280 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK oh. 



himself : and indeed I am a great admirer of Mr. Parnell's, 

 if that constitutes a Parnellite. 



I am afraid we shan't be able to come to H.E. in 

 October, as we shall be fixtures at Cromer from the 

 middle of September till near the session : but if we 

 might come in January, it would be very nice. We are 

 looking forward much to seeing you all in September. — 

 With best love, your loving daughter, 



Con. Buxton. 



Early in September a meeting was called at 

 the Chamber of Commerce to consider the subject, 

 at the instance mainly of Sir J. Whittaker Ellis, 

 who made a special appeal to Sir John to attend it. 

 Sir Whittaker pointed out that the traders were 

 getting a little impatient at the enforced stoppage 

 of business, and that it would be most useful if 

 Sir John would come and exercise his influence 

 with them. Considering the endurance shown 

 by the strikers, it was most important to main- 

 tain a patient bearing, but, on the other hand, it 

 could not be denied that it would be worse than 

 foolish not to make some move to put an end 

 to the present disastrous state of things. 



Sir John replied to the appeal that he would 

 be at the Bank in Lombard Street, and would be 

 happy to come to the meeting on a summons 

 being conveyed to him. The traders met at 

 tw r elve, and sent a message asking him to come 

 over. He found they had before them a pro- 

 posal to appoint a deputation to wait on the 

 Dock Directors and to point out — 



1. That the Strike was causing great inconvenience. 



2. To urge them to put on sufficient hands and clear 

 the ships. 



3. That if they were prevented from doing so by 

 violence they should apply to Government for a force 

 to prevent interference on the part of the Strikers. 



