The Washington times., 1894-04-02
n Topic or Two
TO Think Hb0uf


The representation of labor in parliament,
says Justin Mccarthy in the North American
Review, Is, Of course, not new thing. 1t
dates from the year 1874. At the general
election of that year the Liberals, headed by
Mr.. Gladstone. went out OF Office, and the
Tories, led by Mr. Disraell, came into power.
The Tories were full of gladness and even OF
exultation. II only they could have foreseen!
That election brought in the first labor can
didates-avowedly labor candidates-who
ever sat In the House of Commons and were
enabled by their class to maintain such posi-
tion. That election, too brought back Mr..
Isaac Butts to the House of Commons after
long absence, and brought with him, too, the
first utterance of the name of home rule.
Tho two labor candidates returned to that
parliament were Mr.. Macdonald, man long
since dead, and my friend Mr.. Burt, who is
still in the house, and who is now
and was once before a member of a
Liberal administration. No man in the House
of Commons, will answer for it. is more
respected there than Mr.. Burt. Mr.. Burt was
workingman In the mines. He managed to
educate himself somehow. and is now much
better educated, taking him all round. than
many man who has gone through full
course OF university training. In 1874 Mr.
Disraeli offered his congratulations to the
House OF Commons on the fact that they had
at last two representatives of labor in their
midst. do not think the congratuation was
insincere. Disraeli had sort of sentimental
sympathy with the workingman. He tried
at one time TO call into existence null
titudiniZed Conservative workingman. Mr..
Bright, Radical as he was, did not seem to be
inclined to the introduction of the labor
candidate-as labor candidate. He
was opposed on principle, he said,
to the idea of representation by class
interests. He was opposed to the representa-
tion in parliament of the railway interests,
the landlord interests, the brewers interests,
and SO he was doubtful about the labor inter-
ests. The answer of the labor candidates
would have been only too obvious. the
House OF Commons had got the representa-
tion of the railway interests. the landlord in
terest5 the brewers interests. the army inter
ests, the navy interests, and many other in
terests besides, and could not possibly get rid
OF them. and what conceivable reason could
there be for refusing to organized labor some
representation of its int eresls? The case was
clear, and the labor candidates became
more and more successfui-and even
the rural laborer soon found his represen-
tation. Men like Mr.. Cremer, Mr.. Howell,
Mr.. james Rowland. and many others came
in to swell the representative influence of the
artisan in cities, in mines, and in dockyaris.
and Mr.. Joseph Arch was sent into the
house to speak up for the cause OF the rural
laborer. The Irish National party, the
Scotch National party, the Welsh National
party have now each and all their own labor
representative in the House OF Commons.
Clearly the principle of labor representation
has ''caught on"-has indeed prevailed
against all adversaries, lll odds, and all
objections.
The year 1870, says Cardinal Gibbons in
the North American Review. will be ever
memorable for two great events, the Vatican
Council and the Frnnco-Prussian war. Let
US contrast the pacific gathering OF Christian
prelates with the warike massinS OF troops
which Immediately followed on the continent
of Europe. Hosts of armed men were tramp
ling the fair fields of France The land was
REDEEMED with the best blood Of two powerful
nations. The sound of their cannon spread
terror throughout the country. Thousands
of human victims were sacrificed, and
thousands of homes left desolate;
and after lapse of nearly a
quarter Of a century the fires that were then
kindled are still smouldering, and the ami
mostly engendered by the struggle is not yet
allayed. A council of bishops assembled in
the name and under the invocation of hea ven
They met togetf er not amid the booming of
hostile cannon, but amid hosannas and te
deums to God. The pursuits of agriculture
and commerce were not suspended during
their sessions The DEGREES they enacted for
the welfare of the Christian commonwealth
are in full force to-day among go. .000, 900
people; and long after the trainers of them
shall have passed oway they will continue to
exercise a salutary influence on gen.
erations yet unborn. What does this
prove? 1t proves that the pen and the
voice are mightier than the sword and the
cannon; that peace hath her victories no less
renowned than war, yea, victories more sub
stantial and enduring. 1t proves that all
schemes fomented by national enmity and a
lust for dominion are destined like the noun
tain torrent. 10 spread ruin and desolation
along their pathway: while the deliberations
of men assembled in the cause of religion,
like the council of bishops, or in the interests
of peace, like boards of arbitration, silently
shed their blessings as the gentle dew of
heaven, and bring forth fruit in due season.
The serious character of the situation in
England. writes Goodwin Smith in the Nine
teenth Century, will be specially felt by any
one who can compare it with the situation in
the United States, though even there the peris
of democracy fill the minds OF thoughtful men.
The framer5 of the American Constitution
looked democracy in the face and provided
against its liabilities, il not sufficiently vet 10
a great extent. The safeguards afforded by
the Constitution are immense. and every
American will say that if they were with
drawn confusion would ensue. England hav-
ing slid into democracy unconsciously still
fancying herself to be a monarchy and to have
an aristocratic upper chamber is provided
with no such safeguards. Parliaments elected
by peasants and mechanics, British and Irish.
in u state OF socialistic agitation may in a
night change fundamental institutions or the
fiscal system. carry sweeping measures of
agrarian confiscation, or dismember the
realm. Moreover, in an avowed and estab-
lished democracy, such as the United States,
the people identify themselves with govern
ment. and are disposed to support the exer-
else of an authority which they regard as
their own. Here. ill a country formally mon
archical and aristocratic. the people have
been used to regarding the government as
power external to themselves. against which
their rights and liberties were to be defended
and their general sympathy is with resistance
For moment new life is breathed into the
House OF Lords. That house now stands
between the nation and ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Patriots do right in rallying to its defense
against an assalant who entered public life
as the nominee of one Of its members and
now seeks lis destruction. not from desire of
amending the constitution, but because it
ytill mot Mt ivnn 1infy cxx-,fh !