24 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. [1815-
of Lords every night. The Peers all came in
plain carriages, some without coronets, and others
scarcely to be seen, and plain drab liveries of
boxcloth for their servants. As the Marquess of
Londonderry was leaving one evening at a brisk
rate the mob began to hiss, when he made his
coachman stop and drive quite slow. The Duke
of Wellington's windows are all boarded and his
house is said to be provided with firearms, and
everything necessary in case of a riot occurring.
I have read ' Blackwood's ' article on " Parlia-
ment Beform and the French Revolution " this
morning after church.
Parliament was prorogued on October 9,
and summoned to meet again on December 6.
The majority in the Commons for the second
reading on December 17 was 162. In March
1832 it was introduced into the Lords, and
this time the second reading was carried on
April 13. I had special leave to get away to
the House that night with another Westmin-
ster boy, whose father, Sir George Clerk, was
1833.] DANGER OF REVOLUTION. 25
looking after us. Our pockets were filled
with food against an all-night sitting. We
were first at the bar, and afterwards placed
within the steps of the throne ; but as we
were in the way ā for there was a great
crowd, and the House of Lords of those days
was very small ā we were sent home about
nine, the debate continuing until seven in
the morning. The bill had still to run the
gantlet of Committee, however ; and on May
7 a motion of Lord Lyndhurst to determine
the number of places to be enfranchised be-
fore entering into consideration of what places
should be disenfranchised was carried by 35 ;
on the 9th Lord Grey resigned, the King ac-
cepted the resignation, and sent for the Duke
of Wellington. The tension in the country
was tremendous : during the six days in
which the Duke was trying to form a
Ministry, I suppose we were as near a
revolution as ever a country was. I re-
26 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. [1815-
member very well the placards that were
posted everywhere ā
"to stop the duke, go for gold."
Charing Cross seemed covered with them.
Among them appeared another ā
" SUSSEX FOR PRIME MINISTER " ;
for there was some idle irresponsible talk
about the Duke of Sussex taking the place
of Lord Grey as Prime Minister. As a
counterblast to it some one had posted
up ā
"PUT NOT YOUR TRUST IN PRINCES."
The Duke of Wellington failed to form
an Administration, and Lord Grey was
restored to office, having obtained from
the King the power which he desired
authorising a creation of peers sufficient
to pass the Bill. Thereupon the Duke
exerted his influence and induced some of
the Lords to absent themselves, and so
1833.] HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT BURNED. 27
withdraw their opposition, and on June
22 the Reform Bill received the Royal
Assent. There my experience of my first
three Parliaments ended, for I left West-
minster School at Christmas 1832.
I may mention here my recollection of
the destruction of the Houses of Parlia-
ment by fire, though that occurred in
October 1834, after I had left Westmin-
ster. I happened to be passing through
London on my way home from Oxford,
and was dining out that night. Among
the party was Smedley, High Bailiff of
Westminster, and he was sent for in his
official capacity. I begged him to take
me with him, which he did, and thus I
saw the fire well.
I passed through some of the passages
of the old House of Commons, and in par-
ticular through that which is now the
members' cloak-room ; thence I went out,
and remained all night in front of the
28 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. [1815-1833.
east end of Henry VII.'s Chapel watching
the progress of the fire. Opposite to me
was a low screen in brick -and -plaster, in
the Strawberry Hill Gothic style, with the
House of Lords behind it and a very tall
Perpendicular window. In the middle of
the night the flames mounted up the win-
dow, and the whole collapsed like a house
built of cards. We all exclaimed with
horror, "Nothing now can save Westmin-
ster Hall," and it appeared as if it was so
at first. The names spread in a northerly
direction and seemed to make for the roof.
However, the fire was kept under, and the
old Hall of Rufus remained unhurt, and is
so still, giving a noble vestibule to the
Houses of Parliament. At that time the
Law Courts all opened into the Hall, and
it was reported that Sir Frederick Thesiger
said next day, " If Westminster Hall had
been burnt down, what a pettifogging pro-
fession ours would have been ! "
IPS
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II.
OXFOED, 1833-1837
1833-1837.] OXFORD. 31
II.
OXFORD, 1833-1837.
A STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH ā THE UNION ā " THE RAMBLERS " ā
' UNIOMACHIA ' ā UNION ACQUAINTANCES : WILLIAM GEORGE WARD
ā PUSEY ā DEAN STANLEY ā ARCHBISHOP TAIT ā UNDERGRADUATE
LIFE ā INSTALLATION OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AS CHAN-
CELLOR OF OXFORD.
After leaving Westminster I went for six
months to a private tutor's, and then pro-
ceeded to Oxford, matriculating on May
23, 1833, and going into residence at
Christ Church in October of the same
year. In 1835 I was elected a student
of Christ Church. In 1836 I was presi-
dent of the Oxford Union, of which Mr
Gladstone was president in 1830; and now
all the presidents before me are dead. In
32 OXFORD. [1833-
November of the same year I went in for
my examination in Literis Humanioribus.
I was placed in the second class, in com-
pany with the Earl of Cranbrook, Frederic
William Faber, and Lord Justice Mellish.
In 1837 I took my degree, and went out
of residence.
At Christ Church I found William George
Ward, then of three years' standing, and it
was through him that I came to be intro-
duced to the leading spirits of the Union.
With the Union my most cherished recol-
lections of Oxford are bound up. Perhaps
it absorbed almost too much of my interests ;
perhaps it rather spoiled my class. But I
have alwaj^s looked upon that debating-
sround as giving; men the best training
they could have for public life ā for politi-
cal life certainly. That was proved in the
case of the very remarkable men among
whom I was thrown : Archibald Campbell
Tait, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury ;
1837.] THE UNION. 33
Roundell Palmer, afterwards Lord Chan-
cellor Earl of Selborne ; Kobert Lowe,
afterwards Viscount Sherbrooke ; Edward
Cardwell (Viscount Cardwell) ; Lord Jus-
tice Mellish, whom an early death stopped
in a career that seemed destined to end
in a higher place ; Gathorne Hardy, now
Earl of Cranbrook ; Stafford Northcote, first
Earl of Iddesleigh ; Charles Marriott, Ward,
Faber, and many others.
I had gone up in the Union's palmy
days. In the few years immediately pre-
ceding this Sydney Herbert, Mimes Gas-
kell, Mr Gladstone, the Earl of Elgin, and
the Duke of Newcastle had held the office
of president. As I have said, all the presi-
dents before me are gone ; and I believe
that I am very nearly the oldest member
of Christ Church living now.
Though not eligible as a member of the
Union in my first winter in residence, I
was present at its now famous meeting
c
34 OXFORD. [1833-
when the fate of the "Ramblers" was
discussed. It was a question of Union
politics. The committee for a year or
two had been drawn from a party that
included Ward, Cardwell, Tait, and Roun-
dell Palmer, whose government had been
vehemently criticised by an opposition led
by Lowe. Feeling ran high, and when in
1833 Edward Massie, of Wadham, the nom-
inee of the opposition, was elected presi-
dent, with Lowe himself as librarian, the
ousted committee took their dismissal in
some personal dudgeon, and started a society
of their own. This was the " Ramblers,"
so called because it had no stated meeting-
place. Its success so dimmed the lustre
of the Union that the new committee now
proposed to expel the "Ramblers." The
Union Hall could not hold all who wished
to hear the debate on this motion, and a
clamorous meeting was held in the Star
Hotel.
1837.] THE RAMBLERS. 35
The debate has been celebrated in a
Greek - Latin macaronic poem, the ' Unio-
machia,' justly praised for its scholarship
and good fun. The idea seems to have
originated with Thomas Jackson, afterwards
rector of Stoke Newington ; and Sinclair,
the " Skimmerian Sinclair " of the poem,
assisted in working it out. Robert Scott,
afterwards Master of Balliol, is said to
have supplied the very ingenious and
learned notes ā probably more. He had
already written a clever Greek squib on
an imaginary contest between the Duke
of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel for the
Chancellorship of the University. It was
privately circulated only, and was anony-
mous, although the author was known.
At any rate, some years later I was stay-
ing at Rochester with Dr Hawkins, and
met Scott at dinner, and on the conversa-
tion happening to turn upon this skit, I
discovered that Dr Hawkins had never
36 OXFORD. [1833-
heard of it. Yet lie was Provost of Oriel
in 1834, and I had the pleasure of intro-
ducing him, sometime in the seventies, to
the lines in which the various Heads of
Houses were described as they were in the
thirties. It is possible that, for some reason
or other, Scott did not care to avow his
full share in the ' Uuiomachia,' of which
an English version shortly afterwards ap-
peared.
The two parties, then, were ranged for
battle in the Star : ā
" Banged on the left the foe prepared to fight
The Rambler phalanx marshalled on the right ;
In high command above their host are seen
Ward, Tory chief, and Cardwell's graceful mien.
Supreme in eloquence they lead the way,
The first in counsel, and the first in sway :
Brancker conducts the bold Massienian throng." x
'PiVy 'Pd/ufiATipoi ai-nov, A4<pra> re Maae7x ot -
KapirtTcp (V SaireSy aiTTei irptaiStfTtos &\Acov
[OS MarOevs ko/j.ik6s itot' eirai^f irvvols re Tpixots re.]
"l<p8i/j.os Macri'x 7 ) 5 ) tiScoj' iirfeffa ayopeveif.
1837.] THE 'UNIOMACHIA: 37
Massie left the chair to speak, and Lowe
took his place. When Tait interrupted
Massie's speech and refused to sit down,
Lowe promptly fined him in Ā£1.
" With thund'ring sound
Tait shook his tasselled cap, and sprang to ground
(The tasselled cap by Juggins' hand was made,
Or some keen brother of the London trade,
Unconscious of the stern decrees of fate
What ruthless thumps the batter'd trencher waits).
Dire was the clang, and dreadful from afar
Of Tait indignant, rushing to the war.
In vain the Chair's dread mandate interfered,
Nor Chair, nor fine, the angry warrior feared, ā
A forfeit pound th' unequal contest ends." l
In the end the Eamblers won the day.
Charles Marriott, "Marriott the good" of
the poem, who had intervened in the row
1 "Tls e$aT' tv(ppovioiv Taieiros 5' aA.ro x a M-<*G e '
Kaj iu\ov PpavSiaae, vehv 8e re povov opupev.
TL?Kov 'Ivyyivaos Troirjauro Kal Ktifie x^P (riv
*H tis Aov5e7vov rpaSa/xav aAA.' ovk ii>6r)ae
'Ej/ rovTia wore k&v ttIXqv BufurpcrOai dyoovt.
ASSpeffaetv 5' fOeKovrt (piAovs, irpeaiSevrios avrci
^.iyqv KOfxixduSei, ot' ap' IvTtfip'virTe oVySara-
AAA on irepcrHTTei 5vo , Tr]t>os (peiverai owkovvS.
38 OXFORD. [1833-
caused by Tait with a plea for more order
on both sides, was elected president in the
following session, and the feud ended. The
joke was that when Tait, with his own
party in power, made an appeal against
the fine, the appeal was not successful.
Of Archbishop Tait, with whom I was
closely intimate till his death, I used to
say that I knew him first in connection
with the incident. There was another
row in 1835, which lasted several weeks,
when there were sharp encounters between
Trevor, afterwards Honorary Canon of
York, and Lowe. Trevor had attacked
the committee, of which Ward, Mellish,
and myself were members. A select com-
mittee was appointed, of which Lowe was
chairman, and they replied that Trevor's
allegations were unfounded, and he ought
to withdraw them. Ward was absorbed
in the struggle all the time. In Mr Wil-
fred Ward's Life of his father, Cardwell is
1837.] AN ENTRY IN THE RECORDS. 39
reported to have said, " There goes old
Ward, the incarnation of the Union." As
a proof of how much Ward was possessed
of the subject all that time, he told me
he dreamt he was back at Winchester and
was construing some Latin words thus :
"Bona (a constitutional woman), prognata
(sprung), parentibus (of parents), bonis
(who likewise supported the committee)."
He always called the supporters of the
committee the Constitutional party.
I find an entry in the records of the
Union for December 4, 1834 : ā
Mr Cornish, Ch. Ch., moved ā That the conduct
of the majority of the House of Lords during the
last session of Parliament was highly noble and
patriotic ; and that the foundation of a strong
Government by that party under the Duke of
Wellington is an event to be hailed with satis-
faction by every well-wisher to the country.
For 36
Against ...... 10
26
40 OXFORD. [1833-
I wrote on the subject to my mother : ā
Oxford, December 6, 1834.
My motion at the Union came on on Thursday
night, and the world says I am a promising
speaker. I gave them a twenty-minutes' speech,
and Ward, whose opinion I rely upon in that way
more than any other man's, says I got on very
well ; at any rate it attracted a large audience,
and gave rise to a very brisk debate, far the best for
the term. Ward has only got a second in classics ;
but he has just gained a Balliol Fellowship worth
Ā£270 a-year, one of the best things in the uni-
versity, and he will get his first in mathematics,
so he will do well.
The Oxford Union was founded in 1823
as the United Debating Society, and in
October 1873 there was a Jubilee dinner
at which all these old days were pleasantly
brought to mind. For me there was a
special and unique link with that past, for
it was my great pleasure to see my son,
the then president, in the chair at that
dinner, and presiding at this reunion of
1837.] UNION JUBILEE DINNER, 1873. 41
men distinguished at the Union, and dis-
tinguished in public service later, ā Arch-
bishop Tait, Lord Chancellor Selborne, the
Marquis of Salisbury (Chancellor of the
University), Mr Cardwell, Mr Gathorne
Hardy, Mr Goschen, Lord Justice Mellish,
Sir John Coleridge (then Attorney - Gen-
eral), the Bishops of Chichester and Oxford,
Cardinal Manning ; and Canon Liddon, Mr
Matthew Arnold, Mr Jowett, among those
of later times. It was remarked at the
time that seven of the Ministers of the
day were old presidents ā Gladstone, Sel-
borne, Lowe, Cardwell, Goschen, Coleridge,
and Knatchbull - Hugessen. At the Union
debate that week I took the chair. The
motion, I remember, was ā " That the Ees-
toration of the empire would form the
best guarantee for the future prosperity of
France."
Many of these Union acquaintances re-
mained lifelong friends. Ward I knew
42 OXFORD. [1833-
intimately. At Oxford we recognised that
he was a man of great reasoning powers,
of strong convictions, well grounded, like
most Wykehamists, in his Latin and Greek,
but not an industrious undergraduate. He
was a commoner of Christ Church, and
ought to have gone up for the schools
in May of 1834; but he was not ready,
did not wish to go up then, and asked
permission to wait until later. This was
refused. He then stood for, and was elected
to, a scholarship at Lincoln College, and he
took two seconds in classics and mathe-
matics. In the same year he was elected
a Fellow of Balliol. He was in those days
a professed admirer of Arnold and of Arch-
bishop Whately.
But Ward was at the same time a tre-
mendous High Tory, and had a natural love
of authority, although all his theological
proclivities were then for the latitudinarian
side. Even at that period we said of him
1837.] WILLIAM GEORGE WARD. 43
that he ought to have belonged to the
Roman communion. As a matter of fact,
he had then no affinity for Newman, over
whom, after he had thrown himself into the
Tractarian movement, he had enormous in-
fluence, ā an influence that was remarkable,
for he did not profess to be, nor was he, a
man of deep reading or wide knowledge.
We frequently met in these later years
ā sometimes when in London he dined
with me and other friends ; and he was
the same man as of old. I have always
been a great walker, and used to delight
in a walk on Hampstead Heath. The last
time I met Ward I found him on the
Heath, where he also resorted. We had
a long talk about old friends. He spoke
especially of Tait's great kindness to him,
and how he was always the same. He
added : " Tait's a lucky fellow, you're a
lucky fellow. Both lucky fellows !
' Ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit hie diadeina ' ā
44 OXFORD. [1833-
I don't mean to say that either of you is
scelus" That was in Ward's old manner.
[My father's long friendship with Mr
Ward caused him to take a very keen interest
in the proposals for the condemnation of Mr
Ward's book and his degradation, which were
brought forward in Convocation at Oxford in
February 1845. He took part in organising
the opposition to two out of the three pro-
positions ā i.e., Ward's degradation and the
condemnation of Tract 90. The proposal
to condemn Tract 90 roused his strongest
feelings, and he was very anxious to get
up a protest, putting his adverse vote on
the right grounds ā viz., that the question
should be brought before a competent tri-
bunal, and not before Convocation. On
February 8, 1845, he wrote : "I wish to
see some protest put out by Gladstone,
who has written the ' Quarterly ' article
censuring Ward's book most severely, and
1837.] WILLIAM GEORGE WARD. 45
in that article I concur most entirely.
Gladstone having thus declared his opin-
ion, means to vote against the proposed
measure, and I wish to do the same with-
out being considered to vote for Ward.
I fear we shall have a most unpleasant
scene ; but it is clearly one's duty to go
now, for I have no idea of seeing Pusey,
Keble, and I know not who, mobbed out
of the university to please the ' Standard '
newspaper."
The Proctors' action in putting their veto
on the proposal to condemn Tract 90 rejoiced
him. He considered it to be exactly one
of those cases for which the veto was
given, as it was impossible to obtain a
fair trial when passions had been roused
to such a height that those who were
summoned as judges came up to Oxford
as partisans, " caring," as he wrote, " for
nothing but to come to a vote against
Ward and the Puseyites." He described
46 OXFORD. [1833-
the scene in Convocation in a long letter
to his mother : ā
Feb. 15, 1845.
Oxford is beginning to assume its ordinary
aspect, which is not the less agreeable to those
who love it the best. It was an immense Convoca-
tion (I should think 1400, for many did not
vote), a very striking sight. The Doctors, with
rare exceptions, wore a hostile aspect. Hawkins
looked as if he could have burnt the offender,
Wynter and Hampden assumed the triumphant
look. The Dean of Ch. Ch. with his black cap
seemed as if he belonged to some assembly of
divines of the sixteenth century. " Big Ben "
[Dr Benjamin Parsons Symons, Warden of Wad-
ham College] won my heart by the kindness of
manner and exceeding feeling which he displayed.
Dr Bull's complacency was perfectly unruffled.
The ladies' gallery and the area were full of
Masters and retiring Doctors. Around Ward
were many of his immediate friends ā it was a
motley group : grave, pale, melancholy ascetics
side by side with smart men from London, ar-
dent country clergymen, and nonchalant lawyers.
Pusey was at the extreme end, looking very sad ;
Hook was big and burly ; Gladstone was keen
1837.] WILLIAM GEORGE WARD. 47
and scrutinising ; Archdeacon Manning, by his
side, grave and thoughtful. Lords Ashley and
Sandon, the twin champions of the Protestant
cause, walked about linked arm in arm. Some
who might have been expected to be united
were divided. Archdeacon Sam. Wilberforce was
a judicious " Placet," Archdeacon Robert Wilber-
force a sorrowful " Non placet " ; Sir Thomas
Acland an energetic "Placet," Tom Acland the
reverse. Altogether people behaved uncommonly
well, beyond what I could have expected. Ward's
enthusiastic supporters were very few, and they
restrained their ardour ; the infuriated incumbents,
who rushed from their Protestant parishes full of
the ' Eecord ' and the ' Standard,' exhibited great
self-denial, and if they did not vote so much as
judges as partisans, they behaved like English-
men, and gave a man fair play even when he
talked of " holding all Roman doctrine." Ward
looked very happy and less excited than I had
seen him in the Union of old. He spoke with
great rapidity and fluency, with exceeding frank-
ness and simplicity : it was himself all over. At
times he spoke in so insulting a way of the Re-
formation, and expressed his opinions so violently,
that it gave one a shudder to think that one
48 OXFORD. [1833-
must find him not guilty : at other times he was
so homely and absurd in his expressions, that
one could scarcely help laughing. Opinions vary
very much as to his speech. I thought that
part of it on what I may call the merits, very
indifferent ; but then he was overwhelmed with
the immensity of his subject, which was matter
of argument for months, and all that he could
do was to throw out a few suggestions and
hints : the rest was very good. He dwelt very
forcibly on our incompetency to judge him, and
he concluded most forcibly by calling on men to
show as much confidence in their views as he
did in his, by living up to their system and
staking all on the result. I should say that it
was a very inartificial speech, and that, upon the
whole, a great occasion was rather thrown away.
I expected more from the man, knowing him.
I am more than ever convinced that I gave a
right vote, and that however desirable it might
be to punish him for the violence of his lan-
guage, I should have been violating the prin-
ciples of justice to have found him guilty. Ten
years hence I think we, the " Non Placets,"
shall have more reason to be satisfied with our
votes than those who condemned an individual
1837.] THE " TRAGTARIAN MOVEMENT:' 49
merely because they thought it well that the
university should disclaim the views. I was
pleased to find, having made up my mind be-
fore I came, that I agreed with the vast majority
of the Presidents. I think the result a defeat
to the Heads. An amendment was moved (which
we got up on Wednesday night) by Dr Grant
of New College, and seconded by George Deni-
son, a brother of the Bishop of Salisbury. We
knew it would not be put, but it has since been
signed by some of the minority ā e.g., Dr Hook,
Isaac Williams, &c. ā and will show that all the 386
did not vote for Ward or agree in his views.
You will see my name to a document thanking
the Proctors for vetoing the Tract 90 proposition.]
The mention of Ward naturally suggests
the " Tractarian movement." I only knew
one or two of the leaders of it, and none
of them as such. Keble, of course, was a
much older man. He was Professor of
Poetry at Oxford when I was in residence
there, but I did not know him until later.
I spent a day with him once at Hursley :
D
50 OXFORD. [1833-
he was a charming man, the finest type of
a thoughtful, learned, sober-minded English
country clergyman. When I came up to
Oxford I brought an introduction to Pusey,
who had been Regius Professor of Hebrew
for years. In his wife's lifetime he used
to invite parties of undergraduates to his
house, ā parties of eight or ten, who would
go there about eight o'clock after dining in
Hall ā we dined at five o'clock in those days
ā and stayed for an hour or so, till Tom
bell tolled at 9.15. These were very quiet
affairs. In after - years I called upon him
always when I was in Oxford. He received
me most kindly, and it was always a privi-
lege to be received as cordially as I was by
such a saintly man. I remember during one
of my visits ā it was a very hot summer
evening ā he began to talk about whether
the angels laughed. He didn't think they
could laugh. I hadn't thought over the
matter, and I remember that he talked me
1837.] DEAN STANLEY. 51
to sleep. He took a lively interest in all
academical questions which from time to
time came before the House of Commons.
It does not fall within the scope of these