Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet | Page 3

his humility and audacity, of his
distrust in himself and confidence in himself, was one of those puzzles
which meet us daily in this world of paradox. But both qualities gave
him a peculiar power for the work he had to do at that time, with which
the name of Parson Lot is associated.
It was at one of these gatherings, towards the end of 1847 or early in
1848, when Kingsley found himself in a minority of one, that he said
jokingly, he felt much as Lot must have felt in the Cities of the Plain,
when he seemed as one that mocked to his sons-in-law. The name
Parson Lot was then and there suggested, and adopted by him, as a
familiar nom de plume, He used it from 1848 up to 1856; at first
constantly, latterly much more rarely. But the name was chiefly made
famous by his writings in "Politics for the People," the "Christian
Socialist," and the "Journal of Association," three periodicals which
covered the years from '48 to '52; by "Alton Locke"; and by tracts and
pamphlets, of which the best known, "Cheap Clothes and Nasty," is
now republished.
In order to understand and judge the sayings and writings of Parson Lot
fairly, it is necessary to recall the condition of the England of that day.
Through the winter of 1847-8, amidst wide-spread distress, the cloud of
discontent, of which Chartism was the most violent symptom, had been
growing darker and more menacing, while Ireland was only held down
by main force. The breaking-out of the revolution on the Continent in
February increased the danger. In March there were riots in London,
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and other large towns. On April 7th,
"the Crown and Government Security Bill," commonly called "the
Gagging Act," was introduced by the Government, the first reading

carried by 265 to 24, and the second a few days later by 452 to 35. On
the 10th of April the Government had to fill London with troops, and
put the Duke of Wellington in command, who barricaded the bridges
and Downing Street, garrisoned the Bank and other public buildings,
and closed the Horse Guards.
When the momentary crisis had passed, the old soldier declared in the
House of Lords that "no great society had ever suffered as London had
during the preceding days," while the Home Secretary telegraphed to
all the chief magistrates of the kingdom the joyful news that the peace
had been kept in London. In April, the Lord Chancellor, in introducing
the Crown and Government Security Bill in the House of Lords,
referred to the fact that "meetings were daily held, not only in London,
but in most of the manufacturing towns, the avowed object of which
was to array the people against the constituted authority of these
realms." For months afterwards the Chartist movement, though plainly
subsiding, kept the Government in constant anxiety; and again in June,
the Bank, the Mint, the Custom House, and other public offices were
filled with troops, and the Houses of Parliament were not only
garrisoned but provisioned as if for a siege.
From that time, all fear of serious danger passed away. The Chartists
were completely discouraged, and their leaders in prison; and the upper
and middle classes were recovering rapidly from the alarm which had
converted a million of them into special constables, and were beginning
to doubt whether the crisis had been so serious after all, whether the
disaffection had ever been more than skin deep. At this juncture a series
of articles appeared in the Morning Chronicle on "London Labour and
the London Poor," which startled the well-to-do classes out of their
jubilant and scornful attitude, and disclosed a state of things which
made all fair minded people wonder, not that there had been violent
speaking and some rioting, but that the metropolis had escaped the
scenes which had lately been enacted in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and
other Continental capitals.
It is only by an effort that one can now realize the strain to which the
nation was subjected during that winter and spring, and which, of

course, tried every individual man also, according to the depth and
earnestness of his political and social convictions and sympathies. The
group of men who were working under Mr. Maurice were no
exceptions to the rule. The work of teaching and visiting was not
indeed neglected, but the larger questions which were being so
strenuously mooted--the points of the people's charter, the right of
public meeting, the attitude of the labouring-class to the other
classes--absorbed more and more of their attention. Kingsley was very
deeply impressed with the gravity and danger of the crisis--more so, I
think, than almost any of his friends; probably because, as a country
parson, he was more directly in