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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7117-8.txt b/7117-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a789c8c --- /dev/null +++ b/7117-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11521 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 +by Stuart J. Reid, ed. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 + +Author: Stuart J. Reid, ed. + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7117] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 11, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF SIR W. REID *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Connal, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +MEMOIRS OF +SIR WEMYSS REID +1842-1885 + + +[Illustration: Wemyss Reid] + + + + +MEMOIRS OF +SIR WEMYSS REID +1842-1885 + +EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY +STUART J. REID + + +TO +Lady Reid, +THE DEVOTED WIFE OF +MY BROTHER, +THESE PAGES ARE INSCRIBED. + + + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. + +The sense of personal loss occasioned by my brother's death is still so +keen and vivid that if I am to write at all about him--and my duty in +that respect is clear--it must be out of the fulness of my heart. My +earliest recollections of him begin when I was a child and he was a +bright, self-reliant lad in the home at Newcastle, the characteristics of +which are with artless realism described in the opening pages of this +book. It is the simple truth to say that we grew up in an atmosphere of +love and duty. Our father was a man of studious habit, passing rich in +the possession of a library of dry works on theology which his children +never read, and among which they searched in vain for the fairy books and +stories, or even the poetry, dear to the youthful heart. He was a +faithful, rather than a gifted preacher, and I have always thought that +his power--it was real and far-reaching--lay in his modest, unselfish +life, and in that unfailing sympathy which kept him on a perpetual round +of visits to the sick and sorrowful, year in, year out. He had a quiet +sense of humour, and was never so happy as when he could steal a day off +from the insistent claims of pastoral work for a ramble in the country +with his boys. + +Always a public-spirited man, and keenly interested in political affairs, +he talked to us freely about the events of the time, and made us feel +that the little affairs of our own home and immediate environment could +never be seen in their true perspective until they were set against the +larger life of the town, and, in a sense, of the nation. When any great +event occurred he used to tell us all about it; when any great man died, +if we did not know the significance of his life and the loss it meant to +the country, it was not his fault. He was a quiet, rather reserved man, +terribly in earnest, we thought, and with a touch of sternness about him +which vanished in later life. He mellowed with the passing years, and +long before old age crept quietly upon him the prevailing note of his +character was charity. He had been in early life associated to some +extent with the Press, and later had written one or two books, so that +ink was in my brother's blood. + +Our mother was almost his opposite in character. She was quick, almost +imperious in temper, vivacious and witty of speech, full of sense and +sensibility, in revolt--I see it now--against the narrow conditions of +her lot, and yet bravely determined to do her best, not merely for her +husband and children, but for the rather austere little community in +which she was always a central figure. There was a charm about her to +which all sorts and sizes of people surrendered at discretion, and she +loved books more modern and more mundane than the dingy volumes on my +father's shelves. She had received, what was more rare then than now, a +liberal education, and, besides modern languages, had at least a moderate +acquaintance with the classics. She held herself gallantly in the dim, +half-educated society of her husband's chapel, but reserved her +friendships--sometimes with a touch of wilfulness--for those who +represented whatever there was of sweetness and light in the wider +society of the town. In one respect she was absolutely in harmony with my +father, and that was in her sympathy with the poor and in quiet, +unparaded determination to hold out a helping hand to all that sought it. +She had imagination, and she sent it on errands of good-will. I think my +brother inherited from her his alertness of mind and not a little of his +quickness of apprehension. + +I can remember him coming back from Bruce's school all aglow with his +prizes, and I can recall, as if it were but yesterday, his audacious +speeches, and the new books with which, as soon as he earned a shilling, +he began to leaven the dull old library, much to the delectation of the +other children. I can recall a rough cartoon in one of the local journals +which was greeted with huge merriment in the family circle, because it +represented Tom as "Ye Press of Newcastle"--a mere boy in a short jacket +perched on a stool, scribbling for dear life at the foot of a platform on +which some local orator was denouncing the tyranny of the existing +Government. He must then have been about seventeen, certainly not more, +and he was even at that time somewhat of a youthful prodigy. Then he +developed a passion for the collection of autographs, and used to write +the most alluring letters to celebrities, and astound my modest father by +the replies--they were invariably written as to a man of mature life and +public importance--which he had elicited from eminent people in politics +and the world of letters. He, a mere youth, invited a well-known Arctic +explorer to Newcastle to lecture on his perils in the frozen North, and +my father bought him his first hat to go to the railway station to meet +the gallant sailor, who brought his pathetic relics of Franklin to our +house, where he stayed as guest. The great man's chagrin when he found +that a lad scarcely out of short jackets had invited him to Newcastle +vanished in the genial firelight, and in the subsequent reception of the +good townsfolk. Then my brother conceived the ambitious scheme of the +West End Literary Institute, and by dint of energetic and persistent +begging carried the project out, and with a high hand. + +Suddenly, when he was still a young reporter, a great calamity befell the +locality. The Hartley Colliery catastrophe plunged all Tyneside in gloom. +He was the youngest reporter on the local Press, but his account of the +long-drawn agony of that terrible time, when two hundred brave fellows +lost their lives, was the most graphic. It brought him local renown. It +was published as a shilling pamphlet, after it had done duty in the +_Newcastle Journal_, and to his credit he gave, though as poor as a +church mouse, the whole of the proceeds--a sum of £40, I think--to the +Relief Fund. It was a characteristic act which was not belied by the +subsequent generosity of his life. All too soon--for he brought as a +young reporter a breezy, new atmosphere into the family circle--he went +to Preston, on the principle of promotion by merit. Then Leeds claimed +him, and next he settled in London, in the short-lived happiness of his +early married life, returning to Yorkshire--this time as chief of the +paper he had served so well. During his career as editor of the _Leeds +Mercury_ I saw comparatively little of him. We were both busy, though +in different ways; but we kept up, then and always, a brisk +correspondence, and his letters, all of them brimful of public interest +and family affection, are before me now. The world is a different place +to me now, but "memory is a fountain of perpetual youth" and nothing can +rob me of its sweetness. + +There is scarcely an incident recorded in these pages which he did not +tell me at the time in familiar talk. There is much, also, that he has +not set down here, all of it honourable to himself, which I could recount +about those early days in Newcastle, and to a certain extent also in +Leeds, where I was again and again his guest; but, as he has chosen to be +silent, it is not for me to speak. Oddly enough, I never in my life heard +him deliver a political speech, nor do I think he excelled in that +direction. But he was admirable as a lecturer on literary subjects, and I +have seen him again and again hold a large audience spellbound when his +subject was Charlotte or Emily Brontė, Mrs. Carlyle, the Inner Working of +an English Newspaper, the Character of General Gordon, or some other +theme which appealed to him. He spoke rapidly and clearly, and between +the years 1882 and 1886 gave his services without stint in this direction +to the people of Leeds, Bradford, and other of the Yorkshire towns. The +manuscripts of these lectures are before me as I write; they are all in +his own hand, and they must have taken from an hour to an hour and a half +in delivery. Yet one of the most important of them--it runs to between +sixty and seventy closely written manuscript pages, and bears no marks of +haste--was, as a note in his own hand at the outset shows, begun one day +and finished the next--a proof, if any were needed, of his rapidity in +work. He made many enthusiastic friends amongst the shrewd working people +of the North by these deliverances. + +The last twenty years of my brother's life are outside the present +narrative. Two of them were spent in Leeds in ever-widening newspaper +work, and the remaining eighteen in London, under circumstances he has +himself described in another volume, which, for political reasons, is for +the present withheld. It will appear eventually, and personally I feel no +doubt whatever that it will take its place, quite apart from its +self-revelation, as one of the most important and authentic records, in +the political sense, of the later decades of Queen Victoria's reign. My +brother's knowledge of the secret history of the Liberal party in the +memorable days when Mr. Gladstone was fighting his historic battle for +Home Rule, and during the subsequent Premiership of Lord Rosebery, was +exceptional. He was the trusted friend of both statesmen, and probably no +other journalist was so absolutely in the confidence of the leaders of +the Liberal party--a circumstance which was due quite as much to his +character as to his capacity. It is not my intention to anticipate the +story, as he himself tells it, either of the "Hawarden Kite" or the Home +Rule split, much less to disclose his opinions--they are emphatic and +deliberate--of the men who made mischief at that crisis. I leave also +untouched the plain, unvarnished account he gives, on unimpeachable +authority, of a subsequent and not less discreditable phase in the annals +of the Liberal party. There are reasons, obvious to everyone who gives +the matter a moment's thought, that render it inadvisable in the +interests of the political cause with which my brother all his life was +identified, and for which he suffered more than is commonly known, to +yield to the very natural temptation to throw reticence to the winds. + +To one point only will I permit myself to make brief but significant +allusion, for I cannot allow this book to go forth to the world with the +knowledge that the publication of the companion volume is--through force +of circumstances--for the present postponed, without at least a passing +reference to what in the authoritative biography of Mr. Gladstone is +called the "barren controversy" which arose in 1892, as to whether the +present Duke of Devonshire, in 1880, tried to form a Government. That +controversy was assuredly "barren" to my brother in everything but the +testimony of a good conscience. He was assailed by almost the whole Press +of the country for the part which he played in it, and not least +mercilessly by journalists of his own party. As he said to me himself at +the time, "If I had been Mr. Parnell, fresh from the revelations of the +Divorce Court, I could not have been treated with greater contumely." If +there was one thing on the possession of which he prided himself in life +more than another, it was loyalty, and seldom was political loyalty +subjected to a more cruel strain. He held his peace with all the +materials for his own vindication in his hand, rather than embarrass Mr. +Gladstone at a great political crisis. + +The letters on which he based his statements are in existence. I wished +to print them, without note or comment of mine, in an Appendix to the +present volume, but permission has been withheld. They cannot remain for +ever in ambush, and when they are published, with my brother's full and +magnanimous comments, it will be apparent to all the world how greatly he +was misjudged. It is enough for the present to say that Mr. Gladstone +himself admitted in a note under his own hand that the interpretation +which my brother put upon the facts submitted to him _absolutely and +entirely justified_ the course which he took in that controversy. Mr. +Gladstone, as Mr. Morley somewhat drily states in his biography, +"reckoned on a proper stoicism in the victims of public necessity," and I +suppose my brother was regarded as thin-skinned, but a man may be +forgiven a measure of sensitiveness when his honour is impeached. + +He always used to speak with gratitude of the action of Lord Russell of +Killowen at that period. He heard the gossip of the clubs, and was not +content, like the majority of men, either to believe it or to dismiss the +matter with a shrug of the shoulders. He sought my brother out at his own +house, heard the whole story from his own lips--through an informal but +stringent process of cross-examination--drew his own conclusions, and did +more than anyone else to turn the tide of misrepresentation. Lord Russell +never rested until Wemyss Reid was elected an honorary member of the +Eighty Club, a distinction shared by only two or three persons, and one +which did not a little to bring about, in the Liberal party at least, a +quick reversal of public opinion. The chivalrous action of Lord Russell +was all the more creditable as the two men at the time were only slightly +acquainted. Other honours came to my brother within the next two years. +The University of St. Andrews in 1893 conferred upon him the degree of +LL.D., and in the following year he was knighted "for services to Letters +and Politics." + +It is a pleasure to hark back to the literary interests which grew around +the later years of my brother in London. He went thither in 1887 to take +control of the business of Messrs. Cassell & Company--a position of wide +influence and hard work which he retained to the last day of his life. He +used to tell me that he detested the City and the irksomeness of keeping +office hours, but he stuck manfully to his post, and his presence at the +desk there lent a lustre even to the traditions of a great publishing +house. I betray no confidences when I say that at first he found his new +duties somewhat uncongenial. He had won his spurs as a journalist, he was +fond of the cut and thrust of party politics, he missed the rush of +public life, and he felt that perhaps he had been ill-advised in quitting +the editorial saddle. But this feeling of depression quickly wore off +when he set himself, with characteristic energy, to master the details of +his new work, though to the last he often cast longing glances backwards +to the years in which he inspired the policy of a great daily newspaper. +Before he left Leeds--and here I may say that he did not leave without +substantial proof of the esteem in which he was held--he accepted two +literary commissions, either of which would have satisfied most men and +absorbed all their energies for a term of years. + +One was the preparation of an authoritative biography of Mr. Forster, the +other a similar work--less political and more literary--on the first Lord +Houghton. He was, of course, in a position to speak from close personal +knowledge of both men, and in each case all their private letters and +papers were placed at his discretion. He found relief from the prosaic +details of a business career in these congenial tasks, if such a term is +applicable to what in reality were labours of love. Both were big books, +and the marvel is how, with all that he had in hand at the time, he +contrived to write them. But the passion for work was the zest of his +life, and it was never turned to more admirable account than in these +labours. "The Life of the Right Hon. W. E. Forster" was published in +1888, and "The Life, Letters, and Friendships of Lord Houghton" in 1890, +and both met with a reception which it is hardly within my province to +describe. It is enough to say that they widened his reputation, added +materially to his influence, and, best of all, brought him many new and +powerful friends. + +Almost before he had finished writing the second of these books, at the +instance of Mr. Bryce (with whom his relations were always most close and +cordial) and other well-known men in the Liberal party, he, in +conjunction with Sir John Brunner, founded the _Speaker_, a weekly +journal which was started on similar lines to the _Spectator_, but +devoted to the advocacy of the Home Rule cause, and broadly of the policy +of Mr. Gladstone. The first number was published on January 4th, 1890, +and from that time until October, 1899, he alone was responsible for its +editorial control. He gathered around him a brilliant staff of +contributors; he used laughingly to say that he was over-weighted by +them, and, if I may venture a criticism, he gave them too free a hand. +Contemporary politics were discussed amongst others by Mr. Morley, Mr. +Bryce, Mr. J. A. Spender, and Mr. Herbert Paul. Literary criticism, +economic questions, and other phases of public affairs, were handled by +Sir Alfred Lyall, Mr. Birrell, Mr. Frederic Harrison, Mr. James Payn, Mr. +Henry James, Mr. J.M. Barrie, Mr. Quiller-Couch, Mr. Sidney Webb, Mr. L. +F. Austin, Mr. A. B. Walkley, and a score of young writers; whilst men +like the late Lord Acton and Principal Fairbairn, and occasionally Mr. +Gladstone himself, lent further distinction to its pages. No one worked +harder in those days for the _Speaker_ than my brother's ever loyal +assistant in its direction, Mr. Barry O'Brien, whose intimate knowledge +of the trend in Irish politics was invaluable. I shall not anticipate by +any comments of my own the vivid and always genial pen-and-ink pictures +which are given of the chief members of the _Speaker_ staff in that +part of the Memoirs which yet remains unprinted. + +I prefer to fall back in this connection on a little bit of reminiscence, +printed in one of the daily papers on the morrow of my brother's death. +It was written by Mr. L. F. Austin, who alas! has so quickly followed him +to the grave. "Some months ago, feeling himself under sentence of death, +Sir Wemyss Reid applied his leisure to the task of completing his +Memoirs. 'Here is a chapter that may interest you,' he said to me one +day, producing a roll of manuscript. It did interest me very much, and +when it comes to be published it will be read with no little emotion by +the men who formed the regular staff of the _Speaker_ under Sir +Wemyss Reid's editorship. He deals with us all in turn in a spirit of the +kindliest remembrance and simple goodwill; and as I read those pages, I +felt they were his farewell to some of the men who have good reason to +think of him as the staunchest of friends." I was in very close +association with my brother during the whole of the ten years in which he +retained control of the _Speaker_, and took my full share of the +work. They were for him years of strenuous and unremitting toil, but he +used to say that there were few greater rewards for a man of his +temperament than to be in the thick of the political movement, and to be +in the front rank of the fighters. He adopted as his motto in life +"Onwards"--the watchword of his old school at Newcastle, emblazoned on +the back of the prizes which he took in far-off days; and from first to +last he lived up to it. Brusque he sometimes was, decisive always; +perhaps he was too easily ruffled in little affairs, but he was +magnanimous to the point of self-sacrifice in great. After quitting, +under circumstances entirely honourable to himself, the editorial chair +of the _Speaker_, my brother, who for years previously had been an +occasional contributor to the pages of the _Nineteenth Century_, +contributed regularly to that review a political survey of the month. +Some of his best work was put into these articles, and the last of them +was written under great physical stress, and appeared almost +simultaneously with the announcement of his death. It was the last task +to which he put his hand, and the wish of his life was granted: he died +in harness. + +It is not too much to say that neither his interest nor his influence in +political affairs suffered the least abatement in the six closing years +of his life, which bridged the distance between his relinquishment of the +_Speaker_ and the hour when he finally laid down his pen. The +withheld portion of this Autobiography makes that abundantly clear, for, +as in a mirror, it reflects the secret history of the Liberal party. His +relations with Lord Rosebery, both during and after that statesman's +brilliant but difficult Administration, were singularly intimate and +cordial--a circumstance which invests with peculiar interest the final +chapters which he wrote. They throw a dry light on the political +intrigues which occurred after Mr. Gladstone's retirement; they reveal +the difficulties--both open and unsuspected--which beset his successor. +Lord Rosebery has written me a letter, and I have his permission to quote +from it:--"I can only dwell on the sterling notes of courage and +friendship. As to the first, he had taken part in many controversies, +which it is now unnecessary to revive, and borne himself gallantly in +them. But before his life ended he was to display a rarer quality. In +September, 1903, he wrote to me that he could only count on a few weeks +longer of life--that he was condemned by all doctors.... He partially +recovered from that attack, though from that day he was doomed to speedy +death. I saw him in February for the last time, not long before the end. +He told me, as he always did, that he did not feel amiss, but that his +doctors all unanimously condemned him to a short shrift; that his friend +Sir Frederick Treves was putting him under a new treatment, from which he +hoped to derive some benefit; but that, whatever happened, he should go +on writing as if nothing were wrong until the end came. That did not long +tarry. In the evening of Thursday, February 23rd, he was taken ill, and +before ten o'clock on Sunday morning he was dead. During the seventeen +months which elapsed from the time of the doom pronounced by his +physicians until its fulfilment, Wemyss Reid so demeaned himself that +none could have penetrated his secret. He was as gay and high in spirit, +as strenuous in work, as thoughtful for others, as ever; so that those +who knew the fatal truth could not bring themselves to believe it. He was +at work for the _Nineteenth Century_ the day before he was taken +with his final attack. But he himself, cheerful and smiling, never lost +the certainty that death hung over him by a thread. + +"So much for his courage; and now for the other note that I would +touch--his friendship. His ideal of friendship was singularly lofty and +generous. He was the devoted and chivalrous champion of those he loved; +he took up their cause as his own, and much more than his own; he was the +friend of their friends and the enemy of their enemies. No man ever set a +higher value on this high connection, which, after all, whether brought +about by kinship, or sympathy, or association, or gratitude, or stress, +is under Heaven the surest solace of our poor humanity; and so it +coloured and guided the life of Wemyss Reid. His chief works were all +monuments to that faith; it inspired him in tasks which he knew would be +irksome and which could scarcely be successful, or which, at least, could +ill satisfy his own standard. This is a severe test for a man of letters, +but he met it without fail.... All this seems lame and tame enough when I +read it over. But it was true and vivid when Wemyss Reid was living, and +giving to his friends the high example of a brave and unselfish life. +Among them, his memory will be a precious fact, and an inheritance long +after any obituary notice is forgotten. It will live as long as they +live; he would scarcely have cared to be remembered by others." Lord +Rosebery's kindness to my brother--it was constant, delicate, and +unwavering--can never be forgotten by any of his relatives. He was the +first visitor to the house of mourning on Sunday, February 26th; he came +in haste, with the hope that he might still be in time to see my brother +alive. + +Here, perhaps, is the place to mention some other of his friends: I mean, +of course, those with whom he was most intimate in his closing years. It +may be I have forgotten some; if so, I need scarcely add that it is +without intention. But I do not like to end without at least recalling +his close relations with Lord Burghclere, Mr. Bryce, Sir Henry Fowler, +Mr. Edmund Robertson, Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir Norman Lockyer, Sir Frederick +Treves, Sir John Brunner, Principal Fairbairn, Dr. Guinness Rogers, the +Rev. R. H. Hadden, Mr. W. H. Macnamara, Mr. Douglas Walker, Mr. J. C. +Parkinson, Mr. G. A. Barkley, Mr. Charles Mathews, Mr. J. A. Duncan, Mr. +Edwin Bale, Mr. Barry O'Brien, Mr. Herbert Paul, Mr. J. A. Spender, and +last, but certainly not least, Mr. Malcolm Morris, who was with him at +the end. James Payn, William Black, Sir John Robinson represent the +losses of the last few years of his life; all of them were men with +whom--literature and politics apart--he had much in common. + +It is impossible to cite the Press comments on the morrow of my brother's +death, but room at least must be found for one of them--the generous +tribute of his friend Mr. J. A. Spender in the _Westminster +Gazette_:-- + +"I well remember how bravely and serenely he bore his death-sentence and +how modestly he communicated it to his friends, as if an apology were +needed for speaking of anything so personal. And then he picked himself +up and started again, determined that his work should go forward and his +interests lose none of their edge, though his days were short. He was the +last man in the world to think of such a thing; and yet to many of us he +seemed the perfect example of how a man should bear himself in such a +strait. I have heard young men speak of him as old-fashioned, and, judged +by some modern standards, his virtues were indeed those of the antique +world. He loved his profession for its own sake, believed in its +influence and dignity, hated sensationalism--whether in politics or in +newspapers--would rather that any rival should gain any advantage over +him than that he should divulge a secret or betray the confidence of a +friend. And so he came to be the confidant and adviser of many eminent +men who were attached to him for his sterling qualities of head and +heart, for his knowledge, his integrity, his admirable common-sense. Of +all his qualities none was more attractive than the staunchness of his +friendship. To those whom he really liked, old or young, eminent or +obscure, Wemyss Reid was always the same, a champion who would brook no +slight, and whose help was readiest when times were worst. A literary +man, he was quite without literary jealousy, and never so happy as when +giving a hand-up to a new writer or a young journalist. All of us who +knew him are in his debt--_neque ego desinam debere_." + +I will permit myself to make one other quotation, and only one. In +September, 1903, we lost our only sister. We three brothers had been at +her funeral in Scotland; it was the last time we were all together. I +lunched a day or two later with him at the Reform Club, and though, like +myself, he was naturally depressed, he spoke cheerfully, and there was +nothing to hint that he was more than tired. Three days later, September +19th, he wrote me a long letter, which began with the words, "Heaven +knows, I do not want to add to your anxieties at the present moment, but +I think I ought to tell you what has happened to me." He then went on to +say that his friend Mr. Malcolm Morris had met him at the Club on the +same day that I was there, and, startled by his appearance, had asked him +a number of questions. Mr. Morris had been abroad and had not seen him +for some time, but he insisted on an immediate visit to a specialist, and +this was arranged for the following Saturday, the day on which he wrote +the letter from which I am citing. He was told at that interview that his +condition was most serious, even critical--in fact, that he had not long +to live. So he wrote, "I have clearly to put my house in order, and to +wait as calmly as possible for what may happen. The thing has come upon +me very suddenly in the end, but I have had forebodings for some time +past. You remember what I said to you on my way to Kilmarnock last week? +I want nobody to worry about me personally. If my work is to come to an +end soon, it will at least have been a full day's work. I know I can +count on your brotherly love and sympathy." + +Lady Reid and his children were at the moment from home. I went to him at +once; he was sitting alone in his house, and he received me with a smile. +He talked calmly and without a shadow of fear, and with no hint of +repining. He had gathered from the specialist that he had only a few +weeks at the most to live, and he told me that as he rode away in a +hansom from the house where he had received what he called his sentence +of death, he looked at the people in the street like a man in a dream, +and with a curious feeling of detachment from the affairs of the world. +But he rallied, and went about his work as usual, was as keenly +interested as ever in the politics of the hour, and gave to those who +knew how much he suffered an example of submission and fortitude which is +not common. + +Naturally I saw much of him in his closing days, and in talk with me he +nearly always turned to the old sacred memories which we had in common. +When I was a mere youth and he at the beginning of his career as a +journalist, I remember his telling me never to forget that blood was +thicker than water. His letters to me during thirty years, and many +practical deeds as well, if I were to publish the one or to state the +other, would prove how constantly he himself bore that in mind. Others +can speak of his gift as a raconteur, his superb power of work, his moral +courage, his quick capacity in the handling of public questions; all this +I know, and I know besides, better perhaps than anyone else who is likely +to speak, his intense family affection, his real though unparaded loyalty +to conviction, and the magic of a kindliness which was never so apparent +as when the way was rough and the heart was sore. + +All the letters which arrived after his death--and they came in +battalions--were quick with the sense of personal loss. They came from +all sorts of people--from school-fellows in the distant Newcastle days, +and obscure folk who had their own story to tell of his kindness, to +statesmen of Cabinet rank, and men whose names are famous in almost every +walk of life. Personally, I think I was most touched by the remark of a +poor waiter, "a lame dog" whom, it seems, he had helped over a difficult +stile in life, and who declared that he was "one in a thousand." +Assuredly, as far as courage and sympathy are concerned, those simple +words were true. + +STUART J. REID. + +_Blackwell Cliff, East Grinstead. +October 12th, 1905._ + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +One who tries to tell the story of his life and of his personal +experiences, public and private, undertakes a task of rare difficulty. +Now that I have completed the work that I set myself to perform some +years ago, I recognise more fully than I did at the outset the greatness +of this difficulty, and I am only too conscious that, at the best, I have +succeeded but partially in overcoming it. The egotism which is +inseparable from a narrative written, as this necessarily is, in the +first person, is perhaps the most obvious of all the defects which it +must present to the reader. Quite frankly I may say that, on reading +these pages, I am filled with something like confusion by the extent to +which I have been forced to bring my own personality, my own sayings and +doings, even into those chapters which deal with public affairs. I can +only plead in extenuation of my offence that I do not see how it could +have been avoided in that which is neither more nor less than an +Autobiography. I may add that I have tried always to speak the truth, and +have never consciously magnified my own part in the transactions upon +which I have touched. + +The closing chapters of the story have been written under what seemed to +be the shadow of approaching death. Indeed, at one time I had no hope +that I could live to complete my task. No man who writes thus, on the +verge of another world, would willingly swerve by so much as a +hair's-breadth from what he believes to be the truth. But human nature +and human limitations remain the same from the beginning to the end of +life, and I am fully conscious of the fact that the soundness of my +judgments upon affairs and my fellow-men is not less open to impeachment +to-day than when I was moving in the main current of human activity. If +in anything that I have written I have wronged any of my fellow-creatures +it has been absolutely without intention on my part, and I can only hope +that they will vindicate themselves, after the publication of these +pages, as quickly and completely as possible. + +I have had no exciting story to tell, and no personal triumphs to +chronicle. My simple desire has been to write of the persons and events +of my own time in the light in which they appeared to my own eyes, and by +doing so to give possibly some information regarding them which may be +new to many of my readers. I have been always much more of a spectator +than of an actor in the arena; but it has been my lot to be very near, +for many years, to those who were actively engaged in that "high chess +game whereof the pawns are men"; and we have authority for the belief +that the onlooker sees more than the actual player of the drama he +describes. + +I must add that nowhere, except in a few cases in which I make special +mention of the fact, have I trusted to mere hearsay evidence. I have +confined myself to that which I know to be the truth, either from my +personal observation or from documents of unimpeachable authority. My +opinions may be of very little value, but my facts are, I believe, +incontrovertible. + +WEMYSS REID. + +_26, Bramham Gardens, South Kensington, +January 1st_, 1905. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. +EARLY DAYS. +Birth and Parentage--Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the 'Forties--A Visit to St. +Andrews--The Scottish Sabbath--First Acquaintance with a Printing +Office--Tyneside in the Mid-Century--In Peril of Housebreakers--At Dr. +Collingwood Bruce's School--A Plague of Flies--Cholera--Fire. + +CHAPTER II. +PROBATION. +Aspirations After a Journalistic Life--A Clerk's Stool in the W.B. Lead +Office--Literary Ambitions--An Accepted Contribution--The _Northern +Daily Express_ and its Editor--Founding a Literary Institute--Letters +from Charles Kingsley and Archbishop Longley--Joseph Cowen and his +Revolutionary Friends--Orsini--Thackeray's Lectures and Dickens's +Readings. + +CHAPTER III. +MY LIFE-WORK BEGUN. +On the Staff of the _Newcastle Journal_--In a Dilemma--Lord John +Russell and Mr. Gladstone at Newcastle-upon-Tyne--Mr. Gladstone's +Triumphal Progress--A Memorable Colliery Disaster: A Pit-Sinker's +Heroism--Adventure at a Dickens Reading. + +CHAPTER IV. +FROM REPORTER TO EDITOR. +First Visit to London--The Capital in 1862--Acquaintance with +Sothern--Bursting of the Bradfield Reservoir--Attendance at Public +Executions and at Floggings--Assuming the Editorship of the _Preston +Guardian_--Political and Literary Influences--Great Speeches by +Gladstone and Bright--Bright's Contempt for Palmerston--Robertson +Gladstone Defends his Brother--Death of Abraham Lincoln--Meeting with +his Granddaughter. + +CHAPTER V. +WORK ON THE LEEDS MERCURY +My New Duties--Betrothal--The Writing of Leading Articles--The Founder of +the _Leeds Mercury_--Edward Baines the Second--Thomas Blackburn +Baines--Patriotic Nonconformists--Another Colliery Disaster: A Story of +Heroism--An Abortive Fenian Raid at Chester--Reminiscences of the Prince +of Wales's Visits to Yorkshire--Mr. Bright and the Reform Demonstrations +of 1866--The Closing Speech at St. James's Hall--The Tribune of the +People Vindicates the Queen. + +CHAPTER VI. +LIFE IN LONDON. +Appointed London Correspondent of the _Leeds Mercury_--My +Marriage--Securing Admission to the Reporters' Gallery--Relations between +Reporters and Members--Inadequate Accommodation for the +Press--Reminiscences of the Clerkenwell Explosion--The Last Public +Execution--The Arundel Club--James Macdonell--Robert Donald--James +Payn--Mrs. Riddell and the _St. James's Magazine_--My First +Novel--How Sala Cut Short an Anecdote--Disraeli as Leader of the House in +1868--A Personal Encounter with him at Aylesbury--Mr. Gladstone's First +Ministry--Bright and Forster--W.E. Baxter--Irish Church Disestablishment +Debate in the House of Lords--Mr. Mudford--Bereavement. + +CHAPTER VII. +EDITOR OF THE _LEEDS MERCURY_. +Forming Good Resolutions--Provincial Journalism in the 'Seventies-- +Recollections of the Franco-German War--The Loss of the _Captain_ +and its Consequences to me--Settling Down at Leeds--Acquaintance with +Monckton Milnes--Visits to Fryston--Lord Houghton's Chivalry--His +Talk--His Skill in Judging Men--Stories about George Venables--Lord +Houghton's Regard for Religious Observances. + +CHAPTER VIII. +MY FIRST CONTINENTAL TOUR. +A Generous Scot--Paris after the Commune--An Uncomfortable Journey +Home--Illness of the Prince of Wales--Revived Popularity of the +Throne--Death and Funeral of Napoleon III.--Burial of the Prince +Imperial--Forster's Educational Policy--Bruce's Licensing Bill--My Second +Marriage. + +CHAPTER IX. +A NEW ERA IN PROVINCIAL JOURNALISM. +Bringing the _Leeds Mercury_ into Line with the London +Dailies--Friendship with William Black--The Dissolution of 1874--The +Election at Leeds--Mr. Chamberlain's Candidature for Sheffield--Mr. +Gladstone's Resignation--Election of his Successor--Birth of the +Caucus--The System Described--Its Adoption at Leeds--Its Effect upon the +Fortunes of the Liberal Party--The Bulgarian Atrocities Agitation. + +CHAPTER X. +CONTRIBUTIONS TO BRONTĖ LITERATURE. +Visit to Haworth--Feeling Against the Brontės in Yorkshire--Miss Nussey +and her Discontent with Mrs. Gaskell's "Life"--Publication of "Charlotte +Brontė: a Monograph"--Mr. Swinburne's Appreciation--An Abortive Visit to +the Poet--Lecture on Emily Brontė and "Wuthering Heights"--Miss Nussey's +Visit to Haworth after Charlotte's Marriage. + +CHAPTER XI. +VISITS TO THE CONTINENT. +Politics in Paris in 1877--An Oration by Gambetta--the Balloting--The +Republic Saved--Gambetta's Funeral--A Member of the Reform Club--The +Century Club--A Draught of Turpentine and Soda--The "Press Gang" at the +Reform--James Payn and William Black--George Augustus Sala and Sir John +Robinson--Disraeli's Triumph in 1878--A European Tour. + +CHAPTER XII. +A CHAPTER OF MISFORTUNES. +Death of my Sister's Husband and of my Brother James--An Accident on +Marston Moor--Sir George Wombwell's Story of the Charge of the Light +Brigade--His Adventure on the Ouse--Editing a Daily Newspaper from a Sick +Bed--Reflections on Death--Death of my Mother--Serious Illness of my Only +Daughter. + +CHAPTER XIII. +THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1880. +Mr. Gladstone's Position in 1879--His Decision to Contest Midlothian--How +he came to be Adopted by the Leeds Liberals--The Conversation Club--A +Visit from John Morley--The Dissolution of 1880--Lecture on Mr. +Gladstone--His Triumphant Return for Leeds--His Election for +Midlothian--Mr. Herbert Gladstone Adopted as his Successor at Leeds--Mr. +Gladstone's Visit to Leeds in 1881--A Fiasco Narrowly Avoided--A +Wonderful Mass Meeting--Mr. Gladstone's Collapse and Recovery--My +Introduction to Him--An Excursion to Tunis--"The Land of the Bey"--Mr. +A.M. Broadley's Prophecies--Howard Payne's Grave--A Series of +Coincidences. + +CHAPTER XIV. +CONCERNING W.E. FORSTER AND OTHERS. +The Beginning of Mr. Stead's Journalistic Career--His Methods--Birth of +the New Journalism--Madame Novikoff and Mr. Stead--Mr. Stead's Attacks +upon Joseph Cowen--How he dealt with a Remonstrance--W. E. Forster--Mr. +Chamberlain's Antagonism--The _Leeds Mercury_'s Defence of +Forster--How he was Jockeyed out of the Cabinet--Forster's +Resignation--News of the Phoenix Park Murders--Forster's Reflections--Mr. +Gladstone's Pity for Social Outcasts--Mr. Chamberlain's Brothers +Blackballed at the Reform--Failure of an Attempt to Crush the _Leeds +Mercury_--Forster's Gratitude. + +CHAPTER XV. +THE FIRST LIBERAL IMPERIALIST. +Forster a Pioneer of Liberal Imperialism--His Political Courage--His +Unfortunate Manner--His Home Life--Intrigues in the Cabinet--The Plots +against Forster's Life--Reaction in his Favour--Forster and Lord +Hartington--The Former's Grief for Gordon--Forster and Lord Rosebery--Mr. +Stead and the _Pall Mall Gazette_--His Responsibility for the +Gordon Imbroglio. + +CHAPTER XVI. +NOVELS AND NOVELISTS. +"The Lumley Entail"--"Gladys Fane"--My Experience in Novel-Writing--About +Sad Endings--Imaginary Characters and Characters Drawn from Life--Visits +from William Black and Bret Harte--Black as an After-Dinner Speaker--How +Bret Harte saw Haworth Parsonage, and was Roughly Entreated by a +Yorkshire Admirer--A Candid Opinion on the Brontė Monograph. + +CHAPTER XVII. +TO THE DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT (1885). +More Antagonism towards Forster--A Household Suffrage Demonstration at +Leeds--A Meeting at the Carlton Club and a Coincidence--Forster and "the +most Powerful Man in England"--Single-Member Constituencies and the +Cumulative Vote--Dynamite Outrages--Police Protection for Statesmen--I +Receive Threatening Letters and Get a Fright--Death of Lord +Houghton--Lord Derby and how he was Misunderstood--An Unconventional +Dinner at Lord Houghton's--A Visit to Tangier--In Peril of the +Sea--Gibraltar "a Magnificent Imposture"--Captain W. and the M.P.--To the +North Cape--Cheering a Funeral Party--News of Mr. Gladstone's +Overthrow--Home Again. + + + + +MEMOIRS OF +SIR WEMYSS REID. + + + * * * * * + + + +CHAPTER I. + +EARLY DAYS. + +Birth and Parentage--Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the 'Forties--A Visit to St. +Andrews--The Scottish Sabbath--First Acquaintance with a Printing +Office--Tyneside in the Mid-Century--In Peril of Housebreakers--At Dr. +Collingwood Bruce's School--A Plague of Flies--Cholera--Fire. + + +It was in the old town, now the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne that I first +saw the light--March 29, 1842. My father, the Rev. Alexander Reid, was +trained first at the University of St. Andrews, under Dr. Chalmers, and +afterwards at Highbury College, London, under Dr. Pye-Smith, for the +Congregational ministry. On leaving College he settled in 1830 at +Newcastle, and there remained for half a century a faithful and honoured +preacher, retiring in 1880 amid the esteem of the whole community on +Tyneside. He died in 1887 under the roof of my younger brother Stuart, at +Wilmslow, Cheshire, a year which was memorable to me in other than a +sorrowful sense, since it was then that I settled in London. It was said +of my father at the time of his death, in one of the Newcastle papers, +that for a man to be in difficulty or sorrow was a passport to his help +and sympathy. My mother was the daughter of Thomas Wemyss, of Darlington, +a well known Biblical scholar and critic, a kinsman of the poet Campbell, +and a direct descendant of the Stewarts of Ascog, Bute, a family which +traced its descent in unbroken succession--with the bar sinister at the +start--from Robert II. of Scotland. + +Of the six children who grew up in the austerely simple but happy +surroundings of my father's home, the eldest, Mary, was the daughter of +my father by a previous marriage; she married the Rev. William Bathgate, +D.D., of Kilmarnock, and died as recently as 1903, to my great sorrow. My +elder brother James, with whom I was most closely associated in boyhood +and youth, was always more or less of an invalid, and died at Leeds in +1880--the year in which our mother also passed away. I came next in the +family, and my younger brothers are Alexander, now manager of the Dublin +and Wexford Railway, and Stuart, who, like myself, has followed +journalism and literature. It only remains for me to mention the youngest +member of the family, John Paul, a bright and affectionate little fellow +of thirteen, whose loss in 1868 threw a shadow over the home which only +the passage of long years softened. + +Newcastle, in those days, was scarcely a third of its present size, and +the river Tyne, which is now a mere ditch, hemmed in on either side by +great manufactories, shipbuilding yards, and wharves, from its mouth to a +point above Newcastle, was then a fair and noble river, which watered +green meadows and swept past scenes of rural beauty. The house in which I +was born stood in Elswick Row, and in the year of my birth--1842--that +terrace of modest houses formed the boundary-line of the town on the +west. Beyond it was nothing but fields and open country. There was no +High Level Bridge in those days, spanning the river and forming a link in +the great iron highway between the English and Scotch capitals; nor had +so much as the first stone of the famous Elswick Ordnance and Engineering +Works been laid. The future Lord Armstrong, whom I met at dinner not long +ago, looking hardly older than when I first saw him, was then a +solicitor, whose office stood in Westgate Street, and whose dreams could +scarcely have foreshadowed his ultimate destiny. Richard Granger was just +completing that great reconstruction of the centre of the town which gave +Newcastle so noble and unprovincial an appearance; but the fine streets +he had constructed--finer than any others to be found in England at that +period--were still untenanted, and it was melancholy in walking along +Clayton Street to see nine houses out of ten mere empty shells without +doors or windows. + +My earliest recollections start out of the void with great distinctness +on one particular day. It was my third birthday, and I can still recall +vividly the two boys--myself and my brother James--who were playing +together in the garden in front of the pleasant house we then occupied in +Summerhill Terrace, when I was called into the drawing-room to receive my +birthday gifts. + +It is not, however, with the memories of a child that I wish to entertain +my readers, except in so far as they may have some intrinsic interest of +their own. Dimly I can recall the year of storm and stress on the +Continent, when thrones were toppling and the tide of revolution +threatened a general catastrophe; vaguely, too, I remember the firing of +the guns from the old castle, which announced the death of Queen Adelaide +in 1849; but it was not until 1850 that my real life may be said to have +begun. In the spring of that year I went on a long visit to my paternal +grandfather at St. Andrews, where his family had been settled for many +generations. In the station of Berwick-upon-Tweed the luggage of +passengers was examined in order to see that whiskey was not being +smuggled across the Border, and I was filled with childish wonder as I +watched the process. + +St. Andrews, as it was in 1850, bore little resemblance to the well-known +pleasure resort of to-day. So far as I can remember, there was not a +modern building in the city, and as a picture of an old-world Scottish +town it was without a flaw. No club-house faced the sea, nor were there +the fashionable residences which adorn the modern St. Andrews. The grass +grew and the oats ripened where now stretch the long terraces devoted to +summer lodgings for the visitors. North Street and South Street were the +two city thoroughfares, if thoroughfares they could be called, seeing +that even in them the green weeds grew freely. Antiquity and repose +characterised the place as a whole, though in the winter months the stir +of young life filled the little city, troops of red-cloaked students +passing to and fro between the grey, weather-beaten halls of the +University and their lodgings. At the end of South Street stood the ruins +of the cathedral with the fine tower, in which the beams of some great +vessel of the Spanish Armada, wrecked on the neighbouring Bell Rock, were +carefully preserved, and the graceful arches of the sacred building, for +the destruction of which John Knox was responsible. Many generations of +my forefathers slept side by side in one particular portion of the +cathedral grounds, and here my grandfather used to bring me to play among +the tombs and to spell out the names of kinsmen who had died a century or +more before my own earthly pilgrimage began. The whole place, with its +noble ruins of castle and cathedral, its grey and empty streets, its +venerable halls, its green links and fine coast-line, made a profound +impression upon my imagination as a child. To this day I can recall not +only the scene itself, but the sounds, the colours, the briny odours, the +very atmosphere of the place. + +Golf was then, as now, the one great amusement of the citizens, though +there was this difference between the past and the present. In those days +the game was almost unknown to the rest of the world, and to all intents +and purposes St. Andrews had a monopoly of it. [Footnote: Blackheath, of +course, had then, as now, its ancient golf club.] We all talked golf, +even if we did not all play it. The shop-boys rose betimes of a summer's +morning to enjoy a round on the links before breakfast, and learned +professors and staid ministers gave their afternoons to the same +absorbing pursuit. Child though I was, even I had my clubs, and played in +my own fashion at the game. + +My grandfather, who had retired from his business as a manufacturer of +flax some years before, had a number of poor relations and dependents +whom he frequently visited, taking me with him as a companion. Many of +these were weavers, and in those days the weaver carried on his craft at +home. I can see distinctly the little stone cottages in the narrow wynds +off South Street, which I was wont to visit; I can recall the whirr and +rattle of the loom "ben the house," and picture to myself the grave +elderly man who on my entrance would rise from the rickety machine in +front of which he was seated, and, after refreshing himself with a pinch +of snuff, adjust his horn-rimmed spectacles and stare, with a seriousness +which to me was somewhat disquieting, at the little English boy who had +found his way into his presence. Kind they were without exception, these +simple homely folk; but their gravity was hardly to be measured. Stern +Calvinists to a man and a woman, the world was clearly to them no +playground, no place for the frivolous pursuit of pleasure; and even the +innocent sports of a child seemed to jar on their sense of the fitness of +things. + +It was on Sunday, however, that the full severity of the Scotch +Puritanism of that day made itself felt in my inmost soul. Oh, the dreary +monotony of those Sabbaths at St. Andrews! The long, long service and yet +longer sermon in the forenoon, the funereal procession of the +congregation to their homes, the hasty meal, consisting chiefly of tea +and cold, hard-boiled eggs, which took the place of dinner, and the +return within a few minutes to the kirk, where the vitiated atmosphere +left by the morning congregation had not yet passed away. Even when the +second service had come to a close, the solemnities of the day were not +ended, for the Sunday School met in the late afternoon, and remained in +session for a couple of hours. But it was not the public services, +terrible though these were, that formed the most depressing feature of +Sunday in St. Andrews; it was the rigid discipline which pervaded her +home-life. My grandfather, I believe, was looked upon as being somewhat +lax in his religious views, and he was undoubtedly more liberal--perhaps +one might say more advanced--than many of his neighbours. Yet even he had +to render homage to the universal law. So when Sunday came round the +blinds were closely drawn, lest the rays of the sun should dissipate the +gloom befitting the solemn day, whilst no voice in the household was +raised above a sepulchral whisper. Lucky for me was it that I was sent to +bed early, and that thus the horrors of the Sabbath were in my case +abbreviated. The older members of the family sat in a silent semicircle +round the smouldering fire, each holding, and some possibly reading, a +book, the suitableness of which for use at such a time was beyond +question. The Bible, the metrical version of the Psalms, and one or two +volumes of discourses by divines of undoubted orthodoxy, formed the only +literature recognised on these occasions. For myself, I had brought with +me from home a copy of the delightful, though now forgotten, book called +"Evenings at Home." and my Sabbatical sufferings were intensified by the +sight of this volume on a high bookshelf, where it remained beyond my +reach from Saturday night till Monday morning. + +My life among these grave, elderly men and women would probably have been +a sad one but for one fact. Adjoining my grandfather's residence was a +small printing office, which he had established some years before for the +benefit of a widowed daughter-in-law. A door opened from the house into +the printing office, and through it I would steal whenever I got the +chance. It was not only that the journeyman printer (there _were_ +journeymen in those days) was the kindest of men, whose memory I cherish +with affection to this hour, and who never failed to welcome me with a +smile and a pleasant word when I invaded his domain. The place had a +charm of its own for me, mysterious, inexplicable, but absolutely +enthralling. The cases of type, the presses, the ink-rollers, the damp +proof-sheets--chiefly of bills announcing public meetings or the "roup" +of some bankrupt farmer's stock--filled me with wonder and delight. Child +as I was, I saw in these humble implements of the petty tradesman the +means by which one mind can place itself in contact with many. + +It is not to be supposed that I had even the dimmest perception of +anything beyond the most obvious features of the printer's business, but +the seed was sown then which was to fructify throughout my whole +remaining life, and from the day when I first felt the fascination of +that humble printer's workshop, I never ceased to regard myself as in a +special degree a child of the printing-press. How delightful were the +hours which I and David, the journeyman aforesaid, spent together when +business was slack--and it was often slack! Then it was that together we +would compose the most wonderful announcements of the great enterprises +to which I was to commit myself in after life. Now it was the prospectus +of a "genteel academy" of which I was to be the principal, and again it +was the announcement of the opening of a vast emporium for the sale of +goods of every description under my direction, that we thus composed and +printed. These advertisements were invariably printed on gilt-edged paper +in the bluest of ink, and, when I subsequently returned home, excited +prodigious envy in my elder brother, who had never been privileged to +"see himself in print." + +My stay at St. Andrews ended at last in a somewhat melancholy fashion. As +the place seemed to agree with me, it was settled that I should remain +for a year at least; and in order that the time might not be wasted I was +sent to school, the school being the well-known Madras College. Here both +boys and girls were taught together. Of the present state of that famous +institution I know nothing, nor do I wish to utter a word of +disparagement of those who were responsible for its management fifty +years ago; but to me, a timid boy who, in spite of his Northumbrian burr, +was turned to ridicule as a Cockney by the Fifeshire lads and lasses, it +wore the aspect of a veritable place of torment. That classic instrument +of discipline, the tawse, was in use at every hour of the day, girls as +well as boys receiving barbarous punishment under the eyes of their +class-mates. Perhaps the cruelty was not so great as it seemed to me, but +at all events it was enough, so far as I was concerned. My dread of the +terrible lash grew into a brooding horror, which poisoned my days and +destroyed my nights; and before I had been a month at the school I was +seized with an attack upon the brain which nearly proved fatal. + +Let me mention here, by way of testifying to the orthodoxy of the +religious training given to my young soul, that on the first night on +which I became delirious I was pursued by a phantom, plainly visible to +my overwrought imagination, which wore the exact guise of the Evil One. +Horns, hoofs, tail, and trident, were all clearly seen, and I sprang +wildly from side to side of my bed trying to evade the fiend's attempt to +capture me, until at last I took refuge, trembling and almost fainting, +in my grandfather's arms. My youth and my good constitution carried me +safely through an illness of no ordinary severity, and one day, as I lay +in bed in the first stage of convalescence, I had the joy of hearing my +mother's voice, and of knowing that she was with me once more. A few days +later I returned with her to Newcastle, and thus ended the attempt to +make a Scotsman of me. + +My visit to the North, however, had the effect of stimulating my +intelligence, and giving me a real interest in things around me. Travel +had, in short, done its usual work of instructing and vivifying the mind. +Henceforward I had a standard of comparison to apply to home scenes and +experiences which I had not previously possessed. One favourite resort of +ours at home was a grove of trees situate midway between the outskirts of +the town and the village of Benwell. To us children, and to certain other +young folk who were our playmates, it was known as Diana's Grove, though +whether the name came from some fancy of our own or some bygone +tradition, I was never able to ascertain. On the maps of those days it +bore quite another designation. It was a delightful spot, and when, +accompanied by our nursemaid, my brothers and I set off to spend a long +summer morning there, we seemed to have reached the height of bliss. The +grove was separated from Elswick Lane by sloping fields, where wheat and +barley grew luxuriantly, and the narrow path by which we ran, shouting +with joy, through these fields to our haven among the trees led past a +little fountain at which we always stopped to drink. The grove itself was +a small wood of oak and fir trees, covering a piece of rising ground from +which the most delightful views of the beautiful Tyne Valley and the +country lying south of the river were to be obtained. How often as a +child, when tired with my boyish games, I have sat with my brother +beneath one of the trees of the grove, and looked with eyes of wonder on +the scene before me! The noble river seemed to flow almost at our feet, +and the only signs of life upon its surface were the great keels passing +slowly up and down. Beyond it were the green meadows of Dunstan, whilst, +rising behind them, was the fine amphitheatre crowned by the pretty +village of Wickham and the woods of Ravensworth and Gibside. Young as I +was, I could quote poetry; and I remember how, as I looked upon this +scene, there invariably occurred to me the lines-- + + "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood + Stand dressed in living green; + So to the Jews old Canaan stood + While Jordan rolled between." + +Away yonder, across the brimming river, was the Canaan of my +imagination--the mysterious, unknown land into which my little feet were +so eager to wander, reckless of what might happen there. Why do I dwell +upon this simple scene? I do so because, alas, it is now a scene of the +past. Where my young comrades and I made merry fifty years ago in the +shade of the oak trees, or beside the well in the meadow, there is now a +vast cemetery, and some of those who played with me there now sleep +peacefully almost in the shadow of the Diana's Grove we loved so well. +And the prospect from the grove--where is it now? Along the north bank of +the Tyne, at that very spot, stretch the immense works of Lord Armstrong, +whilst the houses of his workmen, in thickly-planted streets, cover the +fair meadows of my youth, and the dense cloud of smoke for ever rising +from forge and furnace blots out the prospect of the southern shore. + +Hardly less melancholy is the change which has overtaken the favourite +seaside resorts of my childhood. Tynemouth was the earliest +watering-place of which I knew anything. In those days the pleasant +village, not yet defiled by the soot of Shields, consisted of three +streets, called respectively Front Street, Middle Street, and Back +Street. There was no great pier casting its mighty arm into the sea +across the mouth of the river, and the favourite resort of visitors, the +place where we children played and bathed, and our elders lounged and +read or flirted, according to their tastes, was the quaint little haven +now given up to the pier works. How high the breakers were that rolled +into that haven as I stood, a wondering child, and watched them from the +shore! I have tossed on many seas since then, and have stood on many a +storm-swept headland; but nowhere have I seen waves so high--so +irresistible in their majesty, as those waves at Tynemouth seemed to my +innocent eyes to be. + +Far greater than the change at Tynemouth is that which has taken place at +Whitley, another of our favourite summer resorts, on the delightful +Northumbrian coast. What Whitley is now I do not know; but when I last +saw it, more than a dozen years ago, it had become a rambling, ugly, +ill-built town, chiefly given over to lodging-house keepers, though +redeemed by its fine stretch of hard sand. Very different was the Whitley +with which I first made acquaintance in 1849. There was no lodging-house +in the place; nothing but a sequestered village, which could not boast of +church or chapel, and which had only one small shop. My parents used to +hire a charming little cottage belonging to the village blacksmith. Its +front opened upon the village street, and behind was a garden, full of +the simple cottage flowers which are so strangely unfamiliar to those +doomed to dwell in towns. A summer-house, clothed in honeysuckle, was one +of the features of the garden, and the delicious scent seemed to me in +those happy days, when I first reached the cottage on one of our summer +holidays, to be as it were the fragrance of heaven itself. Nobody else +seemed to visit Whitley in those first years of our sojourn there; so +that we had the noble stretch of sands and the long line of cliffs almost +to ourselves during the long summer's day, and my father, lying on the +yielding turf above the sands, could study his sermon for the coming +Sunday at peace, unmolested and almost unseen by any man. There must +still, I suppose, be spots somewhere on the long coastline of this island +where one might find combined the peace, the seclusion, and the beauty of +that bit of Northumberland as I knew it fifty years ago; and yet, +whatever my understanding may say, my heart tells me that I shall never +again see anything like the Whitley of my youth. [Footnote: Since these +pages were penned, the memory of the blacksmith's cottage at Whitley has +been vividly brought back to me under rather singular circumstances. In +the spring of 1895 I was dining in Downing Street with Lord Rosebery, +then Prime Minister. Next to me at dinner was seated Sir James Joicey, +the millionaire colliery owner and Member of Parliament. Sir James is, +like myself, a Northumbrian, and our conversation naturally turned upon +our native county. I spoke of the blacksmith's cottage, and the bower of +honeysuckle at Whitley, with the enthusiasm which old memories evoked. To +my surprise, there was an answering gleam of pleasure and tenderness on +my friend's face. "_You_ lived in the blacksmith's cottage?" said +he. "Why, so did we when I was a boy!" We found, on comparing dates, that +the Joiceys had followed my own parents as tenants of the tiny house when +the latter gave it up. To both of us it seemed a far cry from the honest +blacksmith's modest cottage to Mr. Pitt's dining-room in Downing Street.] + +It was in the autumn of 1850 that a rather curious adventure befell me, +which might well have cut short my career, and prevented these pages from +ever seeing the light. We were about to remove from Summerhill Terrace to +a house not far distant which had just been bought by my father, and, as +it happened, one dull afternoon I was left alone at home, my mother and +the servants being all engaged at the new house. I was left with strict +injunctions to "put the chain on the front door," and to bolt the kitchen +door, which was on a lower level than the other. The first order I +obeyed, but the second, under the temptation of an entrancing story in +_Tait's Edinburgh Magazine_ which absorbed my thoughts, I entirely +forgot. I was devouring this story, as only children do devour stories, +when I heard the front door opened. I was sitting in the parlour, at the +back of the house, so that I could not see anyone enter the garden. +Running to the door, under the belief that my mother had returned, I +found myself confronted by two men. They were--or pretended to +be--pedlars; and one of them carried a case filled with sham jewellery. +Their great desire seemed to be to get me to unchain the door. I was +simple enough to tell them that I was alone in the house, but my +simplicity did not carry me so far as a compliance with their urgent +request. After arguing with me for several minutes, and even endeavouring +to bribe me with a trumpery jewel, the men withdrew, muttering. I watched +them for a moment, and took note of the keen, earnest gaze they bent upon +the house before leaving the garden. But the voice of the charmer in +_Tait_ was calling too loudly to allow me to dwell upon anything +else, and I was quickly back again in the parlour and deep in mystery. + +It might have been twenty minutes later that there fell upon my startled +ear a sound which under the circumstances was distinctly sinister--that +of a man's foot on the sanded floor of the kitchen passage below. A timid +child at all times, there is no need to say that when I crept to the head +of the stairs, and, after listening there breathlessly for a few seconds, +ascertained beyond doubt that more than one man was moving about in the +rooms below me, I was filled with almost a paralysing sense of terror. +Here at last the "robbers" of whom I and my brother had so often talked +in frightened whispers in our beds, were come in good earnest. What was +to be done? And then there flashed upon me, like an inspiration, the +recollection of a plan which we had talked over together when discussing +the best means of driving the robbers from our house, should they ever +enter it. We had both agreed, then, that if we could but induce any +ordinary thief to believe that a certain big relative of ours, whose +colossal proportions we had often admired, was on the premises, there +would be no need to do anything else to make the intruder flee +affrighted. My mind was made up. Creeping softly back into the parlour, I +seized the tongs. These I hurled suddenly down the kitchen stairs, and +when the terrible din thus raised had died out, I cried in my childish +treble, "Uncle John! Uncle John! Come downstairs! There are thieves in +the house!" There was a cry of rage or alarm from the kitchen, a hurried +scuffling of feet on the floor, and then through a window I saw my two +friends the pedlars flying through the yard, and pausing not to look +behind. I ought, of course, to have forthwith gone downstairs and done my +duty by that back door, which I had so shamefully neglected earlier in +the day; but I am ashamed to say that my momentary access of courage had +entirely died away by this time, and that for no imaginable sum of money +would I have dared to descend those stairs, and pass through the dark +passage leading to the back door. The thieves were in due time captured +and transported for another offence; but my parents refused to prosecute +them in order that I might escape the ordeal of a public examination. +They were desperate ruffians, and the police declared their belief that +if they had known I was alone in the house they would have murdered me. + +I now come to my schooldays in the distant years 1852-4. My father, as I +have already said, was a minister of religion for fifty years at +Newcastle. He was one of the gentlest and noblest of men, one whom I have +never ceased to revere as the very pattern and exemplar of a Christian +gentleman. But those who follow such a calling cannot expect to gain +riches as their reward, and my father was a poor man. Despite his +poverty, he was resolved that his sons should have the best education +that he could procure for them. That meant that they must be sent to the +best school in the town--Percy Street Academy. So when my elder brother +in 1848 was of school age, he took him to Mr., not then Dr., Bruce, to +enter him as a pupil. I have no doubt that he went with some trepidation, +knowing full well that the school fees would be a heavy tax upon his +small income. I was sitting with my mother in the drawing-room of +Summerhill Terrace when my father returned, and I saw that there was an +unwonted brightness on his gentle face. He told my mother how Mr. Bruce, +after examining my brother, had pronounced him to be fully qualified to +enter the school; and then my father asked about the fees. The answer he +received was, "My dear Mr. Reid, I never take a fee from a minister of +religion." And so it came to pass that not only my brother James but +myself and my two younger brothers were educated at Percy Street without +any fee being paid on our behalf. No one will wonder that I cherish Dr. +Bruce's memory with unstinted gratitude and reverence. + +Schooldays, despite the popular theory, are, as a matter of fact, +generally as uninteresting to the schoolboy as their story is to the +public, and I shall not detain the reader with much about this period of +my life. Dr. Collingwood Bruce, the father, by the way, of Mr. Justice +Bruce, was then and long afterwards the most famous school master in the +North of England, and under him I received that small fraction of my +education which a man usually obtains during pupilage. Percy Street +Academy, Newcastle, has long since disappeared, after having counted no +inconsiderable proportion of the best-known residents among its pupils. +It occupied a series of rambling buildings with an imposing house at the +end of the row, in which lived "The Doctor," the assistant masters, and +the boarders. But though the school is gone, my old schoolmaster died but +recently, enjoying to the last the respect of his fellow citizens and the +repose of a happy old age. He is known to fame as the author of the +leading work on the Roman Wall, and as an antiquary of high repute. I +have a grateful recollection of many of his acts during my school career; +and, looking back, there are none I now esteem more highly than the +attempts he constantly made to interest his pupils in the general affairs +of the world outside the school-gates. + +How well, for example, do I remember the school being summoned one +morning in November, 1854, to the large writing room! Here the Doctor was +standing at his desk awaiting us, armed with a copy of the _Times_. +It had just arrived, and it contained W. H. Russell's brilliant account +of the battle of Inkermann. In a few well-chosen words, the Doctor--who +was an excellent public speaker--explained that he had called us from our +tasks in order that we might listen to the story of a great deed done for +England of which every Englishman ought to be proud; and then he read the +whole story of the battle as it is told in Russell's graphic narrative, +whilst we boys cheered each deed of English valour and groaned at the +Russians as lustily as though we had been ourselves spectators of the +fight. It was a wise act on the part of Dr. Bruce, and many others +besides myself must have been grateful to him for having thus made us +participators in the emotion which in those stirring times thrilled the +nation. + +It was before the Crimean War, however, that we in Newcastle passed +through an experience the like of which I shall hardly encounter again. +Newcastle was then notorious for its bad sanitation. A great part of the +town consisted of houses of extreme antiquity, crowded together in narrow +alleys in the neighbourhood of the river. These alleys, I may note in +passing, were known as "chares"--a designation which used habitually to +puzzle the Judges of Assize when they had to inquire into the +circumstances of one of the not infrequent riots which in those days +chequered the harmony of life on the banks of the Tyne. It was towards +the end of July, 1853, that the rumour spread, reaching even a schoolboy +like myself, that the cholera was approaching. A few weeks later it was +with us in all its grim reality. Its actual appearance in the town was +preceded by an extraordinary phenomenon which may, or may not, have been +connected with the epidemic. One hot morning in August, when I left home +for school, I was struck by the curious appearance of the atmosphere. No +sooner had I stepped out of doors than I found that the strange dimness +which pervaded everything was due to swarms of minute flies, which +literally darkened the skies and settled in innumerable hosts upon every +object animate and inanimate. It was impossible to breathe without +inhaling these loathsome insects whenever the mouth was opened, and in +order to protect ourselves my brother and I fastened our pocket +handkerchiefs over our faces and walked to school in this fashion. We +found that most other persons had adopted the same device. The plague +lasted in Egyptian intensity for the whole of that day. The next day it +had to a certain extent subsided, and on the third the dead flies might +have been seen literally in heaps, each one of which must have contained +countless thousands, in the corners of halls and passages. Everybody +connected this most disagreeable phenomenon with the approach of the +pestilence, and, whether they did so rightly or wrongly, the cholera only +too certainly followed upon its heels. + +Its first appearance raised feelings of terror in many hearts. I confess +for myself that when I heard that three persons had died of cholera in +the town on the previous day I fell into a small panic; but it was then +that my mother, always a deeply religious woman, seeing how things were +going with us, called her children together, and in the happiest manner +succeeded in converting our dread of an unknown and mysterious evil into +a perfect and childlike trust in the protection of a Heavenly Father. +What she said I cannot now recall; I only know that from that moment, +whilst many of our companions in school and at play went about with +pallid faces and unstrung nerves, all our fears seemed as if by magic to +have vanished. But the reality of the plague was terrible indeed, and the +month of September, 1853, is never likely to be forgotten by anyone who +then lived at Newcastle. It was not merely that the mortality was +enormous, the deaths on some days being above a hundred, but that the +circumstances attending the plague were of a gruesome and harrowing +character. Not a few of the scenes in the streets recalled the story of +the Great Plague of London. We had the same incidents of the dead lying +unburied because there were none left to carry them to the grave. We had +the piles of coffins waiting for interment in the churchyard. We had sad +stories of men seen wheeling the corpse of wife or child in a barrow to +the place of burial. In the evenings workmen carried burning +disinfectants through the streets, the blue flames and sickening stench +of which heightened the horrors of our situation. And perhaps most awful +of all was the suddenness with which the disease slew. One evening in +that terrible month my brothers and I were playing in the garden of our +next-door neighbour with his children; by-and-by he himself came out to +smoke his evening pipe, and as usual he had a kindly word for each one of +us. We left him, when we went to bed, sauntering in the placid eventide +among the flowers he was wont carefully to tend. When I got downstairs +next morning a rough country servant, who was then in our employment, +bluntly told me that "that laddie B----" (naming our neighbour) had died +of the cholera during the night. + +It is easy to conceive the effect which an incident like this necessarily +had upon the mind of a child; and there were many such incidents. I +verily believe that if we had not been clad by our mother's care and +wisdom in that armour of trusting faith, we should have suffered +irremediable injury. As it was, it became apparent that we must be +removed from the plague-stricken town. But whither could we go? No +visitor from Newcastle or any other riverside town could find admittance +into any of the lodging-houses on the coast. Happily a port of refuge was +open to us in the little blacksmith's cottage at Whitley, and thither, to +our great relief, we were transported about the time when the virulence +of the epidemic began to abate. My father had himself suffered from an +attack of the disease, probably incurred whilst visiting, with quiet but +unstinted devotion, the sick, and I also had had a very slight touch of +it. The fine air of Whitley and the sunny hours spent on the lonely sands +did wonders for us all; and when we returned home it was to find +Newcastle restored to its ordinary life, with only the empty places in +many households to remind us of the ordeal through which the town had +passed. + +I have spoken of the resemblance between this outbreak of cholera and the +Great Plague of London. Curiously enough, the likeness between the +experiences of the northern town in the nineteenth century and the +capital in the seventeenth was to be made yet closer. It was just a year +after the epidemic had passed away that we were visited by another +calamity, infinitely less appalling, and yet at the time of its +occurrence far more startling. Sound asleep in the middle of a dark +October night, I began to dream, and, naturally enough at the time, my +dreams were of the war which had then begun. A Russian fleet escaping +from the Baltic had sailed up the Tyne and was bombarding Newcastle. So +ran my vision, and its effect was heightened by the firing of the guns I +heard in my sleep. + +Suddenly my dream and everything else vanished from my mind, driven out +by a shock the like of which I had never experienced before. I was +sitting up in bed, trembling violently, and wondering what awful thing it +was that had broken in upon my slumbers. It was a sound--but such a +sound! Nothing approaching to it had ever fallen on my ears before; and +even when wide awake I still heard its echoes vibrating around me. My +brother James, strange to say, had slept peacefully through the roar of +an explosion the noise of which was heard at Sunderland, fourteen miles +away. In response to my cries he awoke, and at my urgent request went to +the window, which I was myself at the moment too much unnerved to +approach. Directly he drew aside the curtain the room was filled with a +glare that rendered every object as plainly visible as in broad daylight. +We believed that a large building used as a tannery immediately behind +our house must be on fire, but the building stood, and we saw that the +glare which lighted up the whole heavens was far away. It was shortly +after three o'clock on the morning of October 6th, 1854. Presently our +natural agitation was increased by a violent knocking on the front door +of the house at that untimely hour. It was the old man who "kept" my +father's chapel at Tuthill Stairs, and he brought with him a doleful +story. Evidently hysterical from the shock he had received, he told my +father, amid his sobs, that half of Newcastle and Gateshead had been +blown down by a frightful explosion in one of the Gateshead bonded +warehouses; that the dead and dying were lying about in hundreds, and +that, to crown everything, Tuthill Stairs Chapel had been destroyed. + +It was indeed a tale of woe; and though my father promptly discounted it, +it was impossible to doubt, with the evidence of that flaming sky before +our eyes, that something very terrible had happened. Whether old Dixon +expected my father to act as an amateur fireman, or whether he hoped for +services of a more spiritual kind, I do not know; but he resolutely +refused to return to the scene of the disaster unless my father +accompanied him. So by-and-by my brother and I found ourselves +accompanying my father and the chapel-keeper on their way to the fire. + +A strange spectacle it was which was presented to us. Thousands of +persons were hurrying down towards the river side; and upon their faces +shone the reflection of the glowing sky. By-and-by, as we came within +range of the effects of the explosion, we found broken windows and +shattered doorways on every side. It was not, however, until we reached +the High Level Bridge, and from the giddy height of the roadway looked +down upon the river and the two towns, that we realised the full extent +of the disaster which had happened so suddenly. To our right, as we stood +on the bridge, raged a fire of immense extent. The flames were roaring +upwards from one of the great bonded warehouses of Gateshead, and +threatening at every moment to attack the old parish church, which stood +like a rock strangely illumined in the glare; to our left, in the crowded +streets and alleys of the lower part of Newcastle, I counted no fewer +than seven fires burning fiercely in different places, whilst on the +river there were three ships in flames. It was wonderful to look up and +see burning sparks and fragments hurtling through air, resembling nothing +so much (I thought at the time) as a snowstorm every flake of which was a +point of fire; it was wonderful, too, to see the shipping in the river, +the broad stream itself, and the long lines of houses on either side +glowing in the dancing flames. We could hear the rush of the fire +heavenwards; we could see the mere handfuls of men--soldiers, police, and +what not--who were vainly striving to cope with the terrible enemy they +had so suddenly been called upon to face; and even as we looked we saw +fresh fires break out, and above the roar of the mighty furnace on the +Gateshead side--with the glowing crater which marked the site of the +great explosion--could hear at intervals the cries of the workers. +Looking back, I think that was upon the whole the most sublimely +impressive sight I ever beheld. The two burning towns; the river between +them glittering as though its waters had been turned to gold; the dense +silent crowds around me--these made up a picture the memory of which can +never fade. + +Though old Dixon's "hundreds of dead and dying" was the wildest of +exaggerations, there had been a most lamentable loss of life as a +consequence of the explosion. What had happened was this: about midnight +a fire had broken out in a vinegar manufactory in the densely-crowded +district of Gateshead lying between the parish church and the river. This +fire, baffling the efforts of the fire brigade, spread quickly, until it +reached some large bonded warehouses adjoining the vinegar manufactory. +By this time it had acquired such proportions that it had been found +necessary to summon the military from the Newcastle Barracks to assist in +the effort to extinguish it, whilst vast crowds of people assembled, not +only in the neighbourhood of the fire itself, but on the bridges and +Newcastle quay, from which an excellent view was to be obtained. The fire +at last reached a warehouse owned by a gentleman named Bertram, and here +it assumed a new character. The exact contents of the warehouse remain +undiscovered to this day. At the time it was freely asserted that Mr. +Bertram had, in direct breach of the law, warehoused a large quantity of +gunpowder; but scientific witnesses who were subsequently examined showed +that it was possible that certain chemicals stored in the warehouse, when +suddenly combined, as by the falling of the floors, would be quite as +explosive as gunpowder itself. + +Be this as it may, after one or two slight explosions--those which in my +dream were transformed into the cannonade of a Russian force--the whole +warehouse with all its contents was suddenly blown into the air by the +force of an explosion seldom equalled in its terrible violence. That +explosion not only carried the burning materials across the river to +Newcastle, where they quickly produced another conflagration as serious +in its character as that which was raging in Gateshead, but inflicted +terrible injury both to life and property. The persons in the +neighbourhood of the burning building, including soldiers, firemen, +police, and Mr. Bertram, the owner of the warehouse, were instantly +killed; and in many cases not a trace of their remains could afterwards +be found. On the bridges and on Newcastle quay the great crowds of +onlookers were thrown to the ground by the shock, and several were killed +outright; whilst, far and wide, buildings were partially unroofed, +windows broken, and a great and populous district reduced to the state in +which one might have expected to see it after a bombardment. The exact +number of those killed was never ascertained, but I believe that between +thirty and forty persons lost their lives. + +As I came away with my father and brother from the scene of the fire, my +young nerves received the shock which invariably follows the first sight +of death. In the Sandhill--the scene of Lord Eldon's elopement with the +beautiful Bessie Surtees--a man was lying on the pavement who had been +killed by the force of the explosion. As I passed, they were lifting the +body into a cart, and the sight of the head, hanging helplessly like that +of a dead bird, was one I never forgot. All that day the fires burned +fiercely, and it was not until the third day that they were really +subdued. Indeed, on the Gateshead side the ruined warehouses smoked and +smouldered for more than a week. In all, the value of the property +destroyed was something like a million sterling. + +Never shall I forget my morning at school on the day on which the fire +first broke out. Boylike, it was the wonder rather than the horror of the +thing which was uppermost in my mind, and I and my schoolfellows, before +the morning bell sounded, eagerly related to each other all that we had +seen; those who, like myself, had been early on the ground having much to +tell to eager listeners. It was only when we had trooped excitedly into +our class-rooms, and found ourselves face to face with our masters, that +we began to realise the actual solemnity of a catastrophe the like of +which had never before befallen an English provincial town. In the Latin +room, where I was due at the opening of the school, I was unfeignedly +surprised to see Mr. Garven, our old classical tutor, sitting in tears at +his desk, and I can still hear the broken whispers in which he attempted +to speak to us of the terrible event. + +It came home, I ought to say, very closely to "Bruce's school." More than +one of those killed had been pupils, and the son of Mr. Bertram, upon +whom already an excited public opinion was seeking to fasten the +responsibility for the explosion, was one of our schoolfellows, and had +but the day before joined us in our lessons. Suddenly as, in a +half-hearted way, we began our usual tasks, Dr. Bruce entered, pale and +agitated. "Boys," he said, "a dreadful thing has happened to our good old +town. God knows how far the mischief may extend, and what ruin may be +wrought; but we know already that more than one old pupil here have lost +their lives, and that some of you boys have lost those near and dear to +you. There can be no school to-day. It would not be decent----" And then +the Doctor's voice fairly gave way, and we found ourselves dismissed to +an unexpected--and, for once, an undesired--holiday. These things sink +deep into the youthful imagination, and the memory of them can never be +lost. As I look back upon the years I spent at school, that dark October +morning stands out with a prominence that causes every other day of my +school life to sink into insignificance. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PROBATION. + +Aspirations After a Journalistic Life--A Clerk's Stool in the W.B. Lead +Office--Literary Ambitions--An Accepted Contribution--The _Northern +Daily Express_ and its Editor--Founding a Literary Institute--Letters +from Charles Kingsley and Archbishop Longley--Joseph Cowen and his +Revolutionary Friends--Orsini--Thackeray's Lectures and Dickens's +Readings. + + +One day, in the summer of 1856, I was walking along Princes Street, +Edinburgh, looking with wonder and delight upon the beautiful panorama +that was spread before my eyes. I was little for my age, and the +gentleman who was my companion, and who was pointing out to me the many +famous buildings and monuments that form the glory of the modern Athens, +was leading me by the hand. + +Probably he thought me still younger than I was, and treated me as a mere +child. I had come to Edinburgh on a brief holiday, and was staying at the +house of one of my father's friends. By-and-by, having duly fulfilled his +duty as showman, my companion, in a kindly, patronising way, sought to +draw me out. "And what do you mean to be, my boy, when you grow up?" he +asked. My answer was instantaneous and assured. "I mean to be a newspaper +editor, sir." My friend flung my hand from him and burst into a roar of +laughter, which surprised me even more than it did the passers-by. "A +newspaper editor!" he cried, still convulsed by what appeared to me a +most unseemly, if not offensive, merriment. "Good heavens! And what in +the world has put such a thing as that into the child's head?" My wounded +dignity came to my aid. Was I not fourteen? and had I not already left +school and begun to earn my own living? "I made up my mind a long time +ago," I said in the accents of injured innocence. "When I am a man I mean +to be that, and nothing else." I had a sad time of it for the rest of the +day, for this worthy gentleman appreciated what he regarded as the joke +so keenly that whenever he met a friend he stopped him, and said, "Let me +introduce to you a live editor--that is to be some day." He enjoyed the +situation more than I did. + +But it was quite true. Young as I was, I had made up my mind, and was +resolved that nothing should move me from my purpose. Perhaps the +printer's ink of the dear old composing room at St. Andrews had +inoculated me, and made me proof against the usual temptations by which a +boy, dreaming of his future path in life, is beset. Or perhaps it was +because printer's ink is in the blood of the family. Whatever may have +been the cause, journalism was my first precocious love, and my last; +and, looking back across the years of heavy work which now separate me +from that June morning at Edinburgh, I see no reason to repent my early +choice or the loss of every other chance of success in life. + +Yet, at the outset, there were a hundred obstacles barring my way to the +door through which I longed to pass. I was already, as I have said, at +work. Knowing full well the narrowness of my father's means, I had +cheerfully taken a situation as a clerk, and kindly Fortune had smiled +upon me in the appointment I secured. Most boys of my time on leaving +school went, as it was phrased in those days, "on the quay side" at +Newcastle; that is to say, they entered the office of one of the great +merchants by whose hands the prosperous trade of the Tyne was carried on. +Here their lives were full from morning to night with the business which +in such a hive of industry seemed to know no slackening. No doubt, a +position in a shipping or colliery office at Newcastle in those days was +one to which many advantages were attached. Not a few schoolfellows of my +own, starting with no greater advantages than I possessed, have become +men of large fortune, have acquired landed estates, have sat in +Parliament, have founded county families. But it was not towards these +ends that my youthful ambition urged me; and, happily for me, the office +to which I went one January morning in the 'fifties, in the humble +capacity of junior clerk, had nothing in common with the bustling, +worrying places of business on the quay side, where the race for wealth +seemed to absorb the thoughts of all, from highest to lowest. + +Through the influence of a friend, and chiefly in virtue of my father's +name, I secured a place in what was then known as the W.B. Lead Office. +There was at that time a certain quality of lead distinguished by these +letters which carried off the palm in the lead markets of the world; +indeed, its price was constantly from one to two pounds a ton higher than +that of any other lead procurable. This lead was obtained from the great +mines in Weardale and Allandale, then and for many generations owned by +the Beaumont family. Mr. Wentworth Blackett Beaumont was at that time the +head of the family. There was no eager bustle, due to the keenness of +business competition, in the quiet rooms of the W.B. Lead Office in +Northumberland Street, when I entered it as a boy. The whole of the +produce of the mines was sold to half a dozen great London firms, and the +sales were made in such large quantities that a score of transactions +sufficed for a year's work. How great those transactions were may be +gathered from the fact that I sometimes had to make out a single invoice +in which the sole item stated represented a sum of £40,000. + +Very soon I found that my chief duty as junior clerk in this eminently +sedate and respectable establishment was to read the _Times_ to my +immediate superior. This gentleman I must always remember with a lively +sense of gratitude. His name was Fothergill, and, like myself, he had +little taste for mere business avocations. He was a student, a lover of +literature, a collector of books, and a writer of verse. Fortunate was it +for me to meet with such a companion at that stage in my life--the stage +when one is most susceptible to outside influences. For five years we sat +opposite to each other in the same quiet room, and never once did I hear +fall from his lips an unworthy idea or suggestion. He suffered from +serious weakness of the eyes, and it was for this reason that so much of +my spare time (and it was nearly all spare time there) was devoted to +reading aloud to him. He had only a clerk's income, small enough in all +conscience, but he never wanted money to spend on a book or a magazine. I +remember his delight when the first number of the _Saturday Review_, +to which he had subscribed on its appearance, was placed in his hands. +From that time forward my daily readings of the leaders in the +_Times_ were varied by weekly readings of the brilliant sarcasm and +invective which then distinguished the new review that had entered the +field of journalism with so bold a mien, and was holding its own so +fearlessly against all comers. With such a friend, always ready to give +me of his best--alas, at the time, in my youthful ignorance of men, I +failed altogether to appreciate my good fortune in meeting a companion +like this--my mind rapidly expanded, and before I was half way through my +teens I was learning to put boyish things behind me. Although Fothergill +did not encourage my precocious affection for the press, wisely holding +that a literary life was one reserved only for the few, and, like +matrimony, not to be "taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly," +he did not, as so many men in his place might have done, stamp ruthlessly +upon my aspirations or subject them to that cruel sarcasm which is so +killing to the ambitions of the young. This, it is true, was done by +another person in the same office--the manager; but, fortunately, that +gentleman was altogether so obnoxious to me for many reasons that his +special dislike of my literary bent, and the sneers with which he greeted +my early appearances in print, did not affect my purpose in the slightest +degree. + +I could say much of those five years of my life spent in the W.B. Lead +Office, but I must not weary my readers with that which would be at best +a humdrum tale. My education went on apace. In the evenings I took +lessons at home, and during the day, when I was not otherwise engaged, I +had always a book or a pen in my hand. How high one's aspirations soar in +that season when everything seems possible to the unfledged soul! The +glory of Milton itself seemed hardly beyond attainment, and I nursed the +illusion that within me lay the potentiality of a new Scott, or Dickens, +or Thackeray. Happy, foolish dreams, from cherishing which no man has +ever been the worse! A hundred times I essayed to produce something +worthy of being printed. But the stories, the essays, and--save the +mark!--the poems I attempted had a knack of remaining unfinished, or, +when finished, were so obviously bad, even to my untrained judgment, that +they were promptly destroyed. When at last I did taste the fearful joys +of a first appearance in print, it was on a very humble stage. A great +controversy was raging in Newcastle in 1857 over the appointment of the +then vicar to another living in the town; an appointment that was +obnoxious not only because it was a clear case of pluralism, but because +the vicar himself belonged to the then unpopular High Church party. I +read the articles in the papers, and the letters in which my indignant +fellow-townsmen gave expression to their views, with keen interest, and +at last I was myself prompted to join in the fray. Having carefully +composed a letter to the editor of the _Northern Daily Express_, +which I signed "A Bedesman," I furtively dropped it into the letter-box +at the newspaper office, and tremblingly awaited the result. + +I had not long to wait. The next morning, as I was on my way to the +office, I chanced upon a contents bill of the _Express_, and there, +with dazzled eyes, the testimony of which I could hardly believe, I read +the announcement that the paper of the day contained a letter by "A +Bedesman." And here I must make a humiliating confession. The price of +the paper was a penny, and at that particular moment I discovered that I +had not a penny in the world. My weekly pocket-money was sixpence, and it +generally went at one of the old bookstalls in the market before the week +was far advanced. But I could not face the day before me with the +dreadful uncertainty weighing upon my soul as to whether another person +might not have adopted the same signature as myself, and whether, +consequently, I might not be labouring under a fond delusion. I turned +and fled home (fortunately I always started for work in good time), and +asked my mother to lend me the penny I needed. In a broken whisper I +confided to her the fact that I believed there was really a letter of +mine in that morning's _Express_. I got my penny, and in a few +minutes I was feasting my eyes upon that sight--dearer than any other the +world can show to the young literary aspirant--my first printed +composition. I had then just entered my fifteenth year. + +Not one writer in a thousand has stopped at a first book, and not one +newspaper contributor in a million has stopped at a first letter to the +editor. Like much better people, I had made the discovery that whilst my +opinions regarding the Genius of Shakespeare, the Art of Fiction, and the +Character of Cromwell were not wanted by anybody, there were some +questions cropping up, as it were, at my own door, about which I might, +if I liked, give an opinion that some persons at all events would think +worth printing. In short, I was enabled to see that though I could not +fly, I might at least walk. How eagerly I turned to profit the discovery +I had thus made need not be told here. For the moment my ambitious +designs were laid on one side. I no longer dreamed of an Epic that should +rival "Paradise Lost" or a novel that might outshine "Vanity Fair"; but I +prepared to discuss the local questions of the hour, the site of a post +office, the opening of a hospital, the grievance of some small public +official, with the zest which I had only felt hitherto when dealing with +the great literary and social problems, to the discussion of which my +untrained intelligence could contribute nothing of value. What I wrote on +such topics as those I have named I cannot pretend to remember; but there +must have been some little promise in my contributions to the +_Express_, for one memorable day, when I got home from work, my +father told me that he had received a visit from Mr. Marshall, the chief +proprietor of that paper, and that this visit closely concerned me. Mr. +Marshall had inquired as to my age and occupation, and having suggested +that my leaning towards journalism ought not to be repressed, had offered +to have me taught shorthand by the reporter of the _Express_. +Finally he had left with my father half a sovereign, which he desired me +to accept in payment of my various contributions to the paper. So, whilst +I was still a mere boy, not having as yet entered on my sixteenth year, I +found myself enrolled among the more or less irregular camp-followers of +journalism. + +It was indeed a rapturous moment when I heard this news. If I had been +allowed, I would forthwith have thrown up my place at the W.B. Lead +office and taken service--even the humblest--on the Press. But on this +point my father was firm. I must stick to my proper work for the present, +though there could be no harm in my devoting my evenings to such study +and practice as might fit me for journalism hereafter. Not that he or my +mother desired to see me become a journalist. The Press--at all events in +provincial towns--in those days was the reverse of respectable in the +eyes of the world; and truly there was some reason for the low esteem in +which it was held. The ordinary reporter on a country paper was generally +illiterate, was too often intemperate, and was invariably ill-paid. Again +and again did my mother seek to check my eager yearning for a life on the +Press with the repetition of dismal stories dinned into her ears by +sympathising friends, who deplored the fact that her son should dream of +leaving so secure and respectable a position as a clerkship in the W.B. +Lead Office for the poor rewards and dubious respectability of a +newspaper career. + +There was an old friend of my father's--Innes by name--who took it upon +himself to remonstrate with me. After exhorting me fervently for some +time, he sought to illustrate the dangers of the course on which I was +anxious to embark by a personal experience. "Thomas," he said solemnly +(and oh, how I hated to be called Thomas!), "I knew a laddie called +Forster. His father was a most respectable, decent man, that kept a +butcher's shop at the top o' the Side--a first-rate business; and this +laddie--his name was John--got just such notions into his head as ye +have; he was always reading and writing, and nothing would suit him but +to go to college instead of sticking to the shop. And at last he went +away to London, and his poor father died, and the business went all to +pieces, and I've never heard tell of that laddie from the day he went to +London until now. He's died of starvation, most likely, by this time." + +"Why, Mr. Innes," I cried, "do you really mean to say that you have never +heard of Mr. Forster's books--his Life of Oliver Goldsmith and 'The +Arrest of the Five Members'? He's one of our great writers now, and if I +could only reach a position like his--" But this prospect was so dazzling +that it fairly took my breath away, and I lapsed into silence, delighted +to find that my old friend's "awful example" should have been a man in +whose footsteps I most ardently desired to tread. + +As I have mentioned the opposition which my parents offered to my design +to become a journalist, it is only right that I should say that if it had +not been for the atmosphere in which I lived at home, the accomplishment +of that design would never have become possible. Ours was a home of +narrow and stinted means, but of wide and generous sympathies. We +children learned from the example of our dear father and mother to look +beyond ourselves and our own small interests upon the battle of life as +it was being fought in the world at large. If our table was of the +plainest, there were always books and newspapers in the house, and they +were not there for show. My mother had a genuine taste for literature, +and a judgment which, if not infallible, was at least sound. Many a time +would we discuss together the books we were reading. They were not, as a +rule, hot from the Press; but why should they have been, in the case of a +boy with all the literary treasures of the world still untasted? My +father leaned, as was natural, to the more serious side of literature; +but he had a keen interest in public affairs, and he brought to their +study a sagacious and well-informed mind. Whilst the spirit in which both +he and my mother viewed life and the problems which it daily presented to +them was that of a pure and lofty Puritanism, it was broadened and +softened, more particularly in the case of my father, by the gentleness +and liberality of their own characters. So it was in an atmosphere of +culture and liberal thought that I lived my life in those days both at +home and at the W.B. Lead Office. + +The _Northern Daily Express_ was a penny newspaper which laid claim +to be the first provincial daily published at that price. The claim has, +I believe, been disputed by Mr. Justin McCarthy, who claims the honour +for a Liverpool journal with which he was himself at one time connected. +But whether first or second, it is certain that the _Express_ was +very early in the field. It had been started at Darlington in 1855 by a +gentleman named Watson. A year later it was transferred to Newcastle, and +it was in the _Express_ office that I first became acquainted with +actual newspaper work. A very curious place was that office when I first +knew it. It consisted simply of two rooms and two cellars in a house in +West Clayton Street. One of the rooms was devoted to the compositors who +set the little sheet; the other was by day the counting-house and the +place where the papers were sold and advertisements received, whilst at +night it became the editorial office--the editor, sub-editor, and +reporters all working together here at the desks occupied by the clerks +during the day. I ought, perhaps, to explain that the staff was not quite +so large as my description of it might lead people to suppose. The +sub-editor, for instance, doubled his part and acted as reporter also. +Still, it was a tight fit in that little room in West Clayton Street when +I went there of an evening to write some paragraph or letter for the next +morning's paper. In the cellars was the machine on which the +_Express_ was printed, and the stock of paper. + +In one respect, the _Express_ was better equipped than is many a +pretentious journal of to-day. Its editor--Manson by name--was a man of +remarkable ability, and his carefully-prepared leading articles were +certainly second to none in the newspaper press of his day. This is a +strong saying, but my reader will not think it unjustified when he hears +that Manson's services had been eagerly sought for by more than one +London newspaper, including the _Times_. He was a man of real +genius, but, unfortunately, not without the defects of his qualities. In +my young eyes he was a marvel, and almost an idol. To sit beside him, as +I sometimes did, whilst he forged the thunderbolts which produced so +great an effect upon the opinion of the town, was to me a joy almost too +great for words. I would sit and watch the untiring hand moving across +the slips of blue paper with a mind filled with the awe and reverence +with which a pupil of Michael Angelo might have watched the master at +work. I had at last got my foot on the first rung of the ladder, and my +soul was filled with absolute content. True, my days were given to the +W.B. Lead Office; but seldom did an evening come round without finding +me, on one pretext or another, in the house in West Clayton Street. +Indeed, I had now become almost a recognised member of the staff, and my +little contributions in the shape of paragraphs, letters, and the +inevitable verses appeared almost daily. + +I had been trying to teach myself shorthand, and had made some progress +with Pitman's system of phonography; but now, thanks to the kindness of +Mr. Marshall, I secured the services of a first-rate teacher, and soon +made rapid progress in that difficult art. My teacher was Mr. Lowes, an +admirable shorthand writer, who wrote a system of his own. To Mr. Lowes, +phonography appeared to be the chief evil afflicting mankind. What little +things divide the world! In my teacher's opinion it was divided into +phonographers and stenographers, and never did the schoolmen of old show +more bitterness in maintaining their own shibboleths than did Lowes in +asserting the superiority of his system to that of Mr. Pitman--an opinion +which I need scarcely say was not shared by the world. + +Lowes was a good fellow, and a most kind and patient teacher. Under his +guidance I soon acquired a certain amount of facility in ordinary +press-work. Contributions to _Chambers's Journal_, the _Leisure +Hour_, and one or two minor religious magazines, gave me as the years +passed an opportunity of addressing a wider audience than the readers of +the _Express_, and though I had as many misfortunes and +disappointments as most young writers, I stuck steadily to my task, and +bit by bit strengthened my position in the world of journalism. + +There were other fields of activity, besides the press, that I +assiduously cultivated. For example, in the plenitude of my wisdom, at +the age of seventeen I founded an institution in the west end of +Newcastle, not far from my father's church. I called it the "West End +Literary Institute," and truly it was designed upon a most ambitious +scale. When I recall the way in which I begged money from all and sundry +among my friends for the purpose of starting the institute, and the +manner in which I pestered distinguished authors for presentation copies +of their books, in order to furnish the shelves of the library, I am +driven to the painful conclusion that I must have been a terrible person +in the days of my youth, and something of a prig to boot. Apropos of the +begging for books as free gifts from authors, I had one or two amusing +experiences. Among those whom I importuned in this impertinent way were +Charles Kingsley, and the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Longley. +Kingsley replied to my request in a manner that was as sensible as it was +severe, bluntly telling me that he was a poor man who wrote books in +order to get money, and who could not afford to give them away. I have +written books myself since then, and have had many an application as +unreasonable as that which I addressed to the author of "Alton Locke." +This fact, perhaps, explains my entire approval of the snubbing which +that distinguished man administered to me. + +Very different, however, was the response of the Archbishop of +Canterbury. It was a courteous and dignified epistle, expressing his +pleasure at being able to comply with my request, and fifteen handsome +octavo volumes of sermons were forthwith forwarded to me from Hatchard's. +I had other similar experiences, and the result was that when my library +was thrown open to the public the amount of theology which it contained +far outweighed every other department of literature. However, people came +to my reading-room, and I was fortunately able to provide them with other +entertainment besides the reading of old sermons. I started a course of +lectures and readings. I blush to say that I distinguished myself one +evening by reading the play of _Macbeth_ to an unhappy audience of +bored victims. Heaven forgive me! I carried on my West End Institute for +some years, started a flourishing penny bank in connection with it, and +formed numerous acquaintances among the more intelligent artisans of the +district; but at last the building was wanted for an extension of the +Sunday schools connected with my father's congregation, and the little +performance came to an end. I trust it had not made me an incurable prig, +but I fear that it did not do anybody very much good; though, perhaps, it +kept some out of mischief. + +No account of Newcastle at this period (1850-60) would be complete +without some reference to one of its most notable inhabitants, Mr. Joseph +Cowen, commonly known at that time to his fellow-townsmen as "Joe." Mr. +Cowen's subsequent career in Parliament, brief though it was, gained for +him a reputation for eloquence hardly inferior to that enjoyed by the +most illustrious of his contemporaries. But in those early days of my +youth it was not his eloquence but his advanced opinions about which his +fellow-townsmen thought most. He openly professed to be a Republican, in +theory at all events, and all his sympathies were engaged on the side of +the oppressed nationalities of Europe. A man of culture, of commanding +abilities, and of considerable wealth, he lived by choice in the plainest +fashion, delighting to be known as one of the people. He dressed at all +times in the kind of suit which a Northumbrian pitman wears when not +actually at work. Years afterwards, when he had just thrilled all England +by a great speech in the House of Commons on the subject of Russian +oppression, I chanced to meet him one day in Pall Mall, and, stopping to +talk to him, was amused to see the glances of curiosity which were cast +at the strangely attired man who had found his way to that fashionable +thoroughfare. + +Nor was it only in his dress that he affected a likeness to the +working-men of Tyneside. In his speech he exaggerated the burr of the +Newcastle tongue. Most of us were anxious to get rid of that undesirable +distinction. Mr. Cowen clung to it as one of the most precious of his +possessions. He had to pay for this piece of affectation in later life, +when he became a figure in the House of Commons. His first notable speech +in that assembly was on the Royal Titles Bill of Mr. Disraeli. It was a +very brilliant performance, greatly admired by those who were able to +appreciate it. But, unfortunately, it was not understood by everybody. +The day after it was delivered, Mr. Disraeli was questioned at a +dinner-party by a lady, who asked him what he thought of the new orator +whose presence had been revealed to the House. "I'm sorry I can't answer +your question," said the Prime Minister. "It is true that a gentleman, +whom I had never seen before, got up on the Opposition side and made a +speech which seemed to excite great enthusiasm in a certain part of the +House; but, unfortunately, he spoke in a language I had never heard, and +I haven't the slightest idea in the world what he said." + +But in the days of which I am now writing Mr. Cowen was still a long way +from the House of Commons. His fame, however, was even then of no common +kind. He was known throughout Europe as a man willing to befriend, not +merely with speech and pen, but with purse, every victim of political +oppression. By the despotic Governments of the Continent he was held in +feverish hatred, and at one time his modest house at Blaydon Burn was +regularly watched by French, Russian, and Austrian spies; nor was it +without good reason that the tyrants of Europe saw in him their natural +enemy. Under his roof many of the most eminent refugees from the +countries I have named and from Italy found a welcome shelter, and in one +room in that house was a small printing press on which thousands of +revolutionary proclamations in all the languages of Europe had been +printed. Mazzini, Garibaldi, Kossuth, Felice Orsini, and scores of other +notable revolutionaries whose names I forget, were his friends and +guests, and through his influence a large party of us in Newcastle were +led to take almost as warm an interest in political affairs on the +Continent as in the movements of parties at home. Again and again in +those days, when France was crushed under the heel of the Second Empire, +when Poland was vainly writhing in her cruel bonds, when Hungary was +filled with the spirit of rebellion, and when the people of Italy were +taking their first steps by the intricate paths of conspiracy and +insurrection towards unity and freedom, Joe Cowen would find some excuse +for summoning a public meeting in the old Lecture Room, Nelson Street, in +order that we might listen to some patriot exile as he told the story of +his country's wrongs, or give expression to our own detestation of the +despotism which at that time weighed upon Europe, from the banks of the +Seine to those of the Volga. + +No impressionable youth could fail to be affected by such an influence as +this, and if in those days I shrank from Mr. Cowen's views on home +politics as being too advanced, I was one of the most enthusiastic of his +adherents in his self-appointed mission against the tyrannies of the +Continent. How well do I remember some of the faces and figures of Mr. +Cowen's friends and guests! I can still see Kossuth with his grey hair +and wrinkled brow, and Mazzini with his melancholy eyes and handsome +face; I can still hear the tones of Louis Blanc as he stands on the +platform of the lecture room and talks to us in excellent English of the +epoch of the Great Revolution. But the one man whose face and figure +dwell most vividly in my recollection is Orsini, the great Italian who, +after a lifetime spent in the attempt to deliver Tuscany and Lombardy +from the yoke of the tyrant, died under the guillotine in Paris, and by +his death secured for Italy her long-sought freedom. Orsini came to +Newcastle shortly after his escape from an Austrian dungeon at Mantua, +and addressed a great meeting in the Lecture Room. He spoke English +fairly well; but it was the appearance of the man, and the knowledge of +all that he had suffered in the struggle for Italian freedom, that +appealed to one more eloquently than his words. Never had I seen any man +whose appearance equalled that of this Italian martyr who died as an +assassin. His features were almost faultless, whilst his jet-black hair +set off the lustrous pallor of his complexion with extraordinary +effectiveness. Attired in fashionable evening dress, his hands encased in +white kid gloves, and a smile, gentle rather than pathetic, lighting up +his beautiful face, he looked the last man in the world whom one would +naturally associate with desperate deeds. Yet, not many weeks after I had +grasped his hand, he had brought about the terrible attempt upon the life +of the Emperor Napoleon, when the latter was driving through the Rue +Lepelletier, Paris, by which many innocent persons perished, and was +himself lying in prison under sentence of death. Mr. Cowen once told me +that it was he who provided the funds for carrying out Orsini's plot +against Louis Napoleon's life, but he did so in absolute ignorance of the +fact that this was the purpose to which the money was to be appropriated. +He understood that it was wanted for the equipment of another +insurrectionary expedition against the Austrians in Italy, and he +willingly subscribed the amount asked for. + +As for Orsini, he met his death like a hero; but it is well known that +before dying he succeeded, as a leading member of the Carbonari, in +extracting from the French Emperor, who had himself belonged to that +society, a promise that he would free Italy from Austrian oppression. By +giving that promise, Louis Napoleon was delivered from the fear of +violent death at the hands of the Carbonari, whilst his fulfilment of it +in the war of 1859 gave Italy her first great step towards unity and +freedom. Even the romantic page of history has never recorded a more +notable transaction than that which thus took place in a condemned cell +between an assassin lying under sentence of death and a reigning Emperor; +nor would it be possible to denounce regicide so absolutely as most of us +do if there were many instances in which it had proved so successful as +it did in the case of Orsini. + +I have dwelt at undue length on an episode which my readers probably +think altogether outside the scope of this narrative, but it does not lie +quite so far apart from it as they may imagine. It was my association as +a boy with Mr. Cowen's enthusiastic assertion of the rights of oppressed +nationalities, and the stirring of my spirit which necessarily resulted +from contact, however slight, with men like Kossuth and Orsini, that +first made me a real Liberal in politics. + +As I have mentioned the Lecture Room--a dismal, stuffy, ill-lighted +little theatre--I may refer to two meetings unconnected with foreign +politics which I remember in it. One was in 1857, when the Dissenters of +Newcastle had revolted against the domination of the Whig clique, and at +the general election had set up a candidate of their own. They had great +difficulty in finding one, for they required a man who would pay his own +expenses (in those days a very serious item), and the chance of success +was by no means brilliant. At last, however, they secured a rich retired +Bombay merchant, and he came down to Newcastle forthwith to address his +first meeting. The Lecture Room was crowded with enthusiastic +Nonconformists, and these were the words with which the unhappy candidate +began his speech: "Gentlemen, four-and-twenty hours ago, if anybody had +asked me where Newcastle-on-Tyne was, I could not have told them." This, +to an audience full of the local pride which possessed the soul of every +genuine Newcastle man! I need hardly say that, having ascertained where +Newcastle was, Mr. C. speedily departed from it, amid a storm of +indignation, never again to be seen in its streets. + +More vivid still is my recollection of the Lecture Room on the occasion +when Thackeray delivered his lectures on the Four Georges to an audience +more select than numerous. I was at the age when, as the author of +"Vanity Fair" himself has said, "to behold Brown, the author of the last +romance, in the flesh, is a joy and a delight." Anybody who had written a +book seemed to me to be a hero; what was it then to see and to hear the +literary idol of my youth? Thackeray, with his tall figure, his silvery +hair, his upturned face, expressive and striking, though by no means +beautiful, seemed to me as I sat on my bench and listened to him to be +nothing less than one of the gods. He was an admirable lecturer; his +voice was musical and clear, his pronunciation singularly distinct and +accurate, and the little touches of sarcasm and humour which he conveyed +to his audience by a tone or an inflection, quite inimitable. I heard, as +I sat listening to his lecture on George the Third--by far the best of +the series--someone near me yawn, and my soul was filled with horror at +what I thought nothing less than an act of sacrilege. I never saw the +great novelist except on the occasion of his visit to Newcastle, but to +the end of my days it will be a delight thus to have beheld him in the +flesh. Dickens I heard read several times, though never in the Lecture +Room; yet I cannot say that any of his readings made upon me the +impression produced by Thackeray's lectures. The actor and the arts of +the popular entertainer were too plainly visible in all that he did, and +I received something like a shock when, having written an enthusiastic +but juvenile panegyric upon him on the occasion of one of his visits to +Newcastle, I learned that he had sent his secretary to buy a dozen copies +of the paper to send to his friends. That so great a man should have +thought a mere newspaper effusion worth noticing seemed to me altogether +incredible. The reader may smile at the confession, but I own I never +thought quite so much of Dickens, as a man, after this incident. This +only shows how high was the pedestal upon which I had placed him, and how +slight was my knowledge of human nature. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MY LIFE-WORK BEGUN. + +On the Staff of the _Newcastle Journal_--In a Dilemma--Lord John +Russell and Mr. Gladstone at Newcastle-upon-Tyne--Mr. Gladstone's +Triumphal Progress--A Memorable Colliery Disaster--A Pit-Sinker's +Heroism--Adventure at a Dickens Reading. + + +At last my term of probation came to an end. My friend and teacher, Mr. +Lowes, after a temporary absence from Newcastle, had returned to it to +undertake the editorship of the _Newcastle Journal_, a weekly Tory +newspaper which was about to appear in a daily edition. We had kept up +our friendship, and to my intense delight he offered me the post of chief +reporter on the daily paper. This was in the spring of 1861. My father +had come, reluctantly enough, to the conclusion that I must be allowed to +go my own way, and accordingly, on July 1st in that year, I entered on my +career as a professional journalist. On the previous day I had said +good-bye to the W.B. Lead Office, and to Mr. Fothergill, whose kindly +interest in my fortunes had never wavered, and whose own literary tastes +and sympathies led him at last to look with something like approval on +the step I was taking. Never was a young subaltern prouder of his first +commission than was I of an appointment which gave me a recognised +standing, however humble, on the English Press. + +Nor was I without substantial reason for my delight at the change in my +lot. My work at the W.B. Lead Office had been light enough in all +conscience; but the drudgery of official routine, the strict keeping of +office hours, and the monotony which made one day the counterpart of any +other, were no more to my liking than they are to the liking of anyone +who is young and high-spirited. All this was now at an end. No special +hours had to be kept, and no two days were the same. Instead of the four +walls of my office, I now had the whole of the northern counties as my +sphere of work. To this hour I remember the delight with which on my +second morning at the _Journal_ office I set off, in company with +the reporters of the _Chronicle_ and the _Express_, to report +the Quarter Sessions at Hexham. A poor task no doubt it was, but it +involved a journey up the beautiful Tyne valley, and a glimpse of the old +abbey town; it meant, in short, the change from a life of drudgery to one +of adventure, and that morning I felt that I had recovered my lost youth. + +But enough of my own feelings. The readiness with which I adapted myself +to my new surroundings, the zest with which I entered into the +friendships of my new comrades, certainly indicated that I had something, +at all events, of the Bohemian in my nature. Of the public events of that +year, 1861, there is comparatively little to be said. I remember, indeed, +that I happened to be acting for the first time as sub-editor in the +temporary absence of my friend, Mr. Lowes, when I received a telegram +announcing that the first shot had been fired in the American War. Some +two or three months later Newcastle was favoured with a visit from Lord +John Russell, who had recently accepted an earldom. He was entertained at +a great banquet in the Town Hall, whereat all the Whig notabilities of +the North of England assembled to do him honour. Now, in my days, +provincial reporters were an unsophisticated race. To a young journalist, +living in Newcastle, the journalism of London seemed so remote and +unattainable that it might as well have been in another planet. The sight +of a reporter for one of the London dailies was awe-inspiring, and the +notion of being called upon to work in the company of so august a being +almost took one's breath away. + +It fell out that at the Russell banquet it was arranged that his speech +should be reported in short "turns" by the whole body of reporters +present. This is an arrangement now, I believe, in universal use, the +object being to get the report out quickly. But in 1861 it was almost +unknown on the provincial press, and this was my first experience of it. +Perhaps I was unnerved by the presence of a couple of _Times_ +reporters, or perhaps my knowledge of shorthand was not then all that it +should have been. Be this as it may, I have to confess with regret that +in reporting my turn of the great statesman's speech I made one woeful +blunder. Lord Russell said (I quote from memory) that we saw now in the +New World that which had so often been seen in the Old--a struggle on the +one side for empire and on the other for independence. Now in the system +of shorthand which I had learned, the word "independence" is represented +by an arbitrary symbol, consisting of two dots, one above the other, like +a colon. When I came to write out my turn, I found to my horror that the +signification of this particular symbol had escaped my memory. There it +was, staring me in the face from my note-book, but what it meant for my +very life I could not at the moment tell. And the telegraph messengers +were pestering me for my copy, and, worst of all, the reporters from +London seemed to my guilty conscience to be eyeing me askance, and +wondering what the delay meant. In a desperate moment I made a guess, not +at the meaning of my symbol, but at some word which might take its place, +and possibly pass unnoticed; so I represented Lord Russell as having said +that we saw in the New World, what we had often seen in the old, a +struggle on the one side for empire, and on the other for power. If it +did not make absolute nonsense of the speaker's words, it certainly +robbed them of all their point and meaning, and yet history is based upon +blunders like this. And years afterwards I saw in a certain volume this +mutilated sentence printed as Lord Russell's judgment upon the causes of +the great rebellion. Never did anybody feel more ashamed of himself than +I did at that time, and never again was I caught in a similar dilemma. + +Newcastle was very fond in those days of entertaining the distinguished +stranger. Lord Russell's visit in 1861 had been such a success that +twelve months later the Liberals of the town resolved to invite Mr. +Gladstone to be their guest. Mr. Gladstone was at that time Chancellor of +the Exchequer. It was not very long since he had ceased to be a +Conservative; but already he had incurred the suspicions of a section of +the Liberal Party, and the old Whigs of Northumberland would have nothing +to do with his visit to the Tyne. But Mr. Gladstone did not need the +sympathy or countenance of the Brahmins of Liberalism. He came, he was +seen, and he conquered. Rarely have I seen anything to compare with the +enthusiasm which fired the people of Tyneside during the two days he +spent amongst them in October, 1862. I have said elsewhere that this +visit was one of the turning-points in Mr. Gladstone's life. He himself +practically acknowledged this to me in after-days. It was the first +occasion in his career on which he had been brought into close contact +with a great industrial community. It was the first time that he was +treated as the popular idol by an overwhelming multitude of his fellow +men. On the first day of his visit he was entertained at a banquet in the +Town Hall, and it was in his speech after dinner that he made one of the +notable mistakes of his great career. The Civil War in America, to which +Lord Russell had alluded twelve months before, was still raging. I need +hardly say that the sympathies of the upper classes were enthusiastically +with the South. The names of the public men of eminence who favoured the +North might have been counted upon one's fingers. Mr. Gladstone believed +in the cause of the Confederates, and in this speech at Newcastle he +declared that Jefferson Davis had created not merely an army and a navy, +but a nation. The speech caused a great sensation. Naturally enough, it +aroused bitter indignation on the other side of the Atlantic, whilst the +sympathisers with the North in this country felt deeply aggrieved by it. +In subsequent years Mr. Gladstone publicly made amends to the great +Republic for his error of judgment, but it was a long time before he was +allowed to forget it. + +I had no misadventure in reporting this memorable speech. It was the +first occasion on which I had ever heard Mr. Gladstone speak, and it is +even fresher in my recollection than my last sight of him shortly before +his death. I can recall his tall, upright figure, the handsome, open +countenance, as mobile as an actor's, the flashing eye that in moments of +passion lit up so wonderfully, the crop of waving brown-black hair. I +have seldom seen a finer-looking man. I hear once again the beautiful +voice, so sonorous, so varied in tone, so emphatic in accent. To the boy +of twenty a first sight of this great historic figure was a revelation. +He seemed different from everybody else, almost a being from another +world. I suppose that my admiration of Mr. Gladstone, which some have +considered idolatrous, is to be dated from that hour. Thirty years +afterwards I still regarded him as my political leader, and as the chief +of men. + +On the second day of his visit to Newcastle, Mr. Gladstone, as the guest +of the River Tyne Commissioners, steamed down the Tyne from Newcastle to +its mouth. His progress was like that of a conqueror returning from the +wars. The firing of cannon, the waving of flags, the cheering of +thousands, acclaimed his passage down the coaly stream. An immense train +of steamers and barges, all gaily decorated, followed in his wake. At +different points of the journey his steamer was brought to a standstill, +in order that addresses of welcome might be presented to him by different +public bodies. He made speeches without end in reply. I think I reported +eight of them myself. It was evident that he was deeply impressed by this +demonstration, and I have always held that it was on that fateful day in +October, 1862, that he discovered that his unpopularity with the upper +classes was more than counterbalanced by his hold upon the affections of +the people. As we were returning to Newcastle in the evening, I happened +to be standing near Mrs. Gladstone, and she entered into conversation +with me. It was the first time that I had ever seen her. "I think this +has been the happiest day of my life," she said to me, with that +exuberant enthusiasm in the cause of her illustrious husband which was +one of the sweetest and noblest traits of her character. Exactly twenty +years later, on October 8th, 1882, I sat beside Mrs. Gladstone at dinner +at Leeds, where the Prime Minister had just been making a series of +memorable speeches, and had received a welcome which even surpassed that +at Newcastle in 1862. I recalled our meeting on the steamboat twenty +years before, and her face kindled with an expression of delight. "Ah," +she said, "I shall never forget that day! It was the first time, you +know, that _he_ was received as he deserved to be." + +My reporting experiences at Newcastle were as varied as those of most +journalists. One day I would be listening to a bishop's charge; the next, +in some beautiful spot in the valley of the North Tyne, I would be +professing to criticise shorthorns at a cattle show, and on the third day +it might be my misfortune to have to be present at an execution. Colliery +accidents, boat races (for which the Tyne has long been famous), +performances at the theatre--all these came within the scope of my duty. +It was admirable training, and has turned out many a good journalist. +Always to be on the alert, so that no important item of news should be +missed by my paper; always to be ready to reel off a column of readable +"copy" on any subject whatever; always to be prepared for any duty that +might turn up--these were among the necessary qualifications for my post. +Then, as the _Journal_ was short-handed, it sometimes fell to my lot +to undertake tasks which usually lie outside the reporter's sphere. +Sometimes I had to take a turn at sub-editing, and sometimes I had even +to write a leader. My first attempt at leader-writing for the +_Journal_ was on a momentous occasion--the death of the Prince +Consort. This was an event which for a time lightened my duties +considerably. All public festivities were suspended; meetings of every +kind were put off, and for a space of some weeks the country was spared +the infliction of reading reports of speeches. + +It was just about a month after the death of the Prince Consort that the +most notable incident connected with my career as a reporter at Newcastle +occurred. This was the terrible disaster at the Hartley New Pit, a +colliery some fifteen miles from Newcastle, near the bleak Northumberland +coast. The accident was of a peculiar character, and it excited an +extraordinary amount of public interest. Up to that time it had been +lawful to work coal mines with a single shaft, so that there was only one +possible mode of egress for the men at work in the pit. Hartley was one +of these single shaft collieries, and on the morning of Thursday, January +17th, 1862, more than two hundred men and boys were suddenly made +prisoners in the workings by the blocking of this shaft. The beam of a +pumping engine erected directly over the mouth of the pit broke, and one +half of the beam--a piece of metal weighing some fifteen tons--fell down +the shaft. It tore down the sides in its descent, and finally lodged at a +point above the seam in which the men were working, with an immense mass +of _débris_ from the shaft walls piled above it. + +The suspense of the relatives of the buried men and boys was terrible, +and the whole civilised world seemed to share their emotion. After the +accident had occurred, signals had been exchanged between the buried men +and those at the surface, but none could tell how long the former might +be able to sustain life in the vitiated atmosphere of the mine, when +ventilation was no longer possible. I reached Hartley a few hours after +the breaking of the beam, and in the hand-to-hand encounter with death at +that forlorn and desolate spot I first became acquainted at close +quarters with the tragic realities of life. For a full week in that +bitter January weather I may be said to have lived on the pit platform. +From ten in the morning till long after midnight I remained there, +writing hourly despatches for my paper; then I drove to Newcastle, a +cold, dark journey of a couple of hours, and scribbled my latest bulletin +at the _Journal_ office. This done, I lay down on a pile of +newspapers in the rat-haunted office, and snatched a few hours' sleep +before returning to the post of duty. But some nights it was impossible +to leave the mouth of the pit even for a moment, for none could tell when +the captives might be reached; so I sat with the doctors, the mining +engineers, and one or two colleagues before the fire which gave us a +partial warmth, though it did not shield us from the pitiless winds and +the drifting sleet and snow, which often effaced my "copy" more quickly +than I wrote it. It was a time of hardship and endurance, not soon to be +forgotten; but it was also a time which tested to the full the +capacities, both mental and physical, of the journalist, and I at least +derived nothing but benefit from that rough experience. + +For a full week the work of re-opening the shaft went on by night and +day, and there were wives and parents who during all that week hardly +left the neighbourhood of the pit for a single hour. The task of +re-opening the shaft was one of extreme peril. The men had to be lowered +to their work at the end of a rope in which a loop had been made, which +was secured round their bodies. The two chief dangers they had to face +were the continual falling in of the sides of the shaft and the presence +of noxious gases. They never flinched, however, and I witnessed on that +dreary pit platform at Hartley that which I have always considered the +bravest deed I ever saw. I and a handful of watchers were dozing round +the open fire in the early hours of a bitter winter morning, just one +week after the accident had happened, when we were suddenly aroused by an +urgent signal from the shaft, evidently coming from the men working far +below. We thought that the imprisoned miners had been reached, and +eagerly we waited till the first messenger was brought to the surface. +Alas! when he was raised to the mouth of the shaft we saw that he was one +of the sinkers, and was unconscious--apparently, indeed, dead. Whilst the +doctor in attendance was seeking to restore him, other men were brought +up, nearly all in the same condition, until the whole of the sinkers who +had been engaged in their perilous task of mercy were laid in a row, +pallid and unconscious, at our feet. The truth was at once apparent. The +obstacle which had so long blocked the shaft had at last been removed, +but a deadly gas--carbon dioxide--had at once ascended from the +long-sealed workings, and we knew that the men we had been trying to save +must be beyond the reach of help. + +One of the sinkers who lay insensible on the platform was the son of the +master-sinker, Coulson by name. I saw Coulson, when he realised what had +happened, stoop down and kiss the unconscious lips of his son, and then, +without a word or a sign of hesitation, he calmly took his place in the +loop, and ordered the attendants to lower him into the pit. None dared +say him nay, for there was still a last faint possibility that some one +among the imprisoned miners might yet be alive. But it seemed to us on +the pit-heap that the brave old man was going to certain death, and we +never expected to see him alive again when he vanished from our sight. He +did come back alive, however, and brought with him the terrible story of +what he had seen. All the two hundred imprisoned colliers were dead. They +were found sitting in long rows in the workings adjoining the shaft. Most +had their heads buried in their hands, but here and there friends sat +with intertwined arms, whilst fathers whose boys were working with them +in the pit were in every case found with their lads clasped in their +arms. They had all died very peacefully, and certainly not more than +forty-eight hours after the closing of the shaft. One of the over-men had +kept a diary of events. It told how some had succumbed to the fatal +atmosphere before others, and how, in the depths of the mine, a +prayer-meeting had been held, and "Brother Tibbs" had "exhorted" his +fellow-sufferers. There was something noble in this peaceful ending of a +life of toil and danger. It affected the whole country profoundly. It +drew from the Queen, who herself had been but a few weeks a widow, a +letter of sympathy which touched the heart of the nation. A subscription +was raised for the widows and orphans on so liberal a scale that all +their wants were more than provided for. I had myself the pleasure of +starting a subscription for Coulson and his heroic fellow-workers in the +shaft, which realised a handsome sum; and I was present in the Town Hall +at Newcastle when they were decorated with the medals they deserved so +well. + +Incidentally, this great disaster affected my own career. My accounts, +written at the pit mouth from day to day, had been widely quoted and read +throughout the country, and it was desired that I should reprint them. +They were accordingly republished for the benefit of the fund raised for +the sinkers, and had a large sale. As my name appeared on the reprint, it +gave me a certain passing renown in journalistic circles, and materially +aided me in my future professional life. + +Charles Dickens, as I have already mentioned, came to Newcastle to read +from his works during my reportership on the _Journal_. I was, of +course, an enthusiastic admirer of his, though, as I have said, Thackeray +was my chief hero as a novelist. I have already spoken of the boyish +eulogium which I wrote upon Dickens in anticipation of his visit. + +The evening of his first reading was marked by an incident which nearly +cut short my career. The hall where he was to read was full to the door +when I arrived. With three ladies--who, like myself, had come too late--I +was in danger of being excluded. A form was, however, brought in, and +placed directly beneath the platform, so close to it that we had to +incline our heads at an uncomfortable angle in order to see the reader's +face. Suddenly, before the reading had proceeded very far, the heavy +proscenium, which Dickens always carried about with him for the purpose +of his readings, fell with a crash over me and the three ladies on the +form. We were so near that the top of the proscenium happily fell beyond +us, and we escaped with a severe fright. Years afterwards I was amused to +read, in one of the published letters of Dickens to his sister-in-law, an +account of this accident, in which the novelist told how his gasman had +said afterwards: "The master stood it like a brick." But it was not upon +the master, but upon me and the three ladies that that terrible +proscenium suddenly descended. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FROM REPORTER TO EDITOR. + +First Visit to London--The Capital in 1862--Acquaintance with +Sothern--Bursting of the Bradfield Reservoir--Attendance at Public +Executions and at Floggings--Assuming the Editorship of the _Preston +Guardian_--Political and Literary Influences--Great Speeches by +Gladstone and Bright--Bright's Contempt for Palmerston--Robertson +Gladstone Defends his Brother--Death of Abraham Lincoln--Meeting with his +Granddaughter. + + +My first visit to London was on the occasion of the opening of the +International Exhibition of 1862. The abominable system of Parliamentary +trains, which made it necessary that the third-class passenger should +rise in the middle of the night if he had to make a journey of any +length, was then in force. I had, therefore, to start at five o'clock in +the morning in order that I might reach London in the evening. I can +still recall some of the emotions of that journey. London was to me the +city of all cities--the one great goal of the journalist's ambition. I +took short views of life even then, but my secret hope, ever present to +my mind, was that I might some day attain a post in connection with the +London Press. As the crawling train came into the southern +counties--farther south than I had ever been in my life before--I +remember counting the milestones on the road, and suffering all the +emotions of the youth in "Locksley Hall" as he draws nearer to the +world's central point. + +My first impression, when I found myself in the cab that was to carry me +to the Brompton Road, where lodgings had been engaged for me, was one of +bewilderment at the length of the streets. I had studied a plan of +London, and thought from it that I could, in case of need, find my way +easily on foot from King's Cross to Brompton. Now I discovered, to my +dismay, that streets which had seemed no longer than those with which I +was familiar at Newcastle stretched to a length that was apparently +interminable; whilst instead of one unbroken thoroughfare I was rattled +in my cab through squares and streets innumerable, the names of none of +which had I been able to read upon my plan. My next impression was one of +delight at the fidelity with which little bits of street scenery had been +portrayed by John Leech in _Punch_. In Newcastle we knew nothing of +the kitchen area and the portico. I was filled with joy when, in passing +through the Bloomsbury squares, I recognised, as I thought, the very +houses, porticoes, and areas that Leech had made the background for his +magnificent flunkeys and neat parlour-maids. + +The streets of London were a good deal dingier and dirtier in 1862 than +they are to-day, and they were certainly vastly noisier. The wooden +pavement was unknown, and the roar of traffic in crowded thoroughfares +was positively deafening. The window-boxes filled with the flowers that +are now so common and so pretty a feature of the London summer were rare, +as also were the coloured awnings and outside blinds now almost universal +in the better-class of thoroughfares. Hyde Park was untidy and neglected, +flower-beds being practically unknown. The fine open space at Hyde Park +Corner did not exist, and Piccadilly Circus was a circus really, and one +of very narrow extent. But though far from possessing the magnificence of +which it can now boast, London forty years ago had certain advantages +over the city of to-day. There were no enormous piles of flats shutting +out air and light from the streets, where both are so much needed. Few of +the houses were more than four storeys in height, and the irregular +architecture which then prevailed in Piccadilly--that most delightful of +all the streets of the world--added to its attractiveness. But I must not +be led into a digression upon London, a city so great and wonderful that +a volume might easily be filled with the story of the associations it +holds in my memory. + +On the day after my arrival in town I was present at the State Opening of +the Great Exhibition of 1862, the second--and apparently the last--of the +international exhibitions held in London. Its interest was sensibly +diminished by the fact that, in consequence of the death of the Prince +Consort, neither the Queen nor any member of her family was present. The +Duke of Cambridge, then in the prime of his manhood, took the leading +part in the ceremony, and he had as his supporters Prince Frederick of +Prussia, afterwards the Emperor Frederick, and the Prince of Hesse. We +were not so clever in those days at arranging spectacles as we have since +become, and, shortly before the hour fixed for the opening ceremony, a +good deal of confusion still reigned upon the daļs set apart for the +official notabilities. I was amused to see Lord Granville, who was, if I +remember aright, chairman of the Royal Commissioners, broom in hand, +vigorously sweeping the carpet in front of the State chairs only a few +moments before he had to rush off to receive the Duke of Cambridge. My +most vivid recollection of the opening ceremony is the singing of +Tennyson's fine ode, composed for the occasion. I can still recall the +cadence of the first lines as they fell upon my ears. + +A visit to the House of Commons, where I remember hearing speeches from +Lord Palmerston and Sir George Cornewall Lewis, and where I gazed with +longing eyes upon the occupants of the reporters' gallery, fills up my +memories of this first sight of London. I might, indeed, have included in +them some reference to Sothern, the actor, who was then at the height of +his glory in the famous part of Lord Dundreary. But it was at Newcastle, +not in London, that I actually made Sothern's acquaintance. No actor ever +made a single character so famous as this part of Dundreary was made by +Sothern. When he came to Newcastle on his first provincial tour I met +him, and spent some pleasant evenings with him after the play. He was a +man of refined speech and good social gifts. His besetting weakness, as I +learned even then, was that addiction to practical jokes which, on more +than one occasion in his subsequent career, involved him in unpleasant +situations. One of his favourite tricks was to select some portly and +self-important gentleman whom he saw passing along Piccadilly or Oxford +Street, and, rushing up to him, to claim him as his dearly loved but +long-lost uncle. The more strenuously the victim denied the relationship, +the more eloquently pathetic and indignant became Sothern. A crowd always +collected quickly, and more than once the police were summoned to relieve +the putative uncle from the presence of his unwelcome nephew. + +Sothern told me that he was driven nearly mad during the long run of Lord +Dundreary--or, rather, _Our American Cousin_, as the play was +named--at the Haymarket. He found it almost impossible to repeat his own +jokes before a house in which he invariably recognised many familiar +faces. He was constantly driven to vary his "gag," in order to amuse +these veterans of the theatre, and it was in a large measure to escape +from them that he made his provincial tour. In one of his conversations +on the stage with the fair Georgina, who was endeavouring to entrap him +into marriage, he used sometimes, at the moment when the lady thought +that he was about to propose, to put a question of a very different kind: +"Can you wag your left ear?" I asked him one day what had made him invent +so ridiculous a question as this. "Because I _can_ wag my left ear," +was his prompt response, and straightway I saw the organ in question +flapping about like a sail in a breeze. The Theatre Royal at Newcastle in +those days was under the management of Mr. E. D. Davis, a well-known +figure in the provincial theatrical world. It was before the days of +touring companies, and Mr. Davis was supported by an excellent body of +artists, including his brother and his son Alfred, as well as his niece +Emily Cross. I went to the theatre in the dignified capacity of dramatic +critic; but neither then, nor at any subsequent period of my life, did I +fall a victim to that passion for the drama to which so many Pressmen +succumb. Indeed, I have a lively recollection of incurring the +well-merited reproof of pretty Miss Cross for having engaged in one of +the stage boxes in a hot political discussion with another Newcastle +journalist, Mr. Joseph Cowen to wit. Yet it was at Newcastle that I had +my first and last association with dramatic authorship. One of the +Davises had written a play which he had called _Wild Flowers_. He +asked me to read the manuscript, and when I had done so I suggested that +it should be entitled _The Marriage Contract_, an emendation which +the author duly accepted. + +My term of service on the Newcastle Press came to an end sooner than I +had anticipated. The chief feature of my reporting experiences in 1863 +was the meeting of the British Association in my native town. There was +keen rivalry between the _Journal_ and the _Chronicle_--Mr. +Cowen's newspaper--with regard to the reporting of all local matters. +Unfortunately for me, the _Chronicle_ was a wealthy paper, and the +_Journal_ a very poor one. I had, therefore, to wage an unequal war +with my richer rival. A British Association meeting throws a heavy strain +upon the newspapers of the town in which it takes place. Half-a-dozen +sections meet every day, and all must be reported; whilst there are, in +addition, evening meetings and social functions, the story of which must +be told from day to day. Sir William Armstrong, then just coming into +fame as a maker of guns, though long known to Newcastle as a great +mechanical engineer and the inventor of the hydraulic crane, was the +president of the meeting. This added to the pride which the people of +Newcastle felt in the fact that their town had been chosen for the scene +of so distinguished a gathering. In those days local patriotism ran very +high in the old town. We were intensely provincial, and our favourite +belief was that Newcastle stood unrivalled among the cities of the earth. +When any distinguished stranger came amongst us--as, for example, Mr. +Gladstone, on the occasion to which I have already referred--we washed +our face, and put on our best clothes in order to impress the visitor. We +had something of the perfervid nature of the Scot in our characters, and +rose to extraordinary heights of enthusiasm on very indifferent pretexts. +It followed that when we had so distinguished a body as the British +Association to receive as our guests, and when we had furnished in one of +our own citizens the president of the meeting, we almost went out of our +minds in our exultant delight. I do not know if Newcastle is still +capable of these transports of enthusiasm. I rather think that the local +patriotism which distinguished so many of our cities fifty years ago is +now, in these days of incessant intercommunication, merged in the larger +patriotism of the nation. Be this as it may, I must explain that my +dissertation on the manner in which Newcastle received the British +Association in 1863 is merely intended to account for the fact that, as a +result of that meeting, I suffered from a serious illness, brought on by +anxiety and overwork. I found that reporting, when you had to compete +with a formidable rival possessing a staff three times as large as your +own, was laborious, as well as exciting; and having a desire to attempt +literary work upon a higher level, I gave up my position as a reporter, +and adopted instead the vocation of a leader-writer. + +My last bit of work as a reporter for the _Newcastle Journal_ was in +describing the accident which happened at Bradfield, near Sheffield, in +the spring of 1864. The dam of the great reservoir from which Sheffield +drew its water supply burst, and a torrent of water, many feet in depth, +and nearly a quarter of a mile in width, suddenly rushed down a narrow +valley, and flooded the lower part of Sheffield. The tragic occurrence +was subsequently described by Charles Reade in his novel, "Put Yourself +in His Place." Reade was not an eye-witness of the scene that was +presented after the flood had spent its force, but I can bear testimony +to the fact that he described it accurately. Certainly it was a wonderful +and terrible sight that was presented when I visited the place a few +hours after the bursting of the dam. The streets of Sheffield were +ploughed up to the depth of many feet; lamp-posts were twisted like wire, +and many houses either stood tottering with one of their sides clean +swept away, or lay a mere heap of ruins. Hundreds of lives were lost. A +great battle could not have dealt death more freely than did this flood. +Most of the victims were drowned in their beds, and it was a terrible +sight to see the long rows of corpses, clad in night-dresses, that were +laid out in the public building that had been hastily turned into a +mortuary. I think, indeed, the horror of that spectacle surpassed even +that of the scene at Hartley New Pit, when the victims of the accident +there were disinterred. + +The newspaper reporter has still, in the discharge of his duty, to see +many strange and painful things, but he is now spared some of the most +trying sights to which he was exposed in my reporting days. Among these, +none was so painful and so revolting as a public execution. I attended +several executions during my connection with the Newcastle Press, and I +was a witness in 1868 of the last public execution in England--that of +Barrett, the Fenian, of whom I shall have more to say by-and-by. I am +thankful to know that the necessity of attendance at these dreadful +scenes is no longer imposed upon the journalist, and I feel a profound +pity for those officials who are compelled by an imperative duty to be +present at the private strangling of their fellow-creatures. It is true, +however, that use hardens the heart and deadens the nerves. I remember +how, on the first occasion of witnessing an execution, as I stood +trembling at the foot of the scaffold on which the victim was about to +appear, I noticed an old reporter, for whom I entertained a great +personal respect, pacing up and down beside me, reading the New +Testament. In the passion of horror and pity that filled my young heart, +I concluded that my friend was seeking spiritual comfort in view of the +event in which we were about to take part as spectators and recorders. I +said something to him about the horror of the act we were shortly to +witness. He looked up with a placid smile from his reading, and said +gently--for he was essentially a gentle man--"Yes, very sad, very sad; +but let us be thankful it isn't raining." And then he calmly returned to +his daily reading of the Word. If even gentle hearts can thus grow +callous, what must be the "moral effect" of an execution upon those who +are already brutalised? + +Another unpleasant sight which reporters are now spared is the flogging +of garrotters. When the Act authorising this punishment was passed, +provision was made that the representatives of the Press should be +present when it was inflicted. More than once I have had to witness these +floggings in the course of my ordinary duty. I confess that they did not +affect me as they seemed to affect most of my colleagues. An execution, +with the violent thrusting of a human soul into the unknown, moved me +deeply; but the physical punishment of a ruffian who had himself +inflicted atrocious suffering upon some innocent person seemed to be such +well-deserved retribution that even the coward's shrieks for mercy made +no impression upon my nerves; and yet I have seen reporters who could +laugh and joke at an execution faint at the flogging of a garrotter. So +differently are human beings constituted! + +At the end of June, 1864, I left my native town, and went to Preston to +undertake editorial duties in connection with the _Preston +Guardian_--the leading Liberal paper in North Lancashire. It was a +custom amongst journalists in those days always to give a farewell +entertainment to a brother of the Press when he quitted a town where he +had been engaged for any length of time. I was entertained at the usual +complimentary dinner, and was made the recipient of a very handsome +testimonial. I felt most unfeignedly that I had not deserved it, yet the +possession of the gold watch and collection of standard books subscribed +for out of the scanty earnings of my colleagues was a real comfort to me +when, with a sad heart, I left the sacred shelter of my home and quitted +the town in which the whole of my life up to that moment had been spent. +I reached Preston one summer evening as homesick as any lad could have +been. I did not know the name of a single person in the town except that +of the proprietor of the _Guardian_, Mr. Toulmin. I did not even +know the name of an hotel at which to stay for the night. A porter at the +railway station told me the name of the chief inn, and thither I repaired +with my belongings. + +An amusing experience befell me here, which, as it relates to a state of +things that is now obsolete, I may recount. On the day after my arrival, +having introduced myself at the _Guardian_ office, and taken formal +possession of my new post, I returned to my hotel in time for the daily +dinner which the waitress had informed me was served at one o'clock. The +coffee-room, when I entered it, was filled by commercial travellers, all +hovering with hungry looks around the table that had been laid for +dinner. They seemed relieved when I, as shy a youth as could anywhere be +found, entered the room, and instantly seated themselves at the table. I +looked round for some corner in which I might hide myself from what +seemed to me to be their almost ferocious gaze, and was filled with alarm +when I found that the only seat left vacant was that at the head of the +table. Instinctively I shrank from so conspicuous a place, and as I moved +away the hungry company seemed to glare at me more fiercely than ever. A +waitress approached me, and saying, "You are president of the day, sir," +motioned me to the vacant seat at the head of the board. I do not think I +was ever more miserable or more frightened in my life than when, under +her imperious direction, I took my seat and met the gaze of a dozen +hungry men: on the sideboard stood the soup tureens, the waiting-maids +beside them, but not a cover was lifted or a motion made, and dead +silence filled the room. I sat in blushing bewilderment, waiting for the +dinner to be served. Suddenly, from the other end of the table, a harsh +voice issued from the lips of a burly, red-faced man. "Mr. President, if +you are a Christian, you'll perhaps be good enough to say grace, and let +us get to our dinner, which we want very badly." I managed to stammer +forth the formula of my childhood, and thought the worst was over. Not a +bit of it. No sooner had the soup been audibly consumed than the hated +voice from the foot of the table again assailed me. "Mr. President, I +really don't know what you mean by neglecting your duties in this way, +but let me tell you that this is not a company of teetotallers." "Ask +them what wine they would like," whispered the waitress behind me, who +saw my plight, and who evidently pitied it, for she added, "Don't let +that nasty man at the other end of the table bully you." But I was +incapable of maintaining the deception in which I had been innocently +involved, and, taking my courage in both hands, I frankly told the +company that I was not a commercial traveller, had never in my life dined +at a commercial table, and, as I knew nothing of the usages of such a +place, would beg the gentleman at the other end of the table to take upon +himself the duties of president. There was a burst of laughter from the +majority of the diners, and good-humour was instantly restored. My +_vis-ą-vis_, who was addressed as "Mr. Vice," was, indeed, somewhat +grumpy; but I had won the goodwill of the others, and was allowed to look +on, a silent spectator, whilst the many mystic rites and usages which +distinguished the "commercial table" of that epoch were duly celebrated. +Strange to say, that was not only my first but my last experience of the +kind, and now I imagine that the old customs of the road--the +wine-drinking, the speech-making, the toasts, and the graces before and +after meat--are all things of the past. + +My editorial career at Preston began with a somewhat painful and even +dramatic episode. I had returned to the office, after my dinner with the +commercial travellers, in order to attend to my duties for the day. The +_Guardian_ was published twice a week--on Wednesday and Saturday. +This was Tuesday afternoon. The proprietor had informed me that he was +already provided with a leading article for Wednesday's publication, and +my duties were therefore confined to the sub-editing of the news and the +writing of a few editorial paragraphs. Suddenly Mr. Toulmin entered my +room, and, without uttering a word, placed a telegram on the desk before +me. It consisted of these words, still imprinted on my memory: +"Washington Wilkes died suddenly last night while addressing a public +meeting." I knew Mr. Wilkes by name as a Radical journalist of +considerable ability, who wrote regularly for the _Morning Star_. +Accordingly I expressed my regret on hearing of his death. "Yes," said +Mr. Toulmin, bluntly; "that's all very well, but now you'll have to write +the leader for to-morrow, for Wilkes was to have written it." Under these +startling circumstances I penned my first leading article for the +_Preston Guardian_. Though I thus stepped into the shoes of a dead +man, I fear that I can hardly have filled them; but this was, on the +whole, not to be wondered at. + +Mr. Toulmin, my new employer, was a man of marked character. Long before +my business connection with him ceased, I learned to regard him with +genuine respect and liking, and these feelings I entertained for him to +the day of his death. But his somewhat rough exterior was not altogether +prepossessing, and when I came to him first as a raw lad, shy, sensitive, +and intolerant of manners that were foreign to my own, I must frankly +confess that I felt repelled by him. Besides, I quickly discovered that I +should have to fight my own battles if I wished to preserve my +professional rights and dignity. I had been engaged as editor and +sub-editor of the _Guardian_, and as it was my first editorship, it +need hardly be said that I valued my position highly. Mr. Toulmin, I +subsequently found, had a reputation for getting all he could out of the +members of his staff without much regard to the customs of journalism. +Thus, I had scarcely finished the article which would have been written +by Washington Wilkes but for his sudden death, when Mr. Toulmin, coming +into my room, expressed his warm satisfaction at the quickness with which +I had turned out my work; then, with an almost paternal smile upon his +face, he laid before me some pages of manuscript, and in an insinuating +voice said: "Would you mind keeping your eye upon this whilst I run over +this proof?" In an instant I grasped his meaning. I had been engaged as +editor, and he proposed to fill up my spare time by employing me as a +proof-reader. For a moment I was almost apoplectic with indignation at +what I regarded as an outrage upon my dignity. To this day I am thankful +that I controlled my temper, but I am not less thankful that I had the +courage--and it required some courage--to say to him, with a smile as +insinuating as his own: "I should have been delighted, but unfortunately +I have an engagement out of doors." And thereupon I left the room, +triumphant. + +Never again did Mr. Toulmin invite me to assist him in reading a proof, +and long afterwards he made frank admission to me of the fact that this +incident proved that I was "not going to be put upon." Very soon I found +that he was not only a kind-hearted but a very able man. He had begun +life, at the age of six, in a cotton factory. The statement to-day is +hardly credible, but such is the fact. In those cruel times, when no Lord +Ashley had as yet arisen to open the door of the workman's prison-house +and set the children free, this poor child had been shut up from six in +the morning till six at night in the fetid atmosphere of a cotton-mill. +God knows what the economic value of such a weakling's labour may have +been! One would think that a South Carolina planter would have been wiser +than to work his "stock" at such an age. Be this as it may, my friend had +passed through this terrible apprenticeship to toil--always hungry, +always tired; and had not only survived it, but emerged from it a man. +When I knew him he could talk calmly of the horrors of his childhood, but +there was an undercurrent of bitterness in his reference to those times +which one could understand and respect. He was an ardent and convinced +Liberal, and I think that I owe more to his teaching for the character of +my own political views than I owe to anybody else. + +When I went to Lancashire in 1864 the terrible effects of the cotton +famine were everywhere to be seen. History has done justice to the noble +fortitude with which the operatives of Lancashire "clemmed" (starved) in +silence during that awful time. Never shall I forget the pale, pinched +faces of the men and women as they walked to and from their daily labour. +The worst of the struggle was over, but hundreds of great mills were +still closed, and those which were open only ran half-time. The working +classes in Lancashire, as in most places, were on the side of the North +in the American Civil War, and not even the sufferings which that war +caused them, made them abate their opposition to the slave-holding South. +But in Lancashire, as elsewhere, the upper classes--with the exception of +the few who followed the noble leadership of John Bright--were +enthusiasts on the side of the South, and, if they had dared, would have +urged English intervention on behalf of the Confederate States. There was +thus a strong and marked difference of opinion between the upper and the +lower classes in Lancashire, as elsewhere. The great question in domestic +politics was that of Parliamentary reform. Advanced Liberals believed +that if only the franchise was enlarged, and the working-man admitted +within the pale, Liberal principles and ideas would henceforward triumph +permanently in our national politics, and they were, consequently, eager +to bring about this great constitutional change. Tories also believed +that this would be the effect of the enlargement of the franchise, and +they naturally opposed it vehemently. Neither party foresaw that the +elements common to human nature everywhere would influence the course of +politics just as fully after the working men had been admitted within the +pale of the Constitution as before, and that we should find even amongst +the lower orders the same differences between Liberals and Conservatives +as prevailed in the middle class. + +The sober Whiggish turn of mind which I had inherited from my father +influenced me greatly in those days. Like the rest of the world, I +believed that to admit the working classes to the franchise would be to +give democracy a free rein, and to bring about changes, both social and +political, of an extreme kind. Many of the changes then suggested did not +seem to me to be wise. For this reason I could not enter as heartily as I +might otherwise have done into the demand for Parliamentary reform. To go +slowly, I thought, would be to go safely. From this Laodicean frame of +mind I was rescued by Mr. Toulmin. It was not only that he could speak of +the dark days at the beginning of the century, and of the inequality and +injustice which then prevailed under Tory rule in England; he was able +also to point out the contrast between the unselfish and heroic conduct +of the Lancashire operatives with regard to the American Civil War, and +that of their superiors, in whose hands the political destinies of the +country rested. He was in the habit of enforcing his broad and sensible +arguments on the subject of Parliamentary reform by means of a quaint +little diagram, which he was continually presenting to those with whom he +engaged in argument. "Look at this," he would say, pointing to an +inverted pyramid, "that is the British constitution as it is at present. +Does it not strike you as being rather top-heavy, and not unlikely to +topple over in a storm? Now look at this," and he placed the pyramid on +its proper base. "That is what I want to see, and you'll agree with me +it's a great deal safer than the other way." I thought of Tennyson's +words: "Broad-based upon her people's will," and felt that there was more +in the rude little diagram than in many subtle and learned arguments. + +It was not only from my intercourse with Mr. Toulmin that I derived +mental profit in those days. I was always a rapid worker, and I speedily +found that two days and a half in each week sufficed to enable me to +discharge my duties at the _Guardian_ office. The ample leisure +which I thus enjoyed I devoted to reading, and in my lonely lodgings I +spent hours each day in study. As I look back upon that time I feel again +stealing over me like a vivifying flood the influence of Carlyle, under +the spell of whose teaching and inspiration I then practically came for +the first time. The companions of my solitude in those days were at least +not ignoble ones. Carlyle, Browning--not yet the victim of the Browning +Society--Thackeray, and most of our great historians, were always by my +side, and my mind gradually expanded as it absorbed their words and +thoughts. In one respect Preston has always seemed to me to be unique +among English towns. The centre of the town, if I may commit a bull, lay +at a point on its circumference. The Town Hall, the parish church, the +leading business thoroughfare, the railway station, and the +_Guardian_ office were all close to the river Ribble, separated from +it only by the beautiful Avenham Park, where the residences of the local +aristocracy were to be found. All the industrial part of the town, and +the houses of the operatives, lay farther away from the river. Across the +river there was nothing but open country. My modest lodgings in Regent +Street were at the same time within three minutes' walk of the +_Guardian_ office and of the old wooden bridge that crossed the +Ribble. Thus I could escape almost directly from the town into the open +country, and many were the hours I spent in delightful solitary rambles +through the lanes and fields of rural Lancashire. It is a good thing for +a young man to have time for solitary thinking, and no one who is worth +his salt can enjoy the kind of solitude which fell to my lot at Preston +without gaining by it. If I went there a boy, I left the place, after my +eighteen months of editorship, a man. + +Of my newspaper experiences at Preston there is not much to record. Two +notable speeches that I heard and reported--although I would not read +proofs I was quite willing to oblige Mr. Toulmin by keeping up my +practice as a shorthand writer--recur to me. One was a speech made in +1865 by Mr. Gladstone at Manchester. The chief memory it has left with me +is of the touching and stately eloquence with which he told his audience +that he felt that his own life's work was drawing to a close. Of the men +with whom he had entered upon public life, he declared the majority had +passed away, and that fact reminded him that he could not reasonably +expect that his own time could be much further prolonged. No one who +heard him could have imagined that thirty years of public service still +lay before the speaker. The other speech was still more notable, for it +introduced me for the first time to the greatest of all the orators of +the nineteenth century, John Bright. Mr. Bright's speech, which was +delivered at Blackburn, promised to be of peculiar interest, inasmuch as +he made it only a few days after the death of Lord Palmerston, in +October, 1865. Everybody was curious to know what the great Liberal would +say of the man whose policy he had so often opposed, and with whom he had +so often crossed swords on the floor of Parliament. I went to Blackburn +as curious as anybody else. Bright made a long speech, and from beginning +to end he never mentioned the name of Palmerston. Years afterwards, in a +spirit, I fear, slightly tinged with malice, I would sometimes supply +that notable omission by naming Palmerston to Mr. Bright. The effect was +always the same, and always electrical. "Palmerston!" he would cry. "The +man who involved us in the crime of the Crimean War!" And then he would +break off with an angry toss of his leonine head; but the accents of +immeasurable scorn filled the hiatus in his speech. + +In after years I became what I still remain--an enthusiastic admirer of +Mr. Bright's oratory. I hope to say something on a later page on this +subject. Here I need only note the fact that his first speech +disappointed me. Indeed, men were usually disappointed when they heard +him for the first time. They went expecting to hear an orator full of +sound and fury. They were amazed by the reserve--one might almost say the +repose--of his style. Of gesture he made absolutely no use. He never let +his magnificent voice rise above a certain pitch; he never poured out his +words in a tumultuous torrent; he was always deliberate and measured in +his utterances, and it was only as you grew accustomed to him that you +noted those wonderful inflections of the voice which expressed so clearly +the emotions of the orator. + +In 1865 the country was much agitated on the question of the cattle +plague. It was a question that particularly affected Cheshire and the +rural parts of Lancashire. The action taken by the Government, of which +Mr. Gladstone was a prominent member, was strongly opposed by the +representatives of the agricultural interest. A county meeting was held +at Preston to consider the subject and to denounce the Ministry. If I +remember aright, the Earl of Derby, the famous "Rupert of debate," was in +the chair, and he was surrounded by half the magnates of Lancashire. It +was a notable and imposing gathering. One titled speaker after another +got up and abused Ministers, and it was notable that Mr. Gladstone fell +in for the hottest measure of abuse. When some resolution was about to be +put a man seated in the body of the hall got up and asked if he might say +a few words. He was a tall, thick-set person, and his dress was so plain +that most of us took him for a farmer, if not a farm-labourer. The +meeting, which was enjoying the eloquence of earls and aristocrats of +every degree, turned with anger upon the unknown intruder, and shouted +"Name, name!" with all its might. "My name is Gladstone," said the +stranger, in a clear and powerful voice. Everybody burst into a roar of +laughter. It seemed so curious that immediately after listening to +unmeasured vituperation of _the_ Gladstone, this humble person who +had obtruded himself unexpectedly upon the scene should happen to be of +the same name. But before the laughter had subsided Sir James +Kay-Shuttleworth, who was on the platform, shouted out the explanation of +the mystery. "Mr. Robertson Gladstone, of Liverpool." It was the brother +of the much-hated Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had gone to the meeting +to defend his illustrious relative; and defend him he did, with so much +force and eloquence that he not only made some of the noble speakers look +rather foolish, but convinced one, at least, who heard him that if he had +adopted a Parliamentary career, he too might have been one of the great +figures of the House of Commons. + +As I look back upon my editorial experiences during the year and a half +that I spent at Preston, the salient questions which stand out in my +recollection are the war between Denmark and the Austro-Prussian allies, +in which this country was so nearly involved, and the concluding +struggles in the American Civil War, which may be said to have had their +culmination in the tragical assassination of Lincoln. It may seem a +strange thing to say, and yet I believe that Lincoln's cruel death did +more to hasten the return of peace and goodwill, not only in the United +States, but all over the world, after the close of the war, than anything +else could have done. It is certain that it produced a remarkable effect +in England. The "classes" in England were, as I have said, almost +unanimously opposed to the North, and there was no single person engaged +in the great struggle whom they more persistently misunderstood and +misrepresented than Abraham Lincoln. Even now I feel a sense of shame as +I recall the abuse which was showered upon that great man at the time +when he was leading his country through the most terrible crisis in her +history. But his death, coming as it did in the moment of victory, and +also at the moment when he had shown that he knew how to be moderate and +magnanimous in victory, opened the eyes of the world, and showed him, +even to those Englishmen who had hated him, in his true colours--one of +the wisest and noblest men of our time. + +This revelation of the blunder which "the classes" had committed in their +estimate of Lincoln had an even greater effect in softening the +asperities which the war left behind it than had the exposure of the +egregious miscalculations of English statesmen as to the comparative +military strength of North and South. One must not blame Englishmen too +severely, however, for their lack of appreciation of Lincoln. It is +doubtful if even now he is appreciated at his true worth by Americans +themselves. Some years ago I had the privilege of taking in to dinner a +charming young lady who was Lincoln's direct descendant. I said to her, +"You can hardly understand how pleased I am to have met you. There is +scarcely any man whose name is familiar to me whom I honour as I honour +the memory of your grandfather." The young lady opened her eyes in +innocent amazement, and confessed subsequently that she had been very +much surprised by my little speech. "At home they never say anything +about grandpapa." Lowell, however, has said something about him which +will live for ever in the elegiac poetry of the world. + +My stay at Preston came to an end in January, 1866. I had become engaged +whilst staying there, and, feeling stronger in health, was anxious to +obtain a more active position than the editorship of a newspaper +published only twice a week. My wishes were realised when I received an +offer from the proprietors of the _Leeds Mercury_ of a position on +that journal, which had long been one of the most important of provincial +newspapers. I accepted the offer, and left Preston at the beginning of +1866 with feelings of nothing but goodwill and respect for my old chief, +Mr. Toulmin. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WORK ON THE _LEEDS MERCURY_. + +My New Duties--Betrothal--The Writing of Leading Articles--The Founder of +the _Leeds Mercury_--Edward Baines the Second--Thomas Blackburn +Baines--Patriotic Nonconformists--Another Colliery Explosion: A Story of +Heroism--An Abortive Fenian Raid at Chester--Reminiscences of the Prince +of Wales's Visits to Yorkshire--Mr. Bright and the Reform Demonstrations +of 1866--The Closing Speech at St. James's Hall--The Tribune of the +People Vindicates the Queen. + + +I did not know, when I arrived in Leeds one wintry day in the beginning +of 1866, how long my connection with that town was to last, and how +closely I was to become associated with its public life. Beyond one or +two members of the _Mercury_ staff, I knew nobody in Leeds, so that +once more I found myself amongst strangers. But whereas at Preston I had +remained a stranger and a wayfarer during the whole period of my sojourn +in the place, I had not been long in Leeds before I began to feel that I +had found a second home. This was, no doubt, due in part to the fact that +old friends of mine were already employed on the _Mercury_ staff, +through whom I speedily made a number of acquaintances among the +townspeople. But I think that the sense of being at home which I acquired +so soon was chiefly due to the character of the inhabitants of Leeds. +Whatever may be the case now, at that time the Leeds people were typical +representatives of the best characteristics of Yorkshire. They were +frank, outspoken, warm-hearted, and hospitable. They were not, indeed, so +refined in speech as they might have been, and to the stranger their +blunt utterances were at times rather disconcerting. They criticised +one's work freely, and never hesitated to say when they did not like it. +They had strong prejudices and prepossessions, to both of which they gave +free expression. But if they never hesitated to criticise, they were just +as ready, when they were pleased, to utter words of praise and +encouragement; and it was not long before I had the gratification of +finding that my humble efforts on the _Leeds Mercury_ had made for +me many friends whom I did not know in the flesh. + +Next to the delight of a first appearance in print, there is nothing that +brings so much joy to the heart of a young writer as the discovery that +something which he has written has won the sympathy and secured for him +the friendly approval of some unknown reader. It is in this that there +lies, after all, the highest reward of the journalist. No honours, no +money, no fame can ever satisfy him as does the knowledge that by means +of his pen he is influencing the thoughts, and winning the affections, of +some at least of that vast unknown public whom it is his duty to address. +A sheet of paper is but a flimsy thing, yet, as a rule, when used by the +journalist it cuts off the electric current of sympathy which passes +between speaker and auditor when they are visible to each other. The +discovery that it may sometimes be a conductor, instead of an +obstruction, to the current warms the heart of a young writer in a +wonderful fashion, and is the best stimulus that he can have in the +pursuit of his profession. To my dying day I shall think of Leeds with +pleasure and gratitude, in remembrance of the fact that it was there that +I first enjoyed this delightful experience. + +My duties on the _Leeds Mercury_ were, in the first instance, both +varied and modest. I had to superintend the work of the reporting staff, +taking part myself, when necessary, in the reporting of large meetings +and important speeches. I had to do all the descriptive work of the +journal, and in those days more importance was attached to the work of +the descriptive writer than appears to be the case at present. Russell, +of the _Times_, the illustrious "pen of the war," furnished the +model for descriptive journalism in the 'sixties. There was none of that +slap-dash statement of bare facts, embellished by the more or less +impertinent personal impressions and opinions of the reporter, to which +we have become accustomed in recent times. It was expected that a +descriptive article should be in the nature of an essay, and that it +should actually describe, more or less vividly, the scene with which it +dealt. If anyone cares to search the files of our leading newspapers +between 1860 and 1870, he will come upon some pieces of descriptive +writing of astonishing literary merit. + +In addition to acting as descriptive writer, I had, when required, to +contribute leading articles to the _Mercury_. At first I did this at +rare intervals. It was an innovation for anyone connected with the +reporting staff to contribute to the leading columns, and I remember the +alarm and indignation of the older members of the staff when they learned +that work of this character was to be entrusted to me. But I had +practised leader-writing at Preston; I liked it (though my preference was +for descriptive writing), and it was not long before I found that I had +got into the regular leader-writer's stride. I was barely +four-and-twenty, and I had, therefore, a consuming sense of the value of +my lucubrations and the importance of my opinions. It is emphatically +true, as Sir William Harcourt once wrote to me, that "Youth is the age of +Wegotism." When I wielded that magnificent editorial "we," and was able +to back up my own crude ideas with all the authority of a great daily +newspaper, I felt that I, too, was somebody in the world of affairs, and +that though I might live in modest lodgings and possess but narrow means, +I was not without a distinct place and influence of my own in the great +commonwealth. Such are the illusions of the youthful leader-writer-- +foolish, perhaps, but not ignoble. + +Some of my early leaders pleased the proprietors of the paper, one of +whom was also the editor. It was arranged that I was to contribute +regularly the chief article for Monday's paper. Now, as I have said, I +had become engaged, and my cousin, Miss Kate Thornton, to whom I was +betrothed, lived at Stockport, at a distance of more than two hours from +Leeds. I had been in the habit of visiting Stockport almost every +Saturday, returning to my duties on Monday morning. This leader-writing +for Monday's paper threatened to interfere with this arrangement. +Fortunately for me, the proprietors of the _Mercury_--of whom I +shall have more to say presently--had a great reverence for Sunday. The +_Leeds Mercury_, indeed, had not become a daily paper until long +after this change in its character was expected by the public, simply +because an ordinary daily newspaper entailed a certain amount of Sunday +work upon those engaged in producing it. It was not until the proprietors +had satisfied themselves that it would be possible to produce a Monday +morning's newspaper, and at the same time to keep the office closed from +midnight on Saturday till midnight on Sunday, that they resolved to +publish daily. The arrangement was costly; it was vastly inconvenient to +everybody concerned. I am afraid that it did not conduce to the keeping +of the Sabbath, seeing that the compositors, who were not allowed to +enter the office until midnight of that day, were tempted to spend an +hour or two in some public-house before commencing their belated work. +But with all its drawbacks, the plan had at least the advantage of +keeping the office doors shut for the whole of the twenty-four sacred +hours, and thus the appearance of evil, if not the evil itself, was +avoided. As a consequence of this system, the greater part of Monday's +paper had to be set on Saturday, and the leader, in particular, was +always furnished to the printers on that day. So far, therefore, there +was nothing to prevent my writing the Monday's leader, and still paying +my usual weekly visit to Stockport. All that was necessary was that the +editor should give me my subject early enough on Saturday morning. + +This, however, was what I could not induce him to do. He was supposed to +be at the office shortly after eleven o'clock, and my train for Stockport +did not leave until half-past one. If the editor had been punctual, and +if he had given me my subject at once, I should have had ample time in +which to write my leader. But unfortunately he was not punctual, and too +often when he came he was occupied with other business, whilst I hung +about miserably counting the minutes until I was summoned to his +presence. Then, when at last I had received my subject, or had got leave +to write upon some topic suggested by myself, I hurried to the +sub-editor's room, and, sitting at a corner of a table upon which I laid +my watch, dashed off my precious article at the top of my speed. When I +began my practice as a leader-writer I took from an hour and a half to +two hours to write my fifteen hundred words; but, under the pressure of +that terrible half-past one o'clock train, I gradually improved my pace, +until at last, if I took more than an hour in the production of an +article, I felt dissatisfied. Mere speed in writing is a very small +accomplishment. It is not necessarily a virtue, and it may even be a +vice; but it is undoubtedly an accomplishment that I possess. In later +days my regular time for turning out an article of the length I have +named was from forty to fifty minutes. I could write my leaders with +people talking around me, and felt no difficulty in joining in the +conversation. I am told that many journalists regard it as incredible +that an article of fifteen hundred words could be written in from forty +to fifty minutes. All I can say is that it is a fact, and I attribute +this speed in writing to the pressure of that half-past one o'clock train +on Saturdays in the good old days of my first residence in Leeds. + +The story of the _Leeds Mercury_ is an honourable one in the annals +of English journalism. It was first established, if I remember aright, in +the year 1718. In the editor's room at Leeds a file of the paper is +preserved, dating from the year 1727. This file is complete for more than +170 years, with one melancholy exception. In the volume for 1745 the +numbers of the paper published during the second Jacobite Rising are +omitted. But in spite of this omission, these volumes, extending over so +long a period, are of immense value and interest. In its earliest days +the _Mercury_, though published in a provincial town, sought to +reproduce in its columns not so much the news of the locality as the +humour of the Metropolis; and the very first leading article in the +earliest volume preserved at Leeds bears the quaint title, "To the Ladies +who affect showing their stockings." + +Comparatively early in the Georgian era the _Mercury_ became +distinguished for the excellence of its news, both local and general. It +was not, of course, a large newspaper in those days, but the four pages +of which it consisted were full of meat. There was no descriptive +reporting; but what could be more expressive than the announcement of a +marriage in such terms as these:--"On Tuesday se'n-night, Squire Brown of +Bumpkin Hall was married to Miss Matilda Midas of Halifax, a handsome +young lady with ten thousand pounds to her dowry"? We are much more +florid nowadays, but by no means so precise. The leader-writer did not +spread himself abroad a hundred years ago. Indeed, soon after the +_Leeds Mercury_ gave up discussing the amiable weakness that it +attributed to ladies with well-turned ankles, it ceased for a time to +discuss anything at all. It was only in the beginning of the nineteenth +century that it resumed its leading articles. But what leading articles +they were! Fine writing and redundancy of style were both discarded, and +when the news of Waterloo arrived, the editor's comment upon the great +epoch-making victory was expressed in a dozen lines. One sighs at the +thought of the miles of "long primer" that would be expended if we had +the opportunity of commenting upon such a theme to-day. Yet the +twelve-line article in the _Leeds Mercury_ of June, 1815, really +said everything that was to the point on the subject with which it dealt. + +It was in the year 1800 that the _Mercury_ took that new stand in +its history which was to place it in the front rank among English +provincial journals. Three or four years earlier a young journeyman +printer, named Edward Baines, had tramped across the moors which form the +dividing line between Lancashire and Yorkshire, and after walking the +whole distance from Preston to Leeds, had found employment in the small +printing office in which the _Leeds Mercury_ was produced. Edward +Baines, the first, was undoubtedly a man of great ability and remarkable +character. Very soon after he began his humble work as a compositor in +Leeds he attracted the attention not only of his employer, but of some of +the gentry of the town. He was seen to be a person of uncommon +intelligence, strict integrity, and distinct political sagacity. The +_Leeds Mercury_, at the close of the eighteenth century, was still a +mere news-sheet, professing no opinions of its own, and consequently +making no attempt to mould the opinions of its readers. The Whig party in +the West Riding felt that they needed an organ of their own to support +their cause in that great district. Accordingly, they subscribed funds +sufficient to acquire the _Mercury_ and to provide capital for +carrying it on, and they placed the paper in the hands of Edward Baines, +the young printer who, but a few years previously, had made his first +appearance in Yorkshire. + +The trust they reposed in Mr. Baines was more than justified. Under his +direction the _Mercury_ became in a few years the leading journal in +the north of England. The money that had been advanced to him for its +purchase he speedily repaid, and by the time that Wellington was dealing +his death-blow at French Imperialism, Edward Baines had made himself a +power, not only in Leeds but in Yorkshire. I remember being told by very +old men that when the news of Waterloo reached him a chair was taken out +of his office in Briggate to the street, where an eager crowd had +gathered. Mounting upon this chair, Mr. Baines read the despatch +announcing the great victory to his enthusiastic fellow townsmen. An +earnest Liberal, he fought by the side of the Liberal leaders both with +his pen and his tongue during the long struggle for Parliamentary Reform, +and he was in due time rewarded by being elected to represent Leeds in +the House of Commons. His may fairly be described as an ideal career. He +gained friends, influence, wealth, in the town he had entered as a +penniless workman. But, better than all, he witnessed the triumph of +nearly all the great political and social movements to which he had lent +his powerful aid. Having represented his fellow-townsmen in three +successive Parliaments, he was honoured at his death, at a ripe age, in +1848, with a public funeral, which people in Leeds still recall as a +unique demonstration of gratitude and esteem. In Yorkshire, where his +career was better known than elsewhere, the name given to him by the +generation that followed him was that of "the English Benjamin Franklin." + +It was Mr. Baines's good fortune to leave behind him in his sons men who +were worthy to succeed him. His eldest son, Matthew Talbot Baines, went +to the Bar. After his father's death he entered Parliament, where he had +a distinguished career, becoming eventually a Cabinet Minister under Lord +Palmerston. He died at a comparatively early age, and it was well known +to the initiated that, if he had not died thus young, it was the +intention of the Government to propose him for the Speakership. The +second son of the man who really founded the fortunes of the _Leeds +Mercury_ was, like his father, called Edward. He, too, attained +distinction in the public service. From his youth he was his father's +chief assistant in the editorship of the _Mercury_, and by his +enterprise, sagacity, and fine abilities as a journalist he greatly +extended the influence and reputation of the paper. As a boy he was +present at the so-called Battle of Peterloo--the riot which took place at +Manchester in 1819, when a political meeting was being held on the site +of the present Free Trade Hall. Young Edward attended the meeting as a +reporter for the _Mercury_. He observed everything that happened, +and it was his evidence, given subsequently at Lancaster Assizes, that +saved many innocent persons, who had been hunted down by the cruel +authorities of the day, from the punishment of transportation. + +Edward Baines the second edited the _Mercury_ down to 1859, when, on +the death of his brother, he was chosen by his fellow-townsmen to succeed +him as their representative in Parliament. He had there a most honourable +career. He was, like his father, a Nonconformist, and he was also a +strict teetotaller. When he entered the House of Commons there was only +one other teetotaller in that body. A generous and cultured man, filled +with enthusiasm for the public good, he succeeded during his +Parliamentary career in winning the respect of the House, not only for +himself personally, but for those Nonconformist and teetotal principles +which Society, at that time, held in such low esteem. Strangely enough, +this life-long advocate of temperance reform lost his seat in the General +Election of 1874 through an outburst of teetotal fanaticism on the part +of the advocates of the Permissive Bill. As he refused to vote for that +measure, they ran an intemperate temperance advocate named Lees against +him, and by doing so gave the seat to a local brewer. On his eightieth +birthday, in 1880, he was knighted by Queen Victoria in recognition of +his life-long devotion to the public service. + +I am not, however, telling the story of the Baineses. I have not even +referred to it at such length merely because I feel it to be an +honourable and instructive chapter in English local history, but because +it throws light upon the peculiar position and authority enjoyed by the +_Leeds Mercury_ when I first became connected with it in 1866. At +that time, the son of the second Edward Baines, Thomas Blackburn Baines, +was editor of the paper, but his father took as active a part in its +political direction as was consistent with the performance of his duties +in Parliament. While Tom Baines edited the paper, the management was in +the hands of his uncle, Frederick Baines, a man for whom I retain to this +day something of the affection and respect of a son for a father. The +paper, it will be seen, was thus the exclusive possession of the Baines +family. It represented the views to which they had clung so tenaciously +from the first. It was the great organ of Nonconformity in the English +Press, and it was at the same time the advocate of a pronounced, though +not an extreme, Liberalism. Its influence in the politics of Yorkshire +was great, but no small part of that influence was due to the fact that +the character of its conductors was known to the world, and that they +were everywhere recognised as high-minded men, to whom journalism was +something more than a trade. It was, indeed, a fortunate accident that +brought me, whilst still in my youth, into intimate association with so +high-minded a family. + +They had their peculiarities. I have spoken already of their strict +regard for the Sabbath. In other matters also they clung to many of the +notions of the Puritans of an older generation. They never allowed the +_Mercury_ to publish betting news, or to pander to the national +passion for gambling sport in any manner whatever. It would have been a +good thing for the Englishman of to-day if, in this respect, their +action, instead of being the exception, had been the rule among newspaper +proprietors. The love of sport and of betting which has had so bad an +effect upon the national character during the last thirty years would +have been greatly curbed if other newspaper proprietors had been as +mindful of their responsibilities as were the Baineses. As it was, they +met with no reward for the heavy sacrifice they made in refusing to cater +for the tastes of the sport-loving populace. + +Another peculiarity which marked the _Mercury_ in those days, though +founded upon equally admirable motives, was not so happy in its character +as this exclusion of betting news. Edward Baines the second regarded the +theatre from the old Nonconformist point of view. He looked upon it, as +so many did, as being an agent for the demoralisation of the young, and +he refused to allow any notice of it to appear in the columns of his +paper. This naturally excited the anger and ridicule of a large section +of the public, who were not insensible to the change that was gradually +taking place on the British stage. But no arguments and no ridicule could +move the sturdy old Nonconformist. I remember once pleading with him for +some relaxation of this rule. He heard all I had to say with courteous +attention, but when I had exhausted my stock of arguments he delivered +himself as follows: "My dear Mr. Reid, I feel sure that you are quite +sincere and conscientious in the views you hold, but you do not know the +theatre as I do. I speak from personal experience when I say that both in +itself and in its surroundings it is immoral and demoralising." I stared +aghast at this utterance. I knew that I went to theatres occasionally, +but until then I had believed that Edward Baines had never crossed the +threshold of a playhouse. He saw my look of surprise, and continued, +"Yes, I am sorry to say that between the years 1819 and 1822 I attended +the theatre frequently in London, and I can never forget the shocking +immorality I witnessed both on the stage and among the audience." Dear, +simple, high-principled, and most scrupulous soul! It was impossible to +make way against his sixty-year-old memories. + +But I must not omit to mention one characteristic of the proprietors of +the _Mercury_ which had a marked influence upon their manner of +conducting that paper. This was their intense love of country. Both +Edward Baines and his brother Frederick, though they never called +themselves patriots, were among the most patriotic men I have ever known. +They were Nonconformists and Liberals, and consequently, in the belief of +their ignorant political opponents, they ought also to be Little +Englanders of the huckster class. Instead of being Little Englanders, +they were all through their lives the advocates of a sane but ardent +Imperialism. They loved their country, and they believed in it--believed +in it not only as the foremost nation of the earth, but as a great +instrument for good among the peoples of the world. It followed that, +whilst the _Mercury_ advocated advanced Liberal opinions on most +domestic questions, it was always in foreign affairs the supporter of an +enlightened and reasonable Imperialism, and on any question affecting +international policy it resolutely refused to take the mere partisan +point of view. I have dwelt at this length upon some of the +characteristics of the _Leeds Mercury_ and its proprietors when I +first became acquainted with them because they had a great and abiding +influence upon my own character and opinions. At Preston I had learned to +sympathise with the democracy, and to believe ardently in the cause of +political reform. At Leeds I came in contact with a wider and loftier +standard of Liberalism, and, whilst retaining my faith in the principles +of my party on domestic questions, I added to it a conviction, not less +profound, of the duty of advancing the interests of the British Empire +throughout the world by every means in my power. In later years, when I +was myself the editor of the _Leeds Mercury_, some of my excellent +friends in London--and notably Mr. Stead--were wont to deplore my +tendency in favour of Imperialism in foreign affairs, and to attribute it +to the influence upon me of the Pall Mall clubs. As a matter of fact, I +was led in this direction by the influence of these two estimable +Yorkshire Nonconformists. + +My first stay in Leeds in the somewhat anomalous position I have +described lasted for little more than eighteen months. During that period +I found plenty of work to do as a descriptive writer and reporter, and +was brought into contact with some notable and interesting persons. Some +months after I had become connected with the _Mercury_, I renewed my +acquaintance with the tragical vicissitudes of colliery life. An +explosion occurred at the Oaks Pit, near Barnsley, which led to the +sacrifice of three hundred lives. Such a loss of life, exceeding that on +many an historic battlefield, was in itself terrible, but the +circumstances attending the accident at the Oaks Pit added to the +grimness of the tragedy. When I reached the colliery a few hours after +the explosion occurred I found that some two hundred of the men who had +been working in it were known to have been killed, but that many more +were believed to be still alive in the distant workings, and that a large +rescue party had gone below to recover them. Having sent my last despatch +to Leeds, I went to an inn at Barnsley to snatch a few hours of sleep +before resuming work at daybreak. In the morning, as I was hastening back +to the colliery to learn what progress had been made during the night, I +suddenly saw a dense volume of black smoke shoot out of the mouth of the +pit, and, rising high in the air, spread in a fan-shaped cloud of +enormous size. Immediately afterwards the dull reverberation of an +underground explosion fell upon my ear. A rough collier was walking +beside me, and when he heard that ominous sound he turned white, and +staggered against the wall which lined the road. "God have mercy on us!" +he cried, "she's fired again." It was an awful moment. Both I and the +pitman knew that, in addition to any survivors of the first explosion, +there were twenty or thirty brave men risking their lives in a work of +mercy when this new catastrophe took place. + +We ran to the pit at our utmost speed, and when we reached the bank we +found ourselves in the midst of a distressing scene. The engineers and +workmen who had been engaged at the mouth of the pit were completely +unnerved by this unexpected disaster, and were weeping like children. The +second explosion had driven the "cage" completely out of the shaft, and +it hung in a wrecked condition in the gallows-like scaffolding which +surmounted the pit. There was thus no means of descending the shaft, even +if anyone had been courageous enough to do so. This renewed explosion +was, I ought to say, almost unprecedented in the long story of colliery +accidents. In a few minutes the wives and friends of the search party +below came thronging around us with agonised inquiries as to the safety +of those whom they loved. For a time all was confusion and despair; but +very quickly the voice of authority was heard, and the pit platform was +cleared of all except the small party that remained on duty and myself. +It was, as a matter of fact, a place of danger, for, as a second +explosion had occurred, it was quite possible that it might be followed +by a third. In spite of this risk, it was resolved to communicate, if +possible, with the bottom of the shaft. + +By order of the engineer in charge, we all lay down at full length on the +platform, and one of our number was pushed forward until his head and +shoulders protruded over the black chasm of the pit, from which a thin +column of smoke was still rising. He was armed with a hammer, and with +this he struck one of the metal guiders of the ruined cage, giving the +pitman's "jowl" or signal, "three times three, and one over." Lying +breathless, we listened, hoping for some response. But there was only the +silence of death. Thrice the brave man repeated the signal, but no +answering sound came from the depths of the pit, and sadly we came to the +conclusion that all had perished. The signal man was dragged back from +his post of peril, and we were consulting eagerly as to the next step to +be taken, when a third explosion suddenly took place, shaking the +platform on which we stood, and covering us with fragments of burning +wood. Several of us were slightly hurt, but no one sustained any serious +injury. The painful fact that was forced upon us, however, by this new +explosion was that nothing could for the present be done to ascertain the +fate of the gallant fellows who had apparently been lost in their attempt +to rescue their comrades. It was clear that the pit was making gas, and +that a fire was burning somewhere in the workings, which in due time +might--and, as a matter of fact, did--cause fresh explosions. In these +circumstances nothing could be done except to pour water into the pit in +the hope of extinguishing the fire. Sorrowfully the band of workers +abandoned the pit-heap, leaving only a couple of young mining engineers +to keep watch above the scene of death. + +In the middle of the following night--repeated explosions having taken +place during the day--a remarkable incident occurred. One of the +engineers left in charge--named, if I remember aright, Jeffcock--was +suddenly startled by hearing a sound proceeding, apparently, from the +depths of the pit. He went to the edge of the shaft, and then heard +unmistakably, far below him, the "jowl" for which we had listened in vain +on the previous morning. It proved that there was someone living in the +pit, and Mr. Jeffcock instantly determined to save him if he could. The +shaft was a very deep one. The cage which was the ordinary means of +descent had, as I have already explained, been destroyed, whilst the +pit-sides had been torn by the successive explosions, so that they were +in a highly dangerous state. But undaunted by these difficulties and +dangers, Jeffcock carried out his heroic task. Summoning assistance, he +caused himself to be lowered at the end of a rope to the bottom of the +shaft. Heaven only knows what were the terrors and dangers of that +descent. He faced them all unflinchingly. At the bottom of the pit he +discovered not any member of the search party, for they had all +succumbed, but one of the men employed in the colliery, who, by some +extraordinary chance, had escaped with his life not only from the +original explosion, but from all those which followed it. With immense +labour and risk he brought this man, the sole survivor of more than three +hundred, to the pit's mouth, and the next night the thoughtless fellow +for whom a brave man had risked so much, and whose own escape from death +had been almost miraculous, was carousing in a public-house in Barnsley, +and pocketing the coppers which hundreds of curious persons paid for the +privilege of seeing him. + +One evening, in the summer of 1866, when I was on duty in the +_Mercury_ office, I received a telegram which Mr. Baines had +despatched from the House of Commons half an hour before. It stated that +the Home Secretary had just received information that Chester Castle had +been attacked by five hundred Fenians from Manchester, and that troops +were being despatched from London to meet them. I saw that a train which +left Leeds late in the evening would land me at Chester an hour or so +after midnight, and I at once made up my mind to take it. When I reached +Chester all was quiet at the station, and there were no signs of a Fenian +rising. I asked the chief official on duty if he knew anything about the +affair. All he could tell me was that during the early hours of the +evening the waiting rooms, and even the platform itself, had been filled +with crowds of "working men in their Sunday clothes," who had seemed to +be waiting for somebody or something. There were many hundreds of them, +and their unexplained presence had greatly puzzled the railway officials. +Some time before I arrived they had disappeared. + +I went out into the streets of the old city. The darkness of the summer +night still brooded over me, but there was light enough to see that at +every street corner and every open space a crowd was gathered. They were +curious crowds. In every case the men were clustered in a circle, their +faces all turned towards the centre. They seemed to be listening intently +to someone who, in the middle of each little group, was speaking in low +but earnest tones. I made my way to one of the small crowds, and, joining +it, tried to hear what it was that the speaker in the middle was saying; +but instantly a strange thing happened. The crowd fell apart, melted away +into the gloom, and I suddenly found myself standing alone. Thrice did I +thus attempt to learn what was passing in these mysterious groups, and +every time the result was the same. I accosted individuals in the +streets, and questioned them as to the meaning of the curious scene, so +unusual in the dead of night in a quiet cathedral city. No man answered +me, except in some unintelligible syllable. I was not molested, nobody +was uncivil, but from no one could I get a word of explanation. +Gradually, as morning began to break, the throng became thinner. It was +dispersed like the mist by the sunshine. + +By four o'clock Chester was apparently deserted by its strange visitors. +I went to the castle, and found that all was quiet there. I went to the +police office, and here I was told that the men were undoubtedly Fenians, +but that they had been guilty of no violence, and had given no excuse to +the police to interfere with them. They had apparently come to Chester +from every quarter, Liverpool, Manchester, and Stafford having each +contributed a contingent. But few had come by rail, most having entered +the city on foot. What it all signified the police declared they could +not understand, though they had no doubt that it had meant mischief. At +five o'clock I returned to the station, and saw two special trains arrive +within a few minutes of each other. These brought down a full battalion +of the Guards from London. It was a fine sight to see the regiment +marching with fixed bayonets from the station to the Castle. When the +last man had disappeared within the Castle gates, we knew that, whatever +plot had been hatched, it had miscarried. + +The next day I gave in the _Leeds Mercury_ a full account of what I +had seen at Chester, and stoutly upheld the theory that a Fenian raid, +which had somehow or other miscarried, had been intended. But, on the +same morning, almost every other newspaper in the United Kingdom +published an account of the affair that had been supplied by a Liverpool +news agency. In this account the whole matter was turned into ridicule, +and the authorities were said to have been hoaxed, or carried away by +their own excited imaginations. But I had seen those strange, mysterious +groups, planted so thickly in the streets of Chester under the silent +night, and I could not accept the explanation of the Liverpool reporter. +Still, for the moment his story was that which was generally believed, +and I had to submit to the suspicion of having allowed myself to be +befooled. Not until more than twelve months later was the truth revealed. +It came out in the course of the trial of certain Fenian prisoners that +there really had been a plot to seize, not Chester Castle, but the arms +it contained. The conspirators knew that the guard in the Castle was very +weak. They hoped to get into the place by stratagem, and to seize the +contents of the armoury. Then they meant to capture a train, and, having +destroyed the telegraph wires, to carry their booty to Holyhead, where +they expected to find a steamer which would land them in Ireland. It was +about as mad a plan as was ever devised--as mad as John Brown's seizure +of the arsenal at Springfield. But desperate men attempt daring deeds. +Fortunately for the peace of the realm, the plot against Chester was +revealed to the Government in time, and when the little army of Fenians +knew that they had been betrayed, they silently dispersed without +striking a blow. It was, I confess, a satisfaction to me when the +informer--Corydon, if I remember the name aright--confirmed the truth of +my interpretation of that strange scene at Chester; and I had the +additional satisfaction of feeling that I was one of the few living men +who had, with his own eyes, actually seen a hostile army assembled on +English soil. + +A reporter's life brings him into contact both with tragedy and comedy. I +have an amusing recollection of a visit paid by Edward VII., when Prince +of Wales, to Upper Teesdale during my stay in Leeds, for the purpose of +shooting on the Duke of Cleveland's moors. I travelled in the special +train which took the Prince and his party to the little station of +Lartington, then the terminus of the line which now connects the east and +west coasts. No royal personage had visited that beautiful valley before. +It was Sunday, and the whole population seemed to have turned out to see +the train, in which the heir to the throne travelled, fly past them. +Everywhere it was greeted with the waving of hats and handkerchiefs; but +I saw one old man, apparently an agricultural labourer, who was not +content with uncovering his head when the train went by. Reverently he +sank down upon his knees, and remained in that position until long after +we had sped past him. From Lartington the Prince and his party were to +drive to the inn at High Force, a dozen or fourteen miles away. I, and a +companion, representing a Sheffield newspaper, were to take up our +quarters for the night at the little village of Middleton-in-Teesdale, +halfway to High Force. A country omnibus had been provided for the Prince +and his friends, and in this they drove off. We had to walk, as no +vehicle was to be got. + +When we had tramped a mile or more on our way, we met two men who were +walking quickly towards Lartington. One of them, who from his appearance +might have been a village schoolmaster, accosted us politely. "Can you +tell me if his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has arrived at +Lartington station yet?" "Yes," I replied, "he got there more than half +an hour ago." "Then where is he?" said my interlocutor in an injured tone +of voice. "He surely cannot be stopping there?" I told him that this was +not the case, and that he had already preceded us along that very road. +"Impossible!" retorted the schoolmaster. "I've been on this road ever +since the morning, and I can assure you that his Royal Highness has not +passed this way." "Did you not see a small omnibus pass," I asked, "with +some luggage on the roof?" The schoolmaster's companion, who was younger, +admitted that he had done so. "Well, then," I continued, "you must have +seen a gentleman in a brown felt hat sitting beside the driver, and +smoking a cigar. That was the Prince of Wales." "Don't attempt to make a +fool of me, you impertinent jackanapes!" roared my schoolmaster friend in +a mighty rage, and, setting off again at full speed, he proceeded on his +way towards Lartington, in search of the kingly vision he expected to +discover. + +There was another occasion, during those early Yorkshire days, when I had +a little experience connected with the Prince. He and the Princess were +about to be received as the guests of a great--a very great--dignitary. +It was the first occasion on which this really eminent man had +entertained their Royal Highnesses, and he had specially furnished +certain rooms in his stately abode for their use. He gave a polite +intimation that he would be glad to see one representative of the Press +of the United Kingdom, in order that he might show him these apartments, +with a view to their being properly described in print. My colleagues of +the Yorkshire Press unanimously selected me to represent them on this +great occasion, and were good enough to warn me that they would expect at +least a column of descriptive matter detailing the glories of the +upholstery provided for the Royal apartments. + +To my surprise, when I got to the house I was at once brought face to +face with the Great Man himself. He was mighty affable, and most +desperately anxious that I should do justice to his newly bought +furniture. I shall never forget my tour of the bedrooms and boudoirs to +which I was expected to do justice. The Great Man pounded the beds to +prove their elasticity. He turned down the bedclothes to convince me of +the fineness of the linen. He lifted up chairs in order that I might +satisfy myself of the solidity of their construction, and he expatiated +upon the beauties of curtains, window-hangings, and carpets in periods as +sonorous as any with which he had thrilled the House of Lords. I frankly +confess that I was astounded, and not a little shocked. I could see that +the Great Man was disappointed at my somewhat stolid reception of a +florid eloquence of which George Robins, the auctioneer, might have been +proud. I do not think, however, he was half so much disappointed as my +colleagues were when I returned to them and dictated a dozen lines of +severe catalogue as the only "description" I was capable of giving of the +furniture of two commonplace bedrooms. I never met the Great Man in after +life without seeing him, in my mind's eye, flourishing a chair upside +down, or lovingly patting with his mighty hand an embroidered coverlet. + +Upon the whole, the most important of the events in which I took part as +reporter and descriptive writer during this period at Leeds was the +series of Reform demonstrations in which Mr. Bright played the leading +part in the autumn of 1866. I remember no public meetings in the course +of my life that equalled them in enthusiasm. The Russell administration +had been defeated in the previous session on the question of +Parliamentary Reform, the defeat having been brought about by the action +of the Adullamites, so-called, under the leadership of Lord Grosvenor and +Mr. Lowe. John Bright, to use a phrase that has since become historic, +"took off his coat" at the end of that session, and went to the country +with the avowed determination of raising such a movement in favour of +Parliamentary Reform that even the Tory Government, which was now in +office under the Premiership of Lord Derby, would be compelled to yield +to it. His plan of campaign was as simple as are most great plans. He +arranged to address meetings in the chief cities of England, Scotland, +and Ireland. Each meeting was to be preceded by a Reform demonstration +held on some open piece of ground in or near the city where the meeting +was to be held. These demonstrations took place at Birmingham, +Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, and London. I was present at all of +them. + +Never were such open-air gatherings held in England before. On more than +one occasion the attendance exceeded a hundred thousand. The gatherings +were without exception orderly and enthusiastic. All the smaller towns +and villages near the scene of meeting sent deputations. There were great +processions through the streets, headed by bands and political banners. +At the place of meeting many different platforms were erected, and +resolutions calling upon the Government to introduce a measure of +Parliamentary Reform were put simultaneously from all the platforms. +Nothing could have been more impressive as a demonstration of national +feeling than these wonderful gatherings, so vast, so resolute in their +bearing, and yet so orderly. They made even Ministers feel that the time +had passed for trifling with the question of Reform. The Government were +compelled to yield, and, as everybody knows, the session of 1867 +witnessed the passing of the Household Suffrage Act. But by far the most +important factor in each of these successive gatherings was the evening +meeting that followed the open-air demonstration. At this Mr. Bright was +always the chief speaker. I do not think he ever made better speeches +than those which he delivered during this autumn of 1866. I have recorded +the first occasion on which I heard Bright speak, and have said that his +oratory was not so impressive on a first hearing as people might suppose. +For my own part, I found that the spell of his magic grew stronger every +time that it was renewed, and before I had listened to the last of this +wonderful series of orations I had become what I remained to the end--the +most enthusiastic of his admirers. + +The opening speech of the series was delivered at Birmingham, and it +contained one passage that, after all these years, is still stamped upon +my memory. It was a brilliant vindication of Mr. Gladstone, as the +apostle of Parliamentary Reform, from the sharp attacks made upon him by +the Adullamites. Even then the intrigues against Mr. Gladstone's +leadership of the Liberal party--intrigues which did not cease until the +day of his final retirement nearly thirty years later--had begun. Bright +treated them with characteristic contempt. He inveighed with all his +force against the men who were going about declaring that Mr. Gladstone +was unfit to be the leader of the party, and, with that accent of +withering scorn which was one of his most formidable weapons as an +orator, he cried, "If they have another leader who can take Mr. +Gladstone's place, why do they not let us see him? _Where have they +been hiding him until now?_" That single sentence fell like a hammer +upon the heads of the intriguers of the Cave. In face of it they could +not continue their absurd attempt to rob Mr. Gladstone of his appointed +place. + +The most florid and poetical of Bright's Reform speeches was that which +he delivered at Glasgow. It consisted, for the most part, of a noble +appeal to ministers of religion, and to all interested in the social +welfare of the people, to try what a Reformed Parliament could do to +remove the burdens laid upon the shoulders of common humanity. "The +classes have failed, let us try the nation." The speech closed with a +fine peroration in which the speaker, after referring to the effect +already produced by the public movement in favour of Reform, declared +that he could see "as it were upon the hill-tops of Time, the glimmerings +of the dawn of a new and a better day for the country and the people that +he loved so well." It was with this peroration still ringing in my ears +that I hurried from the meeting to the telegraph office. I was +palpitating with excitement under the influence of Bright's magic +eloquence. Judge of my astonishment when I heard two worthy citizens of +Glasgow who had just left the hall comment upon the speech in these +words. First Citizen: "A varra disappointing speech!" Second Citizen: "Ou +aye! He just canna speak at all." This extraordinary incident at least +bears out what I said as to the disappointing character of Bright's +eloquence upon people who listened to it for the first time. A man needed +to grow into an appreciation of it. There was, by the way, an amusing +incident in connection with the reporting of this Glasgow speech. Bright, +as I have said, had referred to the influence of the great popular +demonstrations in favour of Reform, and had spoken of them as "those vast +gatherings, sublime in their numbers and in their resolution." Some +unhappy reporter, by a very slight slip, made him speak of the meetings +as sublime in their numbers and their resolutions--a very different +matter. + +His last Reform speech in 1866 was delivered in London, in St. James's +Hall. It was preceded on the previous day by the usual procession through +the streets and an open-air demonstration at Lillie Bridge. The poor +Londoners were very much alarmed at the prospect of the gathering. The +editors of the morning papers opened their respective Balaam boxes and +gave the asses a holiday, to borrow a phrase of Christopher North. +Innumerable letters were published, declaring that the mob of reformers, +led by the wild man from Birmingham, would probably sack the town; and +fervent entreaties were addressed to the Government to line the streets +with troops for the protection of peaceful and law-abiding householders. +The Government, which had received its lesson in Hyde Park in the +preceding summer, did nothing of the sort; but I believe that a good many +houses and even shops in the West End were actually closed and barricaded +by their perturbed and nervous proprietors. There was one notable and +significant exception to this rule. Miss--now the Baroness--Burdett-Coutts +not only did not close her house in Piccadilly, but assembled a party of +friends at it, and, seated in the midst of them in the great bay-window +overlooking Piccadilly, saluted in friendly fashion the great army of the +unenfranchised as they passed along the road. She was cheered +vociferously, and must have felt a thrill of satisfaction at the thought +that she was recognised as the worthy representative of that stout old +Radical reformer, Sir Francis Burdett. I took up my position to see the +procession pass in Pall Mall, opposite the Reform Club. I had never before +seen that famous building. It struck me at the time as having a cold and +gloomy exterior, yet I gazed upon it with reverence as the home of the most +distinguished of the men who espoused the cause of liberty. I little +thought, on that dull winter day, how many years I was destined to spend +within its walls, or how large a part I was to take in its affairs. + +Of course, all the fears of the alarmists were falsified. The only +untoward incidents were the raids of the pickpockets upon the crowds. I +myself was one of their victims, in a somewhat curious fashion. I was +riding with another reporter in a cab at the tail of the procession. The +crowd, as we approached Lillie Bridge, was very dense, pressing upon us +on all sides. Suddenly a hand was put in at the open window of the cab, +and, before I had the presence of mind to grasp the situation, the pin I +wore had been removed from my scarf, literally under my very eyes. It was +one of the neatest and most impudent robberies I ever saw. + +Bright's speech at St. James's Hall was a very fine one. It contained a +memorable passage in which he described men dwelling in fancied security +on the slopes of a slumbering volcano. He demanded if those who warned +them of the peril to which they were exposed were to be accused of being +the cause of that peril. It was a brilliant and telling retort upon those +who charged him with having stirred up a seditious movement for his own +personal ends. But his best speech at St. James's Hall was a brief and +unpremeditated utterance at the close of the meeting. Mr. Ayrton, the +well-known member for the Tower Hamlets, an advanced Radical, and a man +who subsequently made himself notorious as a Minister of the Crown by his +aggressive and unconciliatory utterances, was one of the speakers who +followed Bright. He referred to the demonstration in front of Miss +Burdett-Coutts's house on the previous day, and made some remarks +comparing her with the Queen, who was just then in Scotland, by no means +to the advantage of the latter. Bright's loyalty, which was strong and +real, was outraged by Ayrton's language. In burning words, evidently born +of genuine emotion, he repudiated and rebuked the want of respect shown +to her Majesty, and declared that any woman, be she the wife of a working +man or the queen of a mighty realm, who was capable of showing an intense +devotion to the memory of her lost husband was worthy of the respect and +reverence of every honest heart. Years afterwards, I have reason to know, +that utterance was borne in mind in high quarters. It laid the foundation +of the high personal regard and friendship which her Majesty extended to +the old tribune of the people when he became a Minister of the Crown. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +LIFE IN LONDON. + +Appointed London Correspondent of the _Leeds Mercury_--My +Marriage--Securing Admission to the Reporters' Gallery--Relations between +Reporters and Members--Inadequate Accommodation for the +Press--Reminiscences of the Clerkenwell Explosion--The Last Public +Execution--The Arundel Club--James Macdonell--Robert Donald--James +Payn--Mrs. Riddell and the _St. James's Magazine_--My First +Novel--How Sala Cut Short an Anecdote--Disraeli as Leader of the House in +1868--A Personal Encounter with him at Aylesbury--Mr. Gladstone's First +Ministry--Bright and Forster--W. E. Baxter--Irish Church Disestablishment +Debate in the House of Lords--Mr. Mudford--Bereavement. + + +In 1867 a change unexpectedly took place in my position. The London +representative of the _Leeds Mercury,_ my old friend Mr. Charles +Russell, now editor of the _Glasgow Herald,_ retired from his post, +and I was appointed to succeed him. In addition to the duties which had +been discharged by Mr. Russell, it was arranged that I was to act as +London correspondent of the _Mercury_ and to continue to be an +occasional contributor of leaders. On September 5th in this year I was +married at Cheadle Congregational Church, Cheshire, to my cousin, to whom +I had long been engaged, and I at once went to London to spend my +honeymoon in the delightful occupation of house-hunting. The London +suburbs wore a different aspect in 1867 from that which they now present. +In the far west of London, at all events, the reign of the semi-detached +villa, with its private garden, was still maintained. There were no lofty +"mansions" comprising endless suites for the accommodation of persons of +limited means, and the system of a common garden for the residents in a +particular street or square was practically unknown outside the central +district of the metropolis. Notting Hill, Kensington, Shepherd's Bush, +and Hammersmith offered to the man of moderate means the choice among an +infinite number of pleasant little villas, each boasting its own garden +and lawn secluded from the public eye. My choice fell upon a house of +this description in Addison Road North, and there I spent two happy +years, the garden, with its fine old tree casting a welcome shade over +the lawn, making me forget the fact that I was, at last, an actual +dweller in the world's greatest city. + +Almost my first business in London was to secure admission to the +Reporters' Gallery in the House of Commons. There was an autumn session +in that year, 1867, and I was anxious to get access to the Gallery when +it began. In order to obtain the coveted Gallery ticket I proffered my +gratuitous services as an occasional reporter to the _Morning Star_. +My offer was accepted, and after an interview with Mr. Justin McCarthy, +who was then editor of the _Star_, I was introduced to Mr. Edwards, +the chief of the reporting staff, as a new member of that body. Edwards, +who was one of the veterans of the Gallery, was a character in his way. +He was an Irishman possessed of a delicious brogue, a devout Roman +Catholic, intensely proud of the fact that he had a son in the +priesthood. His mind was stored with reminiscences of the Gallery in the +days when the status of a Parliamentary reporter was hardly recognised +even in the House of Commons itself. Like so many of the Gallery men of +this time, his world seemed to be limited to the little society of which +he was a conspicuous member. Nothing appeared to interest him that lay +outside the immediate duties of a Parliamentary reporter. His sole +reading seemed to be the reports of debates, his sole pleasure listening +to Parliamentary speeches. Many amusing stories were told of him by his +colleagues. Not long before I made his acquaintance, Mr. Bright, in one +of the debates on the Liberal Reform Bill, had made his famous reference +to the Cave of Adullam which caused the anti-reformers in the Liberal +party to be nicknamed "Adullamites." Mr. Bright was interested in the +_Morning Star_, and that newspaper's report of this passage in his +speech was obviously confused and defective. The day after it was printed +the manager of the _Star_ summoned Edwards to his presence in order +to complain of this fact. "Do you think our fellows understood the +allusion to the Cave of Adullam?" he inquired of Edwards. "Of course they +did," replied the latter, hotly. "They're an ignorant lot, I know, but +there isn't one of them so ignorant as not to have read the Arabian +Nights!" + +Edwards was very kind to me. He seemed to feel a profound respect for a +man who undertook to do any work for nothing, and he did his utmost to +make my somewhat anomalous position personally agreeable. One bit of good +advice he gave me. That was that I should not let anyone know that I +received no salary. The truth is that in those days the Parliamentary +reporters were a very clannish set--almost, indeed, a close corporation. +To my youthful eyes, most of them appeared to be men who had attained an +almost incredible age. They could talk of the days in the old House of +Commons when no Reporters' Gallery existed, and the unfortunate shorthand +writers had to take their notes on their knees, at the back of the +Strangers' Gallery. In the House of Lords they had to stand in a kind of +gangway, and I have heard a venerable man tell how a certain +distinguished peeress, who had to pass along this gangway when she went +to hear the debates, used deliberately to brush against the reporters as +she did so, and knock the note-books out of their hands. It was, I +suppose, her Grace's manner of displaying her peculiar affection for the +Press. The reporters looked with suspicion upon any newcomer, and for a +time after I entered the Gallery I was viewed with unconcealed dislike by +most of my new colleagues. + +A somewhat untoward incident that happened on the first night on which I +took my seat as one of the _Star_ staff added to this feeling. +Worthy Edward Baines, sitting on the Opposition benches below me, no +sooner recognised me in the Gallery than he felt it to be his duty to +come up and have a chat with me. Accordingly he made his way to one of +the side galleries adjoining the reporters' seats, and conversed with me +for several minutes, pointing out the leading members and officials of +the House and making himself generally agreeable, as was his wont. I +little knew what offence I was unconsciously giving to my colleagues. In +those days a gulf that was regarded as impassable divided the members of +the Press from the members of the House. Occasionally the white-haired, +or rather white-wigged, Mr. Ross, the head of the _Times_ +Parliamentary corps, might be seen holding a mysterious colloquy in some +gloomy corner behind the Gallery with some politician; but the +overwhelming majority of the reporters had never exchanged a word with a +Member of Parliament in their lives, and, to do them justice, they +evidently had no desire to do so. The caste of reporters neither had, nor +wished to have, any relations with the Brahmins of the green benches +below them, and I found subsequently that if by any chance a reporter +were detected in conversation with even the most obscure Member of +Parliament he thought it necessary to give some explanation of his +conduct to his Gallery friends afterwards. It may be imagined, then, with +what feelings the veterans of the Gallery saw a newcomer, on his very +first appearance in the Gallery, talking on friendly and confidential +terms with a well-known Member of the House. Some of the old hands +positively snorted at me in their indignation, and one of the few friends +I had in the Gallery earnestly warned me that the recurrence of such an +incident would prove fatal to my career as a Parliamentary reporter. Who +would have imagined then that the relations of journalists and Members +would ever assume their present intimate character? + +The accommodation for reporters outside the Gallery was very different +then from what it is now. There were two wretched little cabins, ill-lit +and ill-ventilated, immediately behind the Gallery, which were used for +"writing out." But one of these was occupied exclusively by the +_Times_ staff, and the other was so small that it could not +accommodate a quarter of the number of reporters. One of the committee +rooms on the upper corridor--No. 18, if I remember aright--was given up +after a certain hour in the afternoon to the reporters, and here most of +the work of "writing out" was done. As for other accommodation for the +Press, it consisted only of a cellar-like apartment in the yard below, +where men used to resort to smoke, and of the ante-room to the Gallery, +where the majestic Mr. Wright presided. + +Mr. Wright was one of the characters of the Gallery. Like most of the +officials of the House in those days, he was a _protégé_ of the +Sergeant-at-Arms, Lord Charles Russell. Rumour declared that he had +originally been a boat-builder on the Thames, and had secured the favour +of Lord Charles by his services in teaching his sons to row. He certainly +looked more like a boat-builder, or the captain of a barge, than the +keeper of the vestibule to the Reporters' Gallery. He was permitted to +purvey refreshments of a modest kind to the reporters. He always had a +bottle of whisky on tap, a loaf or two of stale bread, and a most +nauseous-looking ham. I never, during my career in the Gallery, tasted +that ham. The tradition was that every night, when Mr. Wright, at the +close of his duties, retired to his modest abode in Lambeth, he took with +him the ham, wrapped in a large red bandana which he had been +flourishing, and using, during the evening, and for greater security +placed it under his bed during the night. I do not vouch for the truth of +this story, universally believed by the Gallery men of my day. + +I simply repeat that I never in the course of my life tasted one of Mr. +Wright's hams. The sole refreshment I ever consumed in his filthy den +consisted of eggs and tea. The tea I drank with unfeigned reluctance, but +the eggs, however stale, inspired me with a confidence I felt in none of +the other viands provided by the ex-boat-builder. The reporters nowadays +have a dining-room of their own, as well as reading-room, smoking-room, +and tea-room. The status of the Press is changed indeed. + +One of Mr. Wright's characteristics was his love of talking Johnsonese. I +can see him in my mind's eye now, as I emerged from the Gallery after a +heavy "turn," reclining on the wooden bench which was his favourite place +of rest. His head half covered with the famous red bandana; his boots +off, and a pair of dirty worsted stockings exposed to view, he twiddled +his thumbs, and through half-closed eyes cast a disparaging glance at the +young member of the Gallery who had not yet patronised either his whisky +or his ham; then, with a grunt, he would wake up and begin to speak. "I +hope, sir, that you are intellectual enough to appreciate the grandeur of +the debate to which you have just been privileged to listen. Sir, it +fills me with an amazement that is simply inexpressible to listen to +those two men, Gladstone and Disraeli, when they are a-conducting +themselves as they 'ave been this evening. What I want to know, sir, is, +where do they get it from? You and me could never do such a thing--no, +not a moment. In my opinion they are more than mortal." But enough of Mr. +Wright, who is dead now, though he lived to see the twentieth century +born, and to mourn over the changed times which no longer made the hungry +reporter dependent upon his famous ham. + +The first night of that autumn session of 1867 was a memorable one. Mr. +Disraeli sat on the Treasury Bench as leader of the House. Opposite to +him sat Mr. Gladstone, now the recognised leader of the Liberal party. +Mrs. Disraeli had been seriously ill; was, in fact, still ill when +Parliament met. Mr. Gladstone, who never overlooked the courtesies of +debate, in opening his attack upon the Government after the speech had +been duly moved and seconded, made touching reference to the personal +anxieties of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. Disraeli was visibly +moved. He suddenly covered his face with his hands, and one could see +that his eyes were filled with tears. Nearly thirty years later there was +a similar scene in the House, in which Mr. Gladstone was again the moving +cause. This was when, referring to a speech by Mr. Austen Chamberlain, he +spoke of it in terms that made Mr. Chamberlain himself flush with +emotion, and caused the tears to gather in the eyes of that hardened +political fighter. Strange are the links which bind the generations +together! + +It was in the late autumn of 1867 that one of the most remarkable of the +outrages committed by the Fenians in London took place. This was the +explosion at the Clerkenwell House of Detention. The object of the crime +was the rescue of two Fenians who were confined in the prison. The +authorities at Scotland Yard had got wind of the plot, and sought to put +the governor of the prison, and the magistrates who controlled it, on +their guard. The latter declared themselves quite able to look after +their prisoners, and declined the proffered assistance of the police. +Instead of keeping guard, as they should have done, round the walls of +the House of Detention, they contented themselves with keeping the +prisoners--whose names, if my memory does not fail, were Burke and +Casey--in their cells at the hour when they usually took their daily +exercise in the yard. A wheelbarrow, laden with powerful explosives, was +deliberately wheeled up to the prison wall, outside the exercise ground, +at the time when Burke and Casey were supposed to be walking there. An +orange was thrown over into the yard, this being the signal that had been +agreed upon with the captives, and the fuse attached to the barrel of +explosives was lighted. Then the conspirators quietly retired, nobody +molesting them. A terrific explosion followed. + +I had just left the reading-room of the British Museum that afternoon, +and was crossing the quadrangle, when I heard a sound which my experience +of the Oaks Pit enabled me at once to recognise as that of an explosion. +I thought that some kitchen boiler in an adjoining house must have burst; +but nothing was to be seen, and I went my way, merely making a note, with +the reporter's instinct, of the exact moment at which the explosion took +place. The next morning the London papers were full of the details of the +great crime. Several persons, including some children, had been killed +outright, and many more had been injured. A breach had been made in the +prison wall, but the Fenian prisoners, of course, had not escaped, owing +to the precautions taken by the authorities. The whole country was roused +to a violent state of indignation by this crime, which followed close +upon a similar attempt to rescue other Fenian prisoners who were being +carried in a prison van through the streets of Manchester. The Manchester +crime resulted in the death of a police sergeant named Brett, and for +that murder three men--Allen, Larkin, and Gould, who are still famous in +Irish history as "the Manchester martyrs"--were hanged. + +On the day following the Clerkenwell explosion I attended the inquest +upon some of the victims, and, curiously enough, I was the only person +who could inform the coroner of the exact hour at which the outrage was +committed. The police were soon in hot pursuit of the culprits. Five men +were arrested, and after a tedious investigation at Bow Street were +committed for trial at the Old Bailey. If I remember aright, they were +Irishmen hailing from Glasgow. I made my first acquaintance with Bow +Street Police Court at the examination of these men. It was the old +police court--a dismal, stuffy, ill-ventilated room--where justice had +been administered for several generations. I have a lively recollection +of the fact that whilst I was reporting the proceedings I suddenly +fainted, for the first time in my life; and I still remember gratefully +the kindness of the police, who removed me from the court room into the +fresh air, and tended me with the utmost care until I had recovered. This +sympathy with illness is one of the best characteristics of our London +police. + +The trial at the Old Bailey resulted in the acquittal of all the +prisoners except one, a man named Barrett. He was convicted, and +sentenced to death. Great interest in his case was felt in Glasgow, and I +was asked by one of the Glasgow newspapers to telegraph to it a full +account of the execution. It was in one respect to be a remarkable +occasion, for an Act had just received the assent of Parliament putting +an end to public executions, and Barrett's was to be the last event of +the kind. I and an old newspaper friend named Donald, who was also +commissioned to describe the scene, agreed to stay up all night in order +that we might witness the gruesome preliminaries of a hanging at the Old +Bailey. We were on duty in the Reporters' Gallery up to a late hour of +the night, and I remember that Mr. Bright, rising from his seat below the +gangway, made an appeal to the Home Secretary to spare the condemned +man's life. It was very unusual for such an appeal to be made in that +fashion, and it was still more unusual to make it within a few hours of +the time fixed for the execution. The Home Secretary was, of course, +unable to comply with Mr. Bright's prayer, but this scene in the House of +Commons was undoubtedly a solemn one, more solemn and impressive than the +tragedy to which it was the prelude. Donald and I, when the House at last +rose, sauntered slowly through the streets, taking note of that night +side of London, which was novel to both of us. In the early hours of the +morning we found ourselves at Covent Garden, where we watched the +unloading of the vegetable carts and the unpacking of the great hampers +filled with sweet spring flowers. Before six o'clock we had reached the +Old Bailey, where already a large crowd was gathering. + +Rumours of an attempted rescue, even on the scaffold, had been freely +circulated. Calcraft, the executioner, had received a number of +threatening letters, which had frightened him greatly. The police, +knowing what the Fenians had already attempted in the way of rescuing +their friends, were very much on the alert, and more than a hundred +officers, in private clothes and armed with revolvers, had been placed +outside the barriers amongst the crowd. At six o'clock the great gates +leading to the yard of the Old Bailey courthouse were thrown open, and +with a heavy, rumbling sound the grim old scaffold which had figured in +so many scenes of horror was for the last time drawn forth from its +resting-place and wheeled to its position in front of the small, +iron-barred door, which, as late as 1900, was still seen in the middle of +the blank wall of Newgate Prison. The noise of the workmen's hammers as +they made the scaffold fast was almost drowned by the roar of the quickly +gathering crowd. All the scoundreldom of London seemed to have assembled +for the occasion. It was the last Old Bailey execution crowd. The windows +of the public-house opposite the scaffold had been thrown open, and at +every window men and women were crowded together, eagerly waiting for the +grim approaching spectacle. It was not an edifying sight, this execution +crowd. + +There was one strange incident connected with it that has never been put +on record. Shortly after the scaffold had been placed in position I saw +four men, whose faces were familiar to me, trying to force their way +through the crowd, and I was greatly startled when I recognised them as +the four men who had been tried at the same time as Barrett, but who had +been acquitted by the jury. Not knowing what sinister purpose they might +have in view, I felt it my duty at once to warn the chief inspector of +police of their presence. He was greatly disturbed, and quickly pushed +his way through the crowd towards the place I had indicated to him. I +followed close at his heels until we reached the front of the scaffold. +As we did so he quickly put his hand upon my shoulder to stop me, and at +the same time uncovered his head. It was a strange sight that we saw in +the middle of that obscene and blasphemous mob. The four men, who had so +narrowly escaped the fate of Barrett, were kneeling, bare-headed, on the +stones of the Old Bailey in front of the scaffold on which their friend +was about to die, praying silently but earnestly. For several minutes +they continued to kneel and pray, and then, suddenly rising, they +hurriedly left the crowd and disappeared. "Did you ever see anything like +that?" said the inspector to me; and I do not know which of us was the +more moved by this strange incident. + +Of the execution itself I have only one thing to say: that is, that +Barrett died in a very different fashion from any other murderer whom I +had seen hanged. He faced death, in fact, like a hero, with undaunted +mien, and a smile upon his pallid lips. I observed that his trousers were +all frayed and worn at the knees, and remarked upon the fact to one of +the warders who was standing beside me. "Yes," he replied, "he has been +on his knees, praying, ever since he was sentenced." I came away from the +spot rejoicing in the thought that I should never again be called upon to +witness that abominable thing a public execution. + +It was in 1868 that I gained my first experience of London club-life. +This was when I became a member of the Arundel Club. The club is still, I +believe, in existence, and has a home somewhere in the Adelphi. In 1868 +it occupied a house at the bottom of a street, running from the Strand to +the river, which was swept away when the Hotel Cecil was built. This +house had once been the residence of John Black, the well-known editor of +the _Morning Chronicle_, a journalist who used to boast that his +readers would follow him wherever he liked to lead them. The members of +the club were, for the most part, journalists, actors, and artists. It +was a delight to me to find admittance to the society I had hitherto +regarded with wistful eyes from afar. I could feel at last that I had got +a foothold, however humble, in the literary life of London. The man who +introduced me to the club was my old friend James Macdonell. We had +become intimate at Newcastle, in the days when he was editing the +_Northern Daily Express_. His brilliant writing had attracted the +attention of the proprietors of the _Daily Telegraph_, and they had +brought him to London to act as assistant editor of that paper. + +Macdonell was a typical journalist, of very fine character. He was an +enthusiast, more than commonly perfervid, even for a Scot. Whatever he +believed, he believed with all his heart and soul. He was always in +earnest, and always striving to give effect to his opinions. His leaders +were really polished essays, of remarkable point and brilliancy. His +conversation was as striking and epigrammatic as his writing. He was +inspired by generous impulses, and his soul was clean. One of his +colleagues on the _Telegraph_ declared that Macdonell evidently +believed that his chief business in life was to frame syllogisms and +apply them. He had a good deal of the temperament of the French man of +letters, and to the enthusiasm of the Gaul he added a fine taste for +style. In those early days in London he was full of the possibilities +that lay before the penny Press, and predicted that the day was not far +distant when the _Daily Telegraph_ would supersede the _Times_ +as the chief organ of English opinion. He greatly admired the shrewdness +of the proprietors of the paper, who, having no knowledge of literary +quality themselves, had yet an unerring instinct for what was good in +journalism. He delighted in one story which I have heard him relate more +than once. He had been telling Alexander Russel, of the _Scotsman_, +of the shrewd manner in which Mr. Levy, the principal owner of the +_Telegraph_, had been criticising an article of which he did not +quite approve. The writer had pleaded that the reasoning of the article +was perfectly sound. "We don't want sound reason; we want sound writing," +was Mr. Levy's response. When Macdonell repeated this to Russel, the +great Edinburgh editor slapped his thigh, and cried, with an oath, "The +Lord knew what He was about when He chose that people for His own!" + +It was not to be Macdonell's fate to convert the _Telegraph_ into a +second _Times_. On the contrary, after a few years in Fleet Street, +he himself went to Printing House Square, where he became, in the closing +days of Delane's editorship of the _Times_, the principal political +leader writer. He made a great mark in that capacity, and drew the +_Times_ a good deal further in the direction of advanced Liberalism +than it has ever been drawn before or since. He was a strong hater of Mr. +Disraeli's Imperial policy, and for a time the leading journal lent no +countenance to that line of action. But the curb was put upon the +enthusiastic leader writer, with his strong humanitarian views, and he +had to see the paper with which he was identified taking a course of +which he could not approve. To a man who threw his whole heart into his +work, nothing could be more galling than this. Poor Macdonell fairly wore +himself out with his ceaseless expenditure of nervous and intellectual +force, and he died suddenly and prematurely in 1878. His death was, I +think, the greatest blow to English journalism that it has received in my +time. In 1868, however, Macdonell was still in the heyday of his physical +and mental powers. We used to meet at the Arundel Club in the society +that I have described. Sala, Tom Robertson, Swinburne, and others hardly +less eminent, formed the company; and to these Macdonell, when he was +moved to talk--as he frequently was--would pour out the epigrams in which +he delighted. I can recall some of them that were very brilliant, but +they are too personal to be repeated here. + +Another friend of those days never attained to anything like fame. He +died, as he had lived, a simple working journalist, and he is now +remembered only by a handful of personal friends. Yet even now, more than +twenty years after his death, I feel that Robert Donald was in many ways +one of the most gifted men I have ever known. He had come from Edinburgh +to fill a place in the Reporters' Gallery, and he added to his work as +reporter that of London correspondent of the _Glasgow Herald_. With +the rest of his intimate friends, I had an almost unbounded admiration +for his gifts, and an unqualified belief in his future. We knew from +constant and intimate intercourse the wealth of intellect and of feeling +that he possessed, and we were convinced that when he revealed these +riches to the world he would impress others as much as he had impressed +us. + +He had been engaged for years in writing a novel--a novel that, we were +convinced, would be a notable addition to the great treasury of English +literature. He was very reticent on the subject of this _magnum +opus_, but at last he consented to submit the manuscript to me and to +another friend with whom he was equally intimate, Mr. Charles Russell. I +can recall the thrill of expectancy and delight with which I first turned +to the voluminous pages of Donald's book. I can remember how I read on +far into the night, revelling in the freshness and vigour of the style, +in the brilliancy of the dialogue which abounded throughout the story, +and in the insight into character and the grasp of human motives that +were everywhere revealed. After I had read a hundred pages I was +convinced that all our anticipations as to Donald's future fell short of +the mark. But I read on and on, and slowly, yet certainly, a deadly sense +of disappointment crept into my heart. It was not that there was any +falling-off in the quality of the work. Every page was as fresh and as +strong as those which preceded it. But when I had read a thousand +pages--large pages, closely written--and had come to the end of that part +of the work that he had finished, I made the appalling discovery that the +story he had to tell had not advanced a single step beyond the point he +had reached in the first chapter. Apparently it would require thousands +of pages more to complete the tale, and the work was already as long as +"Middlemarch" itself. + +Donald had the faculty of writing admirably--far better, I still think, +than any but the greatest of his contemporaries; but he lacked the chief +essential of a novelist, the power of making his story march. Russell, +when he read the manuscript, compared it to an immense torso, heroic in +its proportions, splendid in its workmanship, but nothing more than a +fragment after all. "And yet what a quarry it is!" he said to me when we +were discussing it. "If only some inferior writer were allowed to dig +into it, and transfer its gold and marble to his own pages!" My poor +friend's personal story was a real tragedy. He accepted the advice we +gave him, and, laying aside the huge unfinished manuscript, began to +write what he meant to be a short and simple story. He submitted the +opening chapters to the editor of the _Glasgow Weekly Herald_. That +gentleman was delighted with it, and at once accepted the novel for +publication in his journal. The first few weekly instalments were read +with the keenest pleasure by everybody, and the hope ran high that we had +found a new writer who was destined to take his place in the first rank +of English authorship. But by-and-by the readers of the _Herald_ +made the discovery that had been made by myself when I read Donald's +unfinished manuscript. Each chapter of the tale was brilliant in itself, +but no single chapter advanced the movement of the story by a hair's +breadth. + +For weeks and months the novel ran its course, until the murmurs of +discontent on the part of the readers swelled into a positive roar. Mr. +Stoddart, the editor, who was a warm friend of Donald's, again and again +implored him to expedite the development of the plot, and again and again +he undertook to do so. But it was beyond his power to fulfil his promise. +Then, one day, a terrible thing happened. I was lunching with Donald in a +club in St. James's Street, one of the proprietors of the _Herald_ +(now dead) being also his guest. This gentleman suddenly turned to +Donald, and speaking not with intentional brutality, but simply in the +frankness of unrestrained good-fellowship, asked him "when that d----d +long-winded story of his was going to stop?" adding that it must be got +out of the way in a week or two, as they wanted to begin the publication +of another. I saw how my poor friend turned pale at the cruel thrust. He +faltered out a promise that he would finish the tale at once, but I felt +that his heart was broken. He went home and bravely did his best to keep +his promise, but he only found once more that the task was beyond his +strength; and the unfortunate editor was reluctantly compelled to call in +an outsider to put an end in a summary fashion to a story which had +escaped completely from the grasp of its author. Donald never recovered +from the blow. His own ambition was crushed and mortified, and the ardent +hopes of his friends were all destroyed. He did not long survive this +tragical experience. And yet what a man he was! And what capacities he +possessed, capacities which would have enabled him to delight the world, +if only he had not lacked the poor faculty of the storyteller! + +These were two of my great friends during my first residence in London, +and they were friends of whom any man might have been proud. Others I +held scarcely less dear, but they are still, happily, living, and I must +refrain from dwelling upon them. I had not been long settled in London +before I found work of different kinds accumulating on my hands. I wrote +London letters every week for the _Madras Times_, under the +editorship of an old friend, James Sutherland, and I contributed to +various provincial papers. But that which chiefly attracted me was +literary work for the magazines, and it was in connection with this work +that I first became acquainted with one of the dearest and most honoured +of the friends of my life, James Payn. I had been for some years an +occasional contributor to _Chambers's Journal_, and had received +more than one encouraging note written in a hand that it was difficult to +decipher, and simply signed, "Editor, _C.J._" At last it occurred to +me that a series of descriptive articles relating to the places and +scenes with which I had become familiar as a Parliamentary reporter might +be accepted by the editor. With much trepidation--for I was still a +neophyte in London literary life--I addressed a personal note to Mr. +Payn, asking for an interview. I got a cordial reply, inviting me to call +upon him at the office of Messrs. Chambers in Paternoster Row. Though I +entered his presence with fear and trembling, in two minutes I was at my +ease, and talking freely to the kindest and most generous man that ever +wielded the editorial pen. Neither of us then knew how dear we were to +become to each other, and how close and affectionate was to be our +intercourse during more than twenty years. + +To Payn I was, of course, merely a very humble contributor to the journal +he edited; but I was received in a most friendly and cordial fashion, and +found, much to my delight and not a little to my astonishment, that the +brilliant man of letters before me was eager to recognise the bond which +a common calling created between us. There was no air of patronage in his +treatment of my modest proposals. He did what he could to make me feel +that we stood on an equality. This was Payn all over. Throughout his life +he was one of those men of letters who, whilst never sinking into the +boon companionship of Bohemia, show their respect for the calling they +have adopted by treating all the other members of that calling with an +unaffected respect and cordiality. Such men are the salt of our order. +Payn's generosity to young and unknown writers has been attested by many +men who in later life attained eminence, to whom he gave the first +helping hand in their long struggle against fate. When, in later days, I +read these tributes to the splendid and unselfish service which Payn had +rendered to English literature, I always recalled him as I saw him in the +dingy office in Paternoster Row on that day in 1868, when he first gave +me the right hand of fellowship. I shall have much to say of him +hereafter. At this point I need only record the fact that I became a +frequent contributor to _Chambers's Journal_, writing for it a +series of articles, descriptive of the work of the journalist, that were +afterwards republished in a volume called "Briefs and Papers." In this +little book I collaborated with my old friend and schoolfellow, Mr. W. H. +Cooke, who was the author of the chapters describing the experiences of a +young barrister. + +By-and-by, as I extended my connection with magazine work, I was brought +into contact with Mrs. Riddell, the gifted writer of that admirable novel +"George Geith," and of other stories of equal merit. Mrs. Riddell was the +editor and proprietor of the _St. James's Magazine_, and I became a +regular contributor to its pages. Here I was brought into intimate +association with a phase of literary life which belongs rather to the +past than to the present. Mrs. Riddell had achieved sudden fame by her +brilliant stories. In these days such fame would have meant for her a +handsome income and a recognised position in society. But forty years ago +fame as a writer was not necessarily rewarded in this way. My first +interview with Mrs. Riddell, who was a lady of delightful manners and +charming appearance, took place literally in a cellar beneath a shop in +Cheapside. The shop was her husband's, and here certain patent stoves, of +which he was the inventor and manufacturer, were exposed for sale. I had +been greatly surprised when Mrs. Riddell, wishing to speak to me about +certain contributions to the _St. James's Magazine_, had asked me to +call, not at the office in Essex Street, but at this shop in Cheapside. I +was still more surprised on finding this gifted woman, in whose brilliant +pages I had found so much to delight me, acting as her husband's clerk, +and engaged in making out invoices in the cellar beneath the shop. + +I am afraid that, in spite of her husband's occupation, I cannot give +Mrs. Riddell a testimonial as a business woman. She was, as I have said, +delightful as a writer, and charming as a woman, but her editorship of +the _St. James's Magazine_ did not suggest that she had the aptitude +necessary to success in business. She was very kind to me, and gave me +the opportunity of writing on any subject, and at almost any length, in +the pages she controlled. More than once I have had three long articles +in one number of the magazine; but I was always harassed by the fact that +the magazine was never "out" on the proper day, and that the editor was +always in a hurry for the copy I had to supply. My chief contributions to +the _St. James's_ were a series of sketches of statesmen, +subsequently republished in a volume, entitled "Cabinet Portraits," +another series of sketches of London preachers, and a novel called "The +Lumley Entail." + +This novel was my first venture in fiction, and one curious incident, at +least, was connected with it. I had submitted to Mrs. Riddell nothing +more than the first two or three chapters, and a synopsis of the plot, +when I offered it to her. With a courage that was undoubtedly rash, she +accepted the story forthwith, and decided to begin its publication at +once. I was very busy with my newspaper work at the time, and in +consequence could only write my monthly instalment in bare time for its +inclusion in the coming number of the magazine. One awful day, when the +_St. James's_ for the current month was already overdue, I received +a telegram from the publisher bidding me send in my instalment +immediately, as they were waiting for it in order to go to press. I +rushed to the office in a state of consternation, and explained to the +man that I had duly sent in my manuscript more than a week before. "I +know that," he said quite coolly; "I got it myself, and gave it to Mrs. +Riddell; but unfortunately she has lost it, so you will have to write it +over again." Here was a pretty dilemma for a budding novelist! I did not +take "The Lumley Entail" so seriously as I should have done, and I had a +very vague recollection of the contents of the lost instalment; but there +was no help for it. I had to sit down there and then in the office in +Essex Street, and write another instalment of equal length. It was +altogether different from that which it was meant to replace, and I have +no doubt that it changed materially the fortunes of the more or less +human beings who figured in my tale. Such, however, was the fate of a +young contributor in the hands of an unbusinesslike editor. + +But, as I have said, Mrs. Riddell, apart from her imperfect observance of +editorial customs, was a delightful woman. She and her husband lived in a +rambling old house in the Green Lanes, Tottenham. Here she entertained +many of the notable men of letters of her time, and here I had the +pleasure of making the acquaintance of not a few of them. The +establishment was a somewhat primitive one. The workshop in which Mr. +Riddell carried on the manufacture of his patent stoves was at the back +of the house, and a rather large central hall, dividing the dining-room +and the drawing-room, was used as a kind of show-room in which choice +specimens of Mr. Riddell's wares were displayed. The special feature of +these patent stoves was that they were ornamental as well as useful. They +were made to look like anything but what they were. One stove appeared in +the guise of a table, richly ornamented in cast-iron; another was a vase; +a third a structure like an altar, and so forth. But whatever their +appearance might be, they all were stoves. One winter's night, when there +was an inch of snow on the ground, I went out to the Green Lanes to +attend one of Mrs. Riddell's literary parties. It was bitterly cold, and +one of the stoves in the hall had been lighted for the comfort of the +guests. We were a merry company, including, if I remember aright, George +Augustus Sala, and some other well-known journalists. In the course of +the evening Mrs. Riddell asked a well-known barrister, who at that time +dabbled a little in literature, and who has since risen to fame and to a +knighthood, to favour us with a song. He was an innocent young man in +those days, and tried to excuse himself. "Now, Mr. C----," said Mrs. +Riddell, "I know you have brought some music with you, so you must get it +and do as I wish." The young man admitted that he had brought music, and +blushingly retired to the hall in quest of it. Suddenly, those of us who +were standing near the door heard a groan of anguish, and, looking out, +we saw Mr. C---- holding in one hand the charred remains of a roll of +music, and in the other the remnants of what had once been an excellent +overcoat. He had laid his coat, when he arrived, on what was apparently a +hall table. Unluckily for him, it happened to be the patent stove that +had been lighted that evening to cheer and warm us when we escaped from +the storm outside. I draw a veil over the subsequent proceedings. + +I believe it was on this very evening that I heard Sala utter one of +those jocosely brutal sentences for which he was celebrated. The literary +men who frequented Mrs. Riddell's house were not, I am sorry to say, so +respectful to her husband as they might have been. They made it very +clear, in fact, that it was the novelist and not the inventor of stoves +whom they came to see, and they were impatient when the latter attempted +to intrude his views upon them. A party of us were gathered in the +dining-room, smoking and otherwise refreshing ourselves. We had been +listening to story after story from some of the best talkers in the +Bohemia of those days, and again and again the attempts of Mr. Riddell to +contribute to our entertainment by some long-winded narration had been +vigorously and successfully repulsed. At last the unhappy host found an +opening, and had got so far as "What you were saying reminds me of an +interesting anecdote I once heard," when Sala, striking his fist upon the +table, thundered a stentorian "Stop, sir!" Mr. Riddell looked at him, +half frightened, half indignant. "If the story you propose to tell us," +continued Sala, "is an improper one, I wish to tell you that we have +heard it already; and if it is not improper, we don't want to hear it at +all." Yes, clearly one had wandered into Bohemia in those days. + +My work in the Gallery of the House of Commons was of great interest. I +watched Disraeli during his first brief premiership in 1868, when he had +to hold the reins of authority in a House in which his party was really +in a minority, and when he had nightly to confront the fierce attacks of +Mr. Gladstone, who was rallying his own followers, both in the House and +in the country, for their successful onslaught upon the Government. It +was a unique and most valuable experience to watch these two great men in +their gladiatorial combats across the table of the House: Gladstone +wielding the mighty broadsword of his powerful eloquence, and seeming as +if at every moment he would annihilate his antagonist; Disraeli, with +marvellous skill and exquisite adroitness, bringing the rapier of his wit +to bear upon his opponent, and again and again pinking him with some +stinging epigram or smart retort that set all the Tory benches roaring +with delight. It made one's young blood grow warmer to watch the struggle +from the impartial height of the Reporters' Gallery. + +I was in the House on that memorable occasion when Disraeli made a speech +which astounded his followers so much that they were only able to account +for it by the hypothesis that he had taken too much to drink. This is a +harsh way of stating the case, but there is no doubt a measure of truth +in it. Disraeli was not a self-indulgent man, but in those days his +devotion to his duties in the House was so great that he would sometimes +sit all the evening listening to a debate without taking any food, and in +his dinnerless condition the stimulant he took before making his speech +in reply occasionally got into his head. Certainly, in the memorable +speech on the Irish Church question, to which I allude, he was betrayed +into excesses for which some justification was necessary. I remember +seeing him, at the close of that speech, draw his handkerchief from his +pocket and wave it round his head, before he sank back exhausted on the +Treasury bench; and I can still see the pale and angry face of Mr. +Gladstone as he sprang to his feet to reply, and hear the stern tones in +which he referred to "the excitement--the too obvious excitement--of the +right honourable gentleman." + +Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff has recently furnished the world with many +volumes of personal reminiscences. He does not include among those +reminiscences any reference to a scene which I witnessed in the House of +Commons during Disraeli's first brief premiership, although Sir +Mountstuart was himself the hero of the occasion. It was one Wednesday +afternoon. There was an empty House and a dull debate, but Disraeli was +in his place on the Treasury Bench, so that anything might happen. It +pleased the Mr. Grant Duff of those days to deliver himself of a +philippic, at once voluminous and violent, against the Prime Minister. He +quoted the opinions of foreign critics to the disadvantage of Mr. +Disraeli; he emphasised them by fine flights of his own imagination; and +he illustrated his speech with a wealth of gesticulation and a variety of +intonation that convulsed his scanty audience with laughter. People +wondered mildly what punishment was in store for the audacious man who +was thus breaking one of the unwritten canons of the House, for in those +days it was regarded as bad form on the part of a man not himself in the +front rank to attack one in the position of Mr. Disraeli. As the speech +proceeded, the Prime Minister sat in his favourite attitude, his arms +folded, his head slightly bent forward, and his vacant eyes fixed upon +the points of his boots. He might have been carved in stone for any trace +of emotion that he displayed. We in the Gallery anticipated that this air +of absolute indifference was to be the punishment of his rash assailant. +But to our surprise, when Grant Duff sat down, Disraeli instantly sprang +to his feet. As he did so, he raised his single glass to his eye, and +looked fixedly across the House to the spot where the member for Elgin +was slowly composing himself after his mighty effort. For some seconds +Disraeli, with an air of cold, cynical aloofness, continued to gaze at +the unfortunate man. Then, with a favourite action, he suddenly dropped +the glass from his eye, and, waving his hand with an airy gesture of +contempt, said, "I shall not detain the House, sir, by referring to +the--the _exhibition_ we have just witnessed; but I merely wish to +say in reply to an honourable member below the gangway," and so on. This +was, I think, the most cruel speech I ever heard Disraeli make, and for +the moment it seemed to have a crushing effect upon its subject. + +In those days Disraeli was not the Tory idol he subsequently became. I +well remember, on the historic evening when Mr. Gathorne Hardy moved the +adjournment of the House because of the absence of Mr. Disraeli at +Windsor, and the news instantly spread that Lord Derby had resigned and +Mr. Disraeli had become Prime Minister in his place, that there was a +hubbub--not merely of excitement, but of disapproval--in the Lobby. Tory +members of the old school were furious at having "that Jew," as they +contemptuously styled him, set over them. I walked from the House that +evening with Sir Edward Baines and Mr.--afterwards Sir Charles--Forster. +They were both full of the dislike felt on the Tory side for the change +in the leadership of their party. It is strange to note how quickly the +views of a party change with regard to its leaders. I remember the time +when the idea that Mr. Gladstone would ever be Prime Minister was treated +with ridicule by not a few of those who sat beside him in Parliament. I +have myself heard Mr. Disraeli assailed in scornful and sarcastic terms +by Lord Salisbury, and have listened to his sneering retort. Even after +Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1868 it is notorious that the Duke of +Buccleuch refused to entertain him as his guest when he visited Scotland +to rally the party before the General Election of that year. It was on +the occasion of this visit that he gave such offence to the graver +section of the Tories by the speech in which, explaining the genesis of +the Household Suffrage Act, he used the words, "I educated my party." A +few years later the whole party was proud of having been educated by him; +but when he made this speech his words were regarded as an insolent +display of vanity on the part of an upstart who had elbowed his way to +the front at the expense of better men. + +My only personal encounter with the great Tory leader was connected with +this same speech at Edinburgh. I went to Aylesbury, during the course of +the 1868 election, in order to report a speech of his. He spoke in the +Corn Exchange, which was crowded to excess. The accommodation for the +reporters was quite unequal to their demands, and I had to stand among +the crowd and take my notes as best I could. A good-natured farmer in +front of me invited me to use his back as a desk, against which I placed +my note-book. Disraeli had not proceeded very far with his speech before +I found that my friend was not by any means in agreement with the +illustrious speaker. Again and again he interrupted him with exclamations +and questions. For a long time Disraeli took no notice of these +interruptions, but at last one stung him into action. The orator had +paused for a moment, and my farmer friend, seizing his chance, bawled out +in a stentorian voice, "What about educating your party?" The Prime +Minister instantly turned round, raised his glass to his eye, and with an +angry and contemptuous glare, transfixed--me! The farmer's courage had +given way when he found that his shot had told, and, to my unutterable +disgust, he dropped upon his knees, and left me to face the music. +Disraeli looked at me for a perceptible space of time, and then, dropping +his glass, said, in those chilling tones of which he was a master, "I +shall certainly not try to educate _you_, sir." Everybody stared at +me; everybody groaned at me; and it was only the consciousness of my own +innocence that kept me from dropping on my knees beside the treacherous +author of my humiliation. + +In that election of 1868 I recorded my first parliamentary vote. Living +at 24, Addison Road North, I was an elector of Chelsea, and I duly +supported at the polling booth the joint candidature of Sir Charles Dilke +and Sir Henry Hoare. This was the last General Election before the +passing of the Ballot Bill. Representatives of the different candidates +sat on either side of the poll clerk, and duly thanked each elector as he +recorded his vote for the man whom they represented. + +I wrote an article in the _St. James's Magazine_ describing the +opening day of the session of the new Household Suffrage Parliament. It +was called "The Birthday of an Era," and, looking back, I think I was +fully entitled to make use of that somewhat high-sounding phrase. It was +the beginning of the Gladstonian epoch in English history, and, for good +or for evil (in my own opinion mainly for good), it was destined to make +a deep impression on the institutions and fortunes of the nation. When +Mr. Gladstone entered upon his first term of office as Prime Minister, he +was certainly surrounded by a wonderful band of colleagues. They included +Lord Granville, Lord Hartington, Lord Kimberley, Mr. Lowe, Mr. Bright, +Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Childers, Mr. Bruce, and Mr. Forster. In my time no +stronger ministry than this has had power in England. The men I admired +most after Mr. Gladstone were Mr. Bright and Mr. Forster. I had not yet +made the personal acquaintance of Forster, and did not dream of the close +ties by which we were eventually to be united; but I was drawn to him +from the very first by an instinctive feeling of liking and esteem. His +blunt speech, his careless dress, his unpolished but genuine manners, all +seemed to me to mark him out as that rare creature a thoroughly honest +politician; and whilst I sat in the Reporters' Gallery, there was no one +after Mr. Gladstone whose speeches delighted me more than did those of +Forster. + +Before the Ministry had been long in office I was brought into contact +with one of its members, Mr. W.E. Baxter, the Secretary to the Admiralty. +Mr. Baxter was a great reformer and a financial purist. When he went to +the Admiralty he found extravagance and confusion, not to speak of +corruption, pervading all the departments connected with the provision of +_matériel_ for the Fleet. He set to work at once, with the vigour of +the new broom, to cleanse the Augean stable. Naturally he excited the +bitter hostility of those whose personal interests were affected by his +action, and these, being in many cases persons of influence, were able to +inspire attacks upon his policy in the leading organs of the daily press +in London. I, in my small way, as London correspondent of the _Leeds +Mercury_, had defended him against some of these attacks. Baxter +noticed my defence, and sought me out in order to thank me for it. He did +more than this. He proposed that I should hear from him from time to time +how he was advancing in his work of reorganisation and reform, and should +make the facts known to the public through the columns of the +_Mercury_. This was great promotion for me. In those days the +provincial press had no direct connection with Ministers or the leaders +of parties; and the "London correspondent" was not in a position to +supply his readers with news at first hand, or with any news, indeed, +that was at once original and authentic. Through Mr. Baxter I suddenly +found myself placed in a position that enabled me to provide the _Leeds +Mercury_ with political and administrative news that was not only of +the highest importance, but that had not appeared anywhere else. For Mr. +Baxter was better than his word. When I went, as I did several times a +week, to see him at the Admiralty, he not only told me all that was going +on in his own department, but all that could be published with regard to +the proceedings of the Government as a whole. I think I am correct in +saying that I was at that time the only correspondent of a provincial +newspaper who was favoured in this way, and my letter to the +_Mercury_ began to be read and quoted in many different quarters. +Certainly my position was made both easier and more important by this +friendship with Mr. Baxter. + +During the whole of 1869 I attended the debates in Parliament, and +watched with eager sympathy the progress of the Government in the heavy +task that it had set itself. The passing of the Bill for disestablishing +the Irish Church was the chief business of that memorable session. The +speaking on both sides was at the highest level. In the House of Commons, +Gladstone, Disraeli, Bright, Lowe, and Gathorne Hardy distinguished +themselves above all others. But the palm for oratory, as has so often +been the case, was borne off by the House of Lords. That House presented +a brilliant spectacle during the debates on the second reading of the +Bill which the majority of the peers detested so heartily. The speaking +against the measure was far more effective than that in its favour. +Indeed, at this distance of time I can only recall one speech by a +supporter of the Bill which impressed itself so strongly upon me as to +remain fresh in my memory after the lapse of more than thirty years. That +was the speech of Dr. Connop Thirlwall, Bishop of St. David's, who was +courageous enough to stand against his brethren, and to prefer the claims +of justice to those of the Establishment in which he was a leading +figure. On the other hand, two at least of the speeches delivered against +the Bill are still vividly present to my mind. The first was the speech +of Dr. Magee, Bishop of Peterborough, an extraordinary display of florid +and flowing eloquence. It moved the House so greatly that when he sat +down the Tory peers rose, almost in a body, and rushing across the floor, +offered him their personal congratulations and handshakes in recognition +of his success. Such a scene, common enough in foreign Chambers, was +almost without precedent in our cold and stately House of Lords. The +other memorable speech was that of Lord Derby, "the Rupert of debate." +Though I had no sympathy with his views, I could not but admire the +almost passionate fervour with which he pleaded for the Irish Church, and +the indignation with which he denounced those who were bent upon +despoiling it. I remember his quoting with dramatic effect the curse +uttered by Meg Merrilees upon Ellan-gowan--a curse which he intended, of +course, to apply to Mr. Gladstone. It was the last speech that Lord Derby +ever made. When the announcement of the final surrender of the Peers, +after the Bill had passed through Committee, was made by Lord Cairns, I +saw Lord Derby rise from his seat and, with a face inflamed with +indignation, hobble swiftly out of the Chamber. He never entered it +again. + +This incident belongs to the tragedy of politics; but the debates on the +Irish Church Bill in the House of Lords were not without their touches of +comedy. One of these was supplied by Lord Westbury, the ex-Liberal Lord +Chancellor. He made a very amusing, a very bitter, and an almost wholly +inaudible speech against the Bill. The older peers, with their hands +behind their ears, clustered round him to catch his witticisms, some even +kneeling on the floor in order to be near enough to hear him. They +chuckled and laughed consumedly, but we unfortunate reporters in the +Gallery had but the faintest idea of what it was they were laughing at. +One sentence I did indeed catch, and still remember. It was to the effect +that if the Irish Church were disestablished there would be no provision +for the celebration of holy matrimony in Ireland in accordance with +Protestant rites. "Was it possible," Lord Westbury asked, with simulated +indignation, "that the authors of this iniquitous measure really meant to +drive all the unmarried Protestants of Ireland into mortal sin?" The old +peers around him enjoyed this effort of the imagination mightily. + +The other comic incident I remember was of a different kind. The +Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Trench, on behalf of his fellow-prelates, made +a long speech against the Bill. Dr. Trench was a man of very high +character and fine talent, but he was not at home in the House of Lords, +or, indeed, in a political speech. When he advanced to the table of the +House, he caused a slight titter by producing an unmistakable black +sermon case, and spreading it open before him. By-and-by, as he proceeded +with his sonorous but somewhat melancholy discourse, everybody perceived +that he was preaching a sermon. The intonation of his voice, the +phraseology, the measured sweep of the hands, all smacked of the pulpit. +The whole House listened eagerly, and watched intently for the accident +that was certain to happen. At last it came. "I beseech you, my +brethren," said the Archbishop, in a moment of apostolic absence of mind, +and the whole House exploded in a roar of long-suppressed laughter, which +made it impossible to learn the nature of the Primate's appeal. + +For any man of intelligence the position of a parliamentary reporter is +one of great interest and full of great possibilities. In my days in the +Gallery there was, as I have already stated, little communication between +the Gallery and the House proper. The art of exploiting the Press had not +yet become familiar to the politicians, and a great gulf seemed to be +fixed between the reporters and the members. Since then, that gulf has +almost disappeared, and not a few men have stepped down from the +Reporters' Gallery to the floor of the House. But our very aloofness from +the inner side of parliamentary life, with its personal interests and its +incessant intrigues, strengthened our position as independent critics and +observers. We looked on as at a play in which we ourselves had no part, +and those who possessed the instinct for politics which is the gift of +the born journalist were able to see more and learn more from our +independent standpoint than many of the actual actors saw and learned. +Some of the most capable of our political writers and critics were +trained in the Gallery. One of my most intimate friends in those days was +Mr. Mudford, who subsequently became known to fame as the editor of the +_Standard_, and who built up that journal's great reputation. Of +Mudford's capacity as an editor it is hardly necessary to speak here, but +I may note in passing that even in his early days in the Gallery he +displayed the marked characteristics which distinguished him when he was +at once the ablest and the least known of London editors. His +independence of character was even then combined with a strong +indisposition to make many acquaintances, or to cut any figure in public. +It was my privilege to be counted thus early in his career among his +friends, and I am glad to say that it is a privilege which I still enjoy. + +My stay in London was brought to an end in the early part of 1870, amid +circumstances that changed the whole tenor of my life, and for a time +left me a crippled and wounded man. I have said nothing in these pages of +my private life or my domestic happiness. My marriage had proved to be, +in all respects save one, everything that the heart of man could desire. +The one drawback was my wife's delicate health; but she had shown such +marvellous recuperative powers at times when the doctors had spoken in +the gravest manner of her case, and she possessed so unfailing a flow of +natural good spirits, that it was impossible for one who, perhaps, saw +only that which he desired to see, to believe that her case was hopeless. +Yet hopeless it really was during the whole of the two short years of her +married life. Her death--it took place on the 4th of February--was a blow +that seemed to shatter my own life to its very foundations. I cannot +dwell upon it, unless it be to say that at that time of unspeakable +sorrow I first learned the value of human sympathy, and made the +discovery that there are, happily, in this world not a few men and women +who seem to have the gift of being able, not indeed to remove, but to +share and to lighten the burdens of their fellow-creatures. It is only +those who have gone through such an ordeal as this of mine who can fully +understand all that human sympathy may be in that hour of darkest woe +when a man, still standing on the threshold of life, finds himself alone +in a world which to him has suddenly become an empty desert. + +One incident, and one only, of those days I will venture to recall. I was +walking along the Strand in the blackest hours of my misery, when I saw +an old man approaching me whose depth of mourning showed that he had +sustained the same bereavement as myself. There was probably a difference +of fifty years in our ages, but we were alike in the sacred kinship of +sorrow. As he drew near me I saw his eyes fixed upon mine with a long +look of tenderness and sympathy that went to my very heart, and comforted +me subtly. I envied him his age, which seemed to bring him so much nearer +to the end. I do not think he envied me my youth. It was but for a moment +that we were thus drawn to each other in the crowded street--"ships that +passed in the night," in the darkest night, indeed; but that moment I +have never forgotten. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +EDITOR OF THE _LEEDS MERCURY_. + +Forming Good Resolutions--Provincial Journalism in the 'Seventies-- +Recollections of the Franco-German War--The Loss of the _Captain_ +and its Consequences to me--Settling Down at Leeds--Acquaintance with +Monckton Milnes--Visits to Fryston--Lord Houghton's Chivalry--His +Talk--His Skill in Judging Men--Stories about George Venables--Lord +Houghton's Regard for Religious Observances. + + +In April, 1870, there came to me most unexpectedly the offer of the +editorship of the _Leeds Mercury_. It came, as readers of the +preceding pages know, at a time when my whole life was unsettled by the +bereavement which had made me a lonely, restless man. It was, I need +hardly say, an offer of a very tempting character. After little more than +two years of the life of a journalist in London, the prospect was held +out to me of a recognised position on the Press as chief of one of the +principal provincial dailies. The position meant increased remuneration, +freedom from the anxieties of miscellaneous work, and the possession of +influence of no ordinary kind. All my friends and relatives urged upon me +the madness of refusing such an offer, especially since it had come to me +unsought and at an unusually early age. Yet for a time I was more +inclined to refuse than to accept the proposal. I loved London, and the +freedom of its literary life, and I knew by experience how sharp was the +contrast between the social life of the capital and that of a provincial +town like Leeds. Besides, London drew my sympathies more strongly than +ever as the scene of those short years of married happiness which had now +come to an end. So, for a time, I wavered as to the acceptance of the new +position offered to me, and it was only under the sharp pressure of +friends and relatives that I at last wrote to my old friend, Mr. +Frederick Baines, and accepted the editorship of the _Mercury_. + +No one not a member of the Baines family had edited the journal since it +became the property of the first Edward Baines, so that it was a new +departure in more respects than one that the proprietors were making in +placing the editorship in my hands. The cause of the vacancy which I +undertook to fill was a rather curious one. Mr. Tom Baines, who had been +editor since his father, Edward Baines, entered Parliament, had become an +adherent of the religious body known as Plymouth Brethren. A man of +culture, of fine ability, and of high character, he had deliberately +associated himself with a sect which regarded the affairs of the world as +being outside the scope of a Christian's duties. He found it impossible +to combine attention to the many questions of politics and public +business that must engage the thoughts of a newspaper editor, with the +Bible readings and sermons upon spiritual truth to which he specially +desired to devote himself. It was a sore trouble to his excellent father +when Mr. Tom Baines decided that the life of a journalist and that of a +Plymouth Brother were not consistent; but, with that noble respect for +all conscientious convictions which distinguished Edward Baines both in +public and in private, he bowed to his son's decision, and regretfully +acquiesced in his retirement from a post that he had filled with eminent +distinction. + +So it came about that on May 15th, 1870, I found myself in the train on +my road to Leeds to take charge of the duties of the important post to +which I had been called. I do not think that I had any conception at that +time of the real importance of that post, or of the heavy +responsibilities attaching to it. I was barely eight-and-twenty, and +hitherto the bent of my inclination had been towards literature rather +than political journalism. The ideal life, I thought, was that of a +successful writer of fiction. Though a sincere and convinced Liberal, I +had always possessed an unfortunate capacity for seeing the defects and +blunders of my own party, and I had a strong distaste for the doctrine +which finds expression in the phrase, "My party, right or wrong." +Besides, I was then, as I still am, strongly attracted towards different +personalities. There were men on the Conservative side of the House of +Commons whom I regarded with deep respect and esteem. There were others, +sitting on the Liberal benches, whom I held in something like contempt. +Upon the whole, therefore, I did not feel so much attracted by the +responsible editorship of a great political journal as might have been +expected, and it was with considerable trepidation, and many doubts as to +my own capacity, that I made that fateful journey to Leeds. I remember +distinctly the current of my thoughts as the train flew northwards. The +death of my wife had sobered me, and all youthful levity seemed to have +been buried in her grave. I spent the four hours of the railway journey +in making good resolutions as to my conduct in my new position. + +The resolution which impressed itself most forcibly upon my mind was a +determination not to make any enemies. I could honestly say that I had +made none so far in the course of my life. If my circle of acquaintances +was but a narrow one, it consisted wholly of persons who were truly my +friends. In my innocence I believed that in the public position I was +about to take this pleasant condition of things might be continued. I +would be fair, just, and courteous to everybody, I resolved; and thus I +should pass through life as one of those fortunate men who enjoy +everyone's goodwill. I can smile now as I recall the speedy shattering of +that illusion which awaited me at Leeds; but I well remember the almost +tragical sense of surprise and disappointment which I felt when I first +found that in honestly doing what I conceived to be my duty, in a public +matter with which I had to deal, I had most unexpectedly made a personal +enemy. Speaking now with long years of experience behind me, I may be +allowed to bear my testimony to the fact that it is impossible for a +public man in this country to deal honestly with the many controversial +questions that politicians have to handle without finding that, in the +course of his life, he must of necessity make some enemies. Human nature +being what it is, it seems impossible for a man to take a clear and +independent line on great questions without at times giving offence to +others, who may be just as honest and conscientious as himself. It would, +of course, be ridiculous to say that the test of a man's worth as a +politician, whether in Parliament or the editorial chair, is the number +of his enemies; but I am convinced that a public man who has absolutely +no enemies must be a person who has deliberately shirked his duties and +stifled his conscience. + +My first step on entering on my duties as editor of the _Mercury_ +was to make a complete change in the editor's hours. My predecessor had +been in the habit of writing his leader in the middle of the day, and it +was very seldom that he was to be seen in the office after four o'clock +in the afternoon. In common with all, or nearly all, the editors of the +provincial dailies of his time, he never attempted to write upon late +news. It was the fashion then for the provincial editor to wait until he +had ascertained the opinions of the London daily papers upon current +questions before he ventured to express his own. It was a delightful +system so far as the ease and comfort of the provincial editor were +concerned. To be able to finish the labours of the day in the early hours +of the afternoon was an ideal state of things from the personal point of +view. Fortunately I did not yield to the temptation to continue the old, +easygoing _régime_. My experience in London had made me acquainted +with the interiors of the offices of more than one of the daily +newspapers, and I was no longer oppressed with a provincial reverence for +London editors as beings who dwelt apart. I saw no reason why I should +not express my own views upon the questions with which I had to deal, +instead of waiting to pen a mere reflection of the views of other +persons. So, almost from the first day of my editorship, I went to the +office late, and wrote upon some subject that was absolutely fresh. +Barely three weeks had passed before I was able to make a distinct +impression upon the readers of the _Mercury_ as a result of this +changed system. + +It was on the night of June 9th, 1870. I had finished my leader for the +next morning's paper, and was just preparing to leave the office, when a +telegram was brought to me with the sad announcement of the death of +Charles Dickens. My old leader was instantly thrown aside, and, sitting +down, I wrote out of a full heart of the irreparable loss which English +literature and the Englishmen of that generation had suffered. No matter +what the faults of the article might be, it made a great impression upon +the readers of the _Mercury_ next morning, for the death of Dickens +was one of those events that touch the heart of the nation, and everybody +was anxious to read any comments upon it. The impression made by my +article was deepened by the fact that no other provincial paper had +commented upon the absorbing topic. From that moment I seemed to have +gained the ear of my readers, and Leeds, which, not unnaturally, had +taken coldly to me in the first instance, began to open its heart and +extend its sympathies to the new and unknown editor. All this sounds like +sheer egotism; but as to the fact that, with my editorship of the +_Mercury_, the practice of writing upon the latest topics in the +provincial daily press first became general, there can be no dispute, and +as it is a fact of interest in the history of the Press, I have dwelt +upon it at this length. + +Very soon the attention of newspaper readers all over the world was +absorbed by one engrossing topic--the great war between France and +Germany. The experiences of an editor during those exciting days were not +uninteresting. There have been no such days since in my recollection. In +the first instance, when the clouds were gathering with startling +suddenness, few persons in this country believed that war was possible. +It was incredible, they held, that two civilised nations should fight +over such a question as the candidature for the Spanish throne. All the +orthodox authorities were furiously angry with those journals that +pointed out the real dangers of the situation, and the difficulty of +arresting two great nations like France and Prussia when they had once +begun to approach each other with the language of menace. One day Mr. +Frederick Baines brought into my room one of the most influential +citizens of Leeds. His purpose in calling was to protest against the +alarmist tone of the articles in the _Mercury_, and nothing could +have been better than the imposing air of authority with which he +informed me that he knew for a fact that neither the members of the +English Government nor any other well-informed persons looked upon a war +as being even remotely possible. I felt very uncomfortable, and somewhat +overweighted by the air of my visitor. I could see, too, that Mr. +Frederick Baines, though thoroughly loyal to me, was also impressed by +his friend's statement. But in spite of the high authority on which this +gentleman spoke, just three days later war was declared. + +Never in my time has the world looked on at a drama at once so stupendous +and so enthralling in its excitement as that of the Franco-German War. We +have had wars since then which have affected this country more nearly, +and have, of course, stirred deeper emotions in our breasts, than this +war between France and Germany; but as a dramatic spectacle on which, +thank God, we Englishmen could look as spectators merely, this great +struggle was unsurpassed and unapproached. The march of events was so +swift, the surprises were so great and numerous, the field of operations +was so near and so familiar, and the political upheaval so terrible and +so complete, that we onlookers were kept in a state of perpetual, almost +breathless, suspense whilst the struggle lasted. + +Of course, the newspapers were full of the war from the moment of its +breaking out. The arrangements for special correspondents and news from +the front were more complete than they had ever been before, and as the +astounding drama swiftly advanced from the trivial overture at Saarbruck +to the overwhelming catastrophe at Sedan, the civilised world had eyes +and ears for nothing else. Barely seven weeks elapsed between the +declaration of war and the surrender of the Emperor and the fall of his +empire. During those seven weeks, public opinion in this country seemed +to be equally divided between the two belligerents; but after the +collapse of the Imperial army and the fall of the empire, the balance +swung round in favour of France. That wholesome human sentiment which +leads most men to take sides with the weak against the strong acted upon +us, and drew our sympathies to unhappy France. The French have never +given us credit for this fact, but have continually reproached us for not +having espoused their side in a quarrel with which we had absolutely no +concern. On the other hand, the Germans have never openly resented our +sympathy with France in her day of immeasurable misfortune. I do not +think, however, that they have forgotten it. + +It was after Sedan, when it became evident that Paris was about to be +invested by the victorious troops, that the war entered upon a new phase. +At first nobody believed in a possible siege of Paris, any more than +people now believe in a possible siege of London. I remember one of the +sub-editors of the _Leeds Mercury_, who happened to take the +Prussian side in the quarrel, bursting into my room one day in a furious +passion to denounce the conduct of those wretched Frenchmen, who were +positively cutting down the woods outside the city barriers in order to +prevent their affording shelter to the enemy. My friend had once visited +Paris, and had been struck by the beauty of these woods. Apparently he +thought that, even for their own salvation, the French had no right to +disfigure scenes of beauty that had delighted the eyes of sentimental +tourists. + +The newspapers, when it became evident that the siege of Paris was, after +all, destined to take place, had to adopt measures to secure +correspondents who were prepared to endure the hardships of that siege in +order to furnish information to the British public. The most famous of +these correspondents was Mr. Labouchere, who furnished the _Daily +News_ with the most entertaining journal of a siege ever written by a +besieged resident. On behalf of the _Leeds Mercury_ I engaged the +services of another well-known journalist to act as our representative +during the siege. This gentleman very naturally required a considerable +sum of money in advance for his maintenance during the investment. He had +written one or two admirable letters in anticipation of the siege, and I +cheerfully sent him the amount for which he asked. He received it just +before the Prussian lines closed round Paris, and I do not remember that +I ever heard from him again. The letters which it is to be presumed he +wrote to the _Leeds Mercury_ never reached that journal. + +When the investment began, and Paris was cut off from the outer world, we +onlookers with the strip of sea between had certain visible signs of the +reality of the siege offered to us in our very midst. The front page of +the _Times_ furnished one of these signs. Day after day, for weeks +at a stretch, the whole of that page was occupied by messages from the +French outside Paris to their friends and relatives within the walls. At +first English readers were puzzled by this phenomenon. The investment of +the city was very strict, and it was difficult to understand how the +newspaper could be smuggled inside the barriers; but presently the truth +was made known. This page of the _Times_ was part of the machinery +of the famous pigeon post which connected the outside world with Paris +during its long beleaguerment. The page was photographed on a microscopic +scale. The film on which the photograph was printed was carried into +Paris by a pigeon, a magic-lantern was used to enlarge the photograph, +and the messages it contained were copied by Post Office officials, and +forwarded to their different destinations. Such a postal service was, I +imagine, unique. It was certainly most ingenious. + +Another sign of the siege of Paris was presented during those bright +autumn days by the appearance of Piccadilly, especially on a Sunday +afternoon. I generally spent Sunday in London, and during that autumn, +when walking on a Sunday in Piccadilly, I noticed more than once that the +majority of the well-dressed persons promenading on the northern side of +the street were Frenchmen--most of them wearing the ribbon of the Legion +of Honour. They were chiefly Imperialists, for whom there was no place in +France under the new _régime_, and they had flocked to London +literally in thousands, so that the great West End thoroughfare resounded +at times with the French tongue. + +One feature of that autumn was the unwonted magnificence of the displays +of the aurora borealis. I never saw such fine auroras before or since. +Night after night the sky was lighted up by the brilliantly coloured +shafts of quivering flame. It is hardly surprising that the vulgar should +have associated the phenomenon with the wonderful tragedy which was being +enacted so near to our shores. The most ignorant, however, did not regard +it as an omen. They honestly believed that they saw in the heavens the +reflection of the glare from burning Paris. + +I did not settle down to my editorial work in Leeds easily. Everything +drew me back to London, and I told the proprietors of the _Mercury_ +that I did not mean to retain my post after the war came to an end. But +at this point a fresh piece of good fortune came to me, though it arose +out of a deplorable calamity. The _Captain_, the experimental vessel +built by Captain Cowper Coles on designs that many high naval authorities +had declared to be dangerously unsound, capsized in the Bay of Biscay, +and sank with nearly every soul on board, including her designer, Captain +Coles himself. There had been a great newspaper discussion about the +_Captain_, and the _Times_ had taken a vigorous part in it +against the Admiralty authorities and in favour of Captain Coles. On the +morning on which the news of the disaster was announced, the _Times_ +in its leading article maintained that the catastrophe was in no sense +due to the instability of the ship, and urged that another _Captain_ +should be forthwith built. The _Leeds Mercury_, on the other hand, +took what I regarded as the commonsense view, and insisted that for the +future the opinions of the trained experts of the Admiralty should be +preferred to those of irresponsible enthusiasts, even though they +happened to be, like Captain Cowper Coles, men of genius. + +Mr. Edward Baines, like most old journalists, had a profound respect for +the wisdom of the _Times_, and he was very much disturbed when he +found that the _Leeds Mercury_ took a directly opposite view of the +disaster to that of "the leading journal." He expressed to me, in his +usual friendly and courteous manner, his regret that I had expressed +myself so strongly, and evidently felt that what the _Times_ said +must be true. But on the following day the _Times_, after an +interval for reflection, completely changed its position, admitted that +the design of the _Captain_ must have been at fault, recalled the +fact that the catastrophe had been foreseen by the highest authorities, +and protested against the building of any more ships of the same +character. There was nothing surprising in this change of front, for the +first views of the paper had been obviously inconsistent with the facts +and with commonsense. But Mr. Baines was immensely impressed by the fact +that the _Leeds Mercury_ had grasped the essential truth before the +_Times_. He greatly exaggerated the merit of his editor in the +matter, came to the conclusion that I had become indispensable to the +paper, and would not rest until I had entered into a new and binding +agreement with him to continue my editorship on conditions that were +greatly to my own advantage. + +Thus this grave disaster to an English ship led to my final +relinquishment of the idea of returning to London as a literary free +lance, and to my settling in Leeds as permanent editor of the +_Mercury_. Gradually my life in the town of my adoption became more +agreeable to me. I made friends who were kind to me with the +characteristic kindness of Yorkshire. I began to feel the power, as well +as the responsibility, of my position; and I learned before long that, +even in connection with the local affairs of a great community, a man can +render services to his fellow citizens quite as important as any that he +can render on the larger platform of public life. + +It was at the close of 1870 that I first made the personal acquaintance +of a man to whom I was afterwards to be deeply and permanently indebted. +This was Monckton Milnes, first Lord Houghton. There was no better known +figure in London society in those days than Lord Houghton. But he was +much more than a figure in society. Delightful as host, _raconteur_, +poet, and man of letters, he was more admirable still as the generous and +willing servant of those who needed help. He had his foibles, his likes +and his dislikes; but he was not one of those philanthropists who wait to +be asked for their help. Where he was attracted towards anyone he was +eager to aid, not only without solicitation, but at times even against +the will of the beneficiary himself. I have known many kind men, many +true friends, in the course of my life; I have known none whose kindness +was more unstinted, more constant, or more generous than that of Lord +Houghton. He had come to Leeds in December, 1870, to attend some public +meeting, and he was entertained as his guest by Mr. Baines, whose son, as +I have already explained, was my predecessor in the editorship of the +_Mercury_. + +At the dinner-table at Mr. Baines's house, Lord Houghton was as vivacious +and as full of good talk as usual. The conversation happened to turn upon +slips of the tongue. Houghton said that the most amusing he remembered +was that of the lady who, meeting a friend in the street, exclaimed, +"Have you heard of the dreadful thing that has happened to my poor +brother John? He has become a Yarmouth Bloater." The good lady meant, of +course, to say "Plymouth Brother." To Houghton's surprise, his story was +received in embarrassed silence, and someone, as he told me afterwards, +trod heavily upon his foot. Monckton Milnes was not a man to be easily +disconcerted, and he speedily restored the party to a proper mood of +geniality; but after dinner he took someone aside, and asked the meaning +of the cold reception of his joke. He received the explanation which the +reader will anticipate. It was because Mr. Tom Baines had become a +Plymouth Brother that he had been compelled to retire from the editorship +of the _Mercury_, to the great distress of his father. My name as +his successor in that position was unknown until then to Lord Houghton, +but he had no sooner heard it than he invited me to visit him at Fryston. + +When I first entered the hospitable door of Fryston, I suffered from a +distinct feeling of trepidation. It was new to me to meet men of Lord +Houghton's social rank and fame on terms of friendly intimacy, and I +confess that I was miserably shy when I made my first appearance among +the company assembled in that pleasant morning room, where, long years +before, Thomas Carlyle had been first introduced to the amenities of +English country-house life. Carlyle has told the world, in a letter +written to his wife, how much he was confounded by what seemed to him to +be the splendours of a society that he had hitherto viewed only from the +outside. His description of his bedroom--it was much larger and grander +in the letter than any bedroom that really existed at Fryston--of the +servants in livery, the menu of the dinner-table, and of the valet who +made unlawful and undesired investigation of the contents of his pockets +when he intruded himself upon him in the morning, all bespoke the +absolute novice. I do not think, however, that he was a greater novice in +1842 than I was in 1870. A very brief experience enables any person of +ordinary intelligence to grasp the essential details of country-house +life; but many persons--including Carlyle and myself--would have been +spared a certain spell of nervous discomfort if there had existed some +simple written code explaining those usages and customs in which +country-house life differs from the ordinary life of the English +middle-classes. But kindness puts an end to all difficulties of the shy +guest, and certainly there never was a kinder hostess than Lady Houghton. + +From 1870 down to 1885 I had the good fortune to be a frequent visitor at +Fryston. Lord Houghton's kindness to me at our first meeting only +increased as time passed; and writing of him now, long after he has +passed away, I must relieve my heart by saying that I owe more to him and +to his unceasing efforts, not merely to draw me out, but to push me +forward, than to any other friend I have ever made. There was a whimsical +side to his character which, naturally enough, attracted more attention +than was given to his more sober qualities. The eccentricities of his +youth, embalmed by Sydney Smith and the other humorists of the 'thirties +and 'forties, had disappeared when I made his acquaintance; but to the +last he was absolutely careless as to public opinion, except on such +points as those on which he himself shared that opinion. The truest thing +that was ever said of him was said by William Edward Forster at the +Cosmopolitan Club one night, when Houghton was leaving it. Someone said, +referring to Houghton, "He's a good man to trust when you're in trouble, +for he'll stand by you." "He'll do more than that," responded Forster; +"he'll stand by a man not only in trouble but in disgrace, and I know +nobody else who will." This was where the finer trait in Houghton's +independence of character came in. He was always ready to espouse the +cause of a man upon whom the world was frowning, but happily this quality +is not uncommon among our nobler natures. That which was most uncommon in +Houghton's character was his willingness to befriend a man even when he +knew that the disgrace into which he had fallen was not undeserved. He +could be severe--as severe as anybody I have ever known--upon vice and +meanness; but if the sinner needed help he pitied him at once, and was +ready to aid him to the best of his power. + +His talk in his own house was delightful. It was altogether different +from the talk that men heard when they met him at London dinner-tables. +Strangely enough, it was at the breakfast-table that he talked best. Most +Englishmen are not roused to conversational brilliancy until the day is +far spent; but Houghton was at his best at breakfast and immediately +afterwards. And how good that best was! He was a walking encyclopaedia, +although no man was ever less of "a book in breeches." Whenever I wished +to clear up some obscure point in history or politics, in literature or +in the personal life of our times, I went to him, and seldom was it that +I failed to get the light I wanted. As a judge of character he had no +equal among the men I have known, and in the years that have flown since +his death I have had the happiness of seeing his forecast of the future +of not a few men strikingly realised. The first time I ever heard the +name of Lord Rosebery was from his lips, in 1874 or 1875. I had seen the +name in print, of course, but to me it was a name, and nothing more. "You +don't know Lord Rosebery?" said he one day. "Then mark him well. He is +the ablest young man in England, and, I believe, will be Prime Minister +before he dies." + +On another occasion he shocked me for the moment by a deliverance about +Mr. Gladstone. It was in 1880, when the great statesman, having won the +most brilliant triumph of his life, and finally defeated his great rival, +Lord Beaconsfield, was struck down by serious illness a few weeks after +he had regained power. "I am so sorry to see that Gladstone is getting +better," Houghton said to me as we sat in the library at Fryston. I could +hardly believe my own ears, and expressed my surprise at hearing such a +sentiment from the lips of one of Mr. Gladstone's greatest admirers. +"Don't you see," responded Houghton, "that if he dies now he will be one +of the greatest figures in English history? He has just won the greatest +triumph a statesman ever enjoyed. It is impossible that he can remain at +this dazzling height. _Now_ is the time for him to die." Those who +only knew Lord Houghton as a genial cynic would have been surprised if +they had known that in his opinion the greatest Englishman of his own +time was Lord Shaftesbury, and the greatest Englishwoman Florence +Nightingale. Those who were acquainted with his poetry would not have +felt this surprise. There is much in his verse, neglected though it now +be, which deserves a high place in our national literature. But in his +later days--or, rather, throughout his life--the world refused to see his +more serious side, and treated him as the humorist and the wit, the +cynic, and the kind-hearted but eccentric peer who made it his mission in +life to try to fuse the two worlds of society and intellect. + +He certainly had wonderful success in bringing together men who stood at +opposite poles both of position and opinion. In the days when Mr. John +Morley was only known as a promising writer of the most terrible +heterodoxy, he dined with Houghton, and was placed next the Archbishop of +Canterbury. "Who is that clever-looking young man sitting next the +Archbishop?" asked Lord Selborne, who was also at the table. When he was +told that it was Mr. Morley, the editor of the _Fortnightly Review_ +and the author of the famous "little g," he threw up his hands in +absolute consternation. But Houghton had a rare discrimination in +bringing men together. He never brought people who disliked each other +into juxtaposition, as some notorious hostesses of our own time are fond +of doing. What he did was to gather round his table men of talent and +worth who would have had little chance of meeting but for his kindly and +hospitable intervention, and many a lifelong friendship has thus been +begun beneath his roof. + +One of the earliest lessons a man learnt on being admitted to Houghton's +cosmopolitan society was the great need of care in the selection of +topics in addressing a stranger. Most persons one met at Fryston had +either done something or were somebodies, and occasionally their fame was +not of the kind that commends itself to everybody. It was necessary, +therefore, to walk delicately, like Agag, in opening a conversation with +a stranger. A terrible experience of my own will illustrate this fact. As +boy and man I had adored Thackeray, and made him the hero of my literary +dreams. There was one incident in his early life about which I was quite +unreasonably curious. I wanted to know which of his schoolfellows it was +who broke his nose and disfigured him for life, and I had made up my mind +that if ever I met a man who had been at school with him I would question +him on this point. During one of my earlier visits to Fryston I found +that George Venables, the well-known Parliamentary counsel and Saturday +Reviewer, was staying there. Venables was one of the most distinguished +men of his day. His ripe judgment commanded universal confidence, whilst +the somewhat austere manner which veiled a warm heart inspired chance +acquaintances with a certain feeling of awe. During dinner I heard +Venables talking about his early days at the Charterhouse, and felt at +once that my long-sought chance had come. Accordingly, when I was walking +with him in the Fryston woods on the following morning, I plucked up my +courage, and asked him if he had been at the Charterhouse with Thackeray. +"Certainly I was," replied the eminent publicist; "we entered on the same +day, and were great friends all the time we were at school." "Then," said +I, rushing blindly upon my fate, "you can tell me what I have long wanted +to know. Who was it that broke Thackeray's nose?" + +It was winter, and we were walking in Indian file through the woods. As I +put this question to Venables, he suddenly stopped, and, turning round, +glared at me in a manner that instantly revealed the terrible truth to my +alarmed intelligence. He continued to glare for several seconds, and +then, apparently perceiving nothing but innocent confusion, not unmixed +with alarm, on my face, his own features became relaxed into a more +amiable expression. "Did anybody tell you," he said slowly, and with +solemn emphasis, "to ask me that question?" I could truthfully say that +nobody had done so. My answer seemed to mollify Venables at once. "Then, +if nobody put you up to asking me that question, I don't mind answering +it. It was _I_ who broke Thackeray's nose. We were only little boys +at the time, and quarrelled over something, and had the usual fight. It +wasn't my fault that he was disfigured for life; it was all the fault of +some wretched doctor. Nowadays a boy's nose can be mended so that nobody +can see that it has ever been broken. Let me tell you," he continued, +"that Thackeray never showed me any ill-will for the harm I had done him, +and I do not believe he felt any." Nor, I must add, did Venables show any +ill-will to me for the _gaucherie_ which had caused me to rake up +this painful episode in his career. + +Venables himself had been the victim of another mistake, which he +resented more strongly than he did my indiscretion. He told the story to +me and to Mrs. Procter one day in the drawing-room at Fryston, with keen +indignation. A certain noble lord had approached him at an evening party +with an air of extraordinary deference. Venables knew the peer very +slightly, and was surprised by the salaams with which he was greeted. His +surprise changed to fury when he discovered that his lordship had +mistaken him for a notorious millionaire of somewhat dubious reputation +who had just blossomed into a baronetcy. "Think of it!" he said with +lofty scorn. "The fellow came cringing to me as if I were a prince of the +blood, merely because he thought I was that odious adventurer, and had +money in my pocket." Mrs. Procter sprang from her seat, and, hobbling +across the room with extended forefinger, cried to Venables, in tones of +dramatic intensity, "Does that noble lord still live?" + +It was from Venables that I heard a delightful story about our host +which, years afterwards, I repeated in writing Lord Houghton's life. It +was the story of Carlyle's remark when Tennyson's friends were trying to +procure a pension for him from Sir Robert Peel. "Richard Milnes," said +Carlyle, taking his pipe out of his mouth, "when are ye gaun to get that +pension for Alfred Tennyson?" Milnes tried to explain to Carlyle that +there were difficulties in the way, and that possibly his constituents, +who knew nothing about Tennyson, might accuse him of being concerned in a +job if he were to succeed in getting the desired pension for the poet. +"Richard Milnes," replied the sage, "on the Day of Judgment, when the +Lord asks ye why ye didna get that pension for Alfred Tennyson, it'll no +do to lay the blame on your constituents. It's _you_ that'll be +damned." I always had a half impression that, for some reason or other, +Lord Houghton did not like to hear that story told in his presence. All +the world knows, of course, that he did get the pension for the poet, and +thus escaped the penalty anticipated by the philosopher. + +But if Lord Houghton was sensitive on some points, he was frank and +courageous in acknowledging his own youthful follies and the punishment +which they brought upon him. I shall never forget his taking me to a +particular corner in that vast library at Fryston--which, like some +vegetable parasite, seemed to have spread itself over every inch of +available wall-space in the house--and taking down from the shelves a +volume of the "Life of Sydney Smith." His object in doing so was to show +me the original manuscript of the pungent and witty letter in which +Sydney Smith rebuked him sharply for having written a somewhat peppery +note to ask the Canon if it was true that he had dubbed him "the cool of +the evening." "What a young fool I was!" said Lord Houghton, when he had +read the letter to me. "And how good it was of Sydney Smith to set me +down in that fashion!" + +Everybody knows that Lord Houghton was the most tolerant of men in all +matters of faith and opinion; but he did not allow mere carelessness or +idleness to serve as an excuse for the disregard of religious +observances. My usual time for visiting Fryston was on Saturday, when I +was free from the charge of my paper for four-and-twenty hours. My kind +friend always insisted on Sunday morning that instead of going to church +I should spend the morning in strolling in the park, either alone or in +his delightful company. This, he would say, was necessary in the +interests of my health. I spent more Sundays at Fryston than I can count, +but I never entered the little church hard by the park gates until the +sad day when I went there to attend his funeral. One Sunday evening, when +there was a rather large party at the Hall--including John Morley--we +were summoned by the old butler--himself a character not unworthy of +commemoration--to prayers in the morning room. Lord Houghton was good +enough to intimate to Morley and myself that we should not be expected to +attend, and we accordingly remained in the drawing-room in conversation. +A certain young Yorkshire baronet, who was also of the party, influenced +by our bad example, stayed behind with us. In a couple of minutes, +however, the butler reappeared, and going up to the baronet, said, "Sir +Henry, his lordship is waiting for you before he begins prayers." The +liberty accorded to the philosophic writer and the editor was not +permitted to the country gentleman. I think I ought to add, in justice to +Mr. Morley at least, that he and I accompanied the unwilling young man to +the scene of the family devotions. + +I must stay my hand, however, in these rambling recollections of my kind +and brilliant friend and benefactor. No doubt I shall have more to say +about him before my task is finished; but for the present I must take up +again the thread of my narrative. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +MY FIRST CONTINENTAL TOUR. + +A Generous Scot--Paris after the Commune--An Uncomfortable Journey +Home--Illness of the Prince of Wales--Revived Popularity of the +Throne--Death and Funeral of Napoleon III.--Burial of the Prince +Imperial--Forster's Educational Policy--Bruce's Incensing Bill--My Second +Marriage. + + +With the opening of 1871 came the armistice before Paris, quickly +followed by the conclusion of peace. Then took place the ghastly upheaval +of the Commune, and the eyes of the world were once more riveted upon the +great city which has been the theatre of so many tragedies. It shocked +everybody to think that the heavy sufferings through which unhappy France +had passed, instead of uniting all classes of the people together in the +bonds of a common sorrow, had only intensified the conflicts of parties +and social grades. But in due time the Communist rising itself was +suppressed, and peace at last fell to the lot of distracted France. + +In September of this year, 1871, I went abroad for the first time in my +life. Passing through Belgium and by the Rhine to Switzerland, I visited +the Italian lakes before returning to England by way of Paris. There is +no need to dwell upon the incidents of a commonplace tour like this, +though one can never forget the delightful sense of exhilaration produced +by a first experience of the living grandeur of the Alps. Switzerland was +not so completely hackneyed in those days as it is now, and to me, of +course, as a newcomer, it did not seem to be hackneyed at all. I was too +young, I think, fully to realise the indescribable charm of Italy, a +charm which is felt more strongly by most of us with each successive +visit to that land of dreams and beauty. At Milan I was the victim of a +not unusual incident in travel. I found myself stranded at the old Hōtel +de la Ville for want of money. I had arranged for a remittance to reach +me there; but in those days there were no tunnels through the Alps, and +Italy was, in consequence, still a long way from England. My remittance, +therefore, took longer to reach me than I had anticipated. The result was +that I spent certain miserable days in a state of almost complete +impecuniosity. I shall never forget the weary hours during which I +tramped the streets, and the endless visits to the post office in search +of the letter which I awaited so anxiously. + +But whilst in this unpleasant position, I was fortunate enough to meet +with an instance of genuine kindliness that really raised my opinion of +my fellow-creatures. An old Scotsman used to sit beside me at the +_table d'hōte_ at the Hōtel de la Ville. He was a man of +intelligence, and I found his conversation very pleasant. With the pride +and sensitiveness of youth, I was, of course, resolute in my +determination to conceal from him my unpleasant fix; but one night at +dinner he startled me by asking when I was going to leave Milan. I feebly +evaded the question by saying that I must first of all see all the sights +of the place. "Hoots, man!" he retorted, "ye've seen all the sights, and +ye're jist wasting your time and losing your holiday stopping here. I ken +weel what it is ye're waiting for. Ye're short of money--that's it, isn't +it?" I murmured something to the effect that I was expecting remittances +which would, no doubt, reach me almost immediately. "Weel, I'm not going +to let a young fellow like you lose your holiday," said my friend, in a +very positive manner, "and ye'll just have to make me your banker for +what ye want, and get away out of this hole as soon as ye can, for there +are better sights to be seen than Milan." I could only prevent his +forcing money upon me on the spot by promising that if my remittance did +not come next day I would avail myself of his generous offer. Happily, +the next day relief came, and I was no longer in pawn at Milan. But +blessings on the head of that worthy old Scot, who must long ago have +gone over to the majority! At least he nobly redeemed the character of +his countrymen from the libel which makes the name of a Scotsman +synonymous with meanness. + +Paris in September, 1871, presented a strange sight to the eyes of a +visitor. The shadow of the double ordeal of the siege and the Communist +rising still lay heavily upon it. In the streets traces of the conflict +between the Versaillists and the Communards were everywhere visible. +Lamp-posts twisted by the shell fire, plate-glass windows perforated by +bullets, columns chipped and shattered, and the pavement ripped up for +the erection of barricades, were the common sights of the streets; whilst +the blackened ruins of the Tuileries, and the other public buildings +destroyed by the rebels, remained to attest the desperate character of +the civil war that had been waged in the capital. The inhabitants had not +yet recovered from the privations of the siege and the horrors of the +Commune. There were few who smiled, and there were many who could not +speak of the past without tears. That which was specially noticeable was +the fact that all the fury of the Parisians seemed to be turned against +the Communards. Many of them, speaking of the Prussians, referred warmly +to the contrast between their conduct and that of their own lawless +fellow-citizens. + +Outside Paris the traces of the siege were everywhere visible, and +driving along the country roads near St. Cloud--where the people were +still living in tents and wooden sheds, almost every house having been +destroyed--one came constantly upon little groups of graves of German +soldiers who had been buried where they fell, each grave marked by its +wooden cross with its simple inscription. These monuments spoke +eloquently of the tragic character of the struggle. At Versailles, where +the National Assembly was sitting, the great bulk of the Communist +prisoners were confined in the orangery in front of the palace. Loaded +cannon commanded this improvised prison, where many hundreds of men and +women were herded promiscuously. Standing on the terrace above the +orangery, I leant over the balustrade in order to look on the prisoners +beneath. I had to withdraw hastily, for from the miserable crowd there +came up an unbearable stench, such as might emanate from a cage of wild +animals. Now and then one saw Communists being escorted by soldiers to +meet the swift vengeance of the court-martial which was sitting to try +them. These unhappy prisoners, who had little chance of escaping the +penalty of death, bore themselves with firmness, and manifestly believed +that they were sufferers in a holy cause. Not even the sight of the +destruction they had wrought in Paris could wholly stifle one's feelings +of sympathy with them in their wretched plight. + +I had a second experience of the disadvantages of impecuniosity before I +reached London. During the latter part of my trip I had found a pleasant +travelling companion in the person of Mr. Charles Townsend, of Bristol, a +gentleman who subsequently represented that city in Parliament. As we +were travelling straight through from Paris to London, and had, as we +believed, ample funds for the journey, we signalised the close of our +trip on the Continent by a specially good dinner on the evening of our +departure, for which we had to pay a price in accordance with its merits. +We were returning by the Dieppe route. The journey by rail was delayed +because all the bridges near Paris were broken, and we had to creep +across temporary wooden structures. Before we were allowed to board the +steamer at Dieppe, all passports were carefully examined. The police were +on the search for escaped Communists, and whilst it was easy enough to +get into France, it was much more difficult to get out of the country. +Our passports, however, were in order, and we were soon lying down to +sleep in the cabin of the steamer in the full belief that we should find +ourselves in England in a few hours. I slept soundly, and only awoke when +the sun was well up in the heavens. The steamer was at rest, and I +thought we were in the harbour of Newhaven; but, to my dismay, when I +went on deck I found that we were still moored to the quay at Dieppe. A +terrific northwesterly gale was blowing, and the captain had not ventured +to put out. All that day we lay at Dieppe, the result being that the +money which would have taken us, under ordinary circumstances, in comfort +to London, was expended before we quitted France. When we reached +Victoria Station our united capital consisted of a halfpenny. We could +not even tip the porter who attended to us. I felt it was the meanest +moment of my life. We drove straight to a bank, however, and in a few +minutes had each a pocketful of gold. The double lesson I received during +this first Continental trip has made me careful ever since to take +sufficient funds on every journey to carry me safely through to the end. + +The great public event of the autumn of 1871 was the illness of the +Prince of Wales. He had been staying in November with Lord Londesborough +at Scarborough, and on his return to Sandringham he was attacked by +typhoid fever. For a time no anxiety was felt, because it was believed +that the illness was a slight one. But suddenly the news was flashed +through the country that his Royal Highness had taken a turn for the +worse. This was followed a few hours later by the announcement that the +Queen and the other members of his family had been suddenly summoned to +his bedside; and yet a little later came the tidings that his case was +hopeless, and that he was rapidly sinking. December 14th, the day which +had proved fatal to his father exactly ten years before, was at hand, and +everybody believed that it would see another heavy blow dealt at the +Royal Family. It is impossible to describe the emotion produced by the +most unexpected news of the Prince's condition. The telegrams from +Sandringham were of so positive a nature that they forbade hope. On +Friday, December 13th, the gloom deepened hourly. At midnight a telegram +reached the office of the _Leeds Mercury_ saying that the family +were gathered round the Prince's bed awaiting his dissolution. That +telegram was received in every other newspaper office in the kingdom. +Everywhere Lives of the Prince were hurriedly prepared, and articles +written announcing the event which appeared to be imminent. + +When the time approached for the _Mercury_ to be sent to press, +though we had made every preparation in case of the Prince's death, the +fatal news had not yet arrived. I consequently wrote an article upon his +illness and the emotion it had caused, to be inserted if his death had +not taken place when we went to press. Needless to say, it was this +article, and not that in which the national calamity was bewailed, that +appeared in the _Leeds Mercury_ next morning. The only other daily +newspaper that had a leading article on the Prince's illness was the +_Times_. In every other newspaper office the conviction that he was +at the very point of death was so strong that no preparation had been +made for his possible survival. When the morning of the fateful 14th came +it was announced that the Prince, though still in grave danger, had +rallied. For several days he hung between life and death, and then began +rapidly to mend, thanks to his own good constitution and to the +extraordinary care and skill with which he was nursed by Sir +William--then Dr.--Gull. + +The revived popularity of the Throne in England may be dated, I believe, +from that period. The Queen's long withdrawal from the public eye, +consequent upon her widowhood, had led the multitude, ignorant of the +manner in which she devoted herself to the heavy duties of her position, +to regard her as being little more than a figurehead. Certain +politicians, in the autumn of 1871, had taken advantage of this state of +feeling to begin a crusade against the monarchy, and a section of the +extreme Radicals really seemed to believe that the glorious Throne of +England was about to be overthrown. But the sharp touch of personal +sorrow changed all this, and revealed to the English people their true +sentiments towards the Queen and her family. The grief, universally felt +when it was believed that we were about to lose the heir to the Crown, +and the affectionate sympathy with which his slow recovery was followed, +convinced us all, as they convinced the outside world, that the bonds +between the English Throne and the English people were far closer and +stronger than most persons had imagined. The trumpery campaign against +the monarchy died in a single night, and from that day to this the mutual +love and trust of monarch and people have gone on steadily increasing. + +The announcement that the Queen proposed to attend St. Paul's Cathedral +in state to return thanks for the recovery of her eldest son touched the +heart of the nation afresh, and evoked the first great popular +demonstration of loyalty that had been witnessed since the early days of +the reign. I was present in the Cathedral at that solemn and stately +service on the 27th February, 1872, the precursor of the still more +stately service held at Westminster on the 21st June, 1887. Except on the +occasion of the Jubilee of the last-mentioned year, and of that of 1897, +London has never witnessed a more remarkable outburst of loyal +enthusiasm. At night the whole town was illuminated, St. Paul's Cathedral +being lighted up after the fashion of St. Peter's at Rome on Easter Day. +The crowds which filled the streets were enormous, and as the London +police had not then acquired the art of marshalling vast multitudes, +there was terrible crushing, and several lives were lost. Three persons +were suffocated at Temple Bar, which was already marked for removal. I +myself had the narrowest escape from death on Ludgate Hill, where the +multitude was packed in one dense, immovable mass for hours. The people +in the houses on the hill passed down water in buckets to the fainting +crowd, and now and then some woman or child was positively hauled out of +it by ropes, and thus placed in safety. It was not a sight that could +ever be forgotten, and it impressed forcibly upon one's mind the strength +of the hold which the monarch has upon the hearts of the people of this +country. + +Among those who watched the passage of the Queen and the Prince of Wales +from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's there was one notable and historic +personage. This was Napoleon the Third, at that time living in exile at +Chislehurst. Within twelve months the ex-Emperor was dead. His death was +the cause of a singularly picturesque demonstration on the part of the +ruined Imperialist party. I went to Chislehurst to see the lying-in-state +which preceded the funeral. The train which took me down from Charing +Cross was crowded with Frenchmen wearing the rosette of the Legion of +Honour, and on every side I heard men called by names that for twenty +years had been part of the history of Europe. The poor Emperor lying in +his coffin, guarded by men who but recently had been the great officers +of an Imperial household, was a pathetic object. I noticed that his hair +had turned grey; and the shortness of stature that he had been so anxious +to conceal when living was now plainly apparent. His funeral, which took +place on the following day, fittingly symbolised the fall of the Second +Empire. Preceding the hearse walked a body of French workmen in blue +blouses, the foremost of whom bore the tricolour, rudely fastened to a +branch which had been hastily torn from one of the fine trees at Camden +Place. Behind the hearse the young Prince Imperial walked alone, a pale, +thoughtful, delicate youth, who seemed little fitted to bear the burden +of the Pretendership. Behind him, in a single line, were four of his +father's cousins, of whom the most conspicuous was Prince Napoleon. His +likeness to the great Emperor was startling, and, as he walked +bareheaded, one could see that it was emphasised by the way in which he +had trained a solitary lock of hair upon his massive brow. + +The Emperor was buried in a temporary vault in the Catholic chapel of +Chislehurst. The building was too small to admit a tithe of the crowd of +French people who were present, but those who could not enter the chapel +knelt throughout the service on the damp grass of the churchyard. When +the funeral party returned to Camden House, I witnessed an unexpected and +dramatic scene. The mourners had come back, as they went, in absolute +silence. From highest to lowest, all seemed to be suffering from the +deepest depression. The young Prince was the first to step within the +door of the house. As he did so, he turned and bowed to the great company +of Frenchmen--the wreckage of his father's empire. Instantly every hat +was raised, and a tremendous cry went up, "_Vive Napoléon le +Quatre!_" The suddenness and unexpectedness of this acclamation of the +youth as the inheritor of the Napoleonic legend startled and impressed +all those of us who were present as spectators. + +Alas! in how brief a space of time I attended another funeral at Camden +Place, and saw the body of the boy, who had thus been hailed as Emperor, +carried across the breezy common to rest by his father's side. But now it +was with the sad music of military bands and the pomp and glitter of an +army in motion that the body was carried to the tomb. The Prince Imperial +was buried with the honours due not merely to a royal prince, but to an +English soldier. The Union Jack lay side by side with the tricolour upon +his coffin, and four English princes acted as pall-bearers. The Queen +herself watched from a pavilion erected above the wall of Camden Place +the passage of the funeral party from the house to the place of burial. +It was strange to think that this display of heartfelt sorrow, which was +shared alike by the highest and the lowest, had been drawn forth by the +death of the last representative of the Napoleonic Empire. But one could +not forget the opening words of the young Prince's will, in which he +declared that he died with a heart full of gratitude to the Queen of +England and her family. If that could have been the end of the Napoleonic +legend it would have been a fitting one; but even on the day of the +funeral of the Prince the truth that peace is seldom to be found in the +houses of the great was painfully illustrated. The chief mourner was +Prince Napoleon, to whom had fallen the second place only at the burial +of the Emperor. When the party came out of church the Prince took a +ceremonious farewell of the members of our Royal Family, and then, +disregarding the entreaties of the officials that he would return to +Camden Place and meet the greatly bereaved mother, leapt into his +carriage and in a harsh voice cried imperiously to the driver, "_A +Londres!_" + +After the curtain had fallen on the great drama of the Franco-German War +there was an interval during which this country was chiefly occupied with +questions of domestic interest. The Gladstone Ministry had completed its +great achievements. It had disestablished the Irish Church, abolished +purchase in the Army, established vote by ballot, reformed the Irish land +system, and, above all, had created a national system of education. To +Mr. Forster had fallen the high honour of carrying this last-named +measure, and it is an honour which seems even greater now than it did at +the moment when the Royal assent was given in 1870 to the Education Bill. +At that time, indeed, Forster met with criticism and abuse, rather than +admiration and gratitude, for his great achievement. As older persons +will remember, he excited the bitter hostility of the Dissenters and a +section of the Radicals because of his refusal to make a hopeless crusade +against the Church schools the basis of his educational policy. Even if +he had believed such a step to be just, he would have committed the +gravest of errors if he had yielded to Nonconformist clamour. It would +have been impossible, even in the Parliament of 1868, to have carried +such a Bill as the Birmingham Education League demanded, and there has +been no Parliament since then that would even have looked at such a task. +Remembering this fact, the injustice of the bitter attacks made upon Mr. +Forster by a certain section of the Radicals, among whom a young +Birmingham manufacturer named Joseph Chamberlain was now beginning to +make himself conspicuous, is manifest. + +One can only account for the acerbity with which Mr. Forster was attacked +on the ground that, both as a Radical and the son of Nonconformist +parents, he had excited the hope among the extreme party that he himself +would be as extreme as any of them. The wisdom with which he turned +existing institutions to account, and succeeded in masking the batteries +that the Church was ready to open upon any State system of education, was +denounced as cowardice and lukewarmness; and as a consequence of the +greatest triumph of his career--a triumph hardly excelled by any other +Minister of our time--he became the object of the undying suspicion and +hatred of a large number of the members of his own party. To the end of +my days it will be a cause of pride to me that, although myself an ardent +Liberal, and the son of a Nonconformist minister, I gave all the support +I could in the columns of the _Leeds Mercury_ to Mr. Forster. That +this support was of real importance to him was due to the fact that the +_Leeds Mercury_ circulated largely in Bradford, the town for which +Mr. Forster sat. + +My championship of Forster and his educational policy, though it had the +warm support of Sir Edward Baines and of the majority of Yorkshire +Liberals, brought upon me the heavy displeasure of the advanced Radicals. +Like Mr. Forster, I was regarded as a traitor to my principles, and again +and again in those days, when I attended public meetings, I heard the +_Leeds Mercury_ and its editor denounced by those who declared that +the Liberalism propounded in its columns was a feeble, milk-and-water +product, scarcely better than open and undiluted Toryism. Here I must +pause to interject one word of grateful acknowledgment of the generous +manner in which the proprietors of the _Mercury_ stood by me in +those stormy days, and encouraged me to give free expression to the +independent opinions that I had formed. It was a time of trial for +Liberalism in general, and it was also a time of trial for the young +editor who, in supporting what he believed to be the truth, had thus to +run counter to the convictions of a very important section of his +readers. Yet, looking back, I cannot say that I suffered any substantial +injury from the ordeal through which I had thus to pass. It is true that +for many years I was regarded with suspicion as being only a half-hearted +Liberal by a considerable section of my party in Yorkshire; but I had the +compensation of being allowed to speak my own mind, and of knowing that +my words were not without influence upon others. No greater compensation +than this can be desired by any publicist. + +It was not the education question alone that engaged the attention of the +public in the years 1872 and 1873, with which I am now dealing. The great +problem of the liquor traffic had been brought to the front, in a large +measure owing to the spirited but somewhat mischievous campaign +maintained at a great cost by the United Kingdom Alliance, in favour of +the measure known as the Permissive Bill. I have never been able to +understand why the promoters of the Permissive Bill should have made a +fetich of that very dubious measure. Yet for a whole generation it has +been their shibboleth, and, no matter what might be the aims or the +virtues of the man who refused to pronounce it, the supporters of the +Permissive Bill have regarded him as an enemy. They, at least, have not +laid themselves open to the charge of trimming. For more than thirty +years the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill, has been their +cry; and as a consequence they have seen these years pass without the +carrying of any real amendment of our licensing system. + +In 1873 the Gladstone Government, now drawing towards the close of its +remarkable history, introduced a great measure of licensing reform, known +at the time as Mr. Bruce's Bill. It was a wise and statesmanlike scheme, +and if it had been carried it would have wrought a beneficent social +revolution in this country. But the Government, in their attempt to deal +in a practical way with the evils of our drink system, had to face not +only the opposition of the unholy alliance of the pulpit and the +beer-shop, but the hostility of the United Kingdom Alliance and its +supporters throughout the country. It was from the friends of the +Permissive Bill, rather than from the friends of the Tory party and the +publicans, that the Government scheme received its death-blow. The +fanatical opposition of extreme politicians had not proved fatal to Mr. +Forster's Education Bill, and as a consequence we have had for thirty +years a great national system of education at work in England, producing +results of immeasurable value. But the fanatics did kill Mr. Bruce's +Licensing Bill, and the thirty years that have followed have in +consequence seen no amelioration of the greatest of our social evils. The +_Leeds Mercury_ gave an uncompromising support to the Government +proposals with regard to the licensing system, and I thus roused against +myself the anger and ill-will of the adherents of the United Kingdom +Alliance, who were no less bitter against me than were the extreme +Radicals and Dissenters. I have no desire to fight my battles over again +in these pages, but the reader will understand that the editor of a +Liberal newspaper who was thus placed in a position of antagonism to more +than one important section of his party had not an altogether happy lot. +Yet I enjoyed it. I had my full measure of confidence in the soundness of +my own opinions, that great characteristic of the young journalist, and +in my many encounters with the foes of my own household I always tried +not to come off second-best. + +The year 1873 was memorable to me in another and more personal sense. On +the 26th of March I married again. My second wife, who, I am glad to say, +still survives, was Miss Louisa Berry, of Headingley, Leeds. This union +brought with it settled domestic happiness, and gave me once more what I +needed--solace and sympathy under my own roof. Here perhaps, as I have +touched upon private affairs, is the right place to speak about my +children. The eldest, John Alexander, was born in London, and is the only +child of my first marriage. The other two, my daughter Eleanor and my +younger son Harold, were born at Headingley, during my later Leeds life. +Surely nothing to a man immersed in public work can be more helpful than +the loving devotion--it was never denied to me--of those who turn what +would otherwise be a mere dwelling place into a home. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A NEW ERA IN PROVINCIAL JOURNALISM. + +Bringing the _Leeds Mercury_ into Line with the London +Dailies--Friendship with William Black--The Dissolution of 1874--The +Election at Leeds--Mr. Chamberlain's Candidature for Sheffield--Mr. +Gladstone's Resignation--Election of his Successor--Birth of the +Caucus--The System Described--Its Adoption at Leeds--Its Effect upon the +Fortunes of the Liberal Party--The Bulgarian Atrocities Agitation. + + +It was in the autumn of 1873 that I undertook a formidable task as a +journalist. I had long been of opinion that the provincial daily papers, +if they were properly organised, might make themselves independent of the +London dailies, and prevent the latter from competing with the local +press. Having convinced the proprietors of the _Mercury_ of the +soundness of my views, I looked out for allies elsewhere. The +_Manchester Guardian_ was the chief rival in those days of the +_Leeds Mercury_ in the great district comprising East Lancashire and +Yorkshire. The _Guardian_ was conducted with spirit and energy, and +I had been annoyed to find that it was gradually pushing its way into +that which we regarded as the territory of the _Mercury_. I +accordingly proposed to the local rival of the _Guardian_, the +_Manchester Examiner_, that it should enter into an alliance with +the _Leeds Mercury_ for the improvement of both newspapers. My +proposal was rejected with great promptitude by the managers of the +_Examiner_. They declared that they regarded the costly efforts that +were being made by the _Guardian_ to establish its preeminence in +Lancashire as a ridiculous waste of money, and plainly intimated that +they would never attempt to enter into a competition which, in their +opinion, savoured of stark lunacy. + +Long afterwards I remembered my negotiations with the _Examiner_ +when I saw that newspaper, after passing through a lingering decline, +finally absorbed by its successful rival, the _Guardian_. Baffled at +Manchester, I turned my eyes to another quarter. The _Glasgow +Herald_ suffered in Scotland from the spirited management of the +_Scotsman_ as we were suffering from the enterprise of the +_Manchester Guardian_. I went to Glasgow and laid my proposals +before the proprietors and editor of the _Herald_. After some +negotiations they were accepted, and a working alliance was established +between the _Leeds Mercury_ and the _Glasgow Herald_, which +only came to an end in 1900. We established a joint London office, with +special wires to Leeds and Glasgow respectively. (I ought to say that the +_Herald_, like the _Scotsman_, already had its special wire +from London.) We formed a thoroughly efficient editorial staff to do the +work of the London office, and we entered into an arrangement with one of +the London daily papers by which we secured access to all the information +it received. In this way I was able to guarantee the readers of the +_Leeds Mercury_ as good a supply of important London news as they +could obtain in one of the London dailies. I went further than this, +however, and took a step of the wisdom of which I am not now so fully +convinced as I was in 1873. This was the installation of a night editor +in our office in Fleet Street, whose business it was to secure the +earliest copies of the London morning papers and to telegraph from them +over our private wires any special items of news that those papers +contained, and that were not supplied by the ordinary agencies. The +_Times_ was hostile to this new departure, and we had some +difficulty in getting copies of the paper for the purpose of our "morning +express," as we called the new service. The other London dailies did not +object. The result was that a great part of each day's issue of the +_Leeds Mercury_ contained all the special items of news published in +the chief London newspapers of the same morning. It was a bold and +audacious innovation in the methods of English journalism, and I need not +say that it was one that was quickly imitated by others. + +Besides making arrangements for a special report of Parliament, I +extended the old London letter of the _Mercury_ by securing for it a +number of contributors who were interested in different fields of +activity. Hitherto it had only been political. I now gave it a social and +literary character as well. It was in carrying out this part of my work +that I first became the intimate friend of William Black. I had met him +years before, but our friendship was of the slightest until I induced him +to take a leading part in the London correspondence of the +_Mercury_. He was at that time assistant-editor of the _Daily +News_, but he did not like the work, and was anxious to be relieved of +the drudgery of nightly attendance at the office in Bouverie Street. I +was able to offer him terms which justified him in relinquishing his +connection with the _Daily News_. He was just beginning his career +as a brilliantly successful novelist. "A Daughter of Heth" had won the +favour both of the critics and the public, and this he had followed up +with "The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton." The arrangement he made with +the _Leeds Mercury_ enabled him to devote his time and strength to +fiction, and, as I have said, it brought us into a relationship which +quickly ripened into one of affectionate intimacy. + +There never was a man who stood the sharp test of prosperity better than +did Black. When we first became intimate he was just beginning to be +known, but within a year or two from that time he had become the most +popular of English novelists, and had become famous throughout the +civilised world. Obscure or famous, he was just the same. To a rare +simplicity of manner he added a chivalrousness of spirit that was almost +an inspiration to those who were brought into contact with him. As a +friend he scarcely had an equal. In all the affairs of life he would make +his friend's cause his own, and fight for it with an energy and +enthusiasm that few men are capable of showing, even on behalf of their +own interests. At a time, for example, when he was deep in the writing of +one of his own greatest novels, he voluntarily undertook the work of a +dying friend as a contributor to the Press, in order to ensure the +payment of his salary to the end of his life. I remember meeting him once +on his way to that friend's room, carrying in one hand a hare and in the +other a can containing some soup or other delicacy. He was very +particular about his appearance, always smart in his dress, and +rigorously observant of the social _convenances_; yet these +characteristics did not prevent his walking through the streets of London +on a summer afternoon laden in this fashion. My first dinner with him was +at the Pall Mall Club, in Waterloo Place, at the end of 1873. He had +another young man of our own age to share the entertainment, and behind +his back he spoke of this young man--who was, like himself, a +Scotsman--with an enthusiastic admiration. He was an artist who had just +come up to try his fortune in London, and that fortune, Black declared, +could be nothing less than the Academy. He was right, for the man who +made the third at that little dinner-party was the late Colin Hunter, +A.R.A. + +Black lived in those days in a roomy, old-fashioned house in Camberwell +Grove; and here, in course of time, I spent many a pleasant evening with +him. His second wife, a charming North-country lady, was, as most now +know, the original of "The Princess of Thule," the heroine of the book of +that name, and the portrait was far more true to life than most sketches +of heroines drawn from reality are. Black's mother, a kindly old +Scotswoman, justly proud of her son, was another inmate of the house. It +was from her I learned that Coquette, the bewitching creature who plays +the chief part in "A Daughter of Heth," had for her original Black's +first wife. I discovered for myself that the author was the original of +"The Whaup," and when I taxed him with it he did not deny the fact. One +evening, after dinner at Camberwell Grove, we went for a walk together. +When we reached the top of the Grove he drew my attention to a pleasant +little villa standing in its own ground. "James Drummond," he said, +"lives there." I wondered who James Drummond was, but said nothing. +By-and-bye, as we pursued our way, he pointed out other houses, and told +me the names of their occupants, all utterly unknown to me. At last I +said, "Who are these people, Black? I don't know one of them." "You soon +will know them, though, my boy," he answered. "Just wait and see if you +don't." And sure enough, when "Madcap Violet" appeared, all the unknown +personages of that night-walk at Camberwell were straightway revealed to +me. + +Black had an artist's eye and the soul of a poet. In general company he +was shy and ill at ease. If he talked at all to strangers, he talked with +nervous volubility, and too often perhaps with little meaning. In this +respect he reminded one of Goldsmith. But when he was with a friend, and +could open his heart freely, he gave you glimpses of a most beautiful +nature, a noble sense of chivalry, and the keenest eye in the world for +catching those gleams of spiritual light that sometimes illuminate even +the dullest of the bare realities of life. He was always sketching his +friends, and making them figure in his stories; but he did it in such a +fashion that the person drawn never recognised his portrait. He once +admitted that he had made use of me as a lay-figure in his literary +studio, but I was never able to discover by what character I was supposed +to be represented. As a rule, he was much too kind to his friends when +drawing their portraits, for he liked to think the best and say the best +of a man. Only once in my long friendship with him did I know him to +exercise his power of making a man whom he disliked appear odious in his +pages. But this particular person was so odious in reality that everybody +felt that Black had only done him justice. Of course, Black was careful +to give no clue to the identity of the disagreeable man which could be of +the slightest use to the general reader. A few of us knew perfectly well +who was meant, but that was all. Unfortunately, the particular story in +which this person figured was first published serially in an illustrated +magazine, and by some extraordinary chance--or mischance--the artist, in +depicting the disagreeable man, drew a portrait of the actual original +that was positively startling in its likeness. No one who knew him opened +the magazine without saying at once, "Why, here's a portrait of +So-and-so." And yet the likeness was absolutely accidental. Black assured +me that the artist knew nothing of the original disagreeable man, and had +never even seen him. It was all a freak of the long arm of coincidence. + +I do not know whether I may not be boring my readers in telling these +little stories about works of fiction which they may never have read or +have cared to read. Yet those of us who can recall the refreshment and +delight which Black's earlier books spread amongst us will never allow +that the shadow of eclipse that now lies upon his literary fame is either +deserved or likely to prove lasting. No novelist of his century--alas! +this new century has begun without William Black--had his power of +painting a woman's heart and soul, or his deft grace in making the +portrait at once real and ideal. I do not wish to overpraise, but the man +who could draw Coquette, and Sheila, and Madcap Violet was, I hold, a +master in his craft. That he was, in a very literal sense, an artist in +words, is universally admitted. There are passages in his writings which, +in their power of conjuring up before the mind of the reader the scenes +they describe, are not surpassed by anything that Ruskin himself ever +wrote. The fact is that Black's sympathies drew him more strongly to art +than to literature. If he could have had his way, I think he would rather +have been a great painter than a great writer, and certainly he always +loved the company of artists better than that of journalists and men of +letters. He was most at his ease in the studios of his friends. He was +never so full of an eager, effervescent happiness as at the private view +at the Academy, when, seizing you by the arm, he would lead you from +picture to picture, pointing out the merits of each, and ending up by +introducing you to the artist. The artists, on their side, held him in no +common esteem, and long regarded him as first of those among the writers +of the day who had a real appreciation of and sympathy with art. + +I must leave Black for the present, however, and return to Leeds, and the +events of 1874. My special wire and London arrangements had not been long +in existence before they received a most unexpected justification. One +night in February, 1874, when seated in my editor's room, I received over +the private wire a telegram that took my breath away. It was from our +London sub-editor, announcing that Parliament was to be dissolved +immediately, and that Mr. Gladstone had written a long address to the +electors of Greenwich, explaining his policy and intentions. My informant +added that this startling news was still a profound secret in London, and +that in all probability no other newspaper in Yorkshire would get +possession of it. Everybody interested in our political history now knows +the story of that bolt from the blue. It came with absolute +unexpectedness, and some even of Mr. Gladstone's own colleagues in the +Cabinet were taken by surprise. I know, at all events, of one member of +the Ministry who was staying at the time in a country house in Yorkshire, +and who, when the _Leeds Mercury_, with its announcement of the +dissolution and the long address of Mr. Gladstone to the Greenwich +electors, was brought to him, insisted that the paper must have been +hoaxed. Mr. Gladstone had kept his secret so well that at six o'clock on +the evening of the day on which he penned his manifesto there were not +twenty people in all England who knew what was about to happen. So far as +the _Leeds Mercury_ was concerned, this startling step ensured for +it a great success. No other newspaper in Yorkshire--and, if I remember +rightly, only one other provincial paper in England--was able to announce +the great event. The _Mercury_ accompanied the manifesto with a +"double-leaded" leader, and of course made the most of so precious a +piece of news. Those who doubted the wisdom of the increased expenditure +to which I had induced the proprietors of the paper to consent, doubted +no longer. + +The General Election which followed immediately upon the dissolution was +a short but very bitter contest. It ended in the rout of the Liberal +party, a rout almost as signal and complete as that which befel it +twenty-one years later, in 1895. Mr. Disraeli, who had been nowhere at +the polls in 1868, was suddenly swept into the highest place by those +"harassed interests" which Mr. Gladstone's great administration had +offended by a policy that Disraeli described as one of "plundering and +blundering." It was, in reality, a policy which preferred the interests +of the nation to those of the privileged classes. In Leeds, where I had +now, for the first time as editor of a daily newspaper, to taste the +doubtful joys of a General Election, a fight of extraordinary vehemence +was waged. + +Leeds was one of the three-cornered constituencies created by the Reform +Bill of 1867, and its representatives at the time of the dissolution were +Sir Edward Baines, Mr. Carter, an advanced Radical, very popular with the +working-classes, and Mr. Wheelhouse, a Conservative barrister. Sir Edward +Baines was the only one of the three who had achieved a Parliamentary +reputation. He had represented Leeds for fifteen years, and he was +recognised as its principal citizen by the community at large. He was a +total abstainer and an ardent advocate of temperance reform, but in the +eyes of the fanatical supporters of the Permissive Bill he had committed +the unpardonable sin in giving his adherence to Mr. Bruce's measure. So, +in spite of his character and his public services, they brought out +against him one of the agents of the United Kingdom Alliance. The Tories +had brought out a local gentleman named Tennant as their second +candidate. He was a man of many occupations, including that of a brewer. +The fight which followed was the most bitter in which I have ever been +engaged. Practically, Edward Baines stood alone, getting no help from +Carter. The Liberal party had fallen to pieces, and Edward Baines, as a +supporter of the Government, had to bear the weight of the offence given +both to the Radical Nonconformists and to the rabid teetotallers. The +Alliance candidate must have known that he had no chance of winning the +seat, but he persisted in his opposition to Sir Edward Baines, though the +effect of defeating him would be to secure the election of the local +brewer. Such are the extremes to which men allow themselves to be carried +at times of excitement. The end of the struggle was the defeat of Sir +Edward Baines, and the return of Carter, Wheelhouse, and Tennant. What +happened in Leeds happened in a great many other places. The teetotallers +deliberately wrecked the only Government which was prepared to reform the +licensing system. They have had more than a quarter of a century in which +to repent their folly. + +It was, of course, in the Leeds election that I felt the deepest personal +interest; but the _Mercury_ had to take note of all the elections in +Yorkshire, and some of these were of special interest. At Sheffield a +candidate came forward in the extreme Radical interest whose speeches +attracted some notice in Yorkshire, though they passed unobserved by the +larger public beyond. This was Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who now made his +first attempt to win Parliamentary honours. Up to that moment I had only +known Mr. Chamberlain as a young Birmingham politician who was fond of +saying things both bitter and flippant, not only about his political +opponents, but about the older members of his own party. He had made +himself one of the buglemen in the cry raised against Mr. Forster, +towards whom he seemed to entertain a feeling of almost personal +antipathy. At Sheffield he made himself conspicuous by his sneers at Mr. +Gladstone and almost all the recognised leaders of Liberalism. His own +political opinions appeared to be based upon a crude and intolerant +Radicalism of the Socialistic type. He evidently believed that promises +of material benefits would enable him to win the support of the mass of +the electors, and he conceived also that the best method of displacing +his seniors in the party of which he was a member was to assail them with +a rather coarse invective. These methods did not commend themselves to +the electors of Sheffield, and Mr. Chamberlain was soundly beaten. But he +had great ability, accompanied by great force of character, and all the +world knows how his ability and forcefulness have since carried him to +one of the highest places in political life. It is, however, not as a +Radical, but as a militant Tory that he now figures before the world. + +I should not have dwelt upon the Sheffield election of 1874 but for the +fact that it was this election which made me one of Mr. Chamberlain's +political opponents. I did not like the way in which he spoke of men who +had been serving the country before he himself was born; and, without +questioning his honesty, I came to the conclusion that personal ambition +played a large part in his political professions. It followed that from +1874 onwards the _Leeds Mercury_ was never friendly to Mr. +Chamberlain, and never gave him its confidence, even at a time when he +was the idol of English Radicalism. For years I had to suffer because of +this attitude towards the Birmingham politician; and many a time, when I +have been sitting on the platform at a political meeting in Leeds, some +speaker has inveighed fiercely against me because of my want of faith in +Mr. Chamberlain. I had my revenge in 1885, when the Leeds Liberals swung +round to my view of that gentleman, and I was hailed--quite +undeservedly--as a prophet because I had always distrusted one whom they +now not only distrusted, but disliked and despised. + +Let me say, before leaving Mr. Chamberlain, that I still consider that +the worst blot upon his political career was the manner in which he +treated Mr. Forster. No doubt his dislike of Mr. Forster was in the first +instance inspired by his repugnance to the Education Act; but I cannot +help saying that in later years it degenerated into what, at any rate, +looked like a feeling of antipathy towards the man who, at that time, was +regarded as standing high in the succession to Mr. Gladstone as leader of +the Liberal party. When I come to deal with the events of 1882, I shall +have something to say of the part which Mr. Chamberlain played towards +Mr. Forster in the painful events which issued in the latter's withdrawal +from Mr. Gladstone's second Administration. + +The Liberals of England were naturally very despondent after the +unexpected _débācle_ of 1874. They had believed that the good works +of a Government which had wrought so much for the public benefit would +have been appreciated by the great mass of the electors, and they were +unfeignedly astonished at the verdict returned by the country. They had +not taken into account that swing of the pendulum which has so large an +influence in popular constituencies. Nor had they noted the extent to +which the unity of the Liberal party, and its consequent strength, had +been impaired by the action of advanced sections, who were so +passionately bent upon carrying the measures in which they were +themselves most deeply interested that they did not stop to count the +cost of their proceedings on the fortunes of the party as a whole. It +took some little time to recover our spirits after that heavy blow, but +soon some of us began to feel that in time "the loppčd tree would grow +again." I was helped in coming to this conclusion by some words addressed +to me by a shrewd old Yorkshire Tory, which I have remembered gratefully +ever since. "I suppose you Liberals really think, as the fools of the +Tory newspapers seem to do, that your party is finished for ever and a +day. Don't make any such mistake. A Ministry no sooner begins to live +than it begins to die. Our people are in the full flush of triumph just +now, but already they are beginning to die." The shrewd good sense of my +friend has often struck me since, and many a time I have had occasion to +notice how quickly the process of decay sets in after the formation of +even the strongest Governments. + +The chief event in the history of the Liberal party in the year +succeeding its great defeat was the unexpected resignation by Mr. +Gladstone of his post of leader. I am not concerned either to defend or +to blame this episode in the career of a very great man whom I followed +with enthusiasm and an unfaltering devotion for many years, but who had, +as I was always conscious, some of the defects of his qualities, and +whose action in a given case could never be predicted with confidence. +There is no doubt that Mr. Gladstone, old Parliamentary hand as he was, +even in 1875, had a very real dislike for those personal intrigues and +jealousies which play so large a part behind the scenes in our public +life. It is a curious fact that for nearly forty years no intrigues were +more active, and no jealousies more bitter, than those which had relation +to Mr. Gladstone himself. There was always someone ready to intrigue +against him. There were always those who thought that, if only he could +be got out of the way, there might possibly be room for themselves upon +the top of the mountain. In 1868 the representatives of this class had +protested against his being allowed to become Prime Minister. In 1874 +they, or their successors, were still louder in their protests against +his being allowed ever again to form an administration. He was a defeated +Minister, and some of them took care to bring this fact home to him in as +unpleasant a way as possible. One, at least, had good reason to repent of +his audacity. No one who was in the House of Commons on the memorable +afternoon when Sir William Harcourt tried a fall with Mr. Gladstone, and +met with such terrific punishment, is ever likely to forget the scene. It +was said at the time by a humorous observer describing the debate that +when Sir William--"my own Solicitor-General, I believe," as Mr. Gladstone +said in describing him--had listened to the speech in which his late +chief inflicted due chastisement upon him, like one of Bret Harte's +heroes "he smiled a kind of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor, And +the subsequent proceedings interested him no more." Mr. Gladstone's +resignation of the leadership at the beginning of 1875 was not, I think, +unconnected with the fact that he knew that there were certain active +spirits in the Liberal party who, believing themselves fully equal to any +position to which they might be called, were unfeignedly anxious that +they should have at least a chance of arriving at the front place. + +Yet, when Mr. Gladstone did resign the leadership, no one named any of +these intriguers as his possible successor; and it may be noted here that +none of the intriguers has even yet secured the reward he coveted. The +two names mentioned as those of possible leaders in 1875 were those of +Mr. Forster and Lord Hartington. I name them in this order because Mr. +Forster was first suggested, and the suggestion came not from any +wire-pullers or clique, but from the body of Liberals as a whole. But Mr. +Forster's enemies on the Opposition benches, though not very numerous, +were very bitter, and they at once put forward as the strongest card they +could play against Mr. Forster the name of Lord Hartington. Lord +Hartington was, like Forster himself, a man of high character, to whom no +taint of intrigue attached. He had not offended any section of the party +in the way in which Forster had offended the Nonconformists, and, above +all, he was the son and heir of the Duke of Devonshire. Social influence +counts for a great deal in political life in this country, but there was +another factor that also counted in favour of Lord Hartington. This was +the fact that he could not sit in the House of Commons after his father's +death, and that, consequently, if he were chosen, he would be more or +less of a stopgap. A stopgap is, of course, always popular with the +intriguer who knows that he himself has not yet arrived. + +A tremendous effort was made on behalf of Lord Hartington. I am doubtful +whether it would have succeeded if the struggle had been carried to the +end. Mr. Forster's friends were in earnest, and they comprised the +majority of what might be called the Moderate party on the Opposition +benches. But Forster himself settled the question by withdrawing from the +candidature, and thus prevented an unseemly contest. It is now known that +Lord Hartington himself would have taken this course if Forster had not +done so. They were two straightforward, honourable rivals, and they acted +throughout this business like English gentlemen. That which made the +election of Lord Hartington to the leadership bitter to those who, like +myself, had strongly advocated the claims of Mr. Forster, was our +knowledge of the fact that he had really been defeated by the opposition +of the Birmingham League, and of those Radicals who were prepared to +sacrifice the larger interests of Liberalism to their own personal +antipathies and sectional views. + +Indeed, it may be said that with this election of Lord Hartington to the +Liberal leadership the reign of the caucus commenced. The dejected +Liberals were resolved, if possible, to organise victory, and at +Birmingham men were found who were not only prepared to assist them in +the task, but who were quite ready to assume the lead of the Liberal +forces throughout the country. All the talk that one heard in political +circles in those days was of caucuses on the Birmingham plan, and of the +rise of the National Liberal Federation, the existence of which people +were just dimly beginning to recognise. I am not writing the history of +the National Liberal Federation, and I pretend to no special knowledge on +the subject of its origin. Popular opinion credits Mr. Schnadhorst, the +famous organiser, of Birmingham, and subsequently of London, with the +authorship of the scheme. But I doubt the truth of this. I knew Mr. +Schnadhorst well, and had a great respect for him as a man at once +honest, sagacious, and of much simplicity of character. But he was not +intellectually great, nor was he the astute and unscrupulous Machiavelli +his opponents believed him to be. The Birmingham caucus, which became a +model for all other Liberal constituencies, was probably founded by the +joint efforts of several men, among whom Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Powell +Williams, as well as Mr. Schnadhorst, were to be counted. + +The plan of the caucus was delightfully simple. A constituency--and those +were the days of big constituencies--was divided into districts, and the +Liberals of each district were allotted a certain number of seats on the +Central Liberal Association. This Association generally consisted of so +many hundreds of persons, and it thus came to pass that the Association +became known as the Huddersfield Two Hundred, the Leeds Four Hundred, the +Birmingham Six Hundred, and so on. On a given day in each constituency, +the Liberal electors in the various districts met, and elected their +representatives on the Central Association. Every known Liberal had a +vote, so that the constitution of the central body was, in theory at all +events, delightfully democratic. These associations were designed to +sweep away the old system of Liberal committees, influenced by local +magnates, which had prevailed ever since the passing of the Reform Bill. +There was a strong belief among the inventors of the caucus that by means +of this plan they would secure the predominance of the advanced Radical +party. The old privileges of wealth and rank were henceforth to count for +nothing in the councils of Liberalism. Every man was to have a vote, not +merely for a member of Parliament, but for the local body which was to +select candidates, manage local political affairs, and generally +determine the character of the Liberalism professed by the constituency. +Every year the different Hundreds were to elect representatives who were +to act as their delegates at the conferences of the National Liberal +Federation; and the Federation itself was to be regarded as the +legitimate and indisputable representative of the Liberalism of the +country as a whole. + +It was a bold and far-reaching scheme, and whatever its effect may have +been in temporarily restoring the fortunes of Liberalism, its influence +upon the political life of England has been great, and--I fear I must +say--has not been beneficial. The founders of the caucus professed to +resent the intrusion of the influence of money into political affairs. +Within certain limits this was an admirable attitude. But its practical +effect has been to drive the greater proportion of the moneyed classes +out of the Liberal party. They further professed to wish to put an end to +the influence exercised by cliques and privileged classes or persons in +the party. The majority was to rule under all conceivable circumstances. +Those who, like myself, have had an active and intimate association with +the caucus and the Federation know that in practice the new system, so +far from destroying the rule of cliques, merely substituted one set of +cliques for another. The active busybody, who had little business of his +own to attend to, or to whom the position of member of a local committee +was one to be striven after for the sake of the dignity attaching to it, +became the ruling spirit of the caucus. In thousands of cases the older +and more sober Liberals were driven out of the councils of their party in +disgust, and more and more the extreme men, who were fighting in earnest +for some special object or fad, became the predominant powers in +Liberalism. This was the change that was gradually wrought in the Liberal +party between 1875 and 1885. + +At the outset I was vehemently opposed to the new methods, and protested +stoutly against them in the _Leeds Mercury_. It was not very long, +indeed, before I had personal experience of the way in which the caucus +system worked. Mr. Carter, the Radical, who had been returned for Leeds +in 1874, retired from Parliament two years later. It would have been the +natural and proper course for the Liberal party to invite its former +representative, Sir Edward Baines, to become a candidate for the vacancy. +He was the man who undoubtedly had the chief claim upon the Liberal party +in the town. A meeting of the newly-formed Liberal Association was called +to consider the question of choosing a candidate. As editor of the chief +Liberal paper, I had been taken into the counsels of the local Liberal +leaders ever since assuming that post, had been invited to attend the +meetings of their committee, and found that they were at all times +desirous of securing my support. When I spoke to one of the officials of +the new Association of the meeting that was to be held to choose a +candidate, and mentioned my intention of attending, I was bluntly told +that I should not be admitted. I had not, it appeared, been elected a +member of the Four Hundred. As a matter of fact, very few persons in +Leeds had known anything about the election of this body when it took +place. It was a startling revelation of the change that had taken place +to be thus refused admittance to a body which, in former times, would +have been only too anxious to secure my support. + +The President of the Association, to whom I went to demand admittance, +stood upon the strict letter of the law. I had not been elected by my +district committee, which held its meetings in a local public-house, and +it was therefore impossible that I should be allowed to attend the +deliberations of the sacred body. Looking back, I can see that the +president was absolutely justified in the line he took. It might seem +absurd to shut out from a meeting of Liberals the person who, by reason +of his position, had more political influence in Leeds than any other +man. But "logic is logic," and under the new system any claim founded +upon mere influence, or even upon past services, was inadmissible. I was +too young, however, to acknowledge this fact at the time, and I bluntly +delivered an ultimatum to the President of the Association. "You may hold +your caucus meeting," I said, "but if it is to be private so far as I am +concerned, it shall be private so far as the reporters of the _Leeds +Mercury_ are concerned also. I shall simply ignore your proceedings, +and to-morrow the _Leeds Mercury_ will make its own nomination for +the vacancy." This was all very wrong, I fear, and most irregular. +Indeed, remembering what power the caucus system subsequently attained, I +look back with something like astonishment at my own audacious action. +But the caucus was still in its infancy, and my worthy friend the +President, after a hurried consultation with his fellow-officials, +capitulated. I was invited to be present at the meeting of the sacred +body. + +It was the first meeting of that description I had ever attended, but it +was typical of many that I have attended since then. As I expected, it +was proposed by those who had long been recognised as the leaders of the +Liberal party in Leeds that Sir Edward Baines should be the candidate. +Forthwith a most violent opposition was offered to the proposal by men +who had never before been heard of in Leeds politics, and some of whom +had only been resident in the town for a few months. I remember that the +most violent of these gentlemen was a schoolmaster from Birmingham, who +denounced Sir Edward Baines for the assistance he had given in the +passing of that iniquitous measure, the Education Act. Another gentleman +denounced him with equal violence because he was the proprietor of the +_Leeds Mercury_, a journal which had dared to speak disrespectfully +of the truest and most honest Liberal of the day, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. +That was the first occasion on which my fellow-Liberals in Leeds +belaboured me with the name of Mr. Chamberlain. On all sides I heard +extreme opinions expressed by men whose faces and names were quite +unfamiliar to me, and I found to my dismay that the more extreme the +opinions, the warmer was their reception by these representative +Liberals. They would hardly listen to their old leaders, who had grown +grey in fighting the battles of Liberalism. They treated with contumely +any words of soberness or moderation. They applauded even speakers who +were palpably selfish and insincere. As I listened to that debate, my +eyes were opened, and I realised the fact that a great revolution had +been suddenly and silently wrought, and that the control of the Liberal +party had, in a great measure, passed out of the hands of its old leaders +into those of the men who managed the new "machine." If I have been +tedious in telling this story of the caucus, it is still, I feel, one +that is worth telling, for it illustrates one, at least, of the great +changes in the political conditions of this country that have happened +during my lifetime. + +It was not, of course, Sir Edward Baines who was chosen as the Liberal +candidate. The choice of the caucus fell upon the worthy President of +that body, the late Sir John Barran, an amiable man and a good citizen, +though his claims to Parliamentary distinction at that time were +certainly unequal to those of Sir Edward Baines. The revolution had taken +place, however, and the Liberal party found itself under the command of +new masters. For some time after the establishment of the caucus, it +pursued a distinctly aggressive course, and inspired all of us with +alarm. In course of time, however, I realised the fact that there were +certain severe limitations upon its power. It could not stand against the +country when the country was in earnest. It could not give that +inspiration to a party without which victory cannot be achieved. No +amount of organisation, however skilfully devised, could supply the place +of a great popular movement. I became reconciled to the caucus when I +grasped these facts, and for a time I not only looked upon it as +harmless, but gave my assistance to it, locally in Leeds and, in its +national work, in the office of the National Liberal Federation. Yet I am +compelled to confess now that, though I have not altered my view as to +the limitations of the power of the party machine, I no longer regard it +as harmless. + +It is, I think, impossible to deny that very great harm has been done, +not merely to the spirit of Liberalism, but to the actual fortunes of the +Liberal party, by the new system. It has brought a new spirit into the +direction of our party, a spirit which is too apt to regard the catching +of votes as the one great object to be pursued and attained, no matter by +what means. It has given the mere machine man, the intriguer and +wire-puller, far greater power than it is right that he should possess, +seeing that as a rule his power is not accompanied by a corresponding +degree of responsibility. Above all, it has lowered the status of a +member of Parliament, and made him more or less of a delegate who is +bound to yield to the wishes, not of his constituents as a whole, but of +the party organisation which seeks to usurp the place of the +constituency. The story of the struggles of Mr. Forster with the Bradford +caucus is familiar to political students. I was mixed up with all those +struggles, and always on the side of Mr. Forster, who stoutly refused to +accept the dictation of the caucus and the theory that a member of +Parliament was no more than a delegate. He was victorious in his +prolonged struggle with the Bradford Radicals, but he only succeeded in +virtue of his own strength of character and dogged courage. Weaker men +went to the wall by scores, and, as they did so, the caucus, of which Mr. +Chamberlain was at this time the ruling spirit, gained strength, and +became the predominant factor in the Liberal party. + +In the early autumn of 1876 the most remarkable political agitation I +ever witnessed broke over the country with startling suddenness. +Parliament was just on the point of rising when the _Daily News_ +published its first account of the hideous crimes which became known as +the Bulgarian atrocities. Mr. Disraeli, when questioned in the House of +Commons, sneered at the reports in the _Daily News_ as being based +upon "coffee-house babble." If he really believed this, he must have been +strangely ill-informed. The terrible tale which shocked the civilised +world was communicated to the _Daily News_ by its Constantinople +correspondent, Mr. Edwin Pears. The man who supplied Mr. Pears with the +terrible facts which he gave to the world was Dr. Washbourne, the head of +the Robert College at Constantinople. I know both Mr. Pears and Dr. +Washbourne. They are men of the highest honour and integrity, whilst Dr. +Washbourne, who is by birth an American, has been for many years the best +authority on the question of the treatment of the Christians of the +Ottoman Empire by the Sultan. No one who knew the source from which the +_Daily News_ stories emanated could dream of dismissing those +stories as coffee-house babble. Mr. Disraeli, as a matter of duty, should +have made himself acquainted with the authority on which these stories +rested before he took it upon himself to denounce them as sensational +fables. But in spite of Mr. Disraeli, who at this very moment blossomed +into the Earl of Beaconsfield, an official investigation took place. Mr. +Walter Baring, who was attached to our Constantinople Embassy, was +directed to proceed to the scene of the alleged outrages, and to inquire +into the truth of the allegations made in the _Daily News_. Mr. +Baring was an English official of the best stamp. He not only ascertained +the truth, but he reported it in plain language to the Home Government. +It was then found that the _Daily News_ had, if anything, +understated the case. The ruffianly Bashi-Bazouks, employed by the Sultan +to keep down the Christians of European Turkey, had been let loose upon +the people of certain villages in Bulgaria and Roumelia, as a pack of +wolves might have been let loose upon a flock of sheep. + +The crimes that were committed do not admit of description. Thousands of +innocent people had been murdered in circumstances of atrocious cruelty. +Neither age nor sex had been respected. Indeed, children, old men, and +women seemed to be the favourite victims of the savages. Upon the women +every conceivable outrage was perpetrated before the knife of the +assassin cut short their misery. It was a story which, when told in the +dry, official language of a Foreign Office report, was still sufficient +to arouse a passion of righteous rage in the breast of any person endowed +with the ordinary instincts of humanity. The old fear of Russia as our +rival in Eastern Europe still constituted the chief influence in +determining our foreign policy, and the old idea of the Turk as our +friend and ally was still popular amongst us. But these revelations for +the moment reversed the national feeling on both these points. Mr. +Gladstone, roused to action by his sympathy with the victims of so cruel +an oppression, left his retirement at Hawarden and issued a pamphlet on +the Bulgarian horrors which raised the feeling of the country to a higher +point than I have ever known it reach before or since, except in some +crisis affecting our very existence as a State. + +That month of September, 1876, saw England and Scotland convulsed with a +terrible emotion. The old divisions of parties were effaced, and the +Government, because of its suspected sympathy with the Sultan, found +itself the object of almost universal execration. Naturally, the less +discreet politicians of the day were unable to control themselves under +the influence of the prevailing excitement. Many foolish and many +dangerous things were uttered at the meetings at which every town and +village gave expression to the horror inspired by the Sultan's crimes. +Mr. Gladstone's strongest utterances were seized upon by his fervent +admirers and were carried to an extreme from which he himself would have +shrunk. It was a whirlwind, a tornado of political passion that swept +over the country during those sunny September weeks. The impulse from +which it sprang was just and noble in itself; but who can hold a +whirlwind in check? It is not wonderful that this great outbreak of +national indignation did almost as much harm as good. + +The whole condition of our domestic politics was changed by this +Bulgarian atrocities agitation, as it was called. It riveted the +attention of the country upon a great question of foreign policy. It +weakened enormously, for the moment, the power of the Tory Government, +which still enjoyed so commanding a majority in Parliament. Domestic +affairs lost their savour for the ordinary elector, and, writing nearly a +quarter of a century after this episode, I am inclined to believe that +they have never since regained all that they then lost. In the late +autumn, a Conference on the subject of our relations with Turkey was held +in St. James's Hall. This was no demonstration on the part of a caucus, +but a gathering of the notables of all the great towns of England. No +doubt the majority of those present were Liberals, but a very +considerable minority were Conservatives who had hitherto supported the +Government. It was my good fortune to be present at that wonderful +meeting in St. James's Hall. Never was there such a political platform +seen at a public meeting before. Mr. Gladstone, Lord Shaftesbury, the +Dukes of Westminster and Argyll, Mr. Freeman, the historian, the Bishop +of Oxford, Henry Fawcett--these are but a few of the names that occur to +my memory as I recall the memorable scene. Great Tory noblemen like the +Marquess of Bath sat side by side with Radicals from Birmingham, and the +passionate earnestness, amounting to something more than enthusiasm, that +inspired the whole gathering was remarkable. It may be said to have +marked the high tide of political agitation in my own experience. + +A simple accident had saved me from the full force of the contagion of +passion that swept over the country in September. I had left Leeds to +spend some weeks with my family in a house on the Clyde, where I was far +from the sounds of political tumult. Possibly, if I had stayed in Leeds +at my post at the _Mercury_ office, I might have gone with the tide, +and might have been just as extreme and as reckless as anybody else. But +I looked on from a distance, and, as it happened, I was absorbed at the +time in other work. The consequence was that I could see the evil, as +well as the good, of this extraordinary upheaval of popular emotion, and +when I returned later on to my work at Leeds I took a cooler view of the +whole question than most Liberal journalists did, and dealt with it, not +from the merely emotional standpoint, but from that of our duty and +interests as a people. Of course, I was blamed for this by the more +fervent, and was suspected of being at heart little better than a +philo-Turk. I had, in short, to meet the usual fate of the man who will +not cry either black or white when it is his misfortune to see only a +confusion of colours. By-and-by, however, when the popular passion +subsided, and the old alarm about Russia again became rampant, I found +myself blamed for precisely the opposite reason. I was no longer assailed +as a philo-Turk, but as a Russophil. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +CONTRIBUTIONS TO BRONTĖ LITERATURE. + +A Visit to Haworth--Feeling Against the Brontės in Yorkshire--Miss Nussey +and her Discontent with Mrs. Gaskell's "Me"--Publication of "Charlotte +Brontė: a Monograph"--Mr. Swinburne's Appreciation--An Abortive Visit to +the Poet--Lecture on Emily Brontė and "Wuthering Heights"--Miss Nussey's +Visit to Haworth after Charlotte's Marriage. + + +I have said that during the stormy days of the atrocities agitation I was +engaged in other work than that of political writing. This was the +completion of a little book in which I gave my impressions of Charlotte +and Emily Brontė to the public. The story of Charlotte Brontė, as told by +Mrs. Gaskell, had always possessed a great fascination for me. I had been +moved to write to Mrs. Gaskell when her biography of Charlotte appeared, +and I had received from her more than one letter filled with interesting +details about Charlotte's father, and his life after his daughter's +death. When I went to Leeds in 1866, the first pilgrimage I made was to +Haworth. That was less than eleven years after Charlotte's death, and at +a time when there were, of course, many persons still living in the +village who had a perfect recollection of the wonderful sisters. But, +strange to say, Haworth was not in those days a popular "shrine." "Whiles +some Americans come to see the church, but nobody else," was the +statement made to me when I asked the sexton if there were many visitors +to the home of the Brontės. + +My visit furnished me with a theme for a descriptive article which was +printed in _Chambers's Journal_ in 1867, and, having written it, I +believed that my connection with the Brontės was at an end. But when I +went back to Leeds in 1870, I was struck by the fact that throughout the +West Riding of Yorkshire there prevailed a widespread feeling that was +nothing less than one of positive antipathy to the works and the story of +the Brontės. Their books, though they dealt with local scenes and +characters, were no longer read. In that respect, however, the West +Riding hardly differed from the rest of England. What was peculiar to +Yorkshire was the fact that, if you mentioned the name of Brontė in any +average company, the chances were in favour of your being met with an +indignant snort from someone who protested that Charlotte's stories were +a disgraceful libel upon the district, and that "Wuthering Heights" was a +book so dreadful in its character that its author would only have met +with her deserts if she had been soundly whipped for writing it. I met +more than one lady who had known the Brontės, and who, in reply to my +eager questioning, spoke of them with undisguised contempt. I was assured +that they were not ladies, that they were not even successful as +governesses, that their father and brother were a pair of reprobates, and +that they themselves, being embittered by the fact that they were not +admitted to the good society of their neighbourhood, had deliberately +revenged themselves by writing scurrilous libels and caricatures in order +to bring Yorkshire men and women into contempt. It all seems incredible +now; yet this was the actual state of feeling prevalent in Yorkshire with +regard to the Brontės thirty years ago. + +I was asked to deliver a lecture before some literary society in Leeds, +and it seemed to me that I could not do better than tell the story of the +Brontės; and defend them against the aspersions cast upon them by their +old neighbours. Accordingly, I wrote a lecture which was the foundation +of the little book I subsequently published on the same subject. Miss +Nussey, Charlotte's schoolfellow and bosom friend, and the "dear E." of +Mrs. Gaskell's "Life," was then living at Birstall, near Leeds. She heard +of my lecture through some mutual friend, and expressed a desire to be +allowed to read it. After having done so, she asked me to visit her--a +request with which I gladly complied. I found her a cheerful, neat, and +well-preserved woman, who, though she was well advanced in middle life, +retained a good deal of the charm of manner with which Caroline Helstone, +in the delightful story of "Shirley," is endowed. + +I am well aware that the identity of Ellen Nussey and Caroline Helstone +has been questioned by some recent writers, and that Mr. Nicholls, who +was for a few months Charlotte Brontė's husband, is quoted in support of +this denial. All I can say is, first, that Miss Nussey acknowledged to me +the truth of the statement that she had served as a model for Caroline +Helstone, just as Emily Brontė served as a model for Shirley herself; and +secondly, that it was impossible for anyone to know Miss Nussey in those +days without seeing how vivid and truthful Charlotte's portrait of her +was. Almost her first words to me when I met her expressed her regret +that Mrs. Gaskell had not done justice to Charlotte's life and character +in her famous Memoir. To me this was rank heresy, for, like most other +persons, I was indebted to Mrs. Gaskell for nearly all the knowledge I +then possessed of the Brontė story. But, in reply to my defence of Mrs. +Gaskell, Miss Nussey entered into particulars. She explained to me that +Mrs. Gaskell had mixed up the sordid and shameful story of Branwell +Brontė with that of his sisters; and she protested against the way in +which local traditions, that had nothing to do with the character of the +gifted sisters, in whom there was not a single drop of Yorkshire blood, +had been imported into Mrs. Gaskell's narrative, as though these +traditions were in some way connected with the lives of the Brontės. +Finally, she declared that she would not rest satisfied until a book had +been written about Charlotte which toned down the over-colouring of Mrs. +Gaskell's narrative, and she asked me if I was prepared to write such a +book. + +It was a flattering proposal, but I felt compelled to decline it. I was +well aware that I could not put myself into competition with Mrs. +Gaskell, even if I desired to do so, and I had no wish to appear to +attack a book which I regarded as one of the masterpieces of English +biography. But Miss Nussey was persistent, and she offered me the use of +all Charlotte's correspondence with her, including the letters relating +to her courtship and marriage, which Mrs. Gaskell had never even seen. +After I had read these letters and other documents with which Miss Nussey +furnished me, I suggested that, if I could not write a book, I might +still make one or two interesting magazine articles out of the materials +in my possession. Miss Nussey embraced this idea with enthusiasm, +protesting that so long as she could see Charlotte "set right" in the +eyes of the world, she would be perfectly satisfied with anything I chose +to do. Accordingly, in the spring of 1866, I wrote three articles which +appeared in _Macmillan's Magazine_. I wrote them with fear and +trembling, and I must add that I wrote them without any kind of +encouragement from outside, other than that which I received from Miss +Nussey herself. The general impression among the editors and critics of +the day was that there was nothing new to be said about the Brontės, and +that, even if there were, the public would not care to hear it. The kind +and genial editor of _Macmillan's Magazine_ himself--Sir George +Grove--shared this conviction, and it was only at the urgent request of +William Black, through whom I approached him, that he agreed to look at +my articles. However, having seen them, he liked them, and wrote to me +warmly in their praise. Nor did the public like them less, if Sir George +Grove was correct in his statement that these contributions of mine about +the author of "Jane Eyre" had done more to increase the sale of the +magazine than any article since Mrs. Stowe's famous defamation of Lord +Byron. + +Nor did the matter end, as I thought it would have done, with the +publication of my articles in _Macmillan's_. I received a summons +from the famous head of that firm of publishers, Mr. Alexander Macmillan; +and, attending him in the deferential manner in which authors in those +days waited upon important publishers, was asked with characteristic +gruffness if I could add enough to the articles to make a book. "The +public," said Mr. Macmillan, in tones which made me feel my own +insignificance, "seems to want something more of the stuff; I really +don't know why. But if you can do something more, we'll make a book of +it." Then he named the honorarium I was to receive in payment both for +the magazine articles and the volume. It was a modest sum--only a hundred +pounds, and of this I felt that Miss Nussey was entitled to a +considerable share. But a hundred pounds was not to be despised. Besides, +I loved my subject, and knew that I had still something left to say about +it. So I closed with Mr. Macmillan's offer, and a few months later my +little book, "Charlotte Brontė: a Monograph," was duly published. + +It will be seen that it was by accident rather than design that I wrote +the book. Miss Nussey moved me to the writing of the magazine articles; +Mr. Macmillan urged me to expand them into a volume. Otherwise I should +have written nothing on the subject, and it would have been left to +somebody else to start that Brontė cult which has since spread so widely. +The appearance of the volume marked an important epoch in my life. Yet, +in the first instance, "Charlotte Brontė" was very coldly received by the +critics. Most of them seemed to think that the book was entirely +superfluous. They evidently shared Mr. Macmillan's surprise that anybody +should think such a volume was needed. Most of them also agreed that I +had no special qualifications for the task I had undertaken, and that the +new matter I had brought to light was of little value. One of my critics, +the _Athenaeum_, poured contempt upon me for having spoken of "the +scent of the heather." The ingenuous writer evidently had seen heather +nowhere save on the slab of a fishmonger's shop. But, in spite of the +critics, the book sold, and sold rapidly. It went through three editions +in this country within a few weeks of its publication. It was republished +in America by arrangement with the Macmillans, and had so large a sale +there that it was speedily pirated, the pirates not even having the +decency to give my name upon the title-page. + +Snubbed as I felt myself to be, I still had my reward. People who had +read the book wrote to me in enthusiastic terms, and they were not all +Americans who did so. I speedily became aware that I had, almost by +accident, tapped a vein of pure and rich sentiment. Best of all was the +fact that my kind friend, Lord Houghton, forwarded to me a letter he had +received from Mr. Swinburne which contained the following passage: "Has +anyone told you I am just about to publish a 'Study' on Charlotte Brontė, +which has grown out of all proportion to the thing it was meant to be--a +review of (or article on) Mr. Wemyss Reid's little jewel and +treasure-casket of a book?" Need I say that I was more than consoled for +the coldness of the reception which the Press had given to my first +literary essay by such words as these; nor had I long to wait before I +saw the Brontė cult a great and growing factor in our literary life. The +critics could not ignore Mr. Swinburne, and when his "Note" on Charlotte +Brontė appeared, they were compelled to discuss seriously the question +which they had previously regarded as superfluous or trivial. + +At Mr. Swinburne's request I subsequently went to see the distinguished +poet at the rooms he occupied in Great James Street. My reception was not +what I had expected, though Mr. Swinburne cannot be blamed for the fact. +I was kept waiting on the doorstep, after ringing the bell, for an +unusually long time, and during the interval of waiting a tradesman's boy +arrived, basket on arm. He was more impatient than I was, and rang the +bell violently to quicken the movements of those within, evidently +careless as to whether he might be disturbing a poet's daydream. A +terrible old woman, with landlady written large all over her face and +person, opened the door, and, without paying the slightest attention to +me, began to rate the shopboy in no measured terms. He retaliated in the +same fashion, and I found myself quite unheeded in the midst of this war +of words. At last, tired of waiting, I interposed between the boy and the +landlady, and asked the latter if Mr. Swinburne was at home. She looked +at me with withering contempt for a few seconds, and then ejaculated, +"No, he ain't, and it would be a good thing for him if he never was when +the likes of you come to call on him." Having delivered herself of this +hospitable sentence, she slammed the door in my face, and left me a +sadder man. I never dared to face that lady again, and in consequence I +missed the pleasure of making Mr. Swinburne's acquaintance at that time. + +I was elected about this time a member of the Savile Club, which then had +its home in Savile Row. My proposer was Mr. J. F. McLennan, the author of +"Primitive Marriage," and I owed my immediate election chiefly to his +good offices, but partly to the fact that my book on Charlotte Brontė had +found favour with the reading public. A great deal has been written since +then about the Brontės. Some of our ablest literary critics have +discussed their genius with a penetrating insight that has opened up for +us the secrets of their wonderful laboratory, whilst industrious +investigators have brought to light many facts which were unknown to Mrs. +Gaskell at the time when she wrote her famous Memoir. A Brontė Society +has been formed in Yorkshire, and no man would now be justified in +maintaining either that the Brontės are not fully appreciated in the +world of letters, or that in their own county their fame is neglected or +despised. I myself have added very little to the literature which has +been poured forth upon the subject since the appearance of Mr. +Swinburne's "Note." I shrank from doing so, because I was not in sympathy +with the public curiosity which aspired to know everything that there was +to tell about the Brontės without regard to its intrinsic interest, or to +that decent reticence which even the dead have a right to expect from us. +I did not, for example, in my "monograph" publish the remarkable letters +in which Charlotte told Miss Nussey the story of her strange love affair +with Mr. Nicholls. Mr. Nicholls was still living, and I felt that these +letters could not decently be published during his lifetime. Twenty years +later, however, they were published by Mr. Shorter, not only during the +lifetime of Mr. Nicholls, but with that gentleman's full consent. + +My chief contribution to the Brontė controversy after the publication of +the "monograph" was a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution in 1895 +on Emily Brontė and the authorship of "Wuthering Heights," in which I set +forth the theory that Emily had, in part, been inspired in her +description of the mad Heathcliffe and his terrible ravings by the bitter +experiences through which she passed as an eyewitness of her brother +Branwell's last days. My theory has met with a certain amount of +acceptance among Brontė students, and I still adhere to it as the most +probable explanation of a literary problem of no common difficulty. + +Once, somewhere between 1890 and 1896, I was compelled to take up the pen +in my own defence. I read in the _North American Review_ an article +entitled "The Defamation of Charlotte Brontė," and to my great amazement +found that it was a vicious attack upon my little book published more +than twenty years previously! I was accused by the writer--an American +lady whose name I had never heard before and have now forgotten--of +having been the first to defame Charlotte Brontė, because I had been the +first to point out the singular influence over her life and character +which was exercised by her teacher in Brussels, M. Héger. It is now +obvious to everybody that this gentleman was not only the original of the +Paul Emanuel of "Villette," but was in many respects the inspiring +influence in the whole of Charlotte Brontė's career as a writer. That he +exercised a curious fascination over the untrained young woman who went +to Brussels in order to improve her knowledge of French we know from her +own declarations, nor is it surprising that a man of such genuine +intellectual force should have exercised this influence over the mind of +one who, until she met him, had known nothing whatever of intellectual +society. It was not only my right, but my duty, as a critic to point out +the important part which M. Héger had played in the development of +Charlotte Brontė's genius, and there was most assuredly nothing in what I +said that touched in the slightest degree the purity of her exalted +character. Yet my critic in the _North American Review_ professed to +discover that I had invented the story that Charlotte had "fallen in +love" with her teacher in Brussels, and abused me soundly for having +degraded her by presenting her to the world in an odious light. Surely it +is a mad world that can thus misconstrue obvious and innocent facts! I +cannot but think, however, that the good lady of the _North American +Review_ was more anxious to figure in the great Brontė controversy +than to contribute anything of value to our knowledge of the subject. + +As I have said already, when I first wrote about the Brontės there were +many still living who had known the sisters well. Of these Miss Nussey +was the chief, and it may be of interest to repeat a few of the +statements which from time to time she made to me with regard to +Charlotte. One of the most striking of these was her account of the +single visit which she paid to Haworth after Charlotte became the wife of +Mr. Nicholls. Miss Nussey told me that she accompanied Charlotte and her +husband one day on a walk over the moors. In the course of their +conversation she asked Charlotte if she was writing another book. "No," +replied Charlotte; "Arthur says I have no time for writing now, as I must +attend to my duties as a clergyman's wife." She said it in such a tone as +to convince her friend that she was not satisfied with her husband's +decision, and Miss Nussey, plucking up her courage, remonstrated with him +upon his refusal to allow Charlotte to exercise her great gift. Mr. +Nicholls's response was short and to the point. "I did not marry Currer +Bell, the novelist, but Charlotte Brontė, the clergyman's daughter. +Currer Bell may fly to heaven to-morrow for anything I care." I do not +vouch for the absolute truth of this story, but I give it as I heard it +from Miss Nussey, and I am quite sure that when she told it to me she +believed it to be true. + +Charlotte must have been more attractive than the world at one time +believed her to have been, for she had several offers of marriage before +Mr. Nicholls appeared upon the scene as a suitor. Mrs. Smith, the mother +of Mr. George Smith, her publisher, was somewhat alarmed at the +possibility of her son's admiration for Charlotte's genius developing +into an affection for her, and whilst very kind to the young authoress, +she let her see that in her opinion Mr. Smith was much too young to +become her husband. In one of her letters to Miss Nussey, Charlotte +discussed this situation, and with her characteristic candour and good +sense came to the conclusion that Mrs. Smith was altogether right. Her +son was both too young and too brilliant, she declared, to make a fitting +husband for the obscure parson's daughter. In "Villette," where the story +of her own heart is told, Mrs. Smith and her son are to be found +portrayed in the characters of Mr. John and his mother. + +Charlotte Brontė's fame, her genius, her power, live after her in her +books, and so long as those books are read will never be forgotten. But +it is not her fame, her genius, her power, which are the most precious +possessions she has left to us, but that sweetness and virtue, which like +bright flowers bloom upon her grave and remind us of the life which lies +beyond it. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +VISITS TO THE CONTINENT. + +Politics in Paris in 1877--An Oration by Gambetta--the Balloting--The +Republic Saved--Gambetta's Funeral--A Member of the Reform Club--The +Century Club--A Draught of Turpentine and Soda--The "Press Gang" at the +Reform--James Payn and William Black--George Augustus Sala and Sir John +Robinson--Disraeli's Triumph in 1878--A European Tour. + + +In the autumn of 1877 I went over to Paris, in order to watch the General +Election of that year. It was a fateful moment in the history of France. +The Royalists, and the whole of the anti-Republican forces, were bent +upon overthrowing the Republic, and they looked upon President Macmahon +as their tool. Thiers, the natural leader of the Republican party, had +died, after a brief illness, within a few weeks of the election; and +Gambetta, who had stepped into his place, was not only under prosecution +for his famous _"Ou se soumettre ou se démettre"_ speech, but was +still regarded by a large section of moderate men as a wild man, a _fou +furieux_, indeed, who could not be trusted with the fortunes of the +party. Every morning the Parisians awoke to wonder whether the expected +_coup d'état_ had taken place during the night. The drama had +clearly reached an exciting moment, and I thought it well to witness the +_dénouement_ for myself. + +My kind friend Lord Houghton, on learning my intention, sent me a batch +of introductions to many of the leading men in Paris. They included the +Comte de Paris himself, M. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, the bosom friend of +M. Thiers, and M. Blowitz, of the _Times_. I did not see a +revolution, because none took place; but I had an excellent opportunity +of watching Paris pass through a political crisis, and of witnessing the +triumph of the Republic over its numerous and formidable enemies. That +year (1877) was indeed the best year in the history of the Republic. It +still had the support of the great mass of the public. The middle-class +gave it all their aid, and the combination of Thiers and Gambetta had +made the Left and Left Centre parties immensely powerful. It was +interesting to watch the beginnings of the clerical reaction, beginnings +which found their outward expression in the propagation of the cult of +the Sacred Heart. All Paris was singing in those days, either in the +original or in a parody, the hymn with the refrain, "Heaven save poor +France in the name of the Sacred Heart." On the whole, the parodists were +in a majority, and their parodies were just as blasphemous as one expects +them to be in France. + +Through M. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, a typical French statesman of the +philosophical cast, I secured an invitation to the solitary meeting which +Gambetta, as candidate for Belleville, was permitted to hold prior to the +actual election. He was, as I have said, under remand in the prosecution +by which the Government had sought to silence his voice in the Chamber of +Deputies. They could not prevent his making this one speech to his +constituents, for the law gave him the right to do so, and the meeting +was therefore one of great importance. Gambetta spoke in a large circus +which was crowded to excess. He was received with great enthusiasm, but +before his speech was over he had wound up his audience to a still higher +pitch of passionate fervour. He struck me as being, in some respects, the +greatest of all the orators I had ever heard. He had that indispensable +qualification of the orator, a voice at once clear, powerful, and +melodious. His magnificent physique gave weight to the gestures in which +he indulged so freely, and which enabled him to conceal the infirmity +from which he suffered--blindness of one eye--whilst at the same time +allowing him always to keep his living eye fixed on the crowd before him. + +I trembled for him when he began his great speech, for, unlike any +English orator I ever heard, he did not warm to his subject gradually, +taking care to make his audience accompany him step by step, but sprang +in a moment to a height of passionate and tempestuous eloquence from +which it seemed inevitable that he must quickly fall to an anti-climax. +But no anticlimax came. For more than an hour he continued to pour forth +a torrent of burning words that seemed to keep the vast multitude before +him in a state of excitement and enthusiasm hardly to be exaggerated. +Never before and never since have I witnessed such an effect as this +produced by an orator, and though he lacked the stately and sonorous +delivery of John Bright, and had no pretension to the intellectual +persuasiveness of Mr. Gladstone, I have always felt, since hearing that +speech, that Gambetta was the greatest orator to whom I ever listened. + +It was rumoured that Gambetta was to be arrested on leaving the meeting, +and he himself believed this rumour to be true. Yet this did not cause +him to moderate his defiance of the Government and the reactionary +powers. I remember he closed his great oration with words to the +following effect: "I said in the Chamber not long ago, 'Clericalism, that +is the enemy.' I predict now that when this election is over, I shall +say, 'Clericalism, that is the vanquished.'" I was introduced to him +after his speech. He was lying on a couch in a little green room at the +back of the stage of the circus, panting, and fanning himself furiously +with his pocket-handkerchief, whilst one of his friends administered to +him copious draughts of champagne. He talked to me of the probability of +his arrest on leaving the building, but seemed absolutely confident as to +the future. The Government made no attempt, however, to interfere with +him, and but a few weeks later he was the ruling power in France. + +The day on which the first ballot was taken was, according to French +custom, a Sunday. This was the day on which the quidnuncs had fixed as +the probable date of the _coup d'état_. The Conservatives, on the +other hand, pretended to believe that it would witness a fresh Communist +rising, of which Belleville was to be the centre. It was a beautiful +September day, and the excitement which possessed the whole French people +was visibly reflected in the streets of Paris. I spent the whole day in +driving from one polling station to another, accompanied by a friend who +had resided for many years in the French capital. What struck one was the +good order that was everywhere maintained, and the simplicity of the +arrangements for voting. There was nothing like the tumult that would +have been witnessed in any ordinary general election in England. It was +obvious, too, that much less care was taken to preserve the secrecy of +the ballot than is customary in this country. + +As a newspaper correspondent I was freely admitted into every polling +station. It was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that I reached +Belleville, the reputed storm-centre. I had been warned that it would be +dangerous to venture into that district in the handsome carriage provided +for me by my friend. Yet when I climbed the steep hill leading to the +polling station where the Maire presided, I found everything perfectly +quiet. On entering the ballot-room, however, I was received in a somewhat +curious fashion by the Maire. "So you have come at last to poor +calumniated Belleville," he said. "You are the first journalist who has +been here to-day, and yet for a week past every journal in Paris has +declared that we were going to break out into a revolution. If they +really believed it, why did they not come and see how we behaved +ourselves? I call it infamous." The worthy Maire would hardly be pacified +by the thought that I, at least, had not been guilty of staying away. But +one could sympathise with his feelings, for in this spot, regarding which +the wildest stories were current in the Parisian Press, dulness reigned +supreme, and the polling station itself was as solemn and as silent as a +Quakers' meeting house. + +It was different at night, when the first news of the result of the +election poured into Paris from the provinces, and it was seen that +Gambetta had been a true prophet, after all, and that Clericalism, and +all the other reactionary forces, had indeed been vanquished. Between ten +o'clock and midnight the long line of the boulevards was crowded with the +gayest multitude of men, women, and children that I ever met. They +cheered, they shouted, they sang for joy. The Republic had triumphed, and +France was saved. This was the burden of their song. Never did I see a +more good-natured crowd; but things would have been different if that +historic election had resulted otherwise. Paris was delighted and +good-humoured because she had won. + +Five years after that great victory for Gambetta and the Republic I found +myself again in Paris on a cold January day. All the town was once more +in the streets, but there was no gladness on the faces of the people who +crowded the Place de la Concorde and the long avenue of the Rue de +Rivoli. They had gathered together to witness the funeral of the hero of +the fight of 1877. Gambetta, wounded, whether by accident or design none +can tell, by his dearest friend, had died at the very zenith of his fame, +and all France was prepared to render homage to one of her greatest sons. +His body lay in state in the palace of the Chamber of Deputies, and I was +fortunate enough to find myself standing at the foot of the coffin at the +same moment as Victor Hugo. The great poet had his two grandchildren +clinging to his hands, and as he stood there, explaining to the children +something of Gambetta's story and achievements, I could not help feeling +that there was a fine opening for a historical painter. + +Gambetta's funeral was notable above everything else for the profusion of +the display of flowers. Every department, every town and hamlet in +France, had sent a deputation to swell the solemn procession, and every +deputation brought a colossal funeral wreath. It was the first week in +January, yet the air was heavy with the perfume of violets, lilies, and +white lilac. It was computed at the time that twenty thousand pounds was +expended on the flowers borne by the mourners, and I do not think that +this calculation was exaggerated. Yet the funeral itself was extremely +dull and unimpressive. Those long lines of men in evening dress impressed +nobody. It was only when the picked troops went by in their glittering +uniforms that any emotion was displayed by the watching crowd. For the +rest, all our attention and admiration were given to the colossal wreaths +and crowns and chaplets of which there was so barbaric a profusion, and +the poor coffin itself passed almost unnoticed. + +It was different a week later, when the statesman's real funeral took +place. His father, a simple _bourgeois_ of Provence, had agreed to +allow this mock funeral to take place in Paris on condition that his +son's body was subsequently given to him for burial among his own people +at Nice. I was present also at this second funeral. There were no flowers +and there was but little display; but behind the coffin in which the body +of the ill-starred political leader lay walked his father, bare-headed, +his white hair streaming in the breeze; and the women around me cried as +he passed, "Ah, le pauvre papa!" and wiped the furtive tear from their +eyes. If anything could have inspired me with a greater horror for the +pomp of a public funeral, it would have been the contrast presented by +this simple but pathetic ceremony at Nice with the gorgeous spectacle of +a few days before in Paris. + +In the spring of 1878 I became a member of the Reform Club, Mr. Forster +and Mr. Childers being my sponsors. Then, as now, there was a +black-balling clique in the club, and nobody could be absolutely certain +of election; but my personal friends--among whom William Black was +foremost--worked hard on my behalf, and secured my election in spite of +the fact that I had a considerable number of black-balls. Personal +influence, indeed, goes further than anything else in securing admission +to a club like the Reform. It is a mistake to trust to the mere eminence +of a man's proposer and seconder; unless he has some personal friend who +is a popular member of the club, and who will take the trouble to exert +himself on the day of the election, the mere eminence of his proposer and +seconder will not save him. One of the traditions of the Reform Club +relates to George Augustus Sala. When that well-known writer was proposed +for election, the taint of Bohemianism still clung to him, and it was +very doubtful whether he would pass the ordeal of the ballot. Thackeray, +with whom Sala had been associated in the early days of the _Cornhill +Magazine_, believed that election to a club like the Reform would be +the salvation of the younger man; and on the day when the ballot took +place he remained in the saloon at the head of the steps for four mortal +hours, asking every member as he entered to vote for Sala as a personal +favour to himself. In this way he defeated the black-balling clique, and +secured Sala's admittance to society of a somewhat graver type than that +to which he had heretofore been accustomed. + +Even in 1878 I was not unversed in London clubs. I had been a member of +the Arundel, where the dramatists and journalists of the last generation +were wont to assemble; of the Thatched House, which in those days had an +admirable _chef_; of the Savile, the home of cultured authorship; +and of the Devonshire, founded after the Liberal defeat in 1874 as a kind +of Junior Reform Club. I had, in addition, belonged to several more or +less Bohemian clubs, of which the Century, in Pall Mall Place, is perhaps +the only one that demands notice. The Century was founded on the model of +the Cosmopolitan. The members met twice a week--on Wednesday and Sunday +evenings. Tobacco, spirits, and aerated waters were provided out of the +club funds. The members sat in a semicircle round the fireplace, and were +expected to talk together without waiting for the formality of an +introduction. The rules, in short, were the same as at the familiar +"Cos.," and for a time the club was very successful. But it seems almost +inevitable that clubs of this description should drift, sooner or later, +into the hands of a clique. The same men went every night, and you had to +listen to the same platitudes, or the same cheap cynicism. Once or twice +the dulness of the evening at the Century was enlivened by something like +a scene. One night, for example, Henry Fawcett, the blind politician and +statesman, came into the club room after an absence of some months. He +was warmly welcomed, and at the same time reproached for his prolonged +absence. He explained himself. "I like to come here," he said, "but I +can't stand Tom Potter. He talks too much." The identical Tom Potter, the +well-known honorary secretary of the Cobden Club, was sitting in his +favourite corner at the moment, and it need not be said that after +Fawcett's remark the conversation of the little party was somewhat +constrained. + +But Tom Potter did not suffer so much as I did in that little room in +Pall Mall Place. One night in 1877 or 1878 I got there late, after dining +with Sir George Grove at his house at Sydenham. I was hot and thirsty, +and William Black, whom I found there, immediately suggested to me the +propriety of a whisky and soda. I accepted the suggestion. As the foaming +glass was handed to me, it occurred to me that the Century Club must have +been recently painted; but I was too thirsty to stop to make any remark +on the subject, and hastily drank off the cool beverage with which I had +been supplied. Directly I had done so, I knew that I had been poisoned. +Whatever I had swallowed, it certainly was not whisky. I suppose I turned +ghastly pale, for I felt a terrible nausea suddenly overcoming me. Black +and my other friends in a state of consternation examined the bottle from +which I had been served, and discovered that although it bore the label +of a well-known brand of whisky, it contained turpentine. I confess I was +relieved when I heard this, as I feared it might have been oxalic acid. +But turpentine is bad enough as a beverage, and I do not think I ever +spent a more uncomfortable four-and-twenty hours than that which followed +this misadventure. There was no doctor present, but Black undertook to +supply his place. "There is only one thing for you to do, my dear Reid. +You must get drunk directly." I declared, with reason, that I had drunk +too much already, and crept away to my bed, which happily was close at +hand. For at least two days after that incident I smelt like a +newly-painted lamp-post, but I have always felt grateful to the careless +dog of a servant for not having served me up oxalic acid or vitriol in +place of the turpentine. After that affair I do not think I ever went +back to the Century Club. It was bad enough to be bored by the +irrepressible Club Jorkinses, but to be poisoned also was more than flesh +and blood could stand. + +The Reform, as I soon discovered, differed in many respects from any of +the clubs to which I had previously belonged. In those days, it was +really the headquarters of a great political party, and amongst its +members were to be counted many of the leading statesmen of the day. It +contained, too, not a few men of letters, and many prominent men of +affairs. A new member coming into the club saw these distinguished +persons at lunch, or dinner, or taking their ease in smoking or reading +rooms; but he had little chance of becoming acquainted with them unless +he had some friend by whom he could be introduced. Fortunately for me, I +already knew many of the politicians in the Reform, whilst Black was +eager to introduce me to his own friends in the club. On the very first +day on which I dined there as a member I was formally admitted to the +little coterie the members of which lunched at the same hour every day at +a particular table in the large coffee room. They were known as the +"press-gang," and were the objects, I have always imagined, of the +mingled hatred and envy of their fellow-members. They were hated because +of their exclusiveness, and envied owing to the fact that there was more +laughter at that one table than at all the others put together. + +It was James Payn who was the chief cause of the laughter. He had himself +the loudest laugh of any man I ever met, and he laughed incessantly. +Again and again, when his ringing peal sounded through the room and we +saw the scandalised faces of our fellow-members, some one amongst us +would remind him of the line touching "the loud laugh that speaks the +vacant mind," but he only laughed the more loudly, and compelled us also +to join in his infectious merriment. Looking back upon the years which I +was destined to spend in constant association with that most delightful +and lovable of men, I sadly realise the fact that since his death I have +never laughed as I did in those happy days. The other members of the +luncheon-table party at that time were William Black, George Augustus +Sala, Sir John Robinson of the _Daily News_, E. D. J. Wilson of the +_Times_, and J. C. Parkinson. There were others who came and went, +but those I have named were the regular frequenters of the table. The +real bond of union between us was Payn; but, as was only natural, the +ties of friendship which united all became very close. To-day (1904) +Parkinson and myself alone remain of the merry party of twenty years ago. +Payn, Black, Robinson, and Sala are dead, and Wilson has sought the more +august society of the Athenaeum. The luncheon table is still maintained, +and we have found one or two recruits to fill the empty chairs; but I +think it is with pity, rather than with envy, that we survivors of the +original party are now regarded by our fellow-members. + +However this may be, I shall always regard it as one of the great +privileges of my life that for more than twenty years I was a member of +this little society of friends, most of whom had kindred tastes, and who, +though they might differ widely in ability, were at least alike in the +keenness of their enjoyment of the humorous side of life. Many a time +since Payn's death I have been asked to repeat some of his "good things," +in order that others might understand the fascination that he had for his +friends. I might as well be asked to repeat the song of the skylark. It +was not in the mere form of words he used that Payn's power of touching +and delighting his companions was to be found. He hated puns and verbal +trickery of every kind, but he saw more quickly than any other man I have +ever known the humorous side of any question or any incident, and he had +a knack of making that humorous side perceptible to others which to my +mind was absolutely unique. Day after day through the long years I have +sat with him at that noonday meal, breathing an atmosphere of wit that +was almost intoxicating. It was a wit that was never cruel, never coarse, +never anything but kindly and humane. Even his cynicism was genial and +good-natured, like that of Lord Houghton himself. + +I have spoken already of William Black. He and I had become bound to each +other by ties of warm affection. I had the greatest admiration for his +genius, and a profound love for his pure and chivalrous character; but, +like myself, he was a listener at the table at which Payn sat. He could +say good things occasionally, but, as a rule, his conversation did not +approach the excellence of his writing. Payn, on the other hand, was +infinitely better in talk than in writing. He has written some essays +which will hold their own side by side with some of Elia's, but no essay +that he ever wrote had the delightful fascination that, to the very last, +attached to his conversation. Sala talked almost as much as Payn, but in +a very different fashion. He was an encyclopaedia of out-of-the-way +knowledge, and had a story or an illustration for every topic that +cropped up at the luncheon table. Sometimes his omniscience was almost +overpowering; but I have heard innumerable good stories admirably told by +him. Of Parkinson I must not speak, for he is happily still left to the +luncheon table and to me. Robinson, from experiences which were as varied +as they were abundant, was able to contribute much to our enjoyment at +those bright gatherings of old, whilst he shared to the full in the +affectionate admiration with which we all regarded Payn. + +The summer of 1878 witnessed the meeting of the Congress at Berlin which +followed the Russo-Turkish War. Despite all the scares through which we +had passed during the winter and spring, we had escaped the war between +ourselves and Russia with which we had been so often threatened, and the +purpose of the Congress was to render such a war impossible in the +immediate future. It was this summer of 1878 that also witnessed +Disraeli's complete triumph over his enemies and his rivals. + +He had secured his own way in the Cabinet, though in doing so he had to +lose the services of Lord Derby and Lord Carnarvon, and to convert Lord +Salisbury to views which, up to that time, he had professed to abhor. He +had brought the Indian troops to Malta, and had thereby given a +significant hint to Europe as to the extent of our resources. He had got +a vote of five millions from the House of Commons, and had spent a great +part of it in the purchase of ships of war, some of which turned out to +be wholly unfitted for the requirements of the English Naval Service. His +picturesque and audacious policy had won the favour of the multitude, +and, despite the criticisms of Mr. Gladstone, the Prime Minister was the +undisputed master of the nation. + +Looking back, I do not think I am unfair when I say that Disraeli's +triumph seemed to be largely due to his power of playing to the gallery. +He gave the crowd in the streets the scenic effects which they loved. He +flattered their vanity, and he played upon their weaknesses, and thus he +was able in a great measure to realise the florid dreams of his youth, +and to strengthen English influence in that Eastern world which had +always exercised so great a fascination over him. When he went to Berlin +with Lord Salisbury as his companion, there was a great crowd at Charing +Cross Station to see him depart. I was one of the spectators, and was +struck by the deference which was paid to him by the many distinguished +persons who had come to speed him on his journey. Lord Salisbury passed +unnoticed by his side. At Berlin the same thing happened. In the great +Congress in which all the European Powers were represented, Disraeli's +figure outshone all others. Even Bismarck seemed to take a secondary +place to that of the Jew adventurer, who had made so splendid a fight for +his own hand, and had achieved so magnificent a success. The story of his +life, the romance of his career, and his personal peculiarities seemed to +have produced a deep impression upon people of all classes and of all +nationalities, and it is no exaggeration to say that during his residence +in Berlin the eyes of the whole world were fixed upon him. + +When Disraeli came back from Berlin, having by an astute and not very +creditable transaction secured the Island of Cyprus for the British +Crown, besides compelling Russia to forego some of the fruits of her +victory over Turkey, he met with a reception of extraordinary enthusiasm. +A conqueror returning from the wars could hardly, indeed, have been +acclaimed more loudly than was Lord Beaconsfield as he drove from Charing +Cross Railway Station to Downing Street. If he had seen fit to dissolve +Parliament then he would have swept the country, and would have been +confirmed in the possession of power. But he had his own standard of +honour, and it did not permit him to attempt to snatch a victory of this +kind. His political opponents are bound to acknowledge their indebtedness +to him in this matter. + +Shortly after the close of the Berlin Congress I took a long holiday from +my duties at Leeds, and made a most interesting tour through Europe in +the company of a friend, Mr. Greig, the manager of the Leeds Steam Plough +Works. Greig was engaged on a business tour, his purpose being to see the +different estates on which the system of steam culture--of which his +partner, Mr. Fowler, was the author--was employed. Our trip took us in +the first place to Germany, where we visited Magdeburg, Halberstadt, +Berlin, and Saxon Switzerland. Thence we went into Bohemia, staying at +Prague some days, and visiting some remote parts of that picturesque but +most unromantic country--for there is, alas! no kinship between the +Bohemia of reality and that of romance. After Bohemia came Vienna, +Budapest, and the Danube. Then at Orsova we turned north, and went by way +of Bucharest, Romįn, and Lemberg into Galicia, finally making our way +back again to Vienna, and thence to Paris and home. In those days much of +the ground I have mentioned was practically unknown to English tourists. +The lower Danube, for example, and the great plains of Roumania, though +they were within four days' rail of London, were not so well known to +English people as the Nile, the Ganges, or the Mississippi. It seems +strange, indeed, now to recall the fact that both in Hungary and in +Roumania we visited places where Englishmen were regarded as rare and +curious animals, people to be run after and stared at as they passed +along the village street. All this, I presume, is changed now through the +influence of the wonder-working Cook. Yet one cannot believe that even +now there are not some nooks and corners of the Bukovina where my fellow +countrymen have hardly penetrated, and where they are still regarded with +eyes of curiosity, if not of fear. + +At all events, in my own case, in this year 1878, I no sooner diverged +from the beaten track than I had experience of the fact that there was +still an unexplored world within the confines of Europe. The long journey +down the Danube in a steamboat, now superseded by the railway, formed in +itself an expedition of no common interest. It happened that my friend +and I had to leave the steamer at Mohacs, famous in history, and in the +pages of Thackeray, in order to visit the vast estates of the Archduke +Albrecht, at that time the richest member of the Imperial family. It was +then that I had the first experience of a genuine Hungarian town, with +its streets knee-deep in mud, and swarming with huge dogs of ferocious +temper. On quitting the steamboat for the inn, I seemed at one step to +have passed from civilisation into savagery. Anything more atrociously +filthy and repulsive than this establishment I never saw, and yet it was +the best inn of a town of thirty thousand inhabitants. + +When we reached our destination--a castle of the Archduke's--the next +day, we found ourselves once more surrounded with the comforts and +decencies of civilised life, but there were many evidences of the fact +that we were here far from the world. The game of croquet, for example, +had been for some ten years before this time practically extinct in +England. At the Archduke's castle they seemed just to have heard of it, +and were eagerly learning it when we arrived. At one of the outlying +farms on the splendid estate, the manager, like all his colleagues, was +of noble birth. When he found that we were Englishmen he suddenly +disappeared from the room. In a few minutes he returned with a smiling +and handsome young lady on his arm. "My wife speaks English," he +declared, in accents of pride. It turned out that the lady, who had been +educated at Budapest, had never spoken to any Englishman before. We +seemed to be almost the first who had ever penetrated into that unknown +land. When the husband found that his wife was able to converse with us +he literally danced for joy, and invited all the rest of the company to +witness the wonderful spectacle. The hospitality and friendliness of the +Hungarians were delightful. However unpopular Englishmen might be +elsewhere in Europe, at that time they were certainly loved in Hungary, +and the mere fact of his nationality was sufficient to secure for the +English traveller an unstinted hospitality. + +Bucharest, when we reached it, was still in the occupation of the Russian +army. The war with Turkey had ended many months before, but the Russian +troops had not yet been withdrawn from the Danube, while thousands of +Turkish prisoners of war were still under detention in Roumania. It was +interesting to observe the unveiled hostility of the Russian and +Roumanian officers when they met in the streets and cafés. The only +salutation that passed between them was a scowl. I heard many stories as +to the jealousies and dissensions which had broken out during the war +between the Russians and their allies. The siege of Plevna, in +particular, had left bitter memories behind it. The Roumanians openly +accused the Russian officers of having selfishly sacrificed the soldiers +of the little principality in order to save the lives of Russians. Great +fear was felt in Bucharest that the Russians meant to stay there, and +their swaggering and domineering attitude certainly seemed to justify the +dread felt by those who were entertaining them so unwillingly. The only +happy and smiling people I encountered during my stay in Bucharest were +the Turkish prisoners of war and the gipsies. The prisoners were cheerful +and good-natured fellows. Most of them were eager to eke out their scanty +allowance for food by doing work of any kind, and I was told that when +Prince Charles returned in triumph at the head of his army after the +close of the war, these Turkish prisoners had begged for and obtained the +work of erecting a triumphal arch in his honour. As for the gipsies, they +abounded in Bucharest now that winter had begun to close in upon the +country, and the stirring strains of their quaint melodies were to be +heard in every café and at almost every street corner. + +Brofft's Hotel was at that time the chief place of entertainment in +Bucharest. The principal bedrooms were occupied by ladies who purported +to be the wives of the leading Russian officers, but about whom there was +a strong smack of the boulevards. In the restaurant the officers +themselves dined and drank freely at numberless small tables, Roumanians +and Russians taking care to keep apart from each other. You could dine +very well at Brofft's, but you had to pay for your dinner at a rate which +cast into the shade the highest charges of Paris or Vienna. It was here +that I had experience of an amusing piece of effrontery on the part of +the proprietor. On our first evening in Bucharest my two friends and +I--for Mr. Greig had been joined by another member of his firm--dined +very well, but we were somewhat startled when we had to pay the bill, +which amounted to more than a pound a head. The next evening, determined +to be economical, we ordered a very moderate repast. Whilst we were +eating it, Brofft himself appeared at our table. "I am sorry you are +having so poor a dinner to-night, gentlemen," he said. "I do hope you +will let me add something to it, for, you know, the price will be the +same, whatever you have." And, sure enough, we again had to pay more than +a pound apiece for this very unsatisfactory dinner. After that +experience, we always took care to order the rarest and most costly +viands on the _carte du jour._ + +I made one interesting acquaintance at Bucharest. This was Mr. White, the +English Consul. Few at that time anticipated that he was destined to rise +to a height never before attained by a member of the Consular Service, +and to end his career as Sir William White, her Majesty's Ambassador at +Constantinople. Yet all who are acquainted with the facts are aware that +Sir William was better qualified than almost any other man for this high +position, and that his death was nothing less than a national misfortune. +At Bucharest in 1878 he was living in the simplest fashion in the +rambling Consulate. When I first went to call upon him he himself opened +the door in response to my knock. We had a long conversation upon Eastern +politics, in the course of which he explained his own perfect knowledge +of affairs in the Balkan Peninsula by telling me that he knew all the +languages spoken in that part of the world, and was consequently able to +study the local newspapers for himself. White was a big, powerful man, +with an air of unpolished frankness and good-nature that seemed to belie +his character as a diplomatist. His was one of the most interesting +careers in the public service of this country. In diplomacy he climbed +from the very bottom of the tree to the very top, and he did so without +having any special personal influence. The Russians both hated him and +feared him, and there was nothing he enjoyed so much as a game of +diplomatic bowls with Prince Gortschakoff or his successor. Some years +before he went to Constantinople Lord Salisbury offered to make him our +Minister at Pekin, and rumour has it that he recommended the new position +to White on the ground that it was at Pekin that the battle between +England and Russia would have to be fought out. But White's great +ambition was to be her Majesty's Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, and he +declined the post at Pekin, where he might have been of even greater +service to us than he was at Constantinople. + +On my return to England I wrote some account of my trip in the +_Fortnightly Review,_ then under the editorship of Mr. John Morley. +My journey had undoubtedly opened my eyes to the economic possibilities +of Eastern Europe, and it had also proved to me that, at that time, at +all events, England was well able to hold her own in the race for +commercial supremacy even against Germany. Again and again, in visiting +German workshops, I found that the practical direction of the +establishment was in the hands of some Englishman or Scotsman, and the +intensely practical character of the English workman, his readiness of +resource, and his reliance upon himself in difficulties, were themes upon +which my German friends were never tired of dilating. I am afraid that +the case is somewhat different now, and that we are not so well able to +compete, even on their own ground, with the artisans and business men of +Germany as we were in 1878. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A CHAPTER OF MISFORTUNES. + +Death of my Sister's Husband and of my Brother James--An Accident on +Marston Moor--Sir George Wombwell's Story of the Charge of the Light +Brigade--His Adventure on the Ouse--Editing a Daily Newspaper from a Sick +Bed--Reflections on Death--Death of my Mother--Serious Illness of my Only +Daughter. + + +There is a great deal of truth in the lines which declare that sorrows +and troubles do not come alone--"they come not single spies, but in +battalions." I have had experience of the fact more than once in my own +life; but never was it presented to me in such overwhelming force as in +the year 1880. On January 1st in that year I attended the funeral of my +only sister's husband at Kilmarnock. He, the Rev. William Bathgate, D.D., +was a Scottish minister, a man of culture and refinement, and the author +of some theological works which had attained considerable popularity. His +death is associated in my mind with a great public calamity, the fall of +the Tay Bridge, when a train with all its passengers was destroyed. The +wind that toppled over the Tay Bridge proved fatal to my brother-in-law. +It was on a Sunday night--the last Sunday of 1879--and he had gone to +visit one of the Sunday schools attached to his church. The furious gale, +which about the same time destroyed the Tay Bridge, burst in its full +fury upon him soon after he had left his house, and after battling +against it for some time he found himself so much exhausted that he was +unable to move. It was only with the assistance of a kindly passer-by +that he was enabled to return home. Half an hour later he died in my +sister's presence, without a sound or a movement. I began the year, +consequently, in melancholy circumstances, in attendance at his funeral. + +A few weeks later, at the beginning of February, a loss which I felt +still more keenly fell upon me. My elder brother, James, who had been my +constant companion from boyhood, and who had spent the closing years of +his life in intimate association with me at Leeds, died after a lingering +illness. The loss of one who had been for so many years my closest +companion and my most confidential friend, with whom I consulted over +almost every step of my life, was irreparable, and to this hour I +continue to feel the lack of his sympathy and advice in moments of +personal perplexity. Always more or less of an invalid, he lived much in +the life of his brothers, and his cheery fortitude, kindly humour, and +unfailing sympathy made his loss keenly felt in our family circle. He +died, by a strange coincidence, on the tenth anniversary of the death of +my first wife. + +Three months later, I myself met with an accident which not only entailed +great suffering upon me, but almost cost me my life. It was in the month +of May, when, after the severe exertions imposed upon me by the General +Election--of which I shall speak fully later on--I had left Leeds for a +few days' rest and change. Sir George Wombwell, of Balaclava fame, had +invited a small party--of whom I was one--to join him on a driving tour +among the abbeys and ruins of the East Riding. The other members of the +party were William Black, Bret Harte, who had not long before taken up +his residence in England, and C. O. Shepard, the American Consul at +Bradford. Our rendezvous was at York, on a certain Saturday, and we had +agreed to spend that afternoon in visiting the battlefield of Marston +Moor. We drove out to the field in the highest spirits. I, in particular, +was elated at the thought of my escape from the drudgery of my office, as +well as by the prospect of the agreeable companionship of Black and +Harte, not to speak of Shepard, who was an admirable teller of American +stories, of which he possessed an inexhaustible fund. + +We were crossing the battlefield on foot when we found our way stopped by +a hedge. It was a long way round to the gate of the field, and the hedge +did not seem very formidable. At all events, Black and Shepard cleared it +at a bound, and laughingly challenged Harte and me to follow their +example. But we were prudent men, and openly congratulated ourselves upon +that fact when we discovered a gap, through which it seemed possible to +pass quite easily. Harte passed through without difficulty, and I +followed his example. I had to jump about eighteen inches from the bank +of the hedge into the field. Nothing seemed simpler. Yet when I landed on +my feet one of them was caught in some mysterious way in a hole in the +ground, and whilst it was held as in a vice, my body was wrenched round +on the axis of my knee. To this day I do not understand how it happened. +All I knew at the moment was that something had given way in the +knee-joint, and that when I attempted to put my foot to the ground after +extricating it from the hole in which it had been caught "the pains of +hell gat hold upon me." I suppose I must, up to that time, have been +fairly free from physical torments of any kind. I had certainly no +conception, before that moment, that it was possible for a human being to +suffer such torture as I had then to endure. + +I turned away my face from my companions so that they might not see that +I was suffering, and they went on unconscious of anything having +happened. I set off to follow them, supporting myself as best I could +with an umbrella which I chanced to be carrying. When they saw that I +limped they inquired the cause, but I reassured them by saying that it +was nothing more than a slight sprain. I was determined that I would not +spoil sport, or cast a shadow over the good spirits of our party. But, +Heavens, how that knee tortured me! I suppose I was a fool. Indeed the +doctor told me so the next morning, with some heat and quite unnecessary +emphasis. But I went on at the moment as if nothing had happened, +crawling with the aid of my umbrella across field after field, and even +climbing up some steps in order to see the room where Cromwell slept the +night before--or was it the night after?--the battle. Then I walked on +to the place where our carriage was waiting for us. It was standing at a +little country public-house. "I am going in here to get a drink," said I +to Black. "What!" cried he. "Drink anything here? Why, they'll poison you!" +"So much the better," I retorted, and then my friends began to realise +that I was hurt. They consulted together as to the stimulant that was +most likely to be innocuous, and finally decided upon gin. I had never +drunk gin in my life before. I now tossed off three glasses in quick +succession. It was very nasty, and it did not take away the pain, but it +made me feel rather less like dying than I had done before. + +Somehow or other I got back to York, and, with the aid of the hotel +porter, undressed and got to bed. By this time my knee was enormously +swollen, but I was so ignorant of the actual position of affairs that I +honestly thought that all that was necessary to put me right again was a +rest of a few hours. Unfortunately, I was not allowed even that +homoeopathic remedy. We were to dine with Sir George Wombwell at the +Yorkshire Club that evening. I proposed to stay in bed at the hotel, but +to this Black demurred. He hated to meet strangers, and he declared that +if I did not go with him to the club he would not go at all. So once more +the porter was requisitioned, and with his help I managed to get into +evening clothes. Arrived at the club, the quick, soldierly eye of Sir +George Wombwell instantly detected my condition, and diagnosed it more +accurately than either I or my companions had done. I remained to dinner, +but a leg-rest was provided for me, and everything done to make me feel +comfortable, whilst Sir George sent a messenger to Mr. Husband, an +eminent surgeon of York, asking him to see me at the hotel as early as +possible next morning. + +The evening passed like a nightmare, but I still have a vivid +recollection of the account which Sir George Wombwell gave me of his +famous ride with the Light Brigade at Balaclava. His horse was shot under +him whilst they were charging for the guns, and, being left behind whilst +the brigade thundered onward, he was made prisoner by the Russian +cavalry, which closed in behind our English horse. His captivity lasted, +however, for but a few minutes. The cry was raised that the English were +returning from their mad but heroic enterprise, and instantly the +Russians scattered and fled. As Lord Cardigan, who was riding in front of +the remnant of the shattered brigade, passed Wombwell, he shouted, "Catch +a horse, you d--d young fool, and come with us!"--advice which Wombwell +promptly took. He found the charger of a Russian officer, and, mounting +it, came back in safety with the few survivors of the awful day. + +That was not, however Wombwell declared, the occasion on which his life +had been in greatest peril. Years afterwards, he and Sir Charles Slingsby +and a number of the members of the York and Anisty Hunt were crossing the +Ouse in a ferryboat, when some of the horses were seized with panic, and +the boat was upset. Sir Charles Slingsby and a number of others--twelve, +I believe, in all--were drowned, Wombwell being one of the few who +escaped. This he regarded as a much more dangerous adventure than the +charge of the Light Brigade. Someone at the dinner-table told a story +about this tragedy which Wombwell, I thought, hardly liked. The +ferry-boat was upset in the river adjoining Sir Charles Slingsby's +estate. One of his tenants who had heard of the disaster, and had been +told that only one of the baronets had escaped, was hurrying to the scene +of the catastrophe, when he met Sir George Wombwell riding home. As soon +as the man saw Sir George he flung up his hands, and in accents of dismay +cried, "Eh! but they've drowned t'wrang baronet!" + +On the morning after this dinner, Mr. Husband visited me and inspected my +knee. I told him that I meant to stay in bed during the day, but hoped he +would allow me to keep an engagement I had made to dine at the Cavalry +Barracks in the evening. Eyeing me with great severity, the good surgeon +said: "You are a man of intelligence, or at least you ought to be, +considering the position you hold. You must surely know that you have met +with an injury that will keep you in bed for weeks, at least." And he +hinted, not obscurely, that still worse things than prolonged confinement +to bed would certainly befall me if I did not take the greatest care of +my injured leg. So there ended all my hopes of a pleasant holiday. The +next day I was taken back to Leeds in a state of absolute helplessness, +and, being got to bed in my own house, had to remain there for nine +mortal weeks. + +Some of the experiences of that time were curious. Phlebitis had set in, +and for a time I was in serious danger from the formation of a clot of +blood in one of the arteries. As is pretty generally known, whilst this +state of things exists death may occur at any moment from the stoppage of +the heart through the clot getting free and passing into the central +organ. It was curious to lie in this condition for several days, never +knowing at night whether I should see the sun rise again. But I was very +much struck by the fact that I became easily reconciled to my state, and +did not feel the slightest apprehension with regard to the course of the +disease. I was almost free from pain, and was able to carry on my work as +regularly as if I had been in attendance at the _Mercury_ office. +Every evening I dictated my leading article to a shorthand writer. A +telephone--at that time a great novelty--was put up by the side of my bed +and connected with my room at the _Mercury_ office, and by this +means I was kept in constant communication with the members of my staff. + +Thus my time passed pleasantly enough. When I was not dictating I was +reading, and during my confinement I re-read the whole of the Waverley +novels. It was when I was once more enjoying the romantic adventures of +"Ivanhoe" that I was seized, one afternoon, with the premonitory symptoms +which my doctors had told me would indicate the approach of death. At my +urgent request they had enlightened me upon this point, and I had learned +that death from the accidental stoppage of the heart would be without +pain, and would simply be preceded by a feeling of faintness. It was a +feeling of this kind which suddenly stole over me as I was reading +"Ivanhoe." I felt it deepening, and laid aside my book under the firm +conviction that I would never again read printed page. Asking for some +stimulant, I was given some brandy and water, but it seemed to have no +effect in checking the ever-increasing faintness. So I closed my eyes in +the drowsy belief that I should never open them again in this world. I +felt no pain, no agitation, no fear. Half an hour later I awoke from a +placid sleep, and, to my great surprise, found that I was decidedly +better than I had been for some time. This seemed, indeed, to have been +the crisis of my illness, and from that point I slowly recovered. My +doctors conjectured that a minute clot of blood had really passed through +my heart, producing the faintness from which I had suffered, but not +causing death. + +I have dwelt at unconscionable length upon this incident of my accidental +injury and subsequent illness, but I have done so for the very reason +that, sooner or later, experiences of this kind come to most of us, and +it may be of some use to state exactly, not only the wonderful rapidity +with which a man by the simplest misadventure may imperil his life, but +the sensations with which he greets the apparent approach of death. All +who have suffered from severe illness must know how readily the invalid +accustoms himself to seclusion from the world, and how quickly the +panorama of passing life seems to fade into insignificance. The outside +world becomes, at such a time, a mere passing show which has but a +secondary interest for the man who can take no part in it. As for the +approach of death, I believe, from my own experience, that there is +nothing to which a sick man more easily reconciles himself. Certainly, +since those days in 1880 I have lost any fear I may have had before of +that inevitable end which awaits us all. It is the recovery from a severe +illness of accidental injury that is the really trying thing. For many +weeks after I left my bed I was a cripple, compelled to use crutches in +moving about, and suffering from extreme weakness. I went to Bridlington, +a watering-place on the Yorkshire coast, to recruit, and, hiring a small +trawling boat, I spent every day upon the sea, beating up and down the +fine bay trawling for fish. In this way I got plenty of fresh air without +bodily fatigue, whilst I had the enjoyment of one of my favourite +pursuits. + +Shortly after my return from Bridlington, and whilst I was still +crippled, another great misfortune befell me. This was the death, on the +5th of August, of my mother, a woman of distinct culture and intellectual +power, to whom her children had been indebted for many things in addition +to the motherly love which she lavished upon them all so freely. It was, +I think, the shock of her death, and the exertion of the railway journey +to my brother Stuart's house at Wilmslow, Cheshire, which I took in order +that I might see her before she died, that brought about a relapse in my +condition. In the hope that I should benefit by it, my doctors ordered me +a long sea voyage. It was the first I had ever undertaken. I sailed from +Liverpool on the _Sidon_, one of the Cunard Company's steamers, for +a round trip through the Mediterranean to Constantinople and back. The +_Sidon_ was a slow old boat, and we took ten days to reach Malta, +the first place of stoppage. I never enjoyed ten days so much before or +since. The novelty of life at sea charmed me, whilst the freedom from all +work and anxiety was delightful. Every day I seemed to have acquired a +fresh stock of vigour, and by the time we reached Malta I could no longer +pretend to be an invalid. It was fortunate for me that my health had +undergone this wonderful improvement, for we had no sooner cast anchor in +the busy harbour of Valetta than a telegram was put into my hands, +announcing that my only daughter Nellie had been struck down by typhoid +on the very day on which I sailed from England. + +There was no opportunity at the moment of getting back from Malta to +England direct, and I had consequently to continue my voyage to Syra, +Smyrna, and Constantinople, getting telegrams, of course, at each place +as to the condition of the invalid. At Constantinople I had an urgent +summons from my daughter's medical attendants, and started at an hour's +notice for home by the overland route, such as it then was. Leaving +Constantinople on a Tuesday at two o'clock by the Austrian Lloyd steamer +for Varna, I reached my own house in Yorkshire shortly after midnight on +the following Sunday. I believe I established on that occasion a record +in travelling from the Bosphorus to Leeds. I have described this overland +journey in "Gladys Fane." It was an experience worth remembering, +especially in these days of _trains de luxe_, when the traveller +passes from Calais to Constantinople without a change of carriage. From +Constantinople to Varna I had an exceedingly rough passage in the +Austrian boat, and at Varna the weather was so bad that it was with +difficulty that I persuaded the captain to allow me to land in time to +catch the through train. The whole of the following day we were passing +through the gloomy uplands of Bulgaria. Crossing the Danube at Rustchuk +in the evening, we reached Bucharest by nine o'clock at night. Here was +the only opportunity I had during my journey of obtaining a night's rest, +and I eagerly availed myself of it. Remembering Brofft's extortions on +the occasion of my previous visit to Bucharest, I went to a new hotel +which had just been opened, one of the advertised attractions of which +was its moderate charges. + +The next morning, when I was preparing for my early start by train, the +proprietor of the hotel came to have a chat with me, and I explained to +him the reason why I had chosen his house in preference to Brofft's. +"Quite right, sir!" he exclaimed with great heartiness. "Everybody says +the same thing. Take my word for it, sir, Brofft is a thief." At that +moment my bill was handed to me. It was more extortionate than anything I +had known at Brofft's. "That is as it may be." I said, turning to the +landlord, "but I think you will agree with me that if Brofft is a thief, +he is not the only one in Bucharest." Things, I hope, have changed since +then. If they have not done so I am sorry for the tourist who unwittingly +includes Bucharest in the round of the holiday vacation. From Bucharest +to London, and thence to Leeds, I came practically without a break, and +on reaching my own home once more, in the dead of the night, I had the +joy of knowing that the crisis of my daughter's illness was passed, and +that she was spared to me. Here ends the chronicle of my misfortunes +during the year 1880. It is but a trivial tale, and one that, I fear, +will have small interest for the reader, but I have ventured to tell it +as an illustration of the adage that troubles never come singly. In the +quarter of a century that has elapsed since then I have not had to +encounter such a series of misfortunes as came upon me in the first nine +months of that ill-omened year. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1880. + +Mr. Gladstone's Position in 1879--His Decision to Contest Midlothian--How +he came to be Adopted by the Leeds Liberals--The Conversation Club--A +Visit from John Morley--The Dissolution of 1880--Lecture on Mr. +Gladstone--His Triumphant Return for Leeds--His Election for +Midlothian--Mr. Herbert Gladstone Adopted as his Successor at Leeds--Mr. +Gladstone's Visit to Leeds in 1881--A Fiasco Narrowly Avoided--A +Wonderful Mass Meeting--Mr. Gladstone's Collapse and Recovery--My +Introduction to Him--An Excursion to Tunis--"The Land of the Bey"--Mr. A. +M. Broadley's Prophecies--Howard Payne's Grave--A Series of Coincidences. + + +The misfortunes described in the last chapter befell me in 1880; I must +now retrace my steps and go back to the year 1879. That year was largely +spent in preparations for the General Election. Party spirit ran very +high. Lord Beaconsfield retained his great popularity in London and among +the classes, and the Press and the clubs in consequence believed that the +General Election, when it came, would provide him with another victory. +Mr. Gladstone was hated more than ever by the London journalists, and by +all who had been attracted by the showy foreign policy of Lord +Beaconsfield. I am afraid that he was not at this time over popular in +the inner circle of his own party. He had resigned the leadership in +1875, and had ostensibly gone into retirement. He had emerged from that +retirement in 1876, in order to be the voice of the nation in its +outburst of indignation against the Sultan. + +From that time forward he had occupied a curious position. He was neither +leader nor follower, but a great force, acting independently of other +persons, and disconcerting them visibly by the unexpectedness of his +movements. + +I had access, years afterwards, to the records of the meetings of the +leading members of the Liberal party during the period between 1874 and +1880. It was easy to gather from these secret and confidential memoirs +that Mr. Gladstone was found to be an uneasy bedfellow by his old +colleagues. When he was moved by any strong impulse he was very apt to +forget that Lord Hartington was the nominal leader of the Opposition, and +to take some line of action without waiting to consult his ostensible +chief. He did, I believe, consult Lord Granville with frequency, if not +with regularity. Lord Granville was, in his opinion, the leader of the +whole party, whilst the only post held by Lord Hartington was that of +leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons. The result of his +frequent interventions in public affairs was undoubtedly to throw the +Opposition into some confusion. The _Times_, and the other chief +organs of the London Press, constantly poured ridicule upon his speeches, +and did their best to accentuate the differences between himself and his +former colleagues. It followed--not unnaturally, perhaps--that there were +those among the leaders of the Liberal party who desired to prevent Mr. +Gladstone's return to power. But whilst the great chief was thus assailed +and intrigued against in London, his position in the country was every +day becoming stronger. + +It was known that he meant to retire from the representation of Greenwich +when the Parliament elected in 1874 came to an end. A score of different +towns contended for the honour of securing him as the Liberal +representative. Leeds, amongst other great constituencies, sent a +deputation to Harley Street, where Mr. Gladstone was living. To all these +offers he turned a deaf ear, and to the amazement of everybody it was +announced that he had decided to contest Midlothian, at that time +represented by Lord Dalkeith, whose father, the Duke of Buccleuch, was +the recognised leader of Conservatism in Scotland. Many years afterwards +I learned from Mr. Gladstone himself that before accepting the +candidature for Midlothian he consulted Lord Granville and Lord +Hartington, pointing out to them that if he were to enter into a colossal +struggle like that involved in the fight for the great Tory stronghold of +Midlothian, instead of accepting one of the safe seats offered to him +elsewhere, his position in the party would of necessity be altered. In +short, he could only fight Midlothian as a leader. Lord Granville and +Lord Hartington, undeterred by this consideration, still pressed him to +stand for Midlothian. From the moment he consented to do so Mr. Gladstone +undoubtedly regarded himself as the leader in the great campaign upon +which the country was about to embark. + +In Leeds great efforts were made by the Liberals in preparation for the +conflict. My own position in the party was now very different from what +it had been in 1874. I had been taken into the innermost circle of the +caucus, and now exercised a considerable amount of direct influence over +its proceedings. Having formed an intimate friendship with the honorary +secretary of the Liberal Association, Mr. Mathers, I was consulted upon +every step that was taken. It was at my suggestion that Mr.--now Sir +James--Kitson was invited to become our president, and I believe I am +correct in saying that it was by my arguments that he was induced to +accept the office. From the moment when he did so, the organisation of +the party in Leeds--where in 1874 we had met with so cruel a +disaster--began to advance by leaps and bounds. Kitson was a man of great +sagacity and shrewdness, and of much strength of character. Mathers was +simply the best organiser and wire-puller I ever met in the course of my +life. He was a master of detail, one of those rare men who can retain +within their grasp the full knowledge of every fact in the most +complicated of problems. He was also, like myself, an enthusiastic +Gladstonian. Unkind people in Leeds said in those days that the Liberal +party consisted of three persons, Kitson, Mathers, and Reid. This may not +have been absolutely correct, but it was certainly not very far from the +truth. + +On every side we witnessed, during this year 1879, the revival of Liberal +feeling, and the rapid growth of a strong hostility to Lord +Beaconsfield's adventures in the domain of foreign affairs. The current +had turned with a vengeance, and the flowing tide was indeed with us. We +three organisers of Leeds Liberalism were determined that at the coming +General Election we would win a victory that should fully redeem the +character of our town and give it a leading place in the political world. +We were, however, somewhat hampered for want of a good candidate to stand +along with Mr. Barran, the sitting member. I had found a thoroughly +suitable man who would have been a credit to the constituency, but there +were other candidates in the field, and it seemed as though one of these +would be chosen by the Liberal Four Hundred. For the adoption of a +candidate was a matter which rested solely with the Four Hundred, and +they clung to this prerogative of theirs with great tenacity. + +On the eve of the meeting at which they were to make their final +selection of a colleague for Mr. Barran, I learned that my fears were +well founded, and that the choice was likely to fall upon a gentleman +whom I did not regard as suitable. In order to prevent this, I proposed +in the _Leeds Mercury_ of the next morning that, in spite of Mr. +Gladstone's acceptance of the candidature for Midlothian, we should make +him our candidate at Leeds also. It was true that he had already refused +the invitation of the Leeds Liberals, but I pointed out that the fight +for Midlothian would notoriously be a severe one, and that it was quite +possible that Mr. Gladstone might be defeated. In such a case, if the +Liberal Association adopted my suggestion, Leeds would secure the high +honour of being represented by Mr. Gladstone, whilst, in any event, our +adoption of him as a candidate would enable him to conduct the contest in +Midlothian without feeling any anxiety as to a possible interruption in +his Parliamentary career. To my great delight, the Liberal Association +not only adopted my suggestion, but did so with enthusiasm. I had +consulted nobody before making it, but I had the satisfaction of finding +that everybody approved of it--everybody, that is to say, except the +gentleman who had won over to his own candidature a considerable +proportion of the Four Hundred. + +When the Association met that evening the whole of the candidates whose +claims had been so eagerly discussed beforehand were swept ruthlessly +aside, and nothing was talked of but the proposal of the _Leeds +Mercury_. After some discussion--in the course of which one gentleman +shrewdly pointed out that the anonymous letter suggesting the candidature +of Mr. Gladstone was probably written by the editor of the _Mercury_ +himself--the Association resolved by an overwhelming majority that Mr. +Gladstone should be one of the two Liberal candidates for Leeds at the +next election. And yet, at the very time when this proof of his +extraordinary hold upon the affections of a great community was made +public, the London newspapers were speaking of Mr. Gladstone as a +politician who no longer possessed either reputation or influence. We, +who had to live at a distance from Fleet Street, were at least able to +form a sounder judgment upon this point. + +I may interpolate here an account of one of the institutions of Leeds +that helped to reconcile me to my sojourn in that city. I do so because +it has always seemed to me to be a model institution of the kind. This +was the Conversation Club. It consisted of twelve members who were +supposed to be more or less representative of the intellectual life of +the town. The meetings were held monthly, each member entertaining his +fellow-members once a year in his own house. After dinner the host acted +as president, and the members present talked upon some selected subject. +By an ingenious arrangement it was impossible that anyone should know +beforehand what the subject of conversation on any particular evening +would be. In this way the preparation of set arguments was prevented, and +the club had nothing about it of the debating society. Speeches, of +course, were strictly prohibited. We limited ourselves to real +conversation, and many a delightful talk we had after dinner in those +Leeds drawing-rooms in which we met. Any facility I may have gained in +conversation I feel that I owe to the club, as I owe to it also many +happy and instructive hours. Considering our limited numbers, and the +fact that we met in a provincial town, we counted in our membership an +usually large number of men who have made some mark in the world. Amongst +the members were William Edward Forster, Sir Edward Baines, the Bishops +of Ely (Woodford), Truro (Gott), Chester (Jayne), and Rochester (Talbot); +Clifford Allbutt, Regius Professor of Medicine at Cambridge; +Professor--now Sir Arthur--Rücker, who has been secretary of the Royal +Society and President of the British Association, and is now Principal of +the University of London; Professor Thorpe, the chemist and Government +analyst, and Dr. Edison. This is not a bad list for so small a club, and +one might easily give many other names, in addition, of men who would +have been welcomed anywhere for their knowledge and attainments. In the +year 1900 the club celebrated its jubilee, and its members can look back +with satisfaction upon the influence which it has had on the social and +intellectual life of Leeds. Politics and religion were forbidden themes; +but many public movements of great importance for the development and +improvement of Leeds have had their origin in our conversations, whilst +the intellectual stimulus which those conversations afforded cannot be +forgotten by at least one grateful member of the club. + +I may here mention a visit I received from John Morley about this period. +He was one of the many men whose acquaintanceship I owed to the good +offices of Lord Houghton. It is an acquaintanceship that has lasted over +a considerable stretch of years, and that has from time to time been of a +close and almost confidential character. The charm of John Morley's +manner, and the brightness of his talk, have been felt and acknowledged +by all who have been brought into contact with him, and it would be +superfluous on my part to say anything about his literary reputation. But +I have always felt that neither his fine gifts nor his peculiar +temperament were suited for the rough and tumble of political warfare. I +have felt this whether I have been, as has often happened, marching +behind him in thorough unison with his opinions, or, as has also occurred +at times, directly opposed to him and to his policy. He came to see me at +Leeds because, having undertaken to deliver an address to the Trades +Union Congress, he was wishful to learn something on the spot of the +relations of master and men in a great industrial community. I made him +acquainted with my friends James Kitson and David Greig. He discussed +with them the problems concerning the relations of labour and capital, +and in their company visited the great industrial establishments over +which they presided. At that time he was not in Parliament, nor had he +begun his editorship of the _Pall Mall Gazette_. I remember that, +after a fatiguing day, spent in the works of the Kitsons, Morley +expressed his conviction that the great captains of industry, like Kitson +and Greig, were not only of greater importance to the world than a mere +Secretary of State, but were engaged upon much more laborious and +responsible tasks. I do not know if he still adheres to that opinion. + +I must now turn back to the course of public events, or at least of those +with which I had some personal connection. The dissolution of 1880 came +very unexpectedly, almost as unexpectedly as that of 1874. One evening, +as I was preparing to go down to the office, a messenger arrived in hot +haste with a telegram that had come over the _Mercury_ private wire +stating that the intention to dissolve Parliament had been announced in +the House of Commons that evening. Kitson, Mathers, and I had made all +our preparations, so the plan of campaign was already settled. On getting +the telegram I crossed over to the house of Mathers, who was a neighbour +of mine, and told him the news, and together we drove off to Kitson's to +take the first steps in the battle. The next morning the people of Leeds +awoke to discover every dead wall in the town placarded with an address, +signed by the president of the Liberal Association, announcing the +dissolution, and appealing to the electors to support the Liberal +candidates, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Barran. By ten o'clock in the forenoon +our committee rooms were open, and in full working order, and bands of +willing workers, whom we had summoned the night before, were already +being despatched to all quarters of the town to begin the indispensable +canvass. Our opponents were taken completely by surprise, and we had +gained that great advantage in all contests, the first start. As it +began, so it continued. All through the great struggle the Conservatives +were hopelessly behind us. As the enthusiastic Mathers afterwards +remarked, "We were right on the top of them the whole time." It was a +stirring and Homeric contest. To a staunch Liberal it was one that gave +unalloyed satisfaction, for all through the great fight there was the +amplest evidence that the flowing tide was on the side of Liberalism. + +In Leeds we had, of course, to face the disadvantage of fighting without +our chief candidate. Not by a word nor a sign did Mr. Gladstone, who was +deep in his own struggle in Midlothian, show that he was conscious that +an election in which he was personally concerned was going on in +Yorkshire. Naturally, our opponents made the most of this, and we had +constantly to meet the taunt that we were asking the electors to vote for +a man who had refused to countenance our proceedings, and who would +never, as a matter of fact, sit as the representative of Leeds in the +House of Commons. In ordinary times we should undoubtedly have suffered +from this taunt, especially since it had the merit of being true. But in +1880 the times were the reverse of ordinary. The overwhelming majority of +the people of Great Britain seemed to be possessed by an almost +passionate admiration for Mr. Gladstone. Future generations will find it +difficult to understand the extent of the fascination that he seemed, at +that period in his career, to exercise over the minds and hearts of a +majority of his fellow countrymen. Whilst London, and the London press, +still refused to admit that he could ever return to power, there was not +a public gathering in the provinces at which the mention of his name was +not received with enthusiastic cheering, so that, at last, men were +almost afraid to name him in their speeches, lest they should be accused +of bidding for the inevitable applause. If there was one town in the +country where this enthusiasm ran higher than in any other, it was Leeds. +We had no reason, therefore, to fear the taunts of our opponents. We knew +that we were being swept on an irresistible current to an assured +victory. + +On the Saturday before the polling-day a great meeting was held in the +Albert Hall, presided over by Kitson. The chief business of the meeting +was to listen to a lecture on Mr. Gladstone which I had prepared for the +occasion. Never before had I addressed so large an audience, nor one +possessed by so boundless an enthusiasm. It was amid an almost incessant +accompaniment of rolling cheers that I delivered my hour-long eulogium +upon the Liberal leader. I had thought that I had gone as far as any man +could in his praise, but I found I had not gone far enough for my +audience, and the only sounds of dissent I heard were when I ventured +mildly to hint that at some period or other in his career the great man +had not shown himself to be infallible. I dwell upon this state of public +feeling because it ought to be understood by those who wish to appreciate +aright the history of our country at that period. I do not think I go too +far when I say that the feeling entertained towards Mr. Gladstone in 1880 +by the great majority of the people of these islands was nothing less +than idolatrous. Any smaller man must have been intoxicated by the +knowledge of the feeling he had thus aroused. It says much for Mr. +Gladstone that, so far from showing any signs of intoxication or personal +exultation, from first to last he seemed to regard his hold upon the +masses of the people simply as one of the assets in the cause of which he +had made himself the champion. + +After I had finished my lecture in the Albert Hall a young man, then +unknown to me, and who was described as an Oxford don, was called upon to +address the meeting. This was Mr. Arthur Acland, subsequently a member of +Mr. Gladstone's last Cabinet. The next day I wrote to Mrs. Gladstone--for +all direct communication with her husband was forbidden--telling her how +the contest was going, and predicting that not less than twenty thousand +electors would vote for her husband on the polling day. My prediction was +more than fulfilled, for when the votes were counted it was found that +Mr. Gladstone's stood at the remarkable number of 24,622, whilst Mr. +Barran came next to him with 23,674. Mr. W. L. Jackson (afterwards Chief +Secretary for Ireland), the successful Conservative candidate, was more +than ten thousand below the number secured by Mr. Gladstone. It was, +indeed, a famous victory; and when I parted from Kitson and Mathers after +the declaration of the poll, whilst we all felt more than repaid for the +toil and anxiety of months, we admitted, with a certain amount of +sadness, that we could never hope to repeat such a success. "Whatever +happens, we shall never see 1880 again," said Kitson, and he spoke truly. +Mrs. Gladstone, on receipt of my letter, had written to me expressing her +warm thanks for what "the dear people of Leeds" were doing, but she said +not a word about her husband, nor did we receive a sign or acknowledgment +of the stupendous victory--a victory which had staggered the whole +country, and opened the eyes even of the London clubs to Mr. Gladstone's +real position--whilst the Midlothian contest remained in suspense. We +heard, indeed, from a private source, that the company assembled with Mr. +Gladstone under Lord Rosebery's roof at Dalmeny had "jumped for joy" when +the telegram announcing the Leeds result had arrived. But that was all. + +A few days later Midlothian also spoke, and in turn elected Mr. Gladstone +as its representative. Within an hour of the declaration of the poll in +Edinburgh, Kitson received a telegram from Mr. Gladstone, thanking Leeds +for all that it had done. It was characteristic of the great man's +businesslike habits and careful attention to small details that the +telegram was so worded as to come within the limits of the shilling rate +which was then the minimum charge for telegraphic messages. A day or two +later Mr. Gladstone wrote fully and most cordially in acknowledgment of +the great services which had been rendered to him and to the Liberal +cause by the party in Leeds. But his real thanks were given to us more +than a year after, when he paid a memorable visit to the town, of which I +shall have occasion to speak later. + +A few weeks afterwards, when the Gladstone Ministry had been formed, and +the new Parliament, with its overwhelming Liberal majority, had met, we +had fresh reason to acknowledge the unique and astounding position of +supremacy which Mr. Gladstone had secured among his fellow countrymen. He +had, as from the first was anticipated, elected to sit for Midlothian, +and there was consequently a vacancy for Leeds. All the heart had been +taken out of the Tories of the borough by the beating they had received, +and their leaders courteously informed us that they would not oppose any +candidate whom we might elect. We had, it need hardly be said, many +applicants for this safe seat, but we--I speak of the recognised leaders +of the Liberal party in the town--had fixed upon one man to fill the +vacancy. This was Edward Baines, who had been, as I have told on a +previous page, so scurvily treated by the teetotallers in 1874. The +executive committee of the Association agreed by a unanimous vote to +propose Mr. Baines to the Four Hundred as the new candidate in place of +Mr. Gladstone. But we reckoned without our host, and, above all, we had +failed to give due weight to the overwhelming strength of the Gladstone +cult. + +When we met the Four Hundred, and Mr. Baines was duly proposed and +seconded in the name of the executive committee, we found that the +proposition was but coldly received; nor were we long left in doubt as to +the reason. Someone in the body of the hall got up and proposed that Mr. +Herbert Gladstone should be the Liberal candidate. Herbert Gladstone was +at that time a stranger to me, and I believe to every other man in the +room. All that we knew of him was that he was Mr. Gladstone's youngest +son, that he was twenty-five years of age, and that he had just been +defeated by Lord George Hamilton in the contest for Middlesex. No member +of Mr. Gladstone's family had suggested Herbert's name to us, and we had +naturally felt that the first claim to the vacant seat lay with our old +representative and honoured fellow-townsman. But it was useless to +struggle against the glamour of the name of Gladstone. The whole meeting +broke away from its recognised leaders, and adopted with enthusiasm the +candidature of Herbert Gladstone. Looking back, I cannot pretend to +regret its decision. Though we knew nothing of Herbert Gladstone at the +time, when we did get to know him, a few weeks later, we found him to be +a young man of the highest promise, of exceptional talents, and of great +amiability of character. The Liberals of Leeds ratified the verdict of +the Four Hundred, and he was elected almost by acclamation to be the +representative of the town in Parliament--a position which he still +holds. The incident of his election when personally quite unknown is, +however, conclusive as to the extent of his father's influence among the +electors of the country. + +In those days, it is no reflection upon Herbert Gladstone's abilities to +say that one of the most powerful influences in his favour was his +appearance. The young women of Leeds of the working-class formed the +highest estimate of his good looks, and whenever he appeared in public a +crowd of them gathered to feast their eyes upon his pleasant and handsome +features. In the later elections that took place during my residence at +Leeds I always accompanied him in his drive through his constituency on +the polling day. Wherever our carriage stopped, a group of young women +flocked round it, and Gladstone had to listen to their somewhat +embarrassing comments upon his appearance--comments, I ought to say, that +were uniformly favourable. In the 1885 election, which took place in +November, we had drawn up in front of one of the Liberal clubs, and he +had gone inside the building to interview his committee. As he +disappeared from view, the young women burst forth in their usual praise +of his appearance. "Eh, but isn't he good-looking? Shouldn't I like to +kiss him!" said one of the girls who was standing at my elbow. "Would you +really?" I said, anxious for some relief to the grave business of the +day; and the girl repeated her declaration. "Then when he comes out of +the club," said I, "you may give him a kiss if you like." And, to my +great amusement, when the candidate reappeared, a pair of buxom arms were +suddenly thrown round his neck, and a good-looking girl kissed him +heartily. The crowd cheered with enthusiasm, all the more because of the +blush which spread over the features of the ingenuous candidate thus +taken by surprise. But kisses, as we learnt long ago, are not to be +despised as electioneering weapons. + +It was in October, 1881, that the Prime Minister came to Leeds to thank +us for his election in the previous year. Among the many political +meetings, or series of meetings, that I remember, I can call to mind none +like this. For weeks before the event we of the Liberal Committee were +engaged in preparing for it. Mr. Gladstone was to arrive on the Thursday +evening, and to leave on Saturday evening. Into the forty-eight hours of +his visit a series of engagements was packed to which a week might well +have been devoted. On the first evening he was formally welcomed to the +town, which had been decorated for the occasion as though for a royal +visit. Afterwards a large dinner party was held at the residence of his +host, Mr. (now Sir James) Kitson. On the Friday he received an address +from the Mayor and Corporation, and another from the Chamber of Commerce, +to both of which he replied in speeches of some length. A little later in +the day a great meeting was held in the Victoria Hall, at which addresses +were presented to him from all the Liberal Associations of Yorkshire, and +he responded in a very fine speech that lasted an hour. In the evening he +attended a great banquet at which thirteen hundred persons sat down to +dinner in a noble hall specially erected for the occasion, whilst the +day's work ended with a vast torchlight procession from the dining-hall +in the heart of Leeds to Kitson's residence at Headingley. + +On the Saturday, after some minor engagements, the character of which I +forget, but which involved a certain amount of speech-making, Mr. +Gladstone was entertained at luncheon in the Victoria Hall by the Leeds +Liberal Club, of which I was the honorary secretary; and after speaking +there he went direct to the temporary building erected in the Cloth-hall +yard, and there addressed a mass meeting of many thousands of persons. +Afterwards he attended a large dinner party at the house of Mr. Barran, +and at ten o'clock departed from Leeds by special train for Hawarden. It +will be seen that the burden of work laid upon him was enormous, +especially considering the fact that he was already in his seventy-second +year. Yet his wonderful constitution and untiring energy enabled him to +go through the whole programme not only with apparent ease, but with an +exuberant vitality that seemed to suggest that if his engagements had +been twice as numerous he would have been equal to them all. I doubt if +any other statesman ever before got through so much work and +speech-making in the course of a couple of days. + +As I look back now, after the lapse of many years, upon that memorable +time--for the Leeds visit was memorable, not only in Mr. Gladstone's +career, but in the political history of the country--the two speeches +which stand out in greatest prominence are those which he delivered at +the banquet on the Friday evening, and the mass meeting on the Saturday +afternoon. The banquet narrowly escaped being a terrible fiasco. For the +first time in my association with them, I had a difference of opinion +with Kitson and Mathers regarding the arrangements for the dinner. The +cost of erecting the special dining-hall was, of course, very +considerable. I proposed that it should be met by a uniform charge of two +guineas for the dinner tickets. My friends, on the other hand, prepared +an elaborate plan by which the tickets were to be charged at different +rates from one guinea up to five, according to the position of the seats. +In this way more money was to be obtained, but it was at the cost of +extra labour on the part of the executive, and of a good deal of +grumbling from those local Liberals who had helped us most earnestly in +the 1880 election, but who could not afford to pay the very high price +demanded for the best seats. The allotment of these variously priced +seats at the banquet was a heavy task, and it was undertaken by Mathers. +Somehow or other he was delayed in his work until two days before the +dinner was to take place, and then he was seized with sudden illness. + +I was called in to take his place, and discovered an alarming state of +affairs. It was Wednesday night, Mr. Gladstone was to arrive on Thursday, +and his heavy round of engagements was to begin on Friday morning. More +than thirty thousand tickets had to be sent out to all parts of the +country for the various meetings, and on Wednesday night not one ticket +had been despatched. Moreover, Mathers had prepared so elaborate a scheme +for the allotment and registration of all the tickets applied for, that a +rapid calculation satisfied me that we could not possibly despatch the +last of the tickets until at least two days after Mr. Gladstone's +departure from Leeds. This was rather a terrible discovery to be made on +the eve of the Premier's arrival. The knot had to be cut instead of being +unravelled. I put aside the elaborate and irreproachable volumes in which +Mathers and his staff had been entering the tickets at the time when he +was seized with illness, and, with the help of a sixpenny memorandum book +and half a dozen smart bank clerks, succeeded in allotting and posting +the whole of the thirty thousand tickets between ten o'clock on Wednesday +night and eight o'clock on Thursday morning. I never worked harder in my +life, but when my work was done, and the tickets had all passed beyond my +control, I fell into a terrible state of panic. I was firmly convinced +that in my rapid allotment of seats to the five different orders of +banqueters I had made the most hideous blunders, and I expected nothing +less than a riot when the company assembled in the dining-hall. To my +unfeigned astonishment, my fears proved to be utterly unfounded. There +was a seat for everybody, and everybody got a seat, though to this day I +have a shrewd suspicion that more than one gentleman who had paid five +guineas for his place found himself relegated to a one guinea seat. But +what did it matter? People had come to hear Mr. Gladstone, and so long as +they succeeded in this they were indifferent to everything else. + +Mr. Gladstone's speech at the dinner was the famous one in which he +discussed the Irish question, warned Mr. Parnell of the dangers of the +course upon which he had embarked, and declared emphatically that the +resources of civilisation were not exhausted. He did not take his seat at +the high table in the hall where Sir James Kitson presided until dinner +was over and the speeches were about to begin. I observed that when he +did so, after having gazed with admiration upon the brilliant scene, he +leant forward, and, covering his face with both hands, remained for some +time in that attitude. On the following evening I sat next to Mrs. +Gladstone at dinner at Sir John Barran's house. She asked me if I had +observed this action of her husband's, and on my answering in the +affirmative, she said to me, "He was praying. You know, he always prays +before he makes an important speech, and he felt that speech very much. +What do you think he said to me last night after he had gone to his +dressing-room? 'My dear, if I were twenty years younger, I should go to +Ireland myself as Irish Secretary.'" The speech was a great oratorical +success, and at the close of the banquet, as I have said, an immense +torchlight procession, which had been carefully organised by the local +committee, conducted the Premier and his wife from the banqueting hall to +the residence of Kitson at Headingley. The procession had to pass across +Woodhouse Moor, and I do not think I ever witnessed a more effective +spectacle of the kind. + +The speech which, to my mind, ranked next in importance and interest to +this at the dinner was that which Mr. Gladstone delivered on the +following day to the mass meeting of Leeds working men. Fully thirty +thousand persons attended this meeting, which, like the dinner, took +place in a temporary building. It was crowded to suffocation--literally +to suffocation. When I arrived, shortly before the proceedings began, I +found that the whole thirty thousand people were gasping for breath, and +that many were fainting. We had quite forgotten to arrange for the +ventilation of the vast hall! Things looked very serious. The hubbub was +indescribable, and the sufferings of the crowd were so great that it was +clearly impossible that, under the conditions prevailing, any meeting +could be held. Fortunately, there were active and willing workers on the +spot, and a band of young men was organised who, mounting to the +temporary roof of the hall, tore the planking open, and quickly relieved +the pressure upon the sufferers beneath. But even when they had been +supplied with air the thirty thousand were anything but comfortable. They +were tightly packed together in a sweltering mass, and in no condition to +listen patiently to speeches. The noise and hubbub was little short of +deafening. + +The Chairman, having briefly addressed the meeting in dumb show, called +upon one eminent Liberal after another to move the preliminary +resolutions. Not a word that any one of these gentlemen said could be +heard a yard beyond the limits of the platform. It seemed that nothing +could be done to reduce the vast audience to silence, and we were in +despair at the thought that Mr. Gladstone would have to face so severe an +ordeal. When at last his turn came, and he stepped to the front of the +platform, thirty thousand throats sent up such a shout that it seemed to +shake the building. Again and again for a space of some minutes it was +renewed, whilst the orator stood, pale and motionless. What could one +voice have done against thirty thousand? Then, just as the cheering +seemed to be subsiding, someone started "For he's a jolly good fellow," +and the whole thirty thousand joined in the song. After that it took some +minutes for them all to settle down again, and still there went on that +undercurrent of murmuring talk which seemed to make the attempt of anyone +to address the gigantic meeting hopeless. But suddenly Mr. Gladstone +raised his hand, and it was almost as if a miracle had happened. In an +instant there was a deathlike silence in the hall, and every man in it +seemed to be holding his breath. The speaker's voice rang out, clear and +musical as of old, and it reached to the furthest corners of the mighty +apartment. But he had not got further than the conventional opening words +when his audience seemed to go mad with delight. A frenzied burst of +cheering, far exceeding that which had welcomed him on his first +appearance, proclaimed the joy with which they had heard the voice of the +man they adored. + +Again it was some minutes before Mr. Gladstone was allowed to proceed, +but once more his uplifted hand ensured silence, and from that moment +until he had reached the end of an hour's speech, every syllable that he +uttered was heard distinctly by his thirty thousand listeners. It was, I +think, the passionate eagerness of the audience to hear his voice, and +their outburst of delight when its notes first fell upon their ears, that +formed the most striking feature of that great meeting. Perhaps there was +something almost idolatrous in the reception given to the statesman. It +would have turned the heads of most men. The wonder is that it affected +Mr. Gladstone so slightly. Yet I must say again that one must have been +present at scenes like this in order to appreciate the real position of +this remarkable man at this the very zenith of his political career. I +remember that this speech, which was received with so intense an +enthusiasm by all who heard it, contained the speaker's defence of what +is known as the Majuba Hill policy. To those of us who were under the +wand of the magician it seemed that no other defence was needed. + +I had an opportunity, when the meeting was over, of seeing what effect +the physical effort of making an hour's speech to an audience of thirty +thousand had upon Mr. Gladstone. When I went into the committee room he +was half reclining in an armchair, wrapped in a large cloak. His eyes +were closed, his face was deathly pale, his whole aspect that of a man +who was absolutely exhausted. Mrs. Gladstone brought him a cup of tea, +but even as he drank his eyes were shut. To me, who had never seen him in +this state before, it was alarming to observe him in a condition of +positive collapse. Yet a few hours later he was the life and soul of a +large dinner party. That dinner is memorable to me, because it was the +first occasion on which I met Mr. Gladstone in private. I had a good +opportunity of seeing that charming personal courtesy which distinguished +him in all his social relationships. I was introduced to him by our host +across the dinner-table, and he immediately plunged into a discussion +about newspapers and distinguished journalists who were known to me +personally. I remember he paid a great compliment to the _Standard_, +saying that it was a newspaper he always liked to read because he always +found it to be fair and honest. "When I read a bad leader in the +_Standard_," he said, "I say to myself, Mr. Mudford must be taking a +holiday." I duly reported this saying to Mudford afterwards, and I know +that this praise from one whom he had often criticised so severely +afforded that distinguished editor intense pleasure. + +When Mr. Gladstone left Leeds after his stay of little more than +forty-eight hours, he might safely have used the words of Julius Caesar. +He had conquered everybody. Even his political opponents were for the +moment subdued by the magic of his eloquence; whilst those who, like +myself, had for the first time enjoyed direct personal intercourse with +him were completely subjugated by the fascination of his manner, and +those remarkable social and intellectual gifts which made him so long the +foremost figure in English society. Of course, to one who had been a +Gladstonian ever since those early days in the 'sixties at Newcastle of +which I have spoken in a previous chapter, the joy of knowing the great +man in the flesh was very great. Yet not even the strength of my +admiration for one so supremely gifted, so ardent in his faith, and so +strenuous in his actions made of me a blind follower of his leadership. +Not many months after that meeting with him at Leeds I found myself +sharply separated from him in a political controversy of which I shall +soon have to speak. + +I found refreshment after the fatigues connected with the Leeds +gatherings in an excursion to Tunis. In 1881 the French, upon a +distinctly fraudulent pretext, had invaded the territories of the Bey of +Tunis. Their professed purpose was to punish a certain tribe of +"Kroumirs," who, it was alleged, had committed outrages in Algeria. The +Kroumirs, as it turned out, were a product of the imagination of M. +Roustan, the diplomatic agent of France in Tunis. No such tribe was known +to the Tunisians, but the pretext served, and Tunis was invaded. The +truth, as the world now knows, was that France was resolved to have some +compensation for our ill-starred acquisition of Cyprus. She dared not +move in the direction of Morocco, because of the jealousy of the other +Powers of Europe; but she had obtained the tacit consent of Prince +Bismarck to the Tunisian expedition. Of the pledges she gave as to the +objects and the limitations of that expedition I need not speak. Yet one +is entitled to remember that if the force of circumstances has compelled +our neighbours to break their word with regard to Tunis, we are equally +justified in alleging the same reason for the breach of our own promises +concerning Egypt. + +My friend Mudford gave me a commission to act as special correspondent of +the _Standard_ in Tunis, and I went there accordingly to spend a few +interesting weeks in studying on the spot one of the burning questions of +the day. I shall not inflict upon my reader the story of my trip. I feel +the less inclined to do so because I was ill-advised enough after my +return to publish that story in a volume called "The Land of the Bey." +The most interesting fact connected with that volume is one that happened +in quite recent years. A gentleman from the Inland Revenue Office called +upon me, and in a most courteous manner drew my attention to the fact +that I had not, in my income-tax returns, included the profit I had +received from this book. It had taken the department just nineteen years +to discover the existence of this precious volume. The discovery, though +belated, did great credit to the zeal and industry of somebody connected +with the Inland Revenue, for I am convinced that he is the only person, +myself excepted, who knew that the book had been written. I had clean +forgotten its existence myself when it was recalled to my memory in this +amusing fashion. My visitor from the Inland Revenue Office smiled sweetly +when I explained to him why no profits from this publication had ever +swelled my meagre income-tax returns. It was a case of the Spanish Fleet +over again. I had never seen those literary profits even to the amount of +sixpence, and I could not therefore be expected to cause the collectors +of her Majesty's Revenue to succeed where I had failed. + +My stay in Tunis was not only interesting but somewhat adventurous. There +was only one Englishman besides myself resident in the city of Tunis +while I was there. This was Mr. A. M. Broadley, who was at that time +acting as the correspondent of the _Times_, and whose ability had +enabled him to create a diplomatic question, which he called the Enfida +Case, out of a trumpery lawsuit in which he acted for a rich Arab, +called, if I remember aright, General Benayid. Mr. Broadley subsequently +became known to fame for the active part he took in defending Arabi Pasha +at Cairo. I only mention him now because of the remarkable forecast which +he made on the first evening on which I met him in his house in Tunis. +Producing a map of the Eastern Hemisphere he pointed out to me what he +called the zone of disturbance, and assured me that within the next ten +years the eyes of the world would be riveted upon that zone. Roughly +speaking, the zone was the belt of the Mahommedan races, extending from +Morocco in the west to India in the east. The disturbances which he +predicted would come he traced in the first instance from our annexation +of Cyprus, and the consequent invasion of Tunis by France. He foretold +with great precision the rise of the Mahdi, and the growth of religious +fanaticism in the Soudan; and he indicated that through Asia Minor, +Persia, and Afghanistan a wave of unrest was running which must have +serious consequences for the Christian Powers in the near future. Many +times in later days I had occasion to remember the wonderfully clear and +precise predictions of Mr. Broadley, as he delivered them to me in his +old Arab house in Tunis. + +One charming friend I made during my visit. This was the English +Consul-General, Mr. Reade, who entertained me in his beautiful house at +the Marsa, close to the site of Carthage. A pleasant, rather grave, and +thoughtful man, Mr. Reade was a mine of information regarding earlier +days in Tunis, when the Bey was a real ruler and the slave-market in the +old Bazaar was still the scene of a merchandise in flesh and blood. His +father had been Consul-General in Tunis when the influence of Great +Britain was supreme, and he had inherited his father's popularity and +personal prestige. Too clearly he foresaw that the result of the French +foray upon the unoffending principality must be its absorption into +French territory, and the consequent loss of England's position and +influence in that part of the Mediterranean. All his fears have been more +than realised. In 1881 it was the English Consul-General who was the most +important person in Tunis--more important in many respects than the Bey +himself. In the Bazaars every shop was filled with English goods, whilst +many wealthy Tunisians had found protection by securing their recognition +as English subjects. In the old Consulate at the gates of the city an +English, or at least a Maltese, judge administered justice under the red +ensign daily. The travelling Englishman hardly seemed to have left the +shelter of his own flag when he found himself in the land of the Bey. All +this is changed now. France has elbowed England out of Tunis. Our +Consul--he is no longer Consul-General--is a subordinate official. +English commerce has dwindled away to comparative insignificance. French +shops supply the residents with all they require, and Great Britain has +become of no account. This is the direct result of Lord Beaconsfield's +action in taking possession of Cyprus in 1878. Would to Heaven that this +were the whole of the price we have had to pay for that fatal piece of +folly! + +Whilst I was in Tunis I went to the little English graveyard, which lies +enclosed by houses in the heart of the old city. Here are the graves of +some Englishmen who were the captives of Tunisian pirates in the old days +when Barbary rovers were still the curse of the Mediterranean. I found +there also, in that lonely and neglected spot, the grave of Howard Payne, +the author of "Home, Sweet Home." It seemed cruel that he, who had +touched so deep and true a chord in the hearts of millions, should +himself be fated to rest so far from home. I wrote to the newspapers to +draw attention to this fact. Whether my letters had in themselves any +effect I do not pretend to say, but I am glad to know that since then +Payne's body has been removed to America and buried in his native place. + +In returning from Tunis I came by way of Malta and Naples, where I got an +Orient steamer which brought me to Plymouth. It was in sailing through +the Straits of Messina on my way to Naples that I met with one of those +strange--but by no means rare--coincidences that prove the smallness of +the world, or, at least, of that part of it with which any one man is +acquainted. I was sitting on the upper deck of the steamer, gazing at +Etna, as its snow-shrouded peak was revealed in the brilliant moonlight, +when a chance fellow-traveller began to talk about the coincidences so +common in foreign travel. I told him that one of my strangest experiences +of the kind was the following. In the previous September I was staying at +the Hotel Belle Vue at The Hague, and after dinner one evening went into +the reading room to get a peep at the _Times_. A pleasant-looking +elderly gentleman was reading it when I entered. Perhaps he saw the look +of disappointment on my face when I found that the coveted journal was +engaged. At any rate, he very courteously offered it to me, and by way of +opening a conversation drew my attention to an article it contained about +the Liverpool docks. When I had glanced through the paper he resumed the +conversation about Liverpool, and asked if I knew many persons in that +city. I was compelled to admit that I knew only one, a Liverpool +clergyman named Postance, my acquaintance with him being of the +slightest. "Ah," said my friend, "if you know the Reverend Henry +Postance, you have possibly heard him speak of his son Alfred?" I replied +that I knew Alfred Postance better than I knew his father, and that I +had, as a matter of fact, travelled to Malta with him shortly before his +death, which took place in that island. "Then," pursued my interlocutor, +"since you knew Alfred Postance, you might like to read a little sketch +of his life that has been written by a friend. I think I could procure +the loan of a copy for you." I thanked the gentleman for his offer, but +explained that it was not necessary that I should avail myself of it, as +Mr. Postance senior had already sent me a copy of the work in question. +The old gentleman's eyes glistened when I said this, and with an air of +some pride he said: "Since you have read that little book, you will, I am +sure, be interested to know that it was I who published it." "Well, I am +rather interested," I replied, "because it was I who wrote it." + +This was the story which I chanced to tell on the deck of the steamboat +to my unknown fellow-traveller. I had no sooner finished it than he said, +"Then you are Mr. Wemyss Reid. Your account of Alfred Postance was the +last thing I read before leaving my home in Malta." The double +coincidence was certainly rather startling, and it was increased when I +found that I and this second stranger had on the same day visited the +grave of Alfred Postance at Valetta for the same purpose--to pluck a +spray of flowers to send to his father in Liverpool. Yes, the world +_is_ small! + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CONCERNING W. E. FORSTER AND OTHERS. + +The Beginning of Mr. Stead's Journalistic Career--His Methods--Birth of +the New Journalism--Madame Novikoff and Mr. Stead--Mr. Stead's Attacks +upon Joseph Cowen--How he dealt with a Remonstrance--W. E. Forster--Mr. +Chamberlain's Antagonism--The _Leeds Mercury's_ Defence of +Forster--How he was Jockeyed out of the Cabinet--Forster's +Resignation--News of the Phoenix Park Murders--Forster's Reflections--Mr. +Gladstone's Pity for Social Outcasts--Mr. Chamberlain's Brothers +Blackballed at the Reform--Failure of an Attempt to Crush the _Leeds +Mercury_--Forster's Gratitude. + + +I now approach an episode in my life which not only had a strong and +permanent influence on my own career, but is of interest in its bearing +on the politics of my time. I refer to my intimate friendship with +William Edward Forster, and to my close association with him in the +stormy episodes which attended the close of his career as a Minister of +the Crown. But before I enter into the story of my relations with this +truly great and noble-minded man, I may say something about another +distinguished person who shared my regard for Mr. Forster, though we had, +perhaps, few other tastes in common. One day in 1871 or 1872--that is to +say, soon after I became editor of the _Leeds Mercury_--I was told +on returning home that a gentleman was waiting to see me who had brought +a letter of introduction, which my servant placed in my hands. The letter +was from my father, and its object was to introduce to me the son of his +old friend, the Rev. William Stead, of Howden, near Newcastle. I need not +say that an introduction from my father would in itself have sufficed to +ensure for the bearer a warm reception; but in any case the story which +young Mr. Stead had to tell me at once enlisted my interest and sympathy. +Like myself, he was the son of a Nonconformist minister, and on leaving +school he had entered upon a business career as a clerk on the quayside +at Newcastle. But he had been irresistibly drawn towards journalism, just +as I myself had been a dozen years earlier, and after contributing +articles to various newspapers, he had received the offer of the +editorship of the _Northern Echo_, a halfpenny newspaper which had +been recently established at Darlington. + +Strange to say, when this post was offered to and accepted by him, he was +not only absolutely without editorial experience, but, as he himself told +me, had never seen the inside of a newspaper office in his life. With +that remarkable promptitude and directness of action which, as I +afterwards discovered, was one of his great characteristics, he had no +sooner accepted the editorship than he sought to qualify himself for it +by making the acquaintance and obtaining the advice of someone who had +actual experience in editorial work. It happened that I was the only +editor to whom he could get a personal introduction, and so he came to me +at Leeds to get what guidance and help I could afford him at the outset +of his journalistic career. Remembering to what a height of fame he has +since risen as a journalist, I confess that I look back upon the days +when he thus approached me as a neophyte with some amusement. No doubt I +was already, in his eyes, one of the old fogeys of the Press, and it must +be admitted that there was something of the ugly duckling about his first +appearance in my comparatively tame editorial establishment. + +Stead interested me immensely during this first visit that he paid me. He +was pleasingly distinguished by an entire lack of diffidence, and from +the first made no concealment of his own views upon any of the subjects +we discussed together. It is true that when I took him down to the +_Mercury_ office that evening, and wrote my leader whilst he sat at +my desk beside me, he regarded me with the admiring eyes of the novice; +but he had, even then, his own ideas as to how leaders ought to be +written and newspapers edited, and he did not affect to conceal them. +There was something that was irresistible in his candour, his enthusiasm, +and his self-confidence. The Press was the greatest agency for +influencing public opinion in the world. It was the true and only lever +by which Thrones and Governments could be shaken and the masses of the +people raised. In all this I was in strong sympathy with his opinions. +But I was staggered by the audacity of the schemes for revolutionising +English journalism which he poured into my ears on this the first evening +on which he had ever entered a newspaper office. For hour after hour he +talked with an ardour and a freshness which delighted me. If he had come +to me in the guise of a pupil, he very quickly reversed our positions, +and lectured me for my own good on questions of journalistic usage which +I thought I had settled for myself a dozen years before I had met him. + +Often I thought his ideas ridiculous: once or twice I thought that he +himself must be mad; but even then I admired his splendid enthusiasm and +his engaging frankness. Occasionally I said to him, "If you were ever to +get your way, you would make the Press a wonderful thing, no doubt; but +you would make the Pressman the best-hated creature in the Universe." At +this he would burst into a roar of laughter, in which I was constrained +to join. "I see, you think I'm crazy," he said once. "Well, not crazy, +perhaps, but distinctly eccentric. You will come all right, however, when +you have had a little experience." Thus, in my blind belief in my own +superior experience and wisdom, I thought and spoke. Many a time since +then I have recalled that long night's talk when I have recognised in +some daring development of modern journalism one of the many schemes +which Stead then flashed before my eyes. We had talked--or, rather, he +had talked--for hours after getting home from work. I was far from being +weary of his conversation, but I knew that the night had passed, and I +rose and drew aside the curtains. Never shall I forget the look of +amazement that overspread Stead's face when the sunshine streamed into +the room. "Why, it is daylight!" he exclaimed, with an air of +bewilderment. "I never sat up till daylight in my life before." + +This was my first knowledge of one of the most remarkable and brilliant +journalists of my time. We parted with, I think, mutual feelings of +regard and goodwill, feelings which I, at least, have never lost. I +recognised my visitor from the first as a man of remarkable gifts, of +something that came near to genius. I recognised, too, his honesty and +sincerity, though I had, even then, forebodings as to what might be the +consequences of his impetuous ardour and reckless defiance of old customs +and conventions. + +After this, I heard a good deal from Stead during his remarkable +editorship of the _Northern Echo_, nor was I long in discovering +that he was really determined to put what I regarded as his wild theories +of journalism into practice. Of course, it took time to enable him to +make his personality felt in the little paper he edited, but he took care +to keep me acquainted with all that he was doing. Whenever an article of +special interest appeared in the _Echo_ I received a copy of it, +marked with a blue pencil by Stead. At the end of twelve months from his +first engagement as editor, he wrote to me asking if I would give him my +opinion in writing of his work during the year, and the capacity he had +shown as a journalist. With great willingness I wrote to express my high +opinion, not only of his ability, but of his growing aptitude as an +editor. Back in a few days came a reply from this extraordinary man. It +was to tell me that he had shown my letter to the proprietor of the +_Northern Echo_, Mr. Bell, and on the strength of it had succeeded +in obtaining an increase of salary, an increase which I am sure was fully +deserved. For two years, if I remember aright, he went through this +formality. I am confident that Mr. Stead himself, if he should read these +lines, will not make any objection to my revelation of these little +episodes in his early career. I have told them because, whilst they are +so thoroughly characteristic of the man, they are not in any way +derogatory to his reputation. + +By-and-by, however, a change took place in our relationship. Stead was +rapidly working his way to the front, and some of the means which he +employed did not commend themselves to my judgment. For example, he was +in the habit of sending marked copies of any article he wrote on +political questions to the statesmen or other public men to whom he had +chanced to refer. I had always been very sensitive myself as to this +practice, regarding it as an attempt to force oneself upon the notice of +public men in a way that was not consistent with an editor's +independence, to say nothing of his dignity. + +I may have been wrong in my view. Certainly I have known other +journalists besides Stead who adopted his practice, and I have no right +to sit in judgment upon any of them. But my personal view was that an +editor ought to say honestly what he thought for the benefit of the +readers of his journal, and that he ought neither to obtrude his own +individuality upon those readers, nor to seek to come into close contact +with the men whose actions it was his duty to criticise. Long before this +period in my life I had laid down a rule for myself which I have +consistently observed ever since. This was that I would never seek an +introduction to any public man, or bring under his personal notice +anything that I had written. Stead took another course, and though I +could no longer regard him as a _protégé_ of my own, I did not like +it, and I daresay I did not conceal my feelings from him. But he could +well afford to treat my disapproval with contempt, for his policy +answered even beyond his own expectation. The fact that his paper was a +very small one, published in a small town, gave, I have no doubt, +additional zest to his very acute and intelligent criticisms of public +affairs. Mr. Bright, if I remember rightly, was the first public man of +eminence who drew attention to the articles in the _Northern Echo_, +and he very soon afterwards received a visit from the enterprising +editor. Then Stead, carrying still further his theory of a journalist's +duties, sought interviews with others among the foremost men of the time. +Carlyle was one of those who succumbed to his fascinations, and when +Carlyle one day referred to him in conversation as "that good man Stead," +the fact quickly became known to the public. Mr. Forster was another of +Stead's earlier heroes and friends, and by-and-by the young editor at +Darlington became known to a considerable circle of prominent persons. +Thus was the New Journalism born. To me, as an Old Journalist, it is not +a thing with which I can pretend to have much sympathy, but I must +acknowledge its brightness, its alertness, its close grip of actualities, +and its rapid and remarkable success. I need hardly say that it was no +longer necessary for the editor of the _Northern Echo_, the friend +of many of the distinguished personages of the day, to seek my testimony +as to his value to his employer. He quickly became recognised for what he +was--a journalist of exceptional capacity and of great originality and +daring. + +Differences upon political questions drove us further apart, however, +than any question of the ethics of editorial conduct. The Eastern +Question, of which I have already spoken, excited Stead greatly, and he +distinguished himself not so much by the vehemence of his attacks upon +the unspeakable Turk, as by his uncompromising championship of Russia and +her policy in South-Eastern Europe. It was not a popular line to take, +but Stead followed it with something like enthusiasm. It was at this time +that he fell under the influence of Madame Novikoff, who, whether +accredited or unaccredited, was generally regarded as the unofficial +representative of Russia in this country. She was, and is, a lady of +great talent and plausibility, and she undoubtedly exercised at one time +an extraordinary amount of influence over many distinguished British +politicians. I am not prepared to say that Stead took his inspiration +upon Russian politics solely from Madame Novikoff; but at any rate he +never wrote anything in the _Northern Echo_ in those days of which +that lady could not heartily approve, and thus he made another powerful +and enthusiastic friend in the political society of our time. + +Years afterwards, somewhere in the 'nineties, I happened to sit beside +Madame Novikoff at a luncheon party in Mayfair. "I believe you know my +great friend, Stead?" she said, by way of opening our conversation at the +table. I told her I had known him for many years. "And what do you think +of him?" she asked, with an air of innocent curiosity that sat well upon +her guileless countenance. "Is he not wonderful? I think him, for my +part, one of the greatest men alive. What do you think?" I replied, in a +more restrained spirit, that I thought him extremely able, and that he +had certainly accomplished some wonderful achievements as a journalist. +"Ah!" said Madame Novikoff, with an air of quickened curiosity, "you +think that? Now tell me what, in your opinion, is his most wonderful +achievement." I told her that I thought it was his success in championing +the cause of a certain lady. (The story has nothing to do with this +narrative, but it was a _cause célčbre_ in which Stead employed the +methods of the New Journalism in order to secure justice for a woman who +had been gravely wronged.) No sooner had I explained myself to Madame +Novikoff than that lady's face fell. "Ah, I am sorry to hear you say +that. That was not his greatest achievement. But Stead has always been +ready to go crusading at a woman's bidding." Madame Novikoff must have +known what she was talking about. + +Among the leading politicians of the North in those days was my old +friend and fellow-townsman, Joseph Cowen, of Newcastle. He had been to +some extent alienated from Mr. Gladstone and from the Liberal party by +disappointment, but he still called himself a Liberal, and there was no +reason to doubt that his political instincts were sound, and that he +might again become one of the Liberal leaders of the North. He took, as +he had always taken, a strong line with regard to Russia, which he looked +upon as the parent of Continental despotism and the traditional enemy of +human freedom. Mr. Stead, full of zeal for the cause represented by +Madame Novikoff, made a series of vehement and persistent attacks upon +Cowen because of his views regarding Russia and the Eastern Question +generally. One day he sent me one of his marked papers containing a +particularly impassioned onslaught upon the member for Newcastle. I +considered that he had invited comment by sending me this article, and I +wrote to him to expostulate with him on the line he was taking, pointing +out that Cowen, who was a very sensitive man, was not unlikely to be +driven out of the party if these attacks were persisted in, and that his +loss would be a serious one to the Liberalism of the North of England. I +don't think I said anything particularly harsh in this letter, which was +in my opinion justified by my relations both with Cowen and with Stead. + +The rejoinder was not what I had expected. It came in the shape of an +immensely long article in the _Northern Echo_ entitled, if I +remember aright, "The Editor of the _Leeds Mercury_ and Mr. Cowen." +In this article something I had written about Cowen in the +_Mercury_--I forget what--was held up to ridicule, and was compared +with my private sentiments regarding the member for Newcastle as they had +been gleaned by Mr. Stead in that night-long conversation under my roof, +of which I have spoken in this chapter. Needless to say, my talk was not +faithfully remembered or accurately represented. That, in itself, was a +small matter, but the illustration thus afforded me of the practical +working of the New Journalism was not altogether a pleasant one, and for +some years after this episode there was a distinct coolness between Mr. +Stead and myself. The incident arouses no bitterness now. Mr. Stead +honestly believed that he was entitled to use my frank _obiter +dicta_ for the purpose of correcting what he regarded as my public +errors. I was not the last and by no means the greatest sufferer from +this theory on the part of the founder of the New Journalism; but, as +having been in some small degree a sufferer at his hands, I am, perhaps, +the better able to bear testimony to his absolute honesty of intention, +and to his unfailing conviction that in even his greatest indiscretions +he was acting under the justification of a high moral purpose. + +In the spring or summer of 1880 I received a note from John Morley, who +had by this time become editor of the _Pall Mall Gazette_. It was to +inform me that he had secured a notable man from my part of the world to +assist him in his editorial duties. He was Mr. Stead of Darlington, and +Morley wished to know my opinion of him. My reply did not please Mr. +Morley; for while I told him how highly I admired Mr. Stead's abilities, +I warned him that he would need to be watched closely, as he was a man of +such extreme views and of such daring originality in his manner of +conducting a journal that, if he were not kept under strict control, he +might at any moment seriously commit the newspaper with which he was +connected. At the time Morley took this warning with a very bad grace, +plainly implying that he thought that my feeling with regard to Mr. Stead +was founded on the fact that he was a more real Liberal than myself. But +there came a time when the distinguished politician and man of letters +acknowledged that my hint had been only too fully justified. + +One day in 1879 William Edward Forster came into my room at the +_Mercury_ office. For some time he had been in the habit of calling +at intervals to have a chat with me. I believe that each of us was +secretly rather afraid of the other. I had for years regarded him with a +strong feeling of admiration, and I looked confidently to him as the man +who, when Mr. Gladstone in the fulness of time retired from public life, +would take his place and become the recognised leader of the great forces +of English Liberalism. I had supported him with unfaltering loyalty both +in his educational policy and at the time when his name was put forward +in the candidature for the leadership of the party in 1875, and I found +myself in strong sympathy with his views on those foreign and colonial +questions on which I could take sides neither with the Little England nor +with the Jingo school. Forster's visit was chiefly for the purpose of +chatting over the prospects of the Liberal party, but incidentally our +conversation turned upon Mr. Stead. "He has one great fault," said +Forster, "and that is that he does not mix with other people." Certainly +Forster had every reason to think well of Mr. Stead, for he was his loyal +friend and admirer in those dark days when few were found to speak well +of the member for Bradford. + +It was in 1881 that Forster became the target of the missiles of that +section of the Liberal party which in those days followed Mr. +Chamberlain. Mr. Chamberlain's followers were naturally anxious that +their hero should arrive at the summit of his ambition, and Mr. Forster +was the man who stood most directly in his path. I do not wish to allege +that there were not real differences of opinion between Mr. Forster and +Mr. Chamberlain, though when one remembers the subsequent history of the +latter it is difficult to understand his constant antagonism to Forster, +the founder of the Imperial Federation movement, and the first Liberal +Imperialist. But whatever his motives might be, Mr. Chamberlain's dislike +of Forster was obvious to everyone. He had powerful means of making that +dislike felt. The caucus in those days was absolutely under his thumb, +and at a sign from him more than half the Liberal Associations in the +country were inclined to pass any resolution that he was pleased to +suggest to them. The _Pall Mall Gazette_ became virtually his +mouthpiece, and one read it as much in those days to ascertain the +thoughts of Mr. Chamberlain as those of its distinguished editor. In the +Cabinet he had secured one or two valuable allies, over whom, by virtue +of his great abilities, he exercised an extraordinary influence. In the +House of Commons the most active wing of the Radical Party was, with +certain notable exceptions, devoted to him. He was the man to whom they +looked as their leader, and as the future chief of a Radical +Administration. + +In the winter of 1881-2 all the forces controlled by the caucus were +employed in the work of disparaging and weakening Mr. Forster. The latter +was engaged in his almost hopeless struggle with the disaffected classes +in Ireland--in other words, with four-fifths of the nation. I have told +elsewhere the story of Mr. Forster's public career, and it is not +necessary that I should enter into any defence of his Irish +administration here. But this I must say, that at a time when he was +beset with difficulties of the most formidable and distressing kind, and +when he had a right to expect the loyal support at least of his own +colleagues in the Cabinet, he found himself exposed to intrigues and +cruel side-attacks that still further embarrassed him, and that fatally +weakened his hands. As the winter passed the storm artificially raised +against him increased in violence. All the animosities of Birmingham were +let loose upon his head. The old cries of trimmer and traitor were again +raised against him. The Liberal Press, with hardly an exception, took its +cue from the _Pall Mall Gazette_, whilst the organs of the +Conservative party naturally felt under no obligation to defend him from +the misrepresentations and innuendoes of his formidable foes in his own +party. + +I do not think I exaggerate when I say that it was only in the columns of +the _Leeds Mercury_ that he was consistently and steadily defended. +It was a labour of love on my part thus to stand by a man for whom I +entertained so great and affectionate an admiration, and who was, as I +conceived, being so cruelly ill-treated by those of the same political +household as himself. It was said at the time that Forster inspired the +_Leeds Mercury_, and that the articles defending him which I +published were really written by himself. In the interests of honourable +journalism, and of Mr. Forster's reputation, I must state the actual +facts. I was, as I have already said, on terms of personal friendship +with him, and I was in the fullest sympathy with his Irish policy; but +from the moment when he became Chief Secretary until he retired from that +office, Forster held no communication with me, either direct or indirect. +I never saw him, and he never wrote to me, nor did I address a single +word to him. This was characteristic of Forster's high sense of public +duty. He was too proud and too high-spirited to try to enlist any man's +sympathies, or to secure any newspaper advocacy. Men spoke of him as a +clever wire-puller who could manufacture a spurious public sentiment in +his own favour. How little they knew him! If he had chosen to resort to +those arts with which his assailants were so familiar he might have won +the support of many tongues and pens. He preferred, then as always in his +public career, to devote himself with a single-minded purpose to the +performance of his duty, leaving the consequences to take care of +themselves. It was in this way that it came to pass that his only +defender in the Press in those dark and troublous days was a little-known +journalist in Yorkshire. + +For my part, I look back with pride and deep satisfaction to the line +which I then took, and from which I never swerved. It was not a +successful line. Mr. Forster's enemies were too powerful for him, and, as +everybody knows, he became their victim. But there are better things in +this world than success, and I am more content to have been Forster's +associate in his unmerited fall than I would have been to share in the +personal triumph which Mr. Chamberlain gained over him. Although +complaint was made, when my "Life" of Forster appeared, that I had made +too full a revelation of Cabinet secrets, the fact remains that a good +deal of truth has still to come out with regard to his resignation of +office in 1882. I do not propose to lift the veil here, but it is well +known that an ingenious trap was laid for him, and that, with +characteristic confidence in the good faith of his fellow-men, he walked +unsuspectingly into it. His resignation, it will be remembered, was due +to his refusal to accept as satisfactory a letter written by Mr. Parnell, +in which he undertook, if he were released from Kilmainham, to give +certain assistance to the Government in putting down outrages in Ireland. +Forster would willingly have accepted Mr. Parnell's word as a gentleman +that he would exert himself to this end, but he was not prepared to +accept the skilfully framed words in which Mr. Parnell sought to convey +the impression that was desired whilst avoiding all personal +responsibility in the matter. Those who wish to know how Mr. Forster was +jockeyed out of office must learn the history of Parnell's letter, and +how and by whom the sentences were devised which seemed acceptable to the +sanguine temperament of Mr. Gladstone, but which Forster, with his closer +knowledge of the situation, regarded as wholly unsatisfactory. The time +has not yet come for the story to be told, but when the precise facts are +revealed they will be found to throw a curious light upon this episode. + +Forster's resignation was a great personal blow to me. It was a blow also +both to his personal friends and admirers in Yorkshire, and to a large +section of politicians who knew him to be an upright and single-minded +man, struggling with all his might to maintain order in Ireland and to +preserve the unity of the United Kingdom. There was, however, one further +step that was possible that would have immeasurably increased our +mortification. This was the appointment of Mr. Chamberlain as Forster's +successor. Mr. Chamberlain's friends confidently expected that the +appointment would be made, and for a day or two it seemed certain that +this would be the case. I saw a member of the Government who was the +confidential friend of Mr. Gladstone, and told him that if Mr. +Chamberlain were to be appointed, the _Leeds Mercury_, and all whom +it could influence in Yorkshire would at once enter upon a most strenuous +and thorough-going opposition to the new Irish policy. I was told in +reply that, whatever Mr. Chamberlain himself might have expected, Mr. +Gladstone had not for a single moment contemplated his appointment to the +vacant post, and that his choice had fallen in another quarter. + +The Leeds Liberal Club resolved to invite Forster to a complimentary +dinner, in order that he might have the assurance that there was one +great city, at least, in which he retained the confidence and gratitude +of his party. I wrote to Forster to convey this intimation to him, and +had a reply, in which he asked me to meet him in London. On Friday, May +6th, 1882, the appointment of Lord Frederick Cavendish as Irish Secretary +was announced in Parliament, and the writ moved for his re-election after +taking office. The next night, about 11 o'clock, I was sitting in the +morning-room at the Reform Club, talking to the late Mr. William Summers, +then member for Huddersfield. There were but few men in the room, though +amongst those few were one or two Irish members, including Mr. Shaw, who +had been Chairman of the Home Rule party in the House of Commons until he +was superseded by Mr. Parnell. We had all been reading the telegrams on +the board in the hall announcing the enthusiastic reception of the new +Lord Lieutenant, Earl Spencer, and the new Secretary, Lord Frederick +Cavendish, in Dublin. I was discussing with Summers the meaning of the +new departure and of the success of Forster's assailants, when the old +hall-porter of the club burst into the room, and in a state of great +agitation announced to us that a message had been received at the Carlton +Club stating that the Lord Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary had been +assassinated. I cannot describe the mingled amazement, horror, and +incredulity with which the news was received, but I remember well the +extreme distress shown by Mr. Shaw and the other Irish members. "This is +the end of Ireland!" cried Mr. Shaw, with tears in his eyes. For some +time most of us steadily refused to believe the story, for no authentic +news could be gathered respecting it; but, as time passed, the Reform +Club was besieged with inquiries from the other clubs in Pall Mall, the +members of which naturally supposed that authentic news would be +procurable at the Ministerial club. At last someone came in who had been +at Lord Frederick's house in Carlton House Terrace, and he brought the +dreaded confirmation of the story. The Lord Lieutenant, it is true, had +not been attacked, but Lord Frederick had been killed, and with him Mr. +Burke, the Under-Secretary. A shudder ran through the crowd when we were +told that the vile deed had been done with knives. + +Inside the club there was now a large assemblage of members, although it +was past midnight. Men came into the club, too, on that eventful night +who were not members, but who were moved by an irrepressible anxiety to +learn the truth as to what had happened. Among these I remember Abraham +Hayward, Q.C., the essayist and Society rattle, who, characteristically +enough, proclaimed to us all the fact that the gentleman who accompanied +him was my Lord So-and-so. But it was outside the club that I witnessed +the most extraordinary scene I ever saw in London. Rumours of the tragedy +had spread through the clubs, but the tidings had not reached the +streets. The clubs, as by a common impulse, emptied themselves, and the +members with one accord flocked to the Reform. On the broad pavement in +Pall Mall some hundreds of men, nearly all in evening dress, were +clustered together, discussing in low tones the horrible event, of which, +as yet, the details were wholly unknown. On the roadway a hundred cabs +were gathered, their drivers evidently bewildered by the unwonted +spectacle, and wondering what had brought together in the stillness of +the early Sunday morning this unwonted crowd. + +Suddenly, as I looked upon the scene from the steps of the club, I saw +the crowd fall back on either hand, opening a narrow lane through it. +Along this lane, with bent head, came Lord Hartington, brother of one of +the murdered men, passing from the newly-made house of mourning in +Carlton House Terrace to his home at Devonshire House. No one ventured to +speak to him, but every hat was lifted in token of silent sympathy. It +was a memorable, never-to-be-forgotten night. Years afterwards I heard +from Sir William Harcourt himself an account of how the news first +reached London. There was a big Ministerial dinner party, if I remember +rightly, at Lord Northbrook's; Mr. Gladstone was there, and so was Sir +William Harcourt, then Home Secretary. Dinner was nearly over when Mr. +(now Sir) Howard Vincent, who at that time held a high post at Scotland +Yard, arrived and demanded an immediate interview with the Home +Secretary. To Sir William he showed the official telegram that had just +been received, all other messages having been stopped by the authorities +in Dublin. It was decided, after a consultation, that nothing was to be +said until the ladies had left the dinner table, and that then the news +was to be broken to Mr. Gladstone, who, apart from all other reasons for +feeling the tragedy, had the additional one of a close relationship with +Lady Frederick Cavendish. Mr. Gladstone, though deeply moved, was then, +as always, master of his emotions, and it was he who at once went to +Carlton House Terrace to break the dreadful tidings to his niece, Mrs. +Gladstone accompanying him on the errand. + +There was little sleep that night for any of us who had heard the news +before retiring to rest. The next day was such a Sunday as I never +remember to have seen in London before or since. The newspapers spread +the tidings far and wide. In numberless cases men first learned the news +as they were going to church. They turned aside in scores, and hurried +down to Pall Mall to learn the latest particulars of a tragedy that was +instantly recognised as being one that affected the nation as a whole. +From early morning until late at night the fine hall of the Reform Club +was crowded with members, and with friends who came to inquire for +further news. In the forenoon a strange thing happened. Mr. Forster, the +man whose life the villains who struck down Lord Frederick Cavendish and +Mr. Burke had chiefly sought, and who had passed through perils so +terrible that even now the recollection of them raises a shudder, came +into the club. He was besieged at once by a host of members, but breaking +away from them, he came to me, and taking me by the arm, led me to one of +the seats in the hall. Instantly, and as it seemed instinctively, the +great crowd of men formed in a semicircle around us, out of earshot, but +gazing with wondering and sympathetic eyes upon the man who had escaped +so cruel a fate. + +I remember the first words that Forster spoke to me. "They may say what +they like," he said, "but it is Mr. Parnell who has done this. He is the +man who sowed the seed of which this is the fruit." And then he talked of +the victims, of Lord Frederick, so gentle, kindly, honourable in all the +relations of life, and of Burke, "the most loyal man," he declared, "who +ever served the Crown." Indeed, at the moment he seemed to feel the death +of poor Burke more acutely than that of Lord Frederick, and he was full +of the idea that if he himself had been in Ireland the lives of both +would have been saved. "I shall go back to Ireland," he said to me +presently. "They must want someone to manage pressing affairs, and I +shall tell Mr. Gladstone that I am at his service." He went straight from +the club to Downing Street, and saw Mr. Gladstone--who, unlike most other +men in London, had been to church that morning. He made the offer, one in +every respect noble and magnanimous as well as courageous; but it was not +accepted. The bitterness of party passion which had been aroused by the +events that culminated in his own resignation had not yet sufficiently +subsided to render such a step possible, and Forster, to my keen regret, +was not permitted to have this fresh opportunity of showing that +unfailing fearlessness in the face of danger which was one of his most +eminent characteristics. + +On the following day the adjournment of the House of Commons was moved by +Mr. Gladstone in a speech which betrayed his grief and emotion. That +evening a certain Irish Tory member was dining out, and he told the +following story to a party in which there were women as well as men. "I +was crossing St. James's Park after the rising of the House this +afternoon, when I saw Mr. Gladstone walking in front of me. For the first +time in my life I felt sorry for the fellow, for I knew what a terrible +blow this affair must have been to him. I said to myself, 'Well, there +was no playacting in his speech this afternoon, at all events. The fellow +really felt what he said.' Can you conceive, then, my indignation when on +getting to the top of the steps at the Duke of York's column I saw him +lurking behind the column talking to an abandoned woman?" + +A lady who was present at the dinner-party, and who was a great admirer +of Mr. Gladstone, thought it her duty to write to him, and tell him the +charge that had been made against him. She did not mention the name of +her informant, but merely stated the facts that had been reported to her. +She received an immediate reply, on a postcard. It was as follows:--"The +presence of ---- was not unperceived on the occasion to which you refer; +but the conversation he has reported to you was not of the nature he +imagined, and possibly desired." The voice of slander often pursued Mr. +Gladstone, but the reply which he gave to this particular accusation was +recognised, even by his enemies, as complete and conclusive. All through +his life Mr. Gladstone was filled with pity for the outcasts of the +streets, and whenever he could hold out a helping hand to them he did so +with a fearlessness that was characteristic of his courage--the courage +of the pure in heart. + +I must turn aside from the Irish tragedy to speak of a small agitation, +in which I and other persons were concerned at the time, that had a +certain connection, not with the Phoenix Park murders, but with the +events that led up to them. Two of Mr. Chamberlain's brothers had been +nominated as candidates for the Reform Club. It was, perhaps, unfortunate +for them that they came up for election in this spring of 1882, when +there was much hostility towards Mr. Chamberlain himself on the part of +many Liberals, who believed that he was intriguing in order to drive Mr. +Forster out of the Cabinet. At all events, the two candidates were +black-balled, and great was the ferment that arose in consequence. In +Birmingham the action of the Reform Club was regarded as an outrageous +insult not only to Mr. Chamberlain himself, but to that section of the +Liberal party to which he then belonged. "The good people of Birmingham +are simply furious," wrote Mr. Chamberlain to his friend, Mr. Peter +Rylands, M.P., "and they even talk of marching upon London," It was an +astounding assertion, but really Mr. Chamberlain's organs in the +Birmingham Press dealt with the black-balling of his brothers in such a +fashion as almost to warrant the expectation that Pall Mall would be +invaded, and the Reform Club sacked, if it did not repent in dust and +ashes of the affront it had offered to the leader of Birmingham +Radicalism. Nothing less would suit Mr. Chamberlain and his friends, as +an atonement for the misdeeds of the club, than such an alteration in the +rules as would deprive the members of the power of black-balling +candidates by transferring elections from the club at large to a special +election committee. + +I was present at the meeting of the club at which a resolution to this +effect was proposed by Lord Hartington. The meeting was held only a +couple of days before the Phoenix Park tragedy. It was largely attended, +and many distinguished persons were present. "I saw the whole Cabinet +crowded into the glass and bottle room," said George Augustus Sala, in +speaking of the scene afterwards. Sala himself took a prominent part in +the proceedings, for, provoked by a speech from Mr. Bright, in which he +had denounced black-balling as an odious and ungentlemanly practice, Sala +delivered himself of an impassioned oration in which he asserted that +there was no right more sacred in the eyes of every true-born Englishman +than the right to black-ball anyone he pleased at a club election. I +remember Lord Granville's attempt to reply to Sala's sweeping assertion, +but judging by the cheers, it was the essayist, rather than the earl, who +had the sympathy of the members. Lord Hartington's resolution was carried +by a small majority, and a ballot of the whole club was demanded, to +settle the question finally. When this ballot took place, it was seen +that the feeling of the club as a whole was distinctly adverse to the +proposed change of rules, and Lord Hartington's resolution was rejected +by a large majority. The rejection was due in part, at least, to the +feeling which Mr. Chamberlain had inspired among the moderate Liberals. +Shortly afterwards, Mr. Chamberlain resigned his membership of the club, +and the question of an alteration of the rules fell to the ground. + +The Phoenix Park tragedy confirmed many persons in the belief that +Forster had been right, and the rest of the Government wrong, with regard +to Irish policy. In Yorkshire we felt keenly on the subject, and in the +_Leeds Mercury_ I lost no opportunity of vindicating my friend from +the attacks which a section of the advanced Radicals, who claimed Mr. +Chamberlain as their leader, made upon him. The result was to bring about +a strained state of the relations between myself and the official leaders +of the Liberal party. Leeds had given the Government its most signal +victory in the General Election of 1880. It was felt in the Cabinet to be +a serious thing that the _Leeds Mercury_, and with it no +inconsiderable section of the Liberal electors, regarded Mr. Forster's +supersession with indignation, and by some influential member of the +Government a proposal was made to crush the _Mercury_, and prove +that it did not really represent Liberal opinion in Leeds, by convening a +meeting of the Liberal Association for the purpose of expressing +confidence in the Irish policy of the Ministry. It was an absurd device, +and it failed, as it deserved to do. Although we were very angry at the +treatment which Mr. Forster had received, we were perfectly loyal to +Liberal principles and to the leadership of Mr. Gladstone. There was no +need, therefore, to ask us to testify to our confidence in Ministers. But +the men who had succeeded in driving Mr. Forster from office desired to +complete their work by bringing his defenders into open contempt, and +they thought that they would accomplish this by means of a meeting of +Liberal electors in Leeds which should prove to the world that the editor +of the _Leeds Mercury_ represented nobody but himself in his +championship of Forster's cause. + +They put pressure upon the Association to summon a meeting, which was +duly held. It turned out to be a demonstration in favour of Forster +rather than the Government, and the attempt to crush independence of +opinion in the Liberal ranks was thus signally foiled. I do not know who +the member of the Cabinet was who was responsible for this manoeuvre, but +whoever he may have been--and I have my suspicions upon that point--he +had little reason to congratulate himself upon the result of his +strategy. For a time the incident caused a certain degree of coldness +between myself and my Liberal friends on the executive of the Liberal +Association. Sir James Kitson and I had worked together so harmoniously +in raising up a united party in Leeds that this partial breach between us +was rather painful. Happily it did not last long. I stood to my own +opinions, and for the future our local Liberal leaders were content that, +whilst supporting them in every matter upon which I was in agreement with +them, I should not be attacked for maintaining my absolute independence +on those questions on which I took a line of my own. No further attempts +were made, I need scarcely add, to intimidate the _Mercury_ by means +of public meetings in Leeds, nor do I think I suffered in the long run in +the estimation of friends from whom I then differed, by the steps I took +to vindicate my character, both as a responsible journalist and as an +independent critic of public affairs. + +Naturally I was drawn closer to Forster by the fact that I was thus +constituted his representative and champion in the Press, and I became a +somewhat frequent visitor at his delightful but unpretentious residence +on the banks of the Wharfe at Burley. It was on my first visit to him +after his resignation that an incident took place which touched me +deeply. I was sitting with his and my old friend, Canon Jackson, of +Leeds, in the library after breakfast. Forster, of whose blunt manner I +have already spoken, came into the room. For some time he walked up and +down without speaking, and was apparently somewhat troubled. Suddenly he +turned to Jackson and asked him if he would go out of the room. When the +Canon had gone Forster closed the door behind him, took another turn up +and down the apartment, and then, speaking with evident difficulty, said +to me, "I cannot let you leave this house without letting you know what I +feel with regard to all that you have done for me. When nobody else dared +to say a word in my favour in public during that terrible time in +Ireland, you were always ready to defend me from attack. I needed +defending, Heaven knows! My colleagues left me absolutely alone; they +left me to take my own way, just as if I had been the Czar of Russia. I +was attacked, as you know, both in England and Ireland, by the papers and +public men of all parties. I knew I had very powerful enemies who were +determined to make the worst of everything I did, and none of my own +colleagues defended me. You can never know what a comfort it was to me at +that time to know that I had one staunch friend in the Press, and that +the dear old _Leeds Mercury_ would always judge me fairly and try to +make the public see the truth. God bless you!" + +I do not know whether he or I was the more deeply moved by this sudden +and most unexpected outburst of feeling from a man who, as a rule, +stubbornly concealed the sensitiveness of his nature and the warmth of +his heart under a rugged and at times almost forbidding exterior. I do +not pretend to have deserved what he said, but the words he uttered sank +into my heart, never to be forgotten. Henceforth the censures of a caucus +and the sneers of those superior critics who derided me as the victim of +an absurd prejudice in favour of a statesman who had fallen, were as less +than nothing to me. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE FIRST LIBERAL IMPERIALIST. + +Forster a Pioneer of Liberal Imperialism--His Political Courage--His +Unfortunate Manner--His Home Life--Intrigues in the Cabinet--The Plots +against Forster's Life--Reaction in his Favour--Forster and Lord +Hartington--The Former's Grief for Gordon--Forster and Lord Rosebery--Mr. +Stead and the _Pall Mall Gazette_--His Responsibility for the Gordon +Imbroglio. + + +I should like to dwell upon my visits to Forster at his own home at +Wharfeside, and to describe the frank, wholesome talk which I had there +on many different occasions with the master of the house; but the talk +was private, I made no notes of it at the time, and it is better that I +should make no attempt to recall it now. This, however, I will say, in +justice to Forster himself. During all my intercourse with him I never +heard him utter a harsh word or give expression to an unworthy sentiment. +No public man of his day was more cruelly misunderstood by his +contemporaries. It had become a sort of tradition among the followers of +Mr. Chamberlain, and among others who ought to have known better, that +Forster was not even a genuine Liberal. He was supposed to be a trimmer +and a time-server, and all manner of ignoble jealousies were attributed +to him. I know, not only from many repeated conversations with him, but +from acts of his which never reached the public, how deep and genuine was +his faith in Liberal principles, how exalted and far-extended his belief +in the application and development of those principles. He was the first +man of eminence to attempt to bring home to the mind of the nation the +greatness of its Imperial duties and responsibilities. It was he who, in +the days when he was a discarded Minister, sowed the seed which is now +bringing forth fruit in the shape of that unity of the Empire for which +others, who came but yesterday into the field, are, with a great flourish +of trumpets, claiming the credit. + +The man who was scornfully described as "the great trimmer" was the most +absolutely fearless man in political life I have ever known. I remember +his coming to me when the question of extending Household Suffrage to the +residents in the counties was first being broached in Parliament. He told +me that he meant to move a resolution extending the measure to Ireland. +No other statesman of importance had at that time suggested such a step, +whilst Lord Hartington had openly denounced it. I implored him to leave +such a measure, which was certain to be unpopular with that section of +the party which had been most favourable to him, to somebody else. "You +have suffered enough already for Ireland," I said. "Let somebody else +knock his head against this stone wall." "Who else will do it?" he +replied. "The thing is right, and it must be done. As for your stone +wall, I have never been afraid of being the first man over a fence." +Trimmer, indeed! As for his alleged jealousy of the men who were treading +on his heels, I can only say that I never heard a syllable from his lips +which gave countenance to this charge against him. Always frank and +outspoken, he was at the same time invariably generous in his judgments +upon his colleagues and his rivals. Rancour he never cherished, and he +could forgive those who had injured him far more freely than most men I +have known. + +I have spoken of his manner. This was, I think, his great misfortune. +Again and again he offended men who were brought into contact with him by +his bluntness of speech, and by his disregard of the mere niceties of +deportment. I have heard him denounced as "a heartless ruffian" by +someone who had suffered from an apparent lack of courtesy on his part. +All the time Forster was absolutely unconscious of having given offence, +and when his attention was called to the fact that he had wounded someone +by his manner, he was filled with distress. One day an eminent publicist +who had cruelly misjudged and misrepresented Forster came to me in the +Reform Club and asked if I had ever stayed at Wharfeside. I replied in +the affirmative. "Then," said my friend, "you can perhaps tell me if what +I hear is true. I am told that, rude and bearish as he is to people who +meet him casually, it is nothing in comparison with his brutality in his +own house, and especially to his wife." Angry as I was at this charge +against my friend, I could not refrain from bursting into a roar of +laughter at its absurdity. No woman that ever lived was treated with a +more tender and chivalrous affection and reverence than that which Mrs. +Forster received from her husband. That she was eminently worthy of being +worshipped by the man whose name she bore, all who knew her must admit. +She had inherited great intellectual qualities from her father, Dr. +Arnold, of Rugby. She shared the delicate critical spirit of her brother +Matthew; and, above all, she was a delightful woman, gentle, refined, +full of love for those of her own household, but full also of interest +in, and sympathy with, all other men and women. Upon her Forster lavished +the love of his whole heart, and to her judgment he deferred more +constantly than to that of any other person. It always seemed to me that +their marriage was an ideal union, both of brain and heart. When I was +writing his biography, I felt it necessary to say something about the +peculiarities of his manner. Mrs. Forster objected to what I said, not on +the ground that it hurt her feelings to remember those peculiarities, but +because, in her opinion, they had never existed. "I do not understand +what you mean by the peculiarities of his manner," she said to me one +day. "His manner was always delightful, especially to women." This was +the one point on which she was blind with regard to her husband. She did +not see how great was the tribute paid to his sterling qualities by the +fact that so many men loved him and honoured him in spite of his rough +exterior. Often when I was with him I thought of Browning's line, "Do +roses stick like burrs?" It was his very angularities that seemed to make +Forster's friends cling to him so closely. + +In the years which followed his retirement from office he remained a +thorough-going Liberal, but he claimed for himself the right of +independent judgment as a member of his own party. The Ministry never got +over the blow it received when he resigned. On the day of his +resignation, when he left the Cabinet, Lord Selborne, who sympathised +altogether with him, rose directly after he did, and said, "If Forster +goes, I must go too." He was actually on his way to the door when +someone--I believe Sir William Harcourt--following him threw his arms +round him, and forcibly detained him till he was brought to a more docile +state of mind. + +That, however, was, as everybody knows, a Cabinet of many resignations. +It was said, when it at last came to an end, that there was no man in it +who had not resigned once at least, and that one or two had resigned many +times. The fact is that the disruption of the old Liberal party had +already begun. The new wine provided by Chamberlain and Company fermented +in the old bottles. Nobody felt very happy in the presence of the member +for Birmingham. He was the reverse of conciliatory, and seemed anxious to +let everybody know that he recognised no superior. This would not have +mattered so much if his conduct had been more consistent with the +traditions of Cabinets. Sir William Harcourt was not unversed in +intrigue, and one wonders now how a Cabinet which contained those two men +held together as long as it did. It was the leakiest Cabinet, so far as +its secrets were concerned, that I have known. It is amusing now to +recall the fact that at that time an innocent public, which still +regarded Mr. Chamberlain as a man with more self-assertion than intellect +or force of character, pictured him to itself as the tool of Mr. Morley. +It was Mr. Morley, we were told, who found the policy and the brains, and +Mr. Chamberlain was but the instrument of his will. This is not the only +point upon which the public fell into error, but it is one that deserves +to be noted. + +The ugly wrench which was given to the Ministry by Forster's retirement +and the Phoenix Park tragedy that immediately followed it, was aggravated +by the revelations at the trial of the murderers of Lord Frederick +Cavendish and Mr. Burke. Whilst Mr. Forster was still Chief Secretary it +was vaguely known that he had been the object of murderous conspiracies. +The _Pall Mall Gazette_ had sneered at the rumours of plots against +his life, and had pleasantly hinted that they were all a myth, concocted +by Forster's friends in his interests. When James Carey, the infamous +ringleader of the assassins, told his dreadful story in the witness-box +in order to save his neck, the truth was made known, and the world +learned that for months Forster, whilst meeting slander and hostile +criticism in England, had been in constant danger of murder in Ireland. I +have told elsewhere the story of his last week in Dublin, and of the +daily attempts that were made by Carey and his confederates to compass +his death. Some of my readers may remember how at the last he only +escaped the knives of the assassins by something like a miracle. He was +leaving Dublin for the last time, though he himself was not aware of the +fact, and he had arranged to go from Westland Row Station by a certain +train in order to catch the night boat for Holyhead. In the afternoon his +work at the Castle was got through rather sooner than had been expected, +and his private secretary, Mr. Jephson, suggested to him that instead of +waiting for the train they should drive together to Kingstown, and dine +at the club there. The inducement held out to Forster was that in this +way he would have time for a game of whist before going on board the +steamer. He fell in with Jephson's suggestion, and thus escaped from +Ireland safely. That very night the whole gang of Invincibles, as the +murderers had called themselves, had assembled at Westland Row for the +purpose of killing him. Thrice they searched the train, vainly looking +for the man whose death-sentence they had pronounced. Mrs. Forster was in +one of the carriages, but her husband was not there. "If he had been," +said Carey, in telling the story, "he would not have been alive now." + +When the truth became known, and it was seen that there was nothing of +the mythical in the conspiracy against Forster's life, public indignation +flamed up afresh at the treatment he had received. When he next came to +Leeds, after the trial of the Invincibles, a crowd followed him through +the streets from the railway station to the _Mercury_ office, +cheering loudly. No wonder that a Government which had to confront the +feeling caused by the treatment meted out to Forster was neither very +happy nor very strong. It was soon after the exposure of the Invincibles +that Forster addressed his constituents in St. George's Hall, Bradford. A +number of Irishmen had got into the gallery, and persistently interrupted +him, so that at last his speech was brought to a standstill. Gathering +himself together, he waited for a moment's silence, and then, with +outstretched arm menacing his antagonists, cried, in a voice which rang +through the hall, "Since you didn't kill me in Ireland, you've got to +listen to me here!" The shout that went up from the meeting as a whole +acclaimed this sentiment with such emphasis that the Irishmen were +reduced to silence, and there was no more trouble. Some persons were, +however, very much shocked by Forster's characteristic bluntness. Among +these was Mr. Gladstone, who thought that his former colleague had shown +very bad taste. + +Egypt and Gordon were the topics which I chiefly discussed with Forster +during our years of intimacy after 1882. The fate of Gordon, in +particular, excited in him a degree of emotion of which few would have +thought him capable. More than once I have seen the tears in his eyes +when he was speaking of Gordon, surrounded by his savage foes in his +desert capital. The Ministry, as everybody knows, was floundering in +those days. Even those of us who were the warm friends and admirers of +Mr. Gladstone were troubled and perplexed. Some of us knew, indeed, that +Mr. Gladstone was not the only, nor the chief, sinner in the matter of +Gordon; but he was the scapegoat behind whom those who had a greater +responsibility for the mismanagement of the Soudan business were only too +glad to hide themselves. Forster was filled with indignation and contempt +by the confused utterances of the Ministry, and by Mr. Gladstone's +elaborate attempts to prove that though General Gordon was "hemmed in" he +was not surrounded. Poor Mr. Gladstone! It was sad indeed that he should +have to undertake this thankless task, and should be compelled to make +out a case for a Cabinet which had practically got out of hand. It was in +connection with one of his apologies for the Ministry that Mr. Forster +charged him with being able to persuade most people of almost anything, +and himself of everything. This chance phrase, used in the heat of +debate, was treated by Lord Hartington as being a direct imputation upon +Mr. Gladstone's sincerity, and Forster was lectured and denounced in +terms which made the breach between himself and his old colleagues wider +than ever. There was no truth in the charge made against him. He always +had, and always expressed, a profound admiration for Gladstone's +character, and he had never for a moment doubted his honesty. He felt the +violent invective of Lord Hartington keenly. When he met the latter in +the lobby on the same evening, he said to him, "You were very unfair to +me to-night, and you knew it, but you had such a d----d bad case that I +forgive you." + +Again and again, in those days, Forster would come over to Leeds to see +me, to talk about Gordon, or he would ask me to his own house in order to +discuss the same topic. The fascination which it had for him was +extraordinary. If Gordon had been his own brother he could not have been +more deeply interested in his fate. When at last the end of the long +tragedy came, and the news reached England of the failure of the +expedition to Khartoum, and Gordon's death, Forster was affected by it in +the keenest manner. He could hardly speak when he came to me to discuss +the fatal tidings, and he was full of theories as to the possibility of +Gordon having escaped, after all, from his enemies. Apparently he could +not bring himself to accept the truth. It was strange to see this great, +powerful man, who had passed through so many years of fierce conflict on +his own account, broken down by sorrow for one of whom he had +comparatively little personal knowledge, but whose character and fate +appealed to all that was best and truest in his nature. Looking back upon +my years of friendship with Forster, there are no incidents that touch my +sympathies more keenly than those which relate to his heartfelt grief for +Gordon, the great victim of ministerial muddling and administrative +incapacity. + +Everybody knows that Forster was the reverse of a Little Englander. In +the days when Mr. Chamberlain was still the parochial politician, and the +Manchester School a power in the land, Forster never lost an opportunity +of trying to inspire his fellow-countrymen with the sense of the +greatness of their Imperial position, and of the duties which it imposed +upon them. As founder of the Imperial Federation League, he put himself +at the head of those English statesmen whose names will be identified +with the union of Great Britain and her Colonies in the Empire which we +know to-day. He got very little help from the leading politicians on +either side. Mr. Chamberlain, who now talks as though the +foundation-stone of the Empire was laid in the suburbs of Birmingham, +gave him no aid at all, nor did the active spirits of the Opposition. It +seemed as though most of his old colleagues and opponents regarded +Forster's strenuous advocacy of Imperial Federation as an attempt on his +part to keep his name before the public eye. There was one rising young +politician, however, who took a different view of Forster's action, and +who not only sympathised with his motives, but threw himself into the +cause of which he was the leader. This was Lord Rosebery, and to him and +to Forster belongs the lion's share of the credit for the creation and +development of that sense of Imperial unity which is to-day so great a +factor in the life of the Empire. + +At that time Forster's friends had no suspicion that his public career +was drawing to a close. He was many years younger than Mr. Gladstone, was +full of vigour and of an enthusiasm that was almost youthful in its +exuberance, and he seemed to have a long life of work before him. But a +trivial incident revealed to me the fact that things were not as they +seemed, and that this great sturdy Englishman was by no means in the +state of health that men supposed. When walking in Switzerland, he had +accidentally injured the nail of his great toe, and it was necessary to +remove it. Forster regarded the operation as a slight one, and was +anxious that cocaine should be used as an anaesthetic, so that he might, +as he said to me, "have the fun" of witnessing the actual operation. When +the time came, however, it was found to be a much more serious matter +than Forster had supposed. The operation was performed under chloroform +by an eminent surgeon, and this gentleman told me after the operation +that he had discovered that Forster's health was in a very unsatisfactory +condition. Indeed, this little accident was the beginning of the end, +though few at the time suspected the fact. + +Before closing this chapter, I may make some further reference to my +friend Mr. Stead. The retirement of John Morley from the P_all Mall +Gazette_ had led to Mr. Stead's promotion, and he had become the +virtual, if not the nominal editor of the paper. He was not long in +impressing the public with the fact that a new and original force had +entered English public life. "I am riding on the crest of the wave," he +wrote to me one day, and such was indeed the fact. The influence of the +paper which he controlled became for a time almost paramount, and Mr. +Stead revelled in his power with all the zest of a schoolboy who has +suddenly been called to sit on the throne of an autocrat. He calmly +undertook the direction of the foreign policy of Great Britain, and +ordered Ministers to do his bidding with an audacity which would have +been absurd but for the fact that Ministers seemed ready to take him at +his word. He it was who first advised them to the evil course of sending +Gordon to Khartoum. "Sarawak the Soudan" was the cry he raised, his +proposal being that Gordon should be sent to found an empire of his own +on the upper Nile. Ministers yielded to his vehemence, and Gordon was +sent to Khartoum, with what results everybody knows. Mr. Stead had the +courage of his opinions, and he was not in the least disconcerted when he +found that his advice had involved the country in the tragical and +disastrous expedition for Gordon's relief. Talking to me one day at that +time, he said, "John Morley told me yesterday that I ought not to be able +to sleep in my bed at nights for thinking of all the men who have lost +their lives over this business." If at any time in my life I had been +inclined to believe in government by newspapers, I should certainly have +been cured of that delusion after seeing what a mess even so brilliant a +journalist as Stead made of the attempt to control the policy of a nation +from an editor's desk. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +NOVELS AND NOVELISTS. + +"The Lumley Entail"--"Gladys Fane"--My Experience in Novel Writing--About +Sad Endings--Imaginary Characters and Characters Drawn from Life--Visits +from William Black and Bret Harte--Black as an After-Dinner Sneaker--How +Bret Harte saw Haworth Parsonage, and was Roughly Entreated by a +Yorkshire Admirer--A Candid Opinion on the Brontė Monograph. + + +I now propose to hark back a little in order to bring together some +reminiscences and experiences that lie apart from the graver political +events with which I have been dealing. To begin with, I made a serious +attempt at novel-writing in 1883. Perhaps my friendship with William +Black and James Payn had some influence in leading me to revert to a kind +of work which in my youth had attracted me greatly. I had already, as I +have said, written one novel, "The Lumley Entail," published in the +_St. James's Magazine_, and long since forgotten by everybody, +including its author. I had begun half-a-dozen different stories at +various times, but had always failed to make much progress with them. One +or two short stories that had appeared in Christmas Numbers of the +_Leeds Mercury_ and sundry magazines had not been wholly +unsuccessful, and so, after long cogitation, in the year 1883 I wrote +"Gladys Fane: A Story of Two Lives." Of its merits I cannot speak, but it +gave me great pleasure to write it, and it had a friendly reception both +from the critics and the public. In this country it had a very large +sale, and in the United States a still larger. The strange thing is that +here the book still sells, and once a year I receive from the publisher, +Mr. Fisher Unwin, a modest sum in payment of the royalties due to me on +the sales. + +Perhaps I may say something on the strength of my limited experience on +the subject of novel-writing. It may seem presumptuous to do so, seeing +that everybody nowadays either writes a novel or thinks that he or she +can do so. My own experience taught me that in novel-writing, as in most +descriptions of work, there is a particular knack to be acquired before +success can be attained. I think I must have been absolutely without this +knack when I began to write "Gladys Fane." I was a good descriptive +writer, and could describe either scenery or action sufficiently well, +but when I tried my hand at conversation I was utterly at sea. I could +not make my men and women talk as men and women do in real life. Before I +had finished the story I had got the knack, and if I were ever to write +another I have no doubt that I could manage the conversation fairly well. +Of course, even without the knack a writer may achieve, under certain +conditions, a great success; but to do so he must _feel_ his story; +that is to say, it must be as real to him as if it were something that +had actually happened. Undoubtedly I had this feeling about "Gladys +Fane," and this, I imagine, was the one merit which secured for the book +the degree of success that it attained. I remember that when I wrote the +closing chapter, in which the hero meets with a tragical death, I was +under the influence of as poignant an emotion as I should have +experienced if I had been standing by the deathbed of my dearest friend. +Great was my joy, after the story was published, to read a generous +review of the book in the _Standard_, in which the reviewer said +that he did not envy the man who could read that last chapter with a +steady voice and an undimmed eye. I saw that others had been infected by +the emotion which almost overwhelmed me as I penned the closing pages of +the book. + +The sad ending which is so hateful to the ordinary reader is regarded by +some reviewers as a cheap device for enlisting popular attention, and +many complaints have been made of its having been used unnecessarily. +There may be some writers who deliberately make up their minds to bring +their stories to a tragical conclusion, but if such persons exist they +must be very bad artists. In my own case I certainly did not contemplate +a sad ending when I began to write my novel; but week by week, as I +wrote, I became more and more forcibly impressed with the feeling that +the doom of my hero was sealed. I tried to get away from this morbid +conclusion, and to wrench the story into another channel, but I failed +utterly in the attempt, so that at last I had to yield, though, as I have +said, I did so with keen regret. William Black, when discussing with me +one day the question of the sad ending, said, "People may say what they +like, but I know, as a matter of experience, that a book which ends +sorrowfully is always remembered far more vividly than one that winds up +in the usual fashion with the ringing of marriage-bells." This is quite +true, but the young novelist who wants his novels to sell, ought +carefully to avoid the tragical _dénouement_, for there are a great +many readers who deliberately refuse to read any book which ends sadly. +Therefore, though art may require such an ending, from the commercial +side of literature it is a huge mistake. Mr. Forster came to me at the +time when "Gladys Fane" was in the flush of its first success, and told +me with his usual kindly bluntness that he was not going to read it. "My +wife has read it, and likes it, but I am not going to make myself +miserable by reading any story that ends sadly. You must write another +that I _can_ read." And it was this chance remark that led to my +next essay in fiction, of which more hereafter. + +I had one curious experience in writing "Gladys Fane" that may or may not +be common to most novelists. Certain of the characters were founded upon +real men and women. I painted no portraits, of course, but I undoubtedly +took hints from people whom I knew. My heroine, for example, had a +prototype in real life, who served for the first sketch, but as I wrote I +made her character develop until she was a wholly different woman from +her model. Black, criticising the story in a letter, remarked that the +further the heroine was removed from all likeness to the original, the +more natural and real she became. But still more striking was the fact +that most of my critics agreed that the most real characters in the book, +those that struck them as being most lifelike and individual, were purely +imaginary creations of my own. "I like your villain," wrote Lord +Houghton. "He is the most impressive figure in the book. Wherever did you +meet him?" As a matter of fact, I had met him nowhere, and could not +charge myself with having taken even a hint in drawing his portrait from +anybody whom I knew or had heard of. Some of the minor characters were +unhesitatingly described by critics as portraits evidently drawn from +life. In no single instance had they been so drawn. I had imagined them +simply. It would be interesting to know if this is the experience of +other writers of romance. I am bound to speak with modesty and +diffidence, because of my very limited experience in this kind of work. I +have only touched upon the subject, indeed, because I think it may +interest my readers to know something of the secrets of the workshop of +even the humblest literary artist. + +There is just one other point that I may mention in connection with +"Gladys Fane." Whilst I was writing the book, I was doing my full work as +editor of the _Leeds Mercury_, and was not only editing the paper, +but was writing for it an average of twelve columns a week. "Gladys Fane" +is a long story, containing a hundred and sixty thousand words. I wrote +it during my scanty leisure in exactly sixteen weeks, or at the rate of +ten thousand words a week. This, I imagine, is a speed which only the +unfaltering pen of the typical lady novelist usually attains. Before +beginning any chapter which had not shaped itself clearly in my mind, I +used to take a long country walk, during the course of which I found that +I could beat out the whole narrative, and solve any small problem in the +construction that had troubled me. + +About this time I was seeing a good deal of my literary friends. Amongst +others, William Black and Bret Harte visited me at Leeds, and I have +amusing recollections of both visits. Black came to me, if I remember +aright, on his way to Scotland. It was his first visit to Leeds, and I +thought he was entitled to something more than the welcome given to a +private guest. Not many writers of distinction had found their way to +Leeds whilst I was living there, and it was my earnest desire that those +who came should receive a greeting that would satisfy them that even +business communities could value real worth in literature. Accordingly, I +gave a large dinner party at the Liberal Club in Black's honour, and +invited to it a number of the leading citizens. They were all anxious to +come, and to share in the welcome to my distinguished guest. +Unfortunately, however, the dinner involved a speech from Black. I knew +how much he hated speech-making, and did my best to steel him for the +ordeal. But no efforts of mine, or of any other man, would have converted +Black into an orator. His response to the toast of his health, which had +been drunk with genuine enthusiasm, was as follows: "When I left London, +I thought I was going to Yorkshire, but the way in which you have treated +me shows that I have made a mistake and that I have really got into +Scotland." And forthwith he sat down, leaving us to realise the subtle +compliment conveyed in his brief speech. + +And here I am reminded of another occasion on which I heard him make an +attempt at after-dinner oratory. A certain Lord Mayor of London +distinguished himself by giving a dinner to the representatives of +literature. I had the honour of being invited to the feast, and shared +Black's cab in the drive to the Mansion House. On the way thither he told +me that he was one of those who had to respond for fiction: "but," he +added, "I am all right, for Blackmore is to speak before me, and I shall +get up when he sits down, and simply say 'I say ditto to Mr. Blackmore,'" +Comforted with this idea, he was able to enjoy the Lord Mayor's turtle. +But alas! when Blackmore rose to address the company, he confined himself +to the statement that, never having made a speech before, he must leave +it to a much more distinguished man, his friend Mr. William Black, to +respond to the toast. It was obvious to Black that he could not say ditto +to this speech, and he had, accordingly, to make a serious attempt to +reply for fiction. + +I confess I was very sorry for him. He started well by telling a story +about an experience of his when visiting the United States. He was +entertained at dinner by some New York club, not, I imagine, a literary +one, and the president proposed his health in gushing terms, the +peroration of the speech being, "I now ask you, gentlemen, to drink to +the health of the greatest of living novelists, Mr. William Black, the +author of that immortal work, 'Lorna Doone.'" Now this is an excellent +story, and if Black had only been able to tell it, he would have +delighted his audience, and would have secured a very genuine triumph. +But alas! the acoustic properties of the Egyptian Hall are, to say the +least of it, not good, and Black was so nervous that he was almost +inaudible, more especially when he reached the point of his little tale. +The result was that to the vast majority of those who heard him, his +speech seemed to be a simple announcement of the fact that he had once +been described at a dinner in New York as the greatest of living +novelists. Happily, Black was not dependent upon his oratorical gifts for +his power of influencing the public. + +When Bret Harte visited me at Leeds in the early 'eighties, his arrival +caused what the reporters describe as a "sensation" in the town. To begin +with, Harte had not been long resident in this country, and the author of +"The Heathen Chinee" was still something of a mythical personage to the +average Englishman. Then he still affected the style of dress which +Buffalo Bill afterwards made familiar, and with his broad sombrero hat, +his flowing locks, and ample fur-lined overcoat, cut a conspicuous figure +in the streets. It is no exaggeration to say that everybody turned to +look at him, and that more than once he had a small mob at his heels. +Greatly interested, like most of his fellow-countrymen, in the story of +the Brontės, he got me to accompany him on a pilgrimage to Haworth, to +see the world-famed parsonage and church. Shortly before this time, I had +been concerned in raising an agitation against the destruction of the +church, and had, in consequence, incurred the hostility of the incumbent, +a certain Mr. Wade, who was anxious to replace the venerable fabric in +which the Brontės had worshipped for so many years by a handsome modern +edifice. Mr. Shepard, the American Consul at Bradford, was the companion +of Harte and myself in our visit; but somewhat to our annoyance, we were +joined at a wayside station by a young man, who was known to Shepard, and +who seemed very anxious to accompany a celebrity like Bret Harte. We duly +reached the grey old village among the moors, and for the last time I saw +the quaint interior of Haworth Church, and sat once more in Charlotte +Brontė's seat in the old-fashioned pew at the foot of the clumsy +three-decker pulpit. + +When we had seen the church, and inspected the signature of Charlotte +Brontė in the register of marriages, Harte declared that he could not +leave without visiting the parsonage. I warned him that he was not likely +to be admitted, as Mr. Wade was known to object to the intrusion of +strangers into his house. Harte, however, maintained that as an American +author, Mr. Wade would certainly not refuse him if he sought admittance, +and persisted in visiting the parsonage. Remembering my controversy with +Mr. Wade, I discreetly withdrew from the company, and retired to the +Black Bull Inn, where I smoked a cigar in the chair in which Branwell +Brontė had too often sat. After some time had elapsed, my friends--Harte, +Shepard, and the young man, whom I will call M.---- returned. "Did you +really get admittance?" I asked, and Harte replied in the affirmative. +"Well," I said, "you may congratulate yourself, for it was a remarkable +achievement." + +Harte did not seem to respond very willingly to this remark, so Shepard +took up the tale, and told me what had really happened. "When we got to +the door, Harte sent in his card to Mr. Wade, and enquired if he could +see him. We were left standing on the doorstep until Mr. Wade made his +appearance, Harte's card in his hand. The expression of his face was not +encouraging. He asked what we wanted, and Harte said, 'You perhaps may +know my name. I am an American author.' Mr. Wade looked at the card, and +said, 'Yes, he had heard the name. What did Mr. Harte want?' Then Harte +introduced me, as American Consul at Bradford, and explained that we were +both most anxious to be allowed to see the interior of Charlotte Brontė's +old home. Upon this Mr. Wade, in very plain language, declared that it +was impossible, that he made it a rule not to admit strangers to his +house, and could make no exception. Harte seemed very much annoyed, and I +put in a word to explain who his visitor was, and what he had done in +literature. But the old gentleman was quite obdurate, and we were about +to turn away when young M. stepped forward, and said, 'Mr. Wade, my name +is M. and I come from So-and-so.' 'What!' said Mr. Wade, his whole manner +changing at once, 'are you related to my old friend, Mr. M., of the firm +of M. & N.?' 'I am his son,' replied M. 'Come in, sir,' cried Mr. Wade, +with effusion. 'I shall be delighted to see you in my house, and you may +bring your friends with you.'" And this was the fashion in which Bret +Harte saw Haworth Parsonage. + +I had, I confess, a kindlier feeling towards our youthful companion on +the return journey than that which I had entertained towards him before +this incident; but ere we reached Leeds he again annoyed me. Whilst we +were waiting for our train in Keighley Station, M. disappeared from our +side. Presently we became aware that he was going to and fro upon the +platform telling everybody who Bret Harte was; so that in a short time we +found ourselves surrounded by a staring crowd. Fortunately the train came +up, and we were able to escape; but a man known to M. entered the +compartment, and the exuberant youth, in spite of the frowns of Shepard +and myself, was unable to restrain himself. We heard him, in a stage +whisper, announce that Bret Harte was there. Harte, who was boiling over +with indignation, thrust his head out of the window to escape the +stranger's stare. The latter ejaculated, "Bret Harte! Where?" M. pointed +to the window, and instantly the sturdy Yorkshireman sprang from his +seat, and seizing Harte by the shoulders, forced him back into his seat, +whilst he thrust himself half out of the window, and eagerly searched the +platform for the missing celebrity. "I can't see him nowhere," he +ejaculated, as the train moved off, and he once more pushed Harte +violently aside, as he strode back to his own seat. When at last, by +expressive pantomime, M. had conveyed the truth to his friend's mind, it +was difficult to decide whether Harte or the hero-worshipper betrayed the +greater degree of embarrassment. + +It was about this time that I had an amusing experience of my own in +connection with Haworth and the Brontės. I was staying with my wife and +children at a country inn at Burnsall, a delightful spot on the Upper +Wharfe above Bolton Abbey. The inn was a small one, and by arrangement +with the landlord I had, in addition to a sitting-room, the exclusive use +of the coffee-room when my family partook of meals. The truth was that +the "Red Lion" had but few visitors, at any rate of the coffee-room +class. Coming down to breakfast one morning, the landlord met me with a +perturbed countenance. "There's a young gentleman from London in the +coffee-room, sir," he said, "and though I've told him the room is +engaged, he won't go out, but insists upon having his breakfast there." I +assured the landlord that I did not in the least object to his doing so, +and accordingly the young man breakfasted at the same table as myself and +my family. I found he was an entire stranger to the district, and he +volunteered the statement that he had never been in Yorkshire before his +present visit. An enthusiast upon Yorkshire scenery, I was anxious to +know what he had seen of the beautiful broad shire. "I've been nowhere," +he replied, "except to a little place called Haworth." + +Now what attraction could there be in such a place as Haworth for a +stranger from London unless it were the attraction of the Brontės? So I +reasoned; and reasoned, as it appeared, most erroneously. "Oh, no," he +said, in reply to my question, "I didn't go to Haworth because of the +Brontės. In fact, I knew nothing about them when I went there, but my +friends gave me a book to read about them, and I tried to read it. It was +written by somebody called Wemyss Reid, but I thought it a poor book." I +knew that my friend the landlord was quite certain to tell the stranger +my name, and I thought it better to take the bull by the horns, and +reveal the truth to him. So, as gently as I could, and with a keen +appreciation of the good story with which I saw that he had furnished me, +I made him understand that I was the culprit who had produced that poor +book. He took the revelation so much to heart that I really regretted +having made it, and it was not until after more than an hour's talk on +irrelevant topics that I eased him, as I hope, of his pain and +mortification, and induced him to join me in laughing at the +extraordinary stroke of ill-fortune by which I was the first person to +whom he innocently revealed his bad opinion of my book. Perhaps the +incident taught him to be more cautious ever afterwards in the expression +of his literary verdicts, at all events when in the company of a chance +acquaintance. It must be confessed that in this case the doctrine of +coincidences upon which I have touched in a former chapter was not so +pleasant in its application as it usually is. For my part, I have always +recalled that breakfast with keen delight. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +TO THE DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT (1885). + +More Antagonism towards Forster--A Household Suffrage Demonstration at +Leeds--A Meeting at the Carlton Club and a Coincidence--Forster and "the +most Powerful Man in Europe"--Single-Member Constituencies and the +Cumulative Vote--Dynamite Outrages--Police Protection for Statesmen--I +Receive Threatening Letters and Get a Fright--Death of Lord +Houghton--Lord Derby and how he was Misunderstood--An Unconventional +Dinner at Lord Houghton's--A Visit to Tangier--In Peril of the +Sea--Gibraltar "a Magnificent Imposture"--Captain W. and the M.P.--To the +North Cape--Cheering a Funeral Party--News of Mr. Gladstone's +Overthrow--Home Again. + + +The extension of Household Suffrage to the counties was the chief +political topic of 1884. I have told how Forster was the first to +announce his resolve to support a Household Suffrage Bill for Ireland. He +was always an ardent reformer, and a genuine, as opposed to a sham, +Radical. In the public agitation for the Bill Forster took a leading +part, though he was still regarded with suspicion by many advanced +Liberals. Sometimes these gentlemen treated him with distinct unfairness, +because they could not forgive him his resolute antagonism to Mr. +Chamberlain. In the autumn before the Bill passed we held a great +Yorkshire demonstration in its favour on Woodhouse Moor, Leeds. John +Morley had promised to attend as the principal speaker, and it was +understood that the whole of the Liberal members for the West Riding +would also be invited. I need hardly say that by far the most eminent of +these gentlemen was Mr. Forster. When the executive committee, of which I +was a member, met to make arrangements for the demonstration, I found, to +my intense indignation, that many members were opposed to the sending of +an invitation to Mr. Forster! He was our nearest neighbour, for his house +was only a few miles from Leeds; he was our most distinguished +representative, and he was an ardent supporter of the Franchise Bill. Yet +not even these facts could serve him in the eyes of men who regarded Mr. +Chamberlain as being, next to Mr. Gladstone, the heaven-born leader of +English Liberalism. I hotly contested the proposal to exclude Forster +from the gathering, and succeeded in carrying my point, though I could +only do so by agreeing that instead of a special invitation, such as we +sent to all other men in his position, he should receive nothing but the +ordinary printed circular sent wholesale to the known Liberals of the +district. Forster, who cared nothing about forms and ceremonies, wrote +promptly declaring his intention to be present. + +The meeting was to be addressed from three platforms, at each of which +was a principal speaker. To John Morley, as a stranger, we assigned the +leading position on the middle platform. Herbert Gladstone took a similar +post on one of the side platforms, and on the third Forster was to be the +chief speaker. To my great amazement, a couple of days before the +meeting, we received word from Mr. Morley that under the new arrangements +he did not think it desirable to attend. It was the first evidence I had +received of what I now know to be one of the peculiarities in the +character of this eminent and gifted man. The new arrangement which led +to his wishing to withdraw from the meeting seemed to be the announcement +that Forster was to be one of the speakers. I saw at once that if Morley +did not come it would not only lessen the effect of the meeting, but +would lead to a fresh outbreak of what I may call the Forster dissensions +in the party. This was a disaster at all hazards to be prevented, and +accordingly I took what most of my readers, I imagine, will consider not +only strong but somewhat presumptuous action. I telegraphed to Morley, +warning him that if he maintained his determination to stay away, the +reason for his absence would undoubtedly become public property, and his +"laudable ambition" would not be aided by the revelation of the truth. A +strong measure, indeed; and I am prepared for the censure of my critics; +but I succeeded in my purpose. Morley promised to come, and contented +himself with writing a letter to me in which he disclaimed the imputation +that he carried about with him any of that "perilous explosive" called +ambition. The meeting was a great success; all the chief speakers were +well received, but I confess I was not altogether grieved when I saw that +the greatest crowd was that which gathered round platform number three, +and that the loudest cheers of the vast multitude were those given to +Forster. + +It will be remembered that the Tories offered a stubborn opposition to +the passing of the Household Suffrage Bill, and it was only carried in +the end in a winter session, specially convened for that purpose. +According to popular rumour at the time, it was eventually passed as the +result of compromise between Mr. Gladstone and Lord Salisbury. I do not +believe that there is a word of truth in this story. Mr. Gladstone, at +all events, stoutly denied that there had been any such compromise, and +once wrote a long letter to me, maintaining this denial. But before the +Tories could be induced to accept the Bill, a meeting of their party had +to be held at the Carlton Club, and in connection with that meeting I +have to tell a curious story of my own. + +As most of my readers know, the Carlton Club and the Reform stand side by +side in Pall Mall, only separated from each other by a narrow street +which gives access to Carlton House Gardens. The windows of the +smoking-room at the Reform Club face those of the large library of the +Carlton, so that the members of the two clubs may, if they choose, see +each other across the narrow roadway. The Conservative meeting was held +in the big library of the club. Going into our own smoking-room on the +afternoon of the meeting, I saw a well-known member of the club gazing +intently across the way at the corresponding apartment in the Carlton. +"If you come here," he said, turning to me, "you can see all the members +of the Tory party gathering for their meeting." I saw no harm in +accepting X.'s invitation, and joined him at the window. We picked out +the various notables of the party. By-and-by an evil inspiration seized +X. "Let us go upstairs to F.'s room," he said. "We shall see much better +from there." I am ashamed to say that I yielded to the temptation, and +accompanied X. to the room of a friend who occupied one of the club +chambers facing the Carlton. + +The window happened to be open, so that we had an unimpeded view of the +meeting of the Tory party. We could not, of course, hear anything that +was said, nor could we see the speakers, who were evidently placed with +their backs to us between two of the windows; but we saw the audience, +and were amused by the varying expression upon their faces as they +listened to their leaders. X.'s insatiable curiosity led him to snatch up +an opera-glass that was lying on F.'s dressing-table, and, despite my +remonstrance, he took a long survey of the Tory gathering through this +instrument. Suddenly I saw a man in the body of the meeting rise to his +feet and point straight at our window. Instantly every face in the room +flashed round, and I found myself under the concentrated gaze of some +hundreds of manifestly indignant men. I seized the wretched X. by the +collar and dragged him back from the window. "See what you have done with +that abominable opera-glass of yours!" I cried; and then, to my shame and +mortification, I saw the blinds pulled down at every window of the +Carlton library, and I felt that by our foolish curiosity we had caused +this gathering of political opponents to hold their conference in the +dark. It is quite true that neither I nor X. had any ulterior motive in +our observation of the meeting at the Carlton Club, but all the same I +cannot pretend that the use of the opera-glass was not indefensible. + +I was dining that evening at the Oxford and Cambridge Club with Mr. +Andrew Lang. When I arrived there I was ushered into the club +drawing-room, with the intimation that Mr. Lang would join me in a +moment, and that I would find another of his guests already in the room. +I stepped to the fireplace, where this gentleman was standing, and my +feelings may be imagined when I discovered that it was the very man who +had pointed us out at the window of the Reform Club a few hours earlier. +He was Mr. Charles Elton, then one of the members for Somersetshire. I +saw that he did not recognise me, but the desire to confess my offending +was irresistible. "You were at the meeting at the Carlton Club this +afternoon, were you not?" I said to him. He looked at me rather +curiously, before replying in the affirmative, and then added, "But you +were not there?" "No," I said, "but did you observe anything curious at +the Reform Club?" At once his face lighted up with angry intelligence. +"Yes!" he said, "I did. There were a couple of scallywags"--it was the +first time I had ever heard this modern term of reproach, and it is not +surprising that I have nearly forgotten it--"watching us through +opera-glasses from one of the windows, and signalling to a man whom they +had put on the top of our club, and who was listening through the +ventilator to the speeches." No words can express the sense of relief I +felt when I heard this absurd statement. "No," I replied, "I assure you +that you are mistaken. I am sorry to say that I was one of the scallywags +who were looking out of the Reform Club, and I apologise sincerely for my +untimely curiosity; but we had only one opera-glass between us, and we +had nobody posted on the top of the Carlton Club to listen to the +speeches. Upon that you may rely." Elton stared at me for a moment, and +then burst into a roar of laughter, in which I joined him. It was an +immense relief to me to have got the burden off my soul; but I had +received another proof of the frequency with which that long arm of +coincidence asserts itself. + +As a result of the passing of the Franchise Bill, and the creation of +single-member constituencies which accompanied it, a Boundary Commission +had to be appointed, to settle the boundaries of the new electoral +divisions. In order to prevent gerrymandering it was agreed that this +Commission should not only be quite independent of both parties, but that +it should have absolute powers. Its chairman was Sir John Lambert, +secretary of the Local Government Board; and his powers were, of course, +very great. Forster, coming to see me one day, began to talk to me about +the Boundary Commission, and the supreme powers vested in Sir John +Lambert. Suddenly he burst into a chuckling laugh, and I knew that he had +a story to tell me. "I was going up the stairs of the Local Government +office to see Lambert the other day," he said, "and I met ----," +mentioning the name of the former holder of a subordinate Government +post, "coming down. 'Hullo, Forster!' he cried, 'what in the world are +you doing here?' 'Well, I was just going to call on the most powerful man +in England,' I replied. ---- took off his hat and made me a low bow. 'I +hope you didn't undeceive him,' I said. 'Oh, yes, I did,' replied +Forster. I told him that I didn't mean him, but Sir John Lambert." I +wrung my hands over this fresh illustration of my friend's inability to +set his sails in such a fashion as to catch the approval of others. + +It was over this redistribution question that I had the only difference +of opinion I ever had with Forster. He was an ardent supporter of the +single-member constituency, or _scrutin d'arrondissement_, as the +French call it, in opposition to _scrutin de liste_. I, on the other +hand, foresaw that the new system would break up the powerful political +associations in our great towns, and thus destroy a political force which +I believed to be of great value. I fought strenuously in the _Leeds +Mercury_ against what I styled the vivisection of the great boroughs; +but I need not say that I fought in vain. I had many a good-humoured +argument with Forster on the subject, but he would never admit that I was +right, though after twenty years' experience and observation I am only +now strengthened in my original opinion. + +Before this time I had aroused Forster's anger--anger which never +hurt--by the action I had taken, in common with some of my Liberal +friends in Leeds, with regard to the School Board election. We found that +the cumulative vote in a large constituency was almost unworkable. It had +resulted in Leeds in the election, at the head of the poll on one +occasion, of a mere demagogue of no account. In order to obviate any +further misfortune of this kind my friend Mathers, the honorary secretary +of the Liberal Association, devised a plan under which the town was +divided by the Liberals into different divisions. To each of these +divisions we allotted certain candidates, and we asked the electors who +sympathised with us to vote only for the candidate allotted to the +division in which they lived. The plan proved a brilliant success, for we +carried all our candidates at that election, and this method of getting +over the difficulties of the cumulative vote was afterwards adopted in +all large towns, including London. Forster was greatly wroth at the time, +and told me that he looked upon the scheme as a dishonest attempt to +evade an Act of Parliament. + +Those were the years of the dynamite outrages. Certain desperate Irish +societies, chiefly financed and recruited from the United States, were +seeking to advance the Home Rule cause by terrorising the people of +England. "Holy dynamite," as that powerful explosive was christened, was +the weapon employed, and some very daring outrages were committed in +London and other places. The most notable of these were the simultaneous +attempts to wreck the House of Commons, Westminster Hall, and the Tower +of London. These audacious crimes were committed on a Saturday afternoon. +I spent the whole of the next morning reading and analysing the telegrams +in which full details of the occurrences were given, and in writing an +article for Monday's _Mercury_ on the subject. In the afternoon I +went over to Wakefield to keep an engagement I had made to dine and sleep +at Thorns, the residence of my friends Mr. and Lady Catherine Milnes +Gaskell. I well remember the scene when I entered the beautiful library +at Thorns, about five o'clock. There was a large party there, including +the Duke and Duchess of St. Albans, Mr. and Mrs. Goschen, and Mr. W B. +Beaumont, of Bretton. + +When I was announced, Gaskell jumped up from his seat, saying, "Now we +shall have news!" and instantly the whole party flocked round me, eager +to know the truth as to the wild rumour which was all they had as yet +heard of the devastation wrought by the dynamiters in London on the +previous day. My morning's work had, of course, qualified me to satisfy +their curiosity, but the questions they poured in upon me were so +numerous and so eager that I was at last obliged to ask them to sit down, +and let me tell the story in my own fashion, which I accordingly +proceeded to do amid the breathless attention of my auditors. The scene +is worth recording as a characteristic incident of life in England in +those days. We had an enemy, subtle, daring, and dangerous, actually +waging war upon us within our own gates; and though the invincible +courage of our race enabled us to pursue our own way in spite of the new +terror that had arisen amongst us, we were none of us, as this scene in +the library at Thorns proved, insensible to the horror of the situation, +and the deadly character of the weapons used against us. + +At this time all the leading members of the Liberal Government were under +police protection, and Forster, as being the special object of Irish +animosity, was also treated in this respect as though he were still a +Minister. Some Ministers, it was asserted, not only enjoyed, but desired, +the constant companionship of armed detectives, and amusing stories were +told of the way in which they arrived at Mayfair dinner-parties +accompanied by "stern-faced men" with revolvers in their pockets. I shall +not repeat these stories, for I cannot bring myself to believe that any +English statesman has been the victim of physical cowardice. Others, +among whom Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Forster were conspicuous, loathed the +presence of the police agents dogging their footsteps, and keeping watch +at their doors, and tried in every possible way to evade them. Mr. +Gladstone, with the collar of his overcoat turned up to his ears, used +suddenly to dash out of the garden door at the back of Downing Street, +and attempt, by running across the parade at full speed, to get rid of +his bodyguard. Occasionally he succeeded, but I am told that as a +consequence he had so severe a wigging from the Home Secretary and the +Chief Commissioner of Police that he was at last compelled to abandon his +efforts to secure his unfettered liberty of action. Forster managed to +obtain exemption from the obtrusive services of a bodyguard, but a +policeman kept watch and ward by day and night in front of his house in +Eccleston Square, not only to his disgust, but to that of one of his +neighbours, who quitted his abode rather than continue to live near so +dangerous a character. "I often wonder," said Forster to me one day, +"what I shall do if I find an infernal machine on my doorstep when I come +home some night. I know what it is my duty to do. I ought to take it up, +and throw it into the middle of the square, but I am terribly afraid that +I shan't have the pluck, and shall simply turn round and run away." +Nobody who knew Forster could believe that he would ever have acted in +any such fashion. + +I had my own small experience at this time of trial. Threatening letters +were flying about, and I received a fair share of them, for I was at that +time very obnoxious to the Irish party in Leeds. One evening, on going +down to my office, which I entered from a narrow thoroughfare called Bank +Street, I was startled by being suddenly called upon to halt when near +the office door, whilst a policeman's lantern was flashed in my face. One +of our workmen explained my identity to the officer, and I was allowed to +pass. I then learned that the Leeds police had received information of a +plot to blow up the _Mercury_ office, and they had, accordingly, +posted guards round the building. I was in the habit of driving home +every night, or rather every morning, to my residence at Headingley, and +the police suggested that I should be accompanied by an officer; but I +did not believe in my danger, and desired no such protection. In the +depths of one winter's night, when a thaw was dissolving a heavy fall of +snow, I had a great fright. I had left my cab, which had driven away, and +was mounting the steps leading to the porch of my house, when I suddenly +saw, lying on the half-melted snow against the door itself, a large +bundle wrapped in sacking. I drew near it cautiously, and heard a curious +ticking sound proceeding from it. "An infernal machine!" I exclaimed to +myself, and I confess I was horribly frightened. The outer door of the +porch was unlocked, and, opening it, I bounded inside, carefully avoiding +the object which I suspected. I unlocked the inner door, and, entering +the house, locked and barred it behind me. + +Then, when I got into my dining-room, reason asserted itself, and I felt +heartily ashamed of my panic. If the thing were an infernal machine, it +would certainly do a great deal of damage if it exploded where it lay. I +strung my nerves up to the sticking-point, went out, unlocked the door, +seized the mysterious package in my hands, and flung it as far as I could +into a little shrubbery in the garden. There was no explosion such as I +had expected. Nothing, indeed, happened; but when I got back to my +dining-room, and saw my face in a mirror, I found it was as white as a +sheet. The next morning I went out to look for the infernal machine. It +was a coarse sack, filled with blocks of wood and sawdust, and I have a +strong suspicion that it had been placed where I found it as a practical +joke. The ticking which I had heard, and which had convinced me that I +had to deal with an infernal machine, was evidently produced by the drip, +drip of water from the bag on the step beneath it. Such were features in +the lives of men more or less before the public eye in the years of the +dynamite terror. + +In the summer of 1885, along with many others, I met with a great loss. +This was the death at Vichy of my dear old friend, Lord Houghton. No +kinder friend than he man ever had. The world was inclined to laugh at +his peculiarities, which lay upon the surface, and to ignore the sterling +qualities that formed the basis of his character. If it is right to speak +of a man as you find him, then I am entitled to say that there never +lived a kinder or more generous man, or a truer friend, than Monckton +Milnes. To me he was all this. I have told already the story of our first +acquaintance in 1870, and of the debt which I very soon owed him. I could +fill a volume with reminiscences of his talk, as I used to hear it during +my frequent visits to Fryston, and of the warmth of his sympathy with one +who had no claim upon him. I have made many friends in the course of my +life, and looking back upon the list I am constrained to say that I have +made more friends through the mediumship of Lord Houghton than through +that of any other man. + +Among those whom I first met at his house, I must not omit Edward, +fourteenth Earl of Derby, better known in his time as the Lord Stanley +who served as Foreign Secretary under the premiership of his brilliant +father, the thirteenth Earl. Lord Derby--the man of whom I speak--was one +of the great misunderstood figures of his generation. Men slandered him +as freely as they slandered Mr. Gladstone, and, unlike the great Liberal +leader, he did not possess that strong following of ardent adherents who +stood by their chief, no matter how sternly Fortune might frown upon him. +Lord Derby was one of the shyest of men, and, as a consequence, he was +really known, even when he was in the thick of his political work, by +only a few men and women. Those who did know him held him, however, in +the highest esteem. There was no better judge of character than Lord +Houghton, and often he would remark upon the fact that Lord Derby was +almost as unpopular as his father had been the reverse. He cited this as +a proof of the incapacity of the public for forming correct estimates of +character. I had been in confidential correspondence with Lord Derby long +before I first met him at Fryston, and in 1879 I wrote an article in +_Macmillan's Magazine_ dealing with his career at the Foreign +Office, and with his reason for resigning his post in Lord Beaconsfield's +Administration. This article was written on information which he +supplied, and he himself corrected the proof-sheets. Yet these facts did +not prevent some of the cocksure critics of the Press from announcing +that I was wholly mistaken in my account of Lord Derby's action and +motive. I have found, however, that nothing is so certain to meet with an +absolute contradiction in the Press as an indubitable fact which comes as +a piece of unexpected news to the ordinary journalist. + +When I met Lord Derby under Lord Houghton's roof he was far too shy to +make any reference to our previous correspondence, yet when the first +painful embarrassment had passed away, he proved a delightful companion, +and his conversation was full of the charm derived from ample knowledge +and marked intellectual power. No man was simpler than he in his +intercourse with those whom he trusted. It was difficult when talking to +him to realise the fact that you were speaking to one who had held the +great office of Foreign Secretary. Instead of laying down the law upon +foreign affairs he seemed anxious to elicit the opinions of other +persons, and he displayed a modest simplicity of manner which was very +striking. He has been described as the incarnation of common-sense, and +the general public believed him to be as full of facts and as dry as a +Blue Book. In reality he had a decided love of humour, and his +conversation, which was illustrated by many good stories, had all the +light and shade, the warmth and colour, that good talk ought to possess. +He was amazingly frank in his criticisms upon men and upon current +affairs. + +The outer world believed him to be the most cautious and prudent of men, +weighing every word before he uttered it, and never making a rash remark, +whereas he was very much the reverse. I have, for example, heard him +discuss the characters of European statesmen with an unreserved freedom +that was startling. He was fond, too, of passing criticisms upon great +political questions that staggered one by their boldness. I think it was +in 1883 that he told me that, in his opinion, there was no future for the +Tory party. Conservatism as a force was played out, and the destinies of +the country must henceforth be controlled by Liberals. I am trying to +give a slight sketch of the man as he really was, and not as he was +believed to be by the contemporary public. If he was neither so wise nor +so cautious as men thought him, he was infinitely more charming and more +human, and all who really knew him mourned his death as a personal loss. +When I first met him he was in a state of political transition. Although +he had made up his mind to sever his connection with the Conservatives, +he had taken no open steps in the direction of the other camp. The first +time he ever entered a Liberal club, and made a political speech in it, +was when I got him to go to the Leeds Liberal Club to receive an address +from the members. He is one of the most distinguished of the figures I +associate with Fryston and its gifted owner. + +The very last time that I dined with Lord Houghton I had an amusing +experience. It was in the late autumn of 1884. Houghton had just met with +a rather severe and painful accident. He had been staying at the Durdans +with Lord Rosebery, and during the night had fallen out of bed, +fracturing his collar-bone. His own account of the accident was that he +had dreamt that Mr. Gladstone was pursuing him in a hansom cab, and in +trying to escape he had tumbled off the bed. Although in great pain, he +made light, according to his wont, of his injuries, and positively went +down to Yorkshire the day after the accident in order to attend a meeting +of Quarter Sessions. It was only on his return to town, where he was +staying with his sister, the Dowager Viscountess Galway, that he +consulted a doctor, who found that the collar-bone was fractured, and at +once ordered him complete rest. Complete rest was something for which +Houghton was not by nature fitted. I went to call on him whilst he was +laid up, and he immediately begged me to arrange a little dinner party +for his amusement while he was invalided. + +The person he was most anxious to secure as a guest was James Payn, and I +promised to do what I could to get Payn to dine. But there were +difficulties in the way. Payn disliked dining out at any time, and he +had, as I have already mentioned, a rooted aversion to evening dress, +which, he declared, killed more men than drink. Besides, when he did dine +out, he wished to smoke as soon as he had finished eating, and for this +reason he objected to dinner parties at which ladies were present. All +this I explained to Houghton. "Not wear evening dress? Well, you and he +can come in frock-coats. I shall be in a dressing-gown." "And the +cigars?" I said. "Oh, well, of course he can smoke if he wishes." "And +ladies?" I continued. "That's awkward," said the dear old gentleman, "for +this is my sister's house. She must be here. But don't tell him, and then +perhaps he'll come." My negotiations with Payn were successful, and on +the appointed evening, a Sunday, he and I set forth in a hansom for +Rutland Gardens. I remember that on the way Payn, who was in +exceptionally high spirits, informed me of the engagement of his daughter +Alice to Mr. Buckle, the young editor of the _Times_. + +It was a very small party at Lady Galway's, the only other guest being +Sir Frederick Pollock; but the talk was certainly as good as any I had +ever listened to. When Lady Galway left the room, I reminded our host of +the condition with regard to cigars, for Payn, I saw, was already +impatient. Lord Houghton suggested a cigarette, which would by no means +have met the views of Payn. Happily I had my cigar-case with me, and this +part of the dinner treaty was carried out in its entirety. I still +remember the stories of that delightful evening. They were many and +striking. Both Payn and Lord Houghton were at their best, and Sir +Frederick Pollock, when the opportunity occurred, gave us pleasant +recollections of the past. I was only too glad to be a listener. We sat +long over our cigars, and it was not until the evening was far advanced +that we rejoined Lady Galway. "Now," said she, when we appeared in the +drawing-room, "you have been laughing ever since I left you, but there +were three distinct bursts of laughter that were louder than any others, +and I insist upon being told the stories which you seemed to enjoy so +much." We looked at each other in some dismay, knowing full well the +difficulty of re-warming cold dishes so as to make them appetising. But +Lord Houghton came to the rescue. "My dear." he said, "it is quite +impossible that you should be told those stories. They were not stories +for ladies." The recording angel, I am sure, blotted out our host's +departure from the truth for the sake of the motive which led him to +spare Payn the burden of repeating his stories. + +I have dwelt upon this dinner because, though I little knew it then, it +was my last meeting with my dear and generous friend. Curiously enough, +Lord Houghton's last words to me when I left him at night had reference +to a lady with whom we both had a slight acquaintance. When I next saw +that lady, the open grave in which Lord Houghton's coffin had just been +placed yawned between us. Of that memorable dinner party in December, +1884, I, alas! am the only survivor. I corresponded with Houghton during +the following spring and summer, but was unable to meet him on any of the +occasions on which he asked me to do so, and whilst the summer was still +at its height he died at Vichy. Like many another man, I felt that in him +I had lost almost the best of my friends. + +At the beginning of 1884 I visited Tangier, and spent a month in that +curious place, so near to Europe in point of distance and so remote from +it in all other respects. Tangier had at one time a reputation as the +Alsatia of Europe and the United States. I do not know whether it still +deserves this fame, but when I was there there were not a few sojourners +in the place who, for reasons of their own, had abandoned civilisation in +favour of a country in which law is but a term. On my way from Gibraltar +to Tangier I met with an unpleasant experience. The steamer which was to +convey me was a miserable rickety boat, called, if I remember aright, the +_Lion d'Or_. It was not so big as a Thames penny steamer, was filthy +in the extreme, and overloaded with goods which a number of Arab +merchants were taking back from Europe to Morocco. There were three other +European passengers besides myself, two of them being ladies. A stiff +Levanter was blowing when we started, and the trip, which should have +been accomplished in three hours, took eight. I have been out in worse +weather, but never in a worse vessel, and more than once in that eight +hours' struggle with wind and waves my fellow-passengers and I really +believed that our end had come. The captain set a sail, hoping to steady +the rolling craft, and it was instantly ripped into shreds by the wind. +We shipped heavy seas, and were undoubtedly very near foundering. + +Most fortunately, I and the other Englishman on board, a young artist who +is now a full-fledged R.A., had taken the precaution to provide ourselves +with food, and it was well that the provision was a liberal one, for the +two poor ladies, one of whom was a young invalid, had not so much as a +biscuit between them. Of course we shared our rations, and were thus +saved from hunger during our day of peril. It was dark when we entered +Tangier Bay, but all round us was a sea of foaming breakers. A huge +flat-bottomed barge was with great difficulty brought out to the side of +the steamer, and we were bidden to jump into it at once. At the risk of +broken limbs or necks, we succeeded in reaching it, and then, to my +dismay, I saw the steamer, with all my baggage on board, moving off, the +captain having found that it was too dangerous to remain at anchor in the +bay. When we were half-way to the shore the barge suddenly filled with +water and sank beneath us, fortunately in so shallow a sea that there was +no danger of drowning. My walking-stick, which was a very necessary +adjunct, as I still suffered from my accident on Marston Moor, was washed +out of my hands, but brawny Arabs seized me and my fellow-passengers, and +we were borne safely through the surf to the beach, where we arrived, +dazed, breathless, and drenched to the skin. + +My travelling experiences in Tunis and Turkey had prepared me for the +rush which was made upon us by all the loafers of the place, shrieking in +Arabic, and eagerly claiming us as their spoil. But the ladies had never +been out of England before, and were naturally terrified by the wild +scene, following as it did upon their narrow escape from drowning. They +were going to an hotel in the town, and I escorted them to it. Then I set +out on my walk to Bruzeaud's Hotel, beyond the city gates and the Soko. I +was in a sorry plight when I arrived there, but nothing could exceed the +kindness of my reception, not only by the host, but by the Englishmen in +the house. They placed their wardrobes at my disposal, and did everything +they could to make me comfortable. My lost luggage did not turn up for +nearly a week, but happily I had my money and my letters of introduction +in my pocket. On the morning after my arrival I called upon the ladies +who had shared my experiences on the previous day, and found, happily, +that they had not suffered from the shock. I never saw them again; but +ten years afterwards, when I was sitting in my room in London, a +gentleman who had called upon business was brought to see me. To my great +surprise he burst into tears as he took my hand. When he had recovered +his composure he explained that he was the father of the younger of the +two ladies, and he thanked me, in what I could not but think +unnecessarily warm terms, for the trifling service I had rendered to his +daughter. His emotion was explained by the fact that she had but recently +died. + +Among the company at Bruzeaud's Hotel there was a certain Captain W., a +retired naval officer, who was something of a character. He had lived +long in Morocco, had the highest opinion of its enormous natural wealth, +and was longing for the day when England, or some other European Power, +would seize and develop it. He had many original theories. He believed, +for example, that Gibraltar was a source of weakness rather than of +strength to the British Empire, and he had written a pamphlet in support +of a proposal that we should exchange it with Spain for Ceuta. I must +confess that his idea seemed to me to be a sound one. But Gibraltar looks +so grand, and makes so strong an appeal to our national pride, that no +English Minister would dare to talk of surrendering it, no matter what he +might be offered in exchange. All the same, I do not think that Captain +W. was altogether wrong when he spoke of the Rock as a "magnificent +impostor." + +One day there came to our hotel a typical representative of "Padgett, +M.P." He was a member of the House of Commons who, having a couple of +days to spare at Gibraltar, had run across the Straits to learn all about +Morocco in the space of four-and-twenty hours. In the smoking-room after +dinner he aired his opinions with all the confidence begotten of his +Parliamentary dignity. He denounced the French, who knew nothing, he +declared, about colonisation, and whose government of Algeria was a +disgraceful failure. He lauded the noble character of the Arabs, and +declared that Morocco needed no improvement, and, consequently, called +for no interference on the part of any European Power. Captain W., who +had very strong opinions as to the corruption of the Moorish Government, +listened for some time in silence to opinions which were eminently +distasteful to him. But at last his patience gave way, and he addressed +the astonished M.P. in the following words: "You think you know +everything about Morocco, sir, although you only landed on its soil this +morning. There is one thing, however, that you evidently don't know, and +that is, that if I chose to spend a couple of dollars I could have your +throat cut before to-morrow morning; and you've talked such nonsense, +sir, that I don't know whether that wouldn't be the best thing for me to +do." I never saw a Padgett, M.P., collapse more completely than did this +unfortunate specimen of the race under a retort which, however wanting in +urbanity, was not without very considerable provocation. + +In the early summer of 1885 I ventured, for the first time during my +editorship at Leeds, to take a holiday whilst Parliament was sitting. It +had always previously been my rule never to leave my post during the +session of Parliament, but in 1885 everything seemed to be in a state of +profound calm, so far as the political world was concerned. General +Gordon was dead, but the Ministry had survived his loss. It had even +survived the ignominious collapse of the attempt to "break the power of +the Mahdi at Khartoum" which it had professed to make. One knew that +bitter intrigues were in progress behind the scenes. But now that Mr. +Forster was off the scene Mr. Chamberlain seemed bent upon trying +conclusions with Mr. Gladstone himself, and was preaching those doctrines +of an extreme and Socialistic Radicalism which the Conservatives frankly +denounced as being based on the policy of Jack Cade. But time was needed +for the successful development of the new political movement, and +meanwhile public affairs seemed to be running in a very humdrum course. I +thought it, in consequence, a favourable opportunity for carrying out a +long-cherished intention of visiting the Land of the Midnight Sun. +Accordingly, at the beginning of June I went over to Bergen in a Wilson +steamer from Hull. The vessel was crowded with salmon-fishers and their +wives, going to Norway for the summer fishing. I was much amused by the +extreme clannishness of these persons. They absolutely refused to +exchange a word with anybody who was not going to Norway for purposes of +sport. Those of us who, like myself, were going there either for health +or to see the country were regarded by the salmon-fishing people as +intruders, whose presence on the scene was to be actively and rudely +resented. I have travelled much in my time, and have had only too many +opportunities of observing the ridiculous and offensive behaviour of the +English snob when he finds himself in foreign parts; but I do not think +that I ever saw snobbish vulgarity carried further than it was by the +salmon-fishers on this Wilson steamer in the summer of 1885. + +For my part, I had no greater desire for their company than they had for +mine, and when I reached Bergen, I speedily transhipped myself to a +native cargo-boat that was announced as being about to start for the +first visit of the season to the North Cape. The accommodation on board +the vessel, though somewhat homely, was comfortable. I had a good cabin, +and soon made friends with the officers. No other Englishman was on +board. We steamed slowly up the coast as far as Trondhjem, and I had +ample opportunities of admiring the fine scenery, as our vessel touched +at almost every small port upon the way. After resting a day at +Trondhjem, we resumed our journey for the North Cape. The passengers were +chiefly Norwegians, most of whom were bound for the Lofoten Islands, +where the great annual fair was about to be held. In the saloon my +companions from Trondhjem were two young Frenchmen, bent, like myself, +upon visiting the North Cape, and an Austrian, attached to the Court at +Vienna, who, for some inscrutable reason, was fired with the same +ambition. We made a very cheery company, and I was able to cast off all +editorial cares in the society of these people, to whom English politics +were of no account. The weather, after leaving Trondhjem, was for some +days positively frightful. It was the month of June, but it rained +incessantly, except when it snowed. It was bitterly cold, and heavy mists +prevented our seeing anything. + +The Austrian and I bore the discomforts of the situation as +philosophically as we could. We smoked always, and we read and played +bezique alternately, but our mercurial French friends were less happy, +and on the third day of this detestable weather, on entering the little +smoking-room on deck, I discovered them both sitting in tears, and +bewailing the fact that they were not at home with their mothers. I +laughed so much at their distress that a coolness sprang up between us +which lasted for several days. + +Once, indeed, as I find noted in my memorandum-book, the young Frenchmen +revived. It was at one of the stations at which we called. We saw a large +group of people, including several young women, gathered in front of a +building that looked half-church, half-schoolhouse. The Parisians +insisted that they had assembled in our honour; for, as a matter of fact, +they looked upon themselves as being engaged in a desperate and most +heroic enterprise. Accordingly, as we approached the wharf, they brought +out their pocket handkerchiefs, and, waving them wildly, uttered loud +shouts of greeting. To their great chagrin, not the slightest notice was +taken of them. They redoubled their efforts to attract attention, but +neither man nor woman moved a head. Then one of the officers came along, +and drily informed the Frenchmen that the object of their demonstrations +was a funeral party! + +I had many other amusing experiences during this little trip, and feel +strongly tempted to inflict upon my readers some extracts from the diary +which I kept during the voyage. But nowadays everybody has been to the +North Cape, and we have all seen the midnight sun. I think I saw it, and +the wonderful scenery of the Lofoten Islands, in my little Norwegian +cargo-boat, under far more favourable auspices than my successors who +have travelled in great tourist steamers, surrounded by all the luxuries +that are now supplied to the passengers on the large Atlantic and +Mediterranean liners. Certainly, one saw something of the people, as well +as of the country, when travelling in this modest fashion; and I still +have the most pleasant recollection of these friendly Norwegians and of +the glorious fiords and mountains of the Far North. But that which +entitles this trip of mine to a special place in these reminiscences of a +journalist is the fact that it cut me off from all connection with +affairs in England at the very moment when those affairs became +unexpectedly interesting. + +I had left Hull on the 2nd of June, and after parting from my chance +companions of the _Eldorado_, had not seen a single Englishman, or +heard a scrap of English news, until I found myself at Tromsoe, within +the Arctic circle, on June 17th. The captain of my vessel, knowing that I +wanted to hear what was going on at home, drew my attention to the fact +that a steam collier from Leith had just arrived in Tromsoe Harbour, and +suggested that I should go on board and get the latest newspapers. +Accordingly, I went off in one of the ship's boats to the grimy collier. +It was eleven p.m., but the sun was shining brilliantly. For some time I +hailed the vessel in vain, but at last a black-faced man who was +manifestly one of the officers thrust his head through a port and asked +what I wanted. I told him that I had come to see if he had any newspapers +from home. "I will go and see," he said, in a strong Glasgow dialect, and +presently he returned with a copy of the _Glasgow Mail_ of June 3rd, +and threw it down to me. I was disappointed that he had nothing of a +later date, and after thanking him for his kindness was returning to my +own steamer, when a sudden thought occurred to me, and I said, "Have you +heard any news later than this?" holding up the newspaper. He considered +for a moment, then shook his head reflectively, and said, "Na, I've heard +naething later." So again I started on my way to the ship. I had not gone +more than a yard or two when I heard him calling to me loudly. Once more +I put back. "I forgot to tell ye that they've kicked oot that blasted +auld deevil, Gladstone." "What!" I exclaimed, in incredulous horror. +"Kicked out Mr. Gladstone! What do you mean?" "I mean that they've kicked +him oot of office, and a d----d good job, too." + +I fairly gasped for breath as I heard the astonishing news. Here was I, +the editor of an English daily newspaper, away up in the Arctic circle, +separated by days of travel from newspapers or means of getting news, and +I suddenly heard this startling piece of intelligence. I could not credit +it, and eagerly asked for further particulars. But the old tar could tell +me nothing more. He could only persist in affirming and reaffirming his +conviction that Mr. Gladstone's loss of office was the best thing that +could have happened to the country. And this was the end of the great +Ministry of 1880, for the formation of which I had worked so hard, and +which I had so constantly and ardently supported with my pen! I went back +to the _Kong Halfdan_ much excited, and rushing to the captain told +him that I must go back to England at once. He heard my news and +sympathised with my dilemma, but assured me that the earliest mode of +returning to Trondhjem would be by sticking to his ship. I went ashore, +and made further inquiries, only to have the captain's statement +confirmed; so, willy-nilly, I had to go on to the North Cape, bitterly +conscious of the fact that I ought to have been at my post at Leeds. But +a man in a hurry is always the victim of circumstances, and there was +nothing for it but to possess my soul in patience. How eagerly I looked +for further news! It was not, however, until several days later that, on +returning to Tromsoe, I found a mail-steamer going north, and saw an +unmistakable Englishman on the deck, whom I immediately accosted with a +request for information. All he could tell me was that Mr. Gladstone had +resigned on the 12th of June, and that Lord Salisbury on the next day had +been hastily summoned by the Queen to Balmoral and had accepted office. +From Trondhjem I made hot haste by rail to Christiania, and taking the +first steamer for Hull, which to me seemed to make haste slowly, returned +to my own country to face the unexpected fact that a great political +revolution had suddenly occurred, and that the Tories were once more in +power. + + + + +INDEX. + +A + +Addison Road North, + Author's residence in. +Adullamites. +Albrecht, Archduke, + Author's visit to estate of. +American Civil War, + Conclusion of. +Armstrong, Lord, + as a solicitor at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; + as president of British Association. +Arundel Club in 1868. +Aurora Borealis in 1870. +Ayrton, Mr., + Attack of, on Queen Victoria. + +B + +Baines, Edward, + founder of _Leeds Mercury_. +Baines, Frederick. +Baines, Matthew Talbot, M.P. +Baines, Sir Edward, + at battle of Peterloo; + M.P. for Leeds; + Knighted; + visits author in Reporters' Gallery; + and loss of ship _Captain_; + defeated as Parliamentary candidate at Leeds; + and Leeds Caucus. +Baines, Thomas Blackburn, + resigns editorship of _Leeds Mercury_. +Baring, Walter, + and Bulgarian atrocities of 1876. +Barran, Sir John. +Barrett, Fenian, + Execution of; +Bathgate, Rev. William, D.D., + author's brother-in-law, Death of. +Baxter, W. E., + as Secretary to Admiralty. +Beaconsfield, Lord, + (_see_ Disraeli, Benjamin). +Berlin Congress in 1878. +Berry, Miss Louisa. +Bertram, Mr., Death of. +Berwick-upon-Tweed Station in 1850. +Birmingham Caucus, Formation of, + (_see also_ Caucus). +Black, John, journalist. +Black, William, + joins staff of _Leeds Mercury_; + his loyalty to friends; + his house in Camberwell Road; + stories about his books; + his sympathy with art; + at Century Club; + his chivalrous character; + on sad endings of novels; + his first visit to Leeds; + his failure as a speaker. +Boundary Commission for electoral divisions. +Bow Street Police Court in 1867. +Bradfield, + Bursting of reservoir dam at. +Bradford Caucus and W. E. Forster. +Brett, Police-sergeant, + Murder of. +"Briefs and Papers,". +Bright, John, + at Blackburn in 1865; + at reform demonstrations in 1866; + his last reform speech in 1866; + champions Queen Victoria; + and Cave of Adullam; + appeals for life of Barrett, the Fenian. +British Association at Newcastle (1863). +Broadley, Mr. A. M., + at Tunis. +Brofft's Hotel, Bucharest. +Brontė, Charlotte, + Mrs. Gaskell's Life of; + author's monograph on; + her attractiveness; + (_see also_ Haworth). +Brontė, Emily, Author's lecture on. +Brontė literature, Author's contributions to. +Bruce, Dr. Collingwood. +Bruce's Licensing Bill, Introduction of. +Buccleuch, Duke of, and Disraeli. +Bucharest in 1878, + extortionate charges at. +Bulgarian atrocities of 1876, + Excitement caused by; + their effect upon our domestic politics. +Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, and reform demonstrators. +Burke, T.H., Assassination of, in Phoenix Park. +Burke and Casey, Fenian prisoners. + +C + +"Cabinet Portraits," Author's. +_Captain_, Loss of the. +Casey and Burke, Fenian prisoners. +Carey, James, informer. +Carlton Club, Overlooked meeting at. +Carlyle at Fryston, + his remark to Monckton Milnes on pension for Tennyson. +Carter, Mr., M.P. for Leeds. +Cattle plague in 1865. +Caucus, Plan of Liberal, + its effect upon Liberalism; + (_see also_ Birmingham and Bradford). +"Cave of Adullam," _Morning Star_ and. +Cavendish, Lord Frederick, Assassination of. +Central Liberal Association, Plan of. +Century Club, + author nearly poisoned at. +Chamberlain, Mr. Austen, + Mr. Gladstone's reference to speech of. +Chamberlain, the Right Hon. Joseph, + affected by Mr. Gladstone's reference to his son; + defeated Parliamentary candidate at Sheffield; + his dislike of W.E. Forster; + ruling spirit of Caucus; + and W.E. Forster; + his brothers blackballed at Reform Club; + resigns membership of Reform Club; + intrigues of; + his Socialistic Radicalism. +_Chambers's Journal_, + Author's contributions to. +Chester, Fenians at (1866). +Cholera at Newcastle. +Clerkenwell House of Detention, + Fenian outrage at. +Club Life in London in 1868. +Coles, Captain Cowper, Death of. +Commons, House of, + Author's first visit to; + its Parliamentary reporters in 1867; + autumn session of 1867; + gladiatorial combats of Disraeli and Gladstone in 1868; + dynamite outrage at; + (_see also_ Parliament). +Congress at Berlin in 1878. +Constituencies, + Creation of single-member; + cumulative vote in large. +Conversation Club at Leeds. +Cooke, Mr. W.H. +Cotton famine in 1864. +Coulson, miner, Heroism of. +Cowen, Joseph, Reminiscences of, + and Mr. Stead. +Cross, Miss Emily, actress. +Cumulative vote in large School Board constituencies. + +D + +_Daily News_ and Bulgarian atrocities of 1876. +Danube, Journey down (1878). +Davis, Mr. E.D., actor. +Derby, Earl of (13th), on Irish Church. +Derby, Earl of (14th), Memories of. +Devonshire Club. +Dickens, Charles, + at Newcastle; + author's leader on death of. +Disraeli, Benjamin, + affected by Mr. Gladstone's allusion to illness of Mrs. Disraeli; + on Irish Church in 1868; + his contemptuous treatment of an assailant; + Tory dislike of him in 1868; + author's personal encounter with; + and Bulgarian atrocities of 1876; + his triumph in 1878; + his power of playing to the gallery; + at Berlin Congress. +Donald, Robert, journalist. +Dynamite outrages. + +E + +Education Act, Passing of. +Edwards, Mr., Parliamentary reporter. +Elections, General (_see_ General Elections). +Elton, Mr. Charles. +Executions, + Memories of public; + of Barrett, the Fenian. +Exhibition of 1862, Opening of. + +F + +Fawcett, Henry, at Century Club. +Fenians, + Execution of Barrett; + at Chester in 1866; + outrage at Clerkenwell House of Detention; + at Manchester. +Flogging of garrotters. +Forster, Mrs. W. E. +Forster, Sir Charles. +Forster, W. E., + Description of; + on Lord Houghton; + Radical hostility against; + suggested as Liberal leader; + his struggles with Bradford Caucus; + on Mr. Stead; + and Mr. Joseph Chamberlain; + is defended by _Leeds Mercury_; + his resignation of office in 1882; + on assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish; + author at residence of; + pioneer of Liberal Imperialism; + his political courage; + home life; + plots against his life; + his speech at Bradford; + and fate of General Gordon; + attends Household Suffrage demonstration at Leeds; + and Boundary Commission; + under police protection; + and Lord Hartington; + founder of the Imperial Federation League; + meets with an accident. +Fothergill, Mr., clerk in the W.B. Lead office. +Franchise Bill of 1884. +Franco-German war, Recollections of. +Fryston, Lord Houghton's seat, Author at. + +G + +Galway, Lady, Dinner party given by. +Gambetta, M., + his oration in 1877; + funeral of. +Garrotters, Flogging of. +Gaskell's, Mrs., Life of Charlotte Brontė. +General Election of 1868, + of 1874; + of 1880. +Germany, Commercial enterprise of. +Gladstone, Mr. Herbert, elected for Leeds. +Gladstone, Mr. Robertson, at Preston. +Gladstone, Mrs., and author. +Gladstone, W. E., + at Newcastle in 1862; + appearance of; + at Manchester in 1865; + his courtesy in debate; + his attacks on Disraeli in 1868; + his Parliamentary colleagues in 1868; + and dissolution of Parliament in 1874; + resigns leadership of Liberal party; + intrigues against; + on Bulgarian atrocities of 1876; + unpopular with his party in 1879; + decides to contest Midlothian; + people's admiration for (1880); + his election at Leeds; + elected for Midlothian; + at Leeds in 1881; + his sympathy with social outcasts; + and death of General Gordon; + denies compromise with Lord Salisbury on Household Suffrage Bill; + under police protection; + his resignation in 1885. +"Gladys Fane," author's novel. +_Glasgow Herald_, Author's overtures to. +Golf, past and present. +Gordon, General, W. E. Forster on fate of +Granger, Richard, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. +Grant-Duff, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Mountstuart, attacks Disraeli. +Granville, Lord, at Exhibition of 1862, + his relations with Mr. Gladstone. +Great Exhibition of 1862, Opening of. +Greig, Mr., tours with author. +Grove, Sir George, editor of _Macmillan's Magazine_. + +H + +Harcourt, Sir William, + his futile attack on Mr. Gladstone in 1878. + receives news of assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke. +Harte, Bret, + visits Haworth. +Hartington, Marquis of, + elected leader of Liberal party; + and W.E. Forster; + sympathy with him on night of Phoenix Park murders. +Hartley New Pit, Disaster at. +Haworth, Author's visit to, + Bret Harte's visit to. +Héger, M., Influence over Charlotte Brontė of. +Houghton, Lord, + Geniality of; + author's indebtedness to; + on Lord Rosebery; + on Mr. Gladstone; + as poet; + as host; + his tolerance in matters of faith; + death of; + last occasion on which author dined with him. +Household Suffrage Bill (1867), Passing of. +Household Suffrage Bill (1884), Passing of. +Household Suffrage demonstration at Leeds. +Household Suffrage Parliament, Opening of (1868). +House of Commons (_see_ Commons, House of). +House of Lords (_see_ Lords, House of). +Hungary in 1878. +Hunter, Mr. Colin, A.R.A. +Hyde Park in 1862. + +I + +Imperial Federation League, Foundation of. +Innes, Mr., Exhortation to author by. +Invincibles, Plots of the Irish. +Irish Church Bill, Debates on. + +J + +Jackson, Mr. W.L., elected M.P. for Leeds. +Jeffcock,--, engineer, Heroism of. +Joicey, Sir James. +Journalism of the 'sixties; birth of the New. +Journalism, Provincial, in 1870. + +K + +Kingsley, Charles, + his reply to author's request for books. +Kitson, Sir James. +Kossuth, Louis, Visit of, to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. +"Kroumirs" in Algeria. + +L + +Labouchere, Mr. Henry, as war correspondent. +Lambert, Sir John, Chairman of Boundary Commission. +Lancashire cotton famine in 1864. +"Land of the Bey," Author's. +Leech, John, Verisimilitude of street scenes of. +Leeds: Characteristics of its inhabitants, + parliamentary election in 1874; + its Caucus meeting; + parliamentary election of 1880; + author's influence in its Liberal Association; + Mr. Gladstone's candidature for; + its Conversation Club; + Mr. Herbert Gladstone elected for; + W.E. Gladstone at (1881); + its Household Suffrage demonstration. +Leeds Liberal Association and W.E. Forster. +_Leeds Mercury_, + Author joins staff of; + author's duties on; + and Sunday labour; + its file; + its history; + its influence under Baines family; + its exclusion of betting and theatrical news; + author accepts editorship of; + inaugurating a new era; + on loss of _Captain_; + supports educational policy of Forster; + brought into line with London dailies; + publishes early news of dissolution of Parliament in 1874; + proposes candidature of Mr. Gladstone for Leeds; + defends W.E. Forster; + attempt to crush it; + its office under police protection. +Levy, Mr., owner of _Daily Telegraph_. +Liberal Imperialist, W.E. Forster the first. +Liberal Party, + Its defeat in 1874; + resignation of leadership by Mr. Gladstone; + suggested leaders of; + Lord Hartington leads; + effect of Caucus upon; + Caucus control of; + between 1874-80; + disruption of old. +Licensing system, Permissive Bill and. +Lincoln, Abraham, + Effect of death of; + author meets his granddaughter. +_Lion d'Or_, Author on board of. +London, Author's first visit to, + its streets in 1862; + its suburbs in 1867; + its club life in 1868. +Longley, Archbishop, + replies to author's request for books. +Lords, House of: Reporters in, + debates on Disestablishment of Irish Church. +Lowes, Mr., shorthand writer, + appointed editor of _Newcastle Journal_. +"Lumley Entail," author's novel. + +M + +Macdonell, James, journalist. +_Macmillan's Magazine_, + Author's contributions to. +Madras College, St. Andrews, Author at. +Magee, Bishop, + on Irish Church Disestablishment Bill. +Manchester, Fenian outrage at. +_Manchester Examiner_, + Author's overtures to. +_Manchester Guardian_, + Spirited management of. +Manson, Mr., editor of _Northern Daily Express_. +Marshall, Mr., proprietor of _Northern Daily Express_. +Marston Moor, + Author visits battlefield of. +Mathers, Mr., secretary of Leeds Liberal Association. +Mazzini, Giuseppe, + Visit of, to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. +McLennan, Mr. J.F. +Midlothian, + Mr. Gladstone decides to contest; + the election (1880). +Milan, Author "in pawn" at. +Milnes-Gaskell, Mr., at Thorns. +Milnes, Monckton + (_see_ Houghton, Lord). +Mohacs (Hungary) in 1878. +Morley, Mr. John, + author and; + at Leeds Household Suffrage demonstration; + and Mr. Stead. +_Morning Star_, + Author occasionally reports for, + its report of John Bright's reference to Cave of Adullam. +Mudford, Mr., of _Standard_, + as Parliamentary reporter; + Mr. Gladstone's opinion of. + +N + +Napoleon III., Death of. +Napoleon, Prince. +National Liberal Federation, + Origin of. +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1842, + Percy Street Academy; + cholera at; + its great fire in 1854; + author's West End Literary Institute; + British Association at (1863). +_Newcastle Journal_, + Author on staff of. +Nicholls, Mr., husband of Charlotte Brontė. +_North American Review_ + on author's "Charlotte Brontė,". +_Northern Daily Express_, + Author's first contribution; + description of. +Norway, Author's visit to. +Novel-writing, Author on. +Novikoff, Madame, and Mr. Stead. +Nussey, Miss, Memories of. + +O + +Oaks Pit, Explosions at. +Orsini, Felice, + at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. +Paris, Recollections of siege of, + Communist rising of 1871; + in September, 1871; + in 1877. +Parliamentary Reform Demonstration in 1866. +Parliamentary trains in 1862. +Parliament, Opening of Household Suffrage, + its debates of 1869; + possibilities of reporter in; + its dissolution in 1874; + its dissolution in 1880; + stories of its reporters in 1867, +(_see also_ Commons, House of, and Lords, House of). +Parnell, C.S., and W.E. Forster. +Payn, James, + Author's first interview with; + his laugh; + his sense of humour; + his aversion to dining out. +Payne, Howard, Grave of, at Tunis. +Pears, Mr. Edwin, + and Bulgarian atrocities of 1876. +Percy Street Academy, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. +Permissive Bill, + Licensing system and. +Peterloo, "Battle" of. +Phoenix Park murders. +Piccadilly Circus in 1862. +Piccadilly, + French Imperialists in. +Pollock, Sir Frederick. +Postance, Rev. Henry. +Potter, Mr. Tom, + at Century Club. +Press, The + (_see_ Journalism _and_ Reporters). +"Press-gang" at the Reform Club. +Preston, + Description of. +_Preston Guardian_, + Author joins staff of. +Prince Consort, + Death of. +Prince Imperial, + burial of. +Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward VII.), + in Upper Teesdale; + illness of; + thanksgiving service at St. Paul's for recovery of. +_Punch_, + London street scenery in. + +R + +Reade, Mr., Consul-General at Tunis. +Reform Club, Author elected member of, + in 1878; + "press-gang" at; + excitement upon news of Phoenix Park murders; + Mr. Chamberlain's brothers blackballed; + proposal to abolish blackballing; + Mr. Chamberlain resigns membership. +Reform demonstrations in 1866. +Reid, Alexander, brother of author. +Reid, Eleanor, daughter of author. +Reid, James, brother of author, + Death of. +Reid, John Paul, brother of author. +Reid, Mrs., author's first wife, + her marriage; + death. +Reid, Mrs. (Lady), author's second wife. +Reid, Mrs., mother of author, + love of literature; + death of. +Reid, Rev. Alexander, father of author, + his interest in public affairs. +Reid, Stuart J., brother of author. +Reid, Thomas Wemyss (Sir Wemyss), + Parentage and ancestry of; + year of birth; earliest recollections; + at St. Andrews in 1850; + first connection with printing office; + at Madras College; + has attack of brain fever; + returns home; + at Tynemouth; + at Whitley; + in peril of housebreakers; + at Dr. Collingwood Bruce's school; + youthful literary aspirations; + junior clerk at W.B. Lead office; + his first contribution to Press; + makes acquaintance with newspaper work; + learns shorthand; + founds "West End Literary Institute,"; + appointed chief reporter on _Newcastle Journal_; + experiences as reporter; + first attempt at leader-writing; + meets with accident at a Dickens reading; + first visit to London; + resigns reportership on _Newcastle Journal_; + at public executions; + joins staff of _Preston Guardian_; + his experience at a commercial dinner; + his studious habits; + newspaper experiences at Preston; + joins staff of _Leeds Mercury_; + his newspaper duties; + as a leader-writer; + his Imperialism; + reporting reminiscences; + appointed London correspondent; + his first marriage; + admitted to Reporters' Gallery; + first experience of London club life; + contributes to magazines; + his first novel, "Lumley Entail,"; + has personal encounter with Disraeli; + obtains original and authentic parliamentary news; + death of his first wife; + accepts editorship of _Leeds Mercury_; + forms good resolutions; + changes editorial system; + settles in Leeds; + visits to Fryston; + his first Continental tour; + is denounced by advanced Radicals; + on drink question; + his second marriage; + brings _Leeds Mercury_ into line with London dailies; + protests against Caucus system; + his contributions to Brontė literature; + elected member of Savile Club; + in Paris in 1877; + elected member of Reform Club; + at London clubs in 1878; + nearly poisoned at Century Club; + tours through Europe; + injures his knee; + on board _Sidon_; + travels from Constantinople by overland route; + his influence in the Leeds Liberal Caucus; + proposes candidature of Mr. Gladstone for Leeds; + sends out tickets for Mr. Gladstone's banquet at Leeds; + at Tunis; + and Mr. Stead; + defends W. E. Forster; + on novel-writing; + overlooks Carlton Club meeting; + suggested police protection for; + visits Tangier; + visits Norway; +Reporters, + Duties of newspaper; + stories of Parliamentary; + possibilities of Parliamentary. +Reservoir dam, Bursting of Bradfield. +Riddell, Mrs., novelist, Reminiscences of. +Robinson, Sir John, editor of _Daily News_. +Rosebery, Earl of, + Lord Houghton on; + and W. E. Forster. +Ross, Mr., head of _Times_ Parliamentary corps. +Royal Institution, + Author's lecture on Charlotte Brontė at. +Russell, Lord John, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. +Russell, Mr. Alexander, of _Scotsman_. +Russell, Mr. Charles, editor of _Glasgow Herald_. + +S + +St. Andrews in 1850, + its Sabbaths. +St. Cloud in 1871. +St. James's Hall, London, + John Bright at; + political meeting in 1876 at. +_St. James's Magazine_, + Author contributes to. +St. Paul's Cathedral, + Thanksgiving service for recovery of Prince of Wales in. +Sala, G. A., + Reminiscences of; + his election to Reform Club; + his encyclopaedic knowledge; + on blackballing at clubs. +Savile Club, + Author elected member of. +Schnadhorst, Mr., + Character of. +Shaw, Mr., Irish leader. +Sheffield, + Flooding of lower part of; + Mr. J. Chamberlain's Parliamentary defeat in 1874. +Shepard, Consul, at Haworth. +_Sidon_, Author on board. +Single-member constituencies, + Creation of. +Slingsby, Sir Charles, + Death of. +Sothern, E. A., + Reminiscences of. +_Standard_, The, + Mr. Gladstone's opinion of. +Stead, Mr. W. T., + accepts editorship of _Northern Echo_; + his theories on journalism; + on Eastern Question; + and Madame Novikoff; + attacks Joseph Cowen; + and author; + on staff of _Pall Mall Gazette_; + appointed editor of _Pall Mall Gazette_; + his foreign politics. +Stoddart, Mr., editor of _Glasgow Weekly Herald_. +Swinburne, Mr., + on author's "Charlotte Brontė,"; + author's abortive visit to house of. + +T + +Tangier in 1884. +Tay Bridge, + Destruction of. +Tennant, Mr., + M.P. for Leeds in 1874. +Thackeray, W. M., + at Newcastle. +Thanksgiving Service for recovery of Prince of Wales. +Thatched House Club. +Thirlwall, Bishop, + on Irish Church Bill. +Thornton, Miss Kate + (_see_ Reid, Mrs., author's first wife). +_Times_, The, + Use of its front page during siege of Paris; + on loss of ship _Captain_. +Toulmin, Mr., proprietor of _Preston Guardian_. +Tower of London, + Dynamite outrage at. +Townsend, Mr. Charles, of Bristol. +Trains, Parliamentary, in 1862. +Trench, Archbishop, + on Irish Church Bill. +Tunis in 1881. +Tynemouth about the 'forties. +Tyne, River, in 1842. + +U + +United Kingdom Alliance, + Policy of. + +V + +Venables, George, + Recollections of. +Versailles in 1871. +Victoria, Queen, and John Bright. + +W + +W----, Captain, at Tangier. +Washbourne, Dr., + and Bulgarian atrocities of 1876. +Weaving in 1850. +Wemyss, Thomas, grandfather of author. +Westbury, Lord, + on Irish Church Bill. +Westminster Hall, + Dynamite outrage at. +White, Sir William, at Bucharest. +Whitley in 1849. +Wilkes, Mr. Washington, Death of. +Wombwell, Sir George, + and Charge of Light Brigade; + his narrow escape from drowning. +Workman, English, in 1878. +Wright, Mr., an official of the Reporters' Gallery in 1867. + +Y + +Yorkshire Club, + Author at. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 +by Stuart J. Reid, ed. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF SIR W. REID *** + +This file should be named 7117-8.txt or 7117-8.zip + +Produced by Robert Connal, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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