THE STORY OF His LIFE II THE ] [BRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES JOSEPH LIVESEY. T UOHN BYUWO LITIOIANS GUIDE OFFICE 130, FLEET SJflEET, fi.O, JOSEPH LlVESEY: *J c. -\5. THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. 1794 1884. EDITED BY JAMES WESTON, LONDON : S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO., 9, PATERNOSTER Row. PREFATORY NOTE. T is only necessary to state by way of Preface that the present sketch of the great social and political reformer /is founded principally upon the Autobiography published by Mr. Livesey in his Staunch Teetotaler during 1868. The publishers believe that the public generally will be glad to have the story of his life in a handy form, for, quite apart from Joseph Livesey's teachings, that life is a fine example of successful self-help, and, as such, affords a valuable lesson for young readers. 9, Paternoster Row, September, 1884. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE . II. MARRIAGE AND COMMERCIAL LIFE III. THE CORN LAW REPEALER ' IV. THE TEMPERANCE REFORMER V. THE AUTHOR . VI. THE CITIZEN . VII. LAST DAYS II 25 37 49 74 85 100 JOSEPH LIVESEY:' THE STORY OF HIS LIFE, CHAPTER I. Early Life. N a damp cellar, in the village of Walton-le-Dale, three hand-looms are being actively worked by two men and a youth. The cellar is not a cheerful place for working in, for the walls shine with the percolating moisture, and occasionally the place is inundated by the rising of the Kibble or the Darwen. The youth sits away in the far corner with his back in close proximity to the wet wall. Hands and feet are fully engaged with the machine, but on the " breast-beam " of the loom stands an open copy of Lindley Murray's Grammar, to which his eyes ever and anon return. The lad's name is Joseph Livesey, and this is also the name of the eldest of the trio, the boy's 12. Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. grandfather. The third party is. Thomas Livesey, the old man's son and the youngster's uncle. It is easy to see that these people are living in a condition of poverty, and few persons acquainted with that lad's antecedents would have the hardihood to predict for him either a long or a successful career. At the age of seven he had been left an orphan, both parents having been carried off within ten weeks by that insidious foe, consumption. And yet that lad, al- though not wholly escaping the attacks of sickness, was to complete the term of fourscore years and ten, and to successfully inaugurate the greatest and most beneficent social revolution of modern times. Old Joseph Livesey, the grandfather, had been a small farmer, and his son John was a hand-loom cloth manufacturer, and one of the earliest makers of cotton goods in that district. He was, for that period, a well-educated man, and he had married one Jennet Ainsworth, the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. The couple resided in a small cottage at Walton Cop, and here on March the 5th, 1794, oar hero drew his first breath. There was another son born to them, but he died when very young, and, as we have said, his parents had followed him when young Joseph was but seven years old. What was to be done with him ? He had neither father, mother, brother or sister to take charge of him and instruct him. There were his grandparents, however, and they kindly undertook the care of the destitute little orphan. Old Joseph had invested all the money he could Early Life. 1 3 spare in his son's business, and when John died, the old man gave up his farm and came to live in the clothworker's house in the village. " Here, his troubles, poor old man ! commenced. He knew nothing of the business, and my uncle, upon whom most of the management devolved, knew as little. Either from ' bad times/ or bad management, or both, the concern came to grief. I don't recollect how long, but I suppose they did not carry on the business more than three or four years. Their em- barrassments kept increasing ; and I remember well the old man, on a Tuesday night, upon the return of Thomas with unfavourable reports from Manchester market, crying like a child. Young as I was, I busied myself in the warehouse, sometimes at the warping mill, sometimes helping to hook pieces, or weighing out the weft. The 'moutre' trade was then carried on to a great extent, 'and the disputes with weavers and threats of ' bating ' were frequent. Both yarn and cloth were enormously dear ;* .so there was a great temptation to weavers to sell ' cops,' to take off ' half-beers,' and, by obliterating the ' smits,' to get longer ' fents ' than they were allowed. Not long ago, there resided in Preston a female who had a cambric petticoat, the material of which she said she bought of my father at seven shillings a yard."t * In 1801, when Joseph was seven years old, the price of wheat was ^5 153. nd. per quarter, and, of course, other things were dear in proportion. t "Autobiography/ 3 14 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. Considering the commercial ignorance of these men, it is not astonishing to find that the business speedily proved a complete failure. The old man liquidated the affairs of the concern, and it was, so far, satisfactory to find that the assets realised sufficient to pay off all liabilities in full, but that was all. He had sacrificed everything to discharge these debts, and had now to seek some other occupation in order to live. Fortunately, it was customary with the small farmers of that locality to combine loom weaving with agriculture, and most of them had a weaving shop attached to the farm. Both father and son were acquainted with this occupation, so now they fell back upon it, and, of course, took their orphan relative with them. They took a house at a rental of ^5 per annum, and here the looms were set up. In a short time the old grandmother died, and, as their means would not allow them to keep a house- keeper or other servant, young Joe had to discharge the domestic duties. He says : " From necessity I became pretty proficient in all kinds of labour con- nected with domestic life ; and I have never regretted this : for in speaking to the poor during my visi- tations I have found my early experience of great service ; and in the event of any reverse, I have always felt that I was prepared to live where others would be beset with difficulties, or perhaps starve." Previously to his grandmother's death, he had been principally engaged in winding weavers' bobbins, but as soon as he was able to do the work he was put to one of those looms in the cellar where we have Early Life. . 1 5 already seen him. The cellar was so damp that, he says, from the day it was plastered to the day he left it after seven years' occupation the mortar was soft, water remaining in the walls. Working for so many years, so close to the wet wall, it was to him a wonder that illness was not the immediate result, but he adds, " I can only suppose that this was counteracted in a great measure by the incessant action of almost every muscle of the body required in weaving. ' All fours ' never cease action on the part of the hand-loom weaver. Yet it is very pro- bable that the four rheumatic fevers that I have had to endure, and the seven years' chronic rheumatism in my lower joints rendering me unable to walk about without great pain which followed, had their remote cause in that miserable place." We have as yet said nothing of Joseph's educa- tion, and in truth, so far as that education was derived from others, there is not much to be said of it it was so small in quantity. He had been taught sufficiently to enable him to read the New Testament, to write a little, and to count. Beyond this his edu- cation was like that of many another intrepid soul, refusing to be bound down by adverse circumstances : he had the desire for knowledge, and resolved to educate himself. No mean task this for the poor little fellow in those days, when books were scarce, and the present agencies for popularising knowledge did not exist and had hardly been thought of. Referring to this period in after years, he wrote : " The writer once was glad to pick up a stray leaf, 1 6 Joseph Livesey: The Story of his Life. or to borrow an old backless book, with which to allay his thirst for knowledge."* The book, when borrowed, he would plant on the weaving beam, and thus he could read and work at one and the same time. " This cellar was my college, the ' breast-beam ' was my desk, and I was my own tutor." In this day-and-night struggle with Lindley Murray and other educational difficulties, he received assistance from no one ; but, for all that, he conquered. " Anxious for information, and having no com- panions from whom I could learn anything, I longed for books, but had no means with which to procure them. There was no public library, and publications of all kinds were expensive ; and, if I could succeed in borrowing one, I would devour it like a hungry man would his first meal Indeed, few of our young men can have any idea of the contrast betwixt the present and the past, as to the advantages of gaining knowledge. At the period I refer to there were no national schools, no Sunday-schools, no mechanics' institutions, no penny publications, no cheap news- papers, no free libraries, no penny postage, no tem- perance societies, no tea-parties, no Young Men's Christian Associations, no steamboats, no railways, no gas, no anything in fact that distinguishes the present time in favour of the improvement and en- joyment of the masses. Most of the articles of necessity for a poor man's home, during the war with France, were nearly double their present * "The Teetotal Progressionist," 1852. Early Life. 1 7 price, and all felt the pressure of the times." His only pocket-money had been " the Sunday penny," and great was his pride as he went among his companions when that allowance had been increased to the large sum of threepence. But in a few years he had the means of purchasing a few books, for he was set to do a certain amount of work per week, with the understanding that if he accomplished more he was to have the financial surplus to himself. Here was the opportunity for which he had longed. Knowledge might be his at last. As he earned this money, he expended it in the acquisition of books. It was in this way that he obtained the copy of Lindley Murray, with the exercises and key, and followed it up by buying a " Cann's Reference Bible " and other works. And now that he had obtained his books, he lost no opportunity of consulting them. He took his meals with an open volume before him, and, as we have said, he fixed a book upon the " breast-beam " of the loom, and read whilst he worked. He assures us he has done this for hours, and that without making bad work. " Head, hands, and feet, all busy at the same time ! " But still the day was too short to satisfy his thirst for knowledge ; whenever he could, he would remain after his relatives had retired to rest, and read by the light of the waning fire, for no candles were allowed him. He was always anxious to reach the end of a book, and once having opened it did not care to lay it down until he had reached the last page. In contrasting the advantages of the present Joseph Lfvesey. " 1 8 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. over the past, for the seeker after knowledge, he says : " Whilst thousands of costly volumes lie dormant, unopened, and unread by their owners, the backless volume of a borrowed book was read by me with eagerness ; and this doubtless has been the case with others. What would I not have given at that day to have had the opportunity afforded by the Preston Institution to have availed myself of its valuable library a privilege too much undervalued by the working-classes of the present time. And yet it is a question in many cases whether want or plenty makes the most sterling character. My first book- case consisted of two slips of wood, value about eightpence, hung to the wall by a cord at each end, and the first work placed upon these anti-aristocratic shelves was 'Jones' Theological Repository,' a periodical of a number of volumes, which I had got at second-hand. I shall never forget, as I descended the cellar-stairs, how I sometimes turned back to look and admire my newly-acquired treasure." Undoubtedly, the many instances we have in modern history of this heroism in humble life afford good grounds for Joseph Livesey's question, *' Whether want or plenty makes the most sterling character ? " Many of the finest characters of our time have been formed in that early fight with cir- cumstances, which has called forth the nobler qualities of our nature. It is almost a matter of necessity that this should be so, for self-denial, tem- perance, perseverance, and the determination Early Life. 19 " To rise Out of the prison of my mean estate ; And with such jewels as the exploring mind Brings from the caves of knowledge, buy my ransom From those twin gaolers of the daring heart Low Birth and iron Fortune," are qualities not called forth in the case of the child of wealthy parents. It is true that to a majority of the poor the adverse circumstances of their existence are too depressing, and the budding virtues are early nipped off, to be replaced by a callous indifference to fate, or by the feeling that it is useless for them to attempt to rise above that position in life to which they have been born or have sunk. But Livesey had the hope that better times would come for him, so did his best to prepare the way for them. There is no use in hoping for better days and simply sitting down to wait for them we must be prepared to take advantage of the better day when it comes. The words of Shakspere are true : " There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries." But the important thing is to be prepared for the tide at its rising. Not satisfied with getting a little knowledge, Livesey did his best to get away from the damp cellar and the loom. He tried shuttle-making and failed, but succeeded somewhat better at " twisting in " for the weavers. Then he tried for a situation 2O Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. as "jobber." The result was he lost a complete week, and, of course, got no wages. It must not be supposed that young Livesey had no experience of play, although it is probable that his efforts at self-education left him little time for more frivolous amusement. In addition to this, the boys of the village were rather too rough in their play, and dubbed him " soft," because he would not join their fighting-parties, for which the village was famous. The less boisterous games of the girls were more to his taste, and he says, " I generally made the girls my companions, in preference to the boys." Still, as a young boy, he had his games of marbles chiefly to his disadvantage hare-and-hounds, hide- and-seek, forfeits, etc. He joined his companions in their evening story-telling parties, when " Jack the Giant-killer " and other legendary heroes filled their narratives. They believed in " bogies," and some- times were occupied with the exploits of the " Ban- nister Doll," a well-known local bogie, whose head- quarters were the Bannister Hall print works. Their chief rendezvous was the house of Thomas Jolly, who had a large family, and this naturally attracted the other children of the village, sometimes in such numbers and accompanied with so much noise that Mrs. Jolly was compelled to pack them all off to their own homes. They went nutting in the Cuerdale woods, but not without fear of the keepers. Once he thought it would be a grand thing to go hunting and follow the hounds. He did so for a whole day in his clogs. He had no further-aspirations that way. Early Life. 2 1 But he liked to wade in the Ribble, or to sit on its banks for hours watching the " float " of his fishing- tackle. At certain seasons he would lay night-lines in the river, but sometimes when he went to reap his harvest, he found both fish and lines had gone. He remembered being taken to Preston in 1802 to witness the processions of the famous Preston Guild. Cotton-spinning had only just been introduced into Preston, which was then a small town of six or seven thousand inhabitants, and various products of the new industry were exhibited in the procession, which was, of course, a very grand affair. " I was surrounded by mental darkness and vice, without the companionship of congenial spirits ; but still cherishing the aspirations of future advancement, it was to me a great consolation, and a source of future hope, to become acquainted with a family of the name of Portlock, the heads of which, and some of the members, were decidedly religious. I began then, when about sixteen, to feel the value of exist- ence, the importance of sacred things, and to enjoy the comforts of religious and friendly intercourse." The Portlocks were Baptists, and were very kind to Livesey. Soon we find him attending the Baptist Chapel, although he did not confine his attentions to that place of worship, but occasionally visited the Independents and the Methodists. Charles Portlock, Thomas Jolly, and Joseph Livesey became intimate friends and close companions. They were filled with the same religious ideas, and in 1811 Charles and Joseph were baptised together in the Baptist Chapel, 22 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. which stood on the site now occupied by St. Saviour's Church, and Thomas Jolly followed their example soon after. It should be stated that this act was taken in opposition to the wishes of Livesey's relatives ; but he had the conviction that he was doing the will of God and did it. It was a day of great enjoyment to him, and keenly did he look forward to the following Sundays, when he would march off in his clogs to Preston, to attend the prayer-meetings in the vestry. To the last he retained a copy of Watts' hymns, bought at that time, and in which he had inscribed, "Joseph Livesey's Book, 1811. Is any merry, let him sing psalms. Jas. v. 13." At the end of the volume he had written the following lines : " Hope is my helmet, faith my shield, Thy Word, my God, the sword I wield ; With sacred truth my loins are girt, And holy zeal inspires my heart." The congregation of the chapel was too poor to support a regular minister, so they had to be content with the lay ministrations of Mr. Baker, a tailor and draper ; but this gentleman evidently did not give satisfaction to all. A split occurred, and the con- gregation was divided into Bakerites and Anti- Bakerites. What was the origin of the difference does not appear, but one Sunday matters had reached such a pitch, that one party had locked up the chapel, and the other party broke it open. This evidently disgusted Livesey, for a little later he joined a sect known then-as " Scotch Baptists." But Early Life. 23 it was decided to refer the Baker dispute to the deci- sion of the ministers who would shortly assemble at Accrington, for the ordination of a Mr. Edwards. This reference was attended with no satisfactory result, but it is worth noting here, for the interesting, though unpleasant light it throws upon the habits of the time. With the others, Livesey tramped to Accrington a distance of about fourteen miles from Walton. He says : " The Rev. Mr. Stephens preached the Ordination Sermon, from the text, ' One is your Master,~even Christ ; and all ye are brethren.' Equality was what I admired, and I was much pleased with the dis- course. At the close of the service it was announced that any one who wished to take dinner could be accommodated at a certain inn at one shilling each. But I learnt that there was a free dinner for the ministers and other rich friends. I felt as one of the poor who really needed a dinner, and not having a shilling to spare, that the doctrine of equal brother- hood, though brilliant in the pulpit, was not so in ' word and deed.' But what offended me most was that, being allowed to enter the large room after the dinner, I saw the ministers and other friends enjoying themselves with their long pipes amid the fumes of tobacco, drinking spirits and other liquors. Though physically feeble, I was never deficient in moral courage, and when we were introduced to the rev. gentlemen who were to hear our case, I could not forbear giving vent to my feelings. I protested against this eating and drinking, and said that in primitive 24 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. times men were ordained to the ministry with ' prayer and fasting.' A poor, simple, ill-dressed, illiterate, unknown lad lecturing divines on the primi- tive duties of self-denial ! A regular laugh was the response, and indeed what else could be expected ? I believe this exhibition gave a cast to my mind, of which I have never got clear, and I should be glad to believe that nothing similar is to be met with in the present day." He acknowledges the value to himself of his con- nection with the " Scotch Baptists," but it was not an unmixed good. The society was small, and attached prime importance to what they called " soundness in the faith." Livesey had not much intercourse with those of other religious opinions, and hence he " became the zealous advocate of opinions, rather than the promoter of charity among all good people." He gave his mind to controversial theology, and in settling, as he thought, the disputed points between Calvinists and Arminians, Unitarians and Trinitarians. His self-confidence upon these points received a check, which did him much good. He was writing a lengthy letter of a controversial character to a minister in Manchester, and in it used this phrase : " I never see anything wrong but I am determined to set it right." These words show the resolute character of this reformer of eighteen years, but his correspondent administered a severe rebuke, which rved, and profited by it. CHAPTER II. Marriage and Commercial Life. ITUATED as young Livesey was, at an early age his mind was fully alive to the miseries of a single life, and he looked forward eagerly to the time when he could have a home of his own. But it was necessary that he should wait until he was twenty- one, for this reason he had no money, but a relative dying, had bequeathed him the mag- nificent sum of 30, which would be placed in his hands on his attaining his majority. The subsequent experience of a lengthy married life decided him in favour of early marriages, provided certain prudential considerations are taken into account. " Of course, making a judicious choice, and being prepared with means to start with comfort, out of debt, and with a fair prospect of resources to meet eventualities." He held it to be right, that no man should take a wife till he has a home furnished ready for her to come to. " To commence in 26 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. [furnished] lodgings, as some newly married pairs do, is abominable." But he does not recommend those about to marry to select a wife after the manner adopted by himself, although his turned out to be one of the happiest and most prosperous of marriages. At the time he decided to ask Miss Jenny Williams to become Mrs. Joseph Livesey he had never seen her ! He had heard of her as an amiable, religious girl, and with his characteristic resolution, decided that she should be his wife, provided that she would consent. The (father was a master-rigger, in Liverpool, and he having taken to himself a second wife, his daughter had anything but a pleasant home with her step- mother. The result was, Jane went to Manchester, to take up her residence with an intimate friend of her father's, who kept a china and earthenware shop in that city. Her friends were Scotch Baptists, and she became a member of the same church. Acting upon the resolution he had formed, Joseph got introduced to the family, -and, paying them a visit, he attended their prayer-meeting, and as they had heard of his giving exhortations at Preston, they invited him to do the same now. He acceded to the request, and in after years Mrs. Livesey often con- fessed that it was owing to the favourable impression she formed whilst he was speaking, more than to anything else, that he owed the favourable reception she gave to his request for her hand. He says : " We were thus fixed thirty miles from each other, and with the exception of about three visits, all the Marriage and Commercial Life. 27 love-making, which lasted about a year, was done by long sheets of paper filled to every corner." This was prior to the age of railways, and his visits to Manchester had to be performed on foot. On one occasion he had got as far as Bolton, and felt unable to proceed. It was late, and there were still eleven miles between the young lady and himself. The question was, should he spend five shillings for an outside seat on the mail-coach and finish his journey, or should he stay at Bolton for the night, and go on to Manchester in the morning ? He decided upon the former course, although he could ill afford the money. When he had obtained the 30 legacy, he rented a nice little cottage in the village, at ,j a year, and set to work to furnish it. He attended sales of furniture, in order to obtain his chairs and tables as cheaply as possible, and this method of proceeding seems to have amused the neighbours. But that made no difference to Livesey, and on the 3Oth of May, 1815, he had the satisfaction of leading his bride to the altar in St. Peter's Church, Liverpool. There was no attempt at display no carriages no orange blossoms. According to one of the two chief actors, " the parson gabbled over the service as quickly as possible," and Livesey paid him a crown-piece, remarking that he had got a wife cheaply. Then they returned to the house of the bride's father, who gave his friends a supper in the evening to celebrate the great event. It was a great event to Livesey, for after fifty years of married life, he could say that his 28 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. wife was the greatest blessing of his life to him. The age of the bride was nineteen years and a half the bridegroom a little over twenty-one. Their wedding tour was a very short one from Liverpool to their new home at Walton next morning, where they received the congratulations of their neighbours, and the bride, of course, underwent the usual criticism from the female portion of the population. " Here we both settled down to our work, Joseph to his loom, and Jane to her wheel ; and though as low in means as most people to start with, we have ' lived and loved together,' now (1868) more than fifty-two years, never once having reason to regret the step we took. I soon learnt the truth of the old saying, ' In taking a wife you had better have a fortune in her, than with her ; ' and if all men were guided by this, and the females knew it, we should have happier marriages, and the girls would aim to acquire substantial instead of artificial attractions." Like her husband, Mrs. Livesey had to work hard. In addition to the housework she had to keep the three weavers Joseph, his uncle, and grandfather supplied with full bobbins, and we are told that she fulfilled all her duties well. Under her cleanly and orderly habits, for which none could excel her, the little cottage became as comfortable as any palace. In his spare time Livesey made the garden a place of delight for them to walk in, although he could not have had much leisure, seeing that he commenced work at the loom early in the morning, and kept at it till ten at night, and sometimes later. Marriage and Commercial Life. 29 But in less than a year they had found residence in Walton inconvenient, so removed to Preston, where they took a house at two shillings and sixpence per week rental. This was the year during which the accursed Corn laws were passed, whilst a body of soldiers guarded the House of Commons with bayonets drawn. These laws had a double effect they increased the price of food enormously, in the interests of the landlords, and seriously depressed the price of labour. Not merely did the workman have to pay more for the necessaries of life, but he had actually less money to expend upon them. We can, therefore, imagine something of Livesey's feelings of alarm when his wife gave birth to twins. Two additional mouths to fill was a serious matter in those days, but one of the children died soon after birth, and the other is now living at the ripe age of sixty- eight. And now a few months later than the interesting event just related came a turning-point in Livesey's life. It was the rising of the tide referred to by Shakspere. Would young Joseph " take it at the flood," and so be led to fortune ? As is so often the case, there was no evidence to him that it was flood- tide, nor any indications whither it would lead him if he took it. But he took it, simply with the desire to cheapen the food not only of his own little house- hold, but of his neighbours also. The outlook was very gloomy for Joseph Livesey just then. The house was not adapted for the weaving business, prices were high, there was 3O Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. another mouth to fill, and, to crown all, his own health was failing. A doctor was consulted, and he, following the pet remedy of the time, advised him to live better. He was to take a sup of malt-liquor with some bread and cheese in the middle of the forenoon. It is not remembered whether he got the beer, but a bit of common cheese, sevenpence or eightpence per pound, was purchased. That bit of cheese was the cornerstone, so to speak, upon which Livesey's business career was established ; for about that time the Lancaster cheese-fair was being held, and he had heard some one saying that prices had gone down to about fifty shillings the hundredweight. He imme- diately put his self-taught arithmetic into use, and calculated that this meant fivepence per pound. Then it occurred to him that if he had sufficient money to purchase a whole cheese, he could retail it in small pieces to his neighbours at cost price and retain sufficient for himself on the same terms. He had no idea of reaping a profit from the transaction. That had never occurred to him. It was co-opera- tion of the purest kind. But where was the money to come from ? He might have gone round to his neighbours, and, telling them of his plan, asked for the money in advance of the cheese. This does not seem to have occurred to him either. He went into the market, where the farmers stood with their cheese. He met a farmer named Bradley, who had sold all but two cheeses. Livesey inquired the price, and as the farmer was anxious to return home, he offered Marriage and Commercial Life. 3 1 to sell at the rate of fourpence-three-farthings per pound. Alas ! it would need a sovereign to purchase the two cheeses, and Joseph had no money. He had, however, soon decided on a course of action. In Friargate lived a draper whose name was Burnett, well-known as a kind friend to those in need. To him went Livesey, and told him of this fine chance of providing the people with sevenpenny cheese at fivepence a pound. He at once lent the sovereign, and Joseph hurried down to the market with it and purchased the cheeses, which were soon on the weaver's table. Having informed his neigh- bours of this grand achievement, he obtained their promises to take portions ; but to cover any loss that might ensue from the cutting and weighing, they agreed to pay him fivepence-halfpenny per pound, and they would still save at least three half- pence per pound. Again repairing to his friend Burnett, Livesey obtained the loan of weights and scales, but after all the neighbours had been served there still remained a considerable stock on hand. In the afternoon he took this into the Vauxhall Road, and sold a quantity of it to the public at the same low prices. At the end of the day he counted his money and weighed the remaining stock, and found that he had unintentionally made a profit of eighteen- pence. This was far more than he could have obtained during the time by weaving, so he was quite elated with his success. This was Saturday night, and on the Monday he hawked the remnant about until he had sold it. Then he returned to his 32 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. loom, but throughout that week the people came to him for some more of his cheap cheese. So on Saturday he again solicited the help of Mr. Burnett, in order that he might repeat his experiment. Thus for some time Livesey devoted himself to his loom all the week, and on Saturday sold his cheese at the corner of Syke Hill, and at last had the audacity of making his stand in the Market- place itself, where he caused considerable consterna- tion by retailing cheese in small quantities at five- pence-halfpenny a pound. The quantity thus dis- posed of increased every week, until soon he was getting rid of three hundredweight in a day. Then he entered into the wholesale branch, selling it by the whole cheese and sometimes by the hundred- weight. His wife had now appeared in the Market- place, and she cut up and sold the small portions whilst he looked after the wholesale customers. Although this was in winter, they continued at it in the belief and hope that they were now on the road to future success. To fill up the whole of the week with his cheese-selling, Livesey attended the markets at Chorley, Blackburn, and Wigan, walking to and from Preston, for there were as yet no railways. There was an end of the weaving, and the loom was given to a poor man named Woodruff, from whom, in after years, Livesey rebought it for a sovereign and had its pieces remade into a writing- table. Of this article of furniture he wrote in his seventy-fifth year : " Turn it over and you will see the several pieces that constituted the cradle of my Marriage and Commercial Life. 33 future usefulness ; and when I am in the grave, may this remind my children that their father was a poor man, and that of all the duties incumbent upon them they should never forget the poor ! " By-and-by he began to attend Bolton Market^ walking the double journey of forty miles and sell- ing his goods in the one day ; but later he was enabled to buy a pony, for several friends, seeing his success, lent him money at interest to enable him to keep up a stock. He now rode out into the country districts, calling upon the farmers and buying their cheese. After his long journeys to Bolton and back he had to turn out from his rest in the chimney corner to go into the stable to clean the pony. He was anxious to pay off his loans, and therefore would not spend a penny more than he could help. Every Monday morning for twenty years with scarcely an exception he went to Bolton, for next to Preston it was his best market. The next im- provement in his circumstances was the acquisition of a gig. For eight years he stood with other cheesedealers in the street (Cheapside), until in 1 824 a part of the new Corn Exchange was allotted for the sale of cheese. But this was cold work in winter, and they all laboured under the old delusion that strong drink kept the cold out, so that their excursions across the Market-place to Mrs. Rigby's (the " Blue Anchor "), for some of her 2^d. ale, were probably frequent. Livesey himself was kept from excess, but he fears that his example on that account may have been Joseph Livtity. 34 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. the more dangerous to others, who went with him, but did not come out with him, often staying till they were intoxicated. In his journeys to country places in quest of cheese, it is only to be expected that in those days he would meet with a few adventures and discom- forts. On one occasion he had gone as far afield as Ulverston, and had to leave there in the evening to catch a coach at Leven's Bridge. In the intervening district he was quite a stranger. With darkness there came on a heavy dew, so that he could not tell where he was or what to do. He kept on the road, and at last came to a farmhouse ; but he was afraid to knock, lest they should mistake him for some objectionable character and set the dogs at him. So he wisely decided not to make any noise, but sought an outhouse, and threw himself down on some hay, and rested there till daybreak, when he quietly walked out without anybody seeing him. He was, on another occasion, nearly overtaken by the tide whilst crossing the famous Eleven-mile Sands, where so many travellers have been drowned. He was on foot, and saw the waves rolling rapidly in from the west. In an instant he started eastward at his quickest pace, and was able to reach the land in safety ; but his escape was of the narrowest. On a similar occasion he was on business at Wardless, and with one of his sons desired to cross the Wye. The boatman was called out, but he was partially intoxi- cated. He got out his boat a light, flat-bottomed craft and they all got in and steadied themselves as Marriage and Commercial Life. 35 much as possible, but when in the middle of the stream the drunken boatman toppled right over into the water, and Livesey thought they were both following him. They managed to keep upright and prevent the boatman pulling them over in his efforts to get in. They were relieved to see him get to the stern of the boat and push them to shore, for he had evidently found the bottom with his feet. The cheese-business went on increasing, until it had become the largest of the kind in North Lancashire, and throughout its building-up as, indeed, through- out her life Livesey had the active help, as well as the sweet sympathy, of a good wife. We are not often introduced to her in the Autobiography, but the reason is stated ; Livesey was positively interdicted with the injunction : " See thou sayest nothing about me" In spite of this, however, and regardless of the " curtain-lecture " which he looked forward to as the reward of disobedience, he has contrived to give us a little information about this most estimable lady. He says : " I cannot do justice to my feelings if I do not say a few words as to the excellencies of my dear wife. In our early struggles, when com- mencing business out of nothing, she was not only my counsellor in difficulties, but an active and effi- cient helper to the extent of, and even beyond her power. She was no lady-wife ; -though respectably connected and accustomed to plenty before marriage, she willingly shared my poverty and privations, and bore a full part of our burdens. She shared my joys, and more than shared my sorrows, for she wiped 36 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. them away. Whenever I was cast down, she was the one to revive my spirits. For a long time she did all the house-work, as well as attending to busi- ness, and she would sit up past midnight making and mending the children's clothes. No pen could do jus- tice in describing the sympathy she showed towards every sufferer that came within her reach ; nor set forth her willingness to undergo any toil to give them relief. If ever a ' good mother ' existed, she de- serves that name. No labour was ever too much, no anxiety too great, or sacrifice too severe to pro- vide for the wants of her children, to get them well educated, and to bring them up respectably. Her motherly kindness never waned, and never will ; for, to this day, her happiness is bound up with the happiness and well-doing of her family. Though delicate from the first, the amount of endurance she has manifested is truly wonderful. If ever we had a bit of a ' tift ' (and these are sometimes useful in clearing the connubial atmosphere), it was almost always about her working too hard ; and yet I am strongly inclined to think that this exercise, and the pleasure she had in seeing her house and children nice, have contributed far more to her lengthened life than the opposite would have done. A lady's life of soft indulgence, rising late in the morning, lolling on a sofa most of the forenoon reading novels, with little exercise, fed with rich food, and pampered with de- licacies these have killed many a thousand with better constitutions than Mother Livesey's." CHAPTER III. The Corn Law Repealer. t O enable the young reader to judge of the social conditions of the time when Livesey undertook the responsibilities of married life, it will be well to take a glance back a few years. Restrictions upon the trade in corn had been imposed at various periods from the fifteenth century upwards. Burke's Act of 1773 permitted the import of foreign wheat at the nominal duty of 6d. per quarter, when the price of home-grown wheat was 485. per quarter; but ultimately the landowners and farmers complained that when the price of English wheat was down to 485., it was unfair to admit foreign grain on payment of so small a duty, and demanded that greater restric- tions should be imposed upon the imports. In con- sequence for the landowners were the dominant power in the State an Act was passed in 1791 pro- viding that the 6d. duty should not come into force except when the home price was 545. or upwards. From 545. to -503. the duty was 2s. 6d. ; from 412694 38 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. 505. downwards there was a prohibitory duty of 24.5. 3d. per quarter ! This, too, at a time when we were involved in great wars which had seriously disturbed commerce ; when the expenses incidental to import and export had been increased about four hundred per cent., and when the war expenditure was so flagrantly lavish that the resources of the country were all but expended. The price of corn, as of all other commodities, rose enormously. In 1801, the average price of wheat was 1195. 6d., but when in 1803 it had dropped to 583. iod., the landowners were again dissatisfied, and called for further restrictions on import. They sought to keep up the high prices of 1801, and, therefore, in 1804 an Act was passed, the result of which was to impose an import duty of 243. 3d. whenever the home price was 633. or less. The price rose to 893. 9d. in 1805, and to I22s. 8d. in 1812. But these prices were to a large extent due to the war and the scarcity of money, and it was foreseen that with peace would come a fall both in the price of wheat and the rent of land. In the temporary peace of 1814, the price of British wheat fell to 553. 8d. The landed interest took alarm, and in 1815, the year of peace with France, after the final overthrow of Buonaparte at Waterloo, a Bill was rushed through both Houses of Parliament with indecent haste. This Bill raised the price at which import duty ceased to 8os. ; and below this price importation was prohibited. The object of this Act was to keep up the price of wheat per- manently to about 80s. The Corn Law Repealer. 39 The reason for this is to be found in the fact that rents had been largely increased, to make up to the landowner for the heavy war taxes, which all had to pay. The farmer had, therefore, to pay his own tax and the landlord's too ; but by the imposition of these unjust corn laws, both landlord and farmer were practically reimbursed for their taxes, and the whole burden fell upon the consumer, who could find no way of avoiding payment of his taxes. During the discussions in the Commons, the House was sur- rounded by an excited mob, which stopped the carriages of members, and subjected the latter to insults. . Cries of " No Corn Laws " were continuously and loudly raised, and the constables becoming in- sufficient to quell the tumult, the soldiers were called out, and they surrounded the House with fixed bayonets during the remainder of the debates. The mob now marched off to the houses of ministers and members who were in favour of the Corn Laws, breaking in and causing great destruction of property. The Bill was read a first time in the House of Com- mons on March ist; a second time on the 3rd; passed through Committee on the 6th, and on the loth was read a third time and passed. It passed through the Lords even more rapidly, taking only eight days for its passage there, and three days later it received the Royal Assent and became law ! These were the conditions under which the people were bidden to rejoice for the victories of Wellington's arms ! In the preface to the Annual Register for that year it is stated : " There has rarely been a 4O Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. time of more widely diffused complaint than the close of the current year ; and all the triumphant sensations of national glory seem almost obliterated by general depression." But now that the war was ended, and commerce revived somewhat, the people began to feel the whole burden of the immense war debts, and consequently gave their minds to questions of home politics. They began to see that the supposed good effect of the Corn Laws upon the country was a huge delusion. Various Acts were passed in succeeding years ; but for the most part they were inoperative, owing to natural causes, but the whole drift of them was the maintenance of high prices for the benefit of the land- owner. In glancing at the history of such a time as this, it is interesting to have the views of one who experienced all the privations caused by those laws, and who helped in no mean measure to hasten their abolition. Joseph Livesey tells us that, " The indecent haste with which, the Bill was passed was calculated to arouse the opposition of the people as much as the measure itself. If we want a proof of the wantonness of class legislation, of the regardlessness of the rights of the people, and of the sacrifice, even of common decency, at the shrine of selfishness, we find it in the history of the passing of the Corn Bill." " The har- vest of 1816 was said to be ' one of the worst ever known in England, both for quantity and quality.' No loaves could be baked, all the wheat being un- sound, and flour could only be used by being made The Corn Law Repealer. 41 into cakes. It was by military force that the people were kept down, mobbing and rioting taking place all over the country. The Luddites, in 1811 and 1812, committed sad depredations in breaking machinery. They mistook the cause of their sufferings ; being led to believe that the depression in trade and the reduc- tion in wages were caused by the introduction of machinery." Meetings were held in opposition to the Corn Laws, and among them was the great gathering of from 60,000 to 100,000 people, in Peters fields (Peterloo), Manchester where now the Free Trade Hall stands. This latter meeting was, by order of the magistrates, charged by two regiments of Hussars and cavalry, with drawn swords. Eleven persons were killed and six hundred wounded. The chairman of the meeting was taken, tried and sentenced to be impri- soned for two years and a half. In an excited time like this, when trade was fettered and the food of the people taxed almost to prohibition, it was im- possible for a man like Joseph Livesey to keep aloof from the agitation. He went into it heart and soul ; but not only did he agitate, he showed his sympathy in a manner, perhaps, more immediately practical. He assisted in the organisation and distribution of relief in Preston, on several occasions of distress ; but we shall have occasion to refer to this matter anon. " Though not a professed political agitator, I took a share in every movement which had for its object the freedom of trade and the untaxing of the people's food. It was impossible for me to remain a mere 42 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. spectator, and when I saw my fellow-creatures suffering so severely from a removable cause, and on every occasion I endeavoured to expose the cruel tendency of the Corn Laws ; the wickedness of ex- cluding foreign food, when the people were starving, for the selfish purpose of keeping up the value of land. Ten years before the Anti-Corn Law League was fairly at work, in my Moral Reformer I wrote strong articles upon this subject." Witness the following extract from one of these articles in the number for March, 1831 : " To me it is quite clear, after the opening of the budget, that, in the present circumstances of the country, to expect an efficient relief for the poor and labouring classes, from a reduction of taxes merely, would be the greatest delusion. What relief is there offered to the poor weaver ? About a penny a week in candles ! Is this likely to conciliate the country ? To live like human beings the weavers' wages must be doubled ; but as that is not practicable, the price of his bread ought to be balanced with his wages. The curse of the country is the Corn Law, and till that is repealed persons may drag their weary limbs about, may beset the dispensary for physic, crowd the work- house to excess ; may sink beneath their sufferings and die from hunger ; but there will be no relief. I could fill a volume with detailing the most miserable and wretched cases which have come before me during the past month. Oh ! how hard, that honest and industrious men should hunger while God gives bread enough and to spare." The Corn Law Repealer. 43 He then proceeds to show that the net average wage of a weaver, working from five a.m. to nine or ten p.m., was 5s. u|d. per week, and continues: " Such is the miserable pittance of the weaver, and with provisions at the present exorbitant price, if any man in the country can behold this state of things without raising his determined voice against it, he must be destitute of the common feelings of humanity." His journal, The Struggle, although containing articles upon Temperance and kindred subjects of social reform, yet had for its main object the furtherance of the Corn Law agitation. It was illustrated with cartoons and smaller cuts, in which the chief actors in and phases of the struggle were cleverly though roughly caricatured. In one of these, Sir Robert Peel is meditating among the tombs of those killed by the Corn Laws. In another, Britannia sits upon the ground, her hair dishevelled, and the emblems of her power scattered around, whilst her hands are manacled by the Corn Law chain. To her appears the ghost of Buonaparte, who exclaims, " My Berlin decrees were mere waste-paper ; the Corn Laws of her landowners have ruined that com- merce, to destroy which was the dearest object of my heart." Another exhibits a farmer and his man hauling a poor cow up to the roof of a house covered with grass. This was a satire upon the prescription of emigration as a cure for the ills of labour, when the simplest and cheapest plan for the nation was to bring the food to the man, instead of sending the man to the food. 44 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. Here also appeared the following FAMILY PETITION. To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled. The Petition of Joseph Livesey and family, cheese factor, Preston, in the county of Lancaster, iambln Sfctfotlfc, That they regard the Corn and Provision Laws of this country as unjust, cruel, impolitic, deceitful, and impious, and fast tending in their influence to ruin the whole country. They, therefore, humbly beg your Honourable House IM MEDIA TEL Y to REPEAL the same, and your Petitioners will ever pray. Joseph Livesey Jane Livesey William Livesey Joseph Livesey, junr, John Livesey Newton Livesey Howard Livesey Jane Livesey, the younger James Livesey Alfred Livesey Franklin Livesey Of this lively and useful periodical, Livesey issued 235 numbers, but towards the last days of the agitation, he became so worn out in the struggle that he was unable to arrange for an engraving for the last number, but had to repeat that of the previous week, and even that was a copy from Punch. In this last number, Livesey bids farewell to the subscribers to his journal, and pays a tribute to the discretion and sagacity of Sir Robert Peel, who, " whatever may have been, or whatever may be, his political errors, his The Corn Law Repealer. 45 name will ever be honourably associated with the history of this important era, as one who gratefully received enlightenment from the people, and gave the people in return the copious blessings of trade, peace, and plenty." Throughout the agitation, taken up as he was by an increasing business, Livesey managed to find time to write, speak, and agitate, on behalf of repeal. " Though I never assumed the character of a political agitator, yet I feel it no slight honour to have stood with Cobden and Bright, on a platform in the open air, denouncing monopoly, and pleading for the people's rights. And, comparing the last twenty with the previous thirty years,* I don't hesitate to say that the free trade policy, advocated so long by Colonel Thompson, Villiers, Cobden, and Bright, and at last taken up by Sir Robert Peel, has saved this country from revolution, and, in fact, has been the forerunner of that contentment, tranquillity, and progress, which have marked this latter period." It is probable that Livesey's most valuable aid to the agitation consisted in the publication of The Struggle, previously referred to. Its circulation fluctuated somewhat, but at times it reached 15,000 per week, which was not an insignificant number, when it is considered how restricted was the reading public in those days. The writing in it was very clear and forcible, and great stress was laid upon the point * This was written in 1868, and should now read as *' thirty- six " and " forty-six," respectively. 46 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. that the Corn Laws, though ostensibly imposed in the farmer's interest, were really opposed to it. A Mr. Christy used to take large numbers of this periodical, and circulate them among the farmers and their labourers. In 1 844, a great Free Trade Bazaar was held in Covent Garden Theatre, the object being to raise a fund of .100,000 to carry on the agitation. Mr. and Mrs. Livesey had charge of a stall, and to that stall they-attended from morning till night, through a whole fortnight. Livesey formed one of the deputation of Free Traders that waited upon Sir Robert Peel, previous to his conversion. When that conversion was complete, Sir Robert confessed that it was due to the arguments of the Anti-Corn Law League. It is thought, that one of the most convincing arguments was the determination of the repealers, to raise a quarter of a million of money, for the purchase of freehold estates, in order to qualify voters in districts were there was a repeal sentiment. He says, that had not repeal taken place, he has no doubt at all that every farthing of that sum would have been raised and spent for the purpose. Livesey assisted in the collection of this fund, and retained two of the collec- ting books as mementoes. He, himself, assisted in the purchase of properties in Preston, to the extent of 1 7,600, for making freehold votes. The same plan was adopted in Cheshire, West Yorkshire, and in such other counties as offered a chance of electing a free-trader. For himself and sons, he purchased free- i holds in North and South Lancashire, North Cheshire, '* The Corn Law Repealer. 47 and other counties. In fact, for this purpose, he became a pluralist voter, and though such schemes would hardly be sanctioned by the popular party to- day, it was then the only practicable weapon with which the holders of corrupt seats could be fought. " It was this money power, more than the arguments, that confounded the protectionists, and compelled them at last to relinquish the law for crippling trade and making food dear. Though there is nothing I dislike more than mixing myself up with electioneering con- tests, yet, viewing the repeal of the Corn Laws as a question of humanity, I never hesitated when an opportunity offered." He spent ten days at Walsall, assisting the candidature of the popular candidate and super- intending the issuing of a little morning paper, The Alarm. In 1846 Sir Robert Peel put an end to the long and bitter struggle by the famous Act 9 and 10 Viet. c. 22, which provided that a small duty ranging from 45. to i os. should immediately supersede the old and heavy one, when the price was below 485., and that in three years' time these duties should cease altogether and foreign corn be henceforth admitted at the uniform rate of is. per quarter and foreign meal and flour at 4|d. per hundredweight. In 1860, even these nominal duties were swept away, and the import of foreign grain and flour is now absolutely free. Whoever values the blessing of abundant and cheap bread, let him thank such men as Joseph Livesey, who prepared the way for the 48 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. more powerful parliamentary advocacy of the Brights, the Cobdens, and the Villiers. " I have been connected with many public institu- tions and philanthropic movements, local and general, but I feel convinced that I have never rendered as much service to the cause of humanity and national good, as by my labours in promoting free trade and the temperance movement. The one serves to pro- vide liberally the comforts and necessaries of life, and the other teaches the people the rational way of enjoying them. If there be one day in the year which I should like to celebrate as a day of thanks- giving and gladness, it would be the 26th of June, the day on which Queen Victoria, in 1 846, placed her royal name to the charter of our commercial liberties. The Prayer Book speaks gratefully of ' cheapness and plenty/ and if ever there is another thanks- giving service added it ought to be for the repeal of the Corn Laws. I have often wondered that no monu- ment worthy of the event has as yet been erectedjn any part of Lancashire." CHAPTER IV. The Temperance Reformer. ARLY in the year 1831, Livesey had to call upon two tradesmen to settle an account resulting from an unfortunate partnership he had been led into. As was customary on these occasions, a bottle of drink was produced. It was whisky a liquor Livesey had never before tasted. He was pressed to drink, and took a glass of whisky-and-water. On the way home the strange drink " took hold of him," and he felt very queer. He retired to bed feeling very un- well, and by the morning had made up his mind that he would never take any kind of intoxicants again. That resolution he kept religiously during the remainder of his life. He had a large family of boys, and the resolution was made chiefly for their sakes. At that time Livesey kept an adult Sunday-school, and, as the result of his example, he was enabled, on the ist January, 1832, to enrol the young men of his school into a temperance society. Nothing had been said then about total abstinence, although, of course, Joseph Livesey. 5O Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. some few " extreme " people practised it. The pledge was usually one to abstain from spirits and to use malt liquors "in moderation." Soon after this event a Mr. John Smith began circulating temperance tracts in the town, and Livesey and some fellow-townsmen joined him in his labours. Thus combined they sought the aid of the Rev. Mr. Jackson, who was the agent of the Bradford Temperance Society, and who delivered two lectures for them, before large audiences. On the 22nd of March, in the same year, this little band formed themselves into the Preston Temperance Society with the usual pledge. Soon they engaged a building called the " Cock Pit," where the fighting of cocks had previously been held, and here they held their meetings during the next twenty years. The Cock Pit was capable of holding 700 persons, and for several years they had crowded audiences. The meetings were characterised by great enthusiasm, and they enrolled as members many who were held to be " very hard cases." But it was soon found that the liberty of taking malt liquors " in moderation " was a loophole which occasioned much backsliding, and hence arose a heated controversy upon the point whether the pledge should not be made more stringent. Livesey, with several others, considered there would be no safety for their converts unless the pledge was made one of total abstinence, but this was held to be a violation of temperance orthodoxy which was too dangerous to be considered it would break up the society. However, in spite of all opposition, Livesey determined to move in the matter. The Temperance Reformer. 5 1 " One Thursday (August 23rd, 1832), John King was passing my shop in Church Street, and I invited him in, and after discussing this question, upon which we were both agreed, I asked him if he would sign a pledge of total abstinence, to which he consented. I then went to the desk and wrote one out (the precise words of which I don't remember). He came up to the desk, and I said, ' Thee sign it first.' He did so, and I signed after him." On the following Saturday week (September 1st), a special meeting of the Society was called to discuss the proposed innovation. There was a warm dis- cussion, and at the close of the meeting a small group gathered together and still further discussed the matter. The result was that Joseph Livesey, John King, and five others agreed to the new pledge, which was as follows : " We agree to abstain from all liquors of an intoxicating quality, whether ale, porter, wine, or ardent spirits, except as medicines. " John Gratrex Edward Dickinson John Broadbelt Joseph Livesey David Anderton John King. John Smith " These then were the ' seven men of Preston ' so often referred to ; but it is but justice to say, that though their signing, no doubt, gave a great impetus to the cause, there were many others who did a great deal more to forward its interests and secure its, success, than some of these seven. Scarcely any record remains of the labours of some of these ; 52 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. three are dead ; two, who are living, broke their pledges; John King and myself only remain 'staunch/ and I may be said to be the only worker. Among those who really deserve to be called ' the men of Preston ' for their early devotion to this noble enter- prise, I may mention the following : James Teare, Edward Grubb, Thomas Swindlehurst, William Howarth (' Slender Billy '), James Broughton, Henry Anderton (poet), Isaac Grundy (treasurer), Hen. Bradley (secretary), Jos. Richardson, Richd. Turner (' Dicky Turner '), Willm. Gregory, Jonathan Simp- son (secretary), Robt. Jolly, Geo. Cartwright, Jos. Dearden, John Bimson, Thos. Osbaldeston, John Barton, Robt. Charnley, Thos. Walmsley, Jas. Stephenson, Geo. Toulmin, Saml. Smalley, John Walker, Miles Pennington, John Brade, and some others." With a few exceptions, the above were working men, and about one-half of them were reformed drunkards. They formed a most enthusiastic band of disinterested labourers speakers, visitors, tract distributors, etc. Many of them are still living, and the bulk of these remain abstainers. Livesey expresses the conviction that more good was done by the sodality thus composed, than by any similar agency since. After this meeting the majority of the committee accepted Livesey's pledge, but as a Society they went on as before, with the exception that at all their sub- sequent meetings the new pledge was offered side by side with the oM one and was constantly signed. The Temperance Reformer. 53 But for a couple of years the battle of the pledges total abstinence or partial abstinence went on. At the next annual meeting a pledge of abstinence for twelve months was adopted, to run with the old one, and at the corresponding meeting in 1835 the so- called " moderation pledge " was abolished amid much enthusiasm. It must be remembered that at that period drink was believed in as an absolute necessary of life by all classes ; even people in the villages were addicted to the same habits as the townsfolk, and drunkenness was regarded as a very venial offence. The condi- tion of Walton during his boyhood is a fair repre- sentation of other villages and towns at that period. The weavers crowded the public-houses and " St. Monday " was an honoured festival. " The villagers all thought well of drink, and at the dame's school, kept by Jenny Holmes, to which I was first sent, there was spiced ale or wine at the Christmas ban- quet, and the little folks, I remember, were showing off by imitating the drunkard. We had a sad wet lot connected with the church. The gravedigger and his father were both drunkards ; ringers and singers both were hard drinkers, and I remember the latter singing in my father's kitchen one Christmas Day morning in a most disgraceful condition. The parish clerk was no exception. When the church clock was standing for want of winding up on a morning, as was often the case, the remark was, ' The clerk was drunk again last night.' The hospitality of my father's house always included the bottle. One of 54 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. my uncles (Ainsworth) a timber dealer in the village, a fine healthy man, killed himself in the prime of life with drinking, and left a large family unprovided for. I need not say more." "Cheese-buying in the country, too, was a dan- gerous business, the farmers generally keeping the bottle to bring out over making a bargain. Many have been ruined, and it is a mercy that neither I nor any of my sons were ever overcome by it." Steeped as the people were in this habit, it was no light task which Joseph Livesey and his brave com- panions undertook. But they were filled with enthu- siasm, they were well organised, and they knew how to appeal to their fellow-men. Livesey gave much of his time to the work, drew up their plans of opera- tion, and was usually consulted on matters of the campaign. So great was the change they effected in Preston, that when the Society abolished the old partial pledge the church bells were set pealing. At one of the succeeding meetings, held in the theatre, the Rev. J. Clay (chaplain of the Preston House of Correction) testified that " this was the sixth assizes (at Lancaster) at which there had not been a single case of felony from Preston." But they did not confine their attentions to the town alone. They had a " teetotal car" built, and in this parties of them would make incursions into the neighbouring villages, holding meetings there, and returning in the car, perhaps at midnight. The town was divided into twenty-eight districts for the purposes of the Society, and to each of these a The Temperance Reformer. 55 captain was appointed with a number of visitors under him. People who were known to be drinkers were visited and invited to become abstainers, and those who had signed the pledge were looked after and " nursed " until their new principle had time to strengthen. The society was formed on a broad basis and its constitution forbade the introduction of party politics or sectarian religion. In order that temperance workers and reformed drunkards should have a convenient place in which to meet for friendly counsel and relaxation they founded a temperance hotel. But owing to misman- agement it was for a time a failure, until Mrs. Livesey volunteered to leave her own home in order to manage the hotel and make it a success. This she accomplished, and after two years, when it was well established, it was handed over to William Howarth (" Slender Billy "), in whose family it has since remained. In connection with this period, a reference must be made to " Dicky Turner," the once drunken fish- hawker and plasterer, who was the author of the term "teetotal," which is now historical. One evening when Dicky was the worse for liquor, he strayed into the tem- perance meeting, for the purpose of " having a lark," but before he left he had signed the pledge of total abstinence. It appears that Dicky was always causing considerable amusement by coining words when he was at a loss for one sufficiently expressive for his purpose, and by his use of words not unlike in sound but as wide apart as the poles in meaning. Thus in DICKY TURNER. The Temperance Reformer. 57 one of his addresses he referred to the wives of the reformed drunkards as " wearing veils and palisades (parasols)." He also suffered from what Mrs. Malaprop described as " a derangement of epitaphs," as witness this sentence from a speech in which he urged his fellow-workers to greater efforts : " We will go with our axes on our shoulders and plough up the great deep, and then the ship of temperance shall sail gallantly over the land." But he was a good and earnest worker, and thus atoned for his liberties with the King's English. In September, 1833, Dicky delivered a characteristic speech in the old Cock-pit, and being at a loss for a word, he excitedly affirmed that " nothing but the te-tee-total would do." " I remember well crying out ' That shall be the name/ amid great cheering in the meeting ; witnesses say that along with this I patted him on the shoulder, but this I do not remember. When Dicky used this word it was intended to affirm that moderation in beer and wine was delusive, and that nothing but the teetotal, that is, entire abstinence from all kinds of liquors, would do. It has been said that, the term is a Lancashire provincialism, but of that no satisfactory evidence has ever been given." For fourteen years Dicky Turner worked hard, and only gave up when he broke a blood-vessel in the stomach, which had a fatal result. " He never could do too much. To the sound of his rattle through the streets we often owed the attendance at the meetings we held in the town and villages, in schools and 58 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. other places. In 1 846, Richard undertook a mission on his own account to the south, preaching teetotal all the way to London, where he attended the World's Temperance Convention. He went as far as Southampton, from whence a letter came, saying, ' Let Dicky be sent everywhere, as he will do much good.' " His remains lie in St. Peter's Churchyard, Preston, and on his grave is the following inscription " Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Richard Turner, author of the word ' teetotal,' as applied to abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, who departed this life on the 2/th day of October, 1846, aged 56 years." The meetings at that date were very large, the halls being crowded and numbers of people being unable to gain admission. Some of these would cling to the windows, so eager were they to catch a few words of the new teaching. They were subjected to all kinds of annoyance and persecution at the hands of " the trade," but even this was sometimes turned to the benefit of the movement. " These were happy days. We had some stirring scenes on the Marsh ; on the one hand, our veterans with their movable platform were denouncing the drink and inviting the spectators to come and join ; close by was a cart laden with barrels and bottles in the care of a notorious individual, named ' Jem Duck- worth,' sent, we presumed, by the publicans, who, with his assistants, was serving out free drink in opposition, in order to attract the people away." The Temperance Reformer. 59 They had their teetotal processions through the town, and their tea-parties. The greatest of all these was the Christmas Day tea-party of 1833, which was held in the Corn Exchange Assembly Rooms. For a fortnight previously a .party of workers had been occupied day and night in decorating the place. The walls and the tables the latter 630 feet in length were covered with white cambric, and the company was broken up into parties of ten persons each, to whom was appointed a complete service of tea requi- sites. Altogether twelve hundred persons attended, of whom 850 partook of tea together, the balance being served afterwards. They were not content with merely agitating the town of Preston and the villages around. In 1833 seven of them of whom Livesey was one, as a matter of course determined to pay a visit during " the race week," to the chief towns in Lancashire, there to establish societies on the new principle, or where old societies were in existence, to graft the new principle upon them. Provided with nearly ten thousand tracts and a neat white silk flag, with a suitable motto upon it, they started off in their car on Monday morning, and visited Blackburn, Has- lingden, Bury, Heywood, Rochdale, Oldham, Ashton, Stockport, Bolton, Manchester, and the intervening villages. " We divided our party so that we could hold two meetings each night, some in buildings and some in the open air Scarcely any previous arrangements had been made, or proper placards 60 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. printed and posted. One of our party usually went before the rest to fix upon places, and we never failed in getting an audience. At Bury, for instance, a cart was procured and sent through the town, con- taining the bellman, who announced the meeting, another who carried a placard stating the time and place, and a third who showered tracts as they went along. ... At Rochdale we drove through the main streets with our car, and our flag flying, on which was gilt ' Temperance Meeting.' The bell- man was not at home, so we left his fee and took the bell, and rang it ourselves in the car. James Teare, who had a powerful voice, announced the meeting to be held on the ground called ' The Butts,' at twelve o'clock at noon. A large congregation was collected ; several powerful addresses were delivered, and al- though sneered at by a lawyer, and openly opposed by a liquor merchant, it was evident the people were deeply affected. It is not too much to say that the success of co-operation in Rochdale, owes something of its vitality to the results of this meeting." John Brearley, who was afterwards one of the most active leaders in the co-operative movement, was induced to sign the pledge at this meeting. " An evening meeting was held at Heywood, but before leaving next morning, another meeting was convened in the main street by sending the bellman round, and one of the mills stopped working in order to allow the workpeople the opportunity of attending. AtAshton the Superintendent Wesleyan Minister pre- sided; and early next morning Charles Hindley, Esq., The Temperance Reformer. 61 afterwards M.P. for Ashton, sent for us to breakfast with him, and we were very much pleased with the interest both he and Mrs. Hindley evinced in the object of our mission. It was three o'clock in the afternoon before we entered Stockport, and by some mistake no place had been secured for the meeting, and it was not until half-past six that the Primitive Methodist Chapel was obtained. Up to this time no notice had been given of any meeting. What was to be done ? ' Have you a drum ' said I, ' and a man that can beat it ? ' ' Yes ! ' Both were immediately procured ; I ordered the car out, and off we started. We drove rapidly through the streets, stopping at every crossing, one beat the drum, another called out the meeting, and the rest of us showered out the tracts. The fact is, such an excitement of the kind I never saw before or since. Our purpose was answered, and an hour and a half seemed on this occa- sion sufficient to accomplish what, on our modern slow-going system, would require a fortnight. ... At Manchester the meeting was held in the theatre of the Mechanics' Institution, and was addressed by six of us, who were constantly interrupted by the plaudits of the assembly, consisting of a fair proportion of the upper and working classes. At this meeting, a man named Kennedy was made a teetotaler, and he after- wards came to Preston once every year, while he was able, to express his gratitude for the blessing he had received. Our last place was Bolton, and the meeting was held there in the Independent Methodist Chapel on the Saturday night. The effect of the addresses by 62 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. our reformed drunkards was shown by the tears that were shed, and by every other demonstration of feel- ing. The chapel was granted for me to deliver a regular lecture on the following afternoon, Sunday. It commenced at a quarter to five, and continued about an hour and a quarter, listened to by a large audience with great attention. Up to this time, like all the rest, the Bolton Society was on the basis of abstinence from spirits only, the vicar being the president ; but in the following week ' the Bolton New Temperance Society ' was inaugurated, I and two others from Preston assisting on the occasion. After the meeting was over, we had to drive to Preston, twenty miles. Thus ended a hard, but a glorious week's work, and which served to show how much may be done by few hands and humble instru- ments where right principles have taken deep root, and where regard for respectable appearances and the fear of man are entirely abandoned." What was the position among these earnest men occupied by Joseph Livesey, appears in the following sentence written by Mr. Edward Morris, of Glasgow, who visited Preston in 1832 and lectured there. He says: " In no place since I quitted Glasgow did I find the temperance cause so flourishing as in Preston. The teetotal principle was then rising and showing its buds in that town. / found that Mr. Livesey was the life of the Preston Society, ably and zealously supported by Messrs. Dearden, King, Teare, Swindle- hurst, and other worthies, whose names I fondly believe are written in the Lamb's book of life." The Temperance Reformer. 63 In 1834, Livesey visited Birmingham and London, establishing teetotal societies in each place. In London he encountered the strong opposition of the British and Foreign Temperance Society, composed of the " little drop " men, and under " Royal, noble, and sacerdotal patronage." They refused him their assis- tance in getting a meeting together, and he deter- mined to do without it. He employed their porter to purchase him the necessary materials for his Malt Liquor Lecture, and after due interval, found that these had been left at his lodgings, together with the " change " out of the sovereign entrusted to him, and a note saying that he would gladly have rendered further assistance to Livesey, but his committee had intimated that if he did so it would be "as much as his place was worth." This was discouraging, but Livesey did not give up. He went out with handbills, and, by means of wafers, affixed them to the walls among other places, in the passages of the Bank of England ! Whatever could the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street have thought of such impudence ? This meeting was to be held in a room in Providence Row, Finsbury, and when the time arrived he found that his audience consisted of about thirty persons. Still, he delivered his lecture, and it had good effect on those present. This Malt Liquor Lecture had already become cele- brated, and to it we owe the conversion of many of the foremost leaders in the movement. Only a short time before he had delivered it at Leeds, when Dr. (then Mr.) F. R. Lees was among his audience, and was induced 64 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. henceforth to enter into the work. It must be borne in mind that, at that period, even educated persons were extremely ignorant respecting the composition and action of intoxicants. A wide distinction was made between spirits and malt-liquors, the latter being considered incapable of doing harm to the drinker. Livesey set himself to show the people that the active and pernicious principle was the same in each, varying only in the degree of their strength. He would get a shilling's worth of ale, and pay a chemist to distil the alcohol from it, and precipitate the solid matter. Then he would exhibit on the platform a shilling's worth each of rum, gin, whisky, ale, and spirits of wine, and set fire to them all in separate plates. This was to show that the essential portion in each of these liquors is the same as, and only differs in quantity from the pure spirits of wine. He would have a " still " on the platform, and would distil the spirit from a quart of ale, in full view of his audience. Then he would show how little nutriment there is in the ale by turning the " wash," after the spirit had been taken out, into a small brass pan and letting it boil a short time. Then, whilst he proceeded with his lecture, he would let the mixture simmer until all the water had evaporated, and left the solid matter quite dry. From a quart of ale this would amount to about two and a half ounces, and, setting this on a plate beside a sixpenny loaf, the contrast was somewhat striking. He would say, " Now, I will take a quart of ale, and cut it into three pieces ; the largest, and by far the best, is the water, weighing about thirty- The Temperance Reformer. 65 six ounces out of the forty ; the next is the extract or a small quantity of the inferior part of the barley that remains in the ale when you drink it, weighing at most two and a half ounces. This is all the food there is in your sixpenny quart of ale, and, in point of nutrition, it is inferior to common bread. Then we have the alcohol the spirit (the devil, if you will) weighing, when got out pure, one and a half ounce." Then, pouring it on a plate, and lighting it, he would explain how this spirit " inflamed the stomach, rotted the liver, gave some a red-hot face, and, in most cases, burnt the bottom of their pockets out The burning of the spirit always produced a great impression ; and this simple threefold division of the quart was one that they could long remember. At the end of the lecture, I invited them to come and taste of the extract the real nourishment of the famous Englishmen's drink and the result was, that all the honour they did to the ashes of poor John Barleycorn, was to spit them on the floor ! And yet, such is the delusion created by this alcohol in beer, that its power is believed in, by all classes, with as much faith and veneration, as the great Juggernaut was by his Hindoo worshippers." * Shortly after his return from London, he received a note from Mr. Pascoe, which ran : "Sir, Temper- ance, I think, is gaining ground in London. I am informed that much good has resulted from your lecture in Providence Row. The proprietor, who is an ale-brewer and partner of Dr. Epps, has given up * " Staunch Teetotaler," p. 181. Joseph Livesey. E 66 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. the use and sale of it from what he heard at your lecture." In the following year, a meeting of a dozen London teetotalers took place at the house of Mr. Grosjean, in Regent Street, at which it was decided to form a society ; and an invitation was sent to Preston, asking Livesey, Swindlehurst, and Howarth, to come to London, to assist them. They came, and on the evening following their arrival, a meeting of three or four hundred persons was held in Theobald's Road, Holborn, at which the British Teetotal Temperance Society was inaugurated, with a full abstinence pledge. There was a probability of this meeting becoming a failure, for Livesey says : " When it was getting near the time to commence, the attendance seemed very slender, and feeling rather cast down, I said to Swindlehurst and Howarth, ' We must try to get more people to hear us ; ' and with this Howarth and I went out, and borrowed a small bell, and started through the adjoining streets, ringing the bell and calling the meeting. We had not gone far when a policeman came up, and told us that that sort of work was not allowed in London, intima- ting that if we did not instantly desist, he would have to do his duty. Of course we did as requested, but this was productive of good results. We all spoke, and evidently astonished the people, and especially Mr. Howarth, who, from his being about the stoutest man in Preston, was generally known as ' Slender Billy.' We held three other meetings on the succeeding nights ; agitating and distributing tracts during the day. That on the Wednesday was The Temperance Reformer. 67 held in the National Schoolroom, Quaker Street, Spitalfields, at which our friend, John Andrew, of Leeds, gave us help. That on Thursday night was in Humphrey's Riding School, Waterloo Road. At these two meetings I delivered the malt liquor lecture, and at the latter, it was said that three brewers and about twenty publicans were present. The others also addressed the meeting, and at the close I challenged any present to come forward to dispute my statements, but no one responded. The Friday night's meeting was held in the Mariners' Church, Wellclose Square. Mr. Swindlehurst im- pressively urged the importance of the cause, and Mr. Andrew also ; but what is remarkable, as far as I can remember, no Londoner came forward to speak, excepting a working man or two. My own visit in 1834, and this in 1835, were the means of starting a new organisation, in the face of ' The British and Foreign Temperance Society.' The conflict for a time was severe, but the truth prevailed." In his " Reminiscences of Early Teetotalism," to which we have been greatly indebted for the infor- mation contained in the present chapter Livesey calls attention to the fact that " neither the discovery nor the infantile vigour of teetotalism owes anything to the college, the senate, or the school I may say we all came from the 'ranks,' and the advanced position of each shows what this and its advocacy can do. About nine of my earliest working years were spent on the loom ; James Teare was a shoemaker ; Edward Grubb a tailor ; and Thomas 68 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. Whittaker a dresser in a cotton mill ; and from these humble implements, in the providence of God, went forth a message which has blessed every part of the world, and is improving most of our social institutions." But in a later article in the same series he adds, " our ranks were never so destitute of literary, medical, and scientific talent as many moderns suppose. . . . And next, I observe, our men felt that they had a mission committed to them ; they believed they were able to execute it, and hence they were determined, in their own minds, to finish the work. Enthusiasm may not always be connected with wisdom and fore- sight, but without it the world will never be reformed. The ' bit and bit ' work, to which we seem to have reconciled ourselves at this day, formed no part of their creed. A coup de main was their ideal, and, believing that they could destroy the drinking system in a few years, root and branch, they gloried in the anticipation, and worked for it like heroes. If those who remain, like most reformers, have had to reap the bitter fruits of disappointment, they have at any rate conferred a blessing upon humanity for which posterity can never be too thankful." In 1835 he attended the conference of deputies from the various temperance societies in Lancashire and the neighbouring counties, which resulted in the formation of the British Temperance Association (now B. T. League] on teetotal principles. Of this asso- ciation which numbered two M.P.'s among its six original vice-presidents, viz., James Silk Buckingham and Joseph Brotherton Livesey was elected one of The Temperance Reformer. 69 the first secretaries, having as his coadjutors the Revs. Francis Beardsall and Richard Kenney. On the completion of his " Reminiscences " in the Staunch Teetotaller, he reprinted them in pamphlet form, adding some " Concluding Reflections," from which we quote, as showing the opinions held respect- ing the modern aspects of the movement. He regrets that much of the old fire of those early days has gone out, that the old methods have been, to a great extent at least, abandoned, and that a greater reliance has come to be placed upon legislative enactment rather than on individual example and effort. " In the early days we felt that we were really engaged in a ' temperance reformation. 1 We gave heart and soul to it. The conflict was fierce ; and the resistance manifested in hostile opposition served only to fire our zeal. We seemed as if we would turn the world upside down. We scarcely feel in this mood now. Our working-men sawyers, mechanics, and men of all trades were constant speakers at the meetings ; they went everywhere, and no others were listened to with equal attention. Instead of these fearless heroes, reverend gentlemen and professional lecturers, to a great extent, have taken their place (more so in Scotland than here), although for penetrating the masses and benefiting the millions, there is no agency equal to the plain, pointed, short/- unvarnished speech of the teetotal artisan Statements are now frequently put forward of the numbers of abstaining ministers, as 70 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. signs of present progress ; but I very much doubt whether the number of consistent men of this class exceeds what we had at one time ; and for labour and devotedness, my belief is that they then excelled." Of course, in reading the above, a good deal must be allowed to the fact that the writer was then in his seventy-fifth year, and old folks are proverbially pessimists, more or less. The things of the old time, looked at through the mellowing glass of many years, are bound to look bigger, brighter, and better when compared with the things of the present. Notwithstanding, it cannot be denied that there were strong grounds for Joseph Livesey's comparisons, which are not those of a mere grumbler, disappointed with the small result of stupendous efforts. " Though I may seem to some to be writing in a desponding spirit, I assure all my friends that I feel quite happy in the belief that a sound system of sobriety, based on science and experience, and tested by time, has been established : and though I may never again see the fire and enthusiasm of the olden time, it is a happy reflection to know that one has done somewhat towards establishing principles that command the admiration if they don't secure the practice of all good men. It is not difficult to account for the change. The novelty of the enter- prise has subsided ; persecution has almost ceased ; and the confidence that we should in a few years sweep away the whole drinking system we have been compelled to relinquish. We did not at one time stop to calculate the strength of the strongholds The Temperance Reformer. 71 of the enemy, nor to conceive of the difficulties in the way of overcoming them. Experience has sobered down our youthful enthusiasm, and repeated disappointments, I regret to say, have induced many to relinquish the work. And instead of widening the basis of our movement, and making it as broad as possible, there has grown up a disposition to con- tract it ; to place it principally in the keeping of the Church, as an auxiliary to its success. Instead of making teetotalism a dietetic and an hygienic ques- tion of embedding it in physiology and advocating it on moral, social, domestic, and national grounds, it has become regarded by too many as a useful expedient only, for the furtherance of denominational religion. ' Never will it succeed,' say many, ' till the Church takes it up.' This has been said for thirty years, and the Church (speaking of it in its widest sense) has not yet taken it up ; and I think a very little reflection will show that, as a body, it is not likely to do so at least, with the energy, plain speaking, zeal, and devotedness of primitive times. The temperance cause requires a course of hard, aggressive, self-denying, unfashionable labour, which few ministers are willing to undertake, and which mere church and chapel-goers don't under- stand. Owing to the temptations of the public-houses causing so many to backslide, many workers became lukewarm, and fixed their hopes on the removal of these temptations by a Maine law, and, latterly, by a permissive bill. Though repeatedly disappointed, they still adhere to these as the best remedies, and 72 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. regard the primitive mode of agitation relying on moral suasion and not on law with much less favour than formerly." It must not be inferred that Livesey was opposed to temperance legislation on the contrary, he re- joiced to see the smallest Act of Parliament that would in any degree curtail the power of drink in this country. But looking at the almost supreme power of the liquor interest in this country, he regarded it as a loss of time to be using available strength in political agitation when there were so many drunkards to be saved by moral suasion. Of course, the posi- tion taken by his friends of the United Kingdom Alliance and, in spite of this difference of view, they were his friends is that it is folly to attempt to purify the stream whilst the source of pollution is allowed to remain, and that the short cut to obtain a sober nation is to stop the supply of that which makes the people drunken. This latter position is perfectly logical, but we cannot help thinking there was great force in Livesey's position that if you operate upon the people first and improve their habits your legislative enactments will come more quickly, because, with a sober nation, they would be sooner brought " within the range of practical politics," whilst, on the other hand, if you can force your pro- hibitory or permissive measures from Parliament they must become inoperative, unless backed up by a sober people. "It is true I have not lived to see the ' Victory ' that teetotalers have so often anticipated, and of The Temperance Reformer. 73 which we have so often sung; and until a great change comes over the opinions of the country (for opinions and practices don't go together), and teeto- talers begin to rely more upon their own efforts, and less upon legislation legislation in the hands of believers in drink we shall have to wait a long time." CHAPTER V. The Author. T a very early date, Livesey was afflicted with the rage for scribbling, and exercised it in a variety of ways. " Addresses " and " Appeals " were printed as broadsheets and posted on the walls, and as early as 1825 he had published a twopenny pamphlet on domestic manage- ment, entitled, " An Address to the Poorest Classes." Another, entitled "The Besetting Sin," was directed against drunkenness, but from the " moderate " standpoint. Among these earliest of his publications was a " First Book," for those learn- ing to read, which he thinks had some merit. "Each lesson rilled a page, and finished with a verse of poetry of my own composition, for which, I confess, I have no talent. Commencing with short words, with- out silent letters, the lessons were better adapted for beginners than those in any elementary work I have seen." In January, 1831, appeared the first number of his Moral Reformer, which was issued monthly for three years, at sixpence a number, and afterwards The Author. 75. continued as the Temperance Advocate, the first teetotal periodical issued in England. This he con- tinued to issue till 1847, when he transferred it to the British Temperance Association and it still exists under the extended title of British Tempe- rance Advocate. " In no work of that period, I may venture to say, was there the same amount of clear reasoning, strong arguments, powerful facts, and interesting narratives and intelligence, as in this periodical." In 1842 appeared The Struggle, to which we have referred in a previous chapter. The sole object with which he undertook this publication was to help forward the repeal of the Corn-laws, and on the day when the Act of Repeal received the Royal Assent appeared the last number of The Struggle. Many of the illustrations in this spirited half-penny- worth were engraved by his son Howard. In 1844 he established the Preston Guardian, with a similar object in view. In this venture he was largely assisted by his sons, William, Franklin, and Howard. Its development was rapid and successful, and of it Mr. Cobden said, " I never remember a case of a local paper succeeding as this has done in so short a time, and subject to the same competition." His son John undertook the editorship when only in his twenty-first year, and William acted as sub-editor and manager of the business department, until com- pelled to relinquish it on account of ill-health. The younger sons, Howard and Frank, were also some time connected with the paper, but the father super- intended the affair generally, besides writing the 76 Joseph Livescy : The Story of his Life. leaders upon local matters. He continued to issue this for fifteen years, and in 1859, when it had become a valuable property, he sold it to the present pro- prietor, Mr. George Toulmin, who was formerly one of the " teetotal youths " of Livesey's Sunday- school, and is the present proprietor. In 1852 he commenced the " Teetotal Progressionist, or Advocate of Temperance and Physical, Medical, Moral, Social, and Religious Reform. Originated by Joseph Livesey, of Preston, and published on the 1st of each month. Price One Penny." The title-page contains a symbolical escutcheon with panels emblematic of the above, and supported by a man and woman, each bearing a banner with the respec- tive inscriptions, " Sobriety " and " Domestic Com- fort." Within the panels, between the scrolls beneath, are views of the prison, the gin-palace, and the pawn- shop ; but the prison is marked "To let," the gin- palace is in ruins, whilst a man is engaged in taking down the sign from the pawnbroker's shop. The object of this paper is further set forth in these words, " This work is intended primarily to advocate the Teetotal Cause, and to enforce its claims upon the public ; but, at the same time, as circumstances occur, taking up any question in which the World's Progressive Improvement is involved." " J. L. accepts the entire responsibility for the whole of the articles appearing in this journal." In the initial " leading article," entitled, " Progression," he laments the slow progress that has been made in social affairs, but expresses gratitude for the reality of the The Author. 77 small amount. " We have cambric at 6d. per yard, that used to cost 5s. ; and the girls who once could only purchase as much blue-and-white print, for a bed-gown, as would only just catch below the apron- strings, can now sport an everyday dress often yards, and silks for Sundays. Look at the size of the loaves, as they stand one upon another on the pantry shelf, and compare them with the ' cobs 'in 1812, and entertain another doubt, if you can, as to this being the age of Progression. The writer once was glad to pick up a stray leaf, or to borrow an old back- less book, with which to allay his thirst for know- ledge ; but that was before the age of cheap periodi- cals had been ushered in by the ' Penny Magazine/ and before the Northern Sun of knowledge had begun to dispense his rays from Chambers' office. Now, any operative can satiate his desires for reading out of a library of 4,000 volumes for i|d. per week." " As a teetotaler, who expected by this time that every drinking shop would have been deserted, I certainly feel disappointed in the result, yet I should not forget that, while the population has greatly increased during the last fifteen years, the quantity of liquor consumed has nevertheless decreased; and while it was gentlemanly at one time to get drunk, and a sign of a sound judgment to praise the liquor, both are now regarded as features of a dark and bygone age." In another article he says, " PROGRESSION, then, is my motto, and to it I devote these columns. Pro- gression, first, in Teetolah'sm, for I deem that the pioneer to every good. Reformers are on the move 78 Joseph Livesey : The Story of his Life. for various changes, but the moral materiel they have to deal with is so ill-fitted for improvement, by reason of the drinking usages, they have constantly to lament their disappointment. As we succeed in making the people teetotalers,- I would willingly push on with others to aid in every laudable movement calculated to 