Harriet Martineau
sick-room might have answered the purpose. But, alas! crinoline
flourished; and five whole years later on was still so enormous that
she took up her parable against it once more, in _Once a Week_, as
the cause of "willful murder."
About this time she determined to assume the prefix of "Mrs." "There
were so many Misses Martineau," she said; and, besides, she felt the
absurdity of a woman of mature years bearing only the same complimentary
title as is accorded to a little girl in short frocks at school. Her
cards and the envelopes of her friends bore thenceforward the
inscription, "Mrs. Harriet Martineau."
Although she continued to write, contributing almost every day to the
_Daily News_, as well as to these larger periodicals, she was, it
must be remembered, an invalid. Her health fluctuated from day to day;
but it may as well be explicitly stated that she was more or less ill
during the whole of the rest of her life. She suffered a considerable
amount daily of actual pain, which was partly the consequence of the
medicines prescribed for her, and partly the result of the
displacement of the internal organs arising, as her doctors led her to
suppose, from the enlargement of the heart; but in reality, as was
afterwards discovered, from the growth of a tumor. Her most constant
afflictions were the difficulty of breathing, dizziness, and dimness
of sight, resulting from disturbed circulation. At irregular, but not
infrequent, intervals she was seized with fainting-fits, in which her
heart appeared to entirely cease beating for a minute or two; and it
was not certain from day to day but that she might die in one of these
attacks.
Not only did she continue her work under these conditions, but her
interest in her poor neighbors remained unabated. There is more than
one man now living in Ambleside who traces a part of his prosperity to
the interest which she from her sick-room displayed in his progress. A
photograph of her, still sold in Ambleside, was taken in her own
drawing-room by a young beginner whom she allowed thus to benefit
himself. He and several others were given free access to her library.
A sickly young woman in the village was made a regular sharer in the
good things--the wine, the turtle soup, the game and the
flowers--which devoted friends sent frequently to cheer Harriet
Martineau's retirement. Every Christmas, there was a party of the
oldest inhabitants of Ambleside invited to spend a long day in the
kitchen of the "Knoll." The residents in her own cottages looked upon
her less as a landlady than as a friend to whom to send in every
difficulty.
Nor did she cease to do whatever was possible to her in the local
public life. The question of Church Rates was approaching a crisis
when she was taken ill; and when the Ambleside Quakers resolved to
organize resistance to payment of these rates, they found Harriet
Martineau ready to help. The householders who refused to pay were
summoned before the local bench; and it was Harriet Martineau whom the
justices selected to be distrained upon; but events marched rapidly,
and the distraint was not made.
The next article that she contributed to the _Westminster Review_
appeared in the July (1858) number, and, under the title of _The
Last Days of Church Rates_, gave an account of the efforts by which
Non-conformists in all parts of the country were rendering this impost
impossible.
In October, 1858, there was another long article in the _Westminster_,
entitled _Travel during the Last Half-Century_. She was now, however,
growing tired of wasting her work in that quarter, and, as we shall
presently see, she sought a more influential and appreciative medium
for her longer communications with the public.
Subjects which could be treated briefly were always taken up as
"leaders" for the _Daily News_. Lengthier topics, too, were
occasionally dealt with in those columns in the form of serial
articles. One set of papers on _The Endowed Schools of Ireland_, were
contributed in this manner, in 1857, to the _Daily News_, and
afterwards reprinted in a small volume. In that same year occurred
the terrible Indian crisis which compelled the people of this country
to give, for a time, the attention which they so begrudge to their
great dependency. Miss Martineau then wrote a series of articles,
under the title of _The History of British Rule in India_, for the
_Daily News_, and this most useful work was immediately re-published
in a volume. Alas! even she could not make so involved and distant a
story interesting; but her book was clear and vivid, and whenever it
dealt with the practical problem of the moment, it was full of wisdom
and conscientiousness. This volume was immediately followed by
_Suggestions towards the Future Government of India_. The preface of
the first is dated October, 1857; and that of the second, January,
1858. The key-note of these books is a plea for the government of
India according to Indian ideas; and, as a natural consequence, its
government with the assistance of its natives. Courage as well as
insight were required at that particular moment of popular passion to
put forward these calm, statesman-like ideas. The wisdom and the
practical value of the books cannot be shown by extracts; but one
paragraph may be given as a faint indication of the tone: "If instead
of attempting to hold India as a preserve of English destinies, a
nursery of British fortunes, we throw it open with the aim of
developing India for the Indians, by means of British knowledge and
equity, we shall find our own highest advantage, political and
material, and may possibly recognize brethren and comrades at length,
where we have hitherto perceived only savages, innocents, or
foes."[22] Such was the spirit to which the _Daily News_, under
Harriet Martineau's hand, led the people at a moment of great
political excitement. The amplest testimony to the practical wisdom
of the suggestions that she made was borne by those Anglo-Indians who
were qualified to judge.
[22] _Future Government of India_, p. 94.
In June, 1858, she wrote the first letter, which lies before me, to
her relative, Mr. Henry Reeve, the editor of the _Edinburgh Review_.
In this, after telling him that she never before has offered or wished
to write for that _Review_, because in politics she had generally
disagreed with it (to her, it may be remarked in passing, Toryism was
less odious than official Whigism), she says that she has now a
subject in view which she thinks would be suitable for the pages of
the good old Whig organ. Before entering into details, she begs him to
tell her frankly if any article will be refused merely because it
comes from her. She adds that her health is so sunk and her life so
precarious, that all her engagements have to be made with an
explanation of the chances against their fulfillment; still she _does_
write a good deal, and with higher success than in her younger days.
Mr. Reeve replied cordially inviting her contributions, and the result
was the establishment both of an intimate correspondence with him, and
of a relationship with the _Review_ under his charge, which lasted
until she could write no more.
The particular subject which she offered Mr. Reeve at first did not
seem to him a suitable one. The title of it was to have been _French
Invasion Panics_; but as Mr. Reeve did not like the idea, the paper
was not written. But for the _Edinburgh_ of April, 1859, she wrote a
long article on _Female Industry_, which attracted much attention. Its
purpose was to show how greatly the conditions of women's lives are
altered in this century from what they were of old. "A very large
proportion of the women of England earn their own bread; and there is
no saying how much good may be done by a timely recognition of this
simple truth. A social organization framed for a community of which
half stayed at home while the other half went out to work, cannot
answer the purposes of a society of which a quarter remains at home
while three-quarters go out to work." After considering in detail,
with equal benevolence and wisdom, the condition of the various
classes of women workers--those employed in agriculture, mines,
fishing, domestic service, needlework, and shop-keeping, and
suggesting, in passing, the schools of cookery which have since become
established facts, the article concludes: "The tale is plain enough.
So far from our countrywomen being all maintained as a matter of fact
by us, the 'bread-winners,' three millions out of six of adult English
women work for subsistence, and two out of the three in independence.
With this new condition of affairs new duties and new views must be
adopted. Old obstructions must be removed; and the aim must be set
before us, as a nation as well as in private life, to provide for the
free development and full use of the powers of every member of the
community." It scarcely needs to be pointed out that here she went
quietly but surely to the foundation of that whole class of new claims
and demands on behalf of the women of our modern world, of which she
was so valuable an advocate, and for the granting of which her life
was so excellent a plea. In these few sentences she at one time
displayed the character of the changes required, and the reasons why
it is now necessary, as it did not use to be, that women should be
completely enfranchised, industrially and otherwise.
The year 1859 was a very busy one. Besides the long article just
mentioned, she published in April of that year quite a large volume on
_England and her Soldiers_. The book was written to aid the work
which her beloved friend Florence Nightingale, had in hand for the
benefit of the army. It was, in effect, a popularization of all that
had come out before the Royal Commission on the sanitary condition of
the army; with the additional advantage of the views and opinions of
Florence Nightingale, studied at first hand. One of the most beautiful
features of the book is the hearty and generous delight with which the
one illustrious lady recounts the efforts, the sacrifices, and the
triumphs of the other.
In 1859, also, Mrs. Martineau began to write frequent letters for
publication to the American _Anti-Slavery Standard_. The affairs
of the Republic were plainly approaching a crisis; and those in
America who knew how well-informed she was on the politics of both
countries, and on political principles, were anxious to have the
guidance that only she could give in the difficult time that was
approaching. During the three years, 1859 to 1861, she sent over
ninety long articles for publication in America.
An article on _Trades Unions_, denouncing the tyranny of men in
fustian coats sitting round a beer-shop table, as to the full as
mischievous as that of crowned and titled despots, appeared in the
_Edinburgh Review_ for October, 1859. In the July (1860) issue of the
same _Review_ she wrote on _Russia_, and in October of that year on
_The American Union_.
Besides these large undertakings, she was writing during these years
almost weekly articles, on one topic or another, for the illustrated
periodical _Once a Week_; whilst the _Daily News_ "leaders" continued
without intermission during the whole time. As regards these latter, I
shall presently mention when she entirely ceased to write; but in the
meanwhile I do not attempt to follow them in detail. Nothing that I
could say would give any adequate impression of their quality. _That_
may be sufficiently judged by the fact that the newspaper in which
they were issued was one of the best of the great London dailies; and
that, during her time, it touched the highest point of influence and
circulation, as the organ of no clique, but the consistent advocate of