# Australian views of England/Letter 1

LETTER I.
THE STATE OF POLITICAL FEELING—ENGLISH OPINIONS OF AMERICA.
THE state of political feeling in England at the present time is very peculiar, and scarcely admits of definite terms of description. It is not surprising that we hear people talk of a Conservative reaction, for certainly there exists a widespread distrust of extreme Liberalism, and a disposition, more or less manifest among all classes of society, to rest satisfied with the existing order of things. The civil discord in America, to an extent unjust to the Americans, has repelled and partly terrified the public mind; and anything that was felt to savour of American democracy would, I verily believe, be ill received in any great gathering of the people. The other day I heard a popular lecturer, Mr. George Dawson, discoursing to an audience of at least a thousand persons on the ​American troubles, and he indulged in some sharp ridicule of universal suffrage, which was received with loud cheers and merriment. The same indifference to what would have elicited a tempest of cheering from any meeting a few years ago was manifested a night or two back at a great meeting assembled in the Birmingham Town Hall to hear an address from one of your Colonial Commissioners, Mr. Parkes. I suppose Mr. Parkes considered it part of his duty to describe the political institutions of the colony, and, though his address was well received, and frequently applauded, when he explained that the Legislative Assembly was elected by manhood suffrage and the ballot, not a single cheer was heard. Mr. Parkes was addressing at least 5000 people, chiefly Birmingham artisans, who, twenty-two years ago, waged civil war for the five points of the People's Charter. These are incidents that have latterly come within my own knowledge, and, just as feathers indicate the direction of the wind, they will serve to shew the current of public feeling. I do not, however, think that the people at large have grown enamoured of the Conservatives as a party, though very probably, if any concurrence ​of circumstances were to lead to Lord Derby's elevation to power just now, there would be a much more general disposition to tolerate them in office than has ever been felt before. The feeling that exists appears to be very little guided by definite principles of any kind, and a public man of amiable personal character, who frankly mingles with the people, will be a popular favourite, as Lord Stanley is, without reference to his political views and opinions. The fact is, that the people are beginning to look with suspicion upon political professions, while many of the representatives of the old territorial families have contrived to make themselves popular among all classes by their acts of consideration and their general conduct. Possibly experience has taught many that political agitation but very inadequately supplies the daily wants of a family, and administers but little to the enjoyment of life. Cheap railway travelling has probably been a powerful agent in moderating political passion, as well as in removing local prejudice; and I dare venture to say that a picnic in Stoneleigh Park would be a most dangerous competitor to a Reform meeting in Birmingham. The singular position which the eloquent member ​for Birmingham himself occupies, affords the most forcible illustration of all of the political scepticism that has grown up. By his wonderful power of oratory, John Bright can, at any time, collect an audience of thousands which he can work into a transitory enthusiasm; but there is no man, occupying the same space in the public mind, of whom you hear so many persons speaking slightingly. This is particularly the case among the manufacturers; and in Manchester this great apostle of the Manchester School is really unpopular. Among all the political ovations of the recess, where the names of Russell, Palmerston, Carlisle, Stanley, Lytton, Pakington, and others have been the ascendant stars, it is remarkable that not one of the "men of the people" has been the object of public adulation. To my mind there is something of glaring injustice towards the men who have sprung from the people's own ranks, and of degrading fickleness of opinion in the people themselves, in this apparent neglect and mistrust of their old friends. But the fact is so. A fortnight ago I heard a Staffordshire manufacturer, at a private dinner-table, speaking of Cobden in the bitterest terms of reproach, and no one present ​raised his voice in vindication of the free-trade leader. It is not Conservative reaction in the old party sense of the term, but the action of a shopocratic conservatism of modern growth, combined with a sprinkling of flunkeyism, and a larger leaven of political infidelity.
The Emigration Commissioners from New South Wales and Queensland are stirring up the people by their lavish praises of their respective colonies. Mr. Jordan lately addressed a large meeting in the city of Glasgow, which went off very successfully. Your commissioner, Mr. Dalley, has been agitating the Home counties, while Mr. Parkes has been moving about in the manufacturing districts, and has had crowded meetings at Manchester, Birmingham, and other places. I understand Mr. Parkes and Mr. Dalley contemplate visiting Ireland in a short time.
I do not know what amount of success will attend the efforts of your commissioners, but I have met with persons who have determined to emigrate to New South-Wales in consequence of their addresses, and some of these are men of character and means. If they had the power of granting free passages they might obtain any number of emigrants.
​There is some talk of a Reform agitation among the Yorkshire and Lancashire politicians, and consultation meetings have been held in Manchester and Leeds, with the sanction, it is said, of several influential names, though the most important person that has appeared in person is Mr. George Wilson, the well-known chairman of the Anti-Corn Law League. The Manchester Guardian denounces any attempt to disturb the public mind by agitating for further reforms in the constitution, and harps away on the thorough failure of democratic institutions in Victoria and New South Wales: and yet the Manchester Guardian is a great Liberal journal. Since the appearance of the two fierce articles in the Times, I notice that every provincial journalist has his fling at parliamentary government in Australia. Will no one stand up to vindicate the character of the colonies?
The enemies of John Bright have been gratified within the last few days by the announcement that his carpet-weavers were out on strike at Rochdale, and that the firm were seeking to reduce wages below the rates paid in other establishments. But this has been authoritatively and flatly contradicted, and it is stated that no strike at all has ​taken place, though the factory had been closed for some time while undergoing alterations, but now it is in full work, paying the highest wages, and refusing applications for employment. So much for the ingratitude of workmen to their popular champions, and so much for party scandals.
During the past month some unusually fine speeches have been delivered by parliamentary notabilities, of which Mr. Gladstone's on the progress of art, and Sir Bulwer Lytton's on the American war, have been the most splendidly conspicuous. Indeed, the speech of the great novelist at Hitchin has supplied the material for a hundred newspaper leaders in different parts of the country. The country squires have been prosing away in all directions till they have made the very atmosphere of England feel drowsy.
It is curious to note the ill-informed and ill-natured remarks on the civil war in America which are made among the trading classes. If you meet with a manufacturer or a travelling factor in a hotel or railway carriage, he is sure to amuse you with some clumsy and ignorant attempt to ridicule the Americans, and it always turns out that their greatest blunder and greatest crime consists in not ​sending their cotton to England, and in not taking England's manufactures. Until of late I had lived under the impression that the Americans had a deal to answer for in cherishing a bad feeling towards England, which was entirely unjustified by the disposition of the English people towards them; but a worse spirit than anything I have ever read of in America is constantly displaying itself among the factory squires and shopocrats of England, while the sympathies of the aristocracy are undisguisedly offered to the rebellious Southerners. And it is remarkable how little original thought appears to be expended on this fratricidal war. Liberal journalists and popular lecturers repeat each other without end; but no one thinks it worth his while to investigate the causes of the quarrel with earnestness, and place the whole case before the public in the light which the history of the last five-and-twenty years might throw upon it
London, October 25, 1861.