| Description | One Ash, Rochdale, 19 October 1885, to Dixon, The Dales, Birmingham, with reasons for not attending a meeting of the Chamber [of Commerce] and his views on Chambers of Commerce in general, ' for the most part they consist of fussy men who seek a little notoriety and whose views are contracted to the pursuit of some small interest of their own.'; Mr Schnadhorst has asked him to attend a meeting in Birmingham in November and he has agreed; has recently stayed with Gladstone at Hawarden and reports that he seems well but burdened with the weight of responsibility, has hopes for the forthcoming contests in Birmingham even though, 'I am now more a spectator than an actor' but I have a strong wish that the right should win'. |