The Seven Wise Men of Preston - Page 2

of the Reform Bill, in June, 1832--had
then attained a proportion which taxed the utmost energies of both
private charities and the national government.

The year of Joseph Livesey's marriage saw the passage of the Corn Laws,
and the first of those famous mass meetings in Peter's Field, near
Manchester, which undoubtedly molded the future temper and status of the
English weavers and spinners. From one of these meetings, the following
year, thousands of starving men started _en masse_ to London. They were
followed by the military and brought back for punishment or died
miserably on the road, though 500 of them reached Macclesfield and a
smaller number Derby.

But Livesey, though probably suffering as keenly as others, joined no
body of rioters. He borrowed a sovereign and bought two cheeses; then
cutting them up into small lots, he retailed them on the streets,
Saturday afternoons, when the men were released from work. The profit
from this small investment exceeding what it was possible for him to
make at his loom, he continued the trade, and from this small beginning
founded a business, and made a fortune which has enabled him to devote a
long life to public usefulness and benevolence.

But his little craft must have needed skillful piloting, for his family
increased rapidly during the disastrous years between 1816 and 1832; so
disastrous that in 1825-26 the Bank of England was obliged to authorize
the Chamber of Commerce to make loans to individuals carrying on large
works of from £500 to £10,000. Bankruptcies were enormous, trade was
everywhere stagnant, £60,000 were subscribed for meal and peas to feed
the starving, and the government issued 40,000 articles of clothing. The
quarrels between masters and spinners were more and more bitter, mills
were everywhere burnt, and at Ashton in one day 30,000 "hands" turned
out.

During these dreadful years every thoughtful person had noticed how much
misery and ill-will was caused by the constant thronging to public
houses, and temperance societies had been at work among the angry men of
the working classes. Joseph Livesey had been actively engaged in this
work. But these first efforts of the temperance cause were directed
entirely against spirits. The use of wine and ale was considered then a
necessity of life. Brewing was in most families as regular and important
a duty as baking; the youngest children had their mug of ale; and
clergymen were spoken of without reproach as "one," "two" or
"three-bottle men."

But Joseph Livesey soon became satisfied that these half measures were
doing no good at all, and in 1831 a little circumstance decided him to
take a stronger position. He had to