usual he was fully occupied; but I think the matter has had his fullest attention, and he is decidedly of opinion that I ought to take advantage of this opening, provided I am prepared to follow up the course to which it leads. T. H. Farrer is also of the same opinion, and I have a very great respect for his judgment, which is the most remarkable for so young a person that I ever met with. I cannot tell you what a comfort he has been to me in making up my mind to all this. Finally, I conceive from what you said this morning, you are also inclined to the scheme; so that I have three good judgments to back my own, which (my own I mean) I of course distrust. I shall call on the Judge [Mr Justice Coleridge] to-morrow morning, and if, as I expect, he is of the same way of thinking, I shall consider the matter as settled, that is, as I before said, supposing I get the offer. From what I know of Gladstone's character there is no single statesman of the present day to whom I would more gladly attach myself; and I should think, from the talents he has shown for business since he came into office, there is no one more likely to retain his position, unless any revolution takes place. I believe, without vanity, that I shall be equal to the duties I am likely to have put upon me; and as far as it is possible to conjecture in such a matter, I believe I am likely, from the tone of my opinions, to suit him. At all events, I think it is worth trying. I might go on writing to you for ever, putting the matter in all the different lights in which T. H. and I have been looking at it, for I assure you it has had a most careful discussion, but I will not weary you with so doing. If I can, I will come out to Roehampton to-morrow evening or next day, but do not expect me; perhaps I ought to be here until I hear from my tutor, as I may have to call on Gladstone.

I did not make any inquiries about the salary, neither do I consider it material, for I know it will not be anything like an independence; and therefore I do not consider that it would make any difference whether it were £50 or £100 a-year. From some of the particulars of Gladstone's conduct to Rawson, I may conclude that he is a most zealous friend when he is pleased with his client, but all this I consider secondary. I hope you will not take this as a specimen of my letter-writing powers. I think if Gladstone were to see it I should be a gone coon; but I have been scribbling whatever came first into my head, and must beg your pardon if it is nonsense. Please be very careful not to mention this to any one yet, and urge the same upon G. P. and M., as nothing is settled. Love to them and the girls. I saw Mowbray he did not get into any scrape with Hawtrey.-Your affte. son, STAFFORD H. NORTHCOTE.

:

1842.]

ACCEPTS THE SECRETARYSHIP.

39

On June 30, 1842, he writes to tell Mr Shirley that he has accepted the secretaryship to Mr Gladstone

The man of all others among the statesmen of the present day to whom I should desire to attach myself. . . My prospects will, of course, depend upon Mr Gladstone's own success, of which, unless there is a regular bouleversement, I have not the smallest doubt. A seat in Parliament will probably be considered by-and-by desirable, and any good offices that he can do for me I have reason to believe that he will. The line which is thus opened is one which I have always secretly desired, though I could have been content with the Law. . . . With any other man than Gladstone, I might have hesitated longer. But he is one whom I respect beyond measure; he stands almost alone as the representative of principles with which I cordially agree; and as a man of business, and one who, humanly speaking, is sure to rise, he is pre-eminent.

CHAPTER III.

ENTRY ON POLITICAL LIFE.

WHEN Stafford Northcote began in 1842 to be more or less actively engaged in official life, the Whig Administration had gone out, and the Tories had recently come in under Sir Robert Peel. The Tories, and Peel with the rest, had no idea that free trade in corn was actually at the doors. Mr Gladstone was President of the Board of Trade, and the statesman on whom fell the duty of carrying into effect Peel's policy for abolishing or reducing the duty on more than half of the articles then actually taxed. Stafford Northcote, as Mr Gladstone's secretary, had no doubt plenty of work to do in this large change; but he was also occupied by private interests of great importance. On July 4, 1842, he writes a long letter from Whitehall to his father. He announces that he is "neither engaged nor in any way committed with any person whatsoever, nor have I at this present time any intention of engaging myself to any one." But the elder

Mr Northcote had been writing or speaking to him seriously on the subject of marriage, and he in turn found it desirable to utter his mind with respectful distinctness. Come what will, my unaltered and unalterable resolution is never to marry for money. I will not and dare not profane the holy ordinance of matrimony by mixing up such a motive as that of increasing my income with the motives which, I trust, will guide me in my choice of a wife." He presently goes on to say, and his words on a difficult topic are well worth quoting:

My own idea of the rights of a father in such a case is thisfirst, that under any circumstances he has a right to require that his son shall not marry a person who is otherwise than thoroughly respectable; and secondly, that, where the son derives his maintenance from him, he shall have a voice in the amount of fortune which he will require in the lady-i.e., that where the father makes a sacrifice in order to enable his son to marry, he may require that he shall not marry on that alone. Such are my ideas of the rights of the father; but in my own case I am ready to go further, and to say that I individually consider the duties of the son to be such, that I have no hesitation in promising that under no circumstances, even though I may become independent of you in a pecuniary point of view, will I marry any one without your consent as long as you live. I say this, because I feel it is in my power (though it would be a very severe trial to me) to endure an unmarried life; but farther I ought not and will not go, and I wish it most distinctly to be understood (I say it with all respect and dutifulness) that I will not marry any other than the woman of my own free and unfettered choice, and that choice I also say will be made without the smallest regard to her pecuniary circumstances or any other than the fitness of the woman in herself to be my helpmate. I hope you will not be angry at this frank avowal, which I consider you have yourself called for, indeed I do not see how you can justly be so.

What is it that you require? Money? I will endeavour to acquire that in a more laborious way than by marrying an heiress. Rank? I will endeavour to raise my family in a nobler way than by marrying a peeress. I do look very anxiously for happiness in married life; I believe I am entitled to it, but sooner than violate what I believe to be my filial duty, I am ready to devote myself to a life of celibacy, and seek elsewhere than in marriage my reward.

1843.]

LETTER TO MRS FARRER.

41

When a young man says he is ready to devote himself, in certain circumstances, to a life of celibacy, one hears soon after, with no surprise, that he is engaged to be married. And indeed, in March 1843, we find Stafford Northcote writing to Miss Henrietta Northcote, to announce, not, indeed, his engagement, but his hopes of prospering in his suit. A few days before he had discharged the rather delicate duty of congratulating his father on the prospects of his second marriage. Speaking for himself to Miss Northcote, his mind turns to the religious aspect of matrimony.

What could be a greater misery than a great blessing if we had no hope that it could endure beyond this life? Our joy would be increased here, only that our misery might be made tenfold more bitter hereafter. But now, every blessing is a step towards the great consummation of all blessings-life in Christ. I used to fear that marriage would deaden my desire for the Lord's coming. I trust it will do quite the reverse, as at present I feel all the more ardent desire for it.

This is one of the last touches in the letters of the old belief of the Newman Street connection" in the nearness of the Second Advent. The mother of Miss Cecilia Farrer, the lady to whom Mr Northcote was now betrothed, felt considerable uneasiness about the opinions of her future son-in-law. On these not unnatural apprehensions he writes to Mrs Farrer (March 15, 1843):

Your principal fear seems to me to be this, that I shall be led away in course of time by a heated imagination and by a fancied sense of duty, or a desire of showing my zeal in the greatness of the sacrifices I am ready to make, to quit my position in society and to break off my social ties- or at least neglect my social duties-in order to devote myself to some wild course of life. I cannot deny that, from the common spectacles which every day presents, and probably from the conduct of many of those with whom I suppose you now identify me, you have too much reason for the fear you entertain; but I can most solemnly assure you that the feelings which I have always nourished and acted upon, and, still more, the explicit teaching which I have received from those of whom you are afraid, and from others whom I am bound to respect, are as diametrically opposed to

such conduct as light is to darkness; and I should consider myself guilty of a great sin could I for a moment entertain the idea of entering upon such a course. It is not for me to judge others whom I believe to be now in possession of the truth: they may have their justification before God for the steps they have taken; I consider that I should have no such justification did I follow in their lines. Our circumstances are different; the measure of light given to us is different; and so I believe will our conduct be different. You will wonder at me, no doubt, for still believing those persons to be under the direction of the Spirit of God, whom at the same time I disclaim as examples. I know that I cannot expect that you should understand me, and I must resign myself to be misunderstood; but I trust you will believe me to be honest in what I say, and that you will allow my future conduct to speak for itself.

These matters were thus cleared up, and on August 5, 1843, his marriage with Miss Farrer secured for Mr Northcote all the happiness to which he had confidently looked forward.

The position of private secretary, even to a chief of Mr Gladstone's eminence, does not, of course, make a man at once a prominent figure in politics. Indeed, for a dozen years, Mr Northcote was but a subordinate, though energetic and trusted, worker in administration, not a force in the House of Commons, or in the country. The letters connected with his official existence at this time are of no momentous interest. His labours were important; he was aiding in the new financial measures of Peel. Mr Gladstone was Peel's right-hand man, and Mr Northcote was Mr Gladstone's. Both were learning their lesson of free trade. But the letters of Mr Northcote are almost silent on his official business. 'The general effect of my position is a very pleasing one," he writes to Mr Shirley in December 1842, "and I hope I am not altogether unprofitably employed. Not the least advantage is being so closely connected with so very admirable a person as Mr Gladstone. I hope I shall be nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri'; but if of any one, I would sooner addict myself to his opinions than those of any person with whom I am acquainted." Mr Gladstone's opinions have since been to some extent modified. In a letter to a lady,