early as March 7, 1811, his father opened out to him a different arrangement: 'And now, my dear John,' he wrote on that day— let me talk to you about your summer plans, as I dare say that you and Mr. Playfair are somewhat impatient that I should come to a determination upon them. I will tell you fairly what my own wishes are, and then leave it to the Professor to accommodate them as well as he can to his own views and convenience. I should wish you to come to town with him when his business calls him here, and, as soon as the Professor has concluded his business in town, I confess it would be a great satisfaction to me if he could bring it within his arrangements to make a tour with you through the manufacturing towns of England. You might employ with great advantage a few weeks in visiting the interesting and busy scenes of Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, the great commercial mart at Liverpool, &c., and leave the Professor at Leeds thus far on his way to the north for his summer vacation, when you might return to Woburn, and pass two or three months pleasantly with me (for I should be sorry to give you up again for the whole summer), and prepare for your return to the seat of science by the commencement of the lectures in November. Mr. Playfair and Lord John came together to London in June, the former writing beforehand to Miss Berry :— My intention was to have been in London in the beginning of May; it answers better, however, for Lord John Russell, who lives with me, and means to go to town at the same time, that the journey should be put off till June. Early in that month I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you in North Audley Street. I shall request to be permitted to introduce Lord John Russell to you; he is one of the most promising young men I have ever met with. From London master and disciple proceeded together to Woburn, and, after a week's stay, set out on their projected expedition. The history of the tour, under the title 'Russell's Three Weeks' Tour,' vol. i. and vol. ii., is recorded in two large notebooks; the first of which had been given to its owner by Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donald, Deputy Adjutant-General to his Britannic Majesty's forces, serving in Cadiz and the island of Léon. The book had probably been intended for Lord John's Spanish and Portuguese Diary in 1810. The proceedings of 1810 were, however, recorded on loose sheets of paper; and the book was available for a description of British Industries in 1811. Mr. Playfair and Lord John arrived at Warwick on Saturday, July 27. The 28th was devoted to the Castle, and the 29th to Kenilworth and Guy's Cliff, and in the evening the tourists dined with Dr. Parr a learned monster of the first order, a demigod in Greek, a mortal in philosophy, free in his political principles, despotic in conversation at his own table. He received us very kindly, and entertained us more like a lettered prince than a princely man of letters. The tourists, after this, proceeded to Birmingham, Trentham, Northwich, Liverpool, Prescot, Manchester, Chatsworth, Matlock, Sheffield, and Leeds, examining the various industries at these different places, and Lord John recording an almost technical description of each of them in his diary. These long accounts cannot be inserted in this book; but it may be of interest to set out a few extracts from Lord John's concluding observations. There is a very great satisfaction in seeing the manufactures of England, arising from their allowed superiority. Foreigners can claim an advantage over us in almost every other species of sight. . . but our manufactures have a pre-eminence which none can dispute, and every machine we see . . . is a part of the glory and a source of the prosperity of England. The first of the few remarks still to be made is the singular quantity of talent we found amongst the manufacturers. There was not one master manufacturer of Manchester or Leeds (for we scarcely saw any of what may be called the manufacturing nobility except in those places) that might not be set apart as a man of sense, and hardly any that, besides being theoretically and practically masters of their own business, were not men of general reading and information. . . . The common men employed in the manufactures are also a sharper and more reasoning people than the agricultural population. Being constantly employed on the same object, they acquire the whole of its theory; being much mixed, their knowledge is communicated; being much within doors, it is increased; though their bodies are less strong and able for military service, their minds become more pliable and adroit. . . . But whilst the comparison of abilities is much to the advantage of the manufacturer, that of morals is as much in favour of the agriculturist. The people who resort to a manufacturing town are perhaps originally neither the most prudent nor the most honest of the community; and their children, accustomed from their infancy to be away from their parents, to work hard at an unwholesome trade, and to see many companions of various kinds, are not likely to learn habits of temperance, soberness, and chastity. With respect to the permanence of our manufactures, it must be observed that the most savage decrees, though they may restrain commerce for a while, are not likely to effect their object for a long time. It is a good observation of Mr. Playfair's that the activity and perseverance of mankind are continually defeating the folly and caprice of their governors. All the power of the French Emperor is not likely either to supply wants or to prevent their being satisfied. The exclusive system, though partly successful, cannot last long; and the strictness of a Custom House officer, like that of Danae, cannot be proof against a shower of gold. With these observations Lord John closed an account of a tour which must have given him a rare insight into the condition of manufacturing England. In the following autumn he returned to Edinburgh, remaining at the university during the winter, and the spring of 1812. His future plans were still uncertain. His father wrote to him on March 14: You expected that I should in my last letter have talked to you on your future plans; but you will be pleased to recollect that you have never answered nor noticed the letter I wrote to you on that subject when you went to Edinburgh in November. As to the probable advantage attending your return to Mr. Playfair next year, I will communicate with him forthwith; but, as to your going to Cambridge, I can see no possible benefit likely to result from it, except you call the various excellences attending the sciences of horse-racing, fox-hunting, and giving extravagant entertainments, an advantage, as these, I believe, are the chief studies of our youths at Cambridge. In March 1812, therefore, the Duke was doubtful whether Lord John should return to Edinburgh in the autumn or not. While he was uncertain Lord John paid a visit at Kinneil, the country house of Mr. Dugald Stewart, and there addressed the following lines to his host :— To distant orbs a guide amid the night, To nearer worlds a source of life and light, 'Twas he gave laws to fancy, grace to thought, Taught virtue's laws, and practised what he taught. On leaving Scotland in 1812, Lord John went to London, where his ‘stay was not at all pleasant; out of spirits myself, and other people disagreeable. The murder of Perceval seems to have touched them but little, and the approach of a change of Ministry a great deal.' At the end of the month he went down to Bedfordshire to drill with the militia, in which he had recently been appointed to a company. He wrote to his cousin Gertrude on June 4: I have been here a week drilling with the local militia, and have certainly learnt something. I command the Light company. In the same letter he goes on :— I believe the plan of returning to Scotland is now given up, and I shall probably go to Sicily, etcetera, in three or four months, This will be pleasant. Writing to the same correspondent on July 9, Lord John said that he expected 'to hear of a ship every day,'1 and on July 28 he sent her a farewell letter from Portsmouth :— We-meaning Mr. Clive, Bridgeman, and I—sail to Gibraltar when a fair wind arrives. But, as a fair wind is not so common here as a fair lady, we do not expect to get off soon. What an acquisition it would be if I had you or your hand (not the honour of) in Greece to take views of the country, for we cannot one of us make wittingly either a straight or a crooked line. But, as I cannot have your pencil, I hope to have the advantage of your pen.2 And a fortnight afterwards he was on board the Pique outward bound. 1 In this letter Lord John announced the birth of his half-sister (the Duchess of Abercorn) in these words: 'You must have heard of the female added to our family. The Duchess is well, and the child beautiful. Would to God all children could keep their own, and then we should have all beauties, instead of which nine out of ten of grown people are remarkable for ugliness or nothing at all. The other little girl, Georgey [Lady G. Romilly], is really a beauty, and her face promises a thousand sonnets and five hundred odes.' 2 At Portsmouth Lord John had an unexpected pleasure. Think of my astonishment at finding William land within two feet of me the day before yesterday. Graham, I am sorry to say, has nearly, if not quite, lost the sight of one eye, and looks wretched in the face. If he does not go back, which I hardly expect, William will stay at home and most probably join his regiment.' (As a matter of fact, Lord William returned to the Peninsula, and was aide-decamp to the Duke of Wellington at Vittoria.) The Bridgeman mentioned in this letter was George Bridgeman, eldest son of the first, and afterwards second, Earl of Bradford. He has already been mentioned in this biography. Mr. Clive was the second son of the first Earl Powis, and grandfather of the present Lord Windsor. |
