Year: 1868

1t is very odd to an American to read, even
In the most liberal English papers, grave dis,
cusslonS about the prOpriety of workingmen'
being elected to Parliament. and about the
proportion these representatives should bear
to others.


The discussion gives hint of the great diff
ference there IS between English and Amerl-
can society. In England in fact, the work
ingmen are regarded as a distinct caste, and all
arguments in regard to them and their politi-
cal rights are carried on, by their friends as
well as their opponent, in precisely the same
spirit as the argument here for and against the
political rights OF the blacks. If an American
desires to comprehend accurately the spirit OF
the present struggle in England, we suspect he
must think of the working. class there, of the
mass of the English people, in fact, as
caste, precisely as our negroes are caste.
and as nobody else in America is rart of
caste. Here, for instance, is the way in which
the Pail Mall Gazette thinks and speaks OF
wOrkingmen:


"We do not mean to say that a working
man might not have qualities which ought to-
seat him in the House of Commons just as
man who happened to have an odd name migl
have such qualities; but it would, we think,
be as unwise to elect few wOrkingmen as
specimens of their class as to elect man who
had very odd name as a specimen of the
CLASS VI ulCu WIZ nave very Ouu
And not less singular to an American, though,
of course, infinitely nobler, is the reply of the
Spectator:


1--WE hear it said that to advocate the cleo
ton of picked members of the working class
is an obvious insincerity since if the working
class is to have the full Importance in Paria-
ment which it has in the nation, the majority
of the House should consist of members OF this
class; 1. e., should be carpenters, masOns, cot
tOn-spinners, and SO on, instead of country
gentlemen, merchants, lawyers, and so forth.
That would be true enough if only the work
ing-classeS were as we'll educated as the classes
with more leisure, and were as able to spare
the time. We do not hesitate to say that if
the mass OF wOrkingmen were as we'll educated
as the mass OF literary men, and had as much
leisure for politics as the mass of peers sons,
the House would gain greatly by having the
same proportion OF wOrkingmen within Its


walls which the class generally bear to the ma


ton. OF course that is only saying that if the


world were exceedingly different from what il


is, it would be we'll to have Parliament eX


ceedingly different from what we have. Or


the whole, of course, and coetertS cGrlGuS,


wealth is a great advantage for legislative func


tiJnS, because it gives leisure and inGepend


ence; and liberal education a still greater


advantage, because it gives intellectual re


source. And because these are great practi


cal advantages, we never expect to see-wha


would under the absolutely impossible condi


tions we have named be desirable-any pro


portion of the working-class in the House o
Commons at all approaching to its weight il
the nation" And so on.


1t is evident that England is not yet in tha


danger of becoming the prey of demOcrac
which MIR Disraeli pretends to fear, and man.
tories really dread 1t will sound strangely tt
most Englishmen. even of the liberal party, tt


be told what is the simple truth, that the spiri


of such Discussion as we have quoted iron


is absolutely incomprehensible to millions o
, Americans, and that outside of few of tn
oldest States, and of some of the wealthie
, cities, a man who should object to a candldat
. for Office that he was workingman would no
! make any one angry only because he would b
thought inSane.-N T. Post.