tributed to his position. He had long been interested in the question of preserving commons, in the interests both of public recreation and the welfare of the agricultural poor. An annual enclosure bill had always passed as a matter of course. The bill for 1869 threatened Wisley and other commons. Fawcett insisted upon a discussion. After several attempts to pass the bill quietly, which were defeated by his vigilance, a committee was finally granted to consider the whole question. He succeeded in obtaining an inversion of the presumption that such bills should be passed without careful scrutiny. He became a leading member of the Commons Preservation Society. He took a prominent part in the measures by which Epping Forest was saved from enclosure, in preventing intended operations which would have ruined the beauty of the New Forest, and in carrying later bills by which the rights of commoners and the public have been more adequately protected. He intervened successfully to secure many threatened spaces from enclosure. His sympathy for the poor and his love of the natural beauty, no longer perceptible to himself, were equally strong incentives.
He had from an early period taken a keen interest in India. He first took a public part in such questions by protesting, almost alone, against a proposal to charge the expenses of a ball given to the sultan at the India office (July 1867) against the Indian revenues. His chivalrous sympathy with a population unable to make its voice heard by its rulers led him to devote unstinted energy to Indian questions. The sneers of officials, and prophecies, falsified by the result, that his constituents would resent such an application of his time, failed to discourage him. He obtained the appointment of committees upon Indian finance which sat in 1871–3 and in 1874. The thoroughness of his study of the question was shown in his elaborate examination of witnesses and in speeches upon the Indian budgets in 1872 and 1873, which astonished his hearers by a command of complex figures, apparently undiminished by his blindness. He insisted especially upon the poverty of the Indian population, the inadequate protection of native interests, and the frequent extravagance and blundering of official management. His correspondence with natives and Anglo-Indians became very large; and he received many expressions of gratitude from individuals and official bodies, while scrupulously avoiding any advocacy which might throw doubts upon his perfect independence. He became popularly known as the ‘Member for India.’ When he lost his seat for Brighton a sum was raised by an Indian subscription towards the expenses of a future election. He continued his activity during the parliament of 1874–80, and served on a committee upon Indian public works in 1878. Its report in 1879 sanctioned most of the principles for which he had contended. Three essays, published in the ‘Nineteenth Century’ in 1879, summed up his views and met with a general approval surprising even to himself. During the parliament of 1874–1880 Fawcett had become reconciled to his party. His geniality had won affection, as his independence had gained respect. He heartily sympathised with the opposition to the policy of the Beaconsfield administration. On 19 Sept. 1876 he presided over a great meeting at Exeter Hall, on occasion of the Bulgarian atrocities. He endeavoured in the following session to stimulate his leaders to take a more decided line of action in pursuance of the policy then advocated. In 1878 he protested against the step of bringing Indian troops to Malta and proposed a motion (in December) condemning the proposal for charging the Indian revenues with the chief expense. He joined the Afghan committee at the same period, and co-operated with Lord Lawrence and others in trying to rouse public opinion against the war in Afghanistan. He thus took an important part in the final attack upon the Beaconsfield government.
On 31 March 1880 he was at the head of the poll for Hackney with 18,366 votes; Mr. Holms receiving 16,614, and Mr. Bartley 8,708. Fawcett received some 1,500 conservative votes. He became postmaster-general in Mr. Gladstone's government. A seat in the cabinet was withheld partly on account of the difficulties due to his blindness. His official position prevented him from criticising the government, while he had no voice in its measures. He probably had little sympathy for some of them, especially the Egyptian expedition, and he rather accepted than approved the Irish Land Bill. He was, it may be noticed, utterly opposed to Home Rule.
He now devoted himself almost exclusively to administrative measures, and applied himself to them with an energy which probably injured his health. The most conspicuous measure adopted under his rule was the establishment of the parcels post in 1882; but he carried out many other measures involving much care and labour with a happy superiority to the prejudices of ‘officialism.’ He introduced with great success a system of postal orders, already devised under his predecessor, Lord John Manners. He made arrangements for the introduction of cheap telegrams and
