92 MEMOIK OF ALFRED SMEB. [Chap. IX. 



CHAPTEK IX. 



1865 TO 1870. 



Contests Rcxjliester — ^Alfred Smee a Freemasoa and an Oddfellow — ^London 

 Institution saved from becoming a clerks' school — Aquarium at Paris — 

 Accident Sheet — Professional life of Alfred Smee — Illness — Visit to Whitby 

 — Posting up storm telegrams at Whitby — Contests Eochester a second 

 time — Speeches — Visits Italy — Anonymous writings on the Unseaworthiness 

 of Ships, on Chancery Eeform, &c. 



At the General Election of 1865, Alfred Smee contested 

 Eochester, and there brought forward political views under a 

 new phase, which he termed " Conservative Progress." Although 

 enthusiastically received at that city, he was unsuccessful. He 

 was surrounded by his family during the contest, and I still 

 always look back to that general election as a very agreeable 

 phase of my existence. The year after he wrote two political 

 skits, the one termed ' The Puppet Parliament,' and the other 

 ' The Final Keform Bill.' Neither of the pamphlets bore his name. 

 See the Appendix, Nos. XXVIII. and XXIX. 



In that entitled ' The Final Keform Bill,' he says : — 



There are four great diseases before Parliament this year : 1. The 

 rindei"pest, or death of cattle ; 2. The cholera pest, or death of mankind — 

 both bodily diseases, to be treated after an exact study of Nature's works : 

 3. The nigger pest, white murder by blacks; 4. The Fenian pest — the 

 annihilation of social order and religion — both mental epidemics, to be 

 treated after an earnest study of God's moral laws. 



Who shall legislate upon these serious maladies ? Shall they who 

 have bought their parliamentary seats by money, and pandered to the 

 foUies of their age ? Or shall they who represent independent, thoughtful 

 voters, and who have studied Nature's works and followed moral laws P 



In 1865 Mr. Smee was made a Freemason at Gundulph's 

 Lodge at Eochester, and he was about the same time also elected 

 a member of the Oddfellows in the same city. On the 22nd of 

 February, 1867, he was elected a member of Jerusalem Lodge, in 

 London, one of the oldest lodges. Although he took a warm interest 



