The Irish standard., 1900-03-03

affairs of state. And now their govern
ment is about to present them with
bill for f2oo,ooo,ooo. Will these ragged
robins, who have not the courage to
fight for their own rights at home,
cheer any more for the gold syndicates
of the Rand?. We warned them what
was coming, but our words fell un-
needed on asinine ears.
The opening discussions in parlia-
ment show that we are ruled by kind
of Colney Hatch government, whose
most enthusiastic admirer in the press
is the jingo organ of middleclass Non
conformist hypocrisy, the Daily News
That paper has had the impudence to
be giving advice to the opposition as
to the tactics it SHOULD pursue on the
opening of parliament. The Daily
News no longer represents any section
of the Liberal party. The bloodthirsty
Wesleyan missionaries, who have been
neglecting the savages at home to make
snug jobs for themselves in South At
rica, and who have not been ashamed
to take the money of the freethinker
Rhodes, and the crew of Sodomites in
johannesburg who have engineered
this unholy war, may admire its policy;
so will the financial Jews and the
sweeps of the stock exchange. The
radical democracy regard it and all
other Wing journals with contempt. In
London, please goodness, we shall have
shortly one daily radical democratic
journal, greatly enlarged and improved,
the Morning Leader, published at half
penny, which we advise our readers to
buy to the exclusion of all other So
called Liberal" newspapers.
Lord Salisbury in seeking for excuses
for the blunders OF his. government has
turned revolutionist. He says all our
recent disasters are owing to the fact
that we have democratic constitution.
Have we, indeed? What about the cor
rupt oligarchy known as the house of
lords? What about the majority of $50
Tories-all wealthy men, land monopo-
lists or company promoters-in the
house of commons? This is not enough.
The Tories have already made the
queen, Empress of India, and they now
talk of British empire, which does
not exist, but no doubt their policy will
be to deprive a foolish and enslaved
people one of these days of all the po-
litical power which they have neglected
so long, or used so wrongfully
We advise our readers not to take the
slightest notice -oi any candidate :iot
parliament, even though he calls him
self Radical, who does not put in the
front of his program payment of men,
bers and election expenses and the en-
franchisement of the 100000 of British
Outlanders. The time has come to stop
these gentry befooling the democracy.
Liberalism used to consist of going
very much farther than your opponents
in political and social reforms. For the
life of us, we see no appreciable differ
ence between latter-day Liberalism and
Toryism, if we are to judge the Liberals
by the representatives in parliament.
There are far too many wealthy men
there. And they are there because the
constituencies are mean. They will not
subscribe toward the election expenses
of candidates and, consequently, they
are obliged TO put UP with the riff-raff
Of manufacturers and gentlemen in the
"city" of London, whose names are
constantly appearing in connection
with shady companies.
And not only that. These constitu-
encies actually blackmail their candi-
dates and members. They are con-
stantly asking them for subscriptions.
Nothing is more dishonest or shame
full. 1t is no honor to be elected by
such 1nen. The English people, indeed,
seem to be fast becoming a nation of
beggars. The begging-box is being
constantly ratified in ones face. Manly
pride, stalwart independence are van
ishing. AS regards politics, it ought to
be made a criminal offense for any
member of constituency to ask a par
liamentary man for money, or for the
latter to give. If you cannot appeal to
the natural dignity of these men, dis
grace and humiliate them in gaol. For
this begging and giving is one OF the
great corruptors of public life, and is
the main cause why we are governed by
a parliament whose ministers alone di-
vide something like fifty directorships
among themselves, while of the rank
and file, it may be said that at least
three-fourths are interested in public
companies, some individual members
holding no fewer than twenty-five di-
rectorships! Many of these so-called
politicians bribe the electors to enable
them to swindle the public by afixing
the title NJ. P. after their names
"mucking the constituencies in the
elegant phrase of one Of the gang.
Well, then, if these things are to be
altered, if honesty is to be restored to
public life, let us begin at once to look
round for candidates to displace those
who do not come up to the standard