New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-24
RADIOALISM IN ENGLAND.

| w
Mr.. CHAMBERAIN's pRoGRAMME--sR CHARLES
DuKBs SPEECH AT NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
| BY TIE PRESS or TIE ADVANCE OF RADICAL
| OPINIONS.
lFRON THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or THE TRIBUsB.l
| LONDON Jan. ga change or an advance may be
noted IN tho tone of English politics. Radicalism,
il one may Judge from speeches, is gaming gronnd
among the middle classes. and gaining courage In
| tho working classes, and the leaders both OF the
working classes and of the Nonconformsts get
ting degree of attention which marks their grow
| ing power. speech like Mr.. Chamberain's at
Sheffield last week might be the signal of revolt IN
country where institutions are less elastic than
here. Ii you can conceive the possibility of its
being made in France. it is safe 10 say its
author would have had to mako speedy
choice between voluntary exile and imprison-
ment. People take it TRANQUILITY in En-
gland, and the most bigoted Tory is not stupid
enough to propose to put Mr.. Chamberlain in jail.
| The day that saw half his programme carried out
would mark the birth Of England very different
| from the England Of to-day. But then everybody
knows that such programmes will not DO carried out
on given day. There are no 4ths of September In
this country Mr.. Chamberlain is one OF an ad-
vanced minority, the numbers of which swell gradu-
ally till they become, first question and then
| on another, majority. The units composing the
| majorties are not the same on every ques-
ton, nor perhaps on any two questions. The
most obstinate Conservative is only obstinate
till he is outvOted Then he submits, grum-
| bling moro less, indeed, but abandoning
from that moment every thought OF undoing what
| has been DONE When the Tories came into power
after the Reform bill of 1892 they left it untouched.
They never sought to restore the Corn Laws when
repealed nor would they now dream of reestablish-
ing the Irish Church, Of overthrowng Household
| Suffrage in the borOughs-which, to be sure, they
we're the Instruments of erecting, under compulsi0n
They are occupied in resisting its extension into
Counties knowing perfectly we'll that it will be ex
tended in spite of Them and that they will acqniesce
in its extension when it has been accomplished. On
| social questions which rank all those re-
lating to labor and to land on which Mr. Chamber
lain dilates- they will make stouter fight than on
merely political questions
am not one of those who believe that this gener
alton of Englishmen will see Labor wrestling from
Capital the predominance which the latter now has
in legislation and laws. 1t will extOrt great conces-
sons but it will not reverse the positions Of the two
conflicting interests. The working class leaders
would, dare say, be glad OF q compromise which
should put tho classes they represent somewhere
near an equality in respect of legal rights with the
classes they attack In any case the process will be
gradual and peaceable Bnt there comes from time
TO time period during which the process is percept-
ibly more rapid than at others, and such period
the present is No slight evidence of il is the rapid
ity with which obscure men have sprung into no
tce Mr.. Arch was an unknown man two years ago.
and within year past was man whom the London
press thought it still possible to ignore Mr. Cham
berlan q very different type of agitator, himself
a capitalist an employer Of laborers, but sympathlz-
ing strongly with Mr. Arch some points. has won
his general reputation within a year. Even six
months ago, though he had long been power IN
Birmingham he was little known outside of it. Now
he goes down to Sheffield to make speech, and The
Times reports him by telegraph, and what he says is
discussed very seriously. OF course don't mean
that it is approved. Nobody with an idea in his
head is approved at first in this country What Mrs.
Linton says in tho preface to that extraordinary
book, Joshua Davidson" is perfectly true; that il
Christ came among us-that is, in England-nOw,
he would be unorthodox in faith and refOrmer in
politics; and he would be- not cruciied nor be-
headed, but written down with the whole force OF
the press. hope shall not be suspected OF rrever
ence on account of my quotation. l certain
ly am not comparing Mr. Chamberlain to
the old Christ, or to any modern one.
But though q Messiah Is not looked for in these
DAYS by any considerable number of sane persons,
the sects of Pharisees and Sadducees are far from
being extinct. III they can't get u SOn OF DaViu 10
persecute they Will put up with substitute and for
them any man with sincere faith in q new religion
or new method of life is suitable object for their
attentions. l doubt whether you can point to a
single REFORM even in pure politics. of the last forty
years-to 20 back no further-whch has been born
into respectable" society, has not been first
neglected then attacked, and then adopted by the
class which assumes to supply monopoly OF what
il calls leaders. It IS hardly thought civil in these
days to call people Pharisees, but Mr. Matthew
ArDold-himself very mild type Of reformer-has
popuIarizcd the term Philistines, and it conveys
meaning to sensitive natures whose good breeding
recOils from robust phases.
Then there is Sir Charles Dixie, whose profession
of Republicanism in his Newcastle speech. two
wears ago has never been forgiven, and chi whom
Society took methods of it's own for revenge He
has persevered in the House and out of it, in what
are called attacks on royalty, that is, in demanding
inquiry into the profligate or secret expenditure of
the Civil List in resisting the gift of extravagant
sums to the children of the Queen in preserving the
rights of the people in the public parks and COM
mons and in other measures which l need not
enumerate. In the House he has had little support
and from the Ministeriaabench and,the Opposition
alike he has been treated with atfectatiOn of con-
tempt which might have been genuine if less anger
had been shown. The press reported him imper-
fecty. 1t was believed he had sacrificed his career
thrown away his seat for Chelsea which is called
"lOyap borough, and become an impossible"
politician. Well, he made speech Monday
evening to his constituents, which was
history and defense Of his work in
Parliament, repetition of his charges against the
administration of royal moneys and an assertion OF
the rights of Trades UniOniss, winding up with an
unsparing criticism the Government The Times
reports IT to the extent of three columns. 1t is
49, -, Darlta mt nfOf