weakness, that it was a long time before she could walk alone. My father
dreaded her loss now almost as much as he had before dreaded that of my
mother; he devoted a great portion of his time to her, and I was still
left to look after his very extensive business. I shall never forget the
authority I now began to assume. I was as dictatorial over the servants,
and gave my commands as peremptorily, as if I had been an old farmer. Some
of the old servants, who knew that my directions were improper, disputed
my commands, and expostulated against my proceedings. However, like a true
Jack in office, feeling that I was clothed with power, I considered this
"brief authority" to be all-sufficient, and, like all other ignorant
upstarts, what I was deficient in knowledge and real information, I made
up in positiveness. But I soon found that by this foolish course, I lost
all influence, and that I was laughed at by the old servants, who knew
very well how to please my father, and I was, therefore, astonished that
they did not know how to please me. My own sense now whispered to me that
I must be wrong, yet, I nevertheless, appealed to my father, and
complained of some of the servants having refused to comply with my
directions. He enquired what those directions were, and he soon taught me
that I ought to have applied for information to, and have followed the
advice of, those very men with whom I had been contending. My father then
pointed out to me the absolute necessity of becoming a master of my own
business, and learning how to do the work myself, before I attempted to
give directions to others. "This want of knowledge," said he, "causes more
than half of the quarrels and squabbles that arise between the master and
the servant. The moment a servant finds out that his master does not
understand the nature of his business, he immediately begins to dispute
his orders, and then there is an end of all authority; the master probably
perseveres in his error, and insists upon it that his servant has not done
his work properly, or that he has not done enough; and the moment a master
orders a servant to do what is unreasonable, that moment the servant
despises the master. And, unless the master knows how himself to shew the
servant with his own hands the way to do any thing, he had better hold his
tongue, and not find any fault whatever. I found my old neighbour Barnes,"
continued he, "the other day in this predicament. Although he has been for
many many years a farmer, and manages his farm as well as most men, yet,
as he was bred up a gardener, he does not know, nor did he ever learn, how
to perform many of the laborious parts of husbandry; and I shall, I am
sure, convince you, from what occurred to him, of the absolute necessity
of acquiring a knowledge of every minute operation belonging to the
affairs of husbandry, before you will be able to manage your business with
ease to yourself, and with satisfaction to your servants. As I was riding
past the risk yard of my worthy friend and neighbour Barnes's farm, I
heard him storming and blustering, quite in a rage with passion. "What is
the matter, friend Barnes? what is it that has ruffed your temper so?" He
was nearly choaked with passion; but at length he informed me, that one of
his labourers, of the name of RODNEY, (who, by-the-bye, I believe had
acquired this nick name from the circumstance of his having been a sailor,
and fought under Admiral Rodney) had behaved to him in the most insolent
manner.
"What has he done, neighbour Barnes?"
"Why," said he, "I found fault with the fellow several times, for not
making the _Helms_ properly, for thatching the ricks, and he told me as
often that he could not make them any better, and at length he put his
hand into his pocket, pulled out his purse, and with an oath declared that
he would make an Helm with me for a wager of a shilling." "Well, neighbour
Barnes, what did you do, did you accept his offer, or did you shew him how
to do it without the wager"? "Oh, no, replied he, I will send the insolent
scoundrel about his business." Upon which, guessing that my neighbour did
not understand how to make a helm himself, therefore could not shew the
man how to do it, I said, "let me see the fellow, and talk to him a
little, and hear what he has got to say for himself; and let me see
whether I cannot make him do his work better." We then rode back together
to the man, who was doing his work certainly not so well as it ought to
have been done. "Well, Rodney," said I to him, "what is all this dispute
about, between your master and you?" "Lord, Sir," replied the man, "I do
the work as well as I can; but master is always finding fault, and wont
show me how to do it better. I am very willing to learn, Sir, and if you
will please to show me how, I will do any thing to please in my power." I
then alighted from my horse, and having made some Helms, convinced the man
of his error, by ocular demonstration. He was very thankful for my
kindness, immediately followed my example, and did the remainder of his
work to the thorough satisfaction of his master as well as with ease to
himself. Barnes was now grown cool, and, while he expressed his thanks to
me, he admitted the great superiority that a man who knows the practical
part of his business had over one who only knew the theory."["]
This was the method my father took, to instruct me in useful knowledge;
and, as my sister grew better and gained strength, he by degrees began to
accompany me over his farms again, and in his rounds he made it his
peculiar business to explain every part of the operations that were in
progress by the servants. He appeared to take quite as much delight in
cultivating my mind as he did in cultivating the soil, and no man knew
better than he did how to cultivate the soil and manage a farm in all its
branches. When there was any particular work to do, I always made a hand
in it, and my father never failed to take pains to shew me how to do it
well, and in the most scientific manner; always observing, that no man
could perform his work well unless he appeared to do it easily to himself.
Sowing time came, I learned to sow; haymaking time came, I learned to mow;
harvest came, I learned to reap; in fact, I learned not only to plough, to
sow, to reap, to mow, to pitch, to load, to make ricks, to thrash, and to
winnow, but I made it my study to excel in all these things; and in
recounting some of my feats of activity, strength, agility, and
perseverance in these matters, the reader will recollect that I am
recording them in the life time of numerous individuals, who were
eye-witnesses of these facts, and who worked side by side with me; and as
I know that this work is taken in, and read, not only by my old
school-fellows, but also by my old[8] work-fellows, they who peruse these
pages will take into their consideration, that I am not writing, neither
are they reading, a novel or a romance; that on the contrary, they are
perusing the real facts that have occurred within the knowledge and the
recollection of thousands.
After the labour of the day was over, and the servants had retired to
their homes to obtain their natural rest, to fit them for the toils of the
coming morn, my father used to read, alternately with myself, some useful
or entertaining book; and be frequently lamented that I appeared to give
up so much the study of my Latin books. I had all along spent a few hours,
twice or three times a week, in reading the Classics with the Rev. Mr.
Carrington, the clergyman of the parish, who was an excellent scholar, and
a very sensible, liberal-minded, worthy man. To him I am greatly indebted
for a deal of useful, sound information, and a knowledge of that portion
of mankind with whom my father had never associated. Mr. now the Rev. Dr.
Carrington, the Rector of Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, took great
pleasure in completing my education; and at the end of one year, with the
advantage of this friendly assistance, I believe sincerely that I had
acquired more knowledge, both of literature and of ancient and modern
history, than I should have done in seven years at college.
Although my time was so much occupied in the business of the farms, yet I
longed for the refined instruction of the mind, which was conveyed with so
much kindness, with so much care, and with so much assiduity, by this
worthy and intelligent man. He was at that time denominated by the vulgar,
illiterate, grovelling, low-bred slaves of the day, a _jacobin_; and this
excellent, enlightened being, who possessed more real love of country than
a _legion_ of the reptiles with which he was surrounded, was constantly
exposed to the petty insults of some of his big-bellied, big-headed,
empty-pated neighbours, who termed themselves loyal and constitutional
subjects, and who took upon themselves to point him out as an enemy to his
country, because he did not choose to shut his eyes and join in the
war-whoop, the savage, stupid, ideotic cry against the patriotic efforts
that were then making by the friends of liberty in France, to rescue their
fellow countrymen from the accursed yoke, the double bondage of
superstition and tyranny.
This was the period that the people of England, at all times and in all
ages esteemed the most credulous people in the universe, were made drunk
with their own ignorance and folly. Mr. Paine had now written and
published his wonderful book, his "Rights of Man," and to put down, to
prevent the people from reading, to prejudice the public feeling, and to
misrepresent and to vilify the author and his work, the whole power of
this powerful government was put in motion. I was myself at this time too
young to take any active part in the proceedings; I knew nothing of
politics; I loved my country, and was taught to honour my king; I knew not
what to make of the violence and bigotry of faction; but I always so far
stood by, and gave that support to, my tutor and friend, as to demand that
he should be heard in his own defence, when any of these brutal attacks
were made upon him by his half-savage, half-human assailants. My father
was a loyal, but a liberal-minded man; when he was present, the parson
always had fair play; my father would combat his arguments, but he would
always in return hear his reply, and, although he was a very shrewd,
intelligent, well-informed man, yet I generally observed that Mr.
Carrington had the best of the argument, and that he frequently convinced
my father of the truth of his positions. As my father was obliged, in
fairness, to admit the truth of his opponent's assertions, and the
correctness of his reasonings, and the conclusions which he drew
therefrom, he generally finished by putting in the plea of necessity, and
defending the government and measures of Mr. Pitt, on the ground of
policy. This used to enrage their audience, which consisted of the farmers
of the parish and neighbourhood, among whom was frequently some upstart
puppy, some ineffable coxcomb, one of their sons, perhaps, apprenticed at
the neighbouring town, who came home on a Sunday, at Easter, Whitsuntide,
Michaelmas, or Christmas, on a visit, and who had imbibed a double portion
of the mania, in consequence of his having licked up the froth and saliva
which had been vomited forth by the ministerial agents and tools of the
rotten borough, or corporate town, of which his master was one of the
rotten limbs. How often have I seen one of these self-sufficient cubs,
with all the solemn mummery, without half the sense, of an ape, deliver
what the fool vainly called his opinion, which consisted of the most
stupid and senseless contradictions and assertions, generally finishing
with something which he conceived to be unanswerable, _"as our mayor
said!"_ How often have I felt my blood boil, to hear my worthy friend and
preceptor insulted by one of these contemptible jackanapes. In fact, more
than once, when I found that my friend the clergyman did not condescend
even to return a look of contempt in answer to such despicable trash, I
have taken up the cudgels myself; but, being fully as ignorant of such
matters as my opponent, it generally followed that I retorted nothing more
than flat contradictions to his assertions, and frequently I proposed to
settle the dispute by an appeal to force; and sometimes it actually ended
in blows. My worthy friend used at first to laugh at my zeal most
heartily; but when he found that I more than once concluded by a
_knock-down_ argument, he begged me to moderate my ardour, and
expostulated with me upon the impropriety, as well as the absurdity, of my
following the example of such contemptible opponents, by falling into the
very error which he and all good and honest men must deplore, "that of
resorting to brute force, instead of relying upon truth, reason, and
justice."
Yet though I was warmly his friend, I own I thought the parson took up the
matter too harshly against the measures of Mr. Pitt, and I could not
understand many of the grounds of complaint which he made against the
proceedings of government. I was taught to believe that those who promoted
the Revolution and guillotined the King of France were bloody-minded
fellows, and that the people of this happy country ought to do any thing
rather than submit to have its streets stained with the blood of their
monarch. I was in the habit of hearing all the ridiculous stories of
invasion, rapine, and murder, and of listening to all the hobgoblin
accounts of what we were to expect from our fellow creatures on the other
side of the channel, and my young mind was worked up to such a pitch, that
I longed to become one of the number of those who were going to resist and
to punish them if ever they dared to invade our happy shores; nay, I
always expressed my determination, if that day should ever arrive, that I
would not remain at home, wasting my time in inglorious ease and safety,
while they were disfiguring the fair face of our favoured Isle with blood
and conquest. My father, who had frequently heard me burst out in loud
declamation and expressions of a patriotic feeling of abhorrence, and
threaten defiance in case any attempt at invasion was made, began to
reason with me upon this subject; and he trusted that I should never put
myself forward to enter any of the volunteer corps, as they were called;
adding "why, do you not see that amongst these men every idea of sincere
patriotism or genuine love of country is a mere joke, a farce? Look
round," said he, "and you will find that nine out of every ten persons who
enter these corps do it at the command of their landlord, or some other
person in power, who is a magistrate, or the immediate agent of
government."
I had never before heard my father talk in this manner; but our little
friend, the clergyman, appeared delighted to think that he had made a
convert of him, and he expressed his pleasure upon ascertaining this fact,
by hearing him talk to and admonish me in the way he did. He joined in my
father's censure of the selfish motives and views of those exclusively
loyal gentry, the yeomanry, and said they were a set of tools of the
government, who wished to enslave the minds as well as the bodies of their
fellow countrymen. "Hold! hold!" said my father to the parson, "you
mistake me if you think I am a convert to your doctrine, I am a truly
loyal man, and a sincere friend of the constitution both in church and
state; and if I thought these volunteer corps were raised for the sole
purpose of repelling the invasion of the French, I would not only wish my
son to enter into one of them, but I would also go myself, old as I am,
rather than live under a foreign domination. My opinion," said he, "always
has been that we ought not to have meddled with the affairs of France;
that we had quite enough to do to mind our own business, and if we could
only take care of our own concerns, and manage them with a little more
economy, and do justice by the people, and keep our magistrates and the
courts of law independent, upright and impartial in their decisions, we
need not dread the French, nor all the foreigners in the world put
together." "Why, really, my friend," replied Mr. Carrington, "you have now
been merely repeating that for which those whom you call jacobins have
been contending: they wish for nothing more than you have said we all
ought to have, with this exception, that they say, that the "only way to
secure this is by the means of a free and equal representation."" "Ah!"
said my father, "there's the rub; that word _equal_ will never go down; do
you want that _equality_ which has caused the shedding of so much blood in
France?" "No, Sir," said the parson, "we want equal justice, equal
political rights; in fact all we want, and all that the people require, to
make them free and happy, is _equal laws_ and an _impartial_ and _just
administration of those laws_, which we shall never have while the present
corrupt system lasts. However," said the clergyman to me, "my young
friend, do nothing hastily; but should you go into any of the yeomanry
corps, with your zealous feeling and patriotic love of country, I fear you
will be woefully disappointed if you expect to find any of your comrades
acting under a corresponding impulse. Their main object appears to be to
secure their corn ricks, and to keep up the price of their grain; and
their landlords, who are the officers of these their tenants, encourage
this measure, that they may be enabled to pay them high rents. Depend upon
it nine tenths of them are actuated by this selfish feeling; therefore,
let me advise you to reserve your disinterested and praiseworthy
patriotism for another and a better occasion." My father said there was
too much truth in our friend's observations, and under this impression I
was induced to forego my design of being among the first to volunteer into
one of these troops that were about to be embodied; and very much to the
satisfaction of my father, as well as to that of my tutor, I resolved to
redouble my attention to the business of the farm.
At this time, in the beginning of the year 1794, great alarm was raised
and propagated all over the country, of the introduction of French
principles. Party spirit ran high in every company and society. A great
portion of the enlightened part of the community protested in very loud
terms against the war, and numerous petitions were sent from various parts
of the country demanding peace. The debates in parliament were very
violent, and Mr. Fox, with an irresistible eloquence and a prophetic
voice, foretold the disasters that were likely to follow, if such a course
of hostility were pursued against the liberties of France, and he accused
the ministers of making and continuing the war for the purpose of
ultimately restoring the tyranny of the Bourbons, and replacing that
family upon the throne. This was disclaimed by all the ministers, and Mr.
Pitt broadly and unequivocally denied that they had any such intention.
The opposition moved to address the King to make peace, but this was
negatived by a large majority, and _war! war! war!_ eternal war against
French principles! was the cry which was resounded by all the agents of
the government throughout the country; and although this was lamented and
deplored by every humane, thinking, rational man, yet such was the fact,
that the nation was drunk with the clamour, and particularly the _lower
orders_ (for they then truly merited the degrading appellation). Church
and King mobs were the order of the day! Every honest man who had the
courage to express his opinion, was denounced as a jacobin; and great
depredations were committed in many parts of the country. Dreadful
outrages of this sort had been perpetrated at Birmingham, as far back as
the year 1792, by the drunken, hired, besotted populace destroying the
houses and property of several worthy and patriotic, and therefore
obnoxious, individuals. At Bath a very worthy man of the name of Campbell
had his house pulled down by one of these drunken church-and-king mobs,
merely because he took in the COURIER NEWSPAPER, published by the
notorious DANIEL STEWART, who was a violent republican, and who propagated
his principles and doctrines in that paper. I am informed that the _hired
wretches_, who acted under authority, actually pulled down this poor
fellow's house to the tune of _God save the King;_ many of the loyal
inhabitants of that loyal town, who were standing by looking on, excited
them to persevere, by joining in the chorus. Poor Campbell was ruined by
the loss of his house and furniture, which broke his heart. The fact of
his taking in the Courier was understood to have arisen from his
acquaintance with Stewart, with whom he had been in the habits of intimacy
when they were both JOURNEYMEN TAYLORS. This notorious DANIEL STEWART, who
has made a _large fortune_ by turning his coat, and devoting the columns
of the Courier to the ministers, is still the same man at the bottom of
his heart; and I understand, from those who are his pot companions, that
he is as violent a _jacobin_ and supporter of revolutionary doctrines over
his cup as he ever was. To call such a miserable creature as this a
_radical_, would be to cast a greater stigma upon the word radical than
all that Castlereagh, Brougham, and Canning ever sent forth against those
who bear it. It is confidently asserted by those who profess to know his
private concerns, that he has feathered his dirty nest well, and that, as
the best means of securing his ill gotten pelf, he has lately invested it
in the _French funds_, to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds!
On the first of June in this year, 1794, the _brave sailors_ under Lord
Howe defeated the French fleet, took seven sail of the line, and brought
them into Spithead; and it was announced that the king and queen and the
royal family were going to Portsmouth, to thank and to congratulate Lord
Howe and those brave officers who had survived the dreadful slaughter of
the engagement. As the _Prince of Wales_, a ninety-six gun ship of war,
was to be launched upon the occasion, a great number of persons from the
part of the world where I lived, which was about fifty miles from
Portsmouth, were going there to see the launch, and to witness the effect
of this bloody battle. I was very anxious to make one of the party, and I
expressed my wish to my father, with which he positively refused to
comply. This refusal arose from some little misunderstanding we had about
a favourite maid servant of his who lived with us at the time, to whom I
had not conducted myself with all the attention that she required. She had
therefore caused that sort of shyness and distance between my father and
me, which rendered my home not so pleasant as it had heretofore been, and
indeed exactly the reverse of what it had been in my poor mother's life
time. My father assigned as a reason for his detaining me, that there was
some hay about, and although this was of very trivial moment, it being a
very small quantity, yet he positively refused to give his consent to my
going. I urged my plea of constant attention to business, and my
extraordinary personal exertions for several years past, wherein I had
done more work than almost any two of his men servants, and I demanded to
know if he had ever seen me neglect his business, or shift from performing
the severest labour? He admitted that he had no fault to find with me, and
that he did not require that I should work so hard; nay, he added, that,
so far from having any complaint to make against me for not working, he
thought I tasked myself too much, and that he was fearful that I should
injure myself by such excessive exertions as he had frequently witnessed.
"Then pray, Sir," said I, "why will you not allow me a little recreation?
this small indulgence?" I promised I would return at the end of two days.
But all would not do. I found that his favourite maid had prejudiced him,
and I was foolish enough to hint this to him, which he resented very
warmly, and gave me a lecture in such language as I had never before
received from him. At length we rose to very high words, and the dispute
was of so serious a nature that he almost ordered me out of doors. It
ended in my declaring that _nothing should deter me_ from going to
Portsmouth, and by his declaring that, if I did, I should never enter his
house again; and in order to put my threat of going out of my power, he
took _my horse_, which was already saddled, instead of his own, and rode
out to the other farm.
Burning with rage at this harsh, this unusual, as well as unjust
treatment, I rushed up stairs, and began dressing myself for the journey.
My sister flew up stairs with tears in her eyes, and upon her knees
implored me not to think of going. I coolly asked her if she had heard
what passed between my father and me. She replied that she had heard it
with the greatest astonishment and dismay, and that she had heard my
determination with the greatest pain. Although she knew too well the cause
of my father's harshness to me, and felt most acutely the reason of his
ill humour, which she herself had sometimes partaken of, and had borne in
silence, yet she dreaded the effect of my leaving home. However, all her
expostulations were in vain; _I had made my resolve_, and that once done
with me, _even then_, nothing but death would have deterred me from
carrying it into effect. Having dressed myself, I saddled my father's
favourite horse, as he had taken mine, and having mounted him, I was
twenty miles on my road to Portsmouth in less than two hours.