Sunderland

“ Seven centuries ago Bishop Pudsey granted a charter to Sunderland; and the liberties and privileges of the borough were extended by subsequent holders of the See, in consideration of its increasing trade and consequence. In the sixteenth century, as we learn, the coal trade was already of some importance, and Sunderland was “enriched every day thereby;” grindstones also became a far-famed article of export from the Wear. Its industrial development was temporarily checked during the Civil War, when Sunderland became a centre of fighting between Cavaliers and Roundheads. ”

“ The greatest object of curiosity in Sunderland is its iron bridge thrown across the river Wear, forming an arch so lofty as to allow large ships to pass under it with only their top-gallant masts lowered. ”

“ Sunderland, situated on a tongue of land, descending steeply to the river, is not seen till it be nearly approached, and offers an handsome entrance through a street of modern houses, a new creation grown out of the improving trade of the place. ”

“ Sunderland answered quietly—
"A man who hath done what he hath cannot utterly sink into apathy—there is a spirit in him which must respond, if it be but rightly called upon."
"Will you assay to rouse His Majesty?" asked Portland haughtily.
Sunderland's long eyes narrowed.
"I am bold to try where your lordship hath failed," he said, with a deference that was like insolence; "but it is a question of great matters, and I will make the trial."
"You will make it in vain, my lord," answered Romney. "The King is beyond even your arts." ”

“ Lady Sunderland indeed wondered.
"Go join my lord in Amsterdam," she answered half recklessly. "An exile remains an exile."
"The Prince," said Mary gravely, "hath some debt to my lord. He never forgetteth his friends—or those who serve him."
"I thank you for that much comfort, Madam."
"You must return to England—to Althorp," continued the Princess gently; "you have done nothing that you should stay abroad——"
Lady Sunderland shook her head.
"What is Althorp to me, God help me! I think my home is in Amsterdam—I shall go there when Your Highness leaveth for England." ”

“ He may have thought, with good reason, that, though little confidence could be placed in Sunderland's professions, much confidence might be placed in Sunderland's situation; and the truth is that Sunderland proved, on the whole, a more faithful servant than a much less depraved man might have been. He did indeed make, in profound secresy, some timid overtures towards a reconciliation with James. ”

“ Sunderland watched all these things with some misgiving. Under all his honours and greatness was a lurking uneasiness. He began to lose his courage at being so hated; hints of impeachment had risen in the House more than once; he could scarcely show his face abroad without a burst of popular fury. In the opinion of the people he should not have been intrusted with one of the highest offices under the Crown, but have been starving in exile, or dead, long since in the Tower, as his colleague under James—Lord Jefferies. The ministers, too, could ill disguise their dislike of him. ”

“ The harbour is constantly undergoing improvement. The docks cover an area of upwards of 200 acres, and there are several graving docks up to 441 ft. in length. The parliamentary borough returns two members. The municipal borough is undera mayor, 16 aldermen and 42 councillors, and has an area of 3357 acres.
The history of Sunderland is complicated by the name Wearmouth (Wiramuth, Wermuth) being applied impartially to the Monk’s town on the north bank of the Wear; the Bishop’s town on the south and the neighbouring port now known as Sunderland. ”

“ Sunderland was Secretary of State. In this man the political immorality of his age was personified in the most lively manner. Nature had given him a keen understanding, a restless and mischievous temper, a cold heart, and an abject spirit. His mind had undergone a training by which all his vices had been nursed up to the rankest maturity. At his entrance into public life, he had passed several years in diplomatic posts abroad, and had been, during some time, minister in France. ”

“ Sunderland's day to our own. But though William showed his own political genius in understanding and adopting Sunderland's plan, it was only slowly and tentatively that he ventured to carry it out in practice. In spite of the temporary reaction Sunderland believed that the balance of political power was really on the side of the Whigs. ”

“ Captain Butler’s eyes met mine.
‘You, of course, have something better to do?’ said I to him.
‘I have nothing to do.’
‘Where’s your ship?’
‘I have no ship,’ said he. ‘A barque, called the Arab Chief, is in course of completion at Sunderland. I may command her if I invest in her. I wish to consider. I am not rich, and I must see my way clearly before I venture all that I have.’
‘So you must. And I suppose you’ll go and live at Sunderland?’
‘No. I can do no good at Sunderland. Time enough to go to Sunderland when the ship is ready. ”

“ He settled at Sunderland, and took a leading part in local philanthropy and politics, being a strong liberal and a zealous but not bigoted christian. He was once mayor of Sunderland and a borough magistrate, and also for many years physician to the Sunderland and Bishop wearmouth Infirmary. He was highly cultured, of dignified manners, yet deeply sympathetic with the poor. ”

“ By means of these qualities he had governed James, and now aspired to govern William.
To govern William, indeed, was not easy. But Sunderland succeeded in obtaining such a measure of favour and influence as excited much surprise and some indignation. In truth, scarcely any mind was strong enough to resist the witchery of his talk and of his manners. Every man is prone to believe in the gratitude and attachment even of the most worthless persons on whom he has conferred great benefits. ”

“ At length, in the spring of 1717, Sunderland triumphed. Townshend retired from office, and was accompanied by Walpole and Cowper. Sunderland proceeded to reconstruct the Ministry; and Addison was appointed Secretary of State. It is certain that the Seals [Pg 478] were pressed upon him, and were at first declined by him. Men equally versed in official business might easily have been found; and his colleagues knew that they could not expect assistance from him in debate. He owed his elevation to his popularity, to his stainless probity, and to his literary fame. ”

“ With Sunderland, along with Richard Talbot and Henry Jermyn (afterwards Lord Dover) [q. v.] , he formed a sort of secret inner council, and it was by the machinations of this cabal that Sunderland eventually supplanted Rochester in the king's confidence; at the same time the king entrusted to Petre the conversion of Sunderland. James recognised in him ‘a resolute and undertaking man,’ and resolved to assign him an official place among his advisers. ”

“ Bishop Morton incorporated Sunderland in 1634, stating that it had been a borough from time immemorial under the name of the New Borough of Wearmouth. This charter lapsed during the Civil Wars, when the borough was sold with the manor of Houghton-le-Spring for £2851, 9s. 6d. Nevertheless the inhabitants retained their rights. Sunderland became a parliamentary borough returning two members in 1834. The charter of 1634 granted a market and annual fair which are still held. ”

“ Lord Sunderland does earnestly request Lord Galway, Lord Somers, and all his friends not to think of him, but to act as if he was not in the world. If he were worth having, I would say that there is no way but to forget him, which was desired so often, as you know, at the beginning. But after all the clutter has been made, if he should just now engage in business, it would be pretending to miracles which he is very unfit for. Lord Godolphin has convinced Lord Sunderland that what was thought of being done by the House of Lords, cannot; so that it must fall as being vain. ”

“ Sunderland resolved to alter it; he saw the truth; he knew that nothing but genius in the man every one combined to disparage could have kept the nation together, and nothing but the greatest courage and strength on the part of the woman they affected to dismiss as a cipher could have maintained a government during the Irish war.
Sunderland largely blamed the ministers. Halifax had failed, Caermarthen (now Leeds) was failing, the others had never been really trusted by the King, who relied mainly on secret advisers, such as Carstairs, Temple, his Dutch friends, and lately Sunderland himself. ”

“ There is reason to believe that the Earl of Sunderland and Colonel Boyce fell out. Sunderland, never an easy man, suspected that he had been ridiculous and was nervously eager to make some one smart for it. Colonel Boyce was in a despondent rage that any one should have heard Marlborough rate him so. They seem to have had some cat and dog business before they parted: each, I infer, blaming the other for their ignominy. ”

“ It is not to be wondered at, when men of great powers of mind, already forewarned of Sunderland's treacherous vacillation, yielded to the peculiar powers of fascination which he possessed, and believed him sincere and steady in his convictions, after he had been weighed a thousand times and found wanting, that a young man like Ralph Woodhall should be deceived by his pretensions to purity and truth. ”

“ Sunderland is described by Cunningham at this time as ‘a man bold in his designs, quick in his conceptions, and born for any hardy enterprise.’ Though the youngest of the whig junto of five, he was the first of them to attain office under Queen Anne. He had been refused the comptrollership of the household in 1704, and it was only the combined influence of the Duchess of Marlborough and Godolphin which now overcame the rooted antipathy of Anne and the distrust of Marlborough. In spite of his ability, Sunderland's rashness and temper made him a thorn in the side of his own party. ”

“ Sunderland, ever false, and ever shortsighted, unable to discern the signs of approaching reaction, and anxious to conciliate the party which he believed to be irresistible, determined to vote against the court. The Duchess of Portsmouth implored her royal lover not to rush headlong to destruction. If there were any point on which he had a scruple of conscience or of honour, it was the question of the succession ”

“ Suddenly, at the beginning of 1871, the Sunderland men took the matter up, and came out on strike on the ist of April. After four weeks' struggle, almost be-fore the engineers elsewhere had realised that there was any chance of success, the local employers gave way, and the Nine Hours Day was won.
It was evident that the Sunderland movement was destined to spread to the other engineering centres in the neighbourhood; and the master engineers of the entire North-Eastern District promptly assembled at Newcastle on April 8 to concert a united resistance to the men's demands. ”

“ Upon Temple's projecting the reformed privy council of thirty members (April) , an inner cabinet, consisting of Sunderland, Essex, Halifax, and Temple, was soon evolved to consult upon the ‘chief affairs that were then on the anvil,’ and ‘how they might best be prepared for the council or the parliament.’ In August, alarmed by the bold tactics of Shaftesbury and his superior influence over Monmouth, Sunderland joined Halifax, upon the sudden illness of Charles, in summoning the Duke of York to the king's bedside. ”

“ Sunderland, less scrupulous and less sensible of shame, resolved to atone for his late moderation, and to recover the royal confidence, by an act which, to a mind impressed with the importance of religious truth, must have appeared to be one of the most flagitious of crimes, and which even men of the world regard as the last excess of baseness. ”

“ My sister Sunderland spoke to me for a China cup. Lady Sunderland told me how the Duke of Monmouth had a mind to the Guard, to dissatisfy the Parliament. Lord Sunderland told the King of it; and told him further, that if he was of that mind he would have no more to say to him. The Duke was ill received at York. The King sent to chide them. ”

“ The King became daily colder and colder. Sunderland attempted to support himself by the Queen's help, obtained an audience of Her Majesty, and was actually in her apartment when Middleton entered, and, by the King's orders, demanded the seals. That evening the fallen minister was for the last time closeted with the Prince whom he had flattered and betrayed. The interview was a strange one. Sunderland acted calumniated virtue to perfection. He regretted not, he said, the Secretaryship of State or the Presidency of the Council, if only he retained his sovereign's esteem. ”

“ The Lafayette is regarded as having been laid down during the Pliocene. The Sunderland, Wicomico, and Talbot form three terraces, of which the Sunderland is the oldest, most elevated, and farthest away from the larger bodies of water. It is composed of clay, peat, gravel, and boulders supposed to have been brought in by the ice. The coarser materials appear to occupy usually the lower parts of the formation. The elevation near Washington is about 200 feet, but southward it descends gently, until in St. Mary’s County it is only about 60 feet. The thickness varies from about 80 feet to nothing. ”

“ Then he plunges the bar into the furnace hole and stirs up the coals, “stops up” again, peers through the iron door and comes back mopping his face with the wiper. “I tell you tha be a lot o’ cow-bangers about here. Tha never sin a furnace nor a haat afore. When I was at Sunderland” — here he gives an especially knowing wink, and scratches one side of his nose with his forefinger, drawing his head near to your ear and speaking in an undertone [180] — “when I was at Sunderland, though I says it myself, there wasn’t a man on the ground as could hold a candle to Phil Clegg. ”