Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-10-21
wORKMEN In PARLIAMENT.
The Changes fn British Politics
During the past Twenty Years.

| Ine Cm0mReS In bfhtlbn fOhtAcA
During the past Twenty Years.
"No one can have watched the lead.
ers of the workingmen for the last ten
years without finding among them men
capable of commanding the attention
and respect of the House of Commons,
not merely for their eloquence, surpris-
ing as that is, but for their good sense,
good feeling and good breeding" Such
were the words of the late Chas. Kings
ley twenty years ago.
The prophecy has been abundantly
verified. Nearly ten years, however,
| elapsed after these words were uttered
ere working man member was found
in the Honse Of Commons, though sew
eral determined attempts had been
made. Mr.. Burt. who has occupied q
place in the Parliaments of 1874 and
1880, the late Mr.. Alexander Macdonald,
who was in the House from 1874 until
his death in 1881. and Mr.. Broad hurst,
who was elected in 1880, were the first
to wear the honor, and each has 'com-
manded the attention and respect of the
House of Commons, SO much SO that
Mr.. Broadhurst was a member of MIR.
OloubbOut . CbDinCbs 1NOW shal bCNCIUl
colleagues have been given to them by
the recent elections, the influence of the
working.man members may be expected
to increase rather than diminish.
The advent of bona .tide working men
to seats in the British Legislature only
marks phase in that vast, though. as
far as England is concerned, peaceable
revolution which will ever be regarded
as one of the distinguishing features Of
the nineteenth century. During the
early decades of the century the labor
ing classes were politically, and in many
respects socially, under the heavy heel
of tyrannical or indifferent aristoc-
racy; their voice was unheard or un-
needed, save when, as in 1885,, their voice
was mingled with the stern rumblings
of revolution. intellectually the work.
ing classes then were far behind the
standard of to-day; socially, they had
no influence; politically they were re-
garded as outside the pale, and untitled
to exercise even the power contained in
vote. The time was weary one for
the laboring man, and justice was appar.
emily slow to make Its advent. But
delay had its advantages. The working
men of Great Britain received much
needed education in the management of
their trades-unions and in many other
directions-a training that matured the
Judgment and selfcontrol of those
whose vote in future days will be so
powerful for good or i'll.
The social and political Improvement
in the industrial population has been
most clearly discernible during the last
twenty or thirty years. Fifty years ago
a workingman would have been ostra.
cised even if he had obtained election to
Parliament; now he is received there as
an equal. Before the reform bill of
1867 the voting power of workmen was
comparatively small, and few of the
middle classes would have listened to a
request for workmen's representative,
had there been no property qualification
to stand in the way of an election.
With the passage of that act the condi-
ton of things was changed in the great
centers of population. 1t is not, there.
fore, matter OF surprise that there
should be a wish on the part of those to
whom political power has been COM
mitted to have a direct voice in the
making of the laws in which, as citizens,
they are so deeply interested. Ardent
ly, however, as workingmen members
might be wished for by their class, a
greater difficulty still blocked the way
the want of money to sustain them in
Parliamentary life. This difficulty has,
been overcome by the nomi-
nations to Parliament of the men who
are leaders in the unions, and who are
being maintained by the funds Of these
societies. Brown, in Harper's
Magazine.