 provide for school boards in all districts nor compel attend- 
 ance, and because it allowed payments to be made to 
 denominational schools and promoted religious discord. 
 He was seconded by Mr. Richard, who gave expression 
 to the discontent of the Dissenting bodies. Fawcett voted 
 for the resolution (rejected by 355 to 94), but took occa- 
 sion to make a kind of apology for his previous action. 
 He still considered the compulsory provisions as in- 
 adequate. He hoped that Government would introduce 
 some supplementary legislation ; but he frankly admitted 
 that much good had been done. His main point, how- 
 ever, was his repudiation of the views of some of his 
 allies. One member (Mr. Leatham) had said that the 
 important point was religious equality, and that com- 
 pulsory education, which he thought scarcely suited to 
 the country, was a very secondary matter. This was pre- 
 cisely the reverse of Fawcett's view. Fawcett regretted 
 the time wasted on a 'miserable religious squabble.' He 
 regretted the subterfuge about teaching the Bible ' with- 
 out note or comment.' He held that the so-called 
 religious question was of infinitely less importance than 
 the question of compulsion. But he protested with still 
 more emphasis against the system, favoured by the 
 League, of free education. He had come to see more 
 distinctly the real tendency of the proposal, and to feel 
 the full force of the objections, to which he had never 
 been blind. Free education would diminish parental 
 responsibility; it would make the prudent pay for the 
 reckless; and would increase the general tendency to 
 make other people pay when we ought to pay ourselves 
 a tendency which was the prominent characteristic of
 
 264 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 modern Socialism. One of the papers in the 'Essays and 
 Lectures ' is a reprint of a letter to the ' Times ' in the 
 December of 1870, written by Mrs. Fawcett, but (as 
 she informs me) expressing opinions which had his entire 
 concurrence. Indeed, the principle involved is perhaps 
 the most characteristic of his whole political theory. To 
 ask whether he was in the right would be to raise a 
 question in political philosophy which will not be settled 
 until the distant period at which political philosophy 
 becomes truly scientific. The issue meanwhile of the 
 controversy will be decided by actual conflict rather than 
 by argument. One form of Eadicalism points towards 
 Socialism. The remedy which it favours for this, as for 
 other evils, is the transference to a great State depart- 
 ment of the functions which had been inadequately dis- 
 charged by Churches or individuals. Fawcett so far 
 agreed with this movement as to accept fully the neces- 
 sity of some State interference. He was as strongly im- 
 pressed as anyone with the necessity of a national effort, 
 and of getting rid of the obstacles raised by the jealousies 
 of hostile sects. But in his mind this view was com- 
 bined with a strong jealousy of excessive State inter- 
 ference. He wished to strengthen the sense of parental 
 responsibility, not to take the burthen off the shoulders of 
 parents. It is a question whether, in point of fact, the 
 measures which he approved had not an inevitable ten- 
 dency to hasten the adoption of those which he regarded 
 as dangerous. If the State once insists upon compulsory 
 education, it may become necessary that it should go 
 further and provide education upon the easiest terms. 
 In any case, I will venture to say that here, as elsewhere,
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 265 
 
 the difficulties urged by Fawcett are the crucial diffi- 
 culties, and that the problem for the advocates of the 
 opposite system is precisely to devise some means of 
 meeting them satisfactorily. So long as they are simply 
 ignored or pooh-poohed, sensible observers will have to 
 remark that a problem is not solved by a resolution not 
 to look difficulties in the face. 
 
 This marks the point of divergence between Fawcett 
 and a different school of so-called Radicalism which, 
 according to Mr. Herbert Spencer, should be properly 
 identified with old-fashioned Conservatism. For the 
 present, however, this particular question ceased to 
 hold a conspicuous position in politics. Fawcett was 
 more occupied by the shortcomings of the measure in 
 another direction. He was anxious to bring agricultural 
 children within the range of compulsory education. For 
 them comparatively little had been done ; and in later 
 years he continued on all occasions to advocate this 
 corollary from the principles already applied in other 
 cases. As the movement lay rather apart from the main 
 lines of political activity I shall not again refer to it, 
 and it will be enough to indicate briefly the chief results 
 obtained. In 1872 Mr. Clare Read brought in a Bill 
 for the Education of Children Employed in Agriculture, 
 which was in substance a partial extension of the Factory 
 Acts legislation. It was withdrawn after a second 
 reading, but again introduced and passed in 1873. Mr. 
 Mundella and Fawcett both protested strongly against 
 the weakness of this measure, which still left a great 
 difference between the agricultural and manufacturing 
 districts, and led, I believe, to little practical result. In
 
 266 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the next Parliament Fawcett spoke strongly in favour of 
 a bill introduced by Mr. Dixon, in 1874, providing for 
 compulsory attendance and election of school boards. It 
 was opposed by Government and defeated. In 1875 he 
 brought forward a motion for giving to agricultural 
 children the advantages already enjoyed by manufactur- 
 ing children, which produced an animated debate but no 
 specific result. In 1875 and 1876 he supported Mr. 
 Dixon, who again introduced his bill and was again 
 defeated in both years. In the last year, however, a bill 
 was introduced by Lord Sandon, and finally passed into 
 law, which marked a distinct step in advance. This Act 
 provided for the appointment of ' school-attendance 
 committees ' by the local authorities in districts where 
 there was no school board. It also extended the 
 principle of the Factory Acts, but the attendance com- 
 mittees were not compelled to make bye-laws, except on 
 the voluntary requisition of the ratepayers. Another 
 provision satisfied, for the tune at least, the agitators 
 against the famous twenty-fifth clause. It allowed parents, 
 if unable to pay the fees, to apply to the guardians with- 
 out being considered to be in receipt of outdoor relief. 
 Although the money thus payable to denominational 
 schools came equally from the pockets of the ratepayers, 
 whether it was paid out of the poor-rates or by the 
 school board, the remonstrances made against the pre- 
 ceding plan were dropped after the change. In the 
 following years (1877 and 1878) Fawcett took fresh 
 opportunities for urging the removal of all educational 
 differences between agricultural and manufacturing dis- 
 tricts. Finally, in 1880, Mr. Mundella introduced a bill,
 
 MEMBEE FOE BEIGHTON 267 
 
 which was accepted unanimously, for making it impera- 
 tive upon all school boards and school-attendance com- 
 mittees to frame bye-laws. Thus, for the first time, the 
 compulsory system was made to apply to the whole 
 population of the country. A few figures will illustrate 
 the development of the compulsory system. In 1872, 
 9,000,000 out of a population of 22,000,000 were under 
 school boards and 8,000,000 of these in districts subject 
 to bye-laws. In 1876, 11,500,000 were under bye-laws. 
 In 1879 bye-laws were in force under school boards in 
 districts with a population of 12,395,550, and under 
 school-attendance committees in districts with a popu- 
 lation of 3,083,609. The whole population affected by 
 bye-laws was thus 15,479,159. In 1884, of the whole 
 population of England and Wales, amounting (according 
 to the census of 1881) to 254,97,439 persons, there were 
 16,081,618 in school-board districts, and 9,892,821 
 under school-attendance committees. 
 
 Fawcett thus lived to see the principle for which he 
 had uniformly contended carried out with a completeness 
 which would have seemed visionary at the beginning of 
 his political career. There was none to which he was 
 more attached. The arguments which he advanced 
 throughout were substantially the same, and were those 
 which have finally triumphed. It does not follow, of 
 course, that the statesmen were wrong who admitted 
 more compromise than he approved into the earlier 
 measures. Indeed, the rapid growth of the system 
 shows, as he frankly admitted, that they were right in ex- 
 pecting the system to develop itself when once planted, 
 and that some of his predictions of the failure of a
 
 268 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ' permissive compulsion ' were mistaken. Nor can it be 
 said that the socialistic tendency of such legislation, which 
 he saw with regret, has disappeared. The cry for free 
 schools has certainly not lost its strength. So far, 
 therefore, he was partly responsible for incidentally 
 helping forward a movement which he thoroughly dis- 
 approved. He considered the system of compulsory 
 education to be of such vital importance that he would 
 introduce it even at the risk of misapplication. It may, 
 in any case, be fairly said for him and I should be 
 most unwilling to say anything not strictly fair that he 
 advocated from the first, and in times when the advo- 
 cacy was unpopular, the principles adopted a few years 
 later even by his opponents ; that he adhered to them 
 unflinchingly, in spite of attacks from friends as well 
 as foes; and that he did as much as any man not 
 officially charged with the measures in question to 
 force them upon the attention of Parliament and the 
 country. 
 
 In the first sessions of his second Parliament Fawcett 
 had gained a distinctive position. A contemporary jour- 
 nalist called him (in March 1871) 'the most thorough 
 Radical now in the House,' and whilst it complained of his 
 abstract dogmatism, admitted that he had acquired a 
 lead amongst the extreme party. This view no doubt 
 indicates the general estimate of his character. He had 
 taken a prominent position in regard to several questions, 
 upon which I shall have occasion to dwell hereafter, as 
 well as upon the questions already noticed. In the 
 session of 1871 he was a still more emphatic and power- 
 ful critic of the Government. The University Tests Bill
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 269 
 
 had given occasion, at the beginning of the session, for 
 a strong expression of dissatisfaction. As the session 
 went on his attitude became more pronounced. In 
 March he delivered a remarkable address to a crowded 
 meeting at Brighton upon the ' future policy of the 
 Liberal party.' He began by telling a story to which 
 he often referred. Some old-fashioned Liberal had told 
 him that after two hours' reflection he and his friends 
 had been unable to answer the question, what there 
 was left for the Liberal party to do. Fawcett said that 
 he had enlightened his friend in the course of a short 
 stroll, and he now proceeded to enlighten his constituents. 
 He began by insisting upon the shortcomings of the 
 previous sessions. The Irish Church had been disestab- 
 lished, but at the cost of a bribe of 7,ooo,oooL The 
 praise bestowed upon the Education Act was, as often 
 happened, one more proof that it was ' a feeble and 
 timorous compromise.' Time had been wasted in 
 ' squabbling over a paltry religious difficulty,' which had 
 been handed over to the local authorities instead 
 of finally settled by Parliament. The University Tests 
 had been only half settled. The Ballot Bill was a good 
 measure, yet it left the most serious difficulty of election 
 expenses inadequately treated. We had therefore still 
 to make up leeway; but above all we had to introduce 
 new ideas. He proceeded to speak more explicitly than 
 he had hitherto done in public of the importance of 
 minority representation. He said that the House of 
 Lords required reform, and declared that there must be 
 ' no more hereditary legislation.' He attacked the 
 Church Establishment, insisted that the economy for
 
 270 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 which Liberals professed to pant should be made a 
 reality, and that the rich sinecures should be cut down 
 as well as the salaries of the poorer officials. The Army 
 Reform Bill, he maintained, offended against this prin- 
 ciple. And he insisted upon the many abuses connected 
 with the poor laws, as bearing upon the greatest of all 
 evils the ' tremendous fact that one out of twenty 
 of the population " was a pauper/' ' His book upon 
 Pauperism had just been published, and expressed the 
 opinions set forth on the platform. Undoubtedly the 
 speech was a tolerably vigorous profession of a ' Eadical 
 creed,' and helped to emphasise his position. The 
 points upon which he actually came into collision with 
 his leaders were rather different. The Budget of this 
 session provoked his indignant protest. It was the year 
 in which Mr. Lowe proposed his famous match-tax with 
 the little classical joke, 'Ex luce lucellum.' It would 
 have been difficult to conceive anything more irritating 
 to Fawcett. The tax itself, according to Fawcett, of- 
 fended against every one of Adam Smith's canons. It 
 was a paltry expedient, calculated to bear with great 
 severity upon a miserable and defenceless class. The 
 impression that the chance of letting off a classical pun 
 had really contributed to recommend the proposal im- 
 plied a degree of cynical flippancy which was intolerable. 
 When the match-tax was blown to the limbo whither 
 go ' all disastrous things ' amidst general contempt, a 
 new Budget was introduced, against which Fawcett, 
 democrat as he was, felt all the more bound to protest. 
 The additional expenditure was to be provided for by 
 an increase of the income-tax ; and Fawcett, in spite of
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 271 
 
 various taunts, took more than one occasion of de- 
 nouncing the unfairness of throwing the burden exclu- 
 sively upon one class. 
 
 Another measure brought him more prominently 
 forward. The bill which abolished the system of pur- 
 chasing commissions in the army had passed the House 
 with Fawcett's qualified approval. He of course sym- 
 pathised with the main principle. But he complained 
 that it left sinecure colonelcies untouched, whilst it made 
 a saving by sweeping away 129 poor clerks at ioo/. 
 a year. He doubted, too, whether the abolition of 
 purchase would not be secured at an extravagant price ; 
 and declared that a substitution of political patronage 
 for purchase which was not, he thought, sufficiently 
 guarded against in the bill would be a retrograde step. 
 The bill got through the House of Commons in a rather 
 mutilated condition, and the House of Lords were en- 
 couraged to decline considering the measure until the 
 whole plan for army reorganisation was before them. 
 Hereupon Mr. Gladstone found out that legislation was 
 not required. A royal warrant was issued abolishing 
 the system of purchase at a blow. 
 
 The faithful followers of Government were of course 
 ready to accept a kind of small coup d'etat which achieved 
 their object. But this high-handed way of carrying out 
 a principle was clearly inconsistent with Liberal princi- 
 ples and opposed to all Fawcett's notions of fair-play. 
 He had pronounced in favour of reforming the House 
 of Lords; but so long as it existed its action was not 
 to be summarily put aside by an appeal to prerogative. 
 The discovery that the measure needed no legislation
 
 272 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 came awkwardly after so much energy had been ex- 
 pended on the attempt to obtain legislation. The con- 
 temptuous treatment of the House of Lords was strange, 
 as Fawcett rather bitterly observed, in a Minister who had 
 so recently declined to carry out the Liberal principles in 
 regard to the Universities from excessive politeness to the 
 same body. Nor, as he showed by examples, was the 
 objection to this use of prerogative a mere adhesion to an 
 antiquated prejudice. Koyal prerogative might not 
 mean what it had meant in the days of the Stuarts, but 
 a Minister might turn it to account for objectionable 
 purposes. He might sell the rights of the Crown as in 
 the case of Epping Forest, or give a charter to a sec- 
 tarian University in spite of the opinions of Parliament. 
 The force of this allusion will appear directly. Even in 
 this case, though the immediate end was desirable, 
 Fawcett quite sympathised with the demand of the 
 House of Lords to know what was to be the substitute 
 for the objectionable system. He would far rather wait, 
 he said, to be sure of a sound measure than buy at such 
 a price mere fragments of reform. 
 
 Fawcett took a leading part in the protest, though 
 of course his action was for the moment unavailing. 
 His conduct was intensely disagreeable to the Govern- 
 ment. One official antagonist declared that, if Govern- 
 ment had submitted, Fawcett would have been as ready 
 to demand an application of the prerogative as he now 
 was to denounce it. When Fawcett demanded some 
 reason for this calm assumption, his assailant simply 
 retorted that he made it because he was sure that 
 Fawcett would in any case say whatever was most dis-
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 273 
 
 agreeable. That was the natural official view. Nothing 
 but a desire to be disagreeable could account for a 
 member of the party opposing its leaders. Fawcett did, 
 in fact, say the most disagreeable thing pretty often, 
 because nothing can be so disagreeable as an opposition 
 based upon principle, and upon the very principle of 
 which the party claims a special monopoly. In this, 
 and in many other cases, Fawcett was vexatious because 
 his arguments were irrefragable from the point of view of 
 the men whose principles he preferred to their practice. 
 He might be called factious in opposing Liberal leaders, 
 but he had the awkward retort that he was factious on 
 behalf of the Liberal creed. 
 
 Fawcett's growing discontent showed itself in an 
 article in the 'Fortnightly Review' for November 1871, 
 ' On the Present Position of the Government,' which was 
 one of his most vigorous performances. It was an in- 
 dictment of the Ministry upon the whole course of their 
 policy. Admitting that they had carried out, and deserved 
 credit for carrying out, some of the chief measures for 
 which they had been put in office, he called attention to 
 their shortcomings. He said that they had alienated the 
 friends of religious equality by their half-hearted treat- 
 ment of University tests and elementary education ; that 
 they had mutilated the Ballot Bill by dropping all the 
 clauses which really assailed the influence of money in 
 elections; that the abolition of purchase had been so 
 managed as to incur at least the danger of increasing 
 political patronage rather than ' giving back the army to 
 the nation ' (the current phrase) ; that economy had 
 touched the poor and left rich sinecurists unaffected; 
 
 T
 
 274 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 that Mr. Lowe had first introduced a Budget alienating the 
 agricultural interest by a proposed tax on farm horses, 
 and injuring the poorest class by a tax on matches ; and 
 that, when forced to withdraw, this prophet of the evils 
 to come from democratic tyranny had pandered to the 
 very evil principle which he had denounced by throwing 
 the whole additional taxation upon the payers of income- 
 tax ; that, whilst doing something for the poor tenants 
 of Ireland, nothing had been done for the great social 
 questions of England ; and that Government had actu- 
 ally done its utmost to promote the enclosure of English 
 commons, whilst denouncing the separation of the Irish 
 people from the land ; and, finally, that the Cabinet had 
 not found time to spend a quarter of an hour upon the 
 momentous questions of Indian finance. 
 
 The importance attached by Fawcett to the la^t 
 points will appear more plainly hereafter. Meanwhile 
 he took pains to anticipate the objection that he was 
 blaming the. Government for not coming up to the 
 demands of the extreme Radicals. He complained that 
 they lagged behind the main body of their supporters ; 
 that they systematically waited till a policy was forced 
 upon them by external pressure ; that a man who laid 
 down distinct principles and enforced them by strong 
 arguments was sneered down as a doctrinaire, and 
 virtually told that he must go elsewhere and excite the 
 people, till Government felt that hesitation was no longer 
 safe. Government took enormous credit to itself for 
 having, ' after much curious twisting and many a dubi- 
 ous halt, decided to accept a principle which years before 
 had been endorsed at a hundred provincial meetings.'
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 275 
 
 The justice, for example, of disestablishing the Irish 
 Church, or of compensating Irish tenants for improve- 
 ments, had been an accepted principle with every 
 ' Eadical shoemaker ' thirty years before. Government, 
 in his opinion, had injured itself, not by going too far, 
 but by temporising, shuffling, and equivocating till it 
 had disgusted the supporters whose enthusiasm might 
 have been preserved by a vigorous adhesion to simple 
 principles. 
 
 The utterance of these heterodox opinions was not 
 calculated to improve Fawcett's position amongst the 
 staunch adherents of the Government. During the 
 later part of this Parliament he was regarded as so 
 distinctly hostile that the Government ' wiiips ' ceased 
 to send him the usual notices. In the session of 1872 
 he came into further conflict with the Liberal leaders. 
 The chief Government measure of that session was the 
 Ballot Bill which had been sent up to the House of 
 Lords in 1871 and rejected on the ground of insufficient 
 time for consideration. Fawcett had been a constant 
 supporter of the ballot. I do not think that he was an 
 ardent advocate of secresy of voting a principle to which 
 Mill objected on grounds for which Fawcett must have 
 felt some sympathy. Fawcett, I think, admitted that the 
 measure was necessary as a protection against intimi- 
 dation, whilst he could hardly approve of the view that 
 the suffrage was a privilege to be exercised without 
 any responsibility. He protested, for example (April 15), 
 against a clause proposed in this session, the object of 
 which was to make secresy compulsory by punishing 
 anyone who should reveal his vote. He said explicitly 
 
 T 2
 
 276 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 that he attached much less importance to securing 
 secresy of voting than to attacking the expensiveness of 
 elections; and he complained bitterly of Government, 
 in the session of 1 87 1 , for throwing over all the clauses 
 except those which secured secresy. He had tried hard 
 to engraft upon the measure his own plan for throwing 
 the official expenses upon the rates. I have already 
 mentioned the fate of his proposal in his first Parliament. 
 After gaining a majority, he had been foiled by the 
 tactics of the then Government. In 1 869 he again in- 
 troduced the measure, which was thrown out upon the 
 second reading by a majority of 168 to 165 (March 3). 
 In 1870 he postponed the introduction of his measure, 
 as a Committee was sitting upon the whole subject. 
 Afterwards (May 9) he complained that it had not 
 been embodied in the Government measure introduced 
 in that session. In 1871 it formed part of the Govern- 
 ment bill, but Fawcett complained of the faintness 
 of their support, and it was thrown out (July 31) by 
 256 to 1 60. Another clause, which declared that all 
 payments not made through the official agent were to 
 be held corrupt, was dropped, to his disgust. Though 
 Mr. Forster promised that it should reappear next year, 
 Fawcett insisted upon a division, and was beaten by 1 8 1 
 to 84 (August i). He once more made an effort in sup- 
 port of his old measure in the discussions upon the Ballot 
 Bill in this session (1872), and was defeated by 261 to 
 169 (April 25). The Ballot Bill thus passed without 
 his favourite provision. He made a final effort in its 
 support in the session of 1873. He complained patheti- 
 cally that his bill had suffered from the patronage of the
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 277 
 
 Government, who had adopted it without catching his 
 own parental affection. He hoped that it would regain 
 vigour now that it had come back to the 'bracing 
 atmosphere ' of the benches below the gangway. The 
 result, however, was unsatisfactory, for on a second 
 reading (June 18) he was defeated by 205 to gi. 1 
 
 The reception of his scheme was not calculated to 
 raise his flagging belief in the sincerity of Government. 
 Measures seriously calculated to diminish the expensive- 
 ness of elections did not find much real favour in a 
 House composed so largely of rich men ; and here, as 
 elsewhere, Government waited for some external pressure. 
 Another question was at last coming to the front in which 
 he was greatly interested, and which he had done his 
 best to urge upon his party. Already, in his first Parlia- 
 ment (1867), Fawcett had moved a resolution in favour of 
 removing all tests from Trinity College, Dublin. In 1 868 
 he was counted out ; and complained afterwards that 
 the whips of both parties had stood by the door to warn 
 members from attending, and had thus quenched an 
 inconvenient discussion. 
 
 In the next Parliament he did his utmost to gain 
 a hearing. The question was one which profoundly 
 
 1 In later years Fawcett made other attempts to promote this reform. 
 In 1875 he proposed to engraft it upon a bill introduced by Sir Henry 
 James to regulate election expenses ; but his motion was defeated by 
 150 to 46. In 1882 he supported a bill introduced by Mr. Ashton Dilke, 
 embodying his proposal ; but the bill disappeared after the second read- 
 ing had been carried by a small majority. A similar proposal made by 
 Mr. Broadhurst in 1883 "was rejected because it introduced controversial 
 matter incompatible with the compact then arranged between parties. 
 Fawcett had spoken warmly enough on the first two occasions to show 
 that his interest in the question was undiminished.
 
 278 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 interested his friend Cairnes. Cairnes, Fawcett, and 
 Mr. Courtney had constant discussions upon the subject, 
 Fawcett being the representative in the House of this 
 vigorous triumvirate. The question was superficially, 
 at least, the same as that of the English Universities ; 
 but the religious difficulty, which beset educational ques- 
 tions in England, recurred in a far more formidable 
 form and associated with more intricate problems. The 
 exclusion of Protestant Dissenters from Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge was clearly no real advantage to the interests of 
 the orthodox Anglican creed. The religious scruples 
 which hindered the establishment of elementary schools 
 in England had a very hollow ring, so far as the parents 
 and children were directly concerned. In each case 
 Fawcett might fairly maintain that the true interests 
 of national education were being sacrificed to miserable 
 sectarian squabbles. But it was not so easy to apply 
 the same principle to a country where the antipathies 
 between Catholic and Protestant are so profound and 
 deeply rooted as in Ireland. How are the principles of 
 toleration to be applied where there is so little of the 
 corresponding sentiment ? Fawcett was perhaps pre- 
 disposed by his own indifference to dogmatic discussions 
 to under-estimate the actual difficulty. The religious 
 views of his friends never gave him any trouble : he 
 could associate with Catholics, Protestants, and Free- 
 thinkers, and he did not see why they should not 
 heartily co-operate with each other. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone had declared that the Irish upas-tree 
 had three branches the State Church, the land system, 
 and the education system ; he had dealt with the two first
 
 MEMBER FOE BRIGHTON 279 
 
 after a fashion, and the third was now to be considered. 
 The task was to be a difficult one. The method adopted 
 in the case of the English Universities implied that, in 
 point of fact, the various sects were ready to join in the 
 same educational body, and that such a combination 
 would work satisfactorily, because a teaching might be 
 given which would offend no one, supposing a few easy 
 precautions to be adopted. But if you have to deal with 
 hostile Churches, ready to find cause of quarrel in every 
 branch of study, and even considering a combined 
 system of education to be in itself pernicious, the diffi- 
 culty might become enormous or insuperable. 
 
 Fawcett, meanwhile, was directly concerned with 
 the Dublin University alone. Dublin was so far more 
 Liberal than Oxford or Cambridge that members of all 
 creeds were already admitted as students, and could hold 
 scholarships and take degrees. What was required was 
 to remove the tests which excluded Catholics from mem- 
 bership of the governing body. If that were done, there 
 would be a University as open to the whole nation as 
 Oxford or Cambridge, though the question remained, how 
 far it could take the same place as an adequate academi- 
 cal organisation for the Irish people. 
 
 Fawcett was content to work at the abolition of 
 Dublin tests without for the present raising the wider 
 question. In successive sessions he made one assault 
 after another. In 1869 (August 3) he withdrew a reso- 
 lution, after a speech from Mr. Chichester Fortescue (now 
 Lord Carlingford), solely on the ground of the lateness of 
 the session. Mr. Fortescue's speech, he said, pointed to 
 a system of denominational colleges ; and he warned the
 
 280 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Government that any such scheme would alienate their 
 Liberal supporters. In 1870 (April 4) Fawcett again 
 brought in a bill and was supported by Mr. Plunket, then 
 just elected for the University of Dublin. Fawcett pre- 
 sented a memorial from the Provost and Fellows of Trinity 
 College, showing that body to be itself in favour of en- 
 franchisement. He complained of the obstacles which 
 had been raised by both parties. Mr. Gladstone treated 
 the motion as one of want of confidence, and the discus- 
 sion was shelved by a majority of 232 to 92. In 1871 
 Fawcett again brought in the bill, which did not come 
 up for the second reading until August 2. Mr. Gladstone 
 expressed his approval of the principle ; but said that a 
 more complete measure was required. The bill was talked 
 out. In 1872, however, it came decidedly to the front. 
 The bill was introduced early and came up for the second 
 reading on March 20, Fawcett and Mr. Plunket being 
 again mover and seconder. In order to meet Mr. Glad- 
 stone's objection to the incompleteness of the bill, clauses 
 had now been introduced to alter the constitution of the 
 college, chiefly to enable Catholics to obtain a position on 
 the governing body more rapidly than would have resulted, 
 in the ordinary course, from the simple removal of tests. 
 Mr. Gladstone now criticised these clauses as crude, but 
 offered to support the test clauses. Fawcett was moved 
 to some indignation. He had added the constitution 
 clauses precisely because Mr. Gladstone had said that 
 the measure without them was incomplete, and Mr. 
 Gladstone now himself proposed to reduce the bill to its 
 incomplete state. After two adjournments, the second 
 reading of the bill was carried (March 26) by 94 to 21.
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 281 
 
 The struggle broke out on the attempt to go into Com- 
 mittee. Mr. Gladstone again condemned the constitu- 
 tive clauses as unsatisfactory, but offered to help the 
 test clauses. Fawcett declined to allow his bill to be 
 thus mutilated. After some sharp debate Mr. Gladstone 
 stated that Government would resign if their proposed 
 instruction for dividing the bill should be defeated. 
 But he declined to treat the motion as one of want of 
 confidence, and therefore to give a day for the discussion. 
 The last discussion took place on April 25. Fawcett 
 declared that he had only done what he had been told 
 to do, and that now he was being hindered precisely for 
 doing it. Government, he said, would not accept his 
 challenge. ' For five years,' he said, ' I have been try- 
 ing to obtain a decision. Twice my proposals have been 
 talked out. Twice they have been counted out. Twice 
 they have been got rid of by threats of a Ministerial 
 resignation.' 
 
 Cairnes used laughingly to compare this to a more 
 famous catalogue of direr calamities once endured in the 
 cause of truth. It is enough to say that Fawcett was not 
 likely to have his confidence in the Liberal Government 
 strengthened. His distrust, it must be noticed, had been 
 increased by the history of the ' supplementary charter ' 
 of the Queen's University. 1 A charter which would in- 
 volve the introduction of a denominational system had 
 been granted by Mr. Gladstone's Government at the very 
 moment when they were resigning in 1866. It was 
 granted, as its opponents maintained, so as to evade a 
 
 1 A full account of this will be found in Professor Cairnes's Political 
 Essays, pp. 323-326.
 
 282 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 distinct pledge that it should first be considered by Par- 
 liament. The senate of the Queen's University, packed 
 by the addition of six members, accepted it, but it was 
 finally declared invalid by the Irish Master of the Rolls. 
 Fawcett's intimate friend and adviser, Cairnes, had been 
 especially indignant at this, as he considered, underhand 
 attempt to introduce an obnoxious system. Fawcett was 
 prepared to look doubtfully upon Mr. Gladstone's future 
 action upon the same subject. But whatever the tactics 
 employed against him, he would have been unreasonable 
 not to admit that there was good ground for saying that 
 the whole question should be treated in a comprehensive 
 measure. His many attempts to bring it forward may 
 have been unseasonable, but they no doubt made the 
 introduction of a Government measure more imperative. 
 At the beginning of the session of 1873 Fawcett once 
 more brought in his bill, which was read a first time on 
 February 7, stating at the same time that he did not 
 wish to embarrass the Government, and should with- 
 draw his bill if he were satisfied with the measure which 
 they were now to introduce. That measure was intro- 
 duced by Mr. Gladstone in a speech of which Fawcett 
 said, that if a division could have taken place whilst the 
 House was still under its influence the bill would have 
 been almost unanimously carried. He was careful to 
 suspend his own judgment until he had thoroughly 
 analysed the bill and discussed it carefully with Cairnes. 
 When opening the debate upon the second reading 
 (March 3, 1873), he said that the time which had elapsed 
 since Mr. Gladstone's speech had brought out an almost 
 unanimous disapproval of the measure. It was one of the
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 283 
 
 compromises which are meant to please everybody and 
 which end by pleasing nobody. Mr. Gladstone had pro- 
 posed the amalgamation of the various existing bodies into 
 a single University. Trinity College, the Catholic Uni- 
 versity, and the Queen's Colleges (with the exception of the 
 Galway College, which was to be abolished), were to form 
 parts of the new University, with a power of affiliating new 
 colleges which might hereafter be formed. The difficulty 
 of bringing together the heterogeneous religious elements 
 was to be met partly by the so-called 'gagging clauses,' 
 excluding from the University course theology, moral 
 philosophy, and modern history. The separate colleges 
 might make their own arrangements in regard to these 
 subjects, in which the University itself would neither 
 teach nor examine. The scheme irritated the Irish Pro- 
 testants, whilst it was rejected as insufficient by the 
 Catholics. Fawcett attacked it energetically upon 
 various grounds. He protested against the abolition of 
 the Galway College, and he declared that the proposed 
 excision of dangerous topics would make a satisfactory 
 treatment of all subjects, even political economy, for 
 example, hopeless. His main contention was, in fact, a 
 protest on behalf of united as against denominational 
 education. The bill, he urged, was an attempt to com- 
 bine the two inconsistent systems. A system of con- 
 current endowment was out of the question on account 
 of the prejudices of Irish and English Protestants, who 
 would not see education handed over to the Catholic 
 priesthood. Fawcett held that, if possible, it would still be 
 wrong in principle. To endow separate Universities, each 
 with a special sectarian colour, was, according to him, to
 
 284 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 stereotype and intensify the bitter religious animosities 
 which had been the bane of Ireland. The bill, which 
 proposed to bring students of all religions together and 
 yet to suppress all teaching upon the topics in which they 
 differed, was to sanction the very principle of discord. 
 Priests who forbade their disciples to associate with 
 Protestants would now be entitled to say that the English 
 Government admitted the danger of the association. He 
 quoted a passage in which Cardinal Cullen had threatened 
 with the censures of the Church parents who persisted in 
 exposing their children to the dangers of united education. 
 A Liberal Government had virtually aided and abetted 
 this cruel and cowardly policy, when it had granted 
 the abortive supplementary charter for the Queen's Uni- 
 versity. The effect of the present measure would be to 
 help the priests to keep every Catholic out of Trinity 
 College and the Queen's Colleges and thus to foster religi- 
 ous intolerance. Fawcett, in fact, regarded the religious 
 difficulty in this case as he had regarded it in the case of 
 English Universities and elementary education. It was 
 really put forward by the classes which dreaded toleration, 
 and the true remedy was a bold acceptance of the 
 principle of united education. There is room here for 
 some casuistical discussion as to the true bearing of the 
 principle of toleration. It may, at any rate, be said that 
 the question of fact has to be considered by a statesman. 
 It is all very well to establish united education, but if 
 the persons to be educated decline to unite your efforts 
 will be thrown away. The question then occurs whether 
 it is best to establish a system, rejected by those 
 concerned, in the hope that it will gradually work its
 
 FOE BRIGHTON 285 
 
 way into acceptance in spite of the intolerance of priests, 
 or to endow the separate denominational bodies on the 
 ground that even such education is better than none, or, 
 finally, to do nothing. The question is one of statesman- 
 ship enlightened by a knowledge of facts and of the 
 sentiments of the population, and it is altogether beyond 
 my power even to suggest the true answer. Fawcett, who 
 thought comparatively little of the importance of the 
 religious differences, accepted the first solution. The 
 Catholics would have been content with nothing short 
 of the second. Mr. Gladstone attempted a compromise 
 which was equally unpalatable to both ; and the result 
 was the third possible conclusion namely, that nothing 
 was effected at all. 
 
 Catholics, Protestants, and the indifferent being all 
 opposed to the measure, the power of Government was in- 
 adequate to secure success. In spite of the great Liberal 
 majority, the bill was thrown out by a majority of 287 to 
 284, and the Liberal Government received a fatal blow. 
 Fawcett now brought in his previous measure. Govern- 
 ment agreed to support it if limited to the clauses 
 abolishing tests. Fawcett thought it best to accept the 
 compromise, and the measure was finally passed after 
 brief disputes on May 26. 
 
 Though Mr. Gladstone resigned, Mr. Disraeli refused 
 to come in ; and for the rest of this Parliament the 
 Administration, which had come back to office, remained 
 in a moribund condition until the dissolution of January 
 1 874. Fawcett's action upon this occasion was amongst 
 the main causes of the catastrophe, and he thus had the 
 credit or discredit of finally putting that spoke into the
 
 286 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 wheels of the great Liberal Administration which finally 
 threw the machinery out of gear. 
 
 Before summing up the results to himself of his 
 action, I must speak of one other mode in which he had 
 become conspicuous not to the satisfaction of one part 
 of his supporters. Fawcett, as will easily be believed, 
 was one of the most clubbable of mankind. He had at 
 an early period of his parliamentary career been the 
 founder of the Eadical Club an institution consisting in 
 equal numbers of members of the House and politicians, 
 including ladies, wiio were not members. They met and 
 discussed the questions of the day at weekly dinners. 
 Mill was one of the original members. The club acquired 
 considerable importance in later years and flourished 
 until the elevation of several of its members to office in 
 1880, when by the constitution of the club they had to 
 withdraw. It was perhaps as a kind of offshoot from this 
 institution that a club calling itself by the more dreaded 
 name of Republican was formed at Cambridge by 
 Fawcett and some of his friends. Professor Clifford was 
 secretary. The rules gave a formal definition of Repub- 
 licanism, which meant ' hostility to the hereditary prin- 
 ciple as exemplified in monarchical and aristocratic in- 
 stitutions, and to all social and political privileges depen- 
 dent upon difference of sex.' The other rules were all 
 devoted to securing a sufficiency of sociable dinners, 
 with discussions of a conversational nature. Nothing 
 could well be imagined more harmless than this club. 
 It was purely private in its nature, and was scarcely 
 more than a sociable meeting of a set of friends who 
 amused themselves, after the fashion of young men at
 
 MEMBEK FOE BRIGHTON 287 
 
 the University, by taking the title most significant of 
 thoroughgoing opinions. It is superfluous to say that 
 they were as little likely to proclaim a provisional Govern- 
 ment as a meeting of the senior Fellows of Trinity to 
 blow up the chapel with dynamite. A little audacious 
 talk over a glass of wine would be the outside of the 
 offending. Unluckily some erroneous account of this 
 club got into the papers about the end of 1870 and 
 gave a shock to some of Fawcett's supporters. To them, 
 it appears, the name ' Eepublican ' suggested Marat and 
 Robespierre, or at least an expulsion of the Queen 
 by force of arms like the recent expulsion of the Third 
 Napoleon. One of Fawcett's best friends talked of 
 moving an amendment to the usual vote of confidence 
 at the general meeting of his supporters at Brighton 
 in January 1871, partly on this ground, partly also on 
 the ground of his attitude towards Mr. Gladstone. This 
 attitude had not yet become so marked as in following ses- 
 sions, and had been chiefly shown in a speech (August i , 
 1 870) in which he had said that we should have sooner 
 avowed our resolution to stand by Belgium during the 
 Franco-German war. Fawcett took the opportunity of 
 giving a very plain exposition of his principles, though the 
 threatened motion was judiciously abandoned. The prin- 
 ciple to which he adhered was, he said, that of ' merit, 
 not birth.' He disclaimed all disloyal feeling, and said 
 (what was scarcely necessary to say) that no one would 
 be more opposed than he and his friends to any revolu- 
 tionary movement. He pointed out, however, some 
 very practical applications of his principle, and spoke as 
 usual of the honourable disregard of any consideration
 
 288 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 but merit at Cambridge. A Fellow had been recently 
 asked before a Committee what was the ordinary social 
 position of Fellows of colleges. He replied (not quite 
 truly, I fancy) that he could not tell ; for such a ques- 
 tion was never asked at Cambridge. Fawcett hoped that 
 a similar feeling would come to prevail in politics, and 
 that a Prime Minister would never have to confess that 
 he had made a bad appointment because it was necessary 
 to provide for the son of a duke. 
 
 So far, indeed, Fawcett was a thorough Republican 
 in feeling. He would have admitted the force of the 
 plea for existing Monarchy that, under present circum- 
 stances, it provides a system under which the ablest 
 Minister has the best chance of coming to the head of 
 affairs. At any rate, he declared that he was not ' the 
 slave of an abstract principle,' and that nothing but 
 mischief could come from any attempt to upset the 
 Monarchy now. Yet Fawcett's Eepublican sentiment 
 perhaps went a little further. In the following session 
 he was in a minority of one against the dowry voted 
 to the Princess Louise, Mr. Peter Taylor and Sir Charles 
 Dilke acting as tellers upon his side. In the follow- 
 ing year (on March 19, 1872) he was present at the 
 disorderly scene when Sir Charles Dilke moved his 
 inquiry into the Civil List, and was supposed to be 
 avowing some leaning to Republicanism. Fawcett spoke 
 amidst considerable interruption, and stated that, what- 
 ever his opinions might be, he objected to the ques- 
 tion of Republicanism being 'raised upon a miserable 
 haggle over a few pounds.' His friends seem to have 
 thought that the utterance at that particular moment
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 289 
 
 showed some want of tact, and might tend to fasten 
 upon Dilke's speeches a meaning disavowed by the speaker 
 himself. But the sentiment was in itself thoroughly 
 characteristic. Till the question could be raised in a 
 worthier manner, Fawcett would have no desire to raise it. 
 
 The whole affair speedily passed out of mind. 
 Fawcett was no revolutionist, if that word suggests 
 the least disposition to violent changes. But perhaps he 
 was more inclined towards Republicanism than most 
 English politicians. He certainly had the heartiest 
 possible contempt for that kind of vulgarity or ' flunkey- 
 ism ' which in these days sometimes passes itself off for 
 loyalty. He spoke with a marked disgust of some 
 Liberal politicians who warned him to be duly obsequious 
 when there was a prospect of his having to examine a 
 royal duke before a parliamentary committee. His utter 
 indifference to any distinctions of rank made him more 
 than usually contemptuous of such weaknesses and, I 
 rather think, predisposed him to hold that the question 
 between Republicanism and Monarchy might not be ad- 
 journed to so distant a period as is commonly taken for 
 granted. For the present, however, he found no fault 
 with the existing system, and discouraged any agitation 
 in regard to it. 
 
 Fawcett had shown himself to be a very formidable 
 critic; he had perhaps not entirely escaped the danger 
 of wearying the House by his persistent endeavours to 
 bring forward the awkward topics which, for various 
 reasons, one or sometimes both parties would have been 
 glad to keep out of sight, and by urging them perhaps 
 at times with more self-confidence than tact. To the 
 
 u
 
 290 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 regular official mind he had become thoroughly obnoxious. 
 Various subordinate Ministers had endeavoured to snub 
 him, to put him aside as factious and impracticable, and 
 occasionally they had been even insulting in their 
 language. A man in such a position runs no small 
 danger of finding himself put down by common consent 
 as a tiresome person who may be safely neglected. 
 
 Yet Fawcett had distinctly gained a position of real 
 influence. He was regarded with feelings entirely dif- 
 ferent from those often excited by men of undeniable 
 ability, who take up a similar position of independent 
 opposition or make themselves the mouthpiece of a small 
 party of impracticables. If his popularity was not so 
 great or general as it afterwards became, he was not a 
 man to be suppressed by sneers or by a tacit agreement to 
 ignore him. The reasons for his success are probably not 
 far to seek. In the first place, his action was in all 
 cases clearly founded on principle. Nobody could affect 
 to doubt that he really believed what he said, and that 
 he spoke without any bias from considerations of what 
 would please Ministers or constituents. It wns clear, 
 again, that he was not a stickler for mere crotchets. In 
 every one of the cases in which he came forward a 
 question of real moment was at issue, and he spoke 
 after serious reflection and with the unmistakable im- 
 press of strong common sense upon all that he said. 
 Nor could it be denied that he spoke, even when he 
 opposed a Liberal Government, and when for that reason 
 he went into the lobby with its Conservative opponents, 
 as a genuine representative of Liberal principles. The 
 motive of all the action already described was in one
 
 MEMBER FOR BRIGHTON 291 
 
 respect uniform. His complaint was that the Govern- 
 ment lagged behind the bulk of the party ; that instead 
 of laying down distinct principles, adhering to them 
 boldly, and saying plainly how far it would go, it tried to 
 compromise, to blink obvious facts, to pacify opponents by 
 dexterous manoeuvres, and so in the end came not only to 
 lose credit by taking up its positions under pressure from 
 the party which it ought to have led, but to cause more 
 irritation than would otherwise have resulted. Sup- 
 porters of the Government called him impracticable for 
 his objection to compromise. Yet he might have retorted 
 that the plainer or more manly course which he always 
 desired would have been in the end the most practical. 
 Mr. Gladstone's Government, according to its opponents, 
 lost command of the country because it threatened so 
 many interests. Fawcett said, in substance, that it failed 
 because it excited the distrust both of supporters and 
 opponents ; that it failed to take the plain course which 
 would have roused the enthusiasm of Liberals ; whilst 
 it equally failed to conciliate opponents, who never felt 
 sure that it would not reach the Kadical conclusions by 
 devious and covert approaches. A masculine and out- 
 spoken opponent may excite more opposition for the 
 moment, but he does not rouse the same antipathy as 
 one who fails to speak out because he does not himself 
 know how far he may be going. Whether the downright 
 policy which would have satisfied Fawcett would have suc- 
 ceeded maybe a question ; but, in any case, his thoroughly 
 outspoken and masculine temper was already winning 
 the recognition and respect both of friends and opponents. 
 In after days it was said that Fawcett's popularity was 
 
 u 2
 
 292 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 second only to Mr. Gladstone's. But the popularity was 
 not in his case balanced by a corresponding antipathy. 
 You cannot hate a man whom you cannot help trusting ; 
 and Fawcett's most determined opponents could not but 
 admit that you might trust him implicitly in the sense of 
 knowing what he wanted. He, at least, had no reserve 
 of covert possibilities in the background. Moreover, 
 Fawcett's unmistakable geniality, the hearty good 
 temper and unfailing cheeriness of the man, his supe- 
 riority to any petty malice or personal jealousy, made 
 themselves felt in politics as .elsewhere. It was simply 
 impossible to dislike him. 
 
 Fawcett, again, was showing other qualities in politi- 
 cal life than this of downright adherence to intelligible 
 principles. His complaints against the Government, so 
 far as we have gone, were based chiefly on its tendency 
 to subterfuge and compromise. But he had further to 
 complain that it suffered from that disease of officialism 
 which is so apt to beset the most virtuous reformers when 
 once in office. This indolent acquiescence manifested 
 itself in certain directions which involved indifference to 
 the grievances of the weak and helpless. Fawcett's 
 chivalrous hatred of oppression came out in his resolute 
 exertions towards calling attention to cases of this kind ; 
 and, in the two cases of the enclosure of commons and 
 of the grievances of the people of India, he took so 
 prominent a position that I must speak of his action in 
 each case separately in the two following chapters.
 
 293 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION. 
 
 I HAVE given some account of Fawcett's share in struggles 
 which from time to time occupied the foreground of the 
 political arena. Such struggles are not always so im- 
 portant as others which are fought out in comparative 
 obscurity. This is perhaps true of the agitation for 
 preserving open spaces, in which Fawcett took a leading 
 part from the first session of his second Parliament. It 
 attracted comparatively little notice at the time. Yet he 
 more than once remarked to me that there was no part of 
 his political career upon which he could look back with 
 more unalloyed satisfaction. An open space, as he pointed 
 out, once destroyed is destroyed for ever. To rescue it 
 is often to confer a permanent benefit upon society, and 
 a benefit without sensible drawback. There are few 
 political achievements of which the same can be said. 
 Though Fawcett did not initiate the movement, and was 
 supported throughout by friends whose services he was 
 always eager to acknowledge, he took a very prominent 
 part in the conduct of the whole political campaign ; 
 and in no part of his career were his characteristic 
 qualities more distinctly manifested. 
 
 The question interested him in more ways than one
 
 294 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 His first published course of lectures (delivered in the 
 October term, 1864) prove that his attention had already 
 been called to the subject. After discussing the effects 
 of a divorce of the great mass of the population from 
 the soil, he referred to the mischiefs resulting from the 
 enclosure of commons. He declared, from his own know- 
 ledge of the agricultural labourer, that cottagers could 
 no longer keep a cow, a pig, or poultry ; that the village 
 greens had become extinct ; and that the turnpike road 
 was too often the only playground for the village children. 
 He doubted whether the enclosure of commons involving 
 the breaking up of pastures had, in point of fact, perma- 
 nently increased the wealth of the country; but the 
 wealth in any case was dearly purchased, if purchased by 
 a diminution of the labourers' comforts. The compensa- 
 tion paid to the poor commoner had generally been spent 
 by the first receiver ; whilst his descendants were perma- 
 nently deprived of many of the little advantages which 
 might have helped to eke out their scanty resources. 
 
 The political economist of fiction is a hard-hearted 
 being, who tramples upon such considerations in the 
 name of an idol called Supply and Demand. Fawcett 
 did not shrink from the strictest application of economic 
 principles He gave full weight to the ordinary argu- 
 ments, and only demanded that they should be fairly 
 applied with a consideration of all the circumstances. 
 Every increase of farming profit caused by more efficient 
 systems of cultivation must undoubtedly tend to increase 
 the demand for agricultural labour, and, so far, to raise 
 the labourer's wages. But this, as he always insisted, 
 represents only one part of the case. The remedial
 
 COMMONS PEESEEVATION 295 
 
 tendency may be slow to come into action. The labourer 
 may be sluggish and ignorant, and therefore may fail to 
 adapt himself to new conditions. The loss of his old 
 advantages may induce him to lower his standard of 
 living ; his vitality may be weakened, his intelligence 
 blunted, and thus even his industrial efficiency diminished. 
 The improved organisation may be neutralised by the 
 degradation of the human machinery of which it is 
 composed. Such considerations lie outside the purely 
 economical elements of the problem ; but, as Fawcett was 
 emphatic in asserting, they are not therefore irrelevant. 
 On the contrary, they are precisely the points to which 
 a statesman is bound to attend. 
 
 There was another aspect of the question to which he 
 drew attention in the lectures already noticed. Govern- 
 ment, he said, had allowed a considerable part of Epping 
 Forest to be appropriated by private persons, and he 
 observed that it was impossible to measure the social and 
 moral injury inflicted by this change upon the dense 
 masses of the metropolitan population. It was this 
 aspect of the enclosure question which was soon to 
 become most prominent. The process of enclosing 
 common land has been going on rapidly since the early 
 part of the eighteenth century. In many districts the 
 injury done to the labourer, whatever it may have been, 
 has been consummated. He has no longer any privileges 
 to maintain. And, in any case, the preservation of the 
 existing rights forms but a very small part of the great 
 problem of a satisfactory system of land tenure. The 
 other part of the question, on the contrary, steadily rises in 
 importance. As the grimy masses of town building daily
 
 296 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 engulph larger slices of green fields, the need of breathing 
 and recreation ground becomes continually more pressing. 
 Few Londoners are fully aware even now of the advan- 
 tages which they owe to the survival of the ancient systems 
 of landed tenure. Within a radius of thirty miles from 
 the centre of London there is a great area of unenclosed 
 land, much of it of exquisite beauty and still apparently 
 steeped in the profoundest rural quiet. It is possible 
 even now to ramble for miles from one stretch of heather 
 and gorse to another, with pleasant interludes of field 
 paths or country lanes and occasional emergences upon 
 the fine springy turf of the broad chalk-ridges. With a 
 little judicious trespassing (and it is only right to express 
 gratitude for the liberality of many private proprietors), 
 one may wander from Windsor to Chatham through a 
 continuous range of lovely scenery still untainted by 
 London, and as beautiful in a quiet way as any part of 
 England. Happily for the lover of solitude, many such 
 spots still seem to be less known than most regions of the 
 Alps; though some which lie nearer to beaten paths 
 were already attracting public attention twenty years 
 ago. Hampstead Heath to the North, Wimbledon to the 
 South-west, and Epping to the East, were the most famous 
 haunts of the holiday-maker. They were all at this period 
 in serious danger. The growing value of building land 
 was of course the great cause of absorption in the 
 neighbourhood of London. The builder is always ready 
 to push out his incarnations of mean monotony till the 
 country is supplanted by something that is not town. 
 Further off, the more ostentatious masses of brick and 
 mortar gcnerically known as ' institutions ' delighted
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 297 
 
 to perch in their ghastly affectation of architectural 
 pomp upon some open space where land is cheap and 
 sufficient attention may be paid to the health of criminal 
 lunatics and other interesting specimens of humanity. 
 Railways naturally gashed commons with their dis- 
 figuring trenches and sliced off isolated corners no 
 longer worth preserving when dominated by the shrieks 
 and steam-jets of the intrusive monster. A few years 
 of neglect would have led to the disappearance of many 
 of the best breathing-spaces round London, and allowed 
 the huge web of suburban brick to be cast in continuous 
 network over the whole area. 
 
 Public opinion was beginning to be aroused. In 1 863 
 an Address to the Crown had been carried in the House 
 of Commons against the further sale of forestal rights 
 in Epping. A Committee had afterwards been appointed 
 to consider the possibility of preserving open spaces in 
 the Forest. Fawcett's reference to Epping, just cited, 
 shows that his attention had been drawn to the subject. 
 He did not, however, take a prominent part in the 
 matter during his first Parliament. In 1865 a proposal 
 to enclose some commons near Epsom was rejected by 
 the House of Commons. Mr. Doulton, member for 
 Lambeth, called attention to other encroachments : 
 "Wandsworth was being mangled by railways ; "Wimbledon 
 was threatened with diminution by a third of its area 
 and conversion into a park; Hampstead Heath was 
 being carted away for gravel, and Epping enclosed. A 
 Select Committee was appointed, of which Mr. Locke 
 was chairman, and which included Mr. Charles Buxton, 
 Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, and Mr. Cowper-Ternple (then Mr.
 
 298 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Cowper, now Lord Mount-Temple). The report of the 
 Committee laid down principles which soon received 
 legislative sanction. The Commons Preservation Society 
 was formed in July 1865 to advocate their adoption. 
 Mr. Shaw-Lefevre became chairman, a position which he 
 held, with a short interval, until he took office in 1 880; and 
 his services have been invaluable. Mr. P. H. Lawrence 
 was honorary solicitor. Mr. Lawrence had taken a very 
 prominent part in the defence of Wimbledon Common, 
 and did, I believe, more than any man at this time to 
 give shape and direction to the movement. Fawcett was 
 an early member of the new Society, but took little part 
 in its first operations. The Metropolitan Commons Act, 
 passed in 1 866, embodied some of the recommendations of 
 the Committee of the previous session, and represented the 
 policy of the Commons Preservation Society at that time. 
 It provided, in the first place, that the regular machinery 
 for enclosure should not be applicable to suburban 
 commons. 1 The Enclosure Commissioners were also 
 empowered to settle schemes for regulating commons 
 on application from the persons concerned. The 
 Commons Preservation Society hoped that these pro- 
 visions would suffice to protect the most important 
 recreation-grounds. By their suggestion, committees 
 were formed in the neighbourhood of the threatened 
 commons and suits were instituted in the names of the 
 commoners. It was thought that the rights established 
 by these suits would suffice to make enclosure impracti- 
 cable ; and that all parties would then agree upon schemes 
 
 1 That is, to commons within the Metropolitan Police District, or, 
 roughly, within fifteen miles of Charing Cross.
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 299 
 
 for regulation. The facilities for the enclosure of 
 commons in the country no longer applied to the 
 commons round London. Parliament, it was still ad- 
 mitted, might fairly be asked to help in getting rid of 
 the old rural commons and the slovenly agricultural 
 system which they implied. But at least it was no 
 longer to do anything positively to encourage the sub- 
 stitution of brick and mortar for the open stretches of 
 turf or gorse in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. 
 And if Parliament would leave commoners and lords 
 of manors to fight it out, there were rights enough to 
 save the commons, which would then only require re- 
 gulation by appropriate schemes. 
 
 Some incidents which soon followed helped to make 
 the agitation popular. There was the famous expedition 
 to Berkhampstead, where the fences erected to enclose 
 500 acres of a singularly beautiful common were thrown 
 down by an army of navvies. Mr. Augustus Smith, who 
 employed them at the suggestion of the society, then in- 
 stituted a suit, which was decided in his favour in 1870. 
 Other suits, involving much antiquarian investigation, 
 took a considerable time, and it was not till 1 869 that 
 the first scheme was certified under the Metropolitan 
 Commons Act. It was at this time that Fawcett first 
 took an active part in the matter. The procedure of 
 the Enclosure Commissioners had been defined by a 
 general Act passed in 1845. The Commissioners in- 
 troduced an annual bill, which scheduled the commons to 
 be enclosed, and went through Parliament as a part of 
 the regular routine. It was almost always as much 
 taken for granted as the Mutiny Act. The Commis-
 
 300 
 
 sioners were directed by the Act to inquire into the 
 expediency of reserving part of the enclosures for recrea- 
 tion or allotments. In practice, however, they had been 
 satisfied with an almost nominal compliance with this 
 regulation. The bill introduced according to custom in 
 1869 scheduled 6,916 acres for enclosure, of w T hich three 
 were to be reserved for recreation and six for allotments. 
 Amongst the doomed spaces was the pleasant common 
 of Wisley, on the road from Kingston to Guildford, just 
 beyond the pine-covered ridges of St. George's Hill. 
 
 Some metropolitan members protested against this 
 particular enclosure. The bill had been hurried through 
 its earlier stages after the debates upon the Irish Church. 
 Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen (now Lord Brabourne), Under- 
 secretary of State for the Home Department, who wns 
 in charge of it, stated (March 22), on the motion for 
 going into Committee, that he would withdraw Wisley, 
 in order that the case might be considered by a Select 
 Committee. He remarked at the same time that it 
 would be ' obviously unfair to stop unopposed e,n- 
 closures,' and he therefore proposed to proceed with 
 the bill, only reserving the case of Wisley. Fawcett 
 made his first speech upon the subject, and protested that 
 the House was in a position to decide for itself without 
 further inquiry. A Select Committee was, however, 
 appointed (April 5) to consider the Wisley case, and 
 he was one of its members. It ultimately reported 
 (April 26) in favour of a much larger reservation for allot- 
 ments and recreation in the event of the enclosure of 
 the common. 
 
 Meanwhile the attempt upon Wisley had apparently
 
 COMMONS PEESERVATION 301 
 
 called Fawcett's attention to the general character of the 
 bill. Attention had been drawn to Wisley almost by 
 accident. There was no security that other cases might 
 not have been overlooked, and, at all events, the enclosure 
 was tolerably sweeping. He immediately gave notice that 
 upon the third reading he should move for a recommittal 
 of the bill, in order that a better provision might be 
 made for allotments. This motion brought about a 
 struggle, in which Fawcett, with a very small band of 
 supporters, 1 had to encounter the regular official phalanx, 
 who, from their point of view, naturally enough resented 
 his action. To the commonplace official, in fact, a pro- 
 posal to convert a formality into a reality is an inversion 
 of the rightful order of things. The Enclosure Commis- 
 sioners and Parliament had been getting on quite com- 
 fortably so long as Parliament confined itself to simply 
 endorsing the Commissioners' action. To propose that 
 it should look into things for itself was to stop business 
 and to inflict a hardship upon the various parties to the 
 proposed enclosure. To Fawcett, on the other hand, 
 nothing could be more offensive than a method of making 
 things pleasant at the expense of the poor and ignorant, 
 who had as little notion of interfering with Commis- 
 sions and Parliament as with the thunder or the phases 
 of the moon. 
 
 The Government whips decided upon circumventing 
 Fawcett's vigilance, not as yet appreciating the difficulty 
 of the proceeding. The third reading of the bill was set 
 down for every Government night. It did not come on 
 
 1 I believe that his chief supporters were Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Locke, 
 Mr. Thomas Hughes, Mr. P. A. Taylor, and Mr. Philip Wykeham Martin. 
 Mr. Lefevre was now in office.
 
 302 LIFE OF HENRY FAWOETT 
 
 for discussion till the end of the evening's debates tlmt 
 is, often at 2 or 3 A.M. The rule which now exists, for- 
 biddingthe introduction of opposed business after half-past 
 12, was not then in force. If Fawcett or his supporters 
 had failed to be in their places, the third reading might 
 have been achieved without opposition. But night after 
 night he was ready, and the motion for the third read- 
 ing postponed. On one occasion Fawcett, as he used 
 often to relate, had caught a bad cold. He sent a 
 message to the Government whip asking that the motion 
 might be once more postponed as it had been so often 
 before. He received no answer; but, fancying that his 
 request would be granted as a matter of course, he was 
 retiring to bed. A friend happening to call suggested 
 that it would be safer not to relax even for a night. 
 Fawcett struggled into his wraps, went to the House, 
 and found that business had been so arranged as to 
 secure the passage of the Enclosure Bill. The whip 
 started ' like a guilty thing surprised ' on the apparition 
 of Fawcett in the lobby, but good-humouredly admitted 
 the failure of his- little bit of dexterity, and gave a formal 
 undertaking which enabled Fawcett to get once more 
 into bed with a safe conscience. 
 
 A Liberal Government, I imagine, is not less really 
 attached to official routine than its antagonists. All 
 machinery, human or otherwise, has a certain ris inertia, 
 which resists all forces tending to displace it from its 
 regular grooves; but a Government which had just 
 come in with an enormous majority expressly to carry 
 out popular measures must have felt itself placed in a 
 false position when thus trying to suppress a protest of its
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 303 
 
 own supporters. The attempt to stifle the discussion 
 was finally abandoned. Fawcett spoke with justifiable 
 complacency of the success of his tactics. When in 
 after days complaints were made of the half-past 1 2 rule, 
 as facilitating obstruction, he would point to the hard- 
 ship inflicted upon a small minority by the absence of 
 the rule in this struggle. At last (April 9, 1869) the 
 bill was allowed to come on at a reasonable hour, and 
 Fawcett moved his resolution. He dwelt upon the absurdly 
 small proportion of the acreage reserved for public 
 allotments as a strong presumption of injustice to the 
 labourer ; and he protested against the view avowed by 
 Government speakers that the House had nothing to do 
 but formally confirm the Commissioners' action ; or that 
 the lords of manors and commoners had a right to the 
 assistance of Parliament when they had once satisfied 
 the requirements of the general Act. Fawcett was sup- 
 ported by Mr. Locke and Mr. Thomas Hughes ; and after 
 an adjournment of the debate Government consented to 
 the appointment of a Select Committee and the suspension 
 during their deliberations of the Annual Enclosure Bill. 
 
 On April 20 a Committee was accordingly appointed 
 upon Fawcett's motion to consider the working of the 
 existing system, and the expediency of better provision 
 for recreation and allotment grounds. The chairman of 
 the Committee was Mr. Cowper-Temple. Fawcett, with 
 Mr. (the present Sir William) Harcourt and some 
 metropolitan members, opposed the existing system, 
 which was defended by Colonel (afterwards Sir Walter) 
 Barttelot and by Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen, as representa- 
 tive of the official doctrine. Much evidence was taken,
 
 304 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 especially from the Enclosure Commissioners. These 
 gentlemen frankly accepted the position which was 
 assailed by Fawcett and his friends. The final cause 
 of an Enclosure Commission is naturally to enclose. 
 The preamble of the Enclosure Act of 1845 expressly 
 declared that it was expedient to get rid of rights which 
 obstructed cultivation and the productive employment of 
 labour. It is a hardship to prevent the owners of any 
 piece of property from distributing their various rights 
 on terms upon which they all agree, and which presum- 
 ably are most conducive to its profitable employment. 
 The commons, it was held, were the private property of 
 the lords of manors and the commoners. The public 
 had no more to do with the common land than with the 
 separate dwelling-houses of the owners. Enclosure 
 meant simply the adjustment of the rights in the form 
 most convenient for the only interested parties. If the 
 public chose to keep commons open, it should pay for its 
 acquirements as it would pay for private land taken for 
 public purposes. 
 
 Fawcett virtually contended in opposition to this 
 that, before facilitating enclosure, Parliament was bound 
 to consider the effect of its action upon the labouring 
 class. He maintained that, in point of fact, the com- 
 pensation given to the poor commoners had been mainly 
 illusory. Country gentlemen and farmers had looked 
 after themselves, but the cottager had been put off with 
 some trifle, spent as soon as received. The evidence 
 given by some of the witnesses confirmed this view. 
 Mr. H. S. Tremenheere, the senior of the Commissioners 
 appointed to inquire into the ' Employment of Women and
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 305 
 
 Children in Agriculture,' had calculated that of 320,855 
 acres enclosed, only 2,119 had been set aside for culti- 
 vation by the poor. The Enclosure Act had limited the 
 allotments to a quarter of an acre to each of the existing 
 population, .without considering a prospective increase. 
 The general effect of the enclosures had been to diminish 
 the labourer's advantages, and to lessen his chance of 
 rising to independence. Enclosure, in brief, was not 
 simply a redistribution of private property, but was 
 part of a social change injurious in many ways to the 
 labourer. 
 
 The presumption afforded by such testimony which 
 Fawcett, of course, took care to bring out was strength- 
 ened by evidence from local witnesses. Grievances 
 would really be caused by the proposed enclosures. The 
 commissioners had only given an acre for recreation at 
 Withypool in Somersetshire because the rest of the land 
 was 'too steep.' The villagers, represented by their 
 parish clerk and the schoolmaster, complained that they 
 were to be as badly off for open spaces as inhabitants of 
 a town, and would only be able to play at the risk of 
 trespassing. At Swaffham, the labourers had complained, 
 but to no effect ; and the allotments made had been 
 quite unsuitable. Several of these simple protests made 
 a strong impression upon Fawcett, who often referred to 
 them afterwards, and quotes some of them in an article 
 in 'Eraser's Magazine' for February 1870. He was 
 particularly delighted with the evidence given by Mr. J. 
 Eeed, parish clerk of Withypool. When asked how far 
 people would have to go for an open space, the witness 
 replied : ' They could not find one for miles except they 
 
 x
 
 306 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 did go on the common.' Is there no open common 
 within reach of an ordinary walk ? ' No ; he would not 
 want any more recreation by the time he came to any 
 other common. The people say ' they will be as badly 
 off as in a town.' Are there no fields where they can 
 walk ? ' Yes, they can trespass, if they like that.' 
 
 The Committee reported after much animated discus- 
 sion. Fawcett was solitary in persisting against a clause 
 inserted by the official members which provided that the 
 diminution of private rights should be taken into account 
 in determining the extent of public allotments. The 
 report, however, recommended certain alterations of the 
 previous system with the view of a more liberal treatment 
 of the claims of the labouring class ; fuller notices of 
 meetings were to be given to all persons concerned ; and 
 the reports of the Commissioners were to set forth more 
 clearly the grounds of their action and the statistics 01 pre- 
 vious enclosure. The report ended by adopting the main 
 principle advocated by Fawcett. The changed con- 
 ditions of the country had made the benefits of enclosure 
 more questionable ; and it was desirable that future 
 Enclosure Bills should be more carefully prepared and 
 the parliamentary scrutiny be made real and searching, 
 instead of passing as a mere matter of course. 
 
 The pending Enclosure Bill was allowed to proceed, 
 at the instance of the official and Conservative members 
 of the Committee, except Mr. (now Sir Henry) Peek, who 
 supported him throughout. Wisley and Withypool, how- 
 ever, were taken out of the bill, and it was recommended 
 that no further enclosures should be sanctioned by Par- 
 liament until the general law should have been amended.
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 307 
 
 Fawcett, supported by Mr. (now Sir W.) Harcourt, made 
 one final effort to stop the bill till further evidence had 
 been taken ; and tried in the House to secure the omission 
 of Pyecombe, where it had been proved that some of the 
 inhabitants were opposed to the enclosure. He failed in 
 this ; the end of the session was approaching, and the 
 Government had to push the measure through. 
 
 Fawcett's achievement, however, was a very remark- 
 able one, and had gone far to establish his principles. 
 Many had co-operated with him, and some had antici- 
 pated him, in calling attention to the absorption of the 
 metropolitan commons. He was probably the first to 
 direct the attention of Parliament to the case of rural 
 commons. In any case, his dogged obstruction of the 
 Enclosure Bill placed the question in a new position from 
 this time forwards. It was due entirely to his independ- 
 ence and the support of a little body of friends that the 
 system was radically changed. At the beginning of the 
 session the passage of the Enclosure Bill was regarded 
 as part of the regular administrative functions of Parlia- 
 ment, with which the public had no concern, and any 
 interference with which was a wanton invasion of private 
 rights. The report of the Committee had sanctioned the 
 opposite theory, that Parliament ought to look sharply 
 after all enclosures, and help them only when they were 
 proved to be advantageous in the interest of all classes 
 affected. The burden of proof was thrown upon the 
 enclosers and security obtained against the neglect of 
 the most helpless. 
 
 During 1 869 Fawcett attended regularly the meetings 
 of the Commons Preservation Society. Upon his motion 
 
 x 2
 
 308 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 they 'agreed to extend the sphere of their operations to 
 the country at large, as well as the metropolitan district. 
 Meanwhile a question of special interest to Londoners 
 was beginning to press itself upon their attention. In 
 the days of Charles I. the royal forest of Waltham 
 stretched from the valley of the Lea across to the high 
 road between London and Eomford. The little river 
 Boding may be said to bisect the angle thus defined, and 
 runs south-westwards between two broad low ridges, one 
 of which, between the Lee and the Boding, is still partly 
 covered by Epping Forest, whilst Hainault covered 4,000 
 acres on the other bank of the Eoding. The forest 
 manors throughout the district had belonged chiefly to 
 religious houses. After the dissolution of the monasteries, 
 the Crown had re-granted the manors in Epping to private 
 persons, whilst it had retained in Hainault the large 
 possessions of the convent in Barking. Thus in Hainault 
 the soil of the waste belonged to the Crown ; whilst in 
 Epping the Crown only enjoyed its forestal rights, the 
 soil belonging to the lords of about fourteen separate 
 manors. The effect of the difference of tenure was 
 curious. Up to 1851 there were about 7,000 acres in 
 Epping and 4,000 in Hainault. In 1851 Hainault was 
 disafforested by an Act of Parliament. After the various 
 claims of freeholders, lords of manors, and commoners 
 had been settled, the whole district was distributed 
 amongst the various private proprietors and the Crown. 
 It was then a wild forest tract, covered chiefly with 
 pollard oak and hornbeam, with occasional open spaces of 
 gorse and heather, where the forest trees grew ' unprimed 
 and of great size.' The Crown dealt with that part of
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 309 
 
 the district which fell to its share after the accepted 
 principles of the day. The timber was felled, fetching 
 nearly 2 1 ,oool. ; the land was thoroughly drained and 
 fenced at a cost of 42,000^. ; it was divided by rect- 
 angular roads and let off in farms which produced a 
 rental of 4,oooL The unimproved forest, we are told, 
 had only brought in 500?. annually, and the Crown thus 
 gained an additional income of 3,500^. for the loss of a 
 few scrubby patches of woodland, at which the Woods 
 and Forests felt the approval of a good conscience. 
 
 The Crown had attempted to enclose Epping at the 
 beginning of the century. The lords of manors and the 
 commoners had opposed the plan, which was dropped in 
 consequence. When Hainault was being improved out 
 of existence, the Crown bethought itself of making an 
 honest penny out of its rights in Epping. Between 
 1851 and 1863 it had sold these rights over 4,000 acres 
 to the lords of the manors, at an average price of about 
 5^. an acre. Epping began to go the way of Hainault. 
 The commoners, indeed, as was afterwards proved, still 
 retained rights not affected by the sale of the Crown 
 rights. The lords, however, considered the Crown to be 
 their only formidable competitors. They began to en- 
 close the land, which was now becoming valuable for 
 building, and professed to have compensated or obtained 
 the consent of the commoners, if they did not simp^ 
 set them at defiance. They even declined in some cases 
 to buy the Crown rights, holding that rights which were 
 valued by the proprietors at so cheap a price would not 
 be defended at the cost of litigation. One gentleman 
 fenced in and ploughed up 300 acres without consulting
 
 310 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 Crown or commoners. In another place where the 
 Crown rights had been bought, the forms of statutory 
 enclosure were gone through, without the sanction of 
 Parliament or an application to the Enclosure Commis- 
 sioners, and the lord of the manor and his neighbours 
 appropriated 1,300 acres, condescending to set aside a 
 plot of a few acres for a recreation-ground. 
 
 A labourer named Willingale had asserted his right 
 to lop trees in a part of the enclosed land. Two of his 
 sons, who had helped him, were arrested and sent to 
 prison for three months with hard labour. Willingale and 
 another small freeholder had then brought suits, which 
 were taken up by the Commons Preservation Society, in 
 order to test the validity of this enclosure. The suits virtu- 
 ally saved the forest for the time ; they arrested building, 
 though in 1869 they were languishing for want of funds. 1 
 The attitude of the Government in regard to these pro- 
 ceedings was remarkable. It is not without difficulty 
 that one can realise the curious meanness of the official 
 procedure. In 1863 the House of Commons had passed 
 a vote against the sale of forestal rights. A Committee 
 appointed in the same session had considered the question 
 with a different result. They had reported that two 
 courses were possible either the Crown rights might be 
 maintained without regard to expense, or the forest might 
 be enclosed, the various proprietors compensated, and a 
 portion set apart as a recreation-ground for Londoners. 
 They held that it would be a ' course of doubtful justice ' 
 
 1 Willingale died before the final decisions of the questions. The 
 rights of lopping were extinguished by payment of 7,oooZ., obtained 
 by the exertions of Mr. Lefevre, which was applied to build a public hall at 
 LouRhton.
 
 COMMONS PEESERVATION 311 
 
 to use the Crown rights as a means of preventing the 
 enclosures to which the persons interested had the same 
 right as all other persons similarly situated. They 
 thought, moreover, that such action might fail, as previous 
 experience showed, in securing the desired object. They 
 therefore recommended the second course. The Open 
 Spaces Committee of 1865 recommended, on the contrary, 
 that the Crown rights should be enforced without regard 
 to cost, so that the forest might be preserved in its wild 
 state. They also advised immediate steps for abating 
 the enclosures already made. In consequence of this 
 recommendation, the custody of the forest had been 
 transferred from the Office of Woods and Forests to the 
 Office of Works ; the difference being that the Woods and 
 Forests is supposed to administer property on simply 
 commercial principles, whilst the Board of Works takes 
 charge of ornamental property. The change, in fact, 
 represented just the change of policy which was most 
 required. The traditional view was to treat the Crown 
 rights in a purely commercial spirit, and to leave entirely 
 out of account every consideration but that of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. There is a story (mythical, 
 I presume) of a monarch who asked his Minister what 
 would be the cost of enclosing Hyde Park, and received 
 for answer that it could be done for three crowns. No 
 one in his senses could propose to let the London parks 
 for farms or cut them up into building lots. But the 
 forests of Epping and Hainault will be in the near futuro 
 what Hyde Park was to our fathers ; and yet the only 
 consideration had hitherto been how to make the most 
 money out of them even at the price of their total dis-
 
 312 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 appearance. Some persons who defended this policy 
 would have been the first to sneer at Fawcett as a 
 narrow-minded political economist, deficient in culture, 
 and therefore bound to ridicule all aesthetic or sentimental 
 considerations. In truth, it wants a very small smatter- 
 ing of political economy to perceive that the advantage 
 obtainable from bringing 4,000 acres of forest land 
 under the plough bears an infinitesimal relation to the 
 advantage of providing a huge mass of population with 
 a decent recreation-ground. 
 
 Meanwhile the enclosures remained unabated. In 
 May 1869 Fawcett was one of a deputation from the 
 Commons Preservation Society to Mr. Layard, then First 
 Commissioner of Works, which urged a vigorous assertion 
 of the Crown rights. Mr. Layard expressed his own 
 wishes for the preservation of the forest ; but intimated 
 his dread of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Lowe). 
 On August 2 another deputation bearded this formidable 
 official in his den. They came away with ears tingling, 
 if a round rebuke is enough for that effect. Mr. Lowe 
 declined to accept the principle recommended by the 
 Committee of 1865. He declared that he would not 
 advise the Crown to incur the expense of litigation, 
 which was certainly not likely to be recouped in money. 
 The deputation ventured to refer to a previous statement 
 of Mr. Gladstone's, who had expressed a hope that an 
 arrangement would be made which would satisfy the 
 lords and save part of the forest for the public, and had 
 practically shown his goodwill by the transference of the 
 forest to the Office of Works by a clause in the Crown 
 Lands Bill, 1865. Mr. Lowe sneered at the reply as very
 
 COMMONS PEESEKVATION 313 
 
 ' oracular.' A member of the deputation exclaimed that 
 Mr. Gladstone was too honourable not to keep his 
 promise. ' I don't understand,' replied Mr. Lowe, ' what 
 it means ; it was evidently intended to please everyone, 
 the lords of the manor included.' 
 
 Sarcasms of this kind are never perhaps very prudent, 
 and it seems almost ungenerous to recall them now that 
 they can only prove the short-sightedness of their 
 brilliant forger. But the utterance must be mentioned, 
 because it illustrates the spirit of the official taunts, 
 which seemed to have been expressly calculated to irritate 
 Fawcett or, indeed, any man of spirit. Fawcett 
 immediately took the most straightforward and effective 
 course. The Commons Preservation Society appointed 
 a sub-committee to consider what was to be done. 
 Fawcett proposed to move on the first opportunity for an 
 Address to the Queen, praying that the ' Crown rights 
 might be defended in order that the forest might 
 be preserved for the recreation of the people.' Some of 
 his friends appear to have thought that this was an act 
 of excessive audacity on the part of a young Liberal who 
 was bound to believe in the infallibility of his party 
 leaders. But Fawcett never inclined to the extreme 
 of superstition in that sense. He saw with his usual 
 perspicacity that a simple enunciation of a broad popular 
 principle would bring into relief the pettifogging and 
 penny-sparing policy of the Chancellor of Exchequer, and 
 compel the leader of the Liberal party to choose between 
 accepting the Liberal view or appearing in the uncon- 
 genial character of a champion of private interests and 
 the official non possumm against the clear interests of
 
 314 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the people. It was only necessary to bring the two 
 principles into clear contrast to make untenable the 
 position hitherto occupied by the Government. Fawcett 
 was for a time deprived of the help of Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, 
 who was now in office ; but he could look for support to 
 many Conservatives. He was, however, as he used after- 
 wards to say, alone at the time in deciding to bring on his 
 motion and to force a decision. To say plainly what you 
 want, when it may be inconvenient to the leaders of the 
 party even though it represents the essential party 
 principles requires, it would seem, something almost 
 amounting to heroism in a member of Parliament. Praise 
 of him for his courage would be too much like satire of 
 his fellows ; but it was at least one more example of his 
 invariable independence of judgment. 
 
 Fawcett had his way, and brought forward his motion 
 February 16, 1870. He spoke of the contemptible 
 result of the economic measures. The Crown had sold 
 their rights over 4,000 acres for 18,603?. i6s. 2cl. They 
 had imperilled a permanent source of healthful enjoyment 
 to the people for a sum which, from the point of view of 
 a Chancellor of the Exchequer, is scarcely visible to the 
 naked eye. Ten times as much might have been saved 
 in the time by abolishing a sinecure officer such as the 
 Lord Privy Seal, and certainly, one may add, with less 
 regret to lovers of the beautiful. The main argument 
 which Fawcett had to encounter was significant. The 
 forestal rights, according to Mr. Lowe, were relics of 
 feudalism : they were useful to keep up deer for the royal 
 hunting. Now that the Queen did not want to hunt, it 
 would be unfair to keep them up for a different purpose.
 
 COMMONS PEESERVATION 315 
 
 A man may have no right to put up a fence to keep out 
 deer, but he may put it up to restrain a picnic party. The 
 Queen might not make over her rights to the public, but 
 must leave them to the lords of manors. The argument, 
 as Fawcett shrewdly pointed out, was an awkward one. If 
 a right ceases when the original purpose becomes obsolete, 
 what would become of the lords of the manors ? They 
 had ceased to discharge any duties : should they cease to 
 have any rights ? He ended by saying that the proposed 
 litigation was expected to cost i , 500?. ; that it would almost 
 certainly succeed ; and that the Government which was 
 frightened by this amount thought nothing of spending 
 twice as much on bursting a big gun and smashing a 
 target. 
 
 Fawcett's motion was supported by Charles Buxton, 
 Mr. Beresford Hope, and Mr. Cowper-Temple. Sir John 
 Coleridge, the Solicitor-General, replied in the vein of 
 Mr. Lowe and ridiculed the idea of enforcing the shadowy 
 rights of the Crown. After a protest from Mr. Alderman 
 Lawrence against the tone of this speech, Mr. Gladstone 
 showed, as Fawcett had hoped, a wider appreciation of 
 the importance of the question. He admitted that 
 Fawcett had shown that it was the duty of Government 
 really to move in the matter and make themselves the 
 champions of the people of London by securing whatever 
 was practicable. He proposed a modification in the 
 terms of the motion, leaving the Crown more at liberty to 
 adopt such measures as might seem expedient. Fawcett, 
 of course, accepted the modification, and the motion 
 passed without opposition. 
 
 A great step had thus been made. Government had
 
 316 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 accepted the leading principle, that the Crown was to aim 
 at preserving the forest for the benefit of the people of 
 London. The result was an encouragement to all who 
 sympathised with the purposes of the Commons Pre- 
 servation Society. They could no longer be treated as 
 mere devotees of a sentimental crotchet when they were 
 compelling Government to endorse their policy. Yet a 
 Government convinced against its will is in the proverbial 
 predicament. The Prime Minister could see clearly that 
 Fawcett was in the right path ; but it was another 
 question whether he could impart the same conviction 
 to his subordinates or induce them to co-operate heartily 
 as well as approve formally. Mr. Lowe, who had 
 sneered at his chiefs former adhesion to the principle, 
 was not likely to be converted by a renewed adhesion in a 
 more deliberate form. Mr. Layard had been succeeded 
 at the Board of Works by Mr. Ayrton ; and Mr. Ayrton 
 was supposed to be an ally of the Metropolitan Board of 
 Works. That body was sceptical as to litigation ; it did 
 not believe in the possibility of establishing commoners' 
 rights so as to prevent enclosure ; and it therefore 
 prepared to settle the problem by buying up the rights 
 both of lords and commoners and selling part of the 
 common for building. It was at this very time putting 
 a stop to the Hampstead suit by buying the heath from 
 the lord at the price of 230?. an acre. Mr. Ayrton, 
 sympathising with this policy, was not likely to be keen 
 in enforcing the Crown rights over Epping. The answer 
 to the Address voted upon Fawcett's motion was suspi- 
 cious. An awkward ' as far as possible ' intruded into 
 the desire for the preservation of open spaces. No steps,
 
 COMMONS PKESERVATION 317 
 
 in fact, were taken for some months. At last the 
 representatives of the Commons Preservation Society 
 were invited to meet a gentleman who was understood to 
 speak with authority as to the views both of the Govern- 
 ment and the lords of manors. 
 
 The proposal made on behalf of these powers appeared 
 to the representatives of the society to be ludicrously 
 inadequate. In spite of this, the Government were so far 
 satisfied of the strength of their case, that in July a bill 
 was introduced embodying the so-called compromise one 
 of those in which (in Mrs. Carlyle's favourite phrase) the 
 ' reciprocity was all on one side.' ' First of all, the lords 
 of the manor and those who had bought of them were to 
 keep what they had taken ; that is to say, they were to 
 keep more than half of the whole forest, or 4,000 out of 
 7,000 acres. Of the 3,000 remaining, the lords of manors 
 were to take 2,000 more, to which they had not yet been 
 able to help themselves. Of the 1,000 acres remaining, 
 400 were to go to the commoners and 600, possibly in 
 various scattered plots of from one to 200 acres, to be 
 reserved for recreation. This remnant was to be vested 
 in the Metropolitan Board of Works, which was also to be 
 enabled, if it saw fit, to acquire the 400 acres given to the 
 commoners. Fawcett immediately gave notice of moving 
 the rejection of this bill, but a decision that the Standing 
 Orders had not been complied with caused it to fall through 
 for the session ; and even its partial exposure to daylight 
 
 ' Mr. Ayrton, in a letter to the Spectator of July 25, 1885, says that 
 this bill was introduced without his concurrence or knowledge, and in 
 ' opposition to his known opinions.' It bears, however, his name with 
 those of Mr. Gladstone and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Lowe).
 
 318 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 had been fatal to its feeble constitution. Government 
 was not so ill-advised as to reproduce the monstrosity in 
 the following session. 
 
 Fawcett at the next meeting of the society (August 8, 
 1 870) moved that it should itself prepare a bill ' on the 
 principle of forbidding further enclosures and acquiring 
 the rights of the lords of manors on payment of a sum 
 equal to the profits they derived from the unenclosed 
 portions of the forest.' A bill upon the same principle had 
 been introduced in regard of Wimbledon and Wands- 
 worth Commons, in each of which Lord Spencer was lord 
 of the manor, and had agreed to part with his interest 
 to the public on consideration of an annuity equal to 
 the proceeds from the commons in their open condition. 
 Ten years later the same principle was applied to 
 Epping, after the rights had been defined by litigation. 
 At present it might have been premature. Notices of the 
 bill as proposed by Fawcett were advertised in November. 
 It was then intimated that Government would not re- 
 introduce their measure ; and the society thought 
 it better to postpone their own bill, thinking that the 
 passage of the Wandsworth and Wimbledon schemes 
 would improve the situation, and also desiring, if pos- 
 sible, to obtain the initiative of Government. 
 
 Government, however, made no sign. There was 
 talk of a compromise, when a measure was taken which 
 precipitated affairs. The finest bit of forest almost the 
 only bit, I think, in which the trees are at present 
 worthy of their position is the grove known as High 
 Beach. Elsewhere the trees are generally scrubby 
 or pollarded, but in High Beach there is really a noble
 
 COMMONS PRESEEVATION 319 
 
 group of fine trees. The forest rights of the Crown 
 had here been extinguished. The timber in the forest 
 belongs to the lords of the manor, except where there 
 are rights of lopping; and in this case no such right 
 seemed to apply. It therefore seemed probable that 
 the lords were within their right when notice was 
 given that the trees at High Beech would be felled. At 
 least it was a mode of gaining a compromise. What 
 would be the good of the forest when all the trees were 
 gone? Sir Henry Selwyn-Ibbetson, M.P. for South 
 Essex, attended a meeting of the Commons Preservation 
 Society to urge this view. Fawcett was present, and 
 joined in the opinion that any compensation paid to the 
 lords should be in money, not in land. Meanwhile, it 
 became eminently desirable, in view of such possibilities 
 as the permanent disfigurement of the forest, that Govern- 
 ment should be stirred to action. It was agreed that 
 a resolution should be proposed for the adoption of 
 measures in conformity with the Address of the previous 
 session. Fawcett, who suggested the motion, proposed 
 also that it should be brought forward by Mr. Cowper- 
 Temple, who would be able better to represent the less 
 extreme party, and had already been First Commissioner 
 of Works and a President of the Commons Preservation 
 Society, and who, as chairman of the Enclosure Acts Com- 
 mittee, had been a staunch ally of Fawcett. No one was 
 freer than Fawcett from the paltry jealousy which too often 
 leads smaller men to prefer the glory of leading a move- 
 ment to the success of the movement itself. Mr. Cowper- 
 Temple threw out a suggestion afterwards taken up 
 that the City of London might take action in the matter.
 
 320 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 The debate (in which Fawcett thought it needless to 
 speak) had a most remarkable result. Government 
 opposed the resolution with its whole strength, and, 
 though nominally in possession of a large majority, was 
 defeated by a majority of 101 (197 to 96). 
 
 Government, warned by this significant vote, still 
 took time to deliberate; but at a later period of the 
 session a bill was introduced by Mr. Ayrton which 
 offered a fair solution. A Commission of three gentle- 
 men was to be appointed to inquire into the various 
 rights of lords and commoners and to settle a scheme for 
 disafforestation and the preservation of the forest as an 
 open space. A struggle took place as to the composition of 
 the Commission, Fawcett declaring at one point that he 
 would rather the bill should be lost than the proposed 
 Commission appointed. Government yielded by placing 
 Mr. Locke, M.P. for Southwark, the Chairman of the 
 Committee of 1865, upon the Commission, and the bill 
 was finally passed August 18, 1871. 
 
 The long struggle over Epping was far from its 
 conclusion. At this stage, however, it passed out of the 
 parliamentary arena. It was happily discovered in the 
 course of the Willingale suit that the City of London had 
 certain rights in the forest ; and the matter was taken up 
 with all the vigour of that powerful body. The Court of 
 Common Council passed a motion pledging the Corpora- 
 tion to use its resources in the cause. The City Solicitor, 
 Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Nelson, took up the case 
 heartily; and Mr. Eobert Hunter, honorary solicitor to the 
 Commons Preservation Society, was retained at Mr. Shaw- 
 Lefevre's suggestion for his assistance. A bill was filed 
 in Chancery on August 2 1 , alleging a right in all owners
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 321 
 
 and occupiers of land within the bounds of the forest to 
 turn out their cattle over all the wastes. Every lord of 
 a manor was made a party to the suit and every en- 
 closure made within twenty years was challenged. The 
 result of this was the judgment of Sir George Jessel 
 (Master of the Eolls) in 1874. All the enclosures were 
 declared to be illegal ; and thus over 5,000 acres became 
 permanently part of our national playgrounds. 
 
 It is impossible in such cases to assign to each man 
 who has taken part in the struggle the precise amount of 
 merit which is his due. Fawcett was scrupulously anxious 
 never to arrogate to himself any credit which could be 
 claimed for others, and I should regret to do it for him. 
 But I think that it may be said without any possibility 
 of injustice, that to Fawcett was due the chief credit for 
 taking up a resolute attitude in the parliamentary 
 struggle, and of laying down a simple principle which 
 no Liberal could renounce in common consistency, and 
 so by degrees forcing a Liberal Government to abandon 
 the policy of pettifogging economy, and rousing public 
 opinion to the degree necessary for overcoming the 
 obstacles of vested interest and official stolidity. 
 
 A phrase or two from his article in the ' Fortnightly ' 
 of the following November will now be intelligible. He 
 asked why the working-classes were losing their zeal for 
 the Government. The reason was the indifference, or 
 worse than indifference, of the Ministry to these questions. 
 The few remaining commons are the only places ' where 
 the people, except by sufferance, can leave the beaten 
 pathway or the frequented high road. And yet this 
 Government, so grand in its popular professions, so 
 
 Y
 
 322 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 i 
 
 strong in its hustings denunciations of those who would 
 divorce the people from the soil, used the whole weight 
 of official influence to enclose the few commons that are 
 left ! So anxious were they to pursue this policy of 
 depriving the public and the poor of their commons, 
 that night after night the House was kept sitting to two 
 or three o'clock in the morning in order to pass an 
 Enclosure Bill ; and the Ministry, apparently willing to 
 risk something more than reputation in the cause, were 
 disastrously defeated by those who were anxious to 
 preserve Epping Forest.' Next to the Budget and the 
 Licensing Bill, he adds, the Government policy of 
 enclosure has been regarded by all the leading papers as 
 the main cause of a recent defeat of their party in East 
 Surrey. Possibly Fawcett may have been rather hard 
 upon the Ministry in this passage. But it is worth 
 noting on the other hand that they had come to stig- 
 matise him as ' impracticable,' precisely because he had 
 compelled them to admit the application of then- own prin- 
 ciples ; and had so forced them into a line of policy of 
 which everyone now approves, and the adoption of which 
 at that time was of critical importance. Impracticability, 
 one must confess, has its uses. 
 
 During this Parliament Fawcett had to interfere on 
 behalf of another district of surpassing interest. He had 
 lived through his childhood on the edge of the New 
 Forest, and to the end of his life it was one of his 
 favourite resorts ; though I do not know whether he had 
 ever seen its beauties except through the eyes of others. 
 The Commissioners of Woods and Forests were doing 
 their duty according to their lights by destroying the
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 323 
 
 most characteristic glories of this unique region with a 
 view to making it pecuniarily profitable. The Crown 
 possessed the soil of 65,000 out of a total of 91,000 acres 
 of forest as well as the right of preserving deer, and a 
 large body of commoners had undisputed rights over 
 63,000 acres of the Crown land. In the last century the 
 great value of the forest was supposed to consist in its 
 supply of oak timber for the navy. By an Act passed in 
 the time of William III., the Crown had what was 
 called a ' rolling power of enclosure ' 6,000 acres at a 
 time were to be enclosed, till the young trees were past 
 danger from browsing cattle, when the enclosure was to 
 be thrown open and another area enclosed instead. In 
 1851, when some fatal spirit of money-making seems to 
 have entered into the Government departments, an Act 
 was passed by which the Crown undertook to remove the 
 deer, and, in consideration of this, took a right to enclose 
 10,000 acres (in addition to the 6,000). The results of 
 the new system were disastrous, as unfortunately may still 
 be seen. Happily there are still many glades and groves 
 in the forest, with noble oaks and beeches and tangled 
 underwoods, such as might be the original of the most 
 picturesque opening scene of all extant romances where 
 Gurth and Wamba are keeping swine in the Forest of 
 Sherwood. But the ' old patrician trees ' and the ' plebeian 
 underwood ' went down before the Commissioners like 
 the leaders of the old regime, before the Committee of 
 Public Safety. The old woods, as one surveyor phrased 
 it, should be cleared ' smack smooth ! ' Long lines of 
 Scotch fir, drawn up in regimental order, supplanted 
 the venerable intricacies of the old forest growth. 
 
 y 2
 
 324 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 The alterations gave dissatisfaction to the commoners, 
 who complained that the best lawns or pasture-grounds 
 in the forest had been injured, and said that even the 
 removal of the deer had done harm, because their mode 
 of feeding improved the grazing for ponies and cattle. 
 Inquiries were held and proposals made for settling the 
 rather complex questions at issue. The official view 
 was that the Crown represented the national interest as 
 opposed to the private wishes of the landowners in the 
 forest. In 1871 a bill for disafforestation was said to 
 be in preparation. It was, however, abandoned in face 
 of general unpopularity. Something must obviously be 
 done to satisfy the conflicting interests and save the 
 ancient woods. Fawcett was assured in answer to an 
 inquiry that the woods should not be felled till the mode of 
 treating the open spaces had been settled. Not content, 
 however, with a bare assurance, he moved on June 20 that 
 no ornamental timber should be felled, and no timber 
 whatever should be cut, except for necessary pur- 
 poses, whilst legislation was pending. The Woods 
 and Forests issued a document (dated June 16, 1871), 
 just before the debate on Fawcett's motion. This 
 explained very clearly and opportunely their own view 
 of their duties. The ' public,' it was pointed out, ' is a 
 term frequently misunderstood. . . . Whilst the public 
 really interested is the public of the United Kingdom, 
 the public usually referred to is,' in brief, the tourist 
 and the residential public. ' It can scarcely be said that 
 the suspension of the exercise of the Crown's rights in 
 the New Forest would be advantageous to the taxpayers 
 of Ireland or Scotland.' Their duty was to make an
 
 COMMONS PKESERVATION 325 
 
 income for the nation, and to improve the property of 
 the Heir-apparent in order that he might make a better 
 bargain on the next settlement of the Civil List. It was 
 added that a resolution of the House of Commons would 
 not release the Commissioner in charge of the New Forest 
 from the performance of his duties as trustee of a settled 
 estate. He would have to disregard it, or violate duties 
 imposed by Act of Parliament. Fawcett's resolution was 
 evidently required when this was the official view. It 
 was in fact supported on all sides, carried unanimously, 
 and for the next six years it stood between the forest 
 and the axe of the official tradesmen. The question, 
 suspended for the time, came up again under the Con- 
 servative Administration. Fawcett's resolution, it was 
 said, could not be considered binding for an indefinite 
 time. In 1875 Lord Henry Scott obtained a Select 
 Committee to inquire into the condition of the New 
 Forest. An exhibition of pictures was opened by Mr. 
 Briscoe Eyre and the late George Morrison to call 
 attention to the beauties of the district. 1 Petitions 
 against its devastation were signed at the same time 
 and presented by Fawcett. He gave evidence before the 
 Committee, taking the same ground as in the case of 
 
 1 As long as the Deer Removal Act was in operation the policy was 
 deliberately followed of trying to reduce the value of the common rights, 
 with the view to make their ultimate purchase by the Crown less costly. 
 See Mr. Briscoe Eyre's pamphlet, The New Forest : its Commons Rights 
 and Cottage Stock-keepers. The Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest, 
 Mr. Cumberbatch, wrote on December 31, 1853, to the Chief Commis- 
 sioner of Woods : ' It appears to me to be important that the Crown 
 should as soon as possible exercise its right of enclosing the 16,000 
 acres, because, exclusive of other advantages, all the "best pasture would 
 be taken from the commoners, and the value of their rights of pasture 
 would thus be materially diminished, which would be of importance to 
 the Crown in the event of any such right being commuted.'
 
 326 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Epping. The forest, he said, should be preserved as a 
 national park. Any money which could be made by its 
 enclosure was not worth considering in comparison with 
 the effects upon the health, happiness, and morality of 
 the people. Even arguing the matter from a purely 
 economical point of view, he said that the influence of 
 the forest on the health and artistic faculties of the 
 people had a far greater money value than the money 
 value of the mere timber. He got rid very summarity 
 of the main argument which fettered the hands of Com- 
 missioners. They felt themselves bound, as honest 
 stewards, to make the utmost possible penny for the Heir- 
 apparent. That denned their whole duty, and they could 
 think of nothing else. Fawcett replied that the nation 
 would undoubtedly be delighted to pay a liberal com- 
 pensation for the pecuniary loss due to keeping the 
 forest open. To suppose that there was an unalterable 
 necessity of treating the forest as it would be treated by 
 a timber merchant, though neither the Crown nor the 
 nation desired it, was of course a mere superstition. 
 Fawcett judiciously pointed out that Mr. W. H. Smith, 
 Chairman of the Committee and Secretary to the 
 Treasury, had used the same arguments to good purpose 
 four years before on behalf of the Thames Embank- 
 ment Gardens. The Committee soon reported in ac- 
 cordance with this sound doctrine. The ancient woods 
 were to be preserved, the destructive enclosures stopped, 
 and the Verderer's Court reconstituted so as to represent 
 the commoners more effectually. An Act embodying 
 these principles was finally passed in 1 877. 
 
 The general question of enclosures was still unsettled.
 
 COMMONS PKESEEVATION 327 
 
 The Committee of 1 869 had recommended the suspension 
 of enclosures until a general measure should have been 
 passed. An Enclosure Bill had, however, been intro- 
 duced in 1870, but dropped upon Fawcett's remon- 
 strances. A measure for amending the Enclosure Acts 
 was introduced in 1 87 1 . Fawcett maintained that it did 
 not carry out the recommendations of the Committee, 
 and advocated its reference to a Select Committee. The 
 bill was dropped. Other abortive bills were introduced in 
 1872 and 1873, but nothing was effected in this Parlia- 
 ment. The Enclosure Commissioners were thus forced 
 to suspend operations. In 1872 they protested elabo- 
 rately in their annual report against this inaction. They 
 estimated that 8,000,000 acres, or more than one-fifth of 
 England and Wales, consisted of common land, either waste 
 or cultivated. Of this, 5,000,000 acres were mountainous, 
 leaving 3,000,000 acres in the lowland districts of Eng- 
 land. They thought that all the cultivated common 
 land might be improved by being reduced to severalty, 
 and that 1 ,000,000 acres of the waste might be profitably 
 brought under the plough. A return made in conse- 
 quence of this statement proved that the quantity of 
 available land had been enormously exaggerated. The 
 acreage was reduced from 8,000,000 to 2,632,000, and, 
 of this, 1,500.000 acres were stated to be unfit for cul- 
 tivation. The return of landowners in 1875, from the 
 parish rate-books, reduced the quantity of common land 
 to 1,524,647 acres, of which 326,972 were in Wales, 
 whilst the greatest part of the remainder lay in the 
 mountainous districts. The diminished estimate of the 
 available area naturally strengthened the argument
 
 328 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 against enclosure. In 1876, however, it was announced 
 in the Queen's Speech that a measure would be proposed 
 for setting the enclosure machinery once more at work. 
 The Home Secretary, Mr. (now Sir Richard) Cross, 
 introduced the bill accordingly. He called attention to 
 the changed conditions which made the preservation of 
 open spaces desirable, and stated that the bill aimed 
 rather at the preservation than the enclosure of commons. 
 The measure thus introduced represented a decided 
 advance in public opinion, but it failed to give satisfaction 
 to the opponents of enclosure. Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, now 
 chairman of the Commons Preservation Society, supported 
 by Fawcett, made a determined attempt to improve the 
 objectionable provisions. They held that it left too 
 much to the discretion of the Commissioners; that it 
 did not forbid parliamentary enclosure in the neighbour- 
 hood of large towns ; and that it did nothing to put a 
 stop to the arbitrary appropriation of commons without 
 reference to Parliament, which had only been checked of 
 late years by means of expensive litigation. Mr. Shaw- 
 Lefevre moved a resolution to this effect on the second 
 reading. Fawcett supported him in a vigorous speech. 
 A previous speaker had approved the bill, as tending to 
 dispel the ' monstrous ' notion that the inhabitants of 
 large towns had a right to wander over distant commons 
 as they pleased. Fawcett seized the opportunity of 
 endorsing this monstrous notion : the commons were 
 precisely a ' great and valuable possession ' for the people 
 of the entire country, and he called upon Mr. Cross to 
 disavow the interpretation put upon his bill. He urged 
 that the bill would not effectually hinder the Commis-
 
 COMMONS PEESEKVATION 329 
 
 sioners from acting upon their natural instinct of en- 
 closing; that there were no sufficient safeguards for 
 enabling the poorer commoners to put in their word ; 
 and no extension to the provinces of that system of 
 regulating commons without interfering with existing 
 rights which had been so effective in saving the London 
 commons. The bill only amended the general Enclosure 
 Act of 1845, of which the preamble still affirmed the 
 desirability of facilitating enclosure. Nor did it prevent 
 the arbitrary seizure of common land. 
 
 Mr. Cross vigorously denied in his reply that the bill 
 would promote enclosures. Its aim, he said, was pre- 
 cisely to give facilities for keeping them open, and open 
 for the benefit of the whole people, as well as those 
 who had actual rights of common. Such an assurance 
 from the responsible Minister was enough to justify Mr. 
 Lefevre in withdrawing his motion. The bill was read 
 a second time (February 18, 1876). Its further progress 
 was delayed, however, till May 2 5 . Though Mr. Cross had 
 accepted the main principle advocated by the Commons 
 Preservation Society, he had not admitted the inadequacy 
 of his bill nor expressed any intention of amending it. 
 The society had, therefore, reported against it, and 
 Fawcett moved on the motion for going into Committee 
 that the bill did not adequately protect the labourers, 
 nor provide sufficient security against the enclosure of 
 the commons required for recreation. Many petitions 
 had been presented against the measure by agricultural 
 labourers, and Fawcett remarked that it would be very 
 differently received if the labourers had fifty representa- 
 tives in the House. He protested against the tendency
 
 330 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 of the bill to promote enclosure without reference to the 
 interests of this unprotected class. Under the Enclosure 
 Commission, he said, 5,500,000 acres had been added 
 to the estates of great proprietors, whilst villagers by the 
 hundred had lost their rights of pasture, and now found 
 it difficult to provide milk for their children. The 
 Commission, which had acted on this system, was still 
 to be trusted with full powers : they were still to be 
 under the guidance of the general proposition that en- 
 closure was desirable; whilst in this very year they 
 showed their leaning by recommending the enclosure of 
 thirty-four commons, including the beautiful open spaces 
 at Wisley and the Lizard, and others near the crowded 
 populations of Sheffield and the Potteries. They had 
 proposed to enclose one common because it was used for 
 foot races, which, as he observed, was at least not worse 
 than pigeon-shooting at Hurlingham. And yet it was 
 proposed to except all these commons from the operation 
 of the bill. The 'worst and most mischievous of all 
 economies,' he declared, ' was that which aggrandised a 
 few and made a paltry addition to the sum total of 
 wealth by shutting out the poor from fresh air and 
 lovely scenery.' Fawcett as usual insisted upon a di- 
 vision, though he could not hope for a majority, and re- 
 ceived 98 votes against 234 for the Government. As the 
 bill passed through the Committee, Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, 
 seconded by Fawcett and supported by some thirty or forty 
 members, fought the whole question doggedly. On the 
 main principles they were regularly defeated by the 
 Government, and generally by large majorities. They 
 failed to persuade the Legislature to substitute regulation
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 331 
 
 for enclosure, to except commons near large towns, or to 
 give a definite proportion of future enclosures for re- 
 creation. They struggled long for another point. The 
 more difficult the regular parliamentary procedure, the 
 greater, said Fawcett, was the temptation to arbitrary 
 enclosure. Various measures were therefore proposed 
 for guarding against a process shown by experience to be 
 too often successful. It was proposed to make unlawful 
 enclosure a public nuisance, to allow others than com- 
 moners to take action against it, to impose a fine of 
 lool. upon anyone so enclosing, and to give the En- 
 closure Commissioners a locus standi to resist it. This last 
 proposal was supported by Mr. Beresford Hope and other 
 Conservatives, and only rejected by 189 to 155. The 
 only concession was to a proposal made by Lord Henry 
 Scott, making it necessary to advertise intended en- 
 closures in a local newspaper. 
 
 Mr. Lefevre and Fawcett, however, met with much 
 greater success in amending the procedure proposed in 
 the bill. The Enclosure Commissioners were instructed 
 not to proceed until they were satisfied that the enclosure 
 would be for the benefit of the neighbourhood as well as 
 of private interests. Securities were taken for an ade- 
 quate testing of local opinion by means of public meet- 
 ings ; and amendments were directed against various 
 clauses which had prevailed in regard to the system of 
 allotments. The preamble of the bill was altered, and 
 now expressly asserted the principle already embodied in 
 the bill, that enclosure was not desirable unless it were 
 clearly proved to be beneficial to the neighbourhood as 
 well as to persons with definite rights in the commons.
 
 332 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 Finally, the commons already scheduled in the report of 
 the Commissioners were taken out of the bill. Of the 
 thirty-eight commons thus affected, the Commissioners 
 reported two years later that eighteen were cases in 
 which they could not recommend enclosure, inasmuch as 
 ' it was not proved to their satisfaction that it was for 
 the benefit of the neighbourhood' a fact sufficiently 
 indicative of the importance of the principle of which 
 Fawcett's persistent advocacy since 1869 had secured 
 the acceptance. 
 
 Mr. Cross's bill was an improvement upon its pre- 
 decessors, and he added to it the provision that every 
 enclosure scheme should be submitted to a Select Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons before confirmation 
 in the general bill. The opponents of the bill had 
 done something to improve the procedure, and had 
 done still more by finally reversing the old presump- 
 tion ; henceforth the burden of proof was thrown 
 distinctly by a legislative enactment upon the advocates 
 of enclosure. Any scheme now had to be supported by 
 clear proof that it was not injurious to the public interest; 
 whereas previously reference to the public interest was 
 treated as an impertinence. It was clear, too, that there 
 was a resolute and active party in Parliament determined 
 to make these concessions a reality. In this contest, it 
 must be added, Mr. Shaw-Lefevre and Fawcett were 
 not supported by the leaders of their own party. They 
 were backed by Sir Charles Dilke, Sir William Harcourt, 
 Mr. Cowper-Temple, and Lord E. Fitzmaurice. But no 
 ex-Cabinet Minister took any share in a work not un- 
 worthy of the exertions of the Liberal party.
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 333 
 
 The effect of the measure depended greatly upon the 
 spirit in which it would be worked by the Commissioners 
 and the Select Committee. Fawcett was a member of this 
 Committee when first nominated. In combination with 
 Sir W. Harcourt, he gave a direction to its proceedings 
 which showed that the new principle was really to govern 
 the operations of the Enclosure Commissioners. They 
 prepared four schemes, three of which related to contiguous 
 tracts, including altogether 4,600 acres in Eutlandshire, 
 and the fourth to a tract of 1,297 acres in Yorkshire. In 
 each case the principal part of the land was in culti- 
 vation, consisting of common fields. The case for 
 enclosure was therefore of the strongest kind, the change 
 involving very little appropriation of open spaces. It 
 was still questionable whether a distribution of the land 
 amongst private owners was preferable to its regulation 
 as common land, and whether, if this were satisfac- 
 torily proved, sufficient allotments for public use had 
 been set out. Fawcett and Sir W. Harcourt convinced 
 the Committee that the allotments proposed were in- 
 sufficient, and the schemes were sent back to the Com- 
 missioners for amendment. After the rejection by large 
 majorities of the amendments proposed in the House, it 
 might still have been doubtful whether any great change 
 would come over the spirit in which the Commissioners 
 acted. The action of the Committee established that any 
 proposal for enclosure would be carefully scrutinised, and 
 that the Commissioners must take care of the interests of 
 the public, if the schemes which they proposed were to 
 have a good chance of passing into law. The precedent 
 had been successfully set. Up to the end of 1883 only
 
 334 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 22,431 acres have been enclosed since the passing of the 
 Act of 1 876. Nearly the whole consists either of common 
 fields or of mountain sides and moorland. An area of 
 260 acres has been set apart for recreation, and of 258 
 acres for field gardens. Where the purpose of enclosure 
 has been rather to avoid disputes between shepherds of 
 rival flocks than to promote cultivation, the public right 
 of recreation upon the space affected has been confirmed 
 so long as the ground remains unplanted. In the same 
 period, 22,529 acres of open land have been regulated, 
 and are therefore not liable to enclosure without the 
 deliberate action of Parliament. Comparing these figures 
 with the proposals resisted by Fawcett in 1869, when all 
 but three acres for recreation and six for field gardens 
 were to be enclosed out of 6,916 acres, it is obvious that 
 the tendency to enclosure has been greatly limited and 
 respect for the interests of the public has been enforced. 
 The title of the Enclosure Commission under the Settled 
 Land Act of 1882 was changed to Land Commission 
 a sufficiently significant alteration. To Fawcett more 
 than anyone is due the reversal of what till his energetic 
 action in 1869 had been the settled policy of the Legis- 
 lature in rural districts. 
 
 To complete the story of his defence of open spaces, it 
 is necessary to add a reference to a few less conspicuous 
 matters. Amongst the most powerful and insidious 
 enemies of open spaces are the great railway companies. 
 They can usually get the commons cheap ; the lord of the 
 manor is glad to make something of his property, whilst 
 the commoners have no locus standi for individual op- 
 position, and there have too often been opportunities for
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 335 
 
 acquiring cheaply a little additional space for sidings and 
 ballast. Some attempts of the railways had been suc- 
 cessfully opposed by the Commons Preservation Society 
 in its early days, but no systematic check was placed 
 upon railway aggression until 1877. In that year, the 
 London and Brighton Eailway proposed to mangle 
 Mitcham Common, absorbing eight acres and cutting 
 off many more ; whilst the London and South-Western, 
 which had already cut Barnes Common in two and 
 erected a station upon it, proposed to take two more 
 acres for sidings and coal-sheds. In such cases the 
 public gets no compensation, the money going wholly 
 to the private persons interested. The only real com- 
 pensation would be the addition by the company of land 
 equal in area to that absorbed. This, of course, is not 
 easy to arrange, and the companies are strong in the 
 House of Commons. Fawcett joined heartily in the 
 successful opposition to the demands of the two com- 
 panies in 1877; and in 1881, though he was in the 
 Ministry, he voted in opposition to Mr. Chamberlain, 
 then President of the Board of Trade, against the Sur- 
 biton and Guildford Eailway Bill, which encroached 
 upon Wimbledon and other commons. In 1883, again, 
 he joined Mr. Bryce in a successful opposition to the 
 proposal for a railway to High Beach, although the advo- 
 cates of the bill, including the Corporation of London and 
 some members of the Commons Preservation Society, 
 supported it as making the forest more accessible to the 
 public. Fawcett held that no such object could justify 
 the sacrifice of part of the forest itself. In the same 
 year he actively opposed the attempt of the London and
 
 336 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 North-Western Railway to swallow up a burial-ground 
 near Euston Square; and in 1884 he spoke and voted 
 against a successful proposal of the Southampton Cor- 
 poration to take a piece of common land for a cemetery. 
 He put aside with an amused smile of good-humoured 
 contempt the suggestion of some more timid members 
 of the society that its influence might be impaired by 
 defeat. It was not by shrinking from defeats that he 
 had succeeded in turning defeat into victory. 
 
 Fawcett frequently introduced this subject in his 
 speeches on various platforms and at public meetings 
 held for this special purpose. One of the few speeches 
 delivered after his illness at the close of 1882 was at the 
 meeting held at Eeading to celebrate Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's 
 representation of the borough for a quarter of a century. 
 He reviewed the history of the movement in which he 
 and Mr. Lefevre had taken so important a part. On 
 other questions, which are still under discussion, he 
 showed his continued interest in the principle. Few men 
 had a livelier appreciation of the charms of the Thames. 
 Before his accident, I remember with pleasure a cruise 
 which I took with him and other friends from Henley to 
 London, when an experiment of his in steering nearly 
 ended in a catastrophe. One of our companions was Mr. 
 Fairrie, a famous University oarsman, who was one of 
 his lifelong friends; and in later years no recreation was 
 more to Fawcett's taste than a river excursion with 
 Fairrie or some other enthusiastic waterman. When, 
 therefore, the Thames needed protection, Fawcett alone 
 amongst the leading members of the Commons Preserva- 
 tion Society warmly took up a suggestion for establishing
 
 COMMONS PKESEEVATION 337 
 
 a similar organisation on behalf of the river ; and it was 
 chiefly through his advice and encouragement (though 
 his official position prevented him from acting personally) 
 that Mr. Story-Maskelyne obtained the appointment of 
 a Select Committee on the subject in 1884. And, 
 finally, he strongly sympathised with Mr. Bryce's agita- 
 tion against the system under which the harmless enjoy- 
 ment of the beauties of the Scotch highlands is hampered 
 by the selfishness of the proprietors of deer forests. 
 
 In these cases Fawcett could only look on sympatheti- 
 cally at the beginnings of movements in whose further 
 development he was not to share. To the end of his 
 life he was a warm supporter of the Commons Preserva- 
 tion Society, of which so much has been said. He 
 attended its meetings regularly, and acquired in it a 
 position of peculiar authority. It was not wonderful 1 
 indeed, that he should be there regarded with peculiar 
 respect. His advice was always the expression of his 
 characteristic strong sense. He formed his opinions 
 carefully and independently, and expressed them reso- 
 lutely. The justice of his main conclusions had been 
 proved by the success of his conduct. He always went 
 upon plain, simple principles ; and one great secret of 
 his success was his invariable practice of laying down 
 definitely and explicitly the policy which he considered 
 to be right, and then adhering to it inflexibly. Beyond 
 this, no one could fail to recognise the simplicity and 
 unselfishness of his purposes. He was fighting for a 
 cause, in the justice of which he had the most unfeigned 
 conviction. When it was out of favour, he was ready to 
 put himself forward in spite of the unconcealed annoy- 
 
 z
 
 338 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ance of officials, of the leaders of his own party, and 
 the majority of the House of Commons. When it was 
 succeeding, he was equally ready to let other men take 
 the prominent position if he thought that their support 
 would be of more service to the cause than his own. The 
 solid, sturdy strength, characteristic of his whole nature, 
 may at times have given him the appearance of too much 
 confidence in his own opinion. But, though independent 
 and hard to shake from a fixed conviction, he was never 
 overbearing. He had lost the occasional harshness of 
 manner of his early youth. No man was readier to give 
 a fair hearing to an opponent or more anxious to meet, 
 instead of shirking, the real strength of the opposite case. 
 In private life, Fawcett was one of the few men whose 
 advice was really valuable from the care with which he 
 would consider any point, his anxiety to avoid any bin* 
 even towards his friends, and the warm interest which at 
 the same time he always took in their concerns. The 
 same qualities made his lead especially valuable in this 
 society, into whose cause he had thrown himself so 
 warmly and unreservedly. 
 
 Fawcett had energetic supporters, some of whom 
 took subordinate parts not likely to bring them the 
 measure of credit which they deserved. Mr. Shaw- 
 Lefevre, whom I have so frequently had to mention, was 
 alternately his leader and his supporter. Mr. Shaw- 
 Lefevre, with the advice of Mr. Lawrence, had been 
 active in promoting the suits which saved the London 
 commons in the years preceding Fawcett's activity. 
 He was equally active and useful in later proceedings 
 of a similar kind, especially in regard to Epping
 
 COMMONS PRESERVATION 339 
 
 Forest. Of other helpers I will only venture to men- 
 tion Miss Octavia Hill, whose services on the Commons 
 Preservation Society, where she was always a staunch 
 supporter of the most energetic courses, form an ad- 
 ditional claim to the many which she possesses upon 
 the public gratitude. Fawcett always spoke of her 
 with especial warmth. But without Fawcett the cause 
 would have been far more doubtful ; for its success was 
 essentially dependent at the most critical part of the 
 struggle upon his unflinching resolution, independence, 
 and coolness of judgment. It is a reflection which has 
 something of the pathetic for the future generations of 
 Londoners who will enjoy the beauties of the Surrey 
 commons and the forest scenery of Epping, that their 
 opportunities of enjoyment are due in so great a degree 
 to one who could only know them through the eyes of 
 his fellows. When Fawcett lived at Lambeth he fre- 
 quently took the railway to Putney and refreshed himself, 
 after a night at the House, in the fresh breezes which 
 still blow across the wide open space of Wimbledon 
 Common. It is not long since I stood there one day by 
 his side on the edge of ' Caesar's Camp,' and noticed the 
 interest with which he listened to a discussion as to the 
 distant view. Was that the grand stand at Epsom ? 
 Could we see the tower on Leith Hill through the gap 
 of Mickleham Vale? We prolonged the talk because 
 Fawcett, instead of showing any sadness at his inca- 
 pacity to follow us, seemed to derive pleasure from the 
 livelier impression of the commanding position of our 
 standing ground. It is surely a proof of unusual 
 healthiness as well as kindliness of nature when a man 
 
 z 2
 
 340 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 can thus delight in the vicarious sense of the beautiful in- 
 stead of fretting over his own deprivation. It is pleasant 
 to think that so much of this enjoyment was still within 
 Fawcett's reach. It is not the less honourable to him 
 that, though no one could be more hopelessly shut out 
 from the direct appreciation of the remnants of un- 
 sophisticated nature, no one was more strenuous or 
 effective in efforts to preserve them in the interests of 
 his fellows and, above all, of the classes least able to en- 
 force their own rights. 1 
 
 1 I have been giving an account of Fawcett's share in the movement 
 not of the movement itself. For fuller information upon many 
 points which were not strictly relevant to my purpose, I am glad to refer 
 to Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's chapter upon ' Common Lands ' in his English 
 and Irish Land Questions (1881).
 
 341 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 I NOW approach what is in many respects the most 
 remarkable part of Fawcett's political career. For 
 many years he devoted the greatest part of his time 
 and energy to Indian questions. He became popularly 
 known as the ' Member for India.' He succeeded in im- 
 pressing certain convictions upon English statesmen ; 
 he was the object of the enthusiastic admiration of large 
 classes of our Indian fellow- subjects, and his strongest 
 opponents ended by recognising the purity of his motives, 
 the undeviating independence of his conduct, and even 
 the value of many of the principles for which he en- 
 deavoured to obtain recognition. I shall do very little 
 justice to Fawcett if I do not succeed in making clear 
 the nature of his services to India. And yet the task is 
 by no means easy. I cannot here, as in other cases, 
 point to any definite legislative achievements. The effect 
 of his action is to be found less in any specific changes 
 than in the whole temper of English public opinion 
 upon Indian questions. It is not possible to discrimi- 
 nate accurately his share in a result to the produc- 
 tion of which many other causes contributed. It 
 may be as well, too, that I should at once recognise
 
 342 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 frankly, what will be sufficiently evident, that I cannot 
 affect to speak with any independent knowledge of 
 Indian affairs. What I shall endeavour to do is to set 
 forth as clearly as I can the main contentions to which 
 he adhered from first to last, and to explain the chief 
 grounds of his action. That can, 1 think, be done 
 sufficiently to exhibit Fawcett's character, though I must 
 of course leave to persons of far greater knowledge the 
 task of deciding upon the value of his particular con- 
 clusions. 
 
 I am not able to trace the exact steps of Fawcett's 
 interest in Indian affairs. His friend, Mr. Dale, Fellow 
 of Trinity Hah 1 , tells me that Fawcett once spoke to him 
 in regard to some proposal for excluding undergraduates 
 from the University library. Fawcett said that he had 
 himself visited the library in his undergraduate days 
 and had there taken up a book upon India which first 
 specially drew his attention to the subject. India, as we 
 have seen, is mentioned characteristically even in his 
 school essays, and in the early letters to Mrs. Hodding. 
 Various influences may have stimulated his interest. 
 His intimate friends, Thornton and J. S. Mill, were both 
 in the India Office, and qualified to speak with authority 
 upon administrative details. Thornton gave him informa- 
 tion about India for the ' Manual ' ; and in later days often 
 discussed Indian questions with him. Mr. C. B. Clarke 
 accepted an appointment in the Indian Educational De- 
 partment at the end of 1865, and, when in India, wrote 
 very full and interesting letters to Fawcett, giving the 
 impressions of a keen political economist, not imbued 
 with the ordinary official prejudices. Although Clarke's
 
 INDIA 343 
 
 views differed materially from Fawcett's, the letters inci- 
 dentally illustrated many questions of Indian administra- 
 tion in a way calculated to suggest reflection. Fawcett's 
 first public utterance upon the subject was in July 1867. 
 It had been decided to give a ball at the India Office to 
 the Sultan on July 16. Fawcett asked whether the 
 expenses of this ball were to be charged to India. Sir 
 Stafford Northcote replied in the affirmative, and ex- 
 plained, in justification of the course adopted, that the 
 ball was a return for assistance given by the Sultan 
 towards telegraphic communication with India. Fawcett 
 was not satisfied. He consulted Mill. Mill, on the 
 whole, advised him to be content with having raised the 
 question. It was not the strongest ease that could be 
 adduced. Sir Stafford Northcote's answer would be 
 regarded by many as satisfactory; and it was a more 
 important consideration that the real intention was 
 probably to induce the Sultan to give more effective 
 assistance than he had hitherto done. Fawcett was not 
 convinced by these arguments, which, in fact, hardly 
 seem to meet his point as to the fair distribution of the 
 charge. England, as well as India, was interested in the 
 telegraphic communication. On July 19 a motion was 
 made for a list of invitations to the ball. Some of the 
 usual parliamentary facetiousness was brought to bear 
 upon the supposed unfairness of the selection of guests. 
 Fawcett hereupon rose ' with great reluctance,' and said 
 that after ' anxious and careful consideration ' he felt it his 
 duty to express his feelings. The important question, he 
 said, was how the Secretary for India could ' reconcile 
 it to himself to tax the people of India for an entertain-
 
 344 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ment to the Sultan and Viceroy.' It might be proper for 
 the officials themselves to give the entertainment. But 
 ' why should the toiling peasant pay for it ? ' The Indian 
 press was complaining of slowness in the measures for 
 helping the sufferers from famine. It would have 
 new occasion for sarcasms when a part of the Indian 
 revenues was voted without the least compunction for 
 an entertainment which would amuse good society and 
 the people of London. 
 
 The protest, as Fawcett said soon afterwards, received 
 no support and excited little immediate attention ; but it 
 was the beginning of a long series of more important 
 efforts. Fawcett had inherited the true Radical doctrines 
 of economy and retrenchment. He was ready to con- 
 demn sinecures and needless pensions. But he had a 
 specially hearty contempt for meanness, and this, as he 
 afterwards said, was a ' masterpiece of meanness.' He 
 always declined to base his criticisms of extravagant 
 expenditure upon the simple question of pounds, 
 shillings, and pence. It was lavish expenditure upon the 
 rich, paid for by scrapings from the wages of the poor, 
 which he specially scorned. The Sultan's ball was long 
 a sore point with him. 
 
 At the end of 1867 he again came forward in the 
 same sense. Parliament was summoned to provide for 
 the Abyssinian war. Government proposed that the ex- 
 traordinary expenditure should be paid for by England, 
 whilst India should continue to pay the troops at the 
 ordinary rate. Of course, the extraordinary expenditure 
 was a very large proportion of the whole ; but Fawcett held 
 that a great nation should do things handsomely, and
 
 INDIA 345 
 
 made a protest, though he was in a minority of 23 to 198 
 (November 28, 1867). His rising interest in Indian 
 affairs was shown by two speeches made in the House of 
 Commons during the next session. 1 On the last occasion 
 he moved a resolution in favour of holding the Civil 
 Service Examinations in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, 
 as well as in London, in order to give natives of India an 
 equal chance of obtaining appointments. Some of the 
 obvious objections to this scheme were forcibly stated in 
 the debate by Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan. Taken by itself, as a 
 serious proposal, this would, I think, tend more than any- 
 thing to give plausibility to the charge of doctrinairism 
 sometimes made against Fawcett. In fact, his love of 
 fair play, and his belief in the system of open competition 
 as accepted at Cambridge, possibly inclined him to a 
 rather excessive estimate of the merits of such schemes in 
 general. But it must also be said that the motion, which 
 was withdrawn after a short debate, was intended chiefly 
 to call attention to a most important principle. Through 
 the whole of his career he took frequent opportunities 
 of insisting upon the importance of giving fair play to 
 the natives of India, and making use of their abilities in 
 our service. The knowledge of his strong convictions 
 upon this question had a considerable share in the 
 gratitude with which native Indians came to regard him. 
 The particular plan advocated in this resolution may 
 have been impolitic. He does not appear to have attached 
 special importance to it, and his perception of the diffi- 
 culties in the way of any such scheme rather increased in 
 later years. But he never lost an opportunity of urging 
 1 March 27 and May 5, 1868.
 
 346 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the importance of the principle upon which it rested. If 
 our Empire is not to be founded on simple terror and 
 brute force, some plan must be found of giving a larger 
 share in the administration to qualified natives, and 
 enlisting their goodwill by providing them with a career. 
 There were many other applications of this principle 
 besides that embodied in the resolution; and Fawcett 
 never lost sight of the importance of the question. 
 
 The sentiment which animated these speeches was 
 that which lay at the bottom of all his interest in India. 
 It was the chivalrous sympathy for the helpless and 
 oppressed, in which he had never been wanting at any 
 time, but which became a more pronounced feature of his 
 character as he grew older and found more opportunities 
 for its exercise. His love of fair play took a more 
 tender and sympathetic development as he exerted him- 
 self to rouse others from an apathetic indifference to the 
 wrongs of the weak. 
 
 In one of his speeches at Brighton (January 1 5, 1872), 
 when he was becoming prominent as a critic of Indian 
 administration, he expressed himself characteristically. 
 He observed that the * most trumpery question ever 
 brought before Parliament,' a wrangle over the purclin-t 
 of a picture or a road through a park, excited more 
 interest ' than the welfare of 1 80,000,000 of our Indian 
 fellow-subjects.' Constituencies, he added, were said to 
 take no interest in the subject. He warned them that 
 some day they would be forced to take an interest, if 
 affairs were neglected in the future as they had been in the 
 past. He quoted an official statement as to the neglect 
 of Indian interests under the exigencies of English party
 
 INDIA 347 
 
 politics, and asked whether anyone who cared for the 
 honour of the country could remain quiet under such an 
 imputation. ' The people of India,' he said, ' have not 
 votes ; they cannot bring so much pressure to bear upon 
 Parliament as can be brought by one of our great railway 
 companies ; but with some confidence I believe that I shall 
 not be misinterpreting your wishes if, as your repre- 
 sentative, I do whatever can be done by one humble 
 individual to render justice to the defenceless and power- 
 less.' This conviction never left his mind. As he said 
 in the House of Commons (August 6, 1870) upon another 
 occasion, he felt that ' all the responsibility resting upon 
 him as member of Parliament was as nothing compared 
 with the responsibility of governing 1 50,000,000 of distant 
 subjects.' [ 
 
 At the time (January 1872) of the speech from 
 which I have quoted, most people thought, and the 
 newspapers warned him, that constituencies would 
 be indifferent to Indian questions. When in 1874 
 Fawcett was defeated at Brighton and became member 
 for Hackney, he was able to say that his constituency 
 had never found fault with his attention to Indian politics, 
 and had always been warmly interested in his speeches 
 upon Indian affairs. This is one of the cases in which 
 the highest principle turns out to be the most expedient. 
 Fawcett's Indian zeal became advantageous even from a 
 merely electioneering point of view. His constituents 
 were proud of his achievements, and were interested for 
 the time at least by his expositions of Indian affairs 
 
 1 The population of British India in 1881 was estimated at nearly 
 200,000,000 ; besides 54,000,000 under native governments.
 
 348 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 But it is equally true that no one who had an eye to 
 popularity merely would have taken up the subject as 
 Fawcett did. He relied, with his usual confidence in the 
 good feeling of the people, upon their ultimate approval 
 of his line of conduct. But it was because his motives 
 were thoroughly pure from all taint of personal interest 
 that he threw himself so heartily into the cause and 
 believed that it would make its way. 
 
 In fact, he had to encounter not only the indifference of 
 constituents, but the more active dislike of some members 
 of the Liberal Government. It was only by slow degrees 
 that they came to recognise his claims to serious treat- 
 ment. In his earlier speeches he was met with the 
 kind of contemptuous treatment with which the genuine 
 official attempts to suppress the rash outsider who dares 
 to question the wisdom and omniscience of his rulers. 
 Fawcett gradually attained a position in which it was 
 not only clear that he was an antagonist who could 
 retort to some purpose, but that his words were entitled 
 to serious weight. The cause of his success was not simply 
 his obvious sincerity, but also the sound judgment with 
 which he selected his position. 
 
 In fact, no one can deny that the prejudice against 
 an outsider had some plausibility. It needs no demon- 
 stration that, upon many questions of vital importance to 
 India, nothing but long experience can justify any man 
 in speaking with confidence. The difficulty is rather to 
 decide whether any Englishman, however long his ex- 
 perience, can obtain sufficient knowledge of the vast and 
 complicated problems presented by the heterogeneous 
 populations spread over so wide an area. Fawcett had
 
 INDIA 349 
 
 never been out of Europe ; he had enjoyed no special 
 opportunities for gaining knowledge ; he was not, in 
 point of fact, more profoundly acquainted than many 
 other Englishmen of his class with the religious and 
 social organisation, the prejudices and customs, of the 
 Indian races ; and therefore he could have little to say 
 upon many problems of internal policy. But this he 
 clearly recognised. He limited himself to one question 
 or class of questions upon which he could really speak to 
 the purpose. It required no special knowledge of Indian 
 peculiarities, though it did require faculties which he 
 possessed in a high degree, to judge of the general position 
 of Indian finances. He could say whether the balance- 
 sheets presented by Indian statesmen were intelligible ; 
 whether they showed the revenue to be elastic or the 
 reverse ; whether they showed that the results promised 
 for certain investments had or had not been achieved or 
 been put in course of achievement ; and whether there 
 were indications that India was being made to bear 
 expenses properly chargeable to England. He set to 
 work to investigate these questions with an energy which 
 is indicated by the results ; and he limited himself very 
 strictly to discussions where his competence to form an 
 opinion was undeniable. 
 
 In truth, this strange phenomenon of the English 
 Empire in India must present many problems to everyone 
 who is not content to treat it simply as so much stimulus 
 to national vanity. No thinking man can fail at times to 
 ask the question whether the empire is or is not desirable 
 for both races. Both the moralist and the politician may 
 ask whether it can be possible for the ruling nation to
 
 350 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 discharge effectually duties so unprecedented, and for 
 which we are clearly so unqualified in some ways, and 
 whether the enormous burden of direct and indirect 
 responsibilities with which we are laden is not a heavy 
 price to pay for any conceivable advantages. If the 
 utterance of such misgivings is generally hooted down, it 
 is not because they are felt to be unreasonable, but because 
 they are thought to be fruitless. Voluntary withdrawal 
 from our position is out of the question, at least, till very 
 radical changes have taken place in human society ; and 
 we are doomed meanwhile to solve the problem by action 
 instead of speculation. We shall doubtless hold on 
 as long as holding on is possible; and if the empire 
 should be dissolved, the dissolution must be the result of 
 violence, not of prudential abnegation. 
 
 Fawcett accepted this necessity, and, I think, had 
 little sympathy with the politicians who think our 
 government of India essentially an evil. On the other 
 hand, he sympathised still less with those who regard the 
 maintenance and extension of empire as an ultimate aim 
 to be upheld by all patriots, whatever may be the con- 
 sequences to the subject race. He invariably preached 
 that our rule was to be regarded as a sacred trust good 
 if so exercised as to be a blessing to the governed, and 
 bad if exercised to their disadvantage. The question 
 which he habitually put to old Indians was whether the 
 condition of the masses under our rule was better than 
 their condition under native rule. 
 
 His whole purpose was to aim by every means in his 
 power at impressing upon his countrymen their enormous 
 responsibility, and encouraging them to bear it in a
 
 INDIA 351 
 
 worthy spirit. He felt strongly the difficulty of the 
 position. The government of vast multitudes of an 
 alien race by an assembly of some hundreds of English 
 gentlemen, profoundly ignorant for the most part of the 
 whole conditions of life of the subject population ; elected 
 by persons still more ignorant and indifferent, and for 
 considerations which have the most indirect relation to 
 their fitness for rule ; profoundly interested, on the other 
 hand, in questions of English politics, and ready to 
 sacrifice the most important Indian interests to the most 
 trifling questions of party warfare in England, suggests 
 enormous difficulties and may seem to justify despair. 
 Swift illustrates the English view of Irish troubles in his 
 day by the sentiment of Cowley's lover : 
 
 Forbid it, Heaven, my life should be 
 Weighed with thy least conveniency. 
 
 The starvation of thousands of the native Irish was of 
 less importance in the eyes of the English rulers, as Swift 
 thought, than putting a few pounds in the pockets of the 
 King's mistress. If the English rule in India were to be 
 conducted on the same principles, the result must be the 
 misery of our subjects and ultimately the collapse of our 
 empire. But Fawcett thought that it was possible to 
 rouse the nation to a worthier sentiment, and to this 
 end he gave his best energy for many years. When an 
 argument was urged against the interference of the 
 House of Commons in matters of which it knew so 
 little, he replied forcibly that, if the House did not 
 interfere, India would suffer from all the evils of party 
 government and have none of the advantages. We
 
 352 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ought not, he said, 1 to be constantly meddling in details 
 of Indian administration ; but we should do our best to 
 protect the financial interests of India. Parliament was 
 competent to see that India did not suffer by our shuffling 
 off upon her charges which properly belonged to our- 
 selves, though it might be quite incompetent to look 
 after many questions in which local experience \\;is 
 essential to any wise judgment. This, in brief, was the 
 principle upon which he always acted ; and, in spite of 
 indifference or more active contempt, he never failed to 
 denounce every unfairness which came within his obser- 
 vation. He had for some years, he said in 1872, devoted 
 all his spare time to the study of the subject ; and the only 
 result of his endeavours to bring it before the House had 
 been to excite the Under- Secretary for India and to bring 
 upon himself Ministerial rebukes. No amount of labour, 
 no dread of an Under- Secretary, no Ministerial rebukes, 
 should prevent him from doing what he could towards 
 the creation of an adequate interest in this country in 
 the affairs of our great dependency. 
 
 His first appearance, as I have said, was on occasion 
 of the Sultan's ball. Whilst other members squabbled 
 over the right distribution of tickets, he alone protested 
 against the extreme meanness of charging the cost upon 
 India. The case attracted much notice in India ; it \v;is 
 discussed in the native press ; and he came to the next 
 Parliament impressed with the conviction that the par- 
 ticular instance was a symptom of an evil existing on a 
 much wider scale. His first active interference took 
 place upon the introduction of the Indian Budget in 
 
 1 Speeches of July 15 and August 9, 1875.
 
 INDIA 353 
 
 1870, when he complained as he had frequent occasion 
 to do afterwards that the financial statement was not 
 made until a period (August 5) at which the House of 
 Commons was incapable of attending properly to any- 
 thing. Its control of Indian finance could not be effec- 
 tive, if the question were not debated till the fag-end 
 of the session. He had another piece of 'melancholy 
 meanness ' to mention, comparable to that of the 
 Sultan's ball. The Duke of Edinburgh had been visit- 
 ing India and distributing presents. The cost of these 
 gifts (io,oooL) was to betaken from the Indian revenues. 
 He quoted a statement recently made by Mr. Laing, 
 formerly financial member of Council, to the effect that 
 the finances of India were constantly sacrificed to the 
 wishes of the Horse Guards and the exigencies of English 
 statesmen. He dwelt upon various grievances, to be 
 hereafter mentioned, showing that he had studied the 
 question with close attention ; and he ended a remark- 
 able speech by moving that it was desirable to appoint a 
 Special Committee to inquire into Indian finance. 
 
 Mr. Grant-Duff (the Under- Secretary for India and 
 the natural exponent of official views, and therefore, for 
 some time to come, Fawcett's most prominent opponent 
 upon these questions) spoke contemptuously of Fawcett's 
 allegations. Mr. Gladstone, however, admitted the dis- 
 advantage of bringing on the Budget at so late a period, 
 and spoke in favour of appointing a Committee in the 
 next session. Fawcett withdrew his motion for the 
 present, and in the next session it was taken out of his 
 hands by Government, who moved the appointment of a 
 Committee to inquire into the financial administration 
 
 A A
 
 354 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 (March 9, 1871). The Committee sat during the three 
 sessions of 1871, 1872, 1873, and its labours were 
 continued by a Committee which sat during the first 
 session of the following Parliament (1874). Fawcett was 
 one of the most active and regular members of these 
 Committees. Neither of them presented any definitive 
 report ; but a great mass of evidence was printed, 
 including examinations of many of the most distinguished 
 Indian administrators Lord Lawrence, Sir Charles 
 Trevelyan, General Strachey, and many of the chief 
 officials from the India Office. The evidence is of the 
 highest interest for any student of the great questions 
 involved, and though no definite conclusion was reached, 
 the facts elicited made a considerable impression upon 
 public opinion. 
 
 In the course of the first session Fawcett presented 
 a petition to the House from natives of India and 
 European residents, demanding greater economy, and 
 complaining of the expenditure upon public works. He 
 moved that it would be desirable to send a Commissiou 
 to India to obtain evidence on the spot. He withdrew 
 his motion at the request of Sir Stafford Northcote, 
 another member of the Committee, but had a sharp 
 encounter with Mr. Grant-Duff, partly provoked by a 
 misunderstanding, for which Mr. Grant-Duff afterwards 
 courteously apologised. Mr. Grant-Duff, however, took 
 occasion to observe that he did not wonder that Fawcett 
 was dissatisfied with the Committee, seeing ' the writh- 
 ings of the theories of the hon. member as witness after 
 witness touches them with the light of fact, just as 
 Ithuriel touched that other honourable gentleman with
 
 INDIA 355 
 
 his spear.' He spoke of Fawcett as employed in his 
 ' congenial occupation of finding mare's nests,' and made 
 some fun of his indulgence ' in that branch of ornitho- 
 logical research.' Other members protested against 
 Mr. Grant-Duffs unusual asperity. Fawcett was con- 
 tent to reply by uttering a very characteristic maxim. 
 Five years' experience in the House, he said, had taught 
 him that a member was always right in bringing for- 
 ward a question when the fact of his bringing it forward 
 caused the Minister concerned to lose his temper. I 
 would not refer to passing ebullitions of this kind, which 
 were, I would fain hope, forgotten or forgiven on both 
 sides, were it not that it seems necessary to show what 
 was the first sentiment aroused in Ministerial bosoms 
 by Fawcett's rough grasp of their optimistic convictions. 
 Mr. Grant-Duff was most sincerely convinced that the 
 Indian administration, though not, of course, faultless, 
 was rendering immense services to India ; and held that 
 Fawcett was the unconscious instrument of discontented 
 and irresponsible persons magnifying the small imper- 
 fections inevitable in all human affairs into monstrous 
 injustice. Fawcett's function was in fact to insist that 
 the rulers of India should give a full account of their 
 stewardship. He neither asserted nor denied that on 
 the whole their rule was beneficial. But he did assert 
 that abuses existed and that his duty was to probe 
 them to the bottom. Some of the supposed cases 
 might be capable of full justification. Others might 
 turn out to be such venial blemishes as must occur 
 in all administration ; and I cannot find that Fawcett 
 was ever slow to acknowledge the groundlessness of the 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 suspicions when a fair explanation was forthcoming. 
 But the habitual attitude of jealous examination of 
 official apologies and of refusal to take official statements 
 for granted is not likely to conciliate officials. When, in 
 another encounter in this session, Fawcett criticised the 
 new Engineering College at Cooper's Hill as a deviation 
 from the principle of open competition, Mr. Grant- 
 Duff said in reply that competition was becoming a 
 fetish with the British people ; to which Fawcett replied, 
 warning him against another fetish the fetish of official- 
 ism. Widely different opinions might doubtless be 
 formed from a study of the whole evidence before the 
 Committees. I think, however, that it is impossible for 
 any reader to doubt that Fawcett's accusations were 
 justified in many particular cases. The question, of 
 course, remains whether those cases were to be regarded 
 as normal or exceptional. Fawcett did not himself draw 
 any further conclusion than this that their occurrence 
 showed the necessity of strict supervision, improved 
 administration, and a better system of accounts. His 
 examinations of witnesses are admirable. Some wit- 
 nesses were entirely upon his side; but upon other 
 occasions he had sharp encounters with officials who 
 strongly resented the conclusions to which he tried to 
 force them. His especial merit was the clearness with 
 which he stuck to his points and the remarkable com- 
 mand of complicated accounts which he invariably 
 displayed. The longest and most generally interesting 
 of his examinations was that of General Strachey, 
 whose great experience and complete command of the 
 whole subject made him a formidable antagonist. They
 
 INDIA 357 
 
 had some tough passages of arms ; and Fawcett's reputa- 
 tion in India was considerably heightened by the fact 
 that he could at all hold his own with a leading official 
 who was not only thoroughly well informed as to the 
 policy under discussion, but had taken a very important 
 part in securing its adoption. I imagine that the inter- 
 rogator and his answerer parted with mutual respect ; 
 especially as there is no indication of a want of frank- 
 ness on either side, but simply some vigorous dialectical 
 fencing, such as used to delight Fawcett in old days 
 at Cambridge and might have pleased a Moderator in 
 the schools. 
 
 The power of effectually cross-examining a skilled 
 financier upon his own ground was specially remarkable 
 in a blind man, and the same power was shown still more 
 remarkably in two speeches upon the Indian Budget 
 which he delivered in 1872 and 1873.* A political oppo- 
 nent, Mr. (now Sir E.) Fowler, has said that he consi- 
 dered these speeches to be the most remarkable intellec- 
 tual efforts he had ever heard. Without any of the notes 
 which help the ordinary speaker, Fawcett gave an admi- 
 rably clear exposition of the complex questions which 
 might have raised the envy of the most accomplished 
 Chancellor of an Exchequer. His method, as is clear to 
 any reader of his speeches, was thoroughly to fix in his 
 head the cardinal facts and figures. He would get a 
 friend to help him, 2 and go over the ground again and 
 
 1 They are reprinted in Political Speeches. 
 
 2 Mr. Moulton, I believe, helped him in preparing the first of these 
 speeches. He received much help also from Mr. Dacosta, a retired Indian 
 merchant, and from Mr. James Hutton, formerly a journalist in India 
 Mr. Dacosta was in communication with him for many years.
 
 358 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 again until he was satisfied that the whole statement was 
 perfectly arranged in the most lucid order. A friend 
 with whom he prepared a speech upon the Endowed 
 Schools Bill (in 1874) tells me that he thinks that 
 Fawcett had prepared himself a little too carefully for 
 purposes of debate, not leaving sufficient power of modi- 
 fying his argument to meet other speakers. But he 
 thoroughly secured the main result of working his 
 thoughts into the clearest and pithiest form possible. 
 He would quote a remark of Cobden's, that a speaker 
 should not use more figures than he could carry in his 
 head. Lucid arrangement was necessitated, to secure 
 ease of recollection. In this respect the speeches are 
 irreproachable. They do not affect rhetoric ; and so 
 long as he can make himself thoroughly clear he is not 
 anxious to be epigrammatic or elegant or careful about re- 
 peating himself. The same illustrations and statements 
 are apt to recur pretty often. When he said a thing 
 in the best way he could, he was content to say it over 
 again in the same way. He wished to hammer certain 
 leading principles into people's heads, and for such a pur- 
 pose it is often the best plan to repeat yourself, regard- 
 less of literary criticism. Fawcett certainly managed to 
 make his views about India clear beyond all possible 
 doubt, and to command more and more attention as time 
 went on. 
 
 I will now endeavour as well as I can to sum up his 
 main contentions. The groundwork of all his reasoning 
 was the fact that India is a poor country. The vague 
 impressions of its enormous wealth, derived from the 
 days of the nabobs, had no doubt been to a great extent
 
 INDIA 359 
 
 dissipated before his time ; but the English people still 
 failed to appreciate the extreme narrowness of the margin 
 which divides the great mass of the population from the 
 starvation limit. Fawcett's first object was to make it 
 obvious that India is a country in which one more turn 
 of the financial screw, or a single failure of crops, will at 
 once bring millions of our fellow-subjects into the direst 
 necessity. The struggle for existence is always a terrible 
 reality for the vast majority. Proof of this is to be 
 found in the permanent condition of the revenues. The 
 position of the national income was partly obscured, as 
 Fawcett maintained, by the ordinary form of statement. 
 The gross revenue of India, 1 for example, in 1879- 
 80 amounted to over 68,ooo,oooZ. ; of which over 
 22,ooo,oooL was derived from the Land Eevenue; over 
 26,000,000^ from various sources other than taxation 
 (including over io,ooo,oooZ. from opium, and 8,500,000^. 
 from public works) ; and nearly 2O,ooo,oooL from taxation 
 proper. But a great part of this corresponds to a 
 revenue which implies counterbalancing charges. It 
 includes, for example, receipts for services, such as 
 the post-office and telegraph, which are more than 
 balanced by expenditure upon the same accounts. It 
 includes also the gross receipts for opium and salt with- 
 out deduction of the expense of production. When, 
 therefore, it is said that the revenue has greatly in- 
 creased, we must remember that much of the increase 
 implies a corresponding increase of expenditure, and 
 therefore no real increase of resources. The great dif- 
 
 1 See Finances and Public Works of India from 1869 to 1881, by Sir 
 John Strachey, G.C.S.I., and Lieut.-Gen. Sir Richard Strachey, K.E., F.R.S 
 London, 1882.
 
 360 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 ference between the gross and the net revenue makes it 
 necessary to avoid illusion, by fixing our attention upon 
 the net revenue, which represents the really disposable 
 resources of the country. Accepting this, the total net 
 revenue must be fixed at a very much smaller sum. On 
 Fawcett's mode of statement, it did not amount in 1876- 
 77 to quite 37,500,000^ ; the gross revenue being at the 
 same period just under 56,000,000^ The main pecu- 
 liarity of this revenue, as he constantly urged, was its 
 inelasticity. In England, a financier who requires to 
 raise a larger sum has numerous resources at his dis- 
 posal. Without increasing the debt, he can add millions 
 to the national income by direct or indirect taxation. 
 The Indian financier, under similar circumstances, is at 
 his wits' end. The pressure is already as great as the 
 country will stand. He cannot raise an additional in- 
 come of a few hundreds of thousands without provoking 
 a serious amount of discontent, in order to gain sums 
 disproportionately small. This, as Fawcett was never 
 tired of explaining, was the really vital problem of Indian 
 government. The finances are, as one witness said, the 
 key of the situation. To direct attention to these diffi- 
 culties, and thus to obtain security for better administra- 
 tion and clearer statements in future, was his one great 
 object. His speeches in 1872 and 1873 are all directed 
 to this point. The financial question is of course inti- 
 mately connected with many social and political ques- 
 tions ; but it was from the side of the finances, with 
 which of course he was most competent to deal, that 
 Fawcett attacked the difficulty, and did his best to drive 
 home his conclusions.
 
 INDIA 361 
 
 To make his points clear, I must follow him into some- 
 what greater detail. And, first, we may observe that 
 almost the whole revenue is derived from six sources 
 land, opium, salt, excise, customs, and stamps. From 
 the land is derived nearly half of the net revenue. 
 One-fifth of this, being derived from the districts under 
 permanent settlements, is incapable of increase. In 
 many other districts the payments are fixed for thirty 
 years, and can only be raised as these settlements fall in. 
 This revenue, I may observe, differs essentially, according 
 to Fawcett and all orthodox political economists, from a 
 tax proper. It is in reality a rent, enjoyed by the State 
 instead of private proprietors, and, so long as it does 
 not exceed a rack-rent, is not a burden upon any class 
 of the community. He therefore was always opposed to 
 the principle of the permanent settlement, which, as he 
 held, prevented the State deriving any advantage in the 
 most unobjectionable shape from the increased resources 
 of the country. But, in point of fact, no large increase 
 could be expected from the land revenue, whilst the 
 depreciation of silver steadily lowered its real value. 
 Opium is the next in importance of the sources of 
 revenue (producing a net revenue of near 8,ooo,ooo. on 
 an average from 1877-81), and showed a considerable 
 increase during the years of Fawcett's activity. It was, 
 however, obvious that there was an element of un- 
 certainty in an income dependent upon the demand 
 from a foreign State, and which, in the opinion of some 
 authorities, might be exposed to competition or prohibited 
 altogether. 
 
 The salt-tax, which contributed about 6,ooo,oooZ. to
 
 362 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the revenue, is a very heavy tax upon a necessary of 
 life, pressing upon the poorest part of the population, 
 and already so high that an increase in the duty would 
 do much to check consumption. A man, according to 
 the evidence of Sir Cecil Beadon (Lieutenant-Governor 
 of Bengal), might live and support a family upon 4^d. 
 a day, and would have to pay i^d. a week for salt. Salt, 
 duty free, would cost one-eighth of a rupee, and, with the 
 duty, sold for two rupees. No other indirect tax was 
 possible, with the very doubtful exception of tobacco. 
 The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal said that he would 
 rather have his right hand cut off than be a party to 
 increase the salt-tax. The remaining sources of revenue 
 the customs, excise, and stamps brought in only about 
 5 ,000,000?. a year; and the Government was constantly 
 under strong pressure to diminish them. In 1876 Lord 
 Salisbury pledged himself to repeal the cotton duties as 
 soon as the Indian finances would bear it. The duties 
 were accordingly reduced by Lord Lytton in 1879, in 
 opposition to the views of a majority of his Council. 
 The repeal was approved by the House of Commons in 
 April 1879, in spite of a protest from Fawcett, who, 
 staunch free-trader as he was, held that the sacrifice 
 of revenue was in this instance an unjustifiable conces- 
 sion to demands from Manchester, at a time when there 
 was unusual pressure upon Indian finances. 
 
 This brief survey, which is the substance of much 
 that was urged again and again by Fawcett in various 
 forms, will sufficiently indicate the grounds of his belief 
 that the revenues of India were singularly inelastic. 
 The authors of the ' Finances and Public Works of
 
 INDIA 363 
 
 India' take a much more favourable view. Although 
 it is not for me to decide upon such disputes, I may 
 notice that, even upon their showing, the net revenue 
 remained almost stationary from 1869 to 1877; and 
 that a considerable part of the increase in the next four 
 years was due to opium and to increased taxation, 
 though partly due also to increase of trade and in con- 
 sumption of articles paying duty. The inelasticity is 
 confirmed by the difficulty of discovering any new forms 
 of taxation. The difficulties of direct taxation are suf- 
 ficiently indicated by the objections to the income-tax. 
 As Fawcett observed, an income-tax of 2^d. in the 
 pound would raise 5,000,000?. in England, whilst in 
 India it raised little over 500,000?. The discontent 
 which it excited and the abuses connected with it were 
 so great that it had to be abandoned, and, as Fawcett 
 frequently observed, it was unequivocally condemned by 
 three successive Ministers of Finance Sir C. Trevelyan, 
 Mr. Laing, and Mr. Massey. Lord Lawrence, in 1873, 
 told the Committee upon Indian Finance that, after care- 
 ful investigations, his Government had come to the con- 
 clusion that no new sources of income could be devised. 
 When it was thought desirable to raise an additional 
 fund to provide for famine expenditure in 1877, a 
 license-tax was imposed upon all traders with incomes 
 of over 100 rupees a year. It raised at its maximum 
 about 820,000?. The limit of liability had to be raised 
 when returns showed that more than a million people 
 were taxed to raise only 340,000?. l Whatever may be 
 the arguments in favour of such taxation, the extreme 
 1 Finances and Public Works, p. 203.
 
 364 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 practical difficulty of increasing the revenue is suf- 
 ficiently obvious to justify Fawcett's general position. 
 The ingenuity of the ablest financiers has been exerted 
 to discover the means of a small increase to the revenue ; 
 and, in whatever direction they turn, they are imme- 
 diately met by the danger of worrying an inert popula- 
 tion, which will bear passively the burdens sanctioned 
 by custom, but is frightened and harassed by novelty 
 and uncertainty. Meanwhile, the burden of debt has 
 been increasing by war, famine, and expenditure upon 
 public works. The civil charges have risen enormously 
 from the rise of prices and the natural growth of an 
 expensive administrative system. To produce and main- 
 tain a perfect equilibrium, the rulers of India must have 
 recourse, as Fawcett urged, to a strict and unrelaxing 
 economy. A sound position must be attained rather by 
 restricting expenditure than by increasing income. If 
 Fawcett exaggerated the inelasticity of the revenue, even 
 his critics would admit that he sufficiently demonstrated 
 the necessity of economy. A fresh burden, such as 
 might be cast upon India at any time by political neces- 
 sities, would imply a strain for which the country should 
 be prepared by setting it in order beforehand. 
 
 This brings us to one of Fawcett's main positions. Since 
 the great mutiny, the abolition of the old Company and 
 the development of means of communication have brought 
 India into closer dependence upon her rulers. In more 
 ways than it is necessary or possible to recount, changes in 
 English politics have a direct reaction upon India, and 
 the whole organisation of Indian government can be con- 
 trolled and directed at every point by the home officials.
 
 INDIA 365 
 
 India, as he frequently said, is now in close partnership 
 with England ; a poor partner, therefore, is closely 
 joined with a rich partner, and, moreover, with a rich 
 partner who is able and inclined to assume the whole 
 management of the concern. When measures were 
 proposed which involved a heavy burden upon Indian 
 finance, the opinion of the Indian Government was often 
 not asked, and when it was opposed to the views of the 
 Home Government, was summarily overridden. The old 
 East India Company was a powerful and independent 
 body, possessing strong influence in Parliament and in 
 the country, and able to obtain a hearing for its protests. 
 By the Act of 1858 a control over the Indian finances 
 was given to the Indian Council, or rather to the Secre- 
 tary of State in Council. This body had the right to veto 
 charges of which they did not approve. But in practice 
 they could not make good their opposition. The Secre- 
 tary of State belongs to a Cabinet in which he is the 
 only member specially interested in Indian affairs. If, 
 with the support of his Council, he should oppose a 
 demand from the Treasury, the result would be, as Lord 
 Salisbury said before the Committee of 1874, to ' stop the 
 machine.' ' You must either,' said Fawcett, ' stop the 
 machine, or resign, or go on tacitly submitting to injus- 
 tice.' ' I should accept the statement,' replied Lord 
 Salisbury, ' barring the word " tacitly " I should go on 
 submitting " with loud remonstrances." Eemonstrances, 
 however loud, might be unavailing unless backed by the 
 force of external opinion. And here there was the con- 
 stant difficulty indicated by another of Lord Salisbury's 
 replies. Under the pressure applied by the House of
 
 366 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 Commons, every department desires to reduce its esti- 
 mates. It is therefore tempted, without any desire to 
 be unjust, to get money in the direction of ' least resis- 
 tance.' So long as the House of Commons is indifferent 
 to Indian finance, there will therefore be a steady tempta- 
 tion to shift burdens upon India. The jealous watch- 
 fulness of the House of Commons, said Lord Salisbury 
 in a phrase which Fawcett frequently quoted afterwards, 
 and in the spirit of which he had long acted, would be 
 the best protection of the people of India against such 
 injustice ; and he spoke of the desirability of exciting the 
 public opinion of England ' up to the point of integrity.' 
 Instances of actual injustice came to light as the 
 Committee pursued its investigations. In his first 
 active protests Fawcett had been stirred by the cases of 
 the Sultan's ball and the Duke of Edinburgh's presents. 
 He dwelt upon the contributions made by India to 
 various consular establishments and objected to the pay- 
 ment from the Indian revenues of the two members of 
 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He asked 
 why the colonies, which were equally interested, were not 
 called upon to pay equally ; and suggested, as the too 
 probable reason, the simple consideration that the 
 colonies would not stand such a charge. A significant 
 and more important illustration of the tendency was a 
 story fully detailed before the Committee of 1871 by his 
 friend Thornton. The English Government were unlucky 
 enough to have a telegraph -cable on their hands, which 
 had proved unsuitable for the original purpose of con- 
 necting Falmouth with Gibraltar. Sir Charles Wood 
 (afterwards Lord Halifax), then Secretary of State for
 
 INDIA 367 
 
 India, agreed in April 1860 to join with the English 
 Government in laying it down between Malta and Alex- 
 andria, India paying two-fifths of the cost. He stipulated, 
 however, that the cost of a line in the Persian Gulf should 
 be also divided. The Treasury replied that this part of 
 the bargain should be left for after-consideration. The 
 Treasury, however, a month or two later sent in their bill 
 for the cable and demanded payment. Sir Charles Wood 
 protested that his assent had been conditional ; but in the 
 end he was forced to submit. India was left to construct 
 the Persian cable at her sole expense, which (with some ex- 
 tensions) came to a million. After some years, the Malta 
 cable had to be sold for a trifle, of which India received 
 two-fifths. The total loss upon the transaction to India was 
 1 1 5,946^. As a corollary bearing upon another topic 
 often noticed by Fawcett, it may be noticed that the sum 
 finally received was considered as ordinary revenue. 
 You borrow money to buy a thing, said Fawcett to a 
 witness, sell it at an enormous loss, and then put down 
 the result to income. And he summed up the transaction 
 between the two countries by saying that similar con- 
 duct practised by an individual A. to another B. would be 
 regarded as ' uncommonly sharp practice.' ' Yes,' was the 
 reply, ' it is impossible to suppose that any individual B. 
 would submit to such treatment.' 
 
 Such transactions, however indicative of an objec- 
 tionable tendency, did not by themselves imply a loss of 
 much significance to the national revenue. The exist- 
 ence of a similar spirit in regulating the main branches 
 of national expenditure would be a far more serious 
 matter. The most expensive part of the State organisa-
 
 368 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 tion is, of course, the army. The military expenditure 
 of India is great in itself; its amount becomes more 
 remarkable when compared with the revenue which 
 supplies it, and especially, as Fawcett pointed out, when 
 it is measured against the net, instead of the gross, 
 revenue. The amount for 1876-77 was estimated by Sir 
 John Strachey at 17,000,000?. This is a large enough 
 fraction of the gross revenue of 56,000,000^., and when 
 set against the net uevenue of only 37,500,000^., it 
 amounts to 45 per cent, of the whole a proportion so 
 large as to make this the cardinal fact in regard to all 
 Indian finance. Moreover, in many directions the 
 expenditure was apparently as elastic as the revenue was 
 the reverse. Causes beyond the control of the Govern- 
 ment contributed to swell it. The rise of wages and 
 prices in the world at large enforced a rise of the 
 soldier's pay and of the cost of stores. It was stated, 
 for example, by officials examined in 1873, that whilst 
 the European forces in India had been reduced, during 
 the nine years preceding 1872, from over 69,000 to 
 under 59,000, and the Native army from 134,000 to 
 1 1 6,000, the total cost had risen slightly contempora- 
 neously with the decrease of numbers. 
 
 Various causes were alleged for this ; but it was clear, 
 in any case, that the matter was of primary importance. 
 As Fawcett pointed out, the clearest proof that the in- 
 crease was due not to extravagance, but to the irresistible 
 force of circumstances, would not diminish the necessity 
 for careful inquiry. The more inevitable the growth of 
 expenditure, the more necessary every possible measure 
 for securing economy. The Committees devoted a great
 
 INDIA 369 
 
 deal of time to taking a mass of evidence upon these 
 heads from the most competent authorities. They 
 reported, in 1872 and 1874, that the 'most serious con- 
 sideration ' was necessary, and that further inquiry was 
 desirable. The whole problem is of course one of great 
 complexity. Fawcett followed the whole discussion care- 
 full}', and examined many of the witnesses. His main 
 efforts were directed to the inquiry how far Indian 
 interests and opinions had been consulted, and how far 
 the total expenditure was directed towards maintaining 
 a really efficient army. Many matters were of course 
 discussed, upon which experts contradicted each other, 
 both upon questions of policy and questions of arithmetic, 
 with great freedom and confidence. Much of the contro- 
 versy lay beyond the province of finance. There were 
 discussions as to the principles of military organisation, 
 and occasionally excursions into curious and insoluble 
 points of casuistry as to the equity of the arrangements 
 for distributing the burden between England and India. 
 Without entering into all these discussions, Fawcett 
 brought out, I think, ample grounds for his demand for 
 a close supervision of the whole matter, and for the care- 
 ful protection of Indian interests against the thought- 
 lessness and selfishness of English politicians. 
 
 The Mutiny of 1857 had necessitated a complete 
 reconstruction of the military system. The Native army 
 had in great part vanished, and the political relations 
 between the two countries were radically changed. If 
 the English rule was to be maintained, it was obvious 
 that a considerable European army must be provided, at 
 whatever cost. That was, in any case, the starting-point 
 
 B B
 
 370 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 of the inquiry. The question remained whether due 
 attention was secured for Indian interests, and the 
 enormous pressure upon Indian revenues kept within 
 the narrowest possible limits. And upon this question 
 there was ample ground for keen and persistent contro- 
 versy. 
 
 The first step had been the amalgamation of the 
 English and Indian armies. According to some very 
 high authorities opposed, it is true, by others perhaps 
 equally high this amalgamation was a gigantic blunder. 
 One thing, at any rate, was clear. It had been adopted, 
 as Lord Salisbury stated in 1874, against the opinion 
 of ' almost every available Indian authority.' Lord 
 Lawrence said, in 1873, that the Indian Council had 
 objected to it unanimously. Out of fifteen members of 
 the Council fourteen had recorded their protests against 
 it. These protests were before the House of Commons, 
 but the House took no notice of them whatever. The 
 Governor-General had also sent home his objections, 
 rather late it appears, but in any case without producing 
 the slightest effect. Right or wrong, the change thus 
 adopted, in spite of the unanimous objection of the party 
 most concerned, had involved a great increase of expen- 
 diture. A large number of officers of the old army had 
 become superfluous in consequence of the disappearance 
 of their soldiers ; and it was desirable in some way to 
 give them satisfaction. The amalgamation was carried 
 out under a commission of Indian officers of experience, 
 which, as Sir Charles Trevelyan expressed it, was ' setting 
 the wolves to guard the sheep.' Concessions were made 
 after a time, the effect of which was to give a certainty
 
 INDIA 371 
 
 of comfortable retiring pensions to a large number of 
 the old officers. Under the old system, a man had to 
 wait for promotion until some post involving actual 
 service was vacant. Under the new (after a concession 
 granted in 1 866) he was to rise in rank, whether there 
 was a vacancy or not, simply in virtue of the length of 
 his service. An officer who had served for thirty-eight 
 years thus acquired a right to a permanent allowance of 
 i,iooZ. a year. The staff corps, the new body which was 
 to discharge duties formerly assigned to the officers of 
 the native army, numbered, before 1866, 1,485 officers; 
 and on the concession being made, it was at once 
 ' swamped,' as a witness expressed it, by the immediate 
 accession of nearly a thousand additional officers. The 
 charge to be ultimately imposed by these allowances was 
 variously estimated at from 577,000?. to i,ooo,oooZ. a 
 year, which represents the cost of making things pleasant 
 for the old army. An immense boon had been conferred 
 upon them at the cost of the Indian revenues ; and a 
 very large sum has to be paid for non-effectives, though, 
 in course of time, when the system is fully established, 
 this will no longer be the case. 
 
 Another effect of the amalgamation was, that every 
 change in the English army involves a corresponding 
 change in the conditions of Indian service. The intro- 
 duction, for example, of the short-service system involved 
 changes in India, the precise effect of which was the 
 subject of much entangled controversy. An increase in 
 the pay of the English army, made with a view to purely 
 English requirements, involved, according to one wit- 
 ness, an increased expense of 400,000?. a year to India. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 A specially entangled dispute raged over the question of 
 recruiting. On the old system, the Company had a 
 single recruiting depot at "Warley. On the new system, 
 the rule comes to this that a fifth part of the officers 
 and non-commissioned officers of every regiment serving 
 in India are maintained at home in the various depots 
 at the cost of the Indian revenues. Fawcett urged 
 strongly, with the support of various official witnesses, 
 that these troops really constituted part of the effective 
 force in England ; and said that the correct statement 
 would be that a certain portion of the English army was 
 maintained at the cost of India. In any case, it was ad- 
 mitted that the cost of recruiting was greatly increan <1. 
 England, as Fawcett expressed it, had a monopoly of 
 the raw material, and could therefore compel India to 
 buy it at such prices as she chose to fix. The differences 
 of the system made any direct comparison difficult. 
 According to one estimate, the difference was that 
 whereas India had formerly obtained a recruit for the 
 infantry at a price of 42?., she now had to pay S2l. In 
 an official letter (May 1 5, 1873) fr m the Indian Govern- 
 ment to the Duke of Argyll, it was stated that the charges 
 for recruits were now fixed at about 58^. for an artillery- 
 man, 63^. for an infantry and 1 36?. for a cavalry soldier ; 
 whereas the average charge for all arms from 1849 to 
 1859 had been under 2oL It was replied, amongst other 
 things, that the recruits were now drilled before instead 
 of after their voyage to India ; and I, at least, should 
 not venture even to have an opinion upon the subject. 
 Debates between the highest authorities as to the dis- 
 tribution of such charges between India and England
 
 INDIA 373 
 
 brought oat the fact that, in the opinion of the Indian 
 Government, charges which they were driven to describe 
 as ' scandalously unjust ' had been imposed upon them, 
 in spite of their repeated protests. 
 
 This brief indication of some of the points at issue 
 may serve to show the complexity of the controversy. 
 Fawcett abstained from entering into that part of it 
 which may be called purely military. But if he did not 
 prove, he had the assent of many of the highest author- 
 ities in arguing, that the partnership of England and 
 India had involved an extravagant expenditure on the 
 part of the poorer partner the necessity of paying more 
 for a given article than was needed for her own purposes, 
 and the necessity of compensating vested interests at an 
 excessive rate, and of paying enormously for the non- 
 effective part of the services; whilst all her protests 
 were liable to be summarily overridden whenever they 
 came into awkward collision with the needs of the more 
 powerful partner. 
 
 Another large expense connected with the army leads 
 to a different part of the subject. The change had in- 
 volved the necessity of building barracks for the English 
 troops. The total expenditure from 1862-63 to 1872-73 
 appears to have been about 5,5oo,oooZ., whilst an outlay 
 of at least two or three millions more was contemplated. 
 General Strachey said that we should have spent nine 
 millions upon barracks by the end of 1873. It was dis- 
 puted whether the whole scale of these barracks was not 
 extravagant ; whether they were not mere ' suntraps,' 
 and so forth. It was, at any rate, acknowledged on all 
 hands that the estimates had been greatly exceeded.
 
 374 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and that the work had in some cases been shamefully 
 scamped. The walls of one building had quietly tum- 
 bled down. At Sangor 165,000?. had been spent upon 
 barracks which turned out to be unfit for human habi- 
 tation. One of a committee of examination had poked 
 his walking-stick into the walls, and the mortar ran out 
 ' like corn out of a sieve.' Another case, not connected 
 with military expenditure, which was a good deal dis- 
 cussed before the Committee may be put beside this. 
 The Governor of Bombay sold his oificial residence at 
 Poonah for 35,000?. He obtained leave from the 
 Governor-General (Lord Lawrence) to spend this sum 
 upon building a new one. A year afterwards it turned 
 out that he had already spent 90,000?. upon this purpose, 
 and before the house was finished it had cost nearly 
 160,000?. The question of the responsibility for this 
 expenditure was the subject of much argument. Such 
 incidents, in any case, seemed to prove that Indian 
 expenditure upon public works was not always con- 
 ducted upon business-like methods. The expenditure 
 upon public works in general is a matter not less 
 important than the military expenditure, and to ques- 
 tions of this kind Fawcett devoted a large and increas- 
 ing share of his energies. 
 
 He complained, as I have said, that Indian expenses 
 increased along with a great increase of debt. The fact 
 of such an increase is of course admitted ; but the reply 
 is that the debt was incurred by borrowing money for 
 public works. If the money so borrowed has been 
 judiciously spent, if it has developed the resources of the 
 country, and that development has more than counter-
 
 INDIA 375 
 
 balanced the additional burden, the policy is obviously 
 justified. Fawcett, indeed, would have been the last man 
 to deny that it was a duty to act energetically in that 
 direction. The English rulers of India have to do much 
 which in England would properly be left to the energy 
 of private persons. He said emphatically that public 
 works were most desirable ; but he also urged that, where 
 so great an expenditure was taking place, a scrupulous 
 economy and a careful investigation of the probable results 
 of our operations were essentially necessary. The East 
 India Company had spent certain sums upon public works, 
 charging them simply against revenue. Two years be- 
 fore its abolition, Mr. Bright declared that during the 
 preceding fourteen years the Corporation of Manchester 
 had spent more upon public works for the good of its 
 own population than the Company had spent during 
 the same period upon the whole of its vast territories. 
 This, if true at the time, was soon to be changed. 
 When the Company disappeared a great system of 
 public works was speedily developed. On the plan first 
 adopted, guarantees were given to various companies. 
 They were to receive 5 per cent, upon their capital, 
 whatever the results of the undertaking. The system 
 produced dissatisfaction; companies safe of making a 
 respectable percentage on all the money expended had 
 no sufficient inducement for spending it to the best 
 advantage ; and the pressure brought to bear upon the 
 authorities in favour of very doubtful schemes was often 
 successful in overcoming their prudential motives. To- 
 wards the end of Lord Lawrence's Viceroyalty (1867-68) 
 a great change was made. The system of giving guaran-
 
 376 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 tees was abandoned. Public works were to be divided 
 into two classes ordinary and extraordinary. The ordi- 
 nary works were to be made from revenue, being works of 
 such a nature as not to return a profit. Extraordinary 
 works were to be those which were to be constructed 
 from borrowed money, and were to be only undertaken 
 in cases where a net return was anticipated equal at 
 least to the interest of the money borrowed. Under both 
 systems an immense sum has been spent upon railways 
 and irrigation works. Thus, in 1 880-81 the capital of all 
 the public works amounted to 142,223,0001. composed 
 of 97,728,000?. for guaranteed railways, 26,689,000?. for 
 State railways, and 17,806,000?. for irrigation works. 
 It had been already proposed before 1872 to adopt plans 
 which would involve an expenditure of 30,000,000?. upon 
 railways and 40,000,000?. upon canals. The question 
 therefore remained, how far these millions had been, or 
 were likely to be, judiciously invested for the benefit of 
 the country. The history of the operations already 
 carried out was not calculated, as Fawcett urged, to en- 
 gender much confidence either in the judgment which 
 preceded the undertakings or in the economy with which 
 they would be executed. 
 
 The investigation was one of considerable difficulty. 
 The distinction between ordinary and extraordinary 
 works led to great obscurity in the accounts. The term 
 ' extraordinary ' ceased, as the authors of the ' Finances 
 and Public Works ' l tell us, to bear its original meaning. 
 They were intended to be works for which money was 
 borrowed upon the ground that the returns from them 
 
 1 P. 49-
 
 INDIA 377 
 
 might be relied upon to exceed the interest of the loans. 
 For this reason they were excluded from the ' ordinary ' 
 expenditure of the year. But they came to be any 
 works the expense of which could not be met from the 
 revenue, ' whatever might be the conditions or circum- 
 stances under which they were undertaken. The question 
 of the probable early, or even ultimately, remunerative 
 character of the works was in some important cases 
 altogether set aside, the justification for the outlay having 
 been found in considerations of a political or adminis- 
 trative character.' The Indian Government had set out 
 with the intention of openly and deliberately borrowing 
 money, on the ground that the loan should be invested in 
 speculations certain to pay. But the convenience of a 
 fund which did not appear in the ordinary Budget pro- 
 duced a temptation to which financiers yielded, and they 
 borrowed money which was applied without regard to 
 future profit. The evasion of the original condition 
 complicated the statement of accounts, and in spite of 
 repeated orders from successive Secretaries of State 
 against undertaking any but remunerative works, the 
 system was not finally put down. 
 
 There were great difficulties in many cases in deter- 
 mining what had been the actual results of works already 
 taken. Fawcett examined General Strachey at great 
 length upon this head. He urged that it was impossible 
 to make out how far the loans for reproductive works 
 had been used for the avowed purpose, and how far 
 deficits had been made up from the ordinary revenue. 
 General Strachey fully agreed that the accounts had not 
 been definitively made up in such a way as to bring out
 
 378 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 precisely the mode in which the funds had been applied. 
 He said that he had strongly urged the advantage of 
 making such a statement upon Lord Mayo, who was 
 himself anxious for it ; but that the difficulties had not 
 hitherto been overcome. Fawcett maintained that under 
 these circumstances the accounts were ' absolutely untrust- 
 worthy,' and though General Strachey thought that with 
 some trouble the desired information might be elicited, 
 he agreed that the accounts were not what they ought 
 to be. Fawcett endeavoured to prove that, if proper 
 charges had been made, the rate of interest with which 
 some works were credited would be reduced from a little 
 over 5 to 3-8 per cent. ; and this led to some pretty 
 logical fencing which reached no definite conclusion. 
 Fawcett, in my judgment, had the best of the logic, and 
 at some points succeeded in placing his opponent in a 
 difficulty. 
 
 In certain cases, however, there was no need for any 
 minute questions of account-keeping. It was plain, 
 beyond all dispute, that the Indian Government had been 
 led into some disastrous bargains. There was, for 
 example, the Mutlah Kailway. The Secretary of State 
 (Lord Stanley) had given a guarantee for this line, which 
 was to connect Calcutta with Port Canning. At least 
 twice the necessary sum (according to General Strachey) 
 was spent upon the construction. It never paid its work- 
 ing expenses, and Government was at last forced, by the 
 terms of the contract, to buy it for 500,000!!. or 600, oool. 
 The port was ultimately abandoned. The Carnatic Railway 
 had received a guarantee, in regard to which the Indian 
 Government was not consulted, and the result had been
 
 INDIA 379 
 
 that Government had paid 43,500?. to the proprietors, 
 whilst the aggregate net profit from the working of the 
 railway was only 2,600?. Some three-quarters of a 
 million had been spent upon the Godavery navigation 
 works, from which there was no return, whilst the 
 anticipated result of opening up a new line of traffic had 
 not been attained. It was thought better to abandon the 
 three-quarters of a million than to spend another quarter 
 in the faint hope of obtaining some better result from a 
 completion of the works. Government had guaranteed 
 interest on 1,000,000?. to the Madras Irrigation Com- 
 pany. It had afterwards been forced to lend the com- 
 pany 600,000?. to save it from a collapse. Though 
 part of this had been repaid, the final result was that 
 1,372,000?. was swallowed up without return. The 
 Orissa Company had a similar history, which Fawcett 
 summed up in a statement accepted by General 
 Strachey : ' The Secretary of State entered into a com- 
 plicated arrangement which he could not carry out, 
 then remitted it to the Government of India, who 
 entered into another complicated arrangement, and, in 
 the end, to get out of the difficulty, the Government 
 bought the company ' (paying 1,050,000?.), ' at consider- 
 ably above the market price of the shares.' A somewhat 
 similar case was that of the Elphinstone Company at 
 Bombay, where it was alleged that Government had 
 paid 2,000,000?. upon shares really worth a much smaller 
 sum. The accuracy of this statement was disputed by 
 one of the managers of the company, and Fawcett's 
 examination of him upon that occasion is a conclusive 
 proof by itself that he would have been a most effective
 
 380 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 performer at the bar. He drew admissions from a re- 
 luctant witness to prove that Government had made 
 a bad bargain, and that the effect of their purchase 
 had been to prevent the proper development of the 
 property. 
 
 Such cases as these proved, according to General 
 Strachey, that human beings were liable to blunder, and 
 that Indian officials were neither perfect nor omniscient. 
 They proved, according to Fawcett, that the system 
 which admitted of such blunders, and which made it 
 very difficult to track them through its complex system of 
 accounts, was radically unsatisfactory, and not calculated 
 to attract confidence in the great undertakings announced 
 for the future. His researches had certainly resulted in 
 something more than a discovery of ' mares' nests.' 
 And upon certain points his conclusions were borne out 
 by General Strachey, as well as by witnesses less inclined 
 to an optimist view. General Strachey, in fact, fully 
 agreed that the accounts hitherto given were unsatisfac- 
 tory, and would not show whether a fair profit had been 
 obtained; that disastrous bargains had been forced upon 
 the Government by the pressure of interested persons ; 
 that the worst extravagance had occurred where the 
 opinions of Indian officials had been overridden by 
 the Home Government ; that a better distribution of 
 responsibility in the administration of public works, 
 both in the buying of stores in England and the carry- 
 ing out of the works in India, was urgently needed ; and 
 that Parliament would only do its duty by insisting upon 
 a careful limitation of such expenditure and of the debt 
 incurred for the purpose. He held that the railways
 
 INDIA 381 
 
 and irrigation works had produced excellent results in 
 the development of Indian resources; and in common 
 with most authorities he maintained that these results 
 could only have been attained at the time through the 
 guarantee system. He agreed, however, that the great 
 expenditure which it involved made a new plan neces- 
 sary ; and that without such a change of policy the 
 construction of new railways in India would become 
 ' absolutely impossible.' 
 
 Fawcett's labours in the Committee during the 
 sessions of 1871, 1872, 1873, were untiring, and it is plain 
 from many parts of his examination that he had taken 
 great pains to prepare himself by independent examination 
 of the facts and by communication with well-informed 
 persons outside. His able speeches upon the Indian 
 Budget showed that he was already a very competent and 
 vigorous critic of financial affairs ; and his name be- 
 came known to all persons interested in such questions. 
 He came to have an extensive correspondence with 
 English residents in India, with many members of the 
 Civil Service who sympathised with his views, though 
 disqualified by their position from openly avowing their 
 opinions, and, as time went on, with members of the 
 Indian Council and other official personages in England. 
 He soon attracted the attention of such natives as 
 were able to follow English parliamentary discussions. 
 Addresses were voted to him by a great number of 
 Native associations of India. A meeting at Calcutta, for 
 example, in October, 1872, voted an address to Fawcett, 
 and another to the Mayor of Brighton thanking the 
 constituency for returning such a worthy representative
 
 382 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 and disinterested friend of India. He was frequently en- 
 trusted with petitions setting forth the complaints and 
 grievances of the Native or non-official community, and 
 was strongly impressed with the importance of obtaining 
 a fuller hearing for the Native view of our policy. In 
 June 1871 he moved that it was desirable to send a 
 Commission to India in order to take evidence from the 
 natives themselves. The Committee of 1873 so far 
 adopted his view as to request that natives might be sent 
 home at the expense of Government to give evidence ; 
 and two were accordingly examined. Upon one matter 
 connected with this Fawcett took a characteristic line. 
 Applications were made to him, when his advocacy of 
 Indian interests became conspicuous, to represent the 
 grievances of various Indian magnates before Parlia- 
 ment. He invariably declined such requests, on the 
 ground that he was too poor a man to have anything to 
 do with princes. He was strongly impressed throughout 
 his career with the importance of keeping himself abso- 
 lutely free from the remotest suspicion of any pecuniary 
 bias. I remember his speaking to me in early days 
 of the respect rightfully entertained for a conspicuous 
 member of the Conservative party who had resigned 
 office rather than compromise with his conscience, when 
 a few days' longer tenure would have entitled him to a 
 pension. It would be impertinent to praise Fawcett for 
 being free from the least taint of pecuniary motive. He 
 was not only free from such taint, but scrupulously 
 delicate in all such matters. When, on his first entrance 
 into Parliament, it was proposed to him to become 
 director of a company, he declined at once, feeling that
 
 INDIA 383 
 
 such appointments, however compatible they may be with 
 strict integrity, must tend to lower a man's political 
 position, especially if he be a poor man, and may throw 
 some doubt upon the absolute purity of his motives. 
 Whilst upon these grounds Fawcett carefully avoided any 
 dealing with princes, he spared no trouble hi trying to be of 
 service to poor men who had, or thought they had, some 
 grievance to complain of. He was both kind and ser- 
 viceable to natives who came to be educated in England 
 with introductions from his friend Clarke and others ; 
 and I have letters expressing the warmest gratitude from 
 one of these gentlemen to whom he had been able to 
 render assistance. 
 
 During Mr. Gladstone's first Administration, Fawcett 
 had thus made himself known as a prominent critic of 
 Indian policy. The general feeling about him may be 
 traced in some contemporary comments. In March 1 87 1 
 an ab and on the whole a friendly, journalist had re- 
 flected what was probably the average opinion, by com- 
 plaining of his ' rigidly theoretic Radicalism,' which pre- 
 vented him from regarding the ' political world ' as a 
 merely practical world. A couple of years later (Febru- 
 ary 1873) an article in the 'Economist,' probably by 
 his friend Bagehot, took a shrewder view. It said that 
 his influence was due not only to his courage, but to the 
 ' hard common sense and adherence to scientific prin- 
 ciples by which his Radicalism was modified.' He was 
 free from the ' pulpiness ' and ' sentimentality ' of most 
 Radicals of the present day. Instead of making ' wild 
 speeches against Indian administration,' he accepts the 
 duty, and labours with all his might to have it done in
 
 384 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 the way he approves. His vigorous adherence to plain 
 facts enabled him to bring ' extreme Liberals into full 
 connection with the quiet mass of hard-headed opinion 
 existing in the country.' He talks a Eadicalism which 
 Whigs can understand, and which therefore induces them 
 to examine it more closely and dread it less. This was the 
 quality, in fact, for which Fawcett was gradually obtain- 
 ing credit. He was not a mere abstract theorist, but a 
 man with a keen eye for realities, and a ' theorist ' only 
 in the sense that he held unflinchingly to what he took 
 to be the true account of the facts. 
 
 The election for the next Parliament took place at 
 Brighton on February 5, 1874. The result was a com- 
 plete defeat of the Liberals. The numbers polled were 
 Ashbury, 4,393 ; Shute, 3,995 ; White, 3,351 ; Fawcett, 
 3,1 30. The successful candidates, according to the papers 
 of the day, were a ' wealthy and successful yachtsman ' 
 and ' a distinguished cavalry officer.' Both of them, it is 
 added, were ' personally most respectable men ; ' but it 
 was neither expected, nor did it in fact happen, that they 
 would take any conspicuous part in politics. Mr. White, 
 it may be seen, received nine more votes, and Fawcett 
 forty-nine more, than on the previous occasion, whilst the 
 Conservative vote was greatly increased. It does not 
 appear from the figures that Fawcett's differences with 
 his party had really lost him any support. The change 
 in the vote was no doubt due to the general causes which 
 led to the great Conservative reaction of the time. 
 
 The feeling expressed in the country generally upon 
 Fawcett's defeat was significant of the position which he 
 had already attained. Fawcett had incurred whatever
 
 INDIA 385 
 
 odium falls to the man who becomes a keen critic of his 
 own leaders. The remarkable thing about Fawcett 
 was, as I have said, that, whilst taking this dangerous 
 attitude, he had succeeded in gaining respect and in- 
 fluence. He might, and he did, urge that he differed 
 from Mr, Gladstone's Government in a more thorough- 
 going adherence to their own principles. And yet he 
 was equally pronounced in his attachment to doctrines 
 repudiated by the popular theories of his own party. He 
 never wavered, for example, in proclaiming his adhesion 
 to the doctrine of minority representation, and repudiated 
 all the favourite schemes of Eadicals which were, in his 
 opinion, incompatible with fair play to antagonists or to 
 the widest principles of individual liberty. He would 
 have nothing to do with such measures as the Permissive 
 Bill ; he had already separated himself from Mr. Mun- 
 della upon the question, then exciting much interest, of 
 the extension of the Factory Acts to new fields of women's 
 labour ; and he never condescended to conceal his hos- 
 tility. to some of the favourite nostrums of the party to 
 which he belonged. 
 
 Holding this position of unbending independence, it 
 was the more creditable to him that his temporary 
 exclusion from the House was regretted on all sides. The 
 Indian papers spoke strongly of his unique position, and a 
 fund of 400?. was raised and transmitted to England to 
 pay the expenses of another contest. It arrived too late, 
 but went towards the expenses of the contest at Hackney 
 in 1880. Another sum of 350^. was then raised in India, 
 which was placed in the hands of trustees with a view 
 
 c c
 
 386 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 to a future election, and will now be devoted in due time 
 to some purpose connected with India. Soon after the 
 Brighton election, there was a prospect of a vacancy at 
 Hackney. Fawcett was immediately selected as a candi- 
 date, and he addressed the electors for the first time on 
 March 18, 1874. His speeches were remarkable for 
 their outspoken avowal of principles supposed to be 
 unpopular. He was greatly impressed at this time by 
 what he regarded as a discreditabie competition between 
 the two great antagonists. Mr. Gladstone had said that 
 if he should be returned he would repeal the income-tax. 
 Mr. Disraeli immediately followed suit by announcing 
 that he would do the same. Fawcett denounced these 
 promises as incapable of fulfilment, sure to lead to 
 disappointment, and intended only to catch votes. He 
 expressed his resolution to continue his attention to 
 Indian affairs, then complicated by the threatened famine 
 in Bengal. Even the ' Saturday Beview,' not generally 
 favourable to his party, hoped for the return of Fawcett 
 as the one man out of official circles who cared for India. 
 He claimed credit from a Metropolitan constituency for 
 his defence of Epping Forest ; but he stated unequivo- 
 cally that he would not vote for the Permissive Bill, that 
 he was opposed to the Nine Hours Bill, and that he should 
 reoist all attempts to throw more charges upon tin 1 
 Consolidated Fund. In spite of a complete refusal to 
 adopt any vote-catching professions of faith or, let us 
 hope, partly by reason of it Fawcett was enthusiastically 
 welcomed. He and his fellow-candidate, Mr. Holms, 
 were opposed in the Conservative interest by Lieutenant
 
 INDIA 387 
 
 Gill, 1 and the poll, on April 24, 1874, was Holms, 
 10,905 ; Fawcett, 10,476; Gill, 8,994. 
 
 From this time Fawcett occupied a safe seat, and the 
 general satisfaction at his return to the House proved 
 that Hackney was only reflecting the general state of 
 public opinion. 2 
 
 He was at once added (April 30, 1874) to the 
 Committee on Indian Finance, which had been appointed 
 (April 20) a few days before his election. I have already 
 spoken sufficiently of the nature of his labours upon this 
 Committee, which was substantially a continuation of 
 those appointed in the preceding Parliament. During 
 the Parliament of 1874-1880, Iniian questions occupied a 
 larger proportion than before of his whole energy. I shall 
 not go into the details of much that engaged his atten- 
 tion during this period ; for he was mainly employed in 
 insisting upon principles already asserted and applying 
 
 1 Lieutenant Gill was a young officer of Engineers, who was mur- 
 dered with Professor Palmer in 1882 in attempting to open communica- 
 tions with Arab tribes. 
 
 2 A passage may be quoted from a contemporary journalist. The 
 Times of April 27, 1874, says : ' Mr. Fawcett is of all men the most 
 independent. He offended the publicans by refusing to use their houses 
 as committee-rooms ; he offended the advocates of the Permissive Bill 
 by declaring his resolution to vote against it ; he offended shopkeepers 
 by his zeal in favour of the co-operative movement ; he offended work- 
 ing-men by his opposition to the latest movement for limiting the 
 hours of labour of adult women ; he offended old-fashioned Liberals, and 
 Liberals who are getting old-fashioned, by his persistent advocacy of 
 reforms that had not come within the range of their education when they 
 were young ; and Liberals of a later growth remembered how often he had 
 found himself unable to acquiesce in Mr. Gladstone's policy and plans. 
 Yet he must have secured the support of men of all these sections, who 
 concurred in sending him to Parliament because they believed that his 
 presence there would be advantageous, in spite of errors of opinion 
 which each section in turn lamented.' 
 
 C c2
 
 388 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 them to various questions which arose from time to time. 
 I may observe in general that his position was in one 
 respect materially improved. Officials no longer treated 
 him as a nuisance to be suppressed contemptuously from 
 the heights of superior knowledge. His criticisms, if not 
 always welcome, were at least received with respect, and 
 frequently fell in with the doctrines admitted in general 
 terms, if not always applied in practice, by the respon- 
 sible authorities. The change may have been due in 
 part to the change of persons in office. Fawcett himself 
 had softened and was less severe in his language as ho 
 became more familiar with the intricacies of the subject. 
 Moreover, he acted in the spirit of a proposition which 
 he frequently laid down, that it was altogether un- 
 worthy to treat Indian questions as belonging to party 
 politics. The principles which he had most at heart 
 the principles of generosity to the subject race and of 
 scrupulous care in managing the finances and sharing 
 the burdens of the empire were happily not the property 
 of either political party. As a matter of fact, Lord 
 Salisbury seems to have come nearer to him in point of 
 principle than the other Secretaries of State during the 
 period. Towards the end of this Parliament, indeed, 
 Lord Beaconsfield's policy involved momentous results 
 to India, and was criticised accordingly by Fawcett. 
 During the first years he was chiefly occupied in trying 
 to secure the acceptance of the principles which had, in his 
 judgment, been established by the Committees on Finance. 
 Lord Salisbury had laid down strict rules against 
 borrowing money for unremunerative purposes. Lord 
 Novthbrook (Governor-General from 1872 to 1876) was
 
 INDIA 389 
 
 energetic in the reduction of expenditure. Fawcett 
 expressed his confidence in the good intentions of the 
 authorities. He thought that a steady pressure of 
 parliamentary opinion would strengthen their hands, 
 and more than once appealed to Lord Salisbury's 
 approval of that view. The evidence published by the 
 Committees had no doubt had a marked effect in strength- 
 ening the demand for economy. Fawcett's speeches had 
 served to rouse the attention of the House of Commons, 
 and to prove that even popular constituencies might 
 be induced to take some interest in the matter. He was 
 now doing his best to make use of the advantage he had 
 gained. Whenever a measure was brought forward 
 affecting the finances of India, he insisted that it should 
 not pass without careful scrutiny. He complained in 
 1875 that the Government had declined to reappoint the 
 Committee upon Indian Finances, and pledged himself to 
 make ' astonishing disclosures ' if the opportunity were 
 granted. He complained that, whilst this Committee 
 was allowed to drop, another Committee was appointed 
 to consider a question of compensation to English 
 officers, and said that the House of Commons was 
 always brought in to compel additional expenditure and 
 never to insist upon saving (August 9, 1875). In 
 February 1877 he moved for a Committee, when Lord 
 George Hamilton (now Under- Secretary for India) ex- 
 plained that the previous Committee had finished all 
 practical matters and that it would be idle to go into 
 ' wide speculative questions.' Fawcett's motion was lost 
 by 173 to 123. He took various opportunities to criticise 
 measures in which he thought that Indian interests were
 
 390 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 neglected. In 1875, for example, he moved that the 
 whole expenses of the Prince of Wales's visit to India 
 should be paid by England. Mr. Gladstone united with 
 Mr. Disraeli in opposing him, and by a majority of 379 
 to 67 (June 15) it was voted that India should contri- 
 bute 30,000^. towards the expenses. In the next year 
 he opposed a measure for giving pensions to mem- 
 bers of the Indian Council; and in 1877 protested 
 against the abolition of the cotton duties, a motion for 
 which was brought forward in the interests of Manchester 
 and in the name of free trade. On these and other 
 points Fawcett was of course defeated, and occasionally 
 convinced that a good ground might be assigned for 
 some of the measures which he challenged. Even in 
 such cases he was fully justified by his principles in 
 insisting that the explanation should be given. He was 
 attempting to carry out his self-imposed duty of en- 
 forcing responsibility to the House of Commons. 
 
 Bawcett had to complain in 1876 that Lord Salis- 
 bury's directions restricting the accumulation of debt 
 for non-remunerative works had been insufficiently 
 observed. He attacked the distinction between ordinary 
 and extraordinary expenditure, which, as he urged, made 
 a fair estimate of the results impossible. Before long, 
 events took place which gave additional weight to these 
 considerations. After the famine of 1874, Lord North- 
 brook had stated that famines could no longer be regarded 
 as abnormal calamities. Three serious famines had oc- 
 curred within the previous ten years. He argued with 
 the approval of Lord Salisbury that, to meet such diffi- 
 culties in future, we should secure a regular surplus of
 
 INDIA 391 
 
 revenue above expenditure in prosperous seasons, by 
 which debt might be discharged or protective works 
 carried out. These principles were accepted by Lord 
 Lytton's Government. On January i, 1877, the great 
 Durbar was held at Delhi, at which was announced the 
 assumption of the Imperial title by the Queen. ' It 
 will long be remembered in India,' says one who was then 
 a resident, ' that before the echo of the guns in honour 
 of that event had died away, and long before the high 
 officials had returned to their posts, the increased death- 
 rates in several Madras districts were announcing with 
 emphasis that a terrible famine had begun. Before it 
 ended, in spite of strenuous efforts arid a vast expendi- 
 ture, it swept away more than two millions of people.' 
 The actual expenditure on famine relief, in the five years 
 from 1873 to 1878, including remissions of land revenue, 
 was nearly i6,5oo,oooL l To meet such emergencies, it 
 was decided that the revenue should be increased by 
 i,$oo,oool. a year, and new taxes were imposed for the 
 purpose. The finances of India were meanwhile exposed 
 to danger from two other causes. The first of these was 
 the depreciation of silver. The revenues of India are 
 payable in silver, whilst the interest on the debt con- 
 tracted in England, and most of the other home charges, 
 are payable in gold. The consequence is that India has 
 to pay a considerable sum which appears in the accounts 
 as ' loss by exchange.' This first became serious in 
 1876 ; in 1877 it appeared as more than 2,ooo,oooL, and 
 has ever since represented a serious additional burden. 
 To this subject Fawcett had long paid attention. He 
 
 1 Finances and Public Works of India, p. 159.
 
 392 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 frequently endeavoured to attract notice, and to expound 
 sound economical theories ; but I shall not give details 
 upon a question which requires so much that is only in- 
 telligible to experts. To these difficulties, arising from 
 causes altogether beyond their control, the Conservative 
 Government added a third, in the shape of a heavy war 
 expenditure. The whole cost of this is set down at 
 18,748,300^., to which England ultimately contributed 
 5,ooo,oooZ. It is needless to observe that the estimates 
 for this war were, at starting, exceedingly modest by 
 comparison. 
 
 The pressure, however, upon the Indian revenues led 
 to the appointment of a Committee upon Public Works, 
 which took evidence in 1878 and finally reported in 1879. 
 Fawcett again took an active part in its deliberations. The 
 conclusions at which it arrived are noteworthy, and go far 
 to justify the opinions upon which he had all along insisted. 
 The report goes over the history of the previous policy and 
 considers the results obtained up to the latest date. The 
 expenditure upon guaranteed railways had now amounted 
 to over 95,000,000^, and that upon State railways to over 
 18,500,000^. The Committee comes to the conclusion 
 that this expenditure has not been ' financially remune- 
 rative.' The returns had not been equal to the guaranteed 
 payments, except in 1 877-78, when an exceptional profit 
 was derived from the carriage of food during the famine. 
 Up till 1873-74, the net loss upon railways had increased. 
 Since that year, however, there had been an improve- 
 ment ; and this improvement, it may be added, has been 
 maintained, so that the railways are worked at a profit to 
 the State. The railways constructed by the State since
 
 INDIA 393 
 
 the abandonment of the guarantee system are still im- 
 perfect, and were partly constructed with a view to 
 political or military considerations, as well as with a 
 view to profit. They showed a similar result. The irri- 
 gation works, however, had been far more unsatisfactory. 
 Taking, indeed, the total of the capital and the total 
 returns, some profit had been realised. This, however, 
 includes quite different categories. Of 17,000,000?. 
 actually spent, 5,500,000^ spent upon one set of works 
 had returned a very handsome profit. The profits, for 
 example, on the Cauvery works are given at 8 1*30 per 
 cent, on the capital. But some of the profitable works have 
 been constructed upon the deltas of the Madras rivers 
 under the most favourable circumstances, whilst others, 
 such as the Cauvery, are based upon old Native works, and 
 no credit is given upon the original outlay. Moreover, 
 the Cauvery works had only increased the irrigated area 
 by one-half, whereas they were credited with the land 
 revenue over the whole irrigated area. The remaining 
 works, costing 1 1,500,000^., have barely paid their working 
 expenses, and therefore pay little or nothing towards the 
 heavy interest upon the sums borrowed for their construc- 
 tion. The Committee point out very clearly the causes 
 which limit the value of irrigation to certain especially 
 favourable districts. They give the history of Lord 
 Salisbury's attempts to restrict the amount of borrowing, 
 and the difficulties which had hitherto prevented com- 
 pliance with his regulations. They show the difficulty ol 
 ascertaining beforehand whether any given undertaking- 
 will or will not turn out to be remunerative, and say that 
 the effect of the distinction between ordinary and extraor-
 
 394 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 dinary expenditure is that works which have turned out 
 failures may be transferred to the category of ' ordinary ' 
 simply upon that ground, when their maintenance will be 
 charged against revenue and their original cost will be lost 
 sight of. 
 
 They propose various regulations for the future in 
 order to enforce a stricter economy. The total sum bor- 
 rowed in any one year is not to exceed 2,500,000^, 
 whereas it had averaged about 4,ooo,ooo/. The debt 
 for productive works is to be separated from the perma- 
 nent debt ; all expenditure upon such works is to be 
 treated as borrowed money, and a full statement of 
 their position is to be comprised in the Annual Financial 
 Statement. These recommendations have been adopted 
 by the Government ; changes have been introduced into 
 the system of accounts, and the restrictions upon bor- 
 rowing money have been maintained. 1 The effect is a 
 substantial recognition of the principles for which 
 Fawcett had perseveringly struggled during twelve 
 years. It is for more competent persons to say how 
 far their recognition was wise and what have been the 
 results in practice. I will only venture to say that 
 although his share, or that of any individual, in such 
 results is necessarily absorbed in the working of much 
 wider causes, Fawcett might congratulate himself on 
 having partly fulfilled his programme of forcing upon 
 the English Parliament some real consideration of the 
 requirements of the subject race. 2 
 
 1 Finances and Public Works, p. 95. 
 
 7 I may here add that in 1879 Fawcett sat upon a Select Committee, 
 which considered the terms of purchase of the East Indian Eailway. He 
 moved a resolution, in accordance with the decision of the Committee,
 
 INDIA 395 
 
 In February, May, and October 1879 Fawcett pub- 
 lished three essays upon Indian finances in the ' Nine- 
 teenth Century,' which give the latest and clearest ex- 
 position of his views. In the last of them, called ' The 
 New Departure in Indian Finance,' he is able to say that 
 the Indian Budget was discussed on May 22, instead of 
 in August, and that it excited so much interest as to last 
 for three nights. This, he says, is a striking contrast 
 to former years, when it was generally hurried over in 
 the closing hours of the session. The vital importance 
 of limiting taxation and reducing expenditure had been 
 acknowledged by the highest authorities, and an obstacle 
 had thus been surmounted which had hitherto stood in 
 the way of all serious reforms. He proceeded to point 
 out the dangers and difficulties which still lay in the way. 
 He had objected to reckless borrowing for the construction 
 of works ; but he insisted on the importance of develop- 
 ing the resources of the country, and for that reason 
 reducing the expenditure until there should be a fair 
 surplus to spend upon works of real value. Such re- 
 trenchment might be aided by reducing the charges for 
 civil administration, which had been rapidly growing 
 ever since the transference of India to the Crown ; and 
 he insisted upon one point, to which he always attached 
 especial importance : a great economy might be effected, 
 and a great political advantage gained at the same time, 
 by opening a wider field of employment for natives. He 
 thanked Lord Lytton, with whose policy he was far 
 
 and accepted by the Government, to the effect that the bargain had been 
 unduly favourable to the Company, and that, although it could not be 
 set aside, it should not be taken as a precedent.
 
 396 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 enough from sympathising in most respects, for his 
 efforts in this direction, and gave some telling illustra- 
 tions of the importance and practicability of such a policy. 
 After calling attention to the heavy military expenditure, 
 he ends with the expression of a hope that a new finan- 
 cial era is really being inaugurated. 
 
 These essays produced a remarkable impression. 
 They were received with a unanimity of approval which 
 surprised Fawcett himself. He observed that it illus- 
 trated the uncertainty of any forecast of the effect of an 
 appeal to the public. After years of labour, apparently 
 productive of little result, he had suddenly become an 
 exponent of accepted principles. In fact, it was the 
 difference generally observable between the reception 
 accorded to the utterance of opinions of a comparatively 
 unknown man and the utterance of the same opinions 
 by a man who has slowly won his way to a prominent 
 position. 
 
 The military difficulty noticed in these essays was 
 soon to become prominent. The English Embassy en- 
 tered Afghanistan in September 1878. It became an 
 invasion, and the treaty of Gandamak was signed in May 
 1879. Then followed the massacre of English officers 
 and the Afghan war, involving, amongst other things, a 
 bill of 18,000,000?. Fawcett, of course, shared the ob- 
 jections of his party to the so-called ' forward policy.' 
 He took part in the agitation against it. He joined in 
 forming the Afghan Committee which in the end of 1878 
 tried to rouse public opinion in England. He was in 
 close correspondence with Lord Lawrence, who gave him 
 much advice and information. He addressed public
 
 INDIA 397 
 
 meetings at Bethnal Green and Hackney, denouncing 
 the underhand conduct of the Indian Government 
 towards the Ameer ; demanding that Parliament should 
 be summoned, and arguing from the opinions of high 
 authorities especially Lord Sandhurst that an occu- 
 pation of Cabul would involve an intolerable burthen of 
 three or four millions upon Indian finances. At the 
 close of the session of 1878 he had protested vigorously 
 against the famous move of bringing Indian troops to 
 Malta. The proceeding proved, as he urged, that we 
 had before kept up too large an army in India, or that 
 the garrison was now too small. If an Indian army 
 could thus be used for Imperial purposes, the temptation 
 to raise its numbers beyond the needs of India would be 
 overpowering, whilst the constitutional control of Parlia- 
 ment would be evaded. When, in December, Parliament 
 met to approve the expenditure incurred in Afghanistan, 
 Fuwcett proposed a motion, seconded by Mr. Gladstone, 
 condemning the Government plan which threw the main 
 share of the expense upon India. Once more he made 
 an emphatic protest on behalf of the Indian revenues. 
 He complained that when it was a question of declaring 
 war, the Government had boasted that they were carry- 
 ing out a great Imperial policy ; when it was a question 
 of paying for the war, they represented it as a mere 
 border squabble. He said, characteristically, that the 
 course adopted by Government was unpopular because 
 it was a course marked by meanness and ' entire ab- 
 sence of generosity.' He declared that his constituents 
 at Hackney would prefer to pay their fair share of the 
 expenses. His motion was rejected by 235 to 125.
 
 398 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 In the session of 1879 he returned to the charge. 
 The expenses of the war were now estimated at 2,6oo,oooZ. 
 a sum which turned out to be ludicrously inadequate. 
 It was proposed that the English contribution should be 
 a loan of 2,ooo,oooL free of interest, to be repaid in 
 seven years. The result, according to Fawcett, would be 
 that, allowing for the interest, India would pay seven times 
 as much as England. Mr. Gladstone again supported 
 Fawcett, and he was defeated by the narrow majority 
 of 137 to 125 (July 25). He remarked afterwards 
 that twenty-nine members of Government voted in this 
 majority, which was a sufficient indication of the tendency 
 of independent opinion. The only tangible good effect 
 of the discussion was that it had really roused attention 
 to the necessity of economy ; and on the debate upon 
 the Budget (May 22, 1879) Fawcett was able to with- 
 draw a motion for the reduction of expenditure on the 
 ground that Government had virtually accepted his 
 position. 
 
 He brought forward one other matter in this session, 
 in which he had long been interested, and to which he had 
 occasionally referred in Parliament. He asked (Febru- 
 ary 28) for a Select Committee to inquire into the 
 Government of India Act. That Act had constituted 
 the Council of India to discharge the same functions of 
 controlling financial measures which had, under the old 
 system, belonged to the Company. In theory it had an 
 absolute vote upon all measures involving expenditure. 
 An Act passed in 1 869 had diminished its independence 
 by making the office tenable for ten years instead of for 
 life. Kadical differences of opinion came out in the
 
 INDIA 399 
 
 debates as to the actual powers enjoyed by the Council. 
 Lord Salisbury and Lord Cairns had taken a much 
 higher view of its authority than Lord Hatherley and 
 the Duke of Argyll. Lord Cairns had even said that, in 
 case of an invasion of Afghanistan by Russia, the con- 
 sent of the Council must be obtained before declaring 
 war. Yet Lord Cairns was a member of the Government 
 when Afghanistan was invaded without even a previous 
 consultation of the Council. Fawcett maintained that, 
 in point of fact, the opinions of the Council had received 
 no attention in most important matters. One member 
 of the Council who was in constant communication with 
 him maintained that the result of the system was that 
 the fifteen men of greatest Indian experience were dis- 
 qualified for expressing their opinions on Indian policy 
 in public, and not allowed to exercise any effectual control 
 over it in their official capacity. Fawcett pointed out 
 other difficulties in regard to the legal interpretation of 
 the Acts of Parliament. He urged that in any case the 
 position of the Council should be accurately ascertained 
 and defined. Government, however, refused to grant 
 an inquiry. They held that the Council exercised an 
 effectual financial control, and that matters of high 
 policy must necessarily be decided by the Cabinet. 
 Fawcett's motion, supported by the Liberal leaders, 
 for a Committee was rejected by 139 to 100. In the 
 following years he was unable to obtain any action in 
 the matter from Mr. Gladstone's Government, which 
 for various reasons held that the discussion would be 
 inopportune. 
 
 After Fawcett's acceptance of office in 1880 bespoke
 
 400 LIFE 'OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 rarely upon Indian affairs. He had indeed accepted 
 office with the full intention of continuing his interest 
 in India, and with the understanding that he would be 
 allowed to take part in Indian debates. His attention to 
 the affairs of his department necessarily absorbed the 
 chief part of his energy, and, for whatever reason, he had 
 few opportunities of expressing his views at any length 
 except upon occasion of the Indian Budget of 1880. The 
 recent discovery of the singular error of nine millions in 
 the accounts of the Afghan war then gave additional weight 
 to a principle upon which he had frequently insisted 
 namely, the necessity of securing some more effective 
 responsibility in the management of Indian accounts. 
 When a blunder even of this magnitude was committed, 
 the one thing clearly established was that it was nobody's 
 fault. 
 
 Some complaints were made that he had not fully 
 acted up to his previous principle in the matter of the 
 war expenses. Fawcett's reply to such a criticism from 
 a constituent was that, although he could not approve 
 fully, he thought that the compromise ultimately adopted 
 in the cases of Egypt and the Afghan war was the best 
 obtainable. Although therefore he declined, in spite of 
 some pressure, to vote for the motions confirming it, he 
 did not consider himself bound to give further expression 
 to his convictions. The policy of the Indian Govern- 
 ment during the remainder of his life was generally in 
 the direction which he approved ; and he had the satis- 
 faction of seeing that the principles for which he had so 
 long striven were obtaining official recognition. I have 
 thus attempted to bring out the main outlines of
 
 INDIA 401 
 
 Fawcett's share in directing Indian policy. To my mind 
 his action was scarcely less remarkable for its inde- 
 pendence and thorough disinterestedness than for the 
 remarkable soundness of judgment with which he con- 
 fined himself to discussing questions upon which he could 
 speak with authority and to enforcing principles within the 
 line of practical politics. Even those whom he criticised 
 most severely, felt, as Sir Henry Maine has observed, 
 that they had to deal with a scrupulously honourable 
 antagonist, who was utterly incapable of underhand 
 attacks or of any conscious unfairness towards opponents. 
 No man was more anxious to give full credit to friend or 
 foe, wherever he saw that it was due. And therefore his 
 long and persistent struggle against what he took to be 
 abuses left no bitterness even in those assailed, whilst 
 it secured for him the hearty admiration of all who 
 sympathised with his main purposes. 
 
 D D
 
 402 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 THE POST-OFFICE. 
 
 THE story of Fawcett's life under the Beaconsfield Admin- 
 istration must fill a comparatively small space in these 
 pages. But I must beg my readers to bear in mind 
 that this is not due to any decline in his energy or 
 his influence. He laboured as vigorously as ever, and 
 more tasks offered themselves as his experience and 
 reputation increased. Part of the story, however, has 
 been told by anticipation in order to give a continuous 
 narrative of his action in regard to particular spheres of 
 labour. His interest in education, in the preservation 
 of commons, and in India had not diminished ; and his 
 activity in regard to India in particular was unintermitting 
 and effective. I have, however, said what seemed desir- 
 able to be said upon these points. For another reason 
 this part of his career must be more briefly treated. My 
 aim is to set forth the man and his principles, not to give 
 the history of all events in which he had a share. Dur- 
 ing the Parliament of 1874-1880 he was less frequently 
 fighting for his own hand. He had fallen into the ranks 
 of his party, instead of being an independent leader of 
 irregular forces. Opposition naturally brings men to- 
 gether. Differences of opinion which may prevent com-
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 403 
 
 inon support of a substantive policy may be quite com- 
 patible with a joint assault upon a common enemy. 
 Fawcett had disapproved, and had felt himself bound to 
 utter his disapproval, of many parts of Mr. Gladstone's 
 official policy ; but he thoroughly sympathised with the 
 Liberal opposition to the policy represented by Lord 
 Beaconsfield. On the questions which came to be most 
 prominent there was thus no difference between his party 
 and himself. Other questions upon which the main dif- 
 ferences had arisen had partly passed out of sight, and in 
 some his party had virtually accepted his own position. 
 In one direction, indeed, there was a great and growing 
 difference between Fawcett and one wing of the Liberal 
 party. His objections to all policy looking towards 
 Socialism or paternal government were at least as 
 strong as ever, and were perhaps more outspoken. In 
 his divergence upon such matters from some Radicals 
 there might be the germ of future discord. He recorded 
 his protest against certain measures favoured on both 
 sides of the House, and his protest was received with 
 respect, but it led to no party struggles. For the 
 present the party issues did not turn upon points of 
 this kind. 
 
 The removal of old causes of irritation and the 
 spontaneous development of his character improved his 
 general position. He was making friends in all parties. 
 His thorough strong sense and straightforwardness had 
 now gained general recognition, and the respect for his 
 motives was blended with cordial liking for his cheery 
 good-nature. His popularity both in and out of Parlia- 
 ment was steadily increasing. 
 
 D D 2
 
 404 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 A short reference to one or two points will therefore 
 b3 sufficient. In the session of 1874 Fawcett took 
 a leading part in a discussion which revived some of 
 the old feelings about denominational education. The 
 Endowed Schools Act of 1869, passed in the flush of the 
 Liberal victory, had given some offence to Conservatives 
 by declaring that no schools should be confined to the 
 Church of England, either as to the character of the 
 teaching or the qualification of governing bodies, unless in 
 accordance with the express terms of the original instru- 
 ment of foundation. Lord Sandon (now Lord Harrowby) 
 introduced a bill in 1 874 which allowed the Church of Eng- 
 land to establish a claim under easier conditions. A pro- 
 vision ordering the scholars to attend church services would 
 now be sufficient. A usage of a hundred years was to estab- 
 lish the connection of a school with any denomination. 
 The act relieving dissenting schoolmasters from the sub- 
 scriptions required by the Toleration Act had not been 
 passed till 1779. Therefore in 1874 hardly any school 
 could claim to have possessed for a hundred years the right 
 to teach any other than the Anglican doctrines. Lord 
 Sandon used an unguarded phrase, which was taken to 
 proclaim an intention of retaking the guns which had 
 been lost under the previous Adminstration. He dis- 
 avowed this meaning, which, however, was thought by 
 his opponents to represent the tendency, if not the in- 
 tention, of the measure. It was significant of Fawcett's 
 improved position with his party that he was now selected 
 as their natural spokesman upon this matter. He 
 moved hi a very spirited and carefully prepared speech 
 that no schools should be controlled by any religious
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 405 
 
 body which had been thrown open by the last Parliament. 
 Though his motion was rejected, the opposition to any- 
 thing savouring of a reaction was so determined that 
 Disraeli found it expedient to modify the measure. The 
 bill passed after some sharp debating, but merely as a 
 measure for transferring the functions of the Endowed 
 Schools Commission to the Charity Commission. In 
 spite of the Conservative reaction, the results obtained in 
 the previous Parliament in favour of religious equality 
 were definitive. 
 
 In the same session, Fawcett took the very active 
 part which I have already noticed l in opposition to the 
 extension of the limitations upon women's labour. He 
 was opposed on all sides, denounced as a coldblooded 
 political economist, and had only the satisfaction of 
 having laboured hard in what he held to be the cause 
 of justice to women. In 1875, besides much activity in 
 regard to India, he spoke with great power upon various 
 social and financial questions ; upon the Agricultural 
 Holdings Bill ; upon artisans' dwellings ; upon savings' 
 banks ; and upon the poor law and local taxation. I shall 
 not dwell upon these questions, which came up again 
 in later years, because his general principles have been 
 sufficiently indicated, and his action did not affect his po- 
 litical career. It is enough to say that they had his con- 
 stant attention, and that he defended consistently and 
 weightily views which were often opposed to the general 
 current of opinion, and unpopular with many of his 
 constituents. Frequent remonstrances, for example, 
 from supporters who were anxious to induce him to make 
 
 1 See p. 174.
 
 406 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 some compromise as to the Permissive Bill met with a 
 courteous, but unequivocal, refusal to comply. 
 
 In 1876 the Eastern Question began to overshadow 
 all other political interests. It led Fawcett to take a 
 part too characteristic to be passed over. He shared the 
 indignation aroused in England by the Bulgarian atroci- 
 ties ; he presided at a great meeting held at Exeter Hall 
 on September 19, 1876, and called upon his hearers to 
 pronounce themselves emphatically in support of Mr. 
 Gladstone, who now came from his partial retirement to 
 head the popular movement. He criticised severely the 
 levity shown by Disraeli on the first news of the events, 
 and complained that the indifference and mysterious 
 silence of the Government was giving the impression 
 that England would support the Turks. He spoke again, 
 in obedience to a call from the audience, at the National 
 Conference at St. James's Hall in the following Decem- 
 ber. Mr. Gladstone was then the principal orator at a 
 meeting intended to prove that the resolution of English- 
 men to withdraw all support from Turkish abuses was 
 confined to no political party, nor to those who generally 
 concerned themselves with politics. In the following 
 months the indignation cooled, and jealousy of Kussia 
 began to show itself. Public opinion was veering to 
 the side of the Government ; and in the next session 
 the leaders of Opposition seemed to be flinching from the 
 policy implied in their previous declarations. Fawcett 
 was grievously disappointed. He urged in vain upon 
 the leaders that the agitation of the previous months re- 
 quired corresponding action. At last, supported by the 
 more Radical section of his party, he moved a resolution
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 407 
 
 (March 23, 1877), on his own responsibility, demanding 
 that the Powers should insist upon guarantees for an 
 improved administration of the Christian provinces. He 
 declared in his speech that he was resolved to say in the 
 House what he had said on the platform. He charged 
 the Government with shrinking from the logical conse- 
 quences of the despatches in which they had themselves 
 condemned Turkish misrule. He taunted them for their 
 want of resolution. They had bragged about a ' spirited 
 foreign policy.' They had now adopted a mere ' do-no- 
 thing policy ; ' and he disavowed for his own part a wish for 
 ' peace at any price ' or absolute non-intervention. An 
 exciting debate followed. Fawcett was accused by Con- 
 servative speakers of approving a ' bloody war.' Lord 
 Hartington, the leader of his party, repudiated any re- 
 sponsibility for the motion, which he regarded as ' inop- 
 portune,' and, with Mr. Gladstone, suggested that it should 
 be withdrawn. Fawcett felt himself bound to consent ; 
 the want of unity in his party would lead to a discourag- 
 ing division ; but the majority objected to permit of the 
 evasion. After a two hours' struggle, and the rejection 
 by large majorities of several motions for adjournment, 
 Government at last permitted the adjournment to take 
 place without a direct vote on the resolution. 
 
 War was presently declared by Eussia (April 24, 
 1877). Directly afterwards Mr. Gladstone proposed four 
 resolutions which substantially agreed with Fawcett' s 
 motion. They condemned the Forte's reception of 
 Lord Derby's despatch, affirmed that it had no right to 
 material or moral support, claimed a system of self- 
 government for the Christian provinces, and said that
 
 408 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 such a system should be introduced by the concert of 
 the European Powers. This, however late in the day, 
 was to lay down the line of policy which Fawcett ap- 
 proved and held to be only the logical consequence of the 
 principles avowed in the autumn agitation. He was 
 again disappointed. Mr. Gladstone decided at the lust 
 moment, in obedience to the doubts of moderate Liberals, 
 not to move the third and fourth resolutions defining the, 
 policy to be adopted, and to confine himself to the bare 
 condemnation of the Turks embodied in the two first. 
 Fawcett complained in his speech of this irresolute policy. 
 Mr. Gladstone's arguments, if good for anything, WITO 
 good for his conclusion as well as for his premisses. The 
 Conservatives, strengthened by the irresolution of the 
 Opposition, were triumphant, and Mr. Gladstone's first 
 resolution was rejected by 354 to 253. Fawcett, it will be 
 seen, did not share the sentiments of the extreme peace 
 party. During the Franco-German war he had com- 
 plained of Mr. Gladstone for not coming forward more 
 resolutely to avow the English responsibility for Bel- 
 gium ; and on this occasion he was again in favour of a 
 decided line of action. Lord Beaconsfield, for the pre- 
 sent, was at the height of his power, and the Opposition 
 could only remonstrate. In the following years the 
 development of the forward policy brought Fawcett into 
 the field as a defender of the Indian finances. I have 
 already spoken of his protests against the despatch of 
 Indian troops to Malta, and his share in the agitation 
 against the Afghan war. He had thus taken an impor- 
 tant part in the assault which was finally ruinous to the 
 Beaconsfield Administration, and he naturally had his
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 409 
 
 reward. I may as well add here that although Fawcett 
 had voted for Mr. Forster (and against Lord Hartington) 
 as leader of the Liberal party upon Mr. Gladstone's re- 
 tirement, he came before long to entertain the highest 
 respect for Lord Hartington, whose loyalty and solidity 
 he fully appreciated, and to whom he gave a cordial sup- 
 port. 1 
 
 In the elections of 1880 the Liberal party again 
 triumphed, and Fawcett's own victory was decisive to a 
 degree which astonished him. His colleague, Mr. Holms, 
 stood with him, and they were opposed by Mr. G. C. T. 
 Bartley. The poll, taken on March 31, 1880, resulted as 
 follows : Fawcett, 18,366 ; Holms, 16,614 5 Bartley, 8,708. 
 Just 1,500 votes were divided between Fawcett and 
 Bartley, showing that Fawcett's majority over his col- 
 league was mainly due to the favour of some of the Con- 
 servatives. The cost of this election, in proportion to the 
 number of voters, was less than in almost any election 
 of the time. It was afterwards regarded as setting a 
 standard of the minimum of necessary expenditure. 
 
 Fawcett's position in the Liberal party was now 
 sufficiently prominent to ensure his holding a place 
 in the new Ministry. He received and accepted from 
 Mr. Gladstone the offer of the Postmaster-Generalship. 
 Several of his friends, whilst congratulating him on his 
 
 1 I am permitted to state that in October 1880 Lord Hartington 
 offered to Fawcett a seat in the Indian Council. Whilst speaking very 
 kindly of Fawcett's claims to a higher political position, he pointed out 
 the opportunities of usefulness to India in the Council. Fawcett de- 
 clined with cordial thanks, saying that he thought that he could be more 
 useful as an independent member, if he should at any time resign office. 
 His view of the unsatisfactory position of the Council had also, I believe, 
 some weight with him in this decision.
 
 410 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 new position, expressed their regret that he had not re- 
 ceived a place in the Cabinet. It is not for me to form 
 any opinion upon the general question. It was, however, 
 understood that Fawcett's blindness was now for the last 
 time an obstacle to his promotion. He had felt some fears 
 that it might be regarded as an obstacle to his holding office 
 at all. A member of the Cabinet has to see many con- 
 fidential papers, and there would be a difficulty in admit- 
 ting one who would have to use other eyes for reading 
 them. The only reference made to this by Fawcett him- 
 self, so far as I know, was in the letter (April 28, 1880) 
 in which he announced his appointment to his parents. 
 
 ' My dear Father and Mother, You will, I know, all 
 
 be delighted to hear that last night I received a most 
 
 kind letter from Gladstone offering me the Postmaster- 
 
 Generalship. It is the office which Lord Hartington held 
 
 when Gladstone was last in power. I shall be a Privy 
 
 Councillor, but shall not have a seat in the Cabinet. I 
 
 believe there was some difficulty raised about my having 
 
 to confide Cabinet secrets ; this objection, I think, time 
 
 will remove. I did not telegraph to you the appointment 
 
 at first because Gladstone did not wish it to be known 
 
 until it was formally confirmed by the Queen ; but he 
 
 told me in my interview with him this morning that he 
 
 was quite sure that the Queen took a kindly interest in 
 
 my appointment.' He adds that Mr. Gladstone said 
 
 ' that he has given me the appointment in order that I 
 
 might have time to speak in Indian and other debates.' 
 
 He goes on to make some arrangements for fishing at 
 
 Salisbury. On May 4 he tells his sister of his first visit 
 
 to the office, and of how kindly he has been introduced
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 411 
 
 by Lord John Manners l (his predecessor) and welcomed 
 by the permanent officials. 
 
 Fawcett was thus installed in office ; and the re- 
 mainder of his history is chiefly the account of his 
 administration. He spoke rarely henceforward except 
 in one or two Indian debates, and upon the business of 
 his department. I have shown that Fawcett fully sym- 
 pathised with the avowed principles of the Ministry of 
 which he was now a member. At the same time, I 
 cannot doubt that, had he still been an independent 
 member, he would have found much to criticise in their 
 action. His position as a Minister without a seat in the 
 Cabinet imposed reserve, whilst it did not enable him to 
 exert any direct influence upon the policy of Govern- 
 ment. On some points I can only conjecture his pro- 
 bable views. Mr. Gladstone's Government was especially 
 notable for its Irish and Egyptian policy. In both cases 
 I imagine that Fawcett's sympathy must have been imper- 
 fect. The relegation, for example, of political economy 
 to Saturn cannot have been quite to his taste. I have 
 given his view of the proper mode of dealing with the 
 Irish land question in a previous chapter. 2 He held, I 
 think, that exceptional legislation of some kind was 
 absolutely required. Political economy, on his view, 
 does not lay dow r n rigid principles irrespective of the 
 condition of the people affected, but must give different 
 results in different cases. He thought that it was neces- 
 sary to take into account, as a first element of the 
 
 1 I cannot mention Lord John Manners without saying how gene- 
 rously and warmly he has clone justice on more than one occasion to the 
 merits of his successor and political opponent. 
 
 2 See p. 252.
 
 412 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 problem, the wishes and convictions of the Irish people 
 themselves. No one, indeed, could be more opposed to 
 Home Rule, which, as he said, meant the disruption of the 
 empire. He would rather, as he said on one occasion 
 (May 24, 1877), that the Liberal party should remain 
 out of office ' till its youngest member had grown grey 
 with age ' than be intimidated into voting for Home 
 Eule. Still he held that some such legislation as that 
 embodied in Mr. Gladstone's Land Bill was necessary ; 
 though I do not think that he had very strong anticipa- 
 tions of good results from this particular measure. One 
 of the reminiscences published on his death describes 
 him as sitting amidst a party of friends who were dis- 
 cussing Irish irreconcilability, and repeating as if to him- 
 self, ' We must press on and do what is right.' In a letter 
 to his father of January 27, 1883, I find a phrase which 
 confirms the anecdote. ' There is nothing for it,' he says, 
 in view of some new proof of disaffection, ' but to persevere 
 in doing justice in spite of all provocation.' I do not 
 doubt that, on the whole, he considered Mr. Gladstone's 
 measure to be in the direction of justice, but I have no 
 means of knowing his precise opinions. 
 
 In regard to Egypt, I can only say that he shared 
 the uncomfortable feeling of other members of the party 
 and the Government. He felt it to be the weak point of 
 the Administration. He, like others in his position, only 
 heard of the various false steps after the mischief was 
 done, and when remonstrance would be too late. He 
 was, I have reason to believe, one of the first to take 
 alarm at the joint Note from England and France to the 
 Khedive which led to the bombardment of Alexandria
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 413 
 
 and the subsequent complications. He looked with sus- 
 picion at the employment of Indian troops, and refrained 
 on one or two occasions from voting. But, whatever his 
 views, I can only say that he did not feel himself so far 
 divided from his party as to be disqualified for taking a 
 share in administration. Divided as he must still have 
 been on some points from Mr. Gladstone, I find in his 
 private correspondence frequent expressions of admira- 
 tion for some of the Premier's qualities. He speaks of 
 the pleasure of doing business with such a master of the 
 art, and refers with satisfaction to favourable reports of 
 Mr. Gladstone's health. Past disputes had certainly left 
 no ill-will, though I cannot say that his judgment of his 
 leader had materially altered. 
 
 I shall now proceed to give such an account as is 
 possible of his administrative career. Fawcett came 
 into office at the age of forty-six with no previous experi- 
 ence of official work. He had a strong conviction of the 
 evil of ' officialism,' the ' fetish ' which he had often 
 denounced. Officialism may be described as the evil 
 spirit engendered by the tacit assumption that the nation 
 exists to maintain the office, instead of the office to serve 
 the nation. The ' red tape ' so often denounced is 
 doubtless necessary in a great organisation, which can 
 only be worked by adhering strictly to fixed rules, and 
 where the mainspring of action for the great mass of 
 the employed must be discipline rather than private 
 interest, or even irregular zeal. It is the essence of 
 machinery to operate regularly. But when the machinery 
 is taken as an end in itself, and the rules taken for sacred 
 and unalterable laws instead of means for securing the
 
 414 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 proper discharge of the function, the official spirit of 
 order may occasionally degenerate into superstition, and 
 the head official becomes a high priest, enveloping him- 
 self in mystery, and resentful of any external inter- 
 ference. From all that I have heard, I imagine that the 
 department of which Fawcett was now to be the head 
 was honourably free from this superstition. To him, 
 at any rate, it was entirely uncongenial. His merits 
 may best be denned as the antithesis to the most beset- 
 ting sins of officialism. He held himself to be a public 
 servant ; he was ready at any time to give an account of 
 his work, to welcome all fair inquiry from his employers, 
 and to make it his sole aim to give them every reasonable 
 satisfaction. He threw himself into his duties as vigor- 
 ously as if he had been an enterprising capitalist try- 
 ing to establish a successful business by dint of good 
 management. 
 
 The Post-Office has in fact to carry on a vast busi- 
 ness, and should act upon business principles. To a 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer it naturally commends 
 itself by its contributions to the right side of the Budget. 
 Fawcett always held this view to be inadequate. He 
 regarded the Post-Office as an engine for diffusing 
 knowledge, expanding trade, increasing prosperity, en- 
 couraging family correspondence, and facilitating thrift. 
 He thought, therefore, that it should not be crippled by 
 the desire to raise from it the maximum sum in aid of 
 taxation. In spite of objections, of the real force of which 
 he was fully aware, he thought that it might be safely 
 extended under proper precautions, not simply by apply- 
 ing part of the annual income, but by the investment of
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 415 
 
 capital. The last experiment of this kind, the purchase of 
 the telegraphs, had not been very encouraging ; but he was 
 still convinced that an energetic development of the 
 business would do much to increase the public welfare. 
 He spared no pains in doing what he could in this direc- 
 tion, though his means were necessarily limited by the 
 degree of sympathy of his colleagues. He distinguished 
 himself not so much by devising new schemes as by his 
 readiness to adopt suggestions on all hands, and his 
 determination to push business through instead of allow- 
 ing it to remain permanently in the stage of preparation 
 and circumlocution. He succeeded during his tenure of 
 office in winning fresh popularity for the department by 
 convincing the public that he at least was earnest in his 
 desire to serve them. 
 
 The Post-Office is naturally the department which 
 comes most into collision with private organisations. 
 In every extension of its activity Fawcett had more or 
 less to encounter the jealousy of companies or private 
 persons already discharging some of the functions to be 
 undertaken. Nothing could be more opposed to his 
 principles than any action really tending to suppress or 
 diminish private energy. But he was convinced that the 
 vast machinery under his command was able to discharge 
 a number of functions for which private enterprise was 
 altogether inadequate ; whilst in other cases its action 
 might be so regulated as to stimulate instead of dis- 
 couraging the activity of its competitors. The mode in 
 which the Post-Office could in fact be turned to account 
 so as to invigorate the national life may be best under- 
 stood from a brief account of his main achievements.
 
 416 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Writing to his father on April 7, 1883, he says that 
 he expects that nothing will be more popular in Mr. 
 Childers's Budget than the proposal to reduce the price of 
 telegrams. ' Curiously enough,' he adds, ' before I had 
 been a fortnight at the Post-Office I felt that there were 
 five things to be done (i) The parcel post; (2) the 
 issue of postal orders ; (3) the receipt of small savings 
 in stamps and the allowing small sums to be invested in 
 the funds ; (4) increasing the facilities for life insurance 
 and annuities ; (5) reducing the price of telegrams. The 
 first four I have succeeded in getting done, and now the 
 fifth is to be accomplished.' These five reforms, to which 
 may be added the measures in regard to telephones, 
 were in fact Fawcett's chief performances, and I shall 
 briefly indicate their nature. 
 
 "When the Post-Office was in its infancy certain com- 
 plaints were made against Docwra, the inventor of the 
 ' Penny Post ' for London, from which it appears that 
 the post then (1698) carried such articles as bandboxes, 
 tradesmen's parcels, and apothecaries' mixtures. Patients 
 complained, wisely or otherwise, that they did not get 
 their physic in time. The high rates of postage after- 
 wards suppressed the carriage of everything except letters. 
 Various schemes for a parcel post had been discussed in 
 later times. Sir Eowland Hill contemplated such a 
 scheme ; the Society of Arts proposed one in 1858 ; the 
 Royal Commission on Railways advocated a plan in 1 867 ; 
 and, as all Englishmen know who have had occasion to 
 forward their knapsacks in Switzerland, the plan was 
 already working on the Continent. It had spread to 
 most countries, and in 1880 a Convention, to which
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 417 
 
 England sent two delegates, met to arrange for an inter- 
 national parcel post throughout Europe, with the almost 
 solitary exception of Great Britain. Two years before, 
 Lord John Manners had opened negotiations with the 
 railway companies in regard to a parcel post, and 
 Fawcett on taking office immediately asked for and ob- 
 tained authority to proceed in the matter. After long 
 discussions, the negotiations dropped in 1 88 1 , as the terms 
 of the companies were unacceptable. In 1882, however, 
 Fawcett made a new effort ; an agreement was at length 
 reached, and the Parcel Post Act was passed in that 
 session. 
 
 The negotiation required firmness and a clear head 
 for business. Fawcett could not take matters with a 
 high hand. The public, though grateful for the boon, 
 were not so eager beforehand as to exert the pressure of 
 a popular agitation. His colleagues had business enough 
 on their hands to make them unwilling to sacrifice much 
 time to such objects in Parliament. The Treasury is 
 never too eager to advance schemes which must be ex- 
 pensive and are not certain to be remunerative. The 
 railway companies were not willing to admit a powerful 
 competitor, unless they could exact terms clearly favour- 
 able to themselves. In the negotiations already started, 
 it had been decided to treat with the companies as a 
 single body, instead of making terms with each com- 
 pany separately. Fawcett sometimes expressed the 
 opinion that better terms might have been made if the 
 subject had been approached differently, through an 
 alteration in the scale of the letter post, so as to admit 
 of the carriage of heavier packets. When, however, a 
 
 E
 
 418 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 different plan had once been adopted, a change of front 
 would have implied a hostile attitude, and the general 
 opposition of the railway interest would have been fatal 
 under the circumstances to the speedy adoption of any 
 scheme. The railways must therefore be conciliated ; 
 and he resolved to adopt a plan from which the public 
 might derive a profit, even though the railways were 
 enabled to exact more than their fair share. 
 
 He offered, therefore, that the railways should receive 
 50 per cent, of the total postage on the parcels carried 
 by them ; and he finally conceded 55 per cent. The sum 
 is divided amongst the different companies in proportion 
 to the amounts of their own parcel business. The Post- 
 Office undertakes the collection, sorting, packing, unpack- 
 ing, and distribution of the parcels ; whilst the railway 
 companies undertake the carriage and transference of 
 the parcel baskets between the mail van and the train. 
 The work thus done by the Post-Office represents, as 
 experts consider, more nearly two-thirds than one-half of 
 the total expense. The companies have also the advan- 
 tage that the payment to them increases in proportion to 
 the increase of traffic ; whereas, in the case of the letter 
 post, the increase of traffic increases the weight of the bags, 
 without an immediate increase of the payment. Each rail- 
 way makes its own bargain for letter-carrying from time 
 to time for a fixed sum, not for a share of the postage. 
 There is thus a means of readjustment which does not 
 exist in the case of the parcel post. Fawcett, however, 
 deliberately resolved to carry out a measure which he 
 regarded as beneficial to the public, even though a 
 somewhat disproportionate benefit should accrue to the 
 co-operating companies.
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 419 
 
 The Act was finally passed on August 1 8, 1882. Nearly 
 a year elapsed before it could be brought into operation. 
 During Fawcett's illness in the winter of 1882-83, Mr. 
 Shaw Lefevre undertook the discharge of his duties, and 
 was most energetic and helpful in forwarding the prepa- 
 ration of the scheme. A careful examination of every 
 detail was required before so vast a business could be 
 added to the previous operations of the department. 
 Fawcett took a lively interest in discussing every detail 
 submitted to him by the subordinates, who had, of course, 
 in the first instance to work out the new arrangements. 
 He went with zest into such minutiae as the formalities 
 to be observed in posting and the weights to be assigned 
 to rural letter-carriers. His main anxiety was to pre- 
 vent any dislocation of the letter-service. After careful 
 preparations, the new service was at last started on Au- 
 gust i, 1883. Fawcett, with his wife and daughter, went 
 down to the ' circulation office ' on the first evening, 
 and writes the same night to his parents, describing the 
 scene, the extraordinary variety of objects posted, and 
 the ' smartly painted red vans.' He begs them to come 
 and have a look at it. Three days later he reports that 
 things are working smoothly, and speaks warmly of the 
 zeal of all concerned, from the head officials down to the 
 humblest letter-carrier. He says that he shall soon issue 
 a general notice of thanks to the persons co-operating in 
 the result. The only difficulty has arisen from the 
 public inexperience in the art of packing. 
 
 The parcel post was not at first a financial success. 
 The number of parcels was, in the first month, at the 
 rate of only 15,000,000 annually, whereas it had been 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 estimated at 27,000,000. The average weight also, and 
 consequently the payment for postage, was rather below 
 the estimate. The estimate, it must be observed, had to be 
 made very much at random, from the absence of any pre- 
 vious experience ; and Fawcett was of opinion that the de- 
 mand of the Treasury for an apparently precise statement 
 was a rather futile formality. He energetically laboured 
 to reduce the cost by better organisation, and especially 
 by amalgamating the parcel post with the letter post, so far 
 as this was possible. His report, when the system had 
 lasted for a year, sums up the results so far. The new 
 post had been introduced without the least interference 
 with the older services. The number of parcels conveyed 
 had increased and was now at the rate of from 21 to 22 
 millions a year. Simplifications, and consequent econo- 
 mies, had been introduced, and further improvements 
 were under consideration. He is especially glad to record 
 one result which might have aroused jealousy in some 
 official minds. The railway companies had set about a 
 competition with the service from which they had wrung 
 such excellent terms. They had at once advertised an 
 improved service of their own; and Fawcett is able to 
 declare in his report that the fears of a suppression of 
 private enterprise have not been realised. He is glad to 
 have stimulated instead of suppressing a competition for 
 the better service of the public. 
 
 He ends by pointing out that it always takes some 
 time as was the case, for example, on the first introduc- 
 tion of the penny post to gain general appreciation of 
 the new advantages offered. In fact, the numbers of 
 parcels began to rise in the following autumn. In Sep-
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 421 
 
 tember there was a marked improvement. In October 
 the results were still better, though the improvement 
 probably came too late to be known to him. At the pre- 
 sent time, the original estimate has been nearly reached. 
 
 Various subsidiary questions arose, the chief one con- 
 cerning the registration of parcels. Mr. Lefevre, whilst 
 discharging Fawcett's duties, decided that in the case of 
 the parcels post insurance for value would be better than 
 simple registration, as in the case of letters. Fawcett, on 
 returning to his post, had gone very fully into the ques- 
 tion, but had not reached a final decision. He was also 
 desirous of introducing a more minutely graduated scale 
 of payments. He was at work to the last, but I need 
 not give further details upon the achievement with which 
 his name will probably be most frequently associated. In 
 those, and in other cases, I have only to say that the re- 
 sults which are palpable to the public give a very inade- 
 quate idea, unless to those who will take the trouble to 
 reflect, of the amount of labour behind the scenes which 
 is required to produce the visible change. The intro- 
 duction of the parcels post required a considerable ex- 
 penditure of energy ; but it was only one of several 
 important reforms. 
 
 One matter in which he was greatly interested was 
 the lowering of the charge for telegrams. His interest 
 was especially excited by the consideration that under 
 the existing system the benefit of telegraphic communi- 
 cation is chiefly confined to the richer classes. Persons 
 engaged in speculation, whether on the Stock Exchange 
 or in the betting-ring, are the most active patrons of the 
 telegraph. Fawcett regretted that in this capacity the
 
 422 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Post-Office was of comparatively little use to classes in 
 which he took a livelier interest, the workmen and small 
 traders. It was on their behalf in particular that he 
 wished to improve the public machinery for the diffusion 
 of rapid communication. In the summer of 1880 he 
 received a deputation from the Society of Arts asking for 
 cheap telegrams. He at once took the matter up, 
 obtained estimates, and made a very carefully con- 
 sidered speech to the deputation (July 17, 1880), which 
 sufficiently showed his own leaning. Upon the plan 
 which then seemed to him most advisable, and which 
 has been adopted since his death, the first cost wa 
 estimated at 167,000?. a year. The question remained 
 whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer would think 
 it worth while to make a temporary sacrifice of this 
 amount. If that official saw his way to it, no difficulty 
 would be raised by the Post-Office. The telegraph 
 business, which had been prosperous in the first year 
 of Fawcett's administration- increased from various 
 causes at a much slower rate in the years following. 
 In his report for the year ending March 31, 1882, 
 he mentions the fact that though the proportion of 
 telegrams to the population is greater in England than 
 in any other country except Switzerland, the proportion of 
 telegrams to letters is less than in many other countries. 
 Here the proportion was one telegram to forty-four 
 letters ; whilst in France the ratio was one to twenty- 
 nine ; in Belgium one to twenty-four ; in Holland one to 
 twenty-two, and in Switzerland one to twenty-three. 
 The decision, however, rested with the Treasury. The 
 purchase of the telegraphs for a large sum (over
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 423 
 
 10,000,000?., for a property valued at 7,000,000?.) has 
 caused the financial results to be so far unsatisfactory. It 
 was only in the year 1881, as Fawcett stated in his report, 
 that the net returns were sufficient to meet the interest. 
 The Treasury was therefore inclined to doubt the policy of 
 a scheme involving increased expenditure even for a time, 
 though Fawcett urged that it should properly be regarded 
 as expenditure on capital instead of deduction from income. 
 If the telegraphs had been bought for a reasonable sum 
 the returns, even with a sixpenny rate, would have covered 
 the interest. When a proposal for cheap telegrams was 
 brought forward by Dr. Cameron in the House of Com- 
 mons in 1880, Fawcett sufficiently showed (as he had 
 done in speaking to the Society of Arts) his own pre- 
 ference for a word-rate of a halfpenny, with a minimum 
 charge of sixpence. His known inclinations encouraged 
 fresh agitation in the House; and in 1883 Government 
 was outvoted and the adoption of sixpenny telegrams 
 became certain. Much, however, had to be done in the 
 way of preparation. New plant had to be provided, 
 and the trained staff increased. There arose, also, the 
 question of the abolition of the free addresses, which would 
 involve a heavy burden on the Post-Office. Fawcett had 
 proposed that in reckoning the halfpenny charge words 
 used in addresses should be counted as well as those in 
 the messages. It was urged that this would press hardly 
 upon the poor whose addresses are generally long in pro- 
 portion to the obscurity of their abodes. The objection 
 had especial weight with Fawcett, who spared no pains 
 to require information and advice. His death came 
 before a conclusion had been reached. Although he did
 
 424 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 not live to see his views adopted, there can be no doubt 
 that his known opinions helped to secure the ultimate 
 result. 
 
 It will be as well to deal here with another matter 
 which was amongst the most difficult and delicate of all 
 that engaged his attention. The telephone was a recent 
 invention when Fawcett took office, and two companies 
 had been started to bring it into operation. The law 
 officers of the Crown advised him that the companies 
 were infringing the monopoly secured to the Post-Office 
 by the Telegraph Act. It became his duty to apply to the 
 courts, who decided (December 3, 1880) that a telephonic 
 message was a kind of telegram, and that, consequently, 
 the monopoly was infringed by the companies. The 
 judges added an expression of an opinion, the justice 
 of which was obvious, that companies which had 
 introduced so beautiful an invention into public use, 
 without intentional breach of the law, deserved con- 
 sideration from the Postmaster-General. They had 
 obviously a moral claim either to compensation or to a 
 license. Fawcett decided upon the latter course, and the 
 companies received a license on terms of paying a 
 royalty of ten per cent, on their gross receipts and 
 restricting themselves to a given area. At the same time 
 the Post-Office acquired a supply of telephones from 
 other sources and established telephonic exchanges in 
 many large towns. 
 
 The development of the system and the growth of 
 new companies soon produced many complications. 
 Telephonic areas previously distinct could now be brought 
 into connection. ' Trunk wires ' to join distant centres
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 425 
 
 were required, and licenses were granted upon special 
 terms. New companies asked for licenses in districts 
 already supplied; and districts supplied by the Post-Office 
 asked to be supplied by companies. To refuse these appli- 
 cations would be to create monopolies. The United Tele- 
 phone Company formed from the two original companies 
 had already occupied the most important centres. The 
 licenses had been originally given on the principle of ' one 
 telephone exchange for one town.' Upon this principle 
 the Post-Office would be itself prevented from competing 
 with the company, whilst it would forbid competition with 
 itself elsewhere. Though there are obvious advantages 
 in the unit} 7 of an agency, which is useful in proportion 
 to the number of those who communicate through it, 
 Fawcett felt that such monopoly was undesirable, as 
 tending to crush enterprise directed to the development 
 of the new invention. The public would have no security 
 that the best invention should be adopted. Fawcett 
 therefore announced in his report of 1882 that he had 
 resolved to give licenses to responsible persons, and to 
 establish post-office telephone exchanges where needed, 
 irrespective of previous occupation of a district. Licenses 
 accordingly were issued, which contained a new stipula- 
 tion. In return for permission to infringe the monopoly 
 of the Post-Office, the new companies were to allow the 
 Post-Office a supply of their patented instruments. New 
 companies accepted these terms; but the company 
 already in possession of the most advantageous field 
 rejected the new terms. They preferred to keep to their 
 old limits rather than extend their area of operation on 
 condition of allowing the Post-Office to use their patent.
 
 426 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 They were strong enough to buy off or defy competitors. 
 Persons living outside the area served by them began to 
 complain of inadequate accommodation. The Post-Office 
 once more appeared to be suppressing enterprise and 
 raising difficulties ; and the action could only be defended 
 on the ground of their own interest in the national 
 monopoly of the telegraph. Fawcett felt the position 
 to be intolerable, and in the spring of 1 884 invited the 
 companies to a fresh discussion of the question. 
 
 Some companies asked for a monopoly of their own 
 districts. The main proposal was that the royalty of ten 
 per cent, should be abandoned, on condition that the 
 companies should make good to the Post-Office any loss 
 caused by the use of telephones in place of telegraphs. This 
 proposal also implied a monopoly, for a company could 
 not afford a guarantee unless it were protected against 
 competition. Fawcett finally came to the conclusion 
 that there were only two courses : Government must 
 acquire the telephones, as it had acquired the telegraphs ; 
 or it must leave the field open to competition, simply 
 taking care that companies should confine themselves to 
 telephonic communication. He announced his terms on 
 August 7, in Committee of Supply. He proposed in brief 
 to give the widest possible liberty to responsible persons 
 to establish telephone exchanges in districts, occupied or 
 unoccupied, to abolish all restrictions as to the area to 
 be served, and to abandon the demand for patented 
 instruments. 
 
 The royalty of ten per cent., and an undertaking to 
 deliver no written messages, were the only conditions 
 imposed upon the companies. The companies were at
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 427 
 
 once satisfied, and almost his last official act \vas the 
 approval of a license embodying these terms. It was 
 signed without alteration by his successor, Mr. Shaw 
 Lefevre. His last interview at the office was with a gen- 
 tleman who begged for protection for a small company in 
 which he was much interested, and which would probably 
 be driven out of the field. Fawcett listened patiently 
 and kindly ; but was compelled to refuse decidedly. 
 
 In this case, as in the case of the parcel post, Fawcett 
 could feel that his action extended the utility of the 
 Post-Office, and called out increased energy in private en- 
 terprise. If the Government should come to monopolise 
 the services, it would be only because experience had 
 proved that it could discharge them most efficiently. 
 
 In another direction, the Post-Office had to deal with 
 a powerful interest. The Post-Office, in fact, is a great 
 banking concern, though it is confined chiefly to opera- 
 tions too minute to be profitable for private banks. In 
 transmitting small sums and encouraging minute savings, 
 it has an advantage from the vast scale upon which it 
 can work ; and therefore rather supplements than sup- 
 plants private enterprise. Any extension, however, of 
 its functions is naturally scrutinised with a certain 
 jealousy by bankers. On coming into office, Fawcett at 
 once took up a measure which had been prepared by a 
 committee some years before. The established system of 
 Post-Office orders was in one respect defective. Each 
 order cost the department 3^., and it would be unjust to 
 lower the charge beneath the cost, and so to confer a 
 benefit upon the transmitters of money at the cost of the 
 community. The charge, however, was in certain cases
 
 428 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 excessive. If, as he put it, a boy wanted to send to his 
 mother the first shilling he had saved, he would have to 
 pay 2d. for the order and id. for postage. On the great 
 numher of small orders (94,500 orders for a shilling had 
 been issued in a year) the cost of transmission thus 
 amounted to 25 per cent. He proposed, therefore, to 
 introduce the new system of postal orders which had 
 been already devised under his predecessor. They were 
 to differ from the Post Office order in these respects : 
 that the sender was not to give his own name or that of 
 the payee ; that they might be cashed at any money order 
 office ; and that the commission charged was to be fixed 
 at a lower rate. The main difficulties raised were the 
 increased facilities for theft, and the danger of creating a 
 small paper currency. Bankers in the House dwelt upon 
 these objections, and a good deal of private negotiation 
 was required. Fawcett expressed his readiness to con- 
 cede any change thought necessary in order to avoid the 
 creation of the currency. After some discussion, how- 
 ever, the measure was carried almost in the shape 
 originally proposed. A proposal to reduce the period of 
 currency from three months to one was rejected after a 
 division, as it would have greatly diminished the conve- 
 nience offered, especially to persons who wished to lay in 
 a stock of orders. On the other hand, Fawcett consented 
 to an amendment, making it necessary to insert the name 
 of the payee. This satisfied his critics, though it seems 
 to make little real difference. The measure was passed 
 and was the most rapidly successful of any proposed by 
 Fawcett. He observed in 1884 that the number of 
 orders issued had at first scarcely realised the estimate
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 429 
 
 of 50,000 a week ; but that four years later it amounted 
 to 350,000 a week. In the year ending March 31, 1882, 
 the whole number issued was about 4,500,000; in the 
 next financial year, nearly 8,000,000 ; and in the next, 
 over 12,000,000. A slight alteration was made in the 
 rates, and permission was given to make up broken 
 amounts by adding stamps, by an Act which came into 
 operation on June 2, 1 884 ; and in the following year, over 
 20,000,000 orders were issued. The amount transmitted 
 rose from near 4,500,000?. in the year ending March 31, 
 1882, to near 8,500,000?. in the year ending June 2, 1885. 
 He could also announce in 1882 that as the average 
 period of circulation was only six days, the fears of a 
 small currency had proved to be without foundation. 
 
 Fawcett was more profoundly interested in the various 
 institutions by which the Post-Office endeavours to stimu- 
 late thrift. In his first year of office, he took up the 
 question of the Post-Office savings-banks. They had been 
 in action since 1 86 1, when Mr. Gladstone had introduced 
 a measure embodying a scheme suggested by Mr. (now 
 Sir W. C.) Sikes, and Mr. Chetwynd of the Post-Office. 1 
 The measure was signally successful. The Post-Office 
 savings-banks throve and became more popular than 
 their old-fashioned rivals, the trustee savings-banks. A 
 considerable deficiency meanwhile had arisen in the old 
 banks, owing to the fact that too high a rate of interest 
 had been allowed upon deposits. In 1880, Mr. Glad- 
 stone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced a bill 
 to make up the deficiency and to reduce the rate of 
 
 1 See History of Savings-Banks, by William Lewins (1866), for full 
 details.
 
 430 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 interest in future. At Fawcett's suggestion he added a 
 provision raising the limit of permissible deposits in the 
 Post-Office banks from 2Ool. to 300?., and the amount 
 which might be deposited in one year, from 30^ to loot. 
 Mr. Gladstone also spontaneously added provisions for 
 enabling investments to be made in Government 
 securities through savings-banks of both kinds. The 
 bankers objected to the proposed extension of limits. 
 They argued that this change would involve an inter- 
 ference with private enterprise ; and divert large sums 
 now applied to trade and agriculture by the bankers 
 towards investment in Consols. The result of their 
 opposition was that this part of the measure was 
 ultimately withdrawn. Fawcett regretted the necessity, 
 and a bill including similar provisions was introduced by 
 him and Mr. Courtney in 1884. There was again 
 sufficient opposition to compel its withdrawal. In his 
 report of 1884, Fawcett gives some information which 
 he had collected to show the needlessness of the jealousy 
 which had been aroused. He pointed out that in 
 Cambridgeshire a population of 190,000 had only 10 
 places provided with a bank, whereas there were 47 towns 
 provided with a Post-Office savings-bank. He inferred 
 that the Post-Office banks might attract savings, where 
 private enterprise would not offer the necessary facilities. 
 Meanwhile Mr. Gladstone's measure was passed when 
 lightened by the withdrawal of the obnoxious clauses. 
 A good deal of discussion was directed to lowering the 
 proposed limit of investment in public stocks, which 
 according to the bill was fixed at lot. Fawcett pointed 
 out some difficulties in this change whilst fully approving
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 431 
 
 its aim, but he promised to keep his attention upon the 
 question and to propose a reduction of the limit if there 
 should appear to be any desire for the investment of 
 smaller sums. To another plan suggested for establish- 
 ing a savings-bank at every post-office, Fawcett replied 
 by describing a plan which he had started experimentally. 
 It consisted in sending a clerk to village post-offices to 
 receive deposits and money orders once a week. The 
 plan had been tried for a month with apparent success, 
 but it ultimately failed to attract business enough to 
 justify perseverance. Another scheme adopted at the 
 same time was far more prosperous. Mr. E. W. Har- 
 court suggested in the debate that the limit of deposit 
 in the Post-Office savings-banks should be lowered 
 beneath the old limit of a shilling. Fawcett replied that 
 the small accounts were the costly ones ; and that a free 
 use of the investment clauses would diminish the number 
 of the larger and more profitable. He described, how- 
 ever, a scheme which had been suggested to him by the 
 late Mr. Chetwynd, Receiver and Accountant- General of 
 the Post-Office. It had been fully worked out, and 
 Fawcett resolved to try it as one mode of meeting the 
 various difficulties which had arisen. This is the now 
 familiar scheme of ' stamp slip deposits,' which would 
 have rejoiced the heart of Benjamin Franklin. Blank 
 slips issued at every Post-Office may be filled up with 
 twelve stamps and will then be received at the savings- 
 bank as a shilling deposit. The plan was first tried in 
 certain selected districts in September 1880, and suc- 
 ceeded so rapidly that, on November 15, Fawcett decided 
 to extend it to the whole country. By the end of March
 
 432 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 1 88 1, 576,560 slips had been received and 223,000 new 
 accounts were estimated to have been opened in conse- 
 quence. In his report of 1882, Fawcett states that the 
 daily average of receipts was 248^. In 1884 he observes 
 upon the great increase in the number of children \vho 
 are depositors. In four years the total number of 
 depositors had increased by a million, of whom not less 
 than a quarter were young persons. By thus encoura- 
 ging the habit of saving in early life, the Post-Office, he 
 remarks, is probably doing more to assist than to retard 
 private enterprise. The clauses for investment contri- 
 buted to the popularity of the savings-banks. The 
 total amount invested in Government stocks at the end 
 of the financial year March 31, 1884, was 1,519,983, 
 held by 20,767 persons. The high price of stock and the 
 commercial depression have, no doubt, considerably af- 
 fected the results. 
 
 In the winter of 1880 Fawcett took very great 
 pains (with the assistance of Mr. James Cardin, of the 
 Post-Office, a gentleman for whose abilities he had a 
 high respect) to prepare a small pamphlet called ' Aids 
 to Thrift,' of which about 1,250,000 copies were gra- 
 tuitously circulated. His aim was to translate into per- 
 fectly simple language the technical phrases given in 
 the Post-Office Guide, whilst it was of course essential 
 to avoid giving any false impressions. There could 
 not be a better bit of literary practice ; but in any 
 case Fawcett would not grudge the trouble involved. 
 About the same time he was deeply moved by an 
 incident which may be noticed by way of preface to 
 another part of the subject. A poor neighbour em-
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 433 
 
 ployed in a mill near Salisbury, had fallen ill. He had 
 insured himself in a certain society which was to pay 
 him an allowance in case of illness. The allowance was 
 stopped upon certain pretences strongly suggestive of 
 fraud. Fawcett, to whom he appealed, immediately 
 called at the offices, where the secretary, not recog- 
 nising his visitor, treated him with considerable inso- 
 lence. Fawcett brought the man to his senses, extracted 
 certain sums from the society, and took steps to investi- 
 gate the nature of its business. He had the satisfaction 
 of obtaining something for the poor man, who died 
 not long afterwards. Fawcett did what he could for 
 the family. The facts which came under his notice 
 gave him a vivid impression of the difficulties which 
 beset a poor man who desires to provide for the future. 
 The poor are induced to confide in societies which devote 
 a very large proportion of their receipts to ' expenses of 
 management,' and make such conditions that a good 
 many of the insurances lapse after the payment of 
 premiums. Upon a trial for fraud it came out that in one 
 of these societies only 5 per cent, of the policies came to 
 maturity. The powers of the Post-Office could hardly 
 be turned to better account than in providing a good 
 substitute for agencies of this variety and giving the 
 best security for the savings of the poor. A system of 
 life insurance and annuities had been adopted by the 
 Post-Office in 1865. Much pains had been taken by the 
 officials concerned, to work out the new scheme and 
 secure a good start. For whatever reason, however, 
 the progress had been languid. Insurances had fallen 
 off and few annuities were bought. Fawcett took up 
 
 F F
 
 434 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 the question, and in February 1882 moved for a Select 
 Committee to inquire into the 8} r stem. A scheme was 
 proposed by Mr. Cardin for simplifying and improving 
 the arrangements, which was approved by Fawcett and 
 by the Committee and embodied in a bill introduced 
 in the same session. 
 
 The main purpose of the scheme was to take all 
 possible trouble off the hands of customers. Saving 
 was to be made as simple and easy as possible. All 
 needless formalities were to be abolished. The business 
 of annuities and insurance was to be more closely 
 associated with those of the savings-banks. The main 
 changes came to this: that, henceforward, a person 
 who desired to insure his life or to buy an annuity 
 might apply at any office where there was a savings- 
 bank that is, at any one of 7,000 offices, instead of 
 being limited to 2,000. When the terms were accepted 
 he might pay his premiums wherever he pleased, instead 
 of having always to pay at the same place. Finally, he 
 could pay in any sums and at any time, instead of 
 having, to pay an exact sum at a particular time. The 
 Post-Office would take charge of all sums, and apply 
 them in accordance with a direction given once for all. 
 The depositor had only to take care that there should be 
 a sufficient sum to his credit when the premium became 
 due. Fawcett further induced the Committee to recom- 
 mend the enlargement of both the upper and the lower 
 limits of allowable insurances and annuities. It was 
 also recommended that in cases of small amounts 
 medical examination might be omitted, provision being 
 made against loss to the Post-Office if the insurer died
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 435 
 
 within two years. It was thought that the necessity of 
 going before a doctor often involved the loss of a day's 
 work and would discourage insurance, whilst the security 
 given by medical examination becomes very small for a 
 period exceeding two years. The proposal for an exten- 
 sion of the limits was resisted by the insurance companies 
 and bankers, as in the analogous case of the savings-banks 
 deposit ; and the proposed extension was diminished in 
 order to meet their objections. The bill was then passed 
 without further modification in August 1882. 
 
 The necessity of providing new tables and settling 
 various details, in the discussion of which Fawcett took 
 a keen interest, prevented the scheme from coming in- 
 to operation until June 3, 1884. Shortly before this 
 (May 28, 1884) he had an opportunity of pointing out its 
 main provisions. Some letter-carriers and sorters asked 
 him to establish a system of compulsory deduction from 
 then- wages with a view to providing pensions. Fawcett, 
 in reply, pointed, out the difficulties of this proposal, 
 and observed in particular that it would not encourage 
 self-help. He then showed, by example, the advantages 
 of the system about to be started. By taking the slight 
 trouble of placing a penny stamp every W 7 eek on a blank 
 form, and depositing it when filled at a savings-bank, a 
 lad of 15 would entitle himself to an annuity of 2l. io-s. 
 a year at the age of 60. The penny a week would result 
 in a shilling a week. A person who has 2ol. in a 
 savings-bank at the age of 20 may give a simple order, 
 in consequence of which lie will at the age of 60 receive 
 an annuity of 5/. or a policy of 25^ Or by saving 2s. a 
 week from 20 to 50, an annuity will be secured of 18/. a 
 
 F F 2
 
 436 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 year, to commence at the age of 50. Annuities may be 
 purchased on the terms of a return of the purchase- 
 money if the annuitant changes his mind ; and a person 
 may nominate his wife or child to receive the insurance 
 money on his death without making his will or going 
 through further formality. Fawcett disclaimed any in- 
 tention of urging the adoption of any particular plan ; 
 and spoke with his usual earnestness of the importance 
 of all such means of saving as building societies and co- 
 operative institutions, and the advantage of bringing the 
 whole energy of the department to bear upon the en- 
 couragement of thrift. A short paper, called ' Plain Rules 
 for the guidance of persons wishing to make provision 
 for the future by the aid of the Government,' was widely 
 circulated. So far it seems that the scheme has 
 not achieved the success which may be hoped when 
 its provisions are more generally understood. There 
 are, however, permanent difficulties arising, especially 
 from the impracticability of providing, in schemes of 
 State management, for allowance in time of sickness, or 
 of employing agents for collecting premiums, as is done 
 by private societies. 
 
 Fawcett was always on the watch to spread the 
 eavings-bank system. The number of new banks 
 annually opened under his administration rapidly in- 
 creased. It rose in 1881 to 280 from 185 in the previous 
 year, and in 1882 to 486 ; whilst in the five years to the 
 end of 1884, 1,693 new offices were opened. The number 
 of depositors increased with remarkable rapidity. In 
 1 879 there were 96,000 new depositors ; in 1 880 
 196,000, and in the three following years nearly a
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 431 
 
 million. He would often remark that almost the only 
 satisfactory symptom in Irish matters was the increased 
 use of the savings-bank, even in the more distressed 
 districts. He was constantly examining such statistics 
 to trace the effect of past legislation and find suggestions 
 for the future. 
 
 I have now spoken of the principal results of his 
 administration. When a fair estimate is made of the 
 labour and thought implied, it will, I think, be clear 
 that Fawcett turned his four years and a half to good 
 account. In truth he was not merely interested in his 
 work, but took to it as though the administration of the 
 Post-Office had been less a duty than the passion of a 
 lifetime. He delighted in talking over the business of 
 his office and canvassing new suggestions, as a man 
 delights in amusing himself with some favourite hobby. 
 Besides the more imposing reforms, he introduced a 
 number of small improvements. Miss Smith, of Oxford 
 (sister of his friend, Professor Henry Smith), happened 
 to tell him of the indicators used abroad to show when 
 the last collection had been made at pillar-boxes. He 
 at once introduced the same plan in England. A 
 similar suggestion led him to introduce the reply post- 
 card. He would watch the effect of any new facilities, 
 and was interested in hearing of the results in con- 
 venience and increased correspondence due to the erec- 
 tion of a pillar-box near his old home in Salisbury. 
 He multiplied pillar-boxes in railway stations, and had 
 letter-boxes fixed to the travelling post-offices in trains. 
 He was always eager to improve the mail service to
 
 438 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 remote towns ; and would observe that one good result 
 of State management was the consideration of out-of- 
 the-way places. A private management, he said, might 
 probably have introduced a halfpenny post in London, 
 and have left the country worse served than at present. 
 Amongst other little improvements he either adopted, 
 or was preparing to adopt, the German plan of allowing 
 the sale of stamps by tradesmen who were willing to 
 dispense with a commission in consideration of the 
 customers attracted to their shops, and by the abolition 
 of the distinctive telegraph stamp he was enabled to 
 allow telegrams to be deposited in pillar-boxes at night 
 in order to be forwarded on the first clearance. He 
 provided for the issue of postal orders on board ship ; 
 and earned the gratitude of many pensioners by arrang- 
 ing (at the suggestion of the War Office) for the trans- 
 mission of the sums due to them by money orders, thus 
 relieving them of the necessity for a journey. He posi- 
 tively enjoyed the discussion of the minutiae which are 
 tiresome to any man whose heart is not in his work. 
 Some proof of this may be found in his annual reports. 
 Such documents are generally quoted in the newspapers 
 for anecdotes of the remarkable persons who send ' live 
 kittens and dead rats ' by post ; but they also afford 
 evidence of the care with which Fawcett watched every 
 available indication, at home and abroad, of the success 
 of the various schemes for increasing the utility of the 
 Post-Office. 
 
 It will be easily understood that the consideration of 
 the multitudinous details involved in these plans required 
 gteady and determined labour. Fawcett was scrupulous in
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 439 
 
 going into matters for bimself to a degree which, if any- 
 thing, erred by excess. His minutes upon papers laid 
 before him always showed that he had given his mind to 
 the question. Instead of simply approving the draft of a 
 proposed letter, he would direct a letter to be prepared for 
 his own signature, in order that the receiver might know 
 that the matter had received his personal attention, and 
 that, if desirable, its terms might be softened. His 
 secretary had to read papers which came before him 
 daily, except on bank-holidays, and to get them up 
 thoroughly, for Fawcett, instead of passing them as a 
 matter of form, was certain to ask minute questions 
 about them. He frequently had personal interviews 
 with subordinate officials in order thoroughly to under- 
 stand their views in cases even where such interviews 
 were beyond the ordinary practice of the department. 
 He was thus able to get at first hand the opinions of 
 the persons immediately concerned, to be sure that his 
 own views were understood by them, and to count with 
 confidence upon their cordial support. Such interviews 
 did much to strengthen good feeling on all sides. When 
 differences of opinion arose, he would discuss the ques- 
 tion at ' almost wearisome length,' from his dislike to 
 overriding a subordinate's judgment, and his eagerness 
 if possible to carry conviction. His evident wish to con- 
 ciliate took away the sting of adverse decisions when 
 they became necessary. He was always anxious in the 
 same way to attend personally to applications backed by 
 no- official influence. If, for example, a cottager asked 
 that letters might be delivered to him personally, instead 
 of being left at the house of his employer, Fawcett would
 
 440 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 investigate the petition as carefully as if it had been a 
 request from a colleague. This system, adopted from 
 conscientious motives at the cost of severe labour, might 
 be pushed to excess. Some people thought that he 
 went too much into details, and wasted energy on 
 matters which should have been left to subordinates. 
 Mr. Blackwood, who has kindly given me his impressions 
 of Fawcett as an administrator, thinks that this excess, 
 if it were an excess, of zeal arose partly from his in- 
 experience in administration, partly from his desire to 
 base his decisions on the fullest information, and partly 
 from unwillingness to let drop any of the strings which 
 he had once taken up. Mr. Blackwood adds that it had, 
 in any case, the good effect of enabling him to master 
 the complex details of the service. It enabled him to 
 obtain a thorough command of all the business for the 
 conduct of which he was responsible, to infuse energy 
 into his subordinates and attract public confidence. If 
 the strain upon his own energies was severe, he never 
 neglected important matters in his attention to com- 
 parative trifles. His dread of falling into the vice of 
 ' officialism,' of substituting routine for active judgment 
 of particular cases, confirmed him in a practice to which 
 he adhered with deliberate conviction. In connection 
 with this, I may refer to his answers to the parliamen- 
 tary ' question ' a phrase which, as in another use of 
 the word, seems to be nearly equivalent to torture. 
 Some officials may be justified in thinking that a ques- 
 tion is presumably an impertinence, and should be 
 answered in kind by an evasion or a retort. Fawcett's 
 answers are really attempts to give information. He
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 441 
 
 tried to say as much, not as little, as possible. And at 
 the same time they are remarkable proofs of his minute 
 knowledge of details and his really astonishing power 
 of producing full statistical statements. Their obvious 
 candour did much to improve his general position. 
 
 It was of course inevitable that Fawcett should gain 
 the esteem of the permanent officials of the Post-Office, 
 as of every other class of men with whom he had much 
 intercourse. His courtesy, kindliness, and sincerity 
 were as obvious in this as in other relations of life. I 
 may add that he returned their esteem. He frequently 
 remarked to me upon the high standard of honour in 
 the public sendee, observing that officials in receipt of 
 moderate salaries had often to decide upon questions, 
 such as mail contracts, involving large sums of money, 
 and that there was never the slightest suspicion of their 
 turning their opportunities to private profit. Besides 
 his general attention to their wishes and opinions, he 
 was always scrupulously careful to give them all possible 
 credit. He was keenly alive to the danger of unfairly 
 appropriating the labours of subordinates whose position 
 enforces silence as to their own claims. He never 
 introduced a scheme without assigning the original 
 suggestion and elaboration to the right author. He took 
 great pains to obtain those honorary distinctions for his 
 subordinates which are often the only mode of rewarding 
 their zeal or making known to the outside world the fact 
 that they have been useful servants. I will add that his 
 position gave him particular pleasure when it enabled 
 him to reward merit. Few things, as I judge from his 
 private letters, pleased him more than an opportunity of
 
 442 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 appointing Mr. Hunter to the solicitorship of the Post- 
 Office. Mr. Hunter's fitness had been recognised by 
 independent 'persons, and Fawcett considered the ap- 
 pointment as also a recognition of Mr. Hunter's great 
 services in the preservation of commons. He was equally 
 gratified by later experience of Mr. Hunter's fitness for 
 his post. 
 
 As Postmaster-General, Fawcett was the commander 
 of a civilian army numbering (if we include those who 
 give a part only of their time to the Post-Office) over 
 90,000 persons. To maintain the public spirit of this 
 body was a very important part of his duties. Several 
 important questions at once arose. Many of the tele- 
 graphists were dissatisfied with their rate of wages, which 
 stopped, after previous advances, at 2&s. a week, until they 
 could be promoted to a higher class. There were threats 
 of a strike ; and the case was taken up by members of the 
 House. After a careful examination of the case, involving 
 much comparison with rates of wages in other employ- 
 ments, Fawcett induced the Government not without 
 difficulty to re-classify the telegraphists, so as to admit 
 of a steady rise to a salary of Sol. a year. The scheme 
 applied also to the postal staff, who had not taken part 
 in the agitation, and the concession satisfied the persons 
 concerned. The charge to the country would amount 
 ultimately to 1 50,000^. a year. He afterwards raised the 
 rate of payment to sub-postmasters, at the cost of 34,000?. 
 He made other arrangements to improve the position of 
 postmen in towns, and extended to the whole country a 
 system of good-conduct stripes, carrying with them an 
 increased pay of is. a week. Three such stripes may be
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 443 
 
 earned, and the cost was estimated at 63,ooo/. a year. He 
 also gave an annual week's holiday to country postmen. 
 The proposed additions were not carried out without re- 
 marks in some quarters upon the principles of political 
 economy. Should not wages be fixed by supply and 
 demand? Fawcett of course accepted the general 
 principle, and gave due weight to it by investigating the 
 actual rates in the open market. He never lost sight of 
 the principle that one class should not be unduly benefited 
 at the expense of the community. But he did not admit 
 that the rate should be the lowest which would attract 
 any class of physically capable persons. The end should 
 be to have such a rate of wages as would secure really 
 efficient service by obviating discontent. He quoted a 
 statement of the Postmaster at Glasgow, that the system 
 of stripes gave him the pick of the labourers instead of 
 the refuse, as a strong illustration of the efficacy of his 
 measures. 
 
 Another change enlisted his strongest sympathies. 
 He was especially anxious to extend the system, already 
 in operation, of employing women. The clerical work 
 connected with the new postal orders was entirely en- 
 trusted to female clerks. In his report of 1882 he 
 observes that the number of women employed in various 
 capacities has increased in the year by 299, and says 
 that the system has been so satisfactory that he hopes 
 to extend it. The next year the number was increased 
 to 2,561, and is now 2,919. He introduced in 1883 a 
 new class of female sorters in the savings-banks to 
 arrange the various documents ; and he had the satis- 
 faction in 1882 of appointing a lady to a medical post
 
 444 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 an appointment fully justified by the large number of 
 women employed. He also appointed female medical 
 officers at Liverpool and Manchester. He was thoroughly 
 satisfied by subsequent experience of the results of this 
 increased employment of female labour in all directions. 
 When he took office women were appointed by limited 
 competition to clerkships in the savings-banks, three 
 being nominated for each vacancy. Fawcett felt very 
 keenly the responsibility of nominating candidates. He 
 tried to avoid personal influence, and one of the first 
 persons he nominated was the daughter of a policeman 
 who had no influence to back the application. He would 
 go through the lists carefully and repeatedly, but could 
 not satisfy himself that he had chosen those most in need 
 of employment. He therefore determined to introduce 
 open competition. He took, however, the most scrupulous 
 care not to interfere with the interests of women already 
 nominated by his predecessor. The telegraphists were 
 treated in the same way. The result has been that last 
 year 2,500 women competed for 145 clerkships, whilst 
 there have been 30 applicants for every vacancy in the 
 telegraph department. The severity of the examination 
 and the limits of age for admission have had to be raised. 
 One other point may be noticed. When Fawcett 
 took office it was the practice to transfer the appointment 
 of a postmistress who married to her husband. She 
 would therefore lose her appointment if the husband 
 misbehaved. Fawcett tried to find some way of obviat- 
 ing the hardships which occasionally resulted. No plan 
 could be suggested till the passage of the Married 
 Women's Property Act in 1882.' He then decided that a
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 445 
 
 woman should in every case have the option of retaining 
 the appointment in her own name. The arrangement 
 was confirmed by Mr. Lefevre. 
 
 Fawcett was especially anxious in all cases when the 
 dismissal of a subordinate was proposed. He felt it 
 painful to confirm such an order, and asked carefully 
 what the man had said in his defence, and whether he 
 could not have another trial. A friend tells an anecdote 
 of his delight upon one occasion when he had directed 
 a suspension of judgment, in spite of strong circum- 
 stantial evidence. The real criminal had been acute 
 enough to suspend his depredations during an experi- 
 mental removal of the suspected person. At last, in 
 consequence of further investigations directed by Fawcett, 
 the character of the man accused was fully cleared. 
 I am bound to add that in this direction Mr. Blackwood 
 thinks that Fawcett occasionally pushed clemency to 
 weakness. Fawcett's leniency, he thinks, made him 
 unwilling to enforce punishments really called for in the 
 interests of the necessary discipline, whether it arose 
 from his dislike to inflicting pain or from a conception 
 of personal rights connected with his political prin- 
 ciples. I rather think that Fawcett's politics were as 
 much the consequence as the cause of his extreme 
 good-nature. His dread of officialism, too, counted 
 for something in this as in all his official activity. 
 He could not bear to make a human being the victim 
 of a rigid formula. A certain inclination to this side 
 Heems to me characteristic of Fawcett. I remember his 
 leaning to the good-natured view in the little world of 
 college, where questions of discipline would also occasion-
 
 446 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ally arise. Any deviation from strict justice would cer- 
 tainly be in the direction of mildness ; and the tendency 
 fell in not only with his natural kindliness, but with the 
 cheery optimism which predisposed him to the pleasantest 
 view of things, and made him unwilling to believe in the 
 existence of evils or in the necessity of inflicting pain. 
 But a different view may be taken of the facts. Fawcett's 
 good nature was blended with a strong sense of justice. 
 He was righteously unwilling to dismiss a man, often 
 with a stigma for life, unless he was thoroughly convinced 
 that the charge was fully proved ; and he might be right 
 in refusing to accept the decision of a man's superior, 
 even though the superior might be annoyed. I know 
 that some qualified observers attribute the best effects 
 to Fawcett's scrupulous attention to such considerations. 
 His gentleness was in any case appreciated by those 
 whom it concerned. They felt that their superior was 
 really sensitive to their welfare. I will venture in this 
 connection to quote part of a letter from a post-office 
 clerk sent with a wreath to be laid upon Fawcett's coffin. 
 After speaking with genuine feeling of Fawcett's fairness, 
 sincerity, determination to do the right, and ' gentleness 
 in dealing with delicate and difficult cases,' the writer 
 adds, ' The humblest servant within the dominion of his 
 authority was not left uncared for. During his history 
 as Postmaster-General, a greatly improved state of feeling 
 has been introduced among the officers in their general 
 tone towards each other and towards those beneath them, 
 and the whole service in all respects has been greatly 
 and wonderfully improved.' 
 
 I have sufficient testimony that Fawcett's influence
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 447 
 
 in maintaining and raising the tone of the official de- 
 partments more immediately under his influence was 
 marked and elevating. I have given the only two ad- 
 verse criticisms which Mr. Blackwood thinks may be made 
 upon his administrative powers. But these blemishes 
 which are at worst exaggerations of good qualities 
 are noticed by Mr. Blackwood as the sole drawbacks 
 from remarkable excellence. ' Nothing struck me more 
 forcibly in Fawcett's character,' he writes, ' than his 
 extreme thoughtfulness for the wishes, feelings, and con- 
 venience of everyone with whom he had to do. As a 
 Minister of State he could, of course, command the 
 services of all his subordinates, and his blindness might 
 have been regarded as justifying him in requiring their 
 aid to an exceptional degree. But I invariably observed 
 that he would sooner expose himself to inconvenience, 
 and even deprive himself of what appeared to be official 
 assistance of an almost indispensable character, than 
 subject those from whom he might have demanded it to 
 inconvenience. Numerous instances have occurred to 
 me when he preferred to wait for information rather than 
 cause an officer to forego his leave of absence, and even 
 miss a train or his usual luncheon-hour. There were 
 few things about which he was more determined to put 
 matters right than the health of the staff in the various 
 offices, and the sanitary conditions under which work was 
 performed. He was keen at once to observe the failure of 
 health, however slight, in any of the officers with whom 
 he came in contact, and at once to suggest that they should 
 recruit themselves by leave of absence. He never forgot 
 the particular circumstances connected with each case in
 
 448 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 which he had been interested. He took the greatest 
 interest in the official career of his subordinates, and 
 often suggested some beneficial change of employment. 
 Whilst very cautious in deciding to administer blame, he 
 never shrank from the unpleasant task of doing it per- 
 sonally in any delicate case, or when he thought that 
 it would have a better effect as coming directly from 
 himself. 
 
 ' His quickness in discernment of character struck 
 me as most remarkable. A few moments' conversation 
 with an officer, or the manner in which another treated 
 a case, though only on paper, was sufficient to enable him 
 to form a very accurate idea of a man's capabilities and 
 calibre.' 
 
 ' For nearly five years,' says Mr. Blackwood in con- 
 clusion, ' I was almost daily in Mr. Fawcett's company, 
 and I can truly say that I never served, or could wish to 
 serve, under a more able, upright, and conscientious chief, 
 and that the friendship I was permitted to enjoy with him 
 inspired a most sincere affection and the strongest regard 
 for his memory. The Post-Office could never, I believe, 
 have a more capable Postmaster-General, nor its officers 
 a truer friend.' 
 
 Upon Fawcett's death, the officials who had been most 
 associated with him subscribed to make a present to his 
 widow, as a token of their ' affectionate remembrance ' 
 of a beloved chief. 
 
 Here I close my account of Fawcett's official life. 
 No one will require me to enforce the obvious conclusions 
 by any additional comments. I shall only say that to 
 the friends who had long watched his career with sym-
 
 THE POST-OFFICE 449 
 
 pathy the success of his administration gave peculiar 
 pleasure, whilst it even surpassed their anticipations. 
 He had victoriously established the one point upon 
 which doubt might still be possible. It had long been 
 certain that he possessed some of the most essential 
 qualities of a statesman independence, soundness of 
 judgment, and a power of commanding the sympathies 
 without flattering the meaner instincts of the people. 
 He had now established beyond all dispute that he was 
 not merely not disqualified for office by his blindness, 
 but that he had unusual qualifications both for dis- 
 charging the most onerous duties of a responsible post, 
 and for conciliating public confidence in his department. 
 Few men have ever made such a mark by a brief exercise 
 of administrative functions. It could hardly be doubt- 
 ful that he would achieve the one remaining victory 
 that, on some future occasion, he would be member of 
 a Liberal Cabinet, and be able to render invaluable 
 services at a time when it is daily becoming more im- 
 portant that the accepted leaders of the people should 
 be men who fear to speak an insincere word, and fear 
 nothing else. 
 
 G o
 
 450 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 FAWCETT'S administration of the Post-Office had greatly 
 extended his popularity. His occasional utterances in 
 public were received with marked respect. They were 
 reassertions of his old principles in a perceptibly gentler 
 tone. One only need be mentioned. On October 13, 
 1884, he delivered his last address to his constituents at 
 Hackney. Its calmness and fairness were brought into 
 relief by the angry discussions then raging between the 
 rival parties. Fawcett never forgot that his antagonists 
 were human beings a fact which is too frequently 
 overlooked by politicians. In nothing, indeed, is his 
 example more commendable than in the rebuke which it 
 tacitly administers to a spirit of mutual intolerance. He 
 was now unconsciously saying his last word upon 
 matters in which he was most deeply interested. He 
 expressed his conviction that the enfranchisement of 
 women, already dictated by justice, would soon become a 
 necessity, and he spoke emphatically in favour of pro- 
 portional representation. In the following session the 
 decision of the Government to adopt a measure incom- 
 patible with this principle led to the resignation of
 
 CONCLUSION 451 
 
 Fawcett's old friend, Mr. Courtney. I am able to say 
 that Fawcett had made up his mind to adopt the same 
 course. Some critics have thought that this decision 
 implied an excessive attachment to a mere crotchet. I 
 need not say a word as to the value of the doctrine 
 itself. Upon that question I have never been able to 
 follow Fawcett's teaching, which I mention only to give 
 more emphasis to the further statement that I cannot 
 admit the force of the adverse criticism upon Fawcett's 
 action. Not only was Mr. Hare's scheme the very first 
 political question upon which he had uttered himself in 
 public, not only had he adhered to it till the last through 
 good and evil report, but he held that it was the means 
 of giving effect to that respect for the rights of a 
 minority which was a first principle in his code of 
 political morality, and which in his opinion was an 
 essential condition of combining justice with progress. 
 He was therefore fully justified in the view that he could 
 not continue without gross inconsistency to hold office 
 in a Government which acted in opposition to his most 
 cherished convictions. 
 
 During this period Fawcett received several of those 
 honours which are to any man welcome proofs that 
 popular approval of his character is ratified by more 
 critical judges. The University of Oxford gave him the 
 honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law. The University 
 of Wiirzburg, in August 1882, on occasion of its ter- 
 centenary celebration, conferred upon him the title of 
 Doctor of Political Economy : the only other person 
 upon whom that degree had been conferred being M. de 
 
 O Q '2
 
 452 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Laveleye. The Institute of France elected him, in May 
 1 884, a corresponding member of the section of Political 
 Economy. The Koyal Society paid him the high 
 honour of electing him to a Fellowship. In 1883 the 
 University of Glasgow gave him the LL.D. degree, 
 and in the same year he was elected to the Lord Rector- 
 ship of the same University, his opponents being Lord 
 Bute and Mr. Buskin. The delivery of the customary 
 address was prevented by his death. No notes of his 
 intended remarks had been preserved. Mrs. Fawcett 
 therefore printed and presented to every student of the 
 University a copy of his last speech at Hackney. As a 
 political speech, it is, as she says in a few prefatory 
 words, of course quite different from what he would have 
 said in an address ; but she adds, ' It appears to me so 
 characteristic of him on whom the choice of the students 
 fell, so free from party passion and prejudice, so fearless 
 in saying what he knew would not be popular, so instinct 
 with devotion to principle and love of justice, that I can- 
 not believe it will be useless or unacceptable to young 
 men just beginning the battle of life.' Nothing could 
 be better said, and there are few speeches indeed delivered 
 by a strong partisan in the heat of a bitter political con- 
 test which would have the same qualifications for being 
 turned to such account. 
 
 And now, before I come to the end, I must briefly re- 
 vert from Fawcett's political career to his domestic life. 
 The stream of domestic happiness had indeed been run- 
 ning freshly and fully beneath all the agitated surface of 
 political contest. To Fawcett I have often thought was 
 specially applicable a passage in a poem which I now
 
 CONCLUSION 453 
 
 always associate with his memory. The ' happy warrior,' 
 says Wordsworth, is one 
 
 Who, though thus endued as with a sense 
 
 And faculty for storm and turbulence, 
 
 Is yet a soul whose master-bias leans 
 
 To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes ; 
 
 Sweet images ! which, wheresoe'er he be, 
 
 Are at his heart ; and such fidelity 
 
 It is his darling passion to approve ; 
 
 More brave for this, that he hath much to love. 
 
 Over some elements of his happiness I must pass 
 very lightly. I need only say that in his last years, as 
 previously, Mrs. Fawcett was his adviser in the most 
 serious matters ; and that when she was temporarily 
 absent he would put off a decision of great moment in his 
 career until he had been able to obtain her opinion. On 
 all occasions he was acutely sensible of the value of her 
 advice and encouragement. Their one child, Philippa, 
 born 1 868, was now growing up to an age at which she 
 could be frequently her father's companion, and the 
 development of her talent was a source of constant and 
 growing interest to him. He enjoyed also the intimacy 
 of Mrs. Fawcett's family, members of which have taken 
 a most important part in proving the capacity of women 
 for wider spheres of activity. A visit, always greatly 
 enjoyed, to his wife's parents at Aldeburgh was part of 
 his regular programme for the annual holiday. His 
 delight in society was unfailing ; but he delighted more 
 and more in small parties or in the family circle, 
 where conversation could be intimate and informal. A 
 walk across Clapham or Wimbledon Common, a row with 
 his old friend Fairrie, or with the ' Ancient Mariners,'
 
 454 LIFE OF HENEY FAWCETT 
 
 a ride with two or three friends along the Cambridgeshire 
 roads, or a chat over a cigar with some old college crony, 
 gave him unfailing satisfaction. He was not one of those 
 who become tongue-tied at home. He would pour himself 
 out upon all the topics in which he was most deeply in- 
 terested, over his own table, when there were no guests, 
 as freely as when he had other listeners. His passion 
 for talk and his invariable affability sometimes subjected 
 him to trials of patience. He was mean enough at times, 
 I fear, to shift such burthens upon his wife. He would 
 laugh over an anecdote of a diplomatic struggle, when he 
 and a neighbour had tried to transfer to each other the 
 company of an excessively talkative friend, who had in- 
 truded upon them during the morning hours reserved for 
 hard work. Fawcett got the worst of it on this occasion, 
 but few men could submit so patiently to such inflictions 
 or were less susceptible to the grievance of being bored. 
 Talk was a necessary of life to him. The seat which he 
 occupied in the House of Commons became notorious as 
 a centre of gossip. Wherever he went he dispelled 
 reserve. His utter indifference to distinctions of rank 
 enabled him to cultivate human relations with all classes. 
 His own servants loved him, and the servants of his 
 friends had always a pleasant word with him. He was 
 scrupulously considerate in all matters affecting the con- 
 venience of those dependent upon him. I will venture 
 to add that one inmate of his house, well known to all his 
 friends, was a little dog called Oddo, after a character in 
 ' Feats on the Fiord.' Oddo came from the refuge of lost 
 dogs to act as watch-dog in the garden at the Lawn. 
 His good qualities made him a pet, treated with rather
 
 CONCLUSION 455 
 
 excessive tenderness in matters of diet by his master, who, 
 however, took a lively interest in his education, and 
 always considered him as a humble friend. Oddo re- 
 turned his affection, and survives to be loved for his 
 master's sake. 
 
 Of Fawcett it might be said in adaptation of Johnson's 
 remark upon Burke, that if you had taken refuge with 
 him under a haystack from a shower of rain you would 
 have discovered his genius for friendship. Wherever he 
 recognised valuable qualities, friendships germinated with 
 astonishing rapidity and enjoyed a vitality hardly to be 
 expected from the rapidity of their growth. The certainty 
 with which he remembered a voice once heard in a 
 friendly talk often amazed his acquaintance. The 
 number of persons upon whom he sincerely bestowed the 
 title of intimate friends was surprising. And all the over- 
 growth of new friendships seemed rather to strengthen 
 than to stifle the earlier ties. When he went to 
 Salisbury he made a point of visiting his father's old 
 labourers and renewing the old associations by talking 
 over the matters which interested them. How successful 
 he was in throwing himself into their feelings may be 
 inferred from an anecdote of his father's old farm-servant 
 Rumbold. Rumbold was one day giving to Fawcett's 
 mother the last news from his sties ; ' and,' he added, 
 ' mind you tell Master Harry when you write to him, for 
 if there's one thing he cares about 'tis pigs.' It was one 
 thing, though hardly the one thing. His home affections 
 steadily gathered force. He had been in the habit of 
 writing a weekly letter to his parents. He happened one 
 day to ask his sister what gave them most pleasure ? She
 
 456 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 replied, ' Your letters.' From that time, though over- 
 whelmed with parliamentary and official work, he wrote 
 twice instead of once. Many of these letters lie before 
 me. They are homely and affectionate ; giving any 
 interesting bit of news ; occasionally enclosing such letters 
 as could be shown without breach of confidence ; com- 
 menting briefly upon the state of politics ; and full of little 
 requests or suggestions prompted by his affection. He 
 tells of any successes or compliments which are likely to 
 gratify his parents ; he reports with pride the remarks 
 which he has heard upon his father's remarkable 
 immunity from the infirmities of old age ; he praises his 
 father's power of packing, as shown in the preparation of 
 certain hampers which frequently passed between them ; 
 he sends birthday presents, and is always thinking of 
 some trifle, a pair of ' Norwegian slippers ' or the like, 
 which may contribute to the paternal comfort. The letters 
 everywhere imply that constant desire to give pleasure 
 which is more significant than the strongest professions 
 of affection. 1 I need not say with what affectionate 
 pride these letters must have been received, nor what 
 comfort must have followed the reflection that the blow 
 innocently inflicted by his father's hand had furthered 
 rather than impeded the son's career. 
 
 1 I venture here to insert an anecdote which reached me too late 
 to occupy its proper place. The Rev. Sir James E. Philipps, Bart., now 
 Vicar of Warminster, was curate of Wilton at the time of Fawcett's 
 accident. Mr. Sidney Herbert (as he then was) rode over immediately 
 to see Mr. Fawcett, senior. Sir J. Phillips happened to be at Wilton 
 House on his return. Mr. Sidney Herbert, on being asked about the 
 family, replied that Mr. Fawcett had said to him, ' I could bear it if my 
 son would only complain.' That was almost the only consolation which 
 he never received.
 
 CONCLUSION 457 
 
 The increase of Fawcett's income upon taking office 
 made no difference in his modes of life. He was 
 profoundly sensible of the importance of preserving 
 absolute independence in money matters. Except that 
 he spent a little more upon riding, he lived precisely 
 as he had done before. He was able also to allow him- 
 self the luxury of a few more presents to his family ; 
 and nothing gave him more pleasure than to enter- 
 tain his parents and sister at his house ; to provide 
 seats for them at concerts and so forth ; or to take 
 his father with him to the House of Commons and 
 bring some of his political friends for a chat under 
 the gallery. 
 
 A trial was now to befall all who loved Fawcett. 
 During the summer of 1882 he had worked with little 
 intermission. He came to town in November for the 
 autumn session, and on returning from the Lord 
 Mayor's banquet on the 9th, Mrs. Fawcett heard that 
 the illness of a cousin, Miss Ehoda Garrett, to whom 
 she was strongly attached, had taken a serious turn. 
 She immediately went to the house to take a share in 
 nursing. Miss Garrett died on the 22nd. Besides dis- 
 charging his parliamentary and official duties, Fawcett had 
 to attend to his lectures at Cambridge, and was persuaded 
 to go to Salisbury to speak at an election meeting. His 
 speech (on November 1 7) was spirited, and his father was 
 present to be witness and share the enthusiastic wel- 
 come of the son. After the meeting, Fawcett seemed 
 fagged. He returned to town on Monday, the 2oth, 
 lectured at Cambridge on the 22nd, returned to town, 
 and on the 23rd went to the House and did business.
 
 458 LIFE OF HENKY FAWCETT 
 
 He complained of feeling ill, but apparently suffered 
 from nothing worse than a cold. He grew worse, and 
 Mrs. Fawcett, who had been at Miss Garrett's funeral at 
 Eustington on the 25th, returned to town on the 27th, 
 and was alarmed at his condition. On Wednesday, the 
 29th, Sir Andrew Clark pronounced the case to be one of 
 diphtheria. Miss Agnes Garrett, Mrs. Fawcett's sister, 
 had fortunately happened to be calling at the beginning 
 of the illness, and stayed to the end. Mrs. Fawcett 
 devoted her whole energies to the most assiduous care of 
 her husband. Dr. Ford Anderson, Mrs. Garrett Ander- 
 son's brother-in-law, took up his lodging in the house to 
 be always at hand. Complications soon appeared. The 
 presence of typhoid was suspected, and Sir W. Jenner, 
 who was called in, confirmed the opinion. A bulletin 
 stating the new danger was issued on December 2, 
 and caused general anxiety. The fever was expected to 
 reach its crisis on December 9 ; and upon that day it 
 was hoped that the worst was over, when a violent 
 haemorrhage took place in the evening, which threatened 
 to produce choking. Happily Dr. Ford Anderson was 
 immediately on the spot. The danger was surmounted, 
 and no serious return occurred. After this there was no 
 further relapse, and at the end of the week the patient 
 was considered to be out of danger. 
 
 Fawcett was frequently delirious during the first fort- 
 night and remembered little of what had happened. He 
 said that he had made up his mind that he should not 
 recover, and remarked upon the little importance of an 
 expectation of death during serious illness. He insisted 
 upon hearing the bulletins, which were read to him
 
 CONCLUSION 459 
 
 with certain omissions. He remembered the date of 
 an important election at Liverpool and inquired for 
 the result. He spoke, when at his worst, of a custom 
 which he had for many years observed, of making pre- 
 sents of beef and mutton to his father's old labourers 
 or their widows at Christmas. As soon as he became 
 distinctly conscious, he told his secretary to be sure to 
 make the necessary arrangements. He would also 
 ask whether the inmates of his family or the doctors 
 who came to see him were getting proper attention to 
 their meals. 1 
 
 Earely has any case of illness been watched so 
 anxiously by the outside world. Letters and messages 
 poured in, not only from colleagues, subordinates, and 
 personal friends, but from persons in all ranks from the 
 Eoyal Family down to many whose communications were 
 not the less welcome because betraying that the pen was 
 an implement only used under strong pressure of feeling. 
 The Queen often telegraphed twice a day for the latest 
 news. Everywhere, in meetings of working-men and third- 
 class carriages, the last news of Fawcett was discussed and 
 the progress of his illness followed with eager attention. 
 When once convalescent, Fawcett gained strength rapidly. 
 Daily relays of lady friends came to read to him ; they got 
 through the whole of ' Vanity Fair.' Fawcett was deeply 
 
 1 During this terrible struggle for life, Fawcett received the most 
 unstinted devotion of his family and physicians. Besides his regular 
 attendant, Mr. E. Wright of Clapham, Sir Andrew Clark, Mrs. Anderson, 
 and Dr. Ford Anderson, were in daily attendance, and did all that 
 could be done by skill and affection. Miss Agnes Garrett and Mr. Dry- 
 hurst were equally devoted. Miss L. M. Wilkinson and Miss Cowie also 
 came daily to the house to help as occasion served. They have all, I 
 have reason to know, earned enduring gratitude for their labour of love.
 
 4f>0 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 touched by the kindness. When it became possible to bring 
 back two maids who had been left at Cambridge for fear of 
 infection, they brought with them Oddo and a cat named 
 Ben ; and a little family festival took place, in which both 
 dog and cat did what their nature permitted to join in the 
 general congratulations. After three weeks' silence, he was 
 able to dictate a letter to his parents. On January 8 he was 
 taken to the house of his father-in-law at Aldeburgh, where 
 his friend Mr. Sedley Taylor came to help in amusing him. 
 There he received a congratulatory address, signed by some 
 350 inhabitants of the little town, claiming a special in- 
 terest in him, and rejoicing that their bracing air had con- 
 tributed to his convalescence. He afterwards paid visits 
 to Sir B. Samuelson at Torquay, to Mr. Hawke at Lis- 
 keard (where he played cards for the first time), and to 
 Lord Portsmouth at Eggesford, and he reached Salisbury 
 on February 26. Though still suffering from rheumatism 
 and sleeplessness, he was rapidly gaining strength. With 
 Mrs. Fawcett's help he prepared a new edition of the 
 ' Manual ' ; and in March he resumed his duties at the 
 Post-Office, which in the interval had been undertaken 
 by his old friend and colleague, Mr. Lefevre. His recep- 
 tion on again entering the House of Commons was such 
 as could only be given to a universal favourite just 
 escaped from imminent danger. 
 
 Fawcett appeared to himself, and to others, to have 
 made a complete recovery. His strong constitution 
 seemed to have triumphed completely. He had always 
 been careful in matters of health, scrupulous in diet, 
 taking regular and moderate exercise, and anxious to a 
 degree which was a cause of friendly ridicule to guard
 
 CONCLUSION 461 
 
 against chills by warm clothing. One or two slight 
 attacks of cold showed the necessity for caution, and his 
 friends sometimes remarked that his stride was less 
 vigorous than of old, especially in going up hill. But 
 this was easily explained by his increase in weight. All 
 anxiety had disappeared, and to inquiries after his 
 health he would answer that he was never better in his 
 life. His cheerfulness and vigour of mind seemed fully 
 to confirm the statement ; though there can now be no 
 doubt that the shock had left permanent weakness. 
 
 In the summer of 1884 he was again prevented from 
 taking a proper holiday. The telephone question gave 
 him much worry and anxiety. In September he visited 
 Wales, made a vigorous little speech at Bala, and after 
 visits to Mr. H. Eobertson and Mr. Osborne Morgan, 
 returned to Cambridge at the end of September. He 
 was to give his lectures that term, but he was 
 frequently in London upon business, and made his 
 speech at Hackney on October 13. Parliament met in 
 the same month. On Thursday, October 30, he lectured, 
 and his voice was weak from a cold caught a day or two 
 before. After a visit to London, he returned to 
 Cambridge on Saturday, November i, where Mrs. 
 Fawcett's younger sister, Mrs. Salmon, had come with 
 her husband for a visit. He enjoyed a ride with them in 
 the afternoon, which was damp and raw, and appeared 
 none the worse on his return, but still complained of 
 cold. Two or three friends dined with him in the 
 evening, and one of them laughingly maintained the 
 superiority of a cold of his own to Fawcett's. The claim 
 was generally admitted. Next day Fawcett stayed in
 
 462 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 bed, having passed a bad night, and did some Post- 
 Office work with his secretary. Dr. Latham was called 
 in in the evening and said that a congestion of the lungs 
 was threatened. On Monday Fawcett put off his lecture 
 and made arrangements for postponing some official work. 
 In the evening the case became graver, and he suffered 
 much pain. On Tuesday he suffered much pain from 
 the development of pleurisy. Mrs. Fawcett wrote to 
 Mrs. Anderson, who came from town on Wednesday 
 afternoon. She took a grave view of the illness, but was 
 forced to return to town, promising to come back with 
 Sir Andrew Clark if an improvement did not take place. 
 After she had gone there was an improvement. At his 
 request, Mrs. Fawcett read some passages of Dickens to 
 him and he laughed over them heartily. In the evening 
 he sent a request to Mr. Lefevre to act again as his 
 deputy. In the night he became very restless, but would 
 not allow Mrs. Fawcett to be disturbed, after her pre- 
 vious want of rest. On Thursday morning (November 6) 
 he was evidently worse. Dr. Latham and Dr. Paget, 
 who had also been called in, found that the action of the 
 heart was weakened. Fawcett was able to speak to his 
 secretary about sending notice of his illness to the papers. 
 A telegram was sent to Mrs. Anderson, who reached 
 Cambridge about four in the afternoon with Sir Andrew 
 Clark. With Dr. Latham and Dr. Paget they went to 
 his room and found him dying. He was still able to 
 speak in a voice strong enough to be heard outside his 
 room. He inquired whether dinner had been provided 
 for Sir Andrew Clark. Presently his hands and feet began 
 to grow cold. Fancying that the weather had changed,
 
 CONCLUSION 463 
 
 he said to Mrs. Fawcett and Mrs. Anderson, who were 
 applying hot socks to them, ' The best things to warm my 
 hands would be my fur gloves ; they are (which was 
 true) in the pocket of my coat in the dressing-room.' He 
 never spoke again. Mrs. Anderson had left the room to 
 speak to the doctors, when he fell into a doze for a few 
 minutes, and suddenly died about half-past five, in pre- 
 sence of his wife and daughter. 
 
 It was decided to bury him in the churchyard of 
 Trumpington. Something was said of his native town, 
 but it was thought unadvisable to incur the risk of 
 additional excitement for the aged parents, still living in 
 the Close of Salisbury. On Monday, November 10, he 
 was therefore laid by the quiet little church, whose square 
 tower is so familiar to all Cambridge men. Leslie Ellis, 
 the poet and mathematician, and John Grote, most 
 kindly and modest of metaphysicians, familiar names to 
 the older generation of Cambridge, had already been 
 laid there. It was associated with many pleasant rides 
 and walks. The churchyard and the neighbouring roads 
 were thronged by a great crowd of all classes. Besides 
 his nearest and dearest, there were official colleagues, 
 the chief authorities of the University, representatives 
 of his college, of the University of Glasgow, of Brighton 
 and Hackney, his two constituencies, and of various bodies 
 specially connected with him ; and there were many friends, 
 to some of whom the scene brought crowded memories of 
 old happy days. As they stood in silence by the coffin, 
 they saw some who had been already seniors in his under- 
 graduate days, many fresh young faces and a few who had 
 grown up side by side with him. They thought, perhaps,
 
 464 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 more of the gaps. Whilst Fawcett lived, the dream of 
 the past had not been quite a dream. The old memories 
 had been so fresh and bright whilst he was there to dwell 
 upon them with unabated youthfulness that they seemed 
 still to preserve a partial reality. Now a gulf was 
 suddenly opened, and the memories sank back into the 
 phantasmal abyss of the past. About every old college 
 building and street in the old town there still hung 
 echoes of the boyish laughter and exulting talk of the 
 time when everything seemed possible except failure. But 
 for the future such memories would carry with them a 
 bitter regret. And yet they felt even then that the 
 last farewell to a brave man should not be dictated by 
 simple sorrow, and still less by despondency. Even 
 then they might feel with a certain glow of mournful 
 pride that the old blood must still be running warm and 
 strong in the race which had put out so noble an off- 
 shoot; and that in the University which he loved so 
 well, and the youth from which it is supplied, there must 
 be many ready to follow in his steps and be invigorated 
 by the example of so gallant and generous a leader. 
 
 A few words remain to be said. Many hearts were 
 chilled by the sad news which spread through the country 
 on that dreary evening. A noble career had been 
 snapped, and a beloved friend was taken from many. 
 Letters of condolence poured in from all sides, and if 
 the writers could not but feel the difficulty of giving any 
 fresh expression to a universal sentiment, they might at 
 least feel that no genuine word of sympathy is quite un- 
 availing. It falls soothingly upon wounds beyond all
 
 CONCLUSION 465 
 
 power of healing. I will not, however, venture to dwell 
 upon them. They came, as the previous congratulations 
 had come, from all classes and parties ; from the officials 
 of this and most other countries ; from many political 
 and social bodies whose causes he had served ; from the 
 circle of friends, more extensive than almost anyone 
 has ever possessed ; from many who had scarcely seen 
 him, but had received some passing kindness from 
 him ; from servants whom he had treated with 
 kindly confidence ; from anonymous writers who wished 
 to make acknowledgment of benefits derived from his 
 actions ; from many bodies of Post-Office officials, and 
 from associations of working-men. The Queen wrote to 
 the widow one of those letters which reveal her touching 
 and spontaneous sympathy with those who have suffered 
 under the heaviest of human sorrows. Mr. Gladstone 
 wrote a sympathetic letter to Fawcett's father, saying 
 that there had been no public man of our day whose re- 
 markable qualities had been more fully recognised by his 
 fellow-countrymen and more deeply embedded in their 
 memories. But I will only quote two letters, which may 
 illustrate the feeling of the class in whose interests he 
 had most energetically laboured. One, which is an ex- 
 ample of several, ran thus : 
 
 ' Pangbourne, November 8, 1884. 
 
 ' Dear Madam, I hope you will forgive us, but having 
 followed the political life of the late Professor Fawcett 
 we felt when we saw his death in the papers on the 7th 
 that we had lost a personal friend, and that a great man 
 had gone from us. 
 
 H H
 
 466 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 ' The loss to you must be beyond measure ; but we 
 as part of the nation do give you who as been his helper 
 our heartfelt sympathy in your great trouble, and we do 
 hope you may find a little consolation in knowing that 
 his work that he has done for the working classes has 
 not been in vain. 
 
 ' We, as working-men, do offer you and your child our 
 deepest sympathy, and beg to be 
 
 * Yours respectfully, 
 
 ' HARRY Cox, Carpenter. 
 
 ' CHARLES EDDY, Carpenter. 
 
 ' RICHARD BOWLES, Carpenter, 
 
 ' G. LEWENDON, Bricklayer. 
 
 ' GEORGE BROWN, Bricklayer. 
 
 ' WILLIAM Cox, Carpenter. 
 
 ' CHARLES Cox, Blacksmith. 
 
 ' M. CLIFFORD, Postmaster. 
 
 'F. CLIFFORD, Clerk.' 
 
 Another letter deserves to be given : 
 
 ' ii Elder Place, Brighton, November n, 1884. 
 
 ' Dear Mrs. Fawcett, Excuse me in not writing 
 you sooner, on the sad death of your dear lamented 
 husband. Several of his old friends at the Brighton 
 Railway works has wished me to ask you privately how 
 you are situated in a pecuniary sense. We always 
 thought that the Professor was a poor man and only had 
 what he earned by his talents ; his three years of office 
 could not have brought in much money for you and the 
 family to live in ease and comfort for the rest of your 
 days. It is our opinion that you are richly entitled to a
 
 CONCLUSION 467 
 
 public pension. Failing this, would you accept a public 
 subscription, say a penny one, from the working classes 
 of this country, for the many good and noble deeds your 
 noble partner done for the working classes of this country. 
 His advice was always sound, good, and practical, and 
 full of sympathy, a good private friend to all men. 
 
 ' I see you had a plentiful supply of flowers, but those 
 flowers soon fade and are no support to the poor and 
 fatherless ones. I am confident, if you could make up 
 your mind to accept a penny testimonial, the working 
 classes would give cheerfully, not in the shape of charity, 
 but for public and striking services rendered by one of the 
 best men since Edmund Burke. We only wish he had 
 lived twenty years longer. 
 
 ' Pray excuse my plain way of writing to you, as an 
 honest workman, one of his supporters from first to last. 
 His last letter to me a month back was full of sound and 
 good advice concerning our Provident Society. 
 
 ' Believe me your sincere friend and well-wisher, 
 
 ' JOHN SHORT, Senior.' 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett, whilst deeply touched by the good 
 feeling which prompted this letter, was able to say that 
 her husband's forethought and prudence had left her 
 in a position to make it improper for her to accept 
 either a pension or a subscription. ' Our men at the 
 railway works,' as Mr. Short replied, ' say that you are 
 entitled to all honour for refusing a pension or a public 
 subscription from the working men ; also that your dear 
 husband and our best friend has practised what he 
 always preached to us, private thrift ! '
 
 408 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Various proposals were immediately made to honour 
 Fawcett's memory. A statue is to be erected in the 
 market-place of Salisbury, near a statue previously 
 erected to Sidney Herbert, on the spot where he took 
 his first childish steps, and to which he always returned 
 with fresh affection. In Cambridge there is to be a 
 portrait by Mr. Herkomer of the figure so familiar for 
 a generation. Measures are still in progress for some 
 appropriate memorial in India to the man who showed 
 so unique a power of sympathy with a strange race. A 
 national memorial is in preparation, which is to consist of 
 a scholarship for the blind at Cambridge, some additional 
 endowment for the Eoyal Normal College for the Blind 
 at Norwood, and a tablet to be erected in Westminster 
 Abbey. A memorial is also to be erected in recognition 
 of his services to women; and the inhabitants of 
 Trumpington are placing a window to his memory in 
 their church. Such monuments are but the outward 
 symbols of the living influence still exercised upon the 
 hearts of his countrymen by a character equally remark- 
 able for masculine independence and generous sympathy. 
 My sole aim has been to do something towards enabling 
 my readers to bring that influence to bear upon 
 themselves.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE following list of Fawcett's published works is exclusive 
 of occasional letters to newspapers and a few reprints of 
 reported speeches. His independent publications, all of 
 which, except the first, were issued by Messrs. Macmillan, 
 are as follows : 
 
 1. 'Mr. Hare's Reform Bill,' simplified and explained by 
 
 Henry Fawcett, M.A. Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cam- 
 bridge. (James Eidgeway, 1860.) 
 
 2. ' The Leading Clauses of a New Eeform Bill,' June 1860. 
 
 3. ' Manual of Political Economy,' March 1863. Six editions 
 
 have appeared, the last in August 1883. Each edition 
 was carefully revised, but the bulk is not much altered. 
 Up to June 1884, 21,750 copies had been printed. In 
 the fifteen months to June 1864, 1,031 copies were sold ; 
 and 1,673 copies in the year to June 1884. 
 
 4. ' The Economic Position of the British Labourer,' Sep- 
 
 tember 1865. Substance of a course of lectures delivered 
 in autumn of 1864. 
 
 5. 'Pauperism: Its Causes and Remedies,' April 1871. 
 
 Substance of a course of lectures delivered in the 
 autumn of 1870. Substance embodied in later editions 
 of the ' Manual.' 
 
 6. ' Essays and Lectures on Social and Political Subjects,' 
 
 March 1872. Containing eight essays by Mrs. Fawcett, 
 and the following by H. Fawcett (i) Three lectures
 
 470 LITE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 forming part of a series delivered in the Lent Term 
 of 1872 upon ' The Programme of the International 
 Society economically considered,' and dealing respec- 
 tively with ' Modern Socialism,' ' The General Aspects 
 of State Intervention,' and ' The Regulation of the 
 Hours of Labour by the State ' ; (2) an article reprinted 
 from Macmillan's Magazine for October 1868, entitled 
 ' What can be done for the Agricultural Labourer,' with 
 a postscript dated January 1872 upon 'The Education 
 Act and the Agricultural Commission ' ; (3) an article 
 upon* Pauperism, Charity, and the Poor Law,' reprinted 
 from the British Quarterly for April 1869; (4) an 
 article .upon the ' House of Lords,' reprinted from the 
 Fortnightly Review for October 1871. 
 
 7. ' Speeches on some Current Political Questions,' October 
 
 1873- 
 
 8. ' Free Trade and Protection,' May 1878. Substance of a 
 
 course of lectures delivered in the autumn of 1877. The 
 sixth edition, edited by Mrs. Fawcett, appeared in 
 February 1885. Nearly 6,000 copies had been printed by 
 June 1884. 
 
 9. ' Indian Finance,' January 1880. Three essays reprinted, 
 
 with introduction and appendix, from the Nineteenth 
 Century. 
 
 10. ' State Socialism and the Nationalisation of the Laud,' 
 
 July 1883. Separate publication of a chapter in the 
 sixth edition of the ' Manual,' which also appeared in 
 Macmillan's Magazine for July 1883. It was sold 
 for 2d., and 9,000 copies were printed up to June 
 1884. 
 
 11. ' Labour and Wages,' April 1884. A reprint of five 
 
 chapters from the sixth edition of the ' Manual,' on 
 4 Remedies for Low Wages,' ' Trades-unions,' ' Strikes 
 and Copartnership,' ' Co-operation,' and ' State Social- 
 ism, and the Nationalisation of the Land.' This has 
 been translated into French by M. Raffalovich.
 
 APPENDIX 471 
 
 The following articles appeared in reviews : 
 
 Macmillan's Magazine : (i ) ' On the Social and Economical 
 Influence of the New Gold ' (July 1860) ; (2) ' Co-operative 
 Societies : their Social and Economical Aspects ' (October 
 1860) ; (3) 'A Popular Exposition of Mr. Darwin's "Origin 
 of Species " ' (December 1860) ; (4) ' On the Exclusion of those 
 who are not Members of the Established Church from Fellow- 
 ships, and other Privileges of the English Universities ' 
 March 1861) ; (5) ' Mr. Mill on Representative Government ' 
 (June 1861); (6) ' On the Present Prospects of Co-operative 
 Societies' (February 1862); (7) 'Inaugural Lecture on 
 Political Economy,' delivered before the University of Cam- 
 bridge on February 3, 1864 (April 1864) ; (8) ' State Socialism 
 and the Nationalisation of the Land ' (see above). 
 
 Westminster Review: ' Strikes : their Tendencies and 
 Beinedies ' (July 1860). 
 
 Fraser's Magazine : ' Inclosure of Commons ' (February 
 1870) ; ' The Indian Deficit ' (January 1871). 
 
 British Quarterly : ' Pauperism, Charity, and the Poor 
 Law ' (April 1869 ; see ' Essays and Lectures '). 
 
 Fortnightly Review: (i) 'To what Extent is England 
 Prosperous ? ' (January 1871) ; (2) ' Boarding out of Pauper 
 Children' (February 1871); (3) 'House of Lords ' (October 
 1871; see ' Essays and Lectures ') ; (4) ' The Present Position 
 of the Government' (November 1871 ; and separately re- 
 printed (1872) with ' Postscript in Reference to recent Minis- 
 terial Statements ') ; (5) ' The Nationalisation of the Land ' 
 (November 1872 ; part of a course of lectures delivered in 
 the Lent Term of 1872 in continuation of those published in 
 ' Essays and Lectures ') ; (6) ' The Incidence of Local Taxa- 
 tion ' (May 1873) 5(7)' Wealth and Increase of Wages ' (May 
 1873); (8) 'The Position and Prospects of Co-operation'; 
 (February 1874) ; (9) ' Professor Cairnes ' (August 1875). 
 
 Nineteenth Century: (i) 'The Financial Condition of 
 India' (February 1879); (2) 'The Indian Budget of 1879' 
 (May 1879) ; (3) ' The New Departure in Indian Finance '
 
 472 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 (October 1879 1 see ' Indian Finance ' above) ; (4) ' The next 
 Reform Bill ' (March 1880). 
 CasselVs Magazine : 
 
 (1) June 1872. 'The Condition of the Agricultural 
 Population of England ' (three articles). 
 
 (2) October 1872. 'The Poor Law and the Poor' (two 
 articles). 
 
 (3) February 1873. ' Increasing Prosperity and Advanc- 
 ing Prices ' (two articles). 
 
 (4) April 1873. 'Local Taxation' (two articles). 
 
 (5) August 1873. 'Our Present National Expenditure' 
 (two articles). 
 
 (6) November 1873. 'The Income Tax and Small 
 Incomes ' (one article).
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ABDY, Prof., 205 
 
 Aberdare, Lord, 231, 260 
 
 Aberdeen, 144, 183 
 
 Abyssinian war expenses, 344 
 
 Adair, Col., 203, 204 
 
 Addison, Joseph, 5, 14 
 
 Afghan war expenses, 392, 396- 
 398, 400, 408 
 
 Agricultural labourers, educa- 
 tion of, 229-231, 252-254, 
 260, 265, 267 
 
 ' Aids to Thrift,' 432 
 
 Aldeburgh, 127, 452, 460 
 
 Alderbury, 7, 58 
 
 Aldis, Mr., 235 
 
 American Civil War, 89, 215, 
 222 
 
 Anderson, Dr. Ford, 457, 458 
 
 Mrs. Garrett, 458, 459, 462, 
 
 463 
 
 Archer, Mr., 190 
 Argyll, Duke of, 372, 399 
 Army Purchase, abolition of, 29, 
 
 270-273 
 
 Ashbury, Mr. J., 238, 384 
 Assington, 164 
 Austen, Jane, 95 
 Austin, Charles, 23, 27 
 Australia, 41 
 Avignon, 198 
 Ayrton, Right Hon. A. S., 316, 
 
 317. 320 
 
 BACON, 95 
 
 Bagehot, Mr., 383, 384 
 
 Bala, 461 
 
 Ballot Act, 269, 275, 276 
 
 Barnes Common, 335 
 
 Bartley, Mr. G. C. T., 409 
 
 Barttelot, Sir W., 303 
 
 Bass, Mr. M. T., 64 
 
 Bateman, Bishop, 77, 133 
 
 Beaconsfield, Lord. See Dis- 
 raeli, Eight Hon. B. 
 
 Beadon, Sir Cecil, 362 
 
 Belgium, 287 
 
 Beresford-Hope, Right Hon. 
 A. J., M.P., 315, 331 
 
 Berkhampstead, 299 
 
 Besant, Dr., 32 
 
 Bessborough Gardens, 128 
 
 Bethnal Green, 397 
 
 Billiards, 17, 20, 21 
 
 Birmingham Education League, 
 254-257, 260, 262 
 
 Blackheath, 200 
 
 Blackwood, Mr. S. A., 440, 445, 
 446, 447 
 
 Blindness, 44-72, 182, 183, 193, 
 207-210, 217, 218 
 
 Blore, Rev. E. W., 84 
 
 Boarding-out system, 153, 154 
 
 Bolton, 196 
 
 Botting, Mr. W., 59 
 
 Bouverie, Right Hon. E.P., 231, 
 
 234, 237 
 
 Bowen, Mr. E. E., 28, 29 
 Brabourne, Lord, 300, 303 
 Bradford, 98, 158, 184 
 Bridges, Dr., 174 
 Briggs, Mr. (of Methley), 164
 
 474 
 
 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Bright, Right Hon. John, M.P., 
 4, 40, 188, 223, 224, 375 
 
 Brighton, 60, 128, 239, 381 
 - elections, 206-214, 2I 6, 
 217, 238, 240, 242, 347, 384 
 
 ' Election Reporter,' 212, 
 
 213 
 
 , speeches at, 128, 214, 215, 
 
 227, 229, 252, 269, 346, 347 
 British Association meetings, 
 
 99, 116, 119, 144, 158, 183, 
 
 184, 185, 200 
 
 Broadhurst, Mr. H., M.P., 277 
 Brontes, The, 95 
 Brookside, Cambridge, 129 
 Brougham, Lord, 184, 185, 189, 
 
 190 
 Brown, Mr. Edward, 63, 73, 74, 
 
 83, 119, 183 
 Bruce, Right Hon. H. A., 231, 
 
 260 
 
 Bryce, Mr. J., M.P., 335, 337 
 Buckle, Henry, 98 
 Burke, Edmund, 95 
 Bute, Marquis of, 452 
 Butler, Rev. H. M. (Dean of 
 
 Gloucester), 28, 29 
 Buxton, Charles, 297, 315 
 
 CAESAR'S CAMP, 339 
 Cairnes, Prof., 82, 142, 144, 
 157, 200, 201, 238-242 
 
 and Irish University Reform, 
 278, 281, 282 
 
 Cairns, Earl, 399 
 Calcutta, 378, 381 
 Cambridge, 23, 26, 73-94, 96, 
 457, 461, 468 
 
 election, 203-206 
 Cameron, Dr., 425 
 Campbell, Dr. C. J., 70, 71 
 
 Sir George, 252 
 
 - Mr. R., 1 08 
 Canterbury, 196 
 Cardin, Mr., 432, 434 
 Cards, 55 
 
 Carlyle, Mrs., 317 
 
 - Thomas, 13, 24, 98, 1 16, 136, 
 
 139, 220 
 
 Carlingford, Lord, 279 
 Carnatic railway, 378 
 Cauvery works, 393 
 Chamberlain, Right Hon. J., 
 
 M.P., 335 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord, 78 
 Chetwynd, Mr., 429, 431 
 China, 42 
 Cima di Jazzi, 60 
 Clarendon Woods, 60 
 Clark, Sir Andrew, 458, 459, 
 
 462 
 
 , Mr. W. G., 83 
 Clarke, Mr. C. B., vii., 15-17, 
 
 21, 22, 32, 35, 63, 74, 89, 121, 
 
 122, 153, 185, 188, 197, 200, 
 
 205, 212, 342, 383 
 
 and King's College, 15-17 
 
 Brighton election, 212 
 
 Cambridge, 21, 22, 32, 74, 
 
 89 
 India, 342, 383 
 
 professorship election, 
 
 121, 122 
 
 Clayhithe, 61 
 Clifford, Prof., 86, 286 
 Cobbett, William, 5, 141 
 Cobden, Richard, 4, 83, 84, 89, 
 
 216, 217, 219, 358 
 ' Cobdenites,' 29, 219 
 Cockburn, Chief Justice, 113, 
 
 132 
 Coleridge, Lord, 225, 234, 237, 
 
 245, 246, 315 
 Common land, amount of, 327, 
 
 334 
 Commons Bill of 1869, 299- 
 
 307, 322 
 1876, 328-332 
 
 Preservation Society, 298, 
 307, 310, 312, 313, 316, 317, 
 328, 329, 335. 337 
 
 Cointe, 235 
 
 Coningham, Mr., 206, 210, 212, 
 
 238 
 
 Cooke, Mr. C., 36 
 Cooper, Mary, afterwards Mrs. 
 
 W. Fawcett. See Mrs. W. 
 
 Fawcett 
 
 Cooper's Hill College, 356 
 Co-operation, 164-166, 216,387
 
 INDEX 
 
 475 
 
 COR 
 
 Cornish mining, 201 
 Courtney, Mr. L., M.P., 1 1 7, 1 20- 
 
 122, 201, 222, 278, 430, 450 
 
 Cowie, Miss, 459 
 Cowper-Temple, Mr., 64, 297, 
 
 303, 35. 319, 332 
 Cricket, 57 
 Crimean War, 29 
 Critchett, Mr. George, viii.,35,45 
 Mr. G. Anderson, 35 
 Cross, Rt. Hon. Sir R., M.P., 
 
 169, 174, 328-332 
 Cullen, Cardinal, 284 
 Cumberbatch, Mr., 325 
 Cumulative vote, 226 
 Cunningham, Mr. J. W., 16 
 
 DACOSTA, Mr. J., 357 
 Dale, Mr. A. W. W., 342 
 Darwin, Charles, 98-102, 239 
 Delhi, 391 
 
 Democracy, 170-173, 186, 187 
 Dent, Mr., 230 
 De Quincey, 95 
 Derby, 220 
 
 Lord, 42, 1 88, 378, 407 
 Dilke, Mr. Ashton, 277 
 Et. Hon. Sir C. W., M.P., 288, 
 
 289, 301, 332 
 Disraeli, Rt. Hon. B., 186, 220, 
 
 223, 225, 227, 239, 285, 386, 
 
 388, 390, 403, 405 
 Dixon, Mr. George, 257, 262, 266 
 Docwra, 416 
 Donaldson, Dr., 57 
 Doulton, Mr., 297 
 Dredge, Mr., 191, 192, 195, 196, 
 
 203, 204, 212 
 Driving, 59 
 Dryhurst, Mr. F. J., 55, 62, 70, 
 
 74, 458 
 
 Dumas, Mr. Kuper, 206-209, 
 212, 214 
 
 EASTERN QUESTION, 406-408 
 'Economic position of British 
 Labourer,' 136 
 
 FAW 
 
 ' Economist ' newspaper, 383 
 
 3.84 
 
 Edinburgh, Duke of, 353, 366 
 
 Edmonson, Mr., 9, 10 
 
 Education of agricultural la- 
 bourers, 167, 168, 229-231, 
 253, 254, 260, 265-267 
 
 compulsory, 28, 29, 167, 
 168, 170, 175, 228-231, 253- 
 269 
 
 Edwards, Mr. J., 17 
 
 Egerton, Rev. J. C., 36, 98 
 
 Egypt, 400, 412 
 
 Election expenses, 226-228, 
 239, 249, 276, 277, 385, 386 
 
 Eliot, George, 95, 164 
 
 Ellis, Leslie, 463 
 
 Elphinstone Land Co., 379 
 
 Ely, 58, 61 
 
 Enclosure Commissioners, 298- 
 301, 304-306, 310, 327, 330, 
 
 331. 333, 334 
 Endowed Schools Act, 358, 404, 
 
 405 
 Epping Forest, 295-297, 308- 
 
 322, 339, 386 
 Epsom, 297, 339 
 ' Essays and Lectures,' 160, 177, 
 
 264 
 
 Euclid, 16, 142 
 Euston Square burial ground, 
 
 336 
 
 Ewart, Mr., 235, 237 
 Exeter, Lord, 188 
 Eyre, Mr. Briscoe, 325 
 
 FACTORY ACTS, 174-176, 222, 
 229-231, 237, 253, 254, 258, 
 265, 266, 385, 386 
 Fairrie, Mr. E. H., 336, 453 
 Fawcett, Henry, birth, i ; at a 
 dame school, 6 ; Mr. Sopp's, 
 7, 8 ; early diary, 8 ; at 
 Queen wood College, 8-15; 
 boyish writings, 11-14; at 
 King's College, 15 ; goes to 
 Peterhouse, Cambridge, 18 ; 
 personal appearance, 18, 19 ;
 
 476 
 
 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 FAW 
 
 undergraduate life, 19-33; 
 Trinity Hall, 30 ; Cambridge 
 studies, 24-27 ; the Union, 
 27-30 ; Mathematical Tripos, 
 32 ; Fellowship, 32, 33 ; parlia- 
 mentary ambition, 38-40; the 
 bar, 33, 34 ; Putney Heath, 
 34 ; Westminster Debating 
 Society, 34 ; affection of the 
 eyes, 35-37, 41, 42; Paris, 
 36 ; French oculists, 36 ; 
 letters to Mrs. Hodding, 38- 
 42 ; visits House of Com- 
 mons, 42 ; accident, 43-52 ; 
 decides on his career, 47, 51, 
 52 ; letter from Mr. Hopkins, 
 48-51 ; life at Cambridge, 73- 
 90 ; lectures at Bradford, 98 ; 
 British Association meetings, 
 99, 116, 119, 144, 158, 183; 
 defence of Darwinism, 99 ; 
 correspondence with J. S. 
 Mill, 102-104, 187, 188; Uni- 
 versity reform, 104, 116, 133 ; 
 writings on political economy, 
 182 -188 ; contests Southward, 
 189-195; sounds other con- 
 stituencies, 196; contests 
 Cambridge, 203-206 ; Pro- 
 fessor of Political Economy, 
 117-123; lectures, 123-125, 
 146, 294 ; his work in political 
 economy, 134-169, 293-296; 
 first contest at Brighton, 
 206-214 ; second contest and 
 election, 214, 216-218; enters 
 House of Commons, 218-222 ; 
 re-election to Fellowship, 126; 
 marriage, 125-129; returned 
 for Brighton in 1868, 238 ; 
 attitude towards the Govern- 
 ment, 242, 245, 268-277, 289- 
 292 ; article in ' Fortnightly 
 Review,' 273, 274, 321, 322 ; 
 defeated at Brighton in 1874, 
 384 ; elected for Hackney, 
 386, 387 ; candidature for 
 Mastership of Trinity Hall, 
 130-133; parliamentary re- 
 form, 214, 222-227 ; election 
 expenses, 226, 228, 239, 249, 
 
 276, 277 ; education of agri- 
 cultural labourers, 229-^31, 
 2 53i 265-267 ; University 
 reform (in Parliament), 231- 
 2 37> 245^249 ; open com- 
 petition, 249 ; political pen- 
 sions, 249, 250 ; Irish Church 
 question, 238, 250, 251 ; 
 Irish land question, 252, 253 ; 
 Irish University question, 
 277-286 ; compulsory edu- 
 cation, 253-268 ; the budget 
 of 1871, 270, 271, 274; army 
 purchase, 271 -273 ; commons 
 preservation, 293 340; India, 
 341-401 ; endowed schools, 
 404 ; Eastern Question, 406- 
 409 ; second election for 
 Hackney, 409 ; Postmaster- 
 General, 409, 410; views of 
 Irish question and Egypt, 
 411-413; principles of Post- 
 Office administration, 413- 
 416; parcel post, 416-421 ; 
 cheap telegrams, 421-424; 
 telephones, 424-427 ; postal 
 orders, 427-429 ; savings 
 banks annuities and insur- 
 ance, 429-437 ; takes up a 
 case of hardship, 433 ; minor 
 improvements, 437, 438 ; in- 
 ternal administration, 439- 
 443 ; employment of women, 
 443, 444 ; influence and 
 ability in his administrative 
 capacity, 444-449 ; last ad- 
 dress at Hackney, 450 ; 
 honorary distinctions, 451, 
 452 ; illness in 1882-83, 457- 
 460 ; last illness and death, 
 460-464 ; public feeling on his 
 death, 464-468 ; parliamen- 
 tary position, 289-292, 388, 
 402, 403 ; character, 37, 38, 
 S 2 , 53. 67, 72, 85-87, 129, 
 '3. 177-181, 195, 196, 218, 
 219, 243, 291, 292, 337- 
 340; family affection, 46, 
 455, 456; kindness to sick 
 friends, 84, 85 ; friendships 
 with younger men, 85, 86 ;
 
 INDEX 
 
 477 
 
 FAW 
 
 habits and amusements, 53- 
 72 ; love of scenery, 59, 60, 
 71 ; regard for Cambridge 
 training, 90-94 ; business 
 capacity, 201-203 i views on 
 Republicanism, 286-289 ; do- 
 mestic life, 452-457 
 
 Fawcett, Mrs. (wife of Henry 
 Fawcett),53, 58,62, 125, 127- 
 129, 264, 452, 453, 460, 462, 
 467 
 
 Fawcett, Miss Philippa Garrett 
 (daughter of Henry Fawcett), 
 54, 62, 453 
 
 Fawcett, Mr. William (father 
 of Henry Fawcett), biogra- 
 phical details, 1-4, II, 17, 18; 
 share in his son's accident, 
 43, 45, 46, 63, 65, 201, 205, 
 
 212, 2l6, 22O, 221, 456 
 
 Fawcett, Mrs. (mother of Henry 
 Fawcett), 2, 3, 65, 121, 122, 
 221 
 
 Fawcett, Miss Maria (sister of 
 Henry Fawcett), 2, n, 36, 
 41, 42, 44, 122, 212, 221 
 
 Fawcett, Mr. William, junior 
 (brother of Henry Fawcett), 
 
 2, 4, 57 
 Fawcett, Mr. Thomas Cooper 
 
 (brother of Henry Fawcett), 2 
 Fawcett, Col., 211, 216 
 Fearon, Mr., 15, 17 
 Fellenberg, 9 
 
 Fellowship system, 75> 7^ 
 Fellowships, tenure of, 30, 104- 
 
 116 
 
 Finsbury, 196 
 Fishing, 8, 63-67 
 Fitzmaurice, Lord E., 332 
 Fitzroy, Mr. F., 108 
 Forster, Right Hon. W. E., 
 
 M.P., 256, 258, 259 
 Fortescue, Right Hon. Chiches- 
 
 ter (Lord Carlingford), 279 
 'Fortnightly Review,' 273,274, 
 
 321,322 
 
 Foster, the Messrs, (of Cam- 
 bridge), 122 
 
 Fowler, Sir R. N., M.P., 357 
 Franco-German War, 287 
 
 Frankland, Dr., 10 
 
 Free education, 256, 262-265 
 
 ' Free Trade and Protection,' 
 
 book on, 136, 146-149 
 Froude, Mr. J. A., 137 
 Fuller, Prof., 24 
 
 GANDAMAK, 396 
 
 Gardiner, Mr. W. D., 22 
 
 Gardner bequest to the blind, 70 
 
 Garibaldi, 215 
 
 Garrett, Miss Agnes, 458 
 
 Garrett, Miss Millicent. See 
 Mrs. (Henry) Fawcett 
 
 Garrett, Mr. Newson, 127 
 
 Garrett, Miss Rhoda, 457 
 
 Geldart, Dr., 78, 130 
 
 George, Mr. Henry, 141 
 
 Gibraltar and Falmouth cable, 
 366 
 
 Gill, Lieut., 387 
 
 Gladstone, Right Hon.W. E., 40, 
 42, 86, 89, 220, 223-225, 230, 
 236, 238-240, 242-245, 247, 
 248, 250, 257, 260, 278-287, 
 29r, 292, 312, 313, 315, 317, 
 
 353, 383, 385-387, 390, 397- 
 399, 403, 406, 409-413, 429, 
 
 43, 465 
 on Afghan War expenses, 
 
 397-399 
 - Commons, 312, 313, 315 
 
 Eastern Question, reso- 
 lutions on, 407, 408 
 
 English University re- 
 form, 236, 247, 248 
 
 Income-tax, 386 
 
 Irish University reform, 
 278-287 
 
 oratory, 40, 42 
 
 Parliamentary Reform, 
 
 223-225, 230, 244 
 Glasgow, 184, 194 ; rectorship, 
 
 45 2 > 463 
 
 Godavery works, 379 
 Godwin W., 150, 151 
 ' Gogmagog Hills,' 58 
 Gold discoveries, 13, 144, 183 
 Goldsmid, Sir Julian, 206, 
 
 208, 209, 212, 214
 
 478 
 
 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 GOO 
 
 Goodeve, Prof., 17 
 Gorst, Sir J. E., 28, 29 
 Granchester, 58 
 Grant-Duff, Right Hon. M. E., 
 
 237, 353-356 
 Greenwich, 240 
 Grote, John, 463 
 Guildford, 300 
 Gully, Mr. W . C., 20, 28 
 Gunson, Rev. W. M., 84, 205 
 Gurdon, Mr., 164 
 
 HACKNEY, 176, 397, 461 
 
 elections, 347, 385-387, 409 
 
 speeches at, 386, 397, 450 
 Hadley, Mr., 31, 32 
 Hainault, Forest, 308, 309, 311 
 Halifax, Lord, 366, 367 
 
 Hall, Prof., 17 
 - Mr. W. H., 62, 63 
 Halpin, Mr., 191 
 Hamilton, Dr. (Dean of Salis- 
 bury), 17 
 
 Lord G., M.P. 389 
 Hammond, Mr. J. L., 83, 85, 
 
 205 
 Hampstead Heath, 296, 297, 
 
 3'6 
 
 Hann, Mr. James, 16 
 Har court, Right Hon. Sir W., 
 
 M.P., 27, 303, 307, 332, 333 
 Hare, Mr. Thomas, 82, 87, 89, 
 
 103, 170, 184, 188, 197, 215, 
 
 216, 450 
 
 Harlowe, Clarissa, 84 
 Harnham Hill, 43 
 Harper, Mr., 212, 214 
 Harris, Mrs. (schoolmistress), 
 
 6, 17 
 Hartington, Marquis of, 407, 
 
 409, 410 
 
 Hartog, Mr. N., 247 
 Hatherley, Lord, 399 
 Hawke, Mr. R., 202, 460 
 Haynes, Mr. A., 74 
 Hayward, Mr. T. H., 3 
 Henley, 336 
 
 Hennessy, Sir J. Pope, 34 
 Herbert, Sidney, 456 
 Herschel, Sir John, 49 
 
 IND 
 
 Hertz, Mr. and Mrs., 184 
 High Beach, 318, 319, 335 
 Hill, Miss Octavia, 339 
 Sir Rowland, 416 
 Hoare, Mr., 66 
 Hobbes, 142 
 Hodding, Mrs., viii., 34, 38, 60, 
 
 342 
 
 Hofwyl, 9 
 Holmes, Mr. (factory commis 
 
 sioner), 174 
 Holms, Mr. J., M.P., 386, 387, 
 
 409 
 
 Home Rule, 412 
 Honorary distinctions, 450, 
 
 451 
 
 Hooker, Sir John, 239 
 Hopkins, Rev. F. L. (of 
 
 Trinity Hall), 205 
 
 Mr. W. (mathematical 
 
 tutor), 24, 26, 27, 48-51, 99 
 Horsman, Right Hon. E., 220, 
 
 222 
 
 Hotham, Dr., 84 
 Houghton, Lord, 27 
 House of Commons, 17, 38, 40, 
 
 52, 202, 203, 217, 220, 221 
 Lords, 246, 248, 269, 271, 
 
 272 
 
 Hughes, Mr. T., 221, 301, 303 
 Hume, David, 98 
 Hunter, Mr. R., 320, 442 
 Hutton, Mr. James, 357 
 -Mr. R. H., 118 
 Huxley, Prof., 83, 99, 167 
 
 IBBESLEY, 64, 65 
 
 Iddesleigh, Earl of. See ' Sir S. 
 
 Northcote ' 
 Immigration, protection of 
 
 labour from, 184 
 India, 13, 41, 181, 228, 237 
 financial injustice to, 365- 
 
 373. 38o 
 
 government of, by England, 
 348-352, 364-366 
 
 irrigation works in, 393 
 - income-tax, 363 
 
 English neglect of, 346, 347, 
 366
 
 INDEX 
 
 479 
 
 IXD 
 
 India, private grievances in, 
 382, 383 
 
 public works, 374-378, 380, 
 381, 390, 392-394 
 
 railways, 392 
 
 revenue inelastic, 360, 362- 
 364 
 
 net amount of, 359, 360 
 
 sources of, 359, 361, 362 
 
 subscriptions from, 38 ,, 
 386 
 
 Indian Army expenditure, 
 368-373 
 
 barracks, 373, 374 
 
 - Budgets, 353, 357, 360, 380, 
 398,400 
 
 Civil Service examinations, 
 345 
 
 cotton duties, 362, 390 
 
 Council, 365, 370, 381, 398, 
 399. 409 
 
 - Essays, 395, 396 
 
 famines, 391 
 
 finance accounts, 376, 377, 
 380, 400 
 
 - Committees, 353, 354, 
 356, 366, 369, 38i, 387, 389 
 Irish Church, 238, 250, 251 
 
 land question, 252, 253, 411, 
 412 
 
 University question, 277-286 
 
 JAMES, Sir Henry, 297 
 
 James, Mr. Henry, jun., 80 
 
 Jenner, Sir W., 458 
 
 Jessel, Sir George, 321 
 
 Jevons, Prof., 144 
 
 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 81 , 86, 455 
 
 Jones, Mr. Daniel, 22 
 
 Eichard, 119 
 
 KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH, Sir J., 158, 
 
 184, 194 
 Kelso, 65 
 King's College and School, 15- 
 
 17 
 
 Kingsley, Charles, 116 
 Kingston, 300 
 Kirby-Lonsdale, i 
 
 MAC 
 
 Knatchbull-Hugessen, Right 
 Hon. E., 300, 303 
 
 LAING, Mr. S., M.P., 353, 363 
 Laissez-faire, 149, 159-163, 
 
 166-176 
 
 Lamb, Charles, 95 
 Lambert, Sir John, 2, 17, 201 
 Lambeth, 339 
 Laplace, 86 
 
 ' Lardners Encyclopaedia,' 49 
 Lark, Mrs., 221 
 Latham, Dr., 462 
 Rev. H., 31, 131, 132, 205 
 Lawn, The, 51, 128, 129 
 Lawrence, Alderman, 315 
 -Lord, 354, 363, 370, 374, 
 
 375, 396 
 
 - Mr. P. H., 298, 338 
 Layard, Sir A. H., 192, 194, 
 
 312, 316 
 
 Leatham, Mr. E. A., M.P., 263 
 Leeds, 164 
 Lefevre, Right Hon. G. Shaw, 
 
 M.P., 298, 301, 310, 315, 
 
 320, 328-332, 338, 340, 419, 
 
 421, 427, 459, 461 
 Leicester, 196 
 Les Baux, 199 
 Leslie, Prof. Cliffe, 118 
 Lewins, W., 429 
 Lewis, Mr. Harvey, 239 
 Lincoln's Inn, 33, 52 
 Liskeard, 202 
 Lizard, The, 330 
 Locke, Mr. John, 189, 297, 301, 
 
 303, 320 
 
 Longford, 4, 44, 51, 59 
 Loughton, 310 
 Louise, The Princess, 288 
 Love, Mr. (of South wark), 190 
 Lowe, Right Hon. R., 118, 220, 
 
 222, 226, 229, 242, 270, 312- 
 
 317 
 
 Lushington,Mr.Vernon,Q.C.,28 
 Lytton, Sir E. B., 34 
 Lord, 132, 362, 391,395 
 
 MACACLAY, Lord, 27, 98 
 MacLaren, Mr. Duncan, 194
 
 480 
 
 LIFE OF HENRY FAWCETT 
 
 Macleod, Mr. H. D., 117, 122 
 Macmillan, Mr. A., 1 16, 204, 
 
 205 
 
 ' Macmillan's Magazine,' 197 
 Madras, 391, 393 
 Madras irrigation works, 379 
 Mahomet, 13 
 Maine, Sir Henry, 34, 132, 
 
 401 
 
 Major, Dr., 15 
 Malta, 397 
 
 and Alexandria cable, 367 
 Malthus, 5,97, 137, 142, 150- 
 
 156 
 
 Manchester, 158, 375, 390 
 
 Mandeville, 148 
 
 Manners, Lord John, 411, 417 
 
 Mansergh, Mr. J., 9 
 
 ' Manual of Political Economy,' 
 116, 117, I34-I3 6 . *4i, 145. 
 157, 163, 169, 197, 198, 342, 
 419, 460 
 
 Markby, Rev. Thomas, 15 
 
 Marriage, 127-129 
 
 Marriott, Mr. W. T., 29 
 
 Marten, Mr. A. G., Q.C., 28 
 
 Martin, Mr. P. Wykeham, 301 
 
 Massey, Right Hon. G., 363 
 
 Match-tax, 270 
 
 Mathematics, 14, 16, 17, 26, 32 
 
 Mathematical Tripos, 31, 32 
 
 Maurice, Rev. F. D., 24, 116 
 
 Maxwell, Prof. J. Clerk, 25 
 
 Mayo, Mr. A. T., 184 
 
 - Lord, 378 
 
 Mayor, Mr. J. B., 117-120, 122 
 
 Melly, Mr. J., 253 
 
 Memorials, 468 
 
 Merivale, Mr. Herman, 118 
 
 Merrifield, Mr. F., 211 
 
 Methley, 164 
 
 Metropolitan Commons Act, 
 298 
 
 Mickleham Vale, 339 
 
 Mill, J. S., 23, 24, 64, 82, 96, 
 97,100, 102-104,118, 125,134 
 -136, 139-142,145- 157, '59, 
 160, 165, 170, 182, 185-188, 
 190, 197, 200, 215, 219-222, 
 224, 226, 227, 235, 239-242, 
 251, 286, 342, 343 
 
 Mill, J. S., at Avignon, 197-200 
 
 correspondence with, 82, 102, 
 1 88, 190 
 
 and Darwin, 100 
 
 defeat at Westminster, 239- 
 241 
 
 election expenses, 227 
 
 enfranchisement of women, 
 226 
 
 - India, 342, 343 
 
 Irish tithe rent-charges, 251 
 
 liberty, 103 
 
 Parliamentary reform, 224 
 
 political economy, 24, 64, 
 96, 97, 134, 139-142, 157 
 
 position in the House of 
 Commons, 226, 240, 241 
 
 proportional representation, 
 170, 185-188, 215, 226 
 
 Radical Club, 286 
 
 working-men's representa- 
 tion, 242 
 
 Miller, Mr. (butler, Trinity 
 
 Hall), 79 
 
 Mills, Prof. R. H., 118 
 Milston, 5 
 Milton, John, 95 
 Mitcham Common, 335 
 Molesworth, Sir Wm., 190 
 Monckton-Milnes, Mr., 27 
 Moore, Mr. (free trader), 4 
 
 Mr., 206, 214, 217, 238 
 Morgan, Mr. Osborne, 461 
 
 ' Morning Star, The,' 189, 190, 
 
 194, 212 
 
 Morrison, Mr. George, 325 
 Moulton, Mr. J. F., 86, 357 
 Mount-Temple, Lord. See 'Mr. 
 
 Cowper-Temple ' 
 Mundella, Right Hon. A. J., 
 
 174, 176, 265, 266, 385 
 Munro, Rev. H. A. J., 84, 129 
 Music, 23, 55 
 Mutlah Railway, 378 
 
 NAPIER, Sir Charles, 189 
 
 Napoleon III., 287 
 
 Nelson, Lord, 64 
 
 Sir T., 320 
 
 New Forest, 65, 322, 326
 
 INDEX 
 
 481 
 
 NEW 
 
 Newmarch, Mr. W., 118 
 Newmarket Heath, 19, 63 
 Non -collegiate students, 235, 
 
 237 
 Normal College for the Blind, 
 
 70, 71, 468 
 
 Norman, Mr. G. W., 118 
 Normanton, Lord, 64 
 Northbrook, Lord, 388, 390 
 Northcote, Sir S., 118, 343, 354 
 
 OI>DO (a dog), 454, 460 
 Oldham, 196 
 Old Sarurn, 2, 6, 141 
 Orissa irrigation works, 379 
 Otway, Right Hon. Sir A., M.P., 
 
 206, 208-211 
 Oude, annexation of, 29 
 Ovid, 7 
 
 Owen, Bobert, 9 
 Oxford, 231, 233, 234, 236, 244 
 
 PAOET, Dr., 462 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, 40, 42, 89, 
 
 182, 219 
 
 Pangbourne, 465 
 Parliamentary reform, 30, 214, 
 
 222-227 
 
 Pattison, Mark, 98 
 'Pauperism,' book on, 136, 152- 
 
 154 
 Peasant proprietorship, 165, 
 
 239, 240 
 
 Peek, Sir H., 306 
 Pellatt, Mr. Apsley-, 191 
 Pembroke, Lord, 64 
 Pensions, 249, 250 
 Permissive Bill, 386, 387, 405 
 Peterhouse, 18, 20, 22, 24, 44, 56 
 Philipps, Bev. Sir J. E., 456 
 Pinckney, Mr. (of Salisbury), i 
 Pitman's shorthand, 9, n 
 Plunket, Hon. D., M.P., 280 
 Poland, 29 
 Political economy, 96, 97, 124, 
 
 125, 137-145 
 Club, 197 
 Pont du Gard, 199 
 Poonah, 374 
 
 ROB 
 
 Pope, Essay on, 30 
 
 Porter, Bev. J. (Master of 
 
 Peterhouse), 24 
 Porter, Mr. W. A., 24, 45 
 Portsmouth, Earl of, 459 
 Post-Office, 414-448; annui- 
 ties, 433-436 ; improvements, 
 minor, 437, 438 ; letter- 
 carriers, 222, 435 ; parcel 
 post, 416-421 ; postal orders, 
 427-429 ; salaries, 442 ; 
 savings banks, 429, 430, 436, 
 437 ; savings, investment of, 
 431; stamp slips, 431,432; 
 telegraphs, 421-424; tele- 
 phones, 424-427 ; women in, 
 
 443. 444 
 
 Powell, Mr. F. S., 205 
 Prince of Wales's visit to India, 
 
 390 
 
 Prize Fellowships, 113-116 
 Proportional representation, 
 
 184-188, 215, 216, 226, 451 
 Pryme, Prof., 117, 205 
 Putney Heath, 34, 239 
 Pyecombe, 307 
 
 QUEEN, THE, 459, 465 
 
 Queen wood College, 8-15 
 
 ' Chronicle and Reporter,' 
 
 9, 10 
 Quoits, 20 
 
 RADICAL CLUB, 286 
 Radnor, Earl of, 4 
 Bailways and Post-Office, 417, 
 
 418 
 
 State management of, 185 
 Rathbone, Mr. Harold, viii. 
 Read, Mr. Clare, 265 
 Reed, Mr. J.,of Withypool, 305, 
 
 306 
 
 Republicanism, 286-289 
 Ricardo, 96, 97, 155, 156 
 Richard, Mr. A., M.P., 263 
 Riding, 54, 62, 63, 461 
 Rigby, Mr. J., Q.C., 22, 23, 32 
 Ringwood, 64, 66 
 Roberts, Dr., vii. 
 
 I I
 
 482 
 
 LIFE OF HKNBY FAWCETT 
 
 Robertson, Mr. H., 461 
 
 Bochdale, 164 
 
 Rogers, Mr. Thorold, M.P., 
 
 118 
 
 Romford, 308 
 Romsey, 7 
 Rottingdean, 60 
 Routh, Dr., 22, 24, 2$ 
 Rowing, 56, 57, 58, 336 
 Roxburgh, Duke of, 64 
 Rumbold, Henry, 455 
 Ruskin, Mr., 136, 137, 452 
 Russell, Lord John, 29, 185, 
 
 220 
 
 ST. GEORGE'S HILL, 300 
 Salisbury, i, 3, 60, 198, 212, 
 432, 463, 468 
 
 Lord, 246, 365, 370, 388- 
 390, 393. 399 
 
 Salmon, Mr. and Mrs., 461 
 Samuelson, Sir B., 460 
 Sandhurst, Lord, 397 
 Sandon, Lord, 266, 404 
 ' Saturday Review,' 386 
 Saugor, 374 
 Savings banks, 168 
 Scott, Lord Henry, 325, 331 
 Scovell, Mr. (of South wark), 
 
 191-194 
 
 Selwyn-Ibbetson, Sir H., 319 
 Senior Nassau, 1 19 
 Seymour, Mr. Danby, 221 
 Sheffield, 158, 185, 330 
 Sherbrooke, Lord. See ' 
 
 Lowe, Right Hon. R.' 
 Short, Mr., 466, 467 
 Shorthand, 9, 1 1 
 Shute, Gen., 484 
 Sichel (oculist), 36 
 Sikes, Sir W. C., 429 
 Silver, depreciation of, 391 
 Six-Mile Bottom, 62 
 Skating, 53, 60-62 
 Smith, Adam, 97 
 
 Mr. Augustus, 299 
 
 Miss E., 437 
 
 - Prof. Henry, 80 
 
 Mr. Lumley, Q.C., 108 
 
 Miss McLeod, 62 
 
 THA 
 
 Smith, Right Hon. W. H., 326 
 
 Smoking, 55 
 
 Social Science Association, 184, 
 
 185 
 
 Socialism, 156, 157, 160, 163 
 Somerset House, 15 
 Sopp, Mr. (schoolmaster), 7, 8, 
 
 9 
 
 Southampton Cemetery Bill, 
 
 336 
 South wark, 120, 207-212 
 
 election, 189-195 
 Spencer, Earl, 318 
 
 Mr. Herbert, 160, 265 
 Squarey, Mr. A. T., vii., 4, 33 
 Stafford, 206 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 188, 378 
 
 State interference, 149, 159- 
 163, 166-176 
 
 Steele, Mr. (mathematical tu- 
 tor), 22, 24, 25 
 
 Stephen, Mr. Justice, 27 
 
 Mr. Leslie, 18, 20, 25, 31, 
 46, 57, 59, 74, 100, 108, 122, 
 126, 200, 206, 212, 213, 336 
 
 Stirling, Mr., 235, 247 
 Stonehenge, 9 
 
 Story-Maskelyne, Mr., M.P., 337 
 Strachey, Sir John, 359, 368, 
 376, 391, 394 
 
 Gen. R., 354, 356, 359, 373, 
 376-381, 391, 394 
 
 Strikes, 164, 184 
 
 Sultan's ball, 343, 344, 352, 
 
 353, 366 
 Surbitonand Kingston Railway, 
 
 335 
 
 Swaffham, 305 
 Switzerland, 60 
 
 TAIT, Prof., 22, 25 
 
 Talfourd, Judge, 79 
 
 Taylor, Miss Helen, 199, 200 
 
 Mr. P. A., 288, 301 
 
 Mr. Sedley, 164, 460 
 Tea-Room Party, 224, 225, 238 
 Tennyson, 23 
 
 Tests, religious, 231-237, 245, 
 
 249 
 Thackeray, W. M., 82, 95, 458
 
 INDEX 
 
 483 
 
 Thames protection, 336, 337 
 Thomson, Sir William, 24 
 Thornton, Mr. W. T., 82, 118, 
 
 157, 165, 197, 200, 342, 366 
 ' Times, The,' 165, 193, 257, 387 
 Tizard, Mr. Samuel, 65 
 Tooke's ' History of Prices,' 97 
 Tremenheere, Mr. H. S., 304 
 Trevelyan, Sir C., 354, 363, 370 
 
 - Right Hon. G. 0., 345 
 Trinity College, Dublin, 277- 
 
 286 
 
 - Hall, 30, 31, 56, 73, 77-8o, 
 83, 126, 130-133 
 
 at Christmas, 77-79, 82, 
 83 
 
 Master of, 76 
 
 statutes, reform of, iofr- 
 
 112 
 
 Trollope (schoolfellow of H. 
 
 Fawcett), 8 
 
 Trumpington, 58, 463, 468 
 Tyndall, Prof., 10, 13 
 
 UNEARNED increment, 165 
 Union Society, Cambridge, 27- 
 
 3 
 University Reform, 28, 30, 96, 
 
 104-116, 231-237, 245-249 
 
 VANSITTAKT, Mr. Augustus, 57 
 Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, 
 123 
 
 WAGE-FUND theory, 155-159 
 Waley, Prof., 118 
 Walking, 57, 58 
 Walpole, Right Hon. S., 231 
 Waltham, 308 
 Walton, Izaak, 12 
 Wandsworth Common, 318 
 Warley, 372 
 Warminster, 144 
 Waveney, Lord, 203, 204 
 
 Webb, Mr. Jonas, 82 
 Westminster, 239-241 
 
 Abbey, 468 
 
 Debating Society, 34 
 ' Review,' 164 
 Wheaton, Mr. S. W., 65, 66 
 Whewell, Dr., 49, 90, 119, 120, 
 
 122 
 
 Whist, 21 
 White, Mr. James, 216, 217, 
 
 221, 238, 384 
 Wilberforce, Bishop, 99 
 Wilkinson, Miss L. M., 459 
 
 Rev. M. M. U., 22, 74 
 Wilkes, Mr. Washington, 194 
 
 212 
 Willett, Mr. Henry, 208, 210, 
 
 211 
 
 Willingale, 310, 320 
 Wilson, Mr. E., 22, 24 
 
 Right Hon. E., 40 
 Wilton, 5 
 
 Wiltshire labourer, story of a, 
 
 140, 164 
 Wimbledon, 296-298, 318, 335, 
 
 339 
 
 Windsor, 296 
 Wisley Common, 300, 301, 306, 
 
 330 
 
 Withypool, 305, 306 
 Wolstenholme, Dr., 32 
 Women, education of, 173, 174 
 
 enfranchisement of, 127, 
 176, 177 
 
 employment of, 385, 443, 
 
 444 
 
 position of, 173-177 
 Woods and Forests Department, 
 
 309, 3" 
 
 Wordsworth, W., 95 
 Working-men, representation 
 
 of, 240, 242 
 Wright, Mr. Aldis, 95 
 
 Mr. E. (of Clapham), 459 
 
 Mr. Elias, vii., 64, 65, 164, 
 
 165 
 
 Mr. (of Manchester), 40 
 
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