^ '-^»_ •'..^ "p:,^ ^TiijoNvsoi^ '^/^aiAiNn-Jwv >&AbViign# >&a; ^ CO ^WkmOjf^ -^llIBRARYQ^ ^ %0JI1V3J0'^ #C '3 ^ C9 SO > ^OF-CAIIFO/?^ ^^WEl)NIVER%. •-JO'S ^« ^^AHvaaii^' o uu 3 -^HIBRARYQc C3 S^ .^WEUNIVERS/A %1]3NVS01^ ^lOS-ANCElfx^ 3> .= > so %aMiNa-3W^ ^OFCAIIFO^. &A«Vlian-^^ ^ ^^t-lIBRARYac^ so .^WE•UNIVERy/A ^..vlOSANCElfJV ;3WV CO so > -< ^OFCAIIFO/?^ .^:OFCAllF0ff^ UJ y< AWF-UNIVER5'/, lij ' %, NuaiS^ ^9 ^'(?AllVHani'^ '^TiiaoNYSOl^ ^.mcAv';' %a]AiNn-3VkV ,5ME-UNIVER.r/>, .vin'^ANCElfj> %M i3 )J0^' ^o^HIBRARYQa 1 \r^ % \oi\miSs^ >- A\uyNivtK5'/A l^^ (C ^TilJDNVSOl^ _ l| %a3AINn-3WV^ ^OFCAUFOi?^ ^^^Anvaani^ ^OF'- .^ ^HIBRAr -5^llIBRARYQ<^ %jnvojo^ ^5i\EUNIVER% ^lOSANCElfx^ .4:OFCAtlF0% ,^.OFCA1IFO% aWEUNIVERJ//) ^. ht i^"5b»- ^ A ^■T^tl .< ■^**5" V^ ^/lAAyv\AAyi.^\..^.~^ THE WORTHIES OF CUMBERLAND. , THE R ICH T no NO UK ABLE Sir J. R. G. GRAHAM, Bart. of Nethei'by. BY HENRY LONSDALE, M.D. AUTHOR OF THE I.IVES OF WATSON, J. C. CURWEN, ETC. 0. £. /^. LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. 1868. edinburgh : printed by ballantyne and company, Paul's work. V'"2^ TO THE HONBLE- CHARLES W. G. HOWARD, M.P. FOR EAST CUMBERLAND. Dear Mr Howard, — I am much gratified, on public as well as personal grounds, to have your good historic name on the dedicatory page of this volume. Any tribute of respect offered you by a single member of your constituency conveys but a faint expression of the universal regard entertained for yourself and family in Cumberland. Placing a high value on your amiable friendship — a friendship happily free of all political considera- tions — I am glad to have this opportunity of thank- ing you very heartily for many kind courtesies and much pleasant intercourse. I am, Dear Mr HOWARD, Yours most faithfully, Henry Lonsdale. Rose Hilt., Carlisle, Sept. 29, 1868. PREFACE. jS the writer has Hved the greater part of his hfc within sight of " Netherby Woods," and been on terms of confidence with several of Sir James Graham's friends and asso- ciates in Cumberland and in Parliament, he has en- joyed favourable opportunities of studying the history of the subject of this memoir. Whilst preparing the biographies of J. C. Curwen, William Blamire, and other men and v/omen meant for the series of " Cum- berland Worthies," the author has become cognizant of numerous private circumstances bearing upon Sir James, both socially and politically. Many dear and estimable friends — the Blamires, Mr Matthews, and others, whose conversation was so instructive, and whose judgment on the men and customs of a by- gone period was so precious to the writer — repose far beyond his grateful acknowledgments ; other sources of private information, though occasionally indicated in this volume, could not always be isolated from the author's own dicta collectanea. vi Preface. The pages of Hansard and other public registers give all that is valuable of the parliamentary utter- ances of statesmen ; they do not, however, reveal, what is quite as desirable for the illustration of character, the springs of action, the motives, the home and other influences affecting a man's history. Sir James Graham was remarkable both as a parlia- mentary leader and minister of the Crown ; his politi- cal changes, construed by his enemies into a moral obliquity, make his life not only difficult to analyse and portray, but render it as much a psychological study as a political enigma. Mr Torrens has very ably filled two large volumes with " The Life and TimiCS of Sir James Graham." His account of " the times" has, however, added so much bulk to " the life," that probably only an earnest few have carefully perused his history. The estimate formed by Mr Torrens of Sir James's character seems guarded, appreciative, and just. In matters local, however, Mr Torrens has not been so well in- formed. In the following pages the writer has endeavoured to give a fair abstract of Sir James Graham's public life, as well as his Cumberland affinities — devoting as large space to his speeches and opinions as the limits of the volume would permit. The local details will, it is hoped, enable the Cumbrians of the present day to sec their representative chief as he appeared at Preface. vii home on his Border lands, or doing "yeoman's service" in the Court of Quarter Sessions, and at agricultural meetings. The portrait given on the frontispiece is copied by permission from Mr Mayall's excellent photo- graph of Sir James about his sixtieth year. As Sir Robert Peel and Lord Stanley, the present Earl of Derby, were close allies of Graham's, it has been deemed advisable to give, in the body of the work, the late Mr Doyle's clever group of the three great Conservative leaders as they appeared as a " Corps of Observation " in 1834. It will be a pleasure to the writer if his narrative should tend to soften some of the asperities of feeling exhibited at one time towards Sir James Graham, or to lighten some of the darker portions of his chequered political history. The writer offers his best thanks to Mr Thomas Rookc, of Gretton, for the letters addressed to his brother John Rooke by Sir James Graham ; and also to the Messrs Steel, the obliging proprietors of the Carlisle JoTirnal, for giving him read}' access to their file of newspapers. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE GRIMES, GRAMES, OR GRAHAMS OF THE BORDERS. Moss-troopers — "Jock o' the Bright Sword" — Lord William (" Belted Will") Howard— Birth of J. R. G. Graham, CHAPTER H. FROM liOYHGOD TO PARI.IAMKM . School — Oxford— The Voiuig Diplomat — M.P. for Hull and St Ives — Marriage, ....... CHAPTER HI. The condition of affairs at Netherby, 1821-24- — A sleepy Land- lord and slothful Tenantry — Hybrid Farmers and Smug- glers — The young Laird effects great Reforms — Draining, Stock, Shows, 29 CHAPTER IV. Old Sir James a Tory — His Son a Whig-Radical — Matthews and Rooke — Netherby wanting in Hosjjitality— Political Studies and Friends—" Little Sir James" dies, 1824 — ■ " The Sir James" inherits Netherby- /ir Cents—'' Corn and Currency, ' ...... . . 42 Contents. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER XI. FROM 1S38 TO 1844. Tory Dinner at Carlisle to Graham (1S3S)— His Speech — Corn Laws — Prince Albert — Peel's Defence of Graham — On- PAGE Carlisle Election and Riots, 1826 — Mayor Hodgson to blame — A Knight of the Shire — Scotch Notes — A Cattle-show Speech — His Personality, Character, Dress, and Habits, . 56 CHAPTER VI. Sir James the great County Reformer — The System that worked so well for the Clerk of the Peace and the Vagrants ! — Gross Official Impertinence — Financial Boards needed, . 75 CHAPTER VII. Doings in Parliament — The Bank Act — Birds of Prey — Dalston Dinner — First Lord of the Admiralty — Irish Personalities — Naval Estimates — Naval Reforms, .... 89 CHAPTER VIIL Sir James's Political Creed — Free Press — Cumberland Election —Reform Bill — The Admiralty Remodelled — Corn Laws — Reform of Exchequer — Resigns Office under Earl Grey, . 105 CHAPTER IX. FROM 1834 TO 1837. His Secession canvassed — Sir R. Peel's offer — East Cumberland Election of 1835 — His Defence and Policy — The " Derby Dilly" — Irish Church again — Unpopular and chagrined, . 121 CHAPTER X. THE MERIDIAN AND THE TALL — THE ELECTION OF 1837, I38 Contents. xi PAGE slanglit on the Whigs — Home Secretaryship — Scotch Kirk • — Factory Schools — Monster Meetings in Ireland — Trial of O'Connell — Too hard Work — " Dissenters' Chapel Bill," i6i CHAPTER Xn. LETTER OPENING IN 1 844, 1 82 CHAPTER XHI. * 1845- 1 S46. Poor Law — Fiscal Ref(jrms — Maynooth — Medical and other Bills — Potato Blight and Famine — Corn Laws no longer tenable — Graham's Speech — Personalities with Lord John Russell— Sir R. Peel's high Tribute- Peel and Graham as Colleagues, 203 CHAPTER XIV. 1847-1S51. Governor-Generalship of India— On Committees— Sir R. Peel's Death — Cattle-show Dinner at Carlisle— Graham highly popular — "Papal Aggression" — Noble Appeal to the Com- mons against Protection— Change of Ministry— The Peel- ites hold the Balance — Agriculture in Cumberland, . . 224 CHAPTER XV. 1852-1857. Carlisle Election, 1852— The Wanderer returns— The Admi- ralty—Election of 1853— East India Charter— Crimean War— Admiral Napier's Personalities- Sevastopol Inquiry —Graham's Resignation and Speech, .... 239 xii Contents. PAGE CHAPTER XVI. FROM 1S55 TO 1858. Royal Agricultural Society — Silloih — Democratic and Anti- Palmerston — Evangelical Carlisle disturbed — "Blue" in- trigues defeated — Election of 1857 — Graham triumphant — Jewish Disabilities Bill — Death of Lady Graham, . . 256 CHAPTER XVII. Orsini and the French — Speech on Reform — Carlisle Election, 1859 — Eloquent Sentiments— Unity of the Blues — Reform Demonstration — The Howards of Corby — Refuses Office — Impaired Health — Death, . .... 273 CHAPTER XVIII. A GENERAL SURVEY OF SIR JAMES GRAHAM'S LIFE AXD CHARACTER, 287 CHAPTER I. THE GRIMES, GRAMES, OR GRAHAMS OF THE BORDERS. Moss-troopers. ^' Jock o' the Bright Szvord." Lord William {^"Belted Will") Howard. Birth of J. R. G. Graham. iJS Eastern imagery enchants the Eastern mind, so do stories of the Scottish Borders captivate the men of the Border-land, in whose breasts there is an inextinguishable love of tradition, romance, and song. The thrilling incidents of these tales might well delight the craving imagination of schoolboys, and the livelier emotions of maidenhood ; whilst the recitation of Border Min- strelsy, or a well-sung ballad, served to revive the sere and yellow leaf of age by their refreshing memo- ries of the pleasurable past. In the shepherd's hut by the mountain side, in the solitary bield of the sheltered dale, in the Scottish manse and English hall, long winter nights have flitted away under the charming spell of a well-told tale of Border history ; and the murkiest of days have had some gleams of sunshine lighting up the ingle-neuk, where autumnal A 2 Auld Lang Syne. age sat ensconced listening to the poesy of the Bor- der rhymster ; " For aye the sang will maist delight That minds ye o' langsyne !" How many ballads, from "Chevy Chase" down to " Hughie the Graeme," have revealed in faithful colours the Historic Past — the vivid colouring or Rembrandt- shade of an epoch styled Gothic and Barbaric, or Chivalric and Romantic, as taste and nationality swayed the popular mind ! How much of Sir Walter Scott's fame as an historical novelist has rested on Border life and its episodes ! for "The last of all the bards was he Who sung of Border minstrelsy." What chapters of incident, of dash and daring, of love and intrigue, might be written from a knowledge of " y^ men, y^ manners, and y^ customs" of the Bor- derers, v/ho, from the time of King Edward the First down to the last of the Stuarts, carried on a predatory warfare along a line of country extending between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Solway Moss ; and who followed the " Good old rule, the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And tliey sliould keep who can." If correct* that, so late as George HI.'s reign, on the heaths round Kceldar Castle and the sources of the Tyne, half naked women chanted a wild measure, while the men with brandished dirks danced a war-dance, a kind of savageness lingered long by * Macaulay's " History of England," vol. i., p. 286, (2d edit.) ; or Sir W. Scotl's Journal, October 7, 1827, in his Life by Mr Lockhart. ." Ride, Rozvley, RidcT 3 the Scottish and EngHsh lines of territory. The Church had no locus standi with Border outlaws, un- less it could bring men into the field like the noted Bewcastle priest,* who could take his part in the " Her- ship" along with the most reckless of his flock ; and the church-going of these men was in search of the sacramental silver, and the secreted treasures of a terrified hamlet, or the more tempting bait of the Bishop's chapel at the " Rose." Sacrilege had no horrors in the eyes of moss-troopers, whose decalogue consisted of monkish legends, and whose belief was a superstitious trust in luck of enterprise — the luck of honesty being an unknown quantity in their creed. In the time of the Tudors, the Border lands ex- hibited the scantiest of tillage, whilst a few square towers or keeps retained by the chiefs, in which both men and beasts found protection — the cattle-house below, the human domicile above — and scattered huts of clay and thatch for the tag-rag followers, consti- tuted nearly all the indications of humanity. Few cared to farm where it was doubtful if a corn crop would be gathered, or reach the owner's garner, or, if stored, furnish him with a batch at the mill ; and who needed to buy or feed cattle, when beeves could be had for "the lifting".'' A saying is recorded of a mother to her son, and now proverbial along the Borders : "Ride, Rozvley, ride ; the last hough's i' the pot ;" in other words, the last piece of beef is being boiled ; ride, and fetch more. Tradition avers that * William Patrick, "the Bewcastle priest" of the sixteenth century, was a surpliced moss-trooper of i<;noble habits, and unworthy of being classified with the jovial Friar Tuck. His curate, John Nelson, was of the same cloth. " Hership" was the masterful driving off of cattle as booty. 4 Black Mail—Hot-trods. when the beef was getting scarce in the square-towered keeps, or big ha's of the Borders, the mistress of the house served up a pair of spurs with the last course of viands — a hint to the assembled clans to put mettle to their heels and ride, as Rowley's mother advised her hopeful son, in search of more provender. A midnight foray often yielded some weeks' supply, and the excitement went for something, it added zest to the sport, and relish to the appetite for the English sirloin. The Scots, looking upon England as a rich country, and a capital field for levying " black mail," made frequent raids across the rivers Esk and Eden for live stock and larder supplies ; the English re- taliated rather on the person than the property of the enemy in their " hot-trods"* after the wily Scot, for, unless they were in time to rescue their own beeves, it would have been as difficult to effect repri- sals in outlying Bewcastle and Canobie, as to take the breeches off a Highlander after the kilts came into fashion. When England was at war with France, these Borderers took advantage — " To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs, Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat, To spoil and havoc more than she can eat." The old animosity of national prejudices played a part in these border-feuds, and no doubt the blood of both sides was kept hotter by repeated depredations, but it was more the hate of rival marauders than a war * Persons who had lost cattle on the English side were allowed to pursue the thief across the Borders with " hot-trode, [flagi-antc delicto, with red hand, as the Scols term it), with hound and horn, with hue and cry." OfzuhatRace? 5. produced by antagonism of race, political contention, or religious rancour. What kind of men were these borderers ? — dire offenders against the laws and usages of civilised life, Arab-like in craft and dissimulation, and unworthy to take brevet rank with the martial chivalry that reigned in the glades of Sherwood Forest — of whom it was truly said : " War was the borderer's game — ■ Their gain, their glory, their deHght, To sleep the day, maraud the night O'er mountain, moss, or moor." As to origin, were they the Aborigines of the district, or a leaven of the old Pict that tried the mettle of Severus and Hadrian ; were they Cumbrian or Celt, Saxon or Scandinavian, or a bad hybrid of the worst elements of each race .-' The anthropologist could scarcely give an answer if favoured with the requisite data — the crania ; but where could the skulls of the moss-troopers be found } Not in the graveyards of the western marches, as few heads got Christian burial — the battle-axe in conflict, the dungeons of Naworth, and the gallows of Carlisle, saving much funereal business on British soil ; and those who died elsewhere had left their country for their country's good. Many a moss-trooper, hanged, drawn, and quartered at Harribee, had his head spiked over the " Scottish yetts" of the border city, so late indeed as the 1 8th century; for David Hume, the historian, in the third line of his famous stanza, says — " Here heads of Scotchmen guard the wall." And more local evidence goes to show that the mea- dow on the north side of the said "yctts" offered the 6 How the Gr antes zvere knoivn. best opportunities for craniological study of Scotch marauders. The story is told of the Southron ex- amining the Runic pillar in the churchyard at Bew- castle, and expressing his surprise at the paucity of tombstones, being addressed by the sexton as follows : — " Do ye no ken the reason ? Why, man, the greater part o' our Bewcastle folk have outlier been hanged or transported ; their banes dinna rest here." Some no doubt were born on the soil, and thoroughly bred to the work of reiving — the Lowland Scot ; the rest were a heterogeneous band of outlaws, driven from post to pillar by both English and Scottish rulers, till at length they took shelter in the debateable land around the Esk, the Liddell, and the Sark — there realising in part the definition, given in high poesy by Sir John Falstaff, of himself and followers, of being "gentlemen of the shade and m.inions of the moon." Among the names figuring largely on the list of lawless borderers, — the Armstrongs, Elliotts, Fosters, Rootledges, &c., that of Granie is by far the most conspicuous of all. So numerous were the Grames that not only their first or Christian name, their resi- dence, but also their personal features, traits of char- acter, and as far as three generations of relationship, were called in requisition to distinguish the famil}-. Richie of NetJicrby, Will o' the Rosctrccs, Black Jock, Nimble Tarn, and Mickle Willie, and David's Davie s Davie, may be cited as examples of the mode of description. Sandford, the historian, uses terse lan- guage in speaking of the Grames, — " they were all stark moss-troopers and arrant thieves, both to Eng- land and Scotland outlawed." Tradition is a shade more lenient towards the family, and avers that there were The Gallants and Non-Gallants. 7 two sorts of Grames — " the Gallants" and " the Cart- tail" lot (the broader Saxon phrase is omitted) ; the first named were lucky in their forays, and showed gallantry in escaping the penalties of the law ; the latter were known as having been whipped at the tail of a cart, or handed out of it in the same direction under the gallows-tree. To-day the modern Grahams are still twitted on their descent from one of the two divisions of Grames, and as the bad deeds of our an- cestors are better remembered than their virtues, it is by no means uncommon where a Graham is a litigant in a Cumberland suit, for his opponent to reproach him with being one of the miscreant tribes who should meet with his deserts at the cart-tail. Yet the descendants of these borderers, Grames, Rootledges, Armstrongs, and others, who lived by harrying farms and homesteads, moss-troopers, freebooters, or by whatever name known, are to be found in every dis- trict of Cumberland ; and in their migrations from home, are found among the most rising men in the metropolis, and noted for their shrewdness, stability, and success. John Grame or Gramme, better known as " Jock with the Bright Sword," ushers the Border Grames into history early in the fifteenth century. Of the dim traditional eras of the Grames nothinij need be said ; it is enough to speak of the mediaeval hero of the family springing from the Scottish Earl of Mcn- teith, in alliance with the English Earl of Oxford, and called by some writers the lion. Sir John Graham of Kilbride, but better known as " Jock o' the Bright Sword," whose doings in the border-land were con- sonant with both a Scottish and English linea"-c. 8 Jock d the Bright Sword. His cognomen indicates his character. He rested his claims on his sword ; and these claims not meet- ing with acknowledgment at the Scottish Court, he transferred himself and kinsmen to the English bor- ders in the reign of Henry IV. His sword was an accession of strength to the men-at-arms on the Borders, and he made it felt among his weaker neigh- bours; so that, whilst others talked about boundaries of territory and legal limits, he carved large patches out of the " debateable land " for his own particular use. Might to obtain was right to hold with the wielder of the mediseval sword. Taking his stand upon an old Roman encampment, "Jock" acted on the old Roman principle of keeping possession, and from his high look-out on the moat tower, * surveyed the fine do- main in the vale of the Esk with absorbing interest, and continued to clutch all he could in his absorbing grasp from NicoU Forest to the Solway. He was a * The " Moat-liill," two or three miles east of Netherby Hall, the seat of a Roman encampment, and afterwards of a border fortress, rears its summit 200 feet above the river Liddell, winding round its northern base. Its deep ditches, scarps or embankments, and central platform, upon wliich a tower of observation had been placed, prove an arrange- ment of military defence of the strongest kind. From its high position the view to the north is grandly expansive over " Canobie lea," Esk- dale, Jocky Armstrong's tower, and the woodlands and heathery hills of Dumfriesshire, and would be the one most in request in watching the Scottish foe ; but everywhere the moat commands a rich and pic- turesque country ; and to the west, the Vale of Eden, the Solway Frith, and the highest range of English mountains. The medireval rover could hardly fail to be touched with the scene as surveyed from the moat, — to him, as tradition assigns, a castle and home, as it became a standing-point for his encroachments upon his neighbour's properties, of which Netherby was by far the most worthy of being coveted and won. No one ventured to dispute with Jock o' the Bright Sword and dark plume, of whom there was a superstitious dread on account of his devil- Jock CI the Pear-tree. 9 thorough chevalier d'indnstrie, and from his lonis sprang the present Grahams of Netherby. Between Jock o' the Bright Sword and Jock o' the Pear-tree, of a later reign, there was not much to choose from. Nearly two centuries of foray and feud had only served to increase the aptitude of the Grames for reiving and roving ; and Pear-tree Jock's carrying off the heir of Corby Castle, and son of the then high sheriff of Cumberland, (1552,) in broad daylight, was a piece of daring and strategy worthy of record in the Grame archives. In 1593 the Lord Warden Scroope, of the West Marches, " for the more early subduing of the bad and most vagrant sort of the great surnames* of the Borders," called the "principal headsmen" to- gether, and Will Grame, of the Rosetrees, and Rob of the Fauld, were the first to be hauled up, and "to enter bond in good security for their own appear- ances." In 1600 the Grames appear as petitioners to Lord Scroope for redress of grievances, but, as showing the little value of their complaints, the dif- ferent clans of Grames were obliged in 1602 to bind themselves over to keep the peace ; and the Gude- man, or Laird of Netherby furnished a list of thirteen may-care exploits, resembling those of another border chieftain in Eliza- beth's reign, the bold Bucclcuch, of whom the ballad says — " He is either himself a devil frae hell. Or else his mother a witch maun be ; I wadna have ridden that wan water For a' the gowd of Christendie," in reference to Buccleuch's rescue of Kinmont Willie from Carlisle Castle, and his crossing the Eden at full flood. * The great surnames of the Borders were " Grames, Armstrongs, Fosters, Bells, Nixons, Hethertons, Taylors, Rootledges, with other very insolent members appertaining to them." lo Taxation of tzuo Counties for of his own family, and the same number of tenants and followers. Among the professed penitential lot, "Jock o' the Pear-tree" came forth as bondsman for his brother Wattie — he who escaped the gallows at Carlisle by Jock's kidnapping the heir of Corby, and holding him as hostage against the sheriff's warrant ! And this bondship of Jock for Wattie is as laughable an illustration as history could well furnish of the grimy pot being responsible for the cleanliness of the sooty kettle. All these pledges of good behaviour failed ; and as soon as James VI. of Scotland came to the English throne, he issued several proclama- tions directed against the Borderers. In that of Dec. 4, 1603, he dwells with special force upon the bad character of the Grames, excusing himself to his good subjects for not treating the clans as they de- served, that it was only " for lack of means to provide presently for the transportation of these Grames else- where, to the intent their lands may be inhabited by others of good and honest convictions." In 1606 the transportation of the family became inevitable, and the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland were actually taxed for the purpose of getting rid of these irreclaimable fellows ; and it is curious to note as the last on the Westmoreland list of ratepayers the name of " Harry Brougham," taxed six shillings for this purpose. This transportation fund was a kind of extra parochial relief on a large scale — a Grame assessment, making the family name odious to every parish and household in the two counties. There were three shipments of rascalities from the port of Work- ington (August 1606, and April and September 1607) Traiisportatio)i of Gramcs. 1 1 to Ireland * and the Low Countries ; and the highest disbursement given for support to the chiefs of the clan was sixty shillings to " Grame of Nuke," and forty shillings to '' Arthur of Netherby/' whose name heads the list of transported vagabonds. The " cart- tail" Grames being got rid of, and ;^20 remaining of the fund, it was divided amongst "the gallants," — " Willie of Mote " getting £\o. For some years sub- sequently, there was less outlawry on the Borders. The strong hand and watchfulness of Lord William Howard, the Belted Will, whose " Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt," and reputed "Jeddart law" judg- ments f did more to lessen the number and force of the moss-troopers, and to quiet the Border-land, than all the wordy proclamations of the wordy King James. Old Fuller, who had studied them well, said * Whether the Grames amalgamated or not with the true Milesian, or the Scoto-Hibernian, they would make their way iu Erin's Isle. Tradition avers as much, and that they continued clannish, and did not fail to thrive in their new quarters. Many, no doubt, returned to their old haunts in Bewcastle, but greatly subdued in spirit, and living in fear of "a proclamation, July 22, 1614, for apprehending the Grames returned from transportation." They had to keep canny in the bush, or run the hazard " of scouring the cramp ring," in other words, thrown into fetters, or, generally, into prison. — {Guy Mannering, vol. i. p. 233-) t "Jeddartlaw" meant, along the Borders, hanging your prisoner first, and trying him afterwards, and this was said to be the course adopted by the Jedburgh justices in mediaeval times. Any such deci- sion, as " Jeddart law" implies, being adopted by Lord W. Howard is very improbable, even when his philosophical studies were unwisely interrupted ; tradition has it that on one occasion he replied to his man- at-arms wishing to know what was to be done with certain prisoners — "Go and hang 'em." Belted Will was a learned man, as the world went, and as the remnants of his library prove. Such men as he arc seldom guilty of rash acts and malevolence. 12 ''Belted WilV Howard. of these Border Grames and their allies,* " that they had two great enemies, the laws of the land and Lord William Howard of Naworth, who sent many of them to Carlisle — to that place where the officer does his work by daylight." These moss-troopers being viewed as traitors and outlaws, were supposed, according to the ancient law, to bear " wolves' heads," which any one might cut off without judicial inquisi- tion, as " merito sine lege pcrc7int, qui scciindmn legem vivere reeiisarentr ^ In the reign of Charles I., there was every now and then a revival of old times. Even the sleuth- dogs or blood-hounds kept by every parish of Cum- berland could hardly deter the worst characters, so that fresh edicts were issued by Charles II. J against the moss-troopers ; but the eighteenth century dawned before the old feuds and harrying of farmsteads were cast aside. § * So bad was the repute of these Border folk, that the corporation of Newcastle-on-Tyne passed a bye-law ])rohibiting the freemen of the city from taking lads as apprentices from the Border district. "Gie a dog a bad name, and then hang him." t The learned Bracton, of the thirteenth century, in liis work, "De Consuetudinibus et Legibiis Anglicanis, " (Lib. tertio, tract, ii. cap. ii,) has this dictum set forth :— " Extunc gerunt caput lupinum, ita quod sinfe judiciali inquisitione rite pereant, et secum suum judicium por- tent et ni?rito sine lege pereunt, quia secundum legem vi\ere recusa- rent." An outlawed person was called " woolfe-hefod." J The moss-troopers wisely avoided incurring the displeasure of Eng- land's greatest ruler, Oliver Cromwell. § The Grames of the past had their counterpart in the clan Douglas, and, at a later date, in the Highland Macgregors, described in the statutes of 1633, cap. 30, as "a wicked and rebellious race." The classical reader will perceive the analogy between these border raids and the inroads of the Messenians into the Lakonian territory with an Aristo- menes at their head, as their Buccleuch or Grame. The resemblance f the Lowland Scot to the Greek in character extended further than The Granics revive. jlj The fortunes of the better sort of Grames revived in Richard of the Plumpe, who made his way to Court and gained its favour, so as to obtain a baronetcy in 1629. He purchased Netherby and the neighbouring manors of the Earl of Cumberland, to whom James I. had granted the debateable land for ^^"150 a year. The debateable land was described as lying between the rivers Sark and Esk, the Scottish Dyke and Solway Sands, and containing 2895 acres of meadow and arable land, called "known grounds;" 2635 acres of pasture, besides march land and moss ; in all, 8400 acres. The fee farm rent oi £\^o a year is worth noting, as, two hundred years later, the rent had multiplied itself in value — ^^150 by 150, ^^22,500 a year ; verily a change in point of value from the good old times of the Stuarts to the last of the Georges. A grandson of this Richard's, who mar- ried Ann, daughter of the first Earl of Carlisle, and represented Cockermouth, and distinguished himself in Parliament, was created Viscount Preston. His partiality for the Stuarts, from whose blood he claimed a moiety, however infinitesimal, led him to the Tower and condemnation. 1 Ic only escaped the gallows by King William's clemency. His peerage expired with his grandson Charles, and the estates then passed to the surviving aunts of this Charles, and one of them, Lady Widdington, bequeathed them to her cousin, the Reverend Robert Graham, D.D., second son of William Graham, Dean of Car- the plunder of com; cattle, and chattels, for as the English in close proximity to the Borders were reluctant to cultivate and hoard, lest the moss troopers got the benefit of their husbandry, the Lacedemo- nians left that portion of their territory contiguous to the enemy unsown, that the men of Eira should not be the reapers. J 4 TJic political Graham born. lisle and Wells, and then holding the living of Kirk- andrews on Esk. Dr Graham married the daughter of Sir Reginald Graham of Norton Conyers, and during his tenure of office as Laird of Netherby, improved the property and residence of Netherby Hall more than any of his predecessors, showing himself in every way a good landlord and kind neighbour. He was a strong Whig in politics, and took an active part in the famous county election of 1768, fighting and winning by the side of " Harry Curwen" against the Lowthers. He died in 1782, and was succeeded by his son James, who was created a baronet in December of that year. In 1785 Sir James Graham married Lady Catherine Stewart, eldest daughter of John, seventh Earl of Galloway, by whom he had issue four sons and six daughters. On the ist June 1792 their first son was born, who was named James after his father, Robert after his grandfather, and George after Sir George Graham of Esk. This James Robert George Graham is the subject of the following pages. CHAPTER 11. FROM BOYHOOD TO PARLIAMENT. School— Oxford— The Young Diplomat— M.P. for Hull and St Ives— Marriap-e. jOUNG GRAHAM, a borderer in lineage and borderer born, grew like a vigorous sapling upon the Netherby estate ; for what could aid youthful growth more than breathing the mountain air of Eskdale, tempered by the fresh tidal breezes of the Solway .-' The river Esk, which, on Scottish ground, dashes onwards be- tween banks and braes, and o'er rocky beds, loses its impetuous character on becoming a strictly border boundary, and after its confluence with the waters of the Liddell, flows with easy current through a broader vale of meadow-land, whose banks rise gently to the north and south. In prehistoric times the Solway had full possession of all this low-lying land, now rich alluvial, and laved the rocky basement of" the moat;" and even within trustworthy tradition it maintained a tidal right, as the smallest of shipping craft used to be moored by the walls of the old feudal keep of the Grames,* or anchored on the sandy shingles which * Camden speaks of the riglit bank of tlic Esk— Netherl^y is on the left — as showing " marvelhis buildings and ruinous walls, and that l6 NetJierby Hall. constitute part of the elevated land upon which the present Netherby Hall stands. Few sites in England can be more charming than Netherby, placed on a natural knoll that slopes gradually downwards to a richly-verdured park, studded with noble beeches and other forest trees, traversed by the Esk, whose w'aters, along with the gradually expanding meadows, become lost to view in the silvery sands of the Solway. " And here and there, lock'd by the land, Long inlets of smooth glittering sea, And many a stretch of watery sand." The hall itself, its surrounding gardens, evergreens, and notably the rhododendrons and hawthorns, so beautiful in their season, are pleasant to look upon ; whilst the landscape to the west beyond affords great breadth and variety of surface, and much that is grandly picturesque. Master James bore large resemblance, physically and mentally, to his mother, — a finely endowed and dignified person. The Baronet was short in stature, slightly built, of mediocre intellect, and wanting in the energy needful to direct a large and heavily- encumbered estate. Lady Catherine, on the other hand, was tall and of a commanding presence, active, kind to the poor, and of deep religious feeling. She men alive have seen rynges and staples in the walls, as it had been stayes or holds for ships. On the one side of it is the 'Eatable Ground, so that it is a limes Angliic et Scotiie. The ruins be now three miles at least from the flowing water of the Solway Sands. The grass groweth now on the ruins of the walls." This description refers to the Kirk- andrews' side of the Esk, where the remains of a Roman station, if not of a mediaeval town, exist; but " rynges and staples " are said to have been found attached to huge blocks of stone in the excavations of the old site when Dr Graham rebuilt Netherby Hall. Graham and Blamire at the Oaks. 17 marked with pride the growing intellect of her son, and laboured to make him worthy of herself. As the home ties must be severed with boys, at least, Master Graham was sent to the Vicarage of Dalston, to be under the charge and tuition of the Rev. Walter Fletcher, then Chancellor of the Diocese. Young Lord Glamorgan was also a pupil there, and these two boys engaged the Vicar's entire attention. Dalston is a village about fifteen miles from Netherby and four miles south-west of Carlisle. The Chan- cellor and his wife did their best to mould the lads to correct discipline and "the humanities;" and, edu- cated under the roof that had so lately sheltered Dr Paley, they might (had the Vicar been so minded) have been indoctrinated with the philosophical breath- ings of the locus in quo. Probably they preferred the buttered cakes, and other farmhouse delicacies, occasionally offered them by some of the villagers, to the Logic and Evidences of the great Paley. As there was no society in Dalston, Mr Fletcher took his pupils to the Oaks, where they found a pleasant com- panion in William, the son of Dr Blamire. Masters Graham, and Blamire, when playing under the largely spreading oak in front of Blamire's residence, little dreamt of their manhood, of their Whig associations, and of their having to fght, much less to beat, the representative of the dominint political house of the county. Their official lives and historical position could not have been foreshadowed to the wisest of observers, looking to the boy Blamire, educated in the common village school, and wearing the garb of a yeoman's son, whilst Graham, born to a baronetcy showed the young dandy in his smart clothes and B 1 8 Westminster and Oxford. pert manners. The Vicar's pupils were received at Rose Castle, and enjoyed the pears and peaches of its Bishop ; but it would be idle to speak of young Graham receiving any influences from either bishops or deans, much less from Paley, who left Carlisle in 1795, and died before Graham entered his teens. Moreover, boys engaged in school-work, and satiated with Greek and Latin, are glad to enjoy their leisure hours ; and with Graham they were hours of idleness, and it may be added, of mischief, or the boy would have belied the man awfully, and been no boy at all. Graham liked " to shy a stone " at a factory boy, or to slouch the hat of a stupid bucolic, or to play other pranks characteristic of the heyday of youth. The villagers put up with these rompish tricks the more readily from the Vicar's boys that they were looked upon as " somebody's sons," Graham was transferred from Dalston to Westminster School, but of his pro- gress there little is known, nor can it be supposed that he took interest in the parliamentary debates of Pitt and Fox, both of whom passed away in 1806, when he was only twelve years of age. After West- minster he was placed with a private tutor in Berk- shire, but only for a short time, as in June 18 10 he entered as a Gentleman Commoner at Christ Church, Oxford. Thus he followed the school and college education of Blamire, and of many others sent from the northern counties of England ; and in this round of studies he naturally met with scions of the aristo- cratic houses, who lived, like himself, to earn distinc- tion in Parliament, and some of whom became his colleagues in the Grey and Peel Cabinets. Graham gained no honours, and apparently sought no distinc- Joins the Whig Party .19 tion, so that his collegiate life held out no promise of the future man. He attained a fair share of classics, and was conversant with figures beyond most men. He lived the fast life of an " Oxonian dandy," and showed Border ingenuity in outwitting proctors and beadles, the custodians of college morals and disci- pline. His opinions of Oxford were by no means exalted, and the confession he made of his own habits whilst there, especially pertaining to the absence of all theological training in the citadel of Church of Englandism, and of his never having heard a sermon during his two years' residence, startled the House of Commons in May 1845, when he addressed it on the provincial colleges of Ireland. Mr Graham was twenty years of age when he com- pleted his terms at Oxford, — his elementary and university education. The learning that is to be use- ful to a man of the world is to be gathered outside colleges, from personal efforts and large intercourse with superior minds, and the training which experience and observation bring to men of culture. After quit- ting Oxford he went to London, and there spent some time. It was in 18 12 when he declared his allegiance to the Whig party by being admitted a member of Brookes' club on the recommendation of Lord Morpeth. This step proved that he had given politics a larger thought than the strictly .scholastic at Oxford, and that he was more influenced by the liberal pro- fessions of the Whigs, and their advocacy of popular measures, than by his father's example and predilec- tions for the Tory party. The love of travel, natural to men of mind as well as men of means, induced Mr Graham to sail to Cadiz 20 Cadis and Palermo. in the autumn of 1812, and to see what he could of Spain and Portugal, then held by Wellington, — the rest of the Continent being under the sway of France, and, of course, closed to English travellers. As the guest of Sir H. Wellesley he had the opportunity of meeting the Duke of Wellington, and of seeing the position of affairs. Sicily at that time Avas held by British troops, and Graham wishing to sail in the Mediterranean, and to see the far south, gladly em- braced the offer made him by Captain Mounsey — a Carlisle friend, in command of a fine frigate — to give him a passage to Palermo. His introductions to the ruling powers of Sicily, and his own high and hand- some bearing, obtained for him the unexpected offer of a secretaryship to the Brit.sh Embassy there in 18 13; so that, at twenty-one years of age, Graham entered diplomatic life, then the best possible school for higher officialism and learning the art and mys- teries of state-craft. The noble and generous feelings of early adolescence in a mind educated to admire the classical examples of antiquity, and to believe in honest and straightforward dealing, would surely feel some pang at the initiative steps of intrigue in seek- ing to withdraw Murat, King of Naples, from the side of Napoleon. Possibly, Graham, in imitation of his progenitor, " Jock o' the Bright Sword," thought every- thing fair in love and war, and acted accordingly. The times were grandly historical and eventful. The colossal emperor and king-maker had broken his lance with Russia, and discovered the ne plus ultra of his ambition. The downtrodden powers of Europe began to revive and coalesce, and to strengthen their hands ; and England, who had always kept the French Negotiates ivith Miirat. 2 1 at bay, and had Sicily in power, was asked to allure the soldierly Murat from his Napoleonic alliance. Owing to Lord Montgomery's illness obliging him to leave Palermo, the negotiations of the British Embassy with the King of Naples fell to Mr Graham, the pri- vate secretary. It was an extraordinary position for a young man wanting diplomatic experience to be placed in, but Graham was not the fellow to falter in the breach. Here was a great opportunity for dis- tinction in the service of his country, and a great duty to discharge, in which Europe as well as England was interested ; and prompted by such high thoughts, Graham laboured assiduously to master the circum- stances, and to perform his part satisfactorily. Autho- rised by Lord William Bentinck, who by this time had returned to Palermo, Graham repaired to Naples and concluded certain negotiations with Joachim, its king, that eventually led to his separation from Napo- leon. Murat at the head of Napoleon's cavalry, was per se equal to 10,000 soldiers, and as King of Naples, guarding the southern provinces of Europe, no less important to his French master. To remove him from his allegiance was like displacing a column of support of the Napoleonic entablature, and destroying the harmony as well as stability of the architectural French pantheon of living gods and goddesses. After transacting business with Murat, Graham travelled to the head-quarters of the Austrian general to arrange further schemes, and returned by way of Rome* to Naples and Palermo. He accompanied * No claims have been made for Mr Graliam's linguistic powers. He owed much to his valet, Bodiuet, a smart fellow, who knew several languages, and had much of llie free-and-easy bearing of the Conti- 22 TJie Peace, and its results. Lord William Bentinck through the campaign in Northern Italy in 1814, and witnessed the surrender of Genoa to the Allies. Whenever called upon to act, Mr Graham did his work to the satisfaction of his chief. Nothing could well be more lucky than his trip to the Mediterranean. The times were adven- turous, and he came in for a share of them. He spent two years in Italy enjoying its climate, and the many opportunities his position afforded him of know- ing the character of its people and its political and military leaders. Mr Graham returned to England when the war was over, and found abundant scope for studying English politics. The great upheaving of the nations had a mighty subsidence, and as England had taken a very prominent part in thwarting Napoleon — spending her money by hundreds of millions, and the lives of her soldiers by tens of thousands — she felt the change deeply. St Helena had caged the war-god, and the barometer of Europe pointed to settled peace. England had nothing to dread from without, but it was impossible to pass from high prices, high labour, and high war enthusiasm, to the antipodal level of the past, if not some degrees lower, without a great crisis. Agricultural prices fell, the labour market was glutted, wages sank, and general discontent prevailed. Direful were the complaints urged against the ruling powers, and multitudinous were the remedies prescribed for the body politic in its sick and impoverished state. nental courier. Neither in the bureau of the police, nor under the searching eyes of gendarmes was Bodinet moved, and to his coohiess and diplomacy his master was indel^ted for escaping an unpleasant relationship with the high authorities at Rome. Cobbctt and tJic Weavers. 2% As usual the people cried for universal suffrage as the grand panacea, and backed their opinions by strongly denunciatory language. " Cobbett's Regis- ter" * was the political Koran of the multitude, at whose assemblages the so-called tribunes of the people wore the Phrygian helmet as emblematic of liberty. Meetings of this menacing character were frequently held in Carlisle, and in 1 8 19 the weavers and others engaged in various manufactories, had fallen so low in means, and become so helpless in mind, as to adopt a petition to the Prince Regent to send them all to America ! This state of affairs came under Mr Graham's home recognition, and probably helped to make his adhesion to the popular party firmer than ever. As heir to a baronetcy and a fine estate, as a member of Brookes', and an actor for a time in the diplomatic world abroad, Mr Graham had his thoughts directed political-wards. His ambition for Parliamen- tary honours seems to have rested more with himself than any external circumstances ; as if he felt that he had something in him that might be turned to good account in public life. The General Election of 181 8 afforded him the opportunity longed for, and his first attempt to obtain a constituency was made at Hull. On the lOth of June in that year he addressed the * Cobbett's likes and dislikes were pretty strongly expressed, and to have a young baronet like Graham, and a dandy to boot, was fine game for the old sergeant of the line furbi>hing up political armour for the readers of the Register. It was well said of Cobbett, by one who knew him, that after abusing Shakespeare and potatoes, (and both the man and the vegetable came in for a large share of bis condemnation,) he would no doubt sit down and eat some of those valuable tubers to his fat bacon, and read the " Merry Wives of Windsor." 24 The Member for Hull. citizens of the city of the Humber, and as a candidate for their suffrages, advocated reforms both in Church and State — appearing before them as an advanced Liberal. His personal show and youthfulness attracted attention, whilst the boldness of his speech, hard hitting of opponents, and free intercourse with the electors, daily increased his popularity. One of his opponents in the candidature was mixed up with negro slavery, and the other with the banking interests ; and both interests at that time were not in high estimation. Graham had been called " a man of straw," but he said he thought that he would take as much pulling to pieces as either "the man of flesh" or " the man of paper !" His appearance on the hustings was highly creditable. His youthfulness found a valid excuse in the history of Pitt and Fox, not less than his own desire to employ his time and abilities in the service of his country ; and his Whig opinions met with a favourable reception. He was returned by the small majority of 14, and the election cost him ^6000. Mr Graham took his seat on the Opposition (Whig) benches, and gradually inclined to the personal fol- lowing of Lord Althorpe, as one of the great leaders of his party. On a motion of Sir M. W. Ridley's (March 1819) to reduce the number of the Lords of the Admiralty, Mr Graham made his maiden speech, and apparently with no great success. At this time there were other feelings, more sentimental than poli- tical, operating upon the young member for Hull. He was in love, and too deeply to be shaken off his purpose by home advice or remonstrance. The in- tercourse between Netherby and Lowther Castle, and other Tory houses, had been such as to make Sir " TJie handsomest couple y 25 James, and probably Lady Catherine, hopeful, as they would be solicitous that the aspirations of their eldest son should find a fitting associate in the ranks of the wealthy aristocracy. The rumour afloat that young Graham had formed an attachment to one of the " Beauties at Almack's," was received with no pleasant feeling at Netherby. Letters having failed to make any impression. Sir James sent his steward to London to advise the young Laird of Netherby on the imprudence of marrying " a tocherless lassie," bonnie or braw as she might be in silk attire. Mr Graham did not relish this interference, and at length got so angry with his father's agent that he showed him the door ; and with the slamming of the door was shut out the last chance of a moneyed or high aristocratic alliance on the part of young Netherby, On the 8th July 18 19, he took his own way, by marry- ing Fanny, the youngest daughter of Colonel Cal- lander of Craigforth, in Stirlingshire, a lady of great accomplishments, and greater beauty. George the Fourth was so struck with the bridal pair at the first " drawing-room " they attended, that he ex- claimed: — " They are the handsomest couple I ever clapped my eyes upon." The bride and bridegroom made Crofthead, a small country house, close to Netherby Hall, their residence. In the midst of rural engagements and pastoral simplicity, and a beautiful woman to share and enhance his pleasures, Mr Graham was the happiest of mortals, and the remem- brance of the joyful days spent at Crofthead con- tinued to the last years of his eventful life. The year 18 19 was marked by great political ex- citement. " Harry Hunt" as the champion of the 26 An out-and-out Whig. people, and the Peterloo massacre as a people's martyrdom, were among the most conspicuous facts. No manufacturing towns were exempt from the throes of tumult and agitation. Coercive measures were asked for by the Government of that day, and the Whigs did their best to oppose their adoption. Mr Graham took part in the discussion, but with so little effect, on one occasion, that a niember of the Commons hastily said of him, — " Well, there 's an end of Graham." On the Seditious Publications Bill he spoke at greater length, and to greater purpose. The speech reads fairly enough, and the constitutional argument he adopted was set forth in temperate lan- guage ; the style was somewhat elaborate, and per- haps his effort breathed of closet study or getting up ; at any rate, it wanted vivacity and freedom, neverthe- less, it was highly creditable for a man of his experi- ence, and deserved more attention than it would appear to have received at the hands of both friends and opponents. He had been enrolled in the Yeomanry Cavalry of Lord Grantham, in the West Riding, but was so chagrined with the Tory Government for removing the Earl Fitzwilliam from the Lord-Lieutenancy of that division of Yorkshire, and showing the intention of depriving the people of their constitutional rights to hold public meetings, that he resigned his com- mission on 27th October 18 19. Others followed his example. On the 28th February 1820, the last Parliament of George the Third was dissolved, and George the Fourth reigned in his father's stead. Mr Graham Member for St Ives. 27 had no thoughts of returning to the Humber for a seat; the first whistle at Hull cost him too dear, and was not yet paid for. It was thought by the Blues of Carlisle that he should contend the city along with Mr James of Barrock Lodge, whilst Mr Curwen and Lord Morpeth should try the county on the Whig interest. This view of affairs was not entered into in time, or Mr Graham would probably have been the M.P. for Carlisle in 1820. There were other draw- backs besides. Carlisle was very much in the hands of the Lowthers, and any political game with them was not less hazardous than expensive ; moreover, the Netherby baronet was Tory all over, and could hardly wish to see his son triumphant in the Whig camp at his own doors. Frustrated in the north, Mr Graham found a friend in the extreme south of England, and was returned for the burgh of St Ives by a large majority over his opponent. In the same spring (1820), and on the 7th April, his wife presented him with a son — Frederic Ulric, the present baronet, who was born in Montagu Square, London. In the first Parliament of George the Fourth, the honourable member for St Ives was found among the sixty votes in support of Mr Hume's motion, bearing upon retrenchment of the Civil List, and along with Lord John Russell and Mr Brougham in the same question; and also with Mr Curwen in favour of agricultural protection. Early in 1821, a petition from some of the electors of St Ives was presented to the House of Commons against Graham's return, and he, neither possessed of money to meet the ex- penses of a contest in the Committee Room of the 28 Retires to Cumberland. House, nor flattered in the belief that he had achieved any great success in ParHament ; nor very hopeful as to the agricultural interests with which his fortunes were cast, was driven in May 1821 to accept the Chiltern Hundreds, and retire to Cumberland. CHAPTER III. The coiidition of affairs at N'cthcrby, 1 82 1 -24 — A sleefy Landlord and slolhful Tenantry — Hybrid Farmers and Smugglers — The young Laird effects great refortns, draining, stock, shows. N May 1821 Mr Graham returned to Croft- head. Devoid of parliamentary cares, and far away from the turmoil of public life, his mind became more homely, and more alive to the interests of agriculture. Luckily for himself and family, and no less luckily for the Netherby tenantry, he took heartily to rural pursuits. Farming became his out-door hobby, and having a lovable helpmate within doors, the three years he spent at Crofthead were attended with constant occu- pation and growing interest, and not the less enjoy- able that they were fruitful in results ; the effecting of a great and permanent benefit on the Netherby estate. At this period, and for many years previously, things did not look well at Netherby. The property was sorely encumbered, and the proprietor, apparently content with what Providence sent him, sat almost passive in the hall of his ancestors. The Netherby steward had a good deal of his own way, and Sir James seems not to have troubled himself about ledgers and yearly reckonings. A loose system of accounts natu- 30 The Netherby Estate. rally led to disordered relations between landlord and tenant, as well as between landlord and factor, so that Mr Graham, now vested with authority, found it no small trouble to unravel his father's affairs. The tenants had got into a slovenly way of payment, or what was worse, no payment at all ; and without benefiting themselves, had an inclination to rob the laird of his dues and the land of its fertility. Nearly forty years had elapsed since Dr Graham's death, and matters were much as he left them, if not rather worse, as the improvements in which he so laud- ably engaged had not been carried out to any extent by his son. The estate now (1821) exhibited a rude and thriftless culture of the land, and that land had upon its area vastly too many holdings. Some of the ten- antry held little more than " toft and croft," or a patch of arable land ; many occupied a ^^30 rental ; and the great bulk of farmers had no greater liability than ^100 a year. The condition of Eskdale in 1805, as described by Cully in his report on the agriculture of Cumberland, — " the generality of farms were from ;^i5 to £'^0 per annum, and some few extended to ;^I00, or a little more," — was pretty nearly applicable to the state of affairs at Netherby in 1821. Here was poor land rearing poorer farmers, and these farmers annually helped to make a poorer laird. The spirit of improvement was but little manifested ; now and then a patch of moor was taken in ; but the land- lord reaped little benefit, as the new enclosure, in too many instances, fell into the old hands, — men without capital, without energy, and without a permanent interest in the holding. As the land showed badly as to surface, fences, and ^ Its Holdings and Tenantry. 3 1 yield, so did the Netherby farmsteads bespeak poverty and a tumble-down aspect. Thatched dwellings, clay bields, and worse out-houses, had to be approached by bad roads, and everything wore an air of neglect, discomfort, and decadence. Respectable farmers formed only a small minority; the t'other kind of folk were o'er many by half; hence a population of half farmers and half cotters were growing upon the estate, rather Hibernian in prolificness, and equally prone to sloth and dirt. There was the same tradi- tional hankering after "a bit of land" that the Irish display, and the same lack of capital and industry to cultivate even that bit to profit. No circumstances could change these men. Bitter experience had shown the landlord, and still continues to show other landlords similarly situated, that the granting of a lease was destructive to both parties concerned in it, as well as the land occupied. Inasmuch as the condi- tions of the contract almost invariably proved one- sided, the power of the landlord was very much restricted, while the tenant escaped pretty nearly from all his obligations. These men came under the designation of Netherby farmers, though it is no libel to say that honest husbandry was the smallest feature in their natural history. How did this lower grade of tenantry live and pay their way } (many did not) was a pro'olem to Mr Graham, whose acquaintance with his father's tenants had not been equal to his opportunities of studying them. To solve the ques- tion it was essential to survey the estate, to mark the domesticity of the people settled thereon, and to institute inquiries regarding their habits and wants. Accompanied by the new steward of Netherby, 32 ^^ Five rents, my Lord" Mr Yule, the young Laird made it his business to ask these small farmers how they got on ; in other words, how they earned their livelihood and paid their rents. Various were the replies elicited. One said, — " Oh, we make our rent by feeding pigs* for the market." Another replied, — " We get up a few stots {Scottice for young bullocks or steers) on a bit of hay." A third answered, — " Handloom weaving gives us a lift, or helps us a wee," and so on to the end of the chapter of " bits " and " sma's " as aids to rent ; but none of them spoke of selling a bushel of grain, f These men were producers, but only for their own wants ; their large families, nags, or kine, consumed all they grew, leaving nothing to spare for the town consumer. As far as appearances went, they lived by pork-feeding, by rearing young stock, and weaving, eked out by a " bit of trade," which meant horse-couping, and a kind * The demand for animal food during the French war led to the feeding of pigs on a large scale. " Every body kept a pig," was not far from the truth, even with single families without rough herbage or offal, and to this day the practice holds good among Border folk wherever they are domiciled. The pigs of that day were a miserable breed, badly iQ.i\, and often seen as trespassers on the highways and byways ; but anything lean, lank, or mangy sold in war times, and at war prices. f On the Border estates of Lord Mansfield were located a similar class of farmers to those at Netherl)y. Early in the century, Lord Mansfield surveying his pro]->erty in company with Professor Coventry, of Edinburgh, got the same replies as in the text, with one notable excep- tion, — Mr Richard Birrell, of Old Gretna, who answered without hesi- tation, " My lord, we make five rents out of our land. We have our baik'y rent, our wheat rent," &c.; and his voice increasing in tone as he reiterated, " Five rents, my lord." His lordship very appropriately said to the honest farmer, "Ah, Birrell, you are the kind of man I want upon my estate. You make five rents out of the land and thrive upon it, while others can hardly say how they gather their rent at all, and they show poor farms and poorer comforts within doors." PoacJicrs, Suiiigglcrs, and Farmers. 33 of barter or traffic in small beasties ; but covertly, they poached both on land and water, smuggled salt, Scotch whisky, and more rarely, Manx brandy, — all which found a market in the nearest city of Carlisle.* Farming was but one of the items in the general total of their lives, — most valuable, however, as a cloak to their predatory habits and pursuits. The agricultural motto of Coke of Norfolk, — " Live and let live," was not for those who sought to live for themselves only, and by any means, art, or craft within reach. These Border tenants were lazy landsmen by day, active workmen by night, snaring game, or netting salmon, or fording the Border streams weighted with smuggled goods.f In short, they came to be ranked as neither flesh, nor fowl, nor good red herrings in character. This description will surprise the southern reader. It is, however, a fair delineation of the men who pre- vailed forty-five years ago, and sufficiently exemplifies the tenacity with which these Borderers held on by the ancient habits and dealings of their forefathers to the very last page of their history. It was only the thrifty weaver who pursued his handicraft in winter, and held a bit of land for summer operations, that seemed to do his part in the world by contributing woof and warp to the villagers, if he did not furnish many bushels of corn for the town's market. * Smuggling from the Isle of Man was conveniently carried on with the Cumberland coast. The " old Manx salt" knew every creek of the Solway, and kept his weather eye open to the ganger or exciseman. t The great excess of horses was as noted as the excess of human population on the Netherby estate ; and that they were turned toother uses than the plough may be inferred from the text. If useful in carry- ing kegs of spirits, per contra they ate up much farming stuff. The said nags and their owners were much alike in showing a lean and hungry look. C 34 Bad Farmers got rid of. Mr Graham saw the necessity of getting rid of these worthless tenants, and found it a truly difficult task to accomplish. Like parasites infesting an organism, they stuck close to their pabulum of sup- port, though that support was mean, meagre, and almost matterless. Rough combing might irritate, and not get rid of the evil-doers ; coercive measures would excite resentment, and bring an amount of odium upon the landlord that years might fail to wipe off; so Mr Graham adopted the persuasive method, pointing the attention of these folk to the unsatisfac- tory state of their hand-to-mouth existence, and the futility of their efforts to bring up families decently or well on their petty holdings. With some he had to expostulate, and to others, "the neer-do-weels," no quarter was given, as they were beyond all hopes of reformation. The farmers, strong in faith and work, held on ; the weaker sort went to the wall. The small holdings were attached to larger ones, and as farms increased in size, the well-to-do farmers increased in prosperity along with the general improvement of the estate. Better buildings were erected, and the new farmsteads, if not showy in style, were made comfortable, and protective to both man and beast. Roads worthy of the name were formed. Planting, after many years of abeyance, was resumed, to constitute shelter, and to give character and picturesqueness to the estate. Then came the question of stock, so important in a grazing district,* and, as viewed by Mr Graham, as more fit- * Mr Ellis, who came from Yorkshire in 1812 to act as steward to old Sir James Graham, was a man of discernment and character, who, by importing a Yorkshire boar and the much -prized Clydesdale horse Difficulties in Iniprovemetit. 35 ting to our climate, and generally more profitable to both tenant and landlord. Above all other con- siderations draining was imperatively needed on the Netherby lands to make them contribute to the corn- producing area of England. In the vale of the Esk, the sandy soil stands upon a porous subsoil ; and in the vale of Lyne, a stififer sort of land on a retentive soil prevails ; there was also a large surface of morass, naturally stagnant : all which lands demanded freedom from water, to get rid of the beds of sedges here, sallow bushes there, and bad herbage nearly everywhere. Every blade of healthy grass that could be made to grow would be a conquest over nature- Owing to the want of stones and of accessible quarries, Mr Graham had not been able to imitate Mr Curwen's drainage work, rough, yet tolerably effective withal. Hence the tenants of the larger Netherby holdings and men of enterprise laboured under difficulties attached to the land itself, and remediable only by the landlord. About this particular period, 1817-21, the years immediately subsequent to the French war, the landed interests of England suffered greatly, even where local circumstances were not to be complained of; but in the case of Netherby, both local and gene- ral drawbacks to success existed, and such a state of things was viewed by the farmer as almost ruinous. And now it was that Mr Graham is called by his " Stitcher," and by obtaining part of the service of " Comet," one of the best of Curwen's shortliorns, was mainly instrumental in improving Border as well as Netherby stock. Previous to his time, poor horses and cattle, and a bad sort of pigs prevailed. He changed all this, and on the Bush farm carried out many husbandry operations to which the term "high farming" was justly applicable. ^'6 Graham the pupil of Curwen. father to the helm of affairs. The Netherby ship was hke one of the crazy, lumbering old coasters of the Solway, with her canvas, cordage, and ground tackle out of order, labouring in a neap-tide to catch the flow ; now sternwards on the banks, now aground in the shallows, and aye ebbing or drifting, and making no sea-way. Fresh spars and rigging were imperative to make the Border ship a worthy craft, and Graham the younger was the very person to re- model the lines of the Netherby build with a seaman- like rig and sound appearance aloft, to make the new adventure trim and ship-shape, and then to pilot her through the commercial billows, sounding loud and deep along the agricultural shore. He had energy and skill at command : moreover, he was deeply in- terested in the safety and sailing of the Netherby "enterprise." Putting aside metaphor, Mr Graham was no novice in farming ; for in his teens he had been attracted, as all intelligent Cumbrians were, to the Workington Society's meetings. There his first effort at public speaking was elicited by the " Old Squire" proposing his health, and there he gained many friends amongst the yeomanry class, ready to bestow upon his personal and mental qualities the high acknowledgment they merited. Graham was the favourite pupil of Curwen,* and through life laboured to emulate the spirit of his teacher, as a son of the soil as well as a parliamentary celebrity. To effect a change in the social status of the ten- * Mr Graham presented a gold watch of rare workmanship and value to Mr Curwen, as a souvenir of his visits to Workington, and of his high regard for " the father of agriculture," and all his personal attentions and courtesies. Draining becomes essential. 'C> antry, meant an active stewardship or supervision, and a fresh action quoad the cultivation of the estate; and such a revolution of affairs could only be effected by a man of large mind, indoctrinated with the ideas of the age, and able to carry them into effect. The task was one of no small magnitude, as those can well understand who have had to contend with boeo- tian ideas and bucolic prejudices. However, the young laird was in his prime for work, and aye ready with a stout heart for a steep brae. Many of the novelties in husbandry and stock introduced by Cur- Aven had been recognised at Netherb}^ ; but little or no close draining had been attempted, owing, as already expressed, to the want of materials. Neces- sity, however, bestirs men possessing brain, as it like- wise tends to create new forces both in art and science. Such minds as Mr Graham's could not lie fallow, especially when pressed by the home-touching fact, that his father's farms were not to be let advan- tageously till the basis of all land improvements, recognised as dependent on dry subsoils, was effected. Mr Graham visited his uncle, Mr Inge of Thorpe, in Staffordshire, and saw the good that had been realised by tile draining — a new mode, based on scientific principles, and which he hailed as a new light for Netherby and the north. He engaged a person from Tamworth to discover if proper clay could be found upon the Netherby estate for making tiles, and, on receiving a favourable report, commenced operations forthwith — say, 1819 or 1820. The Staffordshire tile-burner, the writer believes, was Thomas Guy Patrick, who, quarrelling with Mr Yule, the new Netherby steward, started on his ov/n ^8 The fij'st Tile-bur7iers. account at Wallhead, near Walby, and afterwards at the Grove, three miles east of Carlisle. Along with Mr Patrick, generally acknowledged to be the first in the race, were Mr Quintin Blackburn, of Norren's Lodge, near Brampton, and Emmanuel Demain, still living at Little Corby, a hale, hearty octogenarian, as tile-burners. So that there were three candidates for the honour of introducing tiles into Cumberland, along with Mr Graham. The writer has gone very carefully into the history of this subject, and spared neither pains nor personal inquiry to ascertain the facts. Yet he cannot positively affirm to whom this great honour of being the first tile-burner in Cumberland can apply. Probably Mr Graham and Thomas G. Patrick ran neck and neck, closely followed by E. Demain and Mr Blackburn ; but whatever opinions may have been formed as to priority of claim, no one can disallow that the great and important example of tile-burning and tile-draining was made by the subject of this memoir, whose influence extended farther, as his operations were larger, than any of his neighbours. The system of draining, previous to the introduc- tion of tile-draining in Cumberland, was effected by means of cobbles from the beds of rivers, or quarried stones, branches of trees or sticks, furze or whins, &c., and these were variously arranged to please the fancy of the workman, or to be in accordance with the practice of the district. A drain being cut, and this was seldom made deeper than twenty inches below the surface, portions of turf were so cast in as to form a channel at the lowest part of the drain ; occasionally straw ropes were used in the same way for offshoots and springs, but as frequently rough stones formed Prises and Encouragement. 39 the first layers. Branches and other parts of trees have been found in great preservation in drains after twenty years' subjection to watery influences, and no doubt they established a certain amount of good. Though tiles and pipes have altered all this, vastly more requires to be done to make drainage worthy of the name of a truly permanent improvement. There were objections, and not a few, to the new system of draining ; some were ingenious enough, but nearly all had their origin in unlettered ignorance, or that tendency, so commonly springing from it — call it prejudice, jealousy, or bad feeling — of con- demning the works of higher minds. The first drain- age was of land under Mr Graham's own manage- ment* to the inspection of which the better class of farmers were invited. Encouraged by the success of the work, by prizes f oft*ered annually for the largest amount ' of tiles used, and furthermore, by leases granted them, the farmers entered with spirit into the landlord's wishes, and in the course of years some * Mr Robert Lucock, who had achieved success as a drainer else- where, was employed as chief at Netherby, and he and his brother Joseph gave great satisfaction. Mr Lucock afterwards became the greatest tile-burner in Cumberland, commencing his first operations in 1824 at Langrigg in the west. t A prize of £\o was given to the tenant who used the largest number of tiles, and to the best purpose on the laud ; and Mr Robert Gibbons, of Mossband, obtained the first award. It is not agreeable to add that Mr Graham's kindness was abused by some of his tenantry, who, to gain the prize, lead tiles to their farmsteads only to bury them out of sight. The first drainage was imperfect — the tiles being placed as near the surface as the passage of the plough would permit, as if the farmer was afraid of the tiles being lost sight of. All this was long ago changed by the present active steward Mr Brown, and drains arc now made 4 feet deep. The tenant pays 5 per cent, on the moneys laid out, and leads the materials. About ;{^2000 a year is said to be spent by Sir F. Graham ujion draining at Netherby. 40 Prizes to the NetJierhy Farmers. thousand acres of comparatively unproductive soil were made dry and fit for every operation of hus- bandry. The Netherby estate is now as well man- aged and as promising as any in the northern counties. To have caused the adoption of tile- drainage upon his own property, and to have set a large example to the Border district, and Cumberland generally, was not the least of many services that Graham conferred upon his native county. It was a new work, like placing a capital upon one of Cur- wen's agricultural pillars, which the master mason would have rejoiced to see towering above his own. Here was a great step promoted by Mr Graham, and a great success achieved for himself and neigh- bours on both sides of the Esk, Having laid so good a foundation for land improvements, he established an agricultural society at Longtown for the show of stock, &c., and based more or less on the Workington model : he showed his interest in its proceedings by taking the chair and encouraging practical discussion — much more profitable to the farmer than toasts and puerile compliments. He also encouraged, among other varieties of stock, the use of the Galloway breed. Having selected fine animals from the best Galloway stocks, he offered them as prizes to the Netherby farmers. The spirit of progress now per- vaded Netherby, and farmers came to see that the tenant's and the landlord's interests were alike ; that both should sail in the same boat and pull in the same direction to gain the shore of successful enter- prise. That this unity of feeling between the owner and occupier was developed by the young Laird of Netherby, and continued during In's lifetime, is evi- A thriving Tenantry. 4I denced by the estate itself, both in general characters and in its minutest relations. Where bogs and quag- mires made it almost unsafe for humanity to tread,* where cold lands revealed a barren surface, where turnips were almost unknown, and wheat was a rarity; where bad-shaped cattle and " hunger-'em-out " pigs were the chief live stock around thatched biggings, and where roads were hardly usable without risk to horse and machine ; the eye of the observer now rests upon large plots of arable land, rich in cereals, green crops, and pastures upon which first-class animals browse and fatten ; good homesteads, capital roads, high-class farming,f and above all other considera- tions a thriving tenantry, not unmindful of the memory and character of their and his own benefactor — Sir James Graham. * Stock and pigs were often mired in these bogs, and occasionally lost sight of. Mr Thomas Gibbons, of Burnfoot, remembers the dragging out of half-drowned animals from these swamps, even close to the farmsteads. t It says something for Netherby farmers when the Blamire Prize has been awarded two successive years to them : in 1866 to the well known Mr Gibbons, of Burnfoot, and in 1867 to Mr Weightman, of Sandbed — > both for well managed farms above 200 and 300 acres in extent. CHAPTER IV. Old Sir James a Tory — His Son a Wlrg-Radical — Matthnvs and Rooke — Nether by wanting in Hospitality — Political Studies and Friends — "■ Little Sir James''' dies, 1824— "The Sir James" inherits Netkerl>y — Per Cents — "Corn and Currency." GREAT county meeting was held at Wig- ton, (April 5, 1821,) and presided over by the High Sheriff, to take into consideration the depressed state of the commercial and agricultural interests, and to seek for a reform of Parliamenlk. Mr Graham proposed the first resolu- tion, and in his speech — noted for its peculiar man- liness and comprehensiveness — said : " The agricul- tural interest, the stay and strength of the country, its prop in war, and its pride in peace, was brought to absolute, almost irremediable ruin." After survey- ing the general taxation of the country, he adverted to the county rates, " to provide for which, as they all knew, was no slight matter, as Carlisle bridges could very well testify. (Cheers.)" He showed up the great waste in all the public departments, and then said of the Admiralty : — " We are blessed with Lords of the Admiralty at enormous salaries — Lords who have something to do, and Lords who have nothing to do — active and passive Lords — dead corpses chained to ^ His Speech at Wigton. 43 living bodies. (Tremendous cheering.)" This speech made a great impression upon the ten or twelve thousand persons present ; even " Harry Brougham," who followed, did not efiface or impair the triumph gained by Graham in the hearts of the county folk. Mr Graham had not only won the popular voice, but the higher approval of discerning men, and among others, his friend the Rev. Richard Matthews of Wigton Hall, whose good opinion was worth a host of common minds. Mr Graham was naturally thrown among his fathers' friends ; but as his political feeling pointed in another direction, he rather sought those of his own age and of Liberal promise in the county. It may be inferred that he occupied a less pleasant position in politics than most men, owing to the fact of his father being an old Tory, whilst his own professions were those of an advanced Liberal. Some of the Whigs were not slow to say that the Netherby family " ran with the hare and held with the hounds," so as to make sure of winning with one or other in the political field. The " Yellows " * shrank more and more from the outspoken Radical, and the " Blues " were not dis- posed to be thoroughly hand-and-glove with him. And why ^ He was not one of the old sort of Blues, and the ancient families of that ilk, professing to be blue to the back-bone, feared that the lofty denun- ciation of political abuses was but a temporary dis- play on the part of young Netherby, and that he might, after the first brush, relapse to his father's * The Tories used to hoist yellow colours, the Whigs, bltic colours, in Cumberland ; and political parties are generally designated as " Blues," (Whigs,) and " Yellows," (Tories.) " 44 ^'^^^ Blues slow to welcome Graham. creed of Toryism. The sincerity of his motives was for long sub jtidice. To-day little or no exception would be taken to father and son hoisting different colours ; but forty-five years ago, and nearer the pres- ent time, there was a touchiness of feeling amount- ing to perverseness that sadly interfered with a pro- per discrimination of men's behaviour and opinions. Political parties scouted the appearance of neutrality — viewing it in the light of an impossibility, like nature abhorring a vacuum. The "Yellows" could not tolerate Graham, the " Blues " were slow with their welcome — an unhappy locus in quo for a young man standing at the threshold of the political temple, and longing for the incense inhalation within the sacred precincts. Though openly working for the •"Blues" from 1816 to 1820, he had to go further, and throw the weight of his influence into the scale with Mr Curwen at the Cumberland election of that year, and to the sacrifice of Lord Morpeth ; and in 1 82 1 to speak fierce Radicalism at the county meet- ing, before he reached the sanctum sanctorum of the old Whigs. The reform speech at Wigton could leave no manner of doubt as to his principles and his able advocacy of them ; for a more talented exposi- tion of ultra-political views had not been heard in Cumberland during the century. From this date (1821) the portals of Whiggism were open to young Graham, and the Rev. R. Mat- thews not only welcomed him to the growing circle of Reformers, but seemed unobtrusively to fill the position of counsellor to the rising politician. Mr Matthews's high station in the county made his friendship a happy association for Graliam. - MattJicivs and Rooke. 45 Among Graham's acquaintances, one of the oddest, it was thought, that he could have formed, was with John Rooke* of Akehead, near Wigton, a simple yeoman, antipodal to himself educationally, socially, if not intellectually. They had met at the Work- ington Show, where Graham, struck with Rooke's conversation, discovered under the plain garb of a country farmer a man well read, nay, deeply versed in political economy. Perhaps no two men outside the walls of Parliament influenced Mr Gra- ham so much as the retired scholar of Wigton Hall, and the eccentric yeoman living at Akehead. The former (Matthews) refreshed his historic and party ideas ; the latter (Rooke) created in him a new force, if not a new direction of study : the one helped to temper his exuberant Radicalism ; the other ex- cited his ambition to become a political writer and a man of the times. If Rooke, bucolic-born and village- taught, or to speak more correctly, untaught, un- trained, and uncultivated, could dictate articles worthy of note on abstruse political subjects, why should not he (Graham), Oxonian in culture, the heir to an English baronetcy, and some diplomatic and par- liamentary claims to boot, try to solve some of the problems affecting the financial interests and general welfare of the nation .'' The spirit of emulation was roused in Graham by Rooke's example, and gave to the stirrings of his own nascent ambition a powerful impetus political-wards. From this period a special feeling for the study of our monetary relations, and the arguments concerned in general political economy, * The writer hopes to sketch the life of this remarkable man in a subsequent volume. 46 Graham'' s Political Prospects. gained possession of Graham, and not without giving a direction to his future statesmanship. Floating with the rapid advancing tide of Whiggism in the North, Mr Graham had only to set his canvas to the breeze to enable him to outstrip the sailing powers of every other craft aiming for the Cumber- land port. His platform oratory, marked by bold denunciation of parliamentary abuses, had gained the industrial classes ; the yeomanry had accepted his flattering tributes to their independency and public worth; and the Whig gentry, admiring his fine pJiysiqiie and elegant manners, and now assured of his statesman-like convictions, had come to look upon him as a fit successor to their great champion. There seemed to be nothing wanting in his public capacity or relationship; he had only to bide his time for the next election, or wait the retirement of "old Curwen" to be the chosen man of Cumberland. The circumstances surrounding Graham in his rural retirement from 1821 to 1826 — though not marked at the time, and hitherto unnoticed, as far as the -writer is aware — had a significant bearing upon his status in Cumberland, and greatly affected his future political attitude. Ranking with the best men of the county, and taking an active part in local as well as parliamentary affairs, he hoped he was sowing political seed that would realise an abundant yield — the popular favours of his county-men. For a time he was right in his belief, and reaped the harvest of popularity — so dear to his wishes and high aims through life. But if Graham knew that good hus- bandry implied good tillage, and the free use of fertilizing agents, and that neglected fallows are apt . Not " Merry in the Hall!' 47. to grow weeds and thistles, he failed to trace the applicability of the same truths to the husbandry of humanity, and the growth of its affections. His bare acknowledgments of the yeomanry in their own habits and life were his bare fallows in poli- tical cultivation and candidature that in time proved weedy, thistly, and obnoxious. Though Mr Graham outvied his contemporaries in personality, in oratory, and force of character on all public occasions in Cumberland, he fell immeasurably short of the majority of the squirearchy in promot- ing sociable feeling, and the propitious amenities of life. He took but small part in the private circles of the county even after his accession to the Nether- by estate, and when seen in society, it was at other men's tables. It is said that he gave no dinner parties worthy of the name, and offered no entertainments to his neighbours, so that to be " merry in the hall " was a very exceptional affair at Netherby. Now the odorous flesh-pot is as much longed for by the modern Anglo-Saxon as by the ancient Israelite, and with its alcoholic accompaniments British blood rises higher and higher in paeans and plaudits. The character of mine host is sometimes measured as much by his cups as by his public acts — a curious gauge, it must be admitted, of men's brain-power and complacency. If charity covereth a multitude of sins, roast viands and wholesome drinks are not less opera- tive in softening \.\\q faux pas of our neighbours, and the fitful opinions of our political leaders. It was an error on the part of Graham to omit the seasonable hospitalities that flavour the salt of human nature — such hospitalities being the more needed at Netherby 4? Ncthcrby too Scclusivc to help to get rid of its Janus-like political position, and to secure for the young laird the good wishes of the country squires and principal freeholders. People naturally looked to the ancestral halls for the pleasant associations of English country life being upheld ill all their wholesomeness. But whether at Crofthead or Netherby, as Mr or Sir James, the representative Graham lived in too isolated a fashion, and seemed to be wanting in the frank and hearty recognition that suited the canny folk of Cumberland. The men of the North, the denizens of towns or pastorally located, wherever surrounded by mountain ranges and inclement skies, like the Swiss and Scandinavian, prize the exchange of homely courtesies and good fellowship — the small sweets among the many bitters of life ; — and their faith in a man of station is much enhanced by knowing that his social circle reflects pretty fairly his public sentiments. Graham was as popular at this period as any man of his class, arising entirely out of his high demonstrative faculty at the county meetings, the Quarter Sessions, or the Reform platform ; but he neglected the auxiliary means to permanency of regard with his fellow-men — the hall reception, the festive board,* and the amiable frater- nisation out of doors. Though the Netherby estate was encumbered, and material improvements were required, calling for large money outlay, it could not be said that limited income dictated seclusion or economy ; so reserve, pride, and shabbiness were cited by turns as prevail- ing features in the Graham character. It never *MoHfere's notion that " le vrai Amphihyon est cehii chez qui I'on dine," is pretty fully endorsed by all classes of the community. Grahams Higher Associates. 49 occurred to those who complained most of the Hmited Netherby circle that its master mind was absorbed in home extension, and in developing a new order of things. And that he was engaged in historical and political pursuits, more agreeable to a man of study and high ambition, than joining in the conventionalities set up by the squirearchy, or listening to the conversation of bucolic medio- crities. It is true that he might have done both the steward's part on his estate, and the student's part in politics, and still found time for the lighter courtesies of life ; it is to be regretted that, in overlooking these social amenities, he threw aside the chances of a wider and more permanent popu- larity than fell to most men of his epoch. With his immediate associates in the county, he ranked high, and in cultivating such friendships as those of Curwen and Matthews, and the truly catholic-minded Henry Howard of Corby Castle, he aimed rightly and well. The feeling of regret expressed by all who knew and loved the man was, that he did not mingle with the yeomanry, and did not even in the hey-day of his politics make himself better acquainted with their character and habits of thought. From 1821, onwards, was evidently a busy time with Graham. When the daily duties attending the management of his father's estate were over, he made scholarly culture part of his evening's pastime. Always fond of reading — and he rose at an early hour for the deeper studies — he seized every opportunity of ex- tending his political knowledge by perusing works on history, finance, and economics. In his lighter hours, he renewed his acquaintance with the Latin poets and D 50 Death of his Father. satirists, for whom he had early imbibed a taste, — continued, as many would say, to the end of his ministerial career. He read biographies of English .vorthies, and the speeches of the great statesmen of che Georgian era ; nor did he overlook the dramatic poesy and grand epics of our chief English bards. His home relations and classical feeling naturally gave him a zest for Border minstrelsy and the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott. Seeing so few friends, he had more leisure for self-improvement, and having a retentive memory, the literary stores gathered during these years of country life became available in adorn- ing his public oratory. His kinsmanship with Sheridan may have given him a bias towards the style of that flashy speaker, but he seems to have been more par- tial to Burke than either Fox or Pitt, or any public man of the century. He often cited the Irishman, and when fairly unbent in the company of good listeners among the yeomanry, and with the friendly cup circulating, used to come out with long quota- tions — occasionally lending dramatic force to Burke's words and sentiments. Old Sir James Graham, after being upwards of forty years in possession, died at Netherby Hall in 1824, and his son, the subject of this memoir, then came to the front as Sir James. The father has been called, and not inappropriately, " little Sir James," since the talents of the son became so well known as to have marked him as the great Sir James — a dis- tinction that history will unhesitatingly sanction. In these pages James Robert George Graham will now be spoken of as Sir James Graham. Were it not that the Netherby acres, though num- Wishes to sell NetJiej'by. 5 r bering 18,000, were under the ban of certain /rr cents., — those dreadful contingencies, — Sir James, standing at the door of his ancestral hall, as the new heritor, might have exclaimed with Alexander Selkirk, — " I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute." Mortgaged property had much to contend with during this particular period of depression in England, and Sir James seems to have viewed his own position in a serious light. The change from the cottage resi- dence and the sweets of early married life at Croft- head, to the big Ha' of Netherby and its mighty cares, — the weight of a sole responsibility, — the charges resting upon the estate, and these enhanced by family numbers, — the continued adversity surrounding the farming interests, — all conspired to create in Sir James a gloomy foreboding as to the future. He would sell his property and be free of the incubus of debt or mortgage, and carry his fortunes to some commercial or banking concerns. Such were his thoughts. Before taking so hazardous a step as join- ing a Bristol bank, he consulted a friend, who happily saved him from the 10 or 15 per cetit. "promises to pay" clutches, by advising him to hold on by the helm of his own ship, however heavily embargoed, on the banks of the Solway. Settled in decision, Sir James devoted himself with double energy to agricultural pursuits, continuing drainage works and other improvements in full ope- ration. This rural occupation, though advancing his self-interests, and gaining for him hearty commenda- tion as a landlord, was hardly commensurate with the higher aims of a man who had already taken part in 52 Discussions with Rooke. the legislative discussions of England's great council. The parliamentary ribbon, the unfading blue, still dangled before his mental vision, and mingled with the brighter hopes of his own and his country's future. He longed to be a second Curwen in public affairs, to head the stalwart independent yeomanry of Cum- berland, and to be the man of their choice, their parliamentary representative. Popular applause to Sir James, was like a gentle zephyr from the south, or a balmy sunshine. It soothed arid cheered, it enlivened and encouraged him to fresh endeavours and renewed action. Acting as if in anticipation of a return to St Stephens, he prepared himself for the work to be done there by revising his knowledge of English history and biography, and by keeping himself aiL coiirant with the progressive thought of the age. His discussions with John Rooke on political economy brought visibly to the foreground that particular branch of inquiry affecting the landed interests, and, no doubt, helped him to fix his opinions. Would that the arguments of the Akehead philosopher had so entirely prevailed with Graham as to have made him the pioneer of free trade, and the man of the times, as assuredly he might have been under Rooke's suggestive counsel. Sir James read and reflected much on the medium of change as affected by the supplies of corn, and after careful consideration pub- lished a pamphlet entitled " Corn and Currency," addressed to the landowners of England in 1826. In this essay, "Corn and Currency," he remonstrated with the landowners for not grappling with the evils surrounding their position, instead of frittering away their strength 0:1 party struggles. He advispd that , " Corn and Currencyr 53 public opinion, directed as it was by the middle ranks of life, should not only be recognised, but concerted with in all legislative measures for the welfare of the State. He thought the corn laws and the currency question should be studied together ; he pointed out the futility of high duties on corn, the unsteady prices, the gambling operations attendant upon these, and the need of considering the interests of the manu- facturer as well as those of the corn-grower. He was willing for a moderate fixed duty, but this could not be established "with fairness when the standard of value was itself unfair," and this, as he believed, was the " core of the whole subject." He strengthened his arguments by an historical survey, and showed the value of a mixed gold and silver standard from the days of the English Revolution (1688) to the end of the American war. He condemned the Bank Restric- tion Act of Pitt in 1797, and the enactments of Peel in 1819 ; and maintained that the Government ought to have told the country that the bill of 18 19 would make a difference of five and twenty instead of three per cent, in liabilities and contracts. On this ground he urged the policy, either of accommodating taxa- tion to the enhanced weight of encumbrances, or of continuing the permission to the banks to issue notes on their own responsibility, without statutable check. Now, Parliament being averse to the latter procedure, he argued that the former should be adopted. PI is notion was, that "the value of money is in the inverse ratio of its quantity, the supply of commodities re- maining the same. Increase the quantity of money, prices rise. Decrease the quantity of money, prices fall." 54 TJic Laurels of Free Trade In addition to the historical data and arguments in his essay, Sir James dwelt on the danger and de- lusiveness of prohibition, and of the need of conform- ing to pubHc opinion. He knew that pubhc opinion was opposed to the then existing corn laws ; he knew that a time of scarcity would still further estrange the hearts of the people from " the ancient possessors of the soil ;" he therefore advised a " timely compro- mise with the public, and an ample but fair protecting duty, with open ports, on the admission of foreign corn." He also sought free-trade in money, the breaking down of the East India and West India monopolies, the removal of timber duties, and the reduction of taxes affecting both the commerce and manufactures of our country. The well informed reader will at once perceive that the carrying out of these proposals in 1826, instead of waiting twenty years longer, would have been attended with most important results to England and the world at large. Had Sir James, in season and out of season, stuck to the text of even a small fixed duty, — a close approximation to Rooke's free-trade, — as Curwen so lustily held for the repeal of the salt tax, he would have achieved the greatest fame in our epoch as an English statesman and financier; and instead of the harvest of applause — a country's approval — being gathered by Cobden and Peel, the laurels of free trade — the greatest social and political victory of our day — would have graced the brows of a Cumberland land- owner, — Sir J. R. G. Graham. This essay made a noise in the world of politics, the more so that it was the production of a young baronet who, with an income vested entirely on land, Might have crowned Graham. 5 5 nevertheless advocated bold, if not radical, measures affecting the metallic currency, the National Bank, the deterioration of annuities, and the removal of the restrictions on trade in corn. Sir James was praised in the commercial towns, and freely abused by the country party of England. The issue of a second edition showed the circulation the essay had gained, and as the author coveted public opinion, he must have felt proud of the public acknowledgment, — not the less that he had become a claimant for honours in a special walk of political economy seldom occu- pied except by thinking and philosophic minds. CHAPTER V. Carlisle Election and Riots, 1826— Mayor Hodgson to blame— A Knight of the Shire— Scotch Notes— A Cattle-show Speech— His Personality, Character, Dress, and Habits. ^ARLY in the spring of 1826, a new Parlia- ment became an inevitable fact. Lots of fresh hands offered ; and Sir James Graham, counting himself worthy of employment in His Majesty's service, applied to Mr Curwen* to know if he wished to continue in command of the " Cum- berland," the ship of all others desirable in Graham's eyes. As already mentioned in the biography of the Workington Squire, Mr Curwen would hold on by the blue flag ; but his partiality for Sir James was shown in pointing him out to the Carlisle constituency as the best man. Thus he wrote : — " Dobinson should lose no time in calling a meeting at Carlisle to pro- pose asking Sir James Graham to stand. I hope it will meet with general concurrence." With the Netherby Baronet appeared Sir P. Musgrave of Eden * Mr Curwen fought very shy of H. Brougham, and would not sign the proposed requisition to him to stand for Cumberland. Curwen, it might be thought, was apprehensive of his own seat if he joined with Brougham against the Lowthers ; but stronger reasons existed. He had no faith n Brougham's sincerity, and would not " ride the water " with him. In one of his letters he says — " Brougham has shown how little cause I had to rely upon him." Mayor Hodgson zvants bleeding. 57 Hall and Mr James of Barrock Lodge — the latter being nominated against his wish. The Tory can- didate, (Musgrave,) in canvassing a suburban district, roused the ire of the weavers, long depressed by poverty, and attributing their ills, in part, to the Tory Government. He was subjected to very bad usage ; a riot ensued, and the military being called out, and ordered to fire, lives were lost — the lives of innocent persons — and several were wounded. Sir James did not reach Carlisle till the evening, when he addressed his friends from the Grapes Inn windows, reverting to the painful doings of the day in the most touching terms. On the niorning following the nomination, it became known that a troop of horse was stationed in Bot- cherby Lane, on the southern suburbs of the city, and this fact gave rise to very angry feelings at the polling-booth. An explanation was asked of the Mayor, (W. Hodgson,) who said "he would not be- lieve that the military were at or near the town ; that it was impossible." To know how matters stood, a deputation was named by the candidates to wait upon the officer in command ; and on their return to the polling-booth, announced that Captain Wheeler had told them that he had marched his troop to the suburbs " by order of the Mayor T Here, then, was " official lying," following close upon the heels of " official butchery," and quite enough to excite an already outraged mob. The Mayor, cowed by the attitude of affairs, which he had brought entirely upon himself, in desperate agitation, said — "I certainly did;" but nothing more could be heard but yells and epithets of "butcher" and "butchery." Sir James quieted the meeting, and the Mayor, tremulous in 58 " Hodgins" here, there, and everywhere. hand as well as ideas, wrote an order to Captain Wheeler to remove his troop four miles from the city : he then retired to his own country-house, and sent for the doctor to bleed him ! * The election proceeded, and Sir James Graham (Whig) polled 283 ; Sir Philip Musgrave (Tory,) 238 ; and Mr James (Radical,) 140. Sir James pursued the same line of politics as on his first entry to Parliament — voting on the side of the Whigs, and for retrenchment and reform. On presenting a petition from a Carlisle citizen bearing upon the military outrage at the late election, Sir James contended that the 300 special constables called out on that occasion could have quelled the disturbance ; he complained of the Mayor being a warm partisan of the Tories, and of his calling in a body of raw troops to charge an unarmed multitude. This speech in the Commons gained him great popu- larity in Carlisle, as he expressed but the general sentiment in condemning the partisanship and hasty action of the authorities, and notably the Mayor. During the stirring period antecedent to and dur- * There were so many official Hodgsons, (the name is ahnost univer- sally pronounced and frequently spelt Hodgin in Cumberland,) that the Carlisle lieges were puzzled as to the Hodgin announced as the new mayor. It ought to be added that the mayoralty was pretty nearly worked by the Hodgins for many years, a Tory doctor being an occa- sional variety of the Lowther hatching. In numbers they rivalled the satellites of a great orb, and the civic chair was their attractive Jupiter, bestowing larger gifts of meat and drink ("glorious old port") than ever fell from the mythological " Old Tonans" to mortal men. These Lowther satellites — the Hodgins — were oddly distinguished by the burgesses : one from his hose, "strait-stockings Hodgin ;" another by his bandy legs ; the third, from his previous occujwtion, if not from the butchering at this election, "Butcher Bill;" and the fourth from his residence, "Mushroom Ha' Hodgin." Whig Families. 59 ing Mr Canning's premiership — marked by political throes among the Whigs, the formation of coalitions, and much fitful antagonism — Sir James had his weather-eye open to passing events and the character of the men seeking the guidance of the king and the headship of the nation. He drew closer to Lord Althorp and Mr Huskisson than any other men in the Commons ; and the proposed emancipation of the Catholics and a new corn bill were the chief bonds that united them in feeling. As the author of " Corn and Currency," the member for Carlisle ob- tained a footing in the House that could not be ignored, even by the old Whig families, ever jealous of intrusion upon their own domain, and noted for their special nursing of their own sucklings rather than accept the finest feathers of their neighbours' brood.* Sir James had much correspondence during the year 1827 with Mr John Rooke of Akehead, and chiefly on corn and currency. Excerpts from his letters to Mr Rooke will, it is hoped, be found inter- esting to both general and local readers of this biography. Dating from Grosvenor Place, London, 17th January 1827, Sir James, inter alia, writes: — " On the deadly effects which Mr Peel's bill of 18 19 must produce, unless moderated or repealed, you and I are entirely agreed ; and I am happy to say that the landed aristocracy begin to see their danger, and * The writer is glad to find his opinions of the Whigs so strongly cor- roborated by Sir H. L. Bulwer, the Whig ambassador to the Sublime Porte from 1858 to 1865, in his " Historic Characters,'' when speaking of Canning : — " The Whig party tlien, as always, was essentially an ex- clusive party ; its regards were concentrated on a clique, to whom all without it were tools and instruments." 6o Letters to Mr Jolin Rooke. to understand the cause of it ; the struggle between them and the moneyed interest is at hand ; directly or indirectly the old standard of value will be lowered, and the bullionists will sustain a defeat Though I am disposed also to believe with you that freedom of commerce and an enlargement of the field of our mercantile operations would ultimately en- hance the value of all property within the realms, and of land, which is the foundation of national wealth, yet ivithoiit a simultaneous increase of our circulating medium, which might at all times secure a price nominally high in our own markets, and equalise in some degree our money means and our money engagements, I am not bold enough to try your experiment, and to enter into a free competi- tion with the foreign markets for corn. I am not prepared to say that the ultimate result would not be a general rise of price, accompanied by increased comfort and civilisation to all the people of the habitable globe ; but the innnediatc effect here would be a sudden and an awful fall, fatal to a large por- tion of the present proprietors of the soil, who being encumbered with fixed money engagements, could not bear the temporary decrease of income, and would be ruined before the fresh impulse given to commerce had fructified their landed property, and restored or even augmented its value. " Give me a sufficient circulating medium in our own country, and I am for free trade in every article with every country of the world ; but with Mr Peel's bill on the statute-book, I dare try no experiment which may lower for one half-year the income of the proprietor of the soil." €oru Laws and Parliament. 6i Whilst the party in power were meditating some change in the corn laws, he wished the currency- question to remain in abeyance till the plan of the Government had been disclosed, for it was still a mystery on the 12th February 1827, and of this he complained to Mr Rooke : — " This concealment is an evil omen, and to my mind savours of a juggle. A great measure of a wise government should be founded on general principles which will bear the severest scrutiny, and the test of publicity and of criticism ; and to me it would seem unworthy of a British legis- lature to pledge itself to the adoption of a great change in the national policy, without affording to the British public ample time for deliberation and opinion on its merits. This check of public opinion on all our measures is, I feel, most salutary ; and more severe and sound judgment prevails on all those subjects wWioiit the walls of Parliament than can very easily be found zvitJiin it." In reviewing the session of 1827, Sir James wrote : — " The recent struggle of parties have been highly injurious to the public interests, and never was a session less productive of solid advantage to the com- munity. I am not pleased with the present posture of affairs, and I fear that for some time the govern- ment will be disorganized, and public attention dedi- cated to the character and conduct of men, without much reference to measures. " Every day's additional experience convinces me more and more of the soundness of our views respect- ing the currency ; the bill of 18 19 lies at the founda- tion of all our difficulties. Corn laws, custom regu- lations, emigration reports, and relief to manufactures 62 Falters at the waters edge. all are but the fringes of this our first great cause, on which our difficulties and our fate depend. We must come to the discussion of it at last ; it will be forced on us, but the Legislature is not yet ripe for it ; and the ignorance still prevalent on this subject exceeds your belief of possibility." Dating from Netherby, 27th November 1827, and acknowledging some of Rooke'sMS., he goes on to say : — " In the main I am convinced, both by your reasoning and your facts, though I am not quite pre- pared to admit foreign corn without the imposition of a moderate duty, as a mere fiscal regulation ; and though I am disposed to ascribe even more fatal effects than you do, to the permanent operations of Mr Peel's bill, and of a gold standard constantly in- creasing in value, while our national burthens are proportionally augmented/' The reader will mark that Sir James, though con- vinced by Rooke's reasoning, and facts of the free trade doctrines, was afraid of taking any step to their development or trial, Peel's bill was his great bug- bear, and his natural timidity — called cowardice by some — kept him faltering at the water's edge. He had only to rush boldly into the stream, cross the rubicon of politics, and be the great Csesar of the free trade republic, compared with which, as far as the destinies of mankind are concerned, the Vcni Vidi Vici, and other achievements of the Roman, were but lines in the page of a mightier history. The death of Mr Curwen, M.P. for Cumberland, (on the loth December 1828,) induced Sir James to aban- don his seat for Carlisle, and to offer himself for the county. As a candidate, he was anxious for the sup- Ciunbcrland Election, 1829. 6^:^ port of the Earl of Carlisle,* the chief representative of the Liberal interest in Cumberland. He wrote his Lordship a clever and characteristic letter, setting forth the family intimacy, long habits of good neigh- bourhood ; and then recollecting a late election, apologising for his part therein, and throwing himself upon the generosity of "the individual whose esteem he should most value, and whose support would be his greatest honour." The Earl of Carlisle, with a feeling worthy of his high name and amiable character, forgot the time-serving conduct of young Netherby against him at the county election, (1820,) and advo- cated Sir James's claims in his new candidature, sup- ported by the Howards and old Curwen's party. Lowther opposition was not much cared for, nor was any offered; so on the 24th January 1829 Sir James was made a Knight of the Shire — the greatest honour he ever coveted in his way to Parliament. Addressing Mr Rooke from Netherby, 19th Janu- ary 1829, he thus shows his pleasure of the new honours : — " Knowing you to be a very sincere friend, I am sure you will rejoice with me in the events of the last week ; the triumph is not mine ; the free- holders of our native county have evinced their energy and spirit, tempered by a discreet moderation, which, without great misconduct on my part, places the power and the independence of this county on a rock from which it cannot be moved. The speeches of Blamire and Major Aglionby were the best for such an occasion I ever heard, and it was a proud day, not to me only, but to those free-born states- * This was the sixth Earl of Carlisle, who, as Lord Morpeth, had to give way to Curwen at the County election of 1820. 64 Afraid of the State of the Country. men whose character I value more as I understand it better." He came purposely from London in April to attend the quarter sessions and cattle show, and wrote to Mr Rooke from Netherby on the loth of the month: — " You see how true all our predictions have proved ; the conjoint operation of the suppression of the £\ notes, and of the restrictions on trade flowing from corn laws, has again brought this unhappy country to the verge of ruin, and grinds to the earth the impoverished labouring classes/' After showing up a handful of " annuitants and pensioners " for whose benefit so many sacrifices were being made, he expressed him- self in very gloomy terms as to the future, by saying, — " I never thought so ill of the real state of the country as at this moment." The dawn of the year 1830 found Sir James in no better hopes. He thought it was no time to recollect party differences when the existence of our establish- ments and our country were at stake. " The war is between the tax payers and the tax receivers, the landowners and the stock jobbers : every honest man must take his part, and those who hesitate are lost ; for the crisis is at hand, and it can only be averted by decisive measures. The ministers seek to temporise, the country must demand a change of policy ; but the Duke will not yield easily, and if the yeomen remain silent, the voice of a few members in the House of Commons will be found to avail little ; the worst symptoms of the times is the apparent apathy of the people." Hitherto, Sir James had not made any great im- pression on the House of Commons, but in 1829 the One Pound Notes. 65 Graham plume waves higher that the bearer has won the good opinion of his most influential neighbours, and of the county at large ; and that he has been thought worthy of the mantle worn by Cumbrian's political leader — Curwen. Mr Torrens says that Sir James admitted to a friend his failures as a speaker, and his fears of gaining any success in that direction ; if so, it was a noble admission to make. He spoke well in Cumberland, both indoors and on the larger platform of a county meeting, but there seems to have been some timidity on his part in meeting the eye of the House. He could be forward enough in the clubs ready for banter and repartee, apt at quotations, strong in criticism, and clever in speech ; but when he had to address the legislative wisdom, there was more display in his " get up " than in his oratory. Probably the prominence of the dandy affected his position in the Commons, and the somewhat pre- sumptuous air of the young M.P. may have had some weight in the balance against his popularity. He seems to have gained more confidence as the session drew to a close, and on the 3d June, (1829,) moved for a committee of inquiry, rather than support a bill for limiting the circulation of Scottish notes to the north of the Borders. No man could speak more to the purpose on this subject, and in defence of the Scottish £\ note, as 7-8ths of his rent, he told the House, was paid in the paper currency of Scotland : moreover, no loss had been sustained by failures in his district. He showed the absurdity of making gold the only medium of circulation below £^ on the English side, whilst paper held good on the other, especially as he could jump over the boundary be- 66 CatJiolic Relief Bill. tween England and Scotland. He regretted his vote in 1 8 19 in favour of Peel's bill, and blamed Ricardo for misleading the House, and maintained that it was not the system of currency that was at fault, but the system of banking. He read long quotations from Locke and Hume in support of his views, and in so doing, possibly marred an able speech. His amend- ment, opposed by Peel and Huskisson, was lost. In the biography of Mr John Christian Curwen, M.P., the writer had the pleasure of recording the fact (p, 182) of Mr Curwen's success in carrying a Roman Catholic Relief Bill through the House of Commons, on the loth May 1825. The great signi- ficance of the vote was felt throughout the United Kingdom. The cautious, or rather the bigoted (Eldonite) Protestants, took great alarm ; the more liberal section of the community had their hopes en- hanced towards the goal of a full religious liberty. It required four years' more discussion to make the Catholic Relief Bill the law of the land. Sir James Graham lent his aid to the measure, and throughout life rejoiced that he had taken part in the emancipa- tion of our fellow Catholic subjects. When Oxford rejected Mr, afterwards Sir R. Peel, for favouring the Catholics, and adopted Sir Robert Inglis as the great Protestant champion, Sir James Graham could not resist the opportunity (March 4, 1829) of criticising the new member when he talked of the intelligence of the country being in favour of rigid Protestantism. On the same occasion, he spoke in handsome terms of Mr Peel as a really honest and conscientious man; he praised his courage in so manly avowing his change of opinions at the risk of losing his seat at ' Agricultural Dinner Speech. 67 Oxford, and breaking through many ties, personal and pubh'c, which bound him to the Tory party. As Sir James had been opposed to Mr Peel on nearly all occasions, this tribute, so warm and appreciative to a political opponent, was looked upon as a highly honourable trait in his own character. It is also said that Peel felt flattered by the remarks of the Netherby baronet. At the cattle show held at Carlisle 226. April 1829, Sir James presided — William Blamire being vice- chairman — over a great gathering of landed proprie- tors and farmers. Sir James, in replying to his health that had been proposed by the vice-chairman, spoke as follows : — " Mr Blamire says I have done you honour by appearing among you to-day. This is a mistake. I never am more honoured than in being permitted to preside over so large and respectable a body of yeomanry of this county. Born and nursed in the county, I have always taken pleasure in the cultiva- tion of the land. It was here, in this county, I spent the happiest portion of my life — that portion to which I look back with sincerest pleasure. It was during those four years which I spent in retirement, in culti- vating my farms and improving my paternal estate, that I became thoroughly acquainted with the yeomanry of this county, and learned to esteem the free-born spirit of its freeholders. It was here that I first learned the value of that free-born spirit, which disdains to bend to power, which knows and asserts its own rights, and will maintain and defend them against all opposition, come from what quarter it may — whether it comes in the form of open violence, or in the more secret machinations of intrigue and politi- 68 Praises the Yeomanry. cal dissimulation." He introduced in his happiest manner the memory of Curwen to the meeting ; and both speeches received the heartiest approbation. He knew the character of his hearers, and the pride they felt on being praised for their independence and public spirit, and his words were the very thing to touch the hearts of the assembled yeomanry. This agricultural meeting was often referred to in after years — the new county member in the chair, smart in dress and smarter in words, and that fine fellow Blamire to back him. Sir James had given a fresh impetus to farming, and set a good example as landlord ; he had passed from the city to the county representation ; he had written an essay on political matters of great and growing import, and as a public man ranked among the most promising mem.bers of the Commons. By the intelligent Cumbrians he was viewed as a " man of the times," and by the county folk in general re- joicing in his county reforms and hom e operations was styled " the Cock of the North ;" no higher terms, of praise could be found in their vocabulary. At this period, 1829-30, he was still on the sunny side of 40 years, but so matured in character that a few words may not inappropriately be offered in this place re- garding his personal traits and disposition — leaving to subsequent parts of this narrative some of the finer lines of his mental portraiture. Sir James had a commanding presence, and was always spoken of as a grand specimen of a man — much too grand to be generic or typical of a class. His noble pliysiqiie was rarely paralleled, even in the aristocratic circles, where the best types of the Eng Graham's Portraiture, 69 lish race, and assuredly the finest and most graceful women in Europe, are to be found. Tall in stature, broad across the chest, and somewhat massive, he nevertheless showed excellent proportions, being, as often described, a handsome man from head to foot. He had a bright complexion, worthy of rural life and high health, and a temperament of the mixed kind, suited to the arduous duties attached to English statesmanship. His head showed capacity and power, and his visage caught everybody's attention. He had the torso of a mighty athlete, a stately mien, and the tread of a man no less firm than lithesome in action. Notable in externals that claimed the most unobservant, who could fail to perceive in his lofty bearing and self-possession the dignified aspect of a man of mark } His attitude left nothing to be desired ; it was secure, exalted, and unaffected. Whether at an agricultural show, or addressing a hustings mob, or seeking to enlighten the senate of his country, he looked the impersonation of authority, high-breeding, and culture. In the large assemblies of his own countymen he stood with the best of the big-framed yeomanry in point of strength. In Parliament he had scarcely a rival in manliness of build, and the high ideal of statesmanship in person. His lordliness of both the outer and inner man seems to have given rise to a corresponding artistic sentiment quoad his position as one of the celebrities of the day. In all public portraits of him, whether figuring as one of the chiefs of the reformed Parliament, or as a mem- ber of the Aberdeen Cabinet, Sir James is depicted standing among his colleagues, thus helping to break the lines of mediocre humanity, and giving an exalted 70 Special Features. feeling to the grouped assemblage of which he was so prominent a member. The lofty brow, the broad occiput, the peculiarly mobile eyebrows, twinkling eye, and boldly arched nose, were features of great avail to the limner courting an admiring public through the pages of Punch or Figaro. The wearing of a deep and coloured cravat and voluminous shirt- collar made his head all the more conspicuous, and gave breadth to its leading characteristics. As his forehead became bald, the cerebral development of the man became more revealed ; his general fea- tures indicated force and precision ; the exceptional action of the lower lip added to his show of super- ciliousness. If the nose of "Harry Brougham" was a fortune to " H. B.," the caricaturist of his day, Graham's argus-eye, deeply set by the side of a nobly-chiselled Roman, whose tip was not far distant from the high shirt-collar, served to make Graham known to the world at large. His eyes were rather small, keenly observant and scanning, and at times shoved an unquestionably sinister and diplomatic expression. Like other men, he could be staid, con- templative, and reserved, or lively and gay, as cir- cumstances suited. But few could show such anti- thesis of feeling, the gracious and supercilious, the morose and the highly knowing, by one feature alone — the eye, and more notably his right eyebrow, always so varied in its play, so telling in its acute and sym- pathetic manifestations. In the private circle Sir James could be social and pleasant. In public life, especially as a Minister of the Crown asserting his policy or defending his dogma and party, he was at times grandiose, and showed an Pride loscth men's hearts. 71 overweening confidence that often bore upon the arrogant and dictatorial. Wliether this hauteur and superciHousness, so frequently assigned to him by both friend and foe, was an untutored and unguarded expression, or truly of innate growth, such display of manners could not fail to act injuriously on his char- acter ; for, as Shakespeare makes Worcester say : Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain, The least of which hau Loseth men's hearts." The least of which haunting a nobleman Much of the feeling that Graham exhibited rested with the world outside. He was a true creature of circumstances, rejoicing in the radiance of day, or mourning under the cloudy canopy that might be exhibited by his fellow-men. When trusted, as he was in his early days, by the men of Cumberland, and when he felt he was esteemed and looked up to for counsel ; above all, when he enjoyed the unreserved confidence of his party, he was all frankness and sun- shine. Too often, much too often, he viewed things through a dark medium or smoked glass, as if some- what afraid of the light. His dress was as conspicuous as his person. In early manhood a**polished dandy of the exquisite sort, in mature age his marked cravat, blue or dark puce coat, light vest, and smart gloves, carried suffi- cient brightness and starch for the highest occasions. By his neighbours he was spoken of as a " bra' fellow, aye bran new in toggery." He was never seen in deshabille, and was much too self-dignified to be found half-dressed or in a lounging attitude. His pedestrianism was of the best, and he was nothing 72 On his Native Heather. loth to gallop across the country. Fond of rural sports, he appeared to much greater advantage when he had doffed off the paraphernalia of officialism and the conventionalities of high society. He could be frank and communicative, but at no time was so fami- liar as his friends would have liked. He was most at ease when treading his native heather, or watching by the burn-side and Border streams. All his talk was enjoyable and instructive, and not infrequently as telling upon the solitary listener as some of his prepared phrases or set speeches were upon the ears of the public — to be treasured up as discerning, me- morable, and prophetic. In social intercourse he sought for no special dis- play. He entered into the common business matters and recreations of everyday life, though naturally more at home on general topics of national interest. Unfortunately he associated too little with his county friends, and maintained too great reserve, as if caring little for human relationship and the world's broader sympathies. Though so rarely seen in the company of the yeomanry, some of them noticed a peculiar, and, it may be said, disagreeable, trait in the Netherby laird. In the midst of friends, and when conversation was by no means at a' stand-still, Graham had fits of silence, or seemed to fall into a state of forgetfulness more befitting the abstract philosopher than the man of everyday life. At times, indeed, he appeared as much absorbed as if studying the "Morals of Solitude," if not the more solemn " Anatomy of Melancholy." Did this state of suspense arise from in- considerateness towards others, or disregard for his companionship, or a cherished pride of superiority ? Fits of Silence, y-i^ Was it a voluntary or involuntary act ? or what was the chain that bound him to self? — current events, contemplation, or mere abstraction of thought ? On being questioned as to the cause by a worthy politi- cal disciple, in whose presence he was sitting, Sir James made his isolation appear to be involuntary or intuitive, and that it arose from a too close study of Edmund Burke, whose shadowy thoughts had entered the Graham breast so as to affect it both in season and out of season. Many people never heard of this curious mental trait in Sir James, and others may feel a difficulty in reconciling it with the more de- monstrative parts of the man's nature. It has a significance, however, that should not be overlooked in the study of his psychological character, marked as it was by great versatility of display, if not a direct antithesis of feeling and action. There are other problems to solve in Graham's history beyond this anomalous condition, bordering on a dejection such as the broadest intellects have been known occasion- ally to suffer from, not originating in discourtesy, selfishness, or misanthropy, but in too large a sym- pathy with the wants and exigencies of the times. His dreamy state could hardly be likened to the con- centrativeness of thought that, in the breast of some men, engenders action — the foster-mother of high and sublime resolves. It may be presumed to have had no such depth, but rather a reverie of mind than a reconstruction of ideas, with Graham. Pondering over the words of Burke and Montesquieu might ex- plain the recurrence of these fits of cloudiness when alone in his study ; but a more intimate acquaintance with Pascal, whom he sometimes read, should have 74 ^ Psychological Trait. taught Graham to avoid the risk of appearing ridiculous in seeking repose or seclusion in the society of his fellow-men. This pre-occupation, ab- straction, or reverie would naturally increase upon him with years ; and the existence of such a state of mind may explain the stubborn mood he exhibited at times, when the frank-spoken would have served him so much better, and helped to clear his name from insinuations and unjust aspersions. Were Burke's writings entirely to blame for Graham's be- trayal of deep emotions that found no expression .-" or was Graham himself in these moments of solitude re- calling the fleeting memories of the past, or construct- ing a fresh and tangible present, rearranging his forces, or developing new aims and purposes ? or was he unwittingly verifying the words of Goethe bearing upon society and seclusion in man's history — " Talent forms itself in solitude ; Character in the storms of life " ? is a mystery never to be satisfactorily solved. CHAPTER VI. Sir yames the great Coimty Reformer — The system thai worked so well for the Clerk of the Peace and the Vagrants I — Gross Official Im- pertinence — Financial Boards needed. T may be advisible here, as more historically correct in line, to sketch Sir James in the exercise of his magisterial functions during an important period (1821-30) of the his- tory of Cumberland, when a man of nerve and action was imperatively required for a special work — the reform of the Court of Quarter Sessions, filled with rank officialism and financial waste, in other words, great and crying abuses. Cumbrians of the present day, familiar with open courts, rejoicing in freedom of discussion, and thoroughly alive to newspaper currency and com- ment, have no idea of the mode in which the financial business of the county was transacted in the times of their grandfathers ; and, without this knowledge, can form no true estimate of the highly valuable services rendered by Sir James Graham in his magisterial capacity at Quarter Sessions. It was the custom of the magistrates, after the prisoners had been tried, and parish appeals settled, to adjourn as a court to an hotel —"The Bush 'at Carlisle, "The Globe" at Cocker- mouth — where over their walnuts and wine, or, mora 76 County Jobbery. generally, brandy punch, the said court passed the '* Quarterly Accounts," in other words, did the county business ! The public knew nothing of the distribu- tion of the county rates, or of the new projects on foot for more outlay ; they were equally ignorant of the salaries of the court officials, though by no means blind to the grand display made by the said officials in the streets of the city, or as owners of suburban terraces, and rural mansions. All the costly items arising from bad management of county affairs were kept out of sight as too glossy in character for any but the eyes of privileged justices. Of the ratepayers 99-iOOths had no voice in, and no appeal against, the expenditure of the public moneys.* It was a pretty state of things, and one better calculated to shelter abuses and to promote jobbery could hardly have been devised ; and that jobbery was in full force no man doubted who knew anything of the history of Eden bridges. Sir James Graham might well say — pointing to the bridges — the architect Smirke got 5 per cent, on the outlay, and " Bill Hodgin " an- other /^r centagc for keeping the accounts — " We see Iiozv the county money goes, and to whom it does go." When the ratepayers complained of an order of things that cost them so dear they were aus- * Here was taxation without representation. The same system holds good now, but the ratepayers are cognisant of what is doing, and can express their opinions through the press, or by public remonstrance ; and they can make their appeals felt beyond the county — namely, at the Home Office. This was notably seen a few years ago in reference to the site of the county asylum, when the magisterial body suffered no little in character as business men, and suffered still more at the hands of Lord Palmerston, who adopted the common sense views of the Cum- berland ratepayers, and laughed at the magisterial busybodies, " the wise men of Gotham. " '' The System works well." jf terely met, and condemned for their interference by the privileged order, who asserted "that the system worked well enough." No doubt the system did work well for those who held the public purse, and got the lion's share of its contents. It worked well for William Hodgson, the Clerk of the Peace, the major dovio of Quarter Sessions, who, not content with the profits of his clerkship, sought the additional fees of a private solicitor, who pocketed fees for recognizances, for which there was no judge's warrant, and fees for everything that could be caught in the well-guarded meshes of his official net.* The system worked well for county coroners of the Richard Lowry stamp, over whom there was no real supervision ; it worked well for county magis- trates, who got the bridges and roads near their mansions constructed without a bridge-master's in- spection ; in short, it worked well for overpaid and not overlooked officials of every class ; and as it worked well for them, it worked very badly for the Cumber- land ratepayers. The system that worked so well for the county oligarchy snugly ensconced received a shock in January 1828, when the editor of the Carlisle Journal'^ — probably encouraged by Sir James and other friends to reform of the courts — presented a letter to the chairman of Quarter Sessions, asking for admis- * It miji^lit well be said by both town and county folk, " that the Clerk of the Peace liad many a grand haid in his time," and that i. was a fine thing to be a " yellow in office." This person occasionally held four offices — i. Clerk to the Magistrates ;* 2. Clerk of the Peace ; 3. Town-Clerk ; and 4. Mayor of the City of Carlisle ! + Mr Jollie, the proprietor of the Carlisle Joiirnal, was at this time in prison for speaking a truth concerning the Lowther satellites. 78 Grahams Check-rein. sion to the meeting when the " public business" of the county was being transacted. After some discussion the editors request was complied with ; so that the financial affairs of the county became public at, and after, these Epiphany Sessions. Sir James on that occasion urged " that in the present state of the county funds, no new works should be undertaken, and no more done to other works in progress than can be avoided till the debt is paid off." This was the first check to extravagance ; and at the next Sessions (Easter) he objected to the clerk's fees, and this was the first check to official rapacity. The old poor law was then in operation, and afforded many channels for chicanery and fraud — " its parochial settlements " being under magisterial direction, which meant pretty nearly no direction at all. Now the system extolled by the Session func- tionaries worked so well that its good things de- scended far below the "Bills" and " Dicks" in office — even to the ragged sort whose wanderings brought them within the county boundaries. The Scotch vagrant soon got to know that if he could reach Ea- mont bridge, the southern boundary of Cumberland, he would obtain provender and carriage to the north of the Sark ; or in other words, reach Scotland ; and Paddy, nothing loth with the " canny Scot " to par- take of the general indulgence of the county, had his parochial ride* from " Mumps' Ha' " (the beggars' ren- * The old Gaberlunzie system was respectable compared with this, for those got the talk and the tunes who filled the beggar's wallet and barrowed him onwards to the next house or parish ; but under this legalised vagrancy act, magistrates signed orders for the passport of paupers whom they had not seen ; and overseers not overlooked coolly - ^Vagrancy iti Cumberland ! 79 dezvous, if not something worse, in the days of Meg Merrilees) to the nearest point of the Solway — bound for " ould Ireland." The expenses incurred " for re- moving vagrants through and out of the county of Cumberland/' amounted in the year 1820 to the almost incredible sum of ^^865, 2s. /d. ! What a blessed county was Cumberland in those days for overreaching lawyers of pious show, make-believe overseers, and proletarian vagabonds ! * The year 1829 was a great year for Cumberland, and a special year in Sir James Graham's history, both in his county and parliamentary relations. In the previous year the walls of the Session's citadel had been scaled, and now the leader of the assault, in possession of the public arena, and armed with a weapon more incisive than his ancestor's bright sword, cuts right and left at lazy and reckless officialism. Red tape no longer remained untied on the green baize table. It was cut across, and documents were read and discussed in open court ; and inquiries on every subject instituted by Sir James, who detected abuses with the alertness of a pointer in search of pocketed moneys for myths ! The ratepayers paid the piper, and got no tunes but the discordant demands of piping tax-gatherers. * Certain parts of England favoured vagabondage more than others ; Penrilh and Bristol had great attractions, indeed a paradisaical char- acter. The vagrants might well sing a song in praise of Scott, the Cumberland officer, vi^ishing long life to him and his family, and con- cluding thus : — " We '11 all go back to Bristol, And soon be back again." In 1606 and 1607 the money disbursed to the Grames for their three " transplantations'" . to Ireland and the Low Countries only amounted to ;^388, 17s. iid. The common vagrants passing through Cumberland in 1820 cost the county considerably more than double that sum — namely, ;^86s, 28. 7d. ! 8o Well done, Sir James f game. He was compared to a ferret hunting rats in an old corn stack ; and both ferret and terriers were needed to destroy the vermin* Everybody saw the ruinous state of Denmark, yet no one stepped forth as the Hamlet of action but Graham. Indeed, no man could play the Hamlet pipe, or discourse such eloquent music as he ; no arras could shelter official delinquency from the plunge of his rapier — not even the coated arras of twenty years' service, advanced by one of the wounded parties, in extenuation of his mode and misapplications. Well done. Sir James, was the feeling within the court, and this was echoed throughout the county ; and many who did not like his politics, praised his sessional efforts, his exposure of wrong-doing, and the casting down of official effrontery. Sir James, having scrutinised the roll of inquests, asked the court to refuse a certain payment to Mr Lowry, the coroner, unless he would make an affida- vit that he held the said inquest legally. This Mr Lowry did not like to do ; so he forfeited his fees.f Sir James next obtained a Jail Committee to make regular inspections of the prison, and mooted the desirability of a scientific bridge-master, both reforms in a right direction. At the May sessions, (1829,) more blotted leaves in the county accounts were brought to light. The Harraby bridge | was being * The writer is but using the prevalent language of tlie time in speak- ing of rats and terriers in the county granary. f The Armthwaite inquest on the body of a servant girl found in the river is not forgotten to this day as one of legal pampering with homi- cide. X The history of Hairaby bridge — not quite so bad as that of Eden bridge — bears much resemblance to the management of the erection of ■ - The Cost of Talk ! 8 1 constructed at the time. It was not enough for the court to contract with a builder, and wait the comple- tion of his work, as men of ordinary business habits would have done, but a committee of magistrates must meet regularly at Carlisle, to talk about the said bridge ; and to enable them to talk, the Clerk of the Peace sat in council with them ! Ciii bono ? — fees of course! Even when there was not a quorum of jus- tices, and, it may be presumed, no talk, the clerk had his fee ! Sir James could not overlook the glaring fact, that fees for attendance, fees for receiving in- structions, and other items, amounting to £7, arose out of one meeting. This was out-Hodgining Hod- gin, and the members of the court might well look at their clerk, then at each other. Then continues the newspaper report : " The Clerk of the Peace. — The attendance is charged in the same way as in the bill at the building of Eden bridges." " Sir fames Graham. — Oh, yes ! I have no doubt of that ! And the charges made part of the ^82,000 expended on that occasion. (A laugh.)" Among the many accounts laid on the table of Quarter Sessions, the longest and weightiest of all was not produced for examination till nearly the expira- tion of the meeting ; so that the sum total was the only fact recognised in it ; and no doubt the acute baronet " knew the reason why," and therefore com- plained. And what was the clerk's remark .^ " It is a very unpleasant thing to have one's bill handed round for everybody's inspection."* After this, how the county asylum in these latter days ; and to say more would be superfluous. * This style of address, on the part of a hired servant to his masters, F $2 Pecks7iiff Rivalled. the air of the court must have smelt of Hodgin-ism, compared with which Pecksniff-ianism was a veritable morality! Did the indignant clerk verify Pope's words ? " No cheek is known to blush, nor heart to throb. Save when they lose a question or Tijob." Public opinion now became roused by these ses- sional proceedings ; and Sir James, encouraged by its potent influence, continued the good fight, and insisted upon official acts being done according to law, and bills framed according to orders, and not on the Eden bridge scale of monstrous charges.* This was a heavy blow and great discouragement to the holders of vested rights, or rather the profiters by, and abettors of, continued wrongs. Though ably assisted by his brother-in-law Mr, afterwards Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Mr Howard, and others, Sir James was the Hercules of the Augean stables of Quarter Sessions, and in his cleansing operations performed his work most thoroughly. Amongst other suggestive reforms. Sir James, as if anticipating the city's wants, and not less mindful of the agricultural interests of the county, proposed that the entrance to the hall of the Crown Court should be used as a corn exchange. Previous to Sir James's determined stand, the fin- ancial history of the county was chaotic and wasteful,! showed the domineering spirit of a man who carried the effrontery of the shambles into every walk of life, even the judicial courts. * Eden bridge cost ^'82,000 ! The percentages, and the absence of all audits of bills, accounted for this extraordinary outlay. t The following illustration, taken from the proceedings of the court, will show the wastefulness that prevailed in every direction : — * ' Mr Lawson wished for an explanation of an item put down as - The Local Birds of Prey, '83 a fact pinchingly felt by thousands of ratepayers. After his onslaught on the local birds of prey, a spirit of inquiry, attended by economy and retrenchment, took possession of the magisterial mind. This might have been longer exercised had not the great re- former himself been called to higher duties, as " First Lord of the Admiralty," leaving no successor with the same earnestness and vigilance to continue the work he had so ably initiated.* It may well ex- cite surprise that such mal-administration remained so long undetected and uncorrected, and that its ex- posure and discomfiture should have fallen to the hands of a young member of the bench. No doubt the privacy of the court offered one reason ; a greater explanation, however, is to be found in the original construction of the court itself — the magistrates being entirely of Lowther coinage, and that coinage with a vast preponderance of corresponding alloy in its composition. " Oh that estates, degrees, and offices, Were not derived corruptly ! and that clear honour Were purchased by the merit of the wearer." Now it is well known that, under Lowther protection, travelling expenses of the clerk of the peace. It was the sum of £\2., i8s. for two days in going to Cockermouth and back. " The Clerk. — I always charge two guineas a day for my time. " Mr Lawsoii. — I see— that is four guineas — and then there is ;^8, 14s. for expenses, making ;i^i2, i8s. for two days." * Some years afterwards, and when fully engaged with ministerial duties, he showed his great interest in the doings of Quarter Sessions, by advising a reduction of official salaries, and more careful finance. Thus, in writing to a friend, he said : — " The sums awarded by the present Act to the clerk of the peace for duties purely ministerial are quite exorbitant, and must be cut down." $4- l^he CJiairmen of Quarter Sessions. any bureaucratic delinquency could be perpetrated fifty years ago, sometimes openly and avowedly, but oftener under the shade of official secrecy. Mr Satterthwaite, who presided over Quarter Sessions from the tyrannous days of " Jemmy the bad Earl " down to 1822, was not only a political partisan, but equally subservient to the dictates of the reigning house, as any liveried flunkey was at the bidding of an exacting master. Major Yates, afterwards Aglionby, who succeeded Satterthwaite, seems to have glided into the groove of office, taking things for granted as all right, whereas small inquiry would have shown him the existence of many matters requiring revisal and reform, if not erasure and entire obliteration. Thinking more of the administration of the law than the pounds, shillings, and pence of the ratepayers, Major Aglionby, esteemed for his upright and merci- ful discharge of his judicial functions, was uncon- sciously sanctioning a state of affairs that had only to be known to be condemned. Whilst the " Jacks in office " were wide awake to their own pecuniary interests, the magistrates, as a body, long seemed inert, supine, or asleep, as if caring little for balance sheets, and the responsible and graver duties at- tached to their administrative faculty. A pleasant settlement of the quarterly accounts at the borough " hostelric " was sufficient for the day, without giving a moment's thought for the morrow of the ratepayers. Everything requiring investigation was hurried through the Court by those whose policy it was to postpone the consideration of money disburse- ments to the last minutes of the sitting. There seems to have been no regular audit of bills and vouchers ; Cumberland in debt to Graham. 85 the general debit was named under a few heads, and possibly glanced at by one or two of the less timid members of the Court. The chairman, being as- sured by the clerk that all was right, affixed his signature for " pay," " pay ; " and so thousands of pounds were disposed of — these thousands being exacted from the poor pockets of murmuring rate- payers. That a body of men selected — so Cumbrians were frequently told, though they cannot be said to have believed the statement — for their intelligence and fitness should have gone on from year to year sanc- tioning great works and gigantic waste, implied either unfaithfulness on their part to their magisterial trust, or an incorrigible incompetency, or both. Yet these magistrates^ at Quarter Sessions, were invested with powers to call for any amount of rates, or spend any amount of money upon schemes or operations organ- ised by themselves in undivided council ; and no man dared to call their judgment in question, and there was no legal instrument to restrain their acts, or to subvert their jurisdiction. As Sir James said of Curwen, "that the citizens of Carlisle owed him eternal obligations for fighting their battles," so did the county of Cumberland owe Sir James "eternal obligations" for his reform of Quarter Sessions, his annihilation of the clerk's im- pcrinm in inipcrio, and his decided call for eco- nomy and supervision of every branch of the county business. The burdens on land and property are so much the less now (1868) that Sir James condemned the condition of affairs of 1828, and obtained a guar- antee for audited accounts, and these accounts not made up oi extras to which there was no legal claim, 86 County Fmancial Boards. but a bond fide rendering of charges, and the exhibi- tion of work done as ordered by the Court. How much it is to be regretted that Sir James, having laid such good foundations in Cumberland, did not complete his economic and reform work by askin^r Parliament to extend the surveillance of county affairs to a class of men outside the select circle of the great unpaid ! This could have been done by instituting financial boards composed of men of the middle class, of practical business habits, familiar with figures, acquainted with public works, estimates, and the like ; and above all, alive to the real wants of the community, which is more than could be said of the squirearchy in general. No man in Parliament could have adduced better proof of the need of county financial boards, or applied more thorough ability to their formation and ad- ministrative functions, than the Baronet of Netherby. That reform, so much desired in Cumberland and elsewhere, is still in abeyance ; but it is to be hoped that Mr Milner Gibson, or some able representative of the economical interests of the country, will take the matter up quam prbmun, and lead it to a success- ful issue. To-day, unfortunately, and for several weighty reasons that have occurred during the last year of our " leap in the dark " legislation, he who had an eye to the public wants, whose perceptions were so clear, whose understanding was so broad, and whose experience of practical legislation was not only large, but beyond all his compeers, is no longer to the fore to aid in the good work of establishing respon- sible county boards consisting of men deputed by the general ratepayers to watch over their interests. The Galled Jade Winces. 87 England has unfortunately lost her Graham — he who might have been named the Agamemnon of adminis- trators. The bridges, jails, asylums, and other county ■works of the century would have been found less costly by 50 per cent., had Cumberland had a board of business men to disburse its local taxes ; the proof of which statement is to be found in every page of her financial history, from the erection of the drum towered Courts of Assize, that must make the angels of architecture weep, down to the brick-making at Gar- lands,* of these costly latter days, "shooting Niagara" and far beyond. How much money was literally thrown away, during the period antecedent to 1829, no one can estimate, but the application of the Netherby whip made the galled jade wince, stopped the flood-gates of waste, and saved tens of thousands. The money wrongly expended would have sufficed for the erection of a corn exchange, and covered markets for the farmers, town-hall and public rooms for the town folk, and other works of utility in the county's capital. Long after the zealous labours of Sir James had borne fruit, and long after he had become estranged from the Whigs, the Rev. Richard Matthews, con- versing with the writer on the Baronet's political posi- tion in Cumberland, said, "Well, though Sir James * The difference between good and bad management is well exempli- fied in the erection of two pauper establishments — the County Asylum and the Carlisle Workhouse. The poor-law guardians, 1)usiness men, put up a suitable building for the accommodation of 500 inmates, in- clusive of children under five years of age, for _^i4,ooo ; the magistrates of the county have spent nearly ;^50,ooo on a building to receive 230 lunatics. S'^"'' " Great and iintold Service's." deviated somewhat from the path of consistency, and shocked many of his old friends, we should never for- get his great and untold services on behalf of the county ratepayers." In setting forth, however im- perfectly, Sir James's merits as a county financier and reformer, the writer may claim protection for de- voting a chapter to their consideration under the aegis of the philosophical pohtician of Wigton Hall. CHAPTER VII. Doings m Parliament — The Bank Act — Birds of Prey — Dalston Dinner — First Lord of the Admiralty — Irish Personalities — Naval Esti- mates — Naval Reforms. N the 27th February 1830, Sir James brought forward a motion for the reduction of offi- cial salaries. He spoke feelingly regard- ing the distress of the country ; and after various allusions to the Bank Restriction Act, and the depreciation of our currency, said, "That if the landed interest were called on to submit to another reduction of 25 per cent, he would say boldly to nine-tenths of that interest — at once sell your estates." He had heard something of luxuries, but he knew not whence the notions of luxuries were derived. Were they drawn from the gorgeous palaces of kings, or the rival palaces of ministers, or from those of East India directors, rich with the monopoly of the China trade, or from those of Jew loan contractors, who supplied to foreign states the gold from the cofiers of the Bank of England ? ' 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, When wealth accumulates and men decay.' What was now the boast of this happy country .'' Where was the furniture that adorned the poor man's cottage ? All was gone ; pinching hunger and de- spair now held their place in the labourer's habita- 90 A Cry for Retrenchment. tion. The weaver in Cumberland earned but 4s. 2d, a week, out of which he had to supply his family. Oatmeal, water, and peas were his sole food, and for these he had to work fourteen or fifteen hours a day So extremely low were wages that even the power- looms were under-worked. The country had now come to the point when something must be done. ' Hie locus est, partes ubi se via findit in ambas.' He called upon the Tory Ministers to retrench, and advised a return to the ancient standard of England — namely, silver. He did not press his motion, as the Government promised to economise, and actually made some reductions in the Army and Navy Esti- mates for the year." Early in May, Sir James gave notice that he was about to move for a return of all the salaries, pen- sions, and emoluments received by members of the Privy Council ; and in refusing to accept of a counter- proposal of Mr Goulburn's, said "that he was not disposed to stoop to ignoble game while flights of voracious birds of prey were floating in the upper regions of the air." These words were the first of the memorable sort uttered by Sir James ; and only a few days elapsed when he delivered his speech on the motion, a speech of the most telling character ever delivered in the House, and not less remarkable for its personality that never became offensive. It was an exposure of the Civil List, of pluralists, sine- cures, and pensions. He spared no one, least of all the great birds — naming them as he went along, so that there should be no mistake as to the character of his inquiry. The " Birds of Prey " Speech, 9 1 A few excerpts of this famous speech may be quoted with advantage : — " I feel myself so strong in prin- ciple, that I think I may safely rest my case on general principles alone, without resorting to any other ground. The general principle is, that the represent- atives of the people, the guardians of the public purse, are entitled, as of right, to call for statements of what sums of public money have been received by any particular individual, or number of individuals, or class of individuals, and it is for the ministers to show some special reason for the exception to the general rule I asked, in 182 1, for a return of the places held by members of either House of Parlia- ment under the Crown, stating the income, salaries, and emoluments enjoyed by each officer, and specify- ing whether they were held for life, or liable to removal on the demise of the Crown, and that return was granted. . . , There are then, as far as I can ascertain, 169 Privy Councillors, exclusive of the members of the Royal Family. Of these, 113 are in the receipt of pay, pensions, or allowances to the annual amount of ^^"650, 164. The average amount distributed to each individual will be about i!^5753. Of these emoluments, ^86,103 is paid for sinecures; ^442,000 for active service, and ^^121,650 for pen- sions. Of these 113 Privy Councillors, 30 are plu- ralists — that is to say, they either enjoy sinecures in conjunction with some post of active service, or they at the same time fill civil and military situations. The total amount annually received by them is ^^221,130. The average amount distributed to each is £7171. The number of Privy Councillors receiv- ing diplomatic pay, is 29. The gross amount re- 92 . None go scot-free. ceived by them annually is ;^I26,I76. The average amount distributed to each is ^4347. Of the 113 Privy Councillors, 69 are members of either House of Parliament. Of these 69, 47 are peers, and they receive ^^"378,840 ; or on an average each re- ceives ^^"8069. Twenty-two members of the House of Commons are also members of the Privy Council, and they receive ^90,849 ; or the amount distributed to each is about ^4130. " On a former evening I happened, in terms which were very displeasing to the other side of the House, though they were uttered with entire sincerity and singleness of purpose on my part, to state that I, for one, could never consent to begin reduction with humble and powerless individuals, while those possess- ing influence and power, and property, were sufitered to pass scathless. Sir, I cannot suffer these persons to go scot free. . . . There is, for instance, Mr Penn, who is superannuated on an allowance of £^^0 per annum, and who, being unfit for active service, has been made agent for Ceylon, with a salary of ^1200 a year. This I should call an objectionable proceed- ing. But why should I complain of this, when there is my Lord Cathcart, who, with emoluments to the amount of ^2000 a year in this country, enjoys the post of Vice-admiral in Scotland, with a salary of ;^20i3, and all his military allowances as a general officer, and a colonelcy of a regiment. I cannot think, sir, of touching Mr Penn's salary till I have reduced and regulated Lord Cathcart's emoluments. " I have read somewhere, and I fully subscribe to the truth of the observation, that the mark of a wise and prudent government, and that which distinguishes A Star of tJic first magnitude. 93 it from an unwise and imprudent government, is well to know the time and manner at which no longer to refuse what is demanded of it. Let the Government now show its wisdom and prudence ; for if ever there was a time when the people of this country impera- tively demanded a searching scrutiny into the public expenditure, it is at this moment. " I will propose a measure of substantive retrench- ment, economy, and reform. That is the issue which we are to try to-night. On a former occasion I yielded. I took their pledge (the Government's) ; let them now redeem it ; let them give me these returns, and we shall then see whether they have been willing to keep good faith with this House and with the people of this country." It was called " The birds of prey speech," and created a sensation in the House, and a far greater one out of doors ; and Cumberland rung with praises of the new county member. Sir James found 147 supporters, against 235 of the Government's. From that 14th of May, Sir James became a poli- tical star of the first magnitude. The boldness of the inquiry itself, reflecting as it necessarily did on both Crown and Ministers, the general survey of the group of Privy Councillors deriving £6000 or £'J000 a year, the citation of particular instances from both sides of the House, and his apparent disregard of all the bitter feelings that the names of individuals might engender, gave an import and character to his address that pleased the Commons, and made his own name resound through England as a champion of the people's rights. He had struck home. Every hit was dexterously given, and every hit was palpably '94 "^he Georges ended ! felt by the sinecurist. The press founded many "leaders" on the Netherby Baronet's grand battue. Shortly afterwards he threw the light of his detec- tive lantern upon the diplomatic salaries and South American missions, and citing some glaring instances of waste of the public money, made out a case of prodigality against the Government that nearly swamped them, his motion being only lost by 19 votes in a House of 217! During this last session of George IV.'s reign no member on the Whig side of the House had been more prominent as a reformer, or had dealt such heavy blows against public extravagance and waste as Sir James Graham. He had torn aside the political screen of the day, and discovered Toryism to be like the veiled Prophet of Khorassan — an entity only fit for the seething cal- dron of public opinion, into which it was about to be cast in the succeeding reign. The death of George IV., on 26th June 1830, caused Parliament to be dissolved. The Tory party had long been on the wane ; the Whigs were daily looking up, and gaining strength. The advent of a new reign that buried the Georges could not fail to rouse the public mind, long tired of the name and the policy they represented. " When from earth the Fourth descended, God be praised the Georges ended." In Cumberland the feeling for retrenchment and reform was expanding, and Sir James's "grand speech" in Parliament had won for him unbounded admiration. His electoral supporters would give him a public dinner, and Dalston was selected for the gathering of the Whig squires, the bold yeo- The Dalston Dinner. 95 men, and farming interest — the gray coats of Cum- berland. Sir James was proud to accept the com- pliment, and expressed a wish that the demonstra- tion in his favour might be made as general and effective as possible, and not necessarily confined to the party he headed. This opinion was in some degree misunderstood, and the Carlisle Journal hinted at Graham's wish for a compromise between the Blues and Yellows. The dinner took place on the 5th August, and Mr Blamire of Thackwood occupied the chair. This gentleman headed the list of requisitionists, and was the chief promoter of the demonstration, and through him the wishes of the yeomen had been conveyed to Sir James, and there is no doubt that his exertions and popularity con- tributed largely to the success of the meeting. Sir James made a fine speech ; it told well upon the audience, it read well in the newspapers ; and breathed largely of party spirit and vehemence. " Disregard- ing," he said, "the connexions of family, the opinions of private friends, and, more than all, the prejudices and sentiments of my revered father, I adopted the local political opinions of my grandfather, who fought the good fight of independence in 1768, under the old blue flag of freedom. I became a Blue ; Blue I am, Blue I have always been, and Blue, I trust, I shall always continue to be. I am not ashamed to own it, and God forbid the Blues should ever have cause to be ashamed of me." Speaking of the two great parties in the State, to one of which a public man must attach himself — the Court party and the Country party — the former seeking the advancement of kingly power, the latter having a different end in 96 The bright and tinfading Blue. view, which end he defined as follows : — " It is their object to uphold popular rights, to defend popular feelings, and to forward the happiness of the people ; and the proudest reward to which their ambition aspires is popular approbation. ... I range myself with the country party, that party which, locally speaking, adopts the bright and unfading blue for its symbol. I adopted it in early life ; I have adhered to it ever since ; and, if I know myself, I never will forsake it." He defended himself against the charge of trimming his sails, and showed that he had been in favour of the liberty of the press from his first entry into Parliament. He was proud of the meeting, not only as a personal gratification, but as enabling him more powerfully to enforce those plans of retrenchment in the public expenditure of which he was the advocate. " My power," he continued, " is increased tenfold by this strong expression of your opinion, I, therefore, do most warmly exult in it, and thank you cordially for it ; and I assure you most sincerely that it shall only prove an additional stimulus to renewed exertions for the good of the people. Gentlemen, I am fully aware that were I to follow the course which prudence would dictate, I could not retire from public life at a better time for my own sake than at this moment, for I could never expect to receive a prouder mark of distinction than this. And to me there is always a tinge of melan- choly in scenes like this, for it is all fleeting ; and if I were to shut the book of public life at this page, and not open another chapter, it might be to my advan- tage. But I am in the full vigour of life, and there- fore I shall gladly make another attempt to serve you Revolutionary Talk. 97 better I shall urge and support with all my power a further reduction of taxation, moderate but effective reform in the representation, by reduc- ing the expenses of elections, multiplying the number of places for receiving votes for counties, increasing the number of electors by adding copyhold and cus- tomary tenures to freehold, transferring the franchise of decayed boroughs to populous towns, and throwing open the franchise of cities and boroughs to the house- holders rated at ;^io or ^20 a year," This dinner, attended by 800 people, was a great affair, and as Sir James's speech was perfect in every way, his popularity reached its zenith. The people of Whitehaven gave him a dinner two days after the Dalston meeting. He spoke strongly against the Bourbons, and that " reckless tyrant, that heartless monarch, Charles X.," dethroned by the last days of July. Sir Wilfrid Lawson went much further, and proposed as a toast to the meeting, " May the heads of Don Miguel, King Ferdinand, and Charles Capet, be severed from their bodies, and rolled in the dust, and the more speedily the better." Such words com- ing from Sir James's brother-in-law caused much talk in London, and could not fail to be severely inter- preted by the enemies of Sir James, as marking his sympathy with revolutionary feeling. Writing Mr Rooke from Nctherby, (28th August 1830,) and in anticipation of a coming election, he trusted he commanded the confidence of the free- holders. He continued — " I hope and think that this tower of strength is now on my side, and I hope I shall never either abandon it or be driven from it. You do wisely to rest on your oars at the present G 98 Grahams Opinion of Rooke. moment, for we know not Avhat an hour may bring forth ; in the meantime, clouds and thick darkness hang over the future. Great events, I am persuaded, are about to happen ; sturdy principles and firm resolutions will be required to shape a course in the midst of the coming storm." Again, on the 15th October, after commenting upon the attacks made upon him by the Carlisle Patriot, and that he would be content to submit to this inconvenience in prefer- ence to a compromise of his own opinions, he said : — " I put my trust in the honesty of my intentions, and in the sound judgment and good sense of those whom I endeavour to represent, and whose favours and approbation I value, for although I have no hired journal, yet justice in the long run is sure to be ren- dered to faithful service, and, however misrepresented, in the end I shall not be undervalued. " The days of the Duke of Wellington's power are numbered, unless he be prepared to satisfy the reason- able expectations of that middle class, which is the life and marrow of the State ; and this he cannot effect without the concession of great reforms, and a new adjustment of the entire scheme of our taxation and commerce. The crisis is awful, and I hope the peace of the country will be preserved. I go to Lon- don immediately after the Quarter Sessions, and am always glad to hear your sentiments." * * This last sentence is one of many quotations that might have been given to show the highly considerate feeling entertained l)y Sir James towards the Akehead yeoman. Wliilst people laughed at Rooke as a talker and scribbler, the greatest statesman that Cumberland ever sent to Parliament was recognising in him an equal in the highest political science. - GraJiam and Brougham. 09 Parliament met early in November. Ministers, or at least the Duke of Wellington, talked of putting down sedition wherever it arose ; the Opposition were equalty determined upon a Reform bill. On Lord Mayor's day, (the 9th,) the King and Queen de- clined visiting the city, owing to a threatened tumult and violence in the streets. Sir James was among the first to speak from the Opposition benches, on the refusal of the Duke to entertain reform, a refusal which had effected the greatest possible change in the public mind, and had placed his Grace at direct issue with the people of England. That the demand for reform was daily increasing, and that there would be no peace in the realm, and no security for pro- perty, till the wishes of the people were conceded. The speech was firm, yet pacific in tone, warning yet not menacing, and more the expression of the general public than a declaration in favour of a special policy ; and as such it must have struck the House, and not less the ministry, who were beginning to feel that their days were numbered. The threatened Reform Bill of Mr Brougham's, the watchful eye of Sir James, always on the look-out for flaws in the Tory armour, tended greatly within the Commons to upset the Wellington Cabinet, The feeling out of doors, as ex- emplified at great meetings, and the continued incen- diarisms of corn produce, was calculated to do still more. When the Tories began to fill up vacancies, and to promote pamphleteering rectors to bishoprics — the loaves and fishes of Stanhope to be retained with the purple and lawn of Exeter — the cup of indigna- tion ran over, and the said Tories were obliged to re- sign office on the i6th November. 100 Admiralty and Reform. Earl Grey being called to the helm of affairs, ap- pointed Sir James Graham First Lord of the Admir- alty, with a seat in the Cabinet. There was no oppo- sition to his return for Cumberland. He took up his residence at the Admiralty, and set to work to make himself master of his duties. He had never been in office, knew nothing of naval technicalities, and as little of the public administration ; so that not only had he to get initiated in all the routine of officialism, but to grapple with the difficulties of a special depart- ment in .the State. Nothing daunted, he devoted himself to his work, and as there was an interregnum between the adjournment of the House and the 4th February 1831 he got up his naval lessons, so as to be enabled to meet the interrogations of honourable members creditably. His Admiralty duties were not all ; he was daily engaged in planning the Reform Bill, and in conference with Lord John Russell, Lord Durham, and Lord Duncannon. It was a busy time for Sir James, the busiest Christmas and New- Year that ever fell to his lot. Devoted as a public servant in discharging the onerous duties of a great department, (for what could rank in significance with " the wooden walls of old England " T) devoted also to the consideration of the great political questions of the day, in which he had to take so leading a part, e.g., the Reform Bill ; he was no less devoted to the interests of the Govern- ment, and the maintenance of its high position as a newly tried Ministry, Thus it occasionally happened, in the absence of his colleagues, and more particularly his friend Lord Althorpe, that he undertook to answer questions on their behalf. Covetous of distinction, ' " Would fight for Ireland!' loi as no doubt Sir James was, and all men seeking senatorial honours ought to be, he consented to take charge of parliamentary matters not belonging to his own department, and was ready at all times to further public business, and to maintain the prestige of his party. At this time, as indeed throughout his public career, Sir James longed to have a leader whom he could trust, follow, and heartily aid ; and on his first possession of the Admiralty, Lord Althorpe was the man — his renowned colleague, a good counsellor, and an intimate friend. It is the more curious to note this clinging by others on the part of Sir James, when his own active intellect, high ambition, and eagerness for the ascendency of both himself and party, should have sufficed to buoy him up on the waters of poli- tical strife, and to make him sail without a convoy. At the commencement of the session (1831) Sir James, in defending the measures adopted by the Whigs to uphold the British Union, said " that he for one would fight for Ireland, as he would fight for Kent — toto certandum est corpore rcgni. It was not the Irish people, and it was not the Irish patriots — they never would — it was only demagogues who de- sired the separation of the two countries." This called up O'Gorman Mahon, who asked for the names of the demagogues, as only he and D. O'Connell had taken part in promoting the agitation for repeal. Sir James's explanation in the House did not satisfy O'Gorman Mahon, who sent " a friend" to the Admi- ralty next morning ; and Lord Althorpe was called in by Sir James. The same evening, Sir James informed the House that he meant the word demagogue to apply, not to the member for Clare, but to the member 1 02 Graham and O' ConnclL for Waterford ; and that, considering the peculiar posi- tion in which O'Connell was situated towards the Go- vernment, he was sorry he had applied the term. This was Sir James's first brush with O'Connell, and it caused a cantankerous wound that never healed. The impetuosity of Sir James's feelings had been increased by the unfair charge against the Government of in- efficiency in not suppressing sedition in Ireland. Both he and Lord Stanley had be^^n assailed by O'Connell, and Lord Stanley had sent a hostile mes- sage to the great repealer, which could not be ac- cepted, on the ground that " already there was blood upon his hand, and that he (O'Connell) had registered a vow in heaven never to risk human life again.'' Whilst Sir James defended the Irish policy of the Whigs, he was not unaware of the inconsistency of a government professing liberal principles, yet exclud- ing eminent men from office on account of their Catholic religion — an inconsistency chargeable almost entirely on Earl Grey, whose anti-Irish feeling was well known. In introducing the Naval Estimates for the year, Sir James took an historical survey of his department from 1798, when a special rule had been laid down by Parliament for placing it on the same footing as the other services. He then went on to show that the rule had been gradually departed from, till nearly one million and a quarter sterling had been paid in wages between 1820 and 1831, over and above the amounts specified in the annual grants. Looking upon this system of things as bad, he was determined to bring it to an end, though his first estimates would not savour of retrenchment, as he A true Lord of the Admiralty. 103 felt that " these were not the times when short-sighted economy should be studied in our arsenals." He saved where he could, in the dockyards and salaries, to the extent of ;^27,ooo a year. This was a begin- ning in the way of economy where economy was much needed. The system of keeping accounts was very faulty, and he sought to amend it ; his aptitude for figures, guided by a clear perception of details, enabled him to achieve a great reform in the manage- ment of the Admiralty. Activity, order, and preci- sion were infused into every department by the First Lord's determined will and example ; and as his suc- cessors' in office were glad to follow in his wake, each year tended to show the utility of his improvements, and the saving of the public moneys thereby. Though a civilian. Sir James was perhaps the best Admiralty Lord of the century — the most vigilant in office, the most systematic and precise in direction, and guiding all with a lofty hand that would recognise no obstacle, and permit of no irregularities. The country owed much to Sir James for reforming a great department, and in no petty way, but by a grand coup dc gouvcr- nail that swept away large abuses, and left its im- press upon the historical seals of our naval adminis- tration. The Admiralty was anything but a comfortable berth to a novitiate in office, and likely to be spe- cially uncomfortable to a reformer of abuses like (Gra- ham. It still retained a good deal of the character it bore in the days of Pcpys — a complicated system of things, attended by a divided responsibility that savoured most of irresponsibility. Owing to extra- vagance, inefficiency, and jobbery in its manage- 104 Admiralty overhauled. ment, the Admiralty rarely, if ever, conferred credit upon any party in power. Britannia ruled the waves, it was said, and truly enough, up to Victoria's reign — owing, not to the wisdom or guidance of the Lords at Somerset House, but to the brave sailors, the Nelsons, Cochranes, and others, whose bravery and heroism left an imperishable name upon the seas. The subordinates of the Admiralty maintained that, owing to their peculiarity, the naval accounts could not be meddled with. Sir James was not to be put aside by these excuses, nor would he be delayed in his efforts to govern the Admiralty on sound com- mercial principles. CHAPTER VIII. Sir James's Political Creed — Free Press — Cumberland Election — Reform Bill — T/ie Admiralty Remodelled — Corn Laws — Reform of Ex- chequer — Resigns Office tender Earl Grey. |N the great question of reform then agitating the country Sir James was very specific. His speeches at Wigton and Dalston left nothing to be desired by the most ardent of Cumberland reformers. Occupancy, or household suffrage, both as a corporate and parliamentary fran- chise for towns — the enfranchisement of copyholders and leaseholders for county voting — the lopping off of rotten boroughs — the redistribution of seats, and conferring the power of representation upon the great scats of industry, were the main features of Sir James's creed. He did not wish for the Ballot. In his first speech on the Reform Bill, he urged the value of early concession to just claims, and the great need of a reformed Parliament, citing the opinion of Mr Fox, who asserted " that that was the best system of re- presentation which secured to a country the largest number of persons whose circumstances were inde- pendent ; and that system, on the contrary, was the worst which embraced the largest number of votes who, from being in dependent circumstances, were incapable of deliberation, and must act as they were io6 Newspaper Critics. commanded." This speech, according to Mr Torrens, "was on all hands regarded as a failure," yet the argument seemed sound, and the facts incontro- vertible. Some articles in the Times newspaper gave rise to a question of privilege in the House. Sir James, whilst advocating great latitude for the press in de- scribing public matters on both sides, let out a fact of a personal character, namely, the weekly abuse of himself in the JoJin Bull — a newspaper over which Lord Lowther was supposed to exercise no small influence. " Week after week, Sunday after Sunday," said Sir James, " some good-natured friend of his, who, he supposed, had recently left the warm pre- cincts of office, not without casting a longing, linger- ing look behind, assailed him with the question. What will they say to this at Cockermouth } " He had been constantly vilified and misrepresented ; but he did not complain, as such strictures upon his charac- ter made him the more anxious to do his duty, and do it well. He defended the violent language used out of doors, and maintained that language equally strong had been used in the House of Commons. He was in favour of free discussion. On the 22d April 1831, the Whigs, being in a minority of 22, resigned, and Parliament was dis- solved by William IV. Then came the tug of parlia- mentary war. Reform was the cry of the people ; the Constitution the cry of the Tories. England was disturbed to its very centre ; the large towns were threatening, and the democratic wave seemed irresistible. The services of the Duke of Wellington were forgotten, because he held opinions counter to The Reform Cry. 10/ the general voice of the country. Monarchy was talked of as an obstacle to free rights ; and the three days of July in Paris (of the previous year) were in- troduced as the readiest mode of closing the bargain for reform. Cumberland was not behind its neigh- bours in excitement. The Lowther influence and venality were shown up in bold and unmistakable type ; and both young and old vented their spleen upon the boroughmongers. " Let us oust the Yel- lows, and put in two Blues for the county," was the cry of the freeholders ; and neither the difficulty of the contest, nor its money cost, entered for a moment into the calculation of an impetuous, almost wild con- stituency. Thoughtful-minded men, who wished to reason on the political status of the county, were viewed as button-holders or slow coaches, neutrals or antediluvians. Sir James was apprised, before leaving London, that the Blues were for putting up Mr Blamire of Thackwood as his colleague ; and he doubted the propriety of the step, as he did the possibility of its success. On being questioned by some of his parlia- mentary friends, he said, " Oh, Mr Blamire is a good fellow, who farms a small estate of his own, and be- yond that, I know of no other pursuit he has except horse-dealing ; but don't be alarmed, he is not going to ride over me." This was incautious and unfair to- wards the man whom he (Sir J.) had spoken of so differently in Cumberland, when it suited his purpose to do so ; — a man to whom he owed so much for the success of the Dalston dinner, and whom he had eulogised so highly in 1828, on the Blamire shrievalty occasion. When speaking of Blamire, at the Dalston io8 Mr Blamires Popularity. dinner, Sir James said : " There was no one who possessed more entirely his confidence, or to whom he was under greater obligations. Fears had some- times been expressed of disunion between the gentry and yeomanry of the county ; but this seemed im- possible while such a connecting link between these two classes was formed by his honourable friend, who lived on terms of intimacy with both, and was the friend of both — a gentleman who had immeasurable claims upon their consideration and regard." Sir James, on meeting his electioneering friends in council at Carlisle, pointed out the difficulties of carrying a second Blue ; and when all argument seemed futile, he asked, " What ! am I to carry Blamire on my back } " This remark touched one of his warm supporters, who hastily cried out, " Take care, Sir James, that Blamire hasn't to carry thee on his back."* Sir James had to yield, and a joint can- vass was agreed upon ; it could not well be otherwise. The hundreds of electors who by requisition had called upon Mr Blamire to fight the Blue cause, showed the position that " the farmer of his own little estate" occupied among the gentry and yeomanry, and, come what may, these electors meant to send him to Parliament. The two Blue candidates, acting in concert, left no * "Am I to carry Blamire on my back?" touched the feelings of hundreds of voters. The great popularity of Blamire sufficed to up- hold Graham at the head of the poll. Had eacli candidate fought his own battle, it was often said, and is repeated to this day, "that Blamire would have licked both the others." This fact has already been alluded to in the biography of Blamire, where the reader will find a long account of the 1831 election — an election so grandly enthu- siastic in every way, that its record constitutes an historical chapter of which Cumberland may well be proud. Graham's Hustings Speeches. 109 doubt as to their success. Surrounding them on the hustings were " all the Whigs," and many who had hitherto shown no colours, or taken no part in politi- cal strife, and a large body of the independent yeo- manry, each and every one fired with the enthusiasm that reigned in 1768. Sir James, as usual, spoke admirably and winningly, and every sentence seemed to hit the Lowthers. It is cheering to read his speeches, so full of play and fun, yet so graceful in diction, and so telling against his adversary. It was the practice, after each day's poll, for the candidates to address the electors ; and on the second day, when Sir James had polled 542, Blamire 532, and Lord Lowther only 236, he (Sir J.) said : " I appear before you as a culprit, and I am ready to acknowledge my offence. I have com- mitted a wilful trespass to-day. I have been on a poaching excursion among the Yellow preserves. I have been to Whitehaven this morning ; but I was not alone. I took a comrade with me. We sported with a double-barrelled gun, and at every rise we brought down a brace." He spoke of Lord Lowther being a great gallant among the ladies, and that he was courting two sisters, Cumberland and West- moreland, at once ; " that the blue-eyed maiden of Cumberland was being courted by two bachelors — Lowther and Blamire : the one (Lowther) with all the attractions that gold can purchase to dazzle the eye and to ensnare the heart ; the other, with but a disinterested affection and an anxious disposition to administer to her comforts and wishes. He (Blamire) is the one to whom she will give her hand ; he is the one to whom she will confide. She will scorn the heart wliich ofi'ers gold as a pledge of its sincerity, 1 10 TJie Reform Bill Carried. and tell the noble lord that gold is of no avail." These and similar speeches Avere grandly effective upon the hearts of the yeomanry. On the third day 942 votes were recorded for Sir James, 917 for Mr Blamire, and 453 for Lord Lowther — a helpless lee-way that could not be made up ; so, on the following day, the Tory candidate retired from the contest. The Blue victory over the Lowthers in Cumberland was felt throughout England. After the very decisive vote of the Commons on the second reading of the Reform Bill, there were still grave doubts as to the conduct of the Lords, well known to possess a majority against the bill. The creation of new peers seemed inevitable, and Sir James suggested that the king should create " a small batch at first," to show that ministers were prepared to carry their views. He himself, during this session, was named as worthy of the title of Lord Preston, a title which he had no difficulty in refusing, as all his ideas of political life were centred in the House of Commons. The rejection of the second Reform Bill by the Lords, on the 8th October 1831, and the pro- roeation of Parliament on the 22d of the same month added to the difficulties of the Whigs, and in May 1832, their temporary retirement caused fearful ex- citement throughout the country. On the i/th, the king authorised Earl Grey to create peers, and this frightened the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lynd- hurst into a withdrawal from the House ; and so the opposition ended, and the great Reform Bill became law.* Cumberland was now divided into an eastern * Judging from the intense excitement and rejoicing that prevailed on the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832, foreigners might liave in- ^The AdiniraUy Anomalies. 1 1 1 and western division, and Sir James Graham and Mr Blamire naturally selected their own ground, the eastern, for representation. Sir James, writing to Mr Rooke, (June 12, 1832,) and announcing that he would stand for East Cumberland, said : " I hope I may rely with confidence on the support of my county- men, in whose service I have laboured incessantly for eighteen months." Allusion has been made to the difficulties besetting Sir James Graham's first trial of official life. The Admiralty was full of anomalies, as it was of defects, and the invariable changing of the highest office- bearers on the formation of a new ministry, had served to perpetuate a system of management which could not have been tolerated in any business con- cern in the kingdom. What with Lords senior and junior, secretaries and surveyors, navy boards and victualling boards, with their controllers, some under control, others masters, and as independent as the First Lord himself. Sir James had a good deal to en- counter, and to try his patience withal. He was held responsible for the management of his department, yet Somerset House, with its naval board, was like a rival to the Board of Admiralty at Whitehall — a sort of Horse Guards to the War Office. There were de- partments within a department ; there were offices for ferred that England hitherto had been living under the iron regime of an autocrat, or that she had just then gained a new Magna Charta for her liberties. Carlisle was more than "the merry city" on the 12th June, in her full holiday garb, her trade demonstrations, her dinners, platform drummings, and the like. No high-falukin chronicler could register the lo Paeans and glorifications of the day. The Reform Act seemed the harbinger of a Millennium — alas! far distant, if not en- tirely in nubibus ! 1 1 2 Clashing of Interests. circumlocution and red-tapeism everywhere ; and as a corollary, imperfect control, imperfect Avork, with waste and extravagance in their train. Sir James could not, as the Americans say, " get along " with this system ; it was too jarring, too indefinite and un- workable ; it must be remodelled or made anew. Early in the session of 1832 he introduced a bill for the general reconstruction and consolidation of the civil departments of the navy, in a statesmanlike speech, historical and retrospective in part, but spe- cially lucid and comprehensive. To embody general principles, and to lay succinctly before the House all the details necessary to establish his views, was ex- actly suited to Sir James's mind ; and in his speech he showed himself thoroughly master of his subject ; nor was he less successful in convincing the Commons as to the expediency of his plan for reform. It ap- peared that the Admiralty was responsible for the estimates, but had not the control over the expendi- ture — the navy and victualling boards having access to the Treasury purse. He showed that estimates were taken for special objects totally irreconcilable with the outlay ; thus the Melville Hospital, which, taking the vote of Parliament, only appeared to the public to cost .£"7000, had £6\,6^^ expended upon it. Now, to get things of this kind squared, much larger sums were asked of Parliament for timber and stores than were used, so much so, that under the head of timber and materials there was expended in four years a million of money less than Parliament had voted ; and out of this surplus the navy board pro- vided for the expense of buildings. Larger numbers of men were kept than the vote of Parliament sane- RobbUig Peter to Pay Paid. 1 1 3 tioned, and these men had their wages paid out of the surplus belonging to other grants. And so with other items of expense. Too much was asked for on account of timber, too little for any purpose that mieht excite discussion in the House. This was looked upon no doubt in the same light as certain railway boards who wished, above all considerations, " to make things pleasant." The navy board got the money for great purposes, and expended the surplus on smaller objects : Parliament voted money for one thing, the board disbursed it for another. It was a system of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and refunding from Paul to soothe Peter. Then different ledgers were kept, and in nowise correspondent, so that no one could say what the building of a ship cost, yet from year to year so many ships were said to be wanted, and so much money to make them. The navy board stood still in every way, and could not be made to move ; and, however incredible it may appear, the old war prices had been retained up to Sir James's period of office — prices that were in many instances from 25 to 40 per cent, above the present prices current. Lead, which had been contracted for in November 183 1 at 14s. 6d. per cwt, was entered as costing 2 IS. 6d. ; copper and iron in much the same ratio ; in short, the accounts were a sham, a delusion, and a snare ; yet Mr Croker, who had been the Tory secretary of the Admiralty for a quarter of a century, had the coolness to get up in the House, and oppose and contradict Sir James, as if the system was the most perfect and honest in the kingdom. Sir James proposed the total abolition of the navy and victual- ling boards, so that there should be but one board li 114 Five Depart77icnis Created. for the management of our naval affairs, by which arrangement every department of the service would be under the control of one board, and that board held responsible to Parliament. He divided the naval service into five great departments, with defi- nite work assigned to each, and wished that the heads of these departments should be appointed for life, or during good behaviour. Retrenchment evidently gave him great concern, as he wished, conscientiously with the promises made both by himself and his col- leagues in the ministry, to realise the largest amount of saving consistent with the safety of the public service. He proposed a reduction in the number of office-bearers to the extent of nearly ^^50,000 a year, and to do away with the risk of misappropriation he urged a more efficient system of auditing the naval accounts. The great advantage of the measure he proposed would be to convert a nominal into a real responsibility, whilst it would make a large reduction in the number of public offices, and a large reduction in the public expenditure. The question of impressment of seamen naturally arose in the midst of other naval reforms, and the motion of Mr Silk Buckingham, in August 1833, on the subject, elicited Sir James's opinion as far as it went, but it was evident that his mind was not made up, and he pleaded for registration of seamen, and a ballot, the same as in the militia. The navy estimates for 1833 showed a reduction of ^946,821 on that of 1830, of which reduction ^^220,500 had been effected during the current year. In repelling the charge of having, for the sake of retrenchment, sacrificed the efficiency of the service, he said " that no maritime RctrencJunoit and Reform. 115 state had a navy equal to that of Great Britain, and with that superiority we ought to be content." In 1834, Sir James showed that in his depart- ment the reductions in the estimates in the course of three years had been ^^ 1,200,000, and that he had to propose a further reduction of ^^180,000, as compared with the preceding year. Such figures spoke more forcibly than words. To save i^ 1,200,000 of the public money in three years was a capital re- trenchment for a new official hand, and to obtain this without sacrificing in the slightest degree the effici- ency of the navy was a still greater achievement. No man in the ministry was subjected to more severe criticism, no estimates to more severe scrutiny than those belonging to the navy ; and as the service was one upon which Englishmen have always prided themselves not a little, the newspapers entered fully into the discussion of Sir James's merits and demerits. With Mr Croker in the House watching every move of the First Lord, with hundreds of croakers outside the walls of Parliament, croaking all the more loudly that the Graham administration had disbanded so many officials from easy posts, and compelled others to do their duty with more vigilance, it is not a little surprising that he succeeded so well in carrying mea- sures through Parliament, whilst he maintained the dignity of office, and the high dignity of a great leader. Sir James rose from the 'prentice hand to be a chief master. He took the old, unworkable machine to pieces, and examined each portion of its apparatus — unravelling " the wheels within wheels," the clogs and grating edges, the surfaces without oil, and others too oily by half; and to get these into working order* 1 16 " Knozvs Jiow to do thine^s." e>" and the whole machine made capable for English work, was a task for a Graham to achieve. What with the old leaven and crust of Toryism, the confu- sion and circumvention, as well as endless circumlo- cution of red-tapeists, the shifting of responsibility, and other drawbacks, Graham had a dire, amount of tough-hided officialism to encounter within the Ad- miralty. Though a new man, and new to office — a civilian non-conversant with the technology of the service, or the grades, habits, and aims of those over whom he was to exercise supervision — he got rid of laisscz fairc, penetrated the cul de sacs of stagnant officialism, and gave light and life to the state work. Official life ran pretty smoothly with the Whigs up to 1834, but as soon as they touched upon Irish ques- tions, something like an Irish difference arose among their own ranks, which went on from bad to worse till the Grey ministry succumbed. O'Connell's mo- tion for a committee to inquire into the conduct of Baron Smith was opposed by Sir James, who in doing so dissented from his colleagues, and they, by the way, had dissented from themselves, as they went to the house to defeat, and not to defend O'Connell's proposal. Next morning Graham tendered his resig- nation, which was declined, and in the following week the vote was rescinded by a majority of six, showing that Sir James had acted rightly, and his colleagues unadvisedly on a previous division. This was not the only time that he thought and acted alone, and gave offence in certain quarters, yet was, after all, found right in his opinion. In March 1834, the question of the Corn Laws came under discussion, and, as was anticipated, showed TJie Corn Laics Discussed. 1 17 disunion in the ranks of the Government, a majority of whom were against all change, whilst others would gladly have a fixed duty. The Cabinet determined to meet Hume's motion by a direct negative, and Sir James undertook the task of ministerial leader in the House of Commons. He based the opposition to any change of the Corn Laws on the depression and distress in a large number of the corn-growing dis- tricts of Britain, and wished for further trial of Mr Huskisson's protective scale of duties. He was afraid that the proposal before the House would tend to the reduction of rents, and a great change in the proprie- torship of the land, involving individual suffering and injustice, and dangers incalculable to the community. His peroration was full of apprehension, and looking as he did upon the agricultural interest as the most important of all, his solemn opinion was, " that its de- struction would be the destruction of the State itself.' On the following night, Mr Poulett Thomson replied to the Admiralty Lord, and quoted passages from a pamphlet, entitled, " Free Trade in Corn the real inter- est of the Landlord, and the true policy of the State, by a Cumberland Landowner," which, he believed, contained the most satisfactory answer to the speech delivered by the Right Hon. Baronet. The cheers which followed the reading of these passages (part of which is quoted below*) are described by Mr Torrens * " To propose to enrich a nation by enforcing a permanent scarcity of corn, and by ob.structing the natural course of trade, is indeed at variance with common sense. The consequences cannot be mistaken : the embarrassment of' our shipping, mercantile and manufacturing in- terests ; want of employment, and desperate poverty among the labour- ing population ; an increase of crime, and a tendency to emigration ; a loss of our currency, and a fall of the prices of laljour and of corn ; a 1 1 8 Graham mistaken for Rooke. as being " scornful and exultant," whilst Sir James maintained " a sardonic, if not imperturbable demean- our throughout." The exultation was, no dou*bt, great on the part of Sir James's foes, who looked upon him as destroyed by his own weapons, or poli- tically annihilated, on the Corn-Law question at least, by the most marked tergiversation of opinion. Lead- ing articles and letters in the newspapers repeated the play of the Commons, and aimed their shafts at Graham, as if there was only one Cumberland land- owner, and that landowner the Netherby Baronet. Why Sir James submitted to the infliction of being shown up for the derision of his enemies has never been satis- factorily explained ; but as he had carried the MS. of the pamphlet to Ridgway's ofhce in London in 1828, and the author, John Rooke, had not attached climinution of the public revenue, and a derangement of the pubhc finances ; and, more than all, the certain eventual ruin of the agricul- tural interest itself ; — these are the bitter fruits of a blind and selfish policy, rapaciously grasping at undue gain, and losing hold of advan- tages placed within its power. . . . " When England, the land of marine affairs and of commerce, and the best workshop of manufactures in the world, attempted to sell corn in opposition to Poland, a country in want of these advantages, she per- verted the natural order of trade ; she sold that which it was most pro- fitable for her to buy ; and, destroying the means of her natural cus- tomers to buy what it was most profitable for her to sell, she artificially lowered the prices of every description of merchandise throughout the long period of sixty-four years. So much for the crusade against the natural order of commerce. No sooner, however, was a sound system of trade in corn adopted, and large importations made, than the medium ])rice of middling corn again rose most rapidly. . . "Till 1815 the corn trade was free, and commerce prospered. In that ill-fated year the prohibitory system became operative ; and as in 1766 trade and manufactures revived precisely at the moment when the restrictions on the import of foreign corn were removed, so in 181 5, when these restrictions were again imposed, commerce languished, manufactures failed, and universal distress overspread the land." Tlic Irish ChnrcJi. 1 19 his name to the work, he might consider himself pledged to silence. To this view, however, it may be said that a direct negative was all that was required to enable him to turn the tables. So firmly was the opinion established of Sir James being the writer of the pamphlet, that when all the world could read John Rooke's name on the title-page of the second edition, they would not believe it. Hume's motion was negatived by a majority of 312 to 155. During this session Sir James introduced a bill for the reform of the Exchequer Office, for which task he was well qualified as one of the Commission who had inquired, into the duties and emoluments of the office. This short sentence may be read and forgotten the next moment by those unacquainted with official work ; but to give a notion of its full meaning qua labour and thought would fill pages, as undoubtedly the duties devolving upon Sir James in this inquiry would usurp days and weeks of his valuable time. The Irish Church — a stumbling-block to all go- vernments — was introduced to the Commons by an interrogatory of Mr Shiel's that elicited opinions from Lord John Russell of too sweeping a character for some of his colleagues to uphold, and one of whom, Lord Stanley, listening to his statement, remarked, "Johnny has upset the coach." Only a few days afterwards Mr H. G. Ward's resolution, to the effect of reducing the temporal possessions of the Church of Ireland, brought things to a crisis. Sir James and Lord Stanley would not have the Church meddled with, so resigned ; but oddly enough Lord Althorpe, the leader of the Commons, had not been made aware of this secession till Mr Ward commenced his speech. 1 20 Graham leaves Earl Grey. As soon as opportunity offered, his Lordship moved the adjournment of the House, and so unusual a pro- cedure caused great excitement. Next morning the papers revealed the cause — Lord Stanley and Sir James were no longer of the Ministry ; and they were followed by the Earl of Ripon and Duke of Richmond. On the 2d June, the Commons again met, and Sir James took his seat on the second bench below the gangway — thus terminating his career of office under Earl Grey. -1 A^ CHAPTER IX. From 1S34TO 1837. His Secession canvassed— Sir R. Peel's offer— East Cumber/and Election of i8t,S— //is defence and policy— The ''Derby Dilly"— Irish Church again — Unpopular and chagrined. ARIOUS were the interpretations put on Sir James Graham's secession from the Whigs in May 1834. In Cumberland, and particularly in Carlisle, where Church temporalities were not of such sweet odour to the vast majority of the inhabitants, that the great aims of a Reform Ministry should be sacrificed for their behoof, and where hitherto nothing had been heard of Sir James's religious zeal, his withdrawl from his party, even on one question, was neither acceptable nor explicable. Naturally timid, Sir James had become alarmed at the increasing speed of the Grey and Russell team, and Lord Stanley sitting alongside shared his fears. Looking upon the Irish Church as one of the pillars of the British constitutional arch, he was apprehensive of repairs, even of those portions of the structure where Time's effacing fingers had brought about dis- figurement and 'disintegration. The Graham idea seems to have run thus: — "We reformers of 1832 have strengthened the buttresses, and broadened the 122 Let 7is proceed caittioitsly. roadway of the constitution for the enjoyment of all good subjects of his Majesty — the patrician and the burgher, the mitred prelate and the low dissenter, all of whom are equal before the law. There may be, indeed there are, abuses — dilapidations in parts of the wall ; but we had better put up with these, the gray mouldering defacements of every architecttire, than in trying to renew, incur the risk of pulling down so big a prop as the temporalities of the Irish Church, and suffer a constitutional smash. Let us go cautiously forward." Sir James was condemned for his stand-still, if not retrograde policy quoad the Church of a minority ; and not the less censured that all his aims had hitherto been in favour of the claims of majorities, and for sweeping reforms of every kind ; yet the Whigs, who upbraided him most, accomplished no- thing in the direction they were seeking to pursue, and in which direction he refused to go. Thirty-four years have elapsed since Graham entered his protest against any meddling with the Irish Church, for which he forfeited the good opinions of both friends and well-wishers ; yet no government has made a step in advance, and the status quo of 1834 remains intact in 1868.* The inference is obvious; public opinion was not ripe for the changes meditated by Earl Grey's Cabinet, or they would have been effected without Graham or Stanley. In opposing the Whig policy relative to the Irish Church, he lost caste with * Since the above was written, IMr Gladstone has canied through the House of Commons a bill for disestablishment of the Irish Pro- testant Church by a majority of 65. The Lords have rejected the pro- posal for a time only it is believed. TJie Blues suspicions of Graham. 123 his party in the Commons, shocked the confidence of his constituency, and incurred much unpopularity out of doors. In suffering so much, and gaining nothing by this bold stand against his party, he might well claim the privilege of having acted conscientiously in resigning his ministerial position. Such privilege was disallowed at home by the lower-minded Blues, who hinted at Graham's increasing ambition and hopes of a better berth ; such were the puerilities of thought, and uncharitable suspicions that floated round the market-cross of Carlisle. It is pretty clearly indicated by his letters, and in converse with intimate friends, that Sir James did not meditate a total severation of his Whig ties, and that his first opposition to Earl Grey rested on a strong feeling for the institutions of the country, ecclesiastical and civil, being maintained in all their integrity, subject only to the improving hand of time. As Sir James and Lord Stanley were among the chiefs of the Whig Cabinet, the damage done by their retirement could not be overlooked, though the country was not prepared for the abdication of Earl Grey and Lord Althorpe so soon afterwards. It is told of Sir James, that when he heard of their resignation, he remarked, " Then there is an end of the Whigs ;" an unfortunate expression, and capable of being used with telling force against his own sincerity in the business, that helped to cast down the leading peer and commoner of the first reformed Parliament. On the 14th November 1S34, the Whigs, then under Lord Melbourne's direction, were dismissed from office, the king being sick of Lord Brougham ;* * The Grey Ministry had long been out of joint, and the intrigues 1 24 Peel solicits Graham. and next day the Duke of Wellington counselled King William IV. to send for Sir Robert Peel to form a ministry. As Sir Robert was in Italy, and could not return for a month, the Duke undertook the several duties of First Lord of the Treasury, of three Secretaries of State, and other offices besides. Whilst messengers were in search of Sir Robert Peel, Mr F. Shaw, at the instigation of the Duke, wrote to Sir James Graham to know where he would be likely to be found on Sir Robert's arrival in England. Sir James was staying with Lord Stanley at Knowsley at the time, (Nov. 23,) from whence his reply was dated — a reply by no means indicative of his wish to accept office in the new government. On Sir Robert Peel's return to England, he sent a letter to Sir James by a king's messenger, offering him the Home Secre- taryship or Admiralty, but with no success. Both Lord Stanley and he refused to join Peel in his first essay to form a ministry. A king's messenger in hot haste to Netherby created a sensation, that was in- creased by his missing Sir James near Shap, and having to return to Arthuret to deliver his three- sealed document. The Blues got jealous, nay, highly suspicious of their champion, and believed him sold to the Yellows. Gossip, abuse, and recrimination, to which Sir James was subject, had their full nine days lease ; moreover, the seeds of mischief were sown in December 1834 that grew to an abundant harvest in and indiscretions of Chancellor Brougham helped to make matters worse. The Brougham adhesion to office was well seen on the 9th July ; when Earl Grey announced the end of his ministry, his Chancellor stood up and declared, to the great amusement of the noble Lords, that ha had no intention to resign. Cumberland Election, 1835. 125 1837, mainly, however, of briers and thistles for Graham's reaping. As "the Reform Parliament" was dissolved on the 30th December 1834, and a new one summoned for the 19th February 1835, it was necessary for Sir James to meet his constituents. In his address, issued on the i6th December, to the electors he re- minded them of the great measures obtained during the six preceding years — Catholic Emancipation, Test and Corporation Acts, the Abolition of Slavery, the Reform measure — and that he was the same zealous advocate of peace, economy, and progress that he liad hitherto been. Notwithstanding this clear enunciation of policy, public feeling was uneasy about him, and the Whig press cast doubts on his sincerity, which the electors were ready enough to believe and adopt. Major AgHonby was conferred with, and felt satisfied with Sir James's explanation, and would have nominated him as usual had not domestic affairs prevented. This was done by Sir W. Lawson. There was no opposition to Graham and Blamire. Sir James delivered a very able speech to an audience of at least 10,000 persons, whose cheers filled the city, and echoed far beyond, in de- fence of his secession from the Whigs ; a speech more able it would be difficult to find in electioneering annals, as the following quotations will prove. The first interruptions and discordancy that met him he allayed by a firm yet benign appeal to their consi- deration that he had left the sick-bed of his dear brother, whose life was still trembling in the balance, and that duty alone brought him to the hustings : — " He might claim some credit for the share he had 126 Graham's hustings Speech. had in preparing and carrying the great measure of Parhamentary Reform. He might refer not only to pledges given to enforce economy, but to taxes actually remitted, to offices abolished, to sinecures reduced ; he might refer to the part he had taken in the local affairs of the county ; he might refer to the battles he had fought under the old Blue flag, even in opposition to the ties of private friendship and the wishes of his dearest relatives ; he might, indeed, refer to his conduct ever since he had a seat in Parlia- ment. But all this he would set aside. If his services were forgotten by his friends, it was useless for him to remind them of them. ... It had been said that he had been introduced into the Cabinet under the patronage of Lord Durham. This was not true. He had never had a patron, for he had never been a client. He never asked a favour at the hands of any man but upon a public hustings, and from a popular constituency. He had had the honour of the acquaint- ance, the intimate acquaintance, of Lord Durham ; but it was on terms of the most perfect equality. He had never sought a peerage at the hands of Mr Can- ning, the opponent of reform, nor accepted one at those of the Duke of Wellington, its arch-enemy, . . Unasked by him, Earl Grey had placed under his direction one of the highest and most important offices in the empire. . . . They might imagine, how much he felt in separating from the Cabinet of Earl Grey. There never had been in this country a Cabinet more united upon all questions ; there never had been a Cabinet in which more mutual confidence existed than that to which he had had the honour to belong for three years and a half; there was but one Offensive and Defensive. 1 27 fatal subject of difference, and that was the Irish Church. . . . He had cordially supported the claims of the Catholics to equality of civil rights ; but when they demanded the subversion of the in- stitutions whereby the national religion was main- tained, then he felt that he had no choice but to refuse such a concession. He regarded the preservation of a national Church as essential to that of limited monarchy, and of the well-ordered liberty under which they had the happiness to live." Sir James met some of the calumnies put forth respecting his being influenced by Lord Stanley, by reverting to his vote against the Government on Baron Smith's case, whilst Lord Stanley voted with it. In that vote he stood alone. " He alone would have left the Cabinet, without a patron, without disgrace, without dishonour, '''and without my Lord Stanley." He then passed on to Sir Robert Peel's offer, which he had rejected be- cause he did not like sudden coalition.s, and not less on grounds of public duty ; " for he could not think he would have been acting right, that he would have been discharging his duty to his country, or showing that proper regard which he conceived to be due to his own character, if, because he differed from his late colleagues upon one point, he had plunged into op- position to them on all points, with men against whom he had struggled during the whole of his poli- tical life." After controverting several statements made regard- ing his Peelite tendencies, were it not the fear of losing his scat in East 'Cumberland, he continued. "Well, but then, it had been asked, had he any confidence in Sir R. Peel's ministry.'' The best answer he 128 Objects to PecVs Ministry. could give to that question was his refusal to join it. And he must add this, that in his opinion its compo- sition was as bad as it could possibly be ; for it was entirely composed of men to whom and to whose principles he had all his long life been opposed. (Im- mense cheering.) If Sir R. Peel's measures were good, he would vote for them ; when they were bad, he would unhesitatingly resist them." He then ad- verted to the Established Church. " There ought to be no pluralists, unless the livings were small and contiguous The services of the cathedrals it might be proper to maintain ; but the sinecures of the cathedrals were indefensible. The twelve golden stalls of Durham were, to say the least of them, use- less ; the deaneries held by bishops were entirely in- defensible He would diminish the number of prebends to augment the incomes of small livings. .... He was a most strenuous advocate for a settle- ment of the tithe question, for the sake of peace, for the advantage of religion. He was most anxious for a commutation on liberal principles He was prepared to put an end to all exclusive and self-elected bodies, and to restore in cities and boroughs the an- cient right of local self-government, based on the payment of rates and taxes, and upon continuous residence. . . . He wished to see the advantages of education shared equally by Nonconformists and Churchmen. He wished to see every cause for dis- content on the marriage question removed, and he was anxious that provision should be made for the fabric and service of the Church without having resort to the collection of a parochial rate. . . . The representation of his native county had been the Grapes, or Wild Grapes. 129 earliest and highest object of his ambition ; and it would indeed have been a source of deep mortifica- tion and pain to him if, in again asking their suffrage s he had found that he had done anything to forfeit that esteem which had hitherto procured him their confidence. If such, however, had been the case, he certainly should not, as had been insinuated, have skulked into Parliament under the wing of some new friend or old opponent in the West. The electors of East Cumberland should have had the full oppor- tunity of recording their opinions, and of showing to what degree he had forfeited their confidence. He was aware that the great measure of Reform passed in 1832 entitled, ay, and would insure to, the people all those changes which they might deem necessary. He who planted the tree knew well the fruit it would produce. But let the people be cautious how they ■proceeded ; let them take care that no germ of a noxious kind was engrafted on that tree, lest, when they came to gather the fruit, and sought for grapes, they might find wild grapes, and then it would be too late to exclaim, ' An enemy hath done this.' The Reform Bill was a lever by which all beneficial changes and good government might be effected ; but it was also a fulcrum by which the best institutions of the country might be overthrown. It was like fire — in the hands of the honest artisan a purifying ele- ment, but in the torch of the incendiary a consuming flame." On the reassembling of Parliament, Sir James was attacked by Mr Buncombe for his speech to the Cumberland electors, and lost no time in explaining himself Though he did not place confidence in Sir I 130 The Derby Dilly ! R. Peel's government, he had much confidence in Sir Robert himself, and if he brought in useful measures he would offer no factious opposition. Getting warm in the debate, and feeling annoyed at the propagation of false rumours about himself, attributable to the tactics of the Whigs, he described them as a Babel opposition, in which he heard the many tongues — the discordant language of the new and old Whig, of the moderate and the ultra, of the Radical and the Re- pealer — and then denied that he or any of his friends who had seceded from the Whigs had entered into any communication with his Majesty's Government. This brought up O'Connell, an inveterate enemy to Sir James, as he was to Lord Stanley, who quoted the lines of Canning, as best describing that section of the House to which Sir James belonged, and over which Lord Stanley presided. " It is not a party, that he denies ; it is not a faction, that would be a harsh term. What is it, then, that ' Down thy hill, romantic Ashburne, glides? The Derby Dilly, carrying six insides.'" The House was convulsed with laughter by this quotation, whilst out of doors *' the Derby Dilly " received a thousand different illustrations, to please the fancies of the public craving for fun obtained at the expense of a vacillating political party. Though thirty-three years have elapsed since O'Connell ap- plied this political sobriquet to Stanley and Graham, it has not died out of our politico-social vocabulary. The Navy Estimates for 1835, brought forward by Lord Ashley, were but a confirmation of the policy of Sir James during the three and a half preceding years, and highly flattering to his administration in Dr. Paley Cited on Both Sides. '131 every way. During this session, Sir James carried an impressment bill, a sort of preliminary step to the total abrogation of a system which, in times of war, had been felt so tyrannical and oppressive. The Irish Church temporalities came again (30th March 1835) to the surface on a proposal of Lord John Russell's, and of course called up Sir James, who, with some emotion, said that the Irish Church had been to him ■' a fatal question — (derisive cheers and laughter) — a question which had suspended and blighted, he hoped had not destroyed, some of his earliest friend- ships, which had driven him from power, and might yet drive him from Parliament." As he continued, his speech, his delivery and tone displayed the earnestness of a man fighting for a faith in which he trusted — that faith based or exampled in the Pro- testant Church. He argued that the general security of corporate and of private property would be shaken if, at the popular bidding, Parliament were to alienate corporate funds for the relief of general taxation in any portion of the empire ; that, as long as the union of Great Britain and Ireland continued, the Protestant religion must be held to be the religion of the ma- jority. Paley had been cited by Lord John Russell in support of the doctrine that "the religion of the majority ought to be the established religion of the land ;" but the question was, What was the religion of the majority of the nation ? His answer (Sir James's) was, that, as long as the Union continued, the Protestant religion must be held to be the re- ligion of the majority. Paley laid it down that a parochial ministry was the essential condition of an establishment. If this principle were discarded, one 132 The Irish CJmrch. of two things must happen : if the State did not in- terfere, and all creeds were alike neglected by law, there would be no established religion ; or the ques- tion must be determined independently of the Legis- lature by local majorities. Sooner than admit this doctrine of local proportion, which he considered so dangerous in its tendency, he should prefer to see the Articles of Union between the two countries recon- sidered, and the Catholic recognised as the estab- lished religion of Ireland. He could understand the object of such a course, and could appreciate the value of the argument to change the established re- ligion for the sake of peace. Such an object was worth almost any sacrifice by which it could be pro- cured. He objected to the Education Board in Dublin, and the mode in which it was to be sus- tained, and warned the House against expecting peace from the propositions laid before it. Instead of the proposed secularisation of the funds of the Irish Church, he thought it would be more states- manlike to bring before Parliament the question of the union of the two Churches, and to say it is ex- pedient for the interests of the country, and for the interests of religion, that the union of the two Churches be dissolved, and that the Catholic religion be recognised as the established religion of Ireland. He objected to the Voluntary principle, and cited the history of the Commonwealth as condemnatory of it, showing in his remarks a leaning to the Stuart dynasty. The property of the Church, he argued, had been set aside for particular uses — the mainte- nance and propagation of the Protestant religion. (Cries of " No, no.") Was that denied } Farewell^ W/iig- Principles Defined. 1 3 3 then, to the Protestant Church as by law established ! But he would contend that such was its ostensible and undoubted object, and from that object he would not consent that it should be diverted. He main- tained that in the course he was pursuing he was not deviating from his early political principles, and in which he hoped, and still flattered himself — though honourable members might sneer at the declaration — that he would persevere until the termination of his public life. He defined Whig principles as consisting in the assertion of the utmost liberty of thought and of action in all matters, whether of politics or of re- ligion, consistent with law, order, and constituted authority.* " In the vote he was about to give, he owned that he was influenced by religious feelings. The property of the Church, whether in England or in Ireland, had been devoted to the maintenance and propagation of the Protestant faith ; and he would tell them that it was sacred, and ought not be alien- ated to secular objects. They who minister at the altar should live by the altar : this decree Avas high as heaven, they could not reach it ; it was strong as the Almighty, they could not overthrow it ; it was lasting as the Eternal, they could not change it ; it was binding upon those who heard him as Christian legislators and Christian men ; and for one, there * If tlic above definition of Whiggism be correct, the Whigs deserve well of their kind and their country. It would have been worth while for the Blues of Cumberland to have recognised this view of Whiggism, and acted upon it in reference to .Sir James himself; instead of which, as a party they have opposed the assertion of liberty of thought, come from what quarter it might. Whilst making so noble a stand for true Whiggism in the Commons, Sir James was at that moment under the ban of men professing Whig principles, or, as they called them- selves, " Liberals," in Cumberland, 1 34 1^00 High ill his FligJUs. was no consideration on this earth that would induce him to compromise or abandon it." This was taking high ground, if it did not savour of high preaching and forgetfuhiess of history, which could have told him that much of the property held by the Protestant Church was bequeathed by Roman Catholics for the propagation of their own faith, and often for their souls' peace in eternity. He sided with those who deny the power of the State to touch the possessions of the Church, an argument that cannot be consistently maintained by Protestants. He had only to look back to the Reformation in England as a proof of the contrary ; while the Episcopal Church of Ireland left no question as to how ecclesiastical property could be transferred from one owner to another. The legitimate successors of the Irish Catholics in the reign of Queen Mary are the Catholic clergy and people of Ireland in Queen Victoria's day ; but they do not enjoy the glebes, tithes, and emoluments of their inheritance, these being for arbitrary State reasons in the hands of a Protestant community. His speech, however, seems to have served one good purpose ; it pleased his mother, Lady Catherine, and showed that he was not half so violent a reformer as his early Radicalism betrayed, and not half so re- ligiously apathetic as his sly hits at the Church had led many to suppose. His speech was a great effort, and occupied two hours in delivery, and was evidently meant as a manifesto of his politico-theological feel- ings, and his aversion to any compromise with the O'Conncllism of the day. Writing from Grosvenor Place (27th July 1835) to Mr Rooke, he says : — " I have not yet had leisure Fears Stronger than Hopes. 1 3 5 to read your last publication ; but I am quite con- vinced of the purity of your motives and of the singleness of your purpose. Every effort to induce men, from philosophical and humane considerations, to lay aside their party differences, and to concur in patriotic measures of pure philanthropy, is, I fear, at the present moment quite hopeless ; for, unhappily, religious differences have become entwined with poli- tical dissensions ; and this compound has never failed to produce the bitterest potion which can be admin- istered, and the strongest incentive to the worst pas- sions of mankind. I hope our country may struggle on without some fierce convulsion ; but my fears are stronger than my hopes." In January 1836, Mr Rooke was evidently press- ing the Corn Laws upon the attention of Sir James, who replied to his friend, on the 25th of the same month : — "I have received your letters, and I am dis- posed to receive with attention and respect every sug- gestion which you may offer on the subjects of corn and currency. I am bound, however, to say that, although I assent to the abstract truth of many of your positions, yet I doubt the policy of throwing open the corn trade, when I consider the many and mighty burdens imposed on land in this country, and the highly artificial state of society in which we live, with a debt of eight hundred millions, the interest of which is double the annual expenditure of the State." Though possessed of great abilities and high gentle- manly bearing, and credited with good management of Admiralty affairs, and general business habits vastly beyond his class. Sir James had but few real stanch sort of friends in the Commons. His calling 136 Fczv Stanch Friends. the noisy interrupters of his rhetoric a " Babel oppo- sition," gave great offence ; and his hard hits of seve- ral members of the Political Club, affected his posi- tion both within and without the walls of Parliament, and to his great disadvantage. Owing to Lord Auckland, the successor of Sir James at the Admi- ralty, claiming a retiring pension of ^2000 a year, it was supposed that Sir James was party to the arrangement of an expectant Lord,* and that, though he had cried down monopoly, place, and pension, he had pursued the old game, and feathered his own nest comfortably. Luckily he had the opportunity, in the Commons, of proving the falsity of the rumour- But it would have been difficult for him to meet all the slander hurled against him by his old associates, from whom he had become separated, and from whom he sought greater estrangement, by removing his name from Brookes' Club. The fact is. Sir James could not bear the taunts and reproaches directed against him, and, least of all, the animosity of O'Con- nell, readiest of all his foes to try the thinness of. the Graham-skin, by yawning aloud, crying " Hear, hear," and other interruptions, meant to disturb the equanimity and ruffle the plume of the Netherby baronet. Mr Torrens relates that, in one of the divi- sions upon the municipal franchise, when Sir James was about to cross the floor of the House, a cry of " Stay, stay," aimed at him and Stanley, aroused * Some were kind enough to say that Sir James left the Admiralty, as Lord Melville had done a few years previously, because he thought the Government would not last. The Scot was admirably tripped up by Canning ; but the Borderer, Graham, had no such motive in resign- ing ; moreoverj the Grey ministry was strong on its legs. Ranks with the Tones. i Z7 great excitement and cheering ; and that Sir James, " stung by the insulting tone of the discourteous and disorderly ebullition of feeling, with a defiant and disdainful look, remained on the Opposition side." This is said to have taken place on the 30th June 1835, and next day he came to be classified with the rank and file of the Tory camp. There can be no doubt of his Tory leanings gradually gaining force ; and in the summer of 1836, he gave a clear utterance to his fears of Whig O'Connellism when addressing the House on the Irish Municipal Bill, and before long had the satisfaction of seeing the same views enter- tained by a large number of the more intelligent classes of the country. In 1837, it would appear that he would have modified some of his opinions, and possibly have favoured municipal institutions in Ire- land, if he could have been sure of the holdings and safety of the Church ; its being in danger of disap- pearing, with other landmarks, being with him a kind of mania, superadded to the O'Connell-phobia. The closer the Whigs drew to the Repealer, the closer did Graham ally himself with Peel and Lyndhurst. On the 20th September 1836, Lady Catherine Graham died in London, to the great grief of Sir James, who had always shown great affection for his mother, and ever valued her kindly admonitions and counsel. CHAPTER X. THE MERIDIAN AND THE FALL — THE ELECTION OF 1837. URING the last years of William IV.'s reign, Sir James Graham occupied a pro- minent, but by no means a pleasant or profitable position in Parliament. Out of office, and very much out of tune, restless, ambitious, and specially apprehensive of the Irish policy of the Whigs, Sir James kept barking at the heels of his old friends and colleagues, as if he would fain bite them, or hound them elsewhere ; and this contention grew all the more fierce when " the O'Connell howl" was heard so significantly in the Melbourne pack. Each session, and almost each vote Sir James gave, after his return to the Commons in 1835, marked more strongly his alienation from the Reform party, and his clinging to those " to whom and to whose principles he had all his long life been opposed."* Outside the walls of St Stephens, his political status was freely discussed, and specially in Cumber- land, where the Whig press treated him more as a political alien than a Blue of twenty years' standing, who had achieved the greatest reforms for his * Hustings declaration at Carlisle, January 1835. See page 12S. TJlc Brampton Remonstrants. 1 39 country, and been among the foremost men of his time in upholding the national interests and the cause of the people. The murmurs of 1835 against the Graham policy became louder in 1836-37, and at last took a demonstrative form in the shape of a remonstrance, got up within the bar of " the Howard's Arms" at Brampton, where a few hard-headed poli- ticians used nightly to meet, and over their cups to discuss the affairs of the nation, and the merrier gossip around the ''Mote."'* The Brampton remon- strants, 203 in number, and headed by the Rev. Thomas Ramshay, who had seconded the Netherby baronet's nomination at Carlisle in 1832, charged Sir James with having arrayed himself with the party in opposition to Lord Melbourne's administration, and called upon him to resign his trust, and further threat- ened, when opportunity offered, to return to Parliament a representative whose political opinions agreed with their own. Sir James, on the 19th April 1836, the day on which the remonstrance reached him in Gros- venor Place, London, replied to Mr Ramshay and his associates, by appealing to the whole tenor of his conduct, that neither ambition nor personal objects had made him swerve from the straight line of duty, to his sacrifice of ease, interests, and pleasure, on behalf of the constituency. He looked rather to principle than to persons ;-f- that he held Lord Mel- * The ''Mote" is a considerable hillock, at the western base of which the town of Brampton is situated. The word tnote is derived from the Aiiylo-Saxon, mot-hill, or the French, i/iot/c — a hillock. It may have been a hill of assembly, or of observation and defence. t Canning, in attacking; the Addington Administration, said : — " Away witli the cant of measures, not men ; the idle supposilion that it is the harness, and not the horses, that draw the chariot along. No,^ 140 Not a mere Delegate. bourne's measures relative to the Irish Church wrong and indefensible, and that Sir R. Peel's proposals in the direction of safe and salutary reform were con- sonant with his own views, as expressed in 1835. He then followed with : " I am ready at all times to make many sacrifices to my constituents, except the surrender of my deliberate judgment. But when you make the request that I should resign my seat, and accompany the expression of the desire with a threat, I am bound very respectfully but firmly to remind you that I am not your delegate, and that you form only a small portion of that great constitu- ency which it is my pride and good fortune to repre- sent." This remonstrance should have roused Sir James to meet the difficulties surrounding his path in Cum- berland, as these had been created by his Tory votes running counter to his Whig declarations.* Here was a fall in the barometer, the more ominous to Graham that it occurred by the " fell-sides." If to him the sky appeared only slightly overcast, others sir, if the comparison must be made, if the distinction must be taken, measures are comparatively nothing, men everytliing." Canning, how- ever, was speaking of times of difficulty and danger, when men of energy and character were most in request. It was not that Sir James underrated individual action in the arena of public affairs, but that measures of a salutary tendency in domestic reforms were a greater consideration with him than either a Grey or a Melbourne administra- tion in 1835. It would have been little less than cant or ignorance, on the part of Graham, to overlook the great results flowing from the bold, energetic action and practical genius of the historic men of Eng- land. * The Carlisle 'Journal, in discussing the remonstrance, noted that, during the previous session, Sir James Graham's name appeared in nine divisions of the House, in eight of which he was opposed to Lord Mel- bourne, and in league with the Tories. Sj'g-ns of the Political Storm. 141 saw murky signs of gathering packs tending towards the heavy nimbus, or the lurid electrical cloud ; and did not the vapoury mists playing along the summit of Crossfell, apparently so fleeting and insignificant, portend the coming " helm-wind"* which carried dis- aster in its course ? Now Brampton showed the political helm-wind, and was blowing it pretty hard towards NicoU Forest and Netherby ; but the Laird within the Ha', comforted in the belief that the wind was only " a soughing," and not a gale, took no thought for the morrow. Why should the querulous- ness of "a small portion" of the constituency affect his self-complacency, if not patrician mood ? This was the Netherby mistake, that soon grew too big to be rectified. Had Graham taken counsel of his col- league Blamire, who knew the popular feeling better than any man in Cumberland, he would have learned from him that the Brampton district was not alone in the winter of its discontent with his Tory votes and procedure ; that there was a general disaffection spreading like an epidemic across the county ; that Dalston folk were training their " black-reds" for the approaching main ; that Carlisle, in seeking a more fixed mordant than the Graham one for its new Blue dye, was also manufacturing political cloth to the exclusion of the Netherby woof; that the "lads of Inglewood Forest," whose grandsires stood by the Dukes of Portland and Devonshire, were crowding towards Norfolk's successor at Greystoke Castle ; that the "grey coats" of Cumberland, indignant at his * The term "helm-wind" is applied to a peculiar and fierce blast that sweeps the east side of Crossfell, and occasionally traverses a great breadth of the vale of Cumberland. 142 The Howard Tenantry in Arms. abandonment of the " old Blue flag," were headed by the Howards, the Aglionbys, and the Crackanthorpes, in dire opposition to the Netherby clans, and the political hybridism of its chief. The local newspapers also showed how the wind blew; but Sir James, either exultant in his powers to control popular feeling when the day of action came, or obdurate and unimpressive, as if his temporary fits of reverie had got a permanent holding, showed no signs of meeting the storm. Helm in hand, and taking no one into his confidence, he neither shortened nor lowered his sails, nor devi- ated a point in the compass. Was not the Brampton protest a fact worthy of note in the race for the Cum- berland cup } Had Sir James forgot his letter to tlie Earl of Carlisle in 1829, anxiously soliciting the sup- port of his Lordship and the electors of his district, (Brampton,) that he treated them so cavalierly in 1836? These Bramptonians, tough fellows in the wrestling ring, sportive or political, were strong in speech, sturdy in opinion, and among the last in the county to be trifled with. They could be marshalled under the walls of Naworth, like the men-at-arms of " Belted Will ;" for, as in days gone by, their ances- tors, feudal or free, had been the valiant defenders of the renowned Border castle and its chieftain, so they, in Victoria's reign, were the admiring and willing supporters of the house of Howard — respecting its honour, its historical reputation and integrity, and holding in no less esteem its high graciousness and goodness of heart. It was supposed, or rather hoped for, that Sir James would seek some way of putting himself right with his constituency. His presence no doubt would ■ ,Thc Blues in Ftitt March. 143 have modified some of the extreme views in circula- tion ; and if his visit had come off soon after his mother's death, the sympathy of his worst foes might have been touched by a gracious appeal to a generous construction of his acts. But if he laboured under the belief that all his votes alongside of Peel were based on honest convictions and sound legislation, he could have no apology to offer, and nothing to say beyond what he set forth in his reply to the remon- strants. The death of William IV., on the 20th June 1837, brousfht Oueen Victoria to the throne, and caused a dissolution of Parliament. The old Reform spirit was immediately revived in Cumberland, not in sup- port of, but in direct hostility to, Sir James as a county candidate. Vv^ithin five days of the news of the King's death reaching the north, a meeting of the county Blues was held in Carlisle, under the presi- dency of Henry Howard of Greystoke Castle, when it was agreed to ask Major Aglionby, the respected chairman of Quarter Sessions, who had hitherto sup- ported and nominated Sir James Graham, and Mr William James of Barrock to come forward as can- didates for East Cumberland. This was done by means of a requisition, in which were set forth the several reasons for opposing Sir James, and these mainly drawn from his own published opinions. Its concluding sentence ran thus: — "That we have seen with sorrow and shame all these declarations and principles departed from by Sir James Graham, he having plunged into opposition to his former friends upon all points, with the men against whom he had struggled during the whole of his political life; and 144 Major Aglioiihy and Mr James. that upon these grounds we call upon Major Aglionby and Mr James." This requisition obtained 2590 sig- natures — the register contained 4688 names — and showed a majority of the constituency ; and the names were collected with a speed that indicated a previous preparation of the electoral mind, and an active organisation of forces for the impending contest. How differently placed was Graham, whose pre- paration was almost ;///. In the early spring months he had been warned of the revolution of feeling in Cumberland ; but, relying on his own prowess, took no heed of the monitions of his friends, or the grow- ing condemnation of the press. Probably he reasoned with himself on the past, on his long and laborious services as a Reformer ; and that, in abandoning his party, he had sacrificed place, position, and power for the sake of a principle ; and that his Cumberland friends should see all this, and not exact from him the subserviency of a mere delegate to the House of Commons. He who, without a political patron, had raised himself by his own sagacity and sheer force of intellect to a leading position in the State during a great national crisis, it was but fair to infer might form his own opinions, on both men and measures, without the dictation of a constituency, less endowed and naturally less apt to arrive at a correct estimate of the nation's wants. He felt, and was justified in feeling, as he had been among the best friends of the country, and had done a noble part in his country's cause, that each act of his parliamentary life should not be too strictly questioned, or too hastily con- demned. And further, was the Parliament of Eng- How the Electors were swayed. 145 land — the Witenagcmote, or council of the wise men — to abdicate its functions as a deliberative body ? and was he, ranking among its chiefs, to be an auto- matic knight of the shire, with no more freedom and independence than a noisy multitude with goaded passions would permit ? In his eyes, and probably in the eyes of many others living to this day, and re- gretting the votes they recorded against him, it seemed unreasonable on the part of the electors to draw too rigid lines to his action, and to make the exactitude of party a sine qua non to his political thoughts. Conscientiously trusting to his own Judg- ment and work, he did not reflect on the varying and impressionable feeling of a large constituency ; and that the more bucolic the electors were, the more readily would they be swayed by the spout- ing politician of the hamlet, the reiterated state- ments of the local press, the " uneasy bodies" round Carlisle Cross, and the nightly carousers of county hostelries. Taking high personal ground, based on his parlia- mentary honours, he had not considered sufficiently the untoward influences at work in Cumberland, especially the " local oracles," who, not seldom wish- ing to lower public men to their own petty standard of thought, kept harping upon his shortcomings, and suggesting the notion that, in politics at least, one man is as good as another, and perhaps a little better, and that therefore any Cumbrian might fill Sir James Graham's place. These would-be reformers of every- body but themselves, longing for a recognition they could not obtain at Ncthcrby or anywhere else, if known, became the mouthpieces of declamation and K 146 Graham reasons on his Claims. discontent, and found ready listeners among the igno- rant and the prejudiced. Whilst dwelling upon his many claims to public forbearance — claims that would have been gladly welcomed by any constituency in England — he could not overlook the local ties that bound him to Cum- berland. Some of his friends, he admitted, had cause to be dissatisfied with him ; but they could not be many, and even they could hardly overlook his past and meritorious services. Had his high regard for the yeomanry, his Dalston dinner-speech, his four suc- cessful appearances at the hustings, made no greater impress upon the people of Cumberland than the passing sunshine, or the fleeting shadows of time .-* Was his abandoning the pleasures of rural life to aid a great popular movement, was his ministerial effort to rectify a public department, were his mornings' committee work, his night debates in the Commons, and a thousand minor obligations conferred upon his home-folk, to be held up as feathers light as air when his public character came to be weighed in the balance .'' Was he to give way in the candidature for East Cumberland for the sake of any man, patri- cian or parliamentary, to be found between Black Coomb and Christenbury Crags } Sir James reasoned fairly enough as to his claims, had gratitude and forgiveness been the attributes of humanity. So far from this, however, it was observed in 1837 that his virtues, once so large, filled but a small space in the memory of the " Blues ;" whilst his faults, once so few, began to show an almost indefinite extension. All the home influences that told against Sir James were raked up ; and, inde- Not at Jiome with the Electors. 147 pendent of his own deficiencies as a neighbour, his steward, Mr Yule, by extreme officiousness, had brought the Laird of Netherby into some trouble. Without tact and discrimination, Mr Yule was now and then doing harsh things, and the unpopularity attendant thereon had its reflex upon Sir James as a landlord. To some of these growing shadows in a great life attention may be directed here as helping to explain the untoward circumstances surrounding Sir James at his life's zenith, (forty-five years of age,) and which affected him more deeply than anything he had ever experienced in public — making the me- ridian of his hopes the declination to a great and calamitous political fall. Sir James appeared cold and distant to men of the middle ranks, and more lukewarm than cordial to those of his own walk — attributable by some to the pride of birth, or a soaring elevation of mind. He seldom unbent himself, except to his parliamentary equals, and rarely looked "at home" in the yeomanry circle, where he might have won golden opinions so readily. Had he, instead of shutting himself up within the towers of Netherby, mingled more largely with the electors of Cumberland ; had he, instead of keeping such distance and reserve, entered into their homes, and made himself acquainted with their wants and interests, he would have known, between 1835 and the election of 1837, that the decree had gone forth against him ; that a change of tactics and a more straightforward course in Parliament could alone maintain his position in Cumberland. Then his personal manner did not please ; the gloved fingers, held out as if by compulsion, felt like a cold 148 Great Talents 7iot enough, touch to a person counting on the manly grasp and hearty response to his own shake of the fist. He did not appear thorough to Cumbrians, who, above all things, like naturalness and openness of disposition. His loftiness savoured more of the mighty lord than the Cumberland squire seeking to ingratiate himself with the electoral body, and to form friendships with their chiefs. He had unbounded talent — a fine thing with a candidate for popular favours ; but he lacked heart, that goes vastly further in securing personal at- tachment, and the general affection of the people. His speeches were of the most telling order ; but the oratory addressed to thousands from a platform or hustings is not so grandly operative in the long-run as a homely and hospitable reception of a few of the representative men, or his own adaptation to the manners and local phraseology of the district would have been. Graham carried Cumberland before him, as Curwen had done ; but he wanted Curwen's method of appeal to the homely usages of the people, and Blamire's graciousness to both high and low. Graham rested his popularity more upon his powers of oratory and persuasive argument than in the cultivation of the social feeling, forgetting apparently that the hero of a gala day is but a nine-days' worship at the best, while condescension and aftability establish a man's good repute throughout the year. The sturdy yeo- manry required careful handling, being easily pleased, and as easily fretted ; they were to be coaxed, not driven. When told that the Graham doings in Par- liament were Yelloiv in tone, the great mass of electors did not stop to inquire the reason, but ran like sheep through a gap after any swaggering political tup. Faults on both sides. 149 The Blues claimed independence for themselves, but gave no freedom to Sir James. More intercourse between the candidate and his supporters would have mitigated the Jiaiitcnr of the one, and smoothed the austerity of the other, and done much to harmonise a state of affairs that turned out badly for both parties. The Graeme blood was hot, and could not bear dictation and questioning, especially when its repre- sentative believed that its only trait of Toryism was hatred of O'Connellism — its shams and threats, its bluster and bravado. The exalted feeling entertained by Sir James for the monarchy and Protestant Church, his apprehension of the " Irish Repealer" secularising ecclesiastical property, and, not least, his gloomy habit, unless the sun shone brightly on every side of the British Channel, gave a colouring to his politics that led to a guarded Conservatism. There may have been a vein of timidity in his wishing "to rest and be thankful" with the reforms accomplished — the more noted in him who had been so thorough for free and popular governments. Had he rested his oppo- sition to the Whigs on anti-0'Connellism, he would have gained supporters in Cumberland, for some of the Blues became estranged from their party by the Stanley-Graham protests, and went over to Conser- vatism. But Sir James went further, and placed him- self in hostile attitude to his old friends, in frequent catcchisings of their acts, in returning the sneers of the Radicals with Graham interest — a large per- centage — and showing a general discountenance of the Melbourne Ministry. In Sir James's first address (June 28, 1837) to the electors of East Cumberland — dated Grosvcnor Place, 150 Addresses to Electors. London — he professed to be true to his first prin- ciples, as the friend of civil and religious liberty, and mentioned his share in carrying the repeal of the Test Act, the Emancipation of the Catholics, the Re- form Bill, the abolition of slavery, the commutation of tithes, the amendment of the poor laws, municipal reforms in England and Scotland, a large diminution of the public expenditure, and a correspondent remis- sion of the public burthens. His opposition to Lord Melbourne's Government had been limited to certain dangerous measures, which, in his opinion, tended to the overthrow of the Protestant Church. His second address was dated Edenhall, Cumberland, July 3, and evidently arose from his first perusal of the Aglionby requisition. The following is the pith of it : — " Not being conscious of any departure from one principle I ever professed, and not being myself ashamed of any one act of my public life, I have has- tened to meet my accusers face to face, and to vindi- cate my character from every aspersion. I won your favour openly, and I will not fly from the threats of coalitions and subscriptions. Mr Howard of Grey- stoke has asserted, in an address to you, that my cause is identified with the anti-Reform principles of 183 1. Allow me to observe that there was then no compact alliance between Lord Grey's Government and Mr O'Connell ; that the reformers of that day sought strictly to limit, not indefinitely to extend, the new portion of democratic influence they added to the constitution ; and that the Whigs had not re- nounced the leading principle of the Revolution of 1688, which is the maintenance of the Reformed Pro- testant religion in every part of the United Kingdom. John I the Gate. 1 5 1 I stand on my old ground. I am an independent county gentleman, whose opinions are known, and whose principles have been tried. I ask only for one seat, when two are vacant. I do not presume to say who should be my colleague ; but I do say that I am not so unworthy as to merit absolute exclusion, and to be forced out by an attempt to dictate to a great constituency." In a third address, dated Netherby, July 6 — and all three, it will be observed, appeared within eight days — he acted more on the offensive, by asking if Major Aglionby agreed with Mr James's Radical opinions. He expressed his doubts as to the bond fide character of the requisition, and that many had signed it under the impression that they promised to support Major Aglionby alone. Along with the names of the requisitionists, the Carlisle Journal issued a supplement containing a general survey of Sir James's political changes from 1835 to 1837, showing his frequent alliance with the Tories in marring the English Municipal Bill, in seek- ing to preserve the exclusive rights of freemen, in frustrating the Irish Church question, the Church Rates Bill, &c. Everything was brought up against Sir James, and the Journal "blew the fire" from week to week. Among many articles, pamphlets, and parodies issued for the purpose of damaging Netherby, a letter that appeared on the 15th July, signed "John i' the Gate,"* attracted most attention, being copied by the Times, and read everywhere. Its * "John i' the Gate" was Thomas Wannop, a yeoman residing at Holm Gate, near Warwick Bridge. He borrowed the noin de plume from John Anderson, a shrewd pohtician, who had a railway-crossing gate to superintend. 152 All is changed. character may be judged of by the following quota- tion — the poesy is Shakespearian : — " I can add colours even to the chameleon — Change shapes with Proteus for advantage." " Your affected cant, (addressing Graham,) your end- less appeals to your conscience, and the conscious purity oi your motives, have almost convinced me that you are, what you appear to be, a zealous Church- man. How silly ! You know, Sir Proteus, that nothing can so effectually effect the downfall of the Church as the contempt and hatred of the people." The Blues were ready to praise any vituperative at- tack on Graham, however mediocre in style or weak in argument. Sir James, in his canvass,* had but a small follow- ing, and that composed of Tories, lay and clerical. Even the Lowthers, who had received such political flagellations from the Netherby whip, lent their former foe the services of their best electioneering tool — the noted Billy Holmes. The dictum attributed to Charles James Fox, " Show me a public man's associates, and I will tell you his principles," was applied to Sir James, whose political associates were no longer the Russellsand Howards, but the Peels and the Lowthers — those very men of whom he had once declared that the height of their ambition was the favour of kingly smiles. Sir James could no longer be blind to his position. The corporation, the Church, the press, * Sir James solicited Mr Rooke's vote and influence, and in doing so remarked, " The contest will he very severe, and every voice important ; and if, on the whole, you think my principles sound and my conduct honest, I hope you will rescue me from this attempt to dismiss me like a worthless servant." Both Mr Rooke and the Rev. R. Matthews voted for him. TJic Church supports GraJiain. 153 and party agents had all changed sides ; so that there could be no mistaking the status quo ante bcllum. It was curious to observe that, as the Blues deserted, the Yellows rushed to the Graham standard ; even the Church, high and dry, low and slow, forgot the enemy of other days, and sought to be sponsors to his new baptism, hoping no doubt to teach him a Conserva- tive catechism, and the sweet love and charity con- tained in the Athanasian creed ! During the spring of 1837 a religious zealot, anxious for the future of the Carlisle lieges, had painted the words "Flee from the wrath to come" in large white letters orr the parapet of Eden bridge, and this writing on the wall was visible during the summer. On the Sunday previous to the nomination-day of the election, some wags, not to be outdone by sinful piety, painted, '' Oh, Netherby apostate !" immediately preceding the original text ; so that the words ran, " Oh, Netherby apostate, flee from the wrath to come !" — the political ejaculation of the day grafted on the scripture wrath- ful. Though effaced in part the same night, the words could not fail to be seen by Sir James as he passed along the bridge into the Border city. They were ominous of his political position. The nomination took place on Thursday the 3d August 1837. The Blues mustered in great force at Harraby Hill, and entered the city from the south. Sir James came from Netherby, or the north. His entry was not as of yore ; nay, so entirely at variance with the past, that it was difficult to persuade yourself that the cavalcade rising the hill from the Scottish gates of the city was the Netherby chieftain at the head of his clan. There was no herald to announce 154 I'J^^ Nomination Day. the knighted cavaHer's approach, no blue flag or party symbol, no music to trumpet "The Campbells are coming," no cheering, and no welcome. He gained the hustings with difficulty, and amid volleys of dirt, phy- sical and moral. He was nominated by Sir George Musgrave, Bart., of Edenhall, and Captain Irwin of Calder Abbey — both Tories. Mr Henry Howard, of Greystoke Castle, and Mr John Gill of Cumrew, nomi- nated Mr William James of Barrock Lodge; and Mr Crackanthorpe of Newbiggen, and Mr Thomas Sal- keld, of Holm Hill, nominated Major Aglionby. The nominators of the Blues were bitter towards Graham. Mr Thomas Salkeld of Holm Hill accused Sir James of " glossing hypocritical cant," and that " he would learn to his cost that principle and political integrity cannot always be abandoned with impunity."* Sir James took note of this, and said, " That gentleman has made use of language of which, I trust, in his sober moments he will repent." The Salkeld phrase- ology was like pitch to the already ignited sticks or mob in the market-place. As soon as Sir James offered to address the electors. Pandemonium was let loose, and taunts, reproaches, epithets, and scandal mingled with the yells and hisses. When there was the slightest pause — obtained by the solicitations of Mr S. Saul, the under Sheriff, and Mr H. A. Aglionby, M.P. — he essayed to speak. Beyond a few hits at Mr James's Radicalism, and the destruc- * It is worthy of note that Mr Salkeld lived to establish for himself the epithets he so unsparingly applied to Sir James. In 1852 he ap- peared as a Tory candidate for East Cumberland, and was defeated — possibly repenting in his cooler moments, as Sir James prophesied, and not improbably reflecting on his own words, " that political integrity cannot always be abandoned witli impunity." The Bitter Opposition. 155 tive policy of O'Connell, and the rancour and bitter- ness of his opponents, nothing definite could be gathered from his expressions.* After many attempts, he replaced the red-taped documents which he had drawn from his pockets, and stood at bay. There was no possibility of his making himself heard. The writer believes that he came well prepared to speak and defend his position ; but the hostility of old friends and young pretenders of Whiggism, coupled with the abominable usages of the mob, shook, or rather frustrated, his purpose, as they unquestionably swelled his pride. That he passed through a severe ordeal, no one can doubt ; but there was less appear- ance of the emotional than was attributed to him : it was not till his voice was irrevocably drowned that his heart turned against his oppressors ; and then he may have breathed a plague on both the political houses of the county. Knowing how bold he was in fence, how strong in argument, how ready with words, and these so clear and enunciatory, or persuasive, or con- demnatory, as circumstances suited, the Blues were afraid of his utterances, and therefore opposed them. It is to be regretted, for many reasons, that he could have no chance of defence, as the effort would have been great and masterly, and left its mark on the electioneering annals of England. The phalanxed mass of Blues at the nomination indicated the position meant for Graham at the poll. The old political moorings were gone. The Blue flag The writer, then a student of medicine, was unwilHngly carried down the hustings platform, and placed in immediate contact with Sir James, so that he had the best possible opportunity of judging of his behaviour, and of hearing every word and comment that he made upon his opponents. 156 Rebttffs in the Canvass. waved over the right of the hustings, but Graham was on the left ; and, worse than all, the Lowthers formed part of his backing. More shady than colour, more disdainful than device, was the rancour and hate that ruled the Whigs, whose apotheosis ol the Graham in 1830 was forgotten in the iconoclastic fury of 1837. He canvassed from day to day, and met with every- thing but success. When canvassing at Thruston- field, old Mrs Stordy, a Quakeress, said to him, " Sir James, thou hast a nice place at Netherby, and a fine estate ; why dost thou trouble thyself with Par- liament when thy home affords thee so many com- forts and blessings, particularly now that voters are far from being so friendly to thee .''" " Ah, madam !" replied Graham, " you give me excellent advice, most excellent advice ; it would be well if I could follow it." On calling at Robert Twentyman's, at Hawksdale, he met Robert's mother in the lobby, to whom he addressed — " You see, Mrs Twentyman, I walk in with the same freedom as in days gone by." " Ay," quoth the dame, " but ye 're sair altered since then ; we hardly ken what ye are now." Sir James knew the meaning of these words ; and, after leaving the house, turned to the Rev. W. Fletcher and said, " That is the severest rebuff I have had in the can- vass : with a man I could have argued ; but what could I say to the worthy dame, whose kindness to me, as a boy and your pupil, I can never forget." Electors who would liked to aid him dared not incur the censure of their neighbours. The old Blue flag carried scores to the poll who knew little of the respective merits of the candidates, but, following their Loses the blue- eyed Maid. 157 father's footsteps, must vote Blue. In 1831 Graham amused a Cockermouth hustings audience by the narrative of a day's poaching in a Lowther pre- serve ; in 1837 his only chance of filling his bag was as gamekeeper of " my Lord Lonsdale." How the times were changed when "the Cock of the North" was passing through the postern gate of Lowther Castle ! He showed no colours. Where " was the unfading symbol," where the " bonnie blue " .'' The Graham jockeys used to wear blue caps and favours, now they might don black sleeves with yellow stripes. The Graham ever made the winning-post his goal, and the blue-eyed maid his prize ; now the distance-post awaits him, and around it stand Tory parsons as woeful weepers, and Lowtherites of a limited-liability political virtue. Major Aglionby's election was quite secure, and Mr James's Radicalism was expected to be got over if the requisitionists stood firm. In the triangular duel Graham thought he should hold the second place. His Netherby tenants, the Lowthers, with split votes from the less Radical portion of the constituency, and the support of rich proprietors to whom ties of friendship or a growing conservatism would be some- thing in his favour in beating Mr James, were relied upon to accomplish this. As the Lowthers were rather lukewarm, and the requisitionists stood to their promise, he naturally failed. Unbiassed ob- servers could see that he was calculating without his host, and that he .was affected with a political colour- blindness that led him to mistake the red signal of danger for the green, that only marked caution to his steps. It was no use crying, " Holloa, Graham, you 158 " Deceived and Defeated!' are on the wrong line, look at the signals ;" for he acted in the spirit of—" Mind your own business ; I know the road a good deal better than you mouthing Radicals trailing the Curwen flag to O'Connellism and devildom." The polling was on Monday and Tuesday, the 7th and 8th of August, and at its close the numbers were — Major Aglionby, 2294 ; Mr James, 2124 ; Sir James Graham, 1605 ; — so that the Major had a majority of 691, and Mr James 522 over their opponent. The Carlisle and Brampton districts showed by far the greatest majority for the Blues. Fifty-three electors of the name of Graham voted for their Netherby chieftain at Longtown. On the loth, Sir James issued his parting address to the electors, in which he stated that the promises of split votes had been broken ; and continued — " I have been deceived, and am defeated. In the senate, and in our own county, in office, and in my private station, for twenty years I have laboured to advance your popularity ; and it cannot be laid to my charge that I have, in any instance, from sloth neglected your business, or sacrificed your interests to my am- bition. No ! " It wrt'i' a defeat to Graham — a heavy blow and great discouragement to a man naturally proud of his powers — a sad depression to a heart not less proud of the sincerity of its aims than of its aspirations and patriotic motives. He seems to have fancied that he could stray away from the Whig course, and leave the old Blue direction without sullying his reputation or lessening his influence beyond what his own force of character, and grasp upon the affections The Withered " Imniortcllcs." 159 of the people, could remedy. Being its foremost friend, and the ablest advocate for its local reforms, he looked upon the county as ready at his nod and beck. What must have been his feelings to see the first opportunity of testing its gratitude, a trial of contention with its prejudices — ending in mistrust, defeat, and humiliation. When an inferior candidate had a majority of 500 and upwards, ostracism had been recorded in strong lines against Graham. The greatest boast he ever made, that of representing the independent yeomanry of Cumberland, was no longer his privilege to enjoy : the iimnortelles that he had gathered at " old Curwen's " tomb in 1829, and which he had enshrined in the greater brightness of his own ministerial life, seem to have lost their colours and their fragrance in the summer of 1835, and gradually withering in his hands, came to nothingness before the fall of the leaf in 1837. Sic transit gloria ! How little hold did this man of high political thought, and bold service in the people's cause, possess over the minds of the electors — some of whom owed their position mainly to his services in the Reform Ca- binet — that the first deviation from his old sailing orders upset the balance of opinion against his further command. Unmindful of past favours, they condemned him for present and contingent errors. It was not a statesman of great parts they wanted so much in Cumberland as a man who w^ould follow a Whig policy through thick and thin. To part with Netherby, and rush to Barrock, marked a non-discriminative policy almost beyond precedent in a county consti- tuency ; and to-day Cumberland knows it and sufi"ers from it. Some of his opponents had been chagrined 1 60 The English Coriolamis. by his reserve and seclusion within Netherby Hall ; others were glad to have a big man to hurl their venomous words at, and being Boccharian in skin and feeling themselves, they cared nothing for the infliction of hurt upon the noble Roman — nothing for the acute susceptibilities of the wounded Graham. Allowing that he was much to blame, he was not so hopelessly wrong but he might return from his erratic course to the fold of Whiggism, Now that thirty years have buried the enmity of politicians, the virulence of editors, and the frothy yeast of ignorance and clamour, the unprejudiced man, scanning the events of the past by the light of other days and experience, cannot fail to see in the ostracism of a political leader like Graham a mistake committed by the men of Cumberland that history will not fail to cite and enlarge upon as a modern instance of the Roman treatment of an Eng- lish Coriolanus. CHAPTER XI. FROM 1838 TO 1844. Tory dinner at Carlisle to Graham (1838) — His speech— Corn Laws- Prince Albert — PeeVs defence of Graham — Onslaught on the Whigs — Home Secretaryship — Scotch Kirk— Factory Schools — Monster meetings in Ireiand^Trial of 0'Co7inell—Too hard work —'■'Dissenters'' Chapel Bill" jHAT can it be that leads men to forsake rural life, and manorial halls, and woods, and groves, and running streams, for the stifled atmosphere of St Stephen's, and the chicanery of political life? Why be tempted to with- draw from the fresh delights of nature, the physiology of existence, and the incense-breathing morn, for the ephemeral applause attending a public meeting, or the hebdomadal fame of a local newspaper ? Of what avail had living services as a county reformer, a successful minister of the crown and true patriot, been to Graham, that his neighbours ostracise him, as they might have done an alien in politics, or a nonentity in the senate ? Could Sir James have recalled the ad- mirable words he had penned to his friend Mr Rooke regarding his proposed publications in 1827, and the mode in which they might be received by the world, how applicable they would have appeared to his own political instance in 1837 ! "Be not over sanguine; L 1 62 The Graham Defiant. some will dislike your doctrines; others be jealous of your research ; and all very much disposed to stifle your voice. Your irrigated meadow will, after all, afford you more satisfaction, not to talk of profit, than the most successful range through the heights of political science."' On the 4th January 1838, a public dinner was given him in Carlisle, and Mr Hasell, a Tory squire, presided. The meeting consisted mainly of Tories and Netherby tenantry. Two hundred and twenty persons were present, according to the Whig print, and eight hundred were numbered by the Tory print! Sir James spoke bitterly and bitingly on his defeat, as the following excerpts will show : — " A shout of triumph had been raised in Downing Street, and all the pack of ministerial retainers had been hallooed on his traces. And, after all, what had been achieved } One individual had been excluded from Parliament, and a single vote had, been gained This mighty government made a great display of triumph because they had succeeded in silencing the legisla- tive voice of one individual. . . . He had endea- voured to advocate the principles he professed, hon- estly and openly. He had fought battles on his own resources, and with some detriment to his private fortune, and he stood again a plain Cumberland country gentleman What had he gained .-* What additional hereditary honours had he sought to attain ? What pensions or emoluments had been received either by himself or his relatives.'' He asked whether, among these patriots in office, these ques- tions could be answered in the same way? He main- tained that he held by the principles he professed in Lord Brougham — the Boaster. i6 J 1828, and that he was neither bigot nor renegade, but averse to the downward path of revolution There may have been more wicked governments, there may have been more pernicious governments, but he defied any one to produce, from the history of the country, a more shabby government than that of Lord Melbourne. I shall be told that I am traducing my old colleagues. Oh, I owe them a heavy debt to be sure ! It is said this is still Lord Grey's govern- ment ; but, I ask, where is the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Ripon, Lord Stanley, and Lord Althorp.^ And where is Lord BrotigJiam ? And echo answers, Where .-* Sunk in the dregs of democracy, steeped in the lees of White Conduit House, I saw and heard him, when Lord Chancellor, denounce and hurl defi- ance at the mendicant agitator of Ireland. Now I see the boaster daily correspondent of royalty,* writ- ing a most obsequious letter to the chairman of the Crown and Anchor meeting, regretting his inability to attend a meeting at which O'Connell proposed to establish in England another Irish Association. I have told you of his mathematical demonstration against the ballot. I saw him kneel in the House of Lords to pray them to pass the Reform Bill ; and now he is the supporter of Wakley's three powders, wrapped, I suppose, in bits of blue paper, to suit the taste of the people of Cumberland and Westmore- land. O, what a fall was there ! . . . . Defeat itself At the great Reform dinner in Edinburgh, Lord Brougham told the meeting that he would write his royal master an account of the proceedings. This public bo.isting, along with more private officious- ness than suits courts, lost him the favour of King William IV.; and no doubt Brougham had contributed more to the downfall of the Grey ministry than any or all the circumstances ihnt tended in that direction. 164 " Hunted like a Mad Dog!' was not half so painful as the circumstances attend- ing it. He had hoped that, even if the constituency- were resolved to dismiss him — that if they were re- solved to strike — they would at all events have first heard him. He did not suppose that he should have been hunted almost like a mad dog through the streets of Carlisle, and that his unoffending son would be knocked down at his feet, and almost trampled upon Much as he disliked political societies, he had consented to give his name to the Con- servative Association of Cumberland ; for he had made up his mind to make a bold stand with those who thought with him, that the ' crows should not be called in to peck the eagles.' He was prepared to join with his bitterest personal ene- mies — he hoped he had few — against his dearest personal friends, in order to uphold the sacred insti- tutions of the country." This speech was much commented upon, and made the Blues intensely angry. That Sir James took a false position in showing rancour, if not spitefulness, at the Bush dinner, no one can doubt ; but much of his satire and condem- nation of the Whigs was fairly attributable to the manifest hostility of that party, and not less the in- gratitude of his countymen a few months previously. He had cast off, for a time, the dust of a doubtful " Liberalism," and thrown in his lot with the new and promising Conservatism. Great minds like Graham's cannot be soured as his was, and sweetened the same year. Dislocated so unmistakably from all his Cum- berland ties — its Blueism, its local gatherings, and farmers' shows — no wonder he rushed into the arms of L ord Rector of Glasgow. 1 6 5 the Opposition — a party, though far from blameable, that has ever shown the good sense to welcome to its ranks men of merit and bold resolve. From 1837 to 1846, when Sir James came out as a free-trader, his life and history in Cumberland was like a blank page in a book. He was as little spoken of as a county man as if he had not had the holding of a yeoman. Graham banished was Graham forgotten. In February 1838, a vacancy was created for him in the representation of Pembroke, and again he entered the Commons, as ready as ever for business. This year he was elected Lord Rector of the Univer- sity of Glasgow, in opposition to the Duke of Sussex; and on the 21st December gave the inaugural ad- dress, in the Common Hall, to a crowded audience. His address was of the polished sort, on a hackneyed theme ; and the meeting would have passed over pleasantly, had he not referred to the national Church of Scotland in its relation to the civil courts ; there he touched the toes of the west country bigots, who raised a howl that led him to cut short the address. Early in the session of 1839, Mr C. P. Villiers' inotion to go into committee to consider the laws affecting the importation of foreign grain, led to a long debate, on the fourth night of which Sir James spoke, and at great length, against any disturbance of the existing law. On this occasion he put Mr Poulett Thompson's quotations aside by denying the authorship of the " Free-trade in Corn" pamphlet, whilst he was so frank as admit some errors of his own " Corn and Currency." He stated that he had sat in the Committee on the State of Agriculture in 1833, and had the honour of drawing up the report 1 66 Cotton Culture in India. then agreed to ; and in 1836, on another inquiry, had opposed the fixed duty proposed by Lord John Rus- sell and two others of the government, and carried his point. Therefore he had not been inconsistent. He thought that no consideration should have in- duced Lord John Russell to introduce the English Tithe Commutation Act, if he intended to meddle with the existing corn laws ; but if the noble Lord should state to the House that such had been his intention, he (Sir James) could find no milder mode of expressing himself than in saying, that a gross fraud had been practised upon the House."* Speak- ing of our dependence on foreign countries, Sir James " had always hoped that, instead of attempting to extend the limits of our territory in the East, and to stretch the bounds of our government there, and in- stead of being devoted to war, we should cultivate there the arts of peace ; that we should devote our attention to the better raising of the cotton plant, to its better growth, and to its better picking ; and he could conceive nothing more worthy of the attention of the President of the Board of Control than eman- cipating this country from the necessity of relying on the United States for our supply of cotton. It was, in his opinion, an evil to be dependent on any country for a supply of cotton." These words were of great import to England, could they have been accepted, * This bold statement of Sir James, exhibiting his views of the in- timate relations between tithes and the corn laws, is worthy of note here, as sanctioning the opinions held by many of the leading men of the epoch, that without the Tithe Commutation Act, in operation from 1836, the difficulty in effecting changes in the corn laws, in 1846, would have been very greatly enhanced, or possibly not com- pleted at all. This matter is alluded to in the biography of William Blamire. Not Dependent on America. 16^ and were no less prophetic, could they have been understood. Yet twenty-five years had to pass over before the legislature or the representatives of the commercial interests saw their high significance. To have called forth the industrial energies of our Indian population, and to have encouraged the growth of cotton in 1839, when Sir James advised, would have been one of the greatest boons that could have been conferred upon the empire at large. At the very least, it would have saved our annual humiliation at the hands of the United States — the fear of war, because it involved the loss of cotton ; and cotton, as was well known to Brother Jonathan, had become king of English commerce. Though cotton was not corn — and the debate was on the latter article — Sir James, in introducing the subject, was following the arguments of others ; and in doing so, as was his wont, threw fresh light upon a subject of deep interest to the community. He made a startling statement regarding the local charges paid by the agriculturists, to the effect that in 1833 the poor and the county rates amounted to ;^8,ooo,ooo ; of this sum the landed interest paid ^5>439>ooo> or five-eighths of the whole burden. The highway rates amounted to ^'1,485,000, and of this sum the persons connected with land paid in money or in labour, ;^939,ooo, or two-thirds of the whole sum. The county rate in 1793 amounted to ^6^ 184,000, and in 1833 it had increased to ^757,000. Some of his arguments as to the prices of corn regu- lating the rates of wages were fallacious, as he after- wards found out. He was afraid of the British corn- grower suffering, and with this the manufacturer, by 1 68 Eloquent on RiLval Life. any meddling with the corn law ; and rising with the subject, he became earnest in feeling, avowedly- patriotic, and eloquent. Thus he went on to say : — " The President of the Board of Trade, in the lofty phraseology of the economists, spoke of labour as a commodity, and though labourers were without feel- ings, habits, or attachments ; that they might be dealt with as machines ; and that as long as they could find employment, they would be content to receive it in any part of the country. Oh ! let the House well reflect before they took any steps which, directly or indirectly, tended to these displacements of labour. Little could they estimate the wretchedness which sprang from change of habit, of house, of manners, of the mode of life itself. What change more cruel could despotism itself inflict, than a change from ' the breezy call of incense-breathing morn,' to a painful and grievous obedience to the sad sound of the factory bell ; the relinquishment of the thatched cot- tage, the blooming garden, and the village green, for the foul garret or dark cellar of the crowded city ; the enjoyment of the rural walk of the innocent rustic Sabbath, for the debauchery, temptations, the pesti- lence, the sorrows, and the sins of a congregated multi- tude } Where were their moralists, that their voices were not raised against the fearful consequences which the proposed change brought in its train t It was the first step towards making England, the workshop of the world, dependent for its daily food upon foreign supplies." He, of course, objected to Mr Villiers' motion, and voted against it. The Whigs being defeated in May 1839, tendered their resignations, and Sir R. Peel was called in, who Maids of Honour — Prince A Ibert. 169 solicited Sir James to take the Home Secretaryship. The maids of honour being Whigs, and the Queen not wishing to part with them, upset the Peel basket, and broke the eggs before they could be hatched ; so Lord Melbourne resumed office, and the direction of the Queen's politics, and equally her domestic and love affairs. If Sir James missed the Home Office, he gained more public favour by his support of the Whigs in their maintenance of the new poor law, of which he was one of the godfathers, in 1834. Placed as he was in direct antagonism to his old friends, his volunteering to aid them under pressing difficulties, showed his reverence for a principle — almost sacred with him — rather than take a party view of a great question, when the taking of it might have brought him into power. His experience as chairman of the Longtown Board of Guardians strengthened his hands in the discussion and defence of the Whig policy. On the 27th January 1840, the Melbourne ministry wished the House of Commons to grant ;^50,ooo a year to Prince Albert, as husband of the Queen, but an amendment to reduce the sum to ^30,000 was carried by the leading Tories, (262 to 158 on the division,) on the ground that the position of the Prince differed essentially from that of a queen con- sort — " The status of the latter," as Sir James argued, " was recognised by the constitution. She had an independent status ; she had independent officers ; and from her sex it was indispensably necessary that a large female establishment should be maintained by her." This clinched the argument. The vote chagrined the Queen, and helped to continue her more strongly in her Whig partisanship. I/O PecVs bold Defejice of Graham. During the same session, when the financial policy of Mr Spring Rice had been severely commented upon by Sir James, Lord J. Russell spoke disparag- ingly of his former colleague of the Admiralty, as having " often shrunk from his duty in maintaining the acts of his government." This called up Sir R. Peel, who defended the Netherby baronet with great warmth and excellent effect, by a series of interroga- tions put to his assailant, Lord John. " Is there the slightest foundation for the assertion that my right honourable friend ever shrank from his duty ? Who was selected to assist the noble lord in his prepara- tion of the Reform Bill 1 Was it not my right honour- able friend .-* And will the noble Lord now, with his present impressions of reform, deny the services which my right honourable friend rendered on that occa- sion ? Does the noble Lord deny the services of my right honourable friend as First Lord of the Admiralty ? Who reformed the civil department of the navy .-' Who was it that gained credit for the great saving in the naval estimates during the govern- ment of Earl Grey } And can you deny that the whole merit of it was due to my right honourable friend .'' .... Who reformed the exchequer .'' Who altered the regulation of pensions granted for civil services .>' .... I will tell the noble Lord what he (Sir James) shrank from. He shrank from office in vindication of his principles," &c. No series of interrogations could well convey so much of truthful history, and whilst Sir James had justice done him in a way to gratify the proudest heart, this castigation which Lord John got at Peel's hands, was one of the severest he ever experienced. - opposes the China war. 171 Sir James' resolutions condemnatory of the war in China led to three nights' debate, and though he was defeated, it was only by nine votes, in a large house. This sufficiently shadowed forth the increasing weak- ness of the Whigs, His speech was considered a noble effort — historical in details of the Chinese, of our erroneous relations with them ; and above all, admonitory of the dangers of war in so remote a part of the habitable globe. His admission into the Carlton Club in January was a prelude to his more marked Conservatism and success in the year 1841. This session was damaging to the Whigs in every way, and especially so in matters financial. During the six years of Lord Melbourne's administration, the yearly estimates had risen from ^11,730,000 to ^15,536,000, for army, navy, and ordnance ; yet the Whigs claimed to be a party for retrenchment. They meditated a free-trade budget — lessening the duties on foreign sugar and timber, and applying a fixed duty of 8s. a quarter on corn. On their failing to carry the sugar duties, Sir R. Peel moved a resolution implying a want of confidence in the government. This was a fine opportunity for Sir James having a fling at his old colleagues, and repay- ing them with some of the coin they had passed upon him. He maintained (28th May 1841) that the great measures which had been carried since 1835, were owing to the aid of the Conservative party ; he was no friend of the penny postage, and attributed the wreck of the Whig administration to it. He con- demned the shilling a bushel duty just propounded, and thus concluded his speech : — " I say, this is a desperate plunge made by desperate men. They 172 Rebukes the WJiigs severely. have made up their minds to put their hves upon a cast, and are determined to stand the hazard of the die. It is against them. I cannot address the people of this country in the language of quotation used by the noble Lord — ' O passi graviora ; ' for never was a country cursed with a worse, more reckless, or a more dangerous government. The noble Lord, the Secretary for Ireland, talks of lubri- city ; but, thank God, we have at last pinned you to something out of which you cannot wriggle, and as we have the melancholy satisfaction to know that there is an end to all things, so I can now say with the noble Lord, — ' Dabit Deus his qnoque finem.' Thank God, we have at last got rid of such a govern- ment as this !" This was pretty hard hitting of old friends, and the use of such language betrayed vexation of spirit of no ordinary kind. Sir R. Peel's motion was carried against the government by 312 to 311, and this majority of one drove them to appeal to the country on the question of free trade. On the 30th June 1841, Sir James asked Mr Rooke to write him a short letter stating the facts of author- ship and other circumstances pertaining to the pam- phlet entitled, "A Free Trade in Corn the Real In- terest of the Landlord and the True Policy of the State," as an attempt had been renewed to father the authorship upon him, and he wished to show that he was free from inconsistency of opinion on the corn- law question. The counties sent a large majority of Protectionists Home Secretary. ^/5 to the new parliament, and on the first division (19th July) a majority of 91 pronounced against the eight- shilling duty on corn ; so there was an end of the Melbourne and Russell administration ; and Peel, Stanley, and Graham reigned in their stead. Sir James had to vacate Pembroke, and accept a seat at Dorchester. Sir Robert offered him the Home Secretaryship, the duties of which were arduous enough, but there was no man in the cabinet better fitted to discharge them. Church affairs in Scotland in 1842-3 were the first stumbling-block in the way of the Home Secretary. The religious atmosphere of the north had long been cloudy and electrical, and in 1843 the storm burst upon Sir James Graham, who showed a curious reticence of the uproar he had caused in 1837 as Lord Rector of Glasgow by his allusion to the legal relations of the Scotch Church. Dr Chalmers, the leader of the new crusade against "patronage and the like," used to speak of Sir James as a noble fellow as long as he received the Edinburgh deputa- tions with amiability, quoted Shenstone to him (Chalmers), and played into the hands of the Non- intrusionist party. Sir James, however, had other advisers besides Dr Chalmers, who naturally stood on equally ex parte grounds, and neither he nor Sir R. Peel could be made to see that the cabinet, in taking the side of the " Old Kirk " by law established, were rousing the Covenanting spirit of the north. Though Sir James had become pretty high-minded in the distribution of ecclesiastical patronage before things came to a crisis, a general opinion prevailed among " the Remonstrants," or the party threatening to 1/4 The Scottish Kirk iji Arms. secede from the Church, that he would in his own time yield to their views, and " save his reputation." Even on the morning of the i8th May 1843, when the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met in St Andrew's Church,* Edinburgh, there were still hopes, attributable to Graham's strong religious ex- pression in Parliament, and still more to his political pliability, that the storm would be averted by his offering a compromise to the Chalmers and Guthrie indignation party. With what breathless anxiety the reading of the Queen's letter to the Assembly was awaited ! This letter, countersigned by Sir James, and evidently drawn up by him, dwelt on Christian charity, unity in the Church, the rights of the Church conferred by law, and by law the Church of Scotland was united to the State ; and that the settlement adopted by the Union could not be annulled by the will or declaration of any number of individuals. This State document was considered unsatisfactory by 412 ministers and elders, who at once left the hall, and constituted themselves a " Free Church." The Scots- man newspaper, then, as now. The Times of the North, looked upon the Graham manifesto as vague and inexplicit in meaning, with the exception of the following sentence — " We shall readily give our assent to any measure which the Legislature may pass for * The doors of the church were besieged by 4 o'clock in the morn- ing ; the Assembly did not meet till 1 1 ; so great was the excitement to hear Sir James' declaration. Edinburgh was a hotbed of Church politics for months, and Christian rancour rang furiously throughout the land from Caithness to Gretna. In twenty years the Free Church or seceding party had built churches and schools, and become rich as a voluntary establishment freed of State trammels, patronage, and privilege. In discussing the Irish Protestant Church, Mr Gladstone may study with profit the history of the Free Church of Scotland, Graham gets no Quarter, 175 the purpose of securing to the people the full privilege of objections, and to the Church judicatories the ex- clusive right of judgment." From that day Sir James' name was never mentioned with charity by the seced- ing party, or " Free Church," in Scotland, who said that he was neither true Englishman nor decent Scot, but a " Border riever wi' nae guid ava." The Factories Bill, which Sir James introduced as an amendment to the Factory Act of 1833, gave rise to much discussion, chiefly owing to the establishment of schools throughout the manufacturing districts ; these schools to be supported by rates, and attend- ance upon" them of all children employed in factories being made compulsory. The Church catechism or not, Anglicanism or religious freedom, formed the basis of the cry upon the subject. The Dissenters were up in arms, and the table of the House was covered with petitions against the bill. Sir James admitted the great services rendered to education by the Dissenters, but still held by constitutional land- marks — the Church established by law — and the need of its cordial co-operation in all educational schemes. The government tried to soften the asperity of feel- ing prevailing out of doors by leaving out of the bill some of the more objectionable portions, and Sir James, on asking the House to go into committee on the bill, spoke as follows : — " No man in this House can more deprecate the introduction of religious topics into our debates than I do ; but yet I feel that the difficulties which the present measure has to con- tend against in this House are connected with honest religious differences. How is it, however, that in England, the pride of Christendom, — England, the 176 Hoiv CJiristians Hate Each Other. mistress of the seas, that sends forth her commerce, her language, her manners, her arts, and, more than all these, her missionaries and her religion, to the utmost parts of the earth, — how is it that in the heart of this very country, in this fair England, so great a mass of ignorance and infidelity — infidelity arising, not from the perversion of the reasoning powers, but from want of knowing the saving truths of the gospel — should be found ? And how is it, too, that at the same time, such strife, such anger, should be exhibited in the name of religion ? Is it any mark of sincerity, either in Churchmen or Dissenters, that they should mingle with religion bitter and angry controversy ? .... In these latter days the sceptic may point with scorn and derision at professing Christians, and ob- serve : ' See how these Christians hate and despise each other.' .... Let us elevate our hearts and minds, let us act the part of Christian legislators, and evince that we are worthy of our high vocation. I am aware, for the symptoms are too evident, that upon this question the waters of strife have over- flowed, and that they now cover the land ; this {hold- ing the modified bill in his hand) is my olive branch." Notwithstanding this highly conciliatory address to the good feelings of the House and the country at large, petition after petition against the bill was laid upon the table; and on the 15th of June, Sir James announced that government had resolved to withdraw the education clauses of the measure. Since the days of struggle for Catholic emancipa- tion, Ireland had never been in such a ferment as it exhibited in 1843. It was the year of "monster meetings," and the "Great Agitator" was at the zenith Repeat Meetings — Clontarf. 177 of his popularity and in the height of his glory. Ireland was O'Connellised all over, and " Repeal of the Union" was the O'Connell cry. The Govern- ment became alarmed, and urged the renewal of the Irish Registration of Arms Act. In his speech on the second reading, Sir James said, that " concession to Ireland had reached its limits;" and this remark had the worst possible construction put upon it, — recalling the " aliens in blood " of Lord Lyndhurst, and causing much bad feeling towards the Home Secretary in the Commons, and greater odiousness towards him in Ireland. He had no intention, as he afterwards explained, of offending his Catholic fellow- countrymen, and assuredly did not deserve the vol- leys of indignation aimed at him. After Parliament had been prorogued in the autumn, the Irish excite- ment became worse, and such was Sir James's solici- tude, that he remained at his post whilst his colleagues sought the repose of the country or sport on the moors. Public and " repeal " meetings were held in different parts of Ireland, each more threatening than its predecessor, and the announcement of one to be held at Clontarf so alarmed the authorities, that a proclamation was issued prohibiting its assemblage. On the following week, Dan O'Connell, his son, and several of the chief repealers, were arrested. For this procedure on the part of the Crown Sir James was much blamed, and the fact of his prejudices towards O'Connell being well known, added fuel to the flame of discontent by attributing to Graham's personal animosity that which properly belonged to the exe- cutive Government of Ireland and the law itself. The trial of O'Connell revealed some awkward M 1/8 O' Council Imprisoned. facts, which brought upon Sir James the censure of others than repealers. Without any declaration on the part of the Government as to the illegality of the meetings — without any caution being given, or re- monstrance offered to O'Connell, Sir James had laid a plan of engineering the great agitator by employing short-hand writers and others to attend the meetings as bona fide newspaper reporters, but virtually as watchers of the proceedings. An ex-editor of the Carlisle Patriot, engaged by Sir James to gather evidence, rode on the coach that carried O'Connell to a " monster meeting," — Dan being so obliging as to offer him a seat beside himself, not dreaming for a moment that he was carrying a spy upon his actions in the " jintlemin reporther," Mr Ross. Sir James used to oppose measures ex. gr. vote by ballot, because they were un-English ; surely this system of espionage was both un-English and un-Irish. The prosecution of O'Connell was altogether unfortunate. Had he been let alone, the "great days for Ireland" would have become less great ; the wintry blasts of Novem- ber would have put a stop to long marches on the part of the "finest pisantry" in the world, especially as the reiteration of O'Connellism became tiresome to the Irish would-be patriot looking for more cogent action and results; and "blarney," though precious to Pat, has its days of s^atiety beyond the restoration of even an O'Connell whetting to the appetite. Nothing good came out of the coercive measures that led to Dan's imprisonment ; Sir James was blackened more than ever ; Toryism was more hated ; Lord Lyndhurst's " aliens in blood " speech made the House of Peers smell of tyranny and despotism ; The Queen's Government paramoiint. 179 and Government sustained a shock that affected its usefuhiess when its principles were quite as tolerant and liberal as its predecessors. If 1843 was an unlucky year for the Home Sec- retary, with Irish rows and prosecutions on hand, the session of 1844 seemed to increase his troubles, both personal and parliamentary. No Secretary of State — Home, Foreign, or Colonial — ever worked more zea- lously than Sir James Graham. He remained in office all the year round ; recreation was thrown aside. His love of Netherby and blooming heather, his morning survey of the vale of Esk in all its sylvan beauty, his physical enjoyment with gun and rod, his solitary walks and communings with nature, that recalled the philo- sophy of Burke and the sublime poesy of Milton, — these and other feelings consonant to health and refine- ment could no longer be cherished or gratified. He was in the harness of office ; he was in the service of his country. All things must bend to the Queen's Go- vernment, and a faithful execution of its high behests. His official correspondence and labours were as con- stant as the day, — rigid, severe, and exacting. He was not content with the mere routine of duty, but sought to improve the workings of his department, — to reform and to remodel it. Yet, with all these efforts, pains, and sacrifices for the public interest, he got little or none of the credit due to him as a states- man, — nay, actually laboured under the difficulty of being the most unpopular member of the Peel ministry. The want of a holiday was a great want to Sir James, and a sad mistake in every way. Daily routine becomes irksome, and what could be more I So The Troubles of the Home Office. trying than having poor-law disputes to settle, quarter sessions garrulity to appease, magisterial blunders to counteract, state evidence to digest, and state machinery to be kept in the groove of estab- lished precedents, — to say nothing of the national incubus, Irish demagogism and Scotch synods, weigh- ing upon his mind. No doubt the service of the Home Office had a varied character, but it was far too extensive for his mode of doing it, as Sir James would persist not only in directing the great principles of his department, but in keeping his eye upon the details that belonged to subordinate offi- cers. From parish squabbles, that found utterance in lengthened twaddle, up to state documents affect- ing the dismemberment of a portion of the empire, all came under his official surveillance and direction, and all prayed for immediate settlement. With Graham no post was lost, no day's delay, but always quick despatch, and not always the happy Japanese deliverance either from the ills of the flesh, or the cfreater ills of official life. What was the result of all this worry .'' Every man who has had to exercise his brain for weeks and months unrested can readily answer. His feelings became morbidly sensitive, and his manner was visibly affected. The perusal of double doses of verbosity, emanating from squire- archisms and beadledoms, and dry as dust country attorneys, the days devoted to the calming of Epis- copal apprehensions, varying in force from the refusal of a Nonconformist to receive the Church catechism into an infant school, to the substantial tithes of anise and cummin, pointing ever and ever to the church in danger, — the Auchterarder and quoad sacra Dissenters Chapels Bill. 1 8 1 disputes across the Border, C7im imtltis ct qiiibiisdavi aliis, fretted the hfe of the Home Secretary. Had he been less dihgent in his avocation, less conscien- tious and more Talleyrandish in the discharge of his duties, he would have served his country as efficiently perhaps, and saved himself from some of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that beset him. In the summer of 1844, a measure of considerable import to Unitarian and other nonconforming con- gregations — "the Dissenters' Chapels Bill" — owed Jts principal growth and safety through the Commons to Sir James. There had been much litigation and much diversity of opinion in the higher judicial circles regarding the gifts and bequests to Nonconformists which the Act of 1844 remedied. The "Liberals" approved of the Act, and expressed their conviction that the best and purest motives must have guided the framers of it. As it was a lawyer^s affair, Sir W. Follctt and Sir Robert Peel got the credit and com- pliments of both sides of the House, though the preparation of the Bill was due to Sir James Graham as Home Secretary. And here it is befitting to men- tion, that the thanks of the community were due to Sir James for placing Dissenting religious trusts on a safe and satisfactory footing. CHAPTER XII. LETTER OPENING IN 1 844. F Irish discontent and O'Connellism filled his hands and troubled his rest in 1843, incurring the hot displeasure of the Eng- lish Radicals in 1844 was infinitely worse to bear, and assuredly more damaging to Sir James Graham. This displeasure arose on the presentation of a petition by Mr T. S. Buncombe to the House of Commons on Friday the 14th June from Mazzini, the Italian patriot, W. J. Linton, the famous engraver, and others, complaining of their letters being opened in passing through the post-office. Mr Buncombe asked Sir James Graham, as Home Secretary, whether he was aware of the fact, and if so, whether it had been done by authority. Sir James acknowledged that the letters of at least one of the petitioners (Mazzini .'') had been opened, and that this had been done by a warrant issued by himself, in virtue of powers intrusted to the principal secretaries of state by an Act of Queen Anne, con- firmed by the Post-office Act of 1837. This warrant, he said, was no longer in force. How long it had been in force he declined to answer. He refused to explain further. , Diincomhe and SheiL 183 On June 17, Lord Radnor, in the House of Lords, moved for a return of all warrants for opening letters issued since ist January 1841, with names of parties whose letters were opened, number of letters so opened, &c. The motion was negatived. On June 24, Mr Buncombe revived the subject in the House of Commons, by presenting a petition from a Pole named Stolzman, complaining that his letters had been opened. He also read a letter from Mazzini, who stated that since the ist March, sixty or seventy letters addressed to him had been opened, resealed with seals made on purpose, and stamps marking the hour of posting obliterated, &c. Also that, simultaneously with this letter-opening, para- graphs had appeared in Austrian newspapers, saying that Mazzini would be under the surveillance of the London police. Sir James resisted inquiry, saying he had acted according to law, that he had acted on the best advice, and that his conscience was pure in the matter. Various other members spoke, and among them Mr Shell, who said, " The accusation preferred against the Secretary for the Home De- partment is not vague or indefinite. He is charged with having clandestinely opened the letters of an Italian gentleman, at the instance of a foreign go- vernment ; the letters of Italians living under an Austrian despotism, and addressed to their political associate here, have been opened and read, and their contents have been communicated to those for whose sake this breach.of trust has been committed. If this be true, it is not an inquiry that this House should stop. In the efforts of Italy to throw off the igno- minious yoke under which she groans we ought not 1 84 Pimch and the Press. to interfere ; but I do not hesitate to say that English- men ought to look with a feeling of sympathetic solicitude on the glorious endeavours of men who, animated by the same passion for liberty as our- selves, have perilled everything dear to men in a cause which disaster may befall, but to which dis- grace cannot attach." A majority of forty-four sup- ported Sir James in his demur to any inquiry. The House of Lords also had the matter before them ; and it was significant that the Earl of Aberdeen (Foreign Secretary) remained silent during the discussion. Public opinion, ever on the qui vive for the sensa- tional, was manifestly strong in favour of " Tom Dun- combe," the Radical M.P. Not many days had elapsed when both town and country newspapers launched their invective against what everybody sup- posed to be a new development in English history — Post-office espionage, and truckling to foreign powers — the more startling and deformed that such a prac- tice implied a marked debasement of the national honour. Though the ministry might have been, and probably were, alike implicated, the moral indigna- tion of the country at large fell with terrible force upon the head of Sir James. The press abused him right and left ; PimcJi caricatured him as Paul Pry at the post-office, and made him the artful serpent of his " Complete Letter- Writer," and continued for weeks to spare no mythological symbol that could add obliquy to Graham's name. Letter envelopes had just come into fashion, and it was not unusual in the North to note above the address, or around the wafer or seal, " Not to be Grahamed ; " " not for the Home Office ; " or " not for Paul Pry's inspection." Foiichcism condcninca: 185 If the feeling against Sir James was great through- out England, it was intense in Cumberland, owing to the antagonism of the Carlisle Journal, that showed a pleasure in steeping the Netherby cloth in strongest mordants, and the deepest dyes of vituper- ation. The words, " Le Cabinet Noir," '' Lettres de cachet," and the more odious name of Fouche himself were borrowed by the English press from the French vocabulary to illustrate the conclave of an English cabinet, and the life and acts of an English statesman. On the 2d July, Mr Buncombe moved for a select committee to inquire into the "secret department" of the post-office. He averred that he had reason to believe that " there had been more letters opened, contrary to law, within the last two years than in any previous ten or twenty years ; " that it was a whole- sale practice, and that at the instigation of foreign powers they had opened the letters of Polish and Italian exiles. He gave an instance of the son of an Austrian admiral, who had taken refuge at Corfu, and who had addressed Mazzini from that island, on May 1st, thus : " Now that I have put my foot on British soil, relying upon the well known loyalty of Englishmen, you may write to me in my own name." Poor deluded man ! What did he do in the letter besides } After congratulating himself that he had arrived on British soil, (Corfu,) he thanked the indivi- duals who had assisted him in his escape. The names of these individuals were handed to the Austrian Go- vernment, and the persons were immediately thrown into prison ! This elicited a long speech from Sir Jamics, who maintained that his Government had done nothing more than their predecessors ; that Mr Macau- 1 86 TJie Secret Committees. lay and Lord John Russell were unfair in their attacks upon him ; that he himself wished for a full and searching inquiry into the state of the law and the practice from the earliest period down to the pre- sent moment ; and to secure this investigation into his own conduct, concluded by naming a secret com- mittee of nine, a majority of whom were opposed to the ministry. To this committee he would submit his personal honour and official conduct, and await their judgment without fear. Nothing could appear more fair than his ofifer, and the openness of his senti- ments generally. The word secret, however, marred all the rest. It did not sound well to the English ear ; a secret inquiry into a secret malpractice re- sembled a form of Spanish Inquisition ; it was like grafting upon the upas-tree — poisonous throughout. Mazzini, knowing that he could establish an Anglo- Austrian conspiracy against the freedom of Italy, complained that all action was debarred him by this secret tribunal. Mr Buncombe told the House that he could prove all his allegations, if permitted to sit in court, and examine witnesses. This, however, was refused ; so that all the avenues to information for the guidance of the committee, except of the officially implicated, were closed. Sir James was examined four consecutive days. The report of the Commons Committee showed that Mazzini's correspondence was sent iinrcad from the Home Office to Earl Aberdeen, the Foreign Secre- tary ; that the British Government had been afraid of Mazzini disturbing the peace of Europe ; and that the information communicated to foreign powers did not coniproinise the safety of any individual within the reach Graham not tvorsc than others. 187 of that foreign power.^ The report concluded by say- ing that the practice of the present Home Secretary (Sir James Graham) showed a marked improvement compared with that of his predecessor.-j* The Lords had their secret committee of seven. These commit- tees being seerct implied a foregone conclusion, and their deliberations and report did not satisfy the public mind, and for several reasons, i. Of the men whose civil rights had been violated in their corre- spondence not one was called before the said com- mittees to be examined ; 2. Mr Buncombe was not named on the committee — contrary to all parliamen- tary usages — nor allowed to produce evidence before it, and it was generally understood that he had some powerful and startling facts in his possession ; 3. That the Lords and the Commons differed in some degree, whilst the Earl of Aberdeen's speech in the upper House differed from both committees on the chief essential in the inquiry — that which concerned Eng- lish feeling and Italian life. The Lords reported that "certain parts of the information thus obtained [as the opening of Mazzini's letters] were communicated to a foreign government ;" the Commons stated that " such information deduced from those letters as ap- * This was an ingenious subterfuge ; for though the Bandiera con- spirators were at Corfu, Austria, through Aberdeen, knew their where- abouts, and could and did inveigle them into her territory, or that of her Neapolitan ally, where they met their sad fate. + " From 1806 to the middle of 1844 inclusive the nmnber of warrants for the detention and opening of letters was stated before the Secret Committee to be 32^, and not less than 53 had been issued in the years 1841-44 inclusive — a number exceeding that of any previous period of like extent, even in the days of Sidmouth and Castlereagh !" — (Ency. Brit., vol. xviii. p. 412, 8th edit.) How is the statement in the text from the committee's rejiort to be reconciled with the figiires just given ? 1 88 The Bandicm affair. peared to the British Government calculated to fms- trate the attempt" about to be made on Austria was communicated ; while Lord Aberdeen said " not a syllable of this correspondence has ever been sub- mitted to any foreign power." The tragedy enacted at Cozensa is the answer that history makes to these disingenuous statements of Lords, Commons, and Secretary Aberdeen to boot. On February i8, 1845, ^J" Duncombe revived the subject by complaining of the report of the Secret committee ; he also adduced a great deal of informa- tion, and detailed the circumstances of the Bandiera affair. He said : — " If you had allowed me to appear before the committee, you would have found by Mazzini's correspondence — as I can prove that there were certainly statements made in letters to him pro- ceeding from those misguided and unhappy men in Italy, and then residing in Corfu — that they wished to make a descent upon the dominions of his Holi- ness the Pope, and also upon a portion of the Neapo- litan territory^, but that M. Mazzini did and said all that he could to dissuade them from it. He said it was a rash attempt, and must fail ; and he implored them to desist. They answered his letter, and said — 'We will desist, we will follow your advice.' But, unfortunately, the poison had gone forth to the Neapolitan Government. The British Government had given them intelligence of the purport of the first part of the correspondence, and it was too late to recall it. The Austrian Government sent their spies among these unfortunate people. Those spies pro- vided them with ships, and said that in Calabria the peasantry were waiting to rise, and only wanted Ministers and Musketeers. 1 89 leaders. These men were misled, seized, and nine Avere executed — viz., the two brothers Bandiera and seven companions. I consider," said Mr Buncombe, "that the blood of these men is more on her Ma- jesty's Ministers than on the men who pulled the triggers of the muskets with which they were shot." No wonder that public excitement ran high, and that public indignation found vent in various modes and questionings. What ! letter opening by British Ministers, the official representatives of their country's honour 1 What ! letter opening when England is at peace with all the world — when there is no disturb- ance in the realm, no signs of disaffection, and no want of loyalty to the throne .'' What ! espionage in England, and of exiles who have neither sought to harass her relations with foreign powers, nor to foment quarrels that might compromise her status quo ? And for whom was such a blot on our fair fame perpetrated > Not for a power that ever cared a straw for England, or sacrificed a single soldier for her behalf without a prospective benefit to herself — Austria, the declared enemy of social progress and of all political amehorations and justice to her people. " Thou little valiant, great in villany ! Thou ever strong upon the stronger side ! Thou wear a lion's hide ! doff it for shame. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs." At whose instigation was English honour to be trifled with 1 For Metternich,* the bloodthirsty, the tyrant * Metternich, who for many years showed no regard for England, and who, in the last year of Castlereagh'a rule, alluded to the power and influence of England as things past and gone, called our represen- tative at the Congress of Verona " The Great Baby." 1 90 England stoops to MetternicJi ! of Milan and Venice, the director of Neapolitan Bourbons, of Tuscan dukes, and Parma duchesses, the enthraller of Italy and of Hungary, and a partner in the destruction of Poland ? Foreigners might well exclaim, "It cannot be England that stoops to a Metternich policy and Fouche practices — England, the land of liberty, as sung by her bards— the isle of freedom, as vouchsafed by her statesmen ! Albion ! to whose white cliffs the dethroned kings of Europe, the discomfited generals, the fallen priests, the banished patriots, set their sails — longing to plant their feet on her soil, to mingle with her people, to benefit by her institutions, to travel across the length and breadth of the land without passport, inquiry, or molestation ! Albion ! on whose sea-girt shores the slave casts off his shackles, and the exile from every land is safe ; where there is no espionage, and no en- trapping ; and above all, said the foreigner, and all the world believed it, the English post is safe and as sacred as the light of heaven ! Yet, when the truth is known, you look upon a different picture. Letters are detained, seals are broken, and the correspondence put to the service of a crushing despotism ! Instead of *' a station like the herald Mercury," England had become like " a mildewed ear, blasting his wholesome brother." Mazzini, the Italian of Italians, discovers the broken impress, the forged imitation ; and, worse than all this, Austria and Naples having been informed of the correspondence had acted upon it with all the savagery of their nature. English feeling was mightily outraged by this letter opening ; English honour seemed trembling in the balance, and the institutions of the country approach- English Hoiwiiv in the balance. 191 ing a French pattern without a French excuse — Napoleonic and Bourbonic. The press was never so unanimous in its opposition to a Minister of the Crown, as it was in condemnation of Sir James Graham ; for, as he came in for the first brunt of the fight, his name was continued to the end of the fray. Being dishked by the Whigs, whose ranks he had left, and doubted by the old Tories, who remem- bered his furious attacks upon them ; and not living on the heartiest of terms with his own party beyond Peel and Stanley, he got but small quarter any- where. W. J. Fox, M.P., the Cicero of the Anti- Corn Law League, when addressing the free-traders in Covent Garden, in allusion to the Protectionists, who had declared that they did not care for " any particular ministry," said — " I wonder much, consider- ing the number of mercantile people at the Protec- tionist meeting, and their large correspondence, that they did not introduce some such toast as this : ' Success to those who hold the seals of office,* and who break the seals of letters! " The excitement pro- duced by these words on the thousands who listened is said to have been indescribable, and Graham's name was heard in the midst of all. Everything conspired to give a deeper colouring to the letter-opening business, and to heap reproaches upon Graham. Mazzini was known to be a true patriot, the founder of the "Young Italy" party, the Mentor of his countrymen — a man who loved and prized his safe exile in England, who stood high in the estimation of many of the aristocracy, statesmen, and The Peel ministry, holding the seals of office, were then Protec- tionists. 192 Mazzini and Thomas Carlyle. literary men.* Yet England, or, correctly, the Peel ministry, seemed to prefer Metternich, the symbol of Kaiser and Papal wrath, to the honoured Mazzini — hailed by twenty-four millions of people between the Alps and Adriatic as their patriotic and virtuous leader, and by far the noblest Roman of them all. The Government, or rather Lord Aberdeen, in ex- posing Mazzini's correspondence,"!- seemed to forget that letter-sorters, clerks, seal-breakers, and trans- * Thomas Carlyle, the Chelsea Philosopher, addressed a letter to the T'/wf'j (June 15, 1844) regarding Mazzini, wherein he said: — "I have had the honour to know M. Mazzini for a series of years ; and whatever I may think of his practical insight and skill in worldly affairs, I can with great freedom testify to all men that he, if I have ever seen one such, is a man of genius and virtue — a man of sterling veracity, humanity, and nobleness of mind — one of those rare men, numerable, unfortunately, but as units in this world, who are called to be martyr souls ; who, in silence, piously in their daily life, understand and prac- tise what is meant by that." The writer of this biography may be permitted to say, from personal knowledge of Mazzini, that this picture of Carlyle's is a veritable one of the " martyr soul ; " and that history will not only endorse it to the full, but add a thousand examples to prove its faithfulness. In reference to the letter opening Carlyle wrote : — " It is a question vital to us that sealed letters in an English post-office be, as we all fancied they were, respected as things sacred ; that opening of men's letters, a practice more akin to picking men's pockets, and to other still viler and far fataler forms of scoundrelism, be not resorted to in England except in cases of the very last extremity." + Messrs Worcell, Grodecki, and other noble fellows had done nothing but attend a public meeting in favour of the Poles, at the Hall of the National Association, on the i6th April. So quickly was English espionage resorted to that warrants were issued on the 17th! Count Worcell had been a member of the Polish Diet, and was an able man of unspotted character. His demeanour reminded the writer of Mazzini's noble patience, calmness, and dig- nity. This worthy patriot died some years ago in London. Mr Buncombe, M.P., and Mr W. J. Linton, had no doubt of their letters being opened, — hence Buncombe's exclusion from the com- mittee. " Fatalcr Forms of Sconndrclisvir 193 lators of foreign languages were made partakers in the business ; and that, as Englishmen loving fair play, they would look upon their employers as prac- tising dishonest acts, and themselves degraded by the work set them. Lord Chief-Justice Denman said, " These things had a tendency to demoralise the public mind;" and " subordinate officers or servants of the post-office, cognisant of what was doing up- stairs, might overlook the obligations which honesty ought to impose upon them." Being unwilling actors * in the espionage, these anployifs desired an exposure of the transaction ; and future Aberdeens, should such (God forbid !) arise, may rest assured that the privacy of their acts is not maintained outside the doors of the Foreign Office. The evidences of the post-office subordinates would have startled the country, but the secret tribunal never cited them — hence the dissatisfaction that prevailed as to the one- sidedness of the inquiry, and which smouldered and burned to the following session. Though defeated on the 2ist of February (1845), Mr Buncombe, on the 28th, moved that Colonel Maberley, Secretary of the General Post-Office, should attend at the bar, and produce certain books. This elicited a speech from Sir James that partook a good deal of the personal between Mr Buncombe and himself. On the ist of April Mr Shcil re-opened the question by proposing a resolution to the House, and saying, inter alia : — * The contagiousness of example was forgotten by Victoria's secre- taries of state ; and if the counterfeiting of seals — " tlie fatalcr sort of scoundrelism" — affected the individual actors no further than the direct commands of their employers, these men owed more to their own vir- tues than the example of their masters. N 194 Shcil's OnslaiigJit on GraJiam. " If you had sent for Mazzini — if you had told him you knew what he was about — if you had informed him that you were reading his letters — the offence would not have been so grievous ; but his letters were closed again by an ignominious dexterity — they were refolded and resealed ; and it is not an exaggeration to say that the honour of this country was tarnished by every drop of that molten wax with which an un- truth was impressed upon them." After denying that the Secret Committee had justified Graham's con- duct, because they did not impugn his motives, he continued, and still addressing Sir James : — " But it was not for your good intentions that you were made a minister by the Queen, or that you are retained as a minister by the House of Commons. The question is not whether your intentions are good or bad ; but whether you have acted as became the high position of an English minister, named by an English sove- reign, and administering a great trust for the high- minded English people." This was the most severe flagellation of all, and Sir James felt bound to enter upon his defence. On no occasion of his troubled House of Commons life were his powers so tasked as in replying to the distinguished Irish orator. He ex- plained that, in October 1843, whilst discharging the duties of the Foreign, Colonial, and his own Home Office — three secretaryships — Baron Nieumann, the Austrian Minister in London, waited on him with reference to certain disturbances at Bologna, and said that Mazzini was supposed to be implicated — that he (Sir James) had not heard of Mazzini's name before ; but in January 1844 Lord Aberdeen resumed his duties, and assured him of the correctness of Baron TJic Earl of Aberdeen to blame. 195 Nieumann's suspicions. At the end of February the Government were informed of the presence of Mazzini in London, and that he was carrying on an extensive correspondence with foreign refugees ; and as any movement in Italy was hkely to endanger the peace of Europe, he did not shrink from issuing his warrant on the 1st of March to open Mazzini's correspondence. If any fault were thus committed, it was his fault. and his alone. He forwarded to the Earl of Aber- deen a copy of every letter that was opened, and his Lordship made such use of the copy as he deemed consistent with his public duty. He appealed to the past of English history, 1 744-1782, when the system of letter opening was in force, and contended that he had not betrayed, but promoted, the public interests by opening Mazzini's letters. Mr Buncombe, who followed Sir James, said that every time the trans- action was stirred, the more dark the character of the Government appeared. Thus, for the first time, (April 1845,) and after nine months' discussion, the history of the letter opening became known to the public through Sir James, who, instead of sharing a ministerial responsibility, as others in his position would have done, took the whole onus or blame upon himself. It is not difficult, how- ever, to trace the prompter and abettor, as he was truly a particcps criininis, in this inquisitorial and ever-to-be-regretted business — un-English it could hardly be considered, after the reports of the com- mittees. He who had won the epithet of " cet excel- lent Aberdeen'' from the scheming King of the French, Louis Philippe ; he who had, on his return to office in January 1844, so readily listened to the Austrian 196 Graham the Cat's-paw of Aberdeen. minister, as if solicitous for Hapsburg as well as Orleanic-Bourbon commendation — " The useful serving man and instrument, To any sovereign state throughout the world." He got the ear of his colleague, and talked of danger on the Continent, which excited the naturally timid mind of Sir James, apprehensive enough of matters nearer home to be readily alarmed, and highly sensi- tive to war-threatenings from abroad. This view of the causa et origo mali is further strengthened by the fact, that the blandishments of Baron Nieumann made no impression upon Sir James from October till January; but as soon as Lord Aberdeen came back. Sir James's defence of liberty for the press and the individual exile, and plea for inaction quoad Mazzini, were over- powered by his communication with the Foreign Sec- retary. Sir James was impulsive, and at times too impressionable, and, bowing to the greater knowledge and experience of Aberdeen on foreign affairs, hesi- tated not to take a step for which both Peel and Aberdeen were equally responsible, and possibly more to blame than himself Unfortunately he was made the cat's-paw, and history will probably overlook* the abettors and counsellors, and fix all the stigma upon the actor in the work. It was in his reply to Mr Shcil that Sir James got into deeper and muddier waters with Mazzini,-f- by reading an article from the French Monitenr, setting forth that Mazzini, as president of a tribunal of con- * Sir James used to say that England would remember his letter opening after he was gone to the grave, and long after his other ser- vices to the state had been forgotten or buried in the dust with him. t "Drat the dirty boy, he is in another mess," said Punch to this worse business than the letter opening. Worse and Worse. igy spirators at Marseilles in 1833, had decreed the death of two refugees, partisans of the Pope. This state- ment* being stoutly denied by Mr Duncombe, Sir James, after making this horrid accusation, inquired into the circumstances, and had, on a subsequent day, to inform the House that both the judge and public prosecutor at Avignon had expressly declared that no evidence whatever had been adduced at the trial to inculpate Mazzini, Of course he had to apologise to the Commons for this grievous charge against a man whose honour he had sought to damage so materially — thus making the retraction of the charge against Mazzini as publicly as the accusation had been. Sir James, like many English statesmen, had not studied continental politics, and could not have been sufficiently informed on Austrian absolutism and Italian slavedom to both Kaiser and Pope. English governments looked upon every struggle for nation- ality abroad, not as a patriotic appeal to the nobler feelings of humanity, but as revolutionary dangers to thrones and the divine rights of kings. In their eyes Austria was big-f- and proudly swaggering, therefore entitled to respect. On the other hand, Italian * Sir James ouglu to have known the French Monitciir better than quote its statements as facts, or for a moment to cite it as an historical record in proof of any man's condemnation. t The Austrian empire, it sliould have been seen, was made up of incongruous materials, and could not be held together by the strongest of Metternich fetters — the German cord to be relied upon was but a thread to tie Italian and Slav, Pole and Magyar, Jew and Arminian together. The skilled anthropologist of thirty years ago prophesied the disintegration of the so-called Austrian empire ; and the independ- ence of the Italian is but a prelude to greater changes which a British government may not have eyes to see. 1 98 JMazzini addresses Graham. patriots were but the restless spirits of a hot-tempered race, for whom no sympathy need be shown. Sir James, mistaking the individual Mazzini as much as he had mistaken the feelings of the English people relative to espionage, lent his hand and oratory to crush the exile, body and soul. He little dreamt of the Italian's power, and his ability to use the pen with even greater force than Junius, inasmuch as Mazzini was more historical and temperate than the English writer, and could direct the logic of facts with more unerring aim against his country's oppressors, — be they English secretaries, Bourbon spies, Hapsburg tyrants, or Papal excommunicators. In May 1845 Mazzini issued his famous pamphlet, " Italy, Austria, and the Pope : a Letter addressed to Sir James Graham." This essay is a grand historical .chapter, in which the espionage and calumny of the Graham-Aberdeen duality are set forth, along with the most withering exposure of Austrian misrule, in- justice, and barbarism. After devoting lOO pages to the political history of Austria and the Pope in these latter days, and the awful penalties — death itself being commiserate in the scale of horrors — inflicted upon a people struggling for political rights, Mazzini then took a personal aim, and wrote : — " To crush such spirits, to uphold such governments and such horrors, you, Sir James, have descended to acts so low, that not the purest purpose could justify them. To uphold such governments against the recognised will of a suffering people, you sought to extenuate your first mistake by calumny. To uphold such governments, you, ministers of a free and constitu- tional nation, have extorted from a parliamentary Mazzini grandly Prophetic. 199 majority politically bound to you, the disgraceful de- claration that it did not regret what had occurred," (p. 107.) Again, and in words marvellously pro- phetic : — " Italy, then, wills to be a nation ; and she must become, happen as it may. As certain as I am writing these words, this age will not pass away ere the protocols of the treaty of Vienna shall have served for wadding — perhaps on the march to Vienna itself — for the muskets of our Italian soldiery," (p. 115.) Then, addressing Englishmen, Mazzini continued : — " You have, truckling to the foreign absolutist police, in the persons of your statesmen, played the spy for five months in most ignoble fashion, on patriots who are seeking to raise from Papal-Austrian mud the land in which their mothers live and suffer," (p. 116,) In this most painful business affecting our postal administration, our status as a government, our honour as a nation, only one name was held up for public execration ; and no Border reiver was ever hunted with more hot-trod vigilance, and by the sleuth dogs of Cumberland, than Sir James was by the press of England during the autumn of 1844 and spring of 1845. He had himself to blame for taking so much upon his own shoulders, and so becoming the scape-goat of the whole ministry. Ihe wily Scot, silent in the House of Lords, proved himself too knowing for the English borderer ; even Sir R. Peel and Lord Stanley only came forward when they could not help themselves. Lord Aberdeen, though not guilty of breaking the seals, was the man to urge the dirty work being done, and to receive the stolen goods ; if letter opening was bad, it was assuredly much worse to apply the information so surreptitiously 200 The Merciless A berdeen. obtained against the lives and liberties of brave men like the Bandiera. It is difficult to conceive how the Earl of Aberdeen could continue his system of es- pionage after reading in one of the letters addressed to Mazzini by Attilio Bandiera, not the least memor- able of the Neapolitan victims at Cosenza : — " Fid- ando scinpre sidla nota lealta delle paste Inglcsi, potete indirizzar qui al mio nome le vostre lettered Our countrymen may well question if the " noted integ- rity " of the English post-office will ever again be- come an article of European faith. Was there no feeling but indifference in Aberdeen's breast, no con- sideration for human life, no regard for the good name and honour of his country, that the exiled Bandiera were trusting in so sacredly ? Alas, that Attilio should have placed so great a faith in an English institution that could in ignoble hands be prostrated to most ignoble purposes ! The Graham plume was the only target visible in the ministerial fight, and many were the arrows aimed at its drooping feathers. The Whigs, with bold " Little John," talked of Graham's unconstitu- tional practices, forgetting their own Post-Office Act of 1837 — the very chart by which the Home Secre- tary had been guided in 1844. On being reminded of their own deformed bantling, they urged that the executive government should exercise the responsi- bility of opening letters, and that such a terrible engine should not be left to the caprice and pre- judice of a single member of the administration. In February 1845, Lord J. Russell, Mr Ward, and other Whig members, admitted that the conduct of Sir James Graham had been exactly like his prede- Graham tinjiistly crucified. 201 cessors in office, — a recognition somewhat tardily made, and only after he had received the abuse meet for a century of error in the Home Office. Instead of assuming Sir R. Peel's manner of reply to his opponents, and adopting the high ministerial style, Sir James should have sheltered his official acts under the protective shield of the whole Cabinet, or bowed to the humiliating contre-temps, and confessed the danger of such arbitrary power as violating cor- respondence of either English subjects or exiled foreigners. Graham-like he screened himself under a reserve and diplomacy that could not be maintained, and theii pleaded the laws and the precedents of a bygone age. Had he, instead of waiting the con- demnation of the press and general public, expressed his dislike of letter opening and espionage of every form, as he did in the later stages of the inquiry, he would have won rather than lost popularity. He took the sins of the ministry, and the special sin of the Foreign Secretary, upon himself, and experienced the terrible fate of a political crucifixion — one that will never be forgotten in English history. The writer is possessed of information that fully bears out what Mr Torrens has well expressed in the following sentences : — " Sir James felt keenly the in- justice that concentrated upon his head, who had but, in fact, performed perfunctorily what the Foreign Secretary had promised and required to be done, while he and the rest of his colleagues, who confi- dentially sanctioned it, seemed to be suffered to go scathless by an ^///discerning public. . . Every nerve of pride and ambition quivered with vexation, as day after day he found himself singled out for vitupcra- 202 Honour a Martyrdom to Graham. tion, and left by the selfishness of others alone to bear it all. To the latest hour of his life he never could speak without emotion, of what he called the shabby conduct of the men who stood by and saw him baited without mercy, for doing what they had themselves done, — trusting to his honour not to dis- close it. He used to say, that more than once he was almost provoked into turning upon his pursuers, and flinging in their faces the whole of the ofificial facts, with names and dates, which formed the ill- omened course of precedent he had been beguiled into following. Happily his better nature whispered worthier counsel, and he always looked back with satisfaction on the mental struggles of this period, and upon his having resisted the temptation." The first act of this Anglo-Italian tragedy witnessed the Austrian minister in London in conference with England's Foreign Secretary ; the last scenes were revealed on the Calabrian coast, whither Emilio and Attilio Bandiera, along with Niccolo Ricciotti and other brave Italians, had been inveigled from Corfu, (through the instrumentality of English ministers playing spy for Austria ;) and at Cosenza, on that coast, their blood was spilt by Metternich to appease the fears of Kaiser and Bourbon. This climax of tyranny, with the curtain falling upon martyred souls, affected the English mind and character, as it blasted for a time the hopes of a brave and suffering people. CHAPTER XIII. 1 845-1 846. Poor Law — Fiscal Reforms — Maynooth — Medical, and other Bills — Potato Blight and P amine — Corn Laws no lottger tenable — Gra/iam's Speech — Personalities with Lord John Russell — Sir R. Peel's high Tribute — Peel and Graham as Colleagues. [HE hardships affecting the poor, and mainly arising from the law of settlement, came under Sir James's cognisance early in 1845, and were fully set forth in an able address to the House. He startled the Commons by saying, that in the thirtyyears that had elapsed since the peace, ;^20o,ooo,ooo had been obtained in rates and spent in the relief of the poor. He wished to reduce the num- ber of districts conferring the right of settlement, and throughout showed a laudable desire to improve the working of the law, and to benefit the poor. This session was remarkable for Sir R. Peel's second step in the direction of fiscal reform — much bolder than the first. Out of 813 articles, he pro- posed to strike out 430 from the list of custom-duties; to reduce the charge on colonial sugar, involving a loss of ;^ 1,300,000 ; and to abolish the auction duty, and excise on glass. The light of political economy was now above the horizon, and commercial England 204 ^■^^^ MaynootJi Bill. responded heartily to the Tory leader's advance. Mr Disraeli took fright, and stated that his (Protectionist) party were betrayed by Peel, and that a " Conserva- tive government was an organised hypocrisy." Sir James aided Sir R. Peel in these fiscal reforms. The Maynooth Bill, that caused so great a sensa- tion in the religious world of England, and still more of Scotland, is said to have been originally drafted and completed by Sir James. On the second read- ing of the bill he spoke at some length, and in a conciliating spirit, making the most gracious amende honorable for his own past behaviour towards Ireland, and the use of the expression, " that conciliation had been pushed to its utmost limits ;" and went further in confirming his reparation, by saying, " Conscien- tiously, and from the bottom of his heart, that his actions towards Ireland had been better than his words. He asked the House if it would now refuse to grant ^27,000 a year for the purpose of providing the means of giving a better education to those who must and would be the spiritual fathers and guides of the people He had the strongest conviction that, if they consented to pass the measure, and if they continued to deal in a confiding spirit with the Irish people, it would prove a bond of union, a har- binger of peace, and a presage of happier days." Sir James soon afterwards framed a bill for the erection and endowment of three new colleges in Ireland for the education, in common, of the youth of all religious denominations, often spoken of to-day as the " God- less colleges of Ireland." During this session Sir James introduced a medi- cal bill, in the hope of harmonising the different col- Medical Bills. 205 leges, licensing boards, and universities of the king- dom. It was a noble undertaking, and as one entirely self-imposed, should have been met in a generous spirit by the profession at large, who had long cried out for reform ; but when it came fairly before them, the colleges were reluctant to see that they should reform themselves. So a valuable bill was lost, after an amount of labour bestowed upon it, and a series of amendments such as few measures ever received. Whilst all the bickerings went on with petitions and counter-petitions, trying the most patient and inde- fatigable of legislators. Sir James sat in his place in Parliament, making no further signs than the twink- ling eye, consciously recognising the utterances of vested interests, and the noted incongruities of the medical world. He had a great love for medicine, and looked upon it as a profession entitled to every public consideration ;* and no parliamentary repre- sentative, either before or since his time, ever displayed so much tact and discrimination, or evinced so inti- mate an acquaintance with its wants as himself. He served a good apprenticeship on committees, and in one department (the Anatomical Bill) got so well indoctrinated, that no member of the House of Commons, after Mr Warburton, could vie with him as to the knowledge of the legislative relations of medicine. After four years of diligent service in the Home * The wiiter, when acting (1841-1845) as treasurer and secretary to the professors and lecturers on anatomy and surgery in Edinburgh dur- ing a trying period in carrying out the Anatomical Act, had frequently to appeal to Sir James, as Home Secretary, and always found him highly regardful of the interests of the profession. He presented a marked contrast to his predecessor, the Marquis of Normanby. 2o6 No Sweets of Office to Graham. Office, and seeing all its departments moulded to his own standard, and the requirements of the country, it might have been supposed that he would have been more sparing of exertion, and more considerate of his mental energy. Not so, however; he slackened neither work nor thought, nor did he eschew any part of his large responsibility as a minister of the Crown. It never could be said of Graham that he enjoyed " the sweets of office." The investigation of a politi- cal question was a thorough pleasure, and its solution afforded him the highest satisfaction. He laboured as if labour was the summuni bonum of his existence. In the daily surveillance of his ministerial agency, he trusted nothing to the chapter of accidents, nothing to circumlocution, and nothing to mere official " red- tapeism." The routine work, as well as the more imperative, had to be got through as the exigencies of the state demanded, or the Graham temper be- came ruffled. His mind must be occupied, not with the mere stereotyped forms, but in planning and developing fresh measures and rendering old acts more consonant with the experience and practical workings of the times. Each session brought to light the need of fresh legislation, even in well-trodden paths — e.g., the Poor Laws, Tithe Bill, Regulation of Prisons ; and he showed a marked earnest in making that legislation worthy of the Government and of himself. The Whigs, under Lord Melbourne, did not trouble themselves about the state machine as long as it carried them comfortably. The Peel ministry, and especially Sir James, upon whom the ontis fell, looked to its repairs and fresh adjustments — in other words, renovation and reform. A north countryman in His manner in the House. 207 pJiysiqite and endurance, he also resembled his Border brethren in work, indomitable energy, and long-con- tinued application. Like all men in full mental dis- cipline, his habits were regular, his mode of living abstemious and spare. He and Blamire were twin- brothers in office-work, in paucity of meals, and sim- plicity of food. It may appear incredible to Cum- brians, who looked upon Sir James as a " big man," requiring "jolly feeding," to be told that he break- fasted off a biscuit and cup of tea, and seldom tasted till his eight o'clock dinner. Mr Francis graphically described Sir James Graham as he appeared in the Commons : — " As he enters below the bar, his red despatch box in hand, his figure towers above most of the members, not- withstanding that of late years he has contracted a slight stoop. Extreme Jiantciir, tempered by a half- sarcastic superciliousness, is his prevailing character- istic ; and as he slowly drags along his tall and mas- sive frame, which still retains much of the fine pro- portion of youth, in his heavy, measured, almost slip- shod tread towards his seat at the rieht of the Speaker's table, there is a self-satisfied, almost inane expression on the countenance, produced by a pecu- liar fall of the nether lip and a distorted elevation of the eyebrows, that does not by any means prepossess you in his favour, or suggest any high idea of his intellect. He rather looks like some red-tape minis- ter of the Tadpole s^chool, or some pompous place- man conceited of his acres. But, by and by, you learn to separate the more fixed habit of the features from this odd expression of the countenance, till you see that the superciliousness is real, though exa^- 2 o 8 An ti- Co rn Laiv L eague. gerated by the physical peculiarity. There are no traces of ill-nature in the face ; but on the other hand there is nothing to encourage." When referring to the questionings to which every Minister is subject, and especially to those of a more serious nature, Mr Francis observes that in the cool, ready, impassible functionary you perceive the superiority of Sir James as a minister, in the clearness, firmness, and extent of information and sound knowledge of his duty. The Tory Government had been in office four years (1841-45). They owed their position to the " Protectionists," and still depended on the county party for support — that support slightly modified by their adoption of fiscal reforms and the Disraeli de- finition of their policy as " an organised hypocrisy." Ever since they came into power a people's Anti-Corn Law League had been growing alongside, gathering stray leaves from the landed aristocracy, but deriving its main strength from the support of the middle class. The old corn laws were being assailed by Cobden and Bright in every market town of England and Scotland ; and " the League," with headquarters at Manchester, was spending its tens of thousands in indoctrinating the people with free trade principles. Laughed at for a time by the landed aristocracy, and denounced by the Chartists, " the League " became a great fact in 1845, and so thoroughly absorbed the manufacturing interests that all other political facts sank out of sight. The feeling Qut of doors had pene- trated St Stephens, and on Mr Villiers (loth June 1845) making his annual motion for total and imme- diate repeal, Sir James was much more cautious in his opposition than he had hitherto been, and went The Corn-Law, or Total Repeal. 209 so far as to say that if the Villiers and Cobden party could show him that free trade, with open ports, would produce a more abundant supply to the labourer, they would make him a convert to the doctrine of free trade in corn. He objected to a fixed duty of four shillings, lately proposed, and thought that if they got rid of the present corn law, they had better assent to a total repeal. This speech was hailed as a presage of Sir James's change of opinion, but the session ter- minated without any action being taken. Sir James came to Netherby to enjoy the moors and partridge-shooting. The latter sport had hardly come in )vhen a blight was observed in the potato crop. The rapid extension of this blight over his own district gave rise to alarm that was not allayed by the accounts derived from other parts of her Ma- jesty's dominions. Along with the potato disease came the news of scanty harvests abroad, and the prohibition of corn exports from the East, so that the supply of food threatened to become an urgent neces- sity in Britain. The Government, or rather its Home Secretary, alive to troublous times, though inhaling the " incense-breathing morn " at Netherby, got his pen and officialism to work to arrive at a knowledge of the potato itself, of the corn in hand, and the corn in prospect or available in other countries. Sir James placed himself in communication with Sir Robert Peel on the 12th of August, but it was Oc- tober before he became thoroughly alarmed as to the state of the potato crop. A letter from the Lord-Lieu- tenant of Ireland, on the 13th of October, to the Home Secretary, showed the necessity of immediate atten- tion. Accordingly Sir James wrote from Netherby, o 2 1 o The Potato Blight i>' to Sir Robert Peel the same day : * — " In Belgium and in Holland, if I mistake not, a similar evil has been met by opening the ports to all articles of first necessity for human food If we opened . the ports to maize duty-free, most popular and irre- sistible arguments present themselves why flour and oatmeal, the staple of the food of man^ should not be restricted in its supply by artificial means, while Heaven has withheld from an entire people its accus- tomed sustenance. Could we with propriety remit duties in November by order in Council, when Parlia- ment might so easily be called together ? Can these duties, once remitted by Act of Parliament, be ever again reimposed ? Ought they to be maintained with their present stringency, if the people of Ireland be reduced to the last extremity for want of food ? " On the 17th of October — "The suspension of the existing corn law, on the avowed admission that its maintenance aggravates the evil of scarcity, and that its remission is the surest mode of restoring plenty, would render its re-enactment or future operation quite impracticable ; yet if the evil be as urgent as I fear it will be, to this suspension we shall be driven." On 20th October — " The measure which you have taken of sending Dr Playfair and Professor Lindley to Dublin is very judicious. I am not sanguine in the hope that any chemical process within the reach of the peasantry of Ireland can arrest the progress of decay in the potatoes already affected ; and we have such a deluge of rain that, independently of disease, * The excerpts from Sir James's letters are taken from Sir Robert Peel's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 115, et seq. Graham 's Correspondence ivith Peel. [211 they must rot in the ground from wet, except on very dry land." On the 1 8th October, in sending his correspondence with the Lord-Lieutenant to Sir R. Peel, he said — " I am greatly troubled by this Irish calamity, which occupies my thoughts ; and it becomes greater in prospect the more I consider it. It is awful to ob- serve how the Almighty humbles the pride of nations." On the 19th of October — "With our present corn laws, and with a free trade between Great Britain and Ireland, would it be possible to open the ports for provisions in Ireland, and to maintain the duties under the sliding scale in Great Britain .'* would not opening the ports in Ireland mortally offend our agricultural supporters, while the Free-Traders would be disgusted with the maintenance of the corn laws in Great Britain } and in these circumstances, what would be our chance of obtaining an Act of In- demnity } " Again, on the 27th of October, he writes : " In this neighbourhood the estimate is that at least one-third of the potato crop is destroyed. If this be the measure of the loss in Ireland, the extreme pressure from want will not take place until the month of April or May. It was then in 1822 that the distress became extreme; and it is then also that Parliament will be sitting, and that party struggles are at their height The Anti- Corn Law pressure is about to commence, and it will be the most formidable movement in modern times. Everything depends on the skill, promptitude, and decision with which it is met." He sought the aid of Mr Blamire, whose experience and opportunities in the tithe-office could not fail to 212 Beef and Bread not enough. be of great value in any inquiry relative to agricul- tural statistics. These two men, (Graham and Bla- mire,) long estranged, were now drawn together, and laboured harmoniously for the common cause — their country's good. No two individuals in her Majesty's service contributed so largely to the development of the machinery for obtaining thorough information on this vital inquiry, and the application of the means to meet the famine crisis, as the two Cumbrians, Sir James Graham and Mr Blamire.* Grave apprehen- sions filled the public mind as winter set in, and the results, as evidenced on the following spring, were worse than the anticipation. The working classes suffered on both sides of the Tweed. The slim Lan- cashire weaver and his wife, living on bread and tea and slops, and the stout-framed " navvie " f on the Scottish hill-side, feeding largely on fresh beef and mutton and wholesome bread, alike succumbed to scurvy ; whilst tens of thousands of the abject poor of Ireland were carried off by famine, fever, and * During this period Mr Blamire addressed several letters to the ^vriter of these pages on the subject of food supply ; but the writer little dreamt that his hastily-written replies were to find a place in the Blue Book issued by the Government, to show the history of this food crisis. Sir James and Mr Blamire both feared a great deficiency of corn, but their opinions were overruled by their more sanguine col- leagues in the work. \ As John Bull believes that beef and bread are not only his privi- leges, but his staff and strength of life, he may be taken aback by the statement in the text, where it is asserted that mountain air and moun- tain mutton could not sustain the vital functions. The writer speaks from large experience on the Caledonian Railway during its fonnation, at and near the summit level, where nearly looo navvies were em- ployed. The medical reader will find the proofs in the Edinburgh Monthly Joicrnal for August 1847, and the London Jonrnal of Medicine, vol. i. p. I Si, contains a review of the recent memoirs on scurvy during 1847-48. " TJic Sliding Scale won 7 slide!' 2 1 3 scorbutic diseases. All this was owing to the want of fresh vegetables — the potato being the chief vege- table of all Britishers. The Peel Cabinet met on the ist November, and whilst Sir Robert, supported by Sir James, Lord Aberdeen, and Mr Sydney Herbert were in favour of open ports, the other members objected, and nothing was done. On the 23d of the same month, Lord John Russell addressed a letter to the electors of London — meant of course for the country at large, and the Peel ministry in particular — urging that the time had come for putting an end to the corn laws — "a system which had proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the source of bitter division among classes, the cause of penury, fever, mortality, and crime amongst the people." This letter brought the Cabinet together, and then a majority were found to be in favour of Lord Russell's views. Early in December there were various rumours afloat as to Peel's intentions, and on the 6th he resigned office. Lord John Russell received her Majesty's commands to form a ministry, but Earl Grey's objection to act with Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secretary upset the Whigs. Sir Robert Peel returned to office minus Lord Stanley — a secession from Peel felt by Sir James, whose own history had been so intimately yoked with the heir of Knowsley. Parliament met in February 1846, and the Queen's Speech pointed the course to be adopted. The "sliding scale" was given up, and it was high time when Sir James, one of its most strenuous supporters, could say that " the sliding scale would neither slide nor move, and that was its condemnation." 214 Graham ansivcrs tJic CJiallcuge. Here was another turn of the table for Sir James, for he who had so ably and so eloquently defended the old corn laws, and probably longer than his in- dividual opinion sanctioned, now became anxious to upset them entirely. Another trying time for the man who had more than once been the butt of his parliamentary adversaries for his tergiversation, and the object of much sarcasm and ridicule out of doors. On the loth February 1846, he stood before the as- sembled representatives of Britain, recanted his errors and his dogmatism, and turning over another leaf in history, pointed to a fresh creed, a higher freedom, and the country's salvation. The member for Nor- thamptonshire had challenged the Government to own their change of opinions, and Sir James nobly responded to the call by the following words : — " I answer that challenge. I do frankly avow my change of opinion, and by that avowal I dispose of Avhole volumes of Hansard, and of all the charges which have been made on the ground of inconsistency. . . . All that I possess is that which I possess as a landlord. I have nothing to hope or to obtain, ex- cept from the possession of landed property. I have inherited that property ; and I may add that it is a large tract of land of inferior quality, and I congra- tulate myself that, by my position as a landlord, if the proposed change be dangerous, it exposes me to as great risks as any landed proprietor in the three king- doms. So much with respect to my personal position. Now, as a minister of the Crown, allow me to ask you to apply a test equally conclusive. Does the change of opinion on the part of a minister of the Crown increase his strength or consolidate his power .-" " The Potato Blight and Corn-Laiv Repeal. 2 1 5 Sir James then pointed out that Sir Robert Peel, though guided by a sense of public duty and the welfare of the nation, had lost the confidence of a great party : he also showed that in doing so he had not acted unfairly towards his political adversaries, or availed himself of his change of opinion to exclude them from office. So far from this, Sir Robert, with Sir James's entire concurrence, had frankly tendered his resignation to her Majesty ; and both had ear- nestly desired that the repeal of the corn laws should be brought forward by Lord John Russell. In Sir James's view, " the true object of political economy was not the greater accumulation but the better distribution of wealth, and the application of capital to industry, on principles which science and experience should have proved to be conducive to the happiness and welfare of the greatest number." He owned that without the potato blight the repeal of the corn laws would have been deferred, but it could hardly be said that a free trade policy had taken the country by surprise. When it became necessary to feed the people of Ireland out of the public ex- chequer, it was impossible to maintain an import duty on corn. His experience in office had convinced him that the rate of wages did not follow the price of provisions ; but that, in point of fact, the relation of the two things to one another was in an inverse ratio. He pictured the condition, no less deplorable than dangerous, of the manufacturing districts in 1842 and 1843, when work was scarce and bread was dear, and contrasted this with the comparatively happy state of things in 1844 and 1845, when wages had risen and provisions had fallen in price. 2i6 Ireland still troubles Graham. " It had been said that political ties were severed, that social relations were disturbed by this pro- posal, and that it was possible that our adminis- tration would in consequence be dissolved. But although he should regret the former portion of these consequences, he had the consolation of believing in his conscience that this proposal would rescue a great and powerful nation from anarchy, from misery, and from ruin." During the debate on the Corn Importation Bill, a petition was presented from certain tenant farmers of Netherby against it — to the no small amusement of the House. A few days later Mr Cobden presented another petition from the same quarter, praying Par- liament to pass the bill. Sir James assured the House that he was in no way cognisant of either petition, and that he had left his tenantry to exercise their own free judgment, feeling that they had as deep an interest in this matter as himself, and that they had a right to follow their own honest convic- tions. The direction of Irish affairs in these sad times of poverty, misery, famine, and fever, gave Sir James an infinite deal of trouble and work. His correspond- ence, always great and painstaking, was greatly in- creased, for, not content with the mere printed instruc- tions, he was trying to infuse into others the spirit which governed himself Often had he to sigh over the want of vigour, and not less want of promptitude, displayed by Irish officials in not carrying out his wishes. He had to reprove the slothful and to en- courage the more energetic. Famine was not the only calamity, nor fever the only morbid feeling in Graham ajid R iissell personalities. 2 1 7 Ireland. Agrarian outrages, as they were called (for want of a better name, it may be inferred) prevailed to such an extent that Government was obliged to ask Parliament to pass a measure for the more effec- tual protection of life in Ireland ; and the introduction of the bill naturally fell to Sir James. His speech was highly impressive and conciliatory, so were the features of a measure that savoured of the coercive kind. On the second reading of the bill, Lord George Bentinck and Mr Disraeli made furious attacks upon Sir Robert Peel ; and, as Tory power was shaking in the balance. Lord George wished to cast it by reflec- tions on the Government for proposing free trade, when in 1841 they had maintained the most oppo- site policy. Lord John Russell, grieving over his eight-shilling duty, aimed a severe blow at Sir James, who replied : " I have had the honour of a long ac- quaintance with the noble Lord, and I thought I fully appreciated his character. I knew him to be bold, and I had fancied he was generous. I was slow to believe that in his bosom there was any dark recess where angry resentments were cherished, which lapse of time could not mitigate, and public duty could not restrain, when public interests required the sacri- fice." This language is so noble that the writer cannot help contrasting it with the tones of Lord John Russell, upon whom Sir James passed a criti- cism for the part he had taken in previous govern- ments — his upsetting Sir R. Peel on the Appropria- tion of the Church Property in Ireland, and his upholding Lord Melbourne, who looked upon free trade as insanity. After pointing out the difference between himself and his colleagues, and the be- 2 1 8 TJie Peel Ministry resigns. haviour of Lord John, he said : " We, in changing our views, have given effect to a principle which we beheve to be indispensably necessary to the welfare and happiness of the community, and by the sacrifice of our personal interests and feelings, and by the sacrifice of power ; — the noble Lord and his colleagues changed not less suddenly than we did ; but by their change of opinions they sought, as I contend, the maintenance of their administration, and the discom- fiture of their political adversaries." A division of the House, on the 25th June, showed ministers in a minority of seventy-three ; and on the 29th of the same month Sir R. Peel gave up the reins of Go- vernment. In his speech, on retiring from office, Sir Robert paid a handsome tribute to Sir James for his valuable services in the Home Office, and the great aid rendered to himself personally as chief of the administration. Sir R. Peel might well offer his grateful thanks to Sir James Graham, for as captain of the state ship Peel never had a lieutenant like Graham. They worked so much in unison, that though the lieutenant leant upon the captain's judgment and advice, the captain himself was equally dependent for aid on his lieutenant. The men seemed made for each other, and neither could have worked so well with any other associate. Gladstone was subtle, and could be grand in debate, — his higher powers of statesmanship had not then been shown, — and Lord Stanley was bold and dashing ; but for right good work, general and special, for fence and forethought, and steady-going administrative prudence, none rivalled Graham. Peel knew this well, and knew it to his own advantage. Peel eulogises Graham. 219 Graham was his chief arm and support ; to him he looked in times of difficulty and danger to lead the assault or to maintain the gained positions, — to-day acting as a corps de reserve, to-morrow as a rear-guard in a Corunna retreat. Graham was Peel's second self, and all but his equal, saving position in the minis- terial grade. Graham was deficient in the show that characterised his leader, in the gesture that Peel exercised in throwing back the breast of his coat and displaying the white vest, in the look that could imply surprise and indignation at the words of an antago- nist ; nor was he an fait at the interrogatory style of Peel, who could talk so imperially of his position as First Minister of the Crown. Graham was appa- rently not so earnest in debate or so persuasive in manner ; but for administrative ability, and a full comprehensive knowledge of every question that had engaged his attention, he was second to no state minister of his own day. The influence that Graham exercised upon Peel on such questions as the Maynooth Grant, the Irish Col- leges, and P^rcc Trade was clearly marked, and histori- cally as important to the people of Great Britain as the existence of the Conservative ministry itself, — now acknowledged to have paved the way to liberal ideas in many matters, and especially in the direction of commerce. The Maynooth Grant was a bold under- taking for a Church and Constitutional party, and as an attempt it was generally supposed that, without Graham's lieutenancy. Peel would never have ven- tured upon it. The income-tax, another unpopular measure, which enabled Peel to break through the old trammels affecting trade, and to sweep away endless 2 2 o Graha m ' s Po litica I Exa mple. small and obnoxious duties ; and above all, the abo- lition of the Corn Laws, owed much to Graham's helping power, — this being the more needed by a Go- vernment hitherto noted for its opposition to the expansion of commerce without a quid pro quo for agriculture. Sir James was essentially a worker who strove to gain his path and position like a man studying science from its simple elements, or political economy from its first principles. His imagination was of a subdued character ; he was not led astray with ephe- meral fancies. All his political moves had an estab- lished basis of action, — resting on data gathered by himself, and subjected to the Graham crucible for amalgamation and the eduction of fresh results. Occasionally he gave too much credence to personal views, and not so seldom had to succumb to general or public opinion. Acting conscientiously, and to the best of his ability, he expected the House of Com- mons, in matters not strictly belonging to party, to back his views, or point out a better method ; and as all his proposed measures had been carefully v»^eighed, he fancied that public opinion should chime in with the Graham toll rather than listen to the jarring sounds of biassed editors and hot-headed partisans. His early political counsellor and well-tried friend, the Rev. Richard Matthews, died at Wigton Hall, in March 1846, and on the 1st April he wrote from Whitehall a letter of condolence to Miss Matthews, which the writer remembers was duly appreciated by the worthy lady. He said : " I cannot fail to offer to you my sincere and heartfelt condolence on the death of your lamented brother. Of late years I have His Tribute to an Old Friend. 221 been deprived of the pleasure of his society ; but no length of time or change of circumstances has abated in the least my respect for his character ; and I re- member with mournful pleasure the many happy days which I have passed in his company at your hospit- able house. , . . You will pardon me for thus obtrud- ing on you ; but I could not bear the thought that you should believe I was indifferent to the loss of so kind a friend as your late brother." Considering the many engagements then pressing upon Sir James, the letter speaks largely for his remembrance of kindness, his sincere gratitude, and large sympathies. Mr Torrens, who made special inquiries on the subject of Sir James's labours in the Home Office, records : " He was not content until he had read every report in print or manuscript, as well as the evidence on which it was founded, which related to the business of his department, or to questions which he had anticipated might be raised in any form in the House of Commons. Every new book and pamphlet that could suggest argument or ideas was to be found upon his table ; and the margins of their pages at- tested the attention with which they had been read. He kept everything — letters, memoranda, copies of official minutes, excerpts from speeches, resolutions of public meetings, passages from leading articles, comparative statistics, and casual publications of in- numerable kinds. He seldom went to the House of Commons unarmed with what he used playfully to call his revolvers," (vol. ii. p. 401.) Perhaps such preparation for debate or defence as the above passage would indicate was never adopted by any English minister. It was his fancy to look at 222 Honour to Peel and GraJiani. every side of a question till at length it became a habit to explore both its small and great relations. In nine cases out of ten all this trouble was uncalled for ; but rather than appear uninformed, or be baited for the tenth time without being able to meet his opponent, he would act on the principle of being — "aye ready." In the autumn of 1846, with the potato crop nearly swept away by disease, the foresight of Sir James and the Peel ministry in anticipating and finally carrying the Repeal of the Corn Laws, was a subject of sincere congratulation to the United Kingdom, and not less pleasing to Sir James himself. In a letter quoted by Mr Torrens, Sir James sets this forth in his usual terse style : " The state of the corn market through- out Europe rendered the moment chosen for this change in the law least dangerous and oppressive to the British agricultural interest ; whilst the necessity for the change in Ireland was a question of life or death. Events have fully justified my anticipations ; and although Sir R. Peel and I may be traduced as traitors by the aristocracy, this class is in reality more indebted to us than the rest of the community. I am quite content to submit to present odium, in the certain hope that justice will ultimately be done to our actions ; at all events, I have the satisfaction of feeling that I have not consulted my own interests, but that I have endeavoured faithfully to discharge my duty towards the public." These are noble words ; and the following quotation from a letter of his to Mr Rooke, written in the same month, Septem- ber 1846, are equally praiseworthy, nor could the quiet philosopher of Akehead feci less than proud of such a tribute to his honesty and ability : " I am Mr Rooke complimented. 223 sincerely glad that the course which my sense of public duty has compelled me to adopt with respect to the corn laws meets with your entire approbation. Your views on this subject have been consistent and uniform ; and the necessity of no longer treating the trade in corn as an exception to general principles was obvious to you long before it had forced itself on my convictions. I give you full credit for your foresight, and disinterested boldness and honesty in the early avowal and steady maintenance of these opinions." CHAPTER XIV. 1847-1851. Governor- Generalship of India — On Committees — Sir R. PecVs Death — Cattle Shoiu Dinner at Carlisle — Graham highly popular — " Papal Aggression''^ — Noble Appeal to the Commons against Protection — Change of Ministry — The Peelites hold the Balance — Agricttlture in Cumberland. N 1847 Sir James took part in various ques- tions affecting the Irish poor-laws, the Draining of Lands Bill, and Education in England and Wales, — often saying a good word for the Roman Catholics, and wishing them to have the benefit of a grant along with other dissenting bodies in the State. He argued that the time to do justice was now, and he never could believe that it was good policy to postpone any concession which justice and equity and the spirit of religious freedom demanded. Sir James being named by the Directors of the East India Company as well qualified for the Gover- nor-Generalship of India, Lord John Russell, with the sanction of the Duke of Wellington, who had formed a very high opinion of his late colleague's administrative ability, offered the post to the ex- Home Secretary, and in gracious terms. Sir James, TJic Vice-Royalty of India. 225 remembering what he had so lately experienced from Lord John, would not accept the proffered honour at his hands, though the situation was kept open for a time, in the hope that he might change his opinion. Though Graham would not draw near to Russell, he showed no resentment ; and one good came out of the Russell tender, the flag of semi-royalty became a flag of truce between the two combatants in the poli- tical arena. Sir James had the chance of the same high office in 1834, when Lord Melbourne was in power, and then declined it on account of its inter- fering with his home ties and the education of his family — these being apparently of more import in his eyes than the ;^30,ooo a-year, with all the gran- deur and magnificence of an eastern court, or the government of the second greatest empire in the world. It would appear that Sir Robert Peel, soon after Sir James's refusal to join his ministry, was ready to appoint him ; and again, in 1841, when occu- pying the Home Office, he might have succeeded Lord Auckland. Considering his pecuniary status, and his not too happy relations in Parliament, it miffht have been inferred that Graham would wish to redeem the former obligation and escape the latter incubus — the cavils of party, and the nightmares of Hansard. It is curious that he should have refused so tempting a bait as the vice-royalty of India, with all its high prerogatives, that would have been so con- sonant with his lofty ambition — ever aiming at power, and popularity, and historical greatness. To have had four offers of the richest official prize in the world to an Englishman, and these offers coming from both political parties, was highly complimentary to his 226 Graham in the Inner Parliament. character as a statesman and administrator; and to have refused them all implied a fine feeling of inde- pendence, along with a greater love of home and family, and a preference to keep his post in the House of Commons, with all its trials, disappoint- ments, and defeats, to the dazzling autocracy that the rule of an eastern empire would confer. If Sir James was a great fact in the outer parlia- ment, he was a greater one in the inner parliament or committees of the House to which all the great ques- tions of the day were submitted. No man served on more committees, where he sat from day to day collecting information, and sifting evidence, so as to obtain all the data upon which to found a written report, or an analysis to constitute the basis of a speech. By far the greatest amount of legislation has come "to be done up-stairs," and Graham ob- tained more than an individual share of the work long prior to the railway-bill period. If the committee interested him, whether he acted as chairman or not, he was chief examiner of witnesses, and apparently got up the subject to enable him to digest evidence even on matters alien to the Graham habit. It was a treat, as the writer has been informed, by those who sat with him, to see Graham interrogating a witness who had shown undue partisanship. How admirably he could sift the corn from the chaff of verbiage, or it may have been of professional jargon surrounding the inquiry ; and along with his methodical questioning and calm voice, giving no signs of either impatience or bias, the eye nevertheless twinkled as the reply he elicited had furnished him with a fact favour- able in the direction aimed at. On a great debate Committees and Blue Books. 227 in the Commons, when he had to follow some lawyers, he made the trenchant remark : " We have had four hours of Nisi prins, surely enough ! " — not aware apparently of his own special fitness for the same kind of work, or higher judicial investigations. On committees he was a host in himself, as his exten- sive reading gave him vantage ground over the majority of his parliamentary colleagues, whilst his special study of the matter sub jiidice as materially increased his usefulness. He seemed to be familiar with so many subjects, professional or technical, that parliamentary novitiates were struck with the ver- satility of his talents; whilst older hands looked upon him as an encyclopaedist, when he led the witness into the arcana of his own scientific speciality. All this implied study and comprehensiveness of grasp, an aptitude for inquiry, and large anxiety for the public interests. He had an appetite for blue books, and had helped as much as any man of his time to make them ;*but while there was a general tendency to make them big and voluminous, he sought to have them more exact and more worthy as national archives. It often happened that when Sir James was the foremost man on the committee, William Blamire was the first witness examined on matters affecting the agricul- tural interests, so that Cumberland had every chance of being ably represented, and should have been proud of the character of that representation, seeing that it shone so prominently in the higher councils of England. In 1849 Sir James came more under the observa- tion of Cumberland folk than he had been since 228 PropJietic regarding America. 1837, owing to a notion that took possession of some of the farmers in the neighbourhood to grow flax. The Netherby laird had been to Ireland and made himself acquainted with the growth of flax, and all that pertained to its use. A gathering of his tenantry and others took place at Longtown to consider the subject, but as the result of the meeting was negative, flax growth at Netherby got no footing. In a letter on colonial affairs, Nov. 22, 1849, to his friend Mr Sanders, (in Mr Torrens's biography,) Sir James, adverting to Canada, thus prophetically expressed himself : — " The United States have also their own internal difficulties. The question of slavery, as their territory is enlarged to the South, becomes every day more urgent and embarrassing; and if we are in danger of losing our colonies, the dissolution of the Union itself is no less probable. Every day teaches us more and more that in politics long-sighted views are generally fallacious. He is the 'successful statesman who seizes opportunities as they arise, and bends them to his purpose and his will. The current of events may be directed, it can- not be turned." On the 29th June 1850, Sir Robert Peel fell from his horse, and died on the 2d July, a sad calamity to England, and a sad personal grief to Sir James Graham ! The two commoners knew and loved each other well ; they were the greatest men of the fifth decade of this century as ministers of the Crown, and during that period had rendered noble services to their country. Though ranked as Tories, they con- structed great Reform measures, such as no real Tory party had ever dreamt of, and which none but Sir Robert Peel's Death. 229 themselves could have persuaded that party to adopt. Peel and Graham fairly earned the title of Conser- vatives, and their names will stand in history as highly worthy of the creed — adopted by the former, and ably developed by the latter. When his great chief was gone. Sir James had to aid in the last trust — the executorship of his affairs. The secession of Lord Stanley from Sir Robert Peel on the corn laws left the Conservative camp very much in the possession of Graham as Peel's best man, or rather his second self in command. He had done far more than a moiety of the work, and all but the financial reforms, during the reign of Peel's ministry ; why not, when occasion offers, attempt the whole, that Peel is gone } Why did he not take up the mantle of his departed friend, as that friend would have wished, and become the chief of the Peelite party .'' No one can well assign the reason, but Sir James made no claim to the leadership of his party, and when spoken to on the subject, seemed averse to discuss it for a moment ; the inference to be drawn was his entire unwillingness to take a headship in the Commons. His timidity, or, as it was termed, moral cowardice, his change of policy and change of friends, the unpopularity that was fastened upon him, or possibly his fear of the Graham ambition " o'erleaping itself and falling to the t' other side," were cited by the public as reasons for his making no advance to rally the party that had rendered England such high and memorable services. Sir James had marked more than once the unfair- ness of the House of Commons towards himself, and the ingratitude of the people out of doors, and that 230 Carlisle Agricultural Dinner. the trust of former days, as when fighting under the banner of Reform, was no longer bestowed upon him. Then he considered that if Mr Gladstone and Mr Cardwell would consent to join him, the Earl of Aberdeen might play the part of 1844, while Lord Stanley was known to be a fierce opponent of his since the days of the repeal of the corn laws. All these things weighed, he might well shrink from the position of leader of a party that had, by force of cir- cumstances, come to be viewed as broken from the old State moorings — envied by the Whigs, and only tolerated by the rational Tories. Sir James felt the death of his chief like a sorrowing relative ; and, both in speaking and writing of Sir Robert's commanding influence, prudence, and patriotism, might well say that the death of such a man would be felt, as it assuredly was, " a severe national calamity." If the summer marked a life separation from the only statesman that he loved at heart and uninter- ruptedly for years, the autumn of 1850 brought Sir James into pleasant relationship with his old Cum- berland friends, after thirteen years of unhappy severance. He attended the agricultural meeting held at Carlisle in September, and met with the most hearty reception. On the show-ground he received the courtesy and willing homage of a large assem- blage of people, not a few of whom had come pur- posely to see "the great man " of Cumberland in con- junction with the estimable Earl of Carlisle. It was a capital meeting in every way, and the dinner that followed was attended by one of the largest and most influential gatherings that Carlisle ever witnessed. With a chairman, in the Earl of Carlisle, whose capa- NawortJi and NetJierby United. 231 city to please and enlighten his countrymen never failed, and whose happy art was most happily shown on this occasion, the dinner was a success. Sir James Graham sat on his right hand, so Naworth Castle and Netherby Hall were hand and glove, and the houses of the Chivalric Howard and the Border Graham never had a finer representation than in the two men heading the yeomanry of Cumberland at this meeting. It was a notable revival of the agri- cultural feeling that had been twenty years in abey- ance, or under the guidance of mediocre men ; and the hope arose that a fresh impetus had been given to the animal gathering by the excellent sentiments and pleasant co-operation of the Earl of Carlisle and Sir James Graham. The burst of cheers that met Sir James on his first rising to speak was taken up again and again. He was overpowered by the enthusiasm and thrice hearty greeting of the meeting ; his lips were seen to quiver with emotion, and his tongue faltered for a time as if the inner soul was too deeply moved for articulate utterance. When he spoke his voice was listened to as harmonious music that in days gone by had charmed the ear and swayed the heart of Cumber- land—the Graham voice filling the air, almost a desert air in his absence, revived old times and old associations, and many who had seen him in his prime " Grat to see the lad return They bore about langsyne." He proposed the chairman's health, and in doing so spoke of the noble Earl of Carlisle, of his spotless honour, social virtues, public worth, and firm attach- 232 A Revival of Old Times. ment to the cause of liberty and of popular rights -, and happily added, " that the key to Lord Carlisle's character was sweetness of temper and kindness of heart." In reply to his own health being drunk, he mentioned, among other interesting remarks : "I have seen Cheviot sheep of the best quality grazing where in my earlier sporting days I saw nothing but flocks of geese, moor-fowl, and a few half-starved sheep. . . . I say, plough less and graze more ; and I go on to say, I am satisfied of this — that if high farming, and soil- ing and grazing, will not pay, scourge crops and bad farming never will." The causes that led to a severance of thirteen years were forgotten in the presence of the living man. Old recollections extending to the Curwen band of agri- culturists — " Sammy Rigg" and Sir James dividing the honour of being the oldest representatives of the Workington Show there present — were revived ; and along with a sincere renewal of the old friendships, new ties were created Avith the rising generation of farmers. As the sun shone fair on Carlisle wall that pleasant September day, it shone fairer still on a heart that, amidst many vacillations of opinion and faults, had its warmth most warm when welcomed by Cumberland folk, and cheered by Cumberland voices. By presenting himself to the observation of so impor- tant a gathering of farmers and yeomanry he offered a pledge of amiability, if not a fresh front, for the willing admiration of the landed representatives ; nor was his return within the walls of the Border city less operative upon the minds of its citizens, whose ap- plause of their old Blue champion was as hearty as of yore. On that day the foundation of a new political The A nti- Catholic Furor. 233 house was laid, unconsciously, it is true,. both to him- self and the Blues, the consummation of which ended in his recall by his old constituency of Carlisle within eighteen months, namely, in March 1852. As if clouds were ever to gather around him in the midst of brighter anticipations, Sir James, before the year was out, found himself again in antagonism to a preponderating majority of the people of Cum- berland on a subject that in nowise bore on local inter- ests, but affected general ecclesiastical relations. It had been notified from Rome by Cardinal Wiseman that the Catholics of England, by the establishment of Papal • dioceses, would be placed on a par with their religious brethren on the Continent. Lord John Russell, eager for popularity, sounded the alarm by a letter to the Bishop of Durham, and fears were everywhere expressed from pulpit and platform, from councils and coteries, that the assumption of Catholic titles by Catholic priests would Romanise the land, and send us all to Hades — the figurative Hades, it must be admitted, of the evangelical and Exeter Hall " self-elect." John Bull not only lost his wits, but raged like an infuriated ox, at the red-stocking cardinal, and the more potent " scarlet lady" seated on the Seven Hills. Mr Howard of Greystoke, on a numerously-signed requisition being presented to him as High Sheriff of Cumberland, called a meeting to protest against the " Papal Ag- gression." Sir James gave great offence by refusing to sign the said requisition,* or to attend the meet- * Others, including the writer, for a similar refusal, were pretty well blackened, and came to be ranked amongst " Quakers and other here- tics to the Church" — fit only for the nameless regions. It was of 234 Graliam for true Religions Liberty. ing. He saw beyond the day of excitement, and with a more prophetic eye than his neighbours. He could not for a moment lend himself to the noisy clamour that marked the discussion, come from what quarter it might — proud Episcopacy, or would-be prouder Dissent. Religious liberty had been granted by the Catholic Emancipation Act to her Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, and with good results. The Pope was not increasing his power by establishing an hierarchy of native Roman Catholics in Eng- land ; he was merely conferring upon his people the //^w^" government that had formerly rested with vicars acting under himself. It was the mischievous letter of Lord John Russell that made public indignation froth and fume, and English Protestantism forget its early history. Sir James, with all his zeal for the Irish Protestant Church — the first rock upon which his apparently well-directed ship struck, and that damaged his political compass for many years — knew the true meaning of Catholic emancipation too well to be dragged from the high pedestal of re- ligious liberty to the low level of an Exeter Hall platform, with its drum ecclesiastic, and noisy de- nunciations. The chief followers of Sir R. Peel endorsed Sir James's views, and they were the only* no avail to cite history, or the broader plea of civil and religious liberty affecting Catholics and Protestants alike. The evangelical multitude got frantic about Protestantism, and shaped their miry and bigoted course by abdicating the first principles of Christianity — charity and toleration. * The first stand against the rabid cry of the country was made at Birmingham by the nobly-spirited George Dawson, whose defence of liberty at the Town Hall there, and two ably-written lectures, stemmed the tide of ignorance and intolerance threatening to swamp the whole of England. TJic Tories Jiarping on Pj'otcction. 235 political party that knew the right, and had courage to uphold that rigJit — at the risk of losing both popularity and caste — against an overwhelming might of Whigs and Tories. The excitement in the coun- try led to three months of a parliamentary session being wasted in carrying an " Ecclesiastical Titles Bill," which was never acted upon and never cared for ! And to crown all this folly, a Tory government in 1868 meditated a repeal of the Act that seven- teen years ago was looked upon not only as a bul- wark to, but as a new Magna Charta to our Protestant institutions ! Between the periods that marked the excitement on the " Papal Aggression " before Christmas 1850, and the passing of the Act in the spring of 185 1 to restrain the Pope, important events occurred, in which ■Sir James bore a leading part. The country had hailed the banner of commercial freedom hoisted by Peel in 1846-7, and now rejoiced in untaxed bread ; but a large party in the State, headed by Lord Stanley and Mr Disraeli, still longed for the flesh- pots of protective duties. A resolution offered the House by Mr Disraeli, seeking for measures of relief to owners and occupiers of land, was looked upon by Sir James as preparing the way to the imposition of a duty on corn, therefore he opposed it with all his might. He thought any attempt to reimpose the corn duty as dangerous to the peace of the country. After complimenting Mr Disraeli on his talents and abilities as a debater, he thus continued : " But this is not all. The leader of this party (Protectionist) in the other House (Lord Stanley) is a noble lord, 'ever foremost in the battle, of dauntless courage, of cmi- 236 Peel's Voice from iJie Tomb. nent ability, and of spotless character. I have stood beside him in the fray, and I know how formidable is his vigorous attack, and how broad is his protective shield. With such opponents it behoves us to gird our loins. I know not whether the watchword, ' Up Guards and at them ! ' may not already have been given. It- is clear to me that the opponents of Pro- tection must prepare for a severe conflict. They must stand to their arms, and close their ranks, and pre- pare for a firm, manly, and uncompromising resist- ance." He then referred with painful emotions to Sir Robert Peel, the author and champion of free trade policy, in the following words : — " He has ceased from his labours, and is at rest. He no longer .shares in the angry strifes and conflicts of this House. But although dead, he still speaks ; and from the tomb I still hear the echoes of his voice resounding within these walls. . . He is gone ; and ma}' Heaven avert the omen that the House of Commons is about to retrace its steps ! My voice may be feeble, and my power insignificant, but, sir, my part is taken. I hold it to be a sacred duty and a sacred trust to defend that policy to the best of my ability ; and as a proof of my sincerity, as an earnest of my firm determination, I shall give my unhesitating vote against this motion." He then argued that the price of corn must be left to find its natural level, and that it would not do for any government to interfere with it, conclud- ing with these ever memorable words : " I say the day is gone by. And why do I say so } I say there is not a ploughboy who plods his weary way on the heaviest clay in England who does not feel practically his condition improved within these last three years > ^^ He knows the Reason Why" 237 and he knows the reason why. I tell you there is not a shepherd on the most distant and barren hills of Scotland who does not now have daily a cheaper and a larger mess of porridge than he ever had before; and he also knows the reason why. I tell you, again, there is not a weaver in the humblest cottage in Lancashire who has not fuller and cheaper meals, without any fall in his wages, than he ever had be- fore ; and he knows the reason W'hy. I will speak of another class still. There is not a soldier who returns to England from abroad that does not practically feel that his daily pay is augmented, that he has a cheaper, a larger, and a better mess, and that he enjoys greater comforts ; and he also knows the reason why. Now, sir, I entreat my honourable friends who sit below me to be on their guard. You may convulse the country, •you may endanger property, you may shake our institutions to the foundation, but I am satisfied that there is no power in England which can permanently enhance, by force of law, the price of bread." The Whigs being defeated by Locke King, on a motion for a ^10 county franchise. Lord Stanley was sent for on the 22d February 1851, and as he could not form a ministry without the support of the Peel- ites, abandoned the attempt. The Earl of Aberdeen and Sir James Graham were then sent for by the Queen, who endeavoured to reconcile them to Lord John Russell's policy. This, however, could not be, as the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill stood in the way of a compromise between Graham and the Whigs. Lord Stanley made another attempt and again failed, assign- ing as his reason the want of aid from the Peclites. For some days the balance of the two old parties 238 TJic United States and England. (Whig and Tory) rested with the followers of Sir Robert Peel ; yet they seem to have made no effort to cast the beam in their own favour, or to ask for terms of equality. Lord John Russell, anxious for the support of Sir James, expressed to the House the satisfaction he felt at having renewed his friendship with the right hon. baronet, and this courtesy was of course reciprocated by Netherby, In September Lord John, with no great discretion, offered Sir James the Presidency of the Board of Control, as if the chief lieutenant of Peel would accept a subordin- ate position in a government not only on its trial, but on its last legs. Sir James presided this autumn at the agricultural meeting held in Carlisle, and in proposing the toast of " Prosperity to the Agriculture of Cumberland," spoke in favour of a fair trial of the reaping-machine, and lauded it as the invention of the Americans, adding, in his usual happy way — " It is the work of a distant brother engaged in the same occupation as your own. This is the only rivalry I wish to see be- tween the United States and England. We are brethren by birth, brethren in the love of freedom and of free institutions. Their prosperity is based on that which is the basis of our own, namely, in- dustry applied to the cultivation of the soil ; and every suggestion which comes from that quarter with respect to agriculture is entitled to our respect and to our favourable consideration." CHAPTER XV. 1852-1857. Carlisle Election, 1852 — The Wmiderer returns — The Admiralty — Election of 1853 — East India Charter — Crimean War — Admiral iVapicr's Personalities — Sevastopol Inquiry — Graham's Resignatiott- and Speech. FTER the hearty reception of Sir James at the agricultural dinner, the leading Whigs of Carlisle talked of the expediency of re- calling him to his old constituency, when opportunity offered. Mr P. H. Howard of Corby Castle, (Whig,) and Mr W. N. Hodgson, (Tory,) then represented Carlisle. This neutralisation of forces did not suit the Blues, who coveted both seats at the expiry of the Parliament of 1852, With the "papal Aggression " still fresh, Mr Howard's Roman Catho- licism appeared a barrier to his re-election, whilst no one could be found more acceptable to this worthy gentleman as his successor than Sir James Graham. As Mr John Dixon* of Knells represented the city for a Jew months, (August 1847 to March 1848,) courtesy indicated that his approval should be had to any steps taken by the Whigs, and the naming of * Mr Dixon had great claims on the Carlisle constituency as the head of a manufacturing firm ; but his personal claims were still greater as a man of real worth and kindness, a free-trader, liberal politician and churchman, much given to hospitality and good works. 240 Welcome to Carlisle ! his friend and relative, Mr Joseph Ferguson* of Carhsle, was viewed as a sop to his feehngs, much wounded by the treatment he experienced at the hands of his party in 1848. On Sunday evening (i2th March 1852) the Blues, in secret conclave, de- cided upon Sir James Graham and Mr Joseph Fer- guson as their champions, and a more fortunate selection could not have been made. Next morning: Mr Howard issued his parting address, and the city was canvassed on behalf of the two new candidates, and by means of a requisition, the names attached to which implied a success. On the 25th March Sir James came to Carlisle, and addressed the electors in the Cofifee-House As- sembly Rooms. Mr Mounsey of Castletown occupied the chair. Sir James was most cordially welcomed; his gray suit required no apology ; his presence ob- tained the sympathies of the audience, and his words carried all before him. In a long speech he alluded to Mr Howard's example of retiring, in the hope of restoring unanimity amongst the Blue party, as an example rare in public life ; one difficult to meet with, and still more difficult to be excelled. In speaking of the debt and taxation of the country, he put the matter in the clearest possible light, showing that the taxes on tea, sugar, coffee, spirits, malt, and tobacco raised thirty millions annually ; that the interest of the national debt was twenty- * Mr Ferguson, also a manufacturer, a man of most excellent repute, and Whig-Radical in politics. Like Mr Dixon, he took a prominent part in every useful work that would benefit his fellovv-to\\'nsmen ; he was charitable and philanthropic, and a sincere friend to the Poles. His training had not been parliamentary, and his health was not suited to the air of St Stephens. " The Screw " and ''Artful Dodger." 241 seven millions ; and the whole civil government of the country, including army, navy, ordnance, courts of justice, and supporting the dignity of the Crown, did not cost above twenty millions. The six taxes he had mentioned would pay for all the government of the country and ten millions of the national debt. He introduced some sporting phrases into his speech, which caused bursts of laughter and rounds of cheering. " Now, we shall call the corn law a horse, and what shall we call that horse } I shall call him ' the Screw;' and compensation to agricul- ture, through the medium of indirect taxation, I will call ' the Artful Dodger.' At Carlisle we like a race ; now the names of the owners and colours of the riders. The owner of both 'the Screw' and 'Artful Dodger' is Lord Lonsdale. The colour of the rider, (the right honourable baronet archly smiling at the chairman,) I think, is yellow. Who are the jockeys } We are about to have two plates — a county stake and a city plate. I tell you I think ' the Screw ' will be started for the county,* and ' the Artful Dodger' for the city plate. I think w'e have a horse in our stable that will beat them for the city plate ; and if I were not afraid of losing my election, I think I could bet two to one I name the winner. What is the name of that horse .-' It is one which has won in Carlisle before, and will win again : we call it ' Bonny Blue' \\\ this very room I asked you twenty-six years ago (1826) to give me your support. I followed a man who had represented you for thirty years, and had done you good service, and himself much credit, as * MrTlios. Salkeld tried for the county stake, and Mr W. N. Hodg- son for the city plate : both were beaten. Q 242 Graham defends Peel's Policy, one of the members for Carlisle. I mean the late Mr Curwen. He left you ; he was seduced by other charms, though not then in the flower of his youth ; and I was also, perhaps, unfaithful to my first love. I followed Mr Curwen ; flirted with a county constit- uency, and the county jilted me. Now, as an old man, I am not indisposed to come back to my first love on her kind invitation. Let us try each other." After cautioning the electors to be on their guard, he quoted, as in part applicable to himself, the last words of Sir Robert Peel on resigning office : — " I shall leave a name execrated by every monopolist who, professing honourable opinions, would maintain pro- tection for his own individual benefit ; but it may be that I shall sometimes be remembered with expres- sions of good-will in the abodes of those whose lot is to labour and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow. I trust that my name may be remembered by these men with expressions of good-will when they shall recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food — the sweeter because no longer leavened by a sense of injustice." Sir James added, " These were his words. I was by his side when he uttered them. I shared his labours, and I have shared his obloquy. He is gone to his great account, and I say, well knowing him, that a better, a more honest, a more patriotic man never closed his mortal career. But his policy has survived him. I hold it to be my solemn and sacred duty to persevere in de- fending that policy when attacked, and, while breath is in me, to seek to maintain it." In July Sir James returned to Carlisle. He did not canvass a single elector, nor did he employ an A nd lands his Character. 243 agent, but addressed meetings of electors and non- electors in the two largest wards of the city, and with happy effect. A few excerpts from these addresses will best indicate his policy and promises. " I have long held the opinion that, after all, the best training for the enjoyment of political privileges is self-government with respect to local affairs, and I am quite satisfied that no measure in my time has ever proved more satisfactory in its results than the Municipal Reform Act. It was based on the prin- ciple of self-government — a principle that the rate- payers should choose those who from year to year should manage their concerns — on the principle that those intrusted with that management should be re- sponsible to the electors. Looking to the improved education and feeling among the working classes, he thought the time had arrived when an extension of the suffrage might fairly be granted." " The increase in the demand for labour sustains the price of labour, and the great object of good legislation is to reduce the price of articles of first necessity which you consume, so that your wages remaining the same, your command over the necessi- ties of life may be increased. That was the policy of Sir Robert Peel, who sprang from a factory work- man himself That was the man who sympathised with all your feelings, who felt for all your sufferings, who exercised power honestly and manfully for the benefit of the people ; and to the last hour of my life it will be my pride and satisfaction to remember that I worked with him cordially and honestly, and that I shared his desire, and shared his success in reducing the price of the great articles of first necessity — the 244 " ^ ^^^^^ ^i(^d my day'.' price of corn, which is, after all, the primary want of every human being." In his speech at the hustings, inter alia : " I do not say that in the course of two and thirty years of public service I have not committed many errors. I do not deny it ; but I say this, that in that event- ful period the revolutions of ages have crowded, and how can it be expected of me, in the short space of half an hour, to defend all the different d^ecisions I have had to take in different circumstances, and under the most pressing exigencies .-•.... But this I will say, I have acted in the face of day. My public life, whether for good or for evil, stands in clear light before you. I tell you, however, not for myself, but for the sake of public men, and in the interest of the community at large, not to pry too closely into the flaws and characters of public men. Do not hunt too closely for particular exceptions in their conduct ; but look at the general tenor of their lives. Try them by this test — Has avarice or ambition beguiled them from the path of public duty .'' Have they gained honours or advantages for themselves at the cost of the public ? Try my public conduct by that test ; I do not fear the result. I said, and I say again, that if my conduct is upon the whole deserving of your confidence and esteem, will you act wisely, will you act justly, if at the close of such a life, for some spe- cial errors, as you may deem them, to mark it with your disapprobation .'' Now, gentlemen, I have had my day. I tell you frankly I have had my day ; and just let me glance at what I have done. I have borne my part with the best men in their best actions for the last two and thirty years, and I can honestly say, " The Wanderer has come home." 245 as Burke somewhere says, I could shut the book. I might wish to read a page or two more, but I have done enough for the full measure of my ambition, and I can safely say that I have endeavoured not to live in vain. Well then, I come home at last, after perambulating England. I appear before a Carlisle constituency, and I tell you I have no personal ob- jects on this occasion to gratify I see great public interests at stake. I think it of the last im- portance that the capital of the Border should send no doubtful voice to the approaching Parliament." * On the day of election, (7th July 1852,) Sir James obtained 525 votes, Mr Ferguson 512, and Mr Hodg- son 419. Sir James, standing at the head of the poll, was in great glee, and enlivened the proceedings by frequent allusions to the blue flag. On retiring to the coffee-house, he spoke from one of the windows to the assembled throng : — " Gentlemen, one word before we part. The wanderer has come home : you were told at the hustings, that if you would return me to Parliament, Carlisle would be an asylum for the destitute. I will tell you that it is much better that Carlisle should be an asylum for the destitute than an hospital for the incurables. (Laughter and prolonged cheers.) As for this asylum, this refuge for the desti- tute, after all my wanderings, I am happy to be here at last. I feel myself at home among you. Your kindness has recompensed me for many sorrows and * The writer, as a member of the Society of tlie Friends of Italy, in- terrogated Sir James as to his foreign policy, and his views of the extra- dition treaties. As these queries had Init small reference to the pend. ing election, and were put for a special purpose, in which the Friends of Italy were interested, it is unnecessary to do more than notify the circmiistance. 246 England the Land of true Liberty. disappointments ; and being on cordial good terms with my Carlisle neighbours and friends is most grati- fying to my heart. From the bottom of my heart I thank you — that is the simple language of sincerity and truth." The Tories being defeated on the house tax, Lord Derby resigned, and Lords Lansdowne and Aberdeen attempted a coalition ministry. On Christmas Eve the new administration was announced, with Sir James as First Lord of the Admiralty. He appeared before his constituents on January 8, 1853, for re- election. Amongst other things bearing upon the po- litical position he said at the hustings : — " In Europe you are the only people who really enjoy perfect freedom of speech, freedom of action, and control over the servants of the Crown — a control which you are exercising to-day in reference to myself. (Cheers.) You enjoy the utmost liberty men can desire, — the liberty of doing everything short of injustice to your neighbours ; and although I admit there are imper- fections, great imperfections requiring to be remedied, let me exhort you to think twice before you support manhood suffrage. Look abroad. There is Italy, a garrison of foreign armies. There is Germany, since 1848 anything like representative institutions have been put down, and that great country is the camp of hostile armies. There is France, once the seat of representative government, distinguished from its suc- cess in art, in literature, and for almost all the accom- plishments which adorn mankind : universal suffrage and the ballot have been established there, and look at the result : nearly fort}' millions of men prostrate at the feet of one single man, that man the victor of Victoria amid a loyal People. 247 all their liberties ; and all their rights and liberties in the dust. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I will not deceive you. I must pause before I give a pledge in favour of universal suffrage and the ballot." Adverting to Radicals being called destructives, he believed that if the Carlisle constituency was radical, it was not a destructive one. Among a series of in- terrogations he asked, " Has the effect of the repeal of the corn laws been destructive ^ Ah ! there was a memorable morning — the lOth April 1848 — when all constituted authorities in Europe trembled, when crowns had fallen, when ministers throughout Europe were flying for safety, and kings were hiding their heads in shame ! There was a sovereign who did rejoice that in time there had been a reform in Par- liament, who did rejoice that in time the corn laws were repealed ; and on the lOth April, when others were afraid, Victoria rejoiced in the loyalty of her people. (Loud cheers.) The cause of order, security, and the rights of property triumphed, and I know not where were the destructives ; — they met on Kenning- ton Common, a handful of men ; but the populace of London in millions determined to maintain the cause of order and our British institutions," (Cheers.) After mentioning the reforms that had been estab- lished, he continued — " We must now go to the eccle- siastical courts. Such proceedings as that of Mr Moore, the son of an archbishop with ^7000 a year, and a reversion in favour of his grandson : such things must be put an end to It is by returning men long known to you, and who have the power of giving effect to your wishes, that you have the best chance of obtaining a further measure of parliamentary re- 248 Fools remain fools for ever. form. To extend the franchise, education should be spread as widely as possible among the entire body of the community. An opponent said I had often changed my opinions, and a shrewd bystander told that person he was a fool who did not change his opinions. Why, he ought to know that is the best part that wise men guided by experience could take. But as regards fools, if you bray them in a mortar they will not change their opinions Something has been said about taking pay at the hands of the Crown. I have through evil report and through good report fought the people's battles, not in the service of the Crown, but in the service of the country. I never will serve the Crown, except when confident that in serving it, in concert with honest colleagues, I can promote the cause of the people." During the session the renewal of the East India Company's charter led to a long discussion, and as Sir James had been on the committee of inquiry he was well qualified to take his part in it. He advo- cated a renewal of the charter for a time. A noble Lord in the Upper House, in opposing the bill before Parliament, had expressed a fear that the General commanding the Company's army, or some English official in high place, might not be the son of a horse- dealer. This was grand material for Sir James to work up, and here is his way of saying it : — "■ I have heard something about a question put elsewhere as to whether the sons of horse-dealers might not be sent out to India. Remember what occurred after the terrible reverses in Afghanistan. The officers of the Queen's army had met with a great disaster. There were two distinguished officers Plebeian birth and British arms. 249 at that moment in command of two armies upon opposite sides of Afghanistan — one General Pollock, the other General Nott I do not believe that General Pollock will condemn me, if I recall to the recollection of this House that he was the son of a humble shopkeeper in the city of London, and that General Nott was the son of a publican from a remote corner of South Wales. How did they retrieve the honour of this country ? One was told either to re- treat from Afghanistan, or to advance and recover Ghuznee, as he considered best. It was open to him either to retreat or to advance. He hesitated not. His decision was taken in the course of one night, and General Nott decided to advance. What was the conduct of General Pollock .'' He found his army dis- pirited ; their fate was hanging in the balance. He had the moral courage, far higher than any other courage of the most brilliant description, to resist all pressure and inducement to advance, until the feeling and spirit and morale of his army was fully restored. Never was the saying better exemplified, cunctando restitnit rem. He hesitated not when the proper mo- ment arrived ; and the glorious consummation took place, that those two Generals of the East India Com- pany's service sustained the honour of the British arms, and saved from destruction our empire in the East. Is this system lightly to be set aside .'' Is this form of government to be hastily rejected V In September of the same year Sir James visited Cork, where the Channel fleet had been appointed to rendezvous for some days. He was entertained at a public dinner, where the Mayor presided, — well sup- ported by all the city and county celebrities. Sir 250 The Admiralty again. James spent some days in Ireland, and seems to have been greatly pleased with the seat of the Mar- quis of Waterford. He now took less interest in parliamentary debates, or rather took less part, for it was impossible for him to sit and listen and not be interested ; and it is easy to suppose that he frequently longed to take share in the discussion, and to make the discussion more worthy of the House. He had in his second experi- ence of the Admiralty passed his 60th year, and had borne much of the brunt of parliamentary battle for upwards of twenty-four years, and might well wish to be less active in the fray, and to show more of the sagacious counsellor. Silent or not silent, he stuck to his work, was regular in his attendance in the House, and constant to the daily duties of the Admi- ralty. Things had greatly changed since his resign- ment of the Admiralty in 1834, both as to ships and numbers of men, so that the estimates now reached six millions and a quarter sterling, whereas in 1833 four and three quarter millions sufficed. The manning of the navy, in accordance with efficiency and economy, claimed his first attention ; the pay and comforts of the seamen were next considered. A new system of accounts was established, which facilitated financial matters, and were of special utility to the men in various ways. Nor was he unmindful of pensions and prize-money ; in short, he reviewed the working of his department in every relation — adapting it to the progressive habits of the times, and rendering it, as far as practicable, the most efficient arm of the public service. It soon became needful to have the navy fully Sir Charles Napier antagonistic. 251 equipped for work, as the Czar of the North renewed his longings for the seat of the Constantines, and the paradise of the Bosphorus. Sir James had a great horror of war, looking upon it as the curse of man- kind, but as a member of the Government driven to uphold existing treaties, and to check northern ambi- tion, he had to get fleets ready for the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic. At first he could not believe in the possibility of war, but after the Sinope affair his eyes were opened, and he denounced the Russian autocrat as " betraying as lawless a spirit and as reckless a desire of aggrandisement as ever disgraced the ruler of any country." The ides of March 1854 found England at war with Russia, and Sir Charles Napier at the head of the Baltic fleet. Sir James's letter to Napier, on the ist of May, showed how well he had studied the difliculties attendant on naval warfare in the Baltic, and his dread of the stone walls of Sveaborg and Cronstadt, whilst as a letter of advice to an impetuous sailor nothing could be better timed or more appropriate. The fact of so little being done by a fleet of such large promise, and a com- mander of recognised powers, led to dissatisfaction in the country, and so disturbed the Napier temper that nothing could assuage it. It was, to say the least, ex- ceedingly unfortunate that Sir James, who, as First Lord, had shown Admiral Napier not only every courtesy that one man could show another, but made him the most confidential communications, should have had the whole of the Napier wrath to bear, and with it the contumely of the press — nothing loath to find fault and condemn when most ignorant of the facts in dispute. No dispassionate person can attach 252 The Disasters in the Crimea. blame to the First Lord for the paucity of glory ob- tained by the Baltic expedition under Napier — the great fact of shutting up the enemy's fleet had been accomplished. If the British public had been less expecting, no unpleasantness would have arisen be- tween Sir James and his admiral, for both men were alike solicitous for their country's honour. The Queen sought their reconciliation by inviting them to Wind- sor Castle at the same time, but Napier's blood was too hot, indeed it kept warm for another year, and displayed itself in the Commons to the edification of Punch more than the enlightenment of the country. The Crimean war, its slow progress and misman- agement, and the sickness and mortality of the troops, gave rise to great irritation and discontent, and no small condemnation of the Aberdeen ministry. A great amount of the physical suffering and fatality attending our brave troops in the East could have been avoided by a better commissariat and a timely supply of fresh vegetables, but red tapeism was then chief master of the situation, and nothing could check its circumlocution and blunders. The history of wars might as well have never been written ; common sense was ignored, even the more forcible logic of pressing events failed to impress the official mind, hence the loss of upwards of 2000 lives by blood diseases alone.* * The writer, guided by his experience of scorbutic disease, 1846-47, directed Sir James's attention to what had occurred in the Netherby district after the potato-blight as a lesson for the Crimea. Sir James expressed his obligations, (Dec. 21, 1854,) and said that fresh or pre- served vegetables had been ordered from Constantinople and Sinope. If so they never arrived in any quantity to do good, and no one felt more keenly than Sir James the sad calamities that befell the British army from inattention to this great clement in our food supply. Constitutional Government on its trial. 253 Mr Roebuck, the member for Sheffield, in February 1855, moved for a committee of inquiry into the state of the army before Sebastopol. Sir James was ill and could not meet Parliament, but as far as his own department was concerned no complaints had been raised, and it was shown by Mr Osborne, the secretary to the Admiralty, that the resources of this depart- ment had been fully developed, and as fully applied to the wants of the public service. Mr Roebuck's motion being carried by 305 to 148, the Aberdeen Cabinet resigned. Lord Derby was then sent for by the Queen, but failed to form a ministry. Lord John Russell had his turn at cabinet-making, and not being able to secure Sir James Graham and Lord Clarendon, also failed. Eventually Lord Palmerston succeeded in forming a coalition ministry,-^ and Sir James Graham returned to the Admiralty. As there had been much talk about the various coalitions sought to be established, and Sir James's refusal to join Russell, whilst he accepted the Palmerston offer, he explained the matter fully to the House of Com- mons, (Feb. 23, 1855.) As the Sebastopol inquiry was persisted in. Sir James and the Peelites resigned their places in the Palmerston Government ; and again he had to ex- plain his reasons for quitting office. His speech on this occasion was worthy of a great minister.f He * It was during this running to and fro, and for many days together, and whilst the formation of a ministry was still pending, that Prince Albert made his unfortunate speech in the City, when he said tiiat con- stitutional government was then on its trial- that led to much com- ment and misrepresentation. t Sir James had been more or less an invalid for some lime, and was now in the 64th year of his age. 254 ^0 ivish to curb the Commons. craved the indulgence of the House whilst he gave his reasons for objecting to the further prosecution of inquiry into the Crimean war by a select committee, as being inexpedient and dangerous. He maintained that a secret committee would not satisfy the country, and that an open committee would reveal evidence that would lead to adverse comments of a party character damaging absent individuals having no power of examination and defence. He looked upon this inquiry as without precedent in our history, yet had no wish to curb the feelings and power of the House of Commons. Like a true constitutional member of a great assembly, he continued : — " Far be it from me to contest the power of this House in its largest sense. I know not of any object so minute as to be below its notice, or so exalted or so remote as to be beyond its range and power. I am not the person to cut down the authority and power of this House ; my whole public life has been spent within these walls, and the greatest efforts of my youth and of very more mature years — it is not as a matter of regret I men- tion it — have been devoted to increasing the demo- cratic power of this assembly. Within its proper sphere, no man rejoices more in its power, its control over the officers of State, and the ministers of the Crown — its powers co-ordinate with the Crown and the House of Peers, and greater than those of the House of Peers with reference to taxation, supply, and ways and means. As the grand inquest of the nation, I admit in the broadest sense its constitutional power; and I know no limit to that power, except when, by its exercise at an ill-advised moment, it shall The safety of tJie State paramount. 255 trench on the legitimate and constitutional functions of the executive government. ... I know nothing more honourable than the service of the Crown, when united with colleagues in whose principles and whose measures you concur — and when you enjoy the con- fidence of the people and the sovereign. But, on the other hand, I know nothing more dishonourable or more painful than assenting to measures, adopted by the majority of your colleagues, which you consider dangerous, and which your conscience and your judg- ment tell you are improper From anything which may interfere with the administration of the public business I shall religiously abstain. I shall, sir, make no further professions, but instead of pro- fessions, endeavour to prove by my conduct that with me the safety of the State, in a moment of great emergency, is paramount to every other consider- ation." CHAPTER XVI. From 1855 to 1858. Royal Agricultural SocietySilloth— Democratic and Anti-Palmerston — Evangelical Carlisle disturbed— " Blue'" intrigues defeated—Elec- tion of 1857 — Graham triumphant ! — Jezvish Disabilities Bill- Death of Lady Graham. H E Royal Agricultural Society held its meeting in Carlisle, July 1855. Sir James, at the dinner-table, said he was one of the original members, along with Lord Al- thorpe, the Duke of Richmond, and other most dis- tinguished friends of agriculture throughout the United Kingdom. " The toast — Agriculture, Manu- facture, and Commerce — is the fundamental basis on which society is based I believe I am speaking in presence of one of the sons of the late Mr Coke, of Norfolk ; and, at any rate, in the presence of those who remember the exertions of Mr Curwen in the cause of agriculture. The meetings at Holker and Workington did in their day the greatest possible good ; but these were local, and it was our great object to establish one parent society. The introduc- tion of turnip husbandry, of drill husbandry, of the winter feeding of cattle, and of the penning of sheep on turnip land, (all which were practised by Mr Cur- wen,) were to agriculture what mechanical powers " Royal Agricultural Society. " 257 have been to trade, manufactures, and commerce ; they were vital principles, on which all agricultural improvement mainly depends The first great object with the Royal Agricultural Society is to con- tinue the Journal, and maintain open that fountain of agricultural knowledge and useful information, which, like irrigation well conducted, carries in a thousand different channels those little rills of infor- mation which invigorate every herb and root which they touch, and fertilise while they flow, giving to each valley plenty and abundance, and rendering the culture of this country universal and perfect." He commended the agricultural implements, and spoke of the district (Carlisle) as once an importino- district, not growing enough for the maintenance of its inhabitants, now providing for Liverpool and Manchester, and also with meat, the first luxury of life, when trade was thriving. On the 31st August 1855, Sir James Graham cut the first sod of the Silloth railway, and in a workman- like fashion. His speech pleased more than his harrowing. He said inter alia : " Amidst the din of war, (the siege of Sebastopol,) the prodigal and fruit- less expenditure of millions of public money — amidst groans, distress, death, sickness, wounds, and agonies of hundreds of thousands of our fellow-creatures, it is gratifying to my feelings to be engaged this day in a specific occupation connected with the growth of a great and commercial people, and that which has raised the country of which we are the inhabitants to the greatest splendour of commercial greatness. Works of this kind in foreign countries have been the boast of conquerors and kings ; in our country they E 258 Silloth Raihvay and Docks. are the work of citizens ; for these works are not pro- jected by statesmen, not carried on by politicians, but they are the fruits of honest industry ; they are the savings of industrious labourers; they are directed by and under the control of our neighbours ; and it is my hope and prayer that this work which we have begun to-day may be conducive to the interests of the county to which I am attached by every tie that can bind the heart of man Gentlemen, it is the boast of the age in which we live that science and capital have been combined, and that the greatest monuments of this country are secure. Its greatness may, like that of other nations, pass away, but these are lasting memorials, to show that we, in our time and generation, have not lived in vain." In his after-dinner speech, when speaking of the Menai Straits, and other difficulties that had been overcome by engineering enterprise, he alluded to Telford and Stephenson, both Borderers — Telford, born at Langholm, and Robert Stephenson at New- castle, and both from the working classes. On the 1 8th of August 1857, he laid the founda- tion-stone of the Silloth docks, and, as usual, delivered one of those telling speeches, which captivated his hearers by its happy historical allusions and thorough applicability to the work in hand. No man in her Majesty' Council more gladly wel- comed the tidings of peace with Russia, and the declaration of that peace to the House of Commons by Lord Palmerston on the 30th March 1856, than Sir James Graham. During this session he objected to Lord John Russell's compulsory scheme of national education, as being destructive of voluntary effort, , Graham more democratic. 259 and not less calculated to revive old religious contro- versies. His speech was said to have decided the majority that upset the bill. Sir James had so aristocratic a bearing, and so haughty a manner, that his political opponents used to say that he had only two fingers for a plebeian — the full grasp of hand being reserved for the titled or the patrician born. In politics, however, he was not so exclusive as represented, nor did he go along with the Whigs in their cabinet-making, in the structure of which commoners constituted but few props, while peers formed both the planks and the veneering. The Whigs liked family parties, and could hardly see any purple outside of the Russells, Greys, and Mintos fit for their habiliment and use. Sir James, it is true, formed an exception, along with Brougham, in the Grey Cabinet, to an out-and-out peerage extraction. When Sir James had become the colleague of Sir Robert Peel, the son of a cotton-spinner, and Mr Gladstone, the son of a Liverpool trader, and the trio, in their own walk, were acknowledged to have no superiors in the Whig, Radical, or any other party in the State — and the opinion is more and more con- firmed to-day, and not without regret, that only one of the three distinguished commoners is preserved to the country — he more fully comprehended that the "governing classes" of England need not, as a matter of course, be selected from the patrician houses. As years ripened with Graham, he was enabled to take a larger measure of both rulers and people. After his restoration of quiet in Ireland, (1844,) and the introduction of excellent measures for its further conciliation, and the great part he took in repealing 26o Palmerston cum Shaftesbury. the corn laws, he seems to have become more demo- cratic in thought and tendency, and at any rate more ahve to the non-governing abilities of the " old con- cern," as he called the exclusive Whigs. The petting of Lord John Russell by the Whigs, because they had no greater political deity to worship, spoiled that useful legislator, whilst a flunkeyism out of doors encouraged the feeling that only few men were fit for the executive government of England. The thinking minds of the country felt by no means amiable to see that brains formed no test, and that sagacity and experience offered but small passport to the higher seats of the Whig tabernacle. Sir James had noted, and not without regret and disappointment, the Palmerston cimi Shaftesbury nominations of a certain class of Churchmen to bishoprics, without reference to capacity of mind, religious toleration, or general fitness for the work ; and occasionally took the opportunity of censuring both the political and ecclesiastical installations. To- day, as the Church has manifestly suffered in char- acter from the prevalence of sectarian illiterates in the chief places of the synagogue, the intellectual mind of England endorses the Graham sentiment. No one could more thoroughly penetrate the guise of sanctity that the Low Church party enveloped them- selves in, and the motives that led them to desig- nate their worldly patron " the Man of God." It must have been a treat to hear Sir James comment- ing upon " Pam" of Epsom Downs and Newmarket, (Lord Palmerston,) docked out in Shaftesbury lawn- sleeves, and receiving the homage, or rather adulation, of the would-be " Elect of Christ." Moreover, the Ev-angelical object07's to GraJiavi. 261 Premier was well known — a decided old Tory, revived by wearing Reform colours, that pleased Whig eyes, and touched Radical bosoms ; though to " fleer and jibe, and laugh and flout" both these parties were more consonant with Palmerston's nature. The affair of the " Arrow," in the Chinese waters, led, in the hands of Mr Cobden, to a vote of censure upon Lord Palmerston's Government, and, on the 2 1st March 1857, Parliament was dissolved. The reader will remember that when Sir James was re- turned for Carlisle, he had a colleague in Mr Fer- guson. It was the boast of the Carlisle Whigs that they had sent two men to Parliament who thought alike; but each session showed that they were more fre- quently in different lobbies — Sir James voting accord- ing to his own judgment, and Mr Ferguson almost invariably with the Government. As no parliamen- tary man ever pleased a Carlisle constituency very long, Sir James came to be found fault with by the partisans of Palmerston for not supporting the min- istry. Mr Ferguson voted for Lord Palmerston, even when his own conscience, as on the Chinese question, did not approve of the policy of the Premier. Sir James showed no regard for the ruling minister, and thought more of measures than of men />cr se — the former being lasting, the other belonging to the day only. Now, Carlisle evangelicals viewed matters very differently from their baroneted representative. What was a sanguinary war with China, and the loss of hundreds of unoffending people, or even of the whole tribe of Confucius, and by English guns used piratically, in the eyes of some of the Carlisle lieges, compared with the gain of a " Gospel Bishop " (what- 262 Biisy-bodyism rampant. ever that may mean) at Rose Castle, in whose train cotton-lords and pious 'tornies might find a place, along with nursling " literates " and missionary flunkeydom ? Every one knows what mischief one or two busy- bodies can do in the market-place of a provincial town by talk, and fuss, and pretension, and how statements of any kind gain force and hearing by reiteration and assurance. Such examples are often visible in a cathedral city, where gossip and slander are common characteristics. In the early spring of 1857, confidential party-whisperings, damaging to Sir James Graham, circulated among a very small coterie of Whigs in Carlisle, and at length assumed so un- questionable a shape, that Mr Mounsey, the legal agent of the Netherby baronet, and for twenty years the acknowledged leader of the Whigs, consented to join a deputation to Sir James, to discuss the political relations of the Border city. Mr T. T. Railton, the prime mover in this ridiculous business, Mr John Irving, the grocer, and Mr Mounsey, constituted the triad counsellors of the supposed errant-knight of Netherby. The last-named gentleman took small part ; he w^as in the position of a mediator rather than an actor. Messrs Railton and Irving were the spokesmen in Grosvenor Place, and the former was specially dictatorial in tone to Sir James. Now, it will naturally be asked, whom did these pert interro- gators of Sir James represent .' Were they delegates from the Blue party ? No ! the said party had been in nowise consulted, and knew nothing whatever of their wanderings from home. The corporation of Carlisle .'' No ! Surely, then, a section or ward of Blue triads running to and fro. 263 the city ? No ! They had not even the tattered shreds of a guild-flag to show as a political credential. Then whom can it be possible that they did repre- sent ? It must be told that they, with becoming modesty, represented themselves ! This self-elected duarchy, with " high falukin " speech and manners, attempting to beard a renowned parliamentary chief in his own castle, affords another instance of " fools rushing in where angels feared to tread." Sir James being assured — assurance was the head and front of the whole business — that Carlisle did not like his votes, offered to retire in favour of a local candidate, " a county gentleman, immediately con- nected by property with Cumberland." He decidedly objected to a nominee of the Treasury. As no can- didate was to be had in London, the deputation returned home, not, however, to consult the Blue party, which common courtesy would have indicated as the thing to be done at first, but to develop more conclaves and busybodyism. Another triad — Messrs Irving, Cartmcll, and P. J. Dixon — started for the west of the county in search of a candidate, and waited upon Mr Spedding of Mirehouse, and Mr Dykes of Dovenby Hall, but with no success. Mr Mounsey, of Carlisle, also declined the honour. As none of the old birds could be caught with the proffered chaff, and three days' sport had failed, the telegraph was tried, and this succeeded, in bird-lime fashion, to entrap a northern-circuit barrister at York. The talents of the triads could no longer be hidden under a Carlisle meal-bag. A public meeting of the Blues was convened on Friday afternoon, the 13th March, at the Mechanics' Hall, but reporters were 264 The play ivithoiit the Hamlet. forbidden to exercise their functions. As the hall had been used for theatrical purposes, the language of the stage may be permitted to describe the performance. Mr Irving, prompted by others, was director on this noted occasion, and his address may be summed up in a few words : — Gentlemen, we are anxious to lay be- fore you the deliberative wisdom of ourselves as to the coming season. We have been catering for your amuse- ment in all directions — in London, in Carlisle, and in the west of this county ; even York minster has heard our soundings from afar, and responded to our thea- trico-evangelical calls. We promise you a second en- gagement of Mr Joseph Ferguson — (cheers) — and would have been willing to try the Netherby Graham, our last season's " star," but as his " Hamlet " does not suit 07(r " King " Palmerston, he is not looked upon as the man for the Carlisle boards. (Disapprobation.) That there maybe no interruption to the play of this evening, Mr Perronet Thompson has just come from York, and is behind the scenes, ready at a moment's notice to take the part of Hamlet. Knowing you Carlisle play-goers to be highly appreciative of his- trionic talent, zve ask you to welcome our choice, the newly-fledged Hamlet. (Cheers and hisses.) Both pit and galleries looked puzzled, benighted, and ex- ceedingly l?l/^e. Sitting before them were the ancient orchestra, piping, fiddling, and stronger than usual in its l?rass band ; on the stage were the old actors, doing their town-hall fussy rehearsals ; and at the side-wings were youthful 'torneys-at-law pirouetting for a five- guinea platform ; yet, with all the old make-believe tapestry, and scene-shifting, and promptings, there was something wrong in the whole play. Where was Graham to the rescue ! 265 the Dane or Hamlet— the real Hamlet— the Graham ? Echo answers, he is got rid of in Polonius fashion — " stabbed behind the arras," to please the worshippers of Palmerston, and the Episcopal expectancies of Car- lisle and Cambridge ! " Poor Ophelia ! Too much water hast thou, poor Ophelia ! " Sufficient for the day was the evening thereof, thought many scores of Carlisle citizens when they went to bed, shorn of their boasted independence as Blues, and reduced to the Yellow level and grinding dust of a Lowther Coventry. Next morning (Satur- day) the thinking portion of them, ashamed of being the puppets of a show, got up a requisition to Sir James, soliciting him to come down to Carlisle and meet his constituency. The fact of 200 respectable names being attached to the requisition satisfied Sir James, and he replied by telegraph, naming Monday evening at the Coffee-house. On the Sunday that intervened, Mr Torrens relates that Mr Cobden, hearing of the doings in Carlisle, called upon Sir James to know the state of affairs, and that he found the veteran senator preparing a vale- dictory address to the Carlisle constituency, meant also as his last public declaration to the world of politics. The scene must have been both painful and trying. There was the great minister about to suc- cumb to the invidious times — weighed down by years of service in his country's cause — weighed far more deeply by the continued signs of ingratitude, and from a quarter, too, that had witnessed his noblest efforts, and reaped a thousand advantages from his unwearied zeal and patriotism. If Carlisle preferred a blind fol- lowing of Palmerston to his judgment and experience 266 Satisfactory explanations. of both men and parties, he might well pause, if not wish to shut the book of politics, and for ever. All this time, be it remembered, he was relying upon the belief that the deputation represented the Blue con- stituency. Had he known its sham character, he would have suffered no such chagrin and disappoint- ment. Mr Cobden advised the hero of a hundred fights to go down to Carlisle, and meet his enemies face to face — feeling assured that he had only to appear before the constituency to win its favour and support. The Coffee-house Assembly Room was crowded to the door on the i6th March when Sir James appeared at the bar of Carlisle opinion. He was accompanied to the platform by Mr Howard, of Corby, Mr Mounsey, and others. In explaining the history of " the split in the camp," he said inter alia : " For having still the honour of being your representative, I do not think it becoming that I should be snuffed out like a candle that is burned down to the socket, or that I should slink away like a dog hunted ofT a race-course." He read a letter that he had addressed to Mr Mounsey on the 6th of the month, showing the character of his votes in opposition to, whilst his colleague voted in favour of, Lord Palmerston, and that the Blue party of Carlisle must make their choice between Mr Fer- guson and himself. He told them that eighteen years ago he had voted against the China war, as he had yesterday, and would again to-morrow. Each sen- tence he delivered increased the number of his friends, and silenced those of his adversaries, and the sly hits at the mouthy and meddlesome attorney who had caused so much mischief, was received with delight by the audience throughout. In reference to the The deputation called to order. 267 deputation that waited upon him on the nth, he stated that he argued at considerable length to show them that Lord Palmerston was not the fit champion or the real exponent of the opinions and principles of the Liberal party. He emphatically denied that he acted in concert with Lord Derby ; that he had main- tained an independent position ; that his approxima- tion was more to Lord John Russell than any other leader, but with him he had no understanding. Sir James said Mr Mounsey took scarcely any part in the conference ; it was Messrs Irving and T. T. Railton who dictated to him. " It was attempted to be dictated to me, both with whom I should stand, and with regard to a matter of primary importance, what should be the vote I would give in a new parlia- ment, when it was uncertain under what circumstances that vote would be proposed, and what in the exercise of my independent judgment it would be my duty with respect to the public to do. ... I said, always referring to the Blue party, and not to any small party answering to that party without their authority. (Hear, hear.)" He then referred to Mr T. T. Railton,* who, before leaving Sir James's room, had in a very significant manner said : " If we cannot find a gentle- man in Cumberland, we must find one here before we leave London" (derisive cheers, " T. T.," and laughter.) Upon that Sir James remarked: "If you goto the Treasury, in your zeal for Lord Palmerston, to seethe Secretary of the Treasury, and ask him to send down * Mr R.ailton was known as "T. T.," and apparently Sir James understood this, as in mentioning his name he laid great emphasis on T. T. rather than Railton, and this tickled the audience, fully alive to the significance of the initials. 268 Intrigitcs exposed and defeated. to Carlisle a Treasury candidate, I am resolved to stand alone. (Hear, and loud cheers.) The conversa- tion with me in London was on the i ith ; the search for candidates in West Cumberland took place on the 1 2th, and at last a meeting of electors was called for the 13th. Now, gentlemen, I have here a report of that meeting, and I am struck by one very remarkable circumstance, — that this was not a public meeting. Reporters were not admitted. (Renewed cheers.) . . . Now, gentlemen, I think I will prove to you that the whole affair as brought forward at the meeting was tolerably well cut and dried. For immediately after the decision was taken that Mr Ferguson and a new candidate should be produced — Presto, begone, the new candidate appears ! (Immense laughter.) Mr P. Thompson had been telegraphed for from the northern circuit on the I2th March, the day preced- ing ; he was in a room adjoining ; he makes his appearance at this private meeting, and is greeted as the candidate who is to displace me. (Cheers.)" He then showed there was a foregone conclusion to turn him out; the appearance of the two addresses, Thomp- son and Ferguson, on one sheet, and on the same evening as the Mechanics' Hall meeting, was a proof that Messrs Irving and Railton had brought Fer- guson's address down with a view of forestalling the decision of the Blue party. In reference to his trying to get out Lord Palmerston, he said : " But I will tell you what is the observation of Benjamin Franklin, and I apply it to this cry of coalition, of compact, and unworthy motives. He says, * No accusation is so easily made, or so readily believed by knaves, as knavery.' And when men make accusations of this "A friend in need is a friend indeed^ 269 kind, it proceeds from the corrupt sources of their own imagination ; and thus they impute to others what, in similar circumstances, they would be ready to do themselves." Sir James's speech carried the meeting, and left no doubts as to the opinions prevailing in the city regarding the Jioeiis-pociis work of the intriguing Blues. Mr T. T. rose and admitted the accuracy of Sir James's version of the private conference, but with unblushing audacity wished to ask the Netherby baronet more questions as to his policy. This was too much for the meeting, so they put the speaker down, and that evening closed his political career as a Car- lisle citizen. Mr Howard, of Corby Castle, addressed the meeting, and rejoiced that Sir James had appealed from a private to a public meeting, as the only tribu- nal that an Englishman can appeal to as the true test of opinion. He then proposed " that this meeting having heard the explanations of Sir James Graham, declares its full confidence in him as an independent reformer, and requests him again to present himself as a candidate for the representation of Carlisle." Mr Mounsey, who explained his part, and regretted that the Blue party had not been consulted in due form, put the resolution to the meeting.' The cheer that followed showed the perfect unanimity that prevailed. Sir James was evidently much gratified by Mr Howard's presence, and next morning wrote the following letter : — " My dear Howard, — ' A friend in need is a friend indeed.' I cannot sufficiently thank you for the kindness and signal generosity of your conduct towards me last night. Very few men whom I have known in a long political life are capable of such disinterested magnanimity ; and, for 270 Carlisle election 0/ iSsj. the sake of many old and dear recollections, I rejoice that ' Howard of Corby' should be the man to whom I owe such a debt of gratitude." As the presence and explanation of Sir James had altered the whole bearings of the election, Mr Perronet Thompson offered to retire from the position of candi- date for the suffrages of the Carlisle electors, and this he did in a very generous and becoming manner. Mr Ferguson and Sir James were opposed by Mr W. N. Hodgson. The nomination-day was on March the 26th. Sir James spoke of the China war. " What is the real meaning of the term — war in the interests of com- merce .'' Nine times out of ten it means war at the instance of rich British merchants, with a view to making them richer, and the cost of that war falls upon the poor of the country, and makes them poorer. What is the real cause of the war with China .-* It is to drug the people of China with opium ; the effect is to enhance the price of tea, to cause an increase, a natural increase, in the cost of the article ; and also to enhance the price of sugar." He condemned the war expendi- ture, also the unnecessary places created in the House of Commons. " There were ministers of education, a new minister of health, a new minister of works, all with large salaries, and immediately affecting the in- dependence of Parliament. . . , We have a whole flight of locusts, in the shape of inspectors, over- running this country. We have prison inspectors, also factory, poor-law, lunacy, education, coal-mine, and police inspectors, and others too tedious to enu- merate. . . . Peace and retrenchment were still his motto. These principles were sound, they were just, " The day zvith me is far spent." 2yt Christian, and humane, and conducive to the great interests of the country. He looked upon Palmerston as a Tory of the deepest dye, and did not Hke the Liberal party to be led by a high Tory. . . . " I have laboured long in the popular cause. The day with me is far spent. I have borne the labour and the heat of the day. The eleventh hour is come ; it is for you to say whether I shall labour one hour more or not. I might have wished to have read one more chapter in the book of politics, but I can close the book where it now is. ... I can say what Burke said, when he lost his seat for Bristol : ' The past is well stored, it is beyond the reach of fortune ; the future is in wiser and in better hands than ours,' and He in whose hands it is, alone can know whether it is better for you and for me that I should be in Parlia- ment, or even in the world. These are the sentiments which now fill my breast. I desire nothing at the hands of any minister. If you send me to Parliament, I will give effect to the assurances which I have given you ; if not, I shall retire into private life, satisfied and thankful for my independent position." On the day of election, Mr W. N. Hodgson obtained 529 votes ; Sir James Graham, 502 ; and Mr Ferguson, 469. The split in the Whig camp accounted for the Tory being ahead of Graham ; and Mr Ferguson's much lower position was to be attributed to the extreme officiousness of evangelical partisans, whose doings have already been described, and of whom Mr Ferguson might have truly said, " Oh, save me from my friends." The want of union among the Blues at this 1857 election opened the door to the Yellow member, and proved highly disastrous to them in 2/2 TJte Jews and the Liberal partj. many ways. Experience should have told them that unity of feeling was all that they required to ensure success in all parliamentary contests ; but to some men history is written in vain, and the experience of years cannot contend with the inanity of thought and wilfulness of the self-opinionated. In 1857, the Jewish Disabilities Bill again came up for discussion, and again perplexed all parties in the State. The Commons were tolerant, the Lords were intolerant beyond precedent, and the question arose as to what should be done to get rid of the anomalous state of affairs in the constitution — the Upper House continuing to thwart the Lower House on a matter of privilege. A meeting of Liberal members was held on the subject at the " King's Head," Palace Yard, where Sir James expressed his views, and, as usual, to good effect. He rejoiced at the opportunity of attending the meeting as one of the Liberal party, as their best bond of party union had, in old times, been the advocacy, in its most comprehensive sense, of the great principle of equality before the law of all men, irrespective of creed. He spoke of his thirty-three years in Parliament, and of his steady adherence to the principle — the emancipation of the Catholics, and the Dissenters relieved from the injustice of the Test Act. On the 25th October 1857, Sir James sustained his greatest loss, an irreparable one, in the death of Lady Graham. He and his wife had seldom been parted, and had lived happily together for thirty-seven years — the pride of each other at all times and seasons. The blow was severely felt by Sir James, indeed, he never quite cast aside the mournful sorrow attendant on this sad event. CHAPTER XVII. Orsini and the French — Speech on Reform — Carlisle Election, 1859— Eloquent Sentiments — U)iity of the Blues — Reform Demonstration — The Howards of Corby — Refuses Office — Impaired Health — Death. HE year 1858 had just dawned (r4th Jan- uary) when Orsini, of patriotic fame, attempted the hfe of the Emperor of the French. The fact of the ItaHan having gone from England led to wild notions in Paris ; and the misrepresentation of our shelter of all exiles — kings and politicians — into the harbouring of con- spirators against France. These ideas took a more substantial shape in regimental addresses, not only felicitating the emperor on his escape, but conveying a wish for war with England. The remonstrances of the French government caused Lord Palmerston to introduce a bill to amend the law of conspiracy to murder. This stooping to French dictation raised a cry in the country that speedily upset the Palmerston administration. Lord Derby then came into power, and early in 1859 Mr Disraeli introduced a Reform Bill, not unlike one that had been prepared by Lord Aberdeen's Cabinet. Lord John Russell consulted Sir James Graham as to an amendment on Disraeli's resolutions. On this amendment Sir James spoke, and for the last time, on the subject of reform. Two 274 Quotes Cromivell to dash Disraeli. or three passages may be quoted as indicative of his mature opinions on the subject : — "The bill of Lord Derby was conceived with too much — he would not say sagacity, but with the avowed intention of obtain- ing from every quarter of the House that support which might effect what appeared to be the primary intention, namely, a triumph for party. In that respect the bill appeared too clever by half That which was an excellence in a theorist, was often a great defect in a statesman ; and the same hand which produced beautiful romances, might often lead to the issues of a great revolution. He had said that a less subtle and comprehensive measure would have had a much greater chance of success. He would refer to a saying of Cromwell to lawyer Bernard, — ' You are vastly too wary in your conduct. Do not be too confident, for subtlety may deceive you — in- tegrity never.' . . . He was speaking in a strictly conservative sense, when he held that it was infinitely more safe to make timely concessions to reasonable demands, than pertinaciously to stand upon extreme right and make no concession. He did not believe the demands of the working classes for the franchise could be longer refused with safety. He looked upon the municipal franchise as fair, and contended that the taxes of the country were not paid by the upper classes altogether, as sugar, tea, coffee, malt, tobacco, and spirits, the taxes of which nearly covered the interest of the national debt, were paid by the humblest of the working classes. He thought that the time had come when political power must begin to descend to these classes." This speech helped to cast the balance against Lord Derby, his bill being " I fight imdcr the Blue Flag still." 27S rejected by 310 votes to 295, and on the loth April Lord Derby announced an immediate dissolution. A general election was the result. Sir James issued an address to the electors of Car- lisle, and mentioned among other things, his having supported the abolition of Church rates, and that reform or no reform was the present question — a liberal policy, or tame submission to Lord Derby. At this election Mr Wilfrid Lawson, now Sir W. Lawson, Bart., and nephew of Sir James, was brought forward in opposition to the Tory candidate. Sir James, on his way to Netherby, 20th April 1859, was induced to address the electors from the Town Hall stairs, though wearied by his journey, and suffering from pain, and said that the scene before him reminded him of what passed thirty-three years ago in the same place. He continued : " It is encouraging — it is reviving. I was then the advocate of the people, ** and of popular rights, and I am so now. I was then a Reformer, and I am so now. I then fought under the Blue flag ; I fight under the Blue flag still. Your • fathers were true to me ; you are not degenerate, and I believe the sons will be true to me also. We con- quered on that occasion, and we shall do so again. I beat the Yellow candidate. It is for you to say whether the same triumph shall attend me again. . . . The Carlisle Patriot, in his last number, says, ' The fitting place for me in Carlisle is, as a weathercock, on the top of your cathedral.' Well, I think it is very likely that on the day of election I shall show which way the wind blows." Words more appropriate for a political audience than these could not be found. Later in the evening 2/6 Eloquent sentiments on Change of Opinion. he addressed an in-door assembly, and expressed his pleasure at seeing all vestiges of past dissension among the ranks of the Blues forgotten. He said he had no longer the power, the energy, or the fire which, when he first came to Carlisle, were devoted to their service. He had now reached a period of life when ambition was fully satisfied. He had nothing to desire, as he was not seeking for power or place. He was quite content with his position in the House of Commons as the independent representative of an independent constituency, speaking the voice and sentiments of men of honesty, respectability, and virtue, such as those he was now addressing ; and if he could once more give effect to their opinions before the grave closed on him, he should be more than content with the part he had borne. This effort cost him too much. He retired to ■ Netherby weak and exhausted, and was confined to his room. The old spirit of the man, however, sur- vived the physical failings, and he kept himself an coiirant with the events of the day, and the political doings of the Border city. He would show himself on the hustings, (28th April,) probably impressed with the belief that it was his last appearance there, and that he should not shrink from a great public duty whatever might be the result. His speech, evi- dently most carefully prepared for its present appli- cation, as well as a retrospective defence of his many changes, was a noble effort, or rather the noblest and best that ever emanated from a man of his years, and diversified political history : it concluded thus : — " Something was said about change of opinion. Well now, gentlemen, the last half century has been " SJiall AIa?i, frail Man" not change ? lyj the period of my active life. Within that period all has changed around me. I have seen the face of nature change. I have seen morasses converted into dry ground. I have seen desert wastes in this coun- try made to teem with golden harvests. I have seen grass supplanting heather, and running up to the tops of our highest hills. I have seen night turned into day, in our cities and dwellings, by the aid of gas. I have seen time and distance all but annihilated by the locomotive power of steam, by sea and land. I have seen the electric telegraph conveying from zone to zone the intercourse of man, by sparks stolen, as it were, from heaven. I have seen mighty mon- archies fall ; I have seen republics founded on their ruins crumble into dust. I have seen military despotism grow up and wither. And shall man, frail man, amidst all these changes of nature and polity, alone stand immovable, unaltered in his opinions and feelings .'' I say that if a man is to refuse to yield to the pressure of the times, and of the circumstances in which his lot is cast, — if he is not open to conviction, and, frail in judgment though honest in purpose, refuses to change his opinions, notwithstanding the altered state of affairs, and the altered condition of things around him, — such a man may be fit for a lunatic asylum ; but I say that he does not possess the true recommendations for any deliberative assembly in the world." At the close of the poll the numbers were, for Sir J. Graham, 538 ; Mr Lawson, 516; and MrW. N. Hodgson, 475. At the declaration of the poll Sir James spoke : — " Mr Mayor and gentlemen, let us see which way does the wind blow? You have placed the weathercock at the top of the poll. The Yellow mist is dispelled. 278 The Long-Jiorncd old Tory Breed. The sun will shine bright on Carlisle walls. It will be Blue overhead soon. The Yellow candidate has disappeared. Where is he "^ Last on the poll." In moving a vote of thanks to the Mayor he said : " I have been in the hands of the doctor this last week, but you have administered a cordial which is better than any medicine." He alluded to his nephew- being a well-bred- Blue, and continued: "But, sir, you are about to have the Archaeological Society in Carlisle. I doubt whether you can produce so strange a prodigy as an old true-bred High Tory. You can produce a novelty. You can produce a sort of hybrid, half Radical, half Tory, which is an innovation. But we like the long-horned Tory, such as Colonel Low- ther; we do not like a hybrid, cross-bred, spurious Reformer, such as Mr Hodgson. You must not show to the Archaeological Society the novelty of Mr Hodgson as one of the representatives of the ancient city ; and where you can find a good old long-horn of the old Tory breed, I know not, but with your archaeological research you will know where to find it." At the Coffee-house he made use of words that are well worthy of being treasured up by the Blue party to-day. The words were as follows : " I told you that union was strength. VVe succeeded in 1852, be- cause we were united; we had difficulties in 1857, because we were not united : I said, let us be united, and our triumph is certain. Ay, for ever let that union last ! " After proposing that they should have a Blue dinner, he went on to say : " I am an old stager. (Laughter.) I remember the election of 1832. I remember on that occasion honest, worthy The Blue Demofistration at Carlisle. 279 men came from the most distant parts of the county, walking sixty or seventy miles, and not receiving one farthing of their expenses, to secure the most noble triumph ever obtained. (Cheers.) Second only to that are your exertions and your triumph on this occasion. My gratitude is lasting. I am fresh in the recollection of 1832. While I live my recollection will never fade." A Reform demonstration dinner was held at the Coffee-house, Carlisle, on May 9th, 1859, in accordance with Sir James Graham's wishes, as expressed at the election of the previous month. Sir James was now in his sixty-eighth year, but appeared hale, hearty, and vigorous ; no man in that large assembly showed greater enjoyment of this celebration of the Blues ; few were more youthful, more jocular, and more thoroughly English in feeling. He stayed to the end, as if his instinctive perception of the future indi- cated that it was the last time he would receive the homage of merrie Carlisle, and that the hero-worship of his constituents would never be again bestowed on their old champion. Speaking of the advantages of civil and religious liberty, and the pleasure with which he contemplated the equality of the Roman Catholics with the Pro- testants, he paid a high tribute of respect to the worthy and excellent family of Howards of Corb}' Castle. This he did in the most gratifying manner. In well-tuned accents he said : " In my own imme- diate neighbourhood, from my earliest youth, I had known a Roman Catholic family. I knew the late Henry Howard of Corby from a child ; he was a friend of my youth, (turning to Mr P, Howard.) I 2 So The Hoivards of Corby Castle. say it though in his presence ; it is no vain adulation ; if I were to point out what were the Christian virtues of an Enghsh gentleman, I could not signalise him more than in the presence of my honourable friend Philip Howard. I have told you that now I have learned to estimate the character of a Roman Catholic gentleman. It is a long experience, but in the person of no man have I ever seen Christian virtues more exemplified than in the person of Mr P. Howard. What are they.-' forgiveness of injuries, kindness, gen- tleness, unsullied honour, and perfect independence. (Cheers.) I may have unintentionally thwarted him in some object of private ambition. Has he resented it .'' On the contrary, had I been his dearest friend he could not have exerted himself more than he has invariably done ; and my heart would be cold indeed if I did not rejoice in this opportunity of tendering him my most sincere and heartfelt thanks I may have committed error, but in the main I am not ashamed to own it, that what I was, I still am, and I hope to remain such as I am till the close of my political life ; and, upon the whole, I think it is only just to judge of a man by the general tenor of his public life. Has he been true to the interests of the people or not } Has he sacrificed to his own per- sonal interests their interests and their advantages .■' " He had often presented himself to a Carlisle audi- ence, and pretty frequently at county meetings, and always charmed the people by his address, his felici- tous mode of putting things, and by that unmistakable force and precision so characteristic of a man speaking from a thorough knowledge of his subject. The radi- ance of that 9th May, with its sunshine, its brightness, Grahanis last zvords to the Blues. 281 and pleasant promise of summer, had a happy re- flection in the words and looks of the Netherby Baronet. Nay more, he showed what no still nature could approach, no solar ray or atmospheric trans- parency could reflect ; he acknowledged his errors, he forgave his enemies, and warmly extolled his friends. His heart, always aiming at the kind and the grateful, proved its true response to the poles of humanity. He had for forty years been more or less before the men of Cumberland, and during that time, as he had ap- peared to play many parts, had experienced fortune's buffets and rewards, and many ups and downs in polit- ical life. At one time he had been hailed as the most potent reformer of abuses in his epoch, if not one of the saviours of society in times of trouble and raging democracy ; he had also been not only censured for his conservatism, but as unsparingly ostracised as any alien from the land of his birth. Now again lie enjoys the popular confidence of Cumberland, and appears as the hero of the day, surrounded by county and city magnates, and listened to by men of intelli- gence, worth, and respectability, all of whom delighted in his presence. He took a retrospective view of local and general politics, and indicated the immediate considerations binding on the party to which he belonged. As his political life budded under the favourable auspices of his countymen, so at the close of his public career the responses of the multitude to his utterances are as warm as ever. Admiring friends now congregated at his call; he is at home with them ; in their midst he breathes the air of freedom and independence, and inhales the sweeter gales of popular incense due to 282 Refuses the Admiralty and Office. long services and patriotic labours in the country's cause. He looked for the last time upon the assem- bling of the Howards and the Blue party, as they celebrated their victory over the Yellows. He who had so often passed along the Via Sacra, receiving the homage and huzzas of both tribunes and people, is again being crowned at the Capitol ; and there he shows his victor's garlands, with the modesty be- coming true merit. He had fought his last battle, and obtained his last victory. Was it so foreshadowed to him that the laurels of this 9th of May were to be as the olive leaf waving over the fitful electioneering struggles of the past ; and that his utterances should be made to comport with the peaceful haven of home and the golden opinions of friends .'' The Earl of Derby's Government broke down on the Reform question in 1859, ^^<^ Lord Palmerston was called to the helm of affairs. He sought aid from the Peelites. The Admiralty was again offered to Sir James, but he declined it, nay, went further, and made his refusal to take office of any kind a final decision. No doubt he felt the deepening effects of time upon his constitution, and an inability to cope with the younger spirits of a fierce opposition. He had had his days of responsibility and trust ; he wished for no more. Ministerial authority, short of the premiership, was no attraction to a man who had won his spurs, nearly thirty years ago, in that fierce tournament of parties that accompanied and followed the great struggle for reform. He preferred the quiet and repose of a private and independent mem- ber, to the trappings of office; and, in all probability, he served his country quite as well, if not better, inas- Parliavicnt still attractive. 283 much as his opinions fell with greater influence upon the House that they were under no other direction than wisdom and experience, and a patriotic wilHng- ness to promote the general Avelfare of the nation. His long parliamentary life, and methodical training, had fitted him more than the Speaker himself to decide on the forms and usages binding on the legis- lative senate. Though free from the cares of ministerial functions, he was pretty regularly at his post in the House of Commons. Parliamentary life was to him a kind of second nature, if not life itself To look upon the arena of his own gladiatorship with the best English steel of the century; to survey the battle-ground of parties, their onslaughts and repulsions, their vic- tories and defeats, was to recall the past of his own life that had been largely eventful and historical. To be a denizen of the metropolis without parliamentary work would not only have been an inertia vitce, but isolation and banishment from all that rendered life congenial and acceptable. He was approaching the threescore and ten of age — that period of trial and trouble to all men. The fast Oxonian days, and many " convivial nights " with " Tom Buncombe," may not have touched the corporeal Graham ; but heavy parliamentary work since 1826, both as a private member and minister of the Crown, and that greater influence upon the mental waste accruing from unlucky statesmanship and the contests of a fierce and uncompromising opposition, came to have a marked effect upon his general constitution. He felt that he must take public affairs easily, and this was a hard line for Graham to adhere to ; for, though age 284 LoatJi to retire from the Field. and weakness were stealing over the features, the "old man" still reigned supreme when an exciting debate was presented to his notice. The Graham spirit revived amid the clangour of arms. He would buckle on the helmet that had stood him well in many a conflict ; he would draw the finely-tempered Damascus blade, whose home-thrust was. of piercing aim, and carry the dark plume of his ancestors into the thickest of the fight. During these latter years, Sir James evidently la- boured under heart-disease, which produced faintness and occasional breathlessness. The latter symptom was probably increased by the foul air and overcrowd- ing of the House, and at times he was obliged abruptly to leave it for a purer atmosphere. Retaining the fresh complexion and tolerably erect walk, it was difficult for an ordinary observer to see that Graham was a sufferer ; he was too brave to show what he felt ; but the time was at hand when the march of a deadly enemy could no longer be arrested. Carried away by his interest in naval affairs, he sat on a committee of investigation, and, in his cross-exami- nation of Admiral Rowley, experienced a fit of spasm that nearly upset him. The death of his valued friend, Lord Herbert of Lea, whom he had selected as one of his executors, visibly affected his health and spirits. On his return to Netherby, in the summer of 1861, his appearance struck his friends as verging down- wards, if not very speedily. He could not attend the Agricultural Meeting in Carlisle in September, and October saw him a confirmed invalid ; and on the 25th of the month his career was closed on earth. His death-bed was surrounded by his family, and his Death and ArtJiiird JSIcmorial. 28 5 last prayers were joined in by his brother, the rector of Arthuret, one of the best of men, and most affec- tionate of brothers. The funeral was strictly private, and the remains of Sir James Graham were interred on the north side of Arthuret Church, Longtown, three miles distant from Netherby. A large slab of red sandstone, inscribed — Sir J. R. G. Graham, Bart., Born June i, 1792 ; Died Oct. 25, 1861. covers his remains. Sir James Graham left issue, three sons and three daughters : — -Frederick Ulric, the present Baronet of Netherby, married in 1852 to Jane Hermione, eldest daughter of the Duke of Somerset ; Constance Helena, unmarried ; Malise Reginald, now Rector of Arthuret, and married to his cousin Sophia, daugh- ter of Sir George Musgrave, Bart, of Eden Hall, Cumberland; Mabel Violet, married in 1851 to the Earl of Feversham ; Helen, married to Colonel Charles Baring of the Coldstream Guards ; and James Stanley, Commander in the Royal Navy. As these sheets arc passing through the press, the parishioners of Arthuret are renovating their church, and, with the aid of others, erecting a me- morial window of stained glass, to show their sin- cere respect for the character of Sir James Graham. Whilst it is agreeable to record this praiseworthy re- cognition of the Cumberland statesman by his neigh- bours and tenantry, something far larger and more significant than this parish work is needed to do jus- tice to the memory of so great a man, in which work the whole country should take a willing and faithful 286 Historical respect to Others. part. He left his brother, Major George Graham, the Registrar-General of England and Wales, and the Right Honourable Sydney Herbert, (Lord Herbert of Lea,) as his executors, with power to dispose of his papers and correspondence as seemed fit and proper, " with a due regard for the fair fame of those who had corresponded with me under the sacred bond of mutual confidence, and of those upon whose conduct I may have commented too harshly." Major Graham is the only surviving executor, and he is of opinion that the time is not come for giving publicity to the private papers of Sir James Graham. Some are living who fought in the same ranks with Graham, and others who were strongly opposed to him, and to both classes historical respect is due. As nearly all Sir James's compeers have gone to their last account, the time may not be far distant when the Netherby archives may see the light of day, and help to eluci- date some of the disputed questions affecting both the Grey and Peel ministries, in which Sir James played so prominent a part. The chief official data pertaining to his political career open to the public have been noted in these pages. All that is need- ful to know of his relations as a Cumberland magis- trate and landlord, as an agriculturist and neighbour, is also placed before the reader; imperfectly, the writer admits, but with due regard to a fair and honest ex- pression of opinion, guided by every circumstance that could add accuracy to an unprejudiced history. A general summary of Sir James Graham's career may be found appropriate, and constitute a final chapter. CHAPTER XVIII. H 1 A GENERAL SURVEY OF SIR JAMES GRAHAM'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. hOHN of the Bright Sword," in surveying Eskdale and the picturesque Border-land, found strong incentive to an ambition that fed on what it grasped, and sought for more. A pohtical aspiration akin to his noted ances- tor's ambition seems to have possessed the subject of this memoir — the greatest of all the Netherby chief- tains. A baronetcy and broad acres — the groundwork of patrician feeling, and stepping-stone to patrician greatness — might well foster the rising pride of the young Lochinvar of the Borders. With the ripening of manhood the political breathings in his nature be- came active, stirring, and suggestive, and nothing less than a seat in the legislative assembly could appease his political longings for a party and a policy. If Graham of the bright sword longed to add acre to acre, and to rule the mediaeval roosts of the Borders, Graham the statesman of the nineteenth century, the minister of William the Fourth and Queen Victoria, and in the possession of lordly demesnes, sought the fuller realisation of the wealth and the power that land confers — senatorial honours and political leader- ship. The founder of the family of Netherby Grahams 288 The Mcdi(2val and the Modern Graham. might carve out plots of ground, and enforce all that might confers upon the strong arm ; but the man of mind, with power to develop the resources of the ancestral acres by draining, by cultivation and honest husbandry, secures the noblest claims to rigJit of ownership and perpetuity of fame. The mediaeval cavalier wearing the dark plume is little more than a myth on the historical horizon, but tJie Graham who came into power in the last decade of the Georgian era and found Netherby barren or non-productive, and left it rich in pastures and bright with golden har- vests, will take his place in history for all time as Graham, the true knight of the Borders. Better for his fame that upon his shield * should be depicted the emblems of successful industry and honest content- ment, and the gratitude of a prosperous tenantry, than the defiant glove, the harrying rule, the feather and plumes of Border faction, however grandly set forth in the pages of Border minstrelsy and romance. In the freshness of parliamentary life he saw in the equality before the law of English citizenship an in- dication of equality of rights and political action, as if all men were of one standard of brain power, judg- ment, and good sense. At that period he pitched his Whiggery rather too low — a kind of Radicalism less philosophical than utilitarian — and had evidently not read the fine song of Susanna Blamires, pointing to the danger of beggars being rulers of the land : — "Man, were wc aw equal at nnvornin', We coukln't remain sae till nect ; Some arms are far stranger than otlicrs, And some heads will tak in mair leel." * The motto of the Grahams of Ncthcrbv is—" Reason contents mc." A true Constitutionalist. 289 Graham was at all times free from ultra-radi- calism, and in no wise approached the Cobbett and Hunt school in his most exuberant democratic days. He was too sincerely attached to the constitution to wish for extreme innovations. He tried to lower the Growings of an overbearing Civil list, and to clip the wings of worthless functionaries ; he sought to do away with Colonial and Home monopolies, and to eradicate the growths and excrescences on the body politic, and succeeded beyond his expectations. In his heydays of " liberty for the people," he would have followed Burke as a constitutional defender of the three estates in the realm ; he would have maintained the order of things bequeathed by the Revolution of 1688, but gone far ahead of his political idol in ex- tending the reform of that great reformation. " The glorious constitution " he contended for with all the spirit of a true-born Englishman, but he could hardly suppose that 140 years of existence (1688-1828) gave it a prescriptive right to claim perfection and infalli- bility for ever. His five years' forced retirement from public life (1821-26) was an essential good both to himself and others. He thereby came to a knowledge of his patrimonial estate, and was enabled to winnow the loose chaff of a doubtful tenantry from the seed-corn of a better promise. Moreover, he got fairly in- doctrinated in agriculture, and carried the Curwen standard on to another generation, if not considerably beyond. Though such ability as Sir James possessed would at all times have been useful in Parliament, and notably in helping the endeavours of the Whigs to gain the citadel of reform during the stirring reign of 290 TJie Reformer of County Misrule. George IV., it is questionable if, individually, he was not as well at home watching events and forming his opinions of the national policy and of England's great leaders. It v/as assuredly well for Cumberland that Sir James was closely attached to Netherby, and it was no less lucky that Carlisle recognised him as their representative in 1826, and thus claimed his attention to the public interests of the county at large. Though aptly compared with Curwen in politics and agriculture, and similarly allied with Blamire, and at all times ranking with the best men of the county, he shone above all his compeers in the establishment of local reforms. The magisterial courts, the sessions bench, and all the avenues to place, power, and authority in the county, were in the hands of the Lowthers. In being returned as M.P. for Carlisle in 1826, Sir James had bowled down one of the "Lowther political ninepins ;" but in his .sift- ing inquiries, and in his exposure of the abuses, ex- travagance, and arbitrary rule of the Court of Quarter Sessions, he was infinitely more useful in casting down the servile instruments of the Lowther.s, the Hodgson effrontery, and the wholesale peculations prevailing within the county jurisdiction. If some men had done a tithe of the good that Sir James effected for the county of Cumberland in one year,* they would have had testimonials, dinners, and * Since Chapter VI. was in type, documents have been placed in the hands of the writer whicli not only support his general strictures upon the men and the mode of managing the county business, but go far be- yond his condemnation of the Lowther satrapy. How the tax -payers bore the grinding exactions to which they were subjected for so many years is marvellous ; and it is no less remarkable that one magistrate — A'o Statue to his Honour ! 291 other commemorations to their honour. Thoueli Graham's services as a county financial reformer far surpassed any man, or even the whole magisterial body of the century, his name figures nowhere, in stone or brass, within the city hall or the county courts. Gra- titude ! Alack-a-day, that such a term should find a place in the vocabulary of Christian men, and not meet with a response in the hearts of a freely-bene- fited people ! The doings of the ruling powers of the city of Carlisle, as well as the county of Cumberland, afforded a fine field for the lynx-eyed Graham. From his early manhood he had seen the cloven-foot of Low- ther upon the necks of the citizens, stamping out all freedom of thought, and all signs of independence in the Border city. He could speak from personal knowledge of the lord-lieutenant of the county nominating the mayor of the city. To quote Sir James's own words, addressed to a public meeting, when describing the mode of election : " I remember myself there used to be a breakfast on the occasion. I myself heard it asked, one morning, Avho was to be the new mayor.? The answer was, 'We cannot Sir James Graham— should have been able not only to cope with but to overthrow a huge system of jobbery, that savoured more of feudal tyranny than tlie reigning era of George IV. The architect of Lowther Castle became, through the lord-lieutenant's direction to the Cumber- land magistracy, the architect of Eden bridges ; and the two works had a pecuniary relationship that was viewed in the light of a quid pro quo^ as may be inferred from the following stanza, quoted at the time with appropriate effect : — • " Quoth my lord, as to Smirke he vouchsafed a sweet smile, ' With my castle I 'm quite content ;' Quoth Smirke, as he thought of the bridge at Carlisle, * So am I with my five per cent.' " 292 W/io made the Mayor of Carlisle ? tell, as the lord-lieutenant has not yet arrived.' That was at the breakfast table, at nine o'clock in the morning, when the mayor was changed. I remember that myself." No wonder Sir James rejoiced to see the Municipal Act in operation, that would for ever set aside so monstrous an abuse of constitutional power as a lord-lieutenant placing one of his servile followers at the head of a cathedral and garrisoned city ; not only without consulting the wishes of the citizens, but in direct opposition to their best in- terests. When he commenced his parliamentary career at Hull, in 1 8 18, he professed Whig principles, and as a friend to civil and religious liberty, maintained that no man ought to suffer pains and penalties on account of his religious opinions, since religious belief was not betwixt him and his fellow-men, but betwixt him and his God ; he was also in favour of that reform which would infuse new life into the constitution, and restore to it power, health, and vigour. He held strongly to these opinions from 1826 to 1837, as member for Car- lisle, Cumberland, and East Cumberland. Now, from 1838 to 1852, he was member for Pembroke, Dor- chester, and Ripon, and it is doubtful if, during that chequered course of years intervening between his ostracism from Cumberland, and his again appear- ing in Carlisle, that his opinions had altered so very greatly as was represented by his enemies — possibly not more than experienced judgment of men and events in some degree justified. In 1852, or after nearly forty years' trial of public life, he advo- cated the principles of his early years — the genuine Whig principles, as he had defined them. . "A Noble Servant" to Cumberland. 293 No one can question that Sir James, after leaving the Grey Cabinet, rather than meddle with the Irish Church, not only strayed from his first principles, but pronounced himself too strongly on the acts of former friends, and for such deviation was liable to the criticism of his constituency, who had ever looked upon him as a thorough reformer. Could a media- tor have been found between him and his constituency in 1836, things would not have gone so far astray; but the slings of the Bramptonians, and the barbed shafts of the Carlisle Journal, savoured less of re- monstrance than condemnation. He had been " a noble servant" to Cumberland ; but it was said he could not " carry his honours even." " Whether 'twas pride. Which out of daily fortune ever taunts The happy man ; whether defect of judgment To fail in the disposing of those chances Which he was lord of," he came to be doubted, and then was banished ; and so "our virtues lie in the interpretation of the time." Something was due to Sir James's independency of opinion, and more was due to the fact that his politi- cal changes implied neither ambition nor expectancy of office, and were guided by no unworthy motive. A gentle remonstrance, backed by a dozen good names, and couched in a gracious, yet firm spirit, would have given Graham the chance of explanation, and pro- bably modified his course. As it was, he was vio- lently assailed, and this the Graham blood could not tolerate under any circumstance. He had occupied, and was again likely to occupy, a high pedestal in the parliamentary forum of England ; and was one 294 ^■^^^ Spirit of Coriolaniis in Graham. who had risen above his patrician compeers by supe- rior fitness for office, to come down the steps of the capitol to suit his complexion to the multitude con- gregated at the base of the Tarpeian rock ? Was he to be admonished by every querulous brawler, and to be interrogated by every noisy polemic as to his past and present behaviour ? Would this not be sacrificing the dignity of official life to the fitful clamour of the passing hour, to the inconstant wave of an inconstant plebs surging in the muddy waters of ignorance, and grasping at the straws of demagogic promise ? Was the patriotism of years to be considered as nothing in the eyes of his constituents, because he had sought to give expression to his Protestant feeling, and to strengthen the Conservative elements in our constitu- tion against the subversive tendencies of O'Connell and his associates ? Feeling the spirit of Coriolanus within him, he would act as Coriolanus had done, and like that brave Roman, came to be impaled on his own stakes. He had no Menenius at his elbow to counsel him ; but there were plenty of the Volscians, even "six Aufidiuses," to stab him. When Cumberland had Sir James Graham and Mr Blamire as representatives, its cup of political honour was filled to the brim. In the past century it had its noted Harry Curwen and Sir Wilfrid Lawson of Isel ; and immediately antecedent to Graham and Blamire, it boasted of John Christian Curwen ; but during no epoch of its political history had Cumberland such a duality of person and influence as in Graham the minister, and Blamire the commissioner. What a fine front they presented to the yeomanry, and how proud the freeborn sons of the soil were of their "big states- Graham's Counsel oft wished fo}'. 295 men!" Both shone in health and handsomeness; both Avere strongly agricultural ; both were exact, laborious, and painstaking, as if born to work and government business; and both were alike in habits, and a sincere devotion to the national interests. They differed in personal feeling, and their behaviour was differently construed by their contemporaries. Graham looked patrician-wards, and ever towards the Capitol; classical in his aspirations, keenly analytic in thought, and highly sensitive, he was impatient of opposition, and chagrined that the world did not sufficiently mark his zeal in the public cause. Blamire studied the goodwill of his brethren of the soil, and gained all the popularity of the people's tribune elected for the third time to office. He was practical minded and ener- getic, whilst his graciousness implied hearty fellowship and obligingness ; he was good-natured to a degree, highly forgiving, and without an enemy, either private or public. Whenever Cumberland finds itself tried beyond its strength of direction, politically or agri- culturally, the wish for Graham's presence and coun- sel is frequently expressed. During the prevalence of the cattle plague or " rinderpest," the loss of so power- fully administrative a mind to both county and country became the more thoroughly understood, that every one saw and felt the need of a director and counsellor. There was a Babel of talkens, prejudiced and feeble in every way, but no Graham, no Curwen, to point the path of safety ; hence the county drifted into a chaos of misfortune and troubles. Sir James was looked upon as too cautious for the times that succeeded the Reform Bill of 1832, yet his caution was shared in by the country at large on the 296 Seldom wrong in his Opinions. very question — the Irish Church Appropriation Bill — which dislodged him from the Grey ministry. His tendency to weigh the/wi- and cons before coming to a decision was found fault with, yet how rarely was he wrong in his opinions both as to men and mea- sures. Those who sat with him in the Commons used to say, " Nine times out of ten Graham is right in his views." His estimate of public men of his own standing was marvellously correct, and he proved himself far-seeing if not prophetic of the destiny of younger men. One example may be given ; it refers to the greatest commoner of the day — Mr Gladstone. Though Mr Gladstone was everywhere known for his High Church principles, pure Conservatism, and exalted feeling, Sir James had seen the growing Liberalism of the highly favoured Peelite and great financier of his epoch, and thus spoke of him : " If Oxford should kick out Gladstone, he will be sure to go in for South Lancashire, and head the Radicals of a future Parliament." A man so considerate if not timid in advice as Graham was, yet so bold and impetuous in debate, seldom sat in the great councils of England. He was wary in the extreme lest government should run counter to public opinion ; and as a Cabinet minister his caution was no less manifest. As soon, however, as the ministry decided upon a line of action that seemed to them imperative. Sir James was the boldest of them all in its advocacy and defence. He appeared in the House as if the principle at issue was his own thought, and that he should carry it against all comers. Graham showed a curious mental antithesis — holding back the reins of government when closeted with his Wanting in Confidence. 297 colleagues in the Cabinet, but on entering the arena of Parliament, whipping the horses almost as boldly as Phaeton himself. If to-day highly solicitous for the national interests, watching the gloom, and almost desponding of the commonwealth ; to-morrow he might be buoyed up with anticipations of better hopes, wanting only resolution to make them secure. The advent of occurrences disturbing, however slightly, the peaceful wave of English life came occasionally to be viewed by him as of large consideration and im- port ; in short, anything untoward visibly affected both his sentiments and purpose. He was disposed to look at the dark side of things, as if " To be, or not to be " was England's question. This was Graham's infirmity ; it marred his comfort, it weakened his statesmanship. He had not enough of confidence in himself as to the direction of affairs. He required to be pushed on.* In his early days he longed for the fellowship of the great leaders of party — for Huskisson, for Lord Althorpe, and Lord John Russell ; but evi- dently the man to his taste was Peel, in whose colleagueship he sincerely rejoiced. Sir James was rarely eloquent, but always fluent, clear, and intelligible. The ease with which he spoke resembled the reading from a book, with care to the points, the emphasis, and cadence. His ideas came forth as a classified series of statements ; the logical sequence was maintained throughout, so that his speeches told upon every audience, and oft remained fresh in the popular mind for years after their de- * The Cockermouth farmer was credited with cleverness when he compared Graham to a cow that needed its tail to be twisted or " twined " to make it move alonir the road. 298 His SpcccJics commanded attention, livery. He was the most finished speaker of his day, and his memorabilia dicta, so trenchant and to the purpose, now form part of the Enghsh pohtical vocabulary. In debate, in Committees of the House, in giving evidence, and in the cross-examination of witnesses, he shone greatly. His speeches com- manded attention. His language was concise and expressive, if not idiomatic. He had the faculty of clearing up a doubt, and of illuminating a subject with apposite illustration, occasionally most graphic and lucid. Perhaps no one had this faculty in a greater degree, or was more masterly in elucidating a political problem. His diction was graceful and feli- citous, and always pointed ; his style was perspicuous, convincing, and dignified. There was little or no de- clamation in his oratory, but no lack of sarcasm, the exercise of which was marked by a causticity that scathed opponents. Whatever he said, in or out of Parliament after the famous "birds of prey" speech, claimed attention at the hands of the public. Both friends and foes admitted his weight and authority in the Commons. He realised in part the words applied to Cicero : — Quanta graintas in vnltu, qnantiun pondns in verbis, quavi nihil non consideratiim exibat in ore. Whilst he showed himself in earnest, there was the leisure and measured line of a man of sincerit)- ; and his feelings were apparently consonant with his public utterances. He was not so credited, however, by his opponents; thus in March 1834, when he said he had strained his conscience as far as he could to serve the Wliigs, the House laughed and derided him. This was a great annoyance, and along with other un- courteous acts, helped to drive him from the ranks The Holland House leaven. 299 he had served to the side of the Opposition. To be without the confidence of his old comrades in the re- form campaign deeply affected Graham. There was no middle course of action with a man who had a full share of the egoism, that exceptional intellect, sense of power and superiority confer. Men of ordin- ary minds might yield to every wind that blows ; men of large capacity do not like to be cramped for room in their public life ; above all, do not like to be mistrusted. Along with his first secession from the Whigs — call it, if you will, desertion of his early be- liefs — arose temper, pride, and the vexations of taunt, that hurled him farther than he would have gone. Wounded by the Whigs, he gradually drew towards the Tories — glad of any gladiator of the Graham stamp wounded or worn. In previous pages Graham has been likened to Coriolanus, and the simile holds good here ; in his s^oing; over to the Volscian tents he did not divest himself of his Roman feeling. He acted with the Tories, but he still had the Whig proclivities. He un- doubtedly gave a reform colouring to the Peel admin- istration, and was manifestly the Liberal element in a Tory Cabinet ; he helped materially to establish financial and other reforms from 1841 to 1846; in- deed, the old-fashioned Tories (probably the " long- horned breed ") used to say it was a mistake having Graham among them, as it was introducing a bit of the Holland House leaven into a Tory administra- tion. As a commander he lacked the decision that is so essential in sailing between the Scylla and Charybdis of politics. He had too little faith in his political ac- tion ; he thought too much of precedent, and wished 300 TJic Peel and Graham DtiarcJiy. apparently to see matters of polity regulated by a rule-of-three standard. If he could not be chief, he had no equal as a lieutenant in any service — naval or political. He was always at his post when duty called, " aye ready," and this phrase he was wont to use very happily in political discussions. With Peel as captain, or a Peel chart before him, there was no man to be compared with Graham on the political sea. He was more the alter ego than a subordinate of Peel ; and the Peel and Graham duarchy was felt in the Cabinet and Queen's councils, and tended to keep the executive government firm on the rails of a Liberal Conservatism, Lord Stanley (now Earl of Derby) had his part to play, and did it ably and well, but colonial affairs gave the country little con- cern ; whilst its home government was a daily yoke of good or bad service — in Graham's hands it was essentially honest and efficient. A high and mutual, or rather affectionate regard for each other ruled the close intimacy of Peel and Graham. The two men were much alike ; both were nervous as to the safety of the measures they proposed ; both were timid in times of urgency ; both would wait the direction of the wind before hoisting too much canvas to the breeze. These men figured in an age of P^nglish history when public opinion came to be felt in the debates of the senate, and they wisely responded to the feel- ing out of doors. The press had become an authority and a power, and education more enlightened, so that one stronghold after another of monopoly and mal- administration was attacked ; and no minister after the days of Reform (1832) dared long to thwart the general expression of the middle classes. TJie Graham indoctrination of Peel. 301 The educational schemes, the concih'atory measures for Ireland, even to the endowment of the Roman Catholic priesthood and other home reforms, bespeak a Graham indoctrination of both his political chief and ministerial colleagues. No man, much less the writer, who had reasons to believe in Graham's ad- hesion to the views of Rooke before 1845, could suppose that the Home Secretary was blind to the free trade arguments sown broadcast over the country by the League. Graham knew well the spirit of the times, (for as usual the nation had made up its mind long before its representatives, and would sooner or later have enforced its wishes, despite all opposition,) but "total and immediate repeal" sounded too strongly in his ears : he feared an approaching avalanche that would sweep away agricultural landmarks, when it was but the drifting snow rapidly melting from the mountain tops, and revealing pastoral lands and a summer promise. Sir James in 1844, dwelling upon the large domina- tion or brute force of Austria, and knowing nothing of nationalities and the struggles of race, could not see the little hand of patriotism rising above the hori- zon, and apparently did not understand the index- finger pointing liberty-wards. What was " young Italy .''" — the merest zephyr, or the gentlest ripple on the water. What was one man — Mazzini — against a powerful nation and its many satrapal governments .■' Nevertheless, Sir James came to see the zephyr and the ripple raised to a storm under the directing hand of one whom he and his ministerial colleagues aftccted to despise, and laboured to crush — Mazzini, the mind of Italy, as Garibaldi was the sword of his country. 302 The Ment07' of the Commons. Had Sir James lived beyond 1862 he would have seen the import of the Bajidicra blood and the Manin martyrdoms, when king and kaiser and archdukes were driven from the Alps to the Adriatic, and far beyond, and the sun of Italy again shone upon her own children tenanted in freedom — excepting only the small states of the Church. Every one will admit that Sir James was severely to blame in this awkward business, but he was no worse than the Peel Cabinet, of which he was but a tenth or twelfth component part — the tempter being the Earl of Aberdeen ; and no worse than other Secretaries of State, from Lord Sidmouth to Lord John Russell. He knew from his own observation of worse things beincf done than that which formed the basis of the accusation against him, yet to save his colleagues, and to avoid the tu quoque style of defence against his enemies, he remained silent. Let this be noted to his eternal honour ; for assuredly no man was ever so provoked to make a clean breast of perilous stuff. Though Sir James was less heard of after death than men of vastly inferior mind and character, the Parliament of England ranks among its members many who like to recall the large influence which he exercised in the senate of his country. During the session \%66-G'j, when the Whigs threw their reform coach off the road, and in i "^^y-^Z, when their horses stumbled into a Tory ditch, there was no one to ex- tricate them, or to obviate the muddling legislation of these latter days. Graham's sagacity and autho- rity would have saved the humiliation of both parties, for after Peel's death he had the highest claims to be the mentor of the Commons. Graham a real Poivcr in the State, 303 His faults as a public man were made pretty visible ; his virtues as an administrator were often lost sig-ht of He was the greatest statesman ever born to Cum- berland, and ranked with the chief men of his epoch. His actions were always vastly better than his words. He meant no harm to any one, and often acted kindly and well. He did generous things and bestowed valuable offices on men whose only claims upon his favour were their fitness for the work to be done ; and though such claims should always be deemed the best passport, experience shows another side of the picture, — nepotic considerations too often weiehing- o o more than merit in the distribution of crovernment patronage. Graham's manner in conferrine a gift was at times so cold and abrupt, that the recipient of his bounty hardly knew how to interpret his meaning. The world heard but little of his kind actions. The man who at sixty years of age could play with other folk's children as if they were grandpapa's pets, and enter into all their little ways, could hardly be want- ing in kindness of heart, or foster feelings of harshness and uncharitableness to the adult class of his species. Unpopular as a minister of Peel's, he gained greatly in the Commons by refusing office, and acting without favour or prejudice to the ruling powers of govern- ment. In his latter days, he gathered hosts of friends back to his fold. Both parties in the State used to consult him on matters of polity, and the honour paid to his high discrimination and sagacity seemed to revive in him the golden days that surrounded his Reform advocacy when Cumberland so largely exalted him, and the Whigs in Parliament hailed him as the coming man. His voice was a potent one in 304 A Loyal and Patriotic Englishman. Parliament, and could always carry a large number of votes. Aided by the popular feeling, he was fortified to meet the storm that might arise from any isolated section or party in the State. Sailing with the breeze, he was the heartiest of the crew. How he could hoist " the top-royals " of the Napier, and give iclat to the start of the Baltic fleet ! Antagonism to an acknow- ledged wrong gave a grand impetus to the Graham force. He studied the current of public opinion, and knew its worth, so that no forty-Bishop power ap- peared equal to one bound of popular expression coming from Manchester or Birmingham. With Sir James the dignity of labour was well evidenced ; with him daily duty was maintained to be the best gradation to official capacity ; with him the service of his country was the most honourable of callings — the paramount aim, and thoroughly patri- otic wish of his life. Graham rejoiced in the stability of the English constitution, the safeguards of the throne, and the loyalty of the people ; he looked forward to a bright future for her colonies, her widen- ing civilisation, and her fruitful commerce. He gloried in his own birthright, and the happiness sur- rounding it. If he had reason to congratulate him- self on his own exalted position in the councils of Her Majesty during periods of great imminence to the English realm ; it is to be hoped that posterity will not fail to award him the merit of having dis- charged those high duties to which his Sovereign called him with unremitting zeal, earnest devotion, and consummate ability. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. THE LIFE OF MUSGRAVE LEWTHWAITE WATSON, SCULPTOR. Illtisiratcd -villi rhotographs. Price One Guinea. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. "We hope tliat this handsome and well-iHustrated book will serve to make the name of one of our best sculptors more familiar than it has hither- to been to his countrymen. Watson has now a chance of being remem- bered and honoured : he has fared better in his biographer than some of his more celebrated contemporaries in painting. . . . Dr Lonsdale is entitled to the same praise as Mr Lockhart (the biographer and son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott) for speaking out ; and this virtue, always refreshing to the unsophisticated mind, is doubly so when exercised upon sculpture in England during the nineteenth century, than which we know no subject which stands more in need of an honest and discriminating historian. . . . But we have not space for half the examples which Watson's life affords of the fate of a great artist in a country which cannot understand him, and we must content ourselves with heartily commending Dr Lonsdale's book to those of our readers who care to see the tragic spectacle of genius con- tending with adverse fortune, with wealthy ignorance, pompous conceit, subtle selfishness, and trumpet-blowing imbecility." — Satit)-day Rci'iew. " It is hardly needful to go beyond the Eldon group at Oxford for proof that Musgrave Watson was the ablest and most gifted sculptor during tlie second c|uarter of this century. If further proof lie desired, the beautifully- illustrated volume before us will, however, supply it in the bas-relief of Sarpedon, &c., &c. There are other things of merit also in Dr Lonsdale's book, which those who care for art, or for a story of tragic interest, will do well to read. The author tells his tale with nuich spirit and cleverness, and the illustrations are so numerous and so good, as to make it one of the best gift-books of the season. . . . The career of the honest, gifted, and trained sculptor, in contrast with that of his rivals, could not be more clearly or impressively set forth." — The Spectator. "In this very handsome volume, Dr Lonsdale, of Carlisle, adds to our art literature the life of a Cumbrian sculptor of true genius. As a bio- grapher, Dr Lonsdale is genial, liberal, and thorough. If his narrative is here and there a little encumbered, it is with good thought and good matter always. The whole spirit of the work is entirely unaffected, so perfectly does the writer, as he should, forget himself in his complete attention to the subject. . . . The work, indeed, appeared among the Christmas books, but its interest is lasting, and we have preferred to keep it" by us until the beginning of the Art Season. "We might have begun to-day with Mr Wornum's Life of Holbein, or Mr Fergusson's History of Architecture ; but no, let us set in the front of our causeries on Art the story of one of our own men of genius, who in our time struggled up the rugged steep with little help, fell upon the road, and is remembered with due honour eighteen years after his death." — The Examiner. " Dr Lonsdale deserves hearty thanks for rescuing from fast-encroaching oblivion the record of the life and labours of a remarkable man and very clever artist." — The Scotsman. " Dr Lonsdale fills up a hiatus in art -biography by his life of M. L. Watson, the famous sculptor of the Eldon and Stowell monument at Ox- ford. . . . The vicissitudes of Watson's life, his early struggles, his artistic triumphs, the remnants of his private correspondence, afford abundant materials for the work ; and these have been turned to good account in producing a book no less interesting than valuable as a contribution to bio- graphical hterature." — Gcntlcmafis Magazine. "Amongst Messrs Routledge's books we must mention with especial praise a Life of M. L. Watson, the sculptor, by Dr Lonsdale, which is illustrated by some delicate photographs, and also woodcuts of the sculptor's sketches, ably rendered by W. J. Linton. The biography is a tender piece of writing, and the book is a very handsome and suitable one to those who affect Art-biographies." — Publishers Circular. " Dr Lonsdale's record of Watson's life, though a little deformed with disquisitions and discoursings, is full of interest, and no man can read it Vv'ithout mingled sorrow and admiration for the gifted and accomplished sculptor himself."- -Pall Mall Gazette. "Every one who takes an interest in British sculpture will thank Dr Lonsdale for this book. . . . He has done good service to artistic bio- graphy. . . . The story of Watson's life is agreeably written ; his art is reviewed in a spirit and in language that evidence a cultivated mind and a knowledge of the subject discussed ; while the cliaracter and actions of the man are touched upon with a delicacy and tenderness of feeling that do credit to the author's heart." — Art Journal. "A biography of such a man as Watson is well worth having; it was due to his genius no less than his misfortunes. Dr Lonsdale has done us a favour by taking up the subject in a loving manner ; it is doubtful if any writer could have done the work better for his friend, unless, indeed, he possessed a larger power of criticising, and a better-rooted knowledge of Art. Of both these advantages, however, he has sufficient to make a com- mendable book, with the rare merit, among artistic biogi^aphies, of being moderate in length." — Athcnccum. BY THE SAME AUTHOR, Price 6s., THE WORTHIES OF CUMBERLAND. J. C. CURWEN AND Wm. BLAMIRE. -♦- OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. ' ' This is a book of brief but pleasant biographies, affording many illus- trations of the political, social, and religious life of the last part of the eighteenth and the first part of the nineteenth century. Mr Curwen was an active politician, an advanced Blue, and a far-seeing legislator, for having carried the repeal of the salt duty against the strongest opposition. The memoir of William Blamire is an amended edition. . . . For its pictures of social, political, and provincial life, this pleasant volume is very well worth reading." — The Athcuaum. " Dr Lonsdale is just the man to have undertaken this task. He is a clever writer, and a well-informed one ; and he is gossipy, gan-ulous, and prejudiced besides. . . . Dr Lonsdale possesses all three qualities in per- fection, and a great many higher ones besides, and the life of J. C. Curwen is a proof of their usefulness in his self-imposed task. The life will be read with genuine pleasure by ten thousand firesides outside Cumberland. . . . Curwen was a grand though faulty gentleman of a passed-away school, and he has found, almost by accident as it were, an admirable biographer." — The Spectator. "The lives of great men furnish excellent material for biography. Amongst the great unknown who have sat in the House of Commons must certainly be included Mr Curwen, who repealed the salt duties, and his nephew, Mr Blamire, Chief Tithe Commissioner. Dr Lonsdale tells his story with esprit, and with veiy pronounced local colouring." — The Standard. "The hves of 'Cumberland Worthies' were well worth writing, if only for the sake of J. C. Curwen, and the book is well worth reading if only for the sake of his life. Curwen was a Cumberland Hampden. . . . The number of anecdotes which Dr Lonsdale relates concerning the Working- ton Squire give an effect to the picture whicli could not perhaps be attained by any other means. We trust that the present volume is only the com- mencement of a series." — 11 'est?iiitister Keview. "Dr Lonsdale of Carlisle, whose liberal and just appreciation of the Cumberland sculptor, Lewthwaite Watson, we discussed a few weeks since, now issues the first of a series of volumes in which he proposes to record the lives of some worthies of Cumberland. . . . Dr Lonsdale gives a very interesting sketch of Cunven's political life." — The Examiner. "Dr Lonsdale is doing good service to his native county by the series of biograi)hies of which we have here the second volume. The series when completed will be a sort of ' Golden Book' of native worthies, an invaluable adjunct to all local histories, and a storehouse of facts and anecdotes illus- trating manners and peculiarities already passed or passing away. These memoirs are 'racy of the soil.' They are distinguished by great fulness of detail, accuracy and extent of information, honesty of purpose, and frankness in the expression of opinions. . . . No greater praise — and it is well deserved — can be given to Dr Lonsdale's l)ook than tills, that so complex a character as Curwen has been portrayed to the life. We cordially recommend the volume as a valuable contribution to the history of local politics and progress." — I'he Carlisle Journal. Published by George Rontledge b' Sons, London. GEOEGE EOUTLEDGE & SONS' Ucfo IJublifaiions. GEMS OF ENGLISH ART OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By Francis Turner Palgrave, M.A. With 24 beautiful Illustrations, printed in colours by Leighton Brothers. 4to, cloth elegant, gilt edges, 2xs. THE POETICAL WORKS OF SAMUEL ROGERS. With 128 Illustrations, engraved in the highest style of Art on Steel, after Designs by Turner and Stothard, printed on a beautiful toned paper by Clay. 4tD, cloth gilt, 31s. 6d. The first complete edition of this superb n'ork admitted to be the inosi admirable of illustrated books. THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. By the Rev. Robert Tyas. With 12 full-paged Illustrations printed in colours by Kron- HEIM. Imp. 8vo, cloth elegant, los. 6d. POET'S CORNER. A Manual for Students in English Poetry; with Biographical Sketches of the Authors. By the Rev. J. C. M. Bellew. 928 pages, crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. "Under the happy title 'Poets' Corner,' the Rev. J. M. Bellew has issued a volume of passages from our best poets, accompanied by brief biographical notes. The plan is a very good one ; the selection is made with taste, and the book is well put together. In nearly 1000 pages of clear print, Mr Bellew has produced a really splendid specimen of the poetic wealth of our country." — The Atheuceum. HALF-HOURS WITH THE BEST LETTER WRITERS AND AUTOBIOGRAPHERS. By Charles Knight. Two vols, crown 8vo, cloth, 21s. "The object which Mr Knight proposed to himself in the first series of the present work, was to supply brief memoirs or characteristic traits of many distinguished persons, in connexion with the records of their own thoughts and feelings, as preserved in autobiographies, in diaries, and in familiar letters : and this is well carried out in the volume before us, which differs, however, in one respect from its predecessor ; for while it was no part of Mr Knight's original plan to include unpublished letters, yet, liaving jiermission to print for the first time some interesting letters of Robert Southey and of George Canning, he has very wisely availed himself of such permission, and thereby added fresh interest to a work alremly sufficiently attractive." — Notes and Queries. ^ NEW ENGLAND TRAGEDIES. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 5s. The copywright of this work is secured to the publishers. THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE. Edited by Howard Staunton. 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