1846.] HOLLAND. 363 forth in full size, like Minerva from Jupiter's head, and rushing with thunder into an amphitheatre of mountains, escapes through the windings of the valley. On either side of these mighty pyramids of ice, stands an enormous mountain of naked granite, and behind them rise the lofty and terrible peaks of the Vischerhorn, covered with masses of everlasting snow. There they all stand in the stillest and most awful majesty, engaged, as it were, to watch the only thing that has sound and motion, the river, which issues forth from a beautiful archway-beautiful in the form and colour of the ice-at the foot of the glacier. The illness of his son Maurice, who was one of the party, had given cause from time to time for great anxiety, and on the 4th of August, the following entry appears in the Diary: Maurice has become languid as a drooping flower; the good effects of the place are gone back; we must return without delay to England. The determination was not altogether in opposition to Lord Ashley's desires. I felt wonderfully well, and gloriously enjoyed existence, when on the Wengern Alp; I know not that I have been really elastic at any other time during this tour. They returned at once to Interlaken, and from thence the travellers proceeded to Berne, en route for Rotterdam. Aug. 19.-Rotterdam. Went to see a Dutch Fair, amused beyond all precedent; could have spent hours, had but minutes. We must, if it please God, have at some future time a tour in Holland, and a leisurely one; nothing could be more interesting and instructive. Why did we ever (God forbid that we should repeat such a folly) go to war with the Dutch? Our interests are alike; one or two trifling questions of trade may, for a while, place us in opposition, though on false grounds, but our great political interests, all that concerns our social and national positions, are the same. The passage from Rotterdam, occupying thirty-six hours, was accomplished in a dreadfully rolling sea, with an adverse wind, heavy rains, and an awful thunder-storm, but owing to a severe attack of mal de mer, Lord Ashley says: I regarded them with the indifference of a man who has more important things to think of. On the last page of the Diary there is the following note : This journal, like the three of preceding dates, re-opened for the first time (after having being written) in August, 1880. Never kept, afterwards, the journal of a tour. The re-perusal of them is best described in Cowper's words :"How soft the music of those village bells, Falling at intervals upon the ear In cadence sweet, now dying all away, And so here. What experience of life! what tenderness of feeling, what truth of heart! what depth of simplicity in these lines! In all these journals, which I bequeath to my beloved daughter Victoria. there may be seen consistency of the past with the present. May have been right, may have been wrong, but at least do not contradict myself and make the last half of my life antagonistic to the first. Great infirmity, much trace throughout of original sin, and yet, though now, on a revision, could wish, were it possible, to add much to what is gone by, see nothing to take away. Never intended for the eyes of any one but of myself and of that beloved woman now gone to her rest, they are the entries of one day after another; and everything may be said against them but the charge that they were not hearty and sincere. Victoria may find them interesting and, possibly, even profitable. Almost immediately after his return to London, Lord Ashley received two important letters, one from Bath, and the other from Oxford, inviting him to be the representative in Parliament of each of these constituencies. He briefly records the fact in his Diary, and adds : Nightmare and dreams all night. Went up, of course for my degree." * Later on he writes : Oct. 3rd.-Offers from Bath to represent that place at the next electionreplied that I wished to have some assurances and guarantees as to support and expense. Many, from the county, urge my reconsideration of Dorset; but the matter is very doubtful. The Protection party are determined to regain all that they have lost, and will, therefore, oppose my at least quiet return. prepared with any seat, nor have I, except Bath, any prospect of one. I am not Dec. 26th.-Many kind letters from Bath, still urging me to become a candidate, and engaging to bear every expense. I am not anxious to accept the offer; I have, indeed, ceased to be anxious, at least I fancy so, to enter Parlia ment again; but I must receive the deputation. I should prefer, no doubt, an honourable return to my own county, but my enemics there are bitter, and my friends are slow-every word that I read from the county confirms me in my judgment, that I ought not to place myself forward unless invited by a requisition, which, in all likelihood, I shall never have. Lord The month of October found Ireland on the brink of starvation. Ashley had maintained that every one ought, by private self-denial, to aid the legislative effort for relief, and abridge his own consumption, that "all might have a little." He never advised others to do what he was not prepared to do himself, and it is not surprising therefore to meet with these records: Oct. 7th.-Found all provisions rising in price. Gave orders that no more potatoes should be bought for the house. We must not, by competing in the market, raise the cost on the poor man. He has nothing after this to fall back upon. Dec. 12th.-Ireland is manifestly set for our punishment, the slow but just He used to say that, whenever he had a restless or disturbed night, his dreams always recurred to the "going up" for his degree at Oxford. 1846.] WITH LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 365 punishment of a ruling power that thrust upon it Popery, anarchy, and unsympathising proprietors. The nation is irreconcilable to the Saxon authority. Our late repentance, and numerous benefits, are perverted to our injury. Famine stalks through the land. We expend money for their maintenance at the rate of £127,000 a week; and the starving peasantry can save, from this effort of mercy and munificence, enough to purchase arms to a greater extent than was ever before known for the assault and overthrow of their benefactors! And yet so besotted are we, that all this is turned into an additional argument for the endowment of the Irish priesthood! December 29th.-Ireland is terrible, terrible, terrible. And the year 1847 will be worse than 1846. Counsel has perished from among us. We are at our wit's end. It is a just retribution for our sins towards that country. "Be sure your sin will find you out." A few extracts from the Diary, selected from many, will tell, in the briefest way, what were the subjects pressing upon the thoughts of Lord Ashley towards the end of this year of ceaseless activity :— Sept. 1st.-A Pope called Pius IX. has mounted the Roman throne. He is "like the Son of Nimshi," he "driveth furiously." He will soon be the most popular, as he seems to be the most liberal, man of his day. Shouts attend him wherever he goes. His plans for "reform" are more rapid and more extensive than the capacity, at the moment, of the people to receive them! To what will all this grow? Most assuredly these political advances cannot co-exist with the maintenance of ecclesiastical monarchy. Sept. 16th.-The "Evangelical Alliance" is, like the Anti-Corn-Law League, a "great fact." It does not appear likely, however, to have practical results in the same proportion-its chief result, for the present, must be that such a meeting could have been collected and conducted on such principles and in such a manner. Oct 25th.-Dined last night with Kingscote, to consider plan for larger admis. sion of laity to services in the Church. To be submitted to the Bishop of London. Our consultation seemed to prosper, and all present were of one mind. It is a great undertaking, and involves, so far as our human eyes can see, the permanency and efficiency of the Church of England. Two days later Lord Ashley wrote to Lord John Russell to request an interview, in order that he might talk to him on the state of the Church, and on the 29th he called on him by appointment. The interview was a hurried one, but the conversation then commenced was resumed at a further interview on the 31st. Oct. 31st.-I have, thank God, done my duty; I have "testified" to this Prime Minister, as I did to the last; the fruit from both may be about equal; but I prefer Russell as a man to Sir R. Peel. Nov. 14th.-Yesterday to Broadwall to mect Committee on Ragged Schoolestablished a class of industry for one evening in the week: tailoring and shoemaking for the boys, needlework for the girls-have undertaken to pay the expense; am in hopes of making nearly sufficient by one article in the Quarterly Review on 66 Ragged Schools." Macaulay argues, and well, that the term "superficial" is relative, and can seldom be applied accurately. That which is profound in one day becomes shallow in another; the utmost depths of Roger Bacon would be paddling-pools for the schoolboys of our day. This is not the objection to be raised against education altogether, or even the education of the present era. My objection is that all are taught alike, whatever their stations, hopes, views, and necessitiesthere is little practical, little of use for future application, and boys are illeducated, not because their knowledge is acquired by rote and lies mainly on the surface, but because they are lifted above their political and social station, filled with personal conceits, and inflated with notions that they are fit to reform the world, and then govern it. Dec. 31st.-Croesus would be pauperised if he were to meet half the demands that are made upon me every month! Alas, I must refuse the largest proportion. and give very sparingly to the remainder. I say alas," because the cases are oftentimes meritorious, and I shall always be misrepresented, and frequently misunderstood. Many people choose to believe that I am rich, and ask accordingly; yet more than half of my income is borrowed, to be repaid at some future day, with heavy accumulations of interest; eight children, the two eldest costing me more than £200 a year each; a ninth coming, and an allowance from my father of only £100 annually more than I had as a Bachelor at Oxford! Are these sources of wealth? CHAPTER XV. 1847-1850. THE TEN HOURS BILL. THE great struggle for the Ten Hours Bill was drawing near its end, and. by the irony of fate, the victory was to be achieved while Lord Ashley was out of Parliament. The winter of 1846-7 had seen him in Lancashire, attending meetings in every large town, and adopting all possible means to support the efforts which Mr. Fielden was to resume in Parliament in the ensuing Session. Everywhere Lord Ashley met with an enthusiastic reception. He reminded his hearers that his opponents used to taunt him about the Corn Laws, and argue that there lay the obstacle which prevented the passing of his Ten Hours Bill. 'With respect to myself," he said, at a public meeting at Manchester, "I know the arguments I used to encounter while the Corn Law was yet in force-how often it was said, 'You are the cause of the long-time vexation; it is you who are to blame, because, for your own exclusive interest, you keep up the price of bread, and prevent us from entering into competition with foreign manufacturers.' I recollect perfectly well one of your present members saying, 'If I vote for the noble lord on the Ten Hours Bill, will he follow me into the lobby for a division on a motion for the repeal of the Corn Laws?'" He went on to say that, now he had voted for repeal, he asked for concession in return. The object of Lord Ashley on all occasions, was to encourage and stimulate the friends of the movement to rally round Mr. Fielden with the same enthusiasm with which they had rallied round him. Many, out of friendship for himself, had said, "We may as well relax our efforts, and wait until Lord Ashley is again in Parliament," not realising that he was anxious, not for his own honour, but that the measure might be launched on the crest of the popular wave. It must not be supposed that he alone was bearing the whole brunt of the battle. In various parts of the country Mr. Oastler and others were vigorously prosecuting similar labours, while a weekly periodical, The Ten Hours Advocate, published by Mr. Philip Grant, an able and zealous colleague, under the advice and guidance of Lord Ashley, doing good service to the was, On the 26th of January, Mr. Fielden moved for leave to bring in the Ten Hours Bill; the motion was seconded by Mr. Ferrand, and leave was given. On the second reading (Feb. 10) the subject was discussed for several hours, * Alfred's "History of the Factory Movement," p. 248. |