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 MEMOIR OF JOPI?^ CtREY.
 
 Edinburgh: Printed by Thomas Constable, 
 
 FOR 
 
 EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS. 
 
 LONDON HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 OLASGOVV ... . . JAMES MACLEIIOSE.
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN GEEY 
 
 OF DILSTON. 
 
 BY HIS DAUGHTER, 
 
 JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER. 
 
 KDIXr.LMtdll: 
 
 KDMOXSTUX AND UOUGLAS. 
 
 18G9. 
 
 [All [ii'jhU lUjiiTi-fil]
 
 PA 
 
 y 
 b 
 
 -rlBi 
 
 SANTA p. . 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GLENDALE AND THE BORDER COUNTRY-BIRTH AND 
 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS-ILLNESS AND RECOVERY- 
 LITERARY TASTES AND PRIVATE THOUGHTS- TOUR 
 ON THE CONTINENT — MARRIAGE — FIRST PUBLIC 
 SPEECH — INTRODUCTION TO POLITICS — THE PRO- 
 PERTY-TAX-LORD ALTHORP AND MR. LAMBTON, . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AGRICULTURE: ITS HISTORY AND ITS LEADERS-ITS 
 RAPID PROGRESS ON THE BORDERS — RELATION 
 OF AGRICULTURE TO POLITICS-THE CORN BILL OF 
 1815-POLITICAL AGITATION AND AGRICULTURAL 
 DISTRESS- BORDERERS SUSPECTED OF DISLOYALTY 
 — PUBLIC SPEECHES AND MEETINGS — PROTESTS 
 AGAINST THE QUEEN'S TRIAL— MISUSE OF PUBLIC 
 FUNDS, ETC.-JOSEPH HUME-THR CURRENCY— THE 
 CASE OF THE INFERIOR LANDOWNERS-LEri'ERS 
 TO THE TIMES, 
 
 no
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 EXERTIONS IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE— ACQUAINT- 
 ANCE WITH CLARKSON — PETITIONS TO PARLIA- 
 MENT-FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS, 86 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NORTHUMBERLAND ELECTION OF 1826— DEFEAT 
 OF THE WHIGS — LETTERS FROM EARL GREY — 
 REMOVAL OF TAX FROM SHEPHERDS' DOGS — 
 AGRICULTURAL CUSTOMS IN NORTHUMBERLAND— 
 HINDS-BONDAGE SYSTEM — FEMALE LABOUR IN 
 THE FIELDS— LIFE AT MILFIELD HILL- RIDING AND 
 FAVOURITE HORSES, 101 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REFORM BILL -THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN 
 OUR COLONIES-THE REFORM OF THE POOR LAWS 
 —MY FATHER'S CONNEXION WITH, AND CORRE- 
 SPONDENCE ON, THESE SUBJECTS, .... 125 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 APPOINTMENT TO THE RECEIVERSHIP OF GREENWICH 
 HOSPITAL ESTATES -THE VARIED CHARACTER OF 
 THE WORK AT DILSTON— WOODLANDS, MINING, 
 RIVER EMBANKMENTS, COLLIERIES, ETC. -CANA- 
 DIAN AFFAIRS-LORD DURHAM'S MISSION— ROYAL 
 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY— BEAUTY OF OUR DILSTON
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 HOME— FAMILY JOYS AND SORROWS-A DARK SHA- 
 DOW—HOPE UNDYING -SECESSION OF THE FREE 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND-DEATH OF EARL SPENCER, IJl 
 
 CHAPTER Vll. 
 
 REPEAL OF THE CORN-LAWS- CORRESPONDENCE ON 
 THE SUBJECT— PROTECTIONIST REACTION— INQUIRY 
 ISSUED BY THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT— GREAT 
 MEETING AT NEWCASTLE - EDUCATION IN AGRI- 
 CULTURAL DISTRICTS— PUBLIC TESTIMONIAL— LOSS 
 OF FORTUNE, AND OF FRIENDS, 20] 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE— AGRI- 
 CULTURAL CHEMISTRY— DUTIES OF LANDLORDS 
 AND TENANTS — LABOURERS' COTTAGES — GAME- 
 PRESERVING - AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION — HIS 
 VIEWS ON THESE SUBJECTS — HIS INCULCATION 
 OF COURAGE AND SELF-RELIANCE— HIS FAITHFUL 
 AND ABLE STEWARDSHIP, 245 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CANADIAN CORRESPONDENCE-LETTERS TO HIS DAUGH- 
 TERS-DEATH OF HIS WIFE-HIS SORROW— FA.MILY 
 CORRESPONDENCE-RETIREMENT FROM HIS OFFICE 
 AT DILHTON — REMOVAL TO LIPWOOD — EMPLOY- 
 MENT OF LEISURE- LECTURES ON POETRY— VISIT TO 
 SWITZERLAND- FAMILY GATHERINGS— CONTINUED
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 INTEREST IN PUBLIC MATTERS — A DAUGHTER'S 
 SKETCH OF HIS CHARACTER— PERSONAL TRAITS- 
 PURITY OF MIND AND OF LIFE, 280 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LAST ACTS — PEACEFUL DEATH — THE TESTIMONY OF 
 POOR MEN— EXTERNAL FRUITS OF HIS LABOURS— 
 THE LOSS TO NORTHUMBERLAND, 342 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LETTERS TO EARL GREY, 349
 
 CHAPTEl! f. 
 
 ' Still linger in our northern clime 
 
 Sonic remnants of tlie good old time : 
 
 And still, within our valleys here, 
 
 We hold the kindred title dear, 
 
 Even when perchance its far-fetched claim 
 
 To Southern ear sounds empty name." 
 
 It seems to me that any life of my father must in- 
 clude, to some extent, a history of the county in -svliich 
 he was born, lived, and died. He loved the place of 
 liis birth, — sweet Glendale. His affections were largely 
 drawn out to that Border countiy, — not only to the livino- 
 beings who peopled it, but to the scenes themselves, the 
 hilLs, the valleys, and the rivers. All through his life 
 there will be found evidence of heart-yearnings towards 
 them ; and these are shared by his children, to whom 
 there seems no spot on earth like Glendale. This at- 
 tachment to our native country is perliaps stron<^er 
 among us than among some families, because for so 
 many generations back we were rooted there. Greys 
 abounded on the Borders ; they were keepers often of 
 the Border castles and towers, living a life not always 
 very peaceful in regard to their Scottish neiglibours. 
 
 Glendale is rich in romantic associations; every 
 name in and around it brings to tlic mind some inci- 
 dent of war, or lover's adventure, or heroic exploit, 
 recorded in Englisli ballads, or sung to sweet Scottish 
 tunes, or woven later into the poems of Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 A
 
 2 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 Of Druidical and Eoman vestiges there are not a few. 
 The beautiful mountain stream, the Glen, from which 
 Glendale takes its name, has a kind of sacred character, 
 from the stories connected with it of St. Paulinus, who, 
 according to the Venerable Bede, baptized in it several 
 thousands of poor Britons. "Paulinus coming," he 
 says, "to a place called Ad Gebrin, now Yeavring, 
 abode there thirty-six days, during which time he did 
 nothing from morning till night but instruct the mul- 
 titudes who came to him in the saving word of Christ, 
 and being instructed, he baptized them to the for- 
 giveness of their sins in the river Glen, which is hard 
 by." It is a very beautiful range of hills which skirts 
 Glendale to the west; their very names, Yeavring 
 Bell, Heathpool Bell, Newton Torr, Hetlia, Hedge- 
 hope, and Cheviot, were delightful to my fatlier's ear. 
 Directly in front of our old home, Milfield Hill, lies 
 the scene of innumerable fights between Scotch and 
 English, Milfield Plain, and from its windows might 
 have been seen the famous battle of Humbledon Hill. 
 In 1402, Earl Douglas entered Northumberland with 
 10,000 warriors, the flower of Scotland. "The banner 
 of the Douglas," we read, " flew like a meteor from the 
 Lothians to the Tweed, from the Tweed to the Tyne." 
 He carried a successful raid as far as Newcastle, finding 
 no one to oppose him ; he then retraced his steps, and, 
 loaded with plunder and drunk with pride, marched in 
 a careless, loitering manner back to the Tweed. Mean- 
 while the Earl of Northumberland, with his son Hot- 
 spur Percy, and the disaffected Scotch Earl of March, 
 the deadly enemy of the Douglas, gathered a large 
 army in his rear. Douglas, hampered with spoil, came 
 suddenly upon this army in Milfield Plain. He per-
 
 GLENDALE. 3 
 
 ceived a strong position on Ilumbledon Hill, and seized 
 it The English, with the Eaii of ^March's men, occu- 
 pied the opposite hill. The English archers advanced, 
 and shot upwards from the plain with wonderful force 
 and a sure aim. Douglas, as if infatuated, stood still, 
 leaving his people drawn up on the face of the lull, a 
 mark to the enemy. Scarcely an English arrow flew in 
 vain ; the Scots fell in heaps without hghting, until a 
 knight called Swinton cried out, " my brave fellow- 
 soldiers, what fascinates you to-day, tliat you stand like 
 deer and fawns in a park to be shot, instead of show- 
 ing yom- ancient valour, and meeting your foes hand to 
 hand ? Let those who will descend with me, and in 
 the name of the Lord we will break that host and 
 conquer, or if not, we will at least die with honour, 
 like soldiers !" Douglas's army descended, and the 
 English bowmen retired a little, but they pulled their 
 bows as they went backward, and, halting again, sent 
 a cloud of arrows so sharp and strong that no armour 
 could withstand it. The Douglas was wounded in the 
 eye, fell, and was made prisoner ; 800 of the Scots were 
 left dead on the field; 500 were drowned in the Till 
 and the Tweed, whose waters have so oftentimes been 
 reddened by the blood of contending warriors. Among 
 the illustrious slain were names familiar at this day : 
 Swinton, Gordon, Livingstone of Callendar, liamsay of 
 Dalhousie, John Sinclair, and Walter Scott. Such was 
 the battle of Ilumbledon Hill. In that century, North- 
 umberland suffered so much by the incursions of the 
 Scots, that at the request of Parliament the King re- 
 mitted to them all taxes due to the Crown. The famous 
 James Graham, ^lan^uis of Montrose, stationed his 
 forces for rest on the banks of the river Glen, when
 
 4 MEMOIll OF JOHN GIIEY. 
 
 lie entered England in 1640. Before the battle of 
 Flodden, a fierce contest took place on Milfield Plain, 
 in which Sir William Bulmer defeated the Scots, who, 
 to the number of 1000, had hidden themselves among 
 the tall broom with which the plain was covered. 
 From that time the Scots called the road through 
 Milfield Plain "the ill road." 
 
 Flodden Hill, about a mile to the north of Milfield 
 Hill, hides beneath its soil traces of the great battle of 
 1513: broken pieces of armour of men and horses were 
 sometimes dug or ploughed up, and brought to the 
 house, to be treasured up as relics. Many a time did 
 my father recite to his children every incident of that 
 battle, as he rode or walked with them over Flodden, 
 sometimes resting at the " King's Chair " or by Sybil's 
 Well. His memory was so good that he could go through 
 almost the whole of " Marmion," and other poems relat- 
 ing to that woful day, 
 
 " Wlien shivered was fair Scotland's spear, 
 And broken was her shield." 
 
 His dislike of the Stuarts was great, but he would tell, 
 with a sorrowful sympathy, how the "flowers of the 
 forest," the noble youth of Scotland, "were a' w^ede 
 away." Looking on the waters of the fair Tweed, he 
 often recalled the words — 
 
 " I've seen the morning with gold the hills adorning, 
 And the dread temjiest roaring before parting day ; 
 
 T 've seen Tweed's silver streams 
 
 Glitt'ring in the sunny beams, 
 Grow drumlie and dark as they rolled on their way." 
 
 This feeling was kept alive by the deep pathos of the 
 Scotch songs which he so dearly loved. Not far, again, 
 from Flodden stand the ancient castles of Ford, Etal,
 
 STATE OF THE BORDER COUNTRY. f) 
 
 Wark, Twizel, Berwick, and Norliam, whose very names 
 call up memories of innumerable IJorcler tales of tragedy 
 and romance. A little further, and by the sea is 
 Bamborough Castle, the old stronghold of Ida, King 
 of Xorthumbria, and near the coast lie the Fames, 
 with Holy Island (Lindisfarn), full of traditions of 
 St. Cuthbcrt, and of later associations with our brave 
 Xorthumbrian girl, Grace Darling, who could never 
 understand the sensation caused by her heroic deed, 
 saying (and truly) that there were girls all along the 
 coast who would and did accompany their fathers and 
 brothers to sea in great storms, when there was a 
 chance of savins: life. Tlie scene of the battle of 
 Chevy Chase, for which there is none but ballad 
 authority, is laid among the Cheviots. " The poet has 
 used a license in his description of it," says an old 
 hLstorian, " and mixed in it some events of the battle 
 of Otterburn farther south, for neither a Percy nor a 
 Douglas fell in this woful hunting." 
 
 After the battle of Flodden the Border warfare de- 
 generated into a system of recriminative plunder, which 
 continued till comparatively recent times. It is only a 
 few generations back that our Northumbrians used to 
 watch the fords all night long, with their trained mas- 
 tiffs, to prevent the Scotch from carrying away their 
 cattle. At one of the early meetings of tlie Highland 
 Society at Kelso, my father said — " There was a time, 
 and that at no distant period, when, had it been pos- 
 sible for such animals as we have seen to-day to exist, 
 it would have required the escort of our honourable 
 vice-president. Sir John lIoj)e, and his cavalry, in 
 bringing each lot to tiie show ground, to secure it 
 against the chance of being roasted among the heather
 
 6 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 of the Highlands, or boiled in the pots of Cumberland." 
 It is no marvel that a district which was the scene of 
 so many vicissitudes, during centuries of predatory war- 
 fare, should have presented the aspect of a land wasted 
 and blighted, which this part of the country did in the 
 last century. Hutchinson, the historian of Northum- 
 berland, describes the desolateness of all this Border 
 country in 1776. "From the openness of the country, 
 where not a guide-post has been known since tlie crea- 
 tion, the traveller is compelled," he says, " to ask his 
 way from some of the herdsmen of the Cheviots ; and 
 such is the ferocity and suUenness of these men, that 
 when they give you instruction, it is as if they would 
 chase a beast from trespass !" But Mackenzie, another 
 local historian, says, in 1825, " Mr. Hutchinson describes 
 the inhabitants of these hills as a most ferocious race of 
 beings ; but the Cheviot men are now neither so brutish 
 nor so miserable as he represents them." He declares he 
 found them " sober, shrewd, hospitable, and with a strong- 
 taste for religious disputations." 
 
 It was however scarcely possible to exaggerate the 
 bleak and almost savage character of the country. My 
 fiither speaks of it in a paper, written by him at the 
 request of Lord Spencer for the Eoyal Agricultural 
 Society's Journal : — 
 
 " Such was the state of society in that part of the county 
 traversed by the Koman Wall, that those great antiquaries, 
 Sir Robert Cotton and Mr. Camden, were deterred from 
 following its course in 1600, as stated in Camden's own 
 words : ' From hence the wall bends about by Iveston ; 
 Forster and Chester on the wall near Busy-gaj), noted for 
 robberies, where we heard there were forts, but we durst 
 not go and view them for fear of the moss-troopers.' And 
 Warburton, who was Somerset Herald to George ii., and
 
 STATE OF THE BOPxDEK COUNTRY. 7 
 
 publislied bis J'aUum Iiomanum in 1753, says, in reference 
 to the same subject, ' Such was the wild and barren state 
 of this country, even at the time I made my survey, that 
 in those ])aits now called the wastes, and heretofore the 
 debatealtle grounds, I have frequently discoveied the ves- 
 tiges of towns and camps that seemed never to have been 
 trod upon by any human creature than myself since the 
 Komans abandoned them; the traces of streets and the 
 foundations of the buildings being still visible, only grown 
 over with grass;' and it is certain that it was not till after 
 the accession of George iii. in 17 GO that the King's Avrit 
 might be said to run througliout the countiy. The now 
 liighly cultivated vale of the Till was in former days nuich 
 covered by broom, the classic I'lanta Gtitif<ta, which gave 
 the name to the powerful dynasty of the Plantagenets. A 
 storj' is told of a fanner in Milfield eighty years ago, who 
 lost a mare for some weeks, which at length emerged from 
 the forest of broom, followed by a foal." ^ 
 
 At the accession of George iii. Xorthumbcrland was 
 still almost entirely unenclosed. Lord INlalion in his 
 History of Engl mid (vol. vii.) cites my father's account of 
 the Borders in illustration of the rapid development whicli 
 succeeded barbarism in some parts of the kingdom. 
 
 As for the inhabitants of the country, they were in 
 keeping with its soil. The country poor were ignorant, 
 uneducated, sometimes almost unclothed. Tlie clergy, 
 such as there were — scattered and few — were supine. 
 ^Vhe^e the Scotch and English Churches met, on the 
 Borders, there seemed to be the same reducing of the 
 once debateable grounds into ^vilderness which was 
 manifest in tlie soil itself. Until a few rays shot 
 northwards from the light which the religious inii)ulse 
 of the early part of the century brought to the poor of 
 I"'iigland, there were whole districts iu Northumberland, 
 
 ' Jouriml of the lloyal Agricultural Sociefy, 1S41.
 
 8 MEMOIK OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 including villages, where not a single Bible was to be 
 found. Grim notions on religious matters held the 
 people of the Cheviots in bondage, which might rather 
 have seemed to be set afloat by the ghosts of the 
 Druids, whose circles still stand on some of tlie 
 hill-tops, than by the few gloomy apostles of a life- 
 less Calvinism coming now and then from over the 
 Border. To some, as to "William Huntington of Kent, 
 the periodical visits of the exciseman had a super- 
 natural look about them. 
 
 " He was a man," he says, " of a stern and hard-favoured 
 countenance, whom I took notice of for having a stick 
 covered with figures, and an ink-bottle hanging at his 
 button-hole. This man I imagined to be employed by God 
 Almighty to take an account of children's sins. I eyed 
 him as a formidable being, and the greatest enemy I ever 
 had in all the world." 
 
 Dark crimes were often perpetrated in solitudes of 
 moor and hill, which gave their name to the spot, but 
 which were never cleared up, nor reached by the law. 
 
 But the time came for this fair Border country to 
 wake up to a new life. Probably no part of England 
 has undergone so rapid a change as Northumberland has 
 done in the last eighty or ninety years. The half- 
 barbarous character which I have been describing 
 clung to the people long after it had given place to 
 civilisation elsewhere. The soil and climate were 
 rugged, and resisted for a long time the first efforts at 
 cultivation ; but its inhabitants, rugged too, were 
 energetic, and the impulse once given, it required not 
 many years to place Northumberland at the head of 
 agricultural progress. 
 
 The part which my father had in bringing about
 
 B115TII AND GENEALOGY. 
 
 this great change in Northumberland, and in the pro- 
 gress of agriculture generally, was not inconsiderable. 
 How great the change must have been, in a short time, 
 those of us can imagine who have witnessed the rich 
 harvests of the last twenty years, and the merry 
 harshest-homes on Tweedside and Tillside. Not less 
 striking, perhaps, was the change brought about later on 
 the banks of the Tyne. "When he migrated thither in 
 1833, Tyneside, which is now so richly cultivated, pre- 
 sented, in many parts, miles of fox- cover, and self- 
 sown plantations of fir and birch-wood. 
 
 John Grey was born in August 1785. He was the 
 son of George Grey of West Ord, on the banks of the 
 Tweed, and of his wife Mary Burn. He himself thus 
 writes of his ancestiy, in answer to a question addressed 
 to him by a friend : — 
 
 " He " (an antiquarian) " imagines that he brings the 
 Greys down from Rollo, whose daughter Arietta was 
 mother of William the Conqueror; l)ut I think their 
 Nonnan origin is doubtful. Undoubtedly, however, tliey 
 were derived from a long line of warriors, who were 
 Wardens of the East Marches, Governors of Norham, Mor- 
 peth, Wark, and Berwick Castles, in the old Border days, 
 and were also dignified by great achievements in foreign 
 wars. Sir John Grey of Heaton, 13.5G, was valorous in 
 the army of Henry v., and gained or liad conferred on him 
 castles in Normandy, and the title of Tankerville, which is 
 now an offshoot of the old stock. His figure is given 
 as a kiii;.dit of great .stren_L(tli and renown, and lie was 
 distinguished Ijy the capacious forehead which is said to 
 have marked the race through all ages ; see the late Cliarles 
 Earl (Jrey for its full development" (the writer w;vs not less 
 remarkaltlf for tliis feature than any who bon^ the name). 
 "A. son of Sir .John Cicy, (l(»venior of Morpeth ("asth-, Kiaii, 
 gave offence by a marriage witlj a buxom daughter of a
 
 1 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 farmer at Angerton. In the records it is shown that he had 
 an annuity from the family estate at Learmonth. From 
 this offshoot comes our degenerate tribe ! " 
 
 George Grey died in 1793, leaving liis widow with 
 two sons and two daughters, the eldest being my father, 
 who was then about eight years old. When my grand- 
 father first came to Milfield the plain was still a 
 forest of wild broom. He took his axe, and like a 
 backwood settler cut away the broom, and cleared 
 for himself a space on which to begin his farming 
 operations. His surviving daughter recollects that 
 when she was a very little girl the cows strayed away 
 among the broom, and that when she and others went 
 in search of them, they were often quite near without 
 being able to see them, the broom, which had afforded 
 ambush to the Scots, being still so tall and thick. 
 Few records of our grandfather remain to us. He died 
 young. His daughter remembers to have seen him 
 lifted into a carriage, wherein he reclined among 
 pillows, looking very ill ; and I have been told that 
 grandmamma's sorrow for his death was such that she 
 never suffered his name to be mentioned in her presence. 
 She was a woman worthy to be remembered. She was 
 very thoughtful and studious. She read a great deal 
 with her children, and also alone. Her practical 
 energy, which was great, was called out in the care, 
 now devolving entirely on her, of her farm, work- 
 people, and stock. She attended to everytliing herself, 
 and while engaged in active household work, she would 
 challenge her children to trials of memory by recita- 
 tions from Pope's Homer. Her acquaintance with 
 literature made her an authority with the promoters of 
 the Wooler library, to whom she supplied lists of books.
 
 EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 1 1 
 
 Slie was slender and graceful in figure, quick and 
 active in all her movements, an excellent rider, and 
 much admired on liorseback. She had rich chestnut 
 hair, and a kind face, full of bright intelligence. 
 
 In a recent letter, in which he alludes to the earlv 
 death of one of his grandchildren, my father speaks of 
 his own childhood : — 
 
 " 1865. — . . . Little Bee was an engaging child, and 
 had a happy life ; but she is happier and holit-r now. The 
 vi.sion of that little sister •will never entirely fade away 
 from the memory of her brothers, thougli it will become 
 less distinct. I had a sister called Hannah, who died 
 yt)ung. She was older than myself. One of my earliest 
 recollections is of her leading me by the hand on a windy 
 day from the old house at JMilfield to a cottage in the 
 \ilhige, to see old Xanny Curry, mIio was a kind of de})en- 
 dant and helper, employed to knit our little stockings, etc. 
 She kept house for her brother, who was a tailor, and 
 i^ot drunk when lie had an o]iportunity. I rememliei' 
 Ijeing shocked at the first exhibition of the kind I had 
 seen, and being salutarily disgusted with the sight. Poor 
 Nanny cried on seeing me atlected, and called it a shdesd 
 Injinniii/." 
 
 A few recollections of my father's early life will be 
 best given in the words of hi.s only surviving sister, 
 Mrs. Lundie Duncan : — 
 
 " When I was old enough to understand, my mother 
 told me that when she was ill, in the early days of her 
 widcjwhood, and had the doctor from AVoolei-, John stood 
 )iy her bed, and listened to the doctor's directions carefully, 
 like a mau. When she said, ' John, show the doctor 
 down-stairs,' he kept his post by her l»ed, and .said t(» his 
 little sister, ' Margaretta, .sliow the doctor down-stairs.' My 
 mother remembered the dignified gravity of the boy, as if 
 he Were head-nurse, and could not leave his post. Wo 
 were all undir a tutor for some years, and then he went
 
 12 MEMOIK OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 to Richmond in Yorkshire. A friendship grew up between 
 him and his master, Dr. Tate, which lasted through life. 
 He spoke of the shame which he felt when Mrs. Tate 
 asked him which towns in his county sent members to 
 Parliament, and he did not know. He set to work at once 
 to enlighten himself. 
 
 " Milfield Plain, now covered with fences and rich in corn 
 fields, was then a barren race-course, with the rubbing- 
 house in the centre. Many a time we scampered round 
 the race-course together ; John mounted on Oscar — he had 
 been reading Ossian ; Margaretta on Cato, which my 
 mother at other times rode so deftly ; Georgie on Davie ; 
 and I on Mrs. M'Clarty, a conceited monkey, who pretended 
 to shy at every puddle, and then dashed into it to spatter 
 me with mud. This little band my mother used to trust 
 to ' her man John,' as she called him. John had a quiet 
 grave satire, that sometimes teased. I remember Avhen we 
 were all riding, he took it into his head to say that Georgie 
 and his shelty were all one being, because the brown great- 
 coat was the colour of Davie's skin. I was always George's 
 ally, and set about proving the impossibility of it, when 
 George took proof into his own hand, by jumping off and 
 showing that he and his coat were no part of Davy. This 
 was on Milfield Plain, where we sometimes watched the 
 Cheviot shepherds crochet mittens of wool with a horn 
 needle. 
 
 " After his return from Richmond, John was sent to 
 Lorton, in Cumberland, and lived two years in the house 
 of a Mr. Sewell, a good, but not active nor enlightened 
 clergyman. The letters which he Avrote to his mother 
 from there became very interesting ; there were descrip- 
 tions of mountains, lakes, clouds, foot-chases on steep hill- 
 sides after the Lorton hounds, homely feasts and country 
 .gatherings, with occasional reflections, and many quota- 
 tions from English and Latin poems. After two years he 
 returned home ; and at the age of eighteen took the 
 responsibility of managing a wide concern. It is not very 
 long since my brother told me that he was grateful to
 
 EATJLY RECOLLECTIONS. 13 
 
 George Cullev, who was the leading agriculturist of the 
 day, for taking a kind of charge of him. It was the 
 custom in those days for all the gentlemen to go to "Wooler 
 market on horseback, and dine together after business was 
 done. Mr. Culley always ordered his own horse and John 
 Grey's to be brought out together as soon as they had 
 dined, and they rode home together only to part at our 
 gate, the youth deriving many useful advices from the 
 experienced man. I remember how pleased mamma was 
 when she saw him return so early with so wise a man. 
 He thus began his farming studies. The house at Millield, 
 where we were all born, may be now a ruin. It stood at 
 the open end of the village, and had large stone pillars 
 at the corners of the garden fence. The coach passed 
 daily from London to Edinburgh, and vice versa. On a 
 stormy day, the ' Cliarlotte' coach (called so in honour of 
 George in.'s Queen) was upset against one of the pillars, 
 and the bruised people were all brought into our house, 
 and some of them took shelter with us for some days. 
 Tht'y turned out to be Engli.sh, who had taken advantage 
 of the dull Presbyterian fast-days to make an excursion. 
 A talkative lady who seemed to think that there was no 
 way to heaven but by the English Church, spoke scornfully 
 of Presbyterians. In our ignorance Ave adopted her views, 
 and spoke likewise with scorn of Presbyterians. I re- 
 member mamma's displeasure ; it Avas then we received 
 our first lesson in toleration, and John his first clear con- 
 ception of the liberalism Avliich grew up with him. I do 
 not remember when we learned Avhat slavery meant ; but 
 well do I remember our dear mother's teaching us all to 
 ablior it, and reading to us, some years later, Clarkson's 
 Uidnnj of the Slave Trade, to our utter indignation. This 
 horror of slavery grew witli John, and never lessened to 
 the end of his fourscore years. 
 
 " My first impression of graceful and gentlemaidy de- 
 meanour was derived from a visit from Charles (Jrey, 
 afterwards Vaiy\ Gre), and my first of personal bcvuity from 
 our cousin Ilemy Grey, wlio as he went to and from
 
 14 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 Edinburgh College often paid us a visit ; we children sat 
 round and admired, while he and mamma talked of books 
 which they enjoyed. She inspired us early with the desire 
 of knowledge, and to her we owed our winter-evening 
 gatherings, Avhen we worked, little George played about 
 the room, and John or the tutor read aloud — Tales of the 
 Borders, Madame de Genlis, Day, Defoe, Avhen we were 
 little; by and by Pope's translation of Homer, St, 
 Pierre's Studies of Nature, Goldsmith, Shakespeare, Crabbe, 
 Burns. Do I not remember John catching up and recit- 
 ing, ' A man 's a man for a' that ' ] a poem which he many 
 a time quoted in after life : — 
 
 ' The king can make a belted knight, 
 
 His ribbon, star, and a' that ; 
 But an honest man 's aboon his might ; 
 
 The man 's the man for a' that, 
 The rank is but the guinea stamp. 
 
 The man 's the gowd for a' that ; ' 
 
 ' Man was made to Mourn,' and 
 
 ' I'll remember thee, Glencaim, 
 And all that thou hast done for me.' 
 
 Such things touched his heart, and rested ever after in his 
 retentive memory." 
 
 Wlien he returned from Cumberland his sisters wen 
 for a time to a school near London, whence they fre- 
 quently wrote to him out of the depths of their sisterly 
 experience. Margaretta Grey showed from her earliest 
 childhood signs of a powerful and original mind. I 
 cannot look through the relics of her which have fallen 
 into my hands without feelings of sadness. She became 
 early conscious of mental power, and, even when a 
 child, complained of the imperfect means of education 
 open to her sex. Independent and courageous in 
 thought, generous, affectionate, ambitious, and inquisi- 
 tive, it was impossible that life could be serene for her;
 
 ins SISTEKS. 1 j 
 
 her natural sense of injustice was very strong, and her 
 speculations on the evils of society and the wrongs in- 
 flicted by bad governments were bold and clear, even 
 in her girlhood. She possessed great natural eloquence, 
 and wished to use it. There is evidence in her writings 
 of some sore and secret rebellion at times against the 
 limitations of her woman's estate, and the hindrances 
 to the use of powers which she felt within her. In old 
 age she wrote : — " I trusted much in my youth to what 
 might be done by argument, demonstration, and elo- 
 quent persuasion, and knew not that truth needs none 
 of these things." 
 
 I have heard my father say he recollected that when 
 playing at marbles with her, when she was a very little 
 girl, she would sometimes stop her game, and, standing 
 erect, pour forth a stream of passionate denunciation of 
 something which she deemed bad among mankind, lie, 
 her elder brother listening, astonished. Her sentiments 
 at that time were revolutionary ! Her desire to hear 
 debates in Parliament was so unbounded, that, there 
 being at that time no ladies' gallery, she had the hardi- 
 hood to make her way into the House dressed as a 
 boy. Tliis girl of sixteen writes to her brother from 
 school : — 
 
 " Flint House, 1803. 
 
 " My nicmtjry, wlienever she is at leisure, w iuiders by 
 an invohmtary attraction to the scenes of her earhcst 
 ftporations. My tlioughts, in all their aberrations, tniii In 
 the pliioe from whence at first they i,'i<\\'. I often iumise 
 myself, wht-n examining anything, in thinking what would 
 l>e my mother's opinion on it, and what remark would my 
 brother make. I read, and, to my own reflections, add 
 what I think would be made at home. I join you in all 
 your occupations, set; your niaidy form and sunburnt face,
 
 1 6 MEMOIR OF JOHN GllEY. 
 
 while busied in the simple, primitive employment of all 
 men : Heureux, mon fils, de ne connattre que les devoirs 
 champetres ! I figure you with our sagacious uncles met 
 in council, drawing down the lines of your faces, as if the 
 address were to begin, ' Conscript Fathers ! ' or as if the 
 speech would decide whether Bonaparte shall be Emperor 
 of all the Gauls, whereas it is only, ' Shall not the wide- 
 horned ox be felled?' or 'What's a wether but a sheep?' 
 I daresay you go to see what they are doing with the sheep 
 on the hill, or whether they are getting the stack in, as if 
 you had done it all twenty years before, and look as auld- 
 farrant as if you was not born yesterday. I intend you, 
 nevertheless, my brother, to be a man of taste and a man 
 of honour as well as a man of business, and will have you 
 to be a favourite with a great many people besides my uncles. 
 You should not talk of stoicism and gloominess ; these may 
 be terms convenient for the aged, the misanthrope, and 
 Jean Jacques Rousseau, but a young man entering the world 
 under favourable auspices may as well give way to the 
 sensibilities of youth and hope. What a number of 
 comfortable married people we shall have in our neigh- 
 bourhood ! I think the state of society must be much 
 improved by it. The social, domestic ties, well formed, 
 are the best framers of the heart for all the more extensive 
 communications of mankind in the collective body. We 
 went yesterday a country walk to Hornseywood. The 
 green fields, with a few frolicsome lambs, and the primroses 
 among the underwood, brought to my mind the burn-side 
 way to Cross Burn, one of my favourite Avalks at this 
 season, which I remember to have taken this time last 
 year, wondering, when I saw the moon rise, where I should 
 be at the same time next year. (How do the plantations 
 thrive 1) Joseph Turnbull desires to be introduced to you 
 with compliments ; he is between eighteen and nineteen, of 
 a serious temper, and complains (like some other young 
 people whom you know) of a confined education, and the 
 obscurity of unguided researches. . . . We have been at 
 Covent Garden, seeing 'The Man of the World.' Cook
 
 HIS SISTERS. 1 7 
 
 lias perfectly satisfied me in Sir Pertinax ; he tells us he 
 rose in the world by ' parsevering industry, regid economy, 
 and a plialnlity of body that wad ne'er let him stand 
 streight in a rech man's presence a* his life.' He gives 
 instructions to his son in the conduct of his life which a 
 genercius-hearted young man could not enter into nor 
 understand. There are some very good sentiments in the 
 piece, and I was pleased to observe that, whatever tlic 
 practice of the world may be, they know what is good, and 
 always bestow their plaudits on noble sentiments. Harry 
 Siddons performed Egerton, Sir P.'s son. ... In London 
 you choose your society because you like the people, not 
 because they are your neighbours. Of course the com]>any 
 we see most of are generally agreeable people, who attend 
 Tabernacle, and converse on last Sunday's discourse. I am 
 often instructed and amused by our conversation. Mr. 
 T. holds plays very Avicked amusements ; the devil is 
 fond of them. He once knew no better than to go to such 
 places ; he has seen the players thump on their breasts, 
 and call on the heathen gods in such a manner as quite 
 shocked him. I suppose if he knew that we had been 
 there, he would think us all on the wrong road. I would 
 be very grateful for a line from my dear brother to let me 
 know that I am not forgotten. I regret the Plain, where I 
 have spent the happiest hours of my life ; but I can still 
 climb dikes, and rin ower the plowed land. AVhat stupid 
 people you are not to dance ! Next winter the ^liss Greys 
 will have come out, and will take you all off. Give my 
 love and duty to our dear mother. God bless you, my 
 brother, is the fervent prayer of your 
 
 " Margauetta." 
 
 The Miss Greys did come out, bnt sunshine and 
 dancing did not monopolize the picture which they may 
 have drawn to themselves of the future. Sorrows came, 
 and a deeper life. Weightier questions presented them- 
 selves to the strong mind of Margaretta than she had 
 yet grappled witli, and deeper interests were suggested
 
 1 8 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 to her than those which had satisfied her so far. Hers 
 was not a mind to shimber again when once awakened. 
 She might be carried away by mistaken enthusiasms, 
 and she was not over- mindful of the conventions of 
 society, or disposed to think anything was right because 
 other people did it. She thought and acted indepen- 
 dently, and sometimes erred, but frivolity was never 
 her snare, nor did the world attract her ; it rather re- 
 pelled. Soon after she returned to Northumberland, 
 she married her cousin Henry Grey, and they went to 
 live at Stanton. 
 
 To continue Mrs. Duncan's narrative : — 
 
 " We had removed to the house on the hill, and John 
 had become master. Mamma was seized with fever, and 
 John took it from her ; it turned to typhus. I was but 
 an ignorant nurse, and a more ignorant Christian. Mamma 
 longed to ask help from our vicar, who was really an en- 
 lightened man, but without faith enough to follow duty in 
 the face of infection. Mamma said, ' will he not come 
 up"?' and groaned, ' Will no one tell me what I must do to 
 be saved 1' I, poor, stupid, and ignorant, offered to read 
 and pray with her, and the dear one was glad and com- 
 forted. This continued long after she was restored to us. 
 My brother, alarmed for his mother, got up from his bed 
 and came to see her. The moment he entered her room, he 
 fainted, and the tall man fell prostrate on the floor. It was 
 a trying scene ; we got him back to his bed. Next morn- 
 ing he whispered to me, 'A word troubles me, . . . whom 
 the Lord loveth He chasteneth ; but there is more of it.' 
 Ignorant as I was I found the passage, and read it to him, 
 and left him my Bible, which book I did not see again for 
 many days ; we had so little talked of Divine things that 
 that book was a secret, or something to be ashamed of. 
 Before he was ill I was one day singing quietly, — 
 " Sweet is the work, my God and King, 
 To praise Thy name, give thanks, and sing,"
 
 SERIOUS ILLNESS. 19 
 
 when he said angrilj-, ' What is that you are crooning atl' 
 though when I opened the piano he was the first to join 
 me in a merry song. However, one day after many days, 
 tlie Bihle fell from under his pillow, and then he conf(\ssed 
 he had been reading it nmch, and was reading it when I 
 came into the room. This broke through the reserve there 
 had been. Manmia was able to come to John's room, and 
 then cousin Margaret Vardy came, and Avith her help we 
 conversed and read, and my mother's heart was filled with 
 peace, and I think I never was happier in my life." 
 
 The attendant sister wrote tlie following letter to the 
 absent one : — 
 
 " MiLFiF.LD Hill, December 3L 
 " We had fainted, unless we had believed to see the good- 
 ness of the Lord in the land of the living, for indeed he was 
 sick nigh unto death, but the Lord had mercy on him, and 
 not on him only, V»ut on us also, lest we should have sorrow 
 upon sorrow. Ah ! my dear sister, you have little dreamed 
 of the fevered nights, the watching days, the bursting 
 hearts which the Father of mercies has sent us. It was no 
 cold my mother had, though I thought so when I wrote to 
 you. She is now improving, but we feared a relapse, her 
 anxiety about our precious John has been so unbounded. 
 I always fancied John would get easily through. Ah me ! 
 I looked at his well-built frame, and presumptuously thought 
 that it would nf)t be quickly pulled down, and indeed it 
 lias taken a great deal to do it. I had not thought of 
 danger till Friday, when a sad conviction came on me, seeing 
 the doctor arrive unlooked for. Christmas-day was a day, 
 not of joy, })ut of dust and ashes. It was sad never to sec 
 him open his eyes till Sunday evening, never to hear him 
 speak, Init to ask me to wet his lips with cold water. I 
 have had little time, and less room for weeping, for I dared 
 not let my iiif)ther see. I have forebodeil tht; worst, but 
 still trusted tliat that worst would l)e averted. I asked 
 him one day if he was uiili:ip].y. ' No,' he said, ' he prayed, 
 an<l waa comforted in the midst of sorrow;' and oJi, I
 
 20 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 thought when he said so, if the Lord take him, let him go ! 
 But alas ! I cannot say that for a moment together. He 
 was better yesterday, and smiled once or twice at night. 
 He is as meek as a lamb. Oh, how calm and affectionate 
 and dear to me he is in his sufferings ! . . . In the midst 
 of fears I have visions of a sublimed spirit coming out of 
 the furnace, ready to wield the armour of the Lord. George 
 has been much affected, and as tender a nurse as could be, 
 but, poor fellow, he has double work, and stands it ill. 
 We have never sat up all night, John will not suffer it. 
 And you, my sister, is the cruel kindness hard for you to 
 bear which has kept this heavy secret 1 Be comforted, I 
 beseech you ; do not think of coming near us ; it is with 
 everybody's consent that I write at last. John has often 
 mentioned you, and the tears came into his eyes Avhen he 
 spoke of your little Tolly. In his delirium he was leading 
 Tolly, and singing ' London Bridge is broken down.' His 
 visions were pleasant ones compared with the hideous child 
 who used to perch on my mother's breast and grin in her 
 
 face. is well, and consoling herself with — what think 
 
 you 1 Why, forsooth, if my mother caught the fever, it 
 was never she who asked her to go to any house. Charity 
 begins at home. So I saw yesterday, when Mr. B. was so 
 charitable, as from his desire both to know how we were 
 and to escape infection, to bring me out of the sickroom to 
 stand on the lee-side of him in the snow, to tell him of the 
 state of mind of the dear ones, and in love to bear them 
 his blessing. I forgive him for the sake of the babes ; but 
 oh, it is ugly to see the friendship of the world outstrip 
 Christian love. Not so the kind Henry Morton. That 
 man has a heart. I will not easily forget his tears and 
 pale anxious face as he asked about John yesterday, and 
 the earnestness with which he pleaded to be allowed to 
 stuff his nose with tobacco, and go but to look at him, but 
 John would not allow him." 
 
 Ten days later the young brother writes — 
 
 " Our dear mother is a great deal better. Poor John is 
 
 '
 
 RECOVERY. 21 
 
 most reduced, but has taken a turn. . . . "We liad our good 
 cousin Margaret here : she ■was a great acquisition to our 
 nui-seships. I say cnir, for I assure yon, madam, I am be- 
 come a very tolerable assistant, except when Johnny Avants 
 anything in the middle of the night, and has to tlirow his 
 piUows at me to awake me, not being able to raise his voice 
 loud enough for that purpose. I sleep upon a shake-down 
 in the far corner of the west room. — Your affectionate 
 brother, George Grey." 
 
 ^Mrs. Duncan continues : — 
 
 " John's fever faded away, and he got down-stairs. He 
 told his mother that he had read how Samuel set up a 
 * stone of remembrance,' and that he wished to set up a 
 stone of remem}>rance in family worship, till then unknown 
 among us. She was too glad to answer except by tears. 
 The first evening there were nine assembled in the dining- 
 room ; he in his dressing-gown, Avith his pale thin face and 
 trembling \\])s, the servants all very solemn, and poor 
 foolish I with a heart bursting with joy. He told me after- 
 wards, ' I intended to have said so-and-so in my prayer, but 
 had not courage ;' -what he did say I do not know." 
 
 " A\'hat a joyful meeting was that," continues Mrs. Dim- 
 can, " when little Mary was weaned and brought to ISIilHcld 
 Hill ; first grandchild and niece. How my dear brother 
 rejoiced over Tolly ,^ as he called lier, as he hoisted her on 
 his slu)ulder, and taught her the names of his greyhounds. 
 What cheerful gatherings we liad in the scliool-house at 
 ^lilfield I It seemed that all our objects and motives were 
 changed ; we felt it, and the people around us felt it 
 too. My brother got up a Sunday-school in tlu^ village, 
 and I one in our own hou.se. Cousin Margaret .said, as she 
 ro<le horn«! fn^m AVocder through the sweet vale, and saw 
 the smoke of our fires ascend where the children were 
 gathered, she felt as if it were an evening sacrifice. 
 
 " James Cranston, my brotlier's steward, fell ill, and liad 
 
 * "Tolly," Mm y Clny, artcrwanN iiiarrii-.l tlif Htv. .J. llaMiiKlcn 
 Gumey, of St. Mary's, Marylelione, Ixjiuioii.
 
 22 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 a prolonged time of suffering. John, hearing that his ser- 
 vant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and knowing his 
 state of mind to be ignorant and unenlightened, went to 
 him and daily read by his bedside. It appeared by degrees 
 that my brother's conversations had helped to enlighten his 
 mind, and then it was a pleasure to talk to old James, and 
 to see him fede away in that covenant of peace into which 
 he and his kind young master seemed to have entered to- 
 gether. This was the first death that we had to do with 
 after becoming acquainted with the solemn issues from 
 death." 
 
 My father had a yearning towards literary pursuits 
 all his life, which his active duties forbade him to in- 
 dulge. When a boy at school he amused himself in 
 spare hours by translating into English verse several 
 books of Virgil's ^neid,not incorrectly nor yet ungrace- 
 fully. Some years later his love for poetry led him 
 into a correspondence with Sir Walter Scott, and with 
 the venerable Scotch poetess Joanna Baillie, of which 
 but few relics remain. He sometimes wrote in manu- 
 script books his thoughts on subjects which interested 
 him, public or private. I will only give the following 
 extract, which, written in youth, indicates the character 
 of his convictions throughout life : — 
 
 " In recommending a due subjection of the intellectual 
 to the moral part of our nature, it must not be forgotten 
 that there is a sense in which they are one and the same, 
 and that the inspired writers, in extolling wisdom, may in 
 part be conceived to allude to that j^lain sense, that natural 
 sagacity, which is common to the learned and the unlearned. 
 A good man is a wise man in this accei:)tation of the phrase. 
 Let us beware, however, how we speak of wisdom as an 
 attribute of man. Even in spiritual wisdom there may be 
 a spiritual pride, against which men need ever to stand vigi- 
 lantly on their guard. Nothing is so easy as to talk well
 
 PRIVATE THOUGHTS. 23 
 
 of religion, nothing so difficult as the practice. ' Know- 
 ledge putieth up ; charity buildeth up.' To correct a habit, 
 to control an inclination, to calm the temper, to guard the 
 secret thoughts, to take up a cross of self-denial, to make 
 sacrifices of our will to duty; these, Christ, are the 
 trophies of Thy renown, these the lal)ours Thou delightest 
 to reward ! . . . Far be from us the notion that the 
 religious principles instilled by a mother's care are preju- 
 dices that must be got rid of before we can assert the 
 character of independent-minded and liberal men I Let us 
 remember that these principles have been held by men of 
 the most gigantic intellects and of the most jirofound re- 
 search, that Newton, Bacon, Milton, Locke, Pascal, Bent- 
 ley, Bossuet, Grotius, and many others, have all shown, as 
 well by their writings as by their lives, that there is no 
 disagreement between a sound pliilosophy and a humble 
 Christianity ; for truly it seems that that intellectual wis- 
 dom which is joined with the folly of the heart never 
 ascends higher than an impo.sing mediocrity, while the 
 nobler knowledge which is derived from God himself is, 
 for the most part, the same which in science takes the 
 widest range over all his works in the material creation, 
 and makes the nearest approach possible for man to His 
 wisdom. ... I am prepared to hear, and resolved to reject, 
 all representations which deprive the Deity of his persona- 
 lity, and describe him as but the universally diffused prin- 
 ciple of life, the soul of nature. . . . When the tliuuder of 
 heaven, which simple-minded people and children consider, 
 as it peals through the sky, to be the voice of Almighty 
 God, is proved to proceed from a law of nature, let it not 
 be presumed that in this discovery Ave have anixcd at the 
 First Cause, and can touch the limit of tlie liilinite. We 
 have but ascended one insignificant step nearei- to it, for 
 nature in all her works is still and for ever but another 
 name for ' an efTect of which the cause is God.' C)h I liewaie 
 lest any man spoil you by ajqidsitlons of srlciwr, j'nlsc/if ,sy/ 
 rallid, and draw you away from the simplicity that is in 
 Christ. JOH.N GitKY."
 
 24 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 " Up to tlie year of the final defeat of Napoleon, 
 England was troubled with the fear of invasion ; and false 
 alarms lighting the beacon-fires on Ross Castle would 
 kindle the beacons on every hill-top for hundreds of miles. 
 The Northumberland men formed themselves into a 
 volunteer regiment, distinguished for the strength of its 
 horses, and the breadth of shoulder and dash of its riders. 
 John mounted and rode with the rest, when a rumour 
 came that our enemy had landed. Great emotion and 
 packing of haversacks fell to our lot at home, while he 
 rode off" with helmet and sword. The regiment was called 
 to Newcastle and inspected, when, alas ! some of the young 
 men had run to an excess of riot. I heard afterwards from 
 several that they had watched John G-rey, and never could 
 find a hole in his coat, — a clumsy but most satisfactory 
 phrase to me." 
 
 So far Mrs. Duncan's recollections. 
 
 In the winter of 1814 my father alighted at a 
 country inn in the course of a long ride through the 
 snow. Into the same room there came a fair-haired 
 girl dressed in a riding-habit, she also having alighted 
 from her horse to rest. This was our mother, Hannah 
 Annett, daughter of Mr. Annett of The Fence, near 
 Alnwick. It was their first meeting. He seemed to 
 be absorbed in his newspaper, but her eye was quick 
 enough to discern that he often looked over its edge to 
 the part of the room where she was. She had heard of 
 him, of his handsome appearance, good horsemanship, 
 and high qualities of mind and heart, and had resolved, 
 in her maidenly pride, not to allow herself, should they 
 ever meet, to share the enthusiasm about liim which 
 she observed in many young girls of her acquaintance. 
 This resolution did not hold out long. They met again. 
 On one occasion when she was mounting her horse to 
 ride away, she placed her little foot in the offered hand
 
 BETROTHAL AND MAKRIAGE. 25 
 
 of my father's cousin. John Vardy, and with her hand 
 on his shoulder, sprang into the saddle, rewarding his 
 help with a smile and kind words. At that moment 
 my father felt a sudden pang of jealousy, which told 
 him for the first time that that large heart of his was 
 no longer his own. He placed himself in front of her 
 horse, held its rein with a firm hand, and, fixing his 
 eyes on her, said some words which my mother either 
 could not recollect or chose never to tell us, but the 
 import of which sent her on her way in such a frame 
 of mind that her horse sometimes took the wrong turn 
 in the road without her noticing it. The words spoken, 
 or her silence, or the smile bestowed on another seemed 
 however to them both imperatively to call for another 
 interview and explanations. My father lately wrote, 
 in reference to the hard winter of 18 GO : — 
 
 "I think we have not had such a frost since 1814, a 
 year I well remember; for in that winter I first knew 
 Mrs. Grey, who was on a visit at Fenton ; and on going to 
 visit there I crossed the Till on horsel)ack, on ice and 
 snow so deep as hardly to know where was the course of 
 the river. My thoughts of those times are all mixed with 
 sadness now." 
 
 ;My mother's parents were good people, descended 
 from the poor but honest families of silk-weavers, 
 driven out of France by the revocation of the Edict of 
 Nante.s. They were in the habit of opening their 
 hospitable doors to every one in the form of a religious 
 teacher of whatever sect who ha])pencd to pass that 
 way. One of my mother's earliest niemoiies was of 
 l>eing lifted ujion the knee of the venerable John 
 "SVesley, a man with white silvery hair and a benevolent 
 countenance, wlio placed his two hands upon the head
 
 26 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 of the golden-haired little girl and pronounced over 
 her a tender and solemn benediction. She passed 
 some very happy years of school life among the Mora- 
 vians of Fulneck, for whom she preserved to the end 
 of her life a great affection. She often described to us 
 the settlement of that fraternity, their simplicity of 
 manners, their love for music, flowers, and white 
 dresses. She was, while there, one of the favourite 
 pupils of Christian Ignatius Latrobe, under whose 
 teaching she became a thoroughly scientific musician. 
 Like many persons of artistic temperament, he had 
 irritable nerves, and would sometimes hurl his har- 
 monium bodily at his class of boys and girls (for they 
 learned together at Fulneck) when they sang out of 
 tune ; but this in nowise lessened their affection for 
 him. 
 
 When my father went to travel abroad in the spring 
 of 1814, it was with the protrait of his lady-love in 
 his breast, and the hope of returning to make her his 
 wife. He travelled in Holland, Belgium, Germany, 
 and France. He kept a journal, which shows that he 
 made good use of his opportunities in the observation 
 of character and countries, at a crisis when there was 
 abundant subject of thought about the past, and specu- 
 lation about the future of Europe. On his return home 
 he wrote to her : — " How long, my Hannah, are these 
 dreary moors to separate us ?" But the dreary moors 
 did not separate them long, for they were married in 
 the winter of the same year ; the bride riding to church, 
 dressed in a beautiful pale blue riding-habit, richly 
 embroidered. 
 
 His mother went to live at Humbledon, his sister 
 Mary married, and his brother George some years later
 
 FirST SPEECH IN rUBLIC. 27 
 
 took a farm near London ; and the first family group 
 was scattered, to give place to a large circle of young 
 children who gradually filled the old family home. 
 Mrs. Duncan writes — 
 
 " Many of the newspapers have spoken of my brother's 
 early speeches of a jiulitical cast ; but I remember his first 
 pul»lic speech, and the emotion it excited in my mother 
 and me. It was a Bible Society speech in Wooler cluuch. 
 He was clear, calm, and self-possessed. It was cheering to 
 see the young man come forward so boldly, and was a great 
 contrast to the book hidden under his pillow a few years 
 before." 
 
 !My father wrote thus of his first public speech — 
 
 " My heart beat hard at first getting up and looking at 
 the crowd of gazers I was going to address, but before 
 finishing one sentence, finding that my voice would easily 
 fill the churcli, its tone became firm and my spirits com- 
 posed, and I went on to the end without ditficulty." 
 
 The Bible Society, founded in 1804, was one of the 
 first practical evidences of the awakening of the nation 
 from the torpor of preceding generations to a sense of 
 the spiritual wants of the people. My father's high 
 hopes for his country, and his bright ideal of her future 
 mission, may have been in after years somewhat clouded. 
 Speaking for laymen, he said on this occasion — 
 
 " Wlien I observe that the advocates of this great cause 
 are exclusively confined to the clergy, I own I feel iinxi(jus 
 to re.scue ourselves from the possibility of an iinitutation 
 that thry are the oidy persons interested in its progress. 
 . . . We live in an ago of great events, — events so signal 
 and 80 important, and that have succeeded each othei- with 
 such a rapidity as to throw into the shade tlie history of 
 fonner times. . . . We seem to be a i)eoph' pecubarly 
 dihtinguiahed in the plan of Trovidcnce, preserved, perhaps,
 
 28 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 from the devastations that have so awfully visited the 
 other nations of Europe, to accomplish God's great designs 
 upon the earth ; for though we have heard the thunders of 
 war at a distance, there has been peace in our borders. . . . 
 Our country" presents to the world a strange and lovely 
 spectacle, — the phenomenon of an evangelist nation, — a 
 nation whose senators, warriors, rulers, and people, as if by 
 one consentaneous impulse, are contributing to bring life 
 and immortality to light through the gospel of peace." 
 
 Pausing from the survey of his hopes for the future 
 mission of England among the nations, it was with a 
 noble gravity and somewhat of inspiration in his face 
 that the young man uttered the closing words of his 
 address, " The kingdoms of this world shall become the 
 kingdoms of our God and of His Christ." 
 
 To his wife, on a short absence from home with her 
 
 first child, he wrote — 
 
 " MiLFiELD Hill, 1816. 
 
 " I kept continually thinking on Tuesday evening how 
 far that coach would be on its journey which contained so 
 much of my treasure. I confess I find it somewhat lone- 
 some when I come in and find your chair and Georgie's 
 chair unoccupied, and I sometimes find my attention 
 arrested by some noise, as of the feet or the tongue of the 
 dear little prattler. But I feel happy in the thought of 
 your enjoyment with your friends, and as this fine weather 
 affords me abundant occupation out of doors I shall not 
 greatly weary. I was on the far hill this morning before 
 sunrise, and was not within doors again till six this evening. 
 George came here early on Saturday morning, and we rode 
 together to West Ord, where he boated across the river, 
 and went to see his sheep and cattle on turnips on the 
 other side, while I took advantage of the delightful day to 
 mark off the new fences and plantations that are to be 
 done this season. Philip has had hard work to bring the 
 * Unity ' sloop to her moorings. She is now tied with
 
 PETITION AGAINST THE PROPERTY-TAX. 29 
 
 cables to the plantation below the house, ami I liave let 
 her to some men to take to pieces. Tiiey luul to caulk her 
 to keep out the water, and then fix a row of empty casks 
 along each side to make her tioat over the shallows. After 
 all, she grounded often, and took three tides, and the help 
 of both men and horses to get her home. I suppose there 
 never was half so large a vessel as high up the Tweed, and 
 perhaps none whose voyage excited so much observation 
 and amusement since the days when St. Cuthbert's stone 
 boat scudded up the tiile. I had two olfers for my tishing 
 on Saturday — one of £100 and another of £150 — but have 
 not resolved to take either. It is poor doing, but these 
 industrious Dutchmen send so many fish to our markets 
 now, that they are little worth." 
 
 Northumberland was at this time a very Conservative 
 county, and some among its greatest lauded proprietors 
 were not less wedded to their own interests, and to the 
 prejudices peculiar to their class, thau were the majority 
 of landowners throughout England. But the petitions 
 to Parliament, which from time to time, from very early 
 in the century, were sent up from Glendale Ward, are 
 witnesses to a degree of enlightenment not a little ad- 
 mirable, when it is remembered how far, geographically, 
 Glendale was situated from the great centres of mental 
 activity and political life. jMy father got up a largely 
 signed petition in 181G against the proposed Property 
 Tax ; but so little sympathy did he meet with in some 
 of his richer neighbours, that he was unable to call 
 together a jiublic meeting aljout it. Lord Grey, to 
 whose care he sent the petition, wrote in acknowledg- 
 njent : — 
 
 " March 12, 1816, Portman Squaue. 
 " I have had the pleasure of receivijig your letter, with 
 llie accompanying resolutions, voteil at a meeting of the 
 inhabitants of Glendale ^\'ard, as a basis of a petition
 
 30 MEMOIR OF JOHX GREY. 
 
 against the Property Tax. I have since received the peti- 
 tion, and. shall present it to-day or to-morrow to the House 
 of Lords. A petition of this description, both from the 
 circumstances under which it has been obtained, and the 
 character of the petitioners, is peculiarly deserving of atten- 
 tion. I wish the spirit that has animated the inhabitants 
 of Glendale Ward had been more generally diffused through- 
 out the country. I concur with you in regretting that the 
 measure of calling a county meeting has been abandoned. 
 The Ministers seem determined to persevere in their en- 
 deavours to carry through this odious tax, though supported 
 by ever so small a majority, — a most indecent determination 
 when the sense of the public has been so decidedly expressed. 
 The division will probably be very near : and I should 
 hope, if the country is only true to itself, that the measure 
 may ultimately be defeated ; but every attempt is being 
 made to reconcile people to it by the modifications that are 
 to be proposed, by which I am afraid too many have allowed 
 themselves to be duped. — I am, with very great regard, 
 yours truly, Grey." 
 
 My father, I am told, had a pleasant playful way of 
 discussing these questions of taxation and other matters 
 of political economy with his brother magistrates. 
 Sometimes he affected to adopt the opposite view, and 
 by his halting arguments exposed its weakness ; and 
 we all remember the roguish smile and merry twinkle 
 of the eye characteristic of his kindliness of heart, joined 
 with the humorous view he took of his adversary's 
 position. He sometimes hit hard, it is true, but only 
 where it was deserved. He hated conceit, pretentious- 
 ness, and the arrogance and dogmatism of youth, when 
 it flowed forth in unceasing talk without judgment. 
 What Lucy Hutchinson says of her husband in her 
 celebrated memoir of him was equally true of my father, 
 — that there was notliing he disliked more than "an insig-
 
 THE PROPERTY-TAX. 31 
 
 nificant gallant, that could only iiiakchis legs, and prune 
 himself, and court a lady, but had not brains to employ 
 himself in things more suitable;" but I do not think 
 that he ever wounded au honest or a humble person by 
 a word, 
 
 " In my ritle over the moors, I met your friend J. S.," 
 he wrote to his wife. " I knew his intention of assailing 
 me on a matter personal to myself, which I wished to avoid, 
 I therefore lost no time in attacking him most roundly for 
 having — he being a lawyer — erroneously argued a point of 
 law in an appeal l)efore my brother commissioners a few 
 days before, which, after a vain attempt to defend, he gave 
 up as a question of right, and very honestly confessed the 
 latitude of his conscience and the rectitude of his princii^les, 
 by saj-ing that the Property Tax ■was one so infamous tliat 
 he had no scruple in -withhokhng as much of it as he could 
 by any means. So liaving gained my victory and attained 
 my end, I galloped off, crying. For shame ! " 
 
 Tliis proposed tax occasioned a hot and prolonged 
 conflict in Parliament. The opposition was supported 
 by petitions from many mercantile populations, who 
 complained of the injustice of taxing in the same pro- 
 portion incomes of a short duration and those derived 
 from permanent property in land. From four o'clock 
 every evening till midnight the battle was fought for 
 many weeks, and the campaign was kept up with so 
 much spirit, that one night close upon midnight, the 
 debate having lasted eight hours, the last speaker 
 sat down, and instead of any manifested disposition 
 to retire, one whole bench of mendjers rose and ad- 
 dressed the chair at once. This si'Mi of unabated li'dit- 
 ing zeal, so delightful to the Pritish heart, drew down 
 loud api)lause from the whole House. This was 
 not a Whig and Tory battle. Many Tories rejoiced in
 
 32 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 the decision. Ministers were defeated, and the bill 
 thrown out. 
 
 FROM MY FATHER TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 " MiLFiELD Hill, 1819. 
 
 " My dear Mother, — The object of Aaron's mission is 
 to inform you of what may a little surprise you, — that I 
 purpose setting off by to-morrow's coach for London. I 
 had a hasty letter from George on Saturday. He has had 
 an interview with the proprietor of Woodcot, and seems 
 much pleased with the appearance of the place. He says, 
 ' I think I must settle there at last ; ' but as if wanting 
 confidence in his own opinion, he says he is much at a loss 
 for want of my judgment and advice. Dear George ! I 
 pray that he may be well directed at last. 
 
 " How shocking and distressing is the awful and melan- 
 choly end of poor Sir Samuel Romilly ! He was in every 
 respect a most estimable man, and ' take him for all in all, 
 we may not look upon his like again.' It is an event to 
 cloud a whole nation with sorrow. I have just had a 
 visit from the sweet boys in their night-shirts. George 
 sends grandmamma a kiss. — Your ever affectionate son, 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 About this time began my father's friendship with 
 Lord Althorp, which continued during the whole of his 
 life. 
 
 " 1820. 
 " My dear Mother, — Lord Strathmore and the Clerical 
 party in Durham are anxious to get up an opposition to 
 Lambton, but have not yet succeeded in finding a candidate 
 sufficiently hardy to make the attempt ; and he had need 
 be in earnest who does so, for he will find Lambton in 
 earnest. I had a letter from him a few days ago on the 
 subject. He, moreover, though he may have increased the 
 enmity of some, has gained the favour of many by his 
 bold assertion of his sentiments as to the necessity of 
 Reform. Lord Althorp says, ' Lambton is one of the
 
 LORD ALTIIORP AND MR. LAMBTON. 33 
 
 cleverest men goincr, 1>ut of had temper on the days when 
 lie is bilious.' Lord Althorp is one of the best-tempered men 
 I have seen, he talks and laughs so heartily ; he gave us a 
 great deal of Parliamentary information and anecdote. He 
 had been appointed to present the address to Lord Fitz- 
 AVilliam three days before he was hen? ; he did not tell us 
 what a fine speech he himself made, but much of Lord 
 Fitz-AVilliam's feeling and tears. "We regretted his hasty 
 departure on account of the King's death ; he was obliged 
 to go to Northamptonshire, which he represents, to see if 
 there was any stir there, on his way to town. He came 
 by mail to Newcastle, having sent his horses on before. 
 He is the son of Karl Spencer, and talks about his father 
 and mother with gi-eat simplicity. His wife died at the 
 birth of the first child, and I thought he looked gravely 
 though kindly on Johnny, who hung about him a good 
 deal. Our boys have had famous employment with the 
 horses. The little lady grows apace, and is constant in her 
 preference of papa. Hannah sends her kind love with 
 mine to you. — Your affectionate son, 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 One of the first persons with whom my father 
 actively co-operated in promoting Liberal principles was 
 the man of whom he speaks thus truly, when he says he 
 who opposes him had need be in earnest, for he will 
 find him in earnest, — John George I^aml)ton, afterwards 
 Lord Durham. A general election followed the death 
 of the old King. The Parliament returned Mas not 
 much more favourable to the prospects of lleform than 
 that wliich preceded it, 
 
 Mr. Lambton wrote to my father, — " I well know the 
 extent of your influence in North Durliam, and will 
 write to you innnediutely if I see a prospect of any 
 contest. 1 fear the prc'spect of the friends of indcjjend- 
 ence is not us cheering in Northumbcrlund us it is here." 
 
 C
 
 34 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 There ^vas a contest, and Mr. Lambton M'as successful. 
 The rule " Wliatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it 
 with thy might," was not neglected by my father. On 
 the occasion of this canvass he rose one morning at 
 three o'clock, took a horse and rode out at that early 
 hour, galloped through a wide district, obtained the 
 votes of the liberally disposed, and came home to 
 breakfast. As he rode up the hill to the house, his 
 tired horse stumbled and fell, and threw him over its 
 head. Several of his ribs were broken, and he was a 
 good deal bruised. He said not a word to his wife, 
 but ate his breakfast, mounted a fresh horse, and rode 
 off for the rest of the day to canvass another part of the 
 country. She knew nothing, until the evening, of his 
 hurt. At the subsequent election meeting, the agent 
 of the opposite party reproached him for taking an 
 unfair advantage of him by such early rising. My 
 father answered him with some good-natured witticism. 
 Early rising, prompt action, and forcible argument 
 were the limits of the unfairness of which he could be 
 accused in any electioneering transactions. Mr. Lamb- 
 ton lost no time, after his election, in bringing before 
 the House a motion for Parliamentary Reform, which, 
 however, he was obliged some weeks later to withdraw, 
 because the public mind was so much agitated about 
 the Queen's trial 
 
 The success of a Liberal candidate in those times was 
 a matter of much greater excitement and interest to his 
 electors than it can be in times when, under a reformed 
 representation of the people, the fate of great measures 
 does not so absolutely depend on the ascendency of one 
 party or another in the Cabinet. For these were times 
 when public liberties had been invaded, when every
 
 POLITICS. 35 
 
 effort was being made by the Govcrnracnt to prevent 
 the people from expressing their opinions, and when 
 hinguage of indignant disapproval of Government 
 measures was held l»y the wisest men of the day. 
 Feelings, not of rebellion or discontent, but of the best 
 and noblest kind, might then be appealed to in the 
 people, by those who were opposed to the principalities 
 and powers of the time being. But it may be as well 
 to go back a few years, and sketch very slightly a few 
 of the features of that troubled time. Although in 
 years long after the dangers which threatened the 
 country -were past, my father often recounted in his 
 family, with laughter and merriment, some amusing 
 passages of that period, with stories of Lord Eldon, 
 Lord Sidmouth, and others, of whom he could then 
 speak with a good-humoured tolerance, he often said 
 that " thev were tunes to shake a man's soul."
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 ..." Our appeal 
 Is unto Him, who counts a nation's tears, 
 With whom are the oppressor and opprest, 
 And vengeance, and the recompensing years." 
 
 English agriculture can scarcely be said to have had a 
 history until about the accession of George ill., and it had 
 no literature, properly speaking, till much later than that 
 date. Its history may be divided into four periods :— 
 
 Is^. From the accession of George iii. to the end of 
 the last century. 
 
 2d. Erom the beginning of this century to the Peace 
 of 1815. This was a period of some progress, and of 
 much outward prosperity to agriculturists. This pro- 
 sperity, however, was less real than apparent, for it 
 was based on an insecure foundation. This was the 
 time of the European war, when the prices of agricul- 
 tural produce rose very high. 
 
 Sd. Erom the Peace of 1815 to the repeal of the Corn 
 Laws, 184G. This was a time of perpetually recurring 
 and great distress among agriculturists, during which 
 the Legislature persevered in the vain attempt to pro- 
 tect the agricultural interests by restrictions on foreign 
 produce. At the latter part of this period, however, an 
 impulse was given, more full of promise than any which 
 had gone before. Adversity taught what prosperity 
 could not. The Koyal Agricultural Society came into 
 being at this time (1838), of which more hereafter.
 
 PATRIARCnS OF AGRICULTURE. 37 
 
 ■ith. From the repeal of the Corn Laws until now — a 
 time of unrestricted competition with the whole world, 
 and of sound progress. During this period thousands 
 of tons of foreign manure liave been imported, incalcul- 
 ably increasing the producing powers of the soil, and 
 many of the physical sciences have been studied in 
 relation to agriculture, and practically brought to bear 
 upon it, especially chemistry, meteorology, geology, and 
 mechanics. 
 
 The patriarch of English agriculture, good old Arthur 
 Young, died in 1820, at eighty years of age. He had 
 been totally blind for ten years ; but so clear-sighted 
 was he in another sense, that he prophesied much 
 which has since come to pass in the history of agricul- 
 ture. So far back as 17G9, he wrote an essay urging 
 the expediency of free-trade in corn, for which mon- 
 strous and unpatriotic proposition he was burned in 
 effigy. He was a man of a very pure and innocent 
 nature. His enthusiasm about agriculture caused many 
 people to wonder. But there were otlier men of pure 
 and manly nature, who were, tlie very year of his death, 
 studying his subject with a like enthusiasm, and in no 
 unpliilosophic spirit. Our leading agriculturists do not 
 seem to have inclined to metaphysics. Tliey have 
 been brought much in contact with the beautiful works 
 of God under the open sky ; and it has been foolisldy 
 supposed tliat the simple, primitive occupation of hus- 
 bandry needs only to claim for its service the most 
 ordinary kind of men, with more of sinew than brain. 
 Shallow p(diticians are still too nnieli in the hal)it of 
 making invidious compari.sons between the cultivators 
 of the soil and ])eople wIkj are employed in other 
 kinda of industry, and to as.sume that the former class
 
 38 MEMOIE OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 present a solitary exception to the law of energetic pro- 
 gress wliicli prevails in our manufactures and arts. It 
 is true that our feudal institutions, which tended to pro- 
 duce anti- commercial habits of thouglit still too much 
 influence our laws and ideas about landed property; that 
 our large landowners are too seldom men of business, 
 that territorial acquisitions give a factitious importance ; 
 without the exercise of business talent or judgment; and. 
 that the condition of some of our rural populations, in re- 
 gard to education, material prosperity, and moral char- 
 acter, is a disgrace to our boasted civilisation. This is 
 a remnant of the old regime which supposed only one 
 noble class, and required the enslavement and degrada- 
 tion of all other classes in order to support it — the tail 
 of the snake, which lives and is dangerous after the 
 head is destroyed. But agriculture, like every other 
 noble cause, has had its apostles and its prophets ; and 
 the work of these men has been, with strong brains and 
 unprejudiced minds, to grapple with questions which 
 demand the clear understanding of the laws that 
 regulate society, and upon the right understanding of 
 which the well-being of the community depends, added 
 to an acquaintance with the physical laws of the uni- 
 verse, and experience of their subtle workings brought 
 to light by science, together with a sound knowledge of 
 rural, political, and international economy. My father 
 was accustomed to say that if agriculture was ever to 
 rank with other great sciences, "the culture of tlie 
 mind must precede that of the land ;" and in this 
 rule he wished to see every class if possible included, 
 dowii to the humblest field- labourer. 
 
 Of all the branches of enterprise in which our great 
 commercial England is embarked, there is none in
 
 AGRICULTURISTS. 39 
 
 N\ liicli tlie capital invested, the industry employed, or 
 the result produced is so large in amount, or so impor- 
 tant in kind, as in agriculture. It is one which em- 
 braces vast and varied interests, and which requires the 
 sen'ice of brains not less calm and clear than those 
 of Arthur Young, and the men who followed him. 
 Agriculturists, as a class, have been accused, and not 
 unjustly, of narrowness and selfishness in urging the 
 consideration of their own interests on the Government, 
 when those interests, as has so often been the case, 
 seemed to be in opposition to those of all other classes ; 
 but nowhere can we find lives more unselfish or more 
 devoted to tlie public good than those of our great 
 scientific agriculturists. Hearts as well as brains 
 worked in the great cause ; and I think that the si)irit 
 of the man who labours with a constant concern for the 
 clieapening of the people's bread, is very closely akin to 
 the compassionate spirit which prompted the C[uestion, 
 " Children, have ye any meat ?" which could not 
 endure to send the multitudes away fasting, and multi- 
 plied the loaves for their use. My father expressed his 
 hopes for the future of agi-iculture in his spirited sketch 
 of its rapid and vigorous development in his own county. 
 
 " This part of the country," lie says, " continual in a 
 great measure wild and uncultivated so late as the begin- 
 ning of the la.st century, when peace and industry had 
 jirdduccd tlicir happy cffi'cts in llio improved a|i]K'ar;iiice 
 and increa.sc'd i>ro(luctiveness of the more southeiii pro- 
 vinces of the kingdom. And if it sli<»uld e.xcite surprise 
 that large districts, which even within tin- last eighty years 
 were in a state of nature, covered with broom, furze, or 
 nishes, the indigenous firoductions of the s(»il, — wliidi Mere, 
 the latest in attnictiiig the attention of the lius1)aii(lnian, 
 and e.xperienting the benefit of his skill and industry, —
 
 40 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 should in the interval have outstripped those in the inarch 
 of agricultural improvement, which had been for centuries 
 in a course of cultivation, the fact may, perhaps, be in some 
 measure accounted for by the existence of the very circum- 
 stances which at first sight seem unfavourable to such a 
 result. Agriculture had begun to experience considerable 
 encouragement, and to make considerable progress in dif- 
 ferent parts of England, while the country on both sides 
 of the Scottish border continued to be the scene of rapine 
 and violence, of hostile incursions and of predatory war- 
 fare. Such a state of society afforded no security for life, 
 and no protection for property ; the fruits of industry 
 were too uncertain and precarious to induce to its exercise 
 in the cultivation of the soil, and the habits and disposition 
 of the people were little fitted for the task. Nor did they 
 for a long time after that blessed union had been effected, 
 which put an end to the state of hatred and hostility which 
 existed between the two countries, and which has contri- 
 buted so essentially to the happiness and prosperity of both, 
 betake themselves to settled and industrious habits. They 
 lived in houses of the meanest description, and the accommo- 
 dation supplied to their cattle was scanty and inconvenient. 
 The country remained generally unenclosed ; and the part 
 on which they bestowed cultivation, such as it was, con- 
 sisted of small crofts adjoining their dwellings. The 
 Ijlough then in use is described as a clumsy and inefficient 
 instrument, and the harrow was constructed without joints 
 and without iron, of branches of the mountain-birch fixed 
 together with wooden pegs, with tines of the tough broom, 
 which it was the business of the husbandman to sharpen 
 or renew by help of his clasp-knife, while his unshod cattle, 
 yoked by hempen traces, were turned off to regale them- 
 selves uj)on the neighbouring waste. The rent then paid 
 consisted of a contribution in kind from the produce of the 
 land, and in personal service. Such was the state of 
 things in the Border counties at a period when the fields 
 of ' Merry England ' were already divided by luxuriant 
 hedgerows, and yielded their annual harvests to the culti-
 
 THE DAWN OF ENTERPRISE ON THE BORDERS. 41 
 
 vator's toil. But this apparently unpromising state of 
 things contained within it the seeds of a rapid improvement, 
 and the gro^\•th of a system of agriculture approaching 
 l>robably as near to perfection as any that this country at 
 present exhibits. Habits of domestic peace and industry 
 gradually succeeded those of broils and discord. The open 
 country, hitherto undrained of its fertility, offered a tempt- 
 ing field for tlie exercise of skill, industry, and enterprise. 
 But few enclosures of inconvenient size, and fences of waste- 
 ful dimensions, stood in the way of laying out and dividing 
 farms into fields of approved size and convenient arrange- 
 ment; and what is of still greater importance, perhaps, 
 few of those customs and prejudices were to l)e overcome 
 and uprooted, which too freijuently impede the introduc- 
 tion of improvements among the occupiers of anciently 
 cultivated districts. 
 
 '' ^len of intelligence, activity, and industry were attracted 
 from other quarters to settle in the fertile vales in the 
 northern parts of this county, of whom none bear a more 
 distinguished name in the annals of agricultural improve- 
 ment, or are more deserving of the praise and gratitude of 
 their countrymen, than the late Messrs. Culley. The 
 examjtle set by these and other energetic and spirited 
 agriculturists, together with the signal success which at- 
 tended their exertions, gave a stimulus to the surrounding 
 district, and in a few years tlie inexpert operations and 
 languid system of husbandry whicli had previously pre- 
 vailed gave place to others of extraordinary expedition 
 and efficacy. The owners of property too, fortunately 
 for thcmst'lves, for the cause of improvement, and the bene- 
 fit of tiie country at large, co-operated with their spirited 
 tenants in the great work which was in progress, by giving 
 them farm.s of such size as to afford scope for their opera- 
 tions to 1»(* conductt'(l with economy and effect, and such 
 h-ngtli of lease (not less than twenty-one y«'ars) as afforded 
 t\u' guarantee of a return for their outlay ami industiy. 
 \\ ithout the security and inducement to spend capital 
 whicli leujjes afford to tenants, such a rapid change as that
 
 42 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 we are contemplating never could have been effected. The 
 prevalence of turnip-growmg in the place of naked fallows, 
 or crops of peas full of weeds, together with the use of 
 artificial grasses, which was introduced about the same 
 time, made a complete revolution in the management and 
 value of land, and added immensely to the productiveness 
 of the country. The money which was made by farming 
 was again eagerly applied, under the encouragement of 
 leases, to the reclaiming of waste lands and the promotion 
 of agricultural improvement. Section after section of the 
 outfield land, so called, was brought into productive cul- 
 tivation ; the sober labour of the flail became too slow a 
 process for the increased produce. Threshing-machines, 
 worked by horses, or driven by water, and sometimes by 
 Avind, became general, although in our days the latter fickle 
 and uncertain power has been universally superseded by 
 steam ; comfortable and substantial farm-houses were built, 
 and commodious sets of farm-offices, laid out upon regular 
 and compact plans, were erected in central situations, with 
 roads diverging from them, so as to give the easiest access 
 to all parts. The gradual increase of rents after the termina- 
 tion of the unfortunate American War in 1783 encouraged 
 landlords in the outlay necessary to eff"ect such substantial 
 and permanent improvements ; an increase in the demand 
 for labour in manufactures, in the rate of wages, and in the 
 population, all tended to an advance of the farmer's profits, 
 and a consequent increase of the competition for land, and 
 of the rents offered for it. And when the war arising out 
 of the French Revolution, with the extraordinary expendi- 
 ture and unprecedented issues of paper money attending it, 
 was in full operation, producing, if not real wealth, yet 
 something which for the time stood in the place of it, the 
 rents of farms which fell out of lease from the year 1795 
 to 1805 were advanced frequently three, and in some cases 
 four fold. Then it was that the last great impulse was 
 given to the already rapidly improving system of North- 
 umbrian agriculture. The farmers found themselves in 
 possession of abundant capital, with habits, energy, and
 
 RAPID rnoGUESs. 43 
 
 capacity for tlie greatest exertions; the last remaining jior- 
 tiuns of land which were by any means accessible to the 
 plougli were jnit in requisition ; large stones were dug up 
 and removed from the sides of mountains to ]>rocure an 
 arable surface; bogs were drained, and lands hitherto open 
 and unproductive were enclosed, and, by the a})])lication of 
 lime and good husbandry, made to wave with golden har- 
 vests. Reductions of rent, failure of tenants, and change 
 of occupancy, were the etiVct of sul)se(iuent events ; but 
 still the system of agriculture which a time of unexampled 
 prosperity produced has been maintained, and a substitute 
 has even in a great measure been found for the high jirices 
 of the war, in the increased jiroduce obtained by recent 
 improvements, such as the use of bone-manure, extensive 
 and systematic draining, sub-soil ploughing, and a some- 
 what better understanding of the application of animal and 
 vegetable chemistry to agricultural objects, or, in other 
 words, the combination of the science with the practice of 
 agriculture. The grand desideratum, however, of basing 
 the practice of agriculture upon scientific ])rinciples, it 
 must be confessed, has as yet made but small ])rogress. 
 To effect that important end the culture of the miml must 
 precede that of the land ; and although the farmers of the 
 district now under review, holding large tracts of land, 
 and possessed of great capital, have received a more liberal 
 education, and are more distinguished for intelligence and 
 information than many others, yet the daily occui)ati(ins of 
 the practical farmer, as such, are in no way favourable to 
 scientific research and intellectual attainments. We must 
 look to other quarters for the consummation of this great 
 object; and happily a new era is opening upon us, and 
 brighter prospects are rising to our view ; the great and 
 infiuential in the land have engaged themselves in the 
 work. This most imjjortant branch of our national in- 
 dustry, and source r)f our national )>rosperity, is no longer 
 to be left f<jr its advancement to the cliancc; directed dis- 
 coveries of the unlettered rustic. When wealth and in- 
 telligence lead the pursuit, and call the resources of know-
 
 44 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 ledge and science to their aid, it is not unreasonable to 
 expect that sources of fertility and productiveness as yet 
 unknown will be developed ; that the practice of agricul- 
 ture will be founded upon principles which, though in 
 strict dependence uj^on philosophic rules, shall be rendered 
 familiar to the understandings of ' the rough-shod race,' 
 whose stolidity has hitherto been subject of proverbial re- 
 proach with the learned ; and that agriculture shall take 
 the stand among the sciences to which it is so justly en- 
 titled, as well by the great interest which attaches to it, as 
 by the immense national importance which it possesses." 
 
 My father spoke more particularly of his own con- 
 nexion with agriculture in a speech made at a meeting 
 called together by his friends and neighbours, to ex- 
 press their esteem for him when he resigned his office 
 at Dilston in 1863 :— 
 
 " I am placed in circumstances of unusual difficulty and 
 embarrassment, because you have called me to speak on a 
 barren subject, — that of my own very inconsiderable self. 
 But as you have summoned me here to- day to recognise 
 with extreme kindness the results of my stewardship, I 
 feel myself in some measure called upon to explain to j^ou 
 what you have a right to know — what were the circum- 
 stances to which I ascribe any beneficial results and advan- 
 tages Avhich may have been derived from it. Mr. Stephen- 
 son has just reminded me that I have now been in harness 
 for sixty years. That dates from the beginning of this 
 century. At that time you will all know that there was a 
 great impulse given to agricultural improvement, such as 
 had not been known before. That stimulus has been act- 
 ing, and that improvement has been progressing, ever since ; 
 and it has mainly been accelerated in the last years that 
 have gone by. From my very earliest youth I was 
 initiated into the business of agriculture. Family circum- 
 stances required that I should, at the age of eighteen, 
 take the management of extensive farming concerns, in-
 
 HIS AGRICULTUr.AL TRAINING. 45 
 
 eluding amongst tliem that patrimonial property ■which 
 very adverse circumstances in this neighbourhood have 
 but recently deprived me of. I was then settled as an 
 inexperienced youth, with much ■work on my hand.s ; hut 
 do not allow yourselves, gentlemen, to conceive that I 
 think it was a hardship that a young man should he 
 ]iut thus early into harness. On the contrary, I believe 
 that it gives him earnestness of character and an aptitude 
 for business, and probaltly ]>reserves him from many 
 temptations to idleness which he otherwise might be 
 subject to. Those great veterans and leaders in agricul- 
 tural improvement, the Messrs. Culley, who saw me, a 
 youth, inexperienced, and yet in circumstances of great 
 responsibility, bestowed upon me much kindness and much 
 valuable instruction. To them I was indebted for the 
 parental advice which otherwise I would have been 
 deprived of. I was then also associated at an early time 
 with uther agriculturists in forming agricultural societies, 
 which Avere not common as they are now. One, for 
 instance, the Tweedside Society, which was originated 
 at Cornhill, and afterwards amalgamated with the Border 
 Society of Kelso, which since that time has stood as the 
 Union Society, was of great importance to the Tweedside 
 district. I then became knoAVTi to that venerable agricul- 
 turist Sir John Sinclair, he whose zeal in agriculture led 
 him to spend his entire life in obtaining information, and 
 in diffusing it by numerous jKiblications. Those publica- 
 tions have been very much set aside, and have become 
 obsolete, by the progress of improvement, and l)y the 
 great number of works since published on agricultural 
 subjects. 1 lowever, there is one work of his, — his S/nlislicid 
 History of Scolland, — which will always rciiiain a valuable 
 record of that country. When In- was engaged nn lijs 
 last and largest work, his Code of yfr/rirullure, wliidi is a 
 romp<'ndiuin of many of the others, he did nif the 
 hoiiniir to call me to his aid, and to refer to me tin* various 
 sheets for remark and criticism before j)ublication. I 
 advert to this, gentlemen, to show you that 1 was called,
 
 46 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 in former life, to study agriculture in theory as well as in 
 practice. At a later time than that I had much inter- 
 course with those valuable men who are now, alas ! taken 
 from us, — the late Lord Althorp, Mr. Pusey, and Mr. 
 Handley, in originating the Eoyal Agricultural Society of 
 England. With them I had a bulky correspondence, 
 which I preserve to this day. When that Society was 
 originated I was invited from year to year to act as one 
 of their judges, and to contribute to their publications, and 
 amona;st other contributions of mine there stands to this 
 day the first report from any county in the kingdom." 
 
 The first year of my father's married life (1815) was 
 one iu which questions of vital import rose on the 
 political horizon, presenting many a hard problem to 
 thou"htful minds. He bei^an to address himself, in the 
 quiet of his home, to the subject of economical politics, 
 a science, if it could be called a science at all, then quite 
 in its infancy. It was the great year of the Peace, a 
 year of re-adjustments and re-arrangements, of solemn 
 considerations for the future policy of the nations, for 
 the settlement of Europe, and the establishment of a 
 just balance of power. The public men to whom my 
 father felt the greatest attraction from his youth were 
 invariably men of high moral courage and rectitude, 
 and of wide and liberal views. In his old age he read 
 and re-read the Life of Francis Horner, and recom- 
 mended it to his children, pointing out how his was the 
 work of a thinker in an age of debaters, how he worked 
 for an end not near of attainment, labouring without 
 personal ambition, and seeing other men enter into his 
 labours and reap reward. My father's political views 
 did not undergo any material change from the time 
 that he first began to think on public questions until 
 his death. They may have been modified to some
 
 UIS POLITICAL PRINCIPLES. 47 
 
 degree by experience aiul changing circumstances, and 
 he constantly confessed himself to be a learner ; but 
 there was a great degree of uniformity and consistency 
 both in his opinions and acts. Where abrupt changes 
 in political principles have taken place in the minds of 
 public men, for which there is ever too great a readi- 
 ness in opposing parties on either side to impute 
 unworthy and interested motives, the reason of tliese 
 changes may in part be, that the conclusions so abruptly 
 abandoned were the result of an intellectual process 
 solely, unsupported by the profounder conviction which 
 has its seat in the heart ; and I have thought that the 
 secret of my father's consistency lay in the fact that his 
 opinions had their root very deep in his soul and 
 affections, that they were indigenous, so to speak, not 
 grafted from without. God made him a Liberal ; and a 
 Liberal in the true sense he continued to be to the end 
 of his life. In conversation with him on any public 
 questions, one could not but observe how much such 
 questions were matters of feeling with him. I believe 
 that his political principles and public actions were 
 alike the direct fruit of that which held rule within 
 his soul, — I mean his large benevolence, his tender com- 
 passionateness, and his respect for the rights and 
 liberties of the individual man. His life was a sus- 
 tained effort for the good of others, flowing from these 
 affections. He had no gi'udge against rank or wealth, 
 no restless desire of change for its own sake, still less 
 any rude love of demolition ; but he could not endure 
 to see oppression or wrong of any kind inflicted on man, 
 woman, or child. " You canncjt treat men and women 
 exactly as you do one pound bank-notes, to be used or 
 rejected a.s you think proper," lie said in a letter to the
 
 48 MEMOIR OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 Times, when that paper was advocating some ill-con- 
 sidered changes, beneficial to one class, but leaving out 
 of account a residue of humble folk upon whom they 
 would entail great suffering. In the cause of any 
 maltreated or neglected creature he was uncompromis- 
 ing to the last, and when brought into opposition with 
 the perpetrators of any social injustice he became an 
 enemy to be feared. Some who remembered him in 
 early manhood have described his commanding presence 
 when he stood forth on public occasions as the champion 
 of liberal principles, " unsubdued b}^ the blandishments 
 of his partisans, and unabashed by the rancour of his 
 opponents." There was seldom to be found a flaw in his 
 argument or a fault in his grammar on those occasions, 
 when " he carried confusion and dismay into the 
 enemy's camp," yet the force which his hearers acknow- 
 ledged lay in his love of truth, his clearness of judg- 
 ment, and the known innocency of his life, rather than 
 in rhetoric. The true key to an occasional bitterness 
 against those whom he thought wrong-doers, lay also 
 in his great sensitiveness to wrong done. There was 
 no self- satisfaction in his denunciation of evil ; the 
 contemplation of cruelty in any form was intolerable 
 to him ; he would speak of the imposition of social 
 disabilities of any kind, by one class of persons on 
 another, with kindling eyes and breath which came 
 quickly, but he always turned away with a sense of 
 relief from the subject of the evil-doers, or the evil 
 done, to the persons who suffered, whose position his 
 compassionate instinct would set him at once to the 
 task of ameliorating. His children remember the 
 large old Family Bible, which he used punctually to 
 bring forth every Sunday afternoon and peruse for
 
 PREFERENCE FOR PRIVATE LUfX 49 
 
 liours, and his appeals to them to listen to the grandeur 
 of certain favourite passages which he often read aloud. 
 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah was a great favourite, 
 and his love for such words as the following, which he 
 often quoted, was an index of the complexion of his 
 mind : — " Is not this the fast that I liave chosen : to 
 loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heaAy 
 burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye 
 break ever}' yoke ?" 
 
 He was free from personal ambition. He never was 
 in Parliament, though several times solicited to stand 
 for towns in the north. He loved the country and all 
 country pursuits, and dreaded any lengthened residence 
 in London, having all his life a strong aversion to cities. 
 His influence in political matters Avas, from this cause, 
 less direct, but not the less distinct in its kind. It was the 
 testimony of one who wrote of him after his death, that, 
 " there are not a few living now, both men and women, 
 in whose souls he kindled an enthusiasm about public 
 matters, which has been lasting and fruitful, whose 
 whole lives have been coloured by his influence, and 
 who, through that influence, have aspired and attained 
 to much which they would otherwise have tliouglit 
 Ijeyond tlieir reach." Another says of him, " It was 
 from liim I first learned what j^uhlic spirit really 
 means." 
 
 Literature was not his line. He wrote no book. 
 With no seat in the councils of the nation, no claims 
 to autliorship, his work for his country being compre- 
 hended in liis lon<; and successfid labours for the 
 advancement of agriculture, and in his furtherance of 
 many great and useful movements and measures ])y 
 piihlic Hi>caking, private persuasions, and frL'(|uent con- 
 
 D
 
 50 MEMOIR or JOHN GREY. 
 
 tributions to piiHic journals, etc., whence the motive, 
 it may be asked, for presenting a written record of him, 
 further than the wish of those who loved him best — his 
 children — to hand down to their children some sort of 
 portrait of him, by which they also may learn to love 
 and to imitate ? But the answer will occur to many. 
 Men of great integrity and purity of life, who have 
 no thought of pushing into any ambitious sphere, 
 but only of doing with all their might the work which 
 their hand finds to do, are the salt of society, the 
 strength of a nation, and it is not well that such should 
 be forgot. Their example, too, is more within the 
 reach of the many than is that of men who have filled 
 with honour more conspicuous places open only to the 
 few. 
 
 A writer in the Edinburgh Review, in the year of the 
 passing of the Keform Bill (1832), preaches wisely on 
 this head : — 
 
 " All reform, except a moral one, will prove unavailing. 
 Political reform, pressingly enough wanted, can indeed 
 root out the weeds, (gross, deep-fixed, lazy dockweeds, 
 poisonous, obscene hemlocks, ineff"ectual spurry in abun- 
 dance !) but it leaves the ground einidy, ready either for 
 noble fruits or for new worse tares. And how else is a 
 moral reform to be looked for but in this way, that more 
 and more good men are, by a bountiful Providence, sent 
 hither to disseminate goodness, literally to soiv it, as in 
 seeds shaken abroad by the living tree ] For such, in all 
 ages and places, is the nature of a good man ; he is ever a 
 mystic, creative centre of goodness ; his influence, if we 
 consider it, is not to be measured, for his works do not die, 
 but, being of eternity, are eternal, and in new trans- 
 formation, and ever wider diff'usion, endure, living and 
 life-giving. Thou who exclaimest over the horrors and 
 baseness of the time, and how Diogenes would now need
 
 RELATION OF AGRICULTURE TO rOLITICS. 01 
 
 hco lantenis in daylight, think of tliis ! Over the time thou 
 hast no power ; to redeem a workl sunk in dishonesty has 
 not been given thee. Sok^ly over one man therein tliou 
 hast a quite absohite unoontrolhible power ; him redeem, 
 him make honest ! It viiW be something, it "will be much, 
 and thy life and labour not in vain." 
 
 I can scarcely demonstrate my father's share in 
 public questions without tracing, in a slight sketch of 
 the times, the intimate connexion between agricultural 
 interests and all other political interests. To return, 
 therefore, to the year 1815. It was hoped that pro- 
 sperity would go hand in hand with peace ; but war 
 is the great destroyer of capital throughout the world. 
 England did not become sensible of this fact during 
 the war. She had been free from the curse of the 
 presence of armies on her own soil, there had been the 
 outward appearance of prosperity at liome, and our 
 exports had been great ; but gold had been thrown 
 away, right and left, on the great desolating marches 
 of Napoleon, The resources of the Continent were 
 exhausted, and foreign countries had no money to ex- 
 change for English productions. Our ships lay in foreign 
 harbours, with their freights rotting, or eaten up by rats. 
 The proclamation of the peace was the beginning of a 
 period of great perplexity to politicians. Our annual war 
 expenditure had been forty millions. The exhaustion 
 of capital, the sudden fall in the value of agricultural 
 jtroduce, the depreciation of the currency, the restric- 
 tions on trade preventing us from seeking relief through 
 the surplus produce of other countries, and, in turn, 
 emptying our own superabundance into foreign i)orts, 
 together with other causes, combined to produce a 
 paralysis of iudustiy, and a prevalence of poverty and
 
 52 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 misery, which found vent, a few years later, in plots 
 and attempted insurrections. 
 
 There were hard problems to be solved during the 
 long administration of Lord Liverpool. A Government 
 in which Lord Eldon was Chancellor, Lord Sidmouth in 
 the Home Office, and Lord Castlerea^h in the Foreign 
 Office (whatever may be said in favour of Castlereagh's 
 foreign policy), was not one likely to take a wise or 
 large view of measures needful to be adopted at home. 
 Ministers could not see that a different policy was re- 
 quired in a time of peace from what was necessary in 
 a time of war. It became evident to the Liberals that 
 whatever good the nation might hope for from such a 
 Government must be wrested from it by the will of the 
 people ; but that will had no adequate expression, for 
 the representation was so bad that to many it seemed 
 that nothing but the name of a representative system 
 remained. The political education of the people was 
 not, however, altogether retarded during this period of 
 adversity; their growing restlessness under the sense 
 of the need of a reformed representation began from 
 the year 1815 to prepare the way for the great Reform 
 Bill of 1832. The distress among agriculturists (of 
 whom I have more particularly to speak) aided the 
 reform movement. If the landowners and cultivators 
 had been in a state of prosperity during the twenty 
 years which preceded the Eeform Act, they — naturally 
 the most inert class in the country — would have been 
 the last to wish for any change, and the great reform of 
 Parliament would have been postponed ; but as it was 
 they had been long discontented with Parliament, and 
 became at last as desirous as any other class to have a 
 better constituted House of Commons. The agitations
 
 EELATION OF AGRICULTURE TO TOUTICS. 53 
 
 of those years succeeding the proclamation of peace 
 were, it is clear, productive of good, but they were iu- 
 comprehensible and displeasing to Lords Liverpool, 
 Sidmouth, Eldon, and Castlereagh, who thought that 
 when the war was ended the people had nothing to do 
 but to go quietly back to their homes and enjoy life, 
 failing to see that a people with any life in it requires 
 a national idea to work up to. The war had supplied 
 a national idea for a time, though a much lower one 
 than a people ought to have. The country had come out 
 of the war, and needed some worthy aim presented to 
 it ; the people could not " keep still, fold the hands to 
 sleep, and leave the conduct of affairs to their rulers;' 
 but the rulers of that day could not perceive this, and 
 hence their period of office became a long series of 
 quarrels, a protracted struggle between them and the 
 people. Faults were justly found with the want of 
 economy, the misuse of public money, and the multi- 
 tude of sinecure offices. The vicious life and extrava- 
 gance of the liegent at the same time, and his frequent 
 demands for an increase of revenue, aggravated the dis- 
 content of the people, and tried their patience and loyalty. 
 A succession of wonderfully beautiful seasons had 
 produced those rich harvests which, under a restrictive 
 commercial system, were the curse of the farmers. 
 The large crop of 1813 had left a surplus produce of 
 two or three years. The price of corn fell so low that 
 fanners began to be ruined. In 1815, Mr. "Western laid 
 before the House a })aper of fourteen resolutions, de- 
 claring the unexampled distress of agriculturists, show- 
 ing that the demand for their ])roduce was too small 
 to enable them to meet the heavy taxation, and pray- 
 ing for the removal of their burdens, and the imposition
 
 54 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 of restrictions and duties on all articles produced by 
 foreign agriculture. The landed interest preponderated 
 greatly in Parliament then, and these requests, which 
 sound rather strange to us now, were respectfully 
 listened to. 
 
 A Corn Bill was passed in this year, which absolutely 
 closed the ports, and forbade the landing of foreign corn 
 until the price of wheat at home had risen to eighty 
 shillings a quarter. This law had the immediate effect 
 of protecting our producers from distress during a time 
 when the price of corn was low. It lessened tempo- 
 rarily agricultural distress, but its effect on the com- 
 munity at large was to cut off the resources in years of 
 scarcity which other countries might have supplied, and 
 to produce again and again a universal distress. It is 
 easy for us to see now that it was short-sighted legisla- 
 tion for a single class, whose interests appeared to be, 
 but were not actually, in opposition to the interest of 
 the nation at large. Bread was sold again at war prices 
 in 1817 and 1818. The commercial and manufacturing 
 population petitioned largely and solemnly against this 
 hastily made Corn Law ; for it must not be supposed 
 that because bread had been cheap for a few years 
 therefore these classes were prosperous. The means of 
 purchase were exhausted ; there was a general lower- 
 ing of the prices of all kinds of productions, and of the 
 value of fixed property, " entailing a convergence of 
 losses and failures" among all classes. Great excite- 
 ment prevailed everywhere; the farmers were in terror; 
 they dared not look forward, for, even with their much- 
 desired protective measures secured, they could not fail 
 to see that the almost exclusive cultivation of wheat 
 forced upon them by the prohibitions on foreign sup -
 
 THE CORN BILL OF 1815. 55 
 
 plies, would quickly iinpoverisli the soil and become 
 injurious to other kinds of productive cultivation. The 
 arguments in favour of protection could not be expected 
 to find favour with famishing city populations, and the 
 idea that the high price of bread was maintained by 
 artificial means greatly increased the tendency to popu- 
 lar commotion in the large towns. 
 
 The commercial classes petitioned eagerly, but they 
 had very little voice in the representation, for at 
 this time Leeds, Birmingham, ]\ranchester, Sheffield, 
 Eochdale, Halifax, etc., were unrepresented. And 
 while they were petitioning against the Corn Bill, a 
 fresh petition was urged upon the House for further 
 protection by a large body of landed proprietors. Thus 
 they petitioned against each other, but the voice of the 
 commercial people was drowned by the pitiful wail of 
 the agriculturists, who imceasingly paraded their woes, 
 and met with condolence and indulgence from the 
 landed aristocracy in Parliament. Some, however, of 
 the greatest among landed proprietors — Buckingham, 
 Carlisle, Devonshire, Spencer, Grey, and Grenville — 
 recorded their memorable protest against this Corn Law, 
 asserting that " monopoly is the parent of scarcity, 
 dearness, and imcertaiuty." The law passed, diffusing 
 its bad effects far beyond our own country, exciting in 
 foreign rulers a rival spirit, and producing a " confiict 
 of retaliatory exclusion" injurious to all. I'ut the time 
 came, tlujugh not very soon, for wiser men to take 
 office, and to act in the belief of the more philosophical, 
 that no laws can be good which do not embrace the 
 well-being of the whole community, and that the 
 •sulfi-ring necessarily involved in the self-sacrifice of a 
 particular class for the general good, is a transitory
 
 56 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 suffering, which is followed by a sounder state of 
 prosperity. 
 
 The year 1817 opened darkly and ominously. In 
 January Lord Sidmouth presented a message to Parlia- 
 ment from the Prince Eegent on the subject of the 
 supposed disaffection of large bodies of the people, and 
 announced at the same time that on the return of the 
 state -carriage through the Park, " the glass of the 
 window had been perforated by two stones from an 
 air-gun, which appeared to have been levelled at the 
 royal person." The temper of the Eegent after this 
 assault was one of suspicion and sullen revengefulness. 
 He gave orders on the 3d of February that papers should 
 be laid before the Houses " containino- information 
 concerning certain practices, meetings, and combina- 
 tions in the metropolis and different parts of the king- 
 dom, evidently calculated to endanger the public 
 tranquillity, to alienate the affections of His Majesty's 
 subjects from His Majesty's person and government, 
 and to bring into hatred and contempt the whole 
 system of our laws and institutions." It is instructive 
 to observe the opposite metliods adopted by the 
 Government and the people in the furtherance of their 
 several objects. With the one it was secrecy, with the 
 other publicity. Lord Sidmouth moved that the above 
 matters should be referred to a committee of secrecy, 
 consisting of eleven Lords. This committee of secrecy 
 examined spies and defaulters, many of whom were 
 wretches of the most miserable character. On the 
 evidence of these men, the secret committee drew up a 
 report, which was laid before the House. This report 
 spoke of undoubted conspiracies in language as solemn 
 as Cicero's denunciation of Catiline, It included in
 
 LORD SIDMOUTII. 57 
 
 one general condemnation tlie rioters and fanatics wlio 
 are always ready to rush to the front and bring dis- 
 credit and ruin on every popular movement, — the ma- 
 chine-breakers, Spaiield conspirators, and the just and 
 moderate advocates of reform. The anarchist and the 
 noblest spirits of the day were denounced without 
 distinction. lieformers were called seducers, and atten- 
 tion was drawn to the increasing multitudes of the 
 seduced, and the inadequacy of the existing laws to 
 ward oil' the danger. Lord Sidmouth confirmed this 
 awful representation of things in a speech, wherein he 
 said, — " Such was the nature of the evidence, that it 
 left no doubt that a traitorous conspiracy had been 
 formed, for the purpose of overthrowing, by means of a 
 general insurrection, the established government, and of 
 effecting a general plunder and division of property." 
 Let us see what were the measures employed by the 
 liard-pressed and famine-stricken people. The most 
 uufiivourable judge of their proceedings, Lord Sidmouth 
 himself, said in this same speech, — " The seditious are 
 proceeding in their operations with an industry wholly 
 unexampled. Their chief instruments are jtublic 
 meetiuf's ;" he added " that a svstem of clubs had been 
 established by them, under the semblance of demanding 
 rarliamentary reform, but many of them, he was 
 convinced, had that specious pretext in their mouths 
 only, but rebellion ami revolution in llicir hearts." 
 That man's knowledge of human nature must liave 
 been .shallow indeed, who could believe, as lx)rd Sid- 
 moutli and his coUeagues did, to the end of their Hves,that 
 the men who a.ssembled in sober slow-moving thou.sands 
 after the hdunirs of the day — lean, hungry mechanics, 
 cureworn men, elderly, giiive fathers of families, — were
 
 58 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 actuated and inspired by an abstract " love of anarchy," 
 and "spirit of rebellion and revolution," — simple rowdies, 
 with no starving families at home, nor deep questions 
 troublino- their inmost souls. 
 
 The end of it all was the adoption of that measure, 
 so disgraceful to Lord Liverpool's Administration, the 
 suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the boldest 
 invasion of public liberties attempted since the age of 
 the Stuarts. A month later, Lord Sidmouth wrote a 
 circular letter to the lords-lieutenant of counties, 
 stating that he had obtained the authority of the law- 
 of&cers to proclaim that a Justice of the Peace may 
 issue a warrant to apprehend persons charged before 
 him, upon oath, wdth the publication of seditious 
 pamphlets and libels. Privately, he wrote that he 
 considered it his duty to " avail himself of every means 
 for the disclosure of any offence, either perpetrated or 
 meditated." Every political writer was thiis placed in 
 a most degrading position, and subjected to the danger 
 of being imprisoned on suspicion by the Secretary of 
 State's warrant. This crisis called forth the eloquence 
 of Earl Grey, some portions of whose speech on the 
 liberty of the Press, and the difficulty of defining libel, 
 are not unworthy of Milton's Areopagitica. There 
 now began a little " reign of terror." Men were 
 hanged in rows ; jails were filled with persons sus- 
 pected, or suspected of being suspected. Lord Sidmouth 
 became an important man. He was complimented on 
 the number of plots he brought to light, and on his 
 success in silencing the popular voice. He was told 
 that " the welfare of millions depended on his courage 
 and vigilance." A well-known but not wise divine 
 wrote to him, — " These are times of awful danger ; but,
 
 BORDERERS SUSPECTED. 69 
 
 my Lord, the great God of heaven has placed your 
 Lordship in the breach :" He established his family 
 at Malvern for safety, while, in a fever of excitement, 
 in an atmosphere of " sedition and treason," he himself 
 bustled back and forward with his OTeen bair, in which 
 were deposited the names of political seducers ; among 
 them was that of my father, who, toiijether with 
 other liberal men in the country, was suspected in a 
 general way of sowing dragons' teeth, which would 
 afterwards spring up armed men, and himself de- 
 nounced, in particular, for his mischievous habit of 
 " haranguing mobs." That Lord Sidmouth was an 
 honourable man, Avith a strong sense of duty to his 
 King, there is no doubt. He has been called a " sober, 
 industrious, vigilant rat-catcher," whose heart was 
 ti-uly in his work. And there is something in the 
 exultation with which his admirers wrote to each other, 
 "Sidmouth has discovered another plot!" not unlike 
 the shout of a party of boys watching with keen delight 
 the operations of a rat-catcher. He laljoured to crush 
 sedition, in which he would, if he could, have crushed 
 also much worthy aspiration ; and this he called up- 
 holding the monarchy. It is curious to obsei-ve the 
 difierence in the opinions of near neighbours as to the 
 state of things in loyal but protesting Northumberland. 
 Northumberland's great Duke wrote to Lord Sidmouth 
 at this time, communicating to him a series of facts 
 relating to his own lieutenancy. AWrv a drtiiil of the 
 facts he .says — 
 
 "From all tlicso difTcrciit circumstaucos, I confess it 
 apjH-ars to uie that a very widi; and I'.xtcnsive ])lan of 
 iiisurrectifm has lieon funned. ... It is to lie hnpcd that 
 the intentions of these infamou.s revolutionists have Imcii
 
 60 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 frustrated for the present, but, nevertheless, the constant 
 vigilance of ministers and magistrates is required to stop 
 the very first appearance of riot or seditious meetings ; and 
 your Lordship must give me leave to say, that from some 
 extraordinary expressions dropped in a large company at 
 Paris, in the hearing of one of my friends, I cannot enter- • 
 tain the least doubt but that we are obliged to foreign 
 propagandists for the mischief intended. ... I am sure, 
 my Lord, the intended march of the delegates from Man- 
 chester to London must too forcibly have reminded your 
 Lordship of the march of the Marseillois to Paris at the com- 
 mencement of the French Revolution. — I have the honour 
 to be, with the highest regard and esteem, your Lordship's 
 most faithful servant, NORTHUMBERLAND." 
 
 " We were told," said Mr. Lambton, in a speech to 
 the electors of his county, " that the men of the north 
 were in rebellion, and that they were united in societies 
 to overturn the Constitution. I was told that my 
 property was to be partitioned, and that on my return I 
 should find others enjoying it. What was my answer? 
 I said, I don't believe it ; but if it be true, I would 
 much rather my property should be partitioned among 
 my friends in the north, than among the corruptionists 
 of the House of Commons." It was reported that there 
 were a hundred thousand men in arms in Northumber- 
 land, and this included a company of the Cheviot 
 shepherds, nightly drilled by my father ! A meeting 
 was held in the northern part of the county, by the 
 quiet and determined friends of reform, on which oc- 
 casion my father thus expressed himself, in proposing 
 " The cause of Civil and Eeligious Liberty all over the 
 World "— 
 
 " There exists now-a-days a set of men who, arrogating 
 to themselves the possession of all that is valuable in 
 patriotism and all that is virtuous in loyalty, scruple not
 
 SPEECH rROTESTI>T. AGAINST MINISTERIAL MEASURES. 6 1 
 
 to load with obloquy and reproach those whose sentiments 
 lead them to pursue a contrary course of conduct. But 
 the definition of loyalty is substantially altered now from 
 the acceptation it bore in the better days of our constitu- 
 tion. He is not now accounted the loyal subject who, 
 living in uniform compliance Avith the laws of his country, 
 contributes in her hour of need, both by his purse and his 
 person, to her safety, and who reveres his king as the in- 
 alienable safeguard of that constitution, the health and 
 strength of which he considers himself to be supporting 
 when he supports the rujhts of the people, in union with 
 the privileges of the monarch. No ! but he is dignified 
 with the appellation who is content basely to truckle to 
 the minions of power, to follow an existing administration 
 through all its devious paths of mis-rule, and to sacrifice 
 liis liberty on the shrine of corruption. A spirit of political 
 persecution has gone abroad, — the natural offspring of that 
 odious Act of the last session by which the writ of Habeas 
 Corpus was suspended, and that best palhuliuna of British 
 liberty dashed to the ground — a spirit which, I am sorry 
 to observe, has manifested itself in no small degree in our 
 own immediate neighbourhood ; one instance, which at 
 this moment occurs to my recollection, is that of some re- 
 spectable individuals, who were considered unfit to hold 
 the situation of high-constables in a district, and for no 
 other reason, in my conscience I believe, than that they 
 were known to have been active in promoting the very 
 constitutional measure of petitioning Parliament against 
 that very unconstitutional favourite of ministers, the Pro- 
 perty Tax. Of another gentleman it was reported that he 
 had been fuun<l heading and haranguing a mob in this veiy 
 place, when at the time he happened to l)e in another 
 county at seventy or eighty miles distance. Nay, such 
 were the pains takcm to excite the fears of the timid and 
 impose on the faith of the cretlulous, that had it been 
 reported of such a person that he had been in the haljit of 
 training a band of tlie IJuaker inlial)itants of the borough 
 of Berwick to insurrection, I verily believe it would not
 
 62 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 have been a story too monstrous or too absurd to gain 
 credence and circulation. But why not a regiment of 
 Quakers in Berwick, as well as one composed of the half- 
 dozen lonely shepherds who, with their arms folded in 
 their plaids, and a happy indifference to all ulterior objects, 
 buffet the mountain storms as they tend their scattered 
 flocks in the gloomy recesses of the Cheviots 1 It may 
 well be asked what could be the motive for all this ; and 
 truly I am at a loss to conceive, other than to afford to 
 ministers the appearance of a justification of that monstrous 
 violation of our right, the right to be tried by a jury of 
 his peers, which constitutes the privilege and the birth- 
 right of every Englishman. Gentlemen, I have no more 
 fervent wish connected with the welfare of my country 
 than this, — that no future circumstances may ever prove the 
 necessity of a similar suspension, and that no future 
 ministers may be found hardy enough to revive it to serve 
 their own base purposes. After so much has been said, 
 and so well said, on the subject already, for me to enter into 
 any detail of that system of profligate expenditure and corrupt 
 administration, with all the train of calamitous consequences 
 that it has entailed on the country, would be to abuse your 
 patience and insult your understandings. Its effects are 
 but too widely and too strongly manifested in the example 
 of a country overwhelmed Avith debt, groaning under the 
 extremity of taxation, and loaded with a frightful accumu- 
 lation of pauperism, the ultimate consequences of which it 
 becomes dreadful to anticipate. 
 
 " Let me then solicit your indulgence for a few minutes 
 longer, whilst I turn to take a view of the fairer side of 
 the picture, — for though the clouds that envelop our 
 political horizon are dark and lowering, there breaks forth 
 now and then to my mind a distant prospect of better days 
 — ' a gleam of hope, to keep aloof despair.' 
 
 " When I look into the House of Commons, with all its 
 faults, and they are great and many, I discover something 
 there that never fails to excite my admiration and com- 
 mand my respect. When I see the Bennetts, the Lamb-
 
 HOPE OF REFORM. 63 
 
 tons, the Romillys, the Ridleys, and tlioir other Avorthy 
 associates in the cause of freedom, I am olieered, gentlemen, 
 with the consolatory reflection that the spirits of the 
 Howard and the Whithread of other days are still the in- 
 heritance of our land ; that the surterings of humanity in its 
 dreariest abuiles of privation and sorrow want not yet 
 their unwearied advocates, nor the abettors of corruption 
 their powerful and undaunted opponents. Let us then 
 show our love for our country hy testifying our emphatic 
 ajiprobation of those who have stood firm in the cause of 
 her freedom, and have laboured to transmit to posterity, 
 unimpaired, that constitution which has been the boast of 
 England and the envy of the world. To such men let us 
 intrust our interests, and those interests, be it remembered, 
 to possess which constitutes the distinction between the 
 freeman and the slave. I believe that a constitutional 
 monarch is the best guardian of civil liberty, if fettered in 
 the exercise of his just prerogative by wise and salutary 
 restrictions. But the experience of all former ages has 
 taught us that there is something so seductive to the mind 
 of man in the possession of power — that there exists in its 
 very nature such a tendency to increase and encroach — that 
 it requires the exercise of the most active vigilance and the 
 most unceasing jealousy to keep in force those restric- 
 tions which the wisdom of our ancestors placed around the 
 throne, to preserve the liberties of the subjects. And to 
 what quarter shall we look for this needful vigilance 
 against the encroachments of power? Sliall Ave go to 
 those members (for I Avill not call them rejJresentatiA'es), 
 who buy their seats as they would buy a stall in a market, 
 and then sell tliemselves to the party Avhich can best atlord 
 t^) remunerate their serA'ices, — and Avho Avill sell their 
 country too when they find a purcliaser? //7// .sv//, did 
 I say 1 Nay, who actually do sell the rights and property 
 of their rountr}inen by every interested vote that they 
 give in support of a comipt administration of jniblir affairs. 
 To what then are Ave to apply as a remedy ] 1 know of 
 no other than that of obtaining a free, full, and fair repre-
 
 64 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 seutation of the people in the Commons House of Parlia- 
 ment. I am not prepared to say that it is necessary for 
 this end to have recourse to annual parliaments and uni- 
 versal suffrage, but this I will say, that the object we ought 
 to aim at is to obtain a fundamental and radical reform, 
 planned in the spirit of wisdom, and executed in that of 
 moderation. This object we ought to pursue by every 
 legitimate and constitutional means, and with unremitting 
 attention, and victory will be the result." 
 
 In the early part of the year 1820 the old King George 
 III. died. The first act of the Kegent on becoming King 
 was to require from his Ministers that they should pro- 
 cure him a divorce. Then followed the trial of poor 
 Queen Caroline, which kept the country in a state of 
 excitement for months. The mass of the people of 
 England espoused loyally, and with good feeling, the 
 cause of that persecuted woman. A meeting was held 
 in January 1821, in Glendale Ward, for the purpose of 
 presenting an address to the King, which was loyal 
 enough in its wording, considering the indignation of 
 the inhabitants on account of the Queen, and on many 
 other accounts, not groundless. My father rose on this 
 occasion and said that the numbers present at the 
 meeting convinced him, if any further example were 
 necessary, how closely the proceedings of His Majesty's 
 present Ministers had taught every man, whether his 
 condition was high or low, provided he was not a pen- 
 sioner or placeman, to identify his individual happiness 
 and security with the happiness and security of the 
 country. The proceedings against Her Majesty had been 
 already so fully canvassed, they were so well known to 
 every one, that it would be worse than useless to occupy 
 their time in entering into any details on that subject. 
 They had been undertaken, as they all knew, under a
 
 QUEEN CAROLINE. Go 
 
 pretence of preserving the morality of the country, and 
 they had dehiged it with a flood of obscenity and 
 f\ilsehood. It had been left for the ingenuity of his 
 Majesty's Ministers to discover that the surest M-ay 
 to preserve anything pure was to bespatter it with 
 filth. He would only observe further on this sub- 
 ject, that notwithstanding all that had been feigned 
 or feared of the terrors of Radicalism, his Majesty's 
 advisers seemed to him to be the greatest Eadicals 
 after alL Tlioy had attempted to show to the world 
 how easy a matter it was, and how slight was the 
 pretext that would suffice to remove a crown from 
 the head that wore one. And had they succeeded 
 in establishing the principle that no one sliould be 
 qualified to wear a crown, of whom it could not be 
 proved that he was guiltless of the heinous crime of 
 which her Majesty had been, he believed, falsely 
 accused, how many, he would ask, of all the mem- 
 bers of our illustrious royal family — how many through- 
 out the Courts of Europe — would be found to stand the 
 test of such a qualification ? 
 
 " But let us look beyond these hateful proceedings, and see 
 wliat cause of gratitude we can find there, to his Majesty's 
 Ministers. Let us inquire how it comes to pass, that after 
 liaving enjoyed mor<' than five years of profound peace — 
 how comes it that tlie natural blessings of peace liave 
 l>cen converted into a productive source of misery to the 
 people of this country 1 How comes it, that whilst other 
 nations are reduein" their debts and taxes, we onlv ex- 
 perience an aggravation of our burdens and an aljridgment 
 of our liberties ] ^Vhence is it, that amid the bounties of 
 Providence, genial sea.sons and abundant harvests, our land 
 is heard to groan with juiujierism and wretchedness? Is 
 not the cause to be found, in a great degree, in the wa.stc- 
 
 E
 
 G6 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 fill expenditure of the public treasure, and in that im- 
 politic system of restrictions on our foreign intercourse, 
 which check the springs of commerce, and paralyse the 
 industry, the ingenuity, and the enterprise of our country- 
 men 1 These are the benefits which the present system 
 of government has produced. It has filled the land with 
 misery — that misery has naturally created discontent — and 
 that discontent, construed into disafi"ection, has formed the 
 pretext for suspending our rights, and gratifying our rulers, 
 by the adoption of more despotic measures. It has even 
 been asserted, gentlemen, that the peaceful mountains that 
 now surround us are the abodes of Radicals, by which they 
 mean men who would overturn the established government 
 of their country ; but I deny the assertion : my experience 
 of the conduct and character of their inhabitants, the very 
 aspect and order of the present meeting, prove its falsehood. 
 And if there is one man here so deluded as to propose to 
 himself to create his own happiness by spreading misery 
 around him — so wicked and so foolish as to hope to enrich 
 himself by converting his country into a desert — then from 
 my heart I declare that I regard him with an equal feeling 
 of compassion and contempt. But there is no such person, 
 and I rejoice that I have this day an oj^portunity to stand 
 forward and repel the calumny. 
 
 " I should be sorry to trespass unwarrantably upon your 
 time, but as I never had before, and may never have again, 
 an opiDortunity of meeting so many of my neighbours and 
 fellow-parishioners together, may I entreat you to bear 
 with me for a few minutes if I venture to remind you that 
 we have duties to perform as well as rights to defend ; that 
 whilst we are bold in asserting our rights, and earnest in 
 maintaining our privileges, we ought to be equally careful 
 to perform our duties. I would remind you of those duties 
 which we owe to society and to ourselves, as good citizens 
 and as good Christians : for you may rest assured, that 
 there is no guarantee for the good government of a State, 
 or for the honest administration of its public aff"airs, equal 
 to that which is found in the intelligence, the indepen-
 
 PLACEMEN AND PENSIOXEKS. 67 
 
 (lence, the morality, and the virtue of the great bodj' of 
 the people. 77«,vv', gentlemen, are the glorious safeguards 
 that liberty raises around herself for her own protection. 
 And lastly, I Avould remind you of those duties which we 
 owe to posterity, as men to whose care is committed the 
 presentation of that Constitution which was framed by 
 the wisdom of our forefatliers, which has been preserved 
 to us by their firmness, and consecrated by the best of 
 their blood, — that Constitution which gave energy to our 
 councils and valour to our soldiers, which filled our haltita- 
 tions Anth industry, and stimulated our mechanics to skill 
 and our merchants to enterprise, because it conferred 
 liberty on the subject, — that Constitution which has borne 
 the vessel of the State triumphant through many storms 
 and tempests, and will still save her from the impending 
 evil of the times, and the misrule of a pusillanimous Ad- 
 ministration, if the men of England will but make it their 
 peculiar care, and consider it to be their paramount duty, 
 to preserve it unimpaired for the benefit of posterity." 
 
 " Placemen and pensioners " were a constant source 
 of dissatisfaction to the people. Their case was bad 
 enough. An Act of the 50th George iir. had enabled 
 public officers to retire on pensions. At the time the 
 bill passed the amount of allowances to retired officers 
 of the Customs was only £7800, but in 1820 they 
 amounted to no less than £90,000. Numbers of per- 
 sons retired from offices, not because they were super- 
 annuated or unfit, but because Ministers "wished to 
 make provision for otlier persons. Others, however, 
 retired from office after office on account of unfitness, 
 and received a pension on each resignation, as Sir 
 l'>ellingham Graham, who in 1818 was receiving retired 
 allowances for f(jur offices, for each of which he had 
 been declared unfit. The giant ing of pensions was 
 carried on with much mystery and secrecy. Josej)h
 
 G8 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 Hume laboriously sought out and brouglit to light 
 many of these abuses. The good effect of his labours 
 was manifested some years afterwards, when several 
 officers applied for leave to retire on pensions, and were 
 not allowed, " because," said the Ministers, " if we allow 
 it, Joe Hume will be down upon us." Mr. Hume 
 visited Northumberland soon after his first successful 
 campaign against the misuse of the public money. At 
 a reception given to him at Berwick, my father being 
 called upon to speak, made the following remarks : — 
 
 " I hold it to be no very difficult task for a member to 
 rise in his place in Parliament, and declaim generally about 
 the pressure of taxation, the extravagance or impolicy of the 
 measures of the Ministry, or the corruption of their own 
 honourable House ! But for a man to wade through all 
 tlie complicated details of financial operations, detecting 
 errors, and suggesting improvements, and to devote with 
 unremitted labour his days and his nights to the work, 
 testifies a perseverance and patriotism that can originate 
 in no trivial motive, and are deserving of no light com- 
 mendation. Mr. Hume's Parliamentary conduct has afforded 
 an extraordinary example of zeal and ability in the dis- 
 charge of the trust that his constituents have committed to 
 his care. I rejoice in the object of the present meeting, 
 because it has often occurred to me that we are too tardy 
 and indifferent in expressing our sense of the merits of such 
 services. If news of a victory reaches us, immediately fires are 
 kindled on every hill-top, and every town and every house 
 bears testimony to the general joy ; and should the con- 
 quering hero come among us, at once every hat is in the 
 air, and all throats are distended to send his name to the 
 skies, whUst we allow to pass almost without notice the 
 more silent but not less important services of peaceful men. 
 But so it is, — 
 
 ' We mark tlie tempest's rage, the comet's fires, 
 Forget the shower, the sunshine, and the breeze.'
 
 JOSEPH HUME. C9 
 
 I will yield to no one in zeal for my oountrj''s glory. I 
 weiukl nut bestow on that man who risks his life and all 
 that is dear in family, fortune, or connexions in his country's 
 cause a niggard share of praise. But the legislator of peace- 
 ful times, who devotes his life and talents to promote the 
 welfare of his country, to chock the extravagance of an 
 Administration, or rei>ress the encroachments of power, and 
 by so doing to strengthen the fabric of social order, is not 
 he deserving of a more lasting gratitude, than he who 
 marks the course of his life with the desolations of con- 
 quest ? Such have been the objects of Mr. Hume's un- 
 remitting labours, — labours which, I will venture to say, 
 have not been exceeded by those of any official stipendiary', 
 whilst there exists this difference, that the one is paid for 
 them and the other is not. Did I say that he is not paid 
 for his labours ? I am sure he will himself be the first to 
 check me in the assertion, for I would ask you, gentlemen, 
 is he not paid for exertions however great, who receives 
 the thanks of every honest man ] But he possesses more, 
 — something which I am sure he holds more precious than 
 any expression of praise or gratitude, — I mean the internal 
 consciousness of deserving them, and I rejoice that I now 
 have the opf)ortunity of wishing him health and every 
 blessing and ail success in his future exertions.' 
 
 For some years after this meeting, Mr. Hume cor- 
 responded with my father on the subjects about which 
 he was occupied in I'arliament, taxation, etc. 
 
 "Do not think," he said, writing to my father in 1827, 
 " that I have forgotten you. No bustle will ever obliterate 
 from my recollection the manly and patriotic sentiments 
 delivered hy you at Berwick. I shall be happy at every 
 <)]»portunity to renew your acquaintance, and shall en- 
 • je.ivuur to secure by my future public c(jiulu<t the gcjnd 
 opinion you have expressed of my past acts. The present 
 time may be fairly said to hold out a better course of 
 mea-sures for the public good, though I am not very san- 
 guine. — I am very sincerely yours, JosiiPH lllME."
 
 70 MEMOIPv OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 In his advocacy of Free-trade principles, my father 
 often perplexed his brother agriculturists, and especi- 
 ally about this time, by the strong opinion he expressed 
 in favour of the removal of the duty on foreign wool. 
 I remember to have heard that " they thought him 
 mad " for urging what seemed so much against his own 
 and their interests. From the year 1819 to 1824 the 
 duty on foreign wool was 6d. per lb. The manufacturers 
 of woollen stuffs and the wool-growers were fiercely at 
 variance. The manufacturers wished that the importa- 
 tion of foreign wool should be free, and that the expor- 
 tation of British wool should be forbidden, so that on 
 both hands wool could be had cheap. The farmers 
 wished that there should be a restriction on the im- 
 portation of foreign wool, and that there should be a 
 free exportation, enabling them to sell freely at the 
 best markets at home and abroad, and so, on both 
 hands, to pocket largely. " I see what you want," said 
 my father, " a good price for your wool, and I will 
 explain to you in what way the removal of the import 
 duty will secure this for you." But it was in vain, for 
 the most part, that he explained that the use of British 
 wool is limited by itself ; that it is good only for making 
 baizes, blankets, and such coarse fabrics, but will not 
 make fine cloth, while many fabrics can be made by 
 the mixture of foreign and British wool ; that the free 
 importation of foreign wool would necessarily increase 
 the sale of British wool, by enabling some parts of it to 
 be worked up to advantage, which otherwise would be 
 useless ; that the foreign manufacturers were beginning 
 to beat us everywhere, and that the stagnation of the 
 manufacture at home was directly opposed to the filling 
 of the pockets of the British wool-growers.
 
 THE CURRENCY. 71 
 
 ^fr. Ilnskisson settled tliis iii;itter, when President 
 of tlie Board of Trade, by getting the duty taken off 
 foreign wool. The increase in the annual shipments 
 of manufc\ctured woollen goods after this tells a tale 
 of eventually undiminished prosperity to the home 
 wool-growers ; for, although for two years after the 
 removal of the duty, the price of home-grown wool 
 fell — partly owing to the fact of cotton having so 
 much taken the place of woollen stuffs during the high 
 import duties, partly from other causes — the depression 
 was temporary. In the years of the high import 
 duty, the average annual shipments amounted to 
 1,00-4,441 pieces; ten years after the removal of the 
 duty the average annual shipments had risen to 
 1,505,993 pieces. My father's "theories," however, 
 were naturally not held in much esteem by the shcop- 
 farmers and their protectionist teachers, until the ex- 
 perience of subsequent years had set its seal upon their 
 soundness. 
 
 Probably the subject which occupied the minds of 
 certain classes of men more than all others during; these 
 years, was that of the Currency. The return to cash 
 payments, after those years of the war, in which there 
 was such an extraordinary superabundance of paper in 
 circulation, the dilliculties, perplexities, and hardsliips 
 which accompanied the restriction of that circulation, 
 the work done and evidence gained by the famous 
 P»nllion Committee of 1819, and the passing of Mr. 
 Peel's bill in that year, were matters which my father 
 watched with tlu' keenest interest. H(! was himself, 
 togetlier with all jjcrsons connected with land, a sufferer 
 during that transition, lie wrote in 1822 sonu^ pajx-rs 
 on the suliject, wliich, with all their figures and details,
 
 72 MEMOIK OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 would not be interesting now. They show a masterly 
 grasp of the economical features of the time ; but it 
 was too soon after the passing of Mr. Peel's bill for 
 him to judge of its effects, and the view he took of the 
 working of it was modified in after years. 
 
 Except by a very few people in and out of Parlia- 
 ment, the recondite science of money, with all the 
 phenomena which attend any addition to or lessening 
 of its quantity, was very little understood, and indeed 
 it still continues to be very little understood by the 
 people at large. To most people it seems the driest as 
 well as the hardest of all subjects. Yet at that time 
 the Economists, as a party of that day was called, 
 spoke and wrote on the subject with enthusiasm, and 
 even with passion. Lord Grenville wrote an essay on 
 the currency, and on the advantages of a sinking fund, 
 in the intervals of the agonies of a severe illness. There 
 is a pathos in his summing up. " Thus much I have 
 said," he writes, " of the sinking fund. It is the bare 
 and unshadowed outline of the view I have taken, the 
 powerless skeleton of an argument which, if clothed 
 with however small a portion of the substance and 
 energy of life, and animated with the spirit of sincerity 
 and public zeal, might, I hoped, have been of some 
 benefit in a deliberation the importance of which can 
 hardly be overrated." Mr. Horner acted boldly, and 
 as it afterwards appeared wisely, in putting forward 
 Mr. Peel (afterwards Sir Eobert) to be chairman of the 
 Bullion Committee, in spite of the known predilections 
 of his father Sir Eobert, which were shared by his son. 
 Mr. Peel went into the inquiry holding one set of 
 opinions, and came out of it holding another directly 
 opposite set of opinions. With characteristic honesty,
 
 BULUON COMMITTEE. 73 
 
 he declared his change of views in his speech before the 
 House on the report of the Committee, apologizing for 
 his infidelity to his father's opinions, and giving a very 
 clear account of the process through which he had been 
 converted. There are some old-fashioned Tories alive 
 at this day, still smarting under the pain of the terrible 
 diminution of the value of their property, who declare, 
 " This was the beginning of Peel's apostasy ; he never 
 went right afterwards," 'My. Peel's speech gave rise to 
 one of the most extraordinary debates that ever took 
 place in Parliament, in which there was a curious ex- 
 liibition of the ignorance of the majority of members 
 as to what the depreciation of the currency meant, and 
 what mSney is. ^Mr. Peel began his speech by pleading 
 for a patient hearing, " considering the peculiar dryness 
 of the subject." He spoke of the extraordinary opinions 
 he had met with in the work of his Committee, before 
 which bank-directors, merchants, bullion-dealers, bul- 
 lion-brokers, bill-brokers, and people of every kind 
 were examined ; of the alarm which the return to cash 
 payments caused ; and of the perplexity which there 
 was in the minds of most men about the whole subject. 
 He gave, for example, the answers of ]\Ir. Smith (a very 
 respectable man), who was an advocate for the in- 
 definite su.spension of cash payments. When this wit- 
 ness was asked whether this indefinite suspension was 
 to exist without any standard uf value, he replied, 
 "No; the pound should be the standard." He 
 wa.s required to define what he meant by " the pound." 
 Hi.s an-swer wa.s, " I find it didlcult to explain it ; 
 but every gentleman in England knows what it is." A 
 second time the comnattee re(piested him to define a 
 I'ound, and Mr. .Smith answered — " It is something
 
 74 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 that has existed in this country without variation for 
 eight hundred years, three hundred years before the 
 introduction of gold ;" and this was the only definition 
 he could give. Mr. Peel told the House that Sir Isaac 
 Newton, retiring from the sublime studies in which he 
 had spent his life, from the contemplation of his be- 
 loved stars, and of the regular and harmonious laws 
 which govern them, entered upon the examination of 
 the currency question, and that that great man came, 
 at last, back to the old, the vulgar doctrine, as some 
 called it, that the true standard of value consisted in a 
 definite quantity of gold bullion. Every sound ^vrite^ 
 on political economy had come to the same conclusion ; 
 and lastly, Mr. Peel solemnly adjured the House to 
 make up its mind whether the old metallic standard 
 should be restored or not. 
 
 The owners of land were pre-eminently sufferers from 
 the action of the bill which passed the House, and 
 which to this day has no other name than Mr. Peel's 
 bill, probably owing to the difficulty of condensing any 
 definition of it into a word. It has been maintained 
 that there were errors in the bill which mioht have 
 been avoided, the consequences of which even a man 
 like Mr. Eicardo did not foresee. William Cobbett 
 warned the Bullion Committee of some of their grand 
 errors, and of the trouble into which they would preci- 
 pitate the country ; he declared that the bill would not 
 work, and said, with the ferocious sarcasm for which 
 he was so remarkable, that " if ever the Act of 1819 
 went into full effect, he would allow Sidmouth to broil 
 him alive upon a gridiron, whilst Castlereagh stirred 
 the fire, and Canning stood by to make a jest of his 
 groans," adding, that " if ever the Act did go into com-
 
 MR. PEELS BILL. 75 
 
 plete effect, it could only be after causing at least a 
 million of persons to perish of hunger ; " and his predic- 
 tions were not far wroncr. 
 
 As the Bank of England and the country banks 
 gradually decreased their circulation, and refrained 
 from issuing notes for sums under £5, of which the 1st 
 of ^lay 1823 was to be the limit of existence, the prices 
 of all, and especially of agricultural produce, steadily 
 and rapidly declined, until from Berwick-on-Tweed to 
 Land's End there arose one bitter cry of distress and 
 ruin, and the table of the House " groaned with peti- 
 tions," praying Parliament to put an end to a state of 
 things so intolerable by a sweeping reduction of taxa- 
 tion. Undoubtedly the first effects of the Act were 
 terrible, and the promoters of it, as is almost always 
 the case with the promoters of measures wliich are in 
 the long-run beneficial, being essentially sound, had 
 to endure a prolonged and severe trial of their faith in 
 their own principles, and to sit quiet under the heavy 
 cloud of popular displeasure. The landowners cried 
 out that they were the victims of an unjust law, and 
 hotly urged a claim for compensation for the difference 
 between payments made to them in the depreciated 
 currency, and the amount in standard money of their 
 legal demands ; on the other hand, the capitalists,^ who 
 
 * The position of the fundowners was thus estimated b}' my fatlicr in 
 1822:- 
 
 " The following tahle shows the gross profits of the fundowner at this 
 time, taking wheat for the criterion of the value of money as above, to be 
 more than 300 per cent, on his ca])ital : — 
 
 Price of the Winchester bushel of wheat on the average of 
 
 live yearn, ending with 1813, £0 1i 4 
 
 Price of 3 per cent, consols in 1813, as given in Wctten- ( WJ or 
 
 hair« Slock List, I f)7 7 <3 
 
 Eighty bunheU of wheat at 14». 4d., make-H . 57 7 G
 
 76 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 lauded the measure, and who looked unfavourably on 
 the complaining class, greatly underrated the amount 
 of suffering actually inflicted, and some of these took 
 pains to misrepresent the causes. My father never 
 palliated, but asserted strongly, the fact of the vast 
 amount of hardship inflicted on landowners, of which, 
 indeed, he had abundant experience around him among 
 the humbler class of proprietors, with whom he had 
 much sympathy ; but he had been in the habit of con- 
 sidering well and calmly the conditions under which 
 any great change from a bad to a good system must be 
 accomplished, and the circumstances which invariably 
 attend it, and he knew too well the inconvenience 
 which every such change must bring to some one class or 
 other, to cry out against it as a cruel and undeserved 
 grievance when such inconvenience came nearer home, 
 or to call, as many did, for a return to a state of things 
 which could not be continuous, and the enforced recti- 
 fication of which was the proximate cause of all the 
 misery. If a system be rotten at its heart, the very 
 consequences of its unsoundness generally form the 
 
 the then price of £100 consols. In 1813 it thus required the value of 80 
 bushels of wheat to obtain credit upon the Government for £100 3 per 
 cent, consols ; and the value of 80 bushels of wheat being all the con- 
 sideration given, is evidently all that ought now to be repaid. But what 
 is the fact ? 
 
 Present price of the bushel of wheat, as per the last averages, £0 4 9 
 
 Present price of 3 per cent, consols, "i eo'" 7 
 
 Three hundred and forty-seven bushels of wheat at 4s. 9d. produces 
 £82, 7s. 6d., the present price of £100 3 per cent, consols. Thus the 
 fundowner who lent to Government the value of 80 bushels of wheat in 
 1813, is now in 1822 literally repaid the value of 347 bushels, or more 
 than four times the value in wheat that he is entitled to. Thus the 
 riches of the public creditor are quadrupled on the one hand, whilst 
 public and private burthens are quadrupled on the other. 
 
 John Gret."
 
 EFFECTS OF MR. PEEL's BILL. 77 
 
 most powerful impediment to a correction of it. The 
 same strange want of reflection M-hich made many of 
 the slave-owners of America attribute to the Act of 
 Emancipation, instead of to the evil system which pre- 
 ceded and necessitated it, the disorganization and 
 miseiy which followed the freeing of their slaves, pre- 
 vented the people of England at this crisis from going 
 further to seek for the cause of their distress, than to 
 the law which diminished the circulating medium, 
 although they must have known that to continue under 
 the system which Parliament M-as bound to put an end 
 to, M'ould have been like walking on the ledge of an 
 undermined precipice or the crust of a smouldering 
 volcano. The injustice complained of, such as it was, 
 lay really in this — that tlirough the want of any educa- 
 tion of the public mind in this occult science of money, 
 thousands of people, not rash speculators, " had been 
 allowed^' to use my father's words, " to make calcula- 
 tions and enter into contracts upon a f\ilse basis," in 
 dependence upon the supposed wisdom of a Legislature 
 which had, in the fii"st instance, " depreciated the value 
 of money to a gi-eat extent, and during that depreciation 
 added largely to the national debt."^ " It is impossilile," 
 he says, " for all this to be reversed without great hard- 
 
 * " If, in the year 1797, it had been foreseen that a teniporarj' expeilient 
 would be attempted to be converted into a sj'.steni for an indelinite niinibor 
 of years ; and that, under this system, in the year 1810, every creditor, 
 public or private, subject or alien, to whom the law, as it then stood, and 
 as it now Mtandii, had secured the payment of u pound weight of standard 
 gold for every £4G, 14s. 6d. of his just denian<l, would be obliged to accept, 
 in full hutisfuction, about 10^ ounces, or not more than seventeen shillings 
 in the pound, with a prospect of a still further reduction in every subse- 
 quent year,— it is impossible to conceive that the attention and feelings of 
 Parliament would not have been alive to all the individual injustice and 
 ultimate public calatnities incident to such a state of things ; and that they 
 would not liave jirovided for the termination of the restriction, before it
 
 78 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 ship being inflicted on a numerous class of the com- 
 munity, and perhaps the only apology that I can make for 
 writing about it is the selfish one, that whilst suffering, 
 there is some relief in being allowed to grumble and 
 complain." " But you ought to have known," was the 
 answer of the Economists to the complainers generally, 
 " that the system under which you were contracting 
 must come to an end, for the necessity of the resumption 
 of cash payments within a given time is recognised in 
 the preambles of different Acts of Parliament." " Who 
 knows anything about preambles of Acts of Parlia- 
 ment ?" was in substance the retort to this assertion. 
 Certainly the majority of people throughout the country 
 knew nothing of them. At the present day, however, 
 as it is well known, not only the mercantile world, but 
 also the class who suffered most at the time, almost 
 universally acknowledges the benefits conferred on our 
 country by Mr. Peel's bill, the merit of which consisted 
 in the sanction which it gave to the principle, that the 
 bank has the power, by the regulation of its issues, to 
 preserve the value of its paper on a level with that of 
 gold ; and this benefit we every one of us can understand 
 and feel, however ignorant we may be of the great 
 mystery of money, when we travel abroad, and find that 
 an English five-pound note is as good everywhere as 
 five pounds in gold. 
 
 Some years later this pressure began to react very 
 heavily on the agricultural labourers. Articles appeared 
 in the Times, in which much sympathy was expressed 
 with the poor labourers, but little cognisance taken of 
 
 should have wrought so much mischief, and laid the foundation of so much 
 confusion in all the dealings and transactions of the community."— 
 
 HUSKISSON.
 
 CASE OF THE HUMBLER LAXDOWNEKS. 79 
 
 an intermediate class between the wealtliy lords of the 
 land and their " serfs." ^ly father felt the weakness 
 of arguments grounded on a partial statement of facts, 
 and answered these articles in a series of letters, from 
 which I extract a few sentences : — 
 
 " Sir, — In the many articles wliich have of late appeared 
 in the Times, one cannot hut observe, connected with a 
 laudable sympathy with the sufferings and zeal for the 
 improvement of the condition of agricultural labourers, 
 some degree of injustice in the remarks tliat are so 
 frequently applied to the landlords, as if they were the 
 main cause of the existing evil, and as if, by lowering 
 their rents, the evil would at once be abated. ' Let the 
 laudktrds,' you say, ' be content to live less luxuriously.' 
 ' Let the landlords give up a share of their exorbitant de- 
 mands upon the tenants, that they may afford to emjjloy 
 and to pay labourers,' etc. Now, sir, having a pretty general 
 knowledge of the state of the country, and of its agricul- 
 tural jiopulation and interests, I must denmr to the justice 
 of such remarks. I admit at once that rents are too high 
 for the present times, and that tithes, — not as paid to the 
 clergy in particular, but as a system, counteracting the 
 efforts of industry, discouraging the spirit of improvement, 
 and giving rise to endless litigation, — form an evil of the 
 greatest magnitude. But when you say to the landlord, 
 Be content with two-thirds of your present rent that the 
 jioor may have bread, you ought to recollect, for you well 
 know, that all landlords are not in the condition of theDukes 
 of Northuiid)erland and Devonshire, of Lords CJrosvenor 
 and Fitzwilliam, or Sir Francis Burdett, men who are be- 
 yond the reach of any reduction of rent to affect their 
 credit or comfort. You ought to recollfct that there is a 
 large class of landowners <»i' a lower rank, who, whclln-r 
 they came into possession of their lands by j)iircha.se or 
 irdu-ritance, are so encumbered Ijy the interest of borrowed 
 capital, or by the jiaynn-nt of .stijiulated legacies and an- 
 uuitiea on the one hand, and b} the reduction of rent which
 
 80 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 they have already been obliged to submit to on the other, 
 that they are at this moment more reduced in their relative 
 position in society than any other description of persons 
 that you can name, — possessed of property which, in many 
 instances, they cannot dispose of, and upon which they are 
 the mere agents between the tenants whose rents they 
 receive, and the tax-gatherer and mortgagee to whom they 
 are transferred ; to say nothing of properties in land in cer- 
 tain situations, the produce of which is nearly absorbed by 
 the poor's rates, yielding hardly any surplus to the possessor. 
 That rents must be still further reduced there is no doubt, 
 any more than there is that many more landed proprietors 
 must be ruined ; but in the meantime it is much easier to 
 say to such people, ' Reduce your rents,' than to point out 
 to them any possible means within their reach of doing so. 
 
 " Let any man situated in the country, look around him 
 and see the resjDectable family, long known in the neighbour- 
 hood, and long resident upon an estate which has been im- 
 proved and cultivated under their superintendence, laying 
 aside the decent carriage that conveyed them to church, 
 and trudging it on foot, abridging not only what may be 
 called the luxuries — the hospitable entertainment and social 
 intercourse of their little hall, — but abolishing many of its 
 actual comforts as beyond the reach of their abridged in- 
 come, and then let him bestow upon them the salutary advice 
 — to ' be content to live less luxuriously.' Let him again 
 look at the quantities of land that have been given up by 
 their owners to the management of trustees for the benefit 
 of their creditors, for much of which, to my knowledge, no 
 purchasers can be found ; and let him recommend on such 
 property the reduction of rent and liberal employment of 
 the poor. 
 
 " If it be asked how all this comes to pass, the question 
 is not of very difficult solution. The evil had its origin in 
 the method adopted by Mr. Pitt, to enable him to carry on 
 a system of expensive warfare, which lessened the value of 
 money, and deceived the country by fallacious estimates of 
 its wealth and prosperity. The doctrine promulgated by
 
 DETERIORATION OF TROPERTY. S 1 
 
 the successors of Mr. Pitt in the same fiital course, — ' tliat 
 a pound-note and a shilling -wore equal in value to a guinea,' 
 — kept u]i the delusion. Money Avas inve.sted in the pur- 
 ch:u>eand occupation of land under the depreciating system ; 
 expensive improvements M-ere undertaken ; and innumer- 
 able contracts entered into, which the forcible restriction 
 of the currency, by the passing of Peel's bill, has had the 
 eflFect of rendering completely ruinous. 
 
 " Formerly, the jiroprietor of an estate worth £20,000 
 imagined he could safely take a mortgage of £10,000 upon 
 it, and still be possessed of an interest ■worth £10,000 in 
 his ]iropcrty. The owner and mortgagee had thus equal 
 stakes in the land ; but how do tlu'y stand now ] The 
 estate will only sell for £15,000, yet the mortgagee is 
 entitled to the payment of his £10,000, and that too at a 
 time when it is worth £13,000 or £14,000 of the money 
 that he invested ; so that the parties who started equally 
 in the transaction come off, the one possessed of 10,000 
 good hard sovereigns in lieu of the 10,000 bank-notes which 
 he advanced, worth actually about los. 9d. each; and the 
 other, after all the drawbacks which the transfer and pos- 
 session of land are subjected to in the way of stamps, con- 
 veyances, repairs, and management, with at most £5000; 
 and such, sir, is the actual condition of a large portion of 
 the landowners uprm whom yon draw down the public 
 odium, by calling upon them to ' reduce their rents, and be 
 content to live less luxuriously,' as if they were the cormo- 
 rants who consume the food of the commonwealth, leaving 
 others to starve. 
 
 " So far with regard to that much-.suffering class, the 
 inferior owners of land, to whom the reduction in the price 
 of such articles as constitute their family and household 
 exiK-nses is in no degree commensurate with the dimimition 
 of their property. 
 
 " Now, a« to the deplorable condition of the peasantry, 
 nothing can be worse than tin- ])lau you no deservedly 
 reproliate, of eking out insnflicient wages l)y a donation 
 from the poor's fund. Hut is there not something e(iually
 
 §2 . MEMOm OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 mischievous and impolitic in the plan that has been 
 yielded to by the employers in various districts, of fixing 
 a minimum price of labour, or a uniform rate of wages ] 
 The price of labour, like everything else, will regulate itself, 
 if left to find its level, by the supply and demand. While 
 the labour of one man may be worth fifteen shillings, that 
 of an inferior workman may not be worth more than seven 
 or eight shillings, yet he is to claim equal wages with his 
 superior in strength and dexterity — a rule which would 
 soon reduce all labourers to the standard of the most in- 
 efiicient, making them, so long as they stand their appointed 
 hours, very indiff'erent as to the quantity of work they 
 perform." ■"■ 
 
 1 The followiig letter, written by my eldest brother, on the subject of 
 " piece-work," may be interesting in connexion with the above :— 
 
 "MiLFIELD, Scpf. 1, 1868. 
 
 " Referring to onr conversation about the earnings of South of England and 
 Northern Counties of England labourers, 1 have looked back to a circum- 
 stance which came under my own knowledge and management, which bears 
 on the subject. 
 
 "In 1855, some letters appeared in the Times, throwing blame on land- 
 owners for not giving employment at fair wages to labourers, and stating the 
 wages that an able-bodied man had to support his family of so many children 
 was from 8s. to 9s. a week. I ventured to reply to these by saying it was 
 unfair to expect proprietors to give more than the market price for labour, 
 or to find work that they did not think necessary or to be remunerative, 
 and unreasonable to require work to be found at the door of the labourers, 
 when there was actually a greater demand for labour than it could be foimd 
 to supply in other districts. 
 
 " I went on to say that I had at that time about 2000 men employed in 
 di'ainage works, at which they were averaging from 20s. to 25s. a week by 
 piece-work ; and that I engaged to employ any number that might be sent, on 
 the same works, at the same piece-work wages. I was shortly inundated with 
 letters from all parts of the South of England :—Godalming, Surrey; 
 Ripley, do. ; Long Stratton, Norfolk ; Woodbridge, Suffolk ; Ampthill, 
 Bedfordshire ; Colchester, Essex ; Market Harborough, Leicestershire ; 
 Pinner, Middlesex ; Bishop-Stortford, Herts, and many other places. I 
 believe about 200 men came to me, who were stated to be good workmen, 
 and accustomed to use the spade and pick-axe. I ai)portioued these in ten 
 or twenty different places where draining was going on, according as 
 lodgings could be obtained. It was soon found that where tlie cutting was 
 hard and stony they could do nothing, and many left without fmishmg 
 any work. Some went on for a few weeks or months, but none made more
 
 . L.VBOUE AND WAGES. 83 
 
 My father compared the state of Scotland with that 
 of England, in one of the letters alluded to above : — 
 
 " There is a marked difference between the healthful and 
 respectable appearance of the peasantry in the northern 
 districts of Eui,dand and the soutlunn jiarts of Scotland, 
 and the look of poverty, too frequently joined to that of 
 dissipation, whicli is observable in the same class of people 
 in the south of England. As regards Scotland, this must 
 
 than 12s. a week, or from one-third to one-half less than our Northumbrians 
 were niakini; in the same fields. 
 
 " Before the year wa.s out, all had left except ten out of the twenty who 
 were allotted to Chevington. There the soil was clay without stone, and 
 cut easily. These few remained for several years, and got to be tolerably 
 expert workmen ; but owing to want of strength and energy, they never 
 got Wyond 15s. a week ; indeed, there was not a man amongst tlie whole 
 importation that had legs or shoulders to compare with our lads of seven- 
 teen years of age. My e.\[ierience was afterwards confirmed by the opinion 
 of the most accomplished man I ever knew, Mr. John Girdwood, of 49 
 Pall Mall, London, who at the time had works of great extent going on in 
 everj* county of England except three. He said that the cost of piece or 
 contract work was nearly the same in every district, but that there was a 
 most marked difference in the wages earned by labourers in different parts 
 of England, and he found none equal to those in Nortliumberlaud, Dur- 
 ham, CumlK-riand, and Lancashire. He considered that three were equal 
 to four of the men of almost any other county, and that two were e(|ual to 
 three in many, and that they were as one to two of some of the southern 
 and midland county men. 
 
 " It is difficult to say whether this is owing to diff"erence of race and blood, 
 and that the hardy and indomitable Norse blood still ti-lls in the men of 
 the north, or whether it is that enterprise in the cultivation of the soils of 
 the north has caused a demand for labour, and consequent higher wages, 
 and, as a con8e<|uence, the people have been better fed and clot]ie<l and 
 supplied witli fuel, and have, by a course of such advantages, l)ecome a 
 stronger and more enduring race. However, the fact is tliat they can earn 
 higher wagcH at piece-work ; therefore, those who are unable to do the 
 Mime Hhould not comjilain at being jiaiil witli 10s. or I'is. a week, whilst 
 otIuTM are receiving I'Js. or 18s. Tlie value of everything is what it will 
 fetch in the market. —Yours very truly, U. A. GliEY." 
 
 " Geo. Culley, Esr]., (Jovt. Inspector, etc. etc., 
 Fowl>err)' Tower." 
 
 Tlic following account of a Himilar importation of Nortlmmberland men 
 to the wjulh U very intcreuting in connexion witli my brother's experience.
 
 84 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 be imputed, in some measure, to the superior education and 
 intelligence, as well as to the religious character and habits 
 of the peasantry, and to the absence of the demoralizing 
 influence of the Poor-Laws, which in England have gone far 
 to extinguish all spirit of independence in that class of 
 society, as well as every feeling of obligation and gratitude. 
 In Scotland, too, the farmer is better off" than in England, 
 and that enables him to be more regular in the employ- 
 ment of his labourers. The evil of tithes is unknoAvn to 
 the Scotch tenant, and the superior system of banking 
 established in Scotland has given its population the advan- 
 tage of a regular and abundant circulating medium, in all 
 its transactions, and in its remotest districts. There is no 
 
 Mr. T. Bailey Denton, who has collected many statistics, and among others 
 the proportion of beer-sellers to agricultural labourers in different counties, 
 says, " I can illustrate this important question by stating a case within my 
 experience, which can hardly fail to exhibit the fact that low wages and in- 
 ferior work are associated with a preponderating use of beer. In the year 
 1852 I had the control of some extensive works in Dorsetshire, and at that 
 time the agricultural money wages of the district ranged from 7s. to 9s. a 
 week. Impressed that sucli pay was inconsistent with suitable labour, I 
 imported into the work some north-country labourers from Northumber- 
 land, practised in draining, to afford an example for such local men as 
 chose to enter the trenches and dig by the piece. I guaranteed to the 
 northern men a minimum of 18s. a week, although I could command as 
 many Dorsetshire labourers as I desired to employ at half that price. 
 
 "The result showed that I was right in bringing high-priced competent 
 men amongst low-priced inferior ones, for as soon as the Dorsetshire men 
 knew what the north-country men were getting, and saw the character of 
 the work execiited by them, they applied all their energies in imitation. 
 At first they drank more beer, thinking that by such means they could do 
 more work. They soon saw their error, and it was both amusing and in- 
 structive at the same time to see how struck they were when they found 
 that the northern men had for their dinners good meat and bread, while 
 they were living on bread, tobacco, and miserable beer or cider. It was by 
 very slow degrees that tlie Dorsetshire men realized the truth that the 
 butcher's meat was more strengthening than bad beer. Eventually, by the 
 example afforded them, the technical education given them by the Northum- 
 berland men, and by the effect of improved food, the despised Dorsetshire 
 men were enabled to earn as much as their teachers." 
 
 It is to be hoped that the Northumbrian lal)ourers will always persevere 
 in the abstinence from beer and strong drink which has been one of their 
 characteristics for a century past.
 
 LABOUR AKD WAGES. 85 
 
 farmer in Scotland, at all respectable in character and con- 
 nexion, who cannot obtain a bank-credit to some amonnt, 
 whidi precludes the necessity of dispusing of his produce 
 at an unfavourable period, or of turning off his labourers 
 till he has some grain fit to carry to market. All his 
 surplus cash, too, as he collects it, to meet his rent-day, or 
 any other payment, instead of lieing unprofitably and per- 
 haps insecurely locked up in his own desk, is deposited in 
 perfect safety in the bank, where he receives it when wanted, 
 with the addition of interest. 
 
 " I have observed above that in the north of England, 
 also, whicli does not enjoy the blessings with which Scot- 
 land is peculiarly favoured, there is a marked superiority 
 in the condition and character of its peasantry over that of 
 the southern counties, which superiority must be ascribed 
 in part to the different manner in which they are paid their 
 wages, and to the effect which is thereby produced upon their 
 moral habits, character, and sentiments."
 
 CHAPTEPt III. 
 
 " Love, then, had hope of richer store : 
 What end is here to my complaint ? 
 This haunting wliisper makes me faint, 
 
 ' More years had made me love thee more.' 
 
 But death returns an answer sweet : 
 ' My sudden frost was sudden gain. 
 And gave all ripeness to the grain. 
 
 It might have drawn from after-heat.' " 
 
 In 1806, the abolition of tlie trade in slaves between 
 the English colonies and the African coast was carried 
 through both Houses of Parliament. Charles Grey, 
 afterwards Earl Grey, was then First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, and was a main instrument in the achieve- 
 ment of this measure. The original promoters of the 
 cause of the abolition of slavery itself were supported, 
 not by Parliament, nor at first by public sympathy, 
 but by a deeply rooted conviction and a high re- 
 ligious motive. In 1818, Sir Samuel Eomilly brought 
 before the Commons motion after motion on the sub- 
 ject of the condition of the slaves in our "West In- 
 dian colonies. These motions resulted in little or 
 nothing. It was not till five years afterwards that 
 Parliament began to take up the matter at all seriously. 
 Long and eager debates followed. Some members 
 declared their horror of slavery, but strongly depre- 
 cated any mention of the subject in Parliament, lest it 
 should excite to rebellion, liesolutions were finally
 
 ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 87 
 
 passed, declaring the expediency of ameliorating the 
 condition of colonial slaves, and a hope that the slaves 
 would become gradually fit for freedom. The resolu- 
 tions were laid before the King, and forwarded, with a 
 circular from Downing Street, to the functionaries of 
 the several "West India Islands. From the date of the 
 issue of this famous circular up to August 1833, — ten 
 years and three months, — the state of the colonial 
 slaves remained practically unchanged, unless, indeed, 
 by some aggravation of the evils of their condition ; for 
 the Downinfj Street circular excited much iudicrnation 
 among the planter oligarchy, and a great fear that a 
 ser\-ile insurrection would inevitably follow, on the 
 negroes learning what had been the feeling of the British 
 Government ; consequently a more rigid system of 
 surveillance and a severer system of puuishments w^ere 
 adopted. 
 
 ^leanwhile public opinion at home gained strength 
 year by year. From the time that Parliament sent 
 advice to the planters, the doom of slavery was fixed. 
 The question never slumbered ; it was perpetually 
 agitated by the men and women in whose souls respect 
 lor the freedom of man had become a principle as 
 deeply fixed as the fear of God. The colonies too were 
 agitated. ^Masters and slaves alike were made restless 
 by the occasional arrival of orders in Council, and by 
 the appointment by Parliament of " protectors of slaves." 
 The slaves began to hope. The planters, with some ex- 
 ceptions, resented the interference of the Home Govern- 
 ment, and the authorities in Trinidad made a proposition 
 that the iidial)itants of the island should refuse to pay 
 taxes until the histnrder in Council should be rescinded. 
 
 There was no indecision in niy father's views on
 
 88 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 tliis subject. The Slavery Question was one of the 
 tests at the elections for Parliament of those ten years. 
 At a large election meeting he said — 
 
 " This subject is one which closely concerns the honour 
 and character of our country, and involves in it the welfare 
 of many millions of our fellow-creatures. As far as regards 
 my own sentiments on the subject, I may remark that I 
 happen to possess the right of voting in three counties in 
 the north of England, and that to this I have fully made 
 up my mind, that I never will vote for, nor in any manner 
 nor measure contribute to advance to a seat in Parliament, 
 any representative who does not declare his open hostility 
 to the continuance of slavery, — nay more, who will not 
 undertake to use his best efforts to wipe from our country 
 the foul stain that her character has contracted, in abetting 
 for so long a course of years that most cruel and wicked 
 system, a system in my mind repugnant to every principle 
 of justice and to every feeling of humanity." 
 
 My father worked assiduously throughout the winter 
 of 1823 to arouse an interest in the Border counties, 
 in the subject, and to get up petitions to Parliament. 
 The following, which he received the next spring, 
 testifies to some extent to his earnestness : — 
 
 " Anti-Slavery Office, February 12, 1824. 
 
 " Sir, — I had the satisfaction to present your letter of 
 the 3d instant to our General Committee, who desire me 
 to express to you their feelings of obligation for your 
 zealous and successful exertions in promoting the views of 
 this most important Society. 
 
 " The Committee consider it highly important that 
 petitions follow up the King's speech as early as may be 
 convenient to a friend whose operations are so extensive as 
 yours. If the people work well with their King, all will 
 end well. Ministers must be supported by the people to 
 carry into effect their good resolutions. You cannot do
 
 THOMAS CLARKSOX. 89 
 
 l)etter tlian forward your petitions either to Lord Althorji, 
 Mr. Lambton, or Mr. Curwen. 
 
 " You will find the respectable Scotch Church, the 
 Seceders, very favourable to our views. Dr. Dick of 
 Glasgow would receive fiivourably any communication. 
 
 " I have just received a letter from our correspondent 
 Mr. Home of Berwick, who is commencing operations. — I 
 remain, Sir, very respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 " W. L. Hanbury, Senj." 
 
 My fiitlier made the acquaintance of Thomas Clark- 
 son early in this year. Clarkson, like Zachary 
 Macaulay, had been fired with this enthusiasm from 
 his earliest youth. While he was yet but a boy at 
 Cambridge, he had pondered and planned how this 
 great curse might be removed from the face of the 
 earth. He eagerly sought my father's acquaintance, 
 when he heard of his independent character, his hatred 
 of aU. tyrannies, and his perseverance in any work he 
 took up. He wrote to my father in INIarch 1824 : — 
 
 " Platford Hai-l, W. Ipswich, Suffolk. 
 " My dear Sir, — I hope you will excuse the liberty I am 
 taking in offering my opinion to you on a subject which 
 you are equally capable of exercising your judgment upon 
 as myst'lf. On my return home last week (for I have been 
 travelling to promote the good cause ever since I had the 
 pleasure of seeing you), I learned that some of our friends 
 in the country wished to postpone sending their petitions 
 to Parliament till they should see what Ministers proposed 
 there. Permit me then, with respectful deference, to in- 
 form you that, feeling more tlian ever anxious for the wel- 
 fare of our cause, and exercising my thoughts upon it night 
 and day, I differ, and so must our committee in London, 
 from those who entertain the opinion just nu-ntioned. Let 
 lue then Kul)niit to you the necessity of o])tniniiig iiiiniedi- 
 ately, and of despatching to London, those petitions which
 
 90 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 you may have in view. For what are the petitions for 1 
 Not to urge Ministers to take hasty steps, nor indeed to 
 urge them at all, but to support them, and give them 
 courage to carry into effect {in spite of the threats and in- 
 timidations of interested persons) what they intended to 
 do when they put their benevolent resolutions on the jour- 
 nals of the House of Commons in May last. But how are 
 Ministers to know they are supported, but by seeing the 
 petitions coming in day after day in favour of those reso- 
 lutions 1 There is not a doubt in my mind that the pro- 
 positions to be made by Ministers will be very different as 
 they find themselves supported or not. In the first case, 
 they will go up to their original intentions ; in the second, 
 they will stop below them. 
 
 " Let me entreat, then, that all your petitions may go in 
 before Government bring their propositions into the House. 
 If you want to see what Ministers will do (situated as they 
 are between two conflicting parties), I fear you may injure, 
 though unintentionally, our cause ; for what are Ministers 
 likely to do under such circumstances'? If they see but 
 few petitions coming in, they will have a right to suppose 
 that the people are become cold or indifferent, or that, con- 
 vinced by the publications of our opponents, they have 
 changed their minds upon the subject ; and judging thus, 
 and finding no support from the people, will they not bring 
 propositions into the House of Commons, embracing only 
 half measures, because dictated under a feeling of intimida- 
 tion 1 But if these should contain only half measures, Avill 
 any petitions of the people introduced afterwards cause 
 them to be altered or erased 1 Indeed, who will petition 
 then at all 1 If some of the friends of Government refuse 
 to petition now under the laudable fear of embarrassing 
 Government, how much more will they object, then, on the 
 same ground, and also that they will then be actually op- 
 posing Government, and forcing them to go beyond what 
 they themselves thought pioident 1 
 
 " The above was written hastily yesterday. Since then 
 I have learnt that you have already sent in three petitions.
 
 THOiMAS CLARKSON'. 9 1 
 
 to London to be presented to Parliament. "What, tlion, lias 
 been ^n-itten above Avill not ai»i>ly to you, excei)t there be 
 places such as Berwick-upon-Twccd, Kelso, and others, which 
 you may have under your care, but which have not yet peti- 
 tioned. Be so good, if there be such, to hasten their steps. 
 
 " I have but just arrived at home, -Nvorn out and ex- 
 hausted by travelling and anxiety of mind and calling 
 ])eople together, having been absent 240 days from lu)me, 
 and gone over 3700 miles of ground, and organized to 
 our wishes England, Scotland, and "\\'a]es. "We are all, 
 however, alive here, in my own county, Suffolk, which ^\ill 
 send forty petitions of itself. 
 
 " I hope your good people in Scotland have not been 
 terrified by the Demerara insurrections. All insurrections 
 are the natural offsjjring of slavery. Take away slavery, 
 and you take away the cause of insurrections. All insur- 
 rections, therefore, are arguments, if we are friends to the 
 colonies and our country, in our favour. They encourage 
 us not to suspend our efforts, but to increase them with a 
 ten-fold energy. The Demerara insurrection, Avhen faith- 
 fully given to the world, will involve the Demerara planters 
 in eternal disgrace. 
 
 " I should be very glad to see you here if you should be 
 visiting London. 1 purpose joining the committee in a 
 fortnight. Li the meantime, while getting repose in the 
 country, I emjjloy myself in writing a few letters, if ^vrit- 
 ing as fast as the hand can move can be called Avriting, and 
 if such employment can be called re])ose. — I am, my dear 
 Sir, with very great esteem, yours truly, 
 
 " Thumas Clarkson." 
 
 Before this wa.s Avritten my father had, however, sent 
 up several petitions to I^ndon. One which followed a 
 few days later was a petition from (Uendale, accom- 
 jtanied by a formal letter to Earl Grey : — 
 
 " .)farch 3, 1824. 
 "My Lord, — Petitions to both Houses of Parliament 
 from Glendale AVard, jiraying for the mitigation and liiial
 
 92 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 extinction of slavery in our "West India colonies, are now 
 in a course of signature. I understand they are to be put 
 under my care as a member of the committee of the Anti- 
 Slavery Society of Northumberland, to transmit them to 
 members who will do us the favour to present them in 
 their respective Houses. We look to your Lordship, of 
 course, as the natural representative of our sentiments in 
 the House of Lords— and did we need any inducement in 
 making the selection, besides that which arises from local 
 connexion and personal attachment and esteem, we should 
 find a most prevailing one in the remembrance of the 
 honest ardour, eloquence, and feeling, with which your 
 Lordship advocated that cause by the side of your benevo- 
 lent and much-lamented friend and colleague, Mr. Fox. 
 
 " I take the liberty, therefore, of troubling your Lordship 
 with the request that you Avill have the goodness to let me 
 know if there is a probability of your being in town in the 
 course of the present month or in the beginning of April, 
 as the petition should not perhaps be later than that in 
 being presented, and if so, whether I may be permitted the 
 honour of forwarding the petition to your Lordship. The 
 late disturbances in the colonies will, I fear, have been 
 very prejudicial to the cause of poor negroes, although I 
 do not see that that should be the case, for insubordina- 
 tion is a natural consequence of cruel treatment, injustice, 
 and oppression ; and discontent on the part of the slaves, 
 and fear and suspicion on that of their owners, must be 
 the constant accompaniments of so unnatural a state of 
 society. I have sent a petition on this subject from Bel- 
 ford to the care of Lord Althorp, and shall send that from 
 Glendale Ward to Mr. Bennett, for Ave are unfortunately 
 situated for county members at present. — I have the honour 
 to subscribe myself, your Lordship's obedient servant, 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 It is evident that the leaders of this cause hoped to 
 see a much earlier settlement of tlie question than they 
 did. But this, with other great measures, was destined
 
 DOMESTIC SOK^vO^V, 93 
 
 to remain in embryo until the entrance into office of the 
 AVhig Administration of 1831-34. I leave the subject 
 for further notice under that date. 
 
 The summer of this year was fine, and the harvest 
 good. The corn had been gathered in, and there was 
 sunshine both outside and inside the happy home at 
 ]Miltield Hill. But the autumn fell clouded with sor- 
 row. My father's brother George was beloved by all 
 who knew hun. He was fair-haired, with sweet hazel 
 eyes, and a countenance full of candour. He was of a 
 generous, affectionate, and winning nature, but some- 
 times careless and wayward, and deep in his heart, 
 perhaps, there lay hid some sorrow which was the key 
 to the discordance. In the month of October, his 
 brother received the following letter from a friend in 
 London ; it Avas the sequel of an announcement de- 
 spatched about the same time that George had been 
 thrown from his horse or carriage : — 
 
 " My dear Friend, — Your brother's increased illness 
 presses me to write to urge you to be here as soon as pos- 
 sible. I only heard of the accident by mere chance on 
 Saturday afternoon, and I thought by the answer to my 
 inquiries tliat all danger was past, and was therefore tlie 
 less prepared for the intelligence of yesterday. 
 
 " I will go out again tliis evening and do all I can — 
 would it were a thousand-fold increased — to supi)ly your 
 place till you arrive. He has every attention. 
 
 " God grant His blessing to him and all of us with this 
 dispensation ! How true it is that our present lives arc 
 but shadows, of which the enduring substance is beyond 
 the j^Tuve. — Vou know how much you are loved l)y your 
 affectionate friend, K(JliEUT Selby. 
 
 " /'.,S'. — Ti-n niintites iM-fi.re five. His stniggles have 
 ccaaed exactly an hour. I cannot say more."
 
 94 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 The bitterness of grief conveyed by this short post- 
 script may not be told. My father had been to Edin - 
 burgh and was returning by coach. They met the 
 coach going the other way. The one guard whispered 
 to tlie other that George Grey was dead. He did not 
 know the meaning of the grave look and shaken head 
 until he reached Kelso, where he learned the tidings. 
 He restrained himself in the presence of his mother, 
 that he might not add to her grief, but when she left 
 him he flung himself on a sofa, and beat his breast, and 
 cried out in a voice of woe, " my Benjamin, my 
 Benjamin !" He was usually very restrained in the 
 expression of his feelings. He took a tender leave 
 of his mother, with words as brave as might be, and 
 hurried to London. The journey was long in those old 
 coaching days, and his feelings were bitter. He wrote 
 to his wife on his arrival : — 
 
 " WooDCOT, Wed7iesdai/, Oct. 20, 1824. 
 
 " My dearest Hannah, — I wish I could at this moment 
 press you to my heart, and mingle my tears with yours, 
 instead of claiming only the cold sympathy of 300 or 400 
 miles distance. what a dreadful thing is death ! how 
 summary and imperative in his call — how undeniable his 
 demands — what a breaking up of all our cherished ties 
 and connexions in those that are left — and Avhat a journey 
 to an unseen world for those that are taken ! What enjoy- 
 ment should I have had in a visit to this place, had the 
 dear active form which is ever present to my mind's eye, 
 and the blithe countenance that was ever the index of the 
 kind heart, been here to animate the now deathlike, deso- 
 late scene ! I always loved my dear George, but I think 
 now I love him a hundred times more — for I did not 
 know how deep a hold I had of his affections and esteem ; 
 the mention he made of me in his intervals of suffering 
 are most touching to my heart, and at every recurrence to
 
 HIS SISTERS GRIEF. 95 
 
 them fill my soul with sorrow and my eyes with tears. 
 ' His poor mother and his dear brother,' were often on his 
 lips, and tlie last articulate words he spoke, were ' my 
 John, my dear, dear brother.' I have many aftecting 
 thiuiTS to toll von of him whieh I cannot endure to do now, 
 or I .>^hould not get through this lett«>r, but one thing 1 
 must say : Isaac was the only person about who could en- 
 dure the watching, and the evidence of the pain he suHered 
 when the spasms affected him, and yet show him the ten- 
 derness of a brother. R. Hook was taken one night to let 
 Isaac rest, but he fainted and was carried out — it being 
 necessary to hold the leg liard whilst the spasms lasted. 
 Isaac tells me that he was much engaged, he thought, in 
 secret prayer, and sinnetimes would utter ejaculations half 
 aloud, though not intending them to be heard. On the 
 day before the last of his dear life, he said, when alone 
 with Isaac, and after some minutes of composure, which 
 was not sleep, ' Isaac, it will soon be over with me now,' 
 ' sir, I hope you may yet enjoy many happy days ' (lor 
 such was the language the doctors held to every one till 
 the very la.st day). ' Yes,' he said, ' I do hope for brighter 
 days thai! I used ever to think of,' and he fell again into 
 a quiet frame. IIow fruitless are our regrets — had I known 
 at the time the fatal accident happened, and been with him 
 at the earliest day, I might never have been allowed to 
 converse with him, for the doctors did not wish me to 
 come, — ' That brother he speaks so much of nuist not 
 come, compo.sure is everything;' they spoke of certain 
 nerves being wounded that caused great irritability and 
 pain, and evidently from the first con-sidered ami)Utation 
 neces.sary, if his constitution could be reduced to a fit 
 6tate." 
 
 Tliere was deep and passionate grief in the lieart.s uf 
 those to whom he was most dear, but also a liunibh^ 
 acceptance of such consolation as was granted. His 
 sister Margarctta wrote : — 
 
 " Your two most welcome letters, my very dear Ilauuah,
 
 96 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY, 
 
 came together on Monday morning. I had much desired 
 the account they brought me, and perhajis the plenitude 
 of satisfaction derived from having the whole before me at 
 once had been designed for my abundant consolation. 
 
 " The crash that my hopes sustained from the fatal cata- 
 strophe, together with the absence of all information, had 
 plunged my soul in the deepest gloom. I was fearful of 
 indulging expectation of comfort from what yet remained 
 to be related, though very small things in that way would 
 have been eagerly embraced by my desolated heart. Be- 
 sides the irreparable loss, you cannot think what a cloud 
 settled over all my religious prospects. I was afraid to 
 hope anything, or to believe that any prayer of mine had 
 ever been accepted. I seemed to wish for nothing now, 
 I would have given the temporal lives of my husband and 
 children to have it well with my dear George. All thought 
 of good to others was insignificant to me, and the idea of 
 any one being excited to seek after salvation through this 
 event was purgatory ; anything gained at the expense of 
 such a sacrifice was worse than valueless to me. At times 
 the most bitter emotions smote through my heart. I would 
 think — We are to put on mourning for a certain time, and 
 then to put it off again. We shall weep for a few days, 
 and then our tears must be dried, and we must go on with 
 our common affairs as we used to do. Ah ! it is easy for 
 us to be comforted, but what sympathy may not his sorrows 
 require of us 1 But I am ashamed to express such feelings ; 
 they arose from that hardening of the heart that attends 
 the want of a persuasion of the mercy of God, and of His 
 tender value for, and interest in, all His creatures. I did 
 not think of His power and love, and of the office of the 
 Saviour, whose very work and destination it is to rescue 
 those who are lost. However, glad news have come at 
 last. I never experienced any truer or more melting 
 thankfulness than came to me in reading over, revolving, 
 and renewedly reading the account, in all its accuracy of 
 expression, contained in your letters. It seemed as life 
 from the dead. I was shedding abundance of such pleasant
 
 HIS sister's gkief. 97 
 
 tears as I had not wept before, when a lady stole into the 
 room, the only one in Edinburgh whose presence at such a 
 time woidd not have incommoded me. It was Mary Ross. 
 She knew all that had gone before. I had only to share 
 with her pure and fervent spirit the treasure of my thank- 
 fulness. Have you ever felt the sight of a holy person as a 
 sort of good omen at a particular time 1 I had no thought 
 of her, knowing that she had been ill in bed the day 
 before." 
 
 FROM THE SAME. 
 
 " My DEARE.ST Joiix, — I thank you for all that you 
 have done for us all in fuliilling the little that remained 
 for us to do for our dear lost George. Does it not seem 
 to you as if God had -ttTought a heavenly composure in his 
 mind, awakening him to spiritual sensibility while under 
 the discipline of pain 1 There is, I think, naturally, in the 
 suspension of strong pain, a feeling of thankfulness and 
 submission. We feel ourselves in the hands of a Sovereign 
 Being who could crush, but who spares, and, grace abetting, 
 the soul clings to the hand that smites, and breathes out 
 its acknowledgments and longings to be at peace with 
 Him. . . . Henry was saying to me last night, ' What 
 matter about the ceremony of your prayers at a ])arti- 
 cular time to our Heavenly Father, for a thing He knew 
 you continually desired and had often asked ] If we knew 
 of anything which our Mary, who is absent, would be sure 
 to wish and undouljtedly ask if she were here, shouhl we 
 be less inclined to do it for her because she is not here to 
 a-sk iti Your prayers might be granted, as it were, by 
 anticipation. We are apt to limit the proceedings of our 
 Heavenly Father by our own narrow notions.'" 
 
 The bereaved mother did not survive this beloved 
 son many years. She died in 1S2 7. Tlie following 
 wa.s found among soTue papers, sealed up until 18G8, 
 headed " Private liccollections, J. G.rcy :" — 
 
 o
 
 98 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 " My beloved mother dei^arted this life at Kelso Manse, 
 on the 27th August 1827, aged 68 years. She spent the 
 month of June and the greater part of July immediately 
 preceding her death at Milfield Hill and Newtown. At 
 the former place she seemed to have great enjoyment in 
 the affectionate attentions of her grandchildren. She 
 walked daily in the garden, attending to their operations, 
 and was interested in the progress of a sheltered walk, 
 which they cut out in the adjoining plantation, and a shady 
 seat that they constructed, which used to serve her as a 
 resting-place. 
 
 " During the whole of her stay with us, her serenity 
 and cheerfulness of temper were most uniform, and her 
 affectionate feelings were in as lively exercise as ever. She 
 accompanied me to Kirk-Newton and joined in the sacra- 
 ment. How little did I think on that day, that in eight 
 more short weeks I should be called upon to accompany 
 her to the same place, but in circumstances how altered, — 
 a bereaved mourner over the tomb of a dearly beloved and 
 highly honoured parent ! But how selfish it seems to 
 mourn for her ! We would not wish her back amid the 
 pains and sorrows of this world, who is now, through the 
 merits of her Redeemer, enjoying an endless and unmixed 
 communion with Him in the heavenly mansions. 
 
 " Her serenity of temper never forsook her, nor did she 
 ever give way to repining on her own account, though she 
 often expressed her regret at the trouble her condition 
 imposed upon others. She was blessed in the enjoyment of a 
 faith and confidence that su^^ported her under trial, and re- 
 mained steadfast unto the end. On the evening of Saturday 
 the 25 th of August, I went from Berwick to Kelso to see her. 
 Not reaching Kelso till nine o'clock, I entered the house 
 quietly by the low door, lest she should have gone to rest 
 and might be disturbed by noise ; and finding that to be 
 the case, would not have her informed of my arrival. 
 About midnight she awoke, and calling to my sister, who 
 slept constantly by her during her illness, said, ' Mary, my 
 John has come and has been talking with me.' 'You
 
 HIS MOTHER S DEATH. 99 
 
 must be mistaken, mothor,' was the reply, ' there has been 
 no one in the room.' ' Dear,' said she, with disappoint- 
 ment, ' was it but a dream V ' But,' said my sister, ' it may 
 come tnie ; you shall see John in the morning. He was 
 detained on business at Berwick, and did not arrive here 
 till late, and would not disturb you last night.' This 
 satisfied her, and with the kindness she at all times 
 exercised towards others, she remarked, ' Poor fellow, did 
 he come all that Avay 1 AVhat a weary day he must have 
 had ; he would be very tired.' I was much beside her 
 bed, which she scarcely left the following day. 
 
 " She inquired with her accustomed affectionate interest 
 about Hannah and tlie children, who Avere at that time at 
 Holy Island. She spoke more slowly than usual from 
 breathlessness, but conversed with cheerfulness and interest 
 on many subjects, and mentioned the kindness of the 
 Duchess of Roxburgh supplying her with quantities of fine 
 grapes, which she thought it selfish in her to monopolize, 
 and insisted upon my taking some of them. I took leave 
 of her in the evening, little thinking it would be for the 
 last time, to return home, and the latest words I heard 
 uttered by that affectionate voice, as I pressed her cheek 
 with my lips, were ' My dear, dear son.' . . . 
 
 "That night the breathing, th at Avas quick and embarrassed, 
 became fainter and fainter, and just as the clock struck 1 2, 
 the features .settled into the stillness of death, and that tender, 
 benevolent spirit was recalled from earth by the Cod who 
 gave it. . . . In passing the end of the lane leading to 
 Milfield Hill, the funeral was joined by six of my oldest 
 ser\ants, married men, on horseback, who fell in behind 
 the chaises and acted as under-bean^rs to cairy the body 
 from the hearse to the church, and tlicn to the grave. The 
 pa-ssage of the funeral through the village of Milfield was 
 very affecting to my feelings. It was the scene in former 
 times of my dear mother's aetive exertions ; the pla<'e where 
 for UKiny years slic was th(! person of tlie greatest import- 
 ance ; where she had borne and brought up her family, and 
 where she had spent many hapjty and many toilsome days.
 
 100 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 She was still known, after an absence of many years, to 
 most of its inhabitants, and remembered by some as their 
 old and kind mistress. No one seemed left within doors ; 
 all were assembled to gaze on the mournful procession, and 
 one might distinguish from the general crowd some groups 
 of elderly women, decently attired in deep mourning, who 
 walked for some distance by the side of the hearse, and 
 wept as they went. These were the servants and contem- 
 poraries of her early days, now declining in the vale of 
 life, and thinking, perhaps, that they too must shortly 
 follow in the Avay of the kind mistress to whose remains 
 they were now anxious to pay the last sad testimony of 
 respect."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "... If we did not flght 
 Ex.ictly, wo firod inusket.s up the void, 
 To show that victory was ours of riglit." 
 
 Between the year 1820 and the dissokition of Parlia- 
 ment in 1826 some progress was made in public aflairs, 
 and some good accomplished for the country. Catholic 
 Emancipation was debated, and had the powerful advo- 
 cacy of Canning. In the midst of the divergence of 
 opinion on financial matters between " Prosperity Eobin- 
 son " and " Advei'sity Hume," taxation was being 
 gradually reduced. The repeal of the Corn-Laws, 
 longed for as much by an enlightened minority of 
 country gentlemen as by any one in Parliament or in 
 commercial life, seemed as yet very far off, and almost 
 insurmountable obstacles appeared to stand in the way 
 of the great Parliamentary reform ; yet there was a 
 gradual growth and ripening for the achievements of 
 later years. In all these questions my father took a 
 deep interest. Occasional evenings spent at Lord 
 Jeffrey's in Edinburgh, and visits to London, brought 
 him into contact with some of the leaders of public affairs. 
 In 1825, during a visit to Lord Althorp in London, he 
 heard some of the exciting battles in the Commons over 
 the Catholic question. 
 
 FROM LORD GREY. 
 
 " Hanoveu Squaue, April 24, 1822. 
 " My i»f:.\u Sir, 1 hav«' rcn-ivcd your letter, with tli»! 
 cin-ular fn.iii the Tax-Ollice. I will take the first oppur- 
 
 UN1\T.R?1TY (>vr>TM-()KNIA 
 SANTA BAUKAUA
 
 102 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 tunity of stating the case you bring before me, in the 
 House of Lords, or of speaking to Lord Liverpool about it. 
 In the meantime, I think it would be advisable for the 
 persons in your own neighbourhood who suffer from this 
 tax, to concur in framing a petition against it, to be pre- 
 sented with as little delay as possible. You will oblige me 
 very much by sending me any information that you may 
 think useful respecting the state of agricultural distress in 
 the north, and its effect on the retail trades in the towns. 
 I beg that you will not hesitate at all times to write to me 
 on any part of the public interests. I place great reliance 
 on your judgment, and always find your remarks very just 
 and very useful. — Yours very truly, Grey." 
 
 Parliament was dissolved on the 31st of May 1826. 
 The general election that followed was very exciting. 
 In Northumberland, the contest will never be forgotten 
 by those who took part in it, and who, years afterwards, 
 were forced to recall the memory with a mixture of 
 melancholy and amusement, for it must be confessed 
 that the great principles contested were for a time 
 partially forgotten in the ardour of personal and party 
 feeling. It was the hottest summer that had been 
 known in the century. Many people engaged in the 
 elections died of sunstroke. Water being scarce, ex- 
 hausted electors drank the more beer. " The richest 
 meadow-lands were burnt up as if a fire had passed over 
 them ; the deer in noblemen's parks died of drought ; 
 hard-working people sat up all night to watch the springs 
 to carry home drink to their children." For four long 
 months of this hot summer, Northumberland was agi- 
 tated by this furious contest. My father received the 
 signal for the gathering of forces in the following war- 
 whoop from Mr. Lambton : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — Our opponents have engaged all the car-
 
 REFORM MEETING. 103 
 
 riagos in North Shields for the purpose of bringing sup- 
 porters to Morpeth on Tuesday. It is most likely they 
 will do the same in other places. We must therefore be on 
 the alert. I trust you will raise your country far and wide. 
 We meet on this side of Mor]ieth at ten — our horsemen I 
 mean. All going on well. — Yours, Lambton." 
 
 A preliminary meeting was held by the friends of 
 Eeform, at which there was eloquent speaking, but with 
 too inuch confidence of the result. My father answered 
 objections made to the extreme youth of the Whig 
 candidate, Lord Howick, pleading that his sagacity was 
 beyond his years, and to the charge that he was a bad 
 canvasser, replied, " It is said that he is too sincere to 
 press liis suit after a refusal, and wants the importunity, 
 or, as some call it, the impudence, by which others 
 succeed. If I do not greatly mistake, that is a want 
 that will attend his Lordship during the wdiole of his 
 life, and I shall blush for my country when sincerity 
 and modesty shall be imputed to a man as a reproach." 
 An aged man, ^Ir. T. Haggerston, got up at this meet- 
 ing, and hesitatingly asked wliether any one had any 
 ol»jection, on account of his religion, to his saying a 
 few words. He spoke, but almost inaudibly, of the re- 
 straints under which the Catholics laboured, while their 
 lives and their blood always answered for their loyalty. 
 Tlie feeble, trembling voice of the old man had scarcely 
 ceased when Mr. Lamljton sprang to his feet (having, 
 tlie moment he caught the meaning of Mr. Ilaggerston's 
 words, whispered for permission to speak ne.xt), and 
 poured forth a generous and jjussionate remonstrance. 
 
 " I lament deeply," he said, "to hear that venerable gen- 
 tleman express for orle mf)m«'nt his fears lest, as a Catholic, 
 he bhould not be jicniiittcd to raise his voice here. Doe.^^
 
 I ' 
 
 104 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 lie imagine that I would sit here for one moment if I thought 
 that a man would be prevented, on account of his religious 
 opinions, from being heard on a question of public interest 
 affecting his and our common right 1 Little did he know 
 the character of this meeting if he thought that such an 
 attempt would be made, or countenanced for a moment, if 
 attempted. And yet, perhaps, I ought not to be surprised 
 that such a feeling should cross his mind. He sees, as we 
 all do, with indignation, the attempts made to revive the 
 infamous cry of religious persecution, and to continue poli- 
 tical disqualifications on account of religious differences of 
 opinion. In the name of that God whom we all adore, 
 whatever may be our forms of worship, I protest against 
 this impious interference ; I claim for every man political 
 freedom ; I assert that his religious opinions should be left 
 to himself, his conscience, and his God, and that any inter- 
 ference with them is a sacrilegious assumption of the divine 
 attributes." 
 
 Mr. Lambton was suffering much in health. He had 
 joined the meeting late, and left it early. " He quitted 
 the room," says the newspaper report, " as he had 
 entered it, the company all standing up, and evincing in 
 the most marked manner their respect and admiration." 
 
 It is difficult to gain a notion from the crowded 
 columns of contemporary newspapers of anything but 
 wild disorder and excitement around the Alnwick hust- 
 ings during the fifteen days of voting and speech-making. 
 The nights were almost as hot as the days, and the 
 combatants spent the sultry hours more often in pacing 
 their chambers than in sleep. My father was more 
 able physically to bear the heat and fatigue than most 
 were. He was regarded by friends and foes as the 
 athlete of the contest, and he looked it, as he stood on 
 the hustings, with his heart full of an almost fatherly 
 Icindness for the pale, slight youth by whose side he
 
 XOUTIIUMBERLAND ELECTION OF 1826. 105 
 
 stood, and \vhose cause he supported. A newspaper 
 notice says — 
 
 " Mr. Grey was then in full vigour. The Black Prince 
 of the North he Wiis sometimes called, in allusion to his 
 swarthy but comely countenance. Lord Howick was low- 
 est in the poll at that great, and what we must now term 
 absurd, contest ; but ]\Ir. Grey of ^liltielil was the man to 
 obtain victory for his party, if victory f(n' a Whig of the 
 Grey school had been at that time practicable. Northumber- 
 land was then a genuine Tory county, and the enlightened 
 principles of young Howick Avere not in the ascendant." 
 
 In the newspaper reports we read that John Grey came 
 forward amidst loud and enthusiastic cheers, mingled 
 with groans and hisses. He, Howick, and Lanil)ton 
 stood together, but before long it was impossilde to 
 hear a word spoken by any of them. " In consequence 
 of the indescribable confusion and uproar," the Sheriff 
 (with Tory sympathies) was called to do his duty. He 
 essayed to dissolve the meeting, but his voice was not 
 heard. Again my father tried to speak, but the Tory 
 band of musicians, with horrible discord, drowned his 
 voice, whereupon clenched fists of" friends of independ- 
 ence" made ghastly rents in the drums, which stopped 
 their noise, and the musicians were driven helter-skelter 
 from the scene. But in vain ; though there were " loud 
 cries for ^Ir. Grey," he seems to have been unalde to 
 make his arguments heard. His attempt to do so being 
 regarded as the occasion of the confusion, the Sheriff 
 arose and forbade him to speak. He was (jbliged to 
 hear in silence the attacks of an opposing member, 
 prefaced with, " If there is a gentleman of the name of 
 (irey liere — I mean Grey of Milfield Hill, 1 wish to 
 liave a word or two with my witty friend;" upon 
 which follows counter wit .seasoned with vinegar.
 
 106 MEMOm OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 At last came the closing day of the poll, with a 
 furious sun shining in a cloudless sky, high words 
 exchanged from the hustings, the challenge offered and 
 accepted between Mr. Lambton and Colonel Beaumont, 
 followed by a night and day of grievous suspense. Mr. 
 Lambton had been brought, by his exertions, and the 
 extreme heat of the weather, into the condition Lord 
 Althorp spoke of when he described him as " of bad tem- 
 per on the days when he is bilious." He was sensitive 
 and fiery, but his flashes of anger were short-lived, and 
 bad feeling of any kind never found a lodgment in a 
 breast so generous and noble. The forty- eight hours 
 of suspense which followed for the friends of Mr. 
 Lambton will not easily be forgotten by any who 
 shared it ; the magistrates dogged the steps of the 
 duellists, delaying the encounter. On Friday they 
 attempted the meeting at the Three-mile Stone on 
 Alnwick Moor; but Sir David Smith came thunder- 
 ing after them, with police, in a carriage and four. 
 Again a rendezvous was fixed, and again they were 
 intercepted. At last the duel was fought on the 
 sands near Bamborougli Castle. At three o'clock on 
 Saturday morning. Lord Grey arose from his sleepless 
 bed, and declining the services of a groom, rode out 
 alone in the cool silence of the summer morning, with 
 his heart full of apprehension ; he rode to Alnwick, to 
 sustain the courage of his daughter. Lady Louisa Lamb- 
 ton, who was waiting there for tidings. That evening 
 there was great joy when it was announced that the 
 affair had ended without bloodshed, and crowds came 
 out to cheer Mr. Lambton, the " beloved of the people," 
 as he drove into Alnwick, and the papers recorded the 
 fact " that he looked happy, and smiled as he bowed to
 
 THE WHIGS BEATEN. 107 
 
 the people."^ So ended the fierce election contest of 1 82G, 
 long remembered in the county whicli it agitated so 
 mucli. In the same general election INIr. Brougham was 
 beaten by the Lowthers in "Westmoreland, and Lord John 
 Eussell failed in Huntingdonshire. Charles, now General 
 Grey, who possessed, like my father, great strength of 
 early and local attachments, wrote to him in 18GG : — 
 " My memory goes back to the early and happy days 
 of childhood, when I fii-st made acquaintance with ^lil- 
 field Hill (those were the days when we toddled after 
 you and your greyhounds as well as we could over 
 Flodden Hill), and to the many and various events of 
 after-life, which have strengthened the affectionate 
 regard that I have ever felt for all connected with it. 
 Even the wretched election of '26 has its pleasant 
 memories." " I most sincerely regret having missed 
 you in town," "v^Tote Mr. Lambton, then Lord Durham, 
 to my father, a couple of years afterwards ; " you well 
 know the respect and esteem I have always had for 
 you. The events of the Northumberland election 
 added greatly to those sentiments." The pleasant 
 memories were those of powerful help given and re- 
 ceived, and of thankfulness that the wounds intiicted 
 were not long in healing. The angry w'ords, and even 
 pistol-shots, were not deadly in their effects, and the 
 combatants shook hands not long afterwards, confess- 
 ing that they had all been a little too much excited. 
 Administrations succeeded each other quickly during 
 
 ' An old attached nurse in Lord Orey's family, who had hoen very de- 
 voted to Lord Howick during his deliratc infancy, wii.s sliocked and jfrieved 
 by Home election squihs and caricatures wliicli a]>])eared at that time. 
 Wlien my father went to Kee her one day, she hurst into tears, and said, 
 " O Mr. (irey, you vjxn feel for nic ; you know how sore my lieart is when 
 they nay kucH thinf^ of my poor }>aini." My father comforted her, and 
 cheered her (freatly by jjredictiunu of a useful ami honourable career in store 
 for her i>oor bairn !
 
 108 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 the next few years. Earl Grey, it is well known, did 
 not place much faith in the coalitions which were 
 sometimes formed, and which indeed seemed not suffi- 
 ciently homogeneous for vitality. His letters to my 
 father were numerous at this time, and it is not possible 
 to read his remarks on Canning without a painful 
 feeling of regret, now that these two great men, who 
 stood so aloof from each other, have both passed away, 
 to take their place among the heroes of history. Earl 
 Grey seems to have laboured under a sense of isolation 
 and sadness at this time. He was growing old, and 
 he believed his political life would close without his 
 witnessing the end of his hopes, — the great organic 
 change in our Constitution for which he had laboured. 
 
 TO MY FATHER. 
 
 " London, J^me 1827. 
 " Of public matters the papers will give you an account. 
 They are much too painful for me to enter upon when I can 
 avoid it. You at least will believe me when I say that my 
 only concern is for the pubhc interest. The Ministers, you 
 will see, have abandoned the Corn bill. The Duke of 
 Wellington certainly did not propose, and I am sure you 
 will believe that I did not support, the amendment with 
 any view of defeating the bill. I thought it an improve- 
 ment in guarding against too great an accumulation of corn 
 under the bonding system. . . . — Yours very truly, 
 
 " Grey." 
 
 from lord althorp. 
 
 "Jl/ayl828. 
 " Political affairs seem to be in a very comical state. 
 We are, it appears, going to enter upon the fifth Adminis- 
 tration which has existed during the last year and a half. 
 I cannot say that I think the secession of Huskinson's 
 party of much consequence. He was very clever certainly, 
 but that is all that can be said for him. I shall not con-
 
 DUKE OF "WELLINGTON PREMIER. 109 
 
 sider myself in opposition till I see a little what is going 
 on. — Believe me, my dear Sir, yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Althorp." 
 
 AVhen Lord Goderich resigned, the King, weary 
 of mixed Administrations, determined to have a 
 thorough Tory Government, and sent for the Iron Duke, 
 who in January 1828 became Prime Minister. The 
 gi-eat achievement of this year was the removal of the 
 Dissenters' disabilities. The Duke, a shrewd if a 
 prejudiced man, saw that it was no longer possible to 
 oppose this popular movement, and the repeal of the Test 
 and Corporation Act passed, to the credit of his Adminis- 
 tration. It involved a quarrel with his old crony. 
 Lord Eldon, who expressed his belief that true religion 
 would die out of the land, if that " most shameful bill " 
 should pass, which recognised Dissenters as fellow- 
 Christians. The religious old gentleman was so much 
 moved about it, that when the Duke asked him his 
 opinion of the ^linistry which had passed it, he replied 
 devoutly that he considered it " a damned bad one." 
 The Catholic Relief Bill was passed the next year. 
 
 FROM earl grey TO MY FATHER. 
 
 " London, June 2, 1828. 
 " The account you give of the state of the agricultural 
 interests in Northuniberhind is most afflicting, and 1 am 
 afraid too true. I wish I could hold out any prospect of 
 relief; but nothing can be more gloomy than all present 
 aftpcarances. f]verything foreign and doiiiestic, — the war 
 wliich is beginning on the Continent, the state of out 
 finances, the insecurity of the (Jovernment, the increasing 
 discontents in Ireland, the distress that prevails here in 
 all our gnat interests, commercial, mamifactiiring, and agri- 
 cultural, furnish subjects of general alarm. Tliat the ( Jovt-rn- 
 ment is weak is in such a crisis a great national misfortune,
 
 1 
 
 1 10 MEMOIE OF JOHN GREY. \ 
 
 but I do not know, except that almost every change is a 
 symptom of weakness, that it is much more so than it was. 
 It does not appear to be much changed in its general principles, 
 and more has been done since the Duke of Wellington came 
 into office, in favour both of civil and religious liberty, than 
 by any previous Administration. On the Catholic question, 
 which is becoming of the most urgent consequence, he 
 undoubtedly is hampered both by previously declared 
 opinions and by the feelings of the King. But I cannot 
 doubt his seeing how desirable, or rather how necessary it 
 is, that it should be settled, and that he would, if he saw 
 the means, take measures for that purpose. 
 
 " My position therefore remains as it was. Homck is 
 working hard in the Finance Committee, Avhich I agree 
 with you in fearing will not do much good. — Yours most 
 truly, Grey." 
 
 Meanwhile my father was working hard for the good 
 of his poorer neighbours in his own county. " John can 
 never be happy," his wife wrote, "without as much 
 work on hand as would satisfy three ordinary men." 
 Lord Althorp constantly exchanged farming experiences 
 with him, and confessed his envy of Tweedside excel- 
 lence. "My farm is exactly 258 miles from Milfield Hill," 
 he wrote, — " an appalling distance !" An old friend 
 has supplied me with the following remembrance :— 
 
 " No doubt some Avill remember how Lord Althorp was 
 hampered about taking the tax off shepherds' dogs. Your 
 father was the person who effected it, through his repre- 
 sentations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and how 
 great a benefit it proved to a deserving class of men, in 
 facilitating their daily labour, a class in that district and 
 in parts of Scotland the most important — I mean the hill 
 shepherds ! The general public do not know to this day 
 what a boon to a considerable class of daily labourers was 
 the removal of this tax. How the Act was appreciated the 
 subsequent acknowledgments from the beneficiaries clearly 
 showed."
 
 shepherds' dogs. Ill 
 
 The duties of these dogs — the wise and invaluable 
 collies — are both ouerous aud various, so various that 
 they cannot ahvays be compassed by one dog. On 
 farms where the sheep are scattered far abroad, one dog 
 cannot possibly accomplish the duties of the hirsel. 
 Moreover, a time of apprenticeship under the old 
 dogs is needful for the young dogs, to qualify them 
 for their profession. Therefore it liappens that almost 
 every shepherd is burdened with two dogs, sometimes 
 with tlu-ee or four. As the earnings of the shep- 
 herds were small, and the maintenance of a dog is 
 nearly equal to that of a child (among porridge - 
 eating races), the additional burden of a tax of sLx- 
 teen, twenty-four, or thirty-two shillings, was felt to 
 be a great injustice. My father's strong remonstrance 
 to Mr. Goulburn resulted in an order from the Treasury, 
 to the effect " that all shepherds having a direct interest 
 in the flocks they tend, shall enjoy the same exemption 
 from tax as is granted to farmers occupying land under 
 £100 rent." 
 
 The moral and material welfare of agricultural 
 labourers has interested the public mind a good deal 
 since the Commission of Inquiry was instituted, the 
 Report of which appeared in the summer of 18G8. In a 
 review of this lieport which appeared in the Times of 
 November 2G, 18G8, North Northumberland was called 
 the " paradise of agricultural labourers." Now this 
 is too strong an expression, and theru is a danger uf 
 exaggerating the excellence of a picture, which, by the 
 force of its contrast to pictures of the same class of 
 society, y)resented in many parts of England, impels us 
 to wonder and admiration. The part of wisdom wf)ul(l 
 be to find out and lay hold of the real eau.ses of the good 
 state of the a-aiculturists of Northumberland, which
 
 112 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 good state is not directly traceable to the existence or 
 non-existence of certain customs prevalent elsewhere, 
 and which undoubtedly exists in spite of certain faulty 
 parts of the agricultural arrangements of that county, 
 such as the "bondage 'system." That system is dying 
 out. My father describes it in the letters which I am 
 about to give, not as, himself, an originator or a de- 
 fender of the system, but as it actually worked before 
 his eyes. It was liable to great abuse, and that on 
 some estates it was not abused, was owing, as I have 
 hinted, to causes, some of which lie deeper and are more 
 remote in their beginnings. It is interesting to compare 
 the following letter, written in 1829, with Mr. Henley's 
 Keport in 1868, extracts from which I give in a note :— 
 
 "MiLFiELD Hill, Deceniber 1829. 
 " To J. C. Blackden, Esq., Ford Castle. 
 
 " Sir, — In answer to your inquiries respecting the manner 
 in which the labouring classes in this county are hired, 
 the amount of their earnings, the conditions of their en- 
 gagement, and the probable effects upon master and servant 
 if it were abolished, I shall begin by observing that a 
 number of persons are hired upon each farm, adequate to 
 do the regular work of it throughout the year, — I mean ex- 
 clusive of harvest, hay-making, and turnip -hoeing, when 
 some extra hands may be required, — who are called hinds, 
 and are householders. 
 
 " Each man is provided with a cottage and small garden, 
 free of rent, for himself and family, several of whom, in 
 many cases, are engaged by the year, as well as himself, 
 upon the farm. The wages of the hind are invariably paid 
 in kind, and those of his son or sons, if he have any of an 
 age to work, either in money, or partly in money and partly 
 in corn, as best suits his convenience ; but it is generally 
 an object with him to have such a proportion of the earn- 
 ings of his family paid in kind as will keep him out of the 
 market for such articles as meat, potatoes, butter, cheese.
 
 NORTHUMBRIAN HINDS, THEIR WAGES, ETC. 113 
 
 bacon, etc. ; and notwithstanding -what the Economists say 
 about money being the only proper medium of exchange 
 for labour, as well as other things, the custom of paying 
 farm-labourers in kind works well both for master and 
 servant. In times when grain sells at a high price, the 
 'conditions' of the hind will stand his master to more 
 than the ordinary rate of wages for day-labourers at the 
 same season, but, on the other hand, in times of great de- 
 pression the conditions are the same, though tlie fanner 
 at such times would be required to sell nearly double the 
 produce to enable him to pay his labourers in cash, — for 
 although money-wages must ultimately be regulated by the 
 price of produce and of food, they do not accommodate 
 themselves so quickly to the variations of the market, as 
 to follow all the changes that the farmer is constantly 
 obliged to experience. The advantages on the part of the 
 servant are, I think, greater and more obvious. The ' con- 
 ditions ' (as his payment in kind is denominated) which he 
 receives are proved by innumerable instances to be adequate, 
 under a proper economy, to the support of a man, his wife, 
 and any ordinary number of children, and it often happens 
 that a hind with but few in family has a good deal of 
 corn to dispose of at the end of the year, for which, of 
 course, his master is always wilhng to give him the market 
 price. The corn given to hinds is always of the best the 
 farm produces, with a little more than ordinary care be- 
 stowed upon the dressing of it. It is sent to the mill and 
 ground into meal of different kinds, and thus the inter- 
 mediate profits of nn-al-seller and baker are all .saved. The 
 produce of his garden, his cow, and his small potatoes, 
 enable him to fatten two pigs in the year. He sells his calf, 
 if it be early in the season, for 40s. or thereabouts, if later 
 for 308., and if his wif<; Ix' a frugal manager, and his cow a 
 good one, he can sell a lirkiu of butter for 10s., and some- 
 times 508., besides the milk and cheese used by the family. 
 Tlif keep of his cow is supjtlied entirely by the master, 
 unrl consists of j)a.sturag»' in sununer (coniinoiily till (.'lirist- 
 mas), with as much straw as In; choo.sc.s to take, and a ton 
 of hay in winter, or ten double-horse cart-loads of turnips, 
 
 H
 
 114 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 as may be bargained for. The keep is commonly reckoned 
 by the master at £8 or £8, 10s., but it is evident that a good 
 cow, producing a calf, must be worth much more to the owner. 
 He receives twenty-four pounds of wool, which gives employ- 
 ment to the females to spin and knit into stockings in the 
 vrinter evenings. Besides the garden ground, each hind is 
 allowed potato-ground in the field to the extent of 1000 
 yards in length, the master doing the ploughing and giving 
 the manure, whilst the servant supplies the seed, and all the 
 labour of planting, hoeing, and digging. This plan I have 
 altered on my farms, not thinking it right that in an article 
 so important to their comfort and support, they should be 
 subject to the vicissitude of seasons, the changeableness of 
 soil, and the bad effects sometimes arising from improper 
 seed or bad management, and besides not being satisfied 
 often with their mode of hoeing and cleaning the land. I 
 therefore give the potatoes as I do any other farm produce, 
 and when they are taken up give to each hind six bolls 
 heaped imperial measure, of the best potatoes, free of all 
 expense. One very obvious benefit arising from this mode 
 of paying in kind, besides that of having a store of whole- 
 some food always at command, which has not been taxed 
 by the profits of intermediate agents, is the absence of all 
 temptation, which the receipt of weekly wages and the 
 necessity of resorting to a village or town to buy provisions 
 holds out, of spending some portion of them in the ale-house, 
 instead of providing for the wants of the family ; and to 
 this circumstance, probably, we are much indebted for the 
 remarkable sobriety and exemplary moral conduct of the 
 peasantry of this county. Another advantage that the 
 hind enjoys is the hiring for the year. In seasons when 
 employment is very scarce, when all day-labourers are 
 turned adrift, and in storms of snow for instance, when all 
 piece-work is at a stand, however unproductive his services 
 may be to his master his wages go on, and even months of 
 confinement by ill-health produce no diminution in his in- 
 come. And thus it is, that however small his wages per 
 day may seem to be, yet at the end of the year he is com-
 
 WIDOWS AND CHILDREN OF HINDS. 115 
 
 monly found in better circumstances than the mason or 
 slater, who, working nominally for much higher wages, is 
 liable to great loss of time and uncertainty of employment. 
 It may seem hard at first sight that a farmer whose ser- 
 vant, after having entered upon his service for the year, has 
 fallen ill or become unable to work, should still have to 
 make good his bargain ; but such is the custom, and were it 
 otherwise the family would soon, in most cases, be thrown 
 upon the parish. Tlie farmer may as well then take the 
 chance of supporting his own for a while, as be compelled 
 to contribute to the support of all who might fall into such 
 circumstances throughout the parish. Another good at- 
 tending the custom is that it gives rise to a sentiment of 
 gratitude to a master, and avoids the feeling of degradation 
 that ought, and in many cases still does, accompany an 
 application for parochial relief He has every inducement 
 to behave himself respectably and give satisfaction to his 
 employer. While on the other hand, such removal of 
 senants being attended ^vith inconvenience and loss of 
 time to the master, it is his interest to encourage and retain 
 a respectable servant, and in this way a mutual accommoda- 
 tion and respect are produced, Avhich lead to frequent 
 instances of very long servnces. 1 could mention the 
 names of ver}- old men that have died in my service ^^^thin 
 eight years, who were servants upon the same farm to my 
 father, before I was bom ; one man lives here to this day, 
 though now only able to hjok after the cows, whom I 
 remember from my earliest cliildhood. And so little are 
 the pe.'isantry inclined to shift their quarters, that if I were 
 called upon to name the average length of service of at 
 least forty householders upon my farms, I should be quite 
 safe in stating it at twelve years. Such local and personal 
 attachments must Ije considered to exercise a beneficial 
 influence on society. The widow and children of an old 
 ser\'ant are not upon his death tunied out to seek supp(»rt 
 from tlic poor's-rates, but l)y extending some indulgence to 
 tht-m for a few years, they get up to manage for themselves. 
 An old servant of mine died about twenty years ago, leav-
 
 116 MEMOIK OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 ing a widow and three boys and two girls, all young. By 
 giving them a house, and employment as soon as they were 
 capable of it, they not only got on without parochial relief, 
 but obtained respectable educations. The eldest son has 
 been bailiff on one of my farms for some years, the second 
 is my groom and horsebreaker, — both married men ; the 
 youngest is supported by them whilst serving his ap- 
 prenticeship with a joiner. One of the girls is respectably 
 married, and the other, one of the most faithful of human 
 beings, has been our nursery-maid since the birth of our 
 eldest child, fourteen years ago, and such is her attachment 
 to the family that no offer can induce her to leave her situa- 
 tion. I could give other histories of thriving families, the 
 children of old servants, who were early left under similar 
 circumstances ; but if I have not already said enough to 
 prove that the connexion between master and servant that 
 exists in this county produces a reciprocal attachment 
 (with some exceptions, of course), which has a beneficial 
 effect on both parties, I fear I must at least have said so 
 much as completely to exhaust your patience. — I am, etc. 
 
 «J. G." 
 
 SECOND LETTER TO MR. BLACKDEN. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — It remains now to describe what the system 
 of bondage is, and I regret that it has acquired that odious 
 designation. I may engage a hind at the regular con- 
 ditions. I may engage also his eldest son, living in his 
 house, at 9s. or 10s. a week; his second, perhaps at Gs. ; 
 and his youngest at 8d. a day, to work on all occasions 
 when I have work to do which he is able to perform ; and 
 this is respectably enough called a hiring ; but because I 
 bargain with the hind for the work of a woman exactly in 
 the same way, namely at such times as I require it, it is 
 called bondage. The ' bondager,' however, is not always 
 a woman, but sometimes a boy, if it suits the hind better 
 to employ one. The work required of bondagers is, 
 gathering stones from the land, clearing it of couch, hoeing 
 turnii)s, raking hay, and reaping corn, besides attending a
 
 BONDAGERS. 1 1 7 
 
 threshing-machine to open the sheaves and hand them 
 forward, put the grain through the sieves, tread doA\'Ti the 
 straw, etc., all of which women can do generally better 
 than men. The advantage of this sj'stem to the farmer is 
 chiefly that it gives him the command of a certain number 
 of hands at all times, on his premises, which is of great 
 convenience, especially in situations remote from ]iopulous 
 villages ; and its abolition would be attended with great 
 inconvenience in many respects. For instance, the thresh- 
 ing-machine is to go to work on the morrow ; eight or ten 
 bondagers are wanted ; they have notice in the evening, 
 have arranged their domestic concerns, and are ready at 
 call, and very ill satisfied if by any accident a neighbour 
 comes in to their turn ; but, abolish the system, and the 
 farmer must go from house to house to solicit hands. One 
 is baking, another washing, another vnsiting a friend, 
 another take.s advantage of his situation and requires ex- 
 travagant wages, — his machine must stand still, his com is 
 not got to market, and his cattle have no straw. 
 
 " With respect to the hardship to the hind of supplying 
 a bondager : in the first place it is matter of bargain, and 
 is considered in his wages ; and in the second place, to a 
 man with a family, who has a grown-up daughter, it is no 
 hanlship at all, for in most cases the assistance of one 
 daughter is necessary to the family, and she can commonly 
 manage to spare a few hours in the short days in winter 
 to do the work of the bam, while she has the morning and 
 evening at home, as well as to work in the fields in summer, 
 taking the chance of rainy days, or days when she is not 
 wanted, to give her help to the family, thus contrilniting 
 to their comfort, and earning at the same time £G or £7 
 of wages. ... If you inquire into the condition and moral 
 characU-r of the peasantry of this cminty under such a 
 system as 1 have dt«crilKid, I will reft'r y<ni to the te.st of 
 your own observation. Plact^ youi^wlf on a Sunday morn- 
 ing in any of the approaches to a place of worship espe- 
 cially, and l(jok at the healthy apiM-arancc, the orderly 
 conduct, au<l resi)cctable dress of the crowd.*! of men ami
 
 118 MEMOm OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 ■women that assemble there, and the question is answered 
 both as regards their moral character and worldly comforts. 
 Look into the hind's establishment. Little as is the atten- 
 tion bestowed upon the cottage of the hind by too many 
 of the proprietors of estates, you will commonly find them 
 within cleanly and well furnished. . You will find on a 
 shelf not only a small Bible for each grown-up member of the 
 household, but in most cases a large Family Bible, probably 
 with Henry's or some other commentary, and several other 
 books, generally of a religious kind, taken in in numbers, 
 and carefully read before they are bound in a volume. Go 
 into the village school, composed of the children of the 
 peasantry : you will find them not only reading and writ- 
 ing at very early ages, but you will find some of the more 
 advanced who have gone through all the common rules in 
 arithmetic, and can solve any easy question in geometry, or 
 extract the square and cube root, with the greatest expedi- 
 tion. Compare the result of your observation and the 
 demands upon the poor's-rates here, with the same things in 
 most of the agricultural districts in England, and then say 
 whether the system you find established here works well or 
 ill for the lower orders."^ 
 
 1 " 40. The Glendale Union was selected by Mr. Henley for minute 
 inquiry, as presenting a suitable type of the agricultural system of the 
 north. The peculiarities of this part of the county are that there are very 
 few villages, the farmers being almost entirely dependent upon their cottages 
 for the labour of their farms, and the men being generally hired by the year 
 (B. 5) ; also that it is the custom of the country to pay the labourers mostly 
 in kind. Their wages are stated at 15s. to 18s. a week, including every- 
 thing (B. 7). 
 
 "41. Mr. Henley sums up very fully the advantages and disadvantages 
 of this system (B. 8-12), but decides in favour of the advantages, which he 
 thus describes (B. 8) : — ' The advantages of this system are certainty of 
 payment for the whole year, both in sickness and health, absence of tempta- 
 tion to spend money, and of any necessity for overtime or over-exertion at 
 piece-work, a constant supply of good wholesome food at cost price, includ- 
 ing abundance of meal and milk for the children, besides the various cakes 
 of barley and peas, bro'svn and white bread, butter, cheese, vegetables, and 
 home-fed bacon, and fuel brought to the door from the pit's mouth free of 
 charge.' 
 
 " 42. He adds that * it redounds to the credit of the system, as well as
 
 FEMALE AGrJCULTURAL LABOUR. 119 
 
 My father spoke thus of female labour in the fields, 
 when giving evidence before a Committee of the House 
 of Lords in 1830 : — 
 
 " It cannot be said that the occupation of the females is 
 unwliolesome, or beyond their streiigtli. The healthful 
 and cheerful ap{)earance of the girls in the turnip or hay 
 fields of the north, and their substantial dress, "vvould bear 
 a favourable comparison with those of any other class of 
 female operatives in the kingdom ; and their neat and 
 respectable attire on attending their places of Avorship on 
 Sundays would fill with astonishment, and perhaps envy, 
 the female peasantry of Kent or Surrey." 
 
 This opinion will no doubt be very startling to the 
 minds of those whose idea of female agi'icultural labour 
 is connected with such abominations as the " gang sys- 
 tem." Physiologists and moralists alike have a little 
 too hastily pronounced farm work to be unfit and un- 
 seemly for women, and have asserted that it is invari- 
 ably accompanied with moral degradation. I do not 
 venture to contradict these assertions, but I may be 
 suffered to remark, that as none of the facts of life or of 
 
 to the credit both of employers and employed, that at the Woolcr Petty 
 Sessions in the year ending December 31, 1S66, not one conviction of 
 " servants in husbandry misl)ehaving" is recorded.' 
 
 " 43. Also, from his own observation, and much conversation with tlie 
 wives of the lalKuirers, he is 'convinced that those who are paid in kind or 
 " com conditions" are the best off; and though at times tlie want of ready 
 money may press, the children's earnings bring a good deal into the family. 
 Children are paid in ca«h, and this is usually half-yearly. Even after they 
 have reached the age of maturity the whole family make comniou cause 
 with a common purse.' 
 
 " So high indeed in the general condition of the people that Mr. Henley 
 Bumn up his account of them by r|uotitig the evidence of a gentleman of 
 much cxiK5rience, both in this cr.untry and in the United States, who .states 
 (B. 63) that he never found working agiimltunil labdurers so well-nff in any 
 place, incluiling America."- From the First Itrjtort of the Cummissionerg 
 on the EmploijvinU of Children, Young J'ersoM, and WoiMn in Agri- 
 culture. PrcHcnted to Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1868.
 
 120 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 nature, however diminiitive, are overlooked by the truly- 
 scientific mind in the making of calculations or the 
 construction of a theory (the smallest facts being some- 
 times the most pregnant of suggestion), so I believe that 
 these facts lately published by the Commissioners must 
 be interesting to persons who pursue social inquiry in 
 a really scientific spirit, and not under the direction of 
 sentiment or prejudice. They bear upon them at least 
 the striking lesson that it is vain for men to prejudge 
 the question of what industries are or are not suitable 
 for the women who must be granted a share in the work 
 and in the wages of the community if they are to eat 
 the bread of honesty. They teach also the lesson, that 
 perfect freedom of experiment is the only condition 
 under which a satisfactory solution of that question 
 can be arrived at. To that condition we have not yet 
 attained.^ 
 
 ^ Mr. Henley says the women who work in the fields in Northumberland 
 are " physically a splendid race." The following is from his evidence, page 
 13 of Report :— 
 
 " 45. The employment of women in North Northumberland in farm labour 
 presents some striking features. ' There are many who hold the opinion 
 that field-work is degrading, but I should be glad if they would visit these 
 women in their own homes after they become wives and mothers. They 
 would be received with a natural courtesy and good manners which would 
 astonish them. Let the visitor ask to see the house, he will be " taken over " 
 it vnth many apologies that he should have seen it not " redd up." He will 
 then be oflered a chair in front of a large fire, with the never absent pot and 
 oven, the mistress, meanwhile, continuing her luiceasing family duties, bak- 
 ing, cooking, cleaning, etc. Not one word of complaint will he hear ; but 
 he will be told that though " working people " they are not poor, and a 
 glance at the substantial furniture, the ample supply of bacon over his head, 
 the variety of cakes and bread on the board, and the stores of butter, cheese, 
 and meal in the house, will convince him of the fact. When he inquires 
 about the children he will hear that though they have not much to give 
 them, the parents feel it to be their sacred duty to secure them the best 
 instruction in their power, and " that they are determined they shall have." 
 The visitor will leave that cottage with the conviction that field-work has
 
 HOME LIFE. 121 
 
 My father's home life during this time "was full of 
 interest, not witliout triiils. One of his daughters re- 
 members what he suffered throu!];h the dangerous illness 
 of our mother. " I have a dim picture in my mind," 
 she says, " of that event. Mamma was in great danger. 
 It must have been in the month of ]\Iarcli, I think. 
 There was a great storm of wind and rain ; the shutters 
 were shut to keep out the raging of the storm, though 
 it was morning. It was a Sunday morning. Papa 
 gathered us little ones all together in the dining-room, 
 and prayed with us kneeling close around him ; he 
 prayed for hc7'. The impression remains on my mind 
 still which was made upon me by seeing the father 
 whom we looked up to as a model of strength and good- 
 ness, so strongly moved, and weeping. I believe we 
 thought that only children cried. Our mother was shut 
 away from our sight ; a great red curtain, I remember, 
 hung across tlie archway leading to the bedrooms. This, 
 and his sorrow, filled me with a mysterious awe." 
 
 Harriet Grey, a daughter of his sister ^largaretta, was 
 
 had no degrtwling effect, but that he has been in the presence of a thought- 
 ful, contenteil, and unselfish woman.' 
 
 " 47. The example of these north-country women is also well worthy of 
 imitation in the south in another important respect, namely, tht-ir dress 
 when engaged in fann work. It is made of ' strong materials that defy 
 all weathers,' fitting easily. ' Generally it consists of a pair of stout boots, 
 a very short thick woollen petticoat, warm stockings, a jacket, etc., over all 
 a wajihing pinafore with sleeves (called a slip) wliich preserves their dress 
 from the dirt. Their faces are protected by a shade or " ugly " of divers 
 colours. Thus equipped they present a great contrast to the draggled ap- 
 pearance of the women wlio only work in the fields occa-sionally, wearing 
 some thin gown, with perhaps the a<ldition of tlie husband's coat and Ijoots. 
 Nor is the difference less striking in tlie results. The occasional worker not 
 being inured to field-laljour, frefjuently suffers from exposure to weather, 
 while the very aj)pearance of the habitual workers is sufliiient to jin)Vc tlie 
 hcalthincAti of their ni<Kle of life ; and the medical evidence is overwlieliiiing 
 u to the atisence of discajte, and of the unual coniplaiuts attendant on 
 debility (B. 31)."
 
 1 22 IklEMOm OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 a great favourite with my father. He extended to her 
 much of that grave and tender friendship which he felt 
 for his own daughters. After a visit at Milfield Hill 
 she wrote : — 
 
 "Edinburgh, 1830. 
 " My very dear Uncle, — I must write to congratulate 
 you on dear aunt's recovery. I always enter into her feelings 
 about you with enthusiasm, and think if anything could 
 reconcile her to frequent illness, it would be having dis- 
 covered through them how kind and tender a nurse you 
 could be. She has indeed found a friend for better and for 
 worse. I am also pleased that an Englishman, full of busi- 
 ness, and taking a deep interest in politics, should be as 
 gentle and as minute in his care for his own family as some 
 little Frenchmen I know. I used to think that I had never 
 seen a family so much attached in all its members as the 
 Serviers in Paris ; but I am happy to find my ideas enlarged, 
 and that I now know a family or two quite as happy and 
 united. Dear Franky is well, and often talks of you all and 
 Charlie. I become more and more attached to her. She 
 is certainly the most good-tempered, obedient, and warm- 
 hearted child I ever knew, and I hope she will be quite at 
 home with us. I can scarcely yet trust myself to think of 
 all your delightful family. I had not anticipated so much 
 sorrow at the parting. I hope my cousins will not forget me, 
 and that you, dear uncle, forgetting all that was insipid in my 
 society, will remember me only as a niece Avho, with all her 
 faults, loves you devotedly. As for me, I shall ever remem- 
 ber my long sojourn in Northumberland, and the pleasant 
 rambles we had among its sweet hills and dales. — Ever 
 yours with much affection, 
 
 " Harriet Jane Grey." 
 
 He sometimes took his elder boys with him to the 
 meetings of the Highland Society, getting them in after 
 dinner, " quietly, one on each side of him, to hear the 
 speeches."
 
 HORSES AND HUNTING. 123 
 
 Tliey all iiilierited his good horsemanship. 
 
 FROM HIS WIFE, WHEN HE WAS FROM HO:^IE. 
 
 "MiLFiEi.D Hill, Fch;,. ]S31. 
 "The boys had a glorious lumtiiig day yesterday with 
 the Colonel and Lord Falkland, who seem to have taken 
 a liking for them. George says the Colonel is very good- 
 humoured and friendly; they had some good galloping. 
 Just after we had dined, IVIargaret, Mary, and 1 wore 
 looking out and saw a few hunters (all who were not 
 blown) coming over the hedge into our field, and away 
 they came up the field and through Jenny's gate, past the 
 house and up the cow-loan ; first came George on Gaudy, 
 full gallop, looking so elegant and graceful that cousins 
 Margaret and Mary were quite delighted ; then after 
 him came Colonel Fitz, riding like a bag of wool, witli 
 white trousers over his heels ; next came the huntsman, 
 and close after him, little Apple and her rough-rider, Jolin ; 
 they kept on up the hill, and when it became steep, John 
 jumped off and ran, pulling Apple after him, and (Jeor^e 
 says they nevor drew bridle till they killed at Canna Mill. 
 Lord Falkland's horse had tired long before, and the 
 Colonel's horse could not manage the fences, so George 
 thought his horse the best in the field. He says Lord 
 Falkland admires Gaudy, and would like him, but he is 
 a year too young ; he said he heard his Lordship remark- 
 ing to the Colonel upon John's beauty (I mean his face, 
 not his pony)." 
 
 John's pony was beautiful, but his face was still more 
 so. His elder brother was tenderly proud of liim, and 
 always eagerly recorded the appreciation of strangers in 
 the mother's willing ears. ^Lany are the names and 
 traditifms which live in our family still, of horses wliici[ 
 wore in their turn favourites — friends, one; might almost 
 say — of tlie family. This same Ajiplo (Jrey, a beautiful 
 snow-white pony, lived to a great age, and surely no
 
 124 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 pony's life was ever so happy. One of my sisters wrote 
 of her death : — 
 
 " Poor old Apple was shot to-day by the side of her 
 grave in the wood. They say she died in a moment. 
 Papa could not give the order for execution, but the men 
 took it on themselves, as she could scarcely eat, or rise 
 without help. It was the kindest thing to do. Think of 
 the gallops and tumbles of our young days, and all her 
 wisdom and all her charms ! Emmy and I have got a 
 large stone slab, on which Surtees the mason has carved 
 ' In Memoriam, Apple,' and I shall beg a young weeping- 
 ash from Beau front to plant on her grave. 
 
 ' Her right ear, wliicli is filled with dust, 
 Hears little of the false or just' 
 
 now, and if she is gone to the happy hunting-grounds, all 
 the better for her, dear old pet ! " 
 
 
 /
 
 CIIAPTEPt V. 
 
 " Heaven I I think that day had noble use 
 Among God's days. 8t> near stood Riglit and Law, 
 
 Both mutually forborne ! Law would not bruise, 
 Nor Right deny ; and each in reverent awe 
 
 Honoured the other." 
 
 On the 2Gth of June 1830 the unhappy and obstruc- 
 tive Kini,', George r\'., died, and the long gloom of Tory 
 domination broke up, like ice-fields when winter is past. 
 I must pass over briefly the two years of excitement 
 which followed, when the country was enduring those 
 mighty throes which brought forth the new era, the 
 year one of the people's liberties. That crisis has had 
 its historians, and can never be forgotten. I have only 
 to record the far-distant echoes, so to speak, of the 
 conflict, which sounded in Northumberland, the county 
 of the great leader of the Eeform movement. A few 
 months before the King's death and the entrance of the 
 AMiigs into office, he had written a note to my father 
 from his quiet home at llowick, asking, "Do you see 
 any symptoms of the improvement of which the INIinis- 
 ters and their supporters speak so confidently ?" A few 
 weeks later he wrote to him from London, " Every other 
 interest is at this moment absorbed in the state of the 
 King's health. The case, as you will probably have 
 concluded from the bulletins, is, I believe, altsolutely 
 hopeless. Are there yet any movements in Northum- 
 berland with a view to a])proachiiig cluction.s?" On 
 the IGth of November tlie ])uk(! of Wfilington resignetL 
 It is said no one had any doubt who would be the
 
 126 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 new Ministers, and that some who walked home from 
 the House to' their own firesides through the fog of that 
 November night, said to each other that "a brighter 
 sun than that of midsummer would arise to-morrow." 
 The King sent for Earl Grey, who was then approaching 
 seventy years of age, and was about to see the accom- 
 plishment of that which he had advocated all his life, in 
 the previous century, and before the French Eevolution, 
 Lord Howick wrote to my father : — 
 
 " Berkeley Square, Nov. 18, 1830. 
 " I have no doubt you were as much pleased as we all 
 were here at the result of the division on Monday night. 
 I can tell you very little more than what you will see in 
 the newspapers. My father is to be at the head of the 
 new Administration. The King has been most kind to him. 
 the other arrangements are not yet completed, but are, I 
 hope, in the train of being so in a very satisfactory manner. 
 The only thing I fear is, that the labour he will have to 
 undergo will be too much for my father's health." 
 
 Lord Althorp was appointed Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer. He wrote to my father : — 
 
 " Downing Street, Nov. 26, 1830. 
 " My dear Grey, — We have undertaken to steer the 
 ship in a rough sea, but we must do our best. I hope, 
 however, it will be recollected by the people that we begin 
 our administration with the whole south of England in a 
 state bordering on insurrection. — Yours most truly, 
 
 " Althorp." 
 
 from the same. 
 
 " Downing St., Dec. 25, 1830= 
 " I see a good deal of Lord Grey now, and we both are 
 working very hard. F. K. seems uncommonly well. I 
 hope we are strong enough to carry Reform, and then we 
 need fear nothing more. Till then, I am doubtful whether 
 it is possible to carry on Government on our principles ;
 
 THE LEFOKM BILL. 1 2 7 
 
 but, happen -what may, we vuist he honest, and must not have 
 anything to do -with corruption. I will not say, i\s Mr. 
 Pitt did, that no honest man can be Minister without a 
 Reform in Parliament, and afterwards proved his own 
 words ; but I will say that no honest Minister can be safe 
 without Ixeform. I thought so before I was in office, and 
 I am sure of it now. — Yrs. most truly, Althorp." 
 
 The exhortation to honesty is characteristic. The 
 memorable day arrived — the 1st of March 1831 — on 
 which the great Eeform measure was laid before the 
 House. ]\Iost of the Tories regarded it at first as " an 
 audacious jest," 
 
 FROM LORD IIOWICK TO MY FATHER. 
 
 " March 5, 183L 
 " My dear Sir, — I hope you are pleased with our Pe- 
 form Bill. I am in great spirits about it. The debate 
 and the feeling of the country (as far as Ave yet know it) 
 are so entirely in our favour that I am very sanguine as to 
 the result. The struggle will, however, be severe, as we 
 cannot expect that those who have an interest in existing 
 abuses will resign it willingly. "We must, therefore, neglect 
 no means to insure success ; and with this view it is most 
 important that there should be an immediate expression of 
 the opinion of the country, not in favour of Peform gener- 
 ally, but of the particular measure projjosed. If it could 
 be shown that this measure would satisfy the refonners 
 generally, I am quite certain it would not only determine 
 many undecided votes, but gain over some of our opj)on<'nts, 
 Mea.sures have already Ik-cu taken for calling county meet- 
 ings in Kent and Hertfordshire. This example should, I 
 think, be followed in the north. There is no time to bo 
 lost, for the fate of tin; Pill will b*; dccidccl on the second 
 reading, which will probably l)e fixed in ten days or a fort- 
 night." 
 
 On the 22d of April the Pill was defeated. Ministers 
 were left in a minority of twenty-two.
 
 128 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 This was a critical moment. It has been said that 
 " though other parts of that mighty struggle were more 
 dangerous, more awful in the eyes of common ob- 
 servers, the real crisis lay within the compass of this 
 day. The Ministers themselves said so afterwards. 
 When in a subsequent season the very ground shook 
 with the tread of multitudes, and the broad heaven 
 echoed with their shouts, and the Peers quaked in their 
 House, and the world seemed to the timid to be turned 
 upside down, the Ministers were calm and secure ; 
 they knew the event to be determined, whereas now 
 they were standing on the sharp edge of chance, with 
 abysses of revolution on either side. The doubt, the 
 critical doubt, was whether the King could be persuaded 
 to dissolve Parliament."^ An appeal to the country 
 would of course restore confidence to the Eeformers. 
 It was not long before the doubt was solved. 
 
 FROM LORD HOWICK TO MY FATHER. 
 
 " April 21. 
 
 " I am very curious to hear what has been the effect of 
 our defeat the other evening in the country. For my own 
 part, I am very glad it has happened, for it has been lat- 
 terly quite clear that, in this Parliament, it would be im- 
 possible to carry the Bill without greatly impairing it ; and 
 I think it is infinitely better that it should be over at once, 
 without giving us the trouble of many more long and tire- 
 some debates for nothing. 
 
 " Two o'clock. — I have just got leave to tell you Parlia- 
 ment will be dissolved probably to-morrow ; therefore lose 
 no time in seeing what you can do in Northumberland. 
 All the Government have to trust to is the energy of the 
 friends of Keform in all places where the constitution of 
 the House of Commons enables them to act. 
 1 History of the Peace, p. 345.
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 129 
 
 " Perhaps you had better not say that I have told you 
 there is to be a dissolution until you see it in the news- 
 papers." 
 
 I must not dwell too long on the story — made so 
 familiar to us in our childhood by my father's recital of 
 it — of how, early on the morning of the 2 2d, Lord Grey, 
 Lords Durham and Brongliam, walked across the park 
 to Buckingham Palace, taking different paths to avoid 
 notice, and spoke with the King ; of how the King 
 wavered a little, and then — his feelings being roused 
 by certain members of the House having questioned 
 somewhat sneeringly the possibility of his venturing 
 to dissolve Parliament — in the heat of his impulse he 
 told them to fetch him a hackney-coach, if the royal 
 carriages could not be got ready, that he might dissolve 
 Parliament at once ; of how Lord Durham made haste 
 to Lord Albemarle's, the master of the horse, and 
 ordered the carriages ; how Lord Albemarle, at his 
 breakfast, with his mouth full of coffee and rolls, asked, 
 " Bless me, is there a revolution ? " and Lord Durham 
 answered, " No ; but there will be if you stay to finisli 
 your breakfast." The scene which was meanwhile 
 taking place in both Houses has been described by Mr, 
 Molesworth and others. Lord ^lansfield was protesting 
 (against Kefonn) in the House of Peers, and continued 
 to protest until the King actually entered, and until 
 several other Peers laid hands on him, and compcdknl 
 him to be silent, while " his countenance was convulsed 
 witli agitation." In the otlier House, Lord Althorp, Sir 
 Itobert Peel, and Sir Francis liurdett, all with their mouths 
 open, were " using tlie most vehement action of com- 
 mand and supplication in dumb sliow, and their friends 
 were labouring in vain to i)rocure a hearing for them," 
 
 I
 
 130 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 in the midst of cheers, hisses, shouts of laughter, and 
 the discharges of artillery and roar of the multitude 
 outside, which accompanied the King's arrival. Sir 
 Eobert Peel, usually calm and dignified, would not cease 
 to speak, or consent to sit down, even when the King's 
 arrival was announced, until a friend pulled him forcibly 
 down by the coat-tails. A witness said of him, " I 
 never saw a man in such a passion in my life." It 
 must have been a moment of exciting expectation to 
 Lord Durham, the " genius of the Eeform Bill," when 
 he entered first in the procession, carrying the crown. 
 The King, it is said, walked forward to the throne with 
 a quick, light step, and bowed around with a frank, 
 sailor-like, somewhat jaunty air. His face was slightly 
 flushed, and his expression eager. The following letter, 
 written many years after, may be interesting. It 
 alludes to the interview with the King on the morning 
 of the 22d:— 
 
 FROM MY FATHER TO EARL GREY (HOWICK). 
 
 "LipwooD, 3866. 
 
 " Dear Lord Grey, — Lord Brougham has not left off 
 his old tricks, the offspring of vanity and self-aggrandize- 
 ment, which caused your excellent father so much annoy- 
 ance in former years. 
 
 " I bought Moles worth's book when it came out, and 
 was much interested in the perusal, which recalled to 
 memory the exciting times when I used to receive from 
 your Lordship and your brothers letters regarding the pro- 
 gress of ' the Bill.' 
 
 " I marked particularly Molesworth's account of the 
 interview with the King,^ wherein it is stated that Earl 
 Grey deputed ' to his bolder and less courtly colleague ' the 
 management of the conversation, etc., — a very improbable 
 
 ^ Mr. Moleswortli had tlie account probably from Lord Brougham.
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 131 
 
 course of proceeding. One may allow for any amount of 
 varnish or departure from truthful accuracy, who is, like 
 myself, old enough to remembtr Brougham's secret corre- 
 spondence with Lord Wellesley on tlie Irish affairs, and his 
 familiar use of the King's name during the triumphal pro- 
 cession to Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with all of which, I 
 suppose, his Majesty was utterly disgusted ; for I remem- 
 ber Lord Grey telling me, that on a subsequent occasion, 
 when the King called upon him to form a Ministry, the 
 only restriction accompanying it was, that * Brougliam was 
 not to be Chancellor.' This is a circumstance which your 
 Lordship will hardly have forgotten." 
 
 I regret tliat I cannot recover any letters written by 
 my father at this crisis. His feelings were deeply 
 moved ; but in this lie was not singular. ISIen, women, 
 and even children, caught the infection of the enthu- 
 siasm of the time. At Milfield Hill, my mother, with 
 her children, used to go down every day to the foot of 
 the lane, where the mail-bags were thrown ofl", to get 
 the first tidings when the London express was bringing 
 each day news of the general election or the progress of 
 the Bill. Good news was hailed with shouts of joy 
 from the little people who were too young to know the 
 meaning of it, and even tlie baby, who could scarcely 
 speak, was so well instructed in loyalty to the cause, as, 
 when asked her name, to add to it with great energy 
 " good fif)." An aged reformer wrote to my father from 
 Ix)ndon — " If we should fail, what a prospect for the 
 country : our fair fields filled with the slain of our fel- 
 low-countrj'men, shouts of relK'llion, and garments 
 rolled in blood ! I have had fearful forebodings. . . . 
 You must perceive the bitterness of my mind, amounting 
 nearly to madne.s.s. God forgive me ! To you I can 
 trust my ravings, knowing tluit they will be received at
 
 132 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 least as sincere. I know not another to whom I could 
 trust some of the expressions above." Most true was 
 the saying of Grattan, " Self-legislation is life, and has 
 been fought for as for being." 
 
 King William expressed to Earl Grey a great interest 
 in the result of this general election, and hoped that 
 Mr. Bell would not stand again for Northumberland. 
 One of my father's later letters refers to this period : — 
 
 "LiPwooD, 1867. 
 
 " Dear Lord Grey, — I am exceedingly obHged by your 
 kind remembrance of me in sending me a copy of the cor- 
 respondence between Welhngton and your father, which I 
 have read with intense interest, and which, though it could 
 not heighten my admiration for Earl Grey's character and 
 talents, has tended greatly to raise the opinion I had 
 wrongly, as it seems, formed of those of the King. Many 
 vivid recollections have been recalled by the perusal of that 
 book of the exciting events of that time, and whoever may 
 become heir to my copy of it, will find a note interleaved 
 at p. 254, vol. 1st, wherein the King expresses his pleasure 
 at Mr. Bell's retirement from Northumberland, 'which 
 had secured the county from a contest, and insured Lord 
 Howick's return.' 
 
 " The note relates to some part that I took in that move- 
 ment, of which I enclose a copy. 
 
 " The King remarks with pleasure on the retirement of 
 Mr. BeU from the representation of Northumberland, an 
 event which I well remember. 
 
 " Lord Howick wrote me a hasty note from the House 
 of Commons, saying that he had just got leave from his 
 father to inform me that the ' dissolution ' would be de- 
 clared next day, that I might lose no time in preparing for 
 the election and getting ready the necessary machinery for 
 a canvass. I at once mounted my horse, saw Mr. Culley 
 of Coupland, ditto of Fowberry, and some other friends of 
 the Liberal cause, got them to accomj)any me to Wooler,
 
 THE EEFOKM BILL. 133 
 
 V'liere in the evening, by use of the bell-nian, we collected 
 an impromj^iu meeting in the street. I mounted the stairs 
 outside the Black Bull Inn, and harangued them on the 
 crisis of the country's fate, on the disappointment and 
 dreatlful consequences which might ensue if the Reform 
 Bill, so anxiously looked for, should be thrown out by the 
 opposition of the Tory Lords, causing the resignation of 
 Lord Grey's Ministry, etc., etc., calling upon them to sup- 
 port that distinguished statesman, of whom our county 
 had just reason to be proud, and to exert themselves in 
 maintaining our ]>opular rights and just Government, by 
 uniting in a declaration that ' we bound ourselves to vote 
 for no candidate who Avould not pledge himself to use his 
 best efforts in the cause of Parliamentary Reform.' All 
 shouted and held up their hands, big and little. 
 
 *' A resolution to that effect Avas drawn up by George 
 Howey, then resident in AVooler, and solicitor for our cause 
 in Glendale Ward, -which was signed by as many as were 
 freeholders. I lost no time in despatching a copy of this 
 to Newcastle, to be inserted in the new.si>ai)ers, and circu- 
 lated from Lord Howick's Committee over the county. 
 The idea was taken up, and similar resolutions adopted at 
 meetings convened at North Shields and elsewhere, which 
 were also made public. In a few days Mr. Bell announced 
 his intention to retire, and the Reform candidates. Lord 
 Howick and Mr. Beaumont, were elected ■without opposi- 
 tion." 
 
 The country was plunged once more into the excite- 
 ment of a general election, scarcely five months after 
 the last, Mr. Headlam wrote to my father : — 
 
 " April 21. 
 " The die is cast, and tho country is in a flame The 
 frenzy of Londonderry, Mansfield, and Vivyan, shows their 
 weakness and despair. We meet to-morrow to sign at our 
 own cost a declaration for Howick and Beaumont. I 
 understand the Heather Boys are turn<'d refonners. Let 
 me hear what you are doing."
 
 134 MEMOIR OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 The following words, spoken by my father at one of 
 the election meetings, answers the question of what he 
 was doing : — 
 
 " My opinion of the magnificent measure submitted to 
 Parliament by Lord John Russell, under the sanction of 
 his Majesty's Ministers, may be expressed in a few words. 
 I should designate it as being founded upon the principles 
 of justice, wisdom, and good policy — as claiming the ap- 
 probation, as it will obtain the su import, of all the lovers of 
 good government. But however wise, just, and politic we 
 may consider it, it still does not want violent, I may say 
 virulent, opponents. If you ask where those are to be 
 found, I answer, certainly not within these walls. Certainly 
 not among the honest yeomanry of England. No ; they are 
 only to be found in the ranks of the borough-mongers and 
 the supporters of corruption. It would be amusing to see 
 a petition from that class of persons, if they would prepare 
 one, not cloaked in specious concealment, but speaking the 
 undisguised truth. I imagine it to read in this way, ' We, 
 your humble petitioners, who have long been accustomed 
 to usurp the privileges of a large body of the people of 
 England, and to send members into the House of Com- 
 mons, by which means we have secured much wealth, and 
 obtained places of power and emolument for ourselves and 
 families, are now threatened by a base and ungrateful 
 people with having that privilege wrested from us. We 
 therefore humbly entreat your honourable House stead- 
 fastly to resist all approaches to purity in the constitution 
 of your honourable House, — that you will resist the mad 
 clamour for Reform, which would give the representation 
 to the ignorant multitude, and divest us, the privileged 
 few, of the just rights with which the abuses of the Consti- 
 tion have invested us,' etc. Such, I imagine, would be the 
 petition of those who contend for things as they are on 
 the ground of their antiquity, and who stigmatize the views 
 of the reformers as having a revolutionary tendency, which 
 would destroy the Constitution. But, gentlemen, I need
 
 THE REFOKM BILL. 135 
 
 not tell you that revolutions come not from a desire on the 
 part of a Government to redress grievances and to correct 
 abuses, but that they are brought about by the arbitrary 
 spirit that would perpetuate abuses, and oppose the princi- 
 ples of justice and liberty. The epithet revolutionary has 
 been much emi)luyed by the opponents of Keform in the 
 House, but they have not condescended to the proof The 
 Constitution of the countiy consists of three estates — King, 
 Lords, and Commons. Now, how would it revolutionize 
 the King 1 Does it not leave him the arbiter of mercy, 
 invested with all his privileges and prerogatives 1 Does it 
 not leave him the army and navy, and all the appointments 
 in both 1 And instead, as Sir H. Hardinge said, of pulling 
 the crown frf)m his head, it will leave him more firmly 
 seated upon the throne than ever, because he will be en- 
 throned in the hearts of a grateful and loyal people. Then 
 as to the Lords : how does it revolutionize them ] It leaves 
 them their House, invested with all their judicial and 
 legislative powers. It leaves them all that the Constitution 
 awards them ; but it does not leave them the power of 
 making two Houses of Lords ; it does not leave to sixteen 
 Peers the power to nominate seventy-six members in the 
 Commons ; but is there anything revolutionaiy in that 1 
 Then as to the House of Commons : it certainly will i»erform 
 some revolution there ; for if revolution means to revolve, 
 and to revolve means to turn about, I apprehend it will have 
 the effect of turning many of its mendjers to the right about, 
 and sending them about their business. But then, wliat 
 right have those members there 1 or who sent them ? Not 
 the people of England, for they are there against their will, 
 and in opposition to their interest. No, gentlemen, there 
 is nothing revolutionary in shutting the doors of tlu^ House 
 of Commcms upon those who are not sent there by the 
 people of England. But there is a revolution which some 
 men have not the delicacy of pt;rception to discover. I 
 mean that revolution which has Ix-en for many years silently 
 but surely and progrekssively working its way in the minds 
 of men ; a revolution of moral feeling and of intelligence
 
 136 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 that pervades the whole community of England, and that 
 will exert an influence upon the character of the laws, the 
 institutions, and the Government of this country, — an influ- 
 ence which it will be the part of a wise and enlightened 
 Legislature to recognise and co-operate with, but which no 
 future Government, however exalted in rank, however 
 splendid in talents, if they attempt to rule by arbitrary or 
 unjust or selfish principles, will ever hereafter be able to 
 gainsay or resist." 
 
 The new Parliament met. 
 
 LORD HOWICK TO MY FATHER. 
 
 " House of Commons, Sept. 5, 1831. 
 " My dear Sir, — I begin at length to have some hopes 
 of our labours coming to a termination ; but as the time 
 for the Bill going to the House of Lords approaches, I 
 cannot help getting a little nervous as to the result. The 
 elections at Grimsby, Weymouth, and Dublin have cer- 
 tainly had a bad eff'ect, and our opponents have talked 
 about a reaction, till they begin to believe it is taking place. 
 I cannot help thinking that some of the stupid and timid 
 Peers will suff"er themselves to be persuaded that the eager- 
 ness of the people in support of the Bill is abated, and that 
 since its defects have (as they say) been exposed in the 
 Committee, the general zeal in its favour, which was 
 displayed at the general election, has given place to in- 
 diff'erence. Under these circumstances, I think it is worth 
 considering whether it might not be possible to get up 
 petitions to the Lords to pass the Bill when sent up to 
 them without delay. I am told that one of the plans of 
 the Opposition is to move an adjournment, either for a 
 couple of months, or until the Scotch and Irish biUs are 
 sent up. Such a motion would be very likely to gain the 
 votes of those who hate the Bill, but dread the consequence 
 of rejecting it ; and if we could get petitions generally of 
 the kind I have mentioned, I think they would have a 
 great eff'ect. A county meeting, if the harvest does not 
 render it too inconvenient, and if a good attendance could
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 137 
 
 be procured, would, I think, he of much use. Praj' consult 
 the reformers of your neiglihuuvhooJ on the subject, and see 
 what can be done. — Yours very truly, HowiCK." 
 
 On the 21st of September 1831 the Eeform Bill passed 
 the Commons by a majority of 109, and was carried up 
 to the House of Lords the day after by Lord Althorp, 
 accompanied by one hundred members of the Commons. 
 Then the cry arose, and was echoed through the land, 
 " \Miat will the Lords do ?" The question was answered 
 ere long. On the 7th of October the Lords threw out 
 the Bill, and rejoiced exceedingly. The Eeformers stood 
 firm. The Tories expected the Administration would 
 fall ; but the King prorogued Parliament in order that 
 the whole matter might be gone over again. Then the 
 indignation of the people outside Parliament began to 
 be more distinctly expressed. The cry, " What will the 
 Lords do?" was changed to, " "Wliat will the people do ?" 
 The people did not wholly do well. There were riots 
 and outrages here and there. I find some words of my 
 father's, written then, " Let the people alone ; they 
 won't tro far wrong ;" no ! not when there is a moderate 
 hope of redress, in which case an aggrieved and suffer- 
 ing people will endure much and quietly. 
 
 Again large meetings were held. At one of them 
 my father made the following speech : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, — I assure you I deeply participate in tlic 
 di.sappointment just now expressed by tlie meeting. Tiicro 
 lia.s seldom })e<'n a period in the hist(»ry of our country 
 involving deeper intt-rcsts, or exciting a more intense anxiety 
 in the public mind, than the present. The Lords liave, as 
 you all know, rejected the Bill by a majority of forty-on(% 
 among whom arc, to !»<• found the wliolc Ix-ncli of P>ishops 
 except two. Ah a fri<'n(l to the Churdi of lOngland, I 
 greatly lament this circumstance; because it will have the
 
 138 MEMOIR OF JOHN GRFX 
 
 effect of alienating the people from the Church, by showing 
 them that the heads of it entertain views and feelings and 
 interests at variance with those of the nation at large. 
 This decision in the House of Lords, it is to be feared, will 
 go far to increase the feeling of suspicion and mistrust 
 which already exists throughout the country respecting 
 that branch of the Legislature ; for he must have been but 
 an inattentive observer of the temper of the times, and the 
 progress of public opinion, who has not seen that the con- 
 tempt of popular rights and the resistance to the claims 
 and remonstrances of the people, by those who have so 
 long swayed the councils of these realms, have led to un- 
 happy consequences on the state of society. The system 
 to which the nation has, at length, opened its eyes, and 
 now offers a determined resistance, has had the effect of 
 continuing the government of the country, for a very long 
 period, in the hands of persons who have been hurled from 
 office by the indignant blast of public opinion — that opinion 
 before which, when steadily expressed, every Government 
 must bow, and upon which eventually every Government 
 must depend. The hope of reform, and the prospect of im- 
 provement arising from it, had contributed to quiet the public 
 mind and to restore tranquillity to the land. All eyes were 
 instantly fixed upon the proceedings of the Legislature, and 
 the moment for the expected consummation of their wishes 
 and hopes had arrived. But the rejection of the Bill by 
 the House of Lords at once blasted their prospects. Dis- 
 appointment and dismay appeared in every countenance, 
 and every one asked of his neighbour, " What will become of 
 the country 1" This then, brother-freeholders, is the crisis 
 at which we are arrived, the position in which we now 
 stand. And the object of our present meeting is to delibe-* 
 rate upon the best means of promoting that cause in which 
 our dearest interests, as individuals and as a nation, are 
 involved. The cause of Reform cannot go back, it cannot 
 stand still. The nomination to seats in the Commons by 
 individuals in the House of Peers cannot be allowed longer 
 to exist, having received the stamp of a nation's condemna-
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 139 
 
 tion. The question so often asked, ' What -will the Lords 
 do V has been wofully answered, and the question now 
 is, ' What will the people do V In stating what, in my 
 humble opinion, the people ought to do, I need not remind 
 you that there is only one justifiable course to pursue ; 
 that acts of tumult and violence may injure but they can- 
 not promote the cause of justice and good government. I 
 need not caution you against any violation of the public 
 peace, or opposition to the laws on which the Avelfare of 
 society depends ; but I will join you in seeking the accom- 
 plishment of this great object liy every constitutional means. 
 You may be assured that if the voice of the people of Eng- 
 land shall be fiimly but temjierately and simultaneously 
 raised in favour of Reform, it will speak throughout the land 
 in a language which senators must hoar and Avhich legislators 
 must obey, and that the object of our wishes cannot be long 
 witliheld. These, my friends, are the means by which we 
 must seek to save our country from a fatal convulsion, and 
 by which those very Peers themselves will be saved from 
 the effects of their own infatuation — those Peers who are 
 loudest in claiming to be considered the only legitimate 
 guardians of the Constitution, and who, in the adoption of 
 this measure, pretend to foretell its utter and everlasting 
 destruction. But, gentlemen, like the boy in the fable, they 
 have cried 'Wolf! Wolf!' so often that no one regards them. 
 The same cry has been raised by Eldon and Wetherell, and 
 echoed by their associates in both Houses of Parliament, 
 whenever popular rights have been recognised or Liberal 
 principles advocated. Tlie same cry was raised when that 
 compendium of bigotry and intolerance, the ' Test and Cor- 
 poration Act,' wa.s repealed. And happening to be in 
 London at the time of passing the Catliolic Eman(ii)ation 
 Bill, I he^rd many funeral orations ])runounct'd Ijy those 
 gentlemen in Parliament over the Constitution, whoso 
 o})8equie8 they have been accustomed to iicrfonii, with all 
 the ' pomp and circumstance' of real woe. Still tlu; Con- 
 stitution has Hicovercd from these sf'vcral attacks, and conu; 
 out frehher and fairer than ever. This, liowever, is to be its
 
 140 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 last struggle — this is a blow which it cannot survive. It 
 cannot outlive the destruction of the rotten boroughs, and 
 must inevitably die of grief for Gatton and Old Sarum. I 
 would first ask those gentlemen who profess such a filial 
 regard for the Constitution, and are so learned in the laAvs 
 by which it is upheld, to quote to us any Statute authoriz- 
 ing them as individuals to usurp the privileges of the 
 people, by sending their nominees into the House of 
 Commons, with power to vote upon questions of national 
 law, and to dispose of the money extracted by taxation 
 from the pockets of the people. Let us tell them, that 
 while they weaken the noble structure of the Constitution, 
 by protecting abuse, we seek, by equal laws and free re- 
 presentation, to confirm the rights and privileges of all 
 classes, and to render our country prosperous and happy 
 at home, and respected, and, if need be, feared abroad." 
 
 Then there arose the question of the creation of 
 new Peers in order to get the Bill passed — an exercise 
 of the Eoyal prerogative which was constitutional, though 
 very undesirable. There was much gloom through- 
 out that winter, much excitement, expectation, hope, 
 and fear, long debates in Parliament, and monster 
 meetincvs out of Parliament. Meanwhile the Peers 
 began to waver. Many turned round, seeing that it 
 would not do to oppose the will of the country. But 
 the great cause was destined yet to pass through another 
 crisis of peril. The mind of the King was unstable in 
 the matter, and at a Cabinet Council held on the 8th of 
 May 1832, the Ministers, believing they had now no 
 prospect of success, tendered their resignation, which 
 was accepted by the King. 
 
 LORD HOWICK TO MY FATHER. 
 
 " Colonial Office, ^fay 9, 1832. 
 " My dear Sir. — You will no doubt hear that we are 
 now all out; that we are merely remaining till our
 
 THE REFOKM BILL. 141 
 
 successors are appointed. I am verj' anxious to hear from 
 you what is the impression made upon the public by these 
 events. Is it understood that there was no alternative ; 
 that ha^'ing been refused permission to create Peers, the 
 resignation of my father and his colleagues was unavoid- 
 able 1 The violent Tories talk of an immediate dissolution. 
 I do not believe it ; but it is possible, and we should be 
 ready. — Yours very faithfully, HowiCK." 
 
 Then, it was said, there was such a mourning tbrougli- 
 out England as had not been known for many years. 
 Tlie bells of churches tolled or were muffled. People 
 forsook their work and gathered in crowds everywhere. 
 The Duke of Wellington talked of reliance on his 
 soldiery, and of a way he knew of to quiet the people 
 if there should be signs of rebellion, and w^as dis- 
 appointed when he learned that the sympathies of the 
 soldiers were greatly with the people, and that his best 
 policy was to order them back to their barracks. 
 
 LORD IIOWICK TO MY FATHER. 
 
 " Colonial Office, May 14, 1S32. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I have received your letter, and I 
 assure you that, in the midst of the present commotion in 
 public affairs, I most sincerely feel for your domestic 
 trials, and I cannot be in the least surprised at your feel- 
 ing unequal to embarking in all the turmoil of political 
 warfare. 
 
 " The present aspect of affairs is, I confess, most alanning. 
 I am not afraid of the re-cstablisliment of Tory domina- 
 tion, but I dread that the leaders of that party may, 
 in their ineffectual efforts to recover tlieir power, adopt 
 measures which will lead to the overthrow of tlie existing 
 institutions of the country. The Duko of WelHngton has 
 indeed met with extreme difficulty in forming an Adminis- 
 tration of any kind ; nor is it yet certain that lie will 
 succeed in doing so, im Peel and Cloulburn have refused to
 
 142 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY, 
 
 become members of it ; and, with the exception of Baring 
 and Harding, there seem to be no persons whose assist- 
 ance he can command who are fit to act as Cabinet 
 Ministers in the House of Commons. Still I fear he will, 
 of some material or other, patch up a Government ; and, 
 to prevent its immediate extinction, he wUl probably be 
 driven to a dissolution, the result of which it is impossible 
 to speculate upon without the greatest alarm. I cannot 
 conceive how the peace of the country is to be preserved 
 during the six weeks the elections will be going on, or how 
 we can prevent a continental war from being kindled, 
 while there is no power to control the Administration. 
 
 " All that can be done is for the House of Commons, 
 while allowed to sit, to show that it sympathizes with the 
 people ; and for the people, if we are dissolved, to return 
 another House, which will act on similar principles. 
 
 " There was a meeting last night at Brooks's, at which it 
 was originally proposed that Lord Ebrington should this 
 evening move a resolution, declaring that the House could 
 place no confidence in any Government with the Duke of 
 Wellington at its head ; but, after some discussion, it was 
 agreed that such a motion would be premature, and that it 
 would be better to postpone taking such a step, until the 
 formation of the Government shall be announced. It was, 
 however, agreed to refuse any vote of money to the new 
 Government, should it be formed, until Reform should 
 actually be carried. If I hear anything positive before 
 post-time I will write a line. — Yours very truly, 
 
 " HowiCK." 
 
 The Duke was unable to form a Government. The 
 Whiss were recalled. 
 
 Lord Howick wrote to my father : — 
 
 " May 18, 1832. 
 " I am happy to tell you that it has just been announced 
 in both Houses that the present Government will remain 
 in office, being satisfied that they have the means of carry- 
 ing the Reform Bill."
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 143 
 
 On the 4th of June 1832, the Bill was read for the 
 third time in the House of Lords (the Duke of Welling- 
 ton and about one hundred Peers had absented them- 
 selves). The Bill passed, and on the 7 th it received the 
 King's assent by royal commission. The scene in the 
 House of Lords on the previous 14th of April was de- 
 scribed by Lord Jeffrey : — 
 
 " Lord Grey spoke near an hour and a lialf, after five 
 o'clock A.M., from the kindling dawn into full sunlight, and 
 I think witli grout <'ffect. Tlie aspect of the House was 
 very striking through the whole night, very full, and, on 
 the whole, still and solemn (but for the row with Durham 
 and Phillpots, which ended in the merited exposure of the 
 latter). The whole throne and the space around it 
 clustered over with 100 members of our House, and the 
 space below the bar (which, since the galleries which are 
 constructed over the grand entrance, is also left entirely 
 for us) nearly filled with 200 more, ranged in a standing 
 row of three deep along the bar, others sitting on the 
 ground against the wall, and the space between covei-ed 
 ■svith moving and sitting figures in all directions, with 
 twenty or thirty clambering on the railings, and perched up 
 by the doorways. Between four and five, when the day- 
 light began to shed its blue beams across the red candle- 
 light, the scene was very picturesque, from the singular 
 grouping of forty or fifty of us sprawling on tlie flooi-, 
 awake and a.sleep, in all imaginable attitudes, and with :ill 
 8ort.s of expressions and wrappings. ' Young Cadl)oll,' 
 who chose to try how he could sleep standing, jannned in 
 a corner, fell flat down over two pro.strate Irislnnmi on tlio 
 floor, with a noise that made us all start, l)ut no mi.schief 
 wa.s done. Tlie ciiudlcs had been reviewed before dawn, 
 and blazed on after the sun came fairly in at tlu! high 
 windows, and produced a strange but rather grand c^flect, 
 on the T<-i\ draperies arul furniture and dusky tai)estry on 
 the Willis."
 
 144- MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 My father received the following letter, towards 
 the close of the great struggle, from the venerable 
 Premier : — 
 
 " Downing Street, April 20, 1832. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I take advantage of the first mo- 
 ment of breathing-time that I have had for the last three 
 weeks to write to you. I cannot doubt that the suc- 
 cess of the Reform Bill on the second reading will have 
 afforded you great pleasure. I trust that I shall now stand 
 clear of suspicions, from which I must say I had a right to 
 expect to be exempt. I might have had credit for know- 
 ing what I was about. I never concealed my opinion that 
 a large creation of Peers, in itself an evil, would only have 
 been justified by the most extreme necessity. 
 
 " The event has justified me. We shall still have a 
 severe battle to fight in Committee, and it is possible that 
 some alterations may be carried by our opponents, and I 
 should be glad to know from you how far you think the 
 public opinion would be with us in any concessions of this 
 nature, provided the great principles of the Bill are main- 
 tained. In the meantime petitions, thanking the Lords in 
 the second reading, and expressing a hope that the measure 
 would ultimately pass in such a manner as to satisfy the 
 just expectations of the public, might be useful. I am nearly 
 Avorn out, and sigh for the quiet and retirement of Howick. 
 — With great esteem, yours truly, Grey." 
 
 A public dinner was given to Lord Howick in the 
 autumn of that year, — a year in which the cholera was 
 spreading terror through the country. My father's friend, 
 Mr. Home of Berwick, wrote — 
 
 " You must come to the dinner and bring a gallant cortege 
 with you. Come in full force yourself, your speaking-tackle 
 aboard, and all your wits about you. You know we are 
 poor in oratory, and must depend on you to hide our defects. 
 We have been almost disheartened from attempting any- 
 thing by the alarm of the cholera. I fear it will prevent
 
 ANTI- SLAVERY MOVEM ENT. 145 
 
 many attending. On this, and on far higher accounts, I 
 earnestly hope this scourge may be abated. It is as ■well 
 perhaps that we politicians should not be allowed to forget, 
 ' what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.' " 
 
 At this meeting my father said, in reference to the 
 past struggle : — " An attempt had been made to dictate 
 to them a certain political creed, by those who seemed 
 to forget that the days of feudal despotism and feudal 
 ignorance had gone by. But it would not do in those 
 days to address the people of England in the language 
 used three hundred years ago, when Henry the Eighth 
 could tell his subjects (his loving subjects of course) that 
 ' they being but brutes and inexpert folk, were very ill 
 judges of the laws by which they should be governed.' " 
 . . . They would allow him to offer them one word of 
 adWce : — " Let us," continued he, " use our victory with 
 wisdom and discretion ; let us not triumph over fallen 
 foes ; and let us bury, from this day forward, everything 
 like asperity of temper and party spirit in the kindly 
 intercourse of social life. If our opponents have been 
 weak, if they have proved themselves ignorant, let us 
 hope that they may derive instruction from the hard 
 lesson we have taught them ; and in returning to our 
 homes let it be our constant endeavour so to harmo- 
 nize the discordant elements of which society is com- 
 l)Osed, as to make them work together for the peace, 
 the prosperity, and happiness of our beloved country. " 
 
 In May 1832 the agitation for the abolition of Slavery 
 was renewed. A petition was presented by 135,000 
 persons in I/mdon alone. There was still much hesita- 
 tion in rarlianient, a recurrence to old objections, and 
 renewed debates. Mr. ]'>u.\toii had a hard battle to fight. 
 Many of the most liberal men failed to see the weak 
 
 K
 
 146 MEMOm OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 point in the famous resolutions of nine years before, 
 namely, the idea oi gradual emancipation. Even Lord 
 Althorp, so just-minded as he was, " would not pledge 
 himself to any immediate abolition, because he thought 
 the slaves were not prepared for it ;" but he thought 
 " the Legislature might employ itself usefully in bringing 
 the slaves to such a state of moral feeling as would suit 
 the proposed alteration in their condition." My father's 
 opinion, expressed at the same time, differed from that 
 of his friend Lord Althorp. 
 
 " Whilst I am perfectly willing," he said, " to give to his 
 Majesty's Ministers all credit for sincerity in their endea- 
 vours to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and bring 
 \ \ about at last the final extinction of slavery, yet I confess I 
 have some objection to see the very frequent introduction 
 of the word gradual into all their plans and measures. The 
 planters seem to take special pains to make any progress to 
 that desirable end gradual enough. And the cause has ad- 
 vanced so very gradually for the last fifty years, and, I fear 
 may continue to advance so very gradually for the next fifty 
 years, that you and I, gentlemen, will never live to see the 
 accomplishment of our wishes, and thus life to us will be 
 cheated of one of its dearest anticipations. I take an ob- 
 jection also to the principle that slaves are not to be put 
 in possession of freedom until they have learned to use their 
 liberty with perfect discretion, for then will that time never 
 come. If any man conceives that these unfortunate beings 
 can be fitted, whilst under the degrading and debasing yoke 
 of slavery, to perform all the duties, and to act up to the 
 moral responsibilities of free men, and that the restoration 
 of rights of which they have been so long and cruelly de- 
 prived will not in some instances be attended with abuse 
 of them, then I would warn that man to prepare to be dis- 
 appointed. But what would you think of the father who 
 would insist that his boy should learn to swim, but that he 
 should be quite perfect in the art before ever he should be 
 allowed to set a foot into the water ] In my mind, the one
 
 ANTI- SLAVERY MOVEMENT. 1 i 7 
 
 case does not involve a more palpable absurdity than the 
 other." 
 
 In the folloAving ^lay, however, ^Ministers took a more 
 decided position, and the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Stanley, 
 proposed, on the part of the Government, that all chil- 
 dren born after the passing of the Emancipation Act, 
 and all under six years old at the time of its passing, 
 should be declared free ; that all others then slaves 
 should be registered as apprenticed labourers, and be 
 obliged to work for their owners under conditions and 
 for a period of time to be fixed by Parliament, and 
 that a loan of fifteen millions should be ofiered to the 
 planters. In this proposal there was still an adherence 
 to the principle of gradualism, which, together with the 
 compulsory apprenticeships, was opposed by j\Ir. Bux- 
 ton. He found a strong supporter in Lord llowick, 
 who had resigned office, as unable to countenance this 
 principle. The Government yielded eventually to the 
 arguments of these men, and of the others wlio held 
 with them, and the term of apprenticeships was 
 shortened. The field slaves were to have been appren- 
 ticed for twelve years, the house slaves for seven ; these 
 periods were now reduced to seven and five years, and 
 shortly afterwards were remitted altogether, and the 
 loan of fifteen millions was changed into a gift of twenty 
 millions.^ 
 
 • " On Ijoth Hhores of the Atlantic, expectation stood on tiptoe to watch 
 the moment wliich Khould give fieedoin tu 8(10,000 of the enslaved race. 
 Tlie Carolina jdanter locjked well to hiu negro ijuarter to see that his 
 ' han<li» ' were not aljroa<J after dark. Garrison and his Itand sat waiting for 
 lidiiigH, with more faith in tlie negro temper than anylxxly else, but still 
 with some anxiety for the cause. Tlie Britisli Parliament lociktd ln-ncvo- 
 lently forth, in the consciousness of having done an act which should stand 
 alone in the history of the world. The British peasant thought affection- 
 ately of the block brethren whom he, as a freeman and a tax-payer, hod 
 
 I
 
 148 MEMOIR OF JOHN GIIEY. 
 
 In subsequent years, when my father told the story of 
 this battle and victory to his children gathered round 
 him, he dwelt with joy, — I would say joy rather than 
 pride, — on this act, so honourable to England. I can 
 recollect his pointing out to us that it was easy to 
 collect signatures and sign petitions, and make thrilling 
 speeches, but that the ready and joyful acquiescence of 
 the people under the increase of their burdens, already 
 too heavy, which this gift of twenty millions imposed 
 on them, was an indisputable proof that this matter had 
 taken hold of the hearts and consciences of the people; 
 and he very distinctly told us that a regard for the true 
 welfare of our fellow-creatures, and a ready spirit of 
 
 helped to release from bondage. And when the tidings came, — the narra- 
 tive of how the great day had passed over, — there was such joy as is seldom 
 excited by one event among opposite interests. The 1st of August fell on 
 a Friday, and there was to be a holiday from the Thursday night till Mon- 
 day. The missionaries did their duty well ; and they completely succeeded 
 in impressing the people with a sense of the solemnity of the occasion. 
 The arrival of that midnight in the island of Antigua, where the negroes 
 were to be wholly free at once, was an event which cannot be read of with- 
 out a throbbing of the heart. It was to the negroes their passover-night. 
 They were all collected in their chapels, — the Wesleyans keeping watch- 
 night in the chapels throughout the island. The pastors recommended to 
 the people to receive the blessing in silence and on their knees. At the 
 first stroke of midnight from the great cathedral bell, all fell on their knees, 
 and nothing was heard but the slow-tolling bell, and some struggling sobs 
 in the intervals. The silence lasted for a few minutes after the final stroke, 
 when a peal of awful thunder rattled through the sky, and the flash of 
 lightning seemed to put out the lamps in the chapels. Then the kneeling 
 crowd sprang to their feet, and gave voice to their passionate emotions, — 
 such voice as might be expected from this excitable people. Some tossed 
 up their arms, and groaned away at once the heart's burden of a life. 
 Families and neighbours opened their arms to each other. Some prayed 
 aloud after the lead of their pastors, that they might be free indeed ; and 
 a voice was heard in thanksgiving for a real Sabbath now, when the wicked 
 should cease from troubling and the weary be at rest, and the voice of the 
 oppressor should be no more heard, and the servant should be free from his 
 master. In some of the chapels the noble spectacle was seen of the masters 
 attending with their negroes, and when the clock had struck, shaking hands 
 with them and wishing them joy."
 
 THE POOR-LAWS. UO 
 
 self-sacrifice towards that end, ought to be an interna- 
 tional principle, as well as a guide for men of tlie same 
 race in their conduct to each other, and that in this lay 
 the best hope of all true progress. 
 
 Earl Grey said to my father, in a conversation which 
 he had with him not long before his death, that in look- 
 ing back on the four years of his administration, there 
 was not one of the measures carried in that period (and 
 they were great measures) which he contemplated with 
 so much satisfaction as the alteration of the Poor-Laws. 
 He said he believed his reputation hereafter would rest 
 chiefly on that ; he spoke of the awfid demoralization 
 and degradation into which the country was rapidly de- 
 scending for lack of reform in that quarter. Every one 
 knows the principle of the old Poor-Law, whicli was 
 benevolent and wise in the days of Elizabeth, but which 
 affords one of the most striking witnesses of how very 
 far the laws may lag behind tlie growing and changing 
 facts and necessities of the age, and the enliglitenment 
 of the conscience of a people, thus becoming a laughing- 
 stock to the people whose conscience they ought in a 
 measure to guide, and, worse still, a curse and a shame 
 to the nation which endures them. Parliamentary 
 committees worked hard for several years at the subject. 
 It was a subject on which my father had thought much. 
 In 1 830 he received from Lord CJascoyne (chairman of the 
 committee of the House of Lords) an urgent invitation to 
 come up to his house in London, to speak with him pri- 
 vately on the state of the poor in the north of England, 
 and at the same time a letter from Lord Durham, saying, 
 " I beg you will let me see you when you come up, as I 
 wish to talk to you about the Poor-I^iws." He was sum- 
 moned to attend a committee of the House of Lords in
 
 150 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 tlie spring of 1831. His evidence turned chiefly on the 
 administration of the Poor-Laws as far as they related 
 to employment and wages, and the examiners drew 
 from him an account of the state of the working classes 
 in the north, in order to compare it with that in southern 
 counties. He received the following from Lord Howick 
 before going up : — 
 
 " I am very glad to hear that you are coming to give 
 evidence before Lord Salisbury's committee. I hope you 
 will convince him that some of his ojjinions are complete 
 heresies, and particularly his notion that pauperism can 
 be prevented by giving every labourer a small patch of 
 ground ; as if it was possible that labour can be half so 
 effectually employed by unassisted individuals, as by a per- 
 son who can combine the exertions of many for a common 
 object. 
 
 " Your Reform meetings seem upon the whole to have 
 gone off very well. As to the Ballot, I am not at all sur- 
 prised at people being favourable to it, as I have never yet 
 seen the arguments in favour of it fairly met. I confess, 
 though I am rather afraid of it, I am very far from feeling 
 sure that it would not be right. — Believe me, yours very 
 truly, HowiCK." 
 
 The gigantic evil, which statesman after statesman 
 had declined to touch, and which had gathered strength 
 by neglect, was to a great extent removed by the Poor- 
 Law Amendment Act of August 1834. Faults there are 
 enough in our present Poor-Law, yet the reform of that 
 year was, to say the least, a blessed reprieve from near 
 and threatening danger, a reprieve which enabled wise 
 men to look around calmly and consider what more 
 may and ought to be done.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " Well did he love the land that gave him birth, 
 Well did he serve lier ; foremost in the fight, 
 Where Faith and Manhood battled for the right. 
 
 TjT>« of Northunibria's freedom and her worth ; 
 To help the oppress'd, to liberate the slave, 
 
 To curb injustice, tyranny, and wrong, — 
 
 Snoh were the tasks for which hi.s arm was strong, 
 His pleading eloquent, his counsel brave. 
 
 The woodman's toil, the labour of the mine. 
 And busy husbandry confessed his care : 
 Cottage and farm, and school and House of Prayer, 
 
 Rose at his bidding on the banks of Tyne. 
 
 So lent he lustre to a noble name. 
 
 And true Northumbria shall guard his fame." 
 
 In 1833 ray father was appointed to take charge of 
 the Greenwich Hospital Estates. 
 
 This property is situated in different parts of the 
 county of Northumberland, and includes a large lead- 
 mining district on Alston Moor in Cumberland. It 
 originally belonged to the Earls of Derwcntwater. Tlie 
 last Earl, James Piadcliffe, took part in the Stuart 
 rebellion of 1715, and was beheaded. After the deatli 
 of his only son, John, witliout heirs, the estates were, 
 by Act of Parliament, granted to the Greenwicli 
 Hospital, an institution nobly designed, into whose 
 internal administration much corni])tion afterwards 
 crept, as is commonly tlie case witli en(h)\vments. 
 As there is apt to be some confusion in jicople's 
 mind.s on tlie subject, it is as well to say at once 
 tliat my father liad nothing whatever to do with the 
 manag'-iiH'nt (jf the splendid llosjiital which stands
 
 152 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY, 
 
 on the banks of the Thames. He was much grieved 
 when the Commission of 1859-60 showed that there 
 had been an unwise administration of the funds, which 
 by his able stewardship he had largely increased.^ 
 He had the sole direction of the northern estates, 300 
 miles from the charity which benefited by them, and 
 was wisely left by the Greenwich authorities unfettered 
 in the exercise of his function ; and with the exception 
 of the punctual weekly record of transactions forwarded 
 by him to the Board, he was as free in action as if he had 
 been an independent landlord. This freedom was not in- 
 deed granted at first, but gradually, as his official chiefs 
 saw what his character and abilities were. It was for 
 the interest of the Hospital as well as for the tenantry 
 under his control that he was left thus unfettered. For 
 a corporate body to attempt to manage such a vast 
 concern, from a distance of 300 miles, would have been 
 futile or ruinous, especially when to the irresponsible 
 character of a corporate body is added the fact that the 
 individuals composing it were chiefly naval men, or 
 persons cognisant only of the official business of cities, 
 without the special training, and long experience of 
 agriculture and kindred subjects which such a position 
 requires, and lacking also probably a knowledge of the 
 temper of Northumberland men, which differs consider- ' 
 ably from that of the subdued and easily coerced 
 
 " He spoke of it thus in a letter, date 1862 ; — " It is well to expose such 
 glaring mismanagement and flagrant abuse of funds intended for a 
 benevolent purpose. I wonder in whose hands the misapplication began ? 
 I hope it may be thoroughly investigated and exposed, even if it should 
 lead to a breaking np of the Hospital, as such, and a better and more 
 economical distribution of the charity. Such inquiries may raise a 
 clamour against the institution, and lead to the sale of the estates, and the 
 conversion of the noble old 2)lace into a shipbuilding shed. Perhaps it 
 would be as well."
 
 HIS WORK AT DILSTON. 153 
 
 tenantry of many English counties. " Whatever differ- 
 ences of opinion," the newspapers said, " were expressed 
 in the course of the inquiry made by the Commission 
 of 1859, there was none as to tlie management of John 
 Grey. On this point there was but one judgment." 
 The Eoyal Commissioners said in tlie Eeport, " The 
 great increase (of revenue) from tlie Northern Estates is 
 due to the discovery of minerals, tlie outlay on the 
 estates, the rise in the value of land, and the judicious 
 and skilful management of the estates by the present 
 Receiver." " It is impossible," said Sir James Graham 
 — one of the witnesses examined — " to praise too highly 
 the judicious application by Mr. Grey of capital to 
 improvement." 
 
 Such was his position ; one of great responsibility and 
 extensive influence. In his relation to the tenantry he 
 stood to all intents as their landlord. He was to them 
 the final referee in all matters. But his influence extended 
 far beyond the property he presided over. " That pro- 
 perty," it was said, " has become known far and wide as a 
 model of estate management, and a powerful stimulant 
 to improvement, not only in that county but in other 
 places also."^ Another contemporary remarked, " He 
 is a man who has ever loved work — loved to see it 
 rightly done — who finished his task for its own sake — 
 and by whose side 'divine assessors' have walked day 
 by day, delighting in his faculty and reporting it."^ 
 
 In the Agricultural Gazette he was spoken of, after 
 his death, as 
 
 " a lea^ling name in pjiglisli agriculture, a le.-wling oxcinplar 
 of the duties of land-owning, ;i leading teacher by example 
 and precept, of good fanning in every department of it. 
 
 ' Economist. * Mevica«Uc Chronicle.
 
 154 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 He was the personal friend and adviser of, one may say, 
 the population of a province. One of the largest estates in 
 Great Britain has grown into full equipment under his 
 guidance ; and hundreds of houses, homesteads, cottages of 
 his erection, each contained a family Avho reckoned him 
 their friend. Grey-headed in professional, benevolent, 
 pubHc-spirited labours, he has gone, leaving a memory 
 honoured and beloved by young and old of every class. 
 , . . His wise advice will never be forgotten. The words 
 of such a man are the reflex of his life ; and every class 
 has been his debtor. A noble sphere of usefulness has 
 been nobly filled. The list merely of material results is 
 but a scanty picture of it. Ten thousand pounds a year 
 added to the value, and therefore to the rent-roll of a 
 single property — an increase in the food production equal 
 to one-third and sometimes to one-half over a multitude of 
 farms — a wide-spread improvement of the dwelling-houses, 
 wages, and condition of the labourer : of all this the credit 
 very generally is his. But it is the social influence of a 
 good and wise and powerful man by which he is most 
 effective, and we cannot doubt that this has been especially 
 true of him, and that it will continue true, so that though 
 dead his voice will yet be heard. . . ." 
 
 But so numerous are the recorded testimonies to his 
 work and character, not only in obituary notices, but at 
 intervals during his long life, that I scarcely know how 
 to choose from among them. The witnesses who 
 " delighted in his faculty, and reported it " were not a 
 few ; nevertheless he had sometimes to overcome pre- 
 judice, to meet opposition, and endure obloquy, through- 
 out which he held on in his even and honourable 
 course. 
 
 Previously to his taking the management of the 
 estates, portions had been sold, not advantageously for 
 the owners. Some beautiful property on the banks of 
 Uerwentwater Lake was sold at a price below its
 
 HIS WOUK AT DILSTON. 155 
 
 value. At the time of his appointment tlie net annual 
 income of the estates was £25,000. When he resigned 
 his oflfice in 1863, after holding it for thirty years, the 
 annual income was £40,000.^ He found agriculture 
 much neglected on the property, and upwards of 
 £100,000 were laid out by him in thorough draining 
 and the erection of fixrm-buildings. Tiiere was a great 
 decrease in the cost of management from the time he 
 was appointed. Before, there had been two receivers, 
 two, and sometimes three clerks, and seven bailifls; this 
 staff of officers was now reduced to one receiver, one 
 clerk, and one bailift": for this was one of the first of 
 the economical arrangements which was efiected im- 
 mediately after the Keform Bill, under the head of the 
 third of the benefits promised by Earl Grey to the 
 country — " Peace, Reforni, Retrenchment." 
 
 Tliis reduction of workers implied an immense aug 
 mentation of work for the conscientious sole superin- 
 tendent. An old friend supplied lately the following 
 reminiscences of my father : — 
 
 " Sept. 1868. 
 " My recollections would lead me to spoak of liis early and 
 industrious habits, untiring energy, both public and private, 
 and his kindliness to all, never considering it too much 
 trouble to promote to the best of his ability the wishes 
 an<l interests of the lowest as of the highest. The inimber 
 of situations he found for those who had no claim on liini, 
 and the equal number of tho.se wanting agents, stewards, etc., 
 whom he obliged, alike testify to his active ])enevolence. 
 
 ' He never reckoiiwl, I )jelic-ve, tliul lie liml increased the nrt rcirnue 
 more than £10,000 ; although the year before he retired ho sent up near 
 ujKjn £i(),(t()(), and the year after liis son sent up £41,000. It is diniciilt, 
 however, to Nlate precisely tJie amount of increiuse of the estates' rental, as 
 it nccejuiarily Huctuatcs to sonic degree hy the falling out of farms at par- 
 ticular date«, etc.
 
 15G MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 At Milfield Hill, after his rides round the farms, he would, 
 if he could so arrange it, let the business investigations end 
 near the hills, and there indulge his poetic reveries, whilst 
 looking sympathetically on old Cheviot and all the lesser 
 surroundings. He often expressed his desire for more time 
 for general reading, and not politics only. Most of my 
 movements with him had agricultural or political objects 
 chiefly in view, all other subjects, however, by the way, 
 being quickly appropriated by him, and some fun and 
 amusement invariably gathered for the benefit of the home 
 circle. He lived down all the earlier prejudices of those 
 in a more independent position than himself, by upright 
 fearless conduct and commanding talent, and when he re- 
 moved to Dilston how many earnest manifestations of 
 regret were shown ! At Dilston his labours began in 
 earnest. Mrs. Grey told me that after labouring inces- 
 santly for months, sometimes for two nights in the week 
 as well as all day, he said it was such an Augean stable to 
 cleanse, that he thought he must give it up. She urged 
 him in the strongest terms not to do so ; he resumed his 
 labours, and at last overcame. He was denounced in the 
 most scurrilous manner in all the Tory papers, as well as 
 by many jobbers who saw their fate impending. So bad 
 was it, that Mr. Gipps, the vicar, not then a very sym- 
 pathizing friend, was thoroughly ashamed of the tactics of 
 his party, and, much to his credit for manliness, put a 
 letter in the Tory papers declaring his personal knowledge 
 of the upright, honest, and efficient way in which Mr. Grey 
 administered the Hospital estates, Avithout partiality or 
 political bias, Avhich, indeed, in no way ever made itself 
 manifest. This put an end to any public fault-finding. [Sir 
 James Graham, then at the Admiralty, wrote — " Do not let 
 these misrepresentations disturb you for one moment. The 
 improved condition of the Hospital estate will soon speak 
 for itself, and vindicate both you and me, and in doing your 
 duty you are not overpaid."] He was not familiar with min- 
 ing business, but he told me that there was so much on the 
 estates that he determined at once to make himself master
 
 HIS WORK AT PILSTON. 1 5 7 
 
 of the subject. He himself vahied the whole estate, instead 
 of having it done for him, that he might be independent 
 •of every one; but what a herculean task, and how few 
 would have done it ! Once done, however, no one ever 
 after attempted to over-reach him, or challenge his com- 
 petency to deal with minerals as well as land. He had to 
 dismiss about two hundred trades-people of various kinds, 
 and value the building requirements to be done, which 
 were numberless, and this of course in the face of those 
 who had lived upon the plunder of the estates. After 
 having reduced the rents, and carried on all repairs, he still, 
 by stopping plunder, managed to pay over to the Com- 
 missioners a greater income. The Greenwich authorities 
 were, at the time of his greatest labours, men of busi- 
 ness, and acted cordially with him, or he never could have 
 got through." 
 
 Tlie circumstances of my father's previous life had 
 been a peculiarly favourable apprenticeship for his new 
 office, not only in familiarizing him with the details he 
 had to do with, but in the far more important matter 
 of the character which such an office required. For 
 many years he had been a large tenant farmer, eiial»led, 
 by tlie possession of capital and the liberal terms of 
 occupancy common in Northumberland, to cany out in 
 the most enterprising way his ideas of progress in agri- 
 culture. At the same time he held a patrimonial 
 estate, not large, but enough to give him what is con- 
 ventionally termed " a stake in the country," an e.xjn-es- 
 sion curiously enough restricted to interests represented 
 by land. He liad learned to look at all <[uestions 
 relatin'' to landlord and tenant from a doulde point of 
 view. He was eminently a "man of the peoph'," dis- 
 posed by instinct and reason alike to lean to the less 
 favoured classes, but from his youth compcdled to take 
 a favourable view of the possibility, at least, of a pure
 
 158 MEMOIK OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 and unselfish aristocracy, tlirougli the respect and 
 affection he felt towards certain high-minded noblemen 
 who were his friends, and no less friends of the people 
 than himself. These circumstances afforded such a 
 training of his sympathies and judgment as fitted him 
 peculiarly for a position in which he was neither land- 
 lord nor tenant, but in which he needed constantly to 
 appreciate the situations, rights, and wishes of both. 
 There had been nothing to limit his large sympathies, 
 had it been possible to do so, or to bound his vision to 
 the horizon of the interests of any one class, while he 
 now found a wider scope for putting in practice the 
 just principles of political economy which he had 
 imbibed from his youth. He constantly bore in mind 
 the real and fundamental identity of all great interests, 
 an identity which becomes more marked in an advanced 
 and complicated social system, wdiere everything is 
 mutual and reciprocal. He saw the absurdity of trying 
 to advance one great interest at the expense of the 
 rest ; he knew that it " could not be ill with trade but 
 land will fall, nor ill with land but trade will feel it," 
 hence his constant repudiation of the attitude of isola- 
 tion in regard to the common weal, sometimes assumed 
 by agriculturists and the landed gentry. The Econo- 
 mist remarked of him very truly- — 
 
 " Mr. Grey is one of the leaders of what we may call the 
 economical school of landed proprietors, as distinguished 
 from the semi-feudal school of landlords. . . . His speeches 
 and papers indicate the most advanced and sound prin- 
 ciples in reference to the economical management of 
 land." 
 
 The Mark Lane Express further remarked — 
 
 " By education, taste, and gratifying success in agricul-
 
 HIS WORK AT DILSTON. 159 
 
 ture, his first s}Tiipatlues aro with the faimer. He is a 
 president at their chilts, a judge at their shows, and, as far 
 as practical knowledge can go, essentially one of them ; 
 but with this he has for a long period united in a great 
 degree the duties and responsibilities of a landlord. As 
 manager of the Greenwich Hospital Estates he might, in- 
 deed, be supposed to side with the owner rather than the 
 occupier. But it is here that his previous experience comes 
 to his aid. It is this that teaches him how to hold the 
 balance fairly, and to encourage the good man and control 
 the bad one. With himself a .strong natural disposition to 
 progress, he feels to tlie full liow this must be brought 
 about." 
 
 Anotlier newspaper said — 
 
 " The Greenwich Hospital farmers knew and felt that 
 their new master was a guide, philosopher, and friend. 
 He was a model steward." 
 
 He was, in fact, a steward, and I never knew any 
 man in whose mind the maxim was more deeply fixed, 
 or more gravely acted up to, that " it is required of a 
 steward that a man be found faithful." 
 
 The transit to the new home could not be accom- 
 plished all at once. The family was divided for a time, 
 the younger part remaining at ]Mil(ield Hill. It was 
 decided tliat a house should be built for the Receiver, 
 conveniently situated in tlie midst of the property. 
 My father and mother were allowed to clioose a site. 
 They wandered together on a beautiful summer evening 
 along the banks of a picturesque mountain stream, the 
 Devil's Water,^ about a mile above it.s junction with the 
 Tyne. The evening sun.shine fell full upon a wooded 
 height rising abruptly above the stream, and command- 
 ing an open view of the country round. My mother 
 
 ' The name DiUton was originally Dcvilbtone.
 
 IGO MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 said it would be a beautiful spot to fix the liouse ; and 
 there it was built, only a few yards from the ruins of 
 the ancient castle of the Eadcliffes, and from a little 
 chapel in which lies the body of the gentle and virtuous 
 Earl James, with his head under his arm, and his heart 
 embalmed in a box by the side of his coffin. 
 
 From the temporary lodging which he occupied 
 while the liouse was being built, my father wrote to my 
 mother at Milfield Hill :— 
 
 " Well, my beloved wife, I am not to see you for a long 
 time, it seems, and that 's a heart-sore pity. How shall I 
 fend so long 1 AVhat ails that the pain has come back 
 again ] You will be finding out that this air suits you best, 
 and trudging over here. Let me hear always honestly 
 how you really do. I am getting on with the weirs, and 
 was wishing for you up the river banks, to have it all 
 explained to you. Why should I always wish for your 
 understanding and approbation of my matters, I wonder 1 
 You are a person of great influence over my weak mind ! 
 I wrote all day, and got out in the evening, and rode all 
 through the Dipton wood, above Dilston. There are 
 grassy avenues in all directions, but wood going to waste 
 for want of cutting. It is now past midnight. How I 
 should like to see bonny little Elbe toddling on her own 
 small feet. How are Franky and Charlie 1 I must now 
 conclude with the old story of how much I love you and 
 think of you, and turn to my journal (dry work — no love in 
 it), and to my scheme of covenants for new leases. Plenty 
 of farms given up truly, and work enough in store. Kiss 
 the little bodies for papa ; love to the big lads. Hold me 
 ever in your heart. Good night, you sad one." 
 
 Again to liis wife he ^vrote : — " My anxiety for our 
 sweet child was not at all diminished by your letter of 
 yesterday, and yet I could not discover in it actual 
 apprehension on your part, or despair of her recovery.
 
 LITTLE ELLIR IGl 
 
 If I had, I would have followed my inclinations, and 
 broken through all inconvenience to mingle my sorrows 
 and prayers with yours. The dear little thing's image 
 and voice are constantly recurring amid other employ- 
 ments to my imagination, and the thought will obtrude 
 itself that I may see and hear them no more." And 
 so it was. He saw and heard her no more. Little 
 Ellie, sometimes called Floss because of her soft fine 
 hair, was a very lovely child. He had written of her 
 not long before, " Sweet Floss is well, and looking very 
 pretty. I told ^Irs. Lundie that she is the sweetest 
 child that ever was." The three younger children took 
 scarlet fever ; with Ellie it turned to typhus, and she 
 died. It was a sore grief to father and mother, and fell 
 like a cloud over their prospects in first settling at 
 Dilston, from whence my mother wrote some months 
 later to her son John : — 
 
 " We got safely home the other evening, and how 
 sweet everything looked ! The little ones, with their 
 clean and j(»yous faces, the house so neat, and the 
 woods an<l waters lying so softly in their evening re- 
 pose I ' There is a pleasure in the pathless woods.' We 
 should be very thankful for this lovely place, though 
 we have not all tilings here. Our little group has 
 never been complete since we entered this dwelling, and 
 will it ever he again 1 Who knows ] God only, and to 
 Him we may leave it. Inferior as Milfield Hill was in 
 some of its features, I still turn to it as the home of happy 
 recollections, when you all grew together side by side, and 
 filled one hou.se with glee. Do you renienilxT, the last 
 time we met a.s an unbroken family was in tht; vile little 
 parlour at Corhridge at Christmas 1 Bad jus our ca.se was, 
 it 8cr\'ed our merry ones to jest ahout, and we were happy. 
 S/if wa« there too, the most beautiful, the darling of her 
 ' three pap.'w,' and her muchloved 'Tulliley.' She is now 
 
 L
 
 162 MEMOIE OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 at rest. Oh that we were all as safe and as sure of a joy- 
 ful resurrection as she ! " 
 
 The work my father had to do in his new office was 
 of a very varied character. The land on the estates, 
 exclusive of woodlands, comprises 34,356 acres. There 
 are about 290 tenancies, of which 76 are farms varying 
 in extent from 100 to 3500 acres each, by far the larger 
 proportion being from 500 to 1000 acres each. " My 
 father's great work when he came here," says his son 
 Charles, who succeeded him in his office, " was to make 
 himself thoroughly acquainted with the value of every 
 field on the estate, the value and state of cultivation of 
 every farm, and the character of every tenant, so that 
 when a lease fell out he knew whether to get rid of a 
 bad tenant, or assist and advise an industrious one. By 
 judicious aid in the way of grants for lime, by drainage, 
 and improving buildings, by getting up agricultural 
 societies for competition with stock, a farmers' club 
 for discussion, and a farmers' library, he had in the 
 course of a few years a good class of tenants, and an 
 improved system of farming on the estates." The 
 estates were widely scattered, with other properties 
 intervening, so that his labours were increased by his 
 having to travel almost to Carlisle, west ; to Berwick- 
 on-Tweed, north ; and Newcastle, east. He constantly 
 had to spend from five to eight hours a day on horse- 
 back, visiting works of draining, building, etc. 
 
 The rental returned from the produce of the lead 
 mines averages £8000 a year. These mines contain 
 some silver as well as lead. They are let to mining 
 companies, and the rent is paid in duty-ore of one- 
 seventh or one-tenth, or less, as the case may be. 
 
 " On Alston Moor," my brother Charles continues,
 
 WORK AT DILSTOX. 1G3 
 
 " where lead-mining was the cliief interest, land was 
 treated as an accommodation for miners, and large 
 tracts were left uncultivated ; but he had in his mind 
 great projects for improvement of late years, when 
 mountain farming became of so much more importance. 
 He gave me all his ideas about the alterations in those 
 grass farms, and had the satisfaction of seeing them 
 carried out by me in 1866 (the leases falling out that 
 year), with much greater success than he had antici- 
 pated. An immense stimulus has thus been given in 
 that district to mountain farming." 
 
 It is a well-remembered pleasure among his children, 
 that of going with him on his periodical expeditions to 
 Alston ^Moor, of being taken to see the clever mechanical 
 contrivances for making use of the mountain streams 
 for wasliing the ore, and the process of smelting, and 
 separating of the shining silver from the lead. His 
 lead-mining responsibilities were not light, for besides 
 the technical knowledge required, he had to exercise 
 much prudence and skill in dealing with the companies 
 to whom the mines were let. 
 
 The gross produce of the woodlands on the estates is 
 about £4000 yearly. By judicious management my 
 father produced for many years an average net revenue 
 of £3000 a year, from the gross produce of £1000. 
 This return is noticeable, for it is a large one for Avood- 
 lands. Some time ago the Duke of Somerset asked my 
 brother Charles wliether, in his opinion, it was advi.sable 
 to put these woodlands under the cliarge of the Com- 
 missioners of " Woods and Forests." My brother 
 replied by pointing to the fact that about 33 per 
 cent, had been the cost of working, cutting, and re- 
 l»lanting these woods, and tliat the return wa.s as above,
 
 164 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 while tlie Reports of the " Woods and Forests" show that 
 from 99 to 100 per cent, is commonly the cost of work- 
 ing, under that time-honoured office, and that the net 
 profits are consequently nil. His Grace admitted the 
 fact, and accepted the statement as a sufficient answer. 
 
 There are collieries on the estate, situated in different 
 coal-fields, in which different systems of working are 
 pursued ; there are also other minerals to be dealt with, 
 very extensive lime-works, brick-works, and fire-clay 
 works. The engineering work required on the estates 
 was at times very great, especially in the controlling of 
 our impetuous north- country streams. The Tyne is a 
 rapid river, subject to heavy floods from the sudden 
 pouring in, after rain, of the waters of its many feeders 
 from the hills. After thorough draining had become 
 universal, the river was subject to still more sudden 
 risings, making necessary a great extent of embank- 
 ment and weirs to prevent the carrying away of the 
 land. Sometimes the bank of waters would come 
 steadily along with a dull roaring sound like the " bore " 
 of the Severn. The following letter describes the effect 
 of one of these floods. 
 
 My father writes from Dilston to his wife, then ab- 
 sent — 
 
 " My dearest Hannah, — I hope to see you on Sunday 
 morning, but am in poor plight for leaving home, having 
 lain awake all night thinking of the devastation which kept 
 me ten hours in the sun yesterday, and which will never 
 be repaired in my day. Such a fall of water for four miles 
 square I never heard of in this country. It came down so 
 as to fill tubs standing outside in a minute. A messenger 
 from Fourstones came for me early. I went, and found the 
 colliery at Fourstones full of water run in at the mouth : 
 nothing could resist it ; the railway leading from our lime-
 
 FLOODS ON THE TYNE. 1G5 
 
 stone quarry to the kilns all run into great holes, and the 
 rubbish lodged in the low ground ; Capon's Cleugh bridge 
 and road, which cost us £530 six yeai-s ago, all gone into 
 Tj-ne, where it has formed an island with trees washed 
 down, and nearly obstructed the river ; the roads broken 
 up, and impassable all the way to Haydon l>ridge. I sent 
 a man round M"ith my mare liy xsewbrough and the Fell 
 Top — three miles round : all ditches and water-courses 
 filled up, and the burns running do^vn wheat-fields, and 
 making such gullies ; the lanes several feet deep of soil 
 from the turnip-fields newly done up ! ! A workman was 
 on the line near Allerwash bridge at our mill ; saw the 
 wat^r coming like an avalanche, stepped back, and in a 
 moment saw the railway-bridge over Allerwash burn 
 carried bodily into the Tyne and swept away in fragments. 
 A mile further west, the ruins of our Capon's Cleugh 
 bridge, etc., came in a deluge of Avater and stones and 
 trees against the railway. The culvert for the passing of 
 the small burn was stopped ; the train came up ; the 
 engine and tender got over, but the line broke under the 
 carriages. The guard fell through the bottom of his van, 
 was swept in the flood of the burn across the Tyne, and 
 landed unhurt in our plantation on the south side ! How 
 he escaped being crushed to death among the splinters and 
 broken planks of the carriages I cannot conceive. It is a 
 miraculous escape, and he can tell little about it, but that he 
 thought he was to be drownt-d. It was the little red-faced 
 man. No passengers were killed ; seven were rather hurt. 
 I saw three carriages in fragments hanging uvi-r the chasm 
 yesterday, and about 100 men, directors, and engineers 
 besides, trying to get them out. I came back on the south 
 side, and at Woodhall Mill and Ellington it was very 
 mischievous; but did not extend to Ilcxiiain. How 1 am 
 to get things i»ut right I know not. lienson bears up 
 like a hero. George Langhorn came in from the devasta- 
 tion of his crops and went to bed, and could not face me. 
 Sucli is the difference of temperam<'nt." ' 
 
 1 Among my earlieat rccollcctiom at Dilaton i.s that of seeing sliceii oud
 
 166 MEMOIE OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 My father urged on the education of the people on 
 the estates as much as possible, by establishing schools, 
 by selecting the best masters and mistresses he could, 
 in the days before there were Government grants and 
 inspection, by getting the Hospital to subscribe to every 
 school in the country which had any attendance from 
 the estates, and obtaining grants of land free, or at 
 nominal rents. 
 
 He was very cautious in recommending people to 
 situations. He never would recommend a man unless 
 he was sure of his moral character as well as his skilL 
 The proof of the wisdom of this caution, and also of his 
 sound judgment of character, was seen in the innume- 
 rable applications he received from great landed proprie- 
 tors in every part of the United Kingdom, as well as 
 from the Emperor of Austria, and the Manager of Public 
 Works in Sardinia, for agents competent to deal with 
 land and with agricultural populations. He sent forth 
 many a stalwart Northumbrian in this way to dissemi- 
 nate his advanced notions in different parts of the 
 world, or to carry out the plans of enlightened noble- 
 men on their estates. They have, I believe, almost 
 
 cows and stocks of corn carried away, on several occasions, by the siidden 
 rush of waters, and of eftbrts made to save little children who were some- 
 times playing on the banks when the rivers rose, and washed down the 
 stream. I also recollect that in going to church one Sunday, we had to 
 plunge through water up to the girths of the horses. The workmen 
 engaged about the weirs were generally very clever i'ellows ; foremost 
 among them was one Tommy Harle, a great help to my father, through the 
 real genius he displayed for engineering. He possessed that joyous anti- 
 cipation of the future conquests of science which is so often allied with 
 genius ! The Duke of Northumberland expressed to him one day his 
 admiration of the river works which he had seen, executed by him. 
 Tommy, forgetting the urbanity which he had been requested to observe 
 in the presence of " the big Duke," shouted at him, with flashing eyes and 
 eager face, " My word, but it's naethituj to what ye will see!"
 
 CORKESrONDENCE. 1 G 7 
 
 universally justified his recommendations, — at Altliorp, 
 Wuburn, Ilulkliam, Cliatswoitli, "Windsor ; in Ireland, 
 and many other places. Earl Spencer Avrote to him, — 
 " AVlien I am in M\ant of assistance I am constantly 
 applying to you ; I hope, however, not more frequently 
 tlian you are -willing to give it. I should, at least, be 
 very ungrateful if I did not say this has been the case 
 liithcrto." He asks for a bailiff for Lord Leicester : — 
 " The qualifications required are, first, thorough fidelity 
 and real good moral conduct ; but I need not press this, 
 for I know you never recommend any one whom you 
 do not believe to possess these qualities." On another 
 occasion he wanted a ploughman, — "not only a first- 
 Tute ploughman, hut the sort of fellow you have in 
 Northumhcrland, who can be trusted to overlook the 
 other labourers." 
 
 As letters written by my father and to him are the 
 best illustration of the interests which occupied him and 
 the affection which he inspired, I will introduce them 
 freely and without comment in tlie remaining portion 
 of this memoir. 
 
 FROM HIS WIFE, DURING AN ABSENCE FRGSI HOME. 
 
 " Alnwick, Scj^t. 1834, 
 " I liopo, my beloved, you got on well, and tliat all our 
 dear ones are well and liai)py ; tell them to be indii.strious 
 and kind. I often think of you all, and think I see the 
 little party round the oak table at tea when pajia's day's 
 work is over, an<l lie lias the ready joke to each. \'tm have 
 much cause of tlianki'ulnes.s, dearest, in a hapity, ((bedient, 
 and loving family circle, who all love you so ; for I am sure 
 there never was a father whose presence was more joyfully 
 hailed, or whose smiles and ajiproval were iiiDre valued, tliaii 
 yourself. We go on here a.s well a,s could po.ssibly lie linjicd 
 for. !My uncle sits during bank hours in the little parlour,
 
 168 MEMOIR OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 where, like an oracle, he is consulted when anything impor- 
 tant occurs. In the meantime, I read and write, walk to 
 the kitchen and order dinner, which, with Nelly's methodi- 
 cal arrangement, is a matter of little intricacy ; pick up 
 pins, dust the books, and try to find something that needs 
 sorting where everything is in such order that one hardly 
 likes even to meddle with the dust. It feels an odd sort 
 of life to find everything just as it should be, and nobody 
 to make it otherwise. It would be quite a treat to see 
 Charlie come in and throw his hat in a wrong place, and 
 leave his books in a litter, as that would give life to the 
 scene. Yesterday morning, as it was sunny, I rose at 
 seven, and walked round by back lanes to the race-ground 
 before breakfast, retracing some of the morning rambles of 
 my childhood. The scenery was beautiful, and recalled old 
 times to mind ; and, among other objects, the ' spire where 
 first my marriage vows were given,' reminded me of the 
 many causes of thankfulness I have had, and called forth 
 the acknowledgment that ' thus far the Lord hath led me \ 
 and if the retrospect brings the image of one loved being 
 now hid from my longing eyes, let me thank God that 
 many are spared, and that the brightest is ' not lost, but 
 gone before.' Dearest, I am not unthankful, nor do I 
 repine ; but in walking the street, if my eye rests on a little 
 fair-haired babe in its mother's arms, or sees a little one 
 with tottering feet and chubby hands, my heart sinks within 
 me. Oh ! how many darts pierce a bereaved mother's 
 bosom which no one knows of ! I do not cherish these 
 feelings ; they come unbidden like a shot through my heart, 
 and it requires eff'ort and prayer to drive them away. I 
 think when I am with you, Love, I bear them better. I am 
 spoilt for living alone in the Avorld, and have been so used 
 to have either you or some of my darlings, that I feel the 
 loss when withdrawn ; but yet I am not unhappy here ; 
 on the contrary, I rejoice in the thought of being a com- 
 fort to my uncle, whose kind and polite consideration show 
 his sense of my services. I hope my letters will be regularly 
 forwarded to you to Wiseton."
 
 CORRESPOXDEN'CE. 1G9 
 
 FROM HIS OLD MASTER, DR. TATE OF RICHMOND. 
 
 "Monday Evening, 2\st Jan. 1833, Richmond. 
 
 "My dear old pupil and very kind friend, — I should 
 not feel that I was doing right to all my kind Avell-wishing 
 pupils, — especially to one of the name of Gnnj, and having 
 the heart which belongs to the name, — if I did not take the 
 very earliest opportunity to announce the very splendid ap- 
 pointment which Earl Grey, by this morning's post, has 
 announced to me. Deo volente, / om Canon Jii'sidi-niiari/ 
 of St. Faurs. There, my dear sir, is a noble redeeming of 
 promises by them ever made ; a most happy fulfilment of 
 more than any expectation which I ever, even in dreaming, 
 dared to entertain I — I am, my dear sir, faithfully and affec- 
 tionately yours, J-iMEs Tate." 
 
 from the SAME. 
 
 "Amen Corner, London, Feb. 1836. 
 
 " My DE.\R Grey, — Your name must ever be delightful 
 to my ear and to my heart. Let me sincerely say how 
 much I am delighted to think — ay, and to tell where ' fit 
 audience' occurs — that in committing the management of the 
 Denventwater estates to your care, they have indeed i)laced 
 you in profitable at once and honourable occupation, while 
 they have at the same time secured and advanced one valuable 
 department of public revenue. You touch on the motto or 
 brief inscription for the base of Lord Grey's pillar. I 
 verily think, as it originates at Newcastle, you would offend 
 the good folks there by inviting Amen Corner (however 
 grateful and othenvisc ready) to supply the few lines on 
 such an occasion, as if the Bigg market alone could not do 
 the requisite. 
 
 " If in the month of 'May it fall in my way to see the 
 a^lvertisement of your brother-in-law Mr. Henry Grey's 
 j)reiiching a sermon in this metropolis, 1 shall do my best 
 to get a sight of hiin. 
 
 "As to his l)<;ing ?. ]*resl)ytenan, give yourself no uii- 
 eiisiness ; indeed, you cannot entertain any, if you know me
 
 170 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 and my sentiments as they have been from a boy upwards. 
 — Ever, my dear sir, faithfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 " James Tate." 
 
 from his niece, harriet grey. 
 
 "L0NT30N, 1838. 
 
 " My DEAR Uncle, — Your welcome and beautiful letter 
 has furnished me many a pleasant thought. The kindness 
 which dictated it was both gratifying and affecting, and 
 carried me back in thought and feeling to my young days 
 of romance, when you were my heau-icUal, my only personi- 
 fication of a hero. The age for such imaginings has passed 
 for me, and now I have several favourites, but no heroes. 
 Still, age has so far confirmed the decision of youth, as to 
 rank him first and best who was earliest and dearest, and 
 imagination, however it may have tricked me at other 
 times, did nothing in my first picture but bring out some 
 favourite traits more strongly, as an appropriate frame- 
 work sets off, though it does not really increase, the value 
 of a Claude or a Gainsborough. But what am I dreaming 
 of, to begin in such a strain to a man who values letters in 
 proportion to their brevity, and gives none fair jDlay which 
 exceed the first page in length 1 If you are now in the 
 business-room, surrounded with masses of letters and busy 
 clerks, be so good as to fold up this unlucky sheet and 
 reserve it for a more propitious season. Perhaps in a 
 moment of more tranquillity you may be willing to listen 
 to an account of a visit I made the other day to Greenwich 
 Hospital. They took me all over the Hospital, which still 
 to me, as it was twelve years ago, is the most interesting 
 lion about London. There is something so grand and 
 simple in its exterior." 
 
 FROM HIS SISTER MARGARETTA GREY (AFTER THE ACCESSION 
 OF QUEEN VICTORIA). 
 
 " Edinburgh, July 1837. 
 " My dear Brother, — How exquisite is the weather ! 
 Everything so beautiful and promising for the country, and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 1 7 1 
 
 the political world all alive and full of expectation under 
 the auspices of our youthful Sovereign. 
 
 " There is plenty of work in the way of improving and 
 putting right in the country, if those who take it in hand 
 be but well instnicted, zealous, and thorough-going. Lord 
 Durham's sentiments are manly and sensible, not disposed 
 to force improvements for which the people are not pre- 
 pared, and desirous to bring the mass of the people up to 
 the enjoyment of a larger amount of privilege ; but there is 
 a deal of spurious liberality among the liberal, not discern- 
 ing who the parties are that are really aggrieved, and 
 where liberties and i)rivileges would l)e well bestowed. I 
 could name a host of grievances that by statesmen are 
 never thought of as such, and as many liberties and im- 
 munities that are necessarily nuisances and molestations in 
 society. Fur instance, there is an almost unbounded pro- 
 tection and encouragement given here to the manufacture, 
 sale, and consumption of ardent spirits, and, through their 
 use, to an immense extent of profligacy, murder, theft, 
 prostitution, habits of lawless idleness, and everything that 
 debases a population. 
 
 " Yet some reformers would think the first step of im- 
 provement in the condition of society is to endow all the 
 'unwashed,' in common with the rest, Math the elective 
 franchise. Others would expect miraculous ref<jrmations 
 from an Education Bill, without any economic regulations 
 helping to bring the people within its reach. There wants 
 a sounder moral basis for the erection of extended liberties ; 
 a right-minded community would produce a right luiiidtd 
 Legislature, and public reforms would go on without hind- 
 rance among those who began by refonning themselves. 
 As we are, I fear the struggle must go (jn for a while with- 
 out much effective fruit. We shall have only as good a 
 Government, as good a Church, etc., as we deserve." 
 
 TO HIS WIFE, FROM HOME FOR HEALTH, WRHTEN WWV.S 
 ALL HIS FAMILY WERE FROM HOME. 
 
 "My DKAHE.ST Hannah,— Your letter, which 1 found on
 
 172 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 my return from the scenes of devastation by the flood last 
 afternoon, gave me much relief and pleasure, for it was 
 written in your old brisk style and your old hand, which 
 gave me some assurance of your being, at least for the day, 
 in more vigour. It also broke off a kind of disagreeable 
 impression which remained over me ever since the early 
 morning, when I was awoke by the sound of your voice 
 calling to me by name from your room, which, however, 
 was vacant, and in the confusion I had seen it in weeks 
 before. I don't think that I am superstitious, yet the 
 sudden call, the half-awake investigation, the gathering of 
 thought to bring all the circumstances of our separation 
 and your absence under review, left a feeling of loneliness 
 and apprehension to settle on my mind for the remaining 
 sleepless hours of the morning. So I went out into the air, 
 called our idle lads up at half-past six that I might get a 
 horse to ride away, and our maidens that I might get 
 breakfast. They are all very good and busy when they 
 are up, but having nothing to rouse them till Bess comes 
 with the milk, it is quite natural that they should rest on 
 till that hour." 
 
 One of the conditions imposed upon my father at his 
 appointment at Dilston was, that he should abstain from 
 taking any active part in politics. This he scrupulously 
 observed. Nevertheless, he continued to take the 
 keenest interest in all public events, and watched every 
 sign of the progress of the principles which he believed 
 to be sound. The Irish Church, the Coercion Bill, 
 the retirement of the Whig Ministry, the affairs of 
 Canada, and perhaps most of all, the Eepeal of the Corn- 
 Laws in 1846, successively engaged his thoughts and 
 correspondence. 
 
 Lord Althorp, " that most honest, frank, and true of all 
 God's creatures," had been set free from public life for 
 a short time in 1832, and immediately began a vigorous
 
 LOKD ALTIIORP. 1 73 
 
 correspondence with my father about bulls. In looking 
 through a vast heap of letters labelled "Bulls," one may, 
 by patient discrimination, dimly identify his favourites, 
 Cheviot, Flodden, Hector, lihadamanthus, etc., by certain 
 spots on the side of the uose, or the beautiful straight- 
 ness of the back, or the snowy whiteness of the liide. 
 Lord Jeffrey speaks of a visit he paid Lord Althorp, — 
 
 " April ISS2. 
 " He had not come down-stairs, and I was led up to his 
 dressing-room, where I found him sitting on a stool, in a 
 dark duffle dressing-gown, with his anus (very rough and 
 hairy) bare above the elbows, and his beard half shaved, 
 and half staring through the lather, with a desperate razor 
 in one hand and a great soap-bnush in the other. He gave 
 me the loose finger of the brush hand, and with the usual 
 twinkle of his bright eye and radiant smile, he said, ' You 
 need not be anxious about your Scotch bill for to-night, 
 for I have the i)leasure to tell you we are no longer his 
 Majesty's Ministers.' " 
 
 But it was a very brief repose which he w^as allowed 
 to enjoy. He was oiling the lock of his gun at Wise- 
 ton, when a message from the King recalled him to 
 London, and to duties which he performed well and 
 honestly, though he scarcely loved them. 
 
 During the most arduous part of his career as Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, my father happening to be in 
 town, called on him in Downing Street. Lord Althorp 
 carefully shut the door, looked round to see if they 
 were alone, and then, before uttering a word on the 
 political crisis in which they were so deeply interested, 
 he afiked eagerly, " Have you been to Wiseton on your 
 way up? Have you seen the cows V The two cattle-loving 
 men indulged in a hearty fit of laught<'r at their own 
 expense, and then proceeded to speak of politics.
 
 174 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 TO MY FATHER FROM A WHIG FRIEND. 
 
 " Downing Street, April 12, 1833. 
 
 " There is to be a Cabinet at Lord Althorp's, who re- 
 turns from his cows at Wiseton to superintend the keeping 
 our reformed members in good humour, by means of turtle 
 and champagne, instead of fattening prize cattle vipon oil- 
 cake or mangel-'wnrzel. I fear the specimen you sent us of 
 the Northumberland clergy is but too fair a sample of what 
 we must expect from them elsewhere, and that whatever is 
 to be done towards remedying the abuses of the Church, 
 will find no willing co-operators in that body. I own I am 
 
 surprised at ■ . I thought he was a sensible man ; and 
 
 surely he ought to see that if the Church falls altogether, 
 it will be from the stupidity and obstinacy of her own 
 defenders. The tax upon existing interests, I think, was 
 wrong, and only to be justified by necessity, and would, in 
 my opinion, have been fully so justified had there been no 
 other means of supplying the place if churchless. 
 
 " It is said that it is not necessary for that purpose, and 
 you will see Lord Althorp has as good as given it up. 
 If this is the part of the Irish Church Reform Bill which 
 they think such a spoliation, surely a more temperate and 
 becoming tone would have been better for the interests of the 
 Church itself, as it would not have given the people reason 
 to believe that every attempt at reform will be resisted." 
 
 FROM MY FATHER TO COLONEL GREY. 
 
 " July 16, 1834. 
 " The country is all anxiety to know how the Govern- 
 ment is to be settled ; I trust we shall not have a general 
 election. I am cut out now from taking any active part in 
 the county politics. I have, however, through certain 
 channels, originated meetings for the purposes described in 
 the accompanying handbill. It may serve to keep the 
 Tories in check ; and is but a bare act of justice to Earl 
 Grey, while it must be gratifying to the people who come 
 forward on such an occasion. We should have had a
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 1 75 
 
 county meeting for the purpose, but there is no getting 
 people in this county together. I don't know if Mr. Bigge 
 be yet returned from London. P. Selby of Twisel, is, I 
 believe, gathering eggs and stuffing birds in the Hebrides, 
 etc. In Newcastle they will not stir, having the terrors of 
 Larkin, Doubleday, and the iiolitical union before their 
 eyes. We shall, however, I trust, have tliree or four from 
 the county, including Xorth Durham. I hope you saw an 
 account of the defeat in Berwickshire, given in the Berwick 
 paper of last week. . . , The junta of lords and squires who 
 expected, as heretofore, to be shut up in a room and left 
 quietly to use their own pleasure, went away cursing the 
 Keform Bill. How I pity you, shut up in the atmosphere 
 of London during all this fine summer I — I have the honour 
 to remain, with true regard, yours taithfully, 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 to colonel grey. 
 
 " July 19, 1834. 
 
 " So we have got a Ministry, neither Tory nor Eadical ! 
 "VMiatever qualities Lord Melbourne may possess to fit him 
 for the discharge of his arduous office, it is clear neither he 
 nor any other man possesses the power of keeping the 
 balance between the two extreme and contending parties in 
 the country, in the degree which is possessed by your father 
 only. His character gave him an influence in the House 
 of Lords wliich his successor cannot attain to, and a confi- 
 dence among tlic middle cla.sses whicli kept in check the 
 eagerness of short-sighted clamourers for immediate and ill- 
 digested reform in matters in which reform will still be 
 wanted, and must in time be had.^ 
 
 " Perhaps a better than the present Ministry c<»uld not 
 he had of the materials in hand ; but whether they will 
 
 * TliiH feeling was expre8»e<l at popular nieetinps frequently ; among 
 otberH, at a l.-irv'^ Refonii mcfting at IJiriiiinpliam, wlipn; a spL-akcr quotcfl 
 some wonlu which Eiirl Grey had spoken at>out the liigiiity of " Aw order." 
 A mechanic in the crowd Hhouted, " Wo will not touch a hair of his 
 onler'H head, bless him !" and the sentiment was echoed from a thousand 
 throats.
 
 176 MEMOIR OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 hold together, and have power to ward off the struggle be- 
 tween the now discordant elements of the two Houses of 
 Parliament, remains to be seen. Lord Melbourne must 
 display energies not yet discovered in his character, if he 
 can do so. I hope there will be a strong expression of 
 public feeling on your father's retirement, to cheer and 
 gratify him. It is galling to think of the fickleness of 
 public favour, and to see the victor of battles, however 
 brilliant, but of transient importance, loaded with wealth 
 and honours, while the man to whom we are the most in- 
 debted for placing the national rights and liberties on a 
 true, solid, and rational basis, is left unrewarded save by 
 the conviction of having done what few men have ever the 
 means of doing for the good of mankind." 
 
 My father had several Canadian correspondents — 
 enterprising farmers who had emigrated from Scotland ; 
 among them was his friend the Hon. Adam Fergussou, 
 a Perthshire man, a Presbyterian, and a Whig of the old 
 school, who became a member of the Canadian House 
 of Peers. It is to be regretted that none of my father's 
 many letters to Canada, and comparatively few of his 
 letters generally, except to his own family, are to be 
 obtained. He outlived almost all the contemporaries 
 of his youth, and letters seldom survive the persons 
 to whom they are addressed. 
 
 Every one is acquainted with that sad and humiliat- 
 ing story of events succeeding the Canadian Eebellion, 
 ending with the recall of Lord Durham from Canada. 
 It is not needful to recount it here. Animosities be- 
 tween rival races, contentions between a weak Execu- 
 tive and the Legislature, together with indifference 
 or mistakes on the part of the Imperial Government, — 
 
 " these, I think, are the combustibles," wrote Mr. Fer- 
 gusson in 1837, " which have burst like a tornado upon us. 
 It is, however, the happiest event (the Eebellion) which
 
 CANADIAN COERESrONDENCE. 177 
 
 could have occurred ; and if severity and leniency are 
 prudently tempered, it will secure rest and confidence to 
 our land. Government has certainly been taken more by 
 surprise than it ought to have been. Sir Francis Head is 
 sufficiently well satisfied with himself, and rather elated by 
 the high compliments from home. At an interview last 
 week I ventured to express pretty freely the feelings which 
 I share in common ^vith many, and I can't say that his 
 explanation was very satisfiictory. I told him, however, 
 what was truth — that by sending off all the military to the 
 Lower Province, only a week or two before the rebels were 
 •within an ace of taking Toronto, he had at once played the 
 cards for Mackenzie, and had shown in the most triumphant 
 manner what we could do for ourselves. 
 
 " Had the rebellion been put down by the red-coats, the 
 feeling would have been very different. We have been all 
 in arms. My son Adam (the young lawyer) had the good 
 luck to command a flank company in advance, in the affair 
 near Toronto, and saw some sharp fighting. For ten 
 minutes the fire was heavy. It is most remarkable that not 
 a loyalist was hit, although the rebels had good rifles, and 
 were all of them fellows who could bring down a squirrel ; but 
 a bad cause unnen-ed them. Your old acquaintances David 
 and John have been and continue carrj'ing muskets, and 
 have behaved (as their captain assures me) steadily and well. 
 
 " ^rXab sent me with a party of my Nichol men to 
 guard a bridge on the Grand River at Gait, which it was 
 expected the rebels Avould attempt. I brought down two 
 rebel captains prisoners, but we saw no fighting. M'Kenzie 
 managed to reach Buffalo, in New York State, and he has 
 collected three or four hundred rabble, who took arms 
 and some guns from the puljlic arsenal, and have entrenched 
 themselves upon Navy Island, just above Niagara F'alls. 
 It is Briti.sh soil, and 4000 fine fellows are now assembled 
 upon the Canadian shore to welconK! them. Tlie position 
 i.s, liowever, a very strong one, being so close upon the 
 dreadful rapids that batteaux making an attack and 
 missing the small island would inevitably go over the Falls. 
 
 M
 
 1 78 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 We have several experienced officers with our troops, and 
 I rather suppose that a bombardment will be adopted. 
 The American Government has shown a friendly disposi- 
 tion, but it is much trammelled by public feeling, and 
 cannot act promptly. 
 
 " I have seen Captain Stewart and the beautiful bull he 
 had from you. — I am always most truly yours, 
 
 " Adam Fergusson." 
 
 Such a crisis as this was an occasion, if ever there 
 was one, on which it behoved politicians at home to 
 lay aside all party prejudices and hostilities. But how 
 injurious was the whole conduct of the Opposition, 
 from the time of Lord Durham's leaving England to the 
 time of his return ! 
 
 In January of 1838 Lord John Eussell told the 
 House of Commons who was the man chosen to be 
 sent out as Governor-General and Lord High Com- 
 missioner, with powers almost unlimited, to a task so 
 critical, so arduous, and involving such grave conse- 
 quences, that it was hard to find a man in all England 
 with the needful qualities for dealing with it. Lord 
 John Eussell said he must be one whose conduct and 
 character should be beyond exception, — a person con- 
 versant with matters of administration, with foreign 
 affairs, and with the feelings of the people. He con- 
 cluded : " I know not why I should refrain from adding 
 that Her Majesty has been pleased to intrust the con- 
 duct of this affair, and those high powers, to one whom 
 her advisers think in every respect fitted for the charge, 
 namely, the Earl of Durham." But it was in vain to 
 choose and send out so able a Plenipotentiary, when 
 the discontented in Canada could learn from the 
 London newspapers that a branch of the home Legis- 
 lature was seeking to arraign as a defendant the very
 
 LORD DURHAM AND CANADA. 179 
 
 man sent out to the colony as a judge ; that his every 
 action was watched by malignant and jealous eyes; and 
 that " in the least collision between the administrator 
 and the violators of the law, the violators would be 
 sheltered at the expense of the administrator." My 
 father received a letter from Lord Durham, the date of 
 which is a week after this announcement from Lord 
 John Piussell. lie wrote : — 
 
 "London, Jan. 27, 1838. 
 " Dear Grey, — I tliank you very imicli for sending me 
 the works on Canada. I shall read them with great 
 interest. It is a fearful task which I have undertaken. I 
 wish I could find another yourself to assist me. I will seek 
 out Mr. Fergusson the first opportunity. — Yours very truly, 
 
 " Durham." 
 
 He had a high opinion of my father, and had written 
 to him, on his entrance on his office at Dilston, as 
 follows : — 
 
 "SuDBROOK Park, Dec. 1832. 
 
 " My DEAR Sir, — You must know too well my convic- 
 tion of your capacity to fill any situation ; in fact, I think 
 the present one infinitely beneath your talents. I have 
 just read a letter of yours in tlie Durhaiii Chronicle. I 
 know nothing of the controversy, but I am highly delighted 
 with the manliness and talent evinced in your letter. — 
 Yours truly, Durham." 
 
 My father's friend and neighbour, Mr. Silvertop of 
 Minsteracres, a Eoman Catholic gentleman, liighly 
 cultivated and liberal, was a warm sym])athizer witli 
 him in iiis views generally. He wrote to him : — 
 
 "Thk Clarendon, Londo.n, Ftb. 2, 1838. 
 "Mv DEAR Sir, — I will not allow a po.st to go off with- 
 out thanking you most sincerely for youi kind letter. The 
 Ministers cut a terribh; fi|,nire in the hist debates, and h;ul 
 it not been for E. Kllice they would have been (piite left
 
 180 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 in the lurch. A good deal of uneasiness is felt about the 
 boundary lines between our Canadian territory and that of 
 the United States, and some of our old diplomatists, I 
 know, feel alarmed lest in the present moment it may not 
 lead to unfortunate results. I sat next Lord Durham a 
 few days ago at dinner. I must tell you that he said 
 to me, ' I wish I could get such a man as our friend Mr. 
 Grey of Dilston to go out with me to Canada.' He is 
 looking remarkably well, and in good spirits. He is to 
 have no fixed salary, but all his expenses are to be paid. 
 Remember me most kindly to your wife. If I can do any- 
 thing for her I hope she will command the services of, 
 yours most faithfully, J. Silvertop." 
 
 My father wrote to a friend, " I have had several 
 intimations that he (Lord Durham) would like me to 
 accompany him to Canada. I think, however, he 
 would wish the offer to come from me." But my father 
 could not afford to leave his post. There had been a 
 great attraction on both sides between these two men, 
 and a secret hope cherished of further intercourse and 
 friendship at some future time. But this hope was 
 blighted, together with many other fair hopes, by Lord 
 Durham's premature and lamented death. The portrait 
 of him, painted by Phillips, hung for many years in the 
 dining-room at Dilston. After his death my father 
 often stood before it, looking at it silently for several 
 minutes together, and never failed to draw the attention 
 of strangers to that noble face. 
 
 FROM MR. FERGUSSON. 
 
 " Toronto, Upper Canada, April 8, 1839. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — Since I wrote last to you I have been 
 
 launched into public life here, by a nomination from Her 
 
 Majesty to a seat in the Legislative Council, and for three 
 
 weeks past have been resident here attending duty in the
 
 CANADIAN CORRESPONDENCE. 181 
 
 House. It is a place of some expense and of no profit in 
 pay, but I did not consider myself at liberty to decline, as 
 there was a chance of doing some good. The Canadian 
 House of Peers (i.e., the Legislative Council) has had in 
 times past a very bad odour with the liberal party, and 
 partakes of all the evil and little of the good to be found 
 in the House of Lords. ... I am resolved to support 
 Government on the Executive in all cases when I can con- 
 scientiously do so, but shall not hesitate a moment in 
 denouncing what appears to me to be wrong. My dt^lnit 
 has been in opposition. A most engrossing subject here is 
 the proposed union, or rather re-union, of Upper and Lower 
 Canada. Lord Durham's report reached us a few days ago. 
 I have not had an opportunity of perusing it, but it has 
 created a great sensation. Thei old school here are quite 
 furious, and declare that if his Lordship's ideas are followed 
 out, Canada won't be held by England for a year." 
 
 After Lord Durham's recall : — 
 
 " WooDHiLL, Nelson, Upper Canada, 
 
 October 5, ]839. 
 
 " My de.\R Sir, — As I know you are anxious, both upon 
 public and private grounds, to have some accounts of what 
 we are doing here, I lose no time in offering you a slight 
 sketch. I sincerely believe that no unhappy colony ever 
 had worse luck than the unfortunate bhiw-ui) which forced 
 Lord Durham home. Had he remained for a couple of 
 years, confidence would have been restored in the minds 
 of the great mass of the landholders, and the selfish mysti- 
 fication which envelops the Executive would have been 
 annihilated. As it is, the party (call them family compact, 
 or what you will) who have the ear of the Governor have 
 compl<-t«'ly succeeded in persuading liim, and nund>ers of 
 timid old-country (:migrants, that rcfoi-m and rclK-llion are 
 synonymous terms, and that the Diirliamites are in no 
 degree Ixjtter than M'Kenzie, Duncombe, and Koljjh, having 
 a republic in view, and a se[)aration from Britain of course. 
 We have some dangerous men yet in the Province, who aim
 
 182 MEMOIK OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 at a junction with the States, but I am perfectly certain that 
 their influence will be utterly insignificant, provided a con- 
 stitutional character shall be given to our Executive, and 
 the heads of departments be compelled to feel that they 
 must conduct their matters in a way agreeable to the wishes 
 of a majority of the representatives of the people. How 
 such a responsibility is to be tantamount to a separation 
 from our parent State, my intellects are unable to com- 
 prehend. Such, however, we are told by the opponents of 
 Lord Durham's views, is the inevitable consequence of the 
 system which his report advocates, and which, you will 
 recollect, confines all provincial interference to strictly 
 provincial affairs. In the midst of all this turmoil, your 
 friend has of course taken his stand, and he has done so 
 honestly and conscientiously, and at considerable sacrifice 
 of personal feeling, upon the side of Lord Durham's 
 principles. I have been called disloyal, and a sycophant 
 of the mob, with many an etc., but I know my motives to 
 be pure, and I verily believe our views to be sound. Great 
 exertions will be made at home to excite a feeling against 
 us, and I sincerely and ardently trust that Lord Durham 
 will watch over the cause with a parent's care. — Ever warmly 
 yours, Adam Fergusson. 
 
 " P.S. — Probably the most difficult point awaiting our 
 new Governor is the Clergy Reserve question, which must be 
 again resumed, as they decline meddling with it at home. 
 Never on earth was there such an apple of discord thrown 
 among people, and no sooner do you think that you 
 have got a fair hold of it than it slips through your 
 fingers. I am afraid the Church party here have con- 
 trived to engage the Church at home, and their power is 
 too well known not to occasion alarm. I know that it 
 continues, and will continue to the last gasp, to be the 
 determination of the high Tory party here to maintain 
 the supremacy and dominancy of the Church of England 
 in Canada." 
 
 After Lord Durham's death : —
 
 CANADIAN COliRESrONDENCE. 183 
 
 " WOODHILL, WaTERDOWN, P.O. UPPER CANADA, 
 
 30^/i October 1840. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — The death of Lord Durham was most 
 sincerely lamented by all true Liberals here. I consider 
 him as a victim of meddling politicians and lukewarm 
 friends in the Cabinet. It is by no means clear that he 
 had ever exceeded his jurisdiction in the Bermuda Ordi- 
 nance, but seeing it was so palpably judicious, humane, 
 and in the right spirit of the Act which sent him to Canada, 
 I shall never forgive ^lelbourne and Glenelg for yielding 
 an inch to Brougham. But alas ! such reflections are futile 
 now. I have to thank you for many occasional newspapers, 
 and, inter alia, for an account of the funeral. It either 
 showed a kind heart or good taste, the part borne by Lord 
 Londonderry, and I shall ever respect him for his conduct 
 there. It has been a disappointment to many here that no 
 public token of respect has hitherto emanated from the 
 North American Provinces, to one to wliom they are so 
 deeply indebted for his labours in their behalf. I trust it 
 is only delayed, not forgotten. My immediate impulse Avas 
 to have sent an address of condolence to Lady Durham, 
 with thou.sands of signatures, and I made the suggestion in 
 a quarter where the best and Avarmest feelings of respect 
 unquestionably exist. It was however deemed inexj^edient, 
 under our present peculiar circumstances, as being quite 
 sure of receiving from the Tory press and party here the 
 stigma of a mere electioneering mananivrc The reason 
 hardly satisfied me, but I felt compelled to bow to the 
 opinion of those from whom it Avas conveyed. You will 
 be pleased to learn that Lord Sydenham goes on Avell, and 
 Avhen the full consummation takes jjlaci-, and every public 
 d<-jjartment shall conK; immediately under his own eye, 
 matters will htill groAV better." 
 
 " Toronto, U. Canada, Jan. 23, 1S40. 
 
 " AVe have carried through the Union, and di.sjiosed of 
 
 tliat unhai)py and vexatious (picstion — the Clergy KeserA'cs. 
 
 The opposition, direct and indirect, to tin; la.st of these! lias 
 
 been great, or perhaps I should b(! more correct in saying
 
 184 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 little, for verily the Bishop and his party have adopted the 
 most paltry shifts to thwart any healing and equitable 
 partition. It was a great mistake to make Strachan 
 Bishop, and if Ministers had known all they would have 
 seen what a mess we must be brought into. 
 
 " The Church party will use every effort to oppose the 
 bill, and boast openly of their certainty of throwing it over- 
 board in the House of Lords. I cannot believe this, and 
 deem it unlikely that Canada will be sacrificed (and it 
 amounts without doubt to that) for a grasping clergy, who 
 have got the lion's share already, and upon a point which 
 in no way affects the Church of England as a body. 
 Should a dominant Church Establishment be recognised in 
 this Province, it won't be long before we must be plunged 
 in anarchy and blood. Surely the Peers, bigoted as many 
 of them are, will never reduce us to this. The Governor- 
 General has a very difficult game to play. — I am always, 
 dear sir, yours most truly, Adam Fergusson." 
 
 In 1838 the Eoyal Agricultural Society was formed. 
 It was at a dinner of the Smithfield Club in December 
 1837, that Lord Spencer first proposed the formation of 
 such a society, and in 1838 lie wrote to my father : — 
 
 " The Yorkshire Society will not rival the Highland 
 Society certainly, if it had succeeded, which it has not. 
 The highest ambition of its projectors, of whom I was not 
 one, was to imitate most humbly that great and useful 
 institution. I am, however, endeavouring to form some- 
 thing for all England, which ought to approach a little 
 nearer to the Highland Society, but even this cannot be 
 expected to anything like equal it. 
 
 " Unless I get very powerful support I shall not persevere; 
 but I hear I am likely to get great support, and then I 
 think I may do great good. I agree with you that 
 though we must have cattle-shows to keep up the interest 
 of the public, the real objects of the greatest importance, 
 and where improvement is most wanted, are the other 
 branches of agriculture.
 
 LAST DAYS OF PROTECTION, 185 
 
 " I was very sorry for poor Curwen ; he and I were 
 fi'llow-labourers in the commencement of my Parliamentary 
 life, when our leaders thought we went too far. But 
 everything we then aimed at has since been carried. — 
 Yours most truly, Spencer." 
 
 From the year 1838 the impulse towards improve- 
 ment in agriculture began to act with great and increas- 
 ing force. The Committee of Inquiry into the Causes 
 of Agricultural Distress, which was called for in 1836, 
 produced evidence which satisfied every thought- 
 ful man that the days of protection to agriculture 
 ■were numbered, and gave rise to the feeling through- 
 out the agricultural world that self-reliance and 
 self-help had become necessaiy. The questions there 
 asked and answ^ered gave also a great stimulus to 
 scientific inquiry, for they brought out distinctly the 
 truth that (not necessarily fresh enclosures, but) the 
 growth of increased produce on a given area was the 
 only sure foundation for agricultural undertakings. 
 The agricultural interest, however, remained in a 
 deplorable state. !My father continued firndy to look 
 forward to the total repeal of the Corn -Laws as the 
 cure for this distress. lie did not approve the scheme 
 of fluctuating duties. 
 
 FROM LORD IIOWICK. 
 
 " War Office, Dec. 1838. 
 " Tlie markets are indeed getting much too high, and 
 tlu' present price of l)re;ul i.s occasioning, 1 fear, much 
 di.stre.ss, particularly in the south of Kuglaiid, where w;iges 
 are always very low. Tlie result will be a severe stnigglo 
 for an alteration of the Corn-Laws, whicli you know I have 
 always con.sidered to be most injurious to tlu) landed 
 interest as well aa to the consumer. I am anxious to have
 
 186 MEMOIK OF JOHN GREY, 
 
 the means of comparing the effects of the opposite policy 
 with respect to protection, which has been pursued in 
 regard to wool and to corn, for which purpose I want much 
 to have a statement of what has been the selling price of 
 wool of similar quality in each year from the Peace, or a 
 year or two later, to this time. Do you think that, with- 
 out much trouble, you could procure me this 1 
 
 " I believe you have always had a very fine flock. ..." 
 
 ANSWER TO THE ABOVE. 
 
 ■■" "DiLSTON, Dec. 29th, 1838. 
 " Were I at Milfield Hill to obtain access to my farming 
 accounts, I could without trouble or difficulty supply your 
 Lordship with the price per stone of my wool, which has 
 been very uniform in quality for the last thirty-five years ; 
 but as I am not likely to be there very soon, I have just 
 now written to Messrs. Boag, who are extensively engaged 
 in the wool-trade in Wakefield, and purchase great quan- 
 tities of the wool of our county, asking them to supply you 
 with a table of the prices of Cheviot and Leicester wool 
 of equal quality, from the period of the conclusion of the 
 French war to the present time. Should they not do so, 
 I can easily obtain such a document in another quarter, 
 which will prove that the prediction of ruin to the home- 
 growth of wool by the admission of foreign wools was not 
 only falsified, but that the prices rose and have continued 
 steadier ever since. I believe it will be impossible to 
 maintain the present system of Corn-Laws under the exist- 
 ing circumstances of the country ; and however desirable 
 it may be to alter and modify them, it would have been 
 much better that such alteration had taken place without 
 having the appearance of being extorted by the clamour 
 and violence of the manufacturing classes, from a reluctant 
 landed aristocracy. It is an undeniable fact, that manu- 
 factures conducted by British skill, capital, and enterprise, 
 are rising up in various parts of the Continent to rival, and 
 perhaps to under-sell our own. And, however much one may
 
 LAST DAYS OF PROTECTION. 1 S 7 
 
 lament the fact, one cannot wonder at such a result of our 
 restrictive system. . . . 
 
 " The weather in this part continues fine, and the winter, 
 so fiir, is passing mildly away. God grant that it may so 
 continue ; for a course of severe weather putting a stop to 
 labour, in the present state of the markets for all sorts of 
 provisions, would prove a dreadful calamity." 
 
 Til 1841 the weak Administration of Lord Melbourne 
 came to an end. Lord Spencer wrote to my father : — 
 
 "ifai/26, 1841. 
 " I do not know what to say about politics, but my 
 impression is that the general election which must come 
 will tell against us ; and if it does, of course the Ministers 
 must go out, and we shall see whether a Eeformed Parlia- 
 ment will improve the working of a Tory Government. 
 I think it will. I am sorry to say the farmers and landed 
 people with whom I am in communication are still as 
 much wedded to wiiat they call ' Protection ' as ever. If 
 they would once trust themselves to swim without corks, 
 they would find they could do it very well. — Believe me, 
 my dear sir, yours most truly, Spencer." 
 
 There was no possibility now of a return to a Tory 
 Administration of the old school. Sir Piobert Peel 
 became head of the Government, which was soon to 
 disgust a large number of its admirers in the country 
 by the Repeal Act. 
 
 "HoDSE OF Commons, March 21, 'I'J. 
 " My dear Sir, — I hav(! had my time so constantly 
 takf-n up by attending this House, not only in the evening, 
 but alscMJii a Private Pill Connnittee in the morning, that I 
 have not been able sooner to thank you for yi.iir litter of 
 the 14th, and the copy of your agricultural jiapers which 1 
 received at the same lime, and was very mueli oldiged to 
 you for. 1 am glad yuu ai)proved of my speech on the
 
 188 MEMOIR OF JOHN GEE Y. 
 
 Corn-Laws. I hope my friends among the farmers will, 
 some of them at least, agree with you. 
 
 " I quite agree with you as to the impolicy of our 
 dividing against the second reading of the bill. I endea- 
 voured to induce our friends to take a different course, 
 but, having failed in doing so, I voted with them, as the 
 only means I had of recording my opinion that the measure 
 is unsatisfactory. I am very much disposed to leave the 
 clauses respecting the averages as we find them. I am 
 convinced the bill will not remain long in force, and the 
 point is not worth disputing. 
 
 " I shall be anxious to hear what you think of the 
 financial plans of the Government, and of the course we 
 have taken. If Peel had given us real Free-Trade, I 
 would, for the sake of it, have swallowed the Income-Tax, 
 objectionable as it is ; but his tariff is a complete delusion. 
 
 " I left my nieces and young Lord Durham very well, 
 and we have since had very good accounts of them. They 
 are probably by this time at Malta, as they were to sail on 
 the 14th from Leghorn in the Belvidera. — Yours very 
 truly, HowiCK." 
 
 Our home at Dilston was a very beautiful one. Its 
 romantic historical associations, the wild informal 
 beauty all round its doors, the bright large family 
 circle, and the kind and hospitable character of its 
 master and mistress, made it a very attractive place to 
 many friends and guests. Among our pleasantest 
 visitors there were Swedes, Eussians, and French, who 
 came to England on missions of agricultural or other 
 inquiry, and who sometimes spent weeks with us. It 
 was a house the door of which stood wide open, as if to 
 welcome all comers, through the livelong summer day. 
 (AH the days seem like summer days when looking 
 back.) It was a place where one could glide out of a 
 iQw^r window, and be hidden in a moment, plunging
 
 FAMILY JOYS AND SORROWS. 189 
 
 straight among wild wood paths, and beds of ferns, or 
 find one's-self (quickly in some cool concealment, beneath 
 slender birch-trees, or by the dry bed of a mountain 
 stream. It was a place where the sweet hushing sound 
 of waterfalls, and clear streams murmuring over shallows, 
 were heard all day and night, though winter storms 
 turned those sweet sounds into an angry roar. jNIy 
 father delighted in the beauty of the place, and in 
 his family. There were indeed clouds, anxieties, 
 sorrows, regrets — how could there but be such in so 
 large a family, among so many hearts endowed with 
 that strength of feeling which prepares for its possessors 
 no easy or trancpiil path to walk in ? He led his six 
 daughters, each in turn, on her wedding-day, up the 
 aisle of the village church, as years went on, and one 
 by one they quitted their father's home. In the 
 memor}' of all of them the parting-day is fixed — the 
 visit paid in the early morning to the bride's room, the 
 long, tender, silent embrace, and the throbbing of his 
 strong heart, which betrayed his emotion. " Father, you 
 have other daughters left," it was sometimes remarked ; 
 the only reply was " My child," and a moment's closer 
 grasp to his heart. It was no selfish regret which 
 moved him, for his thoughts were dwelling then, as 
 those of our mother would dwell, on all that might be 
 awaiting that child in the future. It is not easy for 
 those who were so greatly loved by him to speak of the 
 tenderness of his soul. Something of it may be guessed 
 from his letters to his children. Tlie sadness there wa.s 
 in the contemplation of the gradual dropping off of 
 the large family circle which surrounded him, until 
 after our motlier's death he was left alone, was com- 
 pensated greatly by the enlargement and extension of his
 
 190 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 interests and affections through that very scattering 
 abroad. He admitted his sons-in-law and daughters-in- 
 law to a place in his affections very close to that of his 
 own children, and ever as he grew older he seemed to 
 feel for and with his large scattered circle, more and 
 more in all their sorrows and all their joys. Again 
 and again he had to mourn with widowed sons and 
 daughters, and with both as bereaved parents. Tew 
 things affected him so deeply as the death of a little 
 child, and he was often called to suffer that sore grief — 
 which to some seems unreasonable, but which cannot be 
 reasoned with — through the deaths of his grandchildren, 
 the darlings whose greatest joy it was to spend the 
 bright summer weeks in his country home, and who 
 found in his great simplicity something akin to their 
 own nature fresh from God's hand, which made him 
 seem the appropriate companion of little children. 
 Among compensations must be reckoned that which 
 God's good providence ordained for him, in the return 
 to his home of one of his children — the faithful daughter 
 who was destined to be the companion of his declining 
 years, and to continue to the last the womanly minis- 
 trations which he always so tenderly valued. The 
 following letter to that daughter records how he had 
 once feared himself to be the witness of her death, who 
 was the only witness in all his family of his own : — 
 
 " DiLSTON, October 1860. 
 
 " My dearest Fanny, — My heart sickens to think of 
 poor Charles and Emily having lost dear Oswald, and 
 watcliing over the sick, perhaps the dying bed of sweet 
 little Hilda. I know the sad feelings and alternations of 
 hope and despair, from paternal experience in former days, 
 and on one occasion, Avhen you were the object of anxiety.
 
 LETTERS TO DAUGHTERS, 191 
 
 You were spared, aiul laistd almost from the grave, and 
 restored to mamma and me, when she had retired from the 
 scene, thinking all was over, and you still lay on poor Jane 
 Cranston's knee, when, even against hope, I drew a feather 
 dipped in brandy and water through your lips, and you 
 heaved a sigh, and seemed to breathe again. I have often 
 recalled that moment of resignation and revived hope, hardly 
 to be believed real. Dear faitliful Jane ! She has followed 
 her old mistress at a short interval, and is with her enjoy- 
 ing, we hope, the fulness of joy and peace. She will be 
 much missed in tiie village circle, in which she was a 
 blessing to many."^ 
 
 TO ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS, WHO HAD BEEN A SHORT 
 TIME MARRIED. 
 
 "Xew-Year's-Day, 1843. 
 " My darling Tully, — I wish you were here to join 
 in the gratulations of the infant year, but as I cannot take 
 you to my arms and press you to my heart in reality, I 
 must be satisfied to wish you most emphatically every good, 
 at a distance, and pray God to bless you in all your ways, 
 and to preserve you in the peace and happiness wliich it 
 makes me happy to liear that you are enjoying. Why should 
 I ever feel sad in thinking of you'? fori am sure that I love 
 you very much, and rejoice in the assurance I feel of your 
 welfare and happiness, and yet in a time of momentary 
 forgetfulness of your absence, a feeling of disappointment 
 has come over me in being obliged to recall the recollection 
 that your place in the circle is empty. Such, however, is 
 a part of our mental constitution,— we are more given to 
 rcpinr' at privations than to acknowledge and be thankful 
 for our many blessings. Hereafter our feelings will be re- 
 
 « Tliis faithful nurse well deserves to be named in a family liistory. 
 Though a poorly educated woman, her Christian thoughtfulness and habit 
 of hUKtained communion with God gave ht-r a wisdom wliicli made her the 
 sought adviser of many besides our own f.imily. My father or mother 
 would often visit her alone in the nursery at night after all the children 
 were a«lcep, in order to conftc with her on matters of difliculty, or of the 
 dccpcat couceni to the family.
 
 192 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 fined, and our capacities of enjoyment enlarged and purified. 
 . . . Some of the young folks are reading, and others chat- 
 ting in the blaze of a Christmas fire in the drawing-room. 
 I hear Charley's voice overhead in discourse with mamma. 
 He looks the little man in tails less gracefully than the 
 tall boy in a jacket. I very often bring you up to my 
 mind's eye, at times in your hat and habit, looking stylish, 
 and managing your curb with masterly hand ; at others 
 gliding smoothly into the drawing-room with bright ring- 
 lets and smiling face." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 "1843. 
 
 "Dearest Tully, — You will see by the Newcastle 
 paper, that our County Meeting, the local one like that last 
 year, is to be at Hexham. It would be pleasant if you and 
 Edgar could be present, but unluckily George cannot, as it 
 is the same time with the Highland Society's meeting at 
 Dundee, which he is to attend. I have asked Lord 
 Howick to come to it and take up his quarters here, but 
 unhappily Lord Grey's state of health renders his plans 
 uncertain. I hope, however, by his account, that there is no 
 ground for present apprehension of danger. Such an affection 
 of the sight and general debility are more likely to arise from 
 a disordered state of the stomach than anything else, which 
 will, I hope, be repaired. Only, at eighty any attack is to 
 be feared. I have a letter from himself, dated the 4th 
 instant, when I suppose the illness must have been coming 
 on, for he said that he could not write long without difficulty 
 and pain from the state of his sight. Poor man ! he can- 
 not last long now, yet I should much lament his death on 
 private and public grounds. He has been a kind friend to 
 me, and I have had much interesting intercourse with him. 
 And dear, kind Lady Grey and his daughters would feel 
 his loss deeply. His day of public life is over, and his 
 position as a public man very melancholy, for he is the last 
 of a galaxy of great politicians ; but it would be a great loss 
 to have Howick removed from the Commons to assume the
 
 GRIEF AND HOPE. 193 
 
 quiet and inanimate state of the House of Lords. The 
 House of Commons does not at this time contain a more 
 able and honest man, — none with a clearer view of consti- 
 tutional liberty, and who supports his views with more 
 determined courage and disinterested integrity of purpose." 
 
 The summer of 1844 was a very bright and busy one 
 at Dilston. On a certain lovely evening in June, the 
 children were looking througli a telescope at an eclipse 
 of the moon, and wondering whether their sailor brother, 
 John, was looking at it too, and where he might be. 
 They knew not that the waters of the Pacific had many 
 weeks before closed over his head. The next day news 
 came to my father of John's death at sea, but it came 
 indirectly, and there might be, it appeared, some mistake. 
 He did not speak a word until the tidings should be 
 confirmed or contradicted. For twenty- four hours he 
 bore that load of suspense and sorrow on his heart, nor 
 did the merry family party trace any shadow on his 
 brow, so effectually did he conceal his trouble for the 
 sake of others. Then he heard more, and " I remem- 
 ber," says one of my sisters, " his coming with an open 
 letter in his hand, and breaking the news gently to 
 mamma." Our mother had WTitten to John when 
 al)sent on a voyage, " We pray for you, my son ; we 
 think of you among the beautiful Isles of Greece. 
 Your rose-tree, which you planted, is covered with 
 flowers. I hail it as a happy omen." His father 
 wrote to him : — 
 
 "Dir.STOx, Octohtr. 
 
 " My VEitv DEAR John, — I am often thinking of you 
 when tlie wind raves among our trees. Bui then I rcrol- 
 lect that it may be calm in your hemisphere ; and, at any 
 rate, that Ood is everywhere to protect and guide us. Bo 
 watchful, my dear boy, of your thoughts and actions, make 
 
 N
 
 194 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 good use of your opportunities of observation, take especial 
 care of your health, and come back cheerful and strong and 
 instructive. — Ever your affectionate father, 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 The message which came was abrupt and bald, from 
 the captain of the ship, arrived in China : — " All well, 
 except Mr. Grey, who died off the Cape." It was not 
 for some months after that the mail brought a word 
 more than this to satisfy the aching hearts at home. 
 And that word, when it did come, was very brief. A 
 letter, badly spelled and badly written, from a gentle 
 sailor-boy, who acted as his servant : — " At midnight 
 (giving the latitude and longitude exactly, in the sailor 
 fashion) Mr. Grey sang out for his mother." ..." He 
 talked much about his brother George, and thought he 
 was coming to him." Many years after, and shortly 
 before her death, my mother wrote down in a paper, 
 which was not opened till after her death, more about 
 this sore sorrow than she had ever spoken. The paper 
 is a kind of apology for her own hopefulness. She was 
 accounted " sanguine " in youth, but hope did not 
 desert her in old age. She says in this paper, after 
 giving her reasons for hope : — " After the experience of 
 more than half a century, the thinker of these thoughts 
 takes the liberty of thinking thus, and her life has not 
 been one of unmixed joy ; she has known sorrow, but 
 in the deepest sorrow hope has never been far off. 
 When standing by the bedside of many sweet dying 
 children, ' flesh of her flesh,' and feeling lier heart 
 doubly pierced even through that of her child, — a 
 mother — she has been cheered by hope. Even when 
 she knew that 'the heavy-shotted hammock -shroud' 
 of her poor sailor had sunk in ' his vast and wandering
 
 GRIEF AND HOPE. 195 
 
 grave,' and her heart in its deep agony was well-nigh 
 broken, hope sprang up, like the returned dove to the 
 ark, in tlie shape uf a letter from a youth who was with 
 him on his deathbed, aud told how, when his poor eyes 
 could no longer see, he asked often to have read to him 
 the words of life, and said they comforted him. Through 
 the mercy of God some healing balm is ever derived, 
 not entirely from an abstract principle, but from these 
 very sorrows themselves more immediately, as the anti- 
 dote to the viper's sting sometimes lies in the plant 
 among our feet from whence the venomous beast attacked 
 us. In the sick-room of some dear one, close, dark, 
 didl, and cheerless as it seems, I have often found real, 
 even abounding joy, in the thought that I was God's 
 prisoner, and sorrow and uneasiness and fear were 
 often, strange as it may seem, lost in a positive sustain- 
 ing pleasure. Even in tlie little worrying vexations of 
 life, when we are like pilgrims walking with peas in 
 our shoes, still there is the scent of flowers, the song of 
 the birds, and the sweet light of heaven about our path." 
 It was happy for my father that the partner of his life 
 possessed this hopefulness of character. He himself, 
 though full of the hope, which is sooner or later granted 
 to tlie pure in heart, of the prevalence of good over evil, 
 was constitutionally rather sad, retrospective, apt to 
 dwell with a tender melancholy on joys past, and 
 friends departed, rather tlian t(j look forward ; and 
 withal somewhat diffident of his own powers. 
 
 The secession of the Free Church in Scotland, which 
 took place in 1843, was an event of great and even 
 personal interest to my father. Foremost among those 
 wlio went forth from tlie Established Cliurcli were his 
 brotlier- in-law, Dr. Henry Duncan, aud his cousin and
 
 196 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 brother-in-law, Dr. Henry Grey, He wrote of the 
 event to an absent daughter : — 
 
 "i¥ay 1843. 
 
 "My dear Tully, — I don't know whether you see 
 anything of, or take any interest in, the very extraordinary 
 convulsion of the Scotch Church. The crisis has arrived, 
 and the band of faithful ministers have borne testimony to 
 the integrity of their principles, which has been often 
 tauntingly doubted, by abandoning their long-accustomed 
 homes, to which they looked as their only earthly residence, 
 the flocks which they taught and loved, the society that 
 they had formed around them, and all the ordinary ties of 
 local interest, domestic comfort, and easy competence, for a 
 change to untried walks of life, and what, in common 
 eyes, may seem a degraded condition. Whatever speci- 
 ous arguments may be raised against the necessity of the 
 act, and the correctness of their view of it, it proves a 
 noble example of moral courage and consistency, one which 
 gives to it the stamp of no ordinary event, and to the men 
 the value and character of martyrs. The detail of the pro- 
 ceedings on the meeting of the General Assembly, the 
 protest given, and the secession of so many of the best men 
 composing a nation's priesthood from the scenes which they 
 had adorned by their taste, and sanctified by their piety, is 
 one of the most deeply affecting that I ever experienced. 
 The first names in the Protest are Drs. Welsh, Chalmers, 
 Henry Grey, Gordon, etc. I think of the taste with which 
 the amiable Dr. Duncan had ornamented and made really 
 pretty the otherwise barren spot at Kuthwell, and the 
 pleasure he had in contemplating the creation of his fertile 
 mind and delicate fancy. 
 
 " ' The house, the field, the shadowy grove,' are his no 
 longer, all abandoned for a home he knows not where, but 
 in obedience to the dictates of a strong moral obligation to 
 do the right, and despise and reject the expedient. One 
 cannot doubt that such sacrifices will be rewarded, if not in 
 outward circumstances, in inward peace of mind and con- 
 science, and long will it be ere such a band of men, dis-
 
 DR. DUNCAN. 197 
 
 tinguished by learning, devotedness, zeal, and high intellec- 
 tual attainments, will be found to occupy their places in 
 the National Church."^ 
 
 FROM HIS SISTER MARGARETTA. 
 
 " Edinburgh, 1843. 
 " My dear Brother, — I was much obliged for Lord 
 Howick's speech, which was very sensible. He reminded 
 me of you by his details about north-country f:\rming, and 
 the effect of the Corn-Law on those whose interests are 
 supposed to be protected by it, while they suffer from it 
 with the rest of the country. Did you read the Corn-Law 
 Prize Essays by East-Lothian agriculturists ? I thought 
 them extremely good and convincing. I dare say Sir 
 Robert Peel is as well con\anced as any of the repealers ; 
 
 * The following notice of Dr. Duncan, written many years later, may be 
 interesting :— 
 
 "LiPWooD House, Dec. 30, 1S63. 
 
 "Dear Mrs. Latcock, — In a conversation with you lately, my late 
 excellent brother-in-law, Dr. Duncan, was mentioned, who was the author 
 of the system of ' Savings Banks,' the benefit of which is now extended 
 over the civilized world, and whose active and benevolent mind was ever 
 engaged in some good and useful work. Tliinkiiig that you may be in- 
 terested in looking through a memoir of him, I shall take it to Newcastle 
 for you. Dr. Duncan was educated in Scotland, at a time which was dis- 
 tinguished for young men of talent and eminence. He was the friend and 
 companion of Dugald Stewart, Plaj-fair, Brougham, etc. With the latter 
 he maintained a friendly corre.-ipondence throughout life, and was mentioned 
 by him, on his late public appearance in Edinburgh, as one of the estimable 
 friends and comjianions of his early days. With his literary tastes and 
 talents he might have attained distinction as an author, had he been so 
 inclined, but his unselfish and benevolent disposition, joined with great 
 practical ability, led him to employ his time, and sacrifice his worldly 
 interests U> the g0(Kl of his fellow-creatures. Tlie love I had for him when 
 living, and the respect I still have for his character and memory, must 
 plea<l my excuse for tliu« obtruding hini upim your notice. . . . 
 
 " My sister is still living, and in considerable vigour, though nearly my 
 age. She ha« had an eventful life, having been the wife of two of the 
 cleverest and most interesting men that I have known, first, Mr. I.undie of 
 Kelno, the friend and associate of Hcolt, Ley den, Brougham, etc, and then 
 of hit friend Duncan. In her widowlioo<l she was induced by friends to 
 accompany them in a tour to America, of which she wrote and juiMiHlicd 
 an account.— Truly yours, Jou.n (Juey."
 
 198 MEMOIK OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 but he must support those who support him in their pre- 
 judice, as long as the country will put up with the griev- 
 ance. I fear the case will be that the wrong policy will 
 be persevered in both as to State and Church, till the 
 people will seek their own remedy in violence and demoli- 
 tion. I read in Prophecy the violent destruction of all the 
 powers, governments, and institutions of Christendom, and 
 see in the elements around us the ready means of it. 
 Happy consummation when the right reign begins, but 
 fearful convulsions lie between ! 
 
 "I cannot but apprehend that the time of the grand 
 European crisis draws near, though, of course, we cannot 
 know exactly when or how till the events come to deter- 
 mine it. The study is a legitimate one, for Prophecy is no 
 doubt meant to prepare those who believe in and reverence 
 the Word of God for coming events, as well as to demon- 
 strate the truth and governing power of God after they 
 have taken place. It fortifies the mind amidst changes and 
 agitations, to understand that they are of God's bringing 
 about for good ends. This break-up of the Church of 
 Scotland, and flight into the wilderness, although it may 
 be attended with some hardships and persecution, may be 
 sent to screen us from trials that are coming. We would 
 have avoided the crisis if we could, but now it must be, 
 we feel great benefits flowing from it, in the increased 
 piety and liberality it calls forth, the hearty love and 
 generous zeal it brings into exercise. We have not felt so 
 happy, nor living to so much purpose for many years. A 
 grand blunder it is in our strong Conservative Government 
 to strive to put down what cannot and is not to be de- 
 stroyed, — the real Church of Christ in the land. I am sure 
 they will repent when it is too late. The Church of Eng- 
 land will come next in hand for a purifying process, and 
 indeed it seems full time. We were very much satisfied 
 with the advocacy of the cause in the Commons by Fox 
 Maule, Mr. Rutherford, etc. They will begin to under- 
 stand something about the matter in England at last, and 
 our moral example will not fall profitless to the ground."
 
 LORD SPENCERS DEATH. 199 
 
 Tlie death of Earl Spencer (Lord Altliorp), which 
 occurred in 1845, caused my father very sincere grief. 
 Similarity of tastes, a common interest in many great 
 problems of political philosopliy -which they regarded 
 from the same point of view in a great measure, and 
 the qualities of honesty, purity, and trustingness pos- 
 sessed by both, were elements which constituted a very 
 true and lasting friendship.^ One who knew Lord 
 Spencer summed up a review of his character with the 
 words, " But above all, his opinions upon questions, 
 l)oth speculative and practical, were guided by a humble 
 reliance on the goodness of God, and a conviction that 
 he was bound, in whatever he might think or do — 
 whether in following or resisting his own inclination — 
 to obey the law of Christ." 
 
 He died the year before the repeal of the Corn- 
 I^ws, which he had for so many years wished to see. 
 He ^^Tote to my father a week or two before his death, 
 asking him to visit him. " Come whenever you can," 
 he said, " and stay as long as you can. I understood 
 what passed between us at Shrewsbury as an engage- 
 ment. It is a long time since I saw you." 
 
 FROM MY FATHER TO HIS DAUGHTER, MRS. E. GARSTON. 
 
 " DiLSTON, October 13, 1845. 
 "Poor, dear Lord Spencer! I heard of his dcatli in 
 Ireland, and it made me miserable. I had so rcci-ntly 
 spent four days in his house and society, having had a 
 
 ' Probably few persons ever di»liked office and the consequent enforced 
 residence in London so licartily as Lord Spencer did. In a letter of my 
 father's of recent date he says, " I often think of dear Ixird Althorp's 
 saying t« me when in office at tlie iiassiiig of the lieforin Hill, ' If 1 were 
 once out, they'll never (-atch me again. I just know, every Monday niom- 
 Ing, on coming in Dfiwniirg Street, the feeling that makes a man throw 
 hims«lf over London Hridge !'"
 
 200 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 large share of the latter to myself. I arrived at eight in 
 the morning, and that entire day we were alone, till Lord 
 Ducie and Captain Spencer came in the evening, and even 
 after that he and I seemed to be the couple that walked 
 or rode together. I had not visited him for long, and he 
 had much to show me and talk about. He was most 
 kind ; reminded me of our early acquaintance, our journey- 
 ing among the fine farms of the Tweed, and our frequent 
 intercourse ; spoke with pleasant anticipation of the 
 Society's meeting in Newcastle next July; said that his 
 duty as steward of the yard requiring his attendance at 
 six o'clock, rendered it necessary that he should sleep in 
 the town ; but that he would take a quiet day at Dilston 
 before or after. Alas ! how futile are the schemes of men ! 
 I left him on the Monday, and on the Wednesday of the 
 following week he was no more. I cannot get his figure, 
 his amiable and intelligent look, and his peculiar laugh, 
 out of my mind's eye and ear. It is a public, and to me a 
 private loss; for he was always the same kind friend. 
 Lord Grey's death did not affect me so much, for it had 
 been long expected."
 
 CHAPTER VTT. 
 
 "We plough the deep, and reap what others sow." 
 
 As the great crisis drew near for the final repeal of the 
 Corn-Laws, tlie excitement and anxiety in the country 
 increased. An Agricultural Protection Society had 
 risen up in opposition to the Anti-Corn-Law League, and 
 both were disseminating their views ^vith redoubled 
 zeal, by means of tracts and lectures and speeches. 
 The great Protectionist landowners and members of 
 Parliament, however, ceased to appear so much at 
 public meetings, and scarcely showed themselves at 
 great agricultural gatherings, aware, perhaps, that they 
 could no longer speak with the certainty they once did 
 about their cherished Protection laws. They busily 
 organized their forces, however, in the House of Com- 
 mons. Tlie terrible accounts arriving daily of the 
 danger of famine in Ireland meanwhile brought home 
 very sternly and pressingly to the minds of the more 
 thoughtful ])oliticians the question of cheapening the 
 bread of tlie people. In December 1845, Sir Pobert 
 Peel's Ministry resigned office, but only fur a short 
 time. In the interval, Ix)rd John Pussell attemjUed to 
 fonii a Ministry, and failed. The blame of this failure 
 was laid on Lord (ircy. I read in the; History of iJic 
 Peace the following passage: — "The disappointed 
 Whig party complained that ' Ixjrd Grey had done it 
 all ;' but with the country at large Lord Clrey lost
 
 202 MEMOIE OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 nothing by this difficult act of self- exclusion, or by 
 his honourable silence in the midst of the censure 
 which was abundantly poured out upon him."^ Lord 
 Grey may be permitted to break silence at this distance 
 of time ; though the following letter, addressed to my 
 father at that moment, is not needful to prove, what 
 his actions have sufficiently attested, that he at all 
 times preferred the public good to any considerations 
 of a personal kind, and rejoiced (as my father did also) 
 in the strength which gave Sir Eobert Peel, who had 
 for so many years opposed the Free-traders in debate, 
 the certainty of carrying the great Free-trade measure 
 at last : — 
 
 "Belgrave Square, Dec. 22, 1845. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — As there are such untrue accounts in 
 the newspapers of what has happened, and as I should be 
 sorry you should suppose the failure to make a Whig 
 Government so exclusively my fault as it would appear by 
 these, I write you to tell you what really did take place. 
 
 " When I came to town, I found things in such a state 
 that I thought, however difficult the task, Lord John could 
 hardly do otherwise than attempt the formation of a Govern- 
 ment ; but I was equally persuaded it would be madness, 
 unless he resolved to make the best and strongest he 
 could. Accordingly, while he was endeavouring to obtain 
 that explanation of Peel's intentions of supporting him, as 
 was considered necessary, and before he had accepted the 
 commission given to him by the Queen, I wrote him a 
 letter, expressing this opinion, and saying that the only 
 condition upon which I would join in one, would be that 
 it should be composed, without reference to the personal 
 objects of individuals, in such a manner as to command 
 the largest possible measure of public confidence and sup- 
 port ; and I particularly cautioned him against appoint- 
 ments which should create an impression that this was a 
 mere revival, with the smallest possible amount of altera- 
 ^ History of the Peace, p. 727.
 
 FREE-TRADE. 203 
 
 tion, of the Alclboume Government, the still recollected 
 unpopularity of winch was one of the greatest difficulties 
 with which he had to contend. I said I would not offer 
 unasked and officious advice on particular appointments, 
 but must make my coming into office distinctly conditional 
 upon the Government's being formed on the principle I 
 have stated. 
 
 " In this I meant to allude, as distinctly as I could, to 
 the notorious objection to Lord Palmerston at the Foreign 
 Office. However, when he proceeded to make his arrange 
 ments, and proposed the Colonial Office to me, I asked 
 what the other appointments were to be ; and when that 
 of Lord P. amongst others was mentioned, I pointed out 
 the objections, not felt by myself only but by everybody, 
 to this arrangement. I told him it would undoubtedly 
 weaken the Government, and, as I thought, increase the 
 risk of war, since, owing to former differences, there is a 
 predisposition on the part of foreign powers to ol)ject to 
 what Lord P. may do. I said I should be most happy to 
 serve with him in any other office. I suggested that he 
 should have the one meant for myself, and that, if it would 
 smooth difficulties, he should be made a Peer, and take the 
 h'ad in the House of Lords, expressing my perfect readi- 
 ness to follow him. It appeared, however, that Lord John 
 liad already proposed this to him, and it had been declined 
 by Lord P., saying he would take the Foreign Office or 
 nothing. Under these circumstances, feeling so strongly 
 the objections to the ai)pointment, I begged to decline 
 coming in, and thereupon Lord John gave up the whole 
 thing. This, as you may suppose, has been very painful 
 to me, })Ut, ujKin the whole, I believe it to bc^ the best 
 thing for the jjublic. Our Goveniment wuidd havc! been 
 80 weak that it would have done nothing, and Peel now 
 returns to carry the repeal of the Corn-Law more certainly 
 than we could."* 
 
 > In the Ilutory of tlu Ptace, (p. 718) I read tlio a««ertion, Hint in the 
 oixminK of the »«i«ion of ISiS, " tlif \Vhi„'H won- i.lu<lKfd to a lixcd duty 
 on corn ;" and in p.it't- 719 thin stntiixf, " It in a proof of the power of
 
 204 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 The debates on the subject began in February 1846 
 and lasted until June. They were rancorous enough 
 sometimes, often long and tedious. It soon became 
 evident which way the tide had set. 
 
 Sir George Grey wrote to my father : — 
 
 "London, Feb. 1, 1846. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Grey, — Thank you for your letter. The 
 changes of opinion every day are indeed surprising enough, 
 and the language we now hear from the Treasury Benches 
 in the House of Commons is all the most ardent Free- 
 trader could desire. I am not without hope that Sir R. 
 Peel may give up the ' three years,' if he finds a general 
 expression of opinion against it ; but you will see from Lord 
 J. Russell's speech that we shall do nothing to endanger 
 or retard the measure proposed, which is too good to be 
 risked on comparatively unimportant grounds. 
 
 " I see no prospect of an early dissolution, I mean while 
 this measure is pending. I think there will be a large 
 
 educational and class prejudice that the Whigs could so long cling to the 
 proved mischief of agricultural protection." I doubted the exactness of 
 the statement, believing that there were some Whigs who had been advo- 
 cates of Free-trade for many years before the Repeal Act. I asked Lord 
 Grey if it was not so, and received from him the following answer : — 
 
 " 1st, It is not true that in 1845 the Whig leaders were pledged to a fixed 
 duty on corn. Many of them individually were in favour of maintaining 
 such a duty, at least for a time, and among them Lord John himself, who 
 had expressed this opinion just before in his famous letter to his consti- 
 tuents, of Nov. 22, 1 845. But others were decidedly of a contrary opinion, 
 and I myself distinctly told him, as soon as I reached London upon his 
 summons, that I would have nothing to do with any attempt to form a 
 new Administration, unless on the clear understanding that it was to pro- 
 pose the total and immediate repeal of the duties on corn, and this was 
 ultimately agreed to ; it was settled that, if we came into office, we should 
 propose a complete measure, coupled with some arrangement for relieving 
 agriculture from the pressure of local burthens. 
 
 " 2d, In earlier times the opinions of the Whigs were not in genera] in 
 favour of Free-trade ; indeed, forty years ago, the Free-trade party either 
 in Parliament or in the country was altogether insignificant. The first 
 division against the principle of the old Corn-Laws that I remember in the 
 House of Commons, was on a resolution moved by Hume as an amendment
 
 FREE -TRADE. 205 
 
 maJDiity in the House of Commons, and that it will go 
 through the Lords. 'NMiat the ultimate eflFect on the 
 .stability of the Government may be is a different question, 
 and I do not think things can go on long in their present 
 position. 
 
 " The fight was begun last night ratlier languidly, and 
 the language of the Protectionists is that of a beaten 
 party. — Believe me, very truly yours, G. Grey." 
 
 The pleasure which was felt by sound ecouomists in 
 the triumph of Free-trade principles achieved in the 
 summer of 184G by the repeal of the Corn-Laws, w^as 
 counterbalanced by the anxiety with which they were 
 compelled to watch its effects for several years, through- 
 out the severe trial wliicli, like almost all reforms, it 
 had to undergo in the early stage of its existence. The 
 cry of agiicultural distress did not end, and the reaction 
 in favour of the restoration of Protection reached its 
 
 on Canning's Com Bill of 1827, which proposed that a fixed duty of 15s. 
 a quarter should be imposed upon wheat, to fall by a shilling a year till 
 it came down to 10s., at which.it was to be peniiaiient. This proposal, 
 which was meant as a declaration against the old principle of the sli<ling 
 scale, was only supported by a minority of sixteen against the great body 
 of both sides of the House. ITie minority included no names of jjcrsons 
 afterwards in office except those of Lord Jlorpeth, Poulett Thomson, and 
 myself. Lord Althorp certainly did not vote in the minority, hut I can- 
 not be sure (not having the debates here) whether he voted in the majority, 
 but I think he did. I do not now recollect exactly what was his opinion 
 on the Corn-Laws (though I know it was unfavourable to them as they 
 stood), as during my father's administration the subject was never seriou.sly 
 diacosaed ; the price of com was then very low, and more i)ressing questions 
 entirely absorbed the attention of Parliament ; the Cabinet of that day was, 
 however, decidedly Protectionist. 
 
 " During Ijfinl Melbourne's Administration, Free-trade w.is an open ques- 
 tion, but there were no Free-traders in the Cabinet (Lord Morpeth was not 
 then a mcmlier of it) at first, except Poulett Thomson and myself; Lord 
 I)uncann>in, i»erhap8, a little leaning to our views, but not supj^orling us 
 when we i>roi«>se<l, in 18.39, that the (Jovemment should bring forwanl a 
 |>Ian for establishing a fixe<l duty. This ha<l l>een up to that time the 
 I: mended by the l>est ]K)Iitical econoiniMts. Uicanlo (if I am 
 
 ii . ■ liaving first suggested that, on the princii)los of Free trade,
 
 206 MEMOIE OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 climax when Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli came into 
 office, partly on the strength of the belief of a majority 
 of the country that they would restore Protection. The 
 following are extracts from letters written about that 
 time by my father to his eldest daughter, in China : — 
 
 " March 1850. 
 
 " My dearest Eliza, — . . . The session would have 
 gone off pretty quietly, I think, especially as the finance 
 accounts are favourable — and Charles Wood makes a good 
 balance — had not that odd, though in some respects clever, 
 man, Palmerston, put his foot into it, by an untoward 
 movement about small debts due by Greece. In principle 
 he is borne out, but it is too trifling an affair to risk the 
 peace of Europe upon, or even to cause ill-will by ; and 
 there is a feeling of sympathy for Greece from ancient 
 associations and modern suff'erings which rouses a spirit of 
 opposition to any actions which bear a mark of oppression 
 towards her." 
 
 and to avoid any artificial diversion of capital and industry from their 
 natural channels, there ought to be a fixed duty on com, to an amount 
 sufficient to compensate the producer for the peculiar burthens thrown 
 upon agriculture, and a corresponding bounty on the export. This was 
 certainly at one time the generally received doctrine, and was my own 
 opinion, ixntil later in the discussion it was proved that the assumption 
 that there were such peculiar burthens on agriculture was unfounded, 
 especially after tithe had been commuted for a fixed rent-charge ; so long 
 as it was a tenth of the gross produce of the land, it was a real check to 
 increased production. 
 
 " I left Lord Melbourne's Government in 1839, and in 1841, when the 
 Administration was manifestly falling, it brought forward proposals for a 
 qualified approach towards Free-trade by admitting corn at a fixed duty of 
 8s., and diminishing the protection to colonial sugar. These proposals 
 were greatly damaged by the time and circumstances in which they were 
 brought forward, but they did for the first time commit the Whigs as a 
 party not to free, but to freer trade. Still, however, the real principle of 
 Free-trade was utterly repudiated by both parties, and the fallacious prin- 
 ciple of Protection was still generally received on both sides of the House, 
 and in the country. So much was this the case, that Peel's famous Tariff 
 Bill of 1842, as originally proposed, would have created a whole host of 
 new protected interests in our colonies, by charging as a general rule one- 
 half the rate of duty on all kinds of produce from our colonies, as com-
 
 FREE-TRADE. 207 
 
 " PiLSTON, June 15, 1850. 
 " You will see by the Newcastle papers how we keep 
 squabbling on : — Agricultural distress ; Protectionist meet- 
 ings ; Ministers often in a minority, but no party strong 
 enough in combined opinion to take their places." 
 
 "We all remember how the hopes of the Protectionist 
 party througliout the country were disappointed by the 
 sudden enlightenment of some members of Lord Derby's 
 Government on the unsoundness of the theories which 
 they had until now supported. 
 
 MY FATHER TO HIS DAUGHTER ELIZA. 
 
 " Dii-STMN, May 12, 1852. 
 "... What a wonderful somerset Dizzy has performed ! 
 We change men now, but not measures. Instead of Imnt- 
 ing poor Peel to the death, and opposing Wood at all 
 points, he ought to have been the strenuous supporter of 
 both. . . . An extraordinary faculty of speech, which be- 
 wilders and enchants or enchains people, loses its influence 
 on those who are used to it, and find by experience that it 
 
 pared to these on the same articles imported from foreign countries, and 
 this was strenuously defended by Gladstone, then Vice-President of the 
 Board of Trade, by whom it had, I believe, been suggested. I moved a 
 resolution in opposition to this, that it was unadvisable to create any new 
 protecting duties. I argued that the whole system of protection was wrong, 
 and that therefore, even though it were admitted that e.xisting protections 
 could not be hastily abolished, it was obviously inexpedient to create new 
 ones. I pointed out that on some articles, such as tobacco and tea, the 
 effect of this would be to inflict a heavy loss on the revenue, entailing 
 new burthens on the Briti.sh tax-payer, without conferring any real benefit 
 on the colonies, where the proposed policy would only have the effect of 
 causing the diversion of cajiital and industry into branches of production 
 for which they had no natural advantage, and exposing them hereafter to 
 heavy losaeg if our policy should be altered. This motion, which you will 
 obaerve wm only insisting on the vcr}- elementary princijiles of Free-trade, 
 wail not only strenuously rehiste<l by Peel's Goveniment, but also opposwl, 
 or at leoiit not supported, by many on our own side of the House, and was 
 rejected by a large majority. Peel, however, in the subsequent stages of 
 the bill, a<lopte<l the princij)Ie for which I hatl contendetl, so far as the arti- 
 cle* that pro<luce<l a large revenue, tea, toliacco.etc, — were concenic*!. The 
 change of opinion between that time and 1840 won certainly marvelluus."
 
 208 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 is not the honoured vehicle of sound judgment, statesman- 
 like views, and ministerial efficiency and discretion. I look 
 upon it as a national calamity and disgrace that the jjeople 
 are taught to think that no real principle exists among 
 their rulers, only a scramble for power. Disraeli says it 
 was clever to get in, but it will be far more so to keep in for 
 six years. I lament over Lord John, for he has done good 
 service in his day to the cause of liberty and good govern- 
 ment ; but he seems now bewildered and without an anchor." 
 
 In spite of the strong Protectionist reaction which 
 there had been in Northumberland, the farmers there 
 were among the first to feel, in many indirect ways, the 
 happy effect of Free-trade on their condition. Mean- 
 while the fate of elections there was guided by the 
 narrower economic view. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DiLSTON, June 1852. 
 
 " I have had a prosperous journey to the north, and a 
 good rent-receipt at Belford. I took a holiday at Milfield 
 Hill, and rode with Elizabeth by Lanton, Newton, Kilham, 
 and Thornington, renewing my acquaintance and feasting 
 my eyes and memory with a sight of the dear old hills, 
 which were glittering in dew, after the morning shower, 
 and varied by the cloud-shadows sailing along their ver- 
 dant slopes. 
 
 " I am in the dark as to the prospects of the great 
 parties of the day. The present Administration is one of 
 compromise. We change men, but not measures much. 
 Fundi s description in few words of Disraeli's budget was 
 good, — ' Ditto to Charles Wood of 1851.' 
 
 " You will be amused to hear what Lord Derby said to 
 the Bishop of London when they sat under the gallery of 
 the Commons, listening to Disraeli's Free-trade speech on 
 the state of the nation when introducing his budget : — 
 
 " The Bishop. — How is this ! has he changed gides 1 
 
 " Lord Derby. — ' Did not I send him to curse mine 
 enemies 1 and lo, he has blessed them these three times ! '
 
 FREE-TRADE. 209 
 
 " I ordered a Xewcastle paper to be sent to you, which 
 I hope you have received, to sliow you some of the election 
 movements of this disturbed county. Sir George Grey's 
 addresses got for him all the popularity, but the other 
 people who hear and applaud are not the poor voters 
 under restraint. It is little I can do but watch and advise. 
 I am like a bull in a net, or a bear in a cage, growling at 
 the wretches whom I can't reach ! 
 
 " Harry Lidilell, with about a dozen attendants, came to 
 me in the Bank of England at Newcastle, and hoping for 
 my interest. I shook hands with him, for he is a good 
 fellow, and said that I had no vote in the southern division, 
 and no influence save what arose from my official situation, 
 which I made a point not to exercise, Liberalism leading 
 me to leave every man to follow his own judgment in a 
 public trust which the Government confided in him. I 
 believe a good Liberal might start yet and beat him, but 
 no one can be found. Judge of the great want of a can- 
 didate when I tell you that it was discussed in a Reform 
 Society, and on the Exchange at Newcastle, whether I 
 would be likely to accept an inWtation to come fonvard 
 with certain promises of support. Alas for poor old 
 Northumberland ! One person said, * He refused a seat 
 once, and is not so likely to take it now, at his age, and in 
 his office.' So it dropped." 
 
 The cold, dry east wind which, it was remarked, pre- 
 vailed throughout almost the whole of Mr. Disraeli's 
 tenure of office, was followed in the autumn of the year 
 by a poor harvest ! The farmers were by no means 
 cheerful or in a grateful frame of mind towards their 
 friends in the Government, which was shortly to be 
 broken up. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " Defemhrr 2^, 1852. 
 "The j)oor farmers were bef()()lc<l ]»y promises, whirh are 
 now blown U} ligljt air. Tin; Govtrnnunt is up now, to 
 

 
 210 MEMOIR OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 my great joy. Dizzy's term of office has been short ; his 
 gigantic promises of a new and beneficial arrangement of 
 the financial system, suited to the circumstances of the 
 country, and of all the blessings ' looming in the distance,' 
 have ended in smoke. He is done for as a statesman, and 
 may go back to his best sphere of novel-writing. At this 
 moment there is no Ministry. Aberdeen is to form one, 
 which will be strong and talented likely, supported by all 
 advocates of Free-trade principles. . . . Charles Wood 
 made a capital speech on Dizzy's Budget, and tore it to 
 atoms. 
 
 "Sir Gr. Grey came to meet me at the cattle- show in 
 Newcastle lately, and told me then, that if Derby should be 
 beaten, Aberdeen would be the man ; he is less fettered 
 by party ties and pledges than any other, and has gone so 
 freely and fully into Peel's adopted principles, that there is 
 no fear of retraction. The Peelites, Gladstone, Sidney 
 Herbert, etc., have paid Dizzy back in kind for his abuse 
 and persecution of Peel. It is idle to talk of Dizzy having 
 abandoned his principles : no one can abandon what he 
 never possessed. . . ." 
 
 In the autumn of 1853 my father wrote the follow- 
 ing to his son-in-law, George Butler : — 
 
 " I have had most successful audits, and never saw the 
 tenants better prepared or more cheerful. The bugbear 
 of Free-trade has lost its terrors, and they are becoming 
 more rational, discarding old demagogues, and adopting 
 Liberal opinions. What a state of things the Admiralty 
 investigation has brought to light ! What would my old 
 friend Lord Auckland have said to the reversal of his good 
 regulation with respect to merit being the sole ground of 
 promotion, some of whose letters I preserve, advising me as 
 to my proceedings in the ofiice, of which he was chief-com- 
 missioner at the time of my appointment, always pointing to 
 the substantial good of the institution, and deprecating any- 
 thing of party spirit and influence. Such was the interest 
 he took in the Hospital's affairs and property, that on ceas-
 
 OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA. 2 1 1 
 
 ing to be a commissioner at GreenAvich, he -wrote be<rLnn<r 
 me to keep up some communication with him, and inform 
 liim how matters succeeded iu the changes and expected im- 
 provements which I had suggested. Of some in office I 
 expect nothing but trick and manoeuvre; but alas for these 
 men of supposed honour, ancient bh)od, and renowned 
 names ! How are the mighty fallen ! The effect of the 
 last general election and its disclosures is bad upon the 
 public mind, casting a general doubt upon the existence of 
 honour, tnith, and patriotism among public men, and yet I 
 do know some on wliom I can depend for all these quali- 
 ties. For disinterested patriotism we must look to Dargan 
 as an eminent example, — bestowing a fortune made by his 
 own hands on the improvement of his countrymen. I am 
 rather glad of the exhibition of bad feeling and stupid 
 opposition to Gladstone at Oxford ; it will strengthen the 
 plea for reform there. 
 
 " We have had a gloomy and anxious time of late, the 
 first inquiry of any comer being for news of cholera and 
 details of deaths. The outbreak of the epidemic was, I 
 imagine, of almost unprecedented violence, having taken 
 possession of certain localities, and with short warning cut 
 down entire districts and emptied houses in a few hours. 
 The streets in Newcastle were for some days deserted, 
 except by funerals and the preparation for them. The 
 markets were abandoned. The inhabitants who had the 
 means fled to other places, and large shops with bands of 
 shopmr-n in attendance had not a visitor. The clergymen 
 rt-mained in the churchyard by relays, like soldiers on 
 guard, day and night, and men could not be had to dig 
 graves fast enough, and to convey the corpses to interment, 
 ^lany are said to have fallen under the gloomy impression 
 of such a sweeping calamity. If any means arc effectual 
 in preventing its ravages, the country lia.s now had sufficient 
 warning. I apprehend, however, that it luus a certain 
 invisible course to follow, impelled by laws we do not com- 
 prehend." 
 
 The bugbear oi Free-trade had entirely lost it.s tenx)r3
 
 212 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 when ill 1858 the Trench Government issued an in- 
 quiry into the effects of the introduction of free-trade 
 in corn into England. My father was applied to, and 
 answered very carefully and fully the questions sub- 
 mitted to him by the Emperor's Commissioner. He 
 was hopeful that this inquiry might be significant of an 
 early initiation in France of the new policy which Mr. 
 Cobden laboured so nobly to promote in that country as 
 well as at home. His answers excited a peculiar in- 
 terest, for the declining price of corn gave a significance 
 to them — in the light they threw on the interdepen- 
 dence of many different sources of prosperity — which at 
 another time they would not have had. 
 
 All the leading journals had articles on the subject. 
 The Paris correspondent of the Times wrote : — " The 
 circular lately issued by the French Minister of Com- 
 merce and Agriculture to ascertain, from the best 
 authority, the effects of Free -trade and of the repeal 
 of the Corn-Laws on the agriculture of Great Britain, 
 has attracted interest on this as on your side of the 
 Channel. In pursuing the inquiry, much depends on 
 the quarter from which the information will be sought. 
 The -Minister has acted wisely in causing application 
 to be made, in the first place, to the intelligent tenant- 
 farmers of the north of England. The selection of 
 Newcastle- on-Tyne to begin the movement is happy, 
 for I am assured that the farmers of that district, and 
 of the counties further north, are quite competent to 
 give an opinion on what free-trade in corn has effected 
 among the manufacturing and agricultural classes. 
 The men of Dilston and Milfield Hill, of Aylesbury, 
 and the yeomen of Yorkshire and Northumberland, can
 
 THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND FREE-TRADE. 2 1 3 
 
 inform the French ^Minister what they have done since 
 En<][h\nd has been released from the swaddlintr-clothes 
 of Protection, and since her fanners have relied on their 
 own industry and resources. The cry of the French, as 
 it was that of the English Protectionists is, that unre- 
 stricted competition in the growth of corn would drive 
 all the poor land and hilly districts out of cultivation. 
 A gentleman who lately visited the country has invited 
 some of these alarmists to go and look at the Clieviot 
 Hills, and see the rapid progress of cultivation up the 
 sides of the Scottish mountains, if they desire to 
 witness the true effect of the dreaded change among all 
 classes of the community." 
 
 " I believe I am indebted to you," my father wrote to 
 one of his daughters, " for copies of the Times, with a 
 loading article upon my answers to the questions of the 
 French Government. They are in a good spirit, but I 
 think the writer might have found better reasons for the 
 application ha^^ng been made to men in the north than 
 the insinuation that the Government wislied for unfavour- 
 able testimony to tlie effects of Free-trade, and expected 
 to receive it from parties far removed from the liaunts of 
 commerce and the enterprise of manufactures, in seeming 
 ignorance that the north contains men as caj)able of an 
 intelUgent survey of the economical relations of commerce 
 and agricukurc, and as free to speak tlie truth as the more 
 sunny and civiHzed regions of the south. I liave seen 
 another article from the Globe upon it, but none from those 
 of afiverse politics, if any such exist now. I hope the 
 belief in all such cruel and impolitic restrictions on the 
 fofxl of men and the intercourse of nations is now exploded 
 from educated circles." 
 
 I subjoin the (|uesti:)ns and answers : —
 
 214 
 
 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 The French Consul's inquiries on the results of 
 Free- Trade in Corn. 
 
 1st. Has the area of 
 land under culture of 
 corn been extended or 
 diminislied ? 
 
 2d. Should that 
 area have diminished, 
 ■would not that di- 
 minution have been 
 compensated, in some 
 measure, by the ex- 
 tension given to drain- 
 age and the conse- 
 quent augmentation 
 in produce? 
 
 3d. What has been 
 the influence of the 
 reform of the Corn- 
 Laws iipon the agri- 
 culture in England ? 
 
 4:th. Since the re- 
 form, has the yield of 
 the cultivated lands 
 augmented or dimin- 
 ished ? 
 
 IsL Diminished in some parts of the 
 country. Because the high price of live 
 stock has caused land of inferior quality and 
 in high situations to be more profitably 
 occupied in grass than in tillage. In low- 
 lying lands and flat districts, with a good 
 climate for growing corn, it has been in- 
 creased by drainage. 
 
 2d. Yes. Much more than compensated, 
 by the improvements arising from draining 
 and the application of adventitious manures. 
 
 3d. The cultivation of land has been much 
 improved. A stimulus has been given to the 
 energies of farmers, who set themselves, 
 after the first feeling of alarm subsided, by 
 the aid of scientific men, to study and obtain 
 chemical combinations to increase their crops, 
 which, together with draining and the intro- 
 duction of foreign manures, produced bene- 
 ficial effects. A great improvement has also 
 taken place in the implements already in 
 use, and in the construction of new ones, by 
 which agricultural operations are performed 
 more cheaply, perfectly, and expeditiously. 
 
 4:th. Greatly augmented. 
 
 5th. Has the rota- 5</t. It has, in some cases, by leaving arable 
 tion of crops been land for two or even three years in pasture
 
 THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND FREE-TRADE. 2 1 5 
 
 altered, and in •what 
 manner? 
 
 at a time ; and in otliers, by the application 
 of guano, bones, phosphates, etc., by which the 
 extent of root crops has been much increased 
 aiid substituted for naked fallows, which 
 tends to the increased production of beef, 
 mutton, and wool, as well as to a greater 
 return of home-niat^le manure. 
 
 6^/(. Have farm 
 rents been lowered or 
 elevated T 
 
 6//i. Considerably advanced, particularly 
 where farms are let on lea.se, and i)rovided by 
 landlords Mith good and sufficient offices. 
 An increase of from 10 to 20 per cent, has 
 been common, and in some cases it has 
 extended even to 25 and 30. 
 
 "^th. Has the income 
 of those who cultivate 
 their own lands aug- 
 mented or diminished ? 
 
 7th. It ought to be augmented under 
 judicious management, as rents have 
 creased under good farming. 
 
 in- 
 
 8th. What of the 
 income of the farmers, 
 and what are the 
 modes of leases most 
 in use, and their usual 
 length? 
 
 9th. Has the mar- 
 ketable value of land 
 increased or dimin- 
 ished ? 
 
 ]Qth. What have 
 been the average 
 ]iricc8 of wheat and 
 the quantities import- 
 ed from abroad in 
 each year since 1853 ? 
 
 S//i. Except on an inferior descrijition of 
 tillage land, where little live stock is kept, 
 farmers generally are more prosperous. A 
 common term of lease is fifteen years, but 
 in cases M'here the farm is extensive and 
 improvements are to be made, involving 
 considerable outlay in the early ])art of the 
 term, a lease of twenty-one years is prefer- 
 able, and not unusual.' 
 
 9lh. Increased. That, however, may not 
 be entirely attributable to agricultural im- 
 provement ; but in ]>art to the influx of gold 
 and the success of manufactures, causing 
 many to wish to invest the fortunes they 
 have acquired in land. 
 
 loth. The average price in 
 
 1854 was £3, 128. 4d. per quarter. 
 
 1855 „ £3, 14s. 8d. 
 185(; ,, £:i, 98. 2d. 
 1857 „ £2, IBs. 4d. 
 
 I cannot tell the cjuantity imported at this 
 moment, but it can be oljtained from the 
 lijard of Trade, or other oflicial sources. 
 
 > Tbia Biiawer refen cbiony to Nurthuiuberland and Scotland.
 
 216 
 
 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 nth. What has 
 been the average pro- 
 duce of corn in North- 
 umberland each year 
 since the same date ? 
 
 12th. "What has 
 been the influence of 
 the new legislation 
 (the repeal of the Corn 
 Laws) on the con- 
 sumption of bread and 
 the consumption of 
 meat? 
 
 lltJi. I cannot answer that question with 
 accuracy, but am satisfied that it has been 
 much more per acre than in former periods, 
 and that the total quantity of corn pro- 
 duced in this county is greatly increased. 
 
 12th. The consumption has greatly in- 
 creased in both corn and butcher meat. 
 The price of corn has been moderate, and 
 generally free from much fluctuation, while 
 the wages of the working classes have been 
 good and their employment has been steady, 
 so that they have been able to procure meat 
 as well as corn, although the former has 
 generally ruled at a rather high price. It 
 is an imdoubted fact that the lower classes 
 in this country Hve now much better than 
 they used to do, owing to the good wages 
 they obtain and the general improvement of 
 their condition. An obvious result of the 
 abolition of restrictions on the importation 
 of corn is, that excessive fluctuation and the 
 misery of famine prices are likely to be 
 avoided. The larger the area from which 
 the national supply can be drawn, the less 
 is the probability of extreme prices, because 
 if crops should be deficient in one part of 
 the world, they may be abundant in 
 another. 
 
 It may not be improper, in connexion with this subject, to 
 remark, that although the progress of improvement has been the 
 most rapid and important since the change was made in the Corn- 
 Laws in 1846, it received a great impulse ten years earlier from the 
 Act of Tithe Commutation, which encouraged the application of 
 capital to land, by making tithe a fixed charge instead of an 
 
 exaction of the tenth of its gross annual produce. 
 
 John Grey. 
 
 DiLSTON, Northumberland, Oct. 1858. 
 
 The question which the French Consul was most 
 anxious to have answered — i.e., as to effect of Free-trade 
 on the landlord class — was an interesting one, in con- 
 nexion especially with the strenuous opposition which
 
 THE FRENX'H GOVERNMENT AND FREE-TRADE. 2 1 7 
 
 Free-trade had met with from the majority of that class. 
 In the year before the repeal of the Corii-I^aws, the 
 rental of land assessed to the Property-tax in Great 
 Britain amounted to £-40,718,399. In 1 857 it amounted 
 to £-47,109,113, and this, in spite of the fact that the 
 land rented for agricultural purposes was undergoing a 
 constant diminution, owing to its application for rail- 
 ways, roads, building purposes, and streets. Lands had 
 been abstracted from purposes of cultivation for these 
 uses to the annual value of £1,703,857, and notwith- 
 standing this, the rental of the remainder in 1857 was 
 £390,714 more than in 1848. That was equivalent to 
 an increased rental during the period that had elapsed 
 since the repeal of the Corn-Laws of more than two 
 millions a year ! 
 
 My father mentions in his answers the great improve- 
 ment which had taken place in agricultural implements, 
 and the advantage accruing, on which the Economist 
 remarked : — " Now this is an advantage which the 
 French cultivator cannot enjoy until he has free access 
 to the cheapest market fur iron, and for iron imple- 
 ments. The monoi^ohj of the ironmasters in France is 
 more prejudicial to the agriculturists as a hod// than to 
 any other class xcliatcver." 
 
 The Act of Tithe Commutation in 183G, which is 
 referred to in the end of these answers, was a very 
 important reform, and one to which my father contri- 
 buted as much as lay in his })ower, by continually 
 exposing the evils attendant on the old system. His 
 friend, Mr. Blamire, who was appointed Connjiissioncr 
 to work at this reform, consulted him on every detail 
 connected with it, and n-ad in the Huuse of Commons 
 the statements with which my father had furnished
 
 218 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 him, together with some practical suggestions on the 
 Commutation. 
 
 I insert a few quotations from letters dating from 
 1841 to 1851 :— 
 
 TO LORD HOWICK, ON CORRUPTION AT ELECTIONS. 
 
 " DiLSTON, 1841. 
 
 " Many poor tenants, as I know, who wished to vote for 
 you, and not heing allowed to do so, intended to stay away, 
 were sent for and forced to the poll ; and others who had 
 actually promised us one vote, when they reached the place 
 were laid hold of and turned by some magic power to vote 
 against us. You may have very cogent reasons for oppos- 
 ing the ballot, but if that or some other scheme is not 
 adopted for protecting the dependent elector, there is no 
 use, unless in times of some extraordinary excitement, such 
 as does not occur more than once in a lifetime, in doing 
 anything in counties but calculating the amount of pro- 
 perty, or the list of Tory and Whig tenantry, and leaving 
 the representation in the hands of the party which num- 
 bers the greatest extent of acres. Of this I am morally 
 certain, that with the ballot we should now have had your [j 
 
 Lordship as our representative." 
 
 TO LORD GREY (hOWICK). 
 
 "DiLSTON, March 10, 1845. ; 
 
 " My dear Lord, — I see nothing to be objected to in 
 the note, Avhich I now return, except perhaps the remark 
 that ' a reduction on the price of seed-corn, etc., will go 
 to make up the farmer's loss in the price of wheat.' If the 
 corn for seed and horse-keep were an article Avhich he must 
 of necessity purchase, the argument would hold good ; but 
 taking it as a part of the produce of the farm, no advantage 
 comes from it, and the price of what he has to sell only 
 goes to the payment of rent and labour. The labourer 
 would be better off than when prices are high with the 
 same amount of wages, especially as clothing would likely 
 be also cheaper ; but any argument seeming to involve a
 
 CORRESrONDENCE. 2 1 9 
 
 reduction of the labourer's gains would be unpopular. It 
 might be fairly argued, I think, that there is too great a 
 tendency to look to the production of com, and of wheat 
 especially, as the only or chief source of profit from land in 
 this country, originating and maintained probalily in some 
 measure by the tallacious promises of protective duties ; 
 whereas some lands, hitherto chiefly cultivated for corn, 
 would make a larger return in a rotation including more of 
 pasture and green crops, and consequently producing more 
 of beef, mutton, and wool, which have been proved to bear 
 a remunerative price, for a long time past, while the pro- 
 tected article of com, and ])articularly wheat, has been quite 
 the reverse. It is a well-known fact that the price of 
 wool in this country advanced after the import duty was 
 taken off. The same argument may not hold with regard 
 to corn, because the one is an article which gives large em- 
 ployment, and the other is only for consumption ; but yet 
 the farmers were as much opposed to the removal of what 
 they termed a protective duty on the one as on the other. 
 I recollect being asked to prepare a petition against the 
 removal of the tax on foreign wool, and being looked upon 
 as most heterodox when I refused, saying that I wi.shed to 
 see all the wool in the world brought to be manufactured 
 in England, for then we should have all the profit to our- 
 selves ! It may be fairly asserted too, that a considerable 
 portion of the land which has hitherto only produced a 
 poor crop of wheat for tvo years occujmlion, is found, under 
 the operation of thorough draining and modern improve- 
 ments, to be capable of a convertible system of husbandry, 
 growing alternate green and com crops, by which the amount 
 of ])roduce is increased far beyond the cost of iinpiovement. 
 To effect this requires intelligence and capital in the hand 
 of the tenants, together with security of teiuire, as the 
 guarantee of a profitable return of their outlay, and fre- 
 quently too the energetic and liberal co-operation of the 
 landlord. But instead of this desirable and in every sense 
 j)olitic progress of impnncnient, look at the larg»; portion of 
 England occupied by tenants-at-will, receiving no aid from
 
 220 MEMOIE OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 their landlords, and deprived hy their system of holding 
 from the means of obtaining capital and the motives for 
 acquiring knowledge, — a system which engenders a stupid 
 and spiritless tenantry, and a stationary state of the country 
 so occupied as regards its improvement. This evil prevails 
 chiefly in the large and overgrown estates of men who 
 are indifferent to the public benefits arising from a better 
 system, and have no need of exertion to put them in pos- 
 session of all they can want or wish for in the world. There 
 may be excuse for the slow advance of poor men on small 
 properties which they can only improve very gradually, or 
 by means of their own industry ; but what can be said for 
 such men as the Duke of Northumberland,^ whose estates, 
 save in a few instances within sight of the castle, have 
 undergone no improvement for the last century, notwith- 
 standing the movement in that direction all around them ? 
 And now when he proposes to give his tenants tiles for 
 draining, they will not lead them to their farms. In fact, 
 many of them cannot, so completely has the system im- 
 poverished them, though paying, in most cases, low rents. 
 And I believe it is a fact that they are now quite at a loss 
 how to proceed, such is the accumulation of arrear on the 
 estates. Look at the folly of that man. He buys land 
 wherever he can, which returns him perhaps three per cent., 
 and leaves his wide acres all over the county in poverty, 
 to grow rushes and all but what they ought to grow. That 
 same money, employed in improvements upon the land he 
 originally had, instead of adding to the extent and disgrace 
 of it, would have paid him double or treble that amount of 
 interest, and therefore made him, in respect of that portion 
 of his property, a much richer man, but, what is of in- 
 finitely more consequence, would have added to the pro- 
 duce of the country, and contributed vastly to the wellbeing 
 of a large number of its inhabitants, by being circulated 
 through various channels of industry and production. This 
 abominable management does not, I fear, apply only to 
 
 1 The present and late Dukes of Northumberland have encouraged im- 
 provements on their estates.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 221 
 
 narrow-minded Tory Dukos, for I fear that of the amiable 
 Duke of Devonshire is little better. Had I a place in 
 Parliament, I should not fail to show up this system, and 
 to remind those magnates that ' property has its duties as 
 well as its rights.' The League of ^larch 1st, which .some 
 one sent me, had a paper, a review of lett(>rs from Mr. Hope 
 of East Lothian and a Mr. Littlewood, on the advantage of 
 leases, and the necessity of capital in promoting improve- 
 ments, which contains many good remarks. Protective 
 duties to those who will not u.se the means of making their 
 land productive are a direct robbery of the coninuinity. 
 
 " There is one thing of which, I think, farmers have a 
 right to complain, and I find great fault with all of you, 
 their representatives, for not bringing it more into notice, 
 and that is, the arbitrary and oppressive operations of the 
 Income-Tax as regards their occupations. It is open to all 
 other classes to appeal, and to obtain redress on proof of 
 being over-rated; but the Act presumes that if a man pays 
 £500 in rent for a farm, he makes £250 profit, and upon 
 that he must pay, although he might be able to prove that 
 he made nothing at all, or even that he was considerably 
 out of pocket. The dearer and less profitable a farm is, 
 the greater sum the tenant must pay in tax, which is mo.st 
 absurd. But it bears partially on landlords as well as 
 tenants, for the tenants' burdens will in the end affect the 
 landlord, and while nearly all the property in the north of 
 England — in Leicestershire, Norfolk, and some other coun- 
 ties, — is assessed to the tenants' tax, many large estates and 
 whole districts let in small farms contribute ncjthing in 
 that respect." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " Dir-STON, 9lh March 1850. 
 "The present depression is a natural result of good 
 crops throughout Europe, and the uncertainty, keeping 
 RI)eculation in check, which attends a transition stniggle. 
 The meiuiure of Free trad<' was intended and e.xjK'cted to 
 mak<: prices more regular, as well a« more moderate ; and
 
 222 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 it was well for this country that we had abundance, and 
 low prices, during the late convulsions. As to the com- 
 parative state of depression between this and other seasons 
 of agricultural distress, not having my farming account- 
 books here to refer to, I cannot speak positively, but be- 
 lieve that the price of live stock was lower in 1822 and 
 1826 than it is now, and that corn was fully as low in 
 1822 and 1834-5 as it is at present. By a table of prices 
 given in the Economist of January 26, 1850, it appears that 
 the annual average price of wheat in 1835 was 39s. 4d., 
 and that of 1849 was 44s. 2d. I believe, however, that 
 the produce has not turned out so well in this county last 
 year as has been the case throughout England generally, so 
 that the depression of price is more felt than it may be in 
 other quarters." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " DiLSTON, Ma7/ 5, 1851. 
 " I had lately an opportunity of conversing with several 
 of the principal merchants in Liverpool, and some exten- 
 sive manufacturers in Lancashire, and was surprised to 
 find them, though advocates of Free-trade principles, al- 
 most universally in favour of a 5 s. duty on wheat, and 
 looking to it as a thing to be accomplished ere long, con- 
 ceiving that it would affect very lightly the consumers in 
 this country, and that an equivalent reduction of taxation 
 would be greatly beneficial. This would, no doubt, have 
 been accepted as a boon a few years ago, if the Tory party 
 would have allowed it, but whether it will now be sub- 
 mitted to from any Ministry seems doubtful. Such, how- 
 ever, I found to be an opinion very generally entertained, 
 and the event looked to as the certain result of a general 
 election." 
 
 I must return to the year 1846, to notice briefly a 
 few events of that and subsequent years, less closely 
 connected with the Free-trade agitation. In July of 
 that year one of the most important of the meetings of
 
 GREAT MEETING AT KEWCASTLE. 223 
 
 the Eoyal Agricultural Society was held. Perhaps the 
 prominence which the agricultural interest had assumed 
 in that summer session of Parliament, gave a stimulus 
 to the proceedings of the Society. The meeting was 
 held at Newcastle. One thousand three hundred per- 
 sons sat down to the banquet, at which appeared an 
 unusually large and imposing array of aristocratic 
 guests, among whom were Lord Portman (the President 
 of the Society), the Dukes of Cambridge, Cleveland, 
 and Piichmond, the Earls of Egmont, Chicliester, and 
 Sheffield, Lords ^lorpeth, Polwarth, Eivers, and others, 
 besides many scientific men and foreigners of distinction. 
 Among the noteworthy people who entered the room, 
 none were greeted with such a burst of applause as our 
 north -country genius, George Stephenson, whose snow- 
 white hair, fine dark eyes, black eyebrows, and open 
 brow, made him easily recognisable in a crowd. The 
 public papers declared that the " speeches at this meet- 
 ing were of a far higher character, and more truthful 
 and earnest than anything which had before been 
 uttered on similar occasions." They also spoke of the 
 speeches as "very characteristic, and marking distinctly 
 the tenor and temper of landlords and agriculturists." 
 Lord Portman began by intimating tliat there must be 
 no unlicensed .speaking. He said, " The paper I hold 
 in my hand contains a list of the only toasts that can 
 be permitted to be given, and the only speakers who 
 can be permitted to speak." Whatever might have 
 been the intention, the effect wa.s rather to suiijtrcss the 
 opinions of tenant-farmers, but n«)t tliat of landowners. 
 The Duke of Cleveland touclied on forbidden topics: 
 his speech was a kind of Protectionist funeral oration. 
 " Although," lie said, " in spite of all that had recently
 
 224 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY, 
 
 taken place" (repeal of the Corn-Laws) "he did not 
 despair, nevertheless the farmers must now accept the 
 fact they were thrown on their own resources, and that 
 they must allow him to point out to them the fallacies 
 there were in much that was said about self-reliance, 
 and to warn them that ' there is a limit to progress in 
 agriculture, a 'point beyond which you cannot go! " The 
 Duke was an example of the truth, that in exact pro- 
 portion as landlords clung to monopoly they were un- 
 believers in the resources of husbandry. The Economist 
 remarked in its report, at this point, "We shall see 
 presently what a gentleman of far more practical 
 knowledge than the Duke had to say on this subject." 
 My father had been requested to propose the toast, " The 
 Labouring Classes of England." It was rash to assign 
 such a toast to such a man, if there were aristocratic 
 ears present which might tingle at the sound of a few 
 sober and painful truths. There had been accounts in 
 the newspapers about this time of the misery endured 
 by the agricultural populations of some parts of Eng- 
 land ; records of meetings held at night on commons 
 and moors, where bands of poorly clad labourers held 
 forth to each other on their common wrongs, and on 
 the possibility of obtaining something better than 
 starvation wages, by migration, or by whatsoever law- 
 ful means. They were poor unlettered men; yet 
 some managed, by the light of a single tallow- candle, 
 to read papers they had written ; one or two of the 
 audience sitting on a few rickety broken chairs or 
 stools, the rest standing, until, — but few conclusions 
 having been arrived at, — they dispersed, each to his 
 home, where his family, men and women, young and 
 old, were huddled together in one wretched sleeping-
 
 AN IMPASSIONED ADVOCATE OF THE POOR LABOURERS. 225 
 
 room, and where the children scrambled with the pigs 
 for food. Allowing for whatever exaggeration there 
 might be in such pictures, undoubtedly to my father's 
 mind and experienced eye there were abroad symptoms 
 of a distress and a degixidation which might assuredly 
 be alleviated and avoided, if there were found in all our 
 great landowners that sense of responsibility, and that 
 unll to do right, upon which the happiness of so many 
 human beings depends.^ 
 
 I can imagine that, looking round on that goodly 
 array of landed proprietors before him, many of whom, 
 no doubt, had every claim to respect, recalling scenes 
 of squalor and misery among the labouring poor, and 
 deeply impressed with the responsibility imposed by 
 high privileges, his spirit was stirred within him, and 
 he had no mind to prophesy smooth things nor to speak 
 flattering words. I have been told by persons who 
 were present, that he spoke with an energy and passion 
 that drew the eyes of all upon him, and silenced the 
 hum and movement which there had hitherto been in 
 the hall, and with a rapidity that made it difficult for 
 the reporters to follow him. Noble Lords leaned to- 
 wards each other, and whispered, ""Who is he?" and 
 even when they did not assent they caught something 
 of the generous enthusiasm of others who cheered 
 vehemently. He sjtoke of the powerful influence which 
 the condition, bad or good, of that lange class, the 
 laliourers, exercised on the whole moral atmosphere in 
 
 » Mr. Jamui Fraiicr sayH, in tlie Rt-port of Octolier 18(58, in referi-nce to 
 labourer*' cottages : " It is a liideouK iiicture," and " The jiiiture is drawn 
 from the life," and that " It iB iinj)08silile to exaK'^'T'ite tl'« >" tfftxts of the 
 prexent ittate of thingx in every aHjicct— phvKical, Kocial, economical, moral, 
 intellectual."— /{f/>c»r< of the Counties of Xor/olk, Suffolk, Essex, Sussex 
 and GlauceMUr, Bections 1&-36,
 
 226 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 which we live. He advanced without hesitation to the 
 statement that it was to others than the Labourers 
 themselves that we must look for any real improve- 
 ment in their condition, and proceeded to speak of the 
 duties of landlords, and the wide effects of neglect or 
 selfishness on their part. Turning to the Duke of 
 Cleveland, he adverted to some statements made by his 
 Grace, and said, amidst cheers and laughter, " We have 
 been told by the noble Duke that there is a limit to 
 improvement, a boundary beyond which we cannot pass. 
 I am not at all nervous about it ; it will not he reached 
 in our day ; it will not he reached while unimproved 
 properties and annual tenures exist." He concluded 
 his address by reminding them that we have by no 
 means fulfilled our duties to the workinsr class when 
 we have given them employment, adequate wages, and 
 dwellings conducive to comfort and purity of life ; that 
 they have still higher claims upon us, minds to culti- 
 vate and souls to save. It may have seemed Utopian 
 to some gentlemen present to speak of laying open to 
 the labourers " fair fields of intellectual enjoyment from 
 which they had been too generally excluded." He 
 pointed to Scotland as an illustration of the possibility 
 of such a thing — a country where, " by a widely diffused 
 and easily accessible system of education for the lower 
 classes many men have risen from the ranks, and become 
 distinguished in literature and science, but the value of 
 which is less to be estimated by the occasional develop- 
 ment of extraordinary genius than by the general 
 diffusion of knowledge among the peoj^le." Our aim 
 must be, he said, " to teach the people to live and act 
 under an abiding sense of the obligations which, as 
 moral agents and accountable beings, are imposed upon
 
 EDUCATION OF AGRICULTURAL POPULATIONS. 22 7 
 
 them; and in order to tliis a better system of educa- 
 tion must be provided for tliem, and that education 
 must be blended with religious instruction." 
 
 Two years previously to this my fatlier had under- 
 gone a long and close examination on subjects con- 
 nected with the enclosure of commons, before a Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons. His examiners were 
 Lord "NVor.sley, Lord Granville Somerset, ^Mr. Pusey, and 
 Mr. Talbot. ^Ir. Pusey, an old friend and con'cspond- 
 ent, seems to have taken a pleasure in drawing him on 
 to speak of the rapid improvement of enclosed conmion- 
 land on the Northumberland hills, which within his 
 memory had been growing only furze, and were now 
 yielding wheat to the amount of twenty- eight bushels 
 an acre. In the course of the examination my father 
 had to bear testimony to the general condition of the 
 labourer of the Borders. It was with evident earnest- 
 ness and pride that he said : — 
 
 " In contrasting the condition of the peasantry in the 
 southern with that of the northern parts of the kingdom, 
 it wo.uld be highly improper to pass over unnoticed the 
 superior education of the latter, and the effect which is 
 produced by it upon tlieir worldly circumstances, as well 
 as upon their moral and religious character. No greater 
 stigma can attach to parents than that of leaving their 
 children without tlic means of ordinary education ; and 
 every nerve is strained to jjrocure it. Even tlie young 
 men who labour in the fields all the day, often spend a 
 couple of hours in the evening in school, to advance them- 
 si'lves in fit acquin nients. If occuiiation alone is a valu- 
 able anti(lot4! against idle antl vicious lialiiLs, the actpiirc- 
 ment of useful knowle(lg<; an<l the cultivation of the mental 
 faculties must be more so. And when these are prosecuted 
 — not hy gratuitous means, l)ut by the produce of economy
 
 J'28 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 and toil — it bespeaks a state of society wliere sobriety is 
 habitual, and intelligence is held in estimation."^ 
 
 Very shortly before his death my father had a con- 
 versation with Mr. Henley on the difficult subject of 
 the education of the children of the rural poor. His 
 experience of the necessities of agriculture did not allow 
 him to think that the same laws could be applied to 
 the agricultural population which regulated the work 
 and education of the factory districts. Taking all 
 things into account, he told Mr. Henley that he was 
 inclined to think that young people in the country 
 must be allowed to work continuously in the fields in 
 summer, and attend school continuously in winter, not 
 neglecting night-schools. The results of such an 
 
 1 It may be interesting to compare tliis with the report of Sir Francis 
 Doyle in 1842, and with that of Mr. Henley, 1863 :— 
 
 " What I saw," said Sir Francis Doyle, " of the northern peasantry im- 
 pressed me very strongly in their favour. They are very intelligent, 
 sober, and courteous in their manner. Their courtesy, however, is not 
 cringeing, but coupled with a manly independence of demeanour ; added to 
 this, crime, as I was told, and as indeed from the annals of the Northern 
 Circuit I was previously aware, is all but unknown in agricultural North- 
 umberland." 
 
 Mr. Henley says, " George Bowmaker, clerk to Mr. Grey of Milfield 
 Hill, was educated at the Milfleld school from five to thirteen years of age, 
 and then went to farm work, attending winter school to sixteen, and even- 
 ing classes till nineteen ; all the school instruction he ever got was at the 
 village school. All the people at Milfield could read and write. It must 
 be a man's own fault if he has not education. The following fact was 
 communicated to me by the Rev. John Young, who has been for thirty-eight 
 years Presbyterian minister at Bellingham : — ' A few shepherds on the 
 hills keep a schoolmaster among them, and they lately commissioned me 
 to procui'e for them Virgil, Horace, and Cccsar. Of these people one 
 family come nine miles to church on foot ; one is a woman, the rest are 
 men.' Before quitting this subject, T cannot refrain from pointing out that 
 the fanners of this district, so far from being lukewarm in promoting the 
 education of the children of their labourers, or hostile to it (as they are 
 said to be in other parts of the country), give every possible encourage- 
 ment to the schools ; in some cases supporting them altogether, and in others 
 paying the school-fees of the children entirely or in part. I desire to ex-
 
 & 
 
 EDL'CATION OF AGKICULTURAL P0PUL.VT10NS. 229 
 
 arrangement, privately adopted, have certainly not been 
 unfa^•our.^ble in Xorthumberland. 
 
 The subject of popular education was one -which at 
 all times occupied the active mind of his sister Mar- 
 garetta. They constantly exchanged letters on the sub- 
 ject. The following is from her : — 
 
 " EDiNBuncn, Jmu- ISfiS. 
 
 " My dear Brother, — I was glad of your favourable 
 view of my remarks. 
 
 " I do not mean to carry the intermixture of classes in 
 education quite to tlie point you assume, at least not in 
 the first instance, though by the help of Normal Schools, 
 and great improvement in the teaching classes and general 
 principles in which education should be conducted, I 
 should expect to raise the standard of sentiment and 
 
 press in the strongest terms my sense, not only of the courtesy of tlie 
 working people, but of the interest taken by thera in this, inquiry. They 
 are a remarkably sober race, rarely touching beer at their work, and they 
 bear a high character for honesty. Crime of a serious character may be 
 said hardly to exist among them, as is shown by the statistics of the Wooler 
 Petty Sessional Division. I was directed to discover by personal infiuiry 
 and examination the actual state of education among the young found at 
 work, and I was to 'regard the question of education, not in the restricted 
 sense of the mere ordinary elements of instruction, but in the wi<ler and 
 more important one of the training of the future agricultural labourer in 
 habits of industrj', honesty, and fidelity to the trust reposed in him, and of 
 so opening and informing his nnnd as to make him a more skilful and 
 efficient farm-servant.' In Glendale I found, almost without exception, 
 that the children and young persons could read and write, and do plain 
 figures more or less well, but sufficiently for their position ; and thout,']i 
 many were unable to answer simjde questions in historj- and geograjihy, 
 still they had the elementary groundwork to build upon for the future, 
 . . . Indeed, the want of education here Ls looked ujion as such a disgiaco 
 that there is little fear of parents' negligence in this respect. As regards 
 the wider and more imjportant (luestioii, the training of the future agricul- 
 tural lalKJUrer in such habits as may make him an elhcient fann-servant, I 
 have already endeavoured to show that this, the main object of a child's 
 education, is altaimd ; a!id that, ajiart from the mere instruction of the 
 mind, the working peojde are so brought up as to Imi useful to tlieniselvcs 
 and others, free from crime, and able to avail themselves of any o]ieuiug 
 which may offer to beueflt their condition."
 
 230 MEMOIK OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 manners so far for all, as that the classes would not suffer 
 from mixing during the hours of lessons. 
 
 " I observe, when the children of the poor are trained 
 in infant-schools, by competent teachers, that they have 
 the natural pleasant politeness, prompt obedience, and 
 amiable moral qualities that are admired in good society ; 
 and that even in Ragged Schools, after a longer term spent 
 under wrong influences, before school-education has begun, 
 the young people, under kind and watchful Christian train- 
 ing, develop the dispositions and manners that we should 
 most approve in any class of society. There is even less 
 of wickedness, selfishness, tyranny of the strong over the 
 weak, insolence and dissimulation, than in the great schools 
 of gentlemen's sons. The higher classes are very ill-edu- 
 cated. The great public schools are nurseries of various 
 vices and evil practices, carried on as regularly as classical 
 learning in them. Select private schools shelter much evil, 
 and are carried on, in most cases, with more view to money- 
 making by the masters than interest in the moral welfare 
 and improvement of the pupils ; and private school- room 
 education, except where parents have time, and are adepts 
 in teaching themselves, is the most lazy, insipid work in 
 the world. In short, to my mind there wants a great pull 
 up everywhere, in forming the character and principles of 
 our country people. We need have none of that half- 
 taught vulgarity of acquirement made in some lines, with 
 the general culture of the whole individual left neglected, 
 that you met with in your tutors. There may be some 
 eccentric geniuses, or bears by nature, who Avill not refine 
 and civilize to any perfect extent, but when the prevalent 
 power of practical influential Christianity pervades the 
 entire system, we see no important diff"erence in its fruits. 
 There will be good manners everywhere springing from 
 good sentiments, and a benevolent, liberal Avay of thinking. 
 The conventional rules of the different classes and coteries 
 are no essential part of good manners. They may be 
 adopted or dispensed with according to circumstances, and 
 vary, of course, as matter of propriety, according to the
 
 EDUCATION. 231 
 
 position people occupy in respect to each other. AVliat 
 would be called propriety in the beha'V'iour of a son or a 
 servant would be modilied in the individual on his 
 becoming the parent or the master, but would be good 
 manners still, supposing the person to have imbibed good 
 principles, witli a proper mode of manifesting them and 
 bringing them into exercise. . , . You will observe that I 
 happen to be a little on the democratic side. Our lower 
 classes are fallen too low, and our higher classes are reared 
 up too high for any kind of use or good. And both 
 extremes, the idle and dissolute at both ends, are drawing 
 and draining support from the middle, steady, industrious 
 classes. "We should be better, as I suggest, of retrenchment 
 at both ends, — of having none among us above and none 
 below honest occupation and usefulness. Moderate fortunes 
 are better used and turned to more account, for the most 
 part, than very large ones. But I need not extend on this 
 subject. Men are brethren of equal value in God's sight, 
 whether high or low. They ought not to range so far 
 apart as to lose sight of each other, but be actuated by a 
 brotherly regard for each other's honour and haj)]iiness. 
 Legislation should have this in view. Kxcuse my disser- 
 tation. The subject spreads too far to be discussed in a 
 letter. Still I think I am on safe ground, in conclusions 
 from my premises when they are fairly drawn out and 
 elucidated. I thought the editor of the Chronicle wrote to 
 the purpose in remarking on the disparity betwixt the hearty 
 recommendations of Keformatory Schools and the scanty 
 subscription-list that accompanied. P^nlargement of heart 
 and of purses is required in the field of charity. What a 
 jtity not to have training and education so universal and 
 obligatory as to supersede refonnation of young offenders! 
 How much more effective and for the national honour!" 
 
 FKOM MY FATIIKK TO LORD GKEY. 
 
 " D1L8T0N, June 1847. 
 " I dr»n't know whether your TjordKhiit will have time to 
 read the enclosed jiajx-r advocating tlie (lovtrnnient scheme
 
 232 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 of education among Dissenters, by some of whom it has 
 been opposed with most unreasonable violence and pre- 
 judice. It has produced good effect, it is said, among the 
 Free Church population in Scotland, in whose paper it 
 appeared at a proper time. The adoption of the measure 
 by their ' Assembly' will be of great importance to the 
 Ministry in the coming election. With those among the 
 Dissenting bodies capable of reasoning with candour and 
 coolness on the subject, it may produce good, especially as 
 coming evidently from one imbued with some measure of 
 their own jealousy. It is from the pen of my sister, 
 the wife of the Kev. Henry Grey, who, along with 
 Chalmers, Gordon, and other able men, relinquished his 
 high standing in the Scotch Church in Edinburgh for the 
 humble office of a Free Church minister. She holds her 
 old Northumberland Whig principles in full vigour, and 
 not unfrequently exercises them through the local press, 
 as on this occasion." 
 
 About this time my father was writing to some of 
 his absent children in the following strain : — 
 
 TO HIS SON AT COLLEGE. 
 
 " DiLSTON, December 5, 1846. 
 
 " My dear Charles, — Could I have forgotten that this 
 is your birth-day, and that of your attaining your majority, 
 as it is called, the sight of a flag streaming from the old 
 castle would have reminded me of that important event, — ■ 
 less important to you than it is to those who by its arrival 
 are put in possession of wealth and power, but still im- 
 portant to all, as marking an era in human existence which 
 places a man in man's position, and shows that he has 
 already passed over one-third of the length of time allotted 
 to the generality of the human race. It is my heartfelt 
 wish that this may be the precursor of very many happy 
 and healthful years to you, and that through them all your 
 course may be that of worth and usefulness here, and such 
 as "will lead you, by God's grace, and a life of faith in the 
 Saviour, to a better, even an enduring happiness hereafter.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 233 
 
 You have hitherto had the easy and least-caring part of life, 
 but, though not as the -world calls profitably employed in 
 business and labour, I trust your labours have been of a 
 kind to fit you for future usefulness. Your opportunities 
 in this respect have been much greater than mine were. 
 Yet there is an education, though not scholastic, which is 
 useful in forming character and judgment. For years 
 before I reached your age I was doing the work of a man 
 in the busy world, and this compelled me to an exercise of 
 thought and judgmient which have compensated in me for 
 more early and polite acquirements by study and learning. 
 Not that I should not have been much better of them, but 
 as I had not them, I have done the best I could without 
 them. . . . Your course, I hope, may be quite as useful. 
 At all events, let it be marked by prudence, moderation, 
 and unflinching integrity of life and of purpose. . . . 
 
 " ^\'ith the warmest wishes for your present health and 
 happiness, and your future and eternal good, I am, my 
 dear son, your very affectionate, John Grey." 
 
 TO ONE OF HIS CHILDREN IN LONDON. 
 
 "1846. 
 
 " I am glad you saw "Westminster Abbey. Gazing on 
 the narrow hou.ses of men whose names were great in their 
 day and generation, and which still, and ever will, occupy 
 the page of history, fills the mind with an idea of one's 
 own insignificance, and of the eventual fallacy of all human 
 and mere worldly distinctions. 
 
 " It is well, however, for a great nation to have such a 
 gatlu'ring-place for the ashes of its i)atriots and heroes, its 
 I>hilosoph('rs and its poets ; but for them, if the bust trump 
 should not call them to the presence of the Lamb of ( Jod 
 in the wedding-garment, it wen; better that tlu-y had tillf(l 
 the meanest grave of the humblest of his faithl'ul followers 
 in the remotest comer of hLi vineyard." 
 
 Hi.s delight in ])oetry hud led him to cultivate nn 
 acquaintance, b(jth extensive and minute, with our 
 Engli.sh poets, from Chaucer and Piers I'luwniun down
 
 234 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 to the feebler groups of Thomson, Dyer, Gray, Beattie, 
 Collins, etc. With the exception of some of the poems 
 of Tennyson he never learned greatly to love the works 
 of our living poets. He said he could not understand 
 them, and maintained that clearness of thought needs 
 not to be dissociated from strength of feeling, and that 
 it is no enemy to beauty of diction or rhythm. Never- 
 theless he would observe very humbly that he was 
 " growing an old man," when he was compelled to close 
 a book of Mr. Browning's and take up his old melodious 
 favourite Campbell. 
 
 " My dear Fannt, — I thank you for books, new and 
 old, provided for me in your absence. 
 
 " I have read every word of the ' Minstrel ' with much 
 gratification, which I had not done for forty years at least, 
 finding now and then a line of which I had forgot the 
 authorship, but which had grown into a kind of aphorism 
 in my mind, and here and there a stanza which had been 
 hid in a misty corner of my memory from my boyish days, 
 and which keep their place as favourites still, for then 
 ' poor Edwin was no vulgar boy,' and had some discrimina- 
 tion, though his taste has been thwarted and his judg- 
 ment marred by years of toilsome application to worldly 
 pursuits. If those did not press upon me still, the time is 
 past to resolve with Sir Eustace Gray, in Crabbe's spirited 
 poem — 
 
 ' Yes ! We '11 redeem the wasted time, 
 
 And to neglected studies flee, 
 We '11 build again the lofty rhyme 
 And dwell, Philosophy, with thee.' 
 
 But I still find gratification in drawing upon memory for 
 some of its small stores. I have looked over many of 
 Collins' poems too, but, except the ode to the Passions, 
 don't find much to admire, though these contain occasional 
 beauties. His boasted ode to the memory of Thomson 
 (author of the Seasons) is too wire-drawn, and becomes 
 
 I
 
 PUBLIC TESTIMONIAL. 235 
 
 feeble, though pleasing. It comes, in my mind, into un- 
 favourable competition with Thomson's fine and philoso- 
 phical ode, ' An Address to Sir Isaac Newton,' which is far 
 inferior to Brown's concise and spuited ode to Thomson's 
 meraor}', beginning : — 
 
 ' ^Mlile virgin Spring, by Eden's flood, 
 Unfolds her tender mantle green. 
 And jiranks the sod in frolic mood. 
 Or tunes Eolian strains between.* 
 
 I could write it all, and it would repay your reading, but 
 my time is up and I must be off. The only apology I can 
 make for troubling you with all this is, that I imagine you 
 have a greater sympathy in this foolish yet pleasing taste 
 of mine than all my other children. — I am with much 
 affection yours, Joux Grey." 
 
 In 1849 a great number of neighbours and friends 
 assembled to present to my father a testimonial,^ not 
 on the occasion of the conclusion of any term of office 
 nor of any particular event, but because, as the chair- 
 man (the Rev. C. Bird) of the large meeting held for 
 that purpose observed, " his neighbours in the north 
 could not so long have been witnesses of his exertions 
 in promoting the moral and material change which had 
 come about in Tyneside of late years — a work which 
 they must all be conscious was mainly the creation of 
 one master-mind, — and feel themselves justified in with- 
 holding some such declaration of their opinion as was 
 before them that day." 
 
 Outward prosperity was not destined to continue un- 
 brcjken. In the autumn of 1857 one of those great bank 
 failures occurred, through the dishonounilde dealings 
 of certain persons connected with the nuinagenient, 
 which involves so many unsuspecting pe(jple in ruin. 
 
 ' Variou* article* of liilvurjilatc, and an excellent portrait of liinmelf in 
 oiU by Patten.
 
 236 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 My father was a large shareholder in the Newcastle 
 Bank. The loss he sustained was very great, of that 
 which he had gathered to be a provision for those who 
 held the first place in his affections. Few words need 
 be said about the spirit and temper in which he bore 
 this trial, the sorest part of which, to him, was the loss 
 to his daughters, whose future he had had in view, and 
 the necessity which his own sensitively honourable 
 feelings, and nothing else, laid upon him to sell the 
 much-loved old paternal estate on Tweedside. The 
 following letters, selected from a great number 
 written in the same tone, will show his estimate of 
 the affliction : — 
 
 " Dec. \llh, 1857. 
 
 " Dear Lord Grey, — I cannot thank your Lordship 
 too emphatically, or express too warmly the gratification 
 and comfort that I experience in the kind sympathy 
 and condolence which you offer in my present loss and 
 distress. 
 
 " Regrets and reflections are now equally vain. The 
 only wise thing is to look steadily at the condition in 
 which the unfortunate shareholders are placed, and to adopt 
 such measures as may be best to secure the funds against 
 waste, and an equal and just distribution of the loss. 
 
 " I thank your Lordship very much for the advice you 
 convey to me from Mr. Glynn, whose opinion on such a 
 subject is deserving of the greatest consideration. 
 
 " All these matters are very perplexing, and it is a sad 
 state of turmoil and disappointment at the end of a life, 
 not now very short and not very inactive ; but there is the 
 will and permission of an all-wise Providence in all that 
 befalls us, whose trials and afflictions are often sent in 
 mercy, and to show to us the folly of giving too much 
 thought to earthly treasures, where, as in this case, thieves 
 could break through and steal. — Your Lordship's most 
 truly, John Grey."
 
 LOSS OF FORTUNE. 237 
 
 ON CHRIST-MAS MORNING, TO ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS. 
 
 " 1857. 
 
 " My very dear Josif., — On this blessed morning for 
 the Christian world, which may draw our thoughts from its 
 cares and trials, to contemjilate the blessings which are 
 provided and promised through tlie medium of the great 
 Sacrifice on the cross for us sinners, I must send my warm 
 love and best wishes for yourself, your husband, and boys. 
 My thoughts are often with you, though I do not often 
 write them, for indeed the objects of my present cares and 
 trials occupy much time and have little pleasure in them. 
 
 " I have not yet disposed of Ord. You are right in 
 thinking of my feelings in regard to it. I often find 
 it presented to my mind's eye as formerly, in walking l)y 
 the silvery Tweed, gliding along its shores, covered in j)arts 
 by trees of my own planting — which I may never look 
 upon again ; but I have made up my mind." 
 
 TO MY FATHER FROM HIS FRIEND AND NEIGHBOUR, MR. 
 ERRINGTON, WRITTEN SOME MONTHS LATEIi. 
 
 " High Warden. 
 " Dear Mr. Grey, — I don't think I could have written 
 on this topic so unreservedly, if I did not also feel that I 
 might as freely express my admiration of the way in which 
 you have met this great disaster. I might possibly have 
 supposed that religion and philosophy would enable one 
 to bear such a change with composure, only that many in- 
 stances in this county and in Scotland having come within 
 my observation, I have seen how much less cnduraVile in 
 our modern society is the loss of fortune, than many otlier 
 afllictions which might have seemed more grievous. You 
 only have taken a just mea-sure of what it really is, and 
 being clear of stlf-reproach, have never lost your cliecrful- 
 ness, nor KufTt-rccl it to be more than a slight troul)le on 
 your happiness, wliich rests on better foundations. — Be- 
 lieve me, my dear Mr. Grey, with true regard and esteem, 
 yours very sincerely, .John Kuki.nctun."
 
 238 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 My mother bore this trouble not less philosophically 
 than my father did. She wrote : — 
 
 " I have never borne very well to hear that affair 
 called a misfortune, and have never called it one myself 
 A trial it was intended to be ; but after all it is only an 
 earthly sort of thing, and if we have less silver and gold 
 to leave our children, God can give them gifts that are far 
 better." 
 
 One of the greatest social enjoyments my father had 
 while his children were still young, was the yearly 
 summer excursion to the old home on the Borders, 
 when he used to take half-a-dozen or so of merry 
 children in a large open carriage, traversing almost the 
 length of Northumberland from south to north, in 
 regions where no railways existed, and where there 
 was a great variety of interest, for children at least. 
 After a solitary journey in later years over the same 
 familiar ground, he wrote to his wife : — 
 
 " April 1858. 
 
 " Dearest H., — We have driven thirty-four miles, and 
 walked three hours over Hartburn farms. I must try to keep 
 up my energy of body and mind, or these horrid bank-affairs 
 will overcome my spirits. I have had a melancholy plea- 
 sure in viewing scenes which I often passed in former 
 years, and at times with noisy tongues and merry faces. 
 ' The rabbity rocks ' are all the same, and rabbits dwell 
 among and skip over them still. The little lake is more 
 deeply embosomed in trees ; but oh ! the mirthful cargo 
 which used to load the old carriage, and seek in turns to sit 
 by me on the box — they are dispersed and gone. This 
 day has been more like June than April. I hope you 
 enjoy the contemplation of the sea where you are. 
 
 " I think tbe lines expressive of a summer sea are 
 Mrs. Barbauld's : —
 
 FAMILY TRIALS. 239 
 
 • Low on the santls the deep retiring tide 
 In distant murmnrs hanJly seems to flow, 
 And o'er the waste of waters far and wide 
 The sighing summer wind forgets to blow.' 
 
 " I liked those lines fifty years ago, and like them still. 
 But I am an adherent to fond old attaclmients, and altogether 
 a foolish old man who has lived too long. Good-night to 
 alL Have I not lived too long ? — Ever, dearest, yours, 
 
 " J. G." 
 
 Between the years 1853 and 1858 many old friends 
 and dear relatives dropped off. Bereavements followed 
 each other quickly. 
 
 "December I, 1853. 
 
 "Dear Lord Grey, — Yesterday's post brought me letters 
 from Hong-Kong, with the sad information that when the 
 mail left on the 1 1 th October, a few hours, or at most days, 
 must, to all human appearance, put an end to the life which 
 had been so valuable to many, and the loss of which was 
 exciting such deep sorrow and sympathy in the colony. 
 But our affliction does not end there. Our dear daughter, 
 who for seven weeks had waited, watched, and nursed her 
 hus})and by day and night, with short intervals of rest, 
 lea\dng little for Chinese servants to do, is at last pro- 
 strated, though still clinging to his bed when not forced 
 away by fainting. Theirs was no common attachment. 
 His condition is hopeless, and hers at best precarious. She 
 managed to send a few brief lines to her mother, .saying 
 that she had had a haj)py life through many trials ; and 
 expressed herself content to die if it pleased God to take 
 her too, commending to Him and to our care her four chil- 
 dren. We must now endure a painful state of suspense till 
 another mail arrives. I do hope and pray that our dear 
 daughter may yet be spared to bring her children home. 
 
 " I>ut it is a fearful distance and journey to encounter in 
 circum.stancea of such lieavy trial and sickness. 
 
 "The loss of our dear P^liza would be dreadful to her 
 poor children and to us all, for besides natural affection, she 
 po.s.se88e» a BWeetnes-s of dispositi(jn and a superiority of
 
 240 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 mental qualities which gain for her general love and admira- 
 tion. — I remain, my dear Lord, yours faithfully, 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 His eldest daughter returned to him a widow, and 
 soon after his eldest son experienced a similar bereave- 
 ment. 
 
 TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 " MiLFiELD Hill, 1856. 
 " My dear H., — The inmates of this house of mourning 
 have all retired, and I am writing answers to many in- 
 quiries from sorrowing friends. . . . We carried dear 
 departed Lizzy to her quiet resting-place yesterday, among 
 many tears. She was much loved by every one, and 
 respected for her amiable and kind disposition, and her 
 unpretending and unselfish conduct. . . . Mr. M'Dowell 
 came this afternoon and administered private baptism to 
 the dear innocent baby. Her name is after my own dear 
 mother, by Lizzy's desire — Mary. It is very affecting to 
 see a sweet and strong infant, who will never know a 
 mother's love and tender care, but as Lizzy said, ' God can 
 provide.' It was very affecting in the church, Avhen the 
 coffin was placed in the aisle, poor George knelt on the 
 flags, with his head in his hands on the pall all the time. 
 . . . Lizzy was at church this day fortnight, anxious to 
 receive the sacrament. There chanced to be an open grave 
 on that day near our ground, which made a strong impres- 
 sion on her mind, and in her last illness she thought it 
 was waiting for her. She mentioned to Miss Hunt the com- 
 fort she had had in the words heard at church that day, — 
 ' Come to me all ye that are heavy laden,* looking forward 
 to rest. . . . She spoke of the happiness she had had in the 
 connexion with lis, and of the affection I had shown her ; 
 and indeed I loved her as a daughter. I asked Miss Hunt 
 if I could see her, but no ; she had too much changed. So 
 perishing is our human frame. All the fair hair was cut 
 off and sent to Keid's to be cleansed from laudanum. Alas, 
 the frail remains ! "
 
 DEATH OF FRIENDS. 241 
 
 His old Whig friend, :Mr. Ord of ^^^lit field, died about 
 this time. 
 
 TO GEORGE BUTLER. 
 
 " The death of Mr. Ord is a public and private loss. 
 We have too few such specimens of country gentlemen. 
 To me it is a real grief ; we were drawn together by a 
 strong congeniality of sentiment. We have acted together 
 in all matters of local interest and public trust, and I believe 
 on a principle of mutual confidence and esteem. 
 
 " His sister wrote to me : ' You will be distressed to 
 learn tliat your old and atUiched friend is dangerously, 
 I fear I may say hopelessly, ill,' and so very few more 
 days proved it to be. I shall not moralize on the feel- 
 ings which are excited in the aged in seeing their friends 
 and contemporaries drojtping off till few remain to them. 
 It is well that the world should lose its attractions, and 
 merciful that it should do so gradually." 
 
 In 1858 his sister jNIargaretta died very suddenly. 
 
 TO HIS DAUGHTER IN NAPLES. 
 
 " My very DE.VR Hatty, — I little thought when I parted 
 from my sisters in P^linburgli, who l>oth accomjianied me 
 to the station, tliat the end of one of us was so near. Had 
 it been tliat of tlie worthy Doctor it would have created no 
 surprise, or even regret ; for to one whose life has been so 
 devoted to his Ma.ster's service, and passed in such entire 
 dependence on His will, waitinj; in daily ]>reparation for the 
 summons to ' couie unto Him,' death is a happy event ; but 
 tlie dispensation has been otherwise ordered, and he who 
 seemed to be on the brink of the grave is left to linger for 
 a sliort time, while his main stay ami support in life was 
 Btrieken in a moment. She appeared to me in pretty good 
 health ancl excellent spirits, excited perhaps a little by my 
 viiiit. On Sumlay evening she liad the servants in to wor- 
 Hhip, after wliicli she jtrayed witji her dear husband, and 
 went to bed. He awoke at six, when to his consternation
 
 242 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 he found her quite dead, her head resting on her hand, 
 and in an undisturbed condition ! What a blessed end ! to 
 fall asleep on earth, her last breath spent in prayer ; and 
 to awake in heaven, free from the lingering pains and 
 sorrows that afflict humanity in its end. Sorrowing friends, 
 painful leave-taking, tearful apprehensions of the future, — 
 all spared her. It was like a translation from earth to 
 heaven without the terrors and suffering of the intermediate 
 passage. . . ." 
 
 The last letter which he received from that sister was 
 carefully put by. He had written upon it the following 
 words : — 
 
 " The last letter from a dear sister who died unnoticed 
 in bed on the 2 2d of the month in which it was written, 
 in perfect peace ; falling gently asleep in this world, to 
 awake a glorified spirit in the presence of her Saviour ! 
 Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest 
 from their labours ! " 
 
 The letter itself contained the following words : — 
 
 " I feel sad sometimes, alone, with nothing to rouse me, 
 as if all the sunny spots were gone out of the landscape, and 
 no cheer were left till just at the end. But after all it is 
 well to have so many years over, with their comforts, labours, 
 and sorrows, and so few to come with their tale of infir- 
 mities and regret. ... I am stripped like a tree in winter, 
 and have not the cheering meetings and happy times that 
 each year brought with it, but have the happiest of all 
 meetings to look forward to, with the dear lost ones to 
 welcome me, and a rest of peace and joy without inter- 
 ruption, spite of all in me that seems Ul-adapted and un- 
 suitable." 
 
 She had outlived most of her children. She had 
 fretted against the evils of society ; and her ardent de- 
 sire to oppose the wrong and to aid the right had made 
 the discipline of patient waiting no easy one to her.
 
 THOUGHTS FROM HIS SISTERS DLVRY. 243 
 
 Those who love most are most ready to accuse them- 
 selves of defect in love ; and to impassioned natures 
 there come solemn moments when, looking back and 
 around, all the errors of a lifetime, — all the evils of the 
 whole universe, seem to resolve themselves into this one 
 crime — lack of lore. The last pages of her private diary 
 contain words of passionate sadness, not unmixed with 
 hope, characteristic too in the mingling, in her thoughts, 
 of public matters with the deepest personal and private 
 interests. 
 
 " Unhappy France ! " she writes, " how many more revo- 
 lutionary struggles are to be undergone there 1 Lands 
 under the yoke, when are your fetters to be broken ? 
 When will God arise 1 So long this night has lasted, with 
 stars shooting up here and there : the old Bible — the old 
 ministry — the long-established way of making discourses on 
 a text — no new inspiration — no prophet — no angel from 
 heaven — no miracle ! "Why dost thou hide Thyself, 
 God of Israel, the Saviour 1 Where is Thy right hand 1 
 Pluck it out of Thy bosom. . . . My soul cries out against 
 me. I could take revenge on myself by any punishment, 
 any humiliation. Yet I find His mercy large. I can em- 
 brace forgiveness ; Ijut oh, the grief, when I think of others 
 impeded in their way — helped by nie and then hindered — 
 left to me, unedified, dwarfed in their Christianity, when 
 they might have been cheered on with the sympathy of 
 holy affection. Alas for the ine(,(A'erable ! My God, if 
 cunsi-stent with Thy procedure, make \\\) to those in heaven 
 who may have suffered loss by my want of fidelity to them 
 on eartli ; permit me yet to explain and make my acknow- 
 ledgments ; for it seems to ine that this existence must so 
 carry its memories and interests into the next, as to admit 
 of such winding up of unfinished intercourse. Permit me 
 again to embrace my mother, my sons, my daughters, my 
 servants, my brethren and accjuaintance, confess to them my 
 errors and my sins against them, and declare to them tlie
 
 244 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 love with which I love them, and the longing with which I 
 long to serve them and to do them good." 
 
 The following refers to the death, a year later, of her 
 husband, the gentle and apostolic Dr. Henry Grey : — 
 
 " DiLSTON, 8th February 1859. 
 " My very dear Fanny, — You will have heard from 
 other pens of the cause of my going to Edinburgh. The 
 demonstration of affection and regard for Dr. Grey was 
 great. Two rooms were filled with particular friends, 
 many of them clergymen. In each room a portion of 
 Scripture was read by one minister, and a prayer offered 
 by another ; and to show the christian and catholic spirit 
 of the departed, these offices were performed by ministers of 
 the Establishment, of the Free Kirk, Baptists, and Inde- 
 pendents. The service Avas conducted, in the room where 
 I was, by Dr. John Hunter, an old acquaintaince. The 
 street was filled with men of the congregation and others. 
 Bodies of men waited to join by the way, and even 
 reached the burying-place at the west end of Princes 
 Street. The procession extended over a quarter of a mile 
 at least ; so strong is the feeling for his long and faithful 
 services. No show nor pomp of externals, but a deep 
 exhibition of reverence and respect. — Always your loving 
 father, John Grey."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ' O furtunatos niinium, sua si bona norint, 
 Agricolaa ! " 
 
 Any memoir of my father would be imperfect wliich 
 did not give some prominence to the pursuit — the 
 science he justly called it — to which the greater part 
 of his life was devoted. I wish that I may be able, by 
 a brief and slight sketch of the subject, to enlist the 
 attention for a few minutes of non- agricultural readers, 
 in the hope of suggesting to them that agriculture is 
 no narrow or isolated, nor necessarily dry and technical 
 matter ; for I know how natural it is that certain 
 readers should pass over these pages with the comment, 
 " I know nothing of farming ; this will not interest me," 
 and that even thoughtful people who ponder over 
 theories of the existence of man — moral, social, and 
 political — sometimes do not sufficiently remember that 
 on the cultivation of the soil and tlie supply of the 
 neces-saries of life depends the upholding or overturning 
 of all their ideal fabrics. 
 
 My father's writings and speeches on agi'icultural 
 subjects were lately much read in I'rance, Germany, 
 Holland, and Sweden. I have been told that philoso- 
 phical men on the Continent valued his utterances, and 
 those of other experienced men of late years on tlie same 
 Bul)jcct, not so much f)n account of j)racti(ral instruction 
 contuined in them, as because they exhibited tlie sue-
 
 246 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 cessive steps of a great science or art still in its youth, 
 and the efforts which private individuals and Govern- 
 ment were forced to make in order to meet the problem 
 of our enormously increasing populations. My father's 
 speeches are too many and too long to admit of much 
 quotation from them here. Taking them as a whole, I 
 think that, apart from many local and practical details 
 treated, they,^ generally, exhibit agriculture in its con- 
 nexion with physical science on the one hand, and with 
 political economy on the other. It w^as a question 
 which pressed heavily on the minds of men during a 
 long period before the repeal of the Corn-Laws, how 
 the increasing millions of England were to be supplied 
 with food. In continental countries, if there is too 
 dense a population or a scarcity of food in one district, 
 there is at least the possibility of migrating to less 
 populous regions. With comparative ease, the over- 
 flowings of one continental country can be received by 
 another. But Britain has the sea all round it. It is 
 the poorest who want to emigrate. They cannot cross 
 the sea without money. Emigration has as yet only 
 supplied a partial outlet for our surplus population, and 
 some maintain that there need be no emigration from 
 our country if the science of production, of the distri- 
 bution and the rewards of labour, were better under- 
 stood. Practically, enormous difficulties still surround 
 this matter, and at present most English people stay 
 at home ; and how our augmented numbers are to be 
 provided for at home, was a question first anxiously 
 asked some forty years ago. The progress of agricul- 
 tural science has in some degree answered it. Men 
 saw " that no society can hold long together in which 
 industry fails, as it does with us, to obtain a sufficiency
 
 rniMITIVE STAGES OF AGRICULTURE. 247 
 
 of the comforts of life," and this conviction stimulated 
 inquiry and experiment. 
 
 In my father's account of Northumberland, he in- 
 dicates the primitive style of husbandry common in the 
 last century. Bits of laud were slowly reclaimed, and 
 applied almost exclusively to the growing of wheat, 
 which is a crop so exhausting to the soil that after a 
 year or two that locality had to be left to rest for 
 several years, and fresh portions of land subjected to 
 the same exhausting treatment. It somewhat re- 
 sembled the wasteful ways of the cotton-growing slave- 
 owners of the Southern States, who were forced by the 
 conditions of that unnatural engine, slave-labour, to be 
 making ever fresh aggressions upon new lands, and to 
 leave once-used lands a wilderness. In some parts of 
 liussia, husbandmen still practise this primitive waste- 
 fulness. In this stage of agriculture, manure is not 
 thought of, except as inconvenient refuse, to be got rid of 
 by any means. Thus, on the outskirts of the Eoman 
 Campagna, not many years ago, might be seen whole 
 hills of dung carted out to a distance from the city, 
 rotting accumulations from stables and posting- houses, 
 spreading pestilence around ; and on the shores of the 
 Wolga there is a similar sight. Dung-heaps are brought 
 down by the farmers along the shores, and carted on to 
 the ice when the river is frozen over, and while the 
 winter cold makes it safe to stir up the refuse. When 
 spring comes, the thaw sweeps the whole yearly collec- 
 tion down to the Caspian Sea. The same thing occurred, 
 though on a smaller scale, in England, when the farmers 
 used to make drains to carry d(jwn their refuse to some 
 river, or to a pond.wliicli would stand reeking in the sun, 
 and poisoning the neighbourhood. The sight of such
 
 248 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 thriftless expedients always vexed my father, for he knew 
 the worth of that which people were trying to get rid of. 
 The next stage in agriculture was the introduction of 
 the simplest form of rotation of crops (a custom, how- 
 ever, as old as Virgil's time), and this sprang from the 
 necessity of growing corn more frequently from the same 
 soil. Farmers could not afford to let land be idle ; and 
 if it could not be granted time to recover itself, means 
 must be found by which it should be restored without 
 delay. The soil must be renewed by giving to it some 
 equivalent for what had been taken out of it. Thus as 
 the wants of the soil, under the pressure of higher culti- 
 vation, became greater and more complicated, chemistry 
 came to the rescue. But of that by and by. At first 
 it was found that a simple rotation did a good deal. 
 My father said that " the introduction of green crops 
 into Northumberland tillage was the beginning of a 
 new era in the history of agriculture," and it was a 
 very marked era, for with green crops came in the large 
 increase of cattle as agricultural produce. Before this 
 sheep and cows were very little cultivated in compari- 
 son with wheat. They were generally poor lean beasts, 
 left to wander at will on hill- sides and wastes; not used 
 as agents in the system of rotation ; and of course 
 butcher-meat was a scarce luxury among the labouring 
 populations. But many benefits followed the introduc- 
 tion of green crops. Cattle were kept in greater num- 
 bers, and fed upon the root-crops instead of upon thin 
 grass. These root-crops were quickly transformed into 
 very profitable beef and mutton, which became cheaper ^ 
 and more attainable by the poor, and this prevented so 
 
 * Not actually cheaper, but relatively so, to the advanced rate of wages 
 received for almost every kind of labour.
 
 SYSTEM OF ROTATION BECOMES MORE COMPLICATED. 249 
 
 great a drain upon corn, and so exclusive a subsistence 
 on bread and pon-idge. But these animals also manured 
 the land, and while feeding Tipon it enriched it to such 
 a degree that more corn would grow upon the same 
 extent of surface than before. The farmer now took 
 not less but more grain to market than in the days 
 when he cultivated wheat alone. This was profitable 
 both to the producer and consumer. Sheep have been 
 called " the animals with the golden hoofs," not only 
 because of tlie value of their wool and mutton, but 
 because they enrich the soil they are fed upon more 
 than anything else does. ^luch poor dry land was thus 
 brought, by means of alternate crops and eating off with 
 sheep, to yield constant and good returns. 
 
 Green crops produce much manure, but they also 
 require much ; hence the manure of the towns came to 
 be in great request, and this opened out more practically 
 the connexion between agriculture and cliemistry. It 
 began to be conceived that that which produces pesti- 
 lence and fever, which shocks our senses and destroys 
 life, might be used towards the very support of life, 
 and that " our sanitary researches might provide an 
 ample supply of the first requisite of increased produc- 
 tion." And, indeed, not long after this was understood, 
 and a hard-pressed agricultural community began to see 
 that the development of the resources of the land was 
 ])ecoming the grand economical feature of the day, — 
 urged by great necessities into that rank, — we read that 
 some kinds of manure reached " famine pri(!es," so 
 eagerly were they .sought, and so hard was it for the 
 supply to keep pace with the demand. Bones and 
 other j)ortable manures became .so much in request that 
 in Sweden it was complained that bones were not to be
 
 250 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 had by the home-farmer, because of the high price 
 given for them by English importers. 
 
 But further wants began to be felt. The great 
 diversity of soils has to be taken into account in the 
 application of fertilizing substances, and independently 
 of the geological structure, the physical geography of a 
 district affects the actual cliemical composition of the soil, 
 and consequently modifies the chemical treatment of it. 
 A farmer can see with his own eyes that one side of a hill 
 much exposed to rains which wash away part of its saline 
 substances, or to prevailing winds, will yield a different 
 crop from the side which is more sheltered ; but he 
 needs science to teach him how to make each side 
 equally develop to the utmost its own capabilities. 
 Thus it was seen that the sciences of geology, miner- 
 alogy, botany, and meteorology, were all needful hand- 
 maids to agricultural progress. The higher the farming 
 became, and the greater the surface of land reclaimed in 
 elevated districts, the greater became the demand for ex- 
 traneous and light portable manures, as it was difficult to 
 cart up to high grounds the heavy farmyard refuse. All 
 known manures were first eagerly sought. The refuse of 
 the currier, the maltster, the tanner, the sugar-boiler, the 
 glue-manufacturer, were all bought up, and every bone- 
 mill had its staff of humble scavengers, who sought 
 through all the towns and villages. When these were 
 exhausted we turned to foreign countries. Dealers in 
 foreign manures sprang up in all the seaports. The whole 
 seaboard of Europe was put under requisition. Fleets 
 of merchant-ships crossed the Atlantic and brought back 
 their precious cargoes from Buenos Ayres and Monte 
 Video. So great became the demand for these manures 
 that they rose, as I have said, to " famine prices," and
 
 USELESS MATERIAL BECOMES USEFUL. 251 
 
 at one time it was only the farmers wlio lived nearest 
 the sea- shore who could afford to buy them. Com- 
 merce and agriculture worked together, and carried a 
 good influence to distant countries, the inhabitants of 
 which wondered how the refuse of their coasts, and the 
 droppings of the sea-birds which whitened their rocks, 
 should be held of such high value in P>ngland. This 
 awakened their minds to new ideas, and stimulated 
 them to an unwonted industry. In the United States 
 this impulse was especially felt. There are consolatory 
 reflections connected with this subject of manure, — not 
 a very dainty subject, perhaps, but one which plays an 
 important part in tlie world. The rubbish and debris 
 which, when not used rightly, becomes a simple pest, 
 every way disgusting, has asserted for itself its place 
 and use in creation, and has come to be held in esteem ! 
 There are regions in which waste, destruction, misuse, 
 and the pestilence which follows, are infinitely more 
 terrible than they are in the material world ; but God's 
 whispered messages in the material world tell us that 
 there may be, nay must be, a divine chemistry, through 
 whose mysterious action we shall some day see a posi- 
 tive good, a quiet beneficence in the place of a festering 
 evil 
 
 Each step in the advancement of agricultural science 
 seemed to become more difficult, and perhaps it may 
 continue to do so. My father was not one of those 
 persons who believe tliat science, or rather man's power 
 of applying it at every fresh emergency, will so keep 
 ])aoe with the increasing necessities of the world a.s to 
 afford a complete answer to our ever recurring social 
 difficulties. He did not think, with certain modern 
 philosophers, that man can perfect his own present exist-
 
 252 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 ence, and drive away, by the aid of science, sickness, 
 disease, poverty, crime, and every existing evil from the 
 land. He availed himself, and continually urged others 
 to avail themselves, of the aids which God has placed 
 at our disposal, powers, known or hidden, in the natural 
 world, for the diminution of evil and pain; but he be- 
 lieved in no reign of peace short of the final destruction 
 of the principle, deeply seated in the soul of man, which 
 is the primary source of the perturbation of all bene- 
 ficent social laws, nor of j)i'osperity short of the ad- 
 vent of the " Desire of all nations." That trouble upon 
 trouble will block our way, that every matter planted 
 by us will, however careful we be, " grow up with the 
 unseen seeds of its own decay within it," he was pre- 
 pared to see. He was a man of a somewhat mournful 
 cast of mind ; he was a man of progress nevertheless, 
 sustained by a constant hope. 
 
 Even the large importation of foreign manures not 
 being sufficient for increasing needs, chemists began to 
 work more closely at the subject. Professor Johnston 
 of Durham was a great benefactor to the North of Eng- 
 land. Manufactories of artificial manures sprang up. 
 It was needful that theory and experiment should 
 go hand in hand. On the side of the farmers there was 
 at first some jealousy of the chemists and their theories, 
 and "book-farming" was spoken of with contempt, 
 while the " theorists " were too apt to look on the farmers 
 as a thick-headed race, so long used to be guided by 
 empirical rules that science might knock in vain at 
 their door. But when it was found that a multitude of 
 quacks sprang up, who imposed upon the farmers by their 
 vaunted stuffs for doctoring soils, the farmers perceived 
 that they must arm themselves against these by some
 
 PKOFESSOR LIEBIG AND THE CHEMISTS. 253 
 
 knowledge of their own, wliile the true chemists acknow- 
 ledged the necessity of continually consulting the long- 
 j)ractised farmer ; for, indeed, they knew they could not 
 benefit agriculture by experiments in their own labora- 
 tories only ; they must do their work witli tlie farmer, 
 under sun and wind, rain and hail, thunder and 
 lightning. AVhen Professor Liebig visited Dilston, he 
 was in the habit of questioning my father, in the most 
 keen and eager manner, of his experience, making notes 
 of his answers at the time. "When my fjither's conclu- 
 sions about any matter differed from the chemist's, they 
 would go forth into the fields together, and there the 
 solution of the difficulty would often be found in some- 
 thing peculiar, perhaps, to Xorthumberland, its climate 
 or soil, which Liebig had not taken into account. 
 Liebig was a very pleasant guest. He took much to 
 the cliildren of our family, and had that modesty and 
 simplicity of manner which are so often found in true 
 men of science. 
 
 Thorough draining must be next noticed as a 
 great means of advancing agriculture. It was in Scot- 
 land that the thorough draining of clay lands was first 
 made a national question. It was ^Ir. Smith of Dean- 
 ston who first demonstrated its importance. The 
 subsoil plough succeeded to thorough draining. I 
 have before said that it became apparent, from the 
 evidence given before the Connnittee of hupiiry into 
 Agricultural Distress in 183G, that the only safe 
 foundation for agricultural prosperity was in the growth 
 of an increased produce on a given area. One great 
 object of tillage then wa.s to create an increased avail- 
 able surface within the soil, and the gain was great 
 wlien, by drainage and subsoil pb^ughing, fields were
 
 254 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 made wholesome to a double depth, and stores of 
 nourishment were unlocked below, so that crops which 
 before had to draw their sustenance from six or nine 
 inches of soil, could descend for more than twenty, and 
 find there fertilizing properties. I subjoin a letter on 
 this subject, which may be interesting generally, while 
 it treats of particular applications of this principle :— 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE " NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE." 
 
 " DiLSTON, January 14, 1839. 
 
 " Sir, — Such of your readers as are interested in the 
 pursuits and improvements of agriculture may recollect 
 that, at the meeting of the Northumberland Agricultural 
 Society, held at Wooler in October last, a discussion took 
 place, as was reported in your paper, upon the utility of 
 subsoil-ploughing, on which subject opinions somewhat at 
 variance were expressed by the Marquis of Tweeddale and 
 myself. 
 
 " There are few men to whose zeal and example the 
 agriculture of the northern parts of the kingdom is more 
 indebted than to those of the noble Marquis, — few to whose 
 judgment and practical experience I am inclined to yield 
 a more perfect confidence, and none whom I have been 
 accustomed to meet on such occasions with greater pleasure 
 and advantage. If, then, I ventured at the time referred 
 to, to express opinions in opposition to his, it arose from a 
 strong conviction that his Lordship was in error, not as 
 regarded the subject of his own experiment, but in the 
 application of a general principle without due consideration 
 for difference of circumstances. 
 
 " The object of subsoil-ploughing, as you must know, is 
 to break up a hard and retentive stratum, often found at the 
 depth of a few inches below the surface, but without mix- 
 ing it with the sod, by which means it is rendered pervious 
 to water, which being withdrawn from the surface, the 
 land is left in a fit condition for the nourishment and growth 
 of plants, which hitherto Avere apt to be injured by super-
 
 WHOLESOME AND PERNICIOUS SUBSOILS. 255 
 
 abundant moisture. This, however, is a very expensive 
 jirocess, as tlie subsoil pknigh is an instrument of great 
 strength, and requires four, or frequently six, horses to 
 work it, while two more precede it, turning the surface 
 furrow with a common })lough. Lord Twccddale did not 
 deny the efficacy of the subsoil plough, but condemned its 
 use as unnecessarily expensive, seeing that results equally 
 beneficial might be produced by trench-i)loughing, which is 
 merely following with a second plough in the furrows which 
 the first has made, but at greater depth. I also have prac- 
 tised trench-ploughing to a considerable extent, and in 
 some cases with good effect ; but whether the result was 
 beneficial or injurious depended upon the quality of the 
 subsoil, which by this process is brought up and mixed 
 with the surface soil. And my experience leads me to 
 know that some descriptions of subsoil possess properties 
 so pernicious to vegetation that the productive quality of 
 the land with which it has been mixed has been materially 
 injured for years afterwards, and that it caused diseases in 
 young stock after being restored to grass. Thi.s, then, brings 
 me to the point which, at the meeting in question, I endea- 
 voured to enforce — that no general rule can be applicable 
 to all situations and circumstances, and that we are Init 
 working in the dark, and often misujipl} ing our means, and 
 wasting our money, till the elements of science shall be 
 brought to bear ui)on the practice <^f agriculture, and tlie 
 qualities of our soils and manures be equally .subjected to 
 the test of chemical analysis. 
 
 " The sub.soil in wliidi Lord Tweeddahi's experiment of 
 trench-i)loughing jiroved successful, was, I presume, devoid 
 of anything injurious to vegetation, and therefore, after 
 Ix-ing exposed to the atmospliere, and intennixed with the 
 soil, to whicli it gave a greater Itody, it becanie useful, l)e- 
 sides that the greater depth of i)loughing would render the 
 land drier and more frialde. Li other districts the sub.soil 
 may be not only hannless ])Ut beneficial, as in tlie neigh- 
 bourhood of MorecaiiO) Hay in Lanea.sliire, wliere it ia 
 mixed with so much siielly and calcareous matter as to
 
 256 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 operate usefully as a manure, if applied in quantities suited 
 to the character of the soil. But there is a description of 
 subsoil very prevalent in this country, which is neither 
 beneficial nor yet innocuous, but in a high degree pernici- 
 ous, commonly called moorhand, a strong ferruginous con- 
 cretion of gravel and clay, which it is difficult to break 
 through, and, being j^erfectly impervious to water, holds 
 all the wet on the surface in rainy seasons, which in 
 drought, being soon exhausted, leaves the crops to languish 
 from want of moisture. I had lately an opportunity of 
 witnessing the operation of the subsoil plough, in the vale 
 of the Till, upon land of this description. The surface soil 
 was light and easily turned over by a common plough with 
 two horses ; that was followed by a subsoil plough, and by 
 the united strength of six strong horses the moorband 
 was shivered to pieces, but without being brought up, or 
 in any way mixed with the surface soil. The effect was 
 extraordinary : it was a stubble field, in riding over which, 
 before ploughing, the horses' hoofs were scarcely found to 
 make any impression ; but on turning to the land that had 
 undergone the operation — woe betide the luckless fox- 
 hunter that encounters such a field ! he will find his horse 
 sink to the depth of 18 or 20 inches at every stride, Avhich 
 will soon ' take the go out of Jdm.' I have procured the 
 analysis of tAvo diff'erent portions of this moorband, which 
 is as follows : — 
 
 "First — 120 parts afforded oxide of iron 34, silex 74, 
 alumina or clay 6, water and loss 6 = 120. 
 
 " Second — Oxide of iron 43, silex 64, alumina 8, water 
 and loss 5 = 120. 
 
 "It is unnecessary to observe that such a combination must 
 be most injurious to vegetation, and therefore pernicious 
 if brought to the surface ; and on this I rest my argument, 
 that the practice which may be good in one case is bad in 
 another ; and that to make the progress of agricultural im- 
 provement at all commensurate Avith the rapid advance in 
 manufactures, to which the application of science, in its 
 various branches, has so greatly contributed, more is requi-
 
 or, 7 
 
 INGENUITY OF AGRICULTUR^NX IMPLEMENTS. 257 
 
 site than the knowledgo elicited, or the emulation excited, 
 by our local agricultural associations. We must call to 
 our aid the principles of science, under the guidance of 
 educated and scientific men ; Ave must test by analysis, 
 and prove by experiment, and endeavour, by the applica- 
 tion of suitable manures, to stimulate the productive quali- 
 ties of our soil, and to correct those that are crude and 
 j)ernicious ; and so look for remuneration for its culture in 
 the abundance of its produce, and not in restrictive regida- 
 tions affecting its price. (Signed) John Grey."^ 
 
 This brings ns to the era of improved agricultural 
 implements, and to the extended application of mechanics 
 to agriculture ; for mechanical science is as needful to 
 agriculture as to any of the other arts of life, and, 
 indeed, the application of ingenuity in the variety and 
 usefulness of agricultural implements has been very 
 beautiful. I recall the enjoyment which we sometimes 
 had in going out — the whole family — to see a trial of 
 some wonderful new machine, which appeared as if 
 instinct with life, and busily and eagerly intent on 
 fulfilling the special end of its creation ; and the interest 
 we took in watching the operations of the clever clod- 
 crushers, pressers, grubbers, drill- machines, turnip-slicers, 
 straw-cutters, steam threshing-machines, steam-ploughs, 
 reaping-machines, etc. The management of these com- 
 plicated tools requires far more intelligence than the 
 simple old method of " following the jilough," or 
 handling the sickle and scythe. Mr. Holland, 'M.V., 
 and Mr. Stratton, gave an account of their experience 
 in steam -ploughing at an agricultural meeting at Ciren- 
 cester in 1859, in which they said they found the 
 
 « The Marquia of Twccddalo read lately (March 18C9) a i)aper on this 
 tame lubject— the deepening ami thorough tillage of the land by steam 
 and hone power— before the Highland Bocicty. 
 
 R
 
 258 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 intelligence of their workmen greatly increased by the 
 work. 
 
 My father was a constant advocate, as those well 
 know who are familiar with his speeches, of long leases 
 and large holdings. In the matter of large farms some 
 people think he went too far ; he did, however, express 
 on several occasions the following opinion : — " I am 
 friendly to a few small farms in a district, not because 
 I deem them profitable in a national point of view, but 
 because they serve as steps in the ladder for men of 
 small means and industrious habits to mount by." I 
 cannot refrain from giving my father's views on this 
 important subject in his own words. The extract I 
 shall give from his speech on the relative duties of land- 
 lord and tenant contains a brief but comprehensive 
 sketch of the origin and rise of the custom of letting 
 lands, and it also gives an idea of the state of society in 
 parts of the country where long leases are common, a 
 state of society which is quite surprising to many persons 
 accustomed only to the semi-feudal condition of some 
 of the southern and western agricultural estates of Eng- 
 land. A Radical gentleman lately pointed out to me the 
 state of country society in England : " Here," he said, 
 " you have the great Duke, or Lord, or rich proprietor, on 
 the one hand, and his wretched farmers and labourers, 
 serfs in fact, on the other ; no middle class at all." A 
 most undesirable state of things, and, unhappily, too 
 correct a description of some parts of England, as the 
 circumstances of the late elections have shown, by their 
 humiliating revelations of ignorance and poverty and 
 political coercion on certain great ducal properties. 
 But it may be interesting to our Eadical friends to know 
 that this middle class is found in Scotland and in parts
 
 THE CONDITION OF TEN.VNTS. 259 
 
 of the north of England, as well as in some isolated 
 estates which have had the happiness to be the posses- 
 sions of " lords of the soil " who act as responsible beings, 
 and not on the principle that " a man may do what he 
 wills with his own." The tenant-farmers in Northum- 
 berland are very often, in education and in all that essen- 
 tiallv constitutes a gentleman, not a whit inferior to 
 the aristocratic landowners from whom they rent their 
 land. They present a strong contrast to the farmers of 
 certain parts of England, who in education and social 
 habits are but little raised above the labourers who 
 work for them. This middle class, whose existence is 
 so favourable to the wellbeing of the classes on either 
 side, can never arise on those estates where a man only 
 holds his fann at the will of his landlord, and may be 
 turned off at very short notice unless he votes the right 
 way. AVhat man of any moral dignity, or with capital 
 to invest in vigorous improvements, would ever offer 
 himself as a candidate for a farm under a feudal lord, 
 with neighbours around him out of whom all spirit of 
 enterprise had been crushed, and who are afraid even 
 to think except in the old worn-out conservative 
 grooves ? It will be apparent to any who have read 
 this memoir so far, how odious to my father Mas the 
 sight of the sacrifice, for political power, of noble lands, 
 of the true interests of society, and of the food of the 
 people, which ought to be draMn from those lands. Few 
 things made him more indignant than the knowledge 
 of the prevalence of a system of yearly holdings, under 
 preci.se and stringent regulations, framed with the ex- 
 clusive view of what are conceived to he the landlord's 
 interests, which is of all systems the most narrow upon 
 whicli landed property can be managed.
 
 260 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 Relative Duties of Landlord and Tenant. 
 
 " When I come to speak of the duties of each, I can 
 fancy that some may say, ' We know well what is expected 
 of the tenant — obligations are laid on him by the landlord 
 which he is required to fulfil ; but who can impose them 
 on the landlord 1 " can he not do as he will with his own ]'" 
 Be assured, gentlemen, there is much fallacy in that 
 aphorism. Obligations as strong as laws arise on all sides 
 to fetter his will, if it be capricious, and to control his 
 conduct, — obligations connected with his family interests, 
 with his social position, and with his character in public 
 estimation — all tending to that result, which experience in 
 a free community teaches, that he consults his own interest 
 more surely and permanently who gives due consideration 
 to that of others. Before entering particularly into the 
 duties of each, as the connexion exists between them in 
 our time, it may be allowed to look back, and shortly to 
 trace the origin of their respective positions. 
 
 " In early times, or in the settlement of unoccupied 
 countries, men became owners of land by royal grant, by 
 conquest from their weaker neighbours, or by clearance. 
 In modern times it is obtained by inheritance or by pur- 
 chase. In the early periods of our country's history, as in 
 less civilized countries still, the chieftain held his lands by 
 strong hands against innovators, and the inferior inhabi- 
 tants were maintained as serfs, to serve for defence or 
 aggression in war, and for hunting and field-labour in 
 times of peace. Countries so circumstanced were neces- 
 sarily thinly peopled. As civilisation advanced, the owners 
 of large domains could not occupy and cultivate them under 
 their own eyes and management, but resorted to the mode 
 of letting them off in parcels to their retainers. The serf 
 who had hitherto yielded his labour in peace and his life 
 in war for the precarious support and protection which he 
 derived from his chief, altered his condition, and took a 
 portion of land to occupy ; first paying for it in the shape 
 of produce in kind, and in personal service ; then, as money
 
 RELATIONS OF L.\2s'DL0RD AND TE^^V^'T. '2G1 
 
 came into use, rent resolved itself into a stipulated money 
 payment, and the relations between landlord and tenant 
 became recognised and defined. 
 
 "Thus out of the feudal state by degrees rose the 
 system of letting land on lease to tenants, and bringing to 
 bear on the productive powei^s of the soil the industr}'', 
 skill, and capital of a large body, most influential and im- 
 portant, as on their exertions mainly depend the support 
 and prosperity of the nation at large. A twofold applica- 
 tion of capital is thus l)rought to bear on the all-important 
 operations of agriculture. The original value of the soil 
 is vested in the landlord, who also supplies, or ought to 
 supply, the capital fixed on the land in buildings, fences, 
 embankments, and all permanent improvements which do 
 not alter with, or depiiul upon, the changes of tenancy ; 
 while the tenant, again, employs what may be called the 
 floating capital, working upon the other, and making it 
 productive. Thus a system of reciprocal aid and obliga- 
 tion is created and acted upon, so familiar to us now, that 
 we are apt to lose sight of the fact that it is both artificial 
 and conventional. The landlord looks to have his property 
 maintained in value, and restored to him without de- 
 terioration, though out of his ovm management, and the 
 tenant requires security of possession for the outlay of his 
 capital, and for the perfecting of his plans of improve- 
 ment. 
 
 " Other kinds of property there are which may be let on 
 lease, and worked by .speculators, but they differ entirely 
 in character frcjm land. For instance, a bed of coal or a 
 vein of lead-ore is let to a company on certain conditions. 
 A\Tien that bed or that vein is exhausted the jjmperty is 
 extinct. Not so with land ; its value is perpetual. We 
 return to it from year to year to claim its produce ; it is 
 grateful to us, if we are kind to it, and remunerative in 
 proportion as we treat it with lil)erality. It is this un- 
 cea.sing value and perennial j productiveness of land which 
 call for re«tricti«jns and regulations a.s to its management, 
 sufficient to secure its owner against any unreasonable
 
 262 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 drain of its fertility while out of his power ; and, on the 
 other hand, require for the tenant such security of tenure 
 and such liberal conditions as shall afford him all reason- 
 able prospect of a suitable return for his capital, skill, and 
 industry, as well as an inducement to use his best efforts 
 to keep its productive powers in active and constant opera- 
 tion. 
 
 " The arrangements between landlords and tenants are 
 still, in many parts of England, left to be settled by 
 custom, or to what is called a 'good understanding' between 
 them. Nothing can be more creditable to the characters of 
 both parties than the very common existence of this good 
 understanding and long-continued connexion between the 
 owners and occupiers of the land ; but when we consider 
 that land is in most hands a saleable commodity, and that 
 the uncertainty of human life, in all cases, makes it doubtful 
 how long the parties who now go on harmoniously may 
 live to act together, there can be no doubt of the prudence 
 on the part of the tenant, and the justice on that of the 
 landlord, in having the rights and obligations of both 
 defined and secured by a plain legal document, termed a 
 lease. In districts which have long been enclosed and 
 cultivated, and where no expensive improvements are re- 
 quired, annual occupation is attended with less risk and 
 inconvenience than in others; but it is unquestionable that 
 where such custom prevails, agriculture is found to be in 
 the most languid condition, and intelligence among farmers 
 at the lowest ebb. It was remarked by that distinguished 
 writer on agriculture — Arthur Young — many years ago, — 
 ' Give a man a permanent interest in a bog, and he will make 
 it fertile ; but give him a lease of a garden for a year and 
 he will leave it a wilderness.' He is the best tenant who 
 treats his farm as if it were his own property, and he is 
 likely to do the most for his land who has the longest 
 prospect of enjoying it. There are estates, and those of 
 great extent, so bound up by mortgages, entails, or settle- 
 ments, that the owners have it not within their power to 
 act the part of liberal and improving landlords, because the
 
 BAD AND GOOD LEGISLATION IN THESE MATTERS. 263 
 
 money they ought to s]>encl uii tlu'ir property would hut 
 increase the fortune ot" the lieir, to the privation of other 
 members of the family. To remedy this evil, and lielp 
 forward the good work of national improvement, the Legis- 
 lature has wisely come forward to make advances of money 
 for the execution of certain beneficial works, or to give a 
 guarantee to public bodies who do so, on legalized terms 
 of repayment, as preferable claims, resting on the property 
 for a given number of years; thus lu-lping owners who 
 cannot do so themselves to contribute to their own and 
 the public benefit. For this act of the Legislature the 
 country may be grateful ; and, indeed, some retri]»ution 
 was justl}' due from the Legislature, for the evil which their 
 acts at fonner j)eriods entailed upon it, by attemi)ts to 
 regulate the price of produce, and set at defiance tliat un- 
 erring law of demand and supply, which, when left to its 
 natural operation, is as sure and steady in action as the 
 law of gravitation, or any other law in the phenomena of 
 nature which science has proved or developed. L^nfavour- 
 able seasons will produce scarcity, and circumstances over 
 which the Legislature can exercise no control will create high 
 or liiw jjrices ; but if all attempts to regulate production 
 and price were futile in former ages, much more vain and 
 nugatory would they be now, since the facilities of inter- 
 course throughout the world, and the spirit of enteq^rise 
 which animates its merchants, give such ready means of 
 conveying the surplus of one country to su])ply the wants 
 of another. . . . There are several reasons for the i)resent 
 preference for large fanns and long leases. A great portion 
 of the land in this country is in the hands of the aristocracy, 
 and other wealthy projjHetors, who can occupy only a small 
 part of it themselves. This is the case to a greater extent 
 in Great Britain than in any other country in Europe, save 
 liubHia. . . . The prevalence of these large estates in few 
 liauflH curtails the number of the middle class of land- 
 owners which is found in many countries, who.se place, 
 however, is well substituted (in this county at least) by the 
 large occupiers to whom I am now adverting. Tiic capital
 
 264 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 which would go but a short way in the purchase of land is 
 sufficient to place an active man in a highly respectable and 
 most useful position as the tenant of a large farm, and the 
 taste or ambition, which elsewhere lead to the purchase of 
 a small estate, tend here to the possession of an extensive 
 occupation. It is reasonable to think that a man, planting 
 himself and family down upon land on which he is to in- 
 vest a large capital, and for which, by daily attention and 
 habit, he is likely to conceive a strong local attachment, 
 should like to cherish the idea of settling there for a long 
 period of his life. But, besides those feelings of local in- 
 terest and attachment which grow spontaneously in the 
 human breast, the current of events and free state of society 
 tend strongly to the concentration of large operations, on 
 the ground of rural and political economy. We have a 
 continual increase of population, which all the efforts of 
 agriculture hitherto have failed to feed ; the rational desire 
 of the statesman and the interest of the agriculturist are 
 to do their utmost to supply its demand by an increase of 
 produce, and by obtaining that produce at a diminished cost. 
 The obvious means of attaining these desirable objects are 
 to apply more skill and science to the cultivation of the land, 
 and to effect greater economy in tillage, by a perfect division 
 of labour and the employment of improved implements 
 and machinery; these are only to be effected in large 
 establishments." 
 
 " The letting of land," said my father, " is a com- 
 mercial transaction. In the contract between landlord 
 and tenant there must be, as in all other commercial 
 contracts, a strict exchange of equivalents, if both parties 
 are to reap from the transaction all the advantages pro- 
 perly incidental to both," and he constantly endeavoured 
 to inculcate the true commercial principles in all 
 matters connected with land. 
 
 ' Agricultural Societies are a feature of the last fifty 
 years. The venerable Highland Society took the lead.
 
 AGRICULTURAL SHOWS. 2G5 
 
 111 1839, the first meeting of the Eoyal English Agricul- 
 tural Society, just foiiued, took place. It m'hs hailed 
 with great joy. In these associations political subjects 
 were proscribed, and men of all parties met in a friendly 
 spiiit, though opposite opinions were sometimes ex- 
 pressed in the speeclies there made, when such subjects 
 as Protection and Free-trade were being agitated ; but 
 " it was cheering to see at these meetings the Duke of 
 Eichmond and Lord Spencer walking in to dinner 
 together, and high Tory and deep Iladical chemists 
 helping out one another's information about soils and 
 manures and food for stock ; and the rush to the 
 plough ing-matches, and the stock -yards, and the im- 
 plement-sheds ; and even the road, resembling the route 
 from London to Epsom on a race-day." Shall we not 
 also mention the enormous bulls, walking veiy regally 
 and slowly, with their great dewlaps swinging ; sheep 
 of twenty-one stones weight ; and the poor pigs with 
 prize medals tied with gay ribbons to their ears, whose 
 life must have been somewhat of a burden to them, 
 inasmuch as they could neither stand nor see for 
 obesity ? I find very grave letters from Lord Ducie 
 to my father, remonstrating on the over-fatness of the 
 prize-stock, and begging him to use his intlucnce to 
 put it down ! My father encouraged local agricultural 
 societies, together with farmers' clubs, lending libraries, 
 and meetings for discussion, with the view of exchang- 
 ing and disseminating infurniation, and stiniulatiiig a 
 desirci for knowledge. Tlie societies of tliis kind which 
 lie hiujself created he managed to make most valuable 
 u.se of as means of education. In spito of the good 
 intention of agricultural meetings, there was a tendency 
 to degenerate to purposes of eating, drinking, and
 
 266 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 flattering after-dinner speeches. On one of these occa- 
 sions my father said : " Now, it is not my habit to flatter ; 
 for I have made it my constant rule through life, 
 wherever I am, or with whomsoever T may be, never to 
 be deterred from speaking the truth in all plainness 
 and sincerity." This was a prelude to a rebuke to Lan- 
 cashire men, whom he was addressing, for their too 
 great respect for Nature in her wild disordered state ! 
 At a similar meeting in Northumberland he said : " I 
 am aware it is common on such occasions to make com- 
 pliments rather than to speak the downright truth ; but 
 I should not be your friend if I were to do so, and I am 
 determined to say what I think, though it may not be 
 pleasant to some who hear me. I feel compelled to 
 observe that the character for superiority in agriculture 
 which Northumberland had so justly acquired could 
 not now with equal confidence be claimed by it. How 
 dangerous it is to loiter in a race we know ; from too 
 great confidence in the power to win, ground may be 
 lost which cannot be recovered." He then spoke of the 
 absence of landlords from such meetings, in stern words, 
 not perhaps undeserved. On another occasion, that of 
 the first grand cattle-show which took place in Ireland, 
 he addressed a very large assembly of landlords on the 
 poor state of the cottages of their labourers, reminding 
 them that all progress must begin with themselves. A 
 Cork newspaper observed, " It was honest of Mr. Grey 
 to speak thus, standing in the immediate presence of a 
 number of Irish landlords. The landlords, we learn, 
 received Mr. Grey's suggestions in a spirit of candour ; 
 while from the body of the hall, which contained up- 
 wards of a thousand humbler agriculturists, he was 
 frequently interrupted by loud cheers and cries of ' Hear
 
 IMPltO^T:MEXT OF L.\BOURERS' COTTAGES. 2G7 
 
 the honest Englishman.'" The eJitor of a well-known 
 agricultural paper wrote to me lately that for nothing 
 did he esteem my father more than for his persistent 
 advocacy, by precept and example, of proper dwellings 
 for the poor. Surely this is an item in the history of 
 agricultural as of political progi'ess which should not be 
 unnoticed here. The following letter, written to one of 
 his daughtei^s, shows how strong my father's feelings 
 were on the subject : — 
 
 " DiLSTON, 1840. 
 
 " ;My dear Tully, — The Committee of the English 
 Agricultural Society have treated me cavalierly in using 
 two articles which I sent them for the present number of 
 their Juunud, as if they had come from the pen of a hired 
 scribe, and might be curtailed and mutilated at pleasure. 
 In one upon farm-buildings and cottage accommodation and 
 architecture, they have taken what seemed useful to the 
 South of England, and left out what I was most interested 
 in, the comforts of the poor, — not stomaching, I fancy, the 
 accompanying remarks on the grandees who lavish expense 
 upon their castles and deer-parks, but disregard the dwell- 
 ings of the cultivators of the land. However, neither the 
 magnates alluded to, nor the chairman of the committee, 
 shall escape the lash ; more especially as Sir Francis Doyle, 
 in the last Poor-Law Report, quotes largely from informa- 
 tion received at Dilston ; .speaks of the intelligence and 
 industry of the northern peasantry ; but inveighs against 
 the cottages on many estates. This paper, had they pub- 
 li.shed the whole, along with the ])lans of cottages that 
 Charlie drew, would have slnnvn tliat some attention is 
 given to the subject, and who the magnates are that dis- 
 regard the comforts of the poor, and lavish all luxury on 
 their most noble selves. In the other paj)er, they have 
 jtublished the dry detail of experiments that I had made 
 or collected, but omitted :dl the; arguments and i)leas for 
 an etitablibhrnent for a'Ticultural and clii-niical iiist ruction, 
 and an exi>erimental farm, without which we shall not
 
 268 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 make much or sure advancement in our object of scien- 
 tific improvement." 
 
 Whether enornious estates, such as the great ducal 
 estates of England and Scotland, are for the good or 
 harm of the community generally, is a matter about 
 •which there is great diversity of opinion ; but un- 
 doubtedly the circumstances which frequently attend 
 the possession of very large estates are unfavourable to 
 the general good, such as settlements, absenteeism, 
 inequality between the amount of land possessed and 
 available money for the improvement of it. Of the 
 evils arising from these circumstances it may be said 
 their name is legion. We may trace them in the 
 miseries of London society, in the unhappy marriages 
 for money of the daughters of the upper classes, who are 
 impoverished for the enriching of an eldest son, as well 
 as in the scenes which we encounter so often in travel- 
 ling through our beautiful rural England, passing through 
 properties which Nature has endowed richly, but where 
 everything is in disorder ; where trees, sweating mois- 
 ture, are crowded together, and timber rotting ; where 
 rabbits, numerous as vermin, are undermining unpro- 
 ductive fields with their interlacing network of burrows ; 
 and where the blue dragon-fly poises himself over 
 marshes which might be converted into drained and 
 fertile land. For this the landowner is not always to 
 blame. In some cases the burdens on the land are so 
 heavy, and he himself so fettered, that improvement is 
 impossible ; in other cases, London life, fashionable 
 society, or a public career, offer more attractions than 
 his country home. It is true, as my father said, that the 
 evil of entails has been somewhat counteracted by recent 
 Acts, which enable the owner to borrow money on en-
 
 ENTAILS AND NEGLECTED LANDS. 2G9 
 
 tailed estates for improvements, the interest being charge- 
 able to the estates, whoever succeeds. But the ^vol•ds 
 spoken some years ago by 'Mr. Hoskhis are but too true, 
 that " the annual loss which this country, with all its 
 boasted agricultural improvement, undergoes by the tied- 
 up hand of ownership, etc., is a subject which must 
 sooner or later find a tongue and a more efficient and 
 constitutional remedy than Government grants, which 
 struggle with the effect, but leave untouched the cause 
 which they incidentally recognise." 
 
 But these subjects, which occupied my father's mind 
 much, and affected him deeply as momentous questions 
 of the future, are too large to be entered on here.^ 
 
 * The following extract from one of his speeches will give his views on 
 the vexed question of game-presening : — 
 
 " There Ls a subject connected with the occupation of land in this 
 countrj', which, I am sorry to say, has led, and will continually lead, 
 I fear, to very great dissatisfaction and disagreement. If it is essential 
 that a farmer, when he has good oflices, should select the verj' best 
 description of cattle— if it is essential for his profits that he sliould have 
 that description of cattle which conies verj' early to maturity, ami which 
 will return a fair amount of profit for the food that it has consumed, it 
 surely must be contrary to every principle of justice that any part of his 
 produce should be destroyed by animals over whiclj he has no control. 
 Don't misunderstand me, and believe that I speak as an enemy of game 
 under all circumstances. On the contrary, I believe that it is conducive, 
 not only to the welfare of the country, and to the good understamling and 
 feeling which it is so desirable should exist between the landlord and 
 tenant, that there should be the means of gentlemen sporting, if they 
 sport in a legitimate way. That description of sporting wliich is con- 
 nected with a considerable amount of healthful exercise, an<l where men 
 and d%'K have room to show tliemselves— I Bj)eak of that in contra- 
 dijitinction to the great game preserves, which encourage poachers, and 
 which lead to a great many disgraceful scenes of crime and misery. I 
 1, ' ' an you nil know, considerable exjierienco in the character and 
 I i the tenant fanners ; an*l I *l«n't believe Diat I evi-r knew u tenant 
 
 that would not moat willingly sec a nKnlcrate liead of game on his hind. 
 I have known a tenant «ay, in answer to n remark that he encouraged hares, 
 ' Oh, we have « few bores, and sonic partridges. Our Stpiiru likes to come 
 
 /
 
 270 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 The last subject of wliicli I shall speak in connexion 
 with agricultural progress is that upon which every 
 other branch of advancement depends. I mean educa- 
 tion. It is affecting to me to observe in my father's 
 private papers how much he had this subject at heart, 
 and how scant a fulfilment of his hopes he lived to see. 
 He had at one time great hope that agricultural science 
 might become one of the subjects studied at Oxford 
 
 here and get a day's shooting ; and lie would not like to come here and go 
 back without a day's sport ; and therefore we take as good care of the 
 partridges as we can, and he does not trouble us with gamekeepers, to 
 come and vex us with their insolence. He leaves the matter in our own 
 hand, and he never comes but what he is well satisfied.' This is all 
 legitimate, and as it ought to be ; but there is another system which 
 prevails in some districts. There are some parts of the country where 
 game is preserved to a most injurious extent. It always appears to me, 
 in siich cases, that great injustice is done to the cultivator of the soil, and 
 it is connected with great impolicy as regards political economy. If we 
 rear produce for the purpose of feeding animals which are to go to market 
 for the good of man, surely that produce should not be subjected to the 
 unlimited destruction which wild animals bring upon it. I suppose 
 everybody knows what the kind of destruction is ; it is a thing, however, 
 which is incalculable. If you see a general rabbit warren adjoining your 
 fields— which is one of the greatest evils you can suffer— and you see a 
 few acres trodden down and destroyed, you may in some measure reckon 
 on the mischief; but in other respects I would defy the best judge possible 
 to say what is the injury a farmer has sustained ; and I have never yet, 
 where valuations and arbitrations were resorted to, seen the farmer get 
 one-half of what I consider he was entitled to. Look at the progress of a 
 single hare. You see a hare enter a wheat field— you see him pick out a 
 stem here and there- very little— in his course over the field; he will 
 nibble an inch or two from this stem, and he does not stop till he has cut 
 off a great many. It is not that that inch he has consumed has any 
 appreciable value whatever ; but the ear of corn would have been matured 
 which the hare had prevented by cutting the stem off ; and if you consider 
 the damage which is done by one individual hare in a wheat-field in one 
 night, you will find that the damage by these animals night after night 
 comes to a considerable extent— it may amount to bushels an acre. And 
 no one will say that that is a profitable way of occupying a property, 
 whether that hare goes into the pocket of the landlord, the keeper, or the 
 poacher. (The poacher, by the way, I consider to be an unmitigated 
 villain ! he is a man who exercises his calling under the shade of night
 
 GAME-PRESERVING— AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 271 
 
 and Cambridge. He even trusted to see it in liis day ; 
 and it was no unreasonalile hope, if we consider that a 
 h\rge proportion of yoimg men who go to the Univer- 
 sities are or will be our great landed proprietors. It 
 seems a pity that they should leave the University 
 accomplished athletes, it may be, or furnished with a 
 degree of useful learning, but guiltless of all knowledge 
 of the simplest principles of rural economy, or of the 
 
 and he has sen-ed an apprenticeship to all kinds of crime and dishonesty. ) 
 When a fanner wants his field of turnips consumed, he takes care to put 
 sheep on one portion, and fix them there until everything is consumed. 
 Not so with the game. They are free to do what they like ; they take a 
 morsel out of this, and a morsel out of that ; and what is left is left to 
 the frost and the inclement season to be destroyed. I have known 
 situations where there has been so much game kept that the fanners have 
 been obliged to take up the whole of their root crops and stow them away 
 1)efore they were matured. These are e.xtremely provoking circumstances, 
 and they are, I think, what it is right the country should set their faces 
 against. I have often wondered tliat tenants seemed to make very little 
 of situations of that kind ; but surely if a landlord claims to him,self the 
 right of eating the produce by game, that landlord has no right to expect 
 that he will get a full rent from his property. In that respect the farmers 
 have it in their own power. Far be it from me to say that a man in this 
 country, the laws of whicli are considered to lie the best in tiie world, is 
 not to do as he will with his own ; but then let him keep to his owai. If 
 a man wishes to have an amount of game, which would make what is called 
 a battue, let him enclose a portion of his own land -let him have a park 
 with a good wall round it, and let him give food to these animals at 
 various seasons. It is quite right he nhould be able to go into it, and 
 shoot down a cart-load or two of these animals, when his murderous 
 propensities come over him ; but it is not right, nor just, nor honest, that 
 he should do this at the expense of his neighbour, who raises the food 
 upon which these animals arc fed, who gets up early and goes to bed late ; 
 who eaU the brea<l of caref\ilness,- that man who, by his laml, endea- 
 vours that he may maintain his family in respectability,- that man who 
 is anxious to pay his rent, and thinks to owe no man anything,— is it 
 right that the produce of his land should bo sacrificed to give the 
 indulgence to any lamllonl of wliat is nillt-d a hitttnel Yr)U will agree 
 with mo it is not, and that there hhould be some laws to correct that 
 system. To protect game to such an extent that ho who feeds it feeds it 
 by spoliation of hi« neighbour's property, is, in my opinion, a remnant of 
 feudalism."
 
 272 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 relations of physical science to agriculture. My father 
 spoke of this when visiting a married daughter living 
 at Oxford. In social gatherings there, I recollect the 
 humble grace and grave attention with which he fol- 
 lowed conversations in which he took little part — not 
 being professedly a literary man. He inquired of the 
 meaning of the professorship of Eural Economy there, 
 and the lessons taught. He was told that the professor 
 gave lectures from year to year on the Georgics of Virgil. 
 His answer was gentle : " Very good; but I think your 
 young men will scarcely learn from Virgil how to keep 
 pace with the progress of the present day." In the 
 Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen there are 
 chairs of Agriculture. In Scotland, so far ahead of 
 England in popular education, an Agricultural Chemis- 
 try Association was formed about twenty-five years ago, 
 and lectures were given in all parts, which were well 
 attended by farmers ; and there is a Catechism of 
 Agricultural Chemistry, which is taught to boys in 
 schools. In the value they set on education the 
 Northumbrians are more Scotch than English. In 
 every province in Prussia there are agricultural societies. 
 These societies maintain experimental farms, employ 
 chemists, hold frequent meetings, and edit a number 
 of periodicals. Besides several special schools for the 
 instruction of meadow irrigators and agricultural work- 
 men, six large academies have been established for the 
 last thirty years, partly by corporations, partly by 
 Government means, for instruction in agricultural 
 sciences. These are not filled by Prussians only, but 
 are visited by foreigners of good social standing, who 
 go there for instruction. The students are sometimes 
 sent out to help in large undertakings such as the
 
 AGKICULTURAL EDUCATION IN PUUSSIA .VND CANADA. 273 
 
 draining and embanking of the Oderbuch, on wliich the 
 barley known to Englisli brewers is grown, and to tlie 
 enmneerinij works on the Vistula, which have been 
 carried out on a gigantic scale. Mr. Fergusson wrote 
 to my father from Canada in 1851 : — 
 
 " I must tell you how pleased I am with our prospect of 
 obtaininir a srood agricultural school in Canada. We have 
 obtained, in the first place, an agricultural chair in our great 
 University, which I think will be well endowed, and 1 hope 
 well filled, a piece of excellent suitable land close adjoin- 
 ing to the University, and forming part of a noble park, 
 the grant to the Board of Agriculture, consisting of fifty 
 or sixty acres, lying compact and convenient, for illustrating 
 practically the lessons taught in the classroom, — it will be 
 of the greatest benefit ; and a veterinary school, etc., in 
 addition, will do much to elevate agriculture to the position 
 it ought to occupy in such a country as Canada." 
 
 It is no wonder that my father, witnessing these 
 things in other countries, should have mourned over the 
 backwardness of England in the matter of public pro- 
 vision for agricultural education, which he never ceased 
 to advocate by his pen and voice. He wrote as early as 
 1839 to one of tlie papers : — 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE " NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE." 
 
 " A prospectus is now abroad for establishing an agricul- 
 tural college connected with an exijcriniental farm in Kent. 
 It is a laudable and interesting undertaking, and I heartily 
 wish it success ; but one naturally asks, is the subject not 
 one of vast national importance, deserving of a national 
 instead of a local institution ] 
 
 " An agricultural association for Enghuid has been estab- 
 lished under the presidency of Lord Sjjcncer, a nobleman 
 eminently fitted for the office, not merely by the ardour 
 
 S
 
 274 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 with which he has long pursued, and the great knowledge 
 which he has acquired of agriculture in all its departments, 
 but also by that extraordinary candour and freedom from 
 prejudice which characterize his mind. Would an agricul- 
 tural college, founded on liberal principles, and on an ex- 
 tensive scale, with able professors in the different branches, 
 not be most appropriately and beneficially connected with 
 such a society, and best managed by a committee of its 
 members, comprising the most intelligent as well as the 
 most influential of the land 1 Hoping that the subject of a 
 National Agricultural College may excite such interest as 
 its importance merits, and meet with more able advocates, 
 I am, sir, your obedient servant, John Grey." 
 
 He watched with great interest the success of Ciren- 
 cester College, SO ably presided over by his friend Mr. 
 Constable. Though he rejoiced in every proof of well- 
 educated farmers being sent out from there, there was 
 disappointment in the fact that the instruction offered 
 did not reach the class whom he most wished to see 
 thoroughly educated agriculturists. There was not the 
 prestige which the old Universities w^ould have given to 
 it ; and unhappily it is still too much the fashion to 
 think that young men who are not clever enough for 
 any other profession, or who are of the coarse rollicking 
 character supposed to be suitable for country life, may 
 take to farming and do well enough. Although the 
 many translations and editions through which the 
 works of Johnston, Mulder, and Liebig have passed 
 show how considerable is the demand in some quarters 
 for knowledge of this kind, yet my father considered 
 that even now we are but on the threshold of agricul- 
 tural science ; and that there are many lines of investi- 
 gation as yet not opened up at all which will throw light 
 upon it, as upon all sciences, physical and moral, which
 
 " forward" his watchword at all times. 275 
 
 bear upon the wellbeing of the human family. It was in 
 no narrow sense that he was tlie advocate of education. 
 His speeches and writings testify sufficiently to the 
 breadth of his views on this subject, and to the stress 
 he laid upon the right attitude of the spirit before God, 
 and the training of the moral nature in faith, in virtue, 
 and in self-denial, without which he deemed the mere 
 furnishing of the bmin unworthy of the name of edu- 
 cation. 
 
 In 1859 my father made a speech which, though only 
 addressed to a local society, had a wide circulation in 
 print. It contained a masterly survey of the past and 
 present state of agriculture, and ventured into a strain' 
 of hopeful prophecy for the future. It was uttered at a 
 crisis of considerable public depression, and at a time 
 when his o\\ti spirit had been sorely tried by the loss 
 of friends and of fortune. It was often familiarly 
 alluded to as his " peace and plenty speech." The 
 Economist remarked on it, "Wlien the season of difficulty 
 arrives, prudent men naturally review their position, 
 and farmers, with the present low price of wheat before 
 them, fairly enough say, ' AMiere are we, and what is 
 ahead ?' It is at periods like the present that a clear 
 and decisive exposition of the actual state of husbandry 
 by the voice of a trusted and skilful agriculturist is 
 more than usually welcome. And when we find that 
 voice steadily saying, 'Forward,' and supporting his view 
 by references to what has already been accomplished, 
 we feel that the confidence and self-reliance he incul- 
 cates will certainly overcome all obstacles." 
 
 The following letters are selected from a great number 
 commenting on the speech : —
 
 276 . MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 " WiNDsoK Castle, Jan. 26, 1859. 
 " My dear Mr. Grey, — I need hardly say that I always 
 hear from you with the greatest pleasure, as the mere sight 
 of your handwriting carries me at once back in imagina- 
 tion from this foggy atmosphere to the bright green hills 
 of Glendale. I had myself already read your speech at the 
 Hexham Club with extraordinary pleasure, and yesterday 
 evening I had an opportunity, of which I gladly availed 
 myself, of reading it to the Prince, who takes the greatest 
 interest in all agricultural societies. He was pleased be- 
 yond expression, characterizing it as a ' fine speech, calcu- 
 lated to do much good,' and he desired me to send it on 
 to his bailiff at Osborne, that he might have the advan- 
 tage of the admirable lessons it contains. I, however, had 
 an advantage which His Royal Highness had not, for I 
 could picture to myself the speaker in his delivery of the 
 speech, and we know how much it adds to the effect of 
 what we read to be able to give it this kind of personality. 
 — Believe me ever yours most sincerely, 
 
 " Charles Grey." 
 
 " Brighton, 19th Jan. 1859. 
 " My dear Mr. Grey, — The newspaper containing your 
 speech at Hexham was forwarded the other day from 
 Hinxton, and truly can I say it greatly refreshed me. I 
 fancy the Times never gave so long a report of an agricul- 
 tural speech before. You clearly in their eyes will do 
 something to reclaim the 'agricultural mind' from the 
 slough of despond. . . . Before I close I cannot help ob- 
 serving, amidst your own anxieties and disappointments, 
 how God has blessed you above your fellows with elasticity 
 of spirit, courage, and surprising vigour of mind, for truly 
 your days that have passed are not few but many. I quite 
 wonder how you endure the fatigue of your laborious office 
 and its consequent public requirements. But to the end I 
 pray that ' as your day so may your strength be.' — Yours 
 very sincerely, Charles Nash."
 
 COMMENTS ON HIS " PEACE AND PLENTY " SPEECH. 277 
 
 " Haighwood, Dunkeld, 7th Feb. 1859. 
 
 " My DE.\R Sir, — I have read with great pleasure your 
 address to the Hexham Chib. I had previously read an 
 abridgment of it in the North British Agriculturist, with 
 remarks by the editor, and the leader in the Times on the 
 same subject. I agree with every word you say and senti- 
 ment you utter ; your personal influence for good in that 
 district must be great. We have most certainly lived in a 
 stirring and imj)roving time, not only as regards the man- 
 agement of land or improvement in machinery and manu- 
 factures, but, far more than either, in the change which has 
 come over men's minds. I am old enough to recollect the 
 time when alteration or improvement were looked upon as 
 things absurd. To plough, sow, and reap, in the mode 
 common in the district for ages, M-as all the farming mind 
 appeared capable of. Now there is a willingness to learn, 
 a belief that there is still much unknown, and what is 
 more, and of as much importance, a willingness to teach, 
 that is, to impart to each other the information possessed 
 by one and not by the other. You say truly, * We must 
 not look with any doubt upon the time that is to come. 
 We need not fear yet, or halt in our progress.' 
 
 " The question of large and small farms is a much more 
 difficult one. In every word you say regarding superiority 
 of management of large over small farms I agree, but am 
 persuaded that a mixture of all kinds of farms, from the 
 well-cultivated holding of 50 acres, near large towns, where 
 market-gardening commences, up to the 1000 acres of 
 arable land, a mixture of all kind of farms, small and great, 
 for men of all different grades of capital, is for the well- 
 being of the whole. The .strength of this country has long 
 been in the mixture of all kinds of cla.sses, in so much so, 
 that it is impossible often to tell where one class ends and 
 another begins. So ought it to be with farming,- — a mixture 
 so comi)lete, that from the markft-gardcncr to tlie wealthy 
 Htock-owner and capitalist, yc»u can scarcely draw the line 
 of demarcation. I have read your address with great 
 pleasure, and with profit, and I hope you will be long spared
 
 278 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 among us to make many such. — Believe me, dear sir, yours 
 truly, Egbert Elliot."^ 
 
 I conclude this chapter with an extract from the 
 Oxford Journal of 1864, from the pen of Mr. J. 
 Chalmers Morton, than whom no one is more com- 
 petent to form a correct judgment on the subject treated 
 by him : — 
 
 " There is hardly any profession whose wise and success- 
 ful prosecution tends more to the general welfare than that 
 of the landowner. It depends greatly on him whether his 
 estate shall yield food, wages, and farm profit in abundance, 
 or at all. On his will and judgment rests the share whicli 
 is contributed by his portion of the island to the prosperity 
 of its population. There cannot be greater contrasts than 
 land managed under different ownerships presents, — much 
 greater than those arising out of difference of soil or of 
 climate. The character of the ownership acts directly on 
 the character of the population, producing all the difference 
 between listlessness and energy, between poverty and wealth. 
 There are light sandy districts in this country, formerly so 
 worthless and deserted that land-lighthouses were required 
 for the guidance of the traveller, which now, thanks to the 
 wisdom of measures taken by their owners, present the best 
 illustrations of fertility and productiveness. 
 
 " There are clayey tracts, which in some parts are a 
 poverty-stricken dairy country, and in others, thanks to 
 similar operations, are drained, tilled, and productive. On 
 the one side, in these two pictures, we have a scanty popu- 
 lation, earning a precarious livelihood, while on the other 
 there are intelligence, activity, well-paid labour, well-supplied 
 markets, and a prosperous tenantry. 
 
 " The difference between the two has been owing to the 
 difference between energy and carelessness, between parsi- 
 
 1 I may remark that as the speech above commented on is one sustained 
 argument throughout, it is impossible to give extracts from it without 
 breaking in on the unity of the whole. __
 
 FAITHFUL AND ABLE STFSVARDSIIIP. 279 
 
 raony and liberality, between recklessness and wisdom, in 
 the person and management of the landowner. 
 
 '* The duties of a position on which so much depends 
 are rarely performed in person, and thus the office of the 
 land-agent or deputy, to whom they are very generally re- 
 mitted, is one of very great importance. 
 
 " We do not know an estate on which the value of a 
 wise and liberal and energetic superintendence has been 
 more obviously proved than it has on the Northumberland 
 property of the Greenwich Hospital. Nor is it, we believe, 
 possible to name any one to whom in this direct, local, and 
 immediate manner Ensilish agriculture owes so much as it 
 does to the gentleman whose name heads this paragraph, 
 and who has now for more than thirty years administered 
 this extensive property. 
 
 "Appointed so long ago as sole superintendent of an 
 estate extending from Tweedmouth to Cross Fell, with all 
 its vast mineral and agricultural productions, he might well 
 feel diffident. He accepted the arduous post, however, and 
 has since performed not only the mere duties of the office, 
 but, in a most distinguished and public-spirited manner, 
 those which every man in his position and degree owes to 
 society. Mr. Grey of Dilston has been long knoAvn as the 
 great agricultural authority in the North of England, as 
 the great promoter of agricultural improvement, as the 
 founder of agricultural societies, as the heart and centre of 
 every useful public movement in the agricultural world. 
 
 " Known to readers of the English Agricultural Society's 
 Jmipml as the writer of many useful papers on the rela- 
 tions of master and servant, on the relations of landlord 
 and tenant, on faim-buildings and other agricultural sul)- 
 jects, he is still better known as the eloquent public 
 speaker wherever there is a wise and large-hearted plan to 
 be ])romotfd, or a good and gonial sentiment to be advo- 
 cated. . . . He brings to Ix-ar on tlif important subject he 
 tvi'titR of that rij)e and expcrit-nced wisdom which is only 
 to }>c acquired Ijy tin; Christian gentleman, and by a long 
 life of honourable public-spiiited and useful employment."
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 " Life is strong, and still 
 Bears onward to new tasks and sorrows new, 
 Whether we will or no. Life bears ns on, 
 And yet not so but what there may survive 
 Something to us ; sweet odours reach us yet. 
 Brought sweetly from the fields long left behind 
 Of holy joy, or sorrow holier still." 
 
 The subject of Emigration was always an interesting 
 one to my father. He received letters from settlers in 
 our colonies, in which the writers sometimes complained 
 of the clumsiness and absence of system with which 
 emigration from our country was carried on. The 
 following extracts from Mr. Fergusson's letters to him 
 may be interesting : — 
 
 "WooDHiLL, Canada West, 1847. 
 "What a mass of misery and starvation weighs down 
 poor Ireland! It is heartrending to hear of it, and to 
 know, as we do here, how substantially it might have been 
 alleviated, had such arrangements been made in regard to 
 colonization as might have been made. Surely some serious 
 move will be made now ; and how simple and easy is the 
 process ! It is my solemn and well-digested conviction, 
 that at no former period had a colonial Minister so noble a 
 field for energy and talent, so good a chance of securing 
 independence and comfort to starving millions, and so plain 
 a field of action, as at the present hour. He needs not to 
 augment the permanent burdens of Britain to the amount 
 of one farthing. He has only to use her credit for a rea- 
 sonable time, drawing a liberal percentage for such accom- 
 modation, and to apply that advance to the opening up, by
 
 EMIGRATION TO CANADA. 281 
 
 railroads or other roads, through the millions of fertile acres 
 belonging to the public, in healthy, well-watered, delightful 
 parts of this western portion of Canada, lands which will re- 
 main dead and waste for ever if not made accessible by roads; 
 and the very wages expended upon the working of which, 
 if economically managed, would enable the poor labourers 
 to purchase the land, filling Canada with a truly grateful 
 and loyal population. Lord Elgin says, ' that 's all very 
 well, but when Governments undertake such things matters 
 soon degenerate into some sort of job.' It is true sudi has 
 been too often the case ; but I can see no moral necessity 
 that it should remain so. Honest men and proper checks 
 miglit surely be found and devised. At present the case is 
 in every respect dangerous, mischievous, and disgraceful. 
 The Ministry here still hold on, and declare that a majority 
 of one is as good as a majority of twenty. A University 
 Bill, which has been a great bone of contention for many 
 years, has been suddenly and secretly concocted, and they 
 say will be passed by some such majority. Its leading 
 feature is to promote sectarian rancour in the whole country, 
 — the very greatest curse which could be entailed upon it ; 
 and if the bill becomes law, the Free Church of Scotland 
 and many other numerous sects will be stigmatized, and 
 cut off from all chance of improvement. This is rather a 
 gloomy epistle on public affairs. My hopes for fair, lilieral, 
 honest government, such as Durham, Sydenham, or Sir 
 Charles Bagot would have given, — my hopes, I say, are 
 very small. Nous vcrrons / Lord Elgin spoke much of 
 you, and made me tell him what the question was which 
 he had put regarding my politics. His face flushed ; 
 and he said, ' that was of course without meaning,' Avhich 
 you know was ' all my eye.' " 
 
 "1848. 
 "We suffer in all parts of Canada from the fever spread 
 ])y the unfortunate emigrants. "What a mass of misery and 
 starvation and woe h.is l)een created by the reckless con- 
 duct of Irish landlords and their agents! It is a fact, 
 though hardly credible, that Lord Palmerston's consign-
 
 282 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 ments were assured of money and rations being ready for 
 them here, when neither a shilling of money nor one ounce 
 of food had been ordered or prepared. Alas ! alas ! " 
 
 "September 1850. 
 " It is impossible for me to convey in words my admira- 
 tion of our Governor-General. He has gone through a 
 severe ordeal, and has displayed a Christian forbearance, a 
 degree of personal magnanimity, and of constitutional 
 policy, which do him infinite honour, and which it gladdens 
 my heart to see is understood and appreciated at home. 
 The last despatch of Earl Grey, disposing of the annexa- 
 tionists, has been hailed with almost universal joy in the 
 province. The line adopted and rigidly followed out by 
 Lord Elgin is precisely the one which he told me would 
 be his course, at our first interview. I cannot, however, 
 conceal from myself that we have breakers ahead in regard 
 to the Clergy Eeserves ; and if the strenuous efforts of the 
 bishops here are allowed to stir up the bench at home, who 
 shall say what will follow "? I candidly admit that it has 
 the appearance of some captious frivolity to ask the Im- 
 perial Parliament so soon to undo what in 1840 we blessed 
 them for doing. The real truth, however, is, that Lord 
 Sydenham carried through his measures with rather too 
 much energy and rapidity. It effected something, but 
 the country here had no fair chance of expressing their 
 sentiments. We will probably now request the Imperial 
 Parliament to reinvest these funds in the Provincial Parlia- 
 ment, who will then apply them to general educational and 
 religious objects, but not as stipends to ministers of any 
 
 denomination." 
 
 " Quebec, 28ih October 1852. 
 
 " Lord Elgin is in excellent health and spirits, and 
 always actively engaged, body and mind. Never did a 
 man more eff"ectually outlive foul calumny than he has done. 
 If Lord Derby removes him it will be a great mistake. I 
 paid my respects to Lady Elgin yesterday, it being her 
 reception day, and we had a chat about Mr. Grey and 
 Lord 's treatment of that gentleman. I found that I 
 
 I 
 
 i
 
 LETTERS FROM CANADA — LORD ELGIN. 283 
 
 had little to communicate, for she knew all about it. In 
 mercy let me hear how things look after Parliament meets. 
 This is a most romantic city, and the environs very fine. 
 The mountains with their glens and torrents are quite 
 refreshing to my Scotch eyes, and in many of its features 
 Quebec strikingly reminds me of Auld Reekie. I pass up 
 and down the Durham Terrace, and imagine myself upon 
 the Castle Hill looking down upon the old Grassmarket and 
 Cowgate. I have to thank you for the newspaper with 
 details of the Carlisle and Tjiiesidc meetings. The speeches 
 are capital." 
 
 " April 1, 1853. 
 "The British Parliament have taken up that wretched 
 apple of discord, the Clergy Keserves, in a spirit highly 
 palatable to the mass of the population here. I trust Earl 
 Grey's enlightened policy will now be soon carried out. 
 The representation of Canada has been long requiring 
 amendment, and the rapid progress of the province has now 
 forced it into motion. A bill to increase the number of 
 members and to extinguish something like the old close 
 boroughs is now in progress. . . . There has been a silly 
 ambition in certain provincial quarters to treat and esti- 
 mate the Council as a counterpart of the House of Lords, 
 nay, even to the extent of making them titled and heredi- 
 tar}-, — sufficiently absurd certainly on many grounds. The 
 French Canadians, as politicians, are as yet supporting 
 liberal measures very steadily, and deserv^^ credit and all 
 the aid we can give them in return. Lord Elgin continues 
 to steer a steady and most praiseworthy course, and his 
 name will long be justly dear to Canada." 
 
 " WooDmLL, Canada West, Srpt. 1853. 
 " We have been lately travelling about. Our route lay 
 for a great way througli the, "White Mountains of New 
 Haiii])sliin', — a truly Alpint; scene, (jr rather I sliould say 
 a (iranipian one ; many of the mountains, in form and 
 general aspt.-ct, recall to my remembrance the scenes of 
 bygone days. Tlie Hampshire mountains are however of
 
 284 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 greater altitudes, some of them five or six thousand feet 
 above the sea, and are covered with oak, maple, pine, etc., 
 in place of my old brown heather. Our excellent Governor- 
 General is gone home, and it is not impossible you may 
 meet. He is almost too good for us, but still I fondly hope 
 his visit to Britain will not prove more than a visit. 
 Never did any man more nobly struggle against difficulties, 
 or more triumphantly silence a host of disappointed wasps ! 
 He has thoroughly secured the confidence and esteem of 
 every honest man in Canada, and in her own department 
 Lady Elgin has gained all hearts. 
 
 " The No-Popery cry is made use of quite as much here 
 as elsewhere, but I confess my alarm for the Pope is not 
 overwhelming." 
 
 ''Feby. 1854. 
 
 " If it is no very great personal disappointment to Lord 
 Elgin, I cannot but think his lot will be much happier and 
 his future fame stand substantially higher, in seeing Canada 
 put all to rights, than broiling for years in Oriental 
 splendours. I hope you have met him since your last 
 disappointment, as I am sure you would be interested by 
 his accounts of our progress, and I am equally sure that 
 you will be delighted with your old friend the Countess ^ 
 and her charming boys." 
 
 " October 1854. 
 
 " I am afraid we must make up our minds to lose Lord 
 Elgin. I fear we shall not see his place nearly so well 
 filled. Meanwhile Sir Allan M'Nab is actually Premier, 
 and vaunts of following poor Sir Eobert Peel's steps ; 
 truly the daw in borrowed plumes ! Canada is at this 
 date in very great beauty. The woods are one mass of 
 crimson and gold, and the pastures of young wheat 
 beautifully verdant. 
 
 " By the bye, a respectable-looking man hailed me on 
 entering the show-ground at London with ' I'm just 
 returned from the old country, sir, and was charged by 
 Mr. Grey of Dilston to give you his remembrance.' It 
 
 1 Daughter of Lord Durham.
 
 DEATH OF AN OLD FRIEND— CORRESPONDENCE. 285 
 
 would seem you had met at some public meeting, but we 
 had no time for particulars. 
 
 " Years slip away, and alas ! how little do we take note of 
 them. God bless you, my dear friend, in time and eternity. 
 — Ever most sincerely yours, Adam Fergusson." 
 
 Soou after this date the letters of Mr. Fergusson 
 cease, and on one of them I find written by my father's 
 hand, " The last letter received from my old and valued 
 friend Adam Fergusson, written a few weeks before his 
 death." 
 
 My father followed with very great interest and hope 
 the history of events in Italy, of which he was continually 
 kept in mind by his con-espondence with his daughter 
 and son-in-law living in Italy, whose residence there 
 was sometimes a cause of uneasiness to him, during the 
 several crises through which that country has passed 
 in the last fifteen years. He wrote to this daughter on 
 her departure from England : — 
 
 " DiLSTON, 1854, Sunday Afternoon. 
 
 " My dearest Hatty, — I have just come from the 
 thinly peopled church, and I am bracing my nerves to 
 write to you, which I have often done without effect, since 
 I had your kind and welcome letter on leaving the shores 
 of England, which excited in my mind and heart thoughts 
 and feelings more sad, as I hope, than your OAvn experi- 
 enced. It made me feel that you were gone indeed, 
 that a wide S])ace is between me and one who had been 
 a dear companicju ami confidential friend. Feelings of 
 regret and loneliness of heart will at times arise, as the 
 branches of one's olive plants, that have been \o\oA and 
 cberishod, are tved away. AVe love each other still, and 
 ahvay.s will ; but it is not quite the .same : new ties and 
 other interests interjKjse their influtuice, and share or 
 aVjstract the confiding love of children to parents. All 
 however is ordered aright."
 
 286 MEMOIll OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 Such little incidents as this recorded in the follow- 
 ing letter, show the tenderness of his heart about 
 everything which in any way concerned his daughters' 
 pleasure or good. Two favourite horses were to be 
 sent after my sister to her far-off home : — 
 
 " Sept. 3, 1854. 
 
 " My dearest Hatty, — A misfortune has happened 
 which grieves me much. I left Low Byer at 7| 
 on Friday to breakfast with Mr. Ord as I had promised, 
 and having gained the top of the hill at a walk was 
 trotting quietly down, when in a moment poor Una was on 
 the ground among Baliol's feet. I pulled him back and 
 she sprang up, but with a scratch on one knee and a cut 
 through the skin on the other. Mark luckily had some 
 twine, so that we got the broken parts of the harness 
 fastened together. I dared not stop at Whitfield lest her 
 leg should swell and grow stiff, but left a message and 
 came to Haydonbridge, where Matt doctored it. I thought 
 of coming by train and leaving her, but it did not swell, 
 and as no ligaments were cut so as to make her lame, I 
 drove slowly home, desiring the farrier to follow, which he 
 did. He does not make much of it, but it may leave a 
 mark, and may not be covered so as to be fit for you to 
 ride her in Paris. I am much grieved on account of your 
 disappointment, and yet I can hardly blame myself, for I 
 was only using her as I had been constantly doing before. 
 
 " I grudge sending a blemished animal — yet another 
 would not be the same to you in recollection and associa- 
 tion as Una. 
 
 " Pray write, dearest Hatty, and instruct me what to do, 
 for I am sore vexed. I should have cared nothing about 
 it had it not been for your disappointment." 
 
 It made him very happy to have the following 
 cheery picture of the progress of the animals so far on 
 their journey as Paris : —
 
 CORRESrONDKNTE WITH DAUGHTERS. 287 
 
 " Paris, Xovcniber 1S54. 
 
 " Dearest Father, — "We vent to the station to meet 
 the horses, and when their box was opened Dilston walked 
 out as coolly as possible, but Una was in a starting, nei^ous 
 frame of mind. She kicked the groom at Chenai for 
 speaking French to her while putting flannel round her 
 legs, and started at every sound, and would not settle to 
 eat her corn. I stayed with her a long time, and explained 
 what the groom said, and it was quite touching to see how 
 good the poor thing grew. She knew my voice. The 
 next morning we had a ride before breakfast, and I am 
 sure Una thought we had set oflF to go back to Dilston 
 again : she kept pricking her ears and dancing, and looking 
 impatiently round every turn we came to. I told her 
 she would never see Dilston, and the wooded banks and 
 the old castle again, but she did not believe me. At 
 Chenai, when I said my horse had come, a whole party of 
 ladies, who were visiting there, came out to the stable to 
 see her, with their fine bonnets and feathers and flounces. 
 I loosed Una and brought her out, and they patted her 
 with primrose and lavender kid gloves, and she slavered 
 her nose over velvet mantles and Cashmere shawls, and 
 looked quite pleased about it, and they condoled tenderly 
 over her knees, and then swept back into the drawing- 
 room with straws and hair sticking about their lace and 
 fringes." 
 
 To one of his daughters he wrote after a week's ill- 
 ness : — 
 
 " 3farch 1856. 
 
 "I received and thank you for a kind and interesting 
 letter. An illness brings out many affectionate feelings 
 and expressions from others, and gives time and occasion 
 for many thoughts in one's-self, looking back to the 
 pa.st, and forward to the future. My life has been one of 
 c<mstant occupation, and I have rested, i^erhaps, too well 
 satisfied with its present usefulness, and the diligent dis- 
 charge of important duties, to attach sufficient weight to 
 the grand object of life — the care of the immortal soul.
 
 288 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 In this view a resting-time is useful, and, I hope, is merci- 
 fully designed. How different, too, in outward circum- 
 stances ! Instead of a group of happy young faces, all are 
 scattered over the world, with interests and occupations in 
 which I have no immediate share. It will be blessed if 
 all meet in the fold of the great Shepherd at last. 
 
 "I am so far well again as to get down-stairs about 
 noon, and go to bed, pretty weary, about nine. I had 
 a letter yesterday from Naples. Dear Hatty seems to 
 suffer much from the heat. She had driven into the 
 country, and felt the odour of a bean-field in bloom, re- 
 minding her of our excursion when you and she were 
 little enough to go to Milfield with me in the gig, and 
 Charlie riding by our side. We stayed a night at Weldon 
 Bridge, and played about the river's banks in a long 
 summer evening, you remember, where was a bean-field of 
 such sweetness ! 
 
 " Those days of innocent enjoyment are gone by, but the 
 remembrance of them is precious." 
 
 His daughter wrote to him from Naples at Christmas 
 1859 : — "I have pictured you so many times, beloved 
 father, sitting by the fire, almost alone, these long 
 Christmas evenings, crackling your newspaper, and 
 sometimes falling asleep over it ; and long to come to 
 you and make tea for you. If there is any truth in 
 animal or spiritual magnetism (I don't know which it 
 is), you ought to have heard my voice calling you often 
 in these evenings between Christmas and the New 
 Year. Did you never look up from your paper to 
 listen ? My poor dear father, it melts my heart to 
 think how many troubles you have had lately. You 
 seem hardly to have time to draw your breath after one 
 before another comes." 
 
 But the coming year was to bring a sadder loss than 
 any which had passed. Early in the year (1860), his
 
 DEATH OF HIS WIFK. 289 
 
 youngest daughter, still a girl, was left a widow, after 
 a brief period of married life. In May our mother 
 died. Though she had been in delicate health for 
 several years, the end was sudden. He had gone from 
 home tocollect rents at Alston. Her last interview with 
 him was a meiTy one (for she maintained a cheerful 
 spirit in spite of frequent illness and much suffer- 
 ing). He was speaking of her power of revival after 
 attacks of illness, and she answered playfully, compar- 
 ing hei-self to ^lother Hubbard's dog, whose mistress 
 went forth to prepare him a coffin, and on coming back 
 found him laughing ! Before mounting his horse on 
 the morning of his departure, he opened her bed- 
 room door, would not come in to disturb her rest, 
 but laid a bunch of sweet fresh flowers near the door, 
 with a word of kind farewell ; and this was the last 
 word exchanged on earth. On the afternoon of the 
 15th she was sitting in her arm-chair before the 
 window, with her writing-table before her covered with 
 correspondence, when a spasm of the chest seized her. 
 She remained in her chair for an hour or two, perfectly 
 conscious of the approach of death. She sent loving 
 messages to us all A momentary shadow of anxiety 
 crossed her face when she looked at the young widowed 
 daughter who was bending over her, and who was the 
 only one of her family present ; but the rest was peace. 
 Once and again she spoke of the hope rooted in Clirist. 
 It was towards sunset, and as she sat facing the window, 
 the first fair green of the spring on fields and woods 
 was lit up by the lowering sunlight, which increased 
 more and more till all w;us l)iithed in a great golden 
 glory. She looked at it for a moment with a quickened 
 gaze, and remarked on the beauty. She had aU her 
 
 T
 
 290 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 life had a dread of the hour of death, of the possible 
 struggle and anguish. But of this fear she had no 
 memory now ; and both in the gentle disarmed approach 
 of the dreaded enemy, and in the calm fair flush of 
 glory on the scene without, those beautiful words of 
 Scripture were fulfilled to her, "At evening time it shall 
 he ligJd." Her little favourite dog, all in a tender 
 trouble, seeing something was amiss, fawned upon its 
 mistress and licked her hand. When my sister wished 
 to drive him away, she said, " don't send him away ; 
 poor little thing, see how kind he is." Then she said, 
 " I am so tired ; let me sleep." And she slept — still 
 sitting in her chair ; and the sun sank in the west, and 
 her unfinished letters lying by her hand, full of cheerful 
 communications to many friends, were gathered up, and 
 put away. One of her attached servants who was pre- 
 sent said of her death, unconscious of how much of our 
 mother's character she expressed in the words, " It was 
 just like the mistress : she made not a bit of fuss 
 about dying." 
 
 Some time after, when he could write of it calmly, my 
 father gave the following recital to his daughter in Italy — 
 
 " The difficulty of breathing was in a measure overcome, 
 but she felt she was sinking. She expressed herself con- 
 tent, but would have liked to have lived longer had it 
 been God's good pleasure — no wonder, in one who had so 
 many interests in life ; but said all was well, expressing her 
 trust in ' the blessed Saviour, who would receive her with all 
 her imperfections;' left kind messages for all the absent, 
 of whom, unhappily, I was one, took leave of the servants, 
 and then complained of weariness, and a desire for rest, 
 and fell into a sleep, her last on earth. Her sj)irit passed 
 away so imperceptibly that dear Emmy could not beheve 
 that she would not open her eyes again ; but the doctor
 
 HIS OAVN WOIIDS ON THIS EVENT. 291 
 
 saitl, ' No ; heart and pulse have ceased to beat.* How 
 liappy it seems that the last dark hour of human in- 
 firmity was one of liope and peace ! "We may well wish 
 that our last end may be like hers. Thus one cord after 
 another that binds us to the earthly tabernacle is severed, 
 and we are made to feel as strangers among men. 
 
 " If human sympathy could avail anything to hush the 
 heart's throbbings and relieve its vacancy, we might have 
 it, for letters have poured in ; but the blank can never bo 
 replaced. You will know from others, how many came and 
 went. Now Emmy and I .shall be left to our loneliness. . . . 
 With warmest affection, dearest Hatty, your sorrowing old 
 father, John Grey." 
 
 ON THE SAME SUBJECT, WRITTEN LATER. 
 
 "After a busy day (the ir)th), in the evening of which 
 I had a parcel of letters by train, including one from her- 
 self, saying that she had been writing letters, and thought 
 of driving out, as the afternoon was fine ; and while I was 
 chatting with Mr. Paull about our mining concerns before 
 going to bed, a line was given me, wishing for my presence. 
 Think of my anxiety and confusion : £6000 in the house, 
 and as much to receive the next day. I transferred the 
 keys to Goodrich. Too late for train ; I rushed off", and 
 drove home as fast as possible. Imagine my horror and 
 dismay to learn from Herdman in the yard that my partner 
 in life for forty-five years had ceased to breathe two hours 
 before ! ! I was stunned and bewildered. Emmy's presence 
 of mind and fortitude came to my aid, which qualities she 
 has in a woiidciful degree. I found the dear face calm in 
 death ; the body cold, but the lips still warm. I could 
 hardly realize the solemn fact. . . . Nothing can be more 
 true than your apprehension of my inclination to be going 
 to the now vacant room with some piece of intelligence, or 
 to a.sk some opinion, or consult on some (piestion. Strange 
 and visionary as it seems, I have often ft-lt tliat impulse, 
 even regarding letters from j)arties who have written to 
 condole witli me, and to express their sentiments of regard
 
 292 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 for her, or to recall some kindness to themselves. A large 
 collection of such letters I have, showing the estimate 
 that had been formed of her various qualities of mind, and 
 strength of character, by people differing in all degrees of 
 intellectual and moral qualities. But such visions are 
 transitory, for soon recollection brings back the reality of 
 the void which will never be replaced, and yet leads to 
 the result that all is done well ; that lingering pain and 
 suffering can assail her no more for ever. We know our 
 loss, but cannot appreciate her gain, or the amount of pain 
 and disquietude which she has been saved from. If we 
 knew all, we should check our sorrow and give it the 
 name of selfishness. Yet to grieve is not forbidden, but 
 intended to bear its fruits in our own hearts, — the peaceable 
 fruits of righteousness, the richest of all attainment, which 
 only a divine blessing can bestow. If anything agreeable 
 occurs it comes so naturally to lament that she is not here 
 to participate in the pleasure ; and the consciousness that 
 it is so deprives it of a large portion of the gratification. . . ." 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS WRITTEN TO THE ABSENT SISTERS 
 
 BY ONE OF THEM WHO WAS PRESENT DURING THOSE 
 
 SORROWFUL DAYS. 
 
 " DiLSTON, May 23. 
 
 " My dear Sisters, — I cannot tell you how lovely the 
 morning was when I arrived here, after getting the tele- 
 gram, and travelling all night, — everything sparkling with 
 dew, and such exquisite light spring foliage. I found 
 nobody, as they did not expect me at that early hour. I 
 walked up, — the shadows still long and deep, and every- 
 thing so beautiful. Near the aqueduct and mill I stopped 
 every now and then, quite surprised by the beauty. I have 
 not been here in spring for seven years. On the top of 
 the bank there is a quantity of sweetbrier and a bed of 
 violets, all so sweet. But the beauty seemed to mock me 
 because our old home was desolated by death. . . . 
 
 " We spent the whole of Sunday out of doors in the 
 garden and woods, sitting about. I cannot express to you
 
 DAYS OF SORROW. 293 
 
 the loveliness of the weather nor of the place. Every day- 
 has risen with glorious sunshine and sparkling deAv. The 
 cuckoos and cushats are filling the woods Avith sound all 
 day long ; the river is just full enough for beauty. You 
 know that young green Avith the sun shining through it — 
 hoAV wonderful it is ! Papa said yesterday, ' Oh ! Avhat a 
 thing for her to go aAvay just Avlien this beauty Avas all 
 coming on ! she Avould have enjoyed sitting out here in her 
 chair ; just look at all her pretty floAvers coming out ;' as if 
 he could not bear that they should do so. In the evenings 
 it is lovely ; the lilackbirds sing such full SAveet songs, and 
 after a fine sunset the stars come out, and the Avoods look 
 so still and dimly beautiful. This place recalls a tliousand 
 memories. A large fomily gathering on a Sunday is so 
 pleasant, but Ave felt a painful blank all day. In the 
 evening, papa read prayers for the first time since she died. 
 He read that passage about the Ascension, — ' Ye men of 
 Galilee, AA'hy stand ye gazing into heaA'en]' and AA'hen read- 
 ing a sort of commentary on it, he suddenly came to an 
 exhortation to those Avho haA'e lost friends not to continue 
 despairingly to gaze after them, because ' this same Jesus ' 
 and these same friends Avill come again. He did not knoAV 
 that piece Avas coming, and he stopped and covered his face 
 with his hand. . . . He recovered, and Avent on again quite 
 strongly ; but after prayers he Avent aAvay and leaned against 
 the chimney-piece and Avept bitterly. I took hold of his 
 hand ; it felt cold, and lie looked ill. TuUy and Emy 
 came to him, and Ave got him to speak a little. The next 
 day Avas a A'ery trying day. Pajia began to realize his loss 
 as he had not done at first. He looked crushed. He could 
 liardly speak, his lips trembled so, and he Avas ill too, and 
 had not slept. Th<^ funeral Avas not to be till tAvo, and how 
 the time passed 1 hardly knoAV. The house Avas full, but 
 one never heard a step or a voice. I liad half an liour's 
 conversation with him, Avhich I should like to remember 
 to tell you ; he seemed to Vx; dAvelling Avith intense regret 
 on long long past years. Then I spoke; to him of the 
 severe di.scipline she had had the last years of her life, and
 
 294 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 of the blessed results of it ; how she had attained a wonder- 
 ful patience, and how loving in heart she had been, and he 
 turned his head to me and seemed to take in every word 
 eagerly. He dwelt on her good judgment and her prompti- 
 tude in her decisions, and how he would miss her so much for 
 this reason, though he sometimes used to rebuke her for it. 
 He added, ' It will not be long that I shall have to bear it.' 
 . . . Papa stood bowed forward at the head of the grave, 
 his dear grey head uncovered, and bent low ; his large 
 powerful frame quivered sometimes. One could not help 
 thinking how strong must be the emotion which moved 
 him so. His grief was deeper than even we could fathom ; 
 his memories went further back, and were beyond our 
 reach. His sobs sounded as if waves of sorrow were rolling 
 over his soul. He tried to suppress them, but they came 
 the more heavily. Dear father ! everybody was awed by it. 
 The men that stood behind looked frightened, and wept too. 
 I felt inclined to go up to him and hold him up ; he seemed 
 like an old forest-tree ready to fall, but one felt that he and 
 his sorrow were unapproachable at that moment. . . . 
 
 " He looks ill and haggard ; he is restless, and roams 
 about from room to room; speaks of himself in a de- 
 sponding way, and proposes such odd things to do, about 
 selling everything, and mortifying himself to the last de- 
 gree, that we can sometimes hardly help smiling. He 
 makes plans as if he were dead too ; it is very affecting. 
 Old people do not feel so acutely, I imagine, but they feel 
 a weary and blank sadness. I have seen lately no agoniz- 
 ing burst of grief, and no one has ; but now and then, after 
 chatting somewhat cheerfully a while, li^ bends down his 
 head, and looks a sad, broken man. 
 
 " We were glad that dear old Mr. Morton was able to 
 come. He often drew papa's arm through his and walked 
 up and down with him, patting the hand that lay upon his 
 arm and speaking gently, his face beaming Avith sympathy 
 and benevolence. They have been friends so many years, 
 and grown old together." 
 
 The affairs of Italy became very interesting to my
 
 LETTERS TO ITALY. 295 
 
 father ill the autimm of this year. lie wrote to his 
 daughter in Naples : — 
 
 " September 1860. 
 " One wonders, and longs to know what is to be the 
 result of this state of commotion in your portion of the 
 world. Oh that it may conclude without much blood- 
 shed and miser}', and be conducive of lilicrty and justice in 
 the Government, and of enlightenment and freedom from 
 idolatry and bigotry among the people ! Garibaldi is a 
 hero in my eyes, and will be a truly great man if victory 
 and the acquisition of power do not so overrule his better 
 judgment as to leave him the prey of ambition." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " My DEAREST Hatty, — Though I wrote to you only a 
 week ago, I cannot refrain from Avriting again, to convey 
 my warmest congratulations, and to express my earnest 
 thankfulness to Almighty God for the deliverance you have 
 experienced, and the quiet and bloodless revolution which 
 has been accomplished. I got Tell's most welcome letter, 
 for which give him my warm thanks, and soon after yours 
 to Josie, giving a glowing description of the hero's entrance, 
 bearing, and reception. He is truly an extraordinary man. 
 One can only say that he has been raised up and fitted by 
 Providence for the great work tliat was to be done, and 
 that he is doing it under Suj)rcme guidance. He, as the 
 instrument, is oj)ening a prospect for rational freedom and 
 good government to that ftiir portion of the earth. 
 
 " What is to be done with tlie Pope and his dominions 
 remains to be seen, and also what France will do and allow 
 to be done. . . . I hope to liear more of present i)roceedings 
 as well as of the state of things in which all this singular 
 crisis has resulted. I don't wonder that Garibaldi dis- 
 covered in your balcony symptoms of cordiality and earnest 
 sympathy beaming from fair and intelligent faces, which 
 attracted liis attention and kept his eyes upon its oc- 
 cupants. . . . 
 
 "All here goes on just as usual. The great Greenwich
 
 296 MEMOIR OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 Commission seems to have ended as it began, — ' Vox et 
 prceterea nihil,' except that I am negotiating the sale of that 
 poor and isolated estate of Hartburn Grange to Sir "Walter 
 Trevelyan, among whose property it lies. ..." 
 
 My sister's letters to liim, describing the downfall of 
 the Bourbon tyranny, and the throwing open of the 
 Neapolitan dungeons, and release of prisoners, affected 
 him deeply ; as also did the knowledge of her own 
 labours on behalf of the wounded and dying men who 
 had fought on the side of liberty. 
 
 She wrote to him of a visit to the great fortress of 
 St. Elmo— 
 
 " We went to St. Elmo. You know from pictures that 
 the fortress is built on a rock ; three sides of which shelve 
 steeply down ; the fourth merges into the hill behind, still 
 standing somewhat higher than the hill. From the ram- 
 parts j'-ou see the whole of Naples like a map spread out." 
 
 Speaking of the interior of it, she says, — 
 
 " There was one cell still worse than the others. A little 
 winding staircase led up to it. Even with the door wide 
 open you could not see the person at your elbow. Of course I 
 had heard and read all about the prisons, as you will read 
 this ; but, standing there, it came upon me as it had never 
 done before, as a new sense, what it would be to have that 
 door shut upon one. Even when it was open, the darkness 
 seemed to weigh like a year of midnight on my chest, and 
 to crush the breath out. I don't think I should have cour- 
 age to try to keep alive there ; I should lie down on that 
 plank bed and never move any more. (A man was kept 
 sixteen years in that hole !) In that moment the last spark 
 of pity I had felt for the Bourbons died out of me, and I 
 could have clapped my hands for joy to think that it was 
 over. In other countries a single abuse may arise, like 
 that on which Charles Keade has founded his novel Never 
 too Late to Mend ; but this was the system upheld by the
 
 NEAPOUTAN PRISONS. 297 
 
 Government, and known in all its details to Bomba at least, 
 and made use of not aj;ainst criminals, but against noble- 
 minded men — against many even stupidly innocent, who 
 had not an idea of being patriots, but in whose dusty book- 
 shelves might have been found some book with a forbidden 
 name or word in its pages, which had probably never been 
 opened by its present owner. There is a good reason for 
 never finding a library in the house of a Neapolitan. 
 
 " But these are not the worst prisons. They are dry ; 
 there are others by the sea which drip night and day ; and 
 a gentleman who was with us had been informed by one of 
 the released prisoners of a torture invented by his jailor, — 
 to dash on him, thruugh an opening at the top, cold Avater 
 at any time, night or day. He could not avoid it in any 
 part of his cell, and never went to sleep without expecting 
 it. It became a haunting terror to him, and he had to 
 remain shivering in his wet clothes until they dried upon 
 him. It was a way of extorting money from the friends of 
 a prisoner, to torture him unless bribed not to do so. There 
 were names and dates inscribed on the rock, — one of a 
 Spanish nobleman 200 years ago. Some told of very long 
 imprisonments : it seemed as if the very rocks were im- 
 pregnated with sighs and tears and groans, and as if they 
 weighed and crushed one's heart with misery. 
 
 " But there is more to tell, very horrible and mysterious. 
 In the middle of this large cave there was a great round 
 hole, with a low parapet wall enclosing it ; and looking 
 down into it, we saw another hall cut in the rock, like that 
 in which we stood — larger, because of not being filled with 
 the cells, and very deep — lighted by a slanting shaft to the 
 opening of the ui)per one. They told us that this was the 
 place in which they used to put a number of prisoners 
 whom tliey wanted to get rid of, together, and sho(jt them 
 from above. There was an iron gate in the side of the 
 upper hall whicii led down by a .staircase cut in the rock to 
 the under one, — a wide staircase, the ends of the steps 
 shaq), Init in the rnifhlle worn into one contiinious slope. 
 Kvi.n if the story of the shooting is an exaggeration, it
 
 298 MEMOIK OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 must have taken thousands of feet to wear the steps like 
 this ; and certainly those feet had not carried people there 
 for their own pleasure. There is another gate at the bottom, 
 and more cells opening upon the stairs. It is true that all 
 around the sides of this cave, about the height of a man's 
 head and chest, the walls are marked with round holes, 
 
 which Captain said he could not imagine having been 
 
 made by anything but a bullet. Supposing that this was 
 used not for political prisoners, but in cases of military 
 revolt, yet what a system to put men into a wild beast's 
 hole and shoot them doAvn, instead of having an open exe- 
 cution after fair trial ! The best colour one can put upon 
 it is horrible. 
 
 " I took the children : it will not be my fault if they do 
 not grow up haters of tyranny and dark dealing. I did 
 not allow them, however, to go into the cells, lest they 
 should be poisoned ; but sent them up into the blessed light 
 of day. When we came up again upon the huge ramparts, 
 and saw the celestial-looking sunset over the peaks of Ischia, 
 and the rosy clouds mirrored in the bay, it made my heart 
 ache the more for those who had spent years without being 
 able to tell the winter from the summer, scarcely the day 
 from the night. I hope many of them have it made up to 
 them now in glories which the eye of man has not seen, 
 nor his ear heard." 
 
 The following is from the note-book of my sister 
 Fanny, in which she records many recollections of our 
 father's last years : — 
 
 " The year after our mother's death, when I was ill at 
 Dilston, I well remember his increased tenderness, as if he 
 thought he must now be both father and mother to us. I 
 remember his tap at my bedroom door in the morning with 
 kind inquiries ; or how, on getting up, I would find a 
 bunch of sweet-scented flowers on the chair near the door, 
 bundled up anyhow ; sometimes the most incongruous 
 flowers, but all showing the intention of the large loving 
 heart, where nothing was considered too small to give plea-
 
 INTERCOURSE WITH HIS DAUGHTERS. 299 
 
 sure ; he looked such a large man to think of such little 
 tliinfics. 
 
 " The workhouse diildrcn from Hexham had been in- 
 vited, witli masters and matrons, to their annual treat at 
 Dilston. ^^'e watched them winding across the lower 
 field, and up the bank to the old castle, then round to the 
 front of the house, the little boys playing merrily on their 
 drum and fife band. As they formed a semicircle in front, 
 papa came out of the front door to greet them, Emmy with 
 him. She was dressed in white, the first time I had seen 
 her so since her widowhood. She looked so young, with 
 her fair hair braided on each side of her forehead, standing 
 by the side of her fine old sire. There was no dancing ; 
 and he feared the children would feel less merry than in 
 former years. Suddenly he turned and took Emmy's hand, 
 and led her up and down the gravel walk in an imjn-ompfu 
 dance to the music, moving his feet so deftly in old- 
 fashioned measures, making others laugh, and laughing so 
 cheerily himself." 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE CONTINUED WITH HIS DAUGHTER 
 
 IN NAPLES. 
 
 " 1862. 
 " I have heard the marks in the margin of books con- 
 demned as pretentious and dogmatical. I think there are 
 other results and indications connected with it. If the 
 marks are one's own in years long past, the recollection of 
 the first impressions or enjoyments which passages pro- 
 duced is pleasurable, but if they are the marks of some 
 one formerly known and loved, they are intensely interest- 
 ing. I have lately been looking over books that dear 
 mamma had and liked; many passages bear her marks; and 
 oh how deeply int<"resting to read and think of her thoughts 
 and feelings connected with them ! They excite ideal re- 
 marks and conversations, a communion or s])iritual inter- 
 course, which has nothing tangilile or real, but savours of 
 another 8tat« of being. I think the CJermans have a kind 
 of belief ill the existence of such intercourse among the
 
 300 MEMOIR OF JOHN GRF.Y. 
 
 living, which, however visionary, is a pleasing mysticism ; 
 but how much more serious and elevated could it be be- 
 lieved with spirits in heaven. I hope the new English 
 church will be got up and well occupied. It would be a 
 shame not to take early and efficient advantage of your 
 new-found liberty of conscience and worship. What a 
 privilege ! ! I am not sanguine that your view of the 
 downfall of Popery will come early. The Pope's temporal 
 power I hope may, and perhaps that is what you refer to, 
 but vast changes and revolutions must arrive ere the grand 
 heresy be laid in dust. . . ." 
 
 The following contains an allusion to a peculiarity 
 of modern, as of ancient, barbarism, i.e., the undervalu- 
 ing of the female sex. Until lately it was the custom in 
 Naples, among the poorer classes, to " hang a small black 
 flag out of the window of a room wherein a girl was born, 
 to save the painful necessity of informing inquirers of 
 the unfortunate sex of the infant." Among the better 
 classes the advent of a female infant was scarcely con- 
 sidered an event for congratulation : — 
 
 " My OWN DEAR Hatty, — My heart has been rejoicing 
 with you in thankfulness and praise which the arrival of 
 dear Tell's letter, telling of your continued welldoing, and 
 that of the little pet Josephine, has but served to increase. 
 I should have been thankful under any circumstances, but 
 am the better pleased that you have now the prospect of 
 a little companionable daughter to be with you, though 
 the boys should be off to school. I marvel to hear of any- 
 thing so unnatural and unwise as the great preference that 
 is given in your new country to boys, and the little estima- 
 tion that girls are held in. What would society be with- 
 out women 1 What gives warmth to the affections, and 
 strength to the principles of the rising generation, compared 
 to the early influence and attachment — the inherent power of 
 a mother's love 1 Looking back to the invaluable blessing 
 of an excellent mother, and the happiness of a family of
 
 CORUESPOXDENCE WITH DAUGHTERS. 301 
 
 daughters, reciprocating sentiments of affectionate attach- 
 ment and regard, I can sjieak and feel practically on that 
 subject. I hope you will not let the hiigands kidnap your 
 sweet boys." 
 
 " Naples. 
 
 " My DEARE.ST Papa, — Your kind and most welcome 
 letter came yesterday. 
 
 " I do hope Cheviot air has improved dear Jos(^. Oh 
 those sweet Cheviots ! The other night I had put two 
 chairs across the open window, and was resting with my 
 head on the stone, always prevented from sound sleep by 
 not being able to breathe, and some light grey clouds 
 gathered over the sky, half blotting out the stars, and a 
 wee breath of air blew from the mountains, and I got into 
 one of those visionary states, Avhen one is weary but not 
 quite asleep, and thought I felt the air blowing on the 
 Common at ^lilfield, as it did that lovely day, nearly two 
 years ago, when I rode beautiful Black Bess up there, with 
 George and you, and then by Tillside. I had left mamma 
 at Tynemouth, and in returning from the ride George led 
 my horse uj), and I stayed to have a chat with Jane Cran- 
 ston. How many empty places since then ! ! Very soon 
 I was roused up by the great sun rolling up and driving 
 my dear little grey clouds away in his angry glory, and 
 everything sinking into breathless heat again, before him ; 
 the glass keeps pretty steady at 94, some of the days much 
 worse than when it was at 100, because of the sirocco, 
 which has much more effect than the degree of actual heat. 
 The August moon has come in without change — it is just 
 upon three months now without rain, and no dew at nights ; 
 of course we can (jnly have thunder-storms, not steady rain 
 till November. We have h^ft off our rides, not being able 
 to see each other for du.st. We don't go beyond the garden, 
 where they play croquet from eight till ten, witli lanterns 
 among the mull)erry trees ; it makes such a (pteer pictui'estjuc 
 effect : the white dresses and jackets and trousers and red 
 lamp lights, and each ball rolling in a cloud of dust worthy 
 a battle-field, amongst the burnt grass. I think so often of
 
 302 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 that dim misty morning in London, when we came down 
 and found you feeding the two little boys with spoonsful 
 of egg to get them in progress for our start, and as you 
 stood on the pavement, and I could not see you any more 
 through the grey mist as the cab jolted away. Everything 
 before us looks so uncertain now, that I take great comfort 
 in remembering what has been, and cannot change. — Your 
 loving Hatty." 
 
 TO HIS SON-IN-LAW, TELL MEURICOFFRE. 
 
 "DiLSTON, January 5, 1862. 
 
 " My dear Tell, — This season, commonly a joyous one, 
 has been sadly darkened here by political clouds of bad 
 omen. The dread of a horrid war has been imminent, 
 and is not yet quite passed away, in which all evil passions 
 would be brought into exercise, much bloodshed and fear- 
 ful cruelties committed, between men of one race and 
 origin, whose interests are deeply concerned in being 
 bound in friendly intercourse. And then, a nation's grief 
 has been roused, as I never knew it before, by sorrow for 
 our good and beloved Queen, and the loss of so estimable 
 a Prince, whose many good and shining qualities, not 
 broadly displayed to the world, as the deeds of Princes 
 have too often been, by feats of valour or the desolations 
 of conquest, have silently worked their way, through pru- 
 dent counsels, in which his influence did not appear, and 
 in leading public taste and advancing the public good, by 
 his patronage of science and of social improvement. One 
 can hardly conceive a public event which has been so much 
 felt in every home and every heart." 
 
 " DiLSTON, Christmas Day, 1862. 
 
 " My dearest Hatty, — . . . General Charles Grey has 
 given me a copy of that interesting book, of which you 
 may have seen a notice in the English papers. The Prince 
 Consorts Speeches, showing his refusal of the Commander- 
 ship of the Army, when urged to it by the Duke of Well- 
 ington, for which he had not credit at the time, strongly 
 showing his prudence and disinterestedness. On this
 
 RESIGNATION OF OFFICE. 303 
 
 point the Queen was most anxious to set the puhHc right, 
 and to show his character in its true colours. Tlie Intro- 
 duction was written by Mr. Helps, Clerk of the Council, 
 under her direct supervision, and some sentences of her own 
 appear in the explanation about the Commander-in-Chief 
 affair. . . . The Prince Consort had been greatly superior 
 to the estimate that was formed of his character. The 
 ignorance of liim is to be accounted for by the anomalous 
 situation in which he had to act, advising and doing many 
 good and great things, though not appearing as the prime 
 mover and originator. He possessed a rare combination 
 of great good sense, sound judgment, self-denial and desire 
 for public usefulness, with great intellectual powers and 
 scientific attainments. The pervading sentiment of all his 
 endeavours was to promote what was at once useful, im- 
 proving, and virtuous : a true patriot in feeling and action, 
 with no show of self-importance or desire of aggrandize- 
 ment." 
 
 In 18G3 my father retired from his office at Dilston. 
 His decision to retire was not influenced by any per- 
 sons or circumstance from without, but was quietly 
 matured in his own mind, and deliberately acted upon. 
 He expressed it thus, in a letter to ]\Ir. Tierney, who 
 was officially concerned in the announcement : — 
 
 " My dear Mr. Tierney, — Considering our intercourse 
 of now nearly thirty years' standing, and the cordiality, 
 happily for me, which has attended it througliout, I hope 
 you will not think that I am taking an undue liberty in 
 communicating Avith you on a subj(>ct which deeply con- 
 cerns the intere.st8 of Greenwich Hospital as well as my 
 own. Although still possessed of strength and activity 
 more than falls to the lot of most men at the age of 
 seventy-seven, yet I cannot but feci a certain diminution 
 of vigour and unfitness for encountering long rides in 
 stormy weather, which used to give mo little concern, and 
 which it is desirable at times to undertake. To put off tho
 
 304 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 appointment of a successor till I might be suddenly 
 stricken down and rendered incapable, would be to hazard 
 the chance of an inadequate choice, or of an interregnum, 
 such as occurred at the time of my assuming the office. 
 
 " I sometimes feel a foolish jealousy lest my successor 
 should not be a man of sufficient experience and energy to 
 maintain the system which it has been my endeavour to 
 establish, and to carry out plans of improvement not yet 
 accomplished." 
 
 "We all feared that this retirement had come too early 
 for his own happiness — that the relinquishment of 
 arduous and interesting duties performed so long, 
 would leave him without a sufficient object in life, and 
 that his active mind would prey upon itself in the 
 years which might still be left to him ; for although 
 his age was great, counting by years, he retained the 
 vigour possessed by some men only in their prime. 
 But we were mistaken. We afterwards saw that he 
 had done wisely and well in giving himself a quiet 
 breathing-time in the evening of his days ; and so far 
 from suffering in happiness and tone of mind from the 
 change, the increased sweetness and mellowness of his 
 character in the years following were apparent to all. 
 And he did not lack interest nor work, for many people 
 came to him for advice. Speeches, papers, and corre- 
 spondence were still claimed from him on subjects with 
 which he had been long familiar, — for being a man of 
 progress he was never left behind the day. He did 
 not turn away from the hopes and plans, political or 
 social, of younger people, as if they perchance had 
 some doubtful elements in them, because they were 
 not precisely what were entertained in his younger 
 days. It was alwaj's felt that even if he could not 
 approve, he would invariably listen with candour, and
 
 RETIREMENT TO LIPWOOD. 305 
 
 with a freshness of interest marvellous in a man of his 
 years, to what any one who was in earnest had to say or 
 to propose. And, moreover, the quiet and retired home 
 which he chose for himself at Lipwood — on the 
 banks of the Tpie, a little further west — continued to 
 be to the last the favourite gathering-place for many 
 of his scattered children in each succeeding summer. 
 He had the satisfaction of seeing the management of 
 the estates continued on principles which he approved, 
 and his plans for still further improvement carried out, 
 by his son Charles, who succeeded to his office. 
 
 TO A GRANDDAUGHTER LIVING AT GENOA. 
 
 " Lipwood House, Sept. 5, 1863. 
 
 " My dear Edith, — You know of course all the changes 
 which have taken place at Dilston, and have had a descrip- 
 tion of this our new residence from Fanny, who has been 
 indefatigable in arranging and settling all tilings with taste 
 and judgment. Tlie pictures covering all tlie walls of the 
 house bring Jiome thoughts and feelings, but I shall, I fear, 
 never again regard any place on earth as my home. 
 
 " This place is externally pleasant and internally com- 
 fortable, but confined as to extent, and giving little occu- 
 pation — an extreme contrast to my fonner charge." 
 
 " Lipwood House, January 9, 1864. 
 
 " DEARE.ST Hatty, — I have to thank Tell for an excel- 
 lent and inti-resting letter, giving me an insight into the 
 political state and jtrospects of your country, which are so 
 far promising as the gloom and uncertainty which pervade 
 European States and Governments at present allow. It is 
 a good thing to have stayed the hand dF that bloody leader 
 of brigands. I am wicked enough to wish that some 
 others now in Home were also cold, even if canonized. 
 
 " If Italy can get a gorwl share of cotton-growing by 
 means of /ree labour, it will bring wealth and industry to 
 
 u
 
 306 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 the land ; let us liope, too, by increased intercourse with 
 free nations, a more liberal tone, both to Government and 
 people. . . . 
 
 " This is a bright sunny day, and Fanny is busily 
 engaged, with Robert helping her, in sowing flower-seeds in 
 the various-shaped beds around the house, waited upon by 
 the little girls, jumping from place to place, and sitting on 
 the grass by turns, while I hear their chatter and laughter 
 sitting in my little room with an open window. It is a 
 sunny room." 
 
 " LiFWOOD, M Feb. 1864. 
 
 " My darling Tully, — I have been much interested in 
 reading last night, in extenso, Bright's speech at Biraiingham 
 on ' the bright side of England,' in which he goes through 
 with praise the great measures to which good old Lord Grey 
 devoted all his political life. He not only lauds, as great 
 measures, the justice of Catholic Emancipation, the Aboli- 
 tion of Tests, the Reform, but above all ' the courage and 
 statesmanship which overturned the old Poor-Law,' which 
 was demoralizing the whole of the lower orders, and taking 
 from them every principle of independence and self-reliance, 
 and established one on sound and rational ground. But 
 he makes no reference to the party to whom all ihis is 
 owing. I well remember a private conversation with old 
 Lord Grey, after retiring from public life, in which, talking 
 of those subjects, he said that he thought it likely that the 
 change of the Poor-Law Avould reflect the greatest credit 
 upon his Ministry hereafter of any of the measures which 
 he had been instrumental in carrying. It had not been 
 attended with the excitement of the Reform Bill, or the 
 splendour of the Abolition of Slavery, but it had checked 
 the downward progress of the spirit of independence and 
 manly bearing of the population of the country." 
 
 Sir David Baird once remarked to one of Lord 
 Elcho's " whips" in the hunting- field, looking at a 
 party of my brothers and sisters who were out, " Those 
 young people ride well." The man replied, "They
 
 BOLDNESS AS A RIDER. 307 
 
 can't help it, sir ; it's in the blood." We were always 
 proud — not very foolishly so, I hope — of the skill and 
 even dash ^Yhich my father displayed on horseback at 
 the advanced age of seventy to eighty. He shall be 
 allowed to give a description of some of his own ex- 
 ploits at the age of seventy-four, and at seventy -eight. 
 
 " Mv VERY DEAR JosiE. — Ou ^Monday, at Milfield Hill, 
 I rode with George over his o^\^l and the Ford estates. 
 On Tuesday, we were all three mounted to follow the 
 hounds, going to the meet at Paston. I liked to see the 
 sweet Beaumont-side by Thornington, etc. etc. Lord 
 AVemyss was unwell, and not out. I did not see him, nor 
 nuuiy ac(iiiaintances, most being of a younger generation. 
 Had a good deal of talk with a Mr. "Wells, son-in-law of 
 Lord "NVemyss, who has property near Peterborough and 
 in Esse.x, who gratified me by his praise of Glendale agri- 
 culture, and of the impulse to agricultural improvement 
 throughout the kingdom which had been given by its 
 example. There were three generations of Greys in the 
 field : George on Black Bess, leader of the field ; Johnny 
 on a fine mare; and I on strong but headstrong Butcher, who 
 at one time, during a rush, fairly ran off with me ; but it was 
 good open ground, so I indulged his humour, and after push- 
 ing by Lord Durham and some young fellows, and splashing 
 through the Beaumont, rode him to a walk uj) the hill near 
 Cro(jk House. One fox was lost in a covert on the top of 
 Milfield Hill. They then went to seek others on the plain, 
 and I rode discreetly home. On Thursday, came to Fallo- 
 don. Sir George had written to me from I'alnioral that 
 he ha<l leave to strike otf from the Queen at Carlisle, and 
 would be at home to meet me ; but he preceded me, for at 
 Perth, finding them shut up for the niirht, and he n<^t 
 liki-ly to be wanted, got into a night mail, and came by 
 
 i'crwirk." 
 
 " April U, 1864. 
 
 " Mv VERY DEAR Ha'ITY, — I have been a vagalxtnd, pay- 
 ing visitH to the dear old places in (Jlendale, and tho few
 
 308 MEMOm OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 old friends who still remain there ; also playing the young 
 and foolish part of hunting with Lord Wemyss. I felt a 
 great privation in the removal of my old and genial friend 
 Dr. Alexander — another inroad by ' relentless Time, de- 
 stroying power,' made on my enjoyments and attachments. 
 
 " You will see by the newspapers what a reception your 
 friend Garibaldi is having among us. I should like to 
 see him on his own account, — the concentration of such 
 nobility of mind, and simplicity and unselfishness of char- 
 acter, — and also because of your interest in him ; but then 
 he is surrounded by such crowds, and I am too insignifi- 
 cant to do anything but join in the cry of the mob. . . . 
 
 " I was amused with your description of your King and 
 the Prince, in the practice of Royal proceedings ; but being 
 alone, could not quite comprehend and appreciate the 
 dresses and ceremonies of a presentation. No wonder, my 
 tastes are so countrified. Let me tell you of my proceed- 
 ings in dear old Glendale, and recall to your mind's eye 
 the hills and dales of Newton and Yeavring, and ' sweet 
 Beaumont-side and Beaumont stream,' as described in 
 Story's rhymes, the rustic poet of that stream. Elizabeth 
 and the two girls did all that attention and kindness could 
 do. . . . 
 
 " The red coat and green — George and Matt Cully, and 
 half-a-dozen more red-coats, were all there in great glee at 
 a promising morning. I was mounted on a fast-going 
 blood-mare, which pulled and fidgeted a little too much, 
 looked back at first with the side of her eye, as if suspi- 
 cious of bad treatment ; but when I clapped her neck and 
 talked cheeringly to her, became composed and good- 
 tempered. The old Lord gave me a gracious welcome, 
 and old David Robertson, at the top of his voice, and at 
 the distance of many yards : ' Ah ! my old friend Grey, 
 and how are you 1 How glad I am to see you ! ' He 
 kept by my side till we found in a nice covert behind 
 Pallinsburn House. We had a sharp run over Heaton 
 fields and hedges to Etal, when he^ crossed Till, as did 
 - The fox— always he, imr excellence.
 
 ENJOYMENT OF LEISUKE. 309 
 
 many of the riders, where "was no ford. Not choosing 
 to plunge in and be wet, I turned home, and the mare 
 ■which had pulled and galloped and leai)t -with great 
 strength and vigour, went home in a slack rein, a safe, 
 good hack ; and then I learnt from James her secret his- 
 tory. Harry ^lorton had given George Grey of Fallodon 
 £100 for her, but could not manage her for rearing, plung- 
 ing, kicking, and all bad things, and wanted to return her, 
 so sent her to ]\liltield for the purpose. George Grey 
 would not engage in the job, but thought the mare had 
 been spoiled, having a shy, wild temper. ' So,' said James, 
 taking credit for his contrivance, ' I told the master that 
 the old nia.ster was coming, and if we could get him on her, 
 he would manage her, and then, he thought, the Lambton 
 folk would think shame.' Next day I rode her by Fenton, 
 to see Lord Durham's improvements since he bought the 
 estate. Another day, to Thornington, and up the College 
 to that loved spot of old, Heathpool Linn ; Harrowby, of 
 nutting memory ; Yeavring and Coupland. All right and 
 quiet. Another time to Wooler; ending next day with 
 another inect at Branxton Whin, and some short bursts 
 among five or six foxes. To conclude, Elizabeth reported 
 all this to her brother, and the Bose of Baby was sent back 
 by train on the Monday following, ' the Lambton folks,' 
 I hope, ashamed." 
 
 In these years of greater leisure, he sometimes made 
 a tour among his married children and other friends, 
 and great was the delight with which we each in turn 
 liailed our beloved and honoured guest. Ho often 
 smiled at the little attentions with which we loaded 
 him — afternoon cups of tea, and such little luxuries 
 wjiich he had never been used to allow himself — and 
 would say, " You are determined to make me out an 
 old man ! " 
 
 The breaking out of the Cattle Plague in 18CC was
 
 I 
 310 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY, ! 
 
 an occasion which called out his energies, and forced 1 
 
 upon him work which he most gladly undertook : — 
 
 " LiPWOOD, 1866. 
 " My dearest Hatty, — You will see, if you get the 
 Newcastle paper, the dreadful ravages of the cattle-plague 
 in this country, which has already proved ruinous to many 
 poor farmers, and threatens to produce a famine in the 
 land. It has been very destructive in Newcastle, and 
 emptied all the dairies. Milk and butter are very dear, 
 and brought from great distances. We are still clear of it 
 in this immediate vale, and I am doing all I can to ward 
 it off, but all precautions are attended Avith immense in- 
 convenience and trouble. The magistrates, under sanction 
 of Government, have enacted that no animals are to be 
 moved from place to place but after inspection of tAvo 
 occupiers of land of at least £100 a year rent, who have to 
 certify, before a Justice of Peace, that they had examined 
 the stock and premises, and that no disease had been there; 
 that the animals had been twenty-eight days in possession, 
 and no disease had been within tAvo miles ; that the 
 animals are wanted to be removed from such a place to 
 such another, by such a route, etc. etc. The magistrate 
 has to inquire into all this, take the signature of those 
 parties and the owner, and then grant a license for the 
 removal, which has to accompany the cattle on their route. 
 As I am a friend of the farmers, and in all respects access- 
 ible, I am much applied to, and so my house and stable 
 were assailed from morning to night. This I haA'e in 
 some measure abated, by fixing times to meet them at 
 Haydonbridge, on days previous to NcAVcastle market, 
 which is a saving of travelling to all on the east of me, and 
 a saving to myself It is a satisfaction to be able to advise 
 and help the poor people, though a painful duty. You 
 Avill see also in that paper the proceedings about uniting 
 Holy Island to the mainland, and gaining 5000 acres of 
 valuable soil from the sea, in which George takes a pro- 
 minent part ; there seems now a likelihood that it may
 
 GIVES LECTURES ON POETRY. 3 1 1 
 
 be carried out. It is a ]iroject that I often discussed many 
 years ago with Philip Nairn, but could get no co-opera- 
 tion. . . ." 
 
 He never lost an opportunity of imparting any pleasure 
 of an intellectual kind to his humbler neighbours, for 
 the loss of happiness which people suffer through the 
 want of mental cultivation and knowledge of the great 
 thoughts and noble deeds of the past, was a matter 
 which moved him much. He felt more compassion 
 for persons who suffered such deprivation than if they 
 lacked some of the more common external comforts 
 of life. 
 
 TO HIS DAUGHTER HATTY, 
 
 "Feb. 4, 1866. 
 
 " Last night I performed a great feat, and in a very 
 different line. We have instituted public readings at 
 Haydonbridge on the full vwons. Last evening I was 
 announced as performer, and had a large attendance, but 
 instead of reading I gave a kind of lecture on Poetry, with 
 many specimens from memory, to the surprise of the 
 rustics. Mr. Pendred in the chair. It lasted 1^ hour. 
 Began with tlie antiquity of poetry, specimens of sub- 
 limity in the sacred writings, especially in the prophecies 
 of Isaiah and the Psalms (107th for instance), — then to 
 Homer, * the Muses' eldest bom, the skylark in the dawn 
 of years, tlie poet of the morn ;' — the wonderful jjcrfection 
 of the Greek language at .such an early [leriod, so hai-moni- 
 ou8, subtle in its di.scrimination and comprehensive in its 
 inflections, as if constructed by poets and philosophers to 
 serve their especial ])uq)ose, or as if it had been a direct 
 gift; — a notice of Virgil, and tlien to Milton, made out of 
 the two, 'The force of nature could no further go;' then 
 down to the poetry of our own times — 
 
 " iShmk verse, with specimens from Shakespeare, Young^ 
 and TlioniKon ; Ihroic measure of ten syllaljles and con.
 
 312 MEMOIE OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 tinuous rhymes ; Spenserian stanzas from the Faerie Queen, 
 with specimens from Byron, Campbell, and Beattie, — a 
 long and tedious measure, requiring dexterous management. 
 Then the lyrical, with specimens from ballads of harmonious 
 measure. The easy flow of Scott's style, from the Lady 
 of the Lake, and interludes of songs or introductions, * Rosa- 
 belle,' etc. 
 
 " Then a lot of epigrams, humorous epitaphs, and short 
 pieces for the amusement of the lower capacities ; ballads 
 such as ' Lord Ullin's Daughter,' ' Alexander Selkirk on 
 the Desert Island,' which filled up the time, so that Mr. 
 Pendred kept his book in his pocket for another occasion. 
 
 " What a rigmarole I have bothered you with in my bad 
 writing, but you will excuse the ramblings of an old man, 
 who, when his days of usefulness have passed, is willing to 
 contribute to the amusement of his neighbours." 
 
 The few more educated people who heard the poetical 
 lectures which he gave as described above, were aston- 
 ished at the proof of the retentiveness of his memory 
 in going through so many quotations, or entire poems of 
 poets of all times, without the aid of a note or a book. 
 
 I cannot refrain from giving a few extracts from his 
 letters to his little grandchildren. Their little letters 
 to him were carefully cherished and punctually answered 
 — as much so as any business letter — very soon, if not 
 by return of post. 
 
 TO GEORGIE BUTLER. 
 
 " DiLSTON, October 25, 1859. 
 
 " My dear Grandson, — I was much pleased by finding 
 your letter here on my return from Hexham this afternoon, 
 and by the good and pretty verses which you have sent 
 
 me. 
 
 " I am glad that you have not forgotten me and Dilston, 
 where I am, and always shall be most happy to see you.
 
 LETTERS TO GRANDCHILDREN. 313 
 
 Stanley, and Charlie, along with your dear mamma and 
 papa. I hope they are all well, and that little merry 
 Charlie, with his black eyes and hair, has not forgotten 
 ' ganpap's ' either. 
 
 " Shafto is well, and in great heart, and so is Nelly, 
 though she creeps more about the stables noAV that the 
 weather has become suddenly so cold. Dilston is very dif- 
 ferent now from what it was when you were here. Many 
 of the trees are stripped of all their leaves, which lie on 
 the ground, or are blown about by the Avinds. The 
 ground is white every morning with snow or hoar-frost, 
 and the black cows have to be taken into the folds at 
 the farm at nights, to lie upon dry straw and get turnips 
 to eat. 
 
 " I have hatl to look after some verj' naughty people 
 who had got drunk, and fought and abused one another. 
 Such wretched people know nothing of a just God or of a 
 kind and merciful Saviour who calls such to repent and 
 come to Him. I often come home very unhappy after 
 dealing with such people. 
 
 " It is pleasant to think that I have seen so many of 
 my dear daughters and their children this year. Give my 
 best love to mamma, papa, and the boys, my little play- 
 fellows, and think of me as your loving grandpapa, 
 
 " JuiLN Grey." 
 
 TO STANLEY BUTLER. 
 
 " Lh'wood House, May 17, 1864. 
 " Mv DEAR LIITLE GRANDSON, — I was Very glad to have 
 a letter from you, slnjwing that you have not forgotten mo 
 or the things at Lipwood. I was very sorry indeed at the 
 loss of good old Shafto. He w;us like an old friend that 
 one could always trust to for doing his duty well and 
 pleasantly, lie never stunililcil, and did wliatever one 
 wished without whip or spur, and looked so handsome and 
 gentet;!. I shall never get his like again or love any other 
 as I did him. I fear i)oor Tip's s]iould«;r is l)roken, and 
 that he will never be able to go but on three legs. Ho is
 
 3 1 4 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 very savage at all tramps and beggars that roam about the 
 place, and makes up by noise for not being able to run 
 fast. 
 
 " This place is looking very green now, and pretty with 
 blossom on the fruit-trees. I hope there will be plenty of 
 cherries and gooseberries for all the children that will come 
 in summer. 
 
 " I hope to see a great many of you 
 
 ' Ere the summer closes 
 On its lingering roses.' 
 
 " I hope you are keeping well now, and that George's 
 headaches don't distress him much. Does he study too 
 hard, or jump too high, that brings them on ] Give my 
 love to him and Charlie and Eva. . . . Robert is cutting 
 the grass in front, Jane is cooking the dinner, and Mary 
 is doing up the rooms — I suppose you remember them all, 
 — and Bobby, the pony, is enjoying himself in the little 
 field. — Your loving old granddad, John Grey." 
 
 TO ETHEL GARSTON. 
 
 " LiPWOOD, April 11, 1866. 
 " My DEAR Ethel, — I thank you much for your kind 
 and well-written letter. Although some of our shrubs are 
 putting out buds, it is not unsafe yet to wander abroad here, 
 for our hedges are not shooting in the lanes, nor does the 
 bull rush in the meadoAvs, I don't yet see my way to 
 visit you. It would be a grand feat for me to ride my 
 own horse across the country to Liverpool, and then accom- 
 pany you about. Such things are not done now, though 
 your father can tell of long excursions in his valorous days, 
 and I can recollect riding my merry and clever little mare 
 Squirrel over all the Lake country, and to Lancaster, 
 though not quite to Liverpool. Those were joyous days, 
 and I can recall them with pleasure still ; but the action 
 and independence are only in imagination. Then I could 
 realize something of the spirit conveyed in Smollett's 
 lines, —
 
 LETTERS TO HIS FA3QLY. 315 
 
 • Thy spirit, IndtjH'nclencc, let me share, 
 Lord of the Htm heart and eagle eye. 
 Thy stei)s I '11 f<->llu\v with my bosom bare, 
 Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.' 
 
 " It is well that Edgar (Jih) has escaped, and been at 
 liberty to win his hnirels in his new position. I rejoice in 
 his success ; pray tell him so, witli my love ; but also Avarn 
 him not to let the spirit of emulation lead him to over- 
 exertion and anxiety. He has time and talents enough to 
 make his way without undue or injurious application, 
 which, I think, his ardent temperament may be in danger 
 of giving way to. The Talisman would bring to your 
 recollection the rambles on the moors of Gilsland. It is 
 true that dells or raA"ines, such as the deep one at Gils- 
 land, are called (jills in this part of Englaml, but I believe 
 that district took its name from being the land or property 
 of a border reiver of ancient fame called Giles, abbreviated 
 into Gil's land. — Your loving grandfather, 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 TO A DAUGHTER, ON THE SUDDEN DEATH OF ONE OF 
 HER CHILDREN. 
 
 " LiPWOOD, August 25, 1864. 
 
 " My BELOVED Daughter, — What can I say to comfort 
 you or to alleviate your distress ] I need not tell you that 
 I love you in sorrow and in joy, nor how deeply I feel for 
 you, and am with you in heart on this most sad occasion : 
 I hope you will accompany us to Switzerland, if your health 
 and spirits will allow (jf the undertaking. The change of 
 scene and tlx- effctrt the journey would create might relieve 
 your thoughts a little, though nothing can remove them 
 from the recollection of the dear and loved one you have 
 wj suddenly and so ])ainfully lost. If you can entertain 
 this, dear, we will wait ycjur time, and measure our stages 
 to suit your convenience. You have the consolation of 
 knowing that your l)eloved child had a joyous existence 
 here, and is now in the jiresencc of a loving Saviour,
 
 316 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 escaped from all earthly trials, tempations, and sorrows. 
 That little form is continually present with me, instinct 
 with life, energy, and merriment, and I can hardly realize 
 the truth of the change. I look at the little garden which 
 she formed, and the plants which she cherished. I c?^' 
 Tip to me, and remember how she caressed him. Ever^ 
 thing in and around the house seems associated with her 
 in these joyous weeks which she passed here. The vision 
 presents itself to me of her flying past the window with 
 her golden locks, luxuriating with bunches of flowers 
 which she ahvays dutifully asked my permission to pull, 
 being thoroughly impressed with the idea that I was lord 
 of all hereabouts. No wonder, then, that the hearts of 
 you, her parents, should be wrung with the deepest agony. 
 But what can we sayl It is God's will, who does not 
 afflict us willingly. To his mercy and support I commend 
 you, my dearest Josie, and pray that you may in faith and 
 love ever experience that comfort and peace which He 
 only can bestow. With warm affection for you and all 
 with you, think of me, my dearest Josie, as your own 
 attached father, John Grey." 
 
 In the autumn of 1864 he started for Switzerland, 
 where he met liis daughter and her family from Naples ; 
 lie enjoyed the excursions made among the moun- 
 tains, the aspect of some of the Swiss Cantons, — 
 which he spoke of as "marked by the absence of 
 the extremes of wealth and poverty : the rich not 
 ostentatious or luxurious, the poor industrious, frugal, 
 and contented," — and the family gathering which he 
 found around him in the pensions or hotels which they 
 made their head-quarters. He wrote of it on his return 
 home : — 
 
 "Dear Lord Grey, — I have been an unwonted tra- 
 veller since I had the pleasure of being at Howick.
 
 VISIT TO SWITZEIILAND. 317 
 
 "Mrs. Smyttan and I met at Geneva Mr. and Mrs. 
 Meuricoffre, with their four fine children, and my grand- 
 daugliter, Mrs. Lonpold from Genoa. 
 
 " The ^leuricoffres have a property called Gordonne, on 
 the Lake of Geneva, near the station called Kolle, where 
 we were for a time. It is an excellent house, and beauti- 
 fully situated, the ground extending to the margin of the 
 lake, and commanding an extensive view of the mountains 
 on the opposite side, with their monarch, ^Mont Blanc, 
 towering over them, and displaying at sunset his snow- 
 clad top in great luxuriance of colour. Thence w'e made 
 excursions to Vevay, the Castle of Chillon, etc. etc. After- 
 wards we visited Than, Grindelwald, Interlachen, Lucerne, 
 Berne, Basle, exploring romantic valleys, climbing moun- 
 tains, and scaling glaciers, all of which, I dare say, 
 your Lordship is acquainted with. It seemed to be wild 
 work for a man in his eightieth year ! but I enjoyed it 
 much with such dear companions. "We parted at Basle, 
 they for Genoa and Naples, we, by Mayenne, Cologne, 
 Brussels, and Calais, to old England, which I am not likely 
 ever to quit again. — Your attached and faithful 
 
 " John Grey." 
 
 ^ly sister, Mrs. Meuricoffre, records some reiuiui- 
 scences of that pleasant time in Switzerland : — 
 
 " The day after his arrival with Fanny wc spent a 
 charming day at the Gordonne. In the morning we 
 climbed the wooded ravine behind the house, crossing and 
 re-crossing the stream by little wooden bridges. The after- 
 noon we spent idly, sitting by the lake. Everything was 
 steeped in sunshine, tlie mountains of Savoy oi)posito 
 shining with gem-like tints, and noble Mont Blanc rear- 
 ing his white head behind them. We spent three days 
 in travelling {rctlurina) from Vfvay to Thun, stopping the 
 first day io dine at Bullc The j)copl(! were holding a 
 poi)ular festa. Papa's sense of the humorous was moved 
 at the furious energy with which the stiilwart young men 
 and maidens danced an<l panted at mid-day under a broil-
 
 318 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 ing sun. Bulle is the head-quarters of those great millstone- 
 looking Swiss cheeses. We visited the great warehouses, 
 filled from rafters to floor with cheeses. Tell was struck 
 with the constant activity of papa's mind, and his keen de- 
 sire for information. He questioned Tell much about the 
 laws of property in Switzerland ; he approved of the good re- 
 gulation they have that the Canton must educate and sup- 
 port all orphans, whatever part of the world they have been 
 sent from, provided their baptismal register has been sent 
 to the Canton of which the parents were citizens ; also he 
 informed himself about the obligation to serve under arms, 
 there being no standing army, and of the elections of mem- 
 bers to the Houses of Deputies ; he kept a critical eye to 
 the agriculture of the country, and quickly recognised that 
 the poor sandy soil about Lausanne, which would be un- 
 profitable under an English sky, by the grace of the hot 
 sun of Switzerland is excellent for vines, planted on 
 terraces. No one of the party walked better than he 
 (though he was then eighty). One morning we rose at 
 six, and took a long walk up through fragrant pine woods 
 to a little waterfall wedged into the head of a ravine. I re- 
 collect with what a springy step and calm breathing he 
 breasted that long ascent, and how he delighted in the 
 noble pine-trees and undergrowth of tall ferns. We stayed 
 a week at Thun, at the Hotel Bellevue, where the sleek 
 cows turn out each with a mellow-sounding bell about its 
 neck for the benefit of English visitors, albeit they are 
 within a safe enclosure close to their stables ! Papa en- 
 joyed the sermons he heard preached in the little church 
 there by a military chaplain from Aldershott ; his heart 
 went forth to meet the warmth with which this clergyman 
 pleaded Christ's loving call, and appealed to the sad un- 
 rest we all feel till we heed it and follow Him. We took 
 horses to Rosenlaui ; there we left our horses and scrambled 
 to the glacier. We went into the fairy-like ice grotto, 
 enjoying the freshness, and the deep blue mystery of the 
 walls and roof. When our eyes had become accustomed to 
 this blue light, we came out to be struck dumb by the
 
 SWITZERLAND. 319 
 
 contrast of the glo-sHng yet ethereal splendour of the rosy- 
 tinted peaks towering above us, true pillars and sentinels 
 of heaven — Engelliorn, Kosen-Alp, Wellhorn, and Wetter- 
 horn, — they seemed to me like the shining ramparts of that 
 New Jerusalem whicli shall come down out of heaven, 
 adorned as a bride — a world not of this world, undefiled 
 by human passions and littlenesses. The sight made us 
 silent. Presently, standing there, he, Avith his wonderful 
 memorj' and clear enunciation, recited to us a poem which 
 he had not read for forty years, and which we had never 
 heard of, addres.<?ed to the ' spirit of the glacier;' describing 
 how in winter she let loose from her ice-bound caves the 
 storm-spirits to sweep through the trembling forests and 
 bind the waters in chains ; how in sultry summer she sent 
 cool healing breezes into the scorched valleys. It was the 
 first time in his long life that he had seen a glacier, but he 
 was the one to delight us witli this appropriate pleasure 
 while our eyes feasted on the scene — a scene which I shall 
 never forget as associated with him, who had something in 
 his whole being akin to tlie mountains. By the time he 
 had cea.sed the mountain-tops were dead. It is like 
 watching the cold grey shadow of death and nothingness 
 settle doyra over loved faces once animated, warm, and 
 loving." 
 
 A sadness fell upon the party on their last evening 
 together, — his children from whom he was to part think- 
 ing that they should see his face no more. He saw and 
 felt the cloud, and l)efore parting for the night ho 
 kneeled in tlie midst of the assembled group of children 
 and grandchildren, and, in a voice of unspeakable ten- 
 derness, commended them and himself to God, praying 
 for a blessed meeting for all in the heavenly mansions, if 
 not again on earth, and invoking ilui presence of the 
 Spirit of God, as well as earthly protection and blessing. 
 Another meeting on earth was granted to some of them, 
 but that which did come to pass was probably farthest
 
 320 MEMOm OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 from liis anticipations ; that the shining little heads of 
 the two youngest of the party would so shortly lie 
 beneath the sod in their far- severed graves in Italy 
 and England. After his return home he wrote of the 
 death of one of them : — 
 
 " LiPwooD, Dec. 9, 1865. 
 " My dear Edith, — You have been much in my thoughts 
 in connexion with the loss we have sustained in the removal 
 of that bright little gem of humanity, the lively and engag- 
 ing child Bee. I think of her as my little plaything in 
 Switzerland, and chiefly at Thun, where we sojourned the 
 longest, among the shrubs behind the Hotel, or playing 
 between the sitting-room and their nursery up-stairs, with 
 the quiet and fancied hiding, and the shrill shouts of 
 merriment on discovery. Sweet little Bee ! How I should 
 have enjoyed seeing her and the others in their innocent 
 gambols among the shady lawns and green glades of Lip- 
 wood, as I at times anticipated, in the ensuing summer. 
 Alas for human anticipations ! We shall see her no more. 
 The dear sisters — Josie and Hatty, — have been called to 
 experience the same feelings nearly within a year. At 
 that time — though many had been removed by death — I 
 could number thirty grandchildren ; now reduced to 
 twenty-eight." 
 
 " November 27, 1867. 
 
 " My darling Hatty, — . . . I often think of those gone 
 before, and think of your two sweet little girls as they ivould 
 jump round me, and send up their merry shouts, in the large 
 rooms at Berne or Lucerne, on that happy occasion. Such 
 recollections, and their sweet little pictures, are all that is 
 left of them now. ..." 
 
 To his granddaughter Edith, describing one of the 
 last family gatherings he witnessed : — 
 
 "LiPWOOD, Aug. 20, 1865. 
 
 " Dearest Edith, — I was most glad to receive a letter 
 from you at Milfield Hill, where were a jolly party of
 
 FAMILY GATHERING IX GLEXDALE. 321 
 
 young people, enjoying themselves to the extent that full 
 liberty, fine weather, beautiful scenery, and gay spirits can 
 produce, and one old one looking on, indulging in the 
 participation of others' pleasure. Maud, with her three 
 cousins, were running and romping from morning till dewy 
 eve, and the Butlers, though living at Ford, were meeting 
 them daily at one of the places, having the use of Lady 
 Waterford's boat to cross the Till, which makes the walk 
 shorter. George Butler thinks dear old Glendale the finest 
 country he ever saw, as I do too. Tliey lived in a house 
 wliich Lady "Waterfurd has built, commanding the purest 
 air and finest view possible, embracing the whole of Glen- 
 dale and Milfield Plain, surrounded by the range of Cheviot 
 Hills on one side, in front Flodden hill and woods, with 
 its historic distinction, and to the north the course of the 
 Tweed for thirty miles, from the Eildon Hills near IMelrose, 
 downward by Kelso, Coldstream, etc., to near Benvick. 
 You will hear from Maud of her excursions, which I think 
 she enjoyed throughout, first at this place, enlivened at the 
 time with young visitors, then at Gilsland, whither I took 
 her and Aunt Fanny to join the Butlers for a few days, 
 which was very enjoyable. On one delightful day I took 
 them all an excursion in an open carriage to see the famous 
 Roman station, then to the ivy-clad ruins of monastic 
 grandeur at Lanercost, ending with an examination of the 
 ancient baronial lialls of Naworth Castle, its dungeons and 
 towers, walls covered with representations of battles in 
 French tapestry, and the rooms, cha])el. and library of the 
 doughty "Will jloward, ' bi'ltf*! Will,' who, besides being a 
 warrior of high renown, seems to have been a scholar of 
 note in those days, judging by marginal notes in his hand 
 in black-lrttt-r books of ancient creeds and treatises on 
 divinity. Yet the idea one is apt to form of the might 
 and prowess of such men is not borne out by personal 
 size, f«»r 1, in these degenerate days, could not squeeze 
 myself into his coat of mail." 
 
 Hia daughter from Naples paid her last visit to him
 
 322 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY, 
 
 in July 1866, the year of the battle of Custozza. On 
 her way to England she wrote to him from Milan : — 
 
 "Milan, Jwie 25, 1866. 
 
 " We hear the left wing did cross the Mincio, but the 
 Austrians retreated before they came near, wanting to draw 
 the Italians back into the net-work of forts, where they 
 wiU be caught like rats in a trap. Young Ulrich was the 
 first to cross with his company. The King offered to make 
 him his aide-de-camp, but Ulrich prefers remaining in his 
 active and dangerous post as Captain of Bersaglieri. I 
 remember him and his brother dining with us in 1857, 
 when in Naples, and they then told us they would never 
 be happy till Lombardy is free. . . . The Duchess's eldest 
 son, with a good many other young nobles, entered the 
 Guides as a common soldier. The Duchess went to the 
 front two days ago, and found him with fifty others sleep- 
 ing in a field within sight of the Austrians. They groom 
 their own horses, cook their own dinners, and black their 
 own boots (if they care to have them black). . . . 
 
 " "We went to vespers in the Cathedral yesterday. It 
 was crowded with soldiers kneeling all over the pavement, 
 before going by the night train to the front, jjoor boys ! 
 perhaps for the last time. So young they are, my throat 
 ached with keeping down my tears. Sophie and I saw 
 something of the sad side of war in 1860, the wild excite- 
 ment over, and months of lingering pain and wrecked 
 bodies, and oh ! how patiently borne. I often wonder 
 where my tall Lombard is who lost both his arms. 
 
 " The j^reparations here for the wounded are excellent, 
 and those who cannot be brought so far will be well cared 
 for by the noble enthusiastic little towns near the seat of 
 war. Noble Brescia keeps at its own expense all the 
 families of those who have gone from it to the war, soldiers 
 and officers. 
 
 " Do not let the people in England turn against us be- 
 cause of any mistakes we make. ' Italia Una ' is young, 
 and foolish about many things, and is weak. But the cause 
 is good, — the cause of liberty, of religion, of truth ; and the
 
 RELATIONS WITH HIS SEIiVA2v'TS. 323 
 
 (lisiuterestedness and devotion of all classes is something 
 to love. — Yours, Hatty Meuricoffre," 
 
 ^ly father's relation to his servants was very happy 
 and very dignified. Tliey looked to him almost as to a 
 father, and remained with him during long periods of 
 service, sometimes for life. In the quiet evenings at 
 Lipwood he sometimes called the women-servants into 
 the morning-room for an hour or two, when he would 
 read aloud to them a novel of Sir Walter Scott, or some 
 light and instructive book, while they sat each M-ith her 
 sewing. The absence of all constraint in them, coupled 
 with a grave respectfulness, showed how natural to them 
 seemed the act on his part. He disliked men-servants 
 in the house ; though needed for the stables, etc., he 
 thought that in the house they were apt to become 
 self-indulgent, and to expect to be waited upon by tlieir 
 fellow-servants. 
 
 1867 brings us to the last year of a life usefully and 
 nobly spent. Little remains to be told of events. It 
 was a peaceful year. In the autumn of it he made the 
 last of his many agricultural excursions in which he 
 was called to judge at shows and make speeches. It 
 was in August 18G7 that he made at the Higliland 
 Society's meeting at Gla.sgow a speech which, it is said, 
 betrayed no falling off in vigour of mind. He received 
 afterwards the following from the editor of the North 
 British Agriculturist : — 
 
 "Dear Sir, — I beg to return you my best thanks for 
 the manuscript of your speech at Cla.'ipow. A ])r()of will 
 Ih; scut you ior correction. You may, u itliout know ing it, 
 have touched a very tender point wlirn you s])oke of the 
 absence of the Duke of I'uccleuch from the Gla.sgow meet- 
 ing. Not a few members expressed themselves greatly
 
 3;2:4 MEMOIK OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 disappointed that the President of the national Society 
 should take more interest in a party question in the House 
 of Lords (where his vote could have been used, although 
 he had not been there) than in the success of the meeting at 
 Glasgow. The last time I saw you was in the hall of the 
 Society of Arts, London, where you presided, and Mr. J. 
 C. Morton read a very excellent paper. I could not dis- 
 cover any change in your appearance at Glasgow. I hope 
 you will yet be able to act as Judge at the shows of the 
 Highland Society. Your presence is always welcome in 
 any part of Scotland. — Yours truly, 
 
 " Charles Stevenson." 
 
 The following are from my father to Mr. Steven- 
 son : — 
 
 " LiPWOOD, Aug. 10, 1867. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I return the proof which you were so good 
 as to send me, and must say that I never examined one so 
 free from mistakes as it is. 
 
 " I have to thank you very much for your kind remem- 
 brance of me in continuing to send me the N.B. Agriculturist, 
 which contains so many interesting articles connected with 
 agriculture. 
 
 " The two vexed questions of Game and Hypothec have 
 caused much discussion, and, I fear, are not yet much nearer 
 a satisfactory settlement. I think that landlords are blind 
 to their own interests eventually to persist in maintaining 
 either. All that can be said of the game preserves is, that 
 it may be made a matter of bargain on taking a farm, and 
 if no more game is maintained and preserved than existed 
 at that time, the tenant has no reason to complain. For 
 great preserves in the midst of cultivated land, filled with 
 animals which must necessarily feed upon the produce of 
 the adjoining fields, which is raised at the expense of the 
 tenants, there is no reasonable apology ; but, irrespective of 
 individual interests, it deserves national reprobation. 
 
 " With regard to leases, I should never propose to exact 
 a rent which the land is fairly worth, without giving to the
 
 AGRICULTURAL CORRESrONDENCE. 325 
 
 tenant a f;\ir chance of return for his capital and industry 
 by the certainty of a lease. And there is no douht the 
 improved mode of cultivation now in use, and the applica- 
 tion of expensive manures, make a relaxation of restrictive 
 covenants, used of old, just and necessary. If I were 
 \vriting the article ' Lease ' for our friend Morton's Cyclo- 
 pa?dia now, I should deal more li1)erally on that point than 
 I did then. The scale of allowance for unexhausted manures 
 for the last three years I found to work advantageously. — 
 Yours very truly, John Grey." 
 
 " LiPwooD House, Aug. 24, 1867. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — Tlie dissatisfaction expressed with the 
 decision of the Judges at Glasgow will make it more 
 difficult to get men to act in that capacity in future, and 
 the aj)parent disinclination of the great landowners to 
 come in contact witli the great body of the tenantry, 
 by whom it is observed, will have an unfavourable 
 effect on the future of the Society. I shall send you by 
 book-post some newspaper slips, from which you may, 
 perhaps, extract remarks upon Leases, also upon Game 
 Preserves, and an apolog}^ for certain restrictive clauses in 
 leases, showing, as I think, that they cannot be altogether 
 relinquished. 
 
 " On the subject of Leases, I enclose a copy of my speech 
 at the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
 England in Newcastle in 1846, in which I connected the 
 custom of letting land on lease with the common in- 
 terest and welfare of landlord, tenant, and labourer; you 
 might pcrhaijs find an opportunity of introducing it, with 
 some introductory remarks on the importance of the 
 subject, chiefly as regards England, now revived, and as 
 needful as ever. — I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
 
 " JuiiN Grey. 
 
 " r.S. — I made some remarks at Ghisgow, in the end of 
 my speech, on tht- natund jiartiality of parties for their own 
 stock, and some excuse lor the fallibility of Imnian judgment.
 
 326 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 " It may also be observed, that lookers-on, or those who 
 examine cattle in pens, have not the same means of com- 
 paring the quality, or Jmndling, that the Judges have, when 
 they are brought side by side. And that is a point to 
 which much attention should, in my opinion, be given, for 
 a form however correct, without good quality of flesh, is 
 not a desirable animal." 
 
 Trom ]\rr. Thompson of Kirby Hall, York, President 
 of the Eoyal Agricultural Society, received about the 
 same time : — 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I am much gratified by your letter and 
 approval of the general views expressed in my address to 
 the E.A. Society last December. I know no one whose 
 opinion on such questions is entitled to more Aveight than 
 yours. I have often regretted that I have had so few 
 opportunities of meeting you. I also regret much that 
 increasing age prevents you now from taking so active a part 
 in agricultural pursuits ; but you have the satisfaction of 
 knowing that what you have done is of a permanent 
 character, and Avill continue to do good long after we are 
 all gathered to our fathers," 
 
 The subject of Popular Education occupiedhisthoughts 
 a great deal towards the close of his life, and in this 
 year he took a great interest in certain movements for 
 the better education of women throughout the country.^ 
 
 ' In connexion with this subject I cannot refrain from giving the follow- 
 ing extract from the many valuable thoughts recorded in the private diary 
 of my aunt Margaretta Grey. These suggestions, closely connected with 
 movements of the present day, are but one proof among many others of 
 the view which thoughtful women have taken for many years past of their 
 own position. Generally each one believed herself to be isolated in such 
 views, and feared to speak until others had spoken. The date of this 
 extract is 1853 : — 
 
 " It appears to me that, with an increase of wealth xmequally distributed, 
 and a pressure of population, there has sprung up among us a spurious 
 refinement, that cramps the energy and circumscribes the usefulness of 
 women in the upper classes of society. A lady, to be such, must be a 
 mere lady, and nothing else. She must not work for profit, or engage in
 
 INTEREST IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 327 
 
 Tn talking to some of his daughters on the subject, he 
 expressed himself with a largeness and liberality of 
 feehng wliich was very animating to them. He had 
 indeed been so long accustomed to give his wife and 
 daughters a sliare in, and to confer ^^•ith them on all 
 matters of interest and importance, political, social, and 
 professional, as well as domestic, that to him it did nut 
 appear at all strange that women should rise up to 
 claim a higher education, and a share in all the graver 
 and more important work of life. That they should ever 
 
 any occupation that money can command, lest she invade the rights of 
 the working classes, who live by their la1x)ur. Men in want of employment 
 have pressed their way into nearly all the shopping and retail businesses 
 that in my early years were managed, in whole or in part, by women. 
 The conventional barrier that pronounces it ungenteel to be behind a coun- 
 ter, or serving the public in any mercantile capacity, is greatly extended. 
 The same in household economy. Servants must be up to their several 
 offices, which is very well ; but ladies, dismissed from the dairy, the con- 
 fectionarj-, the store-room, the still-room, the poultry-yard, the kitchen- 
 garden, and the orchard, have hardly yet found themselves a sphere equally 
 tiseful and important in the pursuits of trade and art to which to apply 
 their too abundant leisure. I have always regretted that they have suffered 
 the whole of the medical oflices, with the knowledge and a])i)lication of 
 simples, which used to lie in the province of mothers of families, to pass 
 out of their hands, and that the practice of midwifery, so obviously apjiro- 
 priate to women, .should be given up by theuL Medical men in want of 
 occupation lay claim to this as a province of theirs, and decry all house- 
 hold dabbling in medicine as derogatory to science. Yet I cannot but 
 think that in ihe earlier times, when living was more simple, and diseases 
 perhaps less comjilicated, the established home-remedies that were brought 
 into use, taking illness in its incipient stages, were instrumental in ward- 
 ing off diseases which the doctors cannot cure. . . . 
 
 " We must submit to the changes which the progress of art— I will not 
 Bay {KHiitively of civilisation— forces ujion us. What is done with abridged 
 labour and greater effect on a large scale in the factory, need Hot be done 
 with time and jiains by many hands in the family. But what I remon- 
 strate against is the negative forms of eniiiloyment : the wasting of energy, 
 the crippling of talent under false ideii-s of station, propriety, and retiiie- 
 ment, that seeniH to shut up a large portion of the women of our generation 
 from j)roi>er »phercH of occupation and a^lequato exercise of })<jwer. . . . 
 Women have almobt universally a broken, dvuultor}' education, made up
 
 328 MEMOm OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 be indifferent to anything that concerned their country's 
 good was to him the only marvel. One of his daughters 
 laid before him, a few months before his death, a petition 
 to Parliament for the alteration of the laws concerning 
 the property and earnings of married women. He took 
 the paper and considered it attentively, and then took 
 a pen and signed it. That daughter now recalls with 
 great tenderness the little incident, and how, when she 
 was leaving the room with the signed paper, he called 
 
 of details, of which the secondary and mechanical often have the precedence 
 of the solid and intellectual. Those studies are left out or vaguely pur- 
 sued that strengthen the faculties, and give vigour and perseverance to the 
 thinking powers. The education of girls also comes to an end at the time 
 when the serious work of self-improvement properly begins. And the loss 
 might not be great, if what went before were of the kind that brings the 
 faculties into healthful action, and what follows after kept up the stimulus 
 to progress and acquisition of knowledge. But here is the grand downfall ; 
 for now regular arrangement of hours and systematic occupation give place 
 to all manner of casualties, — visiting, note-writing, dressing, and choosing 
 dresses for morning and evening engagements, being dutifully at hand for 
 any odd job that is required in the way of shopping, and making and re- 
 ceiving calls. Life is too often divested of any real and important purpose. 
 The wise and the unwise, the gifted and the imbecile, yield to the imperti- 
 nence of custom, and limit themselves to what has been the fashion in their 
 circle and station. 
 
 "It is time to rise out of this, and for women of principle and natural 
 pai-ts to find themselves something to do. There would still be a suflScient 
 quota left to attend to the comforts of parents and the requirements of home 
 though a reasonable proportion of the talented and earnest chose for 
 themselves some more special calling, and without vows, devoted them- 
 selves, as Providence might direct their way, to pursuits in which they 
 were qualified to attain excellence or to rise to superior usefulness. Some 
 children discover at an early age a passion for books, indicative of mental 
 capacity, and directing to study and the cultivation of lettered acquire- 
 ments ; some, with a taste for reading, show a general curiosity, with love 
 of observation and experimental science. Let these have scope, and we 
 should soon have a superior body of teachers and trainers for our youth, 
 spreading influence through our schools for the commoner and higher 
 classes. Others, perhaps the more numerous class, develop activity, love 
 of employment and despatch, inclining to business occupation, and adapted 
 for carrying out plans that require labour, distribution of employment, and 
 co-operation. How would the morbid listlessness and insipidity that per-
 
 PiEFORM OF THE MAKIUAGE LAAVS. 329 
 
 her back again, and said, " Stay, my dear, let me put 
 J.P. after my name. ^laybe if they knew what an old 
 magistrate I am they would think my signature had 
 more weight."^ I can recollect many a time seeing 
 some poor woman weeping at his office- door or in the 
 kitchen, waiting to tell her woes to him, and also I can 
 recall the cheered look and light step with whicli such 
 poor women often went their way after he had spoken 
 to them. In cases of misunderstandings between 
 
 vade some family circles be broken up by having one or two of their 
 members withdrawn for such destinations ! It need not prevent marriage ; 
 though it would beneficially divert the thoughts from that as the grand 
 event in life, by which so many of the unemployed lose precious time in 
 vain speculation, frustrated inclination, and disappointed hope. Character 
 more fully developed and brought into action would lead to fortunate and 
 judicious marriages, somewhat delayed occasionally as to the time of com- 
 pleting the contract. A few useful years would have been previously 
 secured, refreshing to think of, and the talent for usefulness would remain. 
 The mother, who had guided the education of many, would be an adept in 
 bringing up her own. She would still feel the claims of her early pro- 
 fession ; would be a mother of orphans ; would engage her children in 
 works of usefulness ; and when her peculiar work was done, if widowhood 
 or failure of circumstances awaited her, as an honoured member of the 
 church, and of the society with which she had been associated, she might 
 resume her place and calling, and close her days either in the community 
 of deaconesses to which she had belonged, or among the households whom 
 her labours had blessed. . . . When at any time has society presented, on 
 the one hand, so large an array of respectably educated individuals em- 
 barrassed for want of a projter calling, ami, on the other, so ponderous a 
 multitude of untrained, neglected pocjr, who cannot without heljj rise out 
 of their misery and degradation ? What an obstruction to usefulness and 
 all eminence of character is that of being too rich or too genteelly con- 
 nected to work at anytliing ! How is life sacrificed as to its most imjror- 
 tant ends, and given to vanity instead of to the service of God ! . . . What 
 I plead for is, that those who are led by a necessity of duty, made up of 
 choice, adajitation, an<l general circumstances, to desire a life of iiliilaii- 
 thropic usefulness, may have the means opened before them of adojiling a 
 profession, acijuiring the skill and fdlhjwing out the practice of the particu- 
 lar line of ser\ice for which they are fitted." 
 
 ' He was a magistrate for two counties, and there were certain small 
 towns which couhl not Ijc boasted of, which gave jjlenty of work to magis- 
 trates at Quartcr-Ueasions.
 
 330 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 husbands and Avives, it was always remarked that his 
 love of justice came out strongly, though his tenderness, 
 perhaps, made him lean, in sympathy, a little to the 
 woman's side ! 
 
 The following letters are among the last he wrote : 
 
 TO HIS SISTER, MRS. DUNCAN. 
 
 " LiPWOOD, November 7, 1867. 
 " My dear Sister, — I have had some intercourse with 
 Mr. Henley, who is in these parts officially, inquiring 
 into the state of education, employment of young people in 
 the fields, etc. etc. ... I left him at Dilston the other 
 day pursuing his researches. They will never get the 
 Factory Act for education to work in the country. In one 
 case the children are collected under one roof, and may 
 attend the machinery at one hour and the school at 
 another; but when widely dispersed in fields over the 
 parish it is impossible, and even alternate days of school 
 and labour will not do ; for it is only at some particular 
 seasons and at light work that farmers can employ them. I 
 think Mr. Henley sees the thing pretty clearly. He thinks 
 we have built some cottages too extensive, with three 
 sleeping-rooms ; but then we don't charge rents to our 
 labourers, and coals are less costly than in the south, etc. 
 -—Yours aff"ectionately, John Grey." 
 
 " LiPWOOD, January 10, 1868. 
 
 " My DEAR Sister, — I received your last kind letter 
 and good wishes, which I gladly reciprocate, at Milfield, 
 which would be in part acknowledged by Fanny, to whom 
 I sent it at Dilston, where she spent the week of my 
 absence, helping the motherless children in their Christmas 
 amusements.^ 
 
 " If you get into a church were high ritualism is observed, 
 
 ^ In allusion to the death of my brother Charles's wife, which was 
 another of the sorrows among his children which he was called to witness.
 
 LAST LETTEKS. 331 
 
 I don't wonder at your disapprobation. I have the same 
 feeling. 1 don't understand how people find all that 
 ceremony to be a part of, or a help to, devotion. 
 
 ' Eicher by far is the heart's adoration, 
 Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.'" 
 
 He spent his last Christmas on earth iu his old 
 home at ^Milfield Hill, whence he wrote to a son-in- 
 law : — 
 
 " Deceniber 30, 1867. 
 
 " My dear George Butler, — I seize a quiet moment 
 to thank you for your note, which greeted my arrival here 
 on Friday, and to return to you and all yours tlie con- 
 gratuhitions of this season, — a season so interesting in 
 social and domestic life, and so important to the Christian 
 world. I am sitting at a window gazing on the long-drawn 
 vale of the Till, and on the calm outline of the Cheviot 
 range, so familiar to my youthful sight, and now productive 
 of jiathetic more than joyous memories. When memory 
 carries me back to the times when, riding up to this house, 
 I was greeted with the smiles and caresses of a dear wife and 
 joyous children, to be contrasted with my present loneli- 
 ness, I am made to feel that I am not sufficiently grateful 
 for the many blessings that are still left to me. Time has 
 greatly increased my objects of interest; but they are 
 wid».'ly dispersed over the world, and age is natmally 
 timorous, and yields to ajjprehension and anxiety. But we 
 are all in the guidance of a merciful Providence, who 
 knows best what is for our good, if we have but faith to 
 trust ourselves in His keeping." 
 
 His habits throughout life were austerely simple. 
 His sparely furnished bedroom resembled that of a 
 soldier accustomed to sudden orders to pack up and 
 begone. He was remarkably abstemious in the matter 
 of wine. His prejudice against smoking was a subject 
 of amusement in his fan)ily. He called people with
 
 332 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 pipes in their mouths " sensualists !" But he never 
 seriously condemned an indulgence, provided it was 
 practised in strict moderation, because he did not allow 
 it in himself. To the last he maintained his independ- 
 ence of character. He was afflicted with a chronic fear 
 of " giving trouble " to anybody, and enjoyed cheating 
 the servants out of the fulfibnent of little services they 
 would so gladly have rendered him, by doing things for 
 himself. Only a week or two before his death, when 
 he was visiting his son Charles at Dilston, he declared 
 his intention of carrying his own luggage down to the 
 station, half a mile off. His son remonstrated, and gave 
 orders to have it carried down. But my father quietly 
 got up an hour earlier than anyone else, on the morning on 
 which he was to depart, and, shouldering his great heavy 
 portmanteau, marched down with it to the station, and, 
 depositing it there, returned to breakfast with a pleased 
 look, which betrayed what he had been about ! Such 
 little foibles, together with a certain helplessness about 
 small things, and a want of skilfulness with his hands, 
 about which he always allowed us to make merry, 
 endeared him the more to us. The tying of a neck-tie 
 was a mystery he never could compass, with all his 
 intelligence. It always ended with the appearance of 
 a piece of crumpled hemp, however much pains he took ; 
 but his daughters rejoiced in such opportunities of 
 coming to the rescue as this manual incapacity afforded 
 them, and when his voice was heard in the up-stairs 
 hall before dressing for the evening, saying entreatingly, 
 " Here, somebody ! will anybody tie this stupid thing 
 for me ?" three or four of us would rush out to contend 
 for the honour of reaching up to his noble height, to 
 " make him tidy " about the neck.
 
 A DAUGHTEUS SKETCH OF HIS CHARACTER. 333 
 
 ^fy sister, ]\rrs. ^Nleuricoffre, wrote lately the follow- 
 ing impressions of his chiiracter : — 
 
 " It is difficult to put into any form of words the im- 
 pression Avliicli his life and character, as a whole, made on 
 me. . . . He never preached to us ; hut in daily intercourse, 
 his truth, purity, and nobility of mind shone out in all he 
 said, and still more in what he did. His conversation 
 reminded me of the sweet and pure fountain sending out 
 sweet and )>ure waters, true to itself, without conscious in- 
 tention. Tell delighted in the instruction he frequently 
 gave him on subjects with which he, as a foreigner and 
 a man of cities, was unfamiliar. There was so much more 
 of the sympathizing wish to make you .share his interests, 
 than of didactic teaching in his way of giving instniction, 
 and he listened with a candid humility to be informed of 
 things which had not come within the range of his experi- 
 ence, which was touching in one so much older, and with 
 so much knowledge. 
 
 " We arrived, you know, from the exciting scenes in 
 Milan and Paris in July 18GG, when the battle was fought 
 which gave Prussia prestige in Europe, and decided the 
 fate of Venice, which had for years been a subject of deep 
 and romantic interest to us, and found ourselves in that 
 quiet green valley where papa was living more retired than 
 before, hearing less of the excited voices of the outer world, 
 discussing, arguing, blaming, and praising. I was moved 
 afn'.sh to wonder antl admiration by observing in him all 
 that freshness of interest, the accurate information, the 
 liberal as well as ripe judgment, the ^vide glance taking in 
 all the difficulties and probable results of these far-away 
 events; not judging tln-m — as Avould have been natural 
 enough at his age, having left the burden and heat of the 
 strife many years behind — in a wearied or timid way, 
 but entering into them with a wonderful youthfulness of 
 spirit combined with the moderation which experience, 
 thoughtfulness, and removal from the actual strife im- 
 parted ; as one who liad already got a good way up the
 
 334 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 hill to the promised land, and stood free and removed, 
 and yet tenderly interested in the fate of the battles fought 
 in the plain below. He saw and heard all the more 
 clearly for not being in the midst of the smoke and noise ; 
 but he did not regard the younger soldiers with scorn ; he 
 remembered his own youth, and its aspirations and expec- 
 tations, and knew that the battles must be fought ; and 
 though experience had taught him that the expectations of 
 the combatants would never be fully realized, that this 
 new desire accomplished Avould not be the saving of man- 
 kind, yet he knew they would advance the cause, and 
 that these beliefs were necessary to give courage to those 
 who had to fight. One often forgot his age, his spirit was 
 so youthful. It is difficult to dwell more on one quality 
 than another in him. It is rather the oneness and well-pro- 
 portioned simplicity of his whole character which strikes one 
 — goodness, justice, benevolence, kind persuasive manners, 
 which never degenerated into a search after popularity, 
 but which often disarmed the opposition, and melted the 
 proverbial obstinacy of that sturdy individual, the British 
 farmer. With what pride and pleasure he spoke to me 
 in Switzerland of the ability and promptness in action 
 which his sons carry into their management. It was 
 touching to hear him speak with admiration of all the new 
 improvements which some old men would call innovations. 
 He seemed to forget that the younger men found ready to 
 their hands much which he, and such as he, had to struggle 
 for. He removed the rocks and clods, and then admired 
 the skill of his sons because they could drive their plough- 
 shares smoothly and rapidly through the ground. I recall 
 the time when I often sj^ent hours, from ten till five 
 o'clock sometimes, on horseback, going over the farms with 
 him, sometimes standing for an hour watching the drain- 
 ing of some poor, bitter land, which next year we saw in 
 turnips, the next, I think, in oats ; sometimes seeing trees 
 felled and barked (I remember the aromatic smell of burn- 
 ing pine branches in the frosty air) ; sometimes going in 
 and out of the little gates about stack-yards and farm-
 
 INTERCOURSE WITH HIM. 335 
 
 steads, where young be;vsts wore stretching their necks 
 liorizontally to prevent the slippery bits of sliced turnips 
 from falling out of their soft wet mouths. I retain a 
 strongly pleasant impression of his manners Avith the 
 tenants, who would accompany us on foot about the places. 
 I could feel that they had full confidence in all he adAnsed 
 them to do, from a conWction of his justice and good^Wll, 
 and immoveable sense of right ; and even if they were 
 'agin' doing so and so that he considered right, or Avishful 
 to do something he thought unadvisable, they could not 
 feel vexed. It was not his will which he wanted carried 
 out. He made them feel that they and he must work 
 together to do trhat teas right ; and there was so much kind- 
 ness and consideration in his manner of telling them what 
 should be done, recognising their difficulties, but always so 
 firm and straightforward. I felt that the influence of his 
 moral nature, the total absence of self-interest, self-will, 
 temper, etc., in following out his duty, must and did make 
 an impression on their characters, and raise them to a 
 higher appreciation of what was honest, upright, noble, and 
 good. The Old Testament term of the 'just man,' as 
 meaning something wider and more comprehensive than the 
 strict quality of justice, seems to me to ajjply to him. 
 
 " I remember many of our rides home when the business 
 part was done ; sometimes such merry wild gallops over 
 high grass-fields in Hexhumshire, or above Aydon, bending 
 our heads nearly to the horse's mane, to receive the sharp 
 pelting hail on our hats, tlie horses laj'ing back their ears, 
 and bounding at the stinging of the hail on their flanks, 
 and coming in with heavy clinging skirt, and veil frozen 
 into a ma.sk the shape of one's nose, revealing very rosy 
 cheeks when it wa.s j>eeled ofl" ; and then those summer 
 evenings when we paced gently home through the soft, 
 rich valleys, and heard the thru.shes singing those notes 
 that pierced one's heart through and tliioiigli with the 
 jtrophecy of all the pain tliat future life would bring to it, 
 while still youth and fair imagination shed over everything 
 that strange sweet light that never was on sea or shore."
 
 336 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 The same sister wrote from Italy on hearing of his 
 death : — 
 
 " My beloved Fanny, — I can hardly realize that it is 
 true. My father ! he has gone to his rest, and his works 
 do follow him. I lay awake all night with such sweet 
 memories swarming through my mind ; all his tenderness 
 to me when I was a girl, and not strong ; when he took me 
 out riding, and got farmers' wives to make me a cup of tea 
 when I was faint and starved. Dunce that I was, I could 
 learn nothing out of books, but he taught me so much in 
 conversation. . . . He was a man who lived for duty, and 
 yet was not stern. He was like a woman in his tenderness ; 
 like a girl in purity of mind and thought. My heart is full 
 of you, dear. We have all lost the best of fathers, but to 
 you the loss is the greatest of all. I commend you to the 
 tender care of our Father in heaven. . . . The last time I 
 saw him was when I was leaving the Mount. Ethel drove 
 me away in the basket-carriage. He came to the porch and 
 kissed me, and folded me in his arms with pale face and 
 trembling lips, not daring to speak. I turned before we 
 passed the gate, to burn a last look into my memory, think- 
 ing at the time of his great age, and that probably it was 
 the last time. Beautiful old father ! he stood framed in 
 that ivy-covered Gothic porch at the Mount, with his noble 
 bare head, and sad, loving, wistful gaze, — such a picture ! " 
 
 His son-in-law, Tell Meuricoffre, wrote : — 
 
 "Naples, 1868. 
 " From the day that I came to Dilston to claim Hatty, I 
 felt that he treated me like one of the family, and I felt 
 sure of his affection as that of a father. You know 
 the position of a foreigner in England is not always 
 easy, but with the kind and hearty encouragement he gave 
 me every feeling of uneasiness disappeared. . . . When he 
 visited us in Switzerland he was seventy -nine years of age. 
 Independently of his keen enjoyment of the scenery, he 
 observed with the minutest attention all that related to the
 
 PURITY OF CHARACTER. 337 
 
 manners and habits of the peopk\ I do not reniemhor any 
 occasion in which he showed impatience with our foreign 
 ways. He visited with me the ' Pahiis Federal ' at Berne. 
 It interested him very much to see the seat of Government 
 of our little country. . . . He showed a real sympathy 
 with the people. His liberal feelings made him happy 
 to be among a free people ; indeed, he often expressed that 
 feeling." 
 
 My heart urges me, before I cease to speak of my 
 father, to say a word in regard to the purity of his 
 character. Tliere is much evil, it is said, in society, 
 especially in our crowded and fashionable metropolis ; 
 much impurity, self-indulgence, profligacy, open or 
 covered ; and indeed, even to those happily far removed 
 from it, this is very credible, for much of the daily lite- 
 rature of the press brings into our quiet homes too snre a 
 testimony to the deterioration of morals; and in writings 
 of a more ambitious character, do we not find whispers 
 of wild and godless schemes for regenerating society, — 
 schemes founded on the assumption that purity and 
 constancy are no longer possible for men and women ? 
 Do we not trace the merging together of all the beauties 
 of art and of poetry with a canial-mindedness which is 
 death ? and have we not to blu.sh at the too common and 
 shameful trick of coupling the sacred name of Christ 
 with emotions and passions which have in them nothing 
 of Christ ? There is on our book-shelves, together with 
 much that is noble, enough also of " bound and lettered 
 baseness ;" writers who, as it has been said, " carry their 
 fool's garb into the assemblies of our legislators, and 
 whet their weapons of su|)(,'rficial sarcasm on the door- 
 ways of our tenijtlcs." Klfusions are i)r('ssed in at our 
 doors, of writers who leave the mark of their own levity 
 
 Y
 
 338 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 and obscenity on everything they handle. Sickened by 
 such a picture of society as is presented to them, even 
 against their will, it is not to be wondered at that per- 
 sons not gifted with great hopefulness, — and that women 
 especially, — should turn away to seek some ark of re- 
 fuge, either in their own spirits or in pure communities 
 of self-denying workers, — convents, or whatever they 
 maybe called, — declaring with the unwise haste of Elijah 
 that no good men are left upon the earth. It grieves 
 me to hear good women whispering to each other, and 
 mothers of families mournfully telling the same to their 
 daughters, that all men are corrupt, that we must expect 
 nothing else, that we must judge them leniently, and 
 resign ourselves to fellowship through life with persons 
 about whose past and private life the less we know the 
 better. It grieves me, because the reiterated utterance of 
 such a belief, with the desponding acceptance of such a 
 supposed state of things, is a link in the chain of cause 
 and effect which materially helps to drag society down 
 to the lowest level which it can reach. The majority 
 of women will sink to an vmworthy level at a time when 
 it is the fashion for men throughout the country to 
 dwell continually upon, and to make literary merchan- 
 dise of, the folly, the weakness, or the wickedness of the 
 female sex, although a few will always, even through 
 the strength of a noble scorn, rise high above what any 
 of these men could possibly conceive of silent virtue. 
 So also in a society where women, — yet reckoned 
 among the salt of the earth in classes where domestic 
 virtue still endures strongly, — habitually doubt the 
 possibility of purity among men, the moral standard of 
 the men around them is sure to fall. They are not 
 likely to rise much above the level which those who are
 
 PURITY OF CHARACTER, 339 
 
 their purest judges, next to God himself, alone believe 
 them to be capable of reaching. There are few among 
 us who do not need the aid to virtue which a generous 
 faith in us on the part of those we most respect supplies. 
 But I am not desirous that any one should make a show 
 of believing in a state of things which is not. Let the 
 truth be known and confessed before all things. But is 
 it true that all are become corrupt — that God has not 
 left Himself witnesses abundantly, even among our 
 brethren and acquaintance, that men of high moral 
 purity still live among us ? The truth is, that few of us 
 possess a vision wide enough, or a judgment discriminat- 
 ing enough, to enable us to get beyond the influence of 
 our own particular experience in announcing generaliza- 
 tions on the state of society. There are few men who, 
 having silly or unprincipled wives, are large-hearted 
 enough to think well of other women ; few women who, 
 having had a sorrowfid experience in their own male 
 circle, can refrain from a bitter censure of all men. It 
 therefore all the more behoves those who have had a 
 happy experience to speak boldly, and to testify to the 
 existence in our English homes, not among women only, 
 but among men also, of purity of heart, of innocency of 
 life, of constancy in love. 
 
 It is not one man only that I have in my mind, but 
 of one I am permitted to speak. . . , Such was the 
 gentle purity of his nature, that when any one alluded 
 in his presence to any particular example of the vileuess 
 of the times, or of fashionable vice or villany, the pained 
 and puzzled expression of his face would cause tlie 
 speaker to hesitate, to cease; for it was evident that 
 some allusions were not even understood by him, and 
 that the approach to such subjects was painful only.
 
 340 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 People who knew liim learned to pass by all such allusions 
 in his presence. I can recollect, that if some little 
 scandal occurred in the neighbourhood, our mother would 
 say to her daughters, " Do not let it be mentioned in 
 your father's presence," not liking to see that troubled 
 look in his dear face. But let it not be supposed that, 
 allied with this purity, there was a corresponding 
 defect of a lack of ardour. Surely a warmer, tenderer 
 heart never beat. He was a man capable of strong and 
 passionate attachment. If Elijah had not been a man 
 " of like passions " with others, where had been the 
 virtue ? There are words among the private writings 
 of his youth, such as those quoted in the early part of 
 this memoir, — " to control an inclination, to guard 
 the secret thoughts ; these, Christ, are the labours 
 Thou delightest to reward ;" and there are injunctions 
 in letters to his sons in early youth to be watcliful over 
 the thoughts, to fill up the hours with active and worthy 
 pursuits, and to repress inclinations to self-indulgence. 
 These simple advices, if followed by the rising genera- 
 tion, if heeded by young men, would probably avail more 
 for the morality of the future and the stability of 
 society than any of our subtle philosophers' " theories 
 of life" or mighty plans for the manipulation of the 
 community into a right shape. By some it seems to be 
 deemed an enviable and somewhat honourable thing 
 to know all the secrets of life and of human nature ; 
 and the curious analysis of occult horrors is considered 
 to be a pursuit worthy of the human mind. However 
 this may be, there is to my mind no fairer sight than that 
 of a man endowed with ardent affection and a powerful 
 intellect, who declines even the knowledge of all that 
 is base, and who retains to his closing days the sweet
 
 IIArrV IXFLUF.XCE OF SUCH A CIIAIiACTEK. 341 
 
 simplicity of a child about matters wliicli excite some 
 meu to keen cui-iosity and eager speculation. Doubtless 
 it is needful that some should look upon the ground, 
 and examine the mud through which poor worms must 
 crawl, but it is good for us that there are also men 
 who habitually look straij^ht through the pure ether 
 which reaches to heaven wliile it blesses the earth. I 
 think the influence of one pure man is more powerful 
 tlian that of a hundred impure, and that a whole 
 Xineveh of corrupt persons might be in some measure 
 redeemed from hopeless debasement by the presence of 
 such a man as I have tried to describe. I am confident 
 that I express the feelings of tens of thousands of 
 women in our country, when I declare that, repudiating 
 the assertion, which emanated from the " father of lies " 
 himself, that women in their secret hearts are indulgent, 
 even favourable, to men of questionable morals, we 
 bless with gratitude and with reverence the very 
 memory of a man of pui-e heart and life ; and if to any 
 it seems that I have said too nmch in praise of this 
 nian, I trust I shall be forgiven ; for he was my father.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "Sure the last end 
 Of the good man is peace ; how calm his exit ! 
 Night dews fall not more gently to the ground, 
 Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft. 
 Behold him in the evening-tide of life — 
 A life well spent, whose early care it was 
 His riper years should not upbraid his green ; 
 By unperceived degrees he wears away. 
 Yet, like the sun, seems larger at his setting." 
 
 A FEW notes of domestic incidents connected with 
 the last days of my father's life, put down in her diary 
 by the daughter who was the companion of his soli- 
 tude, were invested with a tender interest after he had 
 left us. 
 
 She notices his attendance with her at the com- 
 munion on Christmas- day, — his last communion on 
 earth, — and a few grave words spoken to her when they 
 left the church together. 
 
 His last public act was that of a peace-maker. Some 
 difference of opinion had arisen at the Hexham Farmers' 
 Club, which might have grown to a more serious breach. 
 He used his influence successfully to heal the difference, 
 with words of wisdom and calmness, persuading to a 
 less extreme course than that which had been adopted 
 on one side. 
 
 The relation in which he stood to that Society, his 
 eighty-two years of experience, and the affectionate 
 regard in which he was held by all to whom his words
 
 LAST DAY OF HIS LIFE. 34 3 
 
 were addressed, acted as a clianu to dispel threatened 
 dissension.^ 
 
 The wonderful health with which he had been blessed 
 all his life continued almost to the end. Only a day 
 or two before his death he was on horseback as usual. 
 He caught a slight cold, which settled on his chest. On 
 the 21st of Januaiy my sister says, "He sat in his 
 arm-chair most of the day, quietly reading, inclined to 
 make light of his ailment, and thanking me with gentle 
 words for little attentions offered." She tliought there 
 was an unusual solemnity in his manner at prayers that 
 night, and some of the words used, alluding to the un- 
 certainty of life, remained impressed on her memory. 
 The next morning she went to his bedroom, — for not 
 being quite well he that day broke through his usual 
 
 ' As the last words of his which appeared in any public journal may be 
 interesting to those who knew him, and remember the occasion, I subjoin 
 them here :— 
 
 " To the Editor of tht Hexham Courant. 
 
 " Sir, — Your correspondent 'Z,' in Saturday's Hexham Courant, seems 
 to have fallen into a mistake whilst adverting to the resignation of the 
 President of the Hexham Farmers' Club, in identifying me with that office 
 (which I have not held for the last four years), whilst referring to my long 
 standing in the agricultural world. I exceedingly regret that any cause of 
 disunion should have taken place in a Club over which I had the honour to 
 preside harmoniously for so many years, — to wliose usefulness I did all in 
 my power to contribute, and in whose welfare I still feel a great interest ; 
 but I cannot blame, as some do, the chairman for declining to continue to 
 preside over a meeting which, whon the hour for the train api)voaches, in- 
 sists tumultuousiy on a decision, and i)assus a resfdution totally irrelevant 
 to the subject of discussion, without the opiwrtunity of explanation. The 
 subject for discussion, as printed on the card, was 'The injuries tlint 
 farmers sustain from the preservation of game and foxdniiitiiig,' l>ut the 
 resolution proposed an<l hurriedly carried, embraceil quite a dilferent 
 matt«r, namely, the criminality of jireservinggame and poaching, —dividing 
 that criminality ef|ually lietwcen the lan<llord who j)reserves game on his 
 own pro|H:rty, and the jwmcher who breaks the law, by stealing it from 
 gnjund which he has no right to set u foot upon. It may l)0 that the lan<l 
 In queatioD is let to tenants, but when they took thoir farms thuy hud half
 
 34:4 MEMOIE OF JOHN GEEY. 
 
 habit of early rising. On leaving liis room she turned 
 and asked if there was any other thing he wanted. 
 His reply to her was, " No, I thank you, my dear ; my 
 wants are very few." These were the last words he 
 was heard to speak; and the next my sister has to 
 relate is that she was summoned from her occupations 
 downstairs by some expression of consternation from 
 one of the servants. She found him dressed and seated 
 on the stairs. He had been on his way from his bed- 
 room to his study. He raised his forefinger as if to 
 enjoin silence, or as if " he heard some one calling 
 him," and gazing as it were straight into infinity, with 
 that unutterably solemn, wondering, and wistful gaze, 
 which we recognise only in spirits just about to depart 
 from earth, he died. 
 
 The family group which was gathered in that house 
 
 the bargain of making, and were to blame, when, knowing that the game 
 was reserved, if they did not look to their own safety, by offering as much 
 less rent than the farms would otherwise be worth, as would remunerate 
 them for the damage by game, or to blame for taking farms so circum- 
 stanced at all. It could not fail to be offensive to the cliairman, and to 
 many others, to pass a resolution which reduced the landlord to the 
 poacher's level of morality, and savoured much of proceedings which 
 have been too prevalent of late in some parts, having a tendency to set 
 landlords and tenants at variance. No one has a stronger feeling than I 
 have on the injustice and impolicy of allowing the farmer's produce to be 
 destroyed by game, and had I not been obliged by the shortness of the day 
 and the distance 1 had to ride home, nearly ten miles, to leave the memor- 
 able meeting before its conclusion, I should have been inclined to move an 
 
 amendment on Mr. 's motion to this effect, ' Resolved, that the undue 
 
 preservation of game, especially in coverts for "battue shooting," is unjust 
 to the occupiers of adjoining lands, injurious to the community, and ought 
 to be abated.' Something like this would have been in conformity with 
 the subject proposed for discussion, and would have given offence to no 
 party. As I have never been in the habit of writing anytliing that I did 
 not put my name to, I shall not assume the signature of either X, Y, or 
 Z, but give you the plain name which I have now borne for nearly eighty- 
 three years.— I am, etc. John Grey. 
 " LiPwooD, nth Jan. 1868."
 
 REST. 345 
 
 of mourning was incomplete, for many were fiir away. 
 One of the sisters wrote to the absent ones, — " Two 
 days after our dear father's death there was such a 
 storm of wind for twenty-four hours as I scarcely re- 
 member. The house shook and heaved, and the sky 
 was as dark as if there were an eclipse. The river 
 roared and the windows rattled. "We all cowered over 
 the fire, and talked of him and of old days, trying to 
 free ourselves from the sad, restless impression pro- 
 duced by the storm, "NVe heard a crash, and on going 
 upstairs found tlie window of the room where he lay 
 blown in, the glass shivered about the floor, and the 
 white sheet, which had been thrown over the kingly 
 corpse, blown rudely away. There was something so 
 irreverent about it, pitiful and weird-like ; but he was 
 not disturbed by it : he was beyond all storms, in an 
 infinite and everlasting calm. How one's heart melts 
 with tenderness over the poor remains of a being so 
 beloved, so long familiarly known and venerated ! No 
 one could have stood against the storm to mend the 
 window, so Kobert brought in a young tree from the 
 wood, and barricaded the window with it. This made 
 the room quite dark, and when we tried to light 
 candles the wind blew them out, and it was of no use. 
 Momentary lights and wild shadows flitted across his 
 face, antl almost made him look as if disquieted by the 
 storm. Sunday morning rose fair and calm and clear, 
 the sun reddening tlie hills, and then coming out warm, 
 and lighting up the nun-drops on the grass. There 
 seemed a Sabbath calm in the air. The rest of the 
 hou.sehold liaving gone out for an hour after the long 
 confinement indoors, I was left ahme in the house witli 
 the silent dead. As I walked out into the drive and
 
 346 MEMOIR OF JOHN GREY. 
 
 garden, the sunshine poured across my path, and there 
 was such a bieath of coming spring. I passed his 
 dear old wide-awake in the hall, and an old overcoat 
 which had his own broad-shouldered character about it, 
 and other things, the sudden sight of which made my 
 heart ready to burst for a moment. I gathered bunches 
 of bright shining evergreen (there was not a flower to be 
 found), and went with my arms full of them to his 
 room, and opened wide the shutters, and let in a flood 
 of light which looked very calm and holy. I made 
 stars and crowns of evergreens, and covered the coffin 
 with them, and built them up at the sides, so that he 
 lay in a bed of cheerful shining green. The evergreen 
 suited him best, with its hardy perennial look, and his 
 memory will be like it, ever green. When I looked up 
 suddenly, I almost fancied he smiled, there was such a 
 sweet expression on the refined, firm mouth. You re- 
 member the way in which he used to deprecate any 
 little attention paid him, although pleased with it all 
 the time. The thought flitted across my mind that he 
 would have said just then, ' lassie, you are making 
 me far too smart !' I made a wreath of bay leaves, and 
 hung it near his head, but did not let it touch his head ; 
 it was such a poor little earthly thing, and out of place 
 where there is a better crown. I longed for you to see 
 him. He looked so grand, and lay in such a majestic 
 peace. His forehead so high and broad and smootli, 
 his soft grey hair smoothed back. I was much struck 
 by the powerful look of his square jaw, and the union 
 of tenderness and strength in the whole outline of his 
 head and face. I felt almost triumphant about him ; 
 and yet how sorrowful such moments are, even when 
 one can look back with thankfulness. The sorrow is
 
 HIS WORKS DO FOLLOW IHM. 347 
 
 not for one's own loss only ; the presence of death in 
 one so dear brings one for a moment into close relation 
 with all the sorrows of earth. When Jesus wept at the 
 grave of Lazarus, it was not for Lazarus and his sisters 
 only. He saw then, and felt all the bereavements 
 which would bow down the hearts of men to the end 
 of time." 
 
 The company of voluntary followers to the grave was 
 a very large one, all on foot. Around the tomb where 
 he was laid by the side of our dear mother, there stood 
 a large and silent gathering of children and grandchil- 
 dren, friends, servants, tenants, and others. The faces 
 of some of his serv'ants, especially the younger ones, 
 bore the traces of many days of weeping, and their look 
 was that of the desolation of orphaned children rather 
 than tlie regret of servants. Among the numbers of 
 persons who came forward afterwards, or silently took 
 off their hats as we returned, it was touching to see 
 some very poor men modestly trying to conceal the 
 grief which agitated them, and to hear them say, — " He 
 was the poor man's friend," and then relapse into silence. 
 How much did those words express for those poor 
 men ! Others wrote letters to us, — poorly written, ill- 
 spelt letters, — with such words as these, " I have lost 
 my best and dearest friend." 
 
 As we passed along the vale of Tyne on our way back 
 to Lipwood, we were much impressed by the outward 
 results, — in the high cultivation and look of happy 
 prosperity of the country, — of a long life usefully s])ent. 
 And this feeling was shared by all tlie dwellers there, 
 who, equally with ourselves, could mark in all around 
 thorn the impress of his mind and liaiid. lUit only 
 those who had had the happiness of his friendship and
 
 3 48 MEMOIR OF JOHN GKEY. 
 
 confidence could know, with his children, how much of 
 strength and sweetness seemed to be gone away from 
 earth when that great heart had ceased to beat. 
 
 At a public meeting some weeks later, Mr. S. Donkin 
 proposed the memory of John Grey, and expressed in 
 a feeling speech the sense of loss which pervaded the 
 county in which he had lived and laboured so long. 
 ]\Iy eldest brother was called to reply, and with his few 
 brief but pointed words I conclude this imperfect 
 memoir. 
 
 " My friends," he said, " it is not from want of subject, 
 it is not from want of will, but it is from want of words, 
 or rather of the power to express in words my feelings 
 of gratitude to you, his countrymen, for the tribute of 
 honour you have paid to my father, that I hesitate to 
 rise now. 
 
 " There are many things for which men ought to be 
 grateful. There are few things of which men have a 
 right to be proud ; but if there is one thing more than 
 another for which a man should be truly grateful, or if 
 there is one thing more than another of which a man 
 may be justly proud, it is having been blessed with a 
 father who, after a long and honourable and useful life, 
 has come to die full of years, yet in the enjoyment of 
 health and happiness, and at peace with all mankind ; 
 regretted by all who knew him, and mourned of all 
 men. 
 
 " Then, gentlemen, as is my duty, I am thankfid, 
 and, as is my privilege, I am proud. 
 
 " Such is my position ; for such was the father and 
 such the man who has left us."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following letters, written at different dates, to Earl 
 Grey, were received too late for insertion in the Memoir. 
 It is thought that they may be sufficiently interesting to 
 appear as an Appendix. 
 
 ^VRITTEN JUST BEFORE THE WIIIGS ENTERED OFFICE 
 
 IN 1830. 
 
 "Mii.FiFXD Hill, 23d Xov. 1830. 
 " yiY Lord, — I happen to have only one more pamphlet 
 on the Coal trade, and that I ■wish to send to Lord Altliorp. 
 I have, however, Avritten to ask Mr. Morton to forward 
 some of them to your Lordship, or inform you if they are 
 to be had in town. Morton will he glad to know that 
 your Lordshii) approves of his statement, and takes such an 
 interest in the subject. And now, my Lord, let me thank 
 you, as I do most cordially, for your letter. Any informa- 
 tion from an authentic source, in these days of rumour and 
 surmise, is peculiarly acceptable. It was gem-rally believed 
 here, upon the statement of some newspaper, that your 
 father ha<l declined the task of forming an Administration. 
 I rejoice, however, that lu; has not found it necessary to do 
 80. I trust that he may be able to form one, the members 
 of which will work cordially and confidentially together ; 
 and also that he will find the King to be indeed possessed 
 of that candour and honesty for which he hiis gained credit 
 — fjualities so rare in the character of princes, and the 
 melancholy absence of which, in our late monarchs. hnp
 
 350 APPENDIX. 
 
 stood between the country and a good Government for 
 many years. 
 
 " I feel an anxiety about the present arrangements and 
 future measures, as if the acts of those whose principles 
 I had long been accustomed to advocate, involved my- 
 self in some share of their responsibility; and for your 
 father I feel the deepest anxiety, when I look to the sacri- 
 fice of domestic comfort that he makes, to undertake a 
 work of immense labour, difiiculty, and responsibility ; yet 
 there is not one besides so equal to the task, or in whose 
 talents, experience, and integrity the nation reposes similar 
 confidence. The Whigs of course look up to him. The 
 Tories, too, respect his consistency and constitutional prin- 
 ciples ; and now that the Catholic question is disposed of, 
 will, I think, generally give him their support. The new 
 Administration will have immense difficulties to encounter. 
 The wants of the people are great, and their requirements 
 will probably be still greater. Yet I trust much may be 
 done to remove their wants and appease their discontent, 
 by a steady adherence to those principles of government, 
 and introduction of those measures of reform and retrench- 
 ment which the Whigs out of office have so ably advo- 
 cated." 
 
 ON THE REFORM BILL. 
 
 " MiLFiELD Hill, 9th March 1831. 
 " My Lord, — The Reform Bill is most glorious, and has 
 been received with a joy that is only damped by expressions 
 of apprehension as to the possibility of carrying it through 
 Parliament. The disappointment on the pensions, and the 
 vacillation on the Budget, are matters on both of which (I 
 know your Lordship will excuse my habit of plain speaking) 
 I fear the Administration lost ground with the public. This, 
 however, is a grand and redeeming measure. If carried, it 
 will entitle the Government to the lasting gratitude of the 
 country ; but if lost, I much fear it will throw it into a 
 state of dreadful confusion. I traversed (as Hunt says) 
 several of the counties on my return from town, and though 
 neither nervous nor an alarmist, yet I could not avoid a
 
 APPENDIX. 351 
 
 feeling of painful apprelunsion on hearing of the lawless 
 spirit and gloomy clis<\ffection of the lower orders through- 
 out the country. They do not hesitate to say, that if ricks 
 were burnt last yt'ar, the standing corn of whole districts 
 will be destroyed in the fields before harvest, if the condi- 
 tion of the country is not improved. 
 
 " But to the question. I believe that such a measure as 
 you recommend may have been adopted in Berwick already; 
 for on Saturday last, when I met Langhorne, we congratu- 
 lated each other on Lord John's speech, and mutually agreed 
 on the propriety of holding meetings to express the general 
 satisfaction that the plan of the Ministry had given, and 
 the determination to support them by every means in 
 carrj-ing it into effect." 
 
 ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 
 
 "April 1831, MiLFiELD Hill, 
 Saturday Xight. 
 
 " My Lord, — Accept my thanks for the copies of your 
 very good speech on the Slave question. I have not had 
 time to read it in this shape, but was ])leased with the Times 
 report ; but I must own that it filled me with regret to 
 find that even the friends of Emancipation could go no 
 further in the course of justice. I did hope that all chil- 
 dren born after a certain period might have been made 
 free, and that the princijtle of property in slaves should not 
 have been so fully recognised as that tlu^ unhajipy ]iarents 
 must be forced by their own toil to purchase for their chil- 
 dren what no human power ought to have the means to 
 dej)rive them of. One set of beings are to be paid for giv- 
 ing uj) a property which no human legislatun; could ever 
 confer a title to ; and another set of human Iteiugs are to 
 labour under hard ta-sk-ma-sters to buy the freedom w liirli 
 they have been so unjustly deprived of, and to receive no 
 rennmeration for past sufferings, and the loss of the only 
 pro]>erty which (iod and natun- ever bestowed up(jn them 
 — the use of their own lindjs and the enjoyment of 
 liberty."
 
 352 APPENDIX. 
 
 ON THE REFORM BILL. 
 
 " MiLFiELD Hill, Bee. 5, 1831. 
 "My Lord — I send Mr. Ferguson's small pamphlet by 
 this post, and shall indeed be much obliged by your Lord- 
 ship sending me a copy (or more, if not imiJosing too much 
 upon your goodness) of your father's admirable and most 
 statesmanlike speech on the introduction of the Reform 
 Bill into the House of Lords. The country is in a state of 
 feverish anxiety to know the character and fate of the new 
 Bill. Another rejection of it, and we may go to Canada or 
 somewhere else, for our houses and property will hardly 
 remain in peaceful possession of ourselves. But I need not 
 anticipate such a result. With a King and Ministry firm 
 to each other, and with such an awful responsibility upon 
 them, they must adopt means to secure the measure." 
 
 ON EMIGRATION. 
 
 " MiLFiELD Hill, 2ilh Dee. 1831. 
 
 " My Lord, — I have to acknowledge my obligations to 
 your Lordship for two copies of your father's very able and 
 convincing speech ; at the same time that I must apologize 
 for the liberty I took in asking it. I was not aware at the 
 time I did so that they were published for sale, or I cer- 
 tainly should not have encroached upon your goodness by 
 making such a request. 
 
 " My friend Mr. Ferguson has sent me a MS. note on 
 the subject of Emigration, with permission to show it to 
 your Lordship should I think fit ; and as the subject is an 
 interesting one, and you may have a little more leisure 
 during the recess than at other times, I venture to forward 
 it. He does not go deeply into the subject, but probably 
 his suggestions might be improved upon and extended Avith 
 advantage. The princij^le of securing the emigrants on 
 their arrival in Canada against the hardships which ignor- 
 ance and mismanagement would be likely to bring upon 
 them, is both humane and politic. And if, by the super- 
 intendence of a Government agency, who would employ the 
 emigrants in the improvement of lands for sale, in which 
 their labour would be profitable, or by establishing them
 
 APPENDIX. 353 
 
 upon plots of their own, for ^vliicli they were required to 
 pay by instahnents at distant periods, they could be made 
 to work out the whole of the cost, except perliaps tliat of 
 the actual voyage from this country, then probably such a 
 thing as ' parochial emigration ' or * pauper emigration ' 
 might be pretty generally resorted to, with mutual advan- 
 tages to the parishes and their paupers. But even then, 
 the operations of such a plan would be much impeded at 
 home, by the difficulty Avhich would attend the internal 
 regulations of each parish, unless it were accompanied with 
 some legislative enactments, which it might be difficult to 
 accomplish. If the law in England were the same as in 
 Scotlauil, where the ' poor's-money ' is levied by a ' cess ' 
 upon the proprietors, or heritors, as they are called, the diffi- 
 culty would be greatly diminished, because each one having 
 a permanent interest in the property would derive an equal 
 advantage. 
 
 " But where it is payable by the occupiers, the interest of 
 each man varies according to the length of his lease or the 
 security of his continuing in the parish. And though a 
 man with an occupation of ten or twenty years in prospect 
 might gladly or wisely purchase an exemption from an 
 annual burthen by an immediate sacrifice, the case would be 
 verj' different with him who had only two or three years 
 of his lease to run, or who liad no lease, and therefore no per- 
 manent interest in the parish at all. These difficulties in the 
 internal arrangements of a parish rate, must, in most cases, 
 oi)erate against tlie relief which the country might other- 
 wise obtain from the jdan of * pauper emigi'ation,' unless 
 accompanieil ])y some considerable change in the Poor Laws 
 now in existence." 
 
 ON SLAVERY. 
 
 " MiLKiELD Hill, May 3, 1832. 
 
 " My Lord, — The accompanying MS. and letter were 
 sent to me a day or twf) ago, with the reijuest that I would 
 forward them to your Lonhhip. 'J'li»! writer has had hmg 
 experience of colonial matters, and, which is honom.ililr to 
 him, unlike too many who have looked at slavery till they 
 have become! callous to its evils and tiiormities, entertains 
 
 z
 
 354 APPENDIX. 
 
 an ardent wish for the destruction of the abominable sys- 
 tem. I apprehend that his plan may be liable to many 
 objections, but the suggestions of practical and experienced 
 men are generally deserving of attention. He seems fully 
 impressed with the belief that delay for any length of time 
 in settling the question, must inevitably lead to much 
 bloodshed and destruction of property." 
 
 ON THE REFORM BILL. 
 
 "May 1832, Milfield Hill, Saturday Night. 
 " My Lord, — Your letter received to-day has thrown a 
 damp upon the exultation in which I had been indulging. 
 I thought that Tory domination had been overthrown, 
 never to rise again, and was glorying in the victory gained 
 by Liberal principles, and was rejoicing with peculiar de- 
 light at the thoughts of the reward which had at length 
 attended your father's long-maintained and strenuous ex- 
 ertions in the cause of liberty and justice ; and I cannot 
 yet believe that all this happiness is a mere vision, which 
 the intelligence of another day may change into despair. 
 I cannot imagine that such infatuation can exist after the 
 example that has been set, and the demonstration of public 
 feeling that has been given, as to throw such impediments 
 in the way of an arrangement with your father as to risk 
 a second experiment on the disappointment of the people. 
 The country was stunned by the intelligence of the first, 
 and paused a while in silent astonishment ; but it is roused 
 now to a feeling of extreme indignation, and a second 
 insult of the kind would act with the speed of electricity. 
 Let us hope, however, that the country may be preserved 
 from so dreadful a calamity. ... I shall certainly attend 
 to your Lordship's advice, and guard against any relaxation 
 of our vigilance ; but as for the success, or even the 
 attempts of an anti-Reform candidate, I do not think such 
 an one would find a place for the sole of his foot among us ; 
 nor that any one, though inclined to do so, durst incur the 
 popular odium of voting for him. Reformers of every 
 grade have abandoned their peculiar opinions to unite their 
 voices in one cry for Lord Grey's Bill at Lord Grey's hands."
 
 AITENDLX. 355 
 
 "MiLFiELD Hill, May 12, 1832. 
 " !My Lord, — The news of the decision in the Lords came 
 upon us all like a clap of thunder, — so sudden and so unex- 
 pected. Having got over the second reading, one thought 
 that the Bill was safe in all its important provisions ; and 
 the disappointment and anxiety that the event has produced, 
 your Lordshii)'s letter received yesterday, and the late 
 papers also, have relieved my mind from the most painful 
 feeling connected with the subject, arising from an opinion, 
 which seemed generally to prevail, that if the Bill were lost, 
 it would be lost by the reluctance, not of the King, but of 
 Lord Grey, to secure it by a creation of peers. However 
 objectionable such an exercise of Eoyal prerogative may be 
 on ordinary occasions, the public mind seemed impressed 
 with the idea that the present crisis fully justified it ; and 
 nothing was wanting to complete the separation in feeling 
 and interest which late events have done so much to create 
 between the aristocracy and the people, but the idea that 
 those among the former whom the people have always 
 looked to as their friends, and as being actuated by a 
 common feeling and common interest with themselves, dis- 
 l)layed any want of energy or any degree of lukewarmness 
 in their cause. Now, however, your father stands justified 
 before the country ; and, come what will of the infatuation 
 of nolle Lords, who set themselves in opposition to the 
 decided sentiments and determined claims of the people, 
 his character is unsullied, and his name will be cherished 
 by a grateful posterity. This reflection is highly gratifying 
 to me ; l)ut still the anxious question remains unanswered, 
 — What is to become of the country 1 Are we again to 
 submit to Tcjry legislation ; to receive at the hands of the 
 reluctant converts to Reform such a measure of it as they 
 whf) hate it in their hearts may choose to dole out to us 1 
 Should any niovcincnt take ])lace to shake public credit, 
 stop the operation of country l)anks, and dissolve the con- 
 nexion between the manufacturcjrs and their workmen, none 
 of whom have two days' provision in store in the densely 
 peopled districts of Lancashire or Renfrew, they would 
 spread over the country like a deluge, carrying desolation
 
 356 APPENDIX. 
 
 and misery in their course. And as to Ireland, they are 
 ready for all mischief. Mr. Price, agent for Lord Lans- 
 downe, and an active magistrate in Queen's County, gives 
 me a deplorable view of the state of matters there : the 
 higher ranks powerless ; the lowest becoming poorer and 
 more careless and ferocious every day ; accustomed to ob- 
 tain their ends by agitation and combination, and goaded 
 on by miscreants to deeds of violence. He is of opinion 
 that the arrears of tithes never can be collected under Mr. 
 Stanley's Bill for the purposes intended. A Government 
 possessing the confidence of the public would have to con- 
 tend with difficulties almost insurmountable ; what are 
 we to look for from one which must be unpopular ]" 
 
 ON THE POOR-LAWS AND IRELAND. 
 
 " MiLFiELD Hill, August 6, 1839. 
 " My Lord, — I beg to thank your Lordship for your 
 kindness in sending me the Report on the Poor-Laws and 
 the circulars on Emigration. I must also express my 
 obligation to Mr. Croker's speech, to which I am indebted 
 for your Lordship's long letter upon a most important sub- 
 ject. I am grieved to find you expressing such apprehen- 
 sion about the condition of the peasantry in the southern 
 counties. It will be truly alarming should the same spirit 
 be found to exist, and to evince itself again in the Avork of 
 destruction which disgraced the English character during 
 the last winter. And it is still more deplorable to be 
 obliged to believe that that spirit originated in a state of 
 destitution and distress. Any attempt at giving relief in 
 such circumstances, by a pecuniary grant, must be so jiartial 
 in operation, and is so objectionable in principle, that 
 nothing but the most imperious necessity can reconcile one 
 to its adoption. Nor can I hope that relief will be ob- 
 tained by this country by any plan of emigration that may 
 be found practicable, so long as Ireland has its thousands 
 of starving and unprovided wretches to pour in upon us to 
 fill up the vacance. Parishes in England will hardly ad- 
 vance money to send over seas their surplus population, 
 knowing that hordes of Irish are always ready to undersell
 
 APPENDIX. 357 
 
 the native peasantn' of the country in every market that 
 offers for tlie only commodity they have to dispose of — 
 their hibour ; and this I do believe causes much of the 
 poverty and want of employment complained of in England, 
 and gives certainly a very undue advantage to the Irish 
 over the English proprietor. It is quite notorious that 
 whenever a work is set agoing, which would at once absorb 
 the surplus labourers in one or two counties in England, it 
 is immediately undertaken by the Irish, and the labourer 
 is left to the heartless and demoralizing, because degrading, 
 condition of seeking casual employment within the bounds 
 of a parish which he Avill not quit, and upon Avhose funds 
 he reckons as the permanent source of maintenance. 
 
 " I was told by George Stephenson the engineer, that 
 nearly the whole of the spade labour, such as reducing hills, 
 filling up hollows, making embankments, etc., upon the 
 Liverpool liailway, was done by Irishmen. Had this not 
 been the case, an equal number of men might have been 
 withdra\\Ta from a miserable existence on their parish rates, 
 and money, of course, to the amount of their parish main- 
 tenance, saved to this country. It would not be possible, 
 if it were even just and politic, to prevent the transfer of 
 the low Irish to this country ; but I cannot but think that 
 anything that would lessen their numbers by giving them 
 employment and support at home would afford the easiest 
 and most effectual relief both to the payer and the receiver 
 of poor's rates in this country. 
 
 " I have not yet seen Sir J. "Walsh's pamphlet, but shall 
 endeavour to procure it ; and should much like to have, if 
 they are to be obtained without trouble to your Lordship, 
 the Parliamentary Company's Cess Report, and evidence on 
 the state of the poor in Ireland. The question of the pro- 
 priety of introdufing ])Oor-laws into Ireland is a very 
 critical one, and Ijeset with ilillicultics of no urdiiuuy mag- 
 nitude. Many arguments may be advanced on both sides, 
 but surely it would be but justice tr» England to relieve her 
 in some measur*' from tlic aggravation which tin; conipul- 
 sfjry Hujqjort of her own poor experiences, by the continual 
 encroachment of the Irish. . . .
 
 358 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Were I to venture an opinion on the subject, though 
 decidedly hostile to such poor-laws as those we have (which 
 may be truly characterized as a bonus to the poor for idle- 
 ness and improvidence, and a tax upon the other classes 
 to act as a prohibition upon charity), I should certainly say 
 that some compulsory measure for the relief of the starving 
 poor was indispensable as a temporary expedient. The lower 
 orders in Ireland are in what Dr. Chalmers calls a transition 
 state, passing from the situation of a most ungoverned peo- 
 ple into one in which more enlightened principles have 
 begun to operate. 
 
 " The first steps of such a change are always attended 
 with great inconvenience ; this is particularly the case in 
 Ireland. The subdivision system (from which, notwith- 
 standing Lord Salisbury's notion of it, I trust this country 
 will be defended) has reached its climax, and has accumu- 
 lated on the cultivated lands an overwhelming population 
 immersed in poverty and wretchedness. The landlords 
 seem to have discovered their error, and to be endeavouring 
 in many cases to hack out as best they may, without always, 
 I fear, showing much sympathy for their starving tenants, 
 or much consideration as to what is to become of them. 
 The evil is often fearfully aggravated by the non-residence 
 of proprietors. ... Is it to be said that in such circum- 
 stances the Legislature is not to interfere 1 Are the evils of 
 a misapplied poor-rate, great and palpable though they be, 
 to cause them to stand aloof in circumstances essentially 
 different, where the pressure of present calamity is so great, 
 that almost any change must be for the better 1 
 
 " It does seem to me that the experience both of England 
 and Scotland in the management of their poor, instead of 
 deterring Parliament from proceeding to legislate for the 
 relief of Ireland, may Avell embolden them to act with 
 liberality and freedom. The mariner may sail fearlessly 
 into the bay where soundings have already been made, and 
 beacons erected. It seems to me that one of the best 
 things to be done for the immediate and even the perma- 
 nent relief of the Irish poor, would be the draining of bogs 
 and the improvement of waste land in situations where the
 
 ArrENDix. 359 
 
 climate was considered favourable, and where markets 
 could be found for the produce ; this, with the making of 
 the necessary roads to render the new country accessible, 
 while it would afford immediate employment to the poor, 
 would in the result create districts for their permanent 
 settlement. If such a plan could be judiciously carried into 
 effect, and combined with a compulsory demand on the 
 landowners, or if pro^^sion could be made to have the 
 original outlay, if advanced by Government in the first 
 instance, repaid by instalments from the rents, or liy the 
 power to sell a certain portion of the reclaimed lands at 
 some specified period, I should anticipate great benefits 
 from it, more certain, at least less expensive, than those 
 attending the removing of any number of helpless beings 
 to Australia." 
 
 ON THE CORN-LAW. 
 
 " DiLSTON, Jan. 1839. 
 " I presume you are now preparing for the * tug of war.* 
 The Coru-Law question will be strongly pressed by the 
 manufacturing interest, and I trust a change will be made. 
 The landowners will not likely now get such terms, as to 
 the amount of duty, supposing that a fixed duty is resorted 
 to, as they would have done had the discussion taken place 
 in a time of plenty and low prices. But they never learn. 
 It is a pity to be sending sums of money to the Black Sea 
 for com at the present prices, which would have procured 
 twice the quantity at another time. Did you happen to 
 Bee a letter of niin<; in the Neiccastle Chrmiirle of last week, 
 referring to the subject of our discussion at the Wooler 
 Show, and also to the establishment of an agricultural 
 college and experinu'iital farm 1 AVe have examples of the 
 utility of such institutions at Ilofl'wyl and other places on 
 the Continent." 
 
 LABOUKEUS' COTTAGE.S. 
 
 " Dii-STON, (kt. 1843. 
 
 " With regard to warming the additicmal ai)artments in 
 cottages, you have hit exactly upon the plan which I de-
 
 360 APPENDIX. 
 
 scribed to Mr. Hobson when we looked at those at Howick. 
 And if Mr. Pusey had not chosen to cut in two an article 
 which I sent to him, as chairman of the Journal Committee, 
 on 'Farm-buildings,' inserting that which related to the 
 construction and arrangement of offices in the last number, 
 and retaining that which gives j^lans and details of cottages 
 for the ensuing one, you would have seen the matter 
 referred to in the Agricultural Society's Journal. I think 
 he should not have separated them, as they formed a part 
 of the same subject. Cottagers have constantly one fire, 
 and their great objection to use additional rooms is, that 
 without a fire they are cold, and to keep more than that 
 one is expensive; but a cast-iron box built into the wall 
 behind the fire, in the common room, is of course filled 
 with heated air, which is conveyed by a pij^e, with a 
 grating at the end, into any other apartment, making the 
 temperature at once warm and the air dry. I have an 
 apparatus of this kind which conveys warm air from my 
 office-fire here into the lobby, and am at present in corre- 
 spondence with Mr. Guthrie of St. Helen's foundry, at 
 Spittal, about some for cottages at Scremerston. I shall 
 give you further information respecting them shortly. Mr. 
 Pusey also cut short another article of mine in the last 
 number of the Journal, which was a short one at any rate, 
 by leaving out, after a detail of some experiments, some 
 remarks on the benefit, as I thought, of instituting an ex- 
 perimental farm in connexion with the Agricultural Society, 
 and, as he says, because that is a controverted subject, and 
 he did not wish any arguments to appear upon either side. 
 I have, however, made a little addition to tlie experiments, 
 and had it printed in a cheap form, of which you will 
 oblige me by accepting a copy. 
 
 EDINBURGH : T. CONSTABLE, 
 PRINTER T<) THE QUEEN, AND TO THE UNIVERSITY.
 
 88 Prixcks Street, 
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 10 EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS, 
 
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 88 PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH. 11 
 
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 12 
 
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 88 PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH. 13 
 
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 14 EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS, 
 
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 88 PRINCES STKEET, EDINBURGH. 15 
 
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