We had taken some trouble to obtain a very pretty jewelled bouquet-holder for the Princess, and it was sent to the florist who was making the bouquet. In the morning he brought it to the Adelphi Hotel, broken in two. I showed it to Admiral Sir Astley Cooper, who was one of the suite. He said, "Whatever you do, have it repaired." Every shop was shut, the day being a general holiday. The boots at the hotel at last thought of a working plumber, and to his hands the repairs were entrusted. All he could do was to solder the handle to the bouquet-holder, and he did this in such a clumsy fashion that great "blobs" of solder protruded themselves all round; but it held together and the bouquet was duly presented by the Mayoress. During the drive from the dock the Princess, showing me the holder, exclaimed how lovely it was; alas! my eyes could only see the "blobs" of solder! At Croxteth that evening, while the presents were being exhibited to the guests, the holder broke in two, and the story had to be told.
The three young princesses were entertained all day at the Town Hall by my daughters. Princess Maud managed to evade the vigilant eyes of Miss Knollys, and unattended made her way into Castle Street amid the crowd.
Lord Mayor.
For six weeks in 1903 I again occupied the civic chair. In January of that year the Lord Mayor, Mr. Watson Rutherford, was anxious to become a candidate for Parliament, a vacancy having arisen in the West Derby Ward. As Lord Mayor he could not act as his own returning officer, and it became necessary that he should resign his office for a time. Both political parties in the Council were good enough to invite me to accept the position, and thus I became Lord Mayor for the brief period I have mentioned. Mr. Rutherford, on retiring, informed me that he had already spent all the allowance, and all he could offer me were a few cigars. The duration of my reign was too short to admit of much entertaining, but I welcomed the opportunity of showing hospitality to many of my old colleagues and friends.
CHAPTER VI. THE FENIAN TROUBLES.
My year of office as Mayor was made very anxious by the aggressive tactics of the Fenian agitators. A bomb was placed at the side door of the Town Hall, and exploded, breaking in the door, destroying the ceiling and window of the mayor's dressing-room and doing considerable damage to the furniture. The bomb consisted of a piece of iron gas piping about 3 inches in diameter and 18 inches long, filled with explosives and iron nails. The miscreants, after lighting the fuse, ran away; but the Town Hall was watched by a double cordon of police; the first took up the chase, the second joined in, and the two men eventually jumped into a canal boat filled with manure, and were then secured. They were tried, and sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude. They were two Irish stokers, mere tools in the hands of an Irish-American, who had planned the blowing up of all our public buildings, but managed to get away. An attempt was also made on the Custom House, but failed.
The Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt, was much exercised by the position of things in Liverpool, and telegraphed to me enquiring how many troops were available in Liverpool. I replied fifty, of whom twenty-five were raw recruits. Next morning the General in command at York called at the Town Hall, and stated that he had been instructed to send 2,000 infantry, and two squadrons of cavalry, and wished me to arrange for their accommodation. He startled me by adding, "I should like to send you a Gatling gun; they are grand things for clearing the streets." I felt this was getting serious. I assured him that we did not apprehend any grave trouble, or disturbances, and if it was known that I had consented to a Gatling gun being sent for the purpose he mentioned, I should make myself most unpopular, and that I hoped that the troops would be sent down gradually so as not to cause alarm. We arranged to place some of the troops at Rupert Lane, and some in volunteer drillsheds, but several hundred had to be quartered in the guard ship on the Mersey. All this was carried out so quietly that no notice of it appeared in the newspapers. We were congratulating ourselves upon the success of our scheme, when I received a note from Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, then presiding at the assizes, requiring my presence at St. George's Hall. I immediately obeyed the summons, and was ushered into the judge's private room. The Chief Justice at once stated that he was informed that a large number of troops had been brought into the town, without his sanction as the Judge of Assize. In vain I pleaded my ignorance that his Lordship's permission was necessary, that the troops had not been requisitioned by me, but had been sent by orders of the Home Secretary. His Lordship was much annoyed and said I ought to have known that a Judge of Assize was the Queen's representative, and no troops could be moved during an assize without the judge's sanction. His anger was however short-lived; he came to dine with me at the Town Hall the same evening, and made a capital speech, as he always did, and the morning's episode was not again mentioned.