Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet | Page 7

forward and know that my future explosions are likely to
become more and more obnoxious to the old gentlemen, who stuff their
ears with cotton, and then swear the children are not screaming."

"Politics for the People" was discontinued for want of funds; but its
supporters, including all those who were working under Mr.
Maurice--who, however much they might differ in opinions, were of
one mind as to the danger of the time, and the duty of every man to do
his utmost to meet that danger--were bent upon making another effort.
In the autumn, Mr. Ludlow, and others of their number who spent the
vacation abroad, came back with accounts of the efforts at association
which were being made by the workpeople of Paris.
The question of starting such associations in England as the best means
of fighting the slop system--which the "Chronicle" was showing to lie
at the root of the misery and distress which bred Chartists--was
anxiously debated. It was at last resolved to make the effort, and to
identify the new journal with the cause of Association, and to publish a
set of tracts in connection with it, of which Kingsley undertook to write
the first, "Cheap Clothes and Nasty."
So "the Christian Socialist" was started, with Mr. Ludlow for editor, the
tracts on Christian Socialism begun under Mr. Maurice's supervision,
and the society for promoting working-men's associations was formed
out of the body of men who were already working with Mr. Maurice.
The great majority of these joined, though the name was too much for
others. The question of taking it had been much considered, and it was
decided, on the whole, to be best to do so boldly, even though it might
cost valuable allies. Kingsley was of course consulted on every point,
though living now almost entirely at Eversley, and his views as to the
proper policy to be pursued may be gathered best from the following
extracts from letters of his to Mr. Ludlow--
"We must touch the workman at all his points of interest. First and
foremost at association--but also at political rights, as grounded both on
the Christian ideal of the Church, and on the historic facts of the
Anglo-Saxon race. Then national education, sanitary and
dwelling-house reform, the free sale of land, and corresponding reform
of the land laws, moral improvement of the family relation, public
places of recreation (on which point I am very earnest), and I think a set
of hints from history, and sayings of great men, of which last I have

been picking up from Plato, Demosthenes, &c."
1849.--"This is a puling, quill-driving, soft-handed age--among our
own rank, I mean. Cowardice is called meekness; to temporize is to be
charitable and reverent; to speak truth, and shame the devil, is to offend
weak brethren, who, somehow or other, never complain of their weak
consciences till you hit them hard. And yet, my dear fellow, I still
remain of my old mind--that it is better to say too much than too little,
and more merciful to knock a man down with a pick-axe than to prick
him to death with pins. The world says, No. It hates anything
demonstrative, or violent (except on its own side), or unrefined."
1849.--"The question of property is one of these cases. We must face it
in this age--simply because it faces us."--"I want to commit myself--I
want to make others commit themselves. No man can fight the devil
with a long ladle, however pleasant it may be to eat with him with one.
A man never fishes well in the morning till he has tumbled into the
water."
And the counsels of Parson Lot had undoubtedly great weight in giving
an aggressive tone both to the paper and the society. But if he was
largely responsible for the fighting temper of the early movement, he,
at any rate, never shirked his share of the fighting. His name was the
butt at which all shafts were aimed. As Lot "seemed like one that
mocked to his sons-in-law," so seemed the Parson to the most opposite
sections of the British nation. As a friend wrote of him at the time, he
"had at any rate escaped the curse of the false prophets, 'Woe unto you
when all men shall speak well of you.'" Many of the attacks and
criticisms were no doubt aimed not so much at him personally as at the
body of men with whom, and for whom, he was working; but as he was
(except Mr. Maurice) the only one whose name was known, he got the
lion's share of all the abuse. The storm broke on him from all points of
the compass at once. An old friend and fellow-contributor to "Politics
for the People," led the Conservative attack, accusing