New-York tribune., 1885-02-08
SOCIALISM. IN ENGLAND.
-, , :, ,,,,r,, rcrr
AN AMERICAN COMMUNIST AND AN ENGLISH
GARNET MINISTER.

u.
peek saws his London organ He has quilted Skye
aud was last heard of in Glasgow The published
counts of his attempts at setting Skye on lire do
not agree All the Scotch papers say his enterprise
as failure. Mr.. Henry George says 1t was
q ,ccess. 1t is for tho American public, il they
.lppen to anything about the matter, 10 take
e heir choice between the two. The Pail Mall Gazette
which continues at intervals its coquetry WIN
Communism has published an interview Win MI
George From a sense OF duty which Is pioo"o''
morbid. have read the two columns and nan
through which this renegade American spreau
eag,es himself Never was more convinced OF the
truth of the ma kim that doing ones duty is It's own
bast reward Mr. George has little that Is new 10
offer and that little is not-weu, Is not accurate
The God given rights OF men to the use OF their
native soil reappear in almost the irst sentence;
and all the rest of the rhetoric for which that serves
as lucifer match, sputters and crackles as usual
MIR. George is not less wise in his own concert than
he was a year ago. His judgment OF the British
people, formed before he had set foot on british
soil has peen abundantly verified by observation,
he tells u.s. He is now convinced. by observation,
that the British people in favor OF land robbery
without compensation. He might as well tell us
that the British people are in favor OF resumng
In r rights which his pet phrase for general con-
6scation, to the moon.
Che only thing really novel and interesting and
amusing in Mr. Georges deliverance is his sudden
patronage of Mr.. Chamberlain. He would not be
the dcmagogue he is if he did not hasten to claim
Mr.. Chamberlain as a convert. He thinks Mr.
Chamberaln's recent speech evidence OF his
political sagacity. Translated into plain English,
take it to mean that the land belongs OF natural
right to the whole people, but that, as 1t would De
impossible to equally divide land. 1t should be LEFT
in form to private while the people take the
rent hope Mr. Chamberlain likes the doctrine
All hatta Nv
put into his mouth. hope he likes still better MI
Georges welcome to him as the coming Wat Tyler
If anything can make Mr. Chamberlain pause ON
tho steep decline down which he is rushing, 1t ought
10 be the clear view which Mr. George offers him OF
tie fathomless depths into which he will plunge
when the brink has once been reached.
This morning brings us commentator on MI
Chamberlain of greater authority than the mailman
who has been preaching plunder IN Skye. lhis
commentator on Mr.. Chamberlain Is none other
than Nh Chamberlain himself. He spoke last night
at Ipswich, the Parliamentary home of Radical
more Radical than he. Mr.. Jesse Ceilings. never
caa write Mr. Jesse Colngs's name without seeing
Mr. Matthew Arnold's too vivid picture of Mr. Jesse
Ceilings dancing before the Ark of the Lord. But
Mr. Jesse Ceilings whether dancing or not has
little concern for US to-day He has never yet sue
ceeded In getting many people to JOIN In MS
exercises, while Mr.. Chamberlain, as we all know'
has whole corps de ballet sbehnd and about hlin'
and is besides in his own person very superior
performer indeed. The passage in his Birmingham
speech which has given rise to all the censnre which
he now tries to meet. filled but quarter OF a
r<lnmn 1t takes him two columns to explain 1t.
The President of the Board of Trade is not fond OF
admitting that he has been wrong. or OF apoloelzng
for his mistakes-witness his singular demeanor
with respect TO the Aston riots. He says nothing at
Ips wich which can be construed as confession OF
his errors at Birmingham But think the reader
of this last elaborate elucidaton of the meaning he
IA expected to put on the previous statement will
feel that Mr.. Chamberlain himself doubts whether
his previous statement was not mistake.
He reiterates it is true, of the sillier dec
trines announced at Birmingham about the earlier
stages of society and the rights recognized by
ssyages. For the moment Rousseau and Proudhon,
as said the ether day, are his oracles. He uses
them as a would use them who had Just read
4hem for the first time. and thought he had made
brilliant discovery. When he has advanced
further in his acquaintance with social literature.
he will discover that his discoveries are long since
obsolete and that the living and latest authorities
i'm the social sciences have rejected this nonsense
with contempt. There are signs in every sentence
Mr. Chamberlain utters that he knows little OF the
subiect on which he dogmatizes. His strength lies
in direction very different from that OF the specu-
lative theorst. 1t is characteristic of him-and 1t
SHOWS what fund of practical good sense there Is
undertakes to expound his meaning by list of the
Icgislative measures which he favors. Some are
had and some are good but they have this in
common that they are in each case definite pro-
posals They can be stated in plain language. Mr.
Chamberlain understands them and makes his
hearers understand them; which diferentiates them
sharply from his Birmingham vagaries
He tries. moreover to break the force of the word
social or socialism by declaring that the Poor Law
and the Education Act examples OF social legls-
Iation. If he meant no more than that. 1t would
have been but prudent to say 80 at the time. But
he does mean more. He defines the two greatest
and most pressing needs Of our time to be, the
provision Of healthy. decent dwellings in our large
towns at fair rents and in the country facilities for
the laborer to obtain small plot of land which he
may be able to work. Not much Of Mr.. Henry
George in that modest proposal, surely. He wants
20 change the incidence of local taxation, and there
he is right. He wants to vary the income tax 50
that earned income and income from invested secur-
ties shall not be made to pay equally and ihere
again be is right But he goes further. lie would
amply q the three F's" to England and Scotland
ssd by one method or another break the existing
land system and replace it by what he again
describes as the most urgent and pressing need OF
als-reestablishmant OF the old-time freehoids III
the land and re-estabshment of the peasantry and
yeomen. In other words, he wants q peasant
proprietary.and wants TO apply the Irish Land Act
TO England and Scotland He will split his party
from end to end long before he gets to that point
Nor Is even this his most reckless proposal He
anproyes Mr. Jesse Collings's Restitution BILL
bili for restoring to the public all commons land
Illegally inclosed during the last fifty years. That
measure involves q principle which would imperil
every title in England If lapse OF time Is to give
prescriptive right, IL the twenty years OF the