THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 JAMES HACK TUKE
 
 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. SIR EDWARD FRY 
 
 HON. FELLOW OF BALL1OL COLLEGE, OXFORD 
 
 SLontiott 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 
 
 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1899
 
 P r e f a c e 
 
 THE task which I have performed in the following 
 pages was not one of my own seeking. I doubted 
 how far the life of a Quaker banker in a country 
 town, or the shipment of emigrants from the 
 barren and sad shores of Connaught, afforded much 
 to interest the reading public : and I knew how 
 hard it would be for any one, and how impossible 
 for me, to draw a portrait which should communi- 
 cate to the beholder any sense of the peculiar 
 charm of the original. But many of Tuke's 
 friends desired that some memorial should appear 
 of his life ; and Mrs. Tuke urged me to 
 undertake the work. Hence my share in this 
 memoir, which has largely been the making of 
 selections from his letters and papers, and from 
 notes made by Mrs. Tuke. For the labour I 
 
 Bry^^ 
 U 7b
 
 vi JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 possessed one qualification a friendship of many 
 years' standing with the dear friend whose life 
 I have thus tried to present, and a great admira- 
 tion for his beautiful character. 
 
 To some who knew James Tuke in middle 
 life it will perhaps appear that the space occupied 
 in the following pages by his Irish work is ex- 
 cessive, and that more ought to have been said 
 in reference to his labours at home, especially in 
 relation to the Foreign Missions of the Society of 
 Friends in which he took a most important part, 
 and to other work in connection with that religious 
 body, and in his own neighbourhood. It may 
 be doubted whether more details in relation to 
 these matters would have been of much general 
 interest ; but however that may be, I have in fact 
 had no materials for a detailed treatment of these 
 interests of Tuke's life, and I doubt whether any 
 such materials exist. 
 
 " Of great men it may be truly said," so wrote 
 Mr. Jowett, " that it does us good only to look at 
 them " ; and perhaps of good men the same may 
 be true ; if so, I may hope that the following
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 pages may not be without fruit in the mind of 
 some one. 
 
 The reader will at once perceive how great has 
 been the part which Mrs. Tuke has taken in this 
 memoir ; in fact she has been rather a joint- 
 author than a mere contributor. 
 
 My thanks for assistance are due to her and to 
 other members of the family ; to the Rev. W. S. 
 Green for interesting contributions in respect of 
 the Congested Districts Board ; to the Right Hon. 
 A. J. Balfour, Mr. Sydney Buxton, Mr. H. A. 
 Robinson (the vice-president of the Local Govern- 
 ment Board in Ireland), and many others, for 
 permission to use letters addressed to them ; to 
 Mr. James Knowles and Mr. Percy W. Bunting 
 for leave to reprint extracts from The Nineteenth 
 Century and The Contemporary Review respectively ; 
 to Miss Emily Davies, Sir George Young, Bart., 
 Mr. Frederic Seebohm, LL.D., and Mr. Howard 
 Hodgkin for other help in the preparation of this 
 
 book. 
 
 E. F. 
 
 FAILAND, October 1899.
 
 Contents 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 1819-1846 
 
 Birth and parentage Early years and pursuits Friendship 
 with Mr W. E. Forster Journey to America Visit 
 to Audubon Emigrants on the move Slavery 
 Free education A Quaker Yearly Meeting in Caro- 
 lina ........ Page I 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 1845-1852 
 
 Failure of potato crop in Ireland Famine Relief Funds 
 Visit to Ireland with Mr. William Forster Famine in 
 1847 Second visit to Ireland Pamphlet, "A Visit 
 to Connaught" Erris Controversy as to facts in the 
 Pamphlet Second visit to Erris and postscript to 
 Pamphlet Mr. and Mrs. Ellis First marriage 111 of 
 the Irish fever Partnership and removal to Hitchin 
 His home there 40
 
 x JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 1853-1875 
 
 Voluntary v. State-Aided Education Anxieties Wife's ill- 
 ness Freedmen's Aid Union Death of first wife Miss 
 Tuke's recollections College for women Relief work 
 in France Paris during the Commune Death of 
 eldest daughter ...... Page 77 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 1879-1882 
 
 Ackworth School Condition of Ireland Relief Committees 
 Visit to Ireland Pamphlet on Irish Distress Visions 
 at Knock Plan for emigration to Manitoba Visit to 
 America Religious difficulty Petitions for relief 
 Visit to Ireland, October 1881 Plan for emigration 
 Visit to Ireland, February 1882 Paper in Contemporary 
 Review Meeting at Duke of Bedford's " Mr. Tuke's 
 Fund" .117 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 1882-1883 
 
 Preparations for emigration Plan of the work Sailing of 
 emigrant ships Second marriage Renewed labours in 
 1883 Clothing of emigrants Difficulties Incidents of 
 the work Arrival of emigrants in America . . 159
 
 CONTENTS xi 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 1883-1884 
 
 Renewal of emigration work Opposition of Roman Catholic 
 Bishops Charges with regard to emigrants at Toronto 
 "The Murderers' Country" Decrease of emigrants 
 Opposition of Guardians and Priests Cessation of opera- 
 tions of Committee of Mr. Tuke's Fund Extent of 
 their work Criticisms on their work Migration v. 
 Emigration Government interference deprecated 
 Moral objections Alleged misery of emigrants 
 Letters from emigrants Their condition in United 
 States : in Canada Effect of emigration on Ireland 
 Honours accepted and declined . . . Page 196 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 1885-1889 
 
 Home Rule Scheme for purchase of holdings by Government 
 aid Letter to Spectator Misery in Achil Tuke's visit 
 Distress on mainland Distribution of seed potatoes 
 Government scheme for aid Death of Mr. Forster 
 Visit from Mr. Bright Emigrants' Information Office 
 Bodyke Report to Mr. Balfour Distress in Arran 
 Islands Visit to Donegal . . . . .222 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 1887-1893 
 
 Tuke's early views as to the development of industries in the 
 west Correspondence with Mr. Balfour The light
 
 xii JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 railways Incubation of scheme for Congested Districts 
 Board Invitation to act upon it Fisheries Visit to 
 Baltimore Formation of the Board Congested districts 
 described Functions of the Board First report 
 Tuke's labours on the Board Visits to horse shows 
 and west coast Result of labours of the Board 
 Death of Mr. W. H. Smith Home Rule and the 
 Quakers ....... Page 261 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 1894-1896 
 
 Illness Deaths of brother and daughter Illness of wife 
 His last days Home life and pursuits Correspond- 
 ence with daughters Personal traits Causes of his 
 success Religious feelings . . . . .319 
 
 INDEX 
 
 345
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 1819-1846 
 
 Birth and parentage Early years and pursuits Friendship 
 with Mr. W. E. Forster Journey to America Visit to 
 Audubon Emigrants on the move Slavery Free 
 education A Quaker Yearly Meeting in Carolina. 
 
 JAMES HACK TUKE was born at York on 
 1 3th September 1819, and was the second son and 
 seventh child of Samuel Tuke and his wife 
 Priscilla (nee Hack). 
 
 In 1629 one William Tuke took up his 
 freedom in the city of York ; he was one of the 
 early converts of George Fox, and in 1660 was 
 imprisoned for his Quakerism. 
 
 Thenceforward the Tuke family continued to 
 live in York as Quakers, and as well known and 
 respected citizens. 
 
 William Tuke, who, a century ago, was the 
 B
 
 2 JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 head of the family, was the chief amongst the 
 founders of the York Retreat, an institution for 
 the care and cure of the insane, which was con- 
 ducted on principles of humanity, then almost 
 unknown in such institutions, and which proved 
 highly influential in bringing such principles to the 
 attention of Parliament and the public. The care 
 of this institution and the study of the problems of 
 insanity became hereditary in the Tuke family. 
 
 Samuel Tuke, the father, as already mentioned, 
 of the subject of this memoir, was the author of 
 a work on this subject which attracted much 
 attention, and was reviewed in the Edinburgh 
 Re-view by Sydney Smith under the heading of 
 "Mad Quakers" 1 : he was also the editor of Dr. 
 Maximilian Jacobi's work on Asylums for the Insane. 
 Moreover, he was a man of great capacity and 
 influence in many ways ; he was a leading member 
 of the Society of Friends ; he was a very influential 
 citizen of York, and he was deeply interested in 
 most educational and social questions, and took 
 an active part in various societies and institutions 
 for the promotion of the good of his fellow-men. 
 The gravity and force of his character were 
 strikingly expressed in his face and person. 
 
 1 Sydney Smith's Works, vol. i. p. 313.
 
 1846 HIS HOME 3 
 
 Two or three years after the birth of James, 
 his father took up his residence in a com- 
 modious family house in a wide street outside 
 the walls of the city (Laurence Street), opposite 
 to an old church and a trough where the horses 
 and cows of the neighbourhood came to drink. 
 Behind was a large garden, very like what 
 Tennyson has described, probably with reference 
 to another Cathedral city. 
 
 Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite 
 Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love. 
 News from the humming city comes to it 
 In sound of funeral or of marriage bells ; 
 And, sitting muffled in dark leaves, you hear 
 The windy clanging of the minster clock ; 
 Although between it and the garden lies 
 A league of grass, wash'd by a slow broad stream, 
 That, stirr'd with languid pulses of the oar, 
 Waves all its lazy lilies, and creeps on, 
 Barge-laden, to three arches of a bridge 
 Crown'd with the minster-towers. 
 
 This house was Tuke's home till his first 
 marriage. 
 
 His school education was received at a day 
 school in York which was much frequented by 
 the sons of North Country Quakers. Of what he 
 learned there I have little or no evidence ; but 
 it seems to me probable that his father and his
 
 4 JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 home did more for his education than his school- 
 master and his schoolroom. 
 
 In July 1828 Tuke lost his mother. 
 
 In or about the year 1835 Tuke left school 
 and went into the counting-house of his father, 
 who was the senior partner in a firm of tea 
 merchants carrying on business in York, and 
 then or later having a branch in Great Tower 
 Street, London ; his confinement to the counting- 
 house does not appear to have been close, and 
 his diary shows that business did not preclude 
 frequent expeditions on horse -back into the 
 surrounding country. 
 
 Of these early years the best account which 
 I can give is to be found in the following extracts 
 from notes prepared by Mrs. Tuke : 
 
 " My husband always said that his first conscious 
 recollection was of the occasion when he and the 
 rest of the children were taken by their governess 
 to bid farewell to their great-grandfather William 
 Tuke, who, in the early days of December 1822, 
 lay dying ; on 6th December he passed away at the 
 ripe age of ninety ; his little great-grandson James 
 being his junior by eighty-seven years. The child 
 remembered the walk to the house and passing the 
 ' postern/ and then the house with the dark stair-
 
 -1846 CHILDHOOD 5 
 
 case, and the silent room where the old man lay 
 already unconscious ; but the whole memory was 
 naturally vague. 
 
 " The children's life at home, though quiet and 
 within very distinct limits, was happy and natural. 
 Their father, full of work and of energy, of grave 
 character and manner, loved his children devotedly 
 and wisely. The mother was a wonderfully sweet 
 and lovely person the miniature of her which is 
 in my possession represents a pensive, beautiful 
 woman, with large blue eyes and a Madonna face, 
 framed with golden brown hair over which a white 
 Friend's cap is fastened, a snow-white kerchief is 
 crossed on her bosom, and in her arms nestle two 
 children, James, a hazel-eyed boy of about three, 
 and Elizabeth, a brown -eyed baby with a little 
 white cap tied under her chin ; James has his 
 hands thrust into a basket of flowers, and looks 
 out on life with an expression of questioning 
 wonder. All his memory of his mother was of 
 sweetness, tenderness, and love, and he well re- 
 membered the awful blank and pain of her death, 
 which occurred at Marsk on i6th July 1828, 
 before he was nine years old. He never ceased 
 to deplore the grievous loss of the mother's love in 
 his childhood. His father did all that could be
 
 6 JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 done to fill the blank, but was himself well-nigh 
 overwhelmed by the loss of the wife to whom he 
 was so tenderly attached, and for the rest of his 
 life ' went softly ' in his loneliness. His son often 
 described the sadness which was so deeply woven 
 into his father's character. The sense of this 
 suffering touched the boy's heart, and from the 
 earliest times he felt a great longing to make him 
 happy. The friendship between father and 
 son was close and perfect, and no doubt the 
 almost womanly tenderness of the boy's nature 
 and sympathy helped and encouraged the lonely 
 man. 
 
 " James's own opinion was that as a boy he had 
 been rather tiresome and questioning, always 
 wanting to know and learn about ' things,' 
 though not quick or clever at lessons. Learning 
 by heart was a great difficulty to him, although he 
 had an admirable and precise memory for many 
 things. He learnt to read young, and was a 
 constant reader. Catlin and other delightful 
 books about Indians were eagerly pored over ; and 
 some of these suggested to the boy a wild desire 
 to adopt the plan of training his features in con- 
 formity with the fashion prevalent among the 
 flat-nosed Indians. He set to work deliberately,
 
 1846 CHILDHOOD 7 
 
 and for a certain time each day settled himself 
 upon the spring-board, and with bent head so 
 posed himself that his nose got gently hammered 
 in the desired direction by each movement of the 
 board as it rose and fell in quite a mechanical way, 
 with the result that he succeeded (before the 
 practice was detected) in making his nose 
 permanently crooked, though the desired flatness 
 was not attained. The ambition was bold and 
 original, as the Tuke family had for generations 
 been noted for the length and sharpness of their 
 noses. It may have been with the view of 
 counteracting a natural tendency that the plan 
 was conceived. 
 
 " After the death of their mother, Samuel Tuke's 
 sister, Miss Maria Tuke, came to live with him, 
 to help take care of his twelve motherless 
 children. Her nephew always respected the self- 
 sacrificing devotion which she extended to him and 
 the other members of the family, although his 
 private opinion was that his Aunt Maria was not 
 very partial to himself. Her particularity with 
 the children in their early life had certainly only 
 good results : she had indeed undertaken no light 
 task in mothering this bright young family. 
 
 " In October 1831, the Tukes were visited by a
 
 8 JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 very severe outbreak of fever, which was contracted 
 by Samuel Tuke and his daughter Maria during a 
 visit to the school at Ackworth 1 where it was 
 raging. One after another the children fell 
 ill ; the father writes : ' Poor dear Jemmy is now' 
 ill much pain in the head.' The illness appears 
 to have been a sort of typhoid, and lasted for 
 many weeks, during which time 'Aunt Maria' 
 devoted herself to nursing her brother and the 
 little ones. They all recovered ; but this illness 
 was the beginning of the delicate health from which 
 James suffered for a considerable time. When 
 still quite young he frequently was laid low with 
 dreadful headaches. He often described his diffi- 
 culty at school in having to partake of the bread 
 and milk breakfast, which was the ordinary diet, 
 as it constantly meant for him a day of head- 
 ache. 
 
 " In December 1831, Mr. Samuel Tuke and his 
 sister took several of the children to Hastings for 
 change of air, James being one of the party. 
 During this visit he witnessed a scene that deeply 
 impressed his mind. It was at a time when 
 smuggling was not uncommon, and one day, when 
 walking in the town, he descried a large boat which 
 
 1 For this school, see p. 117.
 
 1846 HASTINGS 9 
 
 had been seized by the ' Preventive men,' raised 
 upon wheels, and being drawn by a number of 
 horses to a place of safety. It was full of casks 
 or kegs of spirit, a large crowd surrounded the 
 boat, and ' Preventive men ' with drawn cutlasses 
 walked on either side. The crowd was very 
 menacing, and the whole scene most exciting to 
 the bright-eyed eager boy of twelve, who, coming 
 from York, had no previous experience of sea- 
 faring life, except it might be in some book of 
 adventure. The situation became more intense as 
 some of the bolder spirits among the crowd 
 actually leapt upon the boat and carried off 
 some of the casks amid the triumphant cheers 
 of their comrades, and in spite of the resist- 
 ance of the ' Preventive men,' all armed as they 
 were. 
 
 " At this time, too, he related how surprised he 
 was when on one occasion being sent out to walk 
 with one of the maids, she went to a shop to order 
 some brandy for the house. * Will you have it 
 run, or duty paid ? ' was the prompt rejoinder of 
 the shopman. With equal promptitude the maid 
 replied ' Duty paid.' 
 
 " Sarah, the third daughter of Samuel Tuke, 
 died during this visit to Hastings, at the age
 
 io JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 of sixteen. She passed away in the presence 
 of her aunt and sisters and of her little brother 
 James. 
 
 " In 1832 James had a very narrow escape from 
 drowning. The scene of the adventure was a 
 farm of his father's called High Roans, so named 
 from the Roan or Rowen trees (Mountain Ash) 
 which grew there in considerable quantities. It 
 was a few miles from York, near Sheriff Hutton, 
 on the edge of a wild moor called 'Suet Carr.' 
 Mr. Samuel Tuke used frequently to go there to 
 look after the woods which he and his grandfather 
 had planted, and to mark those trees which required 
 cutting down. 
 
 " The children greatly enjoyed the out-of-door 
 life in the sweet old garden of their home in York, 
 and had many a game and much fun under the 
 wych elm which grew in their playground. The 
 gardener, ' Robert,' was a special friend and 
 favourite of James. . . . 
 
 " On one great occasion James found a dead bird 
 in the garden, and as Robert could not identify it 
 for him, he took it to his father. 
 
 " * Father, what bird is this ? ' 
 
 " ' Thou must find that out for thyself, my 
 boy,' said the wise father. So, with the direct
 
 1846 BIRDS AND HORSES n 
 
 object in view, the books were got down, and the 
 name, habits, and peculiarities of the bird discovered 
 by the boys themselves. The lesson bore fruit. 
 James and his younger brother William became, in 
 due course, very devoted students of ornithology, 
 and spent many happy hours in the study and 
 practical observation of the nature and habits of our 
 English birds among the moors and dales and along 
 the coasts of Yorkshire. Only observation though ! 
 Their father never would sanction bird's-nesting 
 or shooting of birds. James was most exact in 
 obeying these commands. William says he never 
 thought it any harm to take one egg from each 
 nest. So he occasionally took one, but James 
 never would. 
 
 " His father made James very happy with the 
 possession of a pony, which he used to ride to and 
 from school ; like all true Yorkshire boys and 
 men he loved horses and riding, and as he grew 
 up, he and his friend Henry Richardson of York 
 occasionally went out ' quietly ' with the neighbour- 
 ing hounds. This caused some * uneasiness ' to 
 some of the stricter Friends, and when his father 
 told James that such was the case, and that it 
 might interfere with his own influence as a minister, 
 he, though not without many regrets, renounced
 
 12 JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 the delights of hunting and limited himself to 
 riding and driving. 
 
 " In after life it made him very happy to think 
 that he had been able to make this very real 
 sacrifice in deference to his father's wishes. 
 
 " It is easy to picture quaint and pretty groups 
 of the elder and younger children in the rooms of 
 the old house in York, or among the paths of the 
 garden. They were full of activities : botanising, 
 painting, bird-stuffing, gardening, etc. Hannah 
 and Priscilla married young, and Henry soon 
 went out into life ; but one can see the clever 
 intellectual Maria strolling here and there with 
 her book, or discussing a poet with James, over 
 whom she exercised a very considerable influence. 
 Gulie, the delight of the boys, with her merry, 
 sweet ways and ready gifts of pen and tongue ; 
 and the pensive Elizabeth, with a quaint humour 
 of her own, and her powers of mimicry, which 
 James also possessed, which talent, among their 
 somewhat satirical brothers and sisters, they were 
 often called upon to exercise. ' Esther, a most 
 managing little dame, quite mistress of poor 
 William,' as the father writes, and the small 
 Daniel, the family pet, accompanied by his 
 devoted attendant, Dorothy Browne, each seems
 
 1846 FAMILY LIFE 13 
 
 to step out of the dimness, as one calls up the 
 happy past, and once again to join the merry 
 procession under the old elm. 
 
 " Then think of all the fun and adventures 
 with the young maidens who used to come to tea 
 from the neighbouring school. One dark enter- 
 prise, undertaken by James and his sister Elizabeth, 
 when they dressed up as a pair of old friends and 
 made an evening call upon a neighbour to ' make 
 certain enquiries about a school for their boysj was 
 hardly thought suitable for father's ears ; but was 
 carried out with the most complete and delight- 
 ful success ; and there were endless dressings- 
 up, and representations of scenes from history, 
 etc., which must have gone perilously near the 
 questionable ' acting,' but much delighted the 
 young folk. On the spring-board the whole 
 family used to clamber and sit, and their voices 
 used to swell in chorus of songs of their own 
 composition, as they went up and down. No 
 pictures hung upon the walls, and no piano or 
 other instrument of music was there to enliven the 
 winter evenings ; but sweet faces and bright eyes 
 lit up the old Quaker home, and the merry voices 
 of the children made the music which was sweetest 
 in their father's ears.
 
 I 4 JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 "James often referred to the amusing excursion 
 with his schoolmaster, John Ford, in 1 8 3 5 ; and some 
 of the botanical specimens, which are mentioned 
 in his little diary, collected during this trip in 
 Yorkshire and Cumberland, are still in perfect 
 preservation. . . . 
 
 " There is little doubt that when, in 1 833, Samuel 
 Tuke was requisitioned by nearly three hundred 
 of his fellow-citizens to stand for York in the 
 Liberal interest, his son James was not a little 
 excited. Later on he took a very great interest 
 in general politics and in the York elections, and 
 often expressed himself as having been terribly 
 shocked at the open manner in which bribery was 
 carried on. 
 
 " One day, going into one of the committee 
 rooms, he saw the agent sitting with a bowl of 
 guineas on the table before him. 
 
 " * Well, Mr. Tuke, what can I do for you ? ' 
 was the greeting. The reply may be imagined. 
 
 "Though railways were few and telegrams 
 unknown in 1835, ^ e went ^ ast m a wa y> an d 
 at a very early age boys began the serious work 
 of their lives. James was no exception to this 
 rule, and at sixteen left school and entered his 
 father's counting-house.
 
 1846 PURSUITS IN YOUTH 15 
 
 " After he left school, the boy's education may 
 almost be said to have begun. He read widely 
 history, philosophy, and poetry. He was devoted 
 to Chaucer ; Milton and the sonnets of Shakespeare 
 delighted him ; Cowper, Coleridge, and Keats had 
 much of his love, and Shelley always entranced his 
 imagination ; but Wordsworth became his com- 
 panion and friend. It is interesting to notice the 
 very distinct influence which the Lake poet exercised 
 on his thoughts and feelings. His sister Maria 
 presented him with a complete edition of Words- 
 worth on his twenty-first birthday, and I have 
 before me, while I write, the beloved brown 
 volumes, his constant companions. The love of 
 nature and humanity, fiery indignation at wrong 
 or oppression, the strong feeling of patriotism, the 
 love of England, and the conviction that it was 
 the duty of England to be a sort of knight-errant 
 of nations, ' the redresser of human wrongs,' was 
 common to both, as were the grief and distress 
 when, by slightest thought or suspicion, England 
 fell short of their ideal. 
 
 " For Whittier, the friendly poet, he cared very 
 heartily, and Tennyson, of course, stood high on 
 his later list. He lived in his poets and longed 
 for others that he loved to share their delights.
 
 16 JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 " He had a curious presentiment, which he 
 regarded as a sort of warning, that at a particular 
 spot on a road in the immediate vicinity of York 
 he would meet his death by a carriage accident. 
 He was the least superstitious person I ever met ; 
 but he held this belief always : he used to smile 
 at it, but it remained. 
 
 " There came a time in his early manhood when 
 all the complex problems of life, present and future, 
 pressed heavily on him for solution ; he described 
 it as a time of heavy darkness, -and suffered a large 
 measure of pain and bewilderment of spirit. But 
 his nature was too wholesome, and his faith in God 
 and in the compassion of Christ too strong, to 
 allow of his going -under in the struggle. I 
 gathered that in the necessity of work and the 
 energy of living he eventually found the light, and 
 by degrees the comfort, which much study could 
 not give. He never went into particulars of this 
 period of inward strain and strife, and avoided 
 details or dwelling much on it. I think it did not 
 last very long. 
 
 " Two friends he had for whom he felt a deep 
 affection in these young days David Dockray 
 and George William Fothergill. The latter died 
 early and was sincerely regretted by his friend
 
 1846 FRIENDSHIPS 17 
 
 and by the sister, to whom Fothergill was greatly 
 attached. 
 
 " His friendship with William Edward Forster 
 was of later date, and was a source of very 
 great interest to him, and many delightful fireside 
 talks were enjoyed by the two at Mr. Samuel 
 Tuke's house in York or in Forster's home at 
 Rawdon. 
 
 " One evening at the latter place, they were dis- 
 cussing all manner of questions when Forster 
 sprang from his chair, and shouting out * Heap 
 logs up, let the fire blaze out ! ' (from Paracelsus), 
 gave a great kick to a log which was lazily 
 smouldering on the hearth which sent the sparks 
 flying, as it burst into wild flame. It lighted 
 up his great figure and face, and James said he so 
 often could see this scene in after years and nearly 
 always thought of Forster thus. 
 
 " About this time James and Forster went 
 together to spend a few days at the hotel at Ilkley. 
 One evening a charade was got up in which 
 the two joined willingly. James used to laugh 
 heartily in describing the inimitable way in which 
 Forster acted the part of a delicate old lady in 
 nightcap and nightgown, he taking the humble 
 part of the maid. The applause was rapturous.
 
 iS JAMES HACK TUKE 1819 
 
 " He was present when York Minster was burnt, 
 and helped the band of volunteers who were en- 
 gaged in removing the ancient documents, wills, 
 etc., to a place of safety. On this occasion he was 
 much struck by the conduct of one of the sentries 
 who had been posted by the officer in charge 
 of the military who were assisting at the fire. 
 As the fire proceeded the position of the sentry 
 became exceedingly dangerous from the constant 
 falling of boiling metal from the roof, and Mr. 
 Tuke advised him to move just clear of the build- 
 ing. The man saluted and said : ' Are you in the 
 service, sir ? ' * No ! ' said Mr. Tuke. ' Then 
 I must do my duty, sir,' said the sentry in a 
 quiet voice, and paced up and down as if nothing 
 were happening. Mr. Tuke watched in great 
 anxiety, expecting each moment to see the 
 poor fellow horribly injured. But in a few 
 minutes the officer came up and ordered the man 
 to move to a safer post. Mr. Tuke related these 
 little stories in so dramatic and vivid a manner 
 that one felt as if one had been present at the 
 scene." 
 
 Looking back in later life (i 6th April 1882) 
 on his early days at York, and the surroundings 
 amidst which he had grown up, he thus writes to
 
 1846 RETROSPECT 19 
 
 a lady, who had written something about the 
 primness of Quakerism : 
 
 " The ' prim ' days have passed away nearly ; 
 here and there specimens of prim Friends exist 
 whom you would love, but spite of your words. . . . 
 I now and then regret that which has to some 
 extent gone with it, ' simpler manners,' though, I 
 trust and believe, not the 'purer life.' When I look 
 back at the home life of my early days, I know well 
 that there was, to some extent, that which would be 
 called ' prim,' but there was a simplicity, a high aim 
 and devotion to duty, coupled with a high intel- 
 lectual life, which forbade all that was frivolous, or 
 showy, or merely worldly, which, shall I say, I sigh 
 for at times ? On the other hand this ' monachism ' 
 in the world, this religious order without a priest, 
 or rather holding Christ as its only priest, was 
 often merely a formal life, and externals took the 
 place of realities ; just as I, in my heretical way, feel 
 that your symbols have taken the place of the life, 
 and the mere fact of participating in the outward 
 bread- and wine is almost substituted for the inward 
 and spiritual eating and drinking of His flesh and 
 His blood. Forgive my heresy." 
 
 On 23rd August 1845, Tuke sailed from Liver- 
 pool with a friend (Joseph Crossfield), on board
 
 20 JAMES HACK TUKE 1845 
 
 the S.S. Great Western^ for a visit to America. 
 After a very rough voyage of seventeen days and 
 twelve hours they landed at New York on the 
 evening of 9th September. Tuke proved a good 
 sailor, and spent much of his time in attending to 
 several of his friends on board who suffered 
 severely for amongst the 150 passengers were 
 four good Quakers going on some message of 
 peace to the United States. One of these 
 formed, during the sea-voyage, a warm attachment 
 to Tuke, which had a considerable influence on his 
 after life. William Forster, the father of William 
 Edward Forster (who, as we have seen, was one of 
 Tuke's most intimate friends, and was afterwards 
 so well-known as Irish Secretary), was a remarkable 
 figure on board the steamer. The passengers 
 soon after leaving put on their sea-clothes, " and 
 none of them," wrote Tuke, " looked more 
 grotesque than William Forster in his large 
 light blue dressing - coat, nankeen trousers, and 
 light -coloured travelling cap." He was a man 
 who left a strong impression on those who knew 
 him. He is described as " of a large and some- 
 what heavy frame, which seemed little fitted for 
 bodily activity ; a gait and manner which bespoke 
 one who rather shunned than courted notice ;
 
 1845 VOYAGE TO AMERICA 21 
 
 a head and forehead of such capacity as to suggest 
 the idea of considerable mental power ; an eye 
 full of quiet intelligence and quick observation ; 
 a mouth indicative of gentleness and kindness, and 
 altogether a countenance in which the pleasing and 
 attractive expression of the features amply com- 
 pensated for the lack of grace and beauty in their 
 form." The good man suffered from a distressing 
 hindrance to active exertion. A strange mental 
 and physical lethargy at times enveloped him in a 
 thick cloud, dulling his intellect, paralysing his 
 will, and rendering him incapable for the moment 
 of any severe effort of mind or body. 1 Such was 
 the travelling companion on board the Great 
 Western who most attracted Tuke's interest and 
 affection. 
 
 In spite of the roughness of the sea during 
 nearly the entire voyage, it was an occasion of 
 great interest to Tuke. Of the passengers the 
 greater part were Americans, including three 
 Ministers or charges d'affaires, recalled to 
 America in consequence of the election of Mr. 
 Polk to be President. The birds, including 
 numerous flights of two species of petrel ; the 
 porpoises and grampuses and small whales ; the 
 
 1 Reid's Life of William Ed-ward Forster, vol. i. pp. 8 and 9.
 
 22 JAMES HACK TUKE 1845 
 
 phosphorescence of the sea ; the glory of the nights 
 and of the sunsets ; all these are noted by Tuke 
 as subjects of abundant interest in the diary which 
 he kept. In America he paid somewhat lengthened 
 visits to many of the principal towns ; he was 
 at New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Richmond 
 (Indiana), Cincinnati, and St. Louis ; he crossed 
 over into Canada and visited Quebec, Montreal, 
 and Toronto ; he passed many days or weeks in 
 travelling by carriage, where now all travellers 
 pass by railway. In this journey he received great 
 hospitality, especially from members of the Quaker 
 body, who were and are numerous in many parts 
 of America. He saw much of the educational 
 and charitable institutions of its great cities ; and, 
 as might be expected, he gave especial attention to 
 Asylums for the Insane, and the methods of their 
 treatment pursued in the New World ; and he 
 had many opportunities of advancing his favourite 
 pursuit of ornithology. Moreover, he paid a short 
 visit to the great ornithologist Audubon, in his 
 house on the right bank of the Hudson, in 
 almost as wild and prettily wooded a spot as could 
 be met with. He found him in the verandah of 
 his house facing the river in a Havannah swing 
 with his cigar. " A profusion of white hair,
 
 1845 AUDUBON EMIGRANTS 23 
 
 combed back from his rather retreating forehead 
 and hanging down his shoulders, gave him a rather 
 singular and picturesque appearance, which corre- 
 sponded with his rough drab shooting-coat dress. 
 He has a sharp, dogmatical way of expressing his 
 sentiments, and his gray, clear, twinkling eye has 
 a rather unprepossessing appearance. He is, 
 however, a fine old man, and very hospitable." 
 
 Two passages of the diary kept by Tuke 
 during this journey show the interest which the 
 parties of emigrants moving westward excited in 
 him, and are interesting, not only as pictures of 
 a phase which has now, I suppose, entirely passed 
 away, but because they relate to a subject with 
 which he was in after life much concerned. The 
 first occurs when travelling between Fort Wayne 
 and St. Mary's in the course of his journey from 
 Toronto to Richmond (Indiana) ; and the second 
 relates to what he saw in an expedition of some 
 twenty miles from St. Louis. 
 
 " Few sights," he writes, in the first of these 
 passages, "can be more picturesque than meeting a 
 family of emigrants moving, to-day we passed some 
 thirty or forty parties. One scene in particular, just 
 on leaving Monmouth, pleased us much. Three or 
 four waggons with their long, snow-white covers were
 
 24 JAMES HACK TUKE 1845 
 
 just emerging from the wood, coming up the hill 
 out of a steep little mountain gorge, whilst crossing 
 the bridge behind and descending the hill were the 
 flocks of kine and sheep, pigs and geese, whilst 
 two or three men with the loose horses were 
 bringing up the rear ; the men in their loose 
 dresses and slouching straw hats, and a girl or two 
 walking hand-in-hand beside the waggons com- 
 plete the picture. It was a truly pastoral and 
 beautiful scene, and reminded us of the accounts 
 of the removal of the Patriarchs in the Old 
 Testament. We should have been sorry to have 
 missed so simple and picturesque a scene, and 
 often as we passed them that day and afterwards, 
 we could not help admiring them, and, looking 
 back as they wound their way through the forests, 
 wishing them in truth God-speed. We continued 
 our way through the swamps and mire until about 
 8 o'clock we reached Mercer, a small village with a 
 clean hotel kept by a German of the name of Itukes, 
 forty-two miles from Fort Wayne ; our horses, 
 which had never baited, were no doubt as tired as 
 ourselves. In the bar-room were a number of 
 respectable emigrants leaving Pennsylvania for the 
 northern parts of Indiana or Wisconsin. They 
 complained sadly of the roads, and justly ; we were
 
 1845 EMIGRANTS ON THE MOVE 25 
 
 sorry we could give them no comfort about the 
 road we had just come over. We talked to them 
 a while whilst waiting for supper ; one man the 
 picture of a strong sunburnt farmer with dark 
 curled hair was nursing a fair child of three or 
 four years old who laid fast asleep upon his knee. 
 I noticed the child's fair face, and he told me that 
 its mother had died lately, and that he was taking 
 it home to its grandfather. The child would not 
 part with him during the day and sleep in the 
 waggon, and he had therefore carried it all day ! 
 What a picture was this man and his child he 
 made no complaint, * its mother had died and he 
 was carrying the child to its grandfather ' ; he had 
 lost his wife, and though he said nothing, no 
 doubt the man who thus loved and cherished the 
 child had fondly loved its mother. It was to me 
 a secret rebuke. I learnt of this good man and 
 his nice girl a lesson which I hope I may not 
 easily forget, a lesson of patience and contentment." 
 
 When on the journey towards Richmond 
 (Indiana) he writes : 
 
 " Numbers of emigrants were just camping out 
 for the night, and caused many beautiful and pictur- 
 esque scenes, which the pencil of the artist can alone 
 do justice to. We often pitied them, however, for
 
 26 JAMES HACK TUKE 1845 
 
 the women and children especially had a sad, worn, 
 and haggard expression, and no doubt many of them 
 would be a month or six weeks travelling, exposed 
 to the hot sun by day and the cold frosts at night ; 
 and travelling all the while through districts where 
 fever and ague abounded, it is not to be wondered 
 at if many of them looked miserable and ill. 
 When we reflect also upon the fatigue and labour, 
 the care and difficulties innumerable, which each 
 one must endure who goes into a new country, and 
 there, amidst the endless forests or boundless 
 prairie, erects for himself a home, and the almost 
 unsurmountable disadvantages which his family 
 are exposed to from the want of civilisation, one 
 is inclined to regret for a moment that these 
 persons should be so entirely sacrificed. But very 
 different are the feelings which animate the mind 
 upon reflecting that all the power and cultivation, 
 that all the large cities and villages around us, are 
 but the growth of yesterday. No doubt that 
 party around yon blazing wood -fire imagine that 
 they also are destined to raise a city and leave 
 behind a name they no doubt remember and have 
 seen that their neighbour went into the west 
 some forty years ago, and, amidst savages and 
 wild animals, built himself a rude hut, and what
 
 1845 SLAVERY 27 
 
 do they see now ? A city with streets of 
 magnificent houses where flourishes religion and 
 education, where science and the arts, commerce 
 and manufacture give employment to some eighty 
 thousand beings ? Can we then wonder at the 
 sacrifice or really for one moment regret it or 
 think that these sturdy pioneers are to be pitied, 
 or that the dreams and visions in which they will 
 indulge can be too wonderful or too bright ? " 
 
 It was inevitable that slavery should be a 
 subject of great interest to such a traveller in the 
 United States as Tuke. Writing in October 
 1845 fr m Louisville to his brother William, he 
 says : 
 
 " Louisville has the appearance of an active, 
 business-like place, with a population of something 
 like 36,000 persons, 7000 of whom are blacks, and 
 of these some 700 only are free. It is the first slave 
 town we came to, as we stopped here, whilst passing 
 down the Mississippi. At dinner, where we meet 
 from one to two hundred persons at long tables, 
 some twenty or thirty slaves wait upon us, no very 
 pleasant feeling to me, I can assure thee, and I 
 should think there are perhaps fifty men and women 
 and children, some very young, in this large and 
 comfortable hotel. With the exception of one poor
 
 28 JAMES HACK TUKE 1845 
 
 fellow, very different looking to the rest, and 
 whom a short time ago I heard the bar-keeper tell 
 he would whip him if he was not back from 
 
 in an hour, they have a particularly 
 
 merry, laughing, but childish expression, and their 
 physiognomy is far from impressing one with a 
 good opinion as regards intellectual or moral 
 feelings ; the women especially have a most de- 
 graded appearance. What a curse this slavery is. 
 Happily, it is now admitted by all the slave-holders 
 in the northern slave States that slavery is an evil: 
 this is forced upon them by a constant inferiority 
 when comparing the bordering free States with their 
 own who outstrip [them] in every way and it is 
 the general opinion that Kentucky, Virginia, and 
 Maryland, and perhaps North and South Carolina, 
 will before long adopt measures to rid themselves 
 from this curse ; but, alas, only on the ground of 
 policy ! . . . Slavery is a fearful and dreadful thing, 
 and were it but to be the more impressed with 
 this conviction it would, perhaps, be worth coming 
 here. The slave who attends upon our room is 
 nearly a Mulatto, and although he can hardly read 
 or write, he is a thinking and intelligent [man], as far 
 as the state of ignorance [allows] which their masters 
 may be said to enforce ; for they will not allow
 
 1845 BIRDS 29 
 
 them to go to school (at least but few will), and it 
 is with difficulty that many of them get per- 
 mission to attend chapel. He told us that there 
 is generally one person (out of the forty or fifty 
 slaves men, women, and boys employed in this 
 hotel) flogged in a week, and that their master is 
 very severe and inflicts three hundred lashes on their 
 bare backs : even the children get seventy and 
 more lashes, and this for the most trifling offences. 
 It has really made us quite sick to hear of so much 
 misery and horrid iniquity as there is in these 
 slave States." 
 
 But the slaves do not put the birds entirely out 
 of Tuke's thoughts, and at the same time he 
 writes thus to his brother : 
 
 " Turkey Buzzards are common enough. They 
 have the most beautiful flight of any bird I re- 
 member to have seen ; they soar for hours together. 
 A beautiful blue bird is a constant attender upon our 
 travels : when its wings are spread the deep blue is 
 really dazzling. The cat-bird is constantly screech- 
 ing ; and a bright blue jay, as large as ours, are 
 very common ; also quails and prairie hens. But 
 in passing through the boundless forest, few birds 
 attract our notice so much as the varieties of gay 
 woodpeckers, constantly aiding in the destruction
 
 30 JAMES HACK TUKE 1845 
 
 of the decaying veterans of the forest. I have 
 often seen trees of 80 or 100 feet in height, and 
 perhaps 15 feet in circumference, completely 
 perforated from top to bottom, and as regularly 
 as if riddled by shot. One of these birds in 
 particular, considerably like our spotted wood- 
 pecker, with a brilliant scarlet head, and white 
 back and tail, has a splendid appearance, and I 
 love to watch it flying and tapping and listening, 
 and then when it has no answer flying off again for 
 further researches." 
 
 The free schools of the United States im- 
 pressed Tuke most favourably ; and in 1 846 he 
 read, at the annual meeting of a society called the 
 Friends' Educational Society, a paper entitled "The 
 Common and Free Schools of the United States." 
 In this he wrote as follows : 
 
 "The English traveller landing in the Northern 
 or Eastern States will, above all things, be struck 
 with the superiority of the masses of the people, 
 as regards general information and intelligence. 
 He will find, perhaps, that the driver of the first 
 carriage which he has occasion to employ, will be 
 able to enter into those feelings of surprise, which 
 are excited in his mind, on his introduction to the 
 new forms which greet him on every hand in the
 
 1846 FREE SCHOOLS 31 
 
 New World. He will find that this driver, 
 although not much overdone with civility, or 
 ' hat honour/ is able to give him the information 
 which he requires, whether it be with regard to 
 the various products of the district, the names 
 or qualities of the trees or plants which surround 
 him, or the population, trade, and employment of 
 the towns and villages through which he may pass. 
 His intelligent questions also will fully prove that 
 he is not ignorant of the country of his fore- 
 fathers. You therefore forgive his egotism, whilst 
 he tells you the amount of his earnings and his 
 savings, how he hopes before long ' to set up for 
 himself,' and, like his employer (for he disdains 
 the term master), who, a few years ago, was a poor 
 man like himself, to possess his 30,000 dollars 
 and the best house in the town. 
 
 " At night, should the traveller have occasion 
 to speak to the bar-keeper of the hotel where he 
 may chance to stay, he may probably find him a 
 man of general intelligence ; one who has travelled 
 far, not only in his own country, but also in 
 Europe ; and should it be needful to enquire 
 respecting the coinage or circulation of different 
 States, he will be able to give, not only the re- 
 quired information, but to enter into a particular
 
 32 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 description of their banking system in general. The 
 driver of the next day may be a man who, amidst 
 his extraordinary ejaculations and epithets to his 
 team, is giving you interesting accounts of the 
 cause of the neglect and decay of these villages 
 through which you are passing, and the disuse of 
 its water-power, whilst the adjoining little settle- 
 ment displays full activity and energy. The evils 
 of a non-resident proprietor in the one case, and 
 the advantages resulting from small freeholds in 
 the other, are discussed in a manner which shows 
 that he has thought not a little on the principles 
 of social prosperity. In the check-taker on the 
 railway, who unceremoniously seats himself beside 
 you in the intervals of his duty, the traveller may 
 find a well-informed man, of general reading and 
 much local knowledge, whose information and 
 suggestions are of great value to a stranger ; he 
 may find in a rude wooden ' shanty/ on the 
 summit of the Catskill Mountains, amidst whose 
 almost undisturbed and boundless forests the bear, 
 the wild deer, and the rattlesnake are still un- 
 disturbed, an old man, placed there to superintend 
 some rustic sawmills, who, in his solitary situation, 
 beguiles his leisure by reading Hume's England, 
 or Guizot's History of the Civilisation of Europe.
 
 1846 QUAKER ORGANISATION 33 
 
 These are not mere pictures of fancy or imagina- 
 tion, but matters of fact which were observed by 
 ourselves during the first week or two of our tour, 
 and similar circumstances afterwards became so 
 frequent, that they almost ceased to strike us." 
 
 To explain the following extracts and some 
 other passages in this memoir, I must advert to 
 the Quaker organisation. It is like that of the 
 Presbyterians in that there is a succession of 
 bodies, each embracing a wider area than the last ; 
 monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings (so called 
 from their periods) amongst the Quakers taking 
 the place of presbyteries, synods, and general 
 assemblies amongst the Presbyterians. Each 
 annual gathering of the Friends is independent 
 of all the others, though often in correspondence 
 with them. In America many States have their own 
 Yearly Meeting ; and the account which Tuke 
 wrote after his return of his visit to the gathering 
 for North Carolina may interest, not only members 
 of his own community, but others who care to look 
 at the organisation of Christian bodies in different 
 forms, and under very diverse circumstances from 
 their own, and in this case amidst surroundings 
 which must, I suppose, nearly, if not quite, have 
 disappeared even in America. He wrote :
 
 34 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 "The Yearly Meeting for North Carolina is 
 held at the 'New Garden Meeting -House,' a 
 large, solitary, boarded building, situated near the 
 road which runs between Greensboro' and the 
 Moravian town of Salem ; it is capable of contain- 
 ing from fifteen hundred to two thousand persons. 
 Its lonely situation upon the verge of the forest, 
 the growth of many ages, with no other house in 
 sight, may well attract the attention of the 
 traveller, who can hardly fail to turn his horse 
 a little to one side and reconnoitre. Immediately 
 behind the meeting-house which is open on all 
 sides to inspection, having neither fence nor hedge 
 around it may be seen a space of an acre or 
 more in extent, cleared from the first growth by 
 which it is surrounded, and protected by a rough 
 Virginian or snake fence from the intrusion of the 
 numerous hogs which stalk about it, disturbing 
 the otherwise unbroken stillness of the place by 
 their constant and unwearied rooting among the 
 dry and sere leaves, which the hot sunny days and 
 cool nights of this delicious * Indian summer ' are 
 rapidly loosening from the trees. On nearer 
 approach we perceive, by the little mounds of earth 
 covered with the dark green leaves of a small 
 species of periwinkle (or ' grave vine ' as it is
 
 1846 A FOREST GATHERING 35 
 
 here called), that this secluded enclosure is the 
 quiet resting-place of the past and passing 
 generations. . . . 
 
 " In the centre of this enclosure stands a noble 
 oak, whose lofty branches wave high above its 
 compeers in the surrounding forest ; beneath its 
 sheltering boughs may be seen one grave, dis- 
 tinguished from the rest by its unusual size and 
 extent. . . . 
 
 " Here, some sixty years ago, the British troops, 
 under Lord Cornwallis, had a deadly combat 
 with the American forces blood flowed that 
 day and war in all its horrors revelled among 
 the ranks : the meeting - house adjoining was 
 appropriated by our troops as an hospital for the 
 wounded, and some blood-stains in the gallery 
 are still pointed out to the stranger as the relics 
 of those barbarous days. . . . 
 
 " Far other scene, indeed, does the gathering 
 of a North Carolina Yearly Meeting present. It 
 is perhaps the most picturesque and interesting 
 scene that it ever was our lot to behold would 
 that we could do it justice. 
 
 " In the open space immediately around the 
 building some hundreds of Friends have already 
 collected, and are quietly awaiting the opening of
 
 36 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 the doors ; the men and women have separated, 
 and each party throngs around its respective en- 
 trance. This number is constantly increasing, 
 for from all sides of the forest multitudes are 
 pouring forth ; one is ready to believe that the 
 very trees drop Friends instead of acorns ! The 
 shady, wooded paths seem alive with the innumer- 
 able figures which are trooping down them, whilst 
 as far as the eye can penetrate into the deeper 
 recesses of the forest, one form after another is 
 constantly appearing, now momentarily hid from 
 view amidst the darker stems of the noble trees. 
 There in the distance, a cavalcade on horseback 
 might be seen gliding in and out, now lost amidst 
 the thick branches, then emerging into some more 
 open part, and thrown into strong relief by the 
 bright sunshine. The pacing action of their tall, 
 bony horses, with high Spanish saddles and large 
 saddle-cloths, adds not a little to their peculiar 
 and foreign air. There a long procession of 
 vehicles slowly wending their way, with such a 
 variety of shape and construction as those only 
 who have seen them can imagine, from the humble 
 ' mad waggon ' without springs, or light high- 
 wheeled ' sulky ' drawn by one horse, to the 
 huge family waggon or old-fashioned coach of
 
 1846 A FOREST GATHERING 37 
 
 some neighbouring planter. These scattered in 
 all directions among the trees, as far as you can see, 
 the horses often not taken out of the carriages, 
 and simply fastened to the nearest branches, there 
 quietly wait, until they are again wanted, add not 
 a little to the peculiarity of the scene, for there 
 must have been at least five hundred horses thus 
 loosely picqueted. . . . 
 
 " At the farther side may be seen the women 
 Friends scattered in various clusters, or seated in 
 Jong rows upon the fallen stems of trees (not a 
 few have babies or young children with them), 
 their neat white cotton bonnets, with broad plaited 
 crowns, glitter in the sunshine, like satin of the 
 purest white, or in the distance stand prominently 
 out from the masses of dark foliage in which they 
 are enveloped. 
 
 " One aged and venerable form might have been 
 seen there, upon whom, as he walked along, 
 supported by two younger brethren, all eyes are 
 turned. His step, although slow, is still firm, 
 and his noble figure, enveloped in a drab mantle, 
 seems but little bent, although it has borne the 
 heat and burden of near ninety summers. Time 
 has, indeed, marked deep furrows upon that ex- 
 pressive and cheerful countenance, and blanched
 
 38 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 the locks which stray in considerable profusion 
 beneath his venerable drab beaver ; staff in hand, 
 he marches onwards amidst the assembled multitude, 
 like some aged pilgrim, or the prophet, on whom 
 all look with reverence, or (as in writing to a 
 friend he says of himself) ' like an old veteran 
 that has been engaged in many a struggle for his 
 king and country, marching out with a heavy 
 knapsack to try the issue of the battle,' until 
 reaching the stone steps which lead to the entrance 
 of the meeting-house, he there seated himself 
 until the doors were opened. This was not long, 
 and soon the house was filled to overflowing, for 
 being a meeting for worship, many others than 
 Friends had flocked from miles around to the 
 ' New Garden Meeting.' The Governor of the 
 State and many of the neighbouring planters were 
 said to be there. 
 
 " Many ministers had spoken, and the meeting 
 had sat full two hours, when Nathan Hunt arose ; 
 his voice, at first feeble, gradually gathered strength 
 and emphasis as he proceeded, and he was made 
 able to speak for an hour and a half in a deeply 
 striking and impressive manner. It was as the 
 parting charge of one who felt that his work is 
 nearly done, as the last solemn warning of the
 
 1846 A FOREST GATHERING 39 
 
 Patriarch to his flock but to describe this extra- 
 ordinary and memorable meeting is impossible." 
 
 It is, I think, beyond doubt that this visit to 
 America exerted a most beneficial effect upon 
 Tuke's mind and life. It enlarged his knowledge 
 not only of his favourite birds, but of the geography 
 of the world, of the forests and rivers of America. 
 Above all, he had seen men and cities.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 1845-1852 
 
 Failure of potato crop in Ireland Famine Relief Funds 
 Visit to Ireland with Mr. William Forster Famine in 
 1847 Second visit to Ireland Pamphlet, "A Visit 
 to Connaught " Erris Controversy as to facts in the 
 Pamphlet Second visit to Erris and postscript to 
 Pamphlet Mr. and Mrs. Ellis First Marriage 111 of 
 the Irish fever Partnership and removal to Hitchin 
 His home there. 
 
 IN the late autumn of 1845, ^ was f un d that the 
 potatoes were rotting throughout a considerable 
 part of Ireland. But the early crop had been 
 saved and the grain crop had been abundant, and 
 though considerable distress existed in some parts, 
 yet no great alarm arose. It was hoped that, as 
 had often been the case before, scarcity would be 
 followed by plenty. 
 
 In the summer of 1846 the potato crop looked 
 remarkably well, and there was every prospect of 
 an abundant harvest ; but the plague returned, 
 and nearly the whole crop was destroyed in a
 
 1845-1846 IRISH FAMINE 41 
 
 single week. " On the 2yth of last month," 
 wrote the well-known Father Matthew in August 
 1846, "I passed from Cork to Dublin, and this 
 doomed plant bloomed in all the luxuriance of an 
 abundant harvest. Returning on the jrd inst., I 
 beheld with sorrow one wide waste of putrefying 
 vegetation." l The wheat was barely an average 
 crop, and the barley and oats were deficient. The 
 money value of the loss of potatoes and oats was 
 estimated by the Government at sixteen millions 
 of pounds sterling. But no figures can express at 
 all the real extent and nature of the calamity which 
 had fallen on the unhappy country. The social 
 and economic condition of Ireland when this blow 
 fell upon her was, as every one knows, bad enough : 
 if the famine had fallen upon a country rich and full 
 of resource, it would have been enough to bring it to 
 the ground : but falling as it did on a poor land like 
 Ireland, its results were terrible beyond description. 
 The expectation of actual famine to millions 
 of the people was not quickly formed in the 
 mind ; but as the reports came in from district 
 after district, the real magnitude of the calamity 
 forced itself on the minds of men, not in Ireland 
 or England only, but in America, in India, and 
 
 1 The Great Famine, by O'Brien, p. 67.
 
 42 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 almost throughout the world. Various organisa- 
 tions sprang into existence for the collection of 
 funds, and the distribution of food and clothing 
 amongst the starving poor. A relief committee 
 was formed in London amongst members of the 
 Society of Friends, which raised a sum of upwards 
 of 42,000 ; and a similar committee in Dublin, 
 which distributed nearly 200,000 in addition to 
 what they received from their English brethren. 
 It is not easy to overstate the difficulties attendant 
 upon this effort to relieve a starving nation ; it 
 was hard to say in what way the money could best 
 be spent ; it was difficult to discriminate between 
 those who really required aid and those who did 
 not ; it was impossible to send great quantities 
 of provisions into small ports or towns without 
 diverting the existing currents of trade ; it was 
 not easy to find trustworthy and competent 
 persons willing to undertake, in each locality, the 
 actual work of distribution ; and, as time went on, 
 this last difficulty increased ; for often those who 
 had distributed relief came to require it. Fever 
 and dysentery followed in the wake of famine, and 
 the fever was especially fatal to the upper classes ; 
 and relief work could not be carried on without 
 peculiar risk of contagion. Some sank beneath
 
 1846 EFFORTS AT RELIEF 43 
 
 their unceasing efforts to relieve the misery around 
 them ; and thus the difficulty of obtaining ad- 
 ministrators of the funds grew as the famine lasted. 
 
 In the result, the fund raised by the Irish Quakers 
 was distributed and applied in a great variety of 
 ways in direct gifts of money ; in the supply of 
 food, and, when the dysentery broke out, largely in 
 the distribution of rice already boiled ; in the aid 
 of works involving spade labour ; in the establish- 
 ment of a model farm ; in aiding the fisheries ; 
 and in grants to local industrial associations. 
 
 William Edward Forster, then a young and un- 
 known man, had spent his autumn vacation in 1 846 
 in a visit to Galway and some of the most destitute 
 districts of Ireland, and had written home accounts 
 of what he saw to his father, William Forster, 
 whom I have mentioned as Tuke's fellow-voyager 
 across the Atlantic, 1 and thereupon the good old man 
 thought it his duty to go to Ireland and to visit the 
 most distressed districts, with a view of obtaining 
 accurate information as to the nature of the misery, 
 and of devising the best means for its relief. 
 
 With what keen sympathy the course of the 
 Irish famine and the efforts to relieve it were 
 followed in Tuke's home may be gathered from the 
 
 1 Reid's Life of William Edward Fonter, vol. i. p. 171
 
 44 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 fact (which I learn from the recollections of one 
 who used then to visit the house as a schoolboy) 
 that the luxuries of the table were studiously 
 lessened during the famine of course to leave 
 more money available for help to the starving 
 Irish. It was no wonder then that Tuke 
 hastened to help ; and early in December he joined 
 William Forster at Carrick - on - Shannon. Ac- 
 companied by Marcus Goodbody, an Irish Quaker, 
 they travelled through Donegal in the midst of 
 wild winter weather, and through deep snow which 
 in many places made their journey very difficult. 
 The object of these travellers was not merely to 
 ascertain the state of things, but to find suitable 
 channels for the distribution of the relief which 
 was, as I have mentioned, being prepared by the 
 Society of Friends both in England and Ireland. 
 They found many heroic men and women in the 
 different districts which they visited doing their 
 utmost in the midst of the famine ; with these they 
 conferred as they went along. Moreover, they 
 endeavoured to get the resident gentry and the 
 ministers of the various denominations to form 
 district associations for the purpose of establishing 
 soup-kitchens, corresponding with the relief com- 
 mittee in Dublin, and superintending the actual
 
 1846 VISIT TO DONEGAL 45 
 
 distribution of food and clothing amongst the 
 starving population. They enquired into the 
 carrying on of the relief works established by the 
 Government, and unfortunately found not only 
 that the public works were totally inadequate to 
 provide for the wants of the people, but that in 
 many cases the wages of the men employed on 
 the new roads were only paid with great irregularity. 
 In addition to carrying money they brought with 
 them supplies of clothing, and in some cases they 
 had sacks of bread for distribution to the wretched 
 people as they drove along. In this way Tuke, 
 as the companion of William Forster, visited Carrick- 
 on- Shannon, Ballinamore, Enniskillen, Pettigoe, 
 Stranorlar, Letterkenny, Dunfanaghy, Gweedore, 
 Killybegs, Donegal, Ballyshannon, and Sligo, and 
 Ballina in Mayo. 
 
 The misery of the districts through which they 
 passed was not uniform, but almost everywhere it 
 was great ; and the benefits which were conferred 
 on a district by the residence of a good landlord, 
 showed themselves here and there amidst the 
 prevailing gloom. One or two extracts from a 
 report drawn up by Tuke on his return to England, 
 may suffice to show the kind of sights which met 
 him :
 
 46 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 " Just before leaving ... I visited a number of 
 the poorest hovels. Their appearance, and the con- 
 dition of the inmates, presented scenes of poverty 
 and wretchedness almost beyond belief. One dirty 
 cabin, not more than twelve feet square, contained 
 seventeen persons. Two or three of them were 
 full-grown men, gaunt and hunger-stricken, willing 
 and wishful to obtain work, but unable. The 
 women, crouching over a few embers of turf, 
 hardly sufficient to emit any warmth, looked 
 misery itself. Two or three half-naked children 
 were lying in one corner of the room, on a little 
 dirty straw, partly covered by an old rug. In a 
 little space, partly separated from the room, were a 
 number of cabin-like shelves, composed of rough 
 sticks, upon which a little straw was spread. 
 These were the beds of many of the family, and 
 on these several other children were at the time 
 stowed away in darkness and filth. One of the 
 poor women told me that she was obliged to keep 
 them there, as they had had nothing for them to 
 eat until they received the meal which W. F. 
 had desired to be distributed. In this house 
 there was neither chair nor table, unless a little 
 shelf, fastened to the wall, might receive the 
 latter appellation. They had lived on one meal
 
 1846 SIGHTS OF MISERY 47 
 
 of oatmeal gruel per day for some time past. 
 Another hovel which I visited was barely four 
 feet high to the top of the wall. I could not 
 stand upright in any part ; it was hardly nine 
 feet square, yet in this wretched place, neither 
 wind- nor water-tight, the floor of which was 
 damp and filthy, we found a family, consisting 
 of a widow and several children, who appeared to 
 be on the verge of starvation. In another, hardly 
 equal in size to this, was also a widow and a large 
 family. They literally had no means of support. 
 Like the rest, it was a real Irish dwelling ; there 
 were neither windows nor chimney, and the smoke 
 found its way out, as best it might, by the open 
 doorway, or through the chinks between the 
 loose stones of which the house was built, and 
 through which the keen winter's blast was blowing 
 fearfully. In addition to the poor family who 
 owned the house, I saw in one corner, crouched 
 upon her knees over the little turf-fire, a very 
 old woman, constantly rocking to and fro, and 
 muttering to herself. Her matted gray hair hung 
 raggedly over her dirty, shrivelled face, adding to 
 her wild and wretched appearance. She was hardly 
 clothed at all, so miserable were the tatters with 
 which she was partially covered. Immediately
 
 48 JAMES HACK TUKE 1846 
 
 behind her, on the damp mud floor, a small 
 pallet of straw was spread : this was her resting- 
 place at night, and here she sat all day. It 
 appeared that this sad object was no relative of 
 the poor widow of the house, but, with noble 
 kindness, she allowed her to remain here, and 
 shared with her the last morsel. Surely it might 
 be said of her, as of the widow of old, ' She gave 
 more than they all.' 
 
 " We then proceeded to Killybegs, arriving late 
 in the evening. One of the poor men whom we 
 spoke to on the road, exhibited in an affecting 
 light the gradual, but rapid declension of the 
 farmer to a state of pauperism and want. He 
 told us that he was not able to procure work 
 on the roads, in consequence of still having a 
 cow and a little corn left ; he had a wife and 
 large family ; he thought the corn would last 
 them a week or ten days, and that then the cow 
 must go, that for it they might get as much as 
 would purchase two hundredweight of meal, which 
 would last them about a fortnight, and then all 
 their little resources would be gone. This is, 
 alas, no solitary instance, but there are thousands 
 daily brought to this dreadful extremity ! This 
 poor fellow, small as were his means, said, without
 
 1846 HARDSHIPS OF THE JOURNEY 49 
 
 the slightest intention of display, that out of them 
 he had been contributing to the relief of those 
 poorer than himself." 
 
 Looking back after many years upon this visit, 
 Tuke wrote : ] 
 
 " Of this visit of mercy undertaken by William 
 Forster, which extended from the late autumn of 
 the year 1846 to April of 1847, no adequate 
 account has ever been recorded. To the younger 
 men who, from time to time, went out for a few 
 weeks to assist in the work, it was no light task ; 
 but for a man of William Forster's temperament, 
 advanced in years, and whose intense sympathy 
 caused him to realise suffering with an acuteness 
 into which few could enter, the daily strain of 
 living and working in the midst of scenes of death 
 and starvation was at times almost overwhelming. 
 
 " Miserable accommodation, bad food, the ex- 
 posure suffered in the course of long journeys on 
 outside cars in snow and rain, were all borne without 
 a murmur, spite of delicacy of health at times really 
 serious in its nature. 
 
 " Thus I recall whilst travelling in Donegal, when 
 the horses could no longer drag our car through 
 the snow, and we had to walk along the mountain- 
 
 1 Friends Quarterly Examiner, fourth month, 1889, pp. 162-163. 
 E
 
 50 JAMES HACK TUKE 1847 
 
 road, assisting William Forster as best we could, 
 that owing to the force of the storm his difficulty 
 of breathing made it needful to lay him down at 
 times on his back in the snow to recover strength; 
 and yet with undaunted courage he pressed on, 
 his sense of the depth of the suffering around him 
 dulling his own need for rest and care. I have 
 often thought in looking back how strange and 
 remarkable it was that, among the many ex- 
 perienced men of his time in England, one man 
 alone, and he advanced in years and in poor 
 health, should have so strongly felt the burden 
 of this misery as to be impelled to devote many 
 months of that terrible season to the task of 
 organising local relief committees for the relief 
 of the starving multitudes in the west of Ireland." 
 
 The year 1847 opened with even a darker 
 prospect than 1846 ; it was becoming apparent 
 that the system of aid by payment of wages on 
 relief works had broken down ; and after much 
 discussion and the consideration of various 
 suggestions, Government had recourse to com- 
 missariat operations in lieu of relief works. 
 
 The crop of 1847 was miserable, and the 
 autumn set in with promise of a more wretched 
 winter ; and Tuke felt impelled again to do
 
 1 847 SECOND RELIEF VISIT 51 
 
 what he could for the famine-stricken people of 
 Ireland. Accordingly in September 1847 ne kft 
 home and made a journey through Connaught 
 and other districts of the west. At Galway he 
 was much interested by the fishermen of the 
 Claddagh, and in some of the Roman Catholic 
 institutions of the neighbourhood. 
 
 Here is a passage from his journal whilst in 
 Connemara during this visit : 
 
 " We went a little out of our way to visit 
 Lough Inagh the most solitary and unfrequented 
 of the 300 lakes of Connemara. Lough Derry- 
 Clare, which runs into it, is more beautiful, and 
 reminded me of Lake George, as the edges are 
 beautifully wooded, and it contains several most 
 lovely little islands ; the whole is surrounded by the 
 lofty mountains well known as the * Twelve Pins of 
 Connemara' ; they are nearly 3000 feet in height. 
 
 " We walked some distance across the bog to 
 obtain a view of Lough Inagh, and on returning 
 found a group of children and girls around our 
 car, who had been attracted by the novelty of the 
 scene, from a little village almost hidden in a 
 ravine in the mountains. 
 
 "One of the girls, dressed in a ragged frock and 
 bare-footed, was a daughter of ' Jack Joyce's *
 
 52 JAMES HACK TUKE 1847 
 
 brother, and her father owned the land around 
 us, over mountain and bog for miles. Although 
 not beautiful, there was a classic grace and elegance 
 as well as ease of manner about this bare-footed 
 Connemara lass, which I think I never saw sur- 
 passed in the best society. Had she been well 
 dressed she would have graced the drawing-room 
 of the first lady in the kingdom. Who can 
 wonder when Nature has done so much for the 
 Joyces, that they should feel themselves the lords, 
 as they formerly were the owners, of Connemara ? 
 
 "But the beauties of Connemara are sadly marred, 
 and as we approached Clifden we saw enough of 
 misery and wretchedness to dispel all other visions. 
 ' There's the usual sign of Ireland's poverty,' 
 said our driver, as the poor-house rose before 
 us, and we soon stopped at an hotel in the dirty 
 town of Clifden." 
 
 In November of the same year (1847) Tuke 
 addressed to the Central Relief Committee of the 
 Society of Friends in Dublin, a letter entitled " A 
 Visit to Connaught in the Autumn of 1847 " ; in 
 this paper he did not confine himself to a narrative 
 of what he had seen, but entered upon a discussion 
 of the methods of relief, or rather of cure. He 
 dwelt on the great quantities of land, especially
 
 1 847 PAMPHLET ON CONNAUGHT 53 
 
 in Mayo, capable of being reclaimed ; he dwelt on 
 the cry of the starving Irish for work ; he 
 discussed the probable working of the new Poor 
 Law (in June the Royal assent had been given to a 
 new Poor Law Act for Ireland) ; he advocated 
 the encouragement of fisheries and of textile 
 works in the west of Ireland, and the necessity 
 of improved communication between east and 
 west, and he urged that aid should be given to 
 arterial drainage. 
 
 To one who follows Tuke's mind and labours 
 in regard to Ireland, it is interesting to compare 
 this first sketch of remedial measures with his later 
 views. For the most part the plan indicated in 
 this first essay has been carried on by the Congested 
 Districts Board ; but in the matter of the utilisa- 
 tion of waste-lands his further experience led to a 
 change in his views. 
 
 To explain the nature of the work which 
 was carried on by Tuke during this visit of 1 847 
 I must give a few extracts from his pamphlet : 
 
 " I must be allowed to dwell at some length 
 upon the peculiar misery of this barony of Erris, 
 and parish of Bellmullet, which I spent some days in 
 examining. Afflicting as is the general condition of 
 Mayo fearful as are the prospects of the province
 
 54- JAMES HACK TUKE 1847 
 
 in general, there is here yet a lower depth in misery, 
 a district almost as distinct from Mayo as Mayo 
 is from the eastern parts of Ireland. Human 
 wretchedness seems concentrated in Erris, the 
 culminating point of man's physical degradation 
 seems to have been reached in the ' Mullet.' It 
 may seem needless to trouble you with particular 
 descriptions of the distress I have witnessed, for 
 these descriptions are but repetitions of the far too 
 familiar scenes of the last winter and spring, 
 although the present seem aggravated by an 
 earlier commencement ; nevertheless, such a con- 
 dition as that of Erris ought, however painful, to 
 be forced on our attention until remedies are 
 found and applied. 
 
 "This barony is situated upon the extreme 
 north-west coast of Mayo, bounded on two sides by 
 the Atlantic Ocean. The population last year was 
 computed at about 28,000 ; of that number, it is 
 said that at least 2000 have emigrated, principally 
 to England, being too poor to proceed to America ; 
 and that 6000 have perished by starvation, 
 dysentery, and fever. There is left a miserable 
 remnant of little more than 20,000 ; of whom 
 10,000, at least, are, strictly speaking, on the very 
 verge of starvation. Ten thousand people within
 
 1847 BARONY OF ERRIS 55 
 
 forty-eight hours' journey of the metropolis of the 
 world, living, or rather starving, upon turnip-tops, 
 sand-eels, and sea-weed ; a diet which no one in 
 England would consider fit for the meanest animal 
 which he keeps. And let it not be supposed that 
 of this famine diet they have enough, or that each 
 of these poor wretches has a little plot of turnips 
 on which he may feed at his pleasure. His scanty 
 meal is, in many cases, taken from a neighbour 
 hardly richer than himself, not indeed at night, 
 but, with the daring of absolute necessity, at 
 noon-day. 
 
 " On entering the houseless and uncultivated 
 region of Erris, the traveller is reminded of the 
 wilds of Canada : for some miles hardly an acre 
 of cultivated land or the appearance of human 
 residence greets the eye. Yet this district is 
 reported by the Waste-Land Commissioners as 
 peculiarly capable of improvement. After some 
 miles ride I found a resting-place for my horse, 
 and leaving him to bait, explored, in the mountains, 
 a village upon the property of Sir R. Palmer, a 
 non-resident proprietor, who is said to have an 
 income of many thousands from this country, but 
 is doing nothing to improve his estate, or to give 
 employment to this starving portion of his
 
 56 JAMES HACK TUKE 1847 
 
 tenantry. Most of the inhabitants of this village 
 were owing a year and a half's rent for their 
 'sums' of land (uncertain quantities), for which 
 they generally paid from 3 to _8 per year. 
 The condition of the people was deplorable ; and 
 the last year had not left them the means of 
 meeting this demand. The landlord's ' driver ' 
 was pursuing his calling, seizing almost every 
 little patch of oats or potatoes, and appointing 
 keepers whose charges, amounting to 455. for the 
 fifteen days allowed between seizure and sale, 
 are added to the rent, and unless the tenant can 
 raise a sum sufficient to satisfy the landlord and 
 his bailiff, his whole crop is liable to be ' canted ' 
 and himself and family to be evicted. 
 
 " One poor widow with a large family, whose 
 husband had recently died of fever, had a miserable 
 patch of potatoes seized, and was thus deprived of 
 her only resource for the ensuing winter. What 
 could she do ? The poor-house was thirty miles 
 distant, and it was full. Though many of these 
 ruined creatures were bewailing their cruel fate, I 
 heard nothing like reproach or reflection upon the 
 author of their misery, and the bailiff told me that 
 he had no fear of molestation in pursuing his 
 calling.
 
 1847 ABJECT MISERY 57 
 
 " In this village fever was terribly prevalent, 
 and the food such as before described, but wanting 
 the sand-eels and sea-weed. Advancing further 
 in Erris, the desolation and wretchedness were 
 still more striking. One may indeed, at times, 
 imagine oneself in a wilderness abandoned to 
 perpetual barrenness and solitude. But here and 
 there, scattered over this desolate landscape, little 
 green patches appear unexpectedly where no other 
 sign of man presents itself to you ; as you walk 
 over the bog, and approach nearer to the spot, a 
 curl of smoke arises from what you suppose to be 
 a slight rise on the surface. 
 
 " To use the graphic language of a late European 
 visitor : l ' Let the traveller look where he is going, 
 however, or he may make a false step, the earth 
 may give way under his feet, or he may fall into 
 what ? into an abyss, a cavern, a bog ? No, 
 into a hut, a human dwelling-place, whose exist- 
 ence he has overlooked, because the roof on one 
 side was level with the ground, and nearly of the 
 same consistency ; if he draws back his foot in 
 time, and looks around, he will find the place 
 filled with a multitude of similar huts, all swarm- 
 ing with life.' Of what is this human dwelling- 
 
 1 Kohl [Ireland, London, 1843, p. 6].
 
 58 JAMES HACK TUKE 1847 
 
 place composed ? The wall of the bog often 
 forms two or three sides of it, whilst sods taken 
 from the adjoining surface form the remainder, 
 and cover the roof. Window there is none, 
 chimneys are not known ; an aperture in front, 
 some three or four feet in height, serves the office 
 of door, window, and chimney ' light, smoke, 
 pigs, and children, all pass in and out of this 
 aperture.' The moment a stranger is observed 
 the inhabitant retreats within the dwelling ; and if 
 you would converse with its occupant, or explore 
 its interior economy, it is needful to follow him. 
 Do not be afraid, however, for although the only 
 decently dressed man who may have visited him 
 before is the landlord's driver, the inhabitants of 
 these bog-holes are a quiet, harmless race. Stoop 
 low enough, or you may carry away the door-post ; 
 it is perhaps safest to enter on all-fours, as I have 
 had to do, the darkness and stifling turf-smoke 
 for awhile prevent the use of the eyes, and, unable 
 to distinguish whence comes the welcome which 
 accosts you, of ' God-speed your honour,' you 
 instinctively grope forward ; beware, however, of 
 too suddenly regaining an erect posture, or your 
 hat may appear through the roof; for in no part 
 does the height exceed five or six feet. Accus-
 
 1847 INTERIOR OF A CABIN 59 
 
 tomed by this time to the darkness, which the 
 inmates in vain endeavour to dispel by lighting 
 small reeds or the pith of rushes, you are able to 
 discern the size of this human burrow ; and in 
 a space from seven to ten feet square (I have 
 measured them even less) you may find a family 
 of six or eight persons, men, women, and children, 
 in this filthy stinking hole, kneeling or squatting 
 round the peat-fire, or lying on the damp ground. 
 As for furniture, there is none ; one or two broken 
 stools and the ' boiling -pot,' and in some, a 
 slightly raised space, upon which is spread a little 
 damp dirty straw, oftener upon the cold ground, 
 and a ragged coverlid, constitute, in many cases, 
 the whole. Surely, then, the inmates must be 
 clothed in skins to protect them from the cold 
 and damp ? Alas ! no ; rags and tatters are their 
 only garments, and nakedness even is the portion 
 of some, who are obliged to remain in-doors or 
 borrow from their neighbours. I asked a poor 
 inhabitant of one of these hovels near Bellmullet, 
 whose dropsy-swollen body showed the effects of 
 ' the hunger,' what he and his family, six or 
 seven in number, had to subsist on ? In reply to 
 my question, he pointed to some withered turnip- 
 tops lying in the mud at the door of the cabin.
 
 60 JAMES HACK TUKE 1847 
 
 ' Upon these.' * And what else ? ' I asked. 
 * Tender's one of the family seeking for sea-weed 
 on the beach,' said he, stretching out his skinny 
 arm in that direction, where his daughter was 
 busily engaged. 'And are there many so badly 
 off ? ' ' Yes, worse, aback in the mountains ; 
 they are dying there every day.' How could 
 worse be, when he seemed to be enduring a daily 
 death ? But indeed I knew that there were many 
 worse off ' aback in the mountains,' and that deaths 
 from starvation had actually occurred (pp. 18-22). 
 
 "At Bellmullet, the capital of the district of 
 Erris, a crowd of almost naked perishing creatures 
 were congregating in the streets, in a state of 
 ' perfect destitution,' as the landlord of the inn 
 assured me ; they had no homes, no shelter, no 
 land, no food ; they slept at night in the streets, 
 and begged for support during the day, of neigh- 
 bours hardly richer than themselves. He told me 
 also that ' six persons had died in the streets in 
 the few previous nights ' ; and I am sure that 
 several whom I saw there are now beyond the 
 reach of earthly calamity. The ghastly smile 
 which momentarily played on the countenances of 
 these living skeletons, at the prospect of a little
 
 1 847 WRITING OF THE PAMPHLET 61 
 
 temporary relief, I cannot easily forget. It 
 rendered still more painful the expression of 
 intense anxiety and bitter misery which was 
 exhibited in their livid and death-set features" 
 
 (P- 2 3)- 
 
 An incident with reference to this pamphlet, 
 told in Mrs. Tuke's notes, is worth recording : 
 
 "In writing his pamphlet, A Visit to Con- 
 naught in 1847, he had the great advantage of his 
 father's criticism and wide knowledge. Owing to 
 pressure of business, they could only work at 
 night, and used frequently to sit writing in the 
 library till the early morning hours warned them 
 to leave off. Once they agreed that it was really 
 very wrong to work so late, and fixed one o'clock 
 as the proper time to stop. For one night the 
 new rule obtained, and then they found it impos- 
 sible, and, like many another new rule, it was never 
 again regarded. 
 
 "The 1847 pamphlet was almost completed, 
 when one evening Samuel Tuke suggested to James 
 that some fresh arrangement in the construction 
 would materially assist the whole work. It meant 
 practically re -writing the seventy pages. But 
 feeling convinced that his father's conclusion was 
 right, the son set to work and re-wrote the whole."
 
 6z JAMES HACK TUKE 1848 
 
 This pamphlet contained certain statements 
 made on the authority of informants with relation 
 to the estate of a Mr. Walshe. These statements 
 were assailed as inaccurate by Walshe himself, and 
 also in the House of Commons by Mr. George 
 Poulett Scrope. Thereupon Tuke (February 1 848) 
 came to London to consult some friends who 
 sympathised in his work, and was by them intro- 
 duced to some of the leading men of the day, 
 Sir George Grey, Mr. Brotherton, and Mr. Cobden 
 amongst others. This was probably the first 
 occasion on which his acquaintance with Ireland 
 brought him into relation with Englishmen of 
 affairs. Acting on advice received in London, 
 Tuke made up his mind forthwith to return to the 
 far west and personally to enquire further into the 
 matter ; and with characteristic thoroughness and 
 disregard of his personal comfort, he at once left 
 England in the dreary winter and travelled again to 
 Erris. What made this conduct the more note- 
 worthy was that a young lady to whom Tuke was 
 then engaged to be married, was at the time staying 
 with his father and sisters, and his visit to Ireland of 
 course robbed him of the pleasure of her society. 
 
 The result showed that Mr. Walshe had better 
 have left Tuke's original statements alone. The
 
 1848 SECOND VISIT TO ERRIS 63 
 
 evidence which he collected showed so fully the 
 substantial accuracy of what he had said that Mr. 
 Scrope was convinced, and so stated to the House 
 of Commons. To the second edition of his Visit 
 to Connaught Tuke added a postscript on evictions 
 in Erris, giving the results of his enquiries on the 
 spot. After correcting an error in date of an im- 
 material kind, Tuke thus describes what he saw on 
 Walshe's property, which he visited in company 
 with Mr. R. T. Hamilton, the Poor Law Inspector, 
 whose intimate knowledge of the people was of great 
 service in this and other enquiries in the district : 
 
 " AtTiraun, the property of J. Walshe, I counted 
 eight or ten roofless houses very recently thrown 
 down, out of about twenty which had composed 
 the village, and thirteen heads of families in the 
 village are receiving relief under the provisions of 
 the Poor Law. 
 
 " FromTiraun we proceeded to Mullaroghe, also 
 the property of J. Walshe, which presented a scene 
 of devastation almost beyond belief. It was literally 
 a heap of ruins. I tried to count the roofless 
 houses, and after proceeding as far as seventy, gave 
 it up in despair, for not only had the roofs been 
 thrown down, but in many cases the gable-ends 
 and the walls of the houses demolished, so that
 
 64 JAMES HACK TUKE 1848 
 
 nothing remained but a heap of stones. In front 
 of the houses still remained the manure-heaps, and 
 all around were scattered the broken remains of 
 looms, bed-frames, stools, straw-mats, crockery, 
 and rafters. The inspecting officer informed me 
 that when he visited the village about three weeks 
 previously, he saw in many houses the looms and 
 various articles of furniture still remaining ; and 
 found in one wretched cabin, which was now roof- 
 less and uninhabited, ten people lying ill in various 
 stages of fever and starvation. After searching 
 about in the ruins for a considerable time, we found 
 three houses where, as it appears by the Townlands 
 Assessment Book in 1845, IO2 families were rated. 
 Seventy-two heads of families from this townland 
 are now receiving relief under the Poor Law. 
 
 "A few miserable objects were still lingering 
 about this desolated village imploring relief. They 
 told us that about a week before Christmas, and 
 subsequently, to a very recent period, * the younger 
 Mr. Walshe, with two drivers, had come and pulled 
 down the roofs of their houses about their heads, 
 and forced them to leave the place.' Let me give 
 this statement in the touching words of a poor 
 woman, one among the many hundred people who 
 were thus turned out upon the world without
 
 1848 AN EVICTION IN ERRIS 65 
 
 shelter or means of support. Her evidence was 
 taken down in the presence of three most respect- 
 able witnesses, one of them a clergyman of the 
 Church of England. Lest this unfortunate victim 
 to the eviction system should be further injured, I 
 will not give her name. ' She was living in Mul- 
 laroghe with her husband, when the young Mr. 
 Walshe and two drivers came about ten days before 
 Christmas. The first day they made a " cold fire" ; 
 the second day the people were all turned out of 
 doors, and the roofs of their houses pulled down. 
 That night they made a bit of a tent, or shelter of 
 wood and straw ; that, however, the drivers threw 
 down, and drove them from the place. She could 
 compare it to nothing else than driving cattle to 
 the pound. It would have " pitied the sun " to look 
 at them as they had to go head foremost under hail 
 and storm. It was a night of high wind and storm, 
 and their wailing " chordee" could be heard at a great 
 distance. They implored the drivers to allow them 
 to remain a short time, as it was so near the time 
 of festival (Christmas), but they would not, and 
 were all scattered up and down the country, like 
 sheep upon the mountains. She had lived there all 
 her life, also her father, and the father of her mother. 
 Her mother had died about three days after
 
 66 JAMES HACK TUKE 1848 
 
 Christmas, from cold and hunger, in a place called 
 Barrack, and she would not have done so had she 
 been at home. They pulled an old chest to pieces, 
 and made a sort of coffin in which they buried her.' 
 
 "The main facts of this evidence were fully con- 
 firmed by the testimony of at least twenty distinct 
 witnesses whom we examined. One poor man told 
 us that his house was pulled down whilst he was 
 absent for the relief meal, and that when he returned 
 he found himself a homeless wanderer. 
 
 " The day previously to our visit, a poor man on 
 the sea-shore, close to this village, picking up sea- 
 weed or shell-fish to appease his hunger, was seen 
 to stagger and fall. Another poor man who resided 
 near the place went to him and carried him into his 
 hut, but it was too late. A friend of mine, who 
 made a circuit of this part of the Mullet the same 
 day as myself, found him lying dead on the sand- 
 bank, his form worn and emaciated to the last 
 degree. Upon enquiry the following day, it turned 
 out that this poor man was one of the ejected 
 tenants of Mullaroghe, and the husband of the 
 woman whose evidence I have given above. 
 
 "A little distance from Mullaroghe is the village 
 of Clogher, also belonging to J. Walshe. Here, 
 again, the same melancholy scenes of devastation
 
 1848 A RUINED VILLAGE 67 
 
 and destruction met our view, rendered, if possible, 
 more distressing from the very recent date of the 
 work of demolition, as many of the houses had 
 only just been unroofed, and scattered around them, 
 or within their naked walls, were seen various 
 implements or articles of domestic use : looms, 
 fishing-nets, bedding and straw-beds, bed-frames, 
 large dressers and strong wooden chests, iron boil- 
 ing-pots, crockery, etc., all wasting and left to ruin 
 in the rain. Several of the families who had been 
 evicted were still lingering around their hearths, 
 unwilling to leave the homes of themselves and their 
 forefathers. They were objects of the greatest 
 misery, and almost naked. One family, consisting 
 of a woman and four young children, presented a 
 perfectly appalling picture, so worn and emaciated 
 I could not bear to look at them " (pp. 62-64). 
 
 What Tuke saw at Aughleen, a feeding-station 
 between Mullaroghe and Clogher, where the Poor 
 Law officers were endeavouring to relieve the people, 
 he thus describes : 
 
 " Here were collected three or four hundred (I 
 counted as many as 300) emaciated people in various 
 stages of fever, starvation, and nakedness ; the 
 majority of whom were the evicted tenantry of 
 Mullaroghe and Clogher. Many, too weak to
 
 68 JAMES HACK TUKE 1848 
 
 stand, were lying on the cold ground ; others squat- 
 ting on the bare turf to hide their naked limbs. 
 Some of the children and old people were in a dying 
 state, and, wretched as they appeared, I was informed 
 by the vice-guardian, who had visited every family 
 in the district within a few days, that the worst had 
 not made their appearance, as many were too ill to 
 crawl out of their hiding-places or cabins. 
 
 " Priest Moyles pointed out several parties whom 
 he knew to sleep out at night. One was an old 
 man near seventy, who was too weak to stand for 
 any length of time. Another, a family consisting 
 of a man and his wife and three children. Numbers 
 of the people assured us that they often had to 
 sleep out in the ditches, as it was impossible for 
 the other houses to take them in, and if any one 
 was sick, they would not let them in when they 
 had room. They told us that when they could 
 obtain shelter, four or five families were crowded 
 into one cabin, thus no doubt spreading fever and 
 disease in all directions. The most destitute and 
 death-stricken objects we examined in this crowd 
 acknowledged that they received the proper allow- 
 ance of meal, but that the cold and exposure to 
 the inclemency of the weather was killing them. 
 Mr. Hamilton, the Government Inspecting Officer
 
 1848 MISERY OF THE EVICTED 69 
 
 (let me call special attention to this point), who 
 heard these statements, confirmed their truth, and 
 stated further, that all his efforts to keep the popu- 
 lation from starvation and death had been baffled 
 by the system of eviction which has been and is 
 pursuing, as there was no shelter for them any- 
 where, and the temporary workhouse, in course of 
 completion at Binghamstown, could, even if ready, 
 accommodate but a very small portion of the 
 evicted people " (pp. 65-66). 
 
 It is difficult even now, long years after the 
 events, and after manifold enlargements of the 
 rights of tenants introduced into Ireland by legis- 
 lation, it is difficult, I say, to read this story of 
 evictions without feelings of intense indignation 
 and shame. Ireland was visited with a calamity 
 of unparalleled magnitude : England and America, 
 and the better sons of Ireland herself, were joined 
 together in self-sacrificing efforts to lessen the 
 starvation and misery of her poor people: and 
 here were landlords who availed themselves of the 
 arrearage of their rents caused by the famine, to 
 turn out of house and home their wretched tenants, 
 and to give them the plain alternative of death, or 
 the miserable help which alone their helpers could 
 afford them.
 
 70 JAMES HACK TUKE 1848 
 
 It is almost needless to say that the publication 
 of this pamphlet and his interest in Ireland in- 
 volved Tuke in much correspondence. Amongst 
 others, he was applied to by a Mr. and Mrs. James 
 Ellis, for information with regard to the plan 
 which they entertained of settling in Ireland with 
 a view to helping by their example to improve the 
 condition of the peasantry. This benevolent 
 scheme they actually carried into execution, leaving 
 their English home and settling themselves at 
 Letterfrack in County Galway, where they lived 
 for many years, till they were compelled by ill- 
 health to return to England. Many years later 
 (in Irish Distress and its Remedies^ 1880, p. 70), 
 Tuke thus refers to this experiment : 
 
 "When James Ellis went to Letterfrack, the 
 police -barracks, one or two houses, and a few 
 cottages were the only buildings in the place ; now 
 it is a thriving-looking little town. He combined 
 in his character the qualities which always seem to 
 me needed to govern Ireland and cure its maladies 
 justice, kindliness, firmness, industry. His 
 belief that the exercise of these qualities would 
 benefit Ireland, led him, in rather advanced life, to 
 leave his comfortable home in Yorkshire, and settle 
 in what was then regarded as an almost unknown
 
 1848 MR. AND MRS. ELLIS 71 
 
 country. Here he and his wife lived for many 
 years, until ill-health compelled them to return to 
 England ; not, however, before they had effected 
 an entire change in the aspect of the property, and 
 exercised a moral influence in the district, the effects 
 of which are distinctly recognised and felt to this 
 day. I had not been long in the village before I 
 heard this : ' The people still pray for good Mr. 
 Ellis. He is always called "good Mr. Ellis." 
 Yes, he was a true friend to the poor ; but he 
 never gave anything to the men who could work, 
 unless they did something for it. He employed 
 the people in reclaiming the land, or he would set 
 them to pick up the stones to build walls, or the 
 children to gather flowers or roots for his friends. 
 He was always teaching them the great lesson of 
 work.' ' To this day,' said Mr. Mitchell Henry's 
 steward, * I can tell Mr. Ellis's boys ; those he 
 brought up are the best labourers I now have, and 
 the best of the old men, too, all learned to work 
 under him. He was the man for improving 
 Ireland.' " 
 
 On 3rd August 1 848 Tuke was married at the 
 Friends' Meeting-House, Bardfield, Essex, to his 
 father's ward, Elizabeth, daughter of the late 
 Edmund and Elizabeth Janson of Tottenham, the
 
 72 JAMES HACK TUKE 1848 
 
 young lady already alluded to. She was a woman 
 of a sweet and gentle nature, somewhat shy but 
 never, as her husband used to say, allowing her 
 shyness to prevent her from doing what she 
 thought right ; her education was probably wider 
 than was usual for women at that time, as she 
 had studied Latin, German, and Italian, and had 
 some knowledge of mathematics, and she read 
 much. She entered fully into all the interests 
 of her husband's life. Tuke and his bride settled 
 in a house near to his father's, in Laurence Street, 
 York, and here were born his two eldest children, 
 of whom one died in extreme infancy. 
 
 During the potato famine many of the wretched 
 Irish, to escape death in their own land, came and 
 spread themselves over various parts of England. 
 Many flocked as far as York ; and Tuke's father, 
 as a guardian of the poor, obtained a vote of the 
 Board for the erection of a temporary wooden 
 building as a hospital for those who were suffering 
 from fever ; for no one would let a house for the 
 purpose. When the temporary erection was pre- 
 pared, there was still a difficulty as to where to 
 place it, a difficulty solved by Samuel Tuke's 
 offering for the purpose a portion of a field near 
 his own house, his tenant who sold milk conclud-
 
 1848 MARRIAGE AND ILLNESS 73 
 
 ing that " the coos would not take the fever." 
 Here many a poor sufferer died, and here, not- 
 withstanding the terror of the infection, they were 
 frequently visited by Samuel Tuke. 
 
 One night the news spread that some Irish were 
 in distress somewhere within hail ; in fact, a man, 
 his wife, and child were sheltering under a hedge, 
 for after travelling about for weeks the fever had 
 come upon them, and, as they could get no 
 admission to any house, they took the only shelter 
 they could find. Hereupon James Tuke took 
 them out a blanket and some old carpet, and sent 
 them some straw for the night ; but the poor man 
 died in the morning, and his wife and little girl 
 were taken into the hospital. When the poor 
 man's things were being taken away, the child 
 burst into tears, crying " Oh, my daddy's knife ; 
 my daddy's knife." Tuke was deeply touched by 
 the scene, and what was more, he caught from 
 the poor man whom he had helped the dreadful 
 fever, and but for the devoted care and nursing of 
 his young wife he would have had small chance of 
 recovery. For months he was an invalid ; indeed 
 he used to say, "I got the Irish fever in 1848, 
 and have had it with more or less severity ever 
 since."
 
 74 JAMES HACK TUKE 1852 
 
 On ist July 1852 Tuke became a partner in 
 the old banking firm of Sharpies and Company of 
 Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, and thereupon removed 
 with his wife and little daughter Alice to a house in 
 the main street of the town of Hitchin known as Ban- 
 croft. In 1 859 he removed into another house, also 
 in Bancroft, which continued to be his home till his 
 death. Tuke's wife aided him in all the charitable 
 interests in which he soon became involved in his 
 new home, and herself conducted a mother's meet- 
 ing, and made herself much beloved by her poorer 
 neighbours. 
 
 " The house in Bancroft," writes Tuke's widow in 
 her notes, " was a very beautiful, quaint, old, dark red- 
 brick house of many gables, begun in the fifteenth 
 century, and from time to time added to. It had 
 been the ' Woolstaplers' Hall ' of Hitchin at the time 
 that England owned Calais, and did much business 
 with France in the woollen trade, and the house 
 always seemed just the right setting for its master. 
 In common with the other important houses in the 
 town, it had two great gateways at each end of the 
 street-front for the wool-carts to pass through. 
 There were endless secret cupboards and mysterious 
 passages in the old house, and the panelled portions 
 were very charming. But it was most difficult to
 
 1852 HOME IN HITCHIN 75 
 
 a stranger to find his way about, and one of the 
 regular evening amusements was to see the guests 
 start for their rooms, which they could seldom 
 reach unaided. 
 
 " Every room was approached by a separate stair, 
 and the danger of this to the old or near-sighted 
 may be imagined. One belated guest, who had 
 sat up late one night smoking, declared that he 
 had been obliged to make seven fresh starts 
 from the hall before he reached his appointed 
 chamber. 
 
 " The furniture of the house was quite in har- 
 mony with the old structure, being chiefly of oak, 
 and the collecting of it had been a source of great 
 interest and pleasure to its owner. 
 
 " The house also contained a large collection of 
 English, Oriental, and other china and earthen- 
 ware, and Mr. Tuke's knowledge of the different 
 varieties and their history was accurate and exten- 
 sive. Wherever he went he generally procured 
 some little specimen of china, and used rather 
 shyly to produce it, as our house was already full 
 to over-flowing. 
 
 " He used often to say, ' I have quite given up 
 collecting ; I have no more room.' The last 
 additions were an old Delft plate and a modern
 
 76 JAMES HACK TUKE 1852 
 
 Delft pot, which he picked up during our visit to 
 Holland in May 1894, when we went to see the 
 tulips in bloom. This was our last holiday excur- 
 sion together, and was most delightful."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 1853-1875 
 
 Voluntary v. State- Aided Education Anxieties Wife's illness 
 Freedmen's Aid Union Death of first wife Miss 
 Tuke's Recollections College for women Relief work 
 in France Paris during the Commune Death of 
 eldest daughter. 
 
 IN the year 1853, when a measure in reference to 
 State aid to popular education was before the 
 public, Tuke again reverted to the subject of the 
 Free Schools of the United States, and he wrote 
 and published a review of Siljestrom's work upon 
 this subject, 1 which was read at the annual meeting 
 of the Friends' Educational Society in this year. He 
 set forth the advantages which the author had 
 indicated as resulting in America from the union 
 of local action and State influence; but he went 
 further, and contrasted these results with the state 
 of things then existing in our own country ; he 
 
 1 The Educational Institutions of the United States, by J. H. Tuke. (York: 
 Hunton, 1853.)
 
 78 JAMES HACK TUKE 1853 
 
 showed the insufficiency of the results of purely 
 voluntary education, and he considered and answered, 
 or endeavoured to answer, the objections then 
 popularly argued against State assistance. It is 
 clear from this paper that Tuke's mind was 
 strongly inclined in favour of at least Government 
 aid and supervision in the matter of education. 
 
 In July 1853, in company with his brother-in- 
 law, Mr. G. S. Gibson, he took a tour in Ireland, 
 this time for pleasure : he revisited the west, was 
 at Westport, Gweedore, Donegal, Sligo, Ballina, 
 Letterfrack, and also in parts not so familiar to 
 him at Belfast and Killarney. The questions 
 connected with education in Ireland were, perhaps, 
 those which most interested him on this tour. He 
 noticed with natural pleasure the improvement 
 which had taken place in the condition of Donegal 
 since his previous visit. 
 
 The following year (1854) was one of not a 
 few troubles and sorrows to Tuke. It was a year, 
 he wrote, when reviewing it at its close, " of un- 
 usual anxiety." At the beginning of the year his 
 father, to whom, as we have already seen, he was 
 tenderly attached, had had a seizure which left him 
 greatly enfeebled till his death in October 1857. 
 Then came the illness and absence of one of his
 
 1854-1862 ANXIETIES 79 
 
 partners and the consequent stress of business ; 
 then came war, with a time of depression in 
 property and stagnation in trade ; then great anxiety 
 as to the health of his wife and three of his sisters. 
 "I do most earnestly desire," he wrote in his 
 diary, "that they [these trials] may have the 
 intended end, that instead of leavening my spirit 
 more to the world, they may tend towards with- 
 drawing it from its trammels and toils . . . and that 
 I may dwell more upon the abounding mercies 
 granted me than upon the trials which I have 
 enumerated. . . . May that most beautiful text of 
 Isaiah, ' I will mention the loving kindness of the 
 Lord, and the praises of the Lord according to all 
 that the Lord hath bestowed upon us,' be often 
 before and ever uppermost in my thoughts." 
 
 In or about the year 1862, his wife showed 
 symptoms of pulmonary disease, and a residence 
 in warm places was recommended ; and this circum- 
 stance for several years greatly influenced his life, 
 necessitating as it did frequent residences in the 
 Isle of Wight, Bournemouth, and the Riviera for 
 his wife and family, and continual journeys for 
 himself ; and after her death, the inherited delicacy 
 of two of his daughters had for years the like 
 effect upon his habits.
 
 8o JAMES HACK TUKE 1865 
 
 In the spring of 1865 the accounts which 
 reached this country of the condition of the negro 
 population of the Southern States of North America 
 were very distressing, and created great sympathy 
 in the minds of those who were interested in the 
 welfare of the negro. A committee was formed 
 by members of the Society of Friends for the relief 
 of these poor blacks, and a considerable sum was 
 raised which was distributed through various 
 agencies in the United States. Tuke had retained 
 many friendships in America, and was kept fully 
 informed by correspondents of what was going on 
 in the emancipation of the negroes. In the business 
 of this committee, therefore, it was almost a matter 
 of course that Tuke should take an active part. 
 In the course of the following year (1866) this 
 Quaker organisation was merged in a more general 
 one (the National Freedmen's Aid Union of 
 Great Britain and Ireland) which had been estab- 
 lished largely through the powerful advocacy of 
 the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 On 22nd January 1869 the long protracted 
 illness of his wife was ended by her death at 
 Bournemouth, and the great sorrow to which he 
 had so long looked forward fell upon him and his 
 children. Those to whom Tuke's loving and
 
 1869 DEATH OF HIS WIFE 81 
 
 tender nature are known can alone understand the 
 depth of this grief. But he was not the man to 
 abandon all work or all hope by reason of a 
 sorrow, however great ; his sister Esther was his 
 frequent companion in his widowed home, and 
 his eldest daughter Alice lovingly did all that 
 was in her power at once for her father and his 
 younger children. 
 
 Of the general tenor of Tuke's life during the 
 years 1868 to 1880 the following picture has been 
 drawn by his younger surviving daughter, Miss 
 Margaret Tuke : 
 
 " My first vivid recollections of my father 
 begin about the year 1868. We spent two 
 winters at Bournemouth, and he was only with us 
 from time to time. I well remember the delight 
 with which his return was welcomed by young and 
 old, the even greater delight for some of us when 
 he would take us down to the beach and direct 
 our digging operations, or, with one small daughter 
 clinging to each hand with trembling joy, chase 
 the waves in and out until, to the general conster- 
 nation, one unusually large wave would wet the 
 feet of the overbold trio. This was the bright 
 side of the picture ; the other side was darkened 
 by my mother's increasing illness, until the day 
 
 G
 
 82 JAMES HACK TUKE 1869 
 
 came when there was great quietness in the house, 
 and when early in the afternoon (January 22, 
 1869) my father came into the room where we 
 were all gathered and made known our mother's 
 death to us, simply saying, ' I must be a mother 
 as well as a father to you now.' 
 
 "For the next ten years (1869-1879) these 
 words seem to have formed the motto of his life. 
 It was not only the more important concerns of 
 our lives, character, or lessons, household arrange- 
 ments, or health for which he cared, but he was 
 always ready to plan our smallest pleasures, whether 
 in the choice of ponies or bantams, flower gardens 
 or dolls. He was himself our best playmate when 
 time allowed. The red-letter days in the lives of 
 his younger daughters were those in which he 
 could give them a painting lesson, or help them 
 arrange pictures in the big family scrap-book. 
 Yet the smallest word of reproof from him had 
 more effect with them than the punishments of 
 others, and his decisions were paramount. 
 
 " In looking back it is difficult to understand 
 how he was able to give so much time and thought 
 to all these things, whilst leading a life almost 
 over-full in other ways. The Bank was of course 
 a constant quantity. Then came the affairs of the
 
 1879 BUSY LIFE 8 3 
 
 town, in which he always took a leading part. 
 He it was who in early days had helped to 
 start coal clubs, soup kitchens, evening classes, the 
 Friends' adult school : and in all such works he 
 continued to take a lively interest, as well as in the 
 town Infirmary, of which he was for many years 
 treasurer. Outside these, came his interests as a 
 member of the Society of Friends. His regular 
 attendance of monthly, quarterly, and yearly 
 meetings ; l of the Meeting for Sufferings in 
 London 2 (so called, as we firmly believed in 
 childhood, because ' papa always came back with a 
 headache ' ) ; of the Ackworth School 3 and 
 Flounder's Institute Committees, which took him 
 away once a month for many years ; and his work 
 as Treasurer of the Friends' Foreign Mission 
 Association, engrossed time and thought. Nor 
 did these absorb all his energies, since political 
 and social questions were closely followed and 
 eagerly discussed by him. 
 
 " Such leisure as he had was given to natural 
 history, the garden, old china collecting, reading 
 
 1 For the meaning of these expressions see p. 33. E. F. 
 
 2 This is, in fact, the standing executive body of the Society of Friends. 
 Its original duty was to look after the imprisonments and other sufferings of 
 the Quakers ; hence its name. E. F, 
 
 3 See p. 117. E. F,
 
 84 JAMES HACK TUKE 1869 
 
 aloud (above all, poetry), riding, and driving. In 
 these last, especially riding, he found at that time 
 the relaxation which the garden gave him in later 
 years. Many and delightful have been our rides 
 with him on summer evenings or spring afternoons 
 or winter mornings now to seek a rare orchis, 
 now to listen for the first nightingale, now to 
 investigate the state of the crops. He had great 
 pleasure in horses, and a great scorn for any 
 one who did not know a good horse from a 
 bad! 
 
 " The strain of this busy life was relieved by 
 frequent travel. When once away he was inde- 
 fatigable in filling the time full with seeing all 
 that there was to be seen sometimes almost to 
 the despair of less energetic companions ; and this, 
 although he was often prostrated for days at a time 
 with the severest of headaches. I think that he 
 enjoyed the English tours most of all, where 
 flowers and birds were his intimate friends. In 
 what seemed to me a confused medley of song, I 
 have known him distinguish the notes of six or 
 seven different birds, some of them not heard by 
 him for years. Abroad, the fact that he could not 
 converse readily with the people was a great annoy- 
 ance to him ; he always had so much to ask and
 
 1879 RELAXATIONS 85 
 
 inquire about. He loved, too, the soft, subdued 
 colouring of English scenery, as of all delicate and 
 subdued beauty, while his great dislike was for 
 everything glaring or vulgar. 
 
 " In looking back it seems to me that my father 
 gave us very little direct religious teaching, though 
 always insisting on religion as the fundamental 
 part of life. Nor did he say ' Be this and that,' 
 but rather by his whole life and conversation 
 showed what he would like us to be. Always 
 moved to pity or indignation by suffering or 
 cruelty himself, he could not understand how 
 others could remain indifferent. Two other 
 things he found it hard to condone close-fisted- 
 ness and slipshod work ; his innate generosity 
 making the one, his love of perfection the other, 
 abhorrent to him. But when in contact 
 with individuals, his sympathies always went 
 out to them, and brought out the best in 
 them, even when he disapproved of their con- 
 duct. 
 
 " One point in thes'e ten years remains to be 
 noted, and that is the sadness of them for my 
 father a sadness which could not be forgotten 
 through all the varied occupations. The three 
 years' illness, followed by the death of my sister
 
 86 JAMES HACK TUKE 1869 
 
 Alice (September 19, 1875), w ^ had ^ een a 
 thoughtful companion to him and a mother to her 
 younger sisters, must have been an untold anxiety 
 and grief to him. The sorrow lived, patiently 
 though he faced it, and believed it to be ruled for 
 good. 
 
 " I have tried to note down what seem to me 
 the most marked features of the ten years from 
 1869-79, smce tne y stand apart to some extent 
 from the later years of my father's life. For in 
 1880 came the Irish famine, and with it began his 
 closer connection with Irish affairs his frequent 
 absence from home, and consequent dropping of 
 some of the old work, though of none of the 
 old interests. After this, too, came his second 
 marriage, and the happiness and companionship 
 which it brought him, and which, with the devo- 
 tion of his daughter Frances and the interest 
 and success of his Irish work, helped to drive 
 away some of the old sadness while adding to the 
 old sympathies." 
 
 A little glimpse of the sadness of which his 
 daughter speaks may be seen in the following 
 extract. On one of these occasions when his wife 
 was absent from him for health, and the little 
 ones were with her (February 1868), Tuke had
 
 1879 SADNESS 87 
 
 been on a visit to his brother-in-law and his 
 sister (Mr. and Mrs. G. S. Gibson) at Saffron 
 Walden, and after returning home writes thus to 
 them : 
 
 " The house feels so dull and lonely when one 
 has been used to the many voices in all directions 
 and when a load seems always to rest upon the 
 heart with nothing to help to relieve it. My 
 visit to you was quite a solace to me, and I feel 
 most grateful for your kind loving sympathy. 
 At times the shadow which seems to be covering 
 my life appears inexpressibly dark, but at others, 
 the sense of the love of my Heavenly Father 
 gives me strength to believe that if He does not 
 remove it, I may trust Him to guide me, and 
 that He will make even this to be light about me. 
 But how hard it is to us to place ourselves entirely 
 in His hands and to leave all there especially 
 when this threatens to touch that which we, dear 
 G., can both speak of, the depth and tenderness of 
 a wife's love, which, deepening and increasing with 
 years, was never half so dear to me as it has been 
 of late. But I must stop." 
 
 In or before 1869 some friends of the higher 
 education of women had set on foot a project, 
 under the name of a " Proposed College for
 
 88 JAMES HACK TUKE 1869 
 
 Women," which subsequently blossomed into 
 Girton College, Cambridge. 
 
 In the very early days of the project, the 
 promoters, whilst shrinking from any attempt to 
 establish the College within University precincts, 
 were desirous that the students should enjoy the 
 advantages of University teaching, and it was 
 hoped that this might be in great part secured by 
 placing it at Hitchin, midway between London 
 and Cambridge, where it was intended to build on 
 some suitable site, when such could be obtained. 
 In the meantime, it was determined to launch the 
 scheme in a hired house. In their search for a 
 possible habitation, which proved to be a matter 
 of no small difficulty, Tuke's valuable help was 
 unsparingly given to Miss Emily Davies and her 
 colleagues. When at last a suitable house was 
 found and taken on a lease, Tuke continued to be 
 their unfailing friend. To the small body of 
 strangers a mistress and six students who met 
 at Benslow House, Hitchin, in October 1869, the 
 cordial welcome received from Tuke and his 
 family and other kind friends on the spot, was a 
 boon which is still remembered. As the work 
 proceeded, the distance from the University was 
 found to be a serious disadvantage, and it was
 
 1870 COLLEGE FOR WOMEN 89 
 
 decided to erect the permanent building in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of Cambridge. Whilst 
 the building there was in progress, the work of 
 the College continued at Hitchin, and all through 
 the four years there they were cheered and en- 
 couraged by Tuke's ever -ready sympathy and 
 support. At a later time, when the College had 
 outgrown the anxieties of infancy, Tuke described 
 his own part in the movement as being that of 
 having " helped to rock the cradle." After the 
 removal to Cambridge, his association with the 
 College became less intimate, but he remained in 
 sympathy with its objects, and in 1887 signed a 
 memorial to the University of Cambridge in 
 relation to the admission of women to degrees. 
 
 Through the autumn of 1870 the sympathies 
 of England were keenly awakened by the suffer- 
 ings of the victims of the calamities from foreign 
 and internal foes by which France was desolated, 
 and the misery brought on unoffending multitudes. 
 The Society of Friends accordingly collected a 
 fund known as the War Victims' Fund, and 
 placed it under the care of a committee which 
 was occupied from October 1870 to April 1871 
 in its distribution. These operations were carried 
 on in three separate sections, first, the Metz
 
 90 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 district, including Alsace and Lorraine and districts 
 farther south ; secondly, the Paris district, i.e. the en- 
 virons of the city included in the Department of the 
 Seine ; and lastly, the Loire district, being the region 
 extending from Le Mans, Chateaudun, and Orleans 
 in the north, to Tours in the south. Through this 
 machinery upwards of 70,000 of money, and 
 about 6000 worth of garments, blankets, and 
 bedding were distributed. Thirty-seven men and 
 women (called by the committee commissioners) 
 undertook the laborious and, in some cases, hazard- 
 ous duty of the actual distribution. Amongst 
 those who laboured in the Paris district was Tuke, 
 who left England on 6th March 1871, three days 
 after the evacuation of Paris by the Germans. 
 On his return he gave a conversational lecture 
 on his experiences to his fellow-townsmen. To 
 the crowded room which excluded from the 
 audience many who wished to hear him, we owe 
 a request which resulted in his revising and publish- 
 ing the shorthand notes of what he then said. By 
 means of extracts from this paper l I shall let him 
 tell his own tale, which embraces some of the most 
 remarkable events of the possession of Paris by 
 the Commune. 
 
 1 "A Visit to Paris in the Spring of 1871."
 
 1871 VISIT TO PARIS 91 
 
 Three days after the Germans evacuated Paris, 
 " I found myself," wrote Tuke, " in the train with 
 a large number of French ladies and gentlemen, 
 who were going back to their own land, after 
 spending the winter as exiles in this country. At 
 Boulogne a still larger number joined the train, 
 many of whom had come from Calais ; there were 
 also large numbers of Gardes Mobiles going back 
 to their homes. In my carriage were six French 
 ladies and a poodle, and one gentleman ; and as 
 we had also to stow there the whole of our 
 luggage, none being allowed in the vans, you 
 may imagine we were in close quarters. We did 
 not say much for a long time. Naturally many 
 hearts were very sad at the thought of having 
 spent six long dreary months in exile, and not 
 knowing what they might find had taken place 
 during their absence now that they were returning 
 to their native land. We were soon reminded of 
 the presence of the invader. At Saint Valery the 
 spiked helmets of the Prussians filled the station, 
 and a shudder ran through my neighbours in the 
 carriage ; one poor old lady in particular was 
 much alarmed. At Abbeville again we saw 
 hundreds of Germans. The station at Amiens 
 had the reputation of possessing the best buffet in
 
 92 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 the world, but we could scarcely get anything 
 there, except a mouthful of bread and some very 
 weak soup. Some of our companions left us at 
 Amiens, but we were joined by other French 
 people, and the whole way to Paris was spent by 
 them in abusing the Germans. Nothing could be 
 said bad enough for them ; they were robbers, 
 they were assassins, they were maudits^ in short, 
 everything that was bad. One could hardly 
 wonder at this, for wherever we went the Prussian 
 had made his mark. In addition, it was ' Fumez, 
 fumez, toujours fumez,' alluding to the invariable 
 pipe or cigar of the German. At Creil, where the 
 French had destroyed the bridge, we had to make 
 a detour by Pontoise, where we had to leave the 
 train and cross the bridge of boats on foot. We 
 must have been a quarter of a mile in length as 
 we marched along in procession from the carriages, 
 every one carrying his bag or portmanteau, re- 
 minding me of a colony of ants moving over the 
 ground, each one carrying a grain of corn. An- 
 other hour in the train and we approached Paris 
 in the twilight, and then ensued a great scramble 
 to obtain conveyances. Horses were very scarce, 
 for 70,000 out of 100,000 had been eaten during 
 the siege. I was fortunate enough to get hold of
 
 1871 STATE OF PARIS 93 
 
 a small carriage, and was very much struck as I 
 went through the half -lighted streets with their 
 dull and gloomy aspect, scarcely any shops being 
 open. I arrived at my destination at the hotel in 
 the Rue Saint Honore, over the door of which 
 ' Ambulance ' in large red letters was still visible. 
 ' Ambulance ' was a word which one saw inscribed 
 on a vast number of houses, showing the immense 
 extent to which people had been wounded or sick, 
 and some of the largest hotels in Paris were con- 
 verted into hospitals during the siege. 
 
 " Going into the quarter of St. Germain, formerly 
 one of the most aristocratic parts of the town, we 
 noticed that many of the houses showed decided 
 marks of the bombs. I may mention particularly 
 one very good house, which had been the residence 
 of a medical man, and the owner of which was 
 busy with his architect. He looked at us surlily 
 at first, thinking, perhaps, that we were Germans, 
 but when he found we were Englishmen, he was 
 most civil, and showed us, among other things, 
 how the bomb had fallen and exploded in the 
 cellar of his house. Happily nobody was killed, 
 though a large portion of the front of the house 
 was blown away by the explosion. Near this was
 
 94 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 another house into which a bomb had fallen, be- 
 longing to a friend of his. When he found out 
 what our mission was, he gave us many particulars, 
 and on coming away presented us with a piece of 
 the bomb which had fallen into the house. 
 Walking along we noticed other houses which had 
 suffered in the same way. Then we made calls 
 upon persons whose friends in England had en- 
 trusted us with letters to deliver to them, or had 
 requested that we would endeavour to see them, 
 and assure them of the sympathy and kindness 
 felt for them in England. I shall never forget 
 those interviews. It proved to me that people in 
 well-to-do circumstances had suffered during the 
 siege as much as, perhaps more than, the poor, 
 because, as we all know, people in that position, 
 who are accustomed every day of their lives to 
 certain luxuries, do suffer, when deprived of them, 
 to a greater degree than those who are accustomed 
 to live more hardily. And, seeing that the rations 
 in Paris were distributed in equal quantity and 
 quality to everybody alike, the dark brown bread, 
 like this, a three days' ration, which I hold in my 
 hand the horseflesh (which, of course, I could 
 not bring away with me) the wood all which 
 were doled out in certain quantities on production
 
 1871 SUFFERINGS OF MIDDLE CLASS 95 
 
 of tickets, we cannot wonder that great suffering 
 was produced among the class I have indicated. 
 One lady especially, I remember, who had moved 
 in somewhat high circles, when she found we were 
 disposed to listen to her grievances, gave such a 
 history of the misery, of the suffering, of the 
 bitterness and horror of their position during the 
 long winter, as I shall never forget. She and her 
 daughter had been obliged to live upon horseflesh 
 and black bread, which was to them, I have no 
 doubt, as disagreeable as anything could possibly 
 be. As they said, ' We really could not eat it, 
 but often lived for days upon a few lumps of 
 sugar or a little chocolate ; then we could not get 
 the wood to burn, so that we had neither warmth 
 nor food.' This shows what sufferings were 
 endured by what I may call the middle class. 
 Others were doubtless literally starved, and there 
 were hundreds who, if they did not actually die 
 from absolute want of food, died because they had 
 not what they could take to nourish them. 
 
 " Leaving Paris for a while, let me describe, in 
 a few words, the work we had to do, and the dis- 
 trict in which it lay. This was the district called 
 the ' Department of the Seine,' extending from the
 
 96 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 fortifications of Paris (with little exception) to the 
 Prussian batteries, say five to seven miles all round 
 the city. It comprised in its area seventy-one 
 communes or parishes, in each of which was a 
 village or town with its mayor. These towns 
 varied in size and occupation from a single agricul- 
 tural village of 500 inhabitants to extensive manu- 
 facturing towns of 10,000 or 20,000. I have said, 
 with little exception, for Versailles and St. Cloud 
 were under the care of the ' Bishop of Versailles' 
 Committee,' and St. Denis and neighbouring 
 villages, though aided by grants from the ' War 
 Victims' Fund,' were under the efficient care of Mr. 
 Bullock, of the * Daily News Fund.' The popu- 
 lation of these seventy-one communes was not less 
 than 320,000 very nearly the same as that of 
 Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. We may judge 
 of the magnitude of the calamity which suddenly 
 fell upon this population from the fact that 88,000 
 of them were receiving rations during the siege 
 in round numbers, a population nearly equal to 
 half that of our own county. A glance at this 
 map the blue squares showing the Prussian forts 
 and the red the French just outside Paris will 
 readily show that the inhabitants situate between 
 the double fire of this fighting ground were com-
 
 1871 STATE OF PARIS 97 
 
 pelled to leave their homes and fly, or retire within 
 Paris, and consequently about 250,000 did so, very 
 few of whom were able to bring in any means of 
 supporting themselves. The suddenness of the 
 notice to quit, and the alarm and terror caused by 
 the rapid march of the Prussians upon Paris, com- 
 pelled them also to leave behind the larger portion 
 of their household furniture and valuables, and 
 tools or articles of trade, the whole of which have 
 been destroyed or taken by the French or Prussian 
 troops. 
 
 " Let me now give you a brief outline of the 
 condition of these communes as we found them on 
 our visits from day to day. 
 
 " We were fortunate enough to obtain one of 
 the few horses which could be had. We had it 
 from a livery-stable keeper, a very respectable man, 
 who had been a coachman in the service of 
 Napoleon, and he entered into our work with in- 
 terest. He had two horses left out of fourteen ; 
 the other twelve had been eaten. They were 
 excellent animals, worth from ^80 to ,100 each, 
 and he had not received more than 40 for them. 
 He gave us a capital dogcart, and drove us out 
 himself. Passing through one of the fortified 
 gates, where the barriers, as at other places, ran in 
 
 H
 
 98 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 and out in a zigzag course, what a scene of desola- 
 tion presented itself! For 500 yards outside the 
 walls of Paris every house that existed (with one 
 or two exceptions) was laid low. The only thing 
 I can compare it to is, that it seemed as if some 
 great mountain torrent had swept all round the 
 beautiful city, carrying everything before it in its 
 resistless course. The loss inflicted upon private 
 individuals is enormous, for the owners of the 
 houses had considered themselves as secure as we 
 do here. When the fortifications were built, the 
 people who lived in their vicinity had notice given 
 them that if circumstances required their houses to 
 be destroyed they should receive compensation, but 
 those who built after having received that notice 
 were to have no compensation. Nobody dreamed 
 of Paris being beset, and no one thought of its 
 being taken, least of all the Parisians themselves. 
 M. Thiers, by advising the erection of fortresses, 
 proves to have inflicted the greatest possible curse 
 upon Paris, for by what possible conditions could 
 a city, containing a million and three-quarters of 
 people, be supplied with food during a long siege 
 when, as was to be expected, all communication 
 with the outside was cut off ? So, through follow- 
 ing the recommendation of M. Thiers, Paris in-
 
 1 87 1 SCENE OUTSIDE THE WALLS 99 
 
 flicted upon herself misery ten times greater than 
 would have been caused had the Germans marched 
 straight in on the i8th of September instead of 
 sitting down round it for 132 days. 
 
 " We cross over this mass of broken rubbish, 
 with ruin all around us ; beyond it you see the 
 ends of the houses still standing, many where the 
 bombs had been thrown completely through them. 
 Then you come, perhaps, into a long street, where 
 nearly all the houses are built four and five stories 
 high, as the people lived in what we call flats. 
 Nearly every one of these houses was broken in 
 and smashed. Let us stop and go into one. 
 Here is a large house at the corner with the front 
 smashed in, and the people are repairing it. It 
 had been a large wine-shop, but all the man's 
 stores of every kind and all the out-buildings were 
 destroyed. Going up the broken staircase we find 
 that everything has been ruined, with here a scrap 
 of a mantelpiece, and there a stove left standing 
 amid the scene of havoc. * And by whom was all 
 this destruction done ? ' 'By our soldiers.' * What, 
 by French Mobiles ? ' * Oui, oui,' said the owner, 
 * it was all done by them.' A mile or two farther, 
 through a ruined, unsown country, and we are in 
 the German lines ; and there is the German picket,
 
 ioo JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 with their blue uniforms and bright helmets. Fine 
 fellows they are, and what a contrast to the dirty 
 Frenchmen ! though, of course, not more agreeable 
 for the French themselves to look at. We see 
 German faces peering at us out of the windows, 
 but hardly a Frenchman is to be seen. The town 
 is extensive. We stop at a large house, over 
 which is inscribed ' Fabrique de Faience ' (Pottery 
 Works). It is partly in ruins, and the beautiful 
 articles manufactured were strewn about in the 
 direst confusion broken models, broken figures, 
 and the whole contents of the place where the 
 work was carried on in ruin, while the factory 
 and house and grounds were nothing better than 
 a pigsty, abounding with filth in every direction. 
 In one room we found a poor woman who had 
 returned to the wreck of the house, and asked her 
 where she had come from. She replied that she 
 had been in Paris all the winter, and had now just 
 come out to look after the remains of her pro- 
 perty. While we were there, a working man came 
 in with a small quantity of flour in a blue hand- 
 kerchief, which he left, and then walked away as if 
 half ashamed of his good deed. The poor woman, 
 too, looked ashamed at being the object of this 
 small but touching act of charity, and it was
 
 1871 A RUINED FACTORY 101 
 
 evident from her demeanour of mingled pride and 
 gratitude that she had seen better times. Her 
 husband, it appeared, was still in Paris, most likely 
 one of the National Guard. Her son had left at 
 the beginning of the war, and she had not heard of 
 him since, and did not know whether he was alive 
 or dead. A little farther on we found the owner 
 of the works, in the usual blue dress, hunting 
 about in the ruins of his house. * I have just 
 found,' he said, ' a letter from my son, who left 
 me at the commencement of the war, and it was 
 only a few days ago that I learned he is a prisoner 
 at Dantzig.' What sorrow, and misery, and deso- 
 lation we had stumbled on in these two families ! 
 This man, with his extensive works all demolished, 
 the labour of his life destroyed, and his son a cap- 
 tive in the hands of the enemy ; and the poor 
 woman, surrounded by the ruin of her home, not 
 knowing whether her child was alive or dead ! 
 
 " I will now say a very few words as to the 
 political state of Paris. We all know that when 
 the armistice was signed, M. Jules Favre insisted 
 that the National Guards should retain their arms. 
 Perhaps it was scarcely possible for a more fatal 
 error to be made. Count Bismarck, who saw what
 
 102 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 the proposal meant and was likely to lead to, 
 objected to it, but at the last moment he gave way 
 to this little bit of French pride. What we see 
 now is the result of that error. Many of the 
 National Guards were taken from the very off- 
 scouring of the lowest parts of Paris ; these were 
 all armed and put into regimentals, and were con- 
 sidered to be the defenders of Paris during that 
 long and remarkable siege. Having been idle so 
 long, they got to love their franc-and-a-half a-day 
 and their regimentals and food, and did not like, 
 when Paris had surrendered, to go back to their 
 work. They saw that the surrender meant for 
 them that they were again to be reduced to the 
 ordinary rank of citizens, who earned their daily 
 bread as honest men ought to do. They accord- 
 ingly took possession of one or two points in Paris, 
 and Montmartre was one of these, which is situated 
 to the north, and being on a very high point com- 
 mands the whole of Paris. There were a certain 
 number of guns stationed upon this height during 
 the siege, and some more at Belleville. The regi- 
 ments of Montmartre and Belleville kept the guns 
 which were left upon those two points ; for, 
 although the Government had been talking about 
 it for a long time, they never attempted to fetch
 
 1871 INSURGENTS AT MONTMARTRE 103 
 
 them away until after the insurgents had formally 
 taken possession of them. Then the Government 
 did determine to take those guns, and to put an 
 end to the discreditable state of things that existed. 
 Well, as we all know, these men resisted those in 
 authority, and they kept Paris in a state of uproar 
 and alarm. Very early in the morning of that 
 Saturday, which we shall all remember as having 
 brought us the account of the outbreak, two or 
 three regiments of the line were ordered to go and 
 take the heights of Montmartre and bring away 
 the guns. The result was that, when the regular 
 troops reached the spot, they fraternised with the 
 National Guards, against whom they were sent, and 
 would not fight against the Republic, but gave 
 way to the representation that they were asked to 
 contend against their own interest. Then came 
 the terrible scene enacted on the morning of i8th 
 March. At a very early hour we were disturbed by 
 the sound of the rappel. It is never pleasant to be 
 awakened early in the morning, but it was particu- 
 larly unpleasant to be roused by such a sound, 
 which I can compare to nothing I have ever heard 
 before now loud, now tempestuous and angry ; 
 beseeching and imperious by turns, it resounded 
 from one end of the city to the other ; first the
 
 104 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 drum and then the horn, and this lasted for an 
 hour or two, calling upon every National Guard to 
 go out and defend Paris. We soon heard some 
 firing, and when we met at breakfast there were 
 rumours of fighting in the streets, and assassination 
 of officers. But in such times rumours fly about 
 of the most contradictory kind, and you know less 
 on the spot of what is actually going on than 
 people at a distance can learn from the very 
 accurate reports in the newspapers. 
 
 " When we went out in the streets after break- 
 fast the scene was most remarkable. Paris was a 
 huge camp, the National Guards were everywhere 
 in possession of the squares and streets. Along 
 the Boulevards we saw men marching with fixed 
 bayonets, following officers with drawn swords, 
 and a company of artillery going very slowly in- 
 deed, if it intended real fight. A little while after- 
 wards a picket passed beating drums, and we heard 
 the people call out, ' Le General ! ' It was General 
 Vinoy, who was inspecting the troops going to 
 their different points, to see that everything was in 
 order. He was hissed and hooted, and I thought 
 that a very poor sign at the beginning of the day. 
 But we did not know then of the murder of 
 Generals Lecomte and Clement Thomas. I had
 
 1871 MURDER OF THE GENERALS 105 
 
 occasion to call at Rothschilds', the bankers, that 
 morning. I wanted a small sum of money, but 
 they told me I could only have ten pounds in gold ; 
 what else I wanted I must have in notes of the 
 Bank of France. They were in much alarm ; 
 they did not know what would happen, and they 
 told me they believed that the troops of the Line 
 would all fraternise with the National Guard. The 
 gentleman who manages the English department 
 in the bank said, as indicating the state of feeling 
 which prevailed among the lower classes, that a 
 few days previously one of their clerks was told by 
 a man of that description, ' We were not going to 
 fight the Prussians, but we shall be going down 
 your street very soon, and we shall know how to 
 fight you* This, he said, showed the kind of feel- 
 ing which prevailed among the men composing the 
 National Guard of Belleville and Montmartre 
 against the richer parts of Paris. 
 
 "Afterwards I walked down the Rue Saint 
 Honore, and to the Hotel de Ville, which may be 
 said to correspond with the Mansion House in 
 London. There I found immense numbers of 
 persons collected, and numbers of the National 
 Guard, who were still thought to be loyal, mixed up 
 with regiments of the Line, brought in to defend
 
 106 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 the city against the insurgent National Guards. We 
 afterwards met large numbers of excited troops 
 of the Line, singing and shouting in the most 
 frantic manner, some with pieces of bread stuck 
 upon their bayonets, others with the flag of the 
 Commune hoisted ; they had left their officers and 
 joined the mass of insurgents. It is impossible to 
 conceive such a state as Paris was in that day. 
 Wherever you went there were soldiers men of 
 the Line here, National Guards there ; Francs- 
 tireurs, Garibaldians, Marines, Cavalry, Artillery 
 every class and grade of military men moving 
 about here and there without any kind of order, 
 and without any leader. It was indeed a most 
 curious scene. There were altogether in Paris 
 that day about three times as many troops as we 
 have in the whole British Islands. There were 
 40,000 regulars brought in, nearly 200,000 
 National Guards, besides many others who had 
 come in of their own accord. We walked up to 
 the Place de la Bastille, where there was an immense 
 commotion. The people were as busy as ever 
 putting immortelles on the statue, and it seemed, 
 from their eagerness to do this, as though the one 
 great aim and object of their lives was to get into 
 the procession and lay an immortelle at the foot of
 
 1871 OFFICIALISM 107 
 
 the statue. I confess I did not like the look of 
 the crowd, though they did not take any notice of 
 me. The people mocked and ridiculed the troops 
 as they passed by : ' Quels soldats ! ' one was calling 
 to the other." 
 
 Ten days later Tuke's narrative proceeds : 
 "... I had occasion to go that morning (28th 
 March 1 8 7 1 ) to the railway station with Mr. Norcott, 
 in order to obtain the delivery of a large quantity 
 of peas, which the Lord Mayor's Committee had 
 kindly sent over for distribution, to be sown in the 
 little gardens in the suburbs. We often had the 
 greatest trouble with the officials to obtain the de- 
 livery of our stores, and it was impossible not to be 
 amused, angry as we were, at the almost endless 
 trouble to which we were put. Sometimes as 
 many as fourteen or fifteen different officers had to 
 be gone to before we could get some little thing 
 done. For instance, you would have thought that 
 as all the goods were for the relief of the French, 
 the railways would have brought them free, and 
 delivered them without delay ; but no such thing. 
 Then came the question of octroi. Everything 
 that comes into Paris pays a very heavy octroi 
 duty, but this, happily, we managed to escape, 
 though not without infinite trouble.
 
 io8 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 " We had spent an hour or two in seeing the 
 different officers, first one, then the other, but to 
 no use. At last we were told that the chief of the 
 station, who was away, would be back in about 
 twenty minutes. Mr. Norcott proposed that 
 instead of waiting there for this official, we should 
 fill up the interval by paying a visit to the rebels 
 in the neighbouring camp of Montmartre. We 
 drove up to the barriers, but then were obliged to 
 stop the carriage. That carriage had itself been 
 requisitioned from the Reds for our work, and 
 they had provided Mr. Norcott with a special pass 
 to go where he liked. At the top of the Butte of 
 Montmartre a picket stopped us, but after examin- 
 ing the pass allowed us to go on. We went to the 
 house in the Rue Rosiers, where the two generals 
 had been killed. It was filled with men armed to 
 the teeth, who showed us the spot in the garden 
 where those murders had been committed. Cannon 
 were placed at the end of the garden overlooking 
 Saint Denis, where 20,000 Prussians were ready 
 at any moment to return to Paris. Though we 
 were among a set of men whose appearance was 
 certainly very much against them, we were very 
 civilly treated. One poor fellow came up to me 
 with his head bound up, and said, * You are English.
 
 1871 VISIT TO REBEL CAMP 109 
 
 We are very much obliged to you. The English 
 are very good ' tres-gentils, as he said. These 
 very fellows had just been murdering their generals, 
 and were a most unmistakable set of ruffians, but 
 I thought this was a striking testimony of gratitude 
 in its way, although coming from so unsavoury a 
 quarter. 
 
 " Crossing the narrow street into their camp, 
 we saw numbers of cannon, mitrailleuses, and 
 mortars, all ready at a moment's notice to pour 
 death upon Paris, just as if a battery were planted 
 here on Windmill Hill to pour destruction upon 
 the town of Hitchin. While standing there, one 
 of the insurgents invited me to look through a 
 field-glass which was fastened to the wheel of a 
 gun-carriage. First he directed my attention to 
 Romainville, six miles distant, and I could see 
 there the Prussians very distinctly, evidently watch- 
 ing the very place where we were standing. From 
 the Prussian fort, six miles distant, a touch of the 
 glass, the movement of an inch or two, and they 
 showed me their own friends encamped at Belle- 
 ville, only a mile and a half distant. 
 
 " We drove back to the railway, and found that 
 the high official had at last come in ; but he was 
 much too great a gentleman to attend to such
 
 i io JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 insignificant persons as ourselves, and our visit to 
 the station was attended with no success. So we 
 said we would go to the Hotel de Ville and com- 
 plain to the authorities there of the difficulties we 
 had in getting possession of our sixty sacks of 
 peas. There were the carts in the yard, but we 
 could not get these officials to give us permission 
 to load them with the provisions which we had 
 come over from England to distribute among their 
 own suffering poor. 
 
 " So we drove off to the Hotel de Ville, to see 
 what help we could get there. The massacre in 
 the Rue de la Paix was about this time going on, 
 though we knew nothing about it. Reaching the 
 Hotel de Ville, an officer of the Commune met us, 
 saying, ' You have arrived at the right time.' The 
 fact was, he wanted our horse and carriage, so he 
 jumped in as we jumped out. We walked across 
 the Place, and again there were soldiers everywhere ; 
 but we were English, and therefore allowed to go 
 in. We met some officials whom we knew, but 
 again we were stopped, and bayonets were crossed 
 to bar our further passage. But at last we were 
 ushered into the grand chamber, where sat the 
 commanding officers of the Army of the Central 
 Committee of the Commune. The salle was a
 
 1871 GENERALS OF THE COMMUNE in 
 
 magnificent room, half as long again as this room, 
 but not so wide. There was a guard of dirty- 
 looking National Guards in attendance : there 
 seemed no order among them ; one was eating a 
 bit of bread, another was smoking a pipe ; and I 
 noticed three or four little boys-in-waiting, sitting 
 on the handsome velvet chairs, at least one of 
 whom was taking an early lesson in learning to 
 smoke. Besides the National Guards, there were 
 Garibaldians, Francs -tireurs, Marines, men of the 
 Line, people of every rank and kind. We stood 
 before these great people, with our humble request 
 that they would give us an order to get our peas 
 removed from the station for the relief of their 
 own countrymen ! All this seems very ridiculous, 
 but still the scene which we thus had an opportunity 
 of observing was most striking and remarkable. 
 Everybody was, of course, ' citoyen.' One 
 * citoyen ' after another came up to receive orders, 
 and then went away to execute them. The generals 
 were certainly men of no rank or experience. 
 One whom I saw there was cashiered in a few days 
 because he was suspected of having some leaning 
 for the Versailles party. Unpolished as was their 
 general appearance, they were exceedingly civil to 
 us. Some of them talked English one Hungarian
 
 ii2 JAMES HACK TUKE 1871 
 
 medical man, who had been with Garibaldi through 
 all his campaigns, who spoke eight languages, was 
 very fluent. He said he had just been appointed 
 head surgeon-in-chief to the staff for Paris. He 
 said, ' I have orders to inspect all the hospitals in 
 Paris, but they will not find me a horse, so I shall 
 not go to any one of them.' I asked him, ' Who 
 is that general ? ' and he replied, ' Oh, he is nobody. 
 What soldiers these are ! They cannot fight 
 they are no men.' I remarked that it was rather 
 strange that with such opinions of those about him 
 he should hold such a position. He answered, 
 'Well, I have plenty to eat and to drink, and I 
 always carry a revolver ready for use, for I know 
 my life is not safe for a moment among such 
 fellows.' Here was a specimen of the officers and 
 men of the new republic ! Such a strange medley 
 of uncouth, remarkable faces I never saw. Here 
 was one with retreating forehead and long hair and 
 sallow face, reminding one of Carlyle's description 
 of Robespierre, 'the sea-green incorruptible.' 
 Another put me in mind of the ' tile-bearded 
 Jourdain.' And there was scarcely a man present 
 who would not, for some peculiarity or other, 
 attract notice in an ordinary crowd. I went to the 
 window and looked out, where the sun was shining
 
 1871 AN UNKNOWN DEAD 113 
 
 on the Place below filled with soldiers and brass 
 cannon. One of the men said to me, in broken 
 English, 'Is it not an admirable sight more 
 beautiful than Leicester Square ? ' l But I pointed to 
 a corpse that was being carried across the square on 
 a stretcher, and asked him, ' What is that ? We do 
 not see that in Leicester Square.' ' Ah, ah, noth- 
 ing ! ' said he lightly. But it was the body of some 
 one who had been shot, doubtless that of the poor 
 fellow of whom we read next morning in the papers, 
 giving a report of the massacre in the Rue de la 
 Paix, ' Un inconnu tue, a ete transporte a la 
 Morgue.' How often have I thought since of 
 that * unknown dead,' and wonderingly mused 
 upon the story of that life whose end was thus 
 briefly summed up, and of the misery and uncer- 
 tainty which may be comprehended in it ! 
 
 " My certificate, which a few days before had 
 received the signature of 'Jules Ferry, Maire de 
 Paris,' and the official seal, was now endorsed 
 on behalf of the ' Comite Centrale ' by ' Fortune 
 Henry,' and stamped ' Republique Franchise : 
 Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite,' and giving a free 
 pass to ' Citoyen James Hack Tuke,' the 22nd 
 March 1871. The General offered to send us 
 
 1 In the pamphlet " Charing Cross," but apparently a slip. 
 I
 
 ii4 JAMES HACK TUKE 1875 
 
 back with an armed force to the railway station, 
 and enforce obedience to their order at the point 
 of the bayonet, but we thought we had seen 
 enough of our * Red ' friends for one day, so we 
 asked them to send the order instead, in accord- 
 ance with which we obtained possession of our 
 stores next morning. Coming back to our 
 hotel, we found the doors were closed, and our 
 landlady anxiously waiting our return, rejoiced 
 that we had escaped from danger. Then we 
 heard the story of the massacre in the adjacent 
 street." 
 
 On 1 9th September 1875, Tuke suffered a great 
 loss in the death of his eldest daughter Alice Mary, 
 to whose long and gradually increasing illness I 
 have already referred. Her death was keenly felt 
 by her father, to whom she was peculiarly dear ; 
 she had a great sweetness of temper and manner 
 and a devoted love for her parents, which after 
 the death of her mother, when she was nineteen 
 years of age, seemed concentrated on her father. 
 On her mother's death " she at once," wrote her 
 father, " took the position of the head of the 
 family, and young as she was, and shrinking from 
 any assumption, her great power and loving, un- 
 selfish devotion to the duties that fell upon her
 
 1875 HIS DAUGHTER ALICE'S DEATH 115 
 
 made themselves felt by all by whom she was sur- 
 rounded." To her younger sisters she was almost 
 a second mother. 
 
 To his brother, W. M. Tuke, he wrote : 
 
 October 2, 1875. 
 
 " I have more than once thought of writing [to] 
 you since you were here, but in one way or other 
 our time seems to have been occupied, and it is 
 difficult to settle down to anything. It is natural 
 no doubt that it should be so, for (as thou wilt 
 have experienced) when the whole of your spare 
 time has been employed in one direction and your 
 thoughts constantly directed into the same channel, 
 the mind cannot at once exert itself in other ways 
 when the all-absorbing attraction has gone or been 
 taken from you. How wonderful the mystery of 
 life is ! we seem to know so much and yet so little, 
 and our knowledge seems to end so sharply and 
 abruptly, except so far as we see or know by the 
 eye of faith, and there are times when it is difficult 
 to have that spiritual consciousness which at other 
 times is so sustaining and helpful. 
 
 " Dear sweet Alice, what her tender love and 
 care for her poor father has been words cannot 
 say, and I can scarcely bear to realise that all that
 
 ii6 JAMES HACK TUKE 1875 
 
 ' wealth ' of love has been taken from me. And 
 yet I feel as if I could never for one moment 
 really wish her back again, and the sense of the 
 serene peace and perfect unshaken trust in her 
 Lord which was given her during those last suffer- 
 ing days is a real balm to my wound, and assures 
 me of her happiness in the presence of Him who 
 loved her and gave Himself for the remission of 
 her and our sins. God is love, and if He out of 
 His inexhaustible fountain gave me one little drop 
 to love my child with, how much better is it for 
 her to be with Him, * the Father,' who is the 
 source of all love."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 1879-1882 
 
 Ackworth School Condition of Ireland Relief Committees 
 Visit to Ireland Pamphlet on Irish Distress Visions 
 at Knock Plan for emigration to Manitoba Visit to 
 America Religious difficulty Petitions for relief 
 Visit to Ireland, October 1881 Plan for emigration 
 Visit to Ireland, February 1882 Paper in Contemporary 
 Review Meeting at Duke of Bedford's " Mr. Tuke's 
 Fund." 
 
 AMONGST the institutions connected with the 
 Quaker body in which Tuke and his father be- 
 fore him had taken a lively interest was a school 
 at Ackworth in Yorkshire, which had been founded 
 for the better education of children of Friends in 
 June 1779. A centenary celebration was held on 
 26th and 27th June 1879, at which Tuke was 
 present, and at which he read a sketch of the life 
 of Dr. John Fothergill, F.R.S., who was the prin- 
 cipal founder of the institution a man of great 
 celebrity in his profession and his day, and whose
 
 n8 JAMES HACK TUKE 1879 
 
 life was sketched by Hartley Coleridge in his 
 Biographia Borealis. 
 
 The autumn of 1879 foreboded distress to 
 Ireland, and as the season advanced, the distress 
 became more apparent ; the rain was continuous, and 
 Ireland was threatened with a double calamity a 
 potato famine and a peat famine : for the potato 
 crop was a failure, and as there was no sun to 
 dry the peat, a fuel famine seemed imminent. 
 Pauperism had increased, the deposits in the banks 
 had decreased, the exports had shrunk, the con- 
 sumption of luxuries had fallen off, the railway 
 traffic had lessened, and bankruptcy amongst the 
 farmers had grown more frequent. 1 
 
 Thereupon, two very influential committees for 
 the relief of the distressed districts were formed in 
 Dublin ; one which had the care of the fund 
 raised by the exertions of the Duchess of 
 Marlborough, the wife of the then Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, and the other which superintended the 
 Mansion House Fund. The Quakers in England 
 were again anxious to do what they could, but 
 without establishing any separate fund. The small 
 committee of that body which had the matter in 
 charge were desirous of better information than 
 
 1 Annual Register, 1879, p. 189.
 
 i88o VISIT TO IRELAND 119 
 
 they possessed with regard to the actual state of 
 things in the west. This and the deep interest 
 which he felt in the so-called Irish question (a 
 question not easy to answer) induced Tuke to visit 
 Ireland again in her distress. His objects were 
 primarily to enquire into the actual extent of the 
 misery and into the working of the machinery set 
 on foot by the two committees in Dublin, the one 
 of which took the Union and the other the parish, 
 as the unit of relief areas, and also to make further 
 inquiry into the causes of the chronic poverty 
 then existing. He also carried with him some 
 contributions from his friends for the aid of 
 immediate and pressing need. Accordingly he 
 left England in February 1880, and at Dublin 
 placed himself in communication with the two 
 committees, who both warmly accepted the services 
 which he proposed to render to the common cause. 
 They, as well as the Constabulary authorities in 
 Dublin, did all in their power to aid him in his 
 inquiries. 
 
 A letter to his daughter Frances, dated Dublin, 
 2ist February 1880, gives an account of how he 
 found things in that city : 
 
 " Yesterday was spent in seeing the authorities 
 Poor Law officials, heads of various departments,
 
 izo JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 etc. etc., from whom I have bundles of papers and 
 introductions large enough to enable one to settle 
 the affairs of a nation, but alas ! not of Ireland. Of 
 course I saw both the Mansion House Committee, 
 and the Duchess of Marlborough at the Castle, 
 where I was ushered into a large room where the 
 ladies only were at work. Then Lord Randolph 
 Churchill took me into his room and showed me 
 all that they were doing the endless reports from 
 the districts, etc. etc. etc. He is working 
 immensely hard, and when I left, as his mother 
 (the Duchess) was not at home, he said she wished 
 me to call again this morning at eleven o'clock to 
 have a little talk with her. . . . This I of course did, 
 and I wish I could give you a little idea of the 
 very interesting interview I had, in which she 
 entered with a depth of feeling into her work, 
 which was really very touching, telling me that for 
 some weeks before she began it, she had ' felt as if 
 the Spirit was moving her to it,' and that she felt 
 it a very deep and solemn responsibility, in which 
 his Grace shared. Whilst we were talking, the Duke 
 came in, and spoke very pleasantly about the work 
 going on, and told me that the authorities had 
 directions to afford any help I might need in the 
 country. Naturally I thought it was time for me
 
 1880 DONEGAL AND CONNAUGHT 121 
 
 to leave, but the Duchess begged me to stay after 
 he went out, and again entered into the question of 
 remedial measures, into which I have not time to 
 enter, except to say that she has most practical ideas 
 on the subject ; as she said, ' You know my father 
 was a very practical man ' (the old Marquis of 
 Londonderry), ' and I inherit his nature and 
 
 must carry out thoroughly what I am engaged 
 
 > 
 in. 
 
 Leaving Dublin in the company of his nephew, 
 Henry T. Meynell, and his friend, Howard 
 Hodgkin, Tuke spent some six weeks on a visit 
 to Donegal and Connaught in the months of 
 February, March, and April (1880). He from 
 time to time communicated what he saw and 
 learned not only to the English committee with 
 which he was most directly in communication, but 
 to the two committees sitting in Dublin. He also 
 addressed the public through the columns of the 
 Times, and subsequently through the pages of a 
 pamphlet which he published under the title of 
 " Irish Distress and its Remedies : The Land 
 Question. A Visit to Donegal and Connaught in 
 the Spring of 1880." This pamphlet, as its title 
 implied, was by no means a mere narrative of 
 his journey in the west country, but contained a
 
 izz JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 discussion of many of the points then pressed 
 upon the attention of the public. 
 
 In the course of this visit Tuke revisited many 
 of the places at which he had been in 1847, and 
 notwithstanding the pressure of distress, very acute 
 in some places, he marked the great improvement 
 which had taken place in the interval. 
 
 " It would be wrong," he says in his pamphlet, 
 " not to notice that, except in the very small farms, 
 there are signs of real and permanent improvement 
 in the country. As we drove back to Bally- 
 shannon, I could not but recall the miserable 
 objects I saw one Sunday morning in 1847, 
 digging over the bare ground for a chance potato, 
 and the corpses of the dead carried, without cere- 
 mony or funeral, to the grave. From Bally- 
 shannon, nearly all the way to Donegal (a most 
 beautiful drive along the lovely Bay of Donegal), 
 the improvement was marked. One village looked 
 poor, and no doubt was so. At another a fair 
 was being held, and certainly the farmers were 
 quite as well dressed as any small farmers would 
 have been in England. Trade was bad ; ' no one 
 could pay,' we were told, and cows were difficult 
 to sell at 3 : los. to ^5 or 7. But the change 
 in the cattle was wonderful ; the long-horned,
 
 1880 IMPROVEMENT 123 
 
 ragged beasts have disappeared, and neat, tidy 
 little beasts have taken their place." 
 
 Again, speaking of Carrick- on -Shannon, he 
 writes : 
 
 "Contrast this town with its aspect in 1847. 
 It is market-day, and the streets are filled 
 with well-dressed men and women, who buy and 
 sell their little produce, and give to the passing 
 visitor no idea of want or misery. In 1847 tne 
 streets were haunted by famine -stricken men, 
 women, and children, imploring food in vain. 
 Especially do I recall the children, with their 
 death-like faces and their ' drum-stick ' arms, so 
 thin that they looked as if they might snap in two 
 if you took hold of them. In the overcrowded 
 workhouse, dirt, disorder, and death reigned. 
 There were no organised committees for adminis- 
 tering relief. Look now at the workhouse, not 
 full, and all its inmates in perfect order and 
 cleanliness, well-fed and well -cared -for. Not 
 that there is no want or destitution now, but 
 well-organised committees in connection with the 
 great Dublin funds, whose monthly grants amount 
 to many hundreds of pounds, are in constant 
 session ministering, as some think with too liberal 
 a hand, to the wants of the suffering population.
 
 124 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 Some outdoor relief is also given by the Guardians. 
 Ladies' committees, too, are at work, giving 
 employment in knitting and sewing to many 
 poor women who would otherwise be idle. 
 
 " Nor is this all. In addition to the ordinary 
 duties of the Guardians, the very onerous task 
 of carrying out the details of the * Seed Potato 
 Act,' which has just come into operation, tells 
 very heavily upon the Chairman and other members 
 of the Board. Large placards were posted on the 
 walls giving a short, clear abstract of the Act, and 
 the needful instructions to the small ratepayers 
 who can claim its benefits." 
 
 But whatever improvement there had been, the 
 misery still was great. " This town-land," he says, 
 writing of Meenacladdy, " stretches over a wide 
 extent of wet bog-land, bounded on the west by 
 a wild rocky coast, against which the waves of 
 the Atlantic were dashing half-way up the cliffs 
 in huge masses of foam ; on the other side the 
 bog -land extends towards the mountains of 
 Donegal, whose slopes were covered with the snow 
 recently fallen. Imagine, over this wild waste, 
 little dwellings scattered at wide intervals, some 
 of rough stone and some of mere peat sods, 
 scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding sur-
 
 i88o NORMAL MISERY 125 
 
 face ; add to this the blinding squalls of sleet 
 or snow which swept over it, and some idea 
 may be gained of the district we explored. A 
 few of the dwellings were, of course, on the road- 
 side, but the access to many was over the wet bog 
 where there is no road. I doubt not we must 
 have presented an amusing picture, as, with the 
 priest at our head as guide, his long coat flying 
 in the wind, we jumped from sod to sod to avoid 
 deep holes of mud, or over ditches filled with 
 water, not without failures in our unwonted 
 attempts. Of the destitution and misery found 
 in these bog -dwellings, I feel, after a lapse of 
 twenty-four hours, that I can hardly bring myself 
 to write. It is not merely the unusual distress 
 of to-day, arising from the causes which I have 
 enumerated, but the everyday life, the normal 
 condition of hundreds, nay thousands, of families 
 on the west coast of Donegal, and of many other 
 parts of the west of Ireland, which oppresses me. 
 But on this normal condition this everyday 
 contest with existence and hardships I must not 
 dwell here. The question involves considerations 
 and issues too vast for any hasty notes. But let 
 me put down, if I can, the condition of a few 
 of the dwellings we entered.
 
 iz6 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 " A turf dwelling, near the road, which my 
 friends, who were not acquainted with the west, 
 could not believe was a human habitation. The 
 end of the house towards the road was not more 
 than four or five feet high, but, as the ground 
 sank rapidly on the other side, you were able to 
 find an entrance through a low doorway. Within, 
 at first, all appeared dark, the peat smoke which 
 filled the room blinding us. When a little accus- 
 tomed to the smoke, we saw, by the light which 
 strayed in through the opening in the roof where 
 the smoke ought to have gone out, but did not, 
 a woman and several children crouched around a 
 small fire. There was neither chair nor table in 
 the place ; probably one small stool was all they 
 possessed in this way. The bedstead was covered 
 with a little ragged coverlid, beneath which some 
 straw was spread on the wooden frame ; the 
 children, or others who could not find room upon 
 it, lay down on the bare rock or earth of the floor, 
 in the thin clothes they wear all day, with a little 
 straw or hay beneath them. The family had no 
 resources left ; had it not been for the * meal ' 
 they must have starved. The man, who seemed 
 an industrious fellow, was working on the bog, in 
 spite of the weather, seeking to cultivate a little
 
 1880 CONNEMARA COAST 127 
 
 ground for the coming season. He had 'no baste 
 left, neither cow nor sheep, only three or four fowls.' 
 He had been to Scotland for the harvest last 
 autumn, but had come back without earnings, and 
 now, in debt for meal and rent, he was beaten." 
 
 Here is a picture of a visit on the Connemara 
 coast : 
 
 "A rough boat was at last manned by five 
 men with three oars, to row us over the inlet to 
 the little village of Camus. I wish I could produce 
 that rocky coast and wild miserable village, or 
 rather introduce it into England for a while, so 
 that English people might realise how, in these 
 remote places, so many thousands of people are 
 living. Half a mile away, and I will venture to 
 say no one would think it possible that any human 
 being could live or even find foothold on this 
 rock-strewn shore ; but, by degrees, you see the 
 little * smokes ' arising, and here and there little 
 dark strips of land, which show that the ground 
 is being prepared for the potatoes they hope to 
 obtain, for they have none left to plant. Then 
 you see peering above the rocks little dark heads 
 of men, women, and children, who, attracted by the 
 unusual sight, come out of their cabins to recon- 
 noitre. As you walk among them on landing,
 
 iz8 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 they watch you with curious eyes ; they do not 
 beg, and cannot answer your enquiries, for most 
 do not understand, and few can talk, English. 
 They are a race of wild people, poorly clad, and 
 living with the cattle in their houses, often lying 
 on the damp ground on hay like them. No 
 distribution of meal had taken place last week, 
 and several families were sitting round small 
 quantities of the smallest (old) potatoes I ever 
 saw, and with nothing else to eat with them. In 
 one house which I entered, three children, under 
 one covering, ill with fever, were lying on the 
 ground ; others also were ill." 
 
 By way of relief from the continued story of 
 distress and misery, I may introduce the following 
 curious bit of narrative addressed to his daughters 
 at home, and dated March 1880 : 
 
 "At Knock, a dirty, small cluster of houses, 
 with a church on a hill with tall tower, an appari- 
 tion, * vision,' is stated to have appeared last 
 August, when the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph 
 and a figure dressed as a Bishop (called now 
 St. John) were seen with an altar, etc. etc., 
 depicted in the evening upon the east end of the 
 church. Much excitement was caused, and the 
 people near called others to see it, and in some
 
 i88o VISION AT KNOCK 129 
 
 way or other, it seems to have been connected 
 with the cure of a young woman in the town 
 shortly after. This was attributed to the miracu- 
 lous efficacy of the Blessed Virgin, and the report 
 began to spread far and wide that miracles of 
 healing were performed. Other visions also 
 appeared, and strange lights, brighter than 
 electric were seen in the church. A blind man 
 had his sight given, the lame threw away their 
 crutches or sticks, and boys given over by the 
 doctor were cured by the prayers and intercession 
 of the Virgin. This has now continued for some 
 weeks, and I must describe what we saw. As we 
 approached the village, we saw an unusual number 
 of persons about, and both the road and muddy 
 space around the church had the appearance 
 of a fair going on numbers of cars booths 
 where books, images, etc., were sold, in addi- 
 tion to a crowd of pilgrims who were walking 
 round and round saying their prayers, kneeling 
 here and there, and especially towards the east 
 end where the vision appeared. Here probably 
 a hundred persons were in various attitudes of 
 prayer, some prostrate on the ground, calling out 
 loudly, ' Oh, Mother of God, Blessed Virgin, 
 Mother of God, hear us,' etc. It had been 
 
 K
 
 130 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 found needful to cover the wall of the church for 
 about eight feet high at the end with boards, to 
 prevent the people cutting out the mortar from 
 this, as it was feared they would attack the stones 
 also and make a hole in the wall, the object being 
 to take away small crumbs of this holy wall for their 
 friends, or as relics. Spite of this precaution, a 
 man had climbed up and was cutting out the 
 mortar with a knife, whilst the poor people below 
 held their hands or hats, etc., to catch the sacred 
 portions. Nor was the east end the only place, 
 for others were attacking the mortar in more 
 accessible places and carrying it off in paper, etc. 
 One man said he had come from Scotland to see 
 the place, and was much benefited through the 
 intercession of the Blessed Virgin and of St. Joseph 
 and St. John, but if he had not been, he should 
 have been satisfied that his prayers would have 
 been heard and he helped in another world. At 
 the east end, on the boarded portion, several 
 crutches were hung up, as we so often have seen 
 them in Italian churches, and a large frame, like a 
 crib in a farmyard, was placed a little distance 
 from the church, in which over fifty or sixty sticks 
 had been thrown by persons who had come lame, 
 and walked away better without them ! One on
 
 1880 VISION AT KNOCK 131 
 
 which the word Liverpool had been cut (as is done 
 on an Alpenstock) was specially noticed to us. 
 In the church more than a hundred persons were 
 devoutly saying their prayers, and as we entered, 
 a low murmuring note resounded throughout the 
 building. 
 
 " Near the church is the girls' school, and a few 
 girls were at work spite of the crowds around. 
 The mistress and her assistant, very respectable 
 young women, quite believed in the ' miracles,' 
 as they called them ; one of them had seen some- 
 thing, and both as firmly believed in the healing 
 as they would in any ordinary fact. We also 
 spoke to the head constable, Poure, who said he 
 had seen, at any rate, one case (which on enquiring 
 into did not seem to me so miraculous as Aunt 
 Emma's cure, for instance, at Torquay), but he 
 quite thought it to be attributed to the prayers, 
 etc., of the boy and his father. His men, he said, 
 had seen some strange lights in or on the church, 
 and he had no doubt of the bond fide nature of 
 this strange apparition. I confess that as I heard 
 it described the day before by another priest, it 
 gave me the feeling that it was like the effect of a 
 dissolving view, especially as he said there were 
 lights running up and down the wall (just like the
 
 132 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 last scene in a magic lantern). Many of the 
 people were men from England or Scotland, as 
 well as Ireland, all, whether well or ill, most 
 devoutly believing in the vision. 
 
 " It is a strange affair, and I feel it quite impos- 
 sible to account for, unless in the first place some 
 trick has been played, but now it is clear that 
 some who come (one in a hundred perhaps) think 
 they are the better for it. No priest was with the 
 people, but I was amused with one car-load of 
 people, four nuns with black bonnets and veils, 
 looking so much like four good old Friends' 
 bonnets." 
 
 To return to Tuke's pamphlet on Irish Distress : 
 so much has changed in Ireland since 1880, that it 
 would be tedious as well as useless to discuss at length 
 his views of the evils and the remedies. Suffice 
 it to say, that he dwells in detail on the contrast 
 presented by the estates of good resident landlords 
 and of absentees ; that he notices the recognition 
 in the language and customs of the country of 
 the tenant right ; that he describes the evils aris- 
 ing from the want of fixity of tenure, that he 
 rejects with some warmth the theory that the 
 Irish are, when properly treated, a lazy people, 
 and that he discusses the two rival projects of
 
 i88o IRISH EVILS AND REMEDIES 133 
 
 emigration and " scattering " with a strong 
 leaning in favour of the former. In fact he 
 was, as he subsequently wrote, 4 ' strongly impressed 
 with the necessity of assisting families to emigrate 
 in order to lessen the fearful crowding of those who 
 were attempting to live on small patches of land." 1 
 
 This pamphlet had a great success. It ran 
 through six editions : it attracted much notice in 
 the press, and it was quoted with great respect 
 in more than one debate in the House of Lords. 
 The thoughts that found body in the Land Act 
 of 1 88 1 were then in the air. 
 
 On this and on all occasions of his visits to 
 Ireland, Tuke greatly attached to himself those 
 who worked with him ; and his correspondence 
 contained abundant proofs of the affection for 
 himself and the stimulus for work which he 
 aroused amongst the various persons with whom 
 he was thus brought into contact. 
 
 Some evidences of gratitude for these labours 
 found their way to Tuke. An illiterate scrawl lies 
 before me which, I am sure, touched him much 
 when he received it : " All Mrs. Carol's tenents 
 and the children also send their blessings to 
 Mr. Tuke." 
 
 1 Report on Assisted Emigration, 1891, p. 3.
 
 134 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 The importance of emigration had impressed 
 itself on Tuke's mind as the result of this tour. 
 In September (1880) he met at the table of his 
 old friend Forster (then Chief Secretary for 
 Ireland), Sir John Macdonald, the Prime Minister 
 of Canada, and Sir Alexander Gait, the Resident 
 Minister in this country for the Colony, and they 
 discussed together the prospects of a scheme for 
 emigration to Manitoba, then an almost unknown 
 country. 1 Accordingly, Tuke determined to in- 
 vestigate for himself the results of the previous 
 emigrations of the Irish, and the fitness of the 
 north-western districts of Canada for Irish settlers ; 
 and in consequence, he sailed in the autumn for 
 America with two of his daughters. 
 
 He visited Philadelphia, Ottawa, Toronto 
 (where he felt himself " almost in the old 
 country"), Baltimore (where he speaks of "an 
 aristocratic air ... in striking contrast to ... 
 the other American towns"), and Washington 
 (where he was greatly interested in a private inter- 
 view with President Hayes). He went also to Iowa 
 and Minnesota; and he visited the North- West 
 of Canada with a view of ascertaining whether a 
 proposal of the Canadian Government to place a 
 
 1 Reid's Life of Fonter, vol. ii. p. 274.
 
 r88o VISIT TO AMERICA 135 
 
 large number of families on that part of their 
 territory, could be safely carried into execution. 
 Tuke, whilst at Ottawa, had interviews with 
 Lord Lome, the Governor-General, and with the 
 Premier and other members of the Dominion 
 Government, and took part in the preparation of 
 a plan for the emigration and settlement of Irish 
 families, which had the approval of both the 
 English and the Dominion Governments. This 
 ultimately fell through, chiefly in consequence 
 of the Canadian Government's declining to be 
 responsible for the collection of the instalments 
 by which the advances to be made by the home 
 Government were to be repaid. 1 
 
 In his paper entitled " Irish Emigration," 
 published in the Nineteenth Century for February 
 1 88 1, 2 Tuke gave an account of his visit to the 
 States of Iowa and Minnesota, and to our own 
 province of Manitoba in the North -Western 
 Territory. In Minnesota he notices that many 
 a poor Irishman had found a home and an honour- 
 able future, under the " Catholic Colonisation 
 Association directed by the splendid energy of 
 
 1 Report upon Assisted Emigration, 1891, p. 4. Tuke's " Reminiscences 
 of Forster," Friends' Quarterly Examiner, 1889, p. 170. 
 
 2 pp. 358 et seq.
 
 136 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 Bishop Ireland," and that in Manitoba the 
 Canadian Governments held out most liberal 
 inducements to any who would come and till 
 the soil. He described the great prairie region 
 of North - Western Canada as a waste of fine 
 agricultural country, nearly ten times as large as 
 all Ireland. He then entered upon a detailed 
 consideration of the probable results of immigration 
 into this country, which evidently led to the 
 conclusion in his mind that a well-devised scheme 
 of Irish emigration might be carried into execution 
 with great benefit to both countries : this he 
 thought should be assisted by the English Govern- 
 ment ; and then came the question by what 
 machinery this should be done a question which 
 he had discussed with the Governor-General, Sir 
 John Macdonald, and other leading members 
 of the Canadian Government. Three schemes 
 had been suggested, the joint action of the 
 Imperial and Dominion Governments, a colonisa- 
 tion association to be subsidised by the home 
 Government, and an Imperial emigration commis- 
 sion, but into this discussion it is not necessary 
 now to enter ; for none of the plans ever 
 reached maturity. The way in which, in this 
 essay, he met the difficulty likely to arise from
 
 1880 SCHEMES FOR EMIGRATION 137 
 
 the Roman Catholic Church is too characteristic 
 to be omitted. 
 
 "There remains," he said, "one other point 
 to be noticed, and that not an easy one. 
 In my pamphlet on ' Irish Distress and its 
 Remedies,' I mentioned what is well known, 
 that the Irish priesthood of the Church of Rome 
 frequently object to emigration. It is not necessary 
 to ascribe this, as is often ungenerously done, to 
 their pay depending on the number of their flock, 
 which makes them reluctant to lose any parish- 
 ioners. The pay is poor enough ; and they earn 
 it, for whatever be their failings, the priests look 
 after their people. What they urge is, that in the 
 great American cities men and women become 
 alike demoralised, and lose their simplicity. Their 
 clerical brethren write to them to send no more 
 out. Better, they say, that they should starve at 
 home than run the risk of ruin there. But Bishop 
 Ireland's Association meets this difficulty. The 
 priests go with the people and enter into their 
 interests. Schools and chapels are opened at once, 
 and strict rules are enforced against the sale of 
 spirits. I am glad that I am again supported by 
 the opinion of Lord Dufferin when I say I am con- 
 vinced that, if there is to be successful emigration
 
 138 JAMES HACK TUKE 1880 
 
 on a large scale from western Ireland, it will be 
 needful for the Government to unite with the 
 priesthood, and to give them every assistance in 
 providing for the religious care and oversight of 
 their people. If priests could be sent with their 
 flocks, it would be money well laid out to afford 
 them a free passage, and a grant of land in their 
 new settlement. In Canada this would be looked 
 on as a perfectly natural arrangement. 
 
 " I fear that some of those whose sympathies I 
 should like best to enlist in favour of organised 
 emigration, may take exception to this recognition 
 of the Roman Catholic Church. I can only ask 
 them fully to consider the question as I believe I 
 have done. Conversions from the Romish Church 
 have not been very frequent in Ireland, and are 
 not in the future likely to be more successful 
 among a half-starved peasantry in Connaught than 
 among prosperous settlers in Manitoba. It must 
 surely be admitted that the people are likely to 
 learn more good than evil from their priests, and 
 that in the prairies it is better that they should 
 have their priests than be altogether without 
 religious teachers. At any rate, I am not now 
 proposing any scheme for conversion, but a scheme 
 for lifting up a very poor and miserable class of
 
 1 88 1 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY 139 
 
 people who exist almost at our doors, and making 
 them into prosperous and independent farmers and 
 labourers." * 
 
 Relief work in Ireland, sad and wearisome as it 
 was for the most part, was not unrelieved by its 
 touches of humour. Mr. H. A. Robinson, a local 
 Government Inspector, and one of Tuke's zealous 
 coadjutors, had been employed in the distribution 
 of seed potatoes purchased by a fund of about 
 1000, which was, in the spring of 1881, raised 
 for that purpose by members of the Society of 
 Friends ; and under date of Bellmullet, 4th April 
 1 88 1, he wrote to Tuke as follows : 
 
 " I have been daily intending to write and thank 
 you for your very kind letter, but the seed business 
 here has not left me a moment I can call my own 
 for the last month. The number of letters I 
 receive from people asking for seed, averages about 
 six hundred a day. I have forbidden all notes 
 being sent, but it is no use ; the people have the 
 most firm belief that ' a writin ' is infallible ; 
 and, as I will not receive them, they resort to 
 strategy and skilful subterfuge, and pop the 
 * writins ' through the windows, under the doors, 
 and into every available nook and cranny where 
 
 1 Nineteenth Century, February 1881, p. 370.
 
 140 JAMES HACK TUKE 1881 
 
 there is the remotest possibility of their meeting 
 my eye. Last week they were sent in the shape 
 of parcels, but that cheat was soon discovered ; and 
 this morning, when I took in my boots from out- 
 side the hotel door, the toes were crammed with 
 these mysterious missives. 
 
 " Yesterday evening, as I was working in the 
 hotel, the whispering outside the window and the 
 scraping of feet apprised me that an outrage was 
 about to be perpetrated, the window was lowered 
 carefully from the outside and a hen was thrust 
 in ; there was a hope hurriedly expressed from 
 without that my ' honour would accept it,' and 
 then a stampede of the successful delinquents. It 
 needed only one glance at the graceful gift to see 
 that the hen was the unwilling bearer of about 
 thirty ' writins.' 
 
 " The * writins ' themselves are extraordinary 
 specimens, and any of the people that are unable 
 to write repair to a certain scribe, the efficacy of 
 whose effusions is acknowledged. 
 
 " The epistles vary in style. 
 
 "No. i, which is the work of Paddy himself, 
 generally is to this effect : 
 
 " ' The Barer, Pat Togher, has a long, wake, 
 and helpless family, and hopes, Mr. Robinson,
 
 1 88 1 PETITIONS FOR SEED POTATOES 141 
 
 that your honer will give me a few hundreds of 
 seed potatoes, otherwise he will become an in- 
 cubus on the Union.' 
 
 " No. 2 is the scribe's work, the charge for it is 
 one penny, and it launches forth into expressive 
 language about donning the Union garb and being 
 a charge on the rates. 
 
 "No. 3 style costs 2d., and is highly re- 
 commended. It commences, ' Right Honourable 
 Colonel Robinson,' and pathetically alludes to the 
 land which is lying waste. 
 
 "No. 4 is warranted, and costs 4d., it is 
 enclosed in an envelope and marked ' immediate,' 
 while for 6d. a memorial may be obtained with 
 a large ' humbly showeth ' and a still larger 
 
 * whereas,' which is literally smothered in flourishes. 
 (This memorial is of known power, and on several 
 occasions has elicited rejoinders from a gintleman 
 at Dublin Castle, saying that it had been afther 
 recaving the consideration of the Lord Lift-mint !) 
 
 " I think, however, I have managed to put an 
 end to the ' fetish ' of the scribe, as all persons 
 with letters I have told to wait till Friday. 
 
 " I never saw any people so overwhelming in 
 their protestations of gratitude as they are to 
 
 * them that's sending the potatoes.' If ever you
 
 i 4 2 JAMES HACK TUKE 1881 
 
 come to Erris again, or if your co- subscribers 
 come, you will meet with a warm reception. 
 
 " Rivers will be netted for you, mountains will 
 be poached in your honour, poteen will be publicly 
 made for your especial delectation, and God help 
 the unlucky landlord, policeman, or ganger that 
 will dar to interfere with the grateful acknowledg- 
 ment of a thankful peasantry, to the grandest 
 gintleman that iver kem amongst them." 
 
 In August 1 88 1 the Irish Land Act of that 
 year received the Royal assent. It contained a 
 clause authorising the application of a sum of 
 ^200,000 in assisting emigration ; but it required 
 that this should be done through the medium of 
 contracts with some State colony, public body, or 
 public company, and the loan was to be made on 
 good security : these and other requirements 
 rendered the clause, to Tuke's great disappoint- 
 ment, entirely inoperative. The sum was never 
 touched, and the section authorising its application 
 was repealed in 1891 (Purchase of Land (Ireland) 
 Act 1891, sect. 35). 
 
 The autumn of 1 8 8 1 again saw Tuke at work in the 
 west of Ireland for the purpose of making further 
 enquiries as to the feasibility of sending out families, 
 and as to the wishes of the people on the subject.
 
 i88i ENQUIRIES IN IRELAND 143 
 
 One letter to his sister Esther, dated Bellmullet, 
 County Mayo, 8th October 1881, may show how 
 Tuke felt in working over old and familiar ground. 
 
 " Here I am once more in this remote corner of 
 the west of Ireland. It is thirty-four years since 
 I was here before in the dreadful winter of 1847, 
 when I had to come down here to substantiate the 
 statements made in my 1 847 pamphlet about those 
 terrible evictions of the Mullaroghe people ; and this 
 is the little sitting-room in the small inn, into 
 which last spring the people pushed the hen to 
 Mr. Robinson, with forty begging letters under 
 her wings, for the ' pitaties ' without which they 
 and their small families ' would become an incubus 
 on the parish.' That ^1000 which we raised last 
 spring l has been the salvation of these people so 
 far as their bodies are concerned ; would that it was 
 their souls also that could be as easily reached! 
 In the market under our windows are groups of 
 men and women the country women with bright 
 kerchiefs over their heads, and dark brown or red 
 skirts, and often minus shoes and stockings. 
 Many are selling fish, and we hear them chaffering 
 and counting them out in Gaelic. Others have 
 
 1 This was the fund in the distribution of which Mr. Robinson was 
 employed. E. F.
 
 144 JAMES HACK TUKE 1881 
 
 baskets and donkey-loads of potatoes, the result of 
 the seed sent in spring, which has produced a 
 wonderful crop. To-day there is a great surplus, 
 and they are selling at 3d. per stone 2s. per cwt. 
 in the market. If thou wast here thy pencil 
 would be busy, or brush rather, taking sketches 
 of the picturesque groups in the grounds. As I 
 walked among them a short time ago, I heard 
 them saying, * That's the good gentleman that sent 
 us the seed long life to him,' etc. And this 
 morning our landlady told me, ' The people would 
 have made an illumination if they had known you 
 were here ; it was too late when you came, it was 
 thought, but to-night there is to be a bonfire 
 and I know not what else ' which will be a nuis- 
 ance. 
 
 " I have had a long talk with ' Father ,' 
 
 the priest of a wild country district, with about 900 
 parishioners spread over mountain and loch, among 
 whom Irish is the chief language ; he was wanting 
 help for his schools, or rather to establish schools, 
 for many districts are without. The priest is a 
 simple sort of man, with the vice probably of his 
 parishioners, fondness for ' potheen,' which they 
 distil largely. He is the man who, often falling a 
 victim to the glass, became a teetotaller and
 
 i88i ERRIS 145 
 
 destroyed all his whisky, and when a few days 
 after some gentlemen called, bewailing his condition 
 that he could not offer them anything ' moist,' he 
 wound up by offering them a Seidlitz-powder. 
 Does dearest Maria recollect my coming down 
 here in 1847, just a ft er I was engaged to darling 
 
 E , when the landlords were so angry with me 
 
 for what I had written that they threatened to 
 horsewhip me, and my letters were directed James 
 Hack, so as to prevent my name being known ? 
 Now the tables are indeed turned, and the people 
 horsewhip, i.e. shoot, the landlords. The con- 
 dition of the country in this respect is most serious, 
 not so much in actual killing, but in the many 
 attempts and combinations for this object, as well 
 as the non-payment of rent, among the people. 
 Yesterday, during our long, weary car-drive of sixty 
 miles across the bogs of Erris, we halted at the end 
 of about thirty-five miles at a gentleman's house, who 
 most kindly gave us lunch and food for our horses. 
 He was living alone, and always armed, and his words 
 as we left in the drizzly, dull evening for the rest 
 of the journey were, * Good-bye, gentlemen, you're 
 the only people here who can travel without fear 
 of being shot ! ' no doubt an exaggeration, but 
 with sufficient truth in it to give food for much 
 
 L
 
 146 JAMES HACK TUKE 1881 
 
 thought about the state of a people within thirty 
 hours of London." 
 
 The position of things in the west of Ireland 
 in the winter of 1881-82 was this : the various 
 charitable funds and extra Government assistance 
 given to tide over the two previous disastrous 
 years were exhausted, and the people were left face 
 to face with their poverty. Few rents had been 
 paid, notices of eviction were served in all direc- 
 tions, and scores of families were turned out 
 of their miserable holdings to linger on the 
 roadside in such shelter as they could find or 
 could put together. His visit to Canada during 
 the previous year had convinced Tuke of the 
 enormous demand then existing for labour, and 
 of the prosperity of the greater part of those who 
 had previously left Ireland. To his mind, which, 
 as we have seen, had long been brooding on the 
 subject, it appeared clear that the emigration of 
 suitable families, with arrangements for their 
 voyage, their reception in America, and their 
 transfer to selected destinations, was at any rate 
 one remedy which might be attempted ; but how 
 was it to be done? 
 
 In July 1882 Tuke was again in Galway making 
 further enquiries into the condition of the west.
 
 1 882 EVICTED PEASANTS 147 
 
 To his daughters he wrote from Glendalough 
 House on 26th February 1882 : 
 
 " The mist and rain shut out the lovely view 
 from this little house and give a dismal enough 
 aspect to the ' face of Nature,' perhaps somewhat 
 in unison with the sad scenes I witnessed two days 
 ago a few miles from here, near Carna. Seventy 
 or eighty families have been evicted here by Mr. 
 Berridge. They were turned out of their little 
 houses just after Christmas, and since that have been 
 living by the roadside or crowded together in other 
 huts, and now many have made for themselves little 
 ' housheen ' how pretty the diminutive is. These 
 are literally trenches cut out of the soil against some 
 huge stone or boulder, which serves for a wall on 
 one side, and the sods cut out for the other wall or 
 roof. The door is the only means of giving light, 
 and serving also for a chimney in many. In these 
 bog-holes men, women, children, and babies are 
 living five or eight in a family lying on the 
 straw generally, though in some the old bed has 
 been built into the hovel, and in one case the 
 dresser formed the end and gable of the dwelling. 
 In one a poor man was ill, in another a child, lying 
 on the bare ground. The ground wet and satu- 
 rated with filth around, completes the picture no,
 
 148 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 nothing but an experience could complete the picture, 
 or rather the reality and I think the most pitiable 
 part of the scene was that of strong men crouching 
 down with the children over the bit of scant fire, 
 absolutely idle and helpless week after week, day 
 after day, with no resource but the gloomy reflec- 
 tion and sense of misery and despair as to the 
 future for what is to become of them ? Into the 
 house they will not go, really I believe they would 
 die in these ' housheen ' rather than do so. I tried 
 to persuade one man who was ill and whose wife 
 expected to be confined soon, who had five children, 
 to go in, but all to no use. At present they have 
 a little food, some relief being given by the Union, 
 and some having a little money left. They offered 
 one year's rent, but owing three, it was refused. 
 
 " I am here with Mr. Robinson, whose kindness 
 and desire to serve these poor people it is delightful 
 to see." 
 
 Glendalough, from whence the last letter was 
 dated, was a place to which Tuke was specially 
 attached : of the Easter Sunday of this year, 1882, 
 spent there, Tuke thus wrote : 1 
 
 "And how would such a quiet day as this 
 Easter Sunday on which I write be valued by the 
 
 1 "With the Emigrants," Nineteenth Century, July 1882, pp. 140-142.
 
 i88z AN EASTER SUNDAY 149 
 
 thousands who have sought in an infinite variety 
 of places too crowded alas ! to gain the rest and 
 refreshment for brain and body which the perpetual 
 strain of our great cities increasingly necessitates ! 
 Perhaps a solitude too great for most, but the 
 beauty of the surroundings and the charm of this 
 Connemara scenery prevents its intense solitude, 
 at least for a day or two, from being oppressive. 
 There are, I need hardly say, no tourists in 
 Connemara now, though, as the boatman urges, 
 * any gentleman might lie down and sleep peace- 
 ably in the woods.' One * fishing gentleman ' had 
 been for a few days at the hotel, and gone. Except 
 an official passing now and then, no one had been 
 staying there since my visit a month ago. To-day, 
 basking in the full sunshine, how lovely, in its 
 first touch of spring, is the scenery around ! Look 
 from the window across the little slope of grass 
 with the fringe of trees to the left, just budding 
 into life. How perfect is the stillness of the loch, 
 with the shadow of the big mountain reflected on 
 its bosom ; how beautiful even the wide stretch of 
 bog beyond, to-day illuminated and rejoicing in 
 the sun up to the very foot of the steep slopes of 
 the Connemara Pins ; their gray sides, devoid of 
 herbage, almost glittering in the sunshine, whilst
 
 150 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 the sharp, clear outlines are thrown forward in 
 bold relief against the pale blue sky. Not unlike 
 in shape and colour, I have often thought, to the 
 outlines of the lowest range of the Alpine spurs 
 which touch the shores of the Mediterranean at 
 Mentone. 
 
 "But with this sunshine it is impossible to remain 
 indoors, and a few steps take you into the rocky 
 wood which nearly surrounds the hotel, and thence 
 into the wide, open, elevated plateau of bog and 
 moor which stretches for miles to the southern 
 coast of Galway. But as you pass through the strip 
 of wood it is impossible not to be struck with the 
 variety and exquisite beauty of the mosses and ferns 
 (just showing their new fronds) which everywhere 
 abound, luxuriating in this moist, mild climate. 
 There, too, in the rocky crevices the Saxifraga 
 (London Pride) and the Hymenophyllum abound, 
 with other rare ferns. 
 
 "And beyond this belt of wood, which ceases so 
 suddenly that you are assured you are indebted 
 chiefly for this rarity to the hand of some former 
 possessor of the estate, you are on the bog. It is 
 needful carefully to pick your way, to avoid the 
 swampy holes, in order to reach one of the rocky 
 heights which stand boldly out of the turf around.
 
 1 882 CONNEMARA LANDSCAPE 151 
 
 And when there, what a panorama is spread before 
 you ! 
 
 " To the west the chain of little lochs which flow 
 through the valley past Ballynahinch and its old 
 robber castle till they find an outlet among rocks 
 and surge on the Atlantic coast. Northward the 
 chain of the Connemara mountains, commencing at 
 the coast, which almost fills up the more distant 
 horizon, and as the eye sweeps along their bold 
 outline they drop down in the valley in which 
 Lough Inagh the loveliest of Connemara lakes 
 is lying ; and, again retreating further inland, the 
 heights of Maamturk fill up the eastern distance. 
 How snug and peaceful the scattered cottages of 
 Lasoghta look almost the only sign of human 
 life visible with the green patch beside them 
 marking the strata in which the marble quarries of 
 Connemara are found ', rather than worked. 
 
 " Immediately below you the fringe of green 
 larches dips down to a tiny lake almost embowered 
 in their branches, and then, again, other small 
 lochs, their outline partially hidden by the trees on 
 this side, but ever beyond the miles of brown turf 
 bog, all to-day illuminated by the sun. 
 
 " Except the slight breeze which ever haunts a 
 height in the stillest day, there is perfect calm ;
 
 152 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 not a cloud to show that we are in Ireland. The 
 magpie, flying high in the air in perfect enjoyment 
 of the day, descending suddenly, as by some un- 
 seen ladder, with its tail outspread, utters its sharp 
 cry to its mate on the nest in the larches beneath, 
 and the plaintive ' wee-wee ' of the sandpiper and 
 harsher note of the oyster-catcher are the only 
 sounds which break the stillness of this perfect 
 day, which breathes nothing but peace. There are 
 those to whom, alas ! this sunshine must seem, in 
 some degree, a bitter mockery. But it is with the 
 people, and not with the scenery, of Connemara 
 that I am now concerned, and I can imagine some 
 one asking, Is this one of the congested districts 
 from which it is needful to remove a population 
 too numerous for the land to support? " 
 
 In April 1882 Tuke published, in the Con- 
 temporary Review, a paper entitled "Ought Emigra- 
 tion from Ireland to be Assisted?" and in it he 
 brought to bear his knowledge both of Ireland and 
 of America ; of the Irish as seen in Connemara and 
 of the Irish as seen in Manitoba. It was a power- 
 ful argument in favour of assisting emigration 
 from the West Coast. He pointed out that in the 
 five counties washed by the Atlantic Ocean, Donegal, 
 Mayo, Galway, Clare, and Kerry, a population of a
 
 i88z PLEA FOR EMIGRATION 153 
 
 little over a million was living upon 158,000 
 holdings, of which nearly half were rated under ^4, 
 and nearly another third of the whole at 10 and 
 under ; and that on such holdings as these human 
 life cannot decently be maintained without some 
 additional source of income, which never was forth- 
 coming. " It matters not," he said, " whether a 
 tenant has fixity of tenure or being a peasant 
 proprietor has no rent to pay ; he cannot, unless 
 he has some other source of income, live and bring 
 up a family on a small farm of ten or fifteen 
 acres." l He went on to show that, for tenants of 
 such farms, the Land Legislation had in fact done 
 and could do nothing ; that to purchase their 
 holdings was beyond their power, even if the fee 
 simple would have been any blessing to them ; that 
 reclamation was too costly and the land too poor ; 
 and that there remained, in his opinion, as the 
 only remedy, emigration to a more favoured land. 
 He then proceeded to show the inadequacy of 
 existing legislation, whether under the Land Act 
 of 1 8 8 1 , or the Irish Poor Relief Act ; he 
 confuted, with details drawn from his own ex- 
 perience, the assertion that the people had no 
 desire to emigrate ; he showed the success which 
 
 1 P- 695-
 
 154 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 had attended many cases in which voluntary 
 emigration had been assisted, especially in the 
 Catholic colonies of Minnesota and Iowa under 
 the guidance of Bishop Ireland, and the colonies 
 under the management of Mr. John Sweetman ; 
 and he dwelt upon the labours of Mr. Vere 
 Foster in aiding the emigration to America of 
 young Irish girls. 
 
 The plan which he advocated was the use of 
 the Poor Law Boards as the agencies to conduct 
 voluntary emigration, and the passing of an Act 
 empowering the Treasury to make special advances 
 to the Unions, for the sole purpose of aiding 
 voluntary emigration, the amount advanced to be 
 repayable in twenty-five years at a nominal rate 
 of interest. 
 
 In the concluding paragraphs of his paper, it 
 is not difficult to see that Tuke was already 
 anticipating opposition from some who posed as 
 Ireland's greatest friends. " Surely " he said, " if 
 any of the so-called ' leaders of the people ' of 
 Ireland, had any article to dispose of, at present 
 valueless in Ireland, but priceless in America, they 
 would not hesitate to transfer or take it there. 
 To them * Ireland for the Irish ' would then indeed 
 be deemed a meaningless cry. But is it less
 
 1 882 PLEA FOR EMIGRATION 155 
 
 meaningless when that article is labour, and the 
 alternatives beggary, or independence and comfort ? 
 
 " Much false and merely sentimental talk has 
 been indulged in by certain parties, to the infinite 
 injury of the impoverished people. Who ever 
 affects to speak of ' banishment ' or * expatriation ' 
 in reference to the multitudes of Englishmen who 
 yearly go abroad to ' seek their fortunes,' and 
 who, following in the footsteps of their forefathers, 
 have helped to colonise and civilise the world? 
 And in the greatness of such enterprises have not 
 Irishmen had their full share? Who regards 
 with pity the founders of that great Western 
 Commonwealth, whose descendants welcome with 
 open arms all comers from the Old World ? 
 
 " We may justly regret the necessity which the 
 changed conditions of agriculture, or the im- 
 poverished soil and climate and small holdings, 
 or any other causes combined, impose upon Irish- 
 men to leave their native land ; but to oppose the 
 departure of thousands, who are unable to obtain 
 a decent livelihood in Ireland, to a country which 
 offers them land at the lowest price, and at the 
 same time gives the highest price for the labour 
 they have to dispose of, seems alike short-sighted 
 and impolitic. Just as well might they oppose
 
 1 56 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 the exportation of the thousands of tons of Irish 
 potatoes now leaving for New York, and proclaim 
 that they should be left to rot at home. 
 
 " Unpatriotic do you call it ? It is the law 
 written on the human race ; the law which drew 
 Abraham from his native land; the law which, 
 written on the minds of the great Aryan family, 
 led them to descend from their eastern homes to 
 people and fertilise the plains of Europe ; the law 
 which led Columbus and Vasco da Gama, and a 
 host of others, to search for and to point out the 
 great New World; the law which has impelled 
 and is now impelling tens of thousands of people 
 of all nationalities in Europe to surge forth with 
 increasing volume, in that great wave of humanity 
 which breaks upon the shores of the Western 
 World, not to devastate, but to fertilise and bless. 
 And in that vast gathering of all European races 
 which goes to form the great American nation, 
 Ireland may well be proud to have contributed 
 her full quota ; and, spite of some omens to the 
 contrary, the world may be congratulated that both 
 the sentiment and the vivacity of the Irish race will 
 thus be perpetuated, and will help to mould the 
 character of the great English Republic of the future. ' ' 
 
 Tuke's efforts were at last beginning to tell :
 
 1 882 MEETING AT DUKE OF BEDFORD'S 157 
 
 several public men gave much thought to the 
 subject, and communicated with him ; and on 
 3ist March 1882, a meeting of several influ- 
 ential persons was held at the Duke of Bedford's 
 house, and by his invitation, to consider the 
 question of emigration from the west of Ireland. 
 Amongst others, Sir Alexander Gait, the repre- 
 sentative in London of Canada, Mr. W. H. Smith, 
 Mr. Samuel Morley, Mr. Whitbread, and Mr. 
 Rathbone, took part in the proceedings. A letter 
 was read from Mr. W. E. Forster, at that time 
 Chief Secretary for Ireland, warmly approving of 
 the object of the meeting, but holding out no 
 expectation of Government aid, at least at first. 
 Tuke at this meeting gave an account of his recent 
 visit to the west of Ireland, and argued for emi- 
 gration of families as the effective remedy. He 
 pointed out that it was better to assist emigrants to 
 places where work could be obtained for them, 
 than to attempt a system of colonisation ; for the 
 experience of Father Nugent and Mr. Sweetman 
 had shown that emigrants placed on settlements 
 are apt to leave their locations for the big towns 
 and the high wages, and that the cost of colonisation 
 per head was four times as much as that of simple 
 emigration.
 
 158 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 Tuke's plan met with hearty approval ; a 
 considerable sum was subscribed on the spot ; a 
 committee was formed, and Tuke was requested at 
 once to visit Ireland to select emigrants and carry 
 into effect the necessary local work. The fund 
 established at this meeting was subsequently known 
 as " Mr. Tuke's Fund."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 1882-1883 
 
 Preparations for emigration Plan of the work Sailing of 
 emigrant ships Second marriage Renewed labours in 
 1883 Clothing of emigrants Difficulties Incidents 
 of the work Arrival of emigrants in America. 
 
 AT the end of the last chapter we left Tuke 
 placed, by the liberality and co-operation of friends, 
 in a position to try the experiment of assisted 
 family emigration on which he had so long set his 
 heart ; he was on the threshold of the work, with 
 a view to which he had made such prolonged and 
 careful studies of the condition of things both in 
 Ireland and in America. 
 
 Immediately after the meeting at the Duke of 
 Bedford's house, Tuke was in Liverpool making 
 enquiries for emigrant ships, and thence he went 
 to Ireland and spent seven weeks in the business. 
 The operations were confined to the three poorest 
 Unions of the west : Clifden in County Galway, and
 
 160 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 Newport and Bellmullet in County Mayo. He 
 placed himself at once in communication with the 
 relieving officers and other Poor Law authorities, 
 and drove over the country making enquiries as to 
 who was desirous to emigrate, and visiting the 
 people who had been evicted in the early part of 
 the year. One day arriving at Rosturk Castle, 
 he found a great number of applicants, chiefly 
 from Achil Island, already awaiting him. In one 
 week 1276 persons had got enrolled as candidates 
 for emigration. 
 
 It is evident that to carry through the scheme 
 of emigration which had thus started into existence 
 required an extensive organisation. There was the 
 selection of the proper people ; the bringing them 
 at the right moment, neither too early nor too 
 late, to the place of embarkation ; the provision of 
 proper clothing; the procuring of proper transit 
 across the Atlantic ; and at the port of arrival, 
 of proper care and means of transport to the actual 
 places of abode. All these things Tuke did, and 
 did with success : in no instance was any family 
 too late, though some only arrived in the morn- 
 ing of the day on which the steamer left. He 
 had lists of candidates prepared from the dif- 
 ferent districts of the Union, and these he went
 
 EMIGRATION WORK 161 
 
 through with the Clerk of the Union, and finally 
 settled who should go ; he gave to the selected 
 ones notice of the time of their departure ; he got 
 the emigrants into Gal way just in time to start 
 transporting men, women, and abundance of little 
 children, over a country without a railway in it, 
 and for distances usually from fifty to sixty miles ; 
 he provided for their clothing ; he procured the 
 calling of special steamers in Galway Bay ; he 
 entered into arrangements with the Government of 
 Canada which, through its agents, met and provided 
 labour for the comparatively few emigrants who 
 went to Canada ; and through a personal friend 
 he made provision that the emigrants arriving at 
 Boston, New York, and Philadelphia should be 
 looked after. On 4th May his first consignment 
 sailed from Galway. 
 
 This sailing of the first emigrant ship from the 
 west with Tuke's emigrants may be almost con- 
 sidered as an epoch in the work. Of it he thus 
 wrote : 
 
 " You will, I know, have been much interested 
 to hear by telegram of the successful departure of 
 the 350 emigrants in the Nepigon. She arrived 
 here about seven, and lay in the bay nearly a mile 
 from the quay. The tug, with its first freight of 
 
 M
 
 1 62 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 200 poor Connemara people, was soon alongside. 
 The confusion and searches for missing children, 
 bundles of clothing, etc., were considerable, though 
 perhaps not greater than might have been expected. 
 The wish to change the place of destination on 
 the tickets, the anxiety to know that the ticket 
 was all right on the part of those who could not 
 read, the sense that they were committing their all 
 and their future to an unknown and distant world, 
 doubtless troubled and disturbed many, and led to 
 an endless amount of questioning and little diffi- 
 culties. Then, again, some families who had been 
 expected to come did not arrive, and others had 
 been substituted ; two or three brought other 
 members of the family (or near relations), who had 
 not been put down, earnestly begging for them to 
 be accepted at the last moment. One girl went 
 into a paroxysm of grief because a sister was not 
 allowed to go with her, and when she was admitted 
 went into another because a brother was not 
 allowed. This was too much ; and she became so 
 excited that she and her bundles were at length 
 replaced on the tender. But, on the whole, the 
 affair was very well and quietly ordered. The 
 greatest trouble really was, that after all we had 
 done to clothe the people, many came up utterly
 
 1 882 FIRST EMIGRANT SHIP 163 
 
 unfit to travel. The 3, ^5, or ^6 allowed had 
 not been sufficient ; and had it not been that 
 Father Stephen went back in the tug, and then 
 returned in a sailing-boat with two or three bundles 
 for the captain to distribute towards the end of the 
 voyage, many would have left very poorly pro- 
 vided for." l 
 
 A fortnight later he writes : 
 
 "The third and largest batch of Connemara 
 emigrants, numbering in all 430 persons, had, with 
 the invaluable aid of Major Gaskell, been gathered 
 together, and by car, or omnibus, or hooker, 2 were, 
 with no little difficulty, collected in readiness for 
 the Winnipeg, appointed to sail the following 
 morning. Punctual to her time, at five the fol- 
 lowing morning, her steam whistle told us that she 
 was in the bay that all hands were needed. It is 
 not needful to describe that which is involved 
 in the collection from the lodging-houses, the 
 exchange of tickets, the transfer of so many 
 men, women, and children from the tug to the 
 steamer, and the final shake-down on board. Suffice 
 it to say, that with the aid of Major Gaskell, two 
 Dublin gentlemen who became interested in the 
 
 1 Contemporary Review, April 1882, p. 15. 
 3 A boat used on the coast of Connaught. E. F.
 
 164 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 work, and gave us much valuable help, the officers 
 of the ship, and our own hard-working assistants, 
 it was done after six hours strenuous toil, and with 
 cheers the emigrants left left on their voyage of 
 discovery to the New World. Through the kind- 
 ness of Father Nugent of Liverpool, the Rev. J. 
 O'Donnell, R.C. chaplain of the Liverpool Work- 
 house, had been induced to take charge of them." l 
 
 The continued demand for emigration, and the 
 success of the first shipments, induced the Com- 
 mittee of the Tuke Fund, in June 1882, to 
 memorialise the Government to lend some assist- 
 ance towards their work. It was in consequence 
 of this representation that in the Arrears Act of 
 1882 a clause was inserted whereby a part of 
 100,000 was made over to the Irish executors 
 for emigration purposes. 
 
 The work of emigration not only brought to 
 Tuke abundant labour and pressing cares ; it also 
 brought him a great blessing and happiness in the 
 person of his second wife. 
 
 Miss Georgina Mary Kennedy, a daughter of 
 Evory Kennedy, M.D., and Deputy-Lieutenant of 
 County Dublin, had for some time taken a warm 
 and practical interest in emigration ; the possession of 
 
 1 Contemporary Review, 1882, pp. 15-16.
 
 1 882 SECOND MARRIAGE 165 
 
 common friends and a common interest made them 
 acquainted. A great moralist of antiquity has said 
 that every friendship is formed about something : 
 the something in the present case was emigration. 
 
 On 9th November 1882, Mr. Tuke and Miss 
 Kennedy were married in London in her father's 
 drawing-room, as neutral ground between a Church 
 and a Quakers' meeting. They spent some time 
 in the south of France, from whence they were 
 recalled by the serious illness of Tuke's daughter, 
 Mrs. Lindsell. 
 
 Of the 100,000 voted by Parliament for 
 emigration purposes, more than a quarter was by 
 the Lord-Lieutenant placed at the disposal of the 
 Committee of Mr. Tuke's Fund, and in addition he 
 requested them to undertake the charge of the 
 Union of Bellmullet, and parts of the Unions 
 of Newport, Clifden, and Oughterard. Tuke, 
 now accompanied by his wife, thenceforward his 
 assiduous fellow - worker, was again in the field 
 of labour, and after conferences in London and 
 Dublin with various authorities, he was found 
 on 1 3th February 1883 at Westport, County 
 Mayo, where he met his old fellow -labourer, 
 Major Gaskell, and two new labourers in the 
 persons of Mr. Sydney Buxton and Captain
 
 166 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 Ruttledge Fair. The district placed by Govern- 
 ment under the care of the Committee was 
 divided into three parts, and the care of these 
 was assigned as follows : Oughterard to Major 
 Gaskell, Bellmullet to Mr. Sydney Buxton and 
 Captain Ruttledge Fair, and after the first season to 
 the Captain alone ; the Union of Clifden was the 
 district which Tuke undertook. In this work he 
 spent more than three months, assisted by Messrs. 
 Hodgkin and Higgins during portions of the 
 time. " The amount of detail in connection with 
 the emigration work can," wrote Tuke in his 
 report, " hardly be estimated, and caused a strain 
 and perpetual tension of mind and body, only 
 made possible by the sense of the benefit which 
 was conferred on these poor people, and which they 
 so evidently felt and constantly acknowledged." l 
 
 One of the difficulties which showed itself in a 
 pronounced form this year was that of procuring 
 suitable clothing for the emigrants. This was met 
 by the establishment, at each of the local centres 
 of the work, of a clothing store, from which the 
 emigrants were supplied with suitable clothing. 
 
 "The work of clothing the emigrants," writes 
 Mrs. Tuke, " was perfectly organised and carried 
 
 1 P- 74-
 
 1 883 RENEWED LABOURS 167 
 
 out by Mr. C. Taylor Kelly of Messrs. Pirn's of 
 Dublin. The garments, etc., were supplied by 
 Tuke's old and valued friends the Pirns, and 
 were admirable both in make and quality. The 
 difficulty of organising this branch of the work 
 was extreme, and frequently obliged Mr. Kelly to 
 travel all night on cars, in order to be up to time 
 at some remote centre. Once in later times, when 
 the work was ' boycotted ' in one district, Mr. 
 Kelly had to travel with his goods stored round 
 him on one of the rough country carts a distance 
 of thirty or forty miles." 
 
 Of the method of carrying on the emigration 
 work in 1883, Mrs. Tuke writes as follows : 
 
 " A large blue list of candidates was prepared by 
 the Relieving Officer and sanctioned by the Clerk 
 of the Union. Mr. Tuke, with his secretary, Mr. 
 Hodgkin, and I went carefully through this, with 
 the help of the Relieving Officer and any other reli- 
 able local authority, priest or doctor, etc. The 
 emigrants were then interviewed when possible at 
 their homes, but as this often involved too much 
 time, generally in some local centre, the ' Board- 
 room ' at Clifden, Dispensary at Letterfrack, or 
 our inn at Carna, etc. Mr. Tuke sat at the 
 head of the table and enquired of each emigrant
 
 i68 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 about his means, holding, family, clothing, in 
 fact asked all possible questions ; his secretary 
 sat at one side taking notes of the replies, and 
 I at the other noting certain particulars Mr. 
 Tuke himself making notes also. The lists 
 were then carefully compared, and discrepancies 
 marked, enquiries made, etc., and then the 
 pink shipping lists were made out. Necessary 
 clothing and its cost was also listed, and every 
 particular recorded. And from these pink lists 
 the money orders and amounts, passage tickets, 
 etc., were taken. One of my duties was to try and 
 detect what were called by the people themselves 
 sobstituteS) as I was supposed to have the faculty 
 of seeing family traits, etc. According to the rule 
 laid down by Mr. Tuke and the Committee of 
 the Fund, the families of the emigrants had to be 
 chosen for their fitness, not only in health, but 
 there had to be a certain proportion of bread- 
 winners to helpless members, and this rule was 
 very strictly kept. Sometimes the people, knowing 
 this, would substitute one or even two strong 
 young people a neighbour's boy or girl to make 
 up the proportion, and these were what were called 
 the sobstitutes^ and of course had to be eliminated, 
 as, on landing on the other side, they would have
 
 1883 EMIGRATION WORK 169 
 
 been off to work on their own account. By means 
 of the above plans of work, three lists were kept, and 
 at any moment we could refer to them for every 
 particular size of holding, amount of stock, crop, 
 or cattle, were all entered and verified. The system 
 was complete, and we frequently had to prove it, 
 as questions were continually being asked in the 
 House of Commons. Often on our busiest days, 
 telegrams from Sir George Trevelyan, or who- 
 ever was the Chief Secretary, would come asking 
 those questions, the answers to which had to be 
 hunted up and wired at once. The kindness and 
 consideration of Mr. Tuke's manner to the people 
 was wonderful, considering the amount of work 
 that had to be got through, and the frequent diffi- 
 culty of the conversations, having often to be carried 
 on through an interpreter ; he was always so firm 
 and gentle with them, and won their confidence at 
 once. I never saw him impatient, though he was 
 often tried. 
 
 " Sometimes, owing to the long distances that the 
 emigrants had to be brought to Galway for the 
 sailings, it was very late at night, or early in the 
 morning when they arrived. When the sound of 
 the wheels or creaking of the carts announced the 
 arrival of one of these belated parties, Mr. Tuke
 
 170 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 seemed to realise their advent even in his dreams ; 
 and how often I have seen him by the early morn- 
 ing light peering through the windows, and calling 
 out to the drivers where to go with their people. 
 One night I remember so well when Mr. Hodg- 
 kin (his faithful and most untiring helper) had had 
 the care of the arrangements, and one of these late 
 parties arrived in Galway Mr. Tuke was up in a 
 moment and going to call Howard Hodgkin, when 
 it suddenly occurred to him that he did not know 
 which room he was in. ' Never mind,' he said, 
 ' I'll find him out ' ; so he proceeded, in the most 
 inhuman manner, to knock at every door down the 
 passage, to the great wrath and loudly expressed 
 indignation of their occupants. I never heard any- 
 thing so comical, door after door was knocked 
 loudly at, and sleepy swears came in response ; 
 but in the end Howard was found, and Mr. Tuke 
 returned triumphant." 
 
 Of a shipment of emigrants in 1883, and of 
 the needful preliminary labours, Mrs. Tuke's notes 
 give us the following picture : 
 
 " Glendalough, Monday, \yth March 1883. 
 Carriage at the door at 10, and off we start on a bright 
 undecided morning to Letterfrack by Lough Inagh 
 and through the pass by the Lakes. Snow on the
 
 1 883 ARRIVALS BY NIGHT 171 
 
 summits of all the high mountains and the whole 
 scene lovely. Only passed two men in the twelve 
 miles' drive ! and this is a * congested district.' 
 Letter frack soon after 12. Met Father M' Andrew 
 (very civil and advising) on the road. S. Joyce, 
 relieving officer, and Peter King ready, and Mr. 
 Kelly, our clothing inspector, waiting at the inn. 
 Mr. Tuke and I and the others set to work hard 
 at lists till 4, when we allowed ourselves a break 
 for lunch (tea and bread and jam most refreshing). 
 Mr. Kelly had meanwhile arranged the clothing in 
 the ' Court House,' where he and I received the 
 accepted emigrants, and gave them their sailing 
 tickets, etc. Hard, anxious work this selecting is, 
 and we had so many more applications than could 
 be granted for the steamer of the 23rd. Those 
 that are elect are so happy and thankful. They 
 are to come in to-morrow for clothing ! Worked 
 till 7.30, then a hurried dinner. Soon after 8 
 the police sergeant and a constable came by appoint- 
 ment to see Mr. Tuke, and we had a curious 
 interview ! The sergeant, very tall and thin, with 
 a striking face and quiet manner, walked to the 
 door, ran his thumb along to see that it was close 
 shut, then the conversation began, carried on in 
 whispers. The sergeant took from his breast
 
 172 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 pocket a list of names of persons who were sus- 
 pected by the police of complicity in some of the 
 recent murders committed in this district. This 
 list he handed to Mr. Tuke, who immediately 
 compared it with his list, and noted any names 
 that were on both. None of the names on the 
 police list were to be sent abroad. No name was 
 spoken, as few words as possible were uttered, and 
 with the same silence and mystery the sergeant 
 and his constable left ; and indeed these precautions 
 were not unnecessary, as everybody in the place 
 seemed to be more or less in the ring. Mystery 
 and anxiety were on every face, and men looked 
 over their shoulders to see who was within earshot 
 before they would answer a question ! Let me 
 give some instances of the condition. The bright- 
 eyed, ragged little girl who was employed by the 
 Post Office as telegraph messenger, was sister of 
 the two young Walshes of Letterfrack, one of 
 whom was hanged for the murder, under peculiarly 
 painful circumstances, of a shepherd on the hill 
 above, named Lydon, and the other was im- 
 prisoned for complicity in the death of Kavanagh, 
 the constable who had been engaged to in- 
 vestigate the Lydon business. The nice, gentle- 
 looking maid who waited on us at our inn, and
 
 1883 POLICE INTERPOSITION 173 
 
 the man who drove the hotel car, were brother and 
 sister of a very pleasant-spoken lad, who, now under 
 suspicion of the murder of Kavanagh, was subse- 
 quently arrested and imprisoned, but full proof 
 was wanting. This lad applied to Mr. Tuke for 
 help to emigrate, but of course it could not be 
 given at present, though he was sent out later on. 
 A number of young men who had asked most 
 urgently for emigration help when we were here 
 last month were not forthcoming this time, and it 
 transpired that on its becoming known, in the mean- 
 time, that James Carey had turned informer about 
 the Phoenix Park murders, many of them who had 
 belonged to the Patriotic Brotherhood, of which 
 there had been a strong branch here, had scraped 
 together some money and fled to America for fear 
 of unpleasant revelations. It was proved at the 
 trial of the Phosnix Park people that the connec- 
 tion was very close between the ' Invincibles ' and 
 Letterfrack. Two shopkeepers of this place came 
 to Mr. Tuke with a long list of their debts and 
 debtors, fearful that some of the latter might be 
 emigrated. Mr. Tuke went through the list, and 
 happily did not find any of his people on them. 
 
 "Tuesday, loth March. Immediately after 
 breakfast Mr. Tuke and the relieving officer worked
 
 174 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 again at lists and interviewing, while Mr. Kelly, 
 Peter King, and I distributed clothing to the 120 
 people who are to start in the Phoenician on the 
 23rd. It was hard work. Mr. Kelly checked lists 
 and ' clerked.' Peter King talked and marshalled, 
 while I distributed, sometimes knee-deep in shifts 
 and petticoats. We were in the Court House. 
 The people entered at one door and passed out at 
 the other. Some families had to be clothed from 
 head to foot, having nothing fit for use of their 
 own. Others only wanted part clothing. They 
 showed wonderful honesty generally in saying what 
 they had and what they required, and were in most 
 cases very grateful, only one very ugly girl declined 
 one of the hats as 'too dowdy.' Frequently, when 
 leaving, the heads of the families turned back from 
 the door, shook hands warmly, and thanked Mr. 
 Kelly and me for all our trouble. Mr. Tuke 
 meanwhile was hard at work settling accounts and 
 arranging landing money. By 5.30 the last family 
 was clothed, and we all helped to pack up what 
 was left for transportation to Clifden for next 
 week's start. 
 
 "Wednesday^ 2ist March. Mr. Tuke and I 
 finished up lists and estimates, and he gave final 
 exact instructions to P. King and S. Joyce, who are
 
 1883 DISTRIBUTION OF CLOTHING 175 
 
 to be in charge of the emigrants' cars on the long 
 march to Galway on Thursday over fifty Irish 
 miles ! Mr. Kelly takes the clothing to Clifden 
 to-day, and goes on himself to help Major Gaskell, 
 who will, Mr. Tuke fears, be sore pressed at Galway. 
 
 "At Clifden, Mr. Tuke had long talk with 
 John Burke at the Union, and received there a 
 deputation of ten shoemakers to present an address 
 of thanks for employment given. They had con- 
 tracted to make 160 pairs of boots for emigrants, 
 but alas ! Mr. Kelly, who was not to be deceived, 
 discovered that a considerable number of the Clifden 
 hand-made boots were ' pegged ' boots from North- 
 ampton ! We had to take Mr. Kelly, and a lot 
 of emigrants' blankets, on our carriage to Glenda- 
 lough, as his car had failed him. 
 
 " Thursday, iind March. Left Glendalough, 
 1 1 . Looking out on the road for emigrants. Found 
 the Galway cars waiting at Recess for the c Letter- 
 fracks.' A gray, bitter March day, so different 
 from the blue lakes, red-brown bogs, purple near 
 mountains, and distant snows of last evening. 
 
 " Mr. Tuke ordered tea for the perished car- 
 drivers. About 12, two cars appeared with families 
 on them, so we started for Oughterard, leaving the 
 rest to follow. Miss Murphy, the innkeeper at
 
 176 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 Oughterard, gave us her usual welcome, and her 
 inn was as pleasant as ever. Two kind fishing 
 gentlemen from Glendalough were so keenly in- 
 terested in our proceedings they vanished out of 
 two doors, and reappeared each presenting a hand- 
 some cheque ' to help the good work.' Got on to 
 Gal way at 5, and found Major Gaskell and Mr. 
 Howard Hodgkin already at work. I was set 
 down to write landing money-orders. Mr. Tuke 
 flew about in every direction seeing to everything. 
 Peter King and the Letterfracks turned up at 9, 
 and were seen safely to their lodgings in Galway. 
 
 " Good Friday, i^rd March. Came at last ; our 
 first sailing. All hard at work completing lists at 
 i . Father Kane of Rossmuick appeared with Mrs. 
 Nee and seven children in tow ; had 15 in hand 
 from husband to fetch her to Boston. Sudden 
 consultation. Could it be done by 2 ? Yes. Off 
 goes Major Gaskell with the ladies to a shop. Mr. 
 Kelly takes the boys to the store. 10 A.M. word 
 came, Phoenician passed Slyne Head ; arrive Galway 
 1.30. Rushed down to the quay with Mr. Tuke, 
 calling at the store to see Mr. Kelly * fitting on.' 
 A large crowd assembled on the quay, and the 
 tender, ' Citie of the Tribes,' waiting for Mr. Tuke's 
 people. Got on bridge of tender, where were
 
 1 883 PARTING WITH EMIGRANTS 177 
 
 Captain Browne of the Phoenician (the well-known 
 Atlantic Browne of the Allan line) and others. A 
 long wait while the people hustled and hugged each 
 other, and the police shoved about. At last, half our 
 people got on board, and off we go. Bumped against 
 the pier, knocked off a beam, and steamed away in 
 the sunshine over a glassy sea towards Phoenician, 
 which stood up grandly out of the water. 
 
 " Half an hour brought us to the big ship, and 
 we were on board in a moment. Then Peter King 
 marshalled our people on board the ' Citie,' and 
 we stood by the gangway, and as ours came on 
 board we handed each head of family his note for 
 * landing ' money. Then the tender went back to 
 shore for the rest of the emigrants. The luggage 
 meanwhile came off in hookers, and was hauled on 
 board. 
 
 " Mr. Tuke inspected the ship with Allan's 
 agent, Mr. Grant. Mr. Hodgkin and I visited, 
 with the head steward, the emigrants' quarters. 
 Then all on deck, and talked with our people, all 
 arrayed in order. A rope was drawn across the 
 deck. The purser stood on one side with Mr. Grant 
 and Mr. Tuke, while on the other stood the ship 
 and shore doctors, and each head of family was given 
 his ticket-paper, and each emigrant was examined 
 
 N
 
 178 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 by the doctors as he or she passed. Then the 
 people were cleared to one end, and the sea kits, 
 blankets, and mattresses, piled on deck, were dis- 
 tributed. Then the ' tender ' came up with the 
 second party, and in about an hour the Phoenician 
 got up steam, and we cleared off amid cheers and 
 farewells, and great waving of hats, hands, and 
 handkerchiefs. * You and Mr. Tuke are like a 
 father and mother to us all,' said one poor woman 
 as she wrung my hand at the last." 
 
 Another vivid picture out of the west of Ireland 
 during this emigration work is thus drawn by Mrs. 
 Tuke in her notes : 
 
 " During the emigration work, one day we had 
 been at an outlying village in the district interview- 
 ing emigrants from 12 till 6 P.M., during which 
 time hundreds of people had been imploring to be 
 ' sent out of their misery.' A finer set of people 
 I have never seen. Whole groups of men, standing 
 six feet and over, with dark eager eyes, and keen 
 well-cut features, with women and children to 
 match, all clothed in the home-made white flannel 
 of the district such men as, had they been 
 Prussian instead of British, would, in the days 
 of old Frederick Wilhelm, have been kidnapped 
 for the King's Guard, and all having hardly
 
 1 883 INTERVIEW WITH PRIEST 179 
 
 any * English,' with whom we had to converse 
 through an interpreter. At last, after 6, we 
 started on our way home, and had gone a mile or 
 two when we met the priest on his car, who 
 stopped us, and the following conversation between 
 him and Mr. Tuke took place : 
 
 "Priest. Well, Mr. 'Tchuke,' I'm glad to 
 see ye well, but you're doing a lot of mischief in 
 this place ! 
 
 "Mr. Tuke. How is that, Father X ? 
 
 pray tell me. 
 
 " Priest. Well, in consequence of the emigra- 
 tion of all the young and strong, the bone and 
 sinew of the place, about one hundred families have 
 had to go into the Clifden Workhouse quite lately. 
 
 " Mr. Tuke. A hundred families, Father 500 
 persons ! that is a serious charge, especially as we 
 do not send singles ! With very few exceptions, all 
 our people go in families. 
 
 "Priest. Well, I'm quite sure///? families have 
 gone into the Union, ' anny way ! ' 
 
 " Mr. Tuke. Fifty families, Father 250 
 persons ! 
 
 " Priest. Well, I'm sure of that number ; it's 
 Gospel truth. 
 
 " Mr. Tuke. Well, Father, I shall be in Clifden
 
 i8o JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 to-morrow, and shall make it my business to find 
 out the exact number in the Union from A . 
 
 " So, with nods and wreathed smiles, we parted. 
 The following day we went to Clifden and saw 
 John Burke, the Clerk of the Union, a wonderful 
 person in every way, a tall man, weighing about 
 seventeen to twenty stone, always to be found stand- 
 ing at his desk, hard at work. He had a strength 
 of character and a courage rarely to be met with 
 anywhere, but most unusual in the west of Ireland. 
 
 " Mr. Tuke. Well, Mr. Burke, I am sorry to 
 hear of the great and sudden increase of persons 
 who have come into the Union lately from A . 
 
 " John Burke. What do ye mean, Mr. Tuke ? 
 We have no sudden increase of people from A . 
 
 " Mr. Tuke. But Father X assured me 
 
 only yesterday that 250 persons have come in quite 
 lately. 
 
 "Mr. Burke turned over the A list with his 
 
 finger, and remarked : ' If you want to know the 
 exact number, we have just the usual 25 old 
 chronic cases from A , and not a soul more.' 
 
 "So much for ' Gospel truth.' ' 
 
 Another glimpse of the work may be gathered 
 from the following extracts of a letter from Tuke 
 to Mr. Buxton :
 
 1 88 3 LAST WORDS ON PARTING 181 
 
 "BELLMULLET, Friday [May 1883], 
 
 " You may like to have a line from this place 
 to-day, as Captain Fair will not be able to write 
 before the post leaves. Yesterday was passed, as 
 all days before the sailing of the ship are spent, in 
 an infinite variety of interviews, ' doings and un- 
 doings,' emigrants who wished not to, others 
 who at the last moment wished ' to lave by the 
 next ship ' ; husbands who wished to leave the 
 4 wake ' family * behint ' ; wives who wanted to 
 go without the husband, who declared he would 
 not go : ' couldn't make up his mind, and why, 
 because he was entirely wake and wanted to be abed 
 for a fortnight,' had vowed to ' perform a station ' 
 before he left home, 'had some earnings owing 
 to him which he would lose,' and many other pos- 
 sible or impossible reasons for not going as the 
 wife and family wished him to do. Then a long 
 scene between a virago country shopkeeper and 
 dolt of a husband, who sat dumb whilst his wife 
 harangued and abused Fair because he would not 
 stop Mrs. Somebody who owed her 6, and had 
 sold any amount of stock. The defendant, an old 
 Irish-speaking woman, voluble, and denying all 
 charges, while her daughter-in-law, with pale, rather 
 nice face, stood between them final dismissal of
 
 i8z JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 parties neither satisfied, and shopkeeper and 
 company not triumphant but abusive. 
 
 "... And now for this morning. All yester- 
 day our anxieties were quickened by a high wind and 
 rain all night ; at three, however, Captain Fair 
 what a splendid fellow he is was at work routing 
 out the people, and soon after six was himself off 
 to Elly Bay, where the embarkation took place. 
 Here I followed with the learned Professor. How 
 picturesque the grouping of the people on the 
 beach amidst the huge red and brown chests, the 
 final hugs and embraces, and the trim man-of-war 
 and coastguard boat coming backwards and for- 
 wards from the gunboat no sign of steamer then. 
 Captain Fair arranging all, with Nolan and 
 Richards to assist, and the four men appointed to 
 the work. It was raining all the time, but it did 
 not damp the good temper and liveliness of the 
 people, who showed no signs of grief. Then, when 
 all were safely put in the boats, Fair and others 
 left for the gunboat ; for myself, only to shake 
 hands with Captain Sutton and thank him for his 
 kind attention to the people. As the day was so 
 wet and dull, no object seemed gained by going 
 farther." 
 
 It has already appeared that in the course of
 
 1883 INCIDENTS OF THE WORK 183 
 
 the work occurred many incidents, some calculated 
 to wake laughter and some tears. I will give two 
 or three more. The first application for emigration 
 Tuke thus describes in his paper " With the 
 Emigrants " : 
 
 " Taking a stroll on my return, to be rid of the 
 stiffness caused by a long car journey, I met the 
 Relieving Officer of the district, who was seeking 
 me. A woman (always the first here) had come 
 beseeching and imploring help from him. She had 
 sold her little heifer and all her belongings, and 
 just raised enough wherewith to buy the tickets, 
 costing 16, which she produced, for her husband, 
 herself, and her child, for the steamer on Friday, 
 and hadn't a * penny ' to take them fifty miles to 
 Galway, or pay for the 'kit,' or 'lave a halfpenny' 
 when they landed. Would I give her help ? They 
 were most industrious people, he said ; the hus- 
 band a ' splendid ' workman ; and the woman was 
 here. Would I see her ? Yes ; and a very tidy, 
 pleasant-looking young woman was introduced. 
 Relieving Officer : ' Now, tell the gentleman the 
 story ; every word must be truth. Whist ! what's the 
 use of crying ? Don't you see the kind gentleman 
 means to help you ? he's taking down the notes' ; 
 and so I had the story over again. ' Well, how
 
 1 84 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 much would it be ? ' ' Well, indeed, if a sovereign 
 could be had it would be great help. There was 
 the car to Gal way, a pound ; and they were very 
 short of clothing, and they had nothing for the 
 journey nor on landing, and they had friends in 
 Ameriky (burst of tears, stopped by Relieving 
 Officer) somewhere Alleghany County, Pennsyl- 
 vania.' * Well, how would they get there ?' 'She 
 didn't know; but if the good God helped them 
 to Boston, she must lave that.' Then I summed 
 up the very lowest that all these would cost, and 
 hearing from the landlady of the hotel that her 
 story was quite true, and that she had been a 
 servant with her, I told her I could give 6 for the 
 whole, so that they might not be stranded in the 
 streets of Boston. She hardly took it seriously at 
 first, it seemed so unreal. She had asked for a sove- 
 reign, and had 6 promised. ' Well, then,' at length 
 she burst out, ' then it's the Lord Himself as has sent 
 you to me this day, praised be His holy name ! ' 
 The following are from Mrs. Tuke's notes : 
 "On one occasion in 1883, when we were busily 
 engaged in the emigration work, and were sitting 
 solemnly in the Board-room at Clifden interviewing 
 emigrants, Mr. Tuke in the middle taking notes, 
 and I at one side doing likewise, a poor man
 
 1 883 INCIDENTS OF THE WORK 185 
 
 came up, very anxious to go and to go to Boston. 
 Mr. Tuke greatly objected to sending people to 
 the cities, requiring evidence that they would be 
 sure of a reception there first. The poor fellow 
 got more and more alarmed as to his destination, 
 and pressing forward with clasped hands called out, 
 ' Och yer honour, sind me to Boshton. Sind me to 
 Boshton. Shure I've got f fourteen furst coushins 
 in Boshton.' " 
 
 " One day in 1883 we had been engaged all day 
 interviewing emigrants, when a tall, dark-eyed 
 girl from one of the neighbouring islands pre- 
 sented herself. She stood about 5 feet 10 in 
 height, and was a splendid creature, quite an ideal 
 emigrant, and seemed very anxious to go. Next 
 
 time we came round Mary C did not turn up for 
 
 the tickets and clothing distribution when her name 
 was called. The local people giggled, and then it 
 transpired that in the interval Mary (who had long 
 been enamoured of a local swain, who had not 
 come to the point as he should) had brought him 
 to book and run away with him, not he with her 
 as the manner is and they were now married and, 
 let us hope, happy ever after. 
 
 "Saturday, i%th April 1883. We went on 
 board the Phoenician and Buenos Ayrean, seeing
 
 i86 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 our people off. After a long visit to the latter, we 
 got off, and were standing on the bridge of the 
 tender exchanging last words with the people, when 
 suddenly John Connelly rushed across the gangway 
 from the ship, and thrust into Mr. Hodgkin's 
 hands and mine a bunch of sea-weed (such as the 
 Connemara people eat with much relish) ; he had 
 taken it from his own pockets, which were literally 
 bulging out with it. He did it most gracefully 
 the sea-weed was all he had to give in recognition 
 of what he thought our kindness to him. He was 
 back again like a flash, the gangway was drawn in, 
 and with a hearty cheer for us from the emigrants 
 on deck, the Buenos Ayrean went on her way." 
 
 As will have been seen, the work was not 
 accomplished without much valuable assistance 
 rendered to Tuke especially by Major Gaskell 
 and Mr. Howard Hodgkin in the actual shipment 
 of the emigrants, and by Mr. George Melly of 
 Liverpool in the providing shipping for their 
 accommodation. Nor was the work done without 
 its drawbacks and vexations. At first the Clifden 
 Union had agreed to join in the good work and 
 hand over 2000 to aid in the emigration of the 
 poor from their Union ; but after Tuke had made 
 arrangements on the faith of this agreement,
 
 1 883 DIFFICULTIES IN THE WORK 187 
 
 specially benefiting this Union, the Board of 
 Guardians rescinded their previous resolutions 
 and contributed nothing to the work. Again, 
 the Committee of the Fund had proposed to 
 assist only those who could obtain a substantial 
 part of the cost of emigration either from Boards 
 of Guardians or local or private sources ; but the 
 poverty was so great that Tuke was compelled to 
 ask for and obtain the waiver of this condition. 
 Again, though the Clifden Board of Guardians 
 ultimately refused to aid the work, the shop- 
 keepers, the so-called "grocery men," fearful of 
 the loss of customers, or of the escape to a happier 
 country of their debtors, opposed the scheme, and 
 used their position as guardians to determine who 
 were and were not to be assisted, and often caused 
 Tuke considerable annoyance and loss of time. 
 But, as we have seen, neither one nor all of these 
 obstacles really checked the carrying on of the 
 good work. 1 
 
 The modus operandi for this second year (1883) 
 was not very dissimilar from that of the previous 
 year ; but on this occasion all emigrants were sent 
 to Canada, unless they could prove that they had 
 
 1 In his paper in the Nineteenth Century for July 1882, entitled "With the 
 Emigrants," further particulars of this visit to Ireland are given by Tuke.
 
 i88 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 friends in the States whom they could join ; and 
 this year steam-vessels visited not only Galway 
 Bay but Blacksod Bay, whence the emigrants 
 from the northern part of the district could be 
 more conveniently sent. In April the Lord-Lieu- 
 tenant, Earl Spencer, came from Dublin to see 
 the embarkation of emigrants on board the SS. 
 Phoenician. 
 
 The watchful care with which the United States 
 regard the entrance of all persons who are likely 
 to become a burden to the State is well known, 
 and had to be considered by Tuke and his friends ; 
 but so carefully did they make provision against 
 this difficulty that in no case was a " Tuke 
 emigrant" turned back. The following passage 
 from the Boston Daily Advertiser of nth May 
 1883 relates to the batch of emigrants which, 
 under the superintendence of Captain Ruttledge 
 Fair, were embarked on board the SS. Phoenician 
 bound for Boston, and gives an interesting picture 
 of what happened on each occasion as a ship-load 
 of emigrants reached one of the ports in the 
 United States. Those who have felt any interest 
 in the sending forth of these poor emigrants will 
 want to know something of their experiences on 
 the other shore of the ocean :
 
 1 883 EMIGRANTS IN AMERICA 189 
 
 "The ticket which is given in Ireland to an 
 assisted passenger conveys him to his ultimate 
 destination. The Montana-bound party, for ex- 
 ample, did not have to get anything more in the 
 shape of a ticket or the like when they reached this 
 port. These points of destination are not invari- 
 ably a matter of option on the part of the assisted 
 passenger. He has the option of remaining at 
 home, but if he takes passage he must go to a 
 point where the agent of the assisting parties has 
 information that employment can be found on 
 arrival. In general, the desires of the emigrant can 
 be met ; but now and then one of the voyagers, 
 on arriving here, is heard to express preference for 
 some other destination than that of his through 
 ticket. In general, they are assisted beyond the 
 price of the passage by a gift outright of money, in 
 varying sums of from ten shillings to 12. This 
 is given them when on shipboard by the purser or 
 other proper officer of the vessel. The ground of 
 discrimination does not clearly appear in its full 
 extent, but usually the sum bestowed has propor- 
 tion to the distance to be travelled after reaching 
 port on this side, and to the size of the family. It 
 is probable that the Transatlantic agents have infor- 
 mation in some cases that the emigrating person or
 
 190 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 family has some pecuniary means, and for that reason 
 reduce the gift, or, as happens in a few instances, 
 withhold it altogether. As the immigrants pass 
 through the gangway of the vessel here to the 
 wharf, each person, or each head of a family, is 
 detained by the superintendent of alien passengers 
 or his officer long enough to ascertain and make 
 memoranda of the name, destination, and other 
 particulars, including the amount of money in 
 possession. He also exercises a personal judgment 
 in the matter, so that in case of anything appearing 
 to raise a doubt in his mind the party is detained 
 till the general mass has been catechised and passed 
 along, when these peculiar cases are further in- 
 vestigated until the officer is quite satisfied that all 
 is right. 
 
 " More often than anything else, the circum- 
 stance that attracts the officer's attention is the 
 youthfulness, and so the dependency, of the children 
 of the family. The subsequent scrutiny is directed 
 both to the present and prospective resources of 
 the head of the family. So far, it has turned out 
 in nearly all, if not every case, that the party has a 
 reasonable sum to provide for the ordinary con- 
 tingencies of the journey, and on arrival at the 
 ultimate point will be met, and if necessary assisted,
 
 1883 SCRUTINY ON LANDING 191 
 
 by relatives or friends there. For example, during 
 the gangway inspection of yesterday, the officer's 
 attention was arrested by the general appearance 
 of the family of John Tougher and wife, each of 
 whom is 37 years old. Their children ranged in 
 years thus 15, 13, n, 9, 7, 5, and i, and they 
 had besides two other small children of another 
 family ticketed with them. While they had not 
 the appearance of ' forlorn creatures/ there was 
 that in the youthfulness of most of the children to 
 suggest that here might be a case where, in the 
 language of the chief magistrate, they might * im- 
 mediately become a charge upon the Common- 
 wealth for support as to themselves and their 
 family.' They were waived aside, accordingly, and 
 later subjected to more particular enquiry, where- 
 upon it appeared that their destination was Gros- 
 venordale in Connecticut ; that they had not only 
 the proper ticket but a liberal sum of money for 
 possible incidentals of the journey, and that they 
 were going by contract or agreement made in Ire- 
 land to Mr. Briggs, who is superintendent of the 
 Grosvenordale Mill Corporation, and who will pro- 
 vide employment for those old enough to serve as 
 mill-hands on arrival there. They were accord- 
 ingly passed along.
 
 192 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 " Another case was specially enquired into which 
 had its peculiarity of another kind. A man and 
 wife, each of 23 years, were of the passengers 
 ticketed for Pittsburg, Pa. On the voyage, of 
 date April 29, a son and heir made his appearance. 
 The mother had made the most of the intervening 
 ten days, and was now walking about the deck 
 carrying her babe in arms. The husband was 
 able-bodied, wherein, certainly, he did not differ 
 from the wife, and although the three dollars 
 which had been given them by the purser was 
 what might be called a pretty close calculation, it 
 was deemed sufficient, with the Pittsburg passage 
 ticket, to make the venture not extra hazardous 
 for the Commonwealth, and this party was also 
 passed along. The case of Mary Cloney was sub- 
 jected to some investigation. She appeared on 
 deck with five children, and stated that her husband 
 died in Ireland, and that she had been given by the 
 purser ^3. Mary is herself 50 years old, and the 
 babes range as follows : Joseph, 22 years ; Ann, 
 20; Mary, 18 ; Bridget, 17 ; Festy, 16. Upon 
 further enquiry it appeared that another son is a 
 resident of the Charlestown district, and had 
 written to his mother, telling her to come over the 
 seas and bring the whole family to him. The sum
 
 1883 SCRUTINY ON LANDING 193 
 
 of ^3 was ample to enable the party to reach 
 Charlestown by the Metropolitan horse-cars, and it 
 is believed that the republic of Massachusetts will 
 suffer no detriment by this arrival, as all appeared 
 well and strong. Michael Murray and wife, with 
 six children, ranging from nine years to a babe in 
 arms, and ticketed for Montana, were subjected to 
 some scrutiny, but as they all appeared to be in 
 good health, had a through ticket, and the purser 
 had given them sixty dollars in money, they were 
 not sent back to Ireland, but are now far on the 
 way towards sundown. In fact, nobody was 
 finally rejected." 
 
 Tuke rejoiced to think that the practice of 
 sending families instead of individuals robbed exile 
 of many of its sad features. In a letter to the 
 Times (nth June 1883) he wrote : 
 
 "This may undoubtedly be said, that no 
 emigrants have left their homes in Ireland under 
 happier auspices, with less risk of failure, or with 
 better chances of success. .Well clothed, and con- 
 veyed from their door to the port of embarkation, 
 where they are met and have lodgings and food pro- 
 vided by the agents of the Government and the 
 Committee, until the ocean steamers are ready to 
 convey them to their destinations ; provided with
 
 194 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 free passages and railway tickets to any part of 
 Canada or the United States that they may select 
 and are approved by the Committee ; and, on land- 
 ing, met by agents appointed by the English or 
 Canadian Governments, the emigrant feels that he 
 is cared for, and that friendly hands have been 
 stretched out to aid and succour him : above all, 
 among a people with whom the family tie is so 
 paramount, the fact that the family is not divided, 
 that husband and wife, and the long procession of 
 older or younger ' Pats and Peters, Marys and 
 Barbaras, with Festy and " the couple," ' are 
 allowed to go together, gives to the ' fremigration ' 
 (as it is called) a wholly different character. 
 
 " This deprives the embarkation of its sadness, 
 and in the ten or twelve shipments at which I have 
 assisted there has rarely been the painful wailing so 
 familiar at the railway stations when one member 
 of a family leaves alone. As I heard it remarked 
 one day, ' One would suppose the people were 
 going for a picnic, they are so cheerful and happy.' 
 And as, at parting, they crowd with prayers and 
 blessings round those who have had the happiness 
 of being allowed to assist them, their gratitude is 
 evinced in many little acts, very touching to 
 witness."
 
 1883 FAMILY EMIGRATION 195 
 
 At the end of the season's work in 1883, an 
 important step was taken by the Committee of 
 the Fund in deputing Captain Ruttledge Fair and 
 Mr. Hodgkin to go to America (both the States 
 and Canada), and to enquire into the condition of 
 the families already sent out. 
 
 In the report which Tuke made to his Com- 
 mittee in March 1883, ne reverted to a subject 
 to which he had referred in his essay in the Con- 
 temporary of the previous year the importance of 
 piercing the districts of the extreme west with 
 light narrow-gauge railways or steam tramways. 
 He pointed out not only the advantage which 
 would result from the employment of labour on 
 their construction, but the permanent gain by 
 rendering the markets of the east accessible from 
 the regions of the west, where, as he says, he had 
 known poultry eaten as the cheapest animal food, 
 turbot as the cheapest fish, whilst eggs were selling 
 at the rate of 8d. or rod. per score in the depth 
 of winter.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 1883-1884 
 
 Renewal of emigration work Opposition of Roman Catholic 
 Bishops Charges with regard to emigrants at Toronto 
 " The Murderers' Country " Decrease of emigrants 
 Opposition of Guardians and Priests Cessation of opera- 
 tions of Committee of Mr. Tuke's Fund Extent of 
 their work Criticisms on their work Migration v. 
 Emigration Government interference deprecated 
 Moral objections Alleged misery of emigrants 
 Letters from emigrants Their condition in United 
 States : in Canada Effect of emigration on Ireland 
 Honours accepted and declined. 
 
 So fully satisfied were the Committee of " Mr. 
 Tuke's Fund " with the success of the two years' 
 operations, that in July 1883 they again memo- 
 rialised the Government, and asked for the further 
 appropriation of money to aid emigration upon 
 the system and with the safeguards which had been 
 in operation during the year. In consequence, the 
 Government proposed, by a clause in the Tram- 
 ways and Public Companies (Ireland) Bill, then
 
 1883 OPPOSITION 197 
 
 before Parliament, to appropriate ^100,000 to 
 this purpose. 
 
 So much dissatisfied, however, with the success 
 of these operations were the Roman Catholic 
 Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland that, at a 
 meeting held in Dublin on 5th July 1883 (prior 
 to the passing of the Tramways Act), these 
 high personages passed resolutions asserting the 
 chronic misery of the west, the existence in every 
 county in which congestion prevailed of large 
 tracts of land capable of maintaining in comfort 
 and happiness the surplus population of the con- 
 gested districts, and affirming "that State-aided 
 emigration as a means of curing this evil is unwise 
 and impolitic, and tends only to promote disaffec- 
 tion amongst the Irish race at home and abroad." 
 
 The opponents of Tuke's plan did not stay 
 their hands with this pronunciamento. They 
 availed themselves of some statements of Arch- 
 bishop Lynch of Toronto with regard to the 
 miserable condition of some emigrants in that 
 city, who, it was hastily asserted or assumed, had 
 been sent out by the Tuke Fund ; and when, after 
 their visit to Canada, Mr. Hodgkin and Captain 
 Ruttledge Fair reported on the favourable result 
 of their enquiries, a Nationalist paper did not
 
 198 JAMES HACK TUKE 1883 
 
 hesitate to sneer at their report. 1 Mr. Hodgkin, 
 however, effectually replied ; showed that at 
 Toronto he and his companion had visited the 
 poor Irish in company with the parish priest, and 
 that of all the emigrants in that city three only 
 were sent out by Mr. Tuke's Fund, and that they 
 were doing well. 2 
 
 The result of this opposition on the part of the 
 Nationalist party was that the Government con- 
 sented to appropriate, in aid of migration, one-half 
 of the 100,000 proposed to be applied for 
 emigration, thus leaving only the other 50,000 
 to aid in emigration. 
 
 In the spring of 1884, Tuke and other agents 
 of the Fund were again at work in the west ; 
 Captain Ruttledge Fair undertaking Bellmullet, 
 Westport, and part of the Union of Swineford. 
 Tuke and Major Gaskell had charge of the Unions 
 of Clifden and Oughterard, and Hodgkin under- 
 took a district in Donegal. 
 
 During one of his two visits to Ireland in 
 this spring, Tuke wrote to his old fellow-worker, 
 Mr. Buxton, a letter, from which I extract the 
 following graphic passages : 
 
 1 Freeman's Journal, 3<Dth November 1883. 
 2 Letter of 3rd December 1883, in Freeman 's Journal.
 
 1884 THE MURDERERS' COUNTRY 199 
 
 " GLENDALOUGH HOTEL, RECESS, 
 "May 7, 1884. 
 
 " We had the most extraordinary drive I ever 
 remember yesterday, through the Murderers' 
 Country, as it may be called, on the edge of the 
 Joyce country. 
 
 " i . A short distance from Cong, the car-driver 
 stopped to point out the spot where a young 
 fellow, under-bailiff to Lord Ardilaun, was shot 
 on the road, March 17, 1883, within a short dis- 
 tance of a house ! 
 
 "2. The driver pulled up and said, ' Here Lord 
 Mountmorres was shot in the evening as he was 
 coming on his car from Clonbur' (a short mile 
 distant) ; ' this is the hole in the road where his 
 blood was for some time, just as if you'd been 
 killing a pig ; there's the cottage fifty yards off 
 where the police asked the people to let them take 
 the body in after he was dead, but they wouldn't 
 dare not do it.' . . . 
 
 "3. In Clonbur, the informer Kerrigan stood 
 in the little street with two armed policemen 
 to prevent him being shot. Kerrigan's evidence 
 hanged the murderers of the two Huddys at 
 Cloughbrack ; he himself a sharer in the murder, 
 which was accomplished in his garden.
 
 200 JAMES HACK TUKE 1884 
 
 "4. In Clonbur itself, a trial going on before the 
 stipendiary magistrate of three men charged with 
 the death of another in a drunken fray about three 
 weeks since. 
 
 "5. The cottage of the man who had been lately 
 killed. 
 
 "6. A man working on the roadside who was 
 a few weeks ago injured by the shots fired by 
 Lord Ardilaun's bailiffs, who found him and 
 another stealing wood in a boat. The bailiffs 
 pleaded guilty and were fined. 
 
 " 7. In the distance, in an old churchyard on a 
 sunny hillside on the shores of Lough Mask, five 
 heaps of gray stone, marking the graves of the 
 five victims of the Maamtrasna murder. Our 
 car-driver had himself assisted in bringing from 
 the cottage the little boy of seven who alone 
 escaped with his life the vengeance of the ten 
 assassins. ' He was but a creature-een (cratureen), 
 and we had to carry him on the board of 
 wood which covers the well of the car, and 
 we thought he would have died before he got 
 to the ferry after the long rough walk down 
 the mountain to the boat. We had four police- 
 men to help to carry, but they could not make 
 him understand their Irish, but the cratureen
 
 1884 THE MURDERERS' COUNTRY 201 
 
 could understand me, and we was verra friendly 
 together.' 
 
 " Then a mile farther, perched on a hill over- 
 looking Lough Mask ( 8 ) , the village of Cloughbrack, 
 distinguishable for some time before reaching it 
 by the whitewashed huts of two parties of police 
 stationed there. . . . Here, on that fatal morning, 
 in the midst of the village, and the entire popu- 
 lation within hearing of the rifle shots which killed 
 them, the two Huddys, father and son, were 
 murdered. ' The old man was shot just under 
 that light green tree in the corner of the garden. 
 The little lad, fleet of foot, thought to run for it, 
 and he made for the little boreen that ye see there 
 behind the house. But they fired at him as he 
 ran, and he got a wound in the head and fell, and 
 they put him in the bag when he was still alive.' 
 Our car-driver, who had been asked by Huddy 
 to drive him out from Cong, declined unless 
 he would agree to take two policemen with him ; 
 this Huddy scorned to do, and induced another 
 * boy ' to drive. ' And shure, if I'd gone with 
 him I'd be in the bag too, for I'd have gone to 
 help him, shurely,' said the driver, ' but something 
 told me not to go. . . . There's the spot where 
 the "boy" was told to wait with the car whilst the
 
 202 JAMES HACK TUKE 1884 
 
 Huddys went up through the village to serve the 
 notices. They arrived about nine in the morning, 
 and the " boy" said he waited until four, and then, as 
 no one came back, he drove home round another way. 
 The police, hearing, asked him questions. He said 
 he knew nothing, but he must have heard the shots 
 and known something about it; but though often 
 and often examined, he always said he knew nothing. 
 Some say he was kept there by force, and only 
 allowed to go under threat of death if he told. 
 But the " boy " stuck to it that he knew nothing ; 
 but he got sick and pined, and was so bad that he 
 got away at the last and went to America.' 
 
 " Then we talk with the police sergeant. ' Are 
 the people in any better mood ? ' He thinks 
 not ; ' as savage as ever, only kept down by us.' 
 ' They are so awful poor, they can't live on the 
 lands.' (Is not this behind all the evil, ' can't 
 live on the lands ' ? ) Then we are shown the 
 ' boreen ' (little road) by which the ill-fated men 
 walked up to the house where they were killed, 
 and the path down the mountain by which the 
 bodies were carried to the lake in sacks the little 
 boy not quite dead and occasionally moving, and 
 then struck with thick sticks to finish the horrid 
 work. ' That's the point, yer honour, just past the
 
 1884 THE MURDERERS' COUNTRY 203 
 
 schoolhouse ' (where we had seen the children of 
 the murderers and others coming out), ' where 
 they took them and put stones in the sacks, and 
 rowing out past the big island they threw them 
 into the lake just there between the big and the 
 little islands. There is a deep hole near this sixty 
 feet deep, with an under current, which they 
 thought would suck them down and in, but they 
 missed the hole by a few yards and they were 
 found in only twenty feet of water.' It was all 
 done in open daylight, and no doubt in presence of 
 nearly the whole village. . . . Can you imagine a 
 more ghastly savage picture of nineteenth-century 
 society. (Nice additions these people will be to 
 the British voters !) Much more was pointed 
 out, but this is enough. . . . 
 
 "A mile farther yet, and the driver pointed 
 out the road from the lake to Maamtrasna, . . . 
 and as nearly as he could the site of the little 
 village, which in the dead of night the ten 
 murderers entered, killing in their blind venge- 
 ance five of their own neighbours five Joyces 
 not Saxons or bailiffs or landlords' men, but their 
 own kith and kin ! Can we imagine a more awful 
 despotism than this of the Secret Societies, which 
 are alone at this moment kept down by the
 
 204 JAMES HACK TUKE 1884 
 
 * Crimes Act,' which, I have no doubt, many of 
 our good Liberal friends will do all in their power 
 to repeal on the ground of its being ' an infringe- 
 ment of the liberty of the people.' Depend 
 upon it, it is the ' Secret Society,' and not the 
 ' Crimes Act,' which interferes with the liberty of 
 the people. 
 
 " But this and all other reflections upon a con- 
 dition of society in which priests and people are, 
 in many cases, all as one, in which ' killing is 
 no murder,' and brutality the sole recognised 
 authority by the people, I must leave for your 
 quiet digestion to me it is one of unutterable 
 sadness, almost one may say of despair. For what 
 are the remedies now offered ? ' Local self- 
 government and an extension of the franchise ! ' 
 
 " Emigration, which might take many to lands 
 where * work and money ' are plenty, is opposed 
 by one party and is merely a plaything of the 
 Government on the other, or left to amateurs to 
 carry out. 
 
 " Tramways, which might give work for a time 
 and engage the people healthily and allow of ready 
 access to their almost inaccessible villages and fast- 
 nesses, are allowed to drop, from some technical 
 difficulties or dread of cost to the country.
 
 1884 EVILS AND REMEDIES 205 
 
 " A really good system of education, at once free 
 and compulsory and clear of the influence of the 
 clergy, is impossible. 
 
 " What and where are the hopeful signs which 
 the Government talk of? A little hope or light 
 may, perhaps, be found in this dark picture from 
 the fact that the Land Act is exerting some 
 beneficial influence, and that from more than one 
 competent authority I have heard really cheerful 
 statements of its influence." 
 
 In the spring of 1884 the number of emigrants 
 fell off considerably, and the cost per head had in- 
 creased, in consequence chiefly of the greater dis- 
 tances to which they were sent. 
 
 The causes which led to the decrease in the 
 number of emigrants were the great depression of 
 the labour market in America, the better crops 
 and the increased employment in Ireland and 
 England, and the opposition on the part of 
 political and religious organisations and persons. 
 
 In fact, a propaganda had been set on foot 
 against emigration. Mr. Sydney Buxton, in his 
 report to the Committee of the Fund, under date 
 of loth March 1884, wrote as follows : 
 
 "As regards this last" (i.e. the propaganda), 
 "when the district was first handed over to the
 
 206 JAMES HACK TUKE 1884. 
 
 Committee, the Guardians (January 22nd) passed 
 a resolution thanking the Committee for under- 
 taking the emigration, as the rates would be there- 
 by saved. Since then, however, an active opposition 
 has sprung up, and the Guardians have shown a 
 change of feeling by passing a resolution intended 
 practically to prevent the Relieving Officers from 
 giving us the assistance which their knowledge 
 of the district and the people renders almost 
 essential. 
 
 " The parish priests at first were passive in the 
 matter, neither actively friendly nor actively hostile, 
 but some ten days ago Bishop M'Cormack of 
 Ballyhadereen, in his ' Lenten Pastoral,' denounced 
 emigration and the ' emigrationists ' in the strongest 
 language. 
 
 " This Pastoral has been read by the priests 
 from all the altars in the diocese ' with emphasis,' 
 as we were told. 
 
 " The shopkeepers are, of course, antagonistic, 
 and on the last market-day in Charlestown and 
 probably in other parts of the district also one of 
 the principal traders posted a notice in the market- 
 place denouncing emigration ; while the Freeman 
 and the local papers never miss an opportunity of 
 condemning State-aided emigration and the ' Fund.' '
 
 1 884 CESSATION OF OPERATIONS 207 
 
 This change in the circumstances of the work 
 naturally received the careful consideration of the 
 Committee of the Fund, and in June 1884 they 
 resolved " to cease their operations, whilst still 
 keeping the organisation of the Committee in 
 existence in view of some future emergency." 
 
 As the operations of the Tuke Fund had thus 
 been brought to an end, it seems now fitting to 
 pause and enquire what it had done. The work 
 effected by this Fund during the three years of its 
 existence was not trifling. Its operations, as we 
 know, had been chiefly confined to the Unions of 
 Clifden and Oughterard in Galway, and of Bell- 
 mullet and Newport in Mayo. In all, 9482 
 emigrants were sent out, consisting of, say, 1500 
 families, and the rest single persons. Of these 
 emigrants, about 70 per cent went to ninety 
 districts of the United States ; 221 went to Aus- 
 tralia, and the rest to Ontario and the North- West 
 Territory of Canada. The private contributions 
 in the three years amounted to 24,500. In 
 the first year the expenses were entirely defrayed 
 from such contributions. In 1883-84 the Com- 
 mittee received 44,000 from the Treasury, under 
 the powers conferred by clauses in the Arrears 
 of Rent Act 1882 and the Tramways Act of
 
 zoS JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 1883. The average cost per head was about 
 
 7:4:6.' 
 
 That the scheme of emigration carried into 
 effect under the Committee of Mr. Tuke's Fund 
 should meet with some opposition and much 
 criticism was natural, and perhaps not undesir- 
 able. The objections raised to it were, I think, 
 mainly the following : ( i ) that migration to 
 other districts of Ireland afforded a better means 
 of relieving the congested districts than emigration 
 to foreign countries ; (2) that it was not neces- 
 sary, and was somewhat unfair, to give outside aid 
 to emigration in some parts of the country, whilst 
 the emigration from other parts was paid for 
 by the emigrants or their friends ; (3) that emi- 
 gration exposed the objects of it to greater moral 
 dangers in the land of their exile than they were 
 exposed to at home ; (4) that they did not 
 prosper in their new homes ; (5) that emigration 
 produced no permanent benefit in the parts of 
 Ireland from which it took place. 
 
 Let us consider these points in order : 
 i . When his mind was first drawn to the sub- 
 ject, Tuke was inclined to believe and hope that 
 
 1 Rathbone's Summary; Colonisation Report, 1891, Appendix, p. 50. 
 Tuke's British Association Paper, Report, 1891, p. 10.
 
 i 884 OBJECTIONS TO EMIGRATION 209 
 
 migration to other parts of Ireland might bring 
 substantial relief to the west. But further enquiry 
 and consideration led him irresistibly to the con- 
 clusion that migration to any considerable extent 
 was impracticable. He concurred in the view 
 generally held that no permanent benefit could be 
 conferred by a holding of less than twenty acres ; 
 that the cost of reclaiming boglands would not 
 be less than 15 to 20 an acre, and that the 
 quality of the land when reclaimed would be too 
 poor to be worth the outlay. If from the bog- 
 lands of Ireland we turn to the better lands now 
 used for grazing farms, he came to the conclusion 
 that the twenty acres of land could not be acquired 
 for a smaller sum than 400, to which must be 
 added the cost of buildings, drains, and fences, 
 say ^150 or ^550 for the small homestead, to 
 which again must be added, as working capital, 
 at least another ^150 ; or, in other words, every 
 migrated family would cost ^yoo. 1 
 
 A Committee of the House of Commons 
 considered this subject fully, and in their report 
 stated concisely the conclusions at which Tuke had 
 arrived on this subject. They said: 
 
 " In dealing with migration, your Committee 
 
 1 Tuke's paper on "Irish Emigration." British Association Meeting at 
 Montreal, August 1884. 
 
 P
 
 zio JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 are generally confronted with this dilemma, that 
 either the soil to which the surplus population is 
 to be removed is too barren to better their con- 
 dition, or if its quality is better, then its value may 
 be too high to make the operation financially 
 successful. It is only in new countries that good 
 soil can be found at a cheap rate." l 
 
 I have mentioned that of the 100,000 origin- 
 ally intended for emigration by the Tramways Act 
 of 1883, 50,000 was set aside for the purposes 
 of migration and settlement, to meet the wishes 
 of the Nationalist party. In February 1884, a 
 company was registered under the name of the 
 Irish Land Purchase and Settlement Company, 
 Limited, with Professor Baldwin as its managing 
 director ; it had all 1 the assistance which it could 
 derive from the active approval of Mr. Parnell 
 and those who were associated with him in politics ; 
 it purchased an estate in Galway, and for that 
 purpose borrowed 42,300 from the Land Com- 
 mission ; its instalments soon fell into arrear ; a 
 receiver went into possession of the land ; not 
 a single individual ever migrated to the land, and 
 the Company has been wound up and dissolved. 
 
 The 50,000 devoted to migration remained 
 
 1 Report of Select Committee on Colonisation, March 1891, p. 7.
 
 1884 EMIGRATION OR MIGRATION ? 211 
 
 untouched in 1891, and so remains, I believe, 
 down to the present day ; the 50,000 devoted 
 to emigration has been fully used. Of the com- 
 parative merits of the two schemes, emigration 
 or migration, we could hardly have a better ex- 
 perimental test than this : two equal sums devoted 
 to the two objects at the same time ; one taken up 
 and used, the other lying idle and unfruitful. 
 
 2. It is notorious that, ever since the famine years 
 of 1 845-47, a constant and vast stream of emigration 
 had been flowing from Ireland to the New World. 
 In 1884, Tuke estimated the exodus since 1845 
 at two million heads. Why then, it may be said, 
 not leave this stream to flow on ? Why set on foot 
 a separate machinery with regard to the west ? Why 
 help them and leave the other districts unhelped ? 
 
 The answer to this was twofold : ( I ) out of one 
 hundred emigrants leaving Ireland by the ordinary 
 course of emigration, seventy -nine have been 
 young men and women between sixteen and thirty- 
 five years of age, who have left both elder and 
 younger behind them ; and (2) the poor people of 
 the west are, from their absolute poverty, unable 
 to pay the passage -money, and in consequence 
 have contributed the smallest portion of the 
 ordinary emigrants from Ireland.
 
 ziz JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 Ireland is an island of many varieties of 
 character. There are the beautiful hills and 
 valleys of Wicklow, the fine arable lands of Ulster, 
 the rich butter farms of Cork and Kerry and of 
 the Golden Valley of Tipperary, the pasture-lands 
 of Meath ; and there are the dreary moors along 
 the fringe of the Atlantic, saturated with the 
 storms from the ocean, where human beings have 
 settled only because they could be driven no 
 farther west, and where they cultivate little patches 
 of turf-land in the hollows of the granite rocks. 
 The inhabitants of some districts could help them- 
 selves ; for those of the west, the dire necessity of 
 their daily life left no possibility of self-help, and 
 therefore, argued Tuke, they ought to be helped 
 by others. 
 
 3. The Irish priesthood were at first much 
 divided in opinion with regard to emigration. 
 Amongst its ranks Tuke found some admirable 
 helpers ; amongst its bishops and archbishops he 
 found, as we have seen, strong opponents. One 
 objection frequently urged by the parish priests 
 was, that when their people emigrated they were 
 withdrawn from the only moral and religious influ- 
 ences to which they responded, and that they found 
 their way into the great cities of the east of America,
 
 i 884 RELIGIOUS OBJECTION 213 
 
 and there lost much of their religious feelings, what- 
 ever they might gain in outward prosperity. 
 
 Tuke recognised the force of these observations, 
 and by all means in his power sought to prevent 
 the dangers which were not by any means 
 imaginary. He was, as we have seen, careful to 
 send his emigrants, not to the towns, but to the 
 country districts and to places where work could 
 be easily obtained. He had, when in America, 
 placed himself in communication with Bishop 
 Ireland of St. Paul's, Minnesota, and, after the 
 emigrants had gone out, had kept up a corre- 
 spondence with him. 
 
 Father Mahony was one of Tuke's most useful 
 helpers ; he had assisted to embark a batch of 
 emigrants ; he had travelled with them from 
 Galway to St. Paul's, Minnesota ; he had done 
 what he could to lessen their sorrows and to 
 smooth their difficulties in settling in a new 
 country ; and finally, he had adopted that new 
 country, as his own, accepting service as a 
 priest under Bishop Ireland, who had greatly aided 
 the Committee by his counsel and cordial help. 
 
 4. But it was not only the spiritual but the 
 material condition of the emigrants which was 
 represented by the opponents of the scheme as
 
 2i4 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 unsatisfactory ; some distressed Irish families in 
 Toronto, 1 about whose circumstances certain news- 
 paper articles appeared, were falsely said to be 
 Tuke emigrants. "The frozen wastes of Mani- 
 toba " Manitoba being in fact a peculiarly 
 successful settling ground for the Irish were 
 denounced in the papers as the place to which the 
 Irish were allured by false representations, and 
 the benevolent scheme of the Fund was " a cruel 
 and enforced expatriation." Were these re- 
 presentations accurate ? 
 
 In 1882 Father Nugent and Mr. Hodgkin, 
 and in 1883 Mr. Hodgkin and Captain Ruttledge 
 Fair, had visited America for the purpose of seeing 
 to the interests and the welfare of the emigrants, 
 and their reports were full of encouragement. 
 They were so much improved, said Captain Rutt- 
 ledge Fair, that it was almost impossible to re- 
 cognise them. But, beyond all other evidence, the 
 large sums of money sent home to their relatives 
 and friends by the Tuke emigrants spoke volumes 
 as to their prosperity in the New World. 
 
 In 1891 Tuke stated that it had been estimated, 
 from information obtained in the district, that 
 sums varying from 2000 up to considerably 
 
 1 As to these Toronto Irish, see ante, p. 197.
 
 -i 884 PROSPERITY IN AMERICA 215 
 
 over 8000 had been sent annually to the Union 
 of Clifden alone by the emigrants, who, when 
 they left their homes, were in a starving and 
 destitute condition. 1 When writing his report, in 
 July 1884, Tuke had before him some 200 
 letters, nearly all received in the spring of 
 1884, and chiefly from emigrants from the 
 Clifden Union, which were only samples of many 
 other such letters received. He writes : 
 
 "I do not think it possible to read these 
 letters all browned and stained and odorous of 
 peat smoke as they are without emotion ; the 
 touches of family affection, showing itself not 
 merely in the warmth of expression, but practically 
 by the large amount of money sent, and the 
 apologies for the ' dhry ' letters, the earnest 
 desire that friends and relations should leave the 
 poverty by which they are surrounded and join 
 their friends in their bettered condition, with the 
 promise of a ' good house * for parents or others, 
 all tell the same story of the content and 
 general well-doing of the writers." 
 
 Furthermore, in August 1883, Bishop Ireland 
 of St. Paul's, Minnesota, had written to him, 
 " All your emigrants sent to Minnesota are, 
 
 1 Report, 1891, p. ii.
 
 zi6 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 without a single exception, doing well." Again 
 later, in November 1888, and after the emigrants 
 had been settled some five years in their new 
 home, Father Mahony, who we may recollect had 
 settled in Minnesota, addressed to Tuke a full 
 report of how they were faring, together with a 
 detailed account of visits to the homes of many of 
 them. The report was little short of a triumphal 
 song ; it described the emigrants as busy, prosperous, 
 well fed, and almost as wealthy ; and it naturally 
 thrilled Tuke's heart and mind with happy sensa- 
 tions. "As I have carefully followed the words 
 of this report," he wrote, 1 "of house-to-house 
 visits, my thoughts have naturally gone back to 
 the wretched houses in which a few short years 
 ago these emigrants lived the cabins from whence 
 issued this long procession of men and bare-footed 
 women and children, who, clad in the coarse red 
 and white flannel of the country, crowded around 
 us begging for ' God's sake ' to be helped to a 
 country where they could earn the means of living. 
 When, further, I recall that the garments in which 
 they were clothed were often almost too poor and 
 ragged to admit of their appearing before us 
 decently ; and that some even had to borrow from 
 
 1 Fortnightly Review, 1888, p. 6.
 
 i 884 PROSPERITY IN UNITED STATES 217 
 
 a more fortunate friend or neighbour the shawl or 
 petticoat with which they were clothed ; and that 
 for all the emigrants it was necessary to provide, 
 for the journey, clothing from head to foot ; and 
 when, in addition to this, I remember that their 
 only food consisted of one or two poor meals 
 daily of potatoes or ' yellow meal,' the contrast 
 afforded by these accounts of happy, well-housed, 
 well-clad, well-fed families in many cases the 
 owners of the house and land on which they are 
 living is indeed most striking. Truly, the words 
 of the Irish priest in Minnesota in 1888 are a 
 wonderful contrast to the words of the Irish 
 priest in Connemara of 1880, who wrote : ' I say, 
 with all the energy of my existence, let the people 
 leave in any and every way that may take them 
 out of the slough of poverty and misery into 
 which they are at present sunk.' Whatever draw- 
 backs there may be in the present condition of 
 these people, and doubtless these exist, the 
 benefits conferred upon them morally, socially, and 
 physically must, I think, have exceeded the most 
 sanguine expectation of those who have assisted to 
 bring about this marvellous transformation." 
 
 So much for the emigrants to the United 
 States. How fared it with those to Canada ? Let
 
 218 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 us hear what Sir Charles Tupper, the High Com- 
 missioner in London for the colony, wrote to Tuke 
 on 1 5th December 1884 : 
 
 " I have read with much interest Lord Braba- 
 zon's 1 article on State - directed Emigration, 2 but 
 think it due to you, and those associated with you 
 in the good work in which you were engaged, to 
 record my dissent from the opinion expressed by 
 his Lordship, that the efforts of the Government 
 to carry out a system of State-aided emigration 
 * have been very far from successful.' Considering 
 the very small sum per head contributed by the 
 Government, and the very small percentage of 
 cases in which any difficulty arose, I think Lord 
 Brabazon might have found the strongest evidence 
 in support of State-aided emigration from the 
 admirable results that .attended the philanthropic 
 efforts of the gentlemen associated with yourself, 
 and the limited assistance given by the Government, 
 to transfer thousands unable to obtain remunerative 
 employment in Ireland to Canada, where they are 
 now living in comfort. His Lordship is mistaken 
 in supposing that the * emigrants from Ireland were 
 simply pitchforked on to the shores of Canada and 
 allowed to look after themselves as best they could.' 
 
 1 Now Earl of Meath. - See Nineteenth Century, Nov. 1884.
 
 1884 PROSPERITY IN CANADA 219 
 
 " In the great majority of cases, care was taken 
 to send out suitable persons (i.e. those able and 
 willing to work), and the agents of the Canadian 
 Government, being duly notified, received them on 
 their arrival, and provided them with employment ; 
 and you have the satisfaction of knowing that 
 thousands who would, but for your efforts, now be 
 pining with hunger, are comfortable. We are all 
 agreed that the idle and dissolute must be a burden 
 to the rest of the community wherever they are 
 found, but the experience of the past warrants the 
 belief that all who are able and willing to work will 
 find in Canada a field for successful exertion that 
 will speedily render them a source of national wealth 
 and a strength to the empire to which they belong." 
 
 5. It remains to consider shortly what was the 
 effect of this emigration upon the people that 
 remained behind ? What upon the pauperism ? 
 What upon the consolidation of holdings ? 
 
 There was no doubt that in the districts 
 affected there followed a diminution in pauperism 
 and an increase in wages. But, as we have seen, 
 1 884 was a comparatively prosperous year, and it is 
 probably impossible to untwist from one another the 
 effects of emigration and of physical improvement. 
 
 As regards the consolidation of holdings, it was
 
 220 JAMES HACK TUKE 1882 
 
 found, in the year 1883, that out of 293 holdings 
 vacated, only 20 had been purchased by new 
 tenants. In the following year Mr. Buxton calcu- 
 lated that in Mayo over 70 per cent of the holdings 
 vacated by the emigrants would be consolidated, 1 
 and in one district in the Union of Bellmullet 
 (the district of Tip), Tuke, in or about 1891, 
 received information that out of thirty-two houses 
 there before the emigration began, only twelve 
 remained, that nearly all the people were comfort- 
 able, that each man had two, three, or four 
 holdings added to his original one, and that nearly 
 all the houses were built of stone instead of sod as 
 formerly. 2 
 
 That the work of Tuke and his coadjutors did 
 a great amount of good to the poor people re- 
 moved from the starvation of the west of Ireland 
 to the land of promise across the ocean, no im- 
 partial person can doubt. But it has left much 
 to be done. The Duke of Bedford, who had 
 throughout supported his cause, wrote to Tuke 
 (ist September 1886) as follows : 
 
 "While I was under your guidance I learnt 
 that emigration is the main hope of Ireland, and 
 
 1 Memorial by Mr. Buxton, i8th July 1884. 
 2 Report, 1891, p. 12.
 
 1884 CONSOLIDATION OF HOLDINGS 221 
 
 that it succeeds when undertaken by a man of 
 power like yourself, animated by a sense of duty. 
 
 " I also learnt that Government agency cannot 
 achieve what you have done and I ask myself, 
 how can emigration be made far-reaching enough 
 to help Ireland ? and how can the renewed 
 growth of pauper owners and occupiers be avoided 
 in future ? " 
 
 These questions still remain unanswered. 
 
 Tuke's labours in the cause of assisted emigra- 
 tion naturally excited attention in many quarters. 
 He was invited to read papers on the subject before 
 a society at Cambridge, and by request he con- 
 tributed an essay on the subject to the proceed- 
 ings of the British Association, which was read at 
 Montreal in August 1884, in his absence. He 
 was, during the course of the same year, elected, 
 honoris causa^ a member of the Athenaeum Club 
 on the proposal of Lord Hobhouse, and in like 
 manner of the Reform Club. He was invited 
 by some of his old fellow -citizens of York to 
 stand as their representative in Parliament ; and 
 he received the offer of a knighthood from Lord 
 Spencer. He declined both the parliamentary and 
 the titular honours.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 1885-1: 
 
 Home Rule Scheme for purchase of holdings by Government 
 aid Letter to Spectator Misery in Achil Tuke's visit 
 Distress on mainland Distribution of seed potatoes 
 Government scheme for aid Death of Mr. Forster 
 Visit from Mr. Bright Emigrants' Information Office 
 Bodyke Report to Mr. Balfour Distress in Arran 
 Islands Visit to Donegal. 
 
 THE year 1885 seems to have been one of more 
 than usual tranquillity in Tuke's life ; he had no 
 pressing Irish business to occupy his thoughts. 
 Tours in the west, the south, and the north of 
 England, in the winter, spring, and autumn of 
 the year, diversified his home life. 
 
 In January 1886 Mr. Gladstone propounded 
 to the House of Commons his plan of Home 
 Rule ; it met with no sympathy from Tuke, for 
 the subject had occupied his thoughts for some 
 considerable time, and he had already formed a 
 decided opinion upon it. When Home Rule was
 
 i886 HOME RULE 223 
 
 seriously proposed by some Irish politicians, and 
 long before it had won the assent of Mr. 
 Gladstone, Tuke had entered upon an examina- 
 tion of the subject with great care, with a perfectly 
 open mind, and with a willingness to satisfy any 
 legitimate aspirations of the people he loved so 
 well. The result of this careful consideration 
 of the subject was that to Tuke, Home Rule 
 appeared to offer no benefit to Ireland, whose 
 troubles were, he held, economic, not 'political. 
 From the conclusion thus carefully and deliberately 
 reached he never saw any reason to depart. 
 
 On 3rd January 1886, he wrote to a friend in 
 Ireland : 
 
 " Mrs. Tuke and I cannot forbear to send you 
 a line of greeting and good wishes for the New 
 Year. I hope it does not make you start to think 
 that any one should be rash enough to wish you 
 a happy New Year, who are living in Ireland. 
 And certainly for all loyal people, whether Irish or 
 English, the prospect is, to my mind, one which is 
 calculated to fill us with alarm and sadness rather 
 than gladness and hope. ... I think I need not 
 say that the idea of a Parliament in Dublin is very 
 alarming to me, and that the prospect for either 
 landlords or shopkeepers or merchants who did not
 
 224 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 ' bow down to Baal ' would be more than gloomy! 
 But I cannot suppose a Parliament on Stephen's 
 Green, with ' Dublin Castle ' and the police in the 
 hands of Dictator Parnell, is really a possibility. 
 But is there any safe half-way house as a resting- 
 place, and if so, where is it ? " 
 
 To a correspondent who wrote asking Tuke's 
 opinion on Home Rule, with a view to a discussion 
 on the subject at some society of which his 
 correspondent was a member, Tuke wrote a letter 
 which contains the fullest expression that I have 
 found of his views on the subject. Under date 
 2ist June 1886, he said : 
 
 " I am not a politician, although all my life 
 voting for the Liberal party when voting, and 
 deeply regretting to find myself in opposition to a 
 man for whom, in many ways, I have the highest 
 regard. 
 
 " But, none the less, it is impossible for me to 
 dissever Mr. Gladstone's sudden action from the 
 desire not to be outbid by the Conservatives, and 
 therefore I cannot but distrust his judgment at 
 this moment, which appears to be warped by mere 
 party motives or for political ends. 
 
 " No doubt I am not a blind follower of my 
 party, hateful word to me, but I put, so far as I
 
 i886 HOME RULE 225 
 
 know, the good of the country above mere party. 
 Hence I am called a Tory by some and by others 
 a Radical, as by Lord Salisbury in his speech at 
 Leeds. 
 
 " I have never attempted fully to state my 
 thoughts about ' Home Rule,' as it is termed. 
 
 o 
 
 " The question is so vast a one, and includes so 
 many and such intricate points for consideration, 
 that I feel it is beyond my powers. It needs men 
 who have been trained all their lives in the highest 
 departments of politics or statesmanship to frame a 
 constitution fitted for Paddy's back and if men 
 like Mr. Gladstone fail in the attempt to fit John 
 Bull's coat thereto, is it likely that I should 
 succeed ? 
 
 " I have, no doubt, from the experience gained 
 in a residence of two or three months yearly in 
 Ireland during the past five or six years, formed a 
 very clear conviction that the cure of Irish dis- 
 affection and misery is not to be obtained by 
 so-called Home Rule. I feel little doubt that 
 the measure (now thrown aside by Mr. Gladstone) 
 would have resulted in bloodshed and bankruptcy 
 to Ireland. 
 
 " Many reasons tend to this. 
 
 " i . The remarkable Manifesto published in the
 
 226 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 Times of this morning, whether a real one or not, 
 very really states (as has all along been known by 
 many) the feeling behind Mr. Parnell. 
 
 " He may be willing to stop at a moderate 
 amount of Home Rule, but not so the ' Brother- 
 hood ' behind who, whilst willing to take all 
 they can by the help of Mr. Parnell, are no 
 doubt biding their time for the next step in the 
 great Socialist or Fenian movement so rampant in 
 Ireland. 
 
 " One reason, therefore, that induces me to 
 object to a ' Statutory Parliament ' in Dublin, 
 is the certainty that it means a bitter and long- 
 continued fight for an entire separation between 
 Great Britain and Ireland a fight which will 
 assuredly compel English interference. 
 
 "2. The knowledge that in the country districts 
 of Ireland the one idea of ' Home Rule ' means 
 to the tenants the right to occupy their lands 
 without rent (again a deeply felt Socialist cry), 
 compels me to disbelieve in Home Rule as a 
 means of satisfying this very large number of 
 Irish voters, and causing content in Ireland. 
 
 " This rent, at whatever rate it is agreed to be 
 paid, must be enforced by some one to pay the 
 annual sum due to England and if the Irish
 
 1 886 HOME RULE 227 
 
 Parliament refuses to collect or take the needful 
 steps to collect it, where will the annual payment 
 come from, and will not the hated Saxon have to 
 interfere and incur all the old odium of a landlord ? 
 
 "3. As regards the one-third of the holdings in 
 Ireland, say below 4. or ^5 a year, how can the 
 * Bill ' in any degree help them, or how can an 
 impoverished country like Ireland really help them ? 
 
 "The rents due from this one -third of the 
 holdings would form an essential portion of the 
 sum proposed under the Home Rule Scheme to 
 be annually paid to England as Ireland's pro- 
 portion of taxes ; and if not paid by this one- 
 third of the holdings, who is to pay it ? Would 
 the wealthy portion of Ireland permit themselves 
 to be taxed additionally to pay the deficit ? And 
 let no one doubt the reality of the deficit. 
 
 "At this moment the greater portion of the 
 tenants of this one-third of the holdings are in 
 arrears of rent, and arrears of shop debts. The 
 arrears of shop debts are most extraordinary, 
 amounting in many cases to far more than the 
 value of the property of the indebted tenant. 
 
 " Then as to arrears of rent. At this moment 
 a very large number of landlords in the west are 
 not asking for rent this year, knowing how
 
 228 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 impossible it is to obtain it ; and where evictions 
 have taken place, the result of a whole day of 
 this evil work has not been more than a few 
 pounds 4, I heard, in one case. 
 
 " It must further be remembered that it is this 
 class of the population for whom millions have 
 been collected during past years to keep them 
 alive, and who now, but for special Distress Bills 
 and Seed Potato Funds, would be starving in 
 many places. By whom, after the Irish have 
 their own affairs in their own hands, would these 
 constant rates-in-aid be paid ? 
 
 "Again I say, I see no chance of peace and 
 plenty as the result of the Home Rule Bill. 
 
 " Then there is the very sore question of 
 Protestant and Catholic. 
 
 "It is often said that all Catholics are Home 
 Rulers, and all Protestants the reverse. 
 
 " This is a great mistake. The educated and 
 well-to-do Catholics are the most opposed to 
 Home Rule of any people I know, or at any 
 rate fully as much so as their Protestant neigh- 
 bours. They see nothing but confiscation before 
 them as the result of the more rapid spread of 
 Socialism, resulting from the growth of the power 
 of the extreme faction.
 
 i886 HOME RULE 229 
 
 " But that the Roman Catholic priests look for a 
 large increase of their power in some ways cannot 
 be doubted. Education would under them be 
 purely denominational, and under the sole power 
 of the priests. 
 
 " Then again, there is no doubt the priests look 
 for some more public or national acknowledgment 
 of their position in connection with Parliament, 
 etc. 
 
 " But apart from this, the mere fact that there 
 does exist so very strong and almost rabid a 
 feeling in the north of Ireland on the part of 
 a large section of the people, almost renders it 
 impossible for any arrangement to be made which 
 shall bring about peace and order, except as the 
 result of a long and severe struggle for supremacy. 
 
 " Then again, to place the whole of the appoint- 
 ments of judges as well as the police in the hands 
 of the people, who, to say the least of it, have 
 shown how unfit they were to govern, must strike 
 one with alarm. Let any one look at the manage- 
 ment of the Irish Boards of Guardians or other 
 Irish local affairs. Do they inspire one with 
 confidence ? 
 
 " But it is quite impossible to go over all, or 
 nearly all, the points which make me doubt the
 
 2 3 o JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 obtaining of that which we are promised by the 
 supporters of the Home Rule Bill peace, order, 
 prosperity. 
 
 " All this does not make me doubt that in very 
 many ways the government of Ireland might be 
 made more conformable to the views of a greater 
 portion of the people. 
 
 " It is, I have for years felt, a great error to 
 continue to expect the Irish to be willing to bring 
 all questions like Railways, Tramways, Local Boards, 
 etc., to an English Parliament for settlement. 
 
 " There ought to be a Council, or whatever else 
 you may call it, empowered to decide in Dublin 
 upon all matters in which local taxation is 
 concerned. 
 
 "The sham Lord Lieutenancy should be 
 abolished, or, if retained as a permanent official, 
 be independent of politics, as the President of the 
 Council. 
 
 " The present system of an Under Secretary, 
 through whose single department all matters 
 come and are presented to the Chief Secretary, 
 is a very mischievous institution, and the system 
 needs to be changed. 
 
 "The head of the Local Government Board, 
 however constituted, should be in direct com-
 
 1 886 NEEDED REFORMS 231 
 
 munication with the Government, and not pass 
 through the Under-Secretary's department. 
 
 " These are some of the changes absolutely 
 needed. 
 
 " Then as regards education, although there is 
 nothing to forbid any Roman Catholic making 
 use of the Dublin University, as a fact they do 
 object to it, though very many Catholics go to 
 Trinity, and would strongly object to it being 
 handed over to their own party ; and I believe 
 it important that a Catholic university able to 
 confer the highest degrees, etc., should be 
 established, i.e. the endowment funds provided 
 by the State. 
 
 " I am well aware that this is a very imperfect 
 statement, and has the disadvantage of being 
 hurriedly written, and it may be urged these 
 proposals would in no degree satisfy or content 
 the Irish party. Granted, but in reply I ask, 
 will Mr. Gladstone's scheme ? The answer has 
 already been given. 
 
 " I think I need hardly say how earnestly I long 
 and pray for a solution of the Irish difficulty. 
 This needs more patience and faith, where all 
 seems so dark and gloomy, than most of us 
 possess."
 
 232 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 The preceding letter contains, it will be observed, 
 references to a scheme, much discussed in connec- 
 tion with Home Rule, for the advance of money by 
 the British Government to the tenants of Ireland 
 to enable them to purchase their holdings, and 
 for the repayment of the advances by instalments. 
 Mr. (now Sir Robert) Giffen had joined in the dis- 
 cussion, and suggested what he considered to be 
 important safeguards for the protection of the Eng- 
 lish ratepayer. Tuke thought that the difficulties 
 in the way of the plan were hardly appreciated, and 
 in the Spectator of 6th March 1886 appeared a 
 powerful letter from his pen on the subject. He 
 pointed out that some 200,000 families existed in 
 Ireland on holdings of an annual value of ^4 or 
 under, that the great majority of these tenants 
 were living in degrading poverty, and that a large 
 portion of these small holders were practically in- 
 solvent. The conversion of tenants into owners 
 would, so Tuke argued, be almost immaterial 
 " Should we not merely be face to face with 
 300,000 impoverished owners instead of 300,000 
 impoverished tenants ? " " The disease which 
 afflicts Ireland," he wrote, "is no merely senti- 
 mental or political malady. Behind Mr. Parnell, 
 behind Mr. Davitt, behind even Archbishop Croke,
 
 1 886 LETTER TO SPECTATOR 233 
 
 stands another figure the gaunt form of Poverty. 
 Truly wrote the wise man of old, ' The destruction 
 of the poor is his poverty.' ' 
 
 The letter excited a very keen interest, and the 
 Spectator of the following week confessed itself to 
 be overwhelmed with letters on the subject. But 
 almost before the ink of the paper was dry, Tuke 
 had been called off to work in Ireland, and was 
 obliged to announce through the Spectator (2Oth 
 March 1886) that he could neither read nor answer 
 just then the replies to his letter. 
 
 To explain this new business, we must return to 
 the autumn of 1885. 
 
 During August of that year (1885) the islands 
 and west coast of Ireland were swept by storms of 
 unusual violence, which caused serious injury to 
 the potato crop in some districts, and left the small 
 landholders absolutely incapable of providing seed 
 potatoes for the crop of the ensuing year. It was 
 natural that in this distress they should turn to Tuke, 
 and Mr. H. A. Robinson wrote to him from Dublin 
 under the date of 24th December 1885 : 
 
 " I am sure you must be tired of the thankless 
 job of helping these hopelessly struggling people of 
 the west out of trouble after trouble, and I really 
 have hardly the cheek to ask your help again, after
 
 234 JAMES HACK TUKE 1885 
 
 all the worry and anxiety you have had during the 
 past five years. 
 
 " However, it is as a forlorn hope I am coming 
 to you ; for wherever there is hunger, misery, 
 and desolation in the west, there is still a ray of 
 hope if the cry has not yet reached the ears of 
 ' Mr. Tuke.' 
 
 " This time it is Achil Island that is in diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 " There is a very good potato crop in nearly 
 every part of the west, but in this unfortunate 
 island there has been an almost total failure. 
 
 " The potatoes are not black, or diseased in any 
 way, but there are hardly any of them, and what 
 there are are not much bigger than walnuts. There 
 is no employment in the island, and absolutely no 
 demand whatever for the small mountainy cattle 
 that the people have. 
 
 " There never was such a scarcity of money, and 
 as the people have not the means of paying off 
 their debts, they will get no credit this spring, and 
 you know what that means. 
 
 " The worst feature of the case is about the 
 seed. There is not a man on the island who would 
 put down the seed he has, and as the islanders will 
 be able to get none on credit, I really believe that
 
 1 886 DISTRESS IN ACHIL 235 
 
 unless some assistance can be given to the people 
 in the way of new seed, the whole island will be 
 waste and uncropped this spring." 
 
 In view of this calamity, Tuke was called on to 
 lend his help, not only by Mr. H. A. Robinson, 
 but, first, by the Conservative Government, and 
 subsequently by that of Mr. Gladstone. It was 
 suggested that he should raise a small fund pri- 
 vately to relieve the distress. He doubted whether, 
 in the then state of public feeling towards Ireland, 
 such a fund could be raised ; but in spite of doubts 
 he, in February 1886, issued to a few of those who 
 had helped before in his good works a short state- 
 ment on the subject, on which he also wrote to the 
 Times. In reply he received in all a sum of ^5207. 
 
 Tuke had at first declined to go to Achil. 
 " In this refusal," writes Mrs. Tuke in her notes, 
 " I encouraged him, as it seemed almost impos- 
 sible at the same moment to collect the necessary 
 funds and distribute seed in these vast districts 
 during wild wintry weather. . . . 
 
 " A few days after this refusal, Mr. Tuke, my 
 sister-in-law Mrs. Kennedy, and I were sitting at 
 dinner discussing the question, when Mr. Tuke 
 rose from his chair, began to pace the room, and 
 said with a sort of half groan, ' I really cannot
 
 236 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 persist in my refusal to help these poor people. I 
 cannot let them starve.' He seemed in such dis- 
 tress of mind that I was silent. That evening he 
 wrote to Mr. John Morley to say that he would 
 go to Achil and see what could be done." 
 
 Accordingly he left home, on yth March 1886, 
 for the west of Ireland, accompanied by his wife 
 and her nephew, Sir Henry Lawrence ; and Mr. 
 Morley, the new Irish Secretary, was able, in reply 
 to questions in the House about the distress in 
 Achil, to state that Tuke had taken the matter 
 in hand, had raised a fund, and had already left 
 England. In this work he was again most man- 
 fully helped by Major Ruttledge Fair, who, at 
 Tuke's suggestion, was appointed by the Chief 
 Secretary a temporary local Government Inspector. 
 On arriving at the Island of Achil, it was found 
 that 954 families out of noo on the island re- 
 quired to be assisted. 
 
 To make the fund which had been raised at the 
 suggestion of the Government, as I have before 
 mentioned, go as far as possible, Tuke thought it 
 reasonable to ask the aid of the Government and 
 of the inhabitants of the islands ; and so, by avoid- 
 ing the costs of carriage and distribution, to devote 
 the whole fund to the purchase of the seed potatoes.
 
 1 886 VISIT TO ACHIL 237 
 
 At his request, therefore, the Government placed 
 certain of H.M. gunboats at his disposal, and 
 authorised him to make use of the services of the 
 coastguards and of the police ; and he required 
 that the people should land the potatoes in their 
 boats free of charge. What happened in conse- 
 quence of this plan will appear hereafter. 
 
 This relief work in Achil, Tuke said, was the 
 hardest that he had ever been engaged in ; its 
 nature may be gained from his diary of a single 
 day : 
 
 " 1 5//z March. Visited Dooega, East and West, 
 two small villages on the seashore, containing no 
 houses, more like dirty cattle-sheds, and 600 or 
 700 persons. With the exception of nine families, 
 two of whom had out-door relief, all were receiv- 
 ing fortnightly allowances of meal from the Relief 
 Committee. Rents and holdings very small : 
 three only at or above 2 per annum, the 
 majority varying from 2os. to 305., and some as 
 low as 53. or ics. Visited twenty or more houses. 
 Each, in varying degrees, had the same story : 
 * The potatoes were killed by the August storm,' 
 and either * We have none left ' or ' We are eating 
 the little store of seed, yer honour ; ' while a few 
 told us that they still had one-fourth or one-third
 
 238 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 of the ordinary quantity of potatoes for sowing. 
 None begged for money ; all asked for work so as 
 to obtain meal for their families, and implored for 
 seed with which to plant their holdings ; and, as 
 the whole male population assembled around us 
 like a small Parliament, we had ample opportunity 
 of hearing the vox populi. ' What we want, yer 
 honour, is piers and help with the fishing ; but the 
 piers, yer honour, are the first, for if we had them 
 we could go out with our own small boats every 
 day, and need not go to England, and now for 
 days we are idle and dare not venture out with the 
 rough seas.' ' Where is the place for the pier 
 which you think would help you ? ' we ask ; and 
 instantly the moveable Parliament, heedless of the 
 snow and wind howling around, led us to the two 
 or three places on the coast which, in the views of 
 the wisest, were deemed the best. Their practical 
 explanations were clear and lucid, and the reasons 
 pro and con stated (it is hardly needful to say) 
 with force and energy. 
 
 " On our return we took shelter in a small 
 shop, and from the owner, who hospitably boiled 
 the kettle and provided us with tea, I learnt the 
 following : Asked, ' What meal are you selling 
 weekly ? ' * None now to the people, except that
 
 1 886 MOVEABLE PARLIAMENT 239 
 
 on orders from the Committee.' * How much 
 last year at this time ? ' ' We and the other shops 
 sold four to six tons of meal a week, and all the 
 people get now is about one and a half tons per 
 week from the Committee.' * How much tea 
 did you sell last year per week ? ' ' About four 
 or five pounds, and now all I sell is a quarter of a 
 pound each to the relieving officer and myself, and 
 the little chest I ordered is going back to the 
 merchant.' ' How much tobacco was sold weekly 
 last year ? ' * Five or six pounds, and now I have 
 only an empty canister ; no one can buy. We 
 cannot give more credit ; the people owe me from 
 4 or 5 to i o, and some ij each, and I owe 
 my merchant at Westport, and cannot pay him.' 
 ' Were the rents paid ? ' we asked. * Yes, up to 
 March 1885 ; but now it is impossible.' ' 
 
 Two extracts from Mrs. Tuke's notes will give 
 an account of some of the difficulties of the work, 
 and of the kind of background on which it was 
 undertaken : 
 
 "DoocoRT, ACHIL ISLAND, Saturday, 2jth 
 March 1886. Major Ruttledge Fair started at 8 
 A.M. to meet H.M. gunboat Orwell at Achilbeg ; 
 Messrs. Robinson and Sampson to Dooega to meet 
 the gunboat Banterer. The gunboats were em-
 
 240 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 ployed carrying and landing the seed potatoes, and 
 in the tempestuous weather this work was very 
 difficult and uncertain. It was Mr Tuke's inten- 
 tion to join Major Fair at Achilbeg, if the weather 
 cleared, which unfortunately it did not. Peter 
 kept going to a near hill to look out, and to 
 report if gunboats came in sight. Indoors Mr. 
 Tuke and I were hard at work at lists, and people 
 kept coming all day to interview him and get 
 their names on the list for seed. Very late in the 
 evening Major Ruttledge Fair returned, having 
 had a dreadful day ; the people got very wild 
 and excited ; they, as arranged, brought their boats 
 to unload the potatoes from the Orwell, and in 
 the bustle and confusion one boat managed to go 
 right off with a load and disappeared altogether. 
 This, in spite of all the care and watchfulness 
 exercised by Major Ruttledge Fair and the men 
 of the coastguard, who were busily engaged in 
 helping him. At one time the coastguards and 
 the people had almost a hand-to-hand fight over 
 the bags. 
 
 "On his way back to Doogort, Major Fair 
 called on Father O'Connor, the parish priest, and 
 reported the theft of the potatoes to him. He 
 was most indignant, and announced that he and
 
 1 886 LOST POTATOES FOUND 241 
 
 his curates would * give it hot ' to the people at 
 Mass next day. Meanwhile Banterer never 
 came. It was rumoured that she was aground 
 somewhere, and the Doogort party waited all the 
 day in vain. 
 
 "When Mr. Tuke learned from Major Fair 
 that the boat -load of potatoes had been carried 
 off he was very wroth, and at once wrote a most 
 severe letter to Father O'Connor, saying that 
 every potato must be returned, and unless better 
 order prevailed he would stop the whole distribu- 
 tion. A note was also despatched to the police 
 sergeant at the ' Sound,' asking for police to be 
 present on Monday. We were told that in the 
 Parish Church, and at the various services on 
 Sunday, the people did get it very * hot ' from the 
 clergy at the altar, with the result that within the 
 week the whole of the potatoes were returned safe 
 and sound. They were left about in various 
 places in the course of the night, seven bags/0##*/ 
 in a disused lime-kiln, and so on. 
 
 "Monday, ityh March. Started soon after 
 ii for Achilbeg. Stormy, wild day, hail and 
 rain ; long drive to Achilbeg. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Browne, ex-coastguard, and their niece, welcomed 
 us, and gave us tea, and were very kind ; so was 
 
 R
 
 242 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 Mr. Lockhart, head coastguardsman. Then we 
 went to see the pier, and I climbed a high hill and 
 saw the lovely coast view and Clare Island looming 
 dark behind ; great green waves breaking moun- 
 tains high against the rocks. Two little boys 
 helped us down the boggy hill, and we dropped 
 down on the town into the crowd of disappointed 
 people, who stood waiting for the gunboat which 
 never came. They had come from Innishbiggle 
 and everywhere about, and were most picturesque. 
 Donkeys and ponies and tall, strong girls with 
 empty cleaves on their shoulders waiting, waiting, 
 the lovely-coloured sea as a background, and the 
 town and mountains behind us. I went to see the 
 churchyard, the strangest place broken coffins all 
 about. The place is still used, and when they 
 want to bury some one they take up a coffin and 
 scatter the contents a skull here, a foot there. 
 While we stood looking, a party of women in all 
 their bright colours, reds and browns, came in and 
 went down the churchyard to a new grave, and 
 they all knelt down, nine or ten, and wailed over 
 the grave. One tripped down to the Holy Well, 
 close by the sea, and dipped her fingers in, and 
 coming back to the grave sprinkled the rest. 
 Then they all wailed again and bowed themselves
 
 1 886 AN ISLAND CHURCHYARD 243 
 
 down to the ground. The graves are marked 
 with stones roughly laid side by side, and at head 
 and foot are little rough sticks stuck in the 
 ground hardly any slabs or inscriptions. One I 
 saw erected by a son in Cleveland, Ohio, to a 
 father of 71. Another to the memory of some 
 woman, so and so, alias so and so. A ruinous, 
 little chapel stands roofless, and inside it are 
 buried some of the monks of the convent. Here 
 a skull used to be which the country people con- 
 sidered it was death to touch. The debris ot 
 coffins all broken about look ghastly. The burials 
 constantly take place without a priest, as, unless 
 the family of the deceased can pay 75. 6d., the 
 priest, it is said, does not attend the funeral. So 
 the people just come and lay their dead there 
 themselves. The funeral parties often arrive in 
 boats. The kind sea sings their dirge all along the 
 lower end of the burial ground, and in its own 
 grand way makes up for the choral service of the 
 priest and acolytes. To-day the changing lights, 
 quick showers and bright gleams, made the whole 
 scene of this little village singularly quaint and 
 impressive. The young girls tripping here and 
 there, looking almost like autumn leaves blown 
 over the bog, some sitting on the backs of the
 
 244 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 ponies behind the cleave panniers. There were 
 carts and donkeys innumerable, and hundreds of 
 people." 
 
 The physical difficulties in carrying and dis- 
 tributing the seed potatoes amongst the islanders 
 were not slight. The weather was extraordinarily 
 stormy, and for more than a fortnight the wind, 
 and frequently the snow and hail, fought against 
 the purposes of benevolence. There was no harbour 
 or pier of any size in Achil, and for many days 
 no vessel could approach the coast, so that the 
 potatoes had to be stored at Westport, thirty miles 
 off, and thence transhipped to the island on the 
 gunboats. But here again the weather interposed 
 delays, and more than once drove the gunboats 
 back from their attempts to make the passage, and 
 the difficulty of discharging from fifty to sixty tons 
 of potatoes over the shipside into hookers or boats 
 in the open roadstead was considerable. Another, 
 and fortunately an unusual difficulty, was super- 
 added in this case to the carrying on of the relief 
 work. In several cases the people behaved in a 
 thoroughly disorderly manner, and that sometimes 
 in spite of the entreaties of the priest and others, 
 as will be gathered from Mrs. Tuke's diary. But, 
 in spite of all difficulties, the work was done.
 
 1 886 DIFFICULTIES IN ACHIL 245 
 
 Tuke had started on this expedition under the 
 notion that the effect of the August storms was 
 nearly confined to the islands of the western coast ; 
 but an inspection of some fifty or sixty miles of 
 the Mayo shore proved to him that the distress 
 extended far beyond what he had supposed. There- 
 upon he paid a hasty visit to Dublin to confer 
 with the Lord Lieutenant (Lord Aberdeen) and 
 the Local Government Board, a visit which no 
 doubt had much to do with the short Act carried 
 through Parliament in that session for the relief 
 of the west coast. 
 
 To meet the emergency thus revealed to Tuke, 
 he again appealed to his friends through the 
 London newspapers, and received help, including 
 a guarantee privately given by the Lord Lieutenant. 
 He was thus enabled to do for the mainland much 
 what he had previously done for the islands. One 
 contribution to the funds raised for the west in 
 this year particularly pleased Tuke. It was a 
 collection made amongst the servants of the Vice- 
 Regal Lodge in Dublin. Tuke's visit to the west 
 on this occasion exceeded two months in duration, 
 in the course of which he distributed 1425 tons 
 of seed potatoes, and assisted more than 6000 
 families, representing a population of from 30,000
 
 246 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 to 40,000 persons. The summer brought him 
 delightful accounts of the result of his labours. 
 The " Tuke potatoes," as they were called, 
 prospered, and it was easy to note the difference 
 between the worn-out native seed and the vigor- 
 ous and luxuriant growth of Tuke's " imported 
 champions," and from village after village came 
 letters filled with grateful acknowledgments of the 
 blessing which that visit had conferred on the 
 poor and almost despairing peasantry of the west 
 coast. 
 
 Whilst engaged in the work of relief in Achil 
 and the west, Tuke was informed that a Bill for the 
 further relief of the districts was under the con- 
 sideration of the Government, and he learned that 
 it was proposed to distribute a sum of ^40,000 
 through the local authorities. His experience con- 
 vinced him that no Local Board or authority then 
 existing in the districts would be able to resist the 
 importunity for a share of the spoil which would be 
 brought to bear upon them by friends and neigh- 
 bours who were not really fit objects for charity. 
 He felt this so strongly, that he left his work at 
 Westport, went to London, and had a long inter- 
 view on the subject with Mr. Morley, then Chief 
 Secretary. " Better," said Tuke, " throw the whole
 
 1 886 POOR LAW UNIONS 247 
 
 of the money into the Atlantic " than cause the 
 demoralisation of the districts which must ensue if 
 the distribution were carried into effect by the Boards 
 of Guardians. Some impression was made, and as 
 the result the Government divided the 40,000 
 into halves, placed one 20,000 in the hands of a 
 competent Commission which did excellent work 
 in the district, and placed the other 20,000 at the 
 disposal of the Guardians of the six western Unions, 
 who, in the space of a few weeks, raised the number 
 of persons receiving out-door relief from 248 to 
 over 98,000, and in the course of eight weeks spent 
 not only the 20,000 but 1 6,000 in addition. In 
 more than one district, the return of persons relieved 
 exceeded the gross population of the whole district 
 for which the Unions were answerable. 1 
 
 I quote again from Mrs. Tuke's notes : 
 " After the distribution of seed potatoes in Mayo 
 and Galway, a gentleman with whom Mr. Tuke 
 had been previously acquainted a Home Ruler, 
 and who had been connected with the National 
 League or Land League called upon Mr. Tuke 
 in Dublin, and in the course of conversation re- 
 marked : ' We Home Rulers have often attacked 
 your methods of working, but we have never 
 
 1 Report Poor Relief, Ireland, 1887, p. 8,
 
 248 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 impugned or doubted your motives. I now come, 
 on my own part, to thank you very warmly for 
 your unwearied devotion to the poor people in the 
 west of Ireland.' After some further talk, my 
 husband said : * You have been very frank with 
 me in talking thus ; may I ask you one question ? 
 Why is it that you political Home Rulers have 
 never raised a finger to help us, when we were 
 working in a purely philanthropic spirit to help 
 these people in the west ? Why do you not work 
 for them yourselves ? ' 
 
 " * Well, you see, Mr. Tuke, the fact is these 
 districts and people furnish us with a very good 
 raison d'etre^ was the frank, though somewhat 
 cynical reply." 
 
 After the conclusion of these labours in the 
 distribution of seed potatoes, Tuke issued to his 
 subscribers a report on his work, and prefixed to it 
 some suggestions for the permanent relief of the 
 districts in question. He urged three measures of 
 relief: (i) the encouragement of the fisheries ; (2) 
 the extension of tramways ; and (3) emigration or 
 colonisation. 
 
 Whilst Tuke was thus labouring in the west 
 of Ireland, his old friend and fellow - labourer, 
 William Edward Forster, had passed away. They
 
 1 886 A CANDID HOME RULER 249 
 
 last saw each other as Tuke was passing through 
 London on his way westwards. 
 
 " My last visit to my much-honoured and loved 
 friend," wrote Tuke, "... took place ist March 
 1886, shortly after his return from Torquay, where 
 his illness had assumed so serious an aspect. Know- 
 ing how ill he was, I had no expectation of seeing 
 him as I stood on the steps of his house in Eccles- 
 ton Square : a message, however, came that he 
 wished to see me, and I was ushered into his bed- 
 room, where, lying on a couch, looking ill and 
 worn, I found my old friend, surrounded by all 
 that the love and tenderness of his wife and 
 daughters could supply. Weak as he was, and 
 only able to speak slowly, he conversed with much 
 interest on various topics, detaining me for half an 
 hour, though I rose several times to leave, fearing 
 to weary him. Ireland was naturally foremost in 
 his thoughts. ' Well, Tuke, I hope Mr. Gladstone 
 has not converted you to Home Rule.' On my 
 replying in the negative, he said, ' No one who 
 understands Ireland can believe that to be the cure 
 of her maladies. How I should like just once 
 more to go down to the House and let them know 
 what I think on the subject.' After a time he 
 spoke at some length on the subject of the proposed
 
 250 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 emigration from the East End ; and whilst heartily 
 approving of careful emigration, he evidently could 
 not see his way to any wholesale movement for 
 London. As I shook hands with him for the last 
 time, he once more referred to the circumstance 
 that prayer had been offered on his behalf by the 
 Friends ; he said, ' Mind and let the Friends know 
 how much I felt their remembrance of me at the 
 meeting.' Once more, only three weeks later, 
 tidings came to me from my lamented friend. Of 
 this I quote from Mrs. Forster's notes, dated 
 24th March 1886 : 
 
 " ' His friend, Mr. Tuke, had gone over to 
 Ireland to distribute relief in the shape of food and 
 seed potatoes in the most distressed districts. Such 
 a work reminded him of the similar work in which, 
 as a young man, he and Mr. Tuke had been 
 engaged in the same districts in the terrible famine 
 years, and he was anxious about some of the islands 
 he had then visited, and where he knew the poverty 
 now to be specially grievous. 24th March, I wrote 
 for him to Mr. Tuke, sending a subscription with 
 a request that it might, if possible, be applied to 
 the relief of Boffin, one of the poorest and most 
 inaccessible of the islands. It was his last work for 
 Ireland, and I am not sure that he was able to hear
 
 1 886 DEATH OF FORSTER 251 
 
 Mr. Tuke's letter in reply, telling him that food 
 had already been sent.' 
 
 " And thus," adds Tuke, " as our friendship 
 had commenced with Ireland, it ended also with 
 his last thoughts in connection with that country, 
 which he had loved so truly and served so well." 1 
 
 The Irish Quakers, as a body, felt very strongly 
 against Home Rule, and whilst the subject was 
 under discussion in Parliament, they were anxious 
 to bring their views before their fellow-members 
 in England, and on 26th May 1886 a meeting 
 was held for that purpose in the Friends' Meeting- 
 House, Devonshire House, Bishopsgate Street, at 
 which Tuke presided. 
 
 The community of sentiment on this great 
 subject drew together James Tuke and his old 
 friend John Bright, and Mrs. Tuke's reminiscences 
 of their last occasions of intercourse may find a 
 place here : 
 
 " In the summer of 1886 Mr. Tuke and I went 
 to Birmingham to stay with the Albrights, and 
 attend a great meeting of John Bright's con- 
 stituents in the ' Corn Exchange.' The sight was 
 wonderful, and the hush which came over the 
 thousands assembled to hear the great orator was 
 
 1 Friends' Quarterly Examiner, 4th March 1889, pp. 174-175.
 
 252 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 as impressive as were the ringing cheers with which 
 they greeted his appearance on the platform. It 
 was a splendid speech from start to finish, and 
 when he came to the point where he described the 
 Gladstonians as ' a personally conducted party/ the 
 waves of laughter and cheers upon cheers were 
 overwhelming. 
 
 " The following night my husband and I dined 
 in Mr. Bright's company with Mr. George Dixon, 
 M.P., in his charming house at Edgbaston. 
 Dinner was hardly over when Mr. Dixon had to 
 leave us, and we three sat on at the table, Mr. 
 Bright talking nearly all the time of Home Rule 
 and the * crisis.' The evening darkened into the 
 summer night, and still the grand solemn voice 
 went on with the short nervous sentences and the 
 perfect arrangement of thoughts. Heart and 
 head were absorbed in the question which he 
 regarded as vital. 
 
 " On Saturday, 9th July 1887, Mr. Bright came 
 to stay with us at Hitchin. We had no other 
 visitors, as he wished for quiet. He talked 
 constantly with Mr. Tuke on most interesting 
 subjects, of old days and of his school life, and, of 
 course, of Home Rule. He told us of the per- 
 sistency with which Mr. Gladstone had endeavoured
 
 1886 JOHN BRIGHT 253 
 
 to induce him to support him in his Home Rule 
 policy, which Bright abhorred. Letter after letter 
 had been addressed to him with suggested guaran- 
 tees and safeguards, but none of them affected his 
 resolve ' to have nothing to do with it.' He had 
 previously shown this correspondence to my 
 husband. 
 
 " On the Saturday evening, with Mr. Bright's 
 consent, we invited a few friends to hear his views 
 on the Home Rule question. For nearly two 
 hours he sat in an arm-chair by the fireside, talking 
 and answering questions. He spoke like one of 
 the old prophets, with a power it is impossible to 
 describe. His fine voice and noble manner would 
 have impressed one, even if the matter had been 
 less important and weighty. It was like a clarion 
 note, so clear and decided. No doubt in his mind 
 of the deadly danger to England, and of the 
 disaster which must ensue, if the policy were 
 adopted. He spoke strongly, often sadly, for he 
 felt most deeply the division in the ranks of the 
 party. His personal grief at being thus divided 
 from Mr. Gladstone was quite evident. There 
 was no mistake about this ; it caused him real 
 distress, but he never wavered. He spoke with 
 no little scorn of some of those who, with extra-
 
 254 JAMES HACK TUKE 1886 
 
 ordinary suddenness, had accepted the proposals 
 of the Prime Minister of one especially as 
 * a prostrate Gladstonian.' 
 
 " On Sunday he attended the Friends' meeting, 
 and in the evening read aloud, at Mr. Tuke's 
 request, some passages from Milton's Paradise 
 Regained a poem Bright was fond of and 
 from Paradise Lost, in a wonderful way. On 
 Monday morning, my husband and I drove with 
 him to the train, and he stood talking to us in the 
 doorway of the railway carriage to the last." 
 
 Tuke had become a recognised authority on 
 the subject of emigration, and it was not wonder- 
 ful that this brought upon him a very large corre- 
 spondence, and even more serious business. But 
 he was not a solitary labourer in the field ; in 
 London alone no less than twenty-four associations 
 existed to aid in the good work ; and it was natural 
 that the idea of federation or co-operation amongst 
 them should grow up. Accordingly, on 1 5th April 
 1885, a meeting was held in London under the 
 presidency of Lord Lome, to consider the propriety 
 of a federation of the various societies already in 
 existence for promoting emigration. Tuke was 
 present and was appointed a member of the 
 Committee, and, as usual, he took a labouring
 
 1 886 EMIGRANTS' INFORMATION OFFICE 255 
 
 part. He undertook the duty of making enquiries 
 as to the nature and extent of the work of these 
 societies and other matters connected with them, 
 and he made a full report as the result of these 
 enquiries. Its result was curtly stated to be " that 
 half the societies do not want federation, and the 
 other half do not deserve it." 
 
 This scheme for federation fell through in the 
 form in which it was proposed ; but as the result, 
 the attention of the Colonial Office was drawn to 
 the expediency of systematising the means for 
 affording information to persons intending to emi- 
 grate. Tuke was again consulted on the best 
 mode of proceeding, and when an Office was 
 established under the name of the Emigrants' 
 Information Office, and a Council constituted for 
 the management of this Office, Tuke was (8th 
 September 1886) appointed by the Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies a member of the Council ; and its 
 business occupied his attention from time to time 
 until December 1893, when he retired from the 
 Council, and received, through Lord Ripon, the 
 thanks of H.M. Government for the services which 
 he had rendered to the Office. 
 
 Of all the terrible cases of conflict between 
 landlords and tenants which resulted from or were
 
 256 JAMES HACK TUKE 1887 
 
 contemporary with the existence of the plan of 
 campaign, none probably attracted more attention 
 than the case of Bodyke. As early as January 
 1887 tne struggle had assumed an acute form. 
 The case differed from some others, inasmuch as 
 the tenants of Colonel O'Callaghan were undoubtedly 
 in great pecuniary distress, and their refusal to 
 satisfy his demands was not entirely, if at all, due to 
 the pressure of the plan of campaign ; and it 
 seemed not only to Tuke himself, but to some of 
 his influential friends, that it might be possible to 
 avert the misery and scandal of the wholesale 
 evictions which were threatened to take place on 
 2nd February. 
 
 Accordingly, on 25th January 1887, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Tuke left their pleasant home and quiet fireside 
 to encounter the discomforts of travelling in the 
 remote parts of Ireland in the winter, and spent a 
 considerable time, in the neighbourhood of Bodyke, 
 in ascertaining the real facts of the case in controversy 
 between Colonel O'Callaghan and his tenants, and in 
 communications especially with Father Murphy and 
 with Colonel Turner, the kindly and able magistrate 
 in charge of the district. " An anonymous offer 
 of 300 from an English visitor " was mentioned 
 in the public press in reference to Bodyke. That
 
 1887 BODYKE 257 
 
 offer was, in fact, made by Tuke to Father Murphy 
 as a gift on behalf of himself and some of his 
 friends. The result of the negotiations which were 
 carried on was to stave off any actual eviction till 
 June of the year, when most painful scenes occurred. 
 In January 1888, through the intervention of 
 Colonel Turner, all questions between Colonel 
 O'Callaghan and his tenants were settled by the 
 payment of a sum upwards of ^1000, towards 
 which Tuke's 300 was in part drawn upon. 
 
 In March 1887 Mr. Arthur Balfour had 
 succeeded Sir Michael Hicks Beach as Irish 
 Secretary; and very soon after assuming office, Mr. 
 Balfour joined with Tuke's old friend, Mr. W. H. 
 Smith, in a private request that he would visit 
 Ireland and report upon the actual condition of the 
 country as regards distress. In April, accordingly, 
 Tuke, accompanied by his wife, again left Hitchin, 
 and spent some time in the west of Ireland obtain- 
 ing the requisite information for his report. 
 
 In most districts of the west of Ireland the 
 potato crop in the autumn of 1887 was very good, 
 but in the islands of Arran it unfortunately failed, 
 and in January 1888 the question of the supply of 
 seed potatoes in these islands attracted the attention 
 of the Government. They took the course which 
 
 s
 
 258 JAMES HACK TUKE 1889 
 
 had almost become habitual ; they applied to Tuke 
 for advice. This, it is needless to say, was given ; 
 but he was too ill at this time to take a very active 
 part in the matter. Major Ruttledge Fair was, on 
 his recommendation, entrusted with the distribu- 
 tion of the relief, which was mainly found by the 
 Government itself. 
 
 In the spring of 1889 assertions were made in 
 the House of Commons and elsewhere of the 
 existence of widespread destitution in Donegal, and 
 of the necessity of taking steps to avert a famine. 
 Moved by this rumour, and at the instance of Mr. 
 Smith, then Irish Secretary, and of Mr. Balfour, 
 Tuke again visited the county so well known to 
 him, accompanied again by his wife and by his 
 friend Major Ruttledge Fair. Of this county the 
 western part is the poorer by far, and always shows 
 indications of poverty. Tuke found that the 1888 
 crop of potatoes had been deficient, but that the 
 operation of this fact was very much countervailed 
 by three others : viz. the unusually large crop of 
 1887, which enabled the peasantry to maintain 
 more pigs than usual ; the great rise in the price of 
 sheep and cattle ; and the unusually large sum 
 brought back into the district in 1887 by the 
 children who went to work in the " Laggan," i.e.
 
 1889 VISIT TO DONEGAL 259 
 
 the eastern part of Donegal, and by the men who 
 had gone as labourers to Scotland. He concluded, 
 therefore, that there was at this time no need for 
 exceptional measures of relief in the district, and he 
 was able to contrast its then condition favourably 
 with that which he had known in the winter of 
 1879-80 and the spring of 1886. 
 
 On 1 8th May 1889 Mr. Smith wrote to 
 Tuke : 
 
 " It is a very singular coincidence that from the 
 moment of your arrival in Donegal the suggestion of 
 impending starvation ceased. Personally, I connect 
 this circumstance with your visit, as the agitators 
 must have feared you would state the truth." 
 
 On 2oth May 1889 Tuke addressed a letter to 
 the Times, giving the results of his visit, and in 
 subsequent letters (of the 28th May and 29th June) 
 he availed himself of the opportunity to enforce his 
 views as to what should be done to meet the 
 chronic evils of the west. He insisted that the 
 extension of railways was the primary measure 
 upon which the success of any other remedial 
 legislation must depend ; and, with the full know- 
 ledge which he possessed of the locality, he dis- 
 cussed the details of the lines which ought to be 
 made. Furthermore, he considered the important
 
 260 JAMES HACK TUKE 1889 
 
 question as to how far it is desirable to promote 
 the acquisition by purchase of the very small 
 holdings of the west, and dwelt upon the principal 
 reasons advanced against it ; viz. the doubt as to 
 the adequacy of the security and the fear that sub- 
 division, being unchecked by the landlord, would 
 go on with increased force. Experience, he showed, 
 afforded strong ground to believe that neither of 
 these reasons were valid. The townland of Lower 
 Beltony in Donegal had been sold some three years 
 previously to the tenants under Lord Ashbourne's 
 Act, and Tuke found that the instalments had 
 been regularly paid, and that the unusual care and 
 superior cultivation of the small holdings were due 
 to the magic of ownership. " The work is hard, 
 yer honour, but there's pleasure in it," was the 
 ultimate result of his enquiries from the occupants. 
 Previously to this Tuke had doubted the wisdom 
 of sales to such small tenants. 
 
 Tuke's three letters to the Times, with some 
 additional papers, were published in 1889 as a 
 pamphlet entitled " The Condition of Donegal."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 1887-1893 
 
 Tuke's early views as to the development of industries in the 
 west Correspondence with Mr. Balfour The light 
 railways Incubation of scheme for Congested Districts 
 Board Invitation to act upon it Fisheries Visit to 
 Baltimore Formation of the Board Congested districts 
 described Functions of the Board First report 
 Tuke's labours on the Board Visits to horse shows and 
 west coast Result of labours of the Board Death of 
 Mr. W. H. Smith Home Rule and the Quakers. 
 
 FOR the sake of keeping together my narrative as 
 to the introduction of light railways into the west 
 of Ireland and the formation of the Congested 
 Districts Board, I must retrace my steps to the 
 year 1887. 
 
 Though Tuke had been an eager advocate of 
 family emigration, he had never thought of it as 
 the exclusive remedy for the west of Ireland. So 
 early as 1847 (in his Visit to Connaught} he had 
 advocated the encouragement of fisheries and of
 
 262 JAMES HACK TUKE 1887 
 
 weaving, and the necessity of improved communi- 
 cation between the west and east of Ireland. In 
 1883 he had so far advanced in the detailed study 
 of the subject as to prepare a map, which he laid 
 before the Government of the day, and particularly 
 before Mr. Childers, then Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, in order to show the necessity for in- 
 creased communication with the west of Ireland. 
 In his report on the distribution of seed potatoes 
 in 1886, he had put forward the improvement of 
 the fisheries and the extension of tramways as two 
 of the means to be used for the permanent ameliora- 
 tion of the west. And again in November 1887 
 he gave evidence before the Royal Commission on 
 Irish public works with respect to railways, tram- 
 ways, and fisheries in the west. 1 
 
 The prospect of continuing a system of emigra- 
 tion from the west of Ireland had been gradually 
 shut out by circumstances and influences to which I 
 have already alluded ; and it is not wonderful that 
 Tuke's mind, therefore, turned with increasing in- 
 terest to the plan of doing something for the people 
 of the west in their old and wretched homes. In 
 May 1887 Mr. Balfour invited Tuke to an inter- 
 view, and the question of the possibility of some 
 
 1 Appendix to Second Report of Commission (1888), p. 644.
 
 1 887 CONGESTED DISTRICTS 263 
 
 operations in this direction was fully and openly 
 discussed between them. 
 
 On the 22nd May 1887 Tuke wrote to 
 Mr. Balfour with some details of the scheme which 
 he proposed in relation to the congested districts 
 of the west of Ireland, and in the course of his 
 letter he said : 
 
 "No lasting settlement of the Irish Question 
 is possible which does not include a comprehensive 
 and generous attempt to deal with the congested 
 districts quite apart from the rest of Ireland. It 
 is, as I have for many years past sought to urge 
 both upon politicians and the public, a peculiar 
 condition which requires and can only be healed 
 (if at all in our lifetime) by peculiar and distinct 
 treatment. That it will have to be grappled with 
 and attempted before long I feel assured, for any 
 moment a general failure of the potato crop may 
 occur, which means starvation to the thousands of 
 people who are always living on the smallest pit- 
 tance of food compatible with existence. 
 
 " It would seem to me a noble ambition for 
 some leading statesman or politician to make this 
 his special work and duty, and to determine that, 
 whether in or out of office, so far as his powers 
 went, no means should be left untried which could
 
 264 JAMES HACK TUKE 1887 
 
 gradually but permanently cure (alleviate) the 
 chronic misery of the congested districts. 
 
 " As a very humble worker in the field, I do 
 not hesitate to say, after living several months in 
 the districts for the past seven years, that very 
 much might be done towards this great end by 
 steady, systematic, personal work in the districts, 
 based upon fixed and carefully considered prin- 
 ciples, and not in moments of emergency [in 
 response] to the call of faction, or, it may be, to 
 the cry of real and absolute distress." 
 
 From this time forward till August 1891, when 
 the legislature created the Congested Districts 
 Board for Ireland, Tuke was in constant com- 
 munication with Mr. Balfour and with those of 
 the Irish executive who were chiefly consulted 
 by him on the subject of the special relief to 
 be afforded to the west, including, as one of 
 the most important of the proposed measures, 
 the encouragement of light railways through- 
 out this district, and the particular courses in 
 which these railways could be most usefully con- 
 structed. 
 
 In May 1889 Tuke and Major Ruttledge 
 Fair were, by Mr. Balfour's request, engaged on 
 a detailed study of the best lines for the light
 
 i 889 LIGHT RAILWAYS 265 
 
 railways ; on which they accordingly reported to 
 the Chief Secretary. 
 
 When, in August 1889, Mr. Balfour carried 
 through Parliament provisions for the construction 
 of light railways in the west, Tuke wrote to him 
 a note, dated 2Oth August 1889, in which he 
 said : 
 
 " I cannot avoid congratulating you on the 
 result of your determination to pass the Light 
 Railways Bill. To me this 2oth of August can- 
 not but be a * Red Letter Day,' as being the one 
 on which a measure was passed containing pro- 
 visions which I have for so many years urged as 
 being preliminary to all others required for the 
 permanent improvement of the congested districts 
 of Ireland. Let me very heartily thank you for it." 
 
 On 30th August 1889 the Act to facilitate 
 the Construction of Light Railways in Ireland 
 received the Royal assent. It authorised the Lord 
 Lieutenant to declare the construction of a light 
 railway between certain points to be desirable for 
 the development of fisheries or other industries, 
 but that, owing to the circumstances of the district, 
 special assistance from the State was required for 
 its construction ; and the Act contains provisions 
 for subsidising the bodies which might undertake
 
 266 JAMES HACK TUKE 1889 
 
 the construction of such lines. When, in Novem- 
 ber following, the question came before the Irish 
 Privy Council as to what lines should be dealt 
 with under the Act, it was a great gratification to 
 Tuke to find that all the lines he had set his heart 
 upon were primarily inserted in the Privy Council 
 schedule. 
 
 Mr. Balfour was not satisfied that this was all 
 that could be done for the west, but continued 
 his studies and deliberations on the subject of the 
 congested districts. On 29th October 1889, 
 when Tuke was again in Ireland, he had a long 
 and most interesting interview with the Chief 
 Secretary, in the course of which the details of the 
 proposed measure on the congested districts were 
 discussed, and Mr. Balfour asked Tuke to become 
 one of the Board of permanent Commissioners 
 whom he proposed to appoint. 
 
 It is needless to say that this interview deeply 
 gratified Tuke ; for he saw that there was the 
 seed of a great blessing for the poor people of the 
 west in the plan thus carefully thought out by a 
 minister whom Tuke regarded, from year to year, 
 with increasing confidence as well as admiration 
 and personal esteem. 
 
 On the following day (3Oth October 1889)
 
 1889 CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD 267 
 
 Tuke wrote to Mr. Balfour a note (wrongly dated 
 29th October), in which he said : 
 
 " I really must apologise for not having thanked 
 you yesterday for your great kindness in having 
 suggested my name as one of the Commissioners 
 for carrying out your most remarkable and impor- 
 tant measures for the congested districts. My 
 omission to do so at the time certainly did not 
 arise from any indifference or want of appreciation 
 of the great honour which your kindness conferred 
 on me ; but I confess that, as you poured out of 
 your cornucopia measure after measure of wise 
 and beneficent intent for dealing with the con- 
 gested districts, my mind was fairly overwhelmed 
 with the sense of their vast importance, and the 
 possible realisation of hopes and aspirations for 
 raising the social and economic condition of the 
 people in the west of Ireland which have for many 
 years been the companions of my thoughts. You 
 have, I am well aware, much over-estimated my 
 powers of usefulness or fitness for the position ; 
 at the same time if, failing a better man, I can 
 be of any service to you in this matter, I shall 
 feel it alike my duty and pleasure to render it if 
 required." 
 
 The year 1891 opened with distress still prevalent
 
 268 JAMES HACK TUKE 1891 
 
 in Ireland, and with Mr. Balfour occupied in an 
 earnest attempt to lessen the misery. 
 
 On 23rd January 1891 Tuke received a tele- 
 gram from the Chief Secretary asking him to go 
 to Dublin to consult with the Lord Lieutenant 
 and himself on " relief measures," and from the 
 26th January to the iyth February Tuke was 
 accordingly in Dublin, except for a week passed 
 in the south of Ireland, and was occupied in 
 incessant communication not only with the heads 
 of the Government but with various officials (Sir 
 West Ridgway, Mr. Burke, Mr. Mulhall, Mr. 
 Franks, Mr. Wrench, and others) in discussing the 
 measures necessary for the present distress ; and, 
 what was more important, in discussing the plans 
 for the formation and working of the new Con- 
 gested Districts Board. 
 
 The subject of fisheries was one of which it 
 was intended that the new Board should take 
 charge. There were two gentlemen especially 
 conversant with this subject one a clergyman of 
 the Protestant, and the other of the Roman 
 Catholic, Church. The Rev. W. S. Green, then 
 incumbent of the parish of Carrigaline in County 
 Cork, had been appointed by the Royal Dublin 
 Society, in 1887, to investigate the condition of the
 
 1891 FISHERIES 269 
 
 sea fisheries in the south and south-west of Ireland, 
 and had published two reports on the subject. In 
 1889 Tuke placed himself in communication with 
 Mr. Green, and through Tuke's efforts an arrange- 
 ment was made between the Government and the 
 Royal Dublin Society, under which Mr. Green, 
 with the assistance of two naturalists, was employed 
 in making a thorough survey of the fishing grounds 
 off the west coast of Ireland, and made two reports 
 of his survey to the Society in December 1890 and 
 December 1891. Mr. Green is now a member of 
 the Congested Districts Board. 
 
 The other expert in fishery matters was the 
 Rev. Father Davis of Baltimore, a little village 
 situated on a small promontory on the coast of 
 County Cork, and within sight of Cape Clear. 
 Tuke had long wished to become personally 
 acquainted with him and his work, and this wish 
 he realised in February 1891. Mrs. Tuke 
 describes the visit as follows : 
 
 " $th February 1891. Just outside Skibbereen, 
 which appears an unusually busy, prosperous little 
 town, our driver pointed out, a few yards to the 
 right of the road to Baltimore, the new railway 
 which is in process of construction, one of the 
 Government relief works. The line continues
 
 270 JAMES HACK TUKE 1891 
 
 close to the road nearly the entire way, and it 
 was very interesting to see so many men and boys 
 employed digging and carrying barrows, and work- 
 ing away with their picks. It was a comfort, after 
 all that has been written and said, to find so per- 
 manent a bit of work of such importance to the 
 district actually in progress, and to see such numbers 
 of people really hard at work instead of leaning on 
 their spades, as one so constantly saw them in 
 Connemara, watching the carriage while it was in 
 sight. While daylight lasted we watched them, 
 and when the dusk came on we passed groups 
 of them chatting and laughing as they turned 
 homewards. We were exceedingly glad to hear 
 that the English clerk of the works, who is 
 employed by the contractor to supervise the line, 
 expresses himself as thoroughly satisfied with these 
 men, and finds them most excellent and amenable 
 in all ways. The men earn 2s. a day on the rail- 
 way works. As we approached the coast numer- 
 ous islands came into view, but the curtain of 
 night came down so fast that by the time we 
 reached Baltimore we could only distinguish a 
 land-locked bay, in which lay the great ice-hulks, 1 
 rising heavy and black out of the gray water, 
 
 1 That is, hulks in which was stored the ice for packing the fish.
 
 1891 VISIT TO BALTIMORE 271 
 
 mountains all round, and a few brilliant lights 
 indicating the whereabouts of the coastguardsmen's 
 houses and the school. Some gates were opened, 
 and a short drive led us to Father Davis's 
 house, which stands in the same grounds as 
 the ' Industrial Fishing School,' which we had 
 come to visit. The good Father, biretta on head, 
 awaited our arrival on the doorstep, and we were 
 soon ushered into his comfortable, though per- 
 fectly simple home, where bright fires and the 
 most kind and hearty of Irish welcomes awaited 
 us. It was most interesting to us to make the 
 acquaintance of this good priest, who, with the 
 generous aid and, better still, the warm and 
 encouraging sympathy of the Baroness Burdett- 
 Coutts, has done so much to develop an Irish 
 industry, and to prove that the harvest of the sea 
 is likely to do far more to make the Irish peasant 
 of the western seaboard independent and prosper- 
 ous than the harvest which he and his forefathers 
 have tried in vain to gather from the land. The 
 evening passed most agreeably, hearing Father 
 Davis's story of the simple beginnings of the fish- 
 ing work in Baltimore ; how long ago the pilchard 
 fishery had been worked by an English company ; 
 how then the pilchards had left the coast ; then
 
 ^^^ JAMES HACK TUKE 1891 
 
 how, in 1863, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts had been 
 interested in hearing of very acute distress in the 
 Island of Cape Clear, and had helped some forty 
 or fifty families to emigrate at that time, and since 
 then how she has kept up a more or less close 
 personal acquaintance with the district. About 
 ten years since Father Davis was appointed parish 
 priest of Baltimore, and having been curate in the 
 neighbourhood he had always seen the immense 
 advantages which Baltimore possessed as a fishing 
 station ; now his opportunity had arrived, and 
 with all his energy since that time he has worked 
 day and night to improve the material condition 
 of the people by developing the fishing industry. 
 His parish is very widely extended, and includes 
 Cape Clear, Sharkin Island, Calf Island, and 
 several others. A neighbouring priest, Father 
 O'Sullivan, whose parish embraces Roaring Water, 
 Hare Island, etc., was spending the day with our 
 host, and about 10 P.M. left Baltimore for his home, 
 six miles distant by boat and seven or eight by 
 car afterwards, which gives one some idea of the 
 distances travelled by the priests in these outlying 
 country parishes." 
 
 In Tuke's life this year (1891) is especially 
 marked by the passing of the enactment establish-
 
 1891 CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD 273 
 
 ing the Congested Districts Board. It is needless 
 to say how great was the interest felt by Tuke in 
 thus seeing plans in which he so deeply sympathised 
 realised by Mr. Balfour. It was, in fact, a matter 
 of simple rejoicing to him. The business which 
 it involved was vast ; in addition to the frequent 
 letters and interviews with Mr. Balfour, Mr. 
 Franks, and others as to the constitution of the 
 Board and the details of the legislation, there was 
 correspondence with Father Davis and the Rev. 
 Mr. Green on fishery questions, and there were 
 continued letters to and fro between him and the 
 Right Hon. Horace Plunkett, who took the live- 
 liest interest in the matter, and who has in subse- 
 quent years worked with such indefatigable zeal 
 for the welfare of his country. In fact, the crea- 
 tion of the Board involved Tuke in a new and very 
 wide circle of correspondence. 
 
 , It was on 5th August (1891) that the Purchase 
 of Land (Ireland) Act 1891 received the Royal 
 assent. A part of this Act was devoted to the 
 subject of congested districts, and thereby there 
 was constituted the Congested Districts Board for 
 Ireland. It consisted of two ex officio members, 
 the Chief Secretary and a member of the Land 
 Commission, nominated by the Lord Lieutenant to
 
 274 JAMES HACK TUKE 1891 
 
 especially represent agriculture and forestry, and 
 five other members. Of these five members Tuke 
 was, as has already been mentioned, appointed to 
 be one. 
 
 What is a congested district ? some one may ask. 
 It is an electoral district in which the total rateable 
 value of the land within it, when divided by the 
 number of the population, gives less than 305. per in- 
 dividual a district, therefore, in which the popula- 
 tion bears a very high proportion to the cultivable 
 land on which it lives ; in other words, a district 
 in which, though the hovels may be few and far 
 apart, the proportion of the population to the 
 productive land is great. But not every such 
 place was a congested district within the scope of 
 the Act. An isolated area of this sort in the 
 midst of a rich county was not to be so considered ; 
 and the Act therefore applied only where the 
 County or (as to County Cork) the Riding was 
 so poorjthat 20 per cent of the population lived 
 in districts satisfying the before-mentioned test of 
 congestion. 
 
 A congested district as popularly understood, 
 and as it appears to the eye of the traveller, is 
 thus a very different thing from a congested 
 district to the eye of the Jaw in Ireland. Many
 
 1891 POWERS OF THE BOARD 275 
 
 of these regions suggest no notion of a crowded 
 population like the slums of a great city : often 
 they are desolate boglands over which the eye 
 may range and scarcely see the trace of human 
 habitation. 
 
 Again, what was the Board to do in these 
 districts ? They were empowered, subject to 
 certain provisions which it is needless to dwell 
 upon, to take such steps as they might think fit 
 in respect of no less than ten matters, namely : 
 
 1. Agricultural development. 
 
 2. Forestry. 
 
 3. Breeding of live stock and poultry. 
 
 4. Sale of seed potatoes and seed oats. 
 
 5. Fishing (including the construction of piers 
 
 and harbours, and the supply of fishing 
 boats and gear, and industries connected 
 with and subservient to fishing). 
 
 6. Weaving and spinning. 
 
 7. Any other suitable industries. 
 
 8. Amalgamation of small holdings. 
 
 9. Migration. 
 10. Emigration. 
 
 It is obvious that for the Board to do any 
 good in such a variety of ways a considerable 
 amount of money must be placed at their disposal.
 
 276 JAMES HACK TUKE 1891 
 
 Three funds were placed under their control : 
 first, an annual sum of 41,250, the interest on 
 a sum of 1,500,000 known as the Church 
 surplus grant (1895 Fund), (in certain cases the 
 Board might apply part of the principal of this 
 sum for the purposes of the Act) ; secondly, two 
 smaller sums of 46,000 and 22,000 applicable 
 to some but not to all the purposes of the Act. 
 
 When the Board got to work it was found 
 that, notwithstanding the restriction placed on 
 the definition of a congested district, as before 
 mentioned, there were 428 electoral districts 
 which were congested within the definition of the 
 Act ; that these covered an area of more than 
 3,600,000 statute acres ; and that the average 
 Poor Law valuation per head of population was 
 onlyi ro^. 1 
 
 The Board appointed four committees to have 
 respectively the special care of industries, fisheries, 
 land, and finance. Of all these committees, except 
 the last, Tuke was appointed a member. 
 
 A full account of the operations of the Board 
 would be tedious to the reader. But I will take 
 the first report, which covers a period from the 
 5th August 1891 to 3ist December 1892, and 
 
 1 First Report of Board, p. 4.
 
 1891 FIRST YEAR'S WORK 277 
 
 will enumerate shortly some of the subjects which 
 received the attention of the Board during that 
 short period. In that way the reader will gain 
 some notion of the multifarious nature of the 
 subjects which challenged and received their care. 
 
 The first report deals with the survey of the 
 condition of the various congested districts which 
 had been undertaken by members and inspectors 
 of the Board ; agricultural instruction ; an experi- 
 ment in forestry on the Connemara coast; the 
 planting of shelter plantations ; the formation of 
 osier beds ; the improvement of the breeds of 
 horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs, and of poultry ; the 
 purchase of an estate in Galway for the enlarge- 
 ment of adjoining small holdings ; a report from 
 Mr. Horace Plunkett on emigration, as the re- 
 sult of his visit to Canada ; efforts to improve 
 the fresh fish trade by employing boats to fish on 
 untried grounds, and the organisation of a fish 
 train on the Midland Great Western Railway ; 
 an agreement with regard to the sale of mackerel ; 
 a fishing experiment under the supervision of the 
 Rev. Mr. Green ; an arrangement with regard to 
 the carriage of herrings ; efforts to aid the cured 
 fish trade, and the selection of fish-curing stations ; 
 instruction in net-mending ; advances of money to
 
 278 JAMES HACK TUKE 1892 
 
 a spinning factory, to a knitting factory, to a 
 co-operative dairy company ; a small grant for 
 instruction in carpentry ; an effort to extend the 
 shirt and underclothing manufacture, and to 
 improve the yarn spinning and tweed weaving ; 
 the construction of certain piers, bridges, roads, 
 and landing-stages ; and the obtaining telegraphic 
 communication with the Arran Islands. 
 
 In such a vast miscellany of labour, the most 
 greedy of workers might find ample satisfaction. 
 In the service of the Board, Tuke, in the year 
 1892, crossed to Ireland and back no less than 
 eight times, and twice at least visited the west of 
 Ireland to inspect the operations of the Board. 
 
 But Tuke's labours for the Board were not 
 confined to the times of its meeting or visits to 
 Ireland ; he was regarded as a high authority on 
 many or even on most of the subjects with which 
 they were concerned ; the members of the Board 
 and its officers were frequent visitors at his house 
 in Hitchin ; and his correspondence on its affairs, 
 from the time of its formation till his last days, 
 was almost continuous. 
 
 Amongst the labours undertaken by Tuke for 
 the Congested Districts Board, three which occupied 
 parts of the year 1893 may here be mentioned.
 
 1893 HORSE SHOWS 279 
 
 In May 1893 Tuke visited Nottingham and 
 Leeds to make himself acquainted with some 
 points in connection with textile manufactures of 
 those towns, and to gather hints as to similar 
 manufactures in Ireland. 
 
 In August of the same year (1893) he, accom- 
 panied by Mrs. Tuke, visited the horse shows of 
 the west of Ireland, and in company with her and 
 Mr. Green made a coasting voyage along the west 
 coast to form his own opinion with regard to piers 
 and fishing stations. Mrs. Tuke's diary again 
 supplies my reader with the story of these tours : 
 
 "In 1893 Mr. Tuke wished to be present at 
 the mare and foal shows which the Board had 
 arranged to hold in various centres. To this end 
 he and I left Dublin on August 8th for Westport, 
 and on the morning of the 9th drove to Newport, 
 nine or ten miles, and there met the judges 
 Mr. Wrench of the Land Commission and of the 
 C.D. Board, and Mr. Owen. The show was held at 
 Newport House in the demesne of Mr. O'Donel, 
 and was a pretty and interesting sight. The 
 shaggy little mares, with their foals alongside, were 
 walked and trotted round, and the relative merits 
 of each couple were most carefully considered. 
 The people were greatly interested, and there was
 
 z8o JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 % 
 
 quite ail excitement about it all : the day was fine, 
 and everything was seen to advantage. After 
 lunch at Newport House, we drove back to West- 
 port, changed horses, and started to Leenane, a 
 village on the shores of the ' Killeries,' about 
 twenty miles distant, where Major Ruttledge Fair 
 joined us. The inn was full to overflowing, and 
 Mr. Tuke and I had rather funny quarters in the 
 sitting-room, which had been converted into our 
 room. The bed, quite comfortable, but looking 
 insecure, was a large spring mattress simply laid 
 on four drawing - room chairs ; and, besides 
 ourselves and this bed, the room contained three 
 bats, two serpents (stuffed on the walls), and the 
 model of an African waggon. 
 
 " August 10. Started early ; our road lay 
 along the shores of the Killeries, a beautiful 
 narrow fiord running inland between dark moun- 
 tains, of which Miel Rhe is the highest and 
 grandest. In passing this way Mr. Tuke was 
 always so much interested in watching the 
 birds on the water. Numbers of little divers 
 and others were generally there, and it was so 
 amusing to see them dip and dive in pursuit 
 of their food, or as the sound of our wheels 
 or its echo reached them ; then the strange-
 
 1893 DRIVE THROUGH CONNEMARA 281 
 
 ness of seeing sheep and cattle nibbling the yellow- 
 green sea -weed on the rocks, and on fine days 
 lying down almost in the sea. The sheep that eat 
 the weed and short grass along the shore are said 
 to make especially good mutton. Suddenly the 
 road turns sharp to the left, leaves the shore, 
 and ascends to a sort of pass or saddle in the 
 hills, where the scene is as wild and weird as 
 lakes, bogs, hills, and rocks can make it, the bogs 
 covered with every sort of growth, sparkling white 
 tufts of cotton, rushes, red and orange lichens, 
 etc., and so on to the corner, where one drives 
 under Kylemore, and by the little lake just below 
 Mr. Mitchell Henry's house, with the Connemara 
 Mountains close opposite, and on to Letterfrack, 
 where the second mare and foal show takes place 
 on a little knoll behind the inn Mr. Tuke, 
 Mr. Green, and the judges watching the proceed- 
 ings carefully. In the afternoon, off again in the 
 carriage along the beautiful shores of Lough Inagh, 
 beloved of salmon fishers, to Cashel, a charming 
 land-locked bay, which might easily become a most 
 delightful sea-side resort. ' Johnny O'Loughlin, 
 J.P.,' hospitable landlord of the Zetland Arms, 
 was sore pressed to find room for us ; but thanks 
 to some kind English tourists who ' compressed '
 
 282 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 themselves, we were stowed away in two pigeon- 
 holes off the sitting-room, and turned in very 
 tired. 
 
 " August 1 1 . At Cashel, the third show, 
 more mares and foals assembled on the rough hill- 
 side, the Commissioners, as before, watching closely. 
 All Irishmen love horses, and are interested in 
 everything connected with them, so in time these 
 shows will become very popular. After the show 
 Messrs. Wrench and Owen and our party started 
 for Knockboy, the 'aforesting' experiment of the 
 C.D.B., as yet quite in its infancy. No tree on 
 the wind-swept hills was more than two feet high 
 all sorts had been planted that were deemed suit- 
 able, and the land had been carefully drained 
 (a lake close at hand had gone down several feet 
 in consequence of the drainage) and every care 
 taken by a thoroughly capable Scotch forester, 
 Mr. Robertson, who, with his young wife, enter- 
 tained us at tea in their pleasant house. Got back 
 to Cashel about 9, the judges returning to the 
 Fingal^ anchored in the bay. 
 
 "August 12. Off in good time through the 
 sweet, dreamy country. Two hours to Oughterard, 
 where there was only a small show, the fourth of 
 this series twenty-one mares and foals though
 
 1 893 VISIT TO WORKS OF BOARD 283 
 
 we passed numbers on the road not going to the 
 show, for some dark reason. Then, notwithstand- 
 ing Mr. Tuke's bad headache, drove into Galway 
 in the evening. 
 
 "Sunday, ityh August. Rested most of the 
 day, as Mr. Tuke's headache was troublesome. 
 
 "August 14. At 2 o'clock Mr. Tuke de- 
 clared his head was well, and that he would visit 
 the swivel bridge and causeway of Beal-a-dangan, 
 one of the C.D. Board's large works, about thirty 
 miles distant. A carriage and good pair of horses 
 carried us along the southern shore of Galway 
 through Spiddal, etc., to Costello, which we reached 
 in four hours ; Arran Islands visible in the distance. 
 The heat was intense ; the bogs seemed to rejoice 
 in the sunshine, and myriads of white butterflies 
 hovered in the soft air, keeping us company as we 
 drove along. At Costello we had to leave the 
 horses to bait, a car was procured, and a horse 
 with one loose shoe, which clipped and clapped 
 painfully, carried us along the up-and-down bog 
 road to Beal-a-dangan. While waiting at Costello, 
 Mr. Tuke had inspected a pier which the Board 
 had erected there, a most useful bit of work for 
 the whole neighbourhood. Hookers load turf 
 here, and sell it in Galway at 28s. or 305. per load.
 
 284 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 " The necessity for the Beal-a-dangan works was 
 very obvious, as, until their completion, the popu- 
 lation of the neighbouring island, though so close 
 to land, had frequently, to wade through the sea 
 at low tide to reach it ; the dangers and incon- 
 veniences were great, and accidents not uncommon, 
 as there is a strong tide running. 
 
 " The splendid sunset lights just enabled us to 
 examine the works, and enjoy the exquisite view 
 of the * Twelve Pins,' and the rest of the lovely 
 Connemara mountains ranged in order. Darkness 
 fell quite suddenly, and we had to hurry back, 
 snatch a hasty meal at Costello, and start again 
 for Galway, which we did not reach till near 
 2 A.M. Sixty miles to-day. 
 
 "August 15. Return to Dublin." 
 
 The latter part of the same month of August 
 (1893) saw Mr. and Mrs. Tuke again on a tour of 
 inspection and investigation, this time on board 
 the C.D.B. yacht Fingal. Mrs. Tuke thus 
 writes : 
 
 " Mr. Tuke had long desired to visit the coast 
 and islands south of Galway in order to improve his 
 acquaintance with the districts, and to inspect Con- 
 gested Districts Board works already begun, as well 
 as to consider further suggestions. In 1893 he had
 
 1893 COASTING VOYAGE 285 
 
 time to carry out this plan. The yacht Fingal was 
 at liberty, so was Rev. W. S. Green, who was 
 peculiarly fitted to be his guide both from his 
 lifelong acquaintance with the coasts, and from 
 the fact that he had recently been head of a 
 complete survey of the fishing grounds off the 
 west coast of Ireland, undertaken in part at Mr. 
 Tuke's suggestion by the Royal Dublin Society, 
 with a considerable grant from Government. Mr. 
 Green is also a thorough seaman, and a delightful 
 and interesting companion. 
 
 "August 25. In the afternoon Mr. Tuke 
 and I left Dublin, and joined the Fingal in 
 Galway harbour in bright moonlight. I felt 
 very nervous on the occasion, as the Atlantic 
 rollers off the Irish coast have long been a 
 source of dismay and humiliation to many a 
 better mariner than myself. Mr. Tuke, who 
 was a thoroughly good sailor, greatly enjoyed the 
 prospect. Major Ruttledge Fair and Father 
 Conway of Carraroe were already on board, and at 
 dawn, on August 26, strange and fearful noises 
 roused us to the fact that we were getting under 
 weigh. I had cherished a wild hope that we might 
 sleep through the start, but very different was the 
 reality. We steamed over a rather choppy sea
 
 286 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 to Carraroe, where, about 8 o'clock, we landed 
 Father Conway, and continued our course to Arran, 
 where we anchored under the village of Kilronan. 
 The Arran Islands are a group of three large and 
 several smaller islands which stretch themselves 
 across Galway Bay in a lazy sort of way, as if to 
 block the entrance. Innish-mor, the largest and 
 most northerly, had been selected by the C.D. 
 Board as the centre of a considerable fishing 
 experiment. Ice hulks had been placed there, fish- 
 packing and curing sheds erected, telegraph and 
 steamer communication with Galway established, 
 good boats introduced, and everything done to 
 bring the market within reach of the fisher folk. 
 Innish-maan, or the middle island, is famous for 
 the ruin of Dun Connar, the largest and finest of 
 the ancient forts, and on this island Miss Lawless 
 has fixed the home of * Grania,' most charming ot 
 Irish heroines. Innisheer, the south island, is the 
 smallest of the three, and lies nearest to the coast 
 of Clare. They are all inhabited, though the 
 islands are simply rocks of a dark gray limestone, 
 and it is astonishing that human beings ever fixed 
 on them as habitations. There is hardly any 
 earth or soil, and no peat or fuel ! On these 
 wind-swept crags trees will not live. In very dry
 
 1893 ARRAN ISLANDS 287 
 
 seasons even water fails, and has to be brought 
 from the mainland. The ground is literally paved 
 with huge slabs in which occur fissures or clefts, 
 each of which, at the time of our visit, was fringed 
 with glossy little ferns or ivy ; the Gentiana verna 
 and other interesting plants flourish in them, and 
 in spring they are most lovely. Great granite 
 boulders are lying about on the rock, and tell of 
 probable connection with the mainland in ages 
 long past. All nature seems against these desolate 
 regions, so it was a bold undertaking of the C.D. 
 Board to plant their first great enterprise here ; 
 but their efforts have been crowned with success, 
 and the casting of the bread upon the waters in 
 1892 has resulted in a happy finding again after 
 many days. 
 
 " On this bright August morning all was life and 
 animation round Arran, a clear blue sky and sea 
 and light east wind everything calling us to hurry 
 on shore. On the pier a fine take of herrings was 
 being packed for market. A ragged boy was 
 selling 'pampooties' (the cow-hide sandals or 
 slippers worn by the islanders), the only wear for 
 the rocky floor of the island. Mr. Tuke visited 
 the curing and packing sheds, and then inspected 
 the netting school, where sixty or seventy pupils
 
 288 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 were being instructed in the repairing of nets. He 
 notes of this : * This is a most important and 
 valuable service, as knowledge of net-mending did 
 not previously exist ; nets when torn were left to 
 rot.' He adds : ' One boat came in this morning 
 with 17,000 herrings. The great value of the 
 telegraph service was shown to-day, as sales were 
 on the moment effected in Galway, and 7000 or 
 8000 herrings were despatched by SS. Dor us in 
 the afternoon. The remainder, salted, will go to 
 Galway by hooker to-morrow, in boxes lent from 
 C.D.B. stores.' 
 
 " After the inspection, a car and guide were pro- 
 cured, and we started to visit such of the ruins as 
 were possible in the short time at our disposal. In 
 spite of the remoteness of these islands and their 
 apparent desolation, they must have been fully in- 
 habited in very early days by a people possessed at 
 once of a considerable military spirit and power and 
 of fervent piety ; witness the remains of the forts 
 or duns, and the number of churches, oratories, and 
 monastic cells, portions of which are still standing. 
 The duns are the earliest non- sepulchral monu- 
 ments, and are built entirely of stones wonderfully 
 piled together without mortar. Tradition points 
 them out as the work of the Firbolgs, whom
 
 1 893 ARRAN ISLANDS 289 
 
 ancient MSS. say retreated to Arran and other 
 remote places after their defeat in the battle of 
 Moytura, but their actual date is unknown. Dun 
 ^Engus, the finest of the forts on Aran-mor, is 
 magnificently situated on a cliff about 300 feet 
 above the sea, facing north and west. The waves 
 beat and break themselves eternally at its base, and 
 the sound of the roar is grand. The sea face of 
 the cliff is very fine ; it beetles over at the top, and 
 the wall of the fort seems, as it were, part of the 
 rock. The land front is protected by a wide belt 
 of stones set on end, which no doubt served as 
 a chevaux-de-frise in case of attack. We noticed, 
 as we stood in the fort, a man fishing on the 
 adjoining cliff, and it made one dizzy to watch 
 him leaning far over the edge in hauling up his 
 prize for we actually saw him catch a fish. 
 ^Engus is one of several duns on Aran-mor, and 
 there are quite a number of churches and beehive 
 cells. One tiny church, probably the smallest in 
 the world, stands high on a limestone hill Tempal 
 Benin Church of St. Benignus (a disciple of St. 
 Patrick), it measures 10 ft. 9 by 7 ft. ; according 
 to Lord Dunraven's notes on Irish architecture, 
 it stands north and south, but its one window is 
 in the eastern side wall, where it is supposed the
 
 290 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 altar stood. While the light lasted we explored 
 sometimes on foot, sometimes on the car, which 
 was drawn by a nice little black mare, whose foal, 
 like a small gray shadow, accompanied us all the 
 way, flitting along beside its mother, and adding 
 not a little to the fun and excitement of the 
 expedition, as, in spite of its flying feet, it 
 occasionally got into difficulties and had to submit 
 to being helped. Father MacPhilpin gave us tea, 
 and we returned very late to the FingaL 
 
 " Sunday , August 27. We landed in good 
 time. The Fingal started to Clifden to pick up 
 Mr. Green, and we attended service in the quaint 
 little church at Kilronan at the strange hour of 
 12.15. The congregation consisted mainly of the 
 Fingal party and the coastguards. The latter 
 certainly are a centre of civilisation in these wild 
 places, and we invariably found them most in- 
 telligent and helpful. We visited the Protestant 
 clergyman, Mr. Kilbride, and soon again started to 
 explore. We passed the ruins of Arkyn Castle, 
 the fort that held out longest for Charles the First, 
 and walked along a heavy sand -spit towards 
 Gregory Sound, across which Innish-maan was 
 well in view. How we sighed for ' pampooties ' ! 
 I was wearing shoes, and had to sit down and
 
 1 893 ARRAN ISLANDS 291 
 
 empty out the sand about twenty times, and on 
 the rocks our shoes were torn to pieces. We 
 visited some beehive cells and ruins of various 
 churches. Along the roads and fields we noticed 
 occasional solid rough stone crosses, which we were 
 informed marked the spot where coffins had rested 
 when being carried to burial. Major Ruttledge 
 Fair left us this evening for the mainland in a 
 hooker, and Mr. Green arrived to dinner. 
 
 " Monday^ August 28. Splendid morning. Up 
 at 6, and got our post and telegrams ready to land. 
 At 8.30 the Fingal started towards the Clare 
 coast. Mr. Tuke and Mr. Green studied the 
 chart and discussed plans of action ; I sat on 
 deck and mended the much torn C.D.B. flag 
 which we carried. By mid-day I felt an assured 
 seaman, and we soon found ourselves gliding along 
 under the dark cliffs of Mohur, on and on past 
 Hag's Head, Liscannor, Kilkee, Mai Bay, etc., 
 all bathed in sunlight. ' We can't lunch till we 
 get into smooth water beyond Loop Head, Mrs. 
 Tuke wouldn't stand it,' says Mr. Green. We 
 passed a great sunfish with his stupid fin well 
 out of the water, just before crossing the wide 
 mouth of the Shannon. A pier has been asked for 
 at Ballybunnion, so it must be visited. Its need
 
 29z JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 was evident, as, in spite of the united efforts of Mr. 
 Green and the crew, Mr. Tuke and I had to ' land 
 in the water ' out of the gig and splash ashore as 
 best we could but salt water hurts nobody. Bally- 
 bunnion stands on a cliff crowned with a ruin. 
 The C.D.B. Commissioners examined the site of 
 the proposed pier and visited the priest. Mr. Tuke 
 notes here : ' No fishing. Just a watering-place. 
 Cost of pier too great, ^15,000.' . . . While on 
 shore we heard sounds of music and merriment 
 from the sea, and, looking towards the Fingal, saw 
 her surrounded by * canoes ' or curraghs. The 
 occupants, natives and visitors, had gone on board 
 the yacht, and were amusing themselves and the 
 crew with an improvised dance on deck to the 
 music of a fiddler whom they had brought with 
 them. They insisted on going all over the ship 
 and inspecting the cabins. Mine, with looking- 
 glass, pincushion, and everything hanging, amused 
 them very much and was quite the centre of 
 attraction. But the afternoon is waning and we 
 must move on. We found that Mr. Green had 
 requisitioned a cart which was collecting sea-weed 
 to carry Mr. Tuke and me out to sea to the gig, 
 so we hopped in on top of sand and weed, and were 
 soon shot into the boat and quickly rowed to the
 
 1 893 KERRY COAST 293 
 
 Fingal, still crowded with the people, who would 
 not go until Mr. Green threatened, in stentorian 
 tones, to carry them all off to America, whereupon 
 they scuttled and dropped into the canoes in great 
 terror, the young ladies clinging to their partners 
 in wild but affectionate alarm, and we once more 
 started southwards. In his notes for the C.D.B. 
 Mr. Tuke writes here : ' Steamed very close in 
 shore, examining openings which might appear in 
 the high cliffs. There is one at Meenagahawn 
 where some fishing is carried on. Owing, how- 
 ever, to the lateness of the hour it was not possible 
 to examine minutely. I strongly recommend this 
 portion of the Kerry coast for careful examination 
 by the Board's engineers. Continued our investi- 
 gation in Ballyheighe Bay, where a pier is also 
 suggested. We then proceeded to the Magharee 
 Islands or " Seven Hogs," where the Fingal cast 
 anchor near Scraggawn in Tralee Bay.' On 
 Seenach's Island, one of the Magharee group, are 
 the ruins of a monastery and cashel, 1 and the 
 oratory, 14 ft. by 9, is, says Lord Dunraven, 'an 
 interesting example of the early church.' But, alas ! 
 we have neither light nor time to explore. The 
 
 1 Caisel or Cashel, the wall which surrounds the monastery : a word 
 derived from the Latin castellum.
 
 294 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 sun was setting in perfect glory as we cast anchor, 
 and Brandon Head, about 3000 feet high, stood out 
 grandly against a sky of red gold. The mountain 
 was covered with a purple haze, and the effect was 
 lovely. When evening fell, several canoes or 
 ' curraghs ' rowed out to the Fingal and remained 
 by us for a long time, the men talking and asking 
 eager, intelligent questions. When it grew as dark 
 as the moon allowed, we let off some rockets to 
 amuse the people on the shore. There was a swell 
 on, and the Fingal rocked all night, but only lulled 
 us into slumber. 
 
 "Tuesday, August 29. 'I'm afraid you've 
 had a horrid night, Mrs. Tuke,' sang out Mr. 
 Green in the early morning, ' we've been rocking 
 frightfully.' When I related how perfectly I had 
 rested, I was given an honorary degree in seaman- 
 ship on the spot. Soon after 7, on deck. Mr. 
 Keatinge, the Board's assistant marine engineer, 
 came on board to breakfast, after which he and 
 the C.D.B. Commissioners landed to examine a 
 pier and road then in course of construction. 1 
 Back by 10, and Fingal starts round Brandon 
 Head into the gold of last night. Even by the 
 light of common day all was lovely ; a delicate 
 
 1 Now, June 1899, completed and in use.
 
 1893 KERRY COAST 295 
 
 silvery mist is hung along the face of the cliffs, 
 with wonderful green bits shining through like 
 emeralds. We enter Brandon Creek very care- 
 fully. We land and closely examine pier and boat- 
 slip in progress. 1 A kind present of hake from the 
 boat-builder here, most welcome. The precarious- 
 ness of the food supply adds a new interest to life. 
 Peter the steward has nearly always an anxious face, 
 and never relaxes in his efforts to provide dainties 
 for the cabin table, to which, I must say, we all do 
 ample justice, for we are as * hungry as hunters ' 
 for every meal. After a talk with the boat-builder, 
 down again to the narrow little creek, where the 
 curraghs, like large black beetles, are lying side by 
 side on the shore. The resemblance is complete 
 when the men lift them on their shoulders and 
 walk with heads hidden by the boat, and only legs 
 and shiny black curraghs are seen. There was no 
 pretence of a landing-place here, and we had got 
 long past caring, so we just walked quietly through 
 the water to the boat and so on board again, and 
 the Fingal was off towards Smerwick. Lunched 
 off some noble lobsters which Peter had annexed. 
 A good deal of motion to-day, rolling and pitching, 
 but the worst sailor of us all sat on deck serenely 
 
 1 Long since completed. J
 
 296 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 enjoying herself, and watching with delight the 
 ever changing beauty of the coast. At 2 entered 
 Smerwick Bay, the opening guarded by Sybil Head 
 and the Three Sisters. The name of Smerwick 
 recalls the melancholy story of the attempt by Sir 
 James FitzMaurice of Desmond, in 1579, to * rescue 
 Ireland from the English/ and of his design of 
 founding the ' Calais of Ireland ' in this lovely 
 lonely spot. . . . Up to Ballydavit curing-house, 
 belonging to Mr. Ireland, U.S.A., who, Mr. Tuke 
 notes, ' has established a simple plan of curing and 
 canning mackerel for the American market. A 
 number of girls and women are employed, earning 
 2s. to 35. per day, and a few men were also at 
 work. . . . The value of the fish caught in Smer- 
 wick district since last March is said to be at least 
 ^10,000. Here also when canoes or curraghs are 
 used by the fishermen, they are 24 ft. long by 
 6 wide.' 
 
 " The Priest, Father O'Leary, was on the ' slip ' 
 to receive us, and we drove on his car with a 
 splendid little horse to his house in Ballyferriter, 
 part of the way through the sea and over the 
 sands, not an agreeable experience. The Rev. 
 Father gave us tea, and we prospected round and 
 called on the Protestant clergyman. The Catholic
 
 1893 FISH CURING 297 
 
 and Protestant churches are close together and 
 look most harmonious. Walked along the shore 
 to a spot appointed, where the gig met us, and, 
 after picking a lovely bunch of sea-thistles, got on 
 board again and steamed round Sybil Head past 
 the Blaskets, and Slea Head where a C.D.B. 
 road in progress was well seen. In the distance, 
 across Dingle Bay, the Skelligs and Valentia were 
 discernible ; then on through the narrow opening 
 into Dingle Harbour, where we anchored for the 
 night. 
 
 " August 30. Mr. Tuke notes : ' Dingle has 
 become a most important centre for the curing 
 of mackerel for the American trade ; six or seven 
 curing-houses are now in full work, and the value 
 of the spring mackerel brought into this port 
 is very considerable. The Board has been re- 
 quested to lengthen Dingle pier, of the need of 
 which we had direct evidence. The pier was 
 crowded with vessels as we rowed up, and as it 
 was near low water we were indebted to a friendly 
 barque landing salt (which was aground) for a 
 ladder which they lowered into our boat, on which 
 they allowed us to climb into the barque, thence 
 to the pier.' 
 
 " We visited Harvey's and Ash's curing establish-
 
 298 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 ments, and bought at a store some necessaries for 
 my cabin, which had hitherto subsisted on a ' loan 
 collection.' Found the Fingal partly aground 
 on our return, but soon got off, and then to Ventry, 
 to look at the pier. Then in the Fingal straight 
 off to Coonanna, where C.D.B. is to place a pier. 
 Wooden boats are used in this place instead of 
 the usual curragh. We intended to explore the 
 caves here, but there was too much surf on. Past 
 Crooscroone and round the Doulos Head into 
 Valentia Bay ; we saw proposed site of slip, and 
 passed on to Glanleam, the Knight of Kerry's place, 
 where we landed in a little wood, walked up an 
 arcade of fuchsia in full flower, the ground crimson 
 with fallen blooms. The Dowager Lady and 
 Miss Fitzgerald gave us tea, and the Knight most 
 kindly invited us to dine. We visited the delight- 
 ful gardens and plantations. . . . Miss Fitzgerald 
 showed us the fruits of her knitting industry a 
 very interesting visit. Sailed in the gig to Valentia 
 Harbour, where the Fingal had anchored. Such 
 a lovely night, splendid moon, and a sense of peace 
 everywhere, though we were lying on the top of 
 the Atlantic cable. The moonlight nights during 
 our cruise have been as delightful as the days. 
 The only fault of both that they were too short.
 
 1893 THE SKELLIGS 299 
 
 "August 31. . . . Landed and drove to Caher- 
 civeen by 10, a prosperous little town ; a railway 
 line from Valentia runs along the shore. Saw the 
 ugly Cable buildings, offices, etc. 
 
 " About 1 1 start for the crowning interest of 
 our trip, a visit to the Skelligs, twelve miles distant 
 from the most western point of the Kerry coast. 
 Although the day was fine it was rather ' plungy ' 
 and quite fresh on deck, so we sat in the cabin, and, 
 with the help of the piano, the morning passed. 
 We lunched early, and got to Skellig Michael in 
 good time. We landed in the gig as easily as if 
 it had been on the Thames. Very little wind or 
 surf makes landing here difficult, if not impossible. 
 The Irish lights' steamer has occasionally had to 
 land its Inspectors with the help of the derrick, 
 and on one occasion actually Sir Robert Ball in 
 the same manner. But all was fine and sunny for 
 us, and a school of little fish were lapping and 
 playing in the sea round the rocks. The light- 
 house keeper and his assistant met us on landing 
 and accompanied us to the ruins of the monastery. 
 The whole scene and place cannot be better described 
 than in the following words of Lord Dunraven * : 
 
 1 Notes on Irish Architecture, by Edwin, 3rd Earl of Dunraven, edited by 
 Margaret Stokes,^vol. i. p. 27.
 
 300 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 " * A narrow road cut on the face of the precipice, 
 and winding in and out as it follows the line of 
 the projecting cliff, ascends to the lower lighthouse. 
 It is defended by a strong parapet wall on the sea 
 side, which, viewed from a distance, shows like a 
 white waving thread along the dark rock. The 
 ancient approach to the monastery from the 
 landing-place was on the north-east side. There 
 are 620 steps from a point of the cliff which is 120 
 feet above the sea level up to the monastery. 
 The old stairs run in a varying line, and are lined 
 with tufts and long cushions of sea-pink, and at 
 each turn the ocean is seen breaking in silver foam 
 hundreds of feet below. The island has been the 
 scene of annual pilgrimages for many centuries, and 
 the " Way of the Cross " is still celebrated here, 
 though with some perfectly traditional forms of 
 prayer and customs, such as are now only found 
 among the islanders along the west coast of 
 Ireland. A long flight of steps reaches to 
 " Christ's Saddle " or the Garden of the Passion, 
 it is a narrow strip of land between the two 
 extreme heights of the island, either side being 
 perpendicular to the sea ; it is covered with soft 
 green sod. On that side which faces west the 
 whole of the great spit is seen rising from the sea,
 
 1 893 SKELLIG MICHAEL 301 
 
 a sheer precipice from summit to base, like a 
 Gothic tower girt with buttresses and pinnacles 
 all in a glory of colours from lichen, sea-pink, 
 fern, and moss. Having rested in the valley, the 
 pilgrim, feet and head uncovered, pursues his way 
 on the pathway that marks the "Way of the 
 Cross." Turning the corner, he reaches the 
 third station, called " The Stone of Pain," where 
 Christ bowed under the cross and sank to the 
 ground ! Here the pilgrim finds himself on the 
 edge of a precipice many hundred feet above the 
 sea, and looking downwards the eye rests on one 
 of those rocks below, which has, first by Nature 
 and then by man, been rudely hewn into the form 
 of a cross, which lays its " dark arms " across the 
 sea. This station is named " The Rock of 
 Woman's Wailing," the scene in the walk to 
 Calvary when Christ turns and tells the daughters 
 of Jerusalem " Weep not for me," etc. Here 
 the first glimpse of the cashel or enclosing wall 
 of the monastery is seen. The path leads along 
 a level way into the garden of the monks, and with 
 a few more steps the platform is reached on which 
 stand the ruins of the Church of St. Michael and 
 the beehive-shaped cells in which the monks dwelt. 
 The scene is one so solemn and so sad that none
 
 302 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 should enter here but the pilgrim and the penitent. 
 The sense of solitude, the vast heaven above and 
 the sublime monotonous motion of the sea beneath, 
 would but oppress the spirit, were not that spirit 
 brought into harmony with all that is most sacred 
 and most grand in Nature by the depth and even 
 by the bitterness of its own experience. The 
 Church, which is less ancient than the beehive cells, 
 faces north-east. There are eight or more cells, 
 leachta (places of burial), and many crosses among 
 the ruins and on the cliffs. Skellig Michael, 
 according to one of the oldest Irish legends, was 
 the burial-place of Ir, son of Milesius, whose body 
 was carried there by the waves when his ship was 
 wrecked.' 
 
 " On our way up, in a small crevice in the part 
 called the Saddle of Christ, we found a tiny ball 
 of dark blue fluff which proved to be a little 
 dead stormy petrel, such a lovely little creature. 
 We visited the lighthouse on a rock nearly 200 
 feet above the sea, but even at that height the roof 
 of the house had once been washed and broken away 
 by the waves, and a sea-wall 100 feet higher had 
 been broken in two by their force. It is almost 
 impossible to estimate the force of the sea in this 
 exposed position.
 
 1 893 LONELY LIGHT-KEEPERS 303 
 
 " The loneliness of the life of these light-keepers 
 on the rocks is a very serious trial. They have 
 no boat or means of leaving. Fortnightly posts 
 are their only certain means of communication 
 with the shore. The poor wife complained sadly 
 of the solitariness of the place : she has three or 
 four children with her, but it is very forlorn, 
 particularly here where the crag is so steep, a 
 reasonable walk is impossible, one can only 
 scramble about. Mr. Tuke was much concerned 
 for these poor people, and after we left sometimes 
 wrote to the man and sent him books, flower 
 seeds, and papers. My friend, Mrs. La Touche 
 of Harristown, County Kildare, was interested in 
 hearing us talk of them, and most kindly under- 
 took to correspond with them occasionally. 
 
 "The inhabitants of the lighthouse accom- 
 panied us to the shore and watched our departure 
 with longing eyes. On the return journey, the 
 Fingal passed close to the Lesser Skellig, which 
 was literally silvered white in the sunshine with 
 the thousands of gannets sitting on its rocks. 
 They did not take much notice of us, though we 
 sounded the steam whistle to rouse them. A few 
 just rose in the air but quickly fluttered down 
 again, too much occupied with domestic and local
 
 304 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 concerns to pay any attention to us. With what 
 regret we turned our back on the Skelligs and 
 steered to Waterville in Ballinskelligs Bay, where 
 we landed and had tea at Mr. Butler's. . . . 
 
 "Friday, September i. A glorious morning. 
 Trawling began at 7. Got on deck in time to see 
 the trawl drawn up. Only six plaice caught. 8.30, 
 started for Derrynane Bay, and landed on a lovely 
 strand about 10. Clear green water, snow-white 
 sand, and some trees, one's ideal of a South Sea 
 Island bay. The house of Daniel O'Connell, the 
 * Liberator,' is close to the shore. We walked 
 there and were most kindly received by Mr. Daniel 
 O'Connell (grandson of the great Daniel) and 
 his family. We were shown the house and chapel 
 and some of the Liberator relics, notably the 
 pistol with which he shot Colonel D'Esterre in 
 the duel, the library in which he worked, and 
 the curious hooded chair he used in chapel, etc. 
 Then I to the garden with the ladies, while 
 Mr. Tuke and Mr. Green inspected a pier and 
 harbour site at Derrynane. On board again, and 
 off at 12 accompanied by Mr. O'Connell. . . . 
 We soon reached Garanish (County Cork), on 
 the south side of Kenmare River, where six years 
 since Mr. Philips had started fish-curing, now
 
 1893 DERRYNANE 305 
 
 a large industry, in which hundreds of people men, 
 women, and girls are employed. We stayed long 
 considering pier proposals and examining every- 
 thing, then steamed away through the Sound by 
 Dursey Island, past the country of the ' two 
 Chiefs of Dunboy.' On our way back we passed 
 a school of porpoises at play, such a beautiful 
 sight ! amid the rush of winds and waves, back- 
 wards and forwards they whirled round us to our 
 intense delight ! After very difficult and careful 
 steering got safely into West Cove, Mr. Green 
 and Captain Quirk on the bows and a sailor 
 with the lead out. As it was the first time the 
 Finga/, or probably any other ship of her size, 
 had been in there, it was quite anxious work. 
 We anchored in the little cove close under Miss 
 Har top's pretty house. . . . We sent up some 
 rockets at night, and Mr. Tuke and Mr. Green 
 sat on deck talking of a proposed pier which had 
 been inspected, and of fishing, etc. We knew 
 that during this night the Fingal would be 
 aground, and I tried hard to keep awake to have 
 the pleasure of the experience, but couldn't 
 manage it, and in the morning we were ofF 
 all right. (This pier has since been built, and 
 considerable mackerel curing is carried on there. 
 
 x
 
 306 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 Steamers now call landing food stuff, etc., greatly 
 reducing the cost of provisions in this remote 
 district.) 
 
 " September 2. About 7 the yacht started ; we 
 breakfasted as we were approaching Sneem in the 
 Kenmare River. Soon after 9 we got into the 
 gig and were rowed up to the village. Mr. Tuke 
 had some talk with the priest about pier, etc. 
 Sailed back to Garinish, Lord Dunraven's lovely 
 cottage and garden at the entrance of Sneem Bay. 
 . . . The Congested Districts Board contemplates 
 placing a pier at the entrance of Sneem Harbour, 
 which Mr. Tuke notes : ' very valuable to village 
 about two miles distant.' 1 On board the Fingal 
 once more, and steam up the beautiful Kenmare 
 River, what a lovely reach, past Dromore, Doreen 
 (Lord Lansdowne's place), etc. Land and water, 
 trees, and everything most delightful ! Anchored 
 below Drumquinna, Sir John Columb's charming 
 place, where we landed and called. Lady CoJumb's 
 car drove us to Kenmare to visit Mr. Townsend 
 Trench (Lord Lansdowne's agent), where we had 
 a pleasant tea under the trees by the river. Mr. 
 Tuke and Mr. Trench inspected proposed exten- 
 sion of railway line to pier for fishing convenience. 
 
 1 It was completed this year, 1899.
 
 1 893 END OF THE CRUISE 307 
 
 Dined with the Columbs and had a most agreeable 
 evening. Slept on board the Fingal for the last 
 time. 
 
 "September 3. Took leave of Mr. Green 
 early and landed at Drumquinna, where a carriage 
 was in waiting to carry us across the mountain to 
 Killarney, a most lovely drive. Here, alas ! ended 
 the last of Mr. Tuke's and my expeditions to 
 the west, although he went there again from 
 Dublin once or twice with some of his fellow- 
 Commissioners. 
 
 " How can one explain to the uninitiated the 
 delightfulness of the west of Ireland ? Wherein 
 lies the interest, in what does the charm consist ? 
 I used often to wonder if Mr. Tuke, in a sense, 
 created this feeling in me, but I find other people 
 share it in a considerable measure too. Whence 
 came the strange, subtle sense of freedom and 
 happiness, and pain and despair, that filled mind 
 and heart during the long months we spent 
 there ? From the moment one left Galway and 
 drifted farther and farther along the shore of 
 ' the Corrib,' the unexpected seemed always to be 
 happening. Life was not limited by ordinary 
 laws. It quite seemed as if the law of gravita- 
 tion might be suspended. The law of gravity
 
 308 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 certainly was. Sad as were the circumstances 
 of many of the people, bitter as was their poverty, 
 there was something of brightness left, the 
 rainbow light shone through the very real tears ; 
 and there was room, blessed room and air, 
 such lovely air, and freedom from all constraint. 
 True, it was a so-called congested district, but one 
 could breathe and think and wonder better there 
 than anywhere else. 
 
 " It often seems to me that in Sir Walter Scott's 
 romances of Scottish life we find a very fair pre- 
 sentation of the social life and condition of the 
 people in these wild districts, due allowance being 
 made for the wide difference between the Scotch and 
 Irish character. I suppose the truth is that these 
 regions are just 150 years behind the present 
 time therein lies their delightfulness and their 
 despair. Delightful in their survival, but why 
 despair? Are not the Congested Districts 
 Board and the light railways and better hotel 
 accommodation combining to reduce them shortly 
 just to the dead level of all civilised places ? 
 Mr. Tuke himself often talked of this with some 
 regret." 
 
 Thus far Mrs. Tuke.
 
 GLAMOUR OF THE WEST 
 
 309 
 
 And what, my reader may well ask, is the 
 present position of the work entered upon with 
 so much enthusiasm by Tuke ? This question 
 will best be answered by the following paper on 
 the work of the Congested Districts Board kindly 
 prepared for me by Rev. W. S. Green, a member 
 of the Board whose name has been so often men- 
 tioned in the previous pages : 
 
 "The material presented in 1892 to the Con- 
 gested Districts Board to work on was, a country 
 too poor to support, by agriculture alone, the 
 people inhabiting it, devoid of mineral wealth, 
 subject to frequently recurring periods of distress 
 and to sporadic outpourings of charitable funds 
 and Government money to relieve the distress. 
 The exports from the congested districts, in pay- 
 ment for which money could be brought in, were : 
 cattle, generally of poor quality ; ponies and 
 light horses, the demand for which was seriously 
 interfered with by the growing popularity of 
 bicycles ; eggs, and labour. The migration of 
 vast numbers of men and women as labourers for 
 nearly half of each year was confined to certain 
 districts, chiefly in Mayo and Donegal. On the 
 seaboard, a very important mackerel trade ex- 
 isted in Cork and Kerry, but except in lobsters
 
 3io JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 there was no other export trade in fish from the 
 congested districts. 
 
 " In west Galway, Mayo, and Donegal the 
 great coast business was kelp -burning, and in 
 many of the coast districts the population was 
 denser than in the great famine years. 
 
 "1891 had been a year of 'distress' and 
 'relief.' The people knew of Government money 
 being expended in no other way, consequently one 
 of the first difficulties the Congested Districts 
 Board had to contend with was to get people to 
 understand that the Board meant business. Most 
 of the early memorials for the construction of 
 works were based on the plea that employment 
 was badly needed. 
 
 " Immediately on getting to work, the Board 
 decided, with the help of Local Government In- 
 spectors and other competent persons, to obtain 
 a detailed statistical report of each electoral divi- 
 sion with which the Board had to deal. This 
 information took, in many cases, over two years to 
 collect ; the Board, however, not waiting for these 
 reports to be printed, set to work on certain lines 
 concerning which there could be little or no doubt. 
 
 " i. The improvement of agricultural stock, 
 horses, cattle, and poultry, the kinds most suit-
 
 WORK OF THE BOARD 311 
 
 able giving rise to many anxious discussions and 
 patient investigations. Skilled agricultural instruc- 
 tors were sent throughout the country, and the 
 spraying of potatoes to protect them from blight 
 established as a custom. 
 
 "2. The enlargement and improvement of 
 farm holdings began in 1893 with the purchase of 
 the Ffrench estate in County Galway for ^7600. 
 It was improved, restriped, new houses built, and 
 resold to the tenants in 1894 with no loss of 
 money to the Board and with complete satisfaction 
 to the tenants. Since that time fifteen estates have 
 been purchased ; the last transaction of the kind, 
 the purchase of the whole of Lord Dillon's Irish 
 property for ^290,000, being by far the most 
 important. The problems presented by these 
 various estates differ in a multitude of details, 
 costing the Board long hours of discussion. In 
 their Head Land Inspector, however, Mr. Henry 
 Doran, the Board have secured a most wise and 
 capable officer. 
 
 "3. To improve the holdings outside the areas 
 with which the Board can deal directly as landlord, 
 the Parish Committee scheme was started. Twelve 
 parishes in the crowded Swineford Union were at 
 first included, but now more than twice that
 
 3i2 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 number. The plan adopted was to give each 
 local Committee a grant of about ^100, which was 
 to be used, not for paying labour, but for offering 
 a few pounds as premium to men who would, in 
 connection with their own farms, carry out some 
 approved work of utility. The result has been 
 most satisfactory ; the works carried out represent 
 a value three or four times greater than that of 
 the cash expended on them, and would never have 
 been attempted but for the inducement offered by 
 the Board. Indirectly, too, the spirit of improve- 
 ment has been engendered. 
 
 " 4. At the Board's first meeting in Dublin 
 it was decided to try to open the spring mackerel 
 fishing at the Arran Islands. The Government 
 induced the Post Office to lay a telegraph cable 
 to the islands. The Board subsidised a steamer 
 service. For five years the Board found it 
 necessary, while the local fleet was growing, to 
 deal in mackerel or else despatch the fish for the 
 fishermen, but now the output is so good and 
 the trade so well established that merchants have 
 completely relieved the Board of the business, both 
 in the spring, when the fish is sent fresh, and 
 also in the autumn mackerel fishery, when the fish 
 are pickled for the American market.
 
 WORK OF THE BOARD 313 
 
 " The history of the Board's enterprise at 
 Cleggan, on the north-west coast of Galway, is 
 similar to that of Arran, although it was begun 
 three years' later. The same results have followed 
 the Board's efforts on the Donegal coast, the fish 
 there being herrings. Besides these great centres, 
 a number of minor stations for the capture and 
 cure of fish have been opened. Most of these 
 have passed into the hands of traders, and it would 
 be under the estimate to state that the fishing 
 stations opened by the Board are, one way or 
 another, now bringing in ^ 2 0,000 a year to the 
 coast population, and yet only a small portion 
 of the coast has been touched. 
 
 " The foundation of these developments is 
 fishery instruction. It is a heavy drain on the 
 Board's resources, costing at present about 4000 
 per annum. A skilled fisherman from Scotland, 
 east coast of Ireland, or Isle of Man, is placed on 
 each new boat to instruct the crew in the use and 
 care of the various classes of gear employed. 
 
 "5. From the first it was decided that small 
 marine works to help the mackerel trade in the 
 numerous creeks where it was carried on would 
 be the best help to the existing trade in west Cork 
 and Kerry. A large number of small piers and
 
 3H JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 slips have consequently been built there, as well 
 as others farther north along the west coast. The 
 heaviest works undertaken, when the Board con- 
 sidered that their funds were ample for all pur- 
 poses, were the bridge over the Gwebarra River 
 in Donegal, costing over 9000, and the pier at 
 Killybegs, to which the Board contributed over 
 3000. Numbers of roads were also constructed 
 throughout the congested districts, and bridges 
 built. 
 
 " 6. Home industries weaving, knitting, lace- 
 making, etc. were taken in hand. In some cases 
 the Board availed themselves of the agency of the 
 Irish Industries Association, but now carry on the 
 development of industries directly under their own 
 special Inspector, Mr. Walker. The most recent 
 development in the department of industries is 
 the opening of a carpet factory by a Scotch firm 
 in Killybegs. 
 
 " In the Board's early years a large loan was 
 made, and a capitation grant arranged to enable 
 the Sisters of Charity at Foxford in Mayo to open 
 an educational tweed factory ; and it is hoped that 
 some day it, like other successful industries opened, 
 may pass over to the trade. 
 
 " 7. Rafeisen banks, so successful on the Con-
 
 WORK OF THE BOARD 315 
 
 tinent, have been opened in the congested districts 
 by the Irish Agricultural Association, the Con- 
 gested Districts Board supplying the necessary funds 
 to start them. 
 
 " General. It would be extending this memo- 
 randum unduly to go into details of the many 
 other undertakings of the Board. Bee-keeping, 
 example and experimental agricultural plots, ship- 
 building, i.e. the instruction of the local boat- 
 wrights, who now build fine decked fishing-boats 
 of the most modern designs, subsidising steamers 
 to give regular services on the coasts of Donegal 
 and Galway, guaranteeing telegraph offices, barrel- 
 making, and training girls in household science 
 under skilled teachers, helping to provide district 
 nurses, and a host of minor undertakings. The 
 Board also maintains one steamer for general 
 service. 
 
 " The account-keeping of such an establishment 
 as the Congested Districts Board is worthy of con- 
 sideration. It is probable that no Government 
 Board in the Kingdom presents such complication. 
 The buying and selling, paying by results, sharing 
 of profits, making and collecting of loans, besides 
 the general expenditure of the ordinary income, 
 renders a very large staff necessary, not so much
 
 316 JAMES HACK TUKE 1891 
 
 on account of the amount of money dealt with as 
 the extraordinary variety of the Board's business." 
 
 If other evidence were required to show the 
 blessings conferred on the west of Ireland by the 
 Congested Districts Board, it is to be found in the 
 fact that, in the last session of Parliament, the pre- 
 sent Government carried a Bill for the encourage- 
 ment of agricultural and technical instruction in 
 Ireland, of which one of the chief objects is to 
 extend to other parts of the island the work now 
 carried on in the congested districts by the Board. 
 It is impossible not to see in Mr. Arthur Balfour's 
 Act of 1891 the germ of Mr. Gerald Balfour's 
 statute of I899. 1 
 
 After this digression on the operations of the 
 Congested Districts Board, I return to 1891, the 
 year in which it was constituted by Parliament. 
 In October of that year Mr. W. H. Smith died, 
 to the great regret and loss of the nation. In him 
 Tuke lost a most valued and cordial friend, and 
 one who, to the end, had maintained his keen 
 interest in the Irish people and sympathy with 
 their sorrows. 
 
 Mr. Balfour was called upon to fill the place 
 
 1 Since the foregoing was in print, an interesting sketch of the operations 
 of the Board has appeared in Black-wood" t Magazine for October 1899, under 
 the heading of " Three Days on the Granuaile," by Mr. Stephen Gwynn.
 
 18 93 QUAKERS AND HOME RULE 317 
 
 of First Lord of the Treasury and leader of the 
 House of Commons vacated by Mr. Smith's death, 
 and, to the great regret of Tuke, he thus left the 
 office of Irish Secretary at the moment when the 
 machinery which he had created with such patient 
 skill and industry was about to come into action. 
 
 Mr. Jackson succeeded Mr. Balfour in the 
 vacant Chief Secretaryship. 
 
 The discussion of the Home Rule question very 
 naturally produced a diversity of opinion in the 
 Quaker body. As a rule, their political sentiments 
 are Liberal, and they had largely been followers of 
 Mr. Gladstone a circumstance which tended 
 towards Home Rule ; on the other hand, John 
 Bright, the most distinguished politician of the 
 Society, had denounced the project with great 
 force, and many of the most influential members 
 of the body were strongly opposed to Mr. Glad- 
 stone's measure. A certain number of the body 
 addressed that statesman in terms commendatory 
 of his measure ; another number pointed out that 
 this action was only individual, and was not to be 
 taken as the action of the whole body. 
 
 The Irish Friends were, with a small excep- 
 tion, strongly opposed to Home Rule, and they 
 addressed an appeal to their co-religionists in
 
 318 JAMES HACK TUKE 1893 
 
 England : and on 2ist April 1893 a meeting was 
 held at the Cannon Street Hotel in London, which 
 was attended by many Quakers both Irish and 
 English, who opposed Mr. Gladstone's measure. 
 Over this meeting Tuke appropriately presided. 
 It was his last public action.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 1894-1896 
 
 Illness Deaths of brother and daughter Illness of wife 
 His last days Home life and pursuits Corres- 
 pondence with daughters Personal traits Causes 
 of his success Religious feelings. 
 
 A VISIT to Holland in the spring of 1894 was 
 the last of Tuke's foreign tours ; and some 
 purchases made during this expedition were the 
 last additions to his cabinet of china. 
 
 Mrs. Tuke in her notes writes : 
 
 " On his birthday, September I3th, 1894, just as 
 my husband and I were starting for a little tour in 
 Sussex, Chichester (his mother's home), Bognor, 
 Arundel, etc., he became unwell, and we did not 
 start from Tunbridge Wells, where we were staying 
 for a change, but returned to Hitchin in a few 
 days. From this time his health gradually failed. 
 There was no particular disease, and, thank God, 
 not much pain.
 
 320 JAMES HACK TUKE 1895 
 
 "During the winter 1894-95 his dear brother, 
 Dr. Tuke, was struck down suddenly in the 
 middle of his active life and died in a few days. 1 
 On Easter day Mr. Tuke's beloved daughter 
 Frances died at Mentone, a great grief to her 
 father and all of us, and these distresses came 
 upon us so close together, they seemed over- 
 whelming. 
 
 " In January 1895 I too was suddenly taken ill, 
 and for two or three years was obliged to lead 
 an invalid life, and could not, of course, take my 
 usual active part in nursing him ; but I was 
 constantly with him to the very end, and we 
 had most happy quiet times together, for to the 
 last his mind was perfectly clear. 
 
 " A few days before his death, we were talking 
 quietly of his Irish work, when he said : ' I want 
 so much to see it all again, and to examine the 
 works " the Board " has been carrying out. Don't 
 you think if we got the yacht to meet us at 
 Holyhead that we could go direct to the west 
 once more ? ' I said that of course I should love 
 
 1 Daniel Hack Tuke, M.D., LL.D., was a physician, eminent as an 
 author as well as a practitioner in the department of mental diseases, in 
 which his family had so long been interested. A sketch of him from the 
 pen of his friend Dr. Ireland may be found in the Journal of Medical Science 
 for July 1895. E. F.
 
 1895 LAST ILLNESS 321 
 
 to go out with him again, when we were both 
 stronger. Although in my heart I feared that 
 he, and perhaps I also, was journeying towards 
 the west faster than he knew. Still we talked 
 on, and he seemed to like to plan it out. He 
 did so long * once again ' to see it all ! Ireland 
 was on his heart to the very end. 
 
 " I remarked how wonderfully many of his 
 wishes and plans had been realised, and how 
 thankful he would have been a few years before 
 if he could have known that so much would have 
 been done notably the creation of the 'Depart- 
 ment to deal directly with the Congested Districts,' 
 which he had always advocated, and which the 
 * Congested Districts Board ' practically was. 
 
 " * Yes,' he said, ' it is quite true, and I thank 
 God for it, but there is still so much to be done, 
 and they must realise that these districts cannot be 
 set right in a hurry. It will take many, many years, 
 and if they will only believe that, all may come 
 right in time ! But they must work patiently.' 
 
 " He was so gentle and patient himself all 
 through his illness, and so grateful for all the 
 love and care most anxious that no one should 
 be over-tired. 
 
 "So the days passed, with only very gradual
 
 322 JAMES HACK TUKE 1896 
 
 failure of strength. I used to lie on the couch 
 talking quietly with him, and sometimes repeating 
 short prayers, and he loved to listen and often 
 joined in : and he took pleasure in general 
 reading. 
 
 " On nth January (1896) our good Dr. Drage 
 feared that he was sinking and told me so. Alas ! 
 he was right. That night we hardly thought he 
 would live till morning, but he rallied a little. At 
 nine on the morning of I2th January, he gradually 
 sank into unconsciousness. His two daughters 
 and I did not leave him throughout the day ; but 
 we could do no more the end was very near. 
 Soon after midnight he passed quietly to his rest 
 in the presence of his daughter Meta and myself 
 and the devoted nurses. 
 
 " I have no doubt that my dear husband realised 
 how ill and weak he was ; but he never talked of 
 the end, and there was no farewell in words 
 there was no need." 
 
 On iyth January (1896) Tuke's body was laid 
 to rest, in the simple Quaker fashion, in the burial 
 ground belonging to that body near his own 
 garden at Hitchin ; and a short meeting was 
 attended by most of those who stood around the 
 grave, in the meeting-house where Tuke had
 
 1896 APPRECIATIONS 323 
 
 worshipped for more than forty years, and where 
 his voice had often been heard in a short sermon 
 or prayer. 
 
 Tuke left surviving him his widow, whose 
 notes have so largely contributed to this volume ; 
 his only son, Mr. Samuel Tuke ; and two daughters, 
 Mrs. Lindsell and Miss Margaret Tuke. 
 
 Of the twelve brothers and sisters who lived 
 together in the old home at York, two only 
 survived him, namely, one brother, Mr. William 
 M. Tuke, and one sister, Miss Esther Tuke. 
 
 It is needless to add that Tuke's death was 
 widely and deeply felt, not only amongst his 
 personal friends, but amongst the various societies 
 and public bodies with which he was connected. 
 Mr. Gerald Balfour as Chairman, and at the 
 request of the Congested Districts Board for 
 Ireland, wrote to Mrs. Tuke a letter in which he 
 said : " The Board recognise that their efforts are 
 but a continuation and extension of work with 
 which Mr. Tuke was identified for half a century, 
 and that they have greatly profited by the ex- 
 perience which they derived from his life-long 
 devotion to the cause of the Irish poor." 
 
 One letter from a neighbour l may be quoted, 
 
 1 The Rev. the Hon. Edward Lyttelton, Headmaster of Haileybury.
 
 324 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 as it shows what manner of man Tuke appeared 
 to those who knew him in that capacity : 
 
 " I cannot resist writing a line to signify to you 
 how sincerely I share in your great grief, not only 
 on private grounds because of the kindness your 
 husband always showed me, but also thinking of 
 the loss this is to the country and the neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 " His character always struck me as a singularly 
 beautiful one, and his endowments as unusually 
 rich. I suppose his labour in the cause of the 
 Irish peasant was very exacting and toilsome and 
 without hope of much recognition ; but how 
 remarkably enlightened and wise ; how full of 
 action at a time when everybody was bewildered 
 with much talk ! and it has borne a great fruit, 
 and will bear much more yet. 
 
 " It was, moreover, difficult to meet a man whose 
 knowledge on many subjects was more accurate 
 and wider, and he combined with it such exquisite 
 humility and such fine old-world courtesy that it 
 is not likely he will be at once appreciated as 
 much as he deserves in these days of much public 
 advertising." 
 
 Of Tuke's life at home, during the later years 
 of his life, no one can speak like Mrs. Tuke.
 
 HOME LIFE 325 
 
 "The garden," she writes in her notes, "was 
 our constant joy, and was very near perfection. 
 It was not only lovely, it was restful, ' a haunt 
 of ancient peace.' A tortoise dwelt there, and 
 many birds sang among the branches of the wych- 
 elm, child of the old elm of his York home, which, 
 brought by him as a sapling when first he came 
 to Hitchin, in a few years became a spreading 
 tree. Summer and winter, late and early, the 
 garden was always the centre of delight ; and how 
 much Mr. Tuke enjoyed giving the thirsty flowers 
 water in the hot evenings ! He was a very real 
 danger with the long hose, as he became entirely 
 absorbed in his occupation, and many a time sent 
 us flying with a shower. Special classes of plants 
 interested him greatly ; campanula, anemones, 
 gentians, saxifraga, etc., multiplied exceedingly. 
 Indeed all nature delighted him, and he loved to 
 trace the mind of the Creator in every smallest 
 plant or creature. He was anxious, as a boy, to 
 be allowed to become a landscape gardener. 
 
 " Except on the not unfrequent occasions on 
 which we went abroad, my husband never thought 
 of taking pleasure merely for its own sake. He 
 enjoyed things intensely, and the society of his 
 friends was a great delight, but he shunned most
 
 326 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 places of amusement or entertainment. He found 
 his recreation mainly in variety of work, and our 
 life was wonderfully happy. No outside work 
 for a moment interfered with the perfect inter- 
 course that was always maintained between him 
 and his children. His daughters were our con- 
 stant companions. 
 
 " He knew all the birds by their notes, and could 
 imitate many of them perfectly. He loved to tell 
 how the little willow wren, nearly the smallest of 
 them all, spent its winters in the Transvaal and 
 repaired to the Arctic circle to breed. His love 
 of birds was strong, and extended, with one ex- 
 ception, to every feathered creature, the one 
 exception was the sparrow, whom he could not 
 endure. ' They were so untidy,' ' so suspicious,' 
 ' so mischievous,' ' had such low ways,' - 
 ' feathered rats'* he called them. The blackbird 
 was his darling among the singers ; the thrush a 
 favourite, though always repeating himself; the 
 robin a tried and trusted friend ; but the bird of 
 birds was the swift. As a boy he longed to be 
 transmigrated into a swift. He said one strong 
 reason for buying Bancroft, his Hitchin home, 
 was because the swifts built and bred there. He 
 was sad when they left in the autumn, and as the
 
 LOVE OF BIRDS 327 
 
 time came round for their return, he watched for 
 them with real anxiety. On the fifth of May, if 
 they had not yet arrived, he used to get quite 
 uneasy, and when the bright screams and cries 
 announced their advent he was happy. ' Prob- 
 ably they have been out to lunch at the Palais 
 Royal, and have come back to tea,' he used to 
 say on many a summer evening when they were 
 swirling round. 
 
 " He and I had noticed a number of them flying 
 about the Palais Royal in Paris, and fancied we 
 recognised some of our Bancroft friends among 
 them. Sometimes some of the parasites which 
 infest the swifts used to be found on the walk 
 near the eave under which they nested : a pretty 
 green kind of scarab with a very Egyptian air and 
 manner, and we liked to believe that our swifts 
 spent their winters among the pyramids or on the 
 calm brow of the sphinx. My husband used to 
 watch with the greatest interest the three-cornered 
 fight that went on each year between sparrows, 
 starlings, and swifts for the possession of the eave, 
 which each regarded as their peculiar ancestral 
 home. 
 
 " The starlings, with their funny croakings and 
 their little strutting runs about the lawn, were a
 
 328 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 perpetual amusement ; ' they fight like human 
 beings,' he used to say. Food was put out for 
 the birds in the hard winters ; and once, when an 
 owl's nest was found in a recently cut-down elm, 
 he was quite in despair. During his last illness 
 we hung out a board from his window with food 
 upon it, on which the birds used to alight, and 
 he watched them from his bed on the cold winter 
 days with keen interest. 
 
 " His most cherished possession was an egg of 
 the great auk, 1 for which he had given ^5 when 
 a boy. After his death it was sold for ^160. 
 * I am sure it will be a good investment, though I 
 thought I was ruined when I bought it,' he used 
 to say in later life. This egg used to be kept in 
 a secret wall-cupboard in the dining-room, and it 
 was arranged that in the event of a fire the auk's 
 egg was to be saved at all costs. I believe, if 
 such a calamity had occurred, the whole household 
 would have met round the precious egg. He had 
 a perfect collection of the eggs of British birds, 
 which he bequeathed to the Museum at Saffron 
 Walden. Some of these specimens were singularly 
 fine. 
 
 1 See, for the history of this egg, which was believed to be of Icelandic origin, 
 Grieve's The Great Auk or Gore-fowl (London, 1885), Appx. p. 28. E. F.
 
 LOVE OF FLOWERS 329 
 
 " In the eighties, when we so constantly travelled 
 to Galway, at the station of Enfield in West 
 Meath my husband used to look out from the 
 train as we stopped, to hear the chaffinches singing 
 which they did at the earliest possible moment 
 in the spring in a little group of trees close to 
 the station. Wherever we went, the bird life and 
 the flowers were a source of unfailing interest 
 to him. 
 
 " He was very fond of botany, and knew where 
 to seek for the rare plants. He also had the 
 faculty of interesting others in these natural 
 pursuits in a remarkable way. I remember so 
 well one early summer, when we went on a botanising 
 expedition near Hitchin with some little nephews 
 of mine, bent on finding some bird's-nest orchis. 
 * First,' he said, * we will stop at this little wood, 
 get over the fence, and try for an Epipactis.' 
 There, sure enough, was the tall, elegant white 
 spike. On we drove to the orchis wood, then 
 all got out to hunt for the bird's-nest. No one 
 could find it ; the children were wound up to a 
 great pitch of excitement ; at last a distant shout 
 summoned us all, and there, in the centre of 
 the wood, stood Mr. Tuke with the prize in his 
 hand.
 
 330 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 " Almost every Good Friday we drove out to 
 the Danes' banks to pick the exquisite little 
 Anemone -pulsatilla which grows there in quantities ; 
 as they are supposed to do wherever the Danes 
 have shed their blood. It nearly always came out 
 just before Easter." 
 
 Another taste which would scarcely have been 
 expected in Tuke was a love of music. In the 
 notes which have furnished forth so many of 
 these pages, Mrs. Tuke writes : 
 
 " My husband was excessively fond of music, 
 but only cared for the best, which was remarkable, 
 as owing to his Quaker up-bringing he had never 
 had any musical training. Beethoven and Bach 
 were the composers he cared most for, and he 
 loved the organ. As a boy he frequently attended 
 York Minster and much enjoyed the choral 
 services." 
 
 Tuke, it must be added, was an excellent 
 reader, and whether it was Childe Harold or 
 Browning or Shelley or Chaucer, his reading had 
 a charm which lingers in the memory of those 
 who heard him read. His voice, whether in 
 reading or speaking, though low, was remarkably 
 clear and sweet. 
 
 From Tuke's correspondence with his daughters
 
 LETTERS TO DAUGHTERS 331 
 
 some selections have already been given. The 
 following extracts from letters written to some of 
 them when absent from him may be allowed a 
 place in these pages, as illustrating the delightful 
 relations which existed between him and his 
 children. 
 
 "HiTCHiN BANK, 
 
 " June Afth, 1879. 
 
 "DEAREST META, I arrived at home safely 
 last night after a delightful day with Uncle William 
 
 (and , who met us from Scarbro') on the 
 
 cliffs about Flambro' Head, where he and I as 
 * young fellows ' used to delight to spend the 
 day watching the gatherers or sea-birds' eggs on 
 the cliff, or helping now and then to pull them up, 
 and then greedily looking over the infinite variety 
 of fresh eggs of the guillemots, puffins, razor- 
 bills, and gulls which used to frequent, and which, 
 I am thankful to say, do still frequent, that rocky 
 coast by thousands. There were no ' climbers ' 
 at work yesterday, I am sorry to say, but we 
 watched for some hours, as we walked along the 
 glorious chalk cliffs, some 300 or 400 feet in 
 height, the birds guillemots and razor-bills 
 on the ledges of the cliffs, where they lay their 
 eggs ; or the gulls, in their nests on the dizzy
 
 332 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 face of the wall of rock. It was a glorious, bright, 
 sunny day, though very cold and windy, and the 
 sea dashed against the base of the rock, and even 
 now and then a little spray was caught by the 
 wind and brought to the top of the cliffs. On the 
 sea below, thousands of white specks (birds) were 
 tossing up and down or flying up and down to 
 their fellows on the cliff, crying and laughing as 
 the sea-birds do. How I wish thou could have 
 enjoyed it with me, and the previous day also in 
 Wensleydale, when I often thought how thou 
 would have enjoyed the delicious wild flowers 
 growing on the woody steep banks of the river, 
 and not less the beautiful falls of Aysgarth, or 
 the sweet, winding, lovely pools of the murmuring 
 peaceful river. Wensleydale is even more beautiful 
 than I thought, and there are some quiet little 
 ' publics,' and lodgings which rival ' Chenies ' ! 
 and the scenery is certainly more beautiful. 
 Among the flowers were dear old friends Primula 
 farinosa, Trollius europxus (globe ranunculus), 
 Orchis mascula in infinite variety of shape and 
 colour, etc. We visited Bolton Castle, where 
 poor Mary Queen of Scots was confined for some 
 time under Lord Scrope ; and had tea in the 
 ruined castle, where some old people live, in the
 
 LETTERS TO DAUGHTERS 333 
 
 room where once the ill-fated Queen fretted and 
 chafed and flirted and threatened or cajoled, and 
 plotted against Elizabeth. 
 
 " Well, darling child, I hope we may go together 
 into Wensleydale some day and the long-promised 
 Teesdale, to see the bright blue gentians and the 
 Tees Force. Let us thank our Father that His 
 creation is so lovely, and that He has made us 
 to enjoy it and to say ' My Father made them 
 all.' " 
 
 " BANCROFT, HITCHIN, 
 "znd May 1880. 
 
 " MY DEAREST CHILDREN, How delightful 
 Kents Bank will be to-day with the lovely views of 
 the Malvern Hills, and the orchards and hedge- 
 rows with their exquisite tints and scents. The 
 thought of it makes me long to be there, to say 
 nothing of being with you, my darlings, and my 
 kind, good friends. But it would be ungrateful 
 to be dissatisfied with my lot, when everything is 
 so beautiful and perfect in its young summer robe 
 around me, breathing everywhere the atmosphere 
 of Love. ' All Thy works praise Thee,' and it 
 seems sad that our hearts cannot with the same 
 perfection say, and 'Thy children bless Thee.' 
 And yet I trust with us all there has been some
 
 334 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 sense this morning of the wonderful Love which 
 does surround us in this country. I think the 
 contrast with the poverty and wretchedness and 
 wilderness effect of the west of Ireland, and the 
 discontent and sense of insecurity prevalent that, 
 compared with our own country, makes me more 
 sensible of the manifold blessings by which we are 
 surrounded, and I hope not less disposed to do 
 anything in my power to extend them to unhappy 
 Ireland. But, alas ! how little there is which any of 
 us can do or see the fruits of, in our little span of life. 
 " It seems very remarkable to me to have seen 
 how William Forster's deep sympathy, and perfect 
 devotion to all that he felt to be a duty or call, 
 are living still and bearing fruit to-day. No one 
 can doubt, who knows him, that his son's acceptance 
 of the office of Irish Secretary which is considered 
 a lower post than he would have been offered in 
 the Government is the direct result of his father's 
 self-denying work and deep interest in Ireland. It 
 was, I think, before Frances left that I had a very 
 interesting talk with W. E. F., in which he 
 said that he thought his father would wish it, 
 and, if so, he should take the post if he could. It 
 gives great satisfaction in Ireland, and will, I hope, 
 prove of real service to the country. ' Very likely
 
 LETTERS TO DAUGHTERS 335 
 
 I shall fail,' as he said to me the last time I saw 
 him. ' No ' (I replied), ' I think not, in the 
 spirit with which you are taking it up.' ' 
 
 " BANCROFT, HITCHIN, 
 
 " Sunday May u, 1890. 
 
 " DEAREST MARGARET, I have a pleasant bit 
 of news to relate. 
 
 "The swifts have come at last my dear old 
 friends who had, I feared, forgotten us this year. 
 I was saying this afternoon to F., ' If the swifts 
 do not come to-day I shall begin to think they have 
 been swallowed up by the "Mountains of the Moon." : 
 But not half an hour ago, I heard their joyous 
 shriek, and on rushing to the window saw the 
 graceful curves and forms in the sky of my 
 beloved friends. We have a wonderful amount 
 of summer rain to-day, and I suppose the wind, 
 being from the south, they have (of all birds) 
 taken advantage of it. Many birds are late this 
 year. But how the wet day has filled the hearts 
 of the blackbirds and thrushes with gladness and 
 song. I suppose to them it means a glorious 
 harvest of slugs and snails ! Would that our 
 hearts could alike be filled with song and gladness 
 to Him who gives us so many blessings."
 
 336 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 In his love of horses, Tuke was a true York- 
 shire man. The earliest scrap that I have found of 
 his writing is a juvenile letter to a sister full of 
 stable news ; and the earliest picture that I have 
 received of his childhood represents his pleasure in 
 standing by his sister at the window of their house 
 watching the horses at the horse fair " outside 
 Watergate Bar," and going shares with her in the 
 imaginary possession of the horses, she calling the 
 grays hers, and he the blacks his. In 1 8 8 1 , when 
 his hands were full of relief work, he found time 
 to buy three Connemara ponies and to arrange for 
 sending them home to England. 
 
 In person, Tuke was somewhat below the 
 average height, was very slight and delicate in his 
 build, and possessed almost to the last great 
 activity of movement a sort of physical vivacity. 
 This is amusingly described in a letter from Mr. 
 Robinson, dated Bellmullet, 2 yth December 1883 : 
 
 " Peter has been with me for a day or two, and 
 I was greatly amused at overhearing a discussion 
 between him and Stoney's groom about you and 
 Mr. Buxton. You will be amused to hear that it 
 is not as a politician, or as a public benefactor, or 
 a philanthropist that you find favour in Peter's 
 eyes but as an athlete ! ' Every time I tuk my
 
 PERSONAL TRAITS 337 
 
 eyes off the horses,' said Peter, referring to a 
 memorable drive he took you and me from 
 Clifden to Roundstone by Ballyconeely, ' I seen 
 Misther Tuke Jeppin' along the road, and leppin' 
 over walls, and leppin' across ditches, and leppin' 
 in an' out of houses, and leppin' up and down off 
 the car ' ; in fact, according to Peter, the style of 
 progression you adopted must have been something 
 between a kangaroo and a spring-heeled Jack." 
 
 Tuke's face was very mobile and expressive, and 
 his eye could show great earnestness and great 
 humour. There was in his manner a delightful 
 mixture of simplicity and refinement, of earnest- 
 ness and of playfulness : he gave you the notion of 
 a man in whom the spiritual element was in great 
 preponderance over the physical. As a host he 
 was delightful : his greeting and his farewell were 
 full of sweet courtesy ; the conversation never 
 flagged, and oftentimes it was lighted up by one 
 of his Irish or American stories, told with all 
 the spirit and power of mimicry of which he was 
 a master. But however playful the talk may have 
 been, it never fell below a high level of intelligence 
 and refinement of feeling. 
 
 Nor was it only to his adult friends that his 
 society was charming. To children he was kind
 
 338 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 and attractive ; he inspired them not with fear, as 
 so many elder people do, but with affection. 
 
 To carry through with punctuality and success 
 such operations as the emigration of thousands of 
 people from the remote shores of the west of 
 Ireland, or the distribution of seed potatoes on the 
 difficult coast of Achil and of the mainland, 
 required something of that power of preparation 
 and of co-ordinating complex arrangements which 
 is exhibited by a successful general far from his 
 base of operations, or by a great railway contractor 
 in some half-civilised land. And this power Tuke 
 evidently possessed. 
 
 If any one had watched James Tuke as he stood 
 by his cabinet, handling one of the dainty bits of china 
 of which his exquisite collection was composed, he 
 might be excused if he fancied some innate fitness 
 and resemblance between the delicate work of art 
 and the refined and almost supersensuous possessor, 
 whose thin fingers passed over it as his gentle 
 voice discoursed of the merits of colour, glaze, and 
 paste. But such an observer would greatly err it 
 he imagined that he had found a mere virtuoso. 
 Tuke's manner curiously belied his powers, and only 
 a closer acquaintance would reveal the keen judg- 
 ment in business, the great power of organisation,
 
 HIS WORK 339 
 
 and the strong religious feelings which underlay 
 that delicate and fragile exterior. 
 
 Any one who knows anything of public business 
 in England will be sure that Tuke did not carry 
 through the various matters in which he was 
 engaged without a vast amount of labour in the 
 way of correspondence and interviews. For long 
 spells of time together he was in frequent inter- 
 course with those who especially sympathised with 
 and helped him, with Mr. Forster, Mr. W. H. 
 Smith, Mr. William Rathbone, the Duke of 
 Bedford, and various English and Irish officials, 
 and his diary would show that many a day was 
 spent in London and Dublin in incessant inter- 
 views. In addition to this, it is needless to say 
 that he had at times a vast correspondence from 
 Ireland, and that all sorts of persons were seeking 
 his advice or seeking to give him advice. Young 
 politicians wanting to make maiden speeches, 
 newspaper correspondents anxious to get inter- 
 views or to write letters, members of Parliament 
 wishing to make the most instructive tour in 
 Ireland, men with crotchets as to emigration or 
 panaceas for poverty, all addressed Tuke. To 
 all he lent a patient ear, and to all whom he could 
 help, he gave help. To all this must be added
 
 340 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 the almost continuous communication by letter 
 and interview which took place between Tuke and 
 the Lord Lieutenants and the public authorities in 
 Ireland, from the time that Forster held the office 
 of Chief Secretary to Tuke's death. 
 
 I have no desire to overstate the work that 
 Tuke did for Ireland or the results of that work. 
 But it cannot be doubted that his visits to Ireland, 
 his advocacy of the distribution of seed, his emigra- 
 tion of families from the west coast, and his 
 advocacy of the construction of light railways and 
 of the constitution of the Congested Districts Board 
 have saved and blessed the lives of many a poor 
 Irish man and woman, and have helped to establish 
 a system which promises a perpetual alleviation 
 of the miseries of the extreme west. Whatever 
 criticism may be made on his work, this at least is 
 clear as to the man he did what he could. 
 
 The secret of his success lay not in political or 
 social influence, but in two things his passionate 
 desire to lessen the sufferings and to increase the 
 happiness of his fellow-men ; and secondly, his keen, 
 calm intellect, and the application of that intellect 
 and of his business experience to the cause of 
 charity. It has been seen how he laid the founda- 
 tions of his work in a careful study of the exact
 
 HIS WORK 341 
 
 facts of the case, and how, foreseeing what had to 
 be done, he set himself to do what was needful. 
 If it was necessary to visit Bellmullet in the dead of 
 winter, or to go to America to see that means 
 existed for the reception of the Irish, thither Tuke 
 went. He was absolutely disinterested in his 
 labours, and worked neither for reward nor for 
 applause, content if he could do good. He had no 
 political end to serve and no party to please. He 
 was kind and tender in his dealings alike with 
 those who helped him and those whom he helped ; 
 rarely, if ever, did a harsh or unkind word escape 
 his lips even under provocation, though he knew 
 how to rebuke impertinence or disrespect. His 
 lieutenants, his colleagues, the poor people amongst 
 whom he worked, all soon came to love him. 
 
 Tuke's health was never robust, and for years 
 he suffered terribly from long and most severe head- 
 aches. That his delicate and nervous body stood the 
 strain of such prolonged labours as he went through 
 often surprised his friends. But he had cheerful 
 spirits, abundant pluck, a keen sense of humour 
 which saw and enjoyed the drollery so often inter- 
 woven with even the most pathetic circumstances. 
 He was able, too, to relax, and when an evening 
 was spent in some rough hotel in Connemara or
 
 342 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 Donegal by Tuke and his helpers, and they were 
 free for a few short hours from the pressure of 
 work, the talk around the table was delightful. 
 
 Another qualification which Tuke possessed for 
 his work in Ireland is thus referred to by Mrs. 
 Tuke in her notes : 
 
 " Mr. Tuke had a very thorough knowledge of 
 agriculture, and each year noted the crops with 
 warm interest. In our own neighbourhood, he 
 knew exactly where good and bad crops might be 
 expected on the different farms. This practical 
 knowledge helped him immensely in his Irish work, 
 as by it he was in a position to judge for himself the 
 relative condition of the crops as we drove through 
 the districts, and was not solely dependent on 
 others for his information. He had the keenest 
 sympathy with the farmers, and in later years felt 
 very depressed about the prospects of agriculture 
 in England." 
 
 Any portrait of Tuke which did not represent 
 religion as the abiding and dominant motive of his 
 life would be a false one. His diaries as a young 
 man contain abundant traces of the depth of his 
 early religious impressions, and of his aspirations 
 after holiness of life. He was not in the habit of 
 talking much about his own religious feelings ; but
 
 HIS RELIGION 343 
 
 his whole life was guided and ruled by his sense of 
 his relation to an infinite and unseen Father of 
 spirits : and it was his love for God and man 
 which sustained and animated him through all his 
 labours, whether for his humbler neighbours near 
 his pleasant English home, or for the poor peasants 
 of the sad west of Ireland, whom he served so 
 constantly and well. Of his feelings in respect of 
 his work, he was habitually reticent, but something 
 may be seen of the spirit in which he laboured in 
 the following passages : " You know," he wrote to 
 his second wife shortly before their marriage (i3th 
 August 1882)," that I have felt, and still feel, that it 
 is a duty laid upon me to work in any way I can ; 
 and often when people say, ' How can you run away 
 from your home and go into that wretched country? ' 
 I have felt inclined to say I have no right to that 
 home whilst so many are living in abject degrada- 
 tion in Ireland and are homeless without seeking 
 to use any small power which God may have given 
 me to alleviate that condition." 
 
 At a somewhat earlier date (i8th February 
 1882) he wrote to the same lady in reference to 
 the poor people of the west : 
 
 " Yes, it is a condition which must be seen, 
 really to be appreciated and understood ; and . . .
 
 344 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 I am sure that you will not scoff at me when I say 
 that it is one which may well make a strong man 
 weep, and that more than once, after walking in and 
 out through some bog-surrounded hamlet or village, 
 I have found, as I drove along on my car, the tears 
 running down my face, all unconsciously to me, 
 as my mind was concentrated on some scheme of 
 relief or amelioration a curious dual action of 
 brain and nerve." 
 
 Again, to Mr. Howard Hodgkin, in whom 
 he had found a fellow-worker whom he regarded 
 with an almost fatherly affection, he wrote (i4th 
 April 1884) : 
 
 " What a happiness it is to find men not only 
 so able and fitted to the task, but so full of interest 
 in the work, as we have done. 
 
 " To me it is a special cause for thankfulness to 
 God, for whose guidance and help I have so con- 
 stantly sought in this work. I hope it is not 
 presumptuous to speak thus, but I am sure that 
 without this help the result would have been very 
 different." 
 
 Such were the feelings, and such the hopes, 
 which sustained James Hack Tuke in his life and 
 labours.
 
 Index 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, Tuke's interview 
 with, 245 
 
 Achil Island, applicants for emigra- 
 tion from, 1 60 j potato failure 
 in, 1 60 ; Tuke's work in, 236- 
 41, 244 ; success of his work, 
 246 ; theft and return of potatoes, 
 240-41 
 
 Achilbeg, Mrs. Tuke's description of, 
 241 
 
 Ackworth School, fever contracted 
 by Mr. Samuel Tuke at, 8 ; 
 Tuke's interest in, 83, 117 
 
 America 
 
 Emigration in, Tuke's notes on, 
 
 23-27 
 
 Emigration to, Tuke's belief in, 
 146 5 reception of his emigrants 
 in, 161, 189-93 5 depression in 
 labour market a deterrent to Irish 
 emigration, 205 ; proportion of 
 Tuke's emigrants sent to, 207 ; 
 their prosperity, 214-17 
 Free Schools in, Tuke's paper on 
 (1846)530; second paper (1853), 
 
 77. 
 Intelligence of population noted 
 
 by Tuke, 30-32 
 Slavery in, Tuke's letter on, 27-29 ; 
 
 Tuke's work on Committee of 
 
 Friends for relief of, 80 
 Tuke's first visit to, 19 ; second 
 
 visit, 134 
 Yearly Meeting of Quakers in N. 
 
 Carolina described by Tuke, 34- 
 
 39 
 
 Arran, Islands of, potato failure in, 
 
 257 ; Tuke's visit to (1893), 
 286-90 ; in telegraphic com- 
 munication with mainland, 286, 
 288, 312; Tuke's visit to, on 
 Fingal, 286-91 
 
 Athenasum Club, Tuke elected a 
 member of, 221 
 
 Audubon, Tuke's visit to, 22 
 
 Aughleen feeding-station, scenes at, 
 67-68 
 
 Australia, number of Tuke's emigrants 
 sent to, 207 
 
 Balfour, Arthur J., asks Tuke to 
 report upon condition of Ireland, 
 257-58 ; Tuke's interview and 
 correspondence with, 262-65 > 
 interview on Congested Districts 
 (1889), 266; Tuke's letter to, 
 regarding proposed appointment 
 on permanent Commission, 267 ; 
 gives up Irish Secretaryship, 
 
 3*7 
 Ballyshannon 1880 contrasted with 
 
 1847, I22 
 Baltimore 
 
 (Co. Cork), Tuke's visit to Father 
 
 Davis at, 269-72 
 (U.S.A.), Tuke's comment on, 
 
 34 
 
 Bancroft, Hitchin, description of 
 
 Tuke's house in, 74-75 
 Bedford, Duke of, meeting on Irish 
 
 emigration held by, 157 ; opinion 
 
 regarding emigration, 220-21 ; 
 
 Tuke's intercourse with, 339 
 Bellmullet, condition of in 1847, 53'
 
 34 6 
 
 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 61; in 1881, 143-445 Tuke's 
 first emigration scheme con- 
 cerned with, 1 60; effect of 
 emigration on holdings in, 220 
 Berridge, Mr., evictions by, 147 
 Bodyke, evictions at, 256-57 
 Boston Daily Advertiser, extract from, 
 
 189-93 
 Bournemouth, Mrs. Tuke's illness 
 
 and death at, 80-82 
 Brabazon, Lord, criticisms on State- 
 directed emigration, 218 
 Bright, John, Home Rule opposed by, 
 251-53, 317 j Tuke's intercourse 
 with, 251-54 
 
 Brotherton, Mr., consulted by Tuke, 62 
 
 Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, interests 
 
 of, in Baltimore fisheries, 271-72 
 
 Buxton, Sydney, Tuke's emigration 
 
 work assisted by, 165-66; 
 
 Tuke's letter to, on emigration 
 
 work, 181; on the Murderers' 
 
 Country, 199 ; report regarding 
 
 anti-emigration propaganda, 206 
 
 Camus (Connemara), Tuke's visit to, 
 127-28 
 
 Canada, emigration to, proposed, 134- 
 36 ; Tuke's belief in emigration 
 to, 146 ; arrangements with, for 
 Tuke's emigrants, 161 ; majority 
 of Tuke's emigrants in 1883 
 sent to, 187 ; proportion of 
 Tuke's emigrants sent to, 207 ; 
 their prosperity, 218-19 
 
 Carna, evictions at, 147 
 
 Carrick - on - Shannon 1880 con- 
 trasted with 1847, 123-24 
 
 Cashel (County Galway), horse shows 
 at, 282 
 
 Cashel or Caisel, meaning of, 293 note 
 
 Catholic Colonisation Association, 
 Tuke's appreciation of, 135-37, 
 
 154 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, work for 
 Irish relief, 120 
 
 Clifden, Tuke's first visit to, 52 ; 
 Tuke's first emigration scheme 
 concerned with, 159; Tuke's 
 emigration work at, assisted by 
 
 Messrs. Hodgkin and Higgins, 
 
 1 66 ; anecdote of Father X 's 
 
 fifty families, 179 ; unfulfilled 
 promise of 2000 from Union 
 of, 186-87 
 
 Clogher, evictions by J. Walshe at, 
 66-67 
 
 Cobden, Mr., consulted by Tuke, 62 
 
 " Condition of Donegal, The," scope 
 of, 259-60 
 
 Congested district, explanation of 
 term, 274 
 
 Congested Districts Board, prelimin- 
 aries of, discussed, 268 ; establish- 
 ment of, 273-74; intended 
 scope of work of, 275 - 76 ; 
 summary of first report of, 276- 
 78 ; Rev. W. S. Green's paper on 
 work of, 309-16 
 
 Connaught (for particular districts, 
 see their titles], Tuke's journey 
 through (1847), 51 ; scope of 
 pamphlet on visit to, with ex- 
 tracts, 51-56; extracts from 
 postscript on evictions, 63-69 ; 
 Tuke's visit in 1880, 121-28 
 
 Connelly, John, gift of sea-weed 
 presented by, 186 
 
 Connemara (see also Clifden), Tuke's 
 journey through (1847), 51 ; 
 Tuke's visit to a coast village 
 (Camus) in 1880, 127-28; 
 Easter Sunday in 1882, 148-52 ; 
 Tuke's first consignments of 
 emigrants from, 162-63 
 
 Davies, Miss Emily (Principal of 
 Girton), Tuke's help to, 88 
 
 Davis, Father, Tuke's visit to, 269- 
 72 ; Tuke's correspondence with, 
 
 273 
 
 Derrynane, Tuke's visit to, on Finga/, 
 304-5 
 
 Dingle, fishing industry at, 297 
 
 Dockray, David, Tuke's friendship 
 with, 1 6 
 
 Donegal, Tuke's visit with Forster in 
 1846, 44 ; Tuke's visit in 1880, 
 121-28; rumoured destitution in, 
 258 ; kelp industry in, 310
 
 INDEX 
 
 347 
 
 Dooega, Tuke's work in, 237-38 
 Dufferin, Lord, views on co-operation 
 
 with Irish priesthood, 137-38 
 Dunraven, Lord, Skellig Michael 
 
 described by, 299-302 
 
 Education, Tuke's views on State aid, 
 etc. , 30, 77-78 ; priestly influence 
 on, in Ireland, 205, 229 ; Roman 
 Catholic University for Ireland 
 advocated by Tuke, 231 
 Educational Institutions of the United 
 
 States, The, 77 
 Ellis, Mr. and Mrs. James, residence 
 
 in Letterfrack, 70-71 
 Emigration, American, Tuke's notes 
 
 on, 23-27 
 Emigration, Irish 
 
 America, reception of Tuke's 
 emigrants in, 161, 188-94; 
 depression in labour market of, 
 a deterrent to Irish emigration, 
 205 ; proportion of Tuke's 
 emigrants sent to, 207 ; dangers 
 to emigrants in, 212-13; 
 prosperity of Tuke's emigrants 
 in, 214-17 
 
 Anecdotes Father X and 
 
 Clifden Workhouse, 179 ; woman 
 with friends in Alleghany 
 County, 183-84; "fhourteen 
 furst coushins," 185 ; Mary 
 C , 185 
 
 Australia, number of Tuke's 
 emigrants sent to, 207 
 
 Canada, proposals regarding, 134- 
 36 ; Tuke's arrangements with, 
 161 ; majority of Tuke's 
 emigrants in 1883 sent to, 187 ; 
 proportion of Tuke's emigrants 
 sent to, 207 ; their prosperity, 
 218-19 
 
 Cost of, under Sweetman's system, 
 157 ; under Tuke's system, 208 
 
 Dangers to emigrants discussed, 
 208, 212-13 
 
 Debtors, shopkeepers' precautions 
 regarding, 173, 181, 187 
 
 Eagerness of people to emigrate, 
 160, 171, 178, 184-85, 216 
 
 Emigration, Irish 
 
 Effect of, on Ireland, 208, 219-21 
 Emigrants' Information Office 
 
 established, 255 
 Federation Scheme for Emigration 
 
 Societies, 254-55 
 Gratitude of emigrants, 166, 174, 
 
 178, 186, 194 
 
 Migration -versus, 133, 208-11 
 "Mr. Tuke's Fund " started, 158 ; 
 Government memorialised by 
 Committee of, 164 ; Govern- 
 ment assistance given to, 165 ; 
 Government again memorialised 
 for grant, 196 ; end of operations 
 (1884) and review of work done, 
 207 
 
 Objections to, discussed, 208-20 
 " Ought Emigration from Ireland 
 
 to be Assisted?" 152 
 Propaganda against, 205-6 
 Prosperity of emigrants questioned, 
 197, 208, 213-14; objection 
 met, 214-19 
 
 State aid granted to (1882-83), 
 
 164-65, 196-97 ; grant of 1883 
 
 curtailed, 198; migration portion 
 
 never used, 210-11; Tuke's 
 
 views on State aid, 152 ; 
 
 objections discussed, 208, 211-12 
 
 Substitutes, elimination of, 168 
 
 Suspects, precautions regarding, 172 
 
 Tuke's belief in, 133-34, 146, 204, 
 
 248 ; details of his work, 160- 
 
 64, 166-78, 181-82 
 
 " With the Emigrants," extract 
 
 from, 183-84 
 
 Erris, barony of, condition in 1847, 
 53-61, 63-69 ; in 1881, 143-45 
 Evictions at Tiraun, Mullaroghe and 
 Clogher, 63-69 ; at Carna, 147- 
 48 ; at Bodyke, 256-57 
 
 Fair, Captain (afterwards Major) 
 Ruttledge, Tuke's emigration 
 work assisted by, 166, 182, 
 198 ; Tuke's appreciation of, 
 182 ; deputed to visit emigrants 
 in America and Canada, 195 ; 
 report on their condition, 197,
 
 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 214 ; work at Bellmullet, West- 
 port, and Swineford, 198 ; ap- 
 pointed Government Inspector 
 in Achil, 236 ; work in Achil, 
 239-40 ; distributes Government 
 relief in Arran, 258 ; studies 
 lines for light railways, 264 ; 
 joins Tuke at Leenane on horse- 
 show tour, 280 ; accompanies 
 Tuke on Fingal, 285-91 
 
 F'mgal (C.D.B. yacht), Tuke's tour 
 on, 284-307 
 
 Fisheries (see under Ireland) 
 
 Ford, John, Tuke's excursion with, 
 
 M 
 
 Forestry experiment at Knockboy, 
 
 282 
 Forster 
 
 William, Tuke's acquaintance with, 
 on voyage to America, 20-21 ; 
 tour in Donegal, etc., 43-45, 
 49-50 
 
 William Edward, Tuke's early 
 friendship with, 17 5 visit to 
 Gal way in 1846, 43 j as Irish 
 Secretary discusses emigration to 
 Manitoba, 1 34 ; approves object 
 of Duke of Bedford's meeting, 
 157 5 last days of, 248-51 ; 
 devotion to duty, 334 ; Tuke's 
 frequent intercourse with, 339 
 Foster, Vere, Irish emigration work 
 
 of, cited by Tuke, 154 
 Fothergill 
 
 G. W., Tuke's friendship for, 16 
 Dr. John, Tuke's sketch of life of, 
 
 117 
 Friends, Society of 
 
 Ackworth School, 8, 83, 117 
 America, hospitality to Tuke in, 
 22 ; Yearly Meeting in N. 
 Carolina described, 34-39 
 Foreign Missions, Tuke's work in 
 
 relation to, vi. 
 
 Friends' Educational Society, Tuke's 
 papers on American Educational 
 Institutions read before (1846 
 and 1853), 3; 77 
 Home Rule, attitude towards, 251, 
 3*7 
 
 Friends, Society of 
 
 Irish Famine Relief Committees 
 
 formed by, 42-43 ; Tuke's letter 
 
 on Connaught addressed to 
 
 Dublin Committee, 52 
 Meeting for Sufferings, explanation 
 
 of term, 8 3 note 
 Organisation of, 33 
 Primness of, discussed by Tuke, 19 
 War Victims' Fund collected by 
 
 (1870-71), 89 
 W. E. Forster's message to, 250 
 
 Gait, Sir Alexander, Tuke's meeting 
 with, 1345 at Duke of Bed- 
 ford's meeting, 157 
 
 Galway, Tuke's visit with Forster in 
 1846, 43 ; his interest in fisher- 
 men of the Claddagh, 51 ; his 
 visit in 1882, 146 ; his first 
 consignment of emigrants start 
 from, 161 ; Fingal starts her 
 tour from, 285 ; kelp industry 
 in, 310; Ffrench estate bought 
 by C.D. Board, 311 
 
 Gaskell, Major, Tuke's emigration 
 work assisted by, 163, 166, 176, 
 186, 198 
 
 Gibson, G. S. (brother-in-law of J. H. 
 Tuke), tour with Tuke in west 
 of Ireland, 78 j Tuke's letter to 
 (1868), 87 
 
 Giffen, Sir Robert, views of, regard- 
 ing Irish Land Purchase, 232 
 
 Girton College, Cambridge, Tuke's 
 interest in beginnings of, 88- 
 89 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., Home Rule policy 
 of, disapproved by Tuke, 222- 
 30 ; by Roman Catholics, 228 j 
 by John Bright, 252-53, 317 j by 
 many Friends, 317 
 
 Green, Rev. W. S., appointed to 
 investigate sea fisheries, 268-69 ; 
 Tuke's correspondence with, 
 273 ; tour on Fingal, 285, 290- 
 307 ; paper on work of C.D. 
 Board prepared by, 309-16 
 
 Grey, Sir George, consulted by Tuke, 
 62
 
 INDEX 
 
 349 
 
 Hamilton, R. T. (Poor Law In- 
 spector), accompanies Tuke 
 when investigating Walshe evic- 
 tions, 63 ; opinion of evictions, 
 68-69 
 
 Hastings, Tuke's "visit to, 8-9 
 
 Hayes, President, Tuke's interview 
 with, 134 
 
 Hitchin, Tuke's removal to, 74 ; 
 Girton College started at, 88 
 
 Hodgkin, Howard, in Donegal and 
 Connaught with Tuke, 121 ; 
 Tuke's emigration work in west 
 of Ireland assisted by, 166, 170, 
 176, 186, 1985 incident of John 
 Connelly's sea-weed, 1 86; deputed 
 to visit emigrants in America and 
 Canada, 195, 214; report on 
 their condition, 197-98 
 
 Home Rule, Tuke's disapproval of, 
 222-30 ; Roman Catholic atti- 
 tude towards, 228 ; Home 
 Ruler's attitude towards Irish 
 relief work, 248 ; Society of 
 Friends' attitude towards, 251, 
 317; John Bright's disapproval 
 
 of 2 5!-53, 3 1 ? 
 
 Huddy murders, scene of, 201-3 
 Hunt, Nathan, at N. Carolina Yearly 
 
 Meeting, 38 
 Hunting renounced by Tuke, 1 1 
 
 Insane, the, Tuke family interested 
 
 in care of, 2, 22, 320 note 
 Ireland (for towns, districts, etc., see 
 
 their titles} 
 
 Absenteeism, effects of, 132 
 Arrears Act (1882), grant for 
 emigration purposes decreed by, 
 164 
 Bog-huts described, 58-59, 125-26, 
 
 147 
 
 Communication, improved means 
 of (tramways, etc.) advocated by 
 Tuke, 53, 195, 204, 248, 259, 
 262 
 
 Congested district, explanation of 
 term, 274 
 
 Congested Districts Board, pre- 
 liminaries of, discussed, 268 ; 
 
 establishment of, 272-74 ; in- 
 tended scope of work of, 275- 
 76 ; summary of first report of, 
 276-78 ; Rev. W. S. Green's 
 paper on work of, 309-16 
 
 Education, influence of priests on, 
 205, 229 ; Roman Catholic 
 University advocated by Tuke, 
 231 
 
 Emigration (tee that title) 
 
 Evictions (see that title) 
 
 Famine of 1847, 41-50 
 
 Fisheries, encouragement of ad- 
 vocated by Tuke, 53, 248, 261- 
 62 ; assistance asked at Dooega, 
 238; investigations by Rev. W.S. 
 Green, 268-69 > Industrial Fish- 
 ing School of Father Davis, 269, 
 271-72 ; C.D. Board work, 277, 
 309, 312-13; large industry at 
 Dingle, 297 
 
 Forestry experiments, 282 
 
 Gratitude of inhabitants to Tuke, 
 133, 141-42, 166, 174, 178, 
 186, 194, 246 
 
 Home Rule, Tuke's disapproval 
 of, 222-30 ; Roman Catholic 
 attitude towards, 228 ; Home 
 Ruler's attitude towards Irish 
 relief work, 248 ; Society of 
 Friends' attitude towards, 251, 
 317 ; John Bright's disapproval 
 
 of, 251-53, 317 
 
 Horse shows, 279-82 
 
 Land Act (1881), passing of, 142 ; 
 inadequacy of, 153 ; good effect 
 of, 205 ; Purchase of Land Act 
 (1891), passing of, 273 ; emi- 
 gration grant of 1881 repealed 
 by, 142 ; Tuke's views on pur- 
 chase of holdings, 232, 260 
 
 Light Railways, construction of, 
 urged by Tuke, 195, 259 ; Bill 
 passed, 265 ; construction in 
 progress, 270 
 
 Migration -versus emigration, 133, 
 208-11 
 
 Murderers' Country, the, 199-203 
 
 Political improvements suggested 
 by Tuke, 230
 
 35 
 
 Ireland 
 
 Poor Law Act (1847), probable 
 working of, discussed by Tuke, 
 53 ; inadequacy of, 153 
 Potato failure in 1845-46, 40-41 ; 
 in 1879, 118 ; in 1885 (Achil), 
 Z33 ; in 1887 (Arran), 257 
 Roman Catholic Church (see that 
 
 title) 
 
 Textile works, encouragement of, 
 advocated by Tuke, 53 5 dealt 
 with by C.D. Board, 278, 314 
 Waste lands, Tuke's early views 
 regarding, 53 ; later views, 209- 
 ii 
 
 Ireland, by Kohl, cited, 57 
 
 Ireland, Bishop, emigration work of, 
 appreciated by Tuke, 135-37, 
 154 ; Tuke's emigration scheme 
 helped by, 213; report of, on 
 Tuke's Minnesota emigrants, 
 215-16 
 
 " Irish Distress and its Remedies," 
 scope and extracts from, 121-28, 
 132 ; success of, 133 
 
 " Irish Emigration," scope and ex- 
 tracts from, 135-39 
 
 Janson, Miss Elizabeth (see Tuke, 
 
 Mrs.) 
 Joyce family, position of, in Conne- 
 
 mara, 51 j site of murder of, 
 
 203 
 
 Kelly, C. Taylor, clothing branch of 
 
 Tuke's emigration work assisted 
 
 by, 167, 171, 174-76 
 Kennedy, Miss Georgina Mary (see 
 
 Tuke, Mrs. [nee Kennedy]) 
 Kerry coast visited by Tuke in the 
 
 Fingal, 293-99 
 Killeries, the, described by Mrs. 
 
 Tuke, 280-81 
 Killybegs, distress in, described by 
 
 Tuke, 48 ; carpet factory opened 
 
 in, 314 
 
 Knock, visions at, 128-32. 
 Knockboy, forestry experiments at, 
 
 282 
 Kohl's Ireland cited, 57 
 
 Leeds, Tuke's visit to, 279 
 Letterfrack, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis' 
 
 settlement in, 70-7 1 5 connection 
 
 of the " Invincibles " with, 173 j 
 
 horse show at, 281 
 Light Railways (see under Ireland) 
 Light-keepers on the Skelligs, Tuke's 
 
 interest in, 303 
 Lindsell, Mrs. (daughter of J. H. 
 
 Tuke), illness of, 165 j Tuke 
 
 survived by, 323 
 Lome, Lord (Governor-General of 
 
 Canada), Tuke's interview with, 
 
 135-36} presides over meeting 
 
 on federation of Emigration 
 
 Societies, 254 
 Lynch, Archbishop, statements of, 
 
 regarding Toronto emigrants, 
 
 197 
 Lyttelton, Rev. the Hon. Edward, 
 
 appreciation of Tuke, 323 
 
 Macdonald, Sir John (Premier of 
 
 Canada), Tuke's interview with, 
 
 134-36 
 " Mad Quakers," Sydney Smith's 
 
 review, entitled, 2 
 Mahony, Father, settles among 
 
 Tuke's emigrants, 213 ; report 
 
 on their condition, 216 
 Manitoba, project of emigration to, 
 
 discussed, 134 ; objections raised 
 
 against, 214 
 Marlborough, Duke and Duchess 
 
 of, interest in Irish remedial 
 
 measures, 120-21 
 Matthew, Father, note on potato 
 
 failure of 1846, 41 
 Mayo (see also Erris and Bellmullet), 
 
 condition as a whole contrasted 
 
 with that of Erris, 53-54 ; kelp 
 
 industry in, 310 
 M'Cormack, Bishop, Lenten Pastoral 
 
 against emigration, 206 
 Meath, Earl of (see Brabazon, Lord) 
 Meenacladdy, Tuke's description of, 
 
 in 1880, 124-27 
 Meynell, Henry T., in Donegal 
 
 and Connaught with Tuke. 
 
 121
 
 INDEX 
 
 Morley 
 
 John, Tuke's interview with, re- 
 garding local authorities, 246 
 Samuel, at Duke of Bedford's 
 meeting, 157 
 
 Mountmorres, Lord, site of murder 
 of, 199 
 
 " Mr. Tuke's Fund " (see under 
 Emigration) 
 
 Mullaroghe, evictions by J. Walshe 
 at, 63-66^; condition in 1881 
 described, 143-44 
 
 Newport (County Mayo), Tuke's 
 first emigration scheme con- 
 cerned with, 1 60 j horse show 
 at, 279 
 
 Nottingham, Tuke's visit to, 279 
 Nugent, Father, experience of emi- 
 grants deserting their holdings, 
 157 ; induces Rev. J. O'Donnell 
 to accompany Tuke's emigrants, 
 164 ; visits emigrants in 
 America, 214 
 
 O'Callaghan, Colonel, evictions on 
 estate of, 256-57 
 
 O'Connell, Daniel, house and relics 
 of, 304 
 
 O'Connor, Father, action regarding 
 potato theft, 240-41 
 
 O'Donnell, Rev. J., accompanies 
 Tuke's emigrants, 164 
 
 " Ought Emigration from Ireland to 
 be Assisted ? " scope and extracts 
 from, 152-56 
 
 Oughterard entrusted by Lord Lieu- 
 tenant to Tuke, 165 ; by Tuke 
 to Major Gaskell, 166 ; horse 
 show at, 282 
 
 Palmer, Sir R., condition of property 
 of, in Erris, 55-57 
 
 Paris, Tuke's work in (1871), 90, 
 107-14 ; sufferings during siege 
 and state of city afterwards, 93- 
 101 j political state of, and 
 revolt of National Guards, 
 101-7 
 
 Phoenix Park murders, emigration 
 
 desired by those implicated in, 
 173 
 
 Plunkett, Horace, Rt. Hon., Tuke's 
 correspondence with, 273 
 
 Quakers (see Friends) 
 
 Rafeisen banks started by C.D. Board, 
 
 3*4 
 
 Rathbone, William, at Duke of Bed- 
 ford's meeting, 157} Summary 
 Colonisation Report cited, 208 
 note ; Tuke's intercourse with, 
 
 339 
 
 Reform Club, Tuke elected a member 
 of, 221 
 
 Robinson, H. A. (Government In- 
 spector), letter to Tuke on 
 " writins," 139 ; devotion to 
 Irish relief work, 148 ; letter on 
 distress in Achil, 233 ; work in 
 Achil, 239 j letter on Tuke's 
 athletic fame, 336 
 
 Roman Catholic Church in Ireland 
 Education, influence on, 205, 229 ; 
 Catholic University advocated by 
 Tuke, 231 
 
 Emigration Catholic Colonisation 
 Association under Bishop Ire- 
 land, 135-37, I 545 co-operation 
 with priesthood advised by 
 Tuke, 137-38; opposition, 197, 
 206, 212 ; Connemara priest's 
 views in 1880, 217 ; Father 
 Nugent's experience of emigrants 
 deserting their holdings, 157 ; 
 his assistance to Tuke, 164 ; his 
 visit to emigrants in America, 
 214 ; Father Stephen assists in 
 starting Tuke's emigrants, 163 ; 
 Rev. J. O'Donnell accompanies 
 Tuke's emigrants, 164 ; Father 
 
 X complains about effect 
 
 on Clifden Workhouse,' 179 ; 
 Father Mahony settles among 
 Tuke's emigrants, 213 ; his re- 
 port, 216 
 Home Rule, attitude towards, 228 
 
 Ruttledge Fair (see Fair)
 
 352 
 
 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 Scrope, George Poulett, assails Tuke's 
 pamphlet on Connaught, 62 ; 
 convinced of Tuke's accuracy, 
 
 63 
 
 Sharpies and Company, Tuke becomes 
 a partner of, 74 
 
 Skellig Michael, Lord Dunraven's de- 
 scription of, 299-302 
 
 Slavery in America, Tuke's letter on, 
 27-29 ; committee of Friends for 
 relief of, 80 
 
 Smith, W. H., at Duke of Bedford's 
 meeting, 157 ; asks Tuke to re- 
 port on condition of Ireland, 
 257-58 ; death of, 316 ; Tuke's 
 intercourse with, 339 
 
 Spectator, Tuke's letter to, on pur- 
 chase of holdings, 232-33 
 
 Spencer, Earl, present at embarkation 
 of emigrants, 188 
 
 Stephen, Father, assists in starting 
 Tuke's emigrants, 163 
 
 Sweetman, John, success of Irish 
 colonies managed by, 154; 
 expense and risks of method of, 
 157 
 
 Teetotaller of Bellmullet, anecdote 
 of, 144 
 
 Tiraun, evictions by J. Walshe at, 
 63 
 
 Toronto, Tuke's comment on, 134 
 
 Tuke 
 
 Alice Mary, Miss (daughter of J. 
 H. T.), removal to Hitchm 
 during infancy of, 74 ; com- 
 panionship with her father, 81, 
 86, 114-15 ; illness and death 
 of, 85-86 ; Tuke's grief for, 1 14- 
 16 
 Daniel Hack, Dr. (brother of J. 
 
 H. T.), 320, and note 
 Elizabeth, Miss (sister of J. H. T.), 
 
 5. I2 - r 3 
 
 Esther, Miss (sister of T. H. T.), 
 description of, in childhood, 12 j 
 residence with Tuke after his 
 wife's death, 81 ; Tuke's letter 
 to, from Bellmullet, 143 ; Tuke 
 survived by, 323 
 
 Tuke 
 
 Frances, Miss (daughter of J. H. 
 T.), devotion to Tuke, 86; 
 Tuke's letter to, from Dublin, 
 119 ; death of, 320 
 
 James Hack 
 
 Chronological Sequence of Career. 
 Parentage and birth, I ; flat- 
 nosed Indian incident, 6-7 ; 
 pursuits in boyhood, 12-13 > 
 attends day school in York, 3 ; 
 death of his mother, 4-5 ; fever 
 and visit to Hastings, 8-9 ; death 
 of his sister Sarah, 9 ; escape 
 from drowning, 10 ; excursion 
 with John Ford, 14 $ enters his 
 father's business, 4, 14 ; per- 
 plexities of early manhood, 16 ; 
 friendship with Dockray, Fother- 
 gill, and Forster, 16-17 5 fi fst 
 visit to America, 19 ; first 
 paper on American Free Schools, 
 30 j joins William Forster at 
 Carrick- on -Shannon and visits 
 Donegal, etc., 44-45 j pamphlet 
 on Connaught, 52 ; consultation 
 with Sir George Grey and others, 
 62 ; engagement to Miss Janson, 
 62 ; return to west of Ireland, 
 62 ; marriage with Miss Janson, 
 71 ; contracts Irish fever, 73 ; 
 becomes partner in Sharpies and 
 Co., and removes to Hitchin, 
 74 j second paper on American 
 Educational Institutions, 77 ; 
 pleasure tour in west of Ireland, 
 
 78 j family anxieties, 78-79 ; 
 travels for health of his family, 
 
 79 ; death of his wife, 80 ; 
 distribution of War Victims' 
 Fund in Paris, 90 j death of his 
 daughter Alice, 114; paper on 
 Dr. John Fothergill, 117; visit 
 to Dublin (1880), 119 ; meeting 
 with Sir John Macdonald, 134 ; 
 second visit to America, 1 34 ; 
 visit to west of Ireland (1881), 
 142 ; visit to Galway (1882), 
 146 ; paper on Assisted Emi- 
 gration, 152 ; Duke of Bedford's
 
 INDEX 
 
 353 
 
 meeting, 157; "Mr. Tuke's 
 Fund" started, 158; visit to 
 Liverpool and Ireland on emi- 
 gration business, 159 ; asked by 
 Lord Lieutenant to undertake 
 charge of Bellmullet, etc., 165 5 
 conferences in London and Dublin 
 and arrival at Westport, 165 j 
 emigration work at Clifden, 
 1 66 ; emigration work in west 
 of Ireland (1884), 198 ; papers 
 read at Cambridge and before 
 British Association, election to 
 Athenaeum and Reform Clubs, 
 invitation to represent York in 
 Parliament, and offer of knight- 
 hood, 221 ; travels in England, 
 222 ; letter in Spectator on Irish 
 Land Purchase, 232 ; journey to 
 Achil (1886), 233, 236; raises 
 fund for Achil relief, 235 ; in- 
 terview with Lord Aberdeen, 
 245 ; raises fund for Irish 
 mainland relief, 245 j last 
 meeting with W. E. Forster, 
 249-50 ; meeting of Irish 
 Friends regarding Home Rule, 
 251 ; intercourse with John 
 Bright, 251-54; Lord Lome's 
 meeting, 254; appointed member 
 of council of Emigrants' In- 
 formation Office, 255 ; visit to 
 Bodyke, 256 ; visit to west of 
 Ireland (1887), 257; interview 
 with Mr. Balfour (1887), 262 ; 
 illness, 258 ; visit to Donegal 
 (1889), 258 ; study of lines for 
 light railways, 264 ; interview 
 with Mr. Balfour (1889), 266; 
 discussions in Dublin on relief 
 measures, 268 ; appointment on 
 Congested Districts Board, 274 ; 
 work on the Board in 1892, 278 ; 
 visit to Nottingham and Leeds, 
 279 ; horse shows in west of 
 Ireland, 279 - 82 ; tour of in- 
 spection on board the Fingal, 284- 
 307 ; meeting of Friends in Lon- 
 don against Home Rule, 318; 
 last illness, 319 ; death, 322 
 
 Tuke, James Hack 
 
 Personal Characteristics, etc. 
 Agriculture, knowledge of, 342 
 Appearance, 5, 337 
 Birds, interest in, IO-H, 21-22, 
 
 29-30, 84, 280, 326-29, 331- 
 
 3*> 335 
 Botany, interest in, 14, 325, 
 
 3 2 9 33 2 
 
 Children, attraction for, 337-38 
 China, fondness for collecting, 
 
 75,338 
 
 Courtesy, 324, 337 
 Delicacy and proneness to head- 
 ache, 8, 84, 283, 341 j typhoid 
 fever, 8 j Irish fever, 73 j 
 illness in 1888, 258 
 Disinterestedness, 340-41 
 Family, close intercourse with, 
 
 82, 326, 331 
 Feeling, keenness of, 344 
 Horses and riding, fondness for, 
 
 11-12, 84 
 
 Literary pursuits, 15 
 Music, love of, 330 
 Organisation, powers of, 160, 
 
 338 
 Religious feeling, 85, 339, 342- 
 
 44 
 
 Sadness, 85-87 
 
 Variety of interests and occupa- 
 tions, 82-84 
 
 Mrs. J. H. (nee Janson), engage- 
 ment to Tuke, 62 ; marriage, 
 71; characteristics, 72 ; delicacy, 
 79 ; death, 80, 82 
 
 Mrs. j. H. (nee Kennedy), marriage 
 with Tuke, 164-65 ; accom- 
 panies Tuke in his work and 
 travels, 165-307 passim; illness, 
 320 
 
 Margaret, Miss (daughter of J. H. 
 T.), recollections of 1868-1879, 
 8 1-86 ; present at Tuke's death, 
 322 ; Tuke survived by, 323 ; 
 Tuke's letters to, 331-35 
 
 Maria, Miss (aunt of J. H. T.), 7-8 
 
 Maria, Miss (sister of J. H. T.), 
 12, 15 
 
 Samuel (father of J. H. T.), works
 
 354 
 
 JAMES HACK TUKE 
 
 on Insanity, 2 ; residence in 
 Laurence Street, York, 3 ; death 
 of his wife and devotion to his 
 children, 5 ; fever and visit to 
 Hastings, 8 ; requested to stand 
 for Parliament, 14 ; assistance 
 on Connaught pamphlet, 61 ; 
 work in York among Irish fever 
 patients, 72-73 ; seizure and 
 death, 78 
 
 Mrs. S. (mother of J. H. T.), 4-5 
 
 William, date of settlement in 
 York, i 
 
 William (great-grandfather of J. H. 
 T.), York Retreat founded by, 
 2 5 death of, remembered by 
 Tuke, 4 
 
 William M. (brother of J. H. T.), 
 interest in birds, u ; Tuke's 
 letter to, on slavery, 27 ; on 
 birds, 29 ; on death of Alice 
 Tuke, 115; Tuke survived by, 
 
 3*3 
 
 Tupper, Sir Charles, letter to Tuke 
 on emigrants in Canada, 218 
 
 Turner, Colonel, assists Tuke at 
 Bodyke, 256-57 
 
 United States (see America) 
 Visions at Knock, 128-32 
 
 " Visit to Connaught in the Autumn 
 of 1847, A," scope and extracts 
 from, 52-61 5 extracts from post- 
 script on evictions, 63-69 
 
 " Visit to Paris in the Spring of 
 1871, A," extracts from, 90-114 
 
 Walshe, J., Tuke's pamphlet on 
 
 Connaught assailed by, 62 ; 
 
 condition of property of, in Erris, 
 
 63-69 
 " With the Emigrants," extract from, 
 
 183-84 ; date of publication of, 
 
 187 note 
 Wordsworth, Tuke's appreciation of, 
 
 15 
 
 " Writins," Mr. Robinson's letter on, 
 139 
 
 York, Retreat for the Insane 
 established at, by William 
 Tuke, 2 ; Tuke's school educa- 
 tion at, 3 ; election bribery at, 
 14 ; Tuke's presentiment of 
 fatal accident near, 16 ; Tuke 
 present at fire of the Minster, 
 1 8 ; fever hospital for Irish 
 refugees erected in, 72 ; Parlia- 
 mentary representation of, pro- 
 posed to Tuke, 221 
 
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