The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-09-16
WORKMEN IN PARLIAMENT.

The Great Changes i'm British Politics
Wrought During the Past Twenty
Years.
'tNo one can have watched the leaders
of the workingmen for the last ten years
without finding among them men cap
able of commanding the attention and
respect of the House of Commons, not
merely for their eloquence, surprising
as that is, butfor their good sense, good
feeling and good breeding" Such
were the words of the late Charles
Kingsley twenty years ago.
The prophecy has been abundantly
verified. Nearly ten years, however,
elapsed after these words were uttered
ere a working-man member was found
in the House of Commons, though sew
eral determined attempts had been
made. Mr.. Burt, who has occupied a
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 MIR. Broadhurst,
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.
Gladstone's cabinet. Now hat several
colleagues have been given to them by
the recent elections, the influence of the
working-man member may be expected
to increase rather than diminish.
The advent of bona tde work'ng-men
to seats in the British Legislature only
marks a phase in that vast, though, as
far as England is concerned, pcaceable
rouO1pfiD, uyh:nh Mill ox-o ho ,,loI
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 a tyrannical or Indifferent aristoc-
racy; their voice was unheard or un-
needed, ave when, as in 1882, 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
n % influence; politically they were re.
| garded as outside the pale, and untitled
to exercise v the power contained in
a vote. The time was a weary one for
the laboring man, and justice was ap.
| parently slow to make its advent. But
delay had its advantages. The work.
ing men of Great Britain received 8
much-needed education in the manage.
ment of their trades-unions and in many
other directions-a training that ma.
tured the Judgment and self-control o.
those whose vote in future days will be
so powerful for good or ill.
The social and political improvement
in the industrial population has beer
most clearly discernible during the las
twenty OIL thirty years. Fifty years age
a working-man would have been ostra
cised even if he had obtained election tt
Parliament; now he is received there a,
an equal. Before the reform bill .
1867 the voting power of workmen wa
comparatively small, and few of tn,
middle classes would have listened to
request for a workmen's representative
had there been no property qualification
to stand in the way of an election. Will
the passage of that act the condition o
things was changed in the great CENTER
of population. 1t is not, therefore,
matter of surprise that there SHOULD
be a wish on the part of those to whom
political power has been committed t.
have a direct voice in the making O
the laws in which, as citizens, they ar
SO deeply interested. Ardently, how
ever, as working-men members might b,
wished for by their class, a greater diff
Guilty still blocked the way-the want o
money to sustain them in Parliamentar.
life. This difficulty has, however, beef
overcome by the nominations to Parlia
ment of the men who are leaders in tn
unions, and who are being maintaine'
by the funds of these societies. -EdWGr'
BroUn, in Harper's Magazine.