English radical leaders

Preface

HE preparation of this little volume has been a pleasant task. It has afforded an opportunity to delineate not only some of the most influential of Hying Englishmen, but also the popular agitations and reforms through which their influence has been exerted. For this purpose it has been necessary to carry the reader into a domain little known to Americans, even to those Americans who have personally visited the mother country. English governing influences are in a great measure social, rather than political ; and American travellers usually see little of the life of the English people, and often know less than they see. Bearing in mind this fact, I have tried in each case to link the man and his work together, pointing out not merely the personal qualities of

PREFACE.

the individual, but his importance as the representative of some principle or popular movement.

Few of those described in this volume are distinguished for social position, wealth, or literary culture • but they all have sincerity, earnestness, experience and the power to make their influence felt among the people. It has seemed to me — an Englishman born and reared, an American by choice, service, and loyal belief in the republic,— that the story of these lives was worth telling, if only to illustrate the manner in which democratic principles are gradually penetrating and re-moulding the institutions of Great Britain.

RICHARD J. HINTON;

Part I. The Independent Members

Professor Fawcett.

BLIND scholar is not so unusual a phenomenon in the history of intellect and culture as to excite marked attention, but a blind statesman or successful politician is so uncommon a character as to arouse extraordinary interest. In the case of Professor Fawcett there is ample justification for this feeling. In spite of all the drawbacks which his infirmity creates, there are not a half a dozen public men in Great Britain more likely than the member for Hackney to become, at a day not very distant, the Prime Minister of that great empire. While the Professor cannot be, in any way, considered a Republican, except in the same sense as are all advanced Liberals in England, yet were it possible to now organize a Republic there, Professor Fawcett's name would be among the foremost of those advanced for the executive leadership thereof. He is esteemed so universally a man of such wisdom and equitable intention, as to have thoroughly won public confidence. A friendly writer says : —

"The visitor to the House of Commons, waiting at the door of the Strangers' Gallery, and watching the members of Parliament as they file in by the main entrance, will no doubt have his eye particularly arrested by a tall, fairhaired young man, evidently blind, led up to the door by a youthful, petite lady with sparkling eyes and blooming cheeks. She will reluctantly leave him at the door. The British Constitution would be quite upset were a woman to invade the floor of the House of Commons after the chaplain's incantation has been heard, even so far as to conduct her blind husband to his seat, so she has to consign him to a youth who stands waiting to lead the blind member to his place. As she turns away, many a friendly face will smile, and many a pleasant word attend her as she trips lightly up the stairway leading to the Ladies' Cage, near the roof of the House. The whispers pass around, ' One day, perhaps not far off, she will take her seat beside her husband and remain there.' And certain it is that when ladies have the suffrage, the first female member of Parliament will be the lady of whom I write — Mrs. Fawcett. Not one-half of the members of that body are so competent as she to think deeply and speak finely on matters of public policy, while not the daintiest live doll moving about London drawing-rooms surpasses her in care of her household, her husband, and her child. The two whom I have mentioned are as well-known figures as any who approach the sacred precincts of the legislature. The policemen bow low as they pass ; the crowd in the lobby make a path ; the door-keeper, Mr. White, the most amiable Cerberus who ever guarded an entrance, utters his friendly welcome. The strangers ask ' Who is that?' and a

PROFESSOR FAWCETT. I 3

dozen by-standers respond, ' Professor Fawcett.' No one can look upon him but he will see on his face the characters of courage, frankness, and intelligence. He is six feet two inches in height, very blonde, his light hair and complexion and his smooth beardless face giving him something of the air of a boy. His features are at once strongly marked and regular. He narrowly escaped being handsome, and his expression is very winning. His countenance is habitually serene, and no cloud or frown ever passes over it. His smile is gentle and winning. It is probable that no blind man has ever before been able to enter upon so important a political career as Professor Fawcett, who, yet under forty years of age, is the most influential of the independent Liberals in Parliament. From the moment that he took his seat in that body he has been able — and this is unusual — to command the close attention of the House. He has a clear fine voice, speaks with the utmost fluency, has none of the university intonation, and none of the hesitation or uneasy attitudes of the average Parliamentary speaker. He scorns all subterfuges, speaks honestly his whole mind, and comes to the point. At times he is eloquent, and he is always interesting. He is known to be a man of convictions. The usual English political theory that you need not prove a thing right in principle if you can show that it for the time works without disaster, is one which Professor Fawcett ignores. He defends the right against the wrong, with little respect to consequences." *

Naturally such a character has had to encounter the opposition of the ordinary English Philistine in politics.

* Moncure D. Conway, in Harper's Monthly, February, 1875.

The author of " Men and Manner in Parliament," declares that the House of Commons " will not brook a lecture or advice from a member whose face and figure are not so familiar that they seem to have become as much a portion of the chamber as the clock over the gangway or the canopy over the Speaker's chair." #

After referring to the election of Mr. Fawcett, in 1865, to represent Brighton, the same author adds that " at a period when the nation seemed to be awakening to the desirability of having culture as well as cotton represented in Parliament, Mr. Fawcett, like John Stuart Mill, excited in the public mind a lively expectation of great things. He strove valiantly to justify this expectation by continually pronouncing an opinion upon all questions that cropped up." This course tired the House, and besides, " Mr. Fawcett labored under the additional disadvantage of new membership."

" But," continues this lively writer, " he is not a man who may be smothered in the folds of a wet blanket. I have seen him stand for fifteen minutes by the clock over the bar endeavoring to finish a sentence which the House protested it would not hear. It happened during the debate on the Education Bill. The Ministry had coalesced with the Conservatives in the enterprise of passing a clause which was as wormwood and gall to hon. members below the gangway. Mr. Fawcett was declaiming in a strain of fervid eloquence against the spirit which, he said, had unaccountably taken possession of the Liberal Ministry. Mr. Lowe, in his customary trenchant style, had, earlier in

* " Men and Manner in Parliament," pp. 180, 181.

the debate, protested against the unyielding hostility of the Irreconcilables, likening them to a herd of cattle which, having given to them a broad pasture whereon to browse, discovered in one corner a bed of nettles, and, forgetting the sweet pasture to be found elsewhere, stood bellowing their discontent around this little patch. 'The right hon. gentleman has likened us to a herd of cattle,' said Mr. Fawcett. ' Let me remind him and the Ministry, of which he is a distinguished member, of the fate that befel another herd into which evil spirits had entered, and which, running violently down a steep place into the sea, — ' At this moment the House caught the bold allusion, and broke into a roar of laughter, cheers, and cries of ' Divide ! ' Mr. Fawcett waited patiently till the storm appeared to have subsided, and then speaking in exactly the same tone, began again : ' Which, running violently down a steep place — ' Once more the roar drowned the speaker's voice, and Mr. Fawcett stopped, beginning again at exactly the same word when a lull in the storm seemed to offer an opportunity, being once more overpowered, only to start afresh when an opening presented itself. The contest raged for a quarter of an hour, but in the end Mr. Fawcett triumphed, and continuing at the word he had originally returned to, proceeded, 'Which, running violently down a steep place into the sea, perished in the waters.' " *

Mr. Fawcett is declared to be, "for strength of character, political integrity, inflexibility of purpose, and power in debate," the " model independent member of the House

* " Men and Manner in Parliament," pp. 141-5.

of Cofnmons," yet, it is acknowledged, that having become a power there, he has conducted himself with " rare moderation and dignity." In 1873, he compelled the Gladstone Ministry, after some ungracious treatment, to accept as their own, a bill he had introduced relative to Irish University Education. His moderate course in that moment of triumph gave him a marked popularity in the House, which he has retained and enlarged.

At a subsequent debate this was made manifest " in a remarkable manner," when the Professor, having separated himself from those who supported the policy of which Mr. George Dixon, Member for Birmingham and President of the " National Education League," is regarded as the Parliamentary leader, declared for the Government measure. Opinion ran high for and against the bill, and Mr. Forster's policy was especially and severely condemned by the Non-conformists' votes, headed by Mr. Miall, who declared that the Liberal Ministry had " brought them through the Valley of Humiliation," and who, with Mr. Dixon and his associates, almost regarded Professor Fawcett's action as a betrayal of public faith. The issue involved was as to the continuance of support, by the Government, of denominational schools — the radical opposition wanting to allow only voluntary religious schools, and secular instruction only in those of a public character.

It has been said of this event that occasions are rare in Parliamentary history when a crowded House has been so absolutely swayed by the eloquence of a private member as it was on the night when Mr. Fawcett made clear his intentions in this matter. Mr. Bright has frequently had great oratorical triumphs, speaking from the bench behind that at which the sightless Professor stood. But the applause which Mr. Bright's eloquence was accustomed to call forth came chiefly from one side of the House, whereas Mr. Fawcett drew alternately and at will enthusiastic cheers alike from the Conservative as from the Liberal ranks. Mr. Gladstone himself was quite excited, leaning forward with hands clasped over his knees, watching the words as they fell from the speaker's lips, while Mr. Forster lost no time in declaring that " amid the numerous very powerful speeches delivered by the hon, member for Brighton, this assuredly was the most moving." *

Of his manner of speech, a critic, not so partial as Mr. Conway, says that the Professor " suffers much as a speaker from a habit of pitching his magnificent voice at too level a monotony of height and in ' mouthing ' his words when he desires to be specially emphatic. His speeches," he continues, " are rather professorial exercitations than statesman-like orations." It is added, with a dry air 'of witty patronage, that after having overcome the Puritan in him, that " there are no bounds to the possible heights he might reach in the state if his acceptance of office were conceivable."

Mr. Conway believes that Professor Fawcett's " mind has the instinct of leadership ; it is able to bring out every thought in a circle of minds. He has also a rare humor, enriched by imagination, and has a large repertoire of good stories with which to enliven his altogether extraordinary conversation. He must be regarded," continued his ad-

* " Men and Manner in Parliament," p. 147. 2 miring friend, " as a type of ' the coming Liberal ' as dis tinguished from the democrat of that familiar description which approaches demagogueism. All men have faith in the fundamental honesty of the masses. The most rigid Tory, walking in a lonely place after midnight, may feel a qualm of apprehension if he discern a single individual approaching ; but if there are a dozen he will feel safe. He knows that security, so far as good intent is concerned, is with the many. That feeling is the basis of democracy." And it is this idea and feeling that Mr. Fawcett seeks to embody in his political life. In some respects, says Mr. Conway, he " is the most radical man in Parliament, yet no man is less servile to the many, none more normally in the minority."

" Henry Fawcett belongs to a county family of the Midland Counties, of ancient descent and high character. Born in 1835, he is now forty years of age, and his superb physique promises as many more years of useful life. Fortunately the accident by which he was deprived of sight, did not occur until he had graduated at Cambridge, which University he entered as a scholar of Trinity Hall. His graduation, with the highest mathematical honors, occured in 1856. He then studied law and was admitted as a bencher of the Middle Temple in 1862. But blindness has necessarily prevented him from pursuing his profession. That misfortune was the result of an accidental discharge of his father's gun, soon after the son's graduation, while both were out shooting. Part of the charge entered the young man's face, putting out both eyes, but leaving him otherwise undisfigured." Mr. Conway says : " The father who had looked forward to a distinguished career for his son, was almost inconsolable, and it was for a time feared he would not survive the event I have heard from Professor Fawcett's intimate friends at Cambridge touching accounts of how the blind boy sat beside the father, who felt the affliction more keenly than himself, assuring him that the accident should make no difference whatever in the career to which they both had looked forward. ' The accident,' he would say, * did not happen until I had received at the University the basis of my education, and fortunately we have the means to secure aid from the eyes of others for practical needs. Rejoice with me that my health is unimpaired, my purpose still strong, and my spirit as cheerful as ever.' He has lived to make good the hope he thus held out to his father."

Henry Fawcett turned his attention to the study of Economic Science, and to literary pursuits in connection therewith. As a writer on these topics, he ranks with Thorold Rogers, and for ability and vigor stands but a step below Prof. Cairns. As a teacher, his influence is great and his success remarkable. He soon became a Fellow of his College and then Professor of Political Economy in the University, a position he still holds. The Manual of Political Economy which he has published has become the standard work of his school. Other volumes on the Agricultural Laborer Question, Pauperism, and kindred topics, prove his thorough mastery of the massive materials, which go to make up what Thomas Carlyle has designated as the "dismal science." At Cambridge the Fawcetts are great favorites, and the Professor's rooms are crowded when the duties of his position and the adjournments of Parliament bring him the opportunity to pursue the congenial work of his Professorship. His lecture-room is always crowded.

Though Professor Fawcett is classed among the " irreconcilables," and has always assumed the position of an " Independent Member," it must not be supposed_that his Radicalism is necessarily of the aggressive, " root and branch " order, or has in it any of the iconoclast spirit. It is based on moral order and convictions ; does not seek to pull down, but conserving the good, aims to re-create his country without disorder or dangerous excitement. A disciple of the strictest school of Economists, he does not support all the measures of an ameliorative character which are pressed on the British Parliament. Mr. Fawcett has several times opposed such propositions, — the most notable case being that of the Factory Health Act of 1874, by which the hours of labor for women and children were still further restricted. On this subject and that of pauperism, Mr. Fawcett (whose economic views on population, etc., are largely tinged with Malthusian ideas) is not in accord with the active labor agitators and their friends, in and out of Parliament. Yet his frankness and honesty have saved his popularity with the masses, though there is a bitter hostility to the cold and theoretical way in which, it is charged, he has dealt with this question. Mr. Conway, in the sketch from which so much has been quoted, pithily states the sentimental side of the economic argument which the member for Hackney gave inside the House, and his wife, Mrs. Fawcett, talked outside. "It is not often," he says, " that one has to charge large masses of the working classes with a deliberate scheme of injustice or oppression. But I fear that under the terrible struggle for existence in this country, the workingmen have at length begun to show signs that their instincts have become impaired. From them appears to have proceeded a demand for a measure which, under the pretence of a desire to protect women and children from overwork by restricting the hours per day in which they can labor, can only result in rendering women unable to compete with men even in the few employments now open to them, and so crippling that sex still further in the struggle for life. The excess in the numbers of women over men in Great Britain is nearing a million."

It is, Mr. Conway writes, speaking in review of Professor Fawcett's position, certain that the pressure in the market for manual labor (women being denied access to the customary professions and many lucrative employments) "has induced the workingmen to take this mean way of handicapping women in the competition, disabling them from selling their time on the same terms as man sells his."

The argument of Professor Fawcett against the measure also rested on another ground than that quoted from Mr. Conway's sketch. That was undoubtedly the argument of his brilliant wife, who is one of the foremost leaders in the women's suffrage agitation, and is also a capable writer on Political Economy. In the House, the Member for Hackney Urged that the measure would largely decrease both production and wages.

" Manufacturers," he said, " showed an increasing tendency to establish concerns on the continent, where they were free from such restrictions as were imposed in this country. In Switzerland and Germany legislative restrictions were confined to children, and our working men could not too carefully remember that capital was year by year emigrating to other lands.

" The Home Secretary had based this legislation on the ground that women were not free agents. If the women of Yorkshire were not free agents, how could it be said that the women of Dorsetshire and Cambridgeshire were so ? If women had to wade up to their middle in agricultural work, could they be called free agents ? Let this kind of legislation be carried out with regard to factories, and the women of London must be included in it, and Parliament must decide at what hour domestic servants should retire to rest. The Home Secretary said women were forced to work too long through the pressure of want, or of their employers. If they accepted the first alternative it resulted that want was worse than work ; if they accepted the second the conclusion was that employers were tyrannical. He ventured to say that this legislation, when it was understood, would be hurled back with contempt, and working men would tell the house that it had no right to accuse them of forcing their wives and daughters to work against their will."

The Trades Unions' Organs and their representatives and friends in the House were strongly in opposition to the Professor. Mr. Mundella, a large employer of female labor, declared it would not derange production, reduce wages, or lessen profits, while it was essential to the physical and moral well-being of the population to protect those unable to protect themselves. Mr Joseph Owen, member for Newcastle, Alderman Carter, member for Leeds, Mr. Samuel Morley, who sits for Bristol, Messrs. Stanhope, Baxter, Tennant and other large employers of labor, supported the bill. Mr.

Joseph Chamberlain recently headed a deputation to the Home Secretary, Mr. Cross, on this subject and emphatically represented the same views. Of course the members who were elected as the representatives of working men, Messrs. Macdonald and Burt, were strong in opposition to the economic view urged by Mr. Fawcett, and quite bitter in replying to the charges of selfish motives applied to their clients — the Trades Unions. This debate indicates an important fact in the political policy and purposes by and for which Mr. Fawcett is governed and acts. It partially places him among the " administrative Nihilists," as Prof. Huxley has described the philosophy of which Herbert Spencer in theoretical polity, and " the Manchester School" in practical politics, are the representatives.

In other matters Mr. Fawcett's position is in the vanguard. He has supported, at considerable risk of popularity among his present constituents, the opening on the Sabbath of the public museums, picture galleries, &c, — a subject greatly agitated in England. He is persistent and consistent in advocating the redressing of political, economic and educational wrongs that bear hard on the agricultural population — tenant farmers and laborers alike. His thorough knowledge of law and history comes in good stead, when bills for the enclosure of commons, or other measures of land monopoly are on the docket. The extension of the suffrage to the counties meet his cordial support. This measure, a compulsory Tenant Rights act, and one providing for laborers' allotments and holdings in the Crown and common lands of Great Britain, are propositions, with one for better educational opportunities, which Professor Fawcett fully sustains, and which, if ever carried and put into practical effect, will mark a wide sweep of ameliorative and constructive radicalism. In a speech to his constituents at Hackney, Mr. Fawcett thus pertinently expressed his opinion on the enfranchisment of the laborer :

" When a population for centuries had been sunk in a position of dependence, there was no chance of improving their condition unless one could inspire in them the sentiments of self-respect and self-reliance. In order to do this it was necessary to make them see that they were citizens in a free state, not serfs of the soil, nor the clients of powerful patrons."

There is one other great question in England, in which the statesman-like grasp of the blind member must be acknowledged. His position on the disestablishment and disendowment of the Established Church illustrates the many-sidedness of his judgment. In his speech at Hackney at the General Election, accepting the Liberal nomination, Mr. Fawcett gave free expression to the general course he should pursue on the leading issues of English politics. Among these, of course, was that of the Church. The Examiner, the literary representative of radical opinion and criticism, said that Mr. F'awcett gave utterance to some " peculiarly wise words" on this question. Summarizing and .quoting his language, it writes : — •

" Nothing in English politics, he declared, was more remarkable than the new way in which most people now look at the connection between the Church and the State. ' Twelve months ago, Disestablishment was spoken of as the distant dream of a few enthusiastic fanatics ; but now even moderate politicians speak of it as a change certain to come, and the only question is by whom and in what form it should be done.' To all men who see how the currents of the age are running it has long been clear that Disestablishment is not only inevitable, but near. Mr. Fawcett anticipates that Mr. Disraeli will do unto the Church as he did unto the Ten-pound franchise. We are happy to record the prediction that the Conservative chief, who, above all things, wishes to be considered an extraordinary man, will end his career by earning the epitaph — He was a Tory Minister, who enfranchised the Democracy and disestablished the Church."

" Mr. Fawcett fears, indeed, that the day of Disestablishment may come too soon ; and his words of warning on that subject were by far the most important part of his speech. There must, of course, be Disendowment as well as Disestablishment, and the appropriation of the funds will be incomparably the more important process of the two. Now, Mr. Fawcett gives clear warning that, much as he would like to see the Church separated from the State, he would not vote for such a change if funds were to be left to it in the same lavish way as they were left to the Irish Church."

After referring to the extent of these funds, and especially the manner in which, by the cessation of the tithe rent charge the ecclesiatical revenues will all fall into the landowner's hand, the Examiner says, " Some members, it is true, had too much common sense to let so preposterous a scheme of spoliation be sanctioned without offering an emphatic protest ; and by far the most energetic protest came from Mr. Fawcett himself."

In concluding its comments, the Examiner says : — The

English Church is immensely richer than the Irish was in

what were called 'private endowments,' and it may be left

in possession of perhaps ninety millions of money, if the disendowment should be effected in accordance with the existing precedent. Now, it would be positive madness to arm any body of clergy with ninety millions. It would be hardly less insane than to arm garroters with Martini-Henry rifles and disband the police. A body of men who think that they are priests, that they can work invisible miracles* that they are armed with infallible truth, and that all their foes must be the servants of the devil, may be nice amiable gentlemen so long they are held down by the impartial scepticism of the State ; but they become dangerous indeed if the State stuffs their pockets with money, and leaves them free to do what they like. Hence Mr. Fawcett does quite right to warn us that we must prepare a scheme of Disendowment very different from that which was applied to the Irish Church. The work will be so difficult, the prize at stake is so vast, and the day for action may be so near, that the Radical party cannot too soon begin to prepare such a scheme of Disendowment as will make it safe to disestablish the Church."

The future political career of Professor Henry Fawcett is well indicated by the road he has so far travelled. He will be found radical in all measures that look to the improvement of the masses, while at the same time he will be conservative in opposing what may be regarded as personal politics. Able, wise and disinterested as he is, Great Britain is fortunate in the presence of such a public man.

Professor Fawcett is the second son of William Fawcett, Esq., of Longford, Wiltshire, and of Mary, daughter of William Cooper, Esq., of Salisbury. He was born in 1833, and married, in 1867, Millicent, daughter of N. Garrett, Esq., by whom he has several children. He has published, jointly with Mrs. Fawcett, a volume of essays.

II

Sir Charles W. Dilke.

REAT BRITAIN received, socially and politically speaking, a decided sensation, three years since. A young, wealthy, cultivated and titled gentleman, — one whose father had been the companion of princes, and whose name is linked with the fairest aspects of later English history — rose in the House of Commons and delivered a carefully prepared, moderately-toned speech, very level and direct in its argument, and aimed at the extravagant cost of the Royal Establishment. The act was a daring one, and it raised a howl of anger and indignation. No other word expresses the feeling which was aroused among that portion of the English people to whom the newspapers chiefly cater, and who are generally meant, when the "British Public " is referred to in ponderous terms.

What made this passion so ungovernable, was the fact that the radical baronet, seeing the antagonism which his motion to enquire into the " Civil List " expenditures was sure to arouse, had stepped from St. Stephen's and appealed to the vox populi in advance. The motion, was entered in 187 1; the speech in support was made at the session of 1872. Mr. Gladstone had gone out of his way, in the speech annually made by or for the Prime Minister, at the Lord Mayor's banquet in London, to criticise Sir Charles W. Dilke's proposed action. The latter responded by canvassing the country. A radical conference was held at Birmingham, at which Dilke, Bradlaugh, Taylor and others were present. Three resolutions or declarations were adopted: 1st, Opposition to Hereditary Legislators and to a second chamber : 2d, That the people are the final authority, and that some means must be speedily devised to make that effective : 3d, Opposition to the Bishops as legislators. Sir Charles Dilke held meetings at Birmingham, Bolton, Bristol, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, and other large cities. At nearly all of them he was met by organized mobs. The supporters of his views and the authorities, — though these last were often lukewarm, and, in a few instances, openly indifferent to the principle of Free Speech — were always strong enough to protect the baronet. At a meeting held December 7, 187 1, at Bolton, while Dilke was speaking, a concerted and murderous assault was made, and William Schofield, a peaceful working-man, was killed.