Background
William Edward Forster was born on July 11, 1818 in Bridport in Dorset.
He was the son of a quaker missionary and began his career in the Yorkshire woollen trade at Bradford.
(Excerpt from Imperial Federation Freeman's History of Fe...)
Excerpt from Imperial Federation Freeman's History of Federal Government, vol. I. P 9.colonies, New Zealand, and the Cape, are, it is true, many States as regards their internal government, and they are also one State as regards other nations. But why? Because the United Kingdom keeps to itself, and absorbs within itself, the foreign policy of the whole realm. There is, indeed, still some semblance of subordination in respect to domestic legislation; but it is only a semblance, for the veto, reserved to the Crown, would not be used except in some extremely improbable, and practically impossible, case; as, for instance, the enactment of slavery. The colonists can tax themselves or educate themselves as they please; they can levy, as we well know, what Customs' duties they think fit; they can pass what marriage laws they like; they have disestablished their State Churches, and can, if they choose, set them up again; they may pass what Franchise Bills or Seats Bills they prefer; they can protect life, and limb, and liberty, and property by what criminal laws or by what police seem good to them they have power to borrow money, and even to raise regiments of soldiers, and build and man ships of war; but they have no power to modify or participate in the foreign policy which may at any time bring them into war. Now the real question is, will they continue to submit to this condition of subordination? As regards internal affairs the colonists have self-government. As regards foreign affairs, they are subjects, not merely of the Queen, but of our Parliament - that is, of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom, or rather of such of those inhabitants as are voters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Excerpt from Speech of Mr. W. E. Forster, M. P., On the S...)
Excerpt from Speech of Mr. W. E. Forster, M. P., On the Slaveholders' Rebellion: And Professor Goldwin Smith's Letter on the Morality of the Emancipation Proclamation At a Meeting held at Leeds on Wednesday, September 2231101, 1863, in Support of Union and Emancipation in America, and the Neutral Policy of the British Government. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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William Edward Forster was born on July 11, 1818 in Bridport in Dorset.
He was the son of a quaker missionary and began his career in the Yorkshire woollen trade at Bradford.
William Edward Forster was educated at the Friends' school at Tottenham, where his father's family had long been settled, and on leaving school he was put into business.
In 1849 William Edward Forster wrote a preface to a new edition of Clarkson's Life of William Penn, defending the Quaker statesman against.
Macaulay's criticisms.
Arnold-Forster (1855- 1909), the Well-known Liberal-Unionist member of parliament, who eventually became a member of Mr Balfour's cabinet; he was secretary to the admiralty (1900 - 1903), and then secretary of state for war (1903 - 1905), and was the author of numerous educational books published by Cassell & Co. , of which firm he was a director. W.
In 1858 he gave a lecture before the Leeds Philosophical Institution on " How we Tax India. "
In 1859 he stood as Liberal candidate for Leeds, but was beaten.
But he was highly esteemed in the West Riding, and in 1861 he was returned unopposed for Bradford.
He took a prominent part in parliament in the debates on the American Civil War, and in 1868 was made undersecretary for the colonies in Earl Russell's ministry.
In 1866 his attitude on parliamentary reform attracted a good deal of attention.
His speeches were full of knowledge of the real condition of the people, and contained something like an original programme of Radical legislation. "
We have other things to do, " he Said, " besides extending the franchise.
We want to seewhether we cannot make for the agricultural labourer some better hope than the workhouse in his old age.
We want to have Old England as well taught as New England. "
Directly the Reform Bill had passed, the necessity of " inducing our masters to learn their letters" (in Robert Lowe's phrase) became pressing.
The Elementary Education Bill (see Education) was introduced on the 17th of February 1870.
The Manchester Education Union and the Birmingham Education League had already formulated in the provinces the two opposing theories, the former standing for the preservation of denominational interests, the latter advocating secular rate-aided education as the only means of protecting Nonconformity against the Church.
The government made its rejection a question of confidence, and the amendment was withdrawn; but the result was the insertion of the Cowper-Temple clause as a compromise before the bill passed.
Extremists on both sides abused Forster, but the government had a difficult set of circumstances to deal with, and he acted like a prudent statesman in contenting himself with what he could get.
In 1874 he was again returned for Bradford, in spite of Dissenting attacks, and he took his full share of the work of the Opposition Front Bench.
In 1876, when the Eastern question was looming large, he visited Servia and Turkey, and his subsequent speeches on the subject were marked by studious moderation, distasteful to extremists on both sides, On Mr Gladstone's return to office in 1880 he was made chief secretary for Ireland, with Lord Cowper as lord-lieutenant.
He carried the Compensation for Disturbance Bill through the Commons, only to see it thrown out in the Lords, and his task was made more difficult by the agitation which arose in consequence.
On the 24th of January 1881 he introduced a new Coercion Bill in the House of Commons, to deal with the growth of the Land league, and in the course of his speech declared it to be " the most painful duty " he had ever had to perform, and one which would have prevented his accepting his office if he had known that it would fall upon him.
The bill passed, among its provisions being one enabling the Irish government to arrest without trial persons " reasonably suspected " of crime and conspiracy.
The Irish party used every opportunity in and out .
of parliament for resenting this act, and Forster was kept constantly on the move between Dublin and London, conducting his campaign against crime and anarchy and defending it in the House of Commons.
His scrupulous conscientiousness and anxiety to meet every reasonable claim availed him nothing with such antagonists, and the strain was intense and continuous.
He was nicknamed " Buckshot " by the Nationalist press, on the supposition that he had ordered its use by the police when firing on a crowd.
On the 13 th of October Mr Parnell was arrested, and on the 20th the Land League was proclaimed.
From that time Forster's life was in constant danger, and he had to be escorted by mounted police when he drove in Dublin.
Early in March 1882 he visited some of the worst districts in Ireland, and addressed the crowd at Tullamore on the subject of outrages, denouncing the people for their want of courage in not assisting the government, but adding, " whether you do or not, it is the duty of the government to stop the outrages, and stop them we will. "
Forster's pluck in speaking out like this was fully appreciated in England, but it was not till after the revelations connected with the Phoenix Park murders that the dangers he had confronted were properly realized, and it became known that several plans to murder him had only been frustrated by the merest accidents.
On the 2nd of May Mr Gladstone announced that the government intended to release Mr Parnell and his fellow-prisoners in Kilmainham, and that both Lord Cowper and Mr Forster had in consequence resigned; and the following Saturday Forster's successor, Lord Frederick Cavendish, was, with Mr Burke, murdered in Phoenix Park.
His position naturally attracted universal attention towards him, particularly during the debates which ensued in parliament on the " Kilmainham Treaty. "
But Mr Gladstone's influence with the Liberal party was paramount, in spite of the damaging appearance of the compact made with Parnell, and Forster's pointed criticisms only caused thoroughgoing partisans to accuse him of a desire to avenge himself.
It was not till the next session that he delivered his fiercest attack bn Parnell in the debate on the address, denouncing him for his connexion with the Land League, and quoting against him the violent speeches of his supporters and the articles of his newspaper organs.
He died on the 6th of April 1886, on the eve of the introduction of the Home Rule Bill, to which he was stoutly opposed.
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(Excerpt from Imperial Federation Freeman's History of Fe...)
(Excerpt from Speech of Mr. W. E. Forster, M. P., On the S...)
William Edward Forster was tall (the Yorkshiremen called him " Long Forster ") and strongly though stiffly built, and, with his simple tastes and straightforward manners and methods, was a typical North-country figure.
In 1850 William Edward Forster married Jane Martha.