Part 4 (2/2)

But I must not omit to mention one characteristic of the proprietors of the _Mercury_ which had athat paper This was their intense love of country Both Edward Baines and his brother Frederick, though they never called the the most patriotic men I have ever known

They were Nonconformists and Liberals, and consequently, in the belief of their ignorant political opponents, they ought also to be Little Englanders of the huckster class Instead of being Little Englanders, they were all through their lives the advocates of a sane but ardent Imperialism They loved their country, and they believed in it--believed in it not only as the foreood a the peoples of the world It followed that, whilst the _Mercury_ advocated advanced Liberal opinions on n affairs the supporter of an enlightened and reasonable I international policy it resolutely refused to take the th upon some of the characteristics of the _Leeds Mercury_ and its proprietors when I first beca influence upon my own character and opinions At Preston I had learned to sympathise with the democracy, and to believe ardently in the cause of political reform At Leeds I came in contact with a wider and loftier standard of Liberalis my faith in the principles of my party on domestic questions, I added to it a conviction, not less profound, of the duty of advancing the interests of the British Ehout the world by every means in my power In later years, when I was myself the editor of the _Leeds Mercury_, some of my excellent friends in London--and notably Mr Stead--ont to deplore n affairs, and to attribute it to the influence upon me of the Pall Mall clubs As a matter of fact, I was led in this direction by the influence of these two estimable Yorkshi+re Nonconformists

My first stay in Leeds in the somewhat anomalous position I have described lasted for littlethat period I found plenty of work to do as a descriptive writer and reporter, and was brought into contact with so persons Some months after I had become connected with the _Mercury_, I renewed ical vicissitudes of colliery life An explosion occurred at the Oaks Pit, near Barnsley, which led to the sacrifice of three hundred lives Such a loss of life, exceeding that on many an historic battlefield, was in itself terrible, but the circuriedy When I reached the colliery a few hours after the explosion occurred I found that so in it were known to have been killed, but that many s, and that a large rescue party had gone below to recover the sent my last despatch to Leeds, I went to an inn at Barnsley to snatch a few hours of sleep before resu back to the colliery to learn what progress had been ht, I suddenly saw a dense volume of black sh in the air, spread in a fan-shaped cloud of enormous size Iround explosion fell uponbeside me, and when he heard that oainst the hich lined the road ”God have ain” It was an awful moment Both I and the pitman knew that, in addition to any survivors of the first explosion, there were twenty or thirty bravetheir lives in a work of mercy when this new catastrophe took place

We ran to the pit at our utmost speed, and e reached the bank we found ourselves in the ineers and worked at the mouth of the pit were completely unnerved by this unexpected disaster, and eeping like children The second explosion had driven the ”cage” co in a wrecked condition in the gallows-like scaffolding which sur the shaft, even if anyone had been courageous enough to do so This renewed explosion was, I ought to say, al story of colliery accidents In a few minutes the wives and friends of the search party below caonised inquiries as to the safety of those whom they loved For a time all was confusion and despair; but very quickly the voice of authority was heard, and the pit platform was cleared of all except the small party that remained on duty and er, for, as a second explosion had occurred, it was quite possible that it ht be followed by a third In spite of this risk, it was resolved to communicate, if possible, with the bottoe, we all lay down at full length on the platform, and one of our number was pushed forward until his head and shoulders protruded over the black chasm of the pit, fro He was aruiders of the ruined cage, giving the pitnal, ”three ti breathless, we listened, hoping for some response But there was only the silence of death Thrice the bravesound came from the depths of the pit, and sadly we canal ed back froerly as to the next step to be taken, when a third explosion suddenly took place, shaking the platfor wood Several of us were slightly hurt, but no one sustained any serious injury The painful fact that was forced upon us, however, by this new explosion was that nothing could for the present be done to ascertain the fate of the gallant felloho had apparently been lost in their attempt to rescue their coas, and that a fire was burning soht--and, as a matter of fact, did--cause fresh explosions In these circu could be done except to pour water into the pit in the hope of extinguishi+ng the fire Sorrowfully the band of workers abandoned the pit-heap, leaving only a couple of young ineers to keep watch above the scene of death

In thetaken place during the day--a ree--naht, Jeffcock--was suddenly startled by hearing a sound proceeding, apparently, froe of the shaft, and then heard unmistakably, far below him, the ”jowl” for which we had listened in vain on the previousin the pit, and Mr Jeffcock instantly determined to save hie which was the ordinary means of descent had, as I have already explained, been destroyed, whilst the pit-sides had been torn by the successive explosions, so that they were in a highly dangerous state But undaunted by these difficulties and dangers, Jeffcock carried out his heroic task Su assistance, he caused himself to be lowered at the end of a rope to the bottom of the shaft Heaven only knoere the terrors and dangers of that descent He faced thely At the bottom of the pit he discovered not any member of the search party, for they had all succumbed, but one of the men employed in the colliery, who, by some extraordinary chance, had escaped with his life not only froinal explosion, but from all those which followed it With iht this man, the sole survivor of ht the thoughtless fellow for whom a brave man had risked so much, and whose own escape fro in a public-house in Barnsley, and pocketing the coppers which hundreds of curious persons paid for the privilege of seeing hi, in the summer of 1866, when I was on duty in the _Mercury_ office, I received a telegram which Mr Baines had despatched from the House of Commons half an hour before It stated that the Home Secretary had just received information that Chester Castle had been attacked by five hundred Fenians fro despatched from London to meet the would land ht, and I at once made up my mind to take it When I reached Chester all was quiet at the station, and there were no signs of a Fenian rising I asked the chief official on duty if he knew anything about the affair All he could tellrooms, and even the platforfor so There were reatly puzzled the railway officials

Some time before I arrived they had disappeared

I went out into the streets of the old city The darkness of the suh to see that at every street corner and every open space a croas gathered They were curious crowds In every case the men were clustered in a circle, their faces all turned towards the centre They see intently to so in low but earnest tones Iit, tried to hear what it was that the speaker in thehappened The crowd fell apart, loo alone Thrice did I thus atteroups, and every time the result was the same I accosted individuals in the streets, and questioned the of the curious scene, so unusual in the dead of night in a quiet cathedral city No ible syllable I was not et a word of explanation

Gradually, asbecame thinner It was dispersed like the mist by the sunshi+ne

By four o'clock Chester was apparently deserted by its strange visitors

I went to the castle, and found that all was quiet there I went to the police office, and here I was told that the uilty of no violence, and had given no excuse to the police to interfere with them They had apparently come to Chester fro each contributed a contingent But few had co entered the city on foot What it all signified the police declared they could not understand, though they had no doubt that it had meant mischief At five o'clock I returned to the station, and sao special trains arrive within a few ht down a full battalion of the Guards fro with fixed bayonets from the station to the Castle When the last ates, we knew that, whatever plot had been hatched, it had ave in the _Leeds Mercury_ a full account of what I had seen at Chester, and stoutly upheld the theory that a Fenian raid, which had somehow or other , aldom published an account of the affair that had been supplied by a Liverpool news agency In this account the whole matter was turned into ridicule, and the authorities were said to have been hoaxed, or carried away by their own excited iroups, planted so thickly in the streets of Chester under the silent night, and I could not accept the explanation of the Liverpool reporter

Still, for the enerally believed, and I had to sub allowed myself to be befooled Not until more than twelve months later was the truth revealed

It came out in the course of the trial of certain Fenian prisoners that there really had been a plot to seize, not Chester Castle, but the aruard in the Castle was very weak They hoped to get into the place by stratagem, and to seize the contents of the ar destroyed the telegraph wires, to carry their booty to Holyhead, where they expected to find a steamer which would land them in Ireland It was about as mad a plan as was ever devised--as field But desperatedeeds

Fortunately for the peace of the realainst Chester was revealed to the Government in time, and when the little army of Fenians knew that they had been betrayed, they silently dispersed without striking a blow It was, I confess, a satisfaction to ht--confire scene at Chester; and I had the additional satisfaction of feeling that I was one of the few living men who had, with his own eyes, actually seen a hostile ars hi recollection of a visit paid by Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, to Upper Teesdale duringon the Duke of Cleveland's moors I travelled in the special train which took the Prince and his party to the little station of Lartington, then the terminus of the line which now connects the east and west coasts No royal personage had visited that beautiful valley before

It was Sunday, and the whole population seemed to have turned out to see the train, in which the heir to the throne travelled, fly past the of hats and handkerchiefs; but I saw one old ricultural labourer, as not content with uncovering his head when the train went by Reverently he sank down upon his knees, and re after we had sped past hiton the Prince and his party were to drive to the inn at High Force, a dozen or fourteena Sheffield newspaper, were to take up our quarters for the night at the little village of Middleton-in-Teesdale, halfway to High Force A country omnibus had been provided for the Prince and his friends, and in this they drove off We had to walk, as no vehicle was to be got

When we had tramped aquickly towards Lartington One of thee schoolmaster, accosted us politely ”Can you tell hness the Prince of Wales has arrived at Lartington station yet?” ”Yes,” I replied, ”he got there o” ”Then where is he?” said my interlocutor in an injured tone of voice ”He surely cannot be stopping there?” I told him that this was not the case, and that he had already preceded us along that very road

”Impossible!” retorted the school, and I can assure you that his Royal Highness has not passed this way” ”Did you not see a se on the roof?” The schooler, admitted that he had done so ”Well, then,” I continued, ”youbeside the driver, and sar That was the Prince of Wales” ”Don't attempt to make a fool of me, you ihty rage, and, setting off again at full speed, he proceeded on his way towards Lartington, in search of the kingly vision he expected to discover

There was another occasion, during those early Yorkshi+re days, when I had a little experience connected with the Prince He and the Princess were about to be received as the guests of a great--a very great--dignitary

It was the first occasion on which this really ehnesses, and he had specially furnished certain rooave a polite intilad to see one representative of the Press of the United Kingdoht show hi properly described in print My colleagues of the Yorkshi+re Press unanireat occasion, and were good enough to warn me that they would expect at least a colulories of the upholstery provided for the Royal apartot to the house I was at once brought face to face with the Great Man hihty affable, and most desperately anxious that I should do justice to his newly bought furniture I shall never forget my tour of the bedrooms and boudoirs to which I was expected to do justice The Great Man pounded the beds to prove their elasticity He turned down the bedclothes to convince me of the fineness of the linen He lifted up chairs in order that I ht satisfy myself of the solidity of their construction, and he expatiated upon the beauties of curtains, -hangings, and carpets in periods as sonorous as any hich he had thrilled the House of Lords I frankly confess that I was astounded, and not a little shocked I could see that the Great Man was disappointed at my soe Robins, the auctioneer, ht have been proud I do not think, however, he was half so ues hen I returned to theue as the only ”description” I was capable of giving of the furniture of two commonplace bedroo hi a chair upside down, or lovingly patting with his hty hand an embroidered coverlet

Upon the whole, the most important of the events in which I took part as reporter and descriptive writer during this period at Leeds was the series of Refor part in the autus in the course of my life that equalled them in enthusiasm The Russell administration had been defeated in the previous session on the question of Parliaht about by the action of the Adullamites, so-called, under the leadershi+p of Lord Grosvenor and Mr Lowe John Bright, to use a phrase that has since become historic, ”took off his coat” at the end of that session, and went to the country with the avowed deter such a movement in favour of Parliamentary Reform that even the Tory Government, which was now in office under the Premiershi+p of Lord Derby, would be con was as sis in the chief cities of England, Scotland, and Ireland Eachwas to be preceded by a Reforround in or near the city where thewas to be held These dehaow, Dublin, and London I was present at all of theland before On more than one occasion the attendance exceeded a hundred thousand The gatherings ithout exception orderly and enthusiastic All the s sent deputations There were great processions through the streets, headed by bands and political banners

At the place ofupon the Government to introduce a measure of Parliamentary Reform were put si could have beenthan these wonderful gatherings, so vast, so resolute in their bearing, and yet so orderly They made even Ministers feel that the ti with the question of Reform The Government were compelled to yield, and, as everybody knows, the session of 1867 witnessed the passing of the Household Suffrage Act But by far the s was the eveningthat followed the open-air deht was always the chief speaker I do not think he everthis autumn of 1866 I have recorded the first occasion on which I heard Bright speak, and have said that his oratory was not so iht suppose

For er every time that it was renewed, and before I had listened to the last of this wonderful series of orations I had become what I remained to the end--thespeech of the series was delivered at Bire that, after all these years, is still stamped upon my memory It was a brilliant vindication of Mr Gladstone, as the apostle of Parliamentary Reform, from the sharp attacks ainst Mr Gladstone's leadershi+p of the Liberal party--intrigues which did not cease until the day of his final retireht treated thehed with all his force against thethat Mr Gladstone was unfit to be the leader of the party, and, with that accent of withering scorn which was one of his most formidable weapons as an orator, he cried, ”If they have another leader who can take Mr

Gladstone's place, why do they not let us see hile sentence fell like a hauers of the Cave In face of it they could not continue their absurd attempt to rob Mr Gladstone of his appointed place

The ht's Reforow It consisted, for the ion, and to all interested in the social welfare of the people, to try what a Reformed Parliament could do to remove the burdens laid upon the shoulders of common humanity ”The classes have failed, let us try the nation” The speech closed with a fine peroration in which the speaker, after referring to the effect already produced by the public movement in favour of Reform, declared that he could see ”as it were upon the hill-tops of Tis of the dawn of a new and a better day for the country and the people that he loved so well” It ith this peroration still ringing in raph office I was palpitating with excitee of oho had just left the hall comment upon the speech in these words First Citizen: ”A varra disappointing speech!” Second Citizen: ”Ou aye! He just canna speak at all” This extraordinary incident at least bears out what I said as to the disappointing character of Bright's eloquence upon people who listened to it for the first tirow into an appreciation of it There was, by the way, an aow speech Bright, as I have said, had referred to the influence of the great popular demonstrations in favour of Refors, sublime in their numbers and in their resolution” Soht slip, s as sublime in their numbers and their resolutions--a very different matter