The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-09 00:00:00

An American View of our " Reform
Demonstrations."

The New York Times of the 26th ult. has the
following remarks on the London trades' " demon-
stration :—"

It need not in the least detract from the favour-
able estimate which we have formed of Mr. Bright's
energy as an agitator if we devote a word or two
to a truth which the London reform trades meeting
of December 3 seems to make apparent. The meet-
ing was professedly one of the organised trade so-
cieties of the metropolis, and was projected in ac-
cordance with Mr. Bright's idea that all the power
which artisans are able to use for industrial purposes
should be used for political purposes as well. Fully
expecting that the various trade societies would take
the same view of the matter, he predicted a proces-
sion of 200,000 persons, and a day of great enthu-
siasm. Neither the one expectation nor the other
was fulfilled. The procession appears to have num-
bered about 25,000, and beyond the fact that there
was a great crowd of lookers-on the excitement was
of a very mild description. The result was due to
some extent to minor causes, but the conclusion can-
not be avoided that the heart of the labouring classes
was not very strongly moved on the question of re-
form. We have repeatedly pointed out that the apathy
of these classes on political subjects is greater than
some would have it appear. The difficulties under
which they live are unconnected with the suffrage, as
they know very well. Every English mechanic of any
intelligence knows that full work and high wages
are not to be controlled by any legislation whatever.
The working classes of England are, without doubt,
always studying the relations of capital and labour,
for those relations are what control their condition,
and enter into every circumstance of their hard-
working lives. But with these things changes in the
representation have nothing to do. Iri fact, the
course of British legislation having been toward the
fostering of British trade, and successfully so, the
masses are generally disposed to content themselves
with political affairs as they are. In fact, the Bri-
tish workman is not, in the main, discontented with
his rulers, for he knows that were he to take their
place, he could not remove evils that are inevit-
able. As for sensation writers, who abuse everybody
who does not believe in them, and who affirm that
England " groans" under its aristocratic system,
they may be dismissed with, the statement of a fact
well understood by well-informed persons—English-
men are not weary of their aristocracy, but, on the
contrary, look to that aristocracy with great respect,
and recognise its general influence in preserving the
status of the nation among other nations with much
gratification. The preservation of the " ancient
honour of the family" is, as most even of the poorest
classes understand it, a sort of sacred obligation with
the majority of the titled gentlemen, whose names
are reminders of many old historic epochs; epochs
not less interesting to ourselves than to other peoples
—nay, epochs in which our own ancestry bore an
honourable part, and in this sense are a guarantee of
the stability and the respectability of the nation itself.
The political movements, in short, which from time
to time are rife in England, are not to be judged
by an American standard. In that country much
that with us is a constant subject of debate is settled
and accepted. The course of parties does not run
there as does the course of parties with ourselves.
There the masses understand, and are proud to un-
derstand, that the general forms of government are
fixed and, humanly speaking, immutable, and that
there are limits even to political vagaries. We,
who are for ever patching, or seeking to patch, the
holes which we ourselves have made in the struc-
ture, which we have reared with so much labour,
and love so well, cannot understand that another
nation will stand firm around a social edifice formed
upon a different model. But the truth is the truth
nevertheless. The difficulties under which labour in
England suffers are nowise concerned in these mat-
ters, and the trade societies which did not parade
at Mr. Bright's bidding knew it. The problem
which they have to solve is a different one from
that which he has undertaken to solve. They in-
tend to combine, not for the election of members of
Parliament, but for the establishment of industrial
enterprises of their own. They are more bent upon
realising that labour is capital than upon the
possession of a franchise which would be of compa-
ratively little use to them. They turned out to see
the show of December 3 as people will turn out to
see any show. But when all was over they returned
home with mingled feelings. Prominent was, of
course, that of respect for Mr. Bright, who is re-
spected even by his enemies ; but as prominent was
the other feeling, that votes were very well, but
victuals were better, and that the elevation of the
British working man must depend upon the union
of industry and skill, to be guided by his own
brains, and to inure to his own benefit.