9/39 Nevertheless, his stay at Manchester as private tutor had some share in his mental development. He made acquaintance with interesting persons, such as Harriet Martineau, Geraldine Jewsbury, Mrs.Gaskell, and William Edward Forster, then known as a young Quaker who had devoted himself, in the true Quaker spirit of self-sacrifice, to relieving the sufferers from the Irish famine. He had been half inclined to sympathise with the socialism of Louis Blanc and other French revolutionists. He adopted the creed of individualism, private enterprise, no interference by Government, and free trade. |