Bismarck tribune., 1883-07-13
ENGLISH DEMOCR CY
Signs Pointing to N Impending Re.
public.
The Ominous Discomfort Of the Lower
Glasses.

:, sSsS Glasses.
John Swinton in New York Sun. ss
There is in England , democratic revolt
other than that Of tho Liberal party, or even
its radical wing, though found it to be the
stin old tory belief that Gladstone, Dixie,
Chamberlain Il Co. are tearing down the fences
of the order Of things as quickly and violently
Is opportunity will permit; that the assurance
Of universal suffrage, the interference with
property rights in land, the assaults upon
vested privileges, the menaces against the an
cient church, the impending advent OF iron
shod reforms, and the advancing supremacy
Of the commonalty, with al tho threatening tur-
moil of the times, are bringing about changes
than which the spirit Of destructionism itself
could suggest nothing more depiorable
myself hold the high old tory opinion that
there is danger to the ancient English domicile
from these governing radicals, just as hold
the liberal opinion that the danger would be
fastened by the ascendency Of high old tory
ism: and, in truth, was brought to the fore.
cast that ruin is about to overtake no. few OF
the cloud-capped towers and smoking affairs OF
England, and that, whatever be the course OF
the light fingered gentry of toryism or whig-
gerry, the day Of judgment and OF doom Tor
them is at hand. do not in any way underrate
the work that Of late years has been done, or
that is projected, by the advanced and advanc-
ing leaders of liberalism, nor am unaware OF
the prospect-well, it is hazy-that lies beyond
the headland of to-day. Every man can take
his own view there.
But another ana far more formidable demo-
cratic revolt than that of ministerial radical
ism is in preparation among the Engllsh-one
that is in moral affiliation with the democratic
energy of continental Europe-one that stands
on the old rocks of right at the foundation OF
the world, and is to grapple with the abomlna-
ton of desolation now enthroned over Eng,
land, as kngcraft, nobility, monopoly and
what not Doubt not that
True enough, this thing ls not yet fagrant
nor are it's signs obtruded
But it NAV be more or less discerned IN the
democratic federation, in sundry recent move
ments of trade lniOnisnl, in the vast grown OF
workingmen's clubs and tho nature and splrlt
Of their strain, in the numerous Sunday con-
yenticles of London for democratic debate, in
several weekly sheets put out on Sunday, IN
the new outbreak of the land question, and IN
the turning up Of able young democratic lead
ers for the suppressed masses ne VINO mas
the means of looking into these things closely
and viii Nil 5 RGt da an2p to eness
before this century is at an end, and the
time NAV easily be hastet1ed by circumstances
brought about by blind leaders Of the
blind. was taken one Sunday to conven-
ticle of London democrats in Soho-not open,
day were not open, to the general public: The
audience was wholly English, and the eight or
ten speakers were all ordinary Englishmen.
they had strong heads, full Of hard sense;
they spoke clearly, knew what they we're drlv-
ing a and seemed to have no 5ess PLUCK .nsn
from the old Chartists, and resembled in 9 few
the extreme left of French democracy We'll,
the monarchy, the aristocracy, and how much
else will vanish in whirlwind like that OF
1649, or that of 1898, when they raise the storm r
that gives these men their opportunity. In the
dens where the cockatrice eggs are Matched,
there will then be changes.
IF the signs have spoken Of are to be dis
cerned in the quarters referred to, there are
other signs akin to these in devious quarters,
and perhaps even the Reform club may not
turn out bodily in Pail Mall against the i'm
pending republic
Ithappened that of the friends who lightened
nv days of illness in London, there were three
who may be described as representative men
q Tory Of the old school, q GladstoRian Liberal
of to-dg, and q Democrat Of the apocalypse.
To nv Tory friend the Gladstone crew are
Jewellers, demagogues and destructionists; and
his only hope for England is in the assurance
that Gladstone cannot live forever. To
NV Liberal friend, the course of things
for some years under the dictatorship
of the wonderful old man has been alto,
gether satisfactory, and the wonderful oio
man is now so arranging the country's politi-
cal machinery that it is sure to run according
to his system for an indefinite period. 10 my
revolutionary democratic friend toryism and
liberalism are but two names for the one arls-
sible for the squalor and shame of the English
millions, for the jobbery in parliament and the
public service, and for the regnant cormor-
ancy that is despoiling the country substance.
He holds that the democratic revolution may
be precipitated in ways not to be foreseen.
war with Russia, Jingo might Keep her up
through several camPaigns;, but should her
strength be severely tried in q long war,
and her East Indian empire be torn from
her grasp; should we thereupon be-
hold here in England such popular
long wars, and which almost sent her to pot
near the close of the last century and after the
Napoleonic era, them the hour,wil strike for
the revolutionary English democracy; and we
are prepared for it in way that neither our
forefathers nor theirs knew anything of; we
shall seize it to break the grip Of the domestic
tyrant upon the throat of the devastated
masses 1t may seem strange to find English
men who talk thus; but | guess there are
tens of thousands of them i'll London Itself The
democratic revolt there has grown rapidly and
deeply during the past few years, and it is now
stimulated by forces generated from all the ele-
ments. %. ..
In Oxford street, Regent street, the Strand,
and other shopping quarters of London, where
tits always flood tide, one is struck by the in
dications of the superaDonnding vitality of the
perambulating millions. The lifefulness of
these London people flows strongly from the
fresh springs of nature, n which there is per-
petual regeneration of mankind. But in the
dominions Of squalor also, and even in quar-
ters like the Seven Dials, you qotice the strong
substance of the sqralid masses and the
strength of their being. They have the
primitive stuff in them, the rough rabble,
after all these ages of hell; the power
of defiance and resistance is not yet gone
out of them; and, on tho whole, you had
better look out when among them, if you can't
behave Things are not yet desperate, then,
even here; for, while there is mettle there is
hope In those manufacturing towns of Eng
land, of which saw something, it was differ
ent. The factory hands of Birmingham and
Manchester had lost their souls, and had but
little of their pluck left; their bodies we're
etiolated, their bones withered. Man could not
be more abject, life more desolate, the outlook
~,~ s-lo 4R% a$n rrrrvIka