The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-21


aud from the mouths of grim and passionate
mob tearing down Hyde Park gates. A reg-
ment OF guards was always at hand to blow 1t
out with Whit If it became troublesome. 1t
was despised as demagoguism and ignorance,
only worthy of a sneer-something low and
vulgar-as hateful as Communism, without
the courage Of the Commune. But now it is
preached in the House of Commons, and its
apostles are English gentlemen, in whose
veins runs the blue blood of the nobility. For
the first time since the days of Cromwell has
republication found champion in Parlia-
ment for, as we understand the position of
John Wilkes and Sir Francis Burdett and Cob
bett, and the earlier radicals, 1t was not repub-
licanism they advocated, but reform and
extension o. the suffrage
Behind This movement there Is growing
public opinion which cannot be suppressed by
the jeers Of the House of Commons. Those
who recall Victor Hugos marvellous story will
remember the scene when Gwynplaine, as
Lord Clanchare, threw off his plumed cap and
proceeded 10 address the House Of Lords in
Denmark, the hush md OF Queen Anne. ''My
Lords, said Gwynplaine, 81 am from the
depths, ard represent Misery's" and ths lords
laughed and jeered and shouted like school
boys at play, and rushed out Of the house in
uncomfortable glee. The voice comes again,
not merely 10 o laughing house, but to an
angry, anxious house, to Commoners who see
behind these young men Misery, Care, Want
centuries of political injustice, crimes in India,
crimes in Standardization which have be-
come laws and which mako England to-day
the happies country in the world for men Of
large incomes and the saddest for those who
labor. They see public opinion whioh Is be-
coming more and more educated every day.
Strong as England is, and happy as Queen Vic
toria must be in the loyalty of her subjects, the
opinion represented by Sir Charles Dixie can
not be despised. The fact of its being in
minority in the Commons means nothing.
Every cause begins with the minority. Before
the artillery are put in line the pickets feel the
way. The Corn law agitation at the outset
had two men to lead it. When Charles Sum-
the pioneer republicans they were despised
and denounced. Yet in ten years their party
took possession of the country and changed
the political destinies of America. A minority,
however small, is powerful if it represents
principle. We hear of that desperate
courage which makes one a majority" but
this is higher courage. England ruled by
her lords and middle classes cannot sit still,
relying upon her army and navy and The Bank
of England, and afford to despise this move
ment England cannot point TO the crowds
who swarmed from Ludgate Hill to the Marble
Arch, the other day, to see the Queen, as an
evidence Of immutable loyalty. There
would have been as great crowd TO
have seen the presumed Sir Roger
Tichborne Oh his road to Tyburn. ''What an
enthusiastic multitude" said one of Ma
poleon's marshals to him, as they stood at the
window of an Italian palace receiving the
homage of the multitude. ''The crowd would
be as enthusiastic if stood on the scaffold,"
was the reply. This political sentimenality
means nothing. The storms will come and
90, ruf1ling tho surface Of the sea, at the
mercy of the uncertain winds, but the deep
ocean currents-gulf streams and japan cur
rents-move on forever and forever 10 their
duly appointed array. We cannot read the
political signs of nation like England by
looking at the surface. Somehow wrote
Hawthorne many years ago, II feel in this
country of England sense Of the uneasiness
and instability Of society-as 1t were the deep,
low rumbling which precedes the earthquake"
1t Is madness to close the eye to these phe-
nomena. We are told 10 the Scriptures of the
cloud that arose in the heavens no bigger
parable will see what became Of the proud
and foolish men who disregarded the omen.
We have only to remember ourselves in 1860
to rate at its true value 'the loyalty of Eng
land" and the unscemly expression given to
it by the House of Commons remember our
demonstrations in favor Of love and peace and
union in the months after Lincoln's election,
and how we mobbed Phillips and Curtis and
the pestiferous abolitonists whenever they
appeared in public. Yet in few months we
were in arms and waging cruel, deadly war
upon each other, doing murder and pillage
and desolation, with the kisses and VOWS still
fresh upon our lips. The elements of war
were in our political system. They had been
terminating since 1920. The spark fell from
Sumter, and the flames arose. The elements
of revolution are in the political systene Of
England Every day they show more life.
May God in his mercy and loving kindness
make 1t peaceful revolution, and teach the
statesmen of England wisdom and courage,
that the nation may 60 through the inevitable
trial, and attain the ultimate blessings of free.
dom and Justice without being compelled to
pass into that dark and fearful valley by