"RADICAL PARSON"

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13699, 14 September 1908, Page 7

"RADICAL PARSON"

SOME INTERESTING RECOLLEC-

« TIONS.

The interesting notice in the "Times" of the golden wedding of the Rev. W. Tuckwell, on July 19th, reminds us that Mr Tuckwell is still with us. Now, a* the enoT of a strenuous and fruitful career, he k spending the evening of his days in retirement. I found trim, writes a

" Daily Chronicle" representative, at S'r Chahes Dilke's pret-y riverside retreat at Shepperton,, and we talked over the happenings of his time, and of the people he bad met. Mr Tuckwell carries Jus eighty- yea*s well. There is scarcely any change in the spare and alert figure which 'used to hold great audiences tive-and-twenty year* ago. There are the same eager and energetic tones, which speak of a mind keenly alive to all t'uat u> going on in the world. But time has brought with it a mellowness which has softened the strenuous spirit of the eighties, and now Mr Tuckwell looks back upon idle long vista of years which has made up hU life, with the quiet satisfaction and coatent borne of a knowledge that they have be*u spent in the service of man.

On vue other side of the hearth sat Mrs. Tuckwell, who was a sister of the late Lady Dilke. The fifty years sfie has -spent with her .husband have been full of intern*! to ber as well, and now and again she would prompt him as lie talked with me, or recall snmo incident which illu-sUrateti a line of thought- lie wa*> following. Mr Tuckwell ha.* gleaned an ear of com from every harvest. He- went to Oxford :'n 1848, just at the time when the fore* of the great Tractarinn Move meotvu beginning to spend hs*elf. New man bad gone 10 Rome. The attack on Hampden had failed. James Anthony Froud<j was breaking away from the old belief*, and Stanley and rYederic Denison Maurice were broadening the burden of the Church.

** I went to New College in 1848," said Mr Tuck we!!. ''Among my contem poraties there were the late Bishop Kidding. Mai Mulier, St Core Ouseley and Mark I'attison. I got a fellowship, an<l remained there until 1863, when I look over 'die ma&teibhip of Taunton Oramraar School. "There I, for the first time- in an Knglish public school, introduced a proper and systematic method of teaching scieiM.tr, which was made a compulsory subject. •" It wa« a great succeiv. The numbers attending the school were rai.*ed ttom twenty to 100. Many people came io titudy my jne.hodo of teaching seeiice. and nearly all of them came to.approve. There was Norman Lockyer, Arek.ieacon Wilson. I>r. Percival mow Bishop of Here ford). Dr. Temple tt-be late Archbishop*— a much greater nun then than he was aft«rward»—and Dean Firmr. TIME OF GREAT UPHEAVAL.

'* Rut, xt you know, that uas a time of gr»at upheaval. Darwin had ju*t published his 'Origin of Specie-,' Colen*o was applying his arithmetical skill to the IVntaleoch, 'Essays and Reviews' came out-and many sincere men in the Church Itt-gan to take alarm.

"''l bis reacted on i»*. Th«- rourictl of the *eho<d was made up of men of th* ' coumry par*on ' genu*, and eventually they go: me turned out of my head ma>'-rr->hip. 1 was branded a.-» having taught "loxlle-s stiencc' to the boy*, an i •o 1 had to go."

'lheie was not a trace of bit - .:-mo'* in tjte tone* at which :ho old man told me all this, and uc Ml a talking about ,'he change which has come over the a!;<iture of tlip Church iowaids .*ci-;nce.

" 'nio*** ilay» *e--iu very far orfT" 1 mgges'e*!. "* They do," w.i* the reply. " I'ul 1 th nk p-op!>- ate apt *o ii.tjti ;iut the attitude of the (liutih toward* *< i* lice hat, not aiway* been that which it totik up iu il»e early nuliu. Umg before that a numb r of Fellowy at Oriel, among «hon> were ("up!e»ton--. Whately. Rianco White, and HanvjMJeii. foumird a »ch.»>l of thought which ic«ogm»cd *«.iriite, ariii taught it. They were ralle-l the * N<» ■'. l*-».' Rut tln-ti Newman came along wit!> hi* Tra»-t*r an moviirmi. ami their work *» all Jiuhim for a time.

"I wj« present at. »!;>• Ojfm.l meeting of ihv Hti;i»h A«.»>c>ation when Hualey and Samutrl Wilhrfone had 'h«.r c«-lc bratcd collition with t.uh other, and I am bound jo admit tJi.it the JlHrnp did

not get the best of it." From-that we went on to talk abouti the work, of the Higher. Criticism, and its effect on "the. religions life of the country. Here again Mr Tnckwell showed that years had not dimmed his enthusiasm for progress, as well in theology and politics. "You must be struck," I said. " w'th the difference iu the point of view among religions people of the present day a<s compared with that of your early Oxford days?" " There have been gTeat changes," was the reply, " but they are all to the good. The scientific s'udy of the Bible has only revealed new beauties in it, and has immensely strengthed the position of Christian apologists." " Then you are not alarmed at- "'he conclusions advanced hy writers in such a work as the "Encyclopaedia Biblica*?" "" No, certainly nut," was the answer. " I do riot bind myself to accept all the conclusions arrived at in ~hat work. Von Mauen, for instance, may not have sad the last word about the authorship of the Pauline epistlt-s. But. no harm—and much that is good'—can come from a frank and free discussion on all thtse matters." HELPING AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS. After this we passed on to talk about the experiences of the " Radical Paison," as Mr. Tuck well came to be called when he took up the cause of the agricultural labourer, which brought him into contact with many of the leaders of Liberalism, in the eighties. "After 1 was turned out at Taunton," said Mr Tuckwell. "I was presented with the college living at Stockton, Warwickshire. 1 was not much of a politician then, although I had always been a liberal in a mild sort of way. But when I came ta look into matters in my parish 1 could not hold my peace. "The condition of the labourers was deplorable. , Their cottages were in a dingraceful state. Wages were low, and there was no prospect of any career before them. I set about at once, and cut up my 200 acres of glebe into allotments. The results were amazing. A new life" and a new hope seemed to come to the villagers. "1 wanted to give my men ]>erpetual leases, for 1 hold strongly that tixity of tenure is an absolute necessity for the success of small- holdings. But the Bishop would not let me do this. " Then followed the franchise agitation of 1884, and 1 began to take a very active part in supporting the labourers' claim to a vote. The villagers supported us, and by their aid Mr. Gladstone was returned to power. Then came Home Rule and the labourers claims were ignored. " I have always regretted that 6tep. I know what sacrifices the men in the villages made in 1885 to support the Liberate. And when nothing was done for thfin, tbeyg ave up the contest in despair. From that times dates the general increase of immigration from the village to the town." But Mr. Tuckwell continued the struggle. Those of us who took any interest iu politics in the Eighties must remember what a power he -was on Radical platforms, and how his great speech, in the Birmingham Town Hall in 1888 electrified an audience gathered from all parts of the country. MEMORIES OF GLADSTONE. Mr. Tuckwell's political memories are varied and interesting. Of course we talked of Gladstone, whom he had often met. '"Gladstone was always an old Tcry atheart," said Mr. Tuckwell. "He was | nurtured in the school of Canning and Peel and Aberdeen, and he had not the slightest sympathy with social reform. "1 remember his anger when Mr Chamberlain produced his unauthorised programme in 1885. Gladstone regarded this as an impertience." "Had this anything to do with the great split in 1886?" I asked. '/* The events which led up to it will probably never be known now," was the ans-. wer. " Only one man besides Gladstone >aad Chamberlain, knew the real Wemyss Reid, and he is dead." Then Mr. Tuckwell went on to give one or two personal reminiscences of the Grand Old Man. r :'" Many years |ago," he said, " Mrs. Gladstone reminded me of the circumstance, and told her husband how 1 had sfaown her a kindness thirty years ago. my dear, lie said. 'lt is only twenty-nine. , Do be accurate.'" At last our talk came to an end. The last question I asked Mr. Tuckwell was as to his opinion of the position of the Church of England now. "Well," he said, "there are some noblemen in it who are doing a great work. But, on the whole, I doubt whether itis as strong as it once was. You can only get at people in two ways—either through the emotions or through the intellect. I question whether the intellectual standard of the Church is as high as it once was."