L I B R.AnY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N I VER_5ITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 309.4-2 
 C829 
 ISSl 
 
y^ J>/ .Ty^ro^o/r 
 
 \ C^i 
 
 Pk< 
 
 jtL fL. jf^^-' -^C^^^ 
 
THE 
 
 COTTON FAMINE 
 
 OF 1862-'63, 
 
 WITH SOME SKETCH OF THE PROCEEDINGS THAT 
 
 TOOK PLACE IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
 
 LISBURN RELIEF COMMITTEE, 
 
 ^ iielM C?tritiunr, 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED A BRIEF NOTICE OF THE LATE 
 MR. A. T. STEWART. 
 
 WILLIAM MULLAN & SON, 
 
 BELFAST AND LONDON. 
 l88|, 
 
printed at the 
 
 Belfast News-Letter Office.] 
 
 55, 57 S 59. DONEQALU St. 
 
r 
 
 4 
 
 J, 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 TO THOSE NOBLE AND GENEROUS-HEARTED PHILANTHROPISTS, 
 AT HOME AND ABROAD, WHO CONTRIBUTED SO LIBER- 
 ALLY TOWARDS THE RELIEF OF OUR LOCAL COTTON 
 OPERATIVES DURING THE SAD TIMES OF 
 1863, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS RE- 
 SPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Lisburii, yanuary, 1881, 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cottonfamineof1800mcca 
 

 I^^^VsA^^ 
 
 ^^m^^^^ 
 
 ^^Si 
 
 Sls^JW.W'' 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 ^S^^^^^^S 
 
 ^^^^m 
 
 
 ^mSIS 
 
 ^^^^^^K 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 THE 
 
 Cotton Famine 
 
 OF i862-'63. 
 CHAPTER FIRST. 
 
 HE history of the international campaign, as carried on 
 between the citizens of the Northern and Southern 
 States of America during the four years that succeeded 
 the Spring of 1861, includes, even in its least harrowing details, 
 some of the saddest of modern chronicles. In all ages of the 
 world, one effect of war has been to paralyse industry, and at the 
 same time to sweep away much of its previous savings through the 
 current expenditure. It may be questioned, however, whether at 
 any previous period the blighting influence of that terrible scourge 
 produced disasters so appalling as those that followed the warfare 
 beyond the Atlantic. But the ill effects of that campaign did not 
 end there. For a long series of years the spindles that whirled in 
 the cotton mills of England and Scotland had drawn the great 
 proportion of their raw material from the American plantations. 
 Many millions of acres on the vast continent that flourishes under 
 the Stripes and Stars were engaged in the growth of cotton during 
 the season of i860 ; perhaps four-fifths of the produce were 
 landed in London and Liverpool, and nearly all that importation 
 was worked up in British mills. But soon after the demon of war 
 had been let loose on the fair fields of the American planters, 
 
desolation spread on every side, and before the close of the second 
 year three-fourths of all the cotton lands had been either destroyed 
 or left untilled. Corn fields were trampled down, the greater part 
 of the wheat crop was destroyed, and wherever the track of con- 
 tending armies was to be seen, the whole face of the country was 
 left wild-looking and desolate as it might have appeared a century 
 before. Then it was that the effects of the war between the 
 Northern and Southern sections of America began to tell on the 
 social and commercial relations of the people on both sides the 
 Atlantic. If we take the flaxen manufactures as an illustration, 
 we find that the citizens of the United States imported from these 
 realms 59,488,390 yards of linen in i860, and only 21,169,000 
 yards the following year. The gross value of all the exports thence 
 from Great Britain and Ireland in i860 was ^£"2 1,67 7,000, against 
 ;^ 9,064,500 in 186 1. This, however, formed only one portion of 
 the losses then sustained. As already stated, the destruction of 
 real property at the scenes of strife could hardly be estimated by 
 the ordinary process of arithmetic : it far exceeded anything that 
 followed the most fiercely-contested battles of Europe. The mere 
 money cost was enormous, and the destruction of life was still 
 more lamentable. Many were the stern lessons which that fratri- 
 cidal campaign taught the statesmen and patriots of the New 
 World, and hardly less instructive was the sermon which it preached 
 to the senators of the Old Country. It was calculated that during 
 the American war one hundred thousand men were killed, and four 
 times the same number disabled. Many of the latter died after 
 months of suffering and sickness — thus dying, as it were, many 
 times. Then we have the domestic misery endured in so many 
 households through the loss of their dearest relatives, and the 
 worse than death on the battle-field which the tens of thousands 
 endured in their maimed lives after what is called '"the glory of 
 war" had long ceased to have any influence on the popular mind. 
 The actual loss sustained by the destruction of property was five 
 hundred millions of dollars, and the injury done to business, by 
 land and sea, was not less than one hundred millions dollars. 
 Maffit, one of the Southern destructionists, boasted that in his own 
 
7 
 
 case he had sunk ships and burned cargoes to the amount of eleven 
 milHons dollars. The New York Herald estimated that in the 
 Autumn of 1863, several months before the proclamation of peace, 
 the war-debt of the North and South amounted to five thousand 
 millions of dollars. 
 
 One of the most valuable lessons taught the people of the 
 United Kingdom by the American campaign was that which proved 
 how largely the commercial prospects of the Old World, of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, depended on the peace and progress of 
 the New Land on the other side the Atlantic. Much attention 
 and considerable anxiety prevailed in 1859 and '60 relative to the 
 future supplies of raw cotton, the spindles of all mills in the 
 United Kingdom being then dependent for the great proportion 
 of their raw material on the products of the American plantations. 
 One section of Britain's economists had been indulging in very 
 wild delusions relative to the importance of the trade with our 
 Transatlantic cousins. "We have only to look out for other 
 markets as outlets for our produce and manufactures, and these, 
 when found, may far exceed those of the United States," was 
 often heard as the great semi-seerdom of those sages. It was said 
 that Uncle Sam was getting too big for his boots, and that some 
 exertion should, therefore, be made to curtail his physical dimen- 
 sions; but the effects of the war in 1861 and '62, with the stagna- 
 tion of commerce throughout the United Kingdom, proved how 
 much our general trade was dependent on that of our republican 
 relatives, and how little the political economists, to whom we have 
 alluded, knew about the great question of American commerce with 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 About the same time there arose a very portentous section of 
 theorists, each of whom looked upon himself as having been 
 gifted by Providence with prophetic wisdom respecting the 
 discovery of extended fields of cotton growth. One of those 
 sages stated that there would not be any dif^culty in obtaining 
 from other lands such quantities of raw material as would make 
 Lancashire and Lanark quite independent of the American States 
 as to getting food for their spindles. " The planters of the East 
 
8 
 
 Indian cotton-fields," it was stated, "could deliver low qualities of 
 cotton at from three half-pence to two pence half-penny per pound, 
 and if the Americans were to close their ports against British 
 buyers, abundant supplies of raw material could be had elsewhere." 
 Such was the absurd braggadocia and silly flourish which were 
 frequently heard for some time before the American war flung all 
 wild theories to the winds. It was well known to every person 
 who had considered the subject that the East Indian grower of 
 cotton had almost illimitable resources within his reach. He could 
 procure labour in abundance at the wages of one rupee — about 
 two shillings — a-week for the best hands. Millions of acres of the 
 finest soil for cotton culture lay partially idle, the plant was a natural 
 product, and could be seen growing wild in many rarely-trodden 
 districts ; and yet it seemed to be quite forgotten, that, with all 
 those advantages, the Asiatics had been far distanced in their race 
 of competition with the planters of the New World beyond the 
 Atlantic. Cotton, which the ancient writers described as the 
 " wool of a plant," was grown in what are at present known as the 
 Presidencies of Bengal and Bombay thousands of years before the 
 Christian Era, but it was not until the Spring of 1786 that the 
 energetic men of Georgia, in the juvenile Republic of America, 
 commenced the enterprise of cotton- growing, and since then they 
 have come to the front as the most extensive and most superior 
 producers of that fibre in the universe. The silky product called 
 Sea-Island, raised in the low ranges of coast that run between 
 Charleston and Savannah, are unequalled for their beauty of texture. 
 Some parcels of this class of cotton were sold in the Liverpool 
 market at five shiUings a-pound in August, 1863. Alabama and 
 Georgia planters are able to raise three hundred pounds of cotton 
 to the acre, while the growers in Surat and other Indian settlements 
 cannot produce more than one-third that average. These facts 
 had long been known to thoughtful men in this kingdom; but 
 there was still floating about a race of self constituted philosophers, 
 who, while indulging in projects about getting supplies of cotton 
 outside the plantations of the Far West, propounded idealisms 
 wild and fantastic as the dreamiest follies of that respectable class 
 
of unbelievers who, some years ago, plagued the Churches with 
 their absurdities on the Bible-wine question. 
 
 There had been no end of exultation with one class of political 
 economists, for several years before this time, respecting the sup- 
 posed capabilities of Queensland as a new field of cotton culture ; 
 and it was added that Egypt, if her powers were fully developed, 
 could extend her growth of the same material ten-fold. But the 
 youngest colony of the Australian Isles has never been able to 
 make any way in cotton-planting. Some splendid samples of its 
 growth have been shown in Liverpool, and very beautiful was its 
 fibre. Still, such is the uncertainty of the climate, that the crop 
 is very difficult to gather in harvest-time. And as to the home of 
 the Pharaohs, the area is so limited, that the exigencies of the 
 country require all the spare land for grain production and other 
 purposes. Flax and cotton from time immemorial have had their 
 full proportion of arable soil there, and that proportion is not likely 
 to be extended. To America, then, the thoughtful men connected 
 with the cotton manufacture could only look forward as the land 
 of hope, no other country in the world being able to turn out such 
 amplitude of supplies. Of this truth the spinners and manufac- 
 turers of Europe became fully aware in 1862 and '6;^, and bitter 
 lessons were taught many men of the trade when prices of raw 
 material ran up two hundred, then three hundred, and ultimately 
 four hundred per cent, above the averages of previous years, and 
 when imports fell oft" to a mere fractional proportion of those 
 landed in 1S60. 
 
 The rapidity with which British and Irish manufacturers of 
 goods had been extending production during the forty years ending 
 December, i860, can only be rightly understood by taking into 
 account the scale of importation during that period. America, in 
 the meantime, had been the chief centre of production from which 
 those manufacturers drew their supplies. We find, by the most 
 authentic data relative to the aggregate imports into the United 
 Kingdom at different periods, that in 1820 the landings of raw 
 cotton amounted to 140,675,000 pounds ; in 1840 the figures were 
 743,440,000 pounds; and in 1S60 the large total of 1,140,550,000 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 pounds were landed. It is remarkable that in the latter noted year 
 the American plantations raised the immense quantity of 4,860,290 
 bales of cotton, 2,669,432 of which crop were sent to Great 
 Britain. Taking the bales at an average of 400 pounds each, the 
 supplies from America in i860 amounted to 106,772,800 pounds, 
 but war had devastated American cotton fields to such an extent 
 that in 1862 imports from thence into Great Britain only reached 
 the fractional quantity of 71,750 bales. 
 
 Very little change could be noted as having taken place in the 
 cotton market during the first year of the war. Towards its close 
 prices went up a few points, and some far-seeing merchants pur- 
 chased several thousand bales for the next rise. But with the 
 advent of 1862 there came a rapid advance in value. This turn 
 continued, and in the September of that year still tighter markets 
 existed, the stocks of all qualities of cotton in the hands of 
 Liverpool importers having fallen to 58,160 bales, against 88c, 680 
 bales held for the like date of 186 1. At that time jute had gone 
 up to 70 per cent, and flax 25 per cent. Then came the wildest 
 speculation and the most absurd theories relative to substitutes for 
 cotton. For a time these dreamy projects formed material for 
 prosy leaders in the public papers, and ground-work for solemn 
 platitudes in private circles. Every week brought out some strange 
 proposition ; but so bewildered by the utter stagnation of business 
 were the people connected with the trade, and those of nearly all 
 grades from the mill-owner to the most juvenile operative, that 
 every panacea had its patrons. Learned savans seized on the 
 subject, and delivered themselves of mythological soothsaying 
 ridiculous enough to give it a place in some special section of the 
 British iVssociation, and men of otherwise sound judgment on 
 'Change propounded opinions on the question, " What are we to 
 do for cotton ?" which were grotesque as they were unpractical. 
 When all this excitement of dread and doubt was almost at its 
 climax, a firm of London lawyers announced that a client of theirs 
 had discovered a substitute that would answer all the purposes of 
 cotton, and that the supply was so abundant that every idle 
 operative might at once be set to work in collecting it. The great 
 
II 
 
 importance of that discovery, as the soHcitors of the modern 
 Columbus stated, was, that " it could be obtained in the United 
 Kingdom in any quantity without displacing even a single acre of 
 soil for other purposes." That announcement created great interest, 
 not only in the land of looms and spindles, but in nearly all parts 
 of the kingdom. Many letters appeared on the subject in the 
 London papers. The city editor of the Times gave the project a 
 fair notice in his columns, and rather lauded the person who had 
 made the wonderful discovery. As a matter of course, the greatest 
 secrecy was for a time maintained respecting the article and its 
 whereabouts ; but when the fact oozed out that the new fibre was 
 to be found in a sea-weed — Zostera Marina — which abounds on 
 the shores and sea coasts of England and Ireland, those who had 
 been most disposed to canonize the projector were among the first 
 to turn the whole affair into ridicule. An equally absurd proposal 
 had its patrons about the same time. This was a plan to cottonize 
 jute, but of course that plan soon fell to the ground. 
 
 Referring to the numerous projects set forth to make good the 
 loss of supplies from America, a writer in one of the Belfast papers 
 correctly stated — "The only substitute for the material that has 
 worked such wonders in our manufactures is the * Cotton itself; * 
 and when the "famine" was at its height, that axiom's truthfulness 
 became apparent to all thoughtful men who were able to form 
 correct opinions on the subject. '' About the close of the first half 
 of 1862, the terrible effects of lessened supplies and dearer markets 
 for cotton had left their mark on the chief seats of the trade. Only 
 twelve months had elapsed from the time when the first boom of 
 the cannon told that hostilities had commenced between the 
 Northern and Southern States, when idle spindles and silent looms 
 in all parts of I^ancashire, and the scarcity of employment in other 
 cotton districts throughout the kingdom, proved how much the 
 success of the capitalists and the working ranks of the Old World 
 depended on the peace and prosperity of the Western Republic. 
 Imports of cotton, which to hundreds of thousands of people in 
 the United Kingdom had become almost as vital a necessity as 
 com, were woefully short in 1862, the second year of the American 
 
12 
 
 war. We have alluded to the supply of cotton sent us from the 
 United States at different periods. The total landing from alj 
 sources, which amounted to 11,223,000 cwts. in 1861, had fallen 
 off to 4,678,300 cwts. in course of the succeeding year. Prices in 
 the interim rose from 8d. a-pound to 25d. for top quality Upland. 
 American, East India advanced from 5d. to i6d. a-pound, and 
 before the end of 1S63 Upland sold at 28d. the pound. Rapid 
 fortunes were realized by those who purchased large lots of the 
 article during the Spring of 1862, and while the excitement lasted 
 it seemed as if mines of wealth had been discovered by the 
 successful speculators. At length came the reaction, and in the 
 downward movement many went to the wall. But the result of 
 the sudden increase of prices in the cotton market proved nearly 
 ruinous to numbers of spinners. Many of those capitalists closed 
 their mills, others worked short time, and factory-owners were 
 obliged to discharge three-fourths of all their hands. The effect 
 of this cessation of labour brought misery on many households, 
 and threw multitudes of previously well-to-do families on the poor- 
 rates. There were, in January, 1861, eleven thousand persons in 
 the receipt of relief in the seven-and-twenty unions which form the 
 cotton districts of the North of England, and for the same month 
 in 1863 there were four hundred and fifty thousand paupers on the 
 roll. In one of the largest unions the distress was so general that 
 the available funds were quite inadequate to meet the demands on 
 them, and for some months the rate of relief per week was only 
 about thirteen pence a-head for every member, young and old. 
 And yet the expenditure in Cheshire and Lancashire exceeded 
 twenty thousand pounds a-week, causing a tax of five shillings in 
 the pound on all rateable property. It was, indeed, a sad state of 
 affairs to see thousands of the most industrious and best paid 
 workpeople in Europe, after having been thrown from their high 
 position of independence, reduced to the low level of mere paupers. 
 That, however, was the inevitable, and they submitted to it without 
 any loss of dignity. Outside the poor-law a noble work was 
 carried on, and the extraordinary degree of benevolence which had 
 been called into existence during that terrible visitation has no 
 
13 
 
 parallel in the entire history of private philanthropy. America 
 contributed very largely to the general fund, and the liberality 
 displayed by many noble lords and generous commoners in our 
 own country was really marvellous. According to the published 
 accounts of the Lancashire Committee, the total contributions paid 
 into their bankers for the support of the people during the cotton 
 famine was as follows : — London Mansion House subscriptions, 
 ^503,131; Central Committee, ;£Z^2,2']<); cotton districts, 
 ;^254,38o; general contributions, ;^283,989; and other sub- 
 scriptions, ;^4o,434 : making the enormous total of ;^i, 974,203 ! 
 
 At that time the Northern States of America were in the midst 
 of their great struggle against the citizens of the slave-dealing 
 South; yet it almost seemed as if they had forgotten their own 
 troubles in the practical sympathy they exercised towards the 
 sufferers in the Old Land, which had been the cradle of many 
 millions of them. Large sums of money and liberal supplies of 
 food were sent over the Atlantic to be distributed among the people 
 of the English cotton districts. Bat British India, which was then 
 in the receipt of about three millions sterling per month as the 
 proceeds of her sales of raw cotton — the land that owed so much 
 of her early prosperity to the manufacturers of Great Britain and 
 Ireland — appeared to have forgotten the noble virtues of gratitude 
 and generosity, and although frequently applied to for aid, did not 
 send over a single rupee towards the relief of the distressed 
 operatives. We have seen that nearly two millions of hard cash 
 were raised to stem the tide of distress that had set in with such 
 force, and which threatened to sweep away myriads of people in 
 the North of England ; but that amount, large as it was, did not 
 include all, or nearly all, the offerings made to charity in course of 
 that period of suffering. The Poor-law authorities were very 
 active, and spared neither outlay nor exertion in their daily labours. 
 
 It would be utterly impossible even to approximate the amount 
 which, throughout the long period of distress, was contributed by 
 the mill and factory owners. An extensive firm, whose works were 
 closed, had, many years before, erected several hundred cottages 
 for their workpeople, and when the famine set in, they not only 
 
14 
 
 remitted all rents payable by the tenants, but they bestowed on every 
 family that had been engaged in their concern one shilling a-head 
 each week, and every day they had a dinner prepared for such of 
 their people as chose to partake of it. 
 
 To give anything like a full history of all that was done by the 
 employers of labour in those times would not be within the limits 
 of this little work, and we can only allude to a few cases. A house 
 engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods, shirting calicoes, and 
 printers, kept one thousand people at work in good times, but 
 when the dearth and scarcity of cotton raised the cost of production 
 far beyond the market values of such goods, the proprietors were 
 obliged to stop their machinery. For some months they supported, 
 from their own private resources, all these people, and that sacrafice, 
 it need scarcely be said, could only have been made at an immense 
 amount of expenditure. Another mill-owner kept his spindles in 
 motion at an actual loss of five hundred pounds a-week rather 
 than permit the work-people he employed to fall back on the poor- 
 rates. And yet, while this noble system of modern Samaritanism 
 was being carried out in every section of the manufacturing districts, 
 there was no end of the vituperation cast on "the cotton lords" 
 and "heartless capitalists" by the Rev. Charles Kingsley and 
 other one-sided thinkers. Sydney Smith has said that A never 
 saw B requiring aid that he did not advise C to do something for 
 him ; and in all that period of pinching and poverty there were 
 numbers of worthy persons who did nothing themselves in the way 
 of alleviating distress, but seemed indef:\tigable in their abuse of 
 every man that owned a tall chimney. In Manchester, where 
 extreme poverty pressed on the operatives with extra power, the 
 very spirit of benevolence was abroad, and superhuman exertions 
 were made to render the action of the times as light as the hand 
 of Charity could make it. One leading firm paid to the people 
 who had previously been in their employment one thousand pounds 
 a-month, and a great many smaller houses bestowed one hundred 
 and twenty pounds a-week towards the support of their idle hands. 
 We could give many other evidences of the princely spirit in which 
 "the cotton lords" of that day distributed their bounty. Three 
 
15 
 
 thousand people connected with the mills of Messrs. Fielding, of 
 Todmordan, in Yorkshire, were unemployed for several months, 
 and during all that time those employers gave their people one-half 
 the average wages which the sufferers had earned when the mills 
 were in full work — say, about eight shillings a-week. Distress in 
 Wigan and its neighbourhood had greatly increased during the 
 Autumn of 1862, and to aid in its alleviation Lord Lindsay and 
 his father agreed to contribute one hundred pounds a-week for the 
 succeeding five months, besides which they sent a cheque for five 
 hundred pounds to the Mayor of that town to purchase clothes 
 and bedding for the operatives. 
 
 But a great number of people outside the cotton trades, and 
 who were rarely alluded to amid the intense sympathy called forth 
 by the sufferings of the operatives, had very serious ills to battle 
 ^vith. This class consisted of retail dealers and other small shop- 
 keepers, hosts of whom carried on business in the neighbourhood 
 of publlic works in Manchester, Bury, Bolton, and Preston. The 
 customers of such traders consisted almost solely of mill and 
 factory workers; and when these people were thrown out of 
 employment, the shopkeepers not only lost their custom, but they 
 also lost their running accounts, and thus became involved in the 
 general ruin. Nor did that phase of the calamity end there. The 
 decreased circulation of cash in the retail trades affected wholesale 
 merchants as well, and where hundreds of thousands of spindles 
 and vast numbers of steam loom factories were quite idle, the loss 
 in payment of wages alone was ^£"135, 000 a-week. If to this sum 
 be added the falling-off in business in the trades immediately 
 dependent on the cotton manufactures, the decline of cash circula- 
 tion for that year could not have been under ten millions sterling. 
 What amount of money was lost by the owners of mills and 
 factories in course of the cotton famine has never been even 
 conjectured ; for in this world of ours there is hardly ever a single 
 thought bestowed on the misfortunes which employers of labour 
 endure by commercial reverses and dulness of trade. When 
 "bad times" set in, and stocks accumulate, the only course open 
 for the manufacturer is that of lessening production, and as a 
 natural result numbers of operatives are thus thrown idle. As a 
 
i6 
 
 general rule, the people who spent much commiseration on the 
 unemployed workmen in 1S63, never thought of the difficulties 
 that surrounded the millowner in those days of darkness. It is 
 true, that many Lancashire spinners and manufacturers were rich 
 and well able to bear all the losses which arose out of the cotton 
 famine ; but numbers of others were men in the same trade, who 
 had commenced business not long before that sad time, and were 
 still fighting their way up the hill when the American war set in, 
 and with that calamity came hosts of lesser ills, all of which bore 
 with immense pressure on the funds of struggling capitalists. The 
 peculiarity of popular feeling on some great questions is mar- 
 vellously strange ; and wonderful, indeed, is the fact, that while 
 such great efforts were made on behalf of the workpeople in those 
 times, there was scarcely a sentiment of sympathy bestowed on 
 the proprietors of mills and factories. From the month of July, 
 1862, until the end of the ensuing year, the charity of the public 
 was taxed to an extent hardly credible, and nobly did many mem- 
 bers of the monied class outside the manufacturing interest respond 
 to the calls made upon them ; but, as we have stated, the burdens 
 borne during that period by millowners — by those employers whose 
 capital was locked up in buildings and machinery — were far beyond 
 all estimate. 
 
 At the close of January, 1863, upland cotton, of a quality which, 
 eighteen months before, had been sold at gd. the pound, was quoted 
 at 24d., but even at that figure could not be had in even one- 
 fourth the supply necessary to keep the spindles in motion. Yarns 
 and goods had pretty well followed in the wake of raw material. 
 Mule twist, which in August, 1861, was quoted at i2d., sold at 
 25d. the pound; and Manchester factory-owners, who, at the 
 former noted date, were selling 39-inch calico at 8s. gd. the 36 
 yard piece, found ready sale for a similar article at 17s. 6d. the 
 piece. If a fair supply of cotton could have been had, business 
 would have gone on nearly as usual, but the scarcity of raw material 
 left millowners no other course save that of closing their concerns* 
 Hence, the operatives, from want of employment, suffered misery 
 and privation far exceeding anything that could have been con- 
 ceived on the subject. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 T was not, however, in the great seats of the cotton 
 manufacture, whether those of Lanark on the one side 
 of the Tweed, or those of Lancashire on the other, that 
 the grasp of poverty was most pinching during the extreme period 
 of the cotton famine. Hand-loom weaving forms a large source 
 of labour in the Nortli-West district of Ulster, and immense 
 quantities of muslins are produced there. At the close of i860, 
 within a ten-mile circle around Belfast, there were about 20,000 
 hands engaged in weaving, and perhaps 80,000 at work in 
 embroidering muslin. \ The wages of these people had hardly ever 
 been such as would have given them the chance of laying up any 
 surplus fund after supporting themselves ; and when the evil day 
 came, when employment was scarcely to be had, and thousands of 
 men, women, and children were unable to procure the means of 
 keeping up mere existence, the sufferings of numerous families 
 very much exceeded any degree of human wretchedness ever 
 known in Ulster." In many weaving-shops half the looms were idle ; 
 a still greater number had not a single one engaged. And even 
 those weavers who had been fortunate enough to get work rarely 
 earned more than tenpence a-day, and others toiled for sixteen 
 hours at the loom to gain the wretched income of eightpence. As 
 the Winter season set in, vast numbers of the people became 
 reduced to such a state of destitution, that, at the end of December, 
 1862, there were some families that had existed for whole days on 
 boiled cabbage, seasoned with salt ; others could not procure more 
 
i8 
 
 than one ration of Indian meal stirabout in the twenty-four hours. 
 Nor did the wants of the weavers and embroiderers end there : 
 hundreds of them were only partially clad, and in numerous cases 
 there was neither sheet nor blanket in their sleeping apartments, 
 the poor creatures being obliged to use their day-clothes as cover- 
 ing during the hours of rest. This state of suffering had gone on 
 for some time, and at length, when an approach to semi-starvation 
 had been endured, the real state of affairs became known to a few 
 persons outside those districts. Ballymacarrett weavers were re- 
 duced to the very verge of destitution ; the operatives of New- 
 townards had struggled against the inroads of want until it was 
 impossible longer to conceal it. But it was in Lisburn and its 
 neighbourhood that the cloud of distress had fallen with tire 
 greatest density, and where in every section the very aspect of the 
 people told in unmistakeable language that existence itself was 
 threatened. Reports of a serious nature had l)cen heard of the 
 want and misery endured by the operatives, and in course of the 
 Christmas week of i8j2 those reports became still more alarming. 
 During th* holidays, Mr. David Carlisle, the Lisburn agent for the 
 house of Messrs. Brown, Yates & Howat, muslin manufacturers, 
 of Glasgow, personally inspected the cottages of weavers in the 
 Maze and its immediate localities, and about the same time the 
 writer of these pages made a similar investigation respecting the 
 condition of the cotton operatives in Lisburn. The result of these 
 inquiries was to bring out a mass of evidence which proved that 
 poverty of the most intense description was all but general among 
 those poor people. A requisition, of which the following is a copy, 
 was speedily got up, and presented to the Chairman of the Town 
 Commissioners : — 
 
 "Sir, — We, the undersigned inhabitants of Lisburn, respect- 
 fully request that you will be good enough to call, at an early day, 
 a meeting of the ratepayers of this town for the purpose of con- 
 sidering the most effective mode of collecting funds tor the aid of 
 the distressed weavers of Lisburn, the Maze, and adjoining 
 districts. 
 
19 
 
 Hugh Seeds. 
 David Beatty. 
 Robert Stewart- 
 John Barbour. 
 Robert Barbour. 
 George Pelan. 
 Samuel Musgrave, M.D. 
 Michael M'Harg, M.D. 
 Henry Major. 
 George & James Bell. 
 Russell Kennedy. 
 
 William Graham. 
 Alfred Millar. 
 J. & W. Brownlee. 
 Jacob Bannister. 
 Thomas M'Creight. 
 George Thompson. 
 John Finlay. 
 Robert Cordner. 
 Lee M'Kinstry. 
 William Hanna. 
 Sam. Graham, 
 
 " Dated this 5th day of January, 1863." 
 
 Immediately after having had the requisition signed, two 
 gentlemen waited on the Town Commissioners, who were then 
 holding their usual monthly meeting in the Court-house, and 
 having presented the document, and urged the necessity for 
 prompt measures, Mr. J. J. Richardson, J.P., who, in the absence 
 of Mr. Lucas Waring, presided on the occasion, called a public 
 meeting, to be held on the following Thursday. A number of 
 large placards were afterwards printed and posted through the town 
 and neighbourhood, calling attention to the objects of the requi- 
 sitionists. The newspaper report will tell of the great necessity 
 which existed for direct action in the matter. 
 
 On Thursday, the eighth of January, 1863, at half-past 
 eleven o'clock, an influential public meeting was held in the 
 Court-house, Lisburn, for the purpose of "devising means for 
 alleviating the lamentable distress existing among the cotton 
 weavers of the above districts." There were present — J. J. 
 Richardson, J. P., T.C. ; J. W. Fulton, J.P. ; Joseph Richardson, 
 John Barbour, Robert Barbour, Samuel Barbour, Thomas Barbour, 
 James Richardson, Thomas Ward, David Beatty, Joshua Lamb, 
 James N. Richardson, John Millar, T.C. ; George Stephenson, 
 T.C. ; John Stevenson, Samuel Kennedy, T. Kennedy, Hugh 
 M'Call, T.C. ; David Carlisle, A. MiUen, George Pelan, Henry J. 
 Garrett, Redmond Jefferson, T.C. ; John Sloan, John Campbell, 
 
io 
 
 ^r.D. ; James Megarry, A. Macartney, T.C. ; T. M'Creight, John 
 Bradbury, J, Pennington, S. Musgrave, M.D. ; W. S. Darkin, 
 Robert Alistcr, INIercer Rice, Rev. H. Hodson, Rev. Mr. Franks, 
 Rev. W. Hall, Rev. D. J. Clarke, Rev. E. Best, Arthur Gamble, 
 James Boyd, William Brownlee, J. Kane, William Hanna, J. 
 Mussen, William Young, Robert Mulholland, Wm. Johnston, 
 Wellington Young, George Thonii)son, David Mack, T.C., John 
 M'Clure, George Wilson, jun., and John Finlay. 
 
 Mr. Ge(3RGE Stephenson, Solicilor, moved that Jonathan 
 Joseph Richardson, Esq., J. P, take the chair. 
 
 Mr. Millar seconded the motion. 
 
 Having taken his seat as president, 
 
 Mr. Richardson said, that although he was only filling the 
 place of Mr. Lucas Waring, he had great pleasure in doing so. A 
 requisition, signed by several of the influential inhabitants, had 
 been laid before the Town Commissioners on the previons Mon- 
 day, but as the Chairman could not attend, he (Mr. R.) had called 
 this meeting. Most of those present were aware of its object; he 
 would, however, read the memorial as addressed to the Chief of 
 the Town Council. Having done so, the Chairman, in continu- 
 ation, said he felt highly honoured in being called on to preside 
 at what was really a great occasion, the object of which was the 
 good work of making arrangements to assist a most deserving 
 body of suffering people. He had heard much of their poverty 
 and privation ; but further information on the subject led him to 
 say that all he had been told about it fell far short of the reality. 
 
 Mr. M'Call, secretary pro tem.^ said that as soon as arrange- 
 ments had been made for holding the meeting on that day, he had 
 got circulars printed and addressed to the principal gentry, 
 merchants, and traders, requesting them to come forward and 
 assist in the proposed work of charity. In addition to such 
 notices, large posters had been extensively distributed in the town 
 an J neighbourhood, and he was happy to see so many friends of 
 philanthropy had responded to the call. He would beg to read 
 letters of apology he had received from some gentlemen who were 
 unable to attend : 
 
it 
 
 " Lisburn, January S, '63. 
 "Sir, — I regret mucli that business of importance will prevent my being 
 present at the meeting for the relief of the distressed weavers, &c. The object 
 is a very laudable one, and, I have no doubt, will be warmly taken up by the 
 inhabitants of the town. For some time past the want of employment has 
 been keenly felt by the poorer classes, especially among those who have 
 hitherto gained a livelihood by weaving. In order, therefore, to alleviate, in 
 some degree, their distress, large numbers of those who would otherwise have 
 been destitute of any means of support, have daily, for some time past, been 
 employed, on the part of Lord Hertford, in sub-soiling, draining, and other 
 useful work in the neighbourhood of the town. Having ascertained of late that 
 the greatest amount of distress lay in the Maze and Broomhedge districts, 
 similar works have been commenced in those districts also, on the understand- 
 ing that only those who are in real distress shall be employed; and, feeling 
 convinced that reproductive works such as I have mentioned will ultimately 
 be much better calculated to relieve distress than any other mode that may be 
 devised, I have adopted this course of 'giving employment.' There may be 
 certain cases, however, such as families consisting of young children unable to 
 work where pecuniary relief may be desirable ; and, as I presume a subscrip- 
 tion list will be opened after the meeting for this purpose by those who cannot 
 give employment such as I have named, I shall be obliged by your adding 
 ;^5 to that list on my own private account. Hoping that the meeting will be 
 a success, and that a large sum will be raised, I am, Sir, 
 " Your very obedient servant, 
 
 "Walter T. Stannus. 
 "The Chairman of the Lisburn Relief Meeting." 
 
 "Lisburn, January 7, l86j. 
 
 "My Dear Sir, — I have received your circular, and I regret I cannot 
 attend your meeting to-morrow without great inconvenience ; but I shall be 
 happy to assist the object in any way in my power. 
 
 " I rode out to Broomhedge the other day, and found the reports of the 
 distress in that district were only too '.rue. Something has already been done 
 to afford employment to small tenants there, whether such tenants be weavers 
 or no. I shall, however, be only too happy to subscribe to any fund which 
 may be formed 
 
 "There appears to be some reduction of the distress in Lancashire ; and 
 if the Relief Committee there would only carry out the intentions of the sub- 
 scribers — who would be glad to see their money spent where distress could be 
 most relieved — if they would send over to this neighbourhood some of the 
 
 superfluous cash. — Very faithfully yours, 
 
 *'T. R. Stan.nus. 
 "Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
23 
 
 "Glcnmoic, Lisburn, January S, 1S63. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I rcgrol not being able to attend the meeting to-day, to be 
 held in the Court-house, to colleet funds to aid tlie distressed weavers in the 
 neiglibourhood of Lisburn. 
 
 " I need not say that I heartily concur in the object of the meeting, and 
 as soon as I know the result I will tender my subscription. It will be desirable 
 not to limit yourselves to the weavers only, as I believe there is great distress 
 in the labouring classes. The weather being so very severe, out-door work is 
 greatly retarded. 
 
 " The operatives of Glcnmore Bleachworks .and Millworks have been at 
 
 work unsolicited, and will hand in a subscription of not less than /^l^ 19s 8d, 
 
 may be more. — Wishing that you may have a successful meeting, I am, yours, 
 
 truly. 
 
 "J. Richardson. 
 " Mr. Hugh M'Call." 
 
 " Derrievolgie, January, 1863. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, — I regret very much my state of health will prevent me 
 
 from attending your meeting to-morrow on behalf of the poor weavers of our 
 
 locality. I shall, however, have much pleasure in contributing my mite, with 
 
 others, when called on, as I believe these poor people are in very great distress 
 
 and poverty, occasioned by the want of employment. — I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 yours very truly, 
 
 "W. Gregg. 
 •'Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
 Lambeg, 81I1 January, 1863. 
 " My Dear Sir, — I regret that my business engagements will not allow 
 me to attend the meeting to-day in aid of the distressed weavers ; but when a 
 subscription list is opened, I shall be glad to contribute towards their relief. 
 I remain, very truly ours, 
 
 "John Richardson. 
 "II. M'Call, Esq." 
 
 The letters having been read, 
 
 Mr. James Megarry, of Broomliedge, rose to move the first 
 resolution. He said he had been requested to say a few words as 
 to the state of the weavers in his locality, and for that purpose, and 
 since he came into that Court-house, a paper had been put into 
 his hands on which he was rather unprepared to speak. It was 
 
23 
 
 only of necessity, from the very sad state of the country, that he 
 came there that morning. They had heard a great deal about the 
 Lancashire distress, and of the efforts that had been made to 
 reheve it; but he beUeved that the people of their own neighbour- 
 hood at the present time were in a more pitiable condition than 
 even the operatives referred to. He believed there were many 
 men in the Maze and Broomhedge districts who, if they did not 
 get immediate assistance, would be forced to take it where they 
 could get it, or death must be the result. They had borne all 
 patiently. There was not another district in Ireland, or England 
 either, in which the people could have borne their distress in the 
 same way while almost starving; and it was the last thing they 
 would do to ask assistance. Some of the children of these poor 
 parents would touch the feelings of the most careless. The 
 speaker concluded by moving : — " That while we admire the efforts 
 that have been made in this country to relieve the distress in 
 Lancashire, we believe that vast numbers of the cotton weavers in 
 our neighbourhood require prompt and effective assistance." 
 
 Mr. M'Call, in seconding the resolution, said that few events 
 had occurred during the present century \vhich demanded so much 
 attention and excited so much public sympathy, not only among 
 those connected with the cotton trade, but among all other classes, 
 as the distress that had been brought on certain parts of the 
 kingdom by the war in America. He was quite sure that Eng- 
 land never supposed the day would come when her own land — 
 the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world — would 
 have in its midst such intense suffering and poverty as that which 
 then existed throughout her cotton districts. In the recently 
 prosperous county of Lancaster and its environs, upwards of 
 400,000 people had been thrown idle by the dearth and famine 
 of raw cotton, and these sufferers for months past were receiving 
 alms at the rate of 2/- per head per week for every man, woman, 
 and child connected with the trade. It was highly gratifying to 
 think of the munificent sums that had been sent from nearly all 
 parts of the world in aid of the Lancashire operatives, and that 
 Ireland too had not been slow in forwarding her gifts to the same 
 
24 
 
 treasury ; but he thon!:;lit it strange that amid the wide-spread 
 sympathy so aroused not a single word had yet been said about 
 the distress and calamity that had fallen on the cotton operatives 
 in their own neighbourhood. (Hear.) He was aware that many 
 persons who should know more than they appear to do of the 
 industrial history of their country, indulged in the idea that the 
 cotton manufacture of the United Kingdom was almost confined 
 to Lancashire and T^anark. The fact, however, was, that within a 
 circle of ten or twelve miles around Lisburn, there existed a 
 greater number of hand-loom weavers than could be found in 
 either Manchester, Bolton, or Glasgow ; but the wages earned by 
 Irish weavers, even in the best times, were for under those re- 
 alized by the English or Scotch operatives. No other class of 
 workmen in the kingdom were so easily pleased in the matter of 
 wages as the weavers of the North of Ireland. Their wants were 
 few and tlieir habits simple ; indeed a state of things which an 
 English operative could only look upon as that of sheer poverty 
 would be considered by an Ulster hand-loom weaver as a condi- 
 tion of comparative comfort. He did not exaggerate when he 
 stated that a Lancashire man would eat up in a single day an 
 entire week's earnings of a Down or Antrim weaver. (Laughter.) 
 Just before coming to the meeting he had read in the Ashton 
 Observer of a young girl, a weaver, who lamented over her distress 
 in being obliged to work inferior Surat cotton, and to eat Indian 
 meal stirabout for dinner. Some of the people whose houses 
 he had visited that morning, would be exceedingly glad to get em- 
 ployment in weaving any material, whether Surat or American 
 cotton, and as for food they would be quite satisfied with a sufifi- 
 cient supply of India meal, but of that article they had not more 
 than half the quantity requisite to support life. He had consider- 
 able experience of the condition of hand-loom operatives in and 
 around Lisburn, and had recently visited their houses and weaving 
 shops, and the state of some of these would be hardly credited. 
 Not only were the unemployed in an almost destitute condition, 
 but many of the employed were little better off. Very few of 
 these men were able to earn more than 3s 6d in the week, and 
 
25 
 
 out of that small sum they had to support a family. One poor 
 fellow with a wife and four children, could only earn by toiling at 
 the loom for fifteen hours a day, the sum of 4/- a week. That in- 
 come was at the rate of eightpence a head for the weekly support 
 of his family. According to the published accounts, the unem- 
 ployed operatives of Lancashire were paid by the relief committee 
 two shillings a week for each member of their households. The 
 hand-loom weavers of Down and Antrim had not been reduced 
 to their present state of destitution by any acts of their own ; they 
 were quite willing to work, but labour could not be had. He 
 knew many of those people who, in point of ingenuity and skill, 
 were far beyond any other class of working men ; yet those same 
 weavers were not only in poverty, but were literally starving. 
 Fortunately for many families, the flax spinning trade had been 
 brisk, and gave work to vast multitudes of people. He did not 
 know what the result of the existing crisis in the cotton trade 
 would have been in their own locaUty but for the extra employ- 
 ment given under the tall chimneys of Messrs. Stewart & Sons, 
 Mr, J. J. Richa'-dson, and Messrs. William Barbour & Sons. (Ap- 
 plause.) The experience of those trying times should bind together 
 in closer relationship the people engaged in the linen and cotton 
 trades of Ulster. After some further allusions to the existing 
 crisis, Mr. M'Call concluded by begging leave to second the 
 resolution proposed by Mr. Megarry. 
 
 Carried unanimously. 
 
 Mr. David Beatty rose and said the resolution that had been 
 placed in his hands referred to financial affairs. Probably the 
 Secretary thought he was more cognisant of these matters because 
 of his having known so much about the humble people whom he 
 regretted to find in such a condition. He was one of the first 
 persons who conversed with Mr. M'Call and his neighbour, Mr. 
 Carlisle, on the subject ; and rejoiced that he had been one of the 
 earliest to bring the question before his fellow-townsmen. Very 
 alarming reports had been heard from Broomhedge and the Maze 
 by gentlemen in whom he could place the utmost reliance. There 
 were there honest men, with honest hearts, and those poor weavers 
 
26 
 
 would live on turnips rather than proclaim their poverty ; but the 
 day of reliel had dawned, and he felt happy to sse so many of his 
 townsmen coming forward in such an honourable cause, and a 
 Richardson in the chair. (Hear, hear.) The Richardson family, 
 one and all, had ever been the supporters of the humbler classes, 
 and they were always ready and willing to move in any good work 
 that was found necessary in the neighbourhood. But, with every 
 respect to those gentlemen, there were others who were liberal 
 employers too ; and every one who was present must have been 
 delighted to hear the friendly spirit in wjiich the letters of apology 
 are couched from those who are ready with their subscriptions 
 when this meeting is over. Before submitting the resolution, he 
 wished to mention a matter which came under his notice. He 
 happened to be for a short time in Buxton in October last, and 
 having met with some gentlemen from Manchester, he asked them 
 if the distress was as severe as the local papers represented it to 
 be, and if it were extending in the district. They said, in answer 
 to his inquiries, that they had a good right to know all about it — ■ 
 that they were ready to confirm the statements made in the news- 
 papers, and every statement he had read were confirmed by those 
 gentlemen. On Friday, when in Belfast, he had met with one of 
 these gentlemen, who was on his way to Dublin, and asked him 
 how matters stood at present in Manchester and district, and he 
 replied that the distress was decreasing. He also said, if an 
 application was made from their neighbourhood, that the manu- 
 facturers would, perhaps, contribute largely to their funds. He 
 was very happy to see that so large a number of his fellow townsmen 
 had come forward at the request of Mr. M'Call ; and he was 
 no less glad to see there so many of the operatives, who thus find 
 they are sympathised with. There Avere many present who had 
 prepared their pockets to show that sympathy. These poor men 
 had many claims upon them, and he only wished that his circum- 
 stances would enable him to give more liberally than he intended 
 to so good a cause. He would, therefore, request the Secretary 
 to set down his name for five pounds. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Beatty 
 then proposed the resolution, which was as follows : — " That a 
 
27 
 
 subscription list be immediately opened, and that a committtee 
 be appointed, with Mr. Millar as Treasurer and Mr. M'Call as 
 Secretary, to carry out the objects of this meeting." 
 
 Mr. John D. Barbour had very great pleasure in rising to 
 second the resolution (proposed by Mr. Beatty. Under any 
 circumstances, he should feel gratified in taking part in a public 
 meeting in Lisburn, but he felt especially so in the present case. 
 He did not recollect the time, but many oi those around him 
 could look back to the period when the state of the trade enabled 
 the cotton weavers to earn a rate of wages much above that of 
 most other operatives. In the present position of that manufacture 
 the whole amount of the cotton weaver's earnings would not 
 procure the merest necessaries of hfe. With those and all other 
 details connected vith the terrible ordeal through which the poor 
 people had then to make way, placed fully before the wealthier 
 classes, he had no doubt there would be very little difficulty in 
 getting up a large subscription list. From his own comparatively 
 limited idea of the cotton manufacture, he was not able to form a 
 correct opinion of the real income of a cotton weaver in full work ; 
 but from what he had read in one of the Belfast papers, that full 
 grown men could not earn more than five shillings per week, 
 whilst some weavers only made three, it was evident then that, 
 when men in employment could only realise about one- third the 
 rate of wages made in other trades, even the poor weavers who 
 had full work must be in a very sad condition, whilst those who 
 were idle must have to battle against the very extreme of poverty. 
 He would not go further into the question, as there were other 
 gentlemen to address the meeting, but conclude again by stating 
 that he had great pleasure in seconding the resolution proposed 
 by Mr. Beatty. 
 
 The resolution was carried nem con. 
 
 Mr. George Pelan said he begged to mention that the Lord 
 Provost of Glasgow had some time before made an application on 
 behalf of the unemployed weavers of that city for a portion of 
 ;^8o,ooo which had been subscribed towards the Indian famine 
 reUef, and which had not been required for that purpose. He felt 
 
28 
 
 assured that if tlie sad state of destitution to which a large propor- 
 tion of the working ranks around them had been reduced by the 
 cotton fomine were rightly rei)resented to the proper authorities, 
 some portion of the unappropriated fund would be allocated to 
 Lisburn. It might be well, therefore, for the committee to be 
 appointed that day to act on the suggestion he had thrown out. 
 
 Mr. J. D. Barbour hoped that the Secretary would take a note 
 of Mr. Pelan's suggestion. It was really most important, when so 
 much Jistress had fallen on the people around their own doors 
 that every exertion should be made to add to the means of giving 
 relief. 
 
 Rev. E. Franks, a Wesleyan minister stationed at the Maze, 
 addressed the meeting at some length on scenes of distress which 
 had come under his own notice, and which he depicted with such 
 graphic power as to elicit the entire sympathy of every person 
 present. He spoke of the cotton weavers of the district as a class 
 of highly moral men, and second to none with whom he had ever 
 before come in contact. He had been in England for a con- 
 siderable time, and he knew much of the working ranks in that 
 country, and he could say that the people of the Maze were those 
 of which any nation might well be proud. 
 
 Captain Ward said that since he had entered the room a 
 resolution had been placed in his hands, which he would read : — 
 "That a letter be wiitten to the Marquis of Hertford, calling his 
 attention to the distress existing here at present, and respectfully 
 soliciting his lordship's aid on behalf of the poor weavers in 
 Lisburn and its vicinity." He said there was no question but the 
 greatest distress prevailed amongst them at the present time. 
 Indeed he himself had no idea until that moment that the calamity 
 was so wide-spread, but he felt certain that every exertion would 
 then be made to alleviate the suffering. So far as related to the 
 immediate object of the resolution he held in his hand, he had no 
 doubt of its success. The Manpiis of Hertford and his fore- 
 fathers had ever been kind and considerate, as well as benevolent 
 landlords ; and he felt assured that a letter written in accordance 
 with that resolution would meet from his lordship such a response, 
 
29 
 
 directly or indirectly through his worthy agent, as would satisfy 
 the wishes of everyone present, and largely add to whatever funds 
 might be raised for the aid of distress in Lisburn and the 
 neighbourhood. He, therefore, begged to propose the resolution ; 
 and he could not better evidence his own sympathy with the great 
 object in hand than by asking the Secretary to add his name to 
 the list for a subscription of twenty pounds (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. John Millar said that, in coming forward to second the 
 resolution which had been so well introduced by Captain Ward, 
 he would refer to an erronious opinion which had gained ground 
 in some quarters. It had been stated, in relation to the distress 
 prevailing in their midst, that only those who had been immedi- 
 ately benefitted by the cotton trade should be called upon to 
 contribute towards the support of the suffering weavers, and that 
 the lords of the soil should not be solicited to aid in the relief. 
 This was, at least, a very narrow-minded view of the question, and 
 totally opposed to the right reading of a landlord's duties. The 
 Poor Law Act told the true state of affairs. If in the present case 
 that law was extended, as it might be, and that the rates were 
 made amenable to the support of the poor weavers, the local 
 owners of the soil would have to contribute half the total amount 
 of their maintenance. Seeing, however, the noble efforts that had 
 been made to ward off the distress in Lancashire, and how liberally 
 the landlords of that portion of England had aided in the same 
 cause, he nad no doubt that the owner of the Hertford property 
 would display equal benevolence towards poor weavers, most of 
 whom had been born and brought up on his estate, He concluded 
 by seconding the resolution. 
 
 This motion was also carried unanimously. 
 
 Mr, James N. Richardson, of Lissue, said that the resolution 
 calling Lord Hertford's attention to the weavers should not be 
 confined to that class of workpeople. He would suggest that 
 the letter about to be written to the landlord of the great estate 
 on which they stood should be so worded as to request Lord 
 Hertford's support on behalf of poor weavers and other suffering 
 people. Within the last week a greater number of men and 
 
30 
 
 women had called on him for assistance than he had ever known 
 seek aid. 
 
 Mr. JosFPH Richardson, of Springfield, stated that he was 
 just about to make an observation to the same effect. In his 
 neighbourhood the farm labourers were nearly as badly off, and 
 some of them quite as destitute as the cotton weavers. He would 
 therefore propose that an alteration be made in the resolution, 
 and that it should read " On behalf of the cotton weavers and 
 others." 
 
 Mr. Joshua Lamb was also of opinion that the resolution 
 should be altered, and the rccpiired change made. 
 
 The Chairman put the amendment proposed, and it was at 
 once agreed to. 
 
 Mr. M'Call said it had been suggested that a deputation 
 should be sent over to Glasgow for the purpose of giving the 
 heads of houses in that city some corjeet data relative to the 
 destitution existing in and around Lisburn. He lelt assured that 
 those firms which, though their agents had been giving out muslin 
 webs to be woven in that neighbourhood, would aid any Relief 
 committee that might be formed that day in warding oft the effects 
 of the cotton famine. The Glasgow manufacturers had long been 
 large employers of labour at the loom, but much of that demand 
 for hands had ceased. One firm that some time before kept 
 2,000 people engaged, did not then employ above 200, and 
 another house that formerly gave work to 1,000 weavers, had not 
 a tithe of that number employed. In the mean time, however, 
 and whether or no any action be taken in the matter, he would 
 suggest that it might be well to consider the best mode of 
 alleviating the cases of distress so well known to some of those 
 present. Many of the sufferers were weavers in the employment 
 of these manufacturers, and he felt sure, if applied to, they would 
 contribute to the fund. He wished to know the best means of 
 bringing the cases before these gentlemen. As to what local 
 landlordism had done he was glad to learn that Loid Downshire, 
 with his usual liberality, had given ^^50 to the Fund raised for the 
 weavers in the neighbourhood of the Maze. But that course of 
 
31 
 
 action was only in accordance with his Lordship's character as a 
 resident landowner. In 1847, when the dearth and destitution 
 prostrated so many people on his property, the Marquis contri- 
 buted to their support more than the total sum given for a like 
 purpose by any half dozen of the other owners of land in Ulster. 
 
 Mr. Beatty remarked that, in 1847, Lord Downshirehad con- 
 tributed by gifts of food and sums of money, about ;^2o,ooo 
 towards the relief of the poor people on his estate. 
 
 Mr. David Carlisle in reply to what had been stated by 
 Mr. M'Call, relative to the proposed appeal to the cotton manu- 
 facturers of Glasgow, said he was sure if letters were written them, 
 a liberal response would be the result. He was gratified to say 
 he had that morning received from the house for whicli he was 
 agent, an order to get a number of webs woven, which for a time 
 at least would employ 300 people. 
 
 Mr. Robert Allister said his feeling was quite in favour of 
 the poor cotton weavers, for they had suffered a great deal of 
 distress. It was sixteen or seventeen years since he became 
 agent for parties in Glasgow, and during the intermediate period 
 the power-loom had to a large extent displaced the hand-loom. 
 Some six or seven years ago he employed 500 or 600 weavers, 
 but most of such work was now done by steam power. 
 
 The Chairman said he had listened with great pleasure to 
 the different speakers, and in reference to the present state of 
 affairs, he would add that the distress in Lancashire had been 
 great. It was a county in which the spinning of cotton had been 
 more extensive than in any other part of the world ; and the war 
 in America had prostrated it to a lamentable extent. On behalf 
 of the suffering people an appeal had been made to the whole of 
 the United Kingdom, and to most parts of the civilised world. 
 That appeal, he was glad to say, had been very generously and 
 nobly met. A nobleman, whose name he should mention — Lord 
 Derby — had he believed, in the first instance, subscribed;^ 1,000 — 
 his last subscription was ;^5,ooo. He hoped the Marquis of 
 Hertford would read over the proceedings of that day ; and he 
 trusted that, having due reference to his position — having regard 
 
3« 
 
 to the large stewardsliip which he possessed, and the claims upon 
 him as a landlord, he would take Lord Derby as his example, and 
 come forward in the manly wortli of that noble house under whose 
 arms he now stood. [The heraldic insignia of tlie family of Hertford 
 is placed above the bench in the Lisburn court-house, and just 
 over the seat occupied by the chairman.] He trusted that Lord 
 Hertford would not forget the poor people on his own property, 
 now suffering so much from compulsory idleness, and that towards 
 their relief fund he would contribute in a manner worthy the 
 proprietor of these broad demesnes. 
 
 Mr. Lamr proceeded to explain to the meeting a regular 
 course of relief which he had conducted for some days past in 
 his district. He had given temporary relief to no less than one 
 hundred families. 
 
 Rev. Hartley Hodson wished to say a few words. He had 
 only that moment returned to town, having been in the country 
 on special business, and but for having had that duty on liand he 
 would have been among the earliest ot those assembled at the 
 commencement of the meeting. Many of the gentlemen present 
 were aware that having been promoted to a rectory in a distant 
 part of the county, his immediate connection with Lisburn, as 
 one of its pastors, would very soon cease ; but the interest he felt 
 in his dear friends, the people of the town in which he had spent 
 90 many happy days, would only end with his life. (Applause.) He 
 felt rejoiced in stating that, during his long period of labour 
 among them, he had experienced much kindly feeling from all 
 sects of people, and it gladdened his heart to see there that day 
 the representatives of so many creeds, met for the noble purpose 
 of benevolence. Lisburn had always exhibited the utmost sym-' 
 pathy with distress, and had come forward nobly and liberally to 
 respond to calls from other places, and although not the first time 
 they had brought out the influence and property of tlieir good 
 town to meet that occasion. He had only to say that the Secre- 
 tary might put his name down for ten pounds. He might add 
 to his dear friends that, no matter what part of the world his future 
 lot should be cast, or wherever he might reside, there never should 
 
33 
 
 be destitution affecting the community of Lisburn in which his 
 heart, pocket, and hand would not be always open. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. J. W. Fulton, J. P., said it was only that morning he had 
 received a notice to attend that meeting. He regretted to observe, 
 during the time he had stood in this Courthouse, that there seemed 
 to be some desire to set one landlord above another. (No, no.) 
 By such a course they would make the meeting a local one, and that 
 would not further the cause of charity. The distress in the districts 
 around them had been created by the same cause as that in 
 Lancashire — the Cotton Famine — and it appeared to him that 
 that was the ground on which they should apply for aid at a 
 distance. The people themselves had nothing to do with the 
 cause of it. If they had anything to do with it, then the subscrip- 
 tions should be of an entirely local character. He was not 
 connected, as was very well known, nor had he anything to do, 
 with either the Hertforil or the Downshire estate, and he had 
 simply came there as a landed proprietor to assist in alleviating 
 the distress. He had heard since he came into town that efforts 
 had been made by Lord Hertford, through his agent, to contribute 
 towards the assistance of some farm labourers, which proved they 
 were not backward in relieving want; but the distress they had then 
 met to consider was that caused by the Cotton Famine. This was 
 the ground which enabled thtm to apply to the richer classes in 
 England for relief — upon the ground that the workmen here who 
 were thrown out of work were similarly circumstanced to those in 
 Lancashire. The Earl of Derby, to whom reference had already 
 been made, always kept great numbers of the labouring ranks in 
 employment at his seat at Knowsley ; but, besides doing so, his 
 Lordship had contributed six thousand pounds to the Relief 
 Fund. He felt certain, therefore, that the facts of the distress 
 then existing in Lisburn had only to be made known to Lord 
 Hertford in order to secure his Lordship's cooperation in the 
 work. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Fulton's speech, it was arranged that 
 the following gentlemen should constitute the Committee of 
 Management : — Dr. Musgrave, Dr. Campbell, J. N. Richardson, 
 
34 
 
 David Beatty, John Sloan, John Bradbury, David Carlisle, James 
 Megarry, Joseph Richardson, Bennett Mcgarry, George Pelan, 
 J. J. Richardson, Redmond Jefferson, Captain Bolton, Joseph 
 Shaw, the Rev. Hartley Hodson, Rev. M. M'Kay, and Joshua 
 Lamb, together with the Treasurer and Secretary. 
 
 A subscription list was then opened, and a very handsome total 
 .was made up as the contributions of the gentlemen present. 
 
 When all the business part of the proceedings had been con- 
 cluded, Mr. Fulton, J. P., proposed, and Mr. Redmond Jefferson 
 seconded, the following resolution: — "That we present our hearty 
 thanks to the Chairman for his kindness in presiding over the 
 meeting of this day, and also for the interest he has ever taken in 
 the well-being of the working ranks." 
 
 Mr. J. J. Richardson acknowledged the compliment in brief 
 terms, and the proceedings terminated. 
 
 In couise of the forenoon some hundreds of people con- 
 nected with the cotton trade had assembled on the street, opposite 
 the Court-house, and as the meeting dispersed, its members were 
 loudly cheered. 
 
CHAPTER in. 
 
 MMEDIATELY after the conclusion of the public 
 meeting, the newly-appointed Committee assembled to 
 consider some matters that required direct attention, 
 and one of these was that of appointing J. J. Richardson, J. P., as 
 President. It was also arranged that in all meetings five should 
 form a quorum ; and, as many of the families of weavers required 
 immediate assistance, it was ordered that advertisements should be 
 published in the Belfast newspapers for twenty tons of Indian 
 meal, five tons of oatmeal, and ten tons of coal. 
 
 In reference to a proposed purchase of blankets suited to the 
 wants of the people, Mr. Richardson, of Springfield, said he could 
 procure a lot of^say fifty pairs — from a Yorkshire manufacturer 
 on terms much cheaper than ordinary rates. The order was then 
 given to Mr. R., with a request to him that the goods should be 
 delivered in course of the ensuing week. 
 
 No time was lost in commencing the innmediate work of 
 charity, and therefore in the course of the afternoon of that day, 
 Mr. Alfred Millar and Mr. David Carlile visited tlie houses and 
 workshops of some of the most distressed people, and gave each 
 family an order for rations of food and fuel. A large number 
 of the unemployed were also attended to, and temporary lelief 
 given to them at a house appropriated for that purpose. The 
 announcements which appeared in the papers next day relative 
 to the extent of distress that prevailed among the weavers 
 resident in the cotton manufacturing districts in and around 
 Lisburn, aroused intense interest. Nearly four hundred pounds 
 
36 
 
 Were subscribed at the meeting, and before the ei>d of the 
 week hxrge additions had been made to llie sum total handed 
 over to the Treasurer. 
 
 After the publication of the advertisements for contracts, several 
 arrangements were entered into for food and fuel, the distress being 
 so great that it became necessary to set about alleviating the wants 
 of the people at once, and for that purpose ten tons of Scotch coal 
 (hard Ayr) were purchased from Mr. Millar at 13s a ton. He 
 also supplied (as required) ten tons of white and yellow Indian 
 meal at ^8 7s 6d and ;j^6 15s the ton, as in quality. Mr. James 
 Crossan arranged to deliver five tons of Indian meal at ;^8, and 
 the Messrs. Brownlee agreed to give the Relief Committee five 
 tons yellow meal at j[ji 13s gd the ton. Besides these supplier, 
 there were five tons of prime oatmeal taken from Mr. Millar at 
 j[^\x 15s the ton. Mr. Macartney offered to weigh out Indian 
 meal at one shilling a stone, and on such terms five tons were 
 contracted for. 
 
 It has been stated that circulars requesting attendance at the 
 meeting were sent to the gentry, clergy, and other inhabitants of 
 Lisburn and its neighbourhood. On the day succeeding that of 
 the public meeting, the Secretary had the following letter from the 
 Rev. Robert Lindsay, curate of the Cathedral : — 
 
 " Lisburn, January 9th, 1 863. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, — I am very sorry lliat I was unavoidably prevented 
 from attending the meeting held yesterday in the Court-house, relative to the 
 distress among tlie cotton weavers. It would have given me great pleasure to 
 take part in the good woak, but I had special duties to look after which could 
 not be set aside. From personal experience going in and out in my daily 
 visitings of the homes of the poor, I know that great destitution exists at pre- 
 sent, as well in town as in the adjoining districts. With all their sufferings I 
 can heartily sympathise, and feeling assured of success in this great work which 
 has been so auspiciously connnenced. I beg to enclose one pound to help it 
 onward. — Yours very truly, 
 
 "Robert Lindsay. 
 
 "Hugh M'Call, Esq," 
 
 Before the close of the week ending January 10, the Committee 
 appointed to carry out the system of distribution was busy at work, 
 
37 
 
 a wide district of country, which included a circuit of several miles 
 around Lisburn, was divided into districts, and sub-committees 
 were elected in each locality to act under the guidance of the 
 Central Committee. It was arranged that the members should 
 meet every Tuesday for the dispatch of the business of all the 
 districts, and on each Saturday afternoon a Special Committee sat 
 for the purpose of managing the distribution in lisburn and its 
 immediate vicinity. Besides these committees, there was a Ladies' 
 Convention that met twice a week, and the members of which 
 attended to the purchase of clothing, getting inside wearables made 
 up, and attending to their distribution among the female portion 
 of the cotton workers. The following are the names of this com- 
 mittee: — The Hon. Mrs. Stannus, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. Whitla, 
 Mrs. Pim, Miss Whitla, Miss Malcolmson, Miss Stewart, Miss M. 
 Stewart, and Miss Campbell. 
 
 According to a resolution passed in Committee, letters soliciting 
 aid were written to those manufacturers in Scotland who had agents 
 employed in giving out work to weavers in this country. Appli- 
 cation was also made for assistance to the muslin manufacturers of 
 Belfast, as well as to leading merchants of that town; but first in the 
 list of appeals was that sent to the Lord of the soil. The following 
 is a copy of the letter: — 
 
 "Lisburn, January 13th, 1863. 
 " My Lord, — The Committee appointed to manage the fund for the relief 
 of the distressed cotton weavers and others in this town and its neighbourhood, 
 have desired that I should respectfully call your Lordship's attention to the 
 subject. You may be aware that the dearth and scarcity of cotton have brought 
 the trade across the Channel to a state of almost general stagnation. But 
 probably your Lordship does not know that in this neighbourhood several 
 hundreds of people, who are quite dependent for their living on the cotton 
 manufacture, have been thrown idle. The result has been that many hand* 
 loom weavers and their families are now suffering the extreme of poverty. In 
 the Northern Whig and News- Letter, copies of each of which I take the liberty 
 of sending your Lordship, you will find some general detail of the wide-spread 
 Calamity created by this sad visitation. In the hope, then, that you will he good 
 cnougli to assist us in carrying on the work of benevolence at this time of 
 distress, the Committee confidently appeal to your generosity. The greater 
 portion of the jjcople now on the relief list were burn and brought up on the 
 
38 
 
 Hertford citatf. Ililhurtu tlicy have uplield by llieir own industry the noble 
 principles of self-reliance, and only seek for aid wlien forced to it by stern 
 necessity. I have the honour to be, my Lord, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 "To the Most Honourable, Secretary of Committee. 
 
 The Marquis of IIektford, K.G., 
 Bagatelle, Paris." 
 
 A few days after ihe first meeting was held in Lisburn for the 
 formalion of the Rehef Coniniittee, Mr, James N. Richardson 
 called on the Secretary to say that he thought his friends Messrs. 
 Richardson, Spence, & Co., of Liverpool, if applied to for that 
 purpose, would be able to assist in collecting funds in their town. 
 The following letter was accordingly written and sent off to the 
 firm referred lo by that gentleman: — 
 
 "COTTON OPERATIVES' RELIEF FUND. 
 
 " Lisburn, January 20, 1S63. 
 "MESSRS. RICHARDSON, SPiiNCE, & CO., LIVERPOOL. 
 
 "Gentlemen, — A member of our Committee, Mr. J. N. Richardson, of 
 Lissue, h.inded me this morning a letter addressed to your firm by the Cliair- 
 man of the Liverpool Committee of the International Relief Association, 
 requesting some details relative to the state of the cotton operatives of this 
 country. 
 
 " You are, perhaps, aware that for nearly forty years past, in this section 
 of Ulster, the hand-loom department of the cotton trade has been extending, 
 and is now far ahead of most other sources of employment, the Glasgow manu- 
 facturers having nearly all their plain and fancy muslins made and embroidered 
 in this and the next county. 
 
 " The causes which have produced such distress in Lancashire have acted 
 with still greater severity on our poor operatives, who were only able, in the 
 best times, to earn bare subsistence, and consequently, when the collapse came, 
 they had no reset vc funds to fall back upon. As the dulncss of trade has 
 existed for at least eighteen months, the condition of hosts of our people can 
 hardly be conceived. Many of the families to whom relief was given to-day are 
 without a single article of bedclothing. Some were unable, from want of 
 means, to kindle a fire in their miserable houses for twenty-four hours ; others 
 had not had food for a similar period. Hundreds of the weavers in Lisburn 
 and neighbourhood have not even good dry straw to sleep on ; not one in four 
 has any covering, save, perhaps, an old quilt. Even the weavers in work 
 
59 
 
 cannot earn above 7s a week on the best class of webs, while in ordinary in* 
 stances the earnings do not exceed a net amount of 3s a week (or the support, 
 in many cases, of a whole family. The hand-loom cotton weavers — men and 
 boys— and the sewed muslin workers — women and girls — number about 
 100,000, Lisburn and its districts, taking a ten-mile circuit, have long been 
 the principal seats of the hand-loom cotton manufacture — in fact, nearly the 
 whole of the goods made by hand for the Glasgow houses and all those pro- 
 duced for Belfast manufacturers, were made in this locality. 
 
 " As we do not recognise out-door relief in Ireland, the Poor-law only 
 meets those cases which it finds inside the walls of the workhouse In general, 
 what is called the workhouse test has been found to do well in Ulster, as, 
 except in times like the present, the Poor-law system is quite equal to the re- 
 quirements ; and, only in 1837, when money was raised for the cotton weavers, 
 and in 1847, when soup-kitchens were erected in Lisburn for the general poor, 
 there has been any necessity for outside aid. 
 
 " In the Lisburn division of our union the poor rate during the past year 
 was Is 2d to the pound. The next rating will be higher, as the number of 
 paupers at present in the workhouse is about one-third more than that of 
 January, 1S62, and nearly twice the number of January, i860. Still, in pro- 
 portion to the total population of the union, the ratio of pauperism as it exists 
 in the workhouse, is small, being little above 500 in a gross census of 70,000 
 persons. In this part of the country, however, the number of people who take 
 refuge in the workhouse cannot be considered as correct data of the poverty 
 that exists outside, many people preferring to live in their little habitations and 
 to subsist on half food, and that food of a very inferior description, rather than 
 go into the workhouse ; and, had it it not been for the exertions recently 
 made by the resident gentry, farmers, and others, many weavers and their 
 families would have died of sheer starvation — I am, gentlemen, truly yours, 
 
 "H. M'Call." 
 
 Messrs. Richardson were exceedingly prompt in calling the 
 attention of the merchants resident in the city bordered by the 
 Mersey, to the destittition that prevailed in and aroimd T.isburn. 
 As the best mode of giving publicity to the facts, that respected 
 firm sent the following letter to the Daily Post, and on the 
 24th, both this letter and the one from Lisburn ai)peared in the 
 Liverpool paper : — 
 
 "DISTRESS IN ULSTER. 
 
 " TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY POST. 
 
 " Sir,— On the J5th inst. you were good enough to puljlish and comment 
 
40 
 
 on a note from us relative to the distress among the cotton operatives in the 
 North of Ireland We are since in receipt of a letter from the Secretary of the 
 Lisburn Relief Committee, and will be pleased if you can give space for it in 
 the Daily Post, as it will, no doubt, induce the charitable to add to the sub- 
 scriptions we have already received. —We remain, yours respectfully, 
 
 "Richardson, Spence, &, Co, 
 
 " Liverpool, January 23, 1863." 
 
 The letters given in the Daily Post had the effect of causing 
 further inquiry into the state of the cotton workers in the North 
 of Ireland. For several months previous to the first intimation of 
 the distress existing about Lisburn, the gentry and merchants of 
 Liverpool had been making the utmost efforts to aid the people 
 of Lancashire, nearly half a million of whom were then reduced to 
 absolute pauperism in consequence of the loss of employment. 
 Still, there was the catholicity of benevolence ready to do some- 
 thing for those of the Northern Irish who had fallen into destitu- 
 tion from precisely the same causes that brought extreme poverty 
 to the doors of the cotton workers of Lancashire. How well the 
 good Samaritans of Liverpool responded to the appeal made to 
 them by the Lisburn Relief Committee will be seen in the future 
 pages of this narrative. 
 
 The great pressure on the funds, and the then uncertain hope 
 of any immediate revival of trade, caused much thought about the 
 most effective plan of using the means in hand, so as to give more 
 than mere temporary relief "to the people. Some members of 
 committee suggested that it would be well for the sturdy and 
 youthful operatives to emigrate. The following letter was accord- 
 ing written to an agent in London : — 
 
 " COTTON OPERATIVES' RELIEF COMMITTEE, 
 
 Lisburn, January 20, 1863. 
 
 "Sir, — I have read, in yesterday's Times, a letter of yours, headed ' Free 
 Emigration to Queensland.' As there are many young people in this part of 
 Ulster who would gladly emigrate to that colony if they had the means, may 
 
41 
 
 I request you would be good enough to let me have some definite information 
 respecting the class of persons that would be taken on the free passage system, 
 "I am, &c., "H. M'Call, Secretary. 
 
 " Henry Jordan, Esq., 
 
 Emigration Agent, 
 
 17, Gracechurch Street, 
 London." 
 
 It will be seen by the annexed reply to this letter that the fund 
 from which the cost of sending emigrants to Queensland was to be 
 defrayed had been raised for the special purpose of sending out 
 Lancashire men : 
 
 " Gracechurch Street, 
 
 "London, January, 23, 1863. 
 "Sir, — In reply to your inquiry relative to free emigration to Queens- 
 land, I have to inform you that such passages are only granted to operatives 
 selected from the cotton districts of England, and from a fund collected for that 
 purpose. 
 
 " I am, Sec, 
 
 "Henry Jordan. 
 " H. M'Call, Esq,, Lisburn." 
 
 The weather was very severe during the greater part of the 
 month, and reports vvere sent in from the country telling of great 
 distress there in relation to clothing. At one of the meetings of 
 committee, Sir James M. Higginson, of Brookhill, stated that he 
 had visited some cottages in his neighbourhood, and, by the 
 appearance of the poor people there, he thought clothing was even 
 more required than food itself. Mr. Richardson, of Lissue, also 
 reported cases of destitution hardly credible, and of which only 
 his own personal inspection would have led him to form any 
 correct idea. In consequence of these and equally sad statements 
 from other quarters, two hundred pairs of blankets were ordered 
 from a Yorkshire house, and five thousand yards of linen were 
 purchased and made up into inner clothing by the Ladies' Com- 
 mittee. All this supply of blankets, sheets, and other requisites 
 was immediately distributed to the people who most required such 
 gifts — the town* getting one proportion, and the different country 
 districts according to their wants. 
 
4» 
 
 The Central Committee, having, from the commencement of 
 their duties, arranged that their weekly meetings should be held 
 in the old News-room, Lisburn, every Tuesday morning, a large 
 attendance of members met together at ten o'clock. Many of 
 those gentlemen resided some miles away in the country ; but so 
 great was the interest evinced in the work, that when the stated 
 hour arrived the president was always found in his seat, and very 
 few of the other members were absent. Indeed it seemed as if, 
 for the time being, personal consideration had given way to a 
 higher order of feeling, and that the wide action of benevolence 
 had imparted to those connected with the management of the 
 business, a more than ordinary spirit of genuine catholicity. 
 
 Besides the attention paid to the distribution by the Committee, 
 two officers — Messrs. Close and Wilson — were appointed at 
 moderate salaries. The principal duties of these officers were to 
 visit the houses of the persons receiving aid, to examine into each 
 case for the purpose of seeing that it was such as had been repre- 
 sented, and to report on the general state of the people. 
 
 During the earlier proceedings of the Relief Committee many 
 curious and highly-interesting traits of character were discovered. 
 In some instances there was exhibited, even amid the temptations 
 of poverty, a spirit of independence worthy the highest respect. 
 One poor fellow, whose earnings at the loom only amounted to 
 five shillings a week, out of which he had one shilling to pay for 
 house rent, supported himself and two young children on the 
 remainder ; and as his wife was ill in the fever hospital, he had to 
 look after the infants and cook his own meals, besides working at 
 his web. Except some underclothing and a couple of blankets, 
 this man did not receive, nor would he take, any aid from the 
 Committee. Another weaver who had a web, for the weaving of 
 which he was paid at the rate of is lod the twelve-yard piece, 
 worked fifteen hours a day, and when he retired to rest at night 
 his wife wove till next morning, thus keeping the loom constantly 
 going, and this alternate continuation of labour they maintained 
 for three months, that they might not be obliged to* seek charitable 
 aid. A very poor man, nearly seventy years of age, was said to 
 
43 
 
 be in want of bedclotbing, and a member of the Committee called 
 on him, and sent him a blanket and two sheets. Next day the 
 old fellow waited on the donor, and, after expressing his thanks 
 lor the kindness that had been shown to him, handed back the 
 gift, saying he would try to struggle through the difficulty without 
 any outside aid. In another instance a weaver was called upon 
 by one of the Committee and offered assistance. He declined 
 accepting anything. " I feel greatly obliged to you. Sir," said he, 
 " but, bad as the trade is, I am still able to earn four and sixpence 
 a week at the loom, and having only myself and my wife to 
 support, I can get on pretty well. Whatever I might obtain from 
 you would only take away so much from people worse off than I 
 am.'' 
 
 At one of the meetings held about the end of January, Mr. 
 Richardson, of Springfield, stated that he had felt greatly annoyed 
 by some attempts at imposition on the part of persons seeking 
 relief. But he had no little pies sure in alluding to cases of a 
 different class, and in which the honesty of industry was fully 
 shown. In his locality there lived a family of three persons ; the 
 daily earnings of each of them was just fourpence. These people 
 were offered rations of meal and coal, but refused to take either, 
 so long as they could earn a shilling a day between them. Equally 
 honourable was the conduct of a very poor weaver to whom he 
 (Mr. R.) offered relief The man said he did not require aid, 
 as another member of Committee had already attended to his 
 wants. 
 
 Many such instances of self-respect and sturdy independence 
 might be given. But, on the other hand, there were some cases 
 in which cunning was as largely practised. On the whole, however, 
 and taking into account the wide area over which the distribution 
 extended, instances of imposture were few when compared with 
 the aggregate number of recipients. 
 
 As numbers of the higher class of merchants in the United 
 States, and also in Canada, were natives of Lisburn or its 
 neighbourhood, letters were written those gentlemen and papers 
 sent to them relating to the local distress. To Mr. A. T. Stewart 
 the following letter was posted: — 
 
44 
 
 "COTTON OPERATIVES' COMMITTEE. 
 
 "January 21, 1863. 
 " Dear Sir, — I take the liberty of sending you copies of last week's IVhig 
 and Ncivs-Letter, in which are given reports of the proceedings of our Relief 
 Committee, as well as details of the great destitution that prevails around us. 
 I am well aware that, long as has been your residence in New York, you have 
 not forgotten your old associations with Lisburn, and your native place, Lissue. 
 Much of the distress that has fallen on the cotton weaving population here is 
 to be seen within a certain circle of Pear Tree Hall — a place dear to your early 
 recollections. Some hundreds of weavers, embroiderers, and tambourers in 
 that part of the country have been out of work for the last three months. At best 
 these people could have had little provision made for a time like the present, 
 the scanty wages earned by them, even in good times, not being more than the 
 amount required to meet the mere necessaries of every-day life. May I, there- 
 fore, hope that the generosity that marked your sympathies towards the suffering 
 people of the West of Ireland in 1847 will prompt you to think of the fireless 
 hearths and foodleis homes of hosts of the industrious families of this town and 
 the Maze in this time of sorrow and sadness. — I am, dear Sir, yours truly, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 "A T. Stewart, Esq., 
 
 New York." 
 
 In addition to the above, the Secretary sent communications 
 of a similar character to Mr. Walter i\Iagee, of New York; to Mr. 
 Thomas Richardson and Mr. Thomas O'Neill, of Philadelphia ; 
 as well as to each member of the Workman family in Montreal 
 and Ottawa ; and the Messrs. Boomer, of Toronto. 
 
 The applications for relief had increased very much before the 
 end of the first month. Indeed these appeals, so urgently made, 
 caused each member of committee to use every exertion for 
 collecting funds, and in that charitable work the several firms of 
 the Richardson family and the house of Messrs. Barbour & Sons 
 rendered most efficient service. 
 
 It may here be observed that the Secretary thought it well 
 to make out reports of all meetings of committee, detailing the 
 progress of the work. Those reports were regularly given in the 
 Belfast Neivs-Lciter and Norlhern Whig, and their publication had 
 the best effect in keeping before the public full accounts of the 
 prevailing distress among the weavers, and, at the same time, 
 largely increasing the subscription list. Besides such local 
 
45 
 
 influences, it was suggested that some history of the affairs should 
 be sent to the Times, and, accordingly, the following communica- 
 tion was written and forwarded to the leading journal: — 
 
 DISTRESS IN LIS BURN. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. 
 
 Sir, — May I request you would be good enough to let me have 
 a portion of your space for the purpose of giving some detail of 
 the lamentable condition to which the hand-loom weavers in this 
 quarter have been reduced. It was not generally known on your 
 side of the Channel, until a very recent date, that the cotton 
 manufacture formed the chief source of employment for several 
 thousands of people of both sexes, in Down and Antrim, and that 
 hand-loom weaving of plain muslin and embroidery of goods were 
 carried on here to an extent exceeding that of all the other parts 
 of the kingdom put together, Lisburn, for nearly a century past, 
 has been the great seat of Ireland's operative cotton trade. About 
 the end of 1794 the late James Wallace erected in his cotton mill 
 at Lisburn the first steam-engine ever seen in Ulster. A very 
 large business was done here and in Belfast, the number of hands 
 employed at the commencement of the present century having 
 been about 20,000. The trade progressed slowly till 1823, when, 
 to the dismay of the local manufacturers, Mr. Huskisson threw 
 aside the fiscal barricades by which the Irish trade was protected 
 against British competition, by a duty averaging 15 per cent, on 
 all imports of cotton goods and yarns. No sooner, however, had 
 the enterprise been left to itself than it rose rapidly, and labour 
 being cheaper here than in Scotland, several of the Glasgow manu- 
 facturers sent agents over here to get the goods woven, and estab- 
 lished depots for that purpose in different parts of the country, 
 greatly to the advantage of the working ranks. 
 
 In addition to the hand-loom weavers, who were employed in 
 vast numbers by Belfast and Glasgow firms, many thousands of 
 women and girls were engaged in embroidering muslin. These 
 latter-named workers, when well skilled, were able to earn excellent 
 wages, and the result was to raise the condition of a large section 
 
46 
 
 of the female population to a point of comfort that had never 
 before been attained in Ireland. The American war, in addition 
 to all other evils that followed in its train, deprived the great 
 majority of these people of their sole means of employment. Not 
 only was one principal outlet for the sale of muslins and calicoes 
 partly sealed up, but supplies of raw material fell off, and, as a 
 consequence, prices rose so high that manufacturers could not 
 make goods to sell at a profit. On the poor weavers and em- 
 broiderers in the North of Ireland the result fell with great severity. 
 Employment decreased until the ratio of the idle to those in work 
 became in some parts of the country as five to one. Some idea 
 of ihe state of the weaving ranks in Lisburn and its neighbourhood 
 may be formed from the fact that eight manufacturing houses 
 which, at the close of i860, gave regular work to 10,000 hands, have 
 not at present 1,000 looms in work. Ten Belfast firms that had 1,500 
 persons employed in Lisburn, the Maze, Broomhedge, and other 
 localities, have only 300 weavers engaged at present, and many of 
 the manufacturers have ceased to make goods altogether. This 
 decrease of employment has been going on for nearly two years, 
 and is now at the lowest pomt ever reached. In fact, whole 
 families for weeks past have been eking out existence on a class 
 of food which would hardly be given to the lower animals. I shall 
 give a few cases: — One poor woman in the neighbourhood of the 
 Maze, and who received relief off the Committee yesterday, has a 
 sickly husband out of work and six small children. She declared 
 that had it not been that a neighbour gave her some turnips which 
 she had boiled and used as food, she and her children might have 
 been lost — these turnips being the entire sustenance they had had 
 from Saturday till Monday. In another instance a family of ten 
 was found not only without food, but on being questioned on the 
 matter, it turned out that not a single shirt or other article of body 
 linen was among the wretched group. Inquiry having been made 
 on this point in the next cabin that was examined, a poor fellow 
 said that he and his wife had still some remnants of underclothing, 
 but that of such necessaries the children were utterly destitute. 
 Again, there is an almost total want of beds and bedding in the 
 
habitations of the cotton weavers. In not a few cases a parcel of 
 damp strav/, without either sheet or blanket, forms the sole sleeping 
 place of the father, mother, and two or three mere infants, each 
 resting at night in the ragged garments worn by day. Even in the 
 less destitute abodes of the operatives, the Committee found entire 
 families without a single shred of blanket, an old sheet and quilt 
 constituting the sole amount of bedclothes. One case there was 
 where eight children, from the ages of four to eighteen, slept with 
 the parents in the one department. The wages of the people in 
 work are far below the lowest ever known. Not even in the former 
 history of the labour market in the West of Ireland could sadder 
 examples be found. It is not unusual to find men who must work 
 at the loom fourteen hours a day to earn a net income of 4s per week 
 — some make only 3s, and others again 2S 6d for six days work. In 
 all their privations there has been kept up a spirit of indepen- 
 dence, and a disposition to battle as long as possible against the 
 inroads of want that seems almost incredible. It is quite usual to 
 find famihes existing on a sort of gruel, made of the cheap descrip- 
 tion of Indian meal, and this only twice a day ; others, again, have 
 been living on boiled cabbage, with a little oatmeal shaken over it. 
 In 1847 the farmers, who were not nearly so hard pushed as they 
 are at present, had means to aid the poor around them ; but this 
 season, what with the defective corn crops and low rates for 
 produce, very few of the small landholders are able to assist their 
 distressed neighbours. Farm labourers, too, have been so much 
 competed with by the weavers out of employment, that they are 
 fast falling into a very low state of poverty. On Thursday last a 
 public meeting was held in this town to raise funds in aid of the 
 poor cotton weavers, and on that occasion ;^28o was subscribed. 
 Since then further sums have been sent in, making the total this 
 day ;^35o. Of this aggregate one manufacturing house gave ;^95, 
 and another family gave jQ^2o — each of them having liberally 
 subscribed to the Lancashire fund a few weeks ago. An appeal 
 on behalf of the distressed weavers has been made to the Marquis 
 of Hertford, of whose splendid estate in this country Lisburn is 
 the capital. No other property in this island has bgen more 
 
48 
 
 advantaged by the working of the linen and cotton trades than 
 that of the Hertford estate. It is, therefore, anticipated that his 
 Lordship will contrbute liberally on behalf of the poor people now 
 suffering so much from the collapse in the cotton manufacture. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Hugh M'Call, 
 Secretary to the Relief Fund. 
 
 The wide circulation enjoyed by the leviathan of Printing 
 House Square sent the tale of distress into quarters where the 
 cotton weavers of Ulster had never before been heard of. Many 
 benevolent persons resident in the British metropoUs and other 
 parts of the South of England wrote the Secretary for further 
 information on the subject, and especially to learn how far the 
 operations of the cotton manufactures entered into the general 
 system of industry in and around Lisburn. Of course these com- 
 munications were all replied to, and in nearly every instance the 
 result was that of bringing additional contributions to the Relief 
 Fund. Among the first of these was a gift often pounds, together 
 with an interesting letter from Lord Portarlington, and in which 
 his Lordship expressed the great sympathy he felt for the suffering 
 people. It was very fortunate that during that season of suffering 
 the price of food had become much cheaper than usual. Indian 
 meal of good quality was purchased for distribution at J^i 15s a 
 ton ; and prime oatmeal at j[,\\ 15s per ton; American flour sold 
 at 19s 6d to 24s a barrel, and other articles of every-day use were 
 equally moderate in price. 
 
 At the weekly meeting held on the 31st January, reports were 
 read from the Secretary of the Ladies' Committee calling on the 
 Central Committee to aid in giving relief in a form different from 
 that of food. The Rev. Robert Lindsay said that the Ladies' 
 Committee was most anxious to get material for making up 
 clothing for poor women, the wives of cotton weavers. In the 
 whole course of his experience, he added that he had never known 
 
49 
 
 such want of night as well as day clothing in those parts of the 
 town and country which were chiefly inhabited by weavers. Mr. 
 J. N. Richardson supported the appeal made by Mr. Lindsay, 
 adding that no time should be lost in making some arrangements 
 for the increased distribution of blankets and sheets. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Richardson begged to call the attention of his 
 brother members of Committee to the great necessity which he 
 saw every day for the supervision of a local inspector. He himself 
 had not time to attend to all the cases of distress in his own part 
 of the country, and he felt pretty certain that most other gentlemen 
 present could say the same. In order, therefore, to avoid being 
 imposed on by pretended claimants for aid, as well as to do full 
 justice to real objects of distress, he would propose that a pai(j 
 inspector be appointed for each district. 
 
 Sir James M. Higginson quite agreed with the previous 
 speaker. The system of relief had become so complicated, there 
 was so much to attend to, and the cry for help was so general, 
 that the business could only be rightly accomi)lished by the 
 assistance of accredited officers. In the course of a pretty general 
 experience, gained during his residence in different parts of the 
 world, he had always found that where certain work was to be 
 accomplished, the sure mode of having it done well was to pay a 
 fair remuneration to the employd. Let the persons, then, who 
 might be appointed as inspectors, be fairly paid. 
 
 Doctor Campbell said that, so far as Lisburn had been con- 
 cerned, the plan of having inspectors at work had in other days 
 proved most effective. It was, therefore, resolved that the propo- 
 sition of Mr. Richardson be agreed to. 
 
 Letters from correspondents in distant parts of Ireland were 
 read in course of the meeting, each of these enclosing cash orders 
 for the assistance of the operatives. Mr. William Malcolmson, of 
 Portlaw, sent ten pounds ; and Mr. John Malcolmson, of Water- 
 ford, also contributed an equal sum to the treasury. During the 
 early movements of the Relief Committee, the Secretary had 
 written a short history of the distress in Lisburn, and sent it to the 
 Rev. Beauchamp Stannus, A.M., rector of Woodbury, Salterton, 
 
50 
 
 Exeter, and second son of the venerable the Dean of Ross. 
 Almost immediately after the receipt of that communication, Mr. 
 Stannus sent a five-pound Bank of England note as his own 
 subscription, and with that donation the following letter was 
 received : — 
 
 " Woodbury, Salterton, Exeter, 
 Jan. 2 1 St, 1863. 
 ''Dear Mr. M'Call, — I had no idea until I received your letter and the 
 papers you were good enough to send me, and which contained reports of the 
 proceedings of your Committee, that the unemployed weavers of my native 
 town and its neighbourhood were in such distress. Please hand the enclosed 
 to Mr. Millar, your Treasurer, and be good enough to say to that gentleman 
 that I will have great pleasure in trying to collect further subscriptions in aid 
 of the sufferers from the benevolent in my parish. 
 
 " Believe me, truly yours, 
 
 " Beauchamp Stannus. 
 "Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
 From this time the claims of the Relief Fund became still 
 more pressing, as the weather had set in with extra severity, and 
 the cry for food from the sad homes of the poor was almost 
 general. The distribution of blankets was pretty liberal, but in 
 each case a personal examination of the homes of the claimants 
 was made by members of Committee in order to avoid imposition. 
 
 Mr. Nussey, blanket manufacturer, of Yorkshire, writing on 
 the 31st of January, announced that he had forwarded per Liver- 
 pool and Belfast steamer his contribution of ten pairs of blankets 
 for the poor weavers. 
 
 The following extract, taken from a second communication 
 forwarded to the Editor of the Times, will show how^ much was 
 done for the distressed ^veavers, as well by the charitable peoplg 
 at home as by the benevolent at a distance : — 
 
 "Scarcely had it become known that hosts of the industrious 
 people here were in want and sufTering, when liberal subscriptions 
 were sent in to our Treasurer, rnost of them from different parts of 
 England, and some from the South of Ireland. In one case the 
 rector of a parish in Devonshire — a clergyman connected with 
 Lisburn by early ties and associations — had not only given a 
 
5r 
 
 handsome donation to the fund for the aid of our people, but he 
 is at present engaged in collecting subscriptions in his parish and 
 among his friends outside for the same purpose. In another 
 instance a gentleman residing in Paris, and who had not forgotten 
 Lisburn as the home of his childhood, having seen in the Times 
 some reports of the sufferings endured by our people, sent us a 
 donation of ;^5, but with a request that his name should not be 
 given. Several of the leading merchants of Liverpool are also 
 busying themselves in raising funds. A large sum has already been 
 collected there, and when the real condition of the poor in our 
 cotton-weaving districts becomes more extensively known, there 
 can be no doubt that still greater efforts will be made to assist the 
 distress and desolation that so widely prevails in hut and hovel. 
 As many errors exist respecting the extent to which the cotton 
 trade has been carried on in Ulster, it may be well to make a few 
 further statements on the subject. In my foimer letter I alluded 
 to the fact that, from the advent of free trade in the cotton 
 manufactures of the United Kingdom, the hand-loom department 
 of weaving had been gradually concentrated in the district which 
 lies within a certain circle around Lisburn. ^ While the vast factories, 
 with their thousands of power-looms, rose one after another in 
 Glasgow ; and while mechanical power in that wonderful emporium 
 of scientific skill gradually absorbed a great propoition of the 
 cotton manufacture, the production of muslins by hand became 
 transferred from that city and its suburbs to this part of Ireland. 
 In the meantime, the spinning of cotton yarn, once a very extensive 
 source of enterprise in Lisburn and Belfast, fell off so rapidly that 
 at present it forms only a fractional part of the trade. The classes 
 of goods woven here were principally those intended for export. 
 Atone period, however, at least one-fifth of all the finer descriptions 
 of Muslins were made for the embroidery houses, and sold to them 
 in the grey state. Now, taking as an illustration the year 1853, a 
 season of great activity in the sewed muslin trade, it will be far 
 within the limits of the employment given that year to state that 
 there were one hundred thousand hands engaged in that depart- 
 ment of the manufacture, the estimate ot wages paid among the 
 
 \^, Of PJL ....■>. 
 
52 
 
 peasant girls of this country during those twelve months having 
 been set down at three-quarters of a million sterling. One Glasgow 
 firm was then paying for embroidery work and in wages to agents 
 and other employes in Ireland an average of ;!£"5oo a day, an 
 almost incredible amount of outlay, but, nevertheless, one which 
 can be well authenticated. From that date, and until the Autumn 
 of 1858, the fancy trade of muslin embroidering fell off very 
 considerably ; but with the improvement which then took place in 
 general business, all sections of the cotton raanufl\cture rose into 
 greater activity, and at the end of i860 the weaving of muslins 
 occupied about twenty thousand hands, and the sewed muslin 
 trade, with all its details and accessories, immediate and remote, 
 employed fully eighty thousand people. Since that period the 
 weaving of plain goods and the embroidering of muslins have been 
 gradually declining. Large numbers of the operatives of both sexes 
 have either left the country or got into some other mode of earning 
 subsistence, but there still remains an immense population which 
 has clung to the loom, the sewing hoop, and the tambour frame, 
 even while the wages to be earned frequently fall below the sum 
 paid to the Asiatic labourer. Some idea will be formed of the 
 downward turn in the prices paid for weaving cotton goods during 
 the last sixty years, from the fact that in 1802 ^7 los was paid for 
 weaving, and /^i 5s for winding the weft of a "set'' of lawn of 
 certain length, and that an equal length and similar description of 
 web is at present being worked at ;^i los, weaving and winding 
 included. The same class of work is, however, among the best 
 that can be had, and fortunate is the operative who has the skill to 
 weave or the interest to obtain one of those webs, as good hands 
 can earn 7s 6d a week at them. But the majority of those in 
 employment do not earn one-half that amount, and during the last 
 ten days a still larger number of looms have been thrown idle. In 
 fact, so long as raw material stands at its present rates, little 
 improvement can be looked for in the trade. On an average, 
 cotton has risen three hundred per cent, while in some cases the 
 increased value of the finished article barely touches one hundred 
 per cent. It is, therefore, quite impossible for the manufacturer to 
 
53 
 
 sell his goods on terms proportionate to the cost of production, and 
 consequently makers have little inducement to keep workpeople 
 employed. 
 
 " Immense good has been done since the founding of the fund 
 for the relief of poor people in this neighbourhood. Food, in the 
 shape of Indian or oat meal, has been supplied twice a week to 
 more than 2,000 families, and a weekly ration of coal is also added. 
 This would be considered a very limited scale of relief in 
 Lancashire, where the people had been used to ample supplies o'^ 
 pretty high-class diet ; but in this neighbourhood, the cotton 
 weavers have been so long living just inside the pale of poverty, 
 that the rations are generally received with the utmost thankfulness. 
 As in all such cases, there have been instances of imposition on 
 the part of the recipients ; but, on the other side of human nature, 
 there have been found many admirable illustrations of honesty and 
 self-reliance. In a district about three miles from Lisburn, a family 
 of three persons earned only 4d. a day each. A gentleman who 
 visited these poor people ofiered to have rations sent to them, but 
 they honestly refused any relief, sta ting that they could live on 6s. 
 a week till better times came round. In another case, an old man, 
 nearly seventy years of age, was found weaving a web on which he 
 could earn is. a day. He had a wife to support, and, when called 
 on by a member of committee, he said he was glad to see relief 
 given to those worse off than himself, but for the present he did 
 not require aid. In addition to food and fuel, an arrangement has 
 been made to distribute clothing among the people in the rural 
 districts. Were I to state the real condition of hundreds of poor 
 men, with their wives and children, it would appear astonishing 
 how, in this wintry season, they are able to exist in low-lying, 
 damp, and badly-ventilated cabins, and this, too, when the clothes 
 they wear could hardly be called else than mere rags. One 
 member of our committee examined the homes of fifty weavers, 
 and of all these, only three possessed a single blanket for each. 
 Were out-door labour practicable, a few of the idle could get 
 employment, but such has been the unfavourable state of the 
 weather, that farm labour is at a stand, thus adding hundreds of 
 people to the list of the struggling and destitute." 
 
54 
 
 This second of the series of letters to the London Times, sent 
 the news of the distress in Lisburn to still more distant parts of the 
 Kingdom, and gave wider publicity to the facts connected with 
 the state of the weavers in the cotton districts around that town. 
 Many new friends were consequently added to those who had been 
 enrolled as contributors, and before the vSociety had been more 
 than four Aveeks in existence the subscription list showed a total 
 contribution of more than one thousand pounds. 
 
 Messrs. Richardson, Spence & Co., of Liverpool, did good 
 service to the great work, and by their influence much sympathy 
 in favour of the poor operatives was produced in that maritime 
 capital, and that sympathy displayed itself in the practical form of 
 liberal contributions from the large-hearted merchants there. 
 
 Several members of committee having suggested that application 
 
 should be made to Mr. Daniel James, chairman of the Liverpool 
 
 Committee of the International Relief Committee, the following 
 
 communication was forwarded to that gentleman, in the hope of 
 
 obtaining from the Society of which he was president, some 
 
 portion of the breadstuffs which a number of the generous citizens 
 
 of the United States had sent over for the reUef of the distress in 
 
 Lancashire : — 
 
 " Cotton Operatives' Relief Committee, 
 
 " Lisburn, Feb. 9, 1863. 
 " Daniel James, Esq. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — One of our respected friends here has requested me to write 
 
 you on the subject of our mission as collectors for the suffering cotton operatives 
 
 in this part of Ulster. We are aware that the International Relief Committee 
 
 got up some time ago in Liverpool has had to deal with the most wonderful 
 
 visitation of distress ever known in the history of human suffering. Lancashire, 
 
 the home of the cotton spindle and cotton loom, has been prostrated by the 
 
 terrible results of the revolutionary war in America, and to the lasting honou 
 
 of all ranks of those who had means of alleviating the effects of this calamity, 
 
 the amplitude of benevolence has far exceeded anticipation. In this country we 
 
 have not such resources ; and although our own people of different grades have 
 
 liberally contributed towards the relief fund, the great demands on us call for 
 
 increased exertion to obtain support outside local boundaries. May I, therefore^ 
 
 request that you would be good enough to read this communication to your 
 
 Committee, of which you are president, and give us your assistance in supporting 
 
 our appeal. " Believe me, truly yours, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call, Secretary." 
 
S5 
 
 In a very few days after posting that letter, the annexed reply 
 came to hand ; — 
 
 ' ' Liverpool Committee of International Relief Committee, 
 " Feb. 12, 1863. 
 " Hugh M'Call, Esq., 
 
 " Secretary of Lisburn Relief Fund. 
 
 " Dear Sir,— I have great pleasure in stating that after laying before our 
 Committee your letter relative to getting some aid for your suffering people^ 
 they have agreed to send you 100 barrels of flour. But before we can allocate 
 further supplies, I have been requested to call on you to be good enough to give 
 us further information respecting the extent of the distress, and the number of 
 families who are now getting relief in your neighbourhood. 
 " I am, dear Sir, yours, 
 
 " Daniel James, Chaiiman." 
 
 On receipt of the communication announcing the handsome 
 gift, the following letter was sent to that gentleman : — 
 
 " Cotton Operatives' Relief Committee, 
 "Lisburn, Feb. 19, 1863. 
 "Daniel James, Esq., Liverpool. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I have great pleasure in noting the receipt of 100 barrels of 
 flour, wliich your Committee have kindly sent us in aid of the poor people here. 
 Your query as to the number of persons receiving assistance from our society, I 
 cannot reply to as I would wish, several of the sub-committees having yet to 
 send in their weekly returns Irrespective, however, of these. I find that in the 
 last six days, we gave relief to upwards of one thousand families. And now. 
 Sir, permit me to request, that you will say to your Committee how highly we 
 estimate the ready response which they made to our appeal for aid, towards 
 relieving from all but starvation the poor weavers around us. In late days 
 England has ever been the first to aid the poor Irish, and now that an extra- 
 ordinary calamity had fallen on the people in this part of Ulster, the promptitude 
 shewn in sending the supplies of food is worthy the people of a great nation. 
 Indeed, it may be questioned whether on any former occasion the spirit of 
 English benevolence was ever shewn in greater strength than in this instance. 
 Lisburn is little know n in many parts of England, probably some ol those who 
 have contributed so generously to our funds had never before heard of this seat 
 of Ulster's cotton trade. 
 
 " Believe me, truly youis, 
 
 "II. M'Call." 
 
 In addition to the direct gifts of food and money sent the 
 managers of the Relief Fund, there were many instances of 
 
56 
 
 generosity shewn in other cases. When it became known that the 
 good people of the Liverpool Committee were about to act so 
 liberally, a question arose as to the conveyance across Channel of 
 Buch gifts as they might set apart for that purpose. 
 
 Application was, therefore, made to Mr. John M'Kee, Belfast, 
 agent of the Belfast and Liverpool Steamship Company, and in due 
 course that gentleman replied, to say that the directors of his Board 
 would carry, free of charge, from Liverpool to Belfast, any mode- 
 rate quantity of breadstuffs sent from the former port for the relief 
 of the T>isburn cotton operatives. The Secretary at once advised 
 Mr. James of this act of liberality on the part of the Belfast 
 Steamship Company. He had also the pleasure of reporting a 
 notification from the Directors of the Ulster Railway, that they 
 would carry free over their line any goods or breadstuffs which 
 benevolent individuals at a distance might forward the Committee 
 for distribution. 
 
 Some changes having been made in the Committee from the 
 date of its first formation, we here give the names of the gentlemen 
 acting as members at the end of February, 1863 : — 
 Sir J. M. Higginson, K.C.B. i David CarJile 
 
 John D. Barbour, M.P. 
 
 Walter T. Stannus, J. P. 
 
 William Barbour, J. P. 
 
 Jonatiian Richardson, J. P. 
 
 David Beatty 
 
 Dr. Musgrave 
 
 Dr. Campbell 
 
 Joshua Lamb 
 
 Rev. H. Hodson 
 
 Rev. Dr. M'Kay 
 
 Rev. R. Lindsay 
 
 Rev. W. Breakey 
 Rev. E. Kelly, P.P. 
 Rev. M. M'Kay 
 Rev. D. J. Clarke 
 Bennet Megarry 
 James Megarry 
 George Pelan 
 Robert AUister 
 R. Jefferson 
 John Sloan 
 J. Bradbury 
 
 J. J. Richardson, J. P., Chairman. 
 
 John Millar, Treasurer. 
 Hugh M'Call, Secretary. 
 
 If any additional proof were required to show how much real 
 good and widely disinterested kindness abounds in what some 
 clergymen call " this wicked world," the wonderful efforts made 
 in 1862 and '63 to aid the sufferers prostrated by the Cotton 
 Famine would finally settle the question. It would seem that in 
 that terrible time the very exercise of benevolence had increased 
 the disposition of its votaries to be more generous ; for it was 
 
57 
 
 found that in many cases those persons who had done most for the 
 sufferers of Lancashire were the largest contributors towards the 
 fund for the aid of the poor weavers and other operatives in the 
 cotton districts of Ulster. 
 
 It has been stated that letters were written by the Secretary to 
 several mercantile gentlemen in New York and Philadelphia, for 
 the purpose of enlisting their sympathies in favour of the poor 
 people then enduring such distress. One of the gentlemen to 
 whom application was made (Mr. Walter Magee, of the firm of 
 Messrs. Campbell, Magee, & Co., New York, himself a native of 
 Lisburn) took the utmost interest in the affair. He called on the 
 principal merchants of that city and gave those gentlemen some 
 details of the sad condition to which the people who worked at 
 the cotton trade in this part of Ulster had been reduced by the 
 Cotton Famine. Mr. Thomas Richardson, of the firm of Messrs. 
 Richardson, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Thomas O'Neill, of the same 
 city, were also Lisburn men, and each of those merchants effectively 
 exerted himself in the benevolent work. 
 
 The letter sent Mr. James, of Liverpool, on the 19th, had been 
 promptly acted on, as \vill be seen by the annexed communication — 
 
 "Liverpool Committee of International Relief Committee, 
 
 "Feb. 2 1 St, 1863. 
 "Hugh M 'Call, Esq., 
 
 " Secretary of Lisburn Relief Fund. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — As per advice note on the other side, we have forwarded to 
 
 your address, by this night's steamer, a second instalment of one hundred 
 
 barrels of flour ex ' George Griswold,' which is hoped will arrive safely. We 
 
 purpose sending you about five hundred barrels more, in such lots as may suit 
 
 the agents of steamers, but so as to make up the number allotted to your district 
 
 by this Committee. 
 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 "Daniel James, Chairman." 
 
 To this letter the Secretary replied as follows : — 
 
 " Cotton Operatives' Relief Committee, 
 "Lisburn, Feb. 22, 1863. 
 "Dear Sir, — I have just received your very welcome letter, advising me 
 of the shipment of a further lot of flour for the assistance of the distressed 
 weavers here. 
 
S8 
 
 " Once again permit mc, on behalf of those poor people, and in the name 
 of our Committee, to thank you for all this amount of broad benevolence on the 
 part of that Relief Fund of which you are Cliairman. I hope that the people of 
 Lancashire, as well as those of Down and Antrim, now also suffering from the 
 effects of the cotton famine, will never forget the open hands and kind hearts on 
 both sides the Atlantic, which have contributed so liberally for the relief of the 
 distress and suffering that exist here and in your part of England. 
 "Believe me, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call, Secretary, 
 " Daniel James, Esq." 
 
 On the 27 th of February, the following letter was received from 
 Mr. Daniel James : — 
 
 " Liverpool, February 26, 1863. 
 " Dear Sir, — We have forwarded to your address, by this evening's Belfast 
 Steamer, 167 bags of Indian com, for the relief of distress in your district and 
 its neighbourhood. It will gratify us if you be good enough to allocate a fair 
 proportion of this corn to the Relief Committee at Newtownards, and a like 
 share to the Committee of Relief appointed for Ballymacarrett ; the remainder 
 you can apply to the use of your own people. We thought better to send all 
 to you, and let you divide it, rather than make three shipments of the lot. It 
 is a part of the George Griswold's cargo. You will have some parcels of flour 
 by next steamer. Hoping this com will arrive safe to hand, and that it may be 
 acceptable to all, 
 
 *' I remain yours, 
 
 "Daniel James. 
 "Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
 By the next post, the Secretary wrote in reply thanks to Mr. 
 James, and requesting that gentleman to convey the hearty 
 acknowledgments of the Lisburn Committee to his Committee for 
 their great kindness, adding that he (the Secretary) would attend to 
 his request as to the Newtownards and Ballymacarrett Committee. 
 The following was written the Rev. Mr. Roe, Secretary of the 
 Ballymacarrett Committee : — 
 
 " Lisburn, February 27, 1S63. 
 "Dear Sir, — I have this day been advised by Daniel James, Esq. ^ 
 Chairman of the International Relief Committee of Liverpool, that he had 
 shipped by one of the Belfast Steamers, 167 bags of Indian corn, to be applied 
 for relief of the distress among the cotton weavers. Mr. James requests me to 
 apportion this gift fairly between Ballymacarrett, Newtownards, and Lisburn. 
 
59 
 
 With the sanction and advice of our Chairman and Committee, I have thus 
 arranged the distribution— Fifty bags of com to your Relief Committee ; forty 
 bags to Newtownards ; and the remainder to Lisburn, our district having by 
 far the greatest amount of distress to relieve. As the corn is at present lying at 
 the goods sheds of the Belfast Steamship Company, which has kindly carried all 
 such contributions free of charge, I shall feel indebted by you having your share 
 removed at your earliest convenience. I enclose order for its delivery. 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 "Rev. Mr. Roe, Ballymacarrett." 
 
 By the same post a letter was sent to the Newtownards Relief 
 Committee, advising the members that forty bags of corn were 
 lying for them at Donegall Quay, Belfast, and urging the immediate 
 removal of the gift. 
 
 Mr. Walter Magee was one of the most energetic of New York 
 merchants, and immediately on receipt of the Secretary's letter he 
 lost no time in making known to the philanthropic men of that 
 city the distress under which one class of people in his native place 
 was then suffering. How successful he had been in his appeal will 
 be seen by the following letter : — 
 
 "48, Murray Street, New York, 
 "Feb. 20, 1863. 
 " Dear Sir,— I have collected about sixteen hundred dollars to be 
 distributed between the poor weavers of Lisburn and Lurgan. The money 
 would have been sent you by this mail, but exchange has suddenly advanced 
 about eight per cent., and in consequence it has been thought well to wait a 
 week, as I think the exchange will then be lower than it is to-day. When I 
 send you the cash I will give you the names of the gentlemen who have 
 subscribed to the fund. 
 
 ' ' Believe me, very truly yours, 
 
 "Walter Magee. 
 " Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
 By the succeeding mail from the Empire City, a letter arrived 
 enclosing bank bills to the amount noted, and with that communi- 
 cation there came the following list of subscribers ; — 
 
 William Watson ... 
 J. & J. Stewart & Co. 
 Campbell, Magee, & Co. 
 Henry L. Flognet 
 Eugene Kelly 
 
 dels. 
 
 
 dols. 
 
 500 
 
 Richard Bell 
 
 ... 50 
 
 500 
 
 John M'Convill ... 
 
 ... 25 
 
 300 
 
 Edward Armstrong 
 
 ... 25 
 
 100 
 
 W. G. Townlcy ... 
 
 ... 25 
 
 50 
 
 William Whitewell 
 
 ... 25 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 UCH was the result of our application to the citizens of 
 New York. But besides these sums so readily contri- 
 buted, the princely munificence of Mr. A. T. Stewart 
 (noted in another part of this little work) enabled the Committee 
 to extend the operations of the charity far beyond anything they 
 could have anticipated. In the meantime, the people of Phila- 
 delphia had not been idle. Mr. Thomas O'Neill, to whom the 
 Secretary had written on the subject, called on several friends, and 
 after some consultation it was arranged that a public meeting should 
 be held, and the matter fully discussed there. The following extract 
 from the Philadelphia Press gives the chief points of the proceedings 
 on that occasion : — 
 
 " Yesterday, a meeting, under the presidency of Archibald 
 Getty, Esq., was held in the Corn Exchange, to consider the best 
 means of alleviating the distress that exists among the cotton 
 operatives of Lisburn, Ireland. The first speaker was Doctor S. 
 Mackenzie, who gave a full detail of the terrible state of poverty to 
 which the weavers and embroiderers connected with the cotton 
 trade in and around Lisburn had been reduced in consequence of 
 the war then going on between the Northern and Southern States 
 of America. He (the Doctor) had seen letters on the subject, and 
 he believed that the people who had been brought up to the cotton 
 trade in the part of Ireland to which he alluded, had borne in 
 silence the greatest privations, in consequence of the stagnation of 
 trade at the loom and the sewing hoop. Those who know the 
 habits of the working classes in the Nortli of Ireland, need not be 
 told of their natural love of independence, and how severe must 
 
6i 
 
 have been their distress when they let the world hear of its 
 effects. At the time he was speaking, there were hundreds of 
 families in that part of Ulster, which were on the very verge of 
 starvation; and it was only when tireless hearths and foodless 
 homes could no longer be borne with, that their privations were 
 made known." 
 
 *' Mr. Thomas O'Neill said he did not intend to add much to 
 what had been said by Dr. Mackenzie. Early in the week he 
 had received a letter from Mr. M'Call, Secretary of the Relief 
 Fund, and from that communication he would just read one 
 passage:— 'You will see by the reports in the papers I send with 
 this that the war on your side of the Atlantic has created great 
 distress among the cotton operatives in this quarter. Are there 
 any other Lisburn folk beside yourself and Mr. Thomas Richardson 
 in the city on the Delaware ? If so, perhaps you could raise a few 
 pounds for us. Everything helps in such a calamity. All the 
 suffering said to be endured by the Lancashire people would fall 
 far short of that borne in this part of Ireland.' On receipt of this 
 communication, which told so much in so few words, he (Mr. 
 O'Neill) had called on some of his brother citizens, and each of 
 them expressed himself gratified to hear that arrangements Avere 
 being made for the purpose of doing something in the case. He 
 was glad to see by the number of friends present that the subject 
 had been taken up in a right spirit. 
 
 " Mr. E. G. James, of the firm of Messrs. Thomas Richardson 
 & Co., said he felt much pleasure in attending the meeting. The 
 senior partner of his house had been unable, from a prior engage- 
 ment, to be present, but he had requested him to say he would 
 gladly contribute to the fund about to be raised. He (Mr. James) 
 had no doubt that, if a general call were made on the merchants of 
 Philadelphia they would heartily respond, and he had no doubt 
 that five thousand dollars could easily be raised. He, therefore, 
 moved that a committee be nominated to take active measures for 
 the carrying out of the project. The motion was unanimously 
 agreed to, and the President accordingly appointed the following 
 gentlemen:— Edward G. James, Geo. A. M'Kinstry, Hugh Craig, 
 
62 
 
 R. A. M'llcnry, C. J. lloHiuan, Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie, Geo. 
 Raphael, Charles Knecht, Edmund A. Souder, Joseph W. Millar, 
 and Thomas O'Neill." 
 
 It will be seen by the annexed list of subscriptions raised 
 in Philadelphia, how well the good citizens of that famous 
 seat of commerce responded to the call of humanity on that 
 occasion : — 
 
 dols. 
 
 John A. Brown ... ... 500 
 
 Peter Wright X- Sons ... lOO 
 
 George Bullock ... ... 100 
 
 Wray & Gillilan 100 
 
 Jacob T. Alburger & Co. ... 100 
 
 Edmund A. Souder & Co. ... 100 
 
 Thomas Richardsen & Co. .. 100 
 
 Proprietors of Girard House 1 00 
 
 A. R. M 'Henry lOO 
 
 Alex. G. Cattell & Co. ... loo 
 
 J. A. Doglierty & Sons ... loo 
 
 Cope Brothers ... .. loo 
 
 Hemy Cope ... ... ... 100 
 
 Alfred Cope lOO 
 
 Morris Tasker & Co 100 
 
 John Woodside & Co. ... 100 
 
 Henry Windsor ... ... loo 
 
 R. F. Lepper .. ... ... loo 
 
 James H. Orne ... ... 100 
 
 R. Patterson .. 100 
 
 Riddle & Leich loo 
 
 John Gibson, Sons & Co. ... 100 
 
 H. Craig & Co 100 
 
 W. S. Smyth &. Co., lOO 
 
 S. & J. M. Flanmgan ... loo 
 
 S. & \V. Welsh 100 
 
 Ehza P. Gurney 100 
 
 George Raphael & Co. ... 5° 
 
 John R. Penrose ... .. 5° 
 
 Adam Moffitt 50 
 
 Robert Taylor & Co. ... 50 
 
 Charles Kelly 50 
 
 Pritchett Baugh & Co. .. 50 
 
 Hay & M'Devitt 50 
 
 Samuel Riddle 50 
 
 James Graham .. .. 5° 
 
 M'Cutcheon & Collins ... 50 
 
 C. J. Hoffman 50 
 
 Alexander Young ... ... 5° 
 
 William B. Thomas 50 
 
 Charles Cummings ... ... 5° 
 
 Alexander Heron, jun. ... 50 
 
 James Alderdice ... ... 5° 
 
 William M. Baird 50 
 
 Thomas Clyde ... ... 5° 
 
 William P. Clyde 50 
 
 Wilmon Whilden 50 
 
 ^Villiam M'Kee 50 
 
 Thomas Sparks 5° 
 
 Mercer & Antelo 
 Massy Collins & Co.... 
 And C. Craig it Co. 
 David Graham X- Co. 
 Booth & Kennedy 
 George A. M'Kinstry 
 Joseph Wm. Miller ... 
 George Whitely 
 Josiah Bryan ... 
 D. B. Kershaw & Co. 
 Workman & Co. 
 
 John Wood & Co 
 
 J. H. Michener & Co. 
 Angler Hugel Jk Co. ... 
 John Barnett ... 
 William W. Cookman 
 William Brice & Co. 
 Mackey & Hogg 
 James Steel ... 
 
 H. J. Adams & Co 
 
 S. Morris Wain 
 
 H. & H. W. Gather wood 
 
 James A. Hull & Co. 
 
 James P. Perot & Brothers . 
 
 John Hartman 
 
 W. Taylor* Co. 
 
 Robert Creighton 
 
 T. M. Apple 
 
 W. Sanderson & Son... 
 Captain James Snow 
 W. Duke Murphy .. 
 J. B. Lippencott 
 
 L. E. Ballard 
 
 P. B. Mingle & Co 
 
 Buzly & Co. ... 
 
 Cask ... ... 
 
 Mrs. J. B. Vanosten 
 
 John M Smiley 
 Malone & Co. 
 
 A Lady 
 
 A Lady 
 
 Andrew Alleson 
 Francis O'Connor 
 Stephen Carr... 
 A. Groves, jun. 
 George Read ... 
 J. Agnew 
 
 Joseph D. & Mary D. Brown, 
 by Hands of Dilwin Parish 
 
 dols. 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 50 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 
 25 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 I 
 
63 
 
 The lists of contributions from the benevolent and generous 
 citizens of New York and Philadelphia tell in language easy to 
 understand how much real charity may be found in all lands. 
 If the right chord be only touched, a hearty response to any appeal 
 made on behalf of those who are bowed down by sorrow and 
 suffering is rarely refused. Ireland owes much to America, but 
 in few instances had the people of the wide land of Columbia 
 shewn the depth of their kindness to the small Isle of the West so 
 promptly as during the Cotton Famine. 
 
 At the general meeting of the ReUef Committee, held on 
 Tuesday, the loth of February, 1863, Sir James Macauley 
 HiGGiNSON, C.B., in the chair, 
 
 The Rev. Edward Kelly, P.P., gave some sketch of a visit he 
 had paid to the homes of some of the people in Chapel Hill' 
 Long Stone, and the lanes leading from those streets. He said 
 there was great want of bed-clothing in the houses of many families, 
 and he would suggest that members of the Ladies' Committee 
 should be requested to look after these people. It was well known 
 how much good had arisen from the exertions put forth by that 
 Committee ; in fact, it had done work which could hardly be said 
 to be in the way of their other friends doing ; and if the matter to 
 which he alluded were placed in the hands of the ladies, he was 
 certain the poor people would have their wants fully attended to. 
 
 The Secretary said that his friend Father Mooney had that 
 morning called his attention to the subject alluded to by the Rev. 
 Mr. Kelly ; and as that gentleman had special opportunities 
 of forming correct opinions on the matter, he felt assured the 
 Committee would attend to it. 
 
 Mr, George Pelan bore testimony to the great exertions made 
 by the Catholic curate. He said Mr, Mooney's attention to the 
 poor — not only of his own Church, but of all other creeds — was 
 worthy his character as a Christian minister. More than one 
 gentleman in town had spoken to him on the subject ; and he 
 (Mr. Pelan) was glad to have the opportunity of alluding to the 
 promptitude and energy displayed by the Rev. Mr. Mooney in 
 furthering the objects of the Relief Committee. 
 
64 
 
 Ordered, that the Secretary write at once to the Ladies' Com- 
 mittee on the matter brought forward by the Rev. Mr. Kelly. 
 
 The Secretary here handed in a letter from the Rev. Beauchamp 
 Stannus, Rector of Woodbury, Salterton, Exeter, and in which was 
 enclosed a cash order for £,i-] 9s 2d, amount of subscriptions 
 which that gentleman had collected from the good people of his 
 parish as their contributions to the Relief Fund. 
 
 Mr. Millar said that much satisfaction and no little grateful 
 feeling had been expressed out of doors at the liberality with which 
 their friends in England had strengthened the hands and increased 
 the funds of the Relief Committee. Contributions from many 
 sources had been sent to them, and he was glad to see that in not 
 a few of these instances old associations were not forgotten, and 
 that was especially the case with the Rev. B. Stannus. That 
 gentleman was born and had been brought up in Lisburn ; and 
 though many years had passed since he left for England, he had 
 not lost any of his early attachment to his native place. He begged 
 to propose the following resolution : — 
 
 " That the best thanks of the Lisburn Relief Committee be 
 given to the Rev. Beauchamp Stannus, not only for his own liberal 
 contribution to our Fund, but also for his kindness in collecting 
 subscriptions in his own neighbourhood. And we gratefully 
 acknowledge the benevolence of those ladies and gentlemen of 
 Woodbury and its neighbourhood who have so readily respondejj 
 to the call of their rector."' 
 
 The Rev. David J. Clarke said he could only express his 
 entire concurrence in all the Treasurer had stated respecting the 
 kindness of the Rector of Woodbury, Salterton, and those benevo- 
 lent friends of charity who had contributed their subscriptions. 
 The fraternal feeling displayed in that trying time would not, he 
 hoped, soon be forgotten. All difference of creed and country 
 seemed to have been cast aside, and nations had joined in shewing 
 how much good there is in the world, after all that may be said to 
 the contrary. He had great pleasure in seconding the resolution. 
 
65 
 
 Sir Jas. M. Higginson said that, as Chairman of the meeting, 
 he had great pleasure in putting the question. But, independent 
 of his position on that occasion, he was really proud to observe 
 how fully the very kindly spirit in which the Rev. B. Stannus had 
 taken up the subject, had been recognized by the Committee. He 
 would just add a request, that the Secretary should send a copy of 
 the resolution to the proper quarter. 
 
 Passed unanimously. 
 
 Mr. John Sloan, of Plantation House, said he could hardly 
 state how very much gratified he felt in thinking of the readiness 
 with which the generous-hearted people of that and other countries 
 had entered into the good work of aiding the poor weavers. 
 England had, indeed, been very kind. He, himself, had been 
 engaged in manufacturing muslins as agent for a leading house in 
 Glasgow during a period exceeding thirty years, and never recol- 
 lected such a season of suffering among the working ranks as that 
 through which they were then passing. In his own juighbourhood 
 the people had been nearly lost for want of both food and clothing 
 before the Committee commenced operations. He understood 
 from the Secretary that nine hundred families, comprising about 
 four thousand people of different ages, had received rations of food 
 and coal in the previous week. That fact alone was sufficient to 
 call forth the practical sympathy of all who had means to bestow 
 on their suffering brethren. 
 
 Having given a pretty full statement of the subscriptions raised 
 in America, we shall now take the list of names and contributions 
 of the friends of the Fund in Lisburn and other parts of Ireland, 
 as well as those of Great Britain and the Continent. In the first 
 edition of this little work only the names of those who subscribed 
 five pounds and upwards were published ; but Mr. Millar having 
 suggested that it might be well to give the entire list, and that 
 gentleman having made out a complete copy of the wh jle, a full 
 statement is now annexed : — 
 
66 
 
 Leeds Relief Fund (per Mayor of Leeds) ... ... ... ;^200 o o 
 
 J. N. Richardson, Sons, & Owden ... 
 
 Joiin D. Barbour, Fort House 
 
 Friends' Committee, Manchester ... 
 
 S. & T. Barbour, Hilden ... 
 
 Jonathan Richardson, J. P., Lambeg 
 
 Thomas liateson, Belvoir ... 
 
 J.J. Richardson, J. P., Kircassock ... 
 
 Captain Ward, Lisburn 
 
 Sir J. M. Higginson, K.C.B., Brookhill 
 
 J. N. Richardson, Lissue .. 
 
 Joshua P. Richardson, Wihnont 
 
 Robert Barbour, Ililden ... 
 
 Yates, Brown, & Howat, Glasgow ... 
 
 Barkley & M'Gregor 
 
 John Owden, Seapark 
 
 Richardson, Spence & Co., Liverpool 
 
 W. Inman, do. 
 
 Samuel Martin, do. 
 
 Brown, Shipley & Co., do. 
 
 David Malcolmson, do. 
 
 David Stewart, do. 
 
 Segar & Tunnicliffe, do. ... ... 
 
 Contributed by Hilden Operatives ... 
 
 Collected at Woodbury, Salterton, Exeter, by the Rev. B. Stannus 
 
 Contributed by Glenmore Operatives 
 
 By Island Mill Operatives... 
 
 The Dean of Ross, Lisburn 
 
 T. R. Stannus, do. 
 
 Rev. Hartley Hodson 
 
 Joshua Pim 
 
 William Charley, J. P., Seymour Hill 
 
 Richard Bell, Belfast ... 
 
 J. & R. Workman, do. 
 
 Workman & Sons, do. 
 
 The Earl of Portarlington... 
 
 William Malcomson, Portia w 
 
 John Malcomson, Waterford 
 
 Black & Wingate, Glasgow 
 
 Paterson, Jamieson & Co., do. 
 
 Anderson & Gray, do. 
 
 R. C. Aiken & Co., do. 
 
 5° 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 I 
 
 14 
 
 19 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
67 
 
 Miss Wakefield ... 
 
 Admiral Sir George Seymour, London 
 
 Rev. Alexander Orr, Salehurst, Hurst Green 
 
 R. L. Chance, Birmingham 
 
 "In Memoriam," Paris 
 
 W. G. Malcomson, Liverpool 
 
 Andrew Malcomson .. ... ... ... 
 
 Operatives of Messrs. Bell & Calvert's Mill, Whitehouse 
 
 George Fairley, Paisley ... 
 
 R. Workman & Co., Belfast 
 
 A. Meinnollf & Co., Hamburg, through W. Barbour, J. P. 
 
 Rev. B. Stannus, Woodbury, Salterton, Exeter 
 
 William Gregg, J. P., Derrievolgie.. 
 
 W. T. Stannus, J. P., Manor House, Lisburn 
 
 J. W. Fulton, J,P., Braidjule 
 
 Mrs. Carleton, Rosevale ... 
 
 Matthew J. Smith 
 
 David Beatty 
 
 John Sloan, Plantation House 
 
 A. Macartney ... 
 
 David Carlisle ... 
 
 Robert Stewart ... 
 
 John Millar 
 
 Hugh M'Call ... 
 
 Robert Alister 
 
 James Millen ... ... 
 
 W. Thompson, M.D. 
 
 Hugh Seeds 
 
 William Nicholson 
 
 John Roberts, J. P. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton, Woodbury, Exeter... 
 
 A. Mohnlman, Hamburg, by William Barbour, J. P. ... 
 
 Wakefield, Nash & Co., Liverpool... 
 
 William Gardner, do. 
 
 Mrs. Smyth, Clifton, Bristol 
 
 A Foreign Friend 
 
 Forster Green, Belfast... 
 
 Mr. Corbet, do. ... 
 
 R. Macauley & Sons, do. ... 
 
 Dr. Andrews, do. ... 
 
 William Brown, Holy wood 
 
 Mrs. Malcomson, Lisnagarvy House 
 
 ;{:io 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 7 
 
 II 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
68 
 
 John Richardson, jun. ... • ■ ... 
 William Graham 
 William Coulson 
 Bennett Megarry 
 Colonel Garrett ... 
 John Bimey 
 Mrs. Whitla 
 Richard Niven ... 
 
 Employes ot Black & Wingate, Glasgow- 
 Joshua P. Richardson 
 Mrs. Charrington, Surrey... 
 Major General Boyd, Bath 
 Snowden Corken 
 Miss Batt, Kingstown 
 Robert Neill, Mossvale 
 Michael Andrews, jun. 
 Rev. Dr. M'Kay 
 Lagan Navigation Company 
 Dr. Musgrave ... 
 Rev. Maurice M'Kay 
 Mrs. Maxwell, High Riding 
 H. & W. Seeds, Belfast ... 
 Captain Allan Millar, R. E. 
 Dr. James Patton 
 Mrs. Henry Hunter, Bath 
 John Bradbury ... 
 Henry J. Garrett 
 Mrs. Edgar 
 James Mussen ... 
 Captain Bolton, R. N. 
 Mrs. Vaughan ... 
 F. D. Finlay, Northern Whig 
 William Bullick .. 
 Adam Blackburn 
 Mrs. EHza Richardson 
 Lindsay Brothers, Belfast .. . 
 Rev. James Hall, Limerick 
 Richard Allen, Dublin 
 Mrs. Mussenden... 
 Miss Cupples 
 A Friend 
 James Frazer 
 
 >5 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 
 
69 
 
 Mrs. Mitchell, Whiteabbey 
 William Gilbert, Belfast ... 
 Joseph Magill, do. ... 
 Edward Charley 
 William John Magee 
 Mrs. Campbell, Cheltenham 
 Mrs. Dr. Pirrie, Belfast .. 
 Dr. George Whitla, R.A.... 
 H. & W. Barcroft, Tyrone 
 Rev. William Breakey 
 George Duncan ... 
 Collected at Tottenham School, by Fred. C. Richardson 
 
 Henry T. Higginson, J, P. 
 W. Irving, Workington ... 
 Dr. Neilson Hancock, Dublin 
 Alexander O'Rorke, Belfast 
 H. & J. M'Cavana, do. 
 Rev. E. Kelly, P.P. 
 
 Rev. J. Mooney, C.C. ... 
 Rev. Robert Lindsay 
 
 Dr. M'Harg 
 
 Jc ,eph Turner ... 
 
 W. S. Darkin ... 
 
 Thomas M'Creight 
 
 George Wilson ... 
 
 George Stephenson 
 
 Dr. Campbell .. ... 
 
 William Young .. . 
 
 Alfred Millar 
 
 George Pelan 
 
 Samuel Kennedy 
 
 George Thompson 
 
 David Mack 
 
 John Finlay 
 
 Rev. D. J. Clarke 
 
 Redmond Jefferson 
 
 Thomas Swan ... 
 
 Thomas R. Pelan 
 
 James Megarry ... 
 
 Samuel Graham... 
 
 John M'Bride 
 
 James Savage ... 
 
 ^2 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
70 
 
 John Kain ... 
 
 Horatio Doggert 
 Robert Bly the ... 
 George Carlisle ... 
 George Walker ... 
 Joshua Lamb 
 
 Rev. William Poiinden ... 
 Frank Dymond ... 
 Rev. Mr. Hall ... 
 John K. Green ... 
 Robert Mussen ... 
 William Gardiner 
 Bernard Jefferson 
 J. & W. Brownlee 
 Arthur Gamble ... 
 R. R. Houghton 
 Cornelius Johnston 
 Robert M'Knight 
 Russell Kennedy 
 Matthew Mussen 
 Harry Major 
 James Alister 
 Robert Thomson 
 William Hanna ... 
 James Maze 
 Mrs. Alderdice ... 
 
 M.N 
 
 James Clarke 
 
 James Crossin ... 
 
 Rev. W. M'Call, London... 
 
 J. W. S. M'Cance, Suffolk 
 
 J. P. Richardson 
 
 Jane S. Pim, Dublin 
 
 Andrew Munce, Belfast . . . 
 
 William Sherrie, do. 
 
 Anon., per Joshua Lamb ... 
 
 Lieutenant W. Whitia ... 
 
 Robert Morrow .. , 
 
 Samuel Hill 
 
 E. B.Martin, Connecticut... 
 
 J. W. M'Alester, Alabama 
 
 William Clibbom, Belfast... 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
71 
 
 Mrs. Ruth Clibborn 
 
 Henry Calwell, Monkstown 
 
 Mrs. Donaldson, Cavanamore 
 
 Miss Annie Maine 
 
 Professor James Thompson 
 
 Rev. Samuel Dunlop 
 
 Lieutenant Roney 
 
 JohnFrazer 
 
 William Kelsey ... 
 
 Second Lurgan Presbyterian Congregation 
 
 W., per Messrs. Richardson, Spence & Co. 
 
 George Thompson 
 
 Dr. M'Cartney .. 
 
 Directors Northern Bank : — 
 Hugh Montgomery 
 James Bristow ... 
 James T. Bristow 
 William Valentine 
 W. S. Crawford... 
 
 Collected by Mrs. Clibborn : — 
 The Misses Rowley, Dublin 
 Victor Coates, Belfast 
 Mrs. Eben Pike, Cork ... 
 Laura and Alice Pim 
 A Friend on the Coal Quay 
 
 W. Wilson 
 
 John Flynn 
 
 Robert Culbert ... 
 
 George Briggs ... 
 
 Malcomson Greeves 
 
 James Murray ... 
 
 An Enghshman's Wife 
 
 Arthur Tinsley ... 
 
 Alexander M'Cann 
 
 Edward Higginson 
 
 John Stevenson ... 
 
 David M'Blain ... 
 
 Joseph Hall 
 
 Robert Mulholland 
 
 George Wilson, Belsize ... 
 
 William Foote ... 
 
 R. & W. Reid 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 II 
 
 o 
 
 13 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ID 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 lo 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ID 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
72 
 
 James Phillips ... 
 
 Samuel Yovmg ... 
 
 Rev. Mr. Rich, Brighton.. 
 
 Mercer Rice 
 
 Alexander Boyd... 
 
 Thomas Silcock... 
 
 Joseph M'Clure ... 
 
 Robert H. Neill... 
 
 Mrs. Watson 
 
 Gregg Brothers ... 
 
 Mrs. Armstrong... 
 
 Adam M'Clure ... 
 
 J. & R. Turner ... 
 
 Deane C. Taylor 
 
 William Clarke ... 
 
 William M'Comb, Belfast... 
 
 John Connor 
 
 Robert Reid 
 
 Rev. J. Brown ... 
 
 Ralph Jefferson .. . 
 
 Robert Jefferson.. 
 
 Patrick Fleming... 
 
 Joshua Corkin ... 
 
 Thomas Nuckle... 
 
 john Corkin 
 
 John Major 
 
 John Simpson ... 
 
 John Connor 
 
 W.J. Murdoch ... 
 
 David M' Lean ... 
 
 Robert M'Murray 
 
 George Carson ... 
 
 Thomas Carson ... 
 
 Richard Murdoch 
 
 William Mussen .. 
 
 John Gilliland ... 
 
 David Boal 
 
 John Douglas ... 
 
 Jacob Green 
 
 Abraham Green... 
 
 Isaac Bell 
 
 John Turtle 
 
 £o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
73 
 
 Samuel Duffield... 
 
 Richard Fair 
 
 James Hutchinson 
 
 David Braithwaite 
 
 Thomas Dunlop... 
 
 Thomas Hickey... 
 
 Joseph Scandrett 
 
 John Anderson .. 
 
 James Murray ... 
 
 William Gray ... 
 
 Thomas Quin ... 
 
 Governor and Female Pupils at Friends' School 
 
 John Smith 
 
 James Braithwaite 
 
 Miss M'Kee 
 
 M. &J. M'Cloy 
 
 Peter Connery .. 
 
 William Dunwood 
 
 Samuel M'Connell 
 
 John Heaney 
 
 G. A. R. (per Nl jus- Letter) 
 
 William Fleming 
 
 John Kelly 
 
 James Hunter 
 
 Miss Wright 
 
 Aaron Watson 
 
 Abraham Lamb , 
 
 Thomas Tate 
 
 Sundry smaller sums 
 
 Note. — This list contains all subscriptions made up to the 
 Autumn of 1863. At the commencement of the following year, 
 Mr. Robert Hart, Collector of Customs at Hong Kong, sent over 
 the handsome gift of one hundred pounds, which was not included 
 in the account. There were also to be added to this list the 
 large gifts of flour and Indian corn, received through Mr. James, of 
 Liverpool, from the International Relief Committee, and which 
 were value for about one thousand pounds. 
 
 £0 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
74 
 
 At the conclusion of the second month of the Relief Com- 
 mittee's labours, there had not been any diminution of demands on the 
 Fund ; but the great cry of the people by that time was for clothing. 
 
 On the 3rd of March, 1863, there was a full Board in attendance, 
 Dr. Campbell in the chair. 
 
 Dr. MuSGRAVE said he had been over a great portion of the 
 Maze district some days before, and he had recommended that 
 five-and-twenty pairs of blankets be handed over to the Sub- 
 Committee of the Maze for distribution. Agreed to. 
 
 Mr. James N. Richardson having some time ago stated that 
 he intended to make an application to the Friends' Committee of 
 Manchester, for a share o( the breadstuffs sent them from America, 
 reported that he had received a reply to the effect that one hundred 
 barrels of flour would be granted to the Lisburn Committee. 
 
 A vote of thanks having been passed to Mr. J. N. Richardson, 
 that gentleman was requested to convey the hearty acknowledg- 
 ments of the Committee, to the " Friends" of Manchester. 
 
 Mr. Beatty handed in a cheque for ^£2^, from Thos. Bateson, 
 Esq. ; and ;!{^io each was reported as the subscriptions of Messrs. 
 W. G. Malcomson and A. Malcomson, of Liverpool. 
 
 While this abundance of gifts was being poured into the 
 treasury, and while the generously-disposed of far distant lands, as 
 well as those in our own country, on whom Lisburn had no claim, 
 save that of poverty, were displaying the very spirit of generous 
 fraternity, not a word of reply had been received to the letter sent 
 the lord of the soil. Much complaining was heard out of doors 
 on the subject, and very frequently the inquiry, " What has Lord 
 Hertford contributed to the Relief Fund ? " was made in the 
 Committee-room. But to all such questions there was only the 
 one answer to be given. 
 
 In course of that meeting, some pointed remarks were made 
 relative to this matter, and several members complained of the 
 great want of common courtesy displayed by the Marquis. After 
 much discussion, however, and in the charitable hope that his 
 lordship had not received the letter sent him, the following reso- 
 lution was passed : — • 
 
75 
 
 " That, having heard that Mr. Joseph Richardson is about to 
 visit Paris, and that while there he may have occasion to call on 
 the Marquis of Hertford, we request our Secretary will make out a 
 copy of the letter as posted to his lordship on the 13th of January 
 last, and also write a second communication on the same subject, 
 and that he will beg of Mr. Richardson to lay the two letters 
 before Lord Hertford, and respectfully to urge on his lordship the 
 strong claim the Lisburn Relief Fund has on his liberality." 
 
 In accordance with this order of Committee, the following 
 letter was written : — 
 
 " Lisburn, March 3rd, 1S63. 
 "My Lord Marquis, — On the 13th Jan. last, and at the request of the Cotton 
 Operatives' Relief Fund Committee here, I had the honor of writing your lordship 
 to solicit your aid on behalf of the numerous sufferers who have been reduced to 
 the greatest distress by the cotton famine. As I wrote you on that ocasion, a 
 great proportion of these poor people were reared either in this immediate 
 neighbourhood or in the town that forms the capital of your estate. The 
 Committee would, therefore, respectfully hope that you will respond to that 
 appeal ; and they feel certain, that if your lordship had only one day's experi- 
 ence of the great distress that exists here, you would require no further influence 
 to lead you to give liberally in support of the great destitution. 
 
 " I enclose a copy of the letter alluded to as having been posted to your 
 lordship's address some weeks ago ; and as we have not had a reply to it, the 
 Committee fear it has been mislaid in course of transmission. 
 " I have the honour to be, my Lord 
 
 " Respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 " To the Most Noble the Marquis of Hertford, KG., 
 Bagatelle, Paris." 
 
 This second letter, as well as a copy of the former one on the 
 same subject, was enclosed in an envelope and handed to Mr. 
 Richardson, for presentation to the Noble Marquis. During that 
 gentleman's visit to Paris, he had an interview with Lord Hertford, 
 in course of which he introduced the subject connected with the 
 cotton famine, referring especially to the distress that had fallen on 
 the weavers of Lisburn and the surrounding districts, most of which 
 localities were on his lordship's estate. The envelope containing 
 the letters was then handed to him, Mr. Richardson addmg that he 
 
76 
 
 trusted he would respond to the appeal In reply, his lordship 
 merely remarked that " he had received the first communication 
 addressed to him by the Secretary of the Lisburn Relief Committee, 
 but as his agent (Mr. Stannus) was then giving work to many 
 labourers there, he did not see that any further aid should be ^ 
 required of him." 
 
 Here we have Lord Hertford's own testimony relative to what 
 he considered to be the duties of a landlord who owned an estate of 
 sixty-seven thousand acres. He had been informed that all but direct 
 starvation prevailed in many parts of his property, and that great 
 numbers of the operatives connected with the cotton manufacture 
 were suffering from want, but not a line of reply had he the courtesy 
 to send the Lisburn Relief Committee, nor did he contribute a 'y^ 
 single shilling towards alleviating the distress of the destitute people. 
 He said his agent was employing people as common labourers, but 
 for every one person Mr. Stannus had at work, the Messrs. Barbour, 
 and the different firms of the Messrs. Richardson, and other large 
 houses, employed fifty ; yet all these flax-spinners and manufac- 
 turers contributed liberally to the ReUef Fund. Lord Hertford's 
 conduct in this case adds another to the many illustrations of the 
 evils entailed on Ireland by absenteeism. Had he been even an 
 occasional resident on the magnificent property that owned him for 
 its lord, and had chanced to look upon the scenes that so frequently 
 came before the Relief Committee, he could not have withheld his 
 hand nor refused his sympathy for the sufferers who, next to the 
 members of his own household, had the greatest claim on his 
 generosity. According to the hberal laws of our country, every 
 man has a right to live where he pleases. But if the owner of a 
 princely property gratifies his tastes by residing in foreign lands, 
 and if, in seasons of soi/ow and suftering, when thousands of the 
 people who live on that property have been stricken down by 
 poverty, he closes his ear against every appeal made to him for 
 assistance, then the State should step in and give some local 
 authority power to tax that selfish landlord in such an amount as 
 would be an equivalent for the public loss sustained as well by his 
 absence from the seat of distress as by his want of charitable 
 
77 
 
 feeling. At the time to which we refer, the Noble Marquis had for 
 nineteen years been in possession of one ot the finest estates in 
 Ireland, an estate which included some of the best land in the 
 Counties of Antrim and Down ; and during that period his lordship 
 had drawn upwards of half-a-million, in the shape of annual rental, 
 from that splendid property. In the meantmie, his contributions 
 to the charities and other funds connected with Lisburn were 
 miserably trifling. Of course, he had a just claim to his income^ 
 large as it was ; but there are duties attached to all such rights, and 
 his moral obligation to make certain returns for the hundreds of 
 thousands of pounds sterling he had received from his Irish estate 
 was just as incumbent on him as were the legal covenants of his 
 tenants to pay him rents for the lands they cultivated. 
 
 Some days after the appearance of the first letter on the con- 
 dition of the cotton operatives of Lisburn audits neighbourhood, 
 in the Titnes, the Secretary received the following : — 
 
 " Paris, Feb. 20, 1863. 
 " Dear Sir, — I have read with much interest, and considerable sorrow, 
 the account given in the London Times of the state of poverty and suffering that 
 now exists in your town and the surrounding districts. Having many old and 
 cherished associations with Lisburn and its people, the story of the distress 
 existing there has affected me more than I can well express to you. I enclose 
 a bank order for five pounds, and shall feel greatly indebted should you be good 
 enough to give me such information respecting the present state of the sufferers 
 as you may be disposed to communicate. 
 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " T. Graham Smyth. 
 " Hugh M'Call, Esq. 
 
 "P. S. — Please keep my name secret, and let the subscription appear in 
 your list as that of ' In Memoriam.' " 
 
 [In th e previous editions of this volume the name of our re- 
 spected friend was kept secret, but now tHarso many years have 
 passed since the time of the cotton famine, it cannot be considered 
 as any breach of confidence to give that name in full.] 
 
 To this communication the Secretary wrote an immediate reply, 
 of which the following is a copy : — 
 
78 
 
 " Libburn. Feb. 25, 1863. 
 " Dear .Sir, — Many and hearty thanks for your letter and its enclosure of 
 five pounds. I shall, of course, keep your name out of print, and yet regret 
 being obliged to do so. The depth of poverty to which the people connected 
 with the cotton manufacture in this section of Ulster have been reduced through 
 want of employment would appear almost incredible to those who know little of 
 the Irish people's power of endurance We hear much about the American 
 Indian, and how long he can bear up against semi-starvation, but assuredly I 
 have heard about whole families that, for weeks before their distress was made 
 kncwn, could only muster means sufficient to procure one meal of porridge in 
 the tv/enty-four hours. And yet such is the feeling of independence that pre- 
 vails in many circles of workpeople that their wants were only made known 
 through some of their more fortunate neighbours. We purpose sending a num. 
 ber of the younger people either to America or some of the British colonies, as, 
 in the present state of trade, there seems little prospect of employment, at least 
 for some time to come. I send with this a Whig and a News-Letter, in which 
 full reports appear of last week's proceedings, as noted in Committee. 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 "T. G. Smyth, Esq." 
 
 It will be seen by the date of the next letter — a copy of which 
 we give here — that our benevolent contributor did not permit a single 
 day to pass before he forwarded a further donation. 
 
 " 43, Rue des Faubourg St. Honore, Paris, 
 " March 2nd, 1863. • 
 "Dear Sir, — The papers came to hand, and I feel grateful that you 
 acceded to my request of keeping my name secret. Allow me to thank you for 
 your letter and the kindly spirit that dictated it. I once heard of an epitaph to 
 this efTect — 
 
 " What I have spent I lost. 
 What I have lent I lost. 
 But what I gave I have." 
 Believing, then, that the Almighty ever repays, and with good interest, what- 
 ever is given in His cause, and being well satisfied with the security, I enclose 
 you another five pounds. This, I propose, should be employed in aiding the 
 poor people to emigrate, should your Committee so decide in applying a portion 
 of the funds. If rot, you can place it to the credit of the general relief. Still 
 desirable of preserving my signature, ' In Memoriam. ' 
 " I am, dear Sir, 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " In Memoriam. 
 " H. M'Call, Esq." 
 
79 
 
 The supplies of cash, breadstufifs, and blankets sent in to the 
 Lisburn Committee continued on the most liberal scale, but the 
 drain on their resources became very great. It was well known to 
 them that the assistance given to each family fell far short of that 
 which had been the average in Lancashire ; but even taking the 
 rate of distribution then going on in their own district there was 
 no doubt that the means at the disposal of the Committee would 
 not admit of the same ratio of relief from that time to the end of 
 Summer. While this question was being discussed in Committee, 
 the constable who attended the weekly meetings, and was at 
 other times engaged in making inquiries respecting the actual 
 requirements of persons seeking relief, came into the room to an- 
 nounce that a deputation from the weavers of Bridge End, Lisburn, 
 had a memorial to lay before the Committee. 
 
 The deputation was introduced by Mr. John Sloan, of Planta- 
 tion House, and after a few words from an exceedingly intelligent 
 member of the Weavers' Society, the memorial was read. It was 
 stated in that document that there did not appear to be any well- 
 founded hope that the existing state of depression would soon pass 
 away. The weavers did not wish to continue as recipients of 
 relief; for, however grateful they felt to the gentlemen that had so 
 opportunely come forward to aid them in that time of poverty and 
 privation, they respectfully begged that their benefactors would 
 devise some means of sending, say, two dozen families to any of 
 the colonies. In that case, the people who would get out to a land 
 where their labours would support them might ultimately rise to 
 comparative independence, and so far the field of employment at 
 home would be lightened of a number of competitors for work 
 when trade improved. 
 
 After some remarks from the Chairman, to the effect that the 
 subject would be considered, the deputation withdrew. 
 
 The tone of the memorial, and the manly spirit of self-reliance 
 it exhibited, caused many expressions of pleasure on the part of 
 the Committee, and it was immediately resolved to accede to the 
 prayer of the weavers, so far as the funds would permit. 
 
So 
 
 Mr. Millar expressed the great satisfaction he felt at the care 
 which had been taken in distributing the funds. Those poor 
 famihes that were in their suffering most unobtrusive, and concealed 
 rather than paraded their wants, had been sought out and attended 
 to, and the relief in such cases was so given as not to hurt that 
 feeling of delicacy which should ever be cherished. He was glad, 
 therefore, to find that the distress existing in the ranks of the 
 workpeople connected with the cotton trade had not affected the 
 virtue of self-reliance among them ; and as the application to Mr. 
 Jordan, the London Emigration Agent, had failed, he would sug- 
 gest that a letter be sent to the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of 
 State for the Colonies, and that probably his Grace might be able 
 to do something for them. 
 
 Sir James M. Higginson said there had been no end of what 
 he considered as very romantic tales told about Queensland being 
 superior as a colonial home for redundant population to any other 
 isle of the far South, but had little faith in such imaginative stories. 
 He preferred Canada to any of all her Majesty's distant possessions. 
 Some of the most successful settlers in that section of British North 
 America were Ulstermen. Having resided there in an official 
 capacity for many years, he could, therefore, speak with some 
 degree of confidence, not only as to the fertility of the soil, but 
 respecting the great facilities that were to be found there for in- 
 dustrious immigrants. But as Mr. Millar had proposed that the 
 Duke of Newcastle should be appUed to, he thought that course 
 might be taken in the first instance. 
 
 The following letter was, therefore, written to the Colonial 
 Secretary : — 
 
 " Lisburn, March 3rd, 1863. 
 " My Lord Duke, — I have been requested by the Committee of the Cotton 
 Operatives' ReUef Fund to write to your Grace on the distress suffered here by 
 the weavers, many liundreds of whom have been thrown out of employment by 
 the cotton (amine. We have raised money for their rehef, and are at present 
 giving food and clothes to many hundreds of families. But as little hope exists 
 of any immediate improvement of trade in that manufacture, it has been sug- 
 gested that a number of the younger operatives should be sent either to Canada 
 or some of the isles of Australia. I presume your Grace may be aware that in 
 
8i 
 
 this part of Ulster it is quite usual for the hand-loom weavers in the rural dis- 
 tricts to assist at out- door work in the fields, at certain seasons when ordinary 
 hands are not able to do the work, and, consequently, that most of these weavers 
 would be able to do farm labour. The object of our Committee in taking the 
 liberty of writing to your Grace is, therefore, to inquire whether the Government 
 would assist them in sending to Canada or Queensland say from four to five 
 hundred of these poor weavers. It is melancholy to think that such numbers 
 of people, able and willing to work, should be suffering from semi-starvation at 
 home, while millions of acres of Britain's colonial lands lie idle and useless from 
 want of hands to cultivate them. The Committee desires me to add that should 
 your Grace require more detailed information on this subject, they will feel 
 pleasure in sending it forward. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, my Lord Duke, 
 
 " Your Grace's very humble servant, 
 
 " Hugh M'Call, Secretary. 
 "To his Grace the Right Hon. the Duke of Newcastle, 
 Colonial Office, London." 
 
 In course of post, a reply to this letter was received, couched 
 in the stereotyped phraseology of Downing Street literature, the 
 Chief of the Colonial Department winding up his curt communi- 
 cation with an expression of regret that "Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment was not prepared to undertake the responsibility of sending 
 Irish emigrants to Canada." 
 
 As a rule, the people of Ulster owe little to the Imperial Powers 
 no matter by what party such powers may be wielded. Through- 
 out all the destitution, disease, and death that followed in the wake 
 of the famine season, we not only supported our own poor, but 
 sent contributions towards the alleviation of distress in the Western 
 provinces. And in order to shew his appreciation of the self- 
 reliance and benevolent spirit of Ulstermen, Lord John Russell, 
 then Prime Minister, saddled the ratepayers here with an additional 
 tax, known as a "Rate in aid," for the people of Connaught. A more 
 disgraceful act of injustice was never perpetrated than the passing 
 of that law. If it had been an actual truth, and not a mere 
 Governmental fiction, that the West of Ireland had the honour of 
 being an integral part of the United Kingdom, the people of 
 Lancashire and York, of Devon and of Warwick, should have 
 borne their just proportion of assisting in the support of Connaught- 
 men, and Ulster ought only to have been called upon to contribute 
 her own share of the tax. h 
 
8a 
 
 In a somewhat similar spirit to that shewn towards the North 
 of Ireland by Lord John Russell was an appeal to the Duke of 
 Newcastle treated, by that pompous politician. For more than a 
 century the people of Ulster had never sought such favour of the 
 British Government ; but, trifling as was the request of the Lisburn 
 Relief Committee, the ducal Minister could not think of the great 
 " responsibility of sending Irish emigrants to Canada." 
 
 At that time the Imperial Government was flinging away immense 
 sums in building the unsightly sea monsters called ironclads. Four- 
 inch plates and six-inch planks were considered by my lords of the 
 Admiralty as quite sufficient armoury to resist any cannon ball. 
 The gunner's art, however, was next tried, and Sir VVm. Armstrong 
 produced a piece of ordnance that sent its shot through iron and 
 timber as easily as though the combination had been no stronger 
 than the sideof acoal barge. Then commenced the war between the 
 manufacturers of armour plates and the gun makers, until, at length, 
 nine-inch steel and fourteen-inch teak were found unable to resist 
 the increased power of cannon. In that play at projectiles some 
 millions of money were spent, and not a few nautical abortions 
 which (as was said in a discussion in the House of Commons, were 
 " built to swim as a duck, but might go down like a diver") were 
 launched from the Royal dockyards. The mere cost of the internal 
 fittings of any one of these ships would have paid the outlay in- 
 curred in sending many thousands of the cotton weavers to Canada 
 and settling them there on Government lands ; but on the part 
 of Ministerial Bumbledom that would have been rather too practical 
 in its policy ; and hence, those who expected little at the hands of 
 the British Cabinet were not disappointed. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 LL this time rations of food and proportions of fuel were 
 being distributed to the families of the cotton operatives' 
 weavers, embroiderers, and tambourers. Members of 
 the Ladies' Committee visited the homes of those people, and 
 where it was found requisite such articles of inner clothing as were 
 needed were given to each family. Sheets and blankets, as well 
 as frocks for girls and children, were made up and distributed. 
 
 The Glenmore bleaching concern gave regular employment to 
 about five hundred hands, and it was an exceedingly interesting 
 trait in the character of those workpeople to find them shewing 
 the best sympathy towards the cotton operatives in the form of a 
 contribution of ^^14 19s. A similar movement was made by the 
 people engaged at the Hilden Flax and Thread Works, who col- 
 lected ;£ig; the Island Mill people sent in ;£x2 15s.; those of 
 Whitehouse Mill — Messrs. Bell & Calvert's— forwarded ;^7 iis. ; 
 the employes of Messrs. Black & Wingate, of Glasgow, contributed 
 ^5 ; and the people of Messrs. Richardson, Spence & Co., of 
 Liverpool, gave ;£2 6s. to the Lisburn Relief Fund. All this 
 benevolence on the part of people, many of whom had little to 
 spare, was further evidence of how much good there is in human 
 nature, after all we hear to the contrary. 
 
 At the meeting of the Committee held on Tuesday, March 10th, 
 the letter of Mr. Walter Magee, of New York, announcing the suc- 
 cessful collection of funds in that city, and also letters from Mr. 
 James, of the firm of Mr. Thomas Richardson & Co., Philadelphia, 
 and Mr. Thomas O'Neill, of the same city, told the Secretary that 
 
84 
 
 large subscriptions had been raised there. Votes of thanks were 
 passed to tliose gentlemen, and it was ordered thst by the next 
 American mail letters should be written to each of them, as well 
 in acknowledgment of his successful exertions, as to thank him 
 heartily for his kindly recognition of the necessity of immediate 
 action in the case. 
 
 In course of the meeting, the Rev. S. Nicholson said "he 
 had received a letter from a brother Wesleyan, Rev. Mr. Living- 
 stone, then of Halifax, Yorkshire. This reverend gentleman was 
 a native of Lisburn, and having read of the distress existing among 
 one class of the people, he purchased a lot of blankets and sent 
 them over as his contribution to the Relief Fund, hoping the gift 
 would be useful to the sufferers of his own town." 
 
 Mr. Carlile expressed himself much gratified at the statement 
 just made by Mr. Nicholson. The Rev. Mr. Livingstone was a 
 minister of great ability, and, as such, an honour to Lisburn. He 
 would propose that a letter of thanks be written to that reverend 
 gentleman. 
 
 Ordered. 
 
 Mr. J. N. Richardson inquired whether any reply had been 
 sent Mr. James, of Liverpool ; and if so, whether he could see a 
 copy of the letter. 
 
 The Secretary said he had sent by the early post the following 
 communication ; — 
 
 " Lisburn, March lo, 1863. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — In acknowledging the receipt of the last shipment of bread- 
 stuffs, which makes a total of 700 barrels of flour, and 167 bags of Indian com, 
 your Committee has been good enough to send us out of the very liberal benefice 
 that certain citizens of the Northern States of America have displayed towards 
 our distressed people, our Committee return you their warmest thanks. 
 
 " It must be a source of high gratification to all classes of persons in this 
 neighbourhood, and more especially those who have interested themselves in 
 our system of relief, to know that so many kind friends had come forward to 
 help them. And wonderful, indeed, is the fact, that at a time of unequalled 
 dulness in the cotton tr.ide, America, forgetting, as it were, her own internal 
 sorrows, and looking with sympathy at the sufferers across the broad Atlantic, 
 sends her queenly gifts of food to Lancashire and Lisburn. 
 
85 
 
 " Ireland can never forget with what a liberal hand the citizens of the 
 United States assisted her in 1S47, a time of poverty and pestilence never pre- 
 viously equalled even in her annals. From a variety of causes, however, the 
 present serious distress in this part of Ulster is in some instances as severe as it 
 was at the time of that famine. Your gifts to our Committee have, therefore, 
 been valuable in proportion to the generosity that bestowed them. In looking 
 over all these incidents of kindly feeling, we can only hope that the noble spirit 
 of benevolence which the open-handed citizens of America have displayed in 
 this and other instances, will have the effect of creating still stronger bonds of 
 relationship between the Western Republic and the old country. 
 
 " And new. Sir, let us again thank you for all your kindness, and wishing 
 you, and every other member of your Committee, health, happiness, and long 
 days of future usefulness, 
 
 " We remain respectfully yours, 
 
 " Signed on behalf of the Committee of the Lisburn Relief Fund, 
 
 " Hugh M'Call, Secretary. 
 "Daniel James, Esq " 
 
 At the meeting of Sub-Committee, held on Saturday, the 14th 
 of March, Dr. Campbell in the chair, it was proposed, after the 
 routine business had been gone through, that the Secretary should 
 write to Admiral Seymour, to solicit his aid, and that evening the 
 following letter was written : — 
 
 " Cotton Operatives' Relief Fund, 
 Lisburn, March 14, 1863. 
 " Sir, — May I beg to call your attention to the distress now existing in the 
 ranks of the cotton operatives in this part of the country. Since the commence- 
 ment of the war in America, the condition of the people has been gradually 
 becoming more distressing. Several hundreds of them are without woik, and 
 all means of support, and even those who have weaving to do can't earn more 
 than a mere pittance, far under the lowest cost of purchasing food for them- 
 selves and families. As the great proportion of these people were reared on the 
 Hertford estate, the Committee of Relief Fund respectfully place these facts 
 before you ; and, knowing the connection that exists between your family and 
 the property of which Lisburn is the capital, they beg to solicit your favour in 
 support of the destitute. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, yours faithfully, 
 
 "HughM'Call* 
 "Admiral Sir George Seymour, 
 Admiralty, London." 
 
86 
 
 The gallant Admiral was at that time looked upon as heir- 
 apparent to the title and e3tates o* Lord Hertford, and conse- 
 quently the CommitLee felt that Lisburn had some claim on his 
 generosity ; ncr were they d'sappoi'ited. In bright contrast with 
 the selfish indiflference of the Noble Marquis, when appealed to for 
 assistance, is the sturdy old seaman's reply to the Committee's 
 appeal. We here annex a copy of the Admiral's letter : — 
 
 "Admiral Sir George Seymour presents his compliments to Mr. M'Call ; 
 and in acknowledging his letter of the l6th instant, which has only this day 
 readied him from the Admiralty, he encloses a bank order for ten pounds 
 towards the relief of the existing destitution in Lisbuni and its neighbourhood, 
 of the extent of which he has heard with great regret. 
 
 "15, Eaton Square, London, 
 March 17, 1863." 
 
 On the 2ist of March, Mr. Frederick Baines, of the Leeds 
 Mercury, wrote the Secretary, requesting to have some information 
 on certain points connected with thecondition of the cotton weavers. 
 He said ii; was probable his friends in that quarter would give the 
 Lisburn Committee the means of extending their good work. A 
 letter was accordingly written that gentleman, giving such facts as 
 would best tell the story respecting the state of affairs then existing 
 among the cotton weavers of all ranks in and around Lisburn. 
 The following is Mr. Baines' reply : — 
 
 " Leeds, April 2, 1863. 
 " My Dear Sir, — I had this day the pleasure of joining in a vote for 
 presenting a sum of money for the relief of the distress in your neighbourhood, 
 and I believe Mr. Millar, Treasurer of the Lisburn Committee, will shortly 
 hear on the subject from our Mayor. The information contained in your com- 
 munication to me was just what was wanted. I am greatly obliged to you for 
 sending it so fully and with such promptitude. 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " F. Baines. 
 «• Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
 At a very early stage of the Committee's labours it was deter- 
 mined that the area of relief should be divided into districts. 
 That course was found necessary in order to guard against im- 
 position, and it continued to be the rule in all future proceedings. 
 
8; 
 
 Sixteen districts were parcelled out, and for each a Sub-Com- 
 mittee was appointed with a paid inspector; and as the boundaries 
 of each area had been specially defined by the Treasurer, the mode 
 of distribution gradually assumed a direct system that worked har- 
 moniously for all interests. The following order was issued for 
 the guidance of officers in the country: — "Sub-Committees are 
 expected to meet once a-week, to arrange the amount of relief to 
 be given to each family. The Inspector of the District is to visit 
 the houses of the weavers and unemployed labourers, and to give 
 in his report to the Committee, who are to decide as to the persons 
 to get rations, and to note the particulars of each case relieved on 
 the blocks of the printed tickets. Relief in all cases to be granted 
 according to the rules posted in the ticket-book." 
 
 For so far in the Spring season not the least improvement 
 could be reported in any department of the cotton trade. Desti- 
 tution had been warded off, but the poverty of the people continued 
 intense. In the hope of obtaining even partially free transit to 
 Australia for a certain number of emigrants, the Secretary had 
 written to Mr. J. H. Knight, of Kensington London, and also 
 to Mr. A. C. Buchanan, as to Canadian passages, but in neither 
 case did he receive a satisfactory reply. The different sub-com- 
 mittees in the country districts were then distributing fully as much 
 of both clothing and food as they had given in the early part of 
 February. On the loth of April, the Chairman of Committee 
 received the following letter from the Mayor of Leeds : — 
 
 " Town Hall, Leeds, April 9, 1863. 
 " J. J. Richardson, Esq. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — The Committee having had represented to them the desti- 
 tution now existing in Lisburn and its neighbourhood, have voted to you two 
 hundred pounds, which I have the pleasure to enclose, for your poor operatives. 
 Please acknowledge receipt, and oblige 
 
 " Yours, very tnily, 
 
 "J. O. March. 
 " Cotton Relief Fund, Lisburn." 
 
 This communication was read by Mr. Richardson at the next 
 meeting of Committee, and when the ordinary business of that 
 day had been concluded, 
 
88 
 
 Mr. Barbour, J. P., of Hilden, after referring to the generosity 
 displayed towards the suffering weavers by the benevolent of nearly 
 every country, proposed — 
 
 *' That Mr. March, the worthy Mayor of Leeds, Mr. Baines, 
 and all other gentlemen who had been concerned in handing over 
 to the Sub-Committee the munificent gift of two hundred pounds, 
 should be written to in terms of grateful acknowledgment for their 
 handsome donation." 
 
 It was then ordered that, in accordance with the proposition 
 of Mr. Barbour, the Secretary should write letters to the Leeds 
 authorities, conveying the thanks of the Committee. 
 
 Mr. J. N. Richardson begged to say that as they had not 
 been able to prevail on the Government to aid them in their emi- 
 gration scheme, he had written Mr. A. T. Stewart on the subject, 
 and he felt assured he would get a favourable reply. 
 
 A third communication was about this time addressed to the 
 Editor of the Times, and in course of that letter the Secretary 
 gave further details relative to the condition of the people and the 
 liberal assistance contributed to the Relief Fund. The letter ap- 
 peared in that paper in due course. Some passages are here 
 given from it : — 
 
 " The publication in your paper of my former letters has had 
 the effect of creating for the distressed cotton operatives of this 
 district of the North of Ireland, an amount of sympathy of which 
 our Committee could not have formed the most distant idea. 
 Several private subscriptions have since then been sent us from 
 Hamburg, and many benevolent merchants in the United States 
 of America have also liberally contributed towards the fund. 
 Nearer home, the good spirit of charity has been actively at work. 
 England, * that never passes by on the other side' when the wail 
 of distress is heard in this country, has not forgotten her wonted 
 munificence towards our people. Many of the kind-hearted in 
 that land of almost boundless wealth and unlimited benevolence, 
 who had only known Lisburn by name, and, until very recent date, 
 had no idea of its being the seat of Ulster's hand-loom cotton manu- 
 
8g 
 
 facture, have been among the first to send their gifts to our treasury. 
 One good Samaritan, Mr. Chance, the generous philanthropist of 
 Birmingham, contributed ;^io in the first instance, and afterwards 
 sent over a large parcel of religious tracts for distribution among 
 the poor people. In my experience of the world I have found a 
 great number of worthy and exemplary Christians who were profuse 
 in their gifts of tracts, and exceedingly chary of their cash ; but the 
 gentleman to whom I allude adopted the more effective system of 
 practical philanthropy by sending the money first and the tracts 
 afterwards. To those merchants of Liverpool who have interested 
 themselves so much on behalf of the cotton operatives here and 
 elsewhere, the people around us owe a debt of gratitude, which, I 
 hope, will never be forgotten. Indeed, every Irisliman whose heart 
 is in the right place — every man who can appreciate open-handed 
 benevolence, no matter from what quarter it comes — must feel that 
 in this case our fellow-subjects on both sides the Tweed have 
 displayed remarkable liberality towards us, and this, too, at a time 
 when the cry of distress at their own doors was intense beyond 
 anything ever previously known in Britain's industrial history. 
 You are aware. Sir, that a number of noble-hearted men in New 
 York and Philadelphia, in addition to the gifts of money contributed 
 to Lancashire, recently loaded three vessels with different varieties 
 of food, and sent them to Liverpool — the flour, Indian corn, and 
 provisions which formed their cargoes, to be distributed among 
 the sufferers by the cotton famine, Under the auspices of a leading 
 mercantile house in Liverpool, the Committee of the Lisburn 
 Cotton Operatives' Relief Fund applied to Mr. Daniel James, 
 Chairman of the Liverpool Committee of the International Relief 
 Committee, for a portion of the cargo of the good ship George 
 Griswold, and after some correspondence on the subject, in which 
 were given full statements of the great extent of country over which 
 our relief districts ran, we had the gratification to learn that 700 
 barrels of flour had been allocated to our Committee. Besides 
 that munificent gift, our friends in Liverpool sent over last week 
 167 bags of Indian corn, with a request that one portion of the 
 lot should be handed over for distribution to the Rev. Mr. Roe, of 
 
90 
 
 Ballymacarrett, and who has taken great interest in the cotton 
 weavers of his district ; and an equal quantity of the corn was sent 
 to the Committee of the distressed operatives in Newtownards ; 
 and the remainder kept for the use of the poor people in and around 
 Lisburn. All this amplitude of liberality, as exhibited by the good 
 and generous men in different parts of the world towards the 
 victims of the American war in this country, adds one more proof 
 in favour of the catholic sentiment, that, after all we hear to the 
 contrary, there is far more good in human nature than those who 
 whine about man's depravity would lead us to believe. It shews us 
 that, let national jealousies act as they may on the surface of 
 society — let the people of different climes and countries war as 
 they will on matters of political antagonism — there is still to be 
 found in the deeper strata of human feeling a noble spirit of gene- 
 rosity, which, under every variety of circumstance, never fails to 
 respond to the call of want and wretchedness. It may be asked, 
 what have we been doing with the funds so largely poured in on us 
 for the aid of our suffering neighbours. In reply, I have to state 
 that we have at present an aggregate of nearly i,ooo people on 
 the inspectors' and sub-committees' books. Each family receives 
 weekly rations of meal and coal, and in a great many cases they 
 have been supplied with blankets. Others, again, have obtained 
 from the Ladies' Committee various articles of clothing, the total 
 number of persons so attended to being about six hundred. I regret 
 to state, in reference to the condition of the great mass of the 
 cotton operatives in this quarter, that it is not only more unsatis- 
 factory than it was at the commencement of the year, but that, so 
 far as can be seen into the future, there is little hope for improve- 
 ment — at least for a long time to come. The Belfast manufactu- 
 rers are doing very little in the way of production, and the Glasgow 
 houses, who have agents for the giving out of work here, have been 
 gradually lessening their extent of business. One firm, which had 
 held out pretty well through all the dull trade of last autumn, and 
 up to the middle of the past month," has also ceased to give em- 
 ployment, the result of whicli has been to throw several hundreds 
 of hands into the previous mass of compulsory idlers. In the rural 
 
91 
 
 districts many weavers arc engaged at field work; but even here an 
 evil arises because of their competing in the labour market with the 
 ordinary class of farm operatives, thus in some degree bringing 
 down the latter to the level of their own state. The weekly earn- 
 ings even of those who are employed at the loom would not ave- 
 rage more than about 6d. a-head for the seven days' support of each 
 member of their families. I have before me a list, prepared by a 
 member of our Committee, of thirty weavers, and of the whole only 
 one realizes 7s. a-week in the gross — say, when expense of loom is 
 deducted, a net income of 6s. a-week. But there are numbers of 
 weavers who don't earn above 3s., and others again only 2s. 6d. 
 a-week. Embroiderers that were able to make 53. to 8s. at the 
 sewing-hoop some years ago, do not at present exceed 2s. 6d., and 
 tambourers on the average earn about is. 6d. for the six days' work." 
 
 This letter concluded the correspondence that appeared in the 
 London Times. 
 
 During the proceedings connected with the distribution, and 
 especially when the emigration scheme was under consideration, 
 some strange propositions were made to the Committee by persons 
 who seemed to know as little about Ulster as if its geographical 
 position had been amid the wilds of the Far West. A London 
 gentleman wrote to inquire v/hat was the proportion of Roman 
 Catholics to Protestants in the cotton districts, and whether the 
 former were peaceably disposed. To this correspondent the Sec- 
 retary wrote to say that " peace and good will prevailed among all 
 sects in Ulster quite as fully as they did between the different 
 classes of Protestantism in England." In his reply, that gentleman 
 expressed himself very much pleased to learn that people of oppo- 
 site creeds lived on peaceable terms, but seemed to feel no less 
 astonishment than an Exeter Hall habitue would have done, had 
 he heard of a missionary and a South Sea Islander walking arm- 
 in-arm along the Strand. 
 
 About the same time, a lady who resided at Sydenham, London, 
 wrote the Secretary to inquire about the different sects of reli- 
 gionists in the North of Ireland. Like many other denizens of 
 
92 
 
 the world that exists on tlie banks uf the Thames, the lady referred 
 to had entertained the wildest ideas about the social condition of 
 the Irish, and especially as related to the feeling that existed be- 
 tween the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. She had heard 
 that the Lisburn Relief Committee proposed sending a number of 
 the people then being partially supported on the public fund, to 
 so.ne of the colonies, and offered, on certain conditions, to give 
 fifty pounds towards the cost ot emigration. In reply, the Secretary 
 wrote as follows : — 
 
 "Lisbuin, March 23, 1S63. 
 
 "Madam, — On the part of the Relief Committee here, I beg to return you 
 many thanks for your handsome proposal of contributing fifty pounds towards 
 the cost of sending a number of families to some of the British colonies. You 
 inquire what is the state of social feeling that exists between the Roman Catholic 
 and Protestant peoples in this part of Ulster. I have great pleasure in stating 
 that, as a general rule, the utmost good will prevails on both sides. In many 
 parts of Ulster there are a few fire-eating clergymen connected with the Protes- 
 tant Churches who occasionally forget that their mission should be one of peace, 
 but even such ministers are being taught lessons of toleration ; and except on 
 the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne anl the natal day of Ireland's Patron 
 Saint, the laity usually live in the spirit of kindly amity. National education) 
 which, in its early days, was bitterly oppose 1 by narrow-minded men both of 
 the Episcopalian and Presbyterian Churches in the North of Ireland, has worked 
 miracles in Ulster. And not the least important of these is the improved spirit 
 of kindliness it has cultivated in the social relations of young people, so far 
 narrowing the confines of Church and creed. Thus the leavening principles of 
 mixed education have brought into play much of the virtue of mutual harmony. 
 The Roman Catholic lad who has sat at the writing 'desk or on the school form 
 with the juvenile Protestant learns more than mere elementary instruction ; he 
 finds much good fellowship exists with his neighbour, the same feeling is called 
 forth on the other side, and thus mutual forbearance is being taught as well as 
 lessons in arithmetic. 
 
 "Among the better educated classes here the difference of creed rarely 
 interferes with the amenities of conventional life. At our meetings of Com- 
 mittee the Protestant i^ector and the parish priest, the Presbyterian pastor and 
 Methodist preacher, meet together in the utmost spirit of good-will. Our 
 Chairman is a Quaker, several of the most active members belong to the same 
 sect, and in the distribution of relief no questions are asked respecting the 
 private opinions of those requiring assistance. 
 
 "I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 "To Mrs. S. S., 
 Post Office, Sydenham, London." 
 
93 
 
 To this communication the lady replied, to say that if the 
 Committee would permit to he inserted in the Belfast papers an 
 advertisement, of which she sent a copy, she would pay the cost 
 of sending a certain number of Protestants to America ; but would 
 reserve to herself the right of appointing a Scripture-reader to em- 
 bark with htx proteges, and look after them during the voyage. 
 The advertisement alluded to was to the effect that "A lady who 
 resided near London would send over to New York a dozen 
 families of the Protestant faith. She would also appoint a Scrip- 
 ture-reader who would have those people under his spiritual guid- 
 ance, and that applications for free passages should be made to the 
 Lisburn Relief Committee," 
 
 This proposal, well intentioned and kind as it was, could not be 
 entertained, for reasons which will be obvious to our local readers. 
 A second letter was written our lady correspondent, to say that as 
 the people about to be sent out by the Relief Committee consisted 
 of different sects of Protestants and many Roman Catholics, it 
 would not be advisable to send any sectarian teacher. At the same 
 time, we fully acknowledged the very generous proposal as to the 
 money contribution. The lady's third communication will best 
 tell what she wished to have done in the case: — 
 
 "Sydenham, London, April 2, 1863. 
 "Hugh M'Call, Esq., Lisburn, Ireland. 
 
 " Sir, — I have to thank you for the clear insight which your letters, the 
 second of which is just to hand, convey to me respecting the general habits of 
 the Catholics of the North. With regard to the insertion of the word ' Protes- 
 tant' in the advertisement which I sent you, I beg to say that my desire was 
 rather to avoid giving offence to the Roman Catholics than to limit the benefit 
 of emigration to Protestants But, should you consent to adopt the rest of the 
 advertisement, you may omit the word ' Protestant.' Allow me, at the same 
 time, to state that, in order to avoid misconception, if you succeed in carrying 
 out your idea of sending out one hundred emigrants to one of the colonics, I will 
 subscribe j^ioo towards the expense. I will, however, consider myself at 
 liberty to deduct from that sum a year's salary for an efficient Scripture-reader, 
 and also other means of improvement and comfort for the emigrants. I read 
 with much interest the letter from Paris, as given in the report of proceedings 
 published in the N'orthern Whig you were good enough to forward to me. 
 
 " I remain, Sir, yours faithfully, 
 
 "S. S." 
 
94 
 
 At the meeting of Committee, held April 4, the Secretary read 
 the letter of his anonymous correspondent " S. S." The emended 
 advertisement that lady had forwarded in her last communication 
 ran as follows: — 
 
 " The Emigration Society feel it to be a matter of primary 
 importance that a large number of Protestant emigrants leaving 
 the mother country should be accompanied by a well-instructed 
 Scripture-reader, for whom, on reaching the colony, employment 
 might be found. All the emigrants will be furnished vvith Bibles 
 and other means of religious instruction, both as a means of safe- 
 guard for themselves and as a means of leavening the country of 
 their adoption. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and 
 results beyond our conception may depend on the new lite to be 
 thus infused into the colony." 
 
 A lengthened discussion took place on this subject; but, all 
 circumstances taken into account, it was unanimously agreed that, 
 except at the risk of creating disunion among emigrants who were 
 of different creeds, the Committee could not accept the donation. 
 The Secretary was accordingly desired to communicate the result 
 to his correspondent. 
 
CHA.PTER VI. 
 
 HE distributions of and to the people m want continued 
 for the succeeding weeks of April on a very large scale. 
 Letters were written to various emigration agents re- 
 specting the cost of sending a number of the weavers and their 
 families to Australia, but nothing at all definite resulted from 
 these communications. 
 
 In course of the ordinary proceedings at the meeting held on 
 the 28th of that month, the Secretary stated that he had written to 
 Mr. J. D. Barbour, M.P., who was then attending to his Parlia- 
 mentary duties in London, requesting that gentleman to call at the 
 Australian Emigration Office, and, if possible, get definite informa- 
 tion respecting the terms on which emigrants could be sent out. 
 
 Sir James M. Higginson stated that he still continued of 
 opinion that Canada was the land of hope for the unemployed 
 hands connected with cotton weaving, and he thought no time 
 should be lost in making arrangements for that purpose. 
 
 The Secretary said he had already written Messrs. Richard- 
 son, Spence & Co., of Liverpool, to request that firm to be good 
 enough to inquire on what terms sailing or steamship owners would 
 carry one hundred emigrants to Quebec. 
 
 Mr. Millar understood that sailing vessels took out passengers 
 at ;^4 I OS. each adult, and half that sum for children not exceeding 
 twelve years of age. He had gone into the account of probable 
 cost, and after making allowance fur extra expenditure, in the form 
 of clothing, between three and four hundred pounds would be 
 required. Even the highest of these sums might hardly pay all 
 expenses, as they must be aware how far the scanty wardrobes of 
 the people had run down during the terrible ordeal through which 
 they had passed during the last six months. 
 
<j6 
 
 Dr. Campbell hoped that some prompt measures would be 
 used to facilitate arrangements, for really the aspect of affahs 
 seemed to look darker as the Summer approached. And yet, he 
 feared that in case of any extensive emigration, the best and ablest 
 men would be sent away. 
 
 The Chairj^ian (Mr. J. J. Richardson, J. P.) agreed with Dr. 
 Campbell's observation, as to the ablest men being most likely to 
 emigrate ; still, as they were well aware that even these people 
 were gradually descending into mere pauperism, he would choose 
 the lesser of the two evils. In his opinion, there could be no 
 better use made of the means in hand than to place a number of 
 famihes in the sure way of not only earning a living, but of ma- 
 terially improving their condition. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Breakey suggested that they should write to Sir 
 James E. Tennent, relative to obtaining direct aid from Govern- 
 ment in getting a number of the people away from suffering and 
 semi-starvation. He felt assured that, with the large experience of 
 Sir James on all such questions, much good might arise from 
 communicating with him. 
 
 The Secretary said he had already had some correspondence 
 with Sir James E. Tennent, 
 
 A full report of the sums contributed to the Relief Fund was 
 laid on the table by Mr. Millar. The details of that account were 
 as follows : — 
 
 Lisburn and its neighbourhood, ... ... ... ;/^48o 9 3 
 
 Other parts of the cotton districts, ... ... ... 147 4 6 
 
 Other parts of Ireland, 238 14 6 
 
 ^866 8 3 
 
 England, .^^516 10 7 
 
 Scotland, ... .., ... ... 91 o o 
 
 — 607 10 7 
 
 ;fi,473 18 10 
 Northern States of America, ... ... ... ... 1,376 16 8 
 
 Southern ,, , 100 
 
 Colonial, .. ... .._ ... ... ... 200 
 
 Interest paid by Treasurer, ... ... ... ... 2187 
 
 Total to April 25, ^2,85614 I 
 
97 
 
 After the items of these accounts had been read over, some 
 conversation took place about the amount subscribed by the in- 
 habitants of Lisburn, which, though large in individual cases, had 
 not been so general as it might have been. It was, therefore, 
 resolved — " That, seeing the liberality of persons at a distance from 
 the scene of disaster, and as many persons in Lisburn and neigh- 
 bourhood who had ample means of contributing to the fund had 
 not yet given anything towards it, two or more gentlemen be ap- 
 pointed to wait on all such inhabitants and solicit subscriptions 
 for their poor neighbours." 
 
 Mr. Joseph Richardson said that probably Mr. Beatty would 
 join the Chairman, Treasurer, and Secretary in collecting funds. 
 
 From the hsts handed in by Sub-Committees in several districts, 
 it appeared that for the week ending the i8th of April, there were 
 104 looms idle and 117 in work in one section of the Maze, and 
 110 employed out of the gross number of 257 looms; another 
 district shewed that 251 heads of families were idle. 
 
 At the general meeting, May 5th, Mr. Richardson, of Lissue, 
 rose and said that the barque Old Hickory, with breadstuffs from 
 Philadelphia, having arrived at Belfast; he would suggest that she 
 be chartered to take out emigrants on her return voyage. Should 
 his proposal be agreed to, however, he would hope that the greatest 
 care should be taken in selecting the right sort of persons to get 
 free passages. His own private opinion was, that weavers who 
 had not sought assistance from that Committee should be offered 
 passages as well as persons whose names were on the lists. 
 
 The Rev. D. J. Clarke fully agreed with what had been said 
 by Mr. J. Richardson, He thought a favourable opportunity of 
 getting families out to America then offered itself, and he would, 
 therefore, propose that the firm of Richardson Brothers be requested 
 to make such terms as they could with the captain of the ship. 
 Acting on that idea, he had written out a resolution which he would 
 propose, and which was to the following effect : — 
 
 " That a sum of ;!^45o be expended in sending one hundred 
 
 N 
 
98 
 
 persons to Philadelphia, a preference to be given to married men 
 with families, no emigrant to be above fifty years of age." 
 
 The proposition was seconded, and passed unanimously. 
 
 A Sub-Committee was then formed to look after the requisites 
 for the sea voyage, and to procure some additional clothing for 
 the people. 
 
 The report that the Relief Committee was about to make pre- 
 paration for sending out to some American port a number of the 
 families connected with the cotton trade caused much excitement 
 among those people. Applications for free passages poured in to 
 an extent far beyond the means of meeting them, and on mature 
 consideration it was considered that a much wider range than had 
 at first been thought of should be taken in. It was, therefore, 
 proposed that, instead of one hundred adults, twice that number 
 should be placed on the list, the usual mode of calculation in the 
 arithmetic of emigration agents being that of considering any two 
 children under twelve years of age equal to one adult. 
 
 At that time, there were several representatives of different 
 British colonies residing in London, and it was considered by some 
 members of the Relief Committee that, as partially free passages on 
 certain conditions were offered to the isles of Australia, application 
 should be made for the purpose of ascertaining the precise terms 
 on which a number of famiUes would be landed there. Mr. John 
 D. Barbour, M.P. for Lisburn, as has been already stated, after 
 having been applied to by the Committee, was then making all 
 possible inquiry on the subject ; and, in reply to the communication 
 written him for that purpose, the following letter was received : — 
 
 " House of Commons, May 4, 1863. 
 
 "My Dear Sir, — Will you be gojd enough to state to the Relief Com- 
 mittee that, on receipt of your letter, I went at once to the Emigration Office, 
 and had an interview with Mr. Knight, of Kensington, relative to the obtaining 
 of free passages to Australia for one hundred families of cotton workers. The 
 plan proposed by Government is, that a certain sum should be paid for each 
 passenger, on what is called the assisted emigration system. This would involve 
 
99 
 
 a cost of about £s a-head. You can consult our friends on the matter, and let 
 me have your reply. I shall be happy to do everything in my povi^er for the 
 furtherance of the Committee's objects in this case. 
 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 "John D. Barbour, 
 "HughM'Call, Esq." 
 
 The Chairman expressed himself very warmly on the subject 
 of this letter. He said the different members of the eminent house 
 of William Barbour & Sons had not alone been large contributors 
 to the Relief Fund in the first instance, but from the commence- 
 ment of the Committee's labours those gentlemen had made most 
 successful exertions in obtaining from their army of customers in 
 different parts of the world a large amount of subscriptions. As 
 to the member for Lisburn, he himself, on more than one occasion, 
 had sought official aid on a certain question from that gentle- 
 man, and he had pleasure in stating that in each instance Mr, 
 J. D. Barbour displayed all the business ability that had marked 
 the successful history of the Hilden firm. 
 
 Sir James M. Higginson fully concurred in all their respected 
 Chairman had said regarding Mr. Barbour's attention to them, and 
 also the reference made to what the members of his house had 
 done in collecting outside subscriptions towards their funds. And, 
 while he would propose that in the meantime the Committee 
 should confine their attention to the Philadelphia affair, he would 
 propose that Mr. Barbour's letter be placed on the minutes. He 
 would add, "that a letter be written to that gentleman thanking him 
 for his attention, and at the same time stating that the Lisburn 
 Relief Committee had at length agreed to make the United States 
 the place of landing for their emigrants." 
 
 Agreed to. 
 
 At the ordinary meeting of Committee, on Tuesday, the 19th 
 of May, Mr Richardson, of Springfield, announced that he had 
 finally settled with the captain of the Old Hickory for conveying a 
 certain number of people to America, and every preparation was 
 being made in fitting that ship for the comfort of the passengers. 
 
On that occasion, some discussion took place as to tlie course 
 to be taken with persons who, having first apphed for free passages, 
 and given the Committee considerable trouble in arranging for 
 their passage and outfit, had then changed their mind, resolving to 
 stay at home. It was ordered that any persons or families who 
 had applied for free passages to Philadelphia, and, after having got 
 their names on the list of emigrants, refuse to go with the ship on 
 the day appointed for sailing — viz., Wednesday, the 27th of the 
 month — should not in future receive any rations from the Relief 
 Fund. 
 
 Several members of the country committees handed in lists of 
 new names, stating that numbers of stout and energetic men had 
 applied for free passages and failed to obtain them. One gentleman 
 said that in his district he could find five times the number neces- 
 sary to fill up any vacant places. At this stage of the proceedings, 
 Mr. Carlile introduced a deputation from the Weavers' Society, 
 who, he said, had an address to present. The secretary of the 
 deputation (Archibald Pelan) said he had been requested to draw 
 up an address to the Relief Committee. His brother work-people 
 felt truly grateful for all that had been done for them, but espe- 
 cially for the plan of emigration about to be carried out. He 
 would, therefore, beg leave to read the address : — 
 
 "to the respected gentlemen of the lisburn operatives' 
 relief committee. 
 
 " Sirs, — We beg to tender you, with feelings of the deepest 
 gratitude, our hearty thanks for your kindness to us. We will 
 always think with respect of our townsman, the Secretary of this 
 Society, who raised the standard of emigration, and by his ability 
 evoked the sympathy of distant parts of the world in our behalf. 
 In this noble work he was ably supported by the benevolent 
 Treasurer, who, as he has ever been, was very active in the 
 carrying out of the plan of relief. Kindly consideration for the 
 distressed has marked his career throughout life, but never before 
 did he come out so opportunely as in the present instance. We 
 beg to inform you, gentlemen, that your scheme of emigration has 
 
lOI 
 
 gladdened our hearts, and to your Chairman, Mr. J. J, Richardson, 
 J. P., together with every other gentleman around the table, we owe 
 a deep debt of gratitude for his efforts to promote that movement. 
 When we pleaded to be sent away to some place where our industry 
 would give us bread, he said ' he felt proud ol his townsmen, who 
 preferred to labour for their own support in a foreign land, rather 
 than subsist on alms at home.' With feelings of great respect, 
 we have also to thank the reverend gentlemen of the Board for 
 their zeal in our cause, as well as for their spiritual teaching, and, 
 in many cases, their private charities, which were administered in 
 every case of peculiar hardship. There are very few of us who 
 have not been visited by our pastors, and we gratefully acknow- 
 ledge the influence exercised over us by the wise and judicious 
 advice at this most critical time. When in the land of hope we 
 will never forget one single gentleman, whether lay or clerical, who 
 had aided in obtaining for us the greatest boon that could be con- 
 ferred on a self dependent and energetic body of men, who, had 
 it not been for your benevolence, would have been pauperised. 
 We are grateful for the wise and judicious selection made of the 
 class of men now in the greatest distress, and also for the choice 
 you have made of the place of our destination. In conclusion, 
 we hope that by good conduct and honest perseverance in the 
 land you have adopted for us, and which will be the scene of our 
 future industry, that we shall reflect credit on those by whom we 
 have been so kindly patronised. And now, trusting that the 
 blessing of Almighty God may rest with you, one and all, we 
 remain, gentlemen, your obliged and grateful servants, 
 
 " (Signed on behalf of the Cotton Weavers' Committee) 
 
 "Archibald Pelan, Secretary. 
 
 "Bridge End, Lisburn, May 19, 1863." 
 
 The Rev. W. Breakey had listened with very great pleasure to 
 the address just read. He had often before heard of the literary 
 ability said to be found in the ranks of the cotton weavers, but he 
 certainly did not expect that even the ablest of them could have 
 
drawn up a document such as that read by Mr. A. Pelan. In liis 
 opinion that address, in style of expression and terseness of 
 thought, would not discredit any collegiate student. He was 
 delighted to know that the people selected as emigrants were so 
 well pleased ^\^th the prospects before them. 
 
 The Chairman then assured the deputation that no time would 
 be lost in making preparations for embarking, and A. Pelan and 
 the other operatives withdrew. 
 
 Ordered — That a copy of the weavers' address be placed on 
 the minutes. 
 
 Mr. W. Stannus inquired whether any special accommodation 
 had been set apart for the unmarried female emigrants — a few of 
 whom, he had understood, were to be sent out by the Committee. 
 
 Mr. David Carlile said he could fully reply to that question. 
 Early in the previous week Mr. M'Call, Mr. Alfred Millar, and 
 himself visited the emigration ship Old Hickory. They looked 
 over all the berths, and in an after conversation with Captain 
 Meade they pointed some changes necessary to have a separate 
 range of sleeping places for the young women. Special attention 
 to the suggestions was paid by the captain, who promised that all 
 should be attended to, so as to meet the required privacy for the 
 females. On a later occasion Mr. Alfred Millar had again gone 
 to Belfast, and inspected the arrangements. He would read the 
 report which his young friend had drawn up on the subject referred 
 to by Mr. Stannus : — 
 
 " I am happy to state that the fittings-up of the ship Old Hickory 
 are rapidly progressing, and when all the berthing has been com- 
 pleted she will be a comfortable transport. That part of the 
 vessel most appropriate for the accommodation of the unmarried 
 females should be the small room on the starboard quarter. This 
 would accommodate from four to six persons, and the door com- 
 municating with the midship portion of the afterdeck cabin can be 
 secured by a bolt, to fasten inside. Immediately opposite to this 
 door are berths which might be occupied by some of the married 
 
103 
 
 couples and their younger children. These manied people would 
 thereby have a proper supervision over the young girls during the 
 voyage." 
 
 The suggestion contained in the report as to the arrangement 
 of berths for unmarried females having been approved of, a vote of 
 thanks to Mr. A. Millar was passed by the Committee. It was 
 also ordered that that gentleman be requested to have the work 
 done according to his own plans. During the discussion on the 
 emigration question a letter was read from the Newtownards 
 Relief Committee, inquiring whether the Lisburn Committee could 
 accommodate in their ship a few families from that district, and in 
 case that could be done the Newtownards Committee would pay 
 at the rate of 70s. a-head for the passages of their people. 
 
 This proposal was discussed at some length, but after con- 
 siderable attention had been paid to it, the Chairman inquired 
 whether the list of free-passage emigrants from their own districts 
 had been made up ? It was then discovered that every available 
 spot in the Old Hickory would have its occupant, and not only 
 was that the case, but many applications had to be rejected, so 
 great was the desire on the part of the distressed people to get 
 away from the scene of their sorrows. 
 
 Under those circumstances it was ordered that a reply should 
 be written and posted to the Newtownards Relief Society stating 
 that, as the emigrant ship had already her full complement of 
 passengers, their request could not be complied with. 
 
 A desultory conversation here ensued, in which those members 
 of committee took part who were opposed to making any section of 
 the United States a landing-place for the weavers. Several of the 
 gentlemen present were arguing that the emigrants should be sent 
 to Canada, as they had some fear that the young and stalwart men 
 whom they were about to send to Philadelphia might be pressed 
 for the army, seeing that the war was then carried on with the 
 most determined energy on both sides, and that very high bounties 
 were paid for recruits. In reply to these observations, 
 
I04 
 
 Mr. Millar said, " He was well aware that most erroneous 
 impressions had gone abroad relative to the results of emigration 
 to the Northern States of America. Some people entertained the 
 idea that every man capable of bearing arms landing at the ports 
 of New York or Philadelphia was liable to be forced into the 
 army and to be sent off to the seat of war. Nothing could be 
 more opposed to facts than such conceptions. The truth was 
 that the rights of British subjects had hitherto been faithfully 
 guarded by the American Government, and that, except natives of 
 this country thought fit to volunteer as soldiers, their claims to 
 remain as civilians were held especially sacred. There was 
 another matter which should not be overlooked in relation to the 
 United States — the citizens there had contributed upwards of 
 fifteen hundred pounds to their funds, while the people of 
 Canada — some of the wealthiest of whom had been brought up in 
 the neighbourhood of Lisburn, and who were applied to for that 
 purpose — had not given a single cent, towards the relief of 
 distress. He would, therefore, say that if the accession of new 
 blood into any country was of great advantage to it, the Northern 
 States of America had special claims on the Lisburn Relief Com- 
 mittee in that respect — (hear, hear) — and he thought that it would 
 be only showing their high appreciation of the philanthropy of 
 those citizens to send them there. Irrespective, however, of these 
 considerations, the demand for labour in Philadelphia was very 
 active, and he believed that all the working men about to be sent 
 out would obtain employment very soon after landing. It was, 
 therefore, most important that the emigrants, whose means were 
 so limited, should not have to travel into the interior in search of 
 work." 
 
 After some further discussion on the matter, it was finally 
 resolved that the destination of the good ship Old Hickory should 
 be the City on the Delaware, as suggested by Mr. Millar, and by 
 tlienext American mail letters were sent to the house of Messrs. 
 Thomas Richardson & Co., as well as to Mr. Thomas O'Neill, 
 announcing the fact, so that some preparations might be made for 
 receiving the passengers. 
 
10$ 
 
 The ship having been comfortably fitted-up for the emigrants, 
 and all possible preparation made for their accommodation, it was 
 arranged that the people would leave Lisburn by the early train on 
 the morning of Wednesday, the 27 th May. From the Belfast 
 papers of next day we take the following report :~ 
 
 Yesterday morning, two hundred and fifty-three persons, 
 lately under the care of the Committee of the Lisburn Relief 
 Fund, left Belfast, in the Old Hickory, Captain Meade, for Phila- 
 delphia, in search of that reUef from want and destitution which, 
 in consequence of the failure in hand-loom weaving, was denied 
 them at home. It had been arranged that those intending to 
 emigrate should assemble at the Lisburn station of the Ulster 
 Railway at ten o'clock, and at that hour immense numbers had 
 collected to see the emigrants off, and to bid them farewell. The 
 scene was a very impressive and affecting one. Two hundred and 
 fifty-three individuals — including many of the finest of the 
 peasantry — weie on the platform, bidding farewell to old friends 
 and acquaintances, in a few hours to leave, perhaps for ever, the 
 place in which they were born and the friends whom they loved. 
 Among those on the platform of the Lisburn station were — John 
 D. Barbour, Esq., M.P. ; William Gregg, Esq., J.P. ; Joseph 
 Richardson, Esq. ; Robert Barbour, Esq. ; John Millar, Esq. j 
 Hugh M'Call, Esq. ; B. Megarry, Esq. ; D. Carlile, Esq. ; Alfred 
 Millar, Esq. ; Rev. Mr. Clarke, Rev. Mr. Hall, Rev. Mr. Breakey, 
 Rev. Mr. Kelly, P.P., Rev. Mr. Pounden, Rev. Mr. Johnston, 
 Rev. Mr. Franks, and Rev. Mr. Wright, Methodist ministers. 
 While the employes of the Ulster line were engaged in preparing 
 the special train which the manager of the railway company had 
 been good enough to place at the disposal of the Relief Committee 
 for the conveyance of the emigrants to Belfast, Mr. Archibald 
 Pelan, secretary of the Weavers' Society, stood up at the end of 
 the platform and delivered an admirable address to his brother 
 emigrants. After alluding at some length to the low state of 
 remuneration which for years before had been the rule in the 
 weaving trade, and the terrible privations which had been endured 
 by the male and female operatives during the early part of the 
 
io6 
 
 previous winter, and before the time when their never-to-be-for- 
 gotten friends had taken their cause in hands, he said that a noble 
 work had been successfully carried out by the gentlemen of the 
 Relief Committee — a work which he hoped would be remembered 
 with gratitude not only by the weavers who were about to be sent 
 over the seas to a land of plenty, but by the working men of all 
 classes who had seen the exertions made on behalf of the cotton 
 operatives. He also trusted that they would never forget the good 
 Samaritans at home and at a distance, whose generous contribu- 
 tions had enabled the Committee to help them to tide over the 
 past five months, and had also given them free passages to 
 America, where their industry would be so much better re Awarded 
 than it was ever likely to be in their own land. A hearty cheer 
 from the crowd followed this stirring address, after which 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Breakey gave a few words of cheering advice to 
 the emigrants. A new world, he said, would be opened up for 
 them when they landed at Philadelphia, and he felt sure that 
 brighter days were in the distance. But much of their prosperity 
 in the country for which they were bound would depend on their 
 own energy, uprightness, and sobriety. 
 
 The Rev. D. J. Clarke offered a fervent prayer on behalf of 
 the people, and invoked God's blessing and guardianship for their 
 safe passage across the ocean. 
 
 When the carriages were brought to the platform, Mr. Rice, 
 station-master, had the women and children comfortably seated in 
 the first instance, and Mr. John Stevenson having provided an 
 ample supply of cakes and currant buns and distributed them 
 among the families, the men took their places, and several 
 members of the Relief Committee having joined the company, the 
 train was started amid loud cheers and waving of handkerchiefs by 
 those on the platform and their friends in the carriages. 
 
 On arriving at the Belfast terminus, Mr. Robert Hamilton, of 
 the firm of Messrs. Richardson Brothers ; Mr. Barkley, and Mr. 
 Craig, had a number of their carts in waiting, and on these the 
 Inggage, and also the women and children, were conveyed to the 
 quay, at which the ship had lain from her arrival. There were in 
 
107 
 
 all 123 adults, 103 young persons under twenty-one years of age, 
 and 27 infants. The appearance of the people, taken altogether, 
 was much better than could have been anticipated after the severe 
 season through which they had passed. Most of the operatives 
 were young and stout-looking, and their aspect seemed the reverse 
 of sorrowful. There was much hopeful feeling evident in every 
 countenance, telling how highly gratified they felt at the prospect 
 of trying their fortunes in the new world of the West. 
 
 By half-past four the vessel was hauled out of the harbour, and 
 was towed down the Lough by a steam-tug. A quantity of flannel 
 for the children, and a large number of caps, shoes, and stockings, 
 and a supply of soap, provided by a private subscription raised by 
 Mr. Joseph Richardson, were distributed amongst the emigrants, 
 and were received most thankfully, many of the recipients express- 
 ing their surprise and gratitude at the kindly and thoughtful 
 feeling that gentleman had shown them. Mr. R. Hamilton 
 brought a great many Bibles on board, and each family was 
 presented with a large and small copy. Mr. Alfred Millar, who 
 had taken much interest in the arrangements for the people's 
 comfort during the vo)^age, was busy all forenoon in the interior 
 of the ship getting the berths regulated, and showing each batch of 
 emigrants the separate rooms that had been prepared for them. 
 
 Before the good ship arrived at Carrickfergus Roads, the 
 people had been inspected by the medical officer, and the roll of 
 the Government agent was called over and found correct. 
 
 The Treasurer of the Relief Fund placed in the captain's 
 hands an envelope containing cash orders of ten shillings each for 
 every head of a family among the emigrants. The orders were 
 drawn on Messrs. T. Richardson & Co., of Philadelphia, to be 
 paid on the ship's arrival at that port. 
 
 When the vessel was opposite Cultra, the members of the 
 Relief Committee, who had conveyed them so far on the voyage, 
 left on their return to Belfast, and as the little steam-tug started 
 on its way, the emigrants gave them three hearty cheers, while the 
 others bade them God-speed. 
 
io3 
 
 In addition to the interest taken by Mr. Barbour, M.P., re- 
 specting the proposed scheme of colonial emigration, Sir Emerson 
 Tennent, to whom letters had been written on the subject, had 
 made a run through the different offices in London and tailed to 
 obtain even the slightest promise as to the Government granting 
 free passages to the cotton weavers of Down and Antrim. The 
 following communication will shew what were that statesman's 
 opinions on the subject : — 
 
 "Warwick Square, London, 
 June 1st, 1863. 
 " My Dear Sir, — I find by the Belfast papers that the Lisbum Cotton 
 Operatives' Relief Committee have sent out by emigrant ship, bound for Phila* 
 delphia, a number of the suffering families of your neighbourhood, and for 
 whose support during the past Spring your Committees have made such suc- 
 cessful exertions. With the opinions of Sir James M. Higginson and Mr. 
 Millar as to the desirability of making America the place of their destination, I 
 fully agree. The voyage thither will be comparatively short, and there is no 
 doubt that employment will be had for the men almost as soon as the vessel 
 reaches the port. As I have already written you, the emigration agents here 
 would only take over to Australia a certain number of adults on the part pay- 
 ment system. That is, each emigrant to hand in five pounds ; and as I under- 
 stand that your Committee have been able to send out the people to Philadelphia 
 at even less than that sum, the arrangement promises to be much more favour- 
 able than anything to be anticipated from the Australian proposal. 
 " Believe me, my dear Sir, 
 
 " Very tmly yours, 
 
 "J. E. Tennent. 
 "HushM'Call, Esq." 
 
^^M 
 
 
 r«^ 
 
 
 K^ 
 
 W 
 
 ^f^ 
 
 WW' 
 
 ^>^ 
 
 /) \Kj&St 
 
 wtM 
 
 ^M 
 
 
 ^S 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LTHOUGH some of the people sent out by the Old 
 Hickory had never received relief from the Fund, the 
 emigration of many others whose names were on the 
 relief lists took away much of the pressure, and a large decrease of 
 outlay followed the sailing of that ship. The demand for agri- 
 cultural labour had increased very much. In all the rural districts 
 there were fewer weavers idle, and yet the poverty of the people 
 was still such as to demand a considerable degree of relief. 
 
 At the committee meeting held on Saturday, the 30th of May 
 — the Rev. D. J. Clarke in the chair — all outstanding accounts 
 connected with the fitting-out of emigrants by the Old Hickory 
 were examined and passed. 
 
 The Secretary reported that he had written an official com- 
 munication to Mr. O'Neill, of Philadelphia, requesting that 
 gentleman to apprise Mr. James, of Messrs, Thos. Richardson 
 & Co., Dr. S. Mackenzie, and other friends, that the good ship 
 had sailed from Belfast for their port, and hoping that arrange- 
 ments would be made for getting the emigrants into employment 
 as soon as possible after landing at Philadelphia. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 2nd of June, a full meeting of the General 
 Committee was held in the News-room— Sir James M. Higginson, 
 C.B., in the chair. 
 
The ordinary affairs for the day having been settled, and payment 
 of accounts ordered, 
 
 Mr. John Sloan inquired whether any exertions had been made 
 to reduce the outlay ; he considered that one-half might be taken 
 off in his district. 
 
 Mr. Carlile said there was more demand for work at the 
 loom, and he agreed with Mr. Sloan that the Committee migh*- 
 commence to make a change in the distribution, so as to lower the 
 amount of rations. 
 
 Mr. George Pelan, in alluding to the emigration, said that 
 several gentlemen had been inquiring of him how it was that th^ 
 operatives were sent to the United States; but as he had not at- 
 tended the meetings when the arrangements were made, he could 
 not give a definite answer to the question. Many friends ot the 
 weavers, with whom he had conversed on the subject, were of the 
 opinion that it might have been better to have sent the emigrants 
 to Canada, as, in the event of their landing in the United States, 
 the men might be forced to join the army. 
 
 Mr. Millar replied by stating that, at the outset, the Secretary 
 had carried on a correspondence of considerable extent with emi- 
 gration agents, for the purpose of finding out the cost and other 
 incidentals connected with sending people to the Canadian colonies. 
 But after much attention had been directed to the subject, the idea 
 was given up. He could assure his friend Mr. Pelan, and others 
 who had expressed opinions on the subject, that no efforts had 
 been wanting to do the best for all interests. As to any fear of 
 the men being taken for soldiers on their reaching Philadelphia, 
 he had before stated and would again repeat, that so long as the 
 emigrants remained in their position as British subjects, the 
 American Government would always recognise their national rights. 
 In that case, therefore, they would just be as safe from conscrip- 
 tion in that city as if they were located in the town of Belfast. 
 And as to employment, when they reached their destination, he 
 could tell the Committee that the merchants of Philadelphia would 
 be no less anxious to find work for them than they had been to get 
 up funds for the^ relief of those people when at home. He would 
 
Ill 
 
 just say, before he sat down, that he understood that all charges 
 and port dues for which the Old Hickory was liable to the Belfast 
 Harbour Board, had been remitted, through the representations 
 made to that body by the firm of Messrs. Richardson Brothers. 
 
 The drain on the funds continued to be heavy, for although 
 considerable improvement had taken place in the general state of 
 the weavers and labourers, there was yet to be aided a large num- 
 ber of people. About the middle of June, the funds were reduced 
 to something under four hundred pounds. Up to that date the 
 total sums subscribed had amounted to ;^3,23i i6s., and the out- 
 lay, including the passenger money and other expenses connected 
 with the emigration account, was ;^2,72o los. 8d. Under such 
 circumstances, the only course left was that of lessening the ex. 
 penditure, and the Committee ordered that the rations distributed 
 in all districts should be reduced one-half 
 
 But a message of mercy was on its way to Lisburn. The 
 letter sent the Rothschild of Broadway had been read with interesj. 
 by that marvellously successful merchant, and, inspired by the 
 princely benevolence which marked his conduct in many other 
 instances, he purchased a ship-load of breadstufifs and provisions 
 and sent it over the ocean, in aid of his poor countrymen. Before 
 the close of the week in which the order had been issued to reduce 
 the rations, the following letter came to hand : — 
 
 " New York, May 29, 1863. 
 '« Hugh M'Call, Esq., Lisburn, Ireland. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I have taken the liberty of naming you as one of a com. 
 mittee to distribute jointly in Lisburn and its vicinity the breadstufifs and 
 provisions which the barque Mary Edson is now conveying to Belfast. 
 
 "I need not explain to you the necessity for limiting the distribution to 
 those persons only for whose aid the funds are being collected. In a letter to 
 my firm, a copy of which you will receive^ this course has been fully defined, 
 together with the basis on which the vessel may be used for conveying to the 
 United States as many passengers as her capacity will allow. 
 
 "To that letter, in both respects, I have to request that the Committee 
 will conform. Thanking you, in advance, for performing this service, which, I 
 doubt not, will be entirely agreeable to you. 
 
 " I am, yours respectfully, 
 
 "Alex. T. Stewart." 
 
iia 
 
 The utmost interest was created respecting the arrival of the 
 good ship Mary Edson, and not long liad the people to wait for 
 a fresh supply of food. In course of the following week that 
 vessel reached Carrickfergus Roads, and next day was towed up 
 Channel and safely moored at Prince's Dock. Her cargo con- 
 sisted of — 
 
 8,475 Bushels of Indian Corn, 
 no Barrels of Flour, and 
 50 Tons of Bacon. 
 These contributions towards the Lisburn Relief Fund had 
 been purchased in New York by competent merchants, and each 
 article was of the best quality, Mr. Stewart's order to the buyers 
 having been to select the finest corn and flour and the best bacon, 
 irrespective of price. Very great was the curiosity that prevailed 
 at the Prince's Dock to look on the American barque, Mary Edson, 
 and, for the time being, she was the most admired of all the 
 merchant fleet in the Harbour. 
 
 Mr. Stewart in the circular letter he sent to his firm, after 
 alluding to the distress of the cotton weavers, and the great 
 regret he felt that such a state of affairs should exist in his own 
 land, added that he chartered the ship to convey to America on 
 her return voyage a certain number of operatives and their 
 famihes. These were to consist of the different sexes between the 
 ages of 18 and 30, all of whom were to be in good health, of good 
 character, and able to read and write. He appointed to carry out 
 the arrangements for distribution of the food and the selection of 
 the emigrants the following Trustees, each of whom received a 
 letter to that effect ; — 
 
 Ruth Clibbom ... Aberdelgie. 
 
 Joshua Lamb ... Peartree Hill. 
 
 J. N. Richardson ... Lissue. 
 
 Hugh M'Call ... Lisburn. 
 
 George Fox .. Manchester. 
 
 The announcement that such an immense addition had been 
 
 made to the funds for the relief of distress was heard with the 
 
 utmost gratification, and the story of the Broadway merchant's 
 
 munificence became the subject of popular pride in Lisburn. 
 
"3 
 
 Those of the older inhabitants who had recollected him when, as a 
 mere boy, he passed on his way to or from school, were oracles 
 for the time being, and any scrap of information connected with 
 the early days of the famous merchant was recounted over as 
 proudly as if every man who recollected A. T. Stewart in other 
 times felt that a portion of the great capitalist's glory had fallen on 
 himself. The value of the Mary Edson's cargo was above five 
 thousand pounds, and as we have seen, the generous donor, in 
 addition to that gift, had chartered the ship for the purpose of 
 conveying back to New York such a number of emigrants as 
 could be accommodated in the vessel, abundant supphes of the 
 best provisions having been ordered for the people during the 
 passage out. 
 
 It was resolved that the accounts of the General Committee 
 and those of the Stewart Fund should be kept separate, and at 
 the first meeting of the Trustees of the Stewart Fund Mrs. Clibborn 
 was elected President ; and when that matter had been arranged, 
 Mr. James N. Richardson said it would, perhaps, be the best 
 course for the Indian corn to be sold by public auction, the flour 
 also might be disposed of, and the proceeds of sale used in the 
 purchase of clothing and Indian meal. He would propose, in 
 addition, that the firm of Richardson, Brothers be entrusted with 
 the disposal of the corn and flour, as well as that of being bankers 
 for the Trust. 
 
 All this was agreed to, Mrs. Clibborn stating, in reference to 
 fitting out the emigrants for their voyage, that she should have full 
 power to purchase whatever clothing they might require. Mr. 
 Lamb said he had some doubts about the propriety of that mode 
 of disposing of the funds ; but the other members of the com- 
 mittee quite concurred vvith the President when that lady stated 
 that it would not be paying due respect to Mr. Stewart to send 
 half-clad people over to New York. Arrangements were conse- 
 quently made that a moderate sum be expended by that lady in 
 procuring clothing, especially for the women and children that had 
 been selected to go out by the Mary Edson. 
 
114 
 
 Several meetings were held for the purpose of selecting from 
 the great number of people that presented themselves for free 
 passages such persons only as came within the range of Mr, 
 Stewart's letter of advice. 
 
 The Stewart donation having been given for the exclusive aid 
 of cotton operatives, the names of all the agricultural labourers 
 who had been receiving relief from the original Committee were 
 put off the lists ; and as there was then more demand for out-door 
 work those persons were able to maintain themselves without 
 further aid from the Relief Fund. Mr. Fox, of Manchester, one 
 of Mr. Stewart's partners, had attended several m.eetings ; but' 
 finding it inconvenient to be present as often as he could have 
 wished, he requested that Mr. Millar should be appointed in his 
 stead, which proposal was duly attended to, and from that time 
 Mr. Millar regularly met the other members at the Board. In the 
 meantime, the cargo brought over by the Mary Edson had been 
 discharged, the bacon was brought up to Lisburn, the Indian corn 
 was ground into meal and also conveyed to the stores of the ReUef 
 Committee for distribution. 
 
 Then came the work of fitting up the ship for the people who 
 had been selected to go out in her on the return voyage. Mr- 
 Henry Murray, of Belfast, manager of the branch firm of A. T. 
 Stewart & Co., in that town, paid daily visits to Prince's Dock, 
 and in turn each of the Trustees went to Belfast for the purpose of 
 examining the work, to see that the berths for women and children 
 were all correct, and that ample provision was made for the comfort 
 of the passengers. Mrs. Clibborn, President of Trustees, paid the 
 utmost attention to clothing the emigrants, and, throughout the 
 entire proceedings, was decidedly the most active member of the 
 Board. Having inherited from Mother Eve a full share of that 
 lady of Eden's self-will, as well as a love of exercising it, the Pre- 
 sident managed to carry out her own propositions, and as she 
 possessed not only great energy, but much self-reliance, she led the 
 way in many instances where her co-trustees of the sterner sex had 
 failed to take the initiative. In the selection of emigrants she was 
 most anxious that the people should be of the class specially alluded 
 
TI5 
 
 to by Mr. Stewart, and when the candidates had got their names 
 on the Hst, she was equally determined they should be comfortably 
 clothed. Some dissent was expressed by other members of the 
 trust ; but, like a true woman, she failed not to have her own way in 
 the matter. " Mr. Stewart had given abundant means for that 
 purpose, and," she said, " it would be paying a bad compliment to 
 that gentleman to send out in the ship he had chartered any 
 number of the people in a half-clad state." 
 
 As already noted, the notices that appeared in the Belfast 
 papers, relative to the Mary Edson and her mission of benevolence, 
 caused that ship to be regarded with great interest, as well by 
 strangers as by the citizens. During the time she lay in Prince's 
 Dock, crowds of thecurious visited the wharf, and on Sunday evenings 
 hundreds of people lined the quay. Captain Nickerson, her com- 
 mander, was quite a lion, his first and second mates were also 
 looked upon with special favour, and all the sailors shared in 
 similar popularity. 
 
 At the meetings of the Lisburn Relief Committee, many dis- 
 cussions were held, and much interest was shown respecting the 
 best mode of marking the munificence of Mr. Stewart. When the 
 usual business of the meeting, held June 30, had been concluded : 
 Sir J. M. HiGGiNSON rose and said the occasion was no ordinary 
 one. The Committee had been enabled, through the liberality of 
 the benovelent at home and abroad, to save from something like 
 direct starvation many hundreds ot poor families. It had been 
 well said that the distress which had fallen on those people did not 
 arise from any fault of their own ; still, that fact did not lessen their 
 sufferings. His brother members of Committee were aware that 
 just when the funds in their Treasurer's hands were very much re- 
 duced, Mr. Stewart's ship-load of food had arrived in Belfast. He 
 would, therefore, propose that they should show their high appre- 
 ciation of that noble merchant's liberality by getting up an address 
 expressive of their grateful feelings on the subject, and with that 
 view he would propose that Mr. Millar, Mr. J. N. Richardson, and 
 Mr. M'Call draw up an address and lay it for approval before the 
 Committee at their meeting. (Hear, hear.) He would also 
 
ii6 
 
 acid that, as a further evidence of their sense of Mr. Stewart's 
 broad-minded benevolence, they should show some mark of respect 
 to Captain Nickerson, commander of the Mary Edson — say that a 
 gold watch with suitable inscription should be had and presented 
 to that gentleman. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Both propositions having been agreed to, a subscription was 
 entered into, and in a few minutes the members had affixed their 
 names to a list, the amount of their subscriptions being fully equal 
 to meet the cost of the proposed testimonial, and also to meet the 
 expense of illuminating the address to Mr. Stewart in the finest 
 style of Messrs. Marcus Ward & Co. On the following board day 
 Mr. Millar laid before the Committee his draft of the proposed 
 address to Mr. Stewart. After a slight change having been made 
 in it, the draft was agreed to. A gold watch having* been pur- 
 chased for presentation to the captain of the Mary Edson, it was 
 suggested by some gentlemen in Belfast that Captain Nickerson 
 and the officers and crew of his ship should be entertained before 
 leaving Belfast. That suggestion was made on the day before that 
 on which the vessel was expected to sail, and as there was no time 
 to organize office-bearers for the occasion, an impromptu com- 
 mittee, consisting of Mr. David Dunlop, proprietor of the Bamier 
 of Ulster, and the Secretary of the Relief Committee, started Off 
 through Belfast to collect funds for defraying the cost of the banquet. 
 Two of the gentlemen on whom they first called — Mr. William 
 Ewart, sen., and Mr. Benjamin Dickson, of the firm of William 
 Spotten & Co. — handed them such handsome subscriptions as paid 
 half the entire expense of the banquet. Each of the local banking 
 concerns also contiibuted to the fund, and a few other merchants 
 made up the amount. 
 
 Circulars were written in course of the afternoon inviting such 
 friends as were likely to take interest in the affair, and arrange- 
 ments were made with Mr. Thompson, of Donegall Place, to pro- 
 vide the material for the entertainment. 
 
 In order to give effect to the meeting, it was considered that 
 the Mayor of Belfast, Mr. John Lytle, should be requested to 
 
117 
 
 preside on the occasion ; and, on this gentleman having been 
 called upon, he kindly consented to take the chair, and this, too, 
 when he had only had a few hours' notice of the affair. 
 
 The following report of the proceedings that took place on 
 that occasion contains many points of interest : — 
 
 " On Saturday last, at two o'clock, Captain Nickerson and the 
 oflficers and men of the ship Mary Edson, which brought over the 
 princely gift of A. T. Stewart, Esq., New York, for the relief of 
 the distressed operatives of Lisburn and neighbourhood, were 
 entertained at lunch in the Green Room of the Harbour Office. 
 Mr. Thompson, of Donegall Place, prepared the lunch, and, we 
 need scarcely say, it was served up in first-rate style. 
 
 " The room had been tastefully fitted up for the occasion. On 
 the centre of the table there was placed, under a glass shade, an 
 exceedingly handsome group of artificial flowers, designed and 
 worked by Mrs. David Dunlop, and which that lady had sent 
 forward, to be conveyed by the Captain of the Old Hickory, as a 
 present to Mrs. A. T. Stewart. 
 
 " John Lytle, Esq., M.ayor of Belfast, occupied the chair, and 
 John Millar, Esq., Lisburn, the vice-chair. Among others pre- 
 sent were — John Thompson, Esq., J. P. ; James Kennedy, Esq., 
 J.P. ; Edward Orme, Esq., R.M. ; David Taylor, Esq., J.P. ; Dr. 
 Young, American Consul ; J. Shelly, Collector of Customs ; John 
 Barbour, Jonathan Cordukes, H. M'Call, John Moore, Esqrs. ; 
 Dr. Musgrave, A. M'Lean, George Pelan, David Carlisle, William 
 Mullan, Benjamin Dickson, P. Ewing, Robert A. M'Call, Henry 
 Murray, David Dunlop, John Hamill, J. W. Carroll, James D. 
 Burn side, H. Garrett, and George Fox, Esqrs. ; Captain Nickerson, 
 Mr. Powell, first mate ; Mr. Nasan, second mate; and the crew 
 of the Mary Edson. 
 
 " After the usual loyal toasts had been duly honoured, 
 " The Chairman gave ' The health of the President of the 
 United States.' (Applause.) 
 
 " Dr. Young, American Consul, returned thanks. He was 
 not aware that he would have been called on on that occasion. 
 
ii8 
 
 As Americans, those present belonging to that country could 
 cordially unite in wishing the health and happiness of the Royal 
 Family of England, for in no place in the world was Queen 
 Victoria and her family more respected than in the United States 
 of America. The American and the English nation were the 
 same family, and whatever tended to promote the prosperity of 
 one nation should tend to promote the prosperity of the other. 
 Although born in this country, he had been for twenty years a 
 citizen of the United States. With regard to the troubles that 
 now afflict America, he believed they could not have been well 
 avoided. Very earnest men had long ago written and spoken of 
 the storm that was coming. That there was a God of right on 
 high he did not doubt, and that good would come out of the 
 rebellion he had not the least fear He rejoiced to be present to 
 declare his appreciation of an act of great kindness by a man like 
 himself born in this country, but now a citizen of the United 
 States. He had amassed wealth in that country, and, when he 
 heard that in his native land the people were starving, he con- 
 sidered it one of the highest privileges to be able to dispense his 
 wealth for their good. There was a subject on which he wished 
 to say a word or two. Some strange impression had taken hold 
 of the people of this country that the Consuls of the American 
 Government were sending the people of this country to the war. 
 He himself got a dozen or twenty letters a-week on this subject, 
 and he might take that opportunity of saying that, as agents of 
 the American Government, they could send nobody to the war. 
 He had no doubt the American people could settle the war them- 
 selves without assistance. After a few remarks in which Dr. Young 
 shewed the advantage of emigration to the North- Western States — 
 especially Minnesota — in preference to other States, he thanked 
 the meeting for the honour of connecting his name with the toast 
 of 'The President of the United States.' 
 
 " The Chairman, in proposing the next toast, referred to the 
 responsible duties connected with the command of the ship. 
 Captain Nickerson, on his present visit to Belfast, had brought 
 great relief to the poor of a neighbouring town from a gentleman 
 
119 
 
 who was himself at one time an inhabitant of that neighbourhood. 
 Mr. Stewart would be delighted to learn that under the command 
 of Captain Nickerson, the enterprise had been successful. He 
 beheved it was the intention of a few friends to present to Captain 
 Nickerson a small token of their respect and esteem, and he felt 
 very much gratified in announcing the fact. 
 
 " Mr. Millar here rose, and on behalf of the Lisburn Rehef 
 Committee, stated that the offering alluded to by their worthy 
 Chairman consisted of a gold watch, which had been purchased 
 at the establishment of Messrs. Gilbert & Son, High Street, Belfast. 
 In presenting the gift to the captain of the good ship, Mr. Millar 
 said that he felt honoured in having been deputed to pay that mark 
 of respect to the gallant seaman who had conveyed across the 
 ocean the ample supplies of food sent the Lisburn Committee by 
 Mr. Stewart. The captain was again about to be engaged in the 
 further carrying out of the princely liberality of the great merchant, 
 of Broadway, in conveying a number of operatives to New York, 
 free passages for whom that gentleman had provided. In relation 
 to some statements that had been made about the impressment of 
 civilians on the part of the New York or other authorities, he would 
 say that when the emigrants landed there they would find their 
 personal rights as fully respected as if they had still been under 
 British laws, and the American Consul had just corroborated his 
 statement. The speaker then handed over the watch and chain to 
 their future owner ; immediately after which, 
 
 " The Chairman gave ' The health of the Captain and Crew 
 of the Mary Edson.' 
 
 " A long and hearty round of applause followed the announce- 
 ment of this toast, and when the cheering had ceased, 
 
 " Captain Nickerson rose and said — In the first place, he had 
 to return thanks to the gentlemen of the Lisburn Relief Com- 
 mittee for the very handsome present, which Mr. Millar had just 
 handed to him. That watch, he trusted, would be looked upon 
 by himself and his family as a cherished memorial of his voyage to 
 Belfast. He would next allude to the kind and unexpected honor 
 that had been paid himself and his ofhcers in being entertained by 
 
lao 
 
 gentlemen of the high standing which was enjoyed by those around 
 him. That in itself was sufficient to cause him to feel much morg 
 than he could express. Seamen were not usually famed as 
 speakers, and he (Captain Nickerson) had never been good at 
 talking ; but he trusted his friends would give him full credit for 
 grateful feelings. (Cheers.) Since he had arrived in Belfast he 
 had been treated with far more attention than he could have anti- 
 cipated ; and he took that opportunity of thanking Mr. Henry 
 Murray and other citizens of their great town for their genuine 
 hospitality. He had had much pleasure in doing his duty, so far 
 as he could, by carrying out the wishes of Mr. Stewart ; and that 
 gentleman, he was sure, would feel more than rewarded when he 
 learned with what great appreciation his generous gift had been 
 received. He would just add, before he sat down, how much 
 pleased he was to see Ireland looking so well ; indeed, he had 
 been agreeably disappointed, as he had always heard that the 
 country was in a very backward condition — (laughter) — and that 
 the natives ran about half naked. (Loud laughter.) 
 
 "Mr. Powell (first mate of the Mary Edson) having briefly 
 expressed his thanks, not only for the kindness vvith which he had 
 been treated on that occasion, but for the real Irish heartiness that 
 had marked all the other attentions paid to him and his brother 
 seamen during their stay in Belfast, 
 
 "Mr. Nasan said a few words to the same effect, and sat 
 down amid much applause. 
 
 " The Chairman said the next toast was the name of a gentle- 
 man who deserved the highest respect that could be paid him — a 
 gentleman who had displayed nobility of mind and sympathy for 
 his poor fellow-creatures, and particularly for those in distress in 
 his native town. Mr. Stewart had now for a number of years 
 been a citizen of the United States, and might be considered to 
 have little, if any, connexion with the people here, but he had 
 not forgotten his native town in its distress. He had been ex- 
 tremely successful in the management of his business, and had 
 accumulated considerable wealth, but it was not every one who 
 did so that knew how to dispose of it. He had chartered a ship, 
 
121 
 
 loaded that vessel with bacon, flour, and Indian corn, and sent the 
 whole cargo to the poor weavers of lisburn. Surely the man 
 who had the large heart to do so deserved their best thanks. 
 He might mention that the same gentleman who had presented 
 that noble gift to the poor of Lisburn had given no less than two 
 thousand pounds to the sufifering poor of Lancashire. (Applause.) 
 He would, therefore, give * The health and long life of A. T. 
 Stewart, Esq.' 
 
 " John Thomson, J. P., senior director of the Belfast Bank, 
 having been called upon to respond to the toast, said he felt 
 himself highly honoured in being requested to say a few words on 
 such an interesting occasion. He was very happy to see among 
 them Mr. George Fox, one of the partners in the firm of Messrs. 
 A. T. Stewart & Co. Their Mayor had stated that Mr. Stewart 
 had sent over a very munificent present to the suffering operatives 
 of his native town. He has not stated to you the amount that 
 Mr. Stewart has thus magnanimously sent, but he had heard that 
 it had amounted to a sum of between four and five thousand 
 pounds. (Applause.) Mr. Stewart had not only been so kind as 
 to send that noble gift to his suffering fellow-countrymen, but he 
 has arranged to give free passages to New York to upwards of one 
 hundred emigrants. He was sure that every gentleman present 
 felt gratified to do honour to such a great man as Mr. A. T. 
 Stewart. It was a proud thought to them all that during the 
 existence of the cotton famine merchants and manufacturers in 
 different parts of thS world, but more particularly in America and 
 the United Kingdom, had been so generous in their gifts to the 
 suffering people. Never within the recollection of living man had 
 there been a calamity so terrible in its effects on the industrious 
 classes as that which was then existing in the cotton manufacture, 
 and he (Mr. Thomson) was of opinion that numbers of mill- 
 owners, those whose capital was locked up in buildings and 
 machinery, and whose concerns were closed up, had to bear with 
 difficulties of which few outside the trade could form any just 
 conception. And yet those same mill and factory owners, even in 
 the niidst of their own struggles, had been doing their uttermost to 
 
122 
 
 to assist their workpeople. He had heard of instances in which 
 during the past winter, certain firms had supported from their own 
 funds all the operatives connected with their works, even while 
 the entire machinery remained idle. A noble example of liberality 
 had recently been shown in the princely donation of Mr. Peabody 
 for the erection of model lodging-houses in London, and other 
 merchants in different parts of England had exhibited a similar 
 spirit of benevolence. Every man who delighted to hear of kindly 
 acts and the exercise of a charitable disposition must feel pleasure 
 at these doings in other parts of the kingdom, but it was still more 
 gratifying to know that at their own doors such practical sympathy 
 as that displayed by Mr. Stewart had been exhibited with a 
 suffering class of their fellow-countrymen. Such a merchant was 
 an honour to the place of his birth, and reflected the greatest credit 
 on the land of his adoption. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 " The Chairman said that as they had done honour to the 
 name of Mr. Stewart, the principal of the house, he had no doubt 
 the meeting would as cheerfully respond when called upon to 
 drink the health of his partner, Mr. Fox, who was present. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 " Mr. Fox, who on rising was received with great applause, 
 said they must excuse him if he only made a short address. He 
 would just set out by stating that he disclaimed the right of any 
 honour in connection with the Stewart Gift. It was his lucky 
 fortune to be connected with a gentleman of such a heart and 
 magnanimous mind ; but in the offering to which so much allusion 
 had been made he had no right to be included ; all he had done 
 was that of carrying out, so far as in him lay, the views of his 
 respected partner. He regretted that any necessity existed to 
 send aid to their suffering poor. (Hear, hear.) The United States 
 were then passing through an ordeal such as most countries have 
 had to undergo one time or other. Of all calamities a civil war 
 was the most trying, but he hoped that, like gold out of the refiner's 
 crucible, America would emerge from the struggle purified from 
 the dross and demoralisation of slavery — (hear) — and that ere 
 long the Stars and Stripes would float gloriously over a land of 
 
123 
 
 freedom — a land which, he beUeved, was loved and respected by 
 all the nations of the world. (Hear, hear.) He felt exceedingly 
 gratified at what he had heard and seen at that meeting, and it 
 would give him great pleasure to convey to Mr. Stewert some 
 idea of their proceedings — he felt sure it would be highly appre- 
 ciated by that gentleman. (Applause.) Mr. Fox concluded by 
 proposing 'The Lisburn Relief Committee, coupled with the 
 names of Mr. M'Call and Mr. Millar.' He had not the pleasure 
 of knowing all the gentlemen on that Committee, but he had the 
 good fortune to know Mr. M'Call. He beUeved the Lisburn 
 Relief Committee was deserving of all thanks, for they had, in the 
 most praiseworthy manner, given a great deal of their time and 
 attention towards the relief of the poor in their neighbourhood. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 " Mr. M'Call said he had great pleasure in responding to the 
 toast proposed by Mr. Fox. He could hardly express the high 
 estimate in which he held his brother members of committee ; 
 they had, indeed, been most assiduous in their attention and in- 
 defatigable in their exertions during the whole course of their 
 proceedings. As Secretary of that Committee, he had had the 
 best opportunities of seeing the working of the system of relief, 
 and nothing could exceed the heartiness with which each member 
 of it took his share in the labour. He was quite dehghted to sit 
 at a table where so many of the leading citizens of Belfast had 
 assembled with their Lisburn friends to do honour to Mr. A. T. 
 Stewart and the Captain and crew of the handsome barque Mary 
 Edson. One of the proudest things of which Lisburn could boast 
 was, that a generous and noble-minded gentleman from her 
 neighbourhood had made a geat name for himself in New York, 
 that he had accumulated vast wealth in that city, and, better still, 
 that his heart was as wide as his property was ample. (Cheers.) 
 They were nearly all well aware how nobly the citizens of the 
 Northern States of America had come out in contributing to the 
 Lisburn Relief Fund, and also how well the merchant prince of 
 Broadway had responded to the call for his aid. He (the speaker) 
 owed much to the merchants of Belfast who had so liberally sub- 
 
124 
 
 scribed lor the getting up of that entertainment, and he had 
 pleasure in acknowledging the kindness of the worthy Mayor, who, 
 at little more than an hour's notice, had so promptly attended to 
 his request that he would take the chair on that occasion ; in fact, 
 most of the gentlemen he saw around him had been good enough 
 to accept the ivipromptu invitation at almost equally short notice. 
 America had, indeed, done wonders in her efforts to alleviate the 
 distress of the cotton worker, and he trusted that the citizens of 
 the United States would look on that meeting, held, as it was, in 
 the commercial capital of Ulster, as a proof that the people of 
 that part of Ireland would never forget the princely benevolence 
 which had been shown the cotton operatives by American citizens, 
 and that they should feel that, under all circumstances, it was the 
 special wish of the right-minded men on this side the Atlantic that 
 the broadest principles of fraternal amity should ever exist between 
 the United Kingdom and the Western Republic. (Cheers.) 
 
 " Mr. Millar, after referring at some length to the difficult 
 duties which had devolved on the Relief Committee and the suc- 
 cess that had attended the working of that institution, alluded to 
 the great exertions made by the family of the Richardsons — mainly 
 through whose instrumentality they had been enabled to raise large 
 sums in different parts of the world. He would not go into details, 
 nor did he wish to make the slightest political allusion about the 
 two parties now at war in America; but, in justice, it should be 
 stated that, independently of Mr. Stewart's gift, the Northern 
 States had sent their Committee ;^i,6oo odds, and the Southern 
 States contributed ^\. The Lisburn Committee had prepared an 
 address which, it was intended, should be illuminated in the 
 highest style of art by Marcus Ward & Co., and then presented to 
 Mr. A. T. Stewart. He (Mr. Millar) had been requested to draw 
 up that address, a copy of which he would read to the gentlemen 
 present : — 
 
125 
 
 " Lisburn, July 7, 1863. 
 "A. T. Stewart, Esq., New York. 
 
 <( Sir, — I am requested to convey to you the warmest thanks 
 of the Lisburn ReUef Committee for the very munificent gift which 
 you have been so kind as to send over for the rehef of the distressed 
 cotton operatives of this neighbourhood. 
 
 " Early in the present year, when the dearth of cotton had nearly 
 put a stop to the manufacture that employed so many hands in this 
 part of the country, it became evident that exertions should at once 
 be made to prevent starvation amongst the weavers, and a meeting 
 was called to devise measures for their assistance. 
 
 " A subscription was entered into, and a committee appointed 
 to arrange and manage the mode of relief. 
 
 " In the meantime, Mr. M'Call, Secretary for the Committee, 
 made the distress widely known, by means of the public Press, and 
 the Messrs. Richardson, through their extensive connections in 
 different parts of the world, were no less energetic in giving pub- 
 licity to the destitute state of the operatives. 
 
 " The result was, that liberal subscriptions poured in, not only 
 from the United Kingdom, but from the Continent and America. 
 The Committee has thus, for several months, been enabled to give 
 nearly one thousand families, comprising three thousand individuals, 
 a regular weekly assistance. Besides this, the Committee sent out 
 to Philadelphia — from which place liberal subscriptions had been 
 received — about sixty famihes, comprising two hundred and fifty- 
 three persons. 
 
 "As inhabitants of Lisburn and its immediate vicinity, we feel 
 highly gratified in referring to the noble part you have taken in this 
 good work. Born and brought up as you were in this neighbour- 
 hood, you did not forget, in the eminence you have attained in the 
 land of your adoption, the poor weavers of your native country 
 who had been reduced to the utmost distress by causes over which 
 they had no control ; but, in a spirit of the highest generosity and 
 benevolence, you loaded a ship with provisions, sent it here en- 
 tirely at your own expense, and also chartered the same vessel to 
 
126 
 
 convey to the land of plenty a number of your industrious country- 
 men, who, under the altered circumstances of the times, could 
 scarcely obtain by their labour in this country the means of sub- 
 sistence. 
 
 " Trusting that you may live long to enjoy, in all their ampli- 
 tude, those blessings which Providence has so abundantly supplied 
 to you, and that as years increase the noble spirit that dictated the 
 princely gift you bestowed on your suffering countrymen may have 
 full play in every action of your life, 
 
 " We remain, Sir, most respectfully, 
 
 " Your grateful friends, 
 
 " (Signed on behalf of the Committee), 
 
 "J. J. Richardson, Chairman." 
 
 "The reading of the Address was frequently interrupted by ap- 
 plause, and at its conclusion, 
 
 " Mr. Millar said that a very pleasing duty remained for him to 
 perform. It was always a pleasure to him to meet the worthy 
 Mayor of their great town, and on that occasion he felt especially 
 gratified to see his good friend, Mr. John Lytle, in the chair. 
 (Cheers.) Since that gentleman had occupied the high position to 
 which he had been raised by the united voices of the municipal 
 representatives of Belfast, he had upheld the dignity of the chair 
 with no ordinary ability — (applause) — and it was an exceedingly 
 grand testimony to his character as Chief Magistrate that he had 
 never made any overstretch of power, while he firmly administered 
 the principles of even-handed justice. (Loud cheers.) He would, 
 therefore, give ' The health of the Mayor of Belfast.' 
 
 " After the applause had subsided, 
 
 " The Chairman said— ^Vhen Mr. M'Call requested him to 
 preside at the entertainment to the captain and crew of the Mary 
 Edson, he at once agreed to do so, as he considered it an honour 
 and a very great pleasure. (Hear, hear.) It was true he attended 
 at some inconvenience, but he could not see his way to avoid 
 coming. He was not always in that comfortable position in which 
 
127 
 
 the Chief Magistrate of Belfast might be supposed to be — (laugh- 
 ter) — but, however unpleasant his office might be in some respects, 
 he considered the mayoralty to be one of the greatest honours that 
 a citizen of Ulster's capital could enjoy, and he occupied the posi- 
 tion under that impression, whether it was convenient or incon- 
 venient ; and he had endeavoured to discharge his duties in such 
 a manner that, at all events he believed was satisfactory to the 
 vast majority of his fellow-citizens. (Cheers.) The occasion 
 on which they were met was certainly one of great interest. 
 They were met, not to honour themselves, but to pay respect to 
 a gentleman who was a credit to his native town, and to do 
 honour to the captain and crew of the good ship they had 
 successfully piloted across the ocean with its valuable cargo. He 
 perceived they were favoured with the honour and presence of 
 five magistrates, with one of the principal bankers of Belfast, and 
 many of the leading merchants of the town ; and Mr. Fox could 
 very properly convey to his partner the feeling which was enter- 
 tained towards him. The Chairman concluded by proposing 
 ' The Press,' coupled with the name of Mr. Dunlop, of the Banner 
 of Ulster. (Applause.) 
 
 " Mr. Dunlop begged, on behalf of the Press, to express his 
 very cordial thanks for the kind manner in which the toast had 
 been received. He was happy to say that in every case where a 
 work of public benevolence or private enterprise was to be carried 
 onward, the Press never failed to render its best influence to the 
 cause. In the instance which they had met to commemorate, the 
 Belfast journals had aided materially in telling the world how 
 much the aid of charity was required, and how terribly the loss of 
 employment had fallen on the Cotton Weavers. With the per- 
 mission of the chairman he would propose a toast, and that was 
 'The town and trade of Belfast.' (Hear, hear, and applause.) 
 He was glad to find so many of the local merchants coming 
 forward to pay honour to the captain and crew of the noble ship 
 that brought over the sea Mr. Stewart's princely gift; and he could 
 not be wrong in associating with the toast two of his esteemed 
 friends whom he saw before him — Mr. James Kennedy and 
 Alderman Mullan. (Applause.) 
 
128 
 
 " Mr. James Kennedy, J. P., responded. No man, he said, 
 sliould be proud of himself, but the people of Belfast and the 
 North of Ireland had, in many instances, reason to be proud of 
 their provincial countrymen. (Applause.) In Belfast, bank, 
 ruptcies were the exception, and not the rule. There the people 
 generally pay their debts. For twenty years he had employed 
 from 2,000 to 3,000 people, and, from whatever cause it arose — 
 a high principle of morality or anything else — he believed he had 
 not in all that time lost twenty shillings. That he looked upon as 
 a great fact. The foundation of prosperity was integrity. 
 (Applause.) Belfast was not yet as wealthy as some other towns, 
 but he could appeal to Mr. Thomson, if necessary, whether in 
 times of commercial difficulty the merchants of Belfast were as 
 much affected as elsewhere. So, whatever might be their faults, 
 they deserved every credit for integrity and honesty, and he 
 believed that the time was not far distant when the sun of 
 prosperity would shine still more on that town, and that it would 
 be a credit to Ireland or any other country in the world. 
 
 " Mr. Wm. Mullan also responded to the toast in an able and 
 eloquent speech, in which he paid a high compliment to Mr, Fox. 
 After referring at some length to the noble generosity of Mr. 
 Stewart, he said he felt delighted to see that a graceful compli- 
 ment had been paid to that princely merchant's lady by Mrs. 
 Dunlop, whose classic taste had produced the beautiful array of 
 artificial flowers that stood on the table before them, and which 
 was about to be sent as a present to Mrs. Stewart. That very 
 interesting recognition of the generous conduct of him whom they 
 all delighted to know, not only as a brother merchant, but as a 
 countryman of their own, would, he was sure, be looked upon 
 with deeper feehng by Mr. and Mrs. Stewart than if every leaf in 
 the picturesque group had been loaded with pearls. There were 
 few modes of expressing regard for those who had themselves 
 never felt the pinchings of poverty, but who had displayed great 
 generosity in the alleviation of distress, more touching than that 
 adopted by Mrs. Dunlop. Simple as was the form of presentation, 
 it would show the kind-hearted citizen across the Atlantic how 
 
129 
 
 much the people in this country appreciate Mrs. Stewart's bounty 
 to the suffering operatives connected with the cotton trade. He 
 would just sit down, but before doing so he begged permission of 
 the Mayor to give 'The Health of the Ladies.' (Loud applause.) 
 
 " Mr. John Hamill, Trench House, having been called upon 
 by the Chairman, said " It had always been a pleasure to him to 
 say a word or two for that part of the creation which was ever the 
 brightest and best of the blessings bestowed on man. No matter 
 what may be the good work going on in the world, whether that of 
 philanthropy or other movement for the benefit of our fellow 
 beings, it would always be found that woman contributed her full 
 share to the carrying out of the great ends in view. (Hear, hear.) 
 He had understood that in the distribution of the general funds 
 collected for the relief of the cotton weavers the ladies of Lisburn 
 rendered the best services to the Committee ; and in the case of 
 the very large gift of Mr. Stewart they liad been equally energetic. 
 It was quite true that sometimes the ladies wished to sit in the 
 box-seat and take the reins in their own hands — (loud laughter) — 
 but if a woman married a man who had not the ability to drive a 
 donkey cart the best thing she could do was to lift the ribbons and 
 drive the coach herself" (Cheers and laughter.) 
 
 "Mr. John Moore proposed 'The Belfast Harbour Com- 
 missioners.' 
 
 " Mr. Jonathan Cordukes said the Board of which he had 
 the honour of being a member had certainly done a great work for 
 Belfast. He remembered a time, and that not very far distant, 
 when in consequence of the circuitous line of the Lagan it was a 
 matter of great difficulty to bring large ships from Garmoyle to 
 what was then called the Clarendon Dock. From 1840 the 
 Harbour Commissioners had contemplated making a direct 
 channel which would admit most vessels at all times of the tide, 
 and after encountering many difficulties they had the gratification 
 of seeing the new cut opened some nine years afterwards. That 
 remarkable Irishman, William Dargan, with his indomitable pluck 
 and his engineering genius, had the honour of carrying out the 
 great object of the Harbour Board; and while performing the 
 
 9 
 
130 
 
 great work he had made them an Island which should have still 
 borne his name. (Loud cheers.) Before he sat down he would 
 just add that it gave him great pleasure to sit as one of the guests 
 at an entertainment given to Captain Nickerson, the gallant sea- 
 man who, with his crew of hardy sailors, had brought from New 
 York the valuable cargo presented by Mr. Stewart to the Lisburn 
 Relief Committee. (Applause.) 
 
 " Mr. George Pelan said — He wished to propose ' The health 
 of the Messrs. Barbour, of Hilden,' who had been the largest 
 local contributors to the Cotton Workers' Relief Fund. It would, 
 in some degree, be out of place in a meeting such as that which 
 he had the honour to address, to go into any lengthened details 
 of the vast good which the house of Barbour & Sons had accom- 
 plished. The members of that house were directly employing 
 vast numbers of people, and indirectly the very growth of flax 
 required for consumption at their mills gave labour and profit to 
 many hundreds of farmers and their assistants. He need not 
 remind the bankers and merchants of Belfast, who, he was glad 
 to see, had mustered so strong at the impromptu invitation given 
 them to attend that banquet, what immense influence the success 
 of mercantile men had on the world as it e.xisted in each locality 
 around them. It had been especially so in the case of the 
 Messrs. Barbour, and thus amid all the sunshine that had at- 
 tended their enterprise, they were enabled to share the blessings 
 of prosperity with thousands of people. Probably the best evi- 
 dence of the disposition which those gentlemen had shown for 
 the comfort of the workers engaged at their mills, was to be seen 
 in the handsome and commodious cottages they had erected 
 around Hilden, making that ancient seat of the linen trade one 
 scene of happy homes. He would, then, beg to propose ' The 
 health of the Members of the House of Messrs. Barbour & Sons.' 
 (Loud applause.) 
 
 " Mr. John D. Barbour, J. P., said his good friend, Mr. Pelan, 
 had taken him by surprise. He certainly had not the slightest idea 
 the name of his firm would have been alluded to at that meeting. 
 As to what he (himself) or other members of his family had done 
 
131 
 
 in relation to the Lisburn Relief Fund, he thought they had only 
 acted as they were bound to do in a case of great emergency, 
 where so much suffering was at their very doors. Mr. Pelan 
 had alluded to the dwelling-houses erected at Hilden as habita- 
 tions for the workpeople. He felt very much pleased to hear 
 that matter referred to, because it was a compliment paid to his 
 respected father, the idea of erecting those buildings having been 
 suggested by the senior member of his firm. He, however, did 
 not intend to dwell on those affairs ; his great object in attending 
 the meeting that day was to pay some mark of respect to Mr. A. 
 T. Stewart and the gallant seamen who bad the honour of being 
 connected with the ship that brought over the splendid contribu- 
 tion to the funds of their Local Committee. Having, for a great 
 many years past, had large commercial branches in different parts 
 of America — in fact, being intimately connected with the leading 
 merchants of the United States, he (himself) and every member 
 of his firm rejoiced over the generosity which the citizens of that 
 part of the world had shown towards the suffering people of the 
 old country. But, in the case that came more immediately under 
 their notice, there was more than ordinary cause of gratification, 
 and he was glad to see the leading men of Belfast showing how 
 fully they recognised true greatness. In that sumptuous enter- 
 tainment which they — the Belfast merchants — had got up, they 
 had at once displayed their hospitality and their respect for the 
 generous man who had sent his poor countrymen a ship load of 
 provisions. He repeated that it was worthy of Belfast to oflfer 
 such a mark of grateful feeling to a great man —and Mr. Stewart 
 had shown himself fully deserving all the honour that could be 
 paid him. (Cheers.) 
 
 " Mr. Millar said he had heard with pleasure the merited 
 encomium on the Messrs. Barbour for the very liberal aid given 
 to the Relief Fund, and he would now propose, as a toast, the 
 health of a family who had also been most liberal in the aid 
 given to the ]ioor weavers— he meant the Richardsons. Mr. J. 
 J. Richardson, formerly member for the Borough, had at once 
 consented to act as chairman of the Relief Committee, and he 
 
1^2 
 
 could not forbear from particularising Mr. Joseph Richardson, 
 a member of the well-known firm of Richardson Brothers & Co., 
 and Mr. J. N. Richardson, formerly of Liverpool. These 
 gentlemen had exerted themselves most successfully to procure 
 subscriptions, and had given their personal aid in working out 
 the relief system. Other members of the family had aided the 
 fund by their subscriptions and influence. He had, therefore, 
 great pleasure in proposing ' The Health of the Messrs. 
 Richardson.' 
 
 " Mr. M'Call responded, and in doing so bore testimony to 
 the zeal and energy displayed by the Messrs. Richardson in 
 collecting funds and otherwise furthering the objects of the Relief 
 Committee. 
 
 " Mr. James Kennedy, J. P., having been called to the second 
 chair, a vote of thanks was passed to the Mayor, and the pro- 
 ceedings terminated." 
 
 It had been arranged that the ship Mary Edson should clear 
 out from the dock on her return voyage to New York on Monday, 
 the 13th July, and in course of that morning the intending 
 emigrants left their respective residences in and around Lisburn, 
 and were received at the Ulster Railway Station, at that town, by 
 J. J. Richardson, Esq., J. P.; John D. Barbour, Esq., J.P. ; 
 Thomas Barbour, Esq.; J. N. Richardson, Esq.; the Rev. D. J. 
 Clarke ; Hugh M'Call ; David Carlile ; Alfred Millar ; Alexander 
 Stevenson; Joshua Lamb, and several other gentlemen. The 
 officers of distribution, Town-Constable Close, and Mr. D. Wilson 
 assisted in getting the women and children safely into the carriages 
 of the special train which, by the kindness of the Ulster Railway 
 Directors, had been placed at the disposal of the Relief Committee. 
 An immense number of the friends and relations of the emigrants, 
 at least one hundred men, women, and children, had assembled at 
 the Lisburn station to witness their departure, and many were the 
 kind expressions used and hearty aspirations put forth respecting 
 the future career of those who, probably, for the last time, were 
 about to leave their early homes. The grown-up people seemed 
 
133 
 
 more or less thoughtful, but the children were quite delighted, 
 evidently at the idea of the new scenes about to open up before 
 them, for they, too, had had their share in the suffering and 
 privation during the terrible ordeal through which so many had 
 passed, and with the elasticity of youth they appeared joyous in 
 the anticipation of better days. 
 
 Just before the emigrants entered the railway carriages the 
 Rev. Mr. Clarke called on the people and their friends to join 
 him while he made a short appeal to God for His blessing on all 
 around him, but especially on those about to leave for a distant 
 land. 
 
 In a moment all the bustle of preparation and all the half 
 expressed feelings of old friends and acquaintances, as they looked 
 on each other possibly for the last time in their lives, were hushed 
 into silence, and the reverend gentleman in fervent tones prayed 
 "That He who held the ocean in -the hollow of His hand, and 
 Whose voice could still the tempest and call on the sea to be calm, 
 would watch over the people leaving for a far off country, and in 
 His great mercy bring them safe to their destined homes." 
 
 The scene was indeed an exciting one, a bright sun shone in 
 the heavens, and as the last words of the young minister died 
 away the silence that prevailed for a few minutes seemed to 
 indicate that every heart within sound of his voice had sent up an 
 inward response to the prayer for a prosperous voyage. When 
 all arrangements had been made, the engine started off with its line 
 of carriages, and, amid the hearty cheers of the people on the 
 platform, the train swept along its way to Belfast. On arriving 
 there, a number of carts, sent by Messrs. Richardson, Brothers, 
 Mr. Barkley, and other merchants of that town, were ready to take 
 the luggage to the Prince's Dock. By mid-day all arrived without 
 accident, at the ship's side, and after taking leave of those friends 
 who had convoyed them so far, they got into the steerage of the 
 vessel and busied themselves in settling up their respective berths. 
 Mr. Alfred Millar, who, with his usual kindly feeling, and as in the 
 case of the Old Hickory, was busily engaged in seeing to the com- 
 fort of the people, getting the married pairs into the places prepared 
 
134 
 
 for them, and the single women and girls settled in berths which 
 were specially got up in immediate proximity to the matrons, added 
 to that good work by making out a correct list of the passengers as 
 they were received on board. There were 125 adults, 8 children 
 under 12 years of age, and 4 infants — making in all 137 souls. 
 The following report of the sailing of the ship appeared in the 
 U^/iig of Tuesday, the 14th of July : — 
 
 " The mission of mercy on which Mr. Stewart, of New York, 
 sent tlie Mary Edson to our shores, has been so far completed, and 
 all arrangements made for the comfort of the living freight she is 
 destined to carry over the Atlantic being fully perfected, it was 
 pretty generally known that the vessel would leave the quay on 
 her return voyage yesterday afternoon. In consequence of this 
 intimation the ship was much thronged during the greater portion 
 of the day, the friends of the emigrants paying their farewell 
 visits, and numbers of strangers visiting the vessel to see her ere 
 she sailed. Several of the members of the Lisburn Relief Com- 
 mittee were also on board, to see that nothing had been forgotten 
 that would tend to promote their comfort during the voyage of the 
 passengers. The preparations having been all completed, the 
 Mary Edson left the quay at seven o'clock, in charge of a tug 
 steamer, and amid the cheering of a large concourse of people who 
 had assembled to witness her departure. While passing Queen's 
 Island, the band there played some appropriate music, to which 
 the emigrants responded by cheers. After getting clear of the 
 river, Captain Nickerson, accompanied by a number of the Belfast 
 merchants who have taken a lively interest in the philanthropic 
 undertaking, and who were on board, adjourned to the cabin, 
 where an excellent refreshment had been provided by the captain; 
 after partaking of which the Collector of Customs, in a few appro- 
 priate remarks, proposed the health of Captain Nickerson, to which 
 that gentleman suitably responded. Mr. Lawther proposed in a 
 few complimentary remarks the health of the Collector of Customs, 
 and also that of Mr. Henry Murray, the representative in this town 
 of Messrs. A. T. Stewart & Co. — to both of which toasts appro- 
 priate replies were made. The Mary Edson was towed down to 
 
135 
 
 Carrickfergus Bay, where she anchored for the night. Here the 
 gentlemen who accompanied the vessel left and went on board the 
 tug, which was to convey them home. On parting with the good 
 ship all joined in three hearty cheers for Captain Nickerson and as 
 many for Mr. Stewart ; and, wishing the barque, with her worthy 
 captain and her passengers, a safe and prosperous voyage, the tug 
 steamed back to Belfast. The Mary Edson is expected to sail from 
 Carrickfergus to-day, and we are sure that all will wish for her good 
 weather and favourable winds, and heartily wish her passengers 
 God-speed on their way to the land of their adoption." 
 
 Early next morning that floating messenger of benevolence 
 sailed from the bay of " Carrick's old and fortress town," on her 
 run across the Atlantic, and many and hearty were the prayers 
 offered up for the success of that voyage. 
 
 Of all the worthy citizens of the Northern Athens, who took 
 interest in the good ship Mary Edson during the few weeks which 
 that vessel lay at the Clarence Dock, none seemed to look on the 
 American barque with such reverence as did the amiable author of 
 the "School of the Sabbath." On the morning the vessel was 
 about to leave the harbour, Mr. M'Comb handed the Secretary 
 the manuscript of the following poem : — 
 
 ©It Hearing o£ tl)c Prcjscntation to (Haptain ^ickcrison, 
 of tl)c Jltarg (J5t)^oit. 
 
 Hail, Mary Edson ! goodly ship, her captain and her store ; 
 And hail the gentle breezes that brought her to our shore ; 
 And hail the name of Stewart, one so worthy Irish soil, 
 Who sent relief in time of need to Ulster's sons of toil. 
 
 When civil war is laying waste the granaries of the West, 
 And reapers few to gather in the harvest's rich bequest, 
 Oh ! what a noble sacrifice — of generous deeds the Chief — 
 Amidst their threatened poverty, to give us such relief! 
 
 America, the land of Hope ! — our grateful thanks are due 
 To thee, and to thy goodly ship, her captain, and her crew ; 
 We send you back a living freight — our children go with thee — 
 God save both passengers and ship from perils of the sea. 
 
 Land, where our pilgrim fathers found a refuge and a home, 
 When persecution drove them hence, far, far away to roam ! 
 Thou wast to them a shield and stay, and they were still to thee 
 True husbandmen, who planted deep old Liberty's broad tree. 
 
136 
 
 And may our sons and daughters dear who now to thee we send 
 Find in thy land an heritage — in every man a friend — 
 Bind in the brothcrliood of life a strong and lastins: tie, 
 And link the Old World with the New in peace and amity ! 
 Belfast, July 13, 1S63. 
 
 The following letter was sent Mr. Stewart, to apprise him of 
 the departtire of the emigrant ship, and some details comiected 
 with that event : — 
 
 "Lisburn July 14, 1863. 
 
 "My Dear Sir, — The good ship Mary Edson sailed yesterday from 
 Belfast for your city, and I hope will have a prosperous run. She takes out a 
 number of passengers rather exceeding your limit, but your Trustees felt pretty 
 sure you would not quarrel with this excess of your discietionary powers. One 
 of the emigrants^ Dan Gribben, is beyond the age noted in your letter. He 
 has children in New York, and was anxious to get out to them ; but it was only 
 on condition that I would write you an explanation that Messrs. Lamb and 
 Richardson would agree to his going out. I would also recommend to your 
 notice a young lad named Rainey. Mrs. Clibborn took great interest in the 
 choice of the people for free passages. I hope you will be pleased with them, 
 and that they, in their turn, will prove to be worthy of your country and become 
 good citizens of the Western world. You will see by the reports in the Belfast 
 papers of yesterday, all of which I send you, that Captain Nickerson has been 
 presented with a gold watch, and that he and his officers tod crew were enter- 
 tained at lunch. The members of the Relief Committee subscribed for the 
 purchase of the watch, and several of the Belfast bankers and merchants con- 
 tributed towards the cost of the entertainment got up in honour of the captain 
 and his people who brought over your great gift for the cotton operatives. I 
 will write you again by next mail. In the meantime, 
 
 " Believe me, respectfully yours, 
 
 " Hugh M'Call. 
 "A. T. Stewart, Esq., New York." 
 
 The second lot of people sent from the cotton districts caused 
 a still further diminution of call on the central fund, and trade 
 being a little improved gave employment to many of the idle hands. 
 But such was the prostration of numbers of families, and so much 
 had physical abilities been debilitated, that for some time the people 
 were hardly able to perform such \vorkas they had formerly done. 
 Early in August letters came to hand announcing the safe arrival 
 at Philadelphia of the Old Hickory. The vessel proved herself to 
 be a safe but very slow boat, having been above forty days on the 
 voyage out. The following extract from a long letter addressed to 
 
137 
 
 the Secretary by Archie Pelan, i he leader of the Lisburn Weavers, 
 a man whose general intelligence caused him to be much looked 
 up to by his brother operatives, gives a graphic sketch of the cir- 
 cumstances that followed the landing of the emigrants in the city 
 on the Delaware : — 
 
 " We got up to the quay at half-past seven o'clock on the 
 evening of Saturday, the loth of July, after a passage of forty-five 
 days. In the latter part of the voyage, many passengers suffered 
 much from want of water — not because of lack of supply on board, 
 but in consequence of the tin-cans in which each family kept its 
 rations having been so badly made that they leaked out one-half, 
 and often two-thirds, of the quantity meted out for the day's use. 
 As soon as the gangway was made fast, everyone who had a 
 shilling to spare went ashore to buy bread and milk for the children. 
 Next morning (Sunday) the ship was visited by a number of citi- 
 zens, who gazed on us as if we had been Red Indians, and this 
 curiosity was kept up all day, during which some thousands must 
 have gazed on us. But the good people of Philadel^jhia did more 
 than merely look at the Irish weavers — they were very kind, and 
 in every case where they saw people ill-clad they supplied them 
 with clothing. Nor did their kindness end there. Many heads of 
 families got money, as well as clothes, from the Philadelphians. 
 For myself, I can only say that the Sunday passed over dull enough. 
 I would have been glad to go on shore, but had no means to pay 
 for a lodging ; and, as the straw beds had all been thrown over- 
 board after the ship arrived in the river, our night's rest was any- 
 thing but comfortable. Early next morning, Mr. James, of the 
 house of Messrs. Thomas Richardson & Co., came down, and on 
 seeing the sad condition of the children, he handed one of the 
 mothers of them a five-dollar note to purchase milk, bread, and 
 other requirements for them. The older people on board the ship 
 were also looked after. During the day, Mr. James and our old 
 townsman, Mr. Thos. O'Neill, who is a much-respected merchant 
 here, procured comfortable lodgings for all the passengers. Mr. 
 O'Neill himself superintended the carting of the boxes and other 
 luggage, and in the evening all had been safely conveyed from th^ 
 
138 
 
 quay to the new quarters of the people. I should state that from 
 the Saturday we left Lisburn till the evening we landed in Phila- 
 delphia, seven children died, nearly all these not exceeding two 
 years of age. It would hardly be possible for me to tell you of all 
 the kindness I received from the gentleman (Mr. O'Neill) to whom 
 you wrote about me. He was down at the wharf by nine o'clock 
 in the morning inquiring for me. I had some conversation with 
 him, and he informed me that he wished to see my family. I 
 brought my wife and children forward, and they presented a sorry 
 appearance. He then directed me to go with him, and he took 
 me to his own residence, and informed his lady 'as to who I was. 
 She at once made me welcome to stop with them until I could be 
 fi'.ted. I felt my heart swell with gratitude, but said I would 
 rather stop in some other place, as we were just landed. They 
 told me to bring my wife and family, until some arrangement 
 could be effected. I did so ; and the children got a bath, which 
 did them a great deal of good. We had new potatoes at dinner, 
 and, after being forty-five days at sea, they were a great treat. 
 Then we had tea in the evening ; and, as we had both a great deal 
 of running to do through the day, we sat down to converse about 
 the old folk at home. During this time, Mrs. O'Neill took my 
 little son and dressed him in a full suit of clothes. After this, he 
 brought me to a respectable boarding-house, and paid the carriage 
 of all my little store of property from the wharf, and told me to 
 keep myself easy as to employment, as he expected I would not 
 be long idle. I need hardly say that we slept soundly that night, 
 it being the first of anything like rest that we had enjoyed from 
 we left Lisburn. On Wednesday, Mr. O'Neill came to me, in 
 company with a gentleman who owns a steam-loom factory that is 
 situated at some distance from the city of Philadelphia. The 
 gentleman said he required some hands in his establishment, and, 
 after a few words conversation on the subject, I engaged to go 
 there. 1 was also fortunate in procuring situations for some others 
 of my fellow-emigrants. We set off at the end of the week, and, I 
 am happy to say, are now settled, and in the receipt of good wages. 
 Nearly all the people who came over with us have got into em- 
 
139 
 
 ployment. There is much talk about the war, but that is all I 
 know of it. Provisions are dear — much more so than at home, 
 and the people here tell us that trade keeps dull ; but thanks to 
 Providence that brought us safe over here, and to the gentlemen 
 of the Lisburn Relief Fund, who were the means of sending us 
 away from a land of pinching poverty to a country where honest 
 industry will be sure to gain an independent subsistence." 
 
 There is much in Archie Pelan's history of the events that 
 followed the arrival of the emigrant ship at Philadelphia, to gratify 
 the friends of the weavers at home, and also to teach those who 
 make " the depravity of human nature" a general test for denun- 
 ciation against " the world," that in every condition of life much 
 good may be found if we only try to bring it up to the surface. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 N course of the week following that in which the emi- 
 grants landed, nearly all the men and boys had got into 
 work at wages varying from a dollar to a dollar and 
 a-half the day. Some hands were employed in factories at still 
 higher wages, and all the unmarried women were placed in situa- 
 tions on terms far exceeding the highest they ever expected to 
 obtain. It was, indeed, very gratifying to read the letters that 
 arrived from those people during the autumn, each seeming to vie 
 with the other in grateful acknowledgments of their change of 
 position compared with that in which they had been placed in the 
 old country. 
 
 Throughout the months of August and September, the amount 
 of relief was much farther reduced, but there were still many 
 families in need of assistance, and this especially in consequence 
 of ill-health and bodily weakness. The terrible privations which 
 had been endured in the early part of the year began to tell on the 
 more delicately constituted operatives, and many of these people 
 required the aid of the Committee as they had done some months 
 before. In the country districts, much distress existed ; for, al- 
 thougli the demand for weaving was improved, the rate of wages 
 had fallen so low that the best hands at the loom could not earn 
 above eight shillings a-week. The supplies so amply sent by Mr. 
 Stewart had, therefore, arrived in good time ; and hundreds of 
 households were rendered comparatively happy by the gifts of 
 
141 
 
 provisions and grain food. Upwards of one thousand families 
 received rations of the bacon ; and from the proceeds of the sale 
 of a proportion of the Indian corn, flannel shirts, linen shirts, and 
 sheets were purchased, and given to the people in town and country. 
 Immense good was effected by this additional supply of clothing ; 
 for, even with all that had been given away in Spring, there were 
 vast numbers of people who would have suffered terribly during the 
 severe winter, had it not been for that further distribution of 
 under-clothing. 
 
 The Address for presentation to Mr. A. T. Stewart having been 
 illuminated in the highest style of art by the Messrs. Ward & Co., 
 the book in which it had been made up was examined in Com- 
 mittee, signed by the Chairman, and an order given the Secretary 
 to have it carefully packed and sent off to its destination. It was 
 further ordered that a letter be written Mr. Stewart, advising him 
 that the box containing the Address had been forwarded to New 
 York. The following is a copy of the communication sent that 
 gentleman:— 
 
 "Cotton Operatives' Relief Fund, 
 
 Lisbum, Sept. i8, 1863. 
 
 " My Dear Sir,- -Our Committee has desired me to send you, by the 
 steamer that leaves Liverpool on Saturday for New York, a small box, con- 
 taining our Address of thanks, and acknowledgment for your princely contri^ 
 bution to the Relief Fund. The artistic decorations which have been so pro- 
 fusely introduced by the Messrs. Ward, of Belfast, in bringing out the work, 
 were greatly admired by those who were permitted to glance over them, and I 
 would hope will be regarded by you as favourable specimens of that beautiful 
 art which those gentlemen have brought to such perfection. Apart, however, 
 from its pictorial illustrations, the Address itself is only a small token of the 
 high estimate at which our Committee, and, I may add, all ranks of people in 
 this part of Ulster, regard the greatness of your benevolence. We feel assured, 
 howevei", that you will look upon this little souvenir as an evidence that the 
 tie which binds you to Ireland has never been broken. And we trust that, by 
 their grateful recollection of what has been done for them, the poor people 
 whom your generosity enabled us to send out to New York, will so conduct 
 themselves in the Land of Hope, as still further to cement the bond of amity 
 between the Old World and the New. 
 
 " I can assure you, Sir, that it is to me a pleasure of no ordinary descrip* 
 tion to be the medium by which this Address is sent to you. Moralists may 
 
142 
 
 say as they will, but really the possession of this world's wealth is a great power 
 for good, and especially when Fortune's gifts are enjoyed by one disposed to 
 share those blessings with the people that most require them. 
 
 " Very respectfully yours, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 "A. T. Stewart. Esq., 
 New York. " 
 
 Very interesting letters came to hand from the emigrants by 
 the Old Hickory, during the month of September. Many of the 
 people seemed to rejoice in their new homes as if they had, at 
 length, found themselves in the "promised land." Those of the 
 emigrants that got engagements with farmers were quite delighted 
 to be once again in the fields ; and although these were not so 
 green as the meadows of their own Isle, the transition from poverty 
 to plenty gave them new life, as if the days of boyhood had come 
 back to them. Among a large class of political economists an idea 
 prevails that men brought up in manufacturing industry are unfit 
 for any work, save that of plying the shuttle, or attending to the 
 spindles of a f!ax or cotton mill, but all such opinions are most 
 erroneous. During the great scarcity of employment which fol- 
 lowed the commercial disasters of 1826, a number of the weavers 
 of Paisley got free passages to Canada, as well as Government 
 grants of land there. Those men when at home hardly knew the 
 difference between a stot and a dairy cow, but they soon learned 
 lessons in agriculture, and ultimately became most successful 
 farmers. It has been found that not one-tenth of the operatives 
 sent out by the Lisburn Relief Conmiittee were employed at the 
 loom in their American homes. A great number of the more 
 active and intelligent got employment in warehouses, some were 
 engaged as light porters, and others found work in the service of 
 livery stable keepers. One lad, who had never before ridden a 
 horse, was hired at high wages as groom to a city merchant. Thus 
 it happened that many were engaged in departments of industry of 
 which they had little knowledge, but soon adapted themselves to 
 the change, and did the duly satisfactorily. 
 
143 
 
 The Mary Edson was a slow vessel, but, like the Dutch galliots, 
 very safe. She arrived out in September, and landed her living 
 freight at New York in good health, full of joyful anticipations 
 respecting the future ; and as not a single death had occurred 
 during the voyage, that fact was looked upon as a happy omen by 
 every passenger in the ship. 
 
 Mr. Stewart had made every preparation for the comfort of the 
 passengers on their arrival in New York. Lodgings were engaged 
 for some time previous to the vessel's reaching port, and until 
 employment was had for the adults every emigrant was supported 
 by Mr. Stewart. The following letter from that gentleman will be 
 read with interest : — 
 
 "New York, Nov. 17, 1863. 
 
 " Dear Mr. M'Call, — I laid past your note of the l8th September, that 
 I might reply to it when every matter connected with the Mary Edson had 
 been settled, and in order that, after a full survey of what had taken place, I 
 might give you the result. Such is now the situation. All those who came 
 out by the Mary Edson have been placed. They have now the opportunity in 
 which this countiy affords beyond all others — notwithstanding that we are in 
 war — of earning a livelihood, and ultimately reaching a position of comfort and 
 independence. The passenger about whom you wrote me is in our establish- 
 ment and doing well. 
 
 " Captain Nickerson, who received gratifying attention from you, closed up 
 the affairs of the vessel in the same satisfactory manner in which he had per- 
 formed every duty from the time of leaving to his return to this port. I feel 
 greatly obliged to you for your civilities to him, and am pleased that he has, 
 throughout, shown himself so well entitled to your kindness and my confidence. 
 
 " And now, with respect to the token of approbation and regard which you 
 were deputed by the Lisburn Relief Committee to send me, allow me to say, I 
 have been so long absent from the land of my nativity, and have so few ac- 
 quaintances there, that I had supposed it scarcely possible I could be so much 
 gratified with the honours I have received. But the kindness which has been 
 so warmly and generally shown me by yourself and your friends since the Mary 
 Edson started on her mission, the very pleasing demonstrations of regard which 
 public bodies of Belfast and the Press have showered upon me for the humble 
 act of relief to the sufferers around my early home, have more than rewarded 
 me. And, above all, the beautiful tribute of esteem contained in the illumi- 
 nated address, which I shall ever prize as the most precious possession, these 
 accumulated evidences of approval and regard have aroused in me the earnest 
 
144 
 
 feelings which belonged to my youth, and I most sincerely thank you all for 
 giving me this new happiness. 
 
 "Expressing my sincere respect to you, and requesting you will present 
 ray kindest wishes to your associates of the Relief Committee, 
 " Believe me, dear Mr, M'Call, 
 
 "Yours sincerely, 
 
 " Alex. T. Stewart. 
 " Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
 The winter of 1863-64 turned out rather a severe one, and 
 although employment was more general, many of the weavers and 
 their families suffered much from want of warm clothing. A por- 
 tion of the funds which still remained of the ample gift sent over 
 by the Broadway merchant was consequently expended in the 
 purchase of woollen shirts for the weavers and flannel petticoats 
 for their wives. These were distributed very liberally in town and 
 country ; and many of the recipients afterwards stated that the use 
 of the warm inner clothing they had received had proved of greater 
 benefit to them than any other form of gift by which they might 
 have been favoured. The situation of weavers' shops is frequently 
 very low, damp, and ill-ventilated ; hence it had usually been that 
 where there was natural delicacy of constitution among that class 
 of workpeople, consumption prevailed, but that winter passed off 
 with less than ordinary mortality in their ranks. The demand on 
 the Treasurer of Committee had continued pretty large during the 
 early part of the inclement season, and at the commencement of 
 the new year — 1864 — only a few hundred pounds remained in that 
 gentleman's hands. Early in the month of January, however, the 
 following letter, with its handsome enclosure, came to hand from 
 Mr. Robert Hart, Collector of Customs at Hong Kong : — 
 
 " Shanghai, Oct. 18, 1863, 
 " My Deaf. Sir, — Having read your letters in the Times in reference to 
 the cotton weavers and their great destitution, I take the liberty of handing you 
 one hundred pounds as a subscription towards your fund. This sum to be ap- 
 plied in whatever way you see fit for the relief of tlie unemployed operatives in 
 Lisburn and its vicinity. 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Robert Hart, 
 "Hugh M'Call, Esq." 
 
145 
 
 On the announcement of this handsome contribution, the 
 Committee ordered a minute to be taken of Mr. R. Hart's letter, 
 and also requested the Secretary to write that gentleman a note of 
 thanks for his donation. The following is a copy of the letter 
 posted to Mr. Hart : — 
 
 " Lisburn, Jan. 12, 1864. 
 " My Dear Sir, — Many thanks for your liberal donation of one hundred 
 pounds in aid of the unemployed weavers. The Committee have still on hand 
 a pretty large sum, which forms the balance of the Stewart fund, and when 
 that amount shall have been distributed your gift will come in to keep up the 
 good work for some further time. I would hope, however, that now the worst 
 of the season of distress has passed, there will not be any necessity to give out 
 the balance in hand. In common with many of my friends here, I have long 
 felt proud of your success in the land of the Celestials, and still prouder of you 
 as a countryman. There was more than ordinary kindness in this act of yours — 
 this recollection of the poor people of the neighbourhood of your early home, 
 even when you were so far away from the scene of poverty. And now, hoping 
 you may long enjoy the honors you have so nobly won, and long continue to 
 exercise the benevolent disposition which usually accompanies the possession of 
 intellectual power, 
 
 *' Believe me, very truly yours, 
 
 "Hugh M'Call. 
 "Robert Hart, Esq., 
 
 Comptroller of Customs, 
 Shanghai, China." 
 
 Manufacturing industry had once again risen into activity in 
 the summer of 1864. The linen trade rose at a bound, and the 
 demand for cotton weaving became no less stirring. As there were 
 then about three hundred pounds in the hands of the Treasurer, it 
 was suggested that the balance might be expended in the erection 
 of a memorial lodging-house, in U'hich the wives of cotton opera- 
 tives would get free residence, and which, at the same time, would 
 tell future generations what had been done in the interests of 
 benevolence during the distress arising from the cotton famine. 
 
 Many discussions were held on the subject, and at the desire 
 of some members of Committee, the Secretary wrote Mr. A. T. 
 Stewart and Mr. Robert Hart, requesting those gentlemen should 
 say whether they would approve of such a mode of investing the 
 
146 
 
 amount in hand. The balance, it should be stated, consisted of 
 the final remnant of Mr. Stewart's gift, and the sum sent from 
 China by Mr. R. Hart. 
 
 In due course, replies were received from those gentlemen, and 
 each of them expressed himself pleased with the proposed plan. 
 Some members of the Relief Committee took different views. It 
 was feared that in case the houses were built much difhculty might 
 arise in getting them managed, and that few persons could be had 
 who would act as Trustees. Still, the practical value of the pro- 
 position found much favour in the eyes of others, and the subject 
 was frequently brought forward. 
 
 About the close of March, 1865, news came to hand of the 
 death of Mr. Thomas Richardson, of Philadelphia. Immediately 
 afterwards a meeting of the Committee was held for the purpose 
 of expressing their regret at the demise of a gentleman who had 
 been so efhcient in collecting funds in his city. The following 
 report of the meeting appeared in the Belfast papers : — 
 
 " The I.ate Thomas Richardson, Esq. 
 
 "An extraordinary meeting of the local members of the 
 Central Committee was held in the Old News-Room, Lisburn, on 
 Saturday morning last, at half-past eleven o'clock. Mr. J. J. 
 Richardson, J. P., President of the Committee, took the chair. 
 The other members present were: — Captain Bolton, R.N. ; Dr. 
 Musgrave, Rev. Edward Kelly, P.P. ; Dr. Campbell ; Messrs. John 
 Millar, Hugh M'Call, and David Carlisle. 
 
 " The Secretary said that immediately on the announcement 
 respecting the death of Mr. Thomas Richardson, of Philadelphia, 
 having been heard in Lisburn, he considered that a meeting of 
 the local committee should be called for the purpose of expressing 
 their feeling of sorrow at that mournful event ; and also to place 
 on their minutes some record that would describe the grateful 
 sense they entertained of the exertions which the late respected 
 gentleman had made in collecting funds for their institution. Acting 
 on that feeling, he had summoned every member of the local 
 committee. 
 
U7 
 
 " Captain Bolton said he understood that the Philadelphia 
 house, of which the late Mr. Thomas Richardson was the head, 
 had been remarkably energetic in enlisting the friendly sympathy 
 of the leading merchants of that city in favour of the poor weavers, 
 and that by the kindly interest thus taken in the alleviation of the 
 distress in Lisburn and its neighbourhood, a large accession had 
 been made to the funds of the Relief Society. He (Capt. Bolton) 
 felt gratified to think that, so far as the Committee was concerned, 
 the generous attentions of a gentleman who had shown such inte- 
 rest in the sufferings of a portion of the people of his native town 
 were not likely to be forgotten. 
 
 " The Rev. Edward Kelly, P.P., concurred in all that had 
 been said relative to the late Mr. Richardson ; and in thus noticing 
 the Christian kindness of that gentleman, the Committee, he was 
 certain, would have the sympathy of all those other contributors 
 who, in the time of sufiFering and distress, so liberally came forward 
 to add their gifts to the general fund. In a distant land, some 
 three thousand miles from the place of his birth, he had recollected 
 the home of his boyhood ; and when he learned that aid was re- 
 quired to keep the helpless from want, he worked with a will 
 among his fellow citizens of Philadelphia to collect money for the 
 old land at home. He (Mr. Kelly) would, therefore, suggest that 
 a letter of condolence should be sent to their late friend's widow, 
 and probably some gentleman present would draw up a reso- 
 lution to that effect. 
 
 " Mr. Millar, after some preliminary remarks, alluded to the 
 part Mr. Thomas Richardson had taken in the case of the emi- 
 grants who had been sent to Philadeli^hia in the barque Old 
 Hickory. He said it would be remembered by those present that 
 in May, 1863, upwards of 250 peisons, consisting of cotton ope- 
 ratives and their families, had been sent to America. Previous to 
 the arrival out of that ship, arrangements had been made for the 
 reception by Mr. Richardson and other gentlemen of Philadelphia 
 when the emigrants landed. Lodgings were procured, food was 
 prepared, and, for such of the people as required it, clothing was 
 also made up for them. After the people had rested themselves 
 
148 
 
 long enough to get over tlie eftects of the voyage, situations were 
 sought out for them, and those who wislied to go further into the 
 State were suppUed with means to pay their way. In all that 
 good work the late Mr. Richardson, Mr. James (another member 
 of the house), and Mr. Thomas O'Neill (a respected merchant of 
 the city and a native of Lisburn), were engaged for several days. 
 He (Mr. Millar) then referred to the noble response which had 
 been made to their appeal for aid, and the large sums which were 
 transmitted to them from England and Scotland, as well as the still 
 larger contributions from America. The late Mr. T. Richardson, 
 he said, had been one of their most active auxiliaries ; indeed, 
 every member of his family had been very zealous in co-operating 
 with them ; and another local firm — that of Messrs. Barbour & 
 Sons — was no less munificent in its contributions. In looking 
 back at the wonderful extent of liberality shown towards the suf- 
 ferers of that trying period, he could only say that the total sum 
 raised was remarkably large ; and he hoped that the open-handed 
 benevolence of those who so generously supplied them with funds 
 would never cease to be remembered. 
 
 " Dr. Campbell said he had listened with great pleasure to 
 what was said on the subject by those who preceded him. The 
 late Mr. Thomas Richardson was born and brought up in Lisburn; 
 and in their case, as well as in many others where his assistance 
 had been sought, he carried with him to a distant land the true 
 feelings of a Christian patriot. Immediately after having been ap- 
 prised of the calamity that had fallen on the cotton weavers, he 
 had joined in collecting funds with other Lisburn gentlemen then 
 engaged in business in Philadelphia, and, through his own personal 
 exertions, had added largely to their means of aiding distress. 
 He (Dr. Campbell) would, therefore, read to those present a reso- 
 lution he had prepared, and which he hoped would meet their 
 approval : — ' That the Relief Committee of Lisburn and its neigh- 
 bourhood having heard of the death of Thomas Richardson, Esq., 
 of Philadelphia — a gentleman who, by his liberal contributions, as 
 well as by his influence and energy in collecting funds from others, 
 had so effectually aided their exertions to alleviate the distress of 
 
149 
 
 the cotton weavers — do now place on record their great regret at 
 his decease, and they also beg to express their sincere sympathy 
 with his widow and family in their great bereavement.' 
 
 " Dr. MusGRAVE, on rising to second the resolution proposed by 
 his friend Dr. Campbell, could only say that he coincided very 
 fully with the opinions that had been expressed as to the regret 
 they all felt at hearing of the death of a gentleman whom, as a 
 former townsman, they held in great respect, and to whose very 
 able assistance they owed grateful acknowledgment. 
 
 "Captain Bolton, R.N., then proposed, and Mr. Millar 
 seconded, the following resolution, which was passed 7wn. con. : — 
 * That a letter be written by the Secretary, in accordance with the 
 motion just passed, and enclosing a copy of it, which letter and 
 resolution, after having been signed by the Chairman, should be 
 forwarded to Mrs, Richardson.' " 
 
 Under the arrangements made at that meeting, the Secretary 
 wrote to Mrs. Richardson by the next American mail, giving that 
 lady a condensed account of the proceedings that took place, and 
 the sentiments that had been expressed by the different speakers. 
 The Secretary also sent Mrs. Richardson copies of the Belfast 
 papers in which had appeared reports of the meeting. 
 
 In the early months of 1865, some recurrence of partial distress 
 was said to exist, but nothing beyond that which had been experi- 
 enced in other seasons. Some members of the Relief Committee 
 were, however, especially ready to listen to the first cry of real or 
 artificial poverty, and when the clamorous and the improvident — 
 always the first to call for aid— appealed to them, a raid was at 
 once made on the balance of money (about j£,\lo) which still re- 
 mained of the General and the Stewart Funds. We hear often of men 
 who, to prevent cash from burning holes in their pockets, guarded 
 against such a casualty by spending it freely ; but in the case to 
 which we refer it seemed as though the amount remaining in the 
 Treasurer's hands was burning holes in the pockets of certain 
 Committee-men. It had been stated that some degree of poverty 
 prevailed in the Spring of 1S65, and on the 25th of March the 
 
'50 
 
 Secretary received a requisition, signed by J. N. Richardson, 
 Joshua Lamb, Joseph Richardson, anci John Bradbury, requesting 
 him to call a meeting of Committee for the purpose of considering 
 a proposal " to grant a further portion of the balance of funds on 
 hand for the relief of people in want." 
 
 A meeting was, therefore, called, and a pretty large number 
 attended it. The Rev. W. D. Pounden occupied the chair. 
 
 Mr. J. N. Richardson said that, as one of the persons who 
 had signed the requisition for convening the meeting, he had to 
 state that a good deal of distress existed in his neighbourhood, 
 and several families were suffering privation. He had himself as- 
 sisted as far as he could those who were in want ; but much more 
 should be done, and he regretted that the Committee had not 
 taken the matter up sooner. It was not creditable that such dis- 
 tress should exist while a large sum remained in the hands of the 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Mr. Millar, in reply to one portion of Mr. Richardson's re- 
 marks, begged to say that neither himself nor any other of his 
 friends had heard of any special case of distress in town. He 
 understood from Mr. D. Carlisle and Mr. J. Sloan that weavers 
 had full work, and ahhough wages were not large, those people did 
 not require any outside assistance. He might add, too, that the 
 funds collected were contributed for cotton operatives. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Shaw, Half-Town, said he was well acquainted 
 with the people in his neighbourhood — indeed, there did not exist 
 a cottage within a two-mile circle of his house the inmates of which, 
 he did not know ; but he thought it would not be prudent again 
 to commence giving out relief. Except where real want was found, 
 his opinion quite opposed the system of indiscriminate charity. 
 
 Mr. John Bradbury was of the same opinion as that expressed 
 by Mr. Shaw. Since he signed the requisition calling that meeting, 
 he had made particular inquiries, and he could say that in the 
 Maze district the weavers were pretty well ofif; and as to the farm 
 labourers, he himself had difficulty in procuring hands for outdoor 
 work. (Hear, hear.) 
 
151 
 
 Mr. J. D. Barbour, J. P., said his firm found it no easy matter 
 to find the number of people required at certain portions of 
 their works. And, now that great demand had set in for men 
 in the corn and potato lands, and that higher wages were being 
 paid for farm work, he feared that mill-owners and manufacturers 
 would find it still more difficult to get hands. He did not think 
 it would be advisable to grant any relief at that time, and counselled 
 the holding over their funds, as it might be that real distress would 
 come when they least expected it. 
 
 The Rev. Robert Lindsay stated that, in his idea, and so far 
 as the condition of the poorer classes in town was concerned, he 
 did not see any necessity for the relief that had been sought for. 
 
 Mr. Michael Andrews, Glenone, said he had much know- 
 ledge of the condition of the working ranks in a wide district of 
 country round Ballymacash, and he could testify that there was not 
 a single case that required the aid of the ReUef Committee. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Nicholson disagreed with most of the 
 speakers. If those who refused to beUeve in the existence of 
 poverty would only search for it they would find plenty of it in 
 town. It was not fair that the Treasurer should hold so much of 
 the funds of the Society in his hands when so many poor people 
 were badly off. He would propose that fifty or sixty pounds should 
 be handed over for distribution. Many people had not seed 
 potatoes for their gardens, and he thought that a sum should be 
 expended in buying seed for them. 
 
 The Secretary protested against the attempts which were 
 being made to fritter away the funds that had been collected with 
 considerable trouble and anxiety. If those members who were so 
 exceedingly prodigal of money which had been placed in their 
 hands for a specific purpose could form any idea of the time and 
 anxious labour that had been devoted to the work, they would 
 pause before rushing to the Treasurer on every trifling occasion 
 that turned up, and calling out for the squandering away of the funds 
 every time a shower of snow fell around them. 
 
 Mr. Millar was utterly opposed to the arguments put forth 
 by Mr. Nicholson. No doubt, many of the people to whom that 
 
152 
 
 gentleman referred would be well pleased if the Committee under- 
 took to plant potatoes and sow small seeds in their gardens ; but 
 were such a work undertaken all the cash in hands would soon be 
 squandered for very little purpose. 
 
 The Rev. Maurice M'Kay, Broomhedge, did not see any 
 reason for relief in his part of the country ; but as Mr. Richardson 
 had stated that assistance was required in the district around 
 Lissue, the native place of Mr. A. T. Stewart, to whose munificence 
 they were so much indebted, he would move that ten pounds be 
 given to that gentleman, and an equal sum to Mr. Lamb, for dis- 
 tribution. After much discussion, the proposition was carried, 
 but many members dissented from it. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 S the Summer set in, a very exciting demand sprung up 
 for hands at the loom, 'and such was the competition 
 among manufacturers lor getting goods woven that the 
 scale of wages rose to the highest point reached for twenty years 
 before, and canvassers were engaged by some agents for Glasgow 
 houses to go through the country and solicit weavers to t ike out webs 
 from them. Great activity prevailed in the making of muslins, and 
 skilled workmen were able to earn good wages ; even third-class hands 
 shared largely in the results of stirring activity. From that time, and 
 until the first half of 1866 Tiad passed, the trade of hand-loom 
 weaving continued prosperous, but the financial crisis caused by 
 the failure of the famed banking house of Overend, Gurney & Co., 
 unfavourably influenced every department of industry throughout 
 the Kingdom. The Bank of England felt the pressure so power- 
 fully that the Peel Restriction Act had once again to be broken ; 
 the rate of discount ran up to ten per cent., and even at such 
 usurious exactions, there was much difticulty experienced by mer- 
 chants in getting cash accommodation. Trade languished in con- 
 sequence of the feeling of distrust that prevailed, and as usual, the 
 cotton manufacture was the first to suffer. Considerable losses fell 
 on the importers of raw material. During the year the landings 
 in Great Britain from every source of supply had been 3,749,500 
 bales, but from the first of January to the middle of June, American 
 cotton fell from 2 id. to i2d., Egyptian went down from 24d.to i6d., 
 
 <^ 
 
154 
 
 and East Indian from i6d. to gd. the pound. Many speculators 
 were nearly ruined, and several went to the wall. As a consequence, 
 the year 1867 came in with very lowering prospects. Severe wea- 
 ther put a stop to outdoor work — common labourers were left 
 without employment, the hand-loom weavers in Lisburn and the 
 surrounding districts found it difficult to procure webs, and numbers 
 of looms were idle. Early in January, a meeting of the Relief 
 Committee was held, and a sum of fifty pounds was handed over 
 to be distributed among the people of the Maze ; twenty-five 
 pounds were allotted to Lissue, and a like amount to Lisburn. 
 
 The distribution of money, however, did little more than give 
 temporary relief, and as distress increased among the common 
 labourers as well as among the weavers, it was proposed that a 
 public meeting of the inhabitants should be convened for the pur- 
 pose of considering what should be done for the more eff"ectual 
 relief of the industrious householders. 
 
 On the 19th of January, 1867, a second meeting was convened 
 in the Lisburn Assembly Room, on which occasion there were 
 present— The Dean of Ross, Mr. W. T. Stannus, J.P. ; Mr. J. J. 
 Richardson, J.P. ; Mr. J. D. Barbour, J.P. ; Rev. Robert Lindsay, 
 Rev. W. Breakey, Rev. Edward Kelly, P.P. ; Rev. W. Pounden, 
 Rev. David J. Clarke, Rev. Mr. Powell, Mr. Jonathan Richardson, 
 J. P., Glenmore ; Mr. Henry J. Manley, Northern Bank j Mr. J. 
 E. Morton, Ulster Bank ; Messrs. D. Beatty, John Millar, Hugh 
 M'Call, G. Thompson, Redmond Jefferson, John Finlay, T. R. 
 Pelan, D. Carlile, John S. Ward, and several other gentlemen. 
 
 On the motion of Mr. Richardson, of Glenmore, the Dean of 
 Ross was called to take the chair. 
 
 After briefly alluding to the necessity for immediate action, 
 and referring to the sums which had recently been given towards 
 relief of the people by the Cotton Operatives' Committee, the 
 Chairman said he was ready to hear what any gentleman had to 
 propose. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Pounden detailed at some length the state of 
 the labouring poor, who were suffering nearly as much from lack of 
 fuel as from want of food. He strongly urged the necessity of 
 carrying out a larger measure of relief for the sufferers. 
 
^55 
 
 The Rev. Robert Lindsay said he had never known greater 
 distress than that he had seen in the dwellings of some of the 
 poorer class of labourers. He would say that no time should be 
 lost in giving relief to those people. 
 
 The Rev. Edward Kelly, P.P., agreed with the gentlemen 
 who had just spoken as to the want that existed. In course of his 
 own parochial duties, he had that morning witnessed the extreme 
 of poverty in a great many houses, and he regretted to add in not 
 a few cases where, a short time before, the inhabitants had been in 
 comparative comfort. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Breakey said that he, too, had been among the 
 poor, and he had seen much actual starvation. Many cases that 
 required prompt relief had come under his notice ; but as the 
 management of all charities required more astute knowledge of 
 human nature than most other affairs of life, he begged to urge on 
 the meeting the prudence of passing over the names of the clergy 
 in making out the list of distributors. In his experience as a 
 minister, he had ever found that where destitution prevailed, much 
 more was looked for at the hands of the clergy than from the laity ', 
 and the former were much more hkely to be imposed on by pre- 
 tended suffering. In course of their arrangements, therefore, he 
 hoped they would not appo int any clergyman as a distributor of 
 relief. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Powell added his opinion to that of the other 
 ministers present on the imperative necessity of aiding the poor as 
 liberally as they could, and as promptly too. 
 
 Mr. Richardson inquired if it were intended to confine the 
 proposed system of relief to town ; and, if not, then how far would 
 it extend over the rural districts ? 
 
 The Rev. D. J. Clarke explained that, in course of the pre- 
 vious week, ;^75 of the balance in hand had been voted for the 
 Maze and Tissue; and at a meeting held half-an-hour before, the 
 Relief Committee had allocated a further sum for the same districts 
 in like proportion. He would, therefore, suggest that the distri- 
 bution then proposed should not gooutside themunicipal boundary. 
 
 Mr. Beatty thought that the meeting had forgotten one ma- 
 terial point. Before they went farther into the details of the mode 
 
156 
 
 of distribution, they should get the funds to work upon. The 
 Cotton Operatives' Committee had been very prompt and very 
 liberal in allocating a. portion of the small balance then in hand for 
 the purpose of warding off the existing distress. No direct claim 
 had been made on the inhabitants of Lisburn on any similar exi- 
 gency for several years past, and he would be glad to see every 
 man putting his hand into his own pocket to supplement what had 
 been already done. If a general subscription were raised, he was 
 sure the Marquis of Hertford would head the list. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Mr. Walter T. Stannus did not agree with Mr. Beatty's 
 concluding remark. The Lisburn people expected too much off 
 Lord Hertford. That nobleman's income out of the town con- 
 sisted solely of ground rents, which were merely nominal. In fact, 
 the owners of small houses had a far better right than that noble- 
 man to subscribe to the fund. In many cases, those people had 
 built up such dwellings on every foot of ground in their yards and 
 bye-places, contrary to the terms of leases. True, there was no 
 penalty attached to those breaches of covenant in any of the old 
 leases, and, consequently, no power to stop buildings of that class ; 
 but in all new leases there were clauses to prevent the erection of 
 small tenements in the reres of front buildings. The mills and 
 factories had also been the means of bringing numbers of poor 
 people into town as tenants for such small houses ; and as Lord 
 Hertford was not benefitted by those buildings, he (Mr. Stannus) 
 would not subscribe to the proposed fund until he had seen what 
 the owners of small houses would do. He would move that a 
 committee be appointed to call on those people, and get their 
 subscriptions in the first instance. 
 
 No one supported the proposition, and after a short silence, 
 
 Mr. Beatty rose and said he could hardly think that Mr. 
 Stannus really meant what he had just stated, and if such a pro- 
 posal were carried it would certainly not reflect any credit on the 
 Hertford administration. 
 
 Mr. John D. Barbour regretted very much to hear Lord 
 Hertford's agent, a gentleman who should entertain correct ideas 
 on public questions stating that the mills and factories in and 
 
157 
 
 around Lisburn had been the means of increasing the numbers 
 of poor people. The very opposite was the fact. (Hear, hear.) 
 Any of the inhabitants who recollected Lisburn in former times, 
 would be able to see that the extension of public works there had 
 done immense good by adding largely to the industrious and 
 peaceloving population and giving considerable extension to local 
 commerce ; and as to pauperism, the number of people then sup- 
 ported at the Union Workhouse was not so large as it had been 
 five and twenty years before. If Mr. Stannus would only look 
 back to the time of the cotton famine he would find that the 
 people working at the mills were in a condition of comparative 
 independence, and, to their credit be it said, they contributed 
 of their earnings a very liberal sum for the relief of their brother 
 and sister operatives connected with the Cotton trade. Having 
 glanced at other matters alluded to by Mr. Stannus, and which he 
 said should not have been introduced at a meeting held for purely 
 benevolent purposes, Mr. Barbour urged that prompt measures 
 should be taken for the assistance of the people who required im- 
 mediate attention. The state of the weather appeared rather to 
 increase in severity than otherwise (a storm of snow was then 
 dashing against the windows of the Assembly Rooms), and if any 
 postponement of relief took place, serious results might ensue. 
 He would therefore request them to go direct to business and open 
 a list of subscriptions to which he would attach his name for 
 twenty pounds. 
 
 The Rev. D. J. Clarke said that while he trusted immediate 
 action would be taken in the matter before the meeting, he would 
 beg leave to add that it was with great regret he had listened 
 to the remarks of Mr. Stannus respecting the claims which Lis- 
 burn's poor had on Lord Hertford. His idea was, that in all 
 cases where human suffering existed, and where want called for 
 relief, it was the duty of those who had means to render svich as- 
 sistance as they felt it their duty to do, and that course should be 
 pursued without the slightest feeling relative to A'hether the per- 
 sons appealed to for contributions had or had not been advan- 
 taged by those seeking aid, but that reUef should be given on the 
 
158 
 
 broad principles of Christian benevolence. During the days of 
 the cotton famine as alluded to by INIr. Barbour, the Messrs. 
 Richardson, Sons, & Ovvden, had contributed largely to the Relief 
 Fund, yet the weavers had no special claim on them. The firm 
 of Messrs. Barbour & Sons had also subscribed with a liberal 
 hand. Messrs. Richardson & Co., of Lambeg, the firm of Messrs. 
 Richardson Bros., Mr. J. N. Richardson, their good friend Mr. J. 
 J. Richardson, of the Island Mill, and Captain Ward, of the 
 damask factory, had all come out in the spirit of generosity. No 
 one of the gentlemen to whom he alluded could be said to have 
 special duties encumbent on him in favour of the poor of Lisburn, 
 nor did any of the vast numbers of people they employed require 
 aid from the Relief Committee. As to the proprietors of cottages 
 being called on to lead the way in heading the subscription list, 
 he could only say that this idea was most absurd. He did not 
 know any capitalists that accomplished more for the moral and 
 physical well-being of the working ranks than those who erected 
 comfortable small houses for them. What would the poor people 
 do for habitations if some enterprising men did not provide dwell- 
 ings of that class ? 
 
 Mr. J. J. Richardson, J. P., said he hoped that, as the 
 Marquis of Hertford had not given any subscription towards the 
 rehefofthe cotton weavers in 1863, his agent would then make 
 good that neglect. The present meeting had been called not to 
 assist one section of sufferers, but in aid of poor people engaged 
 in different departments of labour, all of whom were residents and 
 many were natives of his lordship's own town, the capital of his 
 great estate. Mr. Stannus had alluded to the owners of freehold 
 property in town having built small houses on every foot of ground 
 they could spare in their yards and back gardens, but that was 
 because they could not get building leases from the landlord of 
 the estate. That however, was a matter quite beside the question 
 before the meeting, and the broad fact remained that the weavers 
 who had suffered by the cotton famine had strong claims on Lord 
 Hertford's sympathy. In times gone by, and before the linen 
 trade attained that great extension which made it the leading in- 
 
159 
 
 dustry of Ulster, large sums, in the shape of wages to cotton 
 weavers, were distributed throughout the Hertford estate. The 
 effect >vas to create vastly increased demand for farm produce, and 
 to put thousands of pounds into the pockets of the respective 
 owners of the property. Manufacturing industry had done more 
 for the lords of the soil on which they stood than any of those 
 noblemen had had the grace to acknowledge. 
 
 Mr. W, T. Stannus could not agree with the last speaker's re- 
 marks, nor did they prove that the sufferers by the cotton famine 
 had any particular claim on Lord Hertford's sympathy. It might 
 as well be said that the people of Lisburn had peculiar claims on 
 Mr. J. J. Richardson, because he had made his fortune at the 
 Island Mill. 
 
 Mr. Millar here came forward with a sheet of paper, prepared 
 to receive the names of subscribers. He hoped that, whatever 
 difference of opinion might exist on the matter to which the several 
 speakers had alluded, there would not be any respecting the alle- 
 viation of the wants of the poor, many of whom had neither food 
 nor fire in their homes that day. 
 
 The subscription list having been laid on the table, Mr. W. T. 
 Stannus placed Lord Hertford's name at the head for ^2^ : Mr. 
 Richardson, of Glenmore, subscribed ;^2o , Mr. J. D. Barbour, 
 ;^2o ; Mr. J. J. Richardson, ^20 j the Dean of Ross, ;^io ; and 
 a number of smaller sums having been added by those present, 
 the total amount subscribed on the spot exceeded two hundred 
 pounds. A committee was then appointed to collect from such of 
 the inhabitants as had not attended the meeting. On the motion 
 of Mr. J. E. Morton, Mr. Manley, manager of the Northern Bank? 
 was appointed Treasurer, and Mr. Beatty Secretary of the Fund 
 about being raised. 
 
 Several gentlemen having volunteered to go through those 
 lanes and alleys of the town for the purpose of distributing at the 
 doors of poor people who were considered most in need of assist- 
 ance, tickets were printed, and in course of the evening 500 
 families were supplied with a bag of coal each, and in many cases 
 tickets for one shilling or eighteen-pence worth of meal were given 
 in addition. 
 
i6o 
 
 Collectors were also appointed to call on the gentry, merchants, 
 and traders who had not attended the meeting, and the response 
 to that call was very liberal. Frost and snow continued to the 
 end of January, nearly all means of outdoor labour having been 
 sealed up, but the sum subscribed fully met all demands, and many 
 families were saved from going into the workhouse by the timely 
 assistance rendered them. A favourable change of weather set in 
 about the middle of February, employment became pretty general, 
 and no more relief was required. 
 
 Early in the autumn of that year — 1867 — it was reported that 
 Mr. A. T. Stewart had been on the Continent and was then in 
 Paris, and that while on his way home he purposed spending some 
 days in Belfast, and at the same time to visit Lissue, his birth- 
 place, near Lisburn. Arrangements were then made to pay some 
 special mark of attention to him, and the only course open was 
 that of preparing an address of welcome. 
 
 Accordingly, a meeting of the Relief Committee was called for 
 Tuesday, the 3rd of September, on which occasion the following 
 members met in the News-Room : — John D. Barbour, J. P. ; Rev. 
 D. J. Clarke, Dr. Musgrave, Hugh M'Call, and David Carlile. 
 
 Mr. Barbour, having been requested to take the chair, said 
 he had great pleasure in presiding over any meeting that had for 
 its object the paying of a mark of respect to one of the most dis- 
 tinguished Irishmen in the United States. They all felt proud of 
 Mr. Stewart, and especially so because the great merchant of 
 Broadway was a native of their own neighbourhood. 
 
 The Secretary then read the draft of an address which he 
 had prepared for approval of the Committee, and after some 
 changes had been suggested and made in it, 
 
 Dr. Musgrave proposed that, as he understood Mr. Stewart 
 had arrived in Belfast, Mr. M'Call should visit that gentleman at 
 his hotel, and ascertain at what time it would be most convenient 
 for him to receive a deputation appointed to present the address. 
 On Friday afterwards the Secretary called on Mr. Stewart at 
 that gentleman's apartments in the Royal Hotel, Belfast, and 
 having introduced the matter for which the meeting of committee 
 
i6i 
 
 had been held in Lisburn, Mr. Stewart expressed his pleasure as 
 well at the attention which had been paid him on other occasions 
 as because of the continued feeling of gratitude shown towards him. 
 He said it had been a great source of satisfaction many a time 
 since 1863, to think of how well the donation he had sent over 
 that year had been applied to the poor people. In reference to 
 the proposed address, he would regret that the gentlemen ap- 
 pointed to present it should have the trouble of coming to Belfast 
 for that purpose, and would, therefore, request that the Httle cere- 
 monial should take place at Glenmore, the seat of Mr. Jonathan 
 Richardson, and where he had been engaged to dine next evening 
 (Saturday). It would add to other obligations if his friends should 
 be good enough to meet him there at five o'clock. 
 
 Before the appointed hour on that afternoon, Mr. J. D. Barbour 
 had his carriage ready at his house in Castle Street, Lisburn, and 
 Mf. ]\['Call, the Rev. D. J. Clarke, and Mr. D. Carlile having 
 joined him, the party was driven to Glenmore. On arriving there, 
 Mr. Richardson met the gentlemen in the hall, and a servant hav- 
 ing led the way to the library, the host introduced each member to 
 Mr. A. T. Stewart, and also to the Honourable Judge Hilton and 
 Mr. George Fox, of Manchester, one of the partners of the firm 
 of A. T. Stewart & Co. The gentlemen present having resumed 
 their seats, Mr. Barbour rose and said " he had rarely felt greater 
 pleasure in taking part in any movement than he enjoyed on that 
 occasion. As soon as it was known that Mr. A. T. Stewart was 
 about to visit the neighbourhood of his birthplace, a meeting of 
 the gentlemen who had taken active part in the relief of the cotton 
 operatives was called, and he (Mr. Barbour) had the honour of 
 being chairman of that meeting. Its object was to make arrange- 
 ments for presenting an address to the renowned merchant who in 
 1863, and during the time of the cotton famine, had so largely 
 supplemented their relief fund. In his private capacities and as 
 a member of a house that for many years had been commercially 
 connected with America, it was to him a source of no ordinary 
 pleasure to have an opportunity of being present on that occasion, 
 
 and of joining the deputation wliich had been appointed to pay 
 
 U 
 
l62 
 
 some slight mark of respect to the head of a firm which had at- 
 tained the world-wide celebrity enjoyed by Messrs. A. T. Stewart 
 & Co. It was to him a matter of regret that his friends Mr. J.J. 
 Richardson, J.P., and Mr. John Millar were then travelling in 
 England on their holiday trip, as he felt assured that both those 
 gentlemen would have been much pleased to have been present. 
 He would just conclude by requesting Mr. M'Call to read the 
 address." The guests and other gentlemen present having risen 
 to their feet, the Secretary read as follows: — 
 
 "To A. T. Stewart, Esq., New York. 
 
 "Sir, — The Committee of the Cotton Operatives' Relief Fund 
 having heard of your arrival in this country, feel very much pleased 
 at the opportunity thus given them of welcoming you to the place 
 of your nativity. In former years, and long before the cotton 
 famine had created such distress in this part of Ulster, we had 
 heard of your fame as an American merchant, and exulted over 
 your high standing as a citizen of that Republic. But the 
 promptitude with which you responded to our appeal for assistance 
 when semi-starvation reigned in the homes of hundreds of families 
 connected with our cotton manufactures, has called forth a feeling 
 of gratitude for your benevolence, and of respect for your kindly 
 recollection of * the old country,' which we feel assured will never 
 be forgotten. 
 
 " We have also to state that in addition to the vast amount of 
 good produced by the munificent gift of breadstuffs and provisions 
 you sent over to us, and the extended aid we were thus enabled 
 to bestow on the distressed operatives, the free passages and pro- 
 visions for one hundred and thirty-seven persons led to the most 
 favourable results. Many of those emigrants have since then re- 
 mitted means to bring over to America certain members of their 
 family that remained at home ; others have written to siy that 
 they had found the world beyond the Atlantic to be a land of 
 plenty, where their labour was well paid, and where industry ren- 
 dered them independent. In every instance the correspondence 
 of these people abounded with hopefulness, and in not a few cases 
 they expressed in genuine eloquence their grateful sense of your 
 
1 63 
 
 generous conduct in chartering a good ship to convey them 
 across the ocean, and also providing them with ample provisions 
 for the voyage. Thus, Sir, in your adopted country, as well as in 
 your native land, you have many living monuments of that 
 philanthropy which we trust will ever form the brightest attribute 
 of your character. 
 
 (Signed) "John D. Barbour, Chairman. 
 
 " Hugh M'Call, Secretary. 
 "Lisburn, Sept. 6, 1867." 
 
 Mr. Stewart, whose feelings were much influenced during the 
 reading of the address, delivered his reply as follows : — 
 
 "Sir, and Gentlemen of the Committee, — Your address 
 fills me with a deep sense of gratefulness for the kindly spirit in 
 which you have conveyed to me the affectionate remembrance of 
 the cotton operatives in Lisburn. It is a fact that neither time 
 nor space can efface from the memory the place that gave us 
 birth ; and no matter what period may intervene, the heart, ever 
 true to its instincts, turns with faithful affection to the home of 
 childhood. 
 
 " It was this instinct and this feeling of affection that, in time 
 of suffering among the poor of my native land, caused me to see 
 it my duty to lend a helping hand. I recollected that if no other 
 or higher reason controlled, there was a debt owing from me to 
 my countrymen to the extent, at least, of that patrimony which, 
 many years ago, I took with me to that land of promise and of 
 liberty, where ever since I have lived and prospered. 
 
 " If in the performance of this duty I have been the means of 
 conferring a lasting benefit on any of my countrymen, my highest 
 wishes and objects shall have been attained. 
 
 " For the pleasing manner in which you have conveyed to me 
 the intelligence that this result has been accomplished accept my 
 sincere thanks, and to those whom you represent please express 
 my deep sense of their kindness and friendship. 
 
 (Signed) "Alex. T. Stewart. 
 
 "Sept. 7, 1867." 
 
164 
 
 The delivery of this reply had evidently called forth quite a 
 host of old recollections, and scenes of former days seemed to 
 have come up before the speaker, bright as visions of youth. So 
 much indeed was Mr. Stewart affected that he had nearly broken 
 down when alluding to "the home of his childhood." 
 
 At the conclusion of what may be considered the more cere- 
 monious part of the proceedings, Mr. Richardson intimated to 
 the deputation and other friends that some refreshmenfs had been 
 laid out in another apartment to which he requested those present 
 to adjourn. In course of the dispensing of the host's hospitahty 
 a very interesting conversation took place, in which Judge Hilton 
 and Mr. Fox took prominent part with the members of the depu- 
 tation. 
 
 The former named gentleman said he understood that some 
 members of the relief committee had proposed that the balance of 
 money in hands should be devoted to .the building of cottages 
 as asylums for weavers widows, and he himself would be glad to 
 see such memorials erected. 
 
 Mr. M'Call was of opinion that some lasting evidence of 
 the days of 1S63 and the benevolence brought out during that 
 time of distress, should be raised in Lisburn. There still remained 
 in hand as balance of the Stewart Fund ;^is°> ^^^^ ^'so a dona- 
 tion of ;^ioo sent the Committee by Mr, Hart, of Shanghai, 
 and if Mr. Stewart thought well of the project, the total could be 
 invested in building memorial colleges. 
 
 Mr. Fox thought the matter worth consideration, but did not 
 consider that Mr. Stewart would agree to the mixing up of any 
 other donations with the balance of his own fund. 
 
 At this stage of the conversation Mr. Stewart, who had been 
 absent for a few moments, joined the group, and having been in- 
 formed of the subject under discussion, inquired whether, in case 
 of arrangements being made to erect memorial buildings, a suitable 
 site could be obtained. 
 
 The Rev. J. D. Clarke replied to say that he understood that 
 Dean Stannus had been applied to on the subject, and had stated 
 his willingness on the part of Lord Hertford to give a rood of 
 ground for that purpose. 
 
i65 
 
 Mr. Carlisle was not much in favour of the erection of cot- 
 tages, as it would incur much trouble to whoever might be ap- 
 pointed trustees, still as some memorial of the cotton famine he 
 would not oppose the erection of a neat building. 
 
 Mr. Stewart expressed his willingness to supplement the balance 
 in hands as soon as the committee had finally resolved on building. 
 Apart from that question however, he could not avoid using the 
 opportunity he then had of expressing his very warm thanks to his 
 friends, the trustees, for the great trouble they took in the right 
 distribution of the bequest. Mr. M'Call had written him about 
 the efficient service which Mrs. Clibborn had rendered in the case, 
 and to that lady and her co-Trustees he felt under special 
 obligations. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Clarke alluded in terms of grateful eulogy to 
 the large hearted men of America who had so abundantly contri- 
 buted to their funds. Judge Hilton said he had Hstened with the 
 utmost pleasure to the story told by the rev. gentleman. " It was 
 to him quite an enjoyment to hear of the gratitude with which the 
 gentlemen present spoke of the kindness and sympathy which had 
 been shown towards the people of that part of Ireland, and that 
 they cherished grateful remembrances of American citizens, not 
 only in the case of the cotton famine, but on many other oc- 
 casions," Mr. Stewart himself listened with much interest to this 
 conversation, and was evidently delighted by the great satisfaction 
 with which the honourable Judge heard the expression of grateful 
 acknowledgment which had been made regarding the liberality of 
 his countrymen. 
 
 This meeting and its details formed in reality the wind-up 
 of the annals of the cotton famine, but not those of after pro- 
 ceedings. It may be considered by many readers that the reports 
 include much that might have been left out of print. They refer, 
 however, to a very remarkable period in the history of the cotton 
 manufacture as it existed on both sides the channel. They also 
 give some notice of the exertions made to save the suftering from 
 utter destitution, and thus it may happen that, in after years, when 
 the writer, and all others whose names figure in its pages, shall 
 
i66 
 
 have passed away, the descendants of some of those who contri- 
 buted towards the funds, or who assisted in the management and 
 distribution of them, will read over with the utmost interest every 
 line that had been written on the subject. 
 
 There was still on hands about two hundred and fifty pounds, 
 the balance of Mr. Stewart's gift and Mr. Hart's donation, and 
 wonderful was the anxiety of some members of the Committee to 
 have the whole sum distributed. In this world of ours one phase 
 of Charity rises even to the Sublime, when professors of bene- 
 volence can exercise it at other people's expense. There had been 
 the usual degree of poverty in many parts of the country around 
 Lisburn in the early weeks of 1868, and a requisition to that effect 
 having been handed to the Secretary, a meeting of the Relief 
 Committee was held on Thursday, the 14th of February, in that 
 year — 
 
 John D. Barbour, Esq., J.P., in the chair. On taking his 
 seat, the President said " he had attended the meeting as a matter 
 of duty, and in accordance with the notice sent to him ; but he 
 really did not see there was any special occasion for further call on 
 the balance of cash in hand. He himself would always be ready 
 to assist the struggling poor where aid became direct necessity ; 
 but he was quite opposed to indiscriminate charity. (Hear, hear.) 
 In consequence of the great demand for hands at the spinning 
 mills, he knew of cases in which families the heads of which and 
 their elder children were in full work, and earned three pounds a 
 week, yet did not save one penny ot an income exceeding that of 
 ministers who had to support the position of gentlemen." 
 
 The Rev. D, J. Clarke said he had visited in the course of the 
 week several of the bye streets and lanes of the town, and he did 
 not find any extra exhibition of poverty. Still, if cases could be 
 brought forward which required relief he would readily join in 
 moving a resolution calling attention to them. 
 
 The Secretary read a letter he had received from Mr. 
 Richardson, of Lissue, in which that gentleman stated that weavers 
 
167 
 
 and labourers in his district were badly off, and he (Mr. R.) thought 
 it hard that such should be the case when a large balance still 
 remained in the hands of the Treasurer. 
 
 Mr. Carlisle gave some account of the state of the weavers in 
 the Maze and Half Town, many of whom were idle. 
 
 The Rev. S. Nicholson said he had privately collected seven 
 pounds, and given it to poor people about Broomhedge ; but there 
 was much destitution still there. 
 
 A general discussion followed, in the course of which, 
 
 The Rev. Robert Lindsay said that, so far as the poor people 
 of the town were concerned, he had not obtained any evidence of 
 such distress as required outside aid ; but in case money should be 
 allocated for that purpose, he would hope that, as their friend Mr. 
 Breakey had advised some years before, the clergy should be 
 exempted as distributors. His own experience was that the laity, 
 who had full experience of such affairs, were much less likely to be 
 imposed upon by pretended poverty than the ministers of any 
 Church. 
 
 Ultimately, it was agreed that'thirty-five pounds be handed over 
 for distribution in Lissue, the Maze, Broomhedge, and the Half 
 Town, and ten pounds for Lisburn. 
 
 During the succeeding two years no further demands were 
 made on the balance of funds in hand ; but at the commencement 
 of March, 1870, a meeting was called to consider some cases of 
 destitution in the country districts. On that occasion J. N. 
 Richardson, Esq., was called to the chair, and, after referring to 
 the cause of the meeting, he requested that the Treasurer would 
 give in his report of the state of the funds. 
 
 Mr. Millar said that the balance in hands, with interest due 
 to date, of what had been kept distinct as the Stewart fund, was 
 p^ioy, in addition to which there was ;^ioo — Mr. Hart's dona- 
 tion — which the Secretary had held over in the hope that, with the 
 other balance, it should be expended in the erection of memorial 
 cottages for the free occupation of weavers' widows. Mr. M'Call 
 had been offered a site for the buildings by Dean Stannus, but 
 without any lease. 
 
i6S 
 
 '' The case of Captain Bolton's school-house in Hillhall, which 
 was held at will under Lord Hertford, having been wrested from 
 that gentleman's trustees, and the bequest of Captain Bolton's 
 cottages in Piper Hill having also been taken by Lord Hertford's 
 agent, the idea of erecting memorial cottages on ground held at 
 will, was finally abandoned. IMr. A. T. Stewart and Mr. Hart 
 had given full liberty for such appropriation of the money ; but 
 except a site in fee simple could have been obtained it would not 
 have been prudent to so invest the money." 
 
 On the Chairman inquiring of the members present as to 
 the state of the weaving ranks, 
 
 Mr. Carlile said the hands were pretty well employed, and 
 the scale of wages was quite as high as it had been for many years 
 past. The average, however, did not exceed 7s. aweek. One 
 old man, eighty years of age, was busy at work, but did not earn 
 above 2s. 6d. a-week. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Clarke said that at the last distribution Lisburn 
 only received ;^io, while the country had ;^35 allotted to it. 
 
 Mr. James Megarry did not know of great distress in his part 
 of the country ; but after much difference of opinion had been ex- 
 pressed on the subject, J^d^d was voted for the country and j[,\o 
 for Lisburn. 
 
 This meeting concluded all proceedings connected with the 
 Relief Fund. 
 
 Belfast and Lisburn, though so widely different in commercial 
 status, have many characteristics in common, and in the annals of 
 philanthropy each has long held a prominent place. In the reign 
 of Charles the First, even before Belfast had obtained special 
 maritime privileges from Carrickfergus, its inhabitants formed a 
 society for assisting the suffering poor, and when the terrible 
 typhus raged, not many years afterwards, a local tax — self imposed 
 — was cheerfully paid to provide medicine and food for the poorer 
 classes, and for the interment of the dead. During the succeeding 
 century, the same feelings that had actuated their fathers was fully 
 developed in the men of the different ages. The Old Poor House, 
 
169 
 
 erected in 1772, and endowed by the lord of the soil with lands 
 that have since proved so valuable, that they produce a large 
 revenue — was built at the expense of the local gentry and mer- 
 chants. Twenty years afterwards, and when the Rev. William 
 Bristow, Vicar of St. Ann's Church, was sovereign of Belfast, the 
 germ of that admirable institution— the General Hospital — was 
 brought into existence chiefly through the exertions of that re- 
 spected clergyman and his friends, Doctors M'Donnell, Halliday, 
 and Campbell. The example of benevolence never fails to keep 
 alive the very spirt of that virtue, and hence we find in the records 
 of Belfast instances of rare liberality. In the autumn of 1820, the 
 funds of the Poor House had fallen very low, and at the solicita- 
 tion of the committee, charity sermons were preached in the 
 different places of worship. The collections, in all these cases, 
 were large, and, in one instance, especially so. After the service 
 in Dr. Hanna's church, it was discovered that two of the bank 
 notes that had been placed on the plate of one collector were for 
 ;;^5oo each. Much curiosity was raised at the magnificence of the 
 gift. For a time, however, conjecture failed to light on the nam^ 
 of the donor ; but after the death of John Gregg of Ballymacarrett, 
 it was found that that worthy and highly-valued merchant had been 
 the contributor of the handsome donation. 
 
 Lisburn — the great centre of that calamity which fell on the 
 cotton weavers in 1863 — has also her records of benevolence, 
 and these refer to former, as well as to latter days. When the 
 marauding troops of Queen Elizabeth destroyed the household 
 furniture and even the gi'owing crops of local farmers, the leading 
 men of Lis-Na-Garvagh collected funds to support the desolated 
 people; and, in November, 1641, when nearly all the houses were 
 burned down by the retreating rebels, leaving many families desti- 
 tute and homeless, the generosity of local philanthropy was 
 actively exerted. Lord Conway who fought at the head of his 
 own troops during the terrible scenes of that insurrection returned 
 homein the December of that year. Ralph Briggs, his favoured 
 henchman had erected tents for the burned out poor, and his 
 
lordship had workmen collected from different parts of the 
 county to aid local builders in raising houses on the sites of the 
 former ones. Food was provided for the poor, and means were 
 subscribed for erecting temporary habitations to shelter the house- 
 less until more suitable buildings could be finished. In later 
 times the same feeling has never failed to show itself, and, under all 
 circumstances, the cry of the distressed has never been heard in vain. 
 
 But Lisburn has other claims to stand among renowned 
 locaUties. When the naval and military history of the country 
 be written by one able to do justice to all connected with it, 
 the sons of the ancient borough will take a prominent place m 
 those annals. Lieutenant Dobbs, who commanded a man-of-war 
 in 1778, and fought against the celebrated Paul Jones, was a 
 native of Lisburn. Some of the finest soldiers of past ages first 
 saw the light there. 
 
 The late Major Flack, a Lisburn man, who had risen from the 
 ranks, and had served in some of the hardest-fought battles, said 
 that wherever the danger was greatest, and the difficulties most 
 formidable, he had ever felt proud of the pluck and prowess of 
 his countrymen, but especially so did he regard those of his own 
 tovvn. Many of the ablest men connected with the civil adminis- 
 tration of India, and not a few of the warriors to whom England 
 owes, in a great measure, her reign in the land beyond the Ganges 
 were from Lisburn. Among the highest of India's military chiefs, 
 there stands the name of Brigadier-General Nicholson, one of the 
 greatest heroes in the Indian army, and whose deeds of daring 
 throughout the whole period of the Sepoy Mutiny have given 
 him immortal fame. It is, however, because of Lisburn having 
 been the early seat of textile manufacture in Ulster, and where 
 the cotton trade was planted in the last half of the past century, 
 that the author of this book has been so diffuse in these details of 
 the cotton famine and its effects on the work-people in that 
 neighbourhood. No doubt events of far greater moment have 
 often passed over without a single record of their existence being 
 left for the guidance of historians ; but let that be that as it may, we 
 would fondly hope that the peculiar incidents of 1863, with all 
 
i7t 
 
 their realities of patience, sorrow, and suffering on the part of the 
 cotton operatives, the exertions which the ReHef Committee made 
 for the alleviation of distress, and the generous sympathy of the 
 contributors to the funds, will never cease to hold a prominent 
 place in the annals of old Lis-na-Garvagh. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 SKETCH OF THE LATE MR. A. T. STEWART. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 ITHIN the recollection of many living men it was one of 
 the pastimes of the pulpit to denounce in pretty broad 
 language novels and romances, and to warn the readers 
 of those " pernicious books" not only of the waste of time but the 
 dread consequences that would assuredly follow such depraved 
 taste in literature. That course of occasional sermonising was 
 not confined to any section of the Reformed Churcli, but might 
 have been heard alike in the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, and 
 Methodist places of worship. Those times have passed away, and, 
 with a very few exceptions, ministers of all denominations have left 
 off condemning romance reading, and very rarely do we hear high 
 class works of imagination made the subject of evangelical abuse. 
 Thanks to the march of education in its wider principles, the 
 clergy and laity have been taught lessons of practical Christianity 
 and kindly toleration which leave far in the distance all the dogma- 
 tisms of Puritanic absurdity. Sixty years ago, Byron's famous apho- 
 rism, "Truth is strange, stranger than fiction," stirred up in the more 
 thoughtful sections of society a comparatively new mode of looking 
 on the world as it existed around them, and, as they did so, they 
 found in many phases of daily life the very spirit of romance. In 
 the pages of Burke's " Vicissitudes of Families" we find tales of 
 the wild and wonderful which exceed in their realities any fiction 
 written by Anne Radcliffe or M. E. Braddon, 
 
 An old inhabitant of Belfast, who, in his eighteenth year, was 
 present at the first muster of volunteers in 1778, an 1 when the 
 
174 
 
 troop, only two months after its enrolment, marched through the 
 streets in full uniform, recollected seeing Luke White selhng his 
 second-hand books off a stall set up at the corner of Bridge Street 
 in that town. The most renowned of Irish booksellers resided 
 chiefly in Dublin, but occasionally made a tour of the provinces. 
 He ultimately became a dealer in stocks, and in the times of 
 great excitement that followed the commencement of the revo- 
 lutionary wars he was so wonderfully fortunate that many 
 people thought he must have found the philosopher's stone. At 
 his death, which took place in April, 1824, Luke White left behind, 
 him, in landed estate and Government securities, property said to 
 exceed in value two millions sterling. His eldest son, raised to the 
 peerage some years ago as Lord Annaly, owns an estate of forty- 
 one thousand acres in extent ; and his two younger sons are also 
 possessed of large property in land. 
 
 A few other evidences of the romance of real life might be 
 given from Irish history ; but if still more astonishing marvels are 
 sought for we must look across the Atlantic. Of these, the two 
 most remarkable are William B. Astor and A. T. Stewart, both of 
 whom died in the City of New York in the Spring of 1876, 
 
 The founder of the Astor family — son of a German butcher — 
 landed in the city on the Hudson some years after the Stars and 
 Stripes had asserted their independence. He was then nineteen 
 years of age, possessed of about one hundred dollars, a stout heart, 
 and energetic disposition. Having got into the employment of 
 one of the principal furriers of New York, he soon proved himself 
 worthy of promotion, and, at the death of his employer, entered 
 into business for himself, the traffic in furs being then a compara- 
 tively new branch of commerce. John Jacob Astor travelled for 
 years through those regions of States famed for the countless 
 multitudes of wild animals that roamed through prairie and over 
 mountain. He purchased skins in large quantities, and sold them 
 at enormous profits. In the course of a few years his business had 
 become extended, not only throughout the chief cities of America, 
 but the principal ports of Kurope ; and at the close of the past 
 century the German merchant found himself worth one million 
 
175 
 
 dollars. Then it was that success gave mcreased impulse to his 
 enterprize. He had got married, and lived happily in his domestic 
 relations; but to accumulate property seemed the sole object of 
 his life, and although the great project for having to himself the 
 entire fur trade of a vast region of Oregon, which he called Astoria, 
 had not succeeded as he anticipated, he pushed on business with 
 the usual energy, and at his death, in 1848, left property in landed 
 and household estate valued at twenty millions of dollars. 
 
 A short time after the old gentleman's demise, a memorial was 
 erected to his memory in Trinity Church, Wall Street, by his two 
 sons, and which is thus graphically described in D. Appleton & 
 Co.'s very handsomely got-up publication entitled " New York 
 Illustrated": —" This classic memorial consists of an altar and 
 reredos, the latter occupying nearly the whole width of the chancel, 
 and is carried up some twenty feet from the floor. The altar is 
 eleven feet long, and is constructed ot pure white marble, with 
 shafts of the same material, coloured, supporting capitals carved in 
 natural foliage dividing the front sides into panels. In the central 
 panel, which is carved with passion flowers, there appears a Maltese 
 Cross in Mosaic, and set with cameos ; a head of Christ, and 
 symbols of the Evangelists. Two kneeling angels flank it. The 
 super-altar is of red Lisbon marble, with the words ' Holy, Holy 
 Holy,' in Mosaics on its face, and the shelf is continued on each 
 side the whole length of the rere Jos, for the reception of flowers at 
 festivals. In the lower portion, and on each side the altar, are 
 three panels filled with coloured Mosaics in geometrical patterns' 
 and above the base of the super-altar there are seven panels of 
 white marble, sculptured in aito-relievo, representing incidents in 
 the Hfe of Christ just preceding the Last Supper. The reredos is 
 divided by buttresses into three bays, each having various religious 
 representations, including statuettes of the twelve apostles. 
 
 " Both altar and reredos are exceedingly beautiful, and, while 
 adding much to the interest of grand Old Trinity, form a special 
 attraction to artistic visitors." 
 
 John Jacob's eldest son, W. B. Astor, who became sole heir of 
 all the accumulated wealth, did not inherit in the slightest degree 
 
176 
 
 the commercial genius of his father, the wonderful German. Had 
 he been thrown on the world of New York, with a few dollars as 
 his sole capital, it is more than probable that he would never have 
 arisen beyond the position of a hewer of wood or a drawer of water. 
 But if he lacked the art of making money, in which his father was 
 such an adept, he possessed the next valuable characteristic — the 
 power of accumuladon, and in this he had no superior. Never 
 did an ambitious farmer cultivate with greater assiduity the lands 
 of his predecessor than young Astor worked up to the uttermost 
 point of value the long streets and extensive blocks of houses 
 which came into his hands on the demise of the pushing fur-dealer. 
 Commerce in any form the heir-at-law did not attempt, and as to 
 the mysteries of Wall Street, he never once sought to pry into them. 
 His father had founded the Astor Library at a cost of four hundred 
 thousand dollars, and when it appeared that a further sum was 
 required to complete the institution, the young gentleman added 
 a further donation equal to one-half the original gift. On many 
 other occasions W. B. Astor was very liberal in his contributions 
 for public purposes, whether of education or benevolence ; but his 
 sole passion seemed to be that of adding house to house, and pur- 
 chasing lots of building ground that lay in districts where popula- 
 tion was extending its borders. These accumulations he looked 
 upon as the heroes of old did on their conquests ; and so well did 
 he succeed in what was his cherished passion that, some time before 
 his death, the value of his house property was set down at fifty 
 million dollars. So extensive, in fact, was his real estate, that in 
 one year he paid four hundred thousand dollars of municipal taxes. 
 No two men could be more unlike each other in their peculiar 
 features of character than Astor the younger and A. T. Stewart ; 
 and when a fitting biographer be found, one capable of giving to 
 the world a well-written life of the great merchant of Broadway, 
 there will appear in its pages many "situations" dramatic and 
 exciting as any that ever delighted a theatrical audience. Even 
 around the earliest days of A. T. Stewart the very spirit of romance 
 appeared to have thrown her broadest mantle. 
 
177 
 
 In the last quarter of the past century, John Turney, a very 
 intelligent farmer, resided on the Hertford estate, at a part of 
 Lissue near the Maze. It was usual at that time for men who had 
 capital to spare to do a little in the manufacture of linen as well as 
 to attend to the business of the field. As one of the descendants 
 of the Huguenot exiles that settled in the town and about the 
 neighbourhood of Lisburn one hundred years before, Mr. Turney 
 inherited much of the spirit of industry and peaceful disposition of 
 his forefathers, and, like them, had great taste for the beautiful, 
 whether in nature or art ; his garden was quite a model in flori- 
 culture, and, what was not usual in country houses, he had in his 
 parlour two or three oil paintings of a style which was rare as the 
 works were valuable. 
 
 One of his neighbours, Thomas Lamb, of Pear Tree Hill, 
 greatly admired the pictures, but laughed heartily at the estimate 
 their owner placed on them. Mr. Lamb a sturdy Quaker, and 
 Elias Hughes, another member of the same sect, who resided in 
 that locality, were also engaged in the making of coarse linens. 
 Each of the three kept a number of people weaving during those 
 seasons when out-door work did not require additional hands, and 
 this labour at the loom consisted chiefly in the making of coarse 
 linens known as " Hugs." When a certain number of such webs 
 had been accumulated the manufacturers conveyed them to Lisburn, 
 where they were disposed of at the public sales held there on 
 successive market days, 
 
 John Turney's family consisted of his wife and a daughter 
 named Margaret, and very happy was his household ; but during 
 the troublous times of Ninety-Eight the former, who was a delicate 
 and rather nervous woman, had been much shocked by some local 
 occurrence, and became very ill. A handsome widow, some rela- 
 tion of the sufferer, arrived at the farm-house during Mrs. Turney's 
 illness and offered her services as attendant on the patient, but the 
 latter would not permit any one to come into her bedroom save her 
 daughter and the doctor. After lingering some weeks, she passed 
 away into the Unseen Land. 
 
178 
 
 The fair widow had a daughlcr married, though she herself 
 was still in the prime of life. In a short time after Mrs. Turney's 
 death she again visited at the farm-house, and during her stay 
 became remarkably attentive to the chief of the establishment* 
 Miss Margaret did not feel at ease under the circumstances, and 
 looked on the widow's conduct as being greatly wanting in womanly 
 delicacy, her idea on the subject being that an uninvited visitor to 
 the house of a widower was rather a questionable guest, but the 
 lady felt as anxious for a home as she did for a husband, and 
 during the remainder of that year made occasional journeys to the 
 farm-house, seemingly quite unconcerned what construction Miss 
 Turney might put on her movements. In the meantime, the old 
 man could noi avoid feeling pleased with the court paid him by 
 the buxom widow, and before the end of ten months after the death 
 of his first wife he found himself led into a second marriage. 
 
 The deceased mistress of his household was a woman of great 
 natural abilities, very fond of reading, and well able to take fuU 
 advantage of every available means for improving her mind. She 
 had anxiously watched over the education of her daughter, and at 
 the time of her death Margaret was said to be one of the most 
 intelligent young women of her class in that part of the country. 
 
 A marked change followed the advent of the second Mrs. 
 Turney as lady of the farm-house. The new wife was then in her 
 fortieth summer, and still retained much of early beauty, but fret- 
 fulness and a sort of chronic discontent marked her everyday life, 
 and sadly did her tits of bad temper try the placid disposition of 
 John Turney. It seemed her delight at other times to make the 
 once happy home as uncomfortable as possible to her step-daughter, 
 and, in a sort of jeering pleasantry — the most galling of all satire — 
 she frequently taunted her with the suggestion that " it was quite 
 time she had a house of her own." 
 
 Margaret Turney was then eighteen years of age, and an ex- 
 ceedingly graceful and very handsome brunette. As the heiress of 
 a man said to be worth one thousand pounds — quite a large sum 
 in those times — she had many suitors, one of whom, a brother linen 
 draper, had become a great favourite with her father. But, with 
 
179 
 
 the usual waywardness of the sex, the Belle of Lissue did not look 
 with any favour on the choice the old gentleman wished her to make. 
 
 There lived at that time ntar the Red Hill, and not far from 
 Mr. Turney's place, Thomas Stewart and his wife Martha, a very 
 industrious and very quiet people. Their family consisted of five 
 sons and three daughters, viz. : John, Alexander, William, Thomas, 
 and James ; Mary, Jane, and Anne. The head of the house had 
 been brought up on a farm situate near the Rock Chapel, but 
 several years before he had taken some land at Red Hill in Lissue, 
 The eldest son had enlisted in the army, and the second one, a 
 steady-going and very energetic young man, had commenced life 
 as an agriculturist, on a twenty-acre farm which Mr. Wm. Smith, 
 Lord Hertford's agent, had let him have on very reasonable terms, 
 and the buildings, which were much dilapidated, were put into 
 some repair. The Stewarts were rather more intelligent than the 
 majority of their neighbours. John rose to the rank of sergeant- 
 major when only twenty-four years of age, and Alexander had made 
 such progress in improving his farm that he was much looked up 
 to as an agriculturist by men three times his age. 
 
 In the list of Margaret Turney's admirers young Stewart had a high 
 place, but the old gentleman could not think of his daughter giving 
 her hand to a small farmer who had only commenced to make his 
 way in the world. Many were the sage remonstrances which the 
 worthy farmer — who had himself been taken into partnership by 
 the handsome widow — laid before his daughter. He pointed out 
 the superior prospects which she had before her in niarrying a 
 middle-aged linen draper, whose suit he urged with all his power of 
 language, but it was of no avail. More than twelve months had 
 gone bye since the second marriage of her lather had made the 
 previous happy home a scene of unpleasant and divided feeling. 
 The stepmother's temper did not improve, and as her father was 
 often from home attending the linen markets, or looking after the 
 purchase of yarn for his weavers, her life became very unhappy. 
 At length she left her father's house and got privately married to 
 Mr. Stewart, immediately alter which the young husband took her 
 home to his farm cottage at Red Hill, a picturesque part of the 
 
i8o 
 
 Hertford estate, situate about two miles from Lisburn and nine 
 from Belfast. The old linen draper waxed very wrath at that event, 
 and vowed he would disinherit his truant daughter, but before 
 many weeks passed he was himself again, and called over to see 
 the young wife and his son-in-law. He saw that the house required 
 many comforts, and purchased such additional furniture as was 
 necessary ; besides which, he handed his daughter a sum of money 
 for her own private use. The young couple lived very happily 
 together. Stewart was a good-natured, industrious fellow, and 
 worked hard at his farm. Among the saddest years of Ireland's 
 eventful history was that of 1801, the time of dearth, disease, and 
 privation ; the previous harvest was a failure, and every article of 
 food had gone up to famine price. Extra exertion was necessary 
 to keep farmers afloat, and in his anxiety to get finished some out- 
 door work the farmer over-heated himself, and eventually fell into 
 consumption, which carried him off in some few months. Not 
 many weeks had elapsed after the death of Alexander Stewart 
 when the young wife, still in her teens, was confined of a son ; and 
 in that cottage which still stands on the farm of Mr. James N. 
 Richardson, of Lissue, the future merchant prince of Broadway first 
 saw the light, and in due time received the baptismal name of 
 Alexander Turney, in honour of his father and grandfather. 
 
 The death of the son-in-law was a sad overturn of all Mr. 
 Turney's projects, and for a time his daughter seemed inconsolable, 
 but the attention required by the fatherless child helped to soften 
 her sorrow, and as soon as she was able to leave the cottage the 
 old gentleman had her and the infant son removed to his own place 
 A purchaser soon turned up for the little farm, the stock and fur- 
 niture were disposed of to good advantage, and the proceeds set 
 apart for the young widow and her son. 
 
 John Turney, naturally one of the kindest of men, did all that 
 a fond father could think of to make the young widow comfortable ; 
 but as we have already stated, he had frequent business abroad, 
 and as the stepmother's discontent and bad temper had increased 
 with her years, the residence that might have been a happy one 
 for all its people was the very opposite. Seeing how matters stood, 
 
i8i 
 
 Mr. Turney fitted up a neat cottage that adjoined the farm-house, 
 and had it well furnished for his daughter and her son, and took 
 care that they did not want for anything necessary for their comfort. 
 
 Some time afterwards, David Bell, a farmer, began to pay court 
 to the widow, and in April, 1803, got marrried to her. The father 
 of the bride for a second time, was still more annoyed at that affair 
 than he had been on the previous occasion. Bell sold his farm 
 and stock and prepared to embark for America. He himself, as 
 well as his wife, was anxious to take the child, then eighteen months 
 old, along with them, but Mr. Turney would not permit that 
 arrangement, and took it home. 
 
 Young Stewart got through the early days of childhood more 
 pleasantly than could have been anticipated. Strange to say, the 
 naturally bitter disposition of his step-grandmother had softened 
 down towards the child, and she was really kind to him. Having 
 received a good education himself, Mr. Turney determined that his 
 grandson should enjoy the full advantages of modern acquirements, 
 and at the proper time become a minister of the Church of Eng- 
 land. There was then in the Causeway End a teacher of children 
 famed for instructing them in the rudiments of spelling, reading, 
 and writing ; and all that course was to be taught juveniles without 
 the use of the rod. That model schoolmaster's name was William 
 Christie, and if he lived in these days, when, in some schools, 
 flogging is still a sort of pastime with the principals, he would de- 
 serve canonization. Many of the people of Causeway End — John 
 Hodgen, George Briggs, John Anderson, and others — recollected 
 the thoughtful-looking lad passing along the road that led from his 
 grandfather's house to the village seminary, conning over his Man- 
 son's Spelling-Book as he went on his way. And in after years, 
 when A. T. Stewart was rising to eminence as a New York mer- 
 chant, those inhabitants of that neighbourhood recounted with 
 pride their reminiscences of the great man's early days. In due 
 time, the lad was sent to the Lisburn English and Mercantile 
 Academy, then conducted by Mr. Benjamin Neely, one of the 
 ablest of teachers, as well as one of the most efficient flagellators 
 that ever flourished a ratan. Many of that gentleman's pupils rose 
 
in after days to places of high distinction in the world. Thomas 
 Spence, the famous writing-master, was one of his early scholars , 
 James W. Hogg, afterwards known as Chairman of the East India 
 Board, and member for Honiton, a great favourite of Sir Robert 
 Peel, who conferred on him the honour of a baronetcy ; Brigadier- 
 General Nicholson, one of the leading heroes of the Punjaub ; 
 Serjeant Armstrong, celebrated as a chief of the Irish Bar; and 
 several other men of mark, were also taught at the Lisburn Academy. 
 
 Young Stewart had been three years under the tuition of Mr. 
 Neely, and by that time was considered an excellent English 
 scholar, an expert writer, and well grounded in the principles of 
 Cough's Arithmetic. In the meantime, the lad had been keeping 
 up a correspondence with his mother, who, with her husband, were 
 residing in the City of New York. Mrs. Bell had then two other 
 children, and through the influence of her son, a complete recon- 
 ciliation had been effected with her father. 
 
 The most popular classical seminary in the rural districts of 
 that part of Antrim County was then presided over by the Rev. 
 Skefhngton Thompson, LL.D., of Magheragal, and on the first day 
 of February, 1815, Alexander T. Stewart was entered there as a 
 student. Early in the following month John Turney took ill, and 
 it was evident his day of life was coming to a close. Thomas 
 Lamb, his valued neighbour, visited him very frequently, and, with 
 the never-failing attention to worldly affairs that forms the leading 
 characteristic of Quakerism, advised his friend to settle his affairs, 
 and in doing so not to forget his daughter, Margaret Bell, and her 
 children. The advice of Mr. Lamb was attended to by the old 
 farmer, and well it turned out that it had been, as, for some days 
 before his death, John Turney remained quite unconscious of what 
 was going on around him. 
 
 He died on the 15th of April, 1815, and immediately after the 
 
 funeral, the executors requested all concerned in the affairs of the 
 
 estate to meet together at the farm-house, when the will, of which 
 
 the following is a copy, was read : — 
 
 " In the Name of God, Amen. 
 
 " I, John Turney, of Lissue, in the parish of Lisburn and County of 
 Antrim, being of sound mind and memory, do make my last Will and Testament. 
 
i83 
 
 I allow, and it is my will, that the two fields next Shields' farm, together with 
 the meadow purchased from Brackinriggs, and the house and garden my daughter 
 Margaret Bell formerly occupied, be sold by my executors, the money arising 
 therefrom to be put to interest, which interest is to be paid my beloved wife, 
 Ann Turney, during her natural life. Item — I leave to my grandchildren, 
 James Bell and Mary Bell, the money arising from the sale of the above lands 
 to be paid by my trustees, when they arrive at the respective ages of 21 years, 
 and to be divided share and share alike ; but in case of the death of my wife, 
 the interest to go to my said daughter for the purpose of educating my said 
 grandchildren. I allow my dear grandson Alexander to have all the rest of 
 my property — houses and lands, with all appurtenances belonging thereto, 
 stock, crop, and chattels of every kind, all of which my executors may sell by 
 auction or otherwise, as they think fit, the money arising from such sale to be 
 put to interest, first paying my funeral expenses and a suit of mourning for my 
 beloved wife. I allow the bed that stands in the closet, with hangings and 
 clothes thereunto belonging, to my beloved wife, and any part of furniture my 
 beloved grandson Alexander T. Stewart wishes to be kept for him. The money 
 arising from the property willed to him is to be subject to the following con- 
 ditions : — He is to pay his grandmother, Martha Stewart, the sum of three half 
 guineas a-year for her life. All my just debts I allow to be paid as soon as 
 possible ; and I wish my said grandson, Alexander T. Stewart, to be kept to 
 his learning, and be kept in decent apparel so far as the interest of the property 
 I willed him will admit, but no farther, and hia money my trustees will con- 
 tinue at interest until he be 21 years of age. If the aforesaid Alex. T. Stewart 
 shall at any time disturb, or cause to be disturbed, by law or otherwise, 
 Nathaniel Dickey in the full enjoyment of the land I sold him, then, in that 
 case, I allow the expense or cost that the said Nathaniel Dickey may be put to 
 shall be reimbursed to him out of the share I have willed my said grandson. 
 And if he should die before arriving at the age of 2 1 years, the money I have 
 left him is to be divided between my other grandchildren ; and if said James 
 and Mary Bell, or either of them, should die minors, then their shares are to be 
 enjoyed by my daughter Margaret Bell. Lastly, I nominate Thomas Lamb and 
 Nathaniel Dickey to carry this, my last will, into effect. 
 " Dated this Tenth Day of March, 1815. 
 
 "(Signed) 
 
 "John Turney. 
 " Witnesses present : — 
 
 *' Henry Branagh. 
 "Francis Andrews, 
 "Thomas Lamb, 
 
 "codicil. 
 " I, John Turney, of Lissue, publish the codicil to my last will. I leave 
 my stepson-in-Iaw, Andrew Campbell, ten pounds sterling out of the promissory 
 
1 84 
 
 note I have from him, in case he, the said Andrew Campbell, builds a room at 
 the end of his own house and puts a fireplace in it, which room is to be for the 
 use of my dear wife during her life. The rest cf the promissory note is to 
 be put to interest for my stepson-in-law's child, which is named after me, 
 John Turney Campbell ; and if he should die before my dear wife, then I allow 
 it to go to her, I wish Thomas Lamb to be my chief executor, and Nathaniel 
 Dickey to assist in the same. 
 
 " Dated under my hand and seal, this Eighteenth Day of March, 1815. 
 
 " (Signed) 
 
 "John Turkey. 
 " Witnesses present: — 
 " Francis Andrews. 
 "Thomas Lamb." 
 
 After the old man's death Mr. Lamb brought Alex. T. Stewart 
 to reside in his house, where he became thoroughly at home, 
 the two sons, John and Joshua, looking on the orphan boy as, if 
 possible, something more than a brother. An old friend and former 
 schoolfellow of mine, the late Benjamin Workman, M.D., of Toronto, 
 Canada, was a fellow-student of young Stewart during the latter's 
 attendance at the academy of Mr. Skeffington Thompson. Shortly 
 after the death of the New York millionaire the doctor published 
 some recollections of his early friend, in a Toronto paper. From 
 that notice I take the following : — 
 
 " During young Stewart's pre-matriculate course of classics our 
 intimacy was begun, which ripened into very warm feeling, and 
 continued unbroken for three years ; and until my friend left for 
 America we sat side by side at our studies as class mates, and read 
 Justin Csesar's Commentaries, four books of the yEneid, and three 
 books of Ovid's Metamorphoses. He had also made some progress 
 in the Greek grammar and Testament, when we were separated by 
 his determination to make his home with his mother in New York. 
 For years after he went to America I often regretted that he had 
 not continued his course of classics, as I felt convinced he would 
 have arisen to a high point of collegiate fame ; but as time rolled 
 onwards 1 became convinced that such regrets were bootless. A 
 far greater destiny awaited him than could have been attained 
 through University honours— he became a prince among merchants 
 and a king among capitalists." 
 
i85 
 
 This was in February, 1818. He had quite given up any idea 
 of going on for the clerical profession, and, in order to fit him for 
 business, Mr. Lamb advised that, instead of emigrating to New York, 
 as he purposed to do, he should go to Belfast and learn something 
 of shopkeeping. The good old Quaker arranged with a grocer in 
 that town that the well-educated lad should become his apprentice, 
 and in course of a few weeks he commenced his duties there. But 
 neither the place nor the business suited the taste of A. T. Stewart. 
 During the short time he was at the grocery business he spent the 
 time from each Saturday evening till Monday at the house of Mr. 
 Matthew Morrow, whose daughters conducted a ladies' school in 
 Chichester Street, and where he met with the utmost kindness. 
 But before the end of April he told the grocer that he did not Hke 
 the business; and, having begged his guardian's permission to 
 carry out the project of going to America, Mr. Lamb did not 
 stand in the way, and thus all was amicably arranged. 
 
 His guardian handed him fifty pounds out of the fortune then 
 awaiting his coming of age. With that capital, in May, 1818, he 
 left Belfast, in a ship bound for New York, and six weeks after- 
 wards he found himself in the City on the Hudson. 
 
 After considerable diflliculty he found his mother's residence. 
 His half-brother, James Bell, had, some weeks before, run off from 
 home and gone to sea, and the family then consisted of his half- 
 sister Mary, his mother, and stepfather. Determined not to remain 
 a burden on the family, he sought employment as an assistant- 
 teacher, and was engaged at four hundred dollars a-year — a sum 
 barely equal to pay his board and maintain him in respectable 
 clothing. Having found himself fully equal to the duties of the 
 school, several additions were made to his salary during the next 
 two years, and in 1820 he found himself master of an annual 
 income of six hundred dollars. 
 
 A course of communication was maintained between him and 
 his guardian all that time, and in December, 1822, he received a 
 long letter from the honest Quaker, stating that the property left 
 him having been realized, the proceeds were lodged in a Belfast 
 bank. Mr. Lamb also advised liis ward that the money arising 
 
1 86 
 
 from the sale of the meadow and two fields, together with small 
 cottage and garden (;j{, 1 40) was lent at 5 per cent, interest to a 
 linen draper, and the seven pounds arising from that investment 
 were paid quarterly to Mrs. Turney, his step-grandmother. 
 
 Early in the following year A. T. Stewart left New York for 
 Liverpool, and when he reached that port in May, lost no time in 
 taking his passage in the next steamer for Belfast, where he arrived 
 in due course, and from thence made his way to Lisburn, The 
 first person he called on was Fanny Fox, a Quaker lady, then 
 engaged in the haberdashery and millinery business. Miss Fox 
 pressed him to remain all night, and next morning, on speaking to 
 that lady respecting his business in Ireland, he requested her to 
 introduce him to a lawyer, which she did by taking him to the 
 office of Mr. Dillon. Having had some legal advice from that 
 solicitor, the young man set off on foot — a distance of about four 
 miles— for Pear Tree Hill, the residence of Mr. Thomas Lamb, 
 his grandfather's executor, where he was received with the utmost 
 attention, and in the course of the day all the accounts of Mr. 
 Turney's estate, from April, 181 5, were laid before him, with the 
 several amounts received and the sums paid, and the vouchers in 
 each case. Various estimates have been made respecting the sum 
 paid over to A. T. Stewart ; nothing definite, however, is known 
 on the subject, but it must have amounted to several hundred, or 
 perhaps one thousand, pounds. At all events, through the agency 
 of Mr. Dillon, the aftairs were amicably arranged, and the legatee 
 expressed his gratitude for the many obhgations he owed to his 
 guardian, and not less for the attention which Mrs. Lamb and her 
 family had paid to him during his schoolboy days, than for the 
 scrupulous correctness with which the property left to him had been 
 treasured up until he came of age. That legacy and the many 
 cheerful associations connected with it was never forgotten by 
 A. T. Stewart. 
 
 He delighted to dwell on the subject of that gift of his grand- 
 father, not so much because of its actual amount, but rather in con- 
 sequence of the circumstances under which it had been bequeathed 
 
i87 
 
 to him. " The money," he once said to a friend, "must have been 
 honestly earned when its investment proved so very prosperous." 
 
 It has been stated that Mr. Stewart had received from his 
 guardian the full amount of money arising from the proceeds of 
 property left him by his grandfather ; but on getting the cash into 
 his hands he found some difficulty in arriving at any definite con- 
 clusion as to how it should be invested. The bustle and prosperity 
 he had seen in the everyday commerce of New York had stirred 
 in his mind a desire for business ; he, therefore, consulted a Belfast 
 friend on the subject, and in doing so frankly acknowledged his 
 ignorance of mercantile affairs. That friend told him that with his 
 educational attainments and aptitude for learning he would soon 
 master the details of trade. " It was most erroneous," he added, 
 "to suppose that because a young man was a classical scholar he 
 would not succeed when engaged at the matter-of-fact details of 
 life as they existed behind the counter." 
 
 Acting on that shrewd counsel, the student made his first 
 purchase from a manufacturer in Rosemary Street in that town, 
 comprising a large lot of fancy goods, high-class muslins, insertions, 
 tambours, and some flouncings. These articles were all of a 
 quality which the embryo merchant was assured had rarely before 
 been seen in any American city. He had also bought from the 
 eminent firm of James N. Richardson & Co., of Lisburn, a parcel 
 of the finest linens and some specialities in French cambric. 
 Having thus invested the greater part of his capital in first-class 
 goods, he once again sailed for New York, and arrived safe in July, 
 1823. There was then to be let the store afterwards known as 
 "283, Broadway," situate between Murray and Warren Streets. 
 The locality was central, and although the store was a mere wooden 
 structure, twenty feet square, and the rent 375 dollars a-year, he 
 entered as tenant, made some improvements, and in that tiny spot, 
 with his Belfast and Lisburn purchases, and a job lot of laces, silk 
 gloves, and general hosiery, the man who in after years became the 
 financial counsellor of Presidents and the wonder of Wall Street, 
 commenced his marvellous career. 
 
i88 
 
 On the 2nd of September, 1823, the following announcement 
 appeared in the Daily Advertiser of that city : — 
 
 « NEW YORK DRY GOODS STORE. 
 
 " A T. STEWART informs his Friends and the Public 
 
 -t\. that he has taken the Store, No. 283, Broadway, 
 
 wherein he offers for Sale, Wholesale and Retail, a large 
 
 assortment of Fresh and Seasonable Goods, consisting of 
 
 Irish Linens, Lawns, and French Cambrics. 
 
 "All these Goods were bought for Cash, and will be Sold on 
 Reasonable Terms." 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 OST men who have made special way in the world retain 
 very vivid recollections of their first appearance behind 
 the counter. The heiress whose " coming out" in the 
 fashionable world forms a sort of landmark in her existence, and 
 the dramatic debutante while leaving the green-room for the foot- 
 lights have each their wild emotions of hopes and fears; but, though 
 not so exciting in its action, the young trader has his own share of 
 sensational dreamings about the future as he starts in the race for 
 the commercial " blue ribbon." A. T. Stewart, in his after days, 
 and when he stood at the head of the whole republic of shopkeepers, 
 thus describes the dull, dreary-looking September morning which 
 ushered him into the world of trade : — 
 
 " I rose early, as usual, but was disheartened by the weather. 
 About seven o'clock I went to the store. There was no sign of 
 life outside. The streets were deserted. I entered the building 
 and retired at once to my private room. There I sat silent and 
 alone until I heard one of my shopmen asking for me. I opened 
 the door, and then he said the rain was ceasing. Soon after a 
 gleam of sunshine broke out. This greatly cheered me. My hopes 
 revived still more when the same young man announced that there 
 were several persons at the door. It was now eight o'clock, and 
 he asked me if he should let them in. 'Not until nine,' I said. 
 The crowd began to increase rapidly. As the time drew near for 
 throwing open the doors I felt more and more anxious. A few 
 seconds before nine I quitted my room, and took up my position 
 at the extreme end of the building, that I might watch the incoming 
 
 V 
 
190 
 
 crowd. When the doors were opened there was a rush of people 
 just Hke a Jenny lind night at the opera. I was much affected at 
 the sight. The unexpected brightening of the day, and the con- 
 course of people in consequence, produced a reaction upon me, 
 and I confess that I withdrew quietly to my room again, and I 
 found relief in having a good cry." 
 
 One of the great powers in creating success in business is that 
 of the head of any house, whether large or small, having the good 
 fortune to obtain the assistance of efficient, upright, and well-con- 
 ducted hands to aid him in carrying out his course of enterprise. 
 From the day of his commencement A. T. Stewart was blessed 
 with such co-work erF. He paid first- class hands good salaries, 
 and in return demanded the most efficient service. 
 
 When he started in mercantile life John Jacob Astor was said 
 to be worth several millions or dollars, and the next richest citizen 
 of New York was possessed of immense w-ealth in steamboat pro- 
 perty. The situation of the new concern was not considered as 
 happily chosen. Hudson Street had then the reputation of being 
 the most important locale for the retail dry goods business, but not 
 a vacant concern was to be had there. It fortunately happened, 
 however, that 283, Broadway was just next door to a frishionable 
 emporium owned by a foreigner named Bonafantie, and where the 
 Upper Ten made their purchases of articles of vertu, which, in 
 beauty of design and exquisite workmanship, had no equals in the 
 city. The attractions of that bazaar of the arts drew crowds to the 
 neighbourhood, and Stewart's unique display of the fanciful in 
 textile products had its share of admirers and customers. Each 
 article offered at the store was marked in plain figures ; and the 
 cabalistic words, "No Second Price" — painted in large letters 
 over a little archway that spanned the lower section of the concern 
 dividing the lace from that of the linen and muslin department — 
 attracted the utmost attention. 
 
 The system was novel, for in those days the mode of sale in 
 dry goods, and, indeed, all other wares, was for the storekeeper to 
 ask so-much for his merchandise and the customer to higgle for 
 getting it at less. Many worthy citizens were not a little astonished 
 
191 
 
 at the hard and fast lines by which business was done in "No. 283, 
 Broadway," and the inquiry, " Is A. T. Stewart a Quaker? " might 
 frequently have been heard. It is a fact, however, that the embryo 
 millionaire's residence in the house of Thomas Lamb, of Pear Tree 
 Hill, and his boyhood companionship for several years with the 
 sons of his guardian, John and Joshua, had the effect of giving to 
 his general character much of the peculiar habits that mark the 
 personal history of the disciples of George Fox. 
 
 Still the fair sex of New York, as well as the country belles of 
 the same State, found little difficulty in arriving at the conclusion 
 that the " No second price" mode of sale as carried out at the 
 Broadway store was generally on terms under those charged in most 
 other concerns, while the style of article was much superior. Rapid 
 was the turn-over, and as the young merchant had entertained some 
 prescience of the future, and placed several orders for forthcoming 
 supplies from the Old Country, large imports followed, and the 
 stock was fully kept up by an amplitude of fresh goods. 
 
 But the attractions of Stewart's store did not end with the 
 beauty of the fabrics on sale or the system of fixed values. One 
 of the proprietor's commercial principles was that of what might be 
 called conventional republicanism. The servant maid, or " help," 
 who went to the store for the purpose of buying a cotton dress, 
 had an entire line of such fabrics laid before her, and was as defe- 
 rentially looked after by the chief or his assistants as was the 
 up-town lady when engaged in the purchase of the highest priced 
 production of the looms of Lyons. In course of doing business, 
 the young men connected with 283, Broadway, were expected to 
 shew the goods on sale to the best advantage, but in no case did 
 Mr. Stewart permit any exaggerated account to be given respecting 
 the quality of the goods. 
 
 As all transactions were effected on the ready cash system, the 
 capital employed did the work of three times its amount under a 
 range of credit accounts. Manufacturers competed with each other 
 for the custom of the rising merchant ; and at the end of his second 
 year, the space of the store became so inadequate that he was 
 obliged to rent a large concern in one of the back streets, where 
 
192 
 
 all the extra stock was kept until required to assort that on imme- 
 diate sale. In the meantime, he kept himself and his wares promi- 
 nently before the fashionable folks of the city, and the State of New 
 York as well, by a regular system of advertising through the papers. 
 Every large consignment of goods from Europe — the linens of ^ 
 Ulster, the printed cottons of Lancashire, the laces of Valenciennes, 
 and the brocaded silks of Paris — had due announcement; and the 
 crowds of purchasers that thronged to the store told how well the 
 selection of goods suited the tastes of his fair customers. 
 
 In 1825, Mr. Stewart married Miss Cornelia Clinch, daughter 
 of a very wealthy ship chandler of New York. The young lady 
 had received a very good education, but in the course of that 
 sowing of intellectual seed the duty of industry had not been for- 
 gotten, and immediately after having taken upon herself the 
 responsibilities of a wife she set about aiding in the transactions of 
 the store, as if on her own exertions much of the future success 
 depended. It has been said that, on the delivery of the goods 
 which her husband was in the habit of purchasing at the auction 
 sales, she would re-finish parcels of gloves and also the lots of 
 lace so perfectly, that they appeared as if just from the hands of the 
 manufacturer. 
 
 The concern 283, as already stated, had ceased to accommo- 
 date the customers and contain the stock, and during the three 
 years previous to the autumn of 1832 A. T. Stewart had made two 
 removals, in each case to larger places of business. No. 257, 
 Broad way, was an extensive store, situate between Murray and Warren 
 Streets, and this had been fitted up with great care and taste, the 
 young merchant's classical education having given him a love of 
 the decoration that was seen even in his selection of fancy fabrics. 
 Nine years' successful commerce had made him a person of civic 
 celebrity and a wonder to the plodding speculators of Wall Street. 
 
 All this time, and amid the great excitement that could not fail 
 to follow his unexampled success, he never forgot the more than 
 ordinary affection he felt for his mother. The second husband of 
 that lady had died, and once again, and for the third time, she 
 had entered into what are called in the Episcopal Service " The 
 
193 
 
 holy bonds of matrimony." Her son, James Bell, went to sea 
 many years before, and, it was supposed, had gone down with the 
 ship in which he sailed , and her daughter Mary was no more. At 
 the time, therefore, to which I refer, she and her new husband were 
 the sole occupants of a small house in a quiet part of the Hudson- 
 washed city. 
 
 John Turney bequeathed the good-will or tenant-right of a 
 fourteen-acre farm to his grandchildren, James and Mary Bell. 
 The property was to be disposed of by his trustees and the proceeds 
 placed at interest, which interest was to be paid his widow for her 
 life, and then to go to the legatees when they came of age. Mrs. 
 Turney died in May, 1825. The farm had sold at ten pounds the 
 acre; but as Mr. Stewart had not heard anything of the purchaser, 
 in whose hands the proceeds of sale remained, he wrote the fol- 
 lowing letter :— 
 
 "New York, October 7, 1832. 
 "Mr. William Dillon, Lisbiirn. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — When I had last the pleasure of seeing you, I think you 
 said you would assist me if necessary in obtaining certain moneys belonging to 
 the estate of the late John Turney, of Lissue, who died in April, 1815. These 
 moneys were left to James and Mary Bell, my half-brother and sister. The 
 latter died without issue. James Bell left this city in May, 1818, for South 
 America, and from thence he sailed in the brig Union, which vessel has never 
 been heard of since. My mother is still living, and married again, to a gentle- 
 man named John Martin. The farm my grandfather left the two children was 
 sold for ^^140 sterling to a man of the Maze, named N. Dickson. This 
 person has since died ; but before his death he wrote my mother, then Margaret 
 Bell, to say that, provided she would give him security that he would not again 
 be called upon, he would pay the amount to whoever she might appoint to 
 receive it, or else he would place the money in the hands of the Lord Chancellor. 
 You will perceive that the difficulty is to prove the death of James Bell. We 
 can prove that he has never been heard of since iSiS, but this proof naturally 
 rests with us. Now, my dear Sir, my object in writing is to obtain from you 
 whatever documents may be required in order to enable you to collect this 
 money for my mother, and the bearer of this letter will take charge of them 
 and have such papers forwarded direct to me, and I will return them, duly 
 signed, through the firm of Bell & Malcomson, of Belfast. 
 
 "You will find the will of my grandfather, John Tuniey, registered in 
 Lisburn about May, 1 816, and this may assist you to prepare the documents. 
 
194 
 
 *' No doubt, my dear Sir, you will recollect that I was introduced to you 
 by your townswoman, Fanny Fox, in the Spring of 1823, and you arranged 
 some business between Mr. Lamb and myself. For your friendship on that 
 occasion I have ever felt indebted, and I now call on you respecting this claim. 
 No interest has been paid on the account since the death of my step-grandmother, 
 more than seven years ago. Of course, I will gladly pay all costs of your legal 
 assistance in getting the claim settled. 
 
 '* Yours most respectfully, 
 
 "Alex. T. Stewart." 
 
 The years 1833, '34, and '35 were periods of increased success 
 at 257, Broadway. It was said by the wise men of Wall Street — 
 cunning financiers, men who could have run a speculation with 
 Shylock himself — that the great dry goods merchant was worth 
 two million dollars. He had got on the very top of the wave of 
 progress, and, having attained that position, he was not the man 
 to forget taking full advantage of the flood-tide. Nor did he fail 
 to cultivate his mental powers during the stirring times of mercan- 
 tile advancement. The elementary lessons taught him at William 
 Christie's village school in the Causeway End, his higher class 
 education at Benjamin Neely's seminary in Lisburn, and the 
 classical studies he attended to at the academy of Dr. Skefiington 
 Thompson, of Magheragal, were each and all recollected by the 
 rising merchant, and in after-business hours he delighted in bring- 
 ing into play the respective teachings of each of the three schools. 
 
 A great season of business in New York, and, in fact, through- 
 out all the stirring States of the American Union, was 1835. The 
 great dry goods store, 257, Broadway, had been deepened some 
 five-and-twenty feet, and a couple of stories were added to it — 
 wider frontage was not to be had on any terms — still the volume 
 of business kept so close in the wake of extension that it seemed 
 as if space had no sooner been added than it was filled up. But 
 as the fall of 1S36 set in there were heard the distant mutterings 
 of a coming storm in the world of commerce. The weird sages of 
 Wall Street looked out on the atmospheric threatenings with a 
 feeling of dread ; bankers narrowed the range of discounts, and 
 private bill brokers began to look on the ten per cent, tariff for 
 three months' paper as rather moderate than otherwise. The 
 
195 
 
 succeeding year commenced very ominously, and the financial 
 tempest that swept over the home of the Stripes and Stars was 
 felt in a greater or less degree in all seats of commerce throughout 
 Europe. At that time the Broadway store was known as that of 
 " A. T. Stewart & Go's." The next in command to that of the 
 great chief was quite equal to the duties of the situation. While 
 the latter moved about through the city picking up bargains which, 
 owing to the extreme tightness of the cash market and the stagna- 
 tion of sales, were to be had in almost any quantity from store- 
 keepers who had purchased too extensively in the preceding 
 Summer, Mr. Stewart bought immense lots of goods at his own 
 price, and very glad the sellers were to find a ready money cus- 
 tomer so wilHng as he was to clear out held-over stock. It has 
 been stated that his profits on these purchases, as well as on 
 large transactions with Manchester, Macclesfield, and Paris houses, 
 amounted in that year to about two million dollars. The value of 
 all varieties of merchandise had fallen in some cases forty per cent., 
 and, as a matter of course, many of the weaker men in the trade 
 toppled over. Bankers also felt the effects of the panic, and not 
 a few of those arbiters of discount who had been supposed well 
 able to meet all the difficulties incident to the time, were also forced 
 to succumb to the storm. 
 
 In the midst of the commercial tempest the head of the 
 Broadway store had advertisements in all the city papers, to the 
 effect that although dry goods had fallen nearly one-half in value 
 he had arranged to have a large proportion of the stock held by 
 his firm marked at even lower figures. Those announcements 
 created much curiosity in the large class of bargain-buyers which 
 abounds in every great centre of humanity, and immense numbers 
 of such worthy people were added to the ordinary customers of the 
 house, and in a few months all that portion of goods was cleared 
 out. Great was the loss in that instance, but with his large floating 
 capital he replaced the stock, buying, in fact, on his own terms ; 
 and, as the better days came round, the later purchases went off 
 at profits exceeding the highest he had ever realized. 
 
 During the later years noted, the sale of Parisian wares had so 
 
196 
 
 largely increased that it was considered imperatively necessary to 
 have more direct arrangements with the chief manufacturers of 
 France. A. T. Stewart had by that time become a perfect judge of 
 fancy textiles, whether those of Irish, British, or French make, 
 thus proving the Belfast merchant's aphorism that, " with his high- 
 class educational attainments and aptitude for learning, he would 
 soon be able to master the details of trade." Mrs. Martin and her 
 third husband were then residents of Catherine Street, where they 
 had a furniture store, which was managed by the lady of the house 
 with much of the commercial ability that had marked the career of 
 her distinguished son. Regularly did the rapidly rising merchant 
 visit his mother, and it was with the utmost gratification that he 
 witnessed her success in the business she had so well conducted. 
 
 Early in November, 1838, Mr. Stewart left for Paris, where he 
 intended to remain for several months purchasing goods and 
 entering into contracts for future supplies. The money due his 
 mother, and which consisted of the proceeds of the sale of a small 
 farm at Lissue, alluded to in his grandfather's will, had not been 
 paid, and while in the great metropolis of Gaul he wrote as follows 
 to his solicitor in Belfast : — 
 
 " 24, Rue Thercnot, Paris, 
 Feb. 18, 1839. 
 " William Dillon, Esq. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — By last mail from my house in New York I received the 
 form of affidavit, and, having signed it here before Her Majesty's Consul, 
 herewith send the same to you, I hope this will suit your purposes, but if not, 
 I will call on you in July next, on my way home ; but as my visit to Paris has 
 been so extended, my stay in Lisburn will be very short. If proof of my 
 signature be required, you can obtain it from John G. Richardson or John 
 Owden, of the firm of Richardson, Sons, & Owden ; and from my correspon- 
 dence with their house, my handwriting must be familiar to them. The persons 
 who hold my mother's money have not treated her well, and I am not disposed 
 to let them off, She has placed this matter in your hanrls, with full confidence 
 that you will do the best you can for her, and with the result of your professional 
 exertions she will be quite satisfied. When I was in Belfast, nearly four years 
 ago, I left at your office there a statement, certified by Thomas Lamb, that 
 
197 
 
 N. Dickson, who is since dead, had the money, and his executors should 
 long since have paid the ^140 sterling, witli interest since 1825. With the 
 best wishes for your health and happiness, I have the pleasure to be, 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 " Alex. T. Stewart," 
 
 We give this letter as evidence of the business habits of the 
 man who in his own day, and by his own remarkable abiUties, 
 succeeded in achieving a fortune which it required at least two 
 generations of the far-famed Rothschild to accumulate. One of the 
 old axioms of the " copies" whicli headed the writing-books of the 
 village schools in his early days was, " Take care of the pence, 
 and the pounds will take care of themselves," and, in accordance 
 with that counsel, he looked after his mother's interests in say 
 seven hundred and fifty dollars, as though the sum had been ten 
 times that amount. 
 
 In the meantime, the ball of A. T. Stewart rolled onward, and 
 as it did so there seemed still narrowing accommodation for the 
 stock in store and the customers who patronized the house. The 
 American Republic, in the interim, was making such way as to 
 astonish the oldest States in Europe. Brother Jonathan had not 
 only got too big for his boots, but for his nether garments also ; 
 and when we consider what wonders that grandiloquent personage 
 was acquiring he can well be pardoned for his egotism. In the 
 Spring of 1847, the premises of A. T. Stewart & Co. were found 
 totally inadequate to meet the growing extension of their business . 
 Washington Hall, a famous commercial hotel and its mercantile 
 club, were then in the market, and at a cost of sixty thousand 
 dollars, the site was purchased by Mr. Stewart. The area of that 
 building ground comprised two acres, and after clearing away the 
 buildings that stood over it, the erection of the world-renowned 
 Marble Palace was commenced. 
 
 A. T. Stewart was a keen, sharp-witted business man— one of 
 those chiefs of the commercial world whom " the unco guid and 
 rigidly righteous " of the pharisaic section of evangelism would 
 look upon as outside the pale of the elect. But amid all the bustle 
 of his anxiety in designing the architecture of his new store, he 
 had his old feeling of nationality towards the home of his birth, 
 
 ? 
 
198 
 
 Ireland, in 1847, was undergoing one of those periodical seasons 
 of sadness which seem coincident with her history. Two millions 
 of her people were in the very whirlpool of destitution, dearth, 
 and disease, and towards the relief fund which had been got up, 
 the Broadway merchant sent to the Irish Committee, then sitting 
 in Dublin, a contribution of ten thousand dollars. 
 
 Stewart's dry goods palace, fronted with marble, was said to be 
 the finest building not only in the model Republic, but in the 
 oldest seats of commerce in Europe. It was six stories high, the 
 altitude from the base of the stores to the top cornice being close 
 on eighty feet, and, as already noted, each of the flats occupied a 
 space of two acres in extent. The original cost of the building 
 was three hundred thousand dollars, and A. T. Stewart designed 
 the building, of course leaving the details to his architect. 
 
 It is a peculiar feature in the character of some of the greatest 
 men that superstitious belief forms one of their most powerful 
 motives of action. Sir Walter Scott had the utmost faith in the 
 workings of supernatural agencies. Byron was still more influenced 
 by similar feelings, and A. T. Stewart revelled in the belief of the 
 unseen but powerful influences. In the early days of his commer- 
 cial career an old Irishwoman kept an apple stall on the footway 
 near the entrance to the old store, 283, Broadway. He had often 
 chatted with her, and was delighted in listening to the ring of the 
 brogue, bringing back, as it did, many recollections of the ancient 
 land at home. When he removed to the great building, in 1848, 
 his ideas of continued prosperity were so connected with the old 
 Celt and her fruit stall that he induced her to bring over her little 
 stall to a site near the Marble Palace, and establish herself there. 
 
 The opening of the new concern formed quite an era in the 
 commercial life of its proprietor, and in that extended sphere of 
 action he set to work with all the energy of a juvenile trader. By 
 this time he had his buyers in all the chief seats of manufacturing 
 industry in Europe, and his immense financial resources enabled 
 him to purchase on the best terms the finest qualities of goods. 
 His high -class education proved very valuable to him, and the 
 sound lessons of mercantile probity he had learned in early life 
 
199 
 
 from the good old linendraper, John Turney, as well as the love of 
 truth which Thomas Lamb, his guardian, had instilled into his 
 young mind, admirably fitted him for the inauguration of a mode 
 of transacting retail trade which startled the older men of New York, 
 and gave rise to many prophecies respecting the ultimate failure of 
 " Stewart's mode of doing business." 
 
 How much the success of Transatlantic navigation has 
 influenced the wonderful expansion of trade that in 1838 com- 
 menced between the Old World and the New could hardly be esti- 
 mated by any array of figures. On the morning of the 23rd of 
 May, in that year, the men on the look-out at Sandy Hook were 
 fairly puzzled in their conjectures respecting the character of a 
 strange steamer not far in the distance; and as she dashed 
 onward, and passed up the Hudson, they heard the joyous news 
 that the stranger was the Sirius, an English coaster, and had made 
 the run from Cork in eighteen days. The Sirius, built by Menzies 
 & Sons, of Leith, was only about two hundred feet in length ; but 
 as the pioneer of that magnificent fleet of floating palaces that now 
 bridge the ocean, her name and those of her gallant navigators 
 should not be forgotten in maritime history. Two of the three 
 great men of New York took the utmost interest in the progress of 
 ocean steaming ; these were Cornelius Vanderbilt and A. T. 
 Stewart. The famous Commodore looked on the new source of 
 enterprise with the eye of a seaman, while the Broadway merchant 
 considered it in the light of a vast principle of mercantile progress. 
 When the steamer from Cork made fast her hawsers in New York 
 harbour, crowds of citizens came to gaze with admiration on the 
 handsome vessel, hundreds of Irishmen joined the throng, and the 
 ring of brogue of the Celt commingled with the nasal twang of the 
 Yankee made up a joyous chorus of welcome. During the afternoon 
 of the same day an exultant cry from tlie throng of sightseers rose in 
 the air, and the shout, " Here comes another ocean steamer," was 
 heard in loud tones ; and, as expectation increased, the Bristol 
 ship Great Western came up, and was berthed near the Sirius. 
 The last arrival was a vessel of two hundred and thirty-six feet in 
 length. She had carried over a number of passengers, and made 
 
2O0 
 
 the run in fourteen days and a-half. Among the thousands of 
 American citizens and European settlers that had assembled on 
 the quays to look at the two noble steamers none seemed to enjoy 
 the sight with greater pleasure than A. T. Stewart. He was able 
 to peer into the dim future, and to see by anticipation what a 
 wide field of accelerated commerce had just then been opened to 
 the Western Republic. 
 
 Ten years after these events, and when the marble palace of 
 Broadway was commencing its day of unique attraction, the 
 Cunard Line of ocean steamers was in the first stage of success. 
 The Canada, launched in June, 1848, formed the largest of the 
 fleet. She was two hundred and fifty feet long, eighteen hundred 
 tons burthen, and six hundred horse-power ; next to the Great 
 Britain the largest ship afloat. Edward K. Collins, a native of 
 Massachussetts, and founder of the Dramatic Line of sailing ships 
 that ran for many years between New York and Liverpool, was 
 one of the most energetic of men. His famous packet Siddons 
 ran from Sandy Hook to the point of Cork in fourteen days ; and 
 very proud he felt of that great achievement ; but he said he 
 would build a steamer that would make the voyage from quay to 
 quay between New York and Liverpool in ten days. The 
 Adriatic, one of the finest specimens of naval architecture that 
 ever crossed the ocean, frequently made the passage in nine days 
 and a-half It was not creditable to the Cabinet at Washington 
 that about 1859, and in a fit of questionable economy, the mail 
 contract was withdrawn from the Collins Line of ocean steamers, 
 the result of that policy being to cause their owner to sell them 
 off. The American Republic has many men to be proud of ; but 
 from the days of Robert Fulton, none more worthy of memorial 
 regard than Edward K. Collins. 
 
 I have alluded to these incidents because, in the advancement 
 of commerce and the progress of industry, facility of communica- 
 tion between the peoples of different climes and countries, breaks 
 down national prejudices and accelerates the interchange of com- 
 modities between races tiiat may have been antagonistic. The 
 impetus given to American conunerce by the successes of Trans- 
 
201 
 
 atiantic steaming has been something that far exceeds all anticipa- 
 tion, and even in its earUer stages the effects were seen on both 
 sides of the ocean. A. T, Stewart and his brother storeowners 
 derived immense advantage from the regular import of dry goods, 
 the product of every land in Europe. Distance seemed to have 
 been so narrowed that orders sent to Belfast, Manchester, London, 
 and Paris were attended to, and the goods were sent to hand with 
 magical rapidity. The turn-over at the marble palace in 
 Broadway left the highest average of 257 far in the distance. 
 When an aggregate of twelve million dollars had been reached, it 
 was considered quite up to the maximum point; but business 
 developed until that average was much exceeded. A. T. Stewart 
 had then been in the dry goods trade for more than one quarter 
 of a century, and his power of arranging the daily duties of an 
 entire army of rank and file assistants shewed how well the algebiaic 
 and mathematical lessons he had been taught by Mr. Benjamin 
 Neely must have been acted upon in course of his commercial life. 
 But all was not smooth sailing in the Broadway store. The more 
 narrow-minded of his brother merchants looked upon him with 
 the utmost jealousy, and did not hesitate to speak hardly of him, 
 and especially in relation to his economic habits and the severity 
 with which he came down on any of his assistants that shewed the 
 least disposition to waste, even in the most trifling instance. 
 
 New York was rapidly advancing in the extent of its popula- 
 tion, the wealth of its merchants, and the desire on the part of the 
 fair sex to excel each other in the rich and expensive style of their 
 dressing. The marble palace had become more than ever the 
 resort of the fashionable and the gay of high life, when A. T. 
 Stewart saw that it was time for him to make another move in the 
 upward direction. He accordingly, in i860, purchased the fee- 
 simple of more than two acres of ground situate between Ninth 
 and Tenth Streets and Fourth Avenue. There he commenced the 
 erection which, when finished, stood, from the level of the street 
 to the top cornice, eighty-eight feet in height, and was the largest 
 store ever erected in any part of the world. It consisted of eight 
 floors, six above and two below the ground, thus making an area 
 of eighteen acres in all. 
 
One thousand young ladies were employed there duruigthe busy 
 season, some cutthig-out and others making-up dresses and under 
 garments, and a third of the whole is engaged attending to the sales. 
 These employes were in the receipt of various degrees of salary ; - 
 skilled hands had from twelve to fifty dollars, while ordinary em- 
 ployes had from five to ten dollars a-week. Five hundred men. 
 wereatworkin the various floors of the concern, and customers were, 
 carried from flat to flat on handsomely fitted-up elevators worked 
 by steam power, and which seemed to move up and down like things 
 of life. Visitors to New York rarely forgot taking a run through ' 
 Stewart's store, and, as no one was importuned to purchase, the 
 sight of the wonderful concentration of order and busy commerce 
 had long been considered as one of the city lions. Some years 
 ago, and a short time before Mr. Stewart's death, an Indian chief 
 was taken, accompanied by an interpreter, to see the wonders of 
 the Broadway store. The prairie king was introduced into the 
 departments in which the magnificent dresses and shawls for the- 
 Upper Ten were displayed in ample profusion. But, strange to say, 
 he looked with stoical indifference on all the dazzling richness of 
 those triumphs of the loom and the needle. At length his chape- 
 rotie led him to the engine-room, and for the first time during his 
 visit the red man's spirit seemed aroused to extreme excitement. 
 He watched the five-hundred horse-power engine which raised 
 without the least apparent effort vast piles of merchandise from 
 one flat of the building to another, and kept in motion four hundred 
 sewing machines. At length, in the very ecstasy of savage life, he 
 cried out, " Wonderful ! works herself, and does not kill anyone." 
 Most readers who have studied the military life of the great 
 Duke will recollect the case of a subaltern whom the commander 
 of the troops, then Lord Wellington, ordered to attend to a certain 
 duty, but, forgetting the stern discipline of the army, took his own 
 opinion as to carrying out the order. Wellington, when aroused, 
 was in the habit of using expletives that would have shocked the 
 saints of Exeter Hall, and in this instance he excelled himself. 
 " How dare you disobey direct orders, sir ?" roared the irate chief. 
 "I thought, my lord " meekly replied the other. "You thought. 
 
203 
 
 sir! Who allowed you such a liberty? Your superior officers 
 think for you, sir, and receive their pay for that. Don't presume 
 to travel outside the law again." It is to be supposed the sub- 
 altern took pretty good care not to commit a similar blunder 
 during his day of service. 
 
 In the administration of his vast commercial transactions, A. 
 T. Stewart was in his own way quite as great a martinet as the 
 ' Duke ; he insisted on the most implicit obedience to his orders, 
 and was heard to say that success could not be expected to follow, 
 as it would otherwise do, in any mercantile enterprise in which the 
 head of the house permitted employes to depart from his orders. 
 
 About the time of the commencement of the war between the 
 Southern and Northern States of America, Mr. Stewart purchased 
 immense quantities of military stores, and when demand for such 
 goods rose with the requirements, sales were made at very large 
 profits, and yet, as it was afterwards proved, the purchases made 
 by Government at A. T. Stewart's were on much better terms than 
 any that had been bought from other holders. 
 
 His firm had many large customers in the South, and much 
 dissatisfaction was expressed by some of these citizens at the 
 evident feeling which Mr. Stewart displayed in favour of the North. 
 One merchant went still farther than any of the others to whom I 
 have referred, by writing the Broadway capitalist to say that if he 
 (A. T. S.) lent money to carry on the war, and continued to 
 espouse the cause of the anti-slavery party, he would refuse to pay 
 his accounts, and advise other Southerners to do likewise. 
 
 Here was a threat of carrying out the system which in 1880 
 was known in the South and West of Ireland as " Boycotting." 
 But A. T. Stewart was not the man to be intimidated by such 
 threats, and, in the true spirit of patriotism, replied as follows : — 
 
 " New York, April 21, 1861. 
 "Dear Sir, — Your letter requesting to know whether or not I had 
 offered one million of dollars to the Government for the purpose of aiding in 
 he prosecution of the war, and at the same time informing me that neither 
 yourself nor your friends would pay their debts to my firm, has been received. 
 The intimation not to pay seems to be unusual in the South — aggravated in 
 your case by the assurance that it does not arise from inability ; but let me tell 
 
304 
 
 you that whatever may be your determination, or that of others in the South, it 
 will not cause me to change my course. All that I have, whether of wealth or 
 position, I owe to the free institutions of the United States, under which, in 
 common with others, in both North and South, protection to Ufe, liberty, and 
 property is enjoyed in the fullest manner. The Government, to which these 
 blessings are dear, calls on her citizens to protect the capital of the Union 
 from threatened assault ; and although the offer to which you refer has not yet 
 been made by me, I yet dedicate all that I have of wealth, and if needs be my 
 life itself, to the service of my country ; for to that country I am bound by the 
 strongest ties of duty and affection. I had hoped that Tennessee would be 
 loyal to the Constitution ; but however extended may be the secession, or how 
 wide the circle of repudiators, as long as there are men ready to uphold the 
 Sovereignty of the United States, I shall join with them in supporting the Flag. 
 " I am, yours, &c., 
 
 "Alex. T. Stewart." 
 
PART THIRD. 
 
 HE publication of Mr. Stewart's letter as given in the New 
 York Sun and Herald caused considerable excitement 
 in that city and raised the writer very much in public 
 estimation. As has ever been the case where family quarrels stir 
 up bad feeling between relations and create a great gulf in formerly 
 peaceful households, so it was in the international war of the 
 United States. For the time being, the term " united" appeared 
 as if thrown aside, and the bitterest feeling existed in each section 
 of the citizens. It was, therefore, a great source of pride and 
 exultation among the Northerners to find a man of A. T. Stewart's 
 world-wide influence taking his stand on the side of freedom and 
 in opposition to the policy of the Slave States. 
 
 Of the immense gains which far-seeing citizens of New York 
 and other American centres realized by their speculations in mili- 
 tary stores just previous to the commencement of the war and 
 during its continuance, no proximate idea has yet been given. 
 About the close of i860, and when Mr. Stewart was said to be 
 worth twenty millions of dollars, he had the sagacity to see that 
 an outbreak was not far distant, and, with his immense floating 
 capital, he at once sent into the difTerent markets and bought up 
 munitions of war on such a scale of magnitude that for some time 
 before the first ring of the rifle told that hostilities had commenced 
 he was all but master of the situ xtion. Bedding, blankets, soldiers' 
 clothing, military boots, and flannel shirts he had stored by in large 
 quantities ; in fact, he had become possessed of the great propor- 
 
 2 A 
 
206 
 
 lion of the stocks held in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia ; 
 and when the Government officials came to him. as purchasers he 
 was able to command his own terms. Still, it has frequently been 
 admitted by the Washington authorities that of all those merchants 
 with whom they negotiated none were so liberal as A. T. Stewart. 
 The ratio of taxation during that time of terrible pressure was very 
 high, and when great efforts were made by the Minister of Finance 
 to reduce national debtedness, the sums levied off the people were 
 enormous. For municipal purposes alone the tax laid on New 
 York was twenty-two million dollars. That amount was paid by 
 one hundred and fifty thousand property owners, whose aggregate 
 estates were valued at six hundred million dollars, the rate being 
 two dollars sixty-seven cents, on each hundred dollar valuation. 
 W. B. Astor paid in one year four hundred thousand dollars ; A. T. 
 Stewart's taxation for the same period was one quarter of a million 
 dollars ; and C. Vanderbilt paid two hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 Of all the popular errors that live around us there is none • 
 greater than that which supposes the keen and energetic business 
 man to be a mere zealous pursuer of wealth, caring nothing for the 
 outside world beyond the power it gives him of making money. 
 There may be found in the republic of trade a number of men so 
 absorbed in their pursuits that they think of little else ; but on the 
 other hand, how many thousands are there that plod on day after 
 day in the regular routine of commerce, working much longer hours 
 than the mill operatives in this Kingdom were wont to do in times 
 before the factory laws had any existence; yet these same men 
 when called upon to contribute of their means to any public 
 charity are quite as ready to open their purse-strings as they had 
 ever been to add to their capital account. Some of A. T. Stewart's 
 biographers have written of him as if he had been a man whose only 
 enjoyment was the accumulation of riches. Nothing could be 
 farther from broad fact than such statements. It is true that, to 
 casual observers, he may have seemed cold and frigid, and that in 
 the management of his great business he exacted scrupulous atten- 
 tion to details on the part of his army of assistants, but in connec- 
 tion with that stern love of discipline and a determination to have 
 
207 
 
 the line of conduct he marked out strictly adhered to, he had a 
 heartbrimfulof benevolence, and a disposition which ever prompted 
 him to distribute with no sparing hand a portion of his wealth in 
 doing good to his less fortunate brethren. 
 
 It will be recollected that, in 1862, the American war caused 
 great depression in the trade as it existed throughout every great 
 seat of manufactures in the United Kingdom. All forms of industry 
 connected with manufactures suffered considerably, but none was 
 so fairly prostrated as the cotton trade. The Southern States had 
 been so much engaged in campaigning that the cotton plantations 
 were partially forgotten, and production fell away so much that the 
 value of that material rose enormously. Millowners in Lancashire 
 could not procure full supplies for their spindles at any price. 
 Many concerns had to be closed up in consequence of the dearth 
 and scarcity of cotton, and tens of thousands of operatives were 
 thrown idle. In the midst of that calamity the generous sympathy 
 of the kind-hearted and benevolent people of all nations was quite 
 equal to the demands made on it, and princely donations poured 
 into the treasury created for the aid of the sufferers. A. T. Stewart 
 contributed ten thousand dollars. In the midst of the terrible 
 desolation of want and disease, the men whom thoughtless writers 
 ridiculed as " cotton lords," had themselves to bear no light bur- 
 dens. Their mills, with all the expensive machinery, were either 
 solely or partially idle ; the people who lived in the cottages which 
 surrounded their concerns could not pay any rent, and their 
 spindles and looms were left to rust, while sales of yarns and cloth 
 could only be effected at immense discount from first cost. And 
 yet, with all these difficulties to contend against, many of these 
 " cotton lords" exhibited generosity that was in itself marvellous, 
 and which it would have been well for some of their detractors to 
 emulate in their own circles of life. 
 
 In another part of this volume there has been given a full 
 detail of the munificent contribution which Mr. Stewart sent to the 
 Lisburn Relief Committee, and also a notice of his having char- 
 tered the ship Mary Edson to take over on her return voyage a 
 number of the cotton weavers to New York. When those enii- 
 
208 
 
 grants reached that city the Brcadway merchant had temporary 
 homes prepared for them, and until they got into employment 
 all were supported at his expense. 
 
 The great store was then in full play, and although the war 
 had circumscribed business in every department of trade, there 
 seemed no turn in Broadway save that of continued progress. 
 About this time a Lurgan manufacturer who had been to New 
 York on business and had taken up his quarters in Delmonico's 
 palace hotel, had frequent opportunities of seeing A. T. Stewart, 
 who generally dined there, and that manufacturer ever afterwards 
 spoke of him in the highest terms. There was nothing about 
 him of that assumption of wealth which so often follows great 
 riches. He found the famous merchant quite a man of the world, 
 well up in the history of his adopted country, and, through his 
 long experience as a traveller in Europe, well able to note the 
 peculiarities of English and Continental society. 
 
 An immense stock of fanc)- goods had been ordered for the 
 Tenth Street store, the retail trade having been removed to that 
 concern, leaving the Dicon Street building — famed as the Marble 
 Palace — to be the great centre of the wholesale business. There 
 was an immense development of commerce on both sides of the 
 Atlantic in 1864, and although the war had still been fiercely carried 
 on by each of the Powers, it became evident that the North would 
 uphold its supremacy, and the feeling of confidence that spread 
 abroad gave new life to the mercantile world. It was said that in 
 the two years, '63 and '64, the turn-over in the wholesale and 
 retail houses of A. T. Stewart & Co. footed up to one hundred and 
 twenty million dollars, and that the net profits of each year averaged 
 about four hundred thousand pounds of British money. The 
 general outlay for management, or, as our American cousins have 
 it, the annual cost of " running the concern," was estimated at 
 one million dollars. 
 
 Mr. Stewart in after life had retrospective pleasure in referring 
 to his exultation when, at the end of June, 1S26, he found himself 
 right in the groove of progress. He had then been only two years 
 and nine months in business, and was carrying on his affairs at 
 
209 
 
 262, Broadway. His spirit of self-reliance was strengthened by 
 success in the new concern, and made more active by experience ; 
 but his pride became still greater as he contemplated the enormous 
 increase of business which, during the fall of 1864, was transacted 
 in Tenth Street. With his large accumulation of capital, A. T. 
 Stewart had commenced to invest pretty extensively in real estate. 
 He owned some of the most luxuriously fitted-up hotels in the 
 city, and was also proprietor of the Globe Theatre in Broadway. 
 Strange to say, the plodding man of business and the matter-of fact 
 merchant was very fond of theatricals. He delighted in patron- 
 ising superior talent on the stage, and that because he looked upon 
 the well-conducted drama as one great power in adult education. 
 He often regretted that the Church and the Stage did not unite in 
 one grand effort to elevate the tone of society throughout every 
 section of conventional life. 
 
 After what may be termed the excitement of business that fol- 
 lowed the close of the war and continued for some years, there 
 came the lull which frequently succeeds very stirring times. Dur" 
 ing the days of depression the store in Tenth Street continued its 
 career of success. In reply to the question of whether his house 
 had suffered by the adverse turn of trade, Mr. Stewart said : — 
 
 " Our business was never in a more satisfactory condition than 
 it is at present. During the holiday season especially trade in the 
 retail store exceeded anything the house had ever had previously. 
 The number of people visiting the store was simply enormous. 
 Beginning with Monday of last week, when the number of visiting 
 customers was upwards of thirty-five thousand, there was a daily 
 Increase until Friday of that week, when the number amounted to 
 over fifty thousand. On Monday last, our superintendent, Mr- 
 Denning, estimated that not less than seventy-five thousand visited 
 the store, and on that day I may say there were over six thousand 
 charges to regular customers made on the books, apart from the 
 cash sales. The receipts for that day and also for the holiday 
 week have not at any time heretofore been exceeded by the house, 
 while the quantities sold were far in excess of anything before 
 known by us." 
 
2IO 
 
 Mr. Stewart's general hcaltli had continued very good through- 
 out all the sensationalism that must have accompanied his un- 
 paralleled success in the world, but in course of the fall of 1873 he 
 felt the first symptoms of a disease which ultimately led to his 
 death. He was then seventy-two years of age, and had been half 
 a century in business, and was owner of wealth which could have 
 bought out the fee-simple of the real estate possessed by half a 
 dozen members of the higher order of the British House of Lords. 
 
 His private residence in Fifth Avenue, the *' Park Lane" of 
 New York, was a palace very superior in architectural design to 
 that of any of Queen Victoria's residences. It is said that the 
 building and furnishing decorations of the house cost nearly two 
 millions British. Several of the most valuable works of ancient 
 and modern masters adorn the picture gallery. One of these 
 works of art cost ten thousand dollars. 
 
 It has often been noted as a remarkable feature in the peculiar 
 character of the Frenchman that he looks upon one class of the 
 English, and the Americans too, as being all millionaires. We have 
 referred to the great taste which A. T. Stewart had for the fine arts. 
 In reference to the famous picture which he purchased from 
 Meisonier, the Paris correspondent of a Philadelphia paper said : — 
 
 " You are probably aware that this production of the most cele- 
 brated French artist of the day, and which is known by no other 
 name than the laconic appellation of " 1807," is about to make its 
 way across the Atlantic, there to be transferred into the hands of 
 its fortunate purchaser, Mr. Stewart, of New York, for the trifling 
 consideration of 300,000 francs ! I suppose this is about the 
 largest sum ever paid for the work of a modern painter during his 
 lifetime. The picture was originally intended to have passed into 
 the possession of Sir Richard Wallace for the sum of 200,000 francs, 
 but whether that gentleman was not pleased with his bargain, or 
 whether the artist thought he had let him off too cheap at the last- 
 mentioned price, I am not prepared to say. Certain it is that the 
 American man of millions has stepped in between the first-made 
 bargain and its conclusion, and carried off a prize which will make 
 him the envy of a thousand competitors. The transaction has 
 
211 
 
 been noticed in all the leading journals of this continent almost 
 as much as if it had been some important political event. Thus 
 the Lndependance Beige tells us, apropos to it, that Mr. Stewart pays 
 income-tax on a declared revenue of 25 million dollars per annum. 
 The Figaro, of Paris, relates how Mr. Stewart, finding the Govern- 
 ment of the North 50 million dollars in his debt at the close of the 
 war, and fearing it might be inconvenient at that moment to repay 
 him, said tout simpkment : 'Only fifty miUion dollars! Don't 
 mention it ! ' and so scratched out the debt with a stroke of his 
 pen. The same journal warns its readers not to confound 
 * Stewart of New York' with ' that other Stewart' (of Philadelphia), 
 who is the happy possessor of the finest collection of P'ortuny's 
 paintings extant (to the number, if I mistake not, of thirty nine), 
 and who, says Figaro, to distinguish him from his above-mentioned 
 namesake, is called ' Stewart the poor,' having only five millions a 
 year. *■ Paiivre homine T exclaimed 7^^'<?r6'." 
 
 A. T. Stewart was a rich man, but only an imaginative Gaul 
 could have written the passage just quoted. 
 
 One of Mr. Stewart's pet projects was that of bringing into 
 fertility a large landed estate he purchased from the authorities of 
 Long Island, Hampstead, New York. Previous to that occasion 
 he had owned a considerable tract on the same island, and when 
 the lot of seven thousand acres was thrown on the market he 
 bought the whole at fifty-five dollars the acre. Some erroneous 
 statements having been made respecting his object in effecting the 
 purchase, Mr. Stewart wrote to the local papers to say that his sole 
 desire was to make it the site of handsome places of residence. 
 " I propose," said he, " to erect at various points attractive build- 
 ings and healthy houses, so that what is now a barren waste may 
 become a place of beauty, inhabited by a respectable population, 
 desirable as neighbours. On this project I am prepared to expend 
 several millions of dollars." This statement was made in July, 
 1869, and since then the wilderness has been transformed as if by 
 magic into what has well been called the "Garden City," and 
 which is connected by a line of railway that runs from thence to 
 New York. On a piece of land which twenty years ago would not 
 
3(9 
 
 have supported two dozen sheep, a splendid hotel and eighty 
 handsome dwellings have been raised. Several of these houses are 
 quite classic in their architectural adornments. The site of the 
 Garden City is eighty feet above the sea level, and searchers of 
 health from New York have been delighted with the purity of the 
 atmosphere. As a mere speculation the outlay on the great plain 
 at Hampstead has been highly successful ; but still more important 
 is this fact, that the salubrity of the place has aided materially in 
 restoring to health many a worn-out citizen and not a few grief- 
 laden invalids. 
 
 The years that immediately preceded the death of A. T. Stewart, 
 though not times of prosperity in the chief cities of America, were 
 characterized by the usual course of progress in the business con- 
 cerns of that gentleman. He delighted to gather around him the 
 most distinguished men of the city, and on the third Sunday in 
 March, 1876, had his usual dinner party. I have already referred 
 to his peculiarly superstitious feeling — he never commenced any 
 work on Friday, and he had his respect for omens. On the occa- 
 sion alluded to the party was intended to consist of sixteen gentle- 
 men, including the host himself, but three of the invited guests 
 were unable to attend, and, to Mr. Stewart's momentary annoyance, 
 thirteen sat down to table. A very pleasant evening was spent, 
 however, for he was quite a different man in his own house from 
 the plodding merchant of Broadway. Next day he felt very ill, 
 and did not go to business. An internal disease which had first 
 appeared three years before set in with increased severity. The 
 family physician. Dr. Marcey, was in close attendance, and he 
 rallied a little under that gentleman's care, but on Thursday, the 
 6th of April, he had caught fresh cold and become considerably 
 worse. On the morning of the loth he was quite unconscious, 
 and before the close of that day the millionaire storekeeper whose 
 name had been a household word in every place of note in the 
 world of commerce had passed away to the Land of S])irits. 
 
 Except on that memorable night when President Lincoln was 
 shot as he sat in his accustomed place in the theatre, nothing had 
 taken place in New York for the previous half century which 
 
213 
 
 caused such mingled feelings of astonishment and regret as did 
 the report of A.. T. Stewart's death. Very few of the citizens had 
 heard he was ill, and even those who were in the secret did not 
 apprehend any danger; but when it became known that he who 
 had been the centre of attraction in the world of commerce for 
 nearly two generations was no more, it seemed as if something akin 
 to a family calamity had darkened the homes of thousands in the 
 city. Telegrams announcing the sad news were sent to the 
 different metropolises of the American States and to the chief 
 seats of commerce in Europe. The funeral, which took place on 
 Thursday, the 12 th of April, was one of the largest ever seen in 
 New York. 
 
 A few prominent features of A. T, Stewart's life and labours may 
 be added here. For many years before his death he had a branch 
 house established in each of the following centres of trade in 
 Europe :— Belfast, Bradford, Berlin, Chemnitz, Glasgow, Lyons, 
 Paris, Manchester, and Nottingham. In the United States there 
 was a large place of business connected with the firm in Boston, 
 and one in Philadelphia. The house of A. T. Stewart & Co. was 
 at the same time largely engaged in the manufacture of clothing 
 and carpet wares. The various concerns consisted of the Holyoke 
 Mill, the Glenhan Carpet Factory, the Woodstock Mill, the Cats- 
 kill Woollen Factory, the Waterville Factory, the Works at Wash- 
 ington, the New Jersey Mill, the Thread Mill at Catskill, and the 
 great Manufactory in New York. 
 
 A. T. Stewart was in reality a professor of the higher art of 
 
 commerce, and throughout his long day of enterprise his whole aim 
 
 seemed to be that of raising trade to a distinct place in the world 
 
 of science. But amid all the cares connected with the government 
 
 of his mercantile republic he always found leisure to carry out 
 
 plans for increasing the comfort and adding to the happiness of 
 
 others. In 1872 he commenced to erect the splendid building in 
 
 Fourth Avenue, New York, and which he had designed as a 
 
 " Working Women's Home," for the residence of the female 
 
 assistants engaged in the different business houses in that city. 
 
 Many years before, Mr. Stewart had observed that well-conducted 
 
 2 B 
 
214 
 
 and respectably brought up girls, whose relations did not live 
 within easy distance of the dry goods stores in which they 
 were engaged, had much difficulty in getting suitable lodgings 
 where their food would be prepared at reasonable rates. Deter- 
 mined to provide with a pleasant home that interesting but 
 neglected section of industrials, he sought the aid of a famous 
 architect, and under that gentleman's superintendence the building 
 was commenced, and which he hoped when finished would prove to 
 be not only one of the handsomest, but the most comfortable 
 erections in the city. The Home was two hundred feet square and 
 six stories in Iioight. An interior court of about half those dimen- 
 sions was fitted up with ornamental fountains and otherwise made 
 highly attractive, and as the purest air pervaded the whole, this 
 court was designed as a sort of play-ground. According to the 
 original plan, the rooms were to be heated by steam in cold 
 weadier, and the food cooked on the same principle. Every 
 apartment was well lighted, the ceilings were twelve feet high, and 
 the sleeping-rooms admirably ventilated. A dining-room ninety 
 feet long and thirty feet wide formed a general table d'hote, where the 
 young women were to have their meals at the lowest cost. 
 Arrangements for amusement and instruction were not forgotten. 
 There was a handsome concert room and a library, which Mr. 
 Stewart intended should be well fiirnished with books, papers, and 
 periodicals. It was the great object of the benevolent founder 
 that he should provide for the working girls a home which would 
 possess the comfort and convenience of a hotel as well as the pro- 
 tection of a private household. " This," he said, " would be the 
 more efificient because of its not being wholly gratuitous." A small 
 sum was to be paid by each boarder, so as to give some sort of 
 independence to those availing themselves of its advantages. 
 Under the superintendence of Judge Hilton, one of Mr. Stewart's 
 tried and trusted friends, and his principal executor, the Home 
 was finished at the sole cost of the tertator's widow, and at a 
 gross outlay of about two million dollars. According to the 
 founder's special desire, each guest was to enjoy the comforts and 
 conveniences of a first-class hotel at four to five dollars a week ; 
 
215 
 
 and if that scale of charges diJ not meet expenses, the difference 
 was to be made up by a claim on Mr. Stewart's real estate. In 
 the early months of 1878 the Home was furnished, and made 
 ready to receive guests ; but whether it was because of the very 
 strict and really conventual supervision enforced by the managers, 
 a very short experience of the system proved the whole affair to 
 be a failure. One of the rules was that no male friend of the 
 guests would be permitted to visit them ; and as the divine 
 aphorism, that " It is not good for man to be alone," has another 
 meaning as well, the halls of the Home were soon all but deserted, 
 and for some years past the building has been let as a pubUc hotel. 
 It has been said that the charges were too high ; but we believe 
 the cause of want of success arose solely in the attempt to make 
 the Home a mere nunnery. The object of Mr. Stewart was that 
 of the purest benevolence, and equally so was that of his widow 
 and Judge Hilton ; it is therefore much to be regretted that from 
 any cause or causes an institute so fraught with good for the very 
 interesting classes of the gentler sex to whose comfort and enjoy- 
 ment it was to be dedicated should have failed in its objects. 
 
 President Grant offered to appoint Mr. Stewart to the very 
 important office of Secretary of the United States Treasury, but 
 various obstacles intervened, and the matter fell through. 
 
 Mr. Stewart's various acts of benevolence could not be given in 
 detail, and this because a great many of them were only known to 
 the recipients, the donor himself, and the Great Being to whose 
 grace His creatures are indebted for the means, and, still better, 
 the disposition, to give. 
 
 When that aged warrior, the Emperor William of Germany, 
 forgetting the nobility of true heroism, set his iron heel on the 
 prostrate people of France, and as they suffered under the savage 
 reign of their conqueror, A. T. Stewart contributed towards their 
 relief forty thousand dollars. He also sent a large amount in aid 
 of the burned-out citizens of Chicago. 
 
 It might have been supposed that a man wlio had been no less 
 philanthropic than he was enterprising would have received from 
 all his fellow-citizens a fair recognition of his kindly-disposed and 
 
2l6 
 
 really munificent acts ; but the miserable si)irit that taught the men 
 of old to cry out, " Is Saul also among the prophets," was abroad 
 in New York. On the Sunday after A. T. Stewart's death, Dr. 
 Talmage, of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, preached a sermon on 
 the subject, in which he gave the following passage : — 
 
 *' My friends, what is the use of your struggling for that which 
 you cannot keep ? As long as you have clothes and food and 
 shelter and education for yourselves and your children, and the 
 means of Christian generosity, be satisfied. You worry and tug 
 and sweat and wear yourselves out for that which will not give you 
 one item of happiness. I hear hundreds of young men in this 
 house this morning saying, ' If I only had a certain number of 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars, I would be satisfied.' No. Was 
 A. T. Stewart satisfied 1 Answer the salesmen and the book- 
 keepers of his nine dry goods establishments in the nine kingdoms 
 of the world — he was at business in the morning before some of 
 youare ; and at night when the Brooklyn ferry-boats were crowded 
 with shopkeepers coming hom c, often the light was seen in his 
 private room of the commercial palace on Broadway. Apicius 
 poisoned himself because he had only four millions of dollars left — 
 poor man ! There was one little thing that Stephen Girard and 
 William B. Astor and A. T. Stewart wanted, and that was ' More !' 
 And that is what is pestering the life out of some of you. You 
 cannot sleep at nights you are so nervous." 
 
 Burns says ; — 
 
 " Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us 
 To see oursels as ithers see us." 
 
 Dr. Talmage paid a visit to the United Kingdom some two o"^ 
 three years ago, and delivered a series of lectures before differen 
 literary and religious associations during that tour. In the spiri*- 
 of " Christian generosity" he exacted at first fifty pounds a night 
 for his clerical performance ; but, like Sarah Bernhardt, when he 
 found his popularity rising, he demanded and received on^ 
 hundred pounds for each lecture. It was reported that on one 
 occasion the Rector of a parish in England, whose income was not 
 one-fifth of that which De Witt Talmage receives from his people 
 
217 
 
 in Brooklyn, had engaged the reverend dramatist to lecture before 
 the Young Men's Society in his district. As the sale of tickets did 
 not amount to more than two-thirds the lecturer's demand, the 
 latter was appealed to in the hope that under the circumstances he 
 would accept the lesser sum ; but, Shylock-like, he insisted on the 
 full amount of his bond, and got it too. 
 
 Where, it might be inquired, was the "Christian generosity" 
 he so eloquently advocated in his sermon on the death of A. T. 
 Stewart, when he could screw from the pockets of a struggling 
 Rector an extra fifteen or twenty pounds for the recitation of a 
 farcical lecture ? 
 
 In this plodding world of ours an opinion is frequently heard to 
 the effect that superior education unfits the student for the every- 
 day work connected with general commerce, but in the case oi 
 A. T. Stewart it will have been seen that the scholastic training of 
 the boy led to the possession of great administrative powers in the 
 man, while his classical attainments gave him a love of the beautiful, 
 which in after life added immensely to his means of selt-enjoyment. 
 
 The personal appearance of the Broadway capitalist was about 
 the most unassuming that could well be conceived. He dressed 
 plainly, and was rather fastidious about the fit of his garments, but 
 never indulged in any display of jewellery, the petite gold watch, 
 which was worn in the vest pocket, being the only appendage he 
 seemed to care for. About two years before Mr. Stewart's death a 
 lady called at the store to inquire about a lad from the North of 
 Ireland, and meeting, as she thought, one of the clerks, begged of 
 him that he would be good enough to show her the department in 
 which the young man was engaged. The person whom she ad- 
 dressed was most attentive, and requested her to take a seat in 
 one of the waiting-rooms, while he went in quest of her friend. In 
 a few minutes he returned with the young man, and, bowing to 
 the lady, left to attend his business elsewhere. After some chat 
 with the lad, she expressed a wish to see the groat merchant, of 
 whose wealth she had heard so much. " Why," replied her young 
 friend, " Mr. Stewart himself was the gentleman to whom you 
 applied for information about me when you came into the store, 
 and who has just left us." 
 
2l8 
 
 We have already alluded to the easy and refined .style of Mr. 
 Stewart's address in social life. He enjoyed genuine humour with 
 all the zest that forms the natural spirit of his countrymen, and, 
 while rarely disposed to take a lead in political topics, he always 
 entered heartily into the current gossip of the day. In the whole 
 history of mercantile life there is nothing to be found at all ap- 
 proaching the success which followed the enterprize of this mar- 
 vellous merchant. Other men there have been whose property 
 was as valuable as that which he left behind him, but those mil- 
 lionaires had inherited from their fathers a great part of their wealth. 
 A. T. Stewart was the sole architect of his own fortune, and by a 
 course of prudence, integrity, and earnestness, he succeeded in 
 raising to the very pinnacle of perfection the most extensive con- 
 cerns ever known in the entire annals of commerce. A. T. Stewart 
 was, indeed, the Napoleon of merchants. In the difficult position 
 of controlling and directing a whole army of managers, clerks, 
 milliners, and salespeople, he displayed power which in another 
 department of life would have raised him to the highest military 
 rank ; and in the readiness with which he was able to master de- 
 tails relative to the state of foreign markets, the existing and pro- 
 spective value of dry goods, and other questions connected with 
 his vast business, he seemed quite a marvel of mercantile philo- 
 sophy. And yet, as we have seen, amid all the hurry of everyday 
 exertions, he found time to keep himself well up in literary sub- 
 jects, and to cultivate his taste for the fine arts. In private life, 
 and when he had left off the harness of commerce, A. T. Stewart 
 was a perfect gentleman, easy in manner and polished in conver- 
 sation ; but, except in a few instances, he was not popular with 
 his brother merchants. For many years before his death the most 
 erroneous statements were occasionally made through the Press 
 concerning his business and general habits, and since his death 
 equally absurd gossip has been published on the same subject. 
 Many and rather hostile were the criticisms of periodical writers, 
 who discussed the merits and demerits of " Macaulay's History of 
 England" when the first two volumes appeared. It was said that 
 the brilliant reviewer had himself perverted facts, and given such 
 
219 
 
 erroneous versions of incidents connected with former ages as to 
 destroy all faith in him as a correct annalist. The famous historian 
 was bound to chronicle, as best he could, events that occurred 
 some centuries before the age in which he lived, and, of course, 
 had to depend on the writers that preceded him for much of his 
 material ; but in the case of A. T. Stewart, the man who lived in 
 our own day, we have heard statements made as to his early and 
 later history as wildly absurd and as far from fact as anything to be 
 found in realms of pure fiction. Among the many errors that have 
 been pubhshed, one of Mr. Stewart's biographers tells us that " the 
 merchantprinceof BroadwaycametoNew York apoor Irish pedlar." 
 Another had it that " when he started the Broadway store in 
 September, 1823, he was his own shopman and servant." The 
 truth is, however, that on the day he began business he had two 
 experienced hands to assist him. A third writer of reminiscences 
 says that "during his first few years' residence in that city he 
 lived on the interest of his fortune, and only engaged as a teacher 
 for mere amusement." We have already shown that A. T. Stewart 
 had not only received a first-class education, but that throughout 
 his whole life he cultivated with the zeal of a student the lessons 
 taught him in early days, and that during his few years' residence 
 in New York previous to his coming of age, when he returned to 
 Ireland for the purpose of getting the property left him by his 
 grandfather, he supported himself in New York by his educational 
 abilities. Again, much has been written about the martinetism of 
 Mr. Stewart towards his employes. It is true that, hke the Iron 
 Duke, he was absolute in his dictum, and when he issued com- 
 mands as to certain details of business he did not permit any of 
 his people to deviate from such orders. Implicit obedience he 
 must have, but no great administrator ever delighted more than 
 he did in recognising the faithful discharge of duty on the part of 
 his assistants. He died childless. 
 
 It is a curious episode in the history of humanity that every 
 great man has his special weakness. In looking over the list of 
 names that have figured in history for the last five hundred years, 
 we find some really interesting instances of the persons who stood 
 
220 
 
 on the top rung of the ladder of fame exhibiting phases of 
 character hardly known in the lower strata of society. One of A. 
 T. Stewart's peculiarities was that of being religiously reticent on 
 the subject of his boyhood. He occasionally referred to John 
 Turney, his maternal grandfather; but of Thomas Stewart and 
 Martha, his paternal grandfather and grandmother, or of his four 
 uncles and three aunts, he was never heard to speak. A friend 
 once wrote him in favour of one of his relatives, then in poor circum- 
 stances ; but he never replied to that letter. More than thirty 
 years ago Tom Stewart, then the only surviving son of his grand- 
 father, had got past the age of labour, and was badly off in 
 Lisburn. On having been appealed to on the subject by Mr. 
 John Owden, of the firm of J. N. Richardson & Co., A. T. Stewart 
 sent the applicant means to pay his uncle ten shillings a week, 
 which sum was continued till the old man's death. 
 
 That disposition to ignore the existence of his relations in this 
 country was evinced in his last will; and most remarkable is the fact 
 that the world-renowned merchant, who is said to have died worth 
 fifty millions of dollars, and whose benevolence towards the outside 
 world was munificent, did not leave a solitary cent, to those blood 
 relations who, seeing that he died without issue, had direct claims 
 on his testamentary action. 
 
 Those descendants of old Tom Stewart were certainly not rich, 
 but in their own position of life they were very respectable, very 
 industrious, and well conducted people. 
 
 This neglect of his relations was one weak point in the 
 character of one of the most wonderful of the world's commer 
 cialists. And yet he loved with national fervour the land of his 
 birth, and in her times of need administered with liberal hand to 
 Ireland's necessities. He has gone to his final resting-place, and, 
 taking him for all in all, more than one generation will have passed 
 before the world sees another A. T. Stewart. 
 
tr-' 
 
o 
 
 w 
 nJ 
 <v 
 u 
 
 <L> 
 
 ;-< 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 .2 
 *■+-> 
 o 
 <u 
 
 O 
 
 ;-! 
 
 .2 
 'o 
 
 a 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 .2 
 
 ■4-J 
 C/3 
 
 CO 
 
 > 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 (-1 
 
 o 
 
 oJ .a 
 
 C .^'' 
 
 13 "^ 
 
 
 cj :3 
 
 O n S O (In c/] cyo 
 
 bo 
 G 
 
 .2 '^ 
 o ^ .s 
 
 d 
 
 U U W fe fe