Bygones Worth Remembering, Vol. 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi
Bygones Worth Remembering, Vol. 1 (of 2)Holyoake, George Jacob
Philosophy
Bygones Worth Remembering, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Holyoake, George Jacob
Holyoake, George Jacob, 1817-1906; Social reformers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Working class -- Great Britain -- Biography
At the Co-operative Congress held in Gloucester, 1879, a number of
delegates went down to see the gaol. When they arrived before it, Mr.
Abraham Greenwood, of Rochdale, exclaimed, "Take off your hats, lads!
That's where Holyoake was imprisoned." They did so. That incident--when
it was related to me--impressed me more than anything else connected
with Co-operation. I did not suppose those tragical six months in that
gaol were in the minds of co-operators, or that any one had respect for
them.
*****
The chapter, "Things which went as they Would," shows that serving
co-operators had its inconveniences, but there were compensatory
incidents which I recount with pleasure. One was their contribution to
the Annuity of 1876, which Mr. Hughes himself commended to them at
the London Congress. It was owing to Major Evans Bell and Mr. Walter
Morrison that the project was successful.
*****
The other occurred at the Doncaster Congress, 1903. In my absence a
resolution had been passed thanking me for services I had rendered
in Ten Letters in Defence of Co-operation. When I rose to make
acknowledgment, all the large audience stood up. It was the first time
I had ever been so received anywhere, showing that services which seemed
un-noted at the time, lived in remembrance.
*****
Here I may cite a letter from Wendell Phillips. Of the great American
Abolitionists, Phillips, with his fine presence and intrepid eloquence,
was regarded as the "noblest Roman of them all." Theodore Parker, he
described to me as the Jupiter of the pulpit; and Russell Lowell has
drawn Lloyd Garrison, in the famous verse--
"In a dark room, unfriended and unseen,
Toiled o'er his types, a poor unlearn'd young man.
The place was low, unfurnitured and mean,
But there the freedom of a race began."
I corresponded with them in their heroic days. It is one of the letters
of Phillips to me I quote here:--
"Boston,
"July 22, 1874.
"My dear Sir,--I ought long ago to have thanked you for sending
me copies of your pamphlets on John Stuart Mill and the Rochdale
Pioneers--and with so kind and partial a recognition of my co-operation
with you in your great cause.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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