- The real, practical measures which led to the
creation of one country extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific were
due to the far-sighted policy and persuasive influence of the Duke. The
Duke was a statesman singularly averse to claiming credit for his own
special public services, while ever ready to attribute credit and
bestow praise on those around him.
My first interview with the Duke was in January, 1847. He was then Lord
Lincoln, and the Conservative candidate for Manchester; in disgrace
with his father. His father was the old fashioned nobleman who desired
"to do what he liked with his own," and never would rebuild Nottingham
Castle, burnt in 1832 by the Radicals. The son had cast in his lot with
Sir Robert Peel and free trade. The father was still one of the narrow-
minded class to whom reform of any kind was the spectre of "ruin to the
country." They were quite honest in the conviction that the people were
"born to be governed, and not to govern." They probably saw in the free
importation of foreign food the abrogation of rent.
In 1847 Mr. Bright was the candidate for Manchester, whom we of the old
Anti-Corn Law League supported. The interview I refer to was actuated
by our desire to avoid an undeserved opposition; Lord Lincoln retired,
however, owing mainly to other reasons, including that of the
intolerance of a body of Churchmen regarding popular education.
A long period of wretched health compelled me for several years to
consume what strength I had left in the ordinary routine of daily
business. And it was not until 1852 that any further intercourse of any
kind took place between us. In that year I published a little book
about the United States and Canada, the record of my first visit to
North America, in 1851. And, if I recollect rightly, I travelled with
the Duke in the spring of 1852, probably between Rugby and Derby, and
found him in possession of a copy of this little book, on which he had,
faute de mieux, spent half-a-crown at the book stall at Euston. He
recognised me; and it was my fault, and not his, that I saw no more of
him till 1857, by which time, no doubt, he had forgotten me. Still our
conversation in 1852 about America, and especially as to slavery, and
the probability of a separation of North and South, will always dwell
in my memory. Lord Lincoln had studied De Tocqueville; but he had not,
yet, seen America. He had, therefore, at that time many erroneous
views, which could only be corrected by the actual and personal
opportunity of seeing and measuring, on the spot, the country, which
always really means the people. This opportunity was given to him by
the visit of the Prince of Wales to Canada and the United States, in
1860. He accompanied the Prince in his capacity of Colonial Minister.
These casual glimpses of Lord Lincoln were followed by an interview
between us in 1857. In the meantime, it is true, he had had my name
brought before him during his term of office pending the Crimean War
Some one had suggested to the Government to send me out to the Crimea
to take charge of the Stores Department, at a time when all was
confusion and mess, out there, and I was asked to call on the Minister
about it. It seemed to me, however, a duty impossible of execution by a
civilian, unless the condition of "full powers" were conceded, - and the
matter came to nothing.
In 1856 I was the Manager of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire
Railway. In that year a reckless engine, travelling between Shireoaks
and Worksop, threw out some sparks, which set fire to the underwood of
one of the Duke's plantations - for he was then Duke - and he wrote to
the Chairman of the Railway, the then Earl of Yarborough, in what
appeared to me a very haughty manner. I therefore felt bound to defend
my chief, and I took up the quarrel. In a note addressed from the
Library of the House of Commons, I asked for an interview, which was
somewhat stiffly granted. This was the note which led to our
interview: -
"CLUMBER,
"1 Decr. 1856.
"MY DEAR YARBOROUGH,
"Instead of placing the enclosed extraordinary production in the hands
of my Solicitor, I think it best, in the first instance, to send it to
you as Chairman of the M. S. & L. Railway, because I cannot believe
that either its tone or its substance can have been authorized by the
Directors.
"I am sorry to say this is not the first piece of impertinence which I
have had to complain of in reference to the damage done to my woods by
the engines of the Company, and neither Mr. Foljambe nor I have had any
encouragement to treat the matter in the amicable spirit which we were
anxious to evince.
"The demands now made by the aggressors upon the party aggrieved is
simply preposterous, and, of course, will be treated as it deserves. We
shall next have the Company, or rather, as I hope and believe, the
Company's Solicitors, demanding us to cut all our corn within 100 yards
of the line before it becomes ripe, and consequently inflammable.
"Your Solicitor knows perfectly well that the Company is by law liable
for damage done to woods; and, moreover, that such damage is
preventible by proper care on the part of its servants.
"I think the Directors ought to order their Solicitor to write to me
and others, to whom so impertinent a letter has been addressed, and beg
to withdraw it, with an apology for having sent it.
