SITUATION IN THE NORTH
Meanwhile let us turn to the state of affairs on land. When the
intelligence of the invasion was received, Lancashire and Yorkshire were
in a state of utter panic.
The first news, which reached Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool,
and the other great centres of commerce, about four o’clock on Sunday
afternoon, was at once discredited.
Everyone declared the story to be a huge hoax. As the people assembled
in the places of worship that evening, the amazing rumour was eagerly
discussed; and later on, when the Sunday evening crowds promenaded the
principal thoroughfares--Briggate in Leeds, Market Street in Manchester,
Corporation Street in Birmingham, Cheapside in Barnsley, and the
principal streets of Chester, Liverpool, Halifax, Huddersfield,
Rochdale, Bolton, and Wigan--wild reports of the dash upon our east
coast were upon everyone’s tongue.
There was, however, no authentic news, and the newspapers in the various
towns all hesitated to issue special editions--first because it was
Sunday night, and secondly because the editors had no desire to spread a
wider panic than that already created.
Upon the windows of the _Yorkshire Post_ office in Leeds some of the
telegrams were posted and read by large crowds, while the _Manchester
Courier_, in Manchester, and the _Birmingham Daily Post_, in Birmingham,
followed a similar example.
The telegrams were brief and conflicting, some from the London
correspondents, and others from the Central News, the Press Association,
and the Exchange Telegraph Company. Most of the news, however, in that
early stage of the alarm was culled from the exclusive information
obtained by the enterprise of the sub-editor of the _Weekly Dispatch_.
Leeds, the first city in Yorkshire, was the centre of most intense
excitement on that hot, stifling Sunday night. The startling report
spread like wildfire, first from the office of the _Yorkshire Post_
among the crowds that were idling away their Sunday evening gossiping in
Boar Lane, Briggate, and the Hunslett Road, and quickly the whole city
from Burton Head to Chapel Town, and from Burmantofts to Armley Park,
was in a ferment.
The sun sank with a misty, angry afterglow precursory of rain, and by
the time the big clock in the tower of the Royal Exchange showed
half-past seven the scene in the main streets was already an animated
one. The whole city was agog. The astounding news, carried everywhere by
eager, breathless people, had reached to even the remotest suburbs, and
thousands of alarmed mill-hands and workers came flocking into town to
ascertain the actual truth.
As at Leeds, so all through Lancashire and Yorkshire, Volunteers were
assembling in breathless eagerness for the order to mobilise. But
there was the same cry of unpreparedness everywhere. The Volunteer
battalions of the Manchester Regiment at Patricroft, at Hulme, at
Ashton-under-Lyne, at Manchester, and at Oldham; those of the Liverpool
Regiment at Prince’s Park, at St. Anne’s, at Shaw Street, at Everton
Brow, at Everton Road, and at Southport; those of the Lancashire
Fusiliers at Bury, Rochdale, and Salford; the Hallamshire Volunteers at
Sheffield; the York and Lancasters at Doncaster; the King’s Own Light
Infantry at Wakefield; the battalions of the Yorkshires at Northallerton
and Scarborough, that of the East Yorkshires at Beverley, and those of
the West Yorkshires at York and Bradford.
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| |
| [Illustration] |
| |
| =BY THE KING.= |
| |
| =PROCLAMATION= |
| |
| =FOR CALLING OUT= |
| =THE ARMY RESERVE. = |
| |
| |
| EDWARD R. |
| |
| WHEREAS by the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, it is amongst other things |
| enacted that in case of imminent national danger or of great emergency, |
| it shall be lawful for Us, by Proclamation, the occasion being declared |
| in Council and notified by the Proclamation, if Parliament be not then |
| sitting, to order that the Army Reserve shall be called out on permanent |
| service; and by any such Proclamation to order a Secretary of State from |
| time to time to give, and when given, to revoke or vary such directions |
| as may seem necessary or proper for calling out the forces or force |
| mentioned in the Proclamation, or all or any of the men belonging |
| thereto: |
| |
| AND WHEREAS Parliament is not sitting, and whereas WE have declared in |
| Council and hereby notify the present state of Public Affairs and the |
| extent of the demands on our Military Forces for the protection of the |
| interests of the Empire constitute a case of great emergency within the |
| meaning of the said Act: |
| |
| NOW THEREFORE We do in pursuance of the said Act hereby order that Our |
| Army Reserve be called out on permanent service, and We do hereby order |
| the Right Honourable Charles Leonard Spencer Cotterell, one of our |
| Principal Secretaries of State, from time to time to give, and when |
| given, to revoke or vary such directions as may seem necessary or proper |
| for calling out Our Army Reserve, or all or any of the men belonging |
| thereto, and such men shall proceed to and attend at such places and at |
| such times as may be respectively appointed by him to serve as part of |
| Our Army until their services are no longer required. |
| |
| Given at our Court at James’, this fourth day of September, in the |
| year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and ten, and in the |
| tenth year of Our Reign. |
| |
| =GOD SAVE THE KING.= |
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In Halifax great crowds assembled around the office of the _Yorkshire
Daily Observer_, at the top of Russell Street, where the news received
by telephone from Bradford was being constantly posted up. Huddersfield,
with its cloth and woollen factories, was paralysed by the astounding
intelligence. The electric trams brought in crowds from Cliff End, Oakes
Fartown, Mold Green, and Lockwood, while telephone messages from
Dewsbury, Elland, Mirfield, Wyke, Cleckheaton, Overdon, Thornton, and
the other towns in the vicinity all spoke of the alarm and excitement
that had so suddenly spread over the West Riding.
The mills would shut down. That was prophesied by everyone. And, if so,
then before many days wives and families would most certainly be crying
for food. Masters and operatives alike recognised the extreme gravity of
the situation, and quickly the panic spread to every home throughout
that densely populated industrial area.
The city of Bradford was, as may well be imagined, in a state of
ferment. In the red, dusky sunset a Union Jack was flying from the staff
above Watson’s shop at the corner of Market Street, and the excited
throngs, seeing it, cheered lustily. Outside the _Bradford Daily
Telegraph_ and the _Yorkshire Daily Observer_ offices the latest
intelligence was posted, the streets being blocked by the eager people
who had come in by car from Manningham, Heaton, Tyersall, Dudley Hill,
Eccleshill, Idle, Thackley, and other places.
Bolton, like the neighbouring towns, was ruled by Manchester, and the
masters eagerly went there on Monday to go on ’Change and ascertain the
exact situation. They knew, alas! that the alarm must have a disastrous
effect upon the cotton trade, and more than one spinner when the
astounding news had been told him on the previous night, knew well that
he could not possibly meet his engagements, and that only bankruptcy was
before him.
In every home, rich and poor, not only in Bolton but out at Farnworth,
Kearsley, Over Hulton, Sharples, and Heaton the terrible catastrophe was
viewed with abject terror. The mills would eventually close, without a
doubt; if Manchester sent forth its mandate, then for the thousands of
toilers it meant absolute starvation.
Those not at work assembled in groups in the vicinity of the Town Hall,
and in Cheapside, Moor Street, Newport Street, Bridge Street, and the
various central thoroughfares, eagerly discussing the situation, while
outside Messrs. Tillotson’s, the _Evening News_ office in Mealhouse
Lane, the latest telegrams from London and Manchester were posted, being
read by a great crowd, which entirely blocked the thoroughfare. The
_Evening News_, with characteristic smartness, was being published
hourly, and copies were sold as fast as the great presses could print
them, while a special meeting of the Town Council was summoned and met
at twelve o’clock to discuss what steps should be taken in case the
mills really did close and the great populace were thrown on the town in
anger and idleness.
The cotton trade was already feeling the effect of the sudden crisis,
for by noon startling reports were reaching Bolton from Manchester of
unprecedented scenes on ’Change and of the utter collapse of business.
Most mill-owners were already in Manchester. All who were near enough at
once took train--from Southport, Blackpool, Morecambe, and other
places--and went on ’Change to learn what was intended. Meanwhile,
through the whole of Monday authentic reports of the enemy’s movements
in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and East Yorkshire were being printed by the
_Evening News_, each edition increasing the panic in that level-headed,
hard-working Lancashire town.
Across at smoky Wigan similar alarm and unrest reigned. On that Monday
morning, bright and sunny, everyone re-started work, hoping for the
best. Pearson and Knowles’ and the Pemberton Collieries were running
full time; Ryland’s mills and Ekersley’s spinning mills were also full
up with work, for there was an era of as great a prosperity in Wigan as
in Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, and other Lancashire towns. Never for the
past ten years had the cotton and iron industries been so prosperous;
yet in one single day--nay, in a few brief hours--the blow had fallen,
and trade had become paralysed.
Spy mania was rife everywhere. In Oldham an innocent German, agent of a
well-known firm in Chemnitz, while walking along Manchester Street about
one o’clock, was detected as a foreigner and compelled to seek
protection inside a shop. From Chadderton to Lees, from Royton to
Hollinwood, the crisis was on everyone’s lips. Here again was the
crucial question: Would the mills close?
Meanwhile, across at Liverpool, the wildest scenes were also taking
place on ’Change. News over the wires from London became hourly more
alarming, and this, combined with the rumour that German warships were
cruising off the Mersey estuary, created a perfect panic in the city.
The port was already closed, for the mouth of the river had been blocked
by mines; yet the report quickly got abroad that the Germans would send
in merchant ships to explode them and enter the Mersey after thus
clearing away the deadly obstacles.
Liverpool knew too well the ridiculously weak state of her defences,
which had so long been a reproach to the authorities, and if the German
ships that had done such damage at Penarth, Cardiff, and Barry were now
cruising north, as reported, it seemed quite within the bounds of
probability that a demonstration would really be made before Liverpool.
Outside and within the great Exchange the excitement was at fever heat.
The Bank Charter was suspended, and the banks had closed with one
accord. Upon the “flags” the cotton-brokers were shouting excitedly, and
many a ruined man knew that that would be his last appearance there.
Every moment over the telephones came news from Manchester, each record
more disastrous than the last. Hot, perspiring men who had lived, and
lived well, by speculation in cotton for years, surged around the great
pediment adorned by its allegorical group of sculpture, and saw each
moment their fortunes falling away like ice in the sunshine.
Thus trade in Lancashire--cotton, wool, iron, and corn--was, in the
course of one single morning, utterly paralysed, all awaiting the
decision of Manchester.
Thousands were already face to face with financial disaster, even in
those first moments of the alarm.
The hours passed slowly. What was Manchester doing? Her decision was now
awaited with bated breath throughout the whole of Lancashire and
Yorkshire.
In Manchester, the _Courier_, the _Daily Mail_, and the several other
journals kept publishing edition after edition, not only through the
day, but also through the night. Presses were running unceasingly, and
hour after hour were printed accounts of the calm and orderly way in
which the enemy were completing their unopposed landing at Goole,
Grimsby, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, King’s Lynn, and on the Blackwater.
Some British destroyers had interfered with the German plans at the
latter place, and two German warships had been sunk, the _Courier_
reported. But full details were not yet forthcoming.
There had been a good deal of skirmishing in the neighbourhood of
Maldon, and again near Harleston, on the Suffolk border. The town of
Grimsby had been half destroyed by fire, and the damage at Hull had been
enormous. From a timber-yard there the wind had, it seemed, carried the
flames across to the Alexandra Dock, where some stores had ignited and a
quantity of valuable shipping in the dock had been destroyed at their
moorings. The Paragon station and hotel had also been burned--probably
by people of Hull themselves, in order to drive the German commander
from his headquarters.
From Newcastle, Gateshead, and Tynemouth came harrowing details of
bombardment, and the frightful result of those awful petrol bombs. Fire
and destruction had been spread broadcast everywhere.
On the Manchester Exchange on Tuesday there was no longer any reason to
doubt the accuracy of Sunday’s report, and the feeling on ’Change became
“panicky.” It seemed as though the whole of the ten thousand members had
made up their minds to be present. The main entrance in Cross Street was
blocked for the greater part of the afternoon, and late comers dodged
round to the two entrances in Market Street, and the third in Bank
Street, in the hope of squeezing through into the vibrating mass of
humanity that filled the floors, the corridors, and the telephone,
reading, and writing rooms. The attendants found they had an impossible
task set them to make their way to the many lanterns around the vast
hall, there to affix the latest messages, recording astounding
fluctuations of prices, and now and again some news of the invasion. The
master and secretary in the end told the attendants to give up the
struggle, and he made his way with difficulty to the topmost balcony,
where, above the murmurings of the crowd below, he read the latest
bulletins of commercial and general intelligence as they arrived.
But there were no efforts made to do business; and had any of the
members felt so inclined, the crush and stress were so great that any
attempt to book orders would have ended in failure. In the swaying of
the crowd hats were lost and trampled under foot; men whose appearance
on ’Change had always been immaculate were to be seen with torn collars
and disarranged neckwear. Never before had such a scene been witnessed.
Lancashire men had often heard of such a state of things having occurred
in the “pit” of the New York Exchange, when wild speculation in cotton
was indulged in, but they prided themselves that they were never guilty
of such conduct. No matter how the market jumped, they invariably kept
their heads, and waited until it assumed its normal condition, and
became settled. It had often been said that nothing short of an
earthquake would unnerve the Manchester commercial man; those who were
responsible for the statement had evidently not turned a thought to a
German invasion. That had done it completely.
In the cafés and the hotels, where the master-spinners and the
manufacturers had been wont to forgather after high ’Change, there were
the usual gatherings, but there was little or no discussion on business
matters, except this: there was a common agreement that it would, in
present circumstances, be inadvisable to keep the mills running. Work
must be, and it was, completely suspended. The shippers, who had the
manufacturers under contract to supply certain quantities of goods for
transportation to their markets in India, China, and the Colonies,
trembled at the very contemplation of the financial losses they would
inevitably sustain by the non-delivery of the bales of cloth to their
customers abroad; but, on the other hand, they also paid heed to the
great danger of the vessels in which the goods were placed falling into
the hands of the enemy when at sea. The whole question was full of grim
perplexities, and even the most impatient among the shippers and the
merchants had to admit that a policy of do-nothing seemed the safest
course of procedure.
The chaotic scenes on ’Change in the afternoon were reproduced in the
streets in the evening, and the Lord Mayor, towards eight o’clock,
fearful of rioting, sent special messengers to the headquarters of three
Volunteer corps for assistance in regulating street traffic. The
officers in command immediately responded to the call. The 2nd V.B.M.R.
took charge of Piccadilly and Market Street; the 4th were stationed in
Cross Street and Albert Square; and the 5th lined Deansgate from St.
Mary’s Gate to Peter Street. Mounted constabulary, by the exercise of
tact and good temper, kept the crowds on the move, and towards midnight
the pressure became so light that the officers felt perfectly justified
in withdrawing the Volunteers, who spent that night at their respective
headquarters.
It was Wednesday, however, before Manchester people could thoroughly
realise that the distressing news was absolutely true, and on the top of
the confirmation came the startling report that the Fleet had been
crippled, and immense troops of Germans were landing at Hull, Lowestoft,
Yarmouth, Goole, and other places on the east, with the object of
sweeping the country.