The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-10-10 00:00:00

FEARGIIS O'CONNOR'S LAND
ALLOTMENTS.

A Herefordshire magistrate expresses surprise that
in the course of the controversy on peasant proprietor-
ship no notice has been taken of the actual trial, on
a large scale, of small farms in various counties,
nearly 40 years ag), by the late Mr. Feargus
O'Connor. "I happen," he says, "to reside near two
of his settlemen's, Lowbands, in the parish of Red-
marley, and Snig's End, in that of Staunton and
Corse, both in the county of Worcester. I witnessed
their first establishment, and as a student of John
Stuart Mill—who speaks with approval of 'the first
coloney, now in full operation near. Rickmanswortb,
in Hertfordshire,' I have watched with deep interest
their subsequent progress. These two settlements, I
regret to state—and I am informed the same
may be predicted of all the others have
proved signal failures. Many years ago they were
carried into the Court of Chancery and sold by
auction under the orders of the court. Of the original
settlers only one remained, who had inherited from
his father a four-acre allotment. He is unmarried,
sober, hardworking, of frugal habits, and has been
long well known to me. He came to me about a
mouth ago to say that, after a hard struggle of 37
years, he was compelled to give in, and he has since
sold his allotment for a small sum to a neighbouring
miller. All the other allotments have been sold aud
consolidated into small farms, and he pointed out to
me one that bad been lying waste and untilled for
some years. • The Lowbands estate, and I am told
most of the other Chartist settlements, after bP-alg
been twice put up for sale without a h;mer, were
finally sold to the solicitor to the to whose
„ '
heir my acquaintance has htl paying £7 16s. rent
for four acres. I frequent conversations
with him tiad no difficulty in discovering
,
the cause of failure. After the purchase of
~.ne land by Mr. O'Connor, every tree was cut down
and every fence levelled, and the estate divided into
two, three, and four-acre portions, and one-storied
cottages were erected on all the allotments. The
purchase money was raised by contributions of £lO
from °rich member, and the allotments were assigned
by lottery. Those members who drew prizes had to
pay rent as interest to the large body of £lO payers
who had drawn blanks. As all fences had been
destroyed the allotteel could not keep cattle, and, in
point of fact, kept only pigs; and, as they had no
funds to purchase manure, they had only that from
their pigs. Therefore, year by year, they were
impoverishing the soil, and their crops rapidly
declined. All the first settlers are now gone from
both settlements."

"Some twenty years ago," said a mild-faced
stranger, "my wife, while sewing, suddenly missed
her needle. She saw nothing more of it, and soon
forgot all about her loss until last week, when--"
"When she suddenly felt a pricking sensation in her
right foot," suggested Boodle. "When the point of
the needle showed itself between her shoulder blades,"
guessed Coodle. "When the needle was seen pro-
truding from her youngest daughter's left fore-finger,"
intimated Doodle. "No," said the mild - faced
stranger; "you are all wrong. She found it in a
crack in the floor. It had been there all those years.
Singular, wasn't it ? " There was a common desire to
welter in the blood of the mild-faced stranger; but,
with difficulty, Boodle, Coodle, and Doodle restrained
themselves,

i

THE USEFUL LIFE OF THE EARL
OF SHAFTESEITRY.

The death of the Earl of Shaftesbury caused a thrill
of sorrow throughout the Christian communities of
the globe. In England, where his name has long
been a household word, and his charitable labours in
almost every :county: have made his face and voice
familiar, he will long be mourned with deep and
sincere regret; but it ig in the metropolis, amongst
the poorest, the most needy, and the most outcast,
that the news of his death will evoke the tenderest
and deepest sorrow. To tens of thousands of such
people—the arabs of our streets, the strays and waits
of crowded cities and impoverished villages—the
name of Lord Shaftesbury was synonymous with
consolation, help, and loving practical sympathy.
From the exalted position the lath Earl occupied,
he, had the opportunity of influencing society
at its two extremes—the highest and the lowest;
arid his o-nrtesy and moderation, combined with his
persoral example, enabled him to achieve successe
which would have been denied to other men not so
amiably endowed. Born on the 28th of April, 1801,
says Mr. G. Holden Pike, in his biography, the
seventh Earl of Shaftesbury was almost as old as the
present century, and he had the satisfaction of look-
ing back on more than fifty years of earnest philan-
thropic labour. He was educated at Harrow and at
Christ Church, Oxford. In 1822 he obtained a first-
class degree in classics, and ten years later he took
the degree of B.A. Subsequently, and while at the
height of his Parliamentary career, in middle life, the
university accorded him the additional distinction of
D.C.L. The earl was thus very carefully prepared
for his work; and before he succeeded to the estates
and titles of his family, in 1851, he was a veteran poli-
tician as well as a reformer ripe in experience. In
J
1830 be married Emily, daughter of the fifth Ear]
Cowper.

It is now 58 years since Lord Ashley, at the age of
25, first entered the House of Commons as the repre-
sentative of Woodstock. Soon after, he actually
entered office under the Duke of Wellington—accept-
ing a Board of Control Comtnissionership—so that in
the ordinary way he would probably have progressed
step by step, until he had won some of the most
coveted prizes in the political arena, had not his ener-
gies been providentially diverted into other channels.
His sympathies must thus' early have been with the
poor and the suffering, and unconsciously to himself
he was undergoing preparation for his great life-work.
The general election of 1826, that saw Lord Ashley
first returned o Parliament, was a time of uproarious
excitement. The two burning questions at the
hustings were Roman Catholic EmanCpation and the
Corn Laws; and while the first was not delayed
more than three years, the latter was repealed
in due time, when the majority of the Legis-
lature perceived that the abolition of Protection
would redound to the public good. Lord Ashley re-
tained his place in the House of Commons for four
years, during which time the condition of the people
seems to have been a continuous recession from bad
to worse. • In 1833, when great things were expected
as the fruits of the Reform Bill, one of the first mea-
sures discussed was the remedy for the condition of
factory operatives. "Well, I can recollect in the
earlier periods of this movement waiting at the factory
gates to see the children come out," he remarked in
the House of Lords 40 years afterwards, "and a set
of sal, dejected, cadaverous creatures they were.
Then one asked, Can any of them reach their homes
alive ? ' . . . In Bradford, especially, the proofs
of long tied cruet toil were most remarkable. The
cripples and distorted forms might be numbered by
hundreds, perhaps by thousands. A friend of mine
cellected a vast number together for me; the sight
was most piteous, the deformities incredible. Tney
seemed to me, such were their crooked shapes, like a
mass of crooked alphabets." Lord Ashley's Bill of
1833 had been called the Ten Hours Bill, and
although, strictly speaking, it did not exactly corre-
spond with that description, the measure was so
warmly approved that snore than 200,060 persons
petitioned in its fasour. The Government of the day,
on taking the business into their own hands, substituted
for the original bill one of their own, which would have
been a gain as far as the provisions went, had not those
provisions been allowed to become a dead letter. With
the exception of silk and lace mills, children under nine
were not to be employed in factories at all, while the
labour of those under thirteen was to be limited to 48
hours a week. In addition to all, the employers of the
children were required to give them not less than two
hours' schooling every week. The final victory of the
Ten Hours Bill is thusducribed by Lord Shaftesbury
himself in the preface to his collected speeches:
"Throughout the whole of its Parliamentary career,
two gentlemen—Mr. Fielden, the great manufacturer
of Todmorden ; and Mr. Brotherton, the member for
Salford—rendered it the most important,in truth, in-
dispensable services. The House of Commons felt the
full weight of the sinetilar experience, zeal, and dis-
interestedness of Mr. Fielden; and the warm-hearted
resolution and perseverance of Mr. Brotherton,
who had himself been a factory lad, had
left an impression on the minds of many, arid
specially on my own, that can never be effaced. In
1845, having resigned my seat for Dorset, being un-
willing any longer so resist the abolition of the Corn
Laws, I gave the conduct of the amending bill I had
introduced for fixing the limit of 10 hours to the care
of Mr. Fielden. That bill was defeated by a majority
of 10. In 1847, Sir R. Peel having quitted office,
another amending bill to the same effect was brought
in by Mr. Fielden, carried successfully through the
House, and sent to the Lords, where, under the able
management of the first Lord Ellesmere, it passed,
after an interesting debate, by a large majority. The
bill became law; but its operation was greatly im-
peded by legal intricacies and every form of ingenious
difficulty. In 1848 I was enabled to resume charge
of the measure; and in 1850, emerging from many
struggles, it was reduced to good working order. One
provision alone was wanting, the provision for con-
fining the labour of children of tender years between
the hours of six and six. This was effected in 1855
by Lord Palmerston, then Secretary of State for the
Home Department; and since that day the Act has
required neither impulse nor amendment." Tiie
victorious warfare of the Ten Hours Movement may
be said to have reached its final stage in 1874, when,
on the 9th of July, Lord Shaftesbury spoke in the
House of Lords on the occasion of the second reading
of the Factories Bill. In recognition of these efforts
on behalf of factory operatives, the late Countess of
Shaftesbury was presented with a bust of her husband
on the 6th of August, 1859, when some 7000 persons
belonging to the Manchester manufacturing district
actually kissed their benefactor's hands.

The next campaign entered upon by Lord Ashley
was for .the amelioration and protection of those
working in mines and collieries, which was also
entirely successful. He resigned his seat for Dorset
in consequence of his conversion to the principles of
the Anti-Corn liftW itssociation ; and then, as he once
told the House, "When, in 1840, I lost my seat in
Parliament I determined to explore the
unknown parts of the metropolis," his companions
having been a medical man and a city missionary.
From that date to this, he acted as the P-esident of
the Ragged School Union.

Having thus gained his information and used his
pen for the enlightenment of the public, Lord Ashley
eagerly took advantage of every circumstance which
promised to advance the cause. He was the
counsellor of the teachers and the friend of the
children ;and, beyond all this, it was his distinguished
honour to be the first English nobleman who had
pleaded the cause of ragged children in Parliament.
On the 6th of. June, 1848, the subject was brought
before the House of Commons in an exhaustive speech,
the object having been to recommend a scheme of
State-aided emigration, by means of which not
less than a thousand boys and girls might be
annually removed from their native purlieus to the
healthful plains and towns of Australia, where their
labour would be remunerative.

At the annual meeting of the Ragged School Union
in 1883, Lord Shaftesbury said: "For 39 years I have
been President of this grand institution, and I have
not missed one anniversary ; " and then, after show-
ing that such an agency needed to be enormously ex-
tended, the earl, in taking a retrospect of what had
been effected, said • "Did we not, during the palmy
days of the ragged schools, pick up from the streets
some 300,000 boys and girls, all of whom, if they had
not been taken up, would have been found ere long
among the dangerous clasFes? We picked them up,
we trained them, we taught them to fear God and
111/111, •••••• them into trades, into domestic service.
and far off into the 1;010111es. nave any or tnem
ppored a disgrace to the tuition they received? None,
I tell you. We have, by the blessing of God, turned
out 300,000 children as good and industrious citizens,
who, but for the intervention of these ragged schools,
would have gone to join the dangerous classes, and
would have been a curse to this great country."
Among the many things which were the fruits of
the ragged school movement, were the various brigades
of the shoe-blacks which are now flourishing in the
metropolis. The idea originated in the minds of Mr.
John Macgregor and some others at the time of the
Great Exhibition of 1851. During the first experi-
mental year, 24 boys earned £656; but 30 years later
the brigades numbered 306 members, who, in one
year realised nearly £12,000. The work is regarded
as only temporary employment, while the moral and
religious welfare of the lads is well looked after. In
1882, as many as 1619 new members entered the
brigades in London, while 1584 left the ranks, 600 of
these having been placed out in suitable situations.
Lord Shaftesbury must also be credited with having
done a -vast sum of work in furtherance of the
aims of the Reformatory and Refuge Union,
which has saved crowds of children from
the worst forms of ruin. Thirty years ago
London swarthei with little beggars; and it was pro.
posed to deal with the evil by passing a Juvenile
Mendicancy Act; but, after some further counsel had
been taken, a more comprehensive measure was
framed, under the auspices of Lord Palmerston, for
the Care and Reform of Juvenile Offenders. With-
out the active intervention of Lord Shaftesbury this
beneficent Act would not have been passed; and the
public, as well as the children, would have suffered to
an incalculable degree. In connection with this
Union, there are now 589 homes, accommodating
nearly 50,000 inmates. Lord Ashley's speech on the
Public Health Bill in 1848, and his utterances on
kindred topics bearing on the social condition of the
workirg-clasbes in town and country, show bow in-
defatigaNle were his efforts iu the direction of Baei.
tary reform,

&Wry

The benefit confevred upon the working classes and
others still lower in the social scale by Lord Shaftes-
bury's efforts in the direction of lodging-house re-
form, are much greater than the present generation
can very readily realise. On the Bth of April, 1851,
Lord Ashley addressed the House of Commons on
the subject of moving for leave to bring in a bill to
encourage the establahment of lodging-houses for the
working classes on the model plan. A diet time
afterwards, in the same se'ssion, Lord Ashley brought
in his bill for the registration and inspection of
rafirimon lodging-houses, a measure which the Legis-
tature at once passed, the urgent need of interference
having become generally acknowledged. The effect
of these law, which will be known in history as Lord
Shaftesbury's Comnaoia Lodging-houses Acts, were at
once salutary.
To Lord Shaftesbury mast the honour be given of,
having done many things to better the condition of
the working classes; and be always lifted up his voice
to impress upon his constituents the dignity of labour
and to show that all are equal in the sight of God.
The attention which he gave to the Young Men's
Christian Association, to working-men's institutes,
and to yagged-school recreation-rooms show how
catholic have been his sympathies and how far-
reaching his labours. The earl was also the first to
bring under the notice of the Legislature the evils
generated by agricultural gangs, which, as they
existed twenty years ago, was a dark blot on our
English civilisation. By seconding his endeavours to
remove these abuses, Lord Shaftesbury assured the
House-of Lords, in 1867, that they would thus "give
the crowning stroke to the various efforts made for
many years past to bring all the industrial occupa-
tions of the young and the defenceless under the pro-
tection of the law.' By the passing of the Education
Acts many of the worst saings associated with the
gangs would have become impossible; but when the
reforms alluded to were asked for, the more compre-
hensive educational measure was not even sighted by
the most sanguine philanthropist. The earl also
appears to have taken the initiative in effecting an
amendment of the laws relating to insanity; and for
more than half a century had been Chairman of the
Lunacy Coromission.
The great mission-fields of the world, such as India
and China, have ever had the greatest attraction for
Lord Shaftesbury, and again and again, in various
ways, he pleaded on their behalf. Thus, in 1843, we
find him in La place in the House of Commons expos-
ing the iniquities of the Chinese opium traffic; and
then in 1861, in the Upper Chamber, he spoke quite
as effectively on Indian irrigation i and navigation.
The oppressed of every clime have found in the earl
a friend ; while he seems to have inherited a faculty
for scenting abuses, whethar near or far away, which
public or private enterprise might be able to correct.
To mention all the societies of which the Earl of
Shaftesbury was president is hardly necessary, since
he had, in a general way, extended his patronage or
encouragement to nearly every genuine Christian
work in the country which sought that clistinetion.
More than this, he advocated their claims in all parts
of the kingdom.
The earl's connection with the Golden-lane and
Hoaton Mission, with the Barrow Club, and his rela-
tions with the costermongers, have been paaductive of
a large amount of good. Many curious proofs of
affection have been manifested by these people. A
gold pencil case was presented by the flower-girls; a
patchwork quilt by tle coster-womsn; and a donkey
by their husbands. When he recently opened the
new mission premises, Costers' Hall, in Hoxton, the
streets were thronged, and he was greeted with the
utmost enthusiasm. A long life of beneficent labours
closed in peace—the actual consummation being
realised with Christian joy, and without physical
pain.

Canon Duckworth on Sunday afternoon, in a
sermon at Westminster Abbey, after alluding to the
frivolous character of modern society, said: How re-
freshing is the spectacle of a life lived grandly aloof
from these and all other vanities, all the mean and
belittling influences at work in our generation—such
a life as that of which England is now mourning the
close, devoted almost to the last hour of its lengthened
span to the most solid employments and the most
beneficent ends. There is, indeed, hope for us amid
many tokens of degeneracy if we can appreciate the
surpassing beauty and dignity of such a career as that
of Lord Shaftesbury. For no more precious gift can
God bestow upon a nation than such an example as
that great Christian philanthropist has bequeathed,
not only to the order of which hewas the noblest orna-
ment, hut to every class of the community, for
whose sake he "scorned delights and lived laborious
days."
The Rev. Nevile Sherbrooke (son-in-law of the late
Earl Cairns), preaching on Sunday morning at Port-
man Chapel, where the Earl of Shaftesbury was a
regular attendant, said that the whole nation was
mourning one who had died full of years and honour,
and the secret of whose glorious and noble life was
his readiness for and expectation of the coming of
Christ, so that his motto may be said to have been,
"Even so come Lord Jesus." They had all enjoyed
reading the notices in the papers of what the late
Lord Shaftesbury had done for the country, and for
the relief of the oppressed, long before many of them
were born. The factory hands had been relieved
from pressure by his instrumentality, the chimney
sweeps had found in him their best friend, and those
who, like himself, had been down a coal mine
could realise what he had done in releasing women
and children from drawing trucks of coal, while his
deepest sympathy was manifested with the unhappy
lunatic. This philanthropy arose out of his Chris-
tianity.
A large number of letters of sympathy from private
friends and votes of condolence from public institu-
tions have been received by the relatives of the late
earl. The leaden and outer coffins arrived from London
on Saturday evening, and were conveyed to Clifton-
gardens, where the solemn duty of sealing down the
remains was performed. The outer coffin is of
polished oak, with brass handles. There is on the
lid an earl's coronet, and a brass plate with the in.
scriptioni, " The Honourable Sir Anthony Ashley-
Cooper, Baronet, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. Born
`2Bth April, 1801. Died Ist October, 1885.