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 OF 
 
 HENRY RICHARD, 
 
 Ube apostle of peace. 
 
 LEWIS APPLETON, F.R.H.S., 
 
 HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION 
 
 AUTHOR OF REMINISCENCES OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR ; FIFTY YEARS O'f 
 
 FOREIGN POLICY ; MILITARY AND FINANCIAL CONDITION OF EUROPE, 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 1889. 
 
 [All tights reservedl\
 
 HENRY RICHARD.
 
 C0 i\( 
 WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, M.P. ; 
 
 EM 
 
 00 WHOSE ENLIGHTENED STATESMANSHIP, 
 
 Q; DURING HIS PREMIERSHIP OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND, 
 < 
 
 POWERFULLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF 
 
 Jnteiaf tonal Jjiffcr 
 
 f, AMD WHOSE COMMANDING ELOQUENCE, AND BRILLIANT SERVICES, 
 & THROUGHOUT HIS ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER, 
 
 HAVE CONSPICUOUSLY ADVANCED THE CAUSE 
 
 LU 
 
 O OF JUSTICE, OF FREEDOM, AND OF HUMANITY, 
 
 AMONGST THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD ; 
 
 CO 
 
 BE 
 
 5e 
 
 ^ 
 
 WITH THE WARMEST SENTIMENTS 
 OF ESTEEM AND ADMIRATION, 
 
 411S364
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN presenting to the reader of these pages, a brief record of 
 the public life and labours of our honoured friend Henry 
 Richard, over a period of upwards of half-a-century, in the 
 great cause of International Peace, as well as of political, 
 civil, and religious freedom, to both of which he consecrated 
 his great gifts, and for the furtherance of which he indefatig- 
 ably laboured, I am deeply sensible that this " frail memorial 
 though sincere," with its many imperfections, inadequately 
 sets forth the great labours and eminent services of his noble 
 life. 
 
 " For poor my eloquence thy worth to tell, 
 And small the need, embalmed in every heart 
 Shall live thy memory." 
 
 The career and incidents of his early life and manhood are 
 generally well-known, and though comparatively unimportant, 
 a reference to them may possibly be of interest, for they 
 were the preliminary discipline in training and qualifying 
 him, under the guiding hand of an All-wise Power, to those 
 wider spheres of public usefulness and splendid service for 
 peace and freedom, in which he has justly won an enduring 
 and an honourable fame. 
 
 He was the son of the Rev. Ebenezer Richard, a Minister 
 in the front rank of the Calvinistic Methodist Church, a man 
 of great energy and zeal for the spiritual welfare of his 
 countrymen, and whose piety and eloquence are still trer 
 sured in the hearts of the Welsh people.
 
 V'i. PREFACE. 
 
 At the little hamlet of Tregaron, in Cardiganshire, Mr. 
 Richard, in 1812, was born, and under the tuition and train- 
 ing of so good a father, and the wise counsels of a devoted 
 Christian mother, he was well equipped for the life of con- 
 flict before him. 
 
 Of his boyhood and youth, few records are to be found, 
 beyond the fact that he received his first education at 
 Llangeitho Grammar School, where his ardent spirit was fired 
 with that glowing love for freedom, based on justice, which 
 were the marked features of his action throughout his 
 remarkable career. 
 
 In 1830, then 18 years of age, full of high hopes, and 
 stirred with a youthful ambition, he left the home of his 
 fathers, and the land of his adoption, to fight the battle of 
 life, and made his way to London, for the purpose of entering 
 Highbury Independent College, to be trained for the 
 Congregational Ministry ; * and there, under the immediate 
 training of Dr. Henderson, Dr. Halley, and others, and 
 with the companionship of such excellent fellow-students as 
 Mr. Stoughton and David Thomas, (subsequently Dr. 
 
 * In 1866, Mr. Richard, addressing a meeting in Wales, thus refers 
 to his entrance into Highbury College, in 1830 : It happened with me 
 when I first became a student of theology, that I went up to London on 
 a " wild-goose chase," hardly knowing what I should do, but I intended 
 going into some English college to be educated for the ministry ; but 
 after I had been in London for some days I went without a single letter 
 of introduction to apply for admission into a college. I was introduced 
 to a good man, Thomas Wilson, who, after making inquiries, told me 
 when I called again that the committee of the college were going to 
 meet that afternoon and I must come and preach before them. Well, 
 the committee of the college consisted of the principal ministers of 
 religion in London, and I was a young Welshman of eighteen years of 
 age, who probably had not heard half-a-dozen English sermons in my 
 life ; but as it is said that a coward if he is put in a corner must fight 
 and will fight, so I managed to get through it.
 
 PREFACE. Vll. 
 
 Stoughton, and the Rev. David Thomas, of Bristol,) he 
 remained for five years, until 1835, when he became 
 Minister of Marlborough Chapel, in the Old Kent Road. 
 
 Mr. Richard was comparatively a young man (in his 23rd 
 year) when he entered on the pastorate of Marlborough 
 Chapel, its affairs were not flourishing, but the vigour of 
 his preaching, and the youthful earnestness which he threw 
 into the Church affairs, and all its surroundings, by the 
 establishment of Sunday Schools for the children, and a 
 literary institution for the adults, as well as by the power 
 of his pulpit addresses, he soon infused restoration and life 
 into, and around it. 
 
 From this period, 1835 to 1848, when Mr. Richard 
 succeeded Dr. Jefferson in the Secretariat of the Peace 
 Society, his ministerial career was marked by only two 
 incidents, worthy of note, the one semi-political, in connection 
 with what was known as the Rebecca riots ; and the other 
 semi-religious, in connexion with the work of training for 
 teachers, and popular education generally. 
 
 The Rebecca riots of 1843 arose, chiefly from the turnpike 
 system of Wales, which the local magnates, who had the 
 administration ot the turnpike trusts, erected in every direc- 
 tion, and caused serious obstacles to the tenant farmers, 
 especially of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire. 
 
 Against this intolerable grievance they formed themselves 
 into companies, under the guidance of a female leader named 
 Rebecca, and pulled down the obnoxious gates, and this up- 
 rising was taken advantage of by evil-minded persons to 
 attribute to other and more sinister purposes. 
 
 Mr. Richard manfully stood in the breach as the exponent 
 of the real truth in regard to this rebellion of a portion of the
 
 Viii. PREFACE. 
 
 Welsh people, defended them from the grossly exaggerated 
 charges, and helped, by securing a mitigation of unjustly severe 
 sentences, and by a calm and comprehensive statement of the 
 facts, to allay the excitement and animosity that was aroused. 
 
 On the subject of popular education, in 1844, he visited 
 Wales, as a deputation of the Congregational Union, and he 
 took an active part in founding the Normal School at 
 Brecon, for the training of teachers, and subsequently in 
 1847, assisted by Edward Miall and Samuel Morley, he 
 founded the Voluntary School Association, and, as its 
 Honorary Secretary, he actively opposed the educational 
 policy of the Government of the day, in making large grants 
 from the national exchequer for the erection of Church 
 schools throughout Wales, ostensibly for education, but in 
 reality for the prosletyzing of the people in the doctrines of 
 the Church Catechism, and the enforcement of attendance 
 at Church services, both of which were repugnant to the 
 Welsh mind and character. 
 
 In 1848, Mr. Richard resigned his useful ministerial post 
 as Minister of Marlborough Chapel, in obedience, there can 
 be no doubt whatever, to the call of duty, and especially at 
 the solicitation of his friends, to occupy the responsible 
 position as Secretary of the Peace Society, and the record of 
 his remarkable and valuable services, throughout that 
 memorable period of national and of international history of 
 forty years, I have endeavoured faithfully and fully to de- 
 scribe, in the accompanying memoir. 
 
 In the execution of this task, I have not been fortunate 
 in having access to his wide and extensive correspondence, 
 (for that has been entrusted to another to edite, and prepare 
 for the public eye), but I have relied upon, and am indebted
 
 PREFACE. IX. 
 
 to the many public channels of information, to those pub- 
 lications, such as the Herald of Peace, the organ of the 
 Peace Society, and which he edited for the greater part of 
 his public life ; the Nonconformist, the organ of Non- 
 conformity ; Hansard, the reliable mirror of Parliamentary 
 debates ; to his many public writings, and to the press of 
 England and Wales, and not less to my own personal 
 recollections and reminiscences, as his colleague in the 
 service of the Peace Society, from 1866 to 1880. 
 
 From these, and many other varied sources of in- 
 formation, from which I have gleaned, in order to illustrate 
 the life and labours of our lamented friend, it must not be 
 supposed that these pages, or indeed that any record that 
 may be written, can adequately set forth the wide range 
 of his prodigious labours in the cause of peace and 
 freedom. 
 
 His public utterances, replete with eloquence, pathos, 
 and valuable facts, delivered, not alone in England and 
 Wales, in Scotland and Ireland, but throughout the Con- 
 tinent of Europe, in its capitals and cities ; the vast number 
 of valuable articles in the columns of the Herald of Peace, 
 the Nonconformist, and other journals, as well as his corres- 
 pondence in the public press throughout the kingdom ; 
 his intimate relations and communications with eminent 
 statesmen of his own country and of foreign lands ; these, 
 and many other public and private labours, would swell 
 into a portentous volume, alike valuable to the student 
 and lover of historical political records, and recollections, 
 as they are a noble testimony to his ceaseless efforts, and 
 useful public services. 
 
 In the political career of Mr. Richard, his triumphant
 
 X. PREFACE. 
 
 election for Merthyr Tydvil in 1868, was one, if not the most 
 important event in his life, for he gained thereby consider- 
 able accession of political strength, and as representing the 
 aspirations of the Welsh people, and possessing the con- 
 fidence of his countrymen, he was hailed as the trusted 
 leader and champion of their civil and religious liberties; 
 and, as has been truly said, " amid all his manifold duties, 
 his varied aims and labours, he always kept his right hand 
 stretched out to the ancient land of his fathers." 
 
 As the leader and Apostle of the Peace party in Parliament, 
 his motive power was inspired by the loftiest and purest of 
 principles, that of morality and religion ; and it was under 
 the influence of these principles, that his conduct as a public 
 man was recognised, acting upon Christian ethics, in direc 
 opposition to the policy of expediency, and built on this 
 foundation, he faltered not, nor flinched, for the realisation 
 of a better, because a freer and more pacific policy in the 
 relations of nations. 
 
 In considering the personal characteristics of Mr. Richard, 
 the secret of his successful career in public life, and his many 
 achievements, much might be written, for it is an interesting 
 and an instructive study. Close acquaintance with him for 
 many years, and under varied circumstances, both private 
 and public, enabled me to arrive at one decided conclusion 
 he never changed ; he was always the same in temper, in 
 disposition, in conviction, in power, fcnd in energy ; and if 
 ever the motto sans changl can be appropriately applied to 
 any man, most certainly he was deserving of this distinction. 
 
 He was the happy possessor of an equable disposition 
 not easily ruffled, his honesty and tenacity of conviction not 
 to be shaken, loyal and firm in personal friendships, and
 
 PREFACE. X 
 
 with a purpose and aim in his every thought and action, that 
 was direct and resolute. 
 
 As an orator, whether in Parliament or on the platform, 
 he had few superiors, and upon the questions of peace 
 and religious freedom, without exaggeration, it may be 
 said, he was unrivalled, capable of moving alike the vast 
 audience, or the select circle, by his varied gifts of pathos, 
 dramatic energy, power of declamation and massive 
 eloquence, for whenever and wherever he spoke he carried 
 conviction to his hearers. 
 
 He wielded the pen of a ready writer in a marvellous 
 degree, for it was with him his tour de force, and the main- 
 spring of his great achievements and of his formidable power, 
 which he wisely and effectively exercised against the citadels 
 of monopoly, corruption, and despotism, and he spared them 
 not, and when he thundered against them, they tottered 
 and fell. 
 
 Truly his death has left a void that few can fill ; and to 
 the young men, and the strong men of this generation aye ! 
 and of coming generations too, he has left a noble legacy of 
 devotion to duty, of loyalty to principle, and of brave and 
 noble deeds in the sacred cause of humanity, of civilisation, 
 and of freedom. 
 
 May it be ours to follow him in the path which he trod ; 
 for assuredly, in the language of Longfellow, 
 
 " Lives of great men all remind us 
 
 We can make our lives sublime, 
 And, departing, leave behind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time."
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 PAGE I for "2 refer," read " we refer." 
 ,, 12 for "1849" read "1850." 
 
 ,, 13 for "22nd August, 184.9" rea ^ "22nd August, 1850." 
 
 33 f or " ' whereby they" read "-which" 
 
 ,, 7 2 f or "in the high road," read "on." 
 
 ,, 7 2 f or " Charge d'affairs" read " Charge d'affaires." 
 
 ,, 82 for "he had proved," read "the Emperor had proved.'' 
 
 83 for " observes" tead "observed." 
 
 87 for "was based," read "were based." 
 
 ,, 91 for "was estimated," read "were estimated.' 
 
 93 f or " as a candidate," read " to be a candidate." 
 
 ,, 107 for "in the free," read "for the free." 
 
 ,, 181 for " uring" read "During."
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dedication to William Ewart Gladstone ... ... iii. 
 
 Preface by the Author ... ... ... v. 
 
 Mr. Richard appointed Secretary of the Peace Society, 1848 ... i 
 
 Peace Congress at Brussels, 1848 ... ... ... ... 3 
 
 Mr. Cobden's efforts in Parliament, 1849 6 
 
 Peace Congress at Paris, 1849 ... ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 "Rajah" Brooke, and Borneo, 1849 ... ... ... ... n 
 
 Peace Congress at Frankfort, 1850 ... ... ... ... 12 
 
 Kaffir War, 1850 14 
 
 The Great Exhibition, 1851 15 
 
 The Militia Bill, 1852 16 
 
 Peace Conference at Manchester, 1853 ... ... ... ... 18 
 
 The Eastern Question, 1853 ... .. 19 
 
 The Congress at Paris, 1856 ... ... ... ... ... 25 
 
 War in China, 1857 ... 31 
 
 Persian War, 1857 36 
 
 War in Italy, 1859 38 
 
 The War Panic, 1859101862 43 
 
 Commercial Treaty with France, 1860 48 
 
 Peace Deputation to France, 1861 ... ... ... ... 49 
 
 International Exhibition in London, 1862 ... ... . ... 50 
 
 American War of Secession, 1861 ... ... ... ... 55 
 
 The "Trent" Dispute, 1862 63 
 
 War in Japan, 1863 ... ... ... ... 71 
 
 The Danish War, 1864 75 
 
 Insurrection in Poland, 1864 ... ... ... ... ... 78 
 
 The War in New Zealand, 1860 to 1864 83 
 
 Joseph Sturge's Memoirs ... ... 85 
 
 Death of Mr. Cobden, 1865 86 
 
 Peace Conferences at Manchester, 1864-65 ... ... ... 87 
 
 The General Election, 1865 ... ... ... 90 
 
 The Insurrection in Jamaica, 1865 ... ... ... ... 93 
 
 War in Abyssinia, 1867 ... ... ... ... ... ... 98 
 
 Mr. Richard's Continental Efforts, 1868 ... 100 
 
 The Social Science Congress, 1868 ... ... ... ... ... 102 
 
 The London Missionary Society... ... .. ... ... 103 
 
 The General Election, 1868 ... ... ... ... ... ... 106 
 
 Election of Mr. Richard to Parliament ... ... 106 
 
 Mr. Richard's First Speech in Parliament, 1869 ... ... ... 107 
 
 The Elementary Education Act ... 108 
 
 The Franco-German War, 1870-71 ... ... ... ... ... 109 
 
 Increased Armaments, 1870 ... ... ... 113 
 
 The Alabama Arbitration, 1871 ... ... ... 115 
 
 Treaty of Washington ... ... ... ... ... ... 118 
 
 Mr. Richard's Efforts in Parliament in 1871 119 
 
 Nonconformist Conference at Manchester, 1872 123 
 
 International Arbitration. 1871 to 1874 ... ... 126 
 
 Mr. Richard's Notice of Motion, 1871 .. 128
 
 xiv. CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Parliamentary Triumph, 1873 ... ... 132 
 
 Congratulations to Mr. Richard 133 
 
 Mr. Richard's Continental Campaign 134 
 
 The New Parliament, 1874 138 
 
 The Ashantee War ... ... 140 
 
 Mr. Richard's Efforts in Parliament, 1874 ... 141 
 
 Peace Congresses at Geneva, 1875 143 
 
 Parliamentary Efforts of Mr. Richard, 1876 146 
 
 The Congregational Union, 1877 ... ... 149 
 
 The Eastern Question, 1875 to 1877 152 
 
 Deputation to the Earl of Derby, 1876 ... ... ... ... 156 
 
 Eastern Question Association ... ... ... ... ... 158 
 
 Conference at Constantinople, 1876 161 
 
 Russo-Turkish War, 1877 162 
 
 Treaty of San-Stefano ... ... ... ... ... ... 162 
 
 Congress at Berlin, 1878 163 
 
 Deputation to Berlin Congress ... ... ... .. ... 164 
 
 Mr. Richard's Efforts in Parliament 166 
 
 The Afghan and Zulu Wars, 1878 168 
 
 Death of Elihu Burritt 170 
 
 Disarmament, 1879 ... ... ... 171 
 
 War in the Transvaal, 1 88 1 178 
 
 Mr. Richard's Efforts in Parliament, 1 88 1 181 
 
 The Egyptian War, 1882 to 1889 184 
 
 Bombardment of Alexandria, 1882 187 
 
 British Army in Egypt ... ... ... 188 
 
 Mr. Richard's Protest in Parliament ... ... 189 
 
 Extension of War into the Soudan ... ... ... ... 194 
 
 Mr. Labouchere's Motion ... ... .. 195 
 
 Mr. Richard at Darlington and Liverpool ... ... ... 196 
 
 Death of General Gordon ... ... ... ... ... ... 197 
 
 Vote of Censure on the Government 198 
 
 Mr. Richard visits Italy, 1883 ... 200 
 
 Social Science Congress 201 
 
 England and Russia, 1885 ... ... ... .. ... .. 201 
 
 Mr. Richard's Efforts in Parliament, 1886 ... 203 
 
 Mr. Richard's Last Speech in Parliament, 1886 ... 204 
 
 Arbitration Conference in London ... .. ... ... 206 
 
 Retirement of Mr. Richard ... ... ... ... 208 
 
 His Last Public Speech, 1887 211 
 
 Illness and Death, 1888 212 
 
 PORTRAITS. 
 
 Henry Richard ii. 
 
 Richard Cobden ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6 
 
 Joseph Sturge ... ... ... ... 27 
 
 Edmund Fry ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 47 
 
 William Stokes 88 
 
 Arthur G. O'Neill 129 
 
 Elihu Burritt 170
 
 UMEROUS as have been the contributions from 
 various pens, pourtraying the distinguished career, 
 in the cause of civil and religious freedom, of 
 the subject of this memorique, Henry Richard, 
 the late member for Merthyr Tydvil, yet, in- 
 teresting and faithful as these records have been, 
 it is noteworthy how little has been published of his eminent 
 services in the great life-work to which he has consecrated 
 his noble gifts, and in which he has won an enduring, 
 because an honorable, fame I refer to the cause of inter- 
 national peace. 
 
 It is forty years since that Mr. Richard (then the minister 
 of Marlborough Chapel, London), appeared for the first time 
 on the platform of the Peace Society, and then and there, 
 surrounded by George Thompson, Joseph John Gurney, 
 Charles Hindley, M.P., J. S. Buckingham, M.P., and other 
 eminent friends of the cause, publicly proclaimed his con- 
 version to its principles and policy, closing a vigorous 
 denunciation against war as in " direct, implacable, and 
 everlasting antipathy to the whole spirit and genius of 
 the Gospel." 
 
 Four years after this public declaration, on the retirement 
 of the Rev. John Jefferson as the Secretary of the Peace 
 Society, Mr. Richard was unanimously chosen, in the words 
 of the Resolution, " as the able and efficient successor to the 
 arduous and important post which has been vacated," and 
 
 K
 
 2 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 at the Anniversary Meeting, May 23, 1848, he presented 
 the Report, the first prepared by his own hand. 
 
 At this period, forty years ago, the President of the 
 Society was Charles Hindley, M.P. for Wigan, its Treasurer 
 Samuel Gurney,and now, out of the thirty-four members of the 
 Executive, not one survives. 
 
 Mr. Richard entered upon his career at a period of 
 general disturbance in Europe and America, which soon 
 involved him in considerable anxiety and labour. 
 
 Abroad, war had been proclaimed between Austria and 
 Italy, and between Germany and Denmark. A desolating war 
 also was raging between the United States and Mexico, and 
 presumptuous as might have been considered by many, Mr. 
 Richard urged his Committee to address by memorial the 
 respective Presidents of the belligerent Governments, in 
 a spirit of earnest but respectful remonstrance, and at the 
 same time an appeal was sent to the chief European Govern - 
 ments imploring their friendly mediation. In Switzerland, 
 where a devastating civil war was raging amongst the Swiss 
 cantons, an address was issued to the people urging a cessa- 
 tion of the sanguinary conflict. But it was in France, 
 chiefly, that the friends of peace were specially directed, 
 arising out of the merciless "Reign of Terror," and the oppor- 
 tunity was availed of to address in a Christian spirit the 
 people of France, in the hope of kindling a more humane 
 feeling; and not in vain, for it tended to calm the upheavings 
 of the popular frenzy for revenge and massacre. 
 
 Not only abroad, but also at home, this eventful year of 
 1848 brought anxious labour for Mr. Richard and his Com- 
 mittee. The absurd cry of " England in danger " was 
 raised, which, fanned by the public Press, and fomented 
 by alarming letters of timid persons of rank and influ- 
 ence, tended to awaken alarm and jealousy of some imaginary 
 foe. 
 
 Against this craven fear, a timely warning was made which 
 helped to assuage the shrieks of the panic-mongers, and to
 
 PEACE CONGRESS AT BRUSSELS. 3 
 
 defeat the wild project for an enormous addition to the 
 military establishments. 
 
 PEACE CONGRESS AT BRUSSELS, 1848. 
 
 It was in the midst of these social and political convulsions 
 at home and abroad, at a time of great tumult and much 
 violence, that Mr. Richard was called to the helm of the 
 Ark of Peace, tossed as it was on the stormy sea of 
 European affairs ; and calmly and resolutely did he stand to 
 his post of duty. In this responsible position his energy 
 and zeal soon told on the Executive, and ere the first year 
 of his career in office was closed, he had made 1848 a 
 memorable one, saddened though it was by hateful memories, 
 in the history of Europe. 
 
 Conjointly with the distinguished American Apostle of 
 Peace, Elihu Burritt (a man honored in his own and in 
 other lands for his steady and unceasing advocacy of the 
 cause of peace), ard with that eminent philanthropist, 
 the lamented Joseph Sturge, Mr. Richard threw himself 
 with all the warmth of his early enthusiasm into a project 
 for assembling in one of the capitals of Europe an 
 International Peace Congress, which should be the means 
 of gathering up the scattered forces of peace in Europe in 
 a grand solidarity against the demon of War. To undertake 
 such a task, at that time, was one of great responsibility, and 
 required a wisdom in council, and a courage in action, which 
 the pioneers in this enterprise nobly exemplified. It was 
 the first occasion that there had assembled such a conclave 
 for Peace, and insurmountable as at the onset seemed the 
 obstacles in its way, yet they were eventually overcome, and 
 this bold initiative to arouse the conscience of Europe, and 
 to energise into action the slumbering longings for peace 
 and hatred of war, was crowned with a triumph little
 
 4 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 anticipated. On the 2oth of September, 1848, in the land of 
 Belgium, where blind and brutal war had so often decided 
 the fate of Empires, in the city of Brussels, within a few 
 steps of that field where was fought the most sanguinary 
 battle of the warrior the field of Waterloo Mr. Richard and 
 his colleagues unfurled the standard for peace, and assembled 
 an army of men, speaking different languages, living under 
 different forms of government, and holding diverse political 
 and religious opinions, yet actuated by the one all-embracing 
 faith, the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God 
 
 " A holy gathering, peaceful all, 
 No threat of war, no savage call 
 Of vengeance on an erring brother ; 
 But in their stead, the God-like plan 
 To teach the brotherhood of man 
 To love and reverence one another, 
 As sharers of one common blood, 
 As children of one common God." 
 
 At this Congress it honorably fell to the lot of one of the 
 most distinguished members of the Belgium Government, 
 M. Adolphe Visschers, to preside, who was supported by 
 several members of the National Assembly of France, and 
 of the English Parliament, besides members of Academies 
 of Literature, Professors of Universities, savants of Spain, 
 Italy, and America, and last, though not least, ministers of 
 the Gospel of the Prince of Peace. The spirit displayed 
 throughout the sittings of its four sessions was worthy of the 
 cause and of the occasion. 
 
 The inaugural address of the President, the speeches of its 
 most eminent members, of such men as M. Francois Bouvet, 
 William Ewart, M.P., J. S. Buckingham, M.P., Henry 
 Vincent, M. Bertonalli (Italy), Henry Richard, and others, 
 full of energy and interest, were received with great enthusi- 
 asm. In addition to these, papers were read, prepared 
 specially for the occasion, by Edmund Fry, William Stokes, 
 and Elihu Burritt; but the most important work accom- 
 plished by the Congress was the adoption of an appeal
 
 PEACE CONGRESS AT BRUSSELS. 5 
 
 addressed to the peoples and the Governments of Europe 
 and America, deprecating war, as condemned alike by justice 
 and humanity, and urging the necessity of a simultaneous 
 disarmament, and the importance of introducing into all 
 Treaties clauses providing for the settlement of all differences 
 by arbitration, and the adoption of an International Code 
 as an effective means of promoting the peace of the world. 
 
 It was at this Congress we are able to read the first reported 
 speech Mr. Richard publicly uttered on that question which, 
 for an eventful life, has since absorbed his best energies, and 
 to which he has consecrated his remarkable talents. As one 
 reads it, after this interval of 40 years, one cannot fail to 
 observe the ring of the genuine metal which has ever 
 distinguished all his speeches, of his resistance to war, on the 
 fundamental ground of its glaring outrage, to the spirit and 
 genius of the Christian religion. It bristles too, as he was ever 
 wont to interweave, with those apt illustrations, drawn from 
 the pages of inspiration, and the endless store of his favourite 
 and beautiful Milton. Nothing can be more vigorous than 
 his closing words : 
 
 " We must exhibit war in its true colour, we must have the 
 courage with a bold hand to tear the mask which it has thrown 
 over its face, and regardless of the pomp and circumstance with 
 which it is enshrouded, the sounding phrases of honour, patriotism 
 and glory with which it is wont to conceal its true character, we 
 must present it to the eye of the world, as it truly is a gigantic 
 murderer, drunk with ambition and lust, and hideously stained 
 with the blood of its myriad victims." 
 
 A few months after this demonstration at Brussels, an 
 influential Committee was nominated consisting of thirty-two 
 gentlemen, of which but one survives, staunch and true, 
 George Wm. Alexander, who were appointed to watch over 
 and direct the operations of the Society, more especially in 
 reference to the parliamentary campaign, and the proposed 
 second Congress in Paris.
 
 6 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 MR. COBDEN'S MOTION, 1849. 
 It was evident this successful Peace Congress had stirred to 
 its depths the dormant spirit of peace throughout Europe, and 
 Mr. Richard resolved to keep public attention well fixed on 
 the coming question of the day, and with the co-operation of 
 his colleagues, he actively organised meetings, colossal in 
 
 RICHARD COBDEN. 
 
 those days, in the great cities, beginning with the Metropolis, 
 and thence embracing Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Hull, 
 Rochdale, Bolton, Preston, Shrewsbury and Chester &c., 
 which brought together triumphant demonstrations, rarely 
 seen, proving the rapidity and power with which the principles 
 of peace were taking hold of the public mind. 
 These series of public meetings throughout the country hada
 
 MR. COBDEN'S MOTION. 7 
 
 practical object in view, being in support of the resolution of 
 Richard Cobden to bring before Parliament, early in the session 
 of 1849, the urgent necessity of entering into communications 
 with Foreign Governments with a view to the establishment 
 of a system of international arbitration. Into this great work 
 of invoking for the first time the sympathy of Parliament 
 and the sanction of the Crown of England in this principle, 
 Mr. Richard threw himself with great ardour, and for a period 
 of six months, laboured unceasingly on the platform before 
 immense assemblages in England and Scotland, no less by the 
 active wielding of his trenchant pen. 
 
 In this vigorous agitation he was greatly assisted by 
 capable men, whose names are household words, one of 
 whom is still spared to labour on in this holy peace crusade 
 to which he has dedicated his life, venerable now by service 
 and years, the bold champion, Arthur O'Neill of Birmingham, 
 and some too, whose loss we deplore, who have entered 
 long since into Rest John Bright, Joseph Sturge, Edmund 
 Fry, Charles Gilpin, William Stokes, and many others, 
 clouds of witnesses of whom it may be said, " the world 
 was not worthy." 
 
 One must not forget to refer also to the valued services 
 rendered by one who was rapidly rising into public estima- 
 tion, as an able and eloquent advocate, Alfred B. Stevens, 
 whose voice some of us still remember, inspiring the hearers 
 with the enthusiasm of his own soul stirred as he evidently 
 was with an ardour and zeal which carried conviction to the 
 people. It was not permitted to this valiant soldier to be 
 spared to labour with his co-patriots as had been fondly 
 hoped, for at an early age he was called up higher, but he 
 has left an enduring monument, which will stand further 
 into the dim future than marble or bronze, a record 
 imperishable, by those who knew and loved him well. 
 
 The day was now approaching when for the first time in 
 the Parliament of England the important subject of Inter, 
 national Arbitration was to be submitted to the judgment of
 
 8 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 the representatives of the people, and in the hands of 
 Richard Cobden, who had become the acknowledged 
 Apostle of Peace, no more fitting advocate could the cause 
 have been confided. The night preceding the memorable 
 debate, a demonstration of popular enthusiasm was witnessed 
 in Exeter Hall, attended by many Members of the House, 
 encircled with a number of the leaders of the movement, 
 amongst whom stood the sturdy and resolute Henry Richard, 
 all brimful of enthusiasm, which echoed and re-echoed over all 
 that vast assemblage of peace reformers. Great was the 
 cheering when honest John Bright, then in the zenith of his 
 oratorical fame, thrilled his hearers with one of his most 
 forcible and impressive speeches, and there is no doubt, 
 conjointly with others, rendered good service to the cause 
 and paved the way for its thoughtful consideration the 
 following evening within St. Stephen's. 
 
 In the limited space of this brief memorial it will be only 
 possible succinctly to refer to the course of this parliamen- 
 tary effort of Mr. Cobden, intimately associated as it was 
 with the labours of Mr. Richard. 
 
 On Tuesday, the i4th June, 1849, we have to chronicle 
 this eventful page in the annals of peace. The speech of 
 Mr. Cobden, in introducing the motion, was admirable, skil- 
 fully adapted to his cynical auditory, courageous nevertheless, 
 trenchant with argument, and eminently practical. To his 
 support in debate rallied some well-known men, William 
 Ewart, Milner Gibson, John A. Roebuck, Joseph Hume, 
 speaking with their characteristic boldness and sterling good 
 sense. Opposing the resolution, were Lords Palmerston 
 and Russell, who, honourably be it said, performed their 
 chilling duty with courtesy, and plausibility common to 
 statesmanship, eulogising the motive of the enterprise, and 
 whilst desiring success to so humane an endeavour, yet 
 regretting their intention to vote against it. 
 
 But though this resolution was defeated, the moral victory 
 was great. Independent of the espousal of the question of
 
 THE PARIS CONGRESS. 9 
 
 international peace by a statesman of Mr. Cobden's 
 distinguished ability, and eminent political services a great 
 accession in those early days of its unpopularity the 
 advocacy of the question for many months preceding its 
 introduction in the British legislature had fixed its hold on 
 the public mind, and though but 81 members voted in its 
 favour, they represented a far larger constituency of electors, 
 and non-electors, than the majority who voted against it, and 
 as Mr. Cobden stated in a letter to his friend Joseph Sturge, 
 
 " I never knew a question make such rapid progress in the 
 House," and as Punch observed in an article of keen satire, 
 and lively but friendly humour, " the olive twig placed by 
 Cobden in Westminster will flourish, despite the blighting wit 
 of mess rooms, and will rise and spread into a tree that shall 
 offer shade and security to all nations." 
 
 To Mr. Richard and his vigilant fellow-labourers, this 
 advance may be largely due, and to them was given to realise 
 twenty-six years later the partial fulfilment of the prophetic 
 words of Punch, and let us hope, bye-and-bye, " to all 
 nations." 
 
 THE PARIS CONGRESS, 1849. 
 
 The next important movement which Mr. Richard backed 
 by his indefatigable Committee, addressed themselves to, 
 and with the same practical energy, was the Peace Congress 
 which assembled in the City of Paris. Great as were the 
 difficulties and labours involved in the arrangements of the 
 Brussels Congress, still greater were they in connection with 
 the Congress at Paris. They were justly described at the 
 time as months of anxious labour, and the difficulties, which 
 those only who watched and toiled on in spite of them, can 
 adequately appreciate. Into this conflict Mr. Richard threw 
 himself with all his wonted ardour and strategy, and with 
 such a leader it is no wonder a great success crowned the 
 enterprise. Addresses followed addresses signed by himself
 
 10 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 and Elihu Burritt, which ringing with an enthusiastic chord, 
 stirred the friends of peace everywhere, and rallied them 
 from afar, from hamlet and city, at home and abroad, to 
 the standard unfurled. Visits followed visits to Paris, where 
 interviews were obtained with the most eminent leaders of 
 political and religious thought in France of such men as 
 Gamier, Chevalier, Bouvet, De Cocquerel, Horace Say, 
 Victor Hugo, the eminent De Tocqueville, Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs, and Dufaure, Minister of the Interior, all of 
 whom entered into their project with considerable ''esprit 
 de corps" and especially the Minister, De Tocqueville, who 
 showed a cordiality and a friendliness, earnest and sincere, 
 that must have astonished, as it gladdened their hearts. 
 Well might they say, " the news of the Congress is flying 
 through all parts of Europe and is awakening a great interest 
 amongst all classes," and though the City of Paris was then 
 in a " state of siege," the French Government displayed from 
 the beginning a generous accord, admitting the peace party 
 from England without passports, and without examination of 
 their luggage. 
 
 The Congress assembled August 22nd 1849, under the 
 presidency of Victor Hugo, representatives being present 
 from all parts of Europe and the American Continent. Its 
 sittings continued for three days, and judging by the speeches 
 delivered and papers read, the proceedings proved of unsur. 
 passing interest. Conspicuous for their eloquence and power 
 were the harangues of Victor Hugo, the "Tribune of France," 
 M. Visschers, of Belgium, Emilie Girardin, Richard Cobden, 
 Henry Vincent, the Abbe Deguerry, cure of the Madeline 
 (cruelly murdered by the Communists in 1871) Amasa 
 Walker, member of the American House of Representatives, 
 Edward Miall, and Athanase Cocquerel, the eminent Pro- 
 testant Minister. 
 
 The Congress was most successful whether viewed in the 
 character of those assembled, the remarkable display of 
 eloquent orators, or the deep moral impression which it
 
 "RAJAH" BROOKE AND BORNEO. n 
 
 exercised throughout Europe. Great credit was due to many 
 whose voices were not often heard, on whom devolved the 
 arduous labours that brought so much success such were 
 Henry Richard, Joseph Sturge, and Elihu Burritt. 
 
 One of the most interesting features of the Congress was 
 the Soiree given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, De 
 Tocqueville, to the members and delegates, and which came 
 off with great eclat. It was attended by the elite of Paris, 
 including many of the Foreign Ambassadors, and members 
 of the French Government, which may be taken as a proof 
 of the profound impression produced on the minds of the 
 people of France and of their deep sympathy for the cause 
 of international peace. 
 
 "RAJAH" BROOKE AND BORNEO. 
 
 Reference should now be made to the lead Mr. Richard 
 took in conjunction with Joseph Sturge, in face of much un- 
 merited obloquy, against the outrageous massacre perpetrated 
 by Sir James, alias "Rajah" Brooke, on the Dyaks of Borneo 
 on the miserable plea, never substantiated, that they were a 
 piratical tribe. When it is remembered that 1,500 of those 
 unhappy people perished at the hands of these " sot disant 
 champions of freedom, of commerce, and avengers of 
 humanity," perished without one tittle of evidence having 
 been submitted of their guilt of piracy, we shall not be 
 surprised at the shout of indignation which was raised 
 against these Borneo Butchers. 
 
 Under the auspices of the Peace Society, Joseph Sturge 
 and Henry Richard convened a public meeting in the City 
 of London, which was overwhelming in its condemnation 
 against what Mr. Cobden justly called " a gratuitous, and 
 cold-blooded butchery," and especially against the author of 
 that cruel massacre. At this meeting Mr. Richard delivered
 
 12 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 a powerful speech, being a calm statement of the whole facts 
 of the case, wherein he conclusively showed who were the 
 real pirates not the Dyaks under the Sultan of Borneo, but 
 the expedition of Rajah Brooke sailing under the prestige of 
 the British Flag, that these outrages were the result of the 
 large number of restless military adventurers, wanderers on 
 the seas, " nothing particular to do," " looking out for a job," 
 the deposing of Rajahs and Sultans, and the aping of 
 Warwick the King-maker in the Eastern Waters. Amid the 
 approving cheers of this great meeting, he declared there 
 was no shadow of a pretence that these unhappy Dyaks 
 ever molested an English vessel, and he charged Sir James 
 Brooke with the committal of a criminal act, that was an 
 outrage of all law, human and Divine, and concluded a 
 powerful speech by an eloquent appeal to the Bishops and 
 clergy who invited this Rajah of Borneo fame to the Han- 
 over Square rooms, that they might present him with a 
 snuff-box, " caress, and bless him," that if they wished " to 
 spread Christianity among the heathen, it must not be by 
 -canister and grape-shot." 
 
 The results of this meeting, and the general protests 
 raised throughout the country, soon told on the Government, 
 and though unhappily these destroyers of the aboriginal 
 tribes of Borneo and Celebes were not arraigned for trial, 
 yet the abominable "blood-money reward" which they 
 claimed, amounting to ,20,000, was refused them, and the 
 Act which granted such a foul subsidy of 120 for every 
 head of a Dyak slain, was for ever unconditionally repealed. 
 
 THE FRANKFORT CONGRESS, 1849. 
 
 The next important movement with which Mr. Richard 
 was prominently associated was the Peace Congress at 
 Frankfort, the last of the Congresses convened in the
 
 THE FRANKFORT CONGRESS. 13 
 
 European Capitals. The arrangements for this international 
 meeting devolved mainly on Mr. Richard, assisted by his 
 coadjutors, M. Visschers, Elihu Burritt, and William Stokes, 
 and judging by the success of the project, these labours 
 reflect great credit on their energy and skill. Consequent 
 on the want of acquaintance by the leading men in Germany 
 with the aims and policy of the Peace party in England, it 
 was found necessary that a tour should be paid to Berlin, 
 Darmstadt, Mannheim, Worms, Leipsic, Dresden, Hamburg, 
 Hanover, Nuremburg, Munich, Stuttgard, and many other 
 towns, where interviews took place with distinguished 
 Politicians, Professors of Universities, and eminent writers 
 of the day. These interviews were of the most cordial 
 character, and helped largely to direct the attention of some 
 of the foremost minds in Germany to the question of peace 
 with fresh and deep interest. 
 
 The Congress met August 22nd, 1849, an d. it is not too 
 much to say of it that it was a memorable meeting, worthy 
 of its predecessors. It was presided over by the Prime 
 Minister of Hesse Darmstadt, and amongst the eminent men 
 who supported him were various members of the National 
 Assembly of France, and of the English Parliament, 
 Professors of Universities, Ministers of Churches from 
 various countries in Europe and America, and attending the 
 Congress were representatives of almost all the civilized 
 nations of the world, gathered, not for mutual hate or 
 destruction, but mingling their sympathies and counsels to 
 advance the great work of international peace. Of the 
 proceedings of the Congress, space will not permit to refer. 
 For several weeks these proceedings occupied a foremost 
 place in the records of the European Press, and it was 
 evident they excited great interest, especially on the thought- 
 ful Germanic mind, as it was natural it should do in all its 
 grandeur, as one of the most pressing questions demanding 
 their attention.
 
 14 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 THE KAFFIR WAR, 1850. 
 
 We must now turn from these encouraging records of the 
 triumphs of Peace to the inglorious Kaffir War, which 
 excited, at the close of the year 1850, considerable interest, 
 and which involved Mr. Richard and the peace party in 
 England, in an active opposition to the policy which 
 sanctioned one of the most iniquitous wars Great Britain 
 ever waged. This war of 1850 proved the truth of the 
 language of Bacon, 
 
 " But what does war, but endless wars produce," 
 as it was the result of the embittered feeling which the 
 previous wars of 1811, 1819, 1830, and 1846, had left 
 in their blood-stained track. From the first day of British 
 connexion with the Cape of Good Hope in 1806, British 
 possessions there had steadily increased, not by right but by 
 might, not by- justice but by a cruel policy of extermination. 
 Under the various administrations of Lord Charles Somerset, 
 Lord Glenelg, and Sir Harry Smith, the grip of England had 
 steadily tightened, until in 1846 it was described as exceeding 
 the territory of any one of the largest States in Europe. It 
 were difficult to explain or defend the causes which led to 
 this gradual policy of unjust annexation, and its concomitant 
 evils, the extermination of the various aboriginal tribes. 
 Sometimes it was explained on the ground of the encroach- 
 ments of Europeans, the restless adventurous spirit of 
 Englishmen ; sometimes to disputes as to the boundaries of 
 territory ; sometimes by the straying of the cattle of settlers, 
 and in this war of 1850, by the stealing of an axe, or the 
 straying of an ass, the property of an English colonist ; but 
 above all, and herein lies the main cause of these humiliating 
 wars at the Cape, by the presence of British troops, which 
 encouraged the encroachment of Europeans on the Kaffirs' 
 territory. The Kaffirs naturally resented ; they stole the 
 cattle of the colonists, and committed depredations by way 
 of reprisals. Then followed retaliation, and war ensued,
 
 THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 15 
 
 and thus, with the termination of each war, England's 
 dominions advanced, step by step, sowing the seeds of 
 further wars and further encroachments. 
 
 It was against this unjust policy of aggrandisement that 
 Mr. Richard bestirred the country, and truly there was good 
 ground of opposition, when a war of extermination was 
 raging on the miserable pretext of a stolen axe, and the 
 straying of some donkey ; a war which involved Great Britain 
 in an expenditure of three millions sterling, and a terrible 
 Bill of Blood. Into this most opportune protest Mr. Richard 
 devoted unceasing efforts. Articles of a most trenchant 
 character, teeming with startling facts, and resonant with an 
 eloquent indignation, flowed from his facile pen; meetings 
 were convened and addressed by him in Birmingham, Bristol, 
 Sheffield, &c., and in various parts of the Metropolis, by 
 which united agency the eyes of the people of England 
 became opened as to the true origin of these deplorable 
 conflicts, which checked this restless spirit for territorial 
 aggrandisement that was disgracing the fair fame of England. 
 
 THE GREAT EXHIBITION, 1851. 
 
 We now come to the year 1851, a year for ever memorable, 
 as the opening of the Palace of Industry. It was natural 
 that with the mingled throng of the Rulers of the Earth, the 
 galaxy of Emperors, Kings and Queens, Princes and 
 Princesses, scions of Royal blood, amid the gathering too 
 of Warriors and Statesmen, that the Peace Party should vie 
 likewise, in greeting with a hearty "All Hail!" this Palace 
 of Concord, so full of good omen to their cause. By their 
 presence at its inauguration, by their paeans of rejoicing, 
 and by memorials and congratulations to the Royal Com- 
 missioners, we find Mr. Richard ever alert, in turning to the 
 most favourable advantage so grand a festival of Industry,
 
 1 6 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 so gorgeous a Banquet of Peace. One of the most gratifying 
 evidences of the good impress on the public mind was the 
 emphatic language at the inaugural ceremony of that Prince 
 among Princes, Albert the Good, that 
 
 " It has for its end the strengthening of the bonds of peace 
 and friendship among all Nations of the earth ; " 
 
 and of the significant reply from her own lips of Her Majesty 
 the Queen, to the prayer of that address : 
 
 " That it might encourage the Ark of Peace, strengthen the 
 bonds of union amongst all nations, and promote a friendly and 
 honourable rivalry for the good and happiness of mankind." 
 
 Such impressive declarations evoked similar utterances 
 from Statesmen of both parties in the State, from eminent 
 Ministers of Church and Dissent throughout the land, and 
 even military men caught the contagion for Peace, and to 
 crown all, a sign appeared in the Heavens, the appearance 
 of a new planet, which was looked upon as the harbinger of a 
 better time coming, and Sir John Herschel gave vent to 
 the public enthusiasm, and called the new-born star, Irene, 
 the Grecian for Peace. One good move taken by Mr. 
 Richard and his colleagues deserves notice. They prepared 
 a memorial to the Royal Commissioners urging that no 
 prizes should be given to weapons of destruction, and when 
 the awards of merit were distributed, " not one prize was 
 given for instruments of war," the distinguished jurors con- 
 sidering that as the object of the Exhibition was to save life 
 rather than destroy it, that therefore this strictly humane 
 principle should be maintained throughout. 
 
 THE MILITIA BILL, 1852. 
 
 In the beginning of 1852, the country was roused by the 
 Militia Bill, introduced into Parliament by Lord John 
 Russell. Against this measure Mr. Richard by voice and
 
 THE MILITIA BILL. 17 
 
 pen vigorously protested, and for several months, sup- 
 ported by Cobden and Gibson in Parliament, he waged 
 a vigorous, though hopeless, resistance to this obnoxious 
 measure. Considering the utterly groundless reasons 
 brought forward by the War party in its support, the action 
 of Cobden and Richard, in and out of Parliament, appears 
 reasonable and just. The panic was a senseless one, origi- 
 nating as usual with the military and naval officers on half-pay 
 in their restless propensity to write anonymous letters in the 
 public journals, speaking of the fate of England being sealed. 
 They declared a deep-laid conspiracy existed among 
 continental despots, headed by the Emperor of Russia, to 
 crush liberty in Europe, and to aid its accomplishment, the 
 overthrow of England was indispensable. Again, that a 
 French invasion was confidently predicted, that France was 
 burning to revenge Waterloo, because the Prince de Joinville 
 had written a terrible pamphlet shewing how easily England 
 might be surprised, and ridiculous as it seems, Austria it 
 was said was angry with our treatment of Hungary, the 
 thrashing of infamous Haynau, and the ovations to Kossuth, 
 and that she was meditating reprisals, or in other words, war 
 against England. 
 
 Against these preposterous dangers and monstrous alarms, 
 the country was driven by certain naval and military 
 alarmists, to improve the defences of the country, and ac- 
 cordingly the Government pandering to this baseless 
 apprehension, brought forward military measures and voted, 
 wasted ! millions of money. 
 
 Mr. Richard and his friends directed public attention, 
 mainly against the Militia Bill, and by a spirited agitation 
 all over the country, they evoked a general outcry in oppo- 
 sition to the measure. Meetings were held in the chief 
 centres in England and Scotland, most of which Mr. Richard 
 addressed, and though this agitation was not crowned with 
 success, still, it was so far satisfactory, that when the ques- 
 tion was tested in Parliament r65 members voted its 
 
 c
 
 l8 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 rejection, a significant homage to the strong feeling in the 
 country. 
 
 THE MANCHESTER CONFERENCE, 1853. 
 
 In the beginning of 1853, we find Mr. Richard busily 
 engaged in organising a National Conference in Manchester, 
 to consider the general question of war, its burdens, and its 
 dangers. The circular convening this Conference was 
 signed by upwards of 200 influential men in various parts of 
 the realm, including 19 Members of Parliament, amongst 
 whom we find the names of Cobden, Bright, and Gibson, 
 the celebrated trio who led the van and conquered against 
 the Corn Laws. Considering the object of the Conference 
 was general rather than specific, and that it was held in the 
 winter under the canopy of a murky atmosphere, it is 
 remarkable that, as regards numbers and interest, it surpassed 
 the assemblies of the kind ever held, whether at home or 
 abroad. Under the presidency of the veteran George 
 Wilson, whose eminent services as Chairman of the Corn 
 Law League will long be gratefully remembered, this 
 memorable meeting was continued into four sessions, the 
 last session culminating in a magnificent demonstration in 
 the Free Trade Hall. 
 
 The proceedings of the Conference were distinguished by 
 remarkable speeches from George Wilson, Richard Cobden, 
 John Bright, Joseph Sturge, Samuel Bowly, and others, 
 directed chiefly against the system of large armaments, and 
 resenting the ignoble panic which had seized the nation. 
 The demonstration in the Free Trade Hall has rarely, if 
 ever, been equalled for numbers and enthusiasm, and no 
 wonder considering the stirring harangues of Cobden, Bright, 
 and Gibson, which thrilled not only that great audience, but
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 19 
 
 the country generally, and unjustly brought down upon these 
 devoted men of peace such a prodigious explosion of ridicule, 
 invective, and abuse, from Punch to Chronicle, that was dis- 
 graceful to the writers whose pens had evidently been 
 dipped in gall. 
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION, 1853. 
 
 We now approach an eventful period in the records of 
 Mr. Richard's career. Hardly had the Conference at 
 Manchester closed its labours, than the attention of the 
 nation was turned with deep solicitude to the complications 
 of the East, and for several succeeding years, the labours 
 of Mr. Richard and his colleagues were heavily taxed in their 
 endeavours to avert the disastrous and deplorable Crimean 
 War. 
 
 As early as July 1853 Mr. Richard sounded the tocsin of 
 alarm by a powerful contribution from his pen on the Eastern 
 question, wherein the nature of the difficulties between Russia 
 and Turkey were clearly set forth, and assuredly never did an 
 international difficulty of so trivial a character, assume such 
 gigantic proportions, or culminate in a greater catastrophe. It 
 would appear to have arisen on this wise The French 
 Government (apparently intoxicated by the wicked "coup d' 
 etaf" of Dec. 1851, which enthroned a Bonaparte, and 
 engulphed France into an abhorent militarism) appear to have 
 originated the mischief in the East by a series of intrigues at 
 Constantinople, ostensibly for the purpose of securing certain 
 privileges for her fellow Christian subjects, the Roman 
 Catholic devotees at Jerusalem. Russia, who was anxious for 
 a quarrel with Turkey, likewise intrigued on behalf of the 
 members of the Greek Church scattered over the Turkish 
 dominions, and out of these miserable squabbles, which ma)-
 
 2O HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 be called a wrangle for the keys of the Holy Places, sprang a 
 mine, that in the following year burst with terrific fury, and 
 involved Europe in a blaze. 
 
 The question naturally arises, wherefore did England 
 intervene ? What rights, or privileges, or interests had she 
 to safeguard? The answer is obvious. None whatever, 
 except this, and so far as can be discovered it was the only 
 pretext, namely, that vaunted "spirited policy," of a bygone 
 time, and that proud prerogative of intervention, to maintain 
 the " balance of power " in Europe. Into the intricate 
 mazes of those prolonged and mysterious negotiations a 
 marvellous record of bungling diplomacy, beginning with 
 this contemptible quarrel for the keys of the Holy Places at 
 Jerusalem, and ending with the lamentable failure of the 
 celebrated Vienna Note, a period of twelve months it will 
 be impossible here to enter. Against this policy of interven- 
 tion by England in the affairs of Turkey, and of blind un- 
 natural hatred of Russia, which precipitated the Crimean 
 War, Mr. Richard nobly stirred himself, and of these efforts 
 by voice and pen, by press and platform, a glorious record 
 might be made. 
 
 The times were eminently critical, and great as were the 
 forces against which the Peace party had to contend, they 
 fought nobly and unflinchingly to the last ; an heroic band, 
 Cobden and Bright, Sturge and Richard, and a host of 
 others, whose deeds will ever live in grateful recollection, 
 
 " On the bead-roll of time 
 Worthy to be filed." 
 
 From the pen of Mr. Richard, at the earlier period of the 
 threatened danger in the East, followed in quick succession 
 various articles in the Press, laying bare with pitiless severity 
 the intrigues of the War party, and exposing the flimsy 
 character of the "casus belli" and by such an array of facts 
 and arguments the Party of Peace were soon stirred into 
 vigorous action to stave off the impending trouble. 
 
 As an effectual way for holding aloft the banner of peace in
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 21 
 
 the midst of the tumult, a great demonstration, to protest against 
 the popular clamour, was held at Edinburgh in October, 1853, 
 and mainly owing to the active exertions of Mr. Richard, this 
 Conference proved an immense success. Similar to the 
 great meetings at Manchester, it was eminently representative, 
 with this addition that the chief towns of Scotland sent their 
 leading men to stand side by side with the English friends 
 of peace in that crisis, and the presence of the eminent 
 leaders of the Peace party, Cobden and Bright, who, with 
 admirable moral courage, dared to confront the tempest of 
 obloquy, and by their masterly eloquence gave considerable 
 eclat and interest to the proceedings. The sittings of the 
 Conference, presided over by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 
 Duncan MacLaren, late M.P. for that city, continued two 
 days, and closed with an enthusiastic demonstration in the 
 largest hall in Edinburgh. At this great meeting Richard 
 Cobden spoke at considerable length a speech of command- 
 ing power, " a clear stream of facts, arguments, and 
 illustrations, arranged in the most perfect order, enforced 
 with the most severe logic, and in a style so terse, compact, 
 and forcible, that there was scarcely a waste word from 
 beginning to end." He was followed by a gallant Admiral, 
 Sir Charles Napier, who came down from London expressly 
 to oppose the resolutions, but whose courage failed him in 
 the trysting hour. Then followed Mr. Bright in a speech 
 of wonderful power, which thrilled and swayed that vast 
 audience " like the ocean, when moved by the wind," and 
 inspiring all, as they gazed on his erect and resolute form 
 like a pillar of state, and listened to the burning words 
 stream from his lips, words of emphatic protest against the 
 popular clamour, which was gradually drifting England into 
 the dire calamity of war. 
 
 Immediately after this great meeting, whilst the public 
 feeling was fairly roused by the vigorous speeches of the 
 Conference, Mr. Richard, joined by Mr. Bowly and Mr. 
 Stokes, entered on a campaign of public agitation in
 
 22 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Scotland, and addressed enthusiastic meetings, chief 
 amongst which were Cupar, Dunfermline, Dundee, Perth, 
 Aberdeen, Arbroath, Montrose, and Stirling. But the public 
 mind was gradually becoming inflamed to the highest 
 degree in favour of war, and public meetings in this state 
 of boiling heat became dangerous, exasperating where they 
 should have calmed the popular fury. 
 
 During this period of national intoxication, when the voice 
 of reason, the shriek of humanity, and the thunders of 
 Heaven were drowned in the wild and passionate tumult 
 for war, Mr. Richard, placed in a most trying position, dis- 
 played in an eminent degree a calmness and a courage most 
 commendable. Whilst the nation was seething with a frenzied 
 foam for war against Russia, he did not shrink from lifting 
 his voice in language of stern admonition and rebuke, and 
 when public utterances were crushed by the maddened shouts 
 of infuriated mobs, maddened by drink and impelled by loot, 
 then he wielded his eloquent pen, which 
 
 " Supersedes the sword, 
 That right not might shall be the word." 
 
 Sometimes these effusions from his pen were a tractate, 
 sometimes in the more formidable because arduous character 
 of a pamphlet, but alike inculcating the true Christian 
 principle of peace, and the untold because unspeakable 
 calamities which war inevitably inflicts upon those dearest 
 of British and world-wide interests the interests of religion, 
 morality, civilisation, and commerce. 
 
 Addresses likewise were prepared and issued under his 
 signature to various corporate bodies, and in the hope of 
 withstanding the rising tide of a wrathful and warlike spirit, 
 which was threatening to submerge the conscience of the 
 nation, he indited an address to the Christian Ministers of 
 the land, not only entreating them to restrain the revengeful 
 and hateful passions, but exhorting them to besiege the 
 Throne of the Most High to avert from Europe the terrible 
 scourge of war.
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 23 
 
 This opportune appeal, couched in fitting language and 
 full of touching pathos, received from not a few a cordial 
 response, was read by them to their assembled congregations, 
 and inspired not a few from their exalted positions to preach 
 the truth, " On earth peace, and goodwill to men," and to 
 invoke the sacred name, that " the plague might be stayed.'' 
 
 One of the most valuable contributions of Mr. Richard's 
 pen during this trying period of the war, and which deserves 
 especial mention, was a " History of the Origin of the War," 
 drawn from parliamentary documents, issued in a pamphlet 
 form, consisting mainly of a simple record of historical facts, 
 eminently adapted for the crisis. 
 
 It was a masterly production, based as it was on official 
 documents, and received a most extensive circulation, and 
 greatly assisted to modify the opinions of waverers as to 
 the merits of the war, and to dispel the vague impressions 
 and prejudices which, unhappily, the people of this country 
 had formed so erroneous a judgment. Though the war 
 fever was at its height, and the danger of addressing meetings 
 was considerable, yet on several occasions, at the close of 
 the year 1855, and at the beginning of 1856, Mr. Richard 
 felt it to be his duty to brave the popular frenzy, and in 
 London, and in Manchester, Norwich, Bristol, Cardiff, 
 Newport, Luton, Dunstable, and Leighton Buzzard, and 
 other places, he addressed large and often stormy meetings. 
 In this campaign he was aided by Mr. Samuel Bowly, who 
 displayed a devoted zeal and valiant spirit worthy of the 
 cause, and at Nottingham, Coventry, Worcester, and Leices- 
 ter and other towns lectured to large audiences in favour of 
 peace, and by the power of his persuasive eloquence, and 
 the justice of the arguments, carried conviction to his hearers. 
 
 At Cardiff, where a panic had well-nigh seized the town in 
 anticipation of the meeting, Mr. Richard met with consider- 
 able opposition, and his reception may be characterised as 
 threatening. He was placarded in the town as an emissary 
 of the Czar, and the magistrates were compelled to take
 
 24 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 precautionary measures to keep the peace. Undaunted by 
 this display of rowdyism, true to his mission, " his spirit 
 failed him not," he faced the turbulence of the mob, and for 
 two hours, in spite of much violent interruption, nobly 
 advocated the great principles, not as an " Emissary of the 
 Czar," but as an emissary of the Prince of Peace, and at the 
 close to avoid further violence and tumult, the Mayor wisely 
 dissolved the meeting. 
 
 Such exhibitions of frenzied zeal, amidst his own Welsh 
 countrymen, in favour of the prosecution of the war, happily 
 were not repeated, and he was permitted in several of the 
 towns of the Principality to continue his campaign. Thirty- 
 six years have passed away, and not alone in Cardiff, 
 but throughout the kingdom, a great and remarkable change 
 in opinion has dawned. The teaching lessons of history, 
 the bitter fruits of experience, have brought home to the 
 conscience of the nation the justice and the wisdom of the 
 noble stand which Mr. Richard and the friends of peace 
 then made against the folly and wickedness of the Crimean 
 War. Cardiff and its honourable citizens pre-eminently 
 have long since buried the hatchet of war, they have long 
 since and amply condoned for that violence and wrong to 
 one, who has been for many years hailed as their foremost 
 chieftain in the cause of Peace and Freedom. A noble 
 reparation has been made, and we rejoice to know that 
 Cardiff is sound to the core for the great principles of peace 
 which they once despised, and loyal to a man, to the memory 
 and worth of a fellow-countryman whom they once reviled 
 and persecuted. 
 
 In 1856 a gleam of sunshine burst through the clouded 
 sky of European affairs, and shed a bright ray of hope for 
 peace over the blood-stained battle-fields of the Crimean 
 peninsula, where a million of men were echeloned in 
 hostile array engaged in the horrid work of wholesale human 
 carnage. 
 
 In France, especially in the capital, Paris, where little
 
 THE CONGRESS AT PARIS. 25 
 
 enthusiasm prevailed in favour of war, and where deep 
 suffering was felt, and loud murmurs were raised, this move- 
 ment for peace was universally received with a sentiment of 
 joy and satisfaction. The French press, in giving vent to 
 the public enthusiasm, severely censured the tone of distrust 
 and defiance assumed by the leading articles of the London 
 press, who were to their discredit doing all they could to 
 prolong the war by heaping insults on Russia, by snarling at 
 the pacific tone of the press of France, and everywhere 
 sowing suspicions and objections against everything and 
 everybody favourable to peace. 
 
 This preposterous swagger and brag on the part of England 
 was happily crushed by the moderation of the Allies, and at 
 St. Petersburg the acceptance of a basis for pacific negotiations 
 dissipated the fears and raised high hopes for the conclusion 
 of this dishonourable war. 
 
 The heavens cleared, the waters of fierce conflict began to 
 abate, the dry land was discovered whereon the Ark of Peace 
 might safely anchor after the storm, and soon on Ararat's 
 plateau was seen the fulfilment of the dearest hope of the 
 friends of peace, for 
 
 "A voice angelic ! 
 Telling that no more the cannon 
 
 Shall be heard along the shore, 
 Nor the charging squadrons trample 
 
 Fellow-creatures in their gore. 
 
 " A voice angelic ! 
 Telling that the fratricidal 
 
 Strife and bloodshed now shall cease, 
 And again the busy millions, 
 
 Cultivate the arts of peace." 
 
 THE CONGRESS AT PARIS, 1856. 
 
 In the prospect of the assembling of the Congress at Paris 
 of the Plenipotentiaries of the Great Powers, Mr. Richard and
 
 26 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 his allies stirred themselves, and measures were promptly 
 taken to secure the recognition by the Congress in the Treaty 
 of the principle of arbitration in place of the brutal arbitra- 
 ment of the sword. With this object in view a deputation was 
 arranged, consisting of Richard Cobden, M.P., Milner Gibson, 
 M.P., Lord Robert Grosvenor, M.P., George Hadfield, M.P., 
 and others, to present to the Prime Minister, Viscount 
 Palmerston, a memorial. The Prime Minister received it 
 with marked courtesy, and listened to the able memorial with 
 much interest, for how could it be otherwise, containing as it 
 did the practical and reasonable proposition that "a provision 
 might be introduced into the Treaty of Peace, binding the 
 respective Governments to refer misunderstandings hereafter 
 to the decision of an impartial arbitrator." 
 
 Viscount Palmerston, in reply to this Memorial, and 
 to the observations Mr. Cobden, Mr. Gibson, and Lord 
 Grosvenor, gave a general approval of the principle, and 
 said "that it was the duty and interest of Governments 
 to adopt it, and he was quite sure that whoever might be 
 charged with the government of this country, not to allow 
 matters to involve them in a state of war," and further 
 expressed a cordial sentiment in favour of the usefulness of 
 associations for peace, in influencing the general opinion of 
 mankind to prefer " the solid advantages of peace to the 
 more dazzling results of war." 
 
 Encouraged by this successful interview with the Premier, 
 and the favourable opinions expressed by him on the main ques- 
 tion, Mr. Richard and his coadjutors, impelled by a high sense 
 of obligation to their own consciences, as well as in the justice 
 of the sacred cause they stood forward as champions, they 
 decided to advance one step further, a step it must be admitted 
 the most responsible and important, full of the utmost 
 gravity, and requiring the exercise of the keenest judgment 
 and moderation, that can possibly be conceived. 
 
 This mission was none other than to go to Paris, and in 
 his own person, and by his own voice, to submit to the
 
 THE CONGRESS AT PARIS, 27 
 
 Sovereigns represented at the Congress and to their respec- 
 tive Plenipotentiaries, a Memorial, praying the Congress to 
 recognise by Protocol the grand principle of international 
 arbitration, as a means of settling international differences. 
 The conception of such a mission, bold in design, the execu- 
 tion of the intricate details, the preparing of the memorial, 
 performed with such delicate wisdom, a task of no ordinary 
 
 JOSEPH STURGE. 
 
 character, it is needless to say was the work of a master-mind, 
 and to the subject of this memorique, under the blessing of 
 God, must the renown be given. He was nobly sustained in 
 this most important mission by the counsel and labour of two 
 men with a devotion and zeal not less remarkable to the cause 
 of peace, both of whom have long since passed to their great 
 reward, Joseph Sturge, and Charles Hindley, the latter M.P.
 
 28 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 for Wigan, and president of the Peace Society. All honour to 
 this brave triumvirate, the heroic and historic three, who may 
 well be compared to the " dauntless three " immortalized by 
 Macaulay when he wrote, 
 
 " And straight against that great array, 
 Forth went the dauntless three." 
 
 These men are the world's best and truest heroes, a 
 nation's glory, and worthy to be imitated. They desired 
 not renown, they aimed at no monumental tablet ; not like 
 the martial hero, who wins his laurels amid the din and 
 carnage of the battlefield, emulating his comrades in deeds 
 of slaughter and of bloodshed, heedless of the cries of the 
 wounded, and the wholesale butchery of ten thousand 
 fellow-creatures, 
 
 " Who rush into an eternal state, 
 Out of the very flames of rage and hate." 
 
 Their's was a nobler and a grander because a more 
 humane and Christian deed ; their's was a conflict for 
 humanity without bloodshed, a struggle for freedom and 
 for peace, by the gentle but all powerful agency of reason 
 and of justice founded on the great decree of the Most 
 High, " who hath made of one blood all peoples to dwell in 
 peace on the face of His earth." 
 
 A few details of this important mission may not be without 
 interest, closely identified as it was with the unwearied 
 industry of Mr. Richard himself. 
 
 It was in the month of April, 1856, Mr. Richard, Mr. 
 Sturge, and Mr. Hindley, journeyed to Paris, in order to 
 lay before the assembled Congress there, the subject of 
 International Arbitration. They were the bearers of a 
 memorial to the Emperors of France, Russia, and Austria, 
 the Kings of Prussia and Sardinia, and the Sultan of 
 Turkey. This memorial, signed by Joseph Sturge as Chair- 
 man of the Peace Conference Committee, and by Henry- 
 Richard as Secretary of the Peace Society, set forth the 
 widespread moral and material desolation inflicted by
 
 THE CONGRESS AT PARIS. 29 
 
 war, it enforced the hazards inflicted on Europe by the 
 absence of any system of " amicable reference," and urged 
 that when the representatives of the Great Powers were 
 assembled to arrange the future relations of Europe, the 
 opportunity should be availed of to decide on a system of 
 International Arbitration, and entreated individually each 
 Plenipotentiary to promote the introduction into the Treaty 
 of a provision for referring any disputes between Nations to 
 an impartial and peaceful umpirage. A copy of this 
 memorial was placed in the hands of each Plenipotentiary, 
 and, in addition, an interview was obtained with each 
 severally in support of its prayer. 
 
 Happily, the president of the Congress, Lord Clarendon, 
 was an enlightened statesman, ever favourably disposed to 
 listen to counsels for peace, and to advance the common 
 cause, so that when the deputation submitted the subject 
 to his notice, he assured them that he would make an 
 effort to bring the matter under the consideration of his 
 colleagues. Lord Clarendon, on the i4th of April, 
 faithfully fulfilled his trust, and having secured permis- 
 sion to bring the proposition before the Congress, he in- 
 troduced the subject in a spirit that was most honourable 
 to his character. An entire sitting was devoted to its 
 discussion, and in the report of the proceedings of this 
 discussion, Count Walewski, Ambassador for France, cor- 
 dially concurred in the proposition as "being fully in accord 
 with the tendencies of the Epoch." Count Buol, Ambassador 
 for Austria, Baron Manteuffel, Ambassador for Prussia, 
 Count Orloff, Ambassador for Russia, Count Cavour, Am- 
 bassador for Italy, orally supported the proposal, and 
 accordingly a protocol was framed, the 23rd of the Treaty 
 of Paris which declared as follows : 
 
 "Whereupon the Plenipotentiaries do not hesitate to express, 
 in the name of their Governments, the wish, that States between 
 which any serious misunderstanding may arise, should, before 
 appealing to arms, have recourse, as far as circumstances might 
 allow, to the good offices of a friendly Power," and further,
 
 30 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 "the Plenipotentiaries hoped that the Governments not repre- 
 sented at the Congress will unite in the sentiment which has 
 inspired the wish recorded in the present protocol." 
 
 Although this declaration was not all that was desired, 
 being optional and recommendatory, rather than positive and 
 obligatory, still, bearing in mind that this was the first time 
 that this happy innovation 'had been seriously considered by 
 statesmen for incorporation into a Treaty between the Great 
 Powers of Europe, bearing in mind also that at that time, so 
 recently as thirty-two years since, the principle of Arbitration 
 was looked upon as Utopian and visionary, and that its 
 recognition by the Congress was accomplished in face of 
 many difficulties, such a success must undoubtedly be con- 
 sidered as an immense triumph, "the moral effect of which," 
 as was observed by Joseph Sturge, " it was impossible to 
 estimate;" an opinion which has been amply borne out 
 during the period that has intervened. 
 
 Emphatic and influential were the testimonies of such 
 men as the late Earl of Derby, who declared in his place in 
 the House of Lords, to be " to the endless honor of that 
 Congress," and, of William Ewart Gladstone, who, in the 
 course of a speech in the House of Commons described 
 it as " a very great triumph." And an honorable gentle- 
 man, who moved the address in reply to the speech from the 
 throne, rendered still more eloquent testimony when he said 
 that it " throws around peace an additional bulwark, and 
 sets a landmark in the progress of civilization and humanity." 
 
 Thus ended this inglorious Crimean War, a war, which 
 not only involved the enormous expenditure of 340 millions 
 sterling, but above all, and to which no amount of treasure 
 can compare, involved the sacrifice of one million of precious 
 lives, the manhood, the bread-winners of Russia, France, 
 England, Turkey, and Sardinia, a war, which instead of 
 settling, unsettled the Eastern Question, which gave that 
 most effete and corrupt nation Turkey, a new lease of cruel 
 and despotic power over the subject races in her Empire, a
 
 WAR IN CHINA. 31 
 
 war, which more than anything else consolidated in a 
 neighbouring nation France, the dynasty of the Bonapartes, 
 that in 1870 well-nigh brought her to the verge of ruin, a 
 war, which prepared the way in 1876 for the terrible massacres 
 in Bulgaria, and the ruthless destruction of human life in 
 the insurrections of Montenegro and Servia, and finally pre- 
 cipitated the Russo-Turkish War of 1876 and 1877. 
 
 No thanks to the Government which declared that de- 
 vastating Crimean War, nor to the Parliament of England 
 which sanctioned it. But to the men who opposed it, pre- 
 eminent amongst whom stand the names of Cobden, Bright, 
 and Gibson in Parliament, and of Richard, Sturge, and 
 Bowly out of Parliament, is due the imperishable renown 
 for having resisted it almost alone, in the face of unmeasured 
 obloquy. In the eloquent language of the brave champion 
 for peace, the unmitred because incorruptible statesman, 
 John Bright, theirs is the great consolation that " not one 
 word of mine hath ever, shall ever, sanction the squandering 
 of my country's treasure, or the spilling of one single drop 
 of my country's blood." 
 
 WAR IN CHINA, 1857. 
 
 Scarcely had the paeans of exultation ceased, scarcely had 
 the ink dried on the parchment roll of the Treaty of Paris, 
 which concluded the war with Russia, when the nation was 
 stirred, and stirred painfully, by the shout of a war in China, 
 and the terrible bombardment of Canton, with its defence- 
 less and innocent population of a million-and-a-half souls, 
 by a squadron of the British Fleet under the command of 
 Admiral Seymour. And wherefore? For a cause the most 
 trivial and unjustifiable that history has ever recorded. 
 
 It appears on the evidence of the Official documents and
 
 32 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 by the statements of the Ministers of the Crown, to have 
 arisen in consequence of the seizure by the Chinese Author- 
 ities at Canton in October 1856, of the piratical Lorcha, 
 called the "Arrow," which was manned by a gang of 
 notorious pirates under the command of an Englishman, 
 but an alien to his country and her fair fame. 
 
 The career of this smuggler, told in the boastful recitals 
 of the crew, and corroborated by several merchantmen, had 
 been for some time engaged in scuttling and massacring when- 
 ever and wherever the opportunity presented itself. To the 
 discredit of the Flag of England, she had hoisted the British 
 Ensign as a cloak for her dark deeds, and to shield her 
 from capture in her depredatory exploits, an illegal act, 
 justified only on the ground of her having an Englishman, 
 a vile adventurer on board who was directing her operations 
 of smuggling and reprisals. Immediately on her seizure, 
 the English Consul at Canton, Mr. Parkes, addressed a 
 peremptory demand to the Governor-General of the Canton 
 Province, Commissioner Yeh, for her release, requesting 
 also an apology, and compliance therewith within 48 hours, 
 at the peril of the bombardment of the City. 
 
 Never was such an outrageous demand made by a repre 
 sentative of England, and never was the intervention of the 
 power of England more grossly abused, for on the evidence 
 of Sir John Bowring, the British Plenipotentiary at Hong- 
 Kong, the "Arrow" had no right whatever to hoist the 
 British Flag, her license had expired a month previously, 
 and he declared she was, on that account, to say nothing 
 else, in no way entitled to the protection of the English Flag. 
 
 With such irrefragable testimony, and in face of the 
 revolting deeds of pillage, loot, and wholesale human 
 carnage which followed, no wonder Mr. Richard stirred 
 himself, and by the scathing power of his pen, and the 
 energy of his influence, moved Parliament and the country 
 towards an indignant condemnation, as severe and merited, 
 as ever befell the actors in that diabolical transaction, the
 
 WAR IN CHINA. 33 
 
 representatives as well as the Ministers of the Crown who 
 defended, and even gloried therein. 
 
 Mr. Richard incontestably proved that the " Arrow " was 
 not an English vessel, as she was built by Chinese, owned 
 by Chinese, manned by Chinese, with the exception of this 
 soi disant Englishman on board ; and remarkable to say, 
 when the vessel was boarded no flag was flying, but that 
 immediately on her seizure this counterfeit British flag was 
 hoisted, in order to shield her in her illegal character as a 
 smuggler from her just fate; and the conclusion which he 
 arrived at was this, that the seizure was a pretext, not the 
 justifiable reason, for forcing on a quarrel with China, sub- 
 stituting another " casus belli," in the language of Admiral 
 Seymour himself, which was none other than to compel the 
 Chinese Government to declare the port of Canton open, 
 not for legitimate commerce, Oh ! no, but for the com- 
 pulsory traffic, in the very teeth of the wishes of the Chinese 
 Government, of that most detestable opium traffic, a 
 traffic verily "in pestilence, poverty, vice, madness, and 
 death." 
 
 Well may Englishmen blush at the recital of such a deed, 
 forced on not by diplomacy and negotiation, bad enough 
 as that would be, but forsooth, forced at the mouth of the 
 cannon, belching forth desolation and destruction, until the 
 whole city was enveloped in flames, " in the horror of which 
 men and women and children, innocent infancy and helpless, 
 were ruthlessly immolated." 
 
 The nation was moved, the press had the courage to 
 denounce this outrage on humanity, including such organs 
 as The Saturday Re-view The Spectator, The Examiner, 
 Daily News, Morning Aavertizer, Leeds Mercury, and a score 
 of others, all of whom lifted their voices in severe con- 
 demnation of this bombardment, whereby they poured 
 red-hot shot and shell into the city of Canton, crushing 
 and pounding in one indiscriminate massacre its population, 
 without justification, based on pretensions the most false, 
 
 D
 
 34 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 and therefore as the most wanton and treacherous deed 
 with which the British name was ever identified. 
 
 Parliament too was moved. In the House of Lords the 
 question was introduced in a most masterly speech by the 
 late Earl of Derby, powerfully supported by Lord Lyndhurst 
 and Earl Grey, and in the House of Commons on the 
 motion of Mr. Cobden, a debate extending over four nights 
 followed, which will long be memorable, from the fact 
 that nearly every man of weight and influence off the 
 Treasury Bench joined in denunciation, a debate worthy of 
 the occasion, full of intellectual power, lofty, earnest, and 
 severe. 
 
 Two grand speeches deserve notice, those of Mr. Cobden 
 and Mr. Gladstone. The former for two hours and-a-half 
 seized the attention of the House, holding it in willing and 
 delighted captivity by an eloquence of charming simplicity, 
 logical facts and truths, which carried conviction and ad- 
 miration to the assembled senators of England. 
 
 The speech of Mr. Gladstone was, as might be expected, 
 the most brilliant of all, distinguished by the truest eloquence, 
 masterly, full of high principle and earnest conviction. A 
 few quotations may be permitted. 
 
 " There is not war with China, no Sir, but there is hostility 
 and bloodshed, a trampling down of the weak by the strong, a 
 terrible and abominable retaliation. (Cheers.) War taken at 
 the best is a frightful scourge to the human race, and because it 
 is so, the wisdom of ages has surrounded it with strict laws and 
 usages. You have dispensed with all these precautions. (Cheers.) 
 You have turned a consul into a diplomatist, and that meta- 
 morphosis is forsooth to be at liberty to direct the whole might 
 of England against the head of a defenceless people. You go 
 to China and make war upon those who stand before you as 
 women and children. You can earn no glory in such warfare. 
 We hear of calamity heaped upon calamity, of cruelty heaped 
 upon cruelty." 
 
 He closed by a powerful appeal as follows : 
 
 " With every one of us it rests to shew that this House, which 
 is the first, the most ancient, and the noblest temple of freedom 
 in the world, is also the temple of that everlasting justice without
 
 WAR IN CHINA. 35 
 
 which freedom itself would be only a name, or only a curse to 
 mankind. And, Sir, I cherish the trust and belief, that when 
 you rise in your place to-night to declare the numbers of the 
 division from the chair which you adorn, the words which you 
 speak will go forth as a message of mercy and of peace, as a 
 message of prudence and wisdom, to the farthest corners of the 
 world." (Loud cheering.) 
 
 Such speeches as these, marshalled by an array of incon- 
 trovertible facts, appealing powerfully to the sentiments of 
 humanity, of justice, which dwells so securely in the breasts 
 of Englishmen, appealed not in vain to the House of Com- 
 mons, and when on the i4th of March, the division took 
 place, the words of hope expressed by Mr Gladstone received 
 their fulfilment, for a message went forth that a majority of 
 the English Parliament refused to sanction the diabolical 
 deeds committed against Canton, with which the names of 
 Sir Michael Seymour, Sir John Bowring, Mr. Consul Parkes, 
 and Lord Palmerston himself were associated, and by that 
 message of condemnation, the responsible advisers of the 
 Crown of England, defeated and disgraced, appealed from 
 that decision to the electors throughout the country. 
 
 This dissolution of Parliament, and appeal to the Nation 
 to ratify or nullify the decision of Parliament, brought Mr. 
 Richard to the front, in the hope that by the issue of state- 
 ments of facts on the whole case, drawn from official sources, 
 and by appeals to the conscience of the electors against what 
 he believed and shewed to be an outrage upon justice and 
 humanity, of deeds committed in their name, the decision of 
 Parliament might be the decision of the Nation, and result 
 in the defeat of the confidence trick, which Lord Palmerston 
 made the hustings cry. 
 
 Unhappily in spite of justice disgraced, the appeals of 
 humanity outraged, the fair fame of England sullied, the 
 electors of the Empire allowed themselves to be carried 
 away, first by a blind and furious hatred of the "barbarians," 
 whom they considered ought to be exterminated like wild 
 beasts ; and secondly, by a senseless clamour about the
 
 36 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 honour of the British flag, which they considered of para- 
 mount importance to the eternal principles of truth and 
 righteousness. The result was that not only the Govern- 
 ment of Lord Palmerston secured a majority, not only the 
 people of England pronounced against a policy of peace 
 and in favour of a policy of war, but, humiliating fact, a 
 majority which excluded from Parliament three at least of 
 the foremost men of England, foremost for their political 
 integrity, distinguished ability, and disinterested patriotism, 
 such were Richard Cobden, John Bright, and Milner Gibson. 
 No higher testimony was offered to these eminent men in 
 their temporary exclusion from the senate by a temporary 
 revulsion of feeling of the Nation, than the lofty language 
 penned at the time by Mr. Richard : 
 
 " They have that light within which no outward reverses can 
 darken. There is no cloud upon their consciences. There is 
 no taint of blood on their hands. On the contrary, recalling 
 the fidelity with which they have sought to promote the interest 
 of humanity and peace, how steadfastly they sacrificed power 
 and popularity rather than swerve from their loyalty to truth 
 and conscience, how in the hour of their defeat, a willing and 
 cordial homage has been paid by all classes to the purity of 
 their motives, the integrity of their public character, it may truly 
 be said whether there are any men living who occupy at this 
 moment a position more honourable, or enviable than that of 
 Richard Cobden and John Bright." 
 
 PERSIAN WAR, 1857. 
 
 Not only was Mr. Richard's anxiety and labours during 
 the year 1857 directed to this miserable embroglio between 
 England and China, but also near the close of the year, ere 
 the troubles of that disgraceful war had come to a termina- 
 tion, his attention was turned to the outbreak of hostilities 
 in Central Asia, wherein the British forces in India were 
 moved without the knowledge and certainly without the 
 sanction of Parliament on a filibustering expedition into the
 
 PERSIAN WAR. 37 
 
 Persian dominions, ostensibly for the occupation of the city 
 of Herat. A brief reference to the causes, the objects, and 
 results of that Asiatic war is necessary here, not only on 
 account of the action taken by Mr. Richard in the matter, 
 but also because herein was generally accepted at the time 
 to be one of the ruling if not dominant causes which 
 precipitated, as it preceded, the terrible mutiny in India, and 
 the appalling massacre at Cawnpore, which so moved the 
 English mind, and threatened to shake to its foundations 
 the sway of the British sceptre in the Empire of India. 
 
 In the debate in the House of Commons on this Persian 
 war, which took place in the month of July 1857, we find 
 some important particulars on the subject. It would appear 
 that whilst the object of the war was to compel Persia to 
 evacuate the city of Herat, and to render compensation for 
 injuries inflicted there, yet owing to the haughtiness of the 
 foreign policy of Lord Palmerston a demand was made 
 that the Prime Minister of Persia, whom the English 
 Government held responsible for that occupation should be 
 summarily dismissed, and a Minister appointed more 
 favourable to friendly relations with England. Herein was 
 the sole cause of that war which involved a great sacrifice of 
 men, and money, and strange to say which was finally 
 concluded by a Treaty of Peace in the same year, in reference 
 to which, to quote the declaration of Lord John Russell and 
 of Mr. Gladstone, who used these remarkable words : 
 
 " It stands upon record, and is beyond all doubt, that we 
 made peace upon terms decidedly less favourable to England, 
 and less unfavourable to Persia, than those which Persia herself 
 had offered before the war broke out." 
 
 In November and December 1858, Mr. Richard, accom- 
 panied by Joseph Sturge of Birmingham, and Edward 
 Smith of Sheffield, visited Liverpool, Manchester, and 
 Leeds, and addressed conferences of the Friends of Peace, 
 for the purpose of stimulating renewed activity and support, 
 and at each of those important centres Mr. Richard sub- 
 
 411964
 
 38 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 sequently delivered public lectures, choosing for his subject, 
 " Does War tend to promote Christianity," and he also took 
 part in several meetings on the " Anti-Opium Question." 
 
 WAR IN ITALY, 1859. 
 
 The War in Italy in 1859, between France and Sardinia 
 on the one hand, and Austria on the other, was vigorously 
 assailed by Mr. Richard, for he considered it had no reference 
 to the well-being of nations, but was the offspring of diplo- 
 matic and dynastic intrigues, a sequence of the Crimean 
 War of 1854, stimulated by the ambition of the Emperor of 
 the French to play an imposing part in Europe, as well as by 
 the ambition of Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia, in 
 virtue of his alliance with France, England, and Turkey in 
 the Crimean War, by which he hoped to obtain territorial 
 aggrandisement, and thus enable Sardinia to enter into the 
 family of European powers. 
 
 In this impending struggle on the Italian peninsula for 
 the freedom of Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic from 
 Austrian and Papal domination, Mr. Richard and the 
 Peace Society lost no opportunity and spared no effort to 
 create a powerful public opinion in favour of the absolute 
 non-intervention of England ; and within a few weeks 
 after the outbreak of hostilities, an influential meeting 
 in favour of non-intervention was held in Exeter Hall, 
 under the presidency of Mr. Samuel Morley, at which 
 Mr. Richard, Mr. Benjamin Scott, Rev. Newman Hall, Mr. 
 H. E. Gurney, Mr. George Thompson, and others took 
 part ; and a Memorial was adopted to Lord Palmerston, 
 which deplored the sanguinary War being waged by three 
 professedly civilized and Christian nations, deplorable not 
 only on account of the slaughter and misery involved, and
 
 WAR IN ITALY. 39 
 
 the international hatreds engendered, but on the ground of 
 future disquietude and danger to the peace of Europe, and 
 they therefore appealed to the Government to adhere strictly 
 to the principle and practice of non-intervention, and that 
 thus England might be enabled to fill the honorable office 
 of friendly Mediator between the contending States. 
 
 In the following month Lord Palmerston received the 
 Memorial at the hands of an influential deputation, intro- 
 duced by Mr. Edward Baines, M.P., and after Mr. Richard 
 had read it, the Prime Minister replied, concurring in the 
 views expressed, and promising support of the policy 
 recommended, but believed it would be better for Italy to 
 be relieved from the power of Austria, and he hoped for a 
 satisfactory solution by the emancipation of Italy. 
 
 The policy of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell 
 strongly favoured the alliance of France and Sardinia, against 
 the despotism of Austria, and the possession by Austria of 
 any portion of the Italian peninsula ; and their accession to 
 power in 1859, on the defeat of Lord Derby after an appeal 
 to the country, turned mainly if not entirely on Foreign 
 Affairs, especially the respective opinions and policy of Con- 
 servative and Liberal statesmen on Italian affairs ; Lord 
 Derby having declared in favour of Austrian domination, 
 and Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell in favour of the 
 independence of Italy and of an Italian Kingdom under the 
 rule of the House of Savoy. 
 
 The policy of Lord Palmerston, judged by his despatches 
 to the Ministers at Foreign Courts, his correspondence with 
 his colleagues in the Cabinet, and his public utterances, were 
 unequivocally to give the moral support of England to the 
 Franco-Sardinian alliance; and his declaration to the deputa- 
 tion, organised by Mr. Richard, at the Foreign Office in 
 favour of England's neutrality was conditional, as his words 
 imply the defeat of Austria, and the emancipation of Italy. 
 
 Fortunately for Italy and the general peace of Europe, the 
 arms of France and Sardinia were victorious : and the
 
 4O HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Emperor Napoleon foreseeing the probable intervention of 
 Prussia, and anxious for peace after the sanguinary conflicts 
 of Solferino and Magenta, instructed Count Persigny, the 
 French Ambassador at London, to invite the good offices 
 of the British Cabinet as Mediator ; but Lord Palmerston 
 objecting to the terms of peace proposed by Persigny, 
 declined the overtures of France, and the French Emperor 
 thereupon dispatched General Fleury to the Austrian head- 
 quarters, and proposed an armistice, which being accepted, a 
 Conference of the two Emperors took place at Villafranca, and 
 on the nth July a Provisional Treaty of Peace was signed, 
 on the basis of an Italian Confederation under the Presidency 
 of the Pope, the cession of Lombardy to Sardinia, and the 
 restoration of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany and Modena. 
 These proposals led to the resignation of Count Cavour and 
 the opposition of the Prime Minister of England. 
 
 For several months subsequently the intervention and the 
 influence of England directed by Lord Palmerston was 
 visibly and powerfully felt, notwithstanding his pacific 
 assurance to the contrary, addressed to Mr. Richard and 
 his friends; and although the position taken up, and the 
 policy pursued by the English Premier may have been 
 disinterested, anxious only for the realisation of the noble 
 aspirations of the Italians for a united and independent 
 Italy, and her freedom from a foreign yoke and from Aus- 
 trian rule, yet at the same time the resolute determination 
 of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, whose views 
 were identical, throughout this prolonged diplomatic quarrel, 
 not confined simply to the Cabinets at Paris, Vienna, and 
 Turin, but with the other great European Powers, it may with- 
 out exaggeration be said well-nigh involved Great Britain into 
 an open rupture, an outbreak of a European War. 
 
 In a remarkable despatch penned by Lord Palmerston, 
 dated January yth, 1860, the position of England at this 
 juncture was plainly stated : 
 
 "The English Government," he said, "have determined, in
 
 WAR IN ITALY. 41 
 
 regard to Italian affairs, that England should not abdicate its 
 position as one of the Great Powers of Europe. 
 
 "It considers that what is at issue is not the interests of the 
 Emperor Napoleon, but the interests of the people of Italy, and 
 through them, the welfare and peace of Europe. 
 
 " The policy of England is in accordance with those principles 
 which English Statesmen in our times have professed and acted 
 upon, and which are the foundation of public opinion in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 " We take our stand upon the principle that no force should 
 be employed for the purpose of imposing upon the people of 
 Italy any form of government or constitution, that the people of 
 Italy should be left free to determine their own political exis- 
 tence. 
 
 " To accomplish this England ought to come to an understand- 
 ing with France and Sardinia, a joint determination to prevent 
 any forcible interference by any Foreign Power in the affairs of 
 Italy. 
 
 " But such an engagement might lead us into war. War with 
 whom ? War with Austria. Well, suppose it did, would that 
 War be one of great effort and expense ? Clearly not. France, 
 Sardinia and Italy would furnish troops enough to repel any 
 attempt which Austria could make to coerce Sardinia or Italy. 
 
 " Our share in such a War would be chiefly if not wholly 
 Naval ; and our Squadron in the Adriatic and a couple of 
 Regiments to garrison some point on the Adriatic would 
 probably be the utmost of our contribution. 
 
 " My own deliberate opinion is that the course now recom- 
 mended would be highly approved by the country, that it would 
 be approved by Parliament, but if by any combination of 
 parties an adverse decision were come to, it would in my 
 opinion be the duty of the Government to appeal from Parlia- 
 ment to the country." 
 
 Such was the remarkable declaration in January, 1860, on 
 the settled policy of Lord Palmerston on the affairs of Italy, 
 differing very considerably from the pacific declarations 
 made to Mr. Richard and the deputation in June, 1859, in 
 favour of neutrality and friendly mediation, and how the 
 noble lord or his colleague, Lord John Russell, reconciled 
 this divergence of opinion and policy it is difficult to say. 
 Happily however for the honour of English Statesmanship 
 and the interests of England, this threatened triple alliance 
 of the Western Powers against Austria and its consequence
 
 42 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 an European War, was averted, for the ultimatum of England 
 was practically accepted, by which France and Austria agreed 
 not to interfere for the future in the affairs of Italy, the 
 evacuation by France of her troops in Rome, the several 
 States in Central Italy to declare their choice of allegiance 
 by a plebiscite, and although subsequently France annexed 
 Nice and Savoy, as her share in the plunder of a recon- 
 structed Italy, their annexation was assented to rather than 
 risk the danger of War. 
 
 In March 1859 Mr. Richard, accompanied by Joseph 
 Sturge and Edward Smith, visited several of the large towns 
 in the North of England, with a view to re-organize the 
 Auxiliaries to revive the interest in the cause of peace. 
 
 The special interest attaching to these labours of Mr. 
 Richard, accompanied by the President of the Peace Society, 
 were rendered memorable from the fact that it was the last 
 " labour of love " that that eminent philanthropist Joseph 
 Sturge rendered to the Cause of Peace to which he was so 
 devotedly attached, and no less to which he had rendered 
 such signal services. 
 
 " None who heard him," writes Mr. Richard, " can ever 
 forget the earnestness, the humility, the pleading and pathetic 
 tenderness which marked his address. They were listened to 
 by many there with throbbing hearts, and tearful eyes ; but Oh ! 
 if we had known that he was standing so near the threshold of 
 heaven, when he spoke to us how we should have caught and 
 treasured every word that fell from his lips." 
 
 " Soon after his return home on the i4th May," on that 
 early May morning soon after the break of day, he heard his 
 Master's voice saying, " Come up hither," " and he was 
 gone."
 
 THE WAR PANIC. 43 
 
 THE WAR PANIC, 1859 TO 1862. 
 
 Late in the year 1859, Lord Palmerston became alarmed, 
 mainly arising out of a dispute between Spain and Morocco, 
 for the possession of disputed territory on the African Coast, 
 and frightened Lord John Russell and his colleagues into 
 the belief that France was aiming to obtain, through Spain, 
 certain fortified points near Gibraltar, which in the event of 
 War, might shut England out of the Mediterranean. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Gladstone, then Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, dated i5th December 1859, Lord Palmerston 
 gave vent to all his alarmist fears and unworthy suspicions 
 of France, and he strongly advocated the fortifying of the 
 naval arsenals, and the dockyards on the ground ; 
 
 " That if by a sudden attack by an army, landed in strength, 
 our dockyards were to be destroyed, our maritime power would 
 for more than half a century be paralysed, and our colonies and 
 our commerce would be at the mercy of the enemy, who would 
 be sure to show us no mercy. 
 
 " That such a landing is in the present state of things possible 
 must be manifest. No naval force of ours can effectually pre- 
 vent it." 
 
 There is no doubt that at this juncture Lord Palmerston 
 had in addition, become painfully distrustful of the Emperor 
 Napoleon, in spite of his personal friendship for him, and 
 his former confidence in him as an ally, a suspicion 
 accelerated by the occupation of Syria by French troops, 
 and the annexation of Nice and Savoy; in fact he spoke of 
 " the Emperor's mind as full of schemes as a warren is full 
 of rabbits." 
 
 In a letter to Lord John Russell of November 4th, 1859, 
 he says : 
 
 "Till lately I had strong confidence in the fair intentions of 
 Napoleon towards England, but of late I have begun to feel 
 great distrust, and to suspect that his formerly declared 
 intention of avenging Waterloo has not died away. 
 
 " Next, he has been assiduously labouring to increase his naval 
 means evidently for offensive as well as for defensive purposes, 
 and latterly great pains have been taken to rouse throughout
 
 44 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 France, and especially amongst the army and navy, hatred of 
 England." 
 
 In a letter also to the Duke of Somerset he says 
 
 " I have watched the French Emperor narrowly and have 
 studied his character and conduct. You may rely upon it that 
 at the bottom there rankles a deep and inextinguishable desire 
 to humble and punish England, and to avenge, if he can, the 
 many humiliations political, naval and military which since 
 the beginning of thecentury England has by herself and her allies 
 inflicted upon France." 
 
 And later on, Lord Palmerston wrote to Mr. Gladstone 
 condemning the action of Cobden and Bright for their 
 speeches against the increased military expenditure, and 
 adding : 
 
 "We have on the other side of the Channel a people who, say 
 what they may, hate us from the bottom of their hearts as a 
 nation, and would make any sacrifice to inflict a thorough 
 humiliation upon England. 
 
 "They are eminently vain, and their passion is glory in war ; 
 they cannot forget or forgive Aboukir, Trafalgar, the Peninsula, 
 Waterloo, and St. Helena." 
 
 Under the fear of this baseless " invasion panic " Lord 
 Palmerston urged forward gigantic preparations of defence, 
 the construction of fortifications, and the development of 
 the Volunteer Rifle Movement. 
 
 A Confidential Committee had been appointed in 1858 
 by Lord Derby's Government to enquire into the compara- 
 tive state of the Navies of England and France. The 
 report of this Committee embracing six years, 1852 to 1858, 
 was laid before Parliament, January, 1859. 
 
 This alarmed the Peers of England, Lord Lyndhurst 
 declaring that ; 
 
 " From information which I have received, and the accuracy 
 of which I do not doubt, that the French are at the present 
 moment building steamers for the purpose of transporting 
 troops, each of which is constructed to carry 2,500 men with all 
 the necessary stores. ... I will not consent to live in 
 dependence on the friendship or forbearance of any country ; 
 are we to sit supine on our own shores, and not prepare the 
 means necessary in case of war to resist that power ? "
 
 THE WAR PANIC. 45 
 
 Lord Ellenborough caught the contagion and exclaimed; 
 
 " My Lords, it is not safe for the country to remain unarmed 
 in the midst of armed nations." 
 
 Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the author of the Crimean 
 War, declared ; 
 
 " It was a just cause of shame, and an intolerable humiliation 
 that a great empire like ours should appear, though it were only 
 for an hour, to exist by suffrance, and at the good pleasure of 
 a forbearing neighbour." 
 
 In the House of Commons Mr. Horsman delivered a 
 downright panic speech in which he said ; 
 
 " The Emperor of the French acted for the interests of France ; 
 it was ours to guard the safety of England. . . . Not a 
 moment must be lost in making the country safe against any 
 accident, and until it was so we must act as if the crisis were 
 upon us. No human tongue could tell how soon or how 
 suddenly it might arise." 
 
 It was under such a fusillade of abusive speeches such as 
 these, hurled at the Ruler of a Great and Friendly Power, 
 so recently our ally, that Mr. Cobden visited Paris for the 
 express purpose of negotiating a Treaty of Commerce, which 
 was intended to bind the two nations in amity and concord, 
 and he observed that this popular delusion might have been 
 an element of danger to the peace of the two countries, had 
 it not been for the character of the Emperor, who through- 
 out those provocations displayed a perfect equanimity and 
 self-control. 
 
 On the 23rd July, 1860, Lord Palmerston brought forward 
 the Government measure for the construction of works for 
 the defence of the Royal dockyards and arsenals and of the 
 ports of Dover and Portland, and for the creation of a 
 central arsenal, at the cost of ^11,000,000, when he deli- 
 vered one of the most serious and alarming speeches ever 
 delivered by a Minister of the Crown in a time of peace, and 
 the following alarmist utterance will suffice : 
 
 " It is impossible for any man to cast his eyes over the face 
 of Europe, and to see and hear what is passing, without being 
 convinced that the future is not free from danger. It is difficult
 
 46 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 to say where the storm may burst ; but the horizon is charged 
 with clouds which betoken the possibility of a tempest, and in 
 the main I am speaking of our immediate neighbours across the 
 Channel, and there is no use in disguising it." 
 
 It was at this critical and important moment, writes Mr. 
 Cobden ; 
 
 "When a commercial Treaty with France upon the liberal 
 arrangement of which depended the whole success of the 
 measure, that this speech burst upon the negotiators in Paris. 
 Had its object been to place the British Commissioners at the 
 greatest possible disadvantage, it could not have more effectually 
 accomplished the purpose. * * * # * 
 
 " It cut the ground from under their feet of seeking to 
 strengthen the friendly relations of the two countries as repre- 
 sented by their Governments. * * * * 
 
 " Had the Emperor seized the occasion for instantly suspending 
 the negotiations, he would have undoubtedly performed a most 
 popular part, but on this, as on other occasions, his habitual 
 calmness and self-mastery prevailed, and to these qualities must 
 be mainly attributed the successful issue of the Treaty." 
 
 Well might Mr. Disraeli to his great credit exclaim ; 
 
 "What is the use of diplomacy ? What is the use of Govern- 
 ments ? What is the use of cordial understandings if such 
 things can take place ? 
 
 " Truly there is a vacant niche in the Temple of Fame for the 
 Ruler or Minister who shall be the first to grapple with this 
 monster evil of the day." 
 
 Early in the incipient stages of this Palmerstonian alarm 
 of invasion from France, Mr. Richard, in December 1859, 
 came to the front, and assisted by his valued colleague, Mr. 
 Edmund Fry, endeavoured to counteract the suicidal folly 
 which Ministers and Parliament were plunging, scared as he 
 said by an article in the Times, with not a fragment of 
 justification save 
 
 " The baseless fabric of a vision." 
 
 On the one hand, in France this monomania rested on the 
 shallow foundation of a restless faction, who cherished the 
 hope of scrambling into Power by a political convulsion that 
 might shake the authority of the Emperor, and on the other 
 hand, encouraged and supported in England by a formidable
 
 THE WAR PANIC. 
 
 47 
 
 combination of Whigs and Tories, who hoped thereby to 
 divert the thoughts and aspirations of the people from 
 Parliamentary Reform and other remedial legislation by a 
 craven fear of France and sinister designs of her Ruler, and 
 the absurd cry of " England in danger." 
 
 During 1860 and 1861 Mr. Richard by the press and 
 
 EDMUND FRY. 
 
 platform laboured hard to stem the rising tide of terror of 
 France, and alarm at the defenceless condition of England. 
 Article after article from his active pen followed one another 
 in rapid succession on the Armaments of Europe, especially 
 their costliness, in which he shewed that from the year 1815 
 to 1860 Great Britain had spent the enormous sum of 
 ^821,000,000 in preparations for War, and the equally
 
 48 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 enormous sum of ^915,634,000 for the interest ot her 
 National Debt, contracted for War and by War, making the 
 immense total of ^1,737,186,000 poured into the unfathom- 
 able abyss of War; and yet in spite of this gigantic outlay for 
 securing the strength of the Empire, England was still in 
 danger, and that therefore greater sacrifices and a greater 
 military outlay must be made, not born of any actual necessity, 
 but born of passion and greed, from personal considerations 
 of the Military Classes. Well might Mr. Richard strive at 
 this juncture to expose the ruinous folly of such a gorman- 
 dising system, and to rouse the nation to demand that the 
 Government should enter into negotiations with the other 
 Governments of Europe, and especially of France, with a 
 view to the mutual and simultaneous reduction of those 
 armaments which oppress the people, and fill Europe with so 
 much alarm and disquietude. 
 
 He was stimulated in this action, in the belief, well founded, 
 that there was a coalition in France and in England of the 
 Military with the Protectionist party, to circumvent the noble 
 and disinterested efforts of Mr. Cobden, to bind England 
 and France in the bonds of amity and goodwill by a Treaty 
 of Peace, through Commerce, and if possible to defeat and 
 crush the great scheme, lest peradventure, to their eternal 
 shame be it said, this noble Treaty of Free Trade and Bond 
 of Union, should bar the way of those two great and mighty 
 Nations from plunging into the unspeakable horrors of a 
 bloody War. 
 
 Mr. Richard, on the contrary, highly eulogised that Treaty, 
 and the great Statesman who had so skilfully and success- 
 fully negotiated it, as having done more, yes, a thousand 
 times more, to prevent War between these two countries, 
 than all the iron-cased vessels, all the rifled cannon, all the 
 bristling fortifications, and all the heroic volunteers in 
 knickerbockers and shakos that the panic-mongers can 
 produce; and further, adopting the eloquent language of 
 Lord John Russell, that as ;
 
 THE WAR PANIC. 49 
 
 " This Treaty of Commerce would tend to lay broad and deep 
 foundations in common interest, and in friendly intercourse, for 
 the confirmation of the amicable relations that so happily exist 
 between the two countries, and thus make a provision for the 
 future which will progressively become more and more solid and 
 efficacious." 
 
 Therefore such being the case to make an attempt for 
 France and England to come to some accord, in the 
 language of Mr. Disraeli ; 
 
 " To terminate this disastrous system of wild expenditure by 
 mutually agreeing, with no hypocrisy, but in a manner and 
 under circumstances which admit of no doubt, by the reduction 
 of armaments, that peace is really our policy." 
 
 The activity of Mr. Richard, by the press and platform, on 
 this question was remarkable, keeping two objects steadily 
 in view, the one to inform and arouse the popular mind in 
 England on the absurdity and folly of the military panic, 
 and the other to bring to bear the reciprocal feeling of 
 friendship and good neighbourhood with France, and shatter 
 thereby the foundation for the unworthy alarmist fears of 
 the War party in England. 
 
 During the years of 1861 and 1862 he laboured hard on 
 the platform, and delivered Lectures and addressed Public 
 Meetings in various parts of the country; and amongst other 
 places, at Leeds, Bradford (2), Huddersfield, Birmingham, 
 Bristol, Cambridge, Southwark, York, Highflatts, Selby, 
 Halifax, Tottenham, Barnsley, Dewsbury, Darlington, New- 
 castle-on-Tyne (2), Sheffield, Hull, Brighton, at all of which 
 memorials or resolutions to the Government and the repre- 
 sentatives of those towns were adopted, deprecating the mis- 
 trust of France, and in favour of disarmament. 
 
 In the month of April, 1861, Mr. Richard, accompanied 
 by Mr. Joseph Cooper (an ardent and devoted friend of 
 freedom for the slave, and peace amongst nations), formed a 
 deputation on behalf of the Peace Society to France, carry- 
 ing a conciliatory Address to the People of France, which 
 referred with satisfaction to the recent Treaty of Commerce 
 negotiated by Mr. Cobden, as evidence of the mutual 
 
 E
 
 5O HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 desire of the two peoples for friendly relations, and for 
 Union ; regretted the sinister influences at work by certain 
 sections to impair this friendship, and urged the importance 
 of the people of the two nations to come to the front, and 
 express their determination to maintain the cordial alliance 
 of England and France, and to lead the way 
 
 " Not in deeds of violence, not in armaments for War, but a 
 rivalry in those beneficent triumphs of peace which are attended 
 with no remorse to the victor, and no humiliation to the van- 
 quished." 
 
 The deputation, as missionaries of Peace, were received 
 in Paris by those to whom they were accredited with 
 marked courtesy and cordiality, and by the favour of the 
 editors of the various daily and weekly Journals, the Address 
 was published in full in most, if not all the leading papers, 
 from the semi-official organ of Le Journal des Debats, to the 
 popular paper, U Opinion Nationale; and from these it was 
 reproduced in many of the provincial and foreign Journals 
 throughout Europe, a result which the Nonconformist thus 
 refers to : 
 
 " At a juncture when the horizon of Europe is black with a 
 threatening storm, Mr. Richard, on behalf of the Peace Society, 
 has been able to address wise counsels to the foremost Con- 
 tinental Nation, and we may reasonably hope helped to deepen 
 that aversion to War among the French people which is one of 
 the best safeguards of international amity." 
 
 Exactly a year after this pacific mission to France, (and it 
 is a forcible proof of its beneficial results, in conjunction 
 with other influences, that during the interval France made 
 no hostile movement, whether of menace or action,) the 
 International Exhibition in London was inaugurated when a 
 great procession of the Nations to England was witnessed, a 
 veritable invasion from France in a special degree, not as 
 the prophets of evil omen such as Palmerston, Horsman 
 & Co. had predicted, of embattled hosts intent on avenging 
 Waterloo, and of effacing the humiliating memories of the 
 defeat and captivity of the First Napoleon no ! but of the 
 elite of France, the vanguard of civilization and peace of
 
 THE WAR PANIC. 51 
 
 that great Nation, marching in overwhelming numbers to 
 the Metropolis of the world, to exchange personal greetings 
 with English men and English women, and to prove by 
 their presence in the capital of England that they have no 
 sympathy with the insane rivalry of Statesmen, the jealousy 
 of Governments, and the ambitions of Rulers, and that in 
 industry, and commerce, and civilization alone, 
 
 " Peace hath her victories, 
 Thrice more renowned than War." 
 
 It was fitting therefore, that at this international festival 
 of industry, the opportunity was not forgotten by Mr. 
 Richard and his friends to greet the foreign visitors with a 
 cordial reception, not only with missives of peace, translated 
 into various languages, not only by inviting many of the 
 distinguished visitors to an open assembly for an interchange 
 of friendly sentiment and feeling, but also, and above all, to 
 present them with an Address as a friendly token to treasure 
 as an eternal bond of union, on their return to their own 
 land. 
 
 This address was signed by Joseph Pease the President, 
 and Henry Richard the Secretary of the Peace Society, and 
 in effect, it declared, that this re-union of the Nations of the 
 world, was designed to draw the peoples nearer together ; 
 
 " In mutual intercourse and dependence, and thereby to fulfil 
 one of the great purposes of Christianity in promoting Peace 
 on Earth, and Goodwill among Men " ; 
 
 that steamships and railways, electric telegraphs and a free 
 Commerce, favors the unity and brotherhood of nations ; 
 that an attitude of mutual jealousy and suspicion by the 
 civilized Nations of Europe is an anachronism and a crime ; 
 and it appealed therefore to all, to form in their respective 
 countries, a power of public opinion that will compel the 
 Governments of Europe, in the words of the late Sir Robert 
 Peel ; 
 
 "To reduce those military armaments which belong to a 
 state of War rather than of Peace."
 
 52 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Following close upon this international Exhibition of all 
 Nations, came from an unexpected quarter a crushing defeat 
 of the war party, in overwhelming proof of the just 
 and strong position taken up from the first by Mr. Richard, 
 by a remarkably pacific speech delivered by the Ruler of 
 France at the opening of the French Chambers at the close 
 of the year 1863, and which was soon afterwards followed 
 by a definite proposal from him for the holding of an Inter- 
 national Congress at Paris, in order to place if possible on a 
 safer and firmer basis the peace of Europe. 
 
 By this stroke of diplomacy the Emperor of the French 
 gave the lie direct to his enemies and detractors in England, 
 who for a period of three years had exhausted their 
 vocabulary of abuse, hurled not alone at himself as the head 
 of the most powerful nation in Europe, but also levelled 
 without a shade of a shadow of foundation against the 
 people of France. 
 
 It is well-known that as far back as 1860, when Lord 
 Palmerston and his Government were doii ig their utmost to 
 excite in the minds of the English people prejudices, 
 suspicions, and even enmity against France, on the absurd 
 ground of a supposed intention of Napoleon III. to avenge 
 Waterloo by an invasion of England, that the Emperor 
 had addressed to Count Persigny, the French Ambassador 
 in London, a dispatch, a straightforward and courteous 
 declaration, utterly denying the charges and schemes 
 attributed to him, and nothing could have been more frank. 
 
 " Tell Lord Palmerston from me in the most explicit manner, 
 that since the Treaty of Villafranca I have had but one thought, 
 one object to inaugurate a new era of Peace, and to live on 
 the best terms with all my neighbours, and especially with 
 England. ' 
 
 And yet notwithstanding this important disclaimer from 
 the French Emperor, and in spite of the Commercial Treaty 
 between the two Nations, the War party in England, led by 
 Lord Palmerston, as his letters and speeches testify, ceased 
 not year after year to mistrust, misrepresent, and malign the
 
 THE WAR PANIC. 53 
 
 people, the Parliament, and the Ruler of a Mighty Nation, 
 our ancient ally. 
 
 All these fears and prognostications were unfounded, and 
 as a crowning proof of the sincerity of the French Emperor, 
 to inaugurate as he declared, an era of Peace during his 
 reign, he comes forward in 1863 in the role of the pacifi- 
 cator of Europe. Mr. Richard hailed wit h satisfaction this 
 speech of the Emperor when he declared ; 
 
 " Have not the prejudices and rumours which divide us lasted 
 long enough ? Shall the jealous rivalries of the Great Powers 
 unceasingly impede the progress of civilization? Are we still to 
 maintain mutual distrust by exaggerated armaments ? Must our 
 most precious resources be indefinitely exhausted in a vain dis- 
 play of our forces ? Must we eternally maintain a condition of 
 things which is neither Peace with its security, nor War with its 
 happy chances ? Let us have the courage to substitute for a 
 sickly and precarious condition of things, a situation solid and 
 regular, even should it cost us some sacrifices. Let us assemble 
 without pre-conceived system, without exclusive ambition, 
 animated alone by the thought of establishing an order of things 
 founded for the future on the well-understood interests of both 
 sovereigns and peoples." 
 
 M. Drouyn de L'Huys, the French Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, following close upon this pacific utterance of the 
 Emperor, opened up communications with the British 
 Government, reminding them of the recommendations of 
 the Paris Congress of 1856, in favour of a reference of any 
 misunderstanding between the States to the friendly offices 
 of a Neutral Power, before appealing to arms. 
 
 This important dispatch was followed by a practical pro- 
 posal of the Emperor, addressed to the Sovereigns of Europe, 
 to convene an International Congress at Paris for the dis- 
 cussion and settlement of the questions in dispute, and thus 
 secure the pacification of Europe ; but Lord Palmerston 
 refused to accede to the proposal, and his reasons for doing 
 so are contained in two important letters which he addressed, 
 November i5th, 1863, to the King of the Belgians, and to 
 Lord Russell in a subsequent letter dated December 2nd, 
 1863.
 
 54 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 In the former he wrote as follows : 
 
 " The functions of a Congress if now to be assembled might 
 be two-fold, and would bear either on the past or the future, or 
 both. As to the past the functions of the Congress would 
 either be unnecessary, or barred by insurmountable difficulties. 
 As to the future, would the Congress have to range over the wide 
 and almost endless extent of proposed and possible changes, or 
 would it have to confine itself to questions practically pending ? 
 
 " In the face of all these difficulties my humble opinion is 
 that no Congress will meet ; for its failure will give Europe some 
 danger and some embarrassment." 
 
 To Lord Russell, December 3rd, 1863, he wrote : 
 
 " It is quite certain that the deliberations of a Congress 
 would consist of demands, and pretensions, put forward by 
 some and resolutely resisted by others, and that there being 
 no supreme authority in such an assembly to enforce the 
 opinions or decisions of the majority, the Congress would 
 separate leaving many of the members on worse terms with 
 each other than when they met." 
 
 This opinion of the Prime Minister of England was not 
 shared by the other European Powers, for we find that 
 Russia, Prussia, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Sweden 
 and Norway, Portugal, Greece, and several of the States of 
 Germany, gave their unqualified support to the proposal, 
 and even the Pope of Rome ; but the decision of England 
 was unfavourable, and the project fell through. 
 
 Mr. Richard warmly supported the idea, which he con- 
 sidered a noble one, for this realisation might have inaugu- 
 rated a change in the Policy of Europe of great value to the 
 Nations ; and he gave effect to this opinion by the address 
 which was sent on behalf of the Peace Society to the 
 Emperor, wherein he said in conclusion, 
 
 "Should your Majesty succeed in leading the Powers of 
 Europe into the path of arbitration and disarmament, it will 
 confer upon your Majesty's reign, a glory far brighter and more 
 enduring than any that can be reaped from the most brilliant 
 military achievements, because it will be a glory derived from 
 the gratitude of nations, and the well-being of universal 
 humanity." 
 
 To this address the Emperor sent a most gracious reply,
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION. 55 
 
 expressive of his warm appreciation of the sentiments it 
 contained, and of its recognition of his constant solicitude for 
 the maintenance of the general peace. 
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION, 1861. 
 
 No record of Henry Richard's labours in the Cause of 
 Peace would be complete without a reference to the per- 
 sistent, and from his standpoint of consistent opposition to 
 the great struggle between the Northern and Southern States 
 of America, based as it was on his undeviating hostility to all 
 War, and all exercise of force in national or international affairs. 
 
 In the first place a brief reference to the causes which 
 precipitated that great War is necessary. 
 
 The culminating point of the American crisis was the 
 Presidential Election, at the close of the year 1860, of 
 Abraham Lincoln, and this choice by a majority of the 
 American people drew a direct line of demarcation between 
 the Northern and Southern States, as it was stated that not 
 a single Southerner voted for, and not a single Northerner 
 voted against him. The Abolitionists of the North not 
 satisfied with the results of their victory, indulged in exas- 
 perating language towards the Pro-slavery party of the South, 
 and the latter, smarting also under the injustice of a prohibi- 
 tive tariff, looked upon the Union as a tremendous evil, and 
 resolved to exercise what they considered their lawful right 
 to secede, and to declare their independence. 
 
 The feeling in the South was decidedly opposed to the 
 commercial policy of the North, which was prohibitive, for 
 it pressed heavily on the commercial classes, but the social 
 and political question of slavery was the chief cause of con- 
 tention ; for the Southern States clung tenaciously to it, and 
 were alarmed at the feeling of hostility displayed by the 
 press and political parties in the North.
 
 56 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 This conflict of opinion was brought to a test in Congress 
 by the vexed question, whether slaveholding territories should 
 be admitted into the Union, and on its being decided in the 
 negative the Southern representatives withdrew, and the 
 Secession followed, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia 
 taking the lead, and their first act was to seize the Federal 
 arsenals and fortresses in the disaffected States. 
 
 On the Qth January, 1861, the first shot was fired from 
 the batteries of Fort Sumpter against the Federal Fleet, 
 which was in effect the declaration of disruption and War, 
 and on the i8th February, Mr. Jefferson Davis was inaugu- 
 rated President of the Confederate States, on which accession 
 he declared : 
 
 " We have entered on a career of independence, which must 
 be inflexibly pursued through many years of controversy with 
 our late associates of the Northern States." 
 
 On the 4th March Mr. Abraham Lincoln delivered his 
 inaugural address as President of the dis-United States, in 
 which he declared: 
 
 " A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, 
 is now formidably attempted. I hold that in the eye of universal 
 law, and of the constitution, the Union of these States is per- 
 petual." 
 
 At the onset of this terrific conflict Mr. Richard promptly 
 sounded the note of alarm in the columns of the Herald 
 of Peace, and he justified his intrusion in the controversy 
 on the grounds : 
 
 " That we on this side of the Atlantic are better able to form 
 a clear and correct Christian judgment of American affairs than 
 the American people themselves, whirled about as they were in 
 the mad maelstrom of the fierce political excitement which seems 
 to have sucked almost everybody into its vortex." 
 
 During the four years that this fierce tornado raged in all 
 its fury from " the frozen North in unbroken line to the 
 glowing South, and from the wild billows of the Atlantic 
 westward to the calmer waters of the Pacific main," Mr. 
 Richard strenuously opposed and vigorously condemned the
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION. 57 
 
 policy of the North and of the Federal Government at 
 Washington to maintain the Union by force; and whilst dis- 
 sociating himself and his friends from any sympathy for 
 slavery, but on the contrary avowing " a strenuous, consistent, 
 and persevering" hostility to that abomination, yet he 
 declared that infinite as is the iniquity of slavery, to attempt 
 to abolish it by War is only an attempt to cast out devils by 
 Beelzebub, the Prince of the Devils. He considered that 
 the anti-slavery party in America committed two capital 
 errors of policy and of principle. 
 
 " First, the act on the immoral and unchristian axiom that in 
 order to punish or to destroy crime we are at liberty to commit 
 another ; * * * * but they forget that the two spring from 
 one source, muster under one banner, and are intimate allies. 
 * * * And they commit this other error, they accept as of 
 Divine origin and sanction events merely because they occur. 
 They see the universal outbreak of the war spirit in the North 
 against the South, and they straightway exclaim, ' This is of 
 God.' What indications are there about this uprising of the 
 North that should entitle them to trace it to a Divine source ? 
 Has it sprung from sympathy with the oppressed, from righteous 
 indignation against wrong ? They know, none better, that it is, 
 to a large extent, the mere offspring of national pride, and 
 bellicose passion, and if they trust to this as a means of abolish- 
 ing slavery, as sure as they are living men they will find that 
 they are trusting in the staff of a broken reed." 
 
 Mr. Richard sincerely believed that the object of the war 
 was not the abolition of slavery, though remotely it might 
 be the cause ; 
 
 " But that the great bulk of men who are now swelling the 
 war-cry, and rushing into the ranks to fight, are men who 
 despise the ' nigger ' and hate the abolitionists as cordially as 
 
 w it 1r Tr If 
 
 In truth it is difficult for us who look at the matter calmly from 
 a distance, to resist the impression that the fierce war excitement, 
 now raging in the North, is far more a matter of pride and 
 passion than of any principle whatever." 
 
 As early as May 1861 Mr. Richard penned an Address on 
 behalf of the Peace Society to the United States of America, 
 of earnest sympathy and respectful expostulation on the 
 perilous crisis, which in general terms, boldly declared that
 
 58 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 the worst of all solutions that can be attempted is a fratri- 
 cidal war; "and it appealed to the friends of peace " to avoid 
 the fatal mistake of imagining that you can decide questions 
 of disputed right by conflicts of brute force; and especially it 
 appealed to the Christian Churches of all denominations, and 
 emphatically to the Ministers of the Prince of Peace, to stand 
 between the living and the dead, that the plague be stayed. 
 This Address and the articles from Mr. Richard's pen in 
 the Herald of Peace condemnatory of the War and the action 
 which the Anti-Slavery Party who had hitherto professed the 
 principles of peace were taking, roused their vehement indig- 
 nation, especially from the pens of W. Lloyd Garrison, Henry 
 Ward Beecher, Harriett Beecher Stowe, and others. 
 
 " Nothing " said Mr. Richard " that has occurred since will 
 induce us to recall or qualify the words that we then employed. 
 What we say is that the moving impulse which has heaved the 
 great mass of the community into such violent agitation is not 
 the question of slavery at all but the preservation of the Union, 
 the constitution of 1787, the insult offered to the American 
 flag." 
 
 In support of this position Mr. Richard quotes from the 
 last message of President Lincoln, who declared that the 
 North is fighting to bring back the South into Union with the 
 North. 
 
 " The simple fact is," writes Mr. Richard, "with regard to our 
 ardent anti-slavery friends in America they can only see one 
 evil in the universe and that is slavery." * * Heaven forbid 
 that in saying this, we should seem to try to extenuate the 
 enormities of slavery, for we believe it to be an abominable and 
 accursed thing which degrades man and dishonours God. But 
 then we say precisely the same thing with yet deeper emphasis 
 of War. * * * And is it to be supposed that we can look 
 with pleasure when we see men whom we honour so blinded by 
 their hatred of one sort of wickedness as to rush with open arms 
 into the embrace of another equally atrocious ?" 
 
 At the commencement of the war Mr. Richard strenu- 
 ously supported the action of the British Government in 
 the question of the recognition of the South as belligerents, 
 action which was severely condemned by the North, and 
 cordially approved by the South ; and the argument and
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION. 59 
 
 facts arrayed by Mr. Richard in support of the declaration 
 of Lord Russell " that the Southern Confederacy must be 
 treated as belligerents " was, he considered, historically and 
 juridically correct, and if any Government was responsible 
 for the unfortunate dilemma in which the great Maritime 
 Powers were placed, undoubtedly the Federal Government 
 at Washington were alone and severely to be blamed. 
 
 Prior to the Congress which met at Paris at the close of 
 the Russian War, all the Maritime Powers of the world 
 recognised and exercised the right of privateering, and the 
 issuing of Letters of Marque to any Neutral Nation to equip 
 and arm privateers, to capture and confiscate the mercantile 
 marine of the belligerent Nation. 
 
 But at the Congress at Paris in 1856, it was declared by 
 all the Powers assembled, that " Privateering is, and remains, 
 abolished ; " and the protocol further bound the Govern- 
 ments "to bring the declaration to the knowledge of the 
 States which have not taken part in the Congress of Paris, 
 and to invite them to accede to it ; " but unfortunately the 
 invitation to the United States was rejected, on the ground 
 that it was not compatible with its interests ; but it made a 
 counter proposal that private property at sea should be 
 totally exempt, unless contraband, from seizure during war, 
 not only by privateers, but by the navy of belligerents ; and 
 the proposal being rejected by England, although accepted 
 by the other European Powers, the original proposal in 
 accordance with the Declaration of Paris was only binding 
 between those Powers who had acceded to it, and thus the 
 practice of privateering by the United States remained a part 
 of the recognised laws of War. 
 
 When, therefore, President Lincoln issued his proclama- 
 tion declaring the South in a state of revolt, Mr. Jefferson 
 Davis replied by issuing "letters of marque " for privateers to 
 prey on the merchant-marine of the North, and the South 
 were thereupon declared to be pirates by the North, a 
 declaration that the British Government could not accept ;
 
 60 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 and Lord John Russell soon after announced in Parliament 
 that the Government had come to the unanimous opinion 
 that the Southern Confederacy of America must be treated 
 as belligerents ; and this declaration was followed by the pro- 
 clamation of Neutrality by England between the belligerents, 
 to the effect, that she was at peace with all Nations, but war 
 unhappily existing in the United States, she commands all 
 the subjects of the Queen to observe the duties of neutrality 
 towards the combatant Powers, and to respect the exercise 
 of their belligerent rights. 
 
 Mr. Richard approved of the action of the British Govern- 
 ment in the recognition of the South as belligerents, and he 
 stated his views very forcibly in an article, July, 1861, 
 wherein he shewed it was not only in accordance with the 
 opinions of Wheaton and Phillimore, but also with the 
 historical precedents, during the War of Greece against 
 Turkey, of the South American Colonies against Spain, 
 as well as of the North American Colonies against Great 
 Britain. 
 
 The unfortunate position taken up by Mr. Richard was 
 the logical and inevitable result of the sympathy and support 
 which from the beginning he extended to the Secession, and 
 ipso Jacto to the rebellion of the Southern States ; but in 
 doing so he involuntarily, possibly unconsciously, com- 
 mitted himself, not simply to the possession by the South of 
 the rights and privileges of belligerents, but to their recogni- 
 tion as a Nation, and to their right of secession by War, thus 
 re-echoing in effect the memorable declarations of two of 
 the most eminent members of Lord Palmerston's Govern- 
 ment, the first by Lord John Russell, in 1862, at Newcastle- 
 on-Tyne, affirming that 
 
 " This was a struggle on the one side for supremacy, and on 
 the other for independence ; " 
 
 which was followed soon after by the assertion of Mr. 
 Gladstone at Liverpool that :
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION. 6 1 
 
 " Mr. Jefferson Davis had already succeeded in making the 
 Southern States of America a Nation ; " 
 
 and these declarations indicated the dangerous tendency of 
 the policy of Lord Palmerston and his Cabinet, to render the 
 powerful moral and material aid of Great Britain in favour 
 of the Southern Cause. 
 
 This action of Mr. Richard (examining into and criticising 
 it after an interval of 26 years), is perplexing in the extreme, 
 and is not more astonishing than his support of the Southern 
 cause (for the former was the consequence of the latter), for 
 unfortunately he was unable to recognise anything good in 
 the policy of the North, whilst for the South and its actions 
 he was undoubtedly an ardent supporter. 
 
 This recognition by the British Government of the South 
 as belligerents came upon the country, and especially upon 
 the Government of the North, like a clap of thunder in a 
 clear sky, and was followed by the rejoicings of the aristo- 
 cratic and ruling classes ; for it was believed by them to 
 herald the downfall of free institutions and of the Republican 
 Government across the Atlantic, 
 
 It was as sudden as it was precipitate, for it followed within 
 a fortnight of the fall of Fort Sumpter, which took place on 
 the 1 4th April, 1861 ; and on the 2ist May following, the 
 British Cabinet decided on immediate recognition, with all 
 the rights of belligerents applicable on the ocean, as well as 
 on land, which practically lifted the South to an equality with 
 the North, constituted them de facto and de jure a Nation, 
 with all the privileges of municipal and international law, 
 to make peace or war, to negotiate treaties, to raise loans, 
 and opened to them the ports, ship-yards, and foundries of 
 England, and gave them a flag co-equal with the Stars and 
 Stripes. 
 
 It was an inconsistent act for England, and especially at 
 the bidding of a Minister of Lord Palmerston's antecedents, 
 who had himself repeatedly pledged her to the abolition of 
 slavery, to recognise the Government of the Southern
 
 62 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Confederacy, whose main purpose was, in the words of its 
 vice-president, Mr. Stephens, " to found an Empire with 
 Slavery as its chief corner-stone." In face of such a false 
 position, well might Charles Sumner, from his place in the 
 Senate at Washington, condemn in scathing indignation the 
 policy of the Ministers of the British Crown ; and the 
 following are the closing words of his celebrated speech : 
 
 " At a great epoch of history in the United States, not less 
 momentous than that of the French Revolution, or that of the 
 Reformation, when civilization was fighting a last battle with 
 Slavery, England gave her name, her influence, her material 
 resources, to the wicked cause, and flung a sword into the scale 
 with Slavery." 
 
 The recognition of belligerency was no less deplorable in 
 its results, for it not only transferred American trade to 
 foreign and especially to English bottoms, led to the out- 
 fitting of rebel cruisers in English ports, to the destruction 
 of upwards of twenty million dollars of the Northern Mer- 
 chant Marine, rendered the blockade of the Southern ports 
 a costly and hazardous undertaking, raised to a high rate of 
 premium the assurance of the Northern Marine, but it led 
 to the building, equipping and escape of the Alabama and 
 Shenandoah, and other cruisers, to serious complications 
 between England and America, that for a long time threat- 
 ened to involve these two great Anglo-Saxon races in War. 
 
 On the contrary, had recognition not been made, no 
 vessel could have been built in England for the South, for 
 by the laws of Nations the building or equipping of a vessel 
 against the United States would have constituted an act of 
 piracy. England would not have been converted into the 
 Arsenal and base of War operations for the South; no 
 munitions of War could have been furnished, not one single 
 blockade runner, laden with supplies, could have left the 
 British shores except under a penalty, and the War with all 
 its fearful cost of blood and treasure would not have been 
 so prolonged. 
 
 Whatever may be our views as to the wisdom or the
 
 THE TRENT DISPUTE. 63 
 
 justice of the position taken by Mr. Richard at this great 
 crisis in the history of the Great American Republic, there 
 cannot be two opinions on the course which he adopted, 
 and the action which he took in favour of the non-interven- 
 tion of England in that deplorable internecine War, not 
 simply by force of arms, but also by any declaration of 
 moral or any display of material aid. 
 
 " Our concern," says Mr. Richard, " on this side of the Atlantic 
 is to do what lies in our power to prevent the evil, already suffi- 
 ciently appalling, from being aggravated by England being 
 implicated in the strife. We believe the strongest wish of the 
 British Government and the British people is to stand alto- 
 gether aloof from the unhappy struggle, to maintain a strict 
 neutrality." 
 
 For England to maintain that policy of strict and im- 
 partial neutrality and to conform faithfully to the municipal 
 and international law of nations, was undoubtedly the 
 difficulty of the position ; because in the desire of the 
 British Government to maintain a friendly and not a hostile 
 attitude to the de facto Government of the South and the 
 Federal Government of the North, lay the danger of her 
 being dragged into the conflict; and, as it subsequently 
 proved, the danger when the war was concluded, of having as 
 a neutral State, not satisfied the requirements of international 
 obligations and international law. 
 
 THE TRENT DISPUTE. 
 
 At this juncture a crisis arose that roused Mr. Richard 
 into action, for it put closely to the test the pacific utter- 
 ances of Ministers, and for a brief interval strained to a 
 hair's breath, the peaceful relations between England and 
 the Northern States of America, consequent upon the 
 seizure on the high seas of Messrs. Sliddell and Mason and 
 their associates from the British mail-packet the " Trent,"
 
 64 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 by order of Captain Wilkes of the San Jacinto of the United 
 States Navy. 
 
 The facts are briefly these : The Government of the 
 South, despatched two ex-Senators of the United States, 
 Sliddell and Mason, the former the author of the Fugitive 
 Slave Land, and the latter of the filibustering system 
 organised by the Confederacy, as ambassadors respectively 
 to France and England ; and these two gentlemen embarked 
 from Charleston on a blockade runner, and under cover of 
 the darkness reached Cuba, whence they took passage on 
 board the " Trent," bound for England, via St. Thomas, and 
 en route the steamer was over-hauled by the San Jacinto, 
 the ambassadors were arrested, and conveyed back to 
 America and incarcerated in Fort Warren. 
 
 Immediately on the facts becoming known, an angry 
 outburst of public opinion was heard, demanding their 
 release at the peril of War. The Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, Lord Russell, echoing the National sentiment, in a 
 despatch to the British Minister at Washington, Lord Lyons, 
 declared ; 
 
 " That they were taken from on board a British vessel, the 
 ship of a Neutral Power, whilst such vessel was pursuing a law- 
 ful and innocent voyage, an act of violence, which was an affront 
 to the British flag and a violation of international law." 
 
 This communication was backed up by the despatch of the 
 Guards and other troops to Canada, before a reply to the 
 demand for a surrender of the Envoys to Europe had, or 
 could have been received. 
 
 To allay this feverish excitement against the North, and 
 the frantic cry for War, Mr. Richard spared no effort to avert 
 the peril by issuing an Address to the various religious 
 bodies in England, which was a powerful appeal, noble in 
 language and pathetic in tone to the ministers of the Prince 
 of Peace " to stand up amid the storm, and, in the name of 
 their Divine Master, rebuke the raging tempest of human 
 passion."
 
 THE TRENT DISPUTE. 65 
 
 A Memorial to Lord Palmerston was also indited by Mr. 
 Richard, and signed by him and Joseph Pease, and Samuel 
 Gurney, which proposed that the disputed question, being 
 one of international law, should, in the event of the failure 
 of diplomatic negotiation, be referred to the decision of some 
 friendly and impartial Arbitrator. 
 
 Fortunately, at this moment of anxiety, when the great 
 issues of peace and war hung in the balance, the French 
 Government came to the rescue, and assisted to pull the 
 two countries out of the dilemma into which the rashness of 
 the United States' Commodore, and the bellicose attitude of 
 Lord Palmerston, had involved them ; for the late Emperor 
 Napoleon, to his great credit, instructed the Minister for 
 Foreign Affairs, M. Thouvenel, to support the judicial 
 position of Great Britain, and in effect to insist that the 
 emissaries of the South, not being military persons actually 
 in the service of the South, were not subject to seizure on 
 board a Neutral ship. 
 
 The peaceful settlement of this untoward incident was also 
 largely promoted by a great speech delivered by Charles 
 Sumner on January 9, 1862, in the United States Senate, 
 in which he powerfully supported the language of the despatch 
 of the French Government, and after appealing to the 
 President to let the men go, said ; 
 
 " There are victories of force. Here is a victory of truth. If 
 Great Britain has gained the custody of the two rebels, the 
 United States have secured the triumph of their principles. But 
 this triumph is not enough. The sea-god will in future use his 
 trident less ; but the same principles which led to the present 
 renunciation of early pretensions naturally conduct to yet further 
 emancipation of the sea. The work of maritime civilisation is 
 not finished. And here the two nations, equally endowed by 
 commerce, and matching each other, while they surpass all other 
 nations in peaceful ships, may gloriously unite in setting up new 
 pillars, which shall mark new triumphs, rendering the ocean a 
 highway of peace instead of a field of blood." 
 
 The settlement of the " Trent " dispute was a great satis- 
 faction to Mr. Richard, and one that he might with just pride 
 rejoice over, not alone that the personal and public efforts 
 
 F
 
 66 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 he had put forth were crowned with such conspicuous 
 success, but because, being a disputed question of inter- 
 national law, it was settled as he claimed for all such ques- 
 tions, by those precedents and principles that should ever be 
 the guide and arbiter for nations. 
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION. 
 (Continued.) 
 
 Whilst however the danger of War between England and 
 America was happily averted, the tremendous conflict be- 
 tween North and South raged with increased fury, and for 
 three years all efforts stimulated by Mr. Richard and the 
 friends of peace, at one time in Memorials to the Govern- 
 ment in favour of Arbitration or Mediation, at another time, 
 powerful appeals to the people of the United States to arrest 
 the destructive struggle, were unavailing to stay the whirl- 
 wind of passion, or bid the avenging sword return into its 
 scabbard. 
 
 Mr. Richard, undaunted and undismayed, laboured hard 
 with his pen in many directions on this one engrossing and 
 deplorable conflict, and during the years 1862, 1863, and 
 1864, in fact from the beginning to the close of the War, he 
 wavered not in his heroic attitude even though brave men 
 and true fell away from his side, nor faltered in his unsparing 
 rebukes, even though the religious press of England were 
 arrayed against him. 
 
 In May 1862 we find him writing a vigorous article and 
 asking, What are the objects for which this War is waged 
 by the Federalists ? First, the Restoration of the Union, in 
 which they are sincere. Secondly, the Abolition of Slavery, 
 in which he doubted the sincerity of a large part of the 
 North.
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION. 67 
 
 But were either of these ends likely to be obtained by War, 
 or to be so attained as not to mock them in the shadow ? 
 
 As regarded Union, he believed they were expecting a result 
 that was contradicted by the history of the world, and as 
 regarded the Abolition of Slavery, he believed that to pro- 
 claim emancipation in a storm of blood and flames could 
 come to no good. 
 
 In November 1862 he writes : 
 
 " We," speaking for himself and the Peace Society, " are 
 pledged to the doctrine that all war is unchristian and unlawful, 
 and cannot, whilst condemning it in the abstract, defend it in 
 the concrete; moreover, we do not believe that this war is 
 waged for freedom ; and if we did, we do not believe they can 
 attain their object by fighting, or give it our sanction without an 
 utter abandonment of our principles." 
 
 He believed it was waged not for freedom but for " Union 
 and Empire," and in support of this he cites the language of 
 President Lincoln : 
 
 " My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, 
 and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the 
 Union without freeing one slave, I would do it ; and if I could 
 do it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. What I do about 
 slavery and the coloured race, I do because it helps to save 
 the Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not 
 believe it would help the Union." 
 
 This declaration and the subsequent emancipation pro- 
 clamation of President Lincoln he severely condemned, and 
 supported it by the language of Mr. Gladstone, when he 
 said : 
 
 " We have no faith in the propagation of free institutions at 
 the point of the sword. It is not by such means that the ends 
 of freedom are to be gained. Freedom must be freely accepted, 
 and freely embraced. You cannot invade a nation in order to 
 convert its institutions from bad into good ; and our friends in 
 the North have, as we think, made a great mistake in supposing 
 that they can lend all the horrors of this war to philanthropic 
 ends." 
 
 " No," said Mr. Richard, " I cannot lend my sanction to do 
 all this evil that good may come, even if there was the slightest 
 probability of its ever coming by such infernal means. I am 
 not prepared to buy the freedom of the Slaves at so tremendous 
 a cost."
 
 68 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 At this period of the struggle, England was divided into 
 two opposite camps, Cobden, Bright, and Forster in antagon- 
 ism to Palmerston, Russell and (strange as it may appear) 
 Richard; and with this alliance the royal and aristocratic 
 classes of England, backed up by the Times and other 
 powerful organs of public opinion. 
 
 The anti-slavery party, and the sympathisers with the 
 North, united their forces and constituted a powerful factor, 
 powerful in numbers, and in oratorical ability ; for they not 
 only perceived that a break-up of the American Union and 
 the dissolution of the Republic of the West would be a 
 heavy blow to the cause of political freedom, and of free 
 institutions all over the world, but that the success of the 
 South would cancel the emancipation proclamation of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln, would destroy all hope for the abolition of 
 the accursed system of human bondage, and would bind 
 irrevocably, and with tenfold more cruelty and oppression, 
 the galling shackles upon the four millions of the coloured 
 race ; for had not the fiat gone forth from the lips of the 
 Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy, Mr. Stephens, 
 by which he endeavoured to rally the classes against the 
 masses, that slavery was the chief corner-stone of the 
 Confederacy ! 
 
 No wonder then that with such tremendous issues at stake, 
 and that with such clear and definite aims in view, that the 
 announcement of the President's Policy of Emancipation 
 roused throughout Great Britain the ancient fires of freedom 
 for the Slave ; and day by day the anti-slavery feeling gained 
 in strength as evidenced by the rush for meetings everywhere, 
 no matter how obscure or how distinguished the orators, for 
 it shewed how deep and wide was the sympathy for the 
 North and for human freedom in the South, in the breasts of 
 the English people. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1863, one of the most dis- 
 tinguished men in the United States distinguished alike for 
 his courageous and eloquent advocacy of the anti-slavery
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION. 69 
 
 cause, Henry Ward Beecher, arrived in England, and 
 from many platforms delivered orations of great power and 
 ability in support of the North and the policy of the North, 
 and, as it was to be expected, rallied wherever he went and 
 wherever his speeches were read, the friends of freedom and 
 humanity to the popular cause. 
 
 Mr. Richard attended one of these meetings at Exeter 
 Hall, and to counteract the commanding influence of this 
 fearless advocate, or rather to defend his position of apparent 
 hostility to the North, he wrote an article on the subject of 
 that address, which appeared to him utterly lacking in any 
 Christian sentiment or principle, but on the contrary to 
 undermine and discredit the teachings of the Great Founder 
 of the Christian Faith. 
 
 Mr. Richard was sadly moved by the declaration of Mr. 
 Beecher, that "the firm invincible determination of the 
 North, deep as the sea, firm as the mountains, but calm 
 as the heavens above us, is to fight out this war through, at 
 all hazards, and at every cost," for it opened up to Mr. 
 Richard's mind a "terrible vision of blood and vengeance"; 
 and in virtuous indignation, he rebuked in powerful language, 
 Mr. Beecher and Mr. Newman Hall who supported him, 
 and the following is one of the most striking passages in 
 that article ; 
 
 " Those amongst ourselves who give in to this spirit are far 
 less excusable than the men who are in the midst of the war, and 
 have drunk of the maddening cup of its enchantments. * * 
 
 " On what page of God's Gospel do we find any warrant for 
 sustaining men in their avowed determination to exterminate 
 five millions of people, unless they submit to their will or be 
 themselves exterminated in the attempt ? If the Northern people 
 had received a commission direct from Heaven, attested by 
 ' signs and wonders and mighty deeds ' commanding them to 
 do this thing, they might even have hesitated and shrank back 
 from its execution. But for those who are the professed disciples 
 of Him who came not to destroy men's lives but to save them, 
 to imagine they are doing God's service by undertaking this 
 ferocious project, out of their own mere will, to uphold a 
 particular form of political government, or still more mon- 
 strous plea! to promote the cause of Christian philanthropy on
 
 7O HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 the earth, is one of the most extraordinary instances of the 
 delusion by which the god of this world blinds the eyes of men, 
 that is recorded in the history of the race." 
 
 Throughout the year 1864, the course of the American 
 War was happily not interrupted by any serious complication 
 with England, and Mr. Richard, unwilling to stir up amongst 
 his countrymen the slumbering embers of hostility, hostility 
 more sentimental than real, against the one side or the other, 
 maintained a dignified reserve ; for he felt, as he expressed 
 it, "a vain hope to make the still small voice of reason 
 and religion heard amid the hurricane war of passion that 
 deafened all other ears on the other side of the Atlantic ; ' 
 nevertheless he frequently exercised his great power as a 
 writer, wherewith to keep before the public eye the manifold 
 evils inseparable from the continuance of the murderous 
 strife and the imminent dangers, lest the people and 
 Government of the United States, hitherto so free from the 
 military traditions and its inevitable intoxication for military 
 glory, should seek with its vast armies and navies to 
 arrogate to itself the position of a great military power, and 
 become a menace to the peace of the world. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1865, there were evidences 
 of the approaching termination of this terrible fratricidal 
 struggle, and Mr. Richard was able, in the Annual Report 
 of the Peace Society, to say with what 
 
 " Inexpressible satisfaction we see the dreadful and disastrous 
 civil war which has so long desolated America coming to a close. 
 No imagination can conceive, no language can adequately 
 express, the amount of evil which it has inflicted on that country, 
 and the world. Probably not fewer than 1,000,000 of young men 
 have perished prematurely, and in every conceivable form of 
 horror and agony, by sword, and famine, and pestilence, and 
 misery. As to its cost in money, we shall certainly be within the 
 mark if we say that on both sides not less than 1,000,000,000 
 have been withdrawn from the service of civilisation to be 
 squandered in mutual butcherings and blood. * * Heaven 
 in its mercy grant that the evil effects may not extend beyond the 
 line of actual conflict. * * * One bright spot, however, 
 remains amid the wide waste of material and moral desolation, 
 one result of the war to offer some consolation for its manifold
 
 WAR IN JAPAN. 71 
 
 and incalculable evils. No result, indeed, can justify or atone 
 for the use of unlawful means. Still it may be permitted even 
 to those who most strongly disapproved of the war, to rejoice over 
 the fact, or what they hope will become a fact, that as one conse- 
 quence flowing from it, the great abomination of slavery bids fair 
 to perish out of the land for ever. * * * But it would have 
 been far better to have seen the garland of victory for this great 
 deliverance placed on the brow of the Prince of Peace, instead 
 of being transferred to the head of 
 
 ' Moloch horrid king ! besmeared with blood,' 
 
 to enhance his glory and perpetuate his brute dominion over the 
 minds and hearts of men." 
 
 WAR IN JAPAN. 
 
 In 1863 Mr. Richard aroused the energies of the friends 
 of peace into action in consequence of the alarming intelli- 
 gence from Japan, which in the month of July foreshadowed 
 a renewal of one of those unjustifiable wars in the East, such 
 as the recent China Wars to which reference has been made. 
 
 Well might Mr. Richard say, "It is not possible for English- 
 men to go anywhere without marking their steps with fire and 
 blood" and this remark, if true, has a certain application in 
 the causes of the war with Japan in 1863. 
 
 Our intercourse with Japan shows that, first of all, we 
 thrust ourselves upon them in the teeth of all their strong 
 prejudices, and then compelled them at the mouth of the 
 cannon to enter into a Treaty of Commerce with us, but, 
 further, we affront their feelings, and violate their customs ; 
 and having by these means provoked them, we exact from 
 them demands, and in default we scatter havoc and ruin 
 amongst them. 
 
 The war against Japan in 1863 may be traced to these 
 causes, and the incident which provoked this war was as 
 contemptible as it was disgraceful. It appears three English 
 gentlemen and a lady, whose names deserve notoriety, Mr.
 
 72 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Richardson, Mr. Clarke, Mr. Marshall, and Mrs. Borrodaile, 
 were riding in the high road leading from Yokohama to 
 Yeddo. 
 
 At a distance of several miles from Yokohama they met a 
 procession of Princes, and it is customary for all people who 
 meet such processions to retire at their approach or to kneel 
 while it passes, neither of which they would do though they 
 had been warned repeatedly of it ; and the result was they 
 were attacked and one of the party killed. 
 
 Immediately on Lord Russell receiving information of 
 the incident, he wrote to Lieut.-Colonel Neale, the 
 representative of England, to make a demand for reparation. 
 
 (1) An ample apology for the offence. 
 
 (2) The payment of ^100,000 as a penalty on Japan. 
 
 (3) The trial and capital execution of the guilty parties, 
 in the presence of the Naval Officers of the British Squadron, 
 and in the event of refusal the Admiral of the Fleet on 
 the station to declare War, and to take what measures he 
 thought necessary for the vindication of the honour of 
 England 
 
 This ultimatum was sent in April by Colonel Neale, the 
 British Charge <? affairs to the 'Tycoon or Prime Minister of 
 the Emperor, and twenty days only were allowed for com- 
 pliance therewith; and during this interval great alarm 
 naturally prevailed at Nagasaki, and other towns, where 
 foreign merchants and their families were residing. 
 
 The difficulty of the situation was intensified by two 
 insurmountable obstacles first, the immense distance to the 
 scene of disturbance, and the absence of direct and 
 rapid communication with the authorities there; and 
 secondly, the absolute authority exercised by the represen- 
 tatives of the Government of the Queen, the Consuls and 
 Generals and Admirals in Eastern waters and stations, 
 whenever and wherever they considered the personal and 
 private interests of Englishmen and the public or imperial 
 interests of England demanded reparation.
 
 WAR IN JAPAN. 73 
 
 Mr. Richard, heavily handicapped by these obstacles, 
 was not dismayed, and lost no time in vigorously protesting 
 against this threatened barbarous war; in the first place by 
 a slashing article from his pen immediately the news reached 
 England, which he followed up by a Memorial which was 
 signed by Mr. Joseph Pease and himself on behalf of 
 the Peace Society, for presentation to Earl Russell, Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs, which reminded the Govern- 
 ment that the Treaty of Commerce with Japan, upon which 
 armed intervention was based, was obtained under coercion, 
 and in opposition to the prejudices and traditions of the 
 people ; and further, that the Treaty stipulations had been 
 violated by lawless Englishmen, whose action the authorities 
 could not restrain, and that this coercive policy against Japan, 
 and unscrupulous conduct of foreigners, could not fail to lead 
 to grave complication, and to a succession of ignoble and 
 costly wars, and the memorialists advised a withdrawal of 
 Englishmen and the armed forces of the Crown from Japan. 
 
 The Government of Japan conceded two of these demands, 
 the apology and the payment of ^"100,000; but this not 
 being sufficient, and without attempting any further negotia- 
 tion, Vice- Admiral Kuper was ordered to enforce the demand. 
 
 The British squadron, consisting of the Euryalus, Pearl, 
 Perseus, Argus, Coquette, Racehorse, and Havoc, appeared 
 on the nth August before Kagosima, and demanded full 
 compliance with the ultimatum, and on the i2th and i3th 
 carried on a series of mock and abortive negotiations; and 
 on the 1 4th the British Admiral commenced operations by 
 bombarding Kagosima, with its population of 180,000 
 souls utterly innocent of complicity in the alleged insult, 
 and soon the whole town was in flames, and laid in ruins. 
 
 The bombardment continued two days. At the end of 
 the first day's operations the ships In the harbour and one 
 half of the town were in flames, and the following day the 
 bombardment was continued, and the palace of the Prince 
 shelled, and, says the Admiral, " the entire town of Kagosima
 
 74 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 is now a mass of ruins." Well might Mr. Cobden, in writing 
 on this barbaric act of the British Admiral, denounce this 
 cruel proceeding. 
 
 " Picture," said Mr. Cobden, " this great commercial 
 centre reduced in forty-eight hours to a heap of ashes, try 
 to realise the fate of its population, and then ask what great 
 crime they had committed to bring on themselves this havoc 
 and destruction." 
 
 To our shame and confusion the answer must be that 
 this is the way in which Englishmen, under the command 
 of Admirals Kuper and Neale, administer justice for 
 the murder of an individual 10,000 miles away, of 
 which crime the inhabitants of Kagosima were guiltless 
 of all knowledge and complicity, and afterwards the chief 
 actors in this outrage on humanity cooly laid claim to the 
 approbation of the British nation. 
 
 When the details of these diabolical proceedings of the 
 British Squadron on the coast of Japan reached London, 
 Mr. Richard indited a memorial to Her Majesty the Queen , 
 which was signed by Samuel Gurney, and Joseph Pease, and 
 himself, acting on behalf of the Peace Society, expressive 
 of their deep sorrow and shame, in which he declared that 
 this " tremendous act of vengeance inflicted by British arms 
 cannot be justified on any ground," and in effect declared 
 that acts like these create an insurmountable barrier to the 
 progress of civilization and Christianity in the East, and 
 that on these and other grounds the Memorial entreated 
 Her Majesty " to withold her Royal sanction from this great 
 outrage " perpetrated in her name on the unoffending people 
 of Kagosima. 
 
 " It is an ill wind, verily, that blows no good ; " and this 
 deplorable bombardment, and armed intervention by the 
 British Admiral, forced on the attention of Her Majesty's 
 Government the peril to England of entrusting to irrespon- 
 sible men, far removed from control, the declaration of war, 
 and led to a great and urgent reform. Hitherto, in our
 
 THE DANISH WAR. 75 
 
 foreign relations with such nations as China and Japan, 
 every British official claimed and exercised the right to call 
 into action the military or naval forces of England without 
 the authority of the responsible Government at home ; and 
 therefore, in order to prevent a recurrence of those deplorable 
 events which had so long disgraced our relations with 
 Eastern nations, Lord Clarendon issued an important dis- 
 patch, dated January 28, 1869, addressed to the consular 
 and military representatives of England abroad, and which 
 declared : 
 
 " Her Majesty's Government cannot leave with Her Majesty's 
 Consuls or naval officers to determine for themselves what 
 redress or reparation for wrong done to British subjects is due, 
 or by what means it should be enforced. They cannot allow 
 them to determine whether coercion is to be applied by blockade, 
 by reprisals, by landing armed parties, or by acts of even a mere 
 hostile character. All such proceedings bear more or less the 
 character of acts of war, and Her Majesty's Government cannot 
 delegate to Her Majesty's servants in foreign countries the 
 power of involving their own country in war." 
 
 THE DANISH WAR. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1864 the Schlezwig-Holstein 
 question agitated Europe, and at one time threatened to 
 involve England in war against Prussia and Austria, on 
 behalf of Denmark, who claimed a sovereignty over the 
 Duchies. Owing to the prominent and successful part that 
 Mr. Richard took in favour of non-intervention in this 
 quarrel, a brief historic reference is necessary. 
 
 In 1848 an insurrection broke out in Denmark for the 
 avowed object of establishing the union of Schlezwig- 
 Holstein under a constitutional system distinct from the 
 Danish Crown, and Germany being appealed to, assisted the 
 insurrection, and by the Treaty of Peace of 1850, which 
 followed, it was expressly stipulated by Denmark and
 
 76 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 approved by Prussia, that the Duchies should not be 
 incorporated with the Danish Kingdom ; and when King 
 Christian ascended the Throne in November 1863, this 
 stipulation, and the recognition of the Duke of Augustenberg 
 as Duke of Schlezwig-Holstein, was claimed by Prussia and 
 Austria and the Duchies, in accordance with the Treaty of 
 London of 1852. 
 
 On the other hand, King Christian claimed to be 
 Sovereign of all the territories under the sway of his pre- 
 decessor, and Suzerain of the Duchies, and the German Diet 
 thereupon decreed an administration of the Duchies of 
 Commissioners acting ostensibly for the Duke of Augus- 
 tenberg ; and the latter in support of this right occupied 
 Kiel with a military force, as the rightful Sovereign, 
 and herein was the course of the quarrel, and of the war 
 which followed. 
 
 The first step taken by Mr. Richard, and his promptitude 
 is worthy of mention, was in January, 1864, when he for- 
 warded a Memorial to Lord Russell, Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, in favour not only of abstaining from an armed inter- 
 vention between Denmark and the Austro-Prussian allies, 
 but also from any menacing demonstrations of force, or any 
 diplomatic engagements without the sanction of Parliament 
 
 In the meantime War was declared, the allied forces of 
 Austria and Prussia advanced, and the Danish troops fell 
 back upon Diippel ; and at this juncture, to avoid further 
 bloodshed, Great Britain offered her mediation, which being 
 accepted, an armistice was concluded, and a Conference of 
 the Great Powers assembled in London; but after sitting 
 for two months, owing to the exacting demands on the one 
 side, and the obstinacy on the other, it broke up without 
 coming to a satisfactory result, and hostilities were resumed. 
 
 The question that agitated England was whether she 
 should go to the help of Denmark in the struggle, Lords 
 Palmerston and Russell leaning to intervention under certain 
 conditions, but the Peace party, led by Mr. Cobden in
 
 THE DANISH WAR. 77 
 
 Parliament, and by Mr. Richard outside, were too strong for 
 the Noble Lords ; and added to this, France, upon whose 
 alliance England had relied, at the last moment hesitated, 
 and finally withdrew, which left England in the lurch, and 
 Lord Palmerston was obliged to announce to the House of 
 Commons, on 25th June, that there would be no War, to 
 the immense satisfaction of the Peace party, who were in 
 a majority, but to the bitter chagrin and humiliation of the 
 minority who favoured intervention and War. 
 
 This result was a triumph of non-intervention and neu- 
 trality, and from this date it became a turning point, the 
 watchword and accepted doctrine of the foreign policy of 
 England ; and it was with justifiable pride and satisfaction 
 that Mr. Richard rejoiced over it, and pressed it home by a 
 series of brilliant articles from his pen to the mind and 
 conscience of the Nation. 
 
 To no man was this great triumph, this great revolution 
 in the foreign policy of England more justly due than to 
 Mr. Cobden, a just tribute to those masterly articles which 
 for many years emanated from his pen, and to the influence 
 of that "unadorned eloquence "in favour of a wiser and a juster 
 foreign policy ; and it is a noteworthy fact that his famous 
 speech in the House of Commons, July 1864, on the Dano- 
 German question, was one of the last, as it was one of the 
 best efforts, and will long be remembered by those who heard 
 it, the first and last occasion that the writer of this memorique 
 listened to the voice of that great and good man, pleading in 
 gentle and silvery accents for peace ; and an extract from 
 that speech is well worthy of being quoted : 
 
 " The present system of diplomacy has broken down (cheers). 
 Our Foreign Office has lost its credit with foreign countries. 
 (Opposition cheers). You cannot approach at this time a foreign 
 country on any question of foreign politics on which you will 
 not be looked upon with want of confidence and indeed with 
 mistrust (Opposition cheers). And why ? Because foreign 
 countries feel that whilst they are dealing with the Foreign Office, 
 the Foreign Office has not the power the power is here (cheers). 
 I maintain it behoves us to adopt, ourselves, a different foreign
 
 78 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 policy, and to let it be known that it is our intention to make the 
 Government feel that it is necessary to act up to our views (hear, 
 hear). The present system cannot go on ; it requires a change 
 in the interests of our neighbours ; it requires a change on 
 higher grounds in the interests of peace, civilisation, and 
 humanity (loud cheers)." 
 
 INSURRECTION IN POLAND. 
 
 No sooner was the danger of intervention by England in 
 the Dano-German difficulty averted than another question 
 of international difficulty and danger to European peace 
 presented itself, arising out of the historic complications of 
 Poland ; and Mr. Richard determined that the policy of 
 non-intervention adopted in the Danish war, and accepted 
 as an axiom of foreign policy by both parties of the State, 
 should be tenaciously maintained in the affairs of that un- 
 happy kingdom. 
 
 It may be useful to a right appreciation of the Polish 
 question to pass rapidly in review the history of the dis- 
 memberment, in fact, of the effacement of Poland as a 
 Sovereign State from the number of the families of European 
 nations. 
 
 When the first partition of Poland was accomplished in 
 1772 by the base treachery of Russia and Prussia, Edmund 
 Burke, foremost among the statesmen of England, em- 
 phatically condemned it as "an infamous deed," and exerted 
 his great oratorical powers to secure the alliance of France 
 and England to avert the catastrophe that was threatening 
 to subvert the liberties and independence of one, if not of 
 the most ancient nationalities of Europe ; but the Ministers 
 of George III., anxious to prevent English intervention in 
 Continental affairs, (would that they had continued steadfast 
 to that doctrine), resolutely resisted the appeal of Burke; 
 in fact, they deemed the security of Polish independence
 
 INSURRECTION IN POLAND. 79 
 
 unworthy even of notice in the King's Speech at the opening 
 of the Parliament, 1772. 
 
 The dismemberment of Poland in 1772 by Russia, 
 Prussia, and Austria, may be traced to the armed inter- 
 ference of Russia in 1763 in the choice of a successor to 
 the Throne, on the death of Augustus III. in favour of 
 Poniatowski, a favourite of the Empress Catherine II. 
 By the Treaty of Warsaw between Russia and Poland (24th 
 February, 1768), the liberty, constitution, and integrity of 
 Poland was guaranteed ; and the miserable plea put forward 
 by the Empress Catherine of Russia, in 1772, for inter- 
 ference and occupation of Poland by Russian troops, and 
 which led to its subsequent partition, were the avowed 
 interests of the Greek religionists, precisely the same plea 
 put forward by the Emperor Nicholas in 1853 as a justifica- 
 tion for Russian interference in Turkey, and for the sub- 
 sequent attempt, by war, to secure her overthrow. 
 
 In Poland, prior to 1772, the great majority of the Poles 
 were Roman Catholics, and it cannot be denied that they 
 grievously oppressed their fellow-countrymen, who, under 
 the name of Dissidents, had, by the constitution, been 
 guaranteed all the rights and privileges of free citizens ; and, 
 unfortunately for Poland's independence, in their distress 
 they appealed to Russia and Prussia for their friendly 
 mediation, and England, believing in the sincerity of these 
 Powers, that they had really the interests of the Dissidents 
 at heart, joined in the Memorial to the Government at Warsaw ; 
 but the fact was, as events subsequently proved, neither 
 Russia nor Prussia cared one jot or tittle for the religious 
 welfare of Greeks, Calvinists, or Lutherans, for their inter- 
 vention was but a pretext for the extension of empire. 
 
 The Russian troops surrounded Warsaw, resolutions were 
 dictated by the Russian Ambassadors, her armies intersected 
 the country, and measures were taken to achieve the final 
 blow of the national existence of Poland. 
 
 In this dismemberment the Imperial Courts of St. Peters-
 
 8o HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 burg, Berlin, and Vienna, were the three participators, with- 
 out one word of reprobation from England or France for 
 so flagrant an act of spoliation. 
 
 By the convention signed at St. Petersburg, August 5th, 
 1772, the boundaries of the territories allotted to the three 
 Powers respectively were definitely settled and guaranteed 
 to each other. Russia obtained for her share, Livonia, 
 Witepsk, and Polotsk, the Palatinates of Mocislaw and 
 Minsk. Prussia secured the states of Great Poland, and the 
 whole of Polish Prussia. Austria was assigned the 13 
 towns which Sigismund, King of Hungary, had mortgaged 
 to Poland in 1412, half of the Palatinates of Cracow, 
 Sendomire, Belz, Pocatia, and Padolia. 
 
 The second partition of Poland, in 1793, was as dis- 
 graceful as the first partition in 1772, for it was accomplished 
 with the expressed purpose of preventing reform in her 
 administration. 
 
 King Stanislaus Augustus, the nominee of the Government 
 of St. Petersburg under the reconstitution of Poland in 
 1772, had endeavoured to give to Poland a liberal con- 
 stitution ; the most violent abuses were remedied, order was 
 established, the privileges of the nobles were abolished, 
 legislative chambers instituted, and a bright future for Poland 
 seemed destined to dawn ; but the jealousy and resentment 
 of Russia were roused, and at the very time the allies 
 affected horror at the atrocious deeds of the French 
 Republicans, Russia, Prussia, and Austria determined on 
 crippling still further the independence of Poland. 
 
 Unlike the first partition in 1772, it was not accomplished 
 without a severe struggle and great bloodshed. Under the 
 patriotic leadership of brave Koscuiszko, Poland declared 
 war against the invaders of their rights and liberties, and at 
 Reslavice and Warsaw defeated the Russian troops, but 
 soon afterwards he succumbed to the superior forces of 
 Suwarrow in which 6,000 of the Polish army perished, and 
 " Freedom shrieked, when Koscuiszko fell ; "
 
 INSURRECTION IN POLAND. 8 1 
 
 and when Suwarrow made his triumphal entry into Warsaw, 
 after terrible slaughter, the insurrection was quelled, and 
 subsequently (Oct. 24, 1795) a new Treaty of Partition was 
 signed which dethroned King Stanislaus, and Poland was 
 dismembered still further by the three Imperial powers. 
 
 Russia obtained the whole of Lithuania, Samogitia, Cour- 
 land, and Semigallia, in all an addition of 2,000 square 
 miles, comprising 1,000,000 inhabitants. 
 
 To Austria was assigned the Palatinates of Sendomire and 
 Lublin, with part of Brzesci, Podolachia, and Masovia, com- 
 prising square miles and population nearly equal to Russian 
 annexation. 
 
 To Prussia was assigned the other parts of the Palatinates 
 of Masovia and Podolachia, the port of Troki and Cracow, 
 representing 1,000 square miles, with a population of 
 1,000,000. 
 
 One of the causes of the insurrection in Poland in 1864 
 was the Emancipation Act of the Emperor Alexander, which 
 gave a deadly blow to the supremacy of the nobles in the 
 western provinces of Poland ; and had they renounced their 
 pretensions to these provinces of Russia, wrested from 
 Poland by the partitions of 1772 and 1793, they might 
 have obtained the complete autonomy of the Poland of 
 1815, but they unwisely determined to make a last effort 
 for the re-conquest of the Russian provinces, and thus to 
 re-establish the oligarchy which was the soul of ancient 
 Poland prior to 1772. 
 
 Determined upon an appeal to arms they relied for sup- 
 port on the discontent of the Russian nobility, the weakness 
 of the sovereignty of the Emperor in the conquered provinces 
 and the existence of elements of a revolutionary character ; 
 and they relied also on the sympathy and support of the 
 Western Powers in their struggle for the achievement of 
 Polish independence. 
 
 The insurgents in Poland in the rebellion of 1864 were 
 not the people, nor had they any sympathy with the popular 
 
 c
 
 82 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 mind ; they were an exclusive and aristocratic class, full of 
 religious bigotry, whose objects were to restore the supremacy 
 of the Roman Catholic Church, to suppress the interests of 
 the Greek Church, and therefore the establishment of a 
 great Catholic Power in Northern Europe, at the sacrifice of 
 the suppression of the liberal institutions and reforms intro- 
 duced by the Emperor Alexander of Russia. 
 
 The policy of Russia in Poland previous to the outbreak 
 of the rebellion was generally acknowledged to be one of 
 wisdom and conciliation, by the introduction of municipal 
 institutions and local self-government, by placing members 
 of the patriotic party into positions of confidence and power, 
 and especially by the enfranchisement of the serfs, he had 
 proved his sincerity for promoting the happiness and 
 security of his Polish subjects ; and these enlightened 
 reforms, there is no doubt, however much we may deplore 
 the partitions of 1772 and 1793, had helped to lay founda- 
 tions of constitutional freedom in that unhappy country. 
 
 Mr. Richard naturally deprecated this appeal of the Polish 
 nobility to force of arms, for achieving their independence ; 
 and believing as he did in the liberal and conciliatory policy 
 of the Emperor Alexander towards the Poles, he cordially 
 supported Russian policy and claimed for Russia the sym- 
 pathy of England on the ground that she was struggling, as 
 England had struggled in her earlier history, for civilization 
 against feudalism ; and he utterly discredited the charges 
 of oppression Poland brought against Russia, and that the 
 Poles far from being goaded by oppression, it was precisely 
 the reverse, for he considered that the mild rule of the 
 Emperor Alexander, and the emancipation by Russia of 
 25 millions of serfs, had furnished both the cause and the 
 opportunity for the organising of a formidable conspiracy 
 against Russian rule. 
 
 Mr. Richard also considered that the engagements entered 
 into by England in 1815 by the Treaty of Vienna were not 
 binding, as Russia, Prussia, Austria, France and the other
 
 THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND. 83 
 
 Powers had openly violated many of its provisions, and to 
 interfere on the higher ground of justice and humanity was 
 pregnant with mischief and misery, for it would, he said, 
 constitute England the Don Quixote of universal humanity, 
 and he hailed with satisfaction the declaration of Lord Russell, 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs, in which he said : 
 
 " For my part I see no advantage that could arise from armed 
 intervention on behalf of Poland. I can see nothing but 
 confusion and calamity likely to arise from an interruption of 
 the peace of Europe. I cannot see what clear or definite object 
 which a British Government could propose to itself, would 
 justify them in entering into such hostilities, and I enter my 
 protest against engaging in any such contest." 
 
 Lord Palmerston expressed similar views, and the Govern- 
 ment being firm against intervention the policy advocated by 
 Mr. Richard was adopted. 
 
 THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 In 1860 and 1864 England was engaged in an extermi- 
 nating War against the Maories in New Zealand, and Mr. 
 Richard, on its first outbreak, wrote a series of articles on 
 the subject, and he justly observes that " It would be diffi- 
 cult to put one's finger on a single year within the century 
 when Englishmen were not engaged in War ; " and this 
 terrible charge alas ! is too true, for from the day of our 
 colonisation in New Zealand, British policy in New Zealand 
 has been to exterminate the noblest aboriginal race which 
 British adventure and British prowess has subjugated ; and 
 this fate of the Maories is all the more shocking when we 
 remember how much Missionaries have done to effect their 
 civilization. 
 
 Mr. Richard justly asked, What is the cause of the New 
 Zealand War ? The answer is obvious, for like all Colonial
 
 84 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Wars of England, it arose out of a purchase of land esti- 
 mated at 600 acres, from one chief called Teira, which was 
 claimed by another chief called Kingi, a tract of land pur- 
 chased by the Governor of New Zealand, Sir George 
 Browne, and the invalidity of the purchase was generally 
 recognised, and therefore the injustice of the War. A 
 sanguinary struggle in the province of Taranaki was the 
 result, and at its close, Governor Sir George Grey, who had 
 succeeded Governor Browne, ordered that the land should 
 be restored to its lawful owners, but before this act of resti- 
 tution was done, irreparable mischief had been effected. 
 
 The New Zealanders had made up their minds that 
 whatever might be our professions, our intention was 
 " slowly but surely " to despoil them of their rights to the 
 soil. The war in 1864 was therefore the sequence of the 
 war in 1860, as the Maories considered they were not really 
 defeated, that they were in possession of Tataraimaki, which 
 they regarded as a conquest. 
 
 The result was that when military force was sent to resume 
 possession of Taranaki, the military escort were attacked and 
 killed, and this being the first shot fired, war was inevitable. 
 
 The war cry raised in Taranaki was the signal for the tribe 
 of Waikatoo, who sympathised with their fellow-countrymen, 
 to rise in rebellion. 
 
 For a time Auckland was in danger, but by the .energy of 
 General Cameron it was saved, and the war confined to a 
 narrow limit. 
 
 The New Zealanders were treated as " rebels" taunted as 
 " niggers" and branded as " traitors" and threatened with 
 spoliation, they naturally rose in arms; and who will blame 
 them, for England might have ensured their loyalty by a 
 policy of justice and conciliation. 
 
 The policy of England was to exterminate the Maories, 
 and thus secure peace, but it was, as Mr. Richard said, "the 
 peace of the tomb, a peace that could only cover England 
 with dishonor," and he warmly supported the address of the
 
 JOSEPH STURGE. 85 
 
 Aborigines Protection Society to the Duke of Newcastle, 
 the Secretary of State for the Colonies, against the absolute 
 confiscation of the land of the Maories, estimated to be eight 
 and a half millions of acres, by a monetary compensation of 
 three millions sterling, advanced by the Colonial Government 
 and guaranteed by the Crown, on the ground that it would 
 drive the Maories into a state of hopeless despair. 
 
 JOSEPH STURGE. 
 
 In June 1864 Mr. Richard completed the Memoirs of 
 Joseph Sturge, a work of surpassing excellence of one of the 
 noblest and spotless characters of the Nineteenth Century, 
 an ardent advocate of peace, a friend of freedom, and an 
 unflinching opponent of injustice, oppression or wrong 
 wherever, and by whomsoever committed, whose life was 
 one constant stream of benevolence and philanthropy ever 
 on the alert, to promote and secure the greatest happiness 
 for the greatest numbers unlimited by frontier, race, or 
 colour. 
 
 He died in May 1859, in the 6;th year of his age, and 
 for four years, Mr. Richard devoted his unrivalled powers of 
 lucid and graphic description in writing the life of his 
 lamented friend, and fellow-labourer in the cause of peace 
 and goodwill amongst the peoples and nations of the world, 
 and nobly did he execute the great trust committed to his 
 charge. For as Mr. Burritt beautifully wrote in reviewing the 
 Memoirs, "His life was a priceless treasure to the land, 
 and the age it brightened and blessed." * 
 
 * I commend the memoirs of Joseph Sturge, as worthy of being read 
 by every friend of peace, for his example is worthy of imitation.
 
 86 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 RICHARD COBDEN. 
 
 In 1865, Mr. Richard and the friends of Peace suffered 
 an irreparable loss by the death of that truly great and good 
 man Mr. Cobden, whose services to the cause of Peace, 
 over a period of thirty years, must ever be held in grateful 
 remembrance, which was well expressed by Frederick Passy, 
 the eminent French economist, at the graveside of that 
 illustrious man. 
 
 " Cobden has done more for allaying international hatreds, for 
 the extinction of those jealous rivalries which have so often 
 armed people against each other, and for promoting the funda- 
 mental interests of humanity, than any of the statesmen who 
 have hitherto taken part in the government of nations." 
 
 Mr. Richard keenly felt this great bereavement, personally, 
 as a faithful friend and able coadjutor ; and especially on 
 public grounds, as a statesman of the first rank, unadorned 
 and undecorated, and as an orator and writer, whose " un- 
 adorned eloquence " carried conviction to the people. 
 
 Mr. Richard paid a splendid eulogium to his departed 
 friend, one amongst the many eulogiums by pen and speech 
 that he inscribed to his memory, of which the following is 
 an extract : 
 
 " How can we estimate the value of his sound judgment, his 
 sagacious council, his resolute spirit, his great reputation ? 
 Where again shall we find the fearless independence of mind, 
 which did not shrink from adopting and avowing opinions how- 
 ever widely at variance with the traditions of the class among 
 whom he moved ; the lofty courage which stood up, with 
 scarcely even a consciousness of the sacrifice it was making, 
 against "the world's dread laugh," when in pursuit of objects 
 and measures which he thought right ; the patient gentleness 
 with which he bore the prejudices and littleness of inferior men, 
 provided only he was convinced of their insincerity ; the 
 sovereign sweetness of nature which saved him from either 
 sourness or despondency in the day of defeat ; the dauntless 
 tenacity of purpose with which he clung to his convictions in 
 the face of all discouragement, and returned again and again 
 to the work in which he had been previously baulked? When 
 we think of all that he was to those who knew him intimately 
 the brave man, the true gentleman, the genuine practical
 
 CONFERENCES AT MANCHESTER. 87 
 
 Christian, the generous friend, the true patriot we must fairly 
 avow that our heart is nearly broken, at the immensity of the 
 loss we have sustained." * 
 
 CONFERENCES AT MANCHESTER, 1864-5. 
 
 In 1864 and 1865, two important and influential Con- 
 ferences, (the latter being a continuance of the former), were 
 held at Manchester, which Mr. Richard attended and took 
 a prominent part, for a conviction prevailed that there was 
 much in the aspect of events in Europe, and in the tone and 
 tendency of public opinion in England, to encourage the 
 friends of peace to renewed activity in the promulgation of 
 their principles. 
 
 Representatives were present from Manchester, Liverpool, 
 Oldham, York, Bradford, Ashton-under-Lyne, Rochdale, 
 Bolton, and other places, and the proceedings were of 
 especial interest, varied by able speeches and addresses ; a 
 paper by Mr. Joseph Rowntree, of York, on the influence of 
 the press for peace advocacy ; by Mr. William Stokes, the 
 Secretary of the Conference, on the duty of the friends of 
 peace at the approaching General Election ; by Isaac B. 
 Cooke, Liverpool, on the importance of enlisting the support 
 of the peoples in Europe, upon each of which topics valuable 
 addresses were delivered. 
 
 Towards the close of the conference Mr. Richard spoke 
 at some length on the principles upon which the Peace 
 Society was based, and on the application of those principles 
 to the relations and intercourse of States, and on this subject 
 he said : 
 
 " The doctrine they sought to teach was, that war was in- 
 consistent with the spirit of Christianity, and the true interest 
 of mankind. * With respect to the policy 
 
 *"The Life of Richard Cobden," by John Morley, should be read 
 by all who desire international concord.
 
 88 
 
 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 which they had sought to inculcate, one of its great principles 
 was, that it was the duty of nations, when disputes arose, instead 
 of having recourse to the sword, to try and settle their differences 
 by a resort to arbitration, on the great basis of reference to 
 reason and justice rather than brute force. Another principle 
 was, the practicability of nations being enabled to reduce the 
 enormous military armaments with which they now burdened 
 themselves ; a third was the duty of non-intervention in the 
 
 WILLIAM STOKES. 
 
 affairs of other nations ; and a fourth principle was the cultiva- 
 tion of friendly relations by commercial and social intercourse, 
 and by a right use of the press between States, and especially 
 between England and France." 
 
 .The following month Mr. Richard also took a prominent 
 part in a Conference at Brighton, which was convened for 
 the purpose of " promoting by all legitimate and practicable
 
 CONFERENCES AT MANCHESTER. 89 
 
 means the settlement of international disputes by friendly 
 arbitration, instead of by the sword," and was presided over 
 by Mr. Marriage Wallis, and attended by several ministers 
 of religion and local friends of the Cause, and in the evening 
 Mr. Richard addressed a large public meeting in support of 
 the resolutions adopted at the Conference, which was 
 presided over by the Mayor. 
 
 Following up the two Conferences at Manchester, Mr. 
 Richard, in 1865, also took part in influential Conferences 
 at Bristol and Newcastle-on-Tyne, the former one presided 
 over by the veteran in the Cause, Mr. George Thomas, and 
 the object of which was, mainly, to rally to the banner of 
 peace the " few faithful men " who, during the crisis of the 
 Russian and American Wars, had "steadfastly refused to 
 bow their knee to the military Baal," and amongst those 
 "few faithful men" who were present and took part in this 
 Conference may be mentioned the names of Robert Charle- 
 ton, J. H. Cotterell, the Revd. David Thomas, Thomas 
 Pease, William Tanner, all of whom have now passed away, 
 entered into rest. 
 
 At the Conference at Newcastle-on-Tyne, presided over 
 by Mr. J. C. Lamb, representatives were present from 
 Sunderland, Shields, Darlington, and other places, and 
 amongst the speakers, in addition to Mr. Richard, was 
 Joseph Pease, who had succeeded the late Joseph Sturge 
 as President of the Peace Society, whose persuasive eloquence 
 and powerful influence was a great accession of strength to 
 the Cause that Mr. Richard was straining every nerve to 
 advance. 
 
 In the evening of the day of this Conference Mr. Richard 
 addressed a public meeting presided over by Mr. Mawson, 
 and concluded an eloquent speech in these words, spoken 
 with much feeling : 
 
 " Last Friday I stood over the grave of Richard Cobden, and 
 to confess to you my weakness, when I looked into the vault, 
 and saw his coffin lie there, and called to remembrance how 
 long that man had been like a tower of strength to me, upon
 
 90 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 which I could always lean his wisdom in council, and his un- 
 daunted courage in action the first impulse of my weakness 
 was, as if I must retire from all share in public matters, and give 
 them up in despair and despondency. A few months before, I 
 had walked by his side along the same road where the funeral 
 procession went on Friday, and I could remember the precise 
 remarks he made to me by the particular points of the road, and 
 my feeling was, as I said, that having lost such a pillar of strength 
 in the cause of peace, that I could no longer persevere ; but my 
 second reflection was, that such is not the lesson which the 
 life and example of Richard Cobden should teach, to any of his 
 surviving friends ; that man who, twenty-five years ago, lifted up 
 his voice in the midst of this nation in favour of free trade and 
 international peace, and who continued till the last day of his 
 life faithful and unflinching to the principles of his youth. Was 
 it right, then, that I should retire from the work which Provi- 
 dence has given me to do ? No ; but as the Carthagenian 
 General, taking his little boy to the altar to swear eternal enmity 
 to Rome, so I felt disposed, standing over the grave of my 
 honoured and beloved friend, whose friendship had been for 
 fifteen years the privilege and pride of my existence, to swear 
 eternal fidelity to the cause of Peace a cause for which he had 
 do ne more than any man of his time, and I would, if it had been 
 in my power, have taken hundreds of the rising youth of England, 
 and there, over the grave of the man of Peace, have sworn them 
 all to an unflinching fidelity to the same cause." (Cheers). 
 
 The following evening, accompanied by Mr. Pease, Mr. 
 Richard attended and addressed an enthusiastic public 
 meeting at Sunderland. Meetings were also addressed on 
 the Peace question by Mr. Richard during 1865, at Graves- 
 end, Tottenham, Deptford, Greenwich, and three in the 
 Metropolis. 
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1865 
 
 Proved of two-fold interest to Mr. Richard firstly, in his 
 efforts to influence the Electors to a right choice of candidates 
 favourable to " Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform ; " and 
 secondly, it was the first occasion that an opportunity was 
 presented to him to be a Parliamentary candidate. 
 
 Parliament was prorogued July 1865, having reached its
 
 THE GENERAL ELECTION. 91 
 
 full term of existence, and Lord Palmerston appealed to the 
 constituencies for a renewal of trust and of power, the 
 seventeenth and last Parliament that the octogenarian Premier 
 was elected to serve, for in October, 1865, his long political 
 career closed. 
 
 At this election of 1865 there were few, if any, burning 
 questions of political interest claiming the attention of the 
 country, it was therefore especially a favourable opportunity 
 to turn the attention of the electorate to questions of fiscal 
 and foreign policy, and Mr. Richard availed himself of this 
 political lull to the fullest advantage, and it may be said, 
 with considerable success. 
 
 Mr. Richard issued on the eve of the elections an appeal 
 to the electors of the Three Kingdoms, and he gave promin- 
 ence to the question of international arbitration for the 
 settlement of questions of dispute between Great Britain 
 and the United States, arising out of the Civil War in 
 America. 
 
 The United States Minister for Foreign affairs, Mr. Seward, 
 had in a dispatch dated October 1863, suggested an arbitral 
 reference of the Alabama dispute, which had been contemptu- 
 ously refused by Lord Russell, and this made the question 
 one of some practical importance for pressing on the attention 
 of the electors and candidates. 
 
 The appeal of Mr. Richard also referred to the enormous 
 military expenditure, and to the excessive number of military 
 men, which was estimated at 327 Members that constituted 
 the War element in the last Parliament. 
 
 On the former subject Mr. Richard stated at some length 
 in the Morning Star more fully his views, and gave some 
 striking figures in support of retrenchment, and he warned 
 the electors not to be led away by stereotyped phrases, " I 
 am for all possible economy in the Public expenditure, con- 
 sistent with the safety of the country," which he considered 
 meant a blind and reckless squandering of the Public money 
 for defence, and that it was not for the security of the
 
 92 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 nation, to build wooden ships, nor to manufacture Arm- 
 strong guns, nor to have an unlimited extension of arma- 
 ments, for it was proceeding on a mistaken foundation, and 
 that the best way for national security, quoting Peel, Disraeli 
 and Cobden, was to bring about a proportional and simul- 
 taneous disarmament. 
 
 When the General Election of 1865 was over, placing the 
 Liberal party once more in power, Mr. Richard justly 
 credited the Peace party with this political triumph, and for 
 this reason : the Members of the Government, and Leaders 
 of the party, and pre-eminently Mr. Gladstone, based a 
 renewal of support on the ground that they had preserved 
 peace, and that through all the periods of the American, the 
 Danish and the Polish Wars, a policy of non-intervention 
 had been adopted, and not only thereby averted the armed 
 intervention of England, but that also they had negotiated 
 the Commercial Treaty with France as a powerful factor for 
 peace between the two nations ; and lastly, the Ministerialists 
 declared they had under the wise financial administration of 
 Mr. Gladstone reduced three millions of taxation, which 
 they declared would have been nine millions but for the 
 expenditure of six millions sterling to restore, as Mr. Glad- 
 stone termed it, " our position in China." 
 
 These pacific results had been, it is true, achieved during 
 the seven years' administration of Lord Palmerston, but they 
 were due, and due alone, to the firm and determined stand 
 of the Peace party in and out of Parliament ; they were 
 triumphs won by Cobden, Bright, and Richard, against 
 almost overwhelming opposition, and in this triumph of all 
 public men, rhey were most entitled to the renown, not 
 simply in the return of the Liberal Administration to power, 
 but what was of far greater moment, converted to a pacific 
 policy abroad, and pledged to the adoption of non-interven- 
 tion in foreign quarrels from which they had so narrowly 
 escaped becoming involved in the American and European 
 troubles from 1859 to 1865.
 
 THE INSURRECTION IN JAMAICA. 93 
 
 The General Election of 1865 was especially memorable 
 for Mr. Richard in a personal direction, from the fact that 
 he was invited for the first time in his public career as a 
 candidate for a seat in Parliament. 
 
 The strong recommendation for this position came from 
 the press of the Principality of Wales, the land of his birth, 
 and in the columns of the Cymru appeared an earnest 
 appeal to elect Mr. Richard for Cardiganshire, from which 
 the following is an extract : 
 
 " Honour yourselves, your country, and your religion, by 
 determining to elect Henry Richard, the Apostle of Peace, 
 the friend of Richard Cobden, to represent you in the next 
 Parliament." 
 
 Mr. Richard accepted this call under a high sense of duty, 
 and proceeded to Aberystwith to take the field against the 
 sitting Member, Colonel Powell, and his appearance so 
 frightened the Whig party that they immediately withdrew 
 the Colonel and substituted for him a strong supporter of 
 Lord Palmerston in the person of Sir Thomas Lloyd, and it 
 was rendered more complicated by the candidature of Mr^ 
 David Davies ; and Mr. Richard, rather than cause a division 
 that would have endangered the Liberal seat, retired, much 
 to the disappointment of his friends, but his chivalry for the 
 party was amply rewarded three years later, as is subsequently 
 shown. 
 
 THE INSURRECTION IN JAMAICA, 1865. 
 
 In January, 1866, intelligence reached this country of a 
 deplorable outbreak in Jamaica, the causes of which forcibly 
 illustrates the saying of Solomon, " Behold, what a great fire 
 a little spark kindleth" and this outbreak, and the tornado of 
 passionate revenge which followed, involved Mr. Richard and 
 his friends of the Anti-Slavery Society, in much labour and 
 anxiety, and a reference to these events is necessary.
 
 94 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 It appears to have originated, partly from the arrest of a 
 man brawling in the Court of Petty Sessions at Morant Bay, 
 who was afterwards rescued by the populace, and partly by a 
 trespass case on a plantation that had no owner, and the 
 attempted arrests, and subsequent rescue of the prisoners 
 were the accelerating causes of the outbreak. The Sessions 
 House was defended by eighteen volunteers, and the rioters, 
 who numbered 600, quickly overpowered them, massacred 
 the Magistrates and Officials, and on the following day 
 the mob occupied and plundered several towns in the 
 Island, and much property was destroyed, and many lives 
 were sacrificed. 
 
 On the same evening, Governor Eyre held a Council of 
 War, and proclaimed Martial Law, and for several days the 
 Militia and Volunteers hunted down the " rebels," and those 
 who were not killed in the open were captured, tried by Court- 
 Martial, found guilty, and shot or hung; and in this 
 indiscriminate manner the rebellion was crushed. 
 
 Governor Eyre then proceeded to the arrest of the Hon. 
 G. W. Gordon, a popular leader and member of the Assembly, 
 who gave himself up voluntarily, when he was placed on the 
 Wolfetine, and despatched with troops to Morant Bay for 
 trial. 
 
 The charge made against Gordon was, that he advised and 
 incited the insurrection at Morant Bay on the nth October, 
 1865, and that consequently he was responsible for the 
 wholesale massacre which took place, and especially of Baron 
 Von Ketelhodt, the Magistrates, and other officials assembled 
 at the Court House at Kingston, and upon this charge he 
 was arraigned before a Court-Martial, which consisted of 
 three young Officers, and in a few hours, without Counsel or 
 legal assistance, or time given for a proper defence, the Court 
 adjudged him guilty of high treason, and sentenced him to 
 be hung the following day, without any chance of an appeal 
 either to the Government at home, or to the clemency of 
 the Crown.
 
 THE INSURRECTION IN JAMAICA. 95 
 
 As soon as possible, on the facts becoming known, Mr. 
 Richard prepared a Memorial, which was signed by Mr. 
 Joseph Pease and Mr. Samuel Gurney, and forwarded to 
 Earl Russell, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs, imploring the Government to put a stop to the "Reign 
 of Terror " in Jamaica, and to institute a searching Enquiry 
 into the whole of the deplorable business, that those who had 
 been guilty of the reckless effusion of blood should be brought 
 to justice. Mr. Richard also published a pamphlet giving 
 all the leading facts of the case, and copies of it were sent 
 to Members of Parliament, to Editors, Ministers, and other 
 gentlemen of influence throughout the country, and by such 
 efforts as those, backed by the eloquent pleadings of the 
 Press, the conscience of the nation was touched, and public 
 opinion was roused to redeem the national honor and 
 character from complicity in so great a crime. 
 
 The month following the report of the extraordinary trial 
 of Mr. Gordon for High Treason and of his execution 
 reaching this country, Mr. Richard denounced it in the 
 strongest terms, for he said : 
 
 " It was impossible to read this shameful record without feeling 
 the pulse throb with indignation, and the brow flush with shame, 
 at such a grotesque farce enacted in the name of justice, at such 
 a wicked wrong inflicted on an innocent man, at such deep dis- 
 honor done to the British name." 
 
 It was firmly believed by Mr. Richard, and the Committee 
 of the Anti-Slavery Society, that poor Gordon had been foully 
 put to death, nay, that in consequence of his foremost and 
 unflinching advocacy of the Rights of the colored people, a 
 deep-rooted animosity prevailed against him, and a determina- 
 tion on the part of his political opponents, by fair or foul 
 means to remove him, and therefore, strong efforts were put 
 forth to compel Her Majesty's Government to institute an 
 Enquiry into the whole circumstances connected with the 
 terrible events in Jamaica, the wholesale executions, estimated 
 at upwards of two thousand persons ; the alleged conspiracy,
 
 96 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 prior to the riot, at Morant Bay ; and especially into the 
 alleged justification for the arrest, trial, sentence and death 
 of the Hon. G. W. Gordon. 
 
 As a preliminary step, for the purpose of securing this 
 Enquiry, a powerful Deputation, of which number Mr. 
 Richard was one, waited on the Colonial Minister, Mr. 
 Card well, which was introduced by Mr. Samuel Gurney, M.P., 
 and the right hon. gentleman, in his reply to the Memorial 
 and speeches addressed to him, declared that Her Majesty's 
 Government had determined upon a "/////, an impartial, and 
 an independent Enquiry" into the deplorable events in 
 Jamaica, and into the causes which had occasioned them, 
 and this Deputation to Ministers was followed by an imposing 
 demonstration in Exeter Hall, at which Mr. Richard de- 
 livered an effective speech, concluding as follows : 
 
 " The men who are the true friends of the honor of England 
 are not the men who are trying to make England responsible for 
 what has been done in Jamaica. We trust that public opinion 
 will clear England from that responsibility. We want to wipe 
 away from the fair brow of our motherland the stain of blood 
 which has been fixed upon it by Governor Eyre and his compeers. 
 We shall best honor England by bringing those men to justice 
 who have violated all equity, who have disgraced humanity, and 
 tarnished the lustre of the British name." 
 
 This demonstration, and other efforts, stimulated the im- 
 mediate action of the Government, and accordingly the 
 Royal Commission, consisting of Sir Henry Storks, Charles 
 S. Roundell, Russell Gurney, J. B. Maule, and Lieutenant 
 Strahan, set sail for Jamaica ; and they were accompanied by 
 a delegation of the Jamaica Committee, namely, John Corrie, 
 J. Horne-Payne, and William Morgan, all members of the 
 legal profession; also by a Commission of Enquiry from the 
 Society of Friends, Thomas Harvey and William Brewin, all 
 of whom, it was acknowledged, were admirably fitted for the 
 special duties entrusted to them. 
 
 The Royal Commission arrived in Jamaica January, 1866, 
 when Sir Henry Storks was sworn in as Governor of Jamaica,
 
 THE INSURRECTION IN JAMAICA. 97 
 
 in place of Governor Eyre, and from the 23rd January to 
 the 3oth April the Enquiry proceeded, and the conclusions 
 arrived at for submission to Parliament agreed in the main 
 with the published facts which originally led to their appoint- 
 ment, as to the details of the insurrection, its causes, and 
 results, but they considered the punishme nts inflicted on the 
 coloured people were excessive ; that the summary executions 
 were cruel, and the floggings barbarous, and Her Majesty's 
 Government were compelled to express their entire concur- 
 rence with this Report, and moreover, that the responsibility 
 of ex-Governor Eyre, especially in regard to the illegal trial 
 by Court-Martial, and the precipitate and cold-blooded 
 execution of poor Gordon was proved, and the decision of 
 the Government was unanimous in declaring : 
 
 " That they do not consider they should discharge their duty 
 by advising the Crown to replace Mr. Eyre in his former govern- 
 ment of Jamaica." 
 
 Accordingly Sir John P. Grant, K.C.B., who had served 
 in India as Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, was appointed 
 to succeed him. 
 
 The Jamaica Committee went further than the Report of 
 the Royal Commission, guided by the independent information 
 of Messrs. Corrie, Horne-Payne, and Morgan. They were of 
 opinion that ex-Governor Eyre was amenable to the law for 
 the illegal acts committed by him during the continuance of 
 Martial Law in Jamaica, and they decided to institute pro- 
 ceedings against him and his accomplices, and to arraign them 
 before a judicial tribunal. Steps were immediately taken in the 
 first instanceagainst Brigadier General Nelson, and Lieutenant 
 Brand, who, after a preliminary investigation, were committed 
 to take their trial ; but at this trial, though the Grand Jury 
 were charged in a great speech of five hours from Chief 
 Justice Cockburn in support of their committal, they neverthe- 
 less declared the Bill against the accused, " not found" 
 
 The Jamaica Committee thereupon determined upon the 
 prosecution of ex-Governor Eyre alone, and in consequence 
 
 H
 
 98 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 of this action Mr. Charles Buxton, the chairman of the 
 Committee, retired from the position, on the ground that 
 shameful and even criminal as had been the acts committed 
 by Governor Eyre, they were not such as involved him in 
 the guilt of wilful murder. 
 
 Mr. Richard on the contrary cordially supported the prose- 
 cution in a vigorous article from his pen, in which, after 
 setting forth the atrocities perpetrated in Jamaica, and the 
 illegality of the 'trial and execution of Gordon and others, 
 he declared : 
 
 " If the accused (ex-Governor Eyre) can only once be brought 
 into Court, and arraigned before a Criminal Tribunal, even 
 though he should afterwards be acquitted, something will have 
 been gained for the cause of justice and humanity." 
 
 WAR IN ABYSSINIA, 1867. 
 
 When Parliament was prorogued on the 2ist August, 
 1867, reference was made in the Queen's Speech to the un- 
 happy complications in Abyssinia, with a view to obtain the 
 release of British subjects, and that a peremptory demand 
 for their release had been made to King Theodore, failing 
 which hostile measures would be taken. King Theodore 
 refused to surrender the captives held by him at Magdala, 
 and the Government resolved on War, and on the igth 
 November, 1867, Parliament was summoned to provide the 
 " ways and means," the Speech from the Throne declaring 
 as follows : 
 
 " The Sovereign of Abyssinia, in violation of all international 
 law, continues to hold in captivity several of my subjects, some 
 of whom have been specially accredited to him by myself; and 
 his persistent disregard of friendly representations has left me 
 no alternative but that of making a peremptory demand for the 
 liberation of my subjects, and supporting it by adequate force." 
 
 Mr. Richard, immediately on this Declaration of War,
 
 WAR IN ABYSSINIA. 99 
 
 issued an important statement, in pamphlet form, which was 
 widely circulated on the eve of the assembling of Parliament, 
 in which he said that the state of affairs in Abyssinia was a 
 striking instance of the tendency of Englishmen to meddle 
 with what does not concern them, and he set forth very 
 clearly the facts, how that in 1840 Mr. Walter Plowden per- 
 suaded Lord Palmerston to appoint him British Consul for 
 Abyssinia, and the year following, acting in the name of 
 England, he negotiated a Treaty with Ras-Ali, the Ruler of 
 Gondar, at the time he was waging a war with his rebellious 
 subjects ; that in 1854, Ras-Ali was overthrown by his 
 son-in-law, Theodore, who of course repudiated the Treaty 
 the former had made with England, and soon afterwards 
 poor Plowden fell into the hands of the enemies of King 
 Theodore, and was killed. 
 
 It would have been well at this juncture if the English 
 Government had not appointed a successor, for the useless- 
 ness of having Consular relations with this barbaric Monarch 
 had been amply proved, but notwithstanding the protest of 
 the Ruler of Abyssinia, Captain Cameron was appointed, 
 who, as it afterwards turned out, was most unfit for the 
 position ; and, as proof of it, when King Theodore refused 
 to receive him as Consul, and desired him to leave the 
 Capital, and when Lord Russell in 1863 instructed him to 
 carry out the King's wishes and to return to Massowah, and 
 there remain until further orders, Cameron refused to do so, 
 but interfered in the public affairs of Abyssinia, for he sided 
 with the enemies of the King, denounced him as a murderer, 
 which invoked the jealousy of the King, and. the inevitable 
 result was that he was imprisoned. 
 
 To secure his release Mr. Rassam was sent as intercessor, 
 but the King detained every one who went to him, and the 
 reason assigned was, that the Abyssinian Monarch having 
 written a courteous letter to the British Government, no 
 notice was taken of it, and in fact it was placed in the 
 pigeon-holes of the Foreign Office, and never answered.
 
 100 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 In both Houses of Parliament, on its assembling in 
 November, the debate on the Address, and the subsequent 
 debate on the resolution moved by the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer for the expenses of the Expedition to Abyssinia, 
 shewed an entire absence of party feeling, and in fact 
 general unanimity prevailed, not even the members of the 
 Peace party raised any protest, but gave their silent vote for 
 the war, and the " ways and means " for its prosecution. 
 
 No doubt the Expedition was conducted with great energy 
 and skill, and it is only just to Lord Napier to admit it was 
 conducted in a humane spirit, no cruelty or plunder having 
 been practised upon the people, and it was satisfactory that 
 our Consul and the Missionaries were released from their 
 captivity; but, as Mr. Richard declared, it must be admitted 
 that they had no business in that barbarous land at all, and 
 but for their folly in going, or the folly of those who sent 
 them, the ^8,000,000 sterling which that war cost, and 
 which is now buried in the mountains of Abyssinia, would 
 have been saved. 
 
 MR. RICHARD'S CONTINENTAL EFFORTS. 
 
 In June, 1868, Mr. Richard, accompanied by Mr. Charles 
 Pease, formed a deputation to Paris to attend the meeting 
 of the International League of Peace, presided over by a 
 long-tried friend of the Cause, Jean Dollfus, Mayor of 
 Mulhouse, which was addressed, amongst others, by Augustus 
 Visschers, Frederic Passy, M. Isidor, Grand Rabbi of the 
 Jews, Martin Paschaud, Minister of the Protestant Church, 
 and Henry Richard; and the latter, before he left Paris, 
 convened a private Conference of the friends of the Cause, 
 for the purpose of initiating a movement in France of friendly 
 relations with Germany, and with a view to allay the mutual 
 jealousy and suspicion existing between the two nations.
 
 MR. RICHARD'S CONTINENTAL EFFORTS. 101 
 
 Again, Mr. Richard, during the parliamentary recess of 
 1869, went on a pacific mission to the Continent, and 
 visited Paris, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin, Vienna and 
 Florence, for the purpose of bringing about some concerted 
 action in the direction of disarmament. Mr. Cobden, in the 
 years 1849, '50 and '51, raised this question in the British 
 Parliament, but without any practical issue; and Mr. Richard 
 was of opinion that it was vain to wait for Governments to 
 take an initiative in the direction of disarmament, and that 
 therefore we must look to the people, through their re- 
 presentatives in the various Legislatures of Europe, to bring 
 pressure to bear on their respective Governments ; and the 
 results of his labours in this important mission were highly 
 encouraging, and fully justified the heroic efforts made. 
 
 In Holland he received a cordial welcome from the 
 leading members of the Legislature, and he was there 
 encouraged by their action, and especially for their efforts in 
 favour of an International Convention for the better treatment 
 of wounded soldiers in War, and especially for a clause 
 which expressed the hope ; 
 
 " That this Convention may be soon followed by others, by 
 which the contracting parties shall engage to abolish War, as 
 incompatible with the principles of Christianity, the interests of 
 their subjects, with the civilisation of the age, and the peaceful 
 wishes of the Nations." 
 
 In Belgium, the question of disarmament was ably handled 
 by M. Couvreur, a distinguished friend of peace, who intro- 
 duced the subject in the Belgian Parliament in a speech of 
 great force and eloquence. In Germany, the results of his 
 mission were of real practical importance, and gave earnest 
 of much good ; for at Berlin, Dr. Virchow, one of the most 
 distinguished members of the Reichstag, submitted a resolu- 
 tion in favour of international disarmament, which was 
 supported by 99 members ; in Dresden, two members of the 
 Saxon House of Representatives submitted a similar resolu- 
 tion, which was carried by a large majority. In Austria 
 Mr. Richard was heartily welcomed at Vienna, where he
 
 102 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 was assured that ninety-nine hundredths of the Austrian 
 people abhor War, and curse a policy which compelled them 
 to meet their fellow-men on the field of battle, and the idea 
 of disarmament took firm hold, and a resolution was brought 
 forward in the Reichsrath by Herr Mayerhoffer, urging the 
 Government to take steps with the European Powers to 
 effect a general disarmament, which was supported by 53 
 members. 
 
 After visiting Wurtemburg, Munich, and Florence, at all 
 of which important centres he was accorded by public men 
 and the Press generally hearty good wishes for his success, 
 Mr. Richard visited Paris, where the International League 
 of Peace organised a successful banquet to receive him, 
 attended by several deputies, amongst whom were, Jules 
 Favre, Jules Simon, Albert Tachard ; also by M. Laboulaye, 
 Aries Dufour, and Frederic Passy. In the course of the 
 proceedings Mr. Richard reviewed his campaign to the 
 various European Capitals, and observed : 
 
 " Everywhere I have nfet with a cordial reception and 
 encouraging assurances, and I hope that you gentlemen, the 
 Deputies around me, will cheerfully introduce in your own 
 Chamber a similar Motion." 
 
 Jules Favre responded to this challenge, and pledged his 
 own, and his colleagues, earnest co-operation, a pledge that 
 the. subsequent Franco-German War prevented his carrying 
 out. 
 
 THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS. 
 
 At a Social Science Congress held in London 1868, Mr. 
 Edwin Chadwick in the chair, Mr. Richard read a paper on 
 " Standing Armies and their influence on the Industrial, 
 Commercial and Moral Interests of Nations." He referred 
 to the number of men under arms, estimated at 3,926,957, 
 able-bodied men, and including the auxiliary forces, upwards
 
 THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS. 103 
 
 of eight millions of men ; to the cost of the military establish- 
 ments of Europe, including the loss of labour and interest 
 on capital, equal to ^282,000,000, which he shewed involved 
 the European States in normal embarrassment. Having 
 referred to the physical and moral evils inseparable from such 
 a system, he advocated an understanding with the Great 
 Powers to secure a gradual and simultaneous disarmament, 
 and supported the proposal from the opinions of Cobden, 
 Sir Robert Peel, and especially from the Emperor of the 
 French, who at the opening of the Chambers in 1863 said : 
 
 " Have not the prejudices and rancours which divide us lasted 
 long enough ? Shall the jealous rivalries of the Great Powers 
 unceasingly impede the progress of civilization ? Are we still to 
 maintain mutual distrust by exaggerated armaments ? Must our 
 most precious resources be infinitely exhausted in a vain display 
 of our forces ? Must we eternally maintain a condition of things 
 which is neither peace with its security, nor war with its happy 
 chances ? " 
 
 And he gave an illustration of its practicability from the 
 Treaty of Ghent in 1814, between Great Britain and the 
 United States, which limited by Protocol the respective 
 military forces on the North American Lakes, and which he 
 shewed proved an effective arrangement. 
 
 The discussion which followed was of great interest, and at 
 the close the following resolution was adopted : 
 
 "That the Standing Committee of the department be requested 
 to consider and prepare such propositions of measures as may 
 appear to be practicable for the reduction of the burdens of 
 Standing Armies, and of pressing them upon the consideration 
 of the Legislature and the Government." 
 
 During the same year, Mr. Richard addressed the Annual 
 Meeting of the London Missionary Society in London on the 
 pacific duties of Christian Missionaries, in which he made 
 an impassioned and eloquent appeal to the Ministers present 
 to be faithful in their propagandism, in their example, and 
 action to the pacific teachings of their Great Master, and he 
 closed as follows : 
 
 " I am jealous for the honour of Christ in this matter. I am
 
 104 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 jealous that when He shall conquer India and China to His 
 power, as I believe He will ultimately, no one shall have a right 
 to share His glory, no one shall have a right to say that it was 
 owing to the broadsides of British men-of-war, that it was owing 
 to the diplomacy of British Plenipotentiaries or Ambassadors, or 
 Consuls, that the work was accomplished. No ! let Him have 
 the glory. Trust not in these things, dear friends. Trust in the 
 living God. Trust in the presence ot the Master. Trust in the 
 influence of God's Spirit, that is the best trust, and by that only 
 shall you conquer. (Loud applause)." 
 
 As closely allied with this subject, reference may be suit- 
 ably made to two remarkable publications from Mr. Richard's 
 pen, remarkable for their boldness and vigour of language, 
 as they undoubtedly were for their courage and originality 
 of attack, as few men within or without the circle of the 
 Peace Party would dared to have made such a powerful 
 onslaught on so influential and Christian a body, or would 
 have sympathised with the polemic weapons wielded against 
 them, by Mr. Richard. 
 
 These two publications were, firstly, " A Letter addressed 
 to the Directors and Supporters of Bible and Missionary 
 Societies," and secondly, " The Effects of the Civil War in 
 England on the National Liberties, Morality, and Religion." 
 
 The former taking for its motto the Apostolic injunction 
 " not to do evil that good may come," was an eloquent 
 Christian appeal to the pioneers of Christianity in foreign 
 lands to be faithful in their missionary enterprise to the 
 teaching and example of their Divine Master, and this 
 appeal he justified on the ground that he felt that there was 
 creeping into the advocacy of their great cause a spirit that 
 was flagrantly at variance with the spirit of the Gospel, which 
 was evidenced by a disposition to place their missionary 
 Christianity under the protection of British Armaments, and 
 in the silence maintained in regard to military aggressions 
 on the rights and possessions of heathen nations, which he 
 illustrated by a reference to the Opium War with China, 
 the Invasion of Afghanistan; the Wars with Burmah and 
 Persia ; and the Annexation of Scinde, Oude, and other
 
 THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS. 105 
 
 States of Hindostan to the British Crown. Believing, he 
 said, that Christianity and War are in their sources, their 
 principles, their spirit and tendency, as opposite as light to 
 darkness, any attempt to mix Blood and Bible, Gospel and 
 Gunpowder, was inexpressibly revolting to him, and he 
 feared that this heterodox teaching so prevalent, advocated 
 in England by eminent ministers of the Gospel, was re-act- 
 ing most disastrously upon Christian ministers abroad. 
 
 Mr. Richard appealed further to missionary history, 
 whether the triumphs of British Arms were the best means 
 for the propagation of the Gospel, and instanced the career 
 and labours of the missionary Williams in the South Seas; 
 Moffat in Africa ; and other missionaries in New Zealand, 
 the Fiji Islands, and the West Indies. 
 
 In the second pamphlet (published in 1862) he denied 
 that the Wars of the Commonwealth, from 1640 to 1660, 
 against the intolerance, arbitrary taxation, and unconstitu- 
 tional rule of Charles I., furnished any proof of the necessity 
 or advantage of an Appeal to the Sword, for he considered 
 it tended to damage, not promote, the interests of liberty, 
 religion, and morality. 
 
 He stated that at its close every semblance of liberty was 
 sacrificed, for Cromwell suppressed liberty of speech, parlia- 
 mentary government, and enthroned a military despotism 
 over the land, and that when Cromwell disappeared matters 
 were infinitely worse, and in support of this view he quoted 
 Macaulay, Evelyn, and Mackintosh. 
 
 Further, not only was liberty lost by the Wars of the 
 Commonwealth, but England lost her love of liberty, which 
 he attributed to the deplorable effects that Civil War pro- 
 duces, diffusing corruption in society, and brutalises the 
 people. 
 
 He showed that prior to the Civil War a deep moral and 
 religious earnestness pervaded the country, whilst subsequent 
 to the restoration of the Stuarts, piety declined, and corrup- 
 tion eat like a canker into the heart of society, and he
 
 106 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 considered that it was the result of the disastrous tendency 
 which a state of War produced in the mind of the people. 
 Religious liberty was sacrificed by the Act of Uniformity, 
 the Conventicle Act, and the Five-Mile Act, and the result 
 was 60,000 were imprisoned for conscience' sake, and from five 
 to 6,000 perished, and thus he considered the sword was an 
 inefficient instrument to redress wrong, to vindicate right, to 
 establish liberty, on a secure and lasting basis. 
 
 GENERAL ELECTION, 1868. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1868, Parliament was dis- 
 solved, and Mr. Richard, in response to the earnestly- 
 expressed wish of his Welsh fellow-countrymen, consented 
 to stand as a candidate for Merthyr Tydvil, and his appearance 
 in the constituency evoked great enthusiasm, and on several 
 occasions during the contest monster processions with banners 
 and music met him, and the largest buildings that could be 
 obtained were crowded to their utmost capacity to hear 
 him in Welsh and in English appeal to the electors for their 
 support. His return by the votes of 12,000 electors, and a 
 majority of 6,000 over the Right Hon. Henry Bruce, was 
 hailed with joy by the Welsh people and by many outside 
 Wales, and on his return to London, the Committee of the 
 Peace Society adopted the following resolution, an expression 
 of feeling shared by many thousands of his friends : 
 
 "The Committee desire to convey to Henry Richard their 
 sincere and cordial congratulations on his election as member 
 of Parliament for Merthyr Tydvil, and express their ardent hope 
 that he will be able from time to time to enunciate in the House 
 of Commons those great, and patriotic, and Christian principles 
 on which the Peace Society is founded. From their intimate 
 acquaintance during many years with Mr. Richard's able and 
 indefatigable exertions, both in this country and on the Continent, 
 for the promotion of Peace, the Committee view with especial 
 satisfaction the prospect of his participation in those parlia- 
 mentary debates which may refer to the Armaments of Europe, 
 International Arbitration, and the peace of the world."
 
 THE FIRST SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. 107 
 
 THE FIRST SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT, 
 
 delivered by Mr. Richard, was on the 22nd March, 1869, on 
 the adjourned debate of the Second Reading of the Bill of 
 Her Majesty's Government, brought into the House by Mr. 
 Gladstone to put an end to the establishment of the Church 
 in Ireland, and to make provision in respect of the Tempo- 
 ralities thereof, and of the Royal College of Maynooth. 
 
 The debate was opened on this night by Sir Roundell 
 Palmer (now Lord Selborne), one of the few of the usual 
 loyal supporters of the Liberal party, and the most dis- 
 tinguished of that small minority, who conscientiously 
 opposed this great measure of justice to Ireland, and, having 
 been followed by the Solicitor-General, Sir J. D. Coleridge, 
 Mr. Charley, Serjeant Dowse, and Mr. Vance, Mr. Richard 
 rose and delivered a very successful maiden speech, which 
 The Nonconformist described as " happily conceived, well 
 delivered, and which caught the ear of the House." 
 
 It was a speech from a Welsh point of view in favour of 
 the Bill, for it supplied valuable information, as shewing the 
 success which had attended the exertions of voluntary Non- 
 conformist Churches in Wales, and commended their example 
 to the study and imitation of the Church in Ireland. 
 
 The following evening, or rather early on the morning of 
 March 24th, after four nights' exhaustive debate, the Bill 
 was read a second time in a very full House, consisting of 
 618 members, and shewed a majority in its favour of 118. 
 
 In the same session, on July 6th, Mr. Richard championed 
 the cause of the newly enfranchised electors of Wales in the 
 free exercise of their political rights, especially in the county 
 constituencies, and submitted the following motion on the 
 subject : 
 
 "That in the opinion of this House, the proceedings of certain 
 landlords in Wales, towards their tenants, on account of the free 
 exercise of the Franchise at Elections, are oppressive and un- 
 constitutional, and an infringement of the rights conferred by 
 Parliament on the people of this country."
 
 108 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 The Right Hon. H. A. Bruce, at the close of the debate, 
 on behalf of the Government, appealed to Mr. Richard 
 to be satisfied with " the just distinction he had secured 
 by his powerful and remarkable speech," and the impres- 
 sion it had produced on the House, and withdraw his 
 motion, and, yielding to this appeal, it was by leave with- 
 drawn. 
 
 In the Session of 1870, Mr. Richard took considerable 
 interest in 
 
 THE ELEMENTARY EDUCATION ACT, 
 
 submitted to Parliament by Mr. Forster, on the 1 7th February, 
 for securing throughout England and Wales the provision 
 of accommodation and appliances for the elementary educa- 
 tion of the people, partly through the medium of voluntary 
 schools already existing, or to be thereafter established, and 
 partly by the establishment of rate-supported schools under 
 public School Boards. The debate on this great Measure 
 was deferred to the second reading, when considerable 
 opposition arose, on the provisions establishing School Boards 
 to permit the teaching of particular religious views in the 
 schools under their control. This religious difficulty was 
 strongly enforced by the supporters of the Birmingham 
 League, who advocated unsectarian education, and their 
 spokesman, Mr. George Dixon, the founder of the League, 
 upon the second reading of the Bill, April 6th, moved an 
 amendment to the effect : 
 
 "That no measure for the elementary education of the people 
 could afford a permanent and satisfactory settlement which left 
 the important question of religious instruction to be determined 
 by the local authorities," 
 
 and, on the third night of the debate, Mr. Richard addressed 
 the House in its support, mainly from a Welsh Nonconformist 
 point of view, and, at the conclusion of the debate, the 
 Prime Minister, (Mr. Gladstone) consented to consider the 
 strong expression of opinions of the supporters of the amend-
 
 THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 1 09 
 
 ment, even to the extent that the religious clauses of the 
 Measure should be considerably re-modelled, and Mr. Dixon, 
 relying on this assurance, did not press his amendment to a 
 division; but it was relying on a broken reed, as events 
 proved, for we find that at a subsequent stage in Committee on 
 the Bill, Mr. Richard renewed his opposition by moving on 
 24th June the following important amendment : 
 
 " That grants to denominational schools should not be in- 
 creased, and that in any system of elementary education, the 
 attendance should be everywhere compulsory, and the religious 
 instruction should be supplied by voluntary effort, and not out of 
 public funds." 
 
 He objected to the scheme of the Government on the 
 ground, that it aimed to make the education of the people of 
 England for ever denominational, and to saddle the support 
 of it upon the taxpayers, which, in the words of Mr. Cobden, 
 was " a proposal by which everybody shall be called upon to 
 pay for the religious teaching of everybody else." The 
 principles of Nonconformity, he said, were opposed to the 
 taxation of the people being applied to purposes of religious 
 instruction and worship, and he fortified this position by 
 declarations of Mr. Bright and Mr. Baines. To the com- 
 promise which had been suggested, to the effect that in 
 schools hereafter established by local rates, no catechism or 
 religious formulary should be taught, he considered there 
 would be no security against the schools becoming sectarian 
 and that to leave the teaching to the discretion of the School- 
 master or to the School Boards, would be to create a new 
 sacerdotal class to influence the country for the future, which 
 would introduce an element of religious discord and 
 animosity. 
 
 THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 
 
 The years 1870-71 were saddened indeed by one of the 
 most terrible Wars of modern times, and the history of those
 
 HO HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 miserable complications which plunged eventually France 
 and Prussia into that fratricidal struggle, proves, that it was 
 a War declared and waged on the most flimsy, and the most 
 unjustifiable pretext, and in consequence of the prominent 
 action which Mr. Richard took to avert this catastrophe, a 
 statement of the facts is necessary. 
 
 Spain was anxious for a King, as the healing balm for 
 some of her constitutional maladies, and Prim, the Crom- 
 well of the Revolution, who had been throwing out his line, 
 with such a tempting bait, into nearly every Royal Court in 
 Europe, and as uniformly unsuccessful, at last secured a 
 candidate, as he believed in every way qualified for the 
 position, one of those numerous Princes in Germany, a 
 younger scion of the Royal House of Hohenzollern, Prince 
 Leopold Sigmaringen, who, possessing but a Colonelcy in 
 the Hussars, was naturally anxious "for promotion to the 
 first vacant Throne in Europe." 
 
 Immediately on the Government at the Tuilieries being 
 informed of what they considered to be a terrible crime 
 against the honour and the prestige of France, the exercise 
 by Spain of her undoubted right in the choice of a King, 
 not a moment was lost in instructing Benedetti, the French 
 Ambassador, to the Court at Berlin, to interrogate Bismarck, 
 and to demand an explanation. But Bismarck was absent 
 from the Capital, on the ground, it is believed of ill-health ; 
 his deputy declared he knew nothing of the transaction, and 
 was, moreover, without instructions from the Chancellor ; 
 and the King was at his favourite retreat at Ems. To Ems 
 Benedetti is ordered forthwith to repair ; but by some in- 
 explicable blundering in the carrying out of that important 
 mission, he only hastens the impending rupture between the 
 two Powers. Meeting the King as he was taking his ac- 
 customed promenade, Benedetti plunges abruptly into the 
 delicate controversy, breaking that official reserve which the 
 negociations at this momentous crisis required should not 
 be rashly entered upon, and the result was, he was politely
 
 THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. Ill 
 
 informed that Prince Leopold, at the solicitation of parental 
 authority, and in deference to France, had renounced his 
 candidature, and to make it clear, the official renunciation 
 in the Cologne Gazette was given, him to read. 
 
 The French Ambassador, not satisfied with this with- 
 drawal, acting upon the suicidal instructions he had received 
 from Paris, in the most undiplomatic manner, demanded 
 that the King of Prussia should give a guarantee, a distinct 
 assurance, that neither then nor thereafter should that candi- 
 dature be revived. Neither the proposal nor the manner of 
 presenting it was conformable to Royal usage, nor agreeable 
 to the Royal mind ; and Benedetti was not only refused a 
 hearing, but emphatically assured by the "Aide-de-camp" 
 to the King that he declined giving such a promise. This 
 remarkable interview closes, and the political horizon, 
 which Earl Granville had declared a few days before, to be 
 so tranquil, now appeared dark, and threatened an inter- 
 national storm. 
 
 At this serious juncture of events, Bismarck appears on 
 the scene, and to aggravate matters very considerably he 
 causes to be published in the Norddeutschen Zeitung (the 
 official organ of the Government) some doubtful statements, 
 implying that the King had publicly snubbed the Imperial 
 Ambassador of France ; and that thereupon the latter had 
 returned the compliment, an idle squib, which was flashed 
 by telegraph from Berlin to every Capital and Court in 
 Europe. 
 
 To give a European publicity to such a statement, was 
 felt to be an intentional affront and humiliation to France ; 
 and in the inflamed and disturbed feeling of the French and 
 German mind, was an act of great imprudence, on the part 
 of a Statesman, who professed and sometimes practised a 
 conventional diplomacy. 
 
 Unhappily, too, other causes were not wanting to compli- 
 cate matters very considerably, and to jeopardise the main- 
 tenance of Peace, for the Due de Grarnmont, French
 
 112 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Minister for Foreign affairs, forgetful of the dignified attitude 
 befitting the responsible office he held, indulged in bellicose 
 language from the Tribune of the Corps Legislatif; the 
 Press too, oblivious of their delicate vocation as Instructors 
 of the people, lashed the public mind into an ungovernable 
 fury against Prussia, calling upon the soldiers of Jena to be 
 ready to cross the Rhine ; and finally, Ollivier, the Premier 
 of France, recreant to his avowed love for peace, and to the 
 special conditions under which he accepted the Premiership 
 of France, amidst the frantic enthusiasm of the assembled 
 Senators, " with a light heart," pronounced the declaration of 
 war, that awful declaration, the fiat of a clique, by which 
 thousands and tens of thousands of his fellow-creatures, the 
 flower of the manhood of the two nations, were irrevocably 
 doomed to perish by a horrible and agonizing death. 
 
 Against this most deplorable and disgraceful war between 
 two great combined and Christian nations, Mr. Richard and 
 his distinguished friend Frederic Passy, the Secretary of the 
 League of Peace in France, worked with an enthusiasm 
 worthy of all praise, but alas ! the current was too strong, 
 the popular frenzy was roused, and all their efforts failed to 
 calm the troubled waters, or to avert the impending storm, 
 but it is due to their labours to refer to them. 
 
 On the i6th July, immediately on the alarm of War 
 Mr. Richard, addressed to his colleague in Paris, Mr. Passy, 
 a letter suggesting whether it would not be possible to find 
 some efficient means for protesting against the War, and the 
 suggestion was followed up by the despatch of a stirring 
 appeal to the French Emperor and the King of Prussia, on 
 behalf of the Friends of Peace in France, which solemnly 
 invoked their statesmanship, and if that failed, their 
 humanity, and finally their Christianity, to 
 
 " Bid the avenging sword return into its scabbard." 
 
 These and other kindred efforts failing, Mr. Richard 
 wisely resolved to direct his efforts in another direction, to
 
 INCREASED ARMAMENTS. 113 
 
 circumscribe the area of the War, and to secure for England 
 a position and a policy of an honourable and benevolent 
 neutrality in the terrible struggle, and on August ist he 
 delivered in Parliament a forcible speech on this subject. 
 Throughout that great crisis, Mr. Richard steadfastly and 
 energetically laboured in Parliament and out of it, in this 
 direction, and as the fierce struggle proceeded, with its 
 succession of overwhelming victories for Germany over 
 France, there were not wanting in England, and the other 
 neutral Powers in Europe, strong advocates for intervention, 
 to save the tottering dynasty of Napoleon fast hurrying to its 
 downfall ; and, on the other hand, there was imminent danger 
 to Belgium, lest her neutrality, guaranteed by England, should, 
 by the conflicts raging on her frontiers, and the desire of 
 France to secure her alliance, thereby become imperilled. 
 
 To counteract these sinister influences actively at work in 
 England, and to prevent Great Britain being drawn into that 
 terrible whirlpool of blood, Mr. Richard laboured incessantly 
 by the Press and the platform. By the former, publications 
 were issued broadcast, and reproduced in the public journals, 
 on Belgian Neutrality, Non-intervention, and the Lessons 
 of the War, and by the latter agency he addressed important 
 meetings in London, Stroud, Liverpool, and at the Free 
 Trade Hall, Manchester. 
 
 One of the evil effects of this War, as of every European 
 War in the past, was to raise in the minds of the military 
 classes in Parliament, encouraged by the selfish clamour 
 of the War vested interests outside, a panic cry for 
 
 INCREASED ARMAMENTS. 
 
 Mr. Richard, not only from his place in Parliament, but in 
 other directions, opposed and condemned the proposals 
 of the Government, as he had done a few months 
 previously, for the Government demanded at the close of 
 the Session of 1870, an additional vote of ^2,000,000 to 
 enable them to increase the army by 20,000 men for 
 
 i
 
 114 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 the purpose of defending the threatened neutrality of 
 Belgium. 
 
 During the recess, the War fever, and groundless panic 
 fears, increased in volume and intensity, and schemes of the 
 wildest character were advocated for the national defence. 
 Such for instance, as universal compulsory military service, 
 the creation of enormous reserve forces, and even of gigantic 
 fortifications for London and of the coast line. Happily 
 Mr. Gladstone's Government refused to listen to any of 
 these absurd projects, and contented itself with a moderate 
 scheme for army re-organization and reform, at a cost of 
 ^2,886,700, and the abolition of the purchase system at a cost 
 of ;8, 000,000. The latter, a valuable reform, though 
 obtained at a heavy outlay, for in the first place it not only 
 substituted promotion by favouritism, for promotion by 
 merit, but its tendency has been to lessen the influence and 
 power of the aristocratic classes for military expenditure and 
 military adventures. 
 
 Against, however, the vote of nearly three millions for 
 otherwise securing the efficiency of the army, Mr. Richard 
 resolutely worked, and he did his utmost to induce the 
 electors to urge on their representatives to resist what he 
 termed " this reckless waste of the public money." 
 
 In Parliament he was ably supported by many well-known 
 advocates for retrenchment, led by Mr. Peter Rylands, 
 whose untiring efforts for securing a reduction in military 
 expenditure must ever entitle him to honourable mention, 
 and on the 2 3rd March, 1871, Mr. Richard delivered an 
 effective speech in the House of Commons, on this subject. 
 
 Happily for England, and for the other Neutral Powers in 
 Europe, no less for the belligerents, France and Germany, 
 the policy of non-intervention, not an isolated policy, but 
 one of benevolent neutrality, was consistently adopted 
 throughout that Great War, benevolent in two directions, the 
 one towards mitigating the horrors, and relieving the suffer- 
 ings of its myriads of victims, (and nobly did England do her
 
 THE ALABAMA ARBITRATION. 115 
 
 duty in that direction), andj the other, a benevolent 
 neutrality, pursued by the British Government to terminate 
 by mediation and friendly negotiation that terrible strife, and 
 few men worked harder and achieved more in this matter 
 than Mr. Richard. 
 
 But we gladly turn from this deplorable and disastrous 
 conflict, the arbitrament of the sword between two great 
 civilised and Christian nations, to what must always be con- 
 sidered as a more humane, more statesmanlike, and more 
 Christian method of settling International disputes, as 
 witnessed by the two foremost Christian nations in the 
 world, Great Britain, and the United States of America, in 
 
 THE ALABAMA ARBITRATION, 
 
 for the settlement of several long-standing differences be- 
 tween England and America, for it was one of the most 
 remarkable and successful instances of the practical value of 
 International Arbitration history has yet recorded, and con- 
 sidering the active and valuable part played by Mr. Richard 
 in that great transaction, an historic reference to it may be 
 useful. 
 
 Into the unfortunate circumstances, the escape of the 
 Alabama and other privateers, out of which arose this 
 miserable quarrel, it is unnecessary to enter, as they were 
 fully dealt with previously, but one fact should not be for- 
 gotten, which certainly reflects great credit on the candour 
 of that distinguished statesman/Lord Russell, who, as Foreign 
 Minister of the Crown, was responsible for the escape of the 
 Alabama from Liverpool, and it is this, that when public 
 opinion was inclined to fix the heavy responsibility for 
 that culpable negligence on others, Lord Russell frankly 
 declared : 
 
 " That the Alabama ought to have been detained during the 
 four days in which I was waiting for the opinion of the Law 
 Officers. But I think that the fault was not that of the Com- 
 missioners of Customs ; it was my fault as Secretary of State 
 for Foreign Affairs^ of an error of judgment."
 
 Il6 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 This admission is very honourable to the noble lord, and 
 considering the very grave consequences to which his want 
 of foresight and energy threatened to involve Great Britain, 
 it ought surely to have inclined him, in an especial manner, 
 to look favourably upon any honourable means that might 
 be proposed for the settlement, by conciliation and justice, 
 with the United States of so serious a quarrel. But instead 
 of that, what was the course he pursued ? On the 23rd 
 October, 1863, the United States Ambassador, Mr. Adams, 
 intimated that his Government was willing to submit the 
 dispute to " any fair and equitable form of reference." 
 
 Unhappily, Lord Russell allowed this friendly suggestion 
 to remain unnoticed for nearly two years, and then rejected 
 it in the most haughty and peremptory spirit, in a despatch 
 to Mr. Adams, dated August 30, 1865 in which he declared 
 that " Her Majesty's Government are the sole guardians 
 of their own honour." 
 
 For some years after this refusal of Lord Russell to accept 
 the proposition of Arbitration, the question remained in 
 abeyance, and it was not until the beginning of the year 
 1868, that it was re-opened by the appointment of Mr. 
 Reverdy-Johnson as Minister for the United States, for the 
 express purpose of renewing negociations with the British 
 Government, and with this object in view Mr. Richard 
 pressed on the attention of the Cabinet the importance of 
 securing a speedy and satisfactory settlement of the vexed 
 questions in dispute, and he drafted a Memorial on the 
 subject to Ministers in support of their reference to an 
 Arbitral Process^ and a deputation was organised by him for 
 its presentation to Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, and its prayer was supported by the presence 
 of Edward Baines, M.P., Sir Francis Crossley, M.P., George 
 Hadfield, M.P., and other gentlemen. 
 
 Lord Stanley, (of whom it may be said, that few Foreign 
 Ministers of England have better deserved the honourable 
 title, nor more faithfully fulfilled the character of a Minister
 
 THE ALABAMA ARBITRATION. 1 17 
 
 of Peace,) cordially approved of the Memorial, and expressed 
 opinions decidedly favourable to the pursuance of a pacific 
 Foreign policy, which could not fail to have been full of en- 
 couragement to Mr. Richard and his colleagues; in fact, Lord 
 Stanley was the first Minister of the Crown who accepted the 
 proposition of Arbitration, and, but for his retirement from 
 Office at that juncture, in consequence of the defeat of the 
 Conservative Government, his Lordship would no doubt, 
 have quickly and effectually settled the controversy with 
 America. 
 
 On the accession of Mr. Gladstone to power in 1868, for 
 the first time as Prime Minister of England, Mr. Richard 
 determined not to let the matter slide, and opened a corres- 
 pondence with Lord Clarendon, who had succeeded Lord 
 Stanley as Foreign Minister, and also with the American 
 Ambassador, Mr. Reverdy- Johnson, both of whom were favour- 
 ably disposed to the principle and practice of Arbitration in 
 International Affairs, recommending the insertion in any 
 Treaty between England and America for the Settlement of 
 the Alabama and other claims, an Arbitration Clause, in 
 case of difficulty arising out of its terms or provisions, and 
 both Lord Clarendon and Mr. Johnson approved of the 
 recommendation, and assured Mr. Richard that it was so 
 provided in the Convention between the two Governments. 
 
 Unfortunately, the death of Lord Clarendon, and the 
 subsequent rejection by the United States Senate of the 
 Clarendon-Johnson Convention, which led to the recall of 
 the American Minister Mr. Reverdy-Johnson, suspended for 
 a while the negotiations for the pacific settlement of the 
 Anglo-American difficulties ; but Mr. Richard refused to be- 
 lieve that there was no other way out of the difficulty than 
 by war, and he cherished the hope for a renewal of the 
 negotiations which would ultimately bring to a successful 
 issue this international controversy. This hope was soon 
 happily realised, for the successor of the lamented Lord 
 Clarendon, Lord Granville, animated by the same faith in,
 
 Il8 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 and regard for, the pacific principles of his predecessor, lost 
 no time, on^is accession to Office, in making known to the 
 Government of the United States the earnest desire of Her 
 Majesty's Ministers to make another attempt to arrive at a 
 modus vivendi for the satisfactory solution of the difficulties 
 in dispute, and with this view he proposed the appointment 
 of a Joint High Commission, to meet either in London or 
 Washington, in order to lay a basis of negotiation, and this 
 proposal was promptly and cordially accepted by the Govern- 
 ment of the United States. 
 
 In the first place the Joint High Commission, consisting 
 of the Earl de Grey and Ripon (now the Marquis of Ripon) ; 
 Sir Stafford !H. Northcote, (the late Lord Iddesleigh) ; Sir 
 Edward Thornton ; Sir John Macdonald, and Mr. Montague 
 Bernard, representing England and Canada ; and Mr. 
 Hamilton Fish, Mr. Robert Gumming Schenck, Mr. Samuel 
 Nelson, Mr. Ebenezer R. Hoar, and Mr. George H. Williams, 
 representing the United States, assembled at Washington, 
 and drew up the Treaty of Washington, which will ever 
 form an important epoch in the history of International 
 relations. 
 
 According to this Treaty the Alabama Claims were referred 
 to a Court of Arbitration, composed of five members, one 
 nominated by the United States, Mr. Charles Francis 
 Adams ; one by England, Chief Justice Cockburn ; one by 
 the President of the Swiss Confederation, M. Jacques Staempfli; 
 one by the King of Italy, Count Frederick Sclopis ; and one 
 by the Emperor of Brazil, Viscount D'ltajuba". 
 
 This Tribunal met at Geneva to decide, whether in the 
 Alabama case, England did or did not fulfil her duties as a 
 Neutral Power, and the result was that the Tribunal arrived 
 at a decision adverse to England,and assessed at -3,100,000 
 sterling the damages to be paid by her to the United 
 States. 
 
 By the same Treaty of Washington it was agreed that the 
 Canadian Fishery question should be referred to a Com-
 
 THE BURIALS BILL. 1 19 
 
 mission of three members, one appointed by England, one 
 by the United States, and one by Austria. 
 
 The last question for settlement under the Treaty, the San 
 Juan Boundary difference, was referred for settlement to the 
 Emperor of Germany. 
 
 The success attending this Anglo-American Arbitration, 
 based upon the Treaty of Washington, was not a triumph 
 of one Government in particular, for it was a result due as 
 much to the labours of the present Earl of Derby, as Lords 
 Clarendon and Granville, as much to the services of the 
 late Lord Iddesleigh as to the Marquis of Ripon, and as 
 much to the co-operation of the late Lord Beaconsfield as 
 of Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 Such a triumph of reason and of justice over the arbitra- 
 ment of blood and carnage, is a triumph to the great credit 
 of Great Britain and America, one which both may, without 
 respect to faction or party, rejoice over. 
 
 Mr. Richard hailed this result, for which he laboured so 
 vigorously for many years, with unqualified satisfaction, 
 for he justly observed that in the first place it permanently 
 settled grave differences which, unsettled, were full of peril 
 to the friendly relations of England and America, and 
 especially because it laid the foundation of a precedent, 
 which he believed would not be without its influence on the 
 policy of the other Nations of the world. 
 
 In the Session of 1871 was introduced the Burials Bill, the 
 object of which was to throw open the parish churchyards to 
 Dissenters, with the right of religious service of their Minis- 
 ters. This was cordially supported by Mr. Richard for many 
 years, both in and out of Parliament, and on its introduction 
 for a second time into the House of Commons in the Session 
 of 1871, by Mr. Osborne Morgan, the author of the Bill, Mr. 
 Richard on March ist, delivered an effective speech, in 
 which he appealed for the two classes of persons for whom 
 the Bill sought relief : those who were absolutely denied all 
 rights of Christian burial in the parochial churchyards, those
 
 120 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Christians who disapprove of baptism, to whom no religious 
 service is granted ; and to another and larger class, the Non- 
 conformists, who were forbidden to have their dead buried in 
 the churchyards by their own Ministers, with their own form 
 of religious service. He pointed out in considerable detail 
 the objections raised to this Measure of relief, which he 
 termed as chimerical, and hallucinations, and concluded as 
 follows : 
 
 " The tie which binds so many millions of the people of this 
 country to your Church is for various reasons, very much loosened. 
 But there is one tie, which nearly all men feel more or less. The 
 staunchest dissenter, the most inveterate Radical, is not wholly 
 insensible to the halo of veneration and sacredness which gathers 
 around the old churchyard where 
 
 ' The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep,' 
 
 and among them their own forefathers." 
 
 In the same Session, Mr. Richard also addressed the 
 House in support of the Parochial Councils Bill, introduced 
 by Viscount Sandon, and of the Ballot Bill, introduced 
 by Mr. Forster, and on May gth he delivered a great 
 speech on the question of Disestablishment of the English 
 Church, which was brought before the House by his esteemed 
 friend Mr. Edward Miall, the member for Bradford, who 
 submitted the following resolution : 
 
 " That it is expedient at the earliest practicable period to apply 
 the policy initiated by the disestablishment of the Irish Church 
 by the Act of 1869, to the other Churches established by law in 
 the United Kingdom." 
 
 The speech of Mr. Richard, as an eye-witness wrote, was 
 admirably arranged, full of apt illustrations and details 
 eloquently and forcibly delivered; it was a speech that 
 should make Welshmen proud of their countryman. 
 
 The Session of 1872, was an active one for Mr. Richard, 
 for he took a prominent and useful part in Debate on 
 several important questions upon which he was deeply 
 interested. 
 
 On the 2ist of February, on the introduction by Mr.
 
 BILL TO LEGISLATE MARRIAGE. 121 
 
 Chambers of the Bill to legalise marriage with the deceased 
 wife's sister, Mr. Richard cordially supported the measure 
 for which he said, on one side are reason, justice, and the 
 interests of morality, and on the other side prejudice and 
 sentiment, and in conclusion said : 
 
 "Believing as he did that the prohibition they were anxious 
 to remove, had no warrant in any law of nature or of God ; that 
 it was not sustained by the opinion of the best and most 
 religious portion of the people of this country ; that it inflicted 
 cruel hardship upon a most honourable and worthy class of 
 people, and especially that it was productive of great misery 
 and social evil to the lower classes of the community ; without 
 hesitation, and with the utmost confidence, he would give his 
 vote in favour of the Bill." (Cheers.) 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that few if any legislative measures 
 introduced into Parliament have passed through such a 
 chequered career. From 1866 to 1875 it was introduced by 
 Mr. Thomas Chambers (now Sir Thomas) on seven occasions, 
 on three of which the Bill received the approval either on a 
 second or a third reading of the House of Commons, and on 
 the remaining four occasions was rejected. From 1866 to 
 1889 it has been introduced into the House of Lords by 
 Lords Houghton, Dalhousie, Monson, and the Duke of St. 
 Albans, on eight occasions ; but in spite of being supported 
 by the Princes of the Royal Blood, it has failed to se- 
 cure a majority in its favour, and until the Government of 
 the day take it in hand, and stake their existence upon it, 
 there is no hope of the Bill passing into law. 
 
 On the 5th August the Nonconformists renewed their 
 attack with redoubled vehemence on the Elementary Edu- 
 cation Act of Mr. Forster, when Mr. George Dixon hurled a 
 vote of censure on the policy of the Government embodied 
 in a series of six resolutions, two of which complained of the 
 failure of the Act to secure the election of School Boards and 
 compulsory attendance, two of the resolutions to the operation 
 of the 25th section, and the remaining two resolutions 
 censured the use of public money for denominational 
 teaching.
 
 122 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 To Mr. Richard devolved the task of grappling with the 
 last two resolutions, and he availed himself of the opportunity 
 to make a vigorous onslaught on Mr. Forster for the par- 
 tiality he had shown to the denominational schools, as 
 instanced by his appointment of inspectors ; and he warned 
 the Government against breaking up the Liberal party " by 
 alienating and disgusting one of the largest sections of that 
 party which had been faithful to it through all its changing 
 fortunes." 
 
 On a division the resolutions of Mr. Dixon were negatived 
 by a majority of 261. 
 
 On the 8th March Mr. Osborne Morgan moved a resolution 
 of censure on the appointment of Mr. Homersham Cox, as 
 judge of the Mid- Wales County Court Circuit, which was 
 supported by a speech from Mr. Richard, who strongly urged 
 the appointment of men for such positions, capable of 
 speaking the Welsh and English languages, and the Govern- 
 ment in effect accepted the recommendation. 
 
 On April 4th Mr. Richard, seconded the amendment of 
 Mr. Vernon Harcourt, (now Sir William) on going into 
 Committee of Ways and Means in favour of Retrenchment 
 which was as follows : 
 
 "That in the opinion of this House, the national expenditure 
 is capable of further reduction without danger to the safety and 
 good government of the country ; and that it is desirable that 
 such expenditure should be reduced accordingly, in order that 
 the taxation of the people and the public debt may be diminished 
 in a larger measure than is proposed in the said resolutions." 
 
 In support of this amendment Mr. Richard said that he 
 believed the national expenditure was capable of considerable 
 reduction without danger to the safety and good government 
 of the country. Expenditure, he said, must depend upon 
 policy, and England having wisely adopted a policy of non- 
 intervention, which was now loyally accepted by the leaders 
 of all parties in this country, he considered it should be 
 followed by a diminution of the present enormous armaments. 
 
 On April igth he seconded the motion for an address
 
 NONCONFORMIST CONFERENCE. 123 
 
 to the Crown on the subject of the persecution of the Jews 
 in Roumania and Servia, moved by Sir Francis Goldsmid, 
 which he stigmatized as a disgrace to the civilisation of the 
 i gth century; and the Government giving an assurance 
 that the subject would be diplomatically dealt with, the 
 motion was withdrawn. 
 
 Mr. Richard also spoke in this Session on the Scotch 
 Education Bill, the Occasional Sermons Bill, the Mines 
 Regulation Bill, and on the second reading of the Military 
 Forces Localisation Bill, brought in by Mr. Cardwell as a 
 Government Measure, he, on the i5th July, spoke 
 in opposition to it, on the ground, firstly, that it would 
 involve a large expenditure of public money upon an 
 experiment ; secondly, that it would cover the country with 
 a web of military institutions, and thus convert England 
 into a military nation ; and, lastly, because these Military 
 Centres would exercise an injurious influence on public 
 morality. 
 
 NONCONFORMIST CONFERENCE AT 
 MANCHESTER. 
 
 In consequence of the continued and determined resistance 
 of the Vice-President of the Council on Education, Mr. 
 Forster, to all reasonable demands of the Nonconformists, 
 made by Mr. Richard, Mr. Dixon, and Mr Miall in Parlia- 
 ment, to amend or qualify the Elementary Education Act, it 
 was resolved to hold an imposing demonstration in Man- 
 chester ; and the Committee of the Liberation Society of 
 that city summoned delegates from all parts of the country 
 not simply with the view to confront the Educational policy 
 of Mr. Forster, but also with the express view of considering 
 the relation that constituent bodies, which they represented, 
 should hereafter bear towards the Government of Mr. 
 Gladstone and the Liberal party generally.
 
 124 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 The position taken up by Mr. Richard and his colleagues, 
 prior to the passing into law of Mr. Forster's Measure, and 
 which they gave frequent expression to, during the Sessions 
 of 1870 and 1871, by resolutions and speeches which we 
 have already referred to, was this : That the State cannot 
 undertake the work of Religious Teaching in Church or 
 School without violating the rights of conscience, on the 
 one hand, and doing despite to the dignity of Truth on the 
 other hand ; and it is to be regretted that all their efforts 
 were unavailing to persuade or compel the Government to 
 yield to their just demands. 
 
 Subsequently, however, owing to the operation of the 
 Elementary Education Act; to the unfavourable results 
 of the cumulative vote; to the intensely sectarian pro- 
 ceedings of many of the School Boards throughout the 
 country, and to the official bias of the Educational De- 
 partment in London, under the influence of Mr. Forster, 
 all this conclusively brought conviction to the minds of 
 Nonconformists that there can be only one basis of National 
 Education, consistent with equal justice to all religious parties, 
 namely, to confine the authority of the State to secular 
 teaching, and to assign religious teaching exclusively to the 
 voluntary efforts of the religious bodies. 
 
 It was with these strong convictions, and smarting under 
 a deep sense of injustice, that on January 24th, 1872, the 
 Nonconformists of England and Wales took the field, mar- 
 shalled under tried and experienced leaders, opening the 
 campaign in the Free Trade Hall at Manchester by a 
 demonstration such as seldom, if ever, has been witnessed on 
 that historic battle-ground of Freedom ; and so great was 
 the enthusiasm, and so vast were the numbers assembled 
 from all parts of the kingdom, that this capacious building 
 was unable to contain them, and they were compelled to 
 hold an overflow meeting in the next largest hall in the city. 
 
 At the Free Trade Hall assembly Mr. Richard presided, 
 supported by Jacob Bright, M.P., Alfred Illingworth, M.P.,
 
 NONCONFORMIST CONFERENCE. 125 
 
 Evan Matthew Richards, M.P., and the leading Noncon- 
 formists from all parts of the country, amongst whom was 
 Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, at that time comparatively un- 
 distinguished in the political world. 
 
 It was a grand and imposing spectacle, when Mr. Richard 
 rising to address that vast assemblage, and to open the pro- 
 ceedings of that important National Convention, the audience 
 rose en masse, and welcomed him with rounds of vociferous 
 cheering, and for some minutes he was unable to proceed, 
 so great was the enthusiasm displayed. 
 
 The speech of Mr. Richard on this great occasion was 
 one of the finest oratorical efforts which he ever made on 
 this question of religious toleration ; and his clear and 
 deliberate diction, his masterly arrangement of facts, and 
 the calm delivery of telling points rivetted the earnest atten- 
 tion of his audience ; and when he grappled with his Titanic 
 opponent, and fairly tore his policy into shreds, the en- 
 thusiasm of the audience knew no bounds. It was a grand 
 speech, worthy of the occasion and of the cause of religious 
 freedom. 
 
 During the Conference which followed, he read a paper 
 on " The Political Relations of the Nonconformists to the 
 Liberal Party," which was an able and historical resume of 
 the relations of Nonconformists to successive Liberal 
 Governments from the Revolution of 1688 down to the 
 present day, and he vividly described the long-suffering 
 attitude of the Nonconformists during these two centuries 
 of struggles for religious liberty ; and he concluded with 
 this eloquent peroration : 
 
 " I think I have shown that there are abundant proofs along 
 the whole line of our history, that we have not been unreason- 
 able in our demands, or importunate in our expectations ; and 
 we are still prepared to exercise forbearance towards our ancient 
 Liberal allies. But we believe that there are certain great princi- 
 ples principles which go down to the very foundation of all 
 civil, religious, and intellectual freedom for the maintenance 
 and defence of which we mean to stand (cheers) and we do 
 this, not as Nonconformists, but as Englishmen, believing as we
 
 126 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 do from the bottom of our hearts that the principles we advocate 
 are those which will tend most hereafter, as it is acknowledged 
 they have tended most heretofore, to establish the liberties 
 of our country upon sure and firm foundations. We are willing 
 to exercise patience, to make reasonable concessions ; but to 
 adopt a course which will involve the sacrifice, or the surrender, 
 or the serious compromise of those vital principles, for the sake 
 of. any man, or any party, is what we cannot, what we ought 
 not, what we must not, what we dare not, and by God's help 
 what we will not do." 
 
 At the conclusion of this thrilling address which occupied 
 an hour in delivery, the whole audience rose and waved a 
 round of enthusiastic cheering. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 
 
 We now approach a memorable epoch in the public 
 career of Mr. Richard, which not only witnessed one of the 
 greatest Parliamentary triumphs of modern times, which not 
 only lifted into the domain of practical politics the great 
 principle of International Arbitration, and gave a powerful 
 impetus to its practical adoption in national differences, but 
 it placed Mr. Richard in the front rank of the Parliament 
 of England as an orator and legislator, and secured for him 
 a world-wide reputation worthy of his great gifts and high 
 character, and worthy too, of the splendid cause that he had 
 for upwards of forty years so nobly championed. 
 
 Not that Mr. Richard was the first and only pioneer in 
 this great crusade against war, and in the advocacy of Inter- 
 national Arbitration. For distinguished, and devoted, and 
 noble a champion as Mr. Richard was in this holy enterprise, 
 he was the very last of men to be unmindful of the noble 
 army of heroic workers who had preceded him, or who were 
 contemporaneous with him, in his great labour, and to whom 
 he ever and anon delighted to refer to, as those to whom the 
 Cause of Peace owed an imperishable claim of gratitude and
 
 INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 127 
 
 honor, and even without whom, he was wont to declare, the 
 progress and triumphs of the present generation would never 
 have been achieved. 
 
 It may be said of the progress of the movement for the 
 promotion of International Arbitration, that from the com- 
 mencement of the present century there has been quietly 
 growing up among thoughtful men in Christendom a profound 
 conviction that wars are capable of being largely diminished, 
 if not absolutely prevented, and they have arrived at the 
 conclusion that friendly arbitration between nations, accom- 
 panied by attempts to arrive at a general agreement for the 
 settlement of a definite code of International law, and the 
 establishment of an International Tribunal, would go far to 
 render armed collisions between nations impossible. 
 
 Accordingly, Mr. Cobden, always a cordial colleague of the 
 friends of peace, introduced into the British Parliament, 
 June 1 2th, 1849, the following Motion : 
 
 " That an humble address be presented to Her Majesty, pray- 
 ing that she will be graciously pleased to direct her principal 
 SecretaryofState for Foreign Affairs to enterinto communications 
 with Foreign Powers inviting them to concur in Treaties 
 binding the respective parties, in the event of any future mis- 
 understanding which cannot be arranged by amicable negotia- 
 tion, to refer the matter in dispute to the decision of Arbitrators." 
 
 That motion, as it has been before stated, was unsuccess- 
 ful, yet there is no doubt that the agitation carried forward 
 in its behalf in England, as well as the important debate in 
 Parliament, exercised an incalculable amount of good, by 
 awakening a great public interest in the question, and there- 
 by largely contributed to the insertion in the Treaty, nego- 
 tiated at the Congress which met at Paris in 1856, at the 
 close of the Russian War, the following clause providing 
 for a resort to Arbitration in International disputes : 
 
 "The Plenipotentiaries do not hesitate to express, in the 
 name of their Governments, the wish that States between which 
 any serious misunderstanding may arise, should, before appeal- 
 ing to arms, have recourse, as far as circumstances might allow, 
 to the good offices of a friendly power."
 
 128 HENRY RICHARD 
 
 Since that date, 1856, the subject of International Arbitra- 
 tion has continued to receive increased attention, not con- 
 fined to an advance of opinion, but by its practical adoption 
 in many International difficulties, so that it may be said, 
 Arbitration has become the rule, and War the exception for 
 the settlement of national quarrels. 
 
 Therefore Mr. Richard, urged on the one hand, by 
 its necessity, and encouraged on the other hand by its 
 feasibility, deemed it advisable to submit the question to the 
 House of Commons, by the following practical resolution : 
 
 " That an humble address be presented to Her Majesty, pray- 
 ing that she will be graciously pleased to direct her principal 
 Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs, to enter into communica- 
 tion with Foreign Powers, with a view to the further improve- 
 ment of International Law, and to the establishment of a 
 permanent system of International Arbitration." 
 
 This notice of Motion was placed by Mr. Richard on the 
 Notice Book of the House of Commons on nth August, 
 1871, for submission to Parliament early the following 
 Session, and from that date until July 8, 1873, a period of 
 nearly two years, great and strenuous efforts were put forth 
 by him, assisted by many others, fellow-labourers with him 
 in the Cause, to secure its ultimate triumph ; and amongst 
 those who by pulpit and platform, by memorial and petition, 
 and various other agencies, may be mentioned, Henry 
 Vincent, William Stokes, Revs. G. W. Humphrey, G. W. 
 Conder, Dr. Stock, J. H. Pattison, Samuel Roberts, E. 
 Jacob, and Mr. A. B. Hayward, Mr. Thomas Snape, and 
 the writer of this Memorique, and the latter, early in the 
 incipient stages of the Movement, under the direction of 
 Mr. Richard, organised large and successful Conferences and 
 Public Meetings at Manchester, Leeds, Darlington, New- 
 castle, Bristol, Birmingham, Dublin, and many other 
 important centres, where Mr. Richard delivered great and 
 often impressive speeches on the question of the hour, 
 most of which were .published and widely circulated, and 
 exercised a potent influence on the public mind.
 
 INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 1 29 
 
 In addition to those whose names are mentioned above, 
 closely identified with Mr. Richard in the Movement, and 
 whose services he gratefully and highly acknowledged, must 
 not be omitted that noble champion of peace in the Mid- 
 lands, Mr. Arthur O'Neill, of Birmingham. 
 
 ARTHUR G. O'NEILL. 
 
 Mr. O'Neill has done yeoman's service in this great cause ; 
 he has nobly fought and suffered in many a struggle for 
 humanity, for freedom, and for Peace, and he has not lived 
 nor laboured in vain, for he has been spared to witness many 
 triumphs, and deserves well to wear on his brow the laurels 
 of victory. 
 
 K
 
 130 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 He was associated, forty years ago, in the first international 
 movement, under the leadership of Mr. Cobden, and when 
 Mr. Richard determined to raise once more in Parliament 
 the question, Mr. O'Neill threw himself with all the 
 enthusiasm of his early youth, into the fray, and heroically 
 laboured to secure its ultimate triumph. 
 
 The day had now arrived, Tuesday, July 8th, when Mr. 
 Richard was expected to bring forward in Parliament this 
 great question of International Arbitration, and it was with 
 feelings of interest and anxiety that the author of this 
 Memorique, in company with several active supporters of 
 the cause, proceeded to the House of Commons to be 
 present at the great debate on this important subject. 
 
 At 9 o'clock, the evening sitting, the Speaker, beckoning 
 in the direction of the benches below the gangway, called 
 upon Mr. Richard to move his resolution. 
 
 Mr. Richard, (who sat at the end of the third bench, the 
 lamented Richard Cobden's favourite seat, and the very 
 spot from which twenty-four years previously he had moved 
 a similar resolution, but with a different result,) on rising 
 was received with a cheer. He proceeded slowly, and in 
 measured language, to assure the House with unaffected 
 sincerity of his own unfitness for the task before him, and 
 made a happy allusion to the Apostle of Peace, his illustrious 
 predecessor in the work of International Arbitration. Refer- 
 ence was made to the numerous petitions presented, especially 
 those from the various religious bodies, and the Church of 
 England, emphasizing in particular the fact that 1,038,000 
 of the working classes had appealed, by their signatures, in 
 favour of the motion. The cost of the combined armies in 
 Europe was then grappled with, giving the astounding total 
 of 550 millions per annum; next the compulsory military 
 service in the various European countries, driving into exile, 
 or forcing into its despotic thraldom, the flower of the man- 
 hood of the peoples ; and then the bankrupt state of 
 European nations specially Austria, Italy, Turkey, and
 
 INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 131 
 
 Spain reeling beneath this colossal burden, was alluded 
 to. In approaching the main question of the Resolution, 
 he stated that experience had approved the practicability 
 of the principle, and in proof of this he cited a large number 
 of instances, such as the Portendic claims arising out of the 
 blockade of the Moorish coast by France in 1845 ; the 
 Anglo-Brazilian difficulty in 1863 ; the difficulty between 
 Turkey and Greece in 1868; and lest a hostile critic might 
 have been ready to exclaim that these were cases which had 
 reference only to trivial matters, the answer was aptly fore 
 stalled : 
 
 " Perhaps it may be said in reference to the cases of success- 
 ful arbitration I have cited that they referred to comparatively 
 small matters. My answer is, that they could not possibly refer 
 to smaller matters than those which have often led to long, 
 bloody, and desolating wars between nations. (Loud cheers.) 
 They were not smaller matters, for instance, than the question 
 whether the cupola of a particular church at Jerusalem should 
 be repaired by Greek or Latin monks, and yet that was the 
 quarrel which, through the infinite unwisdom of some of the 
 great Powers, led to a war which cost Europe, according to 
 Mr. Kinglake, a million of human lives and some four or five 
 hundred millions of money." 
 
 As was to be expected, a just and eloquent eulogium 
 was passed on the Geneva Arbitration, which was wel- 
 comed by general cheering on both sides of the House, 
 and a deserved tribute was tendered, with a depth of feeling 
 that could not be concealed, to the chief actors in that great 
 transaction, making honourable mention of Lord Granville, 
 and not omitting a just meed of praise to Mr. Disraeli and 
 the " leading journal," for the judicial calmness they had dis- 
 played during those delicate negotiations. Throughout this 
 masterly speech, Henry Richard spoke with great power 
 and earnestness ; the House, which was better attended 
 than was expected, listened attentively, and it was evident 
 the speech had made a real impression. After having 
 spoken for upwards of an hour, he concluded, amid loud 
 and general cheering from both sides of the House.
 
 132 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 When the Prime Minister rose to reply, it was evident 
 he was fatigued, and unequal to a great effort, but his speech 
 was nevertheless admirable in its tone and temper, full of 
 noble sentiments, and most cordial in his estimation of the 
 object in view, in fact the speech of a " Great Peace 
 Minister." He felt, however, the time had not yet arrived 
 for giving effect to the resolution, and urged its withdrawal. 
 
 Sir Wilfrid Lawson followed the Premier, and during his 
 speech a consultation took place of the prominent supporters 
 of the Resolution, and it was eventually resolved not to 
 prolong the debate, and accordingly at the conclusion of Sir 
 Wilfrid's speech, Henry Richard rose, and after thanking 
 the Prime Minister for his eminently friendly speech, he 
 announced his intention to ask the judgment of the House 
 upon the question. 
 
 During the time that the division was being proceeded 
 with great interest was manifested, and when the teller 
 advanced to the bar, and the clerk handed to Henry Richard 
 the figures, the House broke out into general cheering, which 
 was again renewed when, with more than usual animation, 
 the hon. member for Merthyr announced the numbers of 
 Ayes, 98, Noes, 88, majority ten for the Resolution. 
 
 This great triumph achieved by Mr. Richard in Parliament, 
 it is not too much to say, astonished both friends and foes 
 alike, for it was an unexpected victory, and deeply gratifying, 
 and no man was more gratified than the Prime Minister 
 himself, Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 Throughout Europe and the World, wherever civili- 
 sation, justice and humanity held sway in the minds o 
 men, echoed and re-echoed a voice of exultation, and 
 the enlightened press of Europe, broke forth, even from 
 the most influential journals, in one approving chorus of 
 congratulation, not only of the British Parliament, that first 
 in the history of Nations had acclaimed the principle of Inter- 
 national Arbitration, but also of the Orator, who by his 
 impressive and convincing speech, had swayed that august
 
 INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 133 
 
 Assembly to a declaration in favour of practical action to 
 secure its general adoption in Europe. 
 
 From all parts of Europe and America Mr. Richard received 
 a noble reward for his splendid victory, for he was the happy 
 recipient of letters of high commendation from Statesmen, 
 and philanthropists, and also of valuable addresses from 
 numerous public bodies, and Associations of Peace rejoicing 
 at his auspicious success, amongst which may be mentioned 
 Charles Sumner, Senator of the United States, Auguste 
 Visschers, member of Belgian Parliament, Van Eck, member 
 of the Dutch Parliament, G. Biancheri, President of the 
 Italian Chamber of Deputies, M. Larroque, the French 
 economist, Emile de Laveleye, of Liege, Frederic Passy, 
 President of the Peace Society of France, Jean Dollfus, 
 Mayor of Mulhouse, B. Castiglia, member of the Italian 
 Parliament, General Garibaldi, Aurelio Saffo ; also from the 
 general League of Peace for the Netherlands, the Peace 
 Society of France, the Universal Peace Union of America, 
 the Italian Peace Society, the American Peace Society of 
 Boston, the League of Peace and Liberty, and in addition 
 numerous addresses from Associations of Working Men in 
 Italy and other countries, largely and influentially signed. 
 
 Cheered by these and many other manifestations of 
 cordial congratulations and sincere sympathy, from devoted 
 friends and allies in all parts of Europe and America, Mr. 
 Richard determined not to rest on his oars, or to be lulled 
 into repose on his laurels by this unexpected triumph, but 
 on the contrary, accepting it with commendable gratitude 
 and pride as the first important victory in a great struggle, 
 and as he believed a forerunner of equally glorious achieve- 
 ments in the future, he resolved to buckle on his armour 
 afresh, and with that dauntless courage which ever dis- 
 tinguished him to march forward into other lands, and there 
 to stimulate by his presence, example, and spirit, others into 
 similar action. 
 
 Mr. Richard practically opened his Continental Campaign
 
 134 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 by taking part in an International Conference held at 
 Brussels in October, 1873, presided over by M. Auguste 
 Visschers, and attended by men of the highest repu- 
 tation in international law and other kindred subjects, 
 amongst whom may be mentioned David Dudley Field, of 
 New York, Emile de Laveleye, Rollin Jacquemym, Monta- 
 gue Bernard, Professor Sheldon Amos, Signer Pierrantoni, 
 Sir Travers Twiss, Frederic Passy, and last, but not least, 
 Henry Richard, who on his entering the Hall was loudly 
 cheered, in honour of his Parliamentary triumph. 
 
 Towards the close of the Conference, an interesting in- 
 cident occurred when Professor Pierrantoni proposed the 
 presentation of an address to Henry Richard for the zeal, 
 devotion, and ability, with which he had supported, for so 
 many years, the cause of International Peace, which was 
 cordially approved, and was ordered to be prepared by Emile 
 de Laveleye and signed by the President, Auguste Visschers 
 on behalf of the Congress. One of the good results of Mr. 
 Richard's visit to Brussels was the interest it excited in the 
 Belgium Parliament and the encouragement it gave to the 
 Belgian Deputies to push forward a proposal in their Parlia- 
 ment, similar in form and aim to the resolution carried in the 
 English Legislature. 
 
 M. Couvreur, one of the members for the City of Brussels, 
 whom Mr. Richard had long known, promised to raise the 
 question, and on the igth January, 1874, he submitted a 
 resolution on the subject which was supported by M. 
 Thonissen, M. Le Hardy de Beaulieu, and others ; and at 
 the close of the debate the Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. 
 D' Aspremont-Lynden, accepted on behalf of the Government 
 the proposition, and when put to the vote out of 83 members, 
 8 1 voted for it. 
 
 This success in the Belgian Chamber of Deputies, was 
 quickly followed by a greater success in the Senate, where 
 the subject was introduced by the Baron De Rooden- 
 beke, and the Baron d'Anethan, and supported by the
 
 INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 135 
 
 Government, and finally adopted without a single dissentient 
 voice. 
 
 From Belgium Mr. Richard proceeded into Holland, 
 where he received a most hearty welcome from the Dutch 
 Peace Society, who invited him in the first place to address 
 a Public Assembly at the Hague, presided over by Van Eck, 
 one of the members of the Dutch Parliament, and subse- 
 quently entertained him at a banquet, both of which assem- 
 blies were largely and influentially attended. At the 
 banquet, Herr Van Eck and Herr Bredius announced their 
 intention to bring the question of Arbitration before the 
 Dutch Legislature at the earliest opportunity, and on the 
 1 2th of October they redeemed their pledge by placing upon 
 the table of the House a notice of Motion. 
 
 The discussion on this Motion took place on the 27th 
 November, and after two days' debate and able speeches by 
 the proposers of the resolution, Herr Van Eck and Herr 
 Bredius, the Minister for Foreign Affairs declared on behalf 
 of the Government a willingness to co-operate, but not to 
 take the initiative, and therefore would not oppose the 
 Motion, and this qualified approval no doubt resulted in a 
 favourable division, the Resolution being carried by 35 to 
 30 votes. 
 
 Leaving the Hague, Mr. Richard proceeded to Berlin, 
 where he found that the two Houses of Parliament, the 
 Reischrath for Prussia and the Reichstag for Germany, were 
 adjourned, but he availed himself of the presence in the 
 capital of several eminent men, such as Dr. Lasker, Dr. 
 Loewe, Dr. Engel, and others, and from one and all he 
 received cordial welcome and sympathy. The state of feeling 
 arising out of the late War with France was felt to be an 
 obstacle for any Parliamentary action, although many, if not 
 all, of the distinguished men who met Mr. Richard were 
 strongly in favour of his mission, and of the policy he 
 advocated. 
 
 From Berlin he journeyed to Dresden and Prague, where
 
 136 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 he remained a few days, and interested many public men in 
 the question ; and thence to Vienna, where he met with 
 many earnest friends of the cause, who shared heartily his 
 views : Dr. Neumann, a member of the Upper House, Count 
 Kinsky, Baron de Kiibeck, member of the Chamber, Baron 
 Hye, and these latter two, the one in the Upper, and the 
 other in the Lower House, gave notice of their intention to 
 introduce a Bill, or Resolution, on the subject of Arbitration. 
 
 At Buda-Pesth, the capital of Hungary, Mr. Richard 
 interviewed the eminent statesman, Hen Francis Deak, also 
 several members of the Hungarian Ministry, and thus both 
 in Austria and Hungary, he received assurances that the 
 question in some form would be submitted in their respective 
 Parliaments, and ultimately to the Delegations, whose special 
 functions embrace the foreign relations of the Empire. 
 
 Of all the important countries visited by Mr. Richard, 
 few, if any, displayed so much zeal and enthusiasm, or 
 offered him such distinguished honour ; in fact, wherever 
 he went among the famous cities of Italy, men of great 
 eminence and influence greeted him with marked cordiality. 
 At Venice a banquet was given in his honour, presided over 
 by Chevalier Ruffini, and an address was presented to him 
 by the working men of the city, resonant with powerful 
 appeals for the overthrow of war, and hearty congratulations 
 and good wishes. 
 
 From Venice he hurried on to Rome, in order to be 
 present, and as he observed, in some sense to share in the 
 great Parliamentary triumph achieved by Signer Mancini, 
 who on the 24th November, 1873, submitted a resolution 
 on the subject in a great and statesman-like speech, which 
 was received with prolonged cheers, and he was followed by 
 Signer Visconti-Venosta, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, 
 with a speech of emphatic approval, and, on Signor Biancheri, 
 the President of the Chamber, putting the resolution to the 
 vote, the whole Chamber of Deputies rose, as one man, to 
 express their unanimous sanction.
 
 INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 137 
 
 Three days after this memorable scene, a great political 
 banquet was given in Rome to Mr. Richard, attended by 
 Senators, Deputies, Members of the University and of the 
 Municipality, besides several distinguished foreigners. On 
 this occasion Mr. Richard, inspired by the event of the 
 24th, which he had witnessed, and the distinguished company 
 around him, delivered an oration worthy of the cause, the 
 occasion, and of his oratorical renown. 
 
 Before leaving Rome Mr. Richard formed the acquaintance 
 of Professors Pierrantoni and Sbarbaro, the former an eminent 
 professor of international and constitutional law at Naples, and 
 the latter a devoted and disinterested friend of peace residing 
 at Modena, and whose friendship he greatly valued; and hav- 
 ing finished his work in the capital, he visited Florence and 
 Milan, and at the latter, he was welcomed by an enthusiastic 
 demonstration and banquet, which was of a highly flattering 
 nature, considering the rank and influence present, Senators, 
 Deputies, Jurists, besides the Syndic of the City, Members 
 of the City Council, and representatives of various public 
 bodies, and in reference to which the Courier of Milan 
 remarked : 
 
 " It was in fact, the first occasion for many years on which we 
 have seen men belonging to political parties of discordant views 
 conversing familiarly, and shaking hands in a friendly manner.' 
 
 At Turin, the last important city of Italy visited, Mr. 
 Richard's special object was, as he writes : 
 
 "To have the gratification of forming the personal acquaintance 
 of the illustrious Count Sclopis, the President of the Tribunal at 
 Geneva, whose name is imperishably associated with an event 
 which will be regarded hereafter as forming a great landmark in 
 the history of civilisation," 
 
 and he was rejoiced to find how entirely devoted this dis- 
 tinguished son of Italy was to the cause of international peace. 
 The last of the brilliant series of international fraternisations 
 for the purpose of doing homage to the great principle of 
 Arbitration, and to its distinguished advocate, Mr. Richard, 
 took place at Paris, presided over by M. Renouard, Member
 
 138 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 of the Institute of France, and in proposing the health of the 
 guest of the evening, Frederic Passy delivered a remarkable 
 speech. 
 
 This campaign of Mr. Richard, for the purpose of stirring 
 into action the leading men in the chief countries in Europe, 
 with the view of bringing public opinion to bear on their 
 Governments, and thus securing the concurrence of other 
 nations to the principle of Arbitration, was undoubtedly 
 crowned with success far beyond his anticipations. Wherever 
 he went during this three months' important mission, it was 
 his good fortune to find the deepest interest kindled by the 
 success of his efforts in the British Parliament, and soon 
 after his return to England, at a soiree given in his honour 
 at the Cannon Street Hotel, presided over by Mr. Mundella, 
 M.P., and influentially attended, we find he thus refers to 
 this remarkable tour : 
 
 " No one could have been more surprised than he was him- 
 self to find that his feeble voice, which had been raised in the 
 House of Commons in favour of justice, reason, and humanity, 
 had awakened so great a feeling as had been found to be 
 the case. Everywhere he had gone he had been received 
 with open arms, as the friend and Apostle of Peace. * * * 
 He greatly rejoiced that working men in various countries were 
 taking up this question, for, whoever else might gain by War, 
 they at least were sure to suffer. The blood and bones of 
 working men had covered every battlefield of Europe. Others 
 carried off the spoils, the titles, the honours, the emoluments of 
 War ; but everywhere and always the working men came in 
 for the main share of its sufferings they and their families. 
 * .* * He had come back to England with the strongest 
 conviction that there was diffused throughout society, in all 
 parts of the Continent, an intense abhorrence of the War system, 
 and a longing for deliverance. * * * " 
 
 THE NEW PARLIAMENT, 1874. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1874, a political crisis arose 
 that during the session of 1873, on more than one occasion, 
 threatened either a dissolution or the resignation of Ministers,
 
 THE NEW PARLIAMENT. 139 
 
 partly consequent on the persistent opposition of the Non- 
 conformist supporters of the Government to the educational 
 policy of Mr. Forster, and partly the result of the defeat of 
 Mr. Gladstone's Measure for University Education and Re- 
 form in Ireland. 
 
 Suddenly, without warning from any political storm signal, 
 and it may be said somewhat precipitately, the Prime 
 Minister, with the sanction of the Crown, on the eve of the 
 re-assembling of the fifth Session, dissolved Parliament and 
 issued a stirring and remarkable address, to what was 
 practically to the electors of the United Kingdom, for a 
 renewal, on behalf of his Administration, of the trust and 
 confidence of the nation. 
 
 In this crisis, Mr. Richard lost no time on behalf of the 
 Peace Party, in the issuing of a Manifesto to the electors 
 throughout the Kingdom, which was both retrospective and 
 prospective, in the former, referring with pride to the success- 
 ful effort of the late Government, in for ever setting at rest 
 the complicated difficulties with the United States, and the 
 moral support given to the International Arbitration resolu- 
 tion ; and prospectively, the burdens and extravagance of 
 large military establishments, and the expediency of disarma- 
 ment, and of more economical modes of settling national 
 disputes than by the sword. 
 
 In addition to this direct appeal to the electors every- 
 where, Mr. Richard and his friends prepared and widely 
 circulated numerous election papers and placards containing 
 valuable facts and statistics; and by these and other agencies 
 endeavoured to keep before the public eye the importance 
 of sending men to Parliament willing advocates of peace, 
 retrenchment and reform. 
 
 The electoral contest was short, sharp, and decisive. At 
 Merthyr-Tydvil Mr. Richard was returned after a strong 
 struggle at the head of the poll, and whilst many of his 
 friends and supporters were equally fortunate, yet others 
 whose services he greatly appreciated were unfortunate ; but
 
 140 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 to his mind the greatest disaster of all, disastrous as he 
 believed to the cause of international peace, was the over- 
 whelming defeat of the Liberal chief, Mr. Gladstone, in his 
 position as Prime Minister of England. 
 
 The first important speech delivered by Mr. Richard after 
 his election to the Twenty-first Parliament of the reign of 
 Her Majesty Queen Victoria, was on the 4th May, 1874, 
 upon the following amendment moved by Sir Wilfrid Lawson 
 to the resolution of Mr. Hanbury on affairs in the West 
 African Settlements of the Crown : 
 
 " That this House is of opinion, that in the interests of 
 civilisation and commerce, it is desirable to withdraw from all 
 equivocal and entangling engagements with the tribes inhabiting 
 the Gold Coast." 
 
 Mr. Richard supported this amendment, declaring that 
 the Ashantee War was not a just or necessary war, that it 
 might have been avoided, and that it arose from a con- 
 temptuous disregard of notorious and acknowledged rights 
 of King Coffee Calcali, and he strongly condemned the 
 character of the military operations and the useless expendi- 
 ture of men and money, and considered that the results of 
 the war were not triumphs of civilisation, but of barbarism 
 and brute force. 
 
 In the course of the debate, which involved a criticism of 
 the policy of both Liberal and Tory Governments consequent 
 upon the Ashantee War, speeches were delivered by Mr. 
 Roebuck, Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen, Mr. Me Arthur, the 
 Marquis of Hartington, Mr. Disraeli, and others, and on a 
 division the amendment was rejected by 31 1 against 75 votes. 
 
 The next subject which claimed the attention of Mr. 
 Richard referred to an alteration of Mr. Forster's Elemen- 
 tary Education Measure, and in conjunction with Mr. 
 Samuel Morley, Sir Thomas Bazley, and other Noncon- 
 formists, Mr. Richard brought in a Bill for that object. 
 
 On the loth June he moved that the Bill be read a 
 second time and spoke at some length, and at the onset
 
 THE NEW PARLIAMENT. 141 
 
 reviewed the history of the question, and the reasons that 
 had compelled the Nonconformists to oppose, in 1870 and 
 subsequently, Mr. Forster's Measure since it had passed into 
 law, and to obtain an amendment of the obnoxious provisions, 
 as they considered them, contained in the 25th Clause of the 
 Act. The object of this Bill was to remove from the 
 Education Act this clause, which Mr. Richard described as 
 a stumbling-block, and a rock of offence, infusing bitterness 
 and discord into School Boards, and placing a serious 
 obstacle to the harmonious working of the Act for promoting 
 the education of the people. The rejection of the Bill was 
 moved by Mr. Saul Isaac, the member for Nottingham, who 
 was supported in debate by Mr. Forster on behalf of the 
 late Government, and Viscount Sandon, on behalf of the 
 Government in power, and on a division the Bill was re- 
 jected by 373 against 128 votes. 
 
 The advance of the Ritualistic practices in the Church of 
 England, and the indifference, and even defiance, shewn by 
 the High Church Party to Episcopal authority, led to the 
 introduction of a Measure, based upon the recommendations 
 of the Ritual Commission, of 1867. This Measure was 
 introduced, in the first instance, into the House of Lords, by 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, on April 2oth, the object of 
 which was to bring the practices of the clergy more under 
 control of the congregations, and confer on the Episcopacy 
 increased power to check those practices, deemed inconsis- 
 tent with the ritual of the Church of England, and its third 
 reading passed the Lords on June 25th. 
 
 The conduct of the Measure in the House of Commons 
 was entrusted to Mr. Russell Gurney, and the debate thereon 
 shewed considerable difference of opinion upon the Ministerial 
 and Opposition Benches, Mr. Gathorne Hardy and Mr. 
 Gladstone strongly opposing it, whilst Sir William Harcourt 
 and Mr. Disraeli supported it. Upon the amendment of 
 Mr. Hall, the Member for the City of Oxford, to defer 
 proceeding with the Bill, Mr. Richard addressed the House,
 
 142 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 July 1 5th, and, at the close of an interesting speech, said, 
 that he believed the Church of England reformers were on 
 the wrong tack in endeavouring to reform a great spiritual 
 body by the coarse machinery of law, and that there was 
 only one way by which it could disembarrass itself, to cut 
 asunder the fetters which binds the Church to the State, in 
 one word, " Disestablishment." 
 
 This Measure, after many vicissitudes in both Houses of 
 Parliament, passed its third reading, and became law 3rd 
 of August. 
 
 Mr. Richard also took part in the debate on the Govern- 
 ment Measure for the amendment of the Endowed Schools 
 Act, which was brought into Parliament by Viscount Sandon, 
 and finally carried, but which he opposed ; also he sup- 
 ported in debate Mr. Osborne Morgan's proposal, recom- 
 mending appointments to the County Courts in Wales of 
 Judges conversant with the Welsh language. 
 
 During 1874, in addition to his Parliamentary and other 
 labours, Mr. Richard addressed two important Meetings on 
 Peace and Arbitration, the one at Birmingham, and the other 
 at Liverpool. The former was the first Annual Meeting of 
 the Midland Arbitration Union, and was presided over by 
 Mr. George Dixon, M.P., who was supported by Mr. George 
 Palmer, Reading, Mr. J. S. Wright, Rev. C. H. Collyns, who 
 with the Chairman, delivered admirable speeches on the 
 question, and afterwards Mr. Richard folio wed with an eloquent 
 speech, passing in review in graphic language, his recent 
 mission to the Capitals of Europe, which, as Mr. O'Neill 
 remarked : 
 
 "Was listened to with deep interest, for it reminded those 
 present of the glowing narratives of the Missionaries of former 
 ages, when they described how wonderfully God had opened 
 their way among the tribes and nations." 
 
 The Meeting at Liverpool was under the auspices of 
 the Peace Society of that city, (whose Secretary at 
 that time was the indefatigable and earnest worker,
 
 CONGRESSES AT GENEVA. 143 
 
 the lamented Mr. A. B. Hayward), and was presided 
 over by its President, the Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, 
 whose massive and trenchant eloquence, whether in the 
 the pulpit or on the platform, in support of the Cause, should 
 long and gratefully be cherished by the friends of Peace. 
 In September 1874 Mr. Richard attended two important 
 
 CONGRESSES AT GENEVA, 
 
 the first, in order of time, being the Institute of International 
 Law (Institut Droit), founded in 1873. at Ghent, by M. 
 Rollin Jacquemyn, its object in the main being to secure a 
 uniformity in the Laws of Nations so far as they affect 
 private rights, and the relations of international commerce, 
 property and civil procedure ; and the second Congress, 
 the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Laws 
 of Nations, founded at Brussels in 1873 by Dr. Miles and 
 David Dudley Field of New York, its aims being, as its 
 title implies, a Consolidation of the Laws of Nations, not 
 confined to private but also public international law, with a 
 view to the establishment of a general code, administered by 
 a Central Tribunal. 
 
 The Institut Droit was presided over by Signer Mancini 
 of Rome, and was attended by a considerable number of 
 very eminent Jurists, and Mr. Richard, and the writer of 
 this Memorique attended, not as members taking part in the 
 deliberations, (as the Institut is exclusively judicial,) but as 
 visitors interested in the discussion of all questions bearing 
 on international law, whether public or private. 
 
 The Association for the Reform and Codification of the 
 Laws of Nations, assembled immediately after the former 
 closed its labours, in the historical Hall, now called the 
 Salle d' Alabama, where met in 1871-2 the members of the 
 Geneva Tribunal for the settlement of the Anglo-American 
 difficulties, and was presided over by David Dudley Field, 
 of New York, the founder of the Association. At this 
 Congress, on the third day of its session, Mr. Richard read a
 
 144 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 most interesting paper entitled, " The Gradual Triumph of 
 Law over Brute Force," a masterly production, which may 
 be summarised in his own words : 
 
 " We have seen how, in course of time, the domain of law has 
 been continually enlarging, and banishing brute force further 
 back in an ever-widening circle. First, individuals have laid 
 aside their arms, and submitted their differences to judicial 
 reference. Then the feudal barons, with their large following of 
 clients and vassals, acknowledged a similar jurisdiction, and 
 were merged into one compact community. Then separate 
 tribes of the same nation became merged into one. Then 
 distinct nationalities, although aliens to each other in race, 
 language, and religion, obeyed the same powerful law of 
 assimilation. But if this tendency to bring larger and still 
 larger communities of men under the authority and protection 
 of general law is thus clearly traceable in all history, is there 
 any harm, is it not, indeed, a clear duty, to employ all practicable 
 means to facilitate and hasten this consummation as respects 
 the great nations of Europe and the world ? " 
 
 At the close of this Congress, and in order to meet the 
 wishes of the friends of peace in Geneva, a large public 
 meeting was held in the Hall of Reformation, under the 
 presidency of David D. Field, at which Mr. Richard de- 
 livered in English a forcible speech followed by a magnificent 
 oration by Le Pere Hyacinthe of Paris, who rejoiced that the 
 work of peace and goodwill among men, commenced by the 
 ecclesiastics, had now been taken up by Jurists, learned 
 men, and philanthropists, and his fervent prayer was that 
 they would be able to reach the goal. 
 
 In the Session of Parliament of 1875, the Burials Bill 
 was introduced by Mr. Osborne Morgan, and Mr. Richard, 
 on behalf of the Nonconformists, claimed the attention of 
 the House in stating their grievances, for which the Bill was 
 designed to remove. The debate was prolonged, and joined 
 in by leading men on both sides, including Mr. Gladstone, 
 Mr. Forster, Mr. Bright, and on a division it was rejected 
 by 248 against 234 votes. 
 
 The Bishopric of St. Alban's Bill, introduced by the 
 Government, encountered on its second reading, May nth, 
 the opposition of Mr. Richard, on the ground that a con-
 
 CONGRESSES AT GENEVA. 145 
 
 tinuance of politico- ecclesiastic State officials is not to the 
 advantage of either Church or State, and he moved its 
 rejection, but on a division he was defeated by 273 against 
 6 1 votes. 
 
 In addition to these two speeches in the Session of 1875, 
 Mr. Richard addressed several important questions to the 
 Government, of which the principal were, South African 
 affairs, India in her relations with Burmah, and the bombard- 
 ment of Carthagena. 
 
 In the month of September, 1875, Mr. Richard attended 
 the Third Annual Congress of the Association for the 
 Reform and Codification of the Laws of Nations, held at the 
 Hague, which was largely and influentially supported, and 
 amongst whom were, several of the members of the Dutch 
 Ministry, and the proceedings awakened much interest in 
 Holland, the Queen receiving its members as guests at the 
 Royal Palace, and a generous and unbounded hospitality 
 was displayed by the Government to the members of the 
 Association. 
 
 The President of the Congress was David Dudley Field, 
 of New York, assisted by Sir Travers Twiss as Vice- 
 President. The programme of the Congress was confined 
 to subjects under the head of Private and Public Inter- 
 national Law, the sub-divisions of which were numerous ; 
 but the chief interest centred in the important questions of 
 international arbitration and disarmament, and on the former 
 Mr Richard gave an interesting address, in which he showed 
 there were limits to its exercise, and that it was not an 
 infallible panacea for all international disputes. 
 
 Dr. Miles, of Boston, U.S.A., presented a paper on 
 an International Tribunal, Dr. Jencken, of London, on 
 Disarmament, and Professor Birbeck, on Non-intervention ; 
 and upon these various phases of the peace question, 
 interesting discussions followed, and the result was the 
 adoption of two resolutions, the one on International 
 Arbitration, which referred in cordial terms to the action of 
 
 L
 
 146 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 several Legislatures in acclaiming the principle, and of its 
 adoption by several States; and the second resolution 
 which deplored the enormous and ever-increasing Arma- 
 ments, and dwelt upon their disastrous results, and urged 
 the Governments to effect a mutual reduction of them. 
 Both these resolutions were drafted by Mr. Richard, and 
 proposed by him at the Congress, and were adopted. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 
 
 In the Session of 1876, a determined but unsuccessful effort 
 was made by a small but courageous minority against the 
 persistent policy of extravagantly increasing the national 
 Armaments during a period of profound peace. During the 
 two years that Lord Beaconsfield's Government had been in 
 office the military expenditure had increased ^"2,300,000, 
 and with the prospect of further increase, Mr. Richard, 
 assisted by Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Mr. Pease, Mr. Rylands, 
 and Mr. Jacob Bright, took the opportunity when the 
 Estimates were submitted, to raise a protest by the following 
 amendment : 
 
 " That, in the opinion of this House, the interests of the 
 Nation do not demand an increased expenditure in the land 
 forces." 
 
 This motion was made by Sir Wilfrid Lawson in one of 
 his happiest speeches, which was seconded by Mr. Richard, 
 who did not hesitate to charge the military class with the 
 condition of affairs, not in England alone, but in the Councils 
 and Parliaments of Europe generally, where their influence 
 is directed to keep up the fatal system of rivalry in Arma- 
 ments, and creating a burden too heavy to be borne. 
 
 On a division the motion was rejected by a majority of 
 192 votes against 63. Defeated by a majority, said Mr. 
 Richard, closely connected, either personally or by family
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 147 
 
 relations with some of the Services, into whose hands 
 these enormous sums are poured in increasing proportions 
 year by year. 
 
 Again, on May i5th, Mr. Richard raised his voice in the 
 House of Commons, on behalf of Economy, by supporting 
 the resolution of Mr. Rylands, against any increase in the 
 income tax ; and in doing so, he justly observed how both 
 parties in the House were tarred with the same brush, and 
 he twitted the Liberal Party with their professions for Re- 
 trenchment, which they scatter to the winds when called 
 upon to put them to the test. He compared the clamours 
 of the Services for increased expenditure, to the daughter of 
 the horse-leech, whose cry continually was " Give, Give; " and 
 that however much is given, it was like pouring water into 
 a sieve, for the country had nothing to show for it, which he 
 proved by stating that from 1856 to 1875, a period of twenty 
 years, 550 millions sterling had been spent on defence, and 
 still the military authorities declare England is defenceless. 
 
 Towards the end of June he brought before Parliament the 
 state of our relations with China, and submitted the following 
 motion, in an interesting speech : 
 
 "That, having regard to the unsatisfactory nature of our 
 relations with China, and to the desirability of placing those 
 relations on a permanently satisfactory footing, the House is of 
 opinion that the existing Treaty between the two countries 
 should be so revised as to promote the interests of legitimate 
 commerce, and to secure the just rights of the Chinese Govern- 
 ment and people." 
 
 This Resolution was supported by Mr. Mark Stewart, Sir 
 George Campbell, Sir George Balfour, and Sir Charles Dilke, 
 and on behalf of the Government, Mr. Bourke, approving of 
 the general object in view, and promising steps should be 
 taken in the direction indicated, the Resolution was withdrawn. 
 
 In the same Session, the Government of Lord Beacons- 
 field brought in a Bill to make further provision for Ele- 
 mentary Education, and on June igth, during the debate on 
 the second reading, Mr. Richard addressed the House, on
 
 148 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 behalf of the Nonconformists, who were decidedly opposed 
 to the Measure, on the ground that it would promote not 
 national, but sectarian education ; in fact, a continuance of 
 the system of giving religious instruction in schools supported 
 by public money, and he gave notice of his intention to 
 raise this question by a distinct protest on going into Com- 
 mittee, and accordingly on July loth, he moved the follow- 
 ing amendment : 
 
 "That, in the opinion of this House, the principle of universal 
 compulsion in education cannot be applied without great injustice 
 unless provision be made for placing Public Elementary Schools 
 under public management," 
 
 and after a prolonged debate, it was rejected on a division 
 by a majority of 218 votes. 
 
 Throughout the discussions in Committee on this Measure, 
 Mr. Richard frequently took part, sometimes supporting and 
 at other times opposing the propositions of the Government, 
 and, on the third reading, on August 5th, dissatisfied with 
 the results, he recorded his emphatic protest against it as the 
 worst Bill, the most unjust, the most reactionary, and the 
 most tyrannical in spirit that had been brought before 
 Parliament, since Lord Bolingbroke proposed his Schism Bill, 
 in the reign of Queen Anne ; for its object was to put the 
 education of the people into the hands of the Church of 
 England by discouraging and suppressing all kinds of educa- 
 tion. He was supported in debate in this final resistance to 
 the Measure, by Mr. Cowen and Mr. Burt, but on a division 
 the Bill was carried by 119 to 46 votes. 
 
 At the close of the Session, which had been an 
 active and an anxious one for Mr. Richard, he left 
 England to attend the Conference, held in September, 
 at Bremen, on International Law, at which he met many 
 representatives to the Conference from Germany, France, 
 Austria, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and on most of the 
 subjects considered, he gave the weight of his knowledge and 
 experience, and on the question of the principles of Inter-
 
 THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 149 
 
 national Law which ought to govern the intercourse of 
 Christian with non-Christian peoples, introduced by Dr, 
 Thompson, of Berlin, he spoke at some length in support 
 of the recommendations proposed. The subject of Inter- 
 national Maritime Law was introduced by Professor Sheldon 
 Amos, and four propositions submitted in favour of the 
 reforms indicated by the Congress at Paris in 1856, and 
 Mr. Richard supported this view, and after an interesting 
 discussion, the Conference decided to defer their further 
 consideration until the following year. 
 
 THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 
 
 In May 1877, Mr. Richard was elected to the honourable 
 position of Chairman of the Congregational Union for 
 England and Wales, in succession to Dr. Aveling, which he 
 accepted with considerable reluctance, partly owing to the 
 distractions arising out of the Eastern Question, and to the 
 heavy task, amid all his anxieties, to prepare an inaugural 
 address worthy of the occasion. 
 
 Conscious however that it was an imperious call to public 
 duty, he did not shrink, however great the sense of weariness 
 might be, from obeying the summons and grappling with the 
 heavy task imposed upon him, of preparing and delivering 
 the Address from the Chair, and nobly did he discharge it. 
 
 The subject he chose, or rather the title which he gave to 
 it was, " The Relations of the Civil and Spiritual Powers in 
 various countries in Europe," and it proved a masterly 
 survey of the ecclesiastical condition of Europe, dealing 
 successively with the relations of Church and State in 
 France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland, 
 and he shewed the character and vastness of the conflict 
 the Nonconformists were engaged in, and pointed out the 
 teaching lessons to be derived therefrom, reversing the
 
 150 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 injunction of the Great Apostle, " Let no man join together 
 what God had put asunder," and he closed with a forcible 
 description of the evils inseparable from the alliance of 
 religion with the State, and of the great blessings that would 
 flow from its emancipation. 
 
 Valuable as in many respects, and able without exception 
 as was this instructive address, and greatly as it interested 
 and impressed that large religious gathering, there were, as it 
 was natural to expect in such a highly intellectual assembly, 
 those who did not agree in every particular, and this 
 divergence of opinion displayed itself at the close of the 
 sitting, when Dr. Dale introduced the Eastern Question, and 
 submitted a resolution of sympathy with the course recom- 
 mended by Mr. Gladstone, of Coercion against Turkey. 
 
 The subsequent speakers, Dr. Allon, Dr. Raleigh, Rev. 
 J. G. Rogers, Rev. Newman Hall, and Dr. White, were 
 unanimous in condemning the withdrawal, or the modifica- 
 tion of any of the famous Resolutions proposed by Mr. 
 Gladstone, and they strongly supported giving practical 
 effect to the decisions unanimously arrived at by the Repre- 
 sentatives of the Powers, in order to compel Turkey to 
 carry out the mandate of Europe. 
 
 As Chairman of the Assembly, Mr. Richard was placed 
 in a trying position, for, as the Apostle of Peace, he could 
 have no sympathy with force, or the potential exercise of 
 force, even though it was against oppression and for free- 
 dom, and his courage on this occasion was as admirable as 
 his diplomacy, to extricate the Congregational Union from 
 an awkward dilemma, for, in closing the discussion he gave 
 a cordial concurrence to the resolution of Dr. Dale, which 
 expressed high appreciation of the signal services rendered 
 by Mr. Gladstone to humanity and freedom, and he rejoiced 
 in its firm declaration against the material or moral support 
 of England being exercised on behalf of Turkey, for it 
 showed how great was the change of opinion amongst 
 those who supported the Crimean War and the policy which
 
 THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 151 
 
 led to it, and he hoped that those who were so widely 
 wrong in 1854, when they so heartily advocated war on 
 behalf of Turkey and against Russia, would not go to the 
 other extreme, and advocate the reverse policy in 1877 of 
 war against Turkey, and on behalf of Russia. 
 
 On a second occasion during his Chairmanship of the 
 Congregational Union, Mr. Richard eloquently addressed 
 that influential body at its Annual Autumnal Meeting held 
 at Leicester, i6th October, on the subject dear to his heart, 
 and chose for his subject " The application of Christianity 
 to Politics," which was a comprehensive survey of the 
 results of the relationship of the Church with the State, and 
 of Religion with Education, and he dealt also with the 
 Slavery question, the conduct of States towards Aboriginal 
 Tribes, and non-Christian nations, and lastly War, and on 
 this latter subject he dwelt upon the moral, the physical, the 
 economic, and the Christian view in a most able and ex- 
 haustive manner. 
 
 At the concluding Session of the Union, the following 
 resolution expressive of grateful appreciation of Mr. Richard's 
 services, and for his powerful addresses, was proposed in 
 a highly eulogistic speech by Dr. Allon, and supported 
 in an equally flattering manner by Mr. Byles and Mr. 
 Grimwade : 
 
 " That the Assembly hereby cordially thanks Henry Richard, 
 Esq., M.P., for the efficient manner in which he has conducted 
 the business of the Union during his year of office, and for the 
 useful and powerful addresses which he has delivered from the 
 chair. The Assembly desires also to recognise the great service 
 Mr. Richard has rendered to the cause of religious equality as a 
 Member of Parliament, and to pray that his health and life may 
 be long maintained, that he may render yet further services in 
 the ecclesiastical controversies of his day." 
 
 During his visit to Leicester, the Working Men's Peace 
 Association presented him with an illuminated address, ex- 
 pressive of their admiration of the services he had rendered 
 to the cause of Peace, and accompanying the deputation 
 were several of the ministers and aldermen, besides numerous
 
 152 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 representatives of the working men of the town ; and in 
 reply to the address and speeches delivered, Mr. Richard 
 observed that few things had given him more pleasure than 
 the formation of the Working Men's Peace Association, whose 
 efforts for the promotion of Peace had been conducted with 
 great earnestness and prudence, and he considered that 
 there was no class in the community that had stronger 
 grounds for action, as the burden of War invariably fell 
 upon them. 
 
 With the exception of two questions addressed to the 
 Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the expedi- 
 tion to Yunnam, and the persecution of Christians in 
 Armenia, Mr. Richard took no part in the debate during 
 the Session of 1877, and on the prorogation of Parliament, 
 he attended the Annual Congress of the Association for the 
 Reform and Codification of the Laws of Nations, held at 
 Antwerp from the 3ist August to 4th September, under the 
 presidency of the ex-Chancellor of Ireland, Lord O'Hagan, 
 and on this occasion he presented a paper on "The Obliga- 
 tion of Treaties," an admirable summary, and favourable 
 criticism of which, appeared in the Times. 
 
 A similar paper was read by Dr. Thompson, of Berlin, 
 entitled " Treaties as Matter of the Law of Nations," and 
 an interesting discussion followed on both papers, at the 
 close of which Mr. Richard moved a resolution, seconded 
 by Professor Sheldon Amos, in favour of the insertion of an 
 Arbitration Clause in all future International Treaties, which 
 was unanimously adopted. 
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 
 
 In 1875, for the fifth time over a period of 100 years, the 
 troublous affairs in the East once more disturbed the general 
 peace of Europe, and in an endeavour to form a correct
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 153 
 
 judgment of the character and the history of the complica- 
 tions, and which have been continued down to the present 
 time, there are two leading facts which must not be over- 
 looked, and they are these. 
 
 Prior to the Crimean War, the Christian populations 
 of the Turkish Provinces in Europe were recognised by the 
 Treaty of Adrianople of 1829, and confirmed by the Treaty 
 of Unkiar-Skelessi of 1832, as being under the protec- 
 torate of Russia; but the Treaty of Paris 1856, which 
 followed the Crimean War, changed this, and imposed upon 
 the Great Powers the obligation which had previously been 
 claimed and exercised by Russia. 
 
 From the year 1856 to 1875, when the insurrection broke 
 out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there had been constant 
 and repeated complaints in regard to the rapacity, injustice, 
 and brutality of the Turkish Government, or its officials, and 
 time after time remonstrances had been made by our own, 
 and other Governments, but to no avail. 
 
 In the autumn of 1873, a memorial was presented to the 
 Austrian Government by a number of the inhabitants of 
 Bosnia, praying, among other things, 
 
 "That an impartial Commission, composed partly of Christian 
 subjects of the Sultan, should be sent from Constantinople, for 
 the purpose of inquiry into the state of Christians in Bosnia; and 
 that this Commission should carry on its labours with the sup- 
 port of the signatory Powers to the Treaty of Paris." 
 
 Earl Granville was Foreign Secretary at the above date, 
 and he wrote to Sir H. Elliott, asking for further informa- 
 tion. In the spring of 1874 Mr. Disraeli's Government 
 came into power, and the matter thus passed into other 
 hands ; but one thing is certain, the needed reforms were 
 not carried out, and in the summer of 1875 the population 
 of Bosnia, and also of Herzegovina, broke out into insur- 
 rection. 
 
 On the 3ist January, 1876, Count Andrassy, the Prime 
 Minister for Austria, anxious for a pacific solution, submitted 
 to the Great Powers the famous document known by the
 
 154 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 " Andrassy Note," which summarised the wrongs under 
 which the Christian population of Turkey suffered, and 
 which suggested five proposals. 
 
 " I. Reforms were essential in the direction of full religious 
 liberty to the Christians. 2. The system of tax-farming to cease. 
 
 3. The direct taxes raised to be applied to the use of the Provinces. 
 
 4. The establishment of provincial Councils. 5. To secure the 
 execution of reforms, the re-organization of the police." 
 
 The " Andrassy Note " was accepted by Russia, Germany, 
 Austria, and Great Britain ; but the weakness of the 
 " Andrassy Note " was the omission of any real guarantee 
 from the Porte for the carrying out of these reforms, and the 
 result was, that the insurgents declared they would not accept 
 such conditions. 
 
 On the nth May, 1876, the Emperor of Russia arrived 
 in Berlin to confer with the Emperors of Germany and 
 Austria in favour of more stringent measures for the pacifi- 
 cation of the East, than those indicated in the "Andrassy 
 Note ; " and the result of those Conferences was the issue of 
 the celebrated " Berlin Memorandum," which was drawn up 
 on the basis of the reforms indicated in the " Andrassy 
 Note." 
 
 The declarations of the " Berlin Memorandum " insisted 
 on a suspension of the insurrection for two months, during 
 which time negotiations .should proceed; and, if the armistice 
 should expire without a pacific result, the Great Powers 
 should come to an agreement with a view to prevent the 
 insurrection from spreading. 
 
 Lord Derby refused to support the "Berlin Memorandum," 
 because England had not been consulted, and that its demands 
 were unreasonable ; and this declaration was followed up by 
 the despatch of the English Fleet to Besika Bay, not, as it 
 was alleged, for the purpose of protecting Turkey against 
 external aggression or internal dismemberment, but, in the 
 event of the breaking out of a sanguinary civil war at 
 Constantinople, to protect British subjects, and foreigners in
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 155 
 
 general, from what was apprehended would be a general 
 massacre. This refusal of England, and the demonstration 
 of its Fleet, led practically to the withdrawal of the " Berlin 
 Memorandum ; " and, despairing of a pacific solution, the 
 Servians and Montenegrins (incited, no doubt, by Russian 
 Panslavists, and supported by Russian gold and Russian 
 officers), soon afterwards declared war against Turkey, which 
 banished all hopes of peace in the East being maintained. 
 
 Towards tne end of April the insurrection, fomented by 
 foreign emissaries, spread to Bulgaria ; but it was charac- 
 terised by such barbarous atrocities that naturally aroused a 
 storm of public indignation in England against Turkey, and 
 a strong demand was made that England should separate 
 herself from a nation which perpetrated such cruelties ; that 
 a stop should be put to Turkish rule in Bulgaria, Bosnia, 
 and Herzegovina ; a demand which compelled the Porte to 
 take vigorous measures to stamp out the rebellion. 
 
 Mr. Richard and the friends of Peace were placed in a 
 difficult position, for on the one side they had to contend 
 with the traditional policy of England to maintain what was 
 euphemiously called the integrity and independence of the 
 Ottoman Empire in Europe, allied with which was the 
 jealousy and hatred of Russia, and on the other side was the 
 outburst of indignation against Turkey for the hideous out- 
 rages perpetrated by the Moslems upon the Slav and 
 Christian population in various parts of her Empire, which 
 called forth throughout Europe angry protests, and a demand 
 for armed intervention against the Government of the 
 Porte. 
 
 Between the horns of this dilemma, both tending or 
 pointing in the direction of war, the Scylla, of hatred to 
 Russia, and the Charybdis, of hostility to Turkey, Mr. Richard 
 endeavoured to hold an even keel, and in such a peculiar 
 crisis his calm judgment, and his courage for consistency did 
 not forsake him throughout, though tried as it must have 
 been, even to a hair's breadth, whilst his energy of resource,
 
 156 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 and marvellous activity and zeal was seldom, if ever, so 
 conspicuously displayed. 
 
 The first prominent action taken by Mr. Richard at this 
 early stage of the crisis was in reference to the important 
 Deputation of the 1 4th July, 1876, to present a Memorial 
 to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Earl Derby, for although 
 the originators and promoters of the Deputation hailed from 
 Birmingham, yet Mr. Richard welcomed the proposal, and 
 prepared the way for its adoption, for it expressed the 
 earnest hope that the Government would observe a policy 
 of strict neutrality, except where it may be able to interpose 
 its friendly offices to mitigate the horrors, and to hasten 
 the close of the conflict then raging in the European 
 provinces of Turkey. 
 
 This Memorial, drafted by Mr. Richard, was largely and 
 influentially signed, and was supported in its presentation 
 by Mr. Bright, Mr. Chamberlain, and upwards of 40 Members 
 of Parliament, and 250 representative men from all parts of 
 the country, and in reply to this Memorial and the speeches 
 delivered, nothing could have been more excellent in manner, 
 or more re-assuring in tone, than Lord Derby's speech, as to 
 the views and policy of the Government, and which were 
 clearly set forth in the following terms : 
 
 "The policy of Her Majesty's Government will be a policy of 
 strict neutrality, except where it may be able to interpose its 
 friendly offices to hasten the close of the war. * * * 
 
 " We have done what was in our power to prevent this war 
 breaking out. In that we failed. We shall now do what is in 
 our power to keep it within certain limits * * * We shall 
 not intervene, we shall do our utmost, if necessary, to discourage 
 others from intervening. 
 
 " If an opportunity of mediation should offer itself, we shall 
 gladly avail ourselves of it ; while we retain, as we are bound to 
 do, our own freedom, and our own independence of action and 
 of judgment, we attach quite as much importance as those 
 others with whom we have acted to that general understanding 
 among the great European States, which is the best and surest 
 guarantee of peace." 
 
 These declarations of the Foreign Minister were received
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 157 
 
 with genuine satisfaction, and produced a salutary and 
 tranquillising effect, not only in this country, but throughout 
 all Europe. 
 
 Upon the first symptoms of alarm and danger at the 
 course events in the East were taking, especially directed 
 against Russia, Mr. Richard re-published a pamphlet, which 
 has been previously referred to, on the History and Origin 
 of the War with Russia in 1853-4, that thus, as he stated in 
 the preface : 
 
 " By throwing light on the causes of that War, an opportunity 
 should be afforded to the young generation that has come into 
 political life since those days, to judge for themselves what really 
 was the nature and amount of those Russian demands in 1853-4, 
 which were swollen to such portentous dimensions by the 
 jealousies and fears of the moment," 
 
 for he feared that attempts were being made in 1876 to 
 reproduce the same state of feeling towards Russia, which 
 hurried England into that disastrous conflict in 1853. 
 
 This succinct and remarkably able pamphlet had, as it 
 deserved, an extensive circulation. Copies were sent to the 
 members of both Houses of Parliament, to editors of the 
 Press, and public men throughout the country ; and its value 
 and usefulness at that critical time was considerable, for it 
 helped with other circumstances to awaken in the public 
 mind a consciousness of the great blunder of the Crimean 
 War. 
 
 At this juncture, whilst danger of war on behalf of 
 Turkey was lessening, there was steadily rising a tide of 
 furious indignation, stirred by the infamous and execrable 
 horrors in Bulgaria, not confined to an armed intervention 
 against Turkey, but a clamour, loud and deep for a war of 
 vengeance and of extermination " bag and baggage " of the 
 unspeakable Turk from the soil of Europe. 
 
 Against this war of vengeance, as a punishment for the cruel 
 crimes committed by England's former ally, Turkey, Mr. 
 Richard vigorously and justly denounced, equally as he had 
 in 1853, that in fighting for the Turks we were fighting the
 
 158 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 battle of freedom, justice, and civilization, for he considered 
 such a war would drive Mahomedan fanaticism to desperation, 
 and "scenes would be enacted throughout Europe and Asia, 
 wherever the Ottoman dominions extend, which would be 
 an imitation on a large scale of the very worst of the iniquities 
 at which the world is now so loudly expressing its indig- 
 nation." 
 
 To stem this rolling wave of popular fury, Mr. Richard 
 issued a powerful appeal, bearing his signature alone, 
 a masterly review of the deplorable result of the Crimean 
 War, which he summed up by the declaration of the Times, 
 " that never was so great an effort made for so worthless an 
 object ; " and he earnestly exhorted his countrymen to make 
 their voices heard, that on no pretext whatever should 
 England again enter into partnership with Mahomedan 
 fanaticism. 
 
 The next important step undertaken by Mr. Richard, in 
 conjunction with some of the foremost men of the day, was 
 the formation of the Eastern Question Association, which 
 may be described as the outcome of the influential deputa- 
 tion to the Foreign Minister, Earl Derby, previously referred 
 to; as its inception dates from that event, and was the 
 direct result of the important declarations of the Noble Lord, 
 in reply to the Memorial presented on that occasion. 
 
 It would be impossible to over-estimate the great value 
 of this important and diplomatic move at this critical 
 moment; for, looking back on the stirring events of that 
 day, there can be but one opinion, that by virtue of its 
 eminently influential and representative character, and its 
 vigorous action, it decided for England the great issues of 
 peace or war in the East, and that issue was Peace. For 
 what at that supreme crisis was the attitude, what the 
 policy, of the Government of Lord Beaconsfield? For 
 many weary months, in fact from the day of the outbreak 
 of the insurrection in Herzegovina, through all that dark 
 and dismal period of the reign of terror, and the orgies of
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 159 
 
 blood and carnage in Bulgaria, the responsible members of 
 the Government in both Houses of Parliament, and their 
 official organs in the press, steadily and stubbornly with- 
 held whether from High State reasons of diplomatic 
 reticence, or some hidden and settled design to bamboozle 
 the country into war, it is difficult to say all information, all 
 despatches, and all declarations of opinion or policy, from 
 the ear and eye of the Representatives of the people. 
 
 Moreover, it was obvious from the important speech 
 delivered by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
 Earl of Derby, to the Deputation at the Foreign Office on 
 the 1 4th July, and reading between the lines, that within the 
 Councils of the Crown, there had been and still remained 
 two policies, and probably two powerful factions ; the one 
 favouring a benevolent neutrality, a dignified policy of non- 
 intervention, and the other gravitating and drifting towards 
 an armed intervention in the East ; whether for Turkey or 
 against Turkey, whether for Russia or against Russia, was 
 not clear, but an armed intervention in the name, for the 
 interests, the honour, and the prestige of the British Flag, 
 which were in no manner or degree in peril. 
 
 To meet therefore this emergency, to sustain and strengthen 
 in the Councils of the Crown the Ministers of Peace who 
 were firmly resolved on England's neutrality, and to counter- 
 act and withstand the Ministers of War, who were determined 
 on England's active intervention in the East, was the one aim 
 of the friends of peace and non-intervention, and by marshall- 
 ing their widely-scattered forces, Members of both Houses of 
 Parliament, the Clergy of all denominations, Mayors and 
 Magistrates, members of the Universities and other public 
 bodies and representatives of the people, and uniting them 
 in one compact and powerful National Union, to stimulate 
 and arouse such an overwhelming volume of public opinion 
 that no Minister, or Parliament, or Cabal, dare to resist. 
 
 This Eastern Question Association was launched into 
 existence by, it is no exaggeration to say, the most remark-
 
 l6o HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 able and powerful demonstrations ever witnessed in this 
 country held at St. James's Hall the 8th December 1876, 
 and was presided over in the forenoon by the Duke of 
 Westminster, K.G., and in the evening by the Earl of 
 Shaftesbury, K.G., and at the former Mr. Richard was 
 amongst the many speakers, and at the latter Mr. Gladstone 
 delivered a great speech, worthy of his great oratorical 
 powers. 
 
 Many and varied were the operations of the Eastern 
 Question Association, established for the purpose of watching 
 events in the East, for giving expression to public opinion, 
 and spreading useful information, and as effective and 
 telling in their restraining and constraining influence upon 
 the policy of the Government; and perhaps the most 
 influential were the rapid succession of publications com- 
 piled by able and well-known writers, bearing on the many- 
 sided aspects of the complicated Eastern Question, and 
 covering the wide domain of the government of the Porte in 
 its Asiatic and European Dominions. 
 
 The first of these useful and striking issues from the press 
 was from the pen of Mr. Richard, on the "Evidences of 
 Turkish Misrule," in which, as the South Wales Daily News 
 wrote : 
 
 " The degeneracy, the brutalism, and the foul immoralities of 
 the Turk, and the life-long suffering of the subject races under 
 his sway, are painted in terribly lurid but faithful colours. Mr. 
 Richard has rendered valuable service to humanity, and to the 
 cause of civil and religious freedom before now ; but civilisation 
 itself is indebted to him for bringing into one compact whole 
 such an array of evidence from historians, travellers, diplomatists, 
 statesmen and Government officials, who were witnesses of what 
 they describe, in proof of the incurable and deadly misrule of 
 Turkey." 
 
 Whilst these efforts, happily successful efforts, were being 
 put forth by Mr. Richard and others, to prevent England 
 drifting into war, for or against Turkey, events of great 
 significance were marching apace in the East, to which 
 reference may suitably be made.
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. l6l 
 
 At the close of the year 1876, in consequence of the 
 victories of the Turkish arms in Servia and Montenegro, the 
 Russian Ambassador Ignatieff, presented an ultimatum to 
 the Porte, demanding an immediate armistice, with a view 
 to a Conference for the restoration of peace, and this 
 proposal was finally accepted by the Sultan, and the Great 
 European Powers. 
 
 The Conference assembled on the 23rd November, 1876, 
 under the presidency of Safvet Pasha, the Turkish Minister 
 for Foreign Affairs, and the Great Powers of Europe were 
 represented by Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain, Italy, 
 and Russia, who declared they were actuated by a sincere 
 wish to arrive at a solution of the great Eastern Question 
 satisfactory to Europe, and to the disaffected Provinces of 
 Turkey. 
 
 After much deliberation and negotiation, the result of 
 which showed considerable harmony on the part of the 
 representatives of the Great Powers, it was resolved by the 
 Conference that Turkey should be advised to carry out great 
 concessions in the direction of internal reforms throughout 
 the whole of her Empire, as the only means whereby its 
 dismemberment could be averted, and the general peace of 
 Europe maintained. 
 
 Unfortunately for Turkey these wise recommendations of 
 the Conference were received by the Ministers of the Sultan 
 with disfavour and resistance ; and unfortunately, too, for 
 the peace of Europe, the Governments of Great Britain, 
 Germany, France and Austria, and others represented at the 
 Conference, failed in their endeavours to induce Turkey to 
 carry out the recommendations of the Constantinople 
 Conference. 
 
 In consequence of this refusal by Turkey to adopt these 
 measures of reform, and in consequence of the widespread 
 disturbance and atrocious outrages perpetrated in many of 
 the Turkish Provinces, the Czar declared to the Notables at 
 Moscow his intention to act independently, and without the 
 
 M
 
 1 62 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 approval of any of the Great Powers, Russia declared war 
 against Turkey, and on the 24th of April, 1877, her armies 
 advanced simultaneously into Asiatic and European Turkey. 
 
 It is unnecessary, however,, to refer at length to the dismal 
 record of those military events which characterised this 
 War ; the gathering of the Russian Armies in Europe and 
 Asia, their advance from Bessarabia across the Danube into 
 Bulgaria; and from Alexandropol into Armenia, a great 
 military drama, in which scenes full of thrilling and painful 
 incidents pass before us, sometimes quickly, sometimes 
 slowly, but always exhibiting a ghastly spectacle of mangled 
 humanity, a war of races and creeds developed in all its 
 horror and repulsiveness. 
 
 On the last day of the year 1877 Turkey, in a despatch of 
 great moderation, anxious to avoid a further effusion of 
 blood, appealed to the Mediation of England, and to the 
 honour of England her Government appealed to Russia, 
 whether enough had not been achieved by the armies of 
 both Empires to satisfy all questions of Military honour. 
 
 This appeal was at first unsuccessful ; Russia refused on 
 the ground that she would receive overtures only direct from 
 her vanquished foes, but the appeal of England was not to 
 be denied, backed by the voice of Europe, and by the 
 movement of the British Fleet to the Dardanelles, was 
 firmly pressed, and Russia slowly and sullenly gave way, by 
 consenting to an armistice, and the preliminaries for Peace 
 were accordingly signed at Adrianople on the i8th January, 
 1878. 
 
 In the little village of San Stefano, the plenipotentiary for 
 Turkey, Safvet Pasha, and for Russia, General Ignatieff, 
 surrounded with all the pomp and triumphs of a victorious 
 army, deliberated for many anxious weeks over the exacting 
 terms dictated by the Conqueror. 
 
 The conditions contained in this Treaty of San Stefano, 
 signed on the 3rd March, 1878, sent a shudder through 
 Europe, and evoked such a storm of indignation from the
 
 THE EASTERN QUESTION. 163 
 
 public press and the public voice, that no Cabinet or Govern- 
 ment could for a moment withstand. 
 
 Against these exorbitant demands, Europe and the Govern- 
 ment of England vehemently protested, despatch succeeded 
 despatch, courier after courier followed one another in quick 
 succession to St. Petersburg, the British Fleet was ordered 
 to move into the Dardanelles, the Indian troops were sum- 
 moned to Europe, the Parliament voted six millions to 
 prepare for an emergency, and for a time a great crisis arose 
 which seriously threatened to involve England and Russia 
 into a tremendous War. 
 
 Throughout this prolonged crisis, it must be acknowledged, 
 that the Statesmen of both Nations did their utmost by their 
 diplomatic skill, their forbearance and patience, to secure a 
 pacific settlement, honourable alike to England and Russia, 
 and satisfactory to Turkey and the provinces under her 
 sway. 
 
 Happily, at this serious junction of affairs, Russia was 
 represented by a diplomatist of conspicuous merit, Count 
 Schouvaloff, who with a great devotion to his country and 
 the Government from which he was accredited, combined in 
 a remarkable degree a spirit of conciliation, of moderation, 
 of wisdom in counsel, and of energy in action, which largely 
 helped to secure a solution of the delicate and difficult 
 causes in dispute. 
 
 Finally, after three months of anxious negotiation, and 
 subtle diplomacy, Russia yielded to the will of Europe by 
 consenting to an European Congress to be held at Berlin, 
 to which the Treaty of San Stefano should be unreservedly 
 submitted for consideration and revision by all the Great 
 European Powers. 
 
 In the month of June this important Congress assembled 
 at Berlin, under the presidency of the Chancellor of the 
 German Empire, Prince Bismarck : a great assembly of the 
 leading Statesmen of Europe, Prince Gortchakoff for Russia, 
 Count Andrassy for Austria, Count Corti for Italy, M. Wad-
 
 164 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 dington for France, Caratheodori Pasha for Turkey, and 
 last, but not least, the venerable and astute Lord Beacons- 
 field, as the representative for Great Britain. 
 
 For several weeks this Congress of the Ambassadors of 
 the Great European Powers, deliberated earnestly and 
 anxiously on all the supremely important questions sub- 
 mitted to them for the pacification of the East, embrac- 
 ing among many others, the defining of the boundaries of 
 Bulgaria, Roumelia, Servia, and Montenegro ; the adminis- 
 tration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Austria ; the recogni- 
 tion of the sovereign independence of Servia and Roumania ; 
 the granting of complete political, civil, and religious liberty 
 to the populations of every one of the Balkan States ; and 
 the readjustment of the Turkish Empire on assured foun- 
 dations. 
 
 To the honour of the eminent Statesmen assembled at 
 that Congress, a sincere and resolute determination was 
 apparent to achieve a peaceful issue, and complete harmony 
 prevailed on the many difficult and conflicting high matters 
 of State policy submitted to them for consideration and 
 decision. 
 
 This great international compact, the Treaty of Berlin, 
 may be truly called a great historical landmark, for it trans- 
 formed an Empire, removed long-standing causes of discon- 
 tent, pacified provinces torn by dissention and misrule, 
 placed barriers between rival forms of bigotry, stopped many 
 avenues of foreign intrigue, abridged the Power of a Despotic 
 Empire, and gave peace to Europe, which, let us hope, no 
 Government or Ruler will attempt to disturb. 
 
 Before leaving this subject reference should be made to the 
 
 DEPUTATION TO THE BERLIN CONGRESS, 
 
 consisting of Mr. Richard, Leone Levi, and Frederic Passy, 
 for the purpose of bringing before the Representatives of 
 Europe there assembled, the subject of International 
 Arbitration.
 
 DEPUTATION TO THE BERLIN CONGRESS. 165 
 
 The deputation reached Berlin ist July, and their first step 
 was to forward to each of the Plenipotentiaries the Memorial 
 to the Congress which was signed, in addition to the 
 members of the deputation, by Signer Mancini for Italy, 
 Aug. Couvreur for Belgium, D. Van Eck for Holland, Adolf 
 Franck for France, and others, and the prayer of this Memorial 
 set forth the many evidences of the practicability and pro- 
 gress of Arbitration for terminating in a pacific manner the 
 differences between nations, and asked the Congress to re- 
 affirm the great principle, which was declared in the Treaty 
 of Paris in 1856. 
 
 In response to this petition, the deputation were honoured 
 with invitations for a personal interview, with the British 
 Ambassador at Berlin, Lord Odo Russell, the Plenipotentiary 
 for Italy, Count Corti, the Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs for Germany, Baron de Biilow, and also M. Biicher, 
 one of the official representatives of the Congress, and the 
 result of these conferences were eminently satisfactory, in the 
 direction of sympathy and approval with the principle and 
 practice of international arbitration, but to quote Count 
 Corti, 
 
 " He feared that even if the Congress entertained the question, 
 the plenipotentiaries would not be brought to accept the proposal 
 of a clause binding the Congress to Arbitration, as that might 
 be thought inconsistent with the independence of Governments ;" 
 
 but he made this important admission : 
 
 \ 
 
 " The present Congress is really a Court of Arbitration. We 
 find England and Austria on one side, and Russia on the other, 
 and the other Powers, Germany, France, and Italy are Arbitra- 
 tors^ who have to adjust their conflicting claims, and bring them 
 into harmony." 
 
 In addition to the important Conference with the plenipo- 
 tentiaries referred to, written communications were received 
 from Lord Beaconsfield, Count Schouvaloff, Ambassador for 
 Russia, Count Haymerle, Ambassador for Austria, Count 
 de Saint- Vallier, Ambassador for France, and also the Marquis 
 of Salisbury, Ambassador for England and the latter, con-
 
 1 66 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 veyed, what was in effect the decision of the Congress, in the 
 following terms : 
 
 " It has several times been laid down by the President, and 
 has been accepted by the Representatives of the Powers, that no 
 subject not arising directly out of the Provisions of the Treaty 
 of San Stefano, can be entertained by the Congress." 
 
 Against this inflexible decision, notwithstanding efforts 
 made, there was no concession, but the deputation were 
 gratified however in finding subsequently, that their labours 
 were not altogether in vain, inasmuch as by the 63rd Article 
 of the Treaty of Berlin it was declared : 
 
 "That the Treaty of Paris of 1856, as well as the Treaty of 
 London of 1871, are maintained in all such of their provisions 
 as are not abrogated or modified by any of the stipulations in 
 the Treaty of Berlin." 
 
 Truly, as Mr. Richard wrote on his return from this 
 Mission : 
 
 " We venture to hope that by bringing the question of Arbi- 
 tration before so many of the leading Statesmen of Europe, and 
 by means of the press, before the world, we have done some- 
 thing to sow seed which may hereafter bring fruit." 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 
 
 On the Meeting of Parliament in 1878, the Eastern 
 Question was early the subject of serious consideration. 
 
 On January 28, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir 
 Stafford Northcote, in view of the assembling at Berlin of a 
 Congress on Eastern Affairs, and to give strength, as he 
 believed, to the position of the plenipotentiaries for England, 
 proposed the following resolution : 
 
 "That a sum not exceeding .6,000,000 be granted to Her 
 Majesty, beyond the ordinary grants of Parliament, towards 
 defraying the expenses which may be incurred during the year 
 ending on the 3ist March 1878, in increasing the efficiency of 
 the Naval and Military Services, at the present crisis of the War 
 between Russia and Turkev."
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 167 
 
 This proposal was opposed by the whole force of the 
 Liberal Party, by an amendment, moved by Mr. Forster, to 
 the effect, that the conditions of England's neutrality not 
 having been infringed by either Russia or Turkey, there was 
 no justification for deviating from a policy of neutrality and 
 peace, and no reason for voting unnecessary supplies, and a 
 great debate followed, lasting up to the nth February, in 
 which most, if not all the foremost orators, and statesmen of 
 the House took part, Mr. Cross, Mr. Bright, Marquis of 
 Hartington, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Cowen, and Sir 
 Wilfrid Lawson, and it was during this debate, that Mr. 
 Richard, on 8th February, the day following the ordering of 
 the British Fleet to pass the Dardanelles, for the protection 
 of the lives and properties of British subjects at Constanti- 
 nople, delivered a speech, in which he condemned the 
 appointment of Mr. Layard to the post of Ambassador at 
 Constantinople, and also, the "great swelling words" of Lord 
 Beaconsfield, as tending to excite the nation, and to breed 
 resentment abroad, and especially that whilst the Government 
 declared it was not for War, that members of the Cabinet 
 made warlike speeches, and on the eve of the assembling of 
 a Conference for Peace, despatched the Fleet to Constanti- 
 nople, and demanded a vote of six million sterling. 
 
 Again, on April gth, Mr. Richard took part in the debate 
 which followed the declaration of the Government to call 
 out the Reserves in the eventuality of war with Russia, not, 
 as Mr. Richard said, for the defence of British interests, or 
 the balance of power, or the freedom of Europe, but from a 
 blind, unreasoning hatred and fear of Russia. He ridiculed 
 these " fits of terror," and shewed their tendency in the past 
 against France, United States and other countries ; and as 
 regards Russia, he considered England had no commission 
 from God or man to inflict chastisement upon her for her 
 wrong-doings, or for her aggressions, and that England 
 should not apply one standard to herself, and another to the 
 rest of the nations of the world.
 
 1 68 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 On Feb. i2th, Mr. Leatham raised the question of the 
 traffic in Church Livings, and moved a resolution to prevent 
 the evasion of the law, and to check abuses in the sale of 
 livings in private patronage ; and in the course of the debate 
 Mr. Richard addressed the House in its support, in which he 
 wondered that a scandal so flagrant should have been per- 
 mitted to exist so long, for by the canons of 1693, every 
 clergyman, before his admission to his living, is required to 
 take an oath declaring that he has not committed simony in 
 any form whatever, and yet, in face of this, it is notorious 
 that sale and barter for the " cure of souls " continues to this 
 day, which, he said, dishonors the Church, degrades its 
 clergy, and brings religion into contempt. 
 
 During the progress, in Committee, of the Intermediate 
 Education Bill, brought in by the Government, Mr. Richard 
 opposed it, because it proposed to give public money to 
 promote and perpetuate sectarian education. 
 
 Upon the subject of the Bishoprics' Bill, introduced by 
 the Government, which gave an increase to the number of 
 Bishops, Mr. Richard supported an amendment brought 
 forward by Mr. Cowen, declaring it was undesirable to make 
 any increase in the number of Bishops, and said he would 
 not consent to the creation of any more of the politico- 
 ecclesiastical officials, or of any class of men appointed by 
 the State to perform spiritual functions ; but on a division 
 the amendment was lost by a majority of 37, and the Bill 
 having passed through Committee, eventually became law 
 August 1 5th, 1878. 
 
 THE AFGHAN AND ZULU WARS. 
 
 In September, 1878, Mr. Richard was alarmed at the 
 serious complications which arose between Great Britain 
 and Afghanistan and at the first appearance of the difficulty
 
 THE AFGHAN AND ZULU WARS. 169 
 
 he drafted an appeal to the Friends of Peace throughout the 
 country, urging them in every practicable way to protest 
 against war. 
 
 This appeal was followed up by three important demon- 
 strations at Bristol, Bradford, Leeds, Birmingham, and 
 London, the former of which, held in Colston Hall, under 
 the presidency of Mr. E. S. Robinson, Mr. Richard 
 attended, and delivered a speech of earnest protest against 
 the war, in which he ably reviewed the whole question, and 
 in spite of much tumult and organised rowdyism, the reso- 
 lutions in favour of peace were carried by an overwhelming 
 majority. 
 
 In addition to these active efforts, public meetings, and 
 memorials to the Government, Mr. Richard wrote a series 
 of letters on the Afghan question, addressed to the Christian 
 World, which were afterwards published in a pamphlet 
 form, and widely distributed; an historic survey, and masterly 
 statement of facts, that proved of great interest and value 
 for the right appreciation by the public mind, of the real 
 causes of that deplorable quarrel. 
 
 In the same year, 1878, and nigh at the same period o 
 time of the declaration of War against Afghanistan, England 
 was engaged in a similar enterprise in South Africa, which 
 Mr. Richard by pen and voice vigorously opposed, for he 
 considered the complications, and the War which followed, 
 were the direct result of the spirited foreign policy of Lord 
 Beaconsfield's Government. 
 
 It bore its own bitter fruits ; the disaster at Isandula, the 
 death of the youthful Napoleon, pierced by the assegais of a 
 people who had never done him, or threatened to do him any 
 harm, the terrible sacrifice of human life, estimated at up- 
 wards of 20,000 Zulus and its consequent results, the reign 
 of terror and of blood in Zululand these and many other 
 sickening details brand that war, as the most inglorious war 
 waged by the arms of England.
 
 170 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 ELIHU BURRITT. 
 
 In March 1879 passed away in his home at New Britain 
 Connecticut, Mr. Elihu Burritt, a name honoured and 
 beloved in his own and many lands, for his life-long service 
 to the cause of international peace ; and few if any felt more 
 
 ELIHU BURRITT. 
 
 keenly his death than his attached friend and colleague Mr. 
 Richard, and justly so, as they were over many years, and in 
 many memorable conflicts, brothers in arms, 
 
 " For on many a well foughten field, 
 They held together in their chivalry." 
 
 In the columns of the Herald of Peace, Mr. Richard wrote
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 171 
 
 a just and well-deserved tribute to the memory, the labours, 
 and the great services of his departed friend, and conspicuous 
 amongst those varied and important services were his efforts 
 in connection with the Congresses of Paris, Frankfort, and 
 Brussels from 1848 to 1850 ; his peace Missions to many 
 Continental Countries ; his labours for a scheme of Ocean 
 Penny Postage, and in the Anti-Slavery Cause ; and above 
 all, by his unceasing advocacy by the press in many 
 languages, and by the public voice in many countries, to 
 secure the abolition of War. 
 
 Two passages from Mr. Richard's in memoriam, just 
 referred to, may be appropriately given here, as the right 
 estimate of a noble life : 
 
 " His was a life consecrated to works of benevolence with a 
 devoted and disinterested spirit, and it is impossible to doubt 
 that the good seed sown broadcast by him, for so many years, 
 and in so many lands, will be found after many days." 
 
 And again, in concluding his interesting sketch : 
 
 " He was a man of rare faculties, inspired in an eminent 
 degree with the enthusiasm of humanity, who devoted his powers, 
 his acquirements, and in fact all that he had, to the service of 
 truth and justice, and the highest forms of Christian charity, 
 with a simplicity, and completeness of purpose which have been 
 rarely equalled." 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS AND 
 DISARMAMENT. 
 
 During the Session of 1879, upon the second reading 
 of the Bill brought into the House February 26, by Mr. 
 Monk, called the Consecration of Churchyards Act, (1867), 
 Amendment Bill, to provide for Nonconformists, in the 
 rural parishes, the same means of burial as had been pro- 
 vided for them in the towns, Mr. Richard opposed it, on the 
 ground that its object was to introduce into Churchyards a 
 distinction between consecrated and unconsecrated ground,
 
 172 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 which he considered would be an offensive distinction, and 
 lead to much irritation and animosity. The result of this 
 debate was unfavourable to the Bill, and on a division it 
 was defeated by a majority of thirty-one votes. 
 
 The subject of Economy in the National Expenditure, was 
 brought before Parliament early in the same Session, by 
 Mr. Rylands, who moved a series of resolutions, which in 
 effect, declared regret at the increased National Expenditure, 
 that it was unnecessary, that it tended to pauperism and 
 crime, and that therefore, immediate steps should be taken to 
 relieve the taxpayer. An important debate followed, in 
 which the leaders and finance authorities on both sides of 
 the House took part, and Mr. Richard, being of opinion that 
 expenditure depends on policy, and not policy on expendi- 
 ture, availed himself of the opportunity to assail what was 
 termed the spirited Foreign policy of the Government, which 
 he considered meant a policy of aggression, of bluster and 
 blood. 
 
 At the close of the Session, a Bill for promoting Univer- 
 sity Education in Ireland, was brought into Parliament 
 by the O'Connor Don, and elaborately discussed at adjourn- 
 ments, from May 15 to June 25, and on the latter date, Mr. 
 Richard addressed the House in opposition to the Measure, 
 as he objected to one of the proposals to endow a Roman 
 Catholic University, out of the funds accruing from the 
 revenues of the disestablished Church of Ireland. At the 
 close of the debate, Mr. Assheton Cross, on behalf of the 
 Government, unable to accept the Bill of the O'Connor. Don, 
 announced his intention to introduce a similar measure on 
 June 30. Lord Cairns redeemed this promise, and, in spite 
 of opposition by the Roman Catholic party, it passed into 
 law. 
 
 In addition to these efforts of Mr. Richard in the Session of 
 1879, he closely followed the state of affairs in South Africa, 
 and in India, and addressed important questions to Govern- 
 ment on these and other matters of foreign policy.
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 173 
 
 The subject of a general, proportionate, and simultaneous 
 disarmament closely occupied the attention of Mr. Richard 
 during the years 1879 and 1880, and involved him in much 
 labour and anxiety ; and it may be interesting to notice, Before 
 we refer in detail to the effort he made in Parliament in the 
 Session of 1880, the origin and progress of this agitation. 
 
 This special movement of 1879-80 had its origin in the 
 Paris Congress of 1878, for the ruinous system of armed 
 rivalry amongst the Governments of Europe, produced 
 alarm and dismay in all minds, and a cry was raised, in 
 various parts of Europe, to reverse this disastrous system, 
 and to demand that the Governments should concert 
 together for this object. 
 
 At this Peace Congress at Paris in 1878, amongst the 
 eminent representatives present were : Austria, Dr. Stiirm ; 
 France, M. Gamier ; Holland, D. Van Eck ; Belgium, M. 
 Couvreur ; Italy, Marquis Pepoli ; Germany, Baron von 
 Holtzendorf ; and England, Henry Richard : and the follow- 
 ing were the resolutions submitted on the subject of Dis- 
 armament : 
 
 " No. 10. That an International Commission, composed of 
 representatives of each nation, be appointed to secure a reduction 
 of the armaments of each nation. 
 
 "No. n. That the Governments of civilized peoples should 
 open as soon as possible negotiations to arrive at a proportional 
 and simultaneous disarmament in each country." 
 
 These propositions claimed the attention of the Congress 
 with more than ordinary interest, the discussions upon 
 them showed much enthusiasm, and they were unanimously 
 adopted. The members of this Commission to carry them 
 out, represented the principal countries in Europe, and their 
 action, as it was to be expected, led to active efforts being 
 put forth, as the following statement will show. 
 
 The first parliament in Europe, where the question was 
 raised, after this Congress, was the Reichstag at Berlin, on 
 which occasion the devoted and distinguished friend of
 
 174 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 peace, Jean Dollfus, deputy from Alsace, delivered a re- 
 markable speech, condemnatory of the enormous military 
 budget, the withdrawal from labour of millions of men, and 
 especially, by the perfection of weapons, the murderous 
 character of modern wars, which he described as a terrible 
 curse to humanity. 
 
 This appeal, delivered in the Reichstag at Berlin, 
 was followed in March by a practical proposal submitted by 
 Herr von Biihler, an earnest and sincere friend of peace, 
 who presented the following resolution : 
 
 " To request the Prince Chancellor of the Empire, to bring 
 about the convening of a Congress of the various States of 
 Europe, for the purpose of introducing an effective and general 
 reduction, and disarmament of the armies to about half of their 
 present average strength, when on a peace footing, such reduc- 
 tion for the present, to last for the term of 10 to 15 years." 
 
 This proposal of Herr von Biihler, was supported by only 
 twelve members, but, undaunted by this defeat, he addressed 
 to Prince Bismarck a letter, enclosing the resolution, in which 
 he reminded him of their meeting on the battlefield of 
 Gravelotte, and of the determination he made there, to prevent 
 a repetition of the horrors of that war. To this communica- 
 tion Bismarck courteously replied, to the effect, that only 
 after reconciling our neighbours to their views, could 
 Germany undertake the responsibility of such projects. 
 
 These earnest protests against the enormous arma- 
 ments in Europe, made in the Parliament of Germany, 
 by Jean Dollfus and Herr von Biihler, though unavailing, 
 exerted an influence in other countries. 
 
 In Austria, a movement was set on foot in its favour, and 
 a Committee was appointed, consisting of Dr. Sturm, Dr. 
 Fiichs, Dr. Fishoff, and several members of the Reichsrath, 
 and the result, as it was stated, the Government signified 
 a willingness to take the initiative, if it was possible, to arrive 
 at an understanding amongst the other Great Powers. 
 
 In Italy, a strong movement was made. Meetings were 
 held at Milan and Naples ; at the latter a Conference was
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 175 
 
 held in October, 1879, attended by Signer Ricciardi, Professor 
 Sbarbaro, and Baron Von Holtzendorf, of Germany, and 
 a Memorial was adopted in its favour, to the Government. 
 
 In England, Mr. Richard gave considerable impetus to 
 the Movement, for Disarmament had taken such strong hold 
 on leading men of enlightenment in Europe, by bringing the 
 question before the International Conference that met in 
 London on the nth August, convened by the Association 
 for the Reform of the Law of Nations, consisting of repre- 
 sentatives from England, Belgium, Holland, France, and 
 Sweden, presided over successively by the Lord Mayor of 
 London, Sir Robert Phillimore, and Lord O'Hagan. The 
 title of the paper which Mr. Richard read was " International 
 Reduction of Armaments," a comprehensive statement of 
 facts embracing its numerical, financial, moral, and political 
 bearings ; and, at its close, an important debate followed, 
 participated in by Mr. Stollmeyer, of Trinidad, Mr. Atkinson, 
 of Hull, Frederick Passy, of Paris, Prof. Leone Levi, and 
 H. W. Freeland, of London, but, owing to some differences 
 of opinion in regard to the resolution submitted, the subject 
 was referred to a Committee to report upon another year. 
 
 In October, 1879, Mr. Richard attended a meeting at 
 Warrington in support of his Parliamentary motion for dis- 
 armament, and he was supported by Mr. Rylands, M.P., and 
 Mr. McMinnies, the candidate for the borough, when he 
 spoke at some length on the subject of the military 
 condition of Europe, condemning in vigorous language the 
 prolific waste of revenues wrung from the toiling millions, and 
 the tyrannous conscription, which leads to the expatriation of 
 the young manhood of the Continent; and at the close of his 
 address, which was loudly cheered, a resolution was adopted 
 of earnest protest against the war system, and of cordial 
 support of Mr. Richard's Motion for disarmament. 
 
 In November, 1879, an important Conference, attended 
 by influential men from all parts of South Wales, was held 
 in the Guildhall, Swansea, in favour of International
 
 176 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Disarmament, which Mr. Richard addressed at considerable 
 length, and earnestly invoked the help of his countrymen 
 in the arduous work he had undertaken ; believing that if 
 the British Parliament adopted his resolution in favour of 
 Disarmament, other European nations would gladly follow 
 its example. 
 
 At the opening of the year 1880, it may be said, Europe 
 was agitated on the subject of Disarmament, and a general 
 conviction seemed to prevail, that some efforts should be 
 made to put an end to the insane rivalry of military 
 preparations. 
 
 On January 26th, 1880, a definite proposal was made in 
 the Austrian Reichsrath by MM. Fiichs and Keilsberg, as 
 follows : 
 
 "The Chamber of Deputies expresses the wish that the 
 Imperial and Royal Governments will consider the idea of a 
 general, proportionate, and simultaneous army reduction, which 
 will not alter the respective strength of the different States." 
 
 The forcible speech of Dr. Fiichs made a great impression, 
 and was supported by the votes of forty-nine Members, 
 amongst whom in addition to the proposers, to their honour 
 may be mentioned, Dr. Beer, Dr. Roser, M. Bareuther, Baron 
 Kiibeck and Dr. Sturm, and it was a gratifying fact that the 
 Minister of War, subsequently declared, that he gladly hailed 
 the proposal, and that he regarded it as eminently practical. 
 
 Encouraged by these efforts in Germany, Italy, Austria, 
 and Hungary, Mr. Richard finally resolved with the full 
 concurrence of his numerous friends, to submit a reso- 
 lution to Parliament, in favour of promoting a gradual 
 Disarmament in Europe, and accordingly he issued a 
 circular letter to his supporters in this country which, after 
 reciting the manifest reasons for his action, suggested four 
 methods, for influencing members of the Legislature in favour 
 of a question, 
 
 " The importance of which cannot surely be surpassed by any 
 question that can claim the attention of Parliament."
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 177 
 
 To stimulate activity and to arouse public attention to the 
 subject, Mr. Richard attended and took a prominent part in 
 several Conferences and public meetings, the most important 
 of which was a demonstration in the St. George's Hall, 
 Liverpool, under the presidency of Mr. William Rathbone, 
 one of the members for that city, which was preceded by a 
 Conference, presided over by Mr. Hugh Mason, the member 
 for Ashton-under-Lyne, and both these assemblages were 
 largely and influentially attended, and great unanimity, in 
 fact enthusiasm prevailed. 
 
 On the 1 5th of June, the date balloted for, and by the 
 marked special favour of the Leader of the House, Mr 
 Gladstone, Mr. Richard brought forward his resolution 
 which was as follows : 
 
 "That an humble address be presented to Her Majesty, 
 praying that she will be graciously pleased to instruct Her 
 Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to enter into 
 communications with other Powers, with a view to bring about a 
 mutual and simultaneous reduction of European armaments." 
 
 The speech of Mr. Richard on this occasion was one of 
 his happiest efforts, and there was no part of his speech 
 more effective than the passage at its close : 
 
 " I venture in conclusion to make a very earnest and respect- 
 ful appeal to the right hon. gentleman at the head of Her 
 Majesty's Government, that he will not turn aside from this 
 great question. The task to which I invite him is not unworthy, 
 even of his transcendent abilities. It is not unworthy of his 
 high character, as I estimate it, as the passionate friend of 
 justice and humanity. He has already won many laurels by 
 great deeds of practical statesmanship ; and a greater than any 
 of them awaits his hand. No greener wreath ever surrounded 
 any man's brow, than that which will encircle his, if only he 
 will consent to grapple with this high argument, and bring the 
 nations of Europe into general concert to reduce their arma- 
 ments. This would at once liberate great masses of capital, 
 which would help to establish the cause of Peace on solid and 
 sure foundations. I cannot but believe that he would be wel- 
 comed in such a proposal by the Governments themselves, for 
 they cannot but view with alarm the increase of those arma- 
 ments. Above all, he would earn the grateful benediction of 
 millions of people now groaning under taxation, the result of 
 this baneful system of militarism." (Cheers.) 
 
 N
 
 178 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 This resolution of Mr. Richard's was seconded by Mr. 
 Baxter, member for Dundee, and was supported by Colonel 
 Burnaby, who said that as a military man he had the greatest 
 horror of war, at the close of which Mr. Gladstone rose who 
 delivered a magnificent speech, which Mr. Richard described 
 as one of the most eloquent expositions of the policy of peace 
 he had ever listened to, and at the close he made an earnest 
 appeal to Mr. Richard not to push his motion to a divison. 
 
 Referring to this appeal of the Prime Minister, and the 
 closing incident of the debate, the Herald of Peace in a 
 leading article thus wrote : 
 
 " Mr. Richard was naturally placed in considerable perplexity 
 by such an appeal. It is possible he might have carried his 
 motion, as he did in 1873, but it would have been against the 
 will, and, it may be, to the considerable embarrassment of the 
 Prime Minister. And yet he was unwilling that the discussion 
 should close without some formal expression of Parliament. 
 From this predicament he was relieved by Mr. John Bright, who 
 undoubtedly, next to Mr. Gladstone, is the most important and 
 influential member of the Government. Mr. Bright, after Mr. 
 Gladstone's speech, beckoned Mr. Richard to him, and placed 
 in his hand a resolution which he had proposed, and said, " If 
 you will accept this instead of your own, I think Mr. Gladstone 
 would let it pass." And as it really recognised the principle of 
 his motion, in the form of a resolution, instead of an address to 
 the Crown, Mr. Richard gladly accepted the suggestion. And 
 as, according to the rules of the House, he could not move it 
 himself, he put it in the hands of his friend, Mr. Leonard Courtney, 
 and it was carried by a unanimous vote of the House, and amid 
 general cheering. 
 
 THE WAR IN THE TRANSVAAL. 
 
 At the beginning of the year, January, 1881, Mr. Richard 
 introduced a Deputation to the Colonial Minister, (Lord 
 Kimberley), consisting of some twenty-five Members of 
 Parliament and other gentlemen, upon the condition of 
 affairs in the Transvaal, and he presented a Memorial, which 
 was drafted and signed by him, as Secretary of the Peace
 
 THE WAR IN THE TRANSVAAL. 179 
 
 Society, which declared that the annexation of the Transvaal 
 was secured by fraud, and advised that England should 
 renounce this act of aggression, and stop without delay 
 any further bloodshed, by a restoration of the independence 
 of the Boers. 
 
 This Memorial was followed up by two others forwarded 
 to the Prime Minister by Mr. Richard, one from Holland 
 signed by D. Van Eck, the president of the Dutch Peace 
 Society, and the other from the Flemish inhabitants of 
 Belgium, also entrusted to Mr. Richard for presentation to 
 the Government. 
 
 This war in the Transvaal mainly arose from the inter- 
 ference of the English Government in the affairs of the 
 Boers in 1877, and in sending Sir Theophilus Shepstone to 
 investigate, and to advise the Boers in regard to their frontier 
 disputes. 
 
 Sir Theophilus Shepstone took with him a small escort of 
 mounted police, but the Boers knew that the entire armed 
 power of England was at his back, though they did not know 
 that he held a Commission in his pocket, which was to be 
 the deathblow to their Independence. 
 
 Sir Theophilus Shepstone arrived in Pretoria in January, 
 
 1877, and in April, in direct defiance of the wishes of the 
 
 people, he issued a proclamation, coolly annexing a territory as 
 
 large as France, containing a population of 40,000 whites and 
 
 250,000 blacks. 
 
 The President and the Volksraad protested against the 
 deed, and a deputation was sent to England to plead for 
 justice for their country, and when Lord Carnarvon told 
 them that their people desired and even demanded annexa- 
 tion they were astounded, and denied it. 
 
 The deputation thereupon returned to South Africa, and 
 organised an agitation against annexation, and, to counteract it, 
 Sir Theophilus Shepstone issued a proclamation to imprison, 
 fine, and punish all opponents, and when the deputies held 
 a meeting at Pretoria, to plead for the restoration of their
 
 l8o HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 independence, the representative of England directed cannon 
 upon the Assembly, and he called up troops to overawe them. 
 
 In spite of this, however, the memorials poured in signed 
 by 6^591 e?ifranchised men against ', and onlyjv?/ enfranchised 
 men for the annexation. 
 
 From the date of the annexation, in April, 1877, till 1880, 
 the Boers contented themselves with peaceable protests and 
 petitions, to induce the English Government to restore them 
 their independence ; for they had read the speeches of Mr. 
 Gladstone, where he said "that the annexation of the Trans- 
 vaal was dishonorable, and should be repudiated," and 
 throughout the Transvaal it was felt that if Mr. Gladstone 
 came into power, the hour of their deliverance was at hand. 
 
 Unfortunately, high as the hopes of the Boers had been 
 raised, the more bitter was their disappointment when they 
 found that the advent of Mr. Gladstone to power did not 
 bring them nearer the goal of independence, for which they 
 were prepared to sacrifice their lives, and the war followed 
 as an inevitable consequence. 
 
 Happily, by many efforts of kindred associations, by large 
 public demonstrations at Birmingham, Leeds, and other 
 places, and Memorials from various parts of England, the 
 Government of Mr. Gladstone were induced to reverse the 
 policy of their predecessors, and to adopt pacific methods, 
 conciliation and negotiation for a settlement of the dispute. 
 
 They were not dismayed either by the disaster at Majuba 
 Hill, though it added greatly to their difficulties ; and 
 it must ever remain an honourable and dignified act, that 
 when the cry of vengeance was raised, they resisted 
 that cry, and refused to continue the war, but bravely 
 persevered in the negotiations for peace, even in the face of 
 defeat, and finally succeeded in concluding a preliminary 
 Convention with the Transvaal Government, which was 
 ratified by the House of Commons in July, 1881, by a 
 majority of 105, which, far from being a humiliation to 
 England, reflects upon her the highest renown, and especially
 
 PARLIAMENTARY AND OTHER EFFORTS. l8l 
 
 on the statesmanship of the Prime Minister of England, 
 W. E. Gladstone, who in noble language declared : 
 
 " That the honour of England does not require the putting 
 down of the rebellion first, in order afterwards to negotiate with 
 the Boers. * * * * 
 
 " The honour of the English nation demands that without 
 further bloodshed to expiate the wrong committed in 1877, she 
 should recognise the independence of the Transvaal, and pro- 
 claim her wish to live in friendship with a brave people, which 
 has proved itself worthy to be the pioneers of civilisation against 
 the despotisms of Africa." 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY AND OTHER EFFORTS. 
 
 During the Session of 1881, Mr. Richard brought before 
 Parliament the subject of British Representatives abroad, 
 and on the 2Qth April he submitted the following motion: 
 
 " That the power claimed and exercised by the representatives 
 of this country, in various parts of the world, to contract engage- 
 ments, annex territories, and make war, in the name of the 
 nation, without authority from the Central Government, is 
 opposed to the principles of the British Constitution, is at 
 variance with recognised rules of international Law, and is 
 fraught with danger to the honour and true interests of the 
 country." 
 
 The Prime Minister (Mr. Gladstone), whilst sympathising 
 with the aim and spirit of the resolution, pointed out the 
 difficulties to carry it out in such an Empire as ours, and 
 considered that the first step required was a reform of the 
 Central Authority itself, and that the most potent influence 
 for restraining the aggressive action referred to, was by 
 mutual influence exercised on the Crown, the Government, 
 and Parliament. Sir George Campbell, Mr. Rylands, and 
 Mr. Lyulph Stanley supported the resolution, and on a 
 division Mr. Richard ran the Government close, being 72 
 against and 64 for, a narrow majority of 8. 
 
 At the close of the Parliamentary session of 1881, Mr.
 
 182 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Richard attended the ninth annual Conference of the Asso- 
 ciation for the Reform and Codification of the Laws of 
 Nations held at Cologne, i8th and igth August, and at one 
 of the sittings, under the presidency of Sir Travers Twiss, 
 he read a paper on " The Recent Progress of Arbitration," 
 in which he dealt firstly with the objections raised against 
 its application, and then proceeded to present the cases of 
 Arbitration from 1871 to 1881, of which he enumerated 
 fourteen instances, which supplied ground for encouragement 
 and hope. 
 
 On Mr. Richard's return to England, he attended and took 
 part in an important Conference of the Friends of Peace for 
 the Northern Counties, under the presidency of Canon 
 Jackson, (a truly Christian prelate of the Church of England,) 
 held at Leeds in November 1881, for the purpose of con- 
 sidering firstly, the anti-Christian nature and tendency of 
 War ; secondly, the best means of solving international 
 difficulties without resort to War ; and thirdly, the enormous 
 evils of standing armies. 
 
 Papers were read by Dr. Spence Watson on the anti- 
 Christian nature and tendency of war ; by the Rev. Thomas 
 Green, on the duties of Christian Ministers, and peoples in 
 relation to war ; and by Mr. Edward Butler on the enormous 
 evils of Military establishments and Standing Armies, and at 
 the close, the writer of each paper proposed a resolution in 
 accordance with the subject ; and on the first resolution, 
 proposed by Dr. Spence Watson, and seconded by Mr. 
 Arthur Pease, M.P., which declared that war is un-Christian, 
 a hindrance to the Gospel, and that the principles of Christian 
 morality are as binding on nations as upon individuals, Mr. 
 Richard addressed the Conference in its support. 
 
 A public demonstration was held in the evening, in the 
 Albert Hall, at which Mr. Alderman Tatham presided, and 
 again Mr. Richard was to the fore, and delivered a rousing 
 speech in support of the following resolution : 
 
 " That the enormous armaments maintained in Europe are a
 
 PARLIAMENTARY AND OTHER EFFORTS. 183 
 
 discredit to civilisation, a danger to liberty and peace, as well as 
 an intolerable drain upon the resources of the industrial classes ; 
 and in the judgment of this Meeting, statesmen are called upon 
 to make a persistent effort to arrest this tremendous evil." 
 
 During the year 1881 Mr. Richard also addressed a Town 
 Hall Meeting at Reading, on the " War System of Europe," 
 presided over by Mr. George Palmer, the member for the 
 Borough; also at Leicester on October 6th on "International 
 Armaments, or, International Arbitration," presided over 
 by the Mayor, Mr. Alderman Bennett, and the opportunity 
 was taken by the Workmen's Peace Society of the town, to 
 present him with an address of welcome, which recounted, 
 in gratifying terms, his labours for Peace and goodwill 
 among nations, and his consistent support of the principles 
 of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 During the Session of 1 880, Mr. Richard took part in the 
 debate on the Opium question, introduced by Mr. J. W. 
 Pease, to put a stop to the India-China traffic in Opium, and 
 against the raising of the revenues for the Indian Exchequer 
 thereby. 
 
 On 3oth June, the second reading of the Sunday-closing Bill 
 for Wales, was brought into Parliament by Mr. John Roberts, 
 and Mr. Richard seconded the motion, and in so-doing he 
 referred to the favourable operation by an array of figures of 
 the Forbes Mackenzie Act for Scotland, from 18152 to 1880, 
 and of the Irish Sunday-closing Act, since it was passed in 1878, 
 and he claimed a similar Act for Wales, especially on the ground 
 of the great preponderance and the strong manifestations 
 of Public opinion in its favour, and because the Bill proposed 
 to deal with a great evil that was corrupting the people, and 
 exercising disastrous influence upon their highest interests. 
 
 The Government not opposing the Measure, it was read a 
 second time, and finally passed into law. 
 
 For many months after the General Election of 1880, the 
 House of Commons was the scene of stormy debates and 
 strange episodes, on the subject of admission, either by oath 
 or affirmation, of Mr. Bradlaugh, and it was not. until the ist
 
 184 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 July that the vexed question was finally settled, by the 
 Government introducing a resolution, which was proposed 
 by Mr. Gladstone, to the following effect : 
 
 " That every person returned as a Member of this House, who 
 may claim to be a person for the time being by the Law permitted 
 to make a solemn affirmation or declaration instead of taking an 
 Oath, shall henceforth be permitted, without question, to make 
 and subscribe a solemn affirmation in the form prescribed by the 
 Parliamentary Oath's Act 1866, as altered by the Promissory 
 Oath's Act 1868, subject to any liability by statute." 
 
 Mr. Richard, as the spokesman of the Nonconformists in 
 the House supported the resolution, mainly on the ground 
 that it was in the direction of civil liberty, of the abolition 
 of all those religious tests which operated against the various 
 sections of the Nonconformist and Roman Catholic body 
 for so many generations, and he earnestly appealed, from 
 the beneficial influences that have resulted from these Acts 
 of Toleration, to extend still more the privileges of the Con- 
 stitution as the best means to secure the stability of the 
 State, and to increase four-fold the prosperity of the Church 
 of England. 
 
 During the progress of the Burials Bill in Committee Mr. 
 Richard frequently spoke, and ere the close of the Session 
 he had the satisfaction of seeing placed on the Statute Book, 
 a Measure, that both in and out of Parliament he had for 
 many years manfully struggled for. 
 
 Besides the debates referred to, in which Mr. Richaid 
 took part, he addressed questions to the Government on the 
 Wars against the Basutos, and the Ashantees ; questions 
 also on religious liberty in the Channel Islands, upon the 
 relations of the Ruler of Berar with India, and on the sub- 
 ject of the Sovereignty of the Solomon Islands. 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 
 Few if any recent events in the public career of Mr.
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 185 
 
 Richard involved him in so much anxiety and labour as 
 the disastrous and deplorable intervention of England in 
 the internal affairs of Egypt, and its consequent and in- 
 evitable result of insurrection and war ; for, in the first 
 place, it was a sad departure from the policy of non- 
 intervention in Foreign States, and an equally sad departure, 
 by a Liberal Administration, of the vaunted policy of 
 peace as opposed to a spirited foreign policy, by which it 
 had so largely succeeded in raising itself to power in 1880. 
 
 This trouble in Egypt was originally brought about by 
 the direct intervention of England and France in 1875 in 
 the internal affairs of Egypt, mainly with a view of regu- 
 lating its finances, in the interests of the bondholders. 
 
 Up to the year 1862 Egypt never borrowed money, but 
 in that year the Khedive, Said Pasha, contracted the first 
 debt, against the advice and entreaties of his Minister, who 
 warned him that such a policy would be its ruin. 
 
 Ismail Pasha, who succeeded Said Pasha, was an ex- 
 travagant and oppressive Khedive, and to meet his claims 
 he threw himself into the hands of European speculators, 
 who lent him money at a ruinous rate of interest, and in a 
 few years he contracted a debt of ^90,000,000, of which 
 only 45, 000,000 was received by the Egyptian Treasury, 
 the remaining ^"45, 000,000 being absorbed by the Financier. 
 The gross revenue of Egypt of ,8,500,000 was raised by 
 every sort of oppressive taxation on the people, and of this 
 sum .5,700,000 went to pay the interest contracted on 
 the loans. 
 
 Ismail Pasha's financial difficulties pressed heavy upon him 
 and in 1875, at his earnest request, the Government of Mr. 
 Disraeli despatched Mr. Stephen Cave to examine into, and 
 report on Egyptian finances, and he was compelled to ac- 
 knowledge that Egypt was in a desperate strait, that she 
 suffered from the ignorance, dishonesty, and extravagance of 
 the Pashas, bringing her to the verge of ruin ; and he 
 recommended that England should send out a financier,
 
 l86 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 who should act as the Khedive's Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 and accordingly Mr. Disraeli appointed Mr. Rivers Wilson, 
 and, on his recall, Mr. Goshen, and with him M. Joubert 
 for France, representing the Bondholders, and the result of 
 their joint mission was to recommend to their respective 
 Governments the appointment of English and French 
 Controllers, and the Marquis of Salisbury, as Secretary of 
 State for Foreign Affairs, gave his consent to the establish- 
 ment of the Dual Control, from which sprang all the 
 subsequent complications 
 
 Thus it was that England and France took the direct 
 responsibility of dictating the internal government of Egypt, 
 a policy that has been full of serious consequences to 
 England and Egypt alike, for, in June, 1879, in consequence 
 of the action of the Khedive in dismissing his Ministers, 
 and with them the two Controllers, England and France, 
 supported by the other European Powers, obtained the 
 sanction of the Sultan of Turkey to despatch their diplo- 
 matic representatives to the Khedive, calling upon him to 
 abdicate in favour of his nephew, Prince Tewfik, and a few 
 days afterwards the Sultan signed his Irade, deposing Ismail 
 Pasha. 
 
 For two years tranquility reigned in Egypt, the financial 
 difficulties were arranged, and the appointment of English 
 and French Controllers with the rank of Ministers gave a 
 guarantee that the new law would be respected, but alas ! 
 this dream of settled progress and tranquility was rudely 
 shaken, for, on ist February, 1881, a Military Insurrection 
 broke out in Cairo, led by Arabi, an officer in the Egyptian 
 army, which steadily extended itself over the whole country. 
 
 The result of this insurrection was the formation of a 
 powerful National Party in Egypt with a declared policy, 
 based on a strong hostility to the Dual Control, and the 
 international engagements of Egypt with Foreign Powers, 
 and the cry was raised, " Egypt for the Egyptians ! " 
 
 England and France were now alarmed, for Arabi, for-
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 187 
 
 merly a Colonel of the 4th Regiment of Infantry, had 
 rapidly advanced to the position of Minister of War, and 
 was practically master of the situation, and they resolved to 
 support the authority of the Khedive, and on the plea of 
 protecting life and property at Alexandria, ordered two 
 Ironclads to anchor in the Bay. The presence of the 
 allied Fleet increased rather than allayed the danger to the 
 Europeans in the City, for on June nth a serious riot broke 
 out, the Consul General of England was dragged from his 
 carriage, and many English and French subjects were killed. 
 
 At this juncture, Arabi Pasha was in command of the 
 army and fortifications before Alexandria, and the English 
 Admiral Beauchamp-Seymour, in view of the preparations 
 going on to defend the city, sent an ultimatum to the 
 Khedive for its surrender within three days, failing which to 
 open a bombardment. 
 
 To this threat no answer was received, and the British 
 Fleet, consisting of 8 ironclads and 5 gunboats, took up 
 their position in Line of Battle, whilst the French Fleet, 
 acting on orders from Paris, withdrew to Port Said. 
 
 At seven o'clock in the morning of nth July, the 
 bombardment commenced, and lasted two days, resulting in 
 the destruction or surrender of the principal Forts, and 
 towards the close of the second day, Arabi abandoned the 
 whole line of fortifications, and retreated, leaving the city of 
 Alexandria to the mob. Then followed the general out- 
 break of anarchy in the city, the prison doors were thrown 
 open, many parts of the city were set on fire, and for two 
 days the work of devastation continued, during which 
 upwards of 2,000 Europeans perished, and a vast amount of 
 property was destroyed. 
 
 The bombardment of Alexandria was followed by the 
 occupation of the city by the Blue Jackets and Marines, 
 and by a Declaration of War against the de facto Government 
 of Egypt, which was practically ratified by Parliament on 
 the 2yth July, 1882.
 
 1 88 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 On the 22nd August Sir Garnet Wolseley, accompanied 
 by Sir John Adye, Sir Archibald Wilson, Generals Graham 
 and Drury Lowe, and the Duke of Connaught, landed at 
 Port Said, in command of 40,000 troops of all ranks, and 
 on the 24th and 28th delivered battle successfully with the 
 Egyptian army respectively at Tel-el-Mahuta and Kassassin, 
 and finally at Tel-el-Kebir, where Arabi sustaining an over- 
 whelming defeat, fled to Cairo, and upon the arrival there 
 of the advanced guard of the British forces, he quietly 
 surrendered himself a prisoner to the Government of 
 England. 
 
 Mr. Richard, several weeks prior to the outbreak of hos- 
 tilities, issued a strong protest against any armed intervention 
 of England in Egypt, whether for the right-of-way through the 
 Suez Canal, or the protection of the Bondholders, on the 
 ground that in the first place the Suez Canal was not in danger, 
 and that it was a departure from the policy of non-interven- 
 tion accepted by the Government of England whether Liberal 
 or Tory, and especially, that the blood and treasure of 
 England should not be expended in protecting the pecuniary 
 interests of any body of investors or speculators. 
 
 On June 29, he followed up this manifesto by an impor- 
 tant question which he addressed to the Prime Minister, 
 whether, before employing the military forces of the Crown 
 to maintain in Egypt the rights of the Sultan, of the Khedive, 
 and of the foreign bondholders, an- opportunity would be 
 given to Parliament to consider the subject, but the Govern- 
 ment declined to give any pledge, and claimed the right to 
 act on their own responsibility. 
 
 On July n, immediately on the receipt of the intelligence 
 of the bombardment by the British Fleet of Alexandria, Mr. 
 Richard again questioned the Government, whether there 
 was not an understanding among the Powers represented at 
 the Constantinople Conference, that no separate action 
 should be taken by any one Power, pending its deliberations, 
 and, whether the bombardment of Alexandria was not a
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 189 
 
 violation of this understanding, to which the Prime Minister 
 replied that there was a general understanding, subject to 
 exceptional circumstances, and that this bombardment must 
 be included under that head. 
 
 The following day, owing to the unsatisfactory replies 
 given by the Government to the numerous questions 
 addressed to them, the adjournment of the debate was 
 moved by Mr. Gourley, and seconded by Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 
 who denounced the " cowardly, cruel, and criminal act " 
 of the bombardment of Alexandria, and Mr. Richard sup- 
 ported this heavy indictment, and expressed his 
 
 " grief and humiliation at the course taken by the Government 
 in whose wisdom, moderation and justice he had been accus- 
 tomed to repose the most absolute confidence." 
 
 In the same Session of 1882, Mr. Richard opposed the 
 Charter which had been conceded by the British Government 
 to the North Borneo Company, and in March he supported the 
 following resolution of Mr. Gorst in favour of its cancella- 
 tion : 
 
 " That an humble address be presented to Her Majesty, 
 praying that she will be graciously pleased to revoke or alter so 
 much of the Charter as gives an implied sanction to the main- 
 tenance of Slavery under the Protection of the British Flag." 
 
 In the course of his speech, Mr. Richard condemned the 
 Charter, not only because it sanctioned the institution of 
 Slavery, but also for the annexation it recognised, which 
 involved serious National responsibilities, and he was sup- 
 ported in this view by Mr. Rylands, Dr. Cameron, and Sir 
 George Campbell, but on a division the resolution was 
 rejected by 125 to 62 votes. 
 
 In addition to the debates on the North Borneo Charter, 
 the Cemeteries Bill, and the Egyptian War, Mr. Richard 
 addressed important questions to the Government on South 
 African affairs, Church Patronage, Burials Act, and the em- 
 ployment of Indian Troops in Egypt, and Welsh Intermediate 
 Education. 
 
 At the Annual Congress of the Association for the Reform
 
 190 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 of the Law of Nations, held at Liverpool in August 1882, and 
 presided over by Lord O'Hagan, Mr. Richard presented a 
 paper on the subject of " The Necessity for an Authoritative 
 Code of International Law," and referred at the onset to the 
 Supreme Court of the United States of America, which 
 adjudicates in all matters of dispute between the States and 
 the Union, and quoted Chancellor Kent, John Stuart Mill, 
 and Emile de Laveleye in evidence of its immense value to 
 civilization and humanity. In Europe, he showed that Inter- 
 national Law is variable and ambiguous, and deficient in 
 sanction, and he referred to the progress in International 
 Maritime Law from the // Consolato del Mare, established in 
 the fourteenth century, down to the Declaration at Paris in 
 1856, also to the frequency with which Governments have 
 recourse of late years to arbitration, and he believed that they 
 marked distinct advances towards the ultimate goal of the 
 triumph of law over war. 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. (Continued). 
 
 England was now at war with the de facto Government in 
 Egypt, and the next step in this bloody drama, was to move 
 Parliament for supplies for the war,, and accordingly on the 
 24th July Mr. Gladstone proposed as follows : 
 
 "That a sum not exceeding .3,300,000 be granted to Her 
 Majesty, beyond the ordinary grants of Parliament, towards 
 defraying the expenses which may be incurred during the year 
 ending on the 3ist March, 1883, in strengthening Her Majesty's 
 forces in the Mediterranean." 
 
 The debate on this Motion was continued de die in diem 
 to late on Friday night, the 27th, and during the four nights' 
 debate most of the ablest speakers took part, in general 
 approval of the policy of the Government, but there were 
 exceptions, notably Sir Wilfrid Lawson, O'Connor Power, 
 and Mr. Richard ; the latter, speaking on the second night,
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 1 91 
 
 delivered a forcible speech, in which he traced the history 
 of this Egyptian embroglio from 1875 to 1880, during the 
 administration of Lord Beaconsfield, and he deeply regretted 
 that, on the accession of Mr. Gladstone to office, the 
 political and financial inheritance from Egypt was not abso- 
 lutely repudiated, as it might, and ought to have been. He 
 minutely referred to the course of events from 1880 to the 
 outbreak of hostilities in 1882, and which gradually drifted 
 and dragged England into War, and bitterly censured the 
 barbaric bombardment of Alexandria, which precipitated 
 the War, and he concluded in the following eloquent 
 language : 
 
 " No language can adequately express the disappointment, 
 surprise, and pain with which I see the nation led into this 
 miserable embroglio in Egypt by statesmen whom I have so 
 deeply honoured and so implicitly trusted as I have the Prime 
 Minister and Lord Granville. I have not been accustomed to 
 use flattering words towards the right hon. gentleman at the 
 head of the Government, because I should not have regarded 
 myself as of sufficient importance to make any tribute from me 
 of much value to him. But now that I am obliged to dissent 
 from his policy, I may be permitted to say that I have yielded 
 to no man living in intense admiration of his transcendent 
 abilities, and profound veneration for his character. The name 
 and fame of men like him form a part of the common inherit- 
 ance of the Liberal Party, and indeed of the nation at large, and 
 not the least painful misgiving I feel at the present moment is 
 lest these unhappy events should cast a shadow on the close of 
 a great and illustrious career. (Cheers.) I cannot vote for this 
 money, which to me is nothing else than blood money, and as 
 it is only by refusing to support the vote that I can put on 
 record my practical protest against proceedings which in my 
 conscience I believe to be as impolitic as they are immoral, and 
 which open before us a future full of ominous and perilous 
 possibilities, I am determined to record my vote against this 
 proposal, even if I have to walk into the lobby alone. (Cheers.) " 
 
 Ominous indeed were those last words, which were 
 almost fulfilled, for if we except eleven Irish members, he 
 was followed into the lobby of the Noes by only eight English 
 and Scotch members, (one of whom was a Conservative, the 
 Hon. Percy Wyndham), whose names are worthy to be filed 
 Thomas Burt, Jesse Ceilings, Alfred Illingworth, Sir Wilfrid
 
 IQ2 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Lawson, Samuel Storey, Sir David Wedderburn, and T. C. 
 Thompson. 
 
 But where were the rest, and who were they, and wherefore 
 did they go astray ? 
 
 The question is important, and for this reason, that their 
 desertion from the ranks of the Peace party in Parliament, 
 at this critical moment, was, it is believed, the accelerating 
 cause of the great Leader of the Liberal Party plunging 
 into that most cruel and cowardly war ; therefore, had they 
 remained as firm and resolute as Mr. Richard, their 
 champion ; had they followed the .sagacious counsels of 
 the Great Tribune, Mr. Bright, when, (having resigned his 
 high position in the Government of the Queen,) he uttered 
 these memorable words : 
 
 " I asked my calm judgment, and my conscience, what was 
 the path I ought to take. They pointed it out to me, as I think, 
 with an unerring finger, and I am endeavouring to follow it ; " 
 
 had these influential members of the Peace Party in 
 Parliament acted, spoken and voted as their distinguished 
 leaders, there is no doubt whatever that this Egyptian War 
 from 1882 to 1889, with all its accumulated horrors of 
 human carnage in Egypt, and the Soudan, and all its great 
 uncertainties in the dim and distant future, would never, so 
 far as the intervention of England is concerned, have taken 
 place. 
 
 At the opening of the session of 1883, Mr. Richard re- 
 newed his opposition to the War, and on the i6th February, 
 he delivered a speech in the debate on the Address, in support 
 of Sir Wilfrid Lawson's amendment, which was as follows : 
 
 " That this House humbly expresses its opinion that no 
 sufficient reason has been shown for the employment of British 
 forces in re-constituting the Government of Egypt and re- 
 organizing its affairs, under the authority of the Khedive." 
 
 In consequence of a mis-direction by the Speaker, this 
 question was not put, and therefore on March and, Sir 
 Wilfrid Lawson took advantage of the motion on going into 
 Committee, " That the Speaker now leave the chair," to
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 193 
 
 bring it to an issue by submitting an amendment of a 
 similar character : 
 
 " That this House regrets that it should be called upon to 
 place increased burdens upon the people, in consequence of the 
 late military operations in Egypt." 
 
 This was seconded by Sir George Campbell, and sup- 
 ported by Mr. Labouchere and Mr. Illingworth, and on a 
 division, 24 voted for and 94 against it ; and again it is 
 worthy of mention that Mr. Richard was under the painful 
 necessity of entering the lobby unaccompanied by his col- 
 leagues and friends. 
 
 For a third time during the Session of 1883, Mr. Richard 
 withstood the proposals of the Government, and it is 
 satisfactory to find, that he was supported by those who had 
 on former occasions, unfortunately abandoned him in 
 opposing the military policy of the Government. 
 
 On this occasion, the i3th April, the Government 
 announced a message from Her Majesty, proposing to 
 Parliament that, in consideration of the "signal services" 
 rendered by Admiral Seymour, in the barbaric bombardment 
 of the ancient and renowned city and port of Alexandria, and 
 also of the " signal services " rendered by General Sir Garnet 
 Wolseley, in the " glorious achievement," won by the highly- 
 disciplined British forces, supported by all " the resources of 
 civilisation," over the wretchedly-disciplined Egyptian soldiers 
 of Arabi, at Tel-el-Kebir, that independent of conferring 
 upon these two principal actors, in this bloody drama, the 
 distinguished honour of a Peerage, that they and their 
 successors for two generations, should receive from the 
 Crown a pension of two thousand SQvereigns per annum. 
 
 The consideration of this proposal was fixed for the i9th 
 April, and it was introduced by a strong speech in its 
 support by the Prime Minister, and in the course of the 
 debate, Mr. Richard addressed the House, and strongly 
 opposed it, for he considered that to lavish distinctions and 
 pensions upon fighting men, was a custom that might be 
 
 o
 
 194 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 more honoured in the breach than in the observance, and 
 that it was unwise and un-Christian to stimulate the military 
 spirit, by a recognition of martial deeds in such an inglorious 
 war, but his opposition was unavailing, as the recommenda- 
 tions of the Crown were carried by a large majority. 
 
 From this date of English intervention in Egypt, the events 
 which followed are written large, in letters of blood, on the 
 pages of history. 
 
 In September 1883, Hicks Pasha, (a retired Indian officer 
 in the service of the Khedive,) at the head of an army of 
 11,000 Egyptian troops, was ordered by the Government at 
 Cairo to advance, in order to suppress the rebellion, in the 
 Equatorial Provinces of the Soudan, and to protect or relieve 
 in Kordofan, Sennar, and El Obeid from the forces of the 
 Mahdi ; but alas ! this ill-fated expedition, after suffering for 
 two months every conceivable privation under a tropical sun, 
 was surrounded by the fanatical hosts of the Prophet, over- 
 whelmed, and utterly annihilated. 
 
 This was followed by as great a catastrophe in the Eastern 
 Soudan, where Baker Pasha and his scratched army of 3,500 
 men, in an attempt to relieve Tokar and Sinkat, were com- 
 pletely crushed and massacred by the forces of Osman Digna, 
 and in that disaster perished several English officers, Morice 
 Bey, Leslie, Forrester, Walker, Carroll, and other Englishmen. 
 
 To retrieve these disasters, the Government of England, 
 yielding to public clamour and party exigencies, were forced 
 to despatch, in March, 1884, a formidable expedition under 
 the command of General Graham, which, landing at Suakim, 
 moved forward to encounter the undisciplined hosts of a 
 brave people, " struggling to be free," and fought murderous 
 battles at El Teb, Tamai, and Tamanieb, which resulted in 
 terrible slaughter, not less than 5,000 of the brave Soudanese 
 being slain ; and, satisfied with these avenging defeats of 
 the lieutenant of the Mahdi, Osman Digna, General Graham 
 and the British forces returned to England. 
 
 Against those horrible massacres, Mr, Richard felt it to be
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 195 
 
 his duty, and well he might, to make an emphatic and 
 indignant protest, in the first place by addressing a Memorial 
 to the Prime Minister, Mr. Gladstone, against any further 
 sanguinary expeditions to the Soudan, and especially against 
 entrusting any longer the issues of peace or war to the naval 
 and military officers in the East ; but the reply of the 
 Premier, being considered a defence of this policy, Mr. 
 Richard resolved to raise his voice in Parliament, in earnest 
 condemnation of this dreadful work, and he was manfully 
 assisted by the voice and vote of Sir Wilfrid Lawson and 
 others. 
 
 The opportunity was taken of the Saturday sitting, March 
 1 5th, in order to vote the Supplementary Estimates, to 
 submit the following resolution : 
 
 " That the necessity for the great loss of British and Arab life, 
 occasioned by the military operations in the Soudan, have not 
 been made apparent." 
 
 This resolution was moved by Mr. Labouchere, who 
 attacked in justly bitter terms the policy of "rescue and 
 retire;" and Mr. Richard, in seconding it, described it as a 
 protest against the horrible butcheries in the Soudan, and 
 because he had from the first regarded our presence in 
 Egypt as a calamity and a crime. 
 
 For six hours the debate was continued by prominent 
 men on both sides of the House : Lord Randolph Churchill 
 and Mr. Cowen, Mr. John Morley and Mr. Bourke ; and it 
 was evident a strong alliance was formed of Tory and 
 Radical against the policy of the Government, the former 
 from motives of policy, and the latter from motives of 
 humanity; and when the division took place the Government 
 narrowly escaped defeat, the numbers being in against, 
 and 94 in favour of the resolution, which led Sir William 
 Harcourt to exclaim, sotto voce, " So their dirty trick has not 
 succeeded." 
 
 The division list showed that Mr. Richard was supported 
 by the united vote of the Tory and Irish party, and that
 
 196 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 with the exception of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Mr. Passmore 
 Edwards, and Mr. Illingworth, not one member of the influ- 
 ential members of the Peace Party in Parliament, voted 
 with him in the lobby ; in fact, their names are to be found 
 on the side of the Government, as voting in favour of these 
 ruthless massacres in Egypt. 
 
 Prior to the Meeting of Parliament in 1885, Mr. Richard 
 attended and took part in a Peace Conference and Public 
 Demonstration at Darlington, presided over by Sir J. W. 
 Pease, supported by the following Members of Parliament : 
 Sir Henry Havelock, Theodore Fry, Arthur Pease, and Isaac 
 Wilson. At the former, he read a paper on the work of the 
 Peace Society, its history, constitution, and its operations 
 from 1816 to the present time, and pointed out the necessity 
 for a wider organization, more abundant pecuniary means, 
 to enable them "to spread through the earth the good 
 tidings of great joy." 
 
 At the Public Meeting in the evening, held in the Central 
 Hall, at which the Mayor, J. B. Hodgkin, presided, Mr. 
 Richard spoke chiefly on the armed condition of Europe, 
 but the chief interest of the meeting centred in the speech 
 of Sir J. W. Pease, who vindicated his conduct in Parlia- 
 ment from the attacks of the Press, in abstaining from voting 
 " with his hon. friend Mr. Richard," on the various occasions 
 during the years 1882-3 and 4, that the latter had opposed 
 the policy of the Government in Egypt, and divided the 
 House on the question of Peace or War. 
 
 The following month Mr. Richard visited Liverpool, and 
 took part in an important Public Meeting, presided over by 
 Mr. W. P. Lockhart, to protest against the continuance of 
 the War. 
 
 The next painful episode, in this miserable Egyptian 
 embroglio, was the capture of Khartoum by the Mahdi, 
 and the cruel massacre which followed, including the 
 death of the chivalrous General Gordon. 
 
 The news of this sad event reached England on the eve of
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 197 
 
 the assembling of Parliament in February 1885, exactly 12 
 months from the date of his acceptance of the heroic mission, 
 to proceed to Khartoum, for the purpose of devising measures 
 to protect the 11,000 men, women and children from 
 massacre, at the hands of the Mahdi's advancing hosts. 
 The history of this ill-fated mission is one of the most tragic 
 events of British intervention in Egypt, and it is generally 
 believed that his difficulties, and sad fate must be attributed, 
 not to the action of the British Government in sending him, 
 (though their inaction in devising measures for his relief, 
 until it was too late, was universally condemned,) but rather, 
 to the supplemental appointment conferred upon him by the 
 Khedive, with the sanction of the Cabinet in England, as 
 Lieutenant Governor of the Soudan, which considerably 
 enlarged the scope, and increased the responsibilities of his 
 mission. 
 
 As early as January 1885, before the sad news of poor 
 Gordon's death had reached England, Mr. Richard issued a 
 manifesto to the friends of peace and non-intervention, 
 strongly deprecating the despatching of another military 
 expedition to the Soudan, either for the purpose of rescuing 
 Gordon, or resisting the advance of the Mahdi's forces, and 
 on the assembling of Parliament in February, he supported 
 the vote of censure on the policy of the Government. 
 
 The stirring intelligence of the ignominious fate of the 
 ill-fated defender of Khartoum, and of its capture by the 
 Mahdi had just reached London, and the public indignation 
 was roused, which forced the Opposition in Parliament to 
 give expression to, and accordingly, Sir Stafford Northcote, 
 submitted an amendment to the address from the Crown, 
 which was virtually a vote of censure, to the effect that in 
 view of the great sacrifices of life and treasure in Egypt, 
 measures should be taken to assure a good and stable 
 government in the Soudan. To this amendment Mr. John 
 Morley moved a more sweeping one, regretting the employ- 
 ment of the armed forces of England against the Mahdi, and
 
 198 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Lord George Hamilton, moved a more drastic one still, which 
 declared that, as the Government had failed in their policy, 
 or unable to indicate a clearly defined policy in the Soudan, 
 that the confidence of the House of Commons, and of the 
 Nation in her Majesty's Ministers is not justified. 
 
 A prolonged and acrimonious debate followed, which con- 
 tinued from 24th February to 28th February, and on the 
 fourth night of the debate, Mr. Richard addressed the 
 House in one of his impressive and telling speeches, and 
 as it was the last occasion, in Parliament, that he assailed the 
 policy that led to, and promoted this unhappy Egyptian 
 war, a reference to that speech may be of interest. 
 
 He commenced by asking who was responsible for this 
 grave national crisis, and in answering this question he said, 
 that whilst all those who promoted, who instigated, and who 
 sanctioned England's unhappy armed intervention in Egypt 
 were responsible, yet that the heaviest measure of guilt was 
 at the door of the Conservative party, firstly, because the 
 miserable complications sprang from the course they took 
 when in Power ; and secondly, because they had since done 
 their utmost in Opposition, to push the Government further 
 and further, into the policy of aggression and war. He then 
 proceeded, with a severe earnestness of language and man- 
 ner, to trace the various events, that eventually culminated 
 in those disasters in the Soudan ; and he considered that the 
 fountain and origin of all the mischief was the policy of the 
 Marquis of Salisbury, when at the Foreign Office from 1878 
 to 1880, in establishing the Dual Control, and in the deposi- 
 tion of Ismail Pasha ; and, turning to the Ministerial Bench, 
 he severely condemned the Ministry in Power, for sending 
 the British Fleet into Egyptian waters, and the British forces 
 into Egypt, and especially the invasion of the Soudan, and 
 lastly, the mission of General Gordon to Khartoum. In 
 conclusion, he solemnly appealed to the Government not to 
 sanction any further, aggressive policy, no war for revenge or 
 prestige, no smashing of the Mahdi, no conquest of the
 
 THE EGYPTIAN WAR. 199 
 
 Soudan, no attempt to impose Egyptian rule in the Soudan, 
 no countenance to any insane projects, to occupy and govern 
 the vast regions of Africa. 
 
 He refused to vote for the amendment of Sir Stafford 
 Northcote, on the ground that it recognised indefinite and 
 serious responsibilities of England in the Soudan, which he 
 could not admit, and declared his intention to vote for the 
 amendment of Mr. John Morley, as he considered it pointed 
 to the only true and safe policy, the withdrawal, at the earliest 
 practicable opportunity, of British troops from Egypt and the 
 Soudan. 
 
 The result of this memorable debate and division was as 
 follows : For Sir Stafford Northcote's amendment 288, 
 against 302 ; for John Morley's amendment, 112 for, 455 
 against; for Lord George Hamilton's, 277 for, 299 against; 
 and a glance at the division list showed, that the first and 
 last were on distinct party lines, and that the Govern- 
 ment narrowly escaped, by a majority of 14, censure and 
 defeat. 
 
 In the same session of 1883 Mr. Richard introduced the 
 Cemeteries Bill, the object of which was to secure an 
 alteration in the law with respect to burials, and it proposed 
 to relieve Burial Boards from the obligation of dividing 
 cemeteries into consecrated and unconsecrated ground, also 
 from the necessity of building two chapels, and the raising 
 of fees to meet those requirements. 
 
 The Government, believing that the Measure would 
 remove existing religious difficulties, gave their support, 
 under certain limitations, to its second reading, but owing 
 to the factious opposition of Mr. Beresford-Hope and Mr. 
 O'Donnell, the debate was prolonged to the hour of adjourn- 
 ment, and in spite of a majority in its favour, the Bill was 
 eventually withdrawn. It was re-introduced by Mr. Richard 
 in the session of 1884, but in consequence of the renewed 
 opposition of the " no surrender " party of the Church of 
 England, led by Mr. Beresford-Hope, notwithstanding a
 
 200 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 majority of 22 in its favour, the Measure met with a similar 
 fate as in the preceding session. 
 
 During the Parliamentary recess of this year Mr. Richard 
 visited Italy, and attended the eleventh Annual Congress 
 of the Association for the Reform of the Law of Nations, 
 which was held at Milan on September nth, on which 
 occasion he read a paper on the " Progress of the Principle 
 of International Arbitration," and at the close of the dis- 
 cussion which followed, a series of resolutions were unani- 
 mously adopted, expressing, with satisfaction, the increased 
 disposition on the part of civilized Governments to recognize 
 Arbitration, as a just and reasonable method for settling 
 international differences. 
 
 During this visit of Mr. Richard to Milan, an address 
 was presented to him from various Masonic Lodges through- 
 out Italy, conveying their full sympathy with him in his 
 " noble propaganda in favour of peace," which they described 
 as the most pure and sublime manifestation of the Masonic 
 idea. 
 
 On his return to England he visited his constituents, as 
 his annual custom was, and on this occasion it proved of 
 more than ordinary interest, as the subjects discussed referred 
 mainly to the interests of the colliers, and upwards of 4,000 
 of the TafTVale miners assembled in the Market Square, 
 Merthyr-Tydvil, under the presidency of their leader, David 
 Morgan. 
 
 Mr. Richard, in accordance with his usual practice, ad- 
 dressed this vast assemblage, first in the Welsh language, 
 and afterwards in English, and the interest of his speech 
 centred on the advocacy of a Board of Conciliation for 
 South Wales, similar to those established in the Midlands 
 and the North of England, under the respective Arbitrators, 
 Mr. Rupert Kettle and Mr. David Dale, for the settlement 
 of all questions of difficulty, and the prevention of the social 
 wars between the colliers and the colliery proprietors. 
 
 In November, 1883, a Conference of ministers and lay-
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 2OI 
 
 men of various denominations was held in the Rooms of the 
 Social Science Association, to promote mutual knowledge 
 and sympathy between men of different churches, and at 
 one of these Conferences, under the presidency of Dr. 
 Martineau, Mr. Richard delivered an instructive address 
 on " The Duties of England as a Christian Nation towards 
 the Non-Christian Races of the World." At the onset, he 
 referred in terms of high commendation to those who were 
 sowing the seeds of Civilization and Christianity in foreign 
 lands, but feared there was danger of their invoking, in their 
 zeal for their mission, the arm of flesh to facilitate their 
 labours, and thus degrade and dishonour a great and holy 
 cause, and he rejoiced that eminent Divines, such as Dr. 
 Jeremy, of Cambridge, and Dr. Pusey, of Oxford, had 
 rebuked these indiscretions. 
 
 On the subject of the Duties of Christian Nations to 
 the Non-Christian Races, he referred to the oppression and 
 misery which followed the conquests of the Spaniards in 
 Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru, the Portuguese in Brazil, the 
 Dutch in South Africa, and England in India, China, Japan, 
 Burmah, and elsewhere, for he considered their action was 
 in utter disregard of the cardinal principles of Christian 
 faith and practice, and he strongly inculcated a fuller 
 recognition by Missionaries abroad, of the precepts of the 
 Christian religion, to influence and govern men by moral 
 power, and thus win them to submission and confidence, by 
 kindness and love. 
 
 In March 1885 a danger arose of an armed collision between 
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA, 
 
 arising out of the delimitation of the Afghan boundary, and 
 the facts are as follows. 
 
 In 1882 the Russian Government proposed, with a view 
 to prevent disturbances on the borders of Afghanistan, that 
 the frontier lines should be definitely laid down, and it was 
 mutually agreed that an Anglo-Russian Commission should
 
 202 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 be appointed, but pending their arrival on the debatable 
 ground, the Military forces of the two rival States massed 
 their Troops, the Afghans advanced northwards from Bala- 
 Murgab to Pendjeh, and the Russians advanced southwards 
 from Sarracks to Pul-i-Khatum, and an inevitable collision 
 took place, which resulted in the defeat of the Afghans, and 
 a lamentable loss of life. 
 
 At this alarming intelligence reaching England, and the 
 imminence of war arising therefrom, Mr. Richard addressed 
 a question to the Government, whether England and 
 Russia being parties to the declaration of Paris of 1856, 
 it did not afford just and sufficient ground for invok- 
 ing the good offices of some friendly power, to which 
 Mr. Gladstone replied in the affirmative, and that as 
 diplomatic negotiations were proceeding on the "late 
 regrettable incident," it would be premature to permit a 
 discussion. 
 
 In consequence however of the gravity of the crisis, Mr. 
 Richard prepared a memorial to the Prime Minister, signed 
 by John Bright, Samuel Morley, James Bryce, and upwards 
 of eighty members of Parliament, emphasizing the recom- 
 mendation of the 1 6th protocol of the Treaty of Paris ; and 
 he also issued an appeal, addressed to his fellow countrymen, 
 in which he forcibly set forth the facts of the dispute, the 
 great calamities of a war, that the dispute being a question of 
 boundary, was eminently suitable for reference to an Arbitral 
 process. 
 
 These efforts were not wholly unavailing, as on May 4th, 
 the Prime Minister was able to announce to Parliament, that 
 England and Russia had agreed to refer to the judgment of 
 the Sovereign of a Friendly State, any difference which may be 
 found to exist, with a view to the settlement of the dispute, 
 in a mode consistent with the honour of both States.
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 203 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY EFFORTS. 
 
 In the beginning of the Session of 1886, the Under 
 Secretary of State for India, Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth, 
 moved a resolution declaring that the revenues of India shall 
 be applied, to defray the expenses of the military operations 
 against Burmah, to which an amendment was moved by Mr. 
 William Hunter, as follows : 
 
 " That this House is of opinion that it would be unjust to 
 defray the expenses of the military operations in the Kingdom 
 of Ava out of the revenues of India." 
 
 Mr. Richard, in seconding the amendment, said, that the 
 summary annexation of that Kingdom was an act of high- 
 handed violence for which there was no adequate justification, 
 and he referred to the three principal motives for this 
 annexation the massacres and cruelties perpetrated by the 
 King, Theebaw, upon his own relatives to protect himself 
 against rival claimants to the throne ; his entering into com- 
 munication with the French and Italian Governments, without 
 the sanction of England, and his quarrel with the Bombay 
 and Burmah Trading Company ; and he maintained that 
 England had no right to tax the people of India for this war, 
 as they had no part or lot in the complications which led to 
 the conflict, and annexation which followed. 
 
 The amendment was supported by admirable speeches from 
 Mr. Mclver and Dr. Clark, but on a division it was rejected 
 by 297 votes to 82, a majority in favour of the War of 215. 
 
 On March Qth, the question of Disestablishment of the 
 Church of England in Wales, was brought before Parlia- 
 ment by Mr. L. L. Dilwyn, who submitted the following 
 resolution : 
 
 " That as the Church of England in Wales, has failed to fulfil 
 its professed object, as a means of promoting the religious 
 interests of the Welsh people and ministers, to only a small 
 minority of the population, that its continuance as an established 
 Church in the Principality, is an anomaly, and an injustice, which 
 ought no longer to exist." 
 
 Mr. Richard seconded this resolution in an able speech,
 
 204 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 and contended that the Church of England in Wales is not, 
 and never has been, the Church of Wales, that it has failed 
 to win the love and loyalty of the people, and has never dis- 
 charged its own professed functions as the religious instructor 
 of the people ; but, on the contrary, it has been employed as 
 an instrument for the extinction of the Welsh language, and 
 the suppression of Welsh nationality ; and he gave an 
 interesting resum'e over a period of 300 years in support of 
 this contention. He referred in high terms of the Welsh 
 people as intelligent, religious, moral, and orderly a people 
 as can be found in any quarter of the globe, and he con- 
 sidered that the Christian civilization of Wales was, beyond 
 all doubt, mainly due to the Nonconformists, and concluded 
 with an eloquent appeal to the justice and generosity of 
 Englishmen to liberate the Welsh people from what they 
 feel to be an anomaly that ought to be swept away, and that 
 they would thus gain a thousandfold by the gratitude and 
 loyalty of his countrymen. To this resolution Mr. Albert 
 Grey moved an amendment, substituting in effect dis- 
 establishment for the introduction of such reforms as will 
 enable it to adapt itself more efficiently to the religious needs 
 and wishes of the Welsh people, and, on the division, the 
 amendment was carried by 241 to 229 votes. 
 
 NATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS 
 
 On the 1 9th March, 1886, Mr. Richard brought before 
 Parliament a question, as he considered, of great national 
 importance, that the power of making war, the annexation 
 of territory, and the negotiation of Treaties, should, in their 
 final sanction, be transferred from the Crown to the repre- 
 sentatives of the people, and the resolution he moved was 
 as follows : 
 
 " That in the opinion of this House, it is not just or expedient 
 to embark in war contract engagements involving grave
 
 NATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS. 205 
 
 responsibilities for the nation, without the knowledge and consent 
 of Parliament." 
 
 In moving this resolution he observed, that whilst England 
 is proud of being considered a self-governing nation, and her 
 people sensitive against any tax or obligation being imposed 
 without the authority of Parliament, yet on a question of far 
 higher importance, involving far-reaching issues the control 
 of her Foreign Policy she is absolutely helpless. He showed 
 by a reference to numerous precedents from the writings of 
 such historians as Freeman, Mayne, and Hallam, that our 
 ancestors were extremely jealous against entrusting these 
 formidable powers, now exercised by the Crown, to an 
 irresponsible Executive. He passed in review the wars of 
 the present generation the first Afghan and Burmah wars ; 
 the Syrian, Scinde, Chinese, Persian, Japan, South African, 
 and Egyptian wars, and showed that there was ample time 
 and opportunity, in each of them, to discuss their necessity, 
 and to consult the nation beforehand. On the subject of 
 Treaties, he stated they were 37 in number, binding Great 
 Britain to onerous obligations in all parts of the world, in 
 the ratification of which Parliament had had no voice; whereas 
 in most foreign countries such, for instance, as the United 
 States and France Treaties were only binding after being 
 approved by their Legislatures. He condemned the mania 
 England had shown in the past for annexation of territory, 
 which he described as "an insatiable earth hunger," and that 
 her possessions amounted to one-fifth of the surface of the 
 globe. In conclusion, he declared that he had lost all faith 
 in Governments, who were delivered over to a rampant 
 militarism, which was the curse of Europe, and that his only 
 hope was in the democracies throughout Europe, to lift up 
 their voices and show their determination no longer to suffer 
 it, but that they should make the Governments to understand 
 that they, the people, did not desire fighting, and that if 
 there is to be any bloodshed 
 
 " Let the men who make the quarrels, 
 Be the only men to fight."
 
 206 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 ARBITRATION CONFERENCE IN LONDON. 
 
 In July, 1887, Mr. Richard attended the thirteenth Annual 
 Meeting of the Association for the Reform of the Law of 
 Nations, which, being held in the Guildhall, London, under 
 the authority and approval of the Lord Mayor, attracted an 
 unusual number of influential men Mr. Justice Butt, Sir 
 Travers Twiss, Sir Walter Phillimore, Professors Leone Levi, 
 D. D. Field, (New York,) and many others. 
 
 On the first day of the Conference, Mr. Justice Butt 
 delivered an admirable address on the subject of Inter- 
 national Arbitration, and spoke hopefully and favourably, 
 remarking : 
 
 " It was impossible to conceive any question of more universal 
 interest, more closely touching the happiness of the human 
 race. * * * The goal might be distant, but he refused to 
 believe it was unattainable. Each step on the way, each inter- 
 national dispute settled by peaceful means, was a step in the 
 right direction, and one which might save an incalculable amount 
 of human misery and suffering." 
 
 The first paper read at the Conference was by Sir Travers 
 Twiss, on " International Conventions for the Neutralization 
 of Territory, and their Application to the Suez Canal," and 
 Mr. Richard followed on the subject of International Arbi- 
 tration, which he introduced by a reference to the military 
 and financial condition of Europe, which he summed up as 
 follows : The number of men in the armies of Europe on the 
 peace footing, 3,041,054; and on the war footing, including 
 second class reserves, 17,000,000 ; the annual cost by direct 
 taxation on the people, ^158,428,740, and including the 
 indirect losses, first, the withdrawal of so many millions of 
 able-bodied men from productive industry, and the loss of 
 interest on the prodigious capital invested in preparations for 
 war, as estimated by competent statisticians, amounted to 
 ^500,000,000 per annum, to Europe alone. He stated 
 that the aggregate national debts of Europe, amounted to 
 ^4,649,286,882, on which an annual interest is paid of
 
 ARBITRATION CONFERENCE. 207 
 
 ^213,640,000, which shews an increase, since 1866, of 
 ^2,040,000,000, and of interest, ^136,120,000. 
 
 Having referred to previous papers on this subject which 
 he had presented to the Conferences of the Association, one 
 at Cologne in 1881, and the other at Milan in 1883, he 
 proceeded to give an historical recital of the various instances 
 of successful Arbitration between States since 1883 : Between 
 Holland and St. Domingo, arising out of the seizure of a 
 Dutch ship referred to the President of the French Republic; 
 between England and Germany, arising out of claims in Fiji ; 
 between Spain and the United States, arising out of the seizure 
 of an American ship referred to the Italian Minister at 
 Washington ; between Chili and Peru, resulting from the 
 great war referred to an International Commission; between 
 Russia and England, on the Pendjeh incident referred to 
 the King of Denmark ; and between Germany and Spain, on 
 the dispute over the Solomon Islands referred to the Pope 
 of Rome. 
 
 In addition to these cases of successful Arbitration 
 between States, he referred to the agreement arrived at 
 the Berlin Congress, to determine differences that may 
 arise between the 15 different states in the Congo Territory, 
 also to the Treaty of Arbitration entered into between 
 Columbia and Honduras, and to the creation of an Inter- 
 national Court, for the peaceful settlement of all differences 
 between the South American Republics. 
 
 In conclusion Mr. Richard said, and as these were the 
 last words that emanated from his pen, that he publicly 
 rehearsed on behalf of this great cause, to which he had 
 dedicated his life, we quote them in full : 
 
 " We shall find, on looking back over the past, that the charges 
 now brought against us, of being missionaries and preachers of 
 impracticable Utopias, have been brought against others who, 
 in former times, had faith and courage to labour for great 
 reforms against the traditions and customs of their age, but 
 who, nevertheless, by patient continuance in well-doing, did 
 succeed in achieving great and lasting triumphs for civilisation 
 and humanity. None of us are sanguine as to expect that we
 
 208 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 can accomplish all our hearts desire by a sudden coup. Nobody 
 knows better than we do, the difficulty of the object we are 
 aiming at ; but we must be content to work on earnestly and 
 steadfastly for the right and most men admit that we have the 
 right on our side with the calm and firm conviction that even 
 in such a world as this, the right is destined ultimately to be 
 victorious." 
 
 The Attorney-General, Sir Richard Webster, took part in 
 the discussion which followed the delivery of Mr. Richard's 
 address, and heartily congratulated the Conference on having 
 had the opportunity of listening to such an important 
 compilation of historical facts, he strongly commended the 
 principles which had been so forcibly advocated, and urged 
 on all not to be satisfied with their enunciation simply, but 
 to devote their earnest attention to their practical carrying 
 out in an international direction. 
 
 Professor Leone Levi, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, the Hon. D. D. 
 Field, and Frederic Passy followed, with telling and effective 
 speeches on the same subject. 
 
 THE RETIREMENT OF MR. RICHARD, 
 
 from the Secretariat of the Peace Society in May, 1885, the 
 position, that without a single break, he had so worthily held 
 for the lengthened period of thirty-seven years, was an event 
 not altogether unforeseen, nor to those within the inner circle 
 of its Executive, who had sorrowfully observed his waning 
 strength, was it unexpected; but inevitable and regrettable 
 as was his decision, mainly, if not entirely, because of his 
 advancing years and failing health, it could not but be other- 
 wise than a heavy blow to his colleagues and Committee, 
 and a serious, nay, an irreparable loss to the interests of the 
 Society, whose fortunes had been for nigh a generation so 
 intimately bound up with his life and service, and whose 
 usefulness had been, in the main, created and sustained by 
 the versatility of his genius, the loyalty of his convictions,
 
 HIS RETIREMENT. 
 
 209 
 
 and the splendid courage he had, through its many vicissi- 
 tudes and conflicts so conspicuously displayed. It was 
 therefore with no ordinary feelings of sorrow and regret that 
 the friends and supporters of the Society assembled at their 
 annual gathering in Finsbury Chapel, the rendezvous for 
 upwards of half a century of its anniversary meetings, to 
 receive the sorrowful announcement from his lips, of his 
 resignation, which he conveyed in the following touching 
 words : 
 
 " This is the last time I shall appear on the platform as the 
 Secretary of the Peace Society. I have been in that capacity 
 for thirty-seven years (cheers), and I have been engaged in the 
 cause of Peace for forty years. I have far outlived all the 
 original members of the Committee, and almost everyone of 
 those who were actively engaged in the cause of Peace when I 
 first took office, have disappeared from the scene. I should like 
 to explain the reason of my retirement, because the Press would 
 probably assign a reason of their own, which would be likely to 
 prove incorrect. My one reason is this : I am 73 years of 
 age, and although I am thankful that my bodily and mental 
 powers are not more impaired than they are, yet I feel that I 
 am not what I have been that there are signs of declining 
 power, and sometimes a failing of health, which warn me that I 
 must not put the same strain on my powers that I have been 
 accustomed to, and must husband the little strength that remains 
 for me. I have survived four Presidents of the Society : Mr. 
 Charles Hindley, Mr. Joseph Sturge, Mr. Joseph Pease, and Mr. 
 Henry Pease, for their friend in the Chair was the third of his 
 honourable name, who had filled that office. I am not tired of 
 the work, nor am I discouraged. If God spares me I hope even 
 yet to be of some service in connection with the Cause. I hope 
 there are young men who will come forward in order to take 
 from my paralysed hand the flag of peace, and hold it with a 
 resolute arm. What I would say to them is : Don't be dismayed 
 by the vastness of the enterprise, or the formidable character of 
 the obstacles that are before them. The work you have in hand 
 is a good work ; you are advocating a cause which, in my 
 innermost convictions, I believe to be the cause of truth, reason, 
 justice, humanity, the cause of religion, and I would venture to 
 say, the cause of God. (Loud applause)." 
 
 These parting words from Mr. Richard, the great Apostle 
 of Peace, spoken with much emotion, " with trembling lip 
 and timid tones," within the walls of that Temple of Peace, 
 which had for the uninterrupted period of forty years,
 
 210 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 resounded with his stirring and powerful eloquence, on 
 behalf of the sacred cause of " on earth peace, and good 
 will among men," must never be effaced from the memory 
 of those present, who listened to them, nor from those who 
 were absent, and have perused them on the printed page ; 
 and to the young men, and the strong men who are left to 
 labour in this great enterprise, it is a call, loud, earnest, and 
 deep, to come forward, and grasp the fallen banner, that 
 banner which noble-hearted Henry Richard bore so man- 
 fully and bravely, in the storm and dust of battle, in his day 
 and generation, and with resolute arm and unfaltering step 
 to bear it aloft, that it may be displayed, in the name of 
 justice, humanity, and Peace. 
 
 Excellent and well-merited was the eloquent tribute 
 which his colleagues of the Committee of the Peace Society 
 rendered to him on his retirement, and that found a warm 
 response in the hearts of many thousands beside, who 
 admired and loved him for his work's sake, his high charac- 
 ter, and many victories, and the following passage of that 
 tribute, deserves a place in these pages : 
 
 " The Committee feel that the severance of a bond which has 
 continued unbroken for such a lengthened period, cannot be 
 otherwise than an occasion of sorrow to those who have had the 
 privilege of associating with him in the Society's work. Their 
 regret is intensified as they look back over the history of the 
 Society, and recall the extent to which its progress has been 
 influenced by Mr. Richard's indomitable patience, his resolute 
 will, his political sagacity, and his intellectual power. But their 
 gratitude is heightened, in equal degree, when it is remembered 
 that during his occupancy of office, and in large measure owing 
 to his fearless and eloquent advocacy, by pen and speech, the 
 Society has surmounted the antagonism by which it was formerly 
 confronted, and has gained a continually growing influence upon 
 the national mind. Neither daunted by contumely, nor dis- 
 couraged by apathy, where there should have been support, nor 
 deterred by adverse criticism, Mr. Richard, 'by labors more 
 abundant,' and with zeal that never flagged, has urged the 
 adoption of International Arbitration, the mutual Reduction of 
 Armaments by the European Powers, Non-intervention in the 
 affairs of other nations, and the promotion of the holy cause of 
 Peace."
 
 HIS RETIREMENT. 211 
 
 It was fitting, too, that the Sister Society in France, as it 
 has been appropriately termed, should, by the hand of its 
 excellent President, Frederic Passy, for many years and in 
 many struggles the faithful friend and colleague of Mr. 
 Richard, tender its sincere and earnest tribute, and none 
 could have possibly been more gratifying to its recipient, 
 none more honourable : 
 
 " You have been for forty years, not only the foremost amongst 
 your countrymen in the sacred crusade against war ; you have 
 been the guide and the support of all the men of Peace through- 
 out Europe." 
 
 The last great speech delivered by Mr. Richard in the 
 Parliament of England, was on the iQth March, 1886, pre- 
 viously referred to, for during the Sessions of 1887 and 1888, 
 conscious of his failing strength and the necessity of following 
 the advice of his medical attendant, to avoid great mental 
 or physical exertion, he took no part in debate, but his 
 interest was unabated in public affairs, and his wonted zeal, 
 especially in foreign relations, was forcibly illustrated by 
 important questions which he addressed to the Government 
 on the unhappy war in Burmah, and the rumoured annexa- 
 tion of territory on the East Coast of Africa. 
 
 For the last time he appeared on the platform of the 
 Peace Society's Annual Meeting, in May, 1887, and delivered, 
 what proved to be his last public utterance, outside the walls 
 of Parliament, on the Cause so dear to his heart, and these 
 were his closing words, worthy of being cherished by all those 
 who desire, however feebly, to follow his noble example : 
 
 " They must not be discouraged by the magnitude of their 
 task in attempting to uproot a custom which has sunk deep into 
 the traditions of the world, about which poetry and romance had 
 thrown the halo of a false glory, and which was maintained in 
 all countries by powerful classes, whose interests, personal, 
 political, and pecuniary, were involved in its continuance. But 
 I believe the powers that are for us. are greater than those that 
 are against us. Reason is for us, for war is an outrage on reason ; 
 justice is for us, for war tramples justice under foot ; humanity 
 is for us, for war desolates humanity, and has written its scroll 
 within rmd without with mourning and lamentation Civilisation
 
 212 HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 is for us, for war is the incarnation of barbarism ; and, above all, 
 religion is for us, for it is not possible that He who made of one 
 blood all nations of men, can look with complacency upon His 
 children engaged in butchering each other ; and we have the 
 benediction of Him whom we consider our Master and Head, 
 and who is destined to become the King of the universe, and 
 who has said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be 
 called the children of God.' " (Applause). 
 
 At the close of the Session of 1888, his last year on earth, 
 premonitory symptoms of ill-health appeared, arising from 
 an affection of the heart, from which he had for some years 
 past suffered, and he sought for rest and change. Accom- 
 panied by Mrs. Richard, whose watchful care and solicitude 
 for him had, it is believed, prolonged considerably his 
 valuable life, he proceeded to North Wales, on a visit to his 
 esteemed friend, Mr. Richard Davies, the Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Anglesey, and the former Member of Parliament for the 
 Constituency of Anglesey, and there at his charming home 
 at Treborth Hall, near the Menai Bridge, amid a congenial 
 circle of political and dear friends, he passed the few remain- 
 ing days on earth. 
 
 On Tuesday evening, the 2ist of August, the summons 
 came, and with his faculties unclouded and unimpaired, he 
 passed peacefully and painlessly away, and his purified spirit, 
 freed from the shackles of this mortality, with its mingled 
 coil of joy and suffering, quitted its earthly tenement, as we 
 may reverently believe, to enter that better Home above, 
 the glorious Rest of the Redeemed. 
 
 " Soldier of Christ, well done ! 
 
 Rest from thy loved employ : 
 The battle fought, the victory won ; 
 Enter thy Master's joy." 
 
 Mulchings, Printing Works, Uxbridge, W.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 THE NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD OF WALES, 
 
 AND THE LATE 
 
 MR. HENRY RICHARD, M.P. 
 
 AT the Meetings of the National Eisteddfod, held at 
 Wrexham in September 1888, The Right Hon. W. E. 
 Gladstone, M.P., paid the following warm tribute of admira- 
 tion and respect to the memory and services of Mr. 
 Richard : 
 
 " Now, this is a day of retrospect, and having spoken of 
 Welsh nationality, I am reminded to look towards that 
 inscription which you see upon a portion of your walls, and 
 which bears the name of Henry Richard a name than 
 which there can be no better symbol of Wales. I have had 
 the honour of knowing him for the last 20 years, if not 
 more; and I have always been glad to take occasion of 
 saying that I regarded him, in respect of Wales in respect 
 of the conduct, character, faculties, and hopes of the people 
 of Wales that I regarded him as a teacher and a guide. I 
 have owed to him much of what I have learned about 
 Wales, as my experience has enlarged, and I owe a debt to 
 him on that account which I am ever glad to acknowledge. 
 But he has broader claims upon you. He has upon you 
 the claim of having exhibited to the world a model of 
 character such as any country cannot but regard as an object 
 
 p 2
 
 11. APPENDIX. 
 
 of sympathy and of delight. I have seen him in Parliament 
 the advocate of decided opinions ; the advocate of some 
 opinions, perhaps amongst the best he entertained, for 
 instance, with respect to peace, in which he had no great 
 number of sympathisers or followers. I have seen him 
 always uniting a most determined courage and resolution in 
 the assertion of his principles and views with the greatest 
 tenderness, gentleness, and sympathy towards those who 
 differed from him. The fact is, though I don't wish un- 
 necessarily and officiously to introduce here considerations 
 so solemn perhaps they are better reserved in the main for 
 another place the fact is that there was in him what I may 
 call an inner peace, which was the secret of his outward self- 
 command and of his gentleness as well as of his courage. 
 It was impossible to see him without saying that he was not 
 only a professor of Christianity, but that his mind was a 
 sanctuary of Christian faith, of Christian hope, and of 
 Christian love ; and all those great powers and principles 
 radiated forth from the centre, and let his light shine before 
 men, though he himself would have been the last either to 
 assert or to recognise that there was in him any kind or 
 degree of merit. I know his name will long be remem- 
 bered and ever be revered among you, and I am glad 
 to have had the opportunity of paying to him this brief and 
 imperfect, but hearty and sincere, tribute of admiration and 
 respect." 
 
 Sir John Puleston, M.P., the President, on the yth 
 September, in moving a resolution of condolence to Mrs. 
 Richard, said : 
 
 " Having offered you these congratulations on the magnifi- 
 cent success of this Eisteddfod in Wrexham, I must next 
 refer to a sadder subject, and you will allow me, I am sure, 
 in your name and my own as Eisteddfodwyr, to ask you on 
 this, the last of our morning gatherings, to unite in passing 
 a vote of condolence and sympathy with the bereaved widow 
 of Mr. Henry Richard. Mr. Richard, as we all know, took
 
 APPENDIX. iii. 
 
 a great interest in all that concerns the Eisteddfod, and he 
 did so because he conceived, as we all conceive, that the 
 Eisteddfod was revived and re-established for the best interests 
 of Wales and of the Welsh people. Mr. Richard, to whose 
 memory so feeling a tribute was paid last Tuesday in the 
 masterly oratory of Mr. Gladstone, was never happier than 
 when he was ministering in one way or another to bring our 
 old institution to the high level it has attained. He knew 
 well the Welsh character, and he never allowed differences 
 of politics or religion to stand between him and others in 
 the promotion of the success of the Eisteddfod ; and as a 
 private citizen, it could be said of him that he wore the 
 white plume of a blameless life. It would be fitting that a 
 word of condolence and sympathy should be sent from that 
 vast assembly to the bereaved widow, of one who occupied 
 so large a space in the history of the Principality, and whose 
 devotion to the cause of peace among the nations would be 
 put by his countrymen side by side with his devotion to Wales 
 and to the Eisteddfod. It will, I am sure, be some solace 
 to Mrs. Richard, in these days of her affliction, to be re- 
 minded by such a resolution, as I now propose should be 
 sent, of the fact that the memory of her devoted husband is 
 kept green and sacred by the institution he loved so well." 
 
 Mr. Evan Morris, Chairman of the Eisteddfod Committee, 
 seconded the resolution, and said : 
 
 " He did not think he would be discharging his duty to 
 that large assembly, as Chairman of the Executive Committee, 
 if he did not avail himself, as he gladly did, of the privilege 
 to second the vote of condolence to the widow of the late 
 Mr. Henry Richard. He was obliged to Sir John Puleston 
 for giving them that opportunity of placing upon record their 
 deep sense of gratitude for the services rendered by the late 
 Mr. Richard. He Would not add a word to what Sir John 
 Puleston had so well said, or to the touching eloquence of 
 Mr. Gladstone on Tuesday, but he would propose that this 
 resolution and Mr. Gladstone's impressive tribute, expressing
 
 iv. APPENDIX. 
 
 their deep sympathy with Mrs. Richard, should be printed 
 on vellum and sent to her " : 
 
 " That we offer to Mrs. Henry Richard our sincere sym- 
 pathy and condolence in her great bereavement ; and that 
 we desire to convey to her, by the voice of this large gather- 
 ing, the assurance that the services rendered by her late 
 husband to the National Eisteddfod of Wales are warmly 
 appreciated throughout the Principality, and that his 
 memory will be cherished by the Welsh people." 
 
 A WELSH ADDRESS TO MR. RICHARD, 
 
 1874- 
 
 ON the return of Mr. Richard from his Peace Mission to 
 the various European countries in 1873, a large number 
 of his fellow-countrymen gave him a cordial reception at a 
 meeting held at the Cannon Street Hotel, presided over by 
 Sir John Puleston, M.P., and which was attended by the 
 following representative Welshmen : Mr. Osborne Morgan, 
 M.P., Mr. Hughes, M.P., Mr. Fothergill, M.P., Mr. Morgan 
 Lloyd, M.P., Mr. Brinley Richards, and others. 
 
 In the course of the proceedings, Mr. Stephen Evans 
 presented, on behalf of the Welsh Nation, an address to Mr. 
 Richard, commending his efforts to extend a more accurate 
 knowledge of Wales and its people in England, to encourage 
 and foster the institutions of the Principality, and to advance 
 the cause of Peace at home and abroad. 
 
 Mr. Richard, in reply, said that he imbibed the love of 
 Wales with his blood, and if anything could reward him 
 for what he had done for Wales or for Peace, it was the 
 approbation of Welshmen. 
 
 This Address was subsequently engrossed and framed, 
 and placed in Mr. Richard's library, and was highly appre- 
 ciated by him as a valuable testimony from Wales.
 
 FRIENDLESS AND FALLEN 
 
 YOUNG WOMEN AND GIRLS. 
 
 LONDON FEMALE PREVENTIVE and REFORMATORY INSTITUTION, 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE WORK OF THE PAST YEAR. 
 
 NUMBER OF INMATES IN THE HOMES and Open-all-Night 
 
 Refuge, Jan. i, 1888 177 
 
 ADMITTED TO THE HOMES during 1888 585 
 
 RE-ADMITTED temporarily during 1888 181 
 
 ADMITTED to the Refuge during 1888 .., 589 
 
 RE-LODGED at the Refuge during 1888 479 
 
 Religious Services, Bible Classes, &c., conducted in the Homes 
 
 numbered nearly ... ...3,000 
 
 In the further interest of the friendless virtuous a new Home was 
 
 purchased' at 459, Holloway Road. 
 
 The following Homes are now sustained by the general funds 
 PREVENTIVE HOMES, especially for Friendless Girls No of 
 
 in their teens Inmates. Total. 
 
 The Jubilee Home, 7, Parson's Green 50 
 
 195, Hampstead Road, N.W 18 
 
 459, Holloway Road 30 
 
 98 
 
 REFORMATORY HOMES 
 
 200, Euston Road, N.W. 24 
 
 35, Eden Grove, Holloway ... ... ... ... ... 33 
 
 Milton House, Brompton ... ... ... 30 
 
 The Holt-Yates Memorial Home, 5, Parson's Green ... 30 
 
 117 
 
 OPEN-ALL-NIGHT REFUGE 
 
 37, Manchester Street, W.C. Visited every morning by Mr. 
 Thomas, to endeavour to arrange permanent help to 
 all new comers ... ... 20 
 
 20 
 
 Total number of inmates to maintain 235 
 
 MEALS TO BE PROVIDED FOR INMATES. 
 Daily, 94O. Weekly, 6,58O. Annually, 343,100. 
 
 September 15. The Committee are in urgent need of Funds to carry 
 on the Work of Mercy as above, and meet daily expenses. 
 
 There have been nearly ONE THOUSAND applications for help this year. 
 
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 H.C., or 
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 Whenever possible, receipts are sent per return of post.
 
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