Skip to main content

Full text of "Life and work of the seventh earl of Shaftesbury, K.G"

See other formats


I 


■ 


■ 

^H 

S\'"'  1  ■' 

1    -is 

'   '" 

i 

1 1 

■ 

■ 

■ 

H 

i  ■ 

!•».. 

'  Iv.' 

,    .    ■ 

■ 


' 


THE 


LIFE    AND    WORK 


OF    THE    SEVENTH 


EARL   OF    SHAFTESBURY,    K.G. 


1 


/^TAT    33- 


(o/Z>&eei"6Tj,  \Odaa4s  ^daAcccvty^terri/  ^ ytyfce&/usyusZjicUet' 


THE 


LIFE    AND    WORK 


OF     THE     SEVENTH 


EARL  OF  SHAFTESBURY,  K.G. 


BY 


EDWIN      H  ODDER. 


With   flnrh-aits. 


Vol.  II. 


OASSELL    &    COMPANY,    Limited 

LONDON,    PJMS,    NEW    YORK    #    MELBOURNE. 


1387. 

lALL     RIGHTS    KKSEKVED.) 


Hi/- 

$5H7 


590380 
"■  8.  54 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1844. 

p 
Hatred  of  Oppression — Distressed  Needlewomen — The  Ameers  of  Scinde 
— Motion  for  their  Release  from  Imprisonment — Result  of  the  Motion — 
Tahiti— Queen  Pomare— Pritchard  the  Missionary— War  with  France 
imminent — Sir  James  Graham's  Bill  for  Regulation  of  Labour  in 
Factories— Agitation— "  The  Ten  Hours  and  No  Surrender  !  "—Dis- 
tance Traversed  by  Children  in  Daily  Work— An  Amusing  Experiment 
by  Lord  Palmerston— A  Masterly  Speech— Attack  by  Mr.  John  Bright 
— A  Scene  in  the  House — Peel  in  a  Dilemma — Government  Stratagems 
to  Rescind  Votes — "Jack  Cade"  Legislation — Unpopularity  of  Sir 
James  Graham— A  Distance  Table— New  Factory  Bill  brought  in— 
Motion  for  Introduction  of  New  Clause— The  Ten  Hours  Bill  Argued 
on  Commercial  Grounds — Sir  James  Graham  Threatens  Resignation — 
Sir  Robert  Peel  Follows  Suit— A  Signal  Defeat— Mr.  C.  Greville's 
A^iew  of  the  Situation— Second  Threatened  Resignation  of  the  Ministry 
— Correspondence  with  Sir  Robert  Peel — Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill — 
Report  of  Metropolitan  Commissioners  in  Lunacy — Motion  Thereon — 
Public  and  Private  Asylums — Lunacy  in  its  Early  Stages — Middle- 
class  Patients— Motion  Withdrawn— Mr.  Shell's  Eulogy— Placing  a 
Son  at  School — Mrs.  Fry — Visit  of  Emperor  of  Russia — Tour  Through 
Factory  Districts — Receives  Addresses — Fresh  Schemes — Beset  by 
Bulls  of  Bashan 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

1845. 

Retrospect  and  Forecast — The  Irish  Secretaryship — State  of  Calico  Print- 
Works  Bill  to  Regulate  Labour  of  Children  therein— At  St.  Giles's — 
Defenceless  State  of  Dockyards  and  Coast — Tractarian  Movement — 
Mr.  Ward  Censured  and  Deprived  of  his  Degree — Converts  to  Rome — 
Maynooth — Sir  Robert  Peel's  Bill  for  Increased  Grant — Excitement  in 
the  Country — The  Bill  Carried — Sympathy  with  Ireland — Speech  on 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Maynooth— The  Evangelical  Fathers— Jews'  Society — Death  of  Bishop 
Alexander — The  Railway  Mania — Two  Bills  on  the  Lunacy  Question 
—  The  Regulation  of  Lunatic  Asylums  —  The  Better  Treatment  of 
Lunatics— Both  Bills  Carried — Appointment  of  Permanent  Lunacy 
Commission — Insanity  of  the  Poet  Cowper — The  Society  of  Friends — 
Tour  in  Manufacturing  Districts — A  Coming  Storm  —  The  Potato 
Disease — Commission  of  Inquiry  Appointed — A  Letter  to  the  Times — 
Its  Reception — Changes  of  View  on  Corn  Laws — Letter  from  Lord 
John  Russell — Resignation  and  Re-appointment  of  Sir  Robert  Peel — A 
Painful  Alternative         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  .81 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1846. 

Repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws — The  Ten  Hours  Bill — Mr.  John  Bright — Seat 
for  Dorset  Resigned — Hard  Work  in  Factory  Districts — Care  of  Ten 
Hours  Bill  devolves  on  Mr.  Fielden — Out  of  Parliament — In  the  Lobby 
— Fall  of  the  Peel  Ministry — Lord  John  Russell,  Prime  Minister — The 
Colonies  —  Indian  Successes  —  Letter  from  Sir  Henry  Hardinge  — 
Gloomy  Views — The  Ragged  School  Union — Curious  Coincidence  of 
Names  —  Labour  for  the  Poor  —  The  London  City  Mission — The 
Labourers'  Friend  Society — Housing  of  the  Poor — Perambulations  in 
Low  Haunts  of  London  —  Speaking  to  the  Outcasts  —  With  Little 
Children — The  Model  Lodging-House  System  Inaugurated — Article 
in  Quarterly  Review — A  Striking  Narrative — Poverty  and  Riches — 
Dreams  of  Future  Work — Activity  in  Religious  Circles — Young  Men's 
Christian  Association — Early  Closing  Movement — Bishop  Gobat — A 
Foreign  Tour — Belgium,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Holland — "The  Cells 
where  Memory  Slept  "— Invited  to  Stand  for  Bath — Famine  in  Ireland 
— Pope  Pius  IX. — A  Talk  with  Lord  John  Russell — Church  Appoint- 
ments—Unsuitable Education— Poverty         .         .         .         .         .         .125 

CHAPTER   XV. 

1847 — 1850.      THE    TEN   HOURS   BILL. 

In  Lancashire— Mr.  Fielden's  Ten  Hours  Bill — Debate  thereon  in  the 
Lords — Lord  Brougham — The  Bishop  of  Oxford — The  Bill  Carried — 
Rejoicings — Letter  to  the  Short  Time  Committees — A  Check  to  the 
Rejoicings— The  System  of  "  Relays  "  and  "  Shifts  "—A  Test  Case— 
The  Bill  in  Jeopardy— Mr.  Baron  Parkes'  Adverse  Decision  in  the  Test 
Case — An  Appeal  to  the  House — The  Work  of  Agitation  Renewed — 
Sir  George  Grey's  Proposal— Acceded  to  by  Lord  Ashley — A  Split  in 
the  Camp  — The  Government  Bill  becomes  Law — The  Principle  Estab- 
lished by  the  Ten  Hours  Bill— Recantation  of  Mr.  Roebuck  and  Sir 
James  Graham — Letter  from  Mr.  Roebuck — Mr.  Gladstone  on  Factory 
Legislation— Tributes— Summary  of  whole  Subject        .         .         .  .188 


CONTENTS.  vii 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1847. 

PAGE 

Famine  in  Ireland— Day  of  Humiliation — National  Education  and  Wes- 
leyan  Support — Letter  from  Lord  John  Russell — Election  Speech  at 
Bath— Incidents  of  the  Election— Returned  Head  of  the  roll— Ragged 
School  Business  —  Broadwall  Ragged  School  —  Roger  Miller,  City 
Missionary — His  Death — Article  on  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry— Quakers  and 
Quakerism — Article  on  Lodging  Houses — A  Hapless  Wanderer— A 
Round  of  Visits— Leader  of  the  Conservative  Party — Missionaries  — 
Miss  Strickland— Highland  Scenery— A  Presentation  at  Bradford- 
Party  Spirit — Labours  in  Lunacy  Cases — Baron  Lionel  Rothschild  and 
Jewish  Disabilities— At  Windsor— Dr.  Hampden— Faith       .         .         .212 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1818. 

Coming  Storm — Revolution  in  France — Flight  of  Louis  Philippe — A 
Revolutionary  Epidemic — State  of  England— Louis  Philippe  Lands  in 
Sussex — Panic  among  English  Residents  in  France—  Efforts  for  their 
Relief — Metternich  Deposed—"  Revolutions  go  off  like  Pop-guns  ! " — 
The  Chartist  Demonstration — Ends  in  a  Fiasco — The  Prince  Consort— 
A  Conversation  at  Osborne — Letter  from  the  Prince  Consort — Letter 
from  Lord  John  Russell — The  Prince  Visits  Homes  of  the  Poor — 
Presides  at  Labourers'  Friend  Society— May  Meetings  —Philanthropy 
a  Mania  — State  of  Sanitary  Science — Chairmanship  of  Board  of  Health 
—  Ragged  Schools  and  Emigration  -Condition  of  the  Poor— Emigration 
Scheme  Expounded — Farewell  Address  to  Emigrants—"  Lord  Ashley's 
Boys'' — A  Curious  Letter— Anecdotes  of  Thieves— A  Strange  Expe- 
rience— A  Thieves'  Conference — Lord  Hardinge — Letter  from  Mr. 
Gladstone— In  Scotland  again — Special  Providences — With  the  Queen 
Dowager— With  the  Queen  at  Harrow — Death  of  Lord  Melbourne        .  234 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1819. 

Habeas  Corpus  Act  Suspended — Distress  in  Ireland — Plans  and  Projects — 
Illness — Scheme  for  Subdivision  of  Parishes — Good  Friday — Idle 
Ecclesiastics — Attendance  at  Court — Capital  Punishment — A  Sorrow- 
ful Narrative— Death  of  Son  at  Harrow — Effect  on  Lord  Ashley — 
Ragged  School  Emigration  Scheme — A  Very  Precious  Letter — Approach 
of  Cholera — Labours  on  the  Board  of  Health — The  City  of  the  Plague 
— Public  Prayers — Correspondence  with  Lord  John  Russell  and  Sir 
George  Grey — Cholera  Statistics — Lord  Hardinge — Sanday  Labour  at 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAfiE 

the  Post-Office— Colle  ':tion  and  Delivery  of  Sunday  Letters  Suspended 
— The  most  Unpopular  Man  in  the  Kiogdom — The  Order  Prohibiting 
Sunday  Labour  at  Post- Office  Rescinded 276 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

1850—1851. 

Trusteeship  of  Money  —  Miss  Portal  — Death  of  Rev.  E.  Bickersteth  — 
Mediation — Ash  Wednesday — In  Paris— Adolph  Monod — Low  Haunts 
of  Paris  —  At  Madame  Pozzo's  —  The  President's  Reception  at  the 
Elysee— Lamartine — Theatres— Board  of  Health— Extra-mural  Inter- 
ment Bill— Death  of  Sir  Robert  Peel— Memories— In  Scotland— The 
Papal  Aggression — Dr.  "Wiseman — The  "  Durham  Letter  " — Great 
Meeting  at  Freemasons'  Hall — Letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Oxford — 
Speech  on  Progress  of  Popery — Action  of  English  Catholics — The 
Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill — Archdeacon  Manning  Joins  the  Church  of 
Rome — Roman  Catholics  and  Roman  Catholicism — Christian  Fellowship 
— The  Great  Exhibition — The  Shoeblack  Brigade — Bible  Stand  in 
Exhibition — President  of  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society — Speech 
at  Anniversary  Meeting — Model  Lodging-House  Bill — Common  Lodg- 
ing-House  Bill — Death  of  Lord  Shaftesbury — Lord  Ashley  Reviews  his 
Career    .............  308 

CHAPTER  XX. 

1851    (june)— 1852. 

Farewell  to  House  of  Commons — In  the  House  of  Lords — Speech  on 
Common  Lodging-House  Bill — Model  Lodging-House  Bill — Early  Im- 
pressions of  House  of  Lords — First  Acts  of  Power — St.  Giles's — Sweep- 
ing Reforms — The  Truck  System — Cottage  Accommodation — Kossuth — 
Socialism — Letter  to  Lord  John  Russell — Thomas  Wright,  the  Prison 
Philanthropist  —  A  Coup  d'etat  —  The  Militia  Bill  —  Brook  Street, 
Grosvenor  Square — A  Lunacy  Case — May  Meetings — At  Ems — America 
and  France — Death  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington— Chancellorship  of 
Oxford  —  Lying  in  State — The  Story  of  the  Madiai  —  An  Amusing 
Letter — "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin" — Slavery — Address  from  Women  of 
England  —  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  —  Friendships  —  The  Rev.  E. 
Bickersteth  —  Mr.  Alexander  Haldane  ■ —  Revival  of  Convocation  — 
Letter  from  Mr.  Gladstone — Auricular  Confession — Resignation  of 
Lord  Derby — Lord  Aberdeen,  Premier  .......  360 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

1853. 

The  Poor  of  London  —  Progress  of  Ragged  School  Work  —  Advice  to 
Teachers — Inspiring  Zeal — Refuges  and  Industrial  Classes — Emigra- 
tion—Address to  Children — The  Poor  Displaced  by  Building  Improve- 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE 

ments — A  further  Common  Lodging-Houses  Bill — Juvenile  Mendicancy 
— Juvenile  Delinquency — A  Carious  Episode — Challenged  to  Fight  a 
Duel — Correspondence  with  Lord  Mornington — Youthful  Offenders 
Bill — The  Waldensian  Christians — Pasteur  Meille — Peripatetic  School- 
masters— Foreign  Taste — Protestantism  Abroad — Anti-Slavery  Agita- 
tion— Stafford  House — Reply  from  the  Women  of  America — An 
Editor's  Mistake  —  China  —  London  Missionary  Society  —  Sanitary 
Reform—  "  Unpardonable  Activity  " — The  Board  of  Health  Abolished 
— Democracy — English  Eadicals — Cobden  on  Education  of  the  Masses 
— Reply  thereto — The  Career  of  a  Philanthropist — Financial  Diffi- 
culties —  Lawyers  — ■  Family  Affairs  —  Rewards  to  Agricultural 
Labourers — Palmerston's  Reply  to  Scotch  Memorialists  .         .         .  409 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
1854—1855. 

Cloud  in  the  East — State  of  England — Rumours  of  War  with  Russia — 
War  Declared-— Christians  in  Turkey — Russian  Intolerance — Letter 
from  Lord  Stanley — Letter  to  Lord  Aberdeen — Letter  from  Lord 
Clarendon  —  Religious  Liberty  in  France  —  Correspondence  with 
Emperor  of  the  French — M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys  to  Lord  Palmerston — 
Offer  of  Order  of  the  Garter — Reasons  for  Declining  the  Honour- 
Colonisation  of  Syria  —  Chimney  Sweepers  Bill  Thrown  Out  —  A 
Mothers'  Meeting — Harrow — Death  of  Lord  Jocclyn — Death  of  Duchess 
of  Beaufort- — Wild  Court — War  in  a  Christian  Spirit — Lord  Raglan's 
Despatches — Letter  to  Mr.  Haldane — Mismanagement  in  the  Crimea — 
Change  of  Ministry — Palmerston,  Premier — Offer  of  Duchy  of  Lan- 
caster— Correspondence  thereon  with  Lord  Palmerston — Letter  from 
Lady  Palmerston — Organisation  of  Sanitary  Commission  for  Crimea — 
Letter  to  Lord  Panmure — Instructions  to  the  Sanitary  Commissioners 
— Letter  from  Miss  Florence  Nightingale — Death  of  the  Czar — Visit 
of  Emperor  of  the  French — Letter  to  Mr.  Evelyn  Ashley — Offer  of 
Duchy  of  Lancaster  Renewed — Letters  from  Lady  Palmerston — In 
Perplexity — Interposition  of  Providence — Religious  Worship  Bill — 
Opposition  of  Lord  Derby  and  the  Bishop  of  Oxford — Success  of  the 
Bill — Sardinia — National  Education — Death  of  Sir  Robert  Inglis — 
Milliners  and  Dressmakers — Death  of  his  Son  Maurice — Letter  to  Mr. 
Evelyn  Ashley — Woburn  Abbey — Life  Peerages  .....  458 


THE 

LIFE    AND    WORK 

OF   THE 

EAEL    OF    SHAFTESBURY 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1844. 

Hatred  of  Oppression — Distressed  Needlewomen — The  Ameers  of  Scinde — 
Motion  for  their  Release  from  Imprisonment — Result  of  the  Motion — Tahiti 
— Queen  Pomare — Pritchard  the  Missionary — War  with  France  imminent 
— Sir  James  Graham's  Bill  for  Regulation  of  Labour  in  Factories — 
Agitation — "The  Ten  Hours  and  No  Surrender !  " — Distances  Traversed  by 
Children  in  Daily  Work — An  Amusing  Experiment  by  Lord  Palmerston — 
A  Masterly  Speech — Attack  by  Mr.  John  Bright — A  Scene  in  the  House — 
Peel  in  a  Dilemma — Government  Stratagems  to  Rescind  Votes — "Jack  Cade" 
Legislation — Unpopularity  of  Sir  James  Graham — A  Distance  Table — New 
Factory  Bill  brought  in — Motion  for  Introduction  of  New  Clause — The  Ten 
Hours  Bill  Argued  on  Commercial  Grounds — Sir  James  Graham  Threatens 
Resignation — Sir  Robert  Peel  Follows  Suit — A  Signal  Defeat — Mr.  C.  Gre- 
ville's  View  of  the  Situation — Second  Threatened  Resignation  of  the  Ministry 
— Correspondence  with  Sir  Robert  Peel — Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill— Report 
of  Metropolitan  Commissioners  in  Lunacy — Motion  Thereon — Public  and 
Private  Asylums — Lunacy  in  its  Early  Stages — Middle-class  Patients — 
Motion  Withdrawn — Mr.  Shell's  Eulogy — Placing  a  Son  at  School — Mrs. 
Fry — Visit  of  Emperor  of  Russia — Tour  Through  Factory  Districts — 
Receives  Addresses — Fresh  Schemes — Beset  by  Bulls  of  Bashan. 

Lord  Ashley  was  the  sworn  foe  of  oppression  in 
whatever  form  it  might  be  exercised.  It  mattered 
not  to  him  whether  the  oppressed  were  nations  or  in- 
dividuals, his  whole  nature  rose  against  tyranny  and 
b 


2  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.   XII. 

injustice,  and  he  could  not  forbear  to  throw  himself 
into  the  breach  and  assist  the  weak  against  the  strong. 
The  year  1S44  opened  with  heavy  demands  upon  his 
S}rmpathies.  At  home  his  aid  was  claimed  by  oppressed 
needlewomen — a  class  for  whom  he  was  always  a  willing 
advocate ;  and  abroad  by  the  ill-used  Ameers  of  Scinde. 
As  usual,  he  found  himself  either  left  almost  alone  to 
fight  these  battles,  or  else  supported  only  by  those  from 
whom  he  had  the  least  reason  to  expect  help  ;  and  he 
writes  in  his  Journal : — 

Jan.  5th. — Prepared  as  I  am,  I  am  oftentimes  distressed  and 
puzzled  by  the  s "range  contrasts  I  find  :  support  from  infidels  or 
non-professors  :  opposition  or  coldness  from  religionists  or  declaimers  ! 
I  sometimes  pause  to  reflect  whether  I  can  be  right,  whether  I  have 
followed  the  true  course,  whether — when  so  many  '  pious  '  people 
either  thwart  or  discourage  me — I  must  not  be  altogether  in  error. 
They  read  and  study  the  Bible  ;  they  pray  for  guidance  and  light ; 
they  ask,  and  surely  obtain,  God's  grace  to  judge  aright;  they 
surely,  too,  must  make  (is  it  so  in  fact  1)  their  conduct  the  subject 
and  consequence  of  fervent  supplication  before  and  after  they  have 
resolved  to  weaken  my  efforts  1  What  can  /  do  which  they  do  not 
do  ]  If  I  say  with  fervour  before  I  act,  '  Prevent  us,  O  Lord,  in  all 
our  doings,'  &c,  so  do  they,  doubtless,  when  they  prepare  a  resist- 
ance to  me.  They  implore  Almighty  God  that  all  their  '  works 
may  be  begun,  continued,  and  ended  in  Him  ! '  Is  it  so  1  If  it  be, 
I  am  indeed  gravelled. 

The  efforts  of  Lord  Ashley  on  behalf  of  the  needle- 
women arose  out  of  the  following  circumstances  : — 

Jan.  13th. — Mr.  Paget  is  to  be  indicted  for  defamation  because 
he  has  published  a  book  called  '  The  Pageant,'  in  which  he  sets  forth 
some  of  the  Parliamentary  evidence  about  the  wretched  milliners. 
An  admirable  work,  full  of  talent,  zeal,  and  truth.  Is  it  come  to 
this,  that  wicked  abominations  may  not  be   proclaimed,  and  redress 


1844.]  THE   AMEERS    OF   SCIXDE.  3 

sought  for  helpless  and  oppressed  women,  but  at  the  hazard  of  a 
prosecution  at  law  1  How  can  I  assist  him  1  He  has  applied  through 
his  solicitors  to  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  Milliners  and 
Dressmakers  to  give  him  aid  by  promising  support  to  those  young 
persons  who  shall  offer  their  evidence 

Jan.  17th. — Wrote  to  Mr.  Paget  on  Monday  ;  said  that  cause 
was  common,  defence  ought  to  be  so  too  ;  requested  leave  to  sub- 
scribe £25  towards  his  expenses Told  that  he  is  pre- 
pared to  make  a  pitiful  defence  ;  deny  that  the  plaintiff  was  the 
person  intended,  and  then  plead  in  mitigation  of  damages  ! 

Jan.  20th. — Heard  from  Mr.  Paget,  civil  and  grateful,  but  he 
declines  pecuniary  assistance.  He  is  wrong  in  his  opinion.  His 
course  is  difficult,  no  doubt ;  would  take  a  bold  line  could  he  secure 
his  witnesses  from  ruin.  Seeley  has  offered  to  raise  £100,  and  I  the 
same,  to  indemnify  any  wretched  girls  who  may,  for  that  reason,  be 
driven  from  their  situations.  His  letter  shows  him  in  a  fairer 
light ;  think  he  will  assent.  Hope  so  for  the  cause ;  and  his  friends 
should  do  so  for  his  character. 

Although,  as  far  as  Mr.  Paget  was  concerned,  the 
matter  rested  here,  the  cause  of  the  needlewomen  was 
not  allowed  to  drop  until  its  painful  features  had  been 
dragged  into  the  full  light,  and  the  wrongs  thus  ex- 
posed redressed. 

Meanwhile,  the  time  was  rapidly  approaching  for 
the  reassembling  of  Parliament,  aud  Lord  Ashley  had 
determined  to  bring  forward  at  an  early  date  a  motion 
for  an  address  to  the  Crown,  with  regard  to  the  treat- 
ment of  the  Ameers  of  Scinde,  who  were  suffering 
imprisonment  and  deprivation  of  their  rights  from  no 
fault,  as  he  conceived,  of  their  own. 

During  the  Parliamentary  Session  of  1843,  the 
affairs  of  India  had,  on  several  occasions,  been  brought 
under  discussion,  more  especially  in  connection  with 
b  2 


4  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.   XII. 

the  recent  conquest  of  Scinde.  This  district,  compris- 
ing about  50,000  square  miles,  had  been  formerly  an 
independent  territory.  It  lay  along  the  north-western 
frontier  of  our  Indian  Empire,  and  was  ruled  conjointly 
by  a  family  of  princes  known  as  the  Ameers  of  Scinde. 
Eelations,  for  the  most  part  friendly,  had  loug  subsisted 
between  the  Anglo-Indian  Government  and  the  Ameers. 
But  disputes  arose  in  connection  with  the  Afghan  War 
and  the  free  passage  of  the  Indus  ;  and  the  Ameers  and 
their  subjects  became  still  more  dissatisfied  when  the 
English  deemed  it  necessary  to  occupy  the  fort  of  Kur- 
rachee,  and,  in  defiance  of  a  previous  Treaty,  to  force  a 
passage  up  the  river  for  the  conveyance  of  military  stores. 
In  184.2  other  demands  were  made  in  vol  vino;  the  sur- 
render  of  national  independence,  and  Sir  Charles  Napier 
(who  expressed  his  disapproval  of  the  policy)  was  sent 
to  carry  out  the  orders  of  the  Government.  War  broke 
out ;  the  British  Resident  was  expelled  from  Hydera- 
bad ;  but  at  Meeanee,  Napier,  with  2,800  men,  routed 
an  army  ten  times  as  numerous  ;  a  million  sterling  in 
treasure  was  seized,  the  six  Ameers  were  thrown  into 
prison,  and  Scinde  was  permanently  annexed  to  the 
British  Indian  Empire. 

These  high-handed  proceedings  did  not  meet  with 
universal  approval  at  home,  and  before  the  Session  of 
1843  closed,  Lord  Ashley  gave  notice  of  his  motion  on 
the  subject.  As  the  time  drew  near  for  making  it,  he 
wrote  as  follows  : — 

Feb.  3rd. — In  bad  heart  altogether — shrink  from   the  prospect. 
Man  is  not  formed  to  act  in  public  life,  and  on  grand  questions,  but 


1841]  THE    AMEERS    OF   SGINDE.  5 

in  his  gregarious  character.  There  must  be  the  taking  of  sweet 
counsel  together,  both  to  cheer  and  to  assist  his  efforts.  But  I  am 
absolutely  alone  ;  no  one  says  to  me  '  God  speed.'  I  cannot  calculate 
on  a  vote,  and  most  certainly  not  on  a  speech  from  any  member. 


On  the  8th  of  February,  1S44,  he  brought  forward 
his  motion  for  an  address  to  the  Crown  praying-  that 
her  Majesty  will  be  "  graciously  pleased  to  take  into  her 
consideration  the  situation  and  treatment  of  the  Ameers 
of  Scinde ;  and  that  she  will  direct  their  immediate 
restoration  to  liberty,  and  the  enjoyment  of  their  estates, 
or  make  such  provision  for  their  future  maintenance  as 
may  be  considered  a  just  equivalent."  He  had  waited 
until  the  close  of  the  previous  Session  before  he  gave 
notice,  in  the  hope  that  appeals  might  arrive  from  the 
imprisoned  Ameers  ;  and  these  not  having  come,  he  had 
intended  to  abandon  his  motion,  lest  from  incapacity 
he  might  compromise  their  interests.  But  a  letter  from 
Sir  Henry  Pottinger  in  the  Morning  Chronicle  of  January 
8th  now  compelled  him  to  bring  the  matter  before  the 
House.  Sir  Henry  denounced  the  treatment  of  the 
Ameers  as  "  the  most  unprincipled  and  disgraceful  that 
had  ever  stamped  the  annals  of  our  Empire  in  India." 
That,  Lord  Ashley  maintained,  was  true,  to  the  very 
letter.  These  princes  were  a  fraternity  of  crowned  heads, 
each  having  a  separate  and  independent  principality,  but 
ruling  conjointly  and  federally  under  the  style  and  title 
of  the  Ameers  of  Scinde.  They  inhabited  a  country 
which  their  ancestors  had  acquired  by  conquest,  and 
ruled  over  a  people  of  different  language  and  religion 
from  themselves ;  but,  if  that   were   to  be  used  as  an 


6  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XII. 

argument  against  them,  it  would  recoil  with  tenfold 
force  upon  ourselves.  The  East  India  Company  had 
recognised  the  Ameers  as  governors  of  Scinde,  had 
entered  into  friendly  relations  with  them,  and  had  tried 
to  prove  to  them  that  nothing  but  benefit  could  accrue 
from  an  extended  intercourse  with  the  British  Empire. 
From  1758  to  1S09  there  was  a  period  of  varying1 
favour  and  disfavour,  suspicion  and  fear,  confidence  and 
jealousy.  A  Treaty  was  then  made,  declaring  :  "  There 
shall  be  eternal  friendship  between  the  British  Govern- 
ment and  that  of  Scinde ;  "  and  again  :  "  Enmity  shall 
never  more  appear  between  the  two  States."  Another 
Treaty  in  18.20  declared:  "The  two  contracting  Powers 
mutually  bind  themselves,  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, never  to  look  with  the  eye  of  covetousness  on  the 
possessions  of  each  other."  The  Ameers  asserted  that 
they  had  faithfully  observed  the  conditions  and  spirit  of 
the  Treaty.  In  1832, 1S34,  and  1S3S,  partial  concessions 
were  obtained  in  our  favour  as  to  the  navigation  of  the 
Indus,  and  the  placing  of  a  British  Resident  at  Hyder- 
abad. Thenceforward  there  were  suspicion  and  fear,  and 
a  tendency  to  mutual  distrust.  In  1840,  however,  when 
the  insurrection  at  Gwalior  broke  out,  the  Ameers  per- 
mitted the  transit  of  British  troops,  when  hostility  on 
their  part  would  have  seriously  injured  us.  Up  to  1S42, 
though  strongly  tempted  by  the  disaffected,  the  same 
peaceable  demeanour  was  manifested  by  them,  with  the 
exception  of  some  petty  intrigues,  inevitable  to  Eastern 
courts.  In  November,  1840,  Lord  Auckland  declared 
their  conduct  to  be  "  most  friendly ; "  and  in  January, 


1844.]  THE    AMEERS    OF   SGINDE.  7 

1842,  Lord  Ellenborough  expressed  satisfaction  at  their 
friendly  disposition.  But  on  the  Gth  of  May,  1842, 
Lord  Ellenborough  wrote  to  the  Resident,  Major 
Outram  :  "  The  Governor-General  is  led  to  think  that 
you  may  have  seen  reason  to  doubt  the  fidelity  of  some 
one  or  more  of  the  Ameers  of  Scinde."  Final  conditions, 
harsh  and  dishonourable  to  the  Ameers,  were  then  im- 
posed.    Lord  Ashley  thus  explained  the  position  : — 

Little  time  was  allowed  for  deliberation.  The  negotiations, 
if  such  they  could  be  called,  were  to  be  expedited  by  the  presence  of 
an  invading  army.  Violence  naturally  begat  violence,  and  distrust 
and  dismay  everywhere  prevailed.  The  Beloochees  were  aroused  to 
arms,  and  the  Ameers  were  unable  to  control  them.  The  first  attack 
was  on  the  Resident ;  and  no  doubt  this  was  a  base  and  a  vile  act. 
But  what  room  for  surprise  was  there  at  this  event  1  The  Battle  of 
Meeanee  followed,  and  the  Ameers  were  defeated  and  imprisoned. 
Thus  these  famous  Treaties,  which  commenced  by  declaring  that  en- 
mity should  never  ensue,  and  friendship  never  be  at  an  end,  between 
the  two  Powers,  were  wound  up  by  the  imprisonment  of  the  Ameers  ; 
and  the  solemn  promise  never  to  look  with  the  eyes  of  covetous- 
ness  on  their  dominions,  issued  in  the  conquest  and  annexation  of 
their  territory.  .  .  .  But  then  they  were  charged  with  treachery. 
No  doubt  they  were.  But  where  was  the  proof  of  this  treachery  1 
Over  and  over  again  he  had  called  for  proofs  of  this  alleged  treachery, 
which  was  to  justify  what  had  been  done.  No  doubt  there  was 
abundant  intrigue.  No  doubt  the  greatest  distrust  and  alarm  pre- 
vailed, and  the  greatest  desire  to  get  rid  of  the  British  from  their 
territory.  But  was  there  no  cause  for  this  ?  Was  there  not  ample 
cause  for  all  this  distrust  and  alarm,  and  also  for  the  policy  which 
the  Ameers  had  been  compelled  to  pursue  ]  He  would  pass  over  all 
the  irritating  acts — all  the  violence  of  language  which  had  occurred 
on  both  sides,  and  would  come  to  the  simple  fact.  What  could  be 
alleged  against  the  Ameers  1  What  act  of  treachery  or  dishonour 
on  their  parts,  as  an  argument  for  their  destruction  and  imprison- 
ment \ 


8  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XII. 

Lord  Ashley  then  traced  the  process  of  encroach- 
ment by  the  British  Government  in  183S.  In  that  year 
the  Ameers  were  informed  "that  the  article  of  the  Treaty 
with  them  prohibitory  of  using  the  Indus  for  the  con- 
ve}^ance  of  military  stores  must  necessarily  be  sus- 
pended." In  December  the  fortress  and  ferry  of  Buk- 
kur,  the  highway  between  India  and  Khorassan,  was 
demanded  from,  the  aged  Ameer  Roostem  Khan,  and 
ceded  by  him.  This  was  the  heart  of  his  country,  to 
which  Lord  Auckland  admitted  we  had  no  right.  In 
1842  Lord  Ellenborough  announced  "the  continued 
occupation  of  Kurrachee,''  declared  Ameer  Roostem 
Khan  unfaithful,  and  called  upon  him  to  cede  a 
portion  of  territory  to  the  Khan  of  Bhawulpore. 
Troops  were  then  advanced  into  the  country  with- 
out waiting  for  auy  hostile  attitude  on  the  part  of 
the  Ameers :  some  of  whom  fled,  while  others  pre- 
pared for  resistance.  Sir  Charles  Napier  proceeded  to 
confiscate  the  estates  of  those  who  resisted,  not  wait- 
ing the  result  of  the  negotiations  which  Major  Outram 
was  carrying  on  with  the  Ameers.  He  disregarded  the 
entreaties  of  the  princes  not  to  advance  his  troops,  as 
they  could  not  restrain  their  Beloochees ;  but  pushed 
forward,  in  spite  of  warnings  from  Major  Outram,  and 
thus  provoked  the  attack  on  the  Residency,  which  led  to 
the  Battle  of  Meeanee.  The  Ameers  had  been  accused 
of  writing  treacherous  letters,  but  when  they  demanded 
a  sight  of  these  letters,  they  were  not  produced.  It  was 
said  that  they  had  been  given  to  Ameer  Ali  Moorad,  the 
very  person  suspected  of  having  forged  them.      It  was 


1844]  THE   AMEERS    OF   SCIKDE.  9 

utterly  improbable  that  they  should  have  entertained 
hostile  intentions  :  they  made  no  preparations  to  remove 
their  women  or  their  treasures  from  Hyderabad.  "When 
they  might  have  crushed  us,  they  were  prodigal  in 
assistance,  contributing,  by  every  facility  they  could 
afford,  to  the  recovery  of  our  position  and  honour.  Yet 
they  attempted  our  destruction  (it  was  alleged)  when  our 
troops,  returning  in  victory,  had  rendered  success  in  such 
an  effort  impossible.  Even  if  guilty,  a  sufficient  penalty 
had  been  exacted  from  them.  "  You  have  torn  them 
from  their  thrones,"  said  Lord  Ashley,  "reduced 
them  to  the  level  of  your  meanest  dependants,  seized 
their  dominions,  incarcerated  their  persons,  plundered 
their  houses,  and  exposed  them  to  various  forms  of 
privation  and  insult."  To  their  ladies,  whom  they  left 
at  Hyderabad,  were  allowed  insufficient  means  of  living, 
while  the  Ameers,  in  their  prisons,  suffered  deep  dejec- 
tion at  the  prospect  of  life-long  confinement  after  the 
important  services  some  of  them  had  rendered  to  the 
English.  Two  sons  of  the  late  Ameer  Noor  Mahommed, 
specially  bequeathed  by  him  to  "  the  honour  and  kind- 
ness of  the  British  Empire,"  were  taken  from  their 
mother  and  placed  in  separate  prisons.  Two  Ameers, 
who  had  lived  in  retirement  at  Hyderabad,  and  had 
taken  no  part  in  the  war,  were  captured  and  separated 
from  their  families,  and  to  them,  in  reply  to  their  re- 
monstrances, Sir  Charles  Napier  wrote  that  if  they 
troubled  him  any  more  with  their  falsehoods,  he  would 
cast  them  also  into  prison  ;  adding  :  "  You  are  prisoners, 
and  though  I  will  not  kill  you,  as  you  ordered  your 


10  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XII. 

people  to  do  to  the  English"  (a  charge  which  had  never 
been  proved),  "  I  will  put  you  in  irons  on  board  a  ship. 
Shere  Mahommed  is  a  very  weak  man,  and  will  soon 
cause  himself  to  be  destroyed,  and  so  will  you  unless 
you  submit  more  quietly  to  the  fate  which  your  own 
rash  folly  has  brought  upon  you.  I  will  answer  no 
more  of  your  letters,  which  are  only  repetitions  of  gross 
falsehoods,  which  I  will  not  submit  to."  This  was 
not  the  tone  or  the  language  which  ought  to  have 
been  used  to  defeated  men  and  fallen  princes.  How 
did  such  conduct  contrast  with  that  pursued  by  Lord 
Cornwallis  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  towards  the 
family  of  Tippoo  Sahib  ?  In  the  one  case  were  conceded 
every  abatement  of  the  rights  of  war,  every  mitigation 
of  its  sorrows  ;  in  the  other,  the  pound  of  flesh  was 
exacted  to  the  uttermost — loss  of  territory,  loss  of  free- 
dom, loss  of  domestic  associations,  loss  of  independent 
means  of  sustenance  for  themselves  and  their  children, 
loss  of  everything  but  life.  In  conclusion,  Lord  Ashley 
said  : — 

And  yet,  Sir,  consider  the  difference  of  their  claims.  They 
were  the  sons  of  our  hereditary  foe  ;  their  father  and  grandfather, 
steeped  in  everlasting  hatred  to  the  British  name,  had  warred  against 
us  for  years  with  implacable  fury  ;  had  wroiight  us  enormous  mis- 
chief, and  sworn  to  extirpate  us  from  the  soil  of  India.  Here  are 
the  sons  and  successors  of  ancient  allies,  men  who  have  once  been 
hostile  and  oftentimes  friendly,  to  whom  we  owe  much,  but  who  owe 
to  us  little.  Both,  it  is  true,  were  taken  in  arms,  but  the  one  fight 
was  the  conclusion  of  a  long,  premeditated,  and  ferocious  hatred  ;  the 
other,  the  beginning  and  the  ending  too,  of  a  short  and  unwilling 
hostility.  Sir,  we  are  often  admonished,  with  oracular  solemnity, 
that  our  empire  in  Hindostan  is  founded  on  opinion.  Is  it  the  opinion 


1844.]  THE    AMEERS    OF   SGINDE.  11 

of  our  justice,  our  humanity,  or  our  power  1  A  wise  and  patriotic 
Government  would  ardently  pursue  such  a  noble  combination ;  and 
this  House,  by  the  fulness  and  promptitude  of  its  reply  to  an  injured 
sufferer,  would  compensate  for  the  enormous,  though  inevitable,  con- 
cession of  despotic  authority  to  the  rulers  of  those  distant  regions. 
Sir,  the  generosity  of  absolute  power  is  cheap  and  safe  and  honour- 
able ;  true  principle  alone  is  of  so  attractive  a  nature  as  to  lead  many 
to  believe  that  a  really  Christian  empire  would  soon  acquire  the 
sovereignty  of  the  world  by  the  voluntary  and  eager  resort  of  all 
nations  under  the  shadow  of  its  wings.  Whether,  by  such  means  as 
these,  Great  Britain  shall  accomplish  the  dominion  of  the  East,  re- 
mains to  be  seen.  We  have  not,  I  fear,  made  an  auspicious  begin- 
ning ;  but  if  we  are  to  gain  no  more  by  virtue,  let  us  not  lose  what 
we  have  by  injustice.  Let  us  hasten  to  wipe  out  the  awful  rebuke 
passed  by  them  on  their  Christian  conquerors 

'  Hen  pietas,  lieu  pri sea  fides  !' 

saying,  as  they  were  led  away  into  captivity,  '  Now  we  perceive  that 
there  is  no  hope  for  us  of  judgment  or  justice,  until  God  Almighty 
shall  sit  in  the  last  great  adawlut.'  * 

Of  the  long  and  forcible  indictment  thus  brought 
by  Lord  Ashley  against  the  Indian  Government,  only 
a  very  brief  summary  has  been  given  here.  A  journal 
that  did  not  share  in  his  views  said  of  it :  "  The 
splendid  speech  of  the  noble  mover  was  worthy  of  his 
humane  and  generous  motive,  and  both  were  worthy  of 
his  high  character."!  Mr.  Roebuck  followed  with  a 
spiteful  harangue,  as  usual  abusing  everybody  all  round; 
and,  after  the  debate  had  run  its  length,  Sir  Robert 
Peel  (the  Prime  Minister)  defended  the  Indian  Govern- 
ment,  apparently  basing  his   defence   on  the   general 

*  Hansard,  Debates,  3  s.,  lxxii.  364. 
t  St.  James's  Chronicle,  March  8, 1844 


12  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XII. 

principle  that  uncivilised  nations  were  made  to  be  con- 
quered. He  certainly  did  say,  "  I  am  afraid  there  is 
some  great  principle  at  work  wherever  civilisation  and 
refinement  come  in  contact  with  barbarism,  which  makes 
it  impossible  to  apply  the  rules  observed  amongst  more 
advanced  nations."  He  stated  that  the  liberation  of 
the  Ameers  was  incompatible  with  the  peace  of  India, 
but  that  they  would  be  removed  to  a  greater  distance, 
where  less  restraint  would  be  necessary,  and  £24,000 
a  year  would  be  devoted  to  their  maintenance  and 
service. 

The   result   of  the   motion   is   thus  told   by   Lord 
Ashley  in  his  Diary  :  — 

Feb.  9th. — Wonderful  success  last  night — personal  success,  I 
mean,  alas  ! — in  my  motion  respecting  the  Ameers  of  Scinde.  But 
what  is  the  use  of  making  speeches  which  are  admired  and  extolled  1 
I  obtained  but  sixty-eight  votes  against  two  hundred  and  two  for  the 
Government.  Never  did  I  see  a  more  convincing  proof  of  the  per- 
nicious effect  of  party  on  the  moral  sense  :  most  were  satisfied,  in- 
deed, some  said  so,  and  yet  voted,  because  Peel  did,  point-blank 
against  me  !  Peel,  as  usual,  was  narrow,  and  in  a  tone  of  morality 
lower,  by  far,  than  the  ordinary  run  of  Ministers  ;  even  John  Russell 
rebuked  him  ! 

Roebuck's  amendment  ingeniously  contrived  to  divert  argument 
from  my  motion.  It  succeeded,  and  though  my  arguments  were  un- 
noticed, thev  had  the  advantage  of  beincr  unanswered.  A  few  Whi^s 
with  me  ;  many  against  me.  To  be  sure,  I  had  been  exposed  to 
unusual  solicitations  to  put  off  my  motion  ;  all  sorts  of  men,  both 
parties,  friends,  foes,  but  I  was  obstinate,  and  thank  God  for  it  ! 

Feb.  10th. — I  am  certain  that  Palmerston  and  John  Russell,  in- 
fluenced a  little  by  Peel's  specious,  though  legitimate,  policy,  in 
declaring  that  he  objected  to  Roebuck's  motion,  voted  against  me, 
because,  as  they  had  not  read  the  papers,  it  was  safer  to  vote  with 
Government  than  in  opposition  to    it ;  Palmerston  I  found    really 


1844.]  TAHITI.  13 

ignorant  of  everything.  But  how  wisely  and  mercifully  God  over- 
rules all  things  !  It  had  been  suspected,  and  stated,  that  I  had 
concocted  this  movement  with  the  Whigs  !  Many  Conservatives  said 
to  Jocelyn,  'We  never  gave  such  an  immoral  vote  before.'  Public 
opinion  strongly  with  me.  .  .  .  Campbell,  ex-Attorney-General,  said 
to  me,  very  kindly,  '  Any  jury  in  England  would  have  given  you  a 
verdict.'  Charles  Wood  said  '  it  was  one  of  the  best  speeches  I  ever 
heard  in  Parliament,  and  so  was  the  reply.'  .  .  A  Christian  kingdom 
may  refuse  all  intercourse  with  its  neighbours,  but  if  it  open  an 
intercoui-se  and  derive  advantages,  it  cannot  turn  round  when  well 
satiated  and  exclaim,  '  By-the-by,  a  thought  strikes  me,  you  are  so 
abominably  wicked  that  really  I  must  exterminate  you  ! ' 

The  affairs  of  Scinde  were  not  the  only  "  foreign 
affairs "  engaging  the  attention  of  Lord  Ashley.  A 
dispute  between  England  and  France,  with  reference  to 
Tahiti  (Otaheite),  threatened,  at  one  time,  to  be  attended 
with  disastrous  consequences.  Queen  Pomare,  the  sove- 
reign of  the  Island  of  Tahiti,  a  convert  of  English 
missionaries,  had  placed  herself — by  compulsion,  it  was 
alleged  —  under  the  protection  of  France,  while  her 
sympathies,  and  those  of  her  people,  were  with  England. 
There  arose,  in  consequence,  a  coldness  between  the 
French  residents  and  the  islanders. 

The  French  Admiral,  who  had  beguiled  or  compelled 
the  Queen  into  placing  herself  under  the  protection  of 
the  French,  arrived  off  the  coast,  and  demanded  that  the 
French  flag  should  be  hoisted  above  her  own.  Upon 
her  refusing  to  do  this,  he  pulled  down  her  flag,  hoisted 
that  of  France  in  its  place,  and  proclaimed  that  Tahiti 
was  henceforth  French  territory. 

Pomare  at  once  appealed  to  England  ;  but  France, 
while    disavowing    the    act    of   the    French    Admiral, 


14  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XII. 

considered  that  there  was  some  intrigue  on  the  part 
of  England  to  obtain  possession  of  Tahiti,  and  would 
not  remove  the  French  flag  or  cancel  the  proclamation 
claiming  the  island  as  French  territory. 

For  some  time  affairs  remained  in  this  critical  state, 
and  then  a  further  complication  arose.  An  English 
missionary,  named.  Pritchard,  had  exercised  a  very 
powerful  influence  in  Tahiti,  and  had  been  successful  in 
gaining  many  converts  to  Christianity,  among  whom 
was  the  Queen  herself.  For  some  time  prior  to  her  de- 
position he  had  been  acting  as  English  consul  in  the 
island. 

One  day  a  French  sentinel  was  attacked.  In  re- 
prisal Pritchard  was  seized  as  the  mover  and  instigator 
of  the  disturbances  by  the  natives,  and  D'Aubigny,  the 
commander  of  the  French  establishment,  declared  :  "  Hi* 
property  shall  be  answerable  for  all  damage  occasioned 
to  us  by  the  insurgents  ;  and  if  French  blood  is  spilt 
every  drop  shall  recoil  on  his  head."  Pritchard  was 
thrown  into  prison,  and  upon  his  release  was  expelled 
the  island.  On  his  arrival  in  England,  the  story  of  his 
wrongs  produced  a  profound  sensation,  and  stirred  public 
feeling  into  great  excitement.  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Lord 
Aberdeen  both  characterised  his  treatment  as  "  a  gross 
and  intolerable  outrage." 

Satisfaction  was  demanded  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment, and  M.  Guizot,  who,  in  the  first  instance,  was 
loud  in  his  condemnation  of  the  French  Government, 
was  now  equally  loud  in  the  profession  of  his  anxiety 
and   that  of    the   King,   that    justice  should   be  done 


1844.] 


TAHITI.  15 


in   Tahiti    and    a    good  understanding    restored   with 
England. 

For  some  months  there  was  great  excitement ; 
popular  passion  was  hot  on  both  sides,  and  war  between 
France  and  England  at  one  time  seemed  inevitable. 
However,  on  September  the  5th — the  last  day  of  the 
Session — Sir  Eobert  Peel  announced  that  "  the  out- 
rage on  Mr.  Pritchard,  of  Tahiti,  had  been  arranged 
amicably."  Substantial  compensation  was  made  to 
Pritchard,  and  Queen  Pomare  was  ostensibly  restored 
to  power.  France  would  not  withdraw  her  "  protection," 
however,  and  to  all  intents  and  purposes  Tahiti  became, 
in  time,  completely  subject  to  French  rule. 

The  course  of  these  events  was  followed  very  closely 
by  Lord  Ashley,  and  a  few  collected  passages  from  his 
Diary  relating  to  them  may  be  quoted  here. 

Feb.  21st. — Pead  last  night,  with  indescribable  pain,  and  yet 
every  one  might  have  foreseen  it,  that  the  French  had  taken  full 
possession  of  Tahiti,  deposed  Queen  Pomare,  and  seized  the  sove- 
reignty. Thus  has  fallen  the  only  kingdom  which,  from  its  head  to 
its  feet,  in  all  its  private  and  public  relations,  in  all  that  it  said, 
permitted,  or  did,  was  a  Christian  State,  founded  on  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel,  and  governed  by  the  simplicity  of  God's  word.  Popery  will 
henceforward  reign  without  control,  with  all  its  train  of  spiritual, 
moral,  and  physical  evils.  What  an  inscrutable  Providence  !  But 
England  is  without  excuse.  We  might,  humanly  speaking,  have 
averted  this  mischief.  It  lay  most  easily  and  most  securely,  two 
years  ago,  in  Aberdeen's  power.  The  sin  is  personal  to  the  Ministry; 
national  to  our  Church  and  people.  But  what  can  we  say  or 
protest  as  a  nation  1     Will  not  they  throw  Scinde  in  our  teeth  1 

Feb.  24th. — Wrote  to  Aberdeen  a  short  note  about  Tahiti  to 
assure  him  that  it  was  far  more  than  a  question  of  the  sympathy 
of  a  few  Dissenters. 


16  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XII. 

An".  3rd. — French  agressions  and  insults  renewed  in  Tahiti ; 
it  is  a  barbarous  people,  or  they  would  not  so  insult  a  helpless 
woman.  Our  Ministers  are  timid  towards  France  and  indifferent 
towards  the  welfare  of  Protestant  Pomare.  Had  they  been  as 
their  duty  required,  this  could  not  have  happened.  Wrote  to  Peel 
on  the  31st  to  say  that  I  should  put  a  question  to  him.  "Was 
anticipated  by  Sir  Charles  Napier,  the  Commodore.  Peel,  how- 
ever, gave  a  vigorous  answer,  and  talked  of  the  '  outrage.'  .    .  . 

Sept.  12th.—  The  question  of  Tahiti,  they  say,  is  settled.  Aberdeen 
has,  of  course,  surrendered  all  that  can  be  interesting  to  Protest- 
antism. 

Oct.  4th. — Grief  and  indignation  cannot  go  beyond  what  I  feel 
against  the  French  aggressions  in  Tahiti.  A  peaceable  and  helpless 
people,  a  State  presenting,  as  such,  the  only  Christian  model  in  the 
world,  are  subjugated  by  savages  and  powerful  Europeans,  and  inun- 
dated with  bloodshed,  devastation,  profligacy,  and  crime.  God  gave 
the  regeneration  of  this  island  to  our  people  as  a  triumph  of  the 
Cross  ;  and  so  it  was  a  thing  without  pai-allel  in  the  history  of  the 
Gospel.  The  missionaries  made  it  Christian  ;  they  made  it  English 
in  laws  and  Constitution.  It  had,  by  God's  blessing,  under  their 
administration,  everything  but  power  and  commerce.  But,  failing 
these,  it  has  obtained  no  sympathies,  and  in  the  hour  of  danger, 
perhaps  of  extinction,  finds  not  a  single  friend.  The  infidel  and 
lukewarm  are  indifferent ;  the  Tractarians  are  hostile  ;  the  Evan- 
gelicals wary.  Public  men  estimate  its  value  by  political  measure- 
ments and  the  probable  effects  on  their  own  ease  and  tenure  of 
office.  What  a  disgusting  and  cowardly  attitude  for  England,  thus 
to  stand  by  and  raise  not  a  hand  in  defence  of  this  merciful  gift  of 
Providence  !  God  grant  that  the  Tahitian  people  may  endure  and 
triumph  over  this  fraud  and  violence. 

Interest  in  affairs  abroad  did  not  distract  Lord 
Ashley's  attention  from  the  more  pressing  affairs  at 
home. 

The  demand  for  further  limitation  in  the  hours  of 
labour  had  been  urged  by  the  working  classes  with 
increased    vehemence,     especially    in    Lancashire    and 


1844.]  GOVERNMENT  FACTORY  BILL.  17 

Yorkshire,  between  the  Session  of  1S43  and  the  opening 
of  Parliament  in  1844.  The  reports  of  the  Inspectors 
of  Factories,  issued  from  time  to  time,  had  been  eagerly 
read  by  those  who  were  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the 
working  classes ;  and  the  agitation,  headed  by  Lord 
Ashley,  was  daily  gaining  fresh  sympathisers,  and,  in 
the  same  proportion,  was  concentrating  the  enmity  of 
those  who  were  opposed  to  it.  The  time  was  ripen- 
ing rapidly  for  the  great  struggle  which  was  to  end 
in  victory. 

On  the  5th  of  February,  Sir  James  Graham  in- 
troduced into  the  House  of  Commons  his  promised 
Bill  for  the  Eegulation  of  Labour  in  Factories.  It 
contained  no  education  clauses,  but  provided  that 
children  should  be  allowed  time  in  which  to  receive 
education.  The  further  objects  of  the  Bill  were  to 
ensure  that  the  working-time  for  children  should  be 
reduced  to  eight  hours,  and  for  persons  above  the 
age  of  thirteen,  to  twelve  hours  a  day.  The  definition 
of  a  "  child  "  was  extended  to  mean  children  between 
nine  and  thirteen  ;  that  of  "  young  persons  "  remained 
as  heretofore,  namely,  from  thirteen  to  eighteen. 

"I  propose,"  he  said,  "that  such  young  persons 
shall  not  be  employed  in  any  silk,  cotton,  wool,  or 
flax  manufactory,  for  an}T  portion  of  the  twenty-four 
hours  longer  than  from  half-past  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning  till  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  in  summer, 
and  from  half-past  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  till 
eight  in  the  evening  in  winter,  thus  making  thirteen 
and  a  half  hours  each  day,  of  which  one  hour  and  a 
c 


18  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

half  is  to  be  set  apart  for  meals  and  rest,  so  that 
their  actual  labour  will  be  limited  to  twelve  hours." 

This  was  exactly  what  Lord  Ashley  did  not  want. 
His  contention  was  that  the  hours  should  be  limited 
to  ten,  and  on  that  issue  he  would  fight  the  battle 
to  the  end. 

On  the  1 2th  of  February  the  Bill  was  read  a  second 
time,  and  ordered  to  be  committed. 

Then  went  forth  the  rallying  cry  of  "  Ten  Hours 
and  No  Surrender !  "  and  it  echoed  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land.  The  greatest  enthusiasm 
prevailed.  Meetings  were  held,  pamphlets  were  scat- 
tered broadcast,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  agitation 
was  set  in  motion  with  a  vigour  that  had  never  been 
known  before.  Twelve  delegates  were  despatched  to 
London  to  assist  Lord  Ashley  in  his  labours,  and 
nobly  they  worked.  London  and  Westminster  were 
divided  into  districts,  and  every  Member  of  Parliament 
in  these  districts  was  canvassed,  the  working  of  the 
factory  system  explained,  and  its  evils  exposed. 

One  of  the  points  which  had  often  been  called  in 
question  was  the  actual  distances  traversed  by  children 
in  the  course  of  their  daily  work.  Lord  Ashley  had 
stated  that  it  sometimes — nay,  often — happened  that 
they  had  to  walk,  or  trot,  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
miles  a  day,  a  statement  that  had  been  characterised  as 
a  "  gross  exaggeration,"  and  altogether  incredible. 

An  amusing  incident  in  connection  with  this  con- 
troversy is  recorded  by  Mr.  Philip  Grant.*     Two  of  the 

*  Grant's  "  History  of  Factory  Legislation." 


1844.]  AN  AMUSING  INCIDENT.  19 

delegates — Mr.  Havvorth  and  Mr.  Philip  Grant — made 
a  call  in  Carlton  Gardens,  where  Lord  Palmerston  was 
then  living,  and  were  denied  an  interview  by  the  foot- 
man. The  carriage  was  standing  at  the  door,  and 
Lady  Palmerston  was  promenading  on  the  balcony. 
It  was  evident,  therefore,  that  their  visit  was  most 
inopportune ;  but,  as  they  might  have  no  other  oppor- 
tunity of  an  interview  before  the  division,  they  con- 
tinued to  urge  the  importance  of  their  mission. 
"Whilst  the  altercation  was  going  on,  Lord  Palmers- 
ton happened  to  be  passing  from  his  dressing-room 
to  the  dining-room,  and  seeing  the  twTo  at  the  door, 
inquired  who  and  what  they  were.  The  servant  at 
once  handed  him  their  cards,  and  returned  smiling, 
bringing  with  him  the  glad  news  :  '  His  Lordship  will 
see  you.'  They  were  at  once  ushered  into  the  large 
dining-room,  at  that  time  so  much  famed  for  the  even- 
ing parties  of  Lady  Palmerston  and  the  munificent 
dinners  given  by  his  Lordship.  They  found  the  Member 
for  Tiverton  in  excellent  temper,  dressed  like  a  youth  of 
eighteen,  and  as  lively  as  a  cricket.  Without  ceremony 
the  subject  was  entered  into,  detailing  some  of  the 
hardships  to  which  the  factory  children  were  subject. 
The  statements  at  first  appeared  to  puzzle  the  noble 
Viscount,  and  after  a  short  pause  he  said,  '  Oh,  the 
work  of  the  children  cannot  be  so  hard  as  you  represent 
it,  as  I  am  led  to  understand  the  machinery  does  all  the 
work  without  the  aid  of  the  children,  attention  to  the 
spindles  only  being  required.'  To  carry  conviction  to 
a  mind  so  strongly  impressed  with  the  ease  and  comfort 
c  2 


20  THE    EARL    OF  SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

of  factory  labour,  for  a  moment  staggered  the  deputa- 
tion, when  a  lucky  expedient  occurred  to  the  writer, 
who,  seeing  a  couple  of  large  lounging  chairs  upon 
castors,  brought  them  to  the  rescue.  Placing  them  in 
the  centre  of  the  large  room,  they  were  made  to  perform 
the  operation  of  the  'spinning-mule,'  Mr.  Haworth 
being  placed,  as  it  were,  at  the  '  wheel  handle,'  and 
with  arm  and  knee  pushing  them  back  to  their  destina- 
tion, or  to  what  is  technically  called  '  the  roller  beam/ 
whilst  the  writer  performed  the  duties  of  the  piecer, 
trotting  from  one  side  of  the  room  to  the  other,  follow- 
ing up  the  carriage,  leaning  over  the  imaginary  advancing 
'  faller,'  and  picking  up  the  supposed  broken  ends.  To 
complete  the  explanation  of  the  mule,  and  to  show  the 
part  the  engine  performed,  they  were  about  to  explain 
by  what  power  the  carriage  was  caused  to  advance 
slowly,  whilst  the  '  stretch  '  was  being  made  and  the 
yarn  twisted.  The  noble  Lord  at  once  caught  the  idea, 
and,  ringing  the  bell,  the  footman  was  ordered  into  the 
room,  and  directed  to  run  up  one  of  the  chairs  slowly 
to  its  appointed  place  (or  what  is  called  the  end  of 
the  stretch),  whilst  the  noble  Lord,  catching  hold  of 
the  other  chair,  performed  a  similar  office.  Thus  the 
imaginary  spinning  and  piecing  were  carried  on  for 
several  minutes.  Lady  Palmerston,  who  by  this  time 
had  become  impatient  for  her  drive  before  dinner, 
entered  the  room,  and  appeared  no  little  surprised  to 
see  her  banqueting  room  turned  into  a  spinning  factory. 
Her  ladyship,  however,  seemed  to  enjoy  the  illustration, 
and  remarked,  good-humouredly,   '  I  am  glad  to  see  your 


1844.]  LORD  PALMERS  TON  AS  "OLD  NED."  21 

Lordship  has  betaken  yourself  to  work  at  last.'  The 
veteran  statesman,  who  appeared  a  little  fatigued  by 
performing  the  duties  of  '  Old  Ned  '  (the  engine),  with 
significant  look  and  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  said,  '  Surely 
this  must  be  an  exaggeration  of  the  labour  of  factory 
workers.'  Mr.  Haworth,  who  had  come  fresh  from  the 
wheel  handle  in  Bolton,  and  bearing  indelible  marks 
of  the  severity  of  his  daily  toil,  exhibited  the  large 
'  segs '  upon  his  hands,  at  the  same  time,  pulling  up 
his  trousers,  he  said  :  '  Look  at  my  knee,  my  Lord,'  and 
pointed  to  the  hard  substance  produced  by  '  pulling  up 
the  carriage.'  The  victory  over  the  mind  of  the  great 
statesman  appeared  to  be  complete ;  the  illustration 
given  had  deeply  impressed  his  mind  ;  and  he  exclaimed, 
heartily,  '  If  what  you  have  shown  me,  and  what  you 
have  stated,  be  a  fair  illustration  of  the  labour  of  factory 
people,  and  the  statements  you  have  made  be  a  fair 
detail  of  the  hardships  to  which  they  are  subject,  I  can 
no  longer  withhold  my  support  from  your  cause,  nor 
can  I  resist  the  belief  that  the  children,  as  stated 
by  Lord  Ashley,  have  to  walk  or  trot  twenty-five 
to  thirty  miles  a  day.  I  will,  however,  speak  with 
Lord  Ashley  on  these  points,  and  if  your  story  be 
even  half  corroborated  by  him,  you  may  rely  on  my 
support.' " 

The  statements  were  fully  corroborated,  and  the 
support  of  Lord  Palmerston  was  henceforth  never 
wanting  on  behalf  of  factory  children. 

The  course  of  events  is  thus  noted  in  Lord  Ashley's 
Diary : — 


22  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

Feb.  27th. — Factory  Bill  postponed.  Shall  I  ever  prosper  in 
this  1  Will  God  smile  upon  the  endeavour1?  Heard  that  Mr.  Bright 
was  waiting  for  his  opportunity  to  make  a  most  violent  attack  on 
me.     I  dare  say.   .  . 

March  2nd. — Unpleasant  rumours  that  Government  (is  it  pos- 
sible ?)  will  exert  their  Parliamentary  influence  to  defeat  the  Ten 
Hours ! 

March  4th. — Graham  informed  me  this  evening  that  '  if  I  would 
not  make  an  adverse  statement,'  so  as  to  provoke  debate  and  a  reply 
from  him,  he  would  grant  the  Committee.  He  clearly  fears  a  full 
expose.  I  answered  that,  as  my  statement  was  intended  simply  to 
prove  the  necessity  of  investigation,  if  the  necessity  were  admitted, 
I  should  do  wrong  to  detain  the  House  by  a  long  oration.  Now, 
if  he  had  told  me  this  a  week  or  two  ago,  as  he  well  might,  I  should 
have  been  spared  some  very  heavy  reading  and  writing. 

March  6th. — Moved  for  Committee  last  night  in  half  a  dozen 
words.      Graham  thanked  me  for  my  silence. 

March  8th. — Strange  accusation  that  in  the  Times.  Surely  a  man 
wholly  unconnected  with  the  manufacturing  districts  was  less  likely 
to  be  influenced  by  hopes  and  fears,  either  commercial  or  personal, 
than  one  whose  interests  lay  in  the  thick  of  them.  I  thought  so 
myself  when  I  undertook  the  charge.  '  It  would  have  been  more 
graceful,'  it  adds,  '  had  I  devoted  my  attention  to  agricultural 
grievances.'  Why,  that  question  was  not  uppermost,  was  barely 
thought  of,  when  I  laid  hold  of  the  factory  wrongs  in  1833 — at 
that  time  the  prominent  topic  of  conversation.  As  for  sacrifices  :  I 
have  lost  office  and  every  hope  of  political  aggrandisement  by  my 
adoption  of  this  career ;  I  have  had  years  of  trouble,  anxiety,  ex- 
pense ;  I  have  foregone  official  income,  though  I  much  needed  it, 
broken  every  party  connection,  and  stand  alone,  like  an  owl  in  the 
desert,  without  knowing,  day  by  day,  whether  I  shall  think  or  act 
with  any  one  man  or  any  one  man  with  me.  And  what  of  all  this? 
Why,  I  am,  God  be  praised  !  more  happy  in  my  losses  than  I  could 
possibly  have  been  in  any  personal  gain.  'Cast  thy  bread  upon  the 
waters,'  says  the  Book  of  Books,  '  and  thou  shalt  find  it  after  many 
days'  .  . 

March  9th. — The  Times  bepraises  Sidney  Osborne's  letter  to  me, 
and  adds  :  '  These  factory  ten-hours  men  never  dreamed  of  agricul- 
tural wrongs  until  forced  to  it  by  their  fears.'    Eight  years'  exclusion 


1844.]  A  NOTABLE   SPEECH.  23 

from  the  paternal  house,  and  three  of  utter  impossibility  to  interfere 
while  there,  will  answer  any  imputations. 

March  12th. — Had  intended  to  take  the  chair  at  public  dinner  of 
Journeyman  Tailors'  Society  (euphonious  and  dignified  name  !),  but 
told  by  Cobden,  as  I  entered  the  House,  that  he  proposed  to  assail 
the  county  of  Dorset.  Obliged,  of  course,  to  send  excuse,  and  sit 
out  his  speech — temperate  and  often  true.  Could  not  reply,  taken  by 
surprise,  had  no  paper  with  me.  This  was  unfair  on  his  part ;  un- 
willing, too,  to  come  into  collision  with  Bankes ;  an  unseemly  sight, 
two  county  members  sparring  with  each  other ;  unwilling  besides,  by 
a  vote,  to  come  into  collision  with  Lord  S.,  who  would  assert  that 
it  was  directed  at  him.  No  disguise  on  Cobden's  part  that  he 
wished  to  pay  me  off  for  exposing  the  factory  districts.  Felt  humbled, 
dejected,  and  incompetent.  Had  no  heart  within  me.  0  God,  let 
not  mine  enemies  triumph  over  me  !  .  .  . 

On  March  the  1 5th  the  Bill  went  into  Committee, 
and,  in  the  discussion  of  the  clauses  fixing  the  limita- 
tion of  the  hours  of  labour,  Lord  Ashley  endeavoured  to 
obtain  his  purpose  by  moving  that  the  word  "  night ' 
should  be  taken  to  mean  from  six  o'clock  in  the  evening 
to  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  thus  practically  limiting 
the  factory  day  to  ten  hours. 

In  support  of  his  proposition,  he  made  one  of  his 
most  forcible,  comprehensive,  and  interesting  speeches — 
a  speech  which  took  two  hours  and  a  quarter  in  delivery, 
and  occupies  twenty-eight  pages  of  Hansard.* 

In  his  opening  sentence,  Lord  Ashley  gave  utter- 
ance to  that  intense  anxiety  which,  as  the  Diaries 
clearly  reveal,  weighed  down  his  spirit  as  he  approached 
the  struggle.  "  Nearly  eleven  years  have  elapsed,"  he 
said,  "  since  I  first  made  the  proposition  to  the  House 

*  Hansard,  3  s.,  lxx.  483. 


24  THE   EAEL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIL 

which  I  shall  renew  this  night.  Never  at  any  time 
have  I  felt  greater  apprehension  or  even  anxiety ;  not 
through  any  fear  of  personal  defeat,  for  disappoint- 
ment is  '  the  badge  of  all  our  tribe,'  but  because  I 
know  well  the  hostility  I  have  aroused,  and  the  certain 
issues  of  indiscretion  on  my  part,  affecting  the  welfare  of 
those  who  have  so  long  confided  their  hopes  and  in- 
terests to  my  charge."  Disclaiming  the  accusation  that 
he  was  actuated  by  any  peculiar  hostility  against  factory 
masters,  he  met  them  with  the  challenge,  "  Strike,  but 
hear  me."  Taking  for  his  standpoint  the  proposition 
that  the  State  has  a  right  to  watch  over,  and  an  in- 
terest in  providing  for,  the  moral  and  physical  well- 
being  of  her  people,  he  proceeded  to  show  what  foreign 
powers  were  doing  to  recognise  and  enforce  this  prin- 
ciple. Then,  expatiating  upon  the  immediate  ap- 
plication of  this  theme,  he  described  minutely  the 
amount  of  toil  and  exertion  required  in  the  various 
departments  of  factory  labour,  and  the  ph}rsical  evils 
proved  to  have  resulted  from  it,  when  too  long  con- 
tinued. He  entered  fully  into  the  question  of  the 
distances  traversed  daily  by  women  and  children,  and 
gave  evidence,  founded  upon  measurements  and  cal- 
culations made,  at  his  request,  by  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished mathematicians  of  the  day,  conclusively 
proving  that  those  distances  varied  from  seventeen  to 
thirty  miles,  and  that  the  exertion  was  materially  in- 
creased by  the  strain  of  having  continually  to  lean  over 
the  machine  and  then  return  to  an  erect  position — a  per- 
formance that  had  to  be  undergone  not  less  than  from 


1844.]  UNNATURAL   TOIL.  25 

four  to  five  thousand  times  a  day.  The  physical  effects  of 
this  toil  upon  women  was  disastrous  in  the  extreme,  and 
he  adduced  ample  medical  testimony  in  proof  of  his 
assertion,  besides  pointing  to  the  results  shown  in  the 
bills  of  mortality  and  the  statistics  of  pauperism  and 
disease.  Nor  were  the  moral  effects  less  disastrous.  He 
showed  how  impossible  it  was  that  the  obligations  of 
domestic  life  could  be  performed  by  females  employed 
for  long  periods  in  factories.  "  Where,  Sir,"  he  asked, 
"under  this  condition,  are  the  possibilities  of  domestic 
life  ?  How  can  its  obligations  be  fulfilled  ?  Regard 
the  woman  as  wife  or  mother,  how  can  she  accomplish 
any  portion  of  her  calling  ?  And  if  she  cannot  do  that 
which  Providence  has  assigned  her,  what  must  be  the 
effect  on  the  whole  surface  of  society  ? ':  He  demon- 
strated, by  incontrovertible  facts  and  arguments,  that 
this  unnatural  toil  engendered  every  possible  form  of 
moral  evil ;  intemperance,  impurity,  demoralisation  were 
the  inevitable  consequences ;  all  the  arrangements  and 
provisions  of  domestic  economy  were  annihilated ;  dirt, 
discomfort,  ignorance  and  recklessness  were  the  por- 
tion of  almost  every  household,  when  the  time  of  the 
wife  and  mother  was  wholly  monopolised  by  factory 
labour. 

Such  a  system,  affecting  the  internal  tranquillity  of 
the  land  and  all  relations  between  employer  and  em- 
ployed, was  a  perpetual  grievance,  and  must  ever  come 
uppermost  in  times  of  difficulty  and  discontent.  It 
disturbed  the  order  of  nature,  and  the  rights  of  the 
labouring  men,  by  ejecting  males   from  the  workshop 


26  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

and  filling  their  places  by  women ;  it  was  destructive  of 
the  health  of  females,  the  care  of  their  families,  their 
conjugal  and  parental  duties,  the  comfort  of  their 
homes,  the  decency  of  their  lives,  the  peace  of  society, 
and  the  laws  of  God. 

In  conclusion,  he  repudiated,  in  tones  of  righteous 
indignation,  the  charge  so  often  flung  at  him,  that  this 
contest  was  but  a  struggle  between  the  country  gentle- 
man and  the  manufacturers,  and  that  he  was  actuated 
by  a  wish  to  exalt  the  landed,  and  humiliate  the  com- 
mercial, aristocracy.     He  said  : — * 

It  is  very  sad,  though  perhaps  inevitable,  that  such  weighty 
charges  and  suspicions  should  lie  on  the  objects  of  those  who  call 
for,  and  who  propose,  this  remedial  measure.  I  am  most  unwilling 
to  speak  of  myself ;  my  personal  character  is,  doubtless,  of  no  con- 
sequence to  the  world  at  lai*ge  ;  but  it  may  be  of  consequence  to  those 
whose  interests  I  represent,  because  distrust  begets  delays,  and  zeal 
grows  cold  when  held  back  in  its  cai-eer  by  the  apprehension  that 
those  whom  it  would  support  are  actuated  by  unworthy  motives. 
Disclaimers,  I  know,  are  poor  things  when  uttei*ed  by  parties  whom 
you  listen  to  with  suspicion  or  dislike ;  but  consider  it  calmly ; 
are  you  reasonable  to  impute  to  me  a  settled  desire,  a  single  pur- 
pose, to  exalt  the  landed  and  humiliate  the  commercial  aristocracy  1 
Most  solemnly  do  I  deny  the  accusation.  If  you  think  me  wicked 
enough,  do  you  think  me  fool  enough  for  such  a  hateful  policy  1 
Can  any  man  in  his  senses  now  hesitate  to  believe  that  the  per- 
manent  prosperity  of  the  manufacturing  body  in  all  its  several 
aspects,  physical,  moral,  and  commercial,  is  essential,  not  only  to 
the  welfare,  but  absolutely  to  the  existence,  of  the  British  Empire  1 
No,  we  fear  not  the  increase  of  your  political  power,  nor  envy  your 
stupendous  riches  ;  f  Peace  be  within  your  walls,  and  plenteousness 
within  your  palaces ! '  We  ask  but  a  slight  relaxation  of  toil,  a 
time  to  live,  and  a  time  to  die ;  a  time  for  those  comforts  that 
sweeten  life,  and  a  time  for  those  duties  that  adorn  it ;  and,  therefore, 


1844.]  MR.   JOHN  BRIGHT S   ATTACK.  27 

with  a  fervent  prayer  to  Almighty  God  that  it  may  please  Him  to 
turn  the  hearts. of  all  who  hear  me,  to  thoughts  of  justice  and  of 
mercy,  I  now  finally  commit  the  issue  to  the  judgment  and  humanity 
cf  Parliament.* 

At  the  close  of  this  appeal,  Sir  James  Graham  rose, 
and  in  a  tone  which  he  knew  only  too  well  how  to  use, 
declared  emphatically  that  her  Majesty's  Government 
had  determined  to  give  the  proposition  of  the  noble 
Lord  their  most  decided  opposition.  The  mill-owners 
found  an  advocate  in  Mr.  John  Bright,  who  addressed 
the  House  at  considerable  length,  and  in  a  style  "  per- 
haps the  most  vindictive  towards  the  working  classes 
ever  used  in  the  British  Parliament,  "f  He  ridiculed 
the  notion  that  there  was  any  need  for  a  new  Factory 
Act ;  he  contradicted  Lord  Ashlev's  statements  as  to 
the  unhealthiness  and  other  miseries  of  the  manufac- 
turing districts  ;  he  violently  attacked  the  whole  body 
of  operatives  who  supported  the  Ten  Hours  Bill ;  and 
he  declared  that  high  wages  and  general  prosperity 
prevailed  among  the  manufacturing  population.  Then, 
taking  up  the  old  libel  as  to  the  condition  of  the 
Dorsetshire  labourers,  he  said  Lord  Ashley  looked  at 
Lancashire  through  a  telescope,  but  when  he  looked 
at  his  suffering  neighbours  he  reversed  the  glass.  He 
reiterated  the  groundless  charge  that  Lord  Ashley's 
information  had  been  obtained  in  an  improper  way, 
and  from  a  notorious  character,  whose  story  was 
full  of  false  statements  and  gross  and  malignant 
exaggerations. 

•  Speeches,  p.  115. 

f  Delegates'  report  quoted  in  "  History  of  Factory  Legislation,"  p.  75. 


28  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

This  was  more  than  Lord  Ashley  could  bear,  or 
would  have  been  justified  in  bearing.  He  rose  to  his 
feet,  and,  aflame  with  impassioned  earnestness,  vehe- 
mently demanded  a  full  explanation  of  the  insinua- 
tions of  Mr.  Bright.  The  scene  which  ensued  is  still 
memorable  in  the  annals  of  Parliament. 

"  I  think,"  said  Lord  Ashley,  "  the  House  will  feel 
that  in  some  measure  I  have  a  right  to  make  one 
or  two  observations  on  the  remarkable  speech  of  the 
honourable  gentleman.  I  will  thank  the  honourable 
gentleman  to  explain  that  charge  against  me  which 
he  has  insinuated,  and  which  he  said  he  would  not 
pursue.  I  will  not  allow  it  to  pass.  I  therefore  throw 
myself  on  the  indulgence  and  on  the  protection  of  this 
House,  and  I  do  request  all  honourable  gentlemen 
present  to  exert  their  influence,  as  members  of  this 
House,  and  as  gentlemen,  to  make  the  honourable 
member  for  Durham  pursue  his  charge,  and  state  his 


case." 


Loud  cheers  followed  this  challenge.  Then,  in 
evident  confusion,  and  amidst  loud  expressions  of  dis- 
approbation from  both  sides  of  the  House,  Mr.  Bright 
at  first  attempted  to  deny  that  he  had  made  any  charge, 
and  eventually  concluded  with  an  apology  in  these 
words :  "  I  regret  if  in  stating  these  things  I  have 
said  a  word  that  could  be  considered  derogatory  to 
the  character  of  the  noble  Lord.  I  know  I  have  a  warm 
temper,  but  I  meant  no  personal  insult.  I  desired 
merely  to  state  facts,  and  I  readily  withdraw  any 
offensive  expression." 


1844.]  THE   MINISTERIAL   MIND.  29 

It  was  then  two  o'clock,  and,  on  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Warburton,  the  debate  was  adjourned. 

March  16th. — Factory  Bill  last  night  in  Committee;  moved,  by- 
arrangement  with  Sir  J.  Graham,  amendment  on  word  'Eight'  in 
second  clause.  Spoke  for  two  and  a  quarter  hours.  Never  had  a 
greater  weight  on  my  spirits,  and  yet — God's  everlasting  goodness 
be  praised — obtained  astounding  personal  success.  Francis  Egerton 
made  an  excellent  speech  ;  and  Sandon,  for  a  wonder,  came  out  man- 
fully. Bright  made  a  violent  assault  upon  me,  with  insinuations, 
because  he  could  not  make  charges ;  brought  him  to  account  and  to 
apologies.  What  will  be  the  issue  1  Had  we  divided  last  night,  we 
should,  I  am  told,  have  beaten  the  Government  !  The  interval  will 
be  favourable  to  them  ;  official  whips  will  produce  official  votes. 

March  17th. — Sunday.  The  anxiety  and  fatigue  of  the  pre- 
ceding week  left  me  nervous  and  inattentive.  Struck  by  the  many 
texts  I  hear  and  read,  of  consolation  and  encouragement.  Almost 
every  book  I  have  opened,  and  every  passage  of  the  Bible  I  have 
glanced  on,  have  conveyed  more  or  less  of  invigorating  sentiment. 
Are  there  such  things  as  Christian  omens?  If  there  be,  surely 
they  were  here. 

March  18th. — Jocelyn  came  to  me  yesterday,  after  morning 
service,  and  said  that  '  he  had  something  important  to  communicate.' 
Stanley  had  taken  him  aside  on  Saturday  evening,  and  had  urged 
upon  him  the  mischiefs  arising  from  the  amendment  for  '  ten  hours ' 
that  I  had  proposed.  'Ashley,'  he  added,  'does  not  know  the  con- 
dition in  which  he  places  the  Government.  If  he  carries  his  point, 
as  it  seems  probable  he  will,  two  courses  remain  :  we  must  either 
throw  up  the  Bill,  for  Graham  is  pledged  to  cany  it  as  it  is,  or  throw 
it  into  his  hands.'  He  then  said  a  great  deal  more  about  the  effect 
such  success  would  have  in  aiding  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and 
remarked  :  '  If  Ashley  is  strong  enough  to  beat  the  Government,  he 
must  take  all  responsibility ;  if  he  thinks  himself  strong  enough  to 
defeat  them  here,  perhaps  he  thinks  himself  strong  enough  to  take 
the  Government.'  Jocelyn  said  :  '  What  would  you  have  Ashley  do  1 
He  has  given  his  life,  you  may  say,  to  the  question ;  what  would 
you  have  him  do?  He  could  not  surrender  it.'  Stanley  replied  in  a 
drawling,  uncertain  tone  :  '  I  don't  know  ;  I  don't  say  what  he  could 
do.'     The    upshot    was    that   Jocelyn,    without    delivering    a    direct 


30  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

message,  was  to  inform  me  of  the  Ministerial  mind.  He  did  so.  I 
replied  that  '  if  my  perseverance  involved  the  repeal  of  ten  thousand 
Corn  Laws,  and  the  dissolution  of  as  many  Governments,  I  would  go 
on  with  all  the  vigour  I  could  command ;  that,  were  I  disposed  to 
hold  back,  I  could  not  do  so  in  the  smallest  degree ;  that  even  in  a 
mere  question  of  politics,  a  man  would  be  regarded  as  a  sad  specimen 
of  faithlessness  who  retired  simply  to  gratify  the  convenience  of  his 
Parliamentary  friends,  but  that  in  this  case,  when  I  had  toiled  for 
so  many  years,  and  placed  the  whole  matter  on  the  basis  of  duty  and 
religion,  I  should  be  considered,  and  most  justly,  too,  a  hypocrite 
almost  without  parallel.'  We  rang  the  changes  on  all  this,  and 
Jocelyn  went  away.  I  saw  him  again  in  the  street,  just  before  I 
entered  the  Chapel  Royal.  '  I  have  seen  Stanley  again,'  he  said  ; 
'he  never  thought  you  could  resign  the  question ;  you  were  too  deeply 
pledged.'  'It  would  be  a  sad  thing,'  continued  Stanley,  'for  the 
Government  to  appear  as  alone  resisting  the  wishes  and  feelings  of 
the  people ;  it  would  look  very  ill  to  the  country  if  the  question 
had  a  majority  in  the  House,  but  was  rejected  solely  by  the  Govern- 
ment.' Then  Lord  Stanley  added  (0  tempora,  0  mores  /),  '  What 
I  meant  was  that  you  (Jocelyn)  and  your  friends  should  not  bestir 
yourselves  so  much  to  obtain  votes,  and  Ashley  might  save  his 
character  by  maintaining  his  point,  and  yet  allow  himself  to  be  beaten  ! ' 
If  ever  insult  was  put  on  an  individual,  here  it  was  with  a  vengeance! 
I  told  Jocelyn  that  '  the  only  difference  was  whether  I  should  be  an 
open  or  a  secret  scoundrel.'  I  added  that  '  I  would  exhaust  all 
legitimate  means  to  obtain  my  end,  and  that  if  defeated,  I  would 
never  cease  to  work  on  the  sympathies  of  the  country.' 

On  March  the  15th  the  debate  on  the  Ten  Hours 
Bill  was  resumed,  and  the  proposal  of  Lord  Ashley  was 
supported  by  Lord  Howick,  Mr.  Becket  (Leeds),  Sir 
George  Grey,  Mr.  John  Fielden  (Oldham),  Lord  John 
Eussell,  Mr.  Hindley  (Ashton),  Mr.  Hardy  (Bradford), 
and  Mr.  Muntz  (Birmingham). 

The  discussion  was  animated  almost  beyond  prece- 
dent, and  the  excitement  grew  to  a  point  of  intensity, 


1844.]  LEGISLATION  FORESHADOWED.  31 

when  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in  a  long  and  laboured  speech, 
pointed  out  that  other  branches  of  manufactures  required 
restriction  more  than  the  cotton,  woollen,  and  silk 
factories,  namely,  the  Sheffield  and  Birmingham  wares, 
glass,  porcelain,  earthenware,  calico  printing,  and,  above 
all,  dressmaking  and  needlework,  and  he  maintained 
that  by  restricting  labour  in  cotton  factories,  a  pre- 
mium was  being  placed  on  the  laborious  and  cruel 
employment  of  women  and  children  in  these  other 
manufactures.  "  Is  the  House  prepared  to  legislate  for 
all  these  people  ?  "  asked  the  Premier. 

A  tremendous  cheer,  and  a  cry  of  "  Yes,"  answered 
the  demand  of  the  head  of  the  Government. 

Sir  Robert  Peel,  evidently  much  astounded  by  this 
powerful  and  decisive  response,  continued:  "Then  I 
see  not  why  we  should  not  extend  the  restriction  to 
agriculture."  Another  ringing  cheer,  from  the  agri- 
cultural members,  again  threw  the  Premier  from  his 
equilibrium,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel  abruptly  concluded  his 
speech  by  declaring  that  he  could  not  undertake  a  task 
which  would  involve  so  difficult  and  perilous  an  enter- 
prise, above  all  human  strength,  and  full  of  individual 
injustice.  "  I  cannot,  and  I  will  not,  acquiesce  in  the 
proposal  of  the  noble  Lord !  "  was  the  emphatic  ex- 
clamation with  which  he  sat  down.* 

Far-seeing  as  Sir  Robert  was  in  many  things,  he 
little  dreamt  that  he  had  called  forth  a  foreshadowing  of 
Lord  Ashley's  future  labours  on  behalf  of  the  working 
classes. 

*  Morning  Post,  March  18,  1844. 


32  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

Lord  John  Russell -followed,  and  did  good  service  to 
the  cause  by  drawing  attention  to  the  fact  that  Lord 
Ashley's  amendment  introduced  no  new  principle  into 
the  Bill,  and  that  he  (Lord  John  Russell)  could  not  see 
what  tremendous  consequences  would  follow  the  limi- 
tation of  labour  in  factories  to  ten  hours  when  the 
Government  themselves  proposed  a  limitation,  though 
to  a  somewhat  longer  period. 

The  division  resulted  in  179  votes  for  Lord  Ashley's 
amendment  and  170  against  it,  thus  giving  a  majority 
of  9  for  the  amendment ;  but  this  vote  the  Government 
endeavoured,  by  a  stratagem,  to  rescind  by  going  at  once 
to  a  division  on  the  original  question ;  calculating,  in 
all  probability,  that,  by  taking  a  second  division  im- 
mediately upon  the  other,  the  result  would  be  confusion, 
out  of  which  they  might  make  capital.  The  stratagem 
failed,  the  result  being :  For  Lord  Ashley's  proposition, 
161  ;  against  it,  153.  Majority  for  Lord  Ashley's 
proposition,  8. 

In  face  of  these  two  divisions,  Sir  James  Graham 
determined  to  make  another  effort  to  rescind  the  votes. 
"  Sir,"  he  said,  rising  amid  profound  silence,  "  the 
decision  of  the  Committee  is  a  virtual  adoption  of  a  Ten 
Hours  Bill  without  modification.  To  that  decision, 
with  the  utmost  respect  for  the  opinion  of  the  Commit- 
tee, I  have  an  insuperable  objection."  Whereupon  he 
announced  that  he  would  not  drop  the  Bill,  but  would 
proceed  with  it  up  to  the  eighth  clause,  when  Lord 
Ashley  would  move  that  the  word  "  ten  '  should  be 
substituted  for  "  twelve  ':   hours.      He  therefore  moved 


1841.]  THE    MINISTRY   DEFEATED.  33 

that  "  You  now  report  progress,  and  ask  leave  to  sit 
again  on  Friday  next." 

March  19th. — Last  night  'adjourned  debate'  on  Factory  Bill  and 
division.  Can  I  believe  the  result  1  '  It  is  a  night  much  to  be  observed 
of  the  Lord.'-  Oh,  gracious  God,  keep  me  from  unseemly  exultation, 
that  I  may  yet  creep  alow  by  the  ground  to  Thine  honour,  and  to  the 
recovery  of  the  people  from  Egyptian  bondage  !  The  Red  Sea  is  yet 
before  me,  the  enemy  are  in  pursuit,  and  the  wilderness  has  shut  us 
in  ;  but  we  will,  by  His  grace,  'stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the 
Lord.'  He  will  cleave  a  path  for  us  through  the  mighty  waters,  and 
ordain  in  our  mouths  a  song  of  praise  in  the  land  of  promise  and  of 
hope.  My  supporters  wonderfully  firm  ;  had  no  whipper-in,  yet  they 
stuck  to  me  admirably.    The  Government — that  is,  Peel  and  Graham 

evidently  out  of  temper.      This  seems  as  much  the  cause  of  their 

opposition  as  anything  else.  Their  speeches,  ingenious  in  argument, 
but  wretched  in  principle  and  feeling,  purely  commercial  :  Peel 
urging  a  decay  of  trade  ;  Graham,  an  abatement  of  wages.  Neither 
touched  my  facts  or  ai'guments  ;  but  most  unfairly  Graham  spoke  a 
second  time,  and  at  great  length,  before  others  had  spoken  once. 
Peel  argued,  in  fact,  against  all  interference,  and  then  appealed  to 
the  House  on  the  merits  of  his  Bill  !  denounced  our  legislation  with 
factories  as  unjust,  quoted  the  condition  of  thousands  of  children 
who  are  as  yet  unprotected  (passing,  in  truth,  on  me  the  old  sneer 
of  the  Millowners  &  Co.,  that  I  was  one-sided),  and  speaking  as 
Prime  Minister,  in  detail,  of  all  these  horrors,  declared  that  he  had 
no  thought  of  assuaging  them.  In  the  sight  of  God  and  man  he 
abdicated  the  functions  of  Government.  A  curious  division.  My 
members  included  very  many  who  represented  the  mightiest  trading 
constituencies,  and  this  on  a  commercial  question  ! 

The  Ministers  have  signified  their  intention  to  try  over  again  the 
whole  question  by  a  division  on  Friday  next.  The  interval  will  be 
employed  in  every  Government  method  of  influence  and  coercion. 
What  engine  can  I  employ  to  counteract  and  extinguish  their  fire  1 
They  are  unjust,  bitter,  headstrong,  but  powerful.  I  am  alone,  but 
I  commit  all  to  God,  who  will  maintain  His  own  work. 

It  is  a  wonderful  event,  an  especial  Providence ;  is  there  a  pre- 
cedent like  it]    A  single  individual,  unaided  by  a  party,  with  scarcely 

d 


34  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.   XII. 

a  man  whom  he  could  trust  to  second  him,  has  been  enabled  to  de- 
feat the  most  powerful  array  of  capitalists,  overcome  the  strongest 
domestic  apprehensions,  and  the  most  powerful  Ministry  of  the  last 
fifteen  years  1  Struggle  as  they  will,  the  question  is  passed  ;  it  may 
be  delayed  in  its  final  accomplishment,  but  surely  it  cannot  be  re- 
versed.   God  give  us  faith,  faith,  faith  !  .   .    . 

March  21st. — An  oppressive  weight  appears  to  have  been  removed 
from  my  shoulders,  and  yet  I  cannot  recover  my  elasticity.  I  feel 
like  a  man  that  has  been  stunned  or  bled.  I  am  conscious  of  a 
change,  but  hardly  of  relief :  partly  the  effect  of  long  habit,  partly 
the  effect  of  the  foreseen  Government  hostility  (and  their  power  is 
great !).  I  find  no  real  comfort  but  in  beholding  God  as  the  author, 
and,  I  pray,  as  the  finisher,  of  this  work  in  His  blessed  Son  Jesus 
Christ.  Ministers  quite  mad,  using  every  exertion,  no  reasoning, 
no  misstatement,  no  falsehood  almost,  spared  !  Expresses  sent  off 
the  whole  of  Sunday.  I  offered  to  delay  '  Ten  Hours  '  for  two  years 
and  a  half.  Every  one  satisiied  except  Peel  and  Graham,  who  are 
furious  in  temper. 

On  March  the  22nd  the  debate  on  the  Ten  Hours 
Bill  was  resumed,  and  Lord  Ashley,  in  a  brief  speech, 
in  which  he  summarised,  from  the  Ileports  of  Factory 
Inspectors  and  other  authorities,  the  vast  moral  and 
social  benefits  that  would  accrue  from  the  curtailment 
of  the  existing  sj^stem  of  excessive  labour,  concluded 
by  moving  that  the  blank  in  the  eighth  clause  be  filled 
with  the  word  "ten." 

A  long  discussion  followed,  in  which  Mr.  Cardvvell, 
Mr.  Brotherton,  Lord  John  Manners,  Mr.  Ward,  Sir 
Eobert  Inglis,  and  Mr.  Charles  Buller  took  part,  and 
at  its  close  there  was  a  majority  of  three  (186  to  183) 
against  adopting  the  word  "  twelve  "  as  proposed  by  the 
Government.  Lord  Ashley's  amendment  that  the  word 
"  ten  "  should  be  inserted  in  the  eighth  clause  wTas  then 


1844.]  A    GOVERNMENT   STRATAGEM.  35 

put,  when  all  who  had  voted  for  "twelve  "  now  voted 
"No;  "  but,  inasmuch  as  five  who  had  previously  voted 
"  No "  again  did  the  same,  confusion  once  more  pre- 
vailed, and  the  result  was  that  188  voted  against  the 
amendment,  and  181  for  it,  and  it  was  lost  by  a 
majority  of  7  ! 

The  stratagem  of  the  Government  had  succeeded. 
The  question  was  reduced  to  chaos.  The  Government 
proposal  for  a  Twelve  Hours  Bill,  and  Lord  Ashley's 
proposal  for  a  Ten  Hours  Bill,  had  both  been  negatived, 
and  the  Bill  was  in  extreme  jeopardy. 

In  these  circumstances,  Sir  James  Graham  postponed 
statins:  what  the  Government  would  do,  and  moved  that 
the  Chairman  should  report  progress. 

Lord  Ashley  bowed  to  the  decision  of  the  House, 
acknowledged  that  for  the  present  he  was  defeated,  but 
declared  that  he  "  would  persevere  to  the  last  hour  of 
his  existence,  and  he  had  not  the  slightest  doubt  that, 
at  no  very  distant  time,  he  should,  by  God's  blessing, 
have  a  complete  victory." 

March  23rd. — Last  night  victorious  in  rejecting  Twelve  Hours  by 
186  to  183  ;  defeated  in  attempting  Ten  Hours,  by  181  to  188  !  Yet 
the  cause  is  mightily  advanced.  God,  in  His  wisdom  and  goodness, 
demands  a  little  longer  trial  of  faith  and  patience.  The  consum- 
mation will  then  arrive,  and  it  will  be  the  more  evidently  seen  to 
be  His  own  work.  House  very  kind.  Charles  Duller  made  an 
admirable  speech.  What  ignorance  of  the  House,  of  the  country, 
and  of  mankind,  have  the  Ministry  shown.  Feeling  is  very  often 
far  better  than  logic  for  a  guide  to  conduct.  What  a  patrimony 
had  Peel  :  the  especial  protection  of  the  working  classes,  and  he  Las 
cast  it  away  !  The  majority,  in  fact,  included  the  larger  propor- 
tion of  manufacturing  constituencies,  and  certainly  the  best  of    tha 

d  2 


36  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.   XII. 

Government  supporters.  The  House  of  Commons  never  saw,  before 
these  events,  such  an  utter  resignation  of  party-feeling  on  all  sides 
to  the  assertion  of  a  great  act  of  humanity.  The  influence  of 
Ministers,  used  unscrupulously  and  unsparingly,  obtained  at  last 
but  a  majority  of  seven,  and  that  not  in  support  of  their  original 
proposition.  .   .  . 

March  25th. — Globe  of  this  afternoon  contains  a  most  direct 
attack  on  me — 'ambition,  love  of  office,'  &c,  &c. — 'the  Prince 
of  Cantei-s.'  What  a  scene  in  the  House  last  night  !  The  tiptoe  of 
expectation,  every  one  anticipating  an  Eleven  Hours  Bill.  I  was 
prepared  to  accept  it,  reserving  to  myself  the  power  of  moving 
whenever  I  pleased.  It  would  have  settled  the  question  for  at  least 
two  years.  Graham,  I  am  told,  very  hostile  in  Cabinet.  Peel  for 
it ;  determined,  however,  to  resist.  Graham  notified  his  opposition, 
and  signified  that  all  who  supported  me  were  entering  on  a  course 
of  'Jack  Cade*  legislation.'  Indecent,  foolish,  and  stupid;  but  he 
did  himself  thereby  irreparable  mischief.  Consideration  of  Bill,  or 
rather  of  withdrawal  of  it,  deferred  till  Friday  next. 

March  26th. — Consultations  without  end ;  annoyances  of  all 
kinds  ;  unabated  anxiety.  Prayed  heartily  for  counsel,  wisdom,  and 
understanding. 

March  27th. — Resolved  to  act  in  conformity  with  my  first  im- 
pression, and  allow  withdrawal  of  Bill.  .  .  .  Did  so,  and  Graham 
pledged  himself  to  bring  in  a  new  Bill.  I  can,  therefore,  do  on  this 
what  I  could  not  have  clone  on  the  old  Bill — take  a  debate  and 
division  on  the  simple  question  of  ten  hours  ! 

It  was  generally  anticipated  that  the  Government 
would  endeavour  to  effect  a  compromise  by  proposing 
an  Eleven  Hours  Bill.  When,  however,  it  became 
known  that  Sir  James  Graham  proposed  to  bring  in  a 
new  Bill,  and  to  stand  doggedly  to  the  Twelve  Hours 


*  "  H.  B."  published  a  lively  caricature  on  this.  Lord  Ashley  as 
Jack  Cade,  followed  by  Lord  John  Manners,  Sir  R.  Inglis,  and  Lord  John 
Russell,  advancing  against  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  Sir  J.  Graham  on  the 
defensive. 


1844.]         SIR   JAMES    GRAHAM'S    UNPOPULARITY.  37 

principle,  and  when,  moreover,  he  expressed  this  in 
words  and  actions  which  were  intolerable,  the  excite- 
ment, especially  among  the  operatives,  became  intense. 
The  Committees  united  in  memorialising  the  Queen 
against  "  the  ill-advised  perseverance  in  a  course  of 
cruelty  and  injustice,  of  your  Majesty's  principal  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  the  Home  Department,  who  has 
avowed  his  intention  of  withholding  all  relief  from 
oppressed  women  and  children,  and  has  sought  to  effect 
his  object,  by  means  most  insulting  to  the  faithful 
representatives  of  your  Majesty's  loyal  subjects  in 
Parliament,  and  tending  to  degrade  the  high  office 
bestowed  on  him  by  your  Majesty." 

At  this  period  of  his  career,  Sir  James  Graham  was 
one  of  the  most  unpopular  men  in  the  country.  Except 
by  a  few  personal  friends,  he  was  almost  universally 
disliked;  and  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  in  Lord 
Ashley's  Journals  some  strong  comments  upon  his 
character  and  conduct.  The  "  novel  and  somewhat 
questionable  course  "  he  had  pursued  in  endeavouring,  by 
stratagem,  to  rescind  the  votes  in  favour  of  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill,  had  increased  his  unpopularity  generally, 
and  in  a  marked  degree  among  the  friends  of  factory 
legislation.  But  Sir  James  Graham  had  not  yet  shown 
the  whole  length  to  which  he  could  go,  when  his  will 
was  thwarted ;  and  in  the  near  future  he  was  to 
make  a  display  of  some  of  those  qualities  which  kept 
alive  his  unpopularity.  He  had  an  overbearing  manner, 
which  in  itself  raised  opposition ;  and,  once  having 
become  convinced  on  any  subject,  his  mind  seemed  to 


38  TEE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.   XII. 

shut  its  eyes,  and  he  plunged  deeper  and  deeper  into 
partisanship.  "  He  exulted,  as  a  strong  man,  in  the 
power  he  possessed,  and  sometimes,"  says  his  biographer, 
"  it  must  be  owned,  its  exercise  savoured  of  tyranny."* 
It  did  so  during  this  year,  when  the  Factory  Bill  was 
the  burning  question  in  and  out  of  Parliament ;  and  the 
friends  and  foes  of  the  movement  were  agreed  in  this 
perhaps  more  than  in  anything  else — a  common  dislike 
to  Sir  James  Graham. 

"  While  no  man  more  diligently  or  conscientiously 
devoted  himself  to  his  public  duties,"  says  his 
biographer,  writing  of  this  time,  "  or  displayed  more 
aptitude  and  ability  in  their  performance,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  his  personal  unpopularity  at  this 
period  was  extreme.  Why  was  it  so,  and  what  was 
the  cause?  The  question  was  continually  asked,  and 
every  one  had  a  different  explanation  to  give.  '  How 
do  you  account  for  it?'  said  a  mutual  friend,  standing 
one  day  below  the  bar,  to  a  noble  Lord  whom  Sir  James 
had  lately  complimented  highly  in  debate,  and  towards 
whom  he  had  certainly  never  shown  anything  like  dis- 
respect. '  How  ?  Why  just  look  at  him,  as  he  sits 
there,  with  his  head  thrown  back,  and  his  eyes  fixed 
on  the  windows  over  the  gallery,  as  if  there  was  no- 
thing going  on  in  the  House  worth  his  listening  to.'  " 
Another  distinguished  supporter,  when  asked  why  so 
many  people  hated  him,  replied,  "  He  has  cocked 
his  hat  on  the  wrong  side  of  his  head,  and  depend 
upon  it  that's  a  mistake  not  easily  got  over."     There 

*  "  Life  of  Sir  James  Graham,"  by  T.  M.  Torrens,  ii.  199. 


1S44.]  CHARACTER    OF    SIR    JAMES    GRAHAM.  39 

was  something  more  than  this,  however,  to  account  for 
it.  His  manner,  always  uncertain,  was  frequently  com- 
plained of  by  those  who  had  occasion  to  see  him  on 
business  at  the  Home  Office.  An  old  and  attached 
friend,  speaking  of  this  period,  says,  "  Though  I  never 
found  him  anything  but  courteous,  considerate,  and  kind, 
others  were  certainly  not  so  lucky.  Whether  it  was 
impatience  at  having  his  time  wasted,  when  there  were 
a  hundred  calls  upon  it  daily  he  could  not  satisfy,  or 
whether  it  arose  from  unconscious  faults  of  manner,  it 
is  certain  that  he  had  become  the  most  unpopular  man 
in  the  Government.  You  could  not  go  into  the  Carlton 
without  finding  some  self-important  country  gentleman 
half  inarticulate  with  rage  at  the  way  in  which  he  had 
been  treated  '  by  that  intolerable  coxcomb,  whom  Peel 
had  been  fool  enough  to  put  at  the  Home  Office,  and 
whom  he  was  resolved  never,  so  long  as  he  lived,  to 
speak  to  again!'  ...  To  the  arts  of  conciliation  he  seemed 
to  think  it  unworthy  of  a  Minister  to  stoop.  To  policy 
or  reason  he  was  ready  to  concede,  but  amid  clamour  he 
grew  sulky,  and  his  answer  to  threats  was  generally 
conveyed  in  a  tone  that  savoured  so  much  of  arrogance 
and  scorn  as  to  render  their  reiteration  certain.  He 
would  initiate  change,  if  the  initiation  were  left  to  him 
and  those  he  acted  with.  It  was  not  his  way  to  do 
anything  by  halves ;  but  having  once  made  up  his  mind 
to  a  particular  line  of  conduct,  his  disposition  led  him 
to  pursue  it,  unmindful  of  importunity  or  deprecation. 
There  was  in  him,  it  must  be  owned,  sometimes  too 
much  of  a  haughty  and  imperious  mood,  which  especially 


40  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.   XII. 

betrayed  itself  in  his  demeanour  as  a  Minister.  He 
seemed  as  though  he  were  haunted  by  a  morbid  fear 
of  appearing  (as  he  phrased  it)  '  to  be  hustled  into 
doing  anything  by  the  mere  pressure  from  without,' 
so  long  as  he  believed  that  pressure  could  be  resisted. 
.  He  spoke  and  acted  in  public  like  one  who 
fancied  it  a  duty  to  flout  demagogism,  and  to  overawe 
the  voice  of  querulous  or  menacing  remonstrance."  * 

It  is  true  that  this  was  not  the  whole  man.  In  the 
home  circle  he  was  another  being,  but,  as  his  biographer 
adds,  "  The  man  who  was  idolised  by  his  family  and 
beloved  by  his  friends,  from  the  moment  he  crossed  his 
own  threshold  appeared  to  assume  a  repellent  air  and 
mien,  as  though  he  were  haunted  by  the  fear  of  being 
intruded  on."  f 

In  the  interval  afforded  by  the  Easter  holidays, 
between  the  withdrawal  of  Sir  James  Graham's  Bill 
and  the  introduction  of  a  new  one,  Lord  Ashley,  long- 
ing for  a  few  days'  repose,  went  on  a  short  visit  to 
Dover  ;  but  the  Diaries  reveal  how  little  real  rest  there 
was  for  him  while  the  great  question  on  which  his 
heart  was  set  was  pending. 

April  3rd. — Dover.  .  .  .  Read  the  Bible  with  the  boys;  a 
■useful  and  agreeable  morning  ;  beautiful  day ;  walked  to  the  top  of 
Shakespeare's  Cliff;  enjoyed  the  scene,  the  refreshing  air,  the  hope 
of  renewed  strength,  and  fuller  service.  .  .  .  Home  at  seven,  very 
tired.  I  often  think,  when  fatigued,  how  much  less  my  weariness 
must  be  than  that  of  the  wretched  factory  women.  It  has,  at  any 
rate,  this  good  result — that  I  feel  and  make  additional  resolutions  to 
persevere  in  their  behalf. 

*  "  Life  of  Sir  James  Graham,"  ii.  227. 
t  Ibid.,  pp.  272-3. 


1844.]  THE    SIMPLICITY    OF   FAITH.  41 

April  4th. — I  know  not  what  feeling  predominates  when  one 
paces  these  shores  and  surveys  the  fortresses.  All  now  seem  quiet 
— nay,  almost  lifeless  ;  yet,  a  generation  ago,  superhuman  activity 
and  unprecedented  alarm  made  man  and  nature  rivals  in  destruction. 
With  what  sentiments  of  thankfulness,  what  confessions  of  sin,  what 
remorse  for  oblivion  of  mercies,  ought  we  to  stand  on  this  protected 
beach  and  contemplate  the  opposite  shores  ;  not  a  hostile  foot — though 
millions  panted  for  our  ruin — trod  upon  our  soil ;  every  hour  of 
existence  as  a  nation  was  a  fresh  mere}'.   .  .   . 

April  5th  (Good  Friday). — Do  what  you  will  you  cannot  so 
entirely  banish  the  past  and  disregard  the  future  as  to  make  the 
mind  rest  solely,  simply,  exclusively  on  the  present  hour.  '  This  is 
the  day  that  the  Lord  hath  made ;  let  us  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it.' 
Much  do  I  desii'e  it,  but  I  am  haunted,  and  I  know  I  shall  be 
haunted,  by  debates,  divisions,  spectres  of  attacks,  defences,  failure, 
success.  I  am  of  a  very  nervous  and  excitable  temperameut ;  an 
impression  once  made  is  not  easily  effaced ;  it  hangs  to  me  like  a  con- 
science. .  .  .  As  I  taught  the  little  children  to-day,  it  seemed  to 
me  wonderful  in  how  small  a  compass  is  contained  the  whole  sum 
and  substance  of  Christian  religion.  Volumes  without  end,  years  of 
study,  years  of  controversy,  immense  thought,  immense  eloquence 
all  expended,  and  mostly  wasted,  to  dilate  or  torture  that  which 
may  be  comprehended  by  the  understanding,  and  relished  by  the 
soul,  of  a  simple  child.  What  will  all  the  learning  in  the  world, 
all  the  meditation  of  the  profoundest  spirits,  add  to  the  plain 
facts  of  the  fall  of  man  and  his  salvation  by  Christ  1  Little  but 
perplexity  and  the  embarrassment  of  that  which  is  intrinsically 
simple  ! 

April  6th. — Mill-owners  have  got  out  a  manifesto  contradicting 
me  on  every  point,  and  specially  on  '  the  distances.'  I  hold  to  my 
statements.  If  I  be  refuted,  my  career  as  a  public  man  is  over ;  I 
could  never  again  make  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons  or  else- 
where. I  should  be  proved  to  be  as  near  to  a  liar  as  a  man  can  well 
be,  short  of  the  actual  dealing  in  falsehoods.   .  . 

April  12th.  —  Panshanger.  Rode  with  William  Cowper  to 
Watton.  Saw  Bickersteth.*  Rejoiced  to  have  some  conversation 
with  him  ;   he  is   full  of  faith,  and  truly  and  dearly  loves  our  Lord 

*  Rev.  E.  Bickersteth,  Rector  of  Watton,  Herts. 


42 


THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY. 


[Vnxv.   XII. 


and  Master.     But  there  are  few,  like  him,  proof  against  temptation 
and  expediency  in  the  hour  of  trial.   .   . 

April  15th. — Wrote  a  few  clays  ago  a  challenge  to  Greg  and 
Ashworth  to  meet  Fielden  and  Kenworthy  and  superintend  the  re- 
measurement  of  the  distances.  Will  they  accept  it  or  no  %  I  think 
not.  However,  I  shall,  thank  God,  have  a  triumph  in  either  case.  If 
they  attend,  I  must  prove  my  accuracy ;  if  they  refuse,  I  shall  prove 
their  dishonesty.  .   . 

There  was  a  long  paper  warfare  on  this  subject.  The 
letters  are  still  in  existence,  but  it  would  be  needless  to 
quote  them  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  challenge 
was  evaded,  and  the  accuracy  of  Lord  Ashley's  state- 
ment was  proved  by  incontestable  evidence. 

The  subject  was  one  upon  which  he  had  evidently 
taken  immense  pains  to  be  strictly  precise  ;  there  are 
many  notes  among  his  papers  to  show  this.  Here  is 
one,  apparently  of  a  date  earlier  than  the  present 
controversy  : — 

A  Table  showing  the  distance  over  which  a  Piecer  must  walk  daily 
in  attending  a  pair  of  Mules,  spinning  Cotton-yarn  of  40  hanks 
in  the  pound,  at  Bolton-le- Moors,  the  Piecers  being  usually  of  the 
ages  of  14  to  21. 


The        Spinner 

"puts  up"  2,000 
stretches  daily  on 
each  of  two  Mules, 
each  Mule  being 
eighteen  yards 
long,  and  there 
being  three  per- 
sons to  attend  to 
them. 


O 


4,000 


-z  o 


fc" 


Ph„2. 


o 
d  ■ 


._  ^ 


o    . 

O 


44,000 


25 


The  distance 
from  Mule  to 
Mule  will  vary 
a  little  in  some 
Mills,  owing 
to  a  scarcity 
or  abundance 
of  room. 


1844.]  ANOTHER    GOVERNMENT   STRATAGEM.  43 

Sir  Robert  Peel  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  a  way  out 
of  the  difficulty  connected  with  Lord  Ashley's  Factory 
measures.     It  is  referred  to  in  the  following  entry : — 

April  17th. — London.  Well,  what  nextl  Can  I  believe  my  eai's? 
Old  Bonham*  informed  me  (stating,  while  he  did  so,  that  it  was  almost 
a  breach  of  confidence,  inasmuch  as  no  hint  of  any  sort  or  kind  was 
to  be  given)  that  Peel  had  determined  to  offer  me  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenancy of  Ireland,  with  almost  unlimited  powers,  in  respect  especially 
of  the  Church.  It  came  out  very  naturally,  arising  from  a  conver- 
sation in  which  we  were  engaged ;  he  lamenting  that  my  position 
rendered  office  impossible,  and  that  such  a  state  of  tilings  was  a  loss 
to  Government  in  general.  Peel,  he  said,  had  told  him,  and  Graham 
confirmed  it,  that  no  one  in  the  kingdom  could  effect  such  good  in 
Ireland  ;  no  one  but  myself  could  grapple  with  the  landlords  and  the 
prelates  and  maintain,  against  influence,  the  rights  of  the  working 
clergy.  He  had,  he  added,  done  wrong  in  mentioning  it ;  it  might 
have  the  appearance  of  wishing  to  abate  opposition  by  such  an  oiler. 
He  trusted  to  my  saying  nothing.  No  one  but  himself,  Peel,  and 
Graham  had  any  idea  of  the  scheme.  I  listened  in  silence  and 
astonishment  ;  a  little  gratified,  but  not  at  all  in  doubt.  I  quite 
admitted  that  I  could,  probably,  do  more  with  the  Irish  clergy 
than  most  men  at  present.  I  said  no  more.  He  argued,  and  some- 
what urged.  Silent,  not  offended,  not  puffed- up,  not  beguiled,  fully 
resolved  never  to  do  or  accept  anything,  however  pressed  by  the  strong 
claims  of  public  necessity  and  public  usefulness,  which  should,  in 
the  least  degree,  limit  my  opportunity  or  control  my  free  action  in 
respect  of  the  Ten  Hours  Bill.  Peel  had  told  him  that  he  would 
not  even  breathe  the  sidject  until  after  the  Factory  Bill  had  been  dis- 
posed of.  God  give  me  a  right  judgment  in  all  things  !  O  God, 
grant  that  I  may  never  be  seduced  by  any  worldly  motive  to  abandon 
truth  and  mercy  and  justice  !  Keep  me  from  all  specious  patriotism, 
and  alike  from  all  fear  of  man's  reproach  !  .   .   . 

April  22nd. — One  thing  now  perplexes  and  annoys  me.  I  per- 
ceive, or  fancy  that  I  perceive,  within  the  last  few  months,  a  great 
diminution  of  intellectual  power.     I  have  no  energy,  no  command. 

*  Bonham  was  "  whip." 


44  TEE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.   XII. 

If  I  attempt  to  speak,  my  utterance  is  unsteady.  I  have  no  flow  of 
ideas,  and  not  much  more  of  language.  I  feel  no  confidence,  no  hope, 
no  satisfaction.  I  positively  dread  the  necessity  of  presenting  even  a 
petition.  I  never  open  my  lips  without  a  prayer  to  God,  and  yet  I 
tremble  at  the  duty.     All  this  adds  greatly  to  my  sorrow. 

April  23rd. — Which  is  the  more  wicked,  a  covert  or  a  bare- 
faced rogue '?  Peter  Borthwick  went  this  evening  to  Henry  Baring 
(who  told  me  of  it  the  instant  after  the  transaction)  and  made  a 
proposal.  'Would  you  like  to  hear,'  said  Baring  to  me,  'a  specimen 
of  public  virtue]  Peter  Borthwick  has  just  said  to  me,  "I  have  a 
motion  to-night ;  pray  keep  me  a  House.  You  remember  how  I 
voted  on  the  Factory  Bill.  I  voted  against  the  Government.  Now, 
if  you  will  keep  a  House  until  I  shall  have  made  my  speech  I  will 
vote  for  the  Government."  Do  not  show  me  up,'  said  Baring.  How 
can  I  march  through  Coventry  with  such  a  tale  as  this] 

On  the  3rd  of  May  leave  was  obtained  to  bring  in 
a  new  Bill,  and  the  occasion  was  utilised  by  Mr.  Ward 
(Sheffield),  Mr.  Roebuck,  and  Captain  Rous,  to  make  a 
series  of  attacks  upon  Lord  Ashley.  The  Bill  was  so 
worded  that  it  would  not  admit  of  any  amendment  being 
proposed  on  any  of  its  clauses,  and  it  was  therefore 
necessary  for  Lord  Ashley  to  give  notice  that  he  would 
move  the  introduction  of  a  new  clause  to  the  effect  that 
no  young  person  should  be  employed  more  than  eleven 
hours  a  day,  or  sixty-four  hours  a  week,  and  that  from 
October  1st,  1847,  these  numbers  should  be  reduced  to 
ten  hours  and  fifty-eight  hours  respectively. 

It  was -a  night,  as  he  says,  "  of  trouble  and  rebuke." 

May  4th.  ...  I  was  the  direct  and  indirect  target.  They  fired 
at  me  without  mercy,  and  left  me,  like  a  portrait  of  St.  Sebastian,  shot 
through  and  through  by  their  arrows.  Had  not  intended  to  make 
any  reply  ;  perhaps  I  felt  incompetent,  as  I  always  do  now.     Strong 


1844.]       TEN  HOURS  BILL  VIEWED  COMMERCIALLY.  45 

in  my  cause  and  conduct,  weak  in  my  capacity.  Ward's  accusation 
against  my  knowledge,  my  statements,  my  veracity,  rendered  an 
answer  inevitable.  What  kind  of  answer  1  Not  one  of  declamation, 
but  one  of  facts,  that  involved  much  reading  of  documents,  and  at 
half-past  ten  at  night !  Why  did  not  Ward  make  his  attack  before  ] 
But  as  a  man,  wishing  to  be  thought  a  man  of  honour,  I  could  not 
decline  the  challenge.  Alas  for  my  necessity  !  I  began  and  ended 
amid  cries  of  '  Question  '  and  '  Divide.'  Appeal  was  in  vain.  The 
House  had  heard  Ward  and  Roebuck,  but  it  would  not  hear  me,  and 
I  spouted  my  papers  with  a  heavy  heart,  a  parched  mouth,  a  feeble 
voice,  a  faltering  tongue,  and  a  hopeless  pertinacity — a  spectacle 
of  present  and  future  exultation  to  those  who  hate  me  and  seek  my 
confusion.  I  am  certainly  conscious  of  a  decline  in  physical  and 
mental  energy  during  the  last  three  months  ;  the  fact  I  perceive, 
I  cannot  arrive  at  the  cause.  I  have  had  no  sense  of  comfort  from 
above  ;  I  have  seen  no  pillar  of  a  cloud  by  day  or  of  fire  by  night ; 
my  spirits  do  not  rally ;  fears  seem  to  have  obtained  undisputed 
possession  of  my  whole  system  ;  I  labour  under  a  notion  of  solitude 
without  external  aid  or  internal  assurance ;  what  or  whence  is 
it  1  ...  I  have  yet  before  me  another  conflict.  I  am  languid,  weary, 
diffident ;  many  assail,  and  no  one  defends  me  ;  I  am  utterly  with- 
out resource  ;  I  neither  possess  nor  seek  the  'arm  of  flesh.'  I  tremble 
at  the  prospect.  I  never  felt  so  forlorn  as  I  do  now.  What  is  it  1  I 
had  an  inward  conviction  of  support  in  every  other  case  ;  in  Collieries, 
in  Education,  in  Opium  ;  here  alone  I  have  never  experienced  a 
cheering  thought,  an  invigorating  grace.  Am  I  right  in  my  purpose  1 
Is  it  according  to  God's  will  1  .  .  . 

In  moving  the  introduction  of  the  new  clause  on  the 
10th  of  May,  Lord  Ashley  set  himself  to  the  task  of 
meeting  the  objections  that  had  been  urged  against  the 
Ten  Hours  Bill  on  commercial  grounds — namely,  that 
it  would  cause  a  diminution  of  produce ;  that  there 
would  take  place  a  reduction,  in  the  same  proportion,  of 
the  value  or  the  fixed  capital  employed  in  the  trade; 
that  a  diminution  of  wages  would  ensue  to  the  great 


46  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.   XII. 

injury  of  the  workmen  ;  and,  lastly,  that  there  would  be 
a  rise  of  price,  and  consequent  peril  of  foreign  compe- 
tition. Having  examined  and  refuted  these  arguments, 
he  continued  : — ■ 

Sir,  this  House  is  now  placed  in  a  novel  position  ;  it  is  sum- 
moned to  rescind  its  resolution,  not  because  new  facts  or  new  con- 
ditions have  appeared,  but  because  the  Minister  has  declared  his 
hostility.  Nothing  has  been  stated  that  was  not  stated  before — no 
fresh  knowledge  communicated,  no  unseen  dangers  discovered.  The 
House  is  summoned  to  cancel  its  vote,  not  upon  conviction,  but  to 
save  a  Government.  .  .  .  Sir,  the  whole  question  of  representative 
Governments  is  at  stake  ;  votes  have  been  rescinded  before,  but 
never  such  as  this.  You  are  almost  declaring,  to  those  who  are  your 
m-dinary  friends,  they  shall  never  exercise  a  vote  but  at  the  will  of 
the  Minister.  This  is  a  despotism  under  the  forms  of  the  Constitu- 
tion ;  and  all  to  no  purpose  ;  for  your  resistance  will  be  eventually 
and  speedily  overcome,  but  your  precedent  will  remain. 

In  concluding  his  vigorous  denunciation,  he  uttered 
prophecies  which,  singularly  enough,  were  soon  to  be 
fulfilled  to  the  very  letter,  although  the  causes  leading 
to  those  results  were  then  entirely  unknown.  He 
said  : — 

The  feeling  of  the  country  is  roused  ;  and  so  long  as  there  shall 
be  voices  to  complain  and  hearts  to  sympathise,  you  will  have 
neither  honour  abroad  nor  peace  at  home,  neither  comfort  for  the 
present  nor  security  for  the  future.  But  I  dare  to  hope  for  far 
better  things — for  restored  affections,  for  renewed  understanding 
between  master  and  man,  for  combined  and  general  efforts,  for  large 
and  mutual  concessions  of  all  classes  of  the  wealthy  for  the  benefit 
of  the  common  welfare,  and  especially  of  the  labouring  people.  Sir, 
it  may  not  be  given  to  me  to  pass  over  this  Jordan  ;  other  and 
better  men  have  preceded  me,  and  I  entered  into  their  labours ; 
other  and  better  men  will  follow  me,  and   enter  into  mine  ;  but  this 


1844.]  A    CRISIS.  47 

consolation  I  shall  ever  continue  to  enjoy — that,  amidst  much  in- 
justice, and  somewhat  of  calumny,  we  have  at  last  lighted  such  a 
candle  in  England  as,  by  God's  blessing,  shall  never  be  put  out. 

As  soon  as  the  loud  and  continued  cheering  ceased,  Sir 
James  Graham  rose,  and  for  once  appeared  to  be  unequal 
to  the  task  of  answering  the  arguments  arrayed  against 
him,  endorsed  as  they  were  by  so  many  of  his  own 
party  and  supporters.  And  it  may  be  noted,  in  passing, 
that,  although  the  debate  lasted  for  two  nights,  there 
was  no  one  in  the  House  who  even  attempted  to  over- 
throw the  arguments  adduced  by  Lord  Ashley.  It  was 
evident  to  the  Ministry  that  a  crisis  in  its  history 
had  come,  and  Sir  James  Graham  declared  it  in  these 
words  : — "  Sir,  I  shall  not  be  unjust  towards  the  noble 
Lord,  whatever  others  may  be ;  and  I  am  quite  satisfied 
that  the  cause  which  he  has  advocated  this  evening  can 
never  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  better  advocate.  I  am 
quite  satisfied  that  his  motives  are  of  the  highest  and 
purest  nature,  and  he  is  no  less  an  able  and  powerful 
advocate  than  I  believe  him  to  be  a  sincere  one.  He 
has,  however,  said,  that  her  Majesty's  Government  seek 
to  exercise  a  tyranny  upon  this  occasion.  Now,  Sir, 
with  humble  submission,  I  say  that  I  am  quite  prepared 
to  bow  to  whatever  decision  this  House  may  come 
to  upon  this  question,  but  I  can  conceive  no  tyranny 
greater; — none  greater  upon  the  part  of  the  Crown,  and 
I  should  certainly  say  that  it  would  be  the  extreme 
of  tyranny  on  the  part  of  a  popular  assembly,  to  ex- 
pect that  any  Minister  should  remain  responsible  for 
the  conduct   of  public  affairs  when  the  representative 


48  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.   XII. 

assembly  of  the  nation,  bearing  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
whole  power  of  the  Government  of  the  country,  demands 
a  course  to  be  taken  which  that  Minister,  in  his  judg- 
ment and  in  his  conscience,  believes  to  be  fatal  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  country.  I  must  say,  with  perfect 
submission  and  perfect  frankness,  that  I  leave  this  case 
to  the  decision  of  the  House ;  but  with  equal  firmness, 
and  with  equal  frankness,  I  am  bound  to  state  that,  if 
the  decision  of  the  House  should  be  that  the  proposition 
of  the  noble  Lord  should  prevail,  it  will  be  my  duty  to 
seek  a  private  station,  hoping  that  the  decision  of  the 
House  may  be  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  the  country." 

The  debate  was  continued  with  great  animation, 
Lord  Howick,  Mr.  Bernal,  Mr.  C.  Buller,  Mr.  Ferrand, 
Mr.  Muntz,  and  others,  supporting  Lord  Ashley ;  and 
Mr.  Liddel,  Mr.  G.  Knight,  Mr.  Mark  Philips,  and  Mr. 
Hoebuck,  opposing  him.  Mr.  Roebuck,  who  was  always 
a  strong  enemy  to  Factory  Legislation,  distinguished 
himself  by  giving  utterance  to  one  of  the  most  violent 
speeches  ever  heard  in  that  House,  even  from  him. 

At  one  o'clock  the  debate  was  adjourned. 

May  12th. — Sunday.  At  last  a  day  of  repose  !  Have  been  in  a 
whirl  by  night  and  by  day — occupied  and  anxious  all  day  ;  sleepless, 
or  if  sleeping,  like  a  drunken  man,  all  night ;  my  head  quite  giddy, 
and  my  heart  absolutely  fainting  ;  too  much  to  do,  in  quantity,  in 
variety,  and  importance.  Delivered  at  last,  by  God's  especial  mercy, 
on  Friday  night,  of  my  burden,  not  only  tvithout  failure,  as  I  felt  at 
the  time,  but  also  with  honour,  as  I  learned  afterwards.  Oh,  what 
trouble,  time,  and  perplexity  removed  ! 

The  adjourned  debate  was  resumed  on  Monday,  May 
13th.     It  was  evident  that   the    great  Parliamentary 


1844.]  A   CRUSHING  DEFEAT.  49 

struggle  upon  the  subject  was  approaching  its  end;  the 
fate  of  the  Ministry  was  trembling  in  the  balance. 

Among  the  speakers  was  Mr.  John  Bright,  who 
again  gave  the  hottest  opposition,  while  Mr.  Macaulay, 
who  had  hitherto  voted  against  all  legislation  on  the 
subject,  now  declared  himself  in  favour  of  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill,  and  supported  it  in  one  of  his  brilliant 
orations.  But  the  case  was  doomed  when  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  having  addressed  the  House  for  upwards  of  two 
hours,  concluded  by  saying,  "  I  know  not  what  the 
result  may  be  this  night,  but  this  I  do  know — that  I 
shall,  with  a  safe  conscience,  if  the  result  be  unfavour- 
able to  my  views,  retire  with  perfect  satisfaction  iuto 
a  private  station,  wishing  well  to  the  result  of  your 
legislation." 

This  was  decisive.  In  the  face  of  such  a  contin- 
gency there  were  many  who  felt  they  could  not  do 
otherwise  than  vote  against  the  measure  they  approved, 
in  support  of  a  Ministry  whose  malevolent  action  in 
threatening  to  break  up  the  Administration  unless  the 
House  of  Commons  rescinded  the  vote  it  had  oiven  in 
favour  of  the  Ten  Hours  Bill,  they  disapproved.  On 
the  question  being  put,  the  House  divided.  Ayes,  159; 
Noes,  297.  Majority  against  Lord  Ashley's  amend- 
ment, 138. 

It  was  a  crushing  defeat,  but  it  was  evident  to  all 
the  friends  of  the  movement  that  the  future  triumph 
could  not  much  longer  be  delayed ;  and  Lord  Ashley 
left  the  House  reiterating  his  determination  to  renew 
the  subject  at  an  early  date. 


50  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

May  14th. — Last  night  defeated — utterly,  singularly,  prodigiously 
defeated  by  a  majority  of  138!!  The  House  seemed  aghast,  per- 
plexed, astounded.  No  one  could  say  how,  why,  and  almost  when. 
It  seemed  that  35  or  40  was  the  highest  majority  expected.  Such 
is  the  power  and  such  the  exercise  of  Ministerial  influence  ! !  .  .  . 

May  15th. — The  majority  was  one  to  save  the  Government  (even 
Whigs  being  reluctant  to  turn  them  out  just  now),  not  against  the 
question  of  Ten  Hours.  .  .  .  Freernantle  went  from  one  member  to 
another  assuring  them  of  Ministerial  danger,  and  thus  each  man  be- 
lieved that  his  own  vote  was  the  salvation  of  the  Government. 

May  16th. — Dined  last  night  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  feast.  Found 
much  sympathy,  as  I  do  everywhere.  This  great  majority  far  better 
for  the  question  than  one  of,  say,  25.  It  proves  that  there  was  no 
division  against  the  principle,  but  one  to  save  the  Ministry;  it 
begets,  too,  a  high  reaction.  Called  on  to  return  thanks  for  the 
House  of  Commons.  Did  so,  but  expressed  slight  surprise  that  I 
should  have  been  summoned  to  that  duty  at  that  particular  moment, 
adding,  however,  that  the  House  '  consisted  of  a  body  of  gentlemen 
who  would,  on  all  occasions,  do  what  they  (here  was  charity  !)  con- 
sidered to  be  their  duty.'  Well  received.  Peel  and  Graham  tried  to 
make  fair  weather  with  me  afterwards.  Did  not  rebuff  them,  though 
I  could  not  feel  either  friendship  or  esteem.  .  .  Amply  satisfied  now 
that  I  permitted  the  withdrawal  of  the  Bill.  Should  have  been  de- 
feated by  an  equal  majority,  and  the  question  would  have  been 
ended  for  the  Session.  But  what  should  I  have  lost  1  The  interval 
has  produced  all  these  public  meetings,  all  the  witnesses  they  ex- 
hibited, all  the  feeling  they  roused,  not  only  throughout  those 
provinces,  but  the  whole  country,  and,  finally,  I  have  obtained  a 
debate  and  division  on  the  true  issue  of  the  Ten  Hours,  not  on  a  mere 
technicality.  Have  I  not,  moreover,  saved  the  Bill  with  all  its 
valuable  clauses  about  machinery  and  female  labour  ]  A  withdrawal 
or  a  vigorous  resistance  to  it  would  have  prompted  the  Ministers 
to  proceed  no  further ;  an  amendment,  stoutly  maintained  in  com- 
mittee on  the  second  Bill,  would  have  deterred  them  from  the  third 
reading     It  is  now  gone  to  the  House  of  Lords.     O  God,  prosper  it ! 

'  Cast  down,  but  not  destroyed.'  I  feel  no  abatement  of  faith, 
no  sinking  of  hope,  no  relaxation  of  perseverance.  The  stillest  and 
darkest  hour  of  the  night  just  precedes  the  dawn.  'Though  it  tarry, 
wait  for  it,'  believing  that  God  sends  you  a  trial,  and  yet  bears  you 


1841.]  MINISTERIAL   INFLUENCE.  51 

up  with  a  corresponding  courage;  and,  although  you  may  pass  not  the 
stream  of  Jordan,  it  is  something  that  God  has  permitted  you  to 
wash  your  feet  in  the  waters  of  the  promised  land. 

It  is  interesting  to  learn  from  contemporary  sources 
what  was  the  impression  left  on  various  minds  by  these 
stirring  incidents,  especially  when  these  impressions 
were  made  on  minds  holding  opposite  views. 

One  specimen  only  can  be  given  here.  Mr.  Charles 
Greville  says  : — * 

"  I  never  remember  so  much  excitement  as  has  been 
caused  by  Ashley's  Ten  Hours  Bill,  nor  a  more  curious 
political  state  of  things,  such  intermingling  of  parties, 
such  a  confusion  of  opposition ;  a  question  so  much 
more  open  than  any  question  ever  was  before,  and 
yet  not  made  so  or  acknowledged  to  be  so  with  the 
Government ;  so  much  zeal,  asperity,  and  animosity  ; 
so  many  reproaches  hurled  backwards  and  forwards. 
The  Government  have  brought  forward  their  measure 
in  a  very  positive  way,  and  have  clung  to  it  with  great 
tenacity,  rejecting  all  compromise ;  they  have  been 
abandoned  by  nearly  half  their  supporters,  and  nothing 
can  exceed  their  chagrin  and  soreness  at  being  so  for- 
saken. Some  of  them  attribute  it  to  Graham's  unpopu- 
larity, and  aver  that  if  Peel  had  brought  it  forward,  or 
if  a  meeting  had  been  previously  called,  they  would  not 
have  been  defeated ;  again,  some  declare  that  Graham 
had  said  they  were  indifferent  to  the  result,  and  that 
people   might   vote   as  they   pleased,  which  he  stoutly 

*  C.  C.  Greville's  "Journal  of  the  Reign  of  Queen  Victoria,  1337-52," 
vol.  ii.,  p.  236. 

e  2 


52  THE    EAEL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

denies.  Then  John  Russell  voting  for  '  Ten  Hours,' 
against  all  he  professed  last  year,  has  filled  the  world 
with  amazement,  and  many  of  his  own  friends  with 
indignation.  It  has,  I  think,  not  redounded  to  his 
credit,  but,  on  the  contrary,  done  him  considerable  harm. 
The  Opposition  were  divided — Palmerston  and  Lord 
John  one  way,  Baring  and  Labouchere  the  other.  It 
has  b3en  a  very  queer  affair.  Some  voted,  not  know- 
ing how  they  ought  to  vote,  and  following  those  they 
are  accustomed  to  follow.  Many  who  voted  against 
Government,  afterwards  said  they  believed  they  are 
wrong.  Melbourne  is  all  against  Ashley ;  all  the 
political  economists,  of  course  ;  Lord  Spencer  strong 
against  him.  Then  Graham  gave  the  greatest  offence 
by  taking  up  a  word  of  the  Examiner  s  last  Sunday,  and 
calling  it  a  '  Jack  Cade  legislation,'  this  stirring  them  to 
fury,  and  they  flew  upon  him  like  tigers.  Ashley  made 
a  speech  as  violent  and  factious  as  any  of  O'Connell's, 
and  old  Inglis  was  overflowing  with  wrath.  Nothing 
could  be  so  foolish  as  Graham's  taunt.  He  ought  to 
have  known  better  how  much  mischief  may  be  done  by 
words,  and  how  they  stick  by  men  for  ever.  Lyndhurst 
rubbed  his  hands  with  great  glee,  and  said,  '  Well,  we 
shall  hear  no  more  of  "  aliens  "  now ;  people  will  only 
talk  of  "  Jack  Cade  "  for  the  future,'  too  happy  to  shift 
the  odium,  if  he  could,  from  his  own  to  his  colleague's 
back.  The  Ministers  gave  out,  if  they  were  beaten  last 
Friday,  they  would  resign ;  but  they  knew  there  was  no 
chance  of  it.  Some  abused  Ashlev  for  not  g-oino-  on  and 
lighting  again,  but  he  knew  well  enough  it  would  be  of 


1844.]    POPULAR  FEELING  OX  "TEN  HOURS"  DEFEAT.      53 

no  use.  The  House  did  certainly  put  itself  in  an  odd 
predicament,  with  its  two  votes  directly  opposed  to  each 
other.  The  whole  thing  is  difficult  and  unpleasant. 
Government  will  carry  their  Bill  now,  and  Ashley  will 
be  able  to  do  nothing,  but  he  will  go  on  agitating 
Session  after  Session;  and  a  philanthropic  agitator  is 
more  dangerous  than  a  repealer,  either  of  the  Union 
or  the  Corn  Laws.  We  are  just  now  overrun  with 
philanthropy,  and  God  knows  where  it  will  stop,  or 
whither  it  will  lead  us." 

The  Bill  passed  to  the  House  of  Lords  as  a  Govern- 
ment measure.  It  was  warmly  opposed  by  Lord 
Brougham  on  the  third  reading,  but  it  became  law  on 
the  6th  of  June,  1844. 

During  the  time  that  this  great  and  memorable 
struggle  was  proceeding  in  Parliament,  the  whole  coun- 
try was  in  a  state  of  great  agitation.  Friends  of  the 
cause  held  meetings  in  all  the  large  towns  to  support 
the  action  of  Lord  Ashley,  whose  movements  the  factory 
operatives  and  their  friends  watched  with  intense  interest 
and  anxiety.  Among  those  who  greatly  assisted  him 
in  his  labours  were  Mr.  B.  Jowett,  Mr.  W.  B.  Ferrand, 
Mr.  John  Wood,  and  Mr.  William  Walker,  of  Bradford, 
while  eminent  clergymen,  dissenting  ministers,  medical 
men,  tradesmen,  and  operatives,  vied  with  one  another 
in  placing  at  the  disposal  of  Lord  Ashley  evidence  to 
assist  him  in  his  arguments,  and  sympathy  to  aid  him 
in  his  toil.  To  the  press  he  was  greatly  indebted  ;  and 
Mr.  Walter,  in  the  columns  of  the  Times,  gave  very 
material  aid  to  the  cause. 


54  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

The  new  law,  although  not  giving  all  that  was 
required,  was  yet  a  distinct  gain,  as  it  acknowledged 
and  established  a  new  principle — namely,  that  adult 
female  labour  ought  to  be  restricted. 

Soon  after  these  events,  the  political  world  wras 
thrown  into  a  state  of  great  excitement  by  the  rumoured 
resignation  of  the  Ministry.  On  the  14th  of  June 
the  Government  were  defeated  in  Committee  on  the 
Sugar  Duties  Bill,  by  a  majority  of  twenty ;  and  at  a 
Cabinet  Council,  held  two  days  later,  it  was  settled  that 
Ministers  would  resign  unless  the  House  accepted  the 
Bill  as  originally  framed.  On  the  17th,  Sir  Bobert  Peel 
held  out  the  threat  of  resignation  unless  the  House  of 
Commons  rescinded  its  vote  of  the  14th,  a  course  which 
Mr.  Disraeli  described  as  "  dragging  his  supporters  un- 
reasonably through  the  mire,"  and  denounced  as  a 
species  of  slavery,  inasmuch  as,  at  eveiy  crisis,  he 
expected  that  his  gang  should  appear,  and  the  whip 
should  sound.  "The  Minister,"  he  said,  "deserved 
a  better  position  than  one  that  could  only  be  re- 
tained by  menacing  his  friends  and  cringing  to  his 
opponents." 

The  result  of  the  division  was  a  majority  of  twenty- 
two  (233  to  255)  in  favour  of  the  Ministry  ! 

Twice  in  one  month  had  Sir  Bobert  Peel  summoned 
independent  and  responsible  men  to  rescind  their  votes, 
a  course  that  Lord  Ashley  described  as  "  neither  con- 
stitutional, loyal,  politic,  nor  Christian  -  like."  He 
wrote  a  private  letter  to  Peel  on  the  subject,  as 
follows : — 


1S44.1  RESCINDING    VOTES.  55 

Lord  Ashley  to  Sir  Robert  Peel. 

June  18,  1844. 

My  dear  Sir  Robert, — During  ten  years  of  active  and  anxious 
opposition  I,  with  many  others,  devoted  all  my  efforts  (feeble,  it  is- 
true,  but  most  sincere)  to  bring  you  to  the  great  and  responsible 
station  you  at  present  occupy.  I  had  no  purpose  of  my  own  to  serve, 
nor  have  I  now ;  but  I  cannot  control  the  feeling  which  overpowers 
me,  nor  withhold  an  expression  of  sorrow,  that  the  political  confidence 
which  began  so  long  ago,  and  has  been,  I  protest,  faithfully  observed 
on  my  part,  should  at  last  have  received  so  fatal  a  shock.  I  wish 
to  speak  openly,  and  I  prefer  this  mode  of  a  private  letter  to  a  public 
declaration  in  my  place  in  Parliament. 

When  you  summoned  the  House  of  Commons  to  reverse  its  vote 
on  the  Factory  Question,  much  as  I  hated  the  proposition  and  dreaded 
the  precedent,  I  was  disinclined  to  go  further  than  a  few  remarks 
which  duty  required  of  me  ;  the  case  touched  me  too  nearly,  and  I 
feared  the  influence  of  temper.  A  second  instance,  however,  and  in 
a  matter  where  I  personally  have  no  concern,  has  forced  me  to  con- 
sider my  future  conduct  in  respect  of  a  Ministry  which  avows  and 
enforces  such  perilous  principles. 

I  have  no  sensitive  apprehensions  of  a  gradual,  though  silent, 
approach  to  a  more  open  system  of  trade ;  I  should  be  prepared  to 
go  with  you  further,  in  many  points,  than  you  have  hitherto  gone ; 
but  I  do  entertain  very  deep  and  painful  apprehensions  of  the  issues 
of  such  a  system  as  you  developed  last  night.  I  think  it  unconsti- 
tutional and  tending  to  dictatorship,  under  the  form  of  free  govern- 
ment. I  am  unwilling  to  use  the  several  terms  my  reflection  suggests, 
by  which  I  should  designate  the  policy  in  its  aspects  towards  the 
country,  your  supporters,  and,  above  all,  the  Queen.  I  can  think  of 
it  only  with  astonishment  and  grief,  convinced  that  the  mischief  now 
done  is  irreparable,  and  destined  to  hasten  the  evil  day  which,  in, 
God's  just  anger,  has  long  impended  over  us,  and  yet  might  have 
been  averted.  I  do  not  speak  from  any  personal  resentment,  because 
I  am  not  one  of  those  to  whom  your  remarks  were  addressed. 

I  gave  no  vote  on  Friday — I  stayed  away  from  the  House — 
being  inclined  to  support  Mr.  Miles,  and  yet  disinclined  to  oppose 
you. 


5G  THE    EARL   OF   SHAFTESBURY.  IChap.  XII. 

I  pursued  the  same  course  on  Monday  ;  but  the  speech  you  then 

made,  and  the  events  which  followed  it,  have  rendered  it  impossible 

that  I  should  continue  to  entertain  the  hopes  and  feelings  of  former 

days  ;  and  duty,  perhaps,  demands  that  I  should  not  conceal  from 

you  my  opinions. 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

Ashley. 
The  above  letter  is  thus  alluded  to  in  the  Diary  : — 

June  20th. — Wrote  a  private  letter  to  Peel  yesterday.  Hesitated 
long  whether  to  do  so.  Determined  at  last  in  the  affirmative,  because 
it  is  right  to  undeceive  a  leader  who  believes,  or  may  believe,  that 
one  is  an  unqualified  admirer  and  supporter  ;  and  because,  if  all  would 
tell  Peel  the  truth,  which  he  never  hears,  he  might  be  wiser  and 
better.  But  how  placed  is  that  man  !  Experience,  it  seemed,  was 
about  to  do  something  for  him  ;  the  debate  in  the  Commons,  the 
cast-down  looks  of  his  friends,  the  misgivings  of  his  own  conscience ; 
— truth,  in  fact,  was  about  to  reach  him,  when,  yesterday,  a  number  of 
time-servers  and  trucklers  met  together  at  the  Carlton,  voted,  unani- 
mously, an  address  of  unlimited  confidence,  and  turned  aside  the 
conviction  which  might  have  led  Sir  Robert  to  nobler  things.  He  is 
now  satisfied,  because  a  hundred  unauthorised  men  have  'repre- 
sented '  the  sentiments  of  thousands  who  think  otherwise  !  .  .  . 

The  following  was  Sir  Robert  Peel's  reply : — 

Sir  Robert  Peel  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Whitehall,  June  20,  1844. 

My  dear  Lord  Ashley, — I  hear,  with  sincere  regret,  both  on 
public  and  private  grounds,  that  the  course  taken  by  the  Government 
on  the  question  of  the  Sugar  Duties  induces  you  to  withdraw  from 
the  Government  that  confidence  and  support  which  were  given  by 
you  from  pure  and  disinterested  motives,  and  of  which  they  were 
justly  proud. 

I  thank  you  sincerely,  at  the  same  time,  for  having  conveyed 
to  me  your  feelings  and  intentions  in  a  manner  least  calculated  to 


1844.  DISSENTERS'   CHAPELS  BILL.  57 

aggravate  the  pain  which  the  intimation  of  them  must  necessarily 

give. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord  Ashley, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

Robert  Peel. 

Eeferring  to  the  above  letter,  Lord  Ashley  noted  in 
the  Diary  : — 

June  22nd. — Peel  wrote  a  kind  reply,  but  assuming  that  I  had 
totally  withdrawn  all  support.  I  replied  that  I  should  still  vote  for 
most  of  his  measures,  but  could  repose  no  great  confidence.  That  I 
should  never  seek  a  leader  among  the  Whigs.  He  rejoiced  upon 
that,  and  expressed  his  great  satisfaction. 

But  I  have  done  good  ;  his  tone  is  altered  ;  he  has  spoken  in 
a  conciliatory  manner,  and,  in  fact,  cried  '  peccavi.'  I  cannot  doubt 
that  my  letter  has  materially  contributed  to  it.  He  knows  that 
though  I  have  few  followers  in  the  House,  I  have  many  who  think 
with  me  in  the  country.  But,  alas  !  the  mischief  is  done,  it  can 
never  be  repaired.  A  wiser  policy  may  retard,  but  it  cannot  prevent, 
the  consummation.  I  am  deeply,  deeply  grieved.  I  tremble  for  the 
issue  to  the  nation,  and  I  cannot  forget  ancient  friendships,  ancient 
hopes,  ancient  co-efforts  with  Sir  R.  Peel.  So,  as  usual,  I  am 
victimised  for  the  public  good.  .   . 

Among  the  measures  of  this  Session  was  the  Dis- 
senters' Chapels  Bill,  relating  to  the  condition  of  pro- 
perty vested  in  Unitarian  trustees  for  religious  and 
charitable  uses.  Soon  after  the  Eeformation,  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  had  rendered  illegal  any  gift  for  such  uses, 
except  to  the  Church  of  England.  This  restriction 
was  removed  by  the  Toleration  Act  of  William  III.,  as 
far  as  Trinitarian  Nonconformists  were  concerned ;  but 
Roman  Catholics  and  Unitarians  were  exempted  from 
the  benefit.     They,  however,  were  relieved  by  statute 


58  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

in  1S13.  There  was  one  exception  to  these  acts  of 
toleration  still  outstanding.  It  was  that  which  "left 
endowments  under  deeds  of  gift  which  did  not  specify 
sectarian  tests  of  application,  to  be  interpreted  by  courts 
of  equity  as  they  might  deem  fit,  on  the  doubtful 
balance  of  proof  as  to  the  opinions  of  the  donor;  although 
the  effect  of  such  decision  might  be  to  divest  a  congre- 
gation of  the  place  of  worship,  the  cemetery,  and  school- 
house  they  had  uninterruptedly  held  for  fifty  years." 

The  Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill  was  designed  to  set  at 
rest  the  doubts  and  the  ceaseless  litigation  occasioned 
by  the  anomalous  state  of  the  law  ;  and  although  stoutly 
opposed  by  the  Church  and  by  evangelical  Dissenters,  it 
was  carried,  and  passed  into  law  before  the  end  of  the 
Session. 

In  addition  to  this  Bill,  a  lengthened  debate  on  the 
condition  of  Ireland,  and,  later,  on  the  Irish  Church, 
occupied  much  of  the  attention  of  Lord  Ashley  during 
the  Session,  and  frequent  reference  to  these  questions  is 
made  in  his  Diaries. 

Feb.  24th. — Debate  on  Ireland  closed  this  morning  at  a  quarter 
past  three,  after  nine  nights  of  discussion  ;  result  favourable  to  the 
Government,  unfavourable  to  Church.  Peel  and  his  colleagues 
amply  justified  their  administration  of  Ireland,  and  their  conduct 
in  respect  of  the  repeal  movement  and  O'Connell.  The  Protes- 
tant Church  was  furiously  and  brilliantly  attacked,  and  most  feebly 
defended.  Every  argument,  ingenious  and  true,  urged  against  it ; 
scarcely  one  advanced  in  its  behalf.  The  Ministers  declared  their 
resolution  to  uphold  it,  but  assigned  no  reason  which  could  conciliate 
any  one  affection  or  satisfy  any  one  doubt.  John  Russell  said  truly 
that  'all  their  prospective  difficulties  were  but  as  feathers  in  the 
scale  compared  with  the  magnitude  of  the  existing  evil.'    The  Church, 


1844.]  PEEL   OX   THE  IRISH   CHURCH.  59 

in  fact,  is  assailable  on  twenty  points,  defensible  only  on  one,  and 
that  one  is,  that  it  testifies  and  teaches  the  truth.  This  ground  the 
Peel  Ministry  will  never  take,  and  therefore,  say  what  they  will, 
they  will  warm  no  hearts,  and  appeal. to  no  principles,  and  will  have 
nothing  but  dry,  shop-like  details  of  possible,  or  probable,  incon- 
veniences, to  set  against  the  stirring  and  dazzling  facts  and  senti- 
ments of  the  complaining  party.  I,  for  one,  could  not  support  the 
Church  in  Ireland,  on  the  sole  grounds  taken  by  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  .  .  . 

Feb. '27th. — Never  did  I  hear  such  a  speech  from  a  Minister! 
never  may  I  hear  such  another,  as  that  last  night  from  Sir  P.  Peel 
on  the  Irish  Church  !  If  the  Church  is  defensible  on  those  grounds 
only,  I,  for  one,  will  vote  against  it.  Half  an  hour  of  surprise  that 
Roman  Catholics  did  not  act  up  to  the  engagement  of  '  acquiescing 
in  the  Church  arrangements,'  and  half  an  hour  in  ringing  the 
changes  upon  this  :  '  I  assume  there  must  be  an  Established  Church  ; 
the  Roman  Catholic  offers  me  one  set  of  terms,  the  Protestant 
another ;  I  prefer  the  Protestant ; '  and  here  was  his  conclusion  : 
'I  will  not  surrender  the  Irish  Church  except'  (with  my  life  1) 
'under  some  overwhelming  necessity  of  public  policy!'  What, 
thou  Minister  !  does  the  Church,  then,  rest  on  no  principle  1  The 
arguments  of  the  whole  clique  have  a  strong  afiinity  in  form  and 
disposition  on  every  subject.  Sir  W.  Follett  said,  on  the  Dissent 
Bill,  that  though  a  Trinitarian  might  have  founded  a  Chapel,  Ave 
had  no  reason  to  believe  that  he  wished  those  who  came  after  him 
to  preach  the  same  doctrine  !  and  that  inexplicable  statesman,  Mr. 
Gladstone,  intimated  that  all  Dissent  tended  to  Socinianism,  and 
that  a  vast  portion  of  the  founders  were,  in  fact,  Unitarians ! 

June  28th. — Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill  read  a  third  time  and 
passed.     Privately  objected  to  a  division,  but  was  overruled. 

July  16th. — Lords  last  night  affirmed  Dissenters'  Chapels  Bill  by 
a  majority  of  161  !  !  .  .  .  A  public  man,  holding  my  position  and 
entertaining  my  views,  and  bepraised  (for  I  cannot  say  '  supported  ') 
by  a  certain  portion  of  the  religious  community,  is  oftentimes  in 
serious  embarrassments.  Some  plan  is  proposed ;  he  is  required 
to  assist  it ;  he  urges  against  the  possibility,  or  expediency,  some 
deductions  of  his  experience  ;  he  is  secretly  suspected,  or  openly 
accused,  of  want  of  faith,  self-seeking,  or  relying  on  an  arm  of  flesh; 
he  exercises  no  judgment,  and  falls  into  the  scheme ;  he  is  baffled, 


60  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

and  mischief  ensues,  Loth  to  the  cause  and  to  himself  in  reputation 
for  common-sense.  Will  these  gentlemen  define  the  rules  and  the 
situations  in  which  human  judgment  may  be  safely  and  lawfully 
exercised  1 

July  17th. — The  assertion  of  principle,  even,  may  be  so  timed  as 
to  be  injurious.  We  must  consider  the  many  who  are  weak  and 
timid,  though  well-intentioned.  They  are  effectually  discouraged  by 
abortive  attempts,  and  not  easily  rallied.  Thus  we  lose  support 
when  we  need  it,  and  make  them  '  to  offend.'  .  .  . 

The    condition    of   the    lunatic    population    of   the 

country,  notwithstanding  the  legislation  of  182S,  still 

left  very  much  to  be  desired.       In  1842  Lord  Granville 

Somerset  had  asked  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  to  extend 

the  Metropolitan  system  of  inspection  to  the  provinces, 

and  to   appoint  barristers  as  Inspecting  Commissioners, 

who  should  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  the  service, 

it  having  been  found  that  the  supposed  annual  visits  of 

magistrates  frequently  never   took  place  at    all.     Lord 

Ashley  supported  the  Bill,  which  passed  into  law  in  July 

of  that  year.*     The  Metropolitan  Commissioners,  now 

invested  with  larger  powers,  thoroughly  investigated  the 

state  of  the  English  and  Welsh  asylums,  and  presented 

to  Parliament   in    1844   a  valuable  report,   fitly  called 

"  the   Doomsday   Book  of   all  that,  up    to    that   time, 

concerned  Institutions  for  the  Insane."     It  revealed  a 

deplorable  state  of  things,  however,  in  many  asylums, 

notwithstanding  the  various   Acts    of  Parliament  that 

had  been  passed;  but  its  publication  laid  the  foundation 

for  wiser  and  more  comprehensive  enactments,  in  the 

passing  of  which  Lord  Ashley  was  to  take  a  leading 

part. 

*  Hausard,  3  s.,  bd.  806. 


1844.]  REPORT  OF  LUNACY  COMMISSIONERS.  61 

He  notes  in  his  Diary  : — 

July  2nd. — Finished,  at  last,  Eeport  of  the  Commission  in 
Lunacy.  Good  thing  over.  Sat  for  many  days  in  review.  God 
prosper  it !  It  contains  much  for  the  alleviation  of  physical  and 
moral  suffering. 

'  It  lias  been  well  said  that  the  services  which  Lord 
Ashley  rendered  to  this  cause  alone,  would  have  carried 
his  name  down  to  posterity  in  the  front  rank  of  English 
philanthropists.  His  untiring  labours  in  connection 
with  it  ceased  only  with  his  life. 

On  the  23rd  July  he  brought  forward  a  motion  for 
an  address  to  the  Crown,  praying  her  Majesty  to  take 
into  her  consideration  the  Report  of  the  Metropolitan 
Commissioners  of  Lunacy,  as,  in  the  following  Session, 
the  statute  under  which  they  acted  would  expire.  He 
called  upon  the  House  to  consider  in  what  form  and  to 
what  extent  power  should  be  confided  to  an  adminis- 
trative body  for  the  government  of  lunatics  throughout 
the  kingdom,  and  stated  that  "  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
House  to  prescribe  the  conditions  under  which  a  man 
should  be  deprived  of  his  liberty,  and  also  those  under 
which  he  might  be  released  ;  it  was  their  duty  to  take 
care  that  for  those  who  required  restraint,  there  should 
be  provided  kind  and  competent  keepers,  and  that,  while 
the  patient  received  no  injury,  the  public  should  be 
protected."  In  commenting  upon  the  immunity  from 
visitation  of  houses  for  single  patients,  he  said  :  "A 
power  of  this  kind  ought  to  be  confided  to  some  hands 
that  would  hunt  out  and  expose  the  many  horrible 
abuses  that  at  present  prevailed.     No  doubt  there  were 


62  THE   EARL    OF  SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

many  worthy  exceptions,  but  the  House  had  no  notion 
of  the  abominations  which  prevailed  in  those  asylums. 
It  was  the  concession  of  absolute,  secret,  and  irrespon- 
sible power  to  the  relatives  of  lunatics  and  the  keepers 
of  the  asylums,  and  exposing  them  to  temptations 
which  he  believed  human  nature  was  too  weak  to 
resist."  There  was  the  temptation  to  keep  patients 
from  recover}^,  because  the  allowance  (often  as  much  as 
£500  per  annum)  would  then  cease.  So  strong  was  his 
opinion  of  the  bad  effect  of  this,  that,  if  Providence 
should  afflict  any  near  relative  of  his  with  insanity,  "  he 
would  consign  him,"  he  said,  "  to  an  asylum  in  which 
there  were  other  patients  and  which  was  subjected  to 
official  visitation."  The  only  control  they  had  over 
single  houses  was,  that  if  patients  resided  more  than 
twelve  months  in  one  of  these,  the  owner  of  the  house 
must  communicate  the  name  of  the  patient  to  the  Clerk 
of  the  Commission.  This  rule  was  either  disregarded,  or 
evaded  by  removing  the  patient  every  eleven  months. 

The    second   class    of    houses    to    which    he    called 
attention  was  the  county  asylums. 


The  total  number  of  lunatics  and  idiots  chargeable  to  unions  and 
parishes  on  the  1st  January,  1844,  was  16,821  :  in  England  15,601  ; 
in  Wales,  1,220.  In  county  asylums  there  was  provision  for  no 
more  than  14,155  persons,  leaving  more  than  12,000,  of  whom  there 
were  in  asylums  under  local  acts  89,  in  Bethlehem  and  St.  Luke's 
121,  in  other  public  asylums  343,  while  others  were  disposed  of 
otherwise,  leaving  in  workhouses  and  elsewhere  9,339.  Although 
a  few  of  the  existing  county  asylums  were  well  adapted  to  their 
purpose,  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  them  were  extremely  well 
conducted,  yet  some   were  quite   unfit  for  the   reception  of  insane 


1844.  PRIVATE  ASYLUMS.  63 

persons.  Some  were  placed  in  ineligible  sites,  and  others  were 
deficient  in  the  necessary  means  of  providing  outdoor  employment 
for  their  paupers.  Some  also  were  ill-contrived  and  defective  in 
their  internal  construction  and  accommodation.  Some  afforded  every 
advantage  of  constant  supervision,  and  of  not  giving  any  profits  to 
the  superintendents,  so  that  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  keeper 
should  stint  and  spai-e  his  patients  in  the  articles  necessary  for  the 
curative  process,  with  the  view  of  realising  a  profit. 

After  specifying  certain  admirably  managed  county 
asylums,  he  pointed  out  that  twenty-one  counties  in 
England  and  Wales  had  as  yet  no  asylum  whatever. 
The  expense  of  construction  was  one  cause  that  had 
operated  to  check  the  multiplication  of  these  institu- 
tions, some  asylums  having  been  erected  on  too  costly  a 
scale,  and  others  being  much  too  large.  It  was  far 
better  to  erect  two  establishments  of  a  moderate  size  in 
different  parts  of  a  county,  than  one  enormous  central 
building. 

In  speaking  of  the  private  asylums,  which,  on  the 
previous  1st  of  January,  contained  4,072  patients,  Lord 
Ashley  pointed  out  the  evil  of  a  system  by  which  a 
profit  had  to  be  made  by  the  superintendents  out  of 
pauper  patients,  who  were  taken  in  at  a  rate  as  low 
as  seven  or  eight  shillings  a  week.  It  often  happened 
that  an  old  mansion,  transformed  into  an  asylum,  was 
the  residence  of  the  superintendent  and  a  few  private 
patients,  while  the  paupers  were  sent  into  offices  and 
outbuildings. 

After  pointing  out  some  of  the  glaring  cases  of 
cruel  neglect  and  ignorant  and  brutal  treatment,  detailed 
in  the  Report,  he  said  : — 


64  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Caw.  XII. 

To  correct  these  evils  there  was  no  remedy  but  the  multiplication 
of  county  asylums,  and  if  advice  and  example  failed,  they  ought  to 
appeal  to  the  assistance  of  the  law,  to  compel  the  construction  of  an 
adeqiiate  number  of  asylums  over  the  whole  country.  If  constructed, 
however,  on  the  same  principles  as  had  been  adopted  in  many  of  those 
now  existing,  they  would  be  little  better  than  useless,  and  mere 
hospitals  for  incurables.  Great  beneBt,  it  was  to  be  observed,  as  well 
as  great  saving  of  expense,  resulted  from  the  application  of  curative 
means  at  an  early  stage  of  insanity. 

The  keepers  of  all  the  great  asylums  stated  that  numbers  of 
persons,  especially  pauper  lunatics,  were  sent  there  at  so  late  a  period 
of  the  disease  as  totally  to  preclude  hope  of  recovery.  It  was  the 
duty  of  the  State  to  provide  receptacles  for  the  incurable  patients, 
apart  from  those  devoted  to  the  remedial  treatment ;  it  would  be 
necessary  also  to  enact  that  the  patients  should  be  sent  without  delay 
to  the  several  asylums. 

He  then  adduced  many  facts  and  statistics  to  show 
the  importance  of  treating  lunacy  in  its  early  stages,  as, 
where  the  practice  had  been  adopted,  the  most  beneficial 
results  had  followed,  while  an  opposite  policy  led  to 
confirmed  madness,  with  little  or  no  chance  of  recovery. 

Turning  to  the  question  of  restraint,  he  paid  a  high 
tribute  to  "those  good  and  able  men,  Mr.  Tuke,  Dr. 
Hitch,  Dr.  Corsellis,  Dr.  Conolly,  Dr.  Vitre,  Dr.  Charles- 
worth,  and  many  more,  who  had  brought  all  their  high 
moral  and  intellectual  qualities  to  bear  on  this  topic,  and 
had  laboured  to  make  the  rational  and  humane  treatment 
to  be  the  rule  and  principle  of  the  government  of  lunacy." 

Lord  Ashley  concluded  his  speech  in  these  words  : — 

These  unhappy  persons  are  outcasts  from  all  the  social  and 
domestic  affections  of  private  life — nay,  more,  from  all  its  cares  and 
duties — and  have  no  refuge  but  in  the  laws.  You  can  prevent,  by 
the  agency  you  shall  appoint,  as  you  have  in  many  instances  prevented, 


1844.]  TREATMENT    OF   LUNATICS.  03 

the  recurrence  of  frightful  cruelties  ;  you  can  soothe  the  clays  of  the 
incurable,  and  restore  many  sufferers  to  health  and  usefulness.  For 
we  must  not  run  away  with  the  notion  that  even  the  hopelessly  mad 
are  dead  to  all  capacity  of  intellectual  or  moral  exei'tion — quite  the 
reverse  ;  their  feelings,  too,  are  painfully  alive.  I  have  seen  them 
writhe  under  supposed  contempt,  while  a  word  of  kindness  and 
respect  would  kindle  their  whole  countenance  into  an  expression  of 
joy.     Their  condition  appeals  to  our  highest  sympathies, 

'Majestic,  though  in  ruin;' 

for  though  there  may  be,  in  the  order  of  a  merciful  Providence,  some 
compensating  dispensation  which  abates  within,  the  horrors  manifested 
without,  we  must  judge  alone  by  what  we  see  ;  and  I  trust,  therefore, 
that  I  shall  stand  excused,  though  I  have  consumed  so  much  of  your 
valuable  time,  when  you  call  to  mind  that  the  motion  is  made  on 
behalf  of  the  most  helpless,  if  not  the  most  afflicted,  portion  of  the 
human  race.* 

On  the  assurance  of  Sir  James  Graham,  that  the 
matter  should  receive  attention  next  Session,  Lord  Ashley, 
after  a  short  debate,  which  served  to  draw  public  atten- 
tion to  the  subject,  withdrew  his  motion. 

Mr.  Sheil  spoke  in  the  debate,  on  the  condition  of 
criminal  and  pauper  lunatics  in  Ireland,  and  concluded 
with  a  eulogy  upon  Lord  Ashley  in  these  words  :  "It 
is  a  saying  that  it  does  one's  eyes  good  to  see  some 
people,  and  I  may  observe  that  it  does  one's  heart  good 
to  hear  others  ;  one  of  those  is  the  noble  lord.  (Cheers.) 
There  is  something  of  a  sursum  corda  in  all  that  the 
noble  lord  says.  Whatever  opinion  we  may  entertain  of 
some  of  his  views,  however  we  may  regard  certain  of  his 
crotchets,  there  is  one  point  in  which  we  all  concur — 

*  Hausard,  3  s.,  lxvi.  1257.     Shaftesbury's  Speeches,  p.  141. 
/ 


G6  THE   EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

namel}',  that  his  conduct  is  worthy  of  the  highest  praise 
for  the  motives  by  which  he  is  actuated,  and  for  the 
sentiments  by  which  he  is  inspired.  (General  cheers.)  It 
is  more  than  gratifying  to  see  a  man  of  his  high  rank, 
not  descending,  but  stooping  from  his  exalted  position, 
in  order  to  deal  with  such  subjects — not  permitting  him- 
self to  be  allured  by  pleasure  or  ambition,  but  impelled 
by  the  generous  motive  of  doing  good,  and  by  the 
virtuous  celebrity  by  which  his  labours  will  be  rewarded. 
It  majr  be  truly  stated  that  he  has  added  nobility  even 
to  the  name  of  Ashley,  and  that  he  has  made  Humanity 
one  of  '  Shaftesbury's  Characteristics.'  '  *  (Much  cheer- 
ing from  all  sides.)  f 

July  24. — Last  night  motion  on  Lunacy — obtained  indulgent  hear- 
ing. The  speech  did  its  work  so  far  as  to  obtain  a  recognition  from 
the  Secretary  of  State  that  legislation  was  necessary  and  should  be 
taken  up  in  my  sense  of  it.  Sheil  made  a  neat  allusion,  by  way  of 
compliment,  to  my  great-grandfather's  works.  He  added,  too,  '  the 
noble  lord's  speaking  is  iisursum  corda  kind  of  eloquence;'  this  is  the 
most  agreeable  language  of  praise  I  have  ever  received;  it  is  the  very 
style  I  have  aimed  at. 

July  25. — My  friend,  the  Times,  in  character  as  usual,  charges 
me  with  weakness.  How  can  I  be  otherwise,  not  having  in  the  House 
even  a  bulrush  to  rest  upon  1  '  No  politician  !  no  statesman  ! '  I  never 
aspired  to  that  character  ;  if  I  did,  I  should  not  be  such  a  fool  as  to 
attack  every  interest  and  one  half  of  mankind,  and  only  on  the  behalf 
of  classes  whose  united  influences  would  not  obtain  for  me  fifty  votes 
in  the  county  of  Dorset  or  the  borough  of  Manchester.  '  Rides  but  one 
hobby  at  a  time  ! '     Of  course  ;  a  man  who  cannot  afford  to  keep  a 

*  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  third  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  was  fhe 
author  of  the  well-kuown  hook  called  "  Ckaiacte.istics  of  Meu  and 
Maimers." 

f  Times,  July  24,  1844. 


1844.]  PLACING    A    SOX  AT   SCHOOL.  67 

groom,  if  he  be  rich  enough  to  have  two  horses,  must  ride  them 
alternately.  I  have  no  aid  of  any  kind,  no  coadjutor,  no  secretary, 
no  one  to  begin  and  leave  me  to  finish,  or  finish  what  I  begin  ;  every- 
thing must  be  done  by  myself,  or  it  will  not  be  done  at  all. 

Exceptional  as  were  the  public  demands,  in  variety 
and  extent,  upon  the  time  of  Lord  Ashley,  he  did  not 
allow  the  claims  of  private  and  social  life  to  pass 
unrecognised.  How  he  managed  to  get  through  his 
labours,  is  a  mystery  only  to  be  understood  by  those 
who  have  made  a  study  of  the  economy  of  time.  It 
was  a  mystery  to  himself,  and  he  makes  frequent  entries 
in  his  Diary  like  the  following : — 

So  grievously  hurried  that  I  have  not  time  to  record  anything. 

Hurried  in  body  and  mind ;  longing  for  a  few  days  of  repose 

In  bed  late  ;  up  early. 

There  are  scattered  throughout  the  Diaries,  however, 
very  graphic  indications  of  matters  that  were  filling  his 
mind  with  joy  or  sorrow  ;  of  duties  and  engagements 
accomplished,  and  of  plans  and  projects  for  the  future. 
In  the  early  part  of  this  year  he  placed  his  eldest  son 
at  school  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  and  a  glimpse  of  his 
fatherly  solicitude  is  given  in  the  following  entries  : — 

January  2nd. — Dear  Antony  is  about  to  start  for  school.  I  can- 
not bear  to  part  with  him  ;  he  is  a  joy  to  me. 

March  4th. — What  a  blessed  letter  Minny  received  from 
Antony  this  morning  !  So  simple,  and  yet  so  deep  in  its  feeling  and 
its  truth.  Oh,  well  can  I  understand  the  gracious  and  precious 
wisdom,  the  more  than  manly  intelligence,  that  shone  in  the  hearts  of 
Josiah  and  King  Edward  !  0  God,  make  him,  like  Samuel,  to  walk 
before  Thee,  in  youth  and  in  age,  with  joyful  obedience,  unwearied 
service,  and  ever-increasing  love. 

J    * 


63  THE    EAEL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

June  28th. — Yesterday  to  Isle  of  Wight  to  fetch  Antony,  and 
to-day  returned  with  him.  Praised  be  Thy  holy  name,  0  God, 
for  all  Thy  mercies  to  us  and  to  him  !  I  found  him  well,  happy, 
and  full  of  gracious  promise.  Minny  went  with  me,  and  also 
Francis,  Maurice,  and  Evelyn.  Very  expensive  ;  hut  we  had  in- 
cautiously made  the  promise.  Children  hold  much  to  such 
engagements ;  and  the  loss  of  money  is  of  less  account  than  the  loss 
of  confidence.  Admirable  school ;  all  the  care  of  solicitous  parents, 
with  the  encouragement  of  every  manly  thought  and  exercise.  His 
master  is  watering  the  seed  that,  by  God's  grace,  I  was  permitted  to 
plant ;  He  alone  can,  and  will,  give  the  increase. 

The  claims  of  friendship  were  not  lost  sight  of  in 
the  pressure  of  other  engagements. 

March  17th. — Minny  and  I  saw  Mrs.  Fry  yesterday  on  the -bed 
of  sickness.  Kissed  her  hand  to  show  my  respect  and  love.  That 
woman  has,  assuredly,  been  called  to  do  God's  work,  and  love  her 
blessed  Lord  and  Master.  May  He  yet  spare  her  for  further  service, 
and  then  take  her  to  Himself. 

It  was  only  when  a  demand  was  made  upon  his  time 
that  could  do  no  more  than  gratify  his  own  personal 
pleasure,  that  he  refused  to  comply  with  it. 

June  12th.- — The  Emperor  of  Russia  is  here,  and  firing  away  in 

visits Have  never  in  my  public  life  been  more  hurried  than 

during  last  month  ;  not  an  hour  to  do  anything,  not  a  minute  to 
reflect.  God  grant  that  my  engagements  be  good,  for  they  are  all- 
absorbing  !  Would  have  given  a  great  deal,  as  the  phrase  is,  to  talk 
to  the  Emperor  ;  did  not  succeed.  Saw  him  at  Chiswick  ;  fine- 
looking  man,  though  old  for  his  years ;  an  accomplished  and  skilful 
performer,  shrewd  and  penetrating,  knowing  his  audience,  and  supple 
enough  to  bend  to  all  their  habits  and  requirements.  Transmitted 
to  Kew  on  the  Saturday  evening  (he  sailed  on  Sunday),  through 
Brunnow,  an  addi-ess  in  behalf  of  the  Jews,  signed  by  the  Bishops 
of  Ripon  and  Winchester,  Lords  Luton,  Roden,  and  myself,  Sir  T. 
Baring,    Sir    G.    Rose,    McCaul.    and    a    few    others.       '  Charlotte 


1844.]  VISIT    TO    FAREHURST.  69 

Elizabeth'  *  the  mover  and  agent  of  the  proposition.  I  had  disapproved 
of  attempts  to  obtain  personal  interviews,  cfcc,  thinking  the  Czar  had 
a  right  to  his  incog,  if  he  pleased,  and  that  we  ought  not  to  take  him 
at  an  advantage.  The  memorial,  however,  being  laid  before  me,  I 
could  not  refuse  to  attach  my  name,  but  on  three  conditions  : — 1st, 
that  no  reference  was  made  to  any  past  events,  so  as  to  imply  a 
censure ;  2nd,  that  no  personal  interview  was  to  be  demanded  ;  3rd, 
that  it  should  be  presented  the  last  thing  before  his  departure. 
Address  admirably  drawn. 

It  was  not  until  August  that  Lord  Ashley  obtained 
the  rest  he  had  so  long  desired ;  and  even  then  it  was 
but  partial  repose.  On  the  3rd  of  August  he  reached 
Hyde,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  but  the  entry  following 
this  record  shows  that  on  the  7th  he  "  hurried  up  to 
town  to  be  sworn  in  as  Commissioner  in  Lunacy — heard 
and  resolved  to  expose  some  shocking  Welsh  cases." 
Then  back  again  to  the  Isle  of  Wight ;  but  it  is  clear 
that  his  mind  was  otherwhere. 

August  10th. — Visited  Parkhurst  to-day  with  Jebb.t  What  a 
harvest  of  misery  and  sin ;  actual  sin,  prospective  misery.  Vain, 
very  vain,  these  corrective  processes ;  yet  they  must  be  attempted, 
and  duty  must  lord  it  over  hope.  One  heart  may  be  touched,  and 
one  soul  may  be  saved ;  and  it  is  worth  all  the  trouble  and  all  the 
expense.  But  how  ignorant  and  how  criminal  is  the  nation — quite 
as  ignorant,  and  far  more  criminal,  than  these  wretched  boys — which 
permits,  by  its  neglect,  these  tai'es  to  be  sown,  and  then  tediously 
labours  to  uproot  them  !  .  .  .  . 

August  17th. — Long  and  solitary  walk  by  sea-shore;  much  and 
agreeable  meditation.      Thought  over  the  example  and   history  of 

*  "  Charlotte  Elizabeth"  (Mrs.  Tonna),  a  popular  writer,  especially  for 
the  young.  In  her  Factory  and  Jewish  stories  she  gave  an  account  of  Lord 
Ashley's  aims  and  exertions,  and  greatly  popularised  them.  "  Judah's 
Lion  "  was  one  of  her  tales  that  had  an  exceptionally  large  circulation. 

t  Colonel  Jebb  was  head  of  the  Convict  Department. 


70  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

Daniel  as  a  model  and  guide  for  statesmen.  The  scantiness  of 
his  biography  much  to  be  l'egretted  in  this  sense — his  position  and 
conduct  as  Minister  of  the  Empire  of  Babylon,  a  beacon  and  a  pole- 
star  for  the  helmsmen  of  modern  kingdoms.  He  ruled  a  nation 
of  religious  belief  diametrically  hostile  to  his  own.  What  was  his 
policy  1  What  his  action  1  A  right  understanding  of  this  great  and 
good  man's  government  would  open  the  eyes  and  smooth  the  path  of 
a  ruler  in  Ireland  !  You  would  learn  how  Ministers  can  deal  with 
religionists  of  a  different  complexion,  leave  an  established  faith  un- 
touched by  power,  and  yet  l'etain  their  own  integrity. 

A  few  days  later  he  paid  a  visit  to  St.  Giles's 
House. 

August  23rd. — St.  Giles's.  'Dear  earth,  I  do  salute  thee  with 
my  hand.'  Left  all  my  kids,  Antony  excepted,  at  Ryde.  My  heart 
misgave  me  as  I  saw  baby  straining  her  darling  little  face  through 
the  bars  of  the  pier  to  get  a  last  sight  of  us.  '  I  commit  them  unto 
God,  and  to  the  word  of  His  grace.'  .  .  .  Here  I  am  in  perfect  soli- 
tude, an  immense  house,  a  wide  garden,  hardly  the  step  of  a  human 
being,  and  no  sound  but  that  of  a  distant  sheep-bell  ;  it  is  a  moment 
to  reflect  on  God's  prodigious  and  undeserved  goodness  to  me  and 
mine.  '  What  am  I,  and  what  is  my  house,  that  Thou  hast  brought 
me  hitherto  1 ' 

August  28th. — Heard  this  morning  of  the  death  of  W.  Fry.*  I 
am  deeply  grieved ;  a  worthy  man,  a  friend  of  the  poor,  and  a  devout 
believer.  It  is  a  most  serious  loss  to  those  who  desire  to  see  many 
and  mighty  improvements  in  public  and  private  conduct.  I  am 
indebted  to  him  for  requesting  me  to  undertake  the  Opium  Question, 
and  for  immense  aid  in  the  execution  of  it.  I  had  hoped  for  still 
further  aid  in  the  next  Session. 

Sept.  2nd. — Ryde.  To  Portsmouth  to  see  the  gun-practice  of  the 
Excellent,  commanded  by  my  old  friend  Sir  T.  Hastings.  ...  If 
the  Government  and  nation  would  show  half  the  zeal  to  defend 
themselves  from  the  Devil  that  they  do  from  the  French,  we  should 
speedily  become  a  wise  and  an  impi-egnable  people.  .   . 

*  William  Storrs  Fry,  son  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry. 


1844.1  TOUR    IN  FACTORY  DISTRICTS.  71 

Towards  the  end  of  September  came  the  renewal  of 
anxiety  and  work  in  a  journey  through  the  factory 
districts. 

Sept.  26. — May  God  turn  the  hearts  of  the  mill-owners  and  give 
me  grace  in  their  eyes  !  What  a  blessing  were  I  quit  of  this  under- 
taking, and  able  to  direct  my  efforts  to  other  and  untrodden  fields  ! 
Glad  to  be  with  my  ancient  and  well-beloved  friend  Lady  Francis  ;  *  I 
ever  remember  her  in  my  prayers.  They  have  built  a  tine  house  here; 
they  have  done  well  to  plant  themselves,  despite  of  tlie  unpleasant 
neighbourhood,  in  the  midst  of  their  duties  and  responsibilities. 
Many  people  of  wealth  would  have  fled  to  brighter  spots  ;  may  God 
bless  them  in  their  dwelling  with  years  of  peace  and  usefulness  ! 

Sept.  27th. — I  see  by  the  papers  that  Dunn,  the  proprietor  of 
the  Chinese  Collection,  is  just  dead.  Thus  I  have  lost  in  six  weeks 
two  men  (him  and  Fry)  who  most  ably  assisted  me  in  the  Opium 
Question.  How  mysterious  are  the  ways  of  God  !  Well  did  old 
Hooker  say  :  '  The  little  we  perceive  thereof  we  darkly  apprehend  and 
admire ;  the  rest  with  religious  ignorance  we  devoutly  and  meekly 
adore ! ' 

The  campaign  of  Lord  Ashley  in  the  manufacturing 
districts  was  very  arduous,  but  it  was  well  worth  all  the 
toil.  He  saw,  as  he  had  never  done  before,  how  many 
of  the  mill-owners,  desperate  in  adversity  and  unthink- 
ing in  prosperity,  were  playing  with  men  as  with  nine- 
pins. He  saw,  in  other  cases,  a  growing  readiness  to 
accept  a  limitation  of  hours  to  eleven,  if  not  to  ten,  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  be  physically  and  morally  desir- 
able. He  went  minutely  into  the  question  of  "  distances  " 
travelled  during  the  day  by  the  operatives,  and  found 
that,  despite  the  contradictions,  he  had  rather  understated 

*  Lady  Francis  Egerton,  afterwards  Couutess  of  Ellesmere.  She  was 
a  sister  of  Mr.  Charles  Greville.  Lord  Francis  Egorton's  place  was 
Worsley,  near  Manchester. 


72  THE   EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

than  overstated  them.  lie  perambulated  the  towns  to 
see  for  himself  the  actual  condition  of  the  people,  the 
filth  and  pallidness  of  house  and  person,  and  he  sum- 
marises some  of  his  thoughts  and  plans  thus  : — 

Oct.  17th. — Manchester.  Returned  yesterday  morning.  Great 
hiatus  in  notes  of  life  and  thoughts  ;  very  busy.  What  have  I  done 
or  seen  1  Must  put  in  order  for  easier  recollection.  Saw  at  Gaw- 
thorpe  the  two  brothers  of  Shuttleworth — very  pleasing  and  excellent 
youths  ;  great  zeal  in  tliat  house  for  the  working-people ;  may  God 
prosper  it  !  Much  work  and  good  wages  in  all  parts  :  hand-loom 
weavers  even  in  affluence ;  wages  advanced  in  many  places.  Will  it 
last?  There  are  many  experienced  men  who  shake  their  heads;  I 
have  repeatedly  asked  the  cause  (on  human  calculations)  of  this 
activity  ;  have  never  received  an  approximation  to  an  answer — the 
operatives  themselves  distrust  the  period.  Horner  tells  me  there 
are  300  new  investments  (great  and  small)  of  capital  in  the  cotton 
trade,  which  will  partly  show  themselves  in  nearly  fifty  new  mills. 
When  will  the  time  arrive  at  which  prosperity  will  show  itself  in 
the  erection  of  fifty  new  churches  1  Saw  Dugdale's  magnificent  mill 
at  Lower-House,  also  his  print-works.  Saw,  too,  the  fine  works  of  Mr. 
Thomson,  near  Clitheroe.  An  infinite  number  of  small  children  in 
these  works  for  the  luxury  of  men.  This  must  be  my  next  under- 
taking ;  '  Feed  my  lambs'  is  the  command  of  our  blessed  Lord.  May 
He  give  me  grace  to  conceive  and  execute  a  plan  for  the  advancement 
of  His  adorable  Name,  and  for  the  welfare,  temporal  and  eternal,  of 
many  thousand  souls.  God  helping  me,  I  will  go  to  it  in  the  very 
next  Session.  .  .  Went  on  11th  to  Bradford.  Put  up  with  Minny 
and  W.  Cowper  at  Walker's  house.  Peace  be  to  that  house — peace 
of  body  and  of  soul — and  to  all  that  dwell  in  it.  Saw  the  mill ;  can 
one  view  it,  ought  one  to  view  it,  without  tears  of  thankfulness  and 
joy1?  Order,  cleanliness,  decency,  comfort,  reciprocal  affections 
prevail ;  there  are  the  spirit  and  language  of  Boaz,  and  the  spirit 
and  language  of  his  servants — 500  children,  under  thirteen  years 
of  age,  are  receiving  daily  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  a  bringing 
up  in  the  fear  and  nurture  of  the  Lord.  What  a  power  to  possess, 
what  a  design  to  execute  !  The  little  things  broke  into  a  loud 
cheer  ;  it  went  to  my  very  heart.     Heard  them  conclude  the  studies 


1844.]  PROGRESS    OF  FACTORY   LEGISLATION.  73 

of  the  clay  in  united  and  touching  prayer  ;  the  form  was  beautiful, 
and  the  singing  reached  the  soul.  .  . 

Lord  Ashley  met  the  Lancashire  Central  Short-Time 
Committee,  and  a  few  of  their  friends,  at  the  Brunswick 
Hotel,  to  receive  an  address.  In  thanking  them  for  it, 
and  for  their  appreciation  of  his  services,  he  paid  an 
eloquent  tribute  to  all  the  workers  who  had  aided  in  the 
agitation,  and  particularly  to  Nathaniel  Gould,  of  Man- 
chester ;  the  late  Michael  Thomas  Sadler ;  John  Wood, 
of  Bradford ;  Mr.  Brotherton,  Mr.  Fielden,  Mr.  Oastler, 
and  Mr.  Bull,  men  who,  "  when  the  question  was  sur- 
rounded with  greater  hazards  than  it  is  at  present,  did 
not  fear  to  come  forward  and  declare,  in  the  face  of  con- 
tempt, and  prejudice,  and  power,  that,  by  the  aid  of 
God's  blessing,  they  would  strive  against  every  diffi- 
culty, and  persevere  until  they  had  brought  the  struggle 
to  a  successful  termination." 

In  reviewing  the  position  of  the  question,  and  con- 
trasting it  with  that  of  sixteen  years  before,  he  enumerated 
some  of  their  gains,  which  were  :  an  enactment  limiting 
the  labour  of  children  to  six  hours  a  day ;  protection 
against  accident,  death,  and  mutilation,  from  the  un- 
guarded state  of  machinery ;  and  the  important  pro- 
vision that  no  woman,  of  whatever  age,  should  be 
employed  in  any  mill  or  factory  more  than  twelve  hours 
a  day.  He  explained  to  those  who  were  not  conversant 
with  the  forms  of  the  House  of  Commons,  the  difficulties 
that  had  beset  the  matter  in  the  last  Session  of  Parlia- 
ment, showing  how  the  Bill  was  in  constant  jeopardy  and 
how  a  false  step  would  have  caused  the  loss  of  it,  the 


74  TEE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

object  being  to  preserve  the  Bill,  in  order  to  get  what 
good  they  could  from  it,  and  at  the  same  time  to  remain 
faithful  to  the  main  principle  of  the  Ten  Hours.  In 
concluding,  he  denied  that  he  was  the  enemy  of  the 
factory  masters,  or  of  the  factory  system.  "  I  am  an 
enemy  of  the  abuses,"  he  said,  "  but  not  of  the  system 
itself,"  and  he  exhorted  them  to  go  forward  with  strength 
and  resolution,  promising,  on  his  own  part,  that  he 
would  persevere  with  an  unbroken  and  determined  spirit 
until  a  happy  consummation  of  their  united  labours 
should  be  reached. 

During  this  visit  a  deputation  waited  on  Lady 
Ashley  at  the  Albion  Hotel  to  present  her  with  an 
address  in  which  her  self-sacrifice  was  recognised,  and 
the  aid  she  had  given  to  the  cause,  in  consoling  and 
sustaining  their  leader  in  his  arduous  toil,  was  gratefully 
acknowledged. 

Oct.  19th. — London.  Have  called  on  many  master-spinners. 
Hear  that  they  are  gratified.  Did  so  before  I  met  operatives.  Ad- 
dressed a  body  last  night.  Admirable  meeting ;  urged  the  most 
conciliatory  sentiments  towards  employers ;  urged  too  the  indis- 
pensable necessity  of  private  and  public  prayer  if  they  desire  to  attain 
their  end.  Told  what  I  felt,  that  unless  religion  had  commanded  my 
service  I  would  not  have  undertaken  the  task.  It  was  to  religion, 
therefore,  and  not  to  vie,  that  they  were  indebted  for  benefits  re- 
ceived !  What  a  place  is  Manchester — silent  and  solemn  ;  the  rumble 
of  carriages  and  groaning  of  mills,  but  few  voices,  and  no  merriment. 
Sad  in  its  very  activity  ;  grave  and  silent  in  its  very  agitation.  In- 
tensely occupied  in  the  production  of  material  wealth,  it  regards 
that  alone  as  the  grand  end  of  human  existence.  The  operatives, 
poor  fellows,  to  a  man,  distrust  this  present  prosperity.  Have 
visited  print  works,  Mr.  Thomson's,  Clitheroe  ;  Mr.  Dugdale's,  near 
Gawthorpe;  Mr.  Field's,  Manchester.     Thirty-five  thousand  children, 


1844.]  TIME,    THE    SEED    OF   ETERNITY.  75 

under  13  years  of  age,  many  not  exceeding  5  or  6,  are  worked,  at 
times,  for  14  or  15  hours  a  day,  and  also,  i>ut  not  in  these  works, 
during  the  night  !  Oh,  the  abomination  !  Now,  therefore,  God 
helping  me,  I  will  arise  and  overthrow  this  Philistine.  Oh, 
blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  look  down  on  the  lambs 
of  Thy  fold,  and  strengthen  me  to  the  work  in  faith  and  fear,  in 
knowledge,  opportunity,  wisdom,  and  grace  ! 

Soon  after  his  return  to  London,  Lord  Ashley  began 
to  revolve  in  his  mind  the  programme  for  the  Session, 
and  resolved  that  he  would  devote  his  energies,  in  the 
first  place,  to  the  Ten  Hours  Bill,  to  a  Bill  for  the 
Protection  of  Children  in  Calico  Print- Works,  to  a 
Lunacy  Bill,  and,  after  that,  to  such  other  matters  as 
occasion  offered. 

His  Diaries  at  this  time  are  very  full,  and  a  few 
extracts  will  show  the  current  of  his  thoughts  and  the 
scope  of  his  aspirations  : — 

Oct.  26. — Everything  now  is  rushing  %t  the  'landed  proprietary;' 
its  overthrow  is  aimed  at,  illuc  cuncta  vergere.  The  comparative 
prosperity  of  other  branches  of  industry  brings  forward  agriculture 
in  invidious  contrast,  and  this  feeling  will  continue,  and  perhaps 
increase,  until  the  day  of  manufacturing  convulsion.  Entails,  primo- 
geniture, large  estates,  etc.  :  all  to  be  got  rid  of.  Many  even  of 
the  Conservatives  incline  that  way ;  they  perceive  difficulties  in 
our  social  state,  and  catch  at  any  solution.  If  so,  the  thing  will  be 
done,  and  God  prosper  the  issue  !  But  strange  it  is  that  all  improve- 
ment and  salvation  should  be  found  in  the  overthrow  of  the  "land- 
ocracy," while  the  enormous  accumulations  of  banking,  trading,  mill- 
ing are  to  be  petted  and  praised  as  the  very  fountains  of  universal 
joy  !  .  .  .  Shall  be  much  criticised  and  hated  for  the  character  of 
my  speeches  to  the  workpeople ;  am,  nevertheless,  satisfied  that  I 
am  quite  right.  The  '  time '  that  I  seek  in  their  behalf  must  be  con- 
sidered and  treated  as  the  seed  of  '  eternity ; '  if  it  be  not  so  it  will 
certainly  be  useless,  and  probably  lead  to  evil.     This  has  been  my 


76  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

object  from  the  beginning,  to  persuade  the  working  man  to  reverence 
the  religion  which  prompts  toil,  anxiety,  endurance,  and  self-denial 
on  the  part  of  others  for  his  sake.  .  . 

Oct.  30th. — London.  Fogs,  smoke,  muffin  bells.  Much  need  of 
internal  light  and  joy  ;  very  little  external,  yet  promise  myself  occu- 
pation and  amusement  even.  Must  look  up  Societies,  Committees, 
&c,  and  attend  Police  Courts.  Must  define  clearly  to  my  own  mind 
what  I  shall  aim  at  just  now,  and  confine  myself,  if  possible,  to  it. 

Nov.  3rd. — Sunday.  Windsor  Castle.  Arrived  yesterday.  At- 
tended service  in  St.  George's  Chapel ;  exquisite  chanting  ;  cold  and 
comfortless  discourse,  and  yet  better  than  the  one  I  heard  some  two 
or  three  years  ago.  Queen  and  Prince  Albert  at  private  chapel  in 
Castle.   .  . 

Nov.  9th. — Good  deal  of  business.  No  repose.  Sittings  renewed 
in  Lunacy.  What  a  scene  of  horrors  !  If  such  be  the  condition  of 
things  under  all  our  inspection,  law,  public  opinion,  and  the  whole 
apparatus  of  'philanthropy  '  (what  a  sad  word  !),  what  must  it  have 
been  formerly,  and  what  would  it  be  again  in  a  state  of  pure  principle 
of  non  -  interference  1  Long  interview  with  Roper,  secretary  to 
Society  for  Protection  of  Needlewomen.  I  find,  as  usual,  the  clergy 
are,  in  many  cases,  frigid  ;  in  some  few,  hostile.  So  it  has  ever  been 
with  me.  At  first  I  could  get  none  ;  at  last  I  have  obtained  a  few, 
but  how  miserable  a  proportion  of  the  entire  class  !  The  ecclesiastics, 
as  a  mass,  are,  perhaps,  as  good  as  they  can  be  under  any  institution 
of  things  where  human  nature  can  have  full  swing ;  but  they  are 
timid,  time-serving,  and  great  worshippers  of  wealth  and  power.  I 
can  scarcely  remember  an  instance  in  which  a  clergyman  has  been 
found  to  maintain  the  cause  of  labourers  in  the  face  of  pew- 
holders.  .   .  . 

Nov.  loth. — All  sorts  of  things.  First,  I  do  not  quite  flourish  in 
town  at  this  time  of  year.  Good  deal  of  work.  Very  little  air  and 
exercise,  and  yet  no  repose.  The  loss  of  my  periodical  exercise  on 
horseback  is  very  sensible.  I  am  the  worse  for  it.  Met  Pottinger 
at  dinner  yesterday  and  to-day  ;  he  is  an  opium  man  ;  denies  many 
of  the  evils,  and  contends  for  the  legalisation  of  the  trade  !  I  talked 
to  him  a  good  deal,  and,  strange  to  say,  he  seemed  to  know  very 
little  about  it ;  nevertheless,  there  will  be  an  aptness  of  men's  minds 
to  accept  and  believe  him,  and  I  shall  pass  for  a  fanatic  and  an 
exaggerator. 


1844.]  RUGBY  AND    ETON.  77 

Nov.  18th. — Visited  Peckham  Asylum  on  Saturday  last.  Long 
affair — six  hours.  What  a  lesson  !  How  small  the  interval — a  hair's 
breadth — between  reason  and  madness.  A  sight,  too,  to  stir  appre- 
hension in  one's  own  mind.  1  am  visiting  in  authority  to-day.  I  may 
be  visited  by  authority  to-morrow.  God  be  praised  that  there  are  any 
visitations  at  all ;  time  was  when  such  care  was  unknown.  What  an 
awful  condition  that  of  a  lunatic  !  His  woi'ds  are  generally  dis- 
believed, and  his  most  innocent  peculiarities  perverted  ;  it  is  natural 
it  should  be  so  ;  we  know  him  to  be  insane :  at  least,  we  are  told  that 
he  is  so  ;  and  we  place  ourselves  on  our  guard — that  is,  we  give  to 
every  word,  look,  gesture  a  value  and  meaning  which  oftentimes  it 
cannot  bear,  and  which  it  never  would  bear  in  ordinary  life.  Thus 
we  too  readily  get  him  in,  and  too  sluggishly  get  him  out,  and  yet 
what  a  destiny  ! 

Nov.  21st. — Went  yesterday  to  Rugby  to  examine  the  physical 
and  moral  aspect  of  the  place  and  see  whether  it  would  be  a  good 
school  for  Antony.  Hope— nay,  think  it  will  do  ;  universal 
testimony,  so  far  as  I  hear,  in  its  favour  from  all  who  have  sons 
there.  Saw  Dr.  Tait,  and  Cotton,  the  tutor ;  both  advised  the  age 
of  fourteen  as,  on  the  whole,  the  best ;  much,  said  they,  will  depend 
on  the  position  he  takes  when  he  enters  the  school ;  '  The  great 
advantages  we  offer  are  found  in  the  higher  grades ;  every  advance 
in  rank  is  regarded  by  the  boys  as  involving  an  increase  of  respon- 
sibility.' I  fear  Eton  ;  I  dread  the  proximity  of  Windsor,  with  all 
its  means  and  allurements ;  dread  the  tone  and  atmosphei*e  of  the 
school ;  it  makes  admirable  gentlemen  and  finished  scholars — fits  a 
man,  beyond  all  competition,  for  the  drawing-room,  the  Club,  St. 
James's  Street,  and  all  the  mysteries  of  social  elegance  ;  but  it  does 
not  make  the  man  required  for  the  coming  generation.  We  must 
have  nobler,  deeper,  and  sterner  stuff ;  less  of  refinement  and  more 
of  truth  ;  more  of  the  inwai'd,  not  so  much  of  the  outward,  gentle- 
man ;  a  rigid  sense  of  duty,  not  a  '  delicate  sense  of  honour  ; '  a  just 
estimate  of  rank  and  property,  not  as  matters  of  personal  enjoyment 
and  display,  but  as  gifts  from  God,  bringing  with  them  serious 
responsibilities,  and  involving  a  fearful  account ;  a  contempt  of 
ridicule,  not  a  dread  of  it ;  a  desire  and  a  courage  to  live  for  the 
service  of  God  and  the  best  interests  of  mankind,  and  by  His  grace  to 
accomplish  the  baptismal  promise  :  '  I  do  sign  him  with  the  sign  of 
the  Cross,  in  token  that  hereafter  he  shall  not  be  ashamed  to  confess 


78  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

the  faith  of  Christ  crucified,  and  manfully  to  fight  under  His  banner 
against  sin,  the  world,  and  the  Devil,  and  to  continue  Christ's  faitliful 
soldier  and  servant  unto  his  life's  end.' 

Graham  has  asked  me  to  undertake  the  Lunacy  Bill,  promising 
to  treat  it  as  a  Government  measure.  Prodigious  work  !  but  cannot 
refuse  to  lighten  the  burden  on  a  Minister's  shoulders.  Agreed  on 
condition  of  full  Government  support  in  every  respect.  Oh,  that  I 
might  prosper  and  do  something  for  those  desolate  and  oppressed 
creatures  ! 

Nov.  26th. — Many  starving  people  in  the  streets ;  an  alms  here 
and  an  alms  there  very  unsatisfactory  ;  no  effectual  or  permanent 
good  clone  ;  a  very  small  iota  of  the  mischief  abated.  It  makes  me 
miserable,  never  absent  from  my  thoughts,  like  having  a  bad  taste 
always  in  one's  mouth.  "Where  is  the  root  of  the  evil  1  It  cannot 
be  inevitable  to  have  so  many  poor.  Poverty,  of  course,  we  must 
have,  but  not,  surely,  deep  and  extensive  destitution.  It  is  wrong, 
awfully  wrong,  that  so  many  able-bodied  and  willing  labourers  should 
want  employment  and  bread.     What  can  be  done] 

Nov.  28th. — Heard  that  Sir  C.  Napier  was  carrying 'judicial ' 
murder  in  Scinde  !  Do  not  doubt  it.  The  country  was  acquired  by 
fraud,  insolence,  and  bloodshed,  and,  as  Sallust  says,  must  be  main- 
tained by  the  same  means  !  Will  it  be  given  to  me  to  prosper  in  my 
three  works— Time  Bill,  Print-Works  Bill,  Lunacy  Bill  1  Shall  I, 
by  God's  blessing,  taste  the  fruit  of  these  labours'?  I  fear  not. 
Thoughts  of  a  great  scheme  for  relief  of  people  pass  through  my 
mind.  Would  it  be  a  measure  of  relief,  or  an  aggravation  of  distress  1 
Repeal  duty  on  tea  to  one-sixth  of  present  amount ;  sugar  the  same; 
repeal  the  malt  tax  totally,  and  the  Corn  Laws  at  the  end  of  five 
years  ;  keep  on  the  income  tax,  raised  to  five  per  cent,  for  ten  years. 
I  like  the  scheme  very  much. 

Nov.  30th. — A  fellow  has  taken  the  trouble  to  sneer  against  me 
all  across  the  Atlantic.  Received  this  morning  a  New  York  paper 
with  a  prodigiously  long  account  of  a  game-law  case  in  England. 
On  the  margin,  in  manuscript:  'A  case  for  Lord  Ashley's  philan- 
thropy, from  an  American  slave-holder.'  Untrue  in  respect  of  me, 
for  I  hate,  and  have  always  hated,  these  excessive  preservations  of 
birds  and  beasts ;  illogical  in  respect  of  the  analogy,  for  there  is  no 
similitude  between  the  trade  in  human  flesh  and  the  over-rigid 
custody  of  cock  pheasants  ! 


1844.]  THE    "  STURMIXSTEB    SPEECH."  79 

Dec.  1st — Sunday.  To  St.  George's  in  afternoon.  A  melancholy 
sight  :  the  parish  church,  with  a  handful  of  'genteel  folks,'  and  not 
twenty  square  inches  of  space  for  the  vulgar  fry,  choked  up  by 
monopolising  pews,  excluding  and  affronting  the  working  man  ! 

Dec.  3rd. — Yesterday  took  chair  of  meeting  on  behalf  of  wretched 
seamstresses.  Good  Heavens  !  that  in  such  a  cause  there  should 
have  been  so  scanty  an  assemblage  !  Happily,  we  had  foreseen  the 
event,  and  had  proportioned  our  room  to  our  expectations.  The 
place  of  meeting  was  small,  but,  being  tilled,  assumed  a  dignity  it  did 
not  possess.  No  '  quality,'  no  wealth  ;  people  very  highly  respectable. 
My  chief  supporters,  always  zealous  and  kind,  W.  Cowper  and  Red- 
mayne,  the  wholesale  dealer.  .  .  . 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  1S39  the  long 
estrangement  between  Lord  Ashley  and  his  father 
was  followed  by  a  hearty  reconciliation.  Unhappily, 
that  reconciliation  was  not  to  remain  unclouded.  The 
career  Lord  Ashley  had  adopted,  and  the  causes  he  had 
espoused,  were  not  such  as  met  with  the  sympathy  of 
his  father,  and  ever  since  the  speech  at  Sturminster  in 
1843,  in  which  he  had  spoken  plainly  of  the  responsi- 
bilities of  landed  proprietors,  there  had  been  a  growing 
coldness,  which  had  resulted  as  shown  in  the  following 
entry : — 

Dec.  16th. — St.  Giles's.  The  Sturminster  speech  is  not  forgotten. 
It  is  one  of  the  ingredients  of  his  hatred*  Curious  occurrence  :  the 
League  are  reviling  me  for  doing  nothing,  at  the  moment  I  am  turned 
out  of  my  father's  house  for  doing  too  much. 

Dec.  19th. — League  busy;  letter  this  morning  to  say  that  an 
attack  was  to  be  made  by  Cobden  on  me,  drawn  from  state  of 
dwellings  at  Martin  and  Damerham.f  Duncombe  tells  me  that  a 
spy  has  been  there  for  three  days.     God  be  with  me  !     I  am  innocent 

*  The  allusion  is  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

f  Martin  and  Damerhaui  were  outlying  spots  on  his  father's  estate 


80  THE    EARL   OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XII. 

as  a  child  unborn,  and  yet  it  seems  that  they  will  strip  me  at  last  of 
all  power  to  effect  anything  in  the  House  of  Commons.  I  commit 
it  all  to  God.     He  will  yet  deliver  me. 

Dec.  24th. — Christmas  Eve.  Bx-oadlands.  '  Hallowed  and  gracious 
is  the  time.'  To-morrow  a  great  day  will  be  celebrated  throughout 
the  Christian  world ;  brave  ceremonies,  sermons,  processions,  litanies, 
and  prayers,  and  yet  millions  will  neither  feel  nor  hear  the  benefit  of 
the  Heaven-sent  gift.  A  few  may  be  comforted,  a  few  exalted,  a  few 
inspired  by  love  and  strengthened  in  their  course,  but  the  mass  of 
mankind  will  be  cold  to  this  most  mighty  reminiscence,  this  almost 
incredible  mercy  of  God,  our  common  Father  !  What  a  season  for 
united  action,  for  mutual  and  reconciling  prayer,  for  self-knowledge, 
for  self-abasement,  for  inquiry  who  we  are,  what  we  are,  whence  we 
are,  why  we  are  !  .  .  . 

Dec.  28th. — Private  hints  and  my  own  suspicions  have  led  me 
to  believe  that  my  'favour'  has  been,  for  some  time,  on  the  decline  in 
the  county  of  Dorset.  I  have  said  but  little,  excepting  my  speech 
at  Sturminster  ;  but  I  am  disliked,  not  only  for  what  I  have  said, 
but  for  what  I  have  omitted  to  say.  I  cannot  do  as  George  Bankes 
does — attend  the  agricultural  meetings  and  farmers'  clubs,  and  roar 
out  about  Protection,  the  superhuman  excellence  of  landlords,  the 
positively  divine  character  of  tenants,  tickle  the  ears  with  fulsome 
flattery,  and  rise  in  popularity  as  you  rise  in  declamation.  The 
labourei's  are  generally  ill-treated  in  houses  and  wages ;  the  gentry 
and  farmers  know  the  fact,  and  know,  too,  that  I  think  so ;  hence 
their  aversion  !  The  proceedings  of  the  late  agricultural  meeting  at 
Blandford  confirm  my  opinion.  I  was  mentioned  but  once,  and  my 
name — amid  cheers  and  three  times  three  to  many  others — attracted 
there  but  a  cold  '  Hear,  hear.'  It  was  introduced  by  Bankes  clearly 
not  to  honour  me,  but  to  furnish  an  attack  on  the  Anti-Corn-Law 
League.  Well,  let  them  do  as  they  like ;  I  know—  and  God  be 
praised  for  it — that  I  am  right ;  and  I  will  not  abate  one  breath  of 
my  lips  to  save  the  seat  for  the  county.  Nothing  but  bulls  of 
Bashan ;  I  am  encompassed  on  every  side. 


CHAPTEE   XIII. 

1845. 

Retrospectant!  Forecast — The  Irish  Secretaryship— State  of  Calico  Print-Works — 
Bill  to  Regulate  Labour  of  Children  therein — At  St.  Giles's — Defenceless 
State  of  Dockyards  and  Coast — Tractarian  Movement — Mr.  Ward  Censured 
and  Deprived  of  his  Degree— Converts  to  Rome — Maynooth — Sir  Robert 
Peel's  Bill  for  Increased  Grant — Excitement  in  the  Country — The  Bill 
Carried — Sympathy  with  Ireland — Speech  on  Maynooth — The  Evangelical 
Fathers — Jews'  Society — Death  of  Bishop  Alexander — The  Railway  Mania 
— Two  Bills  on  the  Lunacy  Question — The  Regulation  of  Lunatic  Asylums 
— The  Better  Treatment  of  Lunatics — Both  Bills  Carried — Appointment  of 
Permanent  Lunacy  Commission — Insanity  of  the  Poet  Cowper — The  Society 
of  Friends — Tour  in  Manufacturing  Districts — A  Coming  Storm — The 
Potato  Disease — Commission  of  Inquiry  Appointed— A  Letter  to  the  Times — 
Its  Reception — Changes  of  View  on  Corn  Laws — Letter  from  Lord  John 
Russell — Resignation  and  Re-appointment  of  Sir  Robert  Peel — A  Painful 
Alternative. 

In  the  Ten  Hours  movement,  there  was  little  to  he 
done  during  this  year,  except  to  watch  the  working  of 
the  new  Bill,  and  to  keep  the  Committees  well  together, 
especially  now  that  those  who  were  pledged  to  Ten 
Hours  were  reinforced  by  such  powerful  allies  as  Lord 
Palmerston,  Lord  John  Russell,  Lord  Ho  wick,  and  Mr. 
jVIacaulay. 

The  subject,  however,  was  never  out  of  Lord  Ashley's 
mind,  and  in  an  early  entry  in  his  Diary  for  the  year  we 
find  him  reviewing  his  position  : — 

Jan.  11th. — It  will  be  a  singular  thing  if  this  great  and  much- 
agitated  question  ends  in  a  mere  vapour;  if  the  labours  of  twelve  years, 
and  the  anxiety  and  notoriety  of  forty,  commissions  and  committees, 

9 


82  THE    EARL  OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIII. 

disclosures  of  sinfulness,  cruelty,  and  peril,  that  make  one's  head  to  be 
sick,  and  one's  heart  to  be  faint — terminate  as  tranquilly  and  entirely  as 
though  nothing  had  been  known  and  nothing  attempted  ;  neverthe- 
less (humanly  speaking)  such  an  issue  appeal's  to  be  most  probable ; 
1  can  hardly  anticipate  a  longer  period  (if  so  much)  for  efforts  in  the 
House  of  Commons  than  the  duration  of  the  coming  Session.  Should 
I  be  removed  to  the  House  of  Lords.  I  shall  be  taken  to  an  assembly 
where  it  would  be  vain  to  propose  siich  measures,  and  I  should  leave 
the  other  without  a  successor  to  my  office.  Is  there  any  one  who 
would  undertake  the  career  from  which  I  should  have  been  removed  1 
I  know  not  the  man.  It  is  possible  that  the  duty  now  would  not  be 
so  burdensome  and  painful  •  it  is  possible  that,  Moses-like,  I  may 
have  been  a  humble  instrument  to  bring  the  people  to  the  borders 
of  Jordan,  while  to  some  Joshua,  at  present  unseen,  may  be  given 
the  honour  and  delight  of  leading  them  into  Canaan ;  but  if  it  be  not 
so,  and  any  one  be  called  to  pass  through  what  I  have  already  passed 
through,  he  will  not  do  it  willingly.  Here  are  twelve  years  of 
labour,  anxiety,  and  responsibility,  especially  the  first  and  the  four 
last ;  but  every  year  since  1836  has  been  one  of  toil  and  preparation, 
though  nothing,  by  defect  of  opportunity,  may  have  appeared  in 
public.  Eight  years  of  open  support  and  of  suppressed  antipathy 
from  the  Conservatives  tchile  in  Opposition ;  three  years  of  coldness, 
and  one  of  decided  resistance  from  the  same  when  in  Government. 
By  taking  this  course  of  declaring  and  endeavouring  to  alleviate  the 
wrongs  of  the  working  people,  I  have  made  many  enemies  and  shaken 
the  confidence  of  many  friends.  I  have  roused  the  manufacturing 
interest  and  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League.  Their  fury  knows  no 
bounds,  and  is  incapable  of  repose  ;  papers  of  all  kinds  are  levelled 
at  my  motives  and  character,  and  their  emissaries  hunt  me  even  intff 
private  life.  The  landed  gentry,  though  more  cautious,  are  sadly  dis- 
trustful, and  begin  to  believe  that,  as  much  may  be  said  on  both  sides, 
my  mouth  had  better  be  stopped,  and  nothing  be  said  at  all.  I  have 
lost  every  political  and  many  private  friends.  The  thing  has  entered 
into  social  life.  The  Quarterly  Revievj  even,  and  Lockhart,  are  gone 
over  to  Peel.  Except  Fielden,  Brotherton,  and  Inglis,*  I  am  certain 
of  no  one  in  public.  I  have  borrowed  and  spent,  in  reference  to  my 
income,  enormous  sums  of  money,  and  am  shut  out  from  every  hope 

*  Sir  Robert  Inglis. 


1845.]  THE    IRISH   SECRETARYSHIP.  83 

of  emolument  and  every  path  of  honourable  ambition.  My  own  near 
kinsfolk  dislike  my  opinions,  and  some  persecute  me.  I  am  now  a 
sufferer  in  domestic  relations,  and  I  am  excluded  from  my  father's 
house,  in  no  slight  decree  because  I  was  known  to  have  maintained 
the  cause  of  the  agricultural  labourer.  No  one  but  myself  can  esti- 
mate the  amount  of  toil  by  da}r  and  by  night,  of  fears  and  disappoint- 
ments, of  prayers  and  tears,  of  repugnances  contended  against  and 
overcome,  of  long  journeys,  and  unceasing  letters ;  and  will  all  this 
have  no  greater  result  than  the  simple  and  resisted  issue  of  the 
Colliery  Bill  %     '  I  will  stand  on  my  watch-tower  and  will  see.' 

Not  once  or  twice  in  his  career  had  Lord  Ashley 
been  agitated  already  by  the  question  of  accepting-  or 
refusing  office.  Whenever  that  question  came  to  him, 
it  filled  his  mind  with  conflict.  He  was  patriotic  to  the 
core,  and  the  responsibility  of  declining  to  accept  any 
position  that  would  give  him  larger  means  of  benefiting 
the  country,  weighed  heavily  upon  him.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  temptations  to  accept  office  were  very  great ; 
his  name  was  almost  as  familiar  on  the  tongues  of  men 
as  that  of  the  Premier ;  there  were  large  bodies  of 
the  people  who  looked  upon  him  as  the  one  upon  whom 
their  hopes  were  fixed,  as  the  leader  in  all  great  social 
and  religious  questions :  he  was  still  young,  with  a 
young  man's  proper  and  laudable  ambition  ;  and,  more- 
over, his  private  means  were  altogether  inadequate  to 
the  demands  upon  them. 

Jan.  24th.- — Brighton.  Colonel  Wyndham  has  lent  us  his  house, 
and  here  we  are  !  Saw  Bonham  yesterday.  Asked  him  who  was  to 
be  successor  to  Lord  Eliot  as  Secretary  for  Ireland.  '  Why  should  not 
you  take  it  V  said  he.  '  The  Factory  Question,'  I  replied,  'stands  in 
the  way.'  '  Oh,  no,'  he  rejoined,  in  a  strain  of  droll  logic,  '  that  is 
an  English  question,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  Ireland.   There  may 

9  2 


84  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIII. 

be  perhaps  some  difficulty  on  your  part  to  accept  Peel's  measures  for 
Ireland,  but  I  can  see  no  other.'  He  then  showed  me  a  letter  from 
Sir  J.  Graham  which  he  had  just  received.  '  Is  Ashley  quite  out  of 
the  question  for  the  Irish  Secretaryship  1  The  Factory  Question  is 
settled,  and  he  would  find  ample  room  for  all  his  activity  and  for  the 
exercise  of  all  his  warm  feelings  in  that  career.'  I  remarked,  '  There 
would  be  enormous  difficulties.'  '  Doubtless,' he  said,  '  but  would 
you  refuse  in  limine  to  talk  with  Sir  Robert  on  the  subject  1 '  '  iSo, 
because  I  think  that  it  would  be  a  duty  on  my  part  to  hear  what  the 
Prime  Minister  had  to  say  in  urging  any  one  to  assist  him  in  public 
affairs.'  '  It  will  be  offered,'  he  continued,  '  to  Sidney  Herbert,  who 
does  not  wish  to  go  there ;  but  other  situations  will  be  open  to  him 
by  arrangements  now  in  progress.'  He  added,  among  other  things, 
that  I  was  desirable  as  a  '  married  man.'  .  .  I  walked  home  with 
him,  and  talked  on  other  matters.  As  we  parted  I  said,  '  I  shall 
keep  your  secret,  but  I  must  tell  you  that  I  see  portentous  difficul- 
ties.' He  proceeded  to  sweep  away  some  questions  of  detail.  '  Mine,' 
I  rejoined,  '  are  difficulties  of  principle.'  Strange,  strange,  strange. 
God  give  me  wisdom  and  judgment  and  zeal  !  A  heart,  above  all 
things,  bent  on  His  service  and  man's  welfare,  quite  regardless  of 
man's  opinion.  Sir  R.  Peel  may  surrender  the  '  Ten  Hours.'  It  is  far 
from  likely,  but  possible,  and  just  so  likely  as  to  render  it  unpardon- 
able to  me  to  break  off  all  hope  by  pride  and  haste  in  the  onset.  If 
he  yield  the  point,  I  must,  however  greatly  I  detest  it,  accept  office. 
I  fear  the  trouble,  the  crosses,  the  snares,  the  associations,  too,  of  red 
tape ;  weak,  unprovided,  and  unprosperous  as  I  am,  my  career  lies 
among  the  questions  and  labours  of  social  interests.  He  closed  by 
saying  :  '  After  all,  you  may  never  hear  of  this  again.' 

Feb.  1st. — As  Bonham  said,  'I  have  heard  no  more  of  it;'  it 
would  have  been  to  no  purpose,  for  nothing  should  have,  or  shall, 
induce  me  to  surrender  these  social  and  moral  questions.  Many 
changes  ;  Gladstone  goes  out,  I  know  not  why  ;  Knatchbull,  because 
Peel  is  sick  of  him  ;  Sir  T.  Freemantle  to  Ireland  ;  S.  Herbert  and 
Lincoln  to  seats  in  the  Cabinet.  It  will  be  a  Cabinet  of  Peel's  dolls. 
Cunning  fellow  !  How  adroitly  he  has  tarnished  and  then  dismissed 
the  two  '  farmers'  friends ; '  thus  he  would  dispose  of  every  one  either 
actually  or  prospectively  troublesome  to  him  ;  and  so  he  would  have 
done  with  me. 

Feb.  4th. — Bonham  told  Jocelyn  that  on  Saturday  night  a  special 


1845.]         CHILDREN'S    EMPLOYMENT    COMMISSION.  85 

messenger  was  ready  to  fetch  me  up  from  Brighton  that  Peel  might 
offer  me  the  Secretaryship  for  Ireland  ;  they  learned,  however,  from 
him,  that  I  was  firm  on  the  Factory  Question,  and  they  would  not, 
therefore,  expose  themselves  to  a  refusal. 

Yeb.  5. — Peel  expressed  to  Jocelyn  his  earnest,  most  earnest,  wish 
that  I  could  be  induced  to  take  office — very  likely.  Graham,  too, 
said  the  same  ;  spoke  of  the  folly  of  my  perseverance  ;  that  the  thing 
was  hopeless  ;  and  that  I  kept  up  bad  feelings  !  Bad  feelings  1  Why, 
I  never  called  any  one  Jack  Cade  !  '  But,'  added  Sir  James  (it  is 
curious  to  discover  their  calculations),  '  he  will  soon  be  removed  to 
the  House  of  Lords ;  he  can  do  nothing  with  his  Factory  Bill  there ' 
(most  true),  '  and  then  he  will  be  sure  to  join  us.'  So  here  is  their 
device,  to  run  their  opposition  against  my  father's  life  in  the  sure 
and  certain  hope  that  an  elevation  (!)  to  the  House  of  Lords  is  a 
death-blow  to  my  exertions !  0  Lord,  I  besesch  Thee  again  and 
again,  for  Christ's  blessed  sake,  turn  the  counsel  of  Ahithophel  into 
foolishness  ! 

Feb.  7th. — Bonham  confirmed  to  me  yesterday  evening  all  that 
Jocelyn  had  said  respecting  the  intended  application  to  me  to  take 
office,  and  then  desired,  in  a  very  kind  and  friendly  spirit,  to  learn 
from  me  whether  I  considered  myself  as  engaged  to  decline  the 
service  of  the  country,  until  the  Factory  Question  should  have  been 
carried,  adding  that  he  could  not  regard  such  a  decision  as  in  any 
way  justifiable.  I  replied  that  '  so  long  as  I  had  the  opportunity 
of  asserting  this  great  principle  with  even  a  shadow  of  success,  I 
was  so  bound.'  He  then  spoke  of  the  futility  of  the  endeavour,  and 
hinted  my  prospective  and  speedy  submersion  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
&c.,  &c.  My  unwillingness  to  take  office,  I  rejoined,  arose,  not  only 
from  the  resistance  made  by  the  Minister  to  the  Factory  Bill,  but 
from  the  language  and  conduct  of  Peel  and  Graham  on  all  social 
questions,  which  I  considered,  in  the  sight  of  God  and  the  welfare  of 
man,  to  be  essential  to  our  existence  and  honour. 

Although,  as  we  have  said,  there  was  little  to  be 
done  for  the  present  in  regard  to  the  Ten  Hours  Bill, 
Lord  Ashley's  attention  was  much  engaged  upon  a  kin- 
dred subject,  the  Report  of  the  Children's  Employment 


86  THE    EAEL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIII. 

Commission,  for  which  he  had  moved  in  the  year 
1840,  and  especially  on  the  state  of  the  Calico  Print- 
works. The  lives  of  the  poor  wretched  children  who 
were  engaged  in  this  branch  of  industry  were  made 
miserable  by  reason  of  their  cruel  bondage.  Employ- 
ment began  generally  at  from  seven  to  nine  years  of  age, 
although  there  were  cases  known  of  children  beginning 
to  work  at  three  or  four  years  old.  The  hours  were  al- 
ways long;  lasting,  for  young  girls,  as  well  as  for  adults, 
from  sixteen  to  eighteen  hours  a  day,  amid  circum- 
stances and  conditions  that  were  fearfully  injurious  to 
health.  The  rooms  -in  which  the  work  was  carried  on 
were  hot  and  unhealthy,  and  in  the  "  singeing  room  " 
the  air  was  always  full  of  small  burnt  particles,  which 
irritated  the  e}*es  intolerably,  so  that  all  the  children 
were  more  or  less  affected  with  inflammation  and  other 
diseases  of  the  e}-es.  The  nature  of  their  work  was 
distressing,  as  it  required  unremitting  attention ;  their 
arms  they  had  to  keep  in  a  continual  rotatory  motion, 
and  they  were  upon  their  feet  the  whole  time  they  were 
at  work.  The  wages  of  these  poor  children  were  ex- 
tremely low ;  their  education  was  totally  neglected ; 
and  they  were  being  ruined  in  body  and  soul  by  their 
long  hours  of  labour,  often  protracted  far  into  the  night. 
Altogether,  the  young  calico  printers  seemed  to  be 
about  the  most  miserable  class  o'f  workers  to  be  found 
in  the  industrial  population. 

On  February  the  4th,  Parliament  was  opened  by  the 
Queen  in  person,  and  on  the  5th,  Lord  Ashley  gave  his 
notices,  and  obtained,  by  ballot,  precedence  for  his  motion 


184.1]  CHILDREN-   IN    CALICO   Pit  INT- WORKS.  87 

respecting  children  occupied  in  Print-works.  The  in- 
terval, as  usual,  was  full  of  suspense,  and  every  day  his 
hopes  and  fears  are  recorded,  and  all  his  thoughts  run 
in  the  direction  of  his  labours.     Thus  he  writes  : — 

February  7th. — The  progress  of  crime,  both  in  amount  and  in- 
tensity, is  dreadful  !  How  mysterious  are  the  ways  of  Providence  ! 
Why  is  it  that  children  of  the  tenderest  years  are  subjected  to  the 
hercest  tortures  1  God  give  us  His  Holy  Spirit  to  amend  our  hearts 
and  lives,  for  we  are  desperately  wicked- — they  who  do  such  things, 
and  we  who  do  not  prevent  them.  Shall  I  deliver  my  poor  children 
in  the  Print-works  1     God  be  with  me  ! 

February  9th. — Brighton.  For  days,  and  almost  for  weeks,  I 
have  prayed,  in  the  words  of  Lot,  '  Give  me  this  Zoar  :  behold,  it  is 
but  a  little  one.'  This  day  that  chapter  was  read  as  the  first  lesson; 
and  then  came  the  reply  :  '  See,  I  have  accepted  thee  in  this  thing 
also.'  I  felt  it  almost  like  an  answer  from  Heaven  that  I  should 
rescue  my  children  in  the  Print-works,  and,  like  the  Israelites,  '  T 
bowed  the  head  and  worshipped.' 

On  February  the  18th  Lord  Ashley  moved,  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  "  That  leave  be  given  to  bring  in  a 
Bill  to  regulate  the  Labour  of  Children  in  the  Calico 
Print- Works  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland."  Although 
the  subject  was  much  akin  to  others  he  had  brought 
forward,  and  the  nature  of  the  evidence  was  of  necessity 
almost  identical,  he  startled  the  House,  and  eventually 
the  country,  by  the  revelations  he  made  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  these  oppressed  and  almost  forgotten  children. 
In  earnest  and  eloquent  language  he  pleaded  their 
cause,  dwelling  upon  every  point  that  could  touch  the 
heart  of  the  House  and  draw  forth  sympathy  to  the 
sufferers,  yet  avoiding  any  expression  reflecting  on  the 
conduct  and  character  of  individual  Print-masters. 


88  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIII. 

He  was  at  a  loss  to  conceive  on  what  grounds  an 
opposition  would  be  made  to  his  proposal,  the  third  in 
the  series  he  had  brought  before  that  House ;  but  he 
hinted  at  the  possibility  in  these  words  : — 

Sir,  in  the  various  discussions  on  this  and  kindred  subjects  there 
has  been  a  perpetual  endeavour  to  drive  us,  who  seek  the  aid  of  the 
law,  from  the  point  under  debate,  and  taunt  us  with  a  narrow  and 
one-sided  humanity  ;  I  was  told  that  there  were  far  greater  evils 
than  those  I  had  assailed — that  I  had  left  imtouched  much  worse 
things.  It  was  in  vain  to  reply  that  no  one  could  grapple  with  the 
whole  at  once.  My  opponents,  on  the  first  introduction  of  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill,  sent  me  to  the  collieries ;  when  I  invaded  the  collieries, 
I  was  referred  to  the  Print-works  ;  from  the  Print-works  I  know  not 
where  I  shall  be  sent,  for  can  anything  be  worse  1  Yet,  if  I  judge  by 
what  I  have  heard  and  read  out  of  doors,  I  conclude  that  it  will  be 
to  the  Corn  Laws  ;  but  let  me  appeal  to  the  most  zealous  advocate 
for  their  abolition,  and  ask  him  what  their  repeal  could  do  more  for 
the  benefit  of  the  manufacturing  classes  than  perpetuate  the  present 
state  of  commercial  prosperity  1  We  have  cheap  provisions  and 
abundant  employment  ;  but  what,  nevertheless,  is  the  actual  con- 
dition of  these  children  1  The  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  would  leave 
these  infants  as  it  found  them,  neither  worse  nor  better,  precisely  in 
the  condition  in  which  they  are,  in  those  countries  where  no  Corn 
Laws  prevail — in  France  or  Belgium.  Whatever  it  might  do  for 
others,  it  would  do  nothing  for  these  ;  but  I  solemnly  declare  that,  if 
I  believed  the  removal  of  the  impost  would  place  these  many  thous- 
ands in  a  position  of  comfort,  and  keep  them  in  it,  I  would,  in  spite 
of  every  difficulty,  and  in  the  face  of  every  apprehension,  vote  at 
once  for  the  entire  abolition. 

Sir,  it  has  been  said  to  me,  more  than  once,  '  Where  will  you 
stop  V  I  reply,  without  hesitation,  '  Nowhere,  so  long  as  any  portion 
of  this  mighty  evil  remains  to  be  removed.'  * 

The  Bill,  which  received  some  opposition,  and  was 
also  subjected  to  some  mutilation  in  its  passage  through 

*  Speeches,  p.  165. 


1845.]  CHILDREN   IN    CALICO    PRINT-WORKS.  89 

the  House,  became  law  on  June  30th  as  "  The  Print- 
Works  Act,  8  and  9  Vict.  c.  29."  Its  provisions  were 
akin  to  those  of  the  Factoiy  Act  of  the  previous  year, 
and  contained  similar  clauses  as  to  inspections  and  penal- 
ties. The  Act  was  defective,  however,  in  many  of  its 
provisions,  Lord  Ashley's  proposals  having  been  modi- 
fied on  lines  suggested  by  Mr.  Cobden.  But,  although 
it  did  not  remove  all  the  evils,  it  mitigated  many,  and 
the  condition  of  the  children  was  greatly  ameliorated 
thereby.* 

Feb.  21st. — Time  so  occupied  and  harassed,  no  leisure  for  entry. 
Print-works  speech  over  on  18th.  The  House  is  weary  of  these  nar- 
ratives of  suffering  and  shame  ;  the  novelty  is  past,  and  the  diffi- 
culty, the  apparent  difficulty,  of  a  remedy  remains  ;  it  catches, 
therefore,  at  any  excuse  for  inattention,  and  damns  the  advocate  for 
the  toiling  thousands,  by  courteous  indifference.  Civil' and  even  kind 
to  myself  personally,  though  manifestly  tired  of  the  subject  and 
somewhat  of  me.  Here  is  another  burden  added  to  my  shoulders, 
already  bruised  and  peeled,  to  fight  against  an  averted  and  reluctant 
audience.  Sir  James  complimentary,  cold,  hostile,  subtle,  admitted 
the  Bill,  and  made  preparations  to  throw  it  out  !  Public  opinion, 
too,  either  dead  to  the  woe  or  preoccupied  by  trade  ;  not  a  newspaper 
will  give  one  syllable  to  the  wrongs  of  these  miserable  whelps  ;  and 
yet,  how,  without  public  opinion,  can  I  make  the  least  progress  1 
However,  be  this  as  it  may,  I  will  against  hope  believe  in  hope ;  I 
will  not  throw  up  the  cause  ;  I  will,  God  helping  me,  persevere ;  I 
may  have  to  mourn  over  the  blighted  prospects  of  these  children,  but 
I  shall  find  peace  for  myself. 

March  26th. — Panshanger.  Up  at  7.  Bright  and  soft  morning. 
Birds  singing  in  a  variety  of  notes.  It  is  inspiriting  and  beautiful — a 
general  and  cheerful  prayer  of  all  nature  to  God,  the  Author  and 
Preserver  of  all.  '  Let  everything  that  has  breath  praise  the  Lord.' 
Aye,   children  in    Print-works  no  less  than   birds    and  beasts    and 

*  Yon  Plener's  "Factory  Legislation,"  p.  35. 


90  THE    EAllL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIII. 

creeping  things  :  but  a  fierce  resistance  is  begun,  fierce  as  though  their 
strongholds  were  assailed  by  a  legion  of  angels.  Alas  !  J  stand 
alone  ;  not  a  '  penny-a-liner'  with  me  :  all  dark,  dismal,  silent;  but  I 
shall  yet  'expect' 

March  31.— Beautiful  morning — seems  to  tempt  one  from  duty 
and  business  and  make  one  idle.  I  could  live  in  the  country  with 
joy,  but  I  must,  <b)d  willing,  first  accomplish  my  task  in  the  active 
haunts  of  men. 

Although  there  were  so  many  questions  pending,  and 
under  treatment,  in  which  Lord  Ashley  was  personally 
engaged,  he  was  not  in  any  way  indifferent  to  1he 
general  drift  of  public  affairs.  On  the  contrary,  his 
Diaries  abound  in  comments  upon  these,  although  it  is 
beside  our  purpose  to  record  them  here  ;  but  the  follow- 
ing passage,  relating  to  the  defenceless  state  of  our 
coasts  in  those  days,  will  be  read  with  interest: — 

March  31st. — This  evening  Navy  Estimates  iu  House  of  Commons. 
Who  will  ably  and  effectively  exhibit  the  defenceless  condition  of  our" 
dockyards,  and  the  whole  line  of  our  shores?  Never  was  a  great 
nation,  humanly  speaking,  in  such  a  state  of  exposure.  Steam-boats 
have  brought  our  antagonists  to  our  level,  and  wind  and  tide  have 
ceased  to  be  both  our  informants  and  our  allies.  Yet  we  repose  on 
former  victories,  believe  in  former .  skill,  and  are  assured  of  former 
impunity  for  our  coasts.  Vain,  presumptuous,  and  perilous  self- 
sufficiency  !  A  few  hours,  a  surprise,  a  small  squadron,  might  now 
effect  what  many  years,  and  a  declaration  of  war,  and  the  Meets  of 
Europe,  could  hitherto  have  found  impossible.  A  combined  move- 
ment from  Cherbourg  on  Portsmouth  and  Plymouth,  open  and  un- 
defended either  by  ships  or  batteries,  might  lay  all  our  arsenals  in 
ruin,  plunder  the  whole  of  our  stores,  and  burn  the  entire  range  of 
our  future  navies — the  vessels  in  ordinary  !  Any  twenty-four 
hours  would  suffice  for  the  whole  work  ;  the  thing  would  be  done 
before  an  answer  could  be  received  from  the  Admiralty  to  the  notifi- 
cation that  the  French  were  in  Portsmouth  Harbour!  Now,  here  is 
the  proof  of  it,  and   never   has   God  in  His  mercy,  no,  not  even  to 


1845.]  DEFENCELESS    STATE    OF    COASTS.  91 

Hezekiah  as  against  Sennacherib,  exhibited  a  more  singular  and  special 
providence.  Sir  Thomas  Hastings  told  me  that  he  had  received  and 
reported  officially  to  the  Government  the  intelligence  that  during  the 
negotiations  respecting  Tahiti,  the  French  had  collected  in  the 
harbour  of  Cherbourg  eight  steam-vessels  equal  to  the  Corner,  fully 
equipped  for  wai',  with  troops  on  board,  and  ready  to  start  at  a 
minute's  notice — the  commander  would  have  learned,  by  telegraphic 
despatch,  that  the  negotiations  were  at  an  end,  and,  without  declara- 
tion of  war — for  such,  says  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  is  now  unneces- 
sary— would,  in  sixteen  hours,  have  reached  both  Portsmouth  and 
Plymouth  !  What  was  there  to  oppose  them  1  Absolutely  nothing. 
Not  a  steam-boat  within  a  day's  sail,  not  a  gun-boat  in  the  Harbour, 
not  a  cannon  mounted  on  the  batteries  to  fire  even  a  salute  !  Had 
they  landed  10,000  men  they  might  have  kept  possession  for  an  in- 
definite time ;  three  weeks  at  the  least  would  be  required  to  adapt 
the  mercantile  steam  navy  for  war  purposes ;  and  had  Woolwich  been 
occupied  (and  access  to  it  is  most  easy),  where  would  have  been  our 
only  means  of  defence  1  Where,  then,  would  have  gone  our  naval 
supremacy,  our  Colonies,  our  foreign  possessions'?  in  how  many  years 
could  we  have  replaced  our  loss1?  It  is  awful  to  think  of.  We  must, 
in  calling  our  few  troops  to  the  defence  of  the  coasts,  have  left  to  the 
lawless  multitude,  Ireland  and  the  manufacturing  districts — internal 
and  external  terrors  and  peril  at  the  same  moment  !  All  this  was 
confirmed  on  the  visit  of  the  King  of  the  French  to  England  the  other 
day  ;  he  spoke  to  John  Pussell,  who  mentioned  it  to  Palmerston, 
from  whom  I  have  it.  'A  war  between  England  and  France,'  said 
he,  '  is  much  to  be  deprecated ;  we  should  gain  some  advantages  at 
first,  though  we  should,  on  the  seas,  be  worsted  in  the  end.  I  am  glad 
that  our  negotiations  on  Tahiti  terminated  favourably  ;  I  should  have 
been  grieved  to  do  any  injury  to  your  capital,  the  seat  of  civilisation 
and  humanising  commerce,  but  I  was  advised  to  make  an  attempt  on 
London,  and  I  should  have  been  successful.'  To  be  sure  he  would. 
Palmerston  remarked  that  this  was  somewhat  of  a  threat.  I  take  a 
very  different  view.  The  King  knows  well  that  his  dynasty  depends 
on  the  position  of  England  ;  and  he  gave  this  as  a  hint  for  our 
advantage,  and  not  as  an  expression  for  insult  !  AVell,  well  may  wo 
exclaim,  '  O  God,  we  have  heard  with  our  ears  the  noble  works 
that  Thou  hast  done  in  our  days  ! ' 


92  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIII. 

In  the  ecclesiastical  world,  the  sky  was  thick  with 
clouds  and  the  air  with  portents.  It  was  in  this  year 
that  the  Tractarian  Movement  may  be  said  to  have 
reached  its  crisis.  Although  Lord  Ashley  had  keenly 
watched  every  fresh  development  of  the  controversy, 
he  had  not,  hitherto,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  other 
matters,  taken  much  active  public  part  in  it.  The  stages 
hy  which  the  present  position  had  been  reached  ma}r 
be  briefly  told  in  this  place.  Early  in  1844,  Keble  had 
written:  "We  go  on  working  in  the  dark,  and  in  the 
dark  it  will  be,  until  the  rule  of  S}rstematic  confession  is 
revived  in  our  Church."  Later  on  he  had  complained 
that  it  was  impossible  to  ascertain  the  moral  and 
religious  condition  of  the  people  "  for  want  of  being 
able  to  use  the  arm  of  confession."  Towards  the  end 
of  the  year,  Dr.  Pusey  had  declared  that  he  neither 
could  nor  would  subscribe  the  Articles  of  the  Church 
in  the  sense  in  which  they  were  propounded  by  those 
who  framed  them.  Many  public  meetings  were  held  in 
various  places,  and  it  was  the  burden  of  their  protests 
that  the  High  Church  Party  was  attempting  to  bring 
back  into  the  National  Church  usages  which  were 
associated  in  the  minds  of  the  people  with  the  supersti- 
tions and  corruptions  of  Rome.  Throughout  the  year 
1S45,  excitement  ran  high,  notwithstanding  the  address 
in  the  early  part  of  that  year  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  which  he  recommended  to  the  clergy  and 
laity  mutual  forbearance  and  concession  on  the  points  in 
dispute  between  the  Tractarian  and  the  Anti- Tractarian 
parties. 


1845.]      MB.    WARD'S    CENSURE    AND    DEPRIVATION.  93 

On  February  the  13th  there  was  a  meeting  of  Con- 
vocation at  Oxford,  to  condemn  a  book  written  by  the 
Eev.  George  Ward,  M.A.,  entitled,  "  The  Ideal  of  a 
Christian  Church,  Considered  in  Comparison  with  Exist- 
ing Practice,"  and  to  deprive  the  writer  of  his  degree, 
on  the  ground  that  passages  in  his  book  were  utterly 
inconsistent  with  the  Articles  of  Eeligion  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  with  the  declaration  in  respect 
of  these  Articles,  made  and  subscribed  by  Mr.  Ward 
previously,  and  in  order  to  his  being  admitted  to  the 
degrees  of  B.A.  and  M.A.  respectively. 

On  a  division,  the  condemnation  of  the  book  was 
carried  by  777  votes  against  38G,  giving  a  majority  of 
391  against  Mr.  Ward;  and  the  proposition  to  deprive 
him  of  his  degree  was  carried  by  569  to  511  votes. 

February  13. — To  Oxford  to  join  in  proceedings  against  Mr. 
Ward  ;  his  censure  and  deprivation  of  degree  most  necessary, 
becoming,  and  just.  Theatre  full  ;  attention  good.  Mr.  Ward,  by 
permission,  defended  himself  in  English  :  not  insolent  or  impetuous, 
but  Jesuitical  and  shallow.  Never  did  I  think  that,  within  those 
walls,  I  should  hear  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England  use  these 
expressions :  '  With  others  who,  like  myself,  go  to  the  full  extent  of 
the  Eoman  Catholic  doctrines;'  and,  'I  renounce  no  one  doctrine  of 
the  Eoman  Catholic  Church,  provided  it  be  a  Eoman  Catholic  doc- 
trine, and  not  one  of  corruption  ; — provided  it  be  a  Eoman  Catholic 
doctrine — /  mean,  sanctified  by  the  Pope.'  Why,  these  two  sentences 
cancelled  his  whole  defence,  and  proved  the  spirit  in  which  he  had 
subscribed  the  Articles  in  a  'non-natural  sense,'  and  decried  the  Ee- 
formation.      Majority  of  391  for  the  censure;  58  for  the  deprivation. 

Among  the  non-placets  were  Mr.  Gladstone,  Dr. 
Hook,  and  Dr.  Pusey. 

Scarcely  had  the  excitement  caused  by  this  decision 


94  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIII. 

died  away,  than  another  case,  similar  in  many  respects, 
came  before  the  public.  The  Rev.  F.  Oakley,  incumbent 
of  Margaret  Street  Chapel,  and  an  intimate  friend  of 
Dr.  John  Henry  Newman,  had  written  to  the  Bishop  of 
London  claiming  to  hold  the  same  principles  as  Mr. 
Ward,  and  challenging  him  to  institute  proceedings. 
The  challenge  was  accepted,  and  on  June  30th  Mr. 
Oakley  Avas  condemned  by  the  Judges  of  the  Arches 
Court,  his  licence  revoked,  and  he  himself  prohibited 
from  officiating  in  the  Province  of  Canterbury  until  he 
retracted  his  errors. 

Events,  soon  after  this,  hastened  to  a  climax.  On 
October  Sth,  Dr.  Newman,  in  a  letter  to .  a  friend, 
announced  his  intention  to  seek  "  admission  to  the  one 
Fold  of  Christ ;  "  and  on  November  1st,  he,  Mr.  Oakley, 
Mr.  St.  John,  and  Mr.  Walker,  all  converts  to  Rome, 
received  the  sacrament  of  confirmation  in  the  chapel 
of  Oscott  College,  at  the  hands  of  Dr.  Wiseman,  while, 
within  the  same  month,  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Faber  was  also 
received  into  the  Church  of  Rome. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  midst  of  this  excite- 
ment Archdeacon  Samuel  Wilberforce  was  called  to  the 
administration  of  the  diocese  of  Oxford — the  centre  and 
focus  of  it  all. 

It  was  at  a  period  such  as  this,  when  men's  minds  were 
greatly  perplexed  on  ecclesiastical  questions  in  general, 
and  in  particular  with  regard  to  any  tendency  towards 
Romanism,  that  the  Prime  Minister  saw  fit  to  bring  for- 
ward a  measure  which  was  to  produce  anxiety,  amount- 
ing almost  to  terror,  in  the  ranks  of  Protestantism. 


1845.]  THE    COLLEGE    OF   MAYNOOTE.  95 

When  Parliament  met  in  February,  it  became  known 
that  Mr.  Gladstone  had  resigned  his  post  in  the 
Ministry — the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  Board  of  Trade — 
and  in  the  course  of  the  debate  on  the  Address,  the 
reasons  for  this  step  were  fully  announced.  Sir  Eobert 
Peel  had  intimated  that  the  Government  was  about  to 
take  into  consideration  the  existing  Acts  relating  to  the 
College  at  Maynooth,  with  a  view  to  the  improvement 
of  that  institution  by  further  endowment,  and  the 
establishment  of  non-sectarian  Colleges.  These  changes 
were  at  variance  with  Mr.  Gladstone's  written  and 
spoken  views  upon  the  relations  of  Church  and  State, 
and  he  at  once  severed  himself  from  the  Ministry,  in 
which  he  had  rapidly  risen  to  influence  and  power. 

In  a  very  short  time  there  was  a  general  commotion. 
The  spirit  of  Protestantism  was  roused,  public  meetings 
and  conferences  were  held,  pamphlets  were  scattered, 
sermons  were  preached,  the  question  was  the  main  topic 
of  conversation  in  every  circle  of  societjr,  and  the  most 
strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  kindle  religious  feeling 
to  a  white  heat,  in  order  that  the  threatened  extension 
of  Eoman  Catholic  endowment  might  be  resisted  to  the 
death. 

The  College  of  Maynooth,  intended  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  Eoman  Catholic  priesthood  and  the  laity, 
was  not  at  that  time  in  a  position  to  supply  the  wants 
of  either.  The  building  was  incomplete,  and  what  was 
finished  was  falling  into  decay ;  the  library  was  wholly  <■ 
insufficient;  the  funds  were  inadequate  to  meet  the 
salaries  of  the  professors,  and  the  accommodation  was 


96  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIII. 

altogether  unequal  to  the  demands.  The  proposal  of 
the  Government  was  to  place  Maynooth  on,  at  least, 
some  approximate  level  with  the  other  Collegiate 
Institutions  of  the  Empire,  without,  it  was  alleged,  in 
any  way  interfering  with  its  teaching  or  discipline. 

The  Ma}mooth  Bill  comprehended  an  increase  in 
the  salaries  of  the  president  and  professors,  provision  for 
sixty  additional  students — making  the  number  500 — 
and  an  augmentation  of  the  grant  to  each.  The  annual 
grant  of  £0,000  hitherto  contributed  towards  the  ex- 
penses of  the  College,  was  to  be  increased  to  nearly 
£30,000,  not  subject  to  an  annual  vote,  and  the  repairs 
of  the  College  were  to  be  executed,  as  in  other  public 
buildings,  by  the  Board  of  Works. 

The  excitement  in  the  House  on  the  introduction  of 
the  Bill  was  prodigious,  and  the  debate  on  the  second 
reading  lasted  over  six  nights,  in  the  course  of  which 
Mr.  Disraeli  launched  philippic  after  philippic  against 
the  Premier.  "  Explain  to  us,"  he  cried,  "  why,  after 
having  goaded  Ireland  to  madness  for  the  purpose  of 
ingratiating  yourself  with  the  English,  you  are  now 
setting  England  on  fire  for  the  purpose  of  ingratiating 
yourself  with  the  Irish." 

It  was  in  vain,  however,  for  Mr.  Disraeli  to  utter 
his  philippics,  or  for  Colonel  Sibthorp  to  say  he  would 
"  submit  to  have  his  head  shaved  off,  rather  than 
forget  that  he  was  a  Protestant ;  "  the  second  reading 
was  carried  in  the  Commons  by  323  against  176  ; 
majority  for  Ministers,  147.  With  the  exception  of 
Lord  Ashley,  Mr.    Fox    Maule,    and    Mr.   Gr.  Bankes, 


1845.]  THE    MAYNOOTH    GRANT.  97 

no  one  who  had  held  political  office  voted  in  the 
minority. 

The  excitement  in  the  ecclesiastical  world  was  now 
intense ;  never  before  or  since  has  there  been  such  wild 
commotion.  An  unceasing  torrent  of  petitions  against 
the  measure  rained  in  ;  angry  denunciations  were 
hurled  against  the  Government ;  and  every  Evangelical 
pulpit  and  platform  in  the  land  uttered  its  loudest 
protest. 

Lord  Ashley  was  a  Protestant  of  the  Protestants, 
and  he  stood  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Evangelical  bod}?" 
of  the  Church  of  England,  both  in  and  out  of  Parliament, 
in  the  strongest  opposition  to  the  measure.  He  was 
not  at  this,  nor  at  any  time,  "  an  apostle  of  mere  blind, 
unreasoning  fanaticism."  In  1S29,  as  we  have  seen, 
he  supported  Catholic  Emancipation  by  his  vote,  and,  as 
we  shall  see,  he  held  sentiments  with  regard  to  Poman 
Catholics  for  which  few  who  knew  only  one  aspect  of 
his  character  would  have  given  him  credit ;  but  he  drew 
a  strong  distinction  between  the  persecution  and  the 
patronage  of  Poman  Catholics.  Of  the  latter,  now  and 
always,  he  was  a  consistent  and  determined  opponent. 

In  the  great  popular  agitation,  he  took  an  import- 
ant part,  and  heavy  demands  were  made  upon  his 
time,  already  crowded  with  manifold  labours  of  other 
kinds.  His  speeches  stand  in  striking  contrast  to 
those  of  some  who  identified  Sir  Pobert  Peel  as  the 
veritable  Antichrist — of  Dr.  Croly,  for  example,  who 
said  that  George  IV.  came  to  a  premature  end,  and  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  were  burnt  down,  because  Catholic 
h 


98  TEE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIII. 

Emancipation — "  that  unhappy,  harsh,  ill-judged,  fatal 
measure" — was  passed  in  18.29. 

Throughout  this  period,  Sir  Robert  Peel  remained 
unmoved.  Since  he  had  overcome  Mr.  O'Connell,  the 
bitterest  of  his  enemies,  he  had  become,  as  he  thought, 
master  of  Ireland ;  and  the  panacea  for  soothing  the 
irritation  of  the  conflict  in  which  he  had  been  victor, 
was  to  be  the  extension  of  education  in  Ireland,  among 
the  Roman  Catholics  as  well  as  the  Protestants. 

He  affected  to  regard  the  opposition  to  the  Bill  as 
"  mainly  the  opposition  of  Dissent  in  England — partly 
fanatical,  and  partly  religious — mainly  unwillingness  to 
sanction  the  germ  of  a  second  Establishment,  and  to 
strengthen  and  confirm  that  of  the  Protestant  Church." 
He  was  of  opinion  that  many  of  his  opponents  "  merely 
yielded  to  the  wishes  of  Dissenting  constituents.  Tariff, 
drought,  forty-six  shillings  a  quarter  for  wheat,"  he 
wrote  to  Mr.  Croker,  "  quicken  the  religious  impulses 
of  some ;  disappointed  ambition,  and  the  rejection  of 
applications  for  office,  others."* 

He  looked  upon  the  storm  which  the  Bill  had  raised 
with  indifference,  being  resolved  to  carry  the  measure, 
and  he  professed  to  be  careless  as  to  the  consequences 
which  might  follow,  so  far  as  they  concerned  him  or  his 
position. 

The  result  was  as  he  anticipated :  the  Maynooth 
Endowment  Bill  was  carried.  Despite  the  repeated 
efforts  that  were  made  for  its  repeal,  it  continued  in 
force  until  1868.      It  was  abolished  by  Mr.  Gladstone's 

*  "  Croker's  Correspondence,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  32. 


1845.]  IRELAND    AND    THE    IRISH.  99 

Government  when    the  State  Church    in    Ireland    was 
disestablished. 

As,  in  the  course  of  these  volumes,  we  shall  see  Lord 
Ashley  standing  forth  as  the  champion  of  Protestantism 
under  circumstances  in  which  his  own  individuality  will 
be  more  conspicuous,  we  shall  only  quote  from  one  of 
the  many  speeches  in  which  he  refers  to  the  Maynooth 
question  ;  and  we  quote  from  that  one  because  it  ex- 
presses the  deep  interest  he  always  felt  in  Ireland,  and 
his  sympathy  for  the  Irish  people  • — 

Faith,  we  know,  can  remove  mountains,  and  faith,  we  believe, 
will  remove  the  evils  of  Ireland  ;  but  it  must  be  no  ordinary  faith  ; 
perse veringly  exhibited  in  no  ordinary  efforts.  I  never  can  speak  of 
that  country  without  shame  and  remorse.  Centuries  of  misgovern- 
ment  and  neglect  have  brought  that  island  into  the  condition  it  is 
now  in,  from  which  all  the  wisdom,  all  the  zeal,  and  the  hearty  desire 
of  every  Government  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has  not  been 
able  to  extricate  it.  The  evils  of  that  country  spring  from  her  social 
system,  and  spring  from  her  religion,  both  alike  traceable  to  this 
country,  and  both  demanding  the  succour  and  the  sympathy  of  the 
English  people. 

After  referring  to  proposals  for  improving  the  social 
condition  of  that  country,  he  continued  : — ■ 

Turning  to  the  other  suggestions  which  are  made  for  the  improve- 
ment of  Ireland,  I  do  not  think  there  are  many  here  who  will  not 
take  very  large  exceptions  to  the  plan  of  encouraging  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion,  fostering  its  colleges,  and  endowing  its  priesthood; 
fur  these  things  involve  great  concession  of  principles,  without  any 
compensating  or  proportionate  benefit.  Those  who  take  the  highest 
ground  of  opposition,  declare  that  they  are  sinful ;  those  who  assume 
a  lower  ground,  maintain  that  they  are  useless  in  one  aspect,  and 
perilous  in  another.  That  they  are  useless  as  means  of  conciliating, 
you  have  the  experience  of  the  last  twenty  years,  and  more  especially 

h  2 


100  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIII. 

in  the  recent  legislation  upon  the  College  of  Maynooth.     The  fact  is, 

that  all  our  statesmen  lie  under  a  grievous  mistake  ;  they  endeavour 

to    control    the    people    through    the    priests,    whereas    they  should 

endeavour  to  control  the  priests  through  the  people.     Depend  upon 

this — the  difficulty  does  not  lie  with  the  Irish  nation;  the  difficulty 

lies  with  the  sacerdotal  and  monkish  orders,  who,  reversing  the  piety 

of  Aaron,  stand  between  the  living  and  the  dead — the  living  word  of 

God   and   the  dead   congregation.      Only  allow  profound  security  of 

life  and  limb,  with  free  discussion  and  an   open  Bible,  and  you  will 

cease  to   be   perplexed  in  your  determination  how  Ireland  is  to  be 

governed — Ireland, 

'  Great,  glorious,  and  free  ; 
Bright  flower  of  the  earth,  and  first  gem  of  the  sea.'  * 

There  are  many  references  in  the  Diary  to  the 
Maynooth  question,  only  a  very  few  of  which  we  shall 
extract,  as  the  interest  in  the  matter  has  now,  to  a 
great  extent,  died  out. 

March  19th. — The  other  night  a  fresh  attack  on  Peel  by  his  old 
antagonist,  Disraeli — very  clever  and  biting.  Were  not  Peel  the 
most  unpopular  head  of  a  party  that  ever  existed,  these  things 
would  be  put  down  by  rebuke  in  public,  and  by  frowns  in  private 
society.   .  .    . 

April  4th.  —  Last  night  Maynooth  earned  (first  reading)  by  216 
to  114,  the  whole  thing  almost  a  counterpart  of  1829;  the  same 
changes  of  principle,  and  by  the  same  men.  What  a  spectacle  ! 
Why  were  the  Whigs  displaced?  These  measures  go  beyond  any- 
thing they  ever  proposed,  or  even  imagined ;  and  yet  Peel  was 
brought  in  to  correct  their  mischiefs.  The  main  cause  of  Whig 
unpopularity  was  their  confederacy  with  the  Romanism  of  Ireland, 
union  with  O'Connell,  and  supposed  desire  to  act  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Papal  Church.  Peel  w^as  their  opponent,  and  led  every 
one  to  believe  that  he  was  also  their  opposite,  and  therefore  to  sup- 
port him.  His  conduct,  then,  is  considered  to  be  treacherous.  And 
is  it  not  so  1     As  for  the  measure,   it  is  useless  and  foolish — foolish 

*  Speeches,  p.  190. 


1845.]  SPEECH   OX  MAYNOOTH.  101 

because  it  irritates  and  insults  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  a  large 
body  of  people  in  these  realms  ;  and  useless,  because  it  will  not  con- 
ciliate a  single  heart  in  England  or  Ireland.   .  .   . 

April  7th. — Maynooth  will  prove  a  stumbling-block  ;  the  House, 
as  I  foresaw,  would  readily  pass  it,  but  the  country  is  becoming 
furious.  The  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  the  '  religious  public '  of 
England,  Wesleyans,  Dissenters,  all  alike  are  protesting  and  petition- 
ing, probably  with  little  chance  of  success,  but  with  fixed  resolution, 
so  far  as  in  them  lies,  to  cashier  their  representatives  at  another 
election.  What  a  strange  ignorance,  or  haughty  contempt  of  the 
deep,  solemn  Protestant  feeling  in  the  hearts  of  the  British  people  ! 
Can  a  statesman,  ought  a  statesman,  to  force  a  measure,  by  dint 
of  a  legislative  majority,  utterly  hateful  to  the  great  mass  of  the 
nation  1  .   ,   . 

April  8th.— I  am  resolved  to  oppose  it  on  this  ground  :  I  leave 
on  one  side  the  question  of  the  increased  grant  and  its  lawfulness ; 
because,  upon  that  head,  you  are  all  at  variance.  I  proceed  to  the 
endowment  of  the  College  by  Act  of  Parliament,  with  a  grant  of 
large  funds  from,  the  national  purse — you  thus  make  it  one  of  the 
great  institutions  of  the  Empire,  place  it  on  a  level  in  rank,  and  on 
an  eminence  in  favour,  as  compared  with  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and 
confirm  it  by  more  powerful  securities.  This  endowment  and  eleva- 
tion lead  necessarily  to  the  endowment  and  elevation  of  the  whole 
priesthood  of  Ireland — you  must,  having  raised  them  to  a  certain 
level,  keep  them  there,  and  this  can  be  effected  by  adequate  endow- 
ment only.  Thence  the  establishment  by  law  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  the  concurrent  existence  of  two  Established  Churches ! 
The  thing  is  another  term  for  ruin  ! 

It  was  not  until  April  the  17th,  on  the  second 
reading  of  the  Bill,  that  Lord  Ashley  made  his 
speech  on  the  subject  in  the  Honse  of  Commons, 
although  on  one  or  two  occasions  he  had  gone  there, 
during  the  long  continuance  of  the  debate,  with 
the  full  intention  of  speaking.  He  felt  considerable 
hesitation  as  to  the  line  he  should  adopt.  To  argue 
it    on    financial    grounds,    would    only    be    to    give    a 


102  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XTII. 

handle  to  the  supporters  of  the  Bill ;  to  argue  it 
on  Church  of  England  grounds,  would  place  him  in 
the  position  of  only  representing  the  opinions  of  a 
minority ;  the  theological  objections  were  worn  thread- 
bare, and  had  become  unpalatable ;  and  the  argument 
that  there  was  political  danger  in  the  progress  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  did  not  seem  likely  to  be  effective. 
When  he  went  down  to  the  House  he  felt  "  dismayed 
beyond  all  former  fears,"  with  not  a  thought  in  his 
mind,  and  his  memory  a  blank.  It  was  with  pardon- 
able pride,  therefore,  that  he  was  able  to  make  the 
following  entry : — 

April  18th. — I  obtained  last  night  nothing  but  compliments  from 
Whig,  Tory,  Radical,  and  even  Roman  Catholics.  I  can  hardly 
conceive  why.  I  can  only  pray  God  that  all  may  be  turned  to  His 
future  service.  .  .  Did  all  that  I  could  to  avoid  harsh  or  personal 
expressions  against  Roman  Catholics  sitting  in  face  of  me,  and  yet  to 
assert  my  Protestant  principles.  Glory  to  God,  I  effected  both. 
Redington,  a  Roman  Catholic,  said,  in  reply  (no  paper  has  reported 
it),  if  all  Protestants  would  so  speak,  and  choose  me  for  their  leader, 
it  would  raise  a  more  fearful  enemy  to  Roman  Catholicism  than  any 
other  way.  .  .  This  is  very  remarkable,  an  effect  quite  amounting  to 
a  sensation — produced  by  a  single  speech  from  a  man  in  a  private 
station  on  a  worn  subject,  and  in  the  middle  of  a  prolonged  and 
frequently  adjourned  debate  ;  it  passes  my  comprehension.  DTsraeli 
said  to  me  last  night :  '  I  think  it  quite  a  duty  to  tell  you  what  an 
effect  your  speech  has  produced.  I  have  spoken  to-day  to  all  kinds 
of  persons,  from  Crockford's  up  to  the  Bank,  and  have  heard  but  one 
voice.  You  have  hit  out  a  line  of  action  and  argument ; — °reat  con- 
ciliation  with  steady  and  full  assertion  of  Protestantism.  The  very 
violent,  the  discreet,  the  lukewarm,  have  all  concurred  in  expressions 
of  approval.  The  peroration  was  of  especial  value.'  I  thanked 
him,  and  replied  that,  '  standing  as  I  did  so  much  alone,  these  things 
gave  .me  hearty  encouragement.'     'Yes,'  he   added,    'I  have  long 


1845.]  MAY   MEETINGS.  103 

observed  your  single  efforts,  and  I  thought  it  a  duty  to  break  the 
ice,  and  say  what  I  have  heard.'  .  .  . 

Although  the  second  reading  was  carried  by  a 
majority  for  Ministers  of  147,  that  majority  was 
curiously  composed — viz.,  Conservatives  in  favour  of 
the  Bill,  158;  Liberals,  1C5.  Against:  Conservatives, 
145;  Liberals,  31.  Sixty-four  Conservatives  were 
absent  from  the  division. 

April  21st.— It  was  a  fearful  minority:  145  of  Peel's  friends 
voted  against  him.  He  had  a  majority  of  Conservatives  in  opposition 
to  his  Bill.  He  lives,  therefore,  moves,  and  has  his  being  through 
John  Russell. 

The  Bill  was  not  read  a  third  time  until  the  21st  of 
May,  but  its  eventual  success  was  regarded  as  certain. 
Lord  Ashley  speaks  of  it  in  the  following  entry  as  if 
already  achieved. 

May  3rd. — Ireland  thankless,  as  I  foresaw,  for  the  boon  ...  Is 
it  not  tor  weaken  the  religious  argument  when  you  protest  against 
Maynooth,  not  because  of  its  purpose,  but  because  of  its  effects  %  The 
effects  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  arguments  ;  were  they  even  good, 
humanly  speaking,  it  would  be  equally  a  duty  to  resist  the  national 
and  permanent  teaching  of  that  religion  which  was  declared  and 
established  by  the  Council  of  Trent.  .  .  .  What  a  blessing  to  me  it 
is  that  I  am  not  tied  by  the  strings  of  a  Party  either  indoors  or  out ! 

The  month  of  May  brought  Lord  Ashley  many 
pleasures  and  duties  in  connection  with  the  meetings  of 
religious  Societies.  Especially  was  his  interest  excited, 
at  this  period,  in  the  Jews'  Society,  which  was  enjoying 
its  palmy  days.  There  had  been  everywhere  a  revival 
of  zeal  on  behalf  of  "  God's  ancient  people ;"  good  news 
was  constantly  arriving  from  Jerusalem  of  the  labours  of 


104  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIII. 

the  Bishop  and  his  noble  band  of  workers,  and  certain 
promises  and  prophecies  of  the  Scriptures  were  regarded 
as  about  to  be  speedily  fulfilled.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
their  fulfilment  was  not  accomplished,  but  the  anticipa- 
tion stimulated  faith  and  hope  in  those  who  read,  what 
they  thought  to  be,  the  "  signs  of  the  times." 

It  reminds  one  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews,  to 
read  the  muster-roll  of  the  "  great  cloud  of  witnesses  " — 
the  Fathers  of  the  Evangelical  Church- — who  were  on  the 
platform  at  the  "  exciting  meeting,"  as  Lord  Ashley  calls 
it,  on  the  anniversary  day  in  this  year,  most,  if  not  all, 
of  whom,  have  now  gone  to  their  rest.  There  were 
Sir  Thomas  Baring,  the  Bishop  of  Chester  (Sumner), 
Lord  Ashley ;  the  Revs.  E.  Bickersteth,  Hugh  Stowell, 
T.  S.  Grimshawe,  F.  C.  Ewald,  W.  R.  Fremantle  ; 
Dr.  Wolff  of  Bokhara,  Hugh  McNeile,  W.  W.  Pym, 
and  Dr.  Marsh,  of  whom  it  may  be  said,  "  These  all  died 
in  faith,  not  having  received  the  promises,  but  having 
seen  them  afar  off,  and  were  persuaded  of  them  and 
embraced  them." 

Lord  Ashley  was  singularly  happy  in  his  speech 
from  the  chair.     He  said  : — 

Our  Church  and  our  nation  have  been  called  to  the  glorious 
service  of  making  known  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  the  many  thousands 
of  Israel.  ]STo\v,  in  whatever  light  I  view  this  great  question, 
whether  I  regard  it  as  purely  secular,  whether  I  regard  it  as  purely 
religious,  or  whether  I  regard  it  as  partaking  of  both  characters,  I  see 
no  subject  which  can  surpass,  or  even  approach  it,  in  magnitude  and 
in  all  those  attributes  which  feed  the  imagination  and  stir  into  life 
the  warmest  energies  of  the  heart.  .  .  .  We  rejoice  in  the  end  and 
hopes  of  this  Society,  as  seeking  the  fulfilment  of  a  long  series  of 


1845.]        DEATH    OF    THE    BISHOP    OF  JERUSALEM.         105 

prophecies,  and  the  institution  of  unspeakable  blessings,  both  in  time 
and  in  eternity,  for  all  the  nations  of  the  world.  We  believe  (and 
we  act,  too,  as  we  believe)  that,  if  the  casting  away  of  the  Jewish 
people  be  the  reconciling  of  the  world,  what  shall  the  receiving  of 
them  be  but  life  from  the  dead  ;  and  turn  where  you  will  to  examine 
the  operations  of  this  and  all  kindred  Societies,  and  of  every  people 
on  earth,  and  you  will  see  in  our  tardy  progress,  and  in  our  compara- 
tive unfruitfulness,  the  necessity  of  this  revival.  ...  It  is  our  duty, 
our  most  high  and  joyous  duty,  that  every  effort  be  made,  that  no 
exertion  be  spared,  that  all  our  toil  be  given,  by  day  and  by  night, 
that  into  every  prayer,  with  all  our  souls,  this  special  supplication 
should  enter,  for  the  revival  and  exaltation,  be  it  figurative  or  be  it 
literal,  of  repentant  and  forgiven  Jerusalem.  * 

It  was  little  dreamed  by  those  who  had  taken 
part  in  the  meeting1,  that  before  the  year  closed  they 
would  have  to  mourn  the  death  of  Bishop  Alexander, 
the  one,  it  was  believed,  who  was  to  be  the  instru- 
ment for  carrying  out  many  of  the  great  schemes 
on  which  their  hearts  were  set.  The  sad  event,  and 
its  effect  on  Lord  Ashley's  mind,  are  thus  recorded : — 

December  15th.  —  Just  received,  in  a  letter  from  Veitch,  the 
examining  chaplain,  intelligence  of  the  death  of  the  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  at  Cairo.  I  would  rather  have  heard  many  fearful  things 
than  this  sad  event ;  it  buries  at  once  half  my  hopes  for  the  speedy 
welfare  of  our  Church,  our  nation,  and  the  Children  of  Israel!  What 
an  overthrow  to  our  plans  !  what  a  humbling  to  our  foresight  !  what 
a  trial  to  our  Faith  !  Alas,  this  bright  spot,  on  which  my  eyes, 
amidst  all  the  surrounding  darkness,  confusion,  and  terrors  of  Eng- 
land, have  long  been  reposing,  is  now  apparently  bedimmed. 

I  am  quite  dismayed,  and  enter  fully  into  the  Scripture  expression, 
'amazement.'  We  were  rejoicing  in  his  expected  arrival  in  England 
to  aid  our  efforts,  and  advance  the  cause ;  he  is  cut  down  as  suddenly 
as  a  flower  by  the  scythe  ! 

*  Jewish  Intelligencer,  June,  1845. 


106  TEE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIII. 

But  what  is  our  condition  1  Have  we  run  counter  to  the  will  of 
God  1  Have  we  conceived  a  merely  human  project,  and  then 
imagined  ;t  to  be  a  decree  of  the  Almighty,  when  we  erected  a 
bishopric  in  Jerusalem,  and  appointed  a  Hebrew  to  exercise  the 
functions  1  Have  we  vainly  and  presumptuously  attempted  to 
define  '  the  times  and  seasons  which  the  Father  hath  put  in  His  own 
power1?'  God,  who  knoweth  our  hearts,  alone  can  tell.  It  seemed 
to  us  that  we  acted  in  faith  for  the  honour  of  His  name,  and  in  the 
love  of  His  ancient  people  ;  but  now  it  would  appear  that  the  thing 
was  amiss,  and  not  according  to  God's  wisdom  and  pleasure. 

And  yet,  short-sighted,  feeble  creatures  as  we  are,  all  this  may 
be  merely  a  means  to  a  speedier  and  ampler  glory  ! 

Did  not  perceive  at  first  the  full  extent  of  my  repulse,  as  it  were. 
The  Bishop  went  out  with  his  amiable  wife  and  seven  children,  the 
whole  family,  '  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,'  of  the  pure  Jewish  race. 
I  ardently,  but  fondly,  believed  that  herein  was  an  accomplishment 
of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah ;  and  every  morning  during  the  last  four 
years  have  I  prayed  that  it  would  please  God  to  '  accept  this  little 
company  as  a  present  unto  Thee  in  the  Mount  Zion,  and  give  him 
grace  to  say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold  your  God  in  your 
crucified,  but  now  glorious,  Messiah.'     All  at  an  end  ! 

The  year  was  memorable  for  a  mania  among  specu- 
lators, as  curious  as  that  of  the  South  Sea  Bubble. 

The  railway  s}rstem  had  been  in  partial  operation  for 
some  years,  but  there  had  not  been  any  remarkably 
vigorous  speculation  in  shares  ;  due  in  great  measure  to 
the  languor  and  depression  that  had  prevailed  since 
1839.  In  1843,  a  few  adventurers  had  succeeded  in 
doin0,  "  a  good  thing  "  in  railways  ;  and  the  notion  soon 
became  prevalent  that  the  best  way  to  make  money 
grow,  was  to  invest  it  in  railways.  Speculative  capitalists 
caught  at  the  idea,  and  resorted  to  every  available 
means  to  create  a  demand  for  investment  of  the  money 
that  had  been  lying  idle  for  the  past  four  years. 


1845.]  THE  RAILWAY   MANIA.  107 

Success  attended  their  labours ;  a  railway  specula- 
tive fever  set  in,  and  soon  became  an  epidemic.  Grave 
and  sedate  people,  no  less  than  the  dreamers  of  dreams, 
seemed  suddenly  to  have  lost  their  senses  ;  the  old  and 
the  young,  the  millionaire  and  the  thrifty  artisan, 
people  of  all  ages,  of  both  sexes,  and  of  every  rank,  were 
eager  to  risk  all  they  possessed,  so  confident  were  they 
that  timely  investment  was  the  sure  road  to  fortune. 

Parliament  was  besieged  by  the  promoters  of  Bills 
for  new  railways ;  and  every  fresh  scheme  proposed, 
brought  forward  a  host  of  enthusiasts,  who,  despite 
the  fact  that  the  advantage  to  be  gained  from  some 
of  these  wild  and  ruinous  propositions,  could  only  be 
the  saving  of  a  little  time  and  a  little  money  to 
those  who  travelled  or  carried  goods,  were  ready  to 
back  up  the  designing  and  unscrupulous  few  who  were 
making  gigantic  profits  by  their  frauds  on  the  public. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  Lord  Ashley's  father,  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  so  greatly  distinguished  himself  as  Chair- 
man of  Committees  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Much 
labour  also  devolved  on  Lord  Ashley  in  connection 
with  these  railway  matters  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  there  are  many  entries  in  his  Diary  to  the  follow- 
ing effect : — 

May  26th. — In  the  chair  of  Railway  Committee  !     Six  days  in 
the  week.      Sharp  work.   .   .   . 

June  7th. — Still  in  chair  of  Railway  Committee  ! 

This  was  happening  at  a  time  when  he  was  more  than 
usually  pressed  with   Parliamentary  duties.      He   had 


108  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIII. 

determined  to  brino;  forward  further  measures  with 
regard  to  Lunatics  and  Lunatic  Asylums,  but  "  had  been 
let  hitherto."  The  subject  was  continually  in  his 
thoughts,  and,  at  different  periods  of  the  early  part  of 
the  year,  he  writes  in  this  strain  : — 

March  23rd. — To  Surrey  County  Lunatic  Asylum.  A  noble 
establishment,  and  admirably  conducted.  A  sight  to  make  a  man 
who  cares  a  fig  for  his  fellows  jump  for  joy  and  give  thanks  to  God. 
Surely  we  are  on  the  advance  to  better  things.  Compare  this  with 
the  state  of  lunatics  fifteen  years  ago,  and  what  a  change  !  We  see 
it  all  around,  but  do  we  go  fast  enough  1  Is  not  the  cup  being  filled 
more  rapidly  by  our  iniquities  than  emptied  by  our  obedience  !  Oh, 
that  I  might  be  permitted,  by  God's  grace,  to  introduce  and  carry 
my  measures  for  the  benefit  and  protection  of  this  helpless 
race !  .   .   . 

May  7th. — Cannot  get  in  my  Lunacy  Bills.  Graham  is  not  ready. 
Session  is  slipping  away.  The  labour  and  hopes  of  years  will  be 
lost.  'All  these  things,' said  old  Jacob,  '  ai^e  against  me.'  God 
grant,  for  I  commit  all  to  Him,  that  I  may  be  alike  persuaded  of 
the  contraiy  ! 

It  was  not  until  the  6th  of  June  that  Lord  Ashley 
found  his  opportunity,  and  then,  at  the  request  of  the 
Government,  who  had  pledged  themselves  in  the  previous 
Session  to  support  him,  he  brought  forward,  simul- 
taneously, two  Bills  :  the  first,  "  For  the  Regulation  of 
Lunatic  Asylums,"  and  the  second,  "  For  the  Better 
Care  and  Treatment  of  Lunatics  in  England  and 
Wales."  In  reviewing  the  past  history  and  present 
position  of  the  question,  he  described  the  lamentable 
state  of  the  law  prior  to  the  Act  of  182S,  and  the 
partial  benefits  which  that,  and  other  Acts,  had  con- 
ferred ;  but  pointed   out  that  evasions  of  the  law  were 


1845.]  BILL  FOR  REGULATION  OF  LUNATIC  ASYLUMS.      109 

frequent,  and  that  horrors  of  almost  every  kind  were 
possible  under  the  existing  system.  He  proposed  now 
to  establish  a  permanent  Commission,  and  thereby  secure 
the  entire  services  of  competent  persons.  The  Bill 
Avould  give  the  power  of  more  detailed  and  more  fre- 
quent visitations,  fix  the  limit  of  expenses,  and  place 
all  asylums  or  "  hospitals  "  under  proper  regulations. 

My  Bill  will  also  provide  an  additional  security  against  the  im- 
proper detention  of  pauper  patients,  by  requiring  that  the  persons 
signing  the  order  for  their  confinement  shall  personally  examine  them 
beforehand,  and  that  the  medical  officer  who  certifies  as  to  their 
insanity  shall  see  them  within  seven  days  previous  to  their  confine- 
ment. I  may  add  that  neither  of  these  safeguards  exists  at  present. 
I  propose,  also,  that  my  measure  should  compel  every  person  receiv- 
ing a  patient  to  state  his  condition,  mental  as  well  as  bodily,  when 
first  admitted,  and  the  cause  of  his  death  when  he  dies.  It  will  also 
direct  that  every  injury  and  act  of  violence  happening  to  a  patient 
shall  be  recorded,  and  will  require  a  case-book  to  be  kept,  thereby 
affording  additional  securities  against  mismanagement,  and  showing 
how  far  the  patients  have  the  benefit  of  medical  treatment.  It  will 
also  authorise  the  visitors  to  enforce  a  pi'oper  supply  of  food  (in 
licensed  houses)  to  pauper  patients,  who  are  at  present  fed  at  the 
discretion  of  the  proprietor.  Further,  it  will  enable  the  visitor  to 
order  the  admission  of  a  patient's  friends ;  at  present  they  are 
admitted  or  excluded  at  the  caprice  of  the  person  who  signs  the 
order  for  the  patient's  confinement.  It  likewise  will  enable  the 
visitors  to  sanction  the  temporary  removal  of  a  patient  in  ill-health 
to  the  sea-side  or  elsewhere.  It,  moreover,  will  enforce  an  immediate 
private  return  of  all  single  patients  received  for  profit,  and  authorise 
the  members  of  a  small  private  Committee,  named  by  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  to  visit  them  if  necessary.  This  is  the  provision  of  the 
law  in  France  :  in  that  country  licences  are  prescribed  for  every 
house,  and  certificates  and  visitors  for  every  lunatic.  The  abuses 
and  cruelties  perpetrated  in  these  retreats  for  single  patients 
would  surpass  the  belief  of  the  House.     .     .     .     These  returns  are 


110  TEE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIII. 

universally  evaded  at  present,  the  law  rendering  it  unnecessary  to 
make  any  return  unless  the  patient  has  been  confined  for  twelve 
months.  The  Bill  will  give  the  Chancellor  power  to  protect  the 
property  of  lunatics  against  whom  a  commission  has  not  issued,  by 
a  summary  and  inexpensive  process,  and  it  subjects  all  workhouses 
in  which  any  lunatic  is  kept  to  regular  visitation. 


The  purpose  of  the  second  Bill  was  to  extend  the 
system  of  county  as}7lums.  It  provided  that  the 
erection  of  county  asylums  should  be  compulsory,  the 
existing  accommodation  increased  where  necessary,  and 
separate  buildings  provided  for  chronic  cases.  The 
Bill  further  provided  for  the  prompt  care  and  treat- 
ment of  all  classes  of  lunatics ;  that  those  whose 
friends  could  not  pay  for  them  should  be  placed  in  an 
asylum  as  paupers,  and  that  all  lunatics  taken  care  of 
by  their  friends,  instead  of  being  placed  in  asylums, 
should  be  inspected  quarterly  by  a  medical  man,  and 
lists  of  them  returned  to  the  Commissioners. 

After  giving  details  of  the  financial  part  of  the 
question,  and  a  characteristically  vivid  description  of  the 
horrors  still  prevalent  in  certain  quarters  under  the 
existing  system,  Lord  Ashley  urged  the  necessity  of 
utterly  abolishing  the  practice  of  making  pauper  luna- 
tics the  prey  of  speculators.  Appealing  to  the  House — 
"  an  assembly  of  educated,  humane,  and  Christian 
men  " — on  behalf  of  this  utterly  helpless  class,  who 
"were  under  the  marked  visitation  of  a  wise,  though 
inscrutable  Providence — a  class  who  could  not  make 
the  least  compensation  for  their  disinterested  zeal  and 
labours,"  he  said : — 


1845.]  BILL  FOB  BETTEB  TREATMENT  OF  LUNATICS.      Ill 

It  is  remarkable  and  very  humiliating,  the  long  and  tedious 
process  by  which  we  have  arrived  at  the  sound  practice  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  insane,  which  now  appears  to  be  the  suggestion  of 
common-sense  and  ordinary  humanity.  The  whole  history  of  the 
world,  until  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  does  not  afford  an  instance 
of  a  single  receptacle  assigned  to  the  protection  and  care  of  these 
unhappy  sufferers,  whose  malady  was  looked  upon  as  hardly  within 
the  reach  or  hope  of  medical  aid. 

To  the  wise  and  humane  efforts  of  Pinel,  to  the 
signal  success  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  that 
remarkable  family  of  the  Tukes  who  founded  the  retreat 
at  York,  Lord  Ashley  paid  a  high  tribute,  and  concluded 
thus : — 

To  secure  not  only  the  progress,  but  even  the  continuance  of  this 
improved  condition,  we  have  need  of  a  most  active  and  constant 
supervision  ;  if  this  be  denied,  or  even  abated,  the  whole  system  will 
relapse.  There  is  the  strongest  tendency,  and  it  is  not  unnatural, 
amongst  the  subordinate  officers  of  every  asylum,  to  resort  to  coercion; 
it  gratifies  all  the  infirmities  of  pride,  of  temper,  and  of  insolence .   . 

It  is  our  duty,  and  our  interest  too,  when  we  have  health  and 
intellect— meus  sana  in  corpore  sano — leisure  and  opportunity,  to 
deliberate  upon  these  things  before  the  evil  days  come,  and  the  years 
of  which  we  shall  say  we  have  no  pleasure  in  them.  Here  are  we 
sitting  in  deliberation  to-day ;  to-morrow  we  may  be  subjects  of  this 
fearful  affliction.  Causes,  as  slight  apparently  as  they  are  sudden, 
varying  through  every  degree  of  intensity — a  fall,  a  fever,  a  reverse 
of  fortune,  a  domestic  calamity — will  do  the  awful  work,  and  then, 
'  Farewell,  King  ! '  The  most  exalted  intellects,  the  noblest  affec- 
tions, are  transformed  into  fatuity  and  corruption,  and  leave  nothing 
but  the  sad  though  salutary  lesson— how  frail  is  the  tenure  by  which 
we  hold  all  that  is  precious  and  dignified  in  human  nature."  * 

After  a  debate,  in  which  there  was  no  opposition, 
leave  was  given  to  bring  in  the  Bills,  and  Lord  Ashley 

*  Hansard,  3  s.,  lxxxi.  180. 


112  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIII. 

carefully  guided  their  further  course.  On  progress 
being  reported,  Mr.  T.  Duncombe  denounced  the  ap- 
pointment of  salaried  Commissioners  as  "a  job,"  and  the 
Board  as  a  secret  tribunal  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of 
English  subjects.*  He  divided  against  the  Bill,  which, 
however,  passed  this  stage  by  117  votes  to  15.  The 
two  Bills  became  law  in  1845,  and  have  been  not  inaptly 
called  "  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  liberties  of  the 
insane." 

The  permanent  Lunacy  Commission  now  introduced, 
whose  functions  were  greatly  widened,  comprised  six 
paid  Commissioners  at  salaries  of  £1,500  each.  Lord 
Ashley,  who  since  its  foundation  had  always  been  a 
member,  became  unpaid  Chairman  of  the  Commission, 
an  office  he  retained  until  the  end  of  his  life. 

June  7th. — Hiatus.  Many  tilings  to  record  ;  but  large  proportion 
of  tliem  have  fled  from  my  memory.  First,  though  not  in  order  of 
time,  I  must  enter  an  expression  of  humble,  hearty,  and  unceasing 
thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  my  great  success  in  the  introduction  of 
the  Lunacy  Bills  yesterday  evening.  Sir  J.  Graham  seconded  the 
proposition  in  a  very  kind  and  fervid  speech,  and  announced  the  full 
support  of  the  Government.  Just  as  I  had  concluded  my  speech 
amid  applause  from  the  House,  two  Masters  in  Chancery  appeared 
from  the  Lords,  and  announced  their  acceptance  of  the  Bill  for  the 
protection  of  women  and  children  in  the  Calico  Print-works.  What 
an  answer  to  my  prayers ;  on  the  same  day,  and  at  the  same  hour  ! 

June  30th. — Never  have  I  suffered  more  anxiety  than  on  these 
Lunacy  Bills.  I  dream  every  night,  and  pass,  in  my  visions,  through 
every  clause,  and  confuse  the  whole  in  one  great  mass.  It  is  very 
trying — perpetual  objections,  perpetual  correspondence,  perpetual 
doubt ;  and  yet  there  are  good  feelings  exhibited.      Nevertheless,  at 

*  Hansard,  3  s.,  lxxxi.  14]  6. 


1845.]  COWPER'S    INSANITY.  113 

this  late  period  of  the  Session,  one  obstinate,  ill-disposed,  and  stupid 
man  may  impede  our  entire  progress.   .   .  . 

July  2 2nd. — Have  toiled  through  obstruction,  insult,  delay, 
desertion,  to  the  third  reading,  and  have  been  detained  all  this  clay 
by  Mr.  Duncoinbe  on  clause  by  clause  of  the  Bill,  as  he  has  a 
rigid  to  do  on  this  stage.  What  a  time  I  have  passed  !  Every  hour 
of  every  day  engaged  in  this  Bill  and  its  collateral  troubles  !  Not  a 
moment  to  myself  for  thought  or  comfort.  Have  had  a  violent 
attack,  brought  on  by  labour  and  anxiety.  Beached  only  the  forty- 
sixth  clause  ;  the  Lords  yet  in  view,  and  this  day  the  2 2nd  of  July  ! 

July  30th. — Both  Bills  passed  Committee  in  the  Lords,  and  they 
are  now  quite  safe.  Most  humbly  and  heartily  do  I  thank  God  for 
my  success.  Such  a  thing  almost  before  unknown,  that  a  man, 
without  a  party,  unsupported  by  anything  private  or  public,  but  God 
and  His  Truth,  should  have  overcome  Mammon  and  Moloch,  and 
have  carried,  in  one  Session,  three  such  measures  as  the  Print-works 
Begulation  and  the  two  Bills  for  the  erection  and  government  of 
Lunatic  Asylums. 

Aug.  20th. — Have  been  reading,  in  snatched  moments  of  leisure, 
'life  of  Cowper.'  What  a  wonderful  story!  He  was,  when  he 
attempted  his  life,  thoroughly  mad  ;  he  was  never  so  at  any  other 
time.  Yet  his  symptoms  were  such  as  would  have  been  sufficient 
for  any  '  mad  doctor '  to  shut  him  up,  and  far  too  serious  to  permit 
any  'Commissioner' to  let  him  out,  and,  doubtless,  both  would  be 
justifiable.  The  experiment  proved  that  Cowper  might  safely  be 
trusted  ;  but  an  experiment  it  was,  the  responsibility  of  which  not 
one  man  in  three  generations  would  consent,  or  ought,  to  incur. 
We  should,  howevei',  take  warning  by  his  example,  and  not  let  people 
be  in  such  a  hurry  to  set  down  all  delusions  (especially  religious 
delusions)  as  involving  clanger  either  to  a  man's  self,  or  to  the 
public.  There  are,  I  suspect,  not  a  few  persons  confined  whom  it 
"would  be  just  as  perplexing,  and  yet  just  as  safe,  to  release  as  the 
poet  Cowper. 

Parliament  was   prorogued    on  the  9  th  of  August, 

but  there  was    little    time    for    Lord    Ashley  to    rest. 

For  him,  repose  consisted  more  in  the  change  than  in 

the  total  absence  of  occupation  ;   and  a  mind  like  his, 

i 


114  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIII. 

active  and  hungry,  needed  something  to  feed  upon  more 
definite  and  practical  than  speculation.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  to  find  the  lull  in  one  kind  of  en- 
gagements occupied  busily  in  other  directions. 

Sept.  1st. — The  Society  of  Friends  watch  me  with  unparalleled 
love  or  unparalleled  malignity.  Wherever  I  turn,  I  see,  or  hear,  or 
read,  some  token  of  their  sleepless  zeal.  Mr.  Bright  gives  me  no  rest 
in  the  House  of  Commons;  Ash  worth  in  Lancashire;  Pease  has  paused 
but  for  a  time  in  the  public  press.  There  is  a  Quaker,  whose  name  I 
forget,  but  who  keeps  all  alive  at  Fordingbridge  ;  and  now  a  Mr. 
Wright,  of  Pontefract,  has  written  to  denounce  the  oppression  of  the 
peasantry,  '  thy  tenantry  near  thy  residence  in  Dorsetshire  !  '  as  set 
forth  in  the  Times  of  August  23rd.  Replied  to  contradict  his 
assertions,  and  express  my  sense  of  the  love  the  Quakers  bear  me 
and  their  zeal  for  my  reformation. 

Sept.  12th. — Turning  over  in  my  mind  some  scheme  of  general 
education,  such,  at  least,  as  may  bring  the  vast  mass  of  the  juvenile 
population  within  the  '  reading  of  the  Bible.'  It  is  sad  to  see,  and 
quite  awful  to  consider,  the  vast  multitude  of  immortal  creatures 
who  live  and  die  without  ever  hearing,  except  in  an  oath,  the 
name  of  Christ.  This  every  one  admits,  deplores,  and  leaves  un- 
redressed. The  more  I  think,  the  more  I  am  embarrassed  and 
perplexed ;  the  Church  on  one  side,  which  ought  to  be  respected ; 
the  Dissenters  on  the  other,  who  will  make  themselves  heard, 
seem  to  present  insurmountable  difficulties ;  and  meanwhile  the 
people  perisheth  ! 

In  June,  just  when  Lord  Ashley's  hands  were  full, 
as  we  have  seen,  with  the  Print-works  and  Lunacy  Bills, 
Railway  Committees,  and  other  pressing  affairs,  some  of 
the  Lancashire  operatives  had  grown  angry  and  sus- 
picious because  he  hesitated,  at  that  period,  to  broach  the 
Ten  Hours  question  in  Parliament.  "  It  is  not  their 
intention,"  he  wrote  in  his  Diary,  "  but  they  are  mon- 
strously unjust.      No  man,  living  or  dead,  has  sacrificed' 


1845.]  IX    THE    GLOAMING.  115 

for  them  the  tenth  part  that  I  have  done  ;  and  what 
motive  can  I  have,  but  their  interest,  to  be  silent  even 
for  an  hour  ! ':  As  soon,  therefore,  as  circumstances 
would  permit,  he  made  a  tour  in  the  manufacturing 
districts. 

Oct.  14th. — Manchester.  On  Ten  Hours  business.  Met  a  delega- 
tion of  operatives  ;  heartily  received  ;  all  went  off  well ;  plenty  of 
zeal  and  '  no  surrender.'  The  cause  has  long  been  in  the  ground ; 
now,  surely,  it  is  time  for  it  to  bear  fruits  upward. 

Oct.  17th. — Bradford.  In  addressing  operatives,  urged  two  points 
of,  as  I  think,  great  importance.  Held  out,  as  a  ground  of  hope, 
the  improved  tone  and  temper  of  all  classes  of  station  and  property 
towards  the  working  people  ;  the  various  efforts  for  their  moral  and 
physical  amelioration  ;  their  question  could  not  be  stationary  while 
all  the  others  advanced.  Next,  the  value  of  the  Ten  Hours  move- 
ment ;  it  had  been  the  beginning  of  all  the  movements  ;  it  had 
directed  general  and  individual  attention  to  the  state  of  all  the 
classes  of  the  working  people ;  it  was,  as  it  were,  a  representative 
question — the  interests  and  welfare  of  all  were  contended  for  under 
the  struggle  maintained  on  behalf  of  this  one.  And,  moreover,  the 
manner  in  which  the  operatives  had  conducted  the  question — no 
violence  of  language  or  action,  no  threats,  no  expressions  of  ven 
geance,  no  bitter  accusations,  no  unhealable  wounds — this  was,  I 
told  them,  a  bright  example  to  the  whole  world  of  the  mode  in  which 
a  people  should  demand,  and  will  obtain,  their  inalienable  rights. 

Oct.  19. — Row  ton.  The  evening  sun  is  now  falling  across  the 
landscape ;  the  rest  are  gone  to  church,  and  I  am  left  alone  ;  a 
melancholy,  not  quite  unpleasant,  is  spread  over  the  whole,  and  I 
seem,  for  the  place  recalls  them,  to  travel  over  twenty  years  of  my 
bygone  life.  What  a  period  !  and  what  treasures  of  opportunity 
for  good  passed,  and  perhaps  wasted  !  I  may,  by  God's  especial 
grace,  have  clone  some  few  things  ;  but  how  many  have  I  not  done; 
how  many  have  I  prevented,  it  is  possible,  in  others  !  Yet  there  is, 
even  here,  a  blessing  in  such  a  reflection  :  it  will  stimulate  to  further 
efforts  while  it  saves  us  from  self-righteousness.  The  evening  is 
bright,  soft,  and  peaceable.     Would  to  God  it  could  be  eternal  !  that 

i  2 


116  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIII. 

is,  the  peace,  not  the  evening.  We  should  long  for  a  better  country 
and  the  brightness  itself  of  the  firmament.  Pray  for  nothing,  hope 
for  nothing,  that  could  delay  the  Second  Advent ! 

In  the  early  part  of  this  year,  the  Peel  Adminis- 
tration was  standing,  apparently,  upon  the  firmest  pos- 
sible foundation,  and  when  Parliament  was  prorogued, 
on  the  9th  of  August,  there  was  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky 
to  give  warning  of  the  coming  storm. 

Only  two  days,  however,  passed,  before  Sir  James 
Graham  received  a  letter  from  a  potato  dealer,  inform- 
ing him  that,  from  some  unaccountable  cause,  a  species 
of  blight,  or  other  form  of  disease,  had  fallen  upon  the 
potato  crop  of  the  country,  and  that  all  the  potatoes 
sent  to  the  markets  bore  indication,  more  or  less,  of  the 
disease.  The  news  soon  received  confirmation.  It  was 
found  that  throughout  the  whole  of  Kent  and  Sussex 
the  disease  was  prevalent ;  and,  later  on,  similar  reports 
came  from  all  quarters.  In  England,  where  the  peop>le 
— partly  owing  to  the  operation  of  the  Poor  Law — had 
not  to  depend  upon  the  potato  for  subsistence,  the 
threatened  clanger  was  not  so  alarming  as  to  suggest 
the  idea  of  famine.  But  in  Ireland,  if  the  disease 
should  spread  there — there  was  no  evidence  at  present 
that  it  had  clone  so,  the  crop  being  later  in  its  yield 
there  than  elsewhere — the  result  would  be  disastrous 
in  the  extreme,  as  the  vast  majority  of  the  working 
population  were  entirely  dependent  upon  the  potato 
crop  for  their  existence,  and  its  failure  would  mean 
nothing  less  to  them  than  ruin  and  starvation. 

The  Government  could  not  shut  their  eyes  to  this 


1845.]  TEE    POTATO    DISEASE.  117 

terrible  contingency,  and  frequent  Cabinet  Councils 
were  held.  People  began  to  inquire  what  these  could 
mean,  for,  as  yet,  the  public  in  general  were  ignorant  of 
the  approaching  danger,  and  rumours  were  current 
that  there  was  a  division  among  the  Ministers. 

A  few  weeks  sufficed  to  explain  the  mystery,  and 
then  there  was  a  clamour  for  the  immediate  calling 
together  of  Parliament,  and,  on  the  part  of  the 
Anti-Corn-Law  League,  for  the  ports  to  be  thrown 
open. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  had  come  into  office  in  1841  to 
maintain  the  Corn  Laws,  but  now,  seeing  the  extent  of 
the  danger,  his  first  consideration  was  the  necessity  of 
throwing  open  the  ports  to  the  importation  of  provisions 
of  every  kind. 

This  in  itself  would  have  been  an  easy  matter,  if  it 
were  only  to  meet  the  present  emergency ;  the  difficulty 
would  be  to  re-impose  restrictions  after  they  had  been 
once  relaxed. 

Towards  the  end  of  October,  the  news  arrived  that 
the  distemper  was  spreading  throughout  Ireland  with 
frightful  rapidity,  and  on  the  last  day  of  the  month, 
a  Cabinet  Council  was  held  at  Sir  Robert  Peel's  resi- 
dence, to  deliberate  on  the  alarming  prospects  of  the 
country.  On  the  following  day,  he  set  before  the  Cabinet 
his  opinion  that  the  Corn  Laws  could  no  longer  be 
maintained,  that  the  existing  duties  should  be  at  once 
suspended,  and  the  ports  thrown  open.  No  definite 
action,  however,  was  taken  at  that  time ;  a  Commission, 
consisting  of  the  heads  of  departments  in  Ireland,  was 


J  IS  THE    EAIIL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIII. 

appointed  to  take  steps  to  guard  against  the  sudden 
inroad  of  famine,  and  the  idea  of  an  autumnal 
Session  was  abandoned.  Shortly  after  this,  there  arose 
a  great  cry  in  Ireland,  and  the  Mansion  House  Relief 
Committee  of  Dublin  interpreted  it  in  a  series  of  reso- 
lutions which  stated  that  there  was  undoubtedly  ap- 
proaching, throughout  that  land,  calamitous  famine  and 
pestilence,  and  which  concluded  by  impeaching  the  con- 
duct of  the  Ministry,  for  refusing  to  open  the  ports  or 
to  call  Parliament  together  earlier  than  usual. 

In  this  position  of  affairs,  the  course  adopted  by 
Lord  Ashley  is  best  told  in  his  own  words. 

The  following  letter,  addressed  to  his  constituents, 
was  republished  from  the  Dorset  Count//  Clironicle  in 
the  Times  of  October  20th  : — 

Lord  Ashley  upon  the  Corn  Laws. 

(From  the  "Dorset  County  Chronicle"  of  Oct.  16.) 

To  the  Gentry,  Clergy,  and  Freeholders  of  the  County 

of  Dorset. 

Gentlemen, — The  interval  of  the  recess  from  public  duties  affords 
me  leisure  to  address  you  on  the  subject  of  my  conduct  as  a  Member 
of  the  House  of  Commons. 

I  have  taken  the  course  of  addressing  you  by  letter,  because  it  is 
not  likely  that  I  shall  have  the  pleasure,  this  year,  of  attending  any  of 
your  agricultural  anniversaries  ;  and  if,  moreover,  the  period  of  a 
dissolution  of  Parliament  be  nigh  at  hand,  you  may  possibly  be  sum- 
moned to  exercise  the  elective  franchise  before  another  such  oppor- 
tunity occur  for  inquiry  or  explanation. 

A  requisition  has,  I  understand,  been  numerously  and  respect- 
ably signed,  and  circulated  throughout  the  county,  to  call  upon  some 
other  gentleman,  whose  principles  and  whose  practice  are  more  in 


184.",.] 


THE    CORN   LAWS.  119 


accordance  with  the  views  of  those  who  have  subscribed  it,  to  offer 
himself  as  a  candidate  at  the  General  Election  for  the  honour  of 
representing  you. 

I  do  not  complain  of  this  proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  requisi- 
tionists  ;  they  have  exercised  openly  and  legitimately  a  constitutional 
ri^ht  and  probably  a  duty — yet  it  renders  inevitable  a  declaration  on 
my  part  of  the  course  I  shall  pursue,  that  we  may  not  remain  in 
ignorance  of  the  views  of  each  other,  and  that  I  may  not  have  any- 
thing to  suppress  now  and  explain  away  hereafter. 

But  it  will  be  very  short,  because  I  cannot  promise  you  any 
alteration.  It  would  be  desirable,  I  know;  for  I  am  fully  aware 
of  the  incompetent  manner  in  which  I  have  discharged  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  my  hand  ;  but  that  is  an  imperfection  beyond  my  power  to 
amend,  and  thus,  as  I  am  unable  to  improve  my  abilities,  and  alto- 
gether indisposed  to  change  my  conduct,  I  have  the  pain  to  find 
myself  at  variance,  for  the  first  time  during  the  space  of  fourteen 
years,  with  many  of  those  who  have  hitherto  honoured  me  by  their 
countenance  and  support. 

I  will  seize  this  occasion  to  touch  the  subject  of  the  Corn  Laws, 
and  the  certain  result  of  the  present  movement  against  them.  It 
appears  to  me  that  their  destiny  is  fixed ;  and  that  the  leading  men 
of  the  great  parties  in  the  Legislature  are  by  no  means  disinclined  to 
their  eventual  abolition.  The  debates  of  last  Session  have  left  no 
doubt  on  this  head  ;  both  the  candidates  for  power  and  the  occupants 
of  it,  approximated  so  much  more  closely  than  at  any  former  period, 
that  most  of  the  hearers  were  induced  to  believe  that  their  difference 
was  less  a  matter  of  principle  than  a  question  of  time. 

If  this  be  so,  it  is  needless  to  argue  the  policy  or  impolicy  of  such 
a  change  ;  it  would  rather  be  wise  to  consider  in  what  way  you  can 
break  the  force  of  an  inevitable  blow.  The  sudden  repeal  of  these 
Laws  would  be  destructive  ;  the  gradual  abolition  of  them  would  be 
less  injurious.  You  have  at  this  moment  the  power  to  offer  such 
terms ;  there  is  no  certainty  that  you  will  retain  it  much  longer — 
our  actual  prosperity  must  come  to  an  end ;  and  then  the  wide  and 
fearful  pressure  of  commercial  distress,  with  the  hostility  on  one  side 
and  the  indifference  on  the  other,  of  the  great  political  chiefs,  will 
leave  you,  in   an  hour  of  especial   difficulty,    altogether    without  a 


retuge  or  resource. 


And    now,    gentlemen,    with  many  and   sincere  thanks   for  the 


120  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIII. 

kindness  and  confidence  you  have  hitherto  bestowed  upon  me,  allow 
me  to  subscribe  myself,  with  much  respect, 

Your  very  faithful  friend  and  servant, 

London,  Oct.  10th.  Ashley. 

The  Diary  continues  : — 

October  25th. — 1  cannot  see  my  opinion  on  the  Corn-Law  ques- 
tion in  a  different  light.  I  am  sure  it  is  safe,  and  even  necessary,  in 
the  present  position  of  affairs  ;  and  as  for  the  insinuation  that  I  am 
shifting  or  changing,  I  cannot  treat  regulations  as  principles.  I  have 
written  this  in  reply  to  Melbourne,  and  stated  the  case  fully. 

October  27th. — Violent  articles  in  papers  ;  sent  to  me,  of  course. 
League  paper  absolutely  truculent ;  every  form  of  baseness  ascribed 
to  me.  Surely  this  extreme  and  ferocious  bitterness  from  the  two 
opposites  is  a  tolerable  proof  that  I  have  hit  the  mean.  This  comes 
of  speaking  the  truth.  Good  it  is,  no  doubt,  that  the  truth  should 
be  told,  and  it  will,  no  doubt  equally,  at  last  prevail ;  but  the  man 
who  speaks  it  is  oftentimes  a  martyr  to  his  sincerity,  and  others  are 
enlightened  to  praise  him  when  he  is  either  dead  or  ruined.  I 
fancy  I  see  the  motives  of  this  eruption  of  anger.  The  high  Pro- 
tection party  conceive  that  my  letter  gives  an  impulse  to  abolition, 
the  very  shadow  of  which  is  frightful  to  them  ;  the  Free  Traders 
conceive  that  it  will  aid  to  qualify  their  scheme  of  abolition  by 
adding  time  and  modifications.  Thus  I  have  smevouslv  offended 
both  sides;  my  strength,  if  I  have  any,  will  be  found  among  the 
reasonable,  thinking  men  of  the  land. 

I  do  not,  cannot,  repent  of  the  step  I  have  taken.  But  by  adopt- 
ing this  line  I  separated  myself  from  many  with  whom  I  had  hitherto 
acted.  And  I  thus  invited  the  assaults,  the  combined  assaults,  of 
two  parties,  and,  standing  alone,  lost  the  countenance  (such  as  it  is) 
of  the  third  !  I  had,  in  this  way,  nothing  to  rest  on  but  my  general 
influence  and  character.  It  was  impossible  to  be  blind  to  the 
ill-suppressed  hatred  of  many  individuals  of  all  classes ;  and  the 
tone  and  language  of  the  public  papers,  metropolitan  and  provincial, 
develop  the  grounds  of  the  animosity — '  canting,  saint,  hypocrite, 
pretence  of  i-eligion,  &c.' — everything,  in  short,  that  can  pass  a  sneer 


1845.1  THE    CORN-LAW   LEAGUE.  121 

on  the  principles  I  have  ventured  to  maintain.      It  has  always  been 
so.  and  will  be  so  to  the  end  of  time.      God  help  me  !  .   .  .   . 

For  my  own  satisfaction  and  conscience  I  could  not  endure  the 
annual  repetition  of  sham-fights,  so  to  speak.  We  were  summoned, 
every  Session,  to  make  a  plain,  unconditional  resistance  to  the  repeal 
of  the  Corn  Laws.  I  had  long  suspected  that  it  would  be  ultimately 
unavailing,  that  the  agricultural  interest  would  some  day  be  sum- 
moned, either  by  the  presence  of  commercial  difficulty,  or  by  the  will 
of  the  Minister,  to  reverse,  in  some  following  Session,  the  decision  of 
the  one  that  had  preceded.  The  last  debate  confirmed  both  this 
opinion  and  that  of  utter  hopelessness  of  continued  resistance.  What, 
then,  was  to  be  done  1  I  could  not  think  this  without  saying  it. 
There  arej  no  doubt,  many  occasions  on  which  it  is  wise  to  be  silent ; 
but  here  I  could  not  with  propriety  refrain  from  speaking  out.  I 
could  not  deceive  those  whom  I  represented,  by  urging  them  on  to 
protracted  resistance,  by  promising  results  which  I  was  sure  would 
never  arrive.  I  could  not  myself  coldly  persist  in  a  line  of  conduct 
which  was  (I  thought,  at  least)  fatal  to  the  interests  of  the  landed 
gentry,  and  at  variance  with  my  own  judgment  of  what  was  required. 
I  said  it,  therefore,  and  awaited,  and  do  await,  the  personal  con- 
sequences !  .  .   . 


The  action  of  Lord  Ashley  had  raised  a  storm 
around  him,  such  as  was  novel  even  in  his  experience. 
Two  years  before,  the  Examine)'  had  said,  "If  this  man 
goes  on  as  he  now  does,  telling  the  truth  to  every  one, 
he  will  soon  become  the  most  hated  person  in  England." 
The  prophecy  now  appeared  to  be  about  to  receive  its 
fulfilment. 

November  3rd. — At  times  I  almost  quail  when  I  think  of  the 
concentrated  hatred  against  me. 

Nov.  24th. — After  all,  what  have  I  clone  to  provoke  such  con- 
stant, minute,  and  pointed  hatred  ]  The  League  hate  me  as  an 
aristocrat ;  the  landowners,  as  a  Radical ;  the  wealthy  of  all 
opinions,  as  a  mover  of  inconvenient  principles.  The  Tractarians 
loath  me  as  an  ultra-Protestant ;  the  Dissenters,  as  a  Churchman ; 


122  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIII. 

the  High-Church  think  me  abominably  low  ;  the  Low-Church  some 
degrees  too  high.  I  have  no  political  party;  the  Whigs,  I  know,  regard 
me  as  leaning  very  decidedly  to  the  Conservatives  ;  the  Conservatives 
declare  that  I  have  greatly  injured  the  Government  of  Sir  R.  Peel. 
I  have,  thus,  the  approval  and  support  of  neither ;  the  floating  men 
of  all  sides,  opinions,  ranks,  and  professions,  who  dislike  what  they 
call  a  '  saint,'  join  in  the  hatred,  and  rejoice  in  it.  Every  class  is 
against  me,  and  a  host  of  partisans  in  every  grade.  The  working 
people,  catching  the  infection,  will  go  next,  and  then,  '  farewell, 
King  : '  farewell  any  hopes  of  further  usefulness. 


On  the  22nd  of  November,  a  letter  from  Lord  John 
Russell,  written  from  Edinburgh,  and  addressed  to  the 
electors  of  London,  appeared  in  the  daily  papers,  an- 
nouncing' his  unqualified  conversion  to  the  principles  of 
the  Anti-Corn  Law  League,  and  expressing  his  surprise 
that,  with  calamity  of  an  unprecedented  nature  threaten- 
ing, Ministers  had  separated,  apparently,  without  having 
taken  any  steps  to  meet  the  impending  scarcity.  It 
concluded  in  these  unmistakable  words  : — "  The  Govern- 
ment appear  to  be  waiting  for  some  excuse  to  give  up 
the  present  Corn  Laws.  Let  the  people  by  petition, 
by   address,  by   remonstrance,   afford  them  the   excuse 

they  seek Let  the  removal  of  restrictions   on 

the  admission  of  the  main  articles  of  food  and  clothing, 
used  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  be  required  in  plain 
terms,  as  useful  to  all  great  interests  and  indispensable 
to  the  progress  of  the  nation." 

On  the  re-assembling  of  the  Cabinet  two  days  after- 
wards, it  became  evident  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  had  re- 
solved either  to  repeal  the  Corn  Laws  or  to  resign.  On 
the  4th  of  December  it  was   announced  in   the   Times, 


1845.]  A    CRITICAL    QUESTION.  123 

with  all  authority,  though  uot  using  the  word  itself, 
that  Parliament  would  meet  at  an  early  date,  and  that 
the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  would  then  be  proposed  by 
the  Ministers. 

It  is  quite  impossible  now  to  realise  the  intensity  of 
the  excitement  caused  by  this  announcement.  How 
the  information  found  its  way  into  that  paper,  remains 
to  this  day  a  mystery,  and  it  was  indignantly  denied  by 
the  Ministerial  press. 

Lord  Stanley  and  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch  intimated 
to  the  Premier  that  they  declined  to  be  parties  to 
any  measure  involving  the  ultimate  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  and  refused  further  to  retain  office ;  and  a  feeling 
having  become  prevalent  that  others  would  do  the  same, 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  on  the  5th  of  December,  repaired  to 
Osborne,  and  tendered  his  resignation  to  her  Majesty. 

Lord  John  Russell  was  summoned  to  form  a  Govern- 
ment, but  his  arrangements  fell  to  the  ground,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  year  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  again 
First  Minister  of  the  Crown. 

Dec.  23rd. — A  question  will  shortly  arise,  which  we,  M.P.'s  of  a 
certain  complexion,  shall  be  called  on  to  answer — '  Do  you  intend  to 
vote  for  the  Bill  of  Sir  R.  Peel,  which  will  take  away  all  protecting 
duties  (though  gradually,  perhaps)  from  British  Agriculture  1 '  Weigh 
the  reply  ;  you  may,  in  reference  to  the  exigency  of  the  country,  and 
of  the  times,  be  convinced  that  such  an  issue  is  inevitable,  and,  if 
carefully  introduced,  not  injurious  ;  you  will  say  then  that,  '  if  you 
give  a  vote  at  all,  it  must  be  for  abolition  as  against  Protection.' 
Have  you  a  right  to  give  such  a  vote  1  I  will  look  to  my  own  case  ;  I 
was  elected  by  an  agricultural  body,  who  expected,  undoubtedly,  that 
what  they  called  '  Protection,'  should  be  maintained.  I  was  not  tied, 
by  their  language   or  by  my  own,  either  to  mode   or  to   extent,  to 


124  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIII. 

sliding  scale  or  sixty-shillings ;  it  was  not  a  matter  on  which  they 
could  have  demanded,  or  I  would  have  given,  a  pledge — but  a  new 
case  has  arisen,  one  not  then  in  the  contemplation  of  either  party,  the 
case  of  total  abolition,  one  on  which  the  electors  would  have  had  a 
right  to  ask,  and  possibly  I  should  have  been  ready  to  give,  a  decided 
engagement.  It  seems  then  that,  if  I  were  to  vote  for  abolition,  I 
should  vote  in  a  sense  diametrically  opposite  to  the  sense  of  their 
hopes  and  views  when  they  chose  me  as  their  representative,  and  in 
a  way  which,  had  it  been  then  foreseen,  would  have,  in  all  likelihood, 
prevented  my  election, 

Now  we  must  take  heed  what  we  do,  and  pray  earnestly  to  God 
for  a  sound  judgment,  for  counsel,  wisdom,  and  understanding,  that 
those  especially,  who  make  profession  of  religion,  may  bring  no 
scandal  on  honesty  and  truth. 

The  last  entry  in  the  Diary  for  the  year  finds  Lord 
Ashley  face  to  face  with  this  alternative : — 

Dec.  31st. — If  Peel's  plan  be  for  total  abolition,  and  I  be  disposed 
to  support  it,  must  I  not  previously  resign  my  seat  1  What  a  tre- 
mendous sacrifice  !  The  Ten  Hours  Bill  abandoned,  and  all  my 
projects  at  once  extinguished  !  God  in  His  mercy  give  me  wisdom 
and  prosper  the  issue. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

1846. 

Repeal  of  the  Corn-Laws— The  Ten  Hours  Bill— Mr.  John  Bright— Seat  for 
Dorset  resigned — Hard  Work  in  Factory  Districts — Care  of  Ten  Hours 
Bill  devolves  on  Mr.  Fielden — Out  of  Parliament — In  the  Lobby — Fall  of 
the  Peel  Ministry — Lord  John  Russell  Prime  Minister — The  Colonies — 
Indian  Successes — Letter  from  Sir  Henry  Hardinge — Gloomy  Views — The 
Ragged  School  Union — Curious  Coincidence  of  Names — Labour  for  the 
p00r — The  London  City  Mission — The  Labourers' Friend  Society— Housing 
of  the  Poor — Perambulations  in  Low  Haunts  of  London  —Speaking  to  the 
Outcasts — With  little  Children — Tbe  Model  Lodging-House  System  Inaugu- 
rated— Article  in  Quarterly  Review — A  Striking  Narrative — Poverty  and 
pjehes — Dreams  of  Future  Work — Activity  in  Religious  Circles — Young 
Men's  Christian  Association — Early  Closing  Movement — Bishop  Gobat — A 
Foreign  Tour — Belgium,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Holland — "  The  Cells 
where  Memory  Slept " — Invited  to  Stand  for  Bath — Famine  in  Ireland — 
Pope  Pius  IX. — A  Talk  with  Lord  John  Russell— Church  Appointments — 
Unsuitable  Education — Poverty. 

On  the  2.2nd  of  January  Parliament  re -assembled.  For 
some  weeks  previously,  public  feeling  had  been  strained 
to  the  uttermost,  and  the  announcements  to  be  made  by 
the  restored  Minister  were  awaited  with  feverish  anxiety. 
But,  although  it  was  clear  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  had 
become  a  convert  to  the  Manchester  School,  and  that 
it  was  his  intention  to  abandon  the  Corn  Laws  he  had 
come  into  office  to  maintain,  he  did  not  make  any 
definite  statement :  "  I  will  reserve  to  myself  the  un- 
fettered power  of  judging  what  will  be  for  the  public 
interest,"  he  said;  "I  will  hold  office  unshackled  by 
any  other  obligation  than  that  of  consulting  the  public 
interest,  and  providing  for  the  public  safety." 


126  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIV. 

A  few  days  later,  however  (Jan.  27),  he  announced 
his  policy,  into  the  details  of  which  it  is  not  necessary 
that  we  should  enter  here.  The  important  part  of  the 
explanation  was,  that  he  proclaimed  himself  "  an 
absolute  convert  to  the  Free-Trade  principle,  and  that 
the  introduction  of  the  principle  into  all  departments  of 
our  commercial  legislation  was,  according  to  his  inten- 
tion, to  be  a  mere  question  of  time  and  convenience." 

Throughout  this  period,  Lord  Ashley  was  full  of 
anxiety.  He  had  ever  been  an  opponent  of  the 
Repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws ;  he  had  been  sent  to  Parlia- 
ment to  defend  them,  but  now  he  felt  that  defence 
was  no  longer  possible.  Staunch  Protectionist  as  he 
had  been,  he  could  no  longer  conscientiously  retain 
his  old  opinions ;  and  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  forth- 
with to  avow  his  conviction,  and,  as  a  consequence,  to 
resign  his  seat  in  Parliament.  That  this  resolution  was 
not  arrived  at  without  a  struggle,  the  entries  in  the 
Diary  abundantly  testify.  He  was  supported  in  the 
step  he  was  about  to  take  by  Lady  Ashley,  who  went 
with  him,  heart  and  soul,  wherever  duty  called. 

Jan.  15th. — Ought  I  not  to  be  deeply  thankful  to  Almighty- 
God  that  He  has  given  me  a  wife  capable  of  every  generous  self- 
denial,  and  prepared  to  rejoice  in  it,  if  it  be  for  the  advancement  of 
religion  and  the  welfare  of  man  1  Oh,  that  my  children  may  inherit, 
by  God's  grace,  of  their  mother's  spirit,  and  find  their  truest  pleasure 
in  the  virtue  and  happiness  of  others  ! 

Jan.  27th. — Ten  o'clock  at  night.  He  (Peel)  has  just  made  his 
statement,  and,  to  my  mind,  it  is  most  satisfactory.  The  landed 
gentry  ought  to  be  content  with  the  proposed  adjustment  ;  nay, 
thank  God  for  it.  If  they  do  their  duty  by  their  estates  and  the 
people  on  them,  they  will  be  richer  and  move  powerful  than  ever ; 


1846.]  RESOLVES    TO    RESIGN   HIS    SEAT.  127 

but  1  rejoice  that  this  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  will  compel  them  to 
care,  and  to  some  effort,  at  least,  towards  improvement. 

If  I  remain  an  M.P.  I  shall  vote  for  it  in  all  its  parts,  and 
throughout  all  its  stages  ;  but  can  I  remain  so  1  Though  no  pledges 
were  given  or  asked,  was  there  not  between  the  electors  and  myself 
an  '  honourable  understanding '  that  '  Protection '  of  some  kind  should 
be  maintained  1  If  this  be  the  case,  I  may  not  vote  in  direct  con- 
tradiction of  the  principle ;  neither  will  I  vote  for  it.  Public 
necessity  and  public  welfare  both  demand  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws.  I  could  justify  such  a  vote  before  God,  because  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  would  be  for  the  best  for  every  material  and  moral 
interest ;  but  I  have  entered  into  relations  with  men,  and  I  must 
observe  them,  though  it  be  to  my  own  detriment.  The  slight  in- 
fluence I  possess  is  founded  on  an  estimation  of  character ;  if  that 
be  lost,  I  shall  have  nothing  left  for  a  '  stock-in-trade ; '  besides,  I 
must  recollect  the  principles  I  have  maintained,  the  language  I  have 
held,  the  public  professions  I  have  made ;  and  it  will  then  appear 
far  better  that  I  should  suffer  any  loss  than  give  '  occasion  to  the 
enemies  of  God  to  blaspheme,'  and  say  that,  '  after  all,  your  religious 
men,  when  they  come  to  be  tried,  are  no  better  than  any  one  else.' 
Many  would  say  this ;  many  more  would  think  it ;  and  I  should 
thus,  by  a  deliberate  act,  have  myself  brought  discredit  on  the  public 
profession  of  religion  ;  and,  when  I  have  endeavoured  and  prayed 
that  all  my  conduct  might  be  to  the  honour  of  God,  I  should  have 
done  more,  in  a  single  hour,  to  cast  a  stain  on  '  pious  statesmen,'  than 
I  could  render  of  service  to  His  holy  name  in  the  labours  of  twenty 
years. 

I  remember,  therefore,  those  blessed  texts  :  '  Seek  ye  first  the 
Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  ;  and  all  these  things  shall 
be  added  unto  you.'  '  Commit  thy  ways  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  He 
will  direct  thy  paths.'  In  this  hope  I  will  surrender  all  :  and  main- 
tain my  integrity,  while  I  lose  my  office. 

I  shall  resign  my  seat,  and  throw  up  all  my  beloved  projects ; 
all  for  which  I  have  sacrificed  everything  that  a  public  man  values ; 
all  that  I  had  begun,  and  all  that  I  have  designed.  Nearly  my 
whole  means  of  doing  any  good  will  cease  with  my  membership  of 
Parliament. 

But  God's  will  be  done:  'Though  he  slay  me,' said  Job  'yet 
will  I  trust  Him." 


128  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  agitation  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  was  occupying  the  attention  of 
the  great  bulk  of  the  people,  the  Ten  Hours  Bill  was 
not  allowed  to  languish.  Lord  Ashley,  knowing  that 
there  was  little  time  for  him  to  act  in  the  present 
crisis  of  affairs,  left  no  stone  unturned  to  advance  the 
cause  he  had  so  much  at  heart.  It  was  evident  that 
there  was  an  increasing  inclination  on  the  part  of  many 
of  the  large  mill-owners  to  adopt  his  views.  Not  a  few 
of  them  had  made  experiments  in  their  own  factories  in 
shortening  the  hours  of  labour,  and  had  found  the  results 
satisfactory.  But  there  was  still  a  strong  opposition  in 
Parliament  on  the  part  of  those  who  held  that  any  re- 
duction in  the  hours  of  factory  labour  would  tend  to 
endanger  the  national  interests.  Many  of  the  sup- 
porters of. the  League,  however,  had  stated,  both  in 
and  out  of  Parliament,  that  if  the  Corn  Laws  were 
repealed  they  would  then  vote  in  favour  of  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill,  although  many  entertained  the  curious 
notion,  that  the  necessity  for  factory  legislation  would 
cease  in  that  case.  Mr.  Cobden  had  said,  "  The  demand 
for  labour  will  be  so  great  that  three  masters  will  be 
looking  after  one  man,"  and  Free  Traders,  generally, 
took  up  this  cry.  The  staunchest  opponents  of  the 
measure,  were  those  who  objected  on  principle  to  any 
State  interference  with  private  rights,  and  foremost 
among  these  was  Sir  James  Graham. 

The  skill  and  judgment,  the  indomitable  perse- 
verance and  importunity  of  Lord  Ashley  in  the  con- 
duct of  this  great  cause,   were   displayed  now  in   the 


1846.]  TEN  HOURS  BILL   RE-INTRODUCED.  129 

midst  of    circumstances    of   a    peculiarly   embarrassing 
nature. 

On  the  31st  of  January  he  resigned  his  seat.  Two 
days  before  taking  that  step,  he  re-introduced  into  the 
House  of  Commons  his  Ten  Hours  Bill  with  every 
prospect  of  success.  He  set  forth  briefly  the  arguments 
bearing  on  the  whole  question,  reserving  for  consideration 
only  those  arguments  which  showed  that  the  proposed 
change  would  not  injure  the  manufacturers  nor  seriously 
diminish  the  wages  of  labour.  In  support  of  his  views, 
he  adduced  a  large  mass  of  important  facts  and  informa- 
tion recently  collected,  including  the  results  of  experi- 
ments tried  in  several  of  the  leading  factories,  as  to 
the  effects  of  shortened  hours  of  labour.  He  read  the 
remarks  of  the  Committee  of  Operative  Spinners,  who 
had  hitherto  been  extremely  opposed  to  the  clause  which 
limited  the  labour  of  children  to  half-time,  and  who 
had  written  to  him  as  follows : — 

We  also  instituted  an  inquiry  into  the  moral  and  physical  con- 
dition of  piecers  and  young  persons  now,  as  compared  with  the 
same  class  in  1833,  and  from  every  quarter  we  learn  that  it  is  much 
improved;  and  since  the  Bill  of  1833,  which  restricted  the  hours  of 
labour  to  eight  in  the  day,  and  that  of  1844  to  six  in  the  day,  with 
enactments  for  education,  their  physical  and  moral  condition  has 
been  improved  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  do  not  appear  to  be  the 
same  race  of  beings.  "We  have  recently  conversed  with  a  large 
number  of  the  operatives,  and  those  men  especially  who  have  devoted 
a  large  portion  of  their  time,  and  much  of  their  means,  to  the  promo- 
tion of  this  question,  and  they  all  declare  that  the  benefits  which 
have  arisen  to  themselves  and  their  children  are  more  than  sufficient 
to  repay  them  for  their  time  and  sacrifices,  and  that  sooner  than  go 
back  to  the  old  system  they  would  part  with  the  last  shilling  they  have 
in  the  world  in  defence  of  the  restrictive  system  of  factory  labour. 

J 


130  TRE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIV. 

Pie  deduced  from  this  testimony  the  strongest  case  for 
further  restrictions,  and  argued  that  the  present  system 
gave  to  female  children  a  certain  amount  of  teaching 
until  the  age  of  thirteen,  and  that  then,  at  a  period  when 
the  acquisition  and  experience  of  whatever  is  practical 
should  begin,  they  were  advanced  to  the  full  extent  of 
adult  labour,  and  debarred,  by  their  unceasing  occupa- 
tion, from  the  attainment  of  the  knowledge,  indispens- 
able to  their  welfare  in  life.  They  became  unsexed  in 
nature  and  habits  by  such  constant  abstraction  from 
domestic  duties,  and  all  the  community  suffered  in  con- 
sequence. "  There  was  wisdom,"  he  said,  "  concentrated 
wisdom,  in  the  saying  of  Madame  Campan,  who,  in 
answer  to  a  question  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  '  What 
shall  I  do  for  the  benefit  of  France  ? '  replied  without 
hesitation,  'Give  us,  sire,  a.  generation  of  mothers." 

All  the  strength  of  his  opponents  was  put  forth 
in  the  debate  that  followed,  and  Mr.  John  Bright  was 
again  conspicuous  for  the  warmth  of  his  opposition.  He 
made,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  a  statement,  to  which 
Lord  Ashley  intimated  he  would  reply  at  the  close  of 
the  debate,  and  requested  Mr.  Bright  to  remain.  Mr. 
Bright,  however,  thought  fit  to  leave  the  House,  and 
Lord  Ashley  justly  complained  of  "  great  discourtesy 
on  the  part  of  the  hon.  member  for  Durham,  who, 
having  made  a  charge  against  him — a  charge  of  a  per- 
sonal nature — had  not  remained  in  the  House  to  hear 
his  reply  to  it,  although  he  had  requested  him  to  do  so." 

The  circumstance  which  gave  rise  to  the  charge  was 
very  trivial  in  itself,  but  it  may  be  quoted  as  a  specimen 


1846.]  ME.  BRIGHT 8  MILLS.  131 

of  the  miserably  weak  character  of  the  complaints 
brought  from  time  to  time  against  Lord  Ashley  by 
those  who  found  that,  in  all  probability,  they  were  soon 
to  be  on  the  losing  side  of  the  factory  argument. 

In  1844,  when  on  a  visit  to  Lancashire,  Lord  Ashley 
was  staying  at  Oldham,  and,  being  within  a  very  short 
distance  of  Mr.  Bright's  mills  at  Rochdale,  thought  he 
would  go  over  there,  not  to  inspect  the  mills,  but 
"  simply  and  solely  that  he  might  see  the  lion,  member, 
or  leave  his  name,  because  the  hon.  member  having 
attacked  him  in  the  House  in  a  way  which  was  highly 
unjustifiable,  he  thought  he  would  be  acting,  in  collo- 
quial phrase,  'like  a  gentleman,'  to  show  him  that 
he  entertained  no  resentment  towards  him,  and  wished 
to  meet  him  on  friendly  terms.  He  saw  Mr.  Bright's 
brother,  conversed  with  him  for  half  an  hour,  but  did 
not  go  over  the  mills,  first,  because  he  did  not  wish  it  to 
be  thought  that  he  had  come  there  to  spy  out  some 
defect  or  discover  some  mismanagement  in  their  arrange- 
ment, and  next,  because  he  had  never  said  anything  in 
disparagement  of  those  mills.  He  believed  himself  to 
be  thoroughly  conversant  with  all  the  operations  of 
mills,  and  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  add  to  his  ex- 
perience by  an  inspection  of  Mr.  Bright's.  Yet  that 
gentleman  now  denounced  him  as  one-sided  in  all  his 
statements  because  he  had  not  gone  over  his  mills  !  ' 

In  the  debate  of  that  evening,  Lord  Ashley  was  well 
supported  by  Lord  John  Manners,  Mr.  Wakley,  Mr. 
Fielden,  and  others,  and  the  Bill  was  read  a  first  time. 
Everything  was  ready  for  a  further,  and,  it  was  hoped, 


132  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

a  successful  campaign.  But  its  future  conduct  was 
reserved  for  other  hands. 

He  probably  little  thought  when,  on  the  10th  of 
May,  1844,  he  had  said:  "It  may  not  be  given  me 
to  pass  over  this  Jordan ;  other  and  better  men  have 
preceded  me,  and  I  entered  into  their  labours  ;  other 
and  better  men  will  follow  me,  and  enter  into  mine," — 
that  his  words  were  to  be,  in  some  respects,  so  speedily 
fulfilled. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  two  days  after  he  had  re- 
introduced the  Ten  Hours  Bill,  conscience  demanded 
that  he  should  resign  his  seat  in  Parliament,  and  the 
future  charge  of  the  Bill  devolved  on  Mr.  Fielden, 
the  Member  for  Oldham. 


Jan.  30th. — Last  night  Ten  Hours  Bill.  Through  it,  God  be 
praised,  without  failure.  Not  in  heart,  not  in  vigour  ;  but  again  I 
say,  God  be  praised  !  .  .  .  Most  awfully  reviled  by  Messrs.  Bright, 
Trelawney,  Roebuck,  and  Escott,  of  which  I  took  no  notice,  except  to 
clear  away  a  misstatement  by  the  belligerent  Quaker.  .  .   . 

Jan.  31.— Heard  from  Farquharson.  He  gave  me  his  own 
opinion,  and,  no  doubt,  the  true  one,  that  the  yeomanry  would  con- 
sider me  as  '  acting  in  direct  reversal  of  the  principle,'  &c.  &c.  ; 
wrote,  therefore,  immediately  for  the  Chiltern  Hundreds,  and  am 
now,  for  the  first  time  in  nearly  twenty  years,  no  longer  a  member 
of  Parliament  !  Many  will  condemn  me,  some  for  doing  that  which 
they  ought  to  do  ;  some  for  appearing  to  sanction  the  principle  of 
delegation.  Others  will  approve  the  course  as  wise  and  safe  for 
public  men.  Much  touched  by  the  honest  and  virtuous  sincerity  of 
Fielden,  Wood,  and  Philip  Grant.  They  are,  if  any  men  be,  deeply 
anxious  and  deeply  interested  that  I  should  remain  a  member 
of  Parliament,  yet  they  did  not  hesitate  for  an  instant.  Moved 
almost  to  tears  they  were,  while  they  applauded  my  decision,  and 
hoped  and  believed  that  it  would  prove,  eventually,  the  best. 


1846.]  CHANGE   OF  OPINIONS   ON  CORN  LAWS.  133 

Lord  Ashley,  although  the  most  marked,  was  not 
the  only  man  who  changed  his  opinion  at  this  time 
with  regard  to  the  Corn  Laws,  and  who  supported 
that  change  of  opinion  by  the  resignation  of  his  seat 
in  Parliament. 

Referring  to  this  circumstance,  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in 
one  of  the  masterly  speeches  which  characterised  the 
period  when  the  Corn  Laws  were  being  violently 
debated,  said :  "  Look  to  the  change  of  opinion  that 
has  taken  place,  not  amongst  mere  politicians,  which 
you  are  apt  to  attribute  to  some  selfish  or  corrupt 
motive ;  but  look  at  the  opinions  now  expressed,  of 
the  sincerity  of  which  conclusive  proof  has  been  given 
by  some  of  the  most  honourable  men  that  ever  sat 
upon  these  benches.  Did  my  noble  friend,  Lord 
Ashley,  vacate  his  seat  for  the  county  of  Dorset  from 
•  any  interested  or  corrupt  motive  ?  Did  Mr.  Sturt,  or 
Mr.  William  Patten,  avow  their  change  of  opinion 
from  interested  or  corrupt  motive?  Did  Mr.  Tatton 
Egerton  offer  to  vacate  his  seat  for  Cheshire,  or  Lord 
Henniker  his  seat  for  Suffolk,  from  any  other  motive 
than  a  real  conviction  that  the  time  was  come  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  question  of  the  Corn  Laws?  .  .  . 
No  ;  and  surely  these  afford  proof  that  the  Minister 
who  should  suspend  the  law,  and  give  a  guarantee  to 
revive  it  whenever  the  period  for  suspension  should 
pass  away,  would  have  enormous,  insuperable  difficulties 
to  encounter." 

Feb.  6th. — Bonham  very  anxious  to  see  me  yesterday  before  the 
post  went  out.     It  was  to  say  that  a  few  persons  had  contributed 


134  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

two  thousand  pounds  towards  the  expenses  of  a  re-election.  I  found 
that  Peel  and  Graham  (is  there  an  end  of  wonders  1)  were  among 
them  !  Their  language  was  generous  and  delicate  ;  they  instructed 
Bonham  to  say  that  they  considered  a  great  public  principle  was  in- 
volved in  my  re-election  ;  that  their  assistance  conferred  no  personal 
obligation  ;  that  if  I  were  returned,  and  the  next  night  moved  the 
Ten  Hours  Bill,  and  by  success  drove  them  from  office,  they  should 
consider  that  it  was  simply  within  the  compass  of  my  inevitable  duty. 
1  did  not  refuse  at  once.  Such  a  decisive  course  has  always  some- 
what of  harshness  in  it  ;  but  refuse  I  shall,  because  acceptance  of 
aid  of  that  kind,  however  guarded  and  delicate  the  terms,  limits 
independence  of  thought  and  action.  The  parties  who  confer  the 
favour  may  expect  nothing,  but  the  party  who  receives  it  has  a 
sensation  of  being  fettered.  A  requisition,  I  hear,  to  be  got  up  on 
Protestant  grounds.      God  grant  that  I  may  ever  stand  firm  there  ! 

Feb.  9th Wrote  to  decline,  very  civilly  and  even  thank- 
fully, offer  of  two  thousand  pounds.  .  .  .  Times  of  yesterday  contains 
address  of  the  Short  Time  Committee  to  electors  of  Dorset.  It  is 
excellent,  and,  to  me,  most  gratifying.   ... 

Feb.  13th. — Wrote  yesterday  address  to  announce  that  I  could 
not  fight  the  purse  of  the  County,  and  must,  therefore,  decline  a  poll. 

On  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  to  supply  the 
vacancy  caused  by  his  retirement,  Lord  Ashley  took 
the  opportunity  to  explain  in  person  to  the  electors  of 
Dorset  his  altered  views. 

Feb.  19th. — Dorchester.  Kon  nobis  Domine.  I  have  never 
spoken  so  forcibly  in  my  life.  It  touched,  I  could  see,  and  I  have 
heard,  half  convinced,  many  of  my  opponents. 

Having  taken  so  important  a  step,  which  seemed 
vitally  to  affect  the  Ten  Hours  movement,  and  conse- 
quently the  welfare  of  tens  of  thousands  of  operatives, 
it  was  necessary  that  Lord  Ashley  should  seize  the 
earliest  opportunity  to  go   again  amongst  the  factory- 


1846.]  A  FACTORY  VISITATION.  135 

hands  to  explain  to  them  his  action,  and  its  bearings 
upon  the  great  question  in  which  their  interests  were 
so  deeply  involved. 

March  2nd. — Manchester.  ...  It  was  a  mighty  comfort  to  these 
excellent  operatives  that  I  promised  to  visit  them..  Large  and 
crowded  meeting  in  Town  Hall.  .  .  .  Operatives  in  general  feel 
that  I  have  advanced  the  question  by  the  mode  and  subject  of  my 
retirement.  I  told  them  that  I  had  nothing  to  serve  them  with  but 
my  personal  character;  that,  had  I  continued  in  Parliament,  while 
I  retained  my  seat,  I  should  have  lost  my  reputation  ;  holding  the 
opportunity,  but  throwing  away  the  means  to  do  them  service.   .  .   . 

March  4th. — Preston.  .  .  .  This  is  hard  work.  Shall  I  accom- 
plish it  1  Would  to  Heaven  I  were  home  again  !  Monday,  from 
London  to  Manchester,  and  meeting  in  the  evening  ;  Tuesday,  to 
Preston,  and  meeting ;  Wednesday,  to  dine  with  Thomas  Fielden, 
and  meeting  at  Ashton  ;  Thursday,  to  inspect  large  mad-house,  and 
a  meeting  at  Bolton ;  Friday,  Oldham ;  Saturday,  to  Bradford, 
and  dinner  with  Walker.  God  grant  that  Sunday  may  be  quiet ! 
Monday,  meeting  at  Bradford ;  Tuesday,  Halifax ;  Wednesday, 
Huddersfiekl ;  Thursday,  Leeds  ;  Friday,  homeward,  God  be  praised. 
This  is  the  pertinacious,  unwearied  revolution  of  a  steam-engine  !  .  .  . 

Not  satisfied  with  myself.  Monstrous  difficult  to  find  a  fresh 
speech  every  night,  and  more  difficult,  too,  to  make  them  run  on  the 
soft,  conciliatory  line ;  to  avoid  all  exciting  topics,  and,  so  that  we 
may  attain  our  end,  to  leave  out,  in  fact,  all  our  reasons  for  it  !  I 
want  to  propitiate  the  masters,  and  yet  encourage  the  workpeople. 
'  Soft  sawder  '  to  the  mill-owners  (unless  it  be  skilfully  applied)  is  a 
damper  to  the  men  ;  and  a  stirrer  to  the  men  is  a  damper  to  the 
mill-owners.  Nevertheless,  by  God's  blessing,  I  have  hitherto  been 
passably  successful.   .  .   . 

March  20th. — London.  Received  two  days  ago  an  address,  agreed 
to  unanimously  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland,  and  signed  by  Br.  McFarlane,  as  Moderator.  It  spoke  of 
my  services  and  of  the  good  that,  under  God,  I  had  been  enabled  to 
effect  for  the  working  people  of  the  realm,  with  many  expressions  of 
esteem,  gratitude,  and  affection.  Surely  this  is  a  remarkable  event ; 
that  it  is  a  most  gratifying  one  I  can  best  decide.      Its  peculiar 


136  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

value  is  well  described  in  Seeley's  *  letter  to  me  on  the  subject.  '  I 
was  much  struck  with  the  movement  of  the  Free  Churchmen.  .  .  . 
It  was  such  a  spontaneous  motion ;  the  people  have  so  little  connec- 
tion with  you.  There  is  no  party  object  concealed,  all  these  things 
gave  it  value.  Also,  these  are  sour,  hard  men,  the  Camerouians  of 
our  time.  Also,  they  have  raised,  among  the  middle  classes  and  the 
poor  of  Scotland,  nearly  a  million  sterling  in  the  last  three  years — a 
thing  unprecedented.  Therefore  I  hold  that  document  to  be  of  value 
to  your  children.     I  hope,  too,  that  it  is  a  shadow  cast  be/ore.' 

The  second  reading  of  the  Ten  Hours  Bill,  which 
Lord  Ashley  had  introduced,  was  moved  by  Mr.  Fielden 
on  the  29th  April,  and  a  debate,  lasting  the  whole  day, 
ensued.  At  its  close  Sir  James  Graham  announced  the 
determination  of  the  Government.  "  There  ought  to 
be  no  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the  executive  Govern- 
ment in  a  question  of  this  kind,"  he  said,  "  and  I 
announce  our  firm  determination  to  resist  the  further 
progress  of  this  Bill." 

For  days  beforehand,  Lord  Ashley  had  been  in  a 
state  of  great  anxiety  and  suspense.  He  had  learned 
that,  despite  the  unanimity  at  the  meetings  in  Lanca- 
shire and  the  West  Ridings,  the  operatives  had  yielded 
to  the  intrigues  of  Mr.  Hindley,  and  were  willing  to 
accept  a  compromise  in  the  shape  of  an  Eleven  Hours 
Bill.  To  this  he  was  steadfastly  opposed,  but  he  could 
not  interfere  with  any  vigour,  as  he  felt  sure  he  would  be 
misrepresented,  either  as  wishing  to  favour  the  Govern- 
ment, or,  as  endeavouring  to  keep  the  measure  in  his 
own  hands.     It  must  have  been  with  a  heavy  heart  that 

*  Mr.  Seeley  was  the  well-known  publisher  of  that  name. 


1846.]  THE   IRISH  COERCION  BILL.  137 

he  went  to  the  House  on  the  night  of  the  second  read- 
ing, hut  he  refers  to  it  in  his  Diary  very  briefly  : — 

April  29th. — Factory  Bill  in  House  of  Commons.  "Waited  in 
lobby.  Had  not  spirit  to  attend  under  the  gallery.  Many  things 
will  be  started  in  debate  which  no  one  can  refute  but  mvself.  Alas  ! 
alas  ! 

April  30th. — So  Sir  James  Graham  and  his  colleagues  have  de- 
clared themselves  against  the  Factory  Bill.  Heartless  and  dishonest 
men  !  The  whole  debate  proceeded,  and  will  proceed,  on  a  lie  ;  on 
the  lie  that  the  Bill  is  directed  to  the  control  of  the  labour  of  grown 
men  !  Alas !  alas  !  I  must  have  fallen  very  low,  or  this  proposal 
would  not  now  be  treated  so  contemptuously. 

t 

The  debate  was  adjourned  for  a  week.  It  was 
resumed  on  the  13th  May,  and  again  on  the  22nd,  when 
Lord  John  Russell  spoke  warmly  in  its  favour,  and 
Mr.  Macaulay  supported  the  Bill  in  one  of  his  brilliant 
orations.  When  the  House  divided,  however,  the  re- 
sult was  the  loss  of  the  Bill  by  a  majority  of  10. 
For,  193  ;  against,  203. 

But  influences  were  at  work  which  were  neverthe- 
less greatly  to  expedite  the  movement. 

On  the  26th  of  June,  the  same  day  that  saw  the 
Corn  and  Customs  Bill  receive  the  Royal  Assent,  the 
Ministry  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  defeated,  on  the  Irish 
Coercion  Bill,  by  a  majority  of  73.  The  result  was, 
the  resignation  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  the  return  to 
power  of  Lord  John  Russell  and  the  Whigs.  It  was 
now  felt  that  new  prospects  of  success  were  opening 
up  to  the  advocates  of  the  Ten  Hours  Bill,  as  Lord  John 
Russell,  and  several  of  the  members  of  his  Government, 


138  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

were  pledged  to  the  principle  of  that  Bill.  It  was 
impossible  to  renew  the  question  in  the  House  that 
Session,  and  therefore  the  whole  energy  of  its  sup- 
porters was  directed  to  keeping  the  interest  in  it  alive 
in  the  country. 

The  fall  of  the  Peel  Ministry  was  a  source  of  con- 
siderable satisfaction  to  Lord  Ashley.  We  append  two 
extracts  from  his  Diary,  in  which  he  gives,  very  clearly, 
his  estimate  of  the  character  and  career  of  the  deposed 
Minister : — 

May  18th. — On.  Friday  evening  Corn-Law  Repeal  Bill  passed 
third  reading.  Disraeli  made  one  of  his  invectives  against  Peel — 
very  pointed  and  powerful.  Though  I  should  not  have  spoken  it 
myself,  I  am  forced  to  admit  the  truth  of  it ;  though  bitter  in  prin- 
ciple and  motive,  it  is  hardly  exaggerated  in  imputation.  This 
statesman's  career  is  without  precedent  in  the  history  of  politicians  : 
he  has  begun  by  opposing,  and  ended  by  carrying  (not  simply  sup- 
porting) almost  every  great  question  of  the  day.  He  has  availed 
himself  of  the  virtues  and  vices,  the  wisdom  and  the  prejudices,  the 
desires  and  fears,  of  his  friends  and  adherents  ;  for  them  or  against 
them,  as  his  purposes  required.  He  denounced  '  party '  that  he 
might  set  up  '  Peelism,'  led  the  Tories  and  followed  the  Whigs, 
holding  power  by  the  first  and  seeking  praise  in  the  second.  His 
opinions,  1  suspect,  have  ever  been  discordant  with  his  conduct.  He 
thought  with  Canning  on  the  Roman  Catholic  question,  but  acquired 
consequence,  distinction,  power,  and  a  party,  by  heading  the  re- 
sistance to  it.  When  resistance  had  become  ti'oublesome,  and  raised 
impediments  in  his  way,  he  changed  his  front,  developed  his  opinions, 
seduced  some  of  his  followers,  and  browbeat  the  others. 

He  is  forced  out  of  office.  His  whole  life  is  bent  to  discredit  the 
Whigs,  and  weaken  their  hold  on  the  helm  of  power.  All  the  changes 
that  could  be  rung  on  the  bells  of  Popery,  O'Connell,  Protestant 
Church,  are  performed  by  his  friends ;  he  stands  by,  and,  though  he 
guards  himself  against  any  precise  and  indisputable  statements,  which 


1846.]  REVERSES  IN  NEW  ZEALAND.  139 

may  rise,  ghost-like,  out  of  Hansard,  he  leaves  every  one  to  suppose 
that  he  shares  the  sentiments  and  approves  the  policy.  Can  any  one 
doubt  that  lie  saw  and  encouraged  those  notions  in  the  public  mind, 
hoping  and  believing  that  they  would  restore  him  to  power  1  His 
language  to  the  Scotch  deputation,  as  recorded  by  Fox  Maule  in  the 
Maynooth  debate,  would  alone  be  sufficient  to  prove  that  assertion  ; 
his  language  in  private  once  to  me,  as  I  rode  with  him  in  the  Park, 
that  the  cry  of  'No  Popery'  had  become  necessary,  plainly  exhibited 
what  was  passing  through  his  imagination.  I  do  not  doubt,  myself, 
that  he  had  at  that  time  resolved,  should  he  arrive  at  office,  to  endow 
Maynooth ! 

Again,  in  1841,  had  he  not  conceived — nay,  more,  devised — the 
plan  which  he  has  since  propounded  1  Had  he  not  long  disliked 
the  men  by  whom  he  was  supported  1  and  had  he  not  determined 
to  sacrifice  them  to  the  commendations  of  his  antagonists  ? 

Cunning,  I  fear,  has  ever  ruled  him  ;  he  has  employed  it  ardently, 
though  awkwardly,  in  the  Factory  Question  ;  he  will  employ  it, 
should  he  remain  in  office,  in  the  matter  of  the  Protestant  Church  in 
Ireland  !  .   .  . 

June  26th. — Government  defeated  by  a  majority  of  73  !  Far 
larger  than  I  had  expected.  Peel  must  retire,  having  reduced  Par- 
liament, party,  and  men's  minds,  to  the  original  chaos.  Will  he 
learn  from  this  result  his  own  miserable  want  of  foresight  and  dis- 
crimination 1  Not  one  of  those  whom  he  had  hoped  to  conciliate, 
not  a  Whig,  or  a  '  Leaguer,'  to  whose  principles,  and  for  whose 
applause,  he  had  sacrificed  his  own  consistency,  voted  in  his  behalf  ! 
All  the  Whigs  against  him  !  Cobden  against  him  !  Bright  against 
him  !  Where  are  his  hopes,  and  Graham's,  drawn  from  their  re- 
sistance to  the  Ten  Hours  Bill  1 

Before  proceeding  to  describe  Lord  Ashley's  man- 
ner of  occupying  the  time  during  which  he  was  out  of 
Parliament,  a  few  extracts  from  his  Diary,  which  have 
been  omitted  in  order  not  to  break  the  thread  of  the 
narrative  relating  to  Factory  Legislation,  may  be  given 
here. 

Referring   to   reverses   in   New  Zealand,   in    1845, 


140  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

when  Colonel  Despard  was  defeated  by  the  Maoris,  with 
a  loss  of  500  killed  and  wounded,  he  writes  : — 

We  cover  the  world  with  our  colonies,  and  yet  we  have  not,  or 
practise  not,  one  single  healthy  principle  of  colonisation  !  This  last 
was  the  best  imagined  of  all.  Religion  went  hand-in-hand  with 
political  government,  and  we  have,  nevertheless,  fallen  short  of  the 
mark.  1  should  like  to  make  each  colony,  so  far  as  possible,  a  tran- 
script of  the  mother-country.  I  would  protect  and  train  it  unto  its 
riper  years,  and  then  give  it,  like  a  full-grown  son,  free  action  and 
absolute  independence.  Thus  Old  England  would  not  be  ashamed 
when  she  '  spoke  with  her  enemies  in  the  gate.'  .  .  . 

In  Indian  affairs  Lord  Ashley  always  took  a  deep 
interest,  and  day  by  day,  as  the  news  arrived,  commented 
on  the  war  in  which  our  arms  were  engaged. 

February  24th. — Details  from  India  show  a  sad  loss  in  officers 
and  soldiers.  Sir  Robert  Sale  killed  !  But  we  have  gained  a  victory, 
and  a  just  victory,  without  rapacity  or  aggression.  Yet,  glorious  as 
it  is,  I  rejoice  as  much  in  the  noble  pi-oclamation  of  the  Governor- 
General,  as  in  the  triumph  itself.  Here  is,  at  last,  for  the  first  time 
since  the  days  of  Nelson,  a  direct,  open,  and  pious  recognition  of 
God's  goodness  in  giving  success  to  our  arms.  The  order  is  dated  on 
Christmas  Day,  and  closes  with  these  paragraphs  : — 

'  These  grateful  and  heartfelt  acknowledgments  to  the  army  for 
its  services  cannot  be  closed  without  humbly  remembering  that  our 
thanks  are  due  to  Him  who  is  the  only  Giver  of  all  victory,  and 
without  whose  aid  the  battle  is  not  to  the  strong. 

'  The  Governor-General,  therefore,  invites  every  British  subject 
at  this  station,  to  return  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  this  day,  at  eleven 
o'clock,  for  the  mercies  He  has  so  recently  vouchsafed  us,  by  assem- 
bling at  the  Governor-General's  tent,  where  prayers  and  thanks- 
givings will  be  read  by  the  Govei'nor-General's  chaplain. 

'  By  older  of  the  Right  Hon.  the  Governor-General  of  India. 

'  F.  Currie, 

'Secretary  to  the  Government  of  India  with  the 
Governor-General.' 


1846.]  THE  SIKH  WAR.  141 

April  1st. — A  third  great  victory  over  the  Sikhs  in  India.  God 
has  put  honour  upon  Hardinge,  who  humbly  offered  honour  to  Him. 

April  2nd. — I  trust  that  Hardinge  will  not  fail  through  excess  of 
magnanimity.  His  conditions  must  be  severe ;  he'  must  demand, 
and  see  effected,  the  total  dispersion  of  the  Sikh  army.  The  interests 
of  civilisation,  the  only  object  which  has  reconciled  us  to  this  war, 
are  involved  in  such  a  policy.  .   . 

April  3rd. — Hardinge's  despatch  (Times,  April  2nd)  containing 
his  ultimatum  to  the  Sikh  Government  is  of  the  noblest  order — 
dignity,  moderation,  justice,  good  feeling,  and  sound  sense,  appear  in 
every  expression.  He  has  done  inestimable  service  to  the  character 
of  his  country.  ...  I  admire  nothing  more  than  the  unanimity  and 
unselfish  friendship  of  all  the  officers  ;  no  jealousy,  no  self-seeking] 
the  interests  of  the  country  predominant.  What  faithfulness  in  the 
native  troops  !  Surely,  this  speaks  well  for  the  equity  of  our  Indian 
Government.  .  .  .  '  I  could  have  wept,'  says  the  gallant  old  Gough, 
'over  the  carnage  in  the  Sutlej,  had  I  not  remembered  the  deliberate 
cruelty  those  men  had  exercised  towards  the  wounded  and  dying.' 
Never  was  Divine  retribution  more  manifest,  never  justice  more 
signal  !  This  army,  stained  with  years  of  profligacy  and  murder  of 
kings  and  ryots,  of  friends  and  foes,  wantonly  invades  the  British 
Empire,  threatening  fire,  spoliation,  and  bloodshed,  even  to  the  walls 
of  Delhi ;  and,  almost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  is  '  melted  like 
snow  in  the  glance  of  the  Lord.'  .  .  .  These  events  have  seized  hold 
of  my  imagination ;  and,  thank  God,  I  do  feel  the  sentiment  of 
gratitude  and  glory  very  deep  in  my  heart. 

April  5th. — Sunday.  A  thanksgiving  is  to  be  appointed. 
Praised  be  God  for  this  !  Heard  yesterday  from  Peel.  '  We  shall 
thus  break  through  a  bad  principle,  which  has  hitherto  prevailed,  of 
not  returning  thanks  to  God  for  Indian  successes.'  These  are  his 
words  ;  I  am  grateful  for  them. 

Towards  Sir  Henry  Hardinge,  Lord  Ashley  enter- 
tained feelings  of  strong  personal  friendship.  A  letter 
from  Sir  Henry,  who  was  this  year  created  Lord 
Hardinge,  bearing  npon  the  important  events  just  re- 
corded, will  be  read  with  interest : — 


142  TEE    EARL    OF   SEAFTESBVBY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

Sir  Henry  Hardinge  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Simla,  May  20th,  1846. 

My  dear  Ashley, — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  your 
letter.  There  is  no  man's  approbation  I  value  more  than  your  own, 
proceeding  from  a  friend  who  has  proved  the  sincerity  of  his  prin- 
ciples by  his  actions. 

It  has  been  a  source  of  great  consolation  to  me,  in  the  midst  of 
the  turmoil  of  the  camp,  that  the  war  into  which  I  was  so  reluct- 
antly forced,  is  admitted  by  all  to  have  been  a  just  war,  and  that  no 
efforts  were  omitted  to  avert  it.  A  righteous  cause  is  the  best  pro- 
pitiation for  the  aid  of  the  Great  Disposer  of  all  events. 

This  overgrown  Empire  requires  consolidation  and  peace.  We 
have  the  protection  of  the  whole,  as  the  paramount  Power,  with  the 
resources  of  one-half  only  of  the  soil ;  and  I  should  have  been  very 
glad  indeed,  as  the  most  prudent  policy  at  the  present  time,  to  have 
kept  the  Sikh  nation  as  the  advanced  guard  on  our  north-west 
frontier,  opposing  a  Hindoo  Government  to  the  Mohammedans  and 
Afghans,  on  this  the  most  vulnerable  point  of  our  Empire. 

I  have  strengthened  our  own  frontier  by  annexing  a  valuable 
portion  of  the  Punjab  to  the  British  Empire.  I  have  established  a 
Rajpoot  Principality  of  the  Hills  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  Sikhs  in 
the  Plains.  I  have  disbanded  their  mutinous  army  and  deprived 
it  of  256  pieces  of  artillery ;  one  and  a  quarter  million  has  been 
exacted  for  the  war  expenses,  and  the  Sikh  power,  curtailed  of  more 
than  one-third  of  its  territories,  now  only  exists  by  the  aid  of  the 
British  garrison  occupying  Lahore. 

I  could  not  have  annexed  a  very  difficult  country,  larger  than 
England  in  extent,  with  15,000  infantry,  including  3,200  British 
infantry,  in  February  last.  But  if  the  experiment  of  re-establishing 
a  Sikh  Government  should  fail,  we  must  annex  the  whole,  even  up 
to  Peshawur.  It  is  too  early  to  say  whether  the  experiment  will  fail 
or  succeed.  It  was  impossible  to  have  done  more  for  want  of  means. 
What  has  been  done  has  been  accomplished  in  sixty  days,  and  whilst 
it  lasted,  I  hardly  ever  recollect  severer  fighting. 

Our  countrymen  are  noble  fellows,  and  these  Sikhs,  drilled  by 
French  officers,  are  undoubtedly  the  most  warlike  race  to  which  we 
have  been  opposed  in  the  East. 


1846.]  GLOOMY   VIEWS.  143 

Jocelyn  is  a  most  satisfactory  Secretary  to  have  to  deal  with.  He 
comes  to  the  point,  and  is  very  clear,  and  the  Board  of  Control  will 
suffer  a  severe  loss  whenever  he  retires. 

Conceive  what  an  army  this  is  to  move.  I  had  15,000  infantry 
at  Lahore,  and,  in  camp-followers,  &c,  100,000  mouths  to  feed  daily. 
The  Sikh  army,  having  no  difficulties  of  caste,  are  rough  and  ready, 
and  I  long  to  enlist  10,000,  but  then,  we  shall  not  find  them  so  docile 
and  faithful  as  our  Hindoostanees. 

Ever,  my  dear  Ashley, 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

H.   Hardinge. 

A  charge,  if  charge  it  may  be  called,  was  brought 
against  Lord  Ashley  very  frequently,  and  at  various 
periods  of  his  life,  that  he  took  a  gloomy  view  of 
things,  and  was  too  apt  to  look  upon  the  dark  side 
of  every  prospect.  He  refers  to  this  in  the  following 
entry : — 

Jan.  19th. — Yesterday  Elliott*  gave  us,  as  he  ahvays  does, 
blessed  be  the  man,  a  most  pious  and  excellent  sermon — he  touched 
the  signs  of  the  times,  and  took,  first,  the  good  signs,  reserving 
the  bad  ones  for  a  second  discourse.  He  spoke  of  those  who  (and 
therein,  probably,  with  a  glance  at  me)  ever  saw  what  was  dark, 
and  never  what  was  bright  on  the  far  horizon.  Well,  it  is  true. 
Evil  is  more  powerful  and  lasting  than  good  ;  evil  is  natural,  good  is  un- 
natural ;  evil  requires  nothing  but  man  as  he  is,  good  must  find  the  soil 
prepared  by  the  grace  of  God.  It  is  far  more  difficult,  in  a  period  of 
specious  tranquillity,  to  alarm  than  to  soothe,  to  rouse  than  to  lull, 
mankind.  For  one  who  is  active  to  avert  a  distant  peril,  I  will  find 
a  hundred  who  repose  in  present  security.  The  prayer  is  as  needful 
for  nations  as  for  men,  '  So  teach  us  to  number  our  days  that  we  may 
apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom.' 

*  Rev.  H.  V.  Elliott,  of  St.  Mary's,  Brighton. 


144  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

It  was  not  always  that  he  entertained  these  gloomy 
views,  as  an  entry  on  another  page  testifies  : — 

Wilberforce  was  much  harassed  by  letters  and  interviews  on 
cases  of  conscience ;  he  was  selected  as  the  spiritual  adviser  of  many 
parties.  No  one  holds  such  a  place  in  the  present  day  ;  and  we  may 
draw,  from  this  fact,  the  pleasing  inference  that  the  number  of  good, 
and  pious,  and  qualified  men  is  very  greatly  increased.  The  revival 
of  religion  and  activity  among  the  clergy  has  furnished,  to  nearly  all 
who  may  desire  it,  the  means  of  spiritual  edification  and  support ;  a 
true  counsellor  may  be  found  nigh  at  hand  in  a  thousand  localities. 

No  sooner  was  Lord  Ashley  "out  of  Parliament ' 
than  he  entered  on  a  campaign  to  which  he  had  long 
looked  forward,  whenever  he  should  have  the  leisure  to 
undertake  it.  That  campaign  was  a  visitation  of  the 
slums  of  the  Metropolis,  with  a  view  to  assist  the  work 
of  the  Ragged  Schools,  the  London  City  Mission,  the 
Labourers'  Friend  Society,  and  other  organisations  for 
the  welfare  of  the  poor,  and  also,  to  institute  a  rigid 
examination  into  the  dwelling-houses  of  the  humblest 
of  the  working  classes. 

Before  we  follow  him  in  this  crusade,  we  must 
go  back  a  little  in  order  to  see  what  progress  had  been 
made  in  the  development  of  the  Ragged  School  system, 
and  to  speak  of  the  history  and  operations  of  the 
London  City  Mission  and  also  of  the  Labourers'  Friend 
Society. 

Thankful  as  Lord  Ashley  had  been  to  have  his 
attention  drawn,  in  1843,  to  the  Field  Lane  Ragged 
School,  and  earnest  as  were  his  endeavours  to  as- 
sist  the  labourers    there,    it    was    clear   to    him,    and 


1S46.]  THE   RAGGED    SCHOOL    UNION.  145 

to  everybody  who  had  anything  to  do  with  the  poor 
of  London,  that  no  isolated  efforts  could  affect  the 
general  condition  of  the  waifs  and  strays  of  the  Metro- 
polis. There  were  thousands  of  the  children  of  the 
lowest  and  most  ignorant  classes  springing  up,  "  sturd}' 
of  growth  as  weeds  in  a  wheat  field,  and,  like  the  latter, 
gaining  daily  increase  of  strength  at  the  expense  of  the 
honest  grain."  They  swarmed  the  streets  ;  they  gam- 
boled in  the  gutters  ;  they  haunted  the  markets  in  search 
of  cast-away  food ;  they  made  plaj^grounds  of  the  open 
spaces  ;  they  lurked  under  porches  of  public  buildings 
in  hot  and  wet  weather ;  and  they  crept  into  stables  or 
under  arches  for  their  night's  lodging.  They  lived  as 
the  pariah  dog  lives,  and  were  treated  much  in  the  same 
way ;  everybody  exclaimed  against  the  nuisance,  but 
nobody  felt  it  to  be  his  business  to  interfere. 

The  first  practical  effort  to  reach  these  outcast  "  city 
Arabs,"  as  they  were  called,  was  to  lure  them  to  the 
Ragged  Schools.  But  these  were  few  and  far  between, 
and,  each  having  an  isolated  and  independent  existence, 
was  helpless  to  grapple  with  the  evil,  in  any  degree  com- 
mensurate with  the  need. 

It  became  evident,  to  some  who  were  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  matter,  that  the  strength  of  these  organi- 
sations would  be  greatly  increased  by  union,  and  in 
April,  1844,  the  first  steps  were  taken  to  institute  a 
society  which  has  done  an  amount  of  good  altogether 
incalculable — the  Rasped  School  Union — with  which 
the  name  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  will  always  be  intimately 
associated. 
h 


146  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  was  scrupulously  exact  in  giving 
"  honour  to  whom  honour  was  due,"  and  would  not  allow 
himself  to  be  styled  the  "  Founder  "  of  a  society  when 
that  honour  was  due  to  another.  As  we  have  seen,  he 
was  not  the  founder  of  Eagged  Schools,  nor  was  he  the 
founder  of  the  Easrged  School  Union. 

On  the  11th  April,  1S44,  Mr.  S.  E.  Storey,  at  that 
time  a  solicitor's  clerk,  invited  a  few  Eagged  School 
Teachers  to  meet  him  at  his  rooms,  No.  17,  Ampton 
Street,  Gray's  Inn  Eoad.  Only  three  responded : 
Messrs.  Locke,  woollen-draper,  Moulton,  dealer  in 
second-hand  tools,  and  Morrison,  a  City  missionary ; 
an  uninfluential  band  to  a  1  appearance,  and  yet  they 
discussed  the  hardest  problem  of  that  day,  and  came 
very  near  to  a  solution  when  they  resolved,  "  That  to 
give  permanence,  regularity,  and  vigour  to  existing 
Eagged  Schools,  and  to  promote  the  formation  of  new 
ones  throughout  the  Metropolis,  it  is  advisable  to  call 
a  meeting  of  superintendents,  teachers,  and  others  in- 
terested in  these  schools,  for  this  purpose."  That  was 
the  first  step  towards  the  foundation  of  the  Eagged 
School  Union,  and  those  three  unknown  men  were  the 
founders. 

On  the  26th  April,  forty  superintendents  and  teachers 
responded  to  the  invitation  and  met  at  the  St.  Giles's 
Eagged  School,  held  in  the  loft  of  a  cowshed  in  Streat- 
ham  Street,  Bloomsbury — a  neighbourhood  known  as  the 
Eookery  of  St.  Giles's ;  notorious  for  its  filth  and  fever, 
its  riots  and  immoral  revels,  its  rickety  and  dirty 
dwellings,  and  its  teeming  population  of  the   lowest  of 


1846.]  THE    RAGGED    SCHOOL    UNION.  147 

the  low.  Here  this  little  band  of  Christian  workers 
formed  themselves  into  a  Central  Committee,  and  on 
the  5th  of  July  they  decided  that  this  association  of 
teachers  should  be  called  "  The  Eagged  School  Union." 
At  first  they  were  anxious  to  affiliate  themselves  to  the 
London  City  Mission,  and  a  formal  proposition  to  that 
effect  was  made,  but  it  was  wisely  declined,  as  the  City 
Mission  had,  even  then,  more  work  in  hand  than  it  knew 
how  to  manage.  Messrs.  Locke  and  Starey  were  ap- 
pointed Secretaries,  and  requested  to  draw  up  the  rules 
for  the  regulation  of  the  Union.  It  was  only  for  a 
comparatively  short  time,  however,  that  Mr.  Starey  was 
able  to  act  as  Secretary,  owing  to  business  demanding 
his  removal  from  London,  when  Mr.  J.  Gr.  Gent  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy,  an  office  he  has  retained 
for  thirty-five  years.  In  November,  six  months  after 
the  Union  was  originated,  Lord  Ashley  was  asked  to 
give  the  weight  and  influence  of  his  name  and  personal 
assistance  to  this  feeble  and  somewhat  insignificant 
body  of  workers,  by  becoming  President  of  the  Union. 
He  responded  thus  : — 

Lord  Ashley  to  Mr.  Wm.  Locke. 

November,  21,  1844. 

Sir, — At  the  instant  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  your  letter 
I  was  contemplating  a  walk  to  Field  Lane,  that  I  might  hear  what 
progress  was  making  in  your  admirable  undertaking. 

I  shall  be  happy  to  aid  you  to  the  full  extent  of  my  power,  but 
I  am  disposed  to  advise  a  little  deliberation  before  we  set  up  a 
Society  with  all  the  apparatus  of  a  President  and  Patrons.  T  shall 
return  to  London,  I  hope,  on  Monday  next ;    it  will  then  give  me 

k  2 


148  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIV 

pleasure  to  see  you  and  hear  your  report.      We  may,  I  think,  do 
much  for  these  poor  children. 

God  be  with  us  !  your  obedient  servant, 

Mr.  William  Locke.  Ashley. 

From  the  time  that  Lord  Ashley  joined  the  move- 
ment, the  Ragged  School  Union  grew  in  importance  and 
usefulness,  and  for  over  forty  years  his  love  for,  and  zeal 
in  the  cause  never  knew  abatement  or  change.  For  a 
great  portion  of  this  time  the  Union  was  under  the 
direction  and  responsibility  of  a  Committee  elected  at 
each  anniversary,  and  of  an  Executive  consisting  of 
Shaftesbury,  President,  Win.  Locke,  Hon.  Sec,  Joseph  G. 
Gent,  Secretary,  whose  names  appeared  in  all  public 
announcements,  and  on  the  certificates  obtained  by  de- 
serving scholars.  These  are  not  very  common  names, 
and  yet  we  find  them  standing  in  similar  relative 
positions  200  years  ago. 

Charleston  and  Carolina  are  names  given  in  honour 
of  our  King  Charles  II.  The  city  of  Charleston, 
stands  on  a  narrow  slip  of  land,  bounded  on  the 
north  side  by  the  Cooper  River,  and  on  the  south  side 
by  the  Ashley  River.  The  names  of  these  magnifi- 
cent streams,  which,  at  their  junction,  form  the  harbour 
of  Charleston,  were  given  in  honour  of  the  first  Earl 
of  Shaftesbury.  The  greater  part  of  America  was  at 
that  time  a  wilderness,  and  at  the  disposal  of  King 
Charles  II.  By  means  of  a  Royal  Charter,  the  King 
gave  to  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  and  some  others, 
the  whole  tract  of  country  between  the  parallels  of  29 


1S4G.J  A    COINCIDENCE    OF  NAMES.  149 

cleg,  and  31  cleg.  31  mm.  N.  latitude,  and  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  This  included  an  area  of  500 
miles  from  North  to  South,  and  of  2,500  miles  from 
East  to  West.  Now  comes  the  remarkable  coincidence 
of  names.  Shaftesbury  was  the  most  active  and  able  of 
the  eight  proprietors,  aud,  by  agreement,  undertook  to 
frame  a  constitution  for  the  embryo  colonies,  suitable  to 
the  period  and  the  vastness  of  the  territory.  Assistance 
was  required  by  him,  which  he  obtained  from  the  illus- 
trious Locke.  The  constitution  drawn  up  contained 
120  articles,  and  in  its  day  was  considered  a  grand 
model ;  but,  in  reducing  the  theory  to  practice,  mighty 
difficulties  intervened.  With  a  view  to  lessen  these 
difficulties,  and  to  facilitate  the  working  of  the  great 
scheme,  the  services  of  a  Mr.  T.  A.  Gent  were  secured. 
This  gentleman  visited  the  country,  and  afterwards 
brought  out  a  volume  entitled  "  A  Complete  Dis- 
covery of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,"  which  seems  to 
have  been  eagerly  caught  up  by  the  public,  as  three 
ships  were  soon  sent  out  filled  with  emigrants.  They 
settled  at  Oyster  Point,  as  the  neck  of  land  was  called, 
at  the  junction  of  Ashley  and  Cooper  Rivers.  On  this 
spot  they  built  a  village  which  grew  into  a  town,  and, 
at  length,  developed  into  one  of  the  strongest  cities — so 
strong  as  to  seem  to  be  impregnable. 

Such  were  the  labours  of  Shaftesbury,  Locke,  and 
Gent  200  years  ago;  and,  in  another  sense,  such  were 
the  labours  of  Shaftesbury,  Locke,  and  Gent  in  recent 
times  ;  but  "  the  labours  of  the  latter  trio  have  been 
to  reclaim  the  moral  wilderness,  to  purify  and  cultivate 


150  THE    EABL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

the  moral  wastes,  and  to  set  up  spiritual  fortresses  that 
shall  be  unassailable  by  the  great  enemy."  * 

The  years  1844-6  were  memorable  in  the  life  of  Lord 
Ashley  if  only  on  the  ground  that  they  saw  him  pub- 
licly espousing  the  cause  of  poor  ragged  children  and 
organising  fresh  efforts  in  their  behalf.  The  years  were 
memorable  in  the  history  of  the  Metropolis,  for  they 
saw  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  philanthropic 
labours  which  were,  in  some  measure,  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  outcast  poor,  to  check  the  existing  evils, 
and  to  avert  the  calamities  which  many  feared.  When 
Dr.  Arnold  considered  the  state  of  society  about  this 
time,  he  said  : — "  It  haunts  me,  I  may  almost  say,  night 
and  day.  It  fills  me  with  astonishment  to  see  anti- 
slavery  and  missionary  societies  so  busy  with  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  and  yet  all  the  worst  evils  of  slavery  and 
of  heathenism  are  existing  among  ourselves.  But  no 
man  seems  so  gifted,  or  to  speak  more  properly,  so  en- 
dowed b}T  God  with  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  as  to  read  this 
fearful  riddle  truly ;  which,  most  Sphinx-like,  if  not 
truly  read,  will  most   surely  be   the  destruction  of  us 

all."  f 

Lord  Ashley  had  "  the  spirit  of  wisdom  to  read 
that  fearful  riddle  truly."  He  heard,  as  he  believed, 
the  voice  of  Grod  speaking  directly  to  him,  and  he 
went  forward  heart  and  soul  into  Bagged-School 
work. 

A  few  extracts  from  the  Diary  on   the  subject  of 

*  Bagged  School  Union  Magazine. 
t  Stanley's  "  Life  of  Arnold." 


184C]  BAGGED    SCHOOL    MEETINGS.  151 

Ragged  Schools  will  show  the  progress  of  his  thought 
and  action  in  their  behalf: — 

Nov.  27th,  1845. — Last  night  Broadwall  Infant  Ragged  School; 
very  humble,  but  very  useful ;  well  received.  .  .  .  Many  Dissenters ; 
but  it  is  high  time  to  be  thinking  where  we  agree,  not  where  we  differ. 
Tens  of  thousands  of  untaught  heathens  in  the  heart  of  a  Christian 
Metropolis  cry  aloud  to  God  for  vengeance. 

Dec.  11th. — Just  come  back  from  a  tea-meeting  in  Jurston  Street 
Sunday  School,  given  to  the  ragged,  half-starved,  neglected  children 
of  the  locality — a  sight  to  thank  God  for  !  a  sight  to  pray  Him  to  per- 
petuate,and  extend  ! 

I  conceive  I  am  acting  in  the  spirit  of  the  Bible  and  the  spirit  of 
the  Church  of  England.  I  conceive  that  I  am  proving  myself  a  true 
son  of  the  Church  in  which  I  was  baptised,  and  in  which,  by  God's 
blessing,  I  will  die.  I  am  violating  none  of  her  laws,  precepts, 
principles,  or  prayers ;  none.  But,  if  the  conduct  I  pursue  be  at 
variance  with  the  doctrines  and  requirements  of  the  Established 
Church,  I  shall  prefer  to  renounce  communion  with  the  Church 
to  abandoning  those  wretched  infants  of  oppression,  infidelity,  and 
crime. 

March  19th,  1846. — Last  night  tea  party  at  Jurston  Street 
Ragged  School ;  in  the  Chair.  A  wondrous  company  on  the  plat- 
form ;  these  things  are  now  becoming  '  fashionable.'  Humanity  will 
soon  be  considered  '  elegant,'  '  genteel,'  &c.  &c.  Bishop  of  Norwich 
came ;  *  a  kind-hearted  man,  who  goes,  as  he  says,  wherever  he  sees 
my  name.  Strange  as  it  was  to  see  a  Bishop  in  the  middle  of  a 
Dissenting  school,  surrounded  by  Dissenters,  and  supporting  their 
efforts,  yet  it  was  well  and  usefully  done. 

During  the  long  period  of  Lord  Shaftesbury's 
Presidency"  of  the  Ragged  School  Union  he  was  always 
in  the  Chair,  at  the  annual  meetings.  But  this  was 
the    least    part   of   his    work.       Much    of  the    success 

*  Dr.  Stanley,  father  of  the  Dean  of  Westminster.  He  was  the  only- 
Bishop  who  was  ever  seen  on  Ragged  School  platforms.  All  the  others 
were,  at  that  time,  fearful  of  meeting  Nonconformists. 


152  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

of  the  Eagged  School  movement  Avas  due  to  the  public 
meetings  which  were  held  in  a  great  number  of 
churches  and  chapels  and  halls  in  London  and  in 
the  large  towns.  At  these  meetings  Lord  Ashley 
took  the  Chair  on  innumerable  occasions,  and  in  short, 
pithy  addresses  set  forth  the  claims  of  the  poor.  More 
important  still  were  the  quarterly  meetings  of  dele- 
gates from  the  Metropolitan  Eagged  Schools,  at  which 
he  always  presided,  when  every  conceivable  topic  that 
could  assist  the  teachers  *in  practically  carrying  on  the 
work  was  discussed,  new  plans  were  formed,  and  pro- 
gress was  reported.  A  merely  cursory  glance  through 
the  30  volumes  of  the  Ragged  School  Union  Magazine 
and  Quarterly  Records  will  give  some  idea  of  the  stu- 
pendous amount  of  work  undertaken  by  him  in  this 
movement,  but  even  a  close  study  of  those  volumes  will 
not  give  a  full  conception  of  what  he  wrought.  For 
many  years  the  ragged  children  of  London  were  rarely 
out  of  his  thoughts  waking  or  sleeping  ;  he  visited  them 
in  their  wretched  homes,  he  saw  them  at  their  daily 
work,  he  sat  beside  them  in  their  schools,  he  let  them 
come  to  his  house  to  tell  him  their  troubles  ;  he  pleaded 
for  them  in  religious  and  political  assemblies  ;  he  carried 
their  cause  into  the  House  of  Commons  and  into  the 
House  of  Lords ;  he  interested  the  whole  country  in 
their  welfare,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  he  achieved  wonderful 
results  in  their  behalf. 

The  London  City  Mission  had  been  established 
by  David  Nasmith,  who  had  already  set  on  foot  simi- 
lar institutions   in   Glasgow,   Dublin,   New   York,   and 


1846.1  THE    LONDON-    CITY   MISSION.  153 

elsewhere.  It  was  in  a  room  of  his  little  house  in 
Canning  Terrace,  on  the  bank  of  the  Regent's  Canal, 
on  May  16,  1835,  that  he  met  two  of  his  friends  by 
appointment,  and  the  story  of  their  interview  is  recorded 
by  him  in  these  simple  words  :  "  After  prayer  we 
three  founded  the  London  City  Mission,  adopted  our 
constitution,  assigned  offices  to  each  other,  and  after 
laying  the  infant  mission  before  the  Lord,  desiring  that 
He  would  nurse  and  bless  it,  and  make  it  a  blessing 
to  tens  of  thousands,  we  adjourned." 

Such  was  the  origin  of  one  of  the  most  admirable 
and  valuable  institutions  of  our  time,  and  one  that  has 
been  the  means  of  conveying  temporal  and  spiritual 
good  to  untold  myriads. 

Although  Lord  Ashley's  name  appears  for  the  first 
time  on  the  records  of  that  Society  towards  the  end  of 
1845,  he  had,  immediately  after  his  discovery  of  the 
existence  of  Ragged  Schools,  been  in  communication 
with  it,  and  henceforth,  in  all  his  labours  on  behalf  of 
the  poor,  he  was  to  be  indebted  to  the  aid  of  the 
London  City  Mission,  as  it,  in  turn,  was  to  be  indebted 
to  him. 

How  best  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  labouring 
population  of  the  country,  was  a  question  which  he  had 
long-  been  revolving:  in  his  mind  and  which  had  demanded 
a  large  share  of  his  energies.  While  recognising  the 
value  of  every  agency  for  bringing  about  the  physical 
and  moral  elevation  of  the  people,  he  was  more  and 
more  convinced,  as  his  knowledge  and  experience  of 
their  actual  state  increased,  that  it  was  utterly  futile  to 


154  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIV. 

attempt  to  educate  and  raise  the  masses  unless  at  the 
same  time  they  were  provided  with  decent  homes. 

Already  he  had  stood  forth  as  the  pioneer  of  the 
great  question  which,  in  after  years,  was  to  become  so 
conspicuous  a  feature  of  his  labours — the  Housing  of 
the  Poor. 

In  1842  he  had  assisted  in  founding  what  was  then 
known  as  the  "  Labourers'  Friend  Society,"  but  was 
afterwards  named  the  "  Society  for  Improving  the  Con- 
dition of  the  Labouring  Classes,"  the  object  of  which 
was,  not  to  accommodate  the  people  on  a  large  scale — 
such  an  undertaking  would  have  been  far  beyond  the 
power  of  a  simple  Committee — but  to  ventilate  the  whole 
question,  and  to  keep  in  view  the  erection  of  Model 
Dwellings  for  all  the  varieties  and  grades  of  industrial 
life,  and  to  show,  in  the  buildings  it  would  raise,  what 
was  necessary  for  the  comfort  and  health  and  decency 
of  the  inmates,  and  also  the  lowest  cost  at  which  the 
structures  could  be  provided  and  the  rents  imposed,  con- 
sistently with  a  moderate  though  fair  return  of  interest 
on  the  capital  expended.  It  had  also  another  object  in 
view  ;  it  wished  to  prove  that  in  such  amelioration  "  the 
moral  were  almost  equal  to  the  physical  benefits ;  and 
that,  although  numbers  would  decline  or  abuse  the  boon 
extended  to  them,  many  would  accept  it  joyfully  and 
turn  it  to  good  account."  * 

At  first,  Lord  Ashley  met  with  scant  success  in  his 
labours  in  this  direction,  but  once  having  put  his  hand 
to  the  plough,  he  was  not  the  man  to  look  back.     The 

*  Article  by  Lord  Shaftesbury  in  Nineteenth  Century,  xiv.,  p.  934. 


1846.]  THE    LABOURERS'    FRIEND    SOCIETY.  155 

time  had  not  yet  come  for  him  to  make  any  great 
public  stir  in  the  matter,  but  meanwhile  he  never  lost 
an  opportunity,  of  advocating  the  need  of  better  dwell- 
ings for  the  poor. 

In  1844  the  first  public  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
the  Improvement  of  the  Labouring  Classes  was  held  at 
Willis's  Eooms,  and  an  influential  company  supported 
Lord  Ashley  in  the  chair.  He  vigorously  exposed  the 
lamentable  state  of  affairs,  in  regard  to  the  shameful 
dwellings  in  which  the  poor  were  compelled  to  live,  and 
urged  that  if  the  Society  thus  inaugurated,  only  did  the 
work  that  lay  before  it,  it  might,  by  strong  representa- 
tions to  the  Government,  produce  most  beneficial  results. 
"Unite  all  your  efforts,"  he  said,  "for  this  one  great 
object ;  give  it  a  fair  trial ;  be  not  discouraged  by  argu- 
ments, however  specious,  and  failure  is  impossible.  Soon 
you  will  see  dawn,  great  moral,  social,  and  political  bless- 
ings for  those  who  are  the  noblest  material  God  ever  gave 
a  nation — the  working  classes  of  this  country." 

This  appeal  went  far  and  wide,  and  one  of  the  first 
to  respond  to  it  was  the  Prince  Consort,  who,  in  the 
following  July,  was  graciously  pleased  to  accept  the 
office  of  President  of  the  Society. 

Now  the  time  had  come  when,  owing  to  the  cessa- 
tion of  his  Parliamentary  duties,  Lord  Ashley  had  that 
leisure  for  labour  which  he  had  long  coveted,  and,  as  we 
have  said,  he  determined  to  devote  it  to  visiting  the 
homes  and  haunts  of  the  poor  in  the  Metropolis.  He 
chose  for  his  companions  a  medical  man,  and  one  of  the 
missionaries  of  the  London  City  Mission. 


156  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIV. 

There  were  two  objects  lie  had  specially  in  view  in 
the  perambulations  he  was  about  to  undertake ;  first,  to 
explore  the  unknown  parts  of  London  and  to  see  for 
himself  the  lanes  and  alleys,  and  more  particularly  the 
houses,  in  which  the  poorest  of  the  poor  and  the  lowest 
of  the  low  dwelt ;  and  next,  to  bring  himself  into  per- 
sonal contact  with  the  people,  so  that  he  might  better 
understand  their  thoughts  and  habits,  and  qualify  him- 
self to  grapple  with  their  need. 

Such  a  mission  needed  no  ordinary  man,  and  Lord 
Ashley  brought  to  it  no  ordinary  gifts.  Let  any  one  who 
thinks  it  an  easy  task  to  win  the  confidence  of  the  poor 
and  the  outcast ;  to  speak  words  to  them  that  shall  draw 
out  their  real  thoughts  and  feelings  ;  to  seek  to  benefit 
without  patronising  ;  to  give  counsel  without  preach- 
ing ;  to  preserve  his  own  dignity  amid  the  rough  and 
lawless,  without  placing  any  barrier  to  mutual  approach ; 
withal,  to  enter  the  abodes  of  filth  and  wretchedness, 
where  every  sense  sickens,  and  yet  to  appear  at  home, 
and  at  ease  ;  let  any  one  try  the  experiment,  and  then — 
and  not  till  then — the  difficulty  will  be  apparent. 

Lord  Ashley  could  do  all  this  as  few  other  men 
could.  He  saw  in  the  miserable  creatures  before  him, 
not  thieves  and  vagabonds  and  reprobates,  but  men  with 
immortal  souls  that  might  be  saved,  and  with  human 
lives  that  might  be  redeemed  from  their  corruption.  In 
the  woman  with  unkempt  hair  and  tattered  garments, 
he  saw,  not  the  abandoned  harlot,  but  the  "  woman 
that  was  a  sinner,"  who  might  yet  be  brought  to  the 
feet  of  Him   who   would  say   to  her,   in  the  tenderest 


1S4G.]  SPEAKING    TO    CHILDREN.  157 

of  all  human  accents,  "  Go,  and  sin  no  more."  But  the 
whole  heart  of  Lord  Ashley  went  out  to  little  children  ; 
he  grieved  over  their  past  neglect,  their  present  lack  of 
opportunity  ;  and  he  yearned  over  their  future.  It  is 
no  exaggeration  to  say  that,  in  the  whole  course  of  his 
life,  he  hardly  ever  passed  a  ragged  child  in  the  street 
without  the  desire  to  stop  and  talk  to  it.  Morning, 
noon,  and  night,  the  welfare  of  the  uncared-for  and  the 
unthought-of  children  weighed  upon  his  heart,  and  he 
looked  upon  any  day  as  lost  in  which  he  did  not  do 
something,  however  little  it  might  he,  to  make  the 
weariness  of  their  lives  less  weary  and  their  sadness 
less  sad.  The  words  of  the  Master  were  ever  ringing  in 
his  ears — "  Feed  My  lambs." 

He  possessed,  in  perfection,  the  art  of  speaking  to 
children,  and  few  men  ever  spoke  to  them  with  greater 
effect ;  not  because  he  was  a  "  lord,"  nor  because  he 
brought  sensible  benefits  wherever  he  went,  but  because 
lie  could  lay  hold  of  the  heart  of  a  child,  and  soothe 
it  with  gentle  words,  and  because  the  accent,  the  tone, 
the  smile,  the  whole  bearing  of  the  man,  impressed  even 
little  children  with  the  fact  that  he  was  intensely  in 
earnest.  No  man  ever  received  greater  encouragement 
from  visible  results.  Year  after  year  he  had  seen  the 
law  of  kindness  produce  the  most  wonderful  effects 
on  the  minds  of  the  wildest,  the  rawest,  the  most 
ungovernable  children  ;  often  he  had  seen  the  heart 
melted,  for  the  first  time,  by  the  language  of  sympathy 
and  of  love ;  often  his  voice  had  been  like  the  voice 
of  God    speaking    to    the    heart   of    a   child.       It  was 


158  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIV. 

always  through  the  children  that  he  hoped  to  win  the 
parents.  As  the  shepherd,  with  refractory  sheep,  will 
carry  the  lambs  into  the  fold,  certain  that  eventually  the 
sheep  will  follow,  so  his  efforts  were  mainly  directed  to 
reaching  the  children  and  to  putting  them  in  places 
of  safety,  as  the  surest  means  of  alluring  their  parents 
thither.  Wherever  Lord  Ashley  went,  during  these 
perambulations,  the  people  clustered  round  him  in  groups, 
and  received  him  with  respect.  And  it  may  be  remarked 
here  that,  throughout  his  life,  although  he  went  freely 
among  vagrants,  paupers,  harlots,  drunkards,  thieves 
and  criminals  of  all  kinds,  the  refuse  of  society,  he 
never,  on  any  one  occasion,  or  in  any  circumstance, 
received  an  insult.  Everywhere  the  people  were 
grateful  to  him  for  the  interest  he  took  in  their  con- 
dition, and,  in  the  large  majority  of  cases,  answered 
freel}r  the  questions  he  put  to  them. 

Bad  as  he  had  expected  to  find  certain  quarters  of 
the  Metropolis,  the  actual  state  of  things  was  a  thousand- 
fold worse  than  he  had  conceived  possible.  He  found, 
in  some  cases,  hundreds  of  human  beings — equal  to  the 
population  of  a  whole  village — compressed  and  hidden 
in  a  dozen  small  and  wretched  houses  packed  in  a  court, 
the  houses  and  court  occupying  less  than  the  area  of  a 
good-sized  barn,  or  a  village  church,  or  a  moderate-sized 
emigrant  ship.  He  saw  how  the  people  became  liable 
to  disease  ;  why  contagious  maladies  were  not  only  bred 
and  extended,  but  likewise  why  they  clung  to  these 
places.  He  saw  how  utterly  impossible  it  was  for 
the  physician  to  minister  in  them  with  any  degree  of 


1846.]  DWELLINGS    OF    THE    POOR.  159 

satisfaction  or  success,  for  everywhere  the  drainage  was 
bad,  the  ventilation  worse,  and  the  light  of  heaven 
almost  excluded.  He  saw,  too,  that  nature  was  at- 
tempting to  do  her  part  towards  that  which  sanitary 
reformers  recommended:  she  was  attempting  to  reduce 
the  number  of  inhabitants,  by  commissioning  fever, 
scrofula,  and  other  diseases,  to  slay  them. 

One  of  the  things  that  appears  to  have  struck 
him  with  great  force,  and  to  have  strongly  laid  hold 
of  his  imagination,  was  the  terrible  injustice  involved 
in  the  want  of  sufficient  accommodation.  He  found 
that  in  a  large  number  of  instances,  it  was  not  ex- 
treme poverty  that  had  driven  the  inhabitants  into 
these  dreadful  dens — as  they  were  earning  what,  with 
proper  management,  might  be  called  a  decent  living — 
but  the  exorbitant  prices  charged  for  accommodation. 
There  were  few  house-rents  so  extravagantly  high  as 
those  paid  by  the  veriest  outcasts  of  our  streets.  The 
tenant  of  a  mansion  paid  a  lower  nightly  rent,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  space  he  occupied,  and  the  cubic  feet  of 
air  he  breathed,  than  did  the  miserable  urchin  who  spent 
his  two  or  three  pence  for  permission  to  stow  himself 
under  a  bed  of  a  low  lodging-house  filled  to  suffocation 
by  the  most  abandoned  of  all  ages — one  of  the  twenty 
or  thirty  inmates  of  a  space  not  large  enough  for  the 
accommodation  of  more  than  two  or  three. 

It  was  necessary  to  the  purpose  Lord  Ashley  had 
in  view,  that  publicity  should  be  given  to  this  state 
of  things  ;  and  on  the  22nd  of  May  we  find  him  at 
a  meeting  of  the  "  Society  for  Improving  the  Condition 


160  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

of  the  Working  Classes,"  held  at  the  Hanover  Square 
Eooms,  bringing  the  subject  before  an  influential 
audience  as  vividly  as  it  could  be  brought.  "  I  do  not," 
he  said,  "  speak  merely  from  book ;  I  do  not  speak 
merely  from  the  accounts  that  have  been  given  me ; 
because  I  have,  not  onfv  in  past  years,  but  during  the 
present  year  (having,  from  certain  circumstances,  rather 
more  leisure  than  I  formerly  had)  devoted  a  very  con- 
siderable number  of  hours,  day  by  day,  to  going  over 
some  of  the  worst  localities  in  various  parts  of  this  great 
Metropolis."  He  startled  his  audience  by  some  of  the 
revelations  he  made,  of  rooms  "  so  foul  and  so  dark  that 
they  were  exposed  to  every  physical  mischief  that  can 
beset  the  human  frame  " — so  foul  that  when  a  physician, 
habituated  to  enter  such  places,  visited  them,  he  was 
obliged  to  write  his  prescription  outside  the  door ;  of 
courts  and  alleys  thronged  with  a  dense  and  most  im- 
moral population  of  every  caste  and  grade  of  character, 
but  almost  every  one  of  them  defiled  by  perpetual  habits 
of  intoxication,  and  living  amid  riot  and  blasphemy, 
noise,  tumult,  and  indecency. 

It  was  not  enough,  however,  to  state  the  evil ;  active 
practical  steps  must  be  taken  to  meet  it,  and  Lord  Ashley 
announced  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Society,  if 
funds  were  forthcoming,  to  erect  in  the  heart  of  the 
parish  of  St.  Giles's  a  Model  Lodging-House — a  house 
where  a  young  man  coming  up  from  the  country  for  the 
first  time,  or  others  who  wished  to  live  in  a  place  where 
some,  at  least,  of  the  decencies  of  life  were  observed, 
might    find    a   place    of    retirement    and    shelter    at    a 


1846.]  THE    BAGGED    RACE.  161 

moderate  rent.  This  was  the  germ  of  that  great  Model 
Lodging-House  system,  which  has  now  sprung  up  in 
the  neighbourhoods  once  occupied  by  reeking  courts 
and  alleys. 

Not  by  lip  only,  but  by  pen  also,  Lord  Ashley 
turned  to  good  account  the  results  of  his  perambula- 
tions. In  the  Quarterly  Review  for  December,  there 
appeared  a  startlingly  graphic  article  from  his  pen,  on 
"  Eagged  Schools,"  in  which  he  gave  the  results  of  his 
own  observations  of  the  habits  of  the  clientele  of  those 
schools,  founded  upon  his  recent  visitations.    He  says  : — ■ 

It  is  a  curious  race  of  beings  that  these  philanthropists  have 
taken  in  hand.  Every  one  who  walks  the  streets  of  the  Metropolis 
must  daily  observe  several  members  of  the  tribe — bold,  and  pert,  and 
dirty  as  London  sparrows,  but  pale,  feeble,  and  sadly  inferior  to  them 
in  plumpness  of  outline.  Their  business,  or  pretended  business, 
seems  to  vary  with  the  locality.  At  the  West  End  they  deal  in 
lucifer  matches,  audaciously  beg,  or  tell  a  touching  tale  of  woe.  Pass 
on  to  the  central  parts  of  the  town,  to  Holborn  or  the  Strand,  and 
the  regions  adjacent  to  them,  and  you  will  there  find  the  numbers 
greatly  increased  ;  a  few  are  pursuing  the  avocations  above  mentioned 
of  their  more  Corinthian  fellows ;  many  are  spanning  the  gutters 
with  their  legs,  and  dabbling  with  earnestness  in  the  latest  accumula- 
tion of  nastiness  ;  while  others,  in  squalid  and  half-naked  groups, 
squat  at  the  entrances  of  the  narrow,  fetid  courts  and  alleys  that  lie 
concealed  behind  the  deceptive  frontages  of  our  larger  thoroughfares. 
Whitechapel  and  Spitalfields  teem  with  them  like  an  ants'  nest;  but 
it  is  in  Lambeth  and  in  Westminster  that  we  find  the  most  flagrant 
traces  of  their  swarming  activity.  There  the  foul  and  dismal  pas- 
sages are  thronged  with  children  of  both  sexes,  and  of  every  age  from 
three  to  thirteen.  Though  wan  and  haggard,  they  are  singularly 
vivacious,  and  engaged  in  every  sort  of  occupation  but  that  which 
would  be  beneficial  to  themselves  and  creditable  to  the  neighbour- 
hood. Their  appearance  is  wild  ;  the  matted  hair,  the  disgusting 
filth  that  renders  necessary  a  closer  inspection  before  the  flesh  can  be 


102  TILE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

discerned  between  the  rags  which  hang  about  it  ;  and  the  barbarian 
freedom  from  all  superintendence  and  restraint,  fill  the  mind  of  a 
novice  in  these  things  with  perplexity  and  dismay.  Visit  these 
regions  in  the  summer,  and  you  are  overwhelmed  by  the  exhala- 
tions ;  visit  them  in  the  winter,  and  you  are  shocked  by  the  spectacle 
of  hundreds  shivering  in  apparel  that  would  be  scanty  in  the  tropics; 
many  are  all  but  naked  ;  those  that  are  clothed  are  grotesque ;  the 
trousers,  where  they  have  them,  seldom  pass  the  knee ;  the  tail-coats 
very  frequently  trail  below  the  heels.  In  this  guise  they  run  about 
the  streets,  and  line  the  banks  of  the  river  at  low  water,  seeking 
coals,  sticks,  corks,  for  nothing  comes  amiss  as  treasure-trove ; 
screams  of  delight  burst  occasionally  from  the  crowds,  and  leave  the 
passer-by,  if  he  be  in  a  contemplative  mood,  to  wonder  and  to  rejoice 
that  moral  and  physical  degradation  have  not  yet  broken  every 
spring  of  their  youthful  energies. 

Of  these  nondescripts  he  is  tempted  to  have  eccen- 
tric doubts.  "  They  look  not  like  the  inhabitants  o'  the 
earth,  and  yet  are  on't,"  and  so  he  proceeds  to  investi- 
gate their  natural  history,  their  haunts,  their  habits, 
their  idiosyncrasy,  their  points  of  resemblance  to  the 
rest  of  mankind,  and  the  part  they  sustain  in  the  great 
purpose  of  creation.  This  brings  him,  first,  to  their 
dwellings  : — 

Many  a  weary  and  pestilential  search,  and  many  a  sick  head- 
ache, will  prove  to  the  disgusted  inquirer  that  a  large  proportion  of 
those  who  dwell  in  the  capital  of  the  Britisli  Empire,  are  crammed 
into  regions  of  filth  and  darkness,  the  ancient  but  not  solitary  reign 
of  newts  and  toads.  Here  are  the  receptacles  of  the  species  we  inves- 
tigate ;  here  they  are  spawned,  and  here  they  perish  !  Can  their  state 
be  a  matter  of  wonder  1  We  have  penetrated  alleys  terminating  in 
a  cul-de-sac,  long  and  narrow  like  a  tobacco-pipe,  where  air  and  sun- 
shine were  never  known.  On  one  side  rose  walls  several  feet  in 
height,  blackened  with  damp  and  slime ;  on  the  other  side  stood  the 
dwellings,  still  more  revolting,  while  the  breadth  of  the  wet  and 
bestrewed  passage  would  by  no  means  allow  us  the  full  expansion  of 


1846.]  AMONG   THE  POOR.  163 

our  arms.  We  have  waited  at  the  entrance  of  another  of  similar 
character  and  dimensions,  but  forbidden,  by  the  force  and  pungency 
of  the  odours,  to  examine  its  recesses.  The  novelty  of  a  visit  from 
persons  clad  like  gentlemen,  gave  the  hope  that  Ave  were  officials  ; 
and  several  women,  haggard,  rough,  and  exasperated,  surrounded  us 
at  once,  imploring  us  to  order  the  removal  of  the  filth  which  had 
poisoned  their  tenements,  and  to  grant  them  a  supply  of  water,  from 
which  they  had  been  debarred  during  many  days.  Pass  to  another 
district ;  you  may  think  it  less  confined,  but  there  you  will  see 
flowing  before  each  hovel,  and  within  a  few  feet  of  it,  a  broad,  black, 
uncovered  drain,  exhaling  at  every  point  the  most  unwholesome 
vapours.  If  there  be  not  a  drain,  there  is  a  stagnant  pool ;  touch 
either  with  your  stick,  and  the  mephitic  mass  will  yield  up  its 
poisonous  gas  like  the  coruscations  of  soda-water. 

He  draws  a  melancholy  picture  of  children  sitting  in 
these  depositories  of  death,  in  a  silence  broken  only  by 
an  irritated  scold  or  a  pugnacious  drunkard,  their  dis- 
coloured faces  and  shrivelled  forms  recalling  the  living 
skeletons  of  the  Pontine  Marshes.  Nor  are  the  interiors 
more  inviting  : — 

The  interior  of  the  dwellings  is  in  strict  keeping  ;  the  smaller 
space  of  the  apartments  increasing,  of  course,  the  evils  that  prevail 
without  —  damp,  darkness,  dirt,  and  foul  air.  Many  are  wholly 
destitute  of  furniture  ;  many  contain  nothing  except  a  table  and  a 
chair  ;  some  few  have  a  common  bed  for  all  ages  and  both  sexes ; 
but  a  large  proportion  of  the  denizens  of  those  regions  lie  on  a  heap 
of  rags  more  nasty  than  the  floor  itself.  Happy  is  the  family  that 
can  boast  of  a  single  room  to  itself,  and  in  that  room  a  dry  corner. 

These  people,  although  all  may  not  admit  the 
necessity,  have  a  conviction  that  they  must  live ;  and 
Lord  Ashley  proceeds  to  describe  their  modes  and  habits 
of  life,  their  business  and  amusements.  And  then, 
having  thoroughly  aroused  intense  interest  in  the  waifs 
/  2 


164  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

• 

and  strays  of  London,  he  plunges  into  a  description  of 
what  Kagged  Schools  are  doing  to  meet  the  need  of 
these  neglected  creatures  : — 

Ladies  and  gentlemen  who  walk  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and 
fare  sumptuously  every  day,  can  form  no  adequate  idea  of  the  pain 
and  the  toil  which  the  founders  and  conductors  of  these  schools  have 
joyfully  sustained  in  their  simple  and  fervent  piety.  Surrendering 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  Sabbath,  their  only  day  of  rest,  and  often, 
after  many  hours  of  toil,  giving,  besides,  an  evening  in  the  week, 
they  have  plunged  into  the  foulest  localities,  fetid  apartments,  and 
harassing  duties.  We  have  heard  of  school-rooms  so  closely  packed 
that  three  lads  have  sat  in  the  fireplace,  one  on  each  hob,  and  the 
third  in  the  grate  with  his  head  up  the  chimney  ;  and  frequent  are 
the  occasions  on  which  the  female  teachers  have  returned  to  their 
homes,  covered  with  the  vermin  of  their  tattered  pupils.  All  this 
they  have  done,  and  still  do,  in  the  genuine  spirit  of  Christian 
charity,  without  the  hope  of  recompense,  of  money,  or  of  fame- — it 
staggers  at  first  our  belief,  but  nevertheless  it  is  true ;  and  many  a 
Sunday-school  teacher,  thus  poor  and  zealous,  will  rise  up  in  judg- 
ment with  lazy  ecclesiastics,  boisterous  sectarians,  and  self-seeking 
statesmen. 

Then,  with  that  thorough  mastery  of  detail  which 
distinguished  all  his  efforts,  he  quotes  the  statistics  of 
crime — a  terrible  revelation  of  the  state  of  society  in 
those  days — and  he  says  : — 

Here  is  subject  -  matter  enough  for  the  sentimental,  for  spare 
teai-s,  and  wandering  sympathies  !  Those  who,  amidst  the  enjoy- 
ments of  existence,  seek  the  luxury  of  woe  in  a  poem  or  a  romance 
may  learn  that  the  realities  of  life  are  more  touching  than  fiction ; 
and  the  practical  alleviation  of  sorrow,  quite  as  delightful  as  the 
happy  conclusion  of  a  novel. 

He  narrates  some  of  the  successes  of  those  who  have 
engraved  in  the  work  of  rescue,  and  concludes :  — 


1846.]  POPULARITY  OF  BAGGED  SCHOOLS.  165 

We  are  often  met  with  the  interrogatory — '  What  will  you  do 
with  these  children  when  you  have  educated  them  ? '  A  reply  may 
partly  be  found  in  the  statements  already  given  ;  but  question  for 
question — '  What  will  you  do  with  them  if  you  neglect  to  educate 
them  ] '  They  are  not  soap-bubbles,  or  peach-blossoms— things  that 
can  be  puffed  away  by  the  breath  of  a  suckling  ;  they  are  the  seeds 
of  future  generations ;  and  the  wheat  or  tares  will  predominate,  as 
Christian  principle  or  ignorant  selfishness  shall,  hereafter,  govern 
our  conduct.  We  must  cease,  if  we  would  be  safe,  to  trust  in  measures 
of  coercion  and  chastisement  for  our  juvenile  vagrants ;  they  are  not 
too  many  to  be  educated  as  infants  ;  they  are  far  too  many  to  be 
punished  as  adults.  We  must  entertain  higher  thoughts  for  them 
and  for  England,  and,  witli  a  just  appreciation  of  their  rights  and  our 
own  duties,  not  only  help  them,  by  God's  blessing,  from  these  depths 
of  degradation,  but  raise  them  to  a  level  on  which  they  may  run  the 
course  that  is  set  before  them,  as  citizens  of  the  British  Empire,  and 
heirs  of  a  glorious  immortality. 

This  admirable  article  was  the  means  of  giving  a 
great  impetus  to  Bagged  School  work.  It  was  the  talk 
of  the  town ;  people  ran  wild  about  it ;  extracts  were 
inserted  in  all  the  papers  ;  and  innumerable  people  made 
applications  to  be  taken  to  see  the  Ragged  Schools. 

Lord  Ashley  was  greatly  amused  one  day  at  hearing 
two  men  discussing  the  article. 

"  I  believe  it  was  written  by  Lord  Ashley,"  said 
one. 

"  I  don't  think  so,  because  his  name  isn't  mentioned, 
and  it  isn't  like  his  style." 

"  Those  are  the  very  reasons  that  make  me  think 
he  wrote  it,"  was  the  answer. 

A  few  extracts  from  his  Diary  will  show  how  com- 
pletely absorbed  Lord  Ashley  was  in  the  beneficent 
work  in  which  he  was  engaged  : — 


1G6 


THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 


April  28th. — St.  Giles's.  This  is  my  birthday.  I  am  this  clay 
45  years  old.  Praised  be  the  Lord  that  hath  feci  me  all  my  life  long 
until  this  day.  .  .  Starting  for  London,  though  clay  be  tempting 
here,  to  take  Chair  at  Ragged  School  as  a  sort  of  thankful  offering 
and  appropriate  duty. 

May  29th. — Dined  yesterday  with  .  .  .  The  courtesies  of  life 
and  ancient  friendship  demanded  it.  A  splendid  display  of  luxury 
and  grandeur,  yet  unsatisfactory.  The  contrast  so  great  to  the  places 
where  I  have  passed  so  many  hours  lately,  that  I  felt  almost  uneasy. 
The  few  pounds,  too,  that  I  want,  and  shall  not  obtain,  for  the  esta- 
blishment of  Eagged  Schools,  seemed  wasted  in  every  dish.  All  this 
is  very  well,  according  to  their  wealth  and  station,  now  and  then  ;  but 
the  crumbs  which  fall  from  their  table  are  in  scanty  proportion  to 
the  number  and  abundance  of  their  feasts.  A  greater  simplicity, 
however,  even  in  permitted  things,  would  be  more  beneficial  to  the 
poor,  to  society,  and  to  themselves.  A  life  so  led  rivets  'the  world 
in  the  heart  ; '  and  all  the  externals  of  good  humour,  pious  language, 
and  occasional  charities,  &c,  etc.,  only  contribute  a  hollow  and  de- 
lusive sanction  to  that  system  of  things  which  the  individuals,  and 
the  world  at  large,  have  pre-determined  to  be  right,  because  they 
know  it  to  be  pleasant.  .   .   . 

May    31st. — Whitsunday.       Broadlands Day    beautiful. 

Lose  early,  and  went  out,  like  Wilberforce,  to  make  the  field  my 
oratory  ;  but  the  prayers  of  the  birds,  and  of  all  animated  nature,  had 
more,  no  doubt,  of  sincerity  and  less  of  murmuring  than  mine.  We 
know  well  what  we  dislike  and  deplore ;  but  little  do  we  know  or 
consider  for  what  we  ought  to  be  thankful.  I  wish  that  every  one 
would  daily  and  hourly  set  before  his  eyes,  and  confess,  his  sin  and 
the  sin  of  his  people  :  what  we  have  received  and  done  as  individuals 
and  as  a  nation  ;  what  we  have  left  undone ;  what,  in  the  despite  of 
God's  long-suffering,  we  persist  in  leaving  undone  ;  our  hopes  and 
fears  ;  our  loves  and  hates ;  our  enormous  wealth,  and  still  more 
enormous  covetousness ;  the  cry  of  the  poor,  and  the  sensuality  of 
the  rich  ;  and  then,  if  there  be  but  the  smallest  spark  of  grace  in  the 
soul,  we  shall,  one  and  all,  exclaim  with  Job,  '  Wherefore  I  abhor 
myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes.' 

June  8th. — Went  to  Lambeth  on  Ragged-School  business;  called 
on  a  poor  Irishwoman  whose  husband  had  just  committed  suicide; 
bought,  alas  !  a  '  pledge  medal '  from  the  widow  of  a  man  who  had 


1846.]  SIB    WALTER    RALEIGH.  1G7 

hung  himself  in  a  fit  of  intoxication  !  Took  a  short  walk  afterwards 
in  Park  with  my  sweet  Mary  and  the  baby;  dear  Evelyn  accom- 
panied me.  May  God  be  praised.  01),  if  some  Dives  would  give  me 
two  or  thi'ee  hundred  pounds,  the  price  of  a  picture  or  a  horse,  I 
could  set  up  schools  to  educate  six  hundred  wretched  children  !  .   .  . 

June  12th. — I  am  now  begging  for  four  objects — circulars  out 
upon  each.  God  give  me,  first  wisdom,  and  then  success  !  Busy 
in  founding  a  Ragged  School ;  peculiar  evils  require  peculiar  remedies. 
The  natural  history  of  these  singular  children  cannot  be  read  in  any 
page  of  the  natural  history  of  man  ;  they  are  things  sui  generis, 
nondescripts,  unknown  or  uncared  for,  yet  sharp  enough  for  any 
mischief,  and  in  numbers  enough  to  cause  any  danger.  God 
has  made  them  immortal  beings,  and  no  system  will  receive  His 
blessing  that  does  not  recognise  their  equality  with  ourselves.  Alas  ! 
alas  !  I  can  set  up  a  school  which  shall  give  education  every  evening 
to  280  children  for  £58  a  year — hardly  more  than  it  costs  to  prose- 
cute one  criminal — and  yet  I  can  barely  collect  the  sum  ! 

The  labours  of  Lord  Ashley  were  all -consuming. 
His  time  was  so  broken  to  pieces  by  small  details,  public 
and  private,  that  if,  perchance,  he  had  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  to  spare,  he  hardly  knew  what  to  do  with  it ;  so 
many  things  offered  themselves,  that  the  period  was 
exhausted  in  making  the  selection.  For  a  long  time  he 
was  only  able  to  get  through  one  book,  of  which  he 
writes  : — 

June  ICth. — Have  crawled  by  degrees  through  a  very  entertaining 
Life,  by  Tytler,  of  Sir  W.  Raleigh.  Energy,  genius,  speculative  and 
practical  knowledge  of  all  kinds,  unlimited  courage  and  perseverance, 
promptitude  at  every  moment,  and  adaptation  to  every  circumstance. 
What  a  chequered  life  !  what  an  unhappy  close  !  Indignation  and 
contempt  towards  that  despicable  reptile  of  the  human  race,  James  I., 
are  impotent ;  but  I  feel  them  as  though  he  stood  before  me.  As 
dreams  may  be  urged  as  an  argument  in  favour  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  so  may  this  sense  of  injustice,  perpetrated  whole  centuries 
ago,  be  maintained  as  a  proof  of  final  retribution  ! 


168  THE   EAliL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

Lord  Ashley  could  not  but  think  with  some  anxiety 
of  the  future,  and  ask  himself  the  question,  whether 
he  should  ever  return  to  Parliament.  Useful  as  his 
present  labours  were,  he  felt  himself  "  like  a  man  at 
sea  without  a  rudder."  He  was  constantly  moving  on, 
but  not  to  the  point  he  desired.  He  was  collecting 
facts,  examining  evidence,  and  instituting  inquiries, 
none  of  which  he  could  turn  to  account  as  he  wished. 
He  felt  that  there  was  "no  attraction  or  compensation 
in  the  study  of  human  misery  and  degradation,  except 
in  the  prospect  of  abating  them,"  and  in  order  to  do 
this,  he  must  be  back  again  in  Parliament. 

At  length  the  future  shaped  itself  to  him  with  some 
distinctness,  and  he  wrote  : — 

June  1st. — I  assume,  if  the  Lord  will,  that  I  shall  return  very 
speedily  to  the  House  of  Commons.  What,  then,  shall  I  do?  I 
must  throw  aside  many  questions  in  which  I  take  a  deep  and  glowing 
interest,  because  I  have  neither  time  nor  strength  for  them  all — 
Ireland,  India,  the  Colonies.  There  is  no  likelihood  that  I  shall  be 
called  to  official  life,  and  the  study  of  them,  therefore,  is  not  alto- 
gether necessary.  I  have  no  party  nor  following,  nor  should  I  find 
support  anywhere  to  my  peculiar  opinions  on  these  heads ;  I  should 
be  individualised,  and  reduced  to  a  single  unit.  I  am  somewhat 
differently  situated,  however,  in  respect  to  my  especial  questions; 
and  to  them,  therefore,  I  must  confine  '  les  restes  d'une  voix  qui 
tombe,  et  d'une  ardeur  qui  s'eteint.' 

From  these  I  shall  select  some  three  or  four,  such  as  I  may  hope 
to  compass  in  either  an  equal,  or  less,  number  of  years ;  and  what  a 
blessed  thing  could  I  hear  the  word  spoken  to  Joshua  :  '  The  Lord 
thy  God  is  with  thee,  whithersoever  thou  goest '  ! 

I  will  take,  first,  the  long-agitated,  much-desired,  and  most  blessed 
Ten  Hours  Bill  ;  this,  with  a  Parliamentary  effort  in  behalf  of  the 
'  Ea<rtred  Children,'  will  constitute  the  work  of  next  Session.  I  will 
then  proceed  with  Church  Eeform,  a  reform  that  shall  restore  it  to 


1846.]  RELIGIOUS    ACTIVITY.  169 

the  scheme  of  Cranmer,  Ridley,  and  Latimer,  and  revive,  if  possible, 
the  primitive  examples  ;  and  the  last  that  I  dare  to  contemplate  will 
open  a  series  of  exertions  to  aid,  spiritually  and  physically,  the  op- 
pressed, forsaken,  and  heathen  children  described  and  reported  on  by 
my  Commission  of  1840 — a  vast  and  foul  mass,  which  our  avarice  has 
engendered,  and  our  luxurious  ignorance  overlooks,  and  increases, 
and  perpetuates.  '  "Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?'  Not  I  alone, 
but  any  one,  if  God  be  with  him.  And,  now,  O  God,  the  Father  of 
the  forsaken,  the  help  of  the  weak,  the  supplier  of  the  needy,  who 
hast  diffused  and  proportioned  Thy  gifts  to  body  and  soul,  in  such 
sort  that  all  may  acknowledge  and  perform  the  joyous  duty  of 
mutual  service ;  who  teachest  us  that  love  towards  the  race  of  man 
is  the  bond  of  perfectness,  and  the  imitation  of  Thy  blessed  self : 
open  our  eyes  and  touch  our  hearts,  that  we  may  see  and  do,  both 
for  this  world  and  for  that  which  is  to  come,  the  things  which  belong 
unto  our  peace.  Strengthen  me  in  the  work  that  I  have  now  under- 
taken ;  give  me  counsel  and  wisdom,  perseverance,  faith,  and  zeal, 
and  in  Thine  own  good  time,  and  according  to  Thy  pleasure,  prosper 
the  issue.  But,  0  Lord,  pour  into  me  a  spirit  of  humility  and  fear ; 
let  nothing  be  done  in  a  vain  and  wicked  notion  of  righteousness  and 
merit,  but  in  devout  obedience  to  Thy  will,  thankfulness  for  Thine 
unspeakable  mercies,  and  love  to  Thine  adorable  Son,  Christ  Jesus, 
with  a  constant  and  hearty  confession  of  sin  and  unworthiness,  and 
everlasting  hope  through  His  merits  alone,  our  only  Redeemer  and 
Saviour. 

June  3rd. — Another  object  I  have,  but  I  can  leave  the  special 
conduct  of  it  to  others,  because  societies  are  formed  and  joint-stock 
companies  on  foot ;  slow,  it  is  true,  and  not  very  sure,  but  neverthe- 
less in  action — the  health  of  towns  and  dwellings,  of  all  'physical 
questions  the  most  important  by  far,  and  exercising  a  terrible 
influence  on  things  spiritual. 

In  religious  circles  there  was  an  almost  restless 
activity ;  many  important  movements  were  beginning 
to  strike  root,  and,  to  employ  a  Scriptural  metaphor, 
often  used  by  Lord  Ashley  to  denote  the  early 
indications    of   new   life    in    religious    work,  there  was 


170  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

"the  sound  of  a  going   in   the  tops  of  the  mulberry 
trees." 

Never  was  there  a  time  when  religion  was  brought 
more  prominently  forward,  and  public  prayer  more 
largely  attended.  To  Lord  Ashley  this  did  not  sug- 
gest relaxation  of  effort ;  on  the  contrary,  he  felt  it 
was  an  hour  in  which  every  oue  should  be  up  and  doing, 
and  he  himself  came  forward  more  than  ever  into  the 
forefront  of  the  battle.  In  speaking  of  the  religious 
aspect  of  the  times  at  the  meeting  of  the  Pastoral  Aid 
Society,  he  said :  "  Certain  it  is  that  wherever  there  is  an 
advance  towards  God,  there  is  always  a  proportionate, 
perhaps  a  greater,  advance  towards  evil,  such  is  the 
activity  of  the  Wicked  One  ;  and  you  will  never  be  able 
to  ascertain  until  the  day  of  conflict  and  decision  shall 
have  arrived,  on  which  side  is  the  preponderance  of 
power.  Our  exertions,  therefore,  are  more  than  ever 
needed."  It  was  in  this  year  that  Lord  Ashley  became 
officially  connected  with  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  as  Vice-President — that  Society  which,  in  his 
3'outh,  he  had  been  taught  to  regard  as  revolutionary, 
and  as  undermining  the  foundations  of  Church  and 
State  !  A  few  years  later  he  became  its  President,  and, 
until  the  close  of  his  life,  he  never  ceased  to  take  the 
deepest  interest  in  its  operations. 

Two  other  movements,  of  which  more  will  have  to 
be  said  hereafter,  are  referred  to  for  the  first  time  in 
his  Diaries,  in  this  year. 

Feb.  28th. — Night  before  last  took  chair  at  'Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian  Association.'      Four   hundred  persons  to  tea,   a   very  striking 


1840.]  THE  JERUSALEM  BISHOPRIC.  171 

scene — young  shopmen,  with  their  mothers  and  sisters,  attending 
really  in  a  religious  spirit.  Last  night  presided  in  Covent  Garden 
Theatre  at  Anniversary  of  Metropolitan  Drapers'  Association  for 
early  closing  of  shops.  Both  these  Societies  have  their  origin  in  the 
Ten  Hours  movement. 


The  death  of  Bishop  Alexander  of  Jerusalem,  had 
been  a  terrible  blow  to  the  friends  of  the  enterprise 
he  inaugurated.  He  seemed  to  have  been  a  man  with 
the  special  gifts  and  graces  essential  to  the  trust 
reposed  in  him.  His  own  zeal  helped  to  keep  alive  the 
zeal  of  those  who,  full  of  hope  for  Israel,  lived  in  an- 
ticipation that  the  hour  for  their  restoration  to  their 
own  land  would  speedily  arrive.  The  death  of  the 
Bishop,  cut  off  in  the  midst  of  his  labours,  when 
engaged  in  his  first  episcopal  visitation  of  the  darkened 
kingdom  of  Egypt,  threw  a  gloom  over  these  hopes, 
which,  as  the  years  rolled  on,  were  never  again  revived 
in  the  same  intensity. 

According  to  the  terms  of  the  arrangement  made  on 
the  foundation  of  the  bishopric,  it  was  now  the  turn  of 
the  King  of  Prussia  to  appoint  a  successor  to  the  See 
of  Jerusalem.  He  selected  Dr.  Gobat,  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  a  German  by  nationality,  who  was 
duly  appointed,  and  retained  his  episcopate  for  thirty- 
three  years.  He  was  a  man  of  high  character  and 
principle — an  excellent  man  in  every  respect.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  he  was  not  without  enemies,  and, 
prior  to  his  consecration,  Lord  Ashley  had  to  defend 
him  from  some  odium  and  calumny.  He  believed  in 
the  man  thoroughly,  and,  throughout  his  career,  gave 


172  THE    EARL    OF  SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

him  hearty  and  persevering  support  in  the  difficult 
position  in  which  he  was  placed.  Notwithstanding 
opposition,  Dr.  Gobat's  influence  was  felt  throughout  the 
countries  over  which  his  jurisdiction  extended,  and 
many  abiding  works  have  been  left  behind  as  memorials 
of  his  labours.  As  the  years  went  by,  other  difficulties 
and  dissensions  arose  ;  the  bishopric  did  not  answer  the 
expectations  formed  of  it ;  Jerusalem  showed  no  signs 
of  being  "  a  city  at  unity  with  itself,"  and  the  saying 
of  Newman,  "  I  have  never  heard  of  any  good  or  harm 
that  bishopric  has  ever  done,"  was  bandied  about  until, 
at  last,  it  was  endorsed  even  by  some  of  those  who  in 
1844  were  most  enthusiastic  in  its  favour. 

July  5th,  Sunday. — Attended  to-day  consecration  of  Gobat  as 
Bishop  of  Jerusalem  at  Lambeth  !  a  deeply  interesting  ceremonial  ! 
and  God  be  praised  that  it  is  now  accomplished  ;  but  may  it  in  the 
Lord's  mercy  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  series  of  Gospel  doings  in 
England  and  the  East !  may  it  tend  to  hasten  the  Second  and  glorious 
Advent ! 

On  the  7th  of  July,  Lord  and  Lady  Ashley,  accom- 
panied by  their  four  sons,  started  on  a  tour  in  Swit- 
zerland in  quest  of  health  and  repose.  There  were 
important  reasons  why — "  at  this  season,  in  a  time  of 
great  interest,  of  changing  government,  of  schemes  of 
his  own,  of  Commissions  in  Lunacy,  and  sittings  on 
the  Malta  College  " — Lord  Ashley  should  leave  London. 
It  was,  however,  contrary  to  his  own  wishes,  and 
throughout  the  journey  he  was  depressed  and  harassed 
by  the  claims  of  his  many  conflicting  duties.  "  I 
am  not  very  full  of  agreeable  anticipations,"  he  writes ; 


1846.]  IX  BELGIUM.  173 

"  a  little  low-spirited.     My  heart  returns  to  my  objects 
in  public  life." 

From  his  ample  Diary  we  shall  only  quote  very 
briefly.  The  first  halting-place  on  the  journey  was  at 
Ghent. 

.  .  .  Went  to  seethe  Church  of  the  Beguines.  .  .  I  cannot  get  over 
these  Beguines  ;  they  seem  to  be  the  '  ne  plus  ultra '  of  uselessness. 
What  purpose  do  they  serve,  750  of  them,  beyond  making  a  sight 
for  curious  foreigners,  materials  for  a  handbook,  and  aids  to  a 
rhapsody  !  Doubtless,  the  first  view  of  the  church  was  singular  and, 
to  a  certain  extent,  impressive,  but  only  from  its  novelty.  The  large 
white  covering  on  the  head  of  each  gave  an  appearance  as  if  the 
church  were  studded  with  pigmy  tents,  but  then  the  silence  of  the 
assembly,  and  the  attitude  of  prayer,  struck  the  imagination,  until 
the  bursting  of  the  organ  into  something  like  a  jig,  after  a  few  notes 
of  more  reverential  music,  raised  the  eyes  to  the  figure  of  the 
Virgin,  the  great  object  of  their  adoration,  a  doll  of  about  two 
feet  in  height  and  figged  out  in  a  pink  court-dress  ! 

There  is  evidence  in  the  Diary  that,  to  Lord  Ashley, 
the  first  few  days  of  the  tour  were  full  of  irritation 
and  unrest.  The  cares  and  anxieties  which  had 
thickened  around  him  of  late,  had  left  their  impres- 
sion ;  he  was  out  of  health,  and  jaded  in  body  and  mind. 

The  first  real  relief  came  to  him,  as  it  came  in  old 
time  to  the  Psalmist,  "  in  the  sanctuary  of  God." 

Sunday. — -Attended  service.  An  unknown  man  preached  a 
sermon  from  the  text,  '  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters,  and  thou 
shalt  find  it  after  many  days.'  He  proceeded  to  enlarge  on  the  hopes 
and  duties  of  perseverance — never  to  be  weary  in  well-doing,  to 
banish  despair,  or  even  despondency,  in  the  pursuit  of  things  tending 
to  the  honour  of  God  and  the  welfare  of  mankind.  He  directed  his 
discourse  specially  to  ministers  with  cure  of  souls  ;  to  philanthropists, 
and  to  pai'ents.     His  observations  were  just,  true,  and  affectionate; 


174  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

he  dwelt  more  particularly  on  the  cares,  anxieties,  and  disappoint- 
ments of  parents,  and  showed  that  they  were  seldom,  if  ever,  without 
their  fruit  at  the  last ;  he  considered  their  labours  and  their  prayers 
as  seed  which  might  lie  long  before  it  sprang,  and  still  longer  before 
the  harvest,  but  he  held  it  to  be  nearly  sure,  as  the  fulfilment  of  a 
Divine  promise.  His  entire  discourse  seemed  a  special  message  to 
my  doubts  and  apprehensions,  a  spur  to  my  discouragements,  a  balm 
to  my  failures,  a  word  of  exhortation  to  invigorate  the  mind  into 
which  I  had  fallen  during  the  last  few  days  !     Blessed  be  His  name  ! 

At  Carlsruhe,  "  built  like  a  fan,  of  which  the  streets 
are  the  ribs,  and  the  tower  from  which  you  see  it  the 
bulb,"  he  enjoyed  the  forest  scenery,  and  pronounced 
his  rest  there  to  be  "  good,  very  good." 

July  16th.  .  .  .  Baden.  Certainly,  it  is  a  lovely  spot ;  nothing 
is  common,  nothing  is  without  its  point.  The  undulating  hills  all 
around,  clad  with  the  deep,  close  velvet  of  the  Black  Forest,  keep  the 
place  at  all  times  in  a  dress  of  state.  But  I  am  sure  that  it  shares 
the  climate  of  Aix  and  Carlsbad,  and,  clown  in  its  luscious  valleys, 
would  suck  out  every  energy  of  mind  and  body.  Ascended  hill  in  a 
carriage  to  view  Alte  Schloss.  .  .  .  When  one  stands  on  the  pinnacle 
of  these  remnants  of  former  days,  and  surveys,  even  to  giddiness,  the 
terrible  abyss  below,  the  almost  unassailable  strength  of  the  fortress, 
and  endeavours  to  estimate  the  vice  and  violence  against  which  these 
preparations  were  made,  and  the  sorrows  and  fears  their  inmates 
must  have  often  endured — first  one  heartily,  aye  most  heartily,  blesses 
God  that  our  lot  is  cast  in  a  milder  and  a  better  age ;  and  then  one 
proceeds  to  sympathise  with  those  victims  of  robbery  and  murder, 
who,  to  flee  from  power,  had  made  their  nest  in  a  rock.  All  this 
sentiment  continues  in  full  force  itntil  you  descend  to  the  Neue 
Schloss  below,  and  there  inspect  the  distressing  dungeons  and  all  the 
various  inventions  and  appliances  of  incarceration  and  torture.  These 
scoundrels  inflicted  as  much  as  they  suffered  ;  it  was  defect  of  means, 
not  excess  of  compassion,  that  restrained  their  hands  ;  the  wretch 
that  screamed  on  the  rack,  or  pined  in  the  oubliette,  had  forecast 
the  same  for  the  monster  that  thrust  him  in.  These  things,  although 
memorials  of  events  long  passed,  turn  me  quite  sick.     I  felt  the  same 


1846.]  GERMAN   LIFE.  175 

at  Ratisbon  three  years  ago  ;  I  felt  it  here.  Aye,  well  may  we  say 
with  David,  '  Let  me  fall  into  the  hands  of  God,  and  not  into  the 
hands  of  men  ! ' 

July  17th. — Read  one  of  the  'Tales  of  the  Genii'  to  the  kids, 
making  such  verbal  alterations  and  omissions  as  propriety  required. 
Works  of  fiction  may  be  read  in  moderation  with  considerable 
effect ;  and  specially  such  as  these,  where  there  is  always  a  high  tone 
of  morality  and  sentiment.  The  author,  by  a  hazardous  attempt  to 
render,  by  his  descriptions,  the  indulgence  of  the  passions  odious,  has 
excited  thoughts  which  should  ever  be  suppressed.  The  best  way  to 
avoid  sin  is  not  to  know  it ;  the  knowledge  of  evil  brought  in  both 
the  practice  and  the  love  thereof. 

July  18th.  .  .  .  These  Gemians  lead  an  easy,  sensual,  sleepy  life 
of  placid  and  noiseless  current.  It  is  wonderful  that  creatures  of  such 
a  vegetative  habit  should  have  produced,  and  should  still  be  pro- 
ducing, men  and  things  of  so  high  an  order.  Intellectually  they  are 
very  great ;  were  they  physically  equal  in  their  energies  to  the 
British  people  there  would  be  nothing  on  earth  to  compare  with 
them — but  it  is  not  so.  One  Englishman  will  perform  his  work  in 
half  the  time  that  it  takes  two  Germans  to  consider  it,  and  whether 
it  be  the  stoker  of  a  steam-boat,  a  banker's  clerk,  or  a  commissioner 
of  police,  or  a  gentleman  at  dinner,  the  British  nation  will  save  both 
time  and  trouble.  Surely  their  mode  of  life  in  the  present  day,  their 
constant  and  friendly  intercourse,  their  tranquil  smoking,  their  baths, 
their  gardens,  their  naps,  their  mid-day  retirement,  are  a  wonderful 
contrast  to  the  savage  conflict,  the  uproarious  festivals,  the  dirt,  the 
prisons,  and  the  everlasting  watchfulness  against  danger,  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

Between  Kehl  and  Strasburg,  with  "  the  air  de- 
licious, the  tints  on  the  mountains  deep  and  rich,  the 
snug  and  picturesque  cottages  embosomed  in  trees,  the 
agreeable  costume  of  the  peasantry,"  there  was  sufficient 
to  "  have  furnished  a  hundred  thoughts  to  verse-makers 
and  lovers." 

In  Strasburg  a  visit  was  paid  to  the  grand  monu- 
ment of  Marshal  Saxe. 


176  THE    EAEL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

The  piece  of  sculpture  has  made  a  great  noise  in  Europe.*  I 
confess  that,  greatly  as  I  admired  many  parts  of  it,  the  figure  of  the 
Marshal  made  me  laugh.  He  looks  like  a  principal  singer  coming 
forward  to  the  lamps  at  the  theatre  to  give  us  a  popular  air ;  all 
smiles  and  self-possession.  The  female  figure  is  unequalled,  and 
there  is  much  original  genius  and  execution  in  the  figure  of  Death. 
As  for  the  British  lion,  the  Dutch  bear,  and  the  sentimental  Her- 
cules, they  are  good,  but  irresistibly  comic  ! 

Much  later  in  life  Lord  Shaftesbury  took  an  active 
part  in  the  movement  in  London  for  funeral  reforms  ; 
and  was  even  an  advocate  of  cremation.  It  is  interesting 
to  catch  a  glimpse  of  his  views  on  these  subjects  at  this 
early  date. 

.  .  .  Taken  to  see  a  dried  Count  of  Nassau  and  his  dried 
daughter,  all  in  their  fine  clothing  as  they  were  embalmed  and  buried 
four  hundred  years  ago.  What  is  this  passion  that  people  have  had, 
and  still  have,  to  battle  with  nature,  and  resist,  if  they  can,  the 
decree,  '  Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return  '  1  Do  they 
believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body  1  If  so,  let  them  trust  the 
power  and  goodness  of  God.  Do  they  disbelieve  it  1  What  satisfac- 
tion to  prolong  the  existence  of  a  shrivelled,  sapless,  disfigured,  and 
disgusting  carcase  !  . 

Alsace  suggests  to  him  this  query: — 

Why  did  the  Allies  in  1815,  when  they  adjusted  the  kingdoms  of 
Europe,  leave  this  German  territory  in  the  hands  of  France  1  It  was 
acquired  by  fraud  and  violence,  by  the  actions  of  war  in  a  period 
of  peace,  under  the  authority  of  that  arch-villain  and  exceeding 
charlatan,  Louis  "  le  Grand."  It  is  "  as  one  of  the  royal  cities," 
and  should  be  restored  to  the   German  Confederation.     I  believe, 

*  Tt  represents  the  Marshal  as  in  the  act  of  descending  iuto  the  tomb, 
opened  for  his  reception  by  Death,  while  a  female  figure,  symbolising 
France,  strives  to  detain  him ;  and  Hercules,  in  mournful  attitude,  leans 
upon  his  club. 


1S-1C]  GERMAN  PHILOSOPHY.  177 

however,  that  it  is  not  ill-governed  ;  and  had  ic  been  restored  to  Ger- 
many would  probably  have  been  annexed  to  some  second-rate  Duchy. 

In  his  journeys,  Lord  Ashley  always  took  care  to 
try  and  find  out  what  signs  of  activity  were  being 
shown  in  Christian  work,  and  at  Basle,  the  "  Holy 
City  "  of  Switzerland,  he  discovered  more  regard  for 
religion,  than  in  any  other  town  of  the  Republic.  There 
were  missiouary  establishments  and  Bible  societies  and 
Evangelical  preachers  and  Sabbath  observances. 

Called  on  the  Professor  Hoffmann  ;  found  him  kind,  intelligent, 
and  pious.  He  gave  an  encouraging  account  of  the  progress  of 
Christian  principle  and  Christian  action  in  Germany.  He  stated 
that,  seven  years  ago,  he  knew  but  rive  persons  of  station  who  took 
any  interest  in  missionary  operations  ;  he  now  knows  fifty  ;  and  that 
their  meetings,  which  at  one  time  were  '  well '  attended  by  twenty 
persons,  numbered  at  present  nearly  four  thousand. 

As  set  against  this,  however,  he  found  that  the  pro- 
gress of  systematic  and  avowed  '  Freethinking  ' — the  foe 
he  was  hereafter  to  meet  in  constant  battle — was  increas- 
ing to  an  alarming  degree,  and  spreading  even  among 
the  poorer  sort. 

Here  is  a  peculiarity  among  the  German  literati ;  professorial 
chairs  are  held,  and  public  lectures  given,  by  men  of  open,  acknow- 
ledged, and  boastful  Atheism  ;  nor  does  opinion  frown  them  down. 
We  have  bad  people  in  England,  but  few  dare  to  parade  their  make- 
beliefs  with  ostentation  and  joy. 

.  .  .  Saw  the  cathedral — curious,  and  worth  the  walk  if  it  were 
oidy  to  pay  respect  to  the  memory  of  Erasmus.  I  have  always  a 
sneaking  sympathy  with  that  man  ;  he  saw  the  truth,  loved  it,  and 
yet  he  dared  not  to  be  a  martyr  in  the  hour  of  trial.  I  fear  I  should 
have  been  a  hare  like  him. 

m 


178  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

The  fountains  of  the  towns  and  villages,  combining 
ornament  and  use  in  a  signal  manner,  were  to  Lord 
Ashley  a  most  agreeable  feature  : — 

Had  T  a  landed  property  I  should  erect  them  in  every  village  for 
the  convenience  of  the  people.  The  resort  to  them  in  the  evening 
recalls  the  primitive  times  and  the  narratives  of  Scripture.  Just 
now,  under  the  window,  there  are  assembled  at  one  fountain  several 
women  with  their  vessels,  a  number  of  nakeddegged  children,  and 
many  cows  and  oxen  drinking.  '  Our  father  Jacob  gave  us  this  well 
and  drank  thereof  himself,  his  children,  and  his  cattle  !  '  .  .  .  The 
sunset  was  lovely  ;  and,  as  it  lighted  up  the  distant  peaks  of  the 
snowy  range  of  the  Alps  with  its  parting  rays,  revived  the  conso- 
latory words  of  our  blessed  Lord,  '  I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless  ; 
I  will  come  again  unto  you  ! ' 

On  the  Lake  of  Lucerne  he  recalls  some  of  the 
deeds  of  patriotism  achieved  on  its  borders  : — 

But  for  my  own  part  I  feel  no  very  great  enthusiasm  about 
Helvetic  Liberties.  ...  I  find  nothing  to  dwell  upon,  in  the  results 
of  such  actions,  on  the  welfare  of  mankind.  The  world  has  gained 
no  advantage  in  morals,  politics,  science  or  religion  from  the  Swiss 
people ;  but  the  Swiss  people  have  received  an  uncommon  share 
of  admiration  and  countenance  from  the  world.  God  grant  them 
virtue  and  peace.  ... 

Even  at  such  an  early  date  as  1S4G,  the  hand  of 
change  was  working  wonders  in  Switzerland  :— 

Aug.  1st. — Interlaken.  ...  I  saw  this  place  two-and-twenty 
years  ago  ;  it  was  then  a  beautifully  rural  spot,  an  Auburn  to  have 
delighted  Goldsmith.  Cows,  cottages,  and  peasants,  everything  in 
harmony  with  the  scenery  around,  and  the  few  strangers  who  flitted 
past,  or  stationed  themselves  for  a  while  in  the  modest  inn,  had  all 
the  air  of  travellers,  persons  who  had  trodden,  or  were  preparing  to 
tread,  the  mountains.  This  evening  I  drove  along  a  miniature  revival 
of  the  Parisian   boulevards — shops,  benches,  groups  of  fashionables 


1S4G.J  GUINDELWALB    GLACIER.  179 

in  suitable  conversation,  hotels,  casinos,  and  all  that  can  banish  the 
country  and  bring  in  the  town.  The  hills  are  still  high,  and  the 
pastures  green,  but  they  are  peopled  by  a  different  race,  and 

'  All,  save  the  spirit  of  man,  is  divine  ! ' 

At  Grrindelwald  the  freshness  and  vivacity  of  the  air 
gave  all  the  party  elasticity  and  spirit,  "  with  a  capa- 
city," says  Lord  Ashle}^,  "  I,  at  least,  had  not  known 
since  I  left  England,  to  enjoy  life."  His  admiration  of 
the  glacier  was  unbounded  : — 

Never  was  a  river  born  so  suddenly  and  so  magnificently.  It 
does  not  come  creeping  in  a  thread-like  stream,  from  small  and  silent 
fountains,  but  gushes  forth  in  full  size,  like  Minerva  from  Jupiter's 
head,  and  rushing  with  thunder  into  an  amphitheatre  of  mountains, 
escapes  through  the  windings  of  the  valley.  On  either  side  of  these 
mighty  pyramids  of  ice,  stands  an  enormous  mountain  of  naked 
granite,  and  behind  them  rise  the  lofty  and  terrible  peaks  of  the 
Vischerhorn,  covered  with  masses  of  everlasting  snow.  There  they 
all  stand  in  the  stillest  and  most  awful  majesty,  engaged,  as  it  were, 
to  watch  the  only  thing  that  1ms  sound  and  motion,  the  river,  which 
issues  forth  from  a  beautiful  archway,  beautiful  in  the  form  and 
colour  of  the  ice,  at  the  foot  of  the  glacier. 

The  illness  of  his  son  Maurice,  who  was  one  of  the 
party,  had  given  cause  from  time  to  time  for  great 
anxiety,  and  on  the  4th  of  August,  the  following  entry 
appears  in  the  Diary: — 

Maurice  has  become  languid  as  a  drooping  flower ;  the  good 
effects  of  the  place  are  gone  back ;  we  must  return  without  delay  to 
England.   .  .  . 


■&j 


The  determination  was  not  altogether  in  opposition 
to  Lord  Ashley's  desires. 
m  2 


180  THE    EARL    OF  SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV. 

I  felt  wonderfully  well,  and  gloriously  enjoyed  existence,  when  on 
the  Wengern  Alp  ;  I  know  not  that  I  have  been  really  elastic  at 
any  other  time  during  this  tour. 

They  returned  at  once  to  Interlaken,  and  from 
thence  the  travellers  proceeded  to  Berne,  en  route  for 
Rotterdam. 

Aug.  11th.  .  .  .  Berne  is  Protestant,  no  doubt,  but  its  observance 
of  the  Sabbath  has  nothing  in  it  of  the  '  sour,  ascetic  stiffness  '  of  the 
old  Puritans.  The  blue-book  of  Connecticut  is  reversed  here  ;  and  if 
jollity  can  recommend  the  Reformed  faith,  let  the  gainsayers  seek 
their  refutation  at  Berne.  The  noise  all  night  in  the  public  street 
was  that  of  '  men  dividing  the  spoil ; '  they  shouted,  they  sang,  they 
marched,  they  ate  and  drank  in  the  public  saloons  ;  and  'the  tabret  and 
harp  were  in  their  feasts.'  Then  came  the  cracking  and  re-cracking 
of  whips,  the  rumbling  of  diligences,  the  argumentations  of  bedless 
loiterers.  All  conspired  to  drive  sleep  from  my  eyes,  and  respect 
from  my  heart  for  the  police  of  Berne. 

Aug.  19th. — Rotterdam.  Went  to  see  a  Dutch  Fair,  amused 
beyond  all  precedent ;  could  have  spent  hours,  had  but  minutes.  We 
must,  if  it  please  God,  have  at  some  future  time  a  tour  in  Holland, 
and  a  leisurely  one ;  nothing  could  be  more  interesting  and  in- 
structive. .  .  .  Why  did  we  ever  (God  forbid  that  we  should  repeat 
such  a  folly)  go  to  war  with  the  Dutch  %  Our  interests  are  alike ; 
one  or  two  trifling  questions  of  trade  may,  for  a  while,  jilace  us  in 
opposition,  though  on  false  grounds,  but  our  great  political  interests, 
all  that  concerns  our  social  and  national  positions,  are  the  same.  .  .  . 
A  singular  effect  occurred  last  Sunday  during  the  reading  of  the 
Communion  service.  A  Roman  Catholic  procession  had  stopped  to 
offer  its  adorations  to  the  Virgin  ;  and  just  at  the  moment  when  the 
song  of  idolatry  began,  the  clergyman  read,  '  Thou  shalt  have  none 
other  Gods  but  me.'  The  response,  'Lord  have  mercy  upon  us,  and 
incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law,'  went  with  joy  to  one's  very 
heart 

The  passage  from  Rotterdam,  occupying  thirty-six 
hours,   was    accomplished   in  a   dreadfully   rolling    sea, 


184:J.J  AFTER    MANY   TEAMS.  151 

with  an  adverse  wind,  heavy  rains,  and  an  awful  thunder- 
storm, but  owing  to  a  severe  attack  of  mal  de.  mer, 
Lord  Ashley  says  : — 

I  regarded  them  with  the  indifference  of  a  man  who  has  more 
important  things  to  think  of. 

On  the  last  page  of  the  Diary  there  is  the  following 

note  : — 

This  journal,  like  the  three  of  preceding  dates,  re-opened  for  the 
first  time  (after  having  being  written)  in  August,  1880.  Never 
kept,  afterwards,  the  journal  of  a  tour.  The  re-perusal  of  them  is 
best  described  in  Cowper's  words  : — 

'  How  soft  the  music  of  those  village  bells 
Falling  at  intervals  upon  the  ear 
In  cadence  sweet,  now  dying-  all  away, 
Now  pealing  loud  again  and  louder  still, 
Clear  and  sonorous  as  the  gale  comes  on  ! 
With  easy  force  it  opens  all  the  cells 
Where  memory  slejjt.' 

And  so  here.  What  experience  of  life  !  what  tenderness  of  feeling, 
what  truth  of  heart  !  what  depth  of  simplicity  in  these  lines  ! 

In  all  these  journals,  which  I  bequeath  to  my  beloved  daughter 
Victoria,  there  may  be  seen  consistency  of  the  past  with  the  present. 
May  have  been  right,  may  have  been  wrong,  but  at  least  do  not  con- 
tradict myself  and  make  the  last  half  of  my  life  antagonistic  to  the 
first.  Great  infirmity,  much  trace  throughout  of  original  sin,  and  yet, 
though  now,  on  a  revision,  could  wish,  were  it  possible,  to  add  much 
to  what  is  gone  by,  see  nothing  to  take  away.  Never  intended  for 
the  eyes  of  any  one  but  of  myself  and  of  that  beloved  woman  now 
gone  to  her  rest,  they  are  the  entries  of  one  day  after  another  ;  and 
everything  may  be  said  against  them  but  the  charge  that  they  were 
not  hearty  and  sincere.  Victoria  may  find  them  interesting  and, 
possibly,  even  profitable. 

Almost   immediately    after   his   return   to  London, 
Lord  Ashley  received  two   important   letters,  one  from 


182  THE    EAIIL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIV. 

Bath,  and  the  other  from  Oxford,  inviting  him  to  be 
the  representative  in  Parliament  of  each  of  these  con- 
stituencies. He  briefly  records  the  fact  in  his  Diary, 
and  adds  : — 

Nightmare  !  and  dreams  all  night.  "Went  up,  of  course,  '  for  my 
degree.'  * 

Later  on  he  writes  : — 

Oct.  3rd. — Offers  from  Bath  to  represent  that  place  at  the  next 
election — replied  that  I  wished  to  have  some  assurances  and  guaran- 
tees as  to  support  and  expense.  Many,  from  the  county,  urge  my 
reconsideration  of  Dorset;  but  the  matter  is  very  doubtful.  The  Pro- 
tection party  are  determined  to  regain  all  that  they  have  lost,  and 
will,  therefore,  oppose  my  at  least  quiet  return.  I  am  not  prepared 
with  any  seat,  nor  have  I,  except  Bath,  any  prospect  of  one. 

Dec.  26. — Many  kind  letters  from  Bath,  still  urging  me  to 
become  a  candidate,  and  engaging  to  bear  every  expense.  I  am  not 
anxious  to  accept  the  offer ;  I  have,  indeed,  ceased  to  be  anxious,  at 
least  I  fancy  so,  to  enter  Parliament  again;  but  I  must  receive  the 
deputation.  I  should  prefer,  no  doubt,  an  honourable  return  to  my 
own  county,  but  my  enemies  there  are  bitter,  and  my  friends  are 
slow — every  word  that  I  read  from  the  county  confirms  me  in  my 
judgment,  that  I  ought  not  to  place  myself  forward  unless  invited 
by  a  requisition,  which,  in  all  likelihood,  I  shall  never  have.  .  .  . 

The  month  of  October  found  Ireland  on  the  brink  of 
starvation.  Lord  Ashley  had  maintained  that  every 
one  ought,  by  private  self-denial,  to  aid  the  legislative 
effort  for  relief,  and  abridge  his  own  consumption,  that 
"all  might  have  a  little."  He  never  advised  others  to 
do  what  he  wras  not  prepared  to  do  himself,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  therefore  to  meet  with  these  records : — 

*  He  used  to  say  that,  whenever  he  had  a  l'estless  or  disturbed  night, 
his  dreams  always  recurred  to  the  "going  up  "  for  his  degree  at  Oxford. 


184(3.]  POPE   PIUS  IX.  183 

Oct.  7th. — Found  all  provisions  rising  in  price.  Gave  orders 
that  no  more  potatoes  should  be  bought  for  the  house.  We  must 
not,  by  competing  in  the  market,  raise  the  cost  on  the  poor  man. 
He  has  nothing  after  this  to  fall  back  upon.    .  .  . 

Dec.  12th. — Ireland  is  manifestly  set  for  our  punishment,  the 
slow  but  just  punishment  of  a  ruling  power  that  thrust  upon  it 
Popery,  anarchy,  and  unsympathising  proprietors.  The  nation  is 
irreconcilable  to  the  Saxon  authority.  Our  late  repentance,  and 
numerous  benefits,  are  perverted  to  our  injury.  Famine  stalks 
through  the  land.  We  expend  money  for  their  maintenance  at  the 
rate  of  £127,000  a  week;  and  the  starving  j)easantry  can  save, 
from  this  effort  of  mercy  and  munificence,  enough  to  purchase 
arms  to  a  greater  extent  than  was  ever  before  known  for  the 
assault  and  overthrow  of  their  benefactors  !  And  yet  so  besotted 
are  we,  that  all  this  is  turned  into  an  additional  argument  for  the 
endowment  of  the  Irish  priesthood  !  .  .   . 

Dec.  29th.  —  Ireland  is  terrible,  terrible,  teiTible.  And  the 
year  1847  will  be  worse  than  1846.  Counsel  has  perished  from 
among  us.  We  are  at  our  wit's  end.  It  is  a  just  retribution  for 
our  sins  towards  that  country.  '  Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you 
out.' 

A  few  extracts  from  the  Diary,  selected  from  many, 
will  tell,  in  the  briefest  way,  what  were  the  subjects 
pressing  upon  the  thoughts  of  Lord  Ashley  towards  the 
end  of  this  year  of  ceaseless  activity  : — 

Sept.  1st. — A  Pope  called  Pius  IX.  has  mounted  the  Roman 
throne.  He  is  '  like  the  Son  of  Nimshi,'  he  '  driveth  furiously.' 
He  will  soon  be  the  most  popular,  as  he  seems  to  be  the  most  liberal 
man  of  his  day.  Shouts  attend  him  wherever  he  goes.  His  plans 
for  '  reform  '  are  more  rapid  and  more  extensive  than  the  capacity, 
at  the  moment,  of  the  people  to  receive  them  !  To  what  will  all 
this  grow1?  Most  assuredly  these  political  advances  cannot  co-exist 
with  the  maintenance  of  ecclesiastical  monarchy. 

Sept.  5. — Took  chair  on  Thursday,  at  Bunsen's  request,  to  form 
Society  for  the  Religious  Care  and  Instruction  of  Foreigners,  there 
being    nearly     one    hundred    thousand    in    this     land,    and    totally 


184-  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIV 

neglected.  Tholuck,  Monod,  and  some  American  divines  attended. 
It  was  altogether  highly  interesting,  and  the  scheme  is  one  which 
we  are  bound  to  attempt. 

Sept.  16th. — The  '  Evangelical  Alliance  '  is,  like  the  Anti-Corn- 
Law  League,  a  'great  fact.'  It  does  not  appear  likely,  however, 
to  have  practical  results  in  the  same  proportion — its  chief  result,  for 
the  present,  must  be  that  such  a  meeting  could  have  been  collected 
and  conducted  on  such  principles  and  in  such  a  manner. 

Oct.  25th. — Dined  last  night  with  Kingscote,  to  consider  plan 
for  larger  admission  of  laity  to  services  in  the  Church.  To  be 
submitted  to  the  Bishop  of  London.  Our  consultation  seemed  to 
prosper,  and  all  present  were  of  one  mind.  It  is  a  great  under- 
taking, and  involves,  so  far  as  our  human  eyes  can  see,  the  per- 
manency and  efficiency  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Two  days  later  Lord  Ashley  wrote  to  Lord  John 
Russell  to  request  an  interview,  in  order  that  he 
might  talk  to  him  on  the  state  of  the  Church,  and  on 
the  29th  he  called  on  him  by  appointment.  The  inter- 
view was  a  hurried  one,  hut  the  conversation  then  com- 
menced was  resumed  at  a  further  interview  on  the  31st. 

Oct.  31st, — I  shall  here  enter  the  topics  of  our  first  interview. 
State  of  Universities ;  proportion  of  tainted  men  who  yearly  enter 
ministry  ;  effect  of  their  clerical  conduct  ;  indifference  or  indignation 
of  people  ;  progress  of  '  Gregorianism  '  among  wealthy  ;  result  among 
people  at  large ;  Laud  and  Puritans  ;  efforts  of  Tractarians  to  sever 
Church  and  State ;  hence  their  desire  to  see  bishops  out  of  Parlia- 
ment ;  warned  him  against  such  a  step  without  great  consideration ; 
cited  conduct  of  Scotch  bishops  as  proof  of  tyranny  and  ecclesiastical 
despotism  in  those  who  had  no  public  responsibility;  mentioned 
King  Charles's  Club  at  Oxford ;  and  observed  a  dangerous  precedent 
set  by  Archbishop  of  Dublin  ;  appointments  of  bishops,  so  far  as 
possible,  from  those  who  have  had  parochial  experience ;  assured  him 
that,  through  human  infirmity,  bishops  in  general  inclined  to  High 
Church  rather  than  Low,  and  would  be  blind  to  many  Tractarian 
tendencies  in  one  who  exalted  the  episcopal  office.    To-day  I  resumed 


1846.]  INTERVIEW  WITH  LOUD  JOHN  RUSSELL.         185 

by  quoting  the  instances  of  Bishop  Denison  and  Thirlwall  to  prove 
the  difficulty  of  judging  the  future  characters  of  men — he  saw  it. 
'  You  cannot,'  I  said,  '  enjoy  peace  of  conscience,  amidst  all  these 
difficulties,  unless  you  make  your  appointments  as  in  the  sight  of 
God,  knowing  that  you  will  render  an  account  for  the  use  of  your 
power.'  He  assented  to  this.  I  told  him  that  I  had  not  touched  on 
the  spiritual  character  of  their  doctrines ;  I  had  confined  myself  to 
those  points  which  chiefly  affected  Government  >  it  was,  however,  to 
be  borne  in  mind  that  it  was  a  soul-destroying  heresy.'  He  asked 
me  what  I  knew  of  Archdeacon  Hare  ;  I  replied  in  terms  of  high 
eulogy  of  his  learning,  eloquence,  and  piety.  '  Is  he  not  unsteady  ] ' 
he  said.  '  I  consulted  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  who  knew  nothing 
about  him.  '  '  His  unsteadiness,'  I  replied,  '  if  he  have  any,  arises 
from  his  too  deep  study  of  German  theology  and  German  metaphysics ; 
it  breaks  out  in  conversation,  but  will  never  influence  his  writing  or 
preaching.'  '  Do  you  know  Pelham  V  (he  had,  I  perceived,  seen  my 
list).  ;  Not  myself,  but  those  in  whom  I  have  confidence  speak 
most  highly  of  him  ;  he  is  a  superior  man  in  firmness  and  decision 
to  his  brother.'  I  then  introduced  the  name  of  Archdeacon  Shirley 
as  a  person  fit  for  any  station,  adding,  '  he  is  a  Whig ;  and  I  say  this 
because  I  cannot  pretend  to  be  ignorant  that,  after  all,  a  Minister 
must  listen  to  those  who  support  him,  and  that,  if  cceteris  paribus  he 
have  a  fit  man  on  his  side  of  politics,  he  may,  for  the  sake  of  peace, 
advance  such  a  person.'  '  Yes,'  he  replied,  '  cceteris  paribus.  A 
Minister  is  exposed  to  great  annoyances  if  he  overlook  a  man  on  his 
own  side.'  He  proceeded  :  '  I  dislike  Tractarians  and  Tractarianism; 
but  I,  as  much,  dislike  those  parties  who  speak  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
in  such  violent  terms,  and  who  would  degrade  them  to  the  condition 
of  serfs,  and  who  entertain  sentiments  bordering  on  persecution  ; 
men  like  Sir  Culling  Smith.'  '  I  have  no  sympathy,'  I  replied,  'with 
any  such  excesses  ;  I  do  not  approve  of  this  unmeasured  violence 
you  speak  of ;  but  I  see  what  is  passing  through  your  mind,  and  I 
will  be  candid  with  you.  Now,  in  this  case,  as  in  all  where  I  have 
spoken  freely,  it  is  not  to  obtain  your  secret  opinions.  I  should  be 
ashamed  of  such  a  low,  prying  curiosity  ;  do  not,  therefore,  make 
me  any  answer  or  any  observation.  It  is  reported  that  the  great 
desire  of  your  Government,  it  may  not  be  actually  their  policy,  is  to 
endow  the  Romish  priesthood  in  Ireland.  Now,  if  you  think  to 
engage  more   than  a   fraction  of  the  Evangelical   body  in  such  ub 


183  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XIV 

undertaking,  you  will  make  an  awful  miscalculation  ;  this  is  a  point 
on  which  they  are,  I  am  sure,  quite  resolved ;  if  you  threaten  that, 
if  the  proposition  be  resisted,  the  Empire  will  be  dismembered,  they 
will  reply,  '  Let  it  be  dismembered '  ;  if  you  say  that  desolation  will 
extend  over  the  realms  of  England,  they  will  answer,  '  Let  it  be 
desolated '  ;  there  is  no  consequence  they  will  not  endure,  very  few 
degrees  of  resistance  that  they  will  not  consider  legitimate.  The 
Dissenters  will  join  them,  partly  on  the  ground  of  dislike  to  Popery, 
partly  on  the  ground  of  dislike  to  establishments.'  He  seemed  to 
admit  this  entirely.  '  I  have  now,'  I  added,  '  taken  up  much  of  your 
time  ;  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  opportunity  ;  I  shall  never 
again  intrude  on  you  in  these  matters,  unless  you  send  me  an  invi- 
tation ;  and  I  shall  then  think  it  a  duty  to  obey  your  summons. 
May  I,  however,  be  permitted  to  send  you  a  list  of  names  1  you  will, 
of  course,  throw  it  behind  the  fire,  or  consult  it,  as  you  may  see  fit.' 
He  assented ;  we  then  parted.  Same  evening  I  saw  Sir  George 
Grey.  Russell  had  told  him  of  our  interview  j  '  I  hate  the  Tract- 
arians,'  added  Russell,  '  because  they  persecute  the  Dissenters,  and 
I  hate  the  Evangelicals  because  they  would  oppress  the  Roman 
Catholics.'  He  assured  me,  however,  that  J.  R.  was  exceedingly 
well  disposed.  The  truth  is,  that  Russell,  like  many  others,  regards 
Popery  as  a  political  system  ;  to  be  ruled  politically ;  to  be  resisted 
politically  ;  to  be  considered,  with  all  its  branches,  only  as  it  affects 
the  political  position  of  a  Government.  By  this  measure  he  will 
estimate  both  men  and  things.  God  be  with  us  !  I  have,  thank 
God,  done  my  duty  ;  I  have  '  testified '  to  this  Prime  Minister,  as  I 
did  to  the  last ;  the  fruit  from  both  may  be  about  equal ;  but  I  prefer 
Russell  as  a  man  to  Sir  R.   Peel. 

Nov.  14th. — Yesterday  to  Broadwall  to  meet  Committee  on 
Ragged  School — established  a  class  of  industry  for  one  evening  in 
the  week  :  tailoring  and  shoemaking  for  the  boys,  needlework  for 
the  girls— have  undertaken  to  pay  the  expense ;  am  in  hopes  of 
making  nearly  sufficient  by  one  article  in  the  Quarterly  Review  on 
'  Ragged  Schools.'     . 

Macaulay  argues,  and  well,  that  the  term  '  superficial '  is  relative, 
and  can  seldom  be  applied  accurately.  That  which  is  profound  in 
one  day  becomes  shallow  in  another  ;  the  utmost  depths  of  Roger 
Paeon  would  be  paddling-pools  for  the  school-boys  of  our  day.  This 
is  not  the  objection  to  be  raised  agairst  education  altogether,  or  even 


1846.]  FINANCES.  187 

the  education  of  the  present  era.  My  objection  is  that  all  are  taught 
alike,  whatever  their  stations,  hopes,  views,  and  necessities — there 
is  little  practical,  little  of  use  for  future  application,  and  hoys  are 
ill-educated,  not  because  their  knowledge  is  acquired  by  rote  and  lies 
mainly  on  the  surface,  but  because  they  are  lifted  above  their 
political  and  social  station,  tilled  with  personal  conceits,  and  inflated 
with  notions  that  they  are  fit  to  reform  the  world,  and  then 
govern  it. 

Dec.  31st. — Croesus  would  be  pauperised  if  he  were  to  meet  half 
the  demands  that  are  made  upon  me  every  month  !  Alas,  I  must 
refuse  the  largest  propoi'tion,  and  give  very  sparingly  to  the 
remainder.  I  say  '  alas,'  because  the  cases  are  oftentimes  meritorious, 
and  I  shall  always  be  misrepresented,  and  frequently  misunderstood. 
Many  people  choose  to  believe  that  I  am  rich,  and  ask  accordinglv; 
yet  more  than  half  of  my  income  is  borrowed,  to  be  repaid  at  some 
future  day,  with  heavy  accumulations  of  interest;  eight  children, 
the  two  eldest  costing  me  more  than  £200  a  year  each ;  a  ninth 
coming,  and  an  allowance  from  my  father  of  only  £100  annually 
more  than  I  had  as  a  Bachelor  at  Oxford  !  Are  these  sources  of 
wealth  1     .     .     . 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

1847—1850.       THE    TEN    HOURS    BILL. 

In  Lancashire — Mr.  Fielden's  Ten  Hours  Bill— Debate  thereon  in  the  Lords — 
Lord  Brougham — The  Bishop  of  Oxford — The  Bill  Carried— Rejoicings — 
Letter  to  the  Short  Time  Committees — A  Check  to  the  Rejoicings — The 
System  of  "  Relays"  and  "  Shifts"— A  Test  Case— The  Bill  in  Jeopardy- 
Mr.  Baron  Parkes'  Adverse  Decision  in  the  Test  Case— An  Appeal  to  the 
House — The  Work  of  Agitation  Renewed — Sir  George  Grey's  Proposal — 
Acceded  to  by  Lord  Ashley — A  Split  in  the  Camp— The  Government  Bill 
becomes  Law — The  Principle  Established  by  the  Ten  Hours  Bill—  Recanta- 
tion of  Mr.  Roebuck  and  Sir  James  Graham — Letter  from  Mr.  Roebuck — 
Mr.  Gladstone  on  Factory  Legislation — Tributes  — Summary  of  whole 
Subject. 

The  great  struggle  for  the  Ten  Hours  Bill  was  drawing 
near  its  end,  and,  by  the  irony  of  fate,  the  victory  was 
to  be  achieved  while  Lord  Ashley  was  out  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  winter  of  1846-7  had  seen  him  in  Lanca- 
shire, attending  meetings  in  every  large  town,  and 
adopting  all  possible  means  to  support  the  efforts  which 
Mr.  Fieklen  was  to  resume  in  Parliament  in  the  ensu- 
ing Session.  Everywhere  Lord  Ashley  met  with  an 
enthusiastic  reception.  He  reminded  his  hearers  that 
his  opponents  used  to  taunt  him  about  the  Corn  Laws, 
and  argue  that  there  lay  the  obstacle  which  prevented 
the  passing  of  his  Ten  Hours  Bill.  "  With  respect  to 
myself,"  he  said,  at  a  public  meeting  at  Manchester, 
"  I  know  the  arguments  I  used  to  encounter  while  the 
Corn  Law  was   yet   in   force — how    often   it  was    said, 


1847.]  THE    TEX  HOURS  BILL.  189 

'  You  are  the  cause  of  the  long-time  vexation ;  it  is  you 
who  are  to  blame,  because,  for  your  own  exclusive 
interest,  you  keep  up  the  price  of  bread,  and  prevent  us 
from  entering-  into  competition  with  foreign  manufac- 
turers.' I  recollect  perfectly  well  one  of  your  present 
members  saying,  '  If  I  vote  for  the  noble  lord  on  the 
Ten  Hours  Bill,  will  he  follow  me  into  the  lobby  for 
a  division  on  a  motion  for  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws?'"  He  went  on  to  say  that,  now  he  had  voted 
for  repeal,  he  asked  for  concession  in  return. 

The  object  of  Lord  Ashley  on  all  occasions,  was  to 
encourage  and  stimulate  the  friends  of  the  movement  to 
rally  round  Mr.  Fielden  with  the  same  enthusiasm  with 
which  they  had  rallied  round  him.  Many,  out  of 
friendship  for  himself,  had  said,  "  We  may  as  well 
relax  our  efforts,  and  wait  until  Lord  Ashley  is  again 
in  Parliament,"  not  realising  that  he  was  anxious,  not 
for  his  own  honour,  but  that  the  measure  might  be 
launched  on  the  crest  of  the  popular  wave. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  he  alone  was  bearing 
the  whole  brunt  of  the  battle.  In  various  parts  of  the 
country  Mr.  Oastler  and  others  were  vigorously  prose- 
cuting similar  labours,  while  a  weekly  periodical,  The  Ten 
Hours  Advocate,  published  by  Mr.  Philip  Grant,  an  able 
and  zealous  colleague,  was,  under  the  advice  and  guid- 
ance of  Lord  Ashley,  doing  good  service  to  the  cause.* 

On  the  26th  of  January,  Mr.  Fielden  moved  for 
leave  to  bring  in  the  Ten  Hours  Bill ;  the  motion  was 
seconded  by  Mr.  Ferrand,  and  leave  was  given.     On  the 

*  Alfred's  "  History  of  the  Factory  Movement,"  p.  218. 


190  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

second  reading  (Feb.  10)  the  subject  was  discussed 
for  several  hours,  Mr.  Hume  strenuously  opposing  the 
measure  on  grounds  of  political  economy,  and  Mr.  Roe- 
buck, who  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  attack,  assailing 
it  on  all  sides. 

There  is  a  natural  and  mournful  ring  in  the  follow- 
ing words  from  the  Diary  : — 

Feb.  10th. — Factory  Bill  is  under  discussion  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  I  lingered  in  the  lobby  ;  had  not  spirit  to  enter  the 
House ;  should  have  been  nervously  excited  to  reply,  and  grieved  by 
inability  to  do  so. 

March  1st. — Intense  anxiety  about  Factory  Bill.  I  dream  of  it 
by  day  and  by  night,  and  work  as  though  I  had  charge  of  the  Bill. 

March  12th. — Lady  De  Grey  observed  to  me,  last  night,  that  I 
was  grown  silent,  and  had  lost  all  my  spirits.  It  is  quite  true.  I 
have,  during  the  last  two  or  three  years,  been  growing  more  melan- 
choly and  even  stupid.  It  is,  pei-haps,  because  I  have  little  or  no 
play  ;  and  that  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy. 

March  17th. — Long  labour  yesterday  in  furnishing  John  Russell, 
at  his  request,  with  notes  for  a  speech. 

Notwithstanding  all  opposition,  the  second  reading 
was  eventually  carried  by  a  majority  of  108,  and  on  the 
3rd  of  May  the  third  reading,  after  an  animated  debate, 
was  likewise  carried  by  a  majority  of  63  ! 

When,  ten  da}'s  later  (May  13),  the  Bill  was  intro- 
duced into  the  House  of  Lords,  it  was  observed  that 
the  attendance  of  bishops  was  larger  than  had  ever  been 
known  on  any  previous  occasion. 

The  Earl  of  Ellesmere  (formerly  Lord  Francis 
Egerton),  in  moving  the  second  reading,  said  that 
having  taken  part  in  the  discussions  upon  this  subject 
in  another  place,  he  felt  it  not  unbecoming  to  occupy 


1847.]  THE    TEX  HOURS  BILL.    .  191 

his  present  position.  The  measure,  which  had  origin- 
ated in  the  wishes  of  those  who  contributed  by 
their  toil  to  the  manufacturing  wealth  of  the  country, 
had  been  wafted  up  to  the  Legislature  by  petitions 
signed  by  thousands  of  the  operative  classes,  who  were 
deeply  interested  in  its  success.  It  had  received  the 
sanction  of  those  whose  lives  were  devoted  to  one 
undeviating  course  of  philanthropy — men  of  every 
party,  and  of  every  religious  denomination.  It  had 
made  its  way  to  the  Legislature,  against  the  opposition 
of  those  who  brought  to  bear  on  it  the  most  powerful 
interest,  and  their  still  more  powerful  minds.  It  had, 
however,  been  sanctioned  by  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  Cabinet,  and  had  been  carried  into  their  lordships' 
House  by  a  conclusive  majority  of  the  other  House  of 
Parliament. 

After  Lord  Faversham  had  seconded  the  motion,  Lord 
Brougham,  apologising  for  interrupting  the  unanimity 
which  Lord  Faversham  had  hoped  would  characterise 
their  proceedings,  at  once  addressed  himself  to  "  the 
large  number  of  right  reverend  prelates  whom  he  saw 
assembled  opposite,"  and  laid  before  them  his  views  of 
the  question  in  its  relation  to  the  morals  of  the  people. 
He  based  his  argument  on  the  assumption  that  the  Ten- 
Hours  restriction  would  lower  wages,  and  urged  that 
the  condition  of  the  labouring  population  in  a  thickly- 
inhabited  country,  was  always  at  the  lowest  possible 
condition  with  respect  to  wages,  and  anything  that 
tended  to  make  them  worse,  could  not  but  be  injurious 
and  reprehensible,    and  he  then  proceeded   to  draw   a 


192  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

melancholy  picture  of  a  state  of  things  never  likely  to 
be  witnessed.  The  vote  for  the  second  reading  was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  forty-two.    . 

On  the  17th  of  May  the  bishops  again  mustered  in 
full  force.  The  debate  was  one  of  the  most  interesting: 
ever  listened  to  in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  most  remark- 
able speech  being  that  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  who  set 
himself  to  the  task  of  meeting  the  arguments  used  in 
opposition  to  the  Bill,  which  were  grounded  in  great 
measure  upon  a  number  of  untrue  assertions.  It  had 
been  taken  for  granted,  in  the  first  place,  that  great  risk 
wouid  be  run  of  driving  British  manufactures  abroad ; 
in  the  next  place,  that  the  factory  labourers  were  un- 
willing to  assent  to  the  proposed  law  ;  and  in  the  third 
place,  that  a  measure  was  about  to  be  forced  upon  the 
master  manufacturers,  which  would  deprive  them  of  an 
adequate  supply  of  labour  to  carry  on  their  mills  with 
profit.  Having  refuted  these  assertions,  the  Bishop  ad- 
dressed himself  to  Lord  Brougham's  argument,  which  he 
himself  had  urged  upon  the  labourers,  who  had  replied, 
"  Why,  this  is  the  argument  of  my  Lord  Brougham  ; 
and  there  is  nothing  in  it."  Then,  passing  on  to 
the  discussion  of  the  practical  question  at  issue,  he 
asked,  "  Could  their  lordships  believe,  that  upon  the  last 
two  hours'  labour  of  trembling  hands,  tending  upon  that 
machinery,  after  long,  unceasing,  and  heart-consuming 
attention,  when  Nature  almost  refused  to  perforin  her 
functions — could  their  lordships  believe  that  upon  those 
two  last  hours  depended  all  the  profits  and  accumula- 
tions of  the  manufacturers  ?    He  believed  that  the  work 


1847.]         TEN  HOURS  BILL  IN  HOUSE    OF  'LORDS.  193 

done  in  those  two  last  hours  was  infinitely  inferior  in 
quality  to  that  which  was  done  in  any  other  portion  of 
thedajr;  it  was  demanding  work  when  nature  refused 
the  power  of  working  !  '  Finally  he  showed  how,  for 
years,  this  cause  had  been  slowly  winning  its  way 
against  the  greatest  of  all  human  passions — the  love  of 
gain,  and  in  a  powerful  peroration,  maintained  that  the 
acquisition  of  wealth  was  based  upon  moral  principles, 
that  there  could  be  no  moral  wrong  which  was  politi- 
cally expedient,  or  that  could  tend  to  the  production  of 
wealth  ;  but  that,  if  they  neglected  the  people  in  order 
to  make  the  nation  rich,  they  would,  in  the  end,  make 
the  nation  poor,  by  debasing  the  people. 

The  Bill  was  read  a  second  time  without  a  division, 
nearly  every  member  of  the  Bench  of  Bishops  voting  in 
its  support,  and  on  the  1st  of  June  it  passed  its  final 
stage. 

May  18th. — Bill  passed  second  reading  in  House  of  Lords  by  53 
to  11.  How  can  we  praise  Thee,  or  thank  Thee,  O  Lord1?  One  step 
more,  and  all  will  be  safe. 

The  Bishops  behaved  gallantly— 13  remained  to  vote  ;  three 
spoke,  and  most  effectively :  London,  Oxford,  St.  David's:  Clarendon  (!) 
and  Brougham  (!  !)  in  opposition.  This  will  do  very  much  to  win  the 
hearts  of  the  manufacturing  people  to  Bishops  and  Lords — it  has 
already  converted  the  hard  mind  of  a  Chartist  Delegate. 

June  1st. — Six  o'clock.  ISTews  that  the  Factory  Bill  has  just 
passed  the  third  reading.  I  am  humbled  that  my  heart  is  not  burst- 
ing with  thankfulness  to  Almighty  God — that  I  can  find  breath  and 
sense  to  express  my  joy.  What  reward  shall  we  give  unto  the  Lord 
for  all  the  benefits  He  hath  conferred  upon  us  1  God,  in  His  mercy, 
prosper  the  work,  and  grant  that  these  operatives  may  receive  the 
cup  of  Salvation,  and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  !  Praised  be 
the  Lord,  praised  be  the  Lord,  in  Christ  Jesus  !  .  .  . 

n 


194  TEE    EARL    OF   SEAFTESBVBY.  [Chap.  XV. 

This  great  victory  was  received  throughout  the 
country  with  intense  enthusiasm.  The  rejoicings  in 
the  manufacturing  districts  were  such  as  had  never 
been  seen  before.  Lord  Ashley  and  Mr.  Fielden  were 
greeted  with  ovations  wherever  they  went ;  many  of  the 
mill-owners  welcomed  the  change,  and  arranged  for 
festivities  in  honour  of  the  occasion.  Medals  were 
struck  in  commemoration  of  the  event,  and  the  Queen 
was  graciously  pleased  to  receive,  at  the  hands  of  Lord 
Ashley,  one  of  these  medals  sent  to  her  by  the  factory 
operatives. 

The  importance  of  the  Act  of  1S47  becomes  very 
apparent,  when  Ave  remember  that  out  of  544,876 
persons  employed  (according  to  the  returns  of  that  year) 
in  the  textile  industries,  no  less  than  303,796  were 
3^oung  persons  and  women,  whom  the  Act  directly 
affected ;  the  time  of  their  labour  being  limited,  from 
the  1st  of  July,  when  the  Act  came  into  force,  to 
eleven  hours  a  day  or  sixty-three  hours  Aveekly,  and 
from  May  the  1st,  1848,  to  ten  hours  a  day  or  fifty-eight 
hours  weekly. 

For  forty  years  the  subject  had  been  before  the 
world,  and  for  fourteen  years  Lord  Ashley  had  been 
working  incessantly  for  the  boon  now  granted.  He 
had,  at  the  first,  demanded  that  the  agitation  should  be 
carried  on  in  the  most  conciliatory  manner  possible,  and 
now  that  the  great  principle  of  the  Ten  Hours'  limit 
had  been  affirmed  by  the  Legislature,  he  urged  that 
there  should  be  no  noisy  or  affronting  exultation. 
Three  days   after  the  Bill  had  passed  its    final  stage, 


1847.]  LETTER   TO  SHORT-TIME   COMMITTEES.  195 

he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Short-Time  Committees  as 
follows  : — 

My  good  Friends, — Although  there  is  no  longer  any  necessity  to 
name  you  collectively  and  as  united  together  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing a  reduction  of  the  hours  of  working  in  factories,  I  will  address 
a  few  words  to  you,  in  your  capacity  of  representatives  of  the  whole 
operative  body,  on  questions  of  the  highest  and  dearest  interest. 

First,  we  must  give  most  humble  and  hearty  thanks  to  Almighty 
God  for  the  unexpected  and  wonderful  success  that  has  attended  our 
efforts.  We  have  won  the  great  object  of  all  our  laboui-s — the  Ten 
Hours  Bill  has  become  the  law  of  the  land  ;  and  we  may  hope,  nay, 
more,  we  believe  that  we  shall  find  in  its  happy  results,  a  full  com- 
pensation for  all  our  toils. 

But,  with  your  success  have  commenced  new  duties.  You  are 
now  in  possession  of  those  two  hours  which  you  have  so  long  and 
so  ardently  desired ;  you  must,  therefore,  turn  them  to  the  best 
account,  to  that  account  which  was  ever  in  the  minds  of  your  friends 
and  advocates  when  they  appealed  to  the  Legislature  on  behalf  of 
your  rights  as  immortal  beings,  as  citizens  and  Christians. 

You  will  remember  the  principal  motive  that  stimulated  your  own 
activity,  and  the  energetic  aid  of  your  supporters  in  Parliament,  was 
the  use  that  might  be  made  of  this  leisure  for  the  moral  improvement 
of  the  factory  people,  and  especially  the  female  workers ;  who  will 
now  enjoy  far  better  opportunities  both  of  learning  and  practising 
those  duties  which  must  be  known  and  discharged  if  we  would  have 
a  comfortable,  decent,  and  happy  population. 

You  will  experience  no  difficulty,  throughout  your  several  dis- 
tricts, in  obtaining  counsel  or  assistance  on  these  subjects.  The 
clergy,  the  various  ministers,  the  medical  men — all  who  have  been 
so  forward  and  earnest  in  your  cause — will,  I  am  sure,  be  really 
delighted  to  co-operate  with  your  efforts. 

I  need  not,  I  know,  exhort  you  to  an  oblivion  of  past  conflicts, 
and  to  hearty  endeavour  for  future  harmony.  I  trust  that  there 
will  be  no  language  of  triumph,  as  though  we  had  defeated  an  enemy. 
Let  us  be  very  thankful  that  the  struggle  is  over,  and  that  we  can 
once  more  combine,  not  only  the  interests,  but  also  the  feelings,  of 
employer  and  employed,  in  a  mutual  understanding  for  the  comfort 

n   2 


196  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

and  benefit  of  each  other,  and  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

I  cannot  entertain  a  doubt  that  you  will  liave  anticipated  me  in 
this  respect ;  it  has  been  my  endeavour  from  the  beginning,  to  seek 
and  to  advise  all  methods  of  conciliation ;  and  I  can  safely  declare, 
that  in  the  periods  of  the  greatest  ardour  or  disappointment,  I  never 
heard,  either  in  meetings  or  from  individuals,  a  single  vindictive 
expression. 

Although  the  final  completion  of  this  great  measure  has  been 
achieved  by  another,  I  could  not,  after  so  many  years  of  labour,  take 
leave  of  it  altogether  without  a  few  words  to  you  of  advice  and 
congratulation.  To  no  one  could  the  lot  have  fallen  so  happily  as  to 
our  friend  Mr.  Fielden.  He  joined  me  in  1833  in  the  introduction 
of  the  first  Bill,  and  has  been  ever  since,  as  you  well  know,  your 
able,  energetic,  and  unshrinking  advocate. 

In  bidding  you  farewell,  I  do  not  retire  from  your  service.  1 
shall,  at  all  times,  hold  myself  in  readiness  to  aid  you  in  any  measures 
that  may  conduce  to  the  moral  and  physical  welfare  of  yourselves 
and  of  your  children ;  and  I  shall,  indeed,  most  heartily  pray  that  it 
may  please  God  to  prosper  this  consummation  of  our  toils  with  every 
public  and  private  blessing. 

I  remain,  your  very  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

Ashley. 

It  will  be  well  in  this  place,  perhaps,  to  glance  at 
some  of  the  subsequent  features  in  the  history  of  the 
Ten  Hours  movement. 

At  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  Act,  a  great 
commercial  crisis  caused  many  factories  to  stop  work- 
ing, or  at  least  to  work  only  half  time.  There  was, 
therefore,  at  first,  a  reduction  of  wages,  solely  due, 
not  to  the  Act,  but  to  a  concurrent  stagnation  of  trade. 
"When,  however,  in  May,  1848,  the  Ten  Hours  Day 
came  to  be  adopted,  a  revival  of  production  had  taken 


1849.]  THE  SYSTEM  OF  "BELAYS:"  197 

place.  The  legal  working  day  was  reckoned  to  begin  at 
5.30  a.m.  and  to  end  at  8.30  p.m.,  and  the  manufacturers 
took  advantage  of  this  to  work  their  young  persons  by 
a  system  of  "  relays  "  and — what  was  still  worse — of 
"shifts"  of  hands,  so  as  to  keep  the  operatives  employed, 
and  the  mills  in  action,  the  whole  of  this  time.  The 
masters  who  kept  the  time  prescribed  by  the  Act,  were 
loud  in  their  denunciations  of  the  practice.  There  was  a 
struggle  between  the  manufacturers  and  the  inspectors 
on  this  point ;  and  the  country  justices,  of  the  manu- 
facturing class,  assisted  the  mill-owners  in  thus  evading 
the  purposes  of  the  Act.  Great  alarm  was  created 
among  the  operatives,  and,  in  order  to  allay  it,  a  test  case 
was  got  up  by  the  Lancashire  Central  Short-Time  Com- 
mittee, and  tried,  when  the  bench  decided  that  the  law 
was  not  explicit  enough  to  enable  them  to  convict,  and 
an  appeal  was  entered  to  carry  the  case  before  a  superior 
court. 

Throughout  the  year  1849,  there  was  intense  anxiety 
amongst  the  friends  of  the  Ten  Hours  movement,  who 
feared  that  the  whole  question  would  have  to  be  re- 
opened in  Parliament.  The  old  Committees  were 
re-established,  tours  of  inspection  were  organised ;  all 
the  machinery  of  agitation  had  to  be  called  again  into 
use,  and  it  was  found  that  the  system  of  "  relays  "  was 
spreading  in  all  directions.  The  Masters'  Association, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  equally  active,  and  petitions 
were  drawn  up  against  the  Ten  Hours  Bill,  and 
circulated  freely. 

A  few  extracts    from   the    Diary    will    show   Lord 


198  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

Ashley's    attitude    towards    the    question    during    this 
anxious  time: — 

March  5th,  1849. — The  Ten  Hours  law  is  in  jeopardy:  God  gave 
it  us  in  His  mercy,  and  admirably  has  it  worked,  no  reduction  of 
wages,  no  flight  of  capital,  no  misuse  of  vacant  hours,  nay,  the 
reverse  of  all  this.  Some  of  the  masters,  a  small,  thank  God,  though 
powerful  minority,  have  discovered  a  means  of  evasion.  The  Govern- 
ment say  that  they  cannot  prevent  it,  and  they  will,  therefore,  par- 
tially legalise  it !  Here  is  fresh  toil,  fresh  anxiety.  Would  to  God  it 
were  settled  for  ever  ! 

June  8th. — Old  John  Fielden  is  dead.  .  .  .  Poor  old  Fielden ;  he  had 
many  kind  qualities,  and  was  a  true  and  energetic  friend  to  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill  :  greatly,  indeed,  am  I,  and  the  operatives  also,  indebted 
to  him,  and  we  shall  miss  him  very  seriously  now,  when  wealth  and 
capital  and  avarice  and  power  are  again  in  arms  against  weakness 
and  poverty.  The  mighty  boon  of  the  Ten  Hours  law  is  nullified 
by  fraud  and  abused  justice ;  and  they  seek  now  to  annihilate  it  by 
open  legislation  ! 

Oct.  4th.  .  .  .  The  Ten  Hours  agitation  still  alive.  Mr.  Oastler 
and  Mr.  Stephens  have  seized  the  opportunity  to  revile  me  and  place 
themselves  at  the  head  of  the  operatives ;  but  I  rejoice  to  say  that 
the  operatives  will  neither  believe  them  nor  accept  them.  This 
matter  must  be  speedily  determined  by  an  appeal  to  one  of  the 
Superior  Courts  :  it  is  disgraceful  that  the  Home  Secretary  has  so 
long  neglected  this  pressing  necessity. 

Nov.  1st. — Mr.  Oastler  and  a  crew  of  others  (I  can  use  no  milder 
term),  including  Sam  Fielden  (why  he?)  are  denouncing  and  reviling 
me  in  every  society,  by  day  and  by  night,  in  speech  and  on  paper, 
as  a  traitor,  and  a  thousand  other  things,  to  the  Ten  Hours  Bill. 
God  knows  my  sincerity,  my  labours,  vexations,  losses,  injuries  to 
health,  fortune,  comfort,  position  in  that  cause.  It  is  true  I  told  the 
workpeople  that  I  would  assent  (if  they  would  assent,  but  not  with- 
out) to  the  concession  of  half  an  hour,  provided  they  received  in 
return  the  immediate  and  final  settlement  of  the  question,  and  the 
limitation  of  the  range  from  fifteen  to  twenty  hours,  a  concession  the 
masters  alone  could  make.  Here  is  my  offence,  and  I  am  too  busy, 
and  also  too  tired  to  begin  a  controversial  defence.     Like  Hezekiah, 


1850.]  A    TEST  CASE.  ,  199 

I  '  spread  it  before  the  Lord.'  ...  I  wish  I  could  be  cheerful,  but 
mirth  hath  perished. 

It  was  not  until  the  8th  of  February,  1850,  that  the 
test  case  came  on  for  hearing  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer. 
The  decision  was  awaited  with  feverish  anxiety,  as  it 
seemed  that  the  whole  effect  of  the  statute  hinged  upon 
it,  aud  the  adverse  judgment  of  Mr.  Baron  Parke,  in 
which  it  was  decided  that  the  system  of  "  shifts  "  aud 
"  relays  "  was  not  contrary  to  the  letter  of  the  Act,  was 
received  with  dismay. 

Feb.  1st,  1850. — Jiidges  will  decide  adversely  on  factory  case 
submitted  to  them,  and  thus  legalise  relays  !  The  Attorney-General 
said  to  me  this  afternoon,  '  They  will  give  judgment,  not  according 
to  law,  but  on  policy.'  '  Judge  Parke,'  he  added,  '  observed  to  me, 
"  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  framers  of  the  Act  intended  that  the 
labour  should  be  continuous,  but  as  it  is  a  law  to  restrain  the  exercise 
of  capital  and  property,  it  must  be  construed  stringently."  Might 
not  this  judge  have  said  and  thought,  with  equal  justice  and  more 
feeling,  '  This  is  a  law  to  restrain  oppression  and  cruelty,  and  alleviate 
an  actual  slavery  under  a  nominal  freedom.  I  will,  therefore,  con- 
strue it  liberally  !  '  .   .   . 

Feb.  15th. — Adverse  judgment  in  Court  of  Exchequer.  Great 
remedial  measure,  the  Ten  Hours  Act,  nullified.  The  work  to  be 
done  all  over  again  :  and  I  seventeen  years  older  than  when  I  began  ! 
But,  as"  I  did  not  commence,  so  neither  shall  I  renew  it,  in  my  own 
strength.     My  sufficiency,  if  there  be  any,  is  of  God. 

It  was  now  clear  that  the  cruel  system  which  had 
been  declared  legal,  would  spread  rapidly  throughout  the 
manufacturing  districts.  But  Lord  Ashley  was  equal  to 
the  emergency,  and,  having  in  the  interval  taken  his  seat 
for  Bath,  he,  four  days  after  the  decision  had  been  given, 
introduced  the  question  into  the  House  of  Commons,  by 
f    calling  the  attention  of  the  Government  to  the  necessity 


200  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

for  "  taking  some  steps  to  obviate  the  very  evil  con- 
sequences of  that  decision  ;  "  and  on  March  14,  after  a 
smart  discussion,  obtained  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill.  He 
insisted  upon  immediate  action,  as,  in  the  then  present 
state  of  things,  with  the  mills  going  for  fifteen  hours 
and  the  actual  labour  of  young  persons  restricted  to  ten, 
it  resulted  in  their  being  turned  out  into  the  streets  at 
different  intervals  during  the  day,  which  was  not  only 
an  incentive  to  vice,  but  it  made  it  impossible  for  In- 
spectors to  ascertain  how  many  hours  the  hands  really 
worked.  Even  Mr.  John  Bright  acknowledged  the  need 
for  settling  what  was,  he  admitted  in  some  degree,  an 
unsatisfactory  state  of  the  law ;  but  he  took  occasion  to 
charge  Lord  Ashley  with  posing  at  one  time  as  the 
"  hired  advocate  "  of  those  who  were  anxious  to  paint 
in  the  blackest  colours  the  condition  of  the  manufactur- 
ing districts,  "  and  at  another  time  as  if  he  were  en- 
gaged, in  consequence  of  the  passing  of  the  Ten  Hours 
Bill,  to  paint  an  entirely  different  people." 

Throughout  the  Session,  the  Ten  Hours  question 
was  constantly  before  the  House,  and  every  stage  in  its 
progress  was  guarded  anxiously  by  Lord  Ashley.  Sir 
George  Grey,  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  proposed  a 
plan  to  which  Lord  Ashley  had  previously  agreed — 
namely,  in  return  for  the  strict  limitation  between  six 
and  six,  to  allow  ten  and  a  half  hours  labour  per  day, 
and  not  more  than  sixty  hours  per  week.  The  real  com- 
pensation in  this  was — and  it  was  worth  all  the  rest — 
that  the  time  of  labour  was  limited  to  a  range  of  twelve 
hours  with  a  certain  termination  at  six  o'clock.     There 


1850.]  "BELAYS"  AND  "SHIFTS."  201 

were  many  amendments  to  this  proposal,  and  endless  dis- 
cussions in  and  out  of  Parliament.  Lord  John  Manners 
moved  that  the  factory  day  should  be  limited  to  half- 
past  five  in  the  afternoon.  Mr.  John  Bright  seconded 
a  proposal  to  legalise  the  hateful  system  of  "  shifts  and 
relays,"  and  to  fix  the  factory  day  from  half-past 
five  a.m.  to  half-past  eight  p.m. !  Both  of  these  motions 
were  lost,  as  was  also  a  motion  by  Lord  Ashley,  that 
children  between  eight  and  thirteen  years  of  age  should 
be  included  in  the  six  to  six  clause.  But,  although  this 
was  lost  then,  it  was  afterwards  effected  by  Lord  Pal- 
merston,  when  at  the  Home  Office  in  1S53. 

March  11th,  1850. — Saw  Grey;  lie  proposes,  in  fact,  an  eleven 
hours'  bill,  and  admitted  that  it  was  so,  offering  at  the  same  time 
advantages  in  the  reduction  of  the  range  from  15  to  12^  hours;  all 
mills  to  close  at  six  o'clock.  He  would  not  interdict  relays,  and  by 
permitting  them,  enable  masters  to  work  for  eleven  hours  ;  why  this  1 
All  has  prospered  under  the  ten  hours,  why  thus  propitiate  Bright 
and  Ashworth  1    Evasions  would  be  universal ;  detection,  impossible. 

March  14th. — Grey  fearful,  vacillating,  showing  no  principle — 
matters  appear  well ;  if  all  goes  on  as  it  has  begun  we  shall  prosper. 
To-day  is  the  clay  of  trial. 

March  15th. — The  case  was  unanswerable,  the  House  with  me; 
Grey  weak,  vacillating,  quibbling  on  legal  points,  yet  admitting  the 
truth  of  the  asserted  improvements.  Bright  and  Gibson  angry, 
though  subdued. 

May  7th. — Harassed  day  after  day  by  this  Factory  Bill — im- 
possible to  get  a  stringent  clause  to  prohibit  relays  :  tried  many  and 
failed — have  resolved  then,  as  only  hope  of  ge*ing  anything  good 
an  1  secure  for  the  operatives,  to  accept  Government  Amendments. 
I  am  sure  that  they  are  the  best  terms  that  ever  will  be  offered,  and 
probably  that  this  is  the  last  time  of  their  being  offered.  I  fear,  too, 
division  among  the  operatives,  for,  if  some  reject,  some  will  accept 
the  terms  ;  once  divided  they  are  lost,  the  masters  will  effect  an 
Eleven  Hours  Bill  ! 


202  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

May  8 th.  —Harassed  exceedingly  by  Factory  affair. — resolved  to 
adopt  clauses  of  Government,  and  wrote  letter  to  Times  announcing 
it.  Expect  from  manufacturing  districts  a  storm  of  violence  and 
hatred.  I  might  have  taken  a  more  popular  and  belauded  course, 
but  I  should  have  ruined  the  question ;  one  more  easy  to  myself,  but 
far  from  true  to  the  people. 

May  9th. — Two  considerations  £ave  greatly  determined  me  to 
take  the  resolute  course  of  accepting  the  Government  proposals. 
First,  I  felt  most  distrustful  of  the  disposition  of  the  House  to 
support  me  in  the  full  demand  for  the  'ten  hours.'  The  majority, 
that,  in  1847,  gave  victory  to  the  old  supporters  of  the  Bill,  were 
governed,  not  by  love  to  the  cause,  but,  by  anger  towards  Peel  and  the 
Anti-Corn -Law  League.  Had  not  these  passions  interposed,  there 
would  have  been  no  unusual  'humanity.'  Our  position  in  this  re- 
spect, is  now  altered.  Secondly,  it  is  manifest  that  neither  party 
(the  employers,  or  the  men)  is  striving  for  what  is  considered  to  be 
really  essential.  The  two  additional  hours  could  give  nothing  of 
value  to  the  amount  of  production ;  the  two  hours  spread  over  the 
week,  could  take  nothing  of  importance  from  the  operatives,  the 
rule  being  constant  and  rigid  that  the  mills  should  be  closed  at  six 
o'clock  every  day.  They  are  struggling  merely  for  victory  ;  no  side 
chooses  to  be  beaten.  This  may  be  natural,  but  I  could  not  consent 
to  be  the  tool.  Doubtless  it  is  a  blow  to  my  reputation,  because 
many  will  misunderstand,  while  many  will  misrepresent,  my  position 
and  conduct. 

After  a  long  and  wearisome  course,  the  Bill  was 
passed,  and  received  the  Royal  assent  on  July  26,  1850. 
It  reduced  the  legal  working  day  for  all  young  persons 
and  women,  to  the  time  between  six  in  the  morning 
and  six  in  the  evening,  with  one  and  a  half  hours  for 
meals.  This  permitted  ten  and  a  half  hours  work  on  five 
days  in  the  week ;  on  Saturdays  no  protected  person 
was  to  work  after  two.  Such  was  the  main  feature  of 
the  Act  13  &  14  Yic.  cap.  54,  which  has,  since  1S50, 
regulated  the  normal  day  in  English  factories. 


1850.]  EFFECT  OF  TEN  HOURS  BILL.  203 

The  principle  established  by  the  Ten  Hours  Bill 
has  had  an  effect,  the  importance  of  which  it  is  difficult 
to  over-estimate,  and,  owing  to  the  perseverance  of  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  that  principle  has  been  extended,  until  to- 
day we  have  "  a  complete,  minute,  and  voluminous  code 
for  the  protection  of  labour;  buildings  must  be  kept 
pure  of  effluvia ;  dangerous  machinery  must  be  fenced ; 
children  and  young  persons  must  not  clean  it  while  in 
motion ;  their  hours  are  not  only  limited  but  fixed  ; 
continuous  employment  must  not  exceed  a  given  number 
of  hours,  varying  with  the  trade,  but  prescribed  by  the 
law  in  given  cases  ;  a  statutable  number  of  holidays  is 
imposed  ;  the  children  must  go  to  school,  and  the  em- 
ployer must  every  week  have  a  certificate  to  that  effect ; 
if  an  accident  happens,  notice  must  be  sent  to  the 
proper  authorities  ;  special  provisions  are  made  for  bake- 
houses, for  lace-making,  for  collieries,  and  for  a  whole 
schedule  of  other  special  callings  ;  for  the  due  enforce- 
ment and  vigilant  supervision  of  this  immense  host  of 
minute  prescriptions  there  is  an  immense  host  of  in- 
spectors, certifying  surgeons,  and  other  authorities 
whose  business  it  is  '  to  speed  and  post  o'er  land  and 
ocean '  in  restless  guardianship  of  every  kind  of  labour, 
from  that  of  the  woman  who  plaits  straw  at  her  cottage 
door,  to  the  miner  who  descends  into  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  and  the  seaman  who  conveys  the  fruits  and  ma- 
terials of  universal  industry  to  and  fro  between  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  globe  !  "  * 

One  of  the  most  interesting  circumstances  in  con- 

*  Morley's  "  Life  of  Cobclen." 


204  TEE   EARL    OF   SEAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

nection  with  the  later  labours  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  on 
behalf  of  factory  operatives  was,  that  his  steady  per- 
severance, in  the  long  run,  brought  round  to  his  side 
many  of  those  who  had  most  stoutly  opposed  him.  In 
I860,  Mr.  Roebuck,  who  had  formerly  been  bitterly 
hostile,  stood  forth  in  Parliament  and  made  his  public 
recantation.  The  question  before  the  House  was  the 
labour  of  children,  young  persons,  and  women  employed 
in  Bleach  works.  He  said :  "I  am  about  to  speak  on 
this  question  under  somewhat  peculiar  circumstances. 
Very  early  in  my  Parliamentary  career  Lord  Ashley,  now 
the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  introduced  a  Bill  of  this  de- 
scription. ...  I  opposed  Lord  Ashley  at  that  time,  and 
was  very  much  influenced  in  my  opposition  by  what 
the  gentlemen  of  Lancashire  said.  They  declared  then 
that  it  was  the  last  half  hour  of  the  work  performed  by 
their  operatives  which  made  all  their  profits,  and  that 
if  we  took  away  that  last  half  hour  we  should  ruin  the 
manufacturers  of  England.  I  listened  to  that  state- 
ment, and  trembled  for  the  manufacturers  of  England — ■ 
but  Lord  Ashley  persevered.  Parliament  passed  the 
Bill  which  he  brought  in.  Prom  that  time  down  to  the 
present  the  factories  of  this  country  have  been  under 
State  control,  and  I  appeal  to  this  House  whether  the 
manufacturers  of  England  have  suffered  by  this  legisla- 
tion?" (Loud  cheers.)*  The  burden  of  his  speech 
throughout,  was,  that  in  his  former  tooth- and-nail  op- 
position, he  had  been  wrong  in  almost  every  particular. 
No    sooner  had   Mr.    Roebuck    concluded  than  Sir 

*  Times,  March  22,  1860. 


1850.]  MB.   ROEBUCK'S  RECANTATION.  205 

James  Graham  came  up  to  him,  and,  laying  his  hand 
on  his  shoulder,  said,  "  I  am  glad  that  you  have  read 
your  recantation,  and  I  will  read  mine  to-morrow." 
Eoebuck's  recantation  was  more  fully  announced  in  the 
following  letter,  written  a  few  days  after  his  speech  in 
the  House  : — 

Mr.  Roebuck,  M.P.,  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

19,  Ashley  Place,  S.W.,  March  24,  1860. 

My  dear  Lord  Shaftesbury, — I  am  much  obliged  by  your 
kind  expressions  and  by  your  flattering  appreciation  of  my  labours 
on  behalf  of  the  women  and  children  working  in  Bleaching  and  Dye- 
works.  The  praise,  however,  if  any  be  due,  belongs  to  yourself,  for 
the  evidence  supplied  by  the  enactments  which  you  promoted,  made 
a  convert  of  me,  and  led  me,  as  far  as  I  was  able,  to  imitate  your 
example  and  follow  in  your  footsteps.  That  good  will  come  of  last 
Wednesday's  division  I  feel  certain.  The  success  of  the  measure  is 
now  assured,  and  much  misery,  which  has  hitherto  disgraced  us,  will 
now  be  prevented.  The  present  state,  however,  of  these  poor  women 
and  children  is  a  serious  lesson  to  all  legislators.  It  teaches  us,  in 
a  way  not  to  be  mistaken,  that  we  ought  never  to  trust  to  the 
justice  and  humanity  of  masses  of  men,  whose  interests  are  furthered 
by  injustice  and  cruelty.  The  slave-owner  in  America,  the  manu- 
facturer in  England,  though  they  may  be  individually  good  men, 
will,  nevertheless,  as  slave-owners  and  masters,  be  guilty  of  atrocities 
at  which  humanity  shudders ;  and  will,  before  the  woidd,  with  un- 
blushing faces,  defend  cruelties  from  which  they  would  recoil  with 
horror  if  their  moral  judgments  were  not  perverted  by  their  self- 
interest.  It  is  happy  for  us  that  we  have  an  impartial  public  around 
us,  who,  being  unswayed  by  evil  interests,  can,  without  a  sacrifice, 
give  a  just  judgment. 

Thanks  again  for  your  approval, 

Believe  me,  very  sincerely  yours, 

J.  A.  PtOEBUCK. 


206  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

True  to  his  word,  in  a  debate  upon  the  same  subject 
(the  Bleaching  and  Dye  -Works  Bill),  Sir  James 
Graham  rose  and  said  :  "  I  have  a  confession  to  make 
to  the  House.  Experience  has  shown,  to  my  satis- 
faction, that  many  of  the  predictions  formerly  made 
against  the  Factory  Bill  have  not  been  verified  by  the 
result,  as,  on  the  whole,  that  great  measure  of  relief  for 
women  aud  children  has  contributed  to  the  well-being 
and  comfort  of  the  working  classes,  whilst  it  has  not 
injured  their  masters.  .  .  .  By  the  vote  I  shall  give  to- 
night I  will  endeavour  to  make  some  amends  for  the 
course  I  pursued  in  earlier  life  in  opposing  the  Factory 
Bill."* 

In  March,  1864,  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  a  speech  on 
interference  by  prohibition,  referred  to  the  Factory 
Acts,  and  said,  "It  is  an  interference,  as  to  which  it 
may  be  said  that  the  Legislature  is  now  almost  unanimous 
with  respect  to  the  necessity  which  existed  for  under- 
taking it,  and  with  respect  to  the  beneficial  effect  it  has 
produced  both  in  mitigating  human  suffering,  and  in 
attaching  important  classes  of  the  community  to  Par- 
liament and  the  Government."  In  a  note  written  by 
Lord  Shaftesbury  in  the  margin  of  Mr.  Grant's  "  His- 
tory of  Factory  Legislation  ':'  are  these  words  :  "  He 
does  not  retract  with  the  honesty  of  Boebuck  and 
Graham.'' 

In  all  quarters,  testimony  was  borne  to  the  bene- 
ficial effects  produced  by  the  intervention  of  the  Legis- 
lature in  the    emplo}Tment  of    women  and  children  in 

*  Times,  May  9,  1860. 


1850.]  SUMMARY  OF  FACTORY  LEGISLATION.  207 

factories.  To  quote  such  testimony  would  be  an  endless 
and  unnecessary  labour.  One  extract  only,  as  a  sample, 
shall  be  given  here.  At  a  meeting-  of  the  British 
Association  in  Manchester,  in  September,  1861,  Pro- 
fessor Newmarch,  in  his  opening  address  as  President  of 
the  Economic  Science  Statistics  Section,  after  referring 
to  the  progress  of  Factory  Legislation,  and  the  "  wholly 
successful  "  issue  of  the  limitation  of  hours,  said:  "It 
had  consolidated  society  in  this  part  of  the  island, 
swept  away  a  great  mass  of  festering  and  growing  dis- 
content, placed  the  prosperity  of  the  district  on  a  broad, 
solid,  and  safe  basis ;  on  the  orderly,  educated,  contented 
labour  of  Lancashire,  a  security  against  foreign  com- 
petition, a  guarantee  of  power,  and  fund  of  undivided 
profits.  These  results  had  followed  from  the  sagacious, 
persevering,  and  moral  exertions,  of  the  advocates  of 
the  Ten  Hours  Bill." 

By  far  the  most  interesting  summary  and  comment 
upon  the  great  Factory  struggle,  is  supplied  by  Lord 
Shaftesbury  in  some  manuscript  notes  appended  on  fly- 
leaves to  Mr.  Philip  Grant's  "  History  of  Factory 
Legislation."  They  were  written  towards  the  end  ot 
his  life,  and  are  as  follows : — 

My  friend  Grant  has  made  some  omissions,  and  especially  in  p.  145. 
He  has  left  out  the  whole  history  of  what  follows  on  my  acceptance 
of  Grey's  offer  of  a  'limitation  of  the  hours  between  6  and  6,  with  an 
hour  and  a  half  off  for  meals,'  thus  making  the  working  day  10i 
instead  of  10  hours. 

It  led  to  a  violent  disruption.  Oastler,  Walker,  and  the  Fielden 
family  denounced  me  as  a  traitor,  and  never  ceased  afterwards  to 
hurt  and  slander  me. 


208  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

I  assented  on  the  ground  that  twenty  years  of  well-balanced  con- 
flict showed  that  neither  party  could  gain  its  full  purpose ;  and  that 
compromise  was  the  only  solution.  And  the  gain  to  the  people  was 
far  beyond  the  concession  to  the  employers,  who,  for  an  additional 
half  hour,  surrendered  their  right  to  take  the  hours  of  labour  over 
an  interval  of  15  hours  with  all  the  means  of  evasion,  and  agreed  to 

7  O 

close  their  works  at  6  o'clock. 

This  was  recognised,  at  the  very  first,  by  very  many  of  the  opera- 
tives, and,  eventually,  by  all. 

It,  moreover,  prevented  a  '  sore  place  '  by  giving  neither  party  the 
absolute  victory.  And  in  nothing  have  I  seen  more  reason  to  admire 
and  trust  the  factory-workers,  than  in  their  readiness  to  conform  to 
my  advice  (which  I  gave  in  abundant  letters  and  speeches)  that, 
while  there  was  much  joy,  there  should  be  no  insolent  exultation, 
no  language  of  triumph,  but  expressions  of  gratitude,  addresses  of 
friendly  sentiments,  and  desire  for  harmony  and  common  action. 

All  this  had  the  desired  effect ;  for  the  masters,  instead  of  a  sulky 
opposition,  were  zealous  to  aid  the  operations  of  the  measure,  and 
hence,  under  God,  its  success. 

From  the  first  hour  of  my  movement  to  the  last,  I  had  ever  before 
me  and  never  lost  sight  of  it,  the  issue  of  a  restoration  of  a  good 
understanding  between  employer  and  employed. 

He  has  also  omitted  to  note  the  completion  of  the  Act  by  bring- 
ing, in  1853  (this  we  owe  to  Palmerston),  the  children  between  8 
and  13  under  the  6  to  6  Clause.  To  this  time,  though  the  adults 
and  young  persons  were  liberated  after  12  hours'  detention  on  the 
premises,  the  children  of  tender  years  were  detained  15  hours,  many 
of  them,  in  Yorkshire,  coming  3  miles  to  their  work. 

These  new  measures  (the  Extension  Acts)  were  mentioned  in  the 
Queen's  Speeches  both  at  the  opening  and  the  closing  of  Parliament 
in  1867. 

The  next  entry,  on  another  fly-leaf,  appears  to  have 
been  written  at  a  later  date : — 

Forster*  suggested  that,  in  the  preface  to  my  '  published  volume  '  ( !) 
I  should  set  forth  many  of  the  obstacles  that  had  beset  my  progress. 
This  could  not  be  clone  by  myself ;  the  narrative  would  savour  of 

*  John  Forster,  author  of  "  Life  of  Dickens,"  and  many  other  works. 


1850.]  REVIEW    OF   FACTORY   LEGISLATION.  209 

egoism.  But  for  my  children,  if  this  book  survive  me,  I  may  say 
that  they  were  many  and  severe.  I  had  to  break  every  political 
connection,  to  encounter  a  most  formidable  array  of  capitalists,  mill- 
owners,  doctrinaires,  and  men,  who,  by  natural  impulse,  hate  all 
'  humanity-mongers.'  They  easily  influence  the  ignorant,  the  timid, 
and  the  indifferent ;  and  my  strength  lay  at  first  ('  tell  it  not  in 
Gath  ! ')  among  the  Radicals,  the  Irishmen,  and  a  few  sincere  Whigs 
and  Conservatives.  Peel  was  hostile,  though,  in  his  cunning,  he 
concealed  the  full  extent  of  his  hostility  until  he  took  the  reins  of 
office,  and  then  he  opposed  me,  not  with  decision  only  but  male- 
volence, threatening,  he  and  Graham,  to  break  up  his  administration 
and  '  retire  into  private  life '  unless  the  House  of  Commons  rescinded 
the  vote  it  had  given  in  favour  of  my  Ten  Hours  Bill.  The  Tory 
country  gentlemen  reversed  their  votes  ;  but,  in  1847,  indignant  with 
Peel  on  the  ground  of  Corn  Law  repeal,  they  returned  to  the  cause 
of  the  factory  children. 

Fielden  and  Brotherton  were  the  only  '  practical '  men,  as  the 
phrase  then  went,  who  supported  me,  and  to  '  practical '  prophecies 
of  overthrow  of  trade,  of  ruin  to  the  operatives  themselves,  I  could 
only  oppose  '  humanity '  and  general  principles.  The  newspapers 
were,  on  the  whole,  friendly  ;  some  very  much  so.  A  few,  especially 
the  local  journals,  inconceivably  bitter,  though  balanced  by  local 
papers  sound  and  hearty  in  their  support. 

Out  of  Parliament,  there  was  in  society  every  form  of  'good- 
natured  '  and  compassionate  contempt.  In  the  provinces,  the  anger 
and  irritation  of  the  opponents  were  almost  fearful ;  and  men  among 
first  classes  of  workpeople,  overlookers  and  others,  were  afraid  to 
avow  their  sentiments.  It  required,  during  many  years,  repeated 
journeys  to  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  no  end  of  public  meetings  in 
the  large  towns  ;  visits,  committees,  innumerable  hours,  intolerable 
expense.  In  very  few  instances  did  any  mill-owner  appear  on  the 
platform  with  me  ;  in  still  fewer  the  ministers  of  any  religious  deno- 
mination. At  first  not  one,  except  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bull,  of  Brierley, 
near  Bradford  ;  and  even  to  the  last,  very  few,  so  cowed  were  they 
(or  in  themselves  so  indifferent)  by  the  overwhelming  influence  of 
the  cotton  lords. 

I  had  more  aid  from  the  medical  than  the  divine  profession  ; 
and  ever  must  I  record  the  services  and  skill  of  Mr.  Fletcher  of 
Bury. 

0 


210  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XV. 

The  demands  upon  time  and  strength  were  quite  up  to  my 
powers,  and,  indeed,  much  beyond  them.      I  suffered  a  good  deal. 

The  operatives,  themselves,  did  their  duty.  Their  delegates, 
whom  they  maintained  at  their  own  cost,  were  always  active  and 
trustworthy  men ;  specially  my  friend  and  fellow-labourer,  Philip 
Grant,  who  was,  in  my  support,  as  two  right  hands. 

Perhaps  the  vai'ious  efforts  made  by  Sir  R,  Peel  to  induce  me  to 
take  office,  were  amongst  the  greatest  of  my  difficulties.  The  attrac- 
tions of  office  were  not  weighty ;  but  Sir  P.  Peel  wishing,  not  so 
much  to  have  me  as  a  member  of  his  Government  as  to  withdraw  me 
from  the  Factory  Bill,  spared  no  entreaties,  no  '  flatteries,'  no  almost 
falsehoods,  to  entice  me.  He  shifted  his  ground  in  every  way,  first 
one  thing,  then  another.  Among  other  things,  the  Lord-Lieutenancy 
of  Ireland,  as  '  a  man  who  would  have  great  influence  over  the  clergy 
to  induce  them  to  accept  reforms.' 

In  the  Times  of  Saturday,  April  11th,  ]86$,  there  is  a  review  of 
the  Life  of  Wilberforce  !  There  are  many  things  said  in  it  of  him 
that  might  be  said  of  me,  but  they  never  will  be.  He  started  with  a 
Committee  and  a  Prime  Minister  to  back  him.  I  started  to  assail 
home  interests,  with  every  one,  save  a  few  unimposing  persons, 
against  me.  O'Connell  was  a  sneering  and  bitter  opponent.  Glad- 
stone ever  voted  in  resistance  to  my  efforts ;  and  Brougham  played 
the  doctrinaire  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

Bright  was  ever  my  most  malignant  opponent.  Cobden,  though 
bitterly  hostile,  was  better  than  Bright.  He  abstained  from  opposi- 
tion on  the  Collieries  Bill,  and  gave  positive  support  on  the  Calico 
Print-works  Bill. 

Gladstone  is  on  a  level  with  the  rest ;  he  gave  no  support  to  the 
Ten  Hours  Bill ;  he  voted  with  Sir  R.  Peel  to  'rescind  the  famous 
division  in  favour  of  it.  He  was  the  only  member  who  endeavoured 
to  delay  the  Bill  which  delivered  women  and  children  from  mines  and 
pits  ;  and  never  did  he  say  a  word  on  behalf  of  the  factory  children, 
until,  when  defending  slavery  in  the  West  Indies,  he  taunted  Buxton 
with  indifference  to  the  slavery  in  England  ! 

Lord  Brougham  was  among  my  most  heated  opponents.  He 
spoke  strongly  against  the  Bill  in  1847. 

Miss  Martineau  also  gave  her  voice  and  strength  in  resistance  to 
the  measure. 

By  degrees  some  public  men  came  round.     Russell,  then  Lord 


1850.]  FRIENDS    AND    FOES.  211 

John,  did  me  disservice  while  he  was  Minister ;  he  espoused  the 
cause  when  turned  into  Opposition.  Then  Sir  G.  Grey  adhered  ; 
and,  towards  the  end,  Macaulay  gave  us  one  of  his  brilliant  and 
effective  speeches.  My  latter  years  in  the  House  of  Commons  were 
dogged  by  Oastler  and  the  Fieldens,  who  resented  my  policy  in 
bringing  all  things  to  a  happy  conclusion  by  making  and  accepting 
concessions  to  abate  too  much  exultation  in  the  operatives,  and  too 
much  soreness  in  the  mill-owners. 

The  pressure  upon  purse  and  upon  time  was  very  great ;  the 
pressure  upon  strength  was  greater,  but  the  pressure  on  the  mind 
was  greatest  of  all.      I  endured  terrible  anxieties. 

(I  have  omitted  above  that  the  famous  O'Connell  was,  for  a  long 
time,  very  bitter  and  hostile,  and  spoke  of  the  '  good-natured  non- 
sense '  I  delivered.     He  became,  afterwards,  much  milder.) 

What  follows  was  written  evidently  after  another 
long  interval : — 

On  May  15th,  1869,  a  great  celebration  at  Bradford  to  uncover 
Oastler's  statue.  The  reception  the  operatives  gave  me  was  wonder- 
ful. There  must  have  been  one  hundred  thousand  people  present ; 
many  had  come  from  distant  towns  in  Yorkshire. 


o  2 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

1847. 

Famine  in  Ireland— Day  of  Humiliation — National  Education  and  Wesleyan 
Support — Letter  from  Lord  John  Eussell — Election  Speech  at  Bath — Inci- 
dents of  the  Election — Returned  Head  of  the  Poll — Ragged  School  Busi- 
ness— Broadwall  Ragged  School — Roger  Miller,  City  Missionary — His 
Death — Article  on  Mrs.  Elizaheth  Fry — Quakers  and  Quakerism — Article 
on  Lodging  Houses — A  Hapless  Wanderer — A  Round  of  Visits — Leader  of 
the  Conservative  Party — Missionaries — Miss  Strickland — Highland  Scenery 
— A  Presentation  at  Bradford — Party  Spirit — Lahours  in  Lunacy  Cases 
— Baron  Lionel  Rothschild  and  Jewish  Disahilities — At  Windsor — Dr. 
Hampden — Faith. 

There  were  many  who  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that 
the  scare  produced  by  the  threatened  failure  of  the 
potato  crop  in  1845,  and  the  consequent  famine,  was 
neither  more  nor  less  than  a  political  coup.  It  was, 
nevertheless,  a  terrible  fact,  and  Ireland  had  been 
plunged  into  unprecedented  distress.  In  the  autumn  of 
1846  the  disease  reappeared  with  greater  virulence  than 
ever;  and  in  1S47  Ireland  was  in  a  state  of  absolute 
famine.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  terrible  condi- 
tion of  that  unhappy  country ;  tens  of  thousands  were 
threatened  with  actual  starvation,  and  thousands  more 
were  suffering  from  disease  consequent  upon  insufficient 
food.  Then  it  was  seen  that  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws  was  a  stroke  of  the  wisest  policy  ;  the  ports  had 
not  been  thrown  open  one  day  too  soon,  nor  had  the 
intimation  to  countries    from    whence    grain    could   be 


1847.]  FAMINE   IN  IRELAND.       '  213 

imported,  been  given  an  hour  too  early.  The  descriptions 
in  the  daily  press  were  of  the  most  harrowing  kind,  and 
the  whole  world  was  horrified  by  their  shocking  details, 
to  which  there  is,  happily,  nothing  similar  on  record  in 
the  annals  of  this  country.  The  food  of  the  people  was 
gone  ;  and  although  every  effort  was  made  to  bring  sup- 
plies into  the  country,  these  were  altogether  inadequate. 
Subscriptions  were  set  on  foot,  work  was  improvised  for 
the  unemployed ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  the  people 
died  in  hundreds  daily  from  dysentery,  famine,  fever, 
and  starvation.  Never  before  had  there  been  such 
universal  sympathy  with  suffering — all  the  nations  vied 
with  one  another  in  sending  contributions  towards  the 
relief  of  the  distress — and  never  before  had  any  country 
in  civilised  lands  and  times  been  dependent  for  existence 
upon  one  poor  article  of  food.  Despite  all  the  efforts 
that  were  made,  "  there  was  not  a  house  where  there 
was  not  one  dead."  It  was  ascertained  by  the  census  of 
1S51  that  a  million  and  a  half  of  persons,  of  all  ages,  had 
disappeared — either  starved  to  death,  destro}red  by  pesti- 
lence, or  fled  the  country. 

In  a  great  variety  of  ways  the  sympathies  of  Lord 
Ashley  were  called  out  towards  the  suffering  people,  to 
whom  constant  reference  is  made  in  the  Diary  through- 
out these  years  of  famine. 

February  21st,  Sunday. — Sermon  for  relief  of  Irish  ;  held  one  of 
the  plates  in  Park  Street.  Largest  collection  ever  known  here, 
£192  14s.  lid.  Sad  to  see  how  many  well-dressed  people  pass  by 
and  oive  not  a  brass  farthing.  .   .   . 

February    26th. — Wrote    to  Bishop   of    London    to    urge  day   of 


214  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XTI. 

humiliation.     It  is  something  to  reverence  God  as  a  nation,  though 
it  be  only  externally. 

March  24th. — The  day  appointed  for  fast  and  national  humilia- 
tion. At  ten  o'clock,  prayers  being  ended,  some  bread  and  cocoa. 
The  savings  in  the  house-books  to  go  (it  is  the  homage,  not  the  sum) 
to  some  Irish  fund.  Were  this  done  in  every  family,  thousands  of 
pounds  might  be  collected.  It  has  been  a  comfortable  day  to  me ; 
the  service,  the  reading,  the  conversation,  have  all  been  consolatory 
and  profitable.  Seldom  have  I  known  my  heart  more  touched,  or 
my  eyes  more  full.  ...  O  God,  may  this  people  stand  before  Thee 
in  penitence,  in  prayer,  confession,  and  forgiveness  !  May  they  yet 
be  Thy  instruments,  for  honour  to  Thee  and  welfare  to  the  human 
race,  Thy  chosen  soldiers  of  the  Cross  of  Christ  against  sin  and  the 
devil  ! 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  Lord  Ashley  was  en- 
gaged in  rendering  important  service  to  Lord  John 
Kusseil,  who  was  about  to  submit  to  Parliament  a 
scheme  for  the  education  of  the  people,  based  upon  the 
grant  of  £100,000  to  be  asked  for  during  the  Session. 
He  proposed  to  exclude  Soman  Catholics  from  the 
benefit  of  the  grant,  and  to  take  up  their  case  in  a  sepa- 
rate form.  The  details  of  his  plan  were  submitted  to 
the  House  on  the  19th  April,  when  he  expressed  his 
belief  that  any  proposal  for  making  State  education 
purely  secular  would  be  opposed  to  the  opinion  of 
Parliament. 

April  1st. — Much  engaged  in  endeavouring  to  bring  the  Wes- 
leyan  body  to  accept  and  support  new  scheme  of  education. 

Lord  J.  Russell  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Chesham  Place,  April  7,  1847. 

My  deab  Ashley, — Your  exertions  to  induce  the  Wesleyans  to 

accept  our  Minutes  will,  I  trust,  be  successful. 

But  at  all  events,  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  the  obligations 


1847.]  SPEECH   AT   BATH.  '  215 

which  I  feel  to  you  for  your  very  active  and  judicious  endeavours  to 
obtain  the  support  of  that  most  valuable  body  to  our  Minutes. 

I  remain,  ever  yours  faithfully, 

J.  Russell. 

April  15th. — All  is  well  !  The  Wesleyans  have  accepted  the 
Minutes.  May  God  prosper  the  issue  !  Took  chair  in  evening- 
yesterday  of  great  education  meeting  in  Freemasons'  Hall.  Very 
enthusiastic,  very  successful ;  everything  prospered. 

April  17th. — I  cannot  dispossess  my  mind  of  a  suspicion  that 
John  Russell  meditates  '  other  '  things  in  a  new  Parliament,  yet 
that  does  not  alter  my  desire  and  determination  to  aid  him,  heart 
and  soul,  in  all  that  is  right.  He  has  written  to  thank  me  for  my 
services  in  the  negotiations  with  the  Wesleyans.  And  truly  they 
were  very  opportune.     Their  hostility  would  have  been  disastrous. 

April  23rd. — A  majority  last  night  on  the  Education  Minutes  of 
345,  forty-seven  only  voting  against  it  !  I  am  truly  thankful.  May 
the  measure  be  prospered  to  the  advancement  of  true;  religion  !  Now, 
where  would  the  Government  have  been  had  the  Wesleyans  joined 
the  Dissenters  ?  Their  union  would  have  damped  the  ardour  of  the 
Church,  and  all  would  have  been  in  confusion. 

Lord  Ashley  had  accepted  the  invitation  of  an  influ- 
ential deputation  that  had  waited  upon  him,  urging 
him  to  stand  for  the  representation  of  Bath,  at  the 
forthcoming  General  Election,  and  offering  to  pay  all 
his  expenses;  and  on  the  25th  May  he  addressed  the 
electors.  In  his  opening  remarks  he  gave  a  graphic 
description  of  Parliamentary  life.     He  said  : — 

I  was  almost  willing  to  retire  from  public  life,  and  all  its  dis- 
tracting vocations  ;  for,  however  tempting  to  the  young  and  inex- 
perienced— however  full  of  promise  of  usefulness  and  of  honour  to 
those  who  have  never  tried  it — the  House  of  Commons  does  not 
present,  to  its  more  practised  members,  such  an  amount  of  unalloyed 
enjoyment  a3  to  render  it,  of  all  sublunary  things,  the  most  to  be 
desired. 


216  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [chap.  XVI. 

The  immense  consumption  of  time,  the  constant  demand  on  the 
moral  and  physical  energies,  the  enormous  effort  winch  is  required 
to  do  the  smallest  good,  and  the  misunderstanding  and  abuse  which 
constantly  attend  that  attempt — these  circumstances,  when  seen  and 
felt,  greatly  diminish  the  attraction  of  Parliamentary  honours.  Add 
to  these  the  state  of  public  parties,  the  uncertainty  of  the  opinions 
of  your  own  ordinary  political  friends,  and  the  total  impossibility  of 
reposing  entire  confidence  in  any  public  man— consider  all  these 
things,  and  you  have  but  little  left  to  inspire  any  inordinate  desire 
of  senatorial  privileges. 

The  subjects  he  principally  brought  forward,  were 
those  connected  with  the  social  condition  of  the  labour- 
ing; classes,  indicating  principles  rather  than  precise 
measures,  and  holding  himself  free  to  decide  the  time 
and  mode  of  asserting  them;  but,  in  all,  he  pledged 
himself  to  maintain  the  "  great  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution in  Church  and  State — those  great  principles 
which,  ever  since  the  Revolution  of  1GSS,  have  been 
recognised  and  cherished  by  the  people  of  these 
realms — the  Crown,  the  Bishops,  the  Houses  of  Lords 
and  Commons,  and  eveiy  institution  ecclesiastical  and 
civil." 

His  opponent  was  Mr.  Eoebuck,  then  his  bitterest 
antagonist  in  the  Factory  agitation.  Mr.  Eoebuck  had 
arrayed  on  his  side  capital,  as  well  as  considerable  in- 
fluence, the  Jews  alone  subscribing  £2,000  towards  his 
expenses,  and  he  made,  moreover,  the  usual  extravagant 
display  which  produced  no  inconsiderable  impression 
upon  a  certain  class  of  electors  in  those  days.  Lord 
Ashley,  on  the  other  hand,  declined  to  allow  banners, 
processions,  or  even  ribands ;  determined  that  if  he 
triumphed,  it  should  be  a  triumph  of  principles. 


1847.]  RETURNED    M.P.    FOR    BATH:  217 

July  24th. — Bath.  Arrived  yesterday— all  seems  quiet,  and 
appearances  are  not  bad.  It  would  require  a  world  of  argument  to 
make  me  vote  for  the  repeal  of  the  Septennial  Bill  ;  a  more  frequent 
repetition  of  the  toils,  expenses,  excitement,  and  evil  passions  of  a 
contested  election,  would  be  awfully  injurious  to  all  parties.  ' 

July  2Gth. — Mobbed  on  Saturday,  and  struck  in  the  evening  by 
a  man,  who  was  instantly  seized,  his  blow  having  been  broken — yet  I 
shall  continue  to  walk  about.  Violence  is  expected  at  the  hustings ; 
I  trust  that  the  police  will  do  their  duty.  Attended  several  com- 
mittees, very  crowded,  and  very  hot — all  looks  pretty  well,  but 
' Dieu  dispose.'  Mr.  R.  is  determined,  I  hear,  to  wither  me  by 
sarcasms — doubtless  he  will  have  the  opportunity  to  revile,  and  I 
shall  have  none  to  answer  ;  but  God  judge  between  us  ! 

July  28th. — The  nomination  has  passed  off  quietly — people  noisy, 
but  gooddiumoured.  An  immense  meeting  ;  Mr.  Roebuck,  piano  in 
comparison  of  what  I  expected,  so  much  so  that  I  could  not  produce 
the  only  part  of  my  speech  that  I  had  prepared  in  answer  to  his 
invectives  ! 

Perceived  a  change  in  the  popular  feeling  towards  end  of  my 
speech  ;  cries  of  '  Ashley  for  ever  ! '  ten  times  more  frequent  all  this 
evening  than  before. 

July  31st. — London.  No  time  for  entries  till  this  morning- 
many  events ;  returned,  however,  thank  God,  at  the  head  of  the 
poll! 

*A.  .  .  .  1278 
D.  .  .  .  1228 
R.  .  .  .  1093 

August  2nd. — I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the  immense  value  of  the 
mode  in  which  I  have  been  returned,  and  of  the  principles  asserted 
in  it.  I  can  never  sufficiently  thank  God  for  the  whole  event,  and 
for  the  prospect  it  has  opened  to  me  of  restoration  to  public  use- 
fulness. I  have  been  excluded  from  Parliament  for  two  Sessions,  but 
the  time  has  not  been  entirely  lost ;  and  I  am  now  replaced  in  it  in 
a  way  the  most  honourable,  and  the  most  pleasant  on  record  in  the 
history  of  elections.     I  did  not  ask  a  single  vote  ;  I  appeared  but 

*  Lord  Ashley,  Lord  Duncan,  Mr.  Roebuck.  The  latter  was  left  at 
the  foot  of  the  poll  after  a  connection  of  fifteen  years  with  the  constituency. 


218  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVI. 

once  in  Bath,  and  made  a  single  speech  before  the  week  of  the  dis- 
solution ;  I  did  not  pay  a  single  farthing ;  I  had  not  an  inch  of 
ribbon,  a  banner,  music,  or  a  procession  ;  not  a  penny  during  six 
months  was  expended  on  beer ;  nor  had  I  one  paid  agent ;  the 
tradesmen  conducted  the  whole,  and  with  singular  judgment  and 
concord.  This  is  indeed  a  model  for  elections,  and  heartily  do  I 
thank  God  that  the  precedent  has  been  set  in  my  instance.  We  had 
no  mob,  no  bludgeon-man,  and  trusted  entirely  to  the  police  and 
common  sense 

Aug.  7th. — The  unanimity  of  the  London  press,  great  and  small, 
the  blue-bottles  and  the  gnats,  against  me  and  for  Roebuck,  is  very 
remarkable.  Punch  of  yesterday  added  his  sting.  Such  perseverance 
cannot  fail  of  some  general  effect  on  the  public  mind  ;  for,  as  Mr. 
Hardwick,  the  architect,  told  us  a  few  days  ago,  the  repeated  jars  of 
a  train,  passing  over  an  iron  bridge,  were  equal,  in  the  aggregate,  to 
one  mighty  blow  ! 

Auff.  9th. — Amused  with  the  issue  of  Oxford  election.  Had 
been  requested  to  stand  ;  stated  all  my  objections  (of  which  I  had 
many)  in  reply,  but  consented,  if  my  friends  regarded  it  as  a  matter 
of  real  principle.  I  see  by  the  result  that  I  should  have  come  in. 
I  was  proposed  at  Oxford,  and  Dr.  Ogilvie,  who  takes  the  lead  in  that 
place,  would  not  allow  the  name  of  so  low  a  churchman  — one  so  con- 
nected with  the  Pastoral  Aid  Society — to  be  mentioned.  To  avoid  any 
division,  all  agreed  to  seek  out  some  one  against  whom  nothing  could 
be  said ;  but  then,  as  the  price  of  that,  they  were  obliged  to  adopt 
a  person  for  whom  they  could  say  as  little,  so  Dr.  Ogilvie  took 
Round,  and  subsequently  finds  out  that  he  had  rejected  a  '  low  church- 
man '  to  espouse  one  who  had  played  the  '  dissenter ; '  and  he  loses 
the  election  into  the  bargain  ! 

The  interest  excited  in  Ragged  Schools  and  the 
London  City  Mission  showed  no  sign  of  diminution. 
Many  influential  persons  were  eager  to  see  the  strange 
sights  which  Lord  Ashley  so  graphically  described  by 
pen  and  speech.  The  newspaper  press  lent  material 
aid  in  making  the  subject  popular ;  and  the  mustard 
seed  was  beginning   to  spread  itself  into  the  largest  of 


1847.]  ROGER    MILLER,    CITY   MISSIONARY.  219 

trees.  Frequent  notes  similar  to  the  following  occur  in 
the  Diary  : — 

March  27th. — To  Pye  Street  at  11  o'clock  to  show  Ragged 
School  to  Fox  Maule  and  Mr.  Guthrie.  Lord,  how  we  ought  to  bless 
Thee  for  this  measure  of  success  ! 

May  1st.- — An  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review  on  'Ragged 
Schools,'  written,  evidently,  by  one  who  knows  nothing  of  them.  ISTo 
mention  of  our  Ragged  Union,  no  recognition  of  our  labours  and 
services.  The  spirit  of  it  is  good — no  tendency  to  irreligion.  Now, 
I  discern  the  reason  of  their  silence  :  I  see  a  contemptuous  allusion 
to  factory  legislators,  and  any  praise  of  the  Union  would  involve  a 
praise  of  myself.  Such  things  are  in  themselves  of  no  value  ;  the 
result  is  the  sum  and  substance,  wherewith  we  should  be  content ; 
but  to  a  public  man,  the  praise  of  successful  efforts,  especially  if  he 
be  a  '  philanthropist,'  is  stock-in-trade  for  further  enterprise ;  to 
withhold  it  where  it  is  due,  is  not  so  much  to  injure  the  man  as  to 
retard  humanity. 

The  Broad  wall   Ra^o-ed   School   in    South    London 

Do 

owed  its  existence  to  the  indefatigable  labours  of  Mr. 
Roger  Miller,  a  City  missionary,  who  had  at  first 
gathered  about  130  of  the  most  destitute  and  forsaken 
children  he  could  find,  and,  in  a  tumbledown  building, 
had  laboured,  week-days  and  Sundays,  to  lead  them 
into  better  paths.  Soon,  the  crowds  of  applicants  were 
too  numerous  for  the  accommodation  ;  and  Lord  Ashley 
happening  to  hear  of  this,  sent  for  Mr.  Miller,  to  see  if 
something  could  not  be  done  to  assist  him  in  his  work. 

Lord  Ashley  seemed  to  know  instinctively  the  men 
he  could  trust,  and  with  whom  he  could  work ;  and 
once  having  taken  kindly  to  a  man  he  would  trust  him 
implicitly,  and  work  with  him  ungrudgingly.  It  was 
so  in  this  case  ;  and  Mr.  Miller  was  soon   entered  upon 


220  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVI. 

his  list  of  friends.  This  was  no  meaningless  distinc- 
tion implying  mere  patronage.  He  sought  out  in 
men  beauty  of  character  and  singleness  of  purpose,  and 
it  mattered  not  to  him  whether  they  belonged  to  the 
humbler  walks  of  life  or  to  the  higher :  he  gave  them 
his  friendship  in  no  ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  He 
accepted  the  motto  of  the  poet  Young : — 

"Judge  before  friendship,  then  confide  till  death." 

Eoger  Miller  was  a  man  whom  Lord  Ashley  highly 
esteemed.  He  was  a  frequent,  and  always  a  welcome, 
visitor,  and  his  simple,  earnest  devotion  to  the  poor, 
his  practical  piety,  and  his  cheerful,  hopeful  faith, 
were  often  helpful  to  the  spiritual  life  of  Lord  Ashley. 
The  death  of  this  faithful .  missionary,  just  at  a  time 
when  his  labours  were  more  than  ever  needed,  was  a 
serious  blow,  which  deeply  affected  Lord  Ashley. 

June  7th. — This  morning  overwhelmed  with  grief  ;  hut  God  give 
us  faith  and  obedience.  Miller  killed  in  the  Birmingham  train  on 
Saturday  night.  I  had  seen  him  in  the  morning,  well  and  full  of 
zeal.  He  was  ejoinor  to  Manchester  to  bury  his  mother.  How  in- 
scrutable  are  Thy  ways,  O  Lord  !  Write  this  lesson  on  our  hearts. 
Here  was  a  man  rich  in  good  works,  piety,  truth,  service  to  God  and 
man,  labouring  by  night  and  day  for  humanity  and  religion,  and 
especially  amongst  the  poorest  of  our  race.  He  is  suddenly  cut  off, 
his  work  unfinished,  his  wife  and  children  left  destitute  !  And  this, 
too,  when  so  many  profligate,  idle,  mischievous,  useless,  survive.  Let 
us  rejoice  that  we  know  the  issues  of  life  and  death  to  be,  not  only 
in  the  poiver,  but  in  the  care,  of  our  Father  which  is  in  Heaven  !  He 
is  gone,  I  believe,  to  his  rest ;  and  now,  O  God,  give  us  the  will  and 
the  means  to  aid  his  widow,  who  is  a  widow  indeed,  and  the  children, 
who  are  orphans  !  But  where  shall  I  find  another  such  for  the  charge 
of  our  Bagged  School  1     Where  another  so  full  of  love,  piety,  earnest- 


1847.]  MRS.    ELIZABETH    FRY.  221 

ness,  discretion,  and  labour  ]     Lord,  Thou  knowest.     Blessed  Saviour 
of  mankind,  remember  Thine  own  words — '  Feed  my  lambs.' 

June  9th. — A  far  greater  man  might  have  gone  out  of  the  world 
with  much  less  effect.  All  was  grief  on  Monday  at  Broad  wall ; 
children  and  adults  wept  alike,  and  blessed  the  memory  of  poor 
Miller.  I  have  known  men  of  a  hundred  thousand  a  year  depart 
this  life,  and  every  eye  around  dry  as  the  pavement.  Here  goes  a 
City  missionary  at  thirty  shillings  a  week,  and  hundreds  are  in  an 
agony  of  sorrow.  I  have  lost  an  intimate  friend.  We  took,  I 
may  say,  '  sweet  counsel  together.'  A  gap  has  been  made  in  my 
life  and  occupations  which  will  not  easily  be  tilled  up. 

Lord  Ashley  had  in  early  life  often  wished  to  devote 
himself  to  science.  At  this  period  in  his  career  he 
seemed  about  to  devote  himself  to  literature.  Two 
articles  from  his  pen  appeared  in  the  Quarterly 
Beview  for  1847.  The  first  was  on  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Fry,  whose  biography  it  reviews.  We  append  the 
following  extracts  : — 

That  this  admirable  woman  had  a  special  vocation  for  the  office 
she  undertook  is  manifest  in  every  step  of  her  progress ;  her  intel- 
lectual constitution  was  singularly  adapted  to  the  peculiar  task  ;  add 
to  this  the  zeal  which  governed  the  whole,  an  enthusiasm  regulated, 
but  never  chilled,  by  judgment,  and  we  have  a  character  armed  at 
all  points,  ready  to  take  up  the  gauntlet  of  every  conceivable  obstacle 
that  could  impede  her  in  the  accomplishment  of  her  great  design. 
Among  subordinate,  but  very  real  advantages,  we  cannot  fail  to 
count  the  succour  she  derived  from  her  connection  with  the  Society 
of  Friends.  A  little  eccentricity  of  action  was  considered  permissible, 
and  even  natural,  in  the  member  of  a  body  already  recognised  as 
eccentric  in  opinions,  eccentric  in  dress,  eccentric  in  language.  Philan- 
thropy, too,  had  been  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  this 
respectable  brotherhood  ;  a  devious  effort  for  the  interest  of  man- 
kind passed  in  one  of  them  without  censure,  almost  without 
observation.  The  Quaker  habit  and  Quaker  renown  disarmed 
hostility,  nay,  propitiated  favour  ;  it  secured  the  first  introduction  to 


222  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVI. 

magistrates,  to  nobles,  to  ministers,  to  Emperors.  When  so  much 
was  effected,  the  rest  was  sure  ;  her  simple  dignity  of  demeanour,  her 
singularly  musical  voice,  her  easy,  unaffected  language,  the  fit  vehicle 
of  her  unfailing  good  sense,  her  earnest  piety,  and  unmistakable 
disinterestedness,  enchained  the  most  reluctant  ;  and  to  every  Cabinet 
and  Court  of  Europe,  where  religion  or  humanity  could  be  main- 
tained or  advanced,  she  obtained  ready  admission  as  a  herald  of 
peace  and  charity. 

But,  we  must  repeat,  we  take  her  as  the  exception,  not  as  the 
rule.  The  high  and  holy  duties  assigned  to  women  by  the  decrees 
of  Providence  are  essentially  of  a  secret  and  retiring  nature ;  it  is 
in  the  privacy  of  the  closet  that  the  soft,  yet  sterling,  wisdom  of  the 
Christian  mother  stamps  those  impressions  on  the  youthful  heart, 
which,  though  often  defaced,  are  seldom  wholly  obliterated.  What- 
ever tends  to  withdraw  her  from  these  sacred  offices,  or  even  abate 
their  full  force  and  efficacy,  is  high  treason  against  the  hopes  of  a 
nation.  We  do  not  deny  that  valuable  seiwices  may  be  safely,  and, 
indeed,  are  safely,  rendered  by  many  intelligent  and  pious  ladies 
who  devote  their  hours  of  leisure  or  recreation  to  the  Rarotoncas 
and  Tahitis  of  British  Christendom  —  it  is  not  to  such  that  we 
would  make  allusion ;  our  thoughts  are  directed  to  that  total 
absorption  which,  plunging  women  into  the  voi'tex  of  eccentric 
and  self-imposed  obligations,  merges  the  private  in  the  public 
duty,  confounds  that  which  is  principal  with  that  which  is  secondary, 
and  withdraws  them  from  labours  which  they  alone  can  accomplish, 
to  those  in  which,  at  least,  they  may  be  equalled  by  others. 

###### 

We  are  amused,  we  confess,  by  her  struggles  with  Quakerism, 
and  her  ultimate  surrender  to  a  pedantic  system,  by  which  her 
inner  being  could  never  be  ruled.  Though  a  member  of  a  sect, 
she,  in  truth,  Avas  no  sectarian ;  but,  underneath  the  ostentatious 
singularity  of  the  mob-cap  and  light  grey  mantle,  bore  a  humble 
heart — and  a  heart  that  could  give  honour  to  whom  honour  was 
due,  whether  he  wore  an  ermine  robe,  sleeves  of  lawn,  or  the 
foulest  rags.  We  are  at  a  loss  for  her  reasons  ;  the  '  concern  ' — 
such  is  the  term — is  not  alleged  in  her  journal  to  have  offered 
splendid  advantages  unattainable  elsewhere.  She  may  have  yielded 
to  the    persuasions    of    her  many    relatives,  to    the  suggestions  of 


1847.]  LODGING    HOUSES.  223 

convenience ;  but,  whatever  the  motive,  she  embraces,  with  true 
self-devotion,  the  whole ;  adopts,  without  reserve,  the  Friend's 
ceremonial  law  ;  and  finds  various  philosophical  arguments  to  fortify 
the  usage  of  'thou'  and  'thee'  (pp.  56,  Gl).  'I  considered,'  she 
observes,  '  there  were  certainly  some  advantages  attending  it ;  the 
first,  that  of  weaning  the  heart  from  this  world,  by  acting  in  some 
little  things  differently  from  it.'  '  Vain  service  all,  and  false  philo- 
sophy ! '  Our  deep  respect  for  many  Quakers  will  not  beguile  us 
into  a  fulsome  conceit  of  the  elevating  and  purgative  powers  of 
Quakerism.  They  are  men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves  ;  they 
may  be  seen  in  Mark  Lane  and  on  the  Exchange,  and  pursue  their 
wealth  and  enjoy  it  with  similar  zeal  and  relish.  Nor  are  they  fully 
weaned  from  the  rougher  and  more  stimulating  diet  of  political 
ambition.  With  the  vow  of  separation  upon  them,  they  have  recently 
shaved  their  heads,  and  entered  the  world  of  Parliamentary  service  ; 
how  far  they,  or  the  public,  have  gained  by  this  invasion  of  the 
Nazarites  is  beyond  our  experience.  One  of  them,  however,  must 
have  imbibed  the  humanising  influence  of  '  thou '  and  '  thee ; ' 
since  the  friend  who  knew  him  best,  not  long  ago  declared,  that  '  if 
John  Bright  had  not  been  born  a  Quaker  he  would  most  assuredly 
have  become  a  prize  fighter ! ' 

In  some  particulars  the  work  of  Elizabeth  Fry  was 
closely  allied  to  that  of  Lord  Ashley,  and  he  reveals  the 
secret  of  its  success  in  these  words  :  — 

She  saw  clearly  and  experienced  the  power  of  love  on  the  human 
heart,  whether  corrupted,  as  in  the  criminal,  or  stujaefied,  as  in  the 
lunatic.  She  saw  that  the  benighted  and  wandering  madman  pos- 
sessed and  cherished  the  remnants  of  his  better  mind,  and  that  he 
clung  to  nothing  so  much  as  to  that  which  all  seemed  to  deny  him — 
some  little  semblance  of  respect.  Sympathy  is  the  great  secret  to 
govern  the  human  race ;  and,  whether  it  be  in  a  prison,  a  ragged 
school,  a  madhouse,  or  the  world  at  large,  he  that  would  force  men's 
hearts  to  a  surrender,  must  do  so  by  manifesting  that  they  would  be 
safe  if  committed  to  his  keeping. 

The  second  article  was  on  "  Lodging  Houses,"  and 
was  written  to   assist    the    efforts    being  made  by  the 


224  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVI. 

Labourers'  Friend  Society,  in  the  same  way  in  which 
the  article  on  Ragged  Schools  had  assisted  the  Ragged 
School  Union. 

Thoroughly  conversant  with  his  subject  Lord  Ashley  ' 
set  forth  graphically  the  abominations  of  the  then 
existing  lodging-house  "  system,"  and  the  efforts  made 
to  supersede  it.  His  description  of  a  hapless  wanderer 
arriving  in  London,  homeless,  friendless,  and  seeking 
a  shelter,  is  here  subjoined  : — 

The  astonishment  and  perplexities  of  a  young  person  on  his 
arrival  here,  full  of  good  intentions  to  live  honestly,  would  be  almost 
ludicrous,  were  they  not  the  preludes  to  such  mournful  results.  He 
ali'dits,  and  is  instantly  directed  for  the  best  accommodation  to 
Duck  Lane,  St.  Giles's,  Saffron  Hill,  Spitalfields,  or  Whitechapel. 
He  reaches  the  indicated  region  through  tight  avenues  of  glittering 
fish  and  rotten  vegetables,  with  doorways  or  alleys  gaping  on  either 
side — which,  if  they  be  not  choked  with  squalid  garments  or  sickly 
children,  lead  the  eye  through  an  interminable  vista  of  filth  and 
distress — and  begins  his  search  for  the  '  good  entertainment.'  The 
pavement,  where  there  is  any,  rugged  and  broken,  is  bespattered 
with  dirt  of  every  hue,  ancient  enough  to  rank  with  the  fossils,  but 
offensive  as  the  most  recent  deposits.  The  houses,  small,  low,  and 
mournful,  present  no  one  part,  in  windows,  door-posts,  or  brickwork, 
that  seems  fitted  to  stand  for  another  week  ;  rags  and  bundles  stuff 
up  the  panes,  and  defend  the  passages,  blackened  with  use  and  by  the 
damps  arising  from  the  undrained  and  ill-ventilated  recesses.  Yet 
each  one  ;iffects  to  smile  with  promise,  and  invites  the  country 
bumpkin  to  the  comfort  and  repose  of  '  Lodgings  for  Single  Men.' 

He  enters  the  first,  perhaps  the  largest,  and  finds  it  to  consist  of 
seven  apartments  of  very  moderate  dimensions.  Here  are  stowed — 
besides  children — sixty  adults,  a  goodly  company  of  males  and 
females,  of  every  profession  of  fraud  and  violence,  with  a  very  few 
poor  and  industrious  labourers.  He  turns  to  another  hostel — the 
reader  will  not,  we  know,  proceed  without  misgivings — but  we  assure 
him    our  picture  is   drawn  from   real  life.     The  parlour  measures 


1847.]  LABOURERS'    FRIEND    SOCIETY.  225 

eighteen  feet  by  ten.  Beds  are  arranged  on  each  side  of  it.  composed 
of  straw,  rags,  and  shavings,  all  in  order,  but  not  decently,  according 
to  the  apostolic  precept.  Here  he  sees  twenty-seven  male  and  female 
adults,  and  thirty-one  children,  with  several  dogs  (for  dogs,  the 
friends  of  man,  do  not  forsake  him  in  his  most  abaudoned  condition), 
in  all  fiftv-ei£fht  human  beings,  in  a  contracted  den,  from  which  licdit 
and  air  are  systematically  excluded.  He  seeks  the  upper  room,  as 
more  likely  to  remind  him  of  his  native  hills  ;  it  measures  twelve  feet 
by  ten,  and  contains  six  beds,  which  in  their  turn  contain  thirty-two 
individuals — and  these  bearing  but  little  resemblance  to  Alexander 
the  Great,  Cujas  the  Lawyer,  or  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  whose 
bodies  yielded  naturally  a  fine  perfume.  Disgusted  once  more,  he  turns 
with  hope  to  the  tranquillity  of  a  smaller  tenement.  Here,  groping 
his  way  up  an  ascent  more  like  a  flue  than  a  staircase,  he  finds  a  nest 
of  four  tiny  compartments — and  they  are  all  full.  It  is,  however,  in 
vain  to  search  further.  The  evening  has  set  in ;  the  tenants  are 
returned  to  their  layers ;  the  dirt,  confusion,  and  obscenity  baffle 
alike  tongue,  pen,  and  paint-brush  :  but  if  our  bewildered  novice 
would  have  for  the  night  a  roof  over  his  head,  he  must  share  the 
tlcor  with  as  many  men,  women,  and  babies  as  it  has  space  for. 

After  further  descriptions  of  the  state  of  things  the 
article  continues  : — 

Our  readers  will  now  have  some  notion  of  the  '  system '  which  it 
has  been  the  aim  of  the  Labourers'  Friend  Society  to  attack.  It 
being  asked  once  '  What  is  the  best  method  of  protecting  against 
depredation  a  barrel  of  small  beer  1 '  the  answer  was  '  Place  alongside 
of  it  a  barrel  of  strong.'  On  this  principle  the  Society  determined  to 
act :  and  we  shall  now  sketch  the  triumph  of  their  superior  barrel. 

The  experiment  was  successful,  and  paved  the  way 
for  attempting  greater  things,  not  only  by  the  Labourers' 
Friend  Society,  but  upon  their  model,  and  not  in  London 
only  but  in  many  of  the  large  provincial  towns  and 
cities. 

In  August  Lord  Ashley  set  off  on  a  round  of  visits, 
P 


226  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVI. 

to  take  a  little  relaxation  before    the   labours    of  the 
new  Parliament  should  commence. 

Aug.  12th. — Broadlands.  Went  over  yesterday  to  St.  Giles's. 
Minny,  and  the  four  boys ;  no  one  there  ;  place  solitary  as  the  plains 
of  Tartary,  but,  thank  God,  it  looked  well  and  uninjured.  A  few 
years  ago  I  could  have  adopted  a  rural  life,  I  could  not,  I  think, 
now  !  My  habits  are  formed  on  metropolitan  activity,  and  I  must 
ever  be  groping  where  there  is  the  most  mischief.   .   .  . 

Aug.  23rd. — William  Cowper  writes  to  Minny,  '  I  hear  Ashley 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  only  man  who  is  calculated  to  lead  the 
majority  of  the  Conservative  party,  and  certainly  if  he  were  an  am- 
bitious man  he  might  assume  a  leadership  with  many  followers  next 
Session,  particularly  on  subjects  relating  to  the  Church,  &c,  <kc.' 
Well,  this  is  a  new  view  of  my  futurity  ;  what  sport  for  the  news- 
papers. If  they  shot  at  me  while  I  was  merely  a  cocksparrow,  what 
would  they  do  when  I  had  become  a  Popinjay  !  no,  no,  no  ;  I  have 
opinions  and  feelings,  strong  and  deep  ;  they  may  be  right  or  wrong  ; 
but,  right  or  wrong,  they  can  never  lead  a  party,  because  no  party 
would  follow  them. 

Aug.  30th. — Byde.  Reading  '  Missionary  Enterprises  '  by  Wil- 
liams. It  may  well  make  us  all  blush — blush  by  contrast  with  the 
missionaries,  blush  by  contrast  with  the  natives  of  the  South  Sea 
Islands.  Zeal,  devotion,  joy,  simplicity  of  heart,  faith  and  love  ;  and 
we,  here,  have  barely  affection  enough  to  thank  God  that  such  deeds 
have  been  done.  Talk  of  'doing  good  '  and  'being  useful  in  one's 
generation,'  why,  these  admirable  men  performed  more  in  one  month 
than  I  or  many  others  shall  perform  in  a  whole  life  !  O  God,  bless 
our  land  to  Thy  service,  and  make  every  ship  an  ark  of  Noah  to 
bear  the  Church  of  Christ  and  the  tidings  of  salvation,  over  all  the 
waters  of  the  ocean. 

Sept.  17th. — Galloway  House.  There  cannot  be  a  lovelier  or 
more  enjoyable  spot.  The  air  is  so  elastic  and  bracing  that  it  saves 
one  from  Sybaritish  atiections ;  one  feels  up  to  doing  something. 
God  give  me  a  stock  of  health  to  be  used  in  His  service. 

Dear  old  Duchess  of  Beaufort  here ;  talked  much  with  her  on  the 
Second  Advent ;  Ave  both  agree  and  delight  in  the  belief  of  the  personal 
reign  of  our  blessed  Lord  on  earth.     I  cannot  understand  the  Scrip- 


1847.]  IX   SCOTLAND.  227 

tures  in  any  other  way ;  it  is,  however,  a  doctrine  much  abhorred  by 
certain  people,  and  greatly  ridiculed  and  persecuted  in  those  who 
profess  it ;  the  adversaries  argue  and  revile  as  fiercely  as  though  they 
attacked  or  maintained  the  fundamentals  of  the  Christian  religion, 
whereas  the  reception  of  this  text,  however  comfortable,  is  no  matter 
of  faith. 

Sept.  25. — Wishaw,  Lord  Belhaven's.  Arrived  here  yesterday, 
hospitably  received  ;  found  Miss  Strickland,  authoress  of  '  Lives  of 
Queens  of  England '  ;  put  up  my  bristles  in  fear,  and  prepared  for  an 
onslaught  of  blue-stocking  Tractarianism ;  agreeably  disappointed ; 
a  good-natured,  kind-hearted  woman.  She  spoke  gloriously  of  my 
public  exploits,  hence  I  suppose  my  becalmed  spirit.  .   .   . 

Sept.  30th. — Aclmacarry.  Visit  to  Lord  Malmesbury.  Found 
here  Ossulston,  the  Castlereaghs,  and  a  Mr.  Giles,  a  skilful  limner. 
Rose  this  morning  at  6.  The  purple  hills  were  tipjoed  with  the 
rising  sun,  and  all  around  is  heathery  mountain.  It  is  like  living  at 
the  bottom  of  a  teacup  with  lovely  edges. 

Oct.  2nd. — Impossible  to  describe  the  fascinations  of  these  High- 
land regions  ;  the  hills  must  be  seen,  and  the  air  must  be  breathed  ; 
one's  old  limbs  become  elastic,  and  we  '  leap  exulting  like  the 
bounding  roe  ; '  it  is  a  joy  which  fills  the  heart  with  thankfulness. 

The  colours  and  tints  of  every  kind  and  hue,  in  most  abundant 
variety,  enliven  the  valleys  and  mountains  with  a  brilliant  glory.  It 
looks  as  if  some  mighty  giant,  intending  to  do  a  landscape,  had  used 
a  whole  district  for  his  palette,  and  spread  it  over  with  all  the  colours 
that  singly  or  combined  can  exist  in  Nature.  And  as  for  the  whole 
effect,  language  is  altogether  impotent ;  one's  vocabulary  will  supply 
no  adequate  terms,  and  must  be  content  to  admire  in  silence  or  by 
short  and  emphatic  ejaculations.   .  .   . 

Oct.  9th. — Rossie  Priory.  Been  here  since  Wednesday ;  it  is  a 
fine  possession,  people  hospitable  and  kind ;  found  here  Sheriff 
Watson — very  glad  indeed  to  meet  him — a  tutelar  saint  of  Ragged 
Schools  ;  also  Sir  David  Brewster,  a  dear  old  man,  combining  beau- 
tifully science  and  religion.  ...  I  have  been  in  good  spirits 
since  my  arrival  in  Scotland,  and  have  laughed  a  great  deal,  perhaps 
too  much. 

Oct.  13th. — Freeland  (Lord  Ruthven's).  The  heat  and  mugginess 
of  these  beautiful,  but  close,  valleys,  almost  kill  me,  by  contrast  with 
the  elastic,  life-giving  breezes  of  the  Highlands. 

p  2 


223  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVI. 

Oct.  20th. — Boiling  Hall,  near  Bradford,  in  Yorkshire.  Yes- 
terday evening  the  Short  Time  Commissioner  of  the  West  Biding 
]  (resented  to  Minny  a  f nil-length  portrait  of  me,  painted  by  Bird, 
and  an  excellent  likeness,  as  a  memorial  of  gratitude  for  my  services. 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  acceptable  in  every  sense.* 

Oct.  27th. — Row  ton.  The  Government  in  their  distress  have 
consulted  Reel.  He  and  Sir  C.  Wood  were  closeted  together  for  four 
hours,  from  eight  till  twelve  o'clock  at  night  on  this  monetary  crisis ; 
all  quite  right  and  yet  rather  mean.  This  is  the  man  whom  they 
rejected  from  office  a  twelvemonth  ago,  as  wholly  unfit  for  the  place  ; 
and  now  they  call  him  to  council.  Party  spirit  is  the  ruling  principle 
of  public  men,  says  all  experience  ;  Peel  is  an  exception,  so  far  only 
as  that  his  party  is  himself.     .     .     . 

On  his  return  to  London,  Lord  Ashley  found  abun- 
dant labours  awaiting  him.  One  matter  in  particular 
claimed  his  attention,  and  it  was  characteristic  of  him 
that  he  would  carry  an  urgent  case  to  its  final  issue, 
however  pressing  other  claims  might  be.  A  lady,  Mrs. 
H.,  had  been  shut  up  as  a  lunatic,  but,  as  far  as  Lord 
Ashley,  and  three  other  Commissioners,  could  judge, 
she  was  as  sane  as  any  woman  in  England ;  and  he 
was  pained  and  alarmed  to  find  how,  with  all  the  safe- 
guards of  the  law,  there  were  still  facilities  for  in- 
carcerating  a  victim.  He  spared  no  pains  in  sifting 
the  evidence  on  both  sides,  and  prosecuted  the  investi- 
gation day  by  day  until  he  had  proof  indisputable  that 
the  lady  was  the  victim  of  a  cruel  conspiracy,  and  was 
perfectly  sane.  It  need  not  be  added  that  she  was 
set  at  liberty  with  the  least  possible  delay. 

The  patience  and  skill  and  unwearying  labour  of 
Lord  Ashley  as  a  Commissioner  in  Lunacy  can  never 

*  It  now  hangs  at  St.  Giles's  House. 


1847.]  A    LUNACY    CASE.  229 

be  told.  One  story  out  of  many,  illustrating  the  charac- 
teristic promptness  with  which,  even  late  in  life,  he 
would  examine  a  case  an  J  take  immediate  action,  may 
be  cited  here. 

A  lady,  Mrs.  A.,  residing  in  the  West  End,  was  on 
visiting  terms  with  Mrs.  B.,  a  woman  of  fashion  and 
position.  There  was  very  little  in  common  between  the 
two,  and  the  visits  of  Mrs.  A.  would  have  been  less 
frequent  than  they  were,  had  she  not  taken  a  more  than 
passing  interest  in  a  young  lady,  Miss  C,  who  was 
staying,  indefinitely  as  it  seemed,  in  the  house  of  Mrs. 
B.  There  was  a  great  charm  in  her  conversation,  and 
the  visits  of  Mrs.  A.  seemed  to  afford  her  considerable 
pleasure,  although  they  were  only  of  an  occasional  and 
somewhat  formal  kind.  One  day  when  Mrs.  A.  called, 
Miss  C.  was  not  there,  and  on  making  very  pointed 
inquiries,  she  was,  after  some  hesitation,  informed  that 
her  young  friend  was  out  of  her  mind,  and  was  in  an 
asylum  fifty  miles  away  from  town,  the  name  of  the 
asylum  being  mentioned. 

That  evening  Mrs.  A.  felt  troubled  and  distressed ; 
she  had  seen  Miss  C.  only  a  week  or  ten  days  pre- 
viously, and  perceived  no  indication  of  a  disordered 
mind.  It  was  true  she  had  observed  indications  of 
sadness  and  depression  of  spirits,  and  had  feared  that 
her  young  friend  was  not  happy ;  but  that  she  was 
out  of  her  mind,  and  fit  to  be  in  an  asylum,  she 
could  not  and  would  not  believe.  She  was  greatly 
troubled,  not  knowing  what  to  do  or  where  to  go.  At 
length  it  occurred  to  her  that  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury 


230  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVI. 

was  a  Commissioner  in  Lunacy,  and  she  went  straight 
away  to  his  house,  found  him  at  home,  and  told  him 
the  whole  story.  It  was  evening  when  she  arrived  in 
Grosvenor  Square,  and  dinner  was  on  the  table,  but 
within  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  on 
his  wa}r  to  the  railway  station  to  go  down  to  the  asylum 
and  investigate  the  matter  for  himself.  He  did  so, 
and  on  the  following  da}^  the  young  lady  was  released, 
it  having  been  authoritatively  ascertained  that  she  was 
not  in  a  state  to  render  it  necessary  for  her  to  be  an 
inmate  of  an  asylum. 

The  new  Parliament  was  opened  by  the  Queen  in 
person,  on  the  23rd  November,  and  her  speech  was,  for 
the  first  time,  transmitted  to  the  chief  towns  in  the 
kingdom  by  the  electric  telegraph. 

At  the  preceding  General  Election  Baron  Lionel 
Eothschild  was  returned  for  the  City  of  London — the 
first  Jew  ever  returned  to  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and 
in  order  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  take  his  seat, 
the  question  of  the  removal  of  Jewish  Disabilities  was 
revived.  The  subject  had  been  frequently  under  dis- 
cussion since  Mr.  Eobert  Grant,  in  1830,  first  brought 
forward  a  Bill  to  enable  Jews  to  sit  in  Parliament.  At 
that  time  a  Jew  was  liable  to  everv  kind  of  humiliation: 
he  could  not  vote  unless  he  took  the  prescribed  oath ; 
he  could  not  be  an  attorney,  or  practise  at  the  bar,  or 
be  employed  in  a  school,  and,  in  many  other  respects, 
was  "  conspicuous  in  a  free  community  as  a  man  under 
a  social  and  political   ban."      In  the  course  of  years, 


1847.]  THE    OATE    OF   ALLEGIANCE.  231 

however,  various  concessions  had  been  made,  until  all 
the  privileges  of  citizenship  were  accorded  to  him, 
except  the  most  coveted  honour  of  all — the  right  to  sit 
in  Parliament. 

Lord  John  Russell  moved  a  resolution  to  enable 
Baron  Rothschild  to  take  his  seat,  and,  although  it  was 
strongly  opposed  by  the  Conservatives,  the  resolution — 
"  for  the  admission  of  Jews  into  Parliament  " — was 
carried  by  a  majority  of  253  to  186.  The  Bill  was 
eventually  thrown  out,  however,  in  the  Lords. 

Lord  Ashley  took  part  in  the  debate,  and  his  speech 
told  with  considerable  effect.  His  objection  was  not  to 
admitting  them  as  Jews,  but  that  the  Oath  of  Allegi- 
ance should  be  altered  to  suit  them.  "  What  I  said  in 
effect  was  this,"  said  Lord  Shaftesbury,  when  telling  the 
story  of  these  times  to  the  writer  :  "  You  call  on  us  to 
alter  the  oath  by  striking  out  the  words  '  on  the  faith 
of  a  Christian,'  and  ask  the  Legislature  to  affirm  that 
this  is  unnecessary.  I  will  not  be  a  party  to  playing 
with  the  name  of  Christ,  by  striking  it  out  of  an  oath, 
to  please  any  one.  If  you  like  to  have  no  oath  at  all, 
well  and  good,  but  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  its 
alteration,  which  is  a  practical  denial  of  the  faith." 

The  closing  events  of  the  year  are  thus  recorded : — 

Nov.  15th. — Dined  with  John  Russell  on  Saturday  last.  1  had 
some  thought  of  avoiding  any  '  private  '  civilities  ;  but  I  determined 
otherwise — he  made  a  friendly  advance  and  quasi-apology  ;  let  us 
forget  all  in  the  common  necessity. 

Nov.  19th.— Windsor  Castle.  Came  here  on  Wednesday  evening. 
Queen  kind  and  hospitable  :  may  God  shield  her  and  her's  from  every 
mischief,  and  above  all,  incline  her  heart  to  thoughts  of  service  and 


232  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVI. 

of  love.  My  visits  here  mark  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  progress  of 
things ;  as  such  they  have  a  tinge  of  melancholy  in  '  looking  after 
those  things  that  are  coming  upon  the  earth.'  Sir  G.  Grey  here  also  ; 
he  is  '  a  good  man  and  a  just.'  .   .  . 

Nov.  25th. — Last  night  attended  tea-meeting  of  Lambeth  Ragged 
School :  370  children,  orderly,  decent,  happy  ;  here  is  a  result  of  an 
effort  I  made  in  July,  1846,  and  founded  the  school  in  conjunction 
with  Mr.  Doulton  the  pottery  master,  and  his  sons. 

Dec.  3rd. — No  man  in  the  present  day  can  henceforward  hope  to 
have  the  confidence  of  the  country  if  he  be  not  a  master  in  the  Israel 
of  money.  But  with  such  an  accomplishment  he  might  command  it, 
though  he  were  Satan  himself.   .   .   . 

Dec.  13th. — A  singular  correspondence  in  the  paper  to-day.  The 
Bishops  (twelve  in  number,  Winchester  and  Ely  surprise  me)  re- 
monstrate with  Lord  J.  Russell  for  his  appointment  of  Dr.  Hamp- 
den !  Their  letter  is  weak,  almost  foolish,  his  reply  is  clever  and 
just.  My  opinion  is  quoted  as  having  been  given  to  Russell  in  sup- 
port of  the  appointment.  He  did  not  previously  consult  me  on  it. 
He  asked  me  subsequently  what  I  thought.  I  replied,  '  I  should 
not,  had  I  been  Prime  Minister,  have  made  the  appointment  myself  ; 
but  now  that  it  is  made,  I  venture  to  say  that  more  good  than  evil 
will,  I  think,  come  out  of  it.  His  appointment  as  Regius  Professor 
was  infamous,  because  his  writings  at  that  time  were  Neological,  of 
the  school  of  Strauss ;  but.  during  the  last  four  or  five  years  he  has 
written  and  published  very  beautiful  and  orthodox  discourses.'  .  .  . 

Dec.  15th. — To-morrow  Jew  Bill  in  House  of  Commons.  I  must 
speak  ;  may  God  give  me  a  mouth  and  wisdom ;  if  I  fail  I  shall  be 
discouraged  for  any  future  effort  :  my  spirit  is  far  from  elastic,  I  was 
always  easily  depressed,  I  am  more  so  now.  .  .  . 

Dec.  17th. — Who  ever  trusted  in  God,  and  was  disappointed? 
Spoke  last  night,  and  obtained  (I  am  full  of  wonder)  astonishing 
success.  How  curious  !  I  was  so  frightened  and  dejected  that  I  had 
almost  determined  not  to  rise.  A  minute  more  of  my  predecessor's 
speech  would  have  consigned  me  to  silence  !  Now,  0  God  !  grant 
that  whatever  of  reputation  I  may  have  acquired  be  thrown  at  Thy 
feet  for  Thy  blessed  service  !  Grant  that,  unlike  Herod,  I  may  give 
Thee  the  glory  !  .   .   . 

Dec.  20th. — Now,  is  this  result  traceable,  in  His  free  mercy  to 
past  faith  1     I  resigned   my  seat  in   Parliament,   and  all  my  public 


1847.]  SOWING    AND    REAPING.  233 

hopes  and  public  career,  that  I  might  not  give  'occasion  to  the 
enemies  of  God  to  blaspheme,'  and  I  surrendered  everything  to  His 
keeping.  Mark  the  issue  ;  my  Ten  Hours  Bill  is  carried  in  my 
absence.  I  am  returned  to  Parliament  in  a  singularly  and  unusually 
honourable  way,  and  within  three  weeks  I  begin  to  occupy  a  higher 
position  than  at  any  antecedent  period  :  surely  it  is  a  completion  of 
the  promise,  '  Them  that  honour  me,  I  will  honour.'  .  .  . 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

1848. 

A  Coming  Storm — Revolution  in  France — Flight  of  Louis  Philippe— A  Revolu- 
tionary Epidemic — State  of  England — Louis  Philippe  lands  in  Sussex — 
Panic  among  English  Residents  in  France — Efforts  for  their  Relief — Met- 
ternich  Deposed — "  Revolutions  go  off  like  Pop-guns  !  " — The  Chartist 
Demonstration — Ends  in  a  Fiasco — The  Prince  Consort — A  Conversation 
at  Osborne — Letter  from  the  Priuce  Consort — Letter  from  Lord  John 
Russell — The  Prince  Visits  Homes  of  the  Poor — Presides  at  Labourers' 
Friend  Society — May  Meetings — Philanthropy  a  Mania — State  of  Sanitary 
Science — Chairmanship  of  Board  of  Health — Ragged  Schools  and  Emigra- 
tion— Condition  of  the  Poor— Emigration  Scheme  Expounded — Farewell 
Address  to  Emigrants — "  Lord  Ashley's  Boys  " — A  Curious  Letter — Anec- 
dotes of  Thieves — A  Strange  Experience — A  Thieves'  Conference — Lord 
Hardingc — Letter  from  Mr.  Gladstone — In  Scotland  again — Special  Provi- 
dences—With the  Queen  Dowager— With  the  Queen  at  Harrow — Death  of 
Lord  Melbourne. 

The  year  1848  was  ushered  in  amid  distrust,  perplexity, 
and  doubt.  Everywhere  there  was  foreboding  of  some 
unseen  and  undefined  misfortunes.  Men's  souls  were 
stirred  by  strange  presentiments. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  first  rumblings  were 
heard  which  presaged  the  approaching  storm. 

"  Events  are  coming  to  the  surface,"  wrote  Lord 
Ashley,  early  in  the  year.  "We  see  the  stir  on  the 
waves,  and  we  shall  soon  see  the  mass  thrown  up  by  the 
volcanoes.  Italy  is  in  open  revolution;  Austria  is 
crumbling  to  pieces  ;  France  internally  is  threatened  by 
reform  conflicts  ;  England  is  harassed  by  falling  revenue, 
want  of  employment,  republican  principles,  and  Church 


1848.]  A    REVOLUTIONARY   EPIDEMIC.  235 


dissensions  ;  America  is  rushing  to  debt,  foreign  con- 
quest, and  dissolution  of  States." 

The  great  event  which  was  to  become  the  signal  for 
the  pent-up  fires  to  break  forth  all  over  Europe  was 
not  a  surprise  to  some,  although  unexpected  by  the 
majority — a  third  revolution  in  France,  the  proclama- 
tion of  a  Eepublic,  the  expulsion  of  the  Orleans  dynasty, 
and  the  election  of  a  Provisional  Government  and  a 
National  Assembly. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  here,  however  briefly, 
the  causes  which  led  to  the  Ee volution.  The  spark 
which  caused  the  explosion  was  an  arbitrary  attempt  to 
stop  a  proposed  Reform  banquet. 

Lord  Ashley  took  an  intense  interest  in  watching 
the  progress  of  events ;  and  his  Diary  gives  a  complete 
epitome  of  the  revolutionary  epidemic,  which  spread 
over  nearly  all  the  courts  and  capitals  of  the  Con- 
tinent. If  we  quote  from  it  only  sparingly,  it  is  because 
we  wish  to  confine  our  extracts  more  particularly  to 
those  passages  which  show  the  current  of  his  own  life. 

Feb.  25th. — Are  we  not  in  times  of  wonder,  distress,  and  danger  1 
To-day  the  grass  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven.  On 
Tuesday"  the  King  of  the  French  Avas  in  all  the  plenitude  of  his 
power,  with  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  in  Paris  alone; 
and  on  Thursday  he  is  an  outcast  from  his  dominions,  expelled  with 
indignity  from  his  capital,  his  palace  plundered,  and  himself  cast 
down  to  a  private  station.  Revolution  and  anarchy  are  in  the 
ascendant ;  the  whole  royal  family  is  exiled,  a  Eepublic  pro- 
claimed, and  France,  apparently,  on  the  eve  of  a  democracy,  a 
consulate,  and  an  empire  !  '  Woe,  woe,  woe,  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  ! '  None  of  this  surprises  me,  except  the  electrical 
suddenness  of  the  event.     The  King  has,  for  seventeen  years,  been 


•236  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

combating  the  principles  that  placed  him  on  the  throne,  resisting 
the  national  feelings  that  were  evoked  and  cherished  to  prepare 
the  Revolution  of  1830,  and  fighting  the  whirlwind  that  he  him- 
self sowed  as  a  storm.  How  could  he,  and  his  Minister  Guizot, 
suppose  that  a  nation  of  thirty-two  millions  would  rest  content 
with  an  electoral  system  based  on  240,000  voters,  one-half  of 
whom  were  Government  placemen  1  One  thing  alone  surprises 
me  :  that  they  should  have  fallen  into  the  same  error  as  Charles  X., 
and  have  been  deceived  in  their  estimate  of  the  fidelity  of  the 
soldiers !  This  is  really  a  judicial  blindness,  that  with  such  an 
example  to  guide  them,  they  should  have  fallen  into  the  same  pit ! 

Feb.  26th. — A  Republic  is  proclaimed,  and  anarchy  reigns  in 
Paris.  Revolutions,  which  in  former  days  required  years,  are  now 
perfected  in  clays  ;  a  week  is  an  age  for  these  extraordinary  events. 
'  So  great  power  in  one  hour  is  come  to  nought ; '  all  his  schemes 
about  dynasties,  his  astute  and  false  diplomacy  for  the  Spanish  mar- 
riage, his  rigorous  and  absolute  laws  for  the  foundation  of  despotism, 
his  terrible  army  schooled  in  Africa,  his  vast  fortifications  of  the 
capital,  his  mighty  authority  among  crowned  heads  as  the  ruler  of 
thirty-two  millions  of  a  military  nation,  all  blown  away  like  a  soap 
bubble  !  '  Afflavit  Deus.'  .  .  .  We  are  not  safe  here ;  a  falling 
revenue  in  the  face  of  a  necessarily,  I  fear,  increasing  expenditure, 
and  a  determination  to  admit  no  new  taxes.  Trade,  too,  is  fearfully 
stagnant,  and  distress  prevails  universally.  In  this  state  of  things 
comes  a  French  Revolution  !  .  .  .  .  Now  what  sufficient  ground  is 
there  for  all  this  rebellion  I  The  sagacious  Cobden  said,  a  week  ago, 
in  taunting  contrast  with  the  English  system:  'The  French  are 
most  happy,  they  have  no  privileged  orders,  no  large  properties,  no 
established  Church ;  they  have  obtained  all  that  they  want,  another 
Revolution  is  impossible  ! ' 

"With  the  flight  of  Louis  Philippe  from  France,  the 
spirit  of  Revolution  was  let  loose  in  Europe.  Every 
country  suffered  more  or  less,  but  those  countries  which 
suffered  least  were  England  and  Belgium.  In  England, 
however,  disaffection  had,  in  a  limited  degree,  been  for 
some  time  growing,  and  the  events  in  France  brought  it 


1848.]  CHARTISM.  237 

to  a  bead.  The  Chartists,  led  by  mad  Feargus  O'Con- 
nor, who  bad  been  returned  for  Nottingham  at  the 
General  Election  of  1S47,  immediately  commenced  an 
agitation  for  "their  rights."  Their  programme  included 
"  Down  with  the  Ministry,"  "  Dissolve  the  Parliament," 
"  The  People's  Charter,"  and  "  No  Surrender  ;  "  and  pre- 
parations were  made  to  bold  a  monster  demonstration 
in  April  to  demand  these  points. 

The  state  of  England  was  to  some  extent  alarming. 
In  the  manufacturing  districts  distress,  almost  unpre- 
cedented, prevailed,  and  a  revolutionary  spirit  was 
abroad ;  nevertheless,  the  people  remained  tranquil — 
thanks,  in  no  small  measure,  to  the  boon  of  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill — and  in  Manchester  alone  some  thousands 
of  the  operatives  enrolled  themselves  as  special  con- 
stables. In  London  there  was  a  spirit  of  turbulence 
and  lawlessness,  excited  partly  by  Mr.  Ernest  Jones,  and 
others  like-minded,  who  urged  the  people  not  to  fear 
"  the  vile  men  of  the  law,  the  police,  the  troops,  or  the 
shop-keeping  '  specials.'  In  Ireland  the  United  Irish- 
man w^as  urging  its  readers  "  to  sell  all  that  they  had  to 
buy  a  gun."  In  Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  and  Liverpool, 
there  was  rioting  and  loss  of  life  among  the  starving 
and  the  unemployed. 

Everywhere  these  symptoms  caused  a  sense  of  un- 
easiness ;  no  one  knew  what  surprise  and  alarm  the 
next  hour  might  not  bring  forth.  Meanwhile,  events 
in  Prance  were  hurrying  on. 

March  2nd. — If  the  King,  instead  of  signing  his  abdication,  had 
thrown  himself  among  the  troops  which  remained   firm,   he  might 


238  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

have  prolonged  the  monarchy  of  the  barricades.  But  he  has  been 
'  demented '  for  a  long  time  past  ;  his  obstinate  maintenance  of  all 
the  corruptions  of  France,  both  in  public  men  and  public  things, 
because  he  chose  to  govern  by  them  ;  his  eager  pursuit  of  wealth  and 
place  for  his  own  children,  the  history  of  the  Conde  property,  the 
appanages,  the  Montpensier  marriage,  regarded  simultaneously  with 
his  apparent  indifference  to  the  social  welfare  of  France,  led  the 
whole  nation  to  believe  that  he  was  Harpagon  engrafted  on  Louis 
XIV.  Like  the  present  Bishop  of  Exeter,  lie  over-reached  himself 
by  his  over-cleverness,  and  has  now  found  that  all  the  sagacity  and 
experience  of  the  most  tried  of  men  are  not  necessarily  '  counsel, 
wisdom,  and  understanding.'  .  .  But  we  are  in  a  social  revolution ; 
the  first  was  against  aristocracies  and  established  Churches,  the 
second  against  a  particular  dynasty,  the  third  against  that  which 
alone  remains,  the  possession  and  rights  of  property  !  The  work- 
people have  thrust  their  special  representatives,  Blanc  and  Albert, 
into  the  highest  offices,  and  have  propounded  their  own  code  of  laws 
for  the  regulation  of  labour.  ...  In  England  we  have  yet  Conserva- 
tive feeling  enough  to  resist  a  storm.  Our  peril  will  arise  from  a 
calm.  A  storm  of  violence  we  should  shrink  from  or  withstand  ; 
the  calm  of  Republican  success  would  inevitably  breed  a  spirit  of 
imitation. 

March  4th. — Louis  Philippe  is  actually  in  England.  He  landed 
at  Newhaven,  in  Sussex,  from  an  English  steamer,  on  one  of  the 
points  selected,  by  his  son  Prince  Joinville  and  others,  as  the  fittest 
for  a  descent  upon  the  British  territory  !  He  was  kindly  and  hospita- 
bly received.     God  be  praised,  adversity  covers  a  multitude  of  sins. 

March  8th.- — The  activity  of  the  Provisional  Government  in  pro- 
clamations is  astounding.  It  takes  away  one's  breath.  They  decree 
everything ;  they  have  deified  the  people,  declared  their  sovereignty, 
and  now  proceed  to  act  with  the  assurance  of  divine  power.  Poor 
victims  !  they  have  no  hope  of  existence  but  by  promises  and  flat- 
tery ;  nor  will  these  be  able  to  give  them  one  moment's  security, 
unless  the  balances  in  the  treasury  sustain  the  flimsy  situation. 

(Noise  and  disturbance  yesterday  and  to-day  in  Trafalgar  Square  : 
windows,  lamps,  and  heads  broken  ;  a  mass  of  housebreakers  and 
pickpockets,  swollen  by  idlers.  In  these  days,  however,  everything 
must  be  noted.  More  serious  riots  at  Glasgow  ;  many  shops  of  great 
value  plundered.) 


1848.]  ENGLISH    WORKMEN   IN   FRANCE.  239 

March  10th. — Breakfasted  with  Mahon,  to  meet  Macaulay  and 
Carlyle  ;  pleasant,  but  strange. 

Provisional  Government  have  fixed  wages  of  cab-drivers  at  three 
francs  and  a  half  a  day  ;  and  the  Minister  of  Instruction  has  issued  a 
circular  to  announce  to  the  electors  that  '  education '  and  '  fortune  ' 
'  are  not  required  for  a  deputy.'  An  unlettered  peasant  '  would  be 
better  for  an  agricultural  district.'     Go  it,  my  hearty  ! 

'  France  for  the  French.'  All  English  workmen  have  been  ex- 
pelled, and  with  circumstances  of  great  oppression  and  dishonour. 
They  were  driven  out  by  the  bayonet ;  not  allowed  to  bring  away  even 
their  property,  nor  to  receive  their  arrears  of  wages.  Yet,  without 
their  aid,  not  a  railway  could  have  been  constructed  in  France,  and, 
I  believe,  hardly  a  factory  carried  on. 

A  general  panic  among  the  English  residents  in 
Paris  ensued.  They  fled  in  various  directions,  and 
abandoned  the  city.  Those  only  were  left  behind  who 
had  no  means  of  flight — artisans  and  domestics,  de- 
pendent for  employment  upon  the  better  classes  of  their 
countrymen.  Nor  was  the  situation  of  the  English 
artisans  in  the  provinces  any  safer.  There  were  many 
thousands  scattered  over  France ;  in  the  factories  of 
Normandy  alone,  there  were  no  less  than  2,500  English 
workmen  employed.  There,  and  elsewhere,  riots  were  of 
frequent  occurrence,  all  masters  who  gave  employment 
to  British  artisans  being  marked  out  for  attack.  At 
Boulogne,  from  one  single  factory,  English  workmen, 
numbering,  with  their  wives  and  families,  700  souls,  were 
dismissed  in  compliance  with  the  demands  of  the  rioters. 

Turned  out  of  their  homes,  denied  employment  or 
public  relief,  with  rents  half  a  year  in  advance  imposed 
upon  them,  involving  them  in  losses ,  met  at  the 
savings  bank,  where  their  earnings  had  been  deposited, 


240  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

with  the  answer  of  "  ~No  funds,"  their  case  was  des- 
perate. They  crowded  the  French  outports,  and  cla- 
moured to  be  sent  back  to  their  own  country. 

With  Lord  Ashley  originated  the  scheme  for  their 
relief.  An  influential  committee  was  called  together, 
over  which  he  presided ;  funds  were  collected,  agencies 
were  set  to  work,  and  Lord  Palmerston  and  the 
authorities  at  the  Foreign  Office  gave  effect  to  their  aims 
in  various  instances  in  which  it  might  have  been  diffi- 
cult for  the  committee  to  have  realised  them. 

Among  the  results  of  their  efforts,  upwards  of  6,000 
refugees  were  brought  over,  cared  for  on  their  arrival, 
and  passed  on  to  their  respective  destinations,  while 
special  provision  was  made  for  the  children  of  the 
British  Orphan  School  in  connection  with  the  Marbceuf 
Episcopal  chapel  in  Paris,  which  had  been  broken  up 
during  the  general  panic  in  that  city. 

In  referring  to  these  and  kindred  efforts,  and  also  to 
a  speech  made  by  Lord  Ashley,  on  the  16th  of  March, 
on  better  "  Medical  lieliei  to  the  Sick  Poor,"  the  Times 
said,  "  Political  Economists  and  men  of  the  world  vote 
Lord  Ashley  a  bore,  but  there  is  none  of  them  who 
would  not  rather  have  twenty  speeches  from  him  on 
matters  of  Humanity,  than  one  circular  from  Ledru 
liollin ; ':  while  the  JSIorning  Chronicle,  treating  him 
with  contemptuous  kindness,  said,  "  No  thinking  man 
concurs  with  Lord  Ashley ;  but  it  is  a  very  good  thing, 
in  these  days,  to  have  a  nobleman  who  brings  forward 
the  distresses  and  needs  of  the  people,  and  gives  them 
assurances  that  their  case  will  be  considered." 


1848.]         REVOLUTIONS    GO    OFF   LIKE    FOP-GUNS.  241 

It  was  in  allusion  to  these  remarks  that  the  follow- 
ing entry  in  the  Diary  was  made  : — 

March  21st. — Amidst  all  this  contempt  and  desertion,  I  may 
rejoice  and  heartily  thank  God,  that  the  operatives  of  Lancashire 
and  Yorkshire,  suffering  as  they  are,  remain  perfectly  tranquil. 
Such,  under  God,  is  the  fruit  of  many  years  of  sympathy  and 
generous  legislation.  In  Manchester  several  thousands  enrolled 
themselves  as  special  constables. 


While  uneasiness   was  increasing  at  home,  "  men's 
hearts  were  failing  them  for  fear  "  on  the  Continent. 


March  23rd. — Insurrection  at  Berlin  !  Insurrection  at  Vienna  ! 
The  Prince  Metternich  deposed  !  It  is  astounding  at  first  to  see 
how  these  great  monarchies  fall  !  They  seem  as  though  they  had 
no  roots,  nor  ever  had  any.  The  truth  is,  that  for  years  their  foun- 
dations have  been  undermined ;  they  were  as  rotten  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago  ;  but  either  the  gale  of  wind  was  not  strong  enough,  oi 
it  failed  to  hit  them  on  the  weak  side,  and  at  the  right  moment. 
The  first  Revolution  in  France  shook  the  whole  system ;  but  war 
and  terror  diverted  men's  minds.  Peace  brought  reflection,  com- 
parison, anticipation.  The  second  Revolution  gave  a  blow  on  the 
other  side,  and  completely  snapped  the  roots  and  loosened  the  earth  ; 
the  third  brought  down  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon  in  a  single  gust  ! 
Such  is  power,  and  such  are  human  calculations.  Terror,  moral, 
physical,  and  financial,  is  at  its  height — every  tremendous  passion  is 
about  to  be  unchained.  France  seems  surrendered  by  God  to  '  a 
reprobate  mind,'  the  Devil  reigns  for  a  while.  I  pass  my  time  in 
ejaculations;  all  is  so  wonderful,  my  thoughts  are  unconnected,  and 
expression  proportionately  incoherent.  The  King  of  Prussia  has  had 
a  conflict;  he  is  apparently  conqueror,  he  is  actually  conquered. 
Mobs  are  everywhere  triumphant,  with  more  or  less  of  moderation  in 
their  demands  at  present ;  the  ultimate  issue  is  certain.  And  ive 
yet  stand  upright,  a  column  in  the  midst  of  ruins.  Glory  be  to  Thee, 
O  Lord.   .   .  . 

March  25th. — Revolutions  go  off  like  pop-guns  !     Lombardy  is 


242  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVII. 

in    full    revolt ;    it  will  doubtless    be    severed    from   the   Austrian 
Empire.  .  . 

March  30th. — Would  to  God  that  people,  as  men,  and  as  patriots, 
would  lay  these  things  seriously  to  heart,  and  see  that  they  are  such 
lessons  as  never  yet  were  given  for  the  warning  of  a  generation. 
Lessons  indeed  !  What  fall  can  be  compared  with  that  of  Metter- 
nich  1  That  of  Sejanus  is  the  nearest  to  it  ;  but  the  difference  is 
striking  :  Sejanus  lived  at  a  time,  and  under  a  system,  when  such 
reverses  were  common  ;  every  one  who  took  power,  took  it  in  the 
fear,  and  even  expectation,  of  death  and  confiscation.  .  .  .  We  have 
yet  a  tumult  in  store,  English  Chartists  and  Irish  Repealers  are  to 
have  their  dav.  '  Count  no  man  happy  before  he  be  dead,'  count  no 
event  small  until  it  shall  have  passed. 

Happily,  the  event  so  much  dreaded — the  great 
Chartist  demonstration — collapsed  in  a  most  ignominious 
manner.  But  the  alarm  had  been  serious,  and  the  pre- 
cautions unprecedented.  The  military  defence  of  the 
metropolis  was  under  the  care  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton :  troops  were  ready  everywhere ;  a  quarter  of  a 
million  citizens  were  enrolled  as  special  constables ; 
Downing  Street  was  barricaded.  But  on  the  day  before 
the  "Demonstration"  the  Chartist  leaders  quarrelled 
amongst  themselves  ;  on  the  morning  of  the  day  these 
dissensions  were  renewed ;  the  police  informed  the 
rioters  that  they  would  not  be  allowed  to  cross  the 
Thames,  and  the  whole  affair  ended  in  a  ridiculous 
fiasco. 

April  10th. — The  threatened  day  has  arrived.  How  will  it  end  1 
Referring  to  all  the  circumstances,  I  think  it  will  close  peaceably, 
but  who  knows  1  We  are  in  the  hands  of  God.  He  has  told  us, 
and  would  that  one  and  all  recognised  from  our  hearts,  '  Except  the 
Lord  keep  the  city,  the  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain.' 

April    12th. — It   ended,  how   shall  we    sufficiently  praise  God, 


1848.]  THE    PRINCE    CONSORT.  243 

according  to  our  minutest  prayers.  All  was  peaceable.  The  meeting 
at  no  time  exceeded  thirteen  thousand.  No  more  actual  disturbance 
than  on  ordinary  days.  The  procession  was  abandoned,  and  the 
petition  came  down  in  a  hack  cab.  Surely  the  glory  must  be 
to  Him  '  who  stilleth  the  raging  of  the  sea,  and  the  madness  of  the 
people.' 

April  13th. — Nevertheless,  I  remain  of  the  same  mind.  All 
things  are  tending  to  a  change.  We  are  entering  on  a  new  political 
dispensation  ;  and  many  of  us  probably  will  outlive  the  integrity 
of  our  aristocratical  institutions.  Men  are  talking,  they  know  not 
why,  and  they  do  not  reflect  how,  of  this  slight  concession  and  that ; 
of  an  '  enlargement  of  the  franchise,'  and  other  vagaries.  No  one, 
except  the  Chartists,  has  asked  for  it,  and  they  will  rest  satisfied 
with  nothing  short  of  the  whole.  The  middle  classes  are  content,  and 
so  are  nineteen-twentieths  of  the  working  people  ;  but  this  will  be 
of  no  avail  against  indistinct  terrors,  ignorant  uneasiness,  and  specu- 
lative, not  social  policy.  A  Sanitary  Bill  would,  in  five  years, 
confer  more  blessing  and  obliterate  more  Chartism  than  universal 
suffrage  in  half  a  century ;  but  the  world,  when  ill  at  ease,  flies 
always  to  politics,  and  omits  the  statistics  of  the  chimney-corner, 
where  all  a  man's  comfort  or  discomfort  lies.   .   .   . 

In  the  "  Life  of  the  Prince  Consort,"  Sir  Theodore 
Martin,  after  describing  the  turbulent  state  of  the 
country"  and  the  anxiety  with  which  it  was  regarded  by 
the  Queen  and  Prince,  proceeds  to  say :  "  An  oppor- 
tunity arose  during  this  month  (May)  for  the  Prince  to 
take  the  position  before  the  world  which  he  afterwards 
occupied  with  so  much  honour,  as  the  advocate  of 
measures  for  improving  the  condition  of  the  labouring 
classes.  Four  }^ears  previously  he  had  testified  his  in- 
terest in  the  subject — one  that  always  lay  nearest  to  his 
heart — by  becoming  the  President  of  the  Society  which 
had  been  established   with    this   special  object.*     The 

*  The  Labourers'  Friend  Society. 

22 


244  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

Society,  in  the  meanwhile,  had  been  making  its  \va}r 
steadily,  but  slowly,  for  public  attention  had  yet  to  be 
awakened  to  the  importance  of  the  subject ;  and  it  was 
considered  by  Lord  Ashley,  and  others  of  its  active  pro- 
moters, that  the  appearance  of  the  Prince  in  the  chair 
at  a  public  meeting  to  advocate  its  interests  at  this  time 
might  be  attended  with  excellent  results.  The  Prince, 
ever  ready  to  show  his  sympathy  and  interest  for  that 
class  of  our  community  which  has  most  of  the  toil,  and 
least  of  the  enjojmients  of  this  world,*  at  once  fell  in 
with  their  views.''  f 

It  is  somewhat  singular  that  Sir  Theodore  Martin, 
who  elsewhere  has  described  so  fully  the  circumstances 
leading  up  to  any  important  event  in  the  life  of  the 
Prince  Consort,  should,  in  this  instance,  have  omitted 
all  mention  of  them,  and  passed  over  in  silence  not  only 
the  action  of  Lord  Ashley  in  the  matter,  but  also  some 
interesting  details  as  regards  the  action  of  the  Prince. 
These  omissions  we  are  fortunately  able  to  supply. 

Under  the  date  of  the  19th  April,  Lord  Ashley 
entered  in  his  Diary  : — 

April  19th.— Osborne,  Isle  of  Wight.  The  Queen  has  sent  for 
me  to  talk  over  the  condition  of  the  working  people ;  and  here  I 
am.  I  was  obliged  to  put  off  Golden  Lane  Ragged  School  (W. 
Cowper  took  the  chair  for  me).  Her  Majesty  very  amiable  and  very 
considerate  for  the  poor.  God  be  praised,  who  has  put  such  thoughts 
into  her  heart !  May  they  bring  forth  fruit  to  His  glory  on  earth, 
and  her  own  peace  in  time  and  eternity  !  .  .  . 

*  His  own  words  in  his  speech  at  the  meeting  of  the  society,  18th  May, 
1843. 

f  "Life  of  the  Prince  Consort,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  46. 


1848.]  AT    OSBORNE.  245 

From  a  memorandum  found  among  the  papers  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  and  from  conversations  with  him 
upon  the  subject,  noted  down  at  the  time,  the  following 
particulars  are  obtained  : — 

"  The  Queen  sent  for  me  to  Osborne  ;  the  Fairy  was 
ready  for  me  at  Grosport,  and  I  went.  The  Queen  was 
greatly  alarmed,  and  so  was  the  Prince,  by  the  Revolu- 
tion in  France  and  the  exile  of  Louis  Philippe.  They 
feared  the  continuance  of  commotions  in  England,  and 
were  desirous  to  know  how  they  could  exercise  their 
influence  to  soothe  the  people.  The  Queen,  on  my 
arrival,  expressed  this  sentiment  very  warmly,  and  added 
at  dinner,  '  The  Prince  will  talk  to  you  to-morrow. 
We  have  sent  for  you  to  have  your  opinion  on  what  we 
should  do  in  view  of  the  state  of  affairs  to  show  our  in- 
terest in  the  working  classes,  and  you  are  the  only  man 
who  can  advise  us  in  the  matter.' 

"  On  the  following  morning,  during  a  long  walk  in 
the  gardens,  lasting  for  over  an  hour  and  a  half,  I  dis- 
cussed with  the  Prince  the  condition  of  affairs  and  the 
state  of  the  nation.  He  asked  me  my  advice,  and  how 
he  could  best  assist  towards  the  common  weal. 

"  '  Now,  sir,'  I  said  to  him,  '  I  have  to  ask  your 
Poyal  Highness  whether  I  am  to  speak  out  freely,  or  to 
observe  Court  form  ?  ' 

"  '  For  (rod's  sake,'  he  answered,  '  speak  out  freely.' 

"  'Then,  sir,  I  would  say  that  at  this  juncture  you 
hold  a  position  in  which  you  can  render  to  the  country 
far  greater  assistance  than  if  you  were  its  king.  You 
can  speak  as  a  king,  represent  a  king,  without  the  neces- 


246  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

sary  and  inevitable  restrictions  of  a  king.  Your  pre- 
sence, though  formally  different,  is  virtually  the  presence 
of  the  Queen.  My  earnest  advice  to  you  is,  that  you 
should  put  yourself  at  the  head  of  all  social  movements 
in  art  and  science,  and  especially  of  those  movements  as 
they  hear  upon  the  poor,  and  thus  show  the  interest  felt 
by  Eoyalty  in  the  happiness  of  the  kingdom.' 

" '  What  can  I  do  ?  '  the  Prince  asked,  eagerly. 

"  '  On  the  IStli  of  May  next,  the  anniversary  of  the 
Labourers'  Friend  Society  will  be  held,  and  if  your 
Royal  Highness  will  accompany  me,  first  to  see  some  of 
the  dwellings  of  the  poor,  and  afterwards  to  preside  at 
the  meeting,  I  am  satisfied  it  will  have  a  good  effect. 
You  should  come  in  three  carriages,  and  have  the  foot- 
men in  red  liveries — even  these  things  are  not  with 
out  their  influence.' 

"  The  Prince  at  once  fell  in  with  the  suggestion,  and 
arrangements  for  carrying  it  out  were  discussed.  But 
when  Lord  John  Russell  heard  it  he  was  frantic,  and 
brought  to  bear  every  possible  opposition,  as  he  often 
did  with  regard  to  other  schemes  which  he  did  not 
originate  himself." 

It  was  with  no  little  regret  that  Lord  Ashley 
received  the  following  letter  from  the  Prince : — 

H.R.H.  the  Prince  Consort  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Osborne,  April  23rd,  1848. 

My  dear  Lord  Ashley, — Lord  John  Russell  did  not  like  the 
idea  of  my  presiding  at  Exeter  Hall  on  account  of  the  i*isk  of  a  dis- 
turbance. I  begged  him  to  consider  the  question  a  little  longer,  and 
to  consult  Sir  George  Grey  before  committing  himself  against  it.     I 


1848.]    THE   PRINCE    CONSORT   AND    LORD    RUSSELL.    247 

have  received  this  morning  the  enclosed,  which,  I  am  afraid,  is  deci- 
sive against  the  plan.  Though  I  must  admit  that  there  is  strong 
reason  against  it,  I  sincerely  regret  it,  as  it  will  be  difficult  to  find 
another  becoming  opportunity  for  expressing  the  sincere  interest 
which  the  Queen  and  myself  feel  for  the  welfare  and  comfort  of  the 
working  classes.  You  may  have  opportunities  for  conveying  our 
sentiments.  At  any  rate,  our  Society  ought  to  be  more  prominently 
brought  before  them,  and  they  ought  to  be  invited  to  make  sugges- 
tions for  the  amelioration  of  their  own  condition,  to  have  these  gone 
into  by  those  who  understand  the  matter,  and  to  give,  in  this  way, 
the  means  to  the  higher  classes  to  assist  them  in  their  work. 

Ever  yours  truly, 

Albert. 

The  enclosure  referred  to  in  the  above  letter  was  as 

follows : — 

Lord  John  Russell  to  H.R.H.  the  Prince  Consort. 

»  Chesham  Place,  April  22ncl,  1848. 

Sir, — On  considering  further  Lord  Ashley's  proposal  to  your 
Royal  Highness,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  risk  is  greater  than  the 
probable  advantage.  Any  Chartist  might  attend  and  attempt  to 
speak ;  such  an  attempt  would  be  resisted  by  the  meeting,  and  much 
confusion  might  ensue.  The  triumphant  reception  of  your  Royal 
Highness  would  not  compensate  for  any  disturbance  of  the  meeting. 
Sir  George  Grey,  to  whom  I  have  spoken,  concurs  entirely  in  this 
opinion.  The  Repealers  in  Dublin  have  become  more  violent  since 
my  declaration,  but  the  well-affected  are  confirmed  in  their  loyalty. 
In  England  the  Chartists  seem  to  be  declining  in  numbers  and 
mischief. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be 

Your  Royal  Highness's 

Faithful  and  obedient  servant, 

J.  Russell. 

Soon  after  this  Lord  Ashley  had  another  interview 
with  the  Prince — at  Buckingham    Palace — and  urged 


248  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

him  to  persevere  in  his  intention.  "This  is  a  matter," 
he  said,  "  in  which  your  Royal  Highness  is  perfectly  free 
to  act  as  yon  may  please,  and  my  advice  is  that  you  tell 
Lord  John  Russell  that  you  are  as  good  a  judge  as 
he  is." 

On  the  29th  April  the  Prince  wrote  to  Lord  John 
Russell : — 

The  book  which  you  sent  me  certainly  shows  great  disposition  on 
the  part  of  some  mischievous  folks  to  attack  the  Royal  family ;  but 
this  rather  furnishes  me  with  one  reason  more  for  attending  the 
meeting,  and  showing  to  those  who  are  thus  to  be  misguided,  that 
the  Royal  family  are  not  merely  living  upon  the  earnings  of  the 
people  (as  these  publications  try  to  represent),  without  caring  for  the 
poor  labourers,  but  that  they  are  anxious  about  their  welfare,  and 
ready  to  co-operate  in  any  scheme  for  the  amelioration  of  their  con- 
dition. We  may  possess  these  feelings,  and  yet  the  mass  of  the 
people  may  be  ignorant  of  it,  because  they  have  never  heard  it  ex- 
pressed to  them,  or  seen  any  tangible  proof  of  it.* 

Eventually  the  advice  of  Lord  Ashley  prevailed, 
the  opposition  of  Lord  John  Russell  was  over-ruled, 
and  the  Prince  wrote:  — 

From  H.R.H.  the  Prince  Consort  to  Lord  Ashley. 

B.P,  a,  1848. 

My  dear  Lord  Ashley, — I  am  glad  that  all  difficulties  are 
removed  with  respect  to  the  meeting.  Thursday,  the  18th,  at  twelve 
o'clock,  will  suit  me  perfectly.  I  must  see  you  soon  upon  the  subject; 
perhaps  you  could  call  here  to-morrow  at  four  o'clock. 

Ever 

Yours  truly, 

Albert. 

*  Quoted  in  "  Life  of  Prince  Consort,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  47. 


1848.]  SPEECH    OF    THE  PRINCE    CONSORT.  249 

On  the  appointed  day  the  Prince  arrived  with  a 
brilliant  cortege,  and,  accompanied  by  Lord  Ashley,  went 
to  George  Street,  St.  Giles's,  and  other  streets  in  that 
neighbourhood,  entered  house  after  house  to  examine 
the  actual  state  of  affairs,  and  was  received  everywhere 
with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.*  Later  on  the  Prince 
took  the  chair  at  the  public  meeting,  and,  as  Sir  Theodore 
Martin  says  truly,  "  made  it  the  occasion  for  the  speech 
which  first  fairly  showed  to  the  country  what  he  was." 

Lord  Ashley  refers  to  it  in  his  Diary  thus  : — 

May  19th. — Yesterday,  a  glorious  meeting  of  the  Lab.  Friend 
Soc.  Prince  Albert  in  the  Chair — Non  nobis  Domine,  non  nobis 
Domine  !  but,  God  give  us  grace  to  bless  Thee ;  no  drawback  at  all, 
it  is  new  life  to  our  efforts.  .   .   . 

May  20th. — Hear  little  but  satisfaction  at  the  success  of  the 
meeting,  '  So  wise,  so  opportune,  so  very  happy,'  all  this  because  it 
succeeded.  What  would  have  been  the  indignation  and  contempt 
against  me  had  it  failed  !  But  God  was  my  helper  ;  I  may  now,  on 
this  stock  of  reputation  for  good  judgment,  obtain  influence  to  do 
good  in  other  things.  '  Put  into  my  heart  good  desires,  and  enable 
me  to  bring  the  same  to  good  effect.'  Prince  Albert  did  his  part 
admirably,  with  remarkable  grace  and  modesty.  His  speech,  too, 
was  excellent  in  itself ;  and  it  was  his  own.  The  success  has  been 
hitherto  complete ;  almost  every  paper  bepraises  the  step,  and  writes 
upon  it  in  an  anti-revolutionary  tone.  Aye,  truly,  this  is  the  way  to 
stifle  Chartism.  .  .  Rank,  leisure,  station  are  gifts  of  God,  for 
which  men  must  give  an  account.  Here  is  a  full  proof,  a  glowing 
instance  !  The  aristocracy,  after  a  long  sej)aration,  are  re-approach- 
ing the  people ;  and  the  people  the  aristocracy. 

It  was,  however,  a  long  time  before  any  very  sensible 
effects  were  to  be  felt  generally  from  these  efforts.     In 

*  "  If  the  Prince  goes  on  like  this,"  said  a  Socialist  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Branch,  a  zealous  evangelist  to  the  working  classes,  "  why,  he'll  upset  our 
apple-cart ! " 


250  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

proportion,  however,  as  the  mischief  became  apparent, 
the  labours  of  Lord  Ashley  increased,  and  we  lind  in 
his  Diaries  many  entries  with  regard  to  the  state  of  the 
people  and  their  needs.     Thus  : — 

May  25th. — What  will  be  the  event  in  Ireland  1  Everybody  they 
sav  is  armed  to  the  teeth  against  the  Saxon.  The  Saxon  meanwhile 
is  giving  from  Saxon  funds  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  meals  every 
day  to  his  Celtic  assailant.  But  a  moral  poison  pervades  the  whole 
European  atmosphere,  and  we  here  in  England  are  beginning  to  be 
affected.  It  is  painful  to  listen  to  the  desperate  weariness  with  which 
many  declare  that  '  Repeal '  would  be  better  than  the  present  state 
of  things.   .   . 

The  meetings  of  the  religious  societies  this  year 
were  admirable  beyond  precedent. 

May  12th.- — The  speeches  have  been  altogether  of  a  deep  and 
feeling  character,  well  suited  to  the  times  in  which  we  live.  The 
effect  of  this  month  of  May,  with  all  its  attendant  ceremonies,  is 
indescribably  beneficial ;  it  is  a  species  of  salt,  and  preserves,  by  the 
purification  of  the  atmosphere,  even  those  who  do  not  come  in  contact 
with  it.  Very  few  of  the  wealthy  or  the  noble  appear  on  the  plat- 
forms, or  take  any  interest  in  them.     May  God  prosper  the  work  !  .  . 

Yet  it  was  thought  by  many  that  philanthropy  was 
becoming  a  mania.  It  was  constantly  receiving  a  large 
share  of  notice.  At  one  of  the  May  meetings  Lord 
Ashley  called  attention  to  a  special  phase  of  the  subject, 
and  the  view  he  took  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  was  then. 
He  said : — 

It  is  the  fashion  to  bepraise  the  liberality  of  the  people  of  England 
in  all  matters  of  religion  and  charity.  I  confess  that  I  think  that 
savours  much  more  of  adulation  than  of  truth  ;  the  fact  is,  that  if  you 
look  at  the  sums  that  are  expended  in  these  high  pm^poses,  they  are 
contemptible  beyond  expression,  if  they  be  measured  by  the  revenue 


1848.]  STATE    OF   SANITARY  SCIENCE.  251 

of  the  country.  And  those  who  are  the  loudest  in  praising  general 
liberality  are  themselves  the  least  inclined  to  aid  its  progress.  The 
fact  is,  that  everything  in  the  way  of  religion  and  charity  that  is  done 
in  this  country,  is  done  by  a  small  knot  of  chosen  persons,  whose 
names  you  will  find  repeated  in  the  catalogue  of  every  charity  that 
spreads  its  benign  influence  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  country. 
The  contributors  to  religious  purposes  are  found  to  be  the  same 
in  all  associations  ;  and  if  you  take  fifteen  societies,  I  will  undertake 
to  say  the  names  of  the  same  persons  will  be  found  in  ten  of 
them.  The  great  mass  of  the  public  stand  aloof,  and  contribute 
nothing  towards  the  general  exertions ;  and  it  is  most  distressing 
to  see  that  when  there  is  any  purpose  of  profit  or  of  interest  the 
money  is  dealt  out  in  rapid  thousands  ;  but  when  it  is  a  question  of 
religion  and  charity,  you  have  to  collect  your  funds  by  tardy  units. 

Although  there  was  no  fear  of  philanthropy  becom- 
ing a  mania,  it  was  quite  certain  that  practical  efforts 
for  the  general  good,  were  considered  and  received,  far 
more  willingly  than  they  had  ever  been  before.  In  two 
such  efforts  Lord  Ashley  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
summer  of  this  year,  namely,  the  passing  of  the  Public 
Health  Act,  and  the  ventilation  of  the  question  of 
Emigration  for  the  ragged  population  of  London. 

In  the  early  half  of  the  present  century  sanitary 
science  may  be  said  to  have  had  no  existence.  Until 
the  visitation  of  cholera  in  London  in  1831,  no  one 
seemed  to  think  that  evil  lurked  in  overflowing  cesspools 
and  contaminated  water,  beyond  the  fact  that  the  odour 
of  the  one  and  the  taste  of  the  other  were  unpleasant. 
When,  however,  a  terrible  plague  threatened  the  land, 
the  causes  were  investigated,  and  to  the  inroad  of  cholera 
we  owe  the  first  real  impetus  given  to  sanitary  research. 

Progress,    however,    was   very    slow.      When    the 


252  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

calamity  abated,  people  returned  to  their  old  ways,  and 
allowed  the  interest,  which  had  been  awakened  in  a  time 
of  fear,  to  die  out.  But  not  so  men  of  science,  who 
patiently  investigated  facts  and  traced  out  hidden 
sources  of  malaria ;  and  not  so  philanthropists,  who 
continued  to  preach  the  good  doctrine  that  cleanliness 
is  next  to  godliness. 

In  1839  the  first  Report  of  the  Registrar-General 
and  the  fourth  Report  of  the  Poor  Law  Commission 
were  published,  and  they  made  such  a  startling  revela- 
tion of  the  state  of  the  public  health,  and  of  mortality, 
that  general  attention  was  again  directed  to  the  subject  of 
sanitation.  Interest  was  sustained  by  a  further  Report 
of  the  Poor  Law  Board  in  1  842,  and  culminated  in  the 
first  Report  of  the  Health  of  Towns  Commission  in  1844. 

From  that  time  forth  the  necessity  of  sanitary  re- 
form was  never  lost  sight  of,  although  practical  steps 
were  taken  slowly.  A  series  of  "Nuisances  Removal 
Acts  "  was  passed  in  Parliament ;  the  first  Act  by  which 
summary  jurisdiction  was  given  to  justices  of  the  peace 
to  remove  nuisances  proved  to  be  injurious  to  health, 
coming  into  operation  in  1846. 

By  far  the  most  important  Bill  introduced  into 
Parliament  on  Sanitary  Reform  was  the  comprehensive 
measure  known  as  the  Public  Health  Act,  presently  to 
be  referred  to. 

Lord  Ashley  spoke  on  the  subject  in  the  adjourned 
debate  (Sth  May),  claiming  that  this  was  essentially  a 
working  man's  question,  as  it  affected  every  phase  of  his 
life — his  home,  his  capacity  to  eat  and  drink  in  comfort, 


1848.]  TEE    CENTRAL    BOARD    OF   EEALTE.  253 

and  his  ability  to  gain  a  livelihood  and  rear  a  family  in 
decency  and  respectability.  He  argued  that  the  same 
condition  of  things,  and  habits  of  life,  which  give  rise  to 
fever,  also  powerfully  stimulated  the  action  of  immorality 
and  violence,  and  that  the  connection  of  misery  with 
filth,  and  crime  with  both,  was  inevitable.  He  was 
satisfied  that  no  genuine  or  lasting  good  could  result 
from  education,  so  long  as  Parliament  left  the  people  in 
their  present  physical  and  domiciliary  condition.  He 
warmly  supported  the  Bill,  which  became  law  during 
this  Session. 

The  Public  Health  Act  of  1848  created  a  Central 
Board  of  Health,  and,  as  chairman  of  this  Board,  it  was 
Lord  Ashley's  duty,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Southwood 
Smith  and  Mr.  Edwin  Chadwick,  to  initiate  a  series  of 
reforms,  and  to  undertake  labours  almost  unprecedented, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  visitation  of  cholera, 
which,  in  1S49,  swept  from  London,  in  the  course  of  a 
few  weeks,  no  fewer  than  4,000  souls. 

On  the  2Gth  September  the  following  entry  occurs 
in  the  Diary  : — 

September  26th.  .  .  .  I  have  accepted,  at  the  urgent  request  ot 
Morpeth,  and  through  him  of  John  Russell,  the  office  (unpaid)  of 
Third  Commissioner  under  the  Health  of  Towns  Act.  It  will  in- 
volve trouble,  anxiety,  reproach,  abuse,  unpopularity.  I  shall 
become  a  target  for  private  assault  and  the  public  press  ;  but  how 
could  I  refuse  1  First,  the  urgency  of  the  request  on  the  part  of  the 
Government ;  second,  the  immense  and  unparalleled  value  I  always 
attached,  in  public  and  private  movement,  to  the  sanitary  question, 
as  second  only  to  the  religious,  and,  in  some  respects,  inseparable 
from  it ;  third,  the  public  and  private  professions  and  declarations  I 
had  made  ;  fourth,   the  mode,  extent,  and  principles  on  which  I  had 


254  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVII. 

pressed  the  Government,  at  all  times,  as  a  real  and  solemn  duty,  to 
undertake  the  measure,  promising  invariably  the  utmost  aid  in  my 
power ;  fifth,  the  Government  accede  to  my  request,  and  in  the 
face  of  great  unpopularity,  rebuke,  toil,  and  vexation,  introduce  a 
measure ;  sixth,  they  cany  it,  and  then  turn  to  me  and  say,  '  Re- 
member all  that  you  have  done,  spoken,  promised,  and  give  us  aid 
we  now  require  ; '  seventh,  can  I  forget  their  services  on  the  Ten 
Hours  Bill  1  ;  eighth,  I  have  many  things  to  ask  of  them  yet ;  with 
what  face  can  I  do  it,  if  I  refuse  them  when  they  make  a  reasonable 
request  to  me  't     May  God  give  me  strength  !  .  .  . 

The  second  great  practical  question,  in  which  Lord 
Ashley  took  part  this  year,  was  that  of  Emigration. 

On  the  6th  June  he  brought  forward  in  the  House 
of  Commons  a  motion,  "  That  it  is  expedient  that 
means  be  annually  provided  for  the  voluntary  emigra- 
tion to  some  one  of  her  Majesty's  colonies  of  a  certain 
number  of  young  persons  of  both  sexes,  who  have  been 
educated  in  the  schools  ordinarily  called  '  Ragged 
Schools '  in  and  about  the  metropolis."  The  speech 
was  a  masterpiece  of  effective  oratory,  and  although 
bristling  with  facts  and  figures  and  details,  it  was  so 
well  relieved  by  vivid  and  picturesque  descriptions  and 
telling  anecdotes,  that  it  created  a  profound  impression. 
At  the  outset,  he  announced  that  he  was  not  introducing 
a  controversial  question,  or  assailing  any  interest,  and 
did  not,  therefore,  anticipate  any  opposition,  except  from 
those  who  believed  they  could  suggest  a  better  plan  ; 
and  that  it  was  less  from  any  overweening  confidence 
that  he  had  hit  the  true  method,  than  from  a  desire  to 
excite  discussion  and  stimulate  general  effort,  that  he 
had  propounded  the  matter  for  debate.  He  first  gave 
the  clue  to  the  sources  of  his  information : — 


1848.]  EMIGRATION.  255 

Till  very  recently  the  few  children  that  came  tinder  our  notice  in 
the  streets  and  places  of  public  traffic  were  considered  to  be  chance 
vagrants,  beggars,  or  pilferers,  who,  by  a  little  exercise  of  magisterial 
authority,  might  be  either  extinguished  or  reformed.  It  has  only  of 
late  been  discovered  that  they  constitute  a  numerous  class,  having 
habits,  pursuits,  feelings,  customs,  and  interests  of  their  own ;  living 
as  a  class,  though  shifting  as  individuals,  in  the  same  resorts  ;  per- 
petuating and  multiplying  their  filthy  numbers.  For  the  knowledge 
of  these  details  we  are  mainly  indebted  to  the  London  City  Mission. 
It  is  owing  to  their  deep,  anxious,  and  constant  research ;  it  is  owing 
to  the  zeal  with  which  their  agents  have  fathomed  the  recesses  of 
human  misery,  and  penetrated  into  places  repulsive  to  every  sense, 
moral  and  physical  ;  it  is  owing  to  such  exertions,  aided  by  the  piety 
self-denial,  and  devotion  of  Sunday-school  teachers,  that  we  have 
advanced  thus  far.  Certain  excellent  persons,  who  gave  their  energies 
to  Sabbath  training,  were  the  first  to  observe  these  miserable  out- 
casts, and  hoping,  by  the  influence  of  the  Gospel,  to  effect  some 
amendment,  opened  schools  in  destitute  places,  to  which  the  children 
were  invited,  not  coerced. 

He  stated  that  the  numbers  of  this  particular  class — 
estimated  at  great  trouble  and  on  the  best  authority — 
exceeded  30,000 — naked,  filthy,  roaming,  lawless  and 
deserted  children,  quite  distinct  from  the  ordinary  poor. 

He  then  described  to  the  House  the  habits  and  dis- 
positions of  this  wild  race,  their  pursuits,  modes  of 
livelihood,  the  character  of  their  dwelling-places,  and 
the  natural  history,  as  it  were,  of  the  species.  He  ex- 
plained how  1,600  of  these  street  Arabs  had  been  placed 
under  examination,  and  of  these 

162  confessed  that  they  had  been  in  prison  not  once  nor  twice — 
many  of  them  several  times;  116  had  run  away  from  their  homes, 
the  result,  in  many  instances,  of  ill-treatment;  170  slept  in  lodging- 
houses — nests  of  every  abomination  that  the  mind  of  man  can  con- 
ceive; 253  confessed  that  they  lived  altogether  by  begging;  216  had 


256  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

neither  shoes  nor  stockings  ;  280  had  no  caps,  hats,  bonnets,  or  head 
covering;  101  had  no  linen;  219  never  slept  in  beds — many  had 
no  recollection  of  having  ever  tasted  that  luxury  ;  68  were  the 
children  of  convicts  ;  125  had  step-mothers,  to  •whom  may  be  traced 
much  of  the  misery  that  drives  the  children  of  the  poor  to  the  com- 
mission of  crime ;  306  had  lost  either  one  or  both  parents,  a  large 
proportion  having  lost  both. 

Of  the  habits  of  these  unfortunate  children  he  gave 
some  graphic  details  : — 

Many  of  them  retire  for  the  night,  if  they  retire  at  all,  to  all 
manner  of  places — under  dry  arches  of  bridges  and  viaducts,  under 
porticoes,  sheds,  and  carts  ;  to  outhouses  ;  in  sawpits  ;  on  staircases ; 
in  the  open  air,  and  some  in  lodging-houses.  Curious,  indeed,  is  their 
mode  of  life.  I  recollect  the  case  of  a  boy  who,  during  the  incle- 
ment season  of  last  winter,  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  nights  in 
the  iron  roller  of  Regent's  Park.  He  climbed  every  evening  over 
the  railings,  and  crept  to  his  shelter,  where  he  lay  in  comparative 
comfort.  Human  sympathy,  however,  prevails  even  in  the  poorest 
condition ;  he  invited  a  companion  less  fortunate  than  himself,  pro- 
mising to  'let  him  into  a  good  thing.'  He  did  so,  and  it  proved  a 
more  friendly  act  than  many  a  similar  undertaking  in  railway  shares. 

In  speaking  of  the  mental,  moral,  and  physical  con- 
dition of  the  children,  he  adduced  the  startling  fact  that, 
in  the  previous  year,  62,1  SI  persons  were  taken  into 
custody,  of  whom  2.2,075  could  neither  read  nor  write, 
and  28,118  had  no  trade,  business,  calling,  or  occupa- 
tion whatever,  and  these  figures  only  approximated  to 
the  extent  of  the  evil,  as  the  records  of  the  tribunals  and 
police  courts,  while  they  showed  the  numbers  of  those 
whom  the  constable  was  quick  enough  to  apprehend,  did 
not  touch  the  vast  amount  of  unseen  and  undetected 
crime,  breaches   of  public  order,   injuries  to  the  peace, 


184S.]  EMIGRATION   SCHEME.  257 

property,  and  safety  of  individuals,  nor  yet  the  pre- 
valence of  that  training1  which  forms  those  children  to 
a  character  perilous  to  the  well-being  of  society. 

In  describinp;  the  nature  of  the  efforts  which  had 
been  made  to  rescue  these  children  from  their  evil  habits 
and  associations,  he  pointed  out  that  there  had  been 
many  plans  proposed  for  dealing  with  them,  such  as  the 
erection  of  schools  (but  this  was  not  feasible,  because 
there  were  no  existing  agencies  by  which  they  could 
be  superintended  or  controlled),  or  the  adoption  of  the 
"  hospital  system,"  and  the  erection  of  barracks  for 
their  reception  ;  and  the  conclusion  at  which  he  had 
arrived  was,  that,  in  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there 
was  nothing  better  than  that  the  Ragged  School  system 
should  be  extended  as  much  as  possible. 

The  system,  however,  must,  as  I  have  said,  be  stimulated;  and 
the  proposition  which  I  make  to  the  Government  is  this  :  that  the 
Government  should  agree  to  take  every  year  from  these  schools  a 
number  of  children — say  1,000 — 500  boys  and  the  same  number 
of  girls — and  ■  transplant  them  at  the  public  expense  to  her 
Majesty's  colonies  in  South  Australia.  When  I  make  this  propo- 
sition, of  course  I  do  not  do  so  in  a  dictatorial  manner  ;  and  if  the 
Government  only  accede  to  it,  they  may  vary  it  in  detail  precisely  as 
they  please.  I  mention  South  Australia,  because  in  that  colony 
there  is  at  this  moment  the  greatest  demand  for  labour.  I  propose, 
too,  that  the  removal  of  the  children  to  that  colony  shall  be  the 
reward  of  good  conduct.   .  .  . 

If  you  will  hold  out  to  these  children,  as  a  reward  of  good 
conduct,  that  which  they  desire — a  removal  from  scenes  which  it  is 
painful  to  contemplate,  to  others  where  they  can  enjoy  their  exist- 
ence—  you  will  make  the  children  eager  by  good  conduct  to 
obtain  such  a  boon.  There  are,  be  assured,  amongst  the  child- 
ren, guilty  and    disgusting    as    they  are,    many    thousands    who,  if 

r 


258  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

opportunities  are  given  them,  will  walk  in  all  the  dignity  of  honest 
men  and  Christian  citizens. 

After  an  animated  and  interesting  discussion,  Lord 
Ashley  observed  in  reply,  that  the  reason  why  he  only 
included  the  metropolis  was  through  extreme  caution; 
that  his  object  was  to  make  an  experiment,  and  then 
extend  it  if  it  were  successful.  After  the  generous 
manner  in  which  his  proposition  had  been  supported,  he 
thought  that  if  he  attempted  to  divide  the  House,  he 
should  only  take  a  hostile  course,  and  convert  into 
enemies  those  who  would  otherwise  be  coadjutors,"  and 
he  would,  therefore,  withdraw  his  motion.  Subse- 
quently, however,  a  grant  of  £1,500  was  made  by  the 
Government  for  the  purpose  of  an  experimental  trial  of 
the  scheme. 

June  6th. — Eleven  o'clock.  Just  returned  from  House  of 
Commons,  having  made  motion  on  Ragged  Schools  and  Emigra- 
tion.    Had  much  success  in  the  speech,  and  some  in  the  motion. 

June  12th. — This  'Ragged'  motion  has  produced  considerable 
effect;  much  is  said  everywhere.  I  received  abundant  letters, 
onymous  and  anonymous,  in  high  terms  of  approbation. 

The  grant  of  £1,500,  and  the  contributions  of  friends, 
put  Lord  Ashley  in  a  position  to  set  to  work  vigorously 
on  the  emigration  scheme.  Although  he  soon  found 
himself  crippled  for  want  of  adequate  funds,  he  went 
heart  and  soul  into  the  matter,  and  made  the  money  go 
as  far  as  possible. 

There  was  never  an  effort  attended  with  greater 
success,  and  we  must  anticipate  a  little  by  looking  at 
some  of  the  results.  The  children  were  carefully  selected 


18*8.]  FAREWELL    ADDRESS    TO   EMIGRANTS.  259 

and  specially  trained,  and  each  was  impressed  with  the 
idea  that  he  was  to  go  forth  as  the  representative  of  a 
large  reserve.  Before  each  detachment  started,  Lord 
Ashley  visited  them,  and  some  of  his  farewell  addresses 
on  the  eve  of  their  departure  are  worthy  of  being 
written  in  letters  of  gold,  so  full  are  they  of  tender 
fatherliness  and  Christian  love.     Here  is  a  specimen  : — 


I  see  you  now,  my  boys,  probably  for  the  last  time.  You  are 
going  to  enter  upon  new  connections.  You  are  going  to  a  land 
where  much  will  depend  upon  yourselves  as  regards  your  future 
prosperity  and  success  in  life.  The  whole  world  is  open  to  you.  I 
believe  you  will  be  placed  in  circumstances  where  honesty  will  not 
fail  to  meet  with  its  reward.  I  hope,  when  you  are  far  away,  you 
will  not  forget  those  friends  who  have  taken  care  of  you  here,  and 
the  instruction  and  advice  you  have  received  from  time  to  time  from 
those  who  have  felt  an  interest  in  you,  and  that  you  will  not  forgot 
what  has  been  said  to  you  to-night.  I  believe  it  will  be  a  great  help 
to  remember,  not  only  what  has  been  said,  but  the  very  counten- 
ances of  those  who  have  befriended  you  ;  let  their  presence  be 
familiar  to  your  recollection.  Remember  the  faces  of  those  who 
are  present  here  to-night.  The  remembrance  may  deter  you  in  the 
time  of  temptation  from  doing  that  which  would  disgrace  yourselves 
and  bring  discredit  on  them,  Especially  let  me  tell  you,  working 
boys,  that,  however  you  may  rise  in  society — and  there  is  no  reason 
in  the  world  why  you  should  not  rise — you  must  still  be  working 
men.  Christianity  is  not  a  speculation,  it  is  essentially  practical. 
It  is  the  only  thing  for  your  soul's  health  to  be  always  at  work. 
Remember  this  :  you  have  something  to  do  for  others  as  well  as  for 
yourselves.  You  have  a  character  to  get,  and  you  have  a  character 
to  lose.  You  must  not  by  any  misconduct  of  yours,  bring  disgrace 
upon  those  who  have  gone  out  before  you.  If  you  bring  discredit 
upon  them,  you  are  injuring  a  whole  class.  Many  of  those  lads  who 
are  now  roaming  about  the  streets,  houseless  and  friendless,  may  yet 
be  brought  into  this  or  similar  institutions,  may  be  helped  or 
hindered  in  their  future  course  by  your  conduct.     If  that  should  be 

r  2 


260  THE    EABL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

.such  as  would  bring  disci-edit  upon  yourselves  and  those  who  send 
you  out,  it  may  hinder  their  being  sent  as  you  are.  If  there  is  any 
one  single  thins:  which  more  than  another  tends  to  make  a  man  feel 
great,  it  is  that  he  is  answerable  for  his  own  conduct  to  God  and  to 
society  at  large.  You  are  going  across  the  water.  I  have  no  doubt 
but  we  shall  soon  hear  that  you  have  got  employment.  What- 
ever your  duty  or  circumstances  may  be,  never  forget  prayer.  You 
may  rise  to  high  stations  ;  they  are  open  to  you  there  as  here. 
Whatever  success  you  may  meet  with  in  this  world — and  we  heartily 
wish  you  may  meet  with  great  success — still,  my  lads,  never  forget 
the  greatest  ambition  of  the  Christian  is  to  be  a  citizen  of  that  city 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God  ;  and  though  we  may  never  meet 
together  again  on  earth,  may  we  all  at  last  meet  together  there. 

Testimony  was  borne  in  many,  and  sometimes  un- 
expected quarters,  as  to  the  conduct  and  efficiency  of 
the  Ragged-School  boys  who  were  sent  out  to  the 
Colonies. 

It  is  recorded  that  a  gentleman  (Major  E.  J.  Robin - 
>on),  while  travelling  in  Australia,  observed  that  there 
were  a  number  of  young  emigrants  whose  behaviour 
presented  a  striking  contrast  to  others  of  the  same  class. 
They  were  intelligent,  industrious,  and  of  uniform  good 
conduct.  On  making  inquiries,  he  was  told  that  they 
were  lads  who  had  the  knack  of  never  getting  into 
trouble.  He  accosted  some  of  them.  "  Who  are  you, 
and  where  do  you  come  from  ?  '  "  Oh,"  said  the}', 
"  we  are  Lord  Ashley's  boys."  "Lord  Ashley's  boys  ?" 
"  Yes,  from  the  London  Ragged  School." 

The  gentleman  knew  nothing  of  those  schools,  but 
resolved  that  on  his  return  to  England  he  would  take 
an  opportunity  of  learning  something  of  an  institution 
that  could  send  out  such  lads,  a  resolution  he  carried 


1848.]  A    CURIOUS    LETTER.  2G1 

into  effect  with  great  advantage  to  Ragged-School 
work. 

Captain  Stanley  Carr,  on  behalf  of  the  Committee  of 
Australian  colonists,  and  himself  a  colonial  proprietor, 
bore  frequent  testimony  to  the  good  conduct  of  the 
Ragged-School  boj^s.  A  magistrate  in  Portland  Bay 
wrote  to  him,  "  I  should  be  glad  if  you  could  procure 
for  me  some  of  Lord  Ashley's  lads,"  and  again  and 
again  the  request  came  from  the  Colonies  for  more. 
The  better  they  were  known,  the  better  they  were 
appreciated. 

Many  curious  letters  were  sent  by  the  young 
emigrants  to  those  who  had  rescued  them  from  their 
lives  of  misery  and  crime.     Here  is  one  as  a  specimen: — 

January  15,  1851. 

Lord  ashley  and  lady  Charlotte  sturt, — we  rite  these 
few  lines  to  you  hopeing  that  you  are  in  good  health  as  we  ar  at 
preasant  we  rite  to  you  to  let  you  no  that  the  monney  and  intrest 
you  have  taken  in  us  to  is  the  means  of  making  us  bright  men,  but 
before  we  was  a  pess  to  scity  and  more  so  to  Newgate  the  house  of 
Correction,  for  J.  B  ad  bin  in  gale  over  seven  times  on  summery 
conviction  and  thre  times  for  a  trial  every  one  looked  on  us  theves 
and  roges,  but  in  this  contry  respected  as  gentlemen  when  we  think 
of  the  harships  that  when  threw  her  it  makes  us  cry  kind  friends  do 
send  Fred  held  and  let  im  come  to  us  I  ham  sure  that  he  will  do 
well  but  he  never  will  in  England,  for  his  character  is  to  fur  gorn, 
do  Lady  and  Gentleman  try  to  send  im  to  us,  and  if  he  we  will 
pay  ten  dolers  each  fore  him  to  come  to  us  so  has  he  can  recover  his 
character  as  we  ave  done. 

No  more  at  preasant  from  your  thankful  and  obedient  friend 

J6seph  Brady  axd  James  Way 

County  of  Schenectady,  State  of  New  York. 

Quaker  street  post-office. 


2G2  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [chap.  XVH. 

It  was  not  all  smooth  sailing  with  Lord  Ashley  in 
his  efforts  to  carry  ont  his  emigration  scheme,  and  there 
are,  in  the  Diaries,  many  entries  which  show  that  the 
disappointments  were  as  numerous  as  the  successes. 

July-21st. — So  I  am  now  to  be  disappointed,  nay,  deceived  !  No 
emigration  for  my  nigged  children,  unless  I  raise  a  sum  of  money 
for  that  purpose.  How  is  that  to  be  clone  1  Not  a  word  was  said 
on  this  subject  when  I  consented  to  withdraw  my  resolution.   .  .   . 

Two  Chairs  yesterday.  Opened  Westminster  Reading-room  for 
the  dirty,  forgotten  workpeople  of  Duck  Lane  and  Pye  Street.  Very 
successful,  God  be  pi-aised — really  affecting.  Letters  and  Chairs  eat 
me  up  ;  I  never  refresh  my  mind  with  new  stores  :  always  speaking, 
never  reading  or  thinking.  God  in  His  mercy  grant  me  a  little 
repose  this  summer.      I  am  thin  as  a  wafer.  .   .  . 

...  A  great  deal  of  melancholy  over  me,  both  to-day  and  yester- 
day and  the  day  before.  Truth  is,  I  am  a  little  tired,  and  a  little 
disheartened  ;  men  are  untrue  and  lukewarm.  I  am  endeavouring 
to  pile  Pelion  on  Ossa,  the  work  of  the  Titans  with  the  force  just 
sufficient  for  an  ant-hill.  .  .  .  Talk  of  the  dangerous  classes,  indeed! 
The  dangerous  classes  in  England  are  not  the  people  !  The  dangerous 
classes  are  the  lazy  ecclesiastics,  of  whom  there  are  thousands,  and 
the  rich  who  do  no  good  with  their  money  !  I  fear  them  more  than 
whole  battalions  of  Chartists.  ...  I  am  as  much  fretted  by 
anxiety  as  worn  by  labour.  I  cannot  feel  by  halves,  nor  only  when 
the  evil  is  present.  I  take  it  I  suffer  very  often  much  more  than 
the  people  do  themselves  !  .   .   . 

July  27th. — An  affecting  evening  yesterday.  Gave  a  tea-party  to 
take  leave  of  our  '  ragged  '  emigrants  to  Australia,  ragged  no  longer, 
thank  God  !  They  go  from  private  funds  that  I  have  collected  from 
the  excellent  Miss  Portal,  Mr.  Farrer,  Lord  Wriothesley  Russell, 
and  my  sister  Charlotte.  Many  were  assemUed  ;  we  addressed 
them,  and  many  were  moved  to  tears.  It  was  a  deeply  religious 
meeting  ;  and  a  feeling  of  piety  and  gratitude  pervaded  us  all.  And 
now  here,  as  then,  I  commit  them,  Oh,  Lord  !  to  the  word  of  Thy 
jrrace — prosper  the  work  !  bear  them  safely,  happily,  joyously  to  their 
journey's  end  !  watch  over  them  in  body  and  in  soul ;  make  them 


1848.]  YOUNG    THIEVES.  263 

Thy  servants  in  this  life,  and  Thy  saints  in  the  next,  in  the  media- 
tion and  everlasting  love  of  Christ,  our  only  Saviour  and  Redeemer ! 

During  his  perambulations  of  the  slums  of  London 
in  1846,  by  his  Kagged  School  investigations,  and 
in  other  ways  and  places,  Lord  Ashley  made  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  haunts  and  habits  of  the 
young  thieves  of  the  metropolis.  Some  of  his  descrip- 
tions of  them  are  admirable,  and  his  anecdotes  telling. 

A  large  proportion  do  not  recognise  the  distinctive  rights  of 
meum  and  tuum.  Property  appears  to  them  to  be  only  the  aggregate 
of  plunder.  They  hold  that  everything  that  is  possessed  is  common 
stock ;  that  he  who  gets  most  is  the  cleverest  fellow,  and  that  every 
one  has  a  right  to  abstract  from  that  stock  what  he  can  by  his  own 
ingenuity.* 

They  make  little  or  no  secret  of  their  successful  operations,  cloak- 
ing them  only  with  euphonistic  terms  ;  they  '  find '  everything,  they 
'  take  '  nothing  ;  no  matter  the  bulk  or  quality  of  the  article,  it  was 
'found' — sometimes  nearly  a  side  of  bacon,  just  at  the  convenient 
time  and  place ;  and  many  are  the  loud  and  bitter  complaints  that 
the  '  dealer  in  marine  stores '  is  utterly  dishonest,  and  has  given  for 
the  thing  but  half  the  price  that  could  be  got  in  the  market,  f 

These  children  are  like  tribes  of  lawless  freebooters,  bound  by  no 
obligations,  and  iitterly  ignorant,  or  utterly  regardless,  of  social 
duties.  They  trust  to  their  skill,  not  to  their  honesty  ;  gain  their 
livelihood  by  theft,  and  consider  the  whole  world  as  their  legitimate 
prey.  With  them  there  is  no  sense  of  shame ;  nor  is  imprisonment 
viewed  as  a  disgrace.  In  many  instances  it  has  occurred  that  after  a 
boy  has  been  a  short  time  at  one  of  the  Ragged  Schools  he  suddenly 
disappears.  At  the  end  of  a  few  weeks  he  comes  back  to  the  very 
spot  in  the  school  where  he  sat  when  he  was  last  there.  The  master 
going  up  to  him  says,  '  My  boy,  where  have  you  been  ? '     The  boy 

*  House  of  Commons,  July.  1849. 
f  Quarterly  Review,  Dec,  1846. 


264  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

answers,  '  Very  sorry,  sir,  I  could  not  come  before,  but  I  have  had 
three  weeks  at  Bridewell.'  Going  to  prison  is  with  these  children 
the  ordinary  lot  of  humanity ;  they  look  upon  it  as  a  grievous  act  of 
oppression,  and  when  they  come  to  school  they  speak  of  it  as  one 
gentleman  would  tell  his  wrongs  to  another. 

As  an  illustration  of  their  low  state  of  morality 
and  their  utter  shamelessness,  he  instanced  what  had 
passed  one  evening  at  a  Ragged  School : — 

Fourteen  or  fifteen  of  these  boys  presented  themselves  one  Sun- 
day evening  and  sat  down  to  the  lessons,  but,  as  the  clock  struck, 
they  all  rose  and  left,  with  the  exception  of  one  who  lagged  behind. 
The  master  took  him  by  the  arm,  and  said,  'You  must  remain;  the 
lesson  is  not  over.'  The  reply  was,  '  We  must  go  to  business.'  The 
master  incpuired,  '  What  business  1 '  '  Why,  don't  you  see  it's  eight 
o'clock  ;  we  must  go  catch  them  as  they  come  out  of  the  chapels.' 

On    another    occasion    he  told    a    story    of  a    City 
'Missionary,  a  kind  and  worthy  man,  who  had  endeared 
himself    to    the    whole     of    a    wretched    district,    and 
especially  to  the  }rounger  population. 

One  evening,  having  put  on  a  new  coat,  he  went,  about  dusk, 
through  a  remote  street,  and  was  instantly  marked  as  a  quarry  by 
one  of  these  rapacious  vagabonds.  1  h  3  urchin  did  not  know  him  in 
Ids  new  attire — therefore  without  hesitation  relieved  his  pockets  of 
their  contents.  The  Missionary  did  not  discover  his  loss,  nor  the 
boy  his  victim,  until  in  his  flight  he  had  reached  the  end  of  the 
atreet.  He  then  looked  round  and  recognised  in  the  distance  his  old 
friend  and  teacher.     He  ran  back  to  him,  breathless.      '  Hallo,'  said 

he,  'is  it  you,   Mr.  1     I   didn't  know  you  in  your  new   coat; 

here's  your  handkerchief  for  you  ! ' 

It  was  in  consequence  of  his  speech  in  the  House 
of  Commons  on  the  suhject  of  emigration  that  in  July, 

*  House  of  Commons,  June  6,  1848. 


1843.]  A    STRANGE    EXPERIENCE.  265 

1848,  Lord  Ashley  entered  into  one  of  the  strangest 
experiences,  in  connection  with  London  thieves,  that 
ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  mortal  man.  A  City  Mis- 
sionary, named  Thomas  Jackson,  a  zealous,  earnest,  and, 
in  his  way,  gifted  man,  had  been  appointed  to  the  Rag 
Fair  and  Rosemary  Lane  district,  where  he  was  known 
as  the  Thieves'  Missionary.  He  was  in  their  confidence; 
his  house  was  open  at  all  times  to  those  who  chose  to 
visit  him  in  search  of  advice  and  consolation ;  he  was 
acquainted,  far  more  intimately  than  the  police,  with  the 
habits  of  pickpockets,  burglars,  and  every  class  of  con- 
victed or  unconvicted  roguery ;  he  had  the  entree  into 
dens  of  infamy,  and  had  familiarised  himself  with  sin 
in  some  of  its  most  sickening  aspects,  and  yet  he  carried 
with  him  a  quiet  and  a  prayerful  spirit,  and  became  to 
Lord  Ashley  not  only  a  guide,  but  also  a  philosopher 
and  friend. 

Soon  after  Lord  Ashley  had  propounded  his  scheme 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  for  the  emigration  of  young 
criminals,  it  occurred  to  him  to  ask  a  notorious  adult 
thief  whether  he  would  like  to  avail  himself  of  such  a 
scheme.  "  I  should  jump  at  it,"  was  the  reply.  Thus 
encouraged,  he  determined  to  have  the  same  question 
propounded  at  one  of  Mr.  Jackson's  meetings,  to  which 
discharged  criminals  only  were  to  be  admitted.  "  It 
would  be  a  capital  thing  for  chaps  like  us,"  was  their 
unanimous  answer.  Then  one  of  them  got  up  and  pro- 
posed that  they  should  write  Lord  Ashley  a  letter  on 
behalf  of  themselves  and  all  their  tribe,  inviting  him  to 
meet  them,  and  give  them  his  opinion  and  advice  as  to 


266  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XVII. 

how  they  could  extricate  themselves  from  their  present 
position.  A  round-robin  was  accordingly  prepared,  and 
was  signed  by  forty  of  the  most  notorious  thieves  and 
burglars  in  London,  praying  him  to  meet  them.  A 
night  was  fixed,  and  on  July  the  27th,  Lord  Ashley, 
without  hesitation,  and  without  fear,  went  to  the  meeting. 
Accustomed  as  he  was  to  strange  sights  and  strange 
assemblies,  he  was  not  prepared  for  what  was  awaiting 
him.  There,  in  a  large  room,  with  Jackson  in  the 
midst,  were  close  upon  four  hundred  men  of  every  ap- 
pearance, from  the  '  swell-mob '  in  black  coats  and  white 
neckcloths,  to  the  most  fierce-looking,  rough,  half- 
dressed  savages  he  had  ever  seen. 

The  City  Mission  Magazine  for  August,  184S,  says: 
"  Several  of  the  best  known  and  most  experienced 
thieves  were  stationed  at  the  door  to  prevent  the 
admission  of  any  but  thieves.  Some  four  or  five  indi- 
viduals, who  were  not  at  first  known,  were  subjected  to 
a  more  public  examination,  and  only  allowed  to  remain 
on  their  stating:  who  thev  were,  and  bein<>-  recognised  as 
members  of  the  dishonest  fraternity.  The  object  of  this 
care,  as  so  many  of  them  were  in  danger  of  '  getting  into 
trouble,'  as  they  call  it,  was,  to  ascertain  whether  any 
who  should  betra}"  them  were  present." 

Lord  Ashley  was  received  by  them  with  genuine 
enthusiasm,  and,  after  taking  the  chair,  the  proceed- 
ings were  opened  by  devotional  exercises  !  A  chair- 
man, to  be  at  ease,  always  likes  to  feel  the  pulse  of 
his  audience,  in  order  to  know,  as  far  as  possible,  what 
manner  of  men  they  be,  and  the  method  adopted  on 


1S43.]  FALLEN   AMONG    THIEVES.  267 

the  occasion  of   which  we   write    was    striking    in    the 

extreme  : — 

I  was  anxious  to  know  what  was  the  character  of  these  thieves ; 
some  of  them  pickpockets,  some  shopliftei's,  others  of  the  swell-mob, 
and  exceedingly  well-dressed  some  of  them  were.  Many  of  them, 
however,  had  no  stockings,  and  some  of  them  had  no  shirts.  I 
wanted  to  know  the  great  departments  of  roguery;  so  the  Missionary 
said  :  '  His  Lordship  wants  to  know  the  particular  character  of  the 
men  here.  You  who  live  by  bm*glary  and  the  more  serious  crimes 
will  go  to  the  right,  and  the  others  will  go  to  the  left.'  About 
two  hundred  of  the  men  at  once  rose  and  went  to  the  right,  as 
confessed  burglars  and  living  by  the  greatest  crimes.* 

Lord  Ashley  then  addressed  them  kindly  hut  firmly, 
expressing  his  willingness  to  befriend  them,  not  011I3*  as 
his  duty  but  out  of  regard  for  them.  In  the  first  place, 
however,  he  wished  to  hear  them  speak. 

A  number  of  the  men  then  gave  addresses,  and  anything  more 
curious,  more  graphic,  more  picturesque,  and  more  touching  I  never 
heard  in  my  life  ;  they  told  the  whole  truth,  without  the  least 
difficulty,  and,  knowing  that  they  were  there  to  reveal  their  con- 
dition, they  disguised  nothing. 

Lord  Ashley  had  recommended  mutual  aid,  self- 
reliance,  a  relinquishing  of  their  old  practices,  and  new 
resolves  for  the  future.  "  But  how,"  said  one  of  the 
men,  "  are  we  to  live  till  our  next  meeting  ?  We  must 
either  steal  or  die."  It  was  an  awkward  question. 
Lord  Ashley  acknowledged  that  he  never  felt  so  utterly 
impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the  task,  and  the 
feebleness  of  the  power ;  and  confessed,  that  when 
Jackson  urged  them  "to  pray,  as  God  could  help  them," 

*  Speech,  West  Middlesex  Auxiliary  City  Mission,  June  23,  1873. 


268  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

he  felt  a  certain  amount  of  sympathy  when  one  of  the 
party  rose  and  said,  "  My  Lord  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Jury,  prayer  is  very  good,  but  it  won't  fill  an  empty 
stomach,"  whereupon  there  arose  a  general  response  of 
"  Hear,  hear  !  " 

One  point  was  made  clear  that  night.  It  was,  that 
the  men  were  dissatisfied  with  the  life  they  led,  and 
would  do  anything  to  break  away  from  it  if  they  only 
knew  how.  One  and  all  they  were  eager  for  the  emigra- 
tion scheme,  and  Lord  Ashley  promised  to  do  all  he 
could  for  them.  Then  one  man,  on  behalf  of  the  rest, 
exclaimed,  "  But  will  j^ou  ever  come  back  to  see  us 
again  ?  ':  "  Yes,"  replied  Lord  Ashley,  "  at  any  time, 
and  at  any  place,  whenever  you  shall  send  for  me." 
"  And,"  as  he  said  when  telling  the  story,  "  the  low, 
deep  murmur  of  gratitude  was  very  touching."  The 
result  of  that  night's  work,  like  so  mai^  in  Lord 
Ashley's  career,  can  never  be  known.  One  outward  and 
visible  sign,  however,  was  the  fact  that,  within  three 
months  from  that  date,  thirteen  of  those  who  were 
present  were  starting  in  life  afresh  in  Canada,  while, 
a  little  later  on,  nearty  three  hundred  had  either 
emigrated,  or  had  passed  into  different  employ- 
ments, and  had  no  need  to  return  to  their  hateful 
occupation. 

In  reviewing  the  public  labours  of  Lord  Ashley 
during  this  year,  we  have  almost  lost  sight  of  other 
matters  scarcely  less  interesting.  We  must,  therefore, 
go  back  in  the  narrative. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year,  his  eldest  son,  Antony, 


1848.]  BANQUET   TO   LORD    HARDINGE.  269 

had  entered  the  Navy,   and  in  March  sailed    for    the 
Australian   station  in  H.M.S.  Havannah. 

March  30th. — Just  returned  from  Portsmouth  with  Minny  and 
the  boys ;  have  been  to  take  leave  of  dear  Accy  for  three  years,  and 
perhaps  never  to  see  him  again ;  it  may  be  so,  but  yet  I  hope,  nay,  I 
believe,  that  God  will  be  with  him,  and  restore  us  safe  and  happy  to 
each  other.  But  it  is  a  pang  ;  we  feel  it  more  when  we  reflect,  than 
Avhile  we  experience  it.  I  see  him  now  ;  I  shall  see  him  for  ever  till 
we  meet  again,  standing  at  the  ship- side,  and  watching  us  depart. 
Oh,  Christ,  our  only  Saviour  and  Redeemer,  have  mercy  on  the  lad  in 
body  and  in  soul.  .   .  . 

On  the  return  of  Lord  Hardin ge,  after  his  brilliant 
successes  in  India,  a  banquet  was  given  to  him,  and 
Lord  Ashley,  who  entertained  for  him  strong  feelings  of 
personal  friendship,  was  present,  although  at  that  time 
he  was  "  hurried,  hurried,  by  day  and  by  night."  He 
briefly  notes  the  occasion  thus  : — 

April  6th. — Splendid  feast  to  Hardinge  last  night,  given  at 
London  Tavern  by  E.  I.  Company.  Every  man  of  public  note  in 
England  was  present. 

Apropos  of  one  of  the  speeches  made  at  the  festival 
in  honour  of  Lord  Hardinge,  the  following  letter  from 
Mr.  Gladstone,  characteristic  of  his  abounding  verbiage, 
was  received  : — 

Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone  to  Lord  Ashley. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens,  May  4th,  1848. 

My  dear  Ashley, — I  have  to  blame  myself  for  not  having 
mentioned  to  you  more  promptly  what  I  am  now  about  to  state. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  encouragement  which  I  derived  from 
your  very  favourable  and  warm  reception  of  some  observations  of 
mine  at  the  dinner  to  Lord  Hardinge,  about  the  importance  and 
advantage   of    giving  to  the   lay   communicants  of  the    Church   of 


270  TEE    EARL    OF   SEAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

England  functions  connected  with  her  work,  aiad  to  be  performed  by 
them  in  that  capacity,  I  was  emboldened  to  speak  to  Lord  Harrowby 
on  the  subject,  with  particular  reference  to  the  School  Committees, 
which  the  Privy  Council  Committee  on  Education  desires  to  see 
organised.  It  had  always  appeared  to  me  that  this  desire  of  theirs 
afforded  an  admirable  opportunity  of  trying  in  a  quiet  way,  within 
certain  bounds,  and  for  a  practical  and  important  purpose,  a  principle 
of  great  moment  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church,  and  one  upon  which 
all  her  sincerely  attached  members  ought  to  be  cordially  agreed. 

I  therefore  suggested  to  Lord  Harrowby,  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  the  National  Society,  that  perhaps  that  Society  might 
be  disposed  to  place  for  the  Government,  either  as  the  plan  which  it 
preferred,  or  at  least  as  one  of  the  plans  which  it  preferred  and 
thought  worthy  of  the  approval  of  the  P.  C,  a  plan  by  which  the 
members  of  the  Committee  should  be  only  such  persons  as  subscribed 
a  declaration,  setting  forth  that  they  had  been  communicants  in  the 
Church  of  Ewjland  for  three  years.  It  appeared  to  me  that,  with 
Committees  so  constituted,  almost  all  questions  would  in  practice 
settle  themselves  very  easily,  and  the  knotty  points  now  in  discussion 
would  at  once  become  of  very  minor  importance. 

I  will  not  at  this  time  attempt  to  describe  all  the  advantages 
which,  in  my  view,  would  attend  both  the  promotion  of  such  a  settle- 
ment as  this,  and  the  settlement  itself  after  it  had  been  obtained. 
If  I  may  judge  from  what  you  said,  and  from  what  I  have  heard  said 
by  others,  I  cannot  but  estimate  very  highly  the  harmonising  effect 
of  the  co-operation  which  it  ought  to  command  in  the  very  first 
instance,  as  a  common  decision  upon  a  very  important  subject,  to 
take  effect  through  common  efforts,  and  one  with  respect  to  which 
all,  I  think,  ought  to  feel  that  it  would  be  an  honest  measure,  a 
measure  likely,  as  far  as  it  went,  to  develop  and  confirm  the  Church 
of  England  in  her  own  true  character,  which,  I  apprehend,  is  what 
they  should  all  on  their  own  principles  desire,  even  though,  through 
human  infirmity,  they  may  not  have  each  in  his  own  mind  precisely 
the  same  image  of  that  character. 

Lord  Harrowby  entered  warmly,  and  I  think  entirely,  into  the 
view  of  the  subject  which  was  the  same  as  I  had  stated  to  you  ;  so 
did  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  to  whom  we  together  mentioned  it.  Lord 
H.  undertook  to  bring  it  before  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ; 
and  the  only  difficulty  was,  that  he  thought  the  Committee  of  the 


1S48.J  IN   SCOTLAND.  271 

N.  S.  had  just  before  arrived  at  a  conclusion  as  to  the  proposal  which 
they  might  lay  before  the  Archbishop,  with  a  view  to  its  being  sub- 
mitted to  the  Government  if  approved  by  him  ;  but  he  did  not  appear 
to  regard  this  as  more  than  an  inconvenience,  thinking  that  the 
subject  was  still  open  to  reconsideration. 

I  hope  that  you  may  have  the  means  of  putting  forward  either 
this  measure,    or   some  other  and  like  one,   at  this  particular  season 
and  I  am  certain  that  if  you  have  them,  you  will  not  let  them  slip. 

I  remain  always, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 
The  Lord  Ashley,  M.P. 

One  of  the  red-letter  days  of  every  year  was  the  10th 
of  June.  It  was  spent  this  year  at  the  country  seat  of 
Mr.  and  Lady  Louisa  Finch,  in  Rutlandshire. 

June  12th. — Burley  on  the  Hill.  Arrived  here  Saturday,  10th, 
our  wedding  day.  Well  may  I  thank  God  for  His  manifold  and 
various  mercies.  He  has  given  me  eighteen  years  of  happiness, 
true,  joyous,  confiding,  unalloyed,  in  the  wife  of  my  bosom.  Praised 
be  His  name,  and  may  He  grant  that  it  ever  continue,  and  bring 
forth  fruits  to  His  glory  and  men's  service,  for  our  Blessed  Redeemer's 
sake  ! 

In  August,  came  the  lon^-looked-for  relaxation  from 
the  harassing  cares  and  anxieties  of  public  business. 
There  was  no  place  in  the  world  that  did  him  so  much 
good  as  Scotland,  and  so  to  Scotland  he  went. 

Au"\  12th. — Galloway  House.  Galloway,  in  the  height  of 
friendliness  and  amiable  feeling,  has  lent  us  his  beautiful  cottage 
of  Cumloden  in  the  Wigtown  mountains  ;  and  thus  we  are  going  to 
enjoy  mountain  breezes,  Scotch  scenery,  and  romantic  seclusion. 

Au<*.  16. — Cumloden.  Everything  conduces  to  enjoyment  and 
comfort  here ;  amusement  for  the  eye,  brisk  air  for  the  lungs,  leisure 
and  contemplation  for  the  mind.      I  seem  in  a  week  to  have  lost  all 


272  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XVII. 

power  of  business,  as  I  certainly  have  all  taste  for  it;  dress  in  a 
shooting-coat,  lounge  about,  read  all  sorts  of  books. 

Oct.  4th. — Invei'ary.  Arrived  here  yesterday  through  very 
beautiful  scenery,  on  a  very  beautiful  day.  Duke  and  Duchess 
amiable  in  the  extreme ;  she  is  a  dear,  sensible,  lovable  creature, 
whom  I  have  known  from  a  child.  It  is  a  stately  place  ;  trees, 
rocks,  mountains,  torrents,  and  lochs,  all  in  the  perfection  of  the 
noble  and  fascinating.  .   . 

Oct.  7th.  .  .  .  HaA'e  been  studying  with  more  regularity  and 
attention  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  ;  it  is  a  noble  work  of 
zeal,  piety,  and  sound  argument. 

Oct.  10th. — Edinburgh.  Left  yesterday  Inverary,  having  passed 
a  very  agreeable  week.  We  had  there  Barry,  the  architect ;  the 
Ellesmeres,  with  two  daughters  ;  young  Campbell  of  Islay,  Dr.  dim- 
ming, M.D.,  the  Kay-Shuttleworths,  and  Col.  Talbot  of  Canada. 
Peace  be  to  the  house  and  all  in  it ! 

Oct.  16th. — Cumloden.  I  know  not  a  better  preacher  than 
Mr.  Johnstone,  our  minister  here  at  Minnigaff;  his  matter  is  true, 
sound,  and  plainly  evangelical,  argumentative,  persuasive,  touching, 
practical,  and  admirably,  yet  very  simply,  delivered.  He  is  worth  a 
regiment  of  ecclesiastical  'Pindars.'  .   . 

Oct.  26th. — Surely  no  sun  ever  rose  more  beautifully  than  this 
morning  ;  viewed  it  with  delight.  Yet  there  was  a  coldness  in  my 
affection  and  a  formality  in  my  prayer  which  seemed  little  to  accord 
with  such  a  display  of  God's  works.  But  we  must  be  careful  not  to 
estimate  the  state  of  our  hearts  towards  God  merely  by  the  rapture 
we  may  feel  at  occasional  periods  ;  religion  would  then  be  measured 
by  enthusiasm  ;  it  must  be  tested  by  its  fruits,  by  our  real  and 
inmost  desires,  by  our  daily  walk,  by  our  Scriptural  belief,  by  our 
constant  faith,  and  by  our  practical  life.  .  . 

In  the  midst  of  the  hurry  and  worry  of  London  life 
Lord  Ashley  rarely  found  time  carefully  to  read  a  book, 
unless  it  related  immediately  to  some  of  the  questions 
occupying  his  attention  at  the  time.  On  his  holidays, 
however,  he  read  industriously,  and  was  wont  to  enter 
in  his  Diary  or  note-book  a  digest  of  the  impressions  left 


1848.]  "SPECIAL    PROVIDENCES."  273 

on  his  mind  by  the  perusal  of  any  work  that  particularly 
interested  him.  Thus,  at  Cumloden,  we  find  him  deep 
in  the  study  of  the  "  Life  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald," 
aud  the  "  History  of  the  45  "  by  Chambers,  and  at  the 
conclusion  he  writes  : — 

Nov.  7th. — The  mass  of  the  world  are  all  erect  against  the  admis- 
sion of  Special  Providences ;  it  savours,  they  think,  of  fanaticism, 
hypocrisy,  cant.  I  do  not  deny  the  delicacy  and  difficulty  of  the 
subject ;  to  allow  it  fully,  in  almost  every  trifling  instance,  seems  to 
cripple  man's  free  agency,  and  supersede  secondary  causes ;  to  deny 
it,  is  to  deny  God's  goodness  and  mercy,  and  His  moral  government 
of  mankind  !  My  memory  has  just  been  refreshed  by  reading  two 
books,  the  '  Life  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,'  and  the  '  History  of 
the  45 '  by  Chambers.  Now,  if  a  man  be  a  sceptic,  cadit  qtuestio, 
but  if  he  believe  in  a  superintending  Ruler,  will  he  hesitate  to  say, 
in  the  language  of  our  Liturgy,  '  O  .God,  we  have  heard  with  our 
ears,  and  our  fathers  have  declared  unto  us,  the  noble  works  that 
Thou  didst  in  their  days,  and  in  the  old  time  before  them.'  '  In 
1719,'  says  Chambers,  'a  plan  of  insurrection  and  invasion  in  favour 
of  the  Stuarts  was  formed  by  Spain.  A  fleet  of  ten  ships  of  the 
line,  with  several  frigates,  having  on  board  6,000  troops  and  12,000 
stand  of  arms,  sailed  from  Cadiz  to  England,  and  while  this  fleet 
was  preparing  the  Earl  Marischal  left  St.  Sebastian  with  two  Spanish 
frigates,  having  on  board  300  Spanish  soldiers,  ammunition,  arms, 
and  money.  .  .  .  The  Spanish  fleet  was  completely  dispersed  by  a 
storm  off  Cape  Finisterre.'  ...  In  Moore's  'Life  of  Lord  Edward, 
from  p.  282  to  288  of  Vol.  I.,  the  lesson  is  most  striking ' 

We  need  not  follow  the  extracts.  Page  after  page 
he  collects,  and  summarises  the  instances  in  which,  to 
his  mind,  the  hand  of  God  is  clearly  visible,  and  the 
special  providence  of  God  is  employed  for  the  defence  of 
this  country. 

On  November  the  8th  the  pleasant  holiday  in  Scot- 
land came  to  an  end,  and  shortly  afterwards  we  find 
s 


274  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVII. 

Lord  Ashley  again  in  the  midst  of  his  labours.  A  few 
of  the  special  events  which  marked  the  close  of  this 
memorable  year  may  be  noted  in  this  place. 


Nov.  15th.— Priory,  Stanmore.  Here  by  command  of  the  Queen- 
Dowager  to  meet  the  Queen  Regnant.  Very  stately,  but,  perhaps, 
dull  Nevertheless,  it  is  kind  and  amiable  on  her  part,  and  I  ought 
to  be,  and  I  am,  sensible  of  it.  Now,  when  I  say  'dull,'  am  I  quite 
sure  that  the  dulness  is  not  in  myself  ;  and  that  people,  when  I 
call  them  dull,  would  not  declare  that  /  am  dismal  ?  I  seem  to  have 
lost  nearly  the  power  of  thinking,  and  certainly,  altogether,  the  power 
of  expressing  anything.  I  have  two  rooms  to  myself  and  two  fires. 
I  deplore  the  waste  of  fuel  when  there  are  so  many  who  have  none. 
This  feeling  is  growing  upon  me,  and  may  degenerate  into  stinginess, 
or,  at  least,  a  parsimony  in  the  exercise  of  just  hospitality.  The 
amount  of  waste  in  all  things  is  prodigious,  in  some  instances  care- 
less ;  in  some  inevitable.  Why,  the  very  crumbs  and  scrapings  of 
finished  dishes  in  a  thousand  well-fed  families  would,  week  by  week, 
sustain  a  hundred  persons  !  This,  alas  !  cannot  be  avoided,  but  a 
wanton  or  thoughtless  waste  is  sinful.  '  Gather  up  the  fragments 
that  remain,  that  nothing  be  lost.' 

Nov.  17th.  —  Went  yesterday  to  Harrow;  accompanied  her 
Majesty.  Day  brilliant,  boys  and  people  enthusiastic,  the  whole 
successful.  This  is  good.  Royalty  had  never  shone  upon  Harrow, 
which  has  turned  out  some  good  men,  and  seems  likely,  in  God's 
providence — oh,  that  it  may  be  so — to  turn  out  some  more  !  An  early 
impression  of  respect  to  the  Sovereign  is  wholesome  ;  it  may,  in  these 
days,  become  indispensable.  Saw  dear  Francis,  and  heard  his  praises 
from  Dr.  Vaughan  and  the  tutors. 

Nov.  25th. — Poor  Melbourne  died  yesterday,  and  to-day  he  is, 
of  course,  gibbeted  in  the  limes.  This  is  '  one  of  the  new  terrors 
of  death.' 

Nov.  30th. — Charles  Buller,  poor  fellow,  has  been  carried  off  by 
typhus  fever,  following  on  an  operation,  in  the  prime  of  life.  I 
regret  his  loss.  He  was  a  much  changed  man.  His  pertness,  his 
light  and  saucy  opinions,  had  given  way  to  sobriety  and  kindness  of 
heart;    and   his  humanised   feelings    had   begun    to    ornament   and 


1848.]  BE  ATE    OF    LORD    MELBOURNE.  275 

invigorate  his  great  talents.  Had  lie  lived  he  might  have  been  (I 
speak  as  a  man)  of  real  service  in  his  generation.  But  God  is  wiser 
than  us. 

Dec.  1st. — This  day  Melbourne  consigned  to  the  grave.  Attended 
the  funeral  at  Hatfield  Church.  May  the  Lord  sanctify  the  event 
to  those  who  survive,  and  say,  with  resistless  power,  to  us  all, 
'  Watch: 


s  2 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

1849. 

Habeas  Corpus  Act  Suspended—  Distress  in  Ireland — Plans  and  Projects — 
Illness — Scheme  for  Subdivision  of  Parishes — Good  Friday — Idle  Ecclesi- 
astics— Attendance  at  Court — Capital  Punishment — A  Sorrowful  Narrative 
— Death  of  a  Son  at  Harrow — Effect  on  Lord  Ashley — Ragged  School  Emi- 
gration Scheme — A  Very  Precious  Letter — Approach  of  Cholera — Labours 
on  the  Board  of  Health — The  City  of  the  Plague — Public  Prayers — Corre- 
spondence with  Lord  John  Russell  and  Sir  George  Grey — Cholera  Statistics 
— Lord  Hardinge — Sunday  Labour  at  the  Post-Office — Collection  and  De- 
livery of  Sunday  Letters  Suspended — The  most  Unpopular  Man  in  the 
Kingdom — The  Order  prohibiting  Sunday  Labour  at  Post-Office  Rescinded. 

Although  in  the  early  part  of  1849  there  was  a  lull 
in  the  excitement  which  had  made  1S4S  so  memorable, 
there  were  forces  at  work  in  this  country  which  were  to 
create  general  alarm  and  uneasiness.  In  Ireland,  the 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was  renewed  in 
consequence  of  the  critical  state  of  affairs,  and  a  grant 
of  £ 50,U00  was  made  for  the  relief  of  Irish  distress  in 
certain  Unions,  where,  owing  to  the  severity  of  the  dis- 
tress, a  sufficient  rate  could  not  be  collected.  Referring 
to  this,  Lord  Ashley  wrote  : — 

Jan.  5th  .  .  .  Ireland  again  distressed,  and  again  to  be  re- 
lieved. All  admit  the  fact  and  the  necessity,  but  wish  to  throw  the 
necessity  on  every  shoulder  but  their  own.  Government  propose  a 
rate  in  aid,  which  may  be  questionable  as  a  principle  of  taxation,  but 
is  most  just  as  applied  specifically  to  Ireland.  Irish  proprietors  are, 
of  course,  furious,  and,  generally  speaking,  not  very  honest  in  this 
respect.     What  is  the  remedy  for  this  state  of  tilings  1     What  is  the 


1849.]  SCHEMES    OF   LABOUR.  277 

cause  of  it  ]  Is  it  the  Celtic  race  1  Yet  we  see  many  of  this  tribe  in 
other  parts  of  the  world  frugal,  industrious,  orderly  ;  much  may  be 
recorded  of  the  economy,  foresight,  and  affection  of  thousands.  Is 
it  the  religion?  Yet  I  do  not  find,  however  faulty,  superstitious, 
idolatrous,  may  be  their  belief  and  practice,  that  any  physical  inca- 
pacity is  necessarily  connected  with  it ;  in  many  heathen  nations 
there  may  be  found  much  temporal  prosperity,  and  the  Tuscan 
farmers  and  peasantry  show  by  their  high  cultivation  and  general 
comfort  that  indolence  and  barbarism  are  not  inevitably  the  con- 
sequence of  Popery.  Is  it  national  hatred  to  the  Saxon,  or  pious 
hatred  to  the  Protestant1?  or  is  it  both  combined?  But  if  so,  this 
would  appear  in  Ulster,  but  hardly  be  known  in  Connaught,  where 
Saxons  and  Protestants  are  as  rare  as  a  meat  dinner.  Is  it  mis- 
government  1  Why,  every  measure,  however  excellent,  and  by 
whomsoever  brought  in,  fails  at  once.  And  why  1  You  can  obtain  no 
agency  in  Ireland ;  no  one  is  to  be  trusted — no  public,  no  private 
functionaries  ;  all  are  of  one  complexion ;  whatever  enters  Ireland 
is  transmuted  by  the  prevailiug  atmosphere  ;  everything  acquires 
an  affinity  to  job,  and  to  job  it  all.  Whence  is  this1?  Magna  hits 
commissa,  O  England  !  and  thou  hast  not  repented  of  them.  But 
until  that  be  done,  and  we  begin  good  things  in  a  good  spirit  (here  it 
is  we  fail)  nothing  will  prosper. 

Among  the  schemes  of  labour  that  Lord  Ashley  set 
before  himself  for  the  year  was,  first,  the  stirring-up  of 
the  Board  of  Health  to  more  vigorous  efforts .  One 
hundred  and  fifty  wretched  children  had  recently  died 
of  proved  neglect,  and  "  They  will  be  the  martyrs  of  a 
cause  of  reformation,"  he  wrote.  "  Their  death  will  be 
the  signal,  and  the  compulsion,  too,  of  an  improved  and 
more  merciful  state  of  things."  Next,  a  plan  for  the 
general  Subdivision  of  all  the  larger  Parishes  for  ec- 
clesiastical purposes,  so  that  the  population  of  each 
parish  should  not  exceed  4,000,  a  plan  that  he  felt 
certain  would  effect  a  greater  amount  of  moral,  social, 


278  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIIL 

and  religious  improvement  than  a  whole  code  of  laws. 
Then,  the  completion  of  Ragged  School  projects,  espe- 
cially in  relation  to  Emigration  ;  and  finally,  "the  invi- 
tation to  the  stragglers  in  the  lanes  and  streets ;  the 
evangelical  coercion  through  the  highways  and  hedges, 
according  to  the  commands  of  our  blessed  Redeemer. 
Add  to  this  the  ordinaiy  and  existing  work,  and  there 
is  my  budget !  " 

The  spirit  was  willing,  but  the  flesh  was  weak. 
Lord  Ashley's  health  began  to  fail,  and  this  was  to  be 
one  source  of  hindrance  to  his  projects  ;  while  a  cloud, 
which  had  not  yet  arisen,  was  to  gather  and  overshadow 
him,  and  make  this  year  memorable  for  the  bitterness 
of  its  sorrow.  The  following  is  the  beginning  of  a  long 
series  of  entries  extending  through  many  years.  They 
will  only  be  referred  to  occasionally  in  the  course  of  this 
work,  but  to  ignore  them  altogether  would  be  to  detract 
from  the  heroism  which,  notwithstanding,  persisted  in 
incessant  labours. 

Jan.  30th. — "Warned  by  six  months  of  unpleasant  symptoms, 
teiTible  noises  in  my  ears,  sleeplessness  at  nights,  or  slumbers  broken 
by  strange  sensations  of  nervousness,  my  whole  body  appearing  to 
vibrate  like  a  Jew's  harp,  consulted  Dr.  Latham.  '  Rest  or  decay,' 
he  replies.  '  Over- toil,  over-anxiety,  over-sensitiveness  to  the  sub- 
jects handled  during  many  years,  have  shaken  you  in  every  part;  you 
must  be  more  moderate,  or  utterly  disabled.'  I  can  well  believe  it 
— few  can  know  ;  nay,  none  know  the  full  extent  of  my  labours,  and 
the  full  trial  of  all  my  feelings.  Thank  God,  I  am  warned  in  time, 
that  I  may,  should  it  be  His  pleasure  to  spare  me,  husband  my 
strength  for  a  few  more  years  of  service  ;  I  can  do  so  with  a  clear 
and  even  happy  conscience,  for  I  know  that  I  have  given  to  the 
public,   and  have  not   spent    on  myself,  the  best    of   my   life   aud 


1849. J  SUBDIVISION    OF   PARISHES.  279 

energies.     But  yet  I  cannot  contemplate  even  comparative  inaction 
with  joy  ;  but  God's  will  be  done  !     .      .     . 

In  his  scheme  for  the  Subdivision  of  Parishes,  Lord 
Ashley  was  threatened  in  the  first  instance  with  the 
opposition  of  Lord  John  Bussell,  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  opposed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  but  an 
interview  with  the  Archbishop  disposed  of  many  diffi- 
culties, and  Lord  John  withdrew  his  opposition.  On 
the  1st  of  March,  therefore,  the  motion  was  brought 
forward,  although  to  the  last  moment  there  were  strong 
misgivings  as  to  the  support  it  would  receive. 


March  1st. — My  misgivings  justified.  John  Russell  writes  to  me 
to-day  to  put  off  my  motion,  '  as  the  Dissenters  will  ojipose  it. 
What  shall  I  do  1  If  I  postpone  it  I  incur  many  hazards,  such  as 
ill  health,  misrepresentation,  no  opportunity  ;  if  I  urge  it,  I  avert 
the  Government.  Good  may,  by  God's  blessing,  be  brought  out  of 
evil.  J.  Russell  hints  at  a  Commission  without  a  previous  motion 
in  Parliament ;  if  so,  thank  God,  I  shall  be  spared  a  speech  ;  and 
sad,  discreditable  disclosures  of  the  wrangles  and  anomalies  of  the 
Church  will  be  avoided.  Ten  o'clock. — Just  returned  from  the  House 
— a  debate — a  division,  headed  by  Bright  and  Hume  ;  beat  them, 
God  be  praised,  by  111  to  18!  Kept  in  uncertainty  until  two 
minutes  to  five,  when  Johnny  said  he  wished  me  to  proceed.  Debate 
was  most  triumphant,  and  the  issue  all  the  better,  because  motion 
was  opposed  without  a  shadow  of  reason  by  Dissenters  !  The  truth 
is,  they  see  it  is  a  heavy  blow  and  great  discouragement  to  Dissent 
and  popular  discontent ;  they  see  that,  by  this  means,  the  Church 
can  and  will,  God  blessing  us,  recover  her  just  position  and  '  con- 
servatise '  the  kingdom. 


o 


A  Commission  was  appointed,  and  in  the  course  of  a 
week  or  two  was  working  harmoniously,  with  hearty 
zeal  and  a  desire  to  see  the  facilities  first,  and  the  diffi- 
culties afterwards. 


280  THE    EAEL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

Anything  that  would  arouse  the  clergy  to  greater 
activity,  Lord  Ashley  hailed  with  satisfaction ;  his  esti- 
mate of  their  zeal  and  of  the  religious  state  of  the  times 
is  given  in  the  meditation  entered  in  his  Diary  on  Good 
Friday  : — 

April  6th. — Good  Friday.  Tins  is  a  serious  contemplation.  Is  the 
world  better  than  the  day  that  our  blessed  Lord  died  upon  the  Cross  ] 
Are  men  individually  better  1  Is  the  world  collectively  better  ?  That 
the  externals  of  society  are  more  refined,  that  the  surface  is  smoother, 
that  more  pious  things  are  said,  and  more  pious  actions  tolerated, 
that  civilisation  has  been  advanced,  and  that  Christianity  is  the 
cause  of  it,  few  persons  will  deny.  But  how  are  the  hearts  of  men  % 
Are  they  cleaner,  less  averse  from  good,  more  given  to  God  ?  Is  the 
number  of  the  faithful  increased,  diminished,  or  stationary  ']  Are  we 
nearer  to  be  an  acceptable  people  1  Is  there,  as  yet,  any  appearance 
of  a  Harvest?  'Lord,  Thou  knowest.'  I  look  around,  myself,  and 
am  much  discouraged.  I  see  but  few  who  could  stand  a  trial,  few 
who  love  truth  and  God's  will  above  all  things,  few  who  are  not 
ready  to  find  ten  thousand  excuses  for  doing  what  they  like,  and 
rejecting  what  they  dislike.  My  experience  may  be  very  limited, 
and  I  may  form  incorrect  judgments,  but  I  trace  much  of  our  evil  to 
the  moral  condition  of  our  ecclesiastical  rulers  and  ministers.  It  is 
possible  that  they  may  be  improved  in  comparison  of  former  days ; 
they  are  wholly  insufficient  in  reference  to  the  present.  Look  to  the 
metropolis  !  Why  so  frightful  a  state  of  spiritual  destitution  1  Why 
so  many  wretched,  forsaken,  naked  vagrants  1  I  have  said  this,  and 
received  in  reply,  '  The  clergy  are  unequal  to  the  task.'  Well,  then, 
why  do  they  discountenance  and  almost  insult  (the  exceptions  are 
few  but  honourable)  those  who  toil  to  collect  the  outcasts  in  Ragged 
Schools  and  make  them  at  least  to  hear  the  name  of  Christ  1  These 
men  seem  to  think  that  of  two  evils,  it  is  the  less  for  them  to  die  in 
their  sins,  than  to  be  brought  to  knowledge  and  repentance  by  the 
co-operation  of  a  Dissenter  !  If  so,  what  was  there  worse  in  Jeru- 
salem 1  .  .  . 

Lord  Ashley's  presence  at  Court  was  very  frequent, 
and   his  Diaries   show  how   constantly  his    sympathies 


1849.]  IN   PALACES    AND    HOVELS.  281 

were  alternating  between  the  highest  and  the  lowest  in 
the  land.     A  few  extracts  may  be  given  here : — 

Feb.  8th. — Here  I  am  at  Windsor  Castle.  Carae  yesterday;  sat 
next  to  the  Queen  at  dinner ;  had  some  interesting  conversation. 
May  God,  in  His  mercy  to  the  Realm,  raise  up  for  her  some  Joseph, 
Daniel,  or  Nehemiah,  some  one  who,  in  Christ's  faith  and  fear,  shall 
rule  this  people  prudently  and  with  all  his  power  !  .  .   . 

Feb.  12th. — Newspapers  of  late  very  full  of  cases  of  cruelty  to 
children  in  schools,  in  private  houses,  on  board  ship.  They  come 
between  me  and  my  rest,  and  to  no  purpose,  for  the  evil  is  irremedi- 
able, except  by  the  grace  of  God. 

May  1st. —  Sat  in  House  of  Commons  to  vote  against  Ewart's 
motion  for  abolishing  punishment  of  death.  I  have  a  very  strong  feeling 
on  the  subject.  Tuflhell  gave  me  leave  to  be  absent  for  three-quarters 
of  an  hour  (it  being  really  necessary  that  I  should  go  and  support 
the  Lord  Mayor  in  the  Chair  of  the  Plumtree  Ragged  School),  and 
when  I  returned  the  vote  was  over.  I  am  vexed,  for  I  wished 
publicly  to  record  my  opinion  that  the  Word  of  God  does  not  permit 
but  commands  '  He  that  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood 
be  shed.'  .   .  . 

May  8th.  .  .  .  Young  Peel  came  forward  for  the  first  time, 
and  made  a  most  promising  speech  in  language,  manner,  tone,  and 
talent.  If  his  principles  and  his  heart  are  equal  to  his  abilities 
in  oratory  (judgment  being  added)  he  will  be  a  veiy  considerable 
man. 

May  10th. — To  the  Queen's  concert  last  night;  everything  as 
brilliant  and  cheerful  as  music  and  company  could  make  it ;  my- 
self rather  dismal.   .   .   . 

May  15th. — Made  a  night  visitation  to  Hoxton  Lunatic  Asylum, 
having  suspicions  of  misconduct ;  found,  I  rejoice  to  say,  things  far 
better  than  we  expected  ;  our  system,  therefore,  of  inspection,  may 
be  considered  successful,  and  our  terrors  salutary.  Ventilation  of 
apartments  very  bad.   .   .  . 

May  16th. — Last  night  chair  of  Ragged  Anniversary  in  Exeter 
Hall.  A  stupendous  meeting.  Prince  Albert  took  chair  to-day  at 
Hanover  Square  Rooms  for  Servants'  Provident  Institution.  He 
did   his  business  admirably  well,  with  good  taste,  good  feeling,  and 


252  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.       [Chap.  XVni. 

real  ability.  But,  to  be  sure,  if  he  liked  flattery  he  had  full  measure 
of  it,  and  of  the  strongest  quality — pare  rectified  spirits  ! 

Moved  a  resolution,  as  I  was  desired,  though  hoarse  with  roaring 
yesterday  to  four  thousand  people.  Thank  God  that  the  Prince  is 
what  he  is,  and  the  Queen  too,  with  a  moral  Court,  domestic 
virtues,  and  some  public  activity  in  philanthropic  things ! 

May  19th.  .  .  .  Seven  o'clock.  Just  heard  that  some  one  has 
fired  at  the  Queen  !  She  is  safe.  God  be  a  million  times  praised  for 
His  mercy  to  her  and  to  the  country  !  The  profligate  George  IV. 
passed  through  a  life  of  selfishness  and  sin  without  a  single  proved 
attempt  to  take  it.  This  mild  and  virtuous  young  woman  has,  four 
times  already,  been  exposed  to  imminent  peril ! 

It  was  late  in  the  evening  of  this  day  that  Lord 
Ashley  received  a  letter  from  Harrow  which  filled  him 
with  the  greatest  alarm  and  anxiety.  It  was  to  announce 
the  serious  illness  of  his  second  son,  Francis.  He  had 
been  at  Harrow  since  April,  1847,  where  he  had  taken 
and  kept  a  distinguished  place  in  the  school,  and,  at  the 
time  of  which  we  write,  was  in  the  sixth  (highest) 
form.  He  was  a  singularly  striking  character;  old  and 
thoughtful  for  his  years,  deeply  religious,  and  pure  in 
heart  and  habit.  The  illness  with  which  he  was  seized 
was  a  severe  attack  of  cold  and  inflammation,  and  the 
remedy  then  applied  was  one  which  would  not  now  be 
even  thought  of — such  has  been  the  rapid  advance  of 
medical  science — repeated  bleedings. 

The  sorrowful  narrative  that  follows,  must  be  told 
only  in  the  words  of  his  father,  and  should  it  be  thought 
that  the  incidents  are  too  sacred  for  the  public  eye,  it 
may  be  stated  that  Lord  Shaftesbury  had  often  been 
urged  to  preserve  them  in  the  form  of  a  short  biogra- 
phy, but  was  withheld  from  doing  so,  as  he  would  have 


1849.]  ILLNESS    OF   HIS    SON   FRANCIS.  283 

been  obliged  to  sslj  things  which  would  relate  to  himself, 
and  his  motive  might  possibly  have  been  misconstrued. 
Almost  the  last  evening  that  the  writer  was  permitted 
to  spend  with  Lord  Shaftesbury,  was  occupied  in  hear- 
ing the  narrative  of  the  incidents  which  follow,  and 
it  was  his  earnest  wish  that  they  should  be  recorded. 
"  It  may  be,  nay,  I  feel  sure  it  will  be,  useful  to  others 
— let  it  be  told,"  were  his  last  instructions  that  even- 
ing, as  he  wiped  away  the  tears  that  had  been  flowing 
freely. 

May  21st.— Dearest  Francis  no  better.  .  .  .  Saw  him  after  he 
had  slept :  very  feverish,  thirsty ;  but  calm,  composed,  and  cheer- 
ful. Blessed  be  God,  he  is  easy  and  peaceful  !  Asked  me  soon 
after  my  arrival  to  read  the  Bible.  Did  it  joyfully.  Bead  the 
seventh  of  Bevelation  for  the  glories  and  bliss  of  the  other  world,  and 
the  twenty-fourth  of  Matthew  for  the  present  duties  and  occupations 
of  this.  Frepared  thus  for  either  alternative  of  God's  will.  Then 
we  prayed,  and  were,  I  think,  comforted.  What  a  darling,  tender, 
true,  zealous,  and  God-serving  boy  it  is  !  Oh,  that  he  may  be  spared 
to  us,  not  for  our  solace  and  enjoyment  only,  but  for  the  Lord's 
faith  and  fear  !  How  often  have  I  meditated  on  his  future  aid  and 
sympathy  in  all  my  thoughts  and  pursuits  for  the  good  of  mankind. 
But  I  must  imitate  the  example  of  our  dear  Lord,  and  say,  '  If  it  be 
possible  :  nevertheless,  not  my  will,  but  Thine  be  done  ! '  .   .  . 

May  22nd.  .  .  .  He  knows  his  danger,  but  he  knows  also  his 
hope.  Never  have  I  seen  such  a  boy  ;  though  so  young,  and  as  the 
world  goes,  so  innocent,  he  is  filled  with  a  sense  of  sin  and  un- 
worthiness ;  and  his  only  fears  are  those  which  spring  from  a  senti- 
ment that  '  the  joys  of  heaven  are  too  glorious  for  one  like  him'  Oh, 
what  a  mercy  it  is,  and  what  a  consolation  to  us,  that  he  is  as  far 
from  self- righteousness  as  the  east  is  from  the  west  !  Never  have  I 
known  till  now  what  I  am  possibly  to  lose  !  '  Bead  to  me,'  he  said, 
'about  forgiveness  of  sins.'  We  then  read  and  talked  much  of  the 
free  and  full  mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.    Above  all,  I  urged  him, 


284  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.       [Chap.  XVIIL 

as  a  calmer  to  every  apprehension,  to  bear  ever  in  mind  that  '  God  is 
Love,'  that  human  love  is  capable  of  great  things  ;  what,  then,  must 
be  the  depth  and  height  and  intensity  of  Divine  love  !  '  Know 
nothing,'  we  said,  '  think  of  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified.'  The  darling  boy  kissed  me  repeatedly,  and  blessed  his 
parents  that  they  had  brought  him  up  in  the  faith  and  fear  of  the 
Lord.  Oh,  blessed  Saviour,  this  is  a  wondrous  work  of  Thine  ;  it  is 
the  humbleness,  the  resignation,  the  piety,  the  experience  of  an  aged 
Christian. 

May  25th. — Yesterday  left  dear  Francis  with  great  hopes  of 
recovery.  His  mother  stays  with  him.  The  disorder  has  been 
dreadful ;  not  an  ordinary  attack  of  fever,  a  positive  conflagration. 

May  28th. — Harrow.  Yesterday  (Sunday)  a  clay  of  fearful  and 
agonising  anxiety  ;  a  better  account  to-day,  and  various  symptoms 
of  permanent  improvement.  Sat  with  him,  read  the  Bible  and 
prayed ;  he  desired  specially  some  prayers  of  thanksgiving.  '  Do  you 
meditate,  can  you  meditate,'  I  said,  '  my  dear  boy,  as  you  lie  here1?' 
'  Oh,  yes,'  he  replied;  'but  I  have  learned  what  a  futile  thing  must 
be  a  death-bed  repentance.  I  feel  that  I  have  been  reconciled  to  God, 
but  what  could  I  have  done,  when  lying  on  this  bed,  to  make  my 
peace  with  Him,  had  I  not  before  been  brought  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  Truth  ! '  We  prayed  earnestly  that,  if  he  were  raised  up,  it 
might  be,  by  Divine  Grace,  to  service  in  this  world  and  salvation  in 
the  next  ! 

Yesterday  attended  school  chapel,  and  took  Sacrament  ;  120 
boys  are  communicants  !  Can  this  be  without  its  fruits  1  Blessed 
Lord,  water  it  by  Thy  Spirit  !  Why,  in  my  day,  not  only  no  boys 
(and  there  were  many  of  seventeen  and  eighteen)  took  the  Lord's 
Supper ;  but  no  one  dreamed  of  it.  Surely  a  true  and  well-earned 
consolation  to  Dr.  Yaughan. 

June  1st. — Yesterday,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  it  pleased 
Almighty  God  to  take  our  blessed  Francis.  It  was  the  work  of  a 
moment ;  and  we  were  like  amazed  persons,  so  great  had  been  the 
promise,  not  many  seconds  before,  of  returning  strength  and  vivacity. 
Yet  we  must  not  murmur  or  repine,  for  all  is  wisdom,  and  mercy, 
and  love,  that  cometh  from  Him.  The  child,  we  doubt  not,  is  with 
Christ,  which  is  far  better. 

June  2nd.- — The  loss  to  us  is  irreparable ;  if  we  regard  it  only  in 
reference  to  ourselves,  we  can  neither  describe  nor  appreciate  the 


1849.]  DEATH   OF   HIS    SON   FRANCIS.  285 

calamity.  What  happiness  had  we  not  promised  our  declining  years, 
from  his  respect,  his  love,  his  sympathy,  his  piety  !  No  pen,  no 
tongue,  can  set  forth  the  charms  and  perfections  of  that  blessed  hoy. 
But  this  is  a  small  fraction  of  the  view.  We  must  look  at  him 
as  emancipated  from  sin  and  danger,  as  received  into  the  embrace  of 
his  precious  Lord  and  Saviour,  as  a  dear  spirit  in  the  realms  of  bliss. 
Is  it  not  that  the  fruit  was  ripe,  and  that  God,  in  His  mercy,  plucked 
it  before  it  rotted  on  the  tree  1  Yet  every  day  and  every  hour 
bring  his  memory  to  our  thoughts — the  books — the  chair,  the  things 
we  so  often  talked  about.  .   .  . 

I  must  gather  up  all  that  he  said  :  I  cannot  let  any  of  his  words 
fall  to  the  ground.  During  his  suffering  he  had  a  dream.  '  I  have 
had  a  dream,'  said  he  to  Mrs.  Gay  (the  housekeeper,  that  dear,  and 
kind,  and  religious  woman,  who  nursed  him).  '  I  dreamed  that  I 
was  very  ill,  and  that  I  died,  and  was  buried  at  Harrow.'  '  Did  he 
seem  disturbed  by  it  1 '  I  asked.  '  Not  in  the  least ;  he  took  it  with 
the  utmost  composure.'  Blessed  be  God,  his  heart  was  proof  against 
fear  ;  he  had  said  in  the  early  part  of  his  illness,  '  Mamma,  I  fear 
that  I  shall  be  numbered  among  the  fearful ; '  but  God  was  pleased 
to  reveal  Himself  more  clearly,  and,  as  '  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear,' 
so  was  it  with  his  dear  soul. 

June  3rd. — Sunday.  Sweet  darling,  he  was  unselfish  to  a  sin 
gular  degree.  '  Oh,  mamma,'  said  the  blessed  boy,  '  I  am  so  ashamed 
of  myself,  that  through  my  incaution  and  neglect  I  have  exposed 
you  to  this  heavy  expense.'  Thus  the  dear  child,  instead  of  dwelling 
on  his  own  rightful  comforts  and  remedies,  was  thinking  only  of 
our  pecuniary  inconvenience. 

On  Tuesday,  after  he  had  first  learned  his  extreme  danger  from 
the  medical  attendants,  he  said  to  me,  '  Is  it  so  1 '  I  replied  '  that 
it  was.'  He  then  called  me,  saying,  '  Come  near  to  me,  dear  papa.' 
I  went  and  knelt  down  by  his  bedside ;  he  threw  his  blessed  arms 
round  my  neck,  and  kissed  me  for  a  very  long  time,  and  then  said, 
'  I  want  to  thank  you,  dearest  papa,  for  having  brought  me  up  as 
you  have  done,  for  having  brought  me  up  religiously.  I  now 
feel  all  the  comfort  of  it;  it  is  to  you  I  owe  my  salvation.'  'No, 
dearest  boy,'  I  replied,  'it  is  to  the  grace  of  God.'  'Yes,  it  is  true,' 
he  said,  '  but  you  were  made  the  instrument  of  it.'  Is  there  not 
consolation,  almost  divine,  in  these  precious  sentences]  His 
voice  and  manner  throughout  his  whole  illness  were,  so  to  speak, 


286  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

sublime  ;  he  retained  his  infantile  simplicity,  and  yet  he  was  above 
himself.  His  heart  was  unlocked,  and  all  its  treasures  displayed. 
Two  or  three  times  his  dear  mother  said  to  me,  '  This  boy  will 
never  recover — his  state  of  preparation  is  such  that  God  will  take 
him  ;  he  cannot  return  to  the  world.'  He  seemed  to  have  no  desire 
for  it ;  he  began,  no  doubt,  after  the  promises  of  amendment  in  his 
health,  to  form  little  plans  of  happiness,  but  they  were  as  pure  and 
simple  as  himself.  '  I  shall  be  so  happy  when  I  am  at  borne,  and 
under  your  care,  dearest  mamma ;  and  I  shall  see  all  the  dear  child- 
ren, and  then,  too,  I  shall  be  of  such  use  to  papa.'  Blessed,  ever 
blessed  boy,  he  was  thinking  of  my  letters  and  Ragged  Schools. 
Was  he  not,  indeed,  of  use  to  me  1  How  many  delightful,  useful 
hours  have  I  passed  in  his  dear  society ;  he  was  my  companion,  my 
coadjutor,  nay,  half  my  very  soul ;  the  precious  boy  helped  me  more 
than  thousands  of  wealthy,  idle,  powerful  adults. 

June  4th. — On  that  awful  Tuesday,  after  we  had  read  and  prayed 
together,  the  dear  boy  said,  '  Dear  papa,  give  me  your  blessing.'  I 
might  have  replied,  like  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  said,  '  I  have  need 
....  of  thee,  and  comest  thou  to  me  1 '  but  he  asked  it,  and  from 
my  soul  I  gave  it.  '  If  prayers  will  avail  you,'  I  said,  '  you  will 
have  the  prayers  of  hundreds  of  ragged  children.'  He  seemed  greatly 
pleased  with  the  thought,  and  his  face,  as  his  mother  now  remem- 
bers, quite  brightened  up.  When  he  spoke  of  his  recovery,  which, 
in  his  improved  state,  seemed  likely,  his  rejoicing  was  of  the  same 
simple,  modest,  unselfish  character,  all  bearing  on  the  exercise  of  the 
domestic  virtues  which  are  akin  to  religion. 

Saw  Hewlett,  who  told  me,  more  in  detail,  about  his  announce- 
ment to  Francis  of  his  state  of  danger.  The  darling  child,  having 
ascertained  it  by  inquiry  from  him,  '  received  the  answer,'  says 
Hewlett,  '  with  a  smile  on  his  countenance,  and  simply  added, 
"  Whatever  is  God's  will  is  enough  for  me."  '  This  alone  would 
have  been  a  real  and  deep  consolation ;  but,  by  God's  mercy,  it  is 
only  one  of  many  such  sentences. 

June  5th. — '  What  I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt 
know  hereafter.'  Yet  I  can  see,  even  at  present,  many  reasons,  and 
we,  as  God's  creatures,  must  receive  them  as  all-convincing.  His 
death  may  be  the  instrumental  cause  of  seriousness  and  renova- 
tion to  many,  especially  of  his  schoolfellows ;  it  may  strike  an 
indelible   impression  on  those  of  his  family  who  survive ;  it  may 


1849.]  FUNERAL    OF   HIS    SON   FRANCIS.  287 

exhibit  a  beautiful  specimen  of  early  fitness,  and  remain  as  a  monu- 
ment of  Divine  Grace  !  It  may  chastise  me,  and  yet  so  mildly,  that 
while  I  bow  the  head  in  submission  I  am  not  prostrated  by  the  blow. 
Oh  !  what  a  strange  chastisement !  My  own  clear,  precious,  darling 
son  is  taken  to  everlasting  glory,  to  the  end  and  object  of  all  my 
labours  and  my  prayers !  and  this  is  the  Lord's  mode  of  afflicting 
His  people  !     . 

How  marvellous  the  influence  of  this  dear,  departed  boy  ;  how 
fragrant  his  name  !  The  school  is  subdued  by  sorrow ;  and  tears  of 
affection  and  words  of  admiration  flow  from  every  one.  The  boys 
and  the  masters  vie  in  language  of  respect  and  love.  He  bore 
his  honours  so  meekly,  and  ascribed  everything  to  any  source  but 
his  own  merits.  '  Well,'  he  said,  when  he  heard  of  the  numberless 
inquiries  being  made  concerning  him,  '  if  I  cared  about  being 
made  a  fuss  with,  all  Harrow  is  coming  after  me  ! '  Then  he 
assigned  it,  not  to  his  own  deserts,  but  to  mine.  '  It  is,  I  am 
sure,  dearest  papa,  because  I  am  your  son.'  Blessed,  simple- 
hearted  boy,  he  saw  and  valued  every  one  but  himself ' 

June  7th. — Francis  is  dead  and  buried.  It  is  difficult  to  realise 
the  truth,  but  so  it  is.  We  attended  yesterday  his  funeral,  which 
accomplished  his  dream  that  he  should  be  interred  at  Harrow. 
Minny  and  I  greatly  rejoice  that  we  surrendered  our  feelings  of 
nature  that  his  dear  remains  should  lie,  where,  in  the  course  of 
things,  God  willing,  we  should  pass  many  of  our  days  and  perform 
many  acts  of  worship,  at  St.  Giles's  in  Dorsetshire.  We  consigned 
him  to  the  churchyard  of  the  school  which  he  had  so  loved  and 
adorned,  and  where  he  needed  not  preachers,  or  poets,  or  the  tongue 
of  friendship,  or  love,  to  make  known  his  admirable  virtues.  He 
was  buried  in  the  presence  of  all  his  schoolfellows  and  their  several 
masters  ;  and  though  sermons  and  speeches  may  and  will  be  blessed  to 
enforce  his  example  on  those  who  survive,  no  one  yesterday,  among 
many  hundreds,  required  the  word  to  say  who  or  what  he  was.  '  The 
evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them,  the  good  is  oft  interred  with  their 
bones.'  Not  so  with  him ;  the  record  of  his  name  will  long  be 
fragrant ;  and  I  trust,  nay,  believe  (for  God  will  give  us  this 
consolation  over  and  above  the  other),  that  the  monument  of  stone 
will  also  present  him  to  many  hearts  as  a  monument  of  Divine 
Grace.  .  .  . 

June  12th. — They  ask  me  to  write  a  short  memoir  of  my  darling 


288  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

boy.  '  It  will  be  useful,'  they  say,  '  to  many,  and  specially  to  other 
boys.'  If  I  do  so,  I  must  record  things  in  praise,  as  it  were,  of 
myself. 

Harrow  churchyard  is  classic  ground,  to  which  not 
old  Harrovians  alone  are  wont  to  go  on  pilgrimage. 
Many  are  the  visitors,  even  from  beyond  the  Atlantic, 
who,  after  feasting  their  eyes  on  the  glorious  panorama 
commanded  by  the  fine  elevation,  seek  out  the  modest 
grave  marked  by  the  following  inscription  : — 

TO    THE    MEMORY    OF    THE 

IioXjsle.    ANTONY    FRANCIS    HENRY    ASHLEY, 

the  second  sox  of  loud  and  lady  ashley, 

who  was  horn   13th  march,  1833, 

and    died    at    harrow    school    31st    may,    1849. 

to    those   who    did    not    know    him    a    statement    op 

his    many    excellencies    would   appear   to    he    exaggerated. 

for  those  who  did  know  him,  no  more 

is  required  than  the  simple  record  of  his  name. 

but  his  father  and  mother.  who  haye  erected  this  stone, 

must  say  something  more. 

though  so  blameless  in  life  that  he  was  without  fault 

in  the  eyes  of  his  parents  and  associates, 

he  trusted  not  to  any  yain  hope  in  his  own  works  and  deservings. 

pressed  by  the  deep  conyiction  of  indwelling  sin, 

he  only  sought  forgiveness  in  the  free  love  and  mercy  of  god 

through  the  atonement  of  a  crucified  saviour, 

and  thus  left  an  example  to  all  you 

who  shall  remember  his  life  ok  read  this  epitaph, 

that  even  the  very  earliest  youth 

.may  exhibit  the  triumphs  of  divine  grace. 

"is  it  well  with  the  child?'' 

"it  is  well." — 2  Kings  iv.  2(j. 

They  were  sad  and  solemn  days,  those  thirteen 
days  when  his  son  lay  on  his  bed  of  sickness ;  and  sad 
and  solemn  were  the  days  that  followed.     Were  it  not 


1819.]  A    TERlilBLE  SHOCK.  289 

that  we  want  to  see  every  aspect  of  the  life  of  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  we  should  have  hesitated  to  have  intruded 
even  thus  far  into  scenes  so  private.  But  it  opens  up  a 
beautiful  page  in  a  man's  life,  when  it  can  be  seen  that 
there  was,  between  himself  and  his  children,  such  abso- 
lute confidence  and  affection,  that  they  could  speak  un- 
reservedly together  on  the  subject  of  personal  religion. 
It  sheds  a  lustre  over  every  public  effort  for  the  good  of 
others,  when  it  is  known  that  this  was  but  an  extended 
phase  of  the  work  that  had  been  going  on  in  his  own 
home. 

Lord  Ashley's  nervous  and  sensitive  organism 
suffered  much  from  the  shock  of  this  event ;  and 
months  after  (October  11)  he  writes: — 

1  The  thing  that  I  greatly  feared  is  come  upon  me  ; '  and  remark- 
able it  is  that  the  very  effect  I  ever  anticipated  from  such  an  event 
as  the  death  of  one  of  my  children,  has  been  produced.  It  has  left 
me  equal  to  business,  with  life  and  energy  and  sympathy  with  im- 
portant interests  as  warm  as  ever ;  but  it  has  thrown  an  alloy  into 
all  enjoyment.  Pleasures  the  most  innocent  are  qualified  by  it,  and 
nothing  has  its  former  flavour.  Two  objects  are  constantly  by  clay 
and  by  night  before  my  eyes  :  I  see  him  dying,  and  I  see  his  cofhn 
at  the  bottom  of  the  grave.  They  alternate  the  one  with  the  other ; 
and  the  flesh,  do  what  I  will,  predominates.  Then  come  to  my  relief 
his  dear  and  precious  words,  that  God's  mercy  sent  for  my  consola- 
tion. The  pain  ceases,  and  then  begins  anew.  I  am  grown  much 
more  nervous  and  apprehensive.  Every  trifle,  if  it  be  sudden,  makes 
me  expect  some  sad  intelligence — a  knock  at  the  door,  a  footstep,  a 
letter,  an  unusual  expression  of  countenance.  The  truth  is,  that  the 
shock  I  experienced  on  being  summoned  in  a  moment  to  attend  his 
death-bed — having  left  him  not  half  an  hour  in,  as  we  all  believed, 
returning  vigour — was  far  deeper  than  was  then  felt.  It  was  a  blow 
of  which  the  internal  mischiefs  were  not  exhibited  when  it  was. 
struck. 

t 


290  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

For  many  months,  there  is  scarcely  a  page  of  the 
diary  that  does  not  record  the  name  of  "  my  blessed 
Francis."  His  portrait,  ever  after  his  death,  was  on 
the  mantelpiece  in  the  study  at  St.  Giles's  ;  and  thirty- 
six  years  later  than  the  time  of  which  we  write,  Lord 
Shaftesbury  declared  his  belief  that  not  one  day  had 
passed  without  some  conscious  memory  of  his  beloved 
son. 

Although  it  was  the  first  time  that  death  had 
entered  in  the  family,  and  Lord  Ashley  felt  stunned  by 
the  blow,  he  did  not  "  sorrow  as  those  who  have  no 
hope."  Within  a  week  of  the  funeral  we  find  him  busy 
on  the  Commission  for  the  Subdivision  of  Parishes,  and 
busier  still  in  Bagged  School  work,  for  a  new  motive 
was  now  added. 

Work  of  the  '  Ragged  '  kind  recalls  his  image  so  vividly,  and  his 
dear  words  of  sympathy  and  approval,  how  conld  I  please  him  more 
were  he  alive,  or  more,  if  he  be  cognisant  of  what  is  passing,  than 
by  endeavouring  to  please  God  in  seeking  the  welfare  of  those  forlorn 
lambs  of  our  Master  1 

There  were  two  things  for  Lord  Ashley  to  accom- 
plish without  delay — the  prosecution  of  the  Ragged 
Schools  Emigration  scheme,  and  the  Bill  for  the  Public 
Health  Provisional  Orders. 

On  July  the  24th  he  again  brought  forward  in  the 
House  of  Commons  his  motion  for  an  annual  grant  of 
money  to  be  provided  for  the  emigration  of  a  certain 
number  of  Bagged  School  children  of  the  metropolis 
to  the  Colonies.  He  brought  it  forward  at  that  late 
period  of  the   Session  because  it  was   the  only   oppor- 


1849.]  EMIGRATION  OF  RAGGED  SCHOLARS.  291 

tunity  lie  had,  and  because  lie  was  anxious  to  show  the 
House  to  what  profitable  uses  the  £1,500  he  had  ob- 
tained last  Session  had  been  applied ;  and  also,  because 
he  was  anxious  to  excite  some  interest,  and,  perhaps, 
discussion,  on  the  preventive,  as  contrasted  with  the 
reformatory,  system. 

By  a  system  of  emigration,  as  a  reward  of  merit  to  a 
certain  number  of  children  rescued,  by  the  training  re- 
ceived in  Eagged  Schools,  from  ignorance  and  destitution, 
a  double  advantage  would  be  gained.  Not  only  would 
those  who  actually  emigrated  be  benefited,  but  those 
who  remained  would  be  incited  to  join  the  schools,  and 
to  persevere  in  a  course  of  good  conduct,  in  order  to 
qualify  themselves  for  the  reward  held  out.  There  could 
be  no  doubt  that  emigration  was  preferable  to  employ- 
ment at  home  ;  it  abated  the  terrible  competition  of  the 
day,  it  removed  the  young  people  far  from  their  former 
haunts  and  temptations,  and  it  relieved  them  from  the 
infliction  of  excessive  labour. 

The  conditions  it  was  proposed  to  require  from  every 
candidate  for  emigration,  were — sound  health,  regular 
attendance  for  at  least  six  months  in  a  Ragged  School, 
the  ability  to  write  a  sentence  from  dictation,  to  work 
the  four  simple  rules  of  arithmetic,  to  read  fluently,  to 
repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Ten  Commandments, 
showing  a  comprehension  of  their  meaning,  and  to 
answer  a  few  easy  questions  on  the  life  of  the  Saviour 
To  these  was  to  be  added,  a  certificate  of  regular  at- 
tendance in  some  industrial  class  for  at  least  four 
months,  or  a  competent  knowledge  of  some  handicraft, 

1/       iQ 


292  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

or  practical  occupation,  which  would  serve  as  an  equiva- 
lent for  such  industrial  training. 

If  anything  could  have  stimulated  the  Government 
to  action  in  this  matter,  it  should  have  been  the  manner 
in  which  the  £1,500  granted  in  the  previous  Session 
had  been  expended,  the  amount  of  good  it  had  already 
done,  and  the  permanent  good  it  seemed  likely  to 
effect.  Letters  were  read  from  the  boys  who  had  been 
sent  out  to  Australia — touching  letters,  full  of  gratitude 
and  hope,  and,  in  concluding  his  speech,  Lord  Ashley 
said  : — 

And  now,  Sir,  revile  the  system  and  criticise  it  as  they  may, 
these  Ragged  Schools  have  been,  and  are,  the  sole  means  whereby 
religious  and  secular  knowledge  is  imparted  to  the  thousands  of 
a  race  sunk,  whole  fathoms  deep,  in  destitution  and  suffering. 
You  vote  £100,000  a  year  for  the  purposes  of  education.  You 
might,  as  far  as  these  miserables  are  concerned,  vote  one  hundred 
pence  ;  they  cannot  receive  any  portion  of  your  bounty  ■  they  cannot 
be  accommodated  to  the  system  of  your  National  and  Borough 
Road  Schools.  What  other  means  exist1?  We  have  now  82 
schools,  full  8,000  children,  124  paid  and  929  voluntary  teachers,  of 
whose  services  I  cannot  speak  with  adequate  gratitude  and  respect. 
In  weariness  and  painfulness,  and  with  every  form  of  self-denial, 
they  surrender  themselves,  body  and  soul,  to  this  noble  cause,  hoping 
to  excite  in  others  a  kindred  sympathy.  But  they  are  not  successful. 
The  sympathy  with  the  cause  is  lamentably  small,  and  especially 
from  those  who  should  be  the  very  first  in  every  work  of  charity  and 
religion.  ...  It  is,  then,  to  the  House  of  Commons  that  we  direct 
our  attention,  in  the  hope  that  the  Legislature  will  take  up  the  duty 
that  individuals  seem  to  reject.  I  can  hardly  appeal  to  your  feelings, 
because  you  appear  to  me  to  lie  under  an  obligation  to  consider  the 
case  of  these  desperate  sufferers.  '  Their  enemies  drive  them  into 
the  sea,  and  the  sea  throws  them  back  upon  their  enemies ; '  and  yet 
they  are  immortal  spirits,  as  precious,  body  and  soul,  in  the  sight  of 
God,  as  the  very  best  among  us  in  this  august  assembly.      I  commit, 


1849. J  A    VERY   PRECIOUS    LETTER.  293 

therefore,  the  issue  to  the  representatives  of  the  kingdom,  believing 
that  thejr  will  not  gainsay  by  their  actions  what  so  many  of  them 
profess  with  their  lips,  when  they  pray  '  that  it  may  please  God  to 
defend  and  provide  for,  the  fatherless  children,  and  all  that  are 
desolate  and  oppressed.' 

In  the  discussion  which  followed,  several  speakers, 
especially  Sir  George  Grey  and  Mr.  Page  Wood,  took 
hold  of  minor  points,  and  misrepresented  the  views  and 
statements  of  Lord  Ashley ;  and  in  the  end,  as  it  was 
evident  there  was  a  strong  feeling  in  the  House  against 
his  proposition,  he  felt  it  would  be  indecorous  in  him  to 
press  it  to  a  division,  and  the  motion  was  therefore 
withdrawn.  The  country  was  not  ripe  for  the  effort ; 
no  second  grant  was  made,  and  henceforth  the  Emigra- 
tion scheme,  as  regarded  Ragged  Schools,  had  to  be 
carried  on  from  private  sources. 

But  the  ventilation  of  the  subject  in  the  public 
press,  gave  an  impetus  to  Ragged  School  work  gene- 
rally. The  subject  became  popular ;  and  the  fact  that 
the  Government  would  not  take  up  the  matter,  made 
the  flow  of  contributions  from  voluntary  sources  more 
abundant  than  ever. 

The  strong  personal  interest  that  Lord  Ashley  took 
in  individuals  on  whose  behalf  he  laboured  can  never 
be  adequately  told.  An  illustration  only  can  now  and 
again  be  given.  For  example,  a  letter,  written  in  1849, 
was  found,  thirty-six  years  after  its  date — that  is  to 
say,  shortly  after  his  death — in  the  box  which  he  al- 
ways carried  about  with  him,  as  containing  the  things 
he  most  valued.  It  is  written  in  a  cramped,  ill-formed 
hand,  and  is   addressed  :    "  Lord  Ashley,   Exeter  Hall, 


294  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

Westminster,  London."     On  the  cover  Lord  Shaftesbury 
had  written:  "  Very  precious  to  me,  this  letter. — S." 
It  ran  as  follows  : — 

Port  Adelaide  South  Australia. 

October  8th,  '49. 

Most  Noble  Lord, — 1  Arived  at  port  Adelade  on  the  25th 
March  after  a  very  plesant  passage  and  am  now  in  a  very  com- 
fortable situtation  and  with  very  pious  people.  I  like  Australia 
very  well  but  the  Weather  is  so  very  hot  in  the  summer  it  is  now  6 
mounths  since  I  arived  here  and  have  need  to  thank  you  for  your 
kindness  in  sending  me  out.  I  think  with  persevience  I  shall  do 
much  Better  here  than  in  England.  I  do  not  think  I  shall  ever 
forget  the  good  Advice  i  recived  at  palace  yard  Ragged  School  and 
senserily  thank  them  all  for  there  kindness. 

Please  to  except  the  poor  thanks  of  your  obliged  and  thankful 

servant 

Caroline  Walker. 

On  the  back  of  the  letter,  written,  evidently  many 
years  later,  although  there  is  no  date  affixed,  is  the 
following  : — "  She  went  into  service,  behaved  so  well 
that  her  master  gave  her  in  marriage  to  his  son. 
She  became  a  considerable  person  in  Australia,  and 
afterwards  went  to  India.  Where  is  she  now?  God 
be  for  ever  with  this  Eagged  School  girl ! — S." 

Throughout  the  year — in  fact,  from  October,  in 
1848 — the  country  had  been  in  a  state  of  growing 
alarm  on  account  of  the  outbreaks  of  cholera ;  and  Lord 
Ashley,  as  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Health,  was  in- 
volved in  the  most  harassing  and  unceasing  labours.  In 
the  early  part  of  the  year  as  we  have  said,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  children  perished  by  the  pestilence  in  an 
establishment  at  Tooting,  for  the  "  care  of  the  Infant 


1849.]  OUTBREAK   OF    CHOLERA.  295 

Poor,"  and  it  was  found  that  they  were  attacked  when 
suffering  from  insufficient  food,  defective  clothing,  and 
impure  air.  Investigations  into  further  outbreaks,  at 
different  times  and  places,  proved  conclusively,  that 
"  wherever  neglect,  wherever  depression,  or  vice,  or 
poverty,  pressed  down  the  population,  there  the  pes- 
tilence raged  with  its  retributive  and  warning  arm ; 
the  sins  of  omission  and  commission  were  revisited 
on  the  lives  of  those  who  perpetrated  or  permitted 
them."  It  was  found  that  foul  drains,  overflowing 
cesspools,  fetid  waters,  overcrowded  lodging-houses, 
damp  cellars,  and  ill-ventilated  rooms,  attracted  the 
pestilence,  which  then  spread  to  the  houses  of  the 
better  classes,  and  to  the  mansions  of  the  rich. 

As  the  summer  advanced  the  pestilence  grew  in 
virulence  ;  but  while  everybody,  who  could  do  so,  was 
running  away  from  London  as  fast  as  possible,  Lord 
Ashley,  with  his  indefatigable  colleagues  Dr.  Southwood 
Smith  and  Mr.  Edwin  Chadwick,  was  working  night 
and  day  in  the  very  midst  of  the  plague.  Reviled  by 
the  newspapers,  resisted  by  Boards  of  Guardians, 
hampered  by  red-tape,  he  persevered  in  his  labours  ; 
and,  be  it  remembered,  that  it  was  entirely  unpaid 
service,  which  he  rendered  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
difficult  and  dangerous  time  of  the  existence  of  the 
Board  of  Health. 

September  7th. — Labour  and  anxiety  at  Board  of  Health  very 
great.  We  are  now  in  the  City  of  the  Plague,  and  still  by  God's 
love  under  His  shield  and  buckler.  He  hears  our  prayers,  and 
defends  against  the  'Pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness.'      Disorder 


296  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  X VIII. 

increasing ;  close  of  last  week  showed  a  mortality  trebling  the 
average  of  London;  1,881  victims  of  this  awful  scourge!  Yester- 
day showed,  for  the  metropolis  alone,  a  return  of  345  in  one  clay. 

0  God,  Thou  art  terrible  and  yet  just  in  Thy  decrees. 

September  9th. — London  is  emptied.  Cholera  worse  than  ever; 
returns  of  yesterday  quite  appalling,  and  yet  manifest  that  we  do 
not  receive  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  truth.  Have  been  mer- 
cifully preserved  through  this  pestilence.  Have  not,  I  thank  God, 
shrunk  from  one  hour  of  duty  in  the  midst  of  this  City  of  the 
Plague,  and  yet  it  has  not  approached  either  me  or  n»y  dwelling. 

September  1 7th. — Times  of  this  morning  contains  an  extract 
from  the  Observer  which  is  gratifying.  The  Board  of  Health  may 
hope  little,  and  perhaps  desire  little,  for  the  applause  of  men ;  but 

1  do  much  deplore  that  our  anxieties  and  labours  should  be  thrown 
away,  and  we  be  told  that  we  have  done  nothing,  attempted  nothing, 
imagined  nothing,  wished  nothing.  Our  diligence  and  zeal  are  men- 
tioned in  the  article ;  yet  it  is  less  than  justice.  We  have  indeed 
toiled  unceasingly,  and  not  as  mere  officials,  but  with  earnestness 
and  feeling.  Chadwick  and  Smith  are  men  who  may  feel,  but  who 
know  not  fatigue  or  satiety  in  business,  when  necessity  urges,  or 
duty  calls.  As  for  the  staff  of  the  Board,  miserably  paid  as  they 
are,  with  scanty  hopes  of  preferment,  or  even  of  continued  employ- 
ment, I  am  unable  to  speak  with  adequate  praise.  They  have 
laboured  even  to  sickness,  and  when  struck  down  by  the  disease, 
have  hastened  back  to  their  work,  not  for  emolument  (for  they 
receive  fixed  salaries),  but  for  conscience  sake.  And  such  are  the 
men  whose  scanty  recompense  certain  gentry  would  reduce  by  10  per 
cent.     Out  upon  this  disgusting  economy  ! 

The  one  great  cause  of  surprise  and  anxiety  to  Lord 
Ashley  throughout  this  perilous  time  was,  that  although 
the  disease  was  spreading,  and  terrible  alarm  was  preva- 
lent, there  was  no  apparent  turning  to  prayer.  Not  an 
ecclesiastic  attempted  to  stir  the  Government  to  direct 
public  supplication.  In  vain  he  wrote  to  the  Archbishop 
and  the  Bishop  of  London,  and   he  says,  "  Surely  it  is 


1849.]  CHOLERA    AND    PllAYEll.  297 

prodigious  that  the  laity  should  always  take  the  lead  in 
these  things.  The  world  will  soon  ask  '  Cui  bono  our 
spiritual,  or,  rather,  our  ecclesiastical  rulers  ?  '  " 

It  was  in  vain  also  that  he  urged  a  fast-day ;  and 
not  until  alarm  was  approaching  to  panic  was  he  able  to 
obtain  a  special  prayer. 

As  an  example  of  his  persistency,  the  following 
correspondence  is  principally  given  : — 

Lord  Ashley  to  Lord  John  Russell. 

Board  of  Health,  August  6tli,  1849. 

My  dear  Russell, — There  is  a  very  deep  and  extended  feeling 
that  the  present  state  of  the  public  health,  and,  consequently,  of 
public  safety,  requires  some  open  recognition  of  the  Hand  from  which 
the  scourge  has  come,  and  which  alone  can  avert  the  terrible  results. 

I  am  astonished  and  grieved  that  our  ecclesiastical  rulers  have 
been  so  slow  to  enforce  on  your  attention  this  prime  necessity ;  but 
the  laity  are  as  much  a  part  of  the  Church  as  the  Archbishops,  and 
I  have,  therefore,  taken  the  liberty,  in  their  silence,  to  bring  the 
matter  under  your  serious  consideration.  Many  would  desire  a  fast- 
day  ;  but  the  majority,  I  think,  would,  whatever  their  private  wishes, 
be  content  with  a  special  prayer. 

The  returns  of  to-day  are  as  follows  : — 

August  6. — County — Cases,  435.  Deaths,  189.  London  — 
Cases,  454.  Deaths,  182.  Compared  with  last  Monday. — Cases,  240. 
Deaths,  130. 

The  total  mortality  of  London  from  cholera  in  the  week  ending 
August  4th— 920.     In  week  ending  July  28th— 783. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Ashley. 

Lord  John  Russell  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Richmond,  August  7,   1849. 
My  dear  Ashley, — I  have  sent  your  letter  to  Grey,  who  is  with 
the  Queen. 

But  I  think  it   right  to  say  that  when   the   cholera  appeared  in 


298  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

this  country  some  months  ago,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  wrote 
to  me  proposing  a  special  prayer.  I  took  the  Queen's  pleasure  on 
the  subject,  and  wrote  to  him  in  reply  that,  as  there  was  a  prayer 
in  the  Prayer-book  on  the  subject  of  a  common  plague  or  sickness, 
the  Queen  thought  it  better  to  have  recourse  to  that  prayer  in  the 
parishes  where  the  cholera  had  appeared,  than  to  order  a  prayer  in 
Council.  The  cholera  did  not,  at  that  time,  make  much  progress  ; 
now  the  case  is  lamentably  different,  but  I  doubt  whether  any  more 
appropriate  prayer  could  be  ordered  by  the  Queen  in  Council. 

I  remain, 

Yours  faithfully, 

J.  Russell. 

The  Eight  Hon.  Sir  George  Grey  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Falloden,  August  30,  1849. 

My  dear  Ashley,  —  Since  1  wrote  to  you  yesterday  I  have 
received  your  second  letter.  Lord  John  Russell  sent  to  me  in 
Scotland  your  former  letter,  on  the  subject  of  a  special  prayer  for 
the  removal  of  the  cholei'a.  It  appeared,  however,  to  him,  and  I 
concurred,  that  while  the  prayer  in  the  Prayer-book  was  quite  un- 
suited  to  an  apprehended  epidemic,  it  was  expressly  framed  with 
reference  to  the  existence  of  '  great  sickness  and  mortality,'  and  that 
to  frame  a  new  prayer  now,  would  be,  in  effect,  to  supersede  altogether 
the  use  of  the  prayer  in  question.  I  wrote  to  the  Archbishop  to 
suggest  that  if  this  prayer  was  not  commonly  used  in  all  churches  in 
places  where  the  cholera  was  raging,  a  letter  might  be  addressed  to 
the  clergy  enjoining  its  use.  I  wrote  again  to  Lord  John  on  the 
subject  a  few  days  ago,  and  I  expect  daily  to  hear  from  him,  but  our 
communications  by  post  are  very  slow.  I  still  do  not  see  on  what 
ground  the  prayer  in  the  Prayer-book  should  be  superseded  fro  had 
vice  by  another.  But  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  Hand  of  God  by  a 
day  set  apart  for  the  purpose,  is  a  different  proposal,  and  it  is  that 
only  to  which  I  think  people's  minds  are  directed.  This  should  be 
national,  but  the  disease  is  at  present  very  partial,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  local  Services,  such  as  I  see  by  the  papers,  have  been 
recommended  by  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  are  better  adapted  for  the 


1849.]  CHOLERA    AND    PRAYER.  299 

existing  state  of  things  than  a  general  fast,  which  would  include  a 
large  portion  of  the  country  in  which  the  cholera  is,  as  yet,  happily 
unknown.  This  is,  again,  an  advantage  in  the  use  of  the  existing 
prayer,  that  it  can  he  used  where  circumstances  justify  it,  but  need 
not  be  universally  used  where  it  is  inappropriate. 
I  will  send  your  letter  on  to  Lord  John  Russell. 

Yours  truly, 

G.  Grey. 


Lord  Ashley  to  Sir  George  Grey. 

London,  September  1,  1849. 

My  dear  Grey, — Surely  you  cannot  have  watched  the  progress 
of  this  pestilence,  when  you  say  that  its  influence  has  been  merely 
partial.  It  has  ravaged  Ireland,  it  is  ravaging  London,  sparing  no 
place  and  no  classes ;  it  has  broken  out  in  160  towns  and  districts  of 
England  and  Scotland ;  Glasgow  and  Dumfries  will  remember  the 
scourge  so  long  as  the  world  lasts. 

And  as  for  a  special  prayer,  I  asked  it  only  because  I  did  not 
hope  to  obtain  a  Fast.  But  surely  you  are  wrong  again  here  ;  prayer 
is  not  only  to  remove  an  infliction  which  exists,  but  to  avert  its 
arrival.  "When  I  first  wrote  to  Lord  John,  the  cholera  had  not 
appeared  in  many  spots  where  it  has  since  shown  its  hideous  violence. 
The  special  prayer  might  have  been  framed  for  use  in  places  un- 
touched by  the  disorder,  the  ordinary  prayer  remaining  still  for 
those  where  the  plague  was  present.  But  now  there  is  a  loud  and 
just  call  for  a  Fast ;  and  I  confess  to  you  that  I  tremble  lest  the 
Government  should  refuse  to  listen  to  it.  It  will  not  redound  to 
their  honour,  or  to  the  security  of  themselves  or  of  the  Realm. 

The  consternation  is  deep  and  general. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Ashley. 

P.S. — From  many  places  we  receive  no  returns.  There  is  the 
greatest  effort  made  to  suppress  all  reports  from  watering-places  or 
any  places  of  trade  or  public  resort. 


300  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIU. 

Lord  John  Russell  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Balmoral,  September  1,  1849. 

Dear  Ashley,— I  have  written  to-day  to  the  Archbishop,  in 
answer  to  a  letter  of  his,  to  say  that  the  Queen  ■will  direct  a  form  of 
prayer  to  be  prepared  on  account  of  the  cholera. 

The  visitation  of  this  disease  has  indeed  taken  a  very  awful 
shape. 

Now  as  to  your  own  health.     Carlisle  writes  me  word  that  he  is 

going  to  London,  and   I  think  you  owe   it  to  your  family  that  you 

should  now  take  the  rest   which  is   so   necessary  to   you.      Had  I 

foreseen  your  duties  would  have  been  so  severe,  I  could  hardly  have 

proposed  the  office  to  you.    But,  though  unpaid,  you  will,  I  am  siire, 

feel  the  satisfaction  of  having  worked  for  the  health  and  life  of  your 

fellow-creatures,  in  a  way  that  hardly  any  other  person  would  have 

done. 

Ever,  my  dear  Ashley,  yours  truly, 

J.  Russell. 

On  Sunday,  IGth  September,  the  special  prayer  was 
read  in  the  churches.  During  the  preceding  week  the 
number  of  deaths  from  cholera  raised  the  ordinary 
average  of  mortality  from  1,008  to  3,183.  By  the  13th 
of  the  following  month,  cholera  had  disappeared,  but 
not  until  14,497  deaths  from  this  cause  had  been 
registered  since  the  1st  October,  1848.  Referring  to 
the  special  prayer,  the  diary  continues  : — 

Sept.  17th. — Yesterday,  Sunday.  The  prayer  for  deliverance  from 
the  cholera.  A  poor  substitute  for  a  day  of  repentance  and  humilia- 
tion ;  but  thank  God,  better  than  nothing.  .  .  .  Alas  !  alas  !  who 
can  trust  our  ecclesiastical  rulers  1  Does  it  not  savour  of  a  mockery  1 
Was  it  so  that  Moses  and  Aaron  stood  '  between  the  living  and  the 
dead,'  when  wrath  had  gone  out  from  the  Lord?  What  gibes,  jokes, 
sneers,  and  doubts  we  shall  encounter !  What  varieties  of  scoffing 
and  bitterness  !  a  precious  occasion  for  sceptics  and  worldlings  !  .  .  . 


1849.]  PEERAGES    TO    MERCANTILE    MEN.  301 

It  was  not  until  a  fairly  clean  bill  of  health  could  be 
returned,  that  Lord  Ashley  allowed  himself  the  rest 
for  which  he  had  long  been  pining. 

Sept.  18th. — Tunbridge  Wells.  Attended  Board  of  Health  on, 
ray  way  through  London.  Pestilence  on  the  decline.  I  can  be 
spared  from  London,  and  I  seek  a  short  repose.  But  I  heartily  thank 
God  that  I  shrank  not  from  the  post  of  toil  and  danger,  but  persisted 
from  August  1st  to  September  11th  in  the  midst  of  the  pestilence, 
and  stirred  not  till  the  plague  was  stayed.  The  Almighty  bore  me 
through  and  covered  me,  for  Christ's  sake,  with  His  shield  and 
buckler.   .  .  . 

A  few  days  later,  and  the  following  entry  occurs  : — 

Sept.  29th. — Yesterday  to  Lord  Hardinge's  with  Minny  to  dine 
and  sleep.  He  is  a  good-hearted,  simple-minded,  generous  soldier ;  a 
noble  fellow  in  his  profession  and  a  real  good  man.  I  love  and 
esteem  him  much,  and  God  ever  bless  him  and  his  for  his  pious, 
manly,  true,  and  thankful  acknowledgment,  in  a  public  order,  of  God's 
mercy  to  the  armies  in  the  battle  of  Sobraon  !  .   .  . 

In  a  letter  to  Lord  John  Russell,  Lord  Ashley,  who 
was  always  fertile  in  suggestion,  propounded  his  views 
on  the  grant  of  peerages  to  distinguished  mercantile 
men,  and  on  the  Government  of  Canada : — 

Lord  Aside]/  to  Lord  John  Russell. 

Nov.  2nd,  1849. 

My  dear  Bussell, — It  is  quite  manifest  that  you  hold  my 
opinions,  ecclesiastical  and  religious,  in  supreme  contempt,  and  the 
probability  is  that  you  will  not  regard  my  civil  views  with  much 
more  respect.  Nevertheless,  you  have  always  been  so  kind  and  gooJ- 
humoured  in  allowing  me  to  state  what  I  think,  that  I  shall  once 
more  take  the  liberty — '  extremum  liunc  mild  concede  lcd>orem ' — of 
offering  two  suggestions.  They  will  be  found  on  the  accompanying 
papers.     I  have  not  argued  them  at  length,  or  worked  them  out, 


302  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.       [Chap.  XVIII. 

because  you  will  bring  your  experience  and  judgment  at  once  to  bear 
on  them  and  see,  as  the  phrase  is,  '  with  half  an  eye.'  My  conscience 
then  would  be  satisfied. 

The  proposition  relating  to  the  peerages  could  be  far  better 
effected  by  you  than  by  many  Prime  Ministers.  Springing  from  one 
of  the  oldest  and  greatest  of  our  noble  families,  you  could  say  and  do 
thing?  which  might  be  carped  at  in  others. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Ashley. 

Notes  on  Peerages. 

Nov.  2nd,  1849. 

If  it  be  admitted  as  desirable  to  maintain  aristocratic  institutions, 
it  will  also  be  admitted  as  necessary  to  strengthen  and  adapt  them 
to  the  wants  and  character  of  the  times. 

This  has  been  the  Conservative  principle  of  our  hereditary 
nobility  ;  they  have  been  recruited  at  various  periods  from  the 
middle  classes.  Hence  their  superior  position,  in  every  respect,  to 
foreign  aristocracies. 

The  times  in  which  we  live  are  mightily  changed,  compared  even 
with  the  times  of  fifty  years  ago.  The  policy  of  the  Sovereign  should 
change  in  the  same  degree  and  proportion. 

Is  it  necessary,  or  expedient,  to  confine,  henceforward,  the  grant 
of  peerages  to  the  possessors  of  land,  and  exclude  from  them  men 
who  are  actually  in  trade  and  commerce  ? 

Some  of  the  most  wealthy,  virtuous,  intelligent,  generous,  and 
patriotic  men,  are  to  be  found  at  the  head  of  great  mercantile  estab- 
lishments. The  admission  of  these  gentlemen,  as  such,  to  the  House 
of  Lords  would  greatly  popularise  the  Peers  in  the  hearts  of  the 
nation,  and  confer  essential  benefit  on  the  Assembly  itself. 

Of  course  nothing  would  be  said  beyond  the  expression  of  a  wish 
that,  if  they  accepted  the  title,  they  would  make  a  suitable  provision 
for  its  maintenance,  when  transmitted  to  their  children.  As  an 
instance  of  what  is  proposed,  why  not  elevate  to  the  peerage  such 
men  as  Mr.  Jones  Lloyd,  the  banker,  Mr.  Gregg,  the  cotton  spinner, 
and  others  engaged  in  business  1 

Ashley. 


1849.]        SUGGESTIONS    TO    LORD    JOHN   1WSSELL.  303 

Short  Notes  on  Canada. 

Nov.  2nd,  1849. 

The  difficulties  and  exjienses  of  governing  Canada  are  become 
very  great ;  and  yet  you  can  neither  abandon  it  altogether,  nor 
permit  annexation  to  the  United  States.  Erect  it,  with  its  actual 
Constitution,  into  a  kingdom,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  independent, 
and  offer  Prince  George  of  Cambridge  as  the  Sovereign. 

The  people  are  loyal  and  accustomed  to  Vice-regal  Government, 
prefer  monarchy  to  a  republic,  and  will,  if  separated  from  us  in  this 
way,  be  firm  allies  to  the  Mother  Country,  and  a  counterpoise  to  the 
power  of  the  United  States. 

A  continuation  of  our  present  expenditure  for  a  year  or  so,  would 
be  sufficient  to  start  the  Canadas  on  their  new  career. 

The  principle  is  good  to  enfranchise  colonies  as  soon  as  they  have 
arrived  '  at  years  of  discretion,'  and  the  mode  will  remove  the 
reproach,  that  we  have  nowhere  set  up  in  the  Colonial  Dependencies 
those  institutions  which,  with  all  their  faults,  have  ensured  more  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  more  of  public  and  private  peace  and 
security,  than  any  other  that  have  been  tried  in  the  whole  history  of 
mankind. 

Other  colonies  may  follow  in  succession,  when  they  are  as  ripe  as 
the  Canadas.      Anglo-Saxon  princes  will  not  be  wanting. 

Ashley. 

Lord  John  Russell  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Nov.  tih,  1849. 

My  dear  Ashley, — I  have  this  moment  received  your  letter  of 
the  2nd.  I  do  not  hold  your  opinions,  ecclesiastical  and  religious, 
in  supreme  contempt.  On  the  contraiy,  I  have  often  acted  in 
accordance  with  them,  but  I  must  reserve  some  liberty  of  judgment 
to  myself. 

In  civil  matters  we  are  not  so  far  apart,  as  I  have  offered  a 
peerage  to  Jones  Lloyd,  and  in  confidence  I  may  tell  you  I  believe 
he  will  accept  it. 

He  was  with  me  yesterday  on  the  subject. 

I  will  say  no  more,  as  I  do  not  intend  to  send  this  by  the 
Sunday  post.  Yours  truly, 

J.  Russell. 


304  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

In  defence  of  the  Christian  Sabbath — its  claims, 
duties,  and  privileges — Lord  Ashley  was,  throughout 
his  life,  always  on  the  alert.  Any  encroachment  upon 
its  sanctity,  from  whatever  quarter,  was  sure  to  bring 
him  to  the  front ;  and  any  effort  to  guard  and  honour 
it,  was  equally  sure  of  his  co-operation  and  support. 

While  he  was  resting  at  Tunbridge  Wells,  a  rumour 
reached  him  that  a  Government  order  had  been  issued 
for  all  clerks  in  the  Post  Office  to  attend  to  their  offi- 
cial duties  on  Sundays  as  on  other  days.  Instantly  he 
wrote  to  Sir  George  Grey,  Lord  John  Bussell,  and 
Lord  Clanricarde,*  appealing  to  them,  as  Christians  and 
Statesmen,  to  interfere,  and,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
hours,  he  had  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  move- 
ment, organised  by  the  employes  of  the  Post  Office  to 
resist  the  demand.  A  few  days  later,  he  came  up  to 
town  to  preside  at  the  Freemasons'  Tavern  over  a  full 
and  enthusiastic  meeting,  to  protest  against  the  action 
of  the  Post  Office  authorities.  Referring  to  it  he 
says  : — 

Oct.  6 th. — This  movement  for  increase  of  Sunday  labour  at  the 
Post  Office  is  terrible  ;  it  is  the  fruit  of  a  self-seeking  Mammon- serv- 
ing spirit,  and  the  more  difficult  to  encounter  as  it  is  hypocritically 
based  on  a  pretence  of  reducing  the  labour  of  the  provincial  offices. 
Have  written  earnestly  to  Russell,  Grey,  and  Clanricarde ;  answers 
very  unsatisfactory ;  the  answers  of  men,  who,  whatever  they  may 
believe  of  Scripture,  have  no  zeal  for  God's  service. 

The  protests  were  in  vain  ;  and  on  Sunday,  28th,  he 
writes : — 

*  The  Postmaster- General. 


1850.]  SUNDAY   POSTAL   LABOUR.  305 

Nov.  20th,  Sunday. — On  this  day  will  begin  the  new  ministerial 
scheme  of  Sabbath  labour  at  the  P.  O.  Should  it  succeed,  should  it 
increase  revenue,  and  gratify  moneyed  men,  alas,  humanly  speaking, 
for  the  Sunday  altogether !  But  we  pray  and  trust  that  God  '  will 
blow  upon  it,'  and  bring  to  confusion  the  vile  attempt.  The  true 
remedy  lies  in  closing  every  P.  O.,  metropolitan  and  provincial,  from 
12  o'clock  on  Saturday  night,  till  2  o'clock  on  Monday  morning. 

For  the  present  he  was  unsuccessful ;  but  within  a 
short  time  he  was  to  return  to  the  charge  with  resolu- 
tion  undaunted. 

On  May  the  30th  in  the  following  year  he  moved, 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  an  address  be  presented 
to  her  Majesty,  praying  that  she  would  be  graciously 
pleased  to  direct  that  the  collection  and  delivery  of 
letters  on  Sunday  might,  in  future,  entirely  cease  in 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom.  A  noisy  debate  ensued,  the 
Government  strenuously  resisting ;  but  Lord  Ashley's 
motion  was  carried  by  93  to  6S  !  He  was  conscious, 
however,  that  the  triumph  would  be  short-lived,  and 
wrote,  a  day  or  two  afterwards  : — 

June  2nd,  Sunday. — It  will  be  a  satisfaction,  at  least,  to  reflect 
that  I  have  laboured  for  the  repose  of  these  poor  men  ;  but  difficul- 
ties grow  between  me  and  the  attainment  of  it.  Should  the  Govern- 
ment not  reverse  the  decision,  the  P.  O.  powers  will  take  care  that 
the  whole  thing  be  complicated  and  utterly  fail. 

In  reply  to  the  Address,  her  Majesty  adopted  the 
resolution,  and  thus  confirmed  the  victory  that  Lord 
Ashley  had  won  in  the  House.  Lord  John  Russell 
announced  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Government 
completely  to  carry  out  the  vote,  and  that  no  exception 
would  be  made  even  in  favour  of  foreign  correspondence. 
u 


306  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XVIII. 

For  three  weeks  the  Sunday  post  was  stopped 
throughout  the  kingdom ;  and  during  that  period,  and 
for  some  time  after,  Lord  Ashley  occupied  the  unen- 
viable position  of  being  the  most  unpopular  and  the 
most  roundly  -  abused  man  in  the  kingdom.  He 
writes  : — 

Mouths  are  yawning  against  me  in  anger  and  contempt.  Not 
only  the  papers,  but  all  society,  are  furious,  and  all  this  because  cer- 
tain aristocratical  people  will  not  have  their  gossip  in  the  country 
every  Sunday  morning.  ...  It  requires  either  strong  shoulders,  or 
an  ass's  skin,  to  bear  the  strokes.  .  .  .  The  variety,  universality,  and 
bitterness  of  attack  are  quite  original. 

Of  course  the  newspapers  teemed  with  letters,  from 
irate  correspondents,  descriptive  of  the  inconvenience, 
and  calling  for  immediate  alteration.  The  Government, 
after  advising  the  Queen  to  adopt  the  resolution,  re- 
turned to  the  House,  and,  represented  by  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  set  to  work  to  neutralise  the  effect  of 
the  vote  by  publicly  inviting  petitions  to  prove  the 
inconvenience  and  damage. 

The  press,  and  society  still  more,  so  they  tell  me,  teem  with 
vituperations  and  hatred.  Epithets  and  appellations  are  exhausted  ; 
bigot,  fool,  fanatic,  Puritan,  are  the  mildest  terms.  They  seek 
to  beat  me  with  my  own  weapons,  and  lament  the  '  desecration  of 
the  Sabbath '  of  which  I  am  the  cause  !  Truly  '  Satan  is  transformed 
into  an  angel  of  light.'  .   .  . 

On  the  other  hand,  Lord  Ashley  received  letters 
"  of  deep,  earnest,  grateful  joy  from  postmasters  and 
messengers,  full  of  piety  and  prayer,"  and  letters  of 
thankfulness  and  offers  of  aid  from  many  unexpected 


1849.]  SUNDAY   POSTAL   DELIVERIES.  307 

quarters,  with  the  assurance  that  "  no  real  inconve- 
nience had  arisen  anywhere,  but  much  comfort  in  many 
places." 

It  was  not  for  long,  however,  that  the  controversy 
was  to  last.  An  inquiry  was  moved  for,  and  entrusted 
to  Lord  Clanricarde,  Mr.  Labouchere,  and  Sir  Gr.  Corne- 
wall  Lewis,  the  result  being  that  the  resolution,  with 
the  order  of  the  Postmaster-General  under  it,  were  re- 
scinded, and  the  Sunday  delivery  was  replaced  on  its 
former  footing. 


u  2 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

1850—1851. 

Trusteeship  of  Money — Miss  Portal  —Death  of  Rev.  E.  Bickersteth — Mediation 
— Ash  Wednesday — In  Paris — Adolph  Monod — Low  Haunts  of  Paris — At 
Madame  Pozzo's — -The  President's  Eeception  at  the  Elysees — Lamartine — 
Theatres — Board  of  Health — Extra-mural  Interment  Bill — Death  of  Sir 
Robert  Peel — Memories — In  Scotland — The  Papal  Aggression — Dr.  Wise- 
man— The  "  Durham  Letter  " — Great  Meeting  at  Freemasons'  Hall — Letter 
from  the  Bishop  of  Oxford — Speech  on  Progress  of  Popery — Action  of 
English  Catholics — The  Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill — Archdeacon  Manning 
joins  the  Church  of  Rome — Roman  Catholics  and  Roman  Catholicism — 
Christian  Fellowship — The  Great  Exhibition — The  Shoeblack  Brigade — 
Bible  Stand  in  Exhibition — President  of  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
— Speech  at  Anniversary  Meeting — Model  Lodging-house  Bill— Common 
Lodging-house  Bill — Death  of  Lord  Shaftesbury — Lord  Ashley  Reviews 
his  Career. 

"  By  doing  good  with  his  money  a  man,  as  it  were,  stamps 
the  image  of  God  upon  it,  and  makes  it  pass  current 
for  the  merchandise  of  heaven."  In  the  course  of  his 
life  there  were  many  who  thought  that  the  greatest 
good  they  could  do  with  their  money,  was  to  place  it  in 
the  care  of  Lord  Shaftesbury.  He  always  had  schemes 
on  hand  which  needed  help.  Every  one  who  knew  him, 
knew  that,  as  a  trustee  of  money,  he  was  scrupulously 
exact,  and  that  not  a  penny  entrusted  to  him  would  fail 
of  accomplishing  some  direct  end ;  and  it  was  known, 
too,  that  he  had  special  channels  for  circulating  it  where 
it  would  be  most  useful.  At  various  periods  of  his 
career,  large  sums  of  money  were  placed  at  his  disposal 
for  charitable  purposes,  and  the  last  months  of  his  life 


1850.]  TRUSTEESHIP    OF   MONEY.  309 

were    much    occupied    in  the    disposal  of  a  legacy   of 
£50,000  left  to  him  for  distribution  among  charities. 

He  was  probably  never  more  grateful  for  such  aid 
to  his  schemes,  than  at  the  time  when,  the  Government 
having  failed  to  further  his  efforts  to  promote  Emigration 
among  Ragged  Schools,  the  whole  burden  of  supplying 
the  means  for  it  fell  upon  the  exertions  of  the  benevolent. 
There  was  one  lady,  Miss  Portal,  who  was  always  ready 
to  help  in  any  work  of  mercy  in  which  Lord  Ashley  was 
specially  interested,  and  many  times  in  the  course  of 
the  diaries  there  are  entries  like  the  following,  relating 
to  her  Christian  love  and  munificence  :  — 

Jan.  6th. — Received  yesterday  a  draft  for  £1,000  from  that  clear 
woman,  Miss  Portal,  to  be  laid  out,  at  my  discretion,  on  Ragged 
Schools,  emigration,  and  whatever  can  advance  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  well-being  of  the  youthful  outcasts.  This  makes  now 
£3,300  with  which  this  pure-hearted  and  disinterested  daughter  of 
Zion  has  supported  my  efforts.  May  God  bless  her  basket  and  her 
store,  her  body  and  her  soul,  her  heart  and  her  spirit,  with  fruitful- 
ness  in  faith,  joy,  peace,  prayer,  and  everlasting  life  !      .     .     . 

On  the  same  day  in  the  following  year  a  similar 
entry  occurs  : — 

Jan.  6th. — Miss  Portal,  with  her  wonderful,  though  usual  muni- 
ficence, sent  me  £1,000  for  the  relief  of  the  most  neglected  and 
destitute,  Ragged  Schools,  ifcc.  God  bless  her  gift,  and  bless  her, 
dear  woman.  She  has  been  a  real  comfort  to  me  ;  her  sympathy 
and  co-operation,  her  simple,  humble-minded  generosity,  have  given 
me  great  support. 

Money  and  help  flowed  in  from  many  quarters  in 
furtherance  of  the  Emigration  scheme  —  the  Queen 
and  Prince  Consort  sent  £100 — and,  so   long   as   sucli 


310  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

resources  lasted,  the  greatest  success  attended  the  la- 
bours of  Lord  Ashley  in  this  direction,  notwithstanding 
a  bitter  attack  made  on  Ragged  School  work  generally, 
in  the  columns  of  the  Morning  Chronicle,  and  reiterated 
elsewhere.  The  Rugged  School  system  was,  however, 
built  upon  too  solid  a  foundation  to  be  much  injured  by 
newspaper  calumnies,  and  Lord  Ashley's  advocacy  of 
its  claims  in  and  out  of  Parliament  became  the  means 
of  making  it  one  of  the  most  popular  institutions  of  the 
da}r.  It  was  noteworthy  that  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Ragged  School  Union  in  this  year,  long  before  the 
hour  of  meeting,  there  was  not  standing  room  in  Exeter 
Hall,  and  no  fewer  than  from  1,500  to  2,000  persons 
went  away  unable  to  obtain  admission. 

One  friend  who,  more  than  any  other,  had  been 
a  constant  sympathiser  and  earnest  coadjutor  in  Lord 
Ashley's  labours — the  Rev.  E.  Bickersteth — was,  early 
in  this  year,  called  to  his  rest.  In  his  society  Lord 
Ashley  had  always  found  satisfaction;  on  almost  every 
subject  their  views  were  identical,  and  many  a  solemn 
hour  had  they  spent  together  in  discussing  the  state  of 
the  times  in  relation  to  Tractarianism ;  in  pondering 
over  unfulfilled  prophecies — the  frequent  subject  of  Mr. 
Bickersteth's  pulpit  discourses — in  talking  over  the 
restoration  of  Israel  to  their  promised  land,  and,  dearer 
than  all,  in  hoping  and  praying  for  the  Second  Coming 
of  the  Son  of  Man. 

On  the  17th  February  he  writes  : — 

'  Lord,  he  whom  Thou  lovest  is  sick.'     Is  this  too  much  to  say  of 
Bickersteth  1     I   trow  not.      This   clearly-beloved  friend  and  fellow- 


1850.]  DEATH    OF   BEV.    E.    BIGKEBSTETE.  311 

servant  is  grievously  ill  ;  and  prayers,  we  bless  God,  are  daily  made 
for  him  throughout  the  Church.  How  little  can  we  afford  to  lose 
such  a  champion  for  the  Truth.  And  yet  I  hardly  dare  to  ask  that 
he  be  detained  longer  in  this  sinful  and  suffering  world  ;  but  we  may 
safely  ask,  and  do  ask,  that  he  may  enjoy  consolation  and  assurance 
in  the  grace  and  mercy  of  our  blessed  .Redeemer. 

On  February  the  28th  Mr.  Bickersteth  died;  and  it 
was  long-  before  there  was  another  to  take  his  place  in 
Lord  Ashley's  memory  and  affection.  Some  time  after 
his  death,  when  harassed  with  cares  for  the  Church,  he 
wrote  : — "  How  I  miss,  and  shall  continue  to  miss,  the 
warmth,  the  joy  in  good,  the  sympathy,  of  dear  Bicker- 
steth. How  many  times  his  words  have  encouraged 
or  consoled  me." 

Before  proceeding  to  dwell  upon  the  larger  subjects 
that  were  to  specially  engage  the  heart  and  brain  of 
Lord  Ashley,  a  few  extracts  upon  general  matters  may 
be  given  here  from  his  diary. 

Feb.  8th. — Windsor  Castle.  Came  here  yesterday.  On  "Wednesday 
speech  at  Sanitary  Meeting.  Walked  tlirough  state- rooms  ;  saw  and 
loved  a  picture  of  Edward  VI.  He  and  my  blessed  Francis  were 
counterparts  of  each  other  in  thought,  in  heart,  in  service,  in  age,  and 
in  death.  They  are  probably  now  together  humbly  and  joyously 
adoring  their  blessed  Lord ;  and  as  they  sleep  in  Him,  so  will  they 
come  with  Him  !     *  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly.'  .  .  . 

In  the  House  of  Commons  a  serious  altercation  had 
taken  place,  on  the  7th  of  February,  between  Mr.  Hors- 
man  and  Lord  John  Ttussell,  arising  out  of  charges 
made  against  the  Government  by  the  former  in  a  letter 
to  his  constituents.  It  is  to  this  that  the  former  part 
of  the  following  entry  relates  :— 


312  THE    EARL    OF  SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

Feb.  13th. — On  evening  11th  acted  as  mediator  between  J. 
Russell  and  Horsman,  without  previous  concert  with  either  ;  was 
urged  to  it  by  Hume,  V.  Smith,  Inglis,  ifcc.  My  bat-like  position 
gave  me  facilities.  Prayed  to  God,  and  succeeded.  Many  spoke  to 
me  afterwards  very  kindly  on  the  subject.  Gorham  affair  still  un- 
pronounced  upon  ;  it  is  supposed  that  the  Bishops  of  Oxford  and 
Salisbury,  working  on  the  duplicity  of  the  Bishop  of  London  and  the 
simplicity  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  will  retard  the  decision 
that  the  clergy  may  have  time  to  protest  against  the  tribunal ;  and 
they  themselves,  during  the  delay,  take  the  chapter  of  accidents  ! 
Wrote  finally  to  Russell  to  urge  despatch ;  he  replied  that  '  he 
viewed,  with  much  suspicion,  the  conduct  of  the  Bishop  of  London.' 
Singular  it  is,  the  state  in  which  I  am  ;  I  am  almost  forced  to  have 
'  a  finger  in  every  pie.'  I  verily  believe,  that  humanly  speaking,  I 
was  instrumental^  the  cause  of  the  safer  construction  of  the  Gorham 
Committee.  Certainly  Lord  John  had  never  dreamed  of  the  Arch- 
bishops as  assessors,  before  I  had  suggested  them. 

Ash  Wednesday,  attended  church ;  afterwards  the  Board  of 
Health,  then  proceeded  to  Pye  Street.  Had  agreed  to  make  one  of  a 
small  family  dinner-party  with  my  mother-in-law;*  but  when  she 
tilled  it  with  strangers  and  raised  it  to  sixteen,  I  declined.  It  is  not 
that  I  attach  any  peculiar  sanctity  to  the  day  ;  but  it  has  been  set 
apart  by  the  Church  for  confession  and  meditation.  Festivities, 
therefore,  are  not  in  accordance  with  it,  and  would  shock  the  feel- 
ings of  many  conscientious  members.  .  .   . 

Feb.  21st. — By  desire  of  Prince  Albert  attended  meeting  at 
Willis's  Rooms,  to  move  resolution  on  behalf  of  the  Industrial 
Exhibition  of  1851.  Though  I  am  disposed  to  regard  the  thing  as 
having  '  more  cry  than  wool,'  I  went  in  obedience  to  his  wishes. 
Twenty-two  speakers,  some  very  long;  I,  the  twelfth,  for  four 
minutes,  and  never  did  I  dislike  anything  so  much.  .   .  . 

In  March  Lord  Ashley  left  London  for  a  fortnight's 
visit  to  Paris.  Crossing  in  the  boat  with  him  was  Sir 
Richard  Mayne,  the  head  of  the  London  police,  who 
told  him  that  the  correspondent  of  the  Homing  Chronicle 

*  Lady  Palinerston. 


1850.]  REV.    ADOLPH   MONOB.  313 

had  been  unceasing  in  his  activity  to  raise  up  a  bad 
feeling  among  the  police  against  Bagged  Schools,  as 
being  mischievous  in  their  tendency.  Sir  Richard 
Mayne  not  only  denied  the  charge,  but  was  able  to 
prove  that  juvenile  commitments  had  decreased,  and 
that  the  police  regarded  Eagged  School  teachers  as  their 
greatest  allies.  It  was  the  habit  of  Lord  Ashley  to 
"  gather  as  he  went ;  "  and  in  future  Bills,  dealing  with 
the  juvenile  "  dangerous  "  classes,  he  found  the  informa- 
tion he  gathered  that  day  of  great  value. 

One  of  his  first  visits  in  Paris  was  to  the  Es-lise 
Reformee,  to  hear  the  Rev.  Adolph  Monod  preach. 

April  1st.  .  .  .  and  right  glad  I  am  that  I  did  so,  for  a  better 
and  more  touching  sermon,  more  pointed  and  true,  and  effectively 
delivered,  I  never  heard.  It  was  steeped  in  evangelism  ;  and  the 
worthlessness  of  man's  works  and  the  free  grace  of  God,  savoured 
every  thought  and  expression.  It  did  me  and  Minny  real  good,  and 
I  felt  truly  comfortable.  .  .  .  The  sun  shines,  the  houses  sparkle, 
the  shops  abound ;  all  is  bustle,  felicity,  bunting  and  gobble — yet 
'  all  faces  gather  blackness ; '  not  a  cheering  word  drops  from  any 
one,  no  matter  what  his  station,  politics,  or  education.  The  utmost 
of  comfort  is,  'it  will  not  be  just  yet.'  That  mysterious  'it.'  The 
syllable  contains  the  renewal  of  sixty  years  of  Revolution,  of  j>ro- 
scriptions,  wars  internal  and  external,  fall  of  trade,  distress,  men's 
hearts  failing  them  for  fear.  By-the-bye,  sat  next  to  Guizot  at 
Monod's  sermon. 

In  the  following  year,  when  Lord  Ashley  was  again 
in  Paris,  he  was  less  successful  in  his  visit  to  hear 
Monod.  The  church  was  the  Temple  de  Sainte  Marie. 
It  was  crowded,  the  heat  oppressive,  and  the  people  not 
over  civil.  "  I.  saw  here,"  he  said,  "  at  least  liberte,  for 
the  beadle  slammed  the  door  in  my  face ;  egaliti,  for  no 


314  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

one  was  better  treated  by  each  other,  or  the  officer,  than 
any  one  else;  but  no fratemite,  for  they  drove  me  from 
point  to  point,  until,  having  reached  the  bottom  of  the 
church,  I  could  go  no  further." 

The  immediate  object  of  Lord  Ashley's  visit  to 
Paris  was  to  examine  the  homes  and  haunts  of  the 
poor,  to  see  what  practical  hints  could  be  gathered  in 
sanitary  matters,  and  to  contrast  and  compare  methods 
of  meeting  the  evils  incident  to  all  great  cities.  Hence 
we  find  him  visiting,  "  in  the  way  of  trade,"  as  he  says, 
Montfaucon,  the  slaughter-house  of  horses ;  the  Cite 
Ouvriere,  "  desolate,  and  without  inhabitant ; "  the  Abat- 
toir Montmartre,  "  excellent,  well-placed,  no  dirt,  no 
cruelty ; '  the  Salpetriere,  whore,  during  the  cholera, 
1,600  out  of  5,000  had  died,  the  reason  assigned  being 
singularly  confirmatory  of  experience  in  England — 
"  rooms  over-crowded,  great  faults  of  construction, 
exceedingly  ill- ventilated." 

Paris  had  a  great  charm  for  Lord  Ashley — its  tints, 
its  climate,  its  movement,  its  life,  the  kindness  and 
courtesy  of  the  people — and  yet  he  looked  upon  all  with 
a  feeling  of  sadness.  "  I  cannot  bear,"  he  says,  "  to 
think  of  the  horrors  that  designing  and  self-seeking 
men — men  of  low  personal  interests  and  godless  am- 
bition— are  preparing  for  this  generation.  As  I 
walked  through  the  gardens  and  through  the  streets, 
contemplating  the  numbers  of  young,  pretty,  and 
playful  children,  I  felt  as  Elisha,  and  wept  to  think 
of  the  sorrows  in  store  for  them,  the  widowhood,  the 
orphanage,  the  desolation,  and  suffering." 


1850.]  IN   PARIS.  ■  315 

This  feeling  was  to  a  great  extent  shared  in  by 
the  Parisians  themselves,  as  the  following  notes  will 
show  : — 

April  4th. — It  is  strange  the  condition  of  mind  of  all  in  this 
city.  Every  day,  sometimes  twice  a  day,  rumours  of  a  decree, 
a  coup  d'etat,  a  Bill  which  will  drive  the  Socialists  to  fury,  then  a 
struggle.  Went  to  Madame  de  Lieven's  yesterday  evening  ;  saw  some 
notables,  but  heard  the  same  as  elsewhere  ;  the  French  gentry  are  at 
their  wits'  ends.  I  remarked  that  the  people  were  misled  by  evil 
and  designing  leaders.  Guizot  maintained  that  the  people  were 
'utterly  corrupted  from  their  very  youth,  having  neither  moral 
discipline  nor  religion  ;  they  would  be  quite  as  bad  without  them.' 
Thence  to  Madame  Pozzo's,  the  great  Legitimist  house.  No  differ- 
ence of  sentiment  or  expression  ;  all  gloomy,  apprehensive,  and  life 
from  hand  to  mouth.  And  yet  they  live  in  show  and  distraction 
everywhere — no  end  of  plajr-going,  balls,  parties,  receptions ;  plenty 
of  fear,  and  no  thought ;  abundance  of  anticipations,  and  no  prepara- 
tion ;  a  dismal  future,  a  present  gaiety — '  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for 
to-morrow  we  die.'  .  .  .  '  I  have  not  had,'  said  Madame  Pozzo  to 
Minny,  '  a  day  of  assurance  for  two  years ;  I  have  had  the  actual 
day,  but  no  security  of  the  morrow ; '  and  yet  these  Legitimists 
dream  of  '  reaction,'  and,  as  M.  Pozzo  informed  me,  had  already  their 
plan  '  pour  modifier  la  ville.' 

Four  o'clock.  Very  weary.  Penetrated  and  perambulated  Fau- 
bourg St.  Antoine,  and  the  street  behind  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  All  is 
speciously  fair ;  saw  nothing  externally  so  bad  as  London.  These 
wide  streets  and  tall  houses  are  very  fallacious  ;  they  look  rich  and 
easy,  and  hide,  in  fact,  abundant  wretchedness.  The  exterior  of 
the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  would  lead  no  ignorant  person  to  believe 
that  it  was  rife  with  violence  and  revolutions  ; — all  is  show,  and  on 
the  surface,  there  is  nothing  behind.  Thence  to  the  Chamber.  It 
has  the  look  of  a  bad  theatre,  with  uncomfortable  boxes  and  ill-chosen 
decorations.  Stayed  one  hour  and  a. half,  during  which  time  the 
Deputies  threw  pellets  and  papers  into  urns,  and  did  nothing  else. 
Bored  to  death,  so  came  away. 

A  scene  in  the  Chamber  yesterday,  which  ended  nearly  in  blows 
Threats  were  uttered,  and  fists  shaken.      These  are  but  symptoms  of 


316  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

internal  fires.      The  offending  party  was  fined  fifteen  days'  pay.     Was 
there  ever  anything  so  vulgar  1 

April  5th. — Last  night  to  the  President's  reception,  Elysee.  The 
style  simple,  without  pretence.  Amused  in  contemplating  the 
various  figures,  and  the  various  parts  they  might  play  hereafter. 
Changarnier  there  in  plain  clothes,  with  white  moustaches  and  a 
black  wig  ;  he  looks  like  a  Tartar  cat.  Certainly,  for  a  Republic, 
there  never  were  so  many  orders,  ribbons,  stars,  and  other  decora- 
tions. We  know  whence  they  came,  but  whither  do  they  go  ? 
The  immorality  of  the  nation  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  evil  and 
all  the  danger ;  it  is  not  misgovernment,  oppressive  taxation ;  it  is 
not  religious  persecution,  nor  denial  of  freedom  ;  it  is  not  the  pre- 
sence of  a  griping  Church,  or  a  monopolising  aristocracy  ;  it  is  not 
any  political  defect,  or  any  civil  abuse  or  blunder  ;  it  is  the  utter 
want  of  all  religion,  all  sense  of  God,  all  respect  for  man.  The 
domestic  system,  the  prime  ordinance  of  God  for  human  society,  is 
nearly  extinct.  'In  thee  and  thy  seed  shall  the  families  of  the  earth 
be  blessed.'  Mark  the  expression  ;  not  the  nations,  not  the  people, 
not  the  individuals,  but  the  '  families  '  of  the  earth.  This,  however, 
is  cut  up  at  the  very  roots ;  their  mode  of  life,  their  dwellings,  their 
amusements,  their  tastes,  their  passions,  all  are  incompatible  with  the 
cares,  the  toils,  the  duties  of  domestic  existence.  Hence,  to  save 
money  and  gratify  their  selfish  and  carnal  desires,  the  unnatural  and 
disgusting  conditions  respecting  children ;  hence  the  total  neglect 
of  thousands  of  their  offspring,  consigned  from  their  birth  to  the 
charge  of  distant  and  indifferent  hirelings  ;  hence  the  annual  ex- 
posure of  30,000  children  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  many,  too,  they  say, 
born  in  legitimate  wedlock.  I  will  rest  (but  not  unto  us,  oh  Lord, 
not  unto  us)  the  superiority  of  England  over  France  on  this  alone  : 
30,000  infants  abandoned  every  year  in  Paris  on  a  population  of 
1,000,000,  not  300  in  London  on  a  population  of  2,000,000  ! 

April  6th. — Dined  with  Lady  Elgin  last  night,  Rue  de  Varennes, 
to  meet  Lamartine.  He  is  over  head  and  ears  a  poet,  and  looks 
like  one ;  he  talks  well,  and  is  highly  interesting  while  he  recounts 
his  revolutionary  experiences.  But  I  could  not  trust  him ;  he  seems 
to  take  sober  and  practical  views  of  nothing,  all  is  resolved  into  the 
fitness  of  the  affair,  or  the  moment,  for  a  speech,  or  a  stanza.  Doubt- 
less his  prodigious  oratorical  abilities  are  a  great  source  of  tempta- 
tion  to  him.      He  showed  as  much  when  he  said  yesterday,  '  If  it 


1850.]  AMUSEMENTS.  317 

were  not  bad  for  the  country,  I  should  rejoice  to  live  my  period  of 
power  over  again,  it  was  so  exciting.'  He  is  the  only  one  who  speaks 
with  assurance  of  the  future,  but,  then,  he  is  become  once  more  a 
candidate  for  office.  His  wishes  are  fathers  to  his  thoughts.  He 
rendered  great  service,  all  must  confess,  in  the  first  moments  of  the 
dreadful  insurrection  of  1848,  but  I  cannot  regard  him  as  a  dis- 
interested man. 

April  10th. — Dined  last  night  with  Madame  de  Lieven,  and  met 
many  French  gentlemen,  Guizot,  &c.  &c.  Sat  next  to  me  a  '  Legiti- 
mist.' 'You  have  been  saved,' he  said,  'by  the  religion  of  your 
people.'  I  observed  that  the  '  best  and  only  mode  of  humanising  the 
working  classes  was  to  go  amongst  them  and  prove  that  you  studied 
their  best  interests.'  'This,'  he  replied,  '  is  now  impossible  with  us; 
the  masses  are  in  so  awful  a  condition  ;  and  every  obstruction  besets 
us  ;  all  our  men  of  science,  station,  and  note,  are  professed  infidels.' 
It  is  so,  but  what  a  contrast  to  England  !  Yet  we  must  not  boast. 
Who  made  us  to  differ  1  .  .   . 

April  11th.  —  Dined  last  night  with  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Andre.  A  pai'ty  of  French  Protestants  desirous  of  listening  to 
stories  about  Ragged  Schools  and  other  modes  of  assisting  society. 
Kind,  hospitable,  and  friendly ;  full  of  zeal  and  piety.  Deeply 
alarmed  by  the  state  of  the  Parisian  people,  and  equally  anxious  to 
devise  some  means  of  encountering  it,  but  their  difficulties,  it  cannot 
be  denied,  are  tremendous.  .  .  . 

To-day  we  start  for  England.  .  .    . 

Lord  Ashley's  views  with  regard  to  amusements  will 
have  been  found,  from  various  extracts  given  in  this 
book,  to  have  been  much  wider  than  those  of  many  with 
whom  he  was  associated,  and  whose  views  in  great 
measure  he  was  supposed  to  represent.  The  principle 
which  governed  him  was  that  laid  down  by  the  Apostle, 
"  All  things  are  lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  are  not 
expedient.'' 

To  oblige  Minny  went  to  Theatre  Francais,  not  having  entered  a 
playhouse  for  very  many  years.     I  have  abstained  in  deference  to  the 


318  THE   EARL    OF  SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

opinions  and  feelings  of  those  with  whom  I  have  been  associated  in 
religious  undertakings,  and  I  shall  do  so  again,  though  I  am  dis- 
posed to  believe  that  the  theatre  might  be  made  a  '  School  of  Virtue.' 
Told,  besides,  that  it  was  necessary  to  see  Valeria,  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  public  mind  of  Paris,  its  views  and  sentiments.  Saw 
nothing  but  a  bad  play,  well  acted. 

One  of  Lord  Ashley's  first  acts  on  his  return  from 
Paris,  was  to  send  in  his  resignation  as  Chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Health.  We  have  seen  how  arduous  his 
labours  had  been  during  the  year  of  cholera,  and  they 
had  not  decreased.  It  was  not,  however,  on  the  ground 
of  the  labour  involved,  that  he  wished  to  discontinue 
his  services  in  connection  with  the  Board.  He  had 
seen  the  necessity  of  a  change  in  the  laws  concerning 
the  burial  of  the  dead  in  the  metropolis,  and  had  pre- 
pared a  Bill  for  their  amendment — the  '.'  Extra-mural 
Interment  Bill."  Early  in  January  of  this  year,  he 
received  a  letter  from  Lord  Carlisle  informing  him  that 
the  Government  proposed  to  take  out  of  his  hands  the 
future  conduct  of  that  Bill.  This,  however,  was  but 
one  of  a  series  of  disappointments  which  are  alluded  to 
in  the  diary  thus  : — 

They  expect  me,  I  perceive,  to  devote  my  time,  thoughts,  almost 
life,  to  the  business  of  the  Board  of  Health  ;  to  prepare  the  plans  and 
Bills,  but  then  to  have  no  voice  or  discretion  in  the  proposal  or  con- 
duct of  them,  nor  any  little  honour  that  may  accrue  from  the  scheme 
and  the  industry  bestowed  upon  it.  (Honour,  in  these  matters,  be- 
comes influence  and  power  to  do  more).  I  am  to  sit  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  speak  when  they  want  me,  and  vote  as  they  like,  but 
without  the  privilege  to  advance  or  recede,  as  I  may  see  fit  from  my 
knowledge  of  the  question.  Thus  I  am  to  he  reduced  to  the  station 
of  a  senior  clerk  in  the  Home  Office,  and,  meanwhile,  all  my  other 
projects  languish  because  I  am  withdrawn  from  attending  to  them.    It 


1850.]  THE    BOARD    OF   HEALTH.  319 

is  the  duty  of  the  Minister  to  assign  the  introduction  of  the  Bill,  and 
then  to  adopt  it.  God  give  me  counsel  and  judgment  to  act  aright, 
but  this  is  my  conclusion.  I  will,  if  they  adopt  the  measure,  labour 
in  and  out  of  the  Hovise  to  pass  it  into  a  law,  but  I  shall  then  retire 
and  resume  social  questions  that  have  fallen  into  comparative  neglect. 
The  Government  throw  on  me  the  small,  tedious,  harassing  details  of 
the  Provisional  Orders,  but  the  measures  of  credit  they  reserve  for 
themselves.  This,  however,  has  altered  and  abated  my  duties  for 
the  Session,  because  I  am  now  detached  from  the  special  charge  of 
the  sanitary  measures,  Interment,  Water,  Building.  I  cannot  hide 
to  myself  my  own  disappointment  j  partly,  I  had  hoped  that  my  name 
(is  this  an  illegitimate  desire  1)  would  be  inseparably  connected  with 
these  reforms  ■  and,  partly,  I  hoped  that  intense  labour  and  anxiety 
would  not  be  without  their  fruits.  '  He  best  can  paint  them,  who 
can  feel  them  most.'  I  tremble  for  the  issue,  in  ignorant  or  unsym- 
pathising  hands.  .  . 

Notwithstanding  the  disappointment,  Lord  Ashley 
considered  that  the  Interment  plan  was  one  of  the  best 
ever  devised,  and  was  likely  to  be  productive  of  real 
moral  effects  on  the  poorer  population,  and  he  con- 
tinued to  work  at  it  laboriously.  The  appointment, 
however,  of  Lord  Seymour  as  President  of  the  Board, 
over  the  head  of  Lord  Ashley,  who  had  borne  all  the 
burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  greatly  changed  his  position 
and  impeded  his  action.  It  was  this  that  led  to  his  ten- 
dering his  resignation.  But  Lord  John  Russell  would 
not  hear  of  it,  and,  sinking  his  own  preferences  for  the 
general  good,  Lord  Ashley  continued,  at  great  personal 
sacrifice,  to  retain  his  office.  If  he  could  not  keep 
the  Interment  Bill  in  his  hands,  he  trusted,  at  least, 
that  he  should  be  able  to  carry  through  the  Bill  for  the 
Metropolitan  Water  Supply,  and,  in  fact,  he  made  this 
a  condition  of  his  remaining  on  the  Board. 


320  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

Throughout  the  year,  and  still  later,  the  diary  con- 
tains many  entries  relating  to  these  matters,  of  which 
the  following  may  be  taken  as  specimens  to  show  the 
nature  of  some  of  the  difficulties  that  assailed  him. 

June  5th. — Interment  Bill.  Passed  but  three  clauses  in  nearly 
five  hours.  Much  attacked  and  reviled.  .  .  .  These  are  the  sweets 
of  unreraunerated  public  life  ! 

June  8th. — Again  a  long,  heavy,  vexatious  night  on  the  Inter- 
ment Bill  ;  carried,  however,  a  principal  clause.  Have,  I  thank  God, 
kept  my  temper,  though  somewhat  spitefully  assailed. 

July  18th. — Yesterday  gave  whole  day  to  wander  over  the  wild 
heaths  of  Surrey,  around  Farnham,  in  quest  of  springs  and  getting 
grounds  for  Water  Supply  of  the  Metropolis.  Started  at  ten  and 
returned  at  ten.  Saw  all  that  we  wanted,  found  rivers  to  break 
out  in  the  desert,  and  confessed  that  God  was  bountiful.  But  will 
man  be  so  1  It  is  overwhelming,  heart-breaking,  awful  to  reflect, 
how  many  thousands  are  deprived,  in  this  Christian  city,  of  the 
prime  requisite  for  health,  comfort,  decency,  of  an  essential  prop 
and  handmaid  to  morality  ! 

Dec.  12th. — The  Water  Supply,  for  which  alone  I  remained 
at  the  B.  of  H.,  will  be  set  aside  or  emasculated  by  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  yet  I  made  this  measure  a  condition  of  my  stay  there. 
The  situation  is  painful,  because  it  is  become  that  of  a  clerk, 
and  I  am  made,  by  Seymour  and  Grey,  to  feel  it  hourly.  The 
Board  has  no  free  action,  no  power  to  effect  any  of  its  decisions, 
for  the  Treasury  and  the  Home  Office  refuse,  or  thwart,  every 
proposition. 

Jan.  31st,  1851. — The  labours  and  anxieties  of  the  B.  of  H.  have, 
I  suspect,  contributed  not  a  little  to  my  disorders.  I  feel  these  sub- 
jects deeply  ;  they  are  intimately  connected  with  the  physical  and, 
to  no  small  extent,  with  the  moral  welfare  of  mankind.  I  am  grieved, 
harassed,  overwhelmed  with  variety  of  work,  a  dull  position,  and  a 
dismal  horizon.  1  want  neither  honour,  nor  praise,  nor  payment ; 
but  I  want  some  little  fruit  of  protracted  toil  and  expended  health. 
.  .  .  But  what  shall  I  do  1  Shall  I  persevere,  or  shall  I  retire  1 
I  want  the  time  for  the  stirring  and  precious  business  of  this  Session. 
I  want  it  for  other  movements  of  service  to  God  and  man.     I  want 


1850.]  DEATH    OF   SIB    ROBERT   FEEL.  321 

it  for  moments  of  reflection  and  repose ;  but  I  must  not  seek  my 
own,  but  Thy  will,  O  God. 

The  summer  of  this  year  saw  the  close  of  a  very 
remarkable  career,  and  one  with  which  Lord  Ashley 
was,  more  particularly  in  his  earlier  life,  closely 
associated. 

On  the  24th  of  June  there  was  a  debate  on  the 
foreign  policy  of  the  Government,  introduced  by  Mr. 
Roebuck,  and  continued  over  four  nights.  On  the  28th 
Sir  Robert  Peel  spoke,  and  his  speech  was  generally 
admitted  "  to  be  characterised  by  great  kindliness  of 
feeling  and  political  foresight.''  It  was  his  last  speech, 
his  last  appearance  in  that  House,  where,  ever  since 
1809,  he  had  been  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  members. 
On  the  following  day,  as  he  was  riding  up  Constitution 
Hill,  after  entering  his  name  in  the  Queen's  visiting 
book  at  Buckingham  Palace,  his  horse  shied  and  threw 
him  over  its  head,  and  Sir  Robert,  still  keeping  hold  of 
the  reins,  drew  the  animal  upon  him  with  its  knees 
between  his  shoulders.  The  injuries  were  not  at  first 
considered  likely  to  be  fatal,  but  their  extent  was  not 
really  known.  On  the  1st  of  July,  the  symptoms  grew 
more  and  more  alarming,  and  on  the  following  night 
he  expired. 

June  30th. — Sunday.  Yesterday  Peel  was  thrown  from  his 
horse,  and  injured  by  the  fall.  God  have  mercy  on  him  in  mind 
and  body  !     .  Called  to  inquire  after  Peel — do  not  quite  like 

the  account,  though  I  trust  that  all  will  be  well. 

July  2nd. — Peel  still  in  great  danger — poor  man.  May  God  be 
gracious  to  him  ! 

July  3rd.  — Peel   is   dead.     He  died  last  night,  at  eleven  o'clock, 

V 


322  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

in  full  consciousness,  having  seen  his  family  and  friends,  and  taken 
the  Lord's  Supper  at  the  hands  of  the  Bishop  of  Gibraltar.  What 
an  end  !  What  an  event  !  Are  we  not  all  in  the  midst  of  death  1 
It  has  deeply  afflicted  me  ;  he  was  a  great  intellect,  and  had  some 
noble  qualities.  O  Lord,  give  us  hope  that  he  has  found  mercy  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  sanctify  it  to  us  all !  .  .  .  House  this  morning 
was  adjourned  in  respect  to  poor  Peel.  This  awful  death  has 
revived  many  recollections,  and  stirred  many  feelings  of  ancient 
days.    .     .     . 

July  5th. — Yesterday  J.  Russell  pronounced  an  eulogy  on  Sir 
R.  Peel,  and  proposed  a  public  funeral,  which  was  declined,  with 
gratitude,  by  Goulburn  on  the  part  of  the  family,  who  urged  a  pas- 
sage in  his  will  expressive  of  a  desire  to  be  interred  in  the  vault 
at  Drayton.  It  was  well  and  feelingly  done  on  both  sides ;  but,  as 
it  went  on,  I  could  not  but  estimate  how  worthless  are  these  things. 
How  did  they  affect  him  1  how  did  they  console  his  family  1  And 
yet  such  have  been  in  history,  the  springs  of  many  brilliant  actions, 
and,  perhaps,  will  be  so  again.  The  true  value  of  it  is  nothing  ;  the 
same  minds  that  have  recorded  their  panegyrics  will,  as  soon  as  the 
peculiar  shock  is  over,  review  his  course  with  critical  'justice,'  and 
qualify  the  praise  that  was  uttered  in  the  moment  of  sympathy. 
Human  applause  is  very  tempting  ;  but  woe  to  the  man  who  con- 
fides in  it ;  there  is  no  secure  ami  fruitful  honour  but  that  which 
cometh  from  God  only.  As  the  shock  subsides,  reminiscences  arise. 
This  event,  that  was  at  first  terrible,  is  becoming  sad.  The  man, 
his  voice,  his  figure,  all  are  before  my  eyes.  It  is  truly  awful.  May 
God  in  His  mercy  bless  the  affliction  to  his  wife  and  children  ! 

July  9th.— This  day  Sir  P.  Peel  will  be  interred  at  Drayton, 
and  then  speedily  forgotten.  Such  is  human  fame,  and  yet  in  many 
respects,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  this  generation  !  The  Duke 
of  Cambridge  expired  this  day.  I  deeply  lament  his  loss.  .  .  He 
brought  the  branches  of  the  Crown  into  frequent  contact  with  the 
charitable  institutions  of  the  metropolis  and  the  comforts  of  the 
people. 

July  25th. — Attended,  on  Tuesday,  a  meeting  to  do  honour  to 
Sir  R.  Peel,  and  to  second  a  resolution  moved  by  the  Duke  of  Wei- 
ll ngton  !  Had  been  requested  to  do  so  by  Goulburn  and  Graham, 
and  of  course  complied.  He  had  wonderful  qualities  of  various 
kinds,  and  his  loss  is  great. 


1850.]  THE    CITIZENSHIP    OF    TAIN.  323 

In  August,  Lord  Ashley,  who  had  not  been  in  really 
good  health  since  his  severe  attack  of  illness  in  1848, 
left  London  for  a  tour  in  Scotland,  in  the  hope  that  he 
might  renew  his  strength  and  be  braced  up  for  the 
work  which  lay  before  him  in  the  winter.  The  Duke 
of  Argyll  had  lent  him  Roseneath,  the  Duke's  place  on 
the  Clyde.  We  will  not  follow  him  through  the  tour, 
except  to  note  one  or  two  incidents.  At  Tarbert  he 
met,  by  accident,  Mr.  Locke,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Ragged  School  Union,  and  suddenly,  vividly,  there 
came  before  him  "  the  ragged  race,  and  indeed,  all 
the  race  of  unhappy,  forgotten,  ill-used  children."  In 
intervals  of  leisure  he  tried  to  read  a  few  books,  and 
keep  pace  with  the  generation ;  but  he  found  that 
"  while  he  roamed  over  the  older  works  he  had  missed, 
he  let  go  the  new,  and  so,  like  panting  Time,  he 
toiled  after  them  in  vain."  In  one  part  of  his  journey 
he  went  seven  miles  in  a  spring  cart,  "  rightly  so  named, 
for  he  was  never  made  to  spring  so  high  before."  And 
in  another  he  was  "  entrapped  to  ascend  the  hills  with  a 
shooting-party,  and  found  himself  unintentional ly  con- 
verted into  a  deer-stalker,  although  he  neither  fired  a 
rifle  nor  saw  a  stag."  At  the  little  town  of  Tain  he 
records  this  surprising  fact :  "  I  was  made  '  free  of  the 
city.'  The  first  public  honour  I  have  ever  had.  It  was 
kindly  proposed,  and  most  flatteringly  conferred  in  the 
Town  Hall,  nor  am  I  indifferent  to  the  goodwill  and 
esteem  of  a  body  of  citizens,  though  small  and  remote." 

When  the  Session  of  Parliament  was  closed  bv  the 
Queen  in  person  in  August,  there  was  peace  at  home 
v  2 


324  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

and  abroad.  But  a  new  chapter  in  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  country  was  opening,  and  within  a  few 
weeks  the  whole  kingdom  was  to  be  agitated,  as  it  had 
rarely  been  before.  One  of  the  most  marked  features 
of  English  history,  during  the  nineteenth  century,  has 
been  the  continuous  growth  of  liberty  of  conscience. 
One  by  one,  the  disabilities  of  Dissenters,  Roman  Catho- 
lics, and  Jews  have  been  removed ;  but,  with  all  this 
large-hearted  tolerance  for  almost  every  form  of  faith 
and  practice,  England  never  forgot  that  there  was  an 
ecclesiastical  system  which,  in  its  era  of  supremacy, 
wrote  its  history  in  characters  of  blood,  and,  while 
yielding  complete  religious  freedom,  even  though  cau- 
tiously and  tardily,  to  all  law-abiding  Roman  Catholic 
subjects,  watched  jealously  for  auy  manifestation  on 
the  part  of  the  Church  of  Rome  of  a  desire  to  re-assert 
her  ancient  pretensions. 

Thirty-six  years  ago  the  fear  of  Rome  was  much 
more  dominant  in  England  than  at  the  present  day. 
Circumstances  have  altered,  and  a  "No  Popery  "  agita- 
tion of  national  dimensions  would  require  for  its  exciting 
cause  a  high-handed  policy,  such  as  no  ecclesiastical 
body  seems  ever  likely  to  venture  upon  again  in  this 
country.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  how  thoroughly 
the  heart  of  England  was  stirred  by  the  institution  of 
certain  titular  dignities  which  are  still  illegal,  but 
are  now  accorded,  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  our  ordinary 
conversation  and  in  our  literature. 

In  October,  1850,  there  was  published  a  Papal  Bull, 
abolishing  the  Administration  of  Roman  Catholics  in 


1850.]  A    FATAL    BULL.  325 

England  by  Vicars  Apostolic,  and  appointing  instead, 
two  Archbishops  and  twelve  Bishops,  with  territorial 
districts  distinctly  marked  out.  Lord  Ashley  was  in 
Scotland  when  the  Bull  was  published,  and  his  first  view 
of  the  matter,  written  at  the  moment,  is  noteworthy. 

Oct.  25th. — Inverary.  Events  are  beginning  to  be  rife ;  the 
Pope,  by  a  Bull,  has  divided  England  into  dioceses  with  territorial 
titles,  such  as  '  Archbishop  of  Westminster.'  We  must  be  careful 
not  to  push  this  matter  too  far  ;  it  is  an  act  of  great  annoyance  and 
audacity,  but  not  contrary  to  law,  nor  worth,  in  fact,  a  new  law. 
It  must  be  used  as  a  warning,  as  a  stimulant,  as  a  proof  of  Roman 
ambition. 

The  aspect  of  affairs  soon  began  to  assume  a  more 
serious  complexion.  Dr.  Wiseman  was  appointed  the 
first  Archbishop  of  "Westminster,  and  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  a  Cardinal,  and,  in  this  capacity,  he  sent  to 
England  the  notorious  pastoral  dated  "  From  out  of  the 
Flaminian  Gate  at  Borne,"  a  document  which  inflamed 
the  Protestant  fervour  of  the  country  a  hundredfold 
more  than  the  Papal  Bull.  Apparently  ignoring  the 
English  Church  and  its  episcopate,  he  spoke  as  if 
England  had  been  restored  to  the  Romish  communion, 
and  would  henceforth  be  ecclesiastically  governed  by  the 
new  hierarchy.  The  following  extract  will  serve  as  a 
sample  of  the  arrogant  assumption  that  characterised 
this  extraordinary  document  : — 

"The  great  work,  then,"  wrote  the  Cardinal,  "is 
complete ;  what  you  have  long  desired  and  prayed  for  is 
granted.  Your  beloved  country  has  received  a  place 
among   the    fair   churches  which  normally  constituted 


326  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

the  splendid  aggregate  of  Catholic  communion.  Catholic 
England  has  been  restored  to  its  orbit  in  the  ecclesiastical 
firmament  from  which  its  light  had  long  vanished,  and 
begins  now  anew  its  course  of  regularly  adjusted  action 
round  the  centre  of  unity,  the  source  of  jurisdiction,  of 
light,  and  of  vigour.  How  wonderfully  this  has  been 
brought  about,  how  clearly  the  hand  of  God  has  been 
shown  in  every  step,  we  have  not  leisure  to  relate,  but 
we  may  hope  soon  to  recount  to  you  by  word  of  mouth." 

The  recent  proceedings  of  the  Tractarians  had  pre- 
pared the  people  for  a  unanimous  cry  of  "  No  Popery," 
and  all  the  Protestant  sects  and  communions  united  to 
resist  these  outrageous  demands.  Had  Sir  Robert  Peel 
been  living,  he  might,  perchance,  have  calmed  the  popular 
excitement,  or,  at  least,  have  directed  and  subdued  it ; 
but  Lord  John  Russell,  who  was  now  Premier,  saw  an 
opportunity  of  dealing  a  blow  at  his  Tractarian  foes, 
and  "  raised  a  tempest,  from  the  effects  of  which  his 
Government,  soon  after  suffered  shipwreck."  On  No- 
vember the  4th  he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  what 
was  long  after  famous  as  "  The  Durham  Letter." 

After  pointing  to  his  ©wu  advocacy  of  the  Catholic 
claims  in  past  years,  he  denounced  the  recent  measures 
of  the  Pope  as  "  a  pretension  of  supremacy  over  the 
realm  of  England,  and  a  claim  to  sole  and  undivided 
sway,  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  Queen's  supremacy, 
with  the  rights  of  our  Bishops  and  Clergy,  and  with  the 
spiritual  independence  of  the  nation,  as  asserted  even  in 
Roman  Catholic  times."  He  went  on  to  say  that  his 
alarm  was  not  equal  to  his  indignation,  and  that  the 


1850.]  "  THE  DURHAM  LETTER."  327 

necessity  for  taking  active  measures  should  be  duly 
considered.  But  there  was  a  danger  which  alarmed 
him,  in  the  fact  that  clergymen  who  had  subscribed  to 
the  Thirty-nine  Articles  should  "  have  been  the  most 
forward  in  leading  their  flocks,  step  by  step,  to  the  very 
verge  of  the  precipice."  After  denouncing  various 
ritualistic  practices  introduced  by  the  Tractarians,  he 
wound  up  by  saying  :  "I  rely,  with  confidence,  on  the 
people  of  England,  and  I  will  not  bate  a  jot  of  heart  or 
life,  so  long  as  the  glorious  principles,  and  the  immortal 
martyrs,  of  the  Reformation  shall  be  held  in  reverence  by 
the  great  mass  of  a  nation  which  looks  with  contempt 
on  the  mummeries  of  superstition  and  with  scorn  at  the 
laborious  endeavours  which  are  now  making,  to  confine 
the  intellect  and  enslave  the  soul." 

This  letter  won  from  Lord  Ashley  the  strongest 
admiration,  and  roused  the  whole  country  to  a  ferment. 
The  course  of  events  is  noted,  stage  by  stage,  in  his 
Diary  from  which  we  now  quote  : — 

Nov.  3rd. — Edinburgh.  People  have  often  rebuked  me  as  a 
croaker,  as  a  bird  of  evil  augury  ;  but,  as  David  says,  '  Is  there  not 
a  cause  ! '  I  never  fear  attacks,  but  I  tremble  for  the  spirit  that 
resists  them.  The  Pope  and  his  decrees  are  nothing;  but  the 
Puseyite  Churchmen  and  the  Laodicean  nation  are  enough  to  inspire 
terror.  I  am  ready  to  conflict  with  Infidelity,  and  defy  it ;  but  I 
sink  with  dismay  when  I  find  the  University  rife  with  the  German 
philosophy,  and  ecclesiastical  Judases,  pretending  belief  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  betraying  the  Son  of  man  with  a  kiss  ! 

Nov.  5th.  —Gunpowder  Plot  day  !  It  was  a  mighty  deliverance, 
for  which  we  of  this  generation  are  about  as  thankful  as  we  are  for 
the  rescue  of  Daniel  out  of  the  lions'  den.  And  yet,  when  has  God 
dealt  more  mercifully  with  any  people  1 


328  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XIX. 

Nov.  7th. — London.  The  feeling  against  the  Papal  Aggression 
is  deep  and  extensive.  The  5th  November  was  rife  in  town  and 
country ;  a  display  of  zeal  and  Protestantism ;  various  meetings  of 
clergy,  strong  and  resolute  expressions.  John  Russell  has  written  a 
letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Durham  on  this  subject,  bold,  manly,  Pro- 
testant, and  true.  It  is  admirably  written,  and  is  ten  times  more 
imbued  with  religious  Protestantism  and  veneration  of  the  martyrs 
than  I  should  have  expected.  The  document  is  worthy  of  Lord 
Burleigh,  or  of  Cromwell  in  his  defiance  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 

Public  meetings  denouncing  the  Papal  Aggression 
were  being  held  throughout  the  country,  and  petitions 
were  adopted  calling  upon  the  Government  and  Legis- 
lature to  intervene.  It  was  impossible  that  Lord  Ashley 
could  remain  away  any  .longer  from  the  scene  of  conflict, 
and  on  November  the  1 1  th  we  find  him  again  in  London 
and  at  the  head  of  the  Anti-Popery  movement. 

Nov.  11th Took  chair  at  conference  of  clergy  and  laity 

to  devise  mode  of  meeting  present  crisis  ;  sat  for  five  hours  ;  fearful 
of  disunion  ;  all  settled,  by  God's  blessing,  on  a  little  management ; 
agreed  to  a  committee  to  stir  country.  How  shall  we  '  improve  the 
shining  hour  1 '     Such  an  occasion  may  never  return. 

Nov.  21st. — The  Cardinal's  manifesto  is  out ;  bold,  astute,  unscru- 
pulous ;  but,  with  all  its  cunning,  more  hurtful  to  the  shooter  than 
to  the  target. 

Nov.  25th. — What  a  surprising  ferment !  It  abates  not  a  jot ; 
meeting  after  meeting  in  every  town  and  parish  of  the  country. 
Vast  meetings  of  counties,  specially  of  York.  At  concerts  and 
theatres,  I  hear,  '  God  save  the  Queen '  is  demanded  three  times  in 
succession.  It  resembles  a  storm  over  the  whole  ocean  ;  it  is  a 
national  sentiment,  a  rising  of  the  land  !  All  opinions  seem  for 
a  while  merged  in  this  one  feeling. 

An  announcement  having  been  made  that  a  great 
meeting  was  to  be  held  to  discuss  the  question,  the 
Lishop  of  Oxford  (Wilberforce),  "  striving,"  as  his  bio- 


1850.]        LETTER  FROM  THE  BISHOP  OF  OXFORD.  329 

graplier  says,  "to  hold  the  balance  between  the  two 
parties  in  the  then  excited  state  of  opinions,"  wrote  to 
Lord  Ashley  thus  : — 

The  llishop  of  Oxford  to  Lord  Ashley. 

Cuddesdon  Palace,  Dec.  '3rd,  1850. 

My  dear  Lord  Ashley, — Seeing  that  you  are  to  be  Chairman 
of  Thursday's  meeting  at  the  Freemasons'  Hall,  I  trouble  you  with 
this  letter.  Your  kindness  to  me  whenever  we  have  met,  leads  me 
to  hope  that  I  am  not,  in  doing  so,  taking  any  liberty  with  you.  I 
am  anxious  to  do  so  :  1st,  on  my  own  account ;  2nd,  on  account  of 
the  Church.  1st, — For  myself.  At  all  similar  meetings  the  conduct 
of  the  Bishops  has  been  (as  is  natural)  considered,  and  /  have  been 
very  generally  blamed  for  encouraging  Romanising  opinions.  The 
alleged  proof  has  been  mainly  my  toleration  of  Mr.  Allies.*  Such 
an  impression  is  quite  natural,  but  it  is  quite  untrue.  So  long  as 
Mr.  Allies  acted  under  the  engagement  he  had  formed  with  me,  I  felt 
bound  to  bear  this  unjust  suspicion  in  silence ;  but  now  I  believe 
the  interests  of  the  Church  require,  and  circumstances  allow,  of  my 
justification.  I  believe  my  power  of  justification  to  be  complete. 
I  have  written  down,  therefore,  a  short  statement  of  the  case  ;  and 
I  trouble  you  with  it,  with  the  request,  that  if  the  charge  is  again 
made  you  would  contradict  it.  My  request  is  that  you  would  state 
the  facts,  not  that  you  would  read  my  letter,  as  if  I  stood  on  my 
defence.  You  are,  of  course,  at  perfect  liberty,  if  you  deem  it 
needful,  to  satisfy  yourself  from  other  quarters  of  the  accuracy  of 
this  statement.  I  know  of  no  other  allegation  which  can  be  made 
against  me  of  carelessness  as  to  these  matters.  My  clergy  well 
know  how  firmly  I  have  set  my  face  against  such  views  as  those 
of  Mr.  Allies.  It  is,  however,  natural,  perhaps  unavoidable,  with 
such  a  press  as  we  have  at  this  time,  with  my  poor  brother's  f 
notorious  course,  and  with  my  own  distinctly  High  Church  opinions, 
that    I    should    labour    under    the  unfounded    reproach    of    holding 

*  The  Rev.  T.  W.  Allies,  a  young  High  Churchman,  who  wrote  a  book 
entitled  "  A  Journal  in  France,"  full  of  Romish  doctrine.  He  afterwards 
joined  the  Church  of  Rome. 

t  The  allusion  is  to  Henry  Wilberforce. 


330  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBULY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

secretly  that  I  have  always  opposed.  And  this  brings  me  to  my 
second  head.  You  will  be,  more  than  anyone,  able  to  direct  the 
current  of  Thursday's  meeting ;  to  settle  whether  it  shall  set  against 
bond  fide  Romanising  tendencies  in  the  Church  (by  which  /  mean 
the  revival  of  a  system  of  auricular  confession,  sacramental  abso- 
lution, the  sacrificial  character  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  the  denial  of  Justification  by  Faith,  tfcc,  &c),  or  whether 
it  shall  be  a  mere  attempt  to  brand  as  Romanisers  all  those  in  the 
Church  who  are  of  the  school  of  Andrews,  Hooker,  Beveridge,  <kc. 
Of  this  school  I  am  a  member.  I  make  no  secret  of  it.  I  have, 
as  I  believe,  dropped  no  one  truth  of  my  Evangelical  education, 
but  I  hold  those  truths  in  a  more  consistent  and,  therefore,  a  firmer 
grasp.  But  the  question  I  am  anxious  you  should  let  me  suggest 
for  your  thought  is  this  :  Can  it  strengthen  us  as  a  Church  against 
Rome,  against  Latitudinarianism,  against  irreligion,  against  Social- 
ism, and  our  frightful  social  evil,  to  drive  out,  or  render  suspected, 
all  the  earnest-minded  and,  I  will  venture  to  say,  spiiitually-nundcd 
men  in  this  our  day  of  exceeding  need  of  every  aid  1 

I  am,  my  dear  Lord  Ashley,  most  truly  yours, 

S.   Oxon. 

"  To  this  letter,"  says  the  biographer  of  Bishop 
Wilberforce,*  "  Lord  Ashley  replied,  that  at  the  meet- 
ing he  was  not  only  most  anxious  to  avoid  personalities, 
but  that  he  would  do  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  them. 
He  explained  that  the  object  of  the  meeting  was  to 
prevent  Tractarian  dogmas,  which,  as  he  said,  drove 
whole  congregations  to  Dissenting  chapels,  and  which 
were  rapidly  turning  the  Church  of  England  into  a  free 
Church."  There  is  no  reference  to  this  correspondence 
in  Lord  Ashley's  Diary,  nor  does  a  copy  of  his  reply 
appear  to  have  been  kept. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  the  meeting — a  large  and 

*  "Life  of  Bishop  Wilberforee,"  by  his  sou,  Reginald  G.  Wilberforce, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  69. 


1850.]  THE    PAPAL    AGGRESSION.  331 

influential  gathering  of  lay  members  of  the  Church  of 
England — was  held  at  Freemasons'  Hall,  "  to  protest 
against  the  insolent  and  insidious  attempt  of  the  Bishop 
of  Borne,"  and  to  invoke  the  Queen's  aid  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  Romish  innovation  in  the  Church  of  England. 
Over  this  meeting  Lord  Ashley  presided.  Addressing 
his  Protestant  brethren  of  the  Church  of  England,  with 
grief  that  the  exigency  of  the  times  required  this 
distinctive  epithet,  he  called  upon  them  to  show,  by 
their  "vigorous,  ready,  and  persevering  antagonism, 
that  the  ecclesiastical  establishment  of  these  realms  is 
the  right  of  the  people,  and  that  the  people  will  defend 
the  right  to  the  last  extremity."      He  continued  : — 

A  foreign  priest  and  potentate,  who  misunderstands  and  mis- 
governs his  own  people,  who  is  kept  on  his  miserable  throne,  to  the 
oppression  of  his  own  subjects  and  all  religious  liberty,  only  by  out- 
landish bayonets,  to  the  everlasting  dishonour,  I  must  say,  of  the 
French  people,  has  presumed  to  treat  this  realm  of  England  like  '  to 
a  tenement  or  paltry  fai-m,'  part  its  soil  into  provinces  and  dioceses, 
invest  his  nominees  with  titles  of  episcopal  and  territorial  jurisdic- 
tion, and  usurp  the  functions  of  our  Ptoyal  Mistress.  We  protest 
against  this  as  an  act  of  monstrous  audacity.  It  ignores  alike  (such 
is  the  modern  phrase)  the  Church  and  the  State,  Her  Majesty  and 
the  Bishops.  We  own,  under  God,  no  rule  in  these  kingdoms  but 
that  of  our  beloved  Queen,  and  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the 
realms  ;  and,  God  helping  us,  none  other  shall  be  planted  here  in 
civil  or  ecclesiastical  authority.  It  may  be  said  that  a  title  is  of 
little  import ;  yet,  if  any  one  hold  the  contrary,  let  him  urge  it  on 
these  intrusive  bishops,  and  tell  them  that  'a  rose  by  any  other 
name  would  smell  as  sweet,'  and  see  whether  they  will  yield  to  the 
argument.  But  the  name  is  of  mighty  importance  ;  it  is  always  of 
prodigious  weight  with  those  who  do  not  reflect,  and  who,  after  all, 
are  the  largest  portion  of  mankind.  Why,  then,  if  it  be  so  valueless, 
do  the  Roman  Catholics  insist  on  its  adoption  1  Why,  for  a  trifle, 
invoke  a  Papal  Bull,  and  disturb  this  country  from  John  o'Groat's 


332  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

House  to  the  Land's  End  1  Mark  the  true  reason  :  the  Romish 
Church  claims  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  over  every  baptized  soul  ; 
those  very  people  who  denounce  the  Cardinal — I  have  lately  read  it 
in  a  Popish  periodical — are  the  Cardinal's  spiritual  subjects.  To  call 
himself,  as  he  is,  Bishop  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  city  of  West- 
minster, would  be  to  forego  that  claim,  and  shrink  within  his  rightful 
sphere ;  to  call  himself  Archbishop  of  Westminster  is  to  assert  the 
whole  spiritual  sovereignty  of  the  district,  and  demand  its  subjection 
to  the  See  of  Rome.  Can  you  doubt  this  1  Read  the  manifesto  : — 
'  Whether  the  Pope  appoints  a  person  vicar  apostolic,  or  bishop  in 
ordinary,  in  either  case  he  assigns  him  a  territorial  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  and  gives  him  no  personal  limitations.'  Why,  here  is 
the  whole  thing  ;  and  because  we  see  that  their  hierarchy  is  incom- 
patible with  ours — because,  not  content  with  equality,  they  aspire  to 
supremacy,  we  will  resist  them  step  by  step,  inch  by  inch,  nor  yield 
them  one  hair's-breadth  beyond  that  which  we  have  already  ceded. 

After  quoting  the  statement  of  Dr.  Wiseman  that  a 
hierarchy  was  needed  in  order  to  introduce  the  Canon 
Law,  Lord  Ashley  continued  : — 

Do  you  know  what  the  Canon  Law  is  ?  It  is  a  law  incom- 
patible with  the  civil  law  of  this  realm ;  it  is  subversive  of  all 
religious  liberty  ;  it  permits — nay,  enjoins — persecution  of  heresy  ; 
it  elevates  the  Pope  as  God,  and  asserts  that  he  is  superior  to  all 
human  and  national  laws.  We  deny  synodical  action  to  our  own 
Church,  shall  we  allow  it  to  a  rival  and  hostile  body  1  Hitherto 
we  have  been  free  from  this  moral  pestilence  ;  and  if  we  resist  this 
hierarchy  we  shall  continue  to  be  free ;  admit  it,  and  you  admit  the 
introduction  of  a  code  which  denounces,  not  only  those  who  are  now 
without  the  pale,  but  all  who  may  be  persuaded  to  withdraw  from  it. 
But  let  us  not  be  misunderstood.  We  do  not  stand  here  to  ask  for 
penal  enactments.  We  do  not  ask,  nor  demand,  a  reimposition  of  the 
former  disabilities  ;  we  will  invade  no  rights  of  our  fellow-subjects  ; 
but,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  they  shall  not  tra/mple  on  oars.  We 
wa^e  no  war  with  the  Roman  Catholics  of  these  realms,  but  we  wage 
interminable  war  against  the  Pope  and  his  Cardinals.  And  yet, 
when  I  reflect  on  the  vast  good  that  we  have  received  from  this  out- 
rageous assault,  in  the  start  from  our  slumbers,  and  in  the  attitude 


1850.]  THE  PAPAL    AGGRESSION.  333 

of  our  people,  I  am  disposed  to  take  a  forgiving  view,  and  in 
these  days  of  testimonials,  to  propose  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Pope, 
with  what  I  am  sure  he  will  prize  above  all  things — a  handsome 
edition  of  the  polyglot  Bible  ! 

But  enough  of  the  outside  mischief.  Let  us  turn  our  eyes  to 
that  within,  from  Popery  in  flower  to  Popery  in  the  bud  ;  from  the 
open  enemy  to  the  concealed  traitor  ;  from  the  menace  that  is  hurled 
at  -our  Church,  to  the  doctrine  that  is  preached  from  our  pulpit ;  from 
the  foreign  assailant,  to  the  foes  of  our  own  household.  What  has 
invited  this  agression  1  What  has  induced  the  Court  of  Pome,  so 
wily,  cautious,  and  penetrating,  to  throw  aside  the  sheath,  and  openly 
attack  the  Capitol  1  One  may  say  one  thing  and  one  another ;  one 
may  see  the  encouragement  given  by  successive  administrators  to 
Papal  pride  and  Papal  endowments — the  precedence,  the  annuities, 
the  marks  of  honour ;  all,  no  doubt,  have  had  their  share,  and  no  one 
more  deeply  deplored  them  than  myself,  yet  I  maintain  that  they 
are  all  secondary  causes,  and  this  is  not  the  time  and  place  to  discuss 
them.  But  what  are  these  to  the  great  and  master-temptation — the 
manifest  tendency  in  many  of  our  clergy,  in  faith  and  practice,  to  the 
faith  and  pi-actice  of  the  Church  of  Rome  1  the  numerous  perversions 
of  that  unscriptural  creed,  the  adoption  of  rites,  ceremonies,  and 
languages  titted  only  to  a  Popish  meridian  ]  Need  I  enumerate 
them  1  You  know  them  well ;  and  when  to  this  they  add  the  teach- 
ing of  false  and  heretical  doctrines ;  when  they  add  the  practice  of 
auricular  confession — the  most  monstrous,  perhaps,  of  all  the  mon- 
strous practices  of  the  Romish  system— who  can  wonder  that  the 
appetite  of  the  Pope  was  whetted,  that  his  eyes  were  blinded,  and 
that  he  believed  the  time  was  come  for  once  more  subjecting  this 
Protestant  land  to  his  odious  domination  1  Now,  we  insist  on  these 
details,  not  only  because  they  are  '  histrionic  '  arrangements,  adapted 
only  to  the  theatre,  and  impeding  all  worship,  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
but  because  they  are  the  symptoms  of  a  deep-seated  corruption  of 
faith  and  doctrine,  enticing,  and  intended  to  entice,  the  people  from 
the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  lead  them  to  submit  to  the 
sacerdotal  forgery  of  a  sacrificing  priesthood,  and  the  necessary  and 
inevitable  train  of  abominable  superstitions.  Here  is  our  daily, 
hourly,  imminent  peril.  It  is  for  the  sons  of  the  Church  to  protest 
against  these  enormities  in  all  their  length  and  breadth.  What  else 
can  be  done  1     Do  not  some  of  the  bishops  tell  you  that  they  are 


334  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

powerless ;  that  they  speak,  exhort,  command,  but  the  rebellious 
Tractarians  will  not  obey  1  Have  they  not  nearly  all  declai'ed  the 
extent  of  this  festering  mischief  1  What  otber  course  can  we  take 
to  obtain  a  general  and  united  expression  of  feeling  1  The  laity  love 
their  Church,  its  decency,  its  simplicity  of  truth,  its  Gospel  cha- 
racter, and  they  will  maintain  it  in  all  its  efficiency  ;  but  that  Church 
must  continue  to  be  scriptural ; — if  it  change  its  character,  and  cease 
to  be  such,  why  then  they  will  lie  under  the  same  duties,  and  they 
will  entertain  the  same  feelings  as  their  forefathers,  when,  disre- 
garding everything  but  the  confession  of  the  Truth,  and  the  honour 
of  Almighty  God,  they  broke,  at  all  hazards,  from  the  unscriptural 
and  unholy  Church  of  Rome.  I  speak  here  for  myself.  I  doubt  not 
I  speak  the  sentiments  of  thousands  in  this  realm,  that  if  we  be 
driven  to  this  necessity  (which  God  in  His  mercy  avert !)  I  had 
rather  worship  with  Lydia,  on  the  bank,  'by  the  river  side,' than 
with  a  hundred  surpliced  priests  in  the  temple  of  St.  Barnabas.* 

[Here  the  whole  assembly  enthusiastically  rose  to  their  feet,  and 
the  ladies  joined  in  the  vociferous  cheering  which  succeeded.] 

Referring  to  this  meeting,  Lord  Ashley  wrote  in  his 

Diary  : — 

December  5th. — Well,  to  be  sure.  I  never  saw  such  a  thing; 
the  enthusiasm,  from  the  first  moment  to  the  last,  was  miraculous. 
The  audience  would  have  remained  and  cheered  till  midnight ;  time 
after  time  they  rose  from  their  seats,  and  shook  the  room  with  thun- 
ders of  applause.  But  the  feeling  was  more  than  boisterous— it  was 
deep  and  sincere,  and  had  all  the  character  of  being  permanent  and 
religious.  The  speaking  excellent ;  the  laity  shone  in  power  and 
theology ;  many  pulpits  could  not  produce  such  solid  stuff. 

The  Roman  Catholics  in  England  saw  with  regret 
the  results  of  the  latest  outcome  of  Ultramontane  policy. 
On  November  17th  they  sent  up  an  address  of  loj'alty 
to  the  Queen,  and  asserted  the  purely  spiritual  character 
of  the  new  organisation.     A  few  days  afterwards  Lord 

*  St.  Barnabas,  Pimlico,  was  notorious  at  this  time  for  its  ritualistic 
practices. 


L850.]  THE    PAPAL    AGGRESSION.  33> 

Beaumont,  a  Roman  Catholic  peer,  publicly  regretted 
the  ill-advised  measure  of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  which  had 
placed  English  Catholics  in  the  position  of  having 
"  either  to  break  with  Rome,  or  violate  their  allegiance 
to  the  Queen."  On  November  the  28th,  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  expressed  his  unity  with  the  sentiments  of 
Lord  Beaumont.  The  action  of  the  English  Catholics 
and  of  the  Puseyites  was  a  source  of  great  anxiety  to 
Lord  Ashley,  who  wrote  : — 

December  20th.  .  .  .  Enthusiasm  against  Puseyites  no  wise 
subdued;  but  I,  nevertheless,  am  out  of  heart;  the  unity  of  pur- 
pose, the  systematised  action,  the  vigilance,  penetration,  zeal,  and 
perseverance  of  our  enemies  are  a  match  for  a  discipline  ten  times 
greater  than  that  we  can  show.  It  is  the  difference  between  a  large 
militia  force  and  a  small  standing  army  ;  vje  have  the  numbers,  but 
they  the  experience  and  skill.  It  is  our  occasional  and  momentary 
occupation,  their  single  vocation  aud  profession.  They,  so  far  as  I 
can  learn,  have  few  or  no  dissidents ;  we  are  crippled  by  half-hearted, 
timid,  crotchety,  or  hostile  men.  The  Evangelical  party  itself  is 
sadly  disunited. 

December  23rd. — Windsor  Castle.  Prince  sent  for  me  after  morn- 
ing service,  and  we  spent  an  hour  and  a  half  on  Church  matters.  I 
am  delighted,  and  I  bless  God  for  his  zeal,  judgment,  perception, 
and  vigour. 


"8 


Some  idea  of  the  ferment  of  the  times  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  between  the  14th  and  the 
30th  November  no  fewer  than  seventy-eight  works  on 
the  Papal  Aggression  issued  from  the  press.* 

On  the  reassembling  of  Parliament,  the  subject  was 
alluded  to  in  the  Queen's  Speech  by  the  announcement 
of   "  a  measure  calculated  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the 

*  Publishers'1  Circular,  December  2nd,  1850. 


336  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

Crown  and  the  independence  of  the  nation  against  all 
encroachments  ;  "  and  on  the  7th  February  the  Premier 
introduced  a  Bill  to  prevent  the  assumption  of  ecclesi- 
astical titles  in  respect  of  places  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
which  was  denounced  by  Roebuck,  Bright,  and  others, 
but  strenuously  supported  by  Lord  Ashley.  By  a  vote  of 
395  to  63  the  House  permitted  the  Bill  to  be  brought  in. 
Referring  to  his  speech,  which  was  an  admirable  exposi- 
tion of  every  aspect  of  the  case,  Lord  Ashley  wrote  : — 

Feb.  11th. — Great  success  last  night  on  Papal  Aggression;  as 
great,  it  seems,  as  I  ever  had  in  my  life ;  enthusiastic  commendation 
from  many.  .  .  .  Home  late  :  head  in  a  frightful  state  of  vibra- 
tion. .  .  .  Many  Roman  Catholics  have  spoken  to  me  civilly,  and 
declared  that,  though  I  vigorously  stated  my  opinions,  I  said  nothing 
offensive  to  them.     This  is  happy. 

The  progress  of  the  Bill  was  delayed  for  a  time  by 
a  Ministerial  crisis.  * 

March  1st.- — Who  can  now  assert  that  the  Pope  has  no  power  in 
England1?  He  has  put  out  one  Administration,  and  now  prevents 
the  formation  of  another.  .  .  .  Wrote  yesterday  to  Prince  Albert, 
and  told  him  the  feeling  of  the  nation ;  it  will  reach  him,  I  guess, 
inopportune!?/,  but  he  desired  me  to  tell  him  the  truth,  and  I  have 
done  so.     God  bless  the  endeavour  ! 

March  3rd. — Seven  o'clock.  Government  reinstated,  every  man 
of  them,  according  to  the  slang,  '  as  you  was.'  Pussell  announced 
that  he  should  proceed  with  the  Anti- Papal  Bill,  having  promised 
some  amendments. 

The  Bill  was  re -introduced  on  the  7th  March,  but 
very  much  toned  down  in  its  character.  The  opposition 
to  the  measure  was  still  formidable,  and  there  was  a  seven 
nights'   debate  before  the  second  reading  was  carried. 

*  The  celebrated  cartoon  in  Punch  will  be  remembered.  It  represented 
Lord  John  as  a  naughty  boy  chalking  up  the  words  "No  Popery,"  and 
then  dodging  round  the  corner. 


1851.]  THE    PAPAL   AGGRESSION.  337 

On  the  18th  March  Lord  Ashley  again  put  the  matter 
forcibty  before  the  House,  from  his  own  particular  point 
of  view.  He  asserted  that,  in  the  tone  of  Napoleon  in  his 
most  haughty  and  terrible  days,  the  Pope  had  virtually 
declared  that  the  House  of  Hanover  ceased  to  reign ; 
and  discussed  at  length  the  manner  in  which  "  such  a 
Protean  power,  presenting  alternately  and  conjointly 
every  form  of  spiritual,  temporal,  and  ecclesiastical 
policy,"  was  to  be  dealt  with.  "  It  pretends,"  he  said, 
"  to  be  spiritual  in  England,  ecclesiastical  in  Spain ;  it 
is  temporal  everywhere,  though  professing  it  nowhere ; 
it  is  democratic  in  Ireland,  and  despotic  in  Austria ;  it 
terrifies  statesmen  in  Sardinia  by  refusal  of  the  sacra- 
ments, and  the  Government  in  France  by  a  refusal  to 
support  them  at  elections ;  here  it  is,  in  England, 
appealing  to  the  rights  of  man  and  the  liberty  of  con- 
science ;  and  there  it  is,  in  Italy,  denouncing  them  by 
the  lips  of  Pope  Gregory  XVI.,  as  '  that  absurd  and 
erroneous  maxim,  or  wild  notion,  that  liberty  of  con- 
science ought  to  be  assured  and  guaranteed  to  every 
person.'  In  conclusion,  he  declared  his  belief  that 
England  "  would  not  give  way  to  Pome  by  submission 
— no,  not  for  an  hour,"  and  added,  "  What  may  be  the 
issue  to  the  nation,  no  man  may  foretell,  but  for  our- 
selves, happen  what  may,  we  will,  by  God's  blessing, 
stand  immovably  on  our  immortal  Faith,  which  we  have 
neither  the  right  nor  the  disposition  to  surrender.'' 

One  practical   outcome   of    the  agitation  was,   that 
on    the    following  day   a  great  meeting  was   held,  for 
private  conference,  of  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
w 


338  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

land,  clerical  and  lay,  and  representatives  from  all  the 
orthodox  Nonconformists  in  London — "  all  who  held 
the  Head — the  great  truths  of  Christ's  gospel." 

March  20th.  ...  It  was  to  see  whether  we  could  not,  under  God's 
blessing,  lay  aside  our  minor  differences  and  make  a  common  front 
against  a  common  enemy.  Met  at  eleven  o'clock  at  an  hotel  in  the 
Adelphi — everything  prospered ;  the  Divine  Hand  was  manifest  in 
the  fervour,  earnestness,  self-control,  and  mutual  goodwill  of  the 
assembly.  It  was  a  noble  and  a  Protestant  sight,  and  illustrated  the 
Apostle's  benediction,  '  Grace  be  with  all  those  that  love  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.' 

A  committee  was  formed  to  consider  modes  of  opera- 
tion, and,  at  Lord  Ashley's  suggestion,  to  endeavour  to 
include  the  Protestants  of  every  nation,  and  the  result 
was  the  formation  of  a  vigorous  Protestant  association. 

Another  outcome  of  the  agitation  is  thus  referred 

to  :— 

April  8th. — Archdeacon  Manning  has  joined  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  four  clergymen  in  Leeds  have  done  the  same.  Lord, 
purge  the  Church  of  those  men,  who,  while  their  hearts  are  in  the 
Vatican,  still  eat  the  bi-ead  of  the  Establishment  and  undermine 
her  ! 

The  further  story  of  the  unfortunate  "  Ecclesiastical 
Titles  Bill  "  may  be  briefly  told  here.  It  was  elaborately 
discussed  in  Committee,  and  then  read  a  third  time  on 
July  the  3rd,  after  which  the  Lords  dealt  with  it  in  due 
course.  But  the  later  stages  of  the  measure  were  not 
marked  by  any  of  the  old  enthusiasm.  It  became  law, 
and  then,  curiously  enough,  "  no  one  seemed  one  penny 
the  worse  or  better,"  and  Englishmen  freely  used,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  the  territorial  titles  which  had  put 
the  nation  into  such  a  nutter  only  a  few  months  before. 


1851.]  THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    TITLES    BILL.  339 

Twenty  years  afterwards  the  Act  was  repealed,  though 
the  illegality  of  the  titles  was  again  explicitly  affirmed. 

Before  passing  away  from  this  subject,  it  may  be 
stated  here,  that,  throughout  this  controversy,  and  at  all 
times,  Lord  Ashley  was  scrupulously  careful  to  main- 
tain a  wide  distinction  between  the  Roman  Catholic 
priesthood  and  laity,  and  any  "  violence  "  of  language 
he  ever  used,  was  directed  against  the  former,  while 
to  the  latter  he  was  invariably  tolerant.  Passages 
innumerable  from  his  public  speeches  and  private 
writings  could  be  quoted,  were  proof  necessary ;  and 
as  the  charge  of  "  never  being  able  to  see  good  in 
any  save  those  of  his  own  way  of  thinking  "  was  not 
unfrequently  brought  against  him,  it  may  be  well  to 
show  that  this  was  unfounded.  He  warmly  supported 
Mrs.  Chisholm,  and  attended,  from  time  to  time,  her 
"  group  meetings  "  of  emigrants.  "  This  is  a  novel  and 
most  admirable  scheme  of  colonisation,"  he  writes  in  his 
Diary,  July  17th;  "but  many  people  suspect  that  the 
Devil  is  in  it,  and  that  Mrs.  Chisholm,  who  is  a  Papist, 
has  no  views  but  the  extension  of  Romanism."  Referr- 
ing to  the  self-devotion  of  Roman  Catholics  to  the  great 
works  of  charity  and  love,  he  said :  "  I  can  speak  with 
no  disparagement  of  those  sisters  of  charity  and  mercy 
who,  in  long  black  gowns,  perambulate  our  streets ;  I 
speak  of  them  with  deep  respect ;  engaged,  as  they  are, 
in  works  of  compassion,  goodness,  and  tenderness ;  but 
I  maintain  that  in  our  own  Protestant  faith  we  have 
sisters  of  mercy  to   vie  with  them."  *     In  a  speech  at 

*  Ragged  School  Union,  May  11th,  1838. 

w  2 


340  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBUEY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

St.  James's  Hall,  in  defence  of  voluntary  schools,  lie  said: 
"  I  confess  that  I  sympathise  with  the  Roman  Catholics 
in  this  matter  ;  it  is  natural  and  just  that  the}^  should 
insist  on  the  full  teaching  of  all  the  points  essential  to 
their  faith  ;   they  must  insist   upon   a  distinctive  teach- 
ing in  religious  matters."     Again,  in  a  speech  protesting 
against  the   exclusion    or    discouragement    of   religious 
teaching  in  schools  aided  by  grants  from  the  State,  he 
said  :  "  I  would  rather  have  any  form  of  religious  teach- 
ing when  there  is  something  definite,  though  there  may 
be  only  a  particle    of    what    is  true.      I    would  much 
rather  children  went  to  almost  any  other  kind  of  school 
than  to  one  where  religious  teaching  was  prohibited.     I 
would  much  rather  be  a  Papist  than  a  Positivist,  and  I, 
for  one,  will  accept  and  believe  the  syllabus  of  Eome 
in  preference  to  the   syllabus  of  Birmingham."      And 
again  on   the  same   subject  in  another  place :  "  What- 
ever I  may  think  of  their   system  in  other   respects, 
the    Roman    Catholics  have,  I  must  say,   always   been 
true    to    the    great   principle   that    religion    should   be 
the    alpha    and  omega  of   education,    and    they  shrink 
with    horror    from    the    very    notion    of     a    place    of 
education  where  religion  is  not  the  primary  considera- 
tion." 

In  things  spiritual,  however,  it  was  utterly  impos- 
sible that  he  could  have  any  "  fellowship  "  with  Eoman 
Catholics,  and  in  his  opening  meditation  in  the  Diary  for 
the  year  1S51 — the  year  of  Anti-Papal  controversy — 
he  defines  the  principle  which  governed  him.  He 
writes : — 


1851.]  TEE    GREAT   EXHIBITION.  341 

Jan.  5th. — Broadlands.  Sunday.  'Grace  be  with  all  them  that 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.'  This  shows  clearly  not 
only  what  is  permitted,  but  what  is  enjoined,  in  the  walk  of  Christian 
labour ; — to  wish  '  God  speed  '  to  all  such,  and  to  give  them  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  in  all  works  of  love  and  charity.  This  overrides 
all  ecclesiastical  differences,  all  distinctions  of  form  and  human 
arrangement,  all  the  modes  and  varieties  of  non-essentials ;  but  it 
demands  the  full  belief  of  evangelical  truth,  the  joyous  reception 
of  Christ's  blessed  Atonement,  His  perfect  work,  His  everlasting 
dominion,  His  faith,  His  fear.  His  love.  It  binds  us  to  the  true 
believers  of  the  Lutheran  and  Presbyterian  Churches ;  it  binds  us  to 
the  pious  Nonconformists  of  England,  to  the  Henrys  and  Doddridges 
wherever  they  be  ;  but  it  does  not  bind  us — does  it  not  even  separate 
us — from  those  who  'hold  not  the  Head  '  in  obedience  and  childlike 
humility. 

The  Great  Exhibition,  which  was  opened  in  Hyde 
Park  on  the  1  st  of  May  in  this  year,  and  which  brought 
so  much  pleasure  to  many,  brought  to  Lord  Ashley  a 
considerable  amount  of  work.  The  religious  societies 
desired  to  make  it  the  occasion,  while  so  many  foreigners 
were  in  the  land,  of  pressing  the  claims  of  the  Gospel 
in  various  ways,  and  it  had  by  this  time  come  to  be 
recognised  that,  if  anything  good  was  to  be  done,  Lord 
Ashley  must  have  a  prominent  share  in  the  doing  of  it. 

A  great  many  new  undertakings,  and  developments 
of  old  ones,  marked  this  period.  For  example  :  On 
November  28th,  1850,  a  meeting  of  delegates  of  Eagged 
Schools  was  held  in  Field  Lane  Schoolroom,  Lord 
Ashley  in  the  chair,  to  consider  the  means  by  which  boys 
might  get  new  employment  when  the  "  Great  Exhibi- 
tion of  1 851  should  bring  thousands  of  foreigners  to 
London. 

Three     Eagged    School    teachers  —  Messrs.    John 


342  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

MacGregor  ("Eob  Boy"),  E.  J.  Snape,  and  J.  E.  F. 

Fowler,  on  their  way  home  from  that  meeting,  crossed 
over  Holborn,  arm-in-arm,  when  a  bright  thought  flashed 
into  the  mind  of  Mr.  MacGregor,  who  said,  "  Why  not 
make  some  of  our  boys  into  shoeblacks  for  the 
foreigners,  to  employ  in  the  streets  ?  " 

The  thought  at  once  ripened  into  action ;  ten 
shillings  were  subscribed  on  the  spot ;  and  the  next  day 
the  plan  was  submitted  to  Lord  Aside}7-,  and  obtained 
his  hearty  approval  and  support.  By  the  1st  May 
regular  "  stations ''  were  established,  and,  during  the 
continuance  of  the  Exhibition,  twenty-five  boys  cleaned 
101,000  pairs  of  shoes,  for  which  the  public  paid  £500. 

The  success  of  the  scheme  was  ensured  ;  from  year 
to  year  improvements  and  extensions  were  made,  and 
to-day  the  Shoe  Black  Brigade  is  one  of  the  permanent 
institutions  of  the  land.  From  first  to  last,  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury was  a  staunch  friend  to  the  Brigade,  and  although 
not  the  originator — as  we  have  seen — he  was  always 
regarded  as  one  of  the  "  Fathers  "  of  the  movement. 

The  story  of  Lord  Ashley's  efforts  to  obtain  a  place 
in  the  Great  Exhibition  for  the  display  of  the  transla- 
tions of  the  Bible  made  by  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  may  be  told  in  his  own  words  : — 

There  was  a  great  struggle  to  obtain  a  proper  place  for  the  great 
works  achieved  by  the  Bible  Society.  There  was  no  difficulty  what- 
ever in  obtaining  abundant  space  for  all  the  implements  of  war  and 
of  human  destruction  that  the  mind  of  man  could  imagine  ;  a  large 
proportion  of  the  Exhibition  was  taken  up  with  guns,  cannons, 
torpedoes,  every  thing  that  could  annoy  and  desolate  mankind.  It 
was  suggested  that  we  should  erect  for  the  Bible  Society,  some  place 


1851.]  THE    GREAT   EXHIBITION.  343 

in  the  great  Exhibition  where  we  could  show  proofs  of  all  that  we 
had  done  to  the  praise  of  God,  and  all  we  were  capable  of  doing ; 
some,  however,  said  we  had  no  right  to  appear  before  the  public  in 
any  form  in  the  Exhibition.  I  had  a  long  interview  with  his  Royal 
Highness  the  Prince  Consort  on  the  subject,  and  he  took  the  view 
that  the  Bible  Society  had  no  right  to  a  position  there.  I  said, 
'  Putting  aside  the  religious  aspect  of  the  question,  I  will  put  it 
before  you  from  an  intellectual  point  of  view.  I  ask  you  whether  it 
is  not  a  wonderful  proof  of  intellectual  power  that  the  Word  of  God 
has  been  translated  into  170  distinct  languages,  and  into  230 
dialects  1  Is  it  not  proof  of  great  intellectual  power  that  the  agents 
of  the  Bible  Society  have  given  a  written  character  to  upwards  of 
thirty  distinct  languages,  enabling  all  those  people  to  read  the  Word 
of  God  in  their  own  tongue  1 '  He  said,  '  You  have  proved  your 
right  to  appear ;  it  is  a  great  intellectual  effort,  and  I  will  do  my 
best  to  secure  for  the  Society  such  a  position  that  their  deeds  shall 
be  made  known.'  * 

The  result  was,  that  a  position  was  eventually  secured, 
although  not  a  good  one. 

Lord  Ashley's  views  with  regard  to  the  great  Exhi- 
bition were  not  those  of  the  majority,  although  he 
shared  in  the  general  enthusiasm.     He  writes  : 

May  1st. — Queen  opened  Exhibition  amidst  at  least  one  million 
of  people ;  all,  God  be  praised,  tranquil,  joyous,  satisfied.  Such 
an  event  could  not  well  have  occurred  in  any  capital  of  Europe 
but  ours. 

May  17th. — Stole  two  hours  to-day  for  the  Exhibition.  Sun 
bright,  crowd  immense,  admiration,  almost  adoration,  unbounded 
amongst  them  !  All  are  carried  away  by  the  impulse  ;  and  not  a 
few  regard  it  as  the  highest  of  all  achievements,  and  the  proof  of  the 
perfectibility  of  the  human  race.  There  is  a  strong  tendency,  just 
now,  perhaps,  only  more  developed  than  at  any  other  times,  to 
estimate  the  moral  progress  of  man  by  his  intellectual,  scientific,  and 
material  advancement.     The  character  of  the  future  is   calculated 

*  Speech,  Bible  Society  (Kensington  Auxiliary),  March  9th,  1877. 


344  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

on  china-plates,  steam-engines,  brilliant  conceptions  and  skilful 
executions.  They  see  not  that  all  this  may  consist  with  the  hardest 
and  vilest  hearts.  Except  the  148  translations  of  the  Bible,  exhibited 
by  the  Society  (and  these  the  Commissioners  have  thrust  into  a 
remote  corner),  there  is  not  one  thing  to  distinguish  a  moral  from  a 
material  existence.,  a  Christian  from  a  heathen  generation.  And  yet 
we  are  told  that  this  '  great  fair '  is  to  show  the  world's  progress  ! 

In  April,  just  as  Lord  Ashley  was  on  the  point  of 
starting  for  a  visit  to  Paris,  a  deputation  waited  on  him 
to  offer  him  the  Presidency  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society.  He  urged  some  reasons  that  he  thought 
might  disqualify  him,  but,  eventually,  on  the  5th  May, 
accepted  the  office.  It  is  thus  referred  to  in  his  Diary  : — 

May  5th. — Received  a  deputation  this  morning  from  the  Committee 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  to  offer  me  the  post  of 
President,  vacant  by  the  death  of  Lord  Bexley.  It  was  headed  by 
Harrowby,  who  proposed  the  office  to  me  in  an  address  of  singular 
kindness.  There  were  also  Inglis,  Acland,  Lord  Cholmondeley, 
Mr.  Roberts,  Mr.  Foster,  and  the  clerical  Secretary,  Mr.  Browne. 
I  finally  accepted  the  offer,  having  referred  to  the  consideration  of 
the  Committee  the  fact  that  I  was  already  President  of  several 
important  Societies,  that  I  should  appear  a  monopolist  of  place  and 
power,  that  I  might  not  be  able  to  give  so  much  time  to  it  as  could  be 
wished.  I  left  it,  however,  in  their  hands ;  and,  imploring  God  to 
govern  all  to  His  will  and  honour,  went  to  Paris.  Thev  maintained 
their  invitation  and  waited  on  me  to-day.  I  should  have  been  grieved 
had  circumstances  prevented  my  elevation  to  that  high  post ;  it  is 
the  headship  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  of  the  Societies ;  and  I  am 
not  indifferent  either  to  the  honour  or  the  utility  of  the  position  ! 
Grant  me,  O  Lord,  Thy  grace,  and  uphold  me  in  the  work. 

On  the  2nd  of  May  Lord  Ashley  wrote  in  his  Diary  : 
"  I  have  before  me  those  terrible  '  May  chairs  ' — always 
the  most  difficult  of  one's  labours."  The  meetings  during 
this  year  were,  however,  exceptionally  good,  and,  owing 


1851.1     MADE  PRESIDENT  OF   THE  BIBLE   SOCIETY.       345 

to  the  Papal  aggression,  were  of  a  staunchly  Protestant 
character.  One  of  the  most  interesting  was  that  of  the 
Bible  Society,  when  Lord  Ashley  took  the  chair  for  the 
first  time  as  President.  In  moving  a  resolution  that 
the  meeting  should  unite  in  "  expressing  their  best 
wishes  that  the  blessing  of  God  might  rest  upon  the  new 
President  and  upon  his  efforts  in  connection  with  this 
Society,"  the  Earl  of  Harrowby,  turning  to  Lord  Ashley, 
said — 

I  am  sure,  my  Lord,  that  you  will  not  hold  cheap  the  honour  which 
has  been  conferred  upon  you.  I  do  conceive  that  it  is  the  highest 
honour  which  could  be  conferred  on  a  Christian  man.  As  it  is 
accounted  the  highest  honour  to  be  an  Englishman  amongst  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  so  I  conceive  that  it  is  the  highest  honour 
within  the  realm  of  England  to  be  the  representative  of  her  religious 
principles  and  feelings ;  and  I  believe  that  there  is  not,  within  the 
realm  of  England,  a  man  who  enjoys  the  general  approbation  of  his 
fellow-citizens  more  than  your  Lordship.  In  your  Lordship  are  com- 
bined all  the  requisites  for  advancing  the  social  interests  of  your 
fellow-countrymen  in  their  widest  ramifications ;  and  you  have 
pursued  your  course  undeterred  by  difficulties,  by  opposition,  by 
sneers ;  uninjured  by  popularity,  uninfluenced  by  the  fear  of  un- 
popularity ;  and,  throughout,  your  conduct  has,  I  am  convinced,  been 
based  on  the  deepest  personal  religious  convictions. 

In  a  brief  speech  at  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting 
Lord  Ashley  said  : — 

When  I  reflect  that  the  honour  and  safety  of  this  nation  are 
its  religious  principles,  and  that  our  religious  societies  are  the  repre- 
sentation and  reflex  of  those  principles,  I  feel  very  deeply  the  honour 
of  being  called  upon  to  preside  over  the  greatest  and  best  of  those 
Societies.  It  is  an  honour  to  which  I  should  not  have  ventured  to 
aspire  ;  biit,  having  been  raised  to  it  by  your  voluntary  suffrages,  I  do 
feel  gratified,  nay,    more  than  gratified ;  it  is  heart-stirring  to  one 


34fi  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX- 

who,  by   the  blessing  of  God,  has  attempted  to  do  something  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  his  fellow-men. 

Ill  concluding,  he  expressed  his  special  pleasure  in 
being  identified  with  the  Bible  Society,  on  the  ground 

That  it  is  catholic  in  its  character,  catholic  in  all  its  operations ; 
that  it  enables  vis  to  form  in  these  realms,  in  times  of  singular 
distress  and  difficulty,  a  solemn  league  and  covenant  of  all  those  who 
'  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  ; '  that  it  shows  how,  sup- 
pressing all  minor  differences,  or  treating  them  as  secondary,  members 
of  the  Church  of  England  and  Nonconformists  may  blend  together 
in  one  great  effort.  I  do  thank  God  that  this  Society  brings  us 
into  co-operation  with  our  fellow-men  of  every  nation  and  of  every 
clime ;  that  it  binds  us  heart  and  soul  to  our  American  brethren — 
those  noble  specimens  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  in  moral  energy  and 
in  physical  development ;  nay,  more,  that  it  binds  together  Pro- 
testants on  the  Continent  and  in  the  world  ;  all,  in  short,  who  hold 
'  one  Lord,  one  faith,  and  one  baptism,'  and  who  are  prepared  to 
maintain  tlie  great  truth  established  at  the  Reformation  that  the 
Bible  and  the  Bible  alone,  is  the  religion  of  Protestants. 

The  office  thus  entered  upon,  was  retained  to  the 
end  of  Lord  Shaftesbury's  life.  In  1SS5  he  spoke 
at  the  annual  meeting  for  the  last  time,  and  through- 
out that  long  period  he  never  wavered  or  faltered  in 
any  step  that  might  promote  its  welfare. 

There  were  several  new  measures  which  Lord  Ashley 
was  anxious  to  introduce,  and  had  for  some  time  past 
been  carefully  preparing.  It  was  only  by  the  most 
persistent  economy  of  time,  and  the  complete  surrender 
of  himself  to  perpetual  labour,  that  it  was  possible  for 
him  to  do  so,  but  he  persevered.  It  was  not  in  the  nature 
of  things  that  he  could  be  much  longer  in  the  House 
of  Commons  ;  his  father  had  entered  upon  his  eighty- 
third  year,   and  was  showing  signs  of  failing  strength  ; 


1851.]  COMMON  LODGING-HOUSES.  347 

and  Lord  Ashley  was  anxious  to  do  as  much  as  possible 
of  the  work  he  had  set  before  himself,  while  his  oppor- 
tunity lasted,  and  before  he  should,  to  use  his  own 
words,  be  "  consigned  to  the  helplessness  and  indolence 
of  the  House  of  Lords." 

On  April  the  8th  he  introduced  into  the  House  of 
Commons  a  Bill  to  "  Encourage  the  Establishment  of 
Lodging-Houses  for  the  Working  Classes."  In  this 
Bill  it  was  proposed  that  towns  or  parishes  having  a 
population  of  10,000,  or  over,  should  be  enabled  to  build 
Model  Lodging-Houses,  and  raise  money  and  defray 
expenses  from  the  rates.  In  moving  for  leave  to  bring  in 
the  Bill,  Lord  Ashley  drew  upon  his  long  experience, 
and  graphically  described  the  overcrowded  state  of 
lodging-houses  both  in  London  and  in  certain  other 
lar«-e  towns.  Bad  as  was  the  case  of  those  who  consti- 
tuted  what  might  be  termed  the  stationary  population 
— many  of  whom  herded  in  rooms  occupied  by  a  family 
in  each  corner  and  another  family  in  the  middle,  to  the 
destruction  of  all  decency  and  morality,  and  rendering 
education  and  moral  elevation  impossible — the  case  of 
the  migratory  population,  those  who  flitted  from  one 
lodging-house  to  another,  was  far  worse,  as  he  gave 
ample  proof. 

To  one  phase  of  his  subject  he  drew  special  attention, 
namely,  the  effect  produced  by  clearances  and  altera- 
tions, made  with  the  view  of  beautifying  the  metropolis, 
on  the  housing  accommodation  of  the  working  classes : — 

When    the    great    thoroughfare    of    '  New  Oxford   Street '    was 
opened,  a  great  number  of  wretched  dwellings  were  cleared  away, 


348  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX 

and  no  provision  was  made  for  the  accommodation  of  those  inhabi- 
tants who  were  displaced,  so  that,  while  the  formation  of  that  street 
added  to  the  beauty  of  the  town,  it  had  the  effect  of  exaggerating 
the  evil  that  pressed  on  the  humbler  classes.      There  was  a  district 
in  Bloomsbury  called  Church  Lane,  one  of  the  filthiest  that  existed 
in  the  metropolis,  and  one  of  the  most  unsafe  to  visit,  from  the  con- 
stant prevalence  of  fever.   It  was  examined  in  1 848  by  the  Statistical 
Society,  whose  Committee  stated   in  their  report  that  it  presented 
— 'A    picture  in   detail   of  human   wretchedness,   filth,   and    brutal 
degradation.      In  these  wretched  dwellings,  all  ages  and  both  sexes, 
fathers   and   daughters,   mothers   and    sons,  grown-up  brothers  and 
sisters,  the    sick,  dying,  and  dead,  are  herded  together.      Take  an 
instance:  House  No.  2  :  size  of  room,  14  feet  long,  13  feet  broad, 
6   feet  high  ;  rent  8s.   for  two  rooms  per  week — under- rent,   3d.  a 
night  for  each  adult.     Number  of  families,   3  :  8  males  above   20 ; 
5  females  above  20  ;  4  males  under  20  ;  5  females  under  20  ;  total, 
22  souls.     Landlady  receives  18s.  a  week  ;  thus  a  clear  profit  of  10s. 
State  of  rooms,  filthy.'     Now,  the  average  number  of  persons  in  each 
house  in  Church  Lane  was  24  in  1S41  ;  but  when  an  examination  took 
place  in  the  end  of  1847,  the  average  was  40  persons  to  each  house  ; 
and  I  desire  particularly  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the 
fact  that  the   parties  who  had   swelled   those  numbers  were  people 
displaced   along  that  line   of   street    occupied   now  as  New  Oxford 
Street, — displaced  in  consequence  of  the  formation  and  beautifying 
of  that    thoroughfare.       When  great  improvements  are  in  progress 
it  is  a  matter  for  consideration  whether  provision  ought  not  to  be 
made  for  the  accommodation  of  those  removed,   not  only  for  their 
own  sakes,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  community,  who  are  exposed  to 
peculiar  danger  from   the   confluence   of    many  persons  into  places 
which  foster  typhus  and  cholera.      Now,  to  give  a  summary  of  the 
state  of  the  country,  I  may  mention  that  the  inspectors  of  the  Board 
of  Health  have  examined  161  populous  places,  the  aggregate  popu- 
lation being  1,912,599  ;  and,  without  exception,  one  uniform  state- 
ment has  been  made  with  respect  to  the  domiciliary  condition  of 
large  masses  of  the  workpeople — that  it    is  of   one  and  the  same 
disgusting  character. 

Of  the  benefits  of  model  lodging-houses  Lord  Ashley 

could  also  speak  from  personal  experience,  and  he  told 


1851.]  MODEL    LODGING-HOUSES.  349 

the  House  of  the  cheerful  punctuality  with  which  the 
rents  were  paid ;  the  general  freedom  from  disease  ;  the 
accommodation  that  made  it  possible  for  men  to  enjoy 
staying  at  home  instead  of  passing  their  leisure  hours 
in  the  beer-shops  ;  the  ample  space  for  children  to  play, 
instead  of  running  wild  in  the  streets  ;  the  lower  rents 
for  comfort  and  cleanliness,  than  had  previously  been 
paid  for  filth  and  wretchedness.  It  was  impossible, 
however,  that  private  speculation  could  ever  effect  the 
end  in  view,  as  the  temptation  to  make  inordinate 
profits  had  always  proved  irresistible.  Referring  to  the 
houses  erected  by  the  "  Society  for  Improving  the  Con- 
dition of  the  Labouring  Classes,"  he  said : — 

That  Society  has  expended  £20,750  in  building  and  fitting  up 
new  piles  of  model  houses,  and  £2,250  in  improving,  adapting,  and 
fitting  up  ranges  of  old  dwellings,  making  together  an  expenditure  of 
£23,000.  The  net  return  on  the  same,  after  deducting  all  incidental 
expenses,  including  those  of  management  and  ordinary  repairs, 
average  6  per  cent. 

In  concluding  his  speech,  he  urged  the  House  to 
take  up  this  matter,  which  had  excited  the  interest  of 
all  civilised  Europe,  from  parts  of  which,  as  well  as 
from  America,  letters  had  been  received,  asking  for  plans 
and  reports  on  the  subject.  He  was  certain  that  he 
spoke  the  truth — and  a  truth  which  would  be  confirmed 
by  the  testimony  of  all  experienced  persons,  clergy, 
medical  men,  all  who  were  conversant  with  the  working 
classes — that,  until  their  domiciliary  condition  were 
Christianised  (he  could  use  no  less  forcible  a  term),  all- 
hope  of  moral  or  social  improvement  was  utterly  vain. 


350  TEE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Ohap.  XIX. 

Though  not  the  sole,  it  was  one  of  the  prime  sources  of 
the  evils  that  beset  their  condition ;  it  generated  disease, 
ruined  whole  families  by  the  intemperance  it  promoted, 
cut  off,  or  crippled,  thousands  in  the  vigour  of  life,  and 
filled  the  workhouses  with  widows  and  orphans.* 

A  few  days  afterwards,  Lord  Ashley  introduced  a 
Bill  for  the  Regulation  and  Inspection  of  Common 
Lodging-Houses — houses  where  individuals,  or  families, 
were  received  by  the  night.  It  was  accepted  without 
any  preliminary  remarks,  it  being  generally  known  and 
acknowledged  that  the  state  of  them,  both  morally 
and  physically,  was  most  pernicious. 

It  was  when  these  two  Bills  were  passing  the  Com- 
mons that  an  event  occurred,  not  altogether  unexpected, 
although  it  came  suddenly  at  the  last.  It  is  referred  to 
in  the  Diary  thus  : — 

June  1st,  Sunday. — Received  at  half-past  five  this  morning  in- 
telligence of  my  father  being  dangerously  ill.  A  train  starts  at  nine, 
and  I  must  go  by  it. 

June  2nd. — St.  Giles's.  My  father  died  this  morning,  at  seven 
o'clock,  having  suffered  no  pain,  but  unconscious  to  the  last.  Harriet 
and  her  daughter,  John,  and  William  Avere  present.  Now  I  enter 
on  a  new  career,  one  to  which  I  am  little  adapted.  Parliamentary 
business  and  city  duties  are  my  calling.  How  can  I,  at  fifty  years 
of  age,  learn  other  things  1  Land,  rent,  &c.  &c,  are  as  Arabic  to  me. 
But  the  issues  of  life  and  death  are  in  the  Lord's  hand  ;  He,  there- 
fore, has  determined  ;  and  my  prayer  now  is  that  He  will  sanctify 
it  to  me,  and  that,  whether  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  conspicuous 
or  obscure,  I  may  do  His  blessed  will,  serve  my  generation,  and  then 
fall  on  sleep. 

June  6th,  St.  Giles's. — Ah,  my  poor  father  !  I  bless  Thee,  O 
Lord,  that  I   was  here  to  say  '  Lord  Jesus,  receive  his  spirit,'  and 

*  Hausard,  cxv.  1258. 


1851.]        CBOPLEY,  SIXTH  EARL  OF  SHAFTESBURY.         351 

close  his  eyes.  (Kissed  yesterday  the  lips  of  darling  Minny's  bust, 
the  bust  of  my  precious  wife  in  her  youth  and  beauty,  but  just  as 
beautiful  to  me  now,  though  twenty  years  have  passed.) 

June  10th. — Yesterday,  my  poor  father  committed  to  the  grave. 
All  was  simple,  decent,  impressive — no  show,  no  hearse,  no  horses, 
as  he  desired  ;  but  there  was  much  respect  and  reverence. 

Cropley  Ashley  Cooper,  sixth  Earl  of  Shaftesbury, 
was  the  second  son  of  the  fourth  earl,  and  was  born 
December  21st,  1768.  He  was  educated  at  Winchester, 
from  whence  he  passed  to  Christchurch,  Oxford,  where 
he  took  his  B.A.  degree  in  1787.  At  the  general  elec- 
tion of  1790,  just  after  coming  of  age,  he  was  elected  by 
the  town  of  Dorchester  to  be  its  representative  in  Par- 
liament, and  he  held  this  position  until  his  succession, 
in  1811,  to  the  earldom.  Soon  after  taking  his  seat  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  he  filled  the  office  of  Chairman 
of  Committees  during  the  temporary  illness  of  Lord 
Walsingham  ;  and  he  performed  these  duties  with  such 
marked  ability,  that,  in  November,  1814,  he  was  per- 
manently appointed  to  that  office,  and  was  sworn  of 
the  Privy  Council  at  Carlton  House. 

Hansard  reports  but  few  of  his  utterances  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  yet  for  many  years  no  peer's  voice 
was  heard  so  frequently.  The  duties  of  his  office  as 
Chairman  of  Committees  were  very  considerable.  The 
functions  which,  in  the  other  House,  were  divided 
amongst  the  Chairman  of  Committees,  the  Speaker's 
Council,  and  the  two  Examiners  of  Petitions,  were  for 
nearly  forty  years  ably  fulfilled  in  the  House  of  Lords 
by  "  old  "  Lord  Shaftesbury,  as  he  was  generally  known, 
although  he  showed  no  signs  of  age  in  his  conduct  of 


352  TEE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

pressing  business.  His  uncompromising  impartiality, 
joined  to  his  strong  common  sense,  and  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  statute  law,  made  him  completely 
absolute  in  his  own  department.  When  he  had  once 
heard  a  case,  and  had  deliberately  given  his  judgment 
upon  it,  he  expected,  and  as  a  rule  obtained,  implicit 
submission  from  all  concerned.  Unfortunately,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  carried  these  autocratic  habits  into 
domestic  life,  where  he  was  more  feared  than  loved. 

There  are  not  many  instances  of  an  active  part 
being  taken  in  the  business  of  a  deliberative  assembly 
by  men  above  the  age  of  seventy-five ;  but  in  the  case  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  these  labours  were  continued  beyond 
that  of  fourscore.  He  seemed  very  little  less  efficient 
in  the  later  period  of  his  life  than  in  the  earlier.  "  By 
the  time  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fifty — which  was 
about  half-way  through  the  fifteen  years  that  Lord 
Liverpool's  Ministry  held  the  government  —  Lord 
Shaftesbury's  knowledge  of  his  duties  as  Chairman 
to  the  Lords  was  complete,  and  then  he  appeared  to 
settle  down  in  life,  with  the  air,  the  habits,  the  modes 
of  thought  and  action  natural  to  old  age.  He  was 
certainly  a  man  of  undignified  presence,  of  indistinct 
and  hurried  speech,  of  hasty  and  brusque  manner  ;  but 
there  was  a  general  impression  that  the  House  of  Lords 
could  not  have  had  a  more  efficient  Chairman.  In  the 
formal  business  of  Committees  he  rarely  allowed  them  to 
make  a  mistake,  while  he  was  prompt,  as  well  as  safe,  in 
devising  the  most  convenient  mode  of  carrying  any 
principle  into    practical  effect.     He   was   no   theorist ; 


1851.]       CROPLEY,    SIXTH   EARL    OF  SHAFTESBURY.        353 

there  was  nothing  of  the  speculative  philosopher  in  the 
constitution  of  his  mind ;  and  he  therefore  readily 
gained  credit  for  being,  what  he  really  was — an  excellent 
man  of  business.  In  dealing  with  minute  distinctions 
and  mere  verbal  emendations,  a  deliberative  assembly 
sometimes  loses  its  way,  and  members  sometimes  ask  : 
'  What  is  it  we  are  about  ?  '  This  was  a  question  which 
Lord  Shaftesbury  usually  answered  with  great  prompti- 
tude and  perspicuity,  rarely  failing  to  put  the  question 
before  their  lordships  in  an  unmistakable  form. 
Another  valuable  quality  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  as  a 
Chairman,  consisted  in  his  impatience  of  prosy,  un- 
profitable talk,  of  which,  doubtless,  there  is  compara- 
tively little  in  the  Upper  House,  but  even  that  little  he 
laboured  to  make  less,  by  occasionally  reviving  attention 
to  the  exact  points  at  issue,  and  sometimes,  by  an  ex- 
cusable manoeuvre,  shutting  out  opportunity  for  useless 
discussion.  When  he  sat  on  the  Woolsack  as  Speaker, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Lord  Chancellor,  he  deported 
himself  after  the  manner  of  Chancellors ;  but  when  he 
got  into  his  proper  element  at  the  table  of  the  House, 
nothing  could  be  more  rapid  than  his  evolutions — no 
hesitation,  no  dubiety  ;  nor  would  he  allow  any  one 
else  to  pause  or  doubt.  Often  has  he  been  heard  to  say, 
in  no  very  gentle  tones  :  '  Give  me  that  clause  now,' 
'  That's  enough,'  '  It  will  do  very  well  as  it  is/  '  If 
you  have  anything  further  to  propose,  move  it  at  once,' 
'  Gret  through  the  Bill  now,  and  bring  that  up  on  the 
third  reading.'  He  always  made  their  lordships  feel 
that  come  what  might,  it  was  their  duty  to  'get 
x 


354  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

through  the  Bill;'  and  so  expeditious  was  the  old 
Earl,  that  he  would  get  out  of  the  chair,  bring  up  his 
Report,  and  move  the  House  into  another  Committee, 
in  the  short  time  that  sufficed  for  the  Chancellor  to 
transfer  himself  from  the  Woolsack  to  the  Treasury 
Bench  and  back  again."* 

During  the  later  years  of  his  life,  and  especially 
during  the  prevalence  of  the  great  railway  mania  of 
1S44 — 46,  the  labours  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  in  connection 
with  railways  were  enormous.  He  materially  aided  in 
reducing  to  a  system,  the  laws  and  regulations  of  the 
House  of  Lords  on  this  important  subject.  It  was 
generally  allowed  that  the  speed  with  which  he  passed 
unopposed  Bills  through  Committee,  was  something 
marvellous.  On  questions  of  parliamentary  law  and 
usage  his  authority  was  unquestioned. 

The  Earl  was  nearly  eigMy -three  years  of  age 
when,  at  the  opening  of  the  Session  of  Parliament  in 
February,  1851,  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  informed 
their  Lordships  that  he  had  received  a  communication 
from  their  Chairman  of  Committee  stating  that  "  from 
his  a^e  and  infirmities  he'  felt  himself  unable  to  con- 
tinue  the  duties  of  the  office."  Lord  Stanley,  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  the  Earl  of  Harrowby,  and  others,  bore 
testimony  to  his  ability  and  unswerving  integrity  and 
firmness,  and  the  Duke  of  Eichmond,  in  alluding  to  his 
well-known  characteristics,  said :  "  I  have  seen  attempts 
to  influence  Lord  Shaftesbury  in  matters  relating  to 
private   Bills,  and  he  invariably  followed  what  was  a 

*  "  Annual  Register,  1851,"  p.  292. 


1851.]  A  NEW  NAME  AND  A  NEW  CAREER.  355 

very  good  plan,  for  he  answered,  '  I  shall  do  no  such 
thing.'  He  kept  the  attorneys  and  agents  in  very  good 
order,  for,  when  they  once  got  a  good  dressing  from 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  they  never  made  any  such  attempts 
again.    * 

"  And  now,"  wrote  Lord  Ashley,  on  the  day  of  his 
father's  funeral,  "  I  bear  a  new  name,  which  I  did  not 
covet;  and  enter  on  a  new  career,  which  may  God 
guide  and  sanctify.  If  I  can  by  His  grace  make  the 
new  as  favourably  known  as  the  old  name,  and  attain 
under  it  but  to  the  fringes  of  His  honour  and  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind,  I  shall  indeed  have  much  to  be 
thankful  for." 

"What  had  been  achieved  under  that  old  name  can- 
not possibly  be  better  told  than  in  his  own  words, 
written  during  the  preceding  Christmas-tide,  and  cer- 
tainly no  more  appropriate  words  could  be  found  with 
which  to  close  the  story  of  this  part  of  his  career : — 

Dec.  25th. — Christmas  Day.  Broadlancls.  It  would  be  curious 
to  take  an  impartial  review,  if  I  could,  of  what  I  have  gained,  by 
many  years  of  toil,  for  myself,  for  the  public,  and,  may  I  say  it  1  for 
the  cause  of  our  blessed  Master. 

I. — What  have  I  gained  for  the  public  ?  that  is,  according  to  my 
own  estimation,  for  many  will  say,  in  the  language  of  Scripture, 
that  my  doings  have  only  'gained  them  a  harm  and  loss.' 

1.  Seventeen  years  of  labour  and  anxiety  obtained  the  Lunacy 
Bill  in  1845,  and  five  years'  increased  labour  since  that  time  has 
carried  it  into  operation.  It  has  effected,  I  know,  prodigious  relief, 
has  forced  the  construction  of  many  public  asylums,  and  greatly 
multiplied  inspection  and  care.  Much,  alas !  remains  to  be  done, 
and  much  will  remain  ;  and  that  much  will,   in  the  estimation   of 

*  Hansard,  3  s.,  cxiv.  47. 

x  2 


356  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

the  public,  who  know  little  and  inquire  less,  overwhelm  the  good,  the 
mighty  good  that  has  been  the  fruit. 

2.  Seventeen  years,  from  1833  to  1850,  obtained  the  Factory 
Bill.  The  labour  of  three  hundx-ed  thousand  persons,  male  and 
female,  has  been  reduced  within  reasonable  limits,  and  full  forty 
thousand  children  under  13  years  of  age,  attend  school  for  three 
hours  every  day  '  Let  the  people  themselves,  let  the  reports  of  the 
Inspectors,  let  the  records  of  bygone  days,',  be  heard  against  the  con- 
tempt, the  misrepresentation,  the  ignorance,  the  hatred  of  those  who 
ojjposed  or  discouraged  me. 

3.  A  Commission  moved  for  in  1841  reported  in  1842,  and  in 
1843  passed  a  Bill  to  forbid  labour  of  females  in  Mines  and 
Collieries.  No  one  can  deny  the  blessed  results  of  this  measure  ;  my 
persecutors,  therefore,  admitting  the  good,  attack  the  principle,  and 
question  the  wisdom  of  obtaining  happy  ends  by  such  means. 

4.  In  1845  passed  Bill  to  regulate  and  limit  labour  of  children 
and  women  in  Print-works.  Cobden  even  supported  me  here. 
Necessarily  an  imperfect  measure,  but  yet  productive  of  some  good. 

5.  Had  main  share  (though  the  honour  went  to  another)  in  pre- 
paration of  Interment  Bill,  and  carrying  it  through  the  House. 

6.  Address  and  grant  of  Royal  Commission  for  Subdivison  of 
large  Parishes.     Result  yet  to  be  tried. 

7.  Two  years  of  intense  labour,  without  pay,  on  Board  of  Health, 
specially  in  season  of  cholera,  and  lately  on  Water-Supply  to 
Metropolis. 

8.  Say  nothing,  perhaps,  of  failures,  though  they  were  intended 
for  public  service,  and  received  some  approbation : — Motions  on  Opium 
Trade,  Education,  Poor-laws,  and  Sunday  Post-office  ;  nor  of  share 
taken  in  general  debates  on  subjects  of  vital  interest. 

9.  This  for  Parliament.  Out  of  it  have  spared  no  trouble  nor 
expense  (and  both  have  been  excessive)  for  Ragged  Schools,  Model 
Lodging-houses,  Malta  College,  Emigration  Committees,  and  meetings 
by  day  and  by  night  on  every  imaginable  subject. 

II. — What  gained  for  the  cause  of  our  blessed  Master  1  What- 
ever little,  if  any,  has  been  achieved,  it  has  been  by  God's  own  grace. 
To  Him  then  be  all  the  glory  ! 

Perhaps  we  may  rejoice  in  an  awakened  attention,  though  but 
partially  so,  to  the  wants  and  rights  of  the  poor  ;  to  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  rich ;  perhaps,  both  in  Parliament  and  out  of  it,  in  a 


1851.]  REVIEW  OF  PAST  ACHIEVEMENTS.  357 

freer,  safer  use  of  religious  sentiment  and  expression  ;  perhaps  in  an 
increased  effort  for  spiritual  things,  and  in  greatly  increased  oppor- 
tunities for  doing  and  receiving  good.  This,  alas  !  is  not  the  thing 
itself,  but  only  the  means  to  it.  It  is,  nevertheless,  all  that  we  can 
boast  of. 

III. — What  gained  for  myself  1 

1.  Peace  of  mind,  but  nothing  else.  Four  objects  may  be  said  to 
stir  the  action  of  public  men,  singly  or  combined  ;  money,  power, 
fame,  desire  to  do  good.  As  for  the  first,  I  had,  when  young,  three 
years  of  office  from  1828  to  1830,  and  then  three  months  from 
January  to  April,  in  1835  ;  the  rest  of  my  time  has  won  me 
nothing,  but  has,  rather,  been  sadly  expensive  to  me.  Declined,  in 
succession,  several  offices,  that  I  might  be  free  for  Factory  Bill. 

2.  Power  and  patronage.  Confess  I  should  have  desired  both, 
believing  (but  how  terrible  and  deep  is  self-deception  !)  that  I  should 
have,  through  faith  and  prayer,  exercised  power  well,  and  patronage 
to  the  welfare  of  important  interests  and  to  the  honour  and  comfort 
of  good  men.  But  have  obtained  neither  ;  have  never  held  any  post 
in  which  I  could  act  on  my  own  authority  ;  nor  ever  have  I  had  the 
disposal  of  a  single  place,  either  ecclesiastical  or  civil. 

3.  Influence  and  fame.  '  Your  influence,'  '  Your  commanding 
influence,'  &c.  &c,  I  am  constantly  hearing,  but  never  experiencing. 
In  a  long  public  life  I  have  obtained  three  cadetships  and  one 
surgeon's  appointment  for  the  sons  of  deserving  men  ;  one  living  from 
Lord  Chancellor  Lyndhurst  and  a  Commission  ship  in  Lunacy  from 
Lord  Chancellor  Cottenham,  for  persons  of  unrivalled  public  merits ; 
one,  too,  from  Lord  Carlisle  for  an  admirable  minister.  Is  my  in- 
fluence with  the  Government  1  What  do  I  avail,  and  what  is  their 
treatment  of  me  1  Is  it  with  the  Peel  party  1  I  lost  my  political 
connection  with  them  when  I  refused  office  and  urged  the  Factory 
Bill.  Is  it  with  the  Protectionists  1  I  lost  them  when  I  supported 
the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  Is  it  with  the  manufacturers  ?  They 
hate  me  for  the  Ten  Hours  Act.  Is  it  with  the  operatives  1  They 
forget  all  my  labour  of  love  in  the  middle  course  I  took  for  their 
welfare.  I  won  for  them  almost  everything ;  but  for  the  loss  of  that 
very  little,  they  regard  me  as  an  enemy  !  Is  it  with  the  Commons 
House  of  Parliament  1  Whatever  I  had  is  gone  :  I  had  once  the  ear 
of  the  assembly  ;  I  have  it  no  more.  Is  it  with  the  bishops  1  the  High 
Church,  the  Tractarians  1     Is  it  with  the  Low  Church  1     So  it  is  said, 


35S  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XIX. 

but  I  ask  the  proof  of  it.  Is  it  with  the  Press  1  Nearly  every  paper 
is  hostile ;  I  have  had  my  day  of  favour  ;  now  I  suffer  the  reverse.  They 
began  by  reviling  me,  they  now  ignore  me,  as  the  phrase  goes.  Is  it  a 
power  to  raise  money  for  charitable  purposes  1  Why,  Sidney  Herbert 
raised,  in  three  months,  nearly  as  much  as  I  have  raised  in  my  whole 
life.  Is  it  with  private  individuals  ]  Why,  who  attends  to  what  I 
do,  say,  or  think  1  except  to  mark  it  for  cavil  or  reproof.  Is  it  with 
my  friends  1  Alas,  how  few  can  be  trusted  in  the  hour  of  trial  ! 
My  curious  career,  too,  makes  me,  every  day,  new  enemies,  and  often- 
times alters  my  old  friends  !  Is  it  with  the  rich  1  God  knoweth.  Is 
it  with  the  poor  1  Yes,  so  far  as  a  few  shouts  go,  but  no  further  ! 
This  is  my  position  after  twenty  years  of  labour  !  I  began  in  the 
hope  that  many  of  the  aristocracy  would  first  follow  and  then  suc- 
ceed me.  Not  one  is  to  be  found ;  a  few,  at  my  request,  put  their 
hands  to  the  plough,  but  they  looked  back  and  return  not  to  the 
furrows. 

Then  how  stands  my  fame  ?  Well,  if  I  had  rested  on  this,  I 
should  'have  been,  indeed,  unblessed.'  What  I  have  is  notoriety, 
not  reputation.  I  have  a  name  that  everybody  knows,  '  a  household 
word,' writes  the  American  Minister,  Mr.  Lawrence,  tome,  'from 
New  York  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  ; '  but  a  name  that  every  one 
fires  at !  Some  dispute  my  judgment,  some  my  sincerity,  some  my 
courage  ;  some  think,  or  profess  to  think,  me  unworthy  of  their  notice  5 
some  call  me  '  well-intentioned  but  weak  ; '  others,  '  hypocritical  and 
canting ; '  some  hold  me  to  be  ruled  entirely  by  vanity,  others  con- 
sider me  a  mere  tool.  Now  and  then  I  make  a  speech  which  pro- 
duces an  effect,  and  I  get  some  praise  ;  but  the  speech  is  soon 
forgotten,  and  the  man  only  remembered  to  be  ti-eated  as  before.  A 
few,  no  doubt,  think  of  me,  and  speak  of  me,  kindly  ;  but  they  are 
rare  and  of  small  influence  in  the  stirring  world.  I  have  been  oddly 
and  antagonistically  viewed  :  Sir  J.  Graham,  when  Secretary  of  State, 
alluding  to  the  Factory  Bill,  said,  '  I  was  a  man  to  make  a  E evolu- 
tion '  (this  will  be  remembered).  Sir  G.  Grey,  when  Secretary  of 
State,  said  to  me  in  1848,  alluding  also  to  the  Factory  Bill,  '  I  shall 
be  ready  to  say,  in  my  place  in  Parliament,  or  elsewhere,  as  Secretary 
of  State,  that  the  passing  of  the  Ten  Hours  Bill  has  kept  those  vast 
counties  at  peace  during  this  eventful  period.'  (This  will  be  for- 
gotten ;  nay,  has,  I  think,  been  already  forgotten.)  But  notorious 
men  are  good  for  chairs  of  dinners  and  meetings.     People  come,  not 


1831]  REVIEW  OF  PAST  ACHIEVEMENTS.  35£> 

through  affection  and  respect,  but  to   see  the  notorious  man  ;  and  so 
I  serve  their  purpose. 

4.  Desire  to  do  good/or  good's  sake.  Whatever  my  weaknesses, 
whatever  the  human  admixture  with  my  former  hopes  and  fears, 
this  must,  henceforward,  be  my  sole  sustaining  motive.  I  am  now 
nearly  fifty  years  of  age ;  my  physical  and  moral  powers  have  at- 
tained their  summit.  I  cannot  go  higher,  but  I  may  fall  lower. 
And  what  is  man's  judgment  ?  Does  it  not  often  determine  that  to 
be  'gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones,'  which  God's  judgment  pro- 
nounces '  wood,  hay,  stubble '  1  All  see  my  infirmities  ;  all,  knowing 
human  corruption,  infer  more  than  they  see,  and  they  are  right.  All 
use  me,  and  all  grow  tired  of  me  ;  but  few  can  know  the  troubles  I 
have  endured — the  sorrow  of  mind,  the  weariness  of  body ;  the 
labour  I  have  undergone  by  day  and  by  night ;  the  public  and 
private  conflicts ;  the  prayers  I  have  offered,  and  the  tears  I  have 
shed.  Here,  however,  is  my  consolation,  that,  amidst  frailties  and 
sins,  trespasses  and  shortcomings,  I  have  had  one  single  object  per- 
petually before  me.  It  was  God's  grace  that  gave  me  the  thought ; 
God's  grace  that  has  sustained  me  hitherto,  to  have,  in  truth,  but 
one  end,  the  advancement  of  His  ever-blessed  name,  and  the  temporal 
and  eternal  welfare  of  all  mankind.  So  closes  my  review.  Sursum 
corda  1 


CHAPTER     XX. 

1851  (JUNE)— 1852. 

Farewell  to  House  of  Commons — In  the  House  of  Lords — Speech  on  Common 
Lodging-House  Bill — Model  Lodging-House  Bill — Early  Impressions  of 
House  of  Lords — First  Acts  of  Power — St.  Giles's — Sweeping  Reforms — 
The  Truck  System — Cottage  Accommodation — Kossuth — Socialism — Letter 
to  Lord  John  Russell — Thomas  Wright  the  Prison  Philanthropist — A  Coup 
d'etat—  The  Militia  Bill — Brook  Street,  Grosvenor  Square — A  Lunacy  Case 
— May  Meetings — At  Ems — America  and  France — Death  of  the  Duke  of 
"Wellington — Chancellorship  of  Oxford — Lying  in  State — The  Story  of  the 
Madiai — An  Amusing  Letter — "Uncle  Tom's  Cahin" — Slavery — Address 
from  Women  of  England — The  Fugitive  Slave  Law — Friendships — The 
Lev.  E.  Bickersteth — Mr.  Alexander  Haldane — Revival  of  Convocation 
— Letter  from  Mr.  Gladstone — Auricular  Confession— Resignation  of  Lord 
Derby — Lord  Aberdeen,  Premier. 

Some  time  before  the  death  of  his  father,  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury had  determined  not  to  take  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  But,  to  use  his  own  expression,  "  The  lead- 
ing of  Providence  was  the  other  way."  His  two 
Lodging-House  Bills  would  soon  pass  the  Commons, 
and  it  was  urged  upon  him  by  many  friends,  and 
especially  by  Lord  Harrowby,  that  there  would  be  both 
grace  and  right  in  his  taking  them  up  and  piloting 
them  through  the  House  of  Lords.  In  view  of  it  he 
wrote  : — 

But  what  an  operation  to  sit  as  a  Peer  !  The  Chancellor  demands 
no  end  of  documents ;  and,  over  and  above  (what  folly  when  one's 
father  had  been  recognised  for  forty  years),  an  extoact  from  the 
Patent  of  Peerage !  Sutcliffe  stands  for  my  place  at  Bath ;  how  I 
pray  God  that  he  may  succeed ! 


1851.]  TAKES  HIS  SEAT  IN  HOUSE   OF  LORDS.  361 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  there  were  expressions  of 
sorrow  from  many  quarters  that  "  Lord  Ashley "  had 
left  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and  from  many,  of  belief 
that  he  would  be  equally  useful  in  the  House  of 
Lords. 

In  moving  the  writ  for  Bath,  Sir  Robert  Inglis  took 
occasion  to  speak  of  him  in  terms  of  respect  and  affec- 
tion. "I  believe  that  I  speak  the  sentiments  of  the 
House  generally,"  he  remarked,  "  when  I  say  that  Lord 
Ashley  should  not  be  withdrawn  from  the  first  ranks  of 
this  assembly,  the  scene  of  his  labours  and  his  triumphs, 
without  some  parting  expression  of  respect  and  regret. 
During  the  last  fifteen  years  of  Lord  Ashley's  Parlia- 
mentary life  he  has  been  emphatically  the  friend  of  the 
friendless.  Every  form  of  human  suffering  he  has,  in 
his  place  in  this  House,  and  especially  every  suffering 
connected  with  labour,  sought  to  lighten,  and  in  every 
way  to  ameliorate  the  moral,  social,  and  religious  condi- 
tion of  our  fellow-subjects ;  and  out  of  this  House  his 
exertions  have  been,  such  as,  at  first  sight,  might  have 
seemed  incompatible  with  his  duties  here.  But  he 
found  time  for  all ;  and  when  absent  from  his  place  on 
these  benches,  he  was  enjoying  no  luxurious  ease,  but 
was  seated  in  the  chair  of  a  Rao-o-ed-school  meeting,  of 
a  Scripture-reader's  Association,  or  of  a  Young  Man's 
Christian  Institution.  I  will  add  no  more  than  that  the 
life  of  Lord  Ashley,  in  and  out  of  this  House,  has  been 
consecrated,  in  the  memorable  inscription  of  the  great 
Haller,  '  Cbristo  in  pauperibus.'  " 

On  the  23rd  of  June  Lord  Shaftesbury  took  his  seat 


362  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  on  the  evening  of  that  day 
he  wrote  in  his  Diary  : — 

It  seems  no  place  for  me ;  a  '  Statue-gallery,'  some  say  a 
'Dormitory.'  Full  half-a-dozen  Peers  said  to  me,  within  as  many 
minutes,  '  You'll  find  this  very  different  from  the  House  of  Commons,' 
'  we  have  no  order,'  '  no  rules,'  '  no  sympathies  to  be  stirred.'  Shall 
T  ever  be  able  to  do  anything  I  They  are  cold,  short,  and  impatient. 
But  God  has  willed  it,  and  I  must,  and,  by  His  grace,  will,  do  my 
duty. 

The  following  day  he  made  his  first  speech  in  the 
House  of  Lords  on  moving  the  second  reading  of  the 
Bill  for  the  "  Inspection  and  Registration  of  Lodging- 
Houses."  He  spoke  in  a  low  tone  of  voice  and  with 
great  brevity,  and  took  occasion  to  explain  that  it  was 
the  deep  interest  he  felt  in  the  objects  of  this  Bill,  and 
the  urgency  there  was  for  legislation  on  the  subject, 
"  that  had  induced  him  to  address  their  lordships  so 
early  after  his  call  to  their  lordships'  House."  In  the 
course  of  the  very  brief  debate  that  ensued,  the  Marquis 
of  Lansdowne,  in  supporting  the  motion,  "  complimented 
the  noble  Earl  upon  the  success  of  his  exertions  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  poor  and  destitute,"  * 
and  expressed  a  hope  that  he  might  pursue,  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  the  career  he  had  followed  in  the  House  of 
Commons. 

The  Bill  became  law.  It  has  been  acted  upon 
throughout  the  Kingdom,  and  police  authorities,  magis- 
trates, medical  men,  city  missionaries,  and  all  whom  it 
concerned,  have  been  unanimous  in  their  testimony  as 
to  its   beneficial   results.      "It  is  the  best  law,"    said 

*  Hansard's  Debates,  cxvii.  1140. 


1851.]  FIRST  LABOURS   IN  HOUSE   OF  LORDS.  363 

Charles  Dickens  to  Lord  Shaftesbury,  some  years  after- 
wards, "  that  was  ever  passed  by  an  English  Parlia- 
ment." 

The  second  measure — the  Bill  for  "  Permitting  the 
erection  by  local  authorities  of  Model  Lodging-Houses  " 
— came  before  the  Lords  for  the  second  reading  on  July 
the  8th,  when  Lord  Shaftesbury,  in  the  course  of  his 
speech,  gave  many  details  of  a  similar  character  to  those 
he  had  given  before  the  other  House,  and  asserted  that 
"  the  concurrent  testimony  of  all  persons  conversant 
with  the  habits  of  the  people,  went  to  show  that  the  im- 
provement of  their  domiciliary  condition  reversed  all 
those  frightful  pictures  which  he  had  felt  it  his  duty  to 
present  to  their  lordships."  * 

This  Bill  also  became  law,  but  from  various  causes, 
and  principally  because  it  was  much  mutilated  in  its 
passage  through  the  House  of  Commons,  it  was  only  to 
a  very  limited  extent  put  into  practice,  and  ultimately 
became  a  dead  letter. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  has  recorded,  in  full,  his  early 
impressions  of  the  House  of  Lords,  some  of  which  are 
given  in  the  following  extracts.  Referring  to  the  much 
reiterated  hope  that  he  would  continue  in  the  Upper 
House,  the  course  he  had  followed  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  he  says  : — 

June  25th. — It  is,  however,  a  totally  different  thing — far  less 
stirring,  far  less  gratifying.  Success  here,  is  but  a  shadow  of  success 
there  ;  little  can  be  gained,  little  attempted.  But  God  has  now 
placed  me  here,   and   I   must,    and  do,  pray  that  '  as   my  day,   so 

*   Hansard's  Debates,  cxvii.  235. 


364  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

may  my  strength  be.'  .  .  .  One  of  the  most  striking  effects  to  me  on 
removal  from  the  House  of  Commons  is  my  absolute  ignorance  of 
the  political  movements,  thoughts,  and  facts  of  the  day.  Everything 
of  importance  revolves  round  the  centre  of  the  Commons'  House : 
unless  you  be  there  to  see  it,  hear  it,  feel  it,  you  get  it  at  second 
hand,  and  then  only  half. 

June  27th. — The  difficulties  of  the  House  of  Lords  seem  to 
thicken  as  I  survey  them.  Everything  must  be  done  between  five 
and  half -past  six,  or  you  will  have  no  auditory  ;  consequently  there 
is  an  unseemly  scramble  for  the  precedence,  and  a  terrible  impatience 
after  you  have  got  it.  Yet  I  have  received  many  expressions,  and 
heard  of  more,  that  I  '  should  rouse  them,'  and  '  give  them  business 
to  do,'  and  in  some  measure  '  popularise '  the  House  !  .  .  .  Several, 
nay,  abundant,  regrets,  stated  to  me  personally,  and  recorded  to  me 
by  others,  that  I  was  removed  from  the  House  of  Commons. 

June  30th. — To  House  of  Lords,  where  I  broke  cover  in  a  bit  of 
humanity-mongering  about  Chimney-sweepers.  Found  my  voice ; 
was  well  received  ;  'thanked  God,  and  took  courage.' 

July  8th. — Opened  this  afternoon,  in  House  of  Lords,  second 
Lodging-House  Bill.  Wonderfully  well  received ;  their  noble 
natures -even  cheered  during  the  speech  and  after  it.  Many  con- 
gratulations and  thanks.  My  surprise  knew  no  bounds.  I  had 
warmed  '  Nova  Zembla.' 

Many  times  during  his  first  Session,  the  voice  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury  was  heard  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
On  the  17th  July  he  made  an  important  speech  on  the 
Bill  for  admitting  Jews  into  Parliament,  which  Bill  was 
rejected  by  a  majority  of  36  ;  and  on  three  occasions  he 
pleaded  the  cause  of  the  wretched  Chimney-sweepers, 
whose  condition  was  growing  worse  and  worse,  but 
whose  sufferings  were  regarded  in  almost  all  quarters 
with  surprising  indifference. 

On  the  8th  of  August  Parliament  was  prorogued  by 
the  Queen  in  person. 


1851.]  THE    INHERITED    ESTATES.  365 

August  8th. — Day  fine ;  everything  gay  and  good-humoured. 
Attended  as  a  peer,  and  enraptured  the  Chancellor  and  law  lords  by 
wearing  the  robes  of  the  first  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Having  seen  how  Lord  Shaftesbury  entered  upon 
his  public  duties  on  succeeding  to  the  peerage,  we  will 
now  follow  him  into  the  privacy  of  his  inherited  estates, 
to  mark  the  spirit  in  which  he  faced  the  responsibilities 
of  his  new  position. 

A  few  days  after  the  burial  of  his  father,  the  follow- 
ing characteristic  entry  occurs  in  the  Diary  : — 

June  16th. — St.  Giles's.  I  am  thankful,  very  thankful,  that  my 
two  first  acts  of  power  have  been  in  the  service  of  God.  I  have 
limited  the  disorders  of  the  tap-room  here,  by  closing  it  at  nine 
o'clock  every  night — '  his  brevibus  princijnis,'  <kc. — and  I  have  pro- 
vided for  the  appointment  of  a  Scripture-reader. 

An  examination  into  the  state  of  affairs  at  St. 
Giles's  soon  convinced  him  that  there  were  many  radical 
changes  to  make  without  delay.  There  had  been  in- 
credible waste:  large  sums  of  money  had  been  ruthlessly 
lavished  and  thrown  away,  to  no  purpose  of  either  use 
or  luxury,  while  many  things  really  necessary  had  been 
totally  neglected.  Without  losing  heart  for  a  moment, 
he  resolutely  set  to  work  to  face  the  difficulties  that  lay 
before  him,  determined  to  right  all  that  had  gone  wrong, 
and  to  establish  more  firmly  all  that  was  good.  As 
will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  the  narrative,  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  was  placed  were  of  no  ordinary 
kind ;  but,  although  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  and 
the  difficulties  to  be  vanquished,  would  have  made 
any  one  less  resolute  quail  before  them,  by  degrees  he 


366  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

quietty  and  steadily  accomplished  the  task  he  had  set 
himself. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  full  as  the  Diaries  are  of 
details  of  the  actual  position  of  affairs,  there  is  not  one 
word  that  reflects  in  any  way  upon  the  memory  of  his 
father.  On  the  contrary,  scattered  throughout  the 
pages,  there  are  many  touching  passages — of  which 
the  following  is  an  example — to  show  that  the  only 
thoughts  of  him  were  thoughts  of  tenderness  and 
filial  regard  : — 

June  29th. — Sunday.  My  poor  father  lay  for  six-and-thirty 
hours  after  his  attack,  perfectly  unconscious ;  free  from  suffering, 
alive,  but  apparently,  and  I  doubt  not,  really,  insensible  to  all  around 
him.  All  these  cases  are  mysterious.  What  was  the  state  of  the 
soul  during  that  .period  1  Was  it  asleep?  Was  it  benumbed  like 
the  body,  or  was  it  active  and  cognisant  of  eternal  things  1  Here 
may  have  been  God's  chosen  time  for  the  infusion  of  His  grace. 
Here  may  have  been  the  hour,  so  to  speak,  of  regeneration.  Prayer 
was  permitted,  and  then,  surely,  faith  also  in  the  results  of  prayer. 
'  Lord  Jesus,  receive  his  spirit,'  was  no  idle  supplication,  or  tossed, 
of  necessity,  into  empty  air. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the  plans  Lord  Shaftes- 
buiy  now  devised,  and  the  changes  he  intended  to  effect, 
were  not  for  the  adornment  of  his  own  house,  or  for 
personal  gratification  of  any  kind,  but  on  behalf  of  the 
labourers  on  the  estate  and  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
of  those  who  hitherto  had  not  enjoyed  the  benefits 
which  he  considered  they  had  a  right  to  expect. 

August  17th. — Sunday.  Week  passed  in  depths  of  abundant, 
dusty,  and  useless  papers.  Gave  three  hours  on  Thursday  to  Com- 
mission in  Lunacy.  Every  other  moment  till  seven  o'clock,  saving 
half  an  hour  for  a  ride,  to  this  wonderful  '  digging  ' — old  newspapers, 


1851.]  IMPROVEMENTS  AT  ST.   GILES'S.  367 

bills,  formal  letters  from  1790,  &c,  &c,  under  a  mass  of  dirt  and 
dust  deep  enough  for  a  crop  of  mustard  and  ci'ess.  When  I  lay 
down  at  night,  the  tearing,  reading,  burning,  came  on  me  like  the 
after-effects  of  a  sea-voyage,  and  made  me  sleepless. 

August  22nd. — St.  Giles's.  Inspected  a  few  cottages — filthy, 
close,  indecent,  unwholesome.  But  what  can  I  do?  I  am  half 
pauperised  ;  the  debts  are  endless ;  no  money  is  payable  for  a  whole 
year,  and  I  am  not  a  young  man.  Every  sixpence  I  expend — and 
spend  I  must  on  many  things — is  borrowed/ 

August  25th. — Car*  has  offered  to  build  me  four  cottages  in  the 
village.  Heartily  do  I  give  God  thanks  for  this,  who  has  put  it  into 
her  heart.  The  world  will  now,  at  least,  see  our  good  intentions ; 
and  that  is  of  high  importance  where,  like  me,  a  party  has  been  a 
great  professor. 

Sept.  5th. — Have  found,  at  last,  a  Scripture-reader  for  the  forests 
and  steppes  of  Woodlands  and  Horton.  May  his  services  be  blessed 
to  the  honour  and  empire  of  our  dearest  Lord  !  I  rejoice  with 
trembling  that  I  have  been  permitted  thus  far  to  prosper  in  this 
affair. 

Sept.  6th. — Shocking  state  of  cottages ;  stuffed  like  figs  in  a 
drum.  Were  not  the  people  as  cleanly  as  they  can  be,  we  should 
have  had  an  epidemic.     Must  build  others,  cost  what  it  may. 

Sept.  13th. — Yesterday  to  Pentridge,  Cobley,  and  Woodyates. 
No  school  of  any  kind  at  Pentridge  ;  some  forty  or  fifty  children 
'  unwept,  unhonoured,  and  unsung.'  I  determined,  under  God,  to 
build  one,  and  may  He  prosper  the  work  !  To-day  to  Woodlands, 
Horton,  and  Yerwood,  to  prepare  the  ground  for  Scripture-reader, 
and  secure  his  acceptance  by  the  farmers. 

Sept.  15th. — To  Hinton  Martel.  Rural  and  lovely  scenery;  but 
what  a  cottasre — what  a  domicile  for  men  and  Christians  I  found  in 
that  village  !  Yet,  what  can  I  do  1  And  the  management  of  the 
estate,  too,  has  in  great  measure  passed  from  me  by  the  grants  of 
these  small  life-holds. 

Oct.  3rd. — Yisited  some  cottages — thank  God,  not  mine  !  What 
griping,  grasping,  avaricious  cruelty.  These  petty  proprietors  exact 
a  five-fold  rent  for  a  thing  in  five-fold  inferior  condition  !  It  is 
always   so  with  these  small  holders.       Everything — even  the  misery 

*  His  sister,  Lady  Caroline  Neeid. 


368  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

of  their  fellows — must  be  turned  to  profit.  Oh,  if  instead  of  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds  to  pay  in  debt,  I  had  that  sum  to  expend, 
■what  good  I  might  do  !     But  it  has  pleased  God  otherwise. 

Having  carefully  examined  into  the  state  of  things, 
and  made  himself  master  of  the  facts,  Lord  Shaftesbury 
lost  no  time  in  inaugurating  some  sweeping  reforms. 
These  were  not  easy  to  carry  out,  and  were  opposed  in 
some  cases  by  deep-rooted  prejudices. 

He  found  that  the  truck-system,  which  he  had 
condemned  so  unsparingly  in  his  Factory  legislation,  was 
nourishing  on  his  own  estate,  and  he  determined  to  put 
a  stop  to  it  forthwith.  He  knew  of  its  existence  ten 
years  before,  but  then  he  was  tongue-tied  ;  now,  he  could 
denounce  the  abominable  system  as  be  pleased.  He 
discovered  that  certain  farmers  were  grievously  defraud- 
ing the  workpeople,  paying  them,  in  kind,  at  the  rate  of 
£10  a  load  for  wheat  when  the  market  price  was  only 
£8  !  To  these  men  he  said,  "  I  am  master  here  ;  I  will 
not  allow  the  poor  to  be  oppressed.  You  shall  rjay  in 
money  or  quit  your  farm  !  '  It  was  a  bold  step,  for,  in 
the  state  of  his  finances,  a  vacant  farm  was  an  important 
consideration,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  some  were  thrown 
on  his  hands ;  but  he  had  counted  the  cost,  and  he  per- 
severed until  he  had  abolished  the  system. 

Another  mischief — and  one  that  confirmed  him  in 
the  belief  that  farmers  of  the  old  class  were  ignorant, 
selfish,  and  tyrannical,  and  that  the  repeal  of  the  Corn 
Laws  was  indispensably  necessary  to  save  the  agri- 
culture of  the  realm — was,  that  many  of  the  farms  were 
shamefully  undercultivated,  and,  consequently,  not  half 


1851.]  ST.   GILES'S.  3G9 

the  proper  number  of  labourers  were  employed.  Yet 
the  tenants  were  well-to-do,  for,  inasmuch  as  the  land 
was  underlet  in  value,  they  made  a  profit  with  little 
trouble.  But  they  turned  their  men  heartlessly  out  of 
work,  and  bade  them  "  Go  to  the  great  house  "  (mean- 
ing his  own)  if  they  wanted  a  job. 

Nothing  gave  Lord  Shaftesbury  so  much  anxiety 
as  the  want  of  proper  cottage  accommodation.  "  Surely 
I  am  the  most  perplexed  of  men,"  he  wrote.  "  I  have 
passed  my  life  in  rating  others  for  allowing  rotten 
houses  and  immoral,  unhealtlrv  dwellings  ;  and  now  I 
come  into  an  estate  rife  with  abominations !  Why, 
there  are  things  here  to  make  one's  flesh  creep  ;  and  I 
have  not  a  farthing  to  set  them  rig-ht." 

On  one  thing  he  was  firmly  resolved,  namely,  that 
he  would  not  spend  any  money  upon  his  own  house 
until  he  had  effected  some  improvement  in  the  cottages, 
nor  until  he  had  cared  for  the  village  House  of  God, 
which  had  suffered  sadly  from  neglect. 

Meantime,  he  was  harassed  by  correspondents  who 
assumed  that  he  was  rich,  and  who  "  wrote  in  all 
the  fervour  of  meritorious  need  as  to  one  blessed  by 
God  with  abundant  wealth."  It  was  painful  to  him 
to  say  "No':  to  their  appeals;  it  was  impossible  that 
he  could  explain  that  fresh  liabilities  were  arising  on  all 
sides,  absorbing  every  farthing  yielded  by  the  estates, 
and  that  expenses  innumerable,  taxes  and  labour,  had  to 
be  met  out  of  borrowed  money.  There  was  only  one 
course  open  to  him,  and  that  was  to  quit  St.  Giles's  for 
the  present. 

y 


370  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

This  step  was  taken  towards  the  close  of  January  in 
1852,  a  little  more  than  six  months  after  his  father's 
death.  But  the  improvements  he  had  effected  during  that 
time  were  a  pledge  and  a  prophecy  of  what  would  yet 
be  done,  as  he  had  opportunity.  In  that  short  period,  in 
addition  to  the  plans  he  had  proposed  for  cottage  accom- 
modation, he  had  appointed  a  Scripture-reader  for  Hor- 
ton,  undertaken  a  school  at  Pentridge,  projected  one  at 
Hinton  Marhel,  and  one  at  Woodlands.  The  parish  church 
at  St.  Giles's,  he  thoroughly  restored  and  redecorated, 
and  made  it  "  look  like  a  church,  and  cease  to  wear 
the  appearance  of  an  old  ball-room."  In  addition  to 
these  things,  he  had  inaugurated  the  system  of  giving 
the  audit  dinners  to  the  tenants  at  his  own  house,  instead 
of  at  an  inn,  being  convinced  that  it  was  "more  hos- 
pitable and  friendly,  and  an  excellent  mode  of  prevent- 
ing excess."  He  had,  moreover,  planned  a  series  of 
rewards  for  garden-allotments ;  a  society  to  encourage 
labourers  on  the  estate  ;  evening  classes  for  young  men; 
and  cricket  clubs,  for  the  summer,  for  all  the  cottagers, 
the  matches  to  be  played  in  the  park. 

Then  came  the  day  when,  for  the  present,  he  must 
leave  this  new  field  of  activity,  and  he  notes  it  in  his 
Diary  thus : — 

Jan.  27th,  1852.— This  day  I  prepare  to  leave  'the  Saint'*  for  a 
long  time,  perhaps  for  ever  !  The  issue  is  the  Lord's  ;  '  let  Him  do,'  so 
said  old  Eli,  'as  it  seemeth  Him  good  '  !  I  do  love  and  cherish  the 
spot,  and  pray  that  God  will  lift  up  the  light  of  His  countenance 
upon  it,  and  all  its  people  !     .     .     . 

Notwithstanding  the  heavy  demands  made  upon  his 

*  Lord  Shaftesbury's  familiar  way  of  uamiug  St.  Giles's. 


1851.]  KOSSUTH.  371 

time  throughout  the  period  to  which  we  have  been 
referring,  the  Diary  was  not  allowed  to  suffer,  and  a  few 
extracts,  upon  general  subjects,  may  be  given  here : — 

September  19th,  1851. — California  has  led  the  way  ;  Australia 
follows — avri  sacra  fames.  What  no  motive,  human  or  divine, 
could  effect,  springs  into  life  at  the  display  of  a  few  pellets  of  gold 
in  the  hand  of  a  wanderer.  .  .  .  This  may  be  God's  chosen  way  to 
force  tiie  world  to  fulfil  his  commandment  and  '  replenish  the  earth.' 
It  brought  existence  to  California. 

October  29th. — Windsor  Castle.  Kossuth,  the  Hungarian,  has 
entered  Southampton  in  triumph,  proceeded  to  Winchester  in  glory, 
to  the  house  of  '  Lord  Andrewes,'  the  mayor,  and  is  hanging  on  the 
skirts  of  London,  ready  for  a  descent.  This  vagabond  is  treated  as 
though  he  were  the  '  Deus  Optimus  Maximus.'  Our  Lord  would 
have  but  a  poor  reception  compared  with  his  !  Many  who  attend 
him  are  designing  persons,  looking  either  to  electioneering  purposes 
or  to  revolution  ;  many,  in  their  simplicity,  believe  that  they  are 
upholding  '  constitutional '  government,  and  that  '  three  times  three  ' 
for  Kossuth  means  '  three  times  three '  for  Queen,  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons !  His  address  to  the  people  of  Marseilles— tierce,  democratic, 
infidel — should  have  undeceived  them,  and  certainly  Palmerston, 
who,  we  fear,  intends  to  '  receive  '  him  and  his  crew. 

The  action  of  Lord  Palmerston  with  regard  to 
Kossuth,  whose  mission  was  to  engage  in  a  tierce  poli- 
tical agitation,  was  not  regarded  favourably  by  the 
Prime  Minister.  Had  Kossuth  come  merely  to  thank 
the  English  Government  for  what  had  been  done  in  his 
behalf,  no  objection  could  have  been  taken  to  his  being 
received  by  Lord  Palmerston,  as  Foreign  Secretary, 
for  that  purpose ;  but,  seeing  that  the  real  object  of 
his  visit  was  to  agitate  against  Austria  and  Russia — 
sovereigns  in  alliance  with  England — the  Prime  Minister 
requested  that  no  official  reception  of  any  kind  what- 
y  2 


372  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

ever  should  be  given.  At  first  Lord  Palmerston  de- 
clined to  act  in  accordance  with  this  request  ;  but  a 
Cabinet  Council  having  been  summoned  to  consider  the 
question,  he  deferred  to  the  opinion  of  his  colleagues. 

In  the  following  December,  Lord  Palmerston  retired 
from  the  Ministry,  and  the  Kossuth  incident  had  an 
important  bearing  upon  this  step. 

Popular  demonstrations  were  held  in  honour  of  the 
Hungarian  exile,  and  were  continued  until  the  28th  of 
November,  when  he  sailed  for  America.  The  Corpora- 
tion of  London  presented  him  with  an  address  on 
his  arrival,  when  the  whole  route  from  Eaton  Square 
to  the  Guildhall  was  lined  by  immense  crowds  of  en- 
thusiasts. On  the  following  day  he  was  presented 
with  an  address  from  "  republicans,  revolutionists,  and 
socialists — men,  consequently,  not  attracted  towards  him 
by  either  the  eclat  of  his  title  or  the  renown  of  his 
name."  In  Birmingham  and  Manchester,  he  was  wel- 
comed by  enormous  multitudes ;  and  addresses  were 
forwarded  to  him  from  almost  every  large  town  in  the 
kingdom. 

One  effect  of  these  demonstrations  was  to  stir  up 
the  revolutionary  spirit  of  the  country  ;  and  it  was,  in 
some  measure,  apropos  of  this,  that  Lord  Shaftesbury 
wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  Prime  Minister  : — 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Lord  John  Russell. 

Nov.  15,  1851. 

My  dear  Russell, — Socialist  doctrines  and  principles  are  far 
more  rife  in  the  great  towns  of  this  country  than  most  people  are 
aware  of.      They  are    found  principally   among    the    artisans   and 


1851.]  REFORM. 


OiO 


skilled  workmen,  and  specially  in  the  metropolis.  These  parties  aim 
at  a  distribution  of  all  the  property  of  those  above  them,  and  calcu- 
late on  measures  to  prevent,  in  the  future,  all  accumulations  of  wealth 
in  single  hands.  They  do  not,  I  think,  look  much  to  physical  force  ; 
they  rely  chiefly  on  the  extension  of  the  suffrage.  These  are  the 
facts  ;  it  is  not  necessary,  at  this  time,  to  examine  the  causes. 

The  land  is  their  first  object.  All  the  circumstances  of  landed 
property  strike  the  eye  ;  and  many,  who  are  not  disposed  to  go  so 
far  as  the  Socialist  party,  urge  them  on  to  this  extent,  because  they 
know  that  a  revolution  in  the  tenure,  or  descent,  of  landed  property 
must  speedily  extinguish  the  House  of  Lords. 

If  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  be  inevitable,  and  an  extension, 
too,  by  lowering  the  present  qualification,  surely  it  would  be  both 
just,  and  a  means  of  security,  to  extend  it  also  in  another  direction, 
so  as  to  give  many  persons  of  position  and  property  rights  and  privi- 
leges they  have  not  possessed  before. 

There  can  be  no  reason  why  the  suffrage  should  be  limited,  in 
these  days,  to  the  occupation  of  a  house,  or  the  tenure  of  a  piece  of 
ground.  Moneyed  persons,  fundholders,  annuitants,  &c,  have  just  as 
deep  an  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  country  as  all  the  other  classes, 
and  yet  many  of  them  are  shut  out. 

Property  and  order  would  be  greatly  strengthened,  and  a  counter- 
poise found  to  the  lowered  suffrage,  by  admitting  to  the  right  of 
voting  all  lawyers  in  virtue  of  their  chambers  ;  all  annuitants  at  or 
above  £50 — so  that  their  annuities  be  for  life  ;  all  holders  of  mort- 
gages :  every  holder  in  the  funds,  and  many  such. 

The  fundholder  has  an  especial  right,  for  he  is  the  object  of 
special  attack  ;  and  this,  too,  would  give  a  large  number,  for  the 
great  proportion  are  holders  of  from  £5  to  £10  annually.  The 
holder  should  have  a  vote  for  the  place  where  he  resides,  inasmuch 
as  the  funds,  being  the  result  of  general  taxation,  must  be  considered 
as  arising  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  from  all  sources. 

There  are  three  propositions  of  special  danger  :  the  ballot,  electoral 
districts,  and  shortening  the  duration  of  parliaments.  I  know  not 
how  the  country  could  stand  the  whole  of  them. 

The  number  of  persons  desirous  of  '  Reform  '  is  much  less  than  it 
was  in  1 830,  but  then  the  number  of  persons,  idle  or  indifferent  as  to 
opposition  to  it,  is  far  greater.  The  resistance,  such  as  it  is,  is  not 
grounded,  as  before,  on  an  attachment  to  the  old  forms  of  the  Con- 


374  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

stitution,  and  the  preservation,  in  all  their  integrity,  of  the  three 
Estates  ;  it  rests  mainly  on  fears  of  peril  to  property  ;  very  many 
people  would  now  acquiesce  at  once  in  any  form  of  government  which 
promised  them  the  greatest  amount,  and  the  longest  period,  of  personal 
enjoyment. 

This  country  could  endure  something  approximating  to  Universal 
Suffrage  much  better  than  it  could  any  one  of  the  three  propositions 
stated  above.  Universal  Suffrage  is  formidable,  not  more  from  the 
numbers  who  vote,  than  from  the  numbers  who  do  not.  If  every 
one  holding  the  suffrage  were  sure  to  exercise  it,  there  would 
be  some  hope  of  safety  ;  but  the  operation  of  it  is  to  keep  off 
the  quiet  and  orderly,  and  surrender  the  field  to  the  agitating  and 
noisy. 

One  reform  is  indispensably  necessary,  and  that  reform  one  for 
which  we  do  not  require  the  intervention  of  the  House  of  Commons  ; 
I  mean  a  reform  of  the  system  of  business  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
Clearly,  unless  something  be  speedily  clone,  the  House  of  Lords  will, 
by  losing  all  effective  share  in  the  legislation,  lose  all  the  esteem  and 
support  of  the  country.  The  fault,  no  doubt,  is  partly  their  own,  but 
it  is,  in  far  greater  part,  the  fault  of  successive  Governments,  who 
have  not  proposed  to  the  House  of  Commons  sufficient  relaxations  of 
nonsensical  etiquette  in  matters  of  money,  and  who,  instead  of  intro- 
ducing many  important  measures  in  the  Upper  House,  crowd  them 
iu  a  body  on  the  Peers  for  hasty  and  inconsiderate  enactment  at  the 
close  of  a  Session. 

Some  Ministers,  I  know,  will  reply  that  '  an  active  House  of 
Lords  is  a  great  evil.'  Well,  but  surely,  no  House  of  Lords  at  all 
(and  such  will  soon  be  the  alternative)  is  a  '  greater  evil.'  This 
remark,  too,  is  founded  on  an  experience  of  the  House  of  Lords  in 
former  days— the  present  days  exhibit  the  House  in  a  very  different 
light  ;  it  retains  great  powers,  if  stirred  up  and  rightly  directed,  for 
social  improvement,  but,  though  it  stands  well  in  the  affections  of  the 
country,  it  has  lost  all  power  for  political  action  on  the  rise  and  fall 
of  Administrations. 

I  have  sent  a  few  notes  by  a  friend  of  mine — pray  look  at  them 
attentively,  and  then  send  them  back  to  me. 

You  have  a  fearful  business  before  you.  At  one  time  I  am 
inclined  to  say  with  Hannibal  '  agnosco  for 'tuna m  Carthaginis  /'  at 
another,  to  quote  from  Scripture,  '  Keturn  unto  Me  and  I  will  return 


1851.]  FRIENDS.  375 

unto  you.'     We  have  shown  the  dawnings  of  a  return  ;  God  grant 
that  they  may  issue  in  the  perfect  day  ! 

I  wish  vou  well, 

Yours  truly, 

Shaftesbury. 

To   this   Lord  John  Russell  sent,  as  was  his  wont,  a 

brief  reply  : — 

Lord  John  Russell  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Pembroke  Lodge,  Nov.  22,  1851. 

My  dear  Shaftesbury, — Many  thanks  for  your  letter  on  Reform, 
in  which,  generally  speaking,  I  agree.  Your  correspondent  goes 
further  than  I  should  be  prepared  to  do  in  the  way  of  disfranchise- 
ment. ...  I  send  you  in  return  the  sketch  of  a  letter  I  propose  to 
write  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.      Pray  let  me  know  whether 

you  find  any  mistakes  in  it. 

Yours  truly, 

J.  Russell. 

There  was  probably  no  man  whose  circle  of  friends 
and  acquaintances  was  wider  than  Lord  Shaftesbury's, 
and  certainly  none  whose  circle  included  greater  variety 
in  social  position,  influence,  and  attainment  than  his. 
He  was  intimate  with  his  fellow  Peers  and  the  highest 
in  the  land  ;  he  was  intimate  with  the  humblest  and 
lowliest  of  working  men.  It  made  no  difference  to  him 
what  a  man  was  in  the  eye  of  society  or  of  the  world,  if 
he  saw  in  him  one  who  possessed  those  qualities  upon 
which  true  friendships  alone  can  rest.  He  esteemed  a  man 
first  for  what  he  was  in  himself,  and  next,  for  what 
he  was  doing  for  the  world  to  make  it  brighter  and 
happier  and  holier.      Hence  it  was  that  among  those 


376  TEE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

he  loved  and  "  delighted  to  honour "  were  men  who 
were  engaged  in  every  branch  of  Christian  work,  by 
whom  he  felt  proud  to  be  known  as  a  "fellow-labourer." 
Among  these  was  Thomas  Wright,  the  prison 
philanthropist.  How  it  came  to  pass  that  the  acquaint- 
anceship, which  ripened  into  friendship,  began,  was  told 
by  Lord  Shaftesbury  to  a  gathering  of  young  men,  when 
warning  them  against  false  pride  and  exhorting  them 
not  to  be  ashamed  of  their  trades.     He  said  : — 

Many  of  you  must  have  heard  of  a  remarkable  man  of  the  name 
of  Thomas  Wright  of  Manchester.  He  visited  prisons.  He  was 
en^a^ed  all  day  long  in  a  small  establishment  acting  as  foreman, 
covered  with  oil  and  grease  and  everything  else.  The  first  time  I 
ever  saw  Thomas  Wright  was  at  Manchester.  I  was  staying  with 
my  friend,  the  great  engineer,  Mr.  Fairbairn.  He  said  to  me  :  '  You 
have  heard  of  Thomas  Wright ;  would  you  like  to  meet  him  1 '  I  said 
'  Of  course  I  should,  beyond  anything.'  '  Well,  then,  we  shall  have 
him  to  dinner.'  So  we  asked  him  to  dinner  ;  we  three  together.  In 
came  Thomas  Wright,  and  had  I  not  known  who  he  was,  I  should 
have  said  he  was  the  most  venerable  doctor  of  divinity  I  ever  looked 
upon.  His  hair  was  white  ;  his  expression  was  fascinating ;  he  was 
dressed  in  black.  We  passed  the  evening  and  then  we  went  to 
church.  Two  or  three  days  afterwards,  we  said  we  would  go  and  see 
Thomas  Wright.  We  knocked  at  the  office  door,  and  a  man,  in  a 
paper  cap  and  an  apron  and  covered  with  grease,  opened  it.  I  passed 
in  and  1  said.  '  I  want  to  see  Thomas  Wright.'  '  I  dare  say  you  do,' 
he  said,  '  here  I  am.'  Then  I  said,  '  Bless  you,  my  good  fellow ; 
never  was  I  so  impressed  in  my  life  before,  as  I  am  now  with  the 
true  dignity  of  labour.'  There  was  that  man,  covered  with  grease 
and  wearing  his  paper  cap.  When  his  work  was  over,  he  doffed  his 
cap,  washed  his  face,  put  on  his  black  clothes  and  away  he  went  to 
prison,  to  carry  life  and  light  and  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  many 
broken  and  anxious  hearts.* 

•  Speech  before  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Glasgow,  Oct.,  1877. 


1851.]  UNIVERSAL  SUFFRAGE.  377 

The  same  interview  is  thus  noted  in  the  Diary: — 

Nov.  24. — Manchester.  Yesterday  that  good  man  Wright,  of 
Chorlton-on-Medlock,  the  visitor  and  comforter  of  prisoners  in  every 
jail  to  which  he  has  access,  dined  with  us  alone,  and  we  had  some 
excellent  talk.  This  man  is  a  marvel.  He  is  a  workman  at  wages. 
His  white  hair,  decent  dress,  and  noble,  affectionate  countenance, 
give  him  the  air  of  a  primitive  bishop.  What  a  standard  for  the 
great  of  this  eai'th  to  measure  themselves  by  ! 

Some  of  the  entries  towards  the  close  of  the  year  are 
as  follows  : — 

Dec.  4th. — Oxford.  Yesterday  the  world  was  startled  by  a  new 
French  Revolution.  Louis  Napoleon,  stating  that  he  was  only  acting  in 
self-defence,  that  he  was  oidy  executing  against  his  enemies  what 
they  had  planned  against  him,  indulged  in  a  coup  d'etat.  He  dis- 
solved the  Assembly  (no  such  power  by  law),  arrested  the  Deputies 
and  all  the  Military  Chiefs,  proclaimed  universal  suffrage,  suggested  a 
new  Constitution,  with  two  Chambers  instead  of  one  (a  lesson  to  our 
reformers),  and  appealed  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  ! 

Here  is  a  fact,  so  sudden  and  so  extensive  that  it  defies  immediate 
reflection.  He  is  acting  clearly  on  the  precedent  of  his  uncle  in  1804  ; 
but  Napoleon  had  the  prestige  of  a  great  conqueror ;  and  the  nation  had 
hopes  that  he  would  still  be  a  great  conqueror,  and  so  all  acquiesced. 

Dec.  8th. — The  Saint.  I  protest  against  universal  suffrage  on 
many  grounds  ;  on  none  more  than  this,  that  it  has  never  been  found 
consistent  with  general  freedom.  Wherever  it  has  prevailed,  it  has 
established  the  freedom,  nay,  licence,  of  the  majority ;  and  the 
restraint,  nay,  thraldom,  of  the  minority.  Was  social,  civil,  and 
religious  liberty  of  the  whole,  known  in  the  ancient  Republic  of 
Greece  1  Does  not  De  Tocqueville  show  the  tyranny  of  the  people  in 
the  United  States  %  Has  universal  suffrage  emancipated  four  mil- 
lions of  negroes  1  Has  it  secured  in  France  political  independence 
and  social  peace  1 

Christmas  Day. — Day  sadly  distracted  by  intelligence  of  yester- 
day. Palmerston  has  quitted  office  and  Granville  is  appointed  in  his 
place.  Palmerston,  with  all  his  faults,  was  an  English  Minister,  a 
man  who  desired  civil  and  religious  liberty  for  others  as  for  himself. 


378  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

Parliament  was  opened  on  the  3rd  of  February 
following,  when  Lord  John  Russell  explained  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  resignation  of  the  Foreign 
Office  by  Lord  Palmerston,  to  which  we  have  already 
alluded,  and  the  ex-Secretary  defended  his  action  in  a 
vigorous  speech.  Into  the  merits  of  the  misunderstand- 
ing it  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  enter. 

Events  in  France  were  causing  considerable  uneasi- 
ness at  this  time,  not  in  England  only,  but  throughout 
the  Continent,  and,  in  view  of  the  unsettled  state  of 
Europe,  the  country  was  thrown  into  agitation  with 
regard  to  the  inadequacy  of  the  national  defences,  and 
the  Government  resolved  to  bring  before  Parliament  a 
scheme  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  militia.  On  the 
lGthof  February  Lord  John  Russell  explained  the  scope 
and  purpose  of  the  Bill,  and  on  the  26th,  while  it  was 
yet  in  a  preliminary  stage,  the  Government  was  defeated, 
as  shown  in  the  following  entry.  Lord  Derby,*  the 
recognised  leader  of  the  Tory  party,  was  called  upon  to 
form  a  Government : — 

Feb.  20th. — Quarter-past  eleven  at  night.  Just  heard  that 
Government  is  out ;  beaten  by  a  small  majority  on  an  amendment 
moved  by  Palmerston,  to  convert  the  '  local  '  into  a  '  general '  militia. 
It  is  strange  to  me  to  be  shut  out  of  the  medley.  The  House 
of  Lords  is  a  sad  place  for  news  of  the  events  ;  get  all  at  second- 
hand, and  dealt  out  sparingly.  Many  things  now  occur,  as  old 
Latimer  says,  '  to  cut  off  my  comb.'  Palmerston  had  fallen  :  eveiw- 
one  had  deserted  him  ;  he  was  left  alone.  He  gains  a  victory  over 
the  Minister  who  announces  his  resignation.  Palmerston's  house  (I 
am  just  come  from  it,  half-past  eleven  at  night)  is  overwhelmed  with 
company  ;  one  would  think  that  he  had  saved  an  empire,  or  that  he 
was  mounting  a  throne  ! 

*  Lord  Stanley  succeeded  to  the  title  iii  June,  1851. 


1852.]  ROUTINE    WORK.  379 

A  wonderful  Nemesis  !  Jolm  kicks  out  Palmerston  and  Pal- 
merston,  alter  a  short  interval,  kicks  out  him.  He  rejoices,  they  say, 
in  the  result,  though  he  was  furious  and  humbled  at  the  mode, 
because  he  feared  both  the  Caffre  Debate  and  the  Reform  Bill  ! 

Feb.  28th. — Called  on  Derby,  and,  afterwards,  on  Walpole,  to 
urge  them,  as  they  valued  the  peace  of  the  country,  to  a  specific  and 
open  declaration,  immediately  on  the  meeting  of  the  Houses,  of  their 
intention  to  ask  no  more  than  the  necessary  votes,  and  then  forth- 
with to  'dissolve'  and  appeal  to  the  electors  for  a  final  decision 
whether  they  will,  or  will  not,  accept  in  any  form,  or  for  any  pur- 
pose, a  duty  on  the  importation  of  food. 

'I  have  not  a  majority,'  said  Derby;  'but  I  have  sufficient 
strength  to  withstand  a  factious  opposition.'  '  No,'  I  replied,  '  I  do 
not  think  you  have ;  a  Minister  may  defy  both  Houses,  if  he  have 
the  country  on  his  side,  but,  be  assured,  the  country  is  against  you  ; 
altogether  against  you,  I  believe,  on  Protection  ;  but  most  certainly 
on  the  obligation  you  lie  under  to  tell  them  what  you  mean  ! '  He 
was  very  civil  and  thanked  me.  Walpole  the  same,  and  he  added, 
in  confidence,  that  he  had  urged,  again  and  again,  this  very  counsel. 

The  new  Ministerial  arrangements  were  completed 
by  the  27th  of  February.  The  Chancellorship  of  the 
Exchequer  was  offered  to  Lord  Palmerston,  who  de- 
clined to  serve  under  Lord  Derby ;  whereupon  the  office 
was  accepted  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  to  whom  was  assigned  the 
Leadership  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

During  the  early  part  of  this  year,  Lord  Shaftesbury 
was  unusually  harassed  by  "  letters,  interviews,  chairs, 
boards,  speeches."  "  I  am  worn,  worn,  worn  by  them 
all,"  he  says,  "  surrendering  all  amusements  and  society, 
giving  all  the  day  and  half  of  almost  every  night  to 
business  and  meetings,  and  all  this  in  the  face  of  weak 
health  and  tottering  nerves." 

In  the  midst  of  this  work  the  time  had  come  for 
him   to   leave   his   town -house  in  Brook  Street  and   to 


380  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

take  up  his  residence  in  the  old  family  house  in  Gros- 
venor  Square : — 

Feb.  6th. — This  is  the  last  evening  I  shall  ever  spend  in  this 
house  ;  it  is  sold,  and  I  must  leave  it  to-morrow.  I  cannot  leave  it 
without  regret.  I  have  passed  here  many  happy  and  useful  hours, 
praised  be  God  ;  certainly  more  happy,  and  probably  more  useful, 
than  I  shall  ever  pass  again.  I  have  here  prepared  for  nearly  all  my 
public  labours,  in  study,  thought,  and  prayer  ;  I  am  now  in  the  vale 
of  years,  and,  henceforward,  shall  feed  on  recollections.  We  had 
outgrown  the  dwelling,  it  had  become  too  strait  for  us. 

No  fresh  accession  of  labour  ever  tempted  him  to  set 
aside  the  duties  to  which  he  had  pledged  himself.  The 
"  Exhibition  year  "  had  given  an  impetus  to  Ragged 
School  work,  and  every  fresh  development  of  that  heart- 
stirring  movement  brought  a  corresponding  increase  of 
toil  to  him.  The  difficulties  in  connection  with  the 
Board  of  Health  had  multiplied,  and,  as  we  shall  see 
later  on,  were  bringing  the  existence  of  that  Board  to 
a  close.  The  May  Meetings  of  this  year  laid  heavier 
demands  than  ever  upon  Lord  Shaftesbury,  every 
Society  being  eager  to  secure  the  presence  of  the 
"  new  Earl "  amongst  them.  It  was  due  to  his 
marvellous  art  of  economising  time  that  he  was 
able  to  meet  his  engagements.  The  Lunacy  Commis- 
sion alone,  it  would  have  seemed,  might  have  been 
sufficient  to  have  occupied  all  his  leisure,  for  he  con- 
ducted his  duties  as  Chief  Commissioner  with  a  care  and 
scrupulosity  that  are  as  admirable  as  they  are  unusual. 
It  was  his  rule,  after  visiting  cases  of  special  importance, 
to  record  the  circumstances  as  an  aid  to  his  memory, 
and  the  thorough  manner  in  which  this  was  done  may 


1852.] 


A    LUNACY    CASE.  381 


be  illustrated  by  the  following  memorandum,  written  in 
the  early  part  of  this  year. 

Notes.     Visit  to at  Hayes  Park. 

On  Saturday,  10th  January,  18-52,  called   to  see a    Hayes 

Park. 

House  vastly  superior,  in  site  and  accommodation  and  furniture, 

to  most  asylums. 

Accompanied  by  Mr.  Gordon  and  Mr.  Gaskell. 

Had   an   hour's   conversation   with  ;  found  him  intelligent 

and  collected,  very  ready  to  converse,  and  skilful  in  fencing  with 
words  and  phrases.  He  admitted  his  former  impressions  that  the 
Queen  had  exhibited  towards  him  particular  attention,  but  hesitated 
to  explain  the  nature  and  mode  of  her  attention.  He  declared  that 
the  belief  he  entertained  of  her  having  an  attachment  to  him  was  a 
delusion  ;  but  the  attentions  he  persisted  in,  and  said  that  they  were 
remarked  by  others  as  well  as  by  himself.  He  admitted  also  that  he 
had  frequently  written  to  her  Majesty.  He  reiterated  his  assertion 
that  his  confinement  was  the  work  of  the  Government  and  Lord 
Fitzroy  Somerset. 

I  pressed  him  on  the  contents  of  his  letter  to  myself,  in  which  he 
used  the  remarkable  phrase,  that  he  assaulted  Dr.  Mollen  under  the 
'  impunity '  that  belongs  to  one  detained  in  a  lunatic  asylum.  He 
stoutly  and  ingeniously  maintained  his  proposition,  asserting  that  he 
had  assaulted,  and  would  again  assault,  Dr.  Mollen  or  any  others, 
Lord  F.  S.  included,  who  had  '  offended  '  against  him  in  this  respect, 
of  a  charge  of  insanity  ;  that  the  law  could  not  touch  him,  for,  as  a 
certified  lunatic,  he  was  irresponsible  ;  but  that  the  case  would  be 
different  were  he  pronounced  sane  and  at  liberty,  because  then  he 
should  become  a  responsible  person  and  subject  to  the  laws.  I 
urged  that,  though  there  might  not  be  a  legal  responsibility  while  he 
was  confined,  yet  that,  as  he  could  distinguish  right  from  wrong, 
there  was  a  moral  responsibility  to  the  Law  of  God.  '  Of  that,'  he 
replied,  '  I  do  not  pretend  to  know  much,  but  what  I  do  know  is  in 
my  favour  ;  I  consider  myself  morally  justified  before  God  in  assault- 
in^  Dr.  Mullen,  and  all  who,  like  him,  offend  against  me  in  this 
respect.' 


382  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

We  then  urged  on  him  the  necessity  of  caution,  both  in  his 
language  and  action  on  this  subject,  telling  him  it  greatly  injured  his 
chances  of  liberation,  as  most  people  would  be  seriously  alarmed  by 
such  avowals,  and  hesitate  to  believe,  though  they  might  form 
erroneous  conclusions,  that  anyone  who  so  reasoned  and  acted,  could 
safely  enjoy  freedom.  Nothing  could  shake  his  opinion  here  ;  he 
declared  that  he  would  do  no  such  thing,  and  that  every  one  who 
heard  him  must  concur  with  his  views  and  feelings. 

We  entreated  him  to  consult  a  friend,  and  abide  by  his  advice ; 
he  declined  to  do  so.  Of  his  father  he  spoke  with  an^er,  but  without 
violence  ;  he  wished,  he  said,  to  appeal  to  the  Law,  and,  after  the 
decision  of  the  Law,  he  would  shake  hands  with  his  father. 

It  is  a  most  perplexing  and  painful  case.  We  had  no  doubt  of 
the  first  part  of  the  proposition  in  the  certihcate,  that  '  he  is  of 
unsound  mind,'  but  we  must  deliberate  on  the  second,  'and  a  proper 
person  to  be  confined.'  Few  things  can  be  more  distressing  than  to 
see  this  intelligent  man,  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  who  has  passed  ten 
years  in  an  asylum,  and  seems  likely  to  pass  many  more.  Were  his 
monomania  on  any  less  exciting  subject-matter  than  the  person  of  the 
Queen,  my  opinion  would  incline  to  let  him  out ;  but  this  is  no 
ordinary  influence,  this  tendency  to  concentrate  every  morbid  thought 
and  feeling  on  the  Sovereign ;  and  a  monomania  that,  in  common 
cases  might  be  harmless,  becomes  extremely  dangerous  when  directed 
against,  or  upon,  the  first  person  in  the  Realm. 

By  June,  the  burden  of  overwork  and  over-anxiety 
had  become  so  heavily  oppressive,  that  we  find  this 
significant  entry : — 

June  19th. — Dr.  Ferguson  orders  me  to  Ems  to  drink  the  waters. 

It  was  some  time  before  repose  came,  even  at  Ems. 
His  mind  was  full  of  Ragged  School  work,  to  which  a 
great  impetus  had  been  given  at  the  anniversary  meet- 
ing in  May,  when  Exeter  Hall  had  overflowed  and  two 
or  three  thousand  persons  had  been  sent  away.  It 
grieved  him,  however,  that  contributions  should  fall  so 


1852.]  ESSAYS.  383 

far  short  of  enthusiasm.  Moreover,  he  had  conceived 
the  idea  that  many  of  the  teachers,  though  equally  active 
in  the  schools,  were  less  so  out  of  them,  and  to  meet  this 
difficulty  he  had,  just  before  leaving  England,  appointed 
a  City  Missionary  exclusively  to  the  ragged  children  "  to 
perambulate  the  town,  dive  into  dens,  alleys,  recesses, 
seek  out  the  forgotten,  oppressed,  destitute,  and  '  compel 
them  to  come  in.'  " 

July  15th. — Accounts  from  London  of  intense  and  intolerable 
heat  ;  there,  as  in  Paris,  many  deaths  from  coup  de  sole'd  !  I  shrink 
with  horror  when  I  think  of  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  people  in  their 
crowded  rooms,  alleys,  courts  ;  it  blunts  the  edge  of  my  satisfaction 
here  ;  it  stands,  in  truth,  between  me  and  my  '  cure.'  We  are  told 
to  talk  of  nothing,  think  of  nothing  that  agitates  ;  I  cannot  obey  the 
doctor — as  I  lie  panting  under  the  influence  of  the  sun,  surrounded 
by  clear  air  and  fresh  smells,  I  reflect  with  pain,  and  shame,  and 
grief,  on  the  condition  of  others  who,  under  a  sun  equally  powerful, 
are  tortured  by  foul  gas,  exhalations — human,  vegetable,  putrescent — 
without,  perhaps,  a  drink  of  wholesome  water  to  assuage  their  thirst. 
My  only  comfort  is,  and  it  is  but  a  slight  one,  that  I  have  protested 
and  laboured  for  years  on  their  behalf. 

It  was  a  favourite  recreation  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  in 
vacation  time  to  write  in  his  Diary  what  may  almost  be 
termed  "  essays ':  on  the  thoughts  that  arose  within 
him.     Thus,  while  at  Ems,  we  find  the  following : — 

July  20th. — Humanly  speaking,  and  on  human  grounds,  what 
countries  in  the  world  seem  to  enjoy  the  best  and  fairest  prospects  of 
greatness,  security,  and  wealth  1  I  should  reply,  France  and  the  United 
States  of  America.  The  United  States  are  a  young  country;  and,  so  fat 
as  analogy  is  good,  have  all  the  hopes  and  prospects  of  healthy  and 
vigorous  youth.  They  contain  within  themselves  everything,  how- 
ever various,  that  nature  bestows,  and  in  abundance  inexhaustible. 
In  art  and  science  they  are  equal  to  the  best ;  in  energy  of  character, 


384  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

almost  superior.  They  have  nothing  to  fear  but  from  internal  dis- 
sensions ;  they  are  beyond  the  power  of  foreign  aggression.  Their 
territory  is  nearly  boundless,  and  so  close  as  to  furnish  a  ready 
safety-valve  to  all  their  discontented  spirits  ;  every  year  adds  enor- 
mously to  their  numbers  and  resources,  and  wealth  seems  to  grow 
like  the  grass  of  the  field.  Their  Government  is  essentially  re- 
publican ;  and  there  is  actually  nothing  left  to  contend  for  in  the  way 
of  more  liberal  institutions.  They  may,  and  will,  have  party  strifes 
and  struggles  for  the  possession  of  place  and  power  ;  but  what  social 
question  remains  ?  There  is  no  Church  to  be  invaded  ;  no  aristocracy 
to  be  pulled  down  ;  no  king  to  be  replaced  by  a  president ;  efforts 
at  organic  changes  would  seem  to  be  impossible,  nor  will  the  bane 
of  Europe,  the  Socialistic  principle,  become,  for  many  generations  at 
least,  a  continuous  and  concentrated  question. 

'Slavery'  will  be  a  thorn  in  their  side;  but  its  utmost  conse- 
quence would  be  a  disruption  of  the  Union,  and  the  formation  of  two 
mighty  and  independent  States  ;  the  North  more  powerful  than  the 
South.  Then,  probably,  changes  may  begin  ;  and,  as  Monarchy 
fades  into  Republics,  so  Republics  rise  into  Monarchies. 

July  22nd. — France  presents  a  spectacle  such  as  the  world  never 
saw  before.  Ransack  history  and  say  whether,  in  any  age,  there  has 
existed  a  nation,  living  within  a  ring-fence  of  high  civilisation, 
advanced  science,  of  military  spirit  and  prowess,  almost  unrivalled, 
and  numbering  more  than  six  and  thirty  millions,  all  speaking  the 
same  language,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  fraction,  all  pro- 
fessing the  same  religion.  She  rests  on  two  seas  to  the  north  and  to 
the  south,  and  possesses  every  requisite  of  a  great  maritime  power ; 
her  surface  is  extensive,  and  her  soil  rich,  producing,  in  wine  espe- 
cially, many  things  that  other  nations  demand.  She,  like  the  U  nited 
States,  can  fear  little  or  nothing  from  foreign  aggression ;  she  is  more 
than  a  match  for  any  two  of  the  Continental  kingdoms ;  and,  in  the 
way  of  defence,  perhaps,  a  match  for  them  all.  But  her  means  of 
attack  are  very  great  ;  and  both  her  past  history  and  her  present 
vigour  impress  a  terror  on  every  Government  around  her ! 

Such  enormous  resources  will  extricate  her  speedily  from  financial 
difficulty;  and,  indeed,  Mr.  Bates  (of  the  great  firm  of  Baring  and 
Co.)  told  me  the  other  day  that  he  had  more  hopeful  views  of  French 
finance  than  of  any  other  country  on  earth.  She,  too,  like  the 
United  States,  has  little  left  to  destroy.      Her  Church  is  despoiled, 


1852.]  JOHN   MILTON.  385 

the  Crown  is  taken  away,  the  landed  aristocracy  are  no  more ; 
nobility  is  forbidden  and  equalit}r  instituted.  Further  organic  change 
seems  impossible ;  a  despotism,  it  is  true,  temporarily  exists,  which, 
while  it  lasts,  is  doing  that  form  of  good  which  liberty,  I  fear,  will 
never  effect;  and,  when  it  is  overthrown,  will  leave  the  nation  to  its 
commonwealth  airain. 

Her  plague  is  that  of  Socialism,  deep,  rancorous,  and  wide- 
spread ;  the  national  character,  nevertheless,  counteracts  it  in  some 
measure,  and  the  personal  interests  of  the  community  effect  the 
remainder.  Property  in  France  will  be  stoutly  and  immediately 
defended.  The  attack  must  be  specially  and  directly  on  that,  since 
nothing  else  is  left ;  and  as  those  who  are  assailed  feel  that  they  are 
fighting  for  money,  not  for  institutions ;  for  fact,  not  for  principle  ; 
for  themselves  alone,  and  not  for  other  classes  also,  in  the  first 
instance,  they  will  resist  with  a  degree  of  alacrity  and  vigour  that  no 
other  motive  could  infuse. 

Another  recreation  in  which  Lord  Shaftesbury  in- 
dulged at  Ems  was  one  which  \vras  almost  always  denied 
him  in  England — the  leisurely  perusal  of  books. 

August  15th. — Reading  Birks  on  Daniel,  clear,  satisfactory,  com- 
fortable. The  mysterious  resources  of  China,  the  progressive  might 
of  the  United  States,  will  neither  hasten  nor  retard  the  final  develop- 
ment of  man's  destiny  on  earth  !  God's  '  tender  mercies  are  over  all 
His  works ; '  but  prophecy  is  busy  with  those  empires  only  that  affect 
His  ancient  people,  and,  therein,  the  issue  of  the  Elect  Church,  elect 
from  'all  kindreds  and  tongues  and  people.' 

August  23rd. — Dover.  During  my  vacation  have  read  Milton 
again.  Well  did  Dryden  say  that  '  the  force  of  Nature  could  no 
further  go.'  The  older  I  grow  and  the  more  experience  I  obtain,  the 
deeper  is  my  wonder  at  his  mighty  and  overwhelming  genius.  How 
is  it  that  no  one  before  him  chose  such  a  subject  1  How  is  it  that 
no  one  since  has  exhibited  even  the  semblance  of  approximation 
to  his  power  of  handling  such  a  subject  1  I  cannot  but  believe  that 
God,  in  His  goodness,  inspired  the  man — not  as  He  inspired  Isaiah 
and  Joel,  to  foretell  future  events  in  strains  of  majestic  grandeur,  but 
to  show,  for  the  comfort  and  instruction  of  our  race,  that  man's 
mouth  and  man's  understanding  are  His  own  divine  workmanship. 

Z 


336  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  Ems,  Lord  Shaftesbury 
received  the  painful  intelligence  that  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  the  friend  of  his  early  manhood,  who 
had  seen  in  him  high  principles  and  large  capabili- 
ties, and  had  sought  his  friendship  and  his  aid,  was 
numbered  with  the  dead.  On  the  14th  of  September, 
at  Walmer  Castle,  the  old  hero  breathed  his  last. 

September  16th. — The  death  of  the  Great  Duke  is  an  'event.' 
"Will  the  world  present  other  opportunities  for  other  such  heroes  1 
Such  a  life  is  hardly  on  record ;  everything,  nearly,  went  well  with 
him,  and  he  'died  full  of  riches  and  honour.'  His  dominant  feeling 
was  a  sense  of  duty  to  the  Crown  and  to  the  country  ;  it  was  para- 
mount to  everything  else.  And  now  begins  the  ordinary  scramble  ; 
he  held  many  appointments,  and  many  of  his  survivors  will  covet, 
and  some  will  deserve,  them. 

There  were  rumours  that  the  Chancellorship  of 
Oxford,  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
would  be  offered  to  Lord  Shaftesbury.  The  following 
entry  refers  to  this  : — 

September  24th. — For  myself  it  would  add  a  burthen  of  duty  to 
the  many  burthens  I  have  already  ;  it  would  necessarily  call  me  off 
from  many  I  have  undertaken,  and  have  hardly  time  and  strength  to 
discharge.  Now,  is  there  one  that  I  would  surrender  for  this 
honour  1  Not  one.  It  is  an  honour  I  do  not  covet,  a  duty  I  do  not 
like — an  unprofitable  field,  a  comfortless  dignity.  I  hate  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  it.  Let  those  who  are  ambitious  of  it  obtain  and 
enjoy  the  post;  there  will  be  candidates  enough.  I  had  rather,  by 
God's  blessing  and  guidance,  retain  those  places  for  which  there  are 
no  candidates — the  chairs  of  .the  Ragged  Union,  the  Colonial  Dor- 
mitory, the  Field  Lane  Refuge.  .  .  .  This  is  clearly  my  province.  I 
am  called  to  this,  and  not  to  any  political  or  social  honours.  I  am 
now  fifty -two  years  of  age ;  I  have  laboured  almost  incessantly  for 
four-and-twenty   years,  and    I    have   never   received  an  honour,  or 


1852.]  BUST    TO    BUST.  387 

notice  of  any  sort  or  kind,  great  or  small,  from  the  Crown,  the 
Minister,  or  the  public,  except  the  citizenship  of  the  small  borough 
of  Tain,  in  Scotland. 

September  27th.  —The  Duke  of  Wellington's  leavings  are  hastily 
snatched  up.  One  only  has  been  well  bestowed  :  *  Lord  Hardinge  is 
the  Commander-  in-Chief,  and  Fitzroy  Somerset  t  ('  quo  non  prtestan- 
tior  ')  succeeds  him  at  the  Ordnance. 

Lord  Shaftesbury's  ideas  of  burial  were  very  pro- 
nounced. Any  glorification  of  tbe  body  from  which 
the  spirit  had  fled  was  repugnant  to  him.  He  had 
no  sympathy  with  the  passion  of  some  who  would 
seek  to  battle  with  nature,  and  resist,  or  attempt 
to  resist,  the  decree,  "  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust 
shalt  thou  return."  He  disliked  the  gross,  material 
idea  of  burial,  as  unpoetical,  unscriptural,  and  the  result 
of  materialism  in  theology  ;  he  looked  upon  the  corpses 
of  the  departed  as  no  more  than  relinquished  garments 
of  living  men  and  women,  "temples  of  Grod,  in  which 
divine  service  is  over  and  finished,  the  chanting  hushed, 
the  aisles  deserted."  This  was  no  new  idea  of  his.  It 
was,  like  most  that  entered  into  matters  of  practical 
importance,  fixed  and  rooted.  We  have  heard  him  ex- 
press the  same  sentiment  in  his  journals  of  early  con- 
tinental travels  ;  we  shall  hear  him  re-echo  those  words 
with  even  greater  force  in  the  last  year  of  his  life,  wheu 
supporting  the  efforts  of  the  Cremation  Society. 

*  "When  this  was  written,  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  not  aware  that 
the  Wardeuship  of  the  Cinque  Ports  had  been  given  to  the  Marquis 
of  Dalhousie  (then  Governor-General  of  India),  who  held  it  until  his 
death. 

f  Afterwards  Lord  Raglan. 


388  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

November  18th. — Last  night  at  half-past  eight  to  'lying  in 
state!'  What  a  monstrous  misuse  of  splendour  !  here  is  the  infimy, 
or  the  infamy,  of  our  nature.  '  Dust  to  dust,  ashes  to  ashes  : '  here 
is  the  decree  of  God  !  Order  upon  order,  gold  upon  gold,  troop  upon 
troop  :  here  is  the  decree  of  man  !  The  decrees  seem  to  be  in  col- 
lision. It  was  fine,  very  fine,  but  hardly  impressive ;  signs  of  mor- 
tality, but  none  of  resurrection ;  much  of  a  great  man  in  his  genera- 
tion, but  nothing  of  a  great  spirit  in  another  ;  not  a  trace  of  religion, 
not  a  shadow  of  eternity.  They  would  have  made  far  other  display 
in  Romish  countries  :  the  cross,  a  band  of  chanting  monks,  priests 
with  censers — a  false  religion,  it  is  true,  but  nevertheless  something 
that  would  have  shifted  the  thoughts  from  a  mere  grovel  on  the 
earth. 

To-day  the  procession  ;  saw  it  well,  singularly  well,  from  St. 
James's  Palace.  Day  providentially — yes,  providentially — fine  ;  it 
spared,  I  doubt  not  (and  let  us  thank  God),  many  a  sickness  and 
many  an  accident.  Stupendously  grand  in  troops  and  music.  It  was 
solemn,  and  even  touching ;  but  it  was  a  show,  an  eye-tickler  to  999 
out  of  every  thousand — a  mere  amusement.  The  Duke  himself 
svould  have  permitted  it,  in  a  sense  of  duty  ;  he  never  would  have 
desired  such  a  thing. 

The  Protestantism  of  five-and-thirty  years  ago  was 
much  more  easily  stimulated  to  enthusiasm  than  it  is 
now,  and  the  story  of  the  interest  and  excitement 
aroused  by  the  persecution  of  the  Madiai  in  1852  reads 
like  a  chapter  out  of  some  old-world  history. 

In  the  City  of  Florence  there  dwelt  two  small  shop- 
keepers, Francesco  and  Eosa  Madiai.  They  were  simple 
folk,  neither  wealthy,  great,  nor  powerful,  but  they 
were  sincere.  Under  the  influence  of  Protestant  teach- 
in  o\  they  were  led  to  regard  the  Church  of  Rome, 
in  which  they  had  been  reared,  as  in  error,  and,  as 
they  could  not  conscientiously  remain  in  it,  they  deter- 
mined to  come  out   and  be  separate.     The  Scriotures 


1852.]  PERSECUTION    OF    THE   MADIAI.  389 

became  their  delight,  and,  although  warned  that  to 
read  them  in  their  own  house,  and  to  seek  to  propagate 
them,  or  to  spread  the  doctrines  of  Protestantism, 
would  be  to  act  in  hostility  to  the  religion  of  the  State, 
they  felt  it  was  their  duty  to  persevere  and  bear  the 
consequences — "they  could  not  but  speak  the  things 
which  they  had  seen  and  heard." 

They  were,  in  consequence,  subjected  to  severe  per- 
secution. But  this  could  not  turn  them  from  their 
purpose  ;  the  spirit  of  the  old  martyrs  possessed  them  ; 
they  would  not  obey  man  rather  than  God.  The 
matter  was  then  referred  to  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  who  condemned  them  to  five  years'  imprison- 
ment with  hard  labour  in  the  galleys. 

When  this  sentence  became  known,  it  produced 
throughout  Protestant  Europe  a  sudden  and  simulta- 
neous indignation.  In  England,  by  common  consent,  Lord 
Shaftesbury  was  looked  to  as  the  leader  of  the  move- 
ment to  obtain  a  reversal  of  the  cruel  and  tyrannical 
sentence.  One  of  his  first  steps  was  to  lay  the  case 
before  the  Prince  Consort,  and  acquaint  him  with  the 
actual  state  of  public  feeling  upon  the  subject. 

To  this  letter  the  Prince  replied  : — 

H.R.H.  the  Prince  Consort  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Balmoral,  September  2ith,  1852. 

My  dear  Lord  Shaftesbury, — Many  thanks  for  your  letter 
respecting  the  unfortunate  Madiais,  which  I  received  this  morning. 
The  cruel  case  had  already  attracted  the  Queen's  notice,  and  I 
attempted  a  personal  appeal  to  the  Grand  Duke,  to  which  I  have 
not  yet  received  an  answer.      I    tried  particularly  to  impress  him 


390  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

(or  rather  his  Confessor,  who  is  the  ruling  power)  that  the  case  will 
do  irreparable  mischief  to  the  Roman  Catholic  cause  in  England, 
knowing  that,  for  the  sake  of  Christian  charity,  not  a  finger  will  be 
moved. 

This  is  the  Church  which  calls  us  intolerant,  merely  because  Ave 
do  not  choose  to  be  governed  by  it  !  The  King  of  Prussia  has 
written  to  the  Queen  asking  her  to  make  joint  representations  with 
him  at  Florence.  Her  Majesty  has,  in  her  answer  sent  to-day, 
expressed  her  willingness  so  to  do,  and  has  instructed  Lord  Malmes- 
bury  accordingly. 

Ever  yours  truly, 

Albert. 

It  was  decided  by  those  who,  under  the  leadership 
of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  had  so  warmly  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  Madiai,  that  a  deputation  should  go  out  from 
England  to  intercede  with  the  Grand  Duke  (the  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin  assuming  the  lead  in  Dublin). 

The  deputation,  headed  by  Lord  Eoden,  set  forth 
on  their  mission  on  the  23rd  of  October.  On  the  26th 
Lord  Eoden  wrote  to  Lord  Shaftesbury,  informing  him 
that  he  had  received  a  repfy  from  the  Tuscan  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  declining  to  receive  a  deputation  on 
the  subject  of  the  Madiai.  "  They  are  Tuscan  sub- 
jects," wrote  the  Minister,  "  and  have  been  condemned 
to  five  years'  imprisonment  by  the  ordinary  tribunals, 
for  propagating  Protestantism,  which  is  prescribed  by 
our  laws  as  an  attack  upon  the  religion  of  the  State." 

The  deputation  went  forward  notwithstanding,  and 
their  return  is  thus  referred  to  in  the  Diary : — 

Nov.  12th. — Yesterday  to  Protestant  Alliance  to  receive  deputa- 
tion on  their  return  from  Florence.  Let  us  bless  God  ;  He  has 
really  prospered  us.     .     .     .     Is  it  no  remarkable  sign,  nay,  proof 


1852.]  IN   SEARCH    OF    THE    MADIAI.  391 

of  the  latter  clays,  that  when  two  small  shopkeepers  are  persecuted 
by  the  hand  of  tyranny,  for  righteousness'  sake,  all  Europe  is  in 
commotion  ;  deputies  start  from  England,  France,  Holland,  Prussia, 
Switzerland  ;  monarchs  interfere  with  autograph  letters,  and  the 
sanctity  of  principle  and  truth  is  maintained  in  the  cause,  and  in  the 
persons,  of  social  inferiors  ;  social,  I  say,  for,  God  knows,  they  may 
be  as  '  Hyperion  to  a  Satyr,'  compared  with  grandees  1  It  revives 
the  memory  and  practice  of  Apostolic  times  ;  it  is  the  dawn  of  the 
day  when  the  Churches  that  '  hold  the  Head  '  shall  be  as  one ! 
Ah,  how  dear  Bickersteth  would  rejoice  in  such  a  daybreak,  were 
he  on  earth,  but  probably  he  is  enjoying  now  a  meridian  display 
of  God's  full  mercy  to  this  thankless  world  !  There  are  hopes,  too, 
even  for  Italy  ;  the  populace  crowded  around  the  deputation  ;  at 
Lucca,  Lord  Roden  could  scarcely  prevent  their  drawing  his  carriage 
in  triumph  ;  at  Genoa,  the  National  Guard  would  have  turned  out 
in  military  order.  This  is  good ;  the  people  will  see  that  there  is  a 
reality  in  Protestantism,  a  spirit  of  brotherhood,  a  unity  of  hearts 
under  a  diversity  of  forms. 

Successful  as  the  deputation  had  been  in  stirring 
popular  feeling,  it  had  failed  to  obtain  any  reversal  or 
mitigation  of  the  sentence  on  the  Madiai,  and  fresh 
steps  had  to  be  taken  by  the  Protestants  of  Europe. 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  early  in  December,  headed  a  deputa- 
tion to  Mr.  Walpole,  to  petition  the  Queen  on  their 
behalf,  a  petition  signed,  "  strange,  but  joyous  to  say, 
by  one  Archbishop  (Dublin)  and  eight  Bishops  ! ': 

In  January,  1853,  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  Pro- 
testant Alliance  and  many  influential  persons,  Lord 
Shaftesbury  was  on  the  point  of  starting  off  for  Florence 
"in  search  of  the  Madiai."  Just  when  his  preparations 
were  made,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  Protestants  of 
Geneva  "  urging  caution,  breathing  doubts,  quenching 
spirits,  and  imposing  wet  blankets."      But  his  ardour 


392  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

was  not  damped,  and  he  still  purposed  to  go  forward, 
when  he  received  private  information  that  at  the  pre- 
sent juncture  of  affairs  he  would  "complicate  the  whole 
thing,  worsen  the  condition  of  the  Madiai,  and  do  more 
harm  than  good."  The  journey  was  therefore  postponed. 
Meanwhile  other  and  more  effective  measures  were  in 
progress.  Lord  John  Russell  urged  upon  Sir  Henry 
Bulwer,  Envoy  Extraordinary  to  Tuscany,  the  necessity 
of  remonstrating  strongly  with  the  Tuscan  Government 
on  the  subject.  "  As  this  is  a  matter  affecting  a  Tuscan 
subject," he  said,  "it  may  be  argued  that  Her  Majesty's 
Government  have  no  right  to  interfere.  If  this  means 
that  interference  by  force  of  arms  would  not  be  justifi- 
able, I  confess  at  once  that  nothing  but  the  most 
extreme  case  would  justify  such  an  interference.  But 
if  it  be  meant  that  Her  Majesty  has  not  the  right 
to  point  out  to  a  friendly  sovereign  the  arguments 
which  have  prevailed  in  the  most  civilised  nations 
aoainst  the  use  of  the  civil  sword  to  punish  reli- 
gious opinions,  I  entirely  deny  the  truth  of  such  an 
.allegation." 

The  Grand-Duke  withstood,  as  long  as  he  was  able, 
the  storm  his  tyrann}^  had  provoked,  but  eventually  he 
was  obliged  to  yield,  and  on  the  17th  of  March  the 
Madiai  were  liberated. 

An  amusing  episode  of  this  subject  was  the  re- 
ceipt of  a  letter  from  an  agent  of  Mr.  Barnum — the 
American  Showman — a  letter  that  greatly  tickled  the 
humour  of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  who  had  a  keen  relish  for 
a  joke. 


1S52.1  THE    AMERICAN   SHOWMAN.  393 

Mr.  Bamum's  Agent  to  Lord  Shafteslury. 

Manchester,  March  2bth,  1853. 

My  Lord, — As  I  am  aware  your  lordship  is  always  actively 
engaged  in  a  holy  warfare  against  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and 
the  mainstay  of  the  converts  from  that  faith,  I  calculate  it  is  highly 
probable  that  Rosa  and  Francesco  Madiai  are  likely  to  come  under 
your  Lordship's  patronage  on  their  arrival  in  the  old  country.  As 
agent  for  Mr.  Barnum,  whose  name,  I  presume,  is  not  unknown  to 
your  lordship,  I  respectfully  beg  to  be  informed  whether  it  is  possible 
to  enter  into  an  engagement  for  these  interesting  people  to  exhibit 
themselves  in  our  United  States  after  the  London  season,  as  I  have 
no  doubt  they  would  draw  fair  audiences  in  our  northern  States, 
where  the  Protestant  feeling  runs  strong,  and  we  are  pretty  alive  to 
proceedings  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Barnum  would  act  liberally  by  these  good  people,  and  great 
good  may  be  done. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  my  lord, 

Your  lordship's  obedient  servant, 

John  Hall  Wilton. 

Unfortunately  there  is  no  record  of  the  reply  Lord 
Shaftesbury  sent  to  this  communication. 

In  the  autumn  of  1853  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  in 
Geneva,  when  he  wrote  in  his  Diary  : — 

Sept.  18th. — Geneva.  Called  with  Lady  Georgiana  Baillie  to 
see  the  Madiais.  Saw  Francesco  ;  Rosa  unwell.  As  soon,  however, 
as  she  had  learned  my  name,  and  knew  that  I  was  President  of  the 
Protestant  Alliance,  to  which,  under  God,  she  owed  so  much,  she 
came,  despite  her  weakness,  which  is  considerable,  to  see  me  at  the 
hotel.  I  am  delighted  with  her — her  devout,  dignified,  simple  bear- 
ing and  expression.  She  is  a  true  confessor  in  manner  and  spirit,  a 
servant  of  our  Lord  '  with  all  her  heai't,  with  all  her  soul,  and  with 
all  her    strength.'      Francesco,   though    perhaps   inferior    in   mind, 


394  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

is  not  unworthy  of  her.  May  God  bless  them  in  time  and  in 
eternity,  and  raise  up  many  such  to  '  witness  before  '  kings,  judges, 
and  dukes  ! 

It  rarely  happened  that  any  one  subject,  however 
great  its  interest,  was  allowed  to  absorb  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury's attention,  and  while  the  case  of  Madiai  was  pro- 
ceeding, other  and  wider  movements  were  claiming  his  aid. 

In  IS 50,  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  wrote  her 
celebrated  tale,  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  It  was  first 
published  in  parts ;  on  its  completion  it  was  reissued 
entire,  and  it  then  commenced  a  career  almost  un- 
paralleled in  the  annals  of  literature.  In  the  course  of 
less  than  a  year  more  than  200,000  copies  were  sold  in  the 
United  States,  and  this  was  but  a  prelude  to  the  still  more 
astonishing  success  awaiting  it  in  this  country.  It  ran 
like  wild-fire  through  the  land,  appealing  to  every  class 
in  cities,  towns,  and  remotest  villages,  and  affecting,  as 
no  other  book,  perhaps,  had  ever  done,  the  imagination 
of  the  people. 

From  extracts  already  given  from  his  journals,  it 
will  easily  be  seen  how,  with  his  utter  detestation  of 
slavery  of  every  kind,  the  enormities  revealed  in  this 
life-like  fiction  stirred  the  heart  of  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury. For  years  he  had  watched  every  movement  in 
America  bearing  upon  this  subject ;  and  latterly  the 
operation  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  by  which  "  a 
whole  nation,  blessed  by  Grod  with  freedom,  wealth,  and 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  declares  it  to  be  impossible  to 
emancipate  a  slave,  and  penal  to  teach  any  one  of  them 
the  rirst  principles  of  Christianity,"  had  distressed  him 


1852.]  NEGRO    SLAVERY.  395 

beyond  measure.  But  hitherto  he  had  been  unable  to 
take  any  important  active  part  against  the  cruel  system. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was  at  that  time  no  action 
that  could  have  been  taken.  After  reading  Mrs. 
Stowe's  book,  however,  and  when  public  feeling  was 
stirred  to  its  depths,  he  felt  that  it  was  impossible  to 
remain  quiet. 

Nov.  6th. — Long  troubled  in  spirit,  and  touched  to  the  heart's 
core  by  '  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.'  Marvellous  work  !  What  a  power 
of  Christian  intellect !  What  a  concentration,  so  to  speak,  of  natural 
simplicity  !  One  feels,  as  one  reads  it,  that  it  is  heaven-sent.  It 
has  a  destiny.  Ah,  Lord,  grant  it,  and  forgive,  at  last,  the  descendants 
of  Ham. 

Determined  to  draw  up  an  Address  from  the  Women  of  England 
to  the  Women  of  America,  and  try  to  stir  their  souls  and  sympathies. 
Did  it,  and  sent  it  off  to  the  newspapers  to-day. 

The  proposed  address  was  to  rouse  public  opinion, 
by  an  appeal  to  the  great  sympathies  of  mankind, 
so  much  more  powerful  than  laws  or  statutes ;  and 
it  was  hoped  that  if  it  were  taken  up  by  local  com- 
mittees, enriched  by  many  signatures,  and  then  trans- 
mitted to  America,  it  would  not  fail  to  produce  a  deep 
and  fruitful  impression. 

It  was  a  call  from  the  Women  of  England  to  their 
sisters  in  America,  to  consider  how  far  the  system  of 
slavery  was  in  accordance  with  the  Word  of  Grod,  the 
inalienable  rights  of  immortal  souls,  and  the  pure  and 
merciful  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion.  One  of  the 
principal  paragraphs  was  as  follows  : — 

We  do  not  shut  our  eyes  to  the  difficulties — nay,  the  dangers — - 
that  might  beset  the  immediate  abolition   of  that  lon^-established 


396  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap  XX. 

system  ;  we  see  and  admit  the  necessity  of  preparation  for  so  great 
an  event  ;  but,  in  speaking  of  indispensable  preliminaries,  we  cannot 
be  silenG  on  those  laws  of  your  country,  which,  in  direct  contra- 
vention of  God's  own  law,  '  instituted  in  the  time  of  man's  innocency,' 
deny  in  effect,  to  the  slave,  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  with  all  its  joys, 
rights,  and  obligations  ;  which  separate,  at  the  will  of  the  master, 
the  wife  from  the  husband,  and  the  children  from  the  parents.  Nor 
can  we  be  silent  on  that  awful  system  which,  either  by  statute  or  by 
custom,  interdicts  to  any  race  of  men,  or  any  portion  of  the  human 
family,  education  in  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  and  the  ordinances  of 
Christianity. 

Henceforward  for  many  years,  events  in  America, 
especially  as  they  bore  upon  the  question  of  slavery, 
were  noted  at  considerable  length  in  Lord  Shaftesbury's 
Diaries. 

Nov.  12th. — To  the  House  of  Lords  to  take  the  oath.  What  a 
mode  of  administering  a  sacred  office  !  What  a  '  hideous  gabble  ! ' 
Is  there  any — can  there  be  any — value  in  such  a  form  1  A  little 
encouragement  to  my  slavery  movement,  but  very  little.  Kind 
letters  from  the  editor  of  the  Leeds  Mercury,  and  old  Sam  Rogers, 
the  poet.  It  is  refreshing  to  see  a  man  so  keen  in  his  humanities  at 
ninety  years  of  age.   .   .   . 

Nov.  18th. — An  anti-abolition  party  has  triumphed  and  has 
elected  a  kindred  President  in  the  United  States.  Thus,  humanly 
speaking,  a  new  rivet  has  been  added  to  the  bonds  of  the  wretched 
slaves,  and  a  new  and  enlarged  licence  to  debauchery,  incest,  mutila- 
tion, murder  !  But  is  it  so  1  May  not  the  extremity  of  the  bondage 
be,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Israelites,  the  moment  of  deliverance  1  Oh, 
Lord,  hear  our  prayer,  Christ  Jesus,  hear  our  prayer,  and  maintain 
Thine  own  word  of  mercy,  truth,  and  peace  !  Have  pity  on  our 
ignorance  and  infirmity,  and  make  us  to  understand  why  it  is  that 
such  special  and  singular  horrors,  in  every  form  of  physical  and  moral 
sin,  are  thus  long  permitted. 

Nov.  20th. — It  is  wonderful  to  contemplate  the  long-suffering  of 
God  towards  the  American  Republic.  Their  statute  laws  are  in 
direct  contradiction  of  the  statute  laws  (so  to  speak,  the  Ten  Com- 


1852.]  AMERICA    AND    SLAVERY.  397 

mandments)  of  God.  Try  them  in  succession,  and  it  will  be  found 
that  every  decree  is  set  at  nought  by  the  United  States  law.  The 
'  fugitive'  slave  law  was  a  compromise  to  maintain  the  Union  at  the 
expense  of  mercy,  truth,  justice,  God's  gifts  and  word.  The  whole 
of  their  domestic  policy  is  governed,  more  or  less,  by  '  slavery.'  It 
is  the  beginning:  and  the  end  of  their  movements.  They  invade 
Mexico  to  find  a  market  for  their  breeding  farms,  seize  on  Texas,  and 
re-establish  that  slavery  which  Mexico  had  abolished  !  They  are 
bound  together  by  compacts  of  murder,  rapine,  adultery.  They  say 
to  three  millions  of  God's  immortal  creatures,  '  Your  bodies  are 
ours  for  lust,  labour,  for  any  amount  or  quality  of  suffering 
and  degradation  we  choose  to  inflict,  and  your  souls  shall  wallow 
in  utter  ignorance  of  the  things  of  eternity.'  And  yet  they 
prosper.  Their  dominion  is  mighty,  their  wealth  stupendous ;  they 
seem  to  have  nothing  to  fear  from  man,  and  every  ambition  is  grati- 
fied. They  boast  of  their  freedom,  their  republic,  their  '  religion  ; ' 
and  the  public  press  of  England  is  silent  on  these  things  !  What  a 
mystery  is  all  this  !  What  is  there  in  former  times  to  match  the 
present1?  What  nation  before,  knew  Thy  will,  read  it  in  Thy  Book, 
professed  to  believe  it,  and  then  passed  laws  (the  work  of  the  whole 
■peojyle,  not  of  a  single  despot)  in  flat,  insolent  contradiction  of  Thy  will 
and  truth  1  Lord,  '  increase  our  faith,'  and  speedily  have  mercy  on 
Thy  oppressed  creatures,  for  Christ's  ever  dear  and  precious  sake  ! 

Nov.  21st. — Sunday.  This  United  States  slavery  harasses  my 
very  soul  ;  I  can  think  of  nothing  else  ;  breathe  a  prayer  for  them 
minute  after  minute. 

Nov.  25th. — Busy,  very  busy,  about  my  '  Address  from  the  Women 
of  England  to  the  Women  of  America  '  on  negro  slavery.  Have  met 
with  more  sympathy  and  less  ridicule  than  might  have  been  expected  ; 
thanks,  under  God,  to  '  Uncle  Tom's  cabin.'  My  dear  and  steady 
friend,  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  has  been  most  zealous,  serviceable, 
and  high-minded.  She  has  called  a  meeting  of  ladies  in  her  house 
to  form  a  committee  and  adopt  the  memorial. 

Nov.  27th. — The  Duchess  did  her  part  in  the  best  manner.  Ah, 
Lord,  return  all  into  her  own  bosom,  and  bless  the  house,  which, 
glorious  in  human  trappings,  has  been  consecrated  to  the  cause  of 
Thy  dear  Son  ! 

Dec.  7th. — -The  letters  and  articles  in  the  Times  are  both  wicked 
and  silly,  and  yet  they  affect  some  weak   minds.      I  am  summoned, 


398  TEE    EAUL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX 

people  say,  to  answer  them  !  Answer  them  !  How  can  one  answe* 
such  puerilities  ?  One  says  that  American  slavery  is  no  worse  than 
the  state  of  the  poor  in  London  ;  another  quotes  the  needlewomen  ; 
a  third  asserts  that  domestic  servants  are  debased  and  ground  by 
tyranny ;  a  fourth  will  not  hear  of  any  sympathy  for  the  slaves  until 
the  lodgings  for  soldiers'  wives  are  improved  at  Chatham.  The  truth 
is,  that  the  thing  has  touched  the  consciences  of  some,  who  see  that  it 
has  reached  the  hearts  of  others,  and  they  endeavour  to  act  by 
ridicule  on  that  large  mass  who  always  prefer  wrong  to  right,  earth 
to  heaven,  whatever  be  the  question  at  issue.  This  is  bad,  but  it  is 
better  than  oblivion.  Yet,  who  will  not  blush  at  this  exhibition  of 
worldliness,  falsehood,  cruelty,  and  despotism  in  English  society  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

Dec.  15th. — Wrote  yesterday  to  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe  to  express 
my  admiration  of  her  work,  and  my  gratitude  to  God  who  had 
stimulated  her  heart  to  write  it. 

The  death  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Bickersteth  in  1850 
had  been  a  severe  loss  to  Lord  Shaftesbury.  He 
looked  around  and  saw  no  one  who  could  supply  his 
place ;  no  one  who  could  give  him  just  the  help  and 
sympathy  he  needed  in  the  anxieties  of  his  ever-in- 
creasing work,  no  one  on  whose  judgment  he  could 
place  implicit  reliance.  Frequently,  in  times  of  great 
perplexity,  he  recorded  in  his  journal  (into  which  he 
poured  every  thought  and  feeling,  every  aspiration  and 
hope,  as  well  as  every  fear  and  misgiving)  the  sense  of 
this  great  and  growing  want — the  friendship  of  one  who 
should  be  able  to  enter  into  his  plans  and  purposes,  and 
in  whom  he  could  confide  in  unrestrained  measure. 
There  were  many  sorrows  pressing  upon  him  which  few 
could  understand ;  his  fellow-labourers  did  not  know 
that  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  haunted  him  night  and 
day,  and  grieved  him  as  though  they  were  personal  to 


1S52.]         .     FRIENDSHIP    WITH   BICEERSTETH.  399 

himself;  few  ever  realised  that  the  records  of  slavery, 
persecution,  and  cruelty  in  the  daily  papers,  and  much 
more  those  that  came  within  the  scope  of  his  own  know- 
ledge, would  fill  him  with  such  burning  indignation  that 
he  had  difficulty  in  restraining  himself  from  becoming  the 
champion  of  every  individual  case  of  oppression.  No 
one  ever  knew,  until  his  Diaries  were  seen,  how  he  chafed 
at  delay  in  redressing  wrong,  how  he  literally  "  agonised  ': 
over  the  misery  and  the  despair  of  those  whose  distresses 
were  capable  of  being  made  endurable,  if  not  altogether 
relieved.  Nor  did  he  stand  in  need  of  such  a  friend  in 
the  hour  of  his  sorrow,  less  than  in  the  hour  of  his  joy. 
He  craved  for  some  one  who,  himself  in  the  midst  of 
similar  labour,  would  be  able  to  sympathise  with  him  in 
his  triumphs  and  successes,  and  be  a  sharer  in  the  joy 
of  harvest,  no  less  than  in  the  tearful  sowing  of  the  seed. 
It  was  this  sense  of  want  that  made  him  write,  in  the 
midst  of  the  enthusiasm  kindled  among  Protestants  on 
behalf  of  the  Madiai ,  "  It  is  the  dawn  of  the  day 
when  the  Churches  that  '  hold  the  Head '  shall  be  as 
one.  Ah,  how  dear  Bickersteth  would  rejoice  in  such 
a  daybreak  were  he  on  earth  ! ':  It  was  a  cry  for  the 
touch  of  the  vanished  hand,  and  the  sound  of  the  voice 
that  was  still ;  it  was  an  acknowledgment  that  there  was 
no  one  else  who  held  in  his  heart  the  same  position  his 
departed  friend  had  held. 

But  a  friendship  was  ripening  which  ere  long  should 
supply  the  one  he  had  "  lost  awhile " — that  is,  as 
far  as  one  friendship  ever  can  supply  the  place  of 
another. 


400  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap  XX. 

In  the  prosecution  of  various  good  works,  in  com- 
mittees and  on  platforms,  lie  had  been  brought  into 
contact  with  Mr.  Alexander  Haldane,  a  barrister-at-law 
of  the  Inner  Temple,  the  representative  of  an  ancient 
Perthshire  family,  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  philan- 
thropy and  religion,  and  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
Record  newspaper — the  organ  of  the  Evangelical  party. 

Mr.  Haldane,  who  was  some  months  older  than  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  was  an  active,  energetic  man,  strong  in 
body  and  mind,  of  great  intellectual  force  and  tenacity 
of  purpose,  and  full  of  keen  and  warm-hearted  sympa- 
thies. He  was  lively  in  temperament,  with  a  strong 
sense  of  humour  and  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote. 
He  possessed,  as  Lord  Shaftesbury  many  years  after- 
wards recorded,  a  strong  intellect,  a  cultivated  mind, 
and  wide  knowledge,  and  he  devoted  them  all  to  the 
furtherance  of  religion  and  morality,  to  the  honour  of 
God,  and  the  welfare  of  the  human  race. 

He  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  principal 
writers  for  the  Record.  "  At  every  important  crisis, 
political  and  religious,  the  other  proprietors  were  long 
accustomed  to  look  to  him  to  produce  the  appropriate 
leaders,"  and  it  was  to  his  labours  that  the  paper  owed 
much  of  its  influence  and  value.  In  public  affairs  he  took 
a  profound  and  absorbing  interest.  Politics  at  home 
and  abroad,  society,  literature,  the  condition  of  the 
masses,  and,  especially,  the  great  religious  controversies 
of  the  times,  were  the  subjects  that  chiefly  engrossed 
his  thoughts  and  inspired  his  pen. 

The  first  friendly  letter  from  Mr.  Haldane  to  Lord 


1852.]  MB.    ALEXANDER    HALBANE.  401 

Shaftesbury  was  written  in  1S49,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  death  of  his  son  Francis.  In  1850-1  there  was 
frequent  correspondence  between  them,  and  after  that 
date,  as  their  intimacy  increased,  the  letters  became 
unceasing. 

In  course  of  time,  whenever  Lord  Shaftesbury  was 
in  town,  scarcely  a  day  passed  when  Mr.  Haldane  did 
not  "  drop  in  "  to  bring  the  news,  to  report  the  progress 
of  matters  in  which  they  were  mutually  interested,  or 
to  cheer  with  friendly  counsel  and  intercourse.  "When 
absent  from  town  there  was  an  almost  daily  interchange 
of  letters.* 

Mr.  Haldane's  interest  in  the  political  events  of 
his  time  brought  him  much  into  contact  with  promi- 
nent members  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  for 
many  years  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  being  present 
on  the  occasion  of  any  important  debate  in  either 
House,  f 

In  the  course  of  this  narrative  we  shall  quote  at 
s'ome  length  from  the  correspondence  between  Lord 
Shaftesbury  and  Mr.  Haldane.  A  letter,  written  abroad 
in  this  year,  on  paper  illustrated  with  a  view  of 
Ems,  may  be  quoted  in  this  place,  as  an  example  of 
the  free  and  open  confidence  already  existing  between 
them. 


*  Lord  Shaftesbury's  letters  were  invariably  preserved  by  Mr.  Haldane, 
and  some  hundreds  of  them  have  been  kindly  placed  by  his  daughters 
in  the  hands  of  the  writer  for  the  purposes  of  this  Biography. 

f  From  the  time  Lord  Ashley  became  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  Mr.  Haldane 
was  so  constant  an  attendant  at  the  House  of  Lords,  that  he  acquired  a 
prescriptive  right  to  a  certain  place  which  was  always  reserved  for  him. 

a  a 


402  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Mr.  Haldane. 

Ems,  July  27th,  1852. 

Dear  Mr.  Haldane, — At  the  top  of  the  note  is  the  place  where 
we  drink  the  watei'S,  and  into  which  the  Tractarians  would,  no  doubt, 
gladly  infuse  a  '  quietus '  for  me.  My  human  security,  however,  is 
that  I  and  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Cologne  drink  from  the  same 
spring  and  at  the  same  time. 

I  Lave  only  just  received  your  letter.  I  have  no  disposition 
to  notice  the  opprobrious  fellows ;  I  care  not  what  they  say  or 
what  they  do.  If  they  can  write  me  down,  I  cannot  write 
myself  up ;  and  of  this  I  feel  deeply  convinced  that  if,  after  so 
many  years  of  publicity,  I  have  not  character  or  favour  enough 
(with  the  only  portion  of  the  world  to  which  I  could  appeal) 
to  withstand  the  attacks  of  Pusey,  Sewell,  Carlyle,  and  Co.,  my 
position  is  not  worth  preserving.  When  I  was  younger  I  had  some 
ambition  for  myself ;  I  have  now  no  desire  except  to  possess  so  much 
influence  as  mav  enable  me  to  do  good.  Should  these  Sons  of 
Babylon  prevail,  it  will  be  because  they  find  a  '  predisposition,'  as 
we  said  in  cholera  times,  in  the  public  mind  to  take  the  impression 
against  me,  and  thus  my  hope  of  a  healthy  influence  would  be  beaten 
down. 

And  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  have  had  many  indications  of  such 
an  issue.  The  public  grows  weary  of  its  servants  ;  it  is  tired  of 
'  humanity,'  and  dead  sick  of  me  ;  whether  by  being  out  of  sight  for 
a  time  I  shall  come  forth  like  an  old  coat  with  a  new  fluff,  is  a 
matter  of  speculation ;  I  much  fear  that  they  will  find  me  out,  and 
as  the  Showman  said  to  Lord  Stowell,  when  he  went  to  see  the  mer- 
maid, '  You  have  been  a  customer  to  me,  my  Lord,  and  I'll  not  take 
you  in  ;  it  is  only  the  old  monkey  ! ' — they  will  say,  '  Don't  attend 
to  that  speech,  or  go  to  that  meeting,  it's  only  the  old  monkey.' 

But  many  thanks  for  your  letter.  Pray  collect  materials  ;  we 
may  yet  be  obliged  to  fight. 

The  place,  I  think,  is  beginning  to  do  me  good.  God  be  praised. 
I  long,  however,  to  be  home  again. 

Yours, 

S. 


1852.]  REVIVAL    OF    CONVOCATION.  403 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  events  were  ripening 
which  were  to  plunge  Lord  Shaftesbury  into  a  sea  of 
controversy  and  ceaseless  activity. 

It  was  announced  that  Lord  Derby  had  advised  the 
Crown  to  issue  licence  to  Convocation  to  resume  its 
Synodical  functions.  On  the  22nd  of  October  a  formal 
meeting  was  held,  when  it  was  arranged  that  Convo- 
cation would  assemble  on  the  5th  of  November,  "  for 
the  despatch  of  divers  urgent  business." 

Oct.  13th. — State  now  threatened  by  a  revival  of  'Convocation.' 
Derby,  it  is  said,  lias  given  Jus  assent  to  the  scheme,  thereby  giving, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  an  impression  that  a  quid  pro  quo  has  passed 
between  him  and  the  University;  Convocation  in  exchange  for  the 
Chancellorship  !  But  whither  are  we  going  1  If  Convocation  were 
troublesome  and  dangerous  ill  1717,  it  would  be  fatal  now. 

On  the  5th  of  November,  the  two  Houses  of  Con- 
vocation commenced  a  sitting  of  one  week's  duration. 
Meanwhile  public  feeling  had  been  stirred,  and  was 
growing  in  intensity  in  many  quarters,  against  the 
attempted  introduction  of  auricular  confession  into  the 
Church.  On  the  22nd  of  September,  the  Bishop  of 
Exeter  had  given  judgment  in  favour  of  the  Rev. 
Gr.  R  Prynne,  incumbent  of  a  church  near  Plymouth, 
who,  it  was  alleged,  had  introduced  the  practice  of 
compulsory  confession  among  the  girls  attending  the 
Orphan  Home  in  his  parish. 

At  the  instigation  of  the  Protestant  Defence  Com- 
mittee,  a  meeting  was  announced  to  take  place  at  the 
Freemasons'   Hall,  to  protest  against  this   innovation, 
and  against  the  revival  of  Convocation. 
a  a  2 


404  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

Apropos  of  this  meeting,  Lord  Shaftesbury  received 
the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Grindstone-: — 

The  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

6,  Carlton  Gardens,  Nov.  8th,  1852. 

My  dear  Shaftesbury, — I  see  it  stated  in  the  Record  that  you 
are  about  to  preside  at  a  meeting  which  is  to  be  held  forthwith  for 
the  purpose  of  deprecating  the  resumption  by  Convocation  of  its 
active  functions  ;  and  this  reminds  me  to  write  to  you  on  a  kindred 
subject. 

It  grieves  me  to  find  that  those  who  are  opposing  the  revival  of 
the  functions  of  Convocation,  propound,  in  such  cases  as  have  met  my 
eye,  no  better  or  other  mode  either  of  healing  those  sores  in  the 
Church  of  England  which  grow  deeper  and  angrier  year  to  year,  or 
of  strengthening  her  organisation  so  as  to  enable  her  in  some  degree 
to  discharge  her  duty  as  a  National  Establishment  to  the  masses  in 
the  populous  districts.  No  one  knows  better  than  you,  how  terribly 
true  it  is,  that,  with  great  political  and  immense  social  power,  with 
Virge  endowments,  with  a  clergy  abounding  in  zeal  and  by  no  means 
wanting  in  ability,  and  with  a  great  number  of  intelligent  and  devout 
lay  members,  the  Church  of  England  not  only  falls  short  in  the  per- 
formance of  this  work,  but,  in  plain  language,  with  the  rarest  excep- 
tions, is  too  feeble  ever  to  make  a  serious  attempt  at  it,  and  that,  in 
consequence,  these  masses,  again  with  individual  exceptions  only, 
have  passed  wholly  beyond  the  sphere  of  her  habitual  influence. 

The  utmost  we  can  hope  from  Parliament  is,  the  occasional 
adoption  of  a  measure  for  the  repression  of  some  positive  abuse,  or 
for  the  better  husbanding  of  the  pecuniary  resources  of  the  Church ; 
both  of  these  good,  but  neither  of  them  going  to  the  root  of  the  evil. 

I  have  the  happiness  of  recollecting  that  nearly  five  years  ago 
when  I  expressed  to  you  a  conviction,  on  my  part  of  long  standing, 
that  the  only  hopeful  means  for  the  cure  of  this  and  of  other  evils 
was,  to  prepare  the  way  gradually  and  with  circumspection  for  some 
corporate  organisation  of  the  Church  herself,  of  which  her  laity  should 
constitute  an  essential  part,  you,  not  without  an  expression  of  sur- 
prise at  hearing  such  an  opinion  from  me,  stated  very  emphatically 
your  concurrence  in  it ;  and  that  more  than  once,  when  you  have 


1852.]  LETTER   FROM   MR.    GLADSTONE.  405 

kindly  allowed  me  again  to  converse  with  you,  you  have  repeated 
the  same  sentiments. 

I  wish,  however,  to  call  your  attention  to  what  has  happened,  and 
is  happening,  as  respects  this  important  matter. 

Being  myself  convinced  that  in  the  practical  fulfilment  of  such 
views  lies  the  best,  perhaps  almost  the  only,  hope  for  either  real  or 
permanent  union  in  the  Church  of  England  and  her  various  branches, 
as  well  as  for  invigorating  her  pastoral  system,  I  have  striven,  as  far 
as  lay  in  my  power,  to  promote  some  efforts  in  that  direction  ;  and, 
in  particular,  calling  the  notice  of  Parliament  to  the  exigencies  of 
the  colonial  Church,  I  have  proposed  to  confer  on  it  a  qualified  en- 
franchisement, enacting  that  over  the  exercise  of  its  powers  in  each 
diocese,  the  laity  should  have  a  control  alike  full  and  independent. 

My  hope  was  that  here  at  least  there  was  a  ground  upon  which 
might  be  exhibited  for  once,  something  like  co-operation  among 
Churchmen  ;  my  fear  Avas  that  from  the  jealousy  of  those  who  are 
favourers  of  clerical  power,  if  from  any  quarter,  would  arise  (and 
this,  I  must  add,  has  to  some  extent  occurred  in  Scotland),  the  risk, 
and  the  only  risk,  of  failure.   ■ 

From  those  persons,  however,  in  the  House  of  Commons  who  J 
might  have  hoped  would  share  your  impressions,  I  have  up  to  this 
time  met  with  nothing  but  either  discouragement  or  absolute  and 
strenuous  opposition. 

Reverting  to  this,  and  now  again  perceiving  that  the  movement 
against  Convocation  is  assuming  the  unhealthful  form  of  a  movement 
in  favour  of  the  status  quo  as  to  Church  organisation  in  England,  I 
make  an  earnest  appeal  to  you. 

I  do  not  ask  you  to  bate  your  opposition  to  what  are  called 
clerical  Parliaments ;  I  am  no  admirer  of  them.  In  Scotland,  where 
we  have  one,  I  have  done  my  best  to  promote  the  kind  of  change  we 
agree  in  wishing  for.  What  I  do  ask  of  you  is,  not  to  lend  your  name, 
abilities,  and  influence  to  any  course  which  really  means  acquiescence 
in  the  present  paralysis  of  our  system — a  blind  policy,  which  would 
simply  aggravate  the  wounds  and  scandals  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  place  beyond  all  hope  of  remedy  the  utter  feebleness  and  insuffi- 
ciency that  now  mark  her  ordinary  contact  with  those  dense  masses 
of  human  souls  for  whom  she  has  to  render  an  account. 

I  do  not  willingly  thus  trespass  on  your  indulgence ;  but  the 
future  is  overcast,  and  no  one  would  knowingly  forego  an  effort  which 


406  THE   EABL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

he  thought   might,   under   God,  even  if  ever  so  little,  mitigate  its 

dangers  or  brighten  its  hopes.       Much,  I  believe,  now  depends  upon 

you. 

I  remain,  very  sincerely  yours, 

W.  E.  Gladstone. 

The  meeting  at  Freemasons'  Hall  was  held  on  the 
1 5th  of  November.  It  was  explained  that  its  object  was 
not  so  much  to  deliberate  upon  some  positive  course  of 
action,  as  to  take  counsel  and  give  mutual  instruction 
and  encouragement.  Recent  proceedings  within  the 
Church,  developed  more  especially  at  Brighton  and  Ply- 
mouth, had  made  it  necessary  that  resistance  to  the 
innovations  should  be  made  ;  and  as  the  matter  could  not 
be  dealt  with  in  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts  or  the  Criminal 
Courts,  the  promoters  of  the  meeting  had  appealed  to 
the  Primate,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  see  how 
far  his  power  would  extend  in  putting  a  prohibition  on 
the  progress  of  these  practices.  He  had  replied  that 
there  was  nothing  left  but  to  appeal  to  public  opinion ; 
and  hence  the  meeting. 

Lord  Shaftesbury,  in  opening  the  business  of  the 
meeting,  said  : — 

We  have  been  somewhat  criticised  for  bringing  into  juxtaposition 
Convocation  and  Confession.  Now,  it  appears  to  me  that  they 
are  so  much  akin,  and  so  necessarily  inseparable,  that  I  should  just 
as  soon  think  of  separating,  in  Guildhall,  Gog  and  Magog  as  sepa- 
rating these  two  things.  The  Convocation,  and  I  am  speaking  of  the 
Convocation  as  extinguished  in  the  year  1717,  animated  by  the  worst 
sentiments  and  views  of  priestly  despotism  and  priestly  ambition, 
would  naturally,  necessarily,  and,  to  use  a  modern  phrase,  '  nor- 
mally '  resort  to  the  Confessional  as  the  best  and  most  effective  engine 
of  priestly  domination.     We  are  not  here  to  denounce  every  form  of 


1852.]  MINISTERIAL    CRISIS.  407 

Church  synod  or  ecclesiastical  assembly.  We  are  not  here  to  deny  the 
expediency,  or,  if  you  will,  even  the  right,  of  the  Church  to  have  some 
power  and  form  of  self-regulation.  But  we  are  here  to  denounce  the 
revival  of  the  Convocation  that  was  justly  extinguished  in  the  last 
century.  We  are  here  to  deny  to  that  Convocation,  if  called  to- 
gether, the  right  or  the  power  of  suggesting  the  plan  and  the  limits 
of  its  own  reformation  ;  and  we  are  here  to  say  that  we  will  not 
submit  to  any  clerical  Parliament  that  will  make  the  laity  of  this 
Church  and  of  these  realms  mere  '  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water '  to  a  select  knot  of  sacerdotal  dignitaries.  A  form  of  Church 
government  upon  a  reasonable  and  moderate  basis,  in  which  the  laity 
of  the  Church  will  have  not  only  a  great,  but  a  dominant,  share,  is 
well  worthy  of  consideration  ;  but  as  for  the  other  Convocation,  that 
was  extinguished  in  1717.  I  can  only  express  the  hope  that,  should 
there  be  any  attempted  revival  thereof,  her  most  gracious  Majesty 
will  follow  the  example  of  her  illustrious  predecessor,  and,  to  use  the 
language  of  that  great  historian,  Hallam,  will  '  sprinkle  a  little  dust 
on  the  angry  insects.' 

The  remainder  of  the  speecli  related  entirely  to  the 
Confessional,  a  subject  to  which  we  shall  revert  later  on. 

On  the  3rd  of  December  Mr.  Disraeli  introduced  his 
Budget,  in  a  remarkably  effective  speech  of  four  hours' 
and  a  quarter  duration.  The  Budget  was  unfavourably 
received  by  the  Tree  Trade  party ;  the  debate  extended 
over  four  nights,  and  on  the  16th  of  December,  the 
result  of  the  vote  placed  the  Ministry  in  a  minority 
of  19,  in  a  House  of  591  members.  Lord  Derby 
immediately  thereupon  tendered  to  the  Queen  his 
resignation. 

It  was  while  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  on  the  Con- 
tinent, "  combining  business  with  pleasure,"  that  the 
Ministerial  crisis  arose. 

December  17th. — Half-past  six.  Paris.  It  is  strange  to  me 
to  be  absent  from   '  a  crisis ;'    but  were   I  present,  what  could   I 


408  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XX. 

do  1  My  professed  principles  and  public  course  have  shut  me  out 
from  the  power  of  serving  the  Crown  in  office,  and,  in  fact,  from  the 
wish  of  any  one,  in  either  House  of  Parliament,  to  see  me  there. 

Derby  ought  not  to  resign ;  and,  indeed,  no  Minister  ought, 
henceforward,  to  resign  on  any  single  defeat.  Repeated  and  rapid 
changes  are  becoming  very  hazardous ;  and  as  the  House  of  Commons 
has  undertaken  to  beat  every  Minister  two  or  three  times  every 
Session,  and  then  again  support  him  with  little  or  no  principle,  the 
Minister  must  refuse  to  retire,  except  before  the  real,  unmistakable 
sense  of  the  country.      But  all  this  verges  on  democracy. 

December  29th. — Nice.  Jocelyn  arrived  last  night.  Aberdeen, 
Prime  Minister ;  Lord  J.  Russell,  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
Is  it  possible  that  this  arrangement  should  prosper  1  Can  the  Liberal 
policy  of  Lord  J.  square  with  the  restrictive  policy  of  Lord  Aber- 
deen 1  Supposing  that  they  are  true  to  their  principles,  how  will 
they  agree  when  Italy  calls  for  sympathy  against  Austria?  John, 
if  he  have  a  spark  of  honesty,  will  stand  for  Sardinia ;  Aberdeen,  if 
lie  have  an  atom  of  consistency,  will  stand  for  Austria.  I  wish  them 
joy,  and  a  safe  deliverance. 

Graham,  Newcastle,  Gladstone,  are  again  installed  in  power  with 
much  eclat  and  high  commendation.  I  am  like  a  stranded  sea-weed 
when  I  find  my  adversaries  in  office  and  myself  in  disrepute.  But, 
possibly,  '  more  are  they  that  be  with  us  than  those  that  be  with 
them.' 

Did  not  love  Derby's  Government,  and  yet  my  few  hopes  were 
in  their  stability.  Seven  years  of  experience  have  shown  the  amend- 
ments necessary  to  complete  my  Laws  of  Lunacy.  The  Chancellor 
has  undertaken  to  present  and  carry  our  amended  Bills  as  an  article 
of  administration.  He  is  fallen,  and  with  him  my  hopes  '  de  re 
lunatica.' 

December  30th. — Palmerston  has  accepted  place  under  Aber- 
deen as  Premier,  and  subject  to  John  Russell's  leadership  as 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs.  .  .  .  His  mortification  will,  I  fear,  be 
great  almost  daily.  I  regret  it  for  his  sake  ;  I  am  fond  of  him  ;  he 
is  kinclhearted  and  friendly  ;  he  is  getting  on  in  life,  and  I  could 
have  wished  him  some  respect  and  affection  from  those  who  were 
associated  with  him  in  his  later  clays. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1853. 

The  Poor  of  London — Progress  of  Ragged  School  Work — Advice  to  Teachers — 
Inspiring  Zeal — Refuges  and  Industrial  Classes — Emigration — Address  to 
Children — The  Poor  Displaced  by  Building  Improvements — A  further 
Common  Lodging-Houses  Bill — Juvenile  Mendicancy — Juvenile  Delin- 
quency— A  Curious  Episode  —Challenged  to  Fight  a  Duel — Correspondence 
with  Lord  Mornington — Youthful  Offenders'  Bill — The  Waldensian  Chris- 
tians— Pasteur  Meille — Peripatetic  Schoolmasters — Foreign  Taste — Pro- 
testantism Abroad — Anti-Slavery  Agitation — Stafford  House — Reply  from 
the  Women  of  America — An  Editor's  Mistake — China — London  Missionary 
Society — Sanitary  Reform — "Unpardonable  Activity" — The  Board  of 
Health  Abolished — Democracy — 'English  Radicals — Cobden  on  Education  of 
the  Masses— Reply  thereto — The  Career  of  a  Philanthropist — Financial 
Difficulties — Lawyers — Family  Affairs — Rewards  to  Agricultural  Labourers 
— Palmerston's  Reply  to  Scotch  Memorialists. 

"  The  poor  shall  never  '  cease  out  of  the  land.'  That 
we  know,"  wrote  Lord  Shaftesbury,  "  for  God  has  said  it. 
But  the  poor  of  London  are  very  far  different  from  the 
poor  of  Scripture.  God  has  ordained  that  there  should 
be  poor,  but  He  has  not  ordained  that,  in  a  Christian 
land,  there  should  be  an  overwhelming  mass  of  foul, 
helpless  poverty." 

To  roll  away,  in  some  measure,  that  reproach  from 
London,  was  the  gigantic  task  Lord  Shaftesbury  felt  he 
had  "  been  called  of  God  "  to  attempt,  and  the  machinery 
he  regarded  as  best  adapted  to  the  accomplishment  of 
that  end  was  the  Ragged  School  system. 

Since  the   Ragged  School  Union  was  founded  there 


410  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

had  been   added  to  the    field  of  its  operations,  in  the 

space  of   six   or  seven  years,  more  than  a  hundred  new 

schools,   attended   by    considerably    over  ten   thousand 

children.      Lord    Shaftesbury's    labours    multiplied    in 

proportion   to  the  multiplication  of  the  schools.     Each 

had  its   opening  ceremonies,  or  its  anniversary,   or  its 

prize   distribution   night,  and   each   sent  in    its  special 

claim  to  his  assistance.     It  required  almost  superhuman 

strength   to    perform  the   duties    devolving  upon  him. 

Conferences    with  teachers,   interviews,   correspondence 

day  after  day  ;  and,  in  all  parts  of  London,  Chairs  and 

the  inevitable  speeches  night  after  night. 

His    watchfulness  was  unceasing.     There  was  not  a 

detail   of  the  system  that  escaped  his  observation.     For 

example  :  there  was  a  tendency  in  some  schools,  as  order 

was  established    and  decent   rooms  supplied,   to  admit 

children  of  a  class  and  condition  for  whom  the  schools 

were  not  intended ;   and  also,  to  retain  those  who  had 

mended  their  ways  and  had  risen  in  the  world,  instead 

of  transplanting  them  to  other  schools.     Against  this 

tendency  Lord  Shaftesbury  took  a  very  decided  stand. 

On  one  occasion  he  said  : — 

You  must  keep  your  Ragged  Schools  down  to  one  mark  ;  you  must 
keep  them,  as  I  have  said  a  hundred  times,  and,  until  I  carry  my 
point,  I  shall  say  a  hundred  times  more,  in  the  mire  and  the  gutter, 
so  long  as  the  mire  and  the  gutter  exist.  So  long  as  this  class  exists, 
you  must  keep  the  schools  adapted  to  their  wants,  their  feelings, 
their  tastes,  and  their  level.  I  feel  that  my  business  lies  in  the 
gutter,  and  I  have  not  the  least  intention  to  get  out  of  it. 

He  had   a  great  dislike  to  making  any  unnecessary 
parade  of  the  schools,  and  a  still  greater  dislike  to  the 


1853.]  BAGGED    SCHOOL   TEACHERS.  411 

system  of  selecting  special  examples  of  children  for  the 
purpose  of  winning  applause. 

People  are  glad  to  see  a  superior  class ;  and  those  who  come  to 
the  schools  are  impressed  with  the  merit  of  the  master  who  has  raised 
miserable  urchins  to  such  beauty  and  comfort ;  and  that  is  one  great 
reason  why  I  constantly  advise  not  to  have  in  your  Ragged  Schools — 
I  think  they  are  bad  in  any  schools — periodical  exhibitions  and 
displays.  They  have  the  very  worst  effect  both  upon  the  master  and 
the  children.  The  result,  even  in  the  better  sort  of  schools,  is  that 
the  great  efforts  of  masters  and  teachers  are  devoted  chieflv  to  those 
children  who  have  the  gift  of  intellect,  because  they  become  the 
more  presentable  and  make  the  greater  display,  and  the  more  extol 
the  schoolmaster.  Meanwhile  children  of  humble  capacity,  though 
perhaps  of  better  hearts,  and  far  better  qualified  to  adorn  society  and 
exhibit  the  pearl  of  great  price,  are  overlooked.  That  is  bad  in 
schools  of  a  higher  description,  but  when  you  come  to  schools  of  the 
condition  of  Ragged  Schools,  where  you  have  only  the  training  of 
children  to  fill  the  most  subordinate  offices  among  the  working  classes, 
is  it  not  desirable  that  everything  that  can  be  cultivated  in  the  child 
of  morality,  piety,  religion,  and  simplicity  should  be  fostered,  and 
should  not  be  set  aside  merely  with  a  view  to  the  intellectual,  pro- 
duced to  attract  an  inspector  or  a  wondering  audience,  who  may  give 
credit  to  the  master  or  mistress,  although  that  credit  may  have  been 
produced  by  the  total  sacrifice  of  those  other  children,  who  would  have 
been  far  more  conspicuous  for  goodness  of  heart  than  acuteness  of 
intellect  1 

His  unfailing  zeal  as  their  leader  inspired  a  kindred 
zeal  in  the  teachers,  and  his  stirring  words  often  put 
new  life  and  energy  into  them,  and,  therefore,  into  their 
work.     He  would  speak  to  them  thus  : — 

I  tell  you,  my  friends,  that  if,  with  all  the  success  you  have 
attained,  with  all  the  knowledge  you  have  acquired,  with  all  the 
blessings  you  have  received,  you  pause  in  your  course  any  longer 
than  is  necessary  to  take  breath,  gather  strength,  survey  your 
position,  and  thank  God — why  then  I  say,  never  again  come  into  this 


412  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

hall,  for  if  you  do,  I  will  be  the  first  to  say  to  you,  as  Cromwell  said 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  '  Out  upon  you  !  begone ;  give  place  to 
honester  men.' 

Almost  every  year,  there  had  been  some  important 
extension  of  the  scope  of  Ragged  School  work.  The 
original  idea  was  merely  to  provide  day,  evening,  and 
Sunday  schools  for  infants,  juveniles,  and  adults  of  the 
lowest  order  of  the  destitute  and  outcast  classes.  To 
this,  as  we  have  seen,  Lord  Shaftesbury's  emigration 
scheme  had  been  added,  and  admirably  had  it  succeeded. 
But  other  organisations  equally  important  had  come 
into  operation:  the  chiefest  being  Refuges  and  Indus- 
trial Classes.  It  was  found  that  the  work  in  the  schools 
lost  much  of  its  moral  power,  in  consequence  of  the  con- 
stant and  daily  antagonism  it  encountered  from  the 
exposure  of  the  scholars,  on  retiring  from  the  scene  of 
instruction,  to  all  that  was  contaminating  and  vile  in 
the  wretched  places  they  called  their  homes.  Lessons 
of  virtue  were  nullified  by  examples  of  vice.  And  it 
was  heartrending  to  know  that  many  a  child  had  no 
choice  but  to  9:0  from  school  to  the  haunts  of  vice  and 
crime  in  order  to  obtain  food  for  the  day  and  shelter  for 
the  night. 

The  question  of  providing  Refuges  became  a  burn- 
ing question  with  many,  and  efforts  were  made  to 
establish  them,  not  only  in  the  metropolis,  but  in  the 
large  towns  and  cities  of  the  kingdom. 

The  Refuges  were  at  first  of  two  classes.  Night 
Refuges,  for  casual  vagrants,  preference  being  given  to 
children  attending  the  Ragged  School ;  and  permanent 


1853.]  STOPPING    CRIME    IN    THE    SEED.  413 

Refuges,  for  the  support  and  education,  for  a  stated 
period,  of  young  persons  between  ten  and  sixteen  years 
of  age. 

The  object  of  the  Industrial  Classes  was  rather  to 
assist  in  the  formation  of  tidy  and  useful  habits,  than 
to  rear  a  race  of  regular  artisans.  In  some  of  the 
classes,  making  and  mending  their  own  clothes  was  the 
only  thing  taught  to  the  children  ;  in  others,  making 
and  printing  paper  bags,  printing  handbills  and  circu- 
lars, making  mats  and  church  hassocks,  and  other 
simple  handicrafts. 

Although  there  were,  of  necessity,  many  drawbacks 
to  the  Ragged  School  movement;  although  the  work 
was  greatly  impeded  by  a  periodical  deluge  of  the 
miserable  population  of  Ireland,  flooding  the  districts 
that  had  been  purged  and  improved;  although  success 
was,  in  a  great  measure,  indirect  and  could  not  be  shown 
by  figures, — the  best  results  of  the  system  being  removed 
from  public  view  by  emigration ;  although  no  support 
was  received  from  Government  or  from  legislation,  and 
comparatively  little  from  the  wealthy  classes — an  enor- 
mous amount  of  good  resulted,  and,  as  early  as  the 
year  1851,  Lord  Shaftesbury  had  been  able  to  say : — 

"We  have  devised  and  oi'ganised  a  system  of  prevention  by  which 
to  stop  crime  while  it  is  in  the  seed,  and  sin  before  it  has  broken  into 
flower  and  desolated  society.  Although  other  schools  may  have 
stood  in  the  way  of  vice  and  crime,  no  one  could  say  of  them,  with 
certainty,  that  almost  every  one  trained  in  them  would,  without  their 
intervention,  have  been  a  vagabond  or  a  thief;  domestic  discipline 
and  other  circumstances  might  have  interposed  to  do  their  work. 
But  we  do  maintain  that  every  one  of  those  whom  we  have  reclaimed 


414  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

would,  from  the  very  necessity  of  his  position,  have  been  either  a 
thief  or  a  vagabond  ;  we  do  maintain  that,  by  the  instrumentality 
of  this  institution,  we  have  established  a  preventive  system  which 
operates  in  anticipation  of  the  gaoler,  or  even  of  the  hangman.  We 
have,  moreover,  greatly  abated  the  amount  of  juvenile  delinquency, 
and  have  cleansed  the  metropolis,  not  by  pouring  out  from  it  the  tilth 
of  our  streets,  but  by  passing  these  children  through  a  cleansing  and 
Filtering  process,  before  we  poured  them  forth  in  a  rich  and  fertilising 
stream  on  the  colonies  of  our  country. 

The  emigration  movement,  originated  by  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  was  always  a  branch  of  the  system  which 
secured  his  warmest  sympathy,  and  there  was  scarcely 
a  child  who  left  these  shores  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Ragged  School  Union  wrho  did  not  receive  some  personal 
kindness  from  him,  as  well  as  direct  words  of  help  and 
encouragement.  The  success  of  the  scheme  was  remark- 
able, and  it  was  due,  in  no  small  measure,  to  the  strong 
personal  interest  that  he  had  taken  in  each  individual 
child  that,  at  the  expiration  of  ten  years,  he  was  able  to 
say :— 

I  believe,  among  all  the  children  sent  out  by  the  Society  from 
this  country  there  is  not  on  record  one  single  instance  in  which  the 
child  has  disgraced  the  education  that  was  given  to  him  here ; 
whereas  there  are  many  instances  upon  record  in  which  those 
children  have  done  great  honour  to  this  institution.* 

Another  feature  of  the  Bagged  School  system  with 
which  he  was  especially  identified  was  the  gift  of  a 
prize  or  certificate  to  each  scholar  who  had  remained  in 
one  situation  for  twelve  months  with  satisfaction  to  his 
employer,  and  for  general  good  conduct. 

*  Ragged  School  Union  Anniversary,  May  12,  1856. 


1853.]  AN  ADDRESS    TO    CHILDREN  415 

Lord  Shaftesbury's  addresses  to  the  children  on  these 
occasions  were  models  of  their  kind,  and  overflowed 
with  such  intense  "  fatherliness,"  that  they  never  failed 
to  touch  their  hearts  and  bring  tears  of  pleasure  to  their 
eyes.     We  must  give  one  specimen  here  : — 

Now,  my  dear  children,  I  must  just  impress  upon  you  that 
the  advantages  which  you  now  enjoy,  place  you  in  a  very  different 
position  from  that  in  which  you  were  some  time  ago.  It  is  now  in 
your  power — young  as  you  may  be,  humble  as  you  may  fancy  your- 
selves to  be — to  do  very  great  good  in  the  generation  in  which  you 
live,  and  to  benefit  greatly  the  little  boys  and  girls  who  are  still  in 
the  same  position  as  that  from  which,  by  the  blessing  of  God  and  the 
exertions  of  your  friends,  you  have  been  rescued.  Now  it  is  for 
you,  by  the  example  you  shall  set,  by  the  behaviour  you  shall  mani- 
fest, by  the  principles  you  shall  profess,  by  your  obedience  to  your 
masters,  by  your  general  deportment  in  life — it  is  for  you  to  reflect 
very  great  credit  indeed  upon  Ragged  Schools.  You  will  be  able  to 
show  by  your  conduct  in  life,  that  Ragged  Schools  are  of  very  great 
value,  that  they  have  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  the  means 
whereby  many  poor  children  may  be  rescued  from  sin  and  misery, 
and  you  will  have  the  satisfaction,  therefore,  of  knowing  that  you, 
along  with  us  and  others,  have  contributed  in  no  slight  degree  to  the 
good  of  the  suffering  children  of  your  generation.  And  remember 
that,  having  the  power  to  do  this,  you  will  be  considered  very  sinful, 
and  very  guilty,  if  you  do  not  do  it.     .     .     . 

Now,  you  are  called  here  to-day  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  a 
prize,  a  testimonial  of  good  conduct.  This  card,  although  a  very 
simple  thing  in  itself,  will  be  very  honourable  to  the  possessor.  You 
know  that  in  some  of  the  higher  ranks  of  life  the  fancies  of  people 
are  very  much  tickled  by  stars,  and  by  ribbons,  and  by  garters;  they 
like  them  exceedingly,  and  they  look  very  well  when  they  have  them 
on,  and  no  doubt  they  are  objects  of  considerable  honour  and  reward 
to  those  who  have  laboured  well  in  their  vocation  and  have  done 
good  to  their  country.  Depend  upon  it,  however,  that  this,  in  its 
degree,  is  just  as  honourable  to  you  as  the  diamond  star  is  to  a  person 
in  any  station  of  life  whatever.     You  will  have  done  your  duty  in 


416  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

your  station  of  life  ;  and,  if  you  were  to  become  the  greatest  man  or 
woman  the  State  ever  knew,  you  cannot  go  beyond  that  point  of 
honour — to  close  your  lives  having  done  your  duty.  However 
humble  your  station  of  life,  you  know  not  of  what  value  that  station 
may  be  in  the  order  of  God's  providence.  We  shall  never  know  in 
this  life,  the  precise  purpose  and  object  that  has  been  assigned  to  the 
career  of  each  of  us ;  but  of  this  I  am  quite  sure,  that  every  one  of 
you  can,  by  God's  blessing,  conduce  to  the  welfare  of  mankind  and 
to  the  honour  of  God's  truth  ;  and  thus,  whether  you  be  among  the 
poorest  and  the  most  forgotten,  or  among  the  wealthiest  and  the 
most  elevated,  you  will  have  fulfilled  that  duty  which  you  have  been 
called  upon  to  perform  ;  and  then,  by  God's  blessing  and  free  mercy, 
and  not  by  any  merit  of  your  own,  you  will  hear  the  words  at  the 
great  final  day,  '  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant.'* 

Every  fresh  phase  in  the  progress  of  Ragged  School, 
and  kindred,  work,  Lord  Shaftesbury  noted  in  his  Diar}r, 
as  well  as  his  hopes  and  fears,  his  elation  and  depres- 
sion, in  connection  with  them. 

The  next  entry,  although  written  in  the  Royal 
Palace,  shows  that  his  thoughts  were  still  with  the  for- 
saken children  of  the  London  streets. 

Jan.  20th,  1854. — Windsor  Castle.  A  play  here  last  night. 
Wonderfully  amused.  It  is,  doubtless,  rather  in  the  style  of 
Louis  XIV.,  but  it  is  amusing,  nevertheless. 

Must  insert,  to  aid  my  recollection  (though,  probably,  shall  never 
have  leisure  or  spirit  to  review  my  entries  for  many  years),  some 
preceding  operations.  On  Sunday,  loth,  to  Field  Lane  Ragged 
School  in  the  evening.  Never  go  there  without  seeing  something  for 
which  to  bless  God. 

Five  hundred  persons,  from  five  years  old  and  under,  to  fifty,  en- 
gaged in  reading,  hearing,  learning  the  word  of  God  !  What  singular 
and  remarkable  instances  of  moral  power !  A  dozen  stout,  full- 
grown,  savage-looking  men  sitting  like  lambs  under  the  teaching  of 
a  young  woman  !     '  It  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes.' 

*  Ragged  School  Union  Meeting.  Feb.  23,  1854. 


1853.]  NEW   ENTERPRISES.  417 

On  11th,  Chair  at  Dorchester  to  present  Bankes  with  piece  of 
plate — testimonial  for  his  twenty  years'  Chairmanship  of  Quarter 
Sessions.  The  invitation  to  me  was  intended  as  move  towards 
reconciliation  of  the  rupture  between  me  and  him  seven  years  ago. 
I  accepted  it  as  such  ;  peace,  peace — peace  everywhere  '  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  Heaven.' 

March  24th. — Some  work  since  my  return  to  London.  Anxious 
labour  for  the  Reformatory,  and  speech  in  Willis's  Rooms.  This  noble 
institution  is  dying  for  want  of  funds,  and  the  rich  and  easy  of  the 
land  will  sit  by  and  see  thousands  be  rejected  and  perish,  for  the  lack 
of  a  few  pounds  !  Everybody  bepraises  our  exertions  and  success ; 
and  the  smallest  fraction  comes  to  our  aid.  If  our  asylum  contained 
dead  Indians  or  tattooed  Zealanders  we  should  excite  overwhelming 
interest,  but  because  it  contains  only  live  Penitents  we  have  scarcely 
any. 

April  (Good  Friday). — Surely  God  has  heard  our  prayers  to 
save  the  Reformatory  from  extinction.  Money  has  flowed  in,  and 
this  day  I  received  one  hundred  pounds  for  it  from  the  Duke  of 
Bedford  !  May  God  bless  the  deed  to  his  comfort  and  stir  him  (for 
his  riches  are  immense)  to  other  acts  of  love  and  mercy  ! 

The  year  1853  was  marked  by  the  introduction  in 
the  House  of  Lords  and  to  the  public,  of  a  number  of 
new  schemes  for  the  benefit  of  the  London  poor. 

In  estimating  the  labours  of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  it 
must  never  be  forgotten  how  much  he  had  to  over- 
come before  he  could  throw  himself  into  any  fresh 
sphere  of  action.  His  self-depreciation,  nervous  anxiety, 
ill-health,  and  consequent  low  spirits  made  him  shrink 
from  public  labours,  while  his  burning  zeal  was  ever 
urging  him  forward.  It  required  not  a  little  heroism, 
persistently  to  surrender  himself  for  the  good  of 
others. 

The  first  of  the  new  enterprises  of  this  year  is  thus 
referred  to  in  the  Diary  : — 
b  b 


418  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

March  19th. — Last  nisrht  movement  in  House  of  Lords  to  obtain 
a  '  standing  order '  for  the  protection  of  the  multitudes  to  be  dis- 
placed by  '  Improvement  Companies.'  Obtained  a  Committee  of  In- 
quiry. Felt  dull,  incompetent,  and  confused  in  my  speech.  The 
locality  and  the  audience  are  one  cause,  and  my  own  infirmity  the 
other.  It  dispirits  me,  for,  old  as  I  am,  I  am  full  of  projects.  With 
me  '  the  children  are  come  to  the  birth,  and  there  is  not  strength  to 
bring  forth.' 

Lord  Shaftesbury's  motion  was  to  the  effect  that  any 
Bill,  sanctioning  or  involving  the  pulling  down  of  houses 
inhabited  by  the  labouring  classes,  should  make  pro- 
vision for  the  erection,  within  a  convenient  distance,  of 
dwelling-houses  sufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  at 
least  as  many  persons  as  should  be  dispossessed.  Large 
multitudes  of  the  industrious  classes,  displaced  by  "  Im- 
provement Companies,"  were  driven,  either  to  seek 
lodgings  at  a  great  distance  from  their  employment, 
which  would  often  involve  their  ruin,  or  else,  were  com- 
pelled to  inhabit  dwellings  already  over-crowded,  filthy, 
and  infested  with  the  diseases  incident  to  a  densely- 
populated  locality.  In  St.  Giles's,  Farringdon,  White- 
chapel,  Westminster,  and  elsewhere,  where  great  "  clear- 
ances '  had  been  made,  the  suffering,  occasioned  by  the 
improvements, was  terrible.  The  inhabitants  were  ejected, 
but  the  localities  were  not  cleared  of  their  population;  the 
people  only  crowded  themselves  more  densely  together 
in  the  lodging-houses  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood. 
The  same  thing  happenedwhen  railways, running  through 
some  of  the  vilest  property  in  London,  were  constructed. 
Holders  of  real  property  received  compensation  when 
these  improvements  were  effected,  but  when  the  poor 


1853.]      METROPOLITAN  IMPROVEMENT  COMPANIES.        419 

were  driven  from  their  dwellings,  and  consequently  from 
their  work,  which  was  generally  near  at  hand,  there 
was  taken  from  them  the  only  source  of  profit,  the  only 
means  of  livelihood,  they  possessed.  It  was  bare  justice 
that,  when  Companies  asked  for  large  powers  to  make 
improvements,  they  should  be  required  to  carry  them  out 
in  a  manner  as  little  oppressive  as  possible  to  the  class 
who  did  not  derive  any  direct  benefit  from  them.  Lord 
Shaftesbury  did  not  urge  the  question  solely,  however, 
though  he  did  so  principally,  in  the  interests  of 
the  humbler  classes ;  he  urged  it  also  because  the 
results  to  public  morality  and  the  public  welfare  gener- 
ally, were  very  serious.  When  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  poor  people  were  driven  into  localities,  already  shame- 
fully overcrowded,  every  form  of  disease,  and  all  the 
concomitant  pauperism  and  misery,  were  engendered,  and 
epidemic  disorders,  not  confined  to  the  densely-populated 
districts,  would  spread  to  localities  inhabited  by  the 
higher  classes,  as  a  consequence  of  those  abominable 
evils.* 

The  question  was  surrounded  with  difficulties,  which 
were  duly  pointed  out  in  the  debate  that  ensued.  The 
matter  was  at  length  referred  to  a  Select  Committee, 
who  reported  in  the  following  May.  It  was  then  re- 
solved that,  in  future,  the  promoters  of  Improvement 
Bills  should  report  the  number  of  houses  inhabited  by 
the  labouring  classes  to  be  pulled  down  (if  more  than 
thirty  in  number),  and  state  whether  any,   and    what, 


*  Hansard's  Debates,  cxxv.  400. 

h  b  2 


420  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

provision  was  made  for  remedying  the  inconvenience 
likely  to  arise.* 

Although  this  was  only  a  step,  it  was  a  step  in  ad- 
vance, and  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  gratified,  more  espe- 
cially, as  from  letters  he  received  from  Mr.  Cubitt,  the 
large  contractor,  and  others,  he  felt  satisfied  that  the 
relations  between  capital  and  labour  would,  by  this 
resolution,  be  much  improved. 

His  second  great  effort  on  behalf  of  the  poor  this 
year,  was  taking  charge,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  of 
another  Common  Lodging-Houses  Bill.  The  previous 
Act  had  been  "  the  first  successful  effort  that  had  been 
made  to  reach  the  very  dregs  of  society — the  first 
to  penetrate  to  the  deepest  dens  of  vice,  filth,  and 
misery."  It  was  necessary,  however,  that  further  bene- 
ficial provisions  should  be  made,  especially  as  regarded 
inspection,  and  that  other  provisions,  which  had  hitherto 
been  optional,  should  be  rendered  compulsory. 

In  moving  the  second  reading  of  the  new  Bill,  on 
May  the  13th,  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  able  to  report, 
not  only  from  the  evidence  of  others,  but  from  his  own 
personal  inspection,  that  the  previous  Act  was  work- 
ing well.  The  houses  had  been  cleaned,  the  walls  and 
ceilings  whitewashed,  the  ventilation  improved,  the  bed- 
ding was  better  in  quality,  quantity,  and  cleanliness,  the 
number  of  persons  to  be  admitted  had  been  carefully 
regulated,  and  the  liability  to  fever  and  other  contagious 
diseases  considerably  lessened.  It  was  shown,  also,  that 
in  the  common  lodging-houses  there  were,  according  to 

*  Hansard,  cxxvi.  1,291. 


1853.]  COMMON   LODGING-HOUSES   BILL.  421 

the  latest  returns,  no  fewer  than  80,000  inhabitants  who, 
as  well  as  the  keepers  of  the  houses,  had  materially  bene- 
fited by  the  Act.  The  principal  object  of  the  present 
Bill  was  to  give  fuller  power  to  punish  offences  under 
the  previous  Act,  to  abate  certain  nuisances  not  hitherto 
specified,  to  provide  for  the  removal  of  the  sick  to  hos- 
pitals, and  to  arrange  for  reports  as  to  the  lodging  of 
beggars  and  vagrants.* 

In  advocating  the  Bill,  Lord  Shaftesbury  urged,  that 
if  it  were  successfully  carried  into  effect,  many  houses 
then  beyond  the  reach  of  inspection  would  be  affected 
by  it,  together  with  a  great  mass  of  the  population. 
If  these  common  lodging-houses  were  not  brought  under 
proper  regulation,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  strive  against 
juvenile  delinquency,  for  it  was  in  them  that  nine-tenths 
of  the  crimes  perpetrated  were  plotted. f 

The  Bill  did  not  reach  the  Commons  till  the  6th  of 
June ;  it  passed  the  three  readings,  however,  without 
debate,  and  received  the  Royal  assent  on  August  the 
4th.  The  advantages  of  the  measure  were  so  obvious, 
that  a  Bill  to  extend  its  provisions  to  Ireland,  intro- 
duced into  Parliament  in  1860,  passed  through  both 
Houses  without  debate,  and  received  the  Royal  assent  a 
few  weeks  after  its  introduction.} 

In  commenting  upon  the  Act  of  1853,  the  Times 
remarked: — "  To  purify  the  Inferno  that  reeks  about  us 
in  this  metropolis,  to  recover  its  inmates,  and  to  drive 
the   incorrigible  nucleus   into  more  entire  insulation,  is 

*  Hansard,  cxviii.  235.  t  Hansard,  cxxvii.  294. 

%  Hansard,  clvii.  and  clviii. 


4?2  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXL 

one  of  the  labours  to  which  Lord  Shaftesbury  has  de- 
voted his  life  ;  and  we  can  never  be  sufficiently  obliged 
to  him  for  undertaking  a  task  which,  besides  its  imme- 
diate disagreeableness,  associates  his  name  with  so  much 
that  is  shocking  and  repulsive. 

"  To  Lord  Shaftesbury's  legislation  we  owe  the  grati- 
fying fact  that  these  recesses  are  explored  by  authorised 
persons,  that  houses  are  no  longer  permitted  to  take  in 
more  than  as  many  as  can  breathe  properly  in  them, 
that  lodging  in  cellars  is  prohibited,  that  the  rooms  are 
properly  cleaned  and  whitewashed,  that  ventilation, 
lighting,  and  drainage  are  provided  for,  and  the  fur- 
niture of  the  houses  sufficient  for  the  authorised  number 
of  lodgers.  As  far  as  the  work  has  proceeded,  we  can 
hardly  conceive  a  more  meritorious  or  more  gratifying 
triumph.  It  is  a  great  result  out  of  the  very  worst 
materials.  To  change  a  city  from  clay  to  marble  is 
nothing  compared  with  a  transformation  from  dirt, 
misery,  and  vice  to  cleanliness,  comfort,  and  at  least  a 
decent  morality."  * 

Notwithstanding  the  success  of  Ragged  Schools, 
Night  Refuges,  and  Reformatories,  and  the  wider  pro- 
visions of  the  Common  Lodging  Houses  Acts,  juvenile 
mendicancy  and  crime,  if  not  on  the  increase,  certainly 
showed  no  si<m  of  abatement.  It  was  said  that 
more  beggars  were  to  be  encountered  in  a  walk  from 
Westminster  Abbey  to  Oxford  Street,  than  in  a  tour 
from  London  to  Switzerland,  whether  by  Paris  or  the 
Rhine. 

*  Times,  May  16, 1853. 


1853.]  JUVENILE  MENDICANCY  AND   CRIME.  423 

The  third  great  effort  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  for  the 
removal  of  the  vice,  degradation,  and  misery  of  the 
metropolis,  was  an  onslaught  on  Juvenile  Mendicancy 
and  Crime.  He  had  been  an  attentive  observer  of  the 
causes  that  had  conspired  to  hinder  the  success  of  Eagged 
Schools,  and  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  disso- 
lute parents  were  undoing  all  the  good  that  was  done, 
by  sending  out  their  children  into  the  streets  to  beg, 
while  they  lived  in  drunken  depravity  upon  the  pro- 
ceeds thus  obtained.  He  found  that  a  vast  number  of 
orphan  children  managed  to  remunerate  the  low  lodging- 
house  keepers  who  sheltered  them,  in  a  similar  manner. 
It  was  notorious  that  this  great  army  of  child-beggars 
was  a  nursery  of  theft  and  every  form  of  evil.  To 
strike  at  the  root  of  this  mischief,  he  introduced  into  the 
House  of  Lords  a  motion  on  the  "  Eepression  of  Juve- 
nile Mendicancy  and  Crime." 

The  speech  in  which  he  brought  forward  his  motion 
was  a  remarkable  one.  In  addition  to  his  own  wide 
knowledge  of  the  subject,  he  had  fortified  himself  with 
communications  from  magistrates  and  reports  of  inspec- 
tors, and,  over  and  above  these,  with  statements  made  by 
ninety  thieves  resident  in  one  institution ;  the  testimony 
of  100  City  missionaries,  the  opinions  of  100  gentlemen 
"  particularly  and  practically  conversant  with  that  class," 
besides  the  confessions  of  100  "  professional  misde- 
meanants." Such  a  mass  of  curious,  but  concurrent, 
evidence,  was  hardly  ever  presented  on  any  subject  before. 
We  need  not  describe  its  nature  here ;  it  is  enough  to 
say  that  it  went  to  show  that  the  principal   cause  of 


424  TILE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

confirmed  crime  was  juvenile  mendicancy ;  and  that  in  the 
large  majority  of  cases,  the  cause  of  juvenile  mendicancy 
was  parental  misconduct.  The  little  vagrants  were  sent 
forth  and  directed  not  to  return  without  a  certain 
amount  of  money,  however  obtained.  Thus  the  frauds 
and  artifices  of  professional  begging  grew  into  petty 
theft,  and  "  the  young  mendicant  became  a  confirmed 
robber  without  ever,  in  fact,  having  been  acquainted 
with  any  other  calling.'' 

Lord  Shaftesbury's  proposition  was,  that  the  Vagrant 
Act  should  be  so  extended  as  to  empower  the  police  to 
apprehend — not  for  the  purposes  of  punishment  but  of 
protection — all  children  found  in  a  state  of  vagrancy 
in  the  public  streets,  and  bring  them  before  the  magi- 
strates. The  children  were  then  to  be  committed  to  the 
workhouse  and  educated,  if  possible  at  the  charge  of  the 
parents,  or  if  not,  at  the  charge  of  the  State ;  but  in 
any  case  to  remove  the  children  from  the  corrupting 
influence  of  the  parents. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that,  good  as  the  proposal  was 
in  many  respects,  it  was  open  to  many  objections,  and 
it  need  hardly  be  said  that  serious  obstacles  had  to  be 
encountered  in  the  attempt  to  pass  the  Bill.  It  was 
argued  that  the  placing  of  young  persons,  who  were 
criminal,  or  quasi-criminal,  in  the  workhouses  would 
render  those  establishments  "  distasteful  to  the  poor ;  " — 
that  it  was  contrary  to  the  original  design  of  the  work- 
houses to  make  them  "Houses  of  Detention;"  that 
the  accumulation  of  children — 20,000  of  whom  it  was 
alleged  were  graduating  in  the   school  of  vice — would 


1853.]  A    CURIOUS    EPISODE.  425 

lead  to  intolerable  pressure  and  expense  ;  that  the  par- 
ticular children  or  parents  to  be  dealt  with,  could  not 
be  clearly  defined — and  other  objections,  to  all  of  which 
Lord  Shaftesbury  fully  replied. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  debate  he  said  the  passing 
of  the  Bill  was  an  object  very  dear  to  his  heart,  and  he 
was  rejoiced  to  find  that  "  the  adverse  decree  he  had 
anticipated"  on  the  part  of  the  Lords  was  not  realised. 
In  a  subsequent  stage  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen  (Prime 
Minister),  Lord  Campbell,  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  and 
others,  gave  him  hearty  support. 

June  24tli. — Labouring  hard  on  two  Bills  ;  one  for  the  Suppres- 
sion of  Juvenile  Mendicancy,  and  thereby  of  juvenile  delinquency, 
another  for  the  abatement  of  bribery,  intimidation,  and  expense  at 
elections.  Never  was  I  more  convinced  of  the  extensive  and 
beneficial  results  that  would  spring  from  these  measures  ;  never  was 
I  more  in  doubt  of  my  success  to  pass  them  !  I  should  be  certain, 
humanly  speaking,  were  I  in  the  House  of  Commons;  but  I  shall 
have  great  difficulties  in  the  Lords,  and  no  hearty  mouthpiece  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  Pray  I  do,  pray  I  will ;  •  and  God  may  yet 
prosper  me.  Oh,  what  a  comfort  to  enjoy  the  thought  of  their 
blessed  operation  while  in  brief  repose  !  The  House  of  Lords  is 
terrible ;  there  is  a  coldness,  an  inattention,  and  an  impassibility 
which  are  perfectly  benumbing. 

July  5th. — There  is  hope  and  comfort,  the  Lord  be  praised. 
To-night  introduced  Juvenile  Mendicancy  Bill  in  House  of  Lords. 
Scarcely  ever  had  such  difficulty  in  remembering  what  I  had  to  say, 
in  finding  words  to  say  it  in,  and  in  delivery  to  make  it  known.  I 
felt  like  a  rusty  clock,  which  nobody  trusts  to,  and  the  striking  of 
which  is  disagreeable  to  those  who  hear  it. 

July  12th. — After  much  anxiety  and  discussion,  carried,  with 
hearty  approval,  Mendicancy  Bill,  with  amendments,  through  the 
House  of  Lords. 

A  curious  episode  sprang  out  of  Lord  Shaftesbury's 


426  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

speech  on  moving  the  second  reading  of  this  Bill.  He 
had  claimed  for  the  poorer  classes,  that  jurisdiction 
which  the  Court  of  Chancery  exercises  over  the  rich — 
namely,  that  in  case  of  a  notorious  violation  of  the 
parental  trust,  a  magistrate  should  be  enabled  to  place 
the  child  in  an  asylum,  where  the  State  might  perform 
for  it  duties  which  its  parents  had  omitted.  To 
strengthen  his  argument,  he  quoted  the  judgment 
of  Lord  Eldon,  given  some  thirty  years  previously  in 
the  well-known  case  of  Mr.  Long  Wellesley,  after- 
wards the  Earl  of  Mornington,  who  was  deprived  of 
the  care  of  his  own  children.  The  case  was  no- 
torious, and  the  judgment  had  been  cited  hundreds 
of  times,  as  a  leading  authority  on  the  limits  which 
public  policy  sets,  to  the  right  of  a  parent  to  abuse 
the  trust  which  nature  has  confided  to  him,  for  the 
education  and  religious  and  moral  training  of  his 
children.  There  was,  of  course,  nothing  unusual  in 
citing  such  a  case ;  on  the  contrary,  nothing  could  have 
been  more  natural.  It  was  an  apt  illustration  of  his 
argument,  and  was  the  more  weighty  as  it  was  a 
decision  given  by  a  high  authorit}r.  It  was,  moreover, 
a  quotation  from  a  well-known  law  book  accessible  to 
everybody. 

Lord  Mornington,  however,  was  weak  enough  to 
allow  himself  to  be  greatly  perturbed  in  spirit,  by  the 
quotation  of  a  decision,  in  the  justice  of  which  he  did 
not  concur ;  weaker  still  in  writing  to  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury calling  upon  him  to  retract,  or  failing  in  this,  to 
meet    him    in    "  mortal   combat ;  '    weakest   of   all   in 


1853.]  CHALLENGED   TO  FIGHT  A  DUEL.  427 

sending    the    correspondence    to    the    newspapers    for 
publication. 

The  age  of  duelling  had,  even  then,  passed  away 
in  England,  and  the  following  correspondence  may  be 
regarded  as  among  the  curiosities  of  literature.  Lord 
Mornington's  "  challenge  "  is  probably  one  of  the  last 
of  the  long  series,  demanding  "  the  satisfaction  due  to 
a  gentleman." 

Lord  Mornington  to  Lord  Shaftesbtiry. 
124,  Mount  St.,  Grosvenor  Square,  July  9tlt,  1853. 

My  Lord, — In  consequence  of  severe  and  long  indisposition,  I 
have  not  been  able  for  the  last  few  years  to  take  my  seat  in  the 
House  of  Peers,  and  I  have  only  this  day  had  brought  to  my  notice, 
by  a  friend,  the  speech  that  you  made  on  the  5th  inst.  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  when  moving  the  second  x-eading  of  the  Juvenile  Mendi- 
cancy Bill. 

My  lord,  in  this  speech,  evidently  the  result  of  'laboured 
preparation '  and  '  research  ; '  not  delivered  in  the  heat  of  debate  ; 
intended  to  be  spoken  in  the  House,  while  made  for  the  public  eye, 
you  have  thought  fit  to  go  back  for  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years,  to 
dive  into  a  Chancery  suit  of  my  personal  and  private  affairs  for  the 
purpose  of  repeating  a  most  offensive,  a  most  slanderous  and  unjust 
speech  of  the  late  Earl  of  Eldon,  when  Chancellor,  without  taking 
the  smallest  trouble  to  refer  to  my  answer  and  my  pei-fect  justifica- 
tion and  refutation  of  the  suborned  perjurers,  bought  and  brought 
forth  on  that  occasion,  and  so  proved  by  the  subsequent  prosecutions 
in  the  courts  of  law,  by  the  persons  inimical  to  me,  and  who  then, 
and  ever  since,  have  conspired  to  destroy  me  in  fortune,  reputation, 
and  life. 

When  the  unjust  decree  of  Lord  Eldon  was  given  against  me, 
and  so  given  after  I  had  proved  the  perjury  upon  the  testimony  of 
which  that  decree  was  made,  I  took  a  step  so  bold  and  open  that  I 
could  have  hoped  that  it  would  have  its  effect  even  upon  your  lordship, 
so  celebrated  for  your  Christian  benevolence. 

It  was,  my  lord,  at  once  to  appeal  to  the  electors  of  the  county  of 


428  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

Essex,  in  which  my  wife  and  children  were  born  and  had  lived,  in 
which  I  had  for  many  years  resided,  in  which  county  are  my  estates 
and  my  numerous  tenantry.*  By  this  appeal  I  asked  the  electors  of 
Essex  for  their  verdict  on  my  life  and  conduct.  I  called  upon  them 
to  decide,  by  the  verdict  they  should  give,  whether  I  was  guilty  or  not 
guilty  of  the  charges  brought  against  me.  My  lord,  the  answer  to  this 
appeal  was  made  in  1830,  when  I  polled  the  unprecedented  number 
of  1,G88  plumpers ;  and,  although  I  lost  my  election  by  a  small 
majority  upon  that  occasion,  what  happened  in  the  next  year  (1831)  % 
This,  my  lord  :  that  while  I  declined  to  be  present  during  that 
election,  or  canvass  a  single  vote,  the  electors  formed  a  committee, 
raised  by  subscription  a  fund  sufficient  to  defray  the  entire  expenses 
of  that  election,  and  returned  me  the  member  for  this  opulent  and 
influential  county,  notwithstanding  a  formidable  contest,  the  result 
of  which  was  the  defeat  of  the  former  member. 

This,  my  lord,  was  the  verdict  of  the  county  of  Essex  upon  my 
life  and  conduct,  given  in  1831,  and  this  was  my  answer  to  the 
infamous  decree  of  the  Chancellor  Lord  Eldon. 

My  lord,  I  have  taken  the  trouble  to  give  you  this  explanation 
of  my  life  and  conduct  prior  to  asking  your  Lordship  to  explain  to 
me  whether,  in  taking  the  course  you  have  done  in  slandering  me, 
your  fellow  peer,  during  my  absence  from  the  House  of  Lords,  you 
have  done  this  with  the  intent  to  offer  me  a  personal  insult,  and  if 
such  was  your  intention,  whether  I  may  hope  that  you  are  prepared 
to  meet  the  responsibility  of  such  a  course  of  proceeding1?  This  I 
trust  you  will  do,  and  I  therefore  beg  leave  to  invite  your  lordship 
either  to  explain  and  retract  the  offensive  remarks  with  which  you 
introduced  my  name  in  your  speech  of  the  5th  inst.  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  which  have  been  reported  in  the  Times  newspaper  of  the 


*  The  Times,  in  commenting  upon  this  appeal  from  the  judgment  of 
the  Lord  Chancellor  to  the  "  free  and  independent "  electors  of  Essex, 
says  :  "  Mr.  Wellesley,  in  addressing  the  court  of  appeal  from  the  hustings, 
stated  that  '  if  any  one  alluded  to  those  family  matters,  he  would  do  what 
became  him  ' — that  is,  we  presume,  would  summon  him  to  mortal  combat. 
The  effect  of  this  menace  was  that  nobody  did  allude  to  those  matters,  and 
therefore  that  the  electors  reversed  the  decree  of  the  Lord  Chancellor 
without  the  advantage  of  argument  or  discussion." — Times,  July  15th, 
1853. 


1853.]  ,       CHALLENGED   TO   FIGHT  A   DUEL.  429 

6th   inst.,  or  to  say  whether  you  will  give  me  that  alternative  that  I 
am  entitled  to,  and  which  I  trust  that  you  will  not  refuse. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  my  lord, 

Your  lordship's  obedient  servant, 

MORNINGTON. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Lord  Mornington. 

July  11,   1853. 

My  Lord, — I  have  the  honour  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  a 
letter  from  your  lordship  dated  the  9th  of  this  month. 

In  my  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords  I  simply  quoted  a  judgment 
of  Lord  Eldon's — a  law  case,  published  in  a  law  book.  This  I  had  a 
right  to  do  whether  in  Parliament  or  out  of  it  ;  and  every  one  has 
the  same  right. 

Your  lordship  is   good   enough   to   send  me  what  is   technically 

called  '  a  challenge.'     I  refer  you  for  a  reply  to  this,  and  any  future 

communication,  either  to  the  Police  Magistrate  in  Bow  Street,  or  to 

my    solicitors,    Messrs.    Mchal,    Smyth,    and    Burnett,   18,    Carey 

Street,  Lincoln's  Inn. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Shaftesbury. 

In  a  "  parting  shot "  the  Earl  of  Mornington 
characterised  this  reply  as  "  very  absurdly  impertinent," 
and  regretted  that  Lord  Shaftesbury  had  not  "  the  spirit 
to  meet  what  he  had  himself  provoked,  in  the  manner 
which  regulates  the  conduct  of  gentlemen  !  " 

The  only  allusion  to  this  incident  in  the  Diary  is 
the  following : — 

July  22nd. — Ems.  Have  never  recorded  the  august  and  valorous* 
challenge  I  received  from  Lord  Mornington,  because  I  quoted,  in  my 
speech  on  Mendicity,  the  judgment  of  Lord  Eldon  in  re  Long  Wel- 
lesley.     This  would  have  been  foolish  had  I  been  a  fighting  man  ;  but 


430  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

it  was  both   foolish  and  cowardly,  when  he  knew,  as  well  as  I  know 
it  myself,  that  I  neither  send  nor  accept  such  things  ! 

It  was  late  in  the  Session  when  the  Mendicancy 
Bill  was  sent  to  the  Commons ;  there  was  a  pressure 
of  other  measures  which  the  Government  had  eno-ao-ed 
to  pass  ;  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners  and  Metropolitan 
members  showed  an  active  opposition  that  there  was  not 
time  to  counteract,  and  Lord  Shaftesbury's  Bill  was  lost 
for  that  Session. 

About  the  same  time  another  important  measure,  of 
a  similar  character,  was  shelved.  In  1852  a  Conference 
was  held  in  Birmingham  on  Juvenile  Crime,  the  result 
of  which  was  the  appointment  of  a  Parliamentary  Com- 
mittee to  inquire  into  the  subject  and  examine  witnesses. 
Their  labours  resulted  in  the  preparation  by  Mr.  Adder- 
ley,  of  "A  Bill  for  the  Better  Care  and  Reformation  of 
Juvenile  Offenders."  This  was  the  Bill  that,  as  well  as 
Lord  Shaftesbury's,  was  postponed. 

In  December,  IS 53,  another  Conference  was  held  at 
Birmingham,  under  the  presidency  of  Sir  John  Pakington, 
at  which  Lord  Shaftesbury  wras  the  principal  speaker. 
In  the  course  of  his  speech  on  that  occasion,  and  again 
at  a  great  public  meeting  in  Birmingham,  he  thoroughly 
ventilated  the  whole  question  of  Juvenile  Mendicancy, 
and  gained  many  fresh  adherents  to  his  views. 

An  agitation  was  zealously  carried  on,  public  opinion 
was  aroused,  the  newspaper  press,  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
magistrates  and  officials,  were  all  enlisted  in  favour  of  the 
Suppression  of  Juvenile  Mendicancy  and  the  Reformation 
of  Juvenile  Criminals,  and  society  was  brought  to  recog- 


1853.]  YOUTHFUL    OFFENDERS    BILL.  431 

nise  the  truth  of  the  old  motto,  that  prevention  is  better 
than  cure,  and  that  it  is  a  far  easier  process  to  train  the 
child  than  to  reform  the  man. 

The  Parliamentary  Session  of  1854  did  not,  however, 
appear  to  offer  much  prospect  of  social  legislation.  The 
air  was  full  of  war  and  rumours  of  war.  Nevertheless, 
Lord  Shaftesbury  and  Mr.  Adderley  persevered,  but  with- 
out the  success  that  attended  Lord  Eobert  Grrosvenor, 
who  brought  in,  and  carried,  a  Bill  for  "  The  Provision, 
Begulation,  and  Maintenance  of  County  Industrial 
Schools  in  Middlesex."  This  Bill  met,  in  some  measure, 
the  object  of  the  two  other  Bills,  inasmuch  as  under  it, 
criminals  of  various  degrees  might  be  committed  by 
magistrates  to  an  industrial  school  for  a  term  of  years. 
But  a  partial  Act  for  a  single  county  did  not  satisfy 
the  prevailing  desire  for  a  more  thorough  and  compre- 
hensive scheme.  Whereupon,  Lord  Palmerston,  then 
Home  Secretary,  who  had  the  faculty  of  seeing  when 
the  nation  had  made  up  its  mind  on  any  question, 
took  the  matter  in  hand,  endeavoured  to  reconcile  the 
somewhat  conflicting  views  of  various  politicians  and 
philanthropists,  and  produced,  on  June  the  19th,  1854, 
a  "Youthful  Offenders  Bill,"  which,  after  passing  suc- 
cessfully and  rapidly  through  both  Houses,  received  the 
Boyal  assent  on  August  the  10th.  In  the  preparation 
and  passage  of  that  Bill,  Lord  Shaftesbury  lent  in- 
valuable aid,  and  brought  to  bear  all  the  resources  of 
his  long  experience  and  practical  wisdom. 

The  preamble  of  the  Bill  set  forth,  "  That  whereas 
Eeformatory  Schools  have  been,  and  may  be  established 


432  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXL 

by  voluntary  agency  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  it 
is  expedient  that  more  extensive  use  should  be  made  of 
these  institutions."  When  a  school  was  certified  as  fit 
for  the  purpose,  the  Act  provided  that,  on  conviction, 
after  a  short  imprisonment  of  a  fortnight  or  less,  the 
child  should  enter  the  school  and  remain  for  a  term  of 
years  under  the  sole  charge  of  the  managers.  Each 
child  was  to  be  paid  for  by  the  Treasury  at  the  fixed  rate 
of  six  shillings  a  week.  If  the  parents  of  a  child  were 
in  a  position  to  afford  it,  a  portion  of  the  cost  was  to  be 
recovered  from  them.  Counties  and  boroughs  might 
furnish  money  from  their  funds,  to  aid  in  the  establish- 
ment of  reformatory  schools. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  Act,  the  number  of  these 
schools  went  up  to  34  in  18 5G,  to  45  in  1857,  and  to 
59  in  18G0,  and  during  that  period  there  was  a  marked 
decline  in  juvenile  mendicancy  and  juvenile  delinquency 
clearly  traceable  to  their  operation. 

From  the  rush  and  whirl  of  ordinary  life  Lord 
Shaftesbury  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  occasional 
refuge  abroad.  The  change  to  the  Continent  presented 
great  attractions  to  Lady  Shaftesbury,  and  he  was 
al\va}'s  anxious  to  please  her.  Thus  in  January,  IS 53, 
we  find  him  in  Italy,  and  in  September  of  the  same 
year  in  France  and  Switzerland.  Unlike  the  majority 
of  travellers,  however,  each  successive  journey  on  the 
Continent  introduced  him  to  fresh  fields  of  labour  and 
opened  up  fresh  channels  for  practical  sympathy. 

Jan.  23rd. — Sunday.  Turin.    Saw  yesterday  Pasteur  Meille,  of  the 
Waldenses,  and  that  Christian  soldier  and  confessor,  Gen.  Beckwith. 


1853.]  THE    WALDENSIANS.  433 

Talk  of  self-devotion,  indeed,  among  the  Papists  !  who  has  exhibited 
bo  much  as  this  man  in  his  prolonged  life  of  thirty  years  among  '  the- 
saints '  of  the  valleys  1  Saw,  too,  the  church  of  the  Waldenses, 
rising  in  one  of  the  finest  positions  in  Turin ! 

Jan.  24th. — Genoa.  Attended  yesterday  Italian  service  at  two 
o'clock,  and  heard  the  "Waldensian  Pasteur  Meille.  0  Lord,  that 
I  should  have  lived  to  witness  and  to  hear  such  a  thing  in  such  a 
p]ace  !     What  would  have  been  the  feelings  of  old  Milton? 

'Avenge,  0  Lord,  Thy  slaughter'd  saints,  whose  hones 
Lie  scatter' d  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold ! ' 

They  are  avenged,  and  in  the  way  that  they  themselves  would 
have  desired  it,  by  the  Word  of  God  having  '  free  course,  and  being 
glorified,  in  the  very  capital  of  their  fiercest  persecutors  !  An  over- 
flowing congregation,  a  touching  service,  a  heart-inspiring  hymn. 

In  the  evening  at  eight  o'clock,  Desanctis  (a  Romish  priest  once, 
now  a  Christian  presbyter)  preached  to  the  people.  He  is  a  great 
man,  a  good  man,  a  Christian  man.  Well  may  we  say,  with  devout 
and  humble  thankfulness,  '  many  kings  and  prophets  have  desired  to 
see  the  things  that  ye  see,  and  have  not  seen  them  ! ' 

But  all  hansrs  on  a  thread  !  Who  shall  catch  it  if  it  falls  1 — '  fear 
not,'  '  underneath  are  the  everlasting  arms.'  '  The  event  may  be  re- 
tarded,'says  the  excellent  Meille  ;  'persecutions  may  arise,  but  the 
foundation  of  the  Church  is  laid.'  God  will  soon  give  us  the  top-stone, 
crying,  '  Grace,  grace  be  unto  it  !  '  After  morning  service,  met 
Desanctis  and  Malan,  a  Deputy  to  the  Chamber,  and  a  Waldensian. 
Much  confidential  and  comfortable  talk  (it  was  at  Meille's  lodgings). 
We  agreed  that  we  should  now  make  a  great  effort  for  additional 
circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  but  avoid  a  very  public  statement,  even 
in  England,  of  our  hopes,  our  progress,  our  intentions.  '  The  laivs 
are  still  against  us  ;  they  are  still  unrepealed  ;  they  are  the  laws  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  are  not  brought  into  harmony  with  the  Con- 
stitution. Hence  our  danger;  the  judges,  who  are  bigoted  adherents 
to  the  old  system,  try  all  religious  causes  with  closed  doors,  and  test 
the  case  by  the  Code  and  not  by  the  Constitution.  There  is  a  strong- 
reactionary  party,  who,  were  they  in  power,  could,  and  would  crush 
us  by  the  existing  laws  of  the  kingdom.  We  have,  in  fact,  under 
Heaven,  nothing  but  the  good  dispositions  of  the  actual  Ministry  ! ' 

C    C 


434  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

It  was  agreed  that  I  should  call  on  Count  Cavour,  the  Prime 
Minister.  I  did  so,  and  sought  him  everywhere,  but  in  vain ;  so  I 
wrote  him  a  letter  which  Perponcher,  the  Prussian  Charge  d'Affaires, 
undertook  to  deliver  to  him.  Stated  that  '  I  had  been  most  anxious, 
as  an  Englishman,  to  testify  my  gratitude,  and  that  of  my  country, 
for  his  good-will  to  the  Vaudois  Church  ;  that  we  watched  the  pro- 
gress of  religious  and  constitutional  liberty  with  deep  interest;  that 
England  was  alive  to  the  welfare  of  Sardinia ;  and  that  if  anything 
could  rouse  \is,  it  would  be  any  menace  directed  to  its  conduct  and 
independencies.  I  then  expressed  my  desire  to  have  learned  from 
him  how  to  explain  the  long-continued  discrepancy  between  the  laws 
and  the  Constitution  ;  how  Mr.  Mazzinglia  could  be  sentenced  (as 
he  was  a  few  days  ago  at  Genoa)  to  three  years'  imprisonment  for 
having  given  a  copy  of  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  ;  that  we 
in  England  could  never  understand  which  was  to  prevail,  the  old 
law  or  the  new  Constitution.'  I  then  added  my  personal  respect  for 
liis  character,  talents,  &c. 

Thus  Mazzinglia  is  condemned,  and  can  be  set  at  liberty  by  the 
prerogative  only  of  the  King  by  a  pardon.  Thus  all  is  imperfect; 
nothing  is  secured ;  the  whole  edifice  might  to-morrow  be  thrown 
down  !  and  yet  it  will  not  fall ;  'it  is  founded  on  a  rock.'  God  has 
already  blessed  Sardinia  for  the  Church's  sake.  Oh  that  this  people 
knew  the  secret  of  their  strength  ! 

Saw  Perponcher — much  agreeable  and  useful  conversation  with 
him.  I  bless  God  that  I  have  been  to  Turin ;  and  I  pray  Him 
to  render  my  visit  fruitful  to  His  honour  and  the  Church's 
service  ! . 

Jan.  29th.  — Nice  again.  Last  night  to  Hudson  (Minister  at 
Turin)  at  the  Feder.  To  meet  Mammiani,  for  a  short  time  the 
Pope's  Prime  Minister  under  the  Constitution  at  Rome,  now  a 
refugee.  He  seems  a  wise,  intelligent  man,  and  anxious  for  the 
regeneration  of  Italy. 

Feb.  2nd. — Engaged  for  two  days  in  devising  schemes  of  Bible 
diffusion.  Struck  out  the  plan  of  peripatetic  schoolmasters,  as  in 
Ireland.     God  in  His  mercy  prosper  it ! 

Count  Cavour's  reply  to  Lord  Shaftesbury's  letter, 
referred  to  above,  was  as  follows  : — 


1853.]  .      LETTER    FROM   COUNT   GAVOUR.  435 

Count  Cavour  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

28  Janvier,  1853. 

Milord, — J'ai  vivement  regrette  de  n'avoir  pas  eu  l'honneur  de 
faire  votre  connaissance  personnelle  lors  de  votre  sejour  a  Turin.  Je  ne 
me  doutais  qu'il  dutetre  de  si  couvte  duree.  ainsiai-je  ete  aussi  surpris 
que  faclie  lorsqu'on  m'a  dit  a  l'hotel  oii  vous  etiez  descendu  le  lende- 
inain  du  jour  que  vous  aviez  passe  chez  moi  que  vous  veniez  de  partir. 

J'ose  me  natter  que  si  j'avais  eu  l'avantage  de  causer  quelque 
temps  avec  Y.  S.,  il  m'eut  ete  facile  de  lui  expliquer  les  causes 
de  la  contradiction  qui  existe  encore  entre  les  principes  sur  les- 
quels  repose  la  constitution,  et  certains  articles  du  code  penal. 
Le  statut  fut  l'oeuvre  spontanee  du  Roi  Charles  Albert,  prince 
genereux  et  magnanime,  mais  en  meme  anime  d'un  zele  ardent  pour  la 
religion  catholique.  Tant  qu'il  a  vecu  on  n'a  pas  pu  songer  a  deve- 
lopper  les  germes  de  liberte  religieuse  que  presque  a  son  insu  on 
avait  glisse  dans  la  constitution.  Apres  sa  mort  tous  les  ministeres 
que  se  sont  succe'de  ont  travaille  a  faire  penetrer  l'esprit  de  liberte  dans 
toutes  les  parties  de  la  legislative,  Mais  les  obstacles  de  toute 
nature  qu'ils  ont  rencontres,  les  managements  que  les  conditions  poli- 
tiques  du  pays  lui  empressaient  les  ont  force  a  proceder  avec  une 
grande  prudence  et  beaucoup  de  lenteur. 

Le  gouvernement  a  reforme  '  bit  by  bit.'  Le  ministere  actuel 
continuei'a  l'ceuvre  de  ses  predecesseurs ;  vous  avez  pu  juger  de  ses 
intentions  par  le  discours  prononce  par  le  garde  des  sceaux  lors 
de  la  discussion  a  laquelle  a  donne  lieu  l'aifaire  Massingley. 

J'espSre  que  vous  aj^prouverez  cette  marche  prudente.  N'est  ce 
pas  d'ailleurs  celle  qu'a  tenue  l'Angleterre  qui  n'a  jamais  adopte  le 
systeme  des  sweeping  reforms. 

Elle  nous  a  reussi  jusqu'a  present.  Puisqu'au  milieu  du  torrent 
reactionnaire  qui  paraissait  devoir  tout  importer  sur  le  continent, 
les  jeunes  libertes  de  notre  pays  sont  demeurees  intactes. 

Je  remercie  votre  seigneurie  de  ce  qu'elle  a  bien  voulu  m'adresser 
d'obligeant  et  d'aimable.  L'approbation  d'liommes  qui  corame  vous 
ont  consacre  leur  vie  au  service  de  l'humanite'  et  a  la  cause  des 
classes  les  plus  interessantes  de  la  societe,  est  la  plus  pre'cieuse 
recompense  que  puisse  obtenir  un  homme  d'etat. 

Je  pi'ie  votre  seigneurie  d'agreer  l'assurance  de  ma  haute  con- 
sideration. C.   Cavour. 

c  c  2 


436  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXL 

The  two  following  extracts  were  written  in  the 
autumn,  during  Lord  Shaftesbury's  tour  in  France  and 
Switzerland  : — 

September  5th. — Every  step  that  one  takes  on  the  Continent 
gives  a  fresh  proof  of  the  vast  superiority  of  the  foreigner  in  all 
matters  of  taste  and  design  (except  that  of  gardening)  to  the  English 
people.  Not  only  their  public  buildings,  but  their  ordinary  dwell* 
ings,  the  hotels,  the  shops,  their  minute  ornaments,  their  dress,  all 
the  things  they  make — their  railway  carriages,  their  refreshment- 
rooms,  their  stations — name  what  you  will,  all  exhibit  a  refinement 
and  purity  of  conception,  generally  diffused,  which  are  not  found 
even  in  our  great  architects  and  modellers.  Struck  yesterday  by  the 
defective  result  of  English  preaching.  The  sermon  was  good,  and 
apparently  sincere ;  but  it  was  delivered,  like  ninety-nine  sermons 
out  of  a  hundred  by  English  ministers,  in  a  cold,  monotonous,  sing- 
song uniformity.  The  preacher  was  stiff  as  a  May-pole  ;  and  his 
discourse  flowed  clear,  steady,  unbroken  and  unvaried  by  voice  or 
gesture,  like  the  water  from  a  lion's  mouth,  Not  so  the  foreigner  ; 
he  is  fervent,  imaginative,  utters  as  much  by  his  gestures  as  by  his 
tongue,  and  maintains  attention  by  the  variety  of  his  tones.  He  is 
an  intermittent  spring ;  and  his  auditors  wait  with  impatience  for 
the  next  gush  of  the  lively  stream. 

September  12th. — In  talking  with  French,  Swiss,  and  German 
Protestants,  I  feel  that,  however  unanimous  we  may  be  in  appear- 
ance, there  are,  ever  in  their  minds,  two  broad,  deep  foundations  of 
actual  alienation  of  heart — our  monarchical  institutions  and  our 
Established  Church.  They  say  nothing  hostile  ;  they  receive  in  a 
friendly  manner  our  sympathy  and  co-operation,  but  the  sentiment 
transpires  from  time  to  time.  It  is  the  love  of  equality,  inborn  and 
inherent  in  the  French  Protestants,  whose  persecutions  were  often- 
times owing  to  the  belief  of  their  republican  opinions  •  inborn  and 
inherent,  naturally  enough,  in  the  Swiss,  and  borrowed,  but  eagerly 
adopted,  by  the  Germans.  But  this  love  of  equality  is  no  more  sin- 
cere and  consistent  among  these  religious  Protestants  than  among  the 
worldly  of  our  own  land  and  elsewhere.  The  notion  of  equality  is, 
as  Dr.  Johnson  said,  to  level  down,  not  to  level  up,  to  themselves. 
From  none  will  you  hear  such  denunciations  of  the  democrats  in 
Switzerland,  and  the  rabble  of  France. 


X853.]  AT   STAFFORD    HOUSE.  437 

It  was  while  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  in  Italy  that  the 
ladies  of  America  replied  to  his  proposed  address,  the 
draft  only  of  which  he  had  sent  to  the  Times,  the  address 
itself  not  having  yet  been  signed.  Their  reply,  pub- 
lished in  the  papers,  evaded  the  whole  question,  and 
"  recriminated  with  paupers,  London  poor,  needlewomen, 
India,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  every  true  and  every 
false  statement  of  the  last  thirty  years."  To  this  reply 
Lord  Shaftesbury  immediately  sent  to  the  Times  a  full 
rejoinder. 

A  few  days  afterwards  he  wrote  : — 

June  26th. — If  we  see  only  as  man  seeth,  the  hopes  of  the 
(  blacks '  are  utterly  crushed.  Their  friends  seem  beaten  in  U.  S. ; 
the  ministers  of  religion,  episcopal  and  presbyterian,  are  either  hos- 
tile or  silent ;  the  commercial  spirit  is  over-riding  humanity ;  and  the 
Senate — '  the  august  Senate,'  as  Bright  calls  it — the  creature  and 
representative  of  free  men,  has  voted,  by  a  majority  of  36  to  6,  that 
no  advocate  of  abolition,  although  one  of  their  members,  shall  be 
allowed  to  sit  on  any  committee  !  And  yet  my  impression  is  that 
the  thing  is  drawing  to  a  close ;  the  darkest  moment,  when  the  help 
of  man  is  visibly  impotent,  when  all  the  powers  of  Satan  seem  deve- 
loped and  conhrined,  God  interposes  for  His  people  ;  and  so  He  will 
here. 

Almost  immediately  upon  his  return  to  England, 
Lord  Shaftesbury  entered  heart  and  soul  into  the  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  whose  centre  was  at  Stafford  House, 
and,  after  himself,,  whose  moving  spirit  was  the  Duchess 
of  Sutherland. 

March  25th,  Good  Friday. — Began  a  movement  for  the  evangeli- 
sation of  the  fugitive  slaves  settled  in  Canada.  It  is  a  natural, 
necessary,  and  becoming  consequence  of  our  movement  for  emancipa- 
tion.     They  are  utterly  friendless  and  forgotten. 

May  7th. — To-day  Mrs.  Stowe  received  at  Stafford  House  by  the 


433  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXL 

Duchess  of  Sutherland  and  the  two  committees ;  it  was  a  singular 
and  most  useful  gathering.  We  had  every  rank  of  life,  every  form 
of  opinion,  political  and  religious — bishops,  dissenting  ministers, 
tradespeople,  peers,  Quakers,  and  the  wives  of  all.  The  homage 
was  general ;  and  every  one  seemed  delighted  with  the  soft,  earnest, 
simplicity  of  her  manner  and  language. 

May  13th. — Mrs.  Stowe  dined  with  us  here  last  night,  and  all  her 
party ;  very  successful.  I  rejoice,  as  a  peacemakei',  to  have  brought 
together  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Binney, 
a  flaming  Dissenter.  After  dinner  we  had  many  Dissenters,  many 
clergy,  the  Editor  of  the  Patriot  newspaper,  Josiah  Conder,  shop- 
keepers,  lawyers,  peers,  ifcc.  &c,  all  with  their  ladies.  It  was  quite 
'  a  happy  family '  ;  and  every  one  seemed  mightily  pleased. 

May  17th. — St.  Giles's.  Last  night  overflowing  meeting  at  Exeter 
Hall  (I  in  the  chair)  on  Anti-Slavery.  Zeal  tremendous ;  satisfied 
I  was,  for  a  wonder,  with  my  own  speech,  more  so  probably  than 
anybody  else. 

June  22nd. — My  campaign  for  the  niggers  is  both  laborious  and 
expensive.  We  want  more  shoulders  and  more  purses  to  the 
work. 

In  course  of  time,  the  "  Address  "  to  the  women  of 
America  went  forth,  signed  by  tens  of  thousands  of  the 
women  of  England.  It  was  replied  to  by  Mrs.  Tyler, 
wife  of  the  ex-President,  who  pointed  out  to  the 
Duchess  of  Sutherland  and  her  co-signatories,  where 
fitting  objects  for  their  sympathy  might  be  found. 
"  Leave  it,"  she  said,  "  to  the  women  of  the  South  to 
alleviate  the  sufferings  of  their  dependents,  while  you 
take  care  of  your  own.  The  negro  of  the  South  lives 
sumptuously,  in  comparison  with  a  hundred  thousand 
of  your  white  population  in  London." 

While  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  engaged  in  this  Anti- 
Slavery  campaign,  many  of  the  American  papers  attacked 
him  with  great  severity,   and  urged  him  to   "  look  at 


1833.]  CHINA.  .  43£ 

home  "  and  consider  the  condition  of  the  working  classes 
of  his  own  country.  The  ire  of  an  editor  of  one  of  the 
"  religious  "  papers  of  the  South,  was  greatly  roused, 
and  in  an  angry  article  he  wrote :  "  And  who  is  this 
Earl  of  Shaftesbury?  Some  unknown  lorclling  ;  one  of 
your  modern  philanthropists  suddenly  started  up  to 
take  part  in  a  passing  agitation.  It  is  a  pity  he  does 
not  look  at  home.  Where  was  he  when  Lord  Ashley 
was  so  nobly  fighting  for  the  Factory  Bill,  and  plead- 
ing the  cause  of  the  English  slave  ?  We  never  even 
heard  the  name  of  this  Lord  Shaftesbury  then!' 

Lord  Shaftesbury  loved  a  good  joke,  and  he  often 
related  this  story  with  infinite  merriment. 

In  religious  circles,  one  of  the  most  engrossing  sub- 
jects of  thought,  and  fruitful  fields  for  action,  was  China, 
A  political  and  social  revolution  had  commenced  in  that 
country,  which  was  regarded  as  an  event  more  momentous 
than  any  that  had  occurred  previously  in  the  history  of 
Protestant  Missions,  and  the  hope  was  entertained, 
that  the  downfall  of  idolatry  and  the  establishment  of 
Christianity  throughout  the  Chinese  empire,  would  be 
ultimately  ensured.  The  leaders  of  the  insurrection 
openly  denounced  the  whole  ancient  system  of  supersti- 
1  ion  ;  a  great  change  was  being  effected  in  the  minds  of 
the  people ;  isolation  and  exclusiveness  were  no  longer 
the  national  boast ;  goodwill  and  fraternity  were  being 
proclaimed  to  distant  nations.  "  That  populous  empire," 
Lord  Shaftesbury  wrote  in  his  Diary  on  July  the  20th, 
"  hitherto  hermetically  sealed  against  intercourse,  reci- 
procity, and   civilisation,  seems,  like  Jericho,   to   have 


440  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

been  compassed  about  seven  da}Ts,  and  awaits  only  the 
final  shout,  when  the  walls  shall  fall  down  flat  and  the 
servants  of  Grod  take  possession." 

No  one  was  readier  than  Lord  Shaftesbury  to  see 
an  opportunity,  and  avail  himself  of  it.  Now  was  the 
time  to  send  out  additional  missionaries ;  now  was  the 
time  to  circulate  freely  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  was 
the  jubilee  year  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  it  was  re- 
solved by  the  Committee  to  give  to  the  people  of  China, 
in  their  own  tongue,  a  million  copies  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. To  this  and  other  plans  for  reaching  the  people 
Lord  Shaftesbury  gave  invaluable  aid.  The  opening  up 
•of  China  opened  up  to  him  a  boundless  vista — "the 
beonnnino:  of  the  end." 

Sept.  3rd. — The  Times  is  overflowing  with  surprise,  and  cannot 
account  for  it,  that  the  prodigious  revolution  in  China  has  been 
•effected  in  so  short  a  time,  and  by  so  easy  means.  No  one  who  has 
studied  the  2nd  Book  of  Chronicles,  studied,  I  say,  not  simply  read, 
can  doubt  that,  when  the  end  vastly  exceeds  the  means,  and  the 
work  is  strikingly  disproportionate  to  the  instrument,  '  the  thing  is  of 
•God  ;'  it  is  the  result  of  His  own  immediate  and  direct  interposition. 
"Was  there  ever  such  a  political  event  as  the  rebellion  of  the  Ten 
Tribes  1  Was  there  ever  one  so  contrary  to  all  human  experience, 
all  human  reasoning,  all  human  policy  1  But  '  this  thing  is  done  of 
me,'  said  God  by  the  prophet ;  and  so  He  would  say  now,  did  He 
vouchsafe  to  speak,  as  of  old,  to  men  upon  earth.  I  see  it,  I  see  it, 
surely  I  see  it ;  the  Gospel  will  be  offered  where,  in  truth,  it  has 
never  yet  been  fairly  offered,  in  China  and  Japan  ;  it  will  then  have 
been  'preached  for  a  witness  to  all  nations,'  and  then  will  'the  end 
come  ! '     '  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly.' 

The  efforts  being  made  by  the  Bible  Society  for  the 
evangelisation  of  China,  were  seconded  by  those  of  the 


1853.]  MISSIONS    TO    CHINA.  441 

London  Missionary  Society.  They  called  together  a 
special  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  raising  funds  to  send 
out  additional  missionaries,  and  invited  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury to  take  the  chair.  He  willingly  responded,  and 
commenced  a  vigorous  speech  by  saying  :  "  This  matter 
commends  itself  to  the  judgment  and  feeling  of  every 
man  who  cares,  in  the  least  degree,  for  the  welfare  of  the 
human  race.  It  requires  neither  statement  nor  argu- 
mentation ;  an  actual  reality  is  before  us  ;  the  old  wall 
of  superstition  is  broken  down ;  the  empire  of  China 
with  its  three  hundred  millions,  is  opened  to  our  efforts ; 
the  breach,  so  to  speak,  is  practicable ;  the  citadel  is  to 
be  stormed,  not  by  the  potentates  and  armies  of  Europe, 
but  by  Protestant  agents,  by  a  noble  rivalry  of  Pro- 
testant missions  from  every  part  of  the  civilised  globe, 
aud  of  every  evangelical  denomination." 

Dec.  1st. — -Yesterday  chair  of  London  Missionary  Society  in  aid 
of  their  Missions  to  China.  Shall,  I  suppose,  give  great  offence  to 
my  friends  in  the  Establishment ;  sorry  for  it ;  but  the  cause  is  too 
holy,  too  catholic,  too  deeply  allied  with  the  single  name  of  Christ, 
for  any  considerations  of  Church  system  and  Episcopal  rule.  These 
things  are,  to  my  mind,  good  in  their  places,  but  their  places  are 
bounded  by  time  and  space  ;  the  Cause  knows  nothing  but  universal- 
ity and  eternity.  What  is  the  meaning  of  '  Grace  be  with  all  those 
who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity '  1  Did  not  Morrison, 
Milne,  Medhurst,  Moffat,  Williams,  love  Him  1  If  grace,  then,  was 
with  those  men,  shall  I,  vile  man,  presume  to  say  that  /  will  not  be 
with  them  also  1 

Sanitary  reform  in  the  metropolis  had  become,  in 
every  sense  of  the  term,  a  vital  question,  and  the  years 
1852  and    1S53   were   marked   by  several    measures  of 


442  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXL 

great  -utility.  Among  them  were  the  "  Metropolis 
Water  Act,"  by  which  it  was  provided  that  no  water 
supplied  for  domestic  use  should  be  taken  from  any  part 
of  the  Thames  below  Teddington  Lock ;  the  "  Act  to 
amend  the  Laws  concerning  the  Burial  of  the  Dead  in 
the  Metropolis,"  giving  authority  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  order,  for  the  protection  of  the  public  health, 
that  any  particular  burial-ground  should  be  closed,  and 
that  any  parish  should  have  power  to  take  certain 
simple  steps  for  procuring  a  new  cemetery ;  the  Com- 
pulsory Vaccination  Act ;  the  Smoke  Abatement  Nui- 
sance Act,  and  others. 

Every  fresh  measure  in  the  direction  of  sanitation, 
brought,  directly  or  indirectly,  fresh  labour  to  the  Board 
of  Health,  and  every  fresh  burden  laid  upon  that  ill- 
used  and  long-suffering  Board,  brought  to  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury, in  particular,  anxiety,  toil,  and  annoyance. 

April  29th,  1852. — Great  motion  in  House  of  Lords  on  sanitary- 
state  of  the  metropolis.       Carried  the  point  and  had  passable  success. 

May  14th. — The  Times  has  taken  up  the  note  of  the  undertakers, 
the  water-companies,  the  Parliamentary  agents,  and  the  whole  tribe 
of  jobbers  who  live  on  the  miseries  of  mankind  and  are  hunting  the 
Board  of  Health  through  brake  and  briar,  and  hope  to  be  '  in  at  the 
death  ! '  Be  it  so  :  if  we  fall,  not  a  body  will  be  left  to  shout 
'  unclean,  unclean  ! '  and  form,  and  guide,  and  impel,  public  opinion. 
Matters  will  become  worse  and  worse.  I  tremble  for  the  issue. 
"Walked  yesterday  to  review  my  old  haunts  in  Westminster,  and 
look  at  the  wretched  children  in  Pye  Street ;  sick,  sick,  sick,  to  see 
how  little  years  of  labour  had  done. 

Nov.  17th.—  Grieved  to  learn  that  not  only  nothing  is  clone  by  the 
Government,  but  that  the  Ministers  will  take  good  care  that  nothing 
shall  be  done  by  any  one  else  ;  the  Board  of  Health  is  to  be  destroyed  ; 
its  sin  is  its  unpardonable  activity. 


1853.J  ANTAGONISM   TO    BOARD    OF   HEALTH.  443 

Dec.  31st. — So  Sir  W.  Molesworth  is  to  be  our  new  Master  at 
the  Board  of  Health  !  What  mortifications  I  have  undergone  in  this 
service  !  And  will  this  endurance  be  blessed  at  last,  or  will  our 
enemies  succeed  in  destroying  the  only  institution  that  stands  for 
the  physical  and  social  improvement  of  the  people  1  Our  foes  are 
numerous,  and  I  dread  their  success ;  it  would  vex  me  beyond  expres- 
sion to  see  Chadwick  and  Southwood  Smith  sent  to  the  right-about, 
and  the  Board,  which,  under  God,  has  done  and  has  conceived  so 
many  good  things,  broken  up. 

The  "  unpardonable  activity  "  of  the  Board  had,  in 
fact,  brought  it  into  unavoidable  collision  with  every 
interest  of  magnitude.  Eeferring  to  this,  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury says : — 

August  9th,  185,3. — It  is  not  wonderful,  though  sad,  when  we 
remember  the  interests  that  it  has  been  our  duty  to  approach  and 
handle.  We  roused  all  the  Dissenters  by  our  Burial  Bill,  which, 
after  all,  failed. 

The  parliamentary  agents  are  our  sworn  enemies,  because  we 
have  reduced  expenses,  and,  consequently,  their  fees,  within  reason- 
able limits. 

The  civil  engineers  also,  because  we  have  selected  able  men,  who 
have  carried  into  effect  new  principles,  and  at  a  less  salary. 

The  College  of  Physicians,  and  all  its  dependencies,  because  of 
our  independent  action  and  singular  success  in  dealing  with  the 
cholera,  when  we  maintained  and  proved  that  many  a  Poor  Law 
medical  officer  knew  more  than  all  the  flash  and  fashionable  doctors 
of  London. 

All  the  Boai*ds  of  Guardians  :  for  we  exposed  their  selfishness, 
their  cruelty,  their  reluctance  to  meet  and  to  relieve  the  suffering- 
poor,  in  the  clays  of  the  epidemic. 

The  Treasury  besides  ;  (for  the  subalterns  there  hated  Chadwick ; 
it  was  an  ancient  grudge,  and  paid  when  occasion  served). 

Then  come  the  water  companies,  whom  we  laid  bare,  and  devised 
a  method  of  supply,  which  altogether  superseded  them. 

The  Commissioners  of  Sewers,  for  ovir  plans  and  principles  were 
the  reverse  of  theirs  ;  they  hated  us  with  a  perfect  hatred. 


444  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXL 

Occasionally,  hope  revived  that  the  Board  of 
Health  might  yet  be  the  appointed  means  of  further 
sanitary  triumphs.  With  Palmerston  for  Home  Secre- 
tary, Lord  Shafteshury  thought  that  not  only  would 
the  Board  be  saved  from  destruction,  but  that  new  life 
would  be  given  to  it.  "  I  have  never  known  any  Home 
Secretary,"  he  wrote,  "  equal  to  Palmerston  for  readiness 
to  undertake  every  good  work  of  kindness,  humanity, 
and  social  good,  especially  to  the  child  and  the  working 
class.  No  fear  of  wealth,  capital,  or  election-terrors  ; 
prepared  at  all  times  to  run  a-tilt  if  he  could  do  good 
by  it.  Has  already  done  more  than  ten  of  his  predeces- 
sors." But  these  anticipations  were  not  destined  to  be 
very  fully  realised. 

Aug.  19th. — Palmerston  has  undertaken,  and  apparently  with 
success,  several  of  our  Board  of  Health  measures.  I  rejoice  in  his 
efforts,  but  cannot  give  him,  except  for  good  will,  all  the  praise 
bestowed  by  the  Times.  We,  unfortunate  people,  having  '  borne 
the  burthen  and  heat  of  the  day,'  having  collected  all  the  evidence, 
having  stirred  the  public  attention,  having  incurred  all  the  odium, 
receive  no  support  from  the  Government,  and  consequently  fail. 
He,  having  borne  and  done  nothing  of  the  kind,  but  being  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  succeeds  !  But  observe  how  he  ignores  our  considera- 
tions and  difficulties,  and  cuts  the  Gordian  knot  by  enacting  whatever 
is  easy,  and  omitting  whatever  is  the  reverse  ;  we  laboured  our  hearts 
out  to  give  compensation  to  the  clergy;  lie  gives  them  none.  We 
devised  a  long  and  intricate  scheme  to  lower,  for  the  poorer  sort,  the 
expense  of  interments  ;  he  orders  extramural  burial,  and  leaves  the 
artisan  to  meet  the  increased  cost  as  well  as  he  can  !  Alas  !  alas ! 
success  is  not  what  you  do,  but  what  people  say  of  it,  and  they  are 
almost  always  too  ignorant,  or  too  indifferent,  to  judge  rightly. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  it  became  manifest 
that  the  days  of  the  Board  of  Health  were  numbered, 


1853.]  BOARD    OF    HEALTH   EXTINGUISHED.  445 

and  that  some  "cold,  idle,  comfortless,  do-little  office" 
would  be  set  up  in  its  stead.  It  was  a  positive 
grief  to  Lord  Shaftesbury,  who,  as  he  said,  had  given 
to  it  "  five  years  of  his  life  and  intense  labour,  and  had 
not  received  even  the  wages  of  a  pointer,  with  '  that's  a 
good  dog.'  " 

It  was  not  until  the  summer  of  1854,  however,  that 
the  crisis  came,  and  it  is  referred  to  thus : — 

July  29th,  1854. — Palmerston  will  not  hear  of  my  resigning;  nor 
will  I  of  remaining,  unless  on  grounds  very  intelligible.  This  public 
service  is  a  hard,  ungrateful  thing.  My  remuneration  has  been  that 
usually  allotted  to  monkeys — more  kicks  than  halfpence. 

July  31st. — No  choice  of  resigning  or  remaining;  the  House  of 
Commons  threw  out  the  Bill  this  day.  .  .  .  Thus  after  five 
years  of  intense  and  unrewarded  labour  I  am  turned  off  like  a  piece 
of  lumber  !  Such  is  the  public  service.  Some  years  hence,  if  we 
are  remembered,  justice  may  be  done  to  us  ;  but  not  in  our  lifetimes. 
I  have  never  known  a  wrong  by  the  public,  redressed  so  that  the 
sufferer  could  enjoy  the  reparation,  for 

"  Nations  slowly  wise  and  meanly  just, 
To  buried  merit  raise  the  tardy  bust." 

Aug.  5th. — On  Thursday  last  gave  a  dinner,  by  way  of  farewell, 
to  the  Board  of  Health,  the  commissioners,  doctors,  engineers,  clerks, 
secretary,  seventeen  in  all.     "VVe  part  very  good  friends. 

Aug.  12th. — On  Thursday  last  Board  Bill  received  tlie  Boyal 
assent,  and  the  old  Board  was  extinguished.  We  have  left  no  arrears  of 
business  ;  our  successor  will  have  all  before  him  ;  he  will  not  be  re- 
quired to  give  five  minutes  to  arrears  on  our  period  of  office.  Thus 
have  closed  six  years  of  very  hard  and  gratuitous  service.  I  may 
say,  with  old  George  III.  on  the  admission  of  American  Independence, 
'  It  may  possibly  turn  out  well  for  the  country,  but  as  a  gentleman  I 
can  never  forget  it.' 

Lord    Shaftesbury   wrote    constantly    in   his   Diary 
throughout  the  year  1853  on  the  progress  of  Democracy, 


446  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

Kepublicanism,  and  levelling  opinions.  He  traced  it, 
not  so  much  to  the  general  desire  of  the  people,  or 
to  the  influence  of  the  press,  but  to  the  operation 
of  commercial  causes  and  money-making  ambition. 
Landed  property  was  being  regarded  apart  from  all 
notions  of  ancestral  feeling,  of  attachment  to  here- 
ditary estates,  of  long  connections  between  property 
and  peasantry,  and  was  looked  upon  merely  as  a 
negotiable  article  of  merchandise,  to  be  sold  and 
shifted  with  as  little  of  affection  and  difficulty  as  a 
five-pound  note. 

July  26th. — This  is  the  worst  form  of  republican  indifference  to 
the  generous  elements  of  antiquity.  But  more  :  younger  children 
must  no  longer  receive  annuities  and  portions,  but  must  each  have  a 
slice  of  the  landed  estate.  In  two  generations,  then,  every  property 
would  be  subdivided  ;  the  landed  interest,  as  a  distinct  and  powerful 
body,  would  be  extinguished,  and  the  House  of  Lords  rendered  in* 

possible,  for  it  can  never  subsist,   except   as  an  independent  body 

independent  by  the  wealth  of  its  individual  members,  having  here- 
ditary rights,  but  also  hereditary  property. 

August  22nd.— The  atmosphere  of  political  principles  and  insti- 
tutions is  decidedly  democratic  in  the  present  clay,  and  men  are 
borne  on  against  their  wishes  to  democratic  results.  What  is  it  1  Is 
it  by  our  own  folly,  or  that  of  our  ancestors?  Is  it  the  cycle  of  the 
principle  of  government,  like  the  recurring  periods  of  drought, 
famine,  plenty,  health,  and  disorder  1  Or  is  it  the  will  of  God  that 
.every  form  should  have  its  day,  and  then  perish?  Aristocracy 
exists  on  the  Continent  by  the  sword  ;  in  England  by  sufferance. 
Which  will  have  the  longer  duration — the  obedience  of  the  soldier 
or  the  patience  of  the  ten-pound  householder  1 

It  is  observable  that  not  an  appreciable  fraction  of  the  people  of 
England  desire  the  abolition  of  the  King  and  the  peerage  ;  and  yet, 
by  degrees,  rapid  degrees,  they  will  come  to  it,  and  be  . astonished 
beyond  measure  when  the  work  is  irremediable.     So  it  appears ;  but 


1853.]  COB  DEN    ON  EDUCATION.  447 

we  may  yet,  in  the  mercy  of  God,  be  reserved,  institutions  and  all, 
for  higher  things. 

Sept.  13th. — The  year  1848  was  the  climax  of  our  odiousness  to 
the  foreigners.  They  will  never  forgive  us  for  the  calm,  the  security, 
the  assurance  with  which  our  monarchical  and  aristocratical  institu- 
tions withstood  the  shock  that  affected,  in  Europe,  monarchies  and 
republics  alike.     They  praise  us  and  abhor  us. 

Sept.  14th.— Mischief  and  subversion  are  the  main  objects  of 
the  Radicals  of  England.  They  have  not,  they  cannot  have,  a  just 
plea  for  their  policy.  We  may  think  and  speak  differently  of  cul- 
tivated Revolutionists,  who  have  deep  grievances  and  mighty  im- 
pediments in  the  way  of  amelioration.  But  civil  and  religious  liberty 
are  complete  with  us  ;  the  people  have  not  a  wrong  unredressed,  nor 
the  Radicals  a  right  unattained,  and  yet  their  spirit  is  that  of 
Mazzini,  Ledru  Rollin,  and  Kossuth. 

On  Octobei  the  25th,  Mr.  Kichard  Cobclen,  in  the 
course  of  an  address  delivered  at  the  Mechanics'  Insti- 
tute, at  Barnsley,  spoke  very  strongly  on  education,  as 
an  all-important  means  of  elevating  the  poorer  classes. 
He  said .  "  Take  the  question  of  sanitary  reform. 
Why  do  people  live  in  bad  cellars  surrounded  by  filth 
and  disease  ?  You  may  say  it  is  their  poverty,  but 
their  poverty  comes  as  much  from  their  ignorance  as 
their  vices ;  and  their  vices  often  spring  from  their 
ignorance.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  don't  know 
what  the  sanitary  laws  are ;  they  don't  know  that  venti- 
lation is  good  for  health;  they  don't  know  that  the 
miasma  of  an  unscavenged  street  or  impure  alley  is  pro- 
ductive of  cholera  and  disease.  If  they  did  know  these 
things,  people  would  take  care  that  they  inhabited  better 
houses ;  and  if  people  were  only  more  careful  in  their 
habits  than  they  are,  and  husbanded  their  means,  they 
might  get  into  better  houses.     And  when  I  hear  people 


448  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

advocate  temperance,  which  I,  as  one  of  the  most  tem- 
perate men  in  the  world,  always  like  to  hear  advocated, 
I  say  the  best  way  is,  to  afford  them  some  other  occupa- 
tion or  recreation  than  that  which  is  derived  only 
through  their  senses.  The  best  way  is  to  give  them 
education.  If  the  working  man  is  deprived  of  those 
recreations,  which  consist  of  the  intellectual  and  moral 
eujoyments  that  education  and  good  training  give,  he 
naturally  falls  into  the  excitement  of  sensual  indulgence, 
because  excitement  all  human  beings  must  have.  There- 
fore, when  you  wish  to  make  them  more  temperate,  and 
secure  moral  and  sanitary  and  social  improvements  among 
the  working  classes,  education,  depend  upon  it,  must  be 
at  the  bottom  of  it  all."  * 

A  few  days  afterwards  there  appeared  in  the  columns 
of  the  leading  journal  a  letter  from  Lord  Shaftesbury 
commenting  on  the  above  remarks. 

He  was  alarmed  lest  the  weight  of  Mr.  Cobden's 
authority  should  retard  all  effort  at  sanitary  improve- 
ments by  leading  the  public  to  infer  that  nothing  could 
be  done  until  a  better  and  more  extensive  system  of 
popular  education  was  instituted.  But  that,  as  matters 
stood,  though  it  could  not  fail  altogether,  would  help 
but  little.  The  artisans  might,  each  and  all  of  them, 
be  an  Arago  or  a  Watt,  capable  of  squaring  the  circle 
or  inventing  a  steam-engine,  and  yet  they  would  have 
no  power  of  selecting  their  dwellings ;  they  must 
live  near  their  work,  and  face  every  danger,  seen  and 
unseen,  for  they  could  not  flee  from  it.      The  working 

*  Times,  October  27th,  1853. 


1853.]  REPLY    TO    COBDEN   ON   EDUCATION.  449 

nicin  of  high  attainments,  in  the  prime  of  life,  decent, 
temperate,  industrious,  capable  of  earning  his  thirty 
shillings  a  week,  would  take  the  best  house  he  could  find 
within  the  prescribed  limits  ;  but  such  was  often  the  state 
of  drainage  and  ventilation  around,  that  it  prepared  his 
deathbed  in  a  few  months  and  left  his  wife  and  children 
a  burden  on  the  public.  From  this  text  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury, in  very  forcible  language,  urged  his  views  as  to 
the  national  duty  of  providing  proper  house  accommo- 
dation for  the  poor. 

Until  this  was  done,  education  became  an  impossi- 
bility, as,  to  be  worth  anything,  it  must  be  completed 
by  a  man's  own  self,  in  the  peaceful  evening  leisure  of  a 
cleanly,  decent,  and  suitable  home.  Intemperance  was, 
doubtless,  a  prime  cause  of  mischief  among  the  labour- 
ing classes,  but  intemperance  was  greatly  promoted  by 
the  exhausting,  enfeebling  effects  of  perpetual  residence 
in  noxious  and  mephitic  vapours.  In  conclusion,  he 
said  : — 

Let  domiciliary  improvements  go  along  with  education  ;  and  then, 
if  temperance  be  added  to  the  average  earnings  of  the  working  classes, 
there  remains  no  human  reason  that  I  can  see,  why  our  people  should 
have  any  to  blame  b'-jt  themselves  if  they  do  not  live  like  Christian 
citizens  and  die  as  aspirants  to  immortality. 

Having  glanced  at  some  of  the  public  events  in 
which  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  concerned  during  this  year, 
we  now  turn  to  the  Diary  to  extract  some  passages 
relating  more  immediately  to  himself. 

In  reviewing  the  work   in  which  his  life  was  being 
spent,  he  says  : — 
d  d 


450  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

April  6th. — Many  Bills  in  hand.  Times  sneers  at  me,  and 
speaks  of  my  'restless  benevolence.'  But  why  am  I  restless  ?  Be- 
cause others  are  restful. 

April  7th. — Engaged  more  than  ever  :  small  works  compared 
with  the  political  and  financial  movements  of  the  day — a  Lodging- 
House,  a  Ragged  School,  a  Vagrant  Bill,  a  Thieves'  Refuge  !  No 
wonder  that  people  think  me  as  small  as  my  work  ;  and  yet  I  would 
not  change  it.     Surely  God  lias  called  me  to  the  career. 

June  12th,  Sunday. — '  With  all  your  experience  '  (I  imagine 
some  young  man  saying  to  me),  '  would  you  counsel  me  to  folio sv  the 
career  that  you  have  chosen  and  pursued  1 '  In  the  first  place,  T 
reply  that,  in  spite  of  all  vexations,  disappointments,  rebuff's,  insults, 
toil,  self-denial,  expense,  weariness,  sickness,  all  loss  of  political  posi- 
tion, and  considerable  loss  of  personal  estimation — in  spite  of  being 
always  secretly  despised,  and  often  publicly  ignored — in  spite  of 
having  your  '  evil '  most  maliciously  and  ingeniously  exaggerated, 
and  your  'good  '   '  evil  spoken  of — -I  would,  for  myself,  say   '  Yes.' 

June  13th. — But  what  would  you  counsel  to  another?  I  should 
advise  him  to  consider  maturely  what  he  desired.  If  he  desired  to 
rise  in  the  world,  to  have  a  party,  to  be  much  thought  of,  to  be  a 
great  man  at  Court  or  in  politics,  I  should  say  '  No.'  If  he  desired 
internal  satisfaction,  that  humble  joy  through  Almighty  God  (amidst 
ten  thousand  vexations)  that  attend  you  in  retirement  and  in  thought- 
fulness,  I  say  emphatically  '  Yes.' 

June  29th. — Harassed  by  public  and  private  business.  My  heart 
goes  so  completely  into  every  question,  that  I  fret  like  one  pos- 
sessed. Chimney-sweepers,  juvenile  mendicants,  '  et  hoc  genus  oinne.' 
Speeches  and  Chairs  without  end.  But  all  is  not  vain  ;  I  am  reaping 
a  harvest.  Is  it  because,  in  God's  mercy,  I  have  not  fainted  ?  The 
working  of  the  Ten-Hours  Bill  is  peace,  wealth,  and  happiness, 
social  order,  and  moral  improvement. 

An  impression  prevailed  that,  because  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury had  succeeded  to  the  earldom,  and  possessed 
large  landed  estates,  he  must  necessarily  be  a  very 
wealthy  man.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was,  as  we 
have  already  hinted,  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  in 


1853.]  DEMANDS    UPON   PRIVATE    CHARITY.  451 

such  circumstances,  that  only  by  exercising  the  utmost 
care  was  he  able  to  escape  from  distressing  financial  diffi- 
culties. "Heroism  "  is  not  too  large  a  word  to  employ 
with  reference  to  the  long,  hard  battle  he  fought,  in  his 
endeavour  to  fulfil  the  apostolic  injunction,  to  which  he 
often  refers,  and  to  "  owe  no  man  anything,  but  to  serve 
him  in  the  Lord."  In  estimating  the  extreme  difficulty 
of  his  position,  it  must  be  remembered  that  his  whole  life 
was  spent  under  the  eye  of  the  public ;  that  an  adverse 
press  was  ever  eager  to  find  a  ground  of  attack  upon 
him  ;  that  as  a  leader  in  every  charitable  organisation 
of  the  day,  he  could  not  urge  upon  others  to  be  liberal 
and  not  give  freely  himself ;  and  that,  identified  as  he 
was  with  every  movement  on  behalf  of  the  poor,  the 
demands  upon  his  private  charity  were  almost  incredi- 
ble in  number  and  extent.  When  Lord  Shaftesbury 
put  down  his  name  on  a  subscription-list,  he  did  not 
"  offer  to  the  Lord  that  which  cost  him  nothing,"  he 
offered  that  which  cost  him  self-denial,  self-sacrifice, 
and  anxiety. 

One  of  the  greatest  troubles  that  could  befall  him, 
was  to  find  himself  unable  to  give  pecuniary  aid  to  a 
deserving  cause.  He  was  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice, 
to  leave  himself  almost  entirely  without  resources,  in 
order  to  give  to  those  who  had  need  ;  and  if,  on  any 
occasion  he  was  obliged  to  say  "No,"  it  was  a  positive 
pain  to  him.  A  little  incident  in  illustration  may  be 
narrated  here.  A  lady  called  upon  him  one  day,  and 
told  him  a  piteous  story  of  a  Polish  refugee  who  was 
in  a  state  of  utter  destitution.  She  had  a  dread  of 
(J  d  2 


452  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

asking  Lord  Shaftesbury  for  money,  because  she  knew 
him  well,  and  knew  how  pressing  were  the  demands 
made  upon  him  from  all  quarters.  She  told  her  story, 
however,  and  left  the  issue  with  him. 

"  Dear  me  !  "  he  said,  "  what  is  to  be  done  ?  I  have 
not  a  farthing.  But  the  poor  fellow  must  have  some- 
thing at  once.     What  can  I  do?" 

He  was  as  agitated  and  distressed  as  though  some 
strong  personal  trouble  affected  him.  Then  a  bright 
idea  flashed  through  his  mind :  he  suddenly  remem- 
bered that  in  the  library  he  had  got  a  £5  note  "in  re- 
serve as  a  nest  egg,"  and  bringing  it  in,  with  an  air  of 
infinite  delight,  he  begged  his  visitor  not  to  delay  a 
moment  in  conveying  it  to  the  man  in  need. 

In  quoting  from  Lord  Shaftesbury's  Diaries  passages 
— which,  it  must  be  remembered,  he  never  intended 
when  writing  them  should  come  before  the  public 
eye — relating  to  his  monetary  affairs,  we  prefer  to 
incur  the  censure  of  any  who  may  consider  this  beyond 
the  province  of  the  biographer,  rather  than  to  lose  the 
opportunity  of  showing  him  in  the  midst  of  circum- 
stances in  which  he  was  misjudged  and  misunderstood 
because  his  real  financial  position  was  not  known. 

May  24th. — Made  up  my  mind  ;  must  sell  old  family  pictures, 
must  sell  old  family  estates  ;  it  is  painful  ;  ancestral  feelings  are 
very  strong  with  me  ;  hut  it  is  far  hetter  to  have  a  well-inhabited, 
well-cottaged  property,  people  in  decency  and  comfort,  than  well- 
hung  walls  which  persons  seldom  see,  and  almost  never  admire  unless 
pressed  to  do  so ;  and  as  for  estates,  why,  it  is  ruin  to  retain  them 
in  the  face  of  mortgage,  debt,  and  the  necessary  provision  for  your 
children  ! 


1853.]  LAWYERS.  453 

May  28th. — Sent  to  St.  Giles's  for  two  more  pictures  to  be  sold. 
The  house  is  falling,  and  must  be  repaired ;  will  not  do  it  from  any 
fund  or  revenue  by  which  moneys  devoted  to  religion,  charity,  or 
cottage  building,  would  be  diverted.  Must  therefore  surrender  more 
heirlooms,  dismantle  my  walls,  check  ancestral  feeling,  and  thank 
God  that  it  is  no  worse.   .  . 

These  lawyers  are  harpies  ;  they  may  act  honestly,  as,  I  doubt 
not,  mine  have  done,  according  to  the  acknowledged  custom,  but  it 
is  a  custom,  one  imagined,  introduced,  and  perpetrated  by  harpies. 
These  lawyers  multiply  business,  and  charge  prodigiously  for  every 
step  of  it ;  they  send  in  their  accounts  very  seldom,  so  that  the 
client  has  no  notion  of  the  expense  he  is  incurring  by  a  series  of 
apparently  small  items,  little  suspecting  that  every  question  gives 
rise,  perhaps,  to  a  dozen  letters,  and  each  letter  costing  as  many 
pounds  ;  and  then,  when  the  account  does  come  in,  no  man  that  has 
lived,  does  live,  or  will  live,  can  check  it.  Who,  at  the  distance  of 
two  or  three  years,  can  say  whether  he  asked  such  and  such  a  ques- 
tion, received  such  and  such  an  answer,  saw  A.  B.,  was  seen  by 
0.  D.,  &c.  &c.,  over  a  statement  of  minute  details,  covering,  as  mine 
does,  some  forty  folio  pages  1  They  lure  you  on  in  your  ignorance, 
like  Circe,  and  then  turn  you  to  a  hog,  a  monkey,  a  bat,  and  cer- 
tainly a  fool !  Now  this  is  terrible  ;  what  shall  I  do  for  schools, 
cottages,  churches  1 

June  29th. — To  build  cottages  is  nearly  as  ruinous  as  to  gild 
your  saloons  ;  it  is  an  enormous  expenditure,  and  no  rent.  A  pair 
of  cottages  cost  me  four  hundred  pounds,  and  the  rent  I  receive  from 
them  is  £2  10s.,  or  at  most  £3,  for  each  cottage,  garden  included. 

The  following  entries,  relating  to  a  variety  of  sub- 
jects, are  selected  from  the  Diary  which,  during  this 
year,  was  singularly  free  from  gaps. 

April  14th. — Took  Lionel  *  to-day  to  Harrow ;  saw  him  comfort- 
ably and  happily  housed  at  Mr.  Warner's.  Ah,  Lord,  I  commit  him 
unto  Thee  in  body  and  soul  ;  preserve  him,  cherish  him,  make  him 
and  dearest  Evelyn  Thy  servants,  that  they  may  walk  before  Thee 

*  His  third  son. 


454  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

with  a  perfect  heart  in  Christ  Jesus  our  only  Saviour  !  Visited  the 
grave  of  my  blessed  Francis  ;  there  he  was  deposited  four  years  ago ; 
he  neither  sleeps  nor  is  dead ;  his  body  is  there,  but  his  soul  is  in 
Paradise.  I  no  more  doubt  it  than  I  doubt  my  own  existence,  and 
'  them  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  Him.'  What  a 
wonderful  thing  is  the  Christian  religion  !  it  makes  us  to  see  and  to 
feel  that  a  stroke  of  death  is  oftentimes  one  of  the  tenderest  of  God's 
mercies  ! 

Saw,  too,  the  '  testimonial ; ' — the  schools  erected  to  his  memory. 
Oh,  may  I  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  may  my  last  end  be 
like  his  ! 

April  26th. — Have  now  before  me  these  tedious  and  wearing 
May  meetings  :  the  repetition  of  '  the  speech  from  the  Chair,'  the 
same  sentiments,  almost  the  same  woi'ds,  amounts  to  nausea  in  the 
utterance.  Do  not  object  to  hear,  but  loathe  to  speak.  They  do 
good,  however,  and  let  that  suffice. 

May  3rd. — The  House  of  Commons  is  the  depository  of  power, 
and  it  is  vain  to  hope  to  be  an  effective  man  out  of  it.  You  may 
experience  much  social  civility,  but  no  one  accords  you  a  hairs-breadth 
of  political  influence.  '  Philanthropy,'  combined  with  a  peerage, 
reduces  a  man  to  the  lowest  point. 

May  7th. — Lionel,  although  he  has  been  but  three  weeks  at 
Harrow,  has  been  already  removed  into  the  i)th  Form,  'a  thing,'  as 
Evelyn  writes,  '  unparalleled  in  history.' 

June  13th. — The  fleet  is  gone  to  the  Dardanelles  !  Oh,  God, 
protect  my  son  *  in  soul  and  body  for  Christ's  sake  ! 

August  10th. — Unless  something  be  done,  and  that  speedily,  to 
give  activity  and  vigour  to  the  House  of  Lords  it  will  sink  into  a 
mere  registration  office  for  the  decrees  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Bills  come  up  in  a  cloud  in  the  month  of  August ;  70  or  NO  to 
be  discussed  and  passed  in  a  week  !  How  can  we  do  anything 
but  simply  inspect  and  register  them  1  This  must,  God  willing,  be 
my  first  effort  next  Session.  But  what  hope  have  I  of  success  1  The 
past  Session  has  disheartened  me. 

August  13th. — When  I  went  to  the  House  of  Lords  I  deter- 
mined  to  show  its  activity  and  power  in  the  institution  of  social 
improvements.     I    did   not   seek   my  own  repute ;    I  knew   I  was 

*  His  eldest  son. 


1853.]       REWARDS   TO  AGRICULTURAL  LABOURERS.         455 

injuring  my  own  comfort,  but  I  wished,  so  far  as  in  me  lay,  to  rescue 
the  House  from  the  character  of  the  '  dormitory.'  God  knows  it  has 
been  no  '  dormitory'  to  me. 

The  two  next  entries  were  made  during  his  annual 
tour  on  the  Continent. 

Sept.  18th. — Sunday.  Geneva.  A  great  steamboat,  groaning 
with  the  number  of  passengers,  left  the  quay  this  morning !  This 
in  the  city  of  Calvin  !  I  am  not  opposed  to  innocent  recreation  on 
the  Lord's  day,  but  no  one  has  a  right  to  make  his  own  recreation 
on  that  day  the  burthen  and  affliction  of  another.  That  thousands 
may  disport  themselves  on  Sunday,  hundreds  must  surrender,  not  only 
repose,  but  even,  were  they  so  minded,  public  worship  !  It  cannot 
be  just  and  well-pleasing  to  God. 

Sept.  22nd. — Paris.  Times  of  17th  declamatory,  and  justly, 
against  rewards  to  agricultural  labourers,  of  ten  shillings  and  a  new 
coat,  for  twenty  years  of  good  conduct.  Made  an  attempt  myself  to 
introduce  larger  sums  at  the  Blandford  Labourers'  Friend  Society, 
but,  though  I  wrote  a  year  ago,  I  have  received  no  answer.  The 
agricultural  labourer  could  greatly  benefit  his  condition,  were  he 
inclined  to  a  little  care  and  economy  ;  a  young  man,  by  the  payment 
of  sixpence  a  week,  might  secure  to  himself  an  annuity  of  twenty 
pounds  a  year,  after  sixty  years  of  age. 

Oct.  5th. — London.  Progress  fair  at  St.  Giles's.  Provisions 
very  high,  raised  the  wages  of  my  people  ;  will  others  do  the  same  1 
Happy  prospects  of  my  drainage  efforts ;  many  labourers  will  be 
required ;  and  if  they  labour  diligently  their  wages  will  be  good.  All 
the  men  employed  on  the  house  desired  a  holiday,  and  they  had  it 
with  cricket,  football,  quoits,  &c. ;  bread,  cheese,  meat,  beer,  and 
apples  in  just  quantity.  They  played  the  whole  day,  were  in  extra- 
vagant spirits  ;  behaved  admirably  well,  and  went  home  perfectly 
sober.  I  confess  it  did  my  heart  good  to  see  them  sharing  with  me, 
in  due  time  and  proportion,  the  enjoyment  of  the  old  park  of  my 
ancestors. 

In  the  early  autumn  of  this  year  there  was  a  severe 
visitation   of  cholera  throughout  the  country,  and  the 


456  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXI. 

Presbytery  of  Edinburgh  wrote,  through  their  Mode- 
rator, to  the  Home  Secretary  (Lord  Palmerston)  asking 
whether,  in  the  circumstances,  a  national  fast  would  be 
appointed  by  Royal  authority.  The  Home  Secretary 
replied  in  a  characteristic  letter  of  such  sterling  com- 
mon sense,  that  a  part  of  it  may  be  quoted  here,  as  it 
illustrates  the  manner  in  which  Lord  Palmerston  co- 
operated with  Lord  Shaftesbury,  both  working  towards 
the  same  end,  but  by  different  means. 

"  The  Maker  of  the  Universe,"  Lord  Palmerston 
replied,  "  has  established  certain  laws  of  nature  for 
the  planet  in  which  we  live,  and  the  weal  or  woe  of 
mankind  depends  upon  the  observance,  or  the  neglect, 
of  these  laws.  One  of  these  laws  connects  health 
with  the.  absence  of  those  gaseous  exhalations  which 
proceed  from  over-crowded  human  dwellings,  or  from 
decomposing  substances,  whether  animal  or  veget- 
able ;  and  those  same  laws  render  sickness  the 
almost  inevitable  consequence  of  exposure  to  those 
noxious  influences.  But  it  has,  at  the  same  time, 
pleased  Providence  to  place  it  within  the  power  of 
man  to  make  such  arrangements,  as  will  prevent  or 
disperse  such  exhalations  so  as  to  render  them  harmless, 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  man  to  attend  to  those  laws  of 
nature  and  to  exert  the  faculties  which  Providence  has 
thus  given  to  man  for  his  own  welfare. 

"  The  recent  visitation  of  cholera,  which  has  for  the 
moment  been  mercifully  checked,  is  an  awful  warning 
given  to  the  people  of  this  realm  that  they  have  too 
much  neglected  their    duty  in  this  respect,  and  those 


1853.]     PALMERSTON'S  REPLY  TO  SCOTCH  MEMORIAL.     457 

persons  with  whom  it  rested  to  purify  towns  and  cities, 
and  to  prevent,  or  remove,  the  causes  of  disease,  have 
not  been  sufficiently  active  in  regard  to  such  matters. 
Lord  Palmerston  would  therefore  suggest,  that  the  best 
course  which  the  people  of  this  country  can  pursue  to 
deserve  that  the  further  progress  of  the  cholera  should 
be  stayed,  will  be  to  employ  the  interval  that  will  elapse 
between  the  present  time  and  the  beginning  of  next 
spring,  in  planning  and  executing  measures  by  which 
those  portions  of  their  towns  and  cities  which  are  in- 
habited by  the  poorest  classes,  and  which,  from  the 
nature  of  things,  must  most  need  purification  and  im- 
provement, may  be  freed  from  those  causes  and  sources 
of  contagion,  which,  if  allowed  to  remain,  will  infallibly 
breed  pestilence  and  be  fruitful  in  death,  in  spite  of  all 
the  prayers  and  fastings  of  a  united  but  inactive  nation. 
When  man  has  done  his  utmost  for  his  own  safety, 
then  is  the  time  to  invoke  the  blessing  of  Heaven  to  give 
effect  to  his  exertions. " 

Nov.  2nd. — London.  Palmerston  has  refused  a  fast  day  in 
his  answer  to  the  Scotch  Memorial,  and,  in  such  a  style,  that,  though 
his  letter  contains  abundant  good  sense  and  much  truth,  he  will  be 
regarded  by  the  religious  world  as  little  better  than  an  infidel.  His 
notions  and  feelings  theologically  are  feeble,  no  doubt,  and  erroneous; 
but  he  had  no  intention  to  be  irreverent,  though  he  has  stirred  up  a 
nest. 

Dec.  21st. — The  "burking"  system  of  the  newspapers  is  more 
fatal  and  hostile  than  their  attack.  At  conference  I  made  a  longish 
speech  on  various  points  which  the  Times  reduces  to  this,  '  Lord  S. 
said  that  the  children  ought  to  be  treated  with  justice  and  kindness  ; ' 
and,  shortly  after,  Mr.  Sturge  is  made  to  say,  in  the  same  amount  of 
words,  that  'he  could  not  agree  with  Lord  S.' !  ! 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

1854—1855. 

A  Cloud  in  the  East — State  of  England — Rumours  of  War  with  Russia — War 
Declared — Christians  in  Turkey — Russian  Intolerance — Letter  from  Lord 
Stanley — Letter  to  Lord  Aberdeen — Letter  from  Lord  Clarendon — Religious 
Liberty  in  France — Correspondence  with  Emperor  of  the  French — M. 
Drouyn  de  Lhuys  to  Lord  Palmerston — Offer  of  Order  of  the  Garter — 
Reasons  for  Declining  the  Honour — Colonisation  of  Syria — Chimney 
Sweepers  Bill  Thrown  Out  — A  Mothers'  Meeting — Harrow — Death  of 
Lord  Jocelyn — Death  of  Duchess  of  Beaufort — Wild  Court — War  in  a 
Christian  Spirit — Lord  Raglan's  Despatches — Letter  to  Mr.  Haldane — 
Mismanagement  in  the  Crimea — Change  of  Ministry — Palmerston,  Premier 
— Offer  of  Duchy  of  Lancaster — Correspondence  thereon  with  Lord  Palmers- 
ton— Letter  from  Lady  Palmerston — Organisation  of  Sanitary  Commission 
for  Crimea— Letter  to  Lord  Panmure — Instructions  to  the  Sanitary  Com- 
missioners— Letter  from  Miss  Florence  Nightingale — Death  of  the  Czar — 
Visit  of  Emperor  of  the  French — Letter  to  Mr.  Evelyn  Ashley — Offer  of 
Duchy  of  Lancaster  Renewed — Letters  from  Lady  Palmerston — In  Per- 
plexity— Interposition  of  Providence — Religious  Worship  Bill — Opposition 
of  Lord  Derby  and  the  Bishop  of  Oxford — Success  of  the  Bill — Sardinia — 
National  Education — Death  of  Sir  Robert  Inglis — Milliners  and  Dress- 
makers— Death  of  his  Son  Maurice — Letter  to  Mr.  Evelyn  Ashley — 
Woburn  Abbey- — Life  Peerages. 


In  1853,  the  cloud  that  had  long  hung  over  the  East 
was   gathering  blackness,   and   threatening  to  burst  in 


storm.  A  dispute  about  the  Holy  places  in  Palestine, 
was  the  pretext  upon  which  the  peace  of  forty  years  was 
to  be  broken.  Eight  years  previously,  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  had  spoken  of  Turkey  as  "  a  dying  man  whose 
dissolution  was  at  hand."  On  the  9th  of  January,  1853, 
the  Emperor,  in  conversation  with  Sir  Gr.  Hamilton 
Seymour,  explained  his  views  in  unmistakable  language. 


1854.]  RUSSIA    AND    TUB  KEY.  459 

"  Turkey  is  falling  to  pieces,"  lie  said,  "  and  it  is  im- 
portant that  England  and  Russia  should  come  to  a  good 
understanding,  that  neither  should  take  any  decisive 
step  of  which  the  other  is  not  apprised."  A  little  later 
on,  he  declared :  "I  tell  you,  if  your  Government  has 
heen  led  to  believe  that  Turkey  retains  any  element  of 
existence,  your  Government  must  have  received  incorrect 
information.  I  repeat  to  you  that  the  sick  man  is 
dying  ;  "  and  he  urged  that  England  should  join  with 
Russia  in  making-  arrangements  beforehand  as  to  the 
inheritance  of  the  Ottoman  in  Europe. 

A  few  months  later  came  the.  dispute  about  the 
Holy  places ;  Turkey  claimed  that  the  only  Protec- 
torate over  the  Christians  of  Turkey  was  the  Sultan's, 
and,  although  negociations  innumerable  were  under- 
taken  to  adjust  matters  between  the  two  Powers,  the 
hope  of  maintaining  peace  grew  fainter  and  fainter,  and 
on  the  1st  of  November,  1853,  Russia  declared  war 
against  Turkey. 

Lord  Shaftesbury's  Diary  follows  the  incidents  of 
the  war  with  great  minuteness.  We  shall  only  extract 
occasional  passages  to  mark  the  progress  of  events,  and 
his  opinions  and  actions  with  regard  to  them. 

Aug.  1 6th,  1853. — England,  in  all  her  history,  never  combined 
before  so  many  elements  of  material  prosperity.  We  have  survived  the 
revolutionary  shocks  of  the  last  half  century,  and  of  the  last  thirteen 
special  years  ;  we  have  a  Sovereign  to  whose  person  and  office  the 
whole  country  is  soberly,  yet  ardently,  attached  ;  we  have  an  here- 
ditary Peerage  of  a  thousand  years  duration,  esteemed,  as  yet, 
and  admired  by  the  people ;  and  worthy,  too,  as  compared  with 
former  or  contemporaneous  aristocracies,   of    the  position   it   occu- 


460  THE    EAUL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

pies.  There  is  a  singular  union,  and  mutual  respect,  of  all  classes  ; 
the  highest,  the  middle,  the  lowest ;  never  had  we  such  a  develop- 
ment and  diffusion  of  wealth,  comfort,  security,  among  the  labour- 
ing population  :  our  army  is  powerful,  our  fleets  unprecedented 
and  unrivalled ;  and  yet  the  whole  kingdom  seeks  not  aggression  but 
Peace  !  What  country  ever  enjoyed  more  liberty  of  thought,  speech, 
and  action  1     None  in  the  records  of  the  world  ! 

Sept.  17th. — -The  Emperor  of  Russia  has  proudly  and  angrily 
rejected  the  Note  of  the  Four  Powers  as  altered  by  the  Porte.  The 
Turk  is  insane,  and  the  Muscovite  wicked,  but  he  is  a  fool  into  the 
bargain.  He  has  thrown  away  his  character  as  the  umpire  of 
Europe  ;  he  has  been  guilty  of  sad  aggression,  has  dealt  in  falsehoods, 
and,  by  commencing  war,  he  will  open  up  the  means  of  insurrection, 
revolution,  and  socialism  (the  very  bugbears  of  his  life)  to  Italy, 
Poland,  France,  Hungary,  and  Germany. 

Oct.  1 4th. — Brighton.  We  are  in  war  and  not  in  war  ;  full  of 
rumours,  perils,  protocols,  negotiations.  Drummond  has  written  a 
clever  letter  to  the  Peace  Society,  in  which  he  tells  them  that  they 
desire  peace,  only  that  they  may  have  leisure  to  make  money ;  that 
if  war  would  answer  the  purpose  they  would  (he  implies)  like  it  as 
well,  that  they  denounce  Mars  and  Moloch,  but  worship  Mammon, 
who,  according  to  Milton,  is  the  basest  and  meanest  of  them  all  ! 

Feb.  8th,  1854. — All  seems  beating  up  for  conflict.  The  Czar,  if 
not  the  wisest,  must  be  the  maddest  of  politicians.  He  is  isolated 
in  Europe  ;  Austria  and  Prussia  have  refused  their  co-operation  ;  the 
whole  of  Germany  is  indignant  and  ardent  to  get  rid  of  Russian  in- 
fluence. I  have  always  believed  that  the  Emperor  lived  under  the 
delusion  that  his  authority  was  dominant  at  Berlin  and  Vienna. 
This  rejection,  therefore,  will  equally  astound  and  exasperate  him. 
My  opinion  was  confirmed  by  a  statement  of  Walewski's,  that,  when 
a  short  time  ago,  General  Castelbaljac,  French  ambassador  at  St. 
Petersburg,  hinted  to  Nesselrode.  the  probable  objections  of  Austria, 
he  received  a  half  contemptuous  answer  that  '  Austria  and  Russia 
were  one.'  Meanwhile  Italy,  Poland,  Hungary,  every  place  where 
there  is  no  hope  but  in  revolution,  are  agitated  and  expectant ;  just 
as  we  foresaw,  so  it  is ;  the  notion  of  war  gives  them  a  notion  of 
opportunity ;  and  the  Austrians  cannot  move  a  regiment  without 
exciting  a  district ! 

March  Gth. — The  event  of  the  clay  is,  to  my  mind,  the  speech  of 


1854.]  MANIFESTO    OF    THE    OZAB.  461 

the  Emperor  of  the  French  to  the  Legislative  Chamber.  He  there 
declares  that,  '  the  days  of  conquest  are  passed,'  never  to  return.  He 
shows  that  France  has  a  deeper  interest  than  England,  in  repressing 
the  power  of  Russia,  and  that  the  intimate  alliance  of  these  two 
countries,  formerly  such  bitter  rivals,  is  a  noble  impulse  to  civili- 
sation. He  has  acted  wonderfully  well  throughout ;  it  would  be 
wrong,  nay,  unjust,  to  suspect  him  ;  to  have  even  a  misgiving ;  and 
yet  the  change  is  so  immense,  his  policy  so  unexpected,  that  one 
ought,  for  some  time  at  least,  to  be  upon  one's  guard. 

In  the  Manifesto  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  dated 
February  the  9th,  1854,  in  which  he  announced  to  his 
subjects  the  fact  that  England  and  Trance  had  taken  up 
the  cause  of  Turkey,  these  words  occurred  :  "  And  thus 
England  and  France  have  ranged  themselves  by  the  side 
of  the  enemies  of  Christianity,  against  Eussia  righting 
for  the  Orthodox  Faith." 

To  allow  this  reproach  to  remain  unanswered  was 
painful  to  many  Christians  in  England,  and,  on  March 
the  10th,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  as  their  mouthpiece,  took 
the  opportunity  of  a  formal  motion  for  papers  on  Turkish 
affairs,  to  address  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  subject. 
On  behalf  of  the  friends  of  missions,  he  directly  con- 
tradicted the  assertion  of  the  Czar,  and  undertook  to 
prove  that  Turkey  had,  of  late,  done  everything  to 
advance,  and  Russia  everything  to  retard,  the  progress 
of  Christianity.  After  pausing  to  express  his  opinion 
that  the  negotiations  had  resulted  in  their  only  possible 
issue,  he  defended  the  necessity  of  "  making  alliance 
with  any  power,  heathen  though  it  may  be,  to  maintain 
the  cause  of  right,  justice,  and  order,  against  the  aggres- 
sions even  of  professing  Christians,"  and  to  declare,  that 


462  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXII. 

the  real  question  at  issue  was,  whether  we  should  "  assert 
the  rights  of  a  weaker  state,  maintain  the  independence 
of  nations,  and  endeavour  to  assign  a  limit  to  the 
encroachments  of  a  power  that  seemed  cent  upon 
darkening  all  that  was  light,  and  subjugating  all  that 
was  free,  among  the  nations  of  mankind."  For  himself 
he  could  wish  that  we  were  well  rid  of  both  the  parties 
concerned — "  that  the  Russians  were  driven  to  the 
North  of  Archangel,  the  Turks  to  the  East  of  the 
Euphrates,"  but,  in  the  circumstances,  it  was  right  "  to 
prefer  the  autocrat  who  had  granted  such  great  facilities 
to  the  advancement  of  Christianity  and  civilisation,  to 
the  autocrat  who  had  denied  them  in  his  own  dominions, 
and  who  would  deny  them  still  more  fiercely  should  he 
ever  become,  by  our  neglect,  the  master  of  those  noble 
provinces  that  he  so  ardently  coveted." 

In  tracing  the  gradual  growth  of  wealth,  intelli- 
gence, and  civilisation  amongst  the  Christians  of  Turkey, 
Lord  Shaftesbury  stated  that,  owing  to  the  singular 
liberality  of  the  Turkish  system,  there  had  been  a  large 
diffusion  of  the  Scriptures  ;  in  fifty  towns  there  were 
distinct  congregations  of  seceders  from  the  Greek 
Church  ;  Protestant  teachers  and  schools  had  multiplied, 
and,  in  capital  and  provinces,  religious  associations, 
printing  presses,  Bible  depots,  colporteurs,  and  native 
teachers  were  openly  permitted.  There  had  been,  it  was 
true,  outbreaks  of  Muslim  bigotry,  but  these  were  local, 
and  had  been  controlled  b}'  the  Government ;  the  chief 
persecutions  of  Christians  had  been  inflicted  by  other 
Christians,  stimulated  by  their  priests.    He  continued  : — 


1854.]  THE    CHRISTIANS    OF    TURKEY.  463 

Now,  contrast  this  with  what  is  permitted  or  prohibited  in  "Russia, 
and  draw  your  inference  as  to  what  we  have  to  expect  should  these 
awakening  provinces  fall  under  the  dark  and  drowsy  rule  of  the  Czar. 
No  associations  for  religious  purposes  are  tolerated  in  Russia;  no 
printing-presses  are  permitted  for  printing  the  Bible  in  modern  Russ, 
the  only  language  understood  by  the  people ;,  no  versions  of  the 
Scriptures  are  allowed  to  cross  the  frontier  except  the  German, 
French,  Italian,  and  English.  Not  a  single  copy,  I  repeat,  of  the 
Bible  in  the  modern  Russ,  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  can  gain  access 
into  that  vast  empire ;  and  it  is  believed,  on  the  best  evidence,  that 
not  a  single  copy  has  been  printed,  even  in  Russia,  since  1823,  in  the 
tongue  spoken  by  the  people  !  No  colporteurs,  of  course,  nor  native 
agents,  to  enlighten  the  gloomy  provinces  ;  no  depots  for  the  sale  of 
the  Scriptures,  no  possible  access  to  the  Word  of  God. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  then  pointed  out  the  tyranny  of 
Russia,  in  siding  with  the  Greek  priests  ;  in  persecuting 
the  seceders  ;  in  endeavouring  to  hinder  Sir  Stratford 
Canning,  and  other  Ministers,  in  their  labours  to  procure 
justice  for  the  Protestants;  in  forbidding  Jewish  subjects 
to  possess  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and  in  suppressing 
missionary  efforts  among  heathen,  or  semi-savage,  tribes 
on  the  outskirts  of  her  empire  ;  and  contrasted  the  policy 
of  Turkey  in  permitting  and  protecting  missionary 
agencies,  which  had  brought  about  a  "  great  develop- 
ment of  knowledge  and  liberal  sentiment,  enlarged  hopes 
and  aspirations,  of  the  Christian  population." 

After  extolling  the  comparatively  liberal  sentiments 
and  policy  of  the  preceding  Czar,  Alexander,  Lord 
Shaftesbury  concluded  as  follows  : — 

He  died  ;  and  in  1826  the  Emperor  Nicholas  ascended  the  throne. 
And  what  did  he  then  do  1  He  suppressed,  by  an  ukase,  the  Russian 
Bible  Society,  with  all  its  branches  ;  suppressed  every  privilege 
granted   to    religious   societies,    and    brought  back    that    Cimmerian 


464  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXII. 

darkness  of  the  human  intellect  and  the  human  heart,  that  he  seems 
to  prize  so  highly. 

Has  Turkey,  I  ask,  done  anything  of  the  sort  ?  Has  she  not,  my 
Lords,  in  the  last  twenty  years,  allowed  more  to  the  progress  of 
liberty  and  truth,  than  Russia  in  the  whole  of  the  famous  nine 
hundred  years  that  the  emperor  boasts  as  the  present  age  of  the 
alliance  between  the  Sclavonic  nations  and  the  Greek  communion  1 
Undoubtedly  she  has  ;  and  this  inference  cannot  be  gainsaid — that, 
if  the  Sultan  had  been  less  liberal  towards  freedom  of  religion,  less 
considerate  of  the  rights  of  conscience,  there  would  have  been  no 
Menschikoff  note,  and  no  invasion  of  the  Principalities. 

But  now,  my  Lords,  though  these  are  not  the  matters  for  which 
we  undertake  the  war,  we  may  rejoice  that  we  are  not  engaged  in 
upholding  a  state  of  things  adverse  to  all  amelioration,  and  subver- 
sive of  all  liberty  and  truth.  And,  seeing  that  we  have  entered  on 
this  conflict  in  no  spirit  of  ambition,  covetousness,  or  pride,  but  for 
our  own  defence,  and  in  the  maintenance  of  great  principles,  which 
concern  alike  all  the  races  of  mankind,  let  us  have  no  fear  for  the 
issue,  but,  offering  a  humble  and  hearty  prayer  to  Almighty  God, 
let  us  devoutly  trust  that  His  aid  will  not  be  wanting  to  bless  our 
arms  with  success,  and  a  speedy  peace,  in  this  just  and  inevitable 
quarrel. 

The  newspapers  of  March  the  11th,  the  clay  follow- 
ing the  delivery  of  this  speech,  contained  this  remark- 
able passage  from  the  St.  Petersburg  Journal  of  the  18th 
of  February  : — 

Since  the  year  1829,  his  Majesty  has  followed  with  earnest 
attention  the  march  of  events  in  Turkey. 

The  Emperor  could  not  close  his  eyes  to  the  consequences  of 
changes  which,  one  bv  one,  have  been  introduced  into  that  State. 
Old  Turkey  has  disappeared  since  the  Turkish  Government  has 
sought  to  plant  institutions  diametrically  opposed  to  the  genius  of 
Islamism,  and  to  the  character  and  customs  of  Mahometans — insti- 
tutions, more  or  less  copied  from  the  type  of  modern  Liberalism. 

Referring,  in  his  Diary,  to  the  debate,  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury writes : — 


1854.]  BURIAL    CLUBS.  465 

March  10th. — Speech  to-night  on  my  own  motion  in  reply  to  the 
Manifesto  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  and  his  audacious  assertion, 
'  England  and  France  are  siding  with  the  enemies  of  Christianity 
against  Russia,  who  is  combating  for  the  Orthodox  Faith.' 

Nothing  pleased  me  more  than  the  statement  of  Clarendon,  who 
was  followed  by  many  others,  that  the  debate  '  was  most  opportune.' 

In  reply  to  a  letter  from  his  son  Evelyn,  who  had 
written  to  congratulate  him  on  his  success,  he  says : — 

March  Uth,  1854. 

Cod  bless  you,  my  darling  boy,  for  your  kind,  sympathising 
letter.     The  success  was  indeed  wonderful. 

You  ask  me  how  I  get  through  so  much  work  ;  why,  as  I  hope 
that  you  will  hereafter,  by  hearty  prayer  to  Almighty  God  before  I 
begin,  by  entering  into  it  with  faith  and  zeal,  and  by  making  my  end 
to  be  His  glory  and  the  good  of  mankind.      '  In  hoc  signo  vinces.' 

Yours  affectionately,  S. 


The  "  work  "  alluded  to  in  the  foregoing  letter,  was 
not  only  the  routine  duties  inevitable  to  the  position 
Lord  Shaftesbury  had  taken  in  public  life  ;  on  all  hands 
new  labours  were  pressing  upon  him.  The  following 
letters  will  indicate  some  of  them  : — 

Lord  Stanley  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Albany,  Jan,  3rd,  1854. 

Dear  Lord  Shaftesbury, — My  attention  has  been  called  during 
the  recess,  by  various  occurrences  in  Lancashire,  in  my  own  neigh- 
bourhood, and  by  the  conversation  of  many  persons  there,  to  a  sub- 
ject which,  I  know,  has  engaged  much  of  your  time.  I  mean  Burial 
Clubs,  and  the  abuses  to  which,  under  existing  regulations,  they  are 
exposed.  I  wish  much,  if  convenient,  to  have  some  conversation 
with  you  on  this  subject,  as  I  believo  a  legislative  remedy  may  be 

C  e 


466  THE    EA11L    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXII. 

applied,  and  I  know  no  person  who  is  better  qualified  to  pronounce 
on  one  than  yourself. 

Will  you  allow  me  to  do  myself  the  honour  of  calling  upon  you 
to  discuss  this  question  1 

I  make  no  apology  either  for  this  request  or  for  an  unceremonious 
address,  notwithstanding  the  slight  nature  of  our  acquaintance. 
We  are  both  public  men,  both  deeply  interested  in  the  condition 
of  the  working-class ;  and,  for  my  own  part,  I  had  rather  look 
back  on  services  such  as  those  which  you  have  performed  for  that 
class,  than  receive  the  highest  honours  on  employment  of  the  State. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord,  faithfully  yours, 

Stanley. 


Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Lord  Aberdeen. 

Feb.  22nd,  1854. 

My  dear  Lord,—  Excuse  me  for  making  one  remark  on  what 
you  said  to  me  yesterday  afternoon. 

It  terrified  me,  for  it  implied  that  the  country  had  entered  on  a 
war,  which  you  could  so  little  justify  to  your  own  conscience,  as  to 
be  unwilling,  nay,  almost  unable,  to  advise  the  ordinance  of  public 
prayer  for  success  in  the  undertaking. 

Why,  then,  have  we  begun  it  1  You  asked  whether  '  the  Eng- 
lish nation  would  be  brought  to  pray  for  the  Turks  1 '  Surely  ;  if  they 
are  brought  to  fight  for  them,  they  would  be  induced  to  pray  for 
them,  in  a  just  quarrel.  But  would  a  public  prayer  be  for  the  Turks 
alone,  or  for  the  Turks  at  all  1  We  send  out  fleets  and  armies  in  a 
cause  that  we  consider  right,  and  we  should  implore  Almighty  God 
to  give  us  success  and  a  speedy  peace. 

If  we  have  entered  on  the  war  with  a  view  to  self  pi'eservation, 
and  in  defence  of  principles  in  which  all  nations,  not  the  Turks  only, 
are  concerned,  we  may  expect,  and  almost  demand,  that  a  Royal  pro- 
clamation be  issued,  inviting  the   Kingdom  to  prayer,  and  on  these 

grounds. 

Yours  truly, 

Shaftesbury. 


1854.]  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY   IN   FRANCE.  467 

Lord  Clarendon  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

F.  O.,  March  2nd,  1854. 

My  dear  Shaftesbury, — I  am  always  glad  to  find  myself  agree- 
ing with  you,  and  I  hope  that  we  shall  continue  to  exchange  ideas 
upon  the  grave  events  that  are  now  rapidly  about  to  follow  each 
other. 

I  take  exactly  your  view  of  Letters  of  Marque,  and  I  some  time  ago 
addressed  myself  privately  to  the  Governments  of  France  and  of  the 
United  States  saying  that,  as  we  had  been  driven  into  the  brutal  and 
barbarous  methods  of  settling  differences,  we  should  at  least  endea- 
vour to  mitigate  its  horrors,  and  thus  pay  homage  to  the  civilisation 
of  the  times  we  live  in,  and  that  I  could  see  no  reason  why  a  licence 
should  be  given  for  robbery  by  sea,  any  more  than  by  land,  &c.  &c. 

The  proposal  has  been  met  in  a  corresponding  spirit,  and  I  hope 
shortly  to  settle  some  change  in  international  law,  for  that  will  be 
necessary  ;  but  the  three  greatest  maritime  Powers  of  the  world  have 
a  right  to  effect  such  a  change  in  the  interests  of  humanity. 

I  am  not  yet  prepared,  however,  to  make  any  public  announce- 
ment on  the  subject,  because  I  wish,  at  the  same  time,  with  the  pri- 
vateering system,  to  bring  our  law,  or  rather  practice,  respecting 
neutral  nags  more  in  harmony  with  the  practice  and  expressed  wishes 
of  other  maritime  nations. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Clarendon. 

It  had  been  represented  to  Lord  Shaftesbury — and 
his  wide  acquaintance  with  foreign  affairs  and  fre- 
quent visits  to  the  Continent,  confirmed  the  truth  of 
the  statement — that  the  cause  of  religious  libedy  in 
France  needed  to  be  brought  under  the  personal  notice 
of  the  Emperor.  The  recent  alliance  presented,  it 
was  thought,  a  favourable  opportunity  for  carrying  this 
into  effect. 

e  e  % 


468  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  Emperor  of  the  French. 

Loxdox,  April  19th,  1854. 

Sire, — The  liberty  that  I  have  taken  in  addressing  your  Majesty 
will,  I  feel  assured,  he  forgiven  when  your  Majesty  shall  have  consi- 
dered the  gravity  and  importance  of  the  subject  that  I  have  ventured 
to  bring  under  your  attention. 

The  position  that  your  Majesty  has  given  to  France  in  the  estima- 
tion of  Europe  ;  the  happy  and  providential  Alliance  between  the 
French  and  English  nations,  and  the  great  principles  for  which,  in 
truth,  both  your  Majesty  and  our  beloved  Queen  are  contending, 
have  led  us  not  only  to  hope,  but  to  believe,  that  we  shall,  all  of  us 
in  both  countries,  obtain  to  the  full  the  privileges  and  blessings  that 
we  are  seeking  to  obtain  for  others. 

Your  Majesty  will  be  astonished  and  grieved  to  learn,  by  the 
document  which  accompanies  this  letter  (a  document  signed  by 
some  of  the  best  names  in  England,  and  to  which  hundreds,  had 
time  been  allowed,  would  have  attached  their  signatures)  that  the 
Protestant  Churches  in  the  French  Empire  do  not,  at  present, 
enjoy  the  freedom,  right,  security,  of  property  and  of  conscience, 
that  are  enjoyed  by  the  Seceders '  from  the  Greek  Church,  or  Pro- 
testants, as  they  are  termed,  under  the  Turkish  dominions.  They 
are,  on  the  contrary,  suffering  many  grievous  vexations,  and  they 
are  apprehending  many  more,  unless  it  shall  please  Almighty  God  to 
move  your  Majesty's  heart  to  show  yourself  their  friend  and  pro- 
tector in  all  that  they  can  claim  as  Christian  men,  and  the  citizens  of 
a  great  empire.  It  would  ill  become  me  to  press  on  your  Majesty 
the  effect  that  such  a  contrast  would  produce,  in  present  circum- 
stances, on  the  minds  of  Europe  and  America. 

With  a  humble  and  hearty  prayer  to  the  Throne  of  Grace,  that 
your  Majesty  may  receive  this  address  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  is 
offered  ;  and  that  your  Majesty  may  be  disposed  to  accord  us  what 
we  presume  to  ask, 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  with  much  respect, 

Your  Majesty's  very  obedient,  humble  servant, 

Shaftesbury. 


1854.]  LETTER    FROM   NAPOLEON  III.  469 

The  letter  was  forwarded  to  the  Emperor  by  the 
Count  Walewski,  and  in  course  of  time  the  following 
reply  was  received  : — 

The  Emperor  Napoleon  III.  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Palais  de  St.  Cloud,  le  22  Mai,  185 4. 

My  Lord, — Le  19  avril  dernier,  vous  m'ecriviez  pour  re'clamer 
en  faveur  de  l'Eglise  protestante  la  liberte,  le  droit,  la  securite  que 
vingt  pe'titionnaires  anglais  vous  signalaient  conime  meconnus  dans 
certaines  parties  de  la  France.  Or,  le  23  de  ce  meme  niois  d'avril, 
c'est  a  dire  presque  le  meme  jour,  un  homme  de  la  plus  haute  autorite 
parmi  vos  coreligionnaires,  M.  Guizot,  au  sein  d'une  assemble'e 
generale,  dans  un  compte  rendu  de  la  situation  de  l'Eglise  protestante 
de  France  ('Journal  des  Debats,'  du  25  avril)  prononcait  les  paroles 
suivantes  qui,  si  elles  blament  la  politique  de  mon  gouvernement, 
rendent  au  moiiis  une  justice  solennelle  a  la  liberte  de  con- 
science. II  disait  :  '  Au  moment  meme  ou  les  liberies  publiques 
sabaissent  et  reculent,  les  liberies  chretiennes  se  relevent  et  avancent  ; 
c'est  dans  VEglise  chretienne  que  se  refugient  le  mouvement  intellectuel 
et  la  vie  libre  qui  se  retirent  du  monde  politique.'  L'eloquent  orgaue 
d'une  pareille  declaration  ne  saurait  etre  suspect  de  partialite  pour 
l'Empire,  et  cependant  il  n'articule  pas  la  moindre  plainte  contre  le 
pouvoir  administratif  au  sujet  de  l'oppression  dont  les  signataires 
l'accusent.  Je  pourrais  me  bonier  a  cette  reponse,  mais  par-  egard 
pour  l'lionorable  intermediaire  qu'ils  ont  clioisi,  je  n'ai  pas  voulu  me 
contenter  de  l'opinion  publiquement  manifestee  par  celui  que  la  severite 
de  ses  principes  comme  la  surete  de  son  jugement  rendaient  le  j>lus 
conq^etent  et  le  plus  digne  de  foi  en  cette  matiere.  J'ai  done  prescrit 
une  information  scrupuleuse  ;  elle  est  sous  mes  yeux,  et  les  fonction- 
naires  recommandables  qui  Font  dirigee  se  trouvent  d'accord  avec 
M.  Guizot  sur  l'egalite  positive  de  la  protection  pour  tous. 

Quant  aux  faits  particuliers,  il  resulte  de  l'enquete  que,  dans  les 
(le'partements  indiquds,  quelques  dissidents  pour  couvrir  leurs  menees 
politiques  d'un  pretexte  religieux  ont  jete  les  liauts  cris  au  sujet 
d'un  simple  rappel  a  l'execution  du  decret  du  5  mars,  1852  ;  qu'ils 
ont  voulu  faire,  du  droit  commun  et  de  la  necessite  de  s'y  soumettre, 


470  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

la  cause  enveniinee  cl'une  persecution  imaginaire.  Mais,  chose  bien 
digne  de  remarque,  my  Lord,  et  qui  vous  frappera  sans  doute  comrae 
moi,  pourquoi  les  mecontents,  avertis  ainsi  qu'ils  le  sont  toujours  a 
l'avance  de  la  reunion  annuelle  du  23,  ne  se  sont  ils  pas  adresses  au 
membre  eminent  charge  du  rapport.  Le  secours  de  sa  voix  ne  leur 
aurait  pas  manque.  Ainsi,  en  s'isolant  pour  denoncer  le  gouverne- 
ment,  en  cherchant  un  appui  hors  de  leur  patrie,  en  renoncant  a 
leurs  defenseui'S  naturels,  ils  ont  trahi  la  faiblesse  de  leur  cause. 
Personne  n'aurait  ose  la  soutenir  a  la  face  du  pays.  Car,  my  Lord, 
j'ai  veille,  autant  qu'il  etait  en  moi,  a  ce  que  le  libre  exercice  du  culte 
fut  assure  a  tous  les  membres  des  confessions  reconnues  par  la  loi. 
II  n'y  a  plus  maintenant  une  seule  localite,  plus  un  seul  protestant 
en  France  qui  ne  soit  rattache  a  un  consistoire  auquel  il  peut  s'adres- 
ser.  VoiUi  precisement  ce  que  ne  veulent  pas  les  Separatistes.  Ils 
repoussent  les  sages  garanties  introduites  pour  proteger  leur  religion, 
lis  affectent  une  independance  absolue.  Les  ramener  par  la  plus 
salutaire  des  contraintes  dans  les  limites  fixees  par  la  loi,  c'est  a 
les  entendre  violer  la  liberte  de  conscience  et  celle  des  pratiques 
exterieures.  Les  esprits  eleves  de  la  religion  reformee  ne  s'associent 
jamais  a  ces  recriminations  exagerees.  Rassurez-vous,  si  Ton  appi-o- 
fondit  les  faits,  la  plainte  n'a  autan  fondement ;  si  Ton  considere  les 
personnes,  ce  ne  sont  que  des  dissidents,  plus  ou  moins  animes  de 
passions  politiques.  Ainsi,  my  Lord,  quand  vous  m  ecrivez  '  que 
CEglise  protestante  de  V E 'm jiire  francais  ne  jouit  pas  de  la  Hberte,  des 
droits,  de  la  s'ecurite,  de  la  propriete  de  conscience  dont  jouissent 
l'Eglise  grecque  ou  protestante,'  vous  n'avez  pas  retleclii  combien  un 
assertion  aussi  tranchante  etait  contraii-e  a  la  verite.  Dans  aucun 
pays,  je  ne  crains  pas  de  le  declarer,  tons  les  cultes  sans  exception 
n'ont  une  position  comparable  a  celle  qui  leur  est  faite  en  France. 
[Car  en  France,  liberte  de  conscience  absolue,  egalite  de  protection  a 
tous  les  cultes,  subvention  et  secours  a  tous  ceux  que  la  loi  recommit, 
acces  ouvert  pour  toutes  carrieres  a  chaque  personne  quelle  que  soit 
sa  croyance.]  Qu'on  me  cite  une  partie  du  monde,  ou  les  neuf 
dixiemes  des  habitants  etant  d'une  meme  religion  ceux  qui  ne  la 
professent  pas  trouvent,  comme  en  France,  un  appui  plus  constant  et 
plus  assure. 

Croyez,  my  Lord,  a  mes  sentiments, 

Napoleon 


1854.]  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY   IN   FRANCE.  471 

Lord  Shaftesbury  was  not  easily  silenced,  when  he 
had  strong  evidence  on  his  side,  even  by  the  voice  of  an 
Emperor.  He  had  overwhelming  testimony  that,  not 
only  had  any  mayor,  or  other  magistrate,  power  to  refuse 
Protestants  the  privilege  of  meeting  for  public  worship, 
and  to  shut  up  their  chapels  by  force,  without  assigning 
any  reason,  but  that  this  was  constantly  being  done,  and 
that  the  pastors  of  many  churches,  especially  those  in  the 
Haute-Vienne,  were  even  then  mourning  their  scattered 
flocks,  their  closed  churches,  and  their  empty  schools. 
It  was  the  opinion  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  that  the  Emperor 
was  misinformed,  or  was  blind  to  the  power  which  the 
Ultramontane  party  was  exercising  over  the  civil  autho- 
rities, and,  in  the  present  temper  of  affairs,  he  wanted 
to  see  him  interpose  his  high  authority,  and  maintain 
before  the  world,  the  principle  which  Napoleon  I.  set  forth 
in  these  memorable  words  :  "  The  dominion  of  the  Law 
ceases  where  the  undefined  domain  of  Conscience  begins, 
and  neither  the  prince  nor  the  law  can  do  anything 
against  this  liberty."  Lord  Shaftesbuiy,  therefore,  sent 
the  following  letter  to  the  Emperor  : — 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III. 

London,  June  20th,  1854. 

Sire, — I  have  to  acknowledge,  with  sincere  thankfulness,  your 
Majesty's  condescension  in  replying  to  my  letter. 

I  may  not  intrude  on  your  Majesty's  goodness,  and  presume  to 
controvert  anything  that  has  been  stated  by  your  Majesty.  Yet  I 
may,  perhaps,  venture  so  far  as  to  send  a  list  of  a  few  places  of  wor- 
ship (by  no  means  the  whole)  that  have  been  closed  since  the  Presi- 
dential Decree  of  1852,  and  to  add  that  the  interposition,  which  I 
was  bold  enough  to   undertake,  was  founded,  not  on  any  request  or 


472  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

communications  to  me  from  the  Protestants  in  France,  but  on  the 
reports  of  English  travellers  who  had  visited  the  scenes,  and  on  the 
narratives  in  religious  and  authentic  periodicals. 

I  will  dare,  Sire,  to  go  one  step  further,  and  say  that  your  Majesty 
has  not  received  true  intelligence  from  your  functionaries.  I  take 
this  freedom,  and,  at  the  same  time,  entreat  for  it,  your  royal  pardon. 
I  would  not  write  in  this  way  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  or  any  other 
Potentate ;  but  I  cherish,  from  my  heart,  the  alliance  with  France, 
and  I  cannot  endure  the  thought  that  the  people  of  England  should 
connect  your  Majesty's  name  with  the  odious  name  of  Persecution. 

I  am,  Sire, 

With  much  respect, 

Your  Majesty's  very  obedient  servant, 

Shaftesbury. 

There  was  further  correspondence  on  the  subject, 
and  every  step  that  could  be  taken  with  prudence  was 
taken  to  secure  greater  religious  liberty  to  French  Pro- 
testants. But  the  letters  from  the  French  authorities 
all  partook,  more  or  less,  of  a  Jesuitical  tone,  of  which 
the  following,  from  M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys,  who  knew 
that  the  question  du  droit  was  all  in  favour  of  the 
priests,  and  the  question  da  fait  was  all  against  the 
Evangelists,  may  be  cited. 

M.   Drouyn  de  Lhuys  to  Lord  Pahnerston. 

Paris,  le  6  Decembre,  1854. 

Mon  cher  Lord  Palmerston, — Je  n'ai  pas  perdu  de  vue  les 
questions  soulevees  par  le  memorandum  adresse  a  Lord  Shaftesbury, 
et  que  vous  aviez  bien  voulu  me  coinmuniquer  avant  votre  retour  a, 
Londres. 

Ces  questions  sont  dedicates  et  doivent  s'envisager  sous  le  double 
point  de  vue  du  droit  et  du  fait. 

En  droit,  les  cultes  dissidents  ne  subissent  en  France,  dans  leur 


1854.]  WORLDLY   HONOURS.  473 

exercice  public,  d'autres  restrictions  que  celles  imposees  a  la  religion 
de  la  majorite.  Aux  ternies  de  l'article  62  de  la  loi  du  18  germinal 
an  X,  aucune  partie  du  territoire  francais  ne  peut  etre  erigee  en 
succursale  sans  l'autorisation  du  gouvernement.  Suivant  l'article  44 
de  la  meme  loi  et  le  decret  du  22  decembre,  1812,  pouretablir  une 
chapelle  doraestique,  un  oratoire  particulier,  meme  dans  un  pensionnat, 
meme  dans  une  e'cole  secondaire  ecclesiastique,  il  faut  une  permission 
speciale  accorde'e  sur  la  demande  de  l'eveque.  Des  congregations 
d'origine  plus  ou  moins  recente  ne  pouvaient  etre  affranchies  de  ces 
conditions  applicables  aux  eglises  anciennement  etablies,  dont  le  culte 
est  eprouve  par  une  longue  pratique.  La  Com*  de  Cassation  n'a  done 
pas  meconnu  la  pensee  du  decret  du  25  mars,  1852,  qui  n'a  fait  que 
remettre  en  vigueur  les  articles  du  code  penal  et  de  la  loi  du  18 
avril,  1834,  prohibant  les  associations  composees  de  plus  de  vingt 
personnes.  En  fait,  l'ad  ministration  cle partem entale  a  recu  recem- 
ment  encore  des  instructions  formelles  qui  lui  prescrivent  d'user  avec 
une  grande  moderation  des  pouvoirs  discretionnaires  dont  elle  est 
investie  dans  l'interet  de  la  securite  publique.  Je  n'ai  pas  besoin 
d'ajouter  que  lorsque  les  demandes  concernent  l'exercice  d'un  culte 
de'ja  reconnu  et  qu'elles  emanent  regulierement  des  representants 
officiels  de  ce  culte,  leur  objet  memeetleur  origine  sont  une  presomp- 
tion  et  un  titre  en  leur  faveur. 

Agreez,  mon  cher  Lord   Palmerston,  les  assurances  de  ma  haute 
consideration  et  de  mon  sincere  attachement. 

Drouyx   de  Lhuys. 

Worldly  honours  were  not  coveted  by  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury, but  he  was  not  indifferent  to  them.  The  honours 
he  had  himself  achieved,  far  exceeded  any  that  could  be 
bestowed  upon  him.  It  is,  however,  remarkable  that, 
up  to  this  point  in  his  career,  no  public  honour  had 
been  accorded  to  him,  save  and  except  the  presentation 
of  the  freedom  of  the  town  of  Tain  in  Scotland  ! 

It  was  when  he  was  fighting  a  battle  as  hard  as  any 
that  should  be  fought  in  the  Crimea;  when  he  was 
distressed  by  failure   in   proem  in  jj  just  legislation  for 


474  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

chimney  sweepers,  and  "harassed  by  Quaker  letters  be- 
praising  the  Czar  "  and  denouncing  him  ;  when  "  private 
affairs  and  public  affairs,  the  Danube  and  house-drain- 
age, Ragged  Schools  and  the  Kings  of  the  East,  Omar 
Pasha  and  '  pure  literature  for  the  people,'  the  Turkish 
Exchequer  and  his  own  ''  were  dividing  and  confusing 
his  mind,  that  he  received  the  following  letter  from 
the  Prime  Minister  : — 

Lord  Aberdeen  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Argyll  House,  May  ith,  1854. 

My  dear  Shaftesbury, — It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  if  you 
would  permit  me  to  submit  your  name  to  the  Queen  for  the  vacant 
Blue  Ribbon.  This  is  not  intended  as  a  political  appointment ;  for, 
although  I  hope  your  general  feelings  are  not  unfriendly  to  the 
Government,  I  make  the  proposal  exclusively  from  a  desire  to  mark 
my  admiration  of  your  unwearied  exertions  in  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  of  social  improvement. 

I  am  aware  that  honours  of  this  description  are  usually  conferred 
from  very  different  motives ;  but  I  feel  certain  that  the  distinction 
was  never  better  deserved,  and  I  doubt  not  that  I  shall  myself 
receive  credit  for  making  such  a  selection. 

Believe  me,  very  truly  yours, 

A  berdeen. 

Almost  every  weighty  question  that  came  before 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  he  discussed  with  himself  in  his  Diary, 
and  these  are  his  thoughts  and  arguments  on  receiving 
Lord  Aberdeen's  "  friendly  and  gratifying  letter":  — 

May  5th Though   my  immediate  impulse  was  to  decline 

it,  prayed  to  God  for  counsel  and  guidance.  The  point  to  be  con- 
sidered is   'will  it  impede,  or  will  it  promote,   my  means  of  doing 


1854.]       THE    ORDER    OF    THE    GARTER    DEO  LIKED.         475 

good?'  Minny  wants  me  to  accept  it  'as  a  just  acknowledgment,' 
so  she  says,  'of  my  deserts.'  I  am  unwilling  to  do  so,  lest  it  should 
be  considered  a  payment  of  them,  and  I  be  told,  hei-eafter,  either 
that  I  was  never  disinterested  in  my  labours,  or,  when  I  appeal  to 
Government  for  aid  in  my  projects,  that  they  have  done  enough  to 
oblige  me,  and  that  they  can  do  no  more  ! 

I  do  not,  myself,  care  about  the  thing  the  least  in  the  world ;  and 
I  do  not  see  that  it  would  be  advisable  to  take  a  step  by  which 
nothing  can  be  gained  and  something  may  be  lost. 

First,  though  I  am  really  anxious  to  maintain  this  Government 
in  office,  I  do  not  wish  to  bind  myself  to  it  by  any  party  ties ;  and 
this  would,  in  some  degree,  lay  me  under  an  obligation  to  the 
Minister. 

Secondly,  it  would  preclude  me,  in  some  degree,  from  claim  on 
any  other  Minister  who  might  succeed  Aberdeen,  and  I  can  prosper, 
in  my  various  and  difficult  undertakings,  only  by  being  on  good  and 
disinterested  terms  with  all. 

Thirdly,  many  ignorant  and  many  malicious  persons  would 
decry  all  public  virtue,  and  say  that  '  every  public  man  had  his 
price.' 

Fourthly,  many  censorious,  spiteful,  and  wondering  remarks, 
some  in  bitterness,  some  in  pleasantry,  which  I  need  not  record, 
would  be  made  on  myself. 

Fifthly,  the  novelty  of  this  reward  for  such  services  as  mine, 
would  offend  many  people,  and  lower  the  value  of  the  decoration 
among  those  for  whom  it  is  principally  intended. 

Sixthly,  the  fees  would  amount  to  more  than  one  thousand 
pounds,  a  sum  which  I  have  not  and  cannot  command,  and  which,  if 
I  had,  I  must  devote  either  to  my  children  or  to  duties  towards  my 
people.  Those  who  are  rich,  or  without  claims  on  them,  may  do 
these  things  ;  but  how  can  I,  when,  at  this  moment,  people  are  asking 
for  payment  of  their  debts,  and  I  am  unable  to  satisfy  them  1 

This  is  my  mind ;  but  I  must,  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of 
another,  take  one  day  for  thought  and  counsel.  God  give  me  a  true 
judgment. 

The  result  of  the  deliberation  is  given  in  the  follow- 
ing letter : — 


476  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Lord  Aberdeen. 

May  5th,  1854. 

My  dear  Lord, — Your  very  kind  letter  reached  me  last  night, 
and  I  determined  at  once  to  take  a  few  hours  for  deliberation  before 
I  ventured  to  send  a  reply. 

I  return  you  my  most  sincere  and  hearty  thanks  for  your  friendly 
intentions,-  and  for  the  gratifying  language  in  which  you  have  com- 
municated them. 

This  offer,  I  know,  is  not  made,  nor  do  I  regard  it,  in  a  political 
sense.  True  it  is  that  the  course  of  my  public  life  has  separated  me 
from  Party,  but  I  am  not,  by  any  means,  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of 
your  Administration. 

Now,  while  I  acknowledge,  with  real  gratitude,  the  honour  you 
have  proposed  to  me,  shall  I  be  considered  as  slighting  either  the 
decoration  or  yourself,  if  I  venture  to  decline  it?  In  the  public 
career  I  have  to  maintain,  and  to  secure  the  objects  I  pursue,  it  is 
essentially  necessary  that  I  not  only  be,  but  that  I  appear  to  be, 
altogether  independent.  You,  I  know,  would  impose  no  conditions  ; 
but  were  your  offer  accepted,  I  should  impose  them  on  myself,  and 
feel  bound,  by  my  own  act,  to  limit  somewhat  my  own  discretion. 
I  must  remember,  too,  that  there  are  many  whom  you  might  oblige 
by  the  high  distinction,  and  whose  pretensions  would  be  more  readily 
admitted  by  the  political  world. 

The  act  you  contemplated,  of  kindness  and  respect  for  my  labours, 
has  been  accomplished  by  the  offer  ;  and  be  assured  that  I  shall 
never,  to  the  end  of  my  days,  see  a  Garter  or  a  Star  without  a 
grateful  and  affectionate  recollection  of  the  honour  proposed,  and  of 
the  man  who  proposed  it. 

With  earnest  wishes  for  your  temporal  and  eternal  welfare, 

Believe  me,  very  truly  yours, 

Shaftesbury. 

After-thoughts  confirmed  him  in  his  opinion  that 
he  had  done  well  to  decline  the  honour,  and  he  writes 
in  his  Diary  a  few  days  later  : — 


1854.]  COLONISATION    OF   SYRIA  477 

May  10th. — "Wrote  on  Saturday  to  Aberdeen  and  declined  the 
Garter ;  but  I  thanked  him  heartily  and  affectionately  for  his  kind- 
ness, and  for  the  estimate  he  put  on  my  public  services.  He  under- 
stood and  felt  my  difficulties,  and  sent,  he  told  me,  my  letter  to  the 
Queen.  I  regret  the  necessity  of  the  determination,  for  I  am  not 
indifferent  to  the  honour  ;  but  I  am  sure  that  I  have  done  wisely, 
God  be  praised ;  and,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  people  seem  to  think  so. 


The  position  of  affairs  in  the  East  revived  the  hope 
that  the  time  was  at  hand  when  a  way  would  be  opened 
for  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  their  inheritance  in  the 
Land  of  Promise.  Whatever  opinion  others  might 
hold  upon  this  subject,  and  whatever  interpretation  they 
might  place  upon  the  prophecies  in  the  Scriptures  con- 
cerning it,  Lord  Shaftesbury  never  had  a  shadow  of 
doubt  that  the  Jews  were  to  return  to  their  own  land, 
that  the  Scriptures  were  to  be  literally  fulfilled,  and 
that  the  time  was  at  hand.  It  was  no  commonplace 
belief  he  held;  no  mere  assent  to  a  proposition.  It 
was  his  daily  prayer,  his  daily  hope.  "  Oh,  pray  for  the 
peace  of  Jerusalem  !  "  were  the  words  engraven  on  the 
ring  he  always  wore  on  his  right  hand — the  words,  too, 
that  were  engraven  on  his  heart.  His  study  of  the 
prophetic  Scriptures  led  him  to  associate  the  return  of 
the  Jews  with  the  Second  Advent  of  our  Lord,  and  this 
was  the  hope  that  animated  every  other. 

He  believed  in  human  instrumentality  bringing 
about  Divine  purposes,  and,  as  we  have  seen,*  had  laid 
a  scheme  for  the  Colonisation  of  Syria  before  Lord 
Palmerston  in  1840.     Nothing  practical  having  come 

*  Vol.  i.,  p.  313. 


478  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

of  the  negotiations,  he  now  brought  the   subject  under 
the  notice  of  Lord  Clarendon. 

May  17th. — Wrote  this  clay  to  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  to  learn, 
if  I  could,   the   sentiments   of  his  nation  respecting  a  plan  I   have 
already    opened    to    Clarendon,    and    Clarendon  to    Lord    Stratford, 
that  the  Sultan  should  he  moved  to  issue  a  firman  granting  to  the 
Jewish  people  power  to  hold  land  in  Syria,  or  any  part  of  the  Turkish 
dominions.    This  would  he  analogous  to  the  Decree  of  Cyrus.    Surely 
no    one  can  say,   '  you  are  precipitating  events  ; '   they  are  rushing 
upon  us  ;  we  desire  simply  to  meet  them.     All  the  East  is  stirred  ; 
the  Turkish  Empire  is  in  rapid  decay ;  every  nation  is  restless  ;  all 
hearts    expect    some    great    thing ;    all    look    to    wars,    convulsions, 
changes,  new  and  wonderful  issues  ;  nothing,  men  fear,  is  to  remain 
as  it  is,  yet  no  one  can  shadow  even  the  outline  of  the  events  to 
come.       No  one  can   say   that  we    are  anticipating    prophecy  ;    the 
requirements  of  it  seem  nearly  fulfilled  ;  Syria  '  is  wasted  without  an 
inhabitant ; '    these  vast  and  fertile  regions  will  soon  he  without  a 
ruler,  without  a  known  and  acknowledged  power  to  claim  dominion. 
The  territory  must  he  assigned  to  some  one  or  other  ;  can  it  he  given 
to  any  European  potentate  1  to  any  American  colony  1  to  any  Asiatic 
sovereign  or  tribe  1     Are  there  aspirants  from   Africa  to   fasten  a 
demand  on  the  soil  from  Hamath  to  the  river  of  Egypt  1     No,  no, 
no!     There   is  a  country  without  a  nation;  and  Cod  now,  in  His 
wisdom  and  mercy,  directs  us  to  a  nation  without  a  country.     His 
own  once  loved,  nay,  still  loved  people,  the  sons  of   Abraham,  of 
Isaac,  and  of  Jacob. 

Among  the  labours  that  at  this  time  made  up  the 
common  round  and  daily  task  of  Lord  Shaftesbury's 
life,  was  a  renewed  effort  to  better  the  condition  of 
Chimney  Sweepers.  It  was  not,  however,  until  some 
years  later  that  his  efforts  were  crowned  with  success. 

May  2nd.— Great  anxiety  about  Bill  for  relief  of  Chimney 
Sweepers.  Have  suffered  actual  tortures  through  solicitude  for  pre- 
vention of  these  horrid  cruelties.   What  a  mystery  that  our  efforts  have 


1854.]  THE    CHIMNEY-SWEEPERS    BILL.  479 

been  so  long  unavailing.  The  accursed  system  is,  I  fear,  returning 
to  London. 

May  20th. — For  three  days  have  suffered  much  from  giddiness, 
and  to-day  suffer  from  grief.  The  Government  in  the  House  of 
Commons  threw  out  the  Chimney-Sweepers  Bill,  and  said  not  a  word 
of  sympathy  for  the  wretched  children,  nor  of  desire  to  amend  the 
law.  They  stood  on  mere  technicalities,  Fitzroy  and  Lord  J.  Russell 
giving  the  ministerial  opposition.  Walpole  was  as  hostile  as  any  of 
them,  sacrificing  the  bodies  and  souls  of  thousands  to  a  mere  point  of 
legal  etiquette  !  I  have  to  thank  Phillimore  for  bringing  it  in,  and 
Kinnaird  and  Acland  for  supporting  it ;  and  again  I  must  bow  to 
this  mysterious  Providence  that  leaves  these  outcasts  to  their  horrible 
destiny,  and  nullifies,  apparently  at  least,  all  our  efforts  to  rescue 
them  in  soul  and  body. 

May  21st. — Sunday.  "Very  sad  and  low  about  the  loss  of  the 
Sweeps  Bill — the  prolonged  sufferings,  the  terrible  degradation,  the 
licensed  tyranny,  the  helpless  subjection,  the  enormous  mass  of  crueltv 
and  crime  on  the  part  of  parents  and  employers,  are  overwhelming. 
The  prospect  is  gloomy  ;  this  failure,  and  the  failure  of  my  Bill  last 
year  for  the  Suppression  of  Juvenile  Mendicancy,  show  that  my  in- 
fluence, always  small,  is  now  on  the  decline.  Henceforward  effort 
will  be  hopeless,  nevertheless  it  must  be  made.  The  Collar  of  the 
Garter  might  have  choked  me ;  I  have  not,  at  least,  this  or  any  other 
Government  favour  against  me,  as  a  set-off  to  their  insolence  and 
oppression.  I  must  persevere,  and  by  God's  help  so  I  will ;  for  how- 
ever dark  the  view,  however  contrary  to  all  argument  the  attempt, 
however  painful  and  revolting  the  labour,  T  see  no  Scripture  reason 
for  desisting ;  and  the  issue  of  every  toil  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Almighty. 

May  22nd. — Half-past  ten.  .  .  .  Wrote  to  Aberdeen  about  the 
conduct  of  the  Government.  I  thank  God  that  Palmerston  was  no 
party  to  the  act,  he  came  to  vote  for  me  and  found  Fitzroy  in  the 
field  against  me  !  *  Am  in  many  minds  what  to  do.  Shall  I  move 
an  address  to  the  Crown,  and  state  the  whole  case  \  Shall  I  let  the 
matter  rest  to  another  Session  1  .  .  . 

The  following  extracts  from  the  Diary  relate  prin- 

*  Fitzroy  was  Under-Secretary  at  the  time. 


480  TEE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXIL 

cipally  to  the  private  joys  and  griefs  of  Lord  Shaftesbury 
during  this  year  : — 

May  15th. — Very  busy ;  little  time  for  thought,  none  for  read- 
ing. Oftentimes  do  I  look  at  a  book  and  wish  for  it,  as  a  donkey 
for  a  carrot ;    and  I,  like  him,  am  disappointed. 

May  17th. — Went  to  chair  of  >m others'  meeting  in  Westminster; 
a  wonderful,  really  a  wonderful— call  it,  in  the  language  of  theology, 
a  miraculous— spectacle.  It  was  a  sight  to  bless  God  for,  such  a 
mighty  reformation  of  drunken,  idle,  profligate,  dirty,  and  cruel 
parents.  As  usual,  none  of  the  clergy  there.  A  work  of  this  kind,  and 
of  this  high  and  spiritual  character,  effected  by  an  unordained  person, 
a  humble  layman  who,  without  the  intervention  of  a  bishop,  or  a 
college  education,  had  nothing  but  the  grace  of  God  and  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  is  too  powerful,  too  convincing,  too  irresistible.  It  over- 
whelms '  Apostolical  Succession '  by  an  avalanche  of  practical  truth. 

July  4th. — To  Harrow  for  the  speeches.  It  pleased  me.  Dear 
Evelyn  was  among  the  speakers ;  and  most  admirably,  most  agree- 
ably, did  he  execute  his  task  both  in  French  and  English.  Every  one 
was  delighted  with  his  manner,  his  appearance,  his  manifest  ability. 
Ah  !  Lord,  make  him  Thy  true,  constant,  and  fruitful  servant. 

July  1 6th. — Sunday.  Have  to  record  God's  mercy  and  goodness. 
Arrived  late  last  night  by  rail  from  Dover,  having  gone  there  the 
night  before  and  spent  the  whole  of  yesterday  on  the  sea  or  in  Calais 
in  an  inspection  of  the  embarkation  of  French  troops  on  board  the 
British  fleet.  Went  that  I  might  see  dear  Antony  again  in  the 
Hannibal  under  orders  for  the  Baltic.  Saw  him  and  passed  some 
hours  with  him.  I  had  the  advantage  of  the  Admiralty  boat  and  the 
company  of  Admiral  Berkeley  and  Captain  Milne. 

July  22nd.  .  .  .  Threatened  by  loss  of  Seeley's  aid  in  the 
various  movements  and  societies.  This  is  heartrending.  '  I  cannot,' 
as  Moses  said,  'bear  all  this  burden  myself  alone.'  Specially  the 
Lab.  Friend  Soc.  will  suffer.  It  has  long  depended,  humanly  speak- 
ing, on  Gregson,  Roberts,  and  Seeley,  the  universal  and  constant 
(with  myself)  sub-committee.  But  Gregson  has  ceased  to  attend ; 
lloberts  is  abroad  for  health  ;  and  now  Seeley  must  'give  in  !'  Lord, 
raise  us  up  tit  men  for  this  service  !  O  Lord,  succour  us  !  It  is 
surely  a  work  for  Thine  honour  and  man's  real  welfare  ! 


1834.]  BEREAVEMENTS.  481 

It  was  when  en  route  to  Ems  to  drink  the  waters, 
before  proceeding  on  his  annual  continental  tour,  that 
he  wrote  : — 

August  12th. — Ems.  Had  heard,  on  road,  at  Bonn,  report  of 
death  of  poor  Jocelyn  by  cholera  ;  confirmed  by  a  letter  from  Pal- 
merston.  Such  is  the  will  of  God  ;  and  we  must  say  of  this,  as  of 
many  other  events,  '  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now  ;  but  thou 
shalt  know  hereafter.'  It  is  very  sad,  for  he  leaves  behind  him 
a  wife  and  four  young  children  ;  very  awful,  for  he  was  cut  off  sud- 
denly, without  notice  or  prepai'ation.  '  In  the  midst  of  life  we  are 
in  death.'  He  was  in  excellent  health,  all  things  considered,  but  a 
few  hours  before  the  pestilence  struck  him — '  the  arrow  that  flieth  at 
noon-day.'  ...  It  has  startled  and  grieved  .  me ;  so  good-natured, 
good-tempered,  and  good-hearted  ;  he  was  popular,  with  much  social 
merit.  .  .  .  God  sanctify  it  to  us  all — to  his  relatives  and  acquaint- 
ances, to  the  circle  of  his  associates,  to  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor  ! 
Let  it  drive  us  more  earnestly  to  prayer,  for  ourselves  and  for  our 
children  ! 

August  17th.  .  .  .  Jocelvn  buried  at  Hyde  Hall  on  Tuesday, 
the  day  after  we  received  the  intelligence.  Besides  other  reasons  for 
remaining,  it  was  thus  physically  impossible  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of 
respect  and  affection.  The  feeling  is  strong  to  pray  for  the  departed, 
specially  if  your  belief  comes  short  of  assurance.  But  it  must  be 
resisted  ;  there  is  no  warranty  for  it  in  Scripture. 

September  8th. — The  dear  old  Duchess  of  Beaufort  has  been 
gathered  to  her  fathers,  full  of  years  and  God's  grace.  At  eighty -four 
years  of  age,  and  with  such  hope — nay,  assurance — of  a  blessed 
eternity,  who  can  weep  for  her  departure  1  She  lias  run  a  remark- 
able course  ;  she  fought  a  good  fight  ;  she  kept  the  faith.  Called  by 
God  to  be  His  instrument  for  the  revival  of  the  truth  in  the  upper 
classes  of  society,  she  became  '  a  mother  in  Israel.'  I  entertain  for 
her  the  deepest  reverence  and  affection,  and  well  may  I  add,  grati- 
tude, for  her  undeviating  kindness  and  love  towards  me,  and  hearty 
sympathy  in  all  I  undertook.  Many  and  profitable  have  been  the 
hours  that  I  have  passed  in  her  company.  Very  kind  letter  from 
her  worthy  daughter,  Lady  Georgiana  Ryder. 

November  12th,  Sunday. — St.  Giles's.      To   London  a  few  days 

// 


4S2  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

ago,  to  exhibit  the  terrors  of  Wild  Court  to  the  editors  of  papers  and 
others,  that  they  might  see  the  present  state  of  things,  and  judge  by 
the  inspection  of  a  year  hence  (should  God  so  far  spare  us)  of  the 
improvements  we  propose  to  m;ike,  their  cost,  their  completeness,  and 
efficiency.     It  answered  well. 

The  object  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  in  inviting  a  number 
of  noblemen,  ministers,  representatives  of  the  press,  and 
others,  to  a  kind  of  "  open-air  meeting  "  in  Wild  Court, 
Great  Wild  Street,  Drury  Lane,  was  that  those  who 
were  interested  in  the  London  poor  might  have  an 
opportunity  of  knowing,  from  personal  inspection,  the 
character  of  the  dens  in  which  too  many  of  them  were 
obliged  to  herd  together.  This  wretched  Court  was 
selected  as  a  suitable  locality  for  the  extension  of  the 
experi mental  labours  of  the  Society  for  Improving  the 
Condition  of  the  Working  Classes  (the  Labourers'  Friend 
Society)  in  introducing  into  London  better  house-accom- 
modation for  the  poor.  The  newspapers  of  the  following 
day  published  graphic  descriptions  of  the  place;  and  it 
was  stated,  among  other  details,  that  the  inadequacy 
of  the  means  supplied  for  sewage,  drainage,  and  water 
supply  were  such,  as,  but  for  ocular  proof,  could  hardly 
have  been  believed  to  exist  in  any  civilised  country.  It 
was  found,  too,  that  in  the  fourteen  houses  of  which 
Wild  Court  consisted,  nearly  one  thousand  persons 
found  shelter,  and  that  the  very  staircases  were  nightly 
covered  with  poor  wretches  to  whom  even  the  pesti- 
lential accommodation  of  the  rooms  was  an  unattain- 
able luxury. 

November  27tl?. — Saw  yesterday,  in  the  paper,  that  Lockhart  was 
dead.     He  had  long  been  in  a  declining  state,  and  now  he  is  gone  ! 


1854.]  WAR    IN   A    CHRISTIAN   SPIRIT.  483 

His  family  anxieties  had  been  gi'eat,  and  his  bodily  sufferings  too. 
I  must  ever  remember  him  with  gratitude,  for  the  Quarterly  Review 
has  ever  been  open  to  the  maintenance  of  mercy,  truth,  and  wisdom, 
in  the  cause  of  the  labouring  population.  His  kindness  to  myself 
was  unwearied. 

December  18th. — London.  .  .  .  Chair  in  evening  at  Drury  Lane, 
for  an  oration  of  Gough's.*  The  man  is  a  marvel — a  real  marvel. 
He  would  be  a  marvel  if  there  were  only  his  eloquence  and  flow  ;  but 
he  is  pious  and  modest  withal,  which  renders  him  a  perfect  prodigy. 
He  acts  as  well  as  he  speaks. 

War  in  a  Christian  spirit  presented  no  anomaly  to  the 
mind  of  Lord  Shaftesbury.  He  acknowledged  the  Hand 
of  God  in  the  unfolding  of  every  fresh  page  of  History, 
and  he  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  in  the  events  which  were 
happening  in  the  East,  the  ripening  of  many  purposes 
and  the  accomplishment  of  many  ends,  which  he  be- 
lieved to  be  Divinely  decreed.  Thus  he  writes  of  the 
Czar  : — "  He  has  aimed  at  universal  empire,  and  is  now 
undergoing  the  sentence  that  Cod  ever  inflicts  on  such 
fearful  ambition."  Again  :  "  He  has  greatly  persecuted 
the  Jews,  of  whom  nearly  two  millions  live  and  smart 
under  his  warlike  dominion.  But  he  will  learn,  as  all 
have  learned  who  have  oppressed  them,  that  they  are 
'  a  people  terrible  from  their  beginning  hitherto,'  terrible 
in  their  possession  of  Cod's  covenanted  protection ;  " 
and  so  on  throughout  the  Diaries. 

What  did  present  an  anomaly  to  the  mind  of  Lord 
Shaftesbury  was,  that  any  action  could  be  taken  by  the 
leaders  in  the  great  movements  connected  with  the  war, 
except  in  a  serious  spirit,  and,  more  than  this,  that  any 

*  The  Temperance  Lecturer. 

//2 


484  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXII. 

steps  should  be  taken  by  a  Christian  nation,  -without 
national  prayer,  or  any  signal  mercy  be  received,  without 
national  thanksgiving.  It  grieved  him  that  banquets 
given  to  military  and  naval  heroes  on  their  departure 
for  the  war  should  be  so  "light  and  jocose."  "  Surely," 
he  says,  "  we  should  send  them  forth  with  prayer, 
and  hope,  and  confidence,  not  with  wine  and  laughter." 
It  grieved  him  that  the  dispatches  of  Lord  Raglan 
made  no  acknowledgment  of  the  God  of  battles.  "  He 
falls  sadly  short  of  Hardinge,  who,  announcing  his 
great  victory  over  the  Sikhs,  gave  all  the  glory  to  God. 
Forgive  him,  0  Lord,  and  us  too,  for  the  nation  must 
have  a  share  in  the  responsibility." 

And  again :  "  Why  are  Raglan's  dispatches  so  cold 
and  thankless  to  Almighty  God  ?  Is  it  not  grievous  ? 
Is  it  not  awful,  that,  amid  such  plain  and  unquestionable 
proofs  of  God's  interposition,  there  should  be  no  mention 
of  His  name  ?  Is  he  ashamed  to  follow  Lord  Nelson 
and  Lord  Hardinge  ?  Is  he  thinking  more  of  the  clubs 
of  St.  James's  Street,  than  the  audience  of  the  Heavenly 
host  ?  I  am  deeply  sorry,  and  tremble  for  him  and  for 
the  cause.  It  is  a  sad  pit}*,  a  melancholy  loss,  for  a 
nobler  specimen  of  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman  has  never 
existed  in  our  land." 

Lord  Shaftesbury  did  not  in  these  criticisms  require 
from  others  what  in  principle  he  did  not  give  himself; 
nor  did  he  preach  and  fail  to  practise.  The  entries  in 
his  Diaries  are  full  of  devout  acknowledgments  of  the 
goodness,  mercy,  and  judgment  of  God,  while  on  many 
occasions,  and  especially  on  the  eve  of  critical  events,  he 


1854.]  SPECIAL   PRAYERS.  485 

recorded  the  particular  subjects  of  his  prayer.  Here  is 
a  specimen :  "  0  Lord,  Almighty  God,  protect  those 
gallant  men  of  both  nations  by  sea  and  by  land,  from 
the  pestilence,  the  battle,  and  the  flood  ;  give  them  a 
speedy  and  a  joyous  victory  ;  a  speedy  and  a  lasting 
peace ;  restore  them  safe  and  happy  to  their  land, 
and  that  right  soon.  We  pray  not,  0  Lord,  in  ma- 
lignity or  revenge,  but  for  the  peace  of  nations,  and  the 
security  of  freedom ;  restrain  the  ambition  of  this  man, 
stay  his  encroachments,  cod  found  his  devices,  and  turn 
his  heart.  Rend  from  him  his  ill-gotten  gain^,  the 
acquisitions  of  fraud  and  violence,  confine  him  within 
his  own  limits  of  race  and  language.  Save  a  Protestant 
land  from  idolatrous  rule,  and  enable  us  to  do  some 
great  work  for  Poland,  of  justice,  mercy,  and  retri- 
bution ;  and  thus,  by  Thy  grace,  both  in  the  East  and 
in  the  West,  Thy  word  shall  have  free  course  and  be 
glorified  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

The  following  letter  to  Mr.  Haldane  relates  to  this 
subject : — 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Mr.  Haldane. 

Dec.  21s«,  1854. 

My  dear  Mr.  Haldane, — A  controversy  will,  I  suppose,  arise 
on  the  propriety  of  the  refusal  of  Lord  Aberdeen  to  set  apart  a  day 
for  thanksgiving  in  acknowledgment  of  the  victories  of  Alma  and 
Inkerman. 

On  a  consideration  of  the  whole  matter,  I  think  that  he  was 
right. 

It  would  be  a  happy  thing  if  the  public  and  private  prayers  of 
the  nation  ascended,  at  every  hour,  to  the  Throne  of  Grace,  but  it  is 
a  serious  question  whether  the  Queen  shall  frequently  interpose,  and, 
by  authority,  direct  the  devotions  of  the  people. 


486  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

In  the  first  place,  the  constant  repetition  of  such  an  exercise  of 
prerogative  has  a  tendency  to  bring  their  power  into  dispute,  and  it 
is,  I  understand,  very  open  to  question. 

Next,  the  frequency  of  the  appeal  diminishes  and  almost  wears 
out  the  effect ;  and  it  should,  therefore,  be  reserved  for  instances  of 
a  oreat  crisis,  such  as  the  commencement  of  a  war,  or  the  close  of  it, 
or  some  event  having  a  decided  and  marked  issue. 

This  is  the  more  requisite,  as  a  day  set  apart  involves  a  heavy 
fine  on  large  masses  of  the  working  community.  Not  one  employer 
in  a  hundred  will  pay  his  people  for  the  day  of  suspended  labour ; 
and  thus,  while  easy  people  rejoice,  the  operative  classes  almost 
groan,  and  positively  sustain  a  loss,  while  we  experience  none.  This 
breeds  discontent,  and  takes  greatly  from  the  value  of  the  authori- 
tative observance.  The  people  assent  to  it  on  great  occasions  ;  but 
on  an  occasion  less  marked,  both  they  and  the  Dissenters,  and  even 
the  Clergy,  complain  of  the  decree. 

Lord  Aberdeen  added  an  argument  which  I  had  never  heard 
before,  but  it  has  great  force.  'Take  heed,' he  said,  'how  you  get 
into  the  habit  of  superseding  the  Liturgy  by  new  prayers  under  the 
"Royal  order ;  you  may  introduce  precedents  fatal  to  the  integrity  of 
your  Prayer  Book.' 

We  had,  and  most  fitly,  a  prayer  at  the  beginning  of  the  war ; 
we  should,  I  hope,  have  one  more  if  it  please  God  to  bless  our  arms 
with  the  capture  of  Sebastopol. 

If  you  concur  with  me,  will  you  use  your  influence  to  turn  the 
thoughts  of  religious  newspapers  into  the  same  channel  ] 

Yours  very  truly, 

S. 

The  last  paragraph  in  the  letter  quoted  above,  is 
noteworthy.  Mr.  Haldane  had  great  influence  with  the 
Eecord  newspaper,  and  it  was  through  him  that,  on 
all  occasions  and  on  every  conceivable  subject,  Lord 
Shaftesbury  was  able  to  communicate  with  the  public. 

The  end  of  1854  and  the  early  part  of  1855  was  a 
period  pregnant  with  important  events  in  the  life  of 


1854.]  MISMANAGEMENT   IN    THE    CRIMEA.  487 

Lord  Shaftesbury,  as  it  was  in  the  political  history  of 
the  country.  The  mismanagement  of  affairs  in  the 
Crimea,  particularly  as  regarded  the  Commissariat  De- 
partment, had  kindled  a  feeling  of  distress  and  indigna- 
tion such  as  had  never  been  known  before. 

Dec.  21st,  1854. — The  mismanagement  and  stupidity,  if  not  utter 
negligence,  at  Balaklava,  have  caused  a  great  amount  of  loss  of  life, 
of  property,  and  health.  This  was  excusable  in  the  outset ;  it  is  not 
excusable  now,  when  the  Government  know  all  these  things. 

Dec.  22nd. — Much  talk  with  Clarendon,  Newcastle,  and  Lord 
Lansdowne ;  they  are  downcast,  and  fear  the  consequences  of  the 
incapacity  of  their  local  agents.  The  country  has  sent  out  stores  of 
every  kind,  equal  to  five  times  the  demand  ;  and  yet  neither  the 
sound  nor  the  sick,  the  officer  nor  the  private,  can  obtain  the 
twentieth  part  of  what  is  wanted. 

It  would  be  beside  our  purpose  to  tell  the  story  of 
the  grievous  calamities  that  befell  our  countrymen  in 
the  Crimea  in  the  terrible  winter  of  this  year.  "  The 
noblest  army  England  ever  sent  from  these  shores," 
said  the  Times,  "  has  been  sacrificed  to  the  grossest 
mismanagement.  Incompetency,  lethargy,  aristocratic 
hauteur,  official  indifference,  favour,  routine,  perverse- 
ness  and  stupidity,  reign,  revel,  and  riot,  in  the  camp 
before  Sebastopol,  in  the  harbour  of  Balaklava,  in  the 
hospitals  of  Scutari,  and  how  much  nearer  home  we  do 
not  venture  to  say."  Every  day  fresh  tidings  came  of 
privation,  sickness,  and  death  ;  of  unspeakable  suffering 
from  neglect ;  of  medical  stores  decaying  at  Varna  that 
were  intended  for  Scutari ;  of  tents  standing  in  pools  of 
water  for  want  of  implements  to  dig  trenches  ;  of  con- 
signments of  boots  all  for  the  left  foot ;  and  so  forth. 


488  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

One  good  came  out  of  the  evil,  not  limited  to  the 
Crimea,  but  destined  to  affect  every  battle-field  for  all 
future  time,  namely,  the  landing  in  Scutari  of  Miss 
Florence  Nightingale  and  the  noble  band  of  women 
who  accompanied  her,  as  nurses  to  the  sick  and 
wounded.  Thus  was  inaugurated  the  Geneva  Red  Cross 
Association  which  has  since  done  so  much  to  mitigate 
the  avoidable  horrors  of  war. 

When  Parliament  re-assembled  after  the  Christmas 
recess  (Jan.  23),  jmblic  indignation  in  England  had 
reached  its  height. 


's>' 


Jan.  25th,  1855. — London.  Accounts  from  the  Crimea  wax  worse 
and  worse  ;  our  men  are  decimated  by  disease,  cold,  and  hunger.  The 
survivors  are  feeble  and  demoralised.  We  have  no  commanders,  no 
officers.  ' Counsel  has  perished.'  Raglan's  staff—  specially  his  Quarter- 
Master  and  Adjutant-General — are  incompetent,  ignorant,  obstinate 
and  preferring  the  observance  of  a  red-tape  regulation  to  the 
comforts,  nay,  the  lives  of  the  soldiers.  Newcastle,  at  home,  seems 
not  more  efficient ;  he  sees  all  the  evil,  and  yet,  through  weakness 
or  perverseness,  applies  no  remedy.  Unless  God  in  His  wonderful 
mercy  interpose,  we  shall  have  a  national  disaster  unprecedented  in 
the  annals  of  English  history.  O  God,  give  us  the  spirit  of  peni- 
tence, confession,  and  prayer !  Here  is  our  only  hope.  Have 
written  to  McCaul,  Seeley,  and  Haldane,  to  stir  up  every  one  to 
earnest,  hearty,  and  constant  supplication. 

And  J.  flussell  has  chosen  this  time  to  send  in  his  resignation. 
and  break  up  the  Government  !  Can  any  one  who  knows  the  man 
and  his  antecedents,  doubt  that  self-seeking,  place-loving  ambition, 
aims  at  the  Premiership,  and  jeopardises  everything  for  his  own 
particular  1 

Mr.  Roebuck  had  given  notice  that  he  would  move 
for  a  Select  Committee  "to  inquire  into  the  condition 
of  the  army  before  Sebastopol,  and  into  the  conduct  of 


1855.]  A    CRISIS.  489 

those  Departments  of  the  Government,  whose  duty  it 
has  been  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  that  army."  As 
this  involved  "  a  censure  upon  the  War  Department, 
with  which  some  of  his  colleagues  were  connected,"  Lord 
John  Russell  considered  that  his  only  course  was  to 
tender  his  resignation,  "  probably,"  as  Lord  Shaftesbury 
said  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Haldane,  "  with  a  desire  to  flood 
the  Government,  in  the  hope  of  floating  to  the  surface 
and  getting  the  best  anchorage  as  the  waters  subside." 

On  January  the  29th  Mr.  lloebuck's  motion  was 
carried  by  305  to  148,  and  on  the  following  day  the 
Coalition  Government  ceased  to  exist. 

Feb.  1st.  .  .  .  Folly,  rashness,  self-conceit,  and  miscalcu- 
lation are  at  their  height.  Affairs  in  the  Crimea,  and  affairs  at  home, 
seem  to  prove  that  we  are  anything  but  '  a  wise  and  understanding 
people.'  All  is  in  confusion  ;  the  old  Government  is  out ;  and  there 
is  no  new  one  to  come  in.  Meanwhile  the  war  proceeds,  the  army 
perishes,  and  judgments  arise  out  of  our  own  personal  childishness. 
We  are  silly  beyond  the  silliness  of  a  boarding-school.  .  .  .  On 
Monday  night  a  majority  of  150  destroyed  the  whole  Administration, 
intending  to  destroy  only  Newcastle  and  Aberdeen.  The  Government 
might  have  been  saved,  would  it  have  announced  a  change  in  the 
War  Department,  and  a  resolution  to  reform  the  Civil  Departments 
of  the  army  ;  but  the  '  mock  heroics '  got  hold  of  them,  and  they  pre- 
ferred defeat.  These  struttings  of  dignity  are  very  legitimate  iu 
ordinaiy  times,  but  wholly  misplaced  in  such  a  crisis  of  the  nation 
as  this. 

Derby  proposed  yesterday  to  Palmerston  that  he,  Gladstone,  and 
Sidney  Herbert,  should  join  his  administration.  Palmerston  replied 
that  he  would  join  none  which  did  not  contain  Clarendon  at  the 
Foreign  Office.      He  subsequently  refused  to  join  him  at  all. 

Feb.  3rd. — We  are  full  of  rumours  ;  and  none  are  agreeable.  It 
is  certain  that  Lord  J.  Puissell  (!!!)  has  been  desired,  this  day,  to 
form  an  Administration  ;  and  Palmerston  has  consented  to  take  the 


490 


THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXII. 


lead  of  House  of  Commons,  Lord  John  going  to  the  House  of  Lords. 
.  .  .  Why  is  the  House  of  Lords  to  be  made  the  London  reformatory, 
where  convicted  criminals  are  to  have  another  chance  1  Is  it  ^ood 
that  so  tarnished  a  man  should  be  in  so  brilliant  a  situation  1 

Palmerston  has  many  defects  for  a  Premier ;  but  he  is  better 
than  any  competitor.  He  has  judged  wrongly  in  aiding  her  Majesty 
to  inflict  the  Russell  incubus  on  the  country.  He  urges  in  excuse 
that  '  he  should  have  been  charged  with  personal  views  and  a  desire 
to  get  the  thing  into  his  own  hands.' 

Feb.  5th.  .  .  .  Palmerston  has  received  orders  to  construct  an 
Administration  !  It  was  no  slight  affront  to  public  morality  that 
Lord  J.  was  ever  summoned  to  do  so.  But  'public  morality'  is  a 
mediaeval  thing  ;  the  19th  century  has  outstripped  it! 

Feb.  6th. — The  Peelites,  it  is  said,  refuse  to  join,  though  reluc- 
tantly ;  but  Gladstone  leads  them,  and  they  follow  him.  Various  reasons 
are  assigned,  but  none  of  them  sound,  patriotic,  wise,  or  true.  I  hear 
that  Gladstone  has  long  exhibited  a  desire  to  return  to  Lord  Derby, 
and  I  believe  it.  He  would  then  be  Leader  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  be  virtually  Prime  Minister.  Then  would  he  work  his 
will  in  the  ecclesiastical  appointments.  People  will  begin  to  expect 
that  Palmerston's  Church  nominations  will  differ  much  from  Aber- 
deen's, being  influenced  by  my  opinion.  There  could  not  be  a  greater 
error.  He  has  never  in  his  life,  and  never  will,  so  long  as  he 
has  breath,  consult  me  on  anything.  It  is  not  very  likely  that  he 
will  consult  anybody ;  but,  if  he  do,  it  will  not  be  one  connected 
with  the  Evangelical  party. 

The  da}'  after  the  above  entry  was  made  in  the  Diary 
Lord  Shaftesbury  received  the  following  letter  : — 

Lord  Palmerston  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Piccadilly,  7th  Feb.,  1855. 
My  dear  Shaftesbury,— Will  you  be  Duke  of  Lancaster  with  a 
seat  in  the  Cabinet  1     You  would  be  useful  to  us  in  Council,  and 
your  being  there  would,  I  am  sure,  be  gratifying  to  large  bodies  of 
the  people. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Let  me  know  as  soon  as  you  can.  Palmerstox. 


1855;]        OFFER    OF    THE   DUCHY    OF   LANCASTER.  4yl 

Later  on  in  the  same  day  a  further  letter  was  sent. 
It  ran  thus  : — 

Lord  Palmerston  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Piccadilly,  7th  Feb.,  1855. 

My  dear  Shaftesbury, — Unexpected  difficulties  have  arisen 
■which  may  interfere  with  the  offer  which  I  made  you  this  morning, 
and  therefore  I  must  ask  you  to  consider  it  as  suspended  till  you 
hear  from  me  ajrain. 

Yours  sincerely, 


"»■ 


Palmerston. 

The  difficulties  to  which  I  allude  do  not  relate  to  you  but  to 
others. 

AHhough  the  receipt  of  the  first  letter  could  not  be 
otherwise  than  gratifying  to  Lord  Shaftesbury,  the 
receipt  of  the  second  brought  him  infinite  relief.  His 
replies  to  both  letters  are  given  below  : — 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Lord  Palmerston  (No.  I.). 

Feb.  7th,  1855. 

Dear  Palmerston, — I  have  received  your  letter,  and  consider,  as 
you  desire,  the  offer  suspended. 

I  have  sent  my  letter,  which  was  ready,  that  you  may  see  that, 
probably  after  all,  I  may  not  be  such  a  colleague  as  you  wished  for, 
at  least  not  one  worth  struggling  for  against  a  difficulty. 

Yours, 

Shaftesbury. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Lord  Palmerston  (No.  II.). 

Feb.  7th,  1855. 

My  dear  Palmerston, — You  may  be  assured  that  I  am  much 
gratified  by  your  kind  proposition,  and  I  feel  very  sensibly  both  the 
honour  and  the  friendship  of  it. 


492  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII 

But  the  acceptance  of  office  involves  so  large  a  surrender  of  many 
important  occupations  in  which  I  am  engaged,  and  have  for  a  long 
time  been  engaged,  that  I  should  make  up  my  mind  with  great 
reluctance  to  enter  on  a  new  careei\ 

The  circumstances  of  the  time,  however,  are  such  that  no  one 
may  stand  on  his  own  particular  habits  and  tastes,  if  the  surrender 
of  them  can  be  of  advantage  to  the  public  weal.  Your  letter  states 
that  I  can  be  of  such  service,  but  while  I  submit  my  judgment  to 
yours,  and  prepare  to  undertake  a  charge  to  which  I  am  most  repug- 
nant, I  may  assert  that  I  can  be  of  service  to  your  Administration 
only  by  adhering  to  the  principles  I  have  professed,  and  by  which  I 
have  obtained  any  small  confidence  I  may  have  from  the  country. 

Pray  be  assured  that  I  am  not  presuming  to  make  conditions.  I 
simply  desire  to  state  that  there  are  certain  opinions  and  principles, 
which  I  have  always  maintained,  and  which,  wherever  I  be  placed,  I 
must  continue  to  maintain. 

Now,  the  only  points  on  which  you  and  I  are  likely  to  differ  are  : — 

1st.  Questions  such  as  Maynooth,  and  matters  akin  to  it.  I  am 
not  for  the  extinction  of  Maynooth,  that  cannot  be  now  clone,  but  I 
am  strongly  against  the  extension  of  it,  and  very  much  in  favour  of 
its  reformation  and  adjustment  to  the  necessities  of  Ireland. 

2nd.  Any  measures  for  the  encouragement  of  the  Papal  power, 
such  as  the  appointment  of  Roman  Catholic  chaplains  to  the  several 
gaols. 

3rd.  The  question  of  the  Jewish  Relief  Bill. 

4th.  Measures  affecting  the  vexata  qucestio  of  the  Sabbath,  such 
as  the  disturbance  of  the  Act,  passed  last  session,  for  the  closing  of 
public-houses  on  that  day,  which  has  worked  so  well,  but  to  which 
there  is  a  strong  opposition. 

Now,  if  with  the  hazard  of  these  differences,  and  your  knowledge 
of  the  several  positions  I  hold  in  the  country,  at  the  head  of  many 
Associations  and  Committees,  you  are  still  of  opinion  that  I  can 
render  a  service  in  the  present  awful  crisis  (for  this  is  my  main  con- 
sideration) I  will  surrender,  to  your  judgment,  my  own  very  strong 
antipathy  to  official  life,  and  hold  the  situation  until  you  shall  have 
found  some  other  one  equally  to  your  mind. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Shaftesbury 


1855.]         THE   DUCHY   OF   LANCASTER    REFUSED.  493 

The  incident  is  narrated  in  the  Diary  in  these  words : 

Feb.  8th. — And  so  I  have  had  the  chance  of  being  a  Cabinet 
Minister  !  Palmerston  proposed  to  me  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  with 
a  seat  in  the  Cabinet !  It  is  a  crisis,  a  dreadful  crisis — a  Government 
must  be  formed !  Reserving  all  principles,  I  accepted  it  in  the  sense 
shown  in  my  letter,  though  I  loathed  it  beyond  the  power  of  expres- 
sion. My  first  impulse  to  refuse,  but  overruled  by  the  importunities 
of  Minny.  Believed,  and  still  believe,  that  I  should  have  been 
thwarted,  defeated  on  everything,  whether  of  movement  or  existence  ; 
should  have  been  absolutely  alone,  defied  in  the  Cabinet,  and  mis- 
understood out  of  it. 

A  few  hours  afterwards  requested  by  P.  to  consider  '  the  offer  as 
suspended,'  in  consequence  of  unforeseen  difficulties. 

.  .  .  This  morning  a  letter  from  Lady  Palmerston  to  say  that 
the  Whigs  were  infuriated  by  their  '  small '  share  of  power  and  place  ; 
and  that  P.  must  give  the  Duchy  to  one  of  that  party.  I  acquiesced 
more  cheerfully  in  the  withdrawal  than  in  the  proposition  of  the 
offer.     Lord  Lansdowne  took  the  lead  against  me. 

The  letter  alluded  to  above,  was  as  follows : — 

Lady  Palmerston  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Thursday  morning,  Feb.  8th. 

My  dearest  Ashley, — Palmerston  is  distracted  with  all  the 
worry  he  has  to  go  through,  and  he  must  go  to  Windsor  at  twelve, 
so  he  desired  me  to  write  to  you. 

He  says  that  your  high  character  and  position  in  the  countiy 
would,  he  feels  sure,  have  been  of  great  use  to  the  Government,  but 
after  he  first  wrote  to  you  he  found  himself  in  a  very  unexpected 
difficulty.  The  Whigs  at  Brookes'  were  all  up  in  arms  at  the 
Government  not  being  formed  on  more  Liberal  principles  or  rather 
with  'more  of  the  Whig  party.' 

They' are  disappointed  at  the  Peelites  joining,  and  at  under  people 
of  that  party  keeping  their  places,  so  that,  in  that  manner,  there  are 
hardly  any  places  to  fill  up.  They  press,  therefore,  very  much  for  a 
Whig  in  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  so  as  to  make  the  Peelite  division 
in  a  greater  minority.      One  part  of  our  friends  strongly  press  for 


494  THE   EABL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

Lord  Grey,  and  another  put  forward  Lord  Carlisle.  I  don't  think 
Palmerston  will  agree  to  either,  but  still  he  would  give  way  to 
having  a  Whig  appointed,  rather  than  to  have  all  the  party  dis- 
satisfied. 

Nobody  has  made  any  personal  objection  to  you,  and  Palmerston 
would  certainly  have  preferred  you  to  any  other  person,  both  from 
opinion  and  affection  ;  but  as  you  did  feel  reluctant  to  accept  the 
trammels  of  office,  and  felt  that  it  would  be  a  sacrifice  on  your  part 
to  give  up  your  independence,  he  will  not  urge  you  any  further ; 
but  hopes  you  will  give  him  your  assistance  and  the  benefit  of  your 

advice. 

Believe  me,  yours  ever  affectionately, 

E.  Palmerston. 
P.S. — It  is  no  pleasure  to  have  to  form  a  Government  when  there 
are  so  many  unreasonable  people  to  please,  and  so  many  interested 
people  pressing  for  their  own  gratification  and  vanity,  without  any 
regard  to  the  public  good  or  the  interests  of  the  Government  and 
country. 

For  a  time,  the  anxiety  and  suspense  which  an  offer 
of  a  place  in  the  Government  always  brought  upon 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  were  removed.  But  only  for  a  time. 
Lord  Palmerston  had  too  high  an  appreciation,  from 
long  personal  experience,  of  Lord  Shaftesbury's  qualifi- 
cations for  statesmanship,  to  dispense  with  his  imme- 
diate assistance  without  a  struggle. 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  he  was  called  to  a  work 
of  the  gravest  importance,  for  which,  as  far  as  we  are 
aware,  he  has  never  had  the  credit  which  was  justly  his 
due,  namely,  the  organisation  of  a  Sanitary  Commission, 
with  full  powers  to  redress  the  grievances  at  Scutari 
and  Balaklava,  as  far  as  they  were  capable  of  redress, 
and  thus  to  roll  away,  as  far  as  possible,  the  stigma 
that  attached  to  the  nation. 


1855.]       SANITARY    COMMISSION    TO    THE    CRIMEA.  495 

"  That  commission,"  Miss  Nightingale  wrote  to 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  some  time  afterwards,  "  saved  the 
British  army." 

One  day,  when  excitement  and  indignation  were  at 
their  height,  on  account  of  the  mismanagement  of 
affairs  in  the  East,  Dr.  Hector  Gavin,  who  had  been 
for  three  years  Government  Commissioner  for  the  pre- 
vention and  cure  of  cholera  in  the  West  Indies,  called 
upon  Lord  Shaftesbury,  to  talk  about  his  labours  on  the 
Board  of  Health  in  relation  to  the  same  disease,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  the  conversation  turned  upon  the 
ravages  made  by  cholera  among  our  brave  soldiers  in 
the  East.  It  was  during  that  interview  that  the 
scheme  for  a  Sanitary  Commission  in  the  East  was 
suggested  to  the  mind  of  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

The  outline  of  the  history  of  the  movement  is  given 
briefly  in  the  Diary.  The  amount  of  labour  involved 
can  be  imagined. 

Feb.  14th.  .  .  .  Have  been  running  about  to  stir  up  Prelates  and 
Ministers  to  a  day  of  prayer.  Tried,  unsuccessfully,  to  see  Panmure"* 
on  sanitary  arrangements  for  Crimea  Hospitals,  but  all  in  vain  ;  a 
'  Philanthropist '  is  always  a  bore. 

Feb.  15th. — A  day  of  success.  May  God  be  praised,  and  to 
Him  be  all  the  glory  !  First,  efforts  with  the  Bishop  of  London, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Gladstone,  and  Palmerston,  for  a  day  of 
humiliation,  have  prospered.  Most  thankful  was  I  to-day  to  find  P. 
not  only  ready,  but  urging,  that  the  day  should  be  a  special  day,  and 
not  a  Sunday.     This  is  very  good  ;  it  looks  serious  and  reverent. 

Next,  Panmure  has  listened  to  my  scheme  for  a  Sanitary  Com- 
mission to  proceed,  with  full  powers,  to  Scutari  and  Balaklava,  there 

*  Lord  Panmure  (formerly  Mr.  Fox  Maule)  was  Secretary  of  State 
for  War. 


496  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII 

to  purify  the  hospitals,  ventilate  the  ships,  and  exert  all  that  science 
can  do  to  save  life  where  thousands  are  dying,  not  of  their  wounds, 
but  of  dysentery  and  diarrhoea,  the  result  of  foul  air  and  preventible 
mischiefs.  Again  I  bless  Thee,  O  Lord ;  and  bring  the  work,  we 
pray  Thee,  to  a  joyous  issue  ! 

The  Commissioners,  who  were  appointed  without 
delay,  were  Dr.  Sutherland,  of  the  General  Board  of 
Health ;  Dr.  Hector  Gavin  (who  was  afterwards  killed 
accidentally  in  the  Crimea)  ;  Mr.  Rawlinson,  Civil 
Engineer ;  Mr.  Newlands,  Chief  Inspector  ;  three  sub- 
inspectors,  and  one  assistant  engineer. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  Lord  Panmure. 

Feb.  19th,  1855. 

My  dear  Panmure, — The  Commissioners  must  proceed  by 
Marseilles.  No  time  should  be  lost,  and  the  screw  steamer  will 
not  be  ready  for  some  days ;  nor  is  there  any  room  left  to  receive 
new  comers. 

You  will,  I  hope,  be  good  enough  to  permit  them  to  do 
so.     .    .     . 

[The  question  of  stores  to  be  taken,  and  remuneration  to  the  Com- 
missioners followed^ 

The  service  will  be  laborious,  and  even  perilous  ;  and  these  gentle- 
men have  cheerfully  surrendered  their  personal  comforts,  and,  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Rawlinson,  professional  emolument,  to  aid  the  public 
in  this  crisis.  Mr.  Newlands  is  the  chief  officer  of  Liverpool,  a 
person  of  great  enei'gy  and  experience ;  the  other  sub-inspectors  are 
from  the  same  place,  and  will  be  of  infinite  service  to  superintend 
the  cleansing  of  Scutari,  Balaklava,  and  the  camp. 

We  are  greatly  indebted  to  the  Town  Council  of  Liverpool  for 
the  liberal  manner  in  which  they  have  placed  their  medical" staff 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Commission  ;  we  could  not,  otherwise,  have 
obtained  such  excellent  service  at  so  cheap  a  rate.  It  is  to  be  con- 
sidered as  their  contribution  to  the  effort  made  for  the  improvement 
of  the  health  of  the  army. 


1855.]        SANITARY    COMMISSION   TO    THE    CRIMEA.  497 

We  estimate  that  two  months,  or,  at  most,  three  months,  will  be 
sufficient  for  the  purpose  in  view. 

It  will  be  very  desirable — nay,  almost  indispensable — that  the 
Commissioners  should  have  the  power  of  hiring,  on  their  own  account, 
such  numbers  of  workmen  as  they  may  find  necessary. 

The  entire  success  of  this  undertaking  will  depend  on  the  instruc- 
tions given  to  Lord  Raglan,  Lord  W.  Powlett,  and  other  authorities, 
to  carry  into  execution  without  delay  whatever  the  Commissioners 
may  declare  to  be  essential  to  health  and  safety. 

You  may  really  repose  confidence  in  them  ;  they  are  trustworthy 
men,  and  they  will  advke  nothing  that  is  needless  or  extravagant. 
If,  upon  giving  a  plan,  they  are  met  with  any  delays,  however  short; 
sent  from  one  department  to  another ;  their  hands  bound  with  red 
tape,  and  their  shins  broken  by  a  succession  of  official  stumbling-blocks, 
they  will  be  useless — indeed,  ridiculous  ;  and  they  will,  themselves, 
feel,  as  every  one  will  say,  that  they  might  as  well  have  remained  at 
home.  We  cannot,  in  these  matters,  trifle  with  time ;  minutes  here 
are  as  valuable  as  years  :  and  a  pestilence  might  ravage  the  troops 
while  a  score  of  functionaries  were  writing  to  each  other  to  ascertain 
whose  business  it  was  to  attend  to  it.  But  with  vigour  and  dispatch, 
very  little  writing,  very  little  talking,  and  very  much  action,  I  enter- 
tain, under  God's  blessing,  the  most  sanguine  hopes. 

It  would  be  a  great  result. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Shaftesbury. 

In  addition  to  the  letters  to  Lords  Eaglan  and  W.  Powlett,  I 
would  recommend  a  strong  letter  to  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe. 


o 


So  completely  were  the  arrangements,  even  to  the 
minutest  details,  under  the  personal  direction  of  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  that,  at  Lord  Panmure's  request,  the  In- 
structions to  the  Commissioners  were  drawn  up  by 
him,  and  were  even  written  by  his   own  hand.     They 

were  as  follows  : — 

War  Department,  February,  1855. 

Gentlemen, — Her   Majesty  having   been  pleased  to  appoint   a 
Sanitary  Commission,  to  proceed  forthwith  to  Constantinople  and  the 

9  U 


498  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXII. 

Crimea,  you  are  instructed,  as  Commissioners  therein  named,  to  obey 
the  directions  which  follow. 

The  utmost  expedition  must  be  used  in  starting  on  your  joirrney, 
in  the  journey  itself,  and  in  the  execution  of  all  that  is  necessary  at 
the  place  of  your  destination. 

Hours  even,  at  this  crisis,  are  of  incalculable  importance. 

On  your  arrival  at  Constantinople  and  Balaklava  you  will  put 
yourselves  instantly  into  communication  with  Lord  W.  Powlett  and 
Lord  Eaglan  respectively  ;  and  you  will  request  of  them  forthwith 
(according  to  the  official  directions  they  will  have  received)  full 
powers  of  entry  into  every  hospital,  infirmary,  or  receptacle  of  what- 
ever kind  for  the  sick  and  wounded,  whether  ashore  or  afloat. 

You  will  inspect  every  part  of  such  infirmaiies  ;  ascertain  the 
character  and  sufficiency  of  the  drainage  and  ventilation,  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  the  water  supply,  and  determine  whether  the  con- 
dition of  the  whole  is  such  as  to  allow,  by  purity  of  the  air  and  free- 
dom from  overcrowding,  fair  play  and  full  scope  to  medical  and 
surgical  treatment  for  the  recovery  of  health. 

You  will  call  to  your  aid,  for  this  purpose,  whether  as  witnesses 
or  as  guides,  any  of  the  officers  or  attendants  that  you  may  require. 

The  result  of  your  inspection  and  opinions,  together  with  a  state- 
ment of  all  that  it  is  necessary  should  be  done, — whether  in  the  way 
of  arrangement,  of  reduction  of  numbers  in  the  wards,  cleansing, 
disinfecting,  or  of  actual  construction,  in  order  to  secure  the  great 
ends  of  safety  and  health, — must  be  laid,  as  speedily  as  possible,  before 
Lord  W.  Powdett  or  Lord  Raglan,  as  the  case  may  be,  or  such  persons 
».s  may  be  appointed  by  them  to  that  special  duty,  and  you  will 
request  them  to  give  immediate  directions  that  the  works  be 
completed. 

As  no  time  is  to  be  lost,  you  may  reserve  your  detailed  and 
minute  reports,  and  give,  in  the  first  instance,  a  statement  only  of  the 
things  to  be  done  forthwith. 

The  Engineer  Commissioner  will  be  expected  to  conduct  the  in- 
spection along  with  his  colleagues,  and  to  devise,  and  to  see  executed, 
all  such  structural  arrangements  as  may  be  declared  indispensable. 

You  will  examine  the  modes  whereby  the  sick  and  wounded  are 
conveyed  to  the  transports  or  to  the  hospitals,  ashore  or  afloat.  Much 
suffering  and  mortality  have  been  caused  by  the  wrant  of  jetties  for 
the  embarkation  and  disembarkation  of  the  patients.      You  will  see 


1855.]    INSTRUCTIONS  TO  SANITARY  COMMISSIONERS.    499 

that  a  remedy  be  applied  to  such  a  frightful  omission,  and  that  there 
be  no  recurrence  of  these  disorders. 

You  will  take  care  that,  so  far  as  is  possible,  all  evil  influences  from 
without  be  removed,  so  that  the  air  inhaled  by  the  inmates  of  the 
hospitals  be  not  contaminated.  It  is  reported,  for  instance,  that  the 
hospital-ship  in  the  harbour  of  Balaklava  is  as  much  surrounded  by 
dead  carcases  as  though  it  were  in  a  knacker's  yard.  This,  and  every- 
thing everywhere  approaching  to  it,  must  be  remedied  at  once.  Asa 
necessary  consequence,  you  will  order  peremptorily  that  the  dead  be 
interred  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  hospitals.  You  will  give 
directions  both  as  to  the  time  and  mode  of  interment,  consulting,  of 
course,  the  convenience  of  the  constituted  authorities. 

Should  any  new  hospital  or  receptacle  for  the  sick  be  decided  on, 
while  you  are  on  this  expedition,  you  will  examine  it  and  state  all 
that  must  be  done  for  health,  decency,  and  comfort. 

You  will  not  interfere,  in  any  way,  with  the  medical  and  surgical 
treatment  of  the  patients,  nor  with  the  regulations  prescribed  to  the 
nurses  and  attendants. 

Upon  your  arrival  at  Constantinople  you  will  determine,  among 
yourselves,  in  what  way  you  can  best  cany  on  your  operations  ; 
but  it  seems  desirable  that,  after  the  first  inspection,  one  Medical 
Commissioner  should  be  almost  constantly  at  Scutari  and  another  at 
Balaklava.  The  Engineer  Commissioner  would  be  more  frequently 
in  motion,  to  inspect  the  various  works  and  maintain  the  communi- 
cation between  his  brother  Commissioners. 

It  is  imjjortant  that  you  be  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity 
of  not  resting  content  with  an  order,  but  that  you  see,  by  yourselves 
or  by  your  agents,  instantly  to  the  commencement  of  the  work  and 
to  its  superintendence,  day  by  day,  until  it  be  finished. 

It  is  your  duty,  in  short,  to  state  fully,  and  urge  strongly,  fot 
adoption  by  the  authorities,  everything  that  you  believe  will  tend  to 
the  preservation  of  health  and  life. 

You  are  empowered  to  institute,  both  at  Scutari  and  at  the 
camp,  such  systems  of  organisation  for  sanitary  purposes  as  may  be 
considered  essential  to  carry  your  plans  into  effect. 

The  camp  must  also  come  under  your  immediate  and  anxious 
attention. 

You  must  consider,  and  apply,  with  the  least  possible  delay,  the 
best   antidotes  or  preventives  to  the  deadly  exhalations    that  will  be 

.9  <J  2 


500  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

emitted  from  the  saturated  soil  whenever  the  warmth  of  spring  shall 
begin  to  act  on  the  surface.       .  .  . 

Further  instructions  were  added  as  to  the  cleansing 
of  the  harbour  of  Balaklava,  the  transport  of  the  sick, 
the  removal  of  all  kinds  of  nuisances  to  the  outside  of 
the  harbour,  &c. 

These  clear  and  energetic  instructions  were  supple- 
mented by  a  dispatch  from  Lord  Palmerston  to  Lord 
Raglan  in  terms  no  less  vigorous.  After  requesting 
that  Lord  Eaglan  would  give  the  Commissioners  every 
possible  assistance,  he  continued  :  "  They  will,  of  course, 
be  opposed  and  thwarted  by  the  medical  officers,  by  the 
men  who  have  charge  of  the  port  arrangements,  and  by 
those  who  have  the  cleaning  of  the  camp.  Their  mis- 
sion will  be  ridiculed,  and  their  recommendations  and 
directions  set  aside,  unless  enforced  by  the  peremptory 
exercise  of  }Tour  authority.  But  that  authority  I  must 
request  you  to  exert  in  the  most  peremptory  manner,  for 
the  immediate  and  exact  carrying  into  execution  what- 
ever changes  of  arrangement  they  may  recommend ;  for 
these  are  matters  on  which  depend  the  health  and  lives 
of  many  hundreds  of  men,  I  may  indeed  say,  of  thou- 
sands." 

The  work  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  is  matter 
of  history.  Lord  Shaftesbury  having  originated  and 
efficiently  organised  it,  retired,  as  was  his  habit,  into 
the  background,  while  others  enjoyed  the  credit. 
There  were  some,  however,  of  whose  good  opinion 
he  was  very  mindful,  who  did  not  deny  him  the  just 
recognition  of  his  timely  services.     Among  these  were 


1855.]  DEATH    OF    THE    CZAR,  501 

Lord  Palmers  ton  and  Miss  Florence  Nightingale.  At 
the  time,  and  ever  afterwards,  the  latter,  in  public  and 
private,  gave  "  honour  where  honour  was  due." 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter  written  by 
her  in  185S  : — 

Miss  Florence  Nightingale  to  Lord  Sliaftesbury. 

30,  Old  Burlington  Street,  Oct.  16th,  1858. 

Dear  Lord  Shaftesbury, — I  venture  to  send  you  with  this  a 
copy  of  my  Report  to  the  War  Office  upon  army  sanitary  matters. 
It  is,  as  you  will  see,  strictly  confidential,  and  has  not  been  presented 
to  the  House  of  Commons.  But  as  Lord  Shaftesbury  has,  for  so 
many  years,  been  our  leader  in  sanitary  matters  (as  in  so  many  other 
wise  and  benevolent  things),  it  seemed  to  me  but  right  to  send  him 
a  Report  which  contains  so  much  of  what  was  done  by  himself,  viz., 
the  work  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  in  the  East,  although  I  can 
scarcely  expect  that  he  will  read  it. 

I  am,  dear  Lord  Shaftesbury, 

Yours  very  faithfully, 

F.  Nightingale. 

Two  public  events  occurred  about  this  time,  to 
which  reference  is  made  in  the  Diary.  The  following 
extracts  relating  to  them  may  be  quoted  here,  before 
reverting  to  subjects  which  more  immediately  concerned 
Lord  Shaftesbury.  The  events  were,  the  death  of  the 
Czar  of  Russia,  and  the  visit  to  England  of  the  Emperor 
of  the  French. 

March  2nd.- — Intelligence  by  electric  telegraph  that  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  died  this  morning  between  12  and  1  o'clock.  What  an 
event  at  this  crisis  !  If  his  eldest  son  succeed  to  the  throne  we  have, 
humanly  speaking,  much  hope  of  peace ;  if  his   son  Constantine,  a 


502  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

pretty  certainty  of  war.  It  is,  however,  a  mighty  change  ;  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  the  Czar  over  Germany  is  gone  ;  the  Cabineo 
influence  will  be  abated  in  Prussia ;  the  master-mind  is  extinct ;  and 
it  is  difficult  for  a  successor  to  emulate  the  passions,  maintain  the 
autocracy,  and  enter  into  all  the  conceptions  of  his  predecessor. 

I  cannot  but  feel  for  the  man,  though  I  denounced  the  Czar. 
He  died,  I  doubt  not,  in  great  measure,  of  a  broken  heart,  and  the 
fearful  excitement  of  wounded  pride  and  irrecoverable  reputation. 
Mighty  losses  in  men  and  money  ;  a  declining  population  ;  increasing 
European  confederacies  against  him  ;  an  exhausted  empire ;  the  cer- 
tainty that  he  could  gain  nothing,  the  almost  certainty  that  he  must 
lose  a  great  deal ;  all  this,  backed  by  the  conviction  that  he  himself 
was,  in  fact,  the  cause  of  the  war,  snapped  the  springs  of  mental  and 
physical  life  ;  and  he  died  a  greater  slave  to  his  ambition  than  many 
of  the  serfs  to  their  tyrannical  owners. 

March  19th. — Last  night  to  an  evening  party  at  Windsor  Castle. 
Went  by  train  in  full  dress  (a  special  one  being  provided),  and  re- 
turned by  the  same  after  midnight.  Emperor  had  been  installed  a 
Knight  of  the  Garter.  A  wonderful  change  and  elevation  !  In 
184S,  the  last  time  he  was  in  England,  I  mounted  guard  with  him 
as  a  special  constable  in  Mount  Street ;  his  next  visit  to  this  country 
(such  are  the  vicissitudes  of  French  public  men)  may  be  like  Louis 
Philippe's,  in  flight,  and  as  a  refugee  ! 

Some  people  dislike  the  history  of  the  man  and  some  of  his 
doings.  It  may  be  so ;  but  it  is  here  an  affair  of  nations,  not  of 
persons.  His  individual  character  and  conduct  (supposing  it  to  be 
reprehensible)  must  be  merged  in  his  representation  of  the  French 
people  ;  it  is  a  question  of  London  and  Paris,  not  of  Victoria  and 
Louis  Napoleon.  Nevertheless,  his  policy  will  admit  of  defence  ;  his 
coup  cTUat  is  not  without  its  point  of  excuse  and  right.  The  stain 
on  his  actions,  and  it  is  a  deep  stain,  is  the  cruel,  unjust,  spiteful, 
vindictive,  and  base  confiscation  of  the  Orleans  property.  This  is 
indelible  ;  and  for  ever  deprives  him  of  the  possibility  of  being  called 
a  high-minded  man. 

We,  as  Englishmen,  have  no  right  to  find  any  fault.  We  must, 
on  the  contrary,  be  full  of  his  praise  ;  he  has,  up  to  the  present  time, 
been  loyal  and  true. 

April  23rd. — It  is  a  retributive  justice  that  Palmerston  is  Prime 
Minister  to  receive  the  Emperor.     He  was  dismissed  for  speaking 


1855.]  LETTER    TO    MS.    EVELYN   ASHLEY.  503 

favourably  of  him.  And  it  is  also  a  justice  that  John  Russell  is 
absent  from  the  scene  of  hospitality  and  splendour.  He  was  the 
man  who  counselled  the  Queen  to  cashier  Palmerston. 

In  a  letter  to  his  son  Evelyn,  who  was  studying  in 
Geneva,  Lord  Shaftesbury  gives  a  graphic,  gossipy 
resume  of  public  and  private  news  : — 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  lion.  Evelyn  Ashley. 

London,  Feb.  28,  1855. 

My  dearest  Evelyn, — We  have  been  under  a  misapprehension. 
I  fully  believed  that  your  mother  had  written  you  a  long  letter  of 
intelligence, — social,  domestic,  political  j  and  this  satisfied  me  for  the 
time,  as  I  was  so  busy. 

I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  20th.  It  has  been  very 
long  upon  the  road,  if  your  date  be  correct  ;  and  I  avail  myself  of 
'  a  sitting '  in  the  House  of  Lords  to  hear  appeals,  to  give  you  a  few 
lines. 

We  have  had  much  trouble  ;  we  are  again  quiet  for  a  while 
externally  ;  I  fear  that,  internally,  our  dangers  and  difficulties  are 
no  less  than  they  were.  When  Palmerston  had  formed  his  Govern- 
ment, it  suddenly  fell  down  with  the  dry-rot,  and  he  had  to  begin 
anew,  on  old  foundations  and  with  old  materials.  The  motives  of  the 
Peelites  for  retirement  are  not  clear.  The  arguments,  no  doubt, 
against  Roebuck's  committee  are  unanswerable  in  the  line  of  folly 
and  peril ;  but  they  knew  them  when  they  accepted  office,  and  they 
knew  also  that  the  question  was  still  pending,  and  likely  to  be  en- 
forced. It  is  matter  for  serious  inquiry  whether,  in  such  a  crisis, 
men  are  justified  in  incurring  a  certain  and  immediate,  for  a  proble- 
matic and  remote,  danger.  There  were  two  evils  to  choose  between 
— the  evil  of  refusing  the  inquiry,  and  the  evil  of  conceding  it ;  and, 
great  as  is  the  evil  of  the  concession,  it  was  less,  in  my  humble  judg- 
ment, than  the  evil  of  refusal. 

As  for  the  article  in  the  Record,  it  stated  very  nearly  the  whole 
facts.  Lord  Lansdowne  took  the  lead  against  me,  stimulated,  in 
part,  by  many  of  the  Whig  party,  who  wanted  the  place  for  a  Whig, 


504  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.  [Chap.  XXII. 

and,  in  part,  by  the  ladies  of  Sutherland  House,  who  wanted  the 
place  for  Carlisle.  Palmerston  was  terrified,  and  gave  way.  I  do  not 
blame  him,  because,  in  his  predicament  and  ignorance  of  the  true  state 
of  things,  it  seemed,  and  perhaps  was,  wiser  to  take  a  colleague  with  a 
party  at  his  back  before  a  colleague  without  one.  He  had  to  get  the 
machine  of  Government  into  motion,  and  he  was  anxious  for  anvthinsr 
that  might  grease  the  wheels.  He  yielded,  therefore,  for  a  Whig. 
When  Lord  L.  had  brought  him  thus  far,  he  waited  a  bit,  and  then 
asked  for  Carlisle.  Palmerston  protested  against  such  an  appoint- 
ment as  ridiculous,  useless,  enfeebling ;  but,  as  usual,  he  gave  way, 
and  Brookes'  prevailed. 

He  is  much  to  be  pitied  ;  he  has  not  a  single  friend  in  public  life 
who  desires  to  give  him  honest,  kind,  and  prudent  counsel ;  he  is 
not,  himself,  disposed  to  seek  such  counsel ;  the  consequence  is  that 
he  is  blown  to  and  fro,  and  reverses  the  apostolical  precept :  '  Try  all 
things,  and  hold  fast  that  which  is  yoocV  So  far  from  being  firm,  he 
is  beaten  from  everything  ;  and  I  much  doubt  whether  he  has,  since 
he  became  Premier,  been  able  to  do  any  one  thing  according  to  his 
own  judgment  and  preference. 

But  his  difficulties,  it  must  be  admitted,  are  enormous.  He  has 
no  party  of  his  own  to  rest  upon  ;  he  has  not  even  two  or  three  able 
and  friendly  adherents  to  fight  his  battles.  His  choice  is  limited  for 
office  men ;  he  is  limited  to  the  H.  of  Commons,  and  to  such  of 
the  H.  of  C.  as  dare  to  vacate  their  seats.  These  are  few,  and  mostly 
unworthy  ;  and  yet  the  public  are  roaring  out  for  new  men  ;  but 
no  new  men  of  any  value  have  been  introduced  through  the  Reform 
of  Parliament ;  and  the  Minister  can  no  longer  introduce  new  men 
through  the  channel  of  the  rotten  boroughs. 

Well,  he  has  now  formed  a  new  Cabinet  on  the  secession  of  the 
Peelites.  It  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  purely  Whig  adminis- 
tration ;  it  will  be  shaky,  unpopular,  and  of  short  duration.  God 
grant  that  it  may  last  long  enough  to  carry  us  to  a  speedy 
peace ! 

The  selfishness,  the  meanness,  the  love  of  place  and  salary,  the 
oblivion  of  the  country,  of  man's  welfare,  and  God's  honour,  have 
never  been  more  striking  and  terrible  than  in  this  crisis.  These, 
added  to  the  singular  conceit  of  all  the  candidates  for  office  (and  all 
have  aspired  to  the  highest),  have  thrown  stumbling-blocks  in  his 
path  at  every  step.     The  greediness  and  vanity  of  our  place-hunters 


1855.]  LETTER    TO   MB,    EVELYN  ASHLEY.  505 

have  combined  to  make  eacli  one  of  them  a  union  of  the  vulture  and 
the  peacock. 

There  is  a  blight,  my  dear  boy,  on  all  we  say,  think,  or  do.  God 
is  not  with  us. 

I  much  fear  that  Palmerston's  ecclesiastical  appointments  will  be 
detestable.  He  does  not  know,  in  theology,  Moses  from  Sydney 
Smith.  The  vicar  of  Ftoinsey,  where  he  goes  to  church,  is  the  only 
clergyman  he  ever  spoke  to  ;  and,  as  for  the  wants,  the  feelings, 
the  views,  the  hopes  and  fears,  of  the  country,  and  particularly 
the  religious  part  of  it,  they  are  as  strange  to  him  as  the  interior  of 
Japan.  Why,  it  was  only  a  short  time  ago  that  he  heard,  for  the 
first  time,  of  the  grand  heresy  of  Puseyites  and  Tractarians  ! 

Go  on  with  Herschel.  Stick  to  German,  French,  and  mathe- 
matics, and  keep  up  your  classics,  so  far  as  to  be  ready  and  able  to 
start  afresh  on  your  return  in  preparation  for  Cambridge.  Let  all 
be  'begun,  continued,  and  ended'  in  Him,  'from  whom  alone 
cometh  all  counsel,  wisdom,  and  understanding  ! ' 

Well  you  may  be  struck  that  England  is  '  in  danger  of  losing  her 
influence  abroad  and  her  integrity  at  home.'  She  is  humbled.  We 
hear  the  words  of  Isaiah  :  '  Come  and  sit  down  in  the  dust.'  Constitu- 
tional government  is  a  laughing-stock,  and  the  progress  of  rational 
freedom  on  the  Continent  is  checked  for  half  a  century.  War,  as 
Demosthenes  said,  discovers  to.  aadpa,  the  rotten  parts  of  an  Empire  ; 
our  sin  has  found  us  out ;  America  comes  next ;  and  then  the  liberty 
of  great  nations  will  either  be  extinguished  or  become  anarchy. 

The  French  alliance  I  have  always  sought  and  defended  ;  and  I 
do  so  still.  But  I  have  sought  it  negatively,  not  positively — as  an 
alliance  not  to  do  us  any  good,  but  to  save  us  and  the  world  from 
much  harm.  But  I  have  seen,  from  the  beginning,  that  '  incedis  per 
ignes  suppositos  cineri  doloso.'' 

Col.  Tronchin  is  a  noble  fellow  :  '  hold  all  such  in  reputation  : ' 
cultivate  him  much,  and  all  of  that  stamp  in  Geneva  ;  it  is  a  fruitful 
soil. 

The  frost  has  ended  with  us,  and  the  disemployed  people,  thank 
God,  are  returning  to  work.  It  has  been  a  hard  time,  and  yet  I 
have  almost  prayed  for  a  continuance  of  it,  in  the  Crimea  at  least. 
I  fear  the  return  of  spring  and  warm  weather  ;  the  heat  of  the  sun 
will  draw  out  the  pestilential  exhalations  of  a  soil  which  has,  for 
months,  imbibed  the  filth  and  mortality  of  an  enormous  camp. 


506  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

We  have  sent  out  a  powerful  Sanitary  Commission.  May  God 
prosper  it ! 

Mary,  I  am  thankful  to  say,  is  much  better.  Lionel  came  home  last 
Friday  for  his  exeat,  and  is  gone  back  in  much  hope  of  obtaining  his 
remove  at  Easter.  Conty,  Vea,  and  all  the  rest,  are  well.  We  have, 
indeed,  much  reason  to  give  God  thanks  for  the  whole  household. 
Morico,*  too,  shares  the  general  health,  and  seems  accommodated  to  a 
London  life. 

I  have  no  news  from  the  Saint,  save  that  the  good  old  widow 
Keeping  is  dead ;  she  never  recovered  the  shock  of  the  conflagration 
which  consumed  her  clothes.  She  was  a  deeply  pious  woman,  and  is 
gone  to  her  rest.  My  iron  house  is  erected,  but  not  inhabited.  The 
Woodlands  people  will  not  come  to  St.  Giles's.  They  assign  all  kinds 
of  reasons  ;  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  is  the  true  one. 

May  God  bless  you  and  preserve  you,  my  dearest  boy,  in  time 
and  in  eternity,  through  Christ  Jesus. 

Your  affectionate  father, 

S. 

The  "  escape  from  office  "  on  which  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury had  congratulated  himself  was  not  so  complete  as 
he  had  anticipated.  Changes  were  made  in  the  Cabinet 
owing  to  the  resignation  of  Sir  James  Graham,  Mr. 
Gladstone,  and  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert ;  and  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  determined,  if  possible,  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  his  kinsman.  Among  the  changes  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  Lord  Carlisle  to  the  Lord  Lieutenancy  of 
Ireland,  by  which  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  became 
again  vacant ;  and  this  office,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet, 
Palmerston  once  more  offered  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

It  was  in  vain  for  him  to  urge  the  old  objections  :  to 
declare  that  he  could  not  consent  to  be  a  member,  in 
however   subordinate   a  station,  of  any  Administration 

*  A  Pug-dog. 


1855.]  OFFICE    AGAIN    OFFERED.  507 

that  did  not,  as  a  Government,  collectively  reject  such  a 
proposition  as  that  of  Sir  J.  Walmsley's  for  the  Opening 
of  Museums  on  Sunday ;  to  state  that  he  held  views  in 
antagonism  to  the  majority  of  the  Cabinet  on  the 
question  of  the  admission  of  Jews  to  Parliament,  and 
on  the  further  endowment  of  Maynooth  ;  to  urge  that 
the  peculiar  position  he  had  chosen  for  himself  dis- 
qualified him  to  a  great  extent  from  giving  effective  aid 
to  the  Government;  to  plead  that  the  trammels  of 
office  would  prevent  him  continuing  in  his  wonted 
manner,  the  duties  to  which  he  had  been  for  so  long 
devoted.  Palmerston  wras  determined,  and  he  used  every 
exertion  and  influence,  direct  and  indirect,  to  induce  Lord 
Shaftesbury  to  yield.  "I  can  have  no  objection  to  your 
holding  yourself  free  to  vote  as  you  like,"  he  wrote  in 
reply  to  the  reiterated  objections.  "  It  will  be  as  well, 
however,  that  you  should  not  mention  to  others  your 
reservations,  because  these  things  are  exaggerated  in 
passing  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  create  discussions 
that  become  embarrassing  to  Government,  and  are  turned 
against  it  by  opponents.  I  therefore  accept  your  accept- 
ance." 

But  Lord  Shaftesbury  had  not  accepted,  and  he 
immediately  obtained  an  interview  with  Lord  Palmerston 
to  plead  for  delay. 

Meanwhile  the  position  had  become  embarrassing. 
The  newspapers  had  announced — "  We  believe  the 
Earl  of  Shaftesbury  will  succeed  the  Earl  of  Carlisle  as 
Chancellor   of  the  Duchv  of  Lancaster;"*  and  letters 

*  Globe,  March  10th,  1855,  &c. 


508  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

came  pouring  in  from  all  quarters,  urging  him  to  take 
the  decisive  step,  or  congratulating  him,  as  though  it 
were  already  taken.  Among  the  former  was  Mr.  John 
Delane,  the  editor  of  the  Times,  who  said  :  "  Your  high 
estimation  in  the  country  would  be  of  great  value  to 
any  Government."  But  the  pressure  from  without  was 
of  little  weight,  compared  with  that  from  within  his 
own  immediate  circle. 

Lady  Shaftesbury,  who  was  absent  from  home  at  the 
time,  wrote  : — 

I  do  beseech  you  not  to  refuse.  Reflect  how  much  more  weight 
everything  lias,  coming  from  a  Cabinet  Minister.  Think,  for  instance, 
of  all  you  have  said  to  the  Emperor  about  the  persecution  of  the 
Protestants ;  it  will  have  tenfold  weight  when  he  knows  that  your 
position  in  England  is  such  as  to  have  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet. 

Lady  Palmerston  was  as  persistent  as  the  Prime 
Minister,  using  her  influence  not  only  with  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury but  with  her  daughter,  Lord  Shaftesbury's  wife. 
"  Palmerston  is  anxious  for  the  Queen's  sake  that  he 
should  be  at  once  sworn  in,"  she  wrote  to  her,  and 
followed  this  up  with  a  letter,  one  of  many  upon  the 
subject,  to  her  son-in-law. 

Lady  Palmerston  to  Lord  Shaftesbury. 

Piccadilly,  Friday. 

My  dear  Ashley, — I  am  quite  affronted  that  you  would  not  come 
and  have  some  tea  with  me  to-night.  I  wanted  to  tell  you  several 
things.  How  many  letters  pour  down  upon  me  from  people  you 
would  not  expect,  all  anxious  to  hear  of  your  taking  the  Duchy. 

I  have  even  one  from  Henry  Stanley  at  Athens,  expressing  his 
hope  that  you  would  join  the  new  Government. 

Lady  Molesworth  also  told  me  to-day  of  many  who  were  anxious 


1855.]  IN   PERPLEXITY.  '  509 

to  hear  of  your  acceptance,  and  amongst  these  Charles  Villiers — which 
I  hardly  expected,  as  he  always  finds  fault  with  everybody.  Sir 
William,*  of  course,  wants  you,  and  Sir  Benjamin  Hall  was  so  anxious 
to  have  you  in  the  Government  that  he  came  to  talk  to  me  about  it 
yesterday  :  and  I  suppose  you  know  that  Lord  Carlisle  is  very  anxious 
for  you.  But  now  there  is  another  consideration  that  I  wanted  to 
mention.  You  refused  to  take  a  place  in  the  Queen's  Household, 
you  have  refused  the  Garter  (which  she  did  not  like),  and  now,  if  you 
refuse  a  third  offer  of  belonging  to  her  Government,  I  am  sure  she  will 
be  quite  offended  ;  for  though  Palmerstoa  had  full  permission  to  fill 
up  the  places  as  he  thought  most  conducive  to  the  advantage  of  his 
Government,  yet  he  did  take  her  approbation  before  he  offered  it  to 
you.     Therefore  it  is,  in  fact,  her  offer. 

Good-night,  my  dear  Ashley.     I  hope  you  will  send  a  favourable 
answer.  Yours  ever  affectionately, 

E.  Palmerston. 

"  I  never  was  in  such  perplexity  in  my  life,"  said 
Lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  writer,  when  narrating  these 
incidents.  "  I  was  at  my  wit's  end.  On  one  side  was 
ranged  wife,  relations,  friends,  ambition,  influence ;  on 
the  other,  my  own  objections,  which  seemed  sometimes 
to  weigh  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  arguments 
brought  against  them.  I  could  not  satisfy  myself  that 
to  accept  office  was  a  divine  call ;  I  icas  satisfied  that 
God  had  called  me  to  labour  among  the  poor.  There 
was  no  Urim  and  Thummim ;  no  open  vision.  I  could 
do  nothing  but  postpone,  and  in  doing  this,  I  was 
placing  Palmerston  in  a  most  awkward  position.  But 
God  interposed  for  me." 

The  "  interposition  "  came  in  a  curious  way.  When 
perplexity  was  at  its  height,  he  received  the  following 
letter  from  Lady  Palmerston  : — 

*  Molesworth. 


510  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.        [Chap.  XXII. 

Lady  Palmerston  to  Lord  Shaftesbury 

My  dear  Ashley, — Palmerston  has  three  people  waiting  for 
him,  and  two  in  his  room,  so  that  he  could  not  write  a  line  now,  but 
he  will  satisfy  you  entirely  upon  all  the  points  you  mention. 

And  he  is  very  anxious  now,  that  you  should  put  on  your  undress 
uniform  and  be  at  the  Palace  a  quarter  before  three  to  be  sworn  in. 

Pray  do  this,  and  I  am  sure  you  will  not  repent  it.  Palmerston 
is  very  anxious  to  have  his  Government  complete,  and,  as  there  has 
been  so  much  delay  in  all  these  discussions,  he  would  be  very  anxious 
that  you  could,  for  the  Queen's  sake,  appear  at  the  Palace  to  be 
sworn  in  a  quarter  before  three. 

Yours  ever  affectionately, 

E.  Palmerston. 

Lord  Palmerston  was  in  a  dilemma.  Up  to  that 
point  lie  bad  been  unable  to  find  anybody  who  would 
satisfactorily  fill  the  vacancy,  otherwise  he  would  have 
relieved  his  friend  from  the  pressure  that  he  knew 
was  intolerable.  His  own  light  and  hopeful  spirit  made 
him  believe  that,  once  in  office,  all  the  objections  would 
disappear  and  only  good  Avould  ensue  to  all.  But  had 
he  seen  any  loophole  for  his  friend,  he  would  not  have 
continued  his  urgent  demands. 

And  Lord  Shaftesbury  was  in  a  dilemma.  There 
had  been  no  answer  borne  in  upon  his  soul,  no  hand- 
writing upon  the  wall,  no  voice  that  he  could  interpret 
as  the  voice  of  Glod,  to  set  the  question  at  rest  for  him. 
To  use  his  own  words  : — "  I  never  felt  so  helpless.  I 
seemed  to  be  hurried  along  without  a  will  of  my  own  ; 
without  any  power  of  resistance.  I  went  and  dressed, 
and  then,  while  I  was  waiting  for  the  carriage,  I  went 
down  on  my  knees  and  prayed  for  counsel,  wisdom,  and 


1855.]  RELIGIOUS    LIBERTY   IN   ENGLAND.  511 

understanding.  Then  there  was  some  one  at  the  door,  as  I 
thought,  to  say  that  the  carriage  was  ready.  Instead  of 
that  a  note,  hurriedly  written  in  pencil,  was  put  into  my 
hands.  It  was  from  Palmerston.  '  Don't  go  to  the 
Palace.'  That  was  thirty  years  ago,  but  I  dance  with 
joy  at  the  remembrance  of  that  interposition,  as  I  did 
when  it  happened.  It  was,  to  my  mind,  as  distinctly 
an  act  of  special  providence  as  when  the  hand  of 
Abraham  was  stayed  and  Isaac  escaped." 

The  "  ram  caught  in  the  thicket  "  was  the  Earl  of 
Harrowby,  and  on  March  the  31st  he  was  sworn  in  as 
Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster. 

In  this  day  of  religious  liberty  it  may  seem,  to  some, 
a  curious  fact  that,  up  to  the  year  1855,  there  was  an 
enactment  in  force,  prohibiting  the  teaching  of  the  Gospel 
and  the  worship  of  God  in  private  houses,  when  more 
than  twenty  persons  beside  the  family  were  assembled. 
Against  persons  who  assembled  in  any  numbers  for 
secular  or  political  purposes,  for  gain  or  merriment,  there 
was  no  legal  prohibition ;  but,  if  a  body  of  Christians 
met  to  pray  and  to  preach,  they  were  liable  to  fine  and 
imprisonment.  When  the  Madiai  were  imprisoned  in 
the  dungeons  of  Romish  Tuscany,  for  having  faithfully 
discharged  their  duties  as  Christians  in  their  own  house- 
hold, all  England  was  up  in  arms,  and  was  furious  in 
indignation,  while,  at  the  very  time,  there  was  in  this 
country  a  law  in  full  force,  which  gave  power  to 
restrain  the  Christian  teacher,  to  persecute  the  little 
bands  of  praying  folk  who  met  from  house  to  house,  and 


512  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

to  place  many  of  the  religious  organisations  which  were 
leavening  the  mass  of  society  at  the  mercy  of  any  non- 
approving  neighbour. 

It  is  true  that  the  law  was  regarded  in  most  cases  as 
only  a  dead  letter,  an  obsolete  thing,  but,  as  the  Times 
observed,  it  was  "  a  rod  in  pickle,  an  ecclesiastical  engine 
to  be  called  into  operation  when  desired."  If  a  staunch 
Protestant  Government  were  to  be  succeeded  by  one 
of  a  Puseyite  character,  and  that  again  by  another 
leaning  still  more  towards  Romanism,  the  law,  as  it 
stood,  was  ready  to  their  hands,  to  shut  up  a  vast  num- 
ber of  Sunday  and  Ragged  Schools  as  well  as  every 
mission  meeting  and  cottage  lecture,  throughout  the 
country. 

In  May,  Lord  Shaftesbury  gave  notice  of  a  motion  to 
bring  in  a  Bill  to  repeal  so  much  of  the  Act  of  52 
Geo.  III.  as  prohibited  the  assembling  of  more  than 
twenty  persons  above  the  members  of  a  household  for 
purposes  of  religious  worship  in  one  house. 

It  seems  at  first  sight  extraordinary  that  a  matter  ap- 
parently so  simple  could  have  called  forth  any  very  strong 
feeling,  or  have  encountered  any  very  serious  opposi- 
tion. It  might  reasonably  have  been  thought  that  such 
a  measure  would  have  commended  itself  to  the  appro- 
bation of  all,  as  in  accordance  with  the  general  view  of 
religious  liberty,  and  a  common  regard  for  the  religious 
improvement  of  the  people.  Such,  however,  was  not 
the  case.  The  Earl  of  Derby,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
and  others,  threatened  a  strenuous  opposition,  and 
therefore,  on  June  the  12th,  on  the  order  of  the  day 


1855.]  RELIGIOUS    WORSHIP    BILL.  513 

for  reporting  the  Bill,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  who  at  first 
had  conceived  that  his  task  would  be  merely  a  nominal 
one,  found  himself  compelled  to  traverse  the  whole 
length  and  breadth  of  the  question. 

His  arguments  were  to  this  effect.  It  was  notorious 
that  there  were  amazing  numbers  of  persons  who  never 
went  into  any  place  of  public  worship  at  all ;  that  the 
Established  Church  and  Nonconformity  combined,  were 
inadequate  to  grapple  with  the  infidelity  of  the  times ; 
that,  therefore,  every  facility  should  be  given  to  bring 
the  masses  within  the  reach  of  instruction  and  the  sound 
of  the  Gospel,  and  that  no  impediment  whatever  should 
be  placed  in  the  way  of  those  who  sought  to  neutralise 
the  poison  of  indifference  and  infidelity  by  the  antidote 
of  religion.  Owing,  mainly,  to  the  extreme  difficulty 
of  inducing  the  working  classes  to  attend  the  ordinary 
religious  services  in  Churches  and  Chapels,  there  had 
been  provided,  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people,  Mis- 
sions, Cottage  Lectures,  Bible  Classes,  Sunday  and 
Bagged  Schools,  and  other  kindred  institutions,  by 
means  of  which  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  had 
been  evangelised,  although  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
these  meetings  had  been  positively  illegal,  as  they 
almost  invariably  commenced  and  closed  with  singing 
and  prayer,  which  constitute  "  Beligious  Worship." 
During  the  year  1S54,  for  example,  the  City  Mission 
had  held  no  less  than  25,318  meetings,  of  which  22,000 
were  in  direct  infringement  of  the  law.  Were  the  law 
enforced,  these,  and  all  similar  gatherings,  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  stopped.  Lord  Shaftesbury  went  on  to  say  : — 
k  h 


514  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

It  might  be  contended,  perhaps,  that  the  law  was  obsolete.  It 
might  be  obsolete  in  one  sense,  but  it  had  great  power  of  revival,  and 
might  be  enforced  at  any  moment.  Indeed,  at  present  it  was 
constantly  used  for  purposes  of  intimidation,  and  he  could  quote 
instances  in  which  it  had  been  actually  put  in  force.  In  1820,  an 
information  was  laid  against  Lord  Barham,  the  present  Lord  Gams- 
borough,  by  Lord  Romney,  at  West  Mailing,  near  Maidstone,  under 
the  Act,  religious  services  having  been  held  in  Lord  Barham's  house 
when  he  was  unwell,  instead  of  in  the  village  schoolroom.  Lord 
Barham  was  fined  £40— .£20  for  each  meeting.   .   .  . 

A  sentleman,  a  county  magistrate  in  a  northern  county,  early  in 
1854  came  to  reside  on  his  estate,  and  found  the  parish  in  a  most 
neglected  condition.  At  the  gates  of  his  park  was  a  large  coal  mine 
and  a  dense  population  around  it.  Finding  that  nobody  would  do 
anything  for  them,  he  went  one  evening  in  every  week,  and  in  the 
largest  cottage  read  a  chapter  of  the  Bible  and  some  religious  tracts. 
The  meetings  were  numerously  attended  ;  but,  after  a  few  months  he 
was  obliged  to  drop  it,  and  it  ceased.  And  why?  It  was  hinted  to 
him  that  persons  were  about  to  lay  an  information  against  him  for  a 
breach  of  the  Conventicle  Act.  He,  being  an  active  county  magis- 
trate, felt  that  it  was  not  right  in  liim  to  set  an  example  of  breaking 
the  law,  so  he  gave  up  his  reading.  .  .  .  The  gentleman  in  question 
might  have  had  a  cock-fight,  jumping  in  sacks,  or  any  sort  of  amuse- 
ment, and  nobody  could  have  objected  to  it,  but  the  moment  this 
gentleman,  commiserating  the  religious  destitution  of  the  people, 
went  to  their  cottages,  read  to  them  a  chapter  in  the  Bible,  and 
joined  with  them  in  religious  worship,  the  law  said,  '  Mind  what  you 
are  doing,  for  if  you  are  caught  at  this  again  you  will  be  fined  £20.' 

After  citing  another  and  very  striking  case,  in  which 
the  law  had  been  actually  put  in  force  so  recently  as 
March,  1850,  Lord  Shaftesbury  maintained  that  unless 
some  public  end  could  be  shown  to  be  advanced  by  the 
present  law,  or,  unless  it  could  be  shown  that  its  repeal 
would  be  subversive  of  public  morality,  it  was  not  just 
or  right  to  place  a  veto  upon  a  man  receiving  any 
number    of    persons    into  his    house    for    purposes    of 


1855.]  RELIGIOUS    WORSHIP    BILL.  515 

religious  worship  ;  and  he  appealed  to  the  right  reverend 
prelates  opposite,  whether  it  was  consistent  with  their 
position  or  their  Christian  dignity,  to  deprive  some  of 
the  most  useful  of  their  own  clergy,  or  of  the  Noncon- 
formists, of  the  power  of  doing  their  best  to  evangelise 
their  flocks  without  breaking  the  law,  or  to  consent  to 
the  present  system  of  wholesale  connivance  ?  He  ap- 
pealed also  to  the  Government,  whether  the  more  wise 
and  the  more  just  plan  would  not  be  to  repeal  the  law 
altogether ;  or  else,  if  they  would  not  consent  to  such  a 
course,  to  enforce  its  provisions  strictly. 

The  result  of  the  division  is  told  in  the  followinp- 
entry  : — • 

June  13th. — Last  night  moved  'Religious  Worship  Bill'  in 
House  of  Lords.  Encountered  by  nine  Bishops.  Oxford  and  London 
leading  a  knot  of  Puseyite  Peers,  and  Lord  Derby  witli  as  many  of 
his  followers  as  he  could  command.  Carried  it,  however,  by  31  to  30, 
the  Irish  Bishop,  Singer,  giving  me  the  majority.  One  of  the  most, 
perhaps  the  most  unpleasant  evening  I  recollect  in  public  life. 
Derby  and  his  friends  behind  me  while  I  spoke,  insolent,  interruptive, 
discouraging.  He  seemed  like  a  man  who  felt  a  deep  irritation  at 
the  movement  and  a  hatred  for  the  mover.  Faltered,  at  least  to  my 
own  sensation,  very  greatly  ;  was  awfully  depressed,  unhappy,  and 
diffident  ;  nothing  without  in  the  house,  and  nothing  within  my  own 
heart,  to  cheer  me. 

The  antagonism  of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  to  the  Bill 
was  vehement  and  persistent,  and  for  a  time  it  appeared 
to  be  in  considerable  jeopardy. 

June  16th. — Last  night  Derby  moved  that  the  Religious  Worship 
Bill  be  sent  to  a  Select  Committee,  and  carried  it  by  17.  Eleven 
Bishops  voting  with  him.  It  is  the  height  of  folly  in  them  to  resist 
the  measure ;   the  Bishops,  especially,  had  an  opportunity  of  giving, 

h  h  2 


516  THE    EAEL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

with  grace  and  favour,  what  they  cannot  retain.  They  have  ex- 
hibited, on  the  contrary,  great  ignorance,  bigotry,  and  opposition  to 
evangelical  life  and  action,  and  have  seriously  injured  their  character, 
influence,  and  position.  The  feeling  is  universal  and  very  strong. 
The  Archbishop,  I  rejoice  to  say,  and  the  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
stayed  away.  Had,  I  bless  the  Lord  God,  more  comfort  and  strength 
last  night  than  before. 


"a" 


Lord  Shaftesbury  was  invited  to  join  the  Committee, 
but,  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  names  of  those  composing  it,  he 
declined,  feeling  sure  that  in  every  way  he  would  be  com- 
pletely overpowered.  The  opinion  of  the  Select  Com- 
mittee was,  that  the  Bill  should  not  be  proceeded  with,  but 
that  another  should  be  substituted.  This  was  accord- 
ingly done,  and  it  was  introduced  to  the  House  by  the 
Earl  of  Derby,  who  stated  that  the  Bill  he  had  brought 
up  from  the  Select  Committee  provided:  1.  That  no 
penalties  should  be  incurred  by  any  religious  worship 
conducted  by  the  incumbent  or  licensed  curate  of  a 
parish,  or  by  any  clerk  in  holy  orders  acting  on  their 
behalf.  :2.  That  no  penalties  should,  under  any  ex- 
isting laws,  be  imposed  for  the  use  of  prayer  in  opening 
or  closing  of  meetings  held  to  promote  any  religious  or 
charitable  object.  3.  That  no  penal  clause  should 
attach  to  any  layman  holding  any  meeting  for  religious 
purposes,  provided  he  acts  with  the  consent  and  con- 
currence of  the  clergyman  of  the  district.  4.  That  if 
such  layman  failed  in  obtaining  the  clerg3Tman's  sanction, 
and  could  obtain  the  concurrence  and  permission  of  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese,  he  should  be  equally  sanctioned 
in  that  proceeding. 

It  was  obvious  that  the  new  Bill  did  not  touch  the 


1855.]  HELIGIOUS    WORSHIP    BILL.  517 

evil  of  winch  Lord  Shaftesbury  complained,  and  which 
he  sought  to  remove.  This  was  almost  acknowledged 
by  Lord  Derby  when  he  said :  "  There  were  cases  in 
which  some  individuals,  desirous  of  holding  family 
worship  and  of  admitting  his  poorer  neighbours 
to  it,  might  be  restricted  by  the  existing  law ;  and 
he  should  be  inclined  to  consent  to  some  relaxation 
in  such  cases,  though  he  could  not  frame  any  such 
clause." 

That  impediments  should  be  placed  in  the  way  of 
religious  worship  by  dignitaries  of  the  Church  of 
England,  was  intolerable  to.  Lord  Shaftesbury.  In  at- 
tempting to  legislate  that  meetings  should  be  held  only 
under  the  direction  of  an  "  authorised  '  leader,  in 
accordance  with  certain  forms,  and  in  a  licensed  place, 
he  saw  clearly  that,  although  their  plea  was  ostensibly 
to  preserve  order  in  the  Church,  the  actual  motive  was 
to  limit  the  work  of  laymen,  to  arrest  the  progress  of 
Dissent,  and  to  prevent  any  innovations  which  should 
disturb  existing  relations  between  the  clergy  and  their 
parishioners. 

In  moving  the  rejection  of  Lord  Derby's  Bill,  he 
said  that  after  the  discussion  that  had  taken  place,  it 
was  impossible  the  law  could  remain  obsolete,  in  the 
large  communities  where  it  had  hitherto  been  obsolete. 
If  the  Bill,  proposed  by  Lord  Derby,  became  law,  it  must 
be  enforced,  and  why  revive  the  old  law  or  bring  a  new 
one  into  operation  which  must  cause  restrictions  in 
religious  worship?  The  principle  involved  in  the 
question  had  gone  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  country, 


518  THE    EAUL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

and  whether  his  own  Bill  were  rejected  or  not,  it  was  only 
for  a  time,  for  sure  as  was  the  setting  of  the  rising  sun, 
it  would  be  found  that  its  principle  would  be  asserted — 
namely,  "  thht  every  man  should  have  a  perfect  right  to 
worship  God  token  and  how  he  pleased — to  worship  in  Ids 
oion  house,  with  his  neighbours,  in  any  number,  and  at  any 
time  ;  that  this  should  not  be  a  mere  privilege,  but  a  right, 
unless  it  could  be  shown  that  public  morality  or  public 
safety  would  be  endangered  by  it.,} 

He  objected  to  Lord  Derby's  Bill  on  the  ground 
that,  under  the  guise  of  the  Statute  Law,  it  was  an 
entirely  new  Ecclesiastical  Discipline  Bill,  to  give 
greater  power  to  the  bishops  over  the  clergy  and  laity. 
Its  first  clause  enacted  that  such  worship  should  only 
be  performed  by  "  licensed  "  curates,  who,  more  than 
any  others,  were  under  the  power  of  the  bishops ;  lay- 
men must  go,  as  suppliants,  to  the  incumbent  or  bishop, 
to  ask  leave  to  hold  service  in  their  own  houses,  and 
take  their  chance  of  permission  or  refusal.  The  second 
clause  granted  permission  to  offer  prayer  in  opening  or 
closing  a  meeting,  "  certainly  not  in  the  middle.  IE 
prayers  were  offered  up  in  the  midst  of  such  a  meeting 
a  penalty  of  £20  would  be  incurred."  But  the  bare 
idea  of  "  permission  '  to  pray  was  intolerable  to  Lord 
Shaftesbury.  "  It  may  as  well  be  said,"  he  exclaimed 
indignantly,  "  that  I  am  to  have  '  permission  '  to  breathe 
the  air !  " 

In  a  series  of  vigorous  and  crushing  arguments  he 
attacked  tlu  Bill,  point  by  point,  and  concluded  in  these 
words  : — 


1855.]  SPEECH    OF   LORD    BROUGHAM.  519 

We  are  living  in  fearful  and  exciting  times  of  great  and  growing 
unbelief.  Look  at  the  solemn  warning  given  by  the  Registrar 
General,  who  tells  us  that  there  are  in  this  country  five  millions  of 
persons  wholly  without  instruction  of  any  kind.  Depend  upon  it 
those  millions  will  never  be  invited  to  the  Church  by  tightening  the 
reins  of  the  ecclesiastical  system,  for,  unless  the  Church  is  able'to  act 
as  a  missionary  Church,  and,  by  the  removal  of  every  restriction 
upon  her  free  actions,  to  compete  with -every  denomination,  my  belief 
is  that  her  existence  as  an  Established  Church  will  not  be  of  lonir 
duration. 

He  then  moved  that  the  Bill,  brought  in  by  the 
Earl  of  Derby,  be  read  a  second  time  that  day  three 
months. 

Immediately  following  the  speech  of  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury, came  one  from  Lord  Brougham,  in  which,  referring 
to  the  old  Conventicle  Act  of  Charles  II.,  Lord  Sid- 
mouth's  Act  of  1812,  and  to  the  Act  of  1852,  he 
said  :  — 

"  It  is  asserted  by  some  that  these  Acts  are  obsolete, 
these  penalties  cannot  be  enforced,  and  the  law  is  a 
dead  letter.  There  is  nothing  more  dangerous  than 
keeping  upon  the  statute-book  these  dead  letters,  these 
obsolete  penalties,  which  we  hope,  but  vainly  hope,  can 
never  be  enforced.  They  are  not  to  be  regarded  even 
as  dead  reptiles,  whose  venom  is  henceforth  innoxious. 
They  are  merely  dormant  and  not  dead,  and  are  capable 
of  being  warmed  into  active  life  at  any  moment  by  the 
malicious  passions  of  one,  by  the  avarice  of  another,  or 
by  worse  than  either,  the  mistaken  religious  zeal  of  a 
third." 

He  then  crave  some  forcible  illustrations  to  show 
that   so-called   "obsolete   penalties'1    must  not   be   dis- 


520  TEE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

regarded,  as  they  could  be,  and  were,  enforced,  and  the 
penalty  to  prevent  more  than  twenty  persons  meeting 
for  religious  worship  in  any  private  house,  or  other  un- 
licensed building,  still  remained. 

The  speech  of  Lord  Brougham  following  that  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  produced  a  telling  effect,  and  imme- 
diately upon  its  conclusion  the  Earl  of  Derby  rose  and 
withdrew  his  Bill. 

A  week  later,  an  important  and  influential  meet- 
ing was  held  in  Freemasons'  Hall  to  strengthen 
Lord  Shaftesbury's  efforts,  when  a  petition  was  adopted 
for  presentation  to  the  House  of  Lords.  Within  four 
days  of  the  presentation  of  this  petition,  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury-again  brought  forward  his  Bill,  having  revised  it 
in  some  points,  which  rendered  it  less  objectionable  to 
the  Bench  of  Bishops,  but  without  infringing  upon 
its  principle.  The  Bill  was  recommitted  to  the 
Select  Committee,  and  Lord  Shaftesbury,  with  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  were  appointed  members  of  that 
Committee. 

Late  as  it  was,  the  Session  did  not  pass  before  Lord 
Shaftesbury's  Bill  stood  part  of  the  statute  law  of  the 
land.  It  established  the  power  of  the  incumbent  or 
curate,  and  the  persons  authorised  by  either  of  them,  to 
conduct  religious  worship  in  a  schoolroom  or  any  build- 
ing, be  it  barn  or  palace,  in  any  part  of  his  district, 
without  in  any  wajr  being  molested  by  any  power,  judi- 
cial or  ecclesiastical.  It  enabled  a-  householder  to  use 
his  house  for  religious  worship,  and  to  gather  into  it 
any  number   of  persons  without  his   being  any  longer 


1855.]        SUCCESS    OF   RELIGIOUS    WORSHIP    BILL.  521 

subject  to  pains  and  penalties  of  any  kind  whatever  ; 
and  it  made  the  meetings  of  missionaries,  scripture 
readers,  and  religious  teachers,  whether  held  from  house 
to  house  or  in  some  regular  place,  lawful  assemblies. 

A  few  notes  from  the  Diary  are  quoted  here,  although 
their  purport  has  been  given  above. 

July  7th. — Yesterday  evening  triumphed,  by  God's  blessing,  over 
Lord  Derby's,  i.e.,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's,  Religious  Worship  Bill. 
He  withdrew  it.  Had  great  success  in  exposing  its  follies,  its 
falsity,  its  impudent  ambition  for  the  Bishop  to  gain  new  powers 
over  the  clergy  and  laity. 

July  17th. — Last  night,  by  happy  agreement  with  the  good 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  got  well  over  difficulties  of  the  'Bill.' 
Referred,  by  consent,  to  same  committee,  myself  joining  the  com- 
mittee.     Passed  it  to-day  easily. 

July  21st. — Bill  through  committee  of  House.  Waiting  for 
third  reading  on  Monday.  Contains  everything  I  asked  for,  though 
altered  in  form  and  so  worded  as  to  give  a  fair  retreat  to  the 
Bishops. 

August  1st.— I  open  this  book  now  to  record  God's  mercy  in  the 
success  of  the  '  Bill '  !  It  passed  on  Monday  evening  (30th)  with 
two  words  of  protest,  scarcely  heard,  from  Mr.  Henley,  who  lay 
growling  in  his  den  ;  and  Walpole  had  fled. 

A  dinner  last  night  at  the  National  Club,  given  to  me  by  fourteen 
or  fifteen  co-operators  in  this  cause.  It  was  friendly,  cordial,  and 
Christian.  Speeches  after  dinner,  very  religious  in  their  tone,  and 
such  as  we  require  in  these  times  of  secret  'rebuke  and  blasphemy.' 

We  must  now  glance  at  some  of  the  "  miscellaneous  " 
events  of  the  year,  and  go  back  to  cull  our  extracts 
from  the  Diary,  relating  to  matters  of  minor  public 
interest  it  may  be,  but  which  affected  the  private  life  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury  and  were  connected  with  the  main 
current  of  his  work. 


522  THE   EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

March  28th. — On  Monday  spoke  three  times  in  House  of  Lords 
on  Sardinia.  Opportunity  offered,  and  was  prompted  to  seize  it  by 
hope  of  pleasing  Sardinian  Government,  and  so  increasing  one's  in- 
fluence to  aid  Waldenses  and  the  Bible  Society.  Very  fervent,  and 
received,  as  I  thought,  in  silence.  Felt  quite  overwhelmed.  This 
is  the  painful  character  of  the  House  of  Lords.  You  seldom  know 
whether  you  are  pleasing  or  displeasing  your  audience,  so  stiff  is 
their  phlegm  ! 

May  3rd. — I  dread,  sadly  dread,  these  schemes  of  national  educa- 
tion. Pakington,  who  is  a  good  man,  and  a  sensible  one,  has  taken 
the  lead  in  a  scheme  for  local  rates  to  maintain  the  education  of  the 
people.  Such  a  plan  is  a  death-warrant  to  the  teaching  of  evangelical 
religion.  It  had  better  be  called  '  a  water-rate  to  extinguish  religious 
fire  among  young  people.'  Here,  indeed,  we  must  betake  ourselves 
to  prayer,  for  the  scheme  (little  does  my  honest  and  kind  friend 
Pakington  perceive  it)  poisons  the  very  root,  and  causes  that  '  things, 
which  should  have  been  for  our  peace,  be  unto  us  an  occasion  of 
falling.' 

May  8th. — Inglis  is  numbered  with  the  departed.  He  died  the 
day  before  yesterday.  A  man  so  single,  so  peculiar,  has  seldom 
existed  in  public  life  Pure-minded,  affectionate,  true,  incorruptible, 
governing  all  his  public  actions,  and,  I  am  sure,  too,  his  private  life, 
by  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  he  maintained  a  career  which  had  no 
precedent,  and,  probably,  will  be  no  example.  Everybody  was  com- 
pelled (there  is  no  other  word)  to  respect  him,  and  those  who  en- 
joyed his  intimacy,  loved  him. 

During  the  month  of  June,  Lord  Shaftesbury  was 
busy  with  two  Bills,  one  for  further  legislation  on  be- 
half of  Chimney  Sweeps,  whose  wrongs  were  still  left 
unredressed  (which  Bill,  chiefly  in  consequence  of  the 
active  resistance  of  Sir  Gr.  Grrey,  he  was  compelled  to 
withdraw),  and  another,  on  behalf  of  Milliners  and  Dress- 
makers. The  question  of  their  condition  had  been  fre- 
quently discussed,  but  nothing  had  been  done  until 
1842,  when  the  Report  of  the  Employment  Commission 


1855.]  MILLINERS.    AND    DRESSMAKERS.  523 

was  issued,  and,  even  then,  no  direct  legislative  results 
followed.  In  1S43  there  were  1,500  young  persons  of  14 
years  old  and  upwards  employed  in  this  business  in  the 
metropolis.  Their  hours  were  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  a 
day,  with  only  from  two  to  six  hours  for  rest.  The  conse- 
quence was  that  consumption  and  impaired  eyesight  were 
terribly  prevalent  amongst  them.  In  1844  a  committee 
of  benevolent  ladies  caused  Sunday  work  to  be  aban- 
doned, and  in  1853,  the  proprietors  of  many  dressmaking 
establishments  agreed  to  abide  by  rules,  laid  down  by  an 
association  formed  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  needle- 
women. Since  that  time,  however,  things  had  lapsed 
almost  to  their  former  worst  condition,  and  Lord 
Shaftesbury's  Bill  proposed  that  between  May  the  1st 
and  August  the  1st,  which  included  the  "  London 
season,"  work  should  be  prohibited  between  10  p.m. 
and  8  a.m.,  and,  for  the  remainder  of  the  year,  between 
9  p.m.  and  8  a.m.  An  hour  and  a  half  was  to  be  allowed 
for  meals ;  all  proceedings  for  the  enforcement  of  penal- 
ties under  the  Bill  were  to  be  taken  at  the  police  courts, 
before  magistrates  to  whom  the  jurisdiction  in  these 
matters  was  to  be  exclusively  committed.  The  prin- 
ciple of  the  Bill  had  already  received  recognition  in 
the  three  great  measures,  the  Factory,  the  Mines  and 
Collieries,  and  the  Ten  Hours  Bills. 

June  6th.— Have  prepared  Bills  for  the  Chimney  Sweepers  and 
Milliners.  Sad,  cruel,  overwhelming  their  sufferings;  but  how  shall 
I  prosper  1  All  is  in  His  hands,  who  cares  as  much  for  the  smallest, 
sickliest  sempstress  as  for  all  the  grand  ladies  of  the  land.  But  it  is 
not  the  great  who  are  alone  chargeable  with  connivance  (to  suit  their 
own  convenience)  at  these  enormous  abuses ;    every  woman  who  is 


524  THE    EARL    OF    SHAFTESBURY.         [Chap.  XXII. 

rich  enough  to  have  a  fine  gown  is  particeps  criminis,  and  the 
wealthy  of  Liverpool,  Birmingham,  Norwich,  and  all  the  large  towns, 
perpetrate  the  same  abominations. 

June  16th. — On  Thursday  last  introduced  Bill  for  relief  of  'Milli- 
ners and  Dressmakers.'  Statement,  though  most  distressing,  received 
with  little  favour  indoors,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  with  none  out  of 
doors.  Not  a  paper,  except  the  Standard,  has  uttered  a  word  in 
defence  of  those  poor,  helpless,  oppressed  girls.  Referred  to  a  '  Com- 
mittee on  Trade.' 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Parliamentary 
Session,  Lord  Shaftesbury  started  for  his  customary 
tour  abroad. 

Aug.  8th. — Do  not  start  on  my  journey  with  a  light  heart  ;  far 
rather  remain  in  England.  .  .  .  Am  getting  on  in  life,  and  must 
use,  while  it  lasts,  my  remnant  of  intellect  :  powers,  such  as  they 
were,  weaken  ;  and  no  wonder,  for  it  is  all  expense  and  no  income; 
all  labour  and  no  rest;  all  action  and  no  study  ;  all  exhaustion  and 
no  supply.  Not  had  time  to  read  a  single  book,  a  single  review. 
.  .  .  It  requires  the  skill  of  the  most  cunning  practitioner  to  turn 
to  account  time  in  Mosaic. 

The  journey  which  began  without  light-heartedness 
was  to  end  in  deep  gloom.  His  son,  Maurice,  had  for 
many  years  been  the  victim  of  a  sad  malady,  and,  while 
Lord  Shaftesbury  was  on  his  travels,  the  news  reached 
him  that  he  had  passed  away. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  Hon.  Evelyn  Ashley. 

Basle,  Aug.  21,  1855. 

My  dear  Evelyx, — Here,  on  our  way  to  Lausanne  as  fast  as  we 
could  go,  we  received  a  telegraphic  message  to  announce  that  dear 
Mam-ice  had  entered  into  his  rest.  It  has  pleased  God  to  take  the 
afflicted  child — afflicted  doubtless  in  His  infinite  wisdom — and  receive 
him  into  Paradise.  For  that  he  is  there,  through  the  boundless  love 
and  merits  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  I  am  as  certain  as  I  am  of  my  own 
existence.     His   intellect,  through   a  terrible  succession  of  fits,  had 


1855.]  DEATH    OF   A    SOX.  525 

sunk  exceedingly  ;  yet  his  heart  was  erect ;  he  was  heard  to  muramr 
'  Christ's  Kingdom.  Christ's  Kingdom,'  and  endeavoured  to  recover 
many  texts  that  he  had  learned  in  earlier  days.  What  a  lesson  is 
this  for  the  teaching  of  youth  !  Here  is  he  consoled,  and  repeating, 
as  it  were,  the  password  into  Heaven  l>y  the  spiritual  knowledge 
acquired  in  his  merest  childhood,  the  only  remnant  of  mind  in  an 
hour  of  darkness. 

I  have  lost  two  precious  sons  for  the  short  time  of  human  life  ; 
but  I  have,  by  the  love  of  Christ,  housed  them  for  ever  in  Heaven. 
May  those  who  survive  walk  worthy  of  their  vocation,  and,  after 
a  life  of  service  and  faith,  be  gathered  into  a  blissful  eternity.  I 
am  going  to  travel  all  night,  in  the  hope  of  reaching  Lausanne  for 
the  final  work  of  respect  and  affection. 

May  God  be  with  you. 

Yours  affectionately,  S. 


Lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  Hon.  Evelyn  Ashley. 

Schwalbach,  Sept.  3,  1855. 

My  Dear  Edy, — Your  letter,  addressed  to  Lausanne,  followed 
me  to  Schwalbach,  and  found  me  recovering,  thank  Cod,  from  a 
singularly  sharp  attack  of  bilious  cholic.  .  .  Poor  dear  Maurice  was 
interred  in  the  cemetery  of  the  district  (there  being  no  English 
churchyard)  attended  by  many  kind  and  sympathising  people.  Won- 
derful it  is  that  this  feeble  boy  had  such  a  charm  around  him,  as  to 
attract  very  many.  His  intellectual  weakness  and  his  spiritual 
strength  resulted  in  a  very  impressive  combination.  I  have  directed 
a  tombstone  to  his  memory,  on  which  will  be  engi^aved  two  texts 
which  he  cherished,  and  often  repeated,  '  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd, 
I  shall  not  want;'  'It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been  afflicted.' 
How  good,  he  now  knows  in  reality  ;  he  knew  it  before  in  faith. 
Frequently,  in  speaking  and  in  writing,  I  have  been  permitted  to 
comfort  him  by  quoting  the  words  of  our  blessed  Lord,  'What  I  do 
thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter.'  .  .  I  have 
written  details  to  St.  Leonards ;  the  children  might  send  you  the 
letters.  .  .  I  am  in  perplexity  about  our  fleets.  What  is  that  in  the 
Euxine  doing  1  Lyons  seems  to  have  no  more  energy  than  Dundas. 
As  for  Sweaborg,  the  Russian  account  is  clearly  a  lying  one ;  it  says 


526  THE    EARL    OF   SHAFTESBURY.         [Ckap.  XXII. 

that  '  we  attempted  to  land  troops,  and  were  beaten  back  with  loss.' 
Not  a  single  man,  thank  God,  was  killed.  .   .   Can  you  devise  a  little 
change  for  Lionel  before  he  returns  to  Harrow  ]     He  must,  poor  boy, 
have  been  grievously  dull  all  this  time. 
May  God  bless  you. 

Yours  affectionately,  S. 

The  Diaries  abound  with  fugitive  thoughts  put  down 
at  odd  moments  on  a  wonderful  variety  of  subjects. 
Here  is  one  as  an  example  : — 

August  15th. — Intellect  is  everything  in  this  age,  character 
nothing.  Let  a  man  make  a  good  speech,  and  he  is  a  good  man- 
good  enough,  at  least,  for  all  practical  purposes.  '  Illuc  cuncta  vero-- 
ere;'  these  public  examinations  for  public  appointments  are  hasten- 
ing the  consummation.  If  a  man  can  construe  well  a  passage  in 
Tacitus,  or  solve  a  mathematical  problem,  it  is  enough  ;  no  inquiry 
as  to  the  higher  qualities,  moral  fitness,  personal  adaptation ; — away 
he  goes  a  writer  to  India,  having  passed,  in  many  instances,  his 
pillars  of  Hercules,  never  to  go  further — possibly  to  retrograde. 

Nov.  13th. — Broadlands.  Palmerston  has  appointed  Eyre,  of 
Bury,  on  my  recommendation,  to  the  living  of  All  Souls.  A  blessed 
work.     May  God  sanctify  it ! 

Lord  Shaftesbury  to  the  Hon.  Evelyn  Ashley. 

St.  Giles's  House,  Nov.  21,  1855. 

My  dear  Edy, — '  No  play,  and  all  employ,  makes  Jack  a  dull 
boy.'  I  quite  admit  this  assertion  ;  but  I  fear  that,  unless  corrected 
by  steady  and  severe  study,  it  may  very  easily  be  abused.  I  say  no 
more  ;  you  will  best  judge  how  far  a  succession  of  amusements  will 
enable  you  to  '  square  the  circle.'  .  .  .  Our  weather  is  mild,  but  dull. 
We  are  like  St.  Paul,  when  he  was  '  driven  up  and  down  in  Adria  : ' 
neither  stars  nor  sun  have  appeared  for  at  least  fourteen  days.  I  am 
very  busy  with  schools,  and  want  you  much.  The  evening  classes,  bv 
God's  blessing,  prosper  exceedingly.  The  lads  are  attentive,  very 
regular,  fifty-two  in  number  (an  immense  gathering  for  so  small  a 
parish),  and  make  progress.  Much  will  arise  from  our  new  master, 
an  excellent  man,  trained  to  the  charge  of  turbulent  Bagged  Schools 
in  London,  and  experienced  in  the  modes  of  imparting  knowledge. 


1855.]  LIFE   PEERAGES.  527 

Now  is  the  time,  Edy,  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  all  that  is  requisite. 
In  a  very  few  years  your  life,  should  it  be  spared  by  God's  mercy, 
will  be  a  life  of  action,  not  of  acquisition.  Every  revolution  of  the 
earth  on  its  axis  shortens  the  period  allotted  to  study,  and  forces 
mankind  to  be  '  up  and  doing,'  as  the  phrase  is.  May  you  be  an  in- 
strument in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  for  His  great  and  blessed 
purposes !  Yours  affectionately,  S. 

The  following  are. among  the  closing  entries  in  the 
Diary  for  the  year. 

Dec.  8th. — Woburn  Abbey.  Here  last  night.  What  a  place  ! 
It  is  not  a  palace,  a  house  ;  it  is  a  town,  a  municipal  borough,  a 
city.  Why,  with  all  its  appurtenances  of  stables,  garden's,  out- 
buildings, &c  ,  there  is  more  brick,  stone,  and  mortar  than  in  a  dozen 
streets  of  Dorchester  or  Blandford.  It  is  a  '  Kirjath  Hazotli,'  '  a 
conglomeration  of  streets  ' — costly,  astounding,  wearisome. 

Dec.  12th. — St.  Giles.  Winter  has  set  in  early  and  vigorously. 
Sufferings  of  the  poor  very  great.  The  scenes,  as  recorded  in  the 
Police  Reports,  at  the  doors  of  the  workhouses,  and  all  night  long, 
are  horrifying.  Boards  of  Guardians,  Vestrymen,  Relieving  Officers, 
and  the  President  of  the  P.  L.  Commission,  are  alike,  either  brutal, 
ignorant  or  foolish.  These  things  morbidly  affect  me.  They  are 
ever  in  my  mind,  and  during  the  inclement  season  destroy  all  my 
comfort,  and  abate  the  enjoyment  of  what,  by  God's  mercy,  I  possess. 
All  is  remediable,  but  not  by  one  man.  And  now  'philanthropy' 
is  at  a  discount ;  people  are  nauseated  with  humanity  and  '  humanity- 
mongers,'  and  especially  with  myself. 

Dec.  27th.— Just  heard  that  Palmerston  designs  to  make  some 
lawyers  '  Peers  for  life  ' — a  step  as  pernicious  as  it  is  specious.  It 
must  eventually,  and  not  remotely,  destroy  the  hereditary  House  of 
Lords.  It  will  begin  by  making  us  the  '  French  Chamber/  and  end 
by  making  us  the  '  American  Senate.' 

Written  to  dissuade  him  ;  but  cui  bono  ?  The  day  is  come— 
'  Venit  summa  dies  et  ineluctabile  tempus ' — and  all  these  things 
will  fall. 

END    OF    VOL.    II. 


Printed  by  Cassell  &  Company,  Limited,  La  Belle  Sauvage,  London,  E.C. 


Crown  8vo,  cloth  gilt,  price  5s. 

Simon  Peter: 

His   Life,   Times,  and  Friends. 

By   EDWIN    HODDEE, 

Author  of  "  The  Life  and   Work  of  the  Seventh  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury"  "  Heroes  of  Britain"  £r>c. 


Rev.  W.  Gray  Elmslie,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Hebrew  and 

Old  Testament  Criticism  in  the   Theological  College 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  England,  writes  : — 

"  The  idea  is  good,  and  the  execution  bold  and 
strong.  The  book  is  a  popular  biography  of  the 
Apostle.  Much  of  it  consists  of  animated  description 
and  thoughtful  interpretation  of  incidents  recorded  in 
Scripture.  .  .  .  There  is  much  that  is  novel  and 
striking  both  in  style  and  treatment,  with  a  strong 
realism  in  the  drawing  and  colouring  of  landscape 
and  in  the  portraiture  of  character.  There  is  a  bracing 
manliness  in  the  language  and  thought,  and  frequently 
profound  penetration  is  displayed  in  the  dissection  of 
motive,  and  in  the  disclosure  of  unsuspected  meaning 
in  gesture,  word,  and  incident.  There  is  a  freshness 
in  the  absence  of  conventional  methods  and  phrases, 
and  everywhere  there  is  the  charm  of  a  deeply  spiritual 
earnestness  and  an  honestly  devout  allegiance  to  the 
person  of  the  Divine  Master.  As  a  brief  popular  work 
on  the.  subject  the  book  has  characteristic  merits  of  a 
high  order." 

"  An  account  of  the  life  of  St.  Peter  written  in  a 
simple,  popular,  picturesque  style." — British  Quarterly 
Review. 

"  What  Mr.  Hodder  has  undertaken  to  do  is  to 
supply   not    a   critical    discussion    nor    a    learned    com- 


mentary,  but  a  vivid  popular  life  of  the  Apostle.  He 
has  accomplished  his  task  with  ample  scholarship,  with 
rare  literary  skill,  in  the  finest  religious  spirit,  and  he 
has  produced  a  volume  of  quite  exceptional  charm  and 
value.  There  is  a  healthy  absence  of  conventionality 
and  affectation  in  this  book.  Every  sentiment  is  true 
and  manly.  The  thought  rings  solid  and  genuine. 
There  is  no  narrowness  of  spirit,  no  smallness  of 
conception,  no  contractedness  of  heart.  The  writer 
handles  sacred  things  with  reverence  but  without  fear.'' 
— Presbyterian. 

"  In  this  interesting  volume  Mr.  Hodder  has  told  in 
a  simple,  but  exceedingly  attractive,  manner  the  story 
of  Peter's  life."— Rock. 

"  It  certainly  supplies  a  desideratum." — Methodist 
Recorder. 

"  He  analyses  the  character  of  Peter  and  traces  the 
influences  of  circumstances  upon  him  with  much  skill. 
The  chapters  are  not  homiletical,  but  a  great  many 
instructive  truths  and  lessons  are  woven  into  the 
narrative.  A  large  amount  of  information  as  to  the 
country  in  which  the  apostle  dwelt,  its  people  and 
institutions,  is  also  furnished." — Christian  World. 

"  The  book  should  find  a  place  in  every  library." — 
P?tblic  Opinion. 

"  The  book  is  altogether  very  well  and  pleasantly 
written." — Scotsman. 

"In  its  pages  we  grow  to  know  and  love  Peter 
almost  as  though  we  had  lived  with  him." — Aberdeen 
Free  Press. 


CASSELL  &   COMPANY,    Limited,  Ludgate  Hill,  London. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <fc   Company 's  Publications. 

fBibtas  an&  Hdigt0ua  lEorks. 

Bible,  The  Crown  Illustrated.  With  about  1,000  Original  Illustrations.  With 
References,  &c.     1,248  pages,  crown  4to,  cloth,  7s.  6d.  *• 

Bible,  Cassell's  Illustrated  Family.  With  900  Illustrations.  Leather,  gilt 
edges,  £2  10s.  ;  full  morocco,  £2  10s. 

Bible  Dictionary,  Cassell's.     With  nearly  600  Illustrations.     7s.  6d. 

Bible  Educator,  The.     Edited  by  the  Very  Rev.  Dean  Plumptre,  D.D.     With 

Illustrations,  Maps,  &c.     Four  Vols.,  cloth,  6s.  each. 
Bible  Work  at  Home  and  Abroad.     Yearly  Volume,  3s. 
Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress  (Cassell's  Illustrated).     Demy  4to.     Illustrated 

throughout.     7s.  6d. 

Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress.     With  Illustrations.     Popular  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Child's  Life  of  Christ,  The.  Complete  in  One  Handsome  Volume,  with  about 
200  Original  Illustrations.     Demy  4to,  gilt  edges,  21s. 

Child's  Bible,  The.    With  200  Illustrations.    Demy  4to,  830  pp.    143rd?  Thousan  I. 

Cheap  Edition,  7s.  6d. 
Church  at  Home,  The.    A  Series  of  Short  Sermons.     By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Rowlky 

Hill,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man.     5s. 

Commentary,    The   New   Testament,  for  English  Readers.     Edited   by  the 

Rt.  Rev.  C.  J.  Ellicott,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and   Bristol.     In  Three 
Volumes,  21s.  each. 

Vol.     I.— The  Four  G-ospels. 

Vol.    II.— The  Acts,  Romans,  Corinthians,  G-alatians. 

Vol.  III. — The  remaining  Books  of  the  New  Testament. 

Commentary,  The  Old  Testament,  for  English  Readers.     Edited  by  the  Rt. 

Rev.  C.  J.  Ellicott,  D.D.,   Lord  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol.      Complete  in 

5  Vols.,  21s.  each. 
Vol.     I.— G-enesis  to  Numbers.  Vol.  III.— Kings  I.  to  Esther. 

Vol.  II.— Deuteronomy  to  Samuel  II.  Vol.   IV.— Job  to  Isaiah. 

Vol.  V.— Jeremiah  to  Malaehi. 

Day-Dawn  in  Dark  Places;    or,  Wanderings  and  Work  in  Bechwanaland, 

South  Africa.      By  the  Rev.  John  Mackenzie.      Illustrated  throughout.     3s.  6d. 
Dictionary    of    Religion,    The.       An    Encyclopaedia    of    Christian    and  other 
Religious  Doctrines,  Denominations,  Sects,    Heresies,  Ecclesiastical  Terms,  History, 
Biography,  &c.  &c.     By  the  Rev.  William  Benham,  D.D.     Cloth,  21s. 

Dore  Bible.  With  230  Illustrations  by  Gustave  Dore.  2  Vols.,  cloth,  £2  10s. ; 
Persian  morocco,  .£3  10s.  ;  Original  Edition,  2  Vols.,  cloth,  £8. 

Early  Days  of  Christianity,  The.  By  the  Ven.  Archdeacon  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.  R.S. 
Library  Edition.     Two  Vols.,  24s.  ;  morocco,  £2  2s. 

Popular  Edition.      Complete  in  One  Volume,   cloth,   6s.  ;    cloth,   gilt   edges, 
7s.  6d.  ;  Persian  morocco,  10s.  6d.  ;  tree-calf,  15s. 

Family  Prayer-Book,  The.  Edited  by  Rev.  Canon  Garbett,  M. A. ,  and  Rev. 
S.  Martin.     Extra  crown  4to,  cloth,  5s.  ;  morocco,  18s. 

GeiMe,  Cunningham,  D.D.,  Works  by:— 

Hours  with  the  Bible.    Six  Vols.    6s.  each. 

Entering  on  Life.    3s.  6d. 

The  Precious  Promises.    2s.  6d. 

The  English  Reformation.    5s. 

Glories    of   the    Man    of   Sorrows,    The.      Sermons   preached   at  St  James's, 

Piccadilly.     By  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Bonavia  Hunt.     2s.  6d. 
Gospel  of  Grace,  The.     By  a  Lindesie.     Cloth,  3s.  6d. 

Helps  to  Belief.  A  Series  of  Helpful  Manuals  on  the  Religious  Difficulties  of  the 
Day.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  Teignmouth  Shore,  M.A.,  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to 
the  Queen.     Cloth,  is.  each. 

Creation.    By  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 
Miracles.      By   the   Rev.  Brownlow  Mait- 

land,  M.A. 
PRAYER.    By  the  Rev.  T.  Teignmouth  Shore, 

M.A. 

THE  Atonement.    By  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Peterborough. 


Old  Testament  Characters.    6s. 

The  Life  and  Words  of  Christ.    Two  Vols., 

cloth,  30s.      Students1   Edition,    Two    Vol-i., 

16s. 


The  Morality  of  the  Old  Testament.  By 
the  Rev.  Newman  Smyth,  D.D. 

The  Divinity  of  Our  Lord.    By  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Derry. 


7B387. 


Selections  from  Cassell  &  Company's  Publications. 


"  Heart  Chords."     A  Series  of  Works  by  Eminent  Divines.     Bound  in  cloth,  red 
edges,  is.  each. 


My  Father.  By  the  Right  Rev.  Ashton  Oxenden, 
late  Bishop  of  Montreal. 

My  Bible.  By  the  Rt.  Rev.  W.  Boyd  Carpenter, 
Bishop  of  Ripon. 

My  Work  for  God.  By  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Cotterill. 

My  Object  in  Life.  By  the  Ven.  Archdeacon 
Farrar,  D.D. 

My  Aspirations.    By  the  Rev.  G.  Matheson.D.D. 

My  Emotional  Life.  By  the  Rev.  Preb.  Chad- 
wick    D.D. 

My  Body.    By  the  Rev.  Prof.  W.  G.  Blaikie,  D.D. 


My  Soul.    By  the  Rev.  P.  B.  Power,  M.A. 

My  Growth  in  Divine    Life.     By  the   Rev. 

Prebendary  Reynolds,  M.A. 
My  Hereafter.    By  the  Very  Rev.  Dean  Bicker- 

steth. 
My  Walk  with  God.     By  the  Very  Rev.  Dean 

Montgomery. 
My  Aids  to  the  Divine  Life.     By  the  Very 

Rev.  Dean  Boyle. 
My  Sources  of  Strength.    By  the  Rev.  E.  E. 

Jenkins,    M.A..    Secretary    of    the    Wesleyan 

Missionary  Society. 


Lay  Texts  for  the   Young,  in  English  and  French.      By   Mrs.    Richard 

Strachey.     2s.  6d. 
Life  of  Christ,  The.     By  the  Ven.  Archdeacon  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.  R.S.,  Chaplain 

in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen. 

Illustrated  Edition,  with  about  300  Original  Illustrations.      Extra  crown  4to, 

cloth,  gilt  edges,  21s.  ;  morocco  antique,  42s. 
Library  Edition.    Two  Vols.     Cloth,  24s. :  morocco,  42s. 

Bijou  Edition.    Five  Volumes,  in  box,  10s.  6d.  the  set ;  French  morocco,  21s.  the  set 
Popular  Edition,  in  One  Vol.    8vo,  cloth,  6s. ;   cloth,  gilt  edges,  7s.  6d.  ;    Persian 
morocco,  gilt  edges,  10s.  6d.  ;  tree-calf,  15s. 

Luther,  Martin:  his  Life  and  Times.     By  Peter  Bayne,  LL.D.     Two  Vols., 
demy  8vo,  1,040  pages,  cloth,  24s. 

Marriage    Ring,    The.      By   William    Landels,    D.D.      Bound    in  white 

leatherette,  gilt  edges,  in  box,  6s.  ;  morocco,  8s.  6d. 

Moses    and  Geology;    or,   The   Harmony   of  the  Bible  with   Science.     By 

the  Rev.  Samuel  Kinns,  Ph.D.,  F.R.A.S.     Illustrated.     Cheap  Edition.     6s. 

Music  of  the  Bible,  The.     By  J.  Stainer,  M.A.,  Mus.Doc.     2s.  6d. 

Patriarchs,  The.     By  the  late  Rev.  W.  Hanna,  D.D.,  and  the  Ven.  Archdeacon 

Norris,  B.  D.     2s.  6d. 
Protestantism,  The  History  of.    By  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Wylie,  LL.D.     Containing 

upwards  of  600  Original  Illustrations.     Three  Vols.,  27s.  ;  Library  Edition,  30s. 
Quiver  Yearly  Volume,  The.     With  250  high-class  Illustrations.     7s.  6d.     Also 

Monthly,  6d. 

Religion,  The  Dictionary  of.    {See  preceding  page.) 

Sacred  Poems,  The  Book  of.     Edited  by  the  Rev.  Canon  Baynes,  M.A.     With 

Illustrations.     Cloth,  gilt  edges,  5s. 
St.  George   for   England ;  and  other  Sermons  preached   to  Children.     By  the 

Rev.  T.  Teignmouth  Shore,  M.A.     5s. 
St.  Paul,  The  Life  and   Work  of.      By  the  Ven.  Archdeacon  Farrar,  D.D., 
F.R.S.,  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  the  Queen. 
Library  Edition.     Two  Vols.,  cloth,  24s.  ;  morocco,  42s. 
Illustrated   Edition,  complete  in  One  Volume,  with  about  300  Illustrations, 

£\  is.  ;  morocco,  £1  2s.  ,,.,,. 

Popular    Edition.      One  Volume,   8vo,   cloth,   6s.  ;    cloth,   gilt   edges,  7s.  6d. ; 
Persian  morocco,  10s.  6d.  ;  tree-calf,  15s. 
Secular  Life,  The  Gospel  of  the.     Sermons  preached  at  Oxford.     By  the  Hon. 
W.  H.  Fremantle,  Canon  of  Canterbury.     5s. 

Sermons  Preached  at  Westminster  Abbey.   By  Alfred  Barry,  D.D.,  D.C.L., 

Primate  of  Australia.     5s. 

Shall  We  Know  One  Another?    By  the  Rt.  Rev.  J.  C.  Ryle,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 

Liverpool.     New  and  Enlarged  Edition.     Cloth  limp,  is. 

Simon  Peter :  His  Life,  Times,  and  Friends.     By  E.  Hodder.    5s. 

Twilight  of  Life,  The.     Words  of  Counsel  and  Comfort  for  the  Aged.     By 

John  Ellerton,  M.A.     is.  6d. 
Voice  of  Time,  The.     By  John  Stroud.    Cloth  gilt,  is. 


Selections  from   Cassell  &  Company's  Publications. 

(Bbucsdioml  Marks  ana  ^iittonis'  Jltatuials. 

Alphabet,  Cassell's  Pictorial.      Size,   35  inches  by   42J  inches.      Mounted  on 
Linen,  with  rollers.     3s.  6d. 

Algebra,  The  Elements  of.     By  Prof.  Wallace,  M.A.    is. 

Arithmetics,  The  Modern  School.     By  George  Ricks,  B.Sc.  Lond.    With  Test 

Cards.     (List  on  application.) 

Book-Keeping.     By  Theodore  Jones.     For  Schools,  2s. ;  or  cloth,  3s.    For 

the  Million,  2s.  ;  or  cloth,  3s.     Books  for  Jones's  System,  Ruled  Sets  of,  2s. 

Chemistry,  The  Public  School.     By  J.  H,  Anderson,  M.A.    2s.  6d. 

Commentary,   The   New  Testament.      Edited  by  Bishop  Ellicott.      Handy 

Volume  Edition.     Suitable  for  School  and  general  use. 


St.  Matthew.    3s.  6d. 
St.  Mark.    3s. 
St.  Luke.    3s.  6d. 
St.  John.    3s.  6d. 
The  Acts    of  the    Apostles. 
3s.  6d. 


Romans.    2s.  6d. 
Corinthians  I.  and  II.    3s. 
Galatians,     Ephesians,     and 

Philippians.    3s. 
Colossians,      Thessalonians, 

and  Timothy.    3s. 


Titus,   Philemon,    Hebrews, 

and  James.    3s. 
Peter,  Jude,  and  John.    34 
The  Revelation.    3s. 
An  Introduction  to  the  New 

Testament.    2s.  6d. 


Commentary,  Old  Testament.     Edited  by  Bishop  Ellicott.     Handy  Volume 
Edition.     Suitable  for  School  and  general  use. 
Genesis.    3s.  6cL  Leviticus.    3s.  Deuteronomy.    2s.  6d. 

Exodus.    3s.  I         Numbers.    2s.  6d. 

Copy-Books,  Cassell's  Graduated.     Complete  in  18  Books.     2d.  each. 

Copy-Books,  The  Modern  School.     Complete  in  12  Books.     2d.  each. 

Drawing  Books  for  Young  Artists.     4  Books.     6d.  each. 

Drawing  Books,  Superior.      3  Books.      Printed  in  Fac-simile  by  Lithography, 
5s.  each. 

Drawing  Copies,  Cassell's  Modern  School  Freehand.    First  Grade,  is.  ;  Second 

Grade   2s. 
Drawing  Copies,  Cassell's  Standard.     In  7  Books.     2d.  each. 

Electricity,  Practical.     By  Prof.  W.  E.  Ayrton.     Illustrated.     7s.  6d. 

Elementary   Flower  Painting.     With  Eight  Coloured  Plates  and  Wood  En- 
gravings.   Crown  4to.  cloth,  3s. 
Energy  and  Motion :  A  Text-Book  of  Elementary  Mechanics.     By  William 

Paice,  M.A.     Illustrated,     is.  6d. 
English  Literature,  A  First  Sketch  of,  from  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present 

Time.     By  Prof.  Henry  Morley.     7s.  6d. 
Euclid,  Cassell's.     Edited  by  Prof.  Wallace,  M.A.     is. 
Euclid,  The  First  Four  Books  of.     In  paper,  6d.  ;  cloth,  gd. 
French  Reader,  Cassell's  Public  School.     By  Guillaume  S.  Conrad.    2s.  6d. 
French,  Cassell's  Lessons  in.     New  and  Revised  Edition.    Parts  I.  and  II.,  each 

2s.  6d.  ;  complete,  4s.  6d.     Key,  is.  6d. 
French-English  and  English-French  Dictionary.    Entirely  New  and  Enla?-ged 

Edition.     1,150  pages,  8vo,  cloth,  3s.  6d. 

Galbraith  and  Haughton's  Scientific  Manuals.    By  the  Rev.  Prof.  Galbraith, 

M.A.,  and  the  Rev.  Prof.  Haughton,  M.D.,  D.C.L. 

Arithmetic.    3s.  fid. 

Plane  Trigonometry.    2s.  6d. 

Euclid.    Books  I.,  II.,  III.    2s.  6d.    Books  IV., 

V.,  VI.     2s.  6d. 
Mathematical  Tables.    3s.  6d. 
Mechanics.    3s.  6d. 

Tides  and  Tidal  Currents,  with  Tidal  Cards,  3s. 

Geometry,  Practical  Solid.     By  Major  Ross,  R.E.    2s. 
German  of  To-Day.     By  Dr.  Heinemann.     is.  6d. 
German-English  and  English-German  Dictionary.    3s.  6d. 
German  Reading,  First  Lessons  in.     By  A.  Jagst.     Illustrated,     is. 
Handbook  of  New  Code  of  Regulations.     By  John  F.  Moss.     is.  ;  cloth,  2s. 
Historical  Course  for  Schools,  Cassell's.     Illustrated  throughout.     I.  ^Stories 

from   English    History,   is.       II. — The  Simple   Outline  of  English   History,    is.   3d. 

III. — The  Class  History  of  England,  2s.  6d. 


Natural  Philosophy.    3s.  6d 

Optics.    2s.  6d. 

Hydrostatics.    3s.  6d. 

Astronomy.   5s. 

Steam  Engine.    3s.  6d. 

Algebra.    Part  I.,  cloth,  2s.  6d.     Complete,  7s. Sd. 


Selections  from   Cassell  <k  Company's  Publications. 

Latin-English  Dictionary,  CasselTs.     Thoroughly  revised  and  corrected,  and  in 
part  re-written  by  J.  R.  V.  Marchant,  M.A.     3s.  6d. 

Latin-English  and  English-Latin  Dictionary.     By  J.   R.   Beard,  D.D.,  and  C. 
Beard,  B.A.     Crown  8vo,  914  pp.,  3s.  6d. 

Little  Folks' History  of  England.     By  Isa  Craig-Knox.    With  30  Illustrations. 

is.  6d. 
Making  of  the  Home,  The  :  A  Book  of  Domestic  Economy  for  School  and  Home 

Use.     By  Mrs.  Samuel  A.  Barnett.     is.  6d. 

Marlborough  Books. 

Arithmetic  Examples,    3s.  French  Exercises.    3s.  <5d. 

Arithmetic  Rules,    is.  6<f.  French  Grammar.    2s.  6d. 

German  Grammar.    3s.  6d. 

Music,  An  Elementary  Manual  of.    By  Henry  Leslie,     is. 

Popular  Educator,  Cassell' s.     New  and  Thoroughly  Revised  Edition.     Illustrated 
throughout.     Complete  in  Six  Vols.,  5s.  each  ;  or  in  Three  Vols.,  half  calf,  42s.  the  set. 

Physical  Science,  Intermediate  Text-Book  of.      By  F.   H.   Bowman,  D.Sc, 

F.R.A.S.,  F.L.S.     Illustrated.     3s.  6d. 
Readers,   CasselTs  Readable.      Carefully  graduated,  extremely  interesting,  and 

illustrated  throughout.     (List  on  application.) 
Readers,  CasselTs  Historical.     Illustrated  throughout,  printed  on  superior  paper, 

and  strongly  bound  in  cloth.     (List  on  application.) 
Readers  for  Infant   Schools,  Coloured.     Three   Books.      Each  containing  48 

pages,  including  8  pages  in  colours.     4d.  each. 
Reader,  The  Citizen.     By  H.  O.  Arnold  -Forster.     With  Preface  by  the  late 

Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.  Forster,  M.P.     is.  6d. 
Readers,  The  Modern  Geographical    Illustrated  throughout,  and  strongly  bound 

in  cloth.     (List  on  application.) 
Readers,  The  Modern  School.     Illustrated.     {List  on  application.) 
Reading  and  Spelling  Book,  CasselTs  Illustrated,     is. 
Right  Lines  ;  or,  Form  and  Colour.     With  Illustrations,     is. 
School  Bank  Manual,  A.     By  Agnes  Lambert.     6d. 
School  Manager's  ManuaL    By  F.  C.  Mills,  M.A.     is. 
Shakspere  Reading  Book,  The.     By  H.  Cocrthope  Bowen,  M.A.    Illustrated. 

3s.  6d.     Also  issued  in  Three  Books,  is.  each. 
Shakspere's  Plays  for  School  Use.     5  Books.     Illustrated.     6d.  each. 
Spelling,  A  Complete  Manual  of.     By  J.  D.  Morell,  LL.D.     is. 
Technical  Manuals,  CasselTs.     Illustrated  throughout : — 


Handrailing  and  Staircasing.    3s.  6d. 
Bricklayers,  Drawing  for.    3s. 
Building  Construction.    2s. 


Cabinet-Makers,  Drawing  for.    3s. 
Carpenters  &  Joiners,  Drawing  for. 
Gothic  Stonework.    3s 


Linear  Drawing  &  Practical  Geometry .  2s. 
Linear   Drawing    and    Projection.      The 


Machinists  &  Engineers ,  Drawing  for.  4s.  6d. 

Model  Drawing.    3s. 

Orthographical  and  Isometrical  Projec- 
tion.   2S. 

Practical  Perspective.    3s. 

Stonemasons,  Drawing  for.    3s. 

Applied  Mechanics.  By  Sir  R.  S.  Ball, 
LL.D.' 


Two  Vols,  in  One,  3s.  6d.  Systematic    Drawing    and     Shading.      By 

Metal-Plate  Workers,  Drawing  for.    3s.        I  Charles  Ryan.    2s. 

Technical  Educator,  CasselTs.     Illustrated  throughout.     Popular  Edition.    Four 

Vols.,  5s.  each. 
Technology,   Manuals  of.      Edited  by  Prof.   Ayrton,   F.R.S.,   and  Richard 
Wormell,  D.Sc,  M.A.     Illustrated  throughout. 
The  Dyeing  of  Textile  Fabrics.    By  Prof.     1     Design  in  Textile  Fabrics.    By  T.  R.  Ashen- 

Hummel.     5s.  hur^t      as  6d. 

Watch  and  Clock  Making.    By  D.  Glasgow. 

4s.  6d. 
Steel  and  Iron.    By\V. H.Greenwood, F.C.S. 

Assoc.  M.I.C.E.,  &c.    5s. 
Spinning  Woollen  and.  Worsted.     By  W. 
S.  Bright  McLaren.    4s.  6d. 

A  Prospectus  on  application. 

Test  Cards,  CasselTs  Combination.    In  sets,  is.  each. 


Practical  Mechanics.  By  Prof.  Perry,  M.E. 
3s.  6d. 

Cutting  Tools  Worked  by  Hand  and  Ma- 
chine.   By  Prof.  Smith.    3s.  Cid. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <fc  Company's  Publications. 


Beautifully  illus- 
With  an 


Uooks    for    ^omtg    l^opl?. 

Rhymes  for  the  Young  Folk.      By  William  Allingham. 

trated.     3s.  6d. 

The  Tales  of  the  Sixty  Mandarins.     By  P.  V.  Ramaswami  Raju 

Introduction  by  Prof.  Henry  Morlev.     Illustrated.     5s. 
The  Merry-go-Round.     Poems  for  Children.     Illustrated  throughout.     5s. 
The   New  Children's  Album.      Fcap.  4to,   320  pages.      Illustrated  throughout. 

3s.  6d. 

"  Little  Folks  "  Half- Yearly  Volume.     With  200  Illustrations.   3s.  6d.  ;  or  cloth 

silt,  ss. 
Bo-Peep.     A   Book   for  the   Little   Ones.      With   Original    Stories  and   Verses. 

Illustrated  throughout.     Boards,  2s.  6d.  ;  cloth  gilt,  3s.  6d. 
The  World's  Lumber  Room.     By  Selina  Gaye.     Illustrated.     3s.  6d. 
Lay  Texts   for  the  Young,    in    English  and   French.     By  Mrs.   Richard 

Strachey.     2s.  6d. 
Sunday  School  Reward  Books.      By   Popular  Authors.      With  Four  Original 

Illustrations  in  each.     Cloth  gilt,  is.  6d.  each. 
or,  "  If  Wishes  were 


Rhoda's  Reward; 
Horses." 

Jack  Marston's  Anchor. 

Frank's     Life-Battle ; 
Friends. 


or,     The     Three 


Hags  and  Rainbows:  a  Story  of  Thanks- 
giving-. 

Uncle  William's  Charge;  or,  The  Broken 
Trust. 

Pretty  Pink's  Purpose;  or,  The  Little 
Street  Merchants. 


'Golden  Mottoes"  Series,  The.     Each  Book  containing  208  pages,  with  Four 
full-page  Original  Illustrations.     Crown  8vo,  cloth  gilt,  2s.  each. 

"Nil  Desperandum."  By  the  Rev.  F.  Lang-  !  "Honour  is  my  Guide."     By  Jeanie  Hering 

bridge.  (Mrs.  Adams-Acton). 

"■Rpar  and  Pnrhpar  "  Rv  Sarah  Pitt  I  "  Aim  at  the  Sure  Bod."  By  Emilie  Searchfield. 

Eeai  ana  ±  oroear.  By  baran  ritt.  1  „  He  Couquers  who  Endures."  By  the  Author 

"  Foremost  if  I  Can."     By  Helen  Atteridge.       |  of  "  May  Cunningham's  Trial,"  &c. 


The  "  Proverbs  "  Series.     Consisting  of  a  New  and  Original  Series  of  Stories  by 
Popular  Authors,  founded  on  and  illustrating  well-known  Proverbs.     With  Four  Ulus 


trations  in  each  Book,  printed  on  a  tint. 

FritterB ;  or,  "  It's  a  Long  Lane  that  has 
no  Turning."    By  Sarali  Pitt. 

Trixy;  or,  "Those  who  Live  in  Glass 
Houses  shouldn't  throw  Stones."  By 
Maggie  Symington. 

The  Two  Hardcastles ;  or,  "  A  Friend  in 
Need  is  a  Friend  Indeed."  By  Made- 
line Bonavia  Hunt. 


Crown  8vo,  160  pages,  cloth,  is.  6d.  each. 
Major  Monk's    Motto;    or,  "Look   Before 

you  Leap."    By  the  Rev,  F.  Langbridge. 
Tim  Thomson's  Trial;  or,  "  All  is  not  Gold 

that  Glitters."    By  Ceorge  Weatherly. 
Ursula's     Stumbling  -  Block  ;     or,   "  Pride 

comes  before  a  Fall."    By  Julia  Goddard. 
Ruth's    Life  -  Work ;    or,   "  No    Pains,   no 

Gains."    By  the  Rev.  Joseph  Johnson. 


The  "Cross  and  Crown"  Series.  Consisting  of  Stories  founded  on  incidents 
which  occurred  during  Religious  Persecutions  of  Past  Days.  With  Illustrations  in 
each  Book,  printed  on  a  tint.       2s.  6d.  each. 


By  Fire  and  Sword:  a  Story  of  the 
Huguenots.     By  Thomas  Archer. 

Adam  Hepburn's  Vow:  a  Tale  of  Kirk 
and  Covenant.    By  Annie  S.  Swan. 

No.  XIII.;  or,  The  Story  of  the  Lost 
Vestal.  A  Tale  of  Early  Christian  Days. 
By  Emma  Marshall. 


Strong  to   Suffer:    A   Story  of   the   Jews. 

By  E.  Wynne. 
Heroes  of  the  Indian  Empire ;   or,  Stories 

of  Valour  and  Victory.    By  Ernest  Foster. 
In   Letters    of    Flame :     A    Story    of    th  i 

Waldenses.     By  C.  L.  Mateaux. 
Through  Trial   to   Triumph.     By  Madeline 

B.  Hunt. 


The  World's  Workers.     A  Series  of 

Authors.     With  Portraits  printed  on  a 

General  Gordon.  By  the  Rev  S.  A  Swaine. 
Charles  Dickens.  By  his  Eldest  Daughter. 
Sir  Titus  Salt  and  George  Moore.    By  J. 

Burnley. 
Florence  Nightingale,  Catherine  Marsh, 

Frances  Ridley  Havergal,  Mrs.  Ran- 

yard  ("L.  N.  R.")     By  Lizzie  Alldridge. 
Dr.  Guthrie,  Father  Mathew,  Elihu  Bur- 

ritt,  Joseph  Livesey.    By  the  Rev.  J.  W. 

Kirton. 
Sir  Henry  Haveloek  and  Colin  Campbell, 

Lord  Clyde.    By  E.  C.  Phillips. 


By 


New  and    Original  Volumes    by  Popular 
tint  as  Frontispiece,     is.  each. 

Abraham  Lincoln.    By  Ernest  Foster. 
David  Livingstone.    By  Robert  Smiles. 
George    Muller    and    Andrew   Reed. 
E.  R.  Pitman. 

Richard  Cobden.    By  R.  Cowing. 
Benjamin  Franklin.    By  E.  M.  Tomkinson. 
Handel.    By  Eliza  Clarke. 

Turner  the  Artist.    By  the  Rev.  S.  A.  Swaine. 
George  and  Robert  Stephenson.    By  C.  L. 
Matcaux. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <k  Company's  Publications. 


The  "  Chimes  "  Series.     Each  containing  64  pages,   with  Illustrations  on  every 
page   and  handsomely  bound  in  cloth,  is. 


Bible  Chimes.   Contains  Bible  Verses  for  Every 

Day  in  the  Month. 
Daily  Chimes.      Verses    from    the    Poets    for 

Every  Day  in  the  Month. 


Holy  Chimes.    Verses  for  Every  Sunday  in  the 

Year. 
Old  'World  Chimes.    Verses  from  old  writers  for 

Every  Day  in  the  Month. 


New  Five  Shilling  Books  for  Boys. 

tint.     Cloth  gilt,  5s.  each. 

"Follow  my  Leader;"  or,  trie  Boys  of 
Templeton.     By  Talbot  Baines  Reed. 

For  Fortune  and  Glory;  a  Story  of  the 
Soudan  War.    By  Lewis  Hough. 

The  Champion  of  Odin ;  or,  Viking  Life 
in  tne  Days  of  Old.  By  J.  Fred.  Hodgetts. 


With  Original  Illustrations,  printed  on  a 

Bound  by  a  Spell;  or,  the  Hunted  Witch 
of  the  Forest.    By  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Greene. 

Under  Bayard's  Banner.    By  Henry  Frith. 

The  King's  Command.  A  Story  for  Girls. 
By  Maggie  Symington. 

The  Romance  of  Invention.    By  Jas.  Burnley. 


New  Three  and  Sixpenny  Books  for  Boys, 

on  a  tint.     Cloth  gilt,  3s.  6d.  each. 

On  Board  the  "Esmeralda;"  or,  Martin 

Leigh's  Log.     By  John  C.  Hutcheson. 
In  Quest  of  Gold ;  or,  Under  tne  Whanga 

Falls.     By  Alfred  St.  Johnston. 
For   Queen   and   King ;     or,   the    Loyal 

'Prentice.     By  Henry  Frith. 
A  World  of  Girls :   A  Story  of  a  School. 

3y  1_.  T.  Meade. 


With  Original  Illustrations,  printed 

Lost    among    White    Africans :     A    Boy's 
Adventures  on  the  Upper  Congo.    By 

David  Ker. 

Perils   Afloat   and   Brigands   Ashore.     By 
Alfred  Elwes. 

Freedom's  Sword  :  A  Story  of  the  Days  of 
WaUace  and  Bruee.    By  Annie  S.  Swan. 


The   ■'Boy  Pioneer"  Series.      By  Edward  S.  Ellis.     With  Four  Full-page 

Illustrations  in  each  Book.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  2s.  6d.  each. 
Ned  in  the  Woods.      A  Tale  of  Early  Days    I     Ned  on  the  Biver.     A  Tale  of  Indian  River 

Warfare. 
Ned  in  the  Block  House.    A  Story  of  Pioneer  Life  in  Kentucky. 


in  the  V\  est. 


The  "Log  Cabin "  Series.     By  Edward  S.  Ellis.     With  Four  Full-page  Illus- 
trations in  each.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  2s.  6d.  each. 

The  Lost  Trail.  |  Camp-Fire  and  Wigwam. 

Footprints  in  the  Forest. 


The 


"Great  River"    Series.      (Uniform   with   the    "Log  Cabin'   Series.)     By 
Edward  S.  Ellis.     Illustrated.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  bevelled  boards,  2s.  6d.  each. 
Down  the  Mississippi.  |  Lost  in  the  Wilda. 

Up  the  Tapajos :  or,  Adventures  in  Brazil. 


Sixpenny  Story  Eooks. 

well-known  Writers. 
Little  Content. 
The  Smuggler's  Cave. 
Little  Lizzie. 
Little  Bird. 

The  Boot  on  the  Wrong 
Foot. 


All  Illustrated,  and  containing  Interesting  Stories  by 


Luke  Barnicott. 
Little  Pickles. 
The  Boat  Club. 
The  Elehester  College 

Boys. 
My  First  Cruise. 


The  Little  Peacemaker. 
The  Delft  Jug. 
Lottie's  White  Frock. 
Only  Just  Once. 
Helpful  Nellie;  and  other 
Stories. 


The  "  Baby's  Album "  Series.     Four  Books,  each  containing  about  50  Illustra- 
tions.    Price  6d.  each  ;  or  cloth  gilt,  is.  each. 
Baby's  Album.        |        Dolly's  Album.        |        Fairy's  Album.        |        Pussy's  Album. 


illustrated  Books  for  the  Little  Ones.     Containing  interesting  Stories.     All 
Illustrated,     is.  each. 
Indoors  and  Out.  j     Little  Mothers  and  then- 

Some  Farm  Friends.  Children. 

Those  Golden  Sands.  I     Our  Pretty  Pets. 


Our  Schoolday  Hours. 
Creatures  Tame. 
Creatures  Wild. 


Shining  Story  Books.     All  Illustrated,  and  containing  Interesting  Stories. 

The  History  of  Five  Little 

Pitchers. 
The  Giant's  Cradle. 
Shag  and  Doll. 
Aunt  Lucia's  Locket. 
The  Magic  Mirror. 


Thorns  and  Tangles. 

The  Cuckoo  in  the  Kobin's 

Nest. 
John's  Mistake. 
Diamonds  in  the  Sand. 
Burly  Bob. 


The  Cost  of  Kevenge. 
Clever  Frank. 
Among  the  Bedskins. 
The  Ferryman  of  BrilL 
Harry  Maxwell. 
A  Bainshed  Monarch. 


Selections  from  Cassell  &  Company's  Publications. 


Cassell's  Children's  Treasuries. 

is  profusely  Illustrated.     Cloth,  : 


Each  Volume  contains  Stories  or  Poetry,  and 
;.  each. 


Cook  Robin,  and  other  Nursery  Rhymes. 
The  Queen  of  Hearts. 
Old  mother  Hubbard. 
Tuneful  Lays  for  Merry  Days. 
Cheerful  Songs  for  Young  Polks. 
Pretty  Poems  for  Young  People. 
The  Children's  Joy. 


Pretty  Pictures  and  Pleasant  Stories. 

Our  Picture  Book. 

Tales  for  the  Little  Ones. 

My  Sunday  Book  of  Pictures. 

Sunday  Garland  of  Pictures  and  Stone*. 

Sunday  Readings  for  Little  Folks. 


"Little    Folks"   Painting    Books.      With  Text,   and  Outline  Illustrations  loj- 
Water-Colour  Painting,     is.  each. 

Fruits  and  Blossoms  for  "  Little  Folks  " 

to  Paint. 
The   "Little   Folks"   Proverb    Painting 

Book. 


The  "  Little  Folks  "  Illuminating  Book. 
Pictures  to  Paint. 
"Little  Folks"  Painting  Book. 
"Little  Folks"  Nature  Painting  Book 


Another  "Little  Folks"  Painting  Book. 


Eighteenpenny  Story  Books. 

Wee  Little  Rhymes. 

Little  One's  Welcome. 

Little  Gossips. 

Ding  Dong  Bell. 

Three  Wee  Ulster  Lassies 

Little  Queen  Mab. 

Up  the  Ladder. 

Dick's  Hero ;  and  other  Stories. 

The  Chip  Boy. 

Saggles,  Baggies,  and  the  Emperor. 


All  Illustrated  throughout. 

Roses  from  Thorns 

Faith's  Father. 

By  Land  and  Sea. 

The  Young  Berringtons. 

Jerf  and  Leff. 

Tom  Morris's  Error. 

Worth  more  than  Gold 

"Through  Flood— Through  Fire;"  and 

other  Stories. 
The  Girl  with  the  Golden  Locks. 


Stories  of  the  Olden  Time. 


The  "Cosy  Corner"  Series. 

One  Hundred  Pictures. 


Story  Books  for  Children, 
is.  6d.  each. 


Each  containing  nearly 


See-Saw  Stories. 

Little  Chimes  for  ah  Times. 

Wee  Willie  Winkie. 

Pet's  Posy  of  Pictures  and  Stories. 

Dot's  Story  Book 


Story  Flowers  for  Rainy  Hours. 
Little  Talks  with  Little  People. 
Chats  for  SmaU  Chatterers. 
Pictures  for  Happy  Hours. 
Ups  and  Downs  of  a  Donkey's  Life 


The  "  World  in  Pictures  "  Series.     Illustrated  throughout.     2s.  6d.  each. 


A  Ramble  Round  France. 

All  the  Russias. 

Chats  about  Germany. 

The  Land  of  the  Pyramids  (Egypt). 

Peeps  into  China. 


The  Eastern  Wonderland  (Japan). 
Glimpses  of  South  America. 
Round  Africa. 

The  Land  of  Temples  (India). 
The  Isles  of  the  Pacific. 


Two-Shilling  Story  Books.    All  Illustrated. 


Clover  Blossoms. 
Christmas  Dreams. 
Stories  of  the  Tower. 
Mr.  Burke's  Nieces. 
May  Cunningham's  Trial. 
The  Top  of  the    Ladder: 
How  to  Reach  it. 

Half-crown  Books. 


Little  Flotsam. 
Madge  and  her  Friends. 
The  Children  of  the  Court. 
A  Moonbeam  Tangle. 
Maid  Marjory. 
The  Four  Cats  of  the  Tip- 
pertons. 
Through  Peril   to   Fortune. 


Marion's  Two  Homes. 

Little  Folks'  Sunday  Boc , 

Two  Fourpenny  Bits. 

Poor  Nelly. 

Tom  Heriot. 

Aunt  Tabitha's  Waifs. 

In  Mischief  Again. 


Arm  Chair  Stories. 

Little  Hinges. 

Margaret's  Enemy. 

Pen's  Perplexities. 

Notable  Shipwrecks. 

Golden  Days. 

Wonders  of  Common  Things. 

Little  Empress  Joan. 


Soldier  and  Patriot  (George  Washington). 


At  the  South  Pole. 

Truth  wiU  Out. 

Pictures  of  School  Life  and  Boyhood. 

The  Young  Man  in  the  Battle  of  Life.    By 

the  Rev.  Dr.  Landels. 
The   True  Glory  of  Woman.     By  the  Rev. 

Dr.  Landels. 
The  Wise  Woman.    By  George  Macdonald. 


Picture  Teaching  Series.     Each  book  Illustrated  throughout, 
gilt,  coloured  edges,  2s.  6d.  each. 


Fcap.  4to,  cloth 


Through  Picture-Land. 

Picture  Teaehingfor  Young  and  Old. 

Picture  Natural  History. 

Scraps    of    Knowledge    for   the    Little 

Ones. 
Great  Lessons  from  Little  Things. 


Woodland  Romances. 

Stories  of  Girlhood. 

Frisk  and  his  Flock. 

Pussy  Tip-Toes'  Family. 

The  Boy  Joiner  and  Model  Maker. 

The  Children  of  Holy  Scripture. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <£•  Company's  Publications. 


Library  of  Wonders.     Illustrated  Gift-books  for  Boys.     2s.  6d.  each. 


Wonderful  Adventures. 
Wonders  of  Animal  Instinct. 
Wonders  of  Architecture. 
Wonders  of  Acoustics. 


Wonders  of  Water. 
Wonderful  Escapes. 
Bodily  Strength  and  Skill. 
Wonderful  Balloon  Ascents. 


The  "  Home  Chat "  Series.   All  Illustrated  throughout.  Fcap.  4to.  Boards,  3s.  6d. 
each  ;  cloth,  gilt  edges,  5s.  each. 
Home  Chat.  I  Half-Hours  with  Early  Explorers. 

Peeps  Abroad  for  Folks  at  Home.  Stories  about  Animals. 

Around  and  About  Old  England.  Stories  about  Birds. 

Paws  and  Claws. 


Books  for  the  Little  Ones. 

Rhymes  for  the  Young  Folk.    By  William 
Allingham.     Beautifully  Illustrated.    2s.  6d. 

The  Little  Doings  of  some  Little  Folks. 

By  Chatty  Cheerful.    Illustrated.    5s. 
The  Sunday  Scrap  Book.    With  One  Thou- 
sand Scripture  Pictures.    Boards,  5s. ;  cloth, 

7s.  6d. 
Daisy  Dimple's  Scrap    Book.      Containing 

about  1,000  Pictures.     Boards,  5s. ;  cloth  gilt, 

7s.  6d. 
The   History   Scrap   Book.       With   nearly 

1,000  Engravings.    5s. ;  cloth,  7s.  6d. 
The  Little  Folks'  Out  and  About  Book. 

By  Chatty  Cheerful.     Illustrated.    5s. 

Myself  and  my  Friends.     By  Olive  Patch. 

With  numerous  Illustrations.    Crown  4to.    5s. 
A  Parcel  of  Children.  By  Olive  Patch.  With 

numerous  Illustrations.    Crown  4to.    5s. 
Little   Folks'    Picture  Album.      With   168 

Large  Pictures.    5s. 
Little  Folks'   Picture  Gallery.      With   150 

Illustrations.    5s. 


The    Old    Fairy   Tales.      With  Original  Illus. 
trations.     Boards,  is. ;  cloth,  is.  6d. 

My  Diary.     With  Twelve  Coloured  Plates  and 

366  Woodcuts,     is. 
Happy  Little  People.    By  Olive  Patch.    With 

Illustrations.     5s. 

"Little    Folks"    Album    of    Music,    The. 
Illustrated.    3s.  6d. 

Wee  Little  Rhymes,    is.  6d. 

Little  One's  Welcome,    is.  64 

Little  Gossips,    is.  6d. 

Ding  Dong  BeU.    is.  6d. 

Clover  Blossoms.    2s. 

ChristmaB  Dreams.    2s. 

Arm  Chair  Stories.    2s.  6d. 

The   Story   of   Robin  Hood.    With  Coloured 

Illustrations.    2S.  6d. 
The     Pilgrim's     Progress.       With  Coloured 

Illustrations.    2s.  6d. 


Books  for  Boys. 

Captain  Trafalgar.  A  Story  of  the  Mexican 
Gulf.     By  W.  Westall.    Illustrated.    5s. 

Kidnapped.    By  R.  L.  Stevenson.    5s. 

King  Solomon's  Mines.  By  H.  Rider  Hag- 
gard.   5s. 

Treasure  Island.  By.R.  L.  Stevenson.  With 
Full-page  Illustrations.     5s. 

Famous  Sailors  of  Former  Times,  His- 
tory of  the  Sea  Fathers.  By  Clements 
Markham.     Illustrated.    2s.  6d. 

At  the  South  Pole.    By  W.  H.  G.  K 


The  Phantom  City.    By  W.  Westall.    55. 

Modern  Explorers.     By  Thomas  Frost.     Illus- 
trated,   ss. 

Wild  Adventures  in  Wild  Places.     By  Dr. 
Gordon  Stables,  M.D.,  R.N.     Illustrated,     ss. 

Jungle.    Peak,  and    Plain.     By   Dr.    Gotdon 
Stables,  R.N.     Illustrated.    5s. 

O'er  Many  Lands,  on  Many  Seas.    By  Gordon 
Stables,  M.D.,  R.N.     Illustrated.    5s. 
ingston.    New  Edition.    Illustrated.    2s.  6d. 


Books  for  all  Children. 

Cassell's  Robinson  Crusoe.  With  100  strik- 
ing Illustrations.   Cloth,  3s.  6d.  ;  gilt  edges,  5s. 

CasseU's  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  Illus- 
trated.   Cloth,  3s.  6d. ;  gilt  edges,  5s. 

Sunny  Spain :  Its  People  and  Places, 
with  Glimpses  of  its  History.  By 
Olive  Patch.      Illustrated.     5s. 

RambleB  Round  London  Town.  By  C.  L. 
Mateaux.     Illustrated.    5s. 

Favorite  Album  of  Fun  and  Fancy,  The. 
Illustrated.    3s.  6d. 

Familiar  Friends.  By  Olive  Patch.  Illus- 
trated.   Cloth  gilt,  ss. 

Odd  Folks  at  Home.  By  C.  L.  Mateaux. 
With  nearly  150  Illustrations.    SS. 


Field  Friends  and  Forest   Foes.     By  Olive 
Patch.     Profusely  Illustrated.    5s. 

Silver   'Wings   and    Golden   Scales.       Illus- 
trated.   5s. 

The  'Wonderland  of  Work.  ByC.  L.  Maf' 
Illustrated.    5s. 

Little  Folks'  Holiday  Album.  Illustrated.  3s.  6d. 

Tiny    Houses    and   their    Builders.      Illus- 
trated.   5s. 

Children  of  all  Nations.    Their  Homes,  their 
Schools,  their  Playgrounds.     Illustrated.    5s. . 

Tim    Trumble's    "  Little    Mother."      By  C. 
L.   Mateauv.     Illustrated.    5s. 

A  Moonbeam  Targle.     Original  Fairy  Tales 
By  S.  Shadbolt.     illustrated.     3s.  6d. 


CASSELL   <fc    COMPANY,   Limited,    Ludgate    Hill,    London,  Paris,  Ne:v 

York  &  Melbourne. 


Selections  from  Cassell  $  Company's  Publications. 

Illustrate,  f  itu  ^rt,  anft  othtv  Uolunws. 

Art,  Tlie  Magazine  of.  Yearly  Volume.  With  about  500  choice  Engravings 
from  famous  Paintings  and  from  Original  Drawings  by  the  First  Artists  of  tne  day. 
An  Original  Etching  forms  the  Frontispiece.     16s. 

Art  Directory  and  Year-Book  of  the  United  States.    With  Engravings.    7s.  6d. 
Along  Alaska's  Great  River.    By  Frederick  Schwatka.    Illustrated.    12s.  6cL 
American  Academy  Notes.     Illustrated.    2s.  6d. 
Animal    Painting    in   Water  Colours.      With   Eighteen   Coloured    Plates   by 

Frederick  Tayler.     5s. 
Appreciation  of  Gold.    By  William  Fowler,  LL.D.    6d. 
After  London ;  or,  Wild  England.  By  Richard  Jefferies.  Cheap  Edition,  3s.  6d. 
Artist,  Education  of  the.     By  E.  Chesneau.    Translated  by  Clara  Bell.     5s. 
Behind  Time.     By  G.  P.  Lathrop.     Illustrated.     2s.  6d. 
Bimetallism,  The  Theory  of.    By  D.  Barbour.    6s. 

Bismarck,  Prince.    By  C.  Lowe,  M.A.    2  Vols.,  demy  8vo.  With  2  Portraits.  24s. 
Bright,  Bt.  Hon.  John,  Life  and  Times  of.     By  W.  Robertson.    7s.  6d. 
British  Ballads.     275  Original  Illustrations.    Two  Vols.     Cloth,  7s.  6d.  each. 
British   Battles    on   Land  and   Sea.      By  James  Grant.    With  about  600 

Illustrations.     Three  Vols.,  4to,  £1  7s.  ;  Library  Edition,  .£1  10s. 
British  Battles,  Recent.     Illustrated.     4to,  9s.     Library  Edition,  10s. 
British  Empire,  The.    By  Sir  George  Campbell.    3s. 
Browning,  An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of.    By  Arthur  Symons.   2s.  6d. 
Butterflies  and   Moths,   European.     By  W.   F.   Kirby.      With  61  Coloured 

Plates.     Demy  4to,  35s. 

Canaries  and  Cage-Birds,  The  Illustrated  Book  of.      By  W.  A.  Blakston, 

W.    Swaysland,  and  A.    F.  Wiener.     With  56  Fac-simile  Coloured  Plates,  35s. 

Cannibals  and  Convicts.     By  Julian  Thomas  ("The  Vagabond"),     ios.  6a. 

Captain  Trafalgar :  a  Story  of  the  Mexican  Gulf.  By  W.  Westall.  Illus- 
trated,   ss. 

Cassell's  Family  Magazine.     Yearly  Vol.     Illustrated,     as. 

Cathedral    Churches  of  England  and  Wales.      Descriptive,    Historical    and 

Pictorial.     With  150  Illustrations.     21s. 

Celebrities  of  the  Century :    Being  a  Dictionary  of  Men  and  Women  of  the 

Nineteenth  Century.     21s.  ;  Roxburgh,  25s. 
Changing  Year,  The.     With  Illustrations.     7s.  6d. 

Chess  Problem,  The.    With  Illustrations  by  C.  Planck  and  others.     7s.  6d. 
Children  of  the  Cold,  The.     By  Lieut.  Schwatka.     2s.  6d. 
China  Painting.     By  Florence  Lewis.     With  Sixteen  Coloured  Plates,  and  a 

selection  of  Wood  Engravings.     With  full  Instructions.     5s. 
Choice  Dishes  at  Small  Cost.     By  A.  G.  Payne.     3s.  6d.     Cheap  Edition,  is. 
Christmas    in    the    Olden    Time.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott.    With  charming 

Original  Illustrations.     7s.  6d. 

Cities  of  the  World:  their  Origin,  Progress,  and  Present  Aspect.     Three  Vols. 

Illustrated.     7s.  6d.  each. 

Civil  Service,  Guide  to  Employment  in  the.  New  and  Enlarged  Edition.  3s.  6a. 
Civil  Service.— Guide  to  Female  Employment  in  Government  Offices.  Cloth,  is. 
Clinical  Manuals  for  Practitioners  and  Students  of  Medicine.    (A  List  of 

Volumes  fonvarded  post  free  on  application  to  the  Publishers.') 

Clothing,  The  Influence  of,  on  Health.  By  Frederick  Treves,  F.R.C.S.  2s. 
Cobden  Club,  Works  published  for  the:— 

Writings  of  Richard  Cobden.    6s.  The  Trade  Depression.   6d. 

Local  Government  and  Taxation  in  the        Crown  Colonies,    is. 

United  Kingdom,    gs.  n„„(tall  ,H         Our  Land  Laws  of  the  Past.    3d- 

Displacement  ot  Labour  and  Capital.   3d.         ~  .  ..        Si__j-     «j 

The  Three  Panics,    is.  Popular  Fallacies  Regarding  Trade.    6d. 

Free  Trade  versus  Fair  Trade.    5s.  Reciprocity  Craze.    3d. 

Pleas  for  Protection  Examined.    6d.  1    "Western  Farmer  of  America.    3d. 

Free  Trade  and  English  Commerce.  By         Transfer  of  Land  by  Registration.    6d. 

A.  Mjnjjredien.    6d.  I    Reform  of  the  English  Land  System..    3& 

Colonies  and  India,  Our:  How  we  Got  Them,  an£  Why  we   Keep   Them 
By  Prof.  C.  Ransome.     is. 

7G387. 


Selections  from   Cassell  <k  Company 's  Publications. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  The  Life  and  Voyages  of.     By  Washington  Irving. 

Three  Vols.     7s.  6d. 
Cookery,  Cassell's  Dictionary  of.     Containing  about  Nine  Thousand   Recipes. 

7s.  6d.  ;  Roxburgh,  10s.  fid. 
Cookery,  A  Year's.     By  Phyllis  Browne.     Cloth  gilt  or  oiled  cloth,  3s.  6d. 
Cook  Book,  Catherine  Owen's  New.    4s. 
Co-operators,  Working  Men:  What  They  have  Done,  and  What  They  are 

Doing.     By  A.  H.  Dyke-Acland,  M.P.,  and  B.  Jones,      is. 
Countries  of  the  World,  The.     By  Robert  Brown,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  &c.     Com- 
plete in  Six  Vols.,  with  about  750  Illustrations.     4to,  7s.  6d.  each. 
Cromwell,  Oliver:  The  Man  and  his  Mission.     By  J.  Allanson  Picton,  M.P. 

Cloth,  7s.  6d.  ;  morocco,  cloth  sides,  gs. 
Cyclopsedia,  Cassell's  Concise.      With   12,000  subjects,   brought  down  to  the 

latest  date.     With  about  600  Illustrations,  15s.;  Roxburgh,  18s. 
Dairy  Farming.     By  Prof.  J.  P.  Sheldon.     With  25  Fac-simile  Coloured  Plates, 

and  numerous  Wood  Engravings.     Cloth,  31s.  6d.  ;  half-morocco.  42s. 

Decisive  Events  in  History.    By  Thomas  Archer.    With  Sixteen  Illustrations. 

Boards,  3s.  6d.  ;  cloth,  5s. 
Decorative    Design,    Principles    of.       By    Christopher    Dresser,    Ph.D. 

Illustrated.     5s. 
Deserted  Village  Series,  The.     Consisting  of  Editions  de  luxe  of  favourite  poems 
by  Standard  Authors.     Illustrated.     Cloth  gilt,  2s.  6d.;  or  Japanese  morocco,  5s.  each. 
Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village.  I  Wordsworth's    Ode    on    Immortality, 

Milton's  L' Allegro  and  II  Penseroso.  and  Lines  on  Tintern  Abbey. 

Songs  from  Shakespeare. 

Dickens,  Character  Sketches  from.    Second  and  Third  Series.     With  Six 

Original  Drawings  in  each,  by  Frederick  Barnard.     In  Portfolio,  21s.  each. 
Diary  of  Two  Parliaments.     By  H.  W.   Lucy.     The  Disraeli  Parliament,  12s. 

The  Gladstone  Parliament,  12s. 
Dog,  The.     By  Idstone.     Illustrated.     2s.  6d. 
Dog,    Illustrated    Book    of  the.     By  Vero  Shaw,  B.A     With  28  Coloured 

Plates.     Cloth  bevelled,  35s.  ;  half-morocco,  45s. 
Domestic  Dictionary,  The.    An  Encyclopaedia  for  the  Household.  Cloth,  7s.  6d. 
Dor6's  Adventures  of  Munchausen.     Illustrated  by  Gustave  Dor£.    5s. 
Dor6s  Dante's  Inferno.     Illustrated  by  Gustave  Dore.    Popular  Edition,  21s. 
Dore's  Fairy  Tales  Told  Again.     With  24  Full-page  Engravings  by  Dor£.     5s. 
Dore"  Gallery,  The.      With  250  Illustrations  by  Gustave  Dore\     4to,  42s. 
Dore's  Milton's  Paradise  Lost.     With  Full-page  Drawings  by  Gustave  Dor£. 

4to,  2 is. 
Edinburgh,    Old  and   New,  Cassell's.      With  600  Illustrations.     Three  Vols., 

9s.  each  ;  library  binding,  £1  10s.  the  set. 

Egypt :  Descriptive,  Historical,  and  Picturesque.  By  Prof.  G.  Ebers. 
Translated  by  Clara  Bell,  with  Notes  by  Samuel  Birch,  LL.D.,  &c.  Two  Vols. 
With  800  Original  Engravings.     Vol.  I.,  £2  5s.  ;  Vol.  II.,  £2  12s.  6d. 

Electriciiy,  Age  of,   from  Amber  Soul  to  Telephone.    By   Park  Benjamin, 

Ph.D.     7s.  6d. 
Electricity,  Practical     By  Prof.  W.  E.  Ayrton.     Illustrated.     7s.  6d. 
Electricity  in  the  Service  of  Man.    With  nearly  850  Illustrations.     21s. 
Electrician's  Pocket-Book,  The.    By  Gordon  Wigan,  M.A.     5s. 
Encyclopsedic  Dictionary,  The.     A  New  and  Original  Work  of  Reference  to  all 

the  Words  in  the  English  Language.   Eleven  Divisional  Vols,  now  ready,  10s.  6d.  each; 

or  the  Double  Divisional  Vols.,  half-morocco,  21s.  each. 
Energy  in  Nature.     By  Wm.  Lant  Carpenter,  B.Sc.    80  Illustrations.    3s.  6d. 
England,    Cassell's    Illustrated    History    of.     With  2,000  Illustrations.     Ten 

Vols..  4to,  gs.  each. 
English  History,  The  Dictionary  of.     Cloth,  21s.  ;  Roxburgh,  25s. 
English  Literature,  Library  of.     By  Prof.   Henry  Morley.     Complete  in  5 

vols.,  7s.  6d.  each. 
Vol.      I. — Shorter  English  Poems. 
Vol.    II.— Illustrations     of     English 

Religion. 
Vol.  III.— English  Plays. 


Vol.  IV.— Shorter    Works   in    English 

Prose. 
Vol.    V.-  Sketches  of  Longer  Works  in 

English  Verse  and  Prose. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <fc  Company 's  Publications. 

Englisli  Literature,  Morley's  First  Sketch  of.    Revised  Edition,  7s.  6d. 
English  Literature,  The  Dictionary  of.     By  W.  Davenport  Adams.     Cheat) 

Edition,  7s.  6d.  ;  Roxburgh,  10s.  6d. 
English  Literature,  The  Story  of.       By  Anna  Buckland.      New  and  Cheap 

Edition.     3s.  6d. 

English  Poetesses.     By  Eric  S.  Robertson,  M.A.     5s. 

English  Writers.  An  attempt  towards  a  History  of  English  Literature.  By 
Henry  Mori.ey,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  English  Literature,  University  College, 
London.  Volume  I. — From  the  Earliest  Times  to  Beowulf.  400  pages, 
crown  8vo,  cloth,  5s. 

Etching :  Its  Technical  Processes,  with  Remarks  on  Collections  and  Collecting. 

By  S.  K.  Koehler.     Illustrated  with  30  Full-page  Plates.     Price  £\  4s. 

Etiquette  of  Good  Society,     is.  ;  cloth,  is.  6d. 

Exceptional  Distress.  Report  of  a  Special  Committee  of  the  Charity  Organisation 

Society.     6d. 

Eye,  Ear,  and  Throat,  The  Management  of  the.    3s.  6d. 

Family  Physician,  The.     By  Eminent  Physicians  and  Surgeons.     Cloth,  21s.  ; 

half  morocco,  25s. 
False  Hopes.     By  Prof.  Goldwin  Smith,  M.A. ,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.     6d. 
Fenn,  G.  Manvilie,  Works  by.    Popular  Editions.     Cloth  boards,  2s.  each. 


Dutch,  the  Diver;  or,  a  Man's  Mistake. 
My  Patients. 


The  Vicar's  People. 

Cobweb's  Father,  and  other  Stories. 

The  Parson  o'  Dumford. 


Poverty  Corner. 

Ferns,   European.     By  James  Britten,  F.L.S.     With  30  Fac-simile  Coloured 
Plates  by  D.  Blair,  F.L.S.     21s. 

Field  Naturalist's  Handbook,  The.    By  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood  and  Theodore 

Wood.     5s. 
Figuier's  Popular  Scientific  Works.     With  Several   Hundred   Illustrations  in 

each.     3s.  6d.  each. 


The  Human  Race. 
"World  Before  the  Deluge. 
Reptiles  and  Birds. 


The  Ocean  World. 
The  Vegetable  World. 
The  Insect  World. 


Mammalia. 
Figure  Painting  in  Water  Colours.     With  16  Coloured  Plates  by   Blanche 

MacArthur  and  Jennie  Moore.     With  full  Instructions.     7s.  6d. 
Fine-Art  Library,   The.      Edited  by  John  Sparkes,   Principal  of  the  South 
Kensington  Art  Schools.     Each  Book  contains  about  100  Illustrations.     5s.  each. 

The   Education   of  the   Artist.     By   Ernest 
Chesneau.      Translated   by  Clara    Bell.    Non- 
illustrated. 
Greek    Archaeology.     By   Maxime    Collignon. 

Translated  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Wright. 
Artistic  Anatomy.    By  Prof.  DuvaL    Translated 
by  F.  E.  Fenton. 


Tapestry.    By  Eugene  Muntz.     Translated  by 

Miss  L..  J.  Davis 
Engraving.    By   Le  Vicomte  Henri  Delaborde. 

Translated  by  R.  A.  M.  Stevenson. 
The   English    School    of  Painting.     By  E. 

Chesneau.     Translated  by  L.   N.  Etherington. 

With  an  Introduction  by  Prof.  Ruskin. 
The  Flemish  School  of  Painting.    By  A.J. 

Wauters.    Translated  by  Mrs.  Henry  Rossel. 


The  Dutch  School  of  Painting.     By  Henry 
Havard.     Translated  by  G.  Powell. 


Fisheries  of  the  World,  The.     Illustrated.     4to,  9s. 

Five  Pound  Note,  The,  and  other  Stories.    By  G.  S.  Jealous,     is. 

Flower  Painting  in  Water  Colours.  First  and  Second  Series.  With  20  Fac- 
simile Coloured  Plates  in  each  by  F.  E.  Hulme,  F.L.S.,  F.S.A.  With  Instructions 
by  the  Artist.     Interleaved.     5s.  each. 

Flowers,  and  How  to  Paint  Them.  By  Maud  Naftel.  With  Coloured  Plates.  5s. 

Forging  of  the  Anchor,  The.  A  Poem.  By  Sir  Samuel  Ferguson,  LL.D. 
With  20  Original  Illustrations.     Gilt  edges,  5s.  ;  or  Japanese  morocco  padded,  6s. 

Fossil  Reptiles,  A  History  of  British.    By  Sir  Richard  Owen,  K.C.  B.,  F.R.S., 

*      &c.     With  268  Plates.     In  Four  Vols.,  £iz  12s. 
Four  Years  of  Irish  History  (1845-49).     BY  Sir  Gavan  Duffy,  K.C.M.G.     21s. 
Franco-German  War,   Cassell's  History  of  the.    Two  Vols.    With  500  Illus- 
trations.   9s.  each. 
Fresh- Water  Fishes  of  Europe,  The.    By  Prof.  H.  G.  Seeley,  F.R.S.   Cloth,  21s. 
Garden  Flowers,  Familiar.     By  Shirley  Hibberd.      With  Coloured  Plates  by 

F.  E.  Hulme,  F.L.S.     Complete  in  Five  Series.     Cloth  gilt,  12s.  6d.  each. 
Gardening,  Cassell's  Popular.     Illustrated.     Complete  in  4  Vols.,  5s.  each. 
Geometrical  Drawing  for  Army  Candidates.    By  H.  T.  Lilley,  M.A.    2s. 
Geometry,  Practical  Solid.    By  Major  Ross.     2s. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <k  Company's  Publications. 

Gladstone,  Life  of  the  Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.    By  G.  Barnett  Smith.    With  Portrait. 

3s.  6d.    Jubilee  Edition,  is. 
Gleanings  from  Popular  Authors.      Two  Vols.      With  Original  Illustrations. 

4to,  9s.  each.     Two  Vols,  in  One,  15s. 
Gold  to  Grey,  From.     Being  Poems  and  Pictures  of  Life  and  Nature.    By  Mary 

D.  Brine.     Illustrated.     7s.  6d. 
Great  Industries  of  Great  Britain.    With  400  Illustrations.     3  Vols.,  7s.  6d.  each. 

Great  Northern  Railway,  The  Official  Illustrated  Guide  to  the.   is. ;  cloth,  2s. 

Great  Western  Railway,  The  Official  Illustrated  Guide  to  the.    is.  ;  cloth, 

as. 
Great  Painters  of  Christendom,  The,  from  Cimabue  to  WilMe.    By  John 

Forbes-Robertson.     Illustrated  throughout.     Popular  Edition,  cloth  gilt,  12s.  6d. 
Gulliver's  Travels.     With  88  Engravings  by  Morten.     Cheap  Edition.     Cloth, 
3s.  6d.  ;  cloth  gilt,  5s. 

Gun  and  its  Development,  The.    By  W.  W.  Greener.     Illustrated.     10s.  6d. 

Health  at  School.    By  Clement  Dukes,  M.D.,  B.S.    7s.  6d. 

Health,  The  Book  of.  By  Eminent  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Cloth,  21s.  ;  rox- 
burgh,  25s. 

Health,  Tbe  Influence  of  Clothing  on.    By  F.  Treves,  F.  R.C.S.     2s. 

Heavens,  The  Story  of  the.  By  Sir  Robert  Stawell  Ball,  LL.D.,  F.R.S., 
Royal  Astronomer  of  Ireland.     Coloured  Plates  and  Wood  Engravings.     31s.  6d. 

Heroes  of  Britain  in  Peace  and  War.  In  Two  Vols.,  with  300  Original  Illus- 
trations.    5s.  each  ;  or  One  Vol.,  library  binding,  ios.  6d. 

Homes,  Our,  and  How  to  Make  them  Healthy.  By  Eminent  Authorities. 
Illustrated.     15s.  ;  roxburgh,  18s. 

Horse-Keeper,    The    Practical.      By  George   Fleming,   LL.D.,   F.R.C.V.S. 

Illustrated.     Crown  8vo,  cloth,  7s.  6d. 
Horse,  The  Book  of  the.     By  Samuel  Sidney.      With  28  facsimile  Coloured 

Plates.     Demy  4to,  35s.  ;  half-morocco,  £2  5s. 
Horses,  The  Simple  Ailments  of.     By  W.  F.     Illustrated.     5s. 
Household  Guide,  Cassell's.     With  Illustrations  and  Coloured  Plates.     New  and 

Revised  Edition,  complete  in  Four  Vols.,  20s. 

How  Women  may  Earn  a  Living.    By  Mercy  Grogan.     is. 

Imperial  White  Books.     In  Quarterly  Vols.      10s.  6d.  per  annum,  post  free ; 

to  subscribers  separately,  3s.  6d.  each. 
India,  Cassell's  History  of.     By  James  Grant.     With  400  Illustrations.      15s. 
India,  The  Coming  Struggle  for.    Bv  Prof.  Arminius  Vambery.     5s. 
India:  the  Land  and  the  People.     By  Sir  James  Caird,  K.C.B.     ios.  6d. 
In-door  Amusements,  Cards  Games,  and  Fireside  Fun,  Cassell's.    3s.  6d. 
Industrial  Remuneration  Conference.    The  Report  of.     2s.  6d. 
Insect  Variety :  its  Propagation  and  Distribution.    By  A.  H.  Swinton.   7s.  64 
Invisible  Life,  Vignettes  from.     By  J.  Badcock,  F.R.M.S.     Illustrated.    3s.  6d. 
Irish  Parliament,  The,  What  it  Was,  and  What  it  Did      By  J.   G.   Swift 

McNeill,  M.A.,  M.P.    is. 
John  Parmelee's  Curse.     By  Julian  Hawthorne.     2s.  6d. 
Kennel  Guide,  Practical.    By  Dr.  Gordon  Stables.    Illustrated.    2s.  6d. 
Kidnapped.    By  R.  L.  Stevenson.     5s. 
Khiva,  A  Ride  to.     By  the  late  Col.  Fred  Burnaby.     is.  6d. 
Ladies'  Physician,  The.     By  a  London  Physician.     6s. 
Land  Question,  The.     By  Prof.  J.  Elliot,  M.R.A.C.     ios.  6d. 
Landscape  Painting  in   Oils,  A  Course   of  Lessons  in.     By  A.   F.  Grace. 

With  Nin^  Reproductions  in  Colour.     Cheap  Edition,  25s. 

Law,  About  Going  to.    By  A.  J.  Williams,  M.P.     2s.  6d. 

Lay  Texts   for  the   Young,   in  English  and  French.      By  Mrs.    Richard 

Strachey.     2s.  6d.  .-.«_.,  ,,-,,, 

Letts's  Diaries  and  other  Time-saving  Publications  are  now  published  exclu- 
sively by  Cassell  &  Company.     (A  list  sent  post  free  on  application.') 
Liberal,  Why  I  am  a.     By  Andrew  Reid.     2s.  6d.     People's  Edition,  is. 
Local  Dual  Standards.     By  John  Henry  Norman.    Gold  and  Silver  Standard 
Currencies,     is. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <t  Company1  s  Publications. 

London  and  North  Western  Railway,  The  Official  Illustrated  Guide  to  the. 

is.  ;  cloth.  2s. 
London  and  South  Western  Railway,  The  Official  Illustrated  Guide  to  the. 

is.  ;  cloth,  2S. 

London,   Greater.       By  Edward  Walford.      Two   Vols.      With  about  400 

Illustrations.     9s.  each.     Library  Edition.     Two  Vols.     £1  the  set. 
London,  Old  and  New.      By  Walter  Thornbury  and  Edward  Walford. 

Six  Vols.,  each  containing  about  200  Illustrations  and  Maps.    Cloth,  9s.  each.    Library 

Edition.     Imitation  Roxburgh,  £■$. 
London's  Roll  of  Fame.     With  Portraits  and  Illustrations.     12s.  6d. 
Long-fellow,  H.  W.,  Choice   Poems   by.      Illustrated  by    his  Son,  Ernest  W. 

Longfellow.     6s. 
Longfellow's  Poetical  Works.     Fine-Art  Edition.      Illustrated  throughout  with 

Original  Engravings.      Royal  4to,  cloth  gilt,  £2  3s.     Popuiar  Edition.     16s. 

Love's  Extremes,  At.     By  Maurice  Thompson.     5s. 

Luther,  Martin:   the  Man  and  his  Work.     By  Peter  Bayne,   LL.D,     Two 

Vols.,  24s. 
Mechanics,  The  Practical  Dictionary  o£     Containing  15,000  Drawings.     Four 

Vols.     21s.  each. 
Medicine,  Manuals  for  Students  of.    [A  List  forwarded  post  free  on  application.) 

Medical  Sciences,    International  Journal  of  the.      Five  Quarterly  Numbers 

now  ready.      Each  6s. 

Midland  Railway,  The  Official  Illustrated  Guide  to  the.     is.  ;  cloth,  2s. 

Modern  Artists,  Some.     With  highly-finished  Engravings.     12s.  6d. 

Modern  Europe,  A  History  of.    By  C.  A.  Fyffe,  M.A.     Vol.  I.    From  1792  to 

1814.  12s.  Vol.  II.  From  1814  to  1848.  12s. 

Music,    Illustrated  History  of.      By  Emil  Naumann.      Edited  by  the  Rev. 

Sir  F.  A.  Gore  Ouseley,  Bart.     Illustrated.     Two  Vols.     31s.  6d. 
National   Library,    CasseU's.     In  Weekly  Volumes,  each  containing  about  192 

pages.     Paper  covers,  3d.  ;  cloth,  6d.     (A  List  sent  post  free  on  application^) 
Natural  History,  Cassell's  Concise.     By  E.  Perceval  Wright,  M.A.,  M.D., 

F.L.S.     With  several  Hundred  Illustrations.     7s.  6d.  ;  Roxburgh,  10s.  6d. 
Natural  History,  CasseU's  New.     Edited  by  Prof.  P.  Martin  Duncan,  M.B., 

F.R.S.,    F.G.S.     With   Contributions  by   Eminent  Scientific  Writers.      Complete  in 

Six  Vols.     With  about  2,000  high-class  Illustrations.    Extra  crown  4to,  cloth,  9s.  each. 
Nature,  Short  Studies  from.     Illustrated.    5s. 
Neutral  Tint,  A  Course  of  Painting'  in.     With  Twenty-four  Plates  by  R.  P. 

Leitlh.     With  full  Instructions  to  the  Pupil.     5s. 

Nimrod  in  the  North ;   or,  Hunting  and  Fishing  Adventures  in  the  Arctic 

Regions.     By  Frederick  Schwatka.     Illustrated.     7s.  6d. 

Nursing  for  the  Home  and  for  the  Hospital,  A  Handbook  of.  By  Cathe- 
rine J.  Wood.     Cheap  Edition,     is.  6d.  ;  cloth,  2s. 

Oil  Painting,  A  Manual  of.     By  Hon.  John  Collier.     Cloth,  2s.  6d. 

On  the  Equator.     By  H.  De  W.     Illustrated  with  Photos.     3s.  6d. 

Our  Own  Country.     Six  Vols.     With  1,200  Illustrations.     Cloth,  7s.  6d.  each. 

Outdoor  Sports  and  Indoor  Amusements.    With  nearly  1,000  Illustrations.   9s. 

Paris,  CasseU's  IUustrated  Guide  to.     is.  ;  cloth,  2s. 

Parliaments,  A  Diary  of  Two.  By  H.  W.  Lucy.  The  Disraeli  Parliament, 
1874-  1S80.     12s.     The  Gladstone  Parliament,  1881 — 1886.     12s. 

Paxton's  Flower  Garden.  By  Sir  Joseph  Paxton  and  Prof.  Lindley.  Revised 
by  Thomas  Raines,  F.R.H.S.     Three  Vols.    With  100  Coloured  Plates.    £1  is.  each. 

Peoples  of  the  World,  The.  By  Dr.  Robert  Brown.  Complete  in  Six  Volumes. 
With  Illustrations.     7s.  6d.  each. 

Phantom  City,  The.    By  W.  Westall.    5s. 

Photography  for  Amateurs.  By  T.  C.  Hepworth.  Illustrated,  is.  ;  or  cloth,  is.  6d. 

Phrase  and  Fable,  Dictionary  of.     By  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brewer.     Cheap  Edition, 

Enlarged,  cloth.  3s.  6d.  :  or  with  leather  back,  4s.  6d. 
Picturesque  America.     Complete  in  Four  Vols. ,  with  48  Exquisite  Steel  Plates, 

and  about  800  Original  Wood  Engravings.    £2  2s.  each. 
Picturesque    Canada.       With   about  600    Original    Illustrations.      Two  Vols, 

£3  3s.  each. 


Selections  from  Cassell  &  Company's  Publications. 


Picturesque  Europe.  Complete  in  Five  Vols.  Each  containing  13  Exquisite  Steel 
Plates,  from  Original  Drawings,  and  nearly  200  Original  Illustrations.  ,£10  10s. ; 
half-morocco,  .£15  15s.  ;  morocco  gilt,  ,£26  5s.  The  Popular  Edition  is  now  complete 
in  Five  Vols.,  18s.  each. 

Pigeon  Keeper,  The  Practical.     By  Lewis  Wright.     Illustrated.    3s.  6d. 
Pigeons,  The  Book  of.   By  Robert  Fulton.   Edited  by  Lewis  Wright.   With 

50  Coloured  Plates  and  numerous  Wood  Engravings.     31s.  6d.  ;  half-morocco,  £2  2s. 
Poems  and  Pictures.     With  numerous  Illustrations.     5s. 
Poems,  Representative  of  Living  Poets,  American  and  English.    Selected  by 

the  Poets  themselves.     15s. 

Poets,  Cassell's  Miniature  Library  of  the  :— 


Burns.    Two  Vols.    2s.  6d. 
Byron.    Two  Vols.    2s.  6<L 
Hood.    Two  Vols.    2s.  6d. 
Longfellow.    Two  Vols.     2s.  6d. 


Milton.    Two  Vols.    2s.  6d. 

Scott.    Two  Vols.     2S.  6d. 

Sheridan  and  Goldsmith.   2  Vols.  2s.  6d. 

Wordsworth.    Two  Vols.    2S.  6d. 


Shakespeare.    Twelve  Vols.,  in  box,  15s. 

Police  Code,  and  Manual  of  the  Criminal  Law.  By  C.  E.  Howard  Vincent. 

M.P.,  late  Director  of  Criminal  Investigations.     2s. 

Popular  Library,  Cassell's.  A  Series  of  New  and  Original  Works.  Cloth,  is.  each. 
The  Russian  Empire.  I    The  Story  of  the  English  Jacobins. 

The   Religious    Revolution  in  the   Six-        £°me£tic  F°^  fore-  „.„      ^ 

teenth  Century.  witeV"   Kowland  HlU:    Preaeher  and 


Boswell  and  Johnson :   their  Companions 

and  Contemporaries. 
History  of  the  Free-Trade  Movement  in 

England. 


English  Journalism, 

Our  Colonial  Empire. 

The  Young  Man  in  the  Battle  of  Life. 

John  Wesley. 

Poultry  Keeper,  The  Practical  By  L.  Wright.  With  Coloured  Plates  and 
Illustrations.     3s.  6d. 

Poultry,  The  Book  of.  By  Lewis  Wright.  Popular  Edition.  With  Illustra- 
tions on  Wood,  10s.  6d. 

Poultry,  The  Illustrated  Book  of.  By  L.  Wright.  With  Fifty  Exquisite 
Coloured  Plates,  and  numerous  Wood  Engravings.  Cloth,  31s.  6d.  ;  half-morocco,  £2  2s. 

Queen  Victoria,  The  Life  and  Times  of.  By  Robert  Wilson.  With  nume- 
rous Illustrations,  representing  the  Chief  Events  in  the  Life  of  the  Queen,  and 
Portraits  of  the  Leading  Celebrities  of  her  Reign.  VOLUME  I.,  extra  crown  410, 
cloth  gilt,  os. 

Rabbit-Keeper,'  The  Practical.     By  Cuniculus.     Illustrated.     3s.  6d. 
Red  Library  of  English  and  American  Classics,  The.     Stiff  covers,  is.  each ; 
cloth,  2s.  each ;  or  half-calf,  marbled  edges,  5s.  each. 

Last  of  the  Mohieans. 

Heart  of  Midlothian. 

Last  Days  of  Pompeii. 


Sheridan's  Plays. 

TJncle  Tom's  Cabin. 

Deerslayer. 

Eugene  Aram. 

Jack  Hinton,  the  Guardsman. 

Rome  and  the  Early  Christians. 

The  Trials  of  Margaret  Lyndsay. 

Edgar  Allan  Poe.    Prose  and  Poetry,  Selec- 

Ola  Mortality.  [tions  from. 

The  Hour  and  the  Man. 

■Washington  Inring's  Sketch-Book. 

Last  Days  of  Palmyra. 

Tales  of  the  BorderB. 

Pride  and  Prejudice. 


Yellowplush  Papers. 
Handy  Andy. 
Selected  Plays. 
American  Humour. 
Sketches  by  Boz. 

Macaulay's  Lays  and  Selected  Essays. 
Harry  Lorrequer. 
Old  Curiosity  Shop. 
Rienzi. 

The  Talisman. 
Pickwick  (Two  Vols.) 
Scarlet  Letter. 

Royal  River,  The :  The  Thames,  from  Source  to  Sea.    With  Descriptive  Text 

and  a  Series  of  beautiful  Engravings.     £2  2s. 

Russia.     By  Sir  D.  Mackenzie  Wallace,  M.  A.     5s. 

Russo-Turkish  War,  Cassell's  History  of.    With  about  500  Illustrations.     Two 

Vols.,  9s.  each  ;  library  binding,  One  Vol.,  15s. 
Sandwith,  Humphry.    A  Memoir  by  his  Nephew,  T.  Humphry  Ward.     7s. 6d 
Saturday  Journal,  Cassell's.     Yearly  Volume.    6s. 
Science    for  All.     Edited  by  Dr.  Robert  Brown,  M.A.,  F.L.S.,  &c.      With 

1,500  Illustrations.     Five  Vols.,  gs.  each. 

Sea,    The:    Its    Stirring    Story    of    Adventure,    Peril,    and    Heroism     By 

F.  Whymper.     With  400  Illustrations.     Four  Vols.,  7s.  6d.  each. 


Selections  from  Cassell  §  Company1  s  Publications. 

Sent  Back  by  the  Angels.     And  other  Ballads  of  Home  and  Homely  Life.     By 

Frederick  Langbridge,  M.A.     4s.  6d. 
Sepia  Painting,  A  Course  of.     Two  Vols. ,  with  Twelve  Coloured  Plates  in  each, 

and  numerous  Engravings.     Each,  3s.     Also  in  One  Volume,  5s. 

Shaftesbury,  The  Seventh  Earl  of,  K.G.,  The  Life  and  Work  of.     By  Edwin 

Hodder.     With  Portraits.     Three  Vols.,  36s.     Fourth  Edition  now  ready. 
Shakespeare's  Romeo  and  Juliet.     Edition  de  Luxe.     Illustrated  with  Twelve 

Superb  Photogravures  from  Original  Drawings  by  F.  Dicksee,  A.  K.A.     £$  5s. 
Shakspere,  The  Leopold.     With  400  Illustrations,  and  an  Introduction  by  F.  J. 

Furnivall.     Small  4to,  cloth,   6s.;  cloth  gilt,  7s.  6d.  ;   half-morocco,  10s.  6d.  ;  full 

morocco,  £1  is. 
Shakspere,  The  Royal.     With  Exquisite  Steel  Plates  and  Wood  Engravings. 

Three  Vols.     15s.  each. 

Shakespeare,  Cassell's  Quarto  Edition  Edited  by  Charles  and  Mary  Cowden 

Clarke,  and   containing  about   600   Illustrations   by   H.    C.    Selous.     Complete  in 
Three  Vols.,  cloth  gilt,  £3  3s. — Also  published  in  Three  separate  Volumes,  in  cloth, 
viz.  : — The  Comedies,  21s. ;  The  Historical  Plays,  18s.  6d.  ;  The  Tragedies,  25s. 
Shakespeare,  Miniature.     Illustrated.     In  Twelve  Vols.,  12s. 

Shakespearean  Scenes  and  Characters.  Illustrative  of  Thirty  Plays  of  Shake- 
speare. With  Thirty  Steel  Plates  and  Ten  Wood  Engravings.  The  Text  written  by 
Austin  Brereton.     Royal  4to,  21s. 

Sketching  from  Nature  in  Water  Colours.  By  Aaron  Penley.  With  Illus- 
trations in  Chromo-Lithography.     15s. 

Skin  and  Hair,  The  Management  of  the.     By  Malcolm  Morris,  F.R.C.S.    2s. 

Smith,  The  Adventures  and  Discourses  of  Captain  John.    By  John  Ashton. 

Illustrated.     5s. 
Sports  and  Pastimes,  Cassell's  Book  of.     With  more  than  800  Illustrations  and 
Coloured  Frontispiece.     768  pages,  7s.  6d. 

Standards,  Local  Dual.     By  John  Henry  Norman,     is. 

Steam  Engine,  The  Theory  and  Action  of  the :  for  Practical  Men.     By  W.  H. 

Northcott,  C.  E.     3s.  6d. 
Stock  Exchange  Year-Book,  The.     By  Thomas  Skinner,     ios.  6d. 

Stones  of  London,  The.     By  E.  F.  Flower.    6d. 

"  Stories  from  Cassell's."    6d.  each  ;  cloth  lettered,  od.  each. 

The  Silver  Lock.  The  Mortgage  Money 

"Running  Pilot."  Gourlay  Brothers. 

A  Great  Mistake. 

Sunlight  and  Shade.     With  numerous  Exquisite  Engravings.     7s.  6d. 
Surgery,  Memorials  of  the  Craft  of,  in  England.      With  an  Introduction  by 

Sir  James  Paget.     21s. 
Telegraph  Guide,   The.     Illustrated,     is. 
Thackeray,  Character  Sketches  from.      Six   New  and   Original   Drawings  by 

Frederick  Barnard,  reproduced  in  Photogravure.     21s. 

Three  and  Sixpenny  Library  of  Standard  Tales,  &c.    All  Illustrated  and  bound 

in  cloth  gilt.     Crown  8vo.     3s.  6d.  each. 
Jane  Austen  and  her  Works. 


Mission  Life  in  Greece  and  Palestine. 

The  Dingy  House  at  Kensington. 

The  Romance  of  Trade. 

The  Three  Homes. 

School  Girls. 

Deepdale  Vicarage. 

In  Duty  Bound. 


The  Half  Sisters. 

Peggy  Oglivie's  Inheritance. 

The  Family  Honour. 

Esther  West. 

Working  to  Win. 

Krilof  and    his    Fables.      By   W.   R.  S. 

Ralston,  M.A. 
Fairy  Tales.     By  Prof.  Morley. 

Tot  Book  for  all  Public  Examinations.     By  W.  S.  Thomson,  M.A.     is. 

Trajan.     An  American  NoveL     By  H.  F.  Keenan.     7s.  6d. 

Transformations  of  Insects,  The.     By  Prof.  P.  Martin  Duncan,  M.B.,  F.R.S. 

With  240  Illustrations.     6s. 
Treasure  Island.     By  R.  L.  Stevenson.     Illustrated.     5s. 
Treatment,  The  Year-Book  Of.     A  Critical  Review  for  Practitioners  of  Medicine 

and  Surgery.     5s. 


Selections  from  Cassell  <t   Company's  Publications. 
Tree  Painting-  in  Water   Colours.       By  W.    H.   J.    Boot.      With  Eighteen 

Coloured  Plates,  and  valuable  instructions  by  the  Artist.      5s. 
Trees,  Familiar.     First  Series.     By  G.  S.  Boulger,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S.     With  Forty 

full-page  Coloured  Plates,  from  Original  Paintings  by  W.  H.  J.  Boot.     12s.  6d. 
Twenty  Photogravures  of  Pictures  in   the    Salon   of  1885,    by  the  leading 

French  Artists.     In  Portfolio.     Only  a  limited  number  of  copies  have  been   produced, 
terms  for  which  can  be  obtained  of  all  Booksellers. 

"Unicode":    The  Universal   Telegraphic    Phrase  Book.      Pocket  and  Desk 

Editions.     2s.  6d.  each. 

United  States,   Cassell's  History  of  the.     By  Edmund  Ollier.    With  600 

Illustrations.     Three  Vols.,  9s.  each. 

Universal    History,    Cassell's    Illustrated.      With    nearly   One   Thousand 

Illustrations.    Vol.  I.  Early  and  Greek  History. — Vol.  II.  The  Roman  Period.— 
Vol.  III.  The  Middle  Ages. — Vol.  IV.   Modern  History,     gs.  each. 

Vicar  of  Wakefield  and  other  Works   by  Oliver  Goldsmith.     Illustrated. 

3s.  6d.  ;  cloth,  gilt  edges,  5s. 
Water-Colour  Painting,  A  Course  of.      With  Twenty-four  Coloured  Plates  by 
R..P.  Leitch,  and  full  Instructions  to  the  Pupil.     5s. 

Wealth-Creation.     By  A.  Mongredien.    5s. 

Westall,  W.,  Novels  by.     Popular  Editions.     Cloth,  2s.  each. 

The  Old  Factory.  |  Red  Ryvington. 

Ralph  Norbreek's  Trust. 

What  Girls  Can  Do.     By  Phyllis  Browne.     2s.  6d. 

Wild  Animals  and    Birds:    their   Haunts   and   Habits.      By  Dr.   Andrew 

Wilson'.     Illustrated.     7s.  6d. 
Wild  Birds,  Familiar.     First  and  Second  Series.     By  W.  Swaysland.     With  40 

Coloured  Plates  in  each.      12s.  6d.  each. 

Wild  Flowers,  Familiar.     By  F.  E.  Hulme,  F.L.S.,  F.S.A.     Five  Series.     With 

40  Coloured  Plates  in  each.     12s.  6d.  each. 
Wise  Woman,  The.     By  George  Macdonald.     2s.  6d. 
Wood  Magic:  A  Fable.     By  Richard  Jefferies.     6s. 
World  of  the  Sea.     Translated  from  the  French  of  Moquin  Tandon,  by  the 

Very  Rev.  H.  Martyn  Hart,  M.A.     Illustrated.     Cloth.     6s. 
World  of  Wit  and  Humour,  The.   With  400  Illustrations.     Cloth,  7s.  6d.  ;  cloth 

gilt,  gilt  edges,  10*.  6d. 

World  of  Wonders,  The.     Two  Vols.     With  400  Illustrations.     7s.  6d.  each. 
Yule  Tide.    Cassell's  Christmas  Annual,     is. 


MAGAZINES. 

The  Quiver,  for  Sunday  Reading.    Monthly,  6d. 

CasselVs  Family  Magazine.     Monthly,  7& 

"Little  Folks"  Magazine.    Monthly,  6d. 

The  Magazine  of  Art.    Monthly,  is. 

The  Lady's   World.    Monthly,  is. 

Cassell's  Saturday  Journal.    Weekly,  id. ;  Monthly,  6d. 

Full  particulars  of  CASSELL  &  COMPANY'S  Monthly  Serial 
Publications,  numbering  upwards  of  50  Works,  will  be  found  in 
Cassell  &  Company's  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE,   sent  post  free   on 

application. 


*  » 
* 


Catalogues  of  Cassell  &  Company's  Publications,  which  may  be  had  at  all 
Booksellers',  or  will  be  sent  post  free  on  application  to  the  Publishers : — 
Cassell's    Complete    Catalogue,    containing    particulars    of    One    Thousand 

Volumes. 
Cassell's  Classified  Catalogue,  in  which  their  Works  are  arranged  according 

to  price,  from  Threepence  to  Twenty-five  Guineas. 
Cassell's    Educational    Catalogue,    containing    particulars    of    Cassell    & 
Company's  Educational  Works  and  Students'  Manuals. 

CASSELL  &  COMPANY,  Limited,  Ludgate  Hill,  London. 


^H 


■ 


■ 


■ 


11 


■ 


I  '    ■ 


^91   I  «^n 

B 

m 


■ ,   ■ 

--■■•: 


^mm 


University  of  Toronto 

Libra] 


Acme  Library  Card  Pocket 
LOWE-MARTIN  CO.  UMn.EE 


mt.