Shaftesbury’s Life is Told Again

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12609, 20 November 1926, Page 12

Shaftesbury’s Life is Told Again

THE life work of Lord Shaftesbury —“the Emancipator of Industrial England’’—is one of the brightest lights of the nineteenth century, and a mighty landmark in the story of British industry. It has been written both large and small. But there was room iu an age of short memories for it to be written, again. Mr L. Wesley Bready has written it well, making it a splendid monument of appreciation unforgettable. Large as is the book, ‘‘Lord Shaftesbury” (Allen and Unwin, London), it is remarkable for a condensation which without damage of any kind to the general outline forgets no minutiae of useful and informative detail. It tells its story simply, and, though professedly .and openly panegyric, it is never disfigured by the indiscriminate praise which is flattery, ‘or by the hero-worship which ignores all signs of weakness. *lt is an impartial, vivid accurate story of a fine character, and a man’s wonderful life spent entirely in the service of liis fellowmcn.

Shaftesbury’s religious spirit and piety, his tremendous determination, his . hatred of party politics, his intimate knowledge of Parliamentary tactics and precedents and sentiments, his love of the constitution, his very happy domestic life—to aIL these justice is done, and it is shown clearly how lie impressed all these qualities into the great work to which his whole life was devoted. The illustrations are illuminating, and there is a most extensive bibliography, showing the extent of the resources on which the biographer has drawn, and from which all his conclusions are justified. The tale is a vivid rush of great services. The fights for the Factory Acts, for the mining reforms, the amelioration of numerous sections of the poor and helpless, the active interest in ragged schools, mechanics’ institutes, the thousand philanthropic activities, and the great epoch-making speeches, displaying his marvellous industry as a first-hand collector of facts, the strength of his appeals to the heart and head of the nation, his fine leadership—all these are told with a fascination that compels attention and maintains interest. We read tho tributes of liis greatest contemporaries with tenderest satisfaction and .sincere conviction.

Among the tributes wc note Mr Gladstone’s: “During a public life of half a century, he devoted the influence of his station, the strong sympathies of his heart, and the great power of his mind to honouring God by serving his fellowman—an example to his order, a blessing to his people, and a name to be ever gratefully remembered.” And we find Cardinal Manning, after realising the multitude of his services, declaring his feeling that his own life “had been wasted”—by comparison. The description of the wonderful funeral in which men and women of all classes joined to do him honour, brings this fine effort of biography to a worthy close.