THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES

ESSAYS IN LIBERALISM

ESSAYS IN LIBERALISM

BY

SIX

OXFORD MEN

This

is

true Liberty,

when

freeborn men,

Having

to advise the public,

may speak

free

Which he who

can and will deserves high praise

Who
What

neither can nor will

may

hold his peace.

?

can be juster

in a state

than this

Milton, after Euripides

CASSELL AND COMPANY,

1897

Limited

LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE

ALL RIGHTS RESES:VED

TO

JOHN

MORLEY

no^^Q;^s

PREFACE
In these days, when books multiply and men decay,
it

becomes more than ever the duty of

editors to

provide some apology for the appearance of a new

volume.
school
consist

Since, however, the

vogue of the

historical

and of popular science makes explanation

in

n'stiint^

of

the origin
is

rather

than a

defence of the end, our task

considerably lightened.

The

writers of these Essays were

drawn together

in

the political debates and the contested elections of

the Oxford

Union

Society.

To

that society, and to

the stimulating discussions of the Palmerston and

Russell Clubs,

we owe

common

debt of gratitude.

Six years ago Undergraduate Oxford tended to be

Tory

or Socialist

since that time

we have

seen an
absorb,

extraordinarily

strong

Liberal

movement

with one or two remarkable exceptions, most of

those

who

care for political discussions or debates.

So

far as the causes are personal,

spirit
;

Mr. Belloc has

refrain

been the leading

and we cannot

from

gratefully expressing our admiration for his kindling

viii

Essays in L/bf.rausm.

eloquence, his Liberal enthusiasm, and his practical

idealism.

Much
all

that he has not written

is

indirectly

derived from him, inspired

by a companionship which

we have

found a liberal education.

The

general purpose of a book of youthful essays

of faith than a discussion
will

must be rather a confession

of opinions
;

and the virtue expected

be rather

freshness of conviction than ripeness of thought.

special

The

aim of

this

book was the statement of a few

departments of

definite principles applied to various

politics.

Finality, exhaustivencss, the detailed

:

know-

ledge of the expert

these are merits

we have hardly
work
have,

attempted to

realise.

But

if

we have not succeeded

in conveying that these two covers contain the

of six

men who know

their

own minds, and

not perhaps a formed opinion on every topic of public

affairs,

but at least some principle to determine the

lines of
It

an opinion, then

we have

failed of

our object.

would be presumptuous

to lay claim to the

prime

virtue of lucidity, but

we may boldly

affirm that these

papers are precise and outspoken.

presented
tentatively

Views
;

definitely

may

be wrong and foolish

but views
reservations
error,

hinted
are,

under temporising
even
if

and concessions

free

from positive

too unreal and unsubstantial to be called effectively

right.

We

prefer to

fail

or to succeed in frank black

Preface.
and white rather than to
neutrality.

ix

shilly-shally in colourless
difficult to write

Further,

it

was

of the

moment and
moment.
and the press

not to find that

we had

written for the

Details falsify themselves between the pen

;

but principles cannot be declared in

skeleton abstraction.

We

have endeavoured to give

actuality without con-

some warmth and colour of

demning the work
In the Essay on
to

become petty and ephemeral.

difficulty

Outward Relations the

:

was
to

especially pressing

but

why

correct January
will

up

date to

fit

March, when April

1

probably leave

both untrue or obsolete

If this little
its

book be found
consist
in

to deserve

any praise

value

will

the attempt not only to

in politics,

realise present forces

and conditions

but

to get

back to principles which stand to prove themhave done

selves the master forces in the future as they

in

the past.

These Essays are dictated by the conbeen

ot
is

viction that there has

late too

much

neglect

of principle, that the party

it

lost in detail,

and that

is

useless

to put

before the country long proof particular legislation.

line

grammes and minute schemes

measures

But unless the country knows what general

will take,
it

will

never give a mandate to

the party of reform.

What,

then,

are

the

common

principles

which

X
ramify
into

Essays in Liberalism.
these
briefly

six

widely divergent branches?

:

They can be
ised

summarised

Democracy

actual;

up

to the full

meaning of Bentham's formula

;

a degree of political idealism

and a third

article

intimately bound up
sition to the

with this last, a resolute oppo-

form under which the materialist attacks

the State

Socialism.

And

here

we may quote some

words of encouragement written by Mr. Gladstone,

on January 2nd of
"
I

this year, to

one of the essayists

I

venture on assuring you that

regard the design

interest,

formed by you and your friends with sincere

and

in particular

wish well to

all

the efforts you

may

make on
The
property
artificial

behalf of individual freedom and independis

ence as opposed to what

first

termed Collectivism."

Essay, the most general in scope, lays

special stress
is

on the great truth that the desire

;

for

natural and ineradicable

and that the

greater
distri-

causes

which

prevent

the

bution

of landed

property

ment

of citizenship

that should be swept

ideal

accompani-

away by a

great measure of reform.

The second Essay attempts

to justify the past

impositions of Liberal principles on

ditions,
future.
in

economic con-

and outlines the commercial policy of the

The

application of a

somewhat new distinction

monopolies to the problem of municipal enterprise

Preface.

xi

brings the Liberal position with regard to the extension of State industry into clear
relief.

In "Liberals and Labour"

we

pass from mainly

economic to mainly moral considerations.

is

Free play
free

the one thing needful for labour.

But

play

implies fair play, and can only be under law.

The
under

main point of the Essay

is

therefore to define the

"compromise"
"

between licence
will best

and

limitation,

which the desired goal

be attained.
"

Liberalism in Outward Relations

develops the
self-

veneration for national sentiments and national

government which has always

and appeals above
all for

inspired

the party,

a democratising of foreign

policy as a substitute for traditional obscurantism.

Foreign policy

is

followed by Education.

In that

subject the history of a sectarian

monopoly exposes

the hollowness of the present Conservative attitude.

Present events emphasise the need for a constructive

Liberal policy, and lend an interest to the indications

here given. In the last Essay the threads are drawn together,

and the Liberal doctrines, which are ideally correlated

at the outset

by Mr. Belloc, are reviewed

in

the tangible

but tangled frame of history by Mr. Macdonell.

Principles

would not be worthily large which did

in detail.

not allow an honest freedom to differ

Not

xii

Essays in Liberalism.

one of these Essays, probably, but contains opinions,

phrases,
obiter
dicta,

interpretations

of

examples,

which the other contributors

only with modifications.
to

reject entirely, or accept

We

have made no attempt

reduce the parts of the work to a mechanical

unison, confident that general conformity of attitude

and harmony of inspiration

rent.

will

be sufficiently appais

Indeed, our essential agreement

proved by

the willingness of each to stand in juxtaposition with

subordinate beliefs which he considers doubtful, mistaken, or even absurd

:

it is

the

humble microcosm of

party loyalty.

One

point

more

only a great literary

artist

can

be sure that he can so present the past that the whole

is

scientifically indicated

only a triumph of style can

effect that

from what you say of

your judgment

on hypothetical

B and C

can strictly be foretold.

for in

Such success could not be hoped

independent contributions.

work of

We

could not cover the

the

whole

field

of politics to

treat every article in

party creed and pronounce upon every question in

the party problem.
fairly defined
;

Wc

hope the general position

is

hints

scattered

up and down may

lines.

help to complete
in

some subsidiary

The

points

the figure which

are, perhaps, least precisely in-

dicated are the burning questions of the

House of

Preface.
Lords, the Liquor Traffic, and Disestablishment.

xiii

In
is

so far as definition of an attitude on these matters

wanting,

we

are not without hope that possibly in the

future Essays on these subjects might be

added
S.

to

the present collection.

J.

P.

F.W.H.
Oxford,

March

ist,

1897.

CONTENTS.
PAGE

THE LIBERAL TRADITION

By HiLAiRE Bhlloc,
late

Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford.

LIBERALISM AND
Oxford.

WEALTH
laie

By Francis W. Hirst,

Scholar of Wadhant

College,

LIBERALS AND LABOUR

By
J.

97
late

Allsebrook Simon,

Scholar of

Wadham

College,

Oxford.

LIBERALISM IN OUTWARD RELATIONS

By
J. S.

.131

Phillimore, Student of Christ Church, Oxford.

A LIBERAL VIEW OF EDUCATL N

By
J.

.175

Lawrence Hammond,

late

Scholar of

St.

John's

College, Oxford.

THE HISTORIC
By
P.
J.

BASIS OF
late

LIBERALISM

.219

Macdonell

Scholar of Brasenose College,

Oxford.

INDEX

277

ESSAYS

IN

LIBERALISM.

THE LIBERAL TRADITION.

A
Civic Ideal Now imperilled by Liberal
Possibility
Political

Defeat A graver Symptomsimpler

Principles

of

Reversion

to

old

and

Rival

Theories That
Thrift

of

mere Conquest Collectivist Attack on

Personal

Moral to be drawn Recall the Liberal Principle The Liberal Citizen His Economic and Political Independence and Responsibility The Early Liberals Their -demand for the Suffrage and Repeal of Corn Laws Social Reform Abroad
because
simple

The

and

Property

Socialism,

like

Jingoism,

strong

their

Sympathy with National Movements Home Rule Extension their Attempt, and of Suffrage Citizenship The Land Monopoly our Failure to follow it up The Plural Vote another Failure The House of Lords: Home Rule Bill a Test Case How the Old Liberals would have conducted the Campaign against the Lords Our late Policy another Proof of Abandonment of Principle for Detail Decay of Political Idealism one Cause of our Defeat Partial Disillusions Free Trade The Suffrage Local Self-Government
:

Similar Victories of Liberalism on the Continent

still

less

Successful

Consequent

How to revive Idealism Vulgar The Power of Conviction Social and Economic Changes of the Our Century Liberal Tradition Land The Task Neglected Conditions still favouring Reform Faults and their Punishment Entail, Conveyancing, of the Land Laws The Three Obstacles
Wisdom
of the

Landlords' Policy

The

Industrial Future.

THERE
of
all

existed

in

the

minds of those who

our

brought about the

political revolution of

century a certain civic ideal which formed the basis

their public action.

It

ciples,

was simple and clear, as must be all first prinand especially those which are to command

The Liberal Tradition.

general conviction or to create an enthusiasm that

shall
all

be deep and sustained.

It

was applicable
it

to

the conditions of a State, because

dealt with
rights

the most

fundamental
duties
;

definitions

of

civic

and

civic
its

and,

moreover, at

the

moment

when

vigorous exponents opened the battle which

their successors are so near to losing, the trend of

events appeared to be ranged upon their side.

That
political

ideal

now

stands in the greatest

peril.

The

party which has always been

its

guardian

has sustained an overwhelming defeat at the polls. The need of maintaining the central idea, already
sufficiently

cursions,

is

obscured by a mass of irrelevant exnow hardly mentioned its most im;

portant positive applications are avoided in a debate

that
is

lapsing into mere criticism, and that criticism

largely personal.

Conviction

itself

has been a great

deal

more than shaken by a spirit of compromise which is no longer the statesmanlike desire to preserve unity between slightly varying parts, but has

become a blind attempt

to find something in

common

between highly differing and even antagonistic inFor compromise which, used as a sideterests. method, is a condition of political success becomes,

when

it

is

raised to the dignity of a

main
and

principle,

the immediate cause of disintegration

failure.

There is in the defeat of Liberalism this yet The party has refused or been graver symptom.
unable to say what solution
it

proposed

for the

new

Back to

Principle.

problems which new conditions have produced.

political ideal,

The
they

whose main function should be to

until

mould the material obstacles in its path become food for its own continuance,
grown unchecked
us
till

has

been

allowed to remain unused while these obstacles have

in

the rapid material changes about

the

disproportion
for

between
reform

the

old

moral

forces

available

Liberal

and the new

economic conditions opposing them has created a

kind of despair.
Is
it

possible to revert at this hour to the simple

doctrines
leaders
?

which formed the

strength
it is.

of our

first

Most undoubtedly
still

The

tradition of

these ideas

survives

they are understood by

;

great masses of the electorate

they are even used,

the
attitude of a
It

upon

occasion, as tests

of what

voter should be upon

some

particular question.
initiative
;

remains to the party to give the

to deter-

tion

mine the times and the places of particular applicato concentrate upon this or that point of
;

importance.

But,

above

all,

it

is

the
itself

function of

the party to keep

clearly before

and before
it

the electorate the principles that gave

its

name,
If

and the inheritance of which

the party forgets the basis of

it

is

the warden.
political

its

history,

neglects the opportunities of action, or attempts to

abandon some fundamental attitude

the bidding of a material interest,
it

in

politics at

will disappear.

There are
B 2

in

opposition

to

it

many

clear

and

The Liberal Tradition.

well-defined theories, capable of inspiring an equal

enthusiasm and conviction, and possessing a most

valuable kind
of support

mean

that
future

depending
develop-

upon the prediction of probable

ments.

We
us, a

have, alien to us, probably antagonistic to

dream of mere conquest apart from honour and of the glory of mere empire, separate from
self-respecting power.
It

has

proved

fatal

before

now
it
is,

to Liberal

institutions,

and attenuated though

chief actors
in
its

ridiculous

so far as

its

are

con-

cerned, and beneath contempt

pression,
it

mode

of ex-

still

possesses

all

the
in

characteristics of

a sentiment likely to grow

strength,
;

and
it

find
is

more and more

sentiment

material for its increase

and

which, at

certain

shameful

moment,

found innumerable supporters among the electorate

of England.

There

is,

again, a theory in economics and politics

directly the

opposite

of our own, cutting

;

at
is

the

root of our

most obvious principles

It

and

it

grow-

ing

daily.

involves

an attack

upon personal
consequent
in-

production, personal

accumulation, and
:

personal possession
dividual

a theory which
individual

makes the
of

and

all

the

virtues

small

account, and desires to emphasise rather the vague

qualities of a State.
It

would

dissolve

thrift,

and

self-control,

and

the personal honour which keeps a contract sacred,

Jingoism and Socialism.

and replace them by a State
trol,

reserve,

by State con-

burden of private
absolutely

and by a State system, releasing men from the It is a theory which is rectitude.
certain

to

find

stronger

and

stronger
unless

support as our economic system

it

develops,
to

is

met by an unflinching adherence

to shape the

those
left in

older political principles which have strength

them
it

economic system

itself.
it

Though
is

will be dealt with later in this essay,

worthy

of consideration for a
sentences, because
it

moment

in these introductory

forms so admirable an example

of those clear hypotheses that frequently succeed in

transforming the politics of a nation.

This
strong.

new theory

is

simple,

consistent,

and

Just as the Jingo finds a substantial sup-

port in the actual facts of empire and in the con-

tinued immunity awarded

to

to

broken

pledges and

unprovoked attacks, so the

in the actual

Socialist finds his sup-

port

facts

of the

present

system of

economics, in the divorce of personality from production,

and

in

the partial achievement of that centraliis

sation of capital which

side all

his goal.

He

has upon his

the potential force of a majority which has

forgotten

what property means, and even of a conlost the personal

it.

siderable minority so used to great accumulations as

to

have equally

sentiment of attach-

ment
is

in regard to

He

has the additional strength

of morally occupying the defensive, saying, " Here

the present

system,

large

capital

in

few units

The Liberal Tradition.

I

employing many wage-earners.

believe

it

cannot

be fundamentally changed, yet by removing a merely sentimental factor which does not concern the wealth
itself, I

shall

be able to use that wealth to

far greater

advantage
Is

for the

community."
its

not this theory, with

rigid conclusions, its

obvious postulates,
precisely such as

and its material surroundings, must command, when once it has

that

penetrated the electorate, a wide and an enthusiastic

following
?

Is

not

other force

the

desire of

mere conquest
two of the
political

simple and strong?

parties

They are but most prominent among the many

;

opponents of Liberalism
us to draw

and surely the

moral

for

from the methods of such

is that only by an attitude equally frank and by an appeal to sentiments equally widespread, can we hope to continue the work of the early leaders

antagonists

of reform.

We

must be convinced
in

that,

whatever

adaptation

may do
any

the details of working, the

main

force in

political

movement

is

some

clear

and abstract principle

tinually applied.

clearly understood

and con-

The
to

Liberals had, and

it,

still

have,

if

they choose

recall
it

a principle

of

this

kind.

Unpopular
to refer the

as

may be

at the present

moment

actions of

leading

Englishmen

to anything higher

than

some petty sense of inconvenience, or some

machinery of the State,

local desire to ameliorate the

the leaders of the Liberal party in the past had a

Twin Liberal Conceptions.

very simple theory upon which
all

7
political

their

work was based.

Generally speaking,
it

was of

this

nature

that
its

no

association, especially

no association of a

political

kind,

had a right

to

command

the obedience of

members
I

unless those

members each had a

But

part in

the government of that which they were to obey.

say especially no /(p/zV/a?/ association.

difficult to

it

would

not be
in

show that
there

in

industry,

and even

religious

affairs,

ran

through the whole

policy of the early leaders of our party a principle

of a very similar kind.

assertion of right in

Arbitrary government, mere

the place of proof, these were

the objects of their special and continued attack.

But though
finitions of

this

clause

is

common
is

to

all

de-

Liberalism, there

another idea upon

which

it is

dependent.
corre-

There ran through the Liberal projects a

sponding definition of the

citizen as a political unit.

And

it

was a

definition of

what should be much

ideal
far

more than of what was

an assertion of existing

an

more than
to that

fact.

But every attempt to

make
ideal,

the actual citizen approach

more nearly

every attempt which might

all,

make

his material

and, above

his

moral conditions suited to such

a development, every political

likely to

movement which was

produce that ideal by the mere fact of pre-

it, was befriended and ultimately adopted by the Liberal party.

supposing

The Ljbrral Traditiow

The
citizen

whom

they saw as the best possible

foundation upon which a free State could rest was

one whose economic and

not, indeed, irresponsible.

political

independence was
to be answerable,

He was

but answerable not to individual

men

so

much

as to

the general conditions of the nation

around him.

He was
restraint

to

be an individual possessor and producer

of wealth.

He was
is,

to exercise that faculty of selfin the

which

even

narrow
all

field

of mere

economic science, the basis of

of
all sufficient

accumulation and

material happiness.

He

was, again,

to be so self-respecting a

member

of a society which

depended upon

his

consent (and which only de-

manded

his

obedience on condition that he helped

to frame the law), that he

might be counted upon

good.
Bill,

not to give his vote upon a general issue for purposes

lower than those of the

common

The men who made the Reform pealed the Corn Laws, who demanded
for the suffrage

who

re-

a juster basis
seats,

and a better distribution of

who abolished some of the grosser who crowned the effort of the century
nationalities of the

privileges,

and

with the recog-

nition of claims to self-government in the secondary

empire

these

men cannot

but

have been actuated as a whole by some such theories as these, of self-government, and of that only
possible foundation for self-government

the
its

citizen

independent of personal control, and conscious also

of a moral force restraining him from
abuse.

The Early Liberals.

Most of them
their
so,

explicitly define this position as

own.

Charles James
so,

Fox

did so, Cobbett did

Bright did
;

and, to a certain extent,

also

but even those

so

who

did not actually lay

Cobden down
the

propositions

abstract,

and

theories

which

vulgar, ignorant of English history, call un-English,

by

their every action

in

political

life

showed that

these ideals underlay their efforts.

The men
pointed out,

of the Reform

Bill, as

has often been

alone; but they

demanded demanded
it

the suffrage for their class

it in terms which showed was but a tentative moveindeed it was followed, by

most unmistakably that

ment, to be followed, as

further attempts to admit

much wider

portions of

the nation to the benefits of a representation

which

they had made, so

equitable and just.

far

as districts were concerned,

The Corn Laws were

repealed by

men who

acted

indeed upon an economic theory, but whose enthusiasm was drawn from the fact that the Protection of
the day was helping the very few at the expense of
the very many.

All that social work

of which Lord

Brougham

was the leader

attempt

in the earlier part of the

century

the
and

to create small

capitalists

by

thrift,

to secure their position

by

technical

knowledge

was

of a precisely similar nature.

The
of
'48,

great

sympathy with the national movements

its

which the Liberal party, to

eternal honour,

10

The Liberal Tradition.

in

manifested
interests,

the face of strong monetary and class

;

proceeded from the same source

it

and

if,

rightly

or wrongly,

was on the

side of
it

Italian

unity and of Hungarian independence,

it

was because

saw, or believed that

it

saw, in either case, a ques-

tion of national self-government

opposed to the crude

traditional assertion

of alien

extraneous authority.

There was not one of the main Liberal measures, until very recently, in which this ideal was absent and if the Home Rule movement meant anything
at all, it meant that this very principle of selfgovernment was so sacred as to be worthy of application, even in a case where doubt existed in some minds as to the safety of the experiment. It was

an integral portion of the development of Liberal

policy,

and

it

finally

demanded the self-government

of a

portion

of the
at,

(slowly arrived

empire under the hypothesis but finally established) that such

its

a concession would do less than does

refusal to

disturb the unity and the strength of the empire.

Men
this day,

difTered within the party,

as they differ to

upon the question of how far all classes merited that general definition upon which our poliSuch difterences would ideal was based. tical account for the eagerness of some and the reluctance
of others to extend the suffrage at

some

particular

moment
not

but they did not differ then, and they need

differ

now, upon the advantages of special mea-

sures and of a whole line of policy tending to create

The

Civic Type.

i i

that type of citizen which they regarded (and which

we,

if

we

are their heirs, should also regard) as the

only healthy foundation for the State to repose upon.

That a man should exercise

should

thrift,

that a

man

own

his

own home,

that a

man

should not be

removed from the conditions under which he has to

vote at the bidding either of another

man

or of

material interests as pressing as any tyranny

these

are the lines of action which they clearly

for us.

marked out
occasion to

They attempted upon more than one

free that

important two-thirds of the land of England

from the ridiculous monopoly by which ten thousand

men
them

possess
in this

it

in perpetuity.

We

have not followed

attempt.

They have emphasised the primary importance

of equality in representation.
of the
first

It
it

seemed

to

them

moment, though

might not be of the

first interest,

that the national suffrage should be on

such a basis that

men

equal before the law should

also be equal in their position as voters.

We

have

relegated that doctrine to an inferior position.

did, indeed,

We

put

it

into our

most recent programme

vote."
in
it

in the

phrase
this,

"One man, one

awaken

But to pro-

secute

to

interest
it

at
we

least

sufficient interest to

make

a matter of considerable

importance

at

election

time

It

in

that

failed.

There were very many elections

vote helped to turn the scale.

in

which a plural

was a matter which.

12

The Liberal Tradition.

all

according to

the fundamental principles that have

run through the Liberalism of this century, was most

immediately crying
individual
voter,

for

reform.

Yet because the

most), did

and especially the more ignorant

not
feel

individual

voter (who suffered

himself aggrieved,

we

let

the thing go by.

The

party did
it,

not take the

it

initiative of insisting

of bringing

forward as

upon the men of the Reform

power, depend-

Bill

would have done.

Throughout the century

political

ing upon anything but popular representation,

has

been belittled by the traditions of our party, and was

attacked whenever
position.

showed itself in a combative Never has it done so more prominently

it

since the

Reform
Bill.

Bill

than

it

did in the case of the

Home

Rule

acting as a second

were directly

Here you had the House of Lords Chamber, where most of them swayed by private motives, and could
will.

not by the utmost stretch of the imagination be re-

garded as the trustees of the national

greatest as

The
this

of

our

leaders,

in

retiring,

pressed
it

the main point

of our campaign, and

was a
his

position most ably seconded for the

successor.
It

moment by
almost

would not be too much to say that at

our

last

effort in

Home

Rule

was
the

entirely

dropped

favour of minor measures.

first

The men who conducted

efforts of the

Liberal party would most undoubtedly have said of

such a campaign that the point

for the

party to pre-

The House of Lords.

13

sent to the electorate was the abstract right of these

men

to pose as a referendum.
justly,

They would, and they

would

have excluded as irrelevant all arguments

based upon the circumstance that for the

will of the

moment

the

jumped with the will of the nation they would have insisted upon the point of view that authority for action must first be shown House
of Lords
;

before the action, good or bad, can be approved

of.

We

allowed ourselves to be overwhelmed

by that

phrase, worthy of simpletons rather than of rational

men, that the House of Lords had agreed beforehand

with the verdict of the nation.

And what
What

about the case where the House of

nation.^

Lords should not agree with the verdict of the

basis should
if it

we have
it

for attacking

its

comin

position

acted, as

very nearly did act

the

case of the Irish

Land

Bill, in

flagrant opposition to
.''

the

opinion

of the vast majority of Englishmen

It

We
us,

should have nothing to say.

would be told
truth,

and

it

would be told us with

at the

that

we

had not discussed,

fundamentals of
its
it

most
to

critical

moment, the
in

right to veto Bills,

and that there-

fore the fact that

happened

have gone wrong

one particular instance ought to be judged by the

test of

expediency which we had ourselves admitted.

is

There

yet one more point

principle for detail.

in

proof of our
It is

abandonment of
struct

impossible

to desire to destroy without also desiring to recon;

or, at least,

it

is

impossible to have such a

14
desire

The Liberal Tradition.

and
to convince

any number of reasonable men. What did we propose as an alternative to that which all our traditions condemned as a false and anachronistic

conception of the state

Unfortunately nothing.
sufficient
?

Did not the principles of the party furnish a

basis for

such a reconstructive movement

Was
for

there not

enough

discipline

among our members

admit some action rather than a mere chaos There was not, and it is on of disputing theories? this account that our cry against the House of Lords

them

to

made but a

small

and

insignificant

noise
position

in

the

clamour of the recent

have been saved

election.

The
all

would

earlier in the century

by these two

main

factors.

First,

we should

have been agreed

and even by

upon the iniquity of such a veto power, irresponsible, its own methods vaguely defined, existing in our community.

Secondly (and

it is

of the

first

importance), there would have been in our ranks a

spirit of discipline sufficient to

back up any scheme

of reform rather than none.

to definite action

In both these essentials

we

are lacking.

Now

the abandon-

ment

or

neglect of these traditions

will

be traced

by individual temperaments

to very different causes.

They
that

same development, but development has been so complex as to make it

are but aspects of the

definable only

by a separate
place,
it

definition of each aspect.

In the

first

may

be said that political

idealism has lost ground everywhere in Europe since

the epoch of Reform.
It will

appear to most thinkers

Decay of

Idealism.
is

15

as a reflect rather than as a cause, but there

to be

much
stress

advanced on the side of those who lay

this

upon
in

decay as underlying the defeat of Liberalism

England.

Not

a few of the goals which the Liberal

movement

set before itself in the early part of this

century have been attained, and their attainment has

produced the natural disappointment which appears

when we

are able to

compare an accomplished

fact

with an old ideal.

Free trade has come

the

it

has enormously increased

it

prosperity of England, but

has been accom-

panied by a flood of population not wholly beneficial,

and the distribution of

the

capital has not proceeded at

It

same
left

ratio as the desire for its distribution.

has

the

weight of taxation, with which alone can

exist, still

political responsibility

reposing upon

an insufficiently large number of

citizens.
its

The

suffrage has been extended, but

extension

has led to a confusion of different interests quite as

much
issues

as to expressions of the national will

;

upon

clear

and there has grown a certain wide indifference

sit,

which cannot but be the attitude of men who

it

as

were, as

a jury to decide the

fate

of measures

which they necessarily misunderstand because they

have had no part
the country has
feature
is
is

in their initiation.

The self-government

of the towns
;

been achieved

and parishes m and though this

it

the least disappointing (perhaps because

it

the most recent) of the reforms, yet

is still

in

The Liberal Tradition,

incomplete possession of the strength and permanence

of an

autonomy whose

units

are economically in-

dependent.

Upon

the Continent similar successes have led to

comparisons even more disadvantageous.

perhaps, especially no one
in

No

one,

England, who looked to

the possibility of a united Italy

future the close ally of
it

saw that nation

financial ruin

in the

two despotisms, or imagined

through

would reach the brink of

military ambition or an exaggerated colonial policy.

Nor, surely, did the strong opinion which ran through

this

country

in

1849 on the side of Hungarian nation-

ality,

think to see that force merged in the general

attitude of the Austrian Empire.

Even those who

advocated a free Bulgaria

in

1876 could hardly have

pictured the direct aggression of Russia on the one

hand, nor the obscene tyranny of Stambuloff on the

other.

And,

to take

the greatest

instance of

all,

which

of those great patriots in France, or of their

supporters in

England, who maintained their long

protest against the usurpation of

Napoleon

III. fore-

saw

its

end

No

one, certainly, imagined a Republic

born of a disastrous war, crippled with an inheritance

of national
passion,

purpose

far

stronger than

political

and

therefore

burdened

with a

military
its

system upon which even the Caesarism of

decessor could never have ventured.
In the face of
that the
all

pre-

these facts,

it is

not wonderful

more vulgar minds of to-day should con-

And
gratulate themselves

its Revival.

17 to that

upon a wisdom superior

of the idealists of an earlier generation.

It is

even

comprehensible that a Mr, Bloggs of

tinkering at the

Smokeville,

wretched details of a royal comthat

mission

upon nothing, should imagine

virile

he

is

reaching that object which neither the eloquence of a Charles James Fox, nor the

energy of the

men

of the Reform

Bill,

nor the sound logic of the

in attaining.
is

English economists could succeed

For the
well

revival of that idealism there

no way

save the old and unsatisfactory method which was

the

worn when Piers the Ploughman advised it as remedy of a similar disease 500 years ago

namely, that each

man who
its

desires the success of

an ideal should keep

in

enthusiasm with certitude

his

own mind, and

trust

through

this to inspire

others.

changes

You cannot impose conviction by may result from, they will not
;

system

produce, a

political faith

and least of all can one trust to that unhappy modern fetish, material event, to save us from the decay of ideals. Even were the economic
tendency of the time setting towards the state which

we

desire,

it

would

in

no way strengthen our

bui,
to

ideal,

for its strength

lies in

our desire for a society too

;

perfect for full realisation

on the contrary^ the

against us, and
if
it

economic tendency appears

be

we

are to remain in the traditions of Liberalism,

asserting,

must be by continually
C

and by attempting

Thr Liberal Tradition.

to prove with accomplished facts, that a strong pur-

pose can give an impress to the material surroundings

on which

it

acts

by showing the economics of a

mould that conception

period to grow out of men's conception of the State,

rather than admit that they
;

even by asserting that

terior conditions

in

the mutual action of exin the State,

and of abstract ideas

the balance of the struggle remains in favour of the

human mind.

And

this leads us to the

second and main aspect

tradition

of the failure of

the

Liberal

the

main

aspect, because, even without that decay of idealism

which has just been alluded

account for nearly
recently suffered.
all
I

to,

this

alone would

which the Liberal cause has

to

immense change which this century has produced, and which we are now fully aware of, in the nature of wealth and This may, in the consequent condition of society.
refer

the

for the purposes of English politics, be best treated

under the
culture,

effects

which

it

has produced upon agriof the great

upon the

industries

towns,

and, finally, upon the meaning of the old political

terms.

The
until

Liberal position with regard to the soil was,

recently,
all

the the

following:

that

this,

the

most

important of
unfettered

means of production, should be

by

restrictions

made
all,

for the benefit of a

small class, and that, above

the partial

monopoly

which these

restrictions created should

be abolished.

Free Trade in Land.

But
this

19

free-trading
:

aspect

of

their

argument

had a nobler corollary

free

they believed that such a

recreate in

trade in land would

England that

peasantry on which her power used to be based,

and of landlord autocracy

stroyed, perhaps for
ever.

and which two centuries of landlord encroachment in the village have de-

They noted

that

in

all

the countries of

Europe where such

restrictions

had

been removed, the land had gravitated by the just

rule of a universal

demand
;

into the

hands of the

great majority of the people

they saw these peasant-

proprietors industrious, thrifty, accumulating resources

for periods of national

emergency, and lending the

part a strength

community of which they formed a

industrial

and a kind of promised permanence which purely

aggregations could
in

never afford.

They

noted that land offered

a fantastic price
offered
in
in

small lots for sale fetched

a crowded market, that land

larger

amounts was bought under concapricious and in a market far less

ditions far

more

ready.

They

therefore justly concluded

that

the

honest desire for possession and for stability which

had made the yeomen of the

ponent, were not dead
barriers

last century,

the ideals

of which Cobbett was the last and the manliest ex;

and they hoped, when the

this

should

be

removed, that

eminently
life.

English force would reappear in the national

This was the tradition they

left

done nothing
C 2

at

all

with

that

we have inheritance. The

us
:

20

The Liberal Tradition.

economic absolutism of the landlords has remained

untouched, while
nents with

we have been

we

imitative,

emulous vigour
removed.

and our oppoengaged in

fashioning organs of expression which must remain

dumb

until that absolutism is

The men who

owned

originated the Liberal policy found

in

an agricultural England were employed.

which ten thousand men

before them, and handed

two-thirds of an area upon which two million

They had

down
in

to us, the task of reforming a state of things

which the mass of the English peasantry had

farthest
civilised

sunk to be the
of

removed from
Europe.

citizenship

any

class

in

return

to-day they would find that

Were they to we had made

laid

no single advance upon the path they

down.

More than a quarter

involved
in

of the people of England are

;

this

system

we have

given

suffrage, local councils,

and a school

of a

them the type, by

the way, as far removed as possible from their control

:

we have given them nothing which should make

meaning or
vitality.

these conditions have

When
mon-

the century opened, a small class possessed a

opoly of nearly
towns.

all

the land and most of the borough

it

Of

these

retains, generally speaking, the

its

mastery, and has added to

wealth the unearned

increment of those new growths outside the older

limits

of the towns.
entail with

It

holds

its

monopoly by a
in

system of

which we have tinkered,

farce of reform

which had the deliberate intention

Danger

of Delay.
;

21
it

of leavinfj the heart of the evil untouched

protected

is

by a system of law which the

its

class itself

has

either created or modified to

own

interest

and we, whose policy and tradition it is to break down the barriers which changed conditions have made meaningless, leave this monstrous protective
system unopposed and almost uncriticised. The evil is accentuated and our lack of policy in the matter brought into relief by this fact. We have
hesitated
until

the

task

of

freeing

the

land has

become

vastly

more

difficult

than

it

was some few

delay,
suiting

years ago.

An

accursed

habit

of

rather timid or hypocritical

men

than those certain

it,

of their creed and willing to enforce

has corrupted

the politics of our time.

It

heaps up the material for

revolution or for decay, and talks prettily of develop-

ment.

With
is

political
less
fatal.
;

rights

this

hesitation

and

cowardice

The

State continues, the

rights are obvious

they are granted to the sons or

crrandsons

great danger has been

who fought for them, and no With the reform of run. They change is otherwise. economic conditions it under our very hand and when a State is in peril,
of those
;

or

a class

of citizens

oppressed by the

false

dis-

tribution of wealth, the remedy must be applied at once, or the disease will have grown past cure. We granted the suffrage in 1884, when a more
logical habit of

or even in 1832,

mind would have yielded it in 1848, and the result was not very much the

22

The Liberal Tradition.

:

better for the delay

but the

yeoman
in

class

which

might have been called into existence

part of the century, would be created

the middle

more
is

difficulty.

It is

but one

in

now with far many examples of

the goal
first.

the fatal result of slow progress

plain.

when once

Ireland taught us this lesson

;

Every
and

reform has been granted too late

until the last

to

may be doomed, if we delay longer, same category, and the self-government be granted by a Liberal or Tory administration
most
just of all
fall

into the

at a time

which finds the people of that island as

bitterly hostile to

England

as are

all

the

members of

the race
so

whom

England has driven over seas.

And

with the land.

The time when

small capital

would have sufficed for the beginnings of the new

class,
still

when

their local spirit

and desire of possession

lingered,

and wheij accumulation of wealth would

in a

have been rapid

has passed.

time of high prices

this

time

Our modern

conditions would

need a
class

capital out of the reach of

most of

this class

which has acquired the habit of drifting into the towns, or of remaining in a thorough dependence in
the country.
locality.

They

are losing the love of soil

all,

and of

And, above

prices

have so
;

fallen that

the beginnings would

lation of capital,
class,

be precarious
is

that accumu-

which

the backbone of a social

slow.
for

would be extremely

Nevertheless, the

demand

the

soil

retains

sufficient vitality to give a basis for reform.

Amid

Demand
all

for the Soil.

23

the peevish complaints which the monopolisers of

diffi-

the land are raising, the fact remains that the

culty

of sale

and the low prices which they are

apply
far

perpetually quoting,

more

to

the larger

than to the smaller divisions of the

soil.

Whether

it

be that the justly eminent position of country squire

is

not so coveted as

it

was wont

to

be by the brewer,

the money-lender, and the dealer in sudden stocks,

or that the appetite for a rank so easily acquired in
this

country

is

somewhat

affected

by the heavy draw-

back of having to maintain more than the old

but a poor market.
opportunities

pomp

with half the old revenue, the great estates are finding

With
is

the

comparatively rare
is

of exchange in small holdings this

the market

not the case

the

invariably

more crowded,

demand
It

is

more

brisk, the prices paid are

much

higher in proportion.

may

be urged that

under these conditions

level,

things would find their

own

that small holdings

bringing a larger value would be the ordinary form in

which land would be offered

for sale,

and that without

the interference of legislation that division of the soil

and creation of a peasant

class

which

all

men

of

sense desire for their country would be effected of

its

own

accord.

Economic circumstances frequently

Indeed,

operate thus, remedying in course of time the evils

which similar forces have brought into being.

it

may

be asserted that under conditions of free ex-

change very much the greater part of remedial action

24
is

The Liberal Tradition.

of this nature
is
;

but in the case of English land,

;

the exchange

not free

it is,

in practice, less free

if

than

in

any country of the West,

we except

Russia,

with whose laws, however, the readers and indeed

the writer of such an essay as this are imperfectly

acquainted.

Three causes

interfere with such

freedom

entail,

the complicated rules of conveyancing, and the policy

of the territorial class.
impossible, or extremely

With the last-named

diflficult,

it

is

for

legislative re-

form to

deal.

The

landlords
feel,

feel,

as the

members of
more
profit-

an American trust

that the immediate personal

in

advantage to be gained by selling

able

the

manner is outweighed by the disadvantage which would fall upon his class if this " breaking of the ring" should become common an accident that would destroy monopoly itself, and with monopoly all the permanence and stability of their social and

economic position of vantage.

avenue of attack by
but
this,

There

is,

indeed, an

way of

leasehold enfranchisement

applying rather to urban than to rural con-

ditions,

must be dealt with

later.

Indeed, the only

effectual

weapon

to use against so time-honoured and

is

subtle a conspiracy

that of counter-organisation, in

which Ireland has been so eminently successful. To counsel action of this kind in England would be futile
in a

moment

of material prosperity.

The sharp
in

lesson

of poverty which a disturbance of foreign trade (so

likely with a protective

Government

power)

may

Territorial Usurpation.
read

25

England

at

any moment would immediately

show the value of such a combination. With the two other fetters which bind the exchange of land in England reform can deal. It is
possible to destroy entail
title
;

it

is

possible to simplify

by The

registration.

history of

England

since the

Middle Ages
hand, and of

is

the history of a slow and successful usurpation of

of the people on the one

the rights the

Crown upon

the other, by a large territorial class.

Until the period of that industrial revolution which

has so signally increased the wealth, the population,

and the

perils

of England, this class was supreme.

its

During even our own time

ruled

influence

has been
is

modiiied rather than destroyed, and the country

still

by a

legislature,

a judicature, an armed

force

and an executive drawn from an upper class of which the territorial interest supplies ihe main ele-

ment and

direction.

And you
who

will

find but a very

small proportion of judges,

presentatives abroad

officers,

ministers or re-

are not connected with or

descended from
assertion
is

this

ring

of

families.

And
regard
it

this

in

proportion truer as
;

we

the

higher and more powerful positions

for while

would

be easy to discover a second-rate consul or curate, or an urban magistrate

who

has no link with the country

houses, to find a series of ambassadors, judges, or

bishops in this position would amount to a stupendous

miracle.

26
Entail
particular

The Liberal Tradition.

the

power of insuring

their order

and

its

members

against the consequences of reck-

lessness, of disease, or of crime

is

the test of the

success of this class.

king,

When England
central

possessed

and when the

it

function

is

to protect the

power, whose main community against the

insolence of the few,

was a
It

reality, the
is

growing claim
statutes

w^as vigorously fought.

almost the measure of

to

the central

power

at

any period

mark the

restricting the practice, or its

equivalent under the

For two hundred years more that restraint has been absent, but a community which is at last approaching to selfgovernment is at once able and bound to restore The reform would be drastic, but it would not it.
circumstances of the time.
or

be complicated
there
is

it

would be a violent change, but

it

no reason why
as

should be a prolonged one.

as
direct

A
our

Bill

simple and
in

as

those which

opponents were
the

the habit of drafting

parts

when

they created

various
to

of this dangerous
it;

system would

suffice

remove

and even where

is

custom and
to an

judicial

decision, rather than law,

at

the root of the mischief,

earlier

we can

find

if

we go back

and more vigorous period of Liberalism

plenty
is,

of models for destroying an evil system by

positive enactment.
Finally, a Registration Bill
after entail, the
in

would remove what

main

restriction

upon the acquire-

ment of land

reasonable holdings by that large

Lawyers and Land.

class of citizens

27

who have

neither the instincts nor

the accumulations of the great landlords.

The

timidity which has been

shown

in

the prosecu-

tion of this absolutely necessary reform

would lead

one to suppose that

interest at stake.

legislators

have some personal

The

Liberal party has acted in the

matter as though the words of Sir Frederick Pollock

were as

infallible as his legal

knowledge

is

undoubt-

edly remarkable; and the word "impossible" which

he has attached to

this

reform appears to have been

transferred from the devout opinion of an eminent

lawyer (and his able but

less

eminent colleagues) to
Indeed,
is

the creed of an active and competent party.

so strongly has that legal profession, which

(after

the landlords) the main element in our legislature,

protected
suspicion

its

inertia in the matter, that,

were not the

it

unworthy, one would ascribe

to

their

intimate connection with the class which their inaction

has defended.

There

is

no

civilised

country

in the

world

in

which

this tabulation of the land has not

been undertaken.

The
tion

mediaeval state

made it
;

the very basis of organisa-

and government

and we can boast to-day that

title

to land can be approximately ascertained (with

inordinate expense, varying inversely with the size of

the holding) which in the

somewhat

less

developed

times of William the

Conqueror could have been

register of state.

immediately
It
is

verified

by consulting a

indeed impossible to see what motives impede

28
this

The Liberal Tradition.

very useful
conjectures
reform, unless

one

is

to

fall

back
are

upon

which
lest

in

such

discussions

never mentioned,

they should excite too strong

;

emotions and too vigorous action

our modern reactionaries deplore.

which of

all

things

With the breaking

nicious

for

good and

all

of the per-

custom of

entail,

and with the freeing of land

and most important stage

exchange by
in

registration from the inordinate charges

first

of legal procedure, the

the re-acquisition of the land

by people

will

have

been achieved.

We

should have the material gain of

a land system in line with every other economic fact of our time, and the moral gain of being free from
the reproach of hypocrisy which
in

must always attach

to
in

self-governing

community
it

party which

advocates a systematic reform

in deliberate inaction,

words, while, lost

favours the few masters of

the community.

The question of agricultural

upon
at this length because,

land has been touched

on the one hand, the

lies

greatest potential material for future citizenship

in

that unhappy and oppressed class which

tills

the

soil

of England, and because, on the other hand, the

this soil

men who monopolise

the most
inveterate,

have been the

bitterest,

and the most hypocritical of

questions

those

who have
But

actively opposed the liberties of the

nation.

industrial

absorb a larger,

though not a more important

evils are far

class,

and while the

more

difficult to

reform as a whole, there

Industrial Ideals.
yet remain
industrial
at

29

many (and
is

these at the very root of our

problem) which the party must deal with

Liberalism
to

once

if

have any meaning

for the

English artisans.

The
of

conditions which industrial development have

in

brought about
those which

England are the very

masses and
in a

antithesis

Liberalism devises in the

State
;

capital held in large

few hands

men

working

gangs under conditions where discipline, pushed to the point of servitude, is almost as necessary as in an armed force; voters whose most
in large

immediate
citizens
roofs.

interests arc
for

who own,

economic rather than political; the greater part, not even their

There could be no

state

more

inimical to the ideals

which the Liberals of Europe

set before themselves.

So desperate have its chances become that a few zealous and strongly convinced men have attempted to discover an avenue of egress, by way of denying that right of private property upon which all the Dazed by the violent rupture civic virtues are based.
which has already taken place between personality and production, the Socialists have in every country
declared for the consummation of an evil which has already spread so wide they would wish to increase
;

the

semi-servile

condition of wage-earners, already

it

corrupting the politics of England, until

should

cover every family in the State

and they seek to

remedy a very present and

terribly practical evil

by

30

The Liberal Tradition.

sweeping away the highly chimerical and theoretic

barriers

which human religion and a sentiment as

the sanctity of con-

old as the race have opposed to their experiments,

among which may be numbered

tract,

the love of freedom, the virtue of self-control,

to

and the inviolable right

labour or by self-denial.

property acquired

by

HiLAIRE BELLOC.

31

LIBERALISM AND WEALTH.

The
Traditional Connection of

Economic Science with Liberal Policy

Modern Type

of Professor and his Statesman Pupil

Attack on Free Trade Principles Protectionist bury on Free Trade The Charms of a Protective Regime described Recrudescence of Tory Error Lord Salisbury and the " Truth " The Two Habits of Mind (i) Optimism of Averages and (2) Pessimism

The Nature of Recent Revival Lord Salis-

of Exceptions

Free Trade Policy justified even for Agriculture by Comparison of "Wages in 1770, 1850, and in the period 1860-1891 {a) the Policy of Hence Two Policies erroneously Inferred Whiggism.or Inaction (i**) Policy of certain Self-styled "Progressives" Liberal v. Collectivist Theory of Industrial State Catch-words Criticised The Cause of the Reaction at the last General Election " Property a a Parallel drawn from De Tocqueville's " Recollections Postulate of Political Thought Property in Land Principles of Liberal Land Policy The Pressing Need for Free Trade in Land Flabby Reasoning of those who inveigh against the Manchesterian
:

School

The Results
in

^Monopolies

to be anticipated from an Extension of Artificial accordance with the Socialist Plan The Question of

Municipalisation

History
for

of

Municipalities

Manchester Definition of Liberal Attitude towards Municipal Enterprise Natural Monopolies are the Proper Sphere of Municipal Enterprise Doctrine of Natural as opposed to Absurdity of Artificial Monopoly explained, defined, and illustrated the Socialistic Claims to an exclusive Share in Municipal Spirit The " Thin-end-of-the-wedge " Theory examined and found wanting Return to the Monstrous Evils of Uncontrolled Monopoly, especially Taxation and Principle of a Graduated Income Tax in America Privileges and Vested Abuses The Difference Representation

How

Cobden fought

Liberal

Framework

between Reform and Revolution.

THERE was a time, not very

as natural

far back,

when

it

was

and inevitable
is

for

an economist to

be a Liberal as

it

now

for a licensed victualler to

be a Tory.

In the days of Cobden, a thinker in the

economic sphere did not attempt to divorce theory

from practice.

One who had

seen the nation groaning

32

Liberalism and
starving

Wealth.
system, or had

and

under

protective

marked the

vast and rapid expansion of our wealth

and resources which followed Corn Law Repeal, could never have expounded in a merely academic
spirit the doctrines of international trade.

length

economy deserved

its

epithet of political,

Then at when

a great party set

itself to

apply on a national scale

the Free Trade principles which science had slowly

disentangled from the accumulated

experience

of

much misgovernment, extending over many kingdoms and many centuries. Accordingly, for a brief period
even the theorist was not ashamed to declare himself
a party man.

Of course,

the economist always remains

;

at heart an advocate of Free Trade

but

in the

present

epoch,

when philosophic doubt

is

assails every religion

is

which

not established, and every interest which

is

not vested, the professor of economics

into a casuist
;

developing
indiffer-

he contemplates with stoical

ence the regeneration of a policy which he knows to be

ruinous
;

and instead of teaching the broad truths by

convinced a nation, he prefers

which
to

his predecessors

negative

sow doubt among a chosen few by hunting up instances, rehabilitating lost causes, and
re-

endeavouring with every species of subtlety and

finement to

make

the worse appear the better reason.

The
tion

idea of free and

to

unimpeded

trade, the determina-

sweep away

duties, monopolies,

and legal
poli-

embarrassments are forgotten, and the British

tician
is

invited to watch Sicily

and Greece reviving

Sulphur and Aliens.

their respective fortunes

33

by putting an export duty

the

upon sulphur,
currants.

and

restricting

production

of
to

No

wonder, when they are

taught

watch a doubtful exception and to forget a general

rule,

that responsible ministers are

now proposing

to

by excluding enterprising aliens, by refusing a limited supply of cheap brushes presented to us by foreign prisons, and by protecting " a part of our commerce worth
whether

" restore " prosperity

men
'*'

or animals,^

;^ 1 00,000,000

against a residue worth ^^"600,000,000.

sneer at Cobden, a contemptuous allusion to

Manchesterianism

and

the " dismal

science

"

help

nowadays
Primrose

to

make up

that small but choice reservoir

of blind abuse, upon which Social

Democrats and
great
far,

Leaguers

draw

for
;

the

work

of

irrigating electoral ignorance

and so

certainly,

the crop looks green and promising.

If the hopeful

sheaves are to prove chaff on the threshing-floor of

the next general election,
Liberal party will
effect
it it

may

be predicted that the

by once more bringing

round to

its

side that hearty support of unbiassed

educated opinion which, fortunately, always means

success at the polls.

Now, if the free-trade principles of Bright and Cobden and Mill so largely adopted and put into force by Peel and Gladstone had only represented

By
in

a mild provision of the Animals Diseases Act, the animals

if

may

come
Bill.

slaughtered at the port of debarcation.

It is uncertain

whether the men will be equally favoured under the Alien Immigration

34

Liberalism and

Wealth.

the mental attitude of a few leading thinkers with no

considerable following and no practical achievements,

or
if

the free traders had been mere opportunists,

it

adopted a cry and inserted

to

in the

meet some passing mood or to

who programme win some temporary

party

support

progressive

who

called himself a Liberal

for joining

might have had some excuse

in the general

complacently

chorus

" True, true,"

he might have

said, "

but their teachings are quite discredited

in

now

our principles are brand new, thoroughly

ance with modern needs
they can be altered."
;

accordsuit

and

if

they do not

An

attitude of this sort surely implies the very

grossest lack of political insight, to say nothing of

political

morality.
tradition

For

to

deny the continuity of

break with
the past
is

Liberal

and

to

equivalent, under our system of government,

to a

declaration of political bankruptcy.

ever, the

Happily, howdetermined,
tho' fallen

mass of the party

on
evil

is still

intact,

" tho^

fallen

days, on

evil

days

and evil tongues," to resist with all its force every encroachment of monopoly, whether sectarian or
commercial, upon
individual,

the

legitimate

freedom

of the

and equally determined, when the pendulum of power swings back again, to depress those monopolies and extend that freedom in the religious,
the political, and the commercial sphere.
It
is

with

the

past and

present

relations

of

Liberalism to wealth and industry that the present

Sanity or Protection.
writer proposes to deal.
will

35

Some

well-tried principles

be examined
if

in the light of

reason and experience,

will

and

they are found to be good they

not be

discarded on the count of age.

There

will

be nothing
the

new

to

present-day politics

unless,

possibly,
;

attempt to reconcile practice with principle

original,

nothing

except the determination to avoid gaseous

opportunism.

Another
cidence of

Essay shows how the

the

oppressive inprotective

Corn

Laws and
and

other

duties helped to create a vigorous Liberal sentiment.

The

conditions of

oppression

misgovernment

speedily gave the Reform party irresistible political

power

that this

power was directed constantly by

is

intelligent

and

intelligible principles

explained by

the splendid combination of philosophic breadth and

political genius

manifested by so

many

of

its

chosen

leaders.

To

explain and justify the guiding principles

is

of Liberal economics

becoming more and more

necessary as each day carries us further

the period of Corn

away from
by argu-

Law

Repeal.

Free Trade was

firstly

taught to the people in those days,

ment, secondly, when argument had succeeded, by

the comparison which experience afforded.

Then

for

twenty or thirty years the arguments were forgotten, but belief in Free Trade was regarded as a condition of
mental sanity.

and

politics.

was an axiom of English commerce The few Tory Protectionists who sat
It

for agricultural constituencies

were crotchety persons

36

Liberalism and
considerable

Wealth.
uneasiness.

who gave
Only

amusement but no

within the last five years of trade

depression
in.

has the real Protectionist agitation set

a healthy community.
will

Howsell in

ever well advertised, a quack medicine will not

The

inventor of a panacea

never

make

his

fortune unless the variety of

is

diseases which he engages to cure

indisputable.

For certainty of the disease creates

in the

human
of
the

mind
to

vague

presupposition

in

favour

promised remedy.

The same

consideration applied

Economics explains why the quack remedies of

Bimetallism and Protection were able to

make some

head

in the lean

years of 1890- 1894.

In the spring of 1892, at Hastings, Lord Salisbury

discovered,

when

discussing the imposition of taxes

"

upon imports, that there was

said
for

a good
to

deal

to

be

hops."

But alarm began

in

show

itself

among
ing at
the

his supporters

the manufacturing towns,

and two years

later the Conservative leader, speakfelt

it

Trowbridge,

necessary to

reassure

town
the

populations
general

by an
:

before

elections

emphatic
"

utterance
I

No
that

doubt
I

shall

be told
to

by some

hostile critics
I

am

adverse

Free Trade, and that

corn.
it
I

am
that

proposing a duty
lie

upon
before
think,

beg to

nail

to the
feat,

counter

is

uttered."
for
is

(A

difficult

one would

even

Lord
and

Salisbury.)

" I

know
of

that
this

Free Trade
country.
I

must be

the
is

policy

know

that Protection

dead and cannot

Lord Salisbury's Hops.

be revived."

37

sometimes
he was

These are strong words, but deeds are In May, 1895, even more eloquent.
in in

Lord Salisbury was

in
office,

opposition; in June,
that

1896,

and

month
Bill,

his

Ministry

passed the Animals Diseases

tective
legislation

a piece of proIt
is

of the very crudest type.

calculated that, for every breeder of cattle in

Engof

land there are

5,000 consumers of meat.

in

But the
sacrificed.

Government has decided that

the
one,

the
to

interests

those of
is

the

5,000 are

be

The
offer

grazier

not to be allowed to buy the cheap

cattle

which the farmers of Iceland and

him, and butcher's meat
is

Canada
arti-

to

be

made

ficially

dearer by a sweeping act of prohibition.

it

But,

may

be

said,

even granted that Lord

Salisbury has been playing fast and loose with the

country,
is

not a return to
to

Protection justifiable

Ought not we

go back
this

to the
?

good old days of

high prices and high wages

Let us consider
practice
is

argument.

An

ounce of

said

to

be worth a pound of theory

to
justify

and
a

in

the

attempt
our

from history half

the
scientific

century of

economic

policy,

basis of the Liberal position will gradually emerge.

At

the last election a poster was

in

extensively prodivisions

mulgated

one

of

the
"

Somersetshire

exhorting the electors to

tive candidate

vote for the Conservatimes,"

and the good old

few of
those

the

older

electors

may have remembered

38

Liberalism and

Wealth.

stealing

good old days, when a poor man was hanged for two shillings, when the ordinary cause of
death
in

winter was starvation,

when no

Dissenter,

Roman
official

Catholic, or
position,

Jew was qualified to hold any when the national universities were
classes

carefully

and jealously barred against great

those

of conscientious citizens.

In short, throughout this

country
perpetual

good

old

times

were marked

by

and

artificial

famine.

To

bolster

up a
might

territorial aristocracy, the stupidest of

whom

fatten

on a sinecure
corn was barred

while

their

more

mediocre

brethren ruled the country in the interests of their own

class,

from our ports, intelligence

was excluded from our civil and military services. By the end of the year 1815 (to quote the unimpeachable authority of Professor Cunningham), "taxes had been laid upon everything that was taxable, and there was no incident of
pressure of taxation was
life

in

which
has

the

not

felt."

Who

not

seen

the

walled-up
at

windows of old
is

houses,

and
dis-

wondered

the ingenuity of financiers

who

covered that even light

a taxable commodity ?

The charms
trayed
for the
" less
in

of that Protective regime are por-

a lively passage written

by Sydney Smith
1820.

Edinburgh Review of January,

his

The school-boy whips

youth manages
his
his

taxed top, the beard-

taxed horse, with a taxed

;

bridle,

on a taxed road

and the dying Englishwhich has paid seven

man, pouring

medicine,

Protective Tariffs.
per
cent.,

39

into

a spoon which has paid fifteen per

cent., flings

himself back upon his chintz bed, which

cent.,

has paid twenty-two per

makes

his

will

on

an eight-pound stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a licence of ;^ioo for
the -privilege of putting him to death.

His whole

property

is

then

immediately taxed from two to

burying him
the

ten per cent.

Besides the probate, large fees are

for
in

then demanded

chancel.

His virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed

marble, and he will then be gathered to his fathers
to be taxed no more."
^

But though you may destroy a Tory error

one
form,
it

in

will

appear
tisqiie

in

another

Naturmji
has " rein

expellas fiircA,

tamen

reciwret.

It

curred
1

"

so

recently as

October 30th,

1895,

Seventy-four

years bter America was suffering from an almost

equally severe protection plague, and an interesting parallel to this

passage

may be quoted from

:

a brilliant speech by the

at

member

for

Washington on the Wilson Tariff Bill of 1894 " God could have made this world, if He had wanted to, with exactly the same climate and soil all over it, so that each nation would have been entirely independent of any other nation. But He didn't do that. He made this world so that every nation in it has got to depend for something upon some other nations. He did that to promote kinship among the different people. Let us drop this unnatural business and return to the rules of sanity. There is no end to You can fix up a scheme, if you want to, for the ingenuity of man. raising oranges in Maine, but a barrel of those oranges would make William Waldorf Astor's pocket-book sick. You can raise elephants in the jungles of Vermont, but it would take all the inheritance tax on You can raise polar bears on the the Gould estate to pay the cost. Equator if you spend money enough, but it would take a king's ransom to do ii,"
Missouri, delivered in

Congress

40

Liberalism and

Wealth.
less

speech delivered at Watford by no

person"

age than

Lord Salisbury.
the
strongest

After remarking,

We

have

had

cause

to

lament

that,

though the Protectionists were resisted

their

at the time,

warnings were not listened to more carefully,"

the

Prime Minister proceeded

friends

" I

cannot expect

the Liberal-Unionist

around

me
I

to

sympa" I

thise with the feelings with

which

look back to

this old Protectionist struggle."

No, he cannot.
said^ but

know we were wrong

a truth
at the

in

what we

we had
has not

bottom of the
is

fears

we

expressed,
all

and
us

this

generation

finding out that

been so smooth as the prophets of that day told

would be." What, we may

it

ask,

was the
that

"

truth "

that lay
?

at the

bottom of the

fears of the

old

Tory party

Apparently the prophecy

the

repeal

of the
there

Corn
are

Laws would
classes

ruin

agriculture.

Now,
labourer.

three

connected

with

agriculture

the
The

landlord, the tenant-farmer,

and the

Protectionist argues that the high prices created

the Corn

Laws meant

prosperity to

by the farmer (who

could

sell at

a big profit), high rents to the landlords,

and high wages to the labourer.

farmer,
it is

said,

could obviously
it

The prosperous afford both. Now,

in the first place,

is

a noteworthy fact that while

under Protection between the years 1815 and 1846 rents remained stationary in England, in the twenty
years of Free Trade which followed they rose 26%

Ana/.vs/s of a "Truth."
per cent.
farmer,

41
to the

So much
the

for the

hmdlord

and as

advance of rents which followed the

of Free
substantial
it

introduction
dicating
also.

Trade may be taken

increase
in

as

in-

his

prosperity
that

Indeed,
release

might have been

predicted
clothes,

his

from dear food, dear

all

and the

high prices of

agricultural implements

would not

do him any great harm.

Nor need

the Cobdenite

shrink from the latest phase of the question.

For

serious as has been the depreciation of agricultural

land values in Free Trade England during the last

fifteen

years,

the

distress

has,

at

any

rate,

been
food,

immensely
clothes,
trast

alleviated
all

by

the

cheapness

of

and

the instruments of production.

Con-

this

with the unmitigated

misery and bankin

ruptcy of the unfortunate farmer

"protected"

America.

The

**

truth,"

then,

to

which

Lord Salisbury

alluded as at the

bottom of the

fears of his party

agricultural labourer.

must have referred to the impending ruin of the By Free Trade he would, of
enormously from the cheapenall

course, stand to gain

ing of food, clothes, and

articles of

consumption.

But

this gain,

we

are to understand, has been

in

more
that

than counterbalanced by an immense drop

wages.
is

The

"

theory

" (stated in its

naked simplicity)
the

high wages necessarily follow high prices and low

wages low
represent

prices.

And

Tory members who

assert

county

divisions

constantly

that

42

LlBRRALISM AND
prices.

WrALTH.
to

wages depend on
"

They say

the rustic

You cannot expect

a rise in wages unless you get a

rise in prices."

Let us consider the

In the period between
}'early

facts.

During the year 1895

the price of wheat averaged about 25s. the quarter.

1786 and 1846 the average

39s.
it

price of

wheat fluctuated between

and
has
is

126s. the quarter.

During the
21s.

last ten
If,

years

varied

between
in

and

35s.

then,

there

any truth
wages
period,
in

the

ChapHn -Winchilsea

doctrine,

we

shall expect to find a very large fall in agricultural

the latter as compared with the former

particularly

more
in

when we
has

reflect

on the

late

increase

the buying power of gold in terms

of

commodities.

But what

actually

happened?

Why,

the very converse of

what our

political squires

teach their dependents to expect and believe.

The

enormous
sopher,

fall

in prices

has been accompanied by an

equally remarkable rise in wages.

And

the philo-

when he adds the

at least as

real to the

nominal advance
in

(remembering that one sovereign represents

buying

power

much
if

as did 30s. fifty years ago),

may

well be forgiven

he proclaims himself to be
free-trader, but

not only a convinced

optimist.

a dogmatic

The
it

question, indeed,

is

one of such fundamental

is

importance that no apology

in

needed
of

for considering

some

further detail.

The

statistics in

themselves

form a complete vindication

Free Trade, and

Protectionists Old and New.

upset the position of orators
lectivist
^

43
or col-

who,

protectionist
results

trading on their

own ignorance and

of
free-trade

the sympathy of their hearers, join in vilifying the

Manchester
polic}'.

school

and

the

These would-be Galileos of sociology look

at large,

upon the world

which prompts

and England
has

in particular,

with a sort of mental squint.

their

The frame

of mind

utterances

been already
"

described in an English classic.

Carlyle, in

Past

and Present," alluding to

to

their predecessors

who used
for
it

declaim in favour of the retention of the Corn

"

Law, says there was

but such as might

no argument advanced

very jackasses weep."

make the angels and almost the The opponents of Cobden,

however, had an excuse which will always possess

a certain validity in

human

affairs.

Free Trade was

then an

untried, almost

an unknown system, and

itself to

Corn

Law

Repeal presented
scientific

their slothful

minds not as a

and certain reform, but as a

their

leap in the dark which might result in national ruin.

They, therefore,

only sinned against reason

followers sin also against experience.

Mr. Asquith, indeed, has

recently
in "

warned
said,

his

party against indulging overmuch

of
averages."

an optimism

"We

have witnessed," he
rise in

"a

sensible

and remarkable

the level of material

comfort, but
1

we

are too apt to forget that that very

it

make

the distinction here, although, as will appear later,

cannot ultimately be maintained.

44
average

L/PFRAIJSM AXD
rise
is

Wp.Al.TH.

perfectly

consistent

with

deeper^

depression and more glaring contrasts than have ever

existed before."

The warning
is

is

characteristic of a reformer,

and

at once

the

best

proof of the splendid success

of Liberal principles of
past
fifty

economy and
best

finance in the

years,

and the

assurance that, by

renewed vigour

in their

defence and exposition, and

renewed confidence

in their application

and extension,
to
its

the party will again be able to

roll

add

glorious

of legislative enactments in favour of the freedom

the equality of opportunities.
arises
is

of

commerce and

But the question

averages

Is the in

present a time in

which the public mind

?

lulled
is
;

an optimism of

scares like

On the contrary, it " Made in Germany "

be called
"

surely a period of

and English people

are beginning to indulge very widely in a spirit which

may

fairly

pessimism of exceptions."

Let us take a specimen of the data upon which each of the rival positions is based. Mr. Ernest

Edwin Williams,
in

the

now

notorious author of
all

"

Made

Germany,"
is

tells

us that, like

our other trades,

shipbuilding

in a
" is

bad way.

" Still

more remarkable,"

he continues,

the drop in our supply of foreign

refer to

^ "Deeper depression" may Independent Labour Party. As

the increasing
later,

gloom of the

will

appear

the best statistics

sliow that the reverse

fifty

is

true of

economic conditions.

labourer of

years ago,

who

then earned an average wage, would

now be

far

below the average, and would probably be classed with the submerged
tenth.

Made
warships from
in

in

Gen many.
in

45

i2,^-jy

tons

1874 to 2,483 tons

1894."
I

append a table (borrowed from the Progressive

vol.
i.,

Review^

p.

282),

to illustrate the duplicity of

the author and the ostrich-like digestion of a public

which has already swallowed four

After inquiry,
I

editions.

should

much doubt whether

^

these

figures are reliable or

figures used
his
brief.

But they are the correct. by Mr. Williams as most suitable for
pessimist

who

wishes to frighten the

public will
"

learn

much from

a practical

lesson

in

how

to select the shipping accounts."

of

Tonnage

War-Ships

built in the United Foreign Countries.

Kingdom

for

46

Liberalism and
Every shrewd
observer

Wealth.
can
parallel

the

case

almost daily from his newspaper.

has

But the nation

ignorantly
or

no

redress

against

those
its

who

deliberately juggle with

accounts,

and present
in "
?

disconnected aspects of
If

its

commercial balance-sheet.

anyone ever reaches chap. viii. of " Made Germany," entitled " What must we do to be saved
he
will find that

Mr. Williams, omitting an obvious

reference, " Sell all thou hast

and give
for

to the poor,"

provides a wonderful

substitute
is

an old answer.

The

substitute, of course,

"Fair Trade."
it

Not a

word upon Great

it

of the disastrous consequences

Britain, not a

once entailed

word of the wretchedness

in

has created abroad and

America.

No

syllable

escapes Mr. Williams with regard to Protectionist experiments in our own colonies. They are already

groaning under the attempt to keep up their

"

native,"

or rather exotic, industries for the benefit of a few

manufacturers.

They

are already beginning to de(as

clare for Free Trade^

we

did), after

experiencing

But a wide study and and suffering Protection. comparison of the results of Free Trade and Protection would not harmonise with Mr. Williams's The conclusion, in fact, was the chief conclusion.
element

runs
:
'

in
"
I

the

original

premise, and the argument

;

am

Fair Trader
recent

have gathered a
in

Compare

especially

legislation

New

and Queensland, Canada.

and

the

victory

of

the

Free

South Wales Trade party in

Pessimism of Exceptions.

47

number of exceptions to the progress of a Free Trade country therefore England must adopt Fair
;

Trade."

He

even disguises the remarkable circum-

stance that the expansion of

German commerce has

been synchronous with her approximation to Free Trade the ZoUverein, which for England would be
:

a relapse towards Protection, was for Germany an important step towards Free Trade. But all this has
to be painfully
in

Germany."

and laboriously concealed by " Made One hundred and sixty pages exist
Parturiunt
monies

for

that one chapter.

and

an

unobtrusive mouse appears, labelled " the Tory docOr, to adopt a trine of Commercial Retaliation."

more majestic metaphor, Mr. Williams, instead of

dedicating an
altar

to

pessimism, has

erected

pyramid
will

in

of ruined firms and rejected

honour of Protection, from a rubbish-heap statistics. But a Liberal

that even a

remember
"

pyramid has

its

use
"

as a

mausoleum.
in

Germany's

Yet some may be staggered by Made easy confidence and certainty of tone.

For the benefit of these weaker brethren, a few plain

facts are

worth recording.
1770, during that era of protection
to

About the year

and
"

prosperity

"

which benevolent Tory orators

invite all

grumbling workmen to return, the average

in

wages of the agricultural labourer

from
68.
5s.

England ranged
Flour at that
it

to 7s. a week.
in

In Yorkshire the average was

6s. 6d.

a week, and

Lancashire

time varied from

2s.

6d. to 4s. 6d. a stone, so that

48

Liberalism and

Wealth.

can easily be imagined

lived.

Some

years ago an old

how an agricultural family man near Huddersfield

prices of flour in his boy-

was talking about the high

hood.

Someone
to
live

interrupted,

manage
Cowper's

" Live,

sir

"Why, how we didn't

;

did you
live,

we

clammed."
"

So, too, the thrifty peasant's family, in

Winter Evening," had

"

little fire

stock of brushwood
extinguished."

less

light

"

scanty

"

the taper soon

And

for food
" the

brown

loaf

Lodged on the

shelf, half

eaten without sauce

still.

Of savoury
With

cheese, or butter costlier

all their thrift

they thrive not."

Wages

in the

towns were of course slightly higher,

but the boroughs were even more rotten from the

municipal than from the Parliamentary standpoint.

Indeed, their condition was insanitary and degrading
to the last degree.
fully high,
in

The
life

rate of mortality

was

fear-

and the

of a

the towns was even

workman with los. a week more deplorable than that of

7s.

of his fellow in the country with

Now

it is

often asserted that Liberal financiers have

deliberately allowed agriculture to go to ruin for the

sake of the manufacturing interest

in

short, that the

landlord has been sacrificed to the manufacturer, and

the agricultural labourer to the operative.

We

need

not pause to show

how

the assumption of increased

manufacturing prosperity here tacitly made contra-

Protect/on and Wages.

diets the usual

49

argument against Free Trade.

But of

course one
the town.

is

employed

in the country,

the other in

contrast, or, at least, an

his

For the Tory countryman is a curious interesting complement to

town

brother.

The
;

two

are brought

up on
illumi-

completely different diets

their

minds are

nated by diametrically opposed propositions.

Now, when we compare the wages of 1770 with

those of 1850 or 185
1,

after four years of

Free Trade,

we

shall

expect to

find,

on the theory of the rural

Conservative speech, that in the great iron, woollen,

and cotton industries of the North, where the vast manufacturing development had taken place, agriculture, at

the

any rate, is in a very bad way. Indeed, in and early 'forties, many of the small farmers were scared at the idea that they would be
'thirties

ruined by the prosperity of the towns.

story

is

told how, at the height of the agitation for the repeal

of the Corn Laws, a Mr. Chonler (one of the

Duke

of

Rutland's tenants)

made

a striking suggestion for the

in

employment of the yeomanry

posed
interests.

defence of their sup-

He

reminded the farmers that they

had

all

the horses, and could ride the Free Traders

down.
have
the
"
all

"Yes," retorted the Cobdenites, "and you

the asses too."

Nor can

it

be denied that

the figures
stupid

abundantly establish the reputation of

"

party.

In Lancashire the wages of the

agricultural labourer
13s. 6d. in

had
the

risen

from

6s. 6d. in

1770 to

1850;

in

West Riding of Yorkshire

50

Liberalism and
in the

Wealth.
6s. to 14s.,

they had jumped

same period from

lis.

and

in

Derbyshire they had reached

In short,

agricultural

wages

in or

near the great manufacturing

areas had risen on an average fully one hundred per

cent.

But

in

the eighteen southern

counties

men1850

tioned by Arthur
teen per cent,

Young
only

the rise averaged only fourperiod.

in

for the

same
7s.

Thus,

in

wages were

still

Gloucestershire
6s.

and

Suffolk, 7s, 6d. in

North Wilts, and

prosperity,

in

Essex.

Hence
results

the proposition that

agricultural

depression
that

from

commercial

or

the

growth of manufactures

spells ruin to agriculture, is

not only untrue, but the exact reverse of the truth.

These reckless falsehoods need periodical exposure

by a proof more elaborate than the appeal and common-sense.

to science

To
years

return to wages, which

after

we

left at

1850, four

the

repeal

of the

Corn

Laws.

The

natural question to ask, in face of the present agitation

for
" fair "

trade,

is

this

Has

the increase of

national wealth kept pace with the population?

And
of

secondly, has the improvement in the condition

the

workmen kept pace with

is

national wealth

The
All

answer of every trained

statistician

and of every
same.

competent authority
a far

fortunately the

agree not only that our national wealth has grown at

more rapid

ratio

than our population during this

labouring

period, but also that the position of the

classes has

enormously improved.

The

authority of

Appeal to Stat/stics.
Sir

51
sufficient

Robert

Gififen

might be regarded as a
final

and satisfactory court of

for a

appeal

but those

who

wish not only for the opinion of the expert, but also

glimpse of his method, cannot do better than

to a

refer

paper read by Mr. A. L. Bovvley before

Statistical

the

Royal

Society in

1895.

The con-

vincing brilliancy of the method adopted need not

concern us now.

Suffice

it

to

say that a Royal

his

Commission
and admitted
information

has
its

already approved
accuracy.

reasoning,

Nevertheless, since the

is

comparatively new, and the source

I

comparatively inaccessible,

shall not apologise for

quoting words which deserve to be weighed by every

social reformer

who has turned

his

back on the

social

and economic principles of the Liberal party, and is dissatisfied with the half-century of free trade and
free enterprise

which

it

has inaugurated and carried

through.
private

The

nation has been largely freed from

;

monopoly

for fifty years

it

has

made

un-

interrupted

and unprecedented progress

comfort.

in culture,

power, and
once,
twice,

Will

not

Englishmen think

and thrice before they exchange the

assurance of increased and increasing prosperity for

the dim Utopias of State monopoly depicted by a

gentleman known to
horganiser
"
.<*

Social

Democrats

as " our local

Mr. Bowley sets out from the question,

benefiting

"Who

are

most

by the development of

industry,

those

who
2

obtain profits or those

who

receive

wages

"
}

52
"

Liberalism and
first

Wealth.
"

The

step,"
is

he continues,

towards answering

this question

to find the actual

changes

in

the

total

sum

paid in wages and in the average

in the gross receipts of

money
and

wage, and also

interest,

profits

and the average income of the nation as a

This step Mr. Bowley essays, correcting
the purchasing
"

whole."

the changes in

power of gold by
Leaving entirely out
difi"erent classes
I

Sauerbeck's index numbers,

of question not only the causes of these changes, but

also the distribution of

wages among

of labour and the irregularity of employment,

have

merely endeavoured to make as accurately as existing

data allow a statement
1,000,000 men,

of

this

nature.

In

1891

women and

children, in representative
in

groups of trades earned per head 40 per cent, more

actual coin,

and 92 per

cent, more, if the increased

is

purchasing power of

money

allowed

for,

than their

1,000,000 predecessors in the same trades in

i860

and similarly

for intermediate years."

Bowley restates his conclusion with equal force and with some observations which arc " While we well worthy of the closest attention. congratulate the whole nation on the immense growth of its national prosperity, so far as this is measured
Finally, Mr.

by gross

receipts,

it

is

not

fair to

grudge the working

classes the share which they have gained.

Those

who receive the average, may be fairly considered

which allows them

or

to

fully to

more than the average, have obtained a wage employ all their faculties

Free Trade Justified.

in their

53

well-earned leisure

but this cannot be said

of the equally large

the average.

number whose earnings are below In so far as actual want is now only
and comfort
is

the lot of a small proportion of the nation (though

intrinsically a large number),

within the

reach of increasing masses of workmen, the greatest

benefit

of

this prosperity

has fallen on wage earners

but this
ship."

is

only the righting of injustice and hardthen, like incomes, have doubled in real

Wages,

value in thirty-six years.

Just as the increase in the

world's production of gold has failed to maintain an

equal ratio with that of the world's production of

commodities, so English population,

in spite of its vast

increase, has been quite unable to keep pace with

English wealth.
policy has

Yet we are

told

that

Cobden's

not justified itself

Real honest labour,

in

either with the

hand or with the head, has nowhere

in

Europe and never

rewarded as
in

European history been so well

the Free Trade England of to-day.

Not

that these reflections should lead Liberals to

inaction.

policy of sluggish

Timidity

in

applying
it may On the

ideals will only retain

members who

are already a

source of weakness.

When

fruit is over-ripe

be allowed to drop off into the Tory basket.

other hand, there can be

no graver error than

to

suppose that the progressive measures of the

last fifty

years have produced a real increase of national prosperity

and of national happiness merely because they

in

were progressive

the sense of being changes.

That

54

Liberalism and

Wealth.

seems to be the idea nowadays of a certain number

of self-styled progressives.

These people seem very

firstly,

anxious to distinguish themselves,

old Liberals
;

from the

who have principles and, secondly, from, who have principles. But the true progressive is the old and the new Liberal, who has had principles and who keeps them still in use. The untrue progressive is an opportunist who trims his
the Socialists
sails to

every passing breeze.

He

wants to play the

;

he

middleman between Liberalism and Collectivism and will succeed for a time until some strong man

comes forward with one or perhaps two ideas, and with a scheme sufficiently clear and sufficiently workable to arouse enthusiastic support and opposition.

Then he London
years

will

be forgotten.

The new movement,

such a movement.

if it

deserves the name, has been begun in London.

is

But

no

place

for

The

machinery of neo-progressivism
;

may

vibrate there for

there will be the sounds of the grinding, but

nothing more.
nor finished

We

shall get

neither raw material

political race of

article

from

this

non-

productive middlemen.

Future

political

changes
in

in

our economic system

directions.
in

must therefore be
first,

one of two

If the

we

shall proceed on present lines

favour of

more and not less individual enterprise and Free Trade by throwing land, as we have already thrown corn, into the free and open market. We shall aim
at

discouraging

monopolistic

tendencies,

and

at

The Liberal State.

55

encouraging co-operative societies both for distribution

and production.
idea that State

Such a theory

will

not favour the

management

is

in itself desirable in

the industrial sphere, or that an

will

army of State
later,

officials

conduce either to
Yet, as will

political

freedom or national
there
will

wealth.

appear

be

work enough and

sentatives

to spare for the ratepayer's repre-

local

and imperial

in

the control or

administration of natural monopolies, those important

exceptions which prove the ordinary laws of wealth.

Red

tape,

however,

is

on

this

our theory to

be

regarded in general as the symbol not of democracy

but of bureaucracy.
In other words,

we

assert that

national wealth and national character are naturally

to be built

up on individual wealth and individual and that in the mutual play between the two forces the most positive and also the most important action is that exercised by the individual
character,

on the community.
be, a

Our State is not, and never will deus ex machind who is to provide overpaid
unemployable and
equalise
at the

work

for the

expense of the
the

employable,

the

advantages of

deserving and

the undeserving.

the influence of the

new

morality,
the

Nor will it, dub the citizen

under

who pays twenty

of the people.

shillings in

pound a plunderer

The upholders
1

of the other theory^ flaunt before

it

Colleclivist writers,

may be

noticed, endeavour to prove not

it is

only that their ideal of a State ought to come, but also that

coming.

56
the

Liberalism and

Wealth.

world an ideal of a State as a vast "going

"

concern

a combination

of a limited liability com-

pany which manufactures everything with a gigantic

store which distributes everything.

This ideal implies

kindred economic

the

permanent adoption

of two

errors

monopoly
rise
little

and protection

both

of which

imply a

of prices and a decrease of wealth.

industrial

For

the would-be

State (whose salaried em-

ployees have

or no personal interest in cheapensay, State cotton or woollen mills) to

ing the products

will

of,

find

it

impossible

compete with individual

and over-

owners or co-operative firms where the managers or

all

the producers have a direct, personal

mastering motive for economising the methods and improving the products of their manufactures. The State, therefore, must first pass a law forbidding
private

cotton

mills
it

to

compete
lost

against

its

own.

Then

it

finds that

has

the foreign cotton trade

no goods can be sold abroad.

On
is

the contrary,

cheaper and equally good material

being poured

into the country from America, Germany, India, and The monopoly is therefore protected by Japan. tariffs against foreign competition, and the heavy
In
fact,

the subjective certainty of the change

" for its objective desirability.

is

made

a prominent

" argument

The

subjective certainty
:

complacently established by what I will call the Fabian syllogism Major PrcDiise : By our law of evolution, nothing that did not exist in Minor the past, but does exist in the present, can exist in the future. Pretnise : Capitalism, which did not exist in the past, does exist in the
present.
future.

is

Conclusion

Therefore, Capitalism

will

not

exist

in

the

Quod

erat fabiandum.

State Monopolisation Explained.

two
policies

57

whose

partial adoption

(when England

was dominated by a Tory squirearchy) ruined the

country and degraded the working classes, reappear
in

an extended and aggravated form

in

the bitter cry

of those citizens

who

are almost as unfit for direct

itself to be.

production as the old squirearchy proved

It

may
if

be argued on the moral

lead
to

side, that universal

poverty will
beggars,

universal

brotherhood

that

only collectively dependent on the State,

may
will

exhibit a fine

harmony of moral
in the

natures.

There

be a touching equity

procedure of the
is

State

when

the high nominal salary

paid

say oneamount
console

third in cash with a State I

O U

for the other two-

thirds

and the labourer whose

half his

real earnings

perhaps to only

old

wages

will

himself, forsooth, for his

want of boots and coals by the thought that now he is a gentleman with an
official

status

and earning a

salary.
will reply

To

these

moral reflections a Liberal

by placing individual independence above State dependence, and comfort (even when extorted from a
capitalist)

above indigence (even at the lavish hands

of a Collectivist

of the State).

The moral musings

(who presumably
big
will

Agamemnon

consent to be a director of the

company he

is

trying to promote) remind one of

a very similar disposition to set up as philanthropists

which manifested

itself

among his economic

ancestors,

the Tory landlords of Corn

Law

days.

58

Liberalism and

Wealth.
of
the

They were "the

paupers

friends

unprotected,"

and professed great anxiety

for lunatics

and

for the

whom

their

own Corn Laws had produced.

in

In 1839 Sir

James Graham,

resisting Mr. ViUiers'

annual motion for the repeal of the Corn Laws, spoke

of
"

the breezy call of incense-breathing morn," the

cottage,

neat thatched

the

blooming garden, the

repeal of the Corn

cheerful village green.

The

Laws
all

would

lead,

he added, to a great migration from

this loveliness " to the noisy alley

and the sad sound

for the

of the factory bell."

Three
Anti-Corn

years

later

one of the lecturers

his

Law League made

way
"

to Sir

James
said,

Graham's estate and did not omit an

to the landlord's idyllic picture.

ironic reference
"
!

What

he

week and the singing of

wholesome labour

" six shillings a

for

wages, and the morning sun,

birds,

and sportive lambs, and

little
!

winding streams, and the mountain breeze, and a

six

shillings a

week and

all this

And

nothing to do with your six shillings a week,

'

but merely to pay your rent, buy your food, and lay

Happy people " by something for old age " Merrie England " shows plainly enough that the modern monopoliser has the same idyllic cant in
! !

reserve ready to be produced for the benefit of the

poverty-stricken State employee of the future.

The

present tactics of these amiable friends of the working

man

are to disguise from

^

him the steady improvement

Life of

Vidc]Q\\\\ Morley's

"

Cobden,"

i.

157, 2io.

Philanthropy and Monopoly.

which
forts

59

his condition

is

undergoing, and the solid com-

which year by year are being added to his lot. They attempt to distract his reason and excite his imagination by vulgar and overdrawn pictures of the
squalor and wretchedness in the worst quarters of our
great
cities.

revolutionist

Here we detect a temper worthy of the who wants to upset society to its own
and then
strut over the ruins he has

certain misery,

himself created.
social

On

the other side stands the true

reformer,

who nowadays

frankly

recognises

the splendid progress of the last half century. the revolutionist, he refuses to acquiesce

Like

in inaction.

Unlike him, he acknowledges with gratitude what

he has learnt from his predecessors, and regards their
conspicuous success as an earnest of that which will
attend the
future
elTorts,
if

only

they

proceed

from

same great
It is

principles towards the

same desired

goal.

sometimes asserted that there are quite new

face.^

conditions to

Society

is

so totally different to

Cobden and Bright. Humanity itself has undergone some violent change. Burns was wrong a man is not a man " for a' that."
what
it

was

in

the

days of

We

are wonderfully in advance of our fathers.

is

The
;

up-to-date ephebe

a Socialist, an Evolutionist

he

can talk about the organic Unity of the State, and he

professes
1

an imperial

instinct.

Let us admit
much

it

at

Cf. the false hypothesis

whicli destroys so

of the vahie of

Mr. Benjamin Kidd's "Social Evolution."

6o
once
:

Liberalism and
there has been a change
is

Wealth.
in

terminology.

The

young man
different

deceiv^ed

by the long Latin and Greek

father

words, and so equipped thinks he means something

from what

his

thought under more

homely terms.
The organic
iniify

of the Slate

is

one of those
biology
to

pretentious metaphors
politics

transferred from

which suggest one kind of unity by another

different kind.

and
part,

totally

The good

of the com-

munity, the danger of

sacrificing the

whole to the
greatest

and the greatest happiness of the

number, were conceptions perfectly understood by the

Corn

Law

Repealers and by those

Similarly, evolution
is

who

abolished the

Test Acts.

a long and some-

what stupid substitute

in the

for progress.

common

run

of

Improvement mankind depends upon the

of individuals.

occasional "eccentricity

"

Where
It

free

play
out

is

possible an individual will here

to

and there

strike

new adaptations

meet new wants.

was not

the State or Society that

made

the steam engine but

Stephenson and

Watt, though without the State or

Society the steam engine would have been an invention

in

vacuo.

But the organised monotony and

is

mechanical unity of a Socialistic State

tion of free

the nega-

play,

and consequently
evolution

its

appropriate

motto should be not

nothing more nor
less

and progress, but

instinct
is

degradation and deca}'.

The

imperial
in the

than pride

Empire, and
Lastly,

that has existed as long as the

Empire

itself

Revolution of Terminology.
we
i.e.

6i

all

not only are but always have been Socialists,

of society.

members

The

truth

is

that the vague-

ness of the term Socialism has led to so

much
is

futile

argument that
defined.

it

ought never to be used without being

simply

"Christian Socialist," for instance,

for

an equivalent

one who recognises

(or desires others

is

to recognise that he recognises) that he

a Christian

member

of society.^

Our
is

religious ancestors

spoke of

the brotherhood of man.

"Brother"

is

antiquated.

Apparently

" Socialist "

thought to suggest more

terminology

sympathy with the submerged tenth. The young man, therefore, who has
at his

this

command

is

not necessarily, or as a rule, a very

different being

from the corresponding type twenty,

am
sorry to say that I have

Since writing the above

in a

come

across

debased sense as a synonym for one who cannot see the difference between meum and tuiini, wherever "mine" or "thine" " Yet into whose pockets does the happens to be landed property.
the

word

whole of

this value
it,

go?

Not

into the pockets of the

men and women

who

create

but into the pockets of those who, often simply because

they are the sons of their fathers, are the owners of the ground-rents

and values.

Robbery

is

the only accurate word which a Christian

.

Socialist can use to describe this state of things

Now
if

what
they

we

Christian Socialists urge

is,

that a Parliament of the people,

will but take the pains to send honest

and obedient delegates

to carry

out their will, ought gradually, but as quickly as possible, to reverse

that process, to take off all taxation from the articles of the people's

them twenty
values
for

consumption, and by degrees to tax the land values, till at last, taxing shillings in the pound, you take the whole of the land

No. 42.
father."

the benefit of those who create them." One wonders whether any money ever went

Fabian Tract,
into the pocket
his

of the author of this sophistry " simply because he

was the son of

He
is

Socialism

seems to think that the conjunction of terms in Christian meant to be not a truism, but an oxymoron.

62
thirt)',

Liberalism and
or forty years ago.

IVea/.tn.
is

But there

one striking

difference.

Then

the claim of a few to be leaders and

guiders of Reform
ability

claim based upon knowledge,

and enthusiasm

was conspicuously recognised

The new East End
curate

formers are legion.

there
is

Nowadays reby the great body of the people. There is no coherence because
no knowledge.
has contrived to surmount the barrier of the Pass

who

Schools and his Bishop's Examination, or the

lady novelist of the middle class,
the
still

new

who has surmounted more feeble barrier which the publisher opposes to want of matter, form and style, thinks that he or she has a social mission and is its
born

and accredited
political

leader.

A
a

hold on

economic

and

science,
is

with

wide experience of

many quarters regarded as a An hour's conpositive obstacle for " The Work." versation in any East End Collectivist club, or the
different classes,
in

scraps of conversation gathered after an exceptionally

good West End dinner are an excuse for a pamphlet on the Social Problem and a few pages will suffice
;

to abolish property

and reconstitute
ignorance for

mistaken

for

light,

inability to discern distinctions for

Heat is sympathy, and the power to do

society.

away with them. A dim apprehension

of

some

fanatical upheaval

was undoubtedly the cause of the tremendous

tion at the last general election.

reac-

How many men

of

broad and

liberal views,

whose hatred of Tory

class

Cause of Reaction,
legislation yields to nothing

63

except the fear of licence

and anarchy, were driven behind the wall to take

refuge,
like

Plato's
?

philosopher,

in

despairing

political inactivity

England, happily,
revolutions
;

does

not deal in Socialistic

is

but the

late revulsion of feeling

an

exact parallel to that which

De

Tocqueville has so
in his

inimitably depicted from personal observation

own

country.
in

The government of

Louis Philippe

was upset

1848 by a sudden and accidental rising

of the excitable population of Paris.

The

opposition

were astonished and

not reformers but

terriiied

on finding themselves

revolutionaries.

There was an

interregnum of anarchy.
"

From

the 25th of February onwards a thousand

strange systems

came

issuing

pell-mell

from the

minds of innovators and spread

among
. .

the troubled
for-

minds of the crowd. ward with a plan of his own.

. .

Everyone came
.

These theories
of them, aiming

were of very varied natures, often opposed and sometimes hostile to one another
;

but

all

lower than the Government, and

Society
the
itself,

striving to
rests,

reach

on which Government
of Socialism."

adopted
tells

common name

History

us

of the ludicrous failure of these schemes for destroy-

ing inequalities of fortune and for providing specific

remedies against poverty.

The momentary

success

of Collectivist theories could not alter the desire for

private

property.

The

idea of State confiscation

64

Liberalism and

Wealth.

merely gave a vent to the ingrained selfishness of a

would-be Socialistic population.

"

The time had

scapegrace

come

to

try

to

turn

to

account any
If

whom
have
it

one had

in one's family.

good luck would

that one had a cousin, a brother, or a son

his disorderly
life,

who
if

had become ruined by

be sure that he was

one could
;

in a fair

way

to succeed

and

he had become known by the promulgation of some

extravagant theory or other, he might hope to attain
to

any height.

Most of the commissaries and under-

commissaries of the (new) Government were

this type."

men

of

The
the

result

might have been predicted.

first

Throughitself in

out France, "fear, which had

displayed

upper

circles

of

society,

descended

into

the

depths of the people, and universal terror took possession of the whole country."

general

election

with universal sufifrage

its

fol-

lowed, and to the astonishment of

promoters the

Constituent Assembly which was returned "contained

an

infinitely greater

number of landed
it

proprietors and

even of noblemen than any of the Chambers elected

in

the days

when

was a necessary condition,

in

order to be an elector or elected, that you should have

money."
In short, in the France of
infinitely
'49,

a population in-

poorer and far fonder of ideal remedies than

of to-day

our

own

hastened to reject with alarm

and disgust the attack upon individual ownership.

Property a Political Axiom.

"Property had become, with
a sort of badge of fraternity."
all
^

65
it,

those

who owned

So
fasten
"

striking an instance of national feeling

must

the

attention

of
"

political

thinkers.

The

sacred rights of property

have always been scoffed

at

by the noisy and the

thriftless.

But

"

vox populi
it

vox dei;" and a feeling that permeates and, as

were, cements society must be rather postulated than

assailed
in

the legislation of the future.

An

illus-

tration

of the

proper acceptance of this principle

may

be taken

from our method of dealing with

the problem of landed proprietorship.

The English

land laws

are undoubtedly
relics

most disastrous must be done.

of class misrule.
is

amongst the worst and Something

talk of the nation

There

much
is

taking over the land by purchase or confiscation.

But no genuine Liberal who

either a prosperous thief or a

alive to the principles

of his party can wish to turn his

Government

into

pauper mortgagee.

The party has

which
rests

a land policy already

policy

upon two great

rights

principles in addition to

the cardinal assumption that property has certain

rights,

and that those

free

must be respected.

On

the one hand they have always asserted that trade

ought to be
capital

and unimpeded

that no industry

can be in a satisfactory state into and from which

and enterprise cannot pass

freely.

Secondly,

"

^ have quoted from a recent translation of De Tocqueville's Recollections " by Mr. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.

We
F

66
they

Liberalism and Wealth.

maintain the Benthamite

maxim

that,

other

things being equal, the greater the

distribution

of

wealth the greater

is

the

amount of happiness.
It is

These principles have been applied successfully to

many problems
that

of the past.
to

through them,

too,

we have already found

some extent the

solution

of agricultural distress.

But, although

much has been

done by earnest advocacy of allotments and constant

legislation,

our agricultural system remains essentially

diseased for want of the one and only cure. Free Trade
in

land.

Monopolists are never a satisfactory class

for the nation, at

if

whose expense they grow

fat

and

they grow thin owing to foreign competition, which

emphasises their indolence and incapacity by underselling

them

in their

own markets, they

are hardly satis-

factory even to themselves.

This growing feeling of

discontent

sent conditions
that the

among the landlords themselves with premay fairly be taken as an indication question is now well within the sphere of
Indeed,
it it is

practical politics.

so clearly a matter of

common-sense
to the country
ficial

that
at

might be put with confidence

almost any moment.

An

arti-

monopoly
and cheap
is,

resting

on

entail

and the countless

different

expensive embarrassments by which the law checks

free

sale in so

many

ways and

places,

like the

House of Lords, an anachronism of

free.
if

the most fatal character in a country which claims to

be enlightened and
cloth trade continue

How

would the Bradford

every mill-owner's eldest son,

Free Trade in Land.

67

however incompetent or unsuited to business, was declared sole heir by the law, and forbidden under

any conditions
parallel

to

sell?

Or, again, to take a

case

to

that

of

non-entailed

property,

how

would Bradford flourish if every sale of cloth or machinery were only efifected by means of a long
legal process

which added twenty,

cent, to

forty, sixty, or

a
?

hundred per

the cost

of the

thing sold
laws,

Yet such

is

the

method of our land

it

and

under the circumstances

cultural distress in

is is

a miracle that agrinot the atrocious

If
evil

England

which Mr.

Chaplin would have us believe.

we

may

follow the analogy of what

legislation,
it

happened
will

after our

former Free Trade

be

difficult to

make an exaggerated
which
will

prediction

of the

prosperity

ensue upon the throwing open of heavilyill-managed estates to capital and

is

mortgaged and
enterprise.

Once the way

opened

for individual

yeoman

enterprise,

and the trammels of the law are

will at last
"

removed, agriculture

become a
protected
"

free trade.
class,

Instead of a dependent and

too

poor to be enterprising and too timid to bargain properly with

the landlord, there will arise under the

new

conditions a very different type of farmer,

a man

of vigour and versatility,

who

will prosper

by under-

standing his business instead of spending his energies

in trying to drive

out by law

(at

the expense of the

consumer) foreign competitors

able to conquer

whom

he ought to be

by

merit.

Then

at last the

prophecy

F 2

68

Liberalism and
" If

Wealth.
the farmers," he said,

of Bright will be realised.

"

exercise their

own
I

energies and cultivate the quality

of self-reliance,

am

convinced that

this

country,

with the finest roads, with the best markets, and with
a favourable climate, will be found to triumph not

only

in

her manufactures, but also in her agriculture."

this first

When
will

great step has been taken, there

further to facilitate the

be nothing easier than

cheap acquirement of allotments

and

to

encourage

small holdings or co-operative farms.

But
which

this is

one
be
in

of

the

all-important

minutiae
various
in

would
seems
will

worked
their

out

by
;

the
for

local

authorities
it

own way
that

the

future

probable

only

the

great

measures

be

framed

in the

House of Commons.
will

Municipalities
in

and
ance

local

bodies
local

arrange

details

accordof

with

needs.

But

the

Parliament
will

Great Britain or of the Federated Empire

to

have
of

think

more and more of the broader

applications

lines

national and imperial development, and less and less

of interfering with the

and deviations

which

local

bodies choose to initiate in their

own

proper spheres of activity.

fore, are

General principles, there-

becoming more and more necessary to the existence of a political party, and the tendency to be
overwhelmed by detailed schemes should be stoutly resisted. The country does not want to be flooded
with particular measures, but
it

does want to

know

what general

line legislation will take.

Emphasis of Principle.
The
ism
as

69

Liberal party
is,

is

wrongly suspected of Socialincreased

?

that
an

of regarding
itself.

State activity
its

end

in

Why
recent

Simply because
defended

members
measures,

have
such as

frequently

particular
in

Factory Legislation,

" particular "

spirit

without

making

clear

the

economic and moral principles which underlay them.

Yet the right course was plain and obvious. Thus it is by a straightforward reference to the doctrine of Economic Waste that the strictly materialistic as
distinguished from the moral justification should be

maintained not only for free and compulsory education

and

for the

Factory Acts, but

for all legislation,

past or future, which tends to prevent men,

women,

or children from suffering in their capacity of wealth

producers.

The

economic
is

reason

for

the

State

sending

children to school
for training a

identical with that of the farmer

;

young horse

the economic reason for

is

the State keeping children at school

identical with

that of the farmer for not working a young horse.

True, the school of thought which refuses to admit

distinctions
in
is

at present

predominant
the plain

at

any

rate,

academic

circles

but

man

will readily

admit that there are two perfectly

valid
lines of reasoning

distinct

and equally
measure,
a

by which the
an

political philo-

sopher
general

may

advocate
or

individual

principle,

complete

system.

They

may

be

briefly represented

by the words Wealth and

yo
Virtue.

Liberalism and
Happiness
is

Wealth.

the middle term which indicates

their connection.

And what
!

a vast amount of flabby

reasoning has supported

this

itself

on the ambiguity of
one

middle term

Liberals are willing enough to

close with their opponents in either sphere, but

knows well enough the danger of directing attention, even in a single essay, to the proved laws of wealth
and material prosperity.
"

"

Sordid inhuman wretch,"

the terms

brutal

Manchesterian,"

are

applied

to

those

who demonstrate

the national loss of

"

v^-ealth
" for

which must result from the substitution of

Fair

Free Trade or of monopoly for competitive enterprise.

By

the

strange irony of fate the inheritors of the

of

wealth and comfort derived from the triumph

Cobden's principles are reversing the process.

moraliser
the

The
be

may

draw a melancholy satisfaction from

will

thought that their impoverished sons

Liberals.
It

matters

little

whether
the

the

pockets of the
of the
State

average

man

arc picked in

name

or of a class within the State.

is

An

artificial

monopoly

a tax
less

upon the consumer,

less

obvious perhaps, but

not

impoverishing, than

an ordinary Customs
effect as

duty.

monopoly has exactly the same

Cigars
are

heavy duty.

a case

in

point.

The

Governments by monopoly

of France, Italy, and Austria proceed

;

Germany has
is

practically Free Trade.

The

consequence

that
in

cigars

of equally good
little

quality

may

be bought

Germany for

more than

Effects of Monopoly.
half the
countries.

71

sum which they cost in the other three As a natural result, Germany alone has
is

an export trade.
This illustration
not, of course, intended as

an
If

attack upon the raising of revenue from cigars.

indirect

taxation

is

unavoidable,

luxuries

are

ob-

viously the proper things to tax.

What

do point

out

is

the effect of State

monopoly upon

prices

and

production.

My

example only

illustrates the

truth

obvious to every unmuddled brain, that every extension of

trade and a decline of the national income.

ruin will

monopoly means a shrinkage of our foreign Economic

assuredly be the escort of the Socialist's
;

monopolistic Utopia

and England
poverty to

will

only have

emerged from
fraternal famine.

feudal

sink

back

into

We

shall exhibit the splendid iso-

lation of a nation with

no foreign trade

freed from the evils of competition, for

we shall be we shall have

;

no markets
mercial

there will be no talk of dangerous

com;

rivals, for

we

shall

have no commerce

the

dream a monotony of universal pauperism.

of universal equality will at last be realised in

In the original Fabian Essays, however, the pro-

gramme advocated
more
easily

is

less nebular,

and the construction

destroyed.

Now

English Collectivists

may
see

be divided into the economically enlightened

into those

and the economically unenlightened, and those who are blind to the and Protection.

who

evils of

monopoly

The

first

comparatively small

/class

LiBERAT.ISM

AND WeALTH.

tion

composed almost entirely of a leading secof the Fabian Society, which (since the publication
is

of the

Fabian Essays) has made a great advance

if

towards an appreciation,

not

admission,

of the
is

soundness of the Liberal standpoint.

The change

marked by some recent declarations quoted by the Economic Journal for October, 1896, and by the publication

of a paper by Mr. Sidney Ball on

"

The

Moral Aspects of Socialism."

"so
from
far

In his view, Socialism,

from attempting to eliminate 'competition'

endeavours to raise
its

life,

plane, to

make

it

competition of character and positive social quality." The Fabian idea of industrial combination "is not an development of creation, but a normal artificial

monopoly not of He admits that now privilege but of efficiency." enterprise is kept up to the mark by municipal
modern
business.
It

represents a

private competition, but hopes that on

its

disappearrivalry

ance

the
"

same

results

will

accrue

from

between

the local pride and

civic self-consciousness

of municipalities,"

But successful municipal managethe sphere of natural monopoly.

;

ment has always

It will

a point unfortunately obscured in the pamphlet

been

in

continue to be so

and the instances by which

Mr. Ball tries to decorate his idealistic basis only

.show that even his
for the future are

comparatively modest erections

founded on sand.
larger

The

other

far

class

of

Collectivists

appeal solely to the emotions, and are dangerous in

Two Types
proportion
tion.

of Collect/vist,

73

to the ignorance of the

is

voting popula-

Their chief spokesman

typical of the revolu-

tionary

who

in

all

ages blocks the

will
"

way
"

to reform.

Mr.

Keir Hardie

accuse Liberals

of

want of

sympathy with the

submerged tenth
schemes

because they
for equalising

refuse to be a party to his

matters by submerging the remainder.

so
;

true

sympathy
of before

is

the
;

Let him do sympathy bred of know-

ledge,

not

ignorance
a

and Mr. Keir Hardie's

examination

recent

Royal

Commission
ele-

showed that he had not yet mastered even the

ments of the Labour problem.
service to the cause of

Fifty years of solid

will surely serve the

Labour

Liberal party as a
wild, reckless,

rampart against the attacks of

and ill-informed agitators. Yet the record of the past is but the earnest and future usefulness.
in

of present

Society

is

ever

changing, ever

need of reform

and administration,
modification to-

even

if

perfect to-day,

would

call for

morrow.

And now

especially the

of local government in town and country

immense extension demands

the earnest, sympathetic, and intelligent attention of

all

thoughtful Liberals.

On

the financial

side

there

are

the

difficulties

connected with the question of municipal ownership

which ought to be frankly

opportunity
principles to
crucial
is

faced.
for

An unexampled
applying Liberal
is

here afforded
conditions.

new

That the instance

one

will

be readily admitted by the Socialistic

74
Progressive

Liberalism and
;

Wealth.
is

indeed,

it

is

the position which he

most fond of choosing for his violent attacks upon the Let us first remind him of older Liberal economists.
an incident
Liberal
in

the past

it

will

serve to illustrate

tradition

and

to

em.phasise

not only the

steady and continuous determination, but also the long line of successful reforms, which have marked
the party in
its

policy of substituting for the old mis-

management by vested abuses a new power and a new authority in the administration and control of local affairs and local rates by the people of the
locality.

In

837, at the age of thirty-three, Richard

in

Cobden

was actively engaged his own enterprise had

of

directing a business which

just started,

and to the success

which

his

undivided

attention

was

necessary.

But the great Municipal Act making a charter permissive

if

a majority of the ratepaying inhabitants

petitioned the

Crown

in

Council had only just been

passed.

Mr. John Morley inimitably describes "the

sea of corruption" stirred

muddy

up by

this

per-

missive clause

: "

All the vested interests of obstruc-

tion were on the alert.

The

close

and self-chosen

members
sion,

of the Court Leet and the Streets

Commis-

and the

Town

Hall

Commission, could not

endure the prospect of a system in which the public business would no longer be done in the dark, and the
public
bility

money no
to

longer expended without responsi-

those

who

paid

it.

The

battle

between

Liberals and Municipalities.

privilege

75

and popular representation which had been fought on the great scene at Westminster in 1832 was

now resumed and fought the new boroughs. The

tried

out on the pettier stage of

classes

who had
^

lost

the

power of bad government on hard to retain it on a small

one
in

a large national scale

local scale."

Everyin

Manchester who had a vested interest

(in

an

abuse

other words, every Tory), from

"

the low-

minded and corrupt rabble of the freemen and potwallopers," upwards to the wearer of the feudal livery
himself, resisted the

movement
"

in favour of a charter.
it,"

But they were not

alone.

Will you credit

wrote
"

Cobden

to a

friend, "

the low, blackguard leaders of

the Radicals joined with the Tories and opposed us?

He

calls

it

"

an unholy alliance."
it

But

surely,

as

Mr. Morley points out,

is

neither unnatural nor

uncommon

for bigotry

and ignorance to join hands.

to

Now

from the very beginning to the triumphant

of
this

conclusion

movement

incorporate

the

borough of Manchester, Cobden worked heart and soul, making what must have been enormous sacrifices

of

money and time

in the interest of his

town.

For three weeks he was constantly occupied at the Town Hall merely in exposing a great bogus petition
got up by the Tories.
1838, to his

When he wrote on July 3rd, Edinburgh publisher, he had been "incesyour modern CoUectivist
in

santly engaged at the task for the last six months."

And now
1

the

same

"Life of Cobden," Jubilee Edition,

p. 122.

"j^

Liberalism and

Wealth.
vilifies

breath exploits municipalities and

the fame of
;

Cobden.

The

irony of things
is

is

often pathetic

but
in

here, perhaps, there

something more than pathos

the thought that " strikes along the brain and flushes
all

the cheek."

Political ingratitude
life.

is

fast

becoming

a fine art in public

The
local

first

business, then, of the Liberal party

was

to abolish the old

and hopelessly corrupt system of

totally in-

government by semi-hereditary and

authorities.

competent
laborious.

The work

of construction was

Between the great measures of 1835 and 1882 no less than fifty-five Acts having reference to
corporations
received

municipal
Still later
1

the

royal

assent.

came the two Local Government Acts of

1894, which were
" to

888^ and

intended, to

quote a

competent authority,

reduce to something like

order the chaos of overlapping areas and conflicting

authorities."

Thus

the

structure of local

government
to

in

the

United Kingdom (though not

in Ireland) is in
is

some

rough measure complete

the

it

the

working of
direct his

new system

that the politician

it

must now

attention.

And

is

for the Liberal party

the party

of reform

to

infuse into the democratic institutions

which

it

has created that spirit and those principles

which can alone ensure them a useful and peaceful

development:
'

for in

England the

stability of

an

in-

Liberal measure passed unrler the auspices of a Conservative

Government.

Structure and Working.

stitution will never

77
its

be threatened provided

utility

can be proved.

Now

here at length Liberals have a really great

opportunity.

The attempt

to

"

capture

"

the Board
"

Schools in the interest of sectarian

orthodoxy has

been accompanied by a

parallel

attempt to "capture

the municipal councils in the interests of economic Both attacks should be repelled, but they heresy.

should be repelled with discernment, for

palities

in

munici-

and

local administrative areas there are only

a limited

number of men with

time, willingness,

and

capacity to serve the public.

It is

highly necessary in

many

cases to consider the character of a candidate

;

as well as his " platform "

and

in a period of reaction

like the present a sprinkling of able Collectivists are

a valuable leaven to a

lump of

councillors

who

erect

cheese-scraping into a principle, and regard inactivity

as a public duty.

But there

is

a certain school of
or

quasi-Liberals

the

opportunists

middlemen of
step in at this
If a

whom

have already spoken

who

point and assure both sides of their sympathy.

measure proposed by
Liberal
ranks,

the Collectivist party

seems to

be catching the public eye, these gentlemen leave the

rush
in

front,

and

advertise

their

connection with
a winning cause.
to those
in

what they

fondly imagine to be

At

the
"

same time they declaim

"

who

are less

advanced

than themselves,

the

long-winded and

meaningless phraseology
is

of politicians whose one idea

to avoid being

pinned

78

Liberalism and
to

Wealth.
belief,

down

any principle or any

" that

while

desiring to emphasise the necessity for a progressive

policy of constructive social reform, they are yet not

prepared to affirm that the case for complete Collectivism has yet been
satisfactorily

established, or

that every fresh extension of State activity in the

industrial sphere
is

by any means
in

necessarily con-

ducive to the advantage of the nation."

There

is

all

the difference

the world between

the blind and undetermined middle course of these

untrustworthy political adventurers and the

clear-

cut attitude towards municipal enterprise and other

similar problems which
is

marked out

for us

on the

undeviating lines of Liberal principle.

is

And

yet this

also

middle course, and, moreover, a middle

course which will take the Liberal for a few stages in

the

same

direction

as

the

Socialist

party.

These

stages

may

be

all

roughly characterised as belonging

to the sphere of natural monopoly.

Now, opposition
economic grounds
been suggested.
past

to

monopoly

is

of

course

cardinal article in Liberal faith.

for the

The

political

and

assumption have already

Hence our political policy. In the we have swept away many of the monopolies in
in

trade,

government, and

in

religion

monopolies
squires,

established in their
or clerics.

own

interests

by kings,

For the future we refuse

to re-establish

them at the bidding of Collcctivists an army of State officials.

for the benefit of

Monopolies Distinguished.

79

But some monopolies are natural and necessary.

Land
for

is

complicated but
does not exist
in

indubitable

instance

land

absolutely

unlimited

quantities.
in

This circumstance has very properly led

to laws discouraging or prohibiting

most countries

the accumulation of vast estates.

A " corner "

in

land

cannot be contemplated
patriotic statesman.
in

with equanimity by any

This, of course,

was an element
idea

the

philosophic

and

statesmanlike
in

which

prompted the Death Duties

great Budget.

Sir

W.

Harcourt's

Now

the Tories, as

we have

seen, derive their very

existence as a party from the long, systematic, and

successful attempts of their political ancestors to

make

bad worse,
artificial

to turn a natural

and unprotected

into an

and protected monopoly.

artificial

Squire legislators

piled

up a vast

superstructure on the top of

the comparatively harmless limits which Nature had

prescribed.
less
if

Thus a

natural

evil,

comparatively harm-

reasonably controlled, has been deliberately

intensified

and aggravated by crass

class legislation.

When
the

the

House

of Landlords has been released from

agricultural

duty of voting on
are

questions,

as

brewers

already relieved
licensing

from

the

duty

of

adjudicating on
Bill will prise,

questions,
field

a good

Land
enter-

open up a new
at the

to

individual

and

same time immensely

forbidden by
the

relieve land-

locked municipalities.
the

But a further consideration of

problem

is

compass of

this

8o
essay
;

Liberalism and
and

Wealth.

therefore, without even pausing to dwell

on the scandalous anomalies arising from the non-

we must pass on to a somewhat more novel application of these same economic principles these same time-worn and timeThe problems of honoured tenets of Liberalism.
taxation of land values in towns,

municipalisation will serve as a test case

principles give no clue to a solution,
at
it

and

if

our

may be

admitted

once that they are not only time-worn but out-worn.

For the purpose

will

in

hand a

" natural

monopoly

be roughly but sufficiently defined as any form

of industry, distributive or productive, which does not

under normal conditions admit of competitive enter-

Take one or two clear and undoubted cases of monopoly coinage, sanitation, water, gas, and tramways. In each of these cases some individual or corporate body must carry on the undertaking all five are for in a modern municipality, at any rate
prise.

natural

regarded as necessary to the convenience and happiness

of

the citizens.

The

question

is,

Shall

the

consumer (deprived of the guarantee of reasonable prices which competition would give him) have any
control over these industries
?

Four possible systems

suggest themselves

uncontrolled monopolies managed

management under management by a govern-

by private companies, similar

public control, and public

ment

either irresponsible or responsible to the people.

Now
in his

the most zealous voluntaryist will usually admit

calmer

moment that coinage

is

theproperfunction

Natural Monopolies must be

But every schoolboy, or
schoolboy,

8i

of the central, and sanitation of the local authority.

at

any

rate every

Macaulean

currency

was

knows how ignorantly and corruptly our managed by irresponsible often

monarchs, and

how

the

absence of

sanitation

in

pocket-boroughs and other towns previous to the

Act of 1836 demonstrated the

local unfitness of the

equally irresponsible potwallopers.

The

irresponsible

monopoly of government may

neglected
as

fortunately,

however, be

impossible
left

under our democratic system, and we are

with

the general admission that in the British democracy

whose

officers are responsible to the people, will best

is

coinage

and sanitation
authority.

be managed by the central

not far to seek.
In the
first

The reason
is is

case

profit

inexpedient, in the second, impossible.

to be said of the three remaining
is

But what
instances?
opinion.

There

not the same

consensus of

Municipalisers and voluntaryists can both

corroborative
instances.

produce

And

here,

un-

fortunately, the press "inquirer" usually stops

scribbles

and

down

or omits the figures according as they

subserve or prejudice
brief

the moderate or progressive

which he

happens to

be meditating.

It

is

admitted, however, by every unbiassed judgment that

in
1

many

cases of gas

and water, and some few of

when Mayor of Birmingham, the down the same principle with
and acted on
this ruling.

It is interesting to notice that,

present Secretary for the Colonies laid

regard to water.
cost price.

He

held that

it

should be municipalised and sold at

The

council have accepted

82
tramu-ays,
actual

LWERALISM AND WEALTH.

the

municipality has

stepped

into

the

management, with consequences economically

;

and
the

politically justifiable

and that

in all three cases

public

interest
its

has invariably

demanded
in

as

minimum from
vigilant control

public representatives

the most

and the utmost caution

granting

and framing

leases.
is

The reason

not recondite, and the

facts,

far

from revolutionising economic theory or suggesting

even a prima facie case for Socialism, are the very
negative instances which are wanted to prove to a

demonstration the soundness of Liberal maxims, and

the national benefit derived from Free Trade and an
unrestricted market.
tition is

For

it

is

exactly where compe-

seen to be difficult or impossible that super-

intendence or even actual management by the central

or local authority tends to
perative. different

Two

sewers or gaspipes laid

become expedient or imdown by two

for draining

companies cannot well compete

cannot run down one

or lighting one house in one district.

Two

sets of
will a

tram

lines

street.

Nor

burgess expect to get his water rate lowered by a

competition of three or four reservoirs each bidding

for his

custom.

Here, then, are three clear cases of

monopolies.

natural

and necessary
difficulty for

Where

is

the

supposed

an old-fashioned follower of
is

Cobden

Laissez-faire

a principle which the great

rationally, not with

Reformers applied broadly and

the stupid narrowness attributed to

them by

so

many

Under Public Control.

modern
of
critics.

^3

The

recognition of the expediency

collective

bargaining, along

with

the

right

to

combine, are important elements

in the Liberal
;

con-

ception of economic and political freedom the very

first

and from

our advocacy of a free and unimpeded

system of commercial exchange, both at home and

abroad, has been seconded and supported by a welldefined and thoroughgoing attitude towards
all sorts

and conditions of monopolies. Indeed, almost every Liberal movement from the 'forties to the present

day has been emphasised by an upon some artificial monopoly or

tion of
class.

effective onslaught

legalised exploita-

the

consuming public

for the benefit of a

Nor has

Liberal doctrine at any rate been less

correlative principle

explicit in

expounding the
But
theorist,

the
often

necessity for public control of natural and necessary

monopolies.

the

Liberal

politician

is

behind the
in

and sometimes even over slow

It
is

appreciating coming practical needs.

more
great

than twenty years since

practical

Mr. Chamberlain gave a

the
doctrine in
his

exhibition

of

municipal achievements as

Mayor

of

Birmingham,

But, strangely enough, even he does not seem to have

enunciated those broad principles which explain the

sagacity and soundness of hi^ financial
proposals.

singularly

And, generally speaking. Liberal leaders have been backward in grasping and enforcing the
activity.
Its vast

whole theory of municipal

ing importance was,

and grow-

indeed,

splendidly recognised

84

Liberalism and

Wealth.

by Lord Rosebery in accepting the chairmanship But have Liberals of the London County Council.
defined
its
its

field,

explained

its

limits,

and supported
enthusiasm of

proper

manifestations
?
;

with

the

discernment

We

fear not

and the unnecessary

in

intellectual

coldness exhibited
legitimate

some quarters
of

towards
enterprise

the

extension

municipal

has

proved as disastrous as the hot-headed emotionalism

which welcomes every proposed extension of public

industry and officialdom, local or Imperial, as necessarily a step in the right direction.

Whigs tremble
thin

and

"

Progressives

"

chuckle at the thought that gas,

are
"

water,

and

tramways
and
all

the

end of the

wedge," that they

glass, cotton,

will lead to the municipalisation of

other trades.

But, as
for

we have

shown already, the reasons which make

very

municipal

action in one case do not apply to the other.

The men who on principle uphold public control or management of gas will throw their whole weight
into

the

scale

against

any agitation

in

favour of

turning cotton into a public monopoly.

For gas and

water are not for export

for local

they are produced merely

consumption, and, being natural monopolies,

they must be produced and distributed by one man,

or

by a

single organisation.

Clearly, then, the consumers, being unable to rel)/

upon competition

for giving

lowest possible price, must take

them the article at the some measures to

The Two Alternatives.

provide that the price shall have, at any
superior limit.
rate,

8$
a

Two

courses are open.

The Council

may

form a committee to control the private company, or may themselves take over the company's works at a valuation and form a committee to adeither

minister the department.

Every thorough

free-trader

must agree that in such cases one or other of these alternatives ought to be adopted by the community In deciding which, vague talk in its own interests.
about the municipality as an ideal wealth-producer

may be The
in

at

once dismissed.

decision ought to depend

It
is

upon

certain local

circumstances.

obvious,

for

instance,

that

the villages and lesser boroughs the

willing
to

number of
limited,
is

men both competent and

selves
in

exert them-

local

administration,

always
those

often extremely small.

And
town
to
its

if all

who com-

bine public spirit with capacity are already occupied,

it

would be

folly for a

to add, let us say, the

manufacture

of

gas

other

functions.

In

such a case the local authority will get far better

terms for the

consumers

by prudent leasing and

by

vigilant control than

for

management
ability

private

by substituting public misOr again monopoly.

is

even granted that there

the

requisite supply of

it

may

still

be wisest to leave the lighting in

private hands.

For, supposing there to be a strong

likelihood that gas will be superseded in the course of

the next twenty years, a public body should obviously

S6

Liberalism and

Wealth.
its

pause before sinking a large amount of

capital in so hazardous

clients'

an investment.

So thorny
so

is

the path, and so cautious should be

the steps of the intelligent Progressive

the Liberal
which
natural
that
For, in his

numerous are the

will

practical

qualifications

he

admit,

even

to

the

dictum

monopolies ought to be municipalised.

view,

industry

is

the

sphere

of voluntary trans-

actions^
will

and of individual enterprise.

its

The
It

State

play

proper part
than

in

commerce by superwill

vision

rather

by

participation.

re-

cognise the importance of discouraging or abolishing

artificial

and

of

controlling

or

owning

natural

monopolies.
In
1

another sphere
here

it

will

recognise

that

vast

And

we

are supported by Aristotle,

whose economic ideas

should be carefully distinguished from those of the

according to Stewart."

new "Aristotle

For Mr. Stewart's otherwise admirable commentary here and there betrays a strange mania for Stagirising modern conceptions of the part which a State should play in industry. In the new Aristotle the farmer " receives the reward of his labour in the form of the coat which a settled social system allows him to get in exchange for his corn from the tailor." Aristotle, it will be remembered (" Nico-

machean Ethics," Bk. V.), carefully distinguished "Reciprocal" or Commercial justice from both " Distributive" and "Corrective." Mr. Stewart ranges it under " Distributive," and makes Aristotle regard
trade as the mo.st important instance of State distribution.

The poor

old Greek philosopher tried

viewed a commercial transaction in a simple enough light, i.e. as a perfectly voluntary " deal " between two or more voluntary agents exchanging
to
their property.

make

himself plain.

He

But

this will not do.

Aristotle,
is

we

arc to suppose,

is

trying

obscurely no doubt,
is

but

still

he

trying

to indicate the great

citizen-slaves.

truth that the State

a vast living organism, a mystic, omnipotent

Being which distributes wealth to passive but grateful

Monopolies in America.

87

fortunes are the proper objects of a graduated income

tax, not only

on account of the doubtful methods of

gambhng

by which they are hastily accumulated, but also on account of the evils with which when cunningly manipulated they menace the consumer. Some very striking illustrations drawn from
finance

the United

States

of the tendency of vast wealth

in

accumulations to create monopolies are to be found

Sir Henry Wrixon's recently published
Political Tour."
"

Notes on a
very

That astute
is

political observer

properly insists that monopolisation not only results

from gigantic fortunes, but

accumulation.
"

also a

means

to their

Rings,

trusts,

pools, combinations

enable enormous fortunes to be made, but only by the

exploitation of the
refrain

community

at large."

cannot

from giving two of the

many

instances quoted

by Sir Henry Wrixon. Not that we need go so far Anyone who has bought a novel at a railway afield. bookstall knows from practical experience the effect However, we can hardly of monopoly on prices.
parallel

a custom

like the

following

"

A
its

railway

company
siderable

will refuse to let its trains stop at

a constation

town on the
where
it

prairies,

and

fix

further on,

has a grant of land, so as to

compel people to begin a new town there and pay

what price

it

thinks proper for the building sites."

at

Another case suggests one,

any

rate,
:

" The practice grievances that have made Bryanism was (I was told by those who had practical knowledge)

of the crying

88

Liberalism and

Wealth.

for the railway

companies to compute, as the harvest

time came on, the utmost that the farmers or other

settlers

could possibly afford to give to have their

fix

produce carried, to
leave

their

rates accordingly,

and

them the alternative of submitting to it or letting Thus, while the their crops rot upon the ground." foreign trade of the States is hampered and plundered

by

protective duties a similar taint

is

spreading at

home and

blighting their internal

trade.

Of one

monstrous swindle

due to

an underhand piece of

jobbery between plutocrats and a railway monopoly " It a leading New York paper recently remarked
:

by such conspiracy between railroads and favoured capitalists that enormous monopolies are built up to
is

prey on the consumer and to corrupt politics with

their ill-gotten

money."

Facts like these speak for

themselves and lend a persuasiveness to the advocates

of legalised
rhetoric
loot

which no amount of

"

popocrat
is

could otherwise command.

in

It

hardly

paradoxical to assert that

the Property Defence

League's chamber of horrors a millionaire meditating

a

monopoly deserves an honoured place beside a

"

Bellamy

looking backwards."

The

principle of graduation in the

income tax,

which tends to check these huge swellings of wealth, an encouragement is therefore, properly regarded,
rather than a

menace
and

to private property
free competition,

it

provides

security for fair

and, far from

seeking to relieve the ordinary citizen of State burdens.

Principles of Taxation.
its

89

chief aim and object are a greater distribution of

property and therefore of taxation.

Here, too, there

nise.

is

a Hmit which Liberals will recogin

This limit admits of statement

general form,

and may be said to be reached whenever the scale becomes steep enough to suggest to reasonable and
impartial

men
the

that further graduation might either

decrease

national

wealth

and well-being

by
the

driving capital

from the country, or might, to the

public detriment, create a corrupt desire

among

poorer part of the electorate for an increase of the

public expenditure.

Than
more

the

latter

contingency

nothing

could

be

loathsome.

Can

it

be
ever

imagined that any responsible politician

will

condescend to provide the employed, the unemployed

or the unemployable with an interest in public extrav-

agance

The two

attitudes represent the gulf that

separates a Hooley from a Bright,^ or a Keir Hardie from an Adam Smith. That " representation implies taxation " is a principle which might under certain

circumstances deserve as
platforms and
in

much emphasis on
press
as

Liberal

the

Liberal

that which

" Taxation implies repreis now being laid upon Each represents an important aspect of sentation."
1 John Bright's public motto was " Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform." Mr. Hooley has lately taken upon himself to suggest that the working classes should be bribed to support a tax on corn by a promise In other words, put a heavy and wasteful tax of Old-Age Pensions. on the labouring poor, nominally to support the aged poor, really to

enrich landed proprietors.

90

Liberalism and

Wealth.
is

individual liberty.

The

latter

the fortress against a strong

the corrupt legislation

section of the party in

now demanded by
power
;

the former can for-

tunately at present only be of service against those

who

will

never be able to appreciate any argument

force.

except that of superior

be further discussed.
Sir

It

need not therefore

with

We
in

shall practically agree

Henry Wrixon's comment on an income tax

America.
" It
is

recently proposed

right,"

he

remarks, " to

incomes

of the

exempt from such a tax the small but it must be poorer classes
;

demoralising to

the

sense

of citizenship

and

the

responsibility that ought to

accompany the taxing

to levy imposts that

power

for the

mass of the people

leave themselves untouched."

On

the other hand, "

" is

No

taxation without repre-

sentation

a motto for every-day use.

Every

class

will discover in turn

an

" intolerable strain "

if it

can

only absorb public

money without
Every human

public

control.
in

The

feelings of the

Voluntary school manager are

being

nowise
charity

abnormal.

who "at
collects,

meetings stands at the door and

though he does not subscribe," would welcome relief from the intolerable strain. And the manager merely
wants to draw
the

whole of his

"

voluntary

"

subscrip-

tions from the public purse.

But what are we to say

of the party which allows such a

masquerade under the

are,

demand even to patronage of its leaders? They

of the privileges and

of course, the upholders

Privileges and Vested Abuses.

vested interests which uphold

91

them

but everyone

who

desires purity in pohtics will set himself against

these various attempts to exploit the

community
is

in

the interests of the classes.

Privilege, indeed,

the

keynote of what
tion.

is

anti-Liberal in political conceplegislation, that

But of

all

class

form which

defends or extends the diversion of public

private uses
will
is

the most noxious.

money to How much longer

an educated democracy permit the continuance

to the polls in support of
?

of laws which constantly drive select classes of the

community

their direct

pecuniary interests

At any

rate,

the Liberal policy

is

clear.

It is

our

duty to oppose each clamorous demand that " a nuisance, a social crime, or a wrong, shall not be
extinguished without paying the wrong-doer."
discrimination
is
is

But
"

all-important.

"

No

compensation

a very proper spirit in which to approach false

interests,"
or,

"vested
abuses."

more

properly,

"vested
are,

But we must r.emember that there

genuine vested interests
in

on

the other hand,

cases

where
tinctly

(to

quote a famous Oxford professor of the

last generation) a

man, or a
for

class of

men,

"

have

dis-

done the public a service under an

intelligible

contract, the

payment

which cannot

in justice or

equity be refused."

The
tionary

difference
is

between a reformer and a revolu-

seen in their
distinctions.

and

false

manner of dealing with real That almost all distinctions

92
are
in

Liberalism and
their
is

Wealth.
distinctions of

practical

manifestation

degree

regarded by the shallow sophist as a pretext

for ignoring

them

by the pliilosopher and the

states-

man

as an additional reason for patient investigation,

with a view to giving proper allowance in law and

administration.

And
out
in

it

may be urged

that the Liberal party stands

in virtue

almost lonely splendour,

of the com-

bination of ardent advocacy of principle with willingness

and even determination to observe the most

in

minute distinctions
of our

application.

What

historian

own

times has not noticed the chivalrous, some-

times almost Quixotic, justice which Mr. Gladstone

has time after time meted out to the beaten advocates of privilege in
will

Church and State

.''

And who

not admit this attitude to be the ideal counter-

Cobden and the Not that this triumphant eloquence of Bright attachment to principle which has marked the Liberal party in England is a characteristic which has been entirely wanting to reform movements in other
part of the battle-winning logic of
.-*

countries.

But couple with add to

both

it

a large

measure of

success

sympathy, moderation, and

;

equity in the hour of victory

and

it

may

be said

without fear of exaggeration that the world's history

will

hardly match the record of the English reform

party during the last seventy years.

This record, so
has been hinted at

far as

it

touches national wealth,

in these pages,

and here and there

Reverence for Distinctions,

vindicated

93

from some of the gross misconceptions

prevail,

which are now beginning to

further
rise in

as

away from

the old Protectionist

we draw The times.

classes of
all

the standard of comfort

among

all

the community, great and satisfactory in

life,

ranks of

specially great

and specially striking among the

has

labouring classes,
tedious

been

illustrated

at

perhaps

length

from

statisticians,

the

substantial
is

accuracy of whose conclusions no person of repute

likely seriously to challenge.

If there has been too

much

acerbity

shown

in attacking those

who make
con-

diametrically opposite

statements

(especially

cerning the past and

present condition of the agri-

cultural labourer, the stock-in-trade of their speeches

and

posters), the writer

loss

he was often at a

would desire to confess that to decide whether it were least

to

objectionable to attribute

great

national

heroes

infantile ignorance or that peculiar fact-twisting partiality

instinct in certain ancient English families.

rate,

which would seem to be almost an hereditary At any

little
" is

warmth
have

in

controversy

with

Tory

"

economists

scarcely avoidable.
laid

The

Socialists

themselves open to a not

dissimilar reproach.

In

that

movement

there

are

many good
social side,

elements

in fact,

on the purely moral and

for other
in

everyone with genuine sympathy

classes than his

own

deserves the

title.

But

the

economic sphere, substituting collectivism

ism,
I

for social-

can see nothing good

in their doctrines that

94
is

Liberalism and
not

Wealth.
Mill,

borrowed

from

Cobden,

Gladstone,

Harcourt,

and

Asquith.

Some, however, possess

economic grasp of the present, coupled with political vigour and interest in so remarkable a degree, that
one
is

more pleased

than surprised

to

see

turning to present-day Liberalism, and laying

them up the

mediaeval barks with which

they once thought to

revolutionise the carrying trade of the world.

Instead

of vituperating

Manchesterianism, they

are beginning to help in employing to

good purpose

the popular institutions in

whose foundation or im-

provement the Manchester school played the leading

part.

But
of

for that disloyal section, or rather fraction,

the

party

which

has

flung

away

the

solid

principles of Liberalism, and without comprehending

the

Diomedean character of the exchange has caught up the tenets, or at any rate the catch-words,

Collectivism for these opportunists the writer cannot help feeling a contemptuous sympathy.
of

They have exchanged golden armour

of brass,

for for

armour armour
perforce
voters.

armour worth a hundred oxen

worth nine.
retire

Some

will

return,

some

will

and probably end their

it

lives as

Tory

For

cannot

be too
is

earnestly

insisted
its
:

that

the

Collectivist

Utopia

as vicious on
its

economical
vicious, for

as
it

it

is

inhuman on

practical side

coolly ignores the proved evils of

monopoly and

the folly of discouraging invention and enterprise

Liberal Ideals.
inhuman,
for
it

95
the
is

ultimately

postulates

non-

existence of that love of property which

invoked

as the most potent instrument for the overthrow of

society.

fine

industrial

State

we may expect
educating
their

from

men who

are

assiduously

followers

on such principles as the confiscation of

!

property and the repudiation of debts and contracts

The
the

Liberal party
rich,

is

not a party of the poor against

It desires

but a national party.

the greater
;

prosperity of the

community
it

as a whole

and

for

accomplishing that end

believes in the extension,

it

not the reversal, of the policy which

has initiated.

By improved
is

education to abolish the rubbish which

distributed
for

being

produced and

food

and
to

clothing,

by amending
yeomen, by

thel

and laws to
between

foster a fresh

race

of

encouraging

co-operation

smooth away the

capital,

antithesis

labour

and

and by reducing the vast

labourer and

mob

of middlemen

who now prey upon

capitalist

the consumer to enrich both

labouring
lines

capitalist

these
and

are

some of the
individual

possible

of future progress.
national

But
would
State

freedom

and

prosperity

be

as

incompatible with
as

Collectivism

monopoly

they once proved to be with

class

Protectionism

and

monopoly.

On

the other

hand, the advancement of the just claims of the

labouring classes, the improvement of their material
condition,
their

elevation

socially,

morally,
illusive

and

intellectually, are

not chimerical

or

catch-

g6

Liberalism and
in

Wealth.
These ideas are
they
fruit

words

the
in

party programme.
Liberal
principles,

embedded
flourish

grow

and

on

Liberal

soil,

and

their

may now

be seen

in the solid

and substantial benefits conferred

influence.

by half a century of Liberal

Francis

VV.

Hirst.

97

LIBERALS AND LABOUR.

The Threatened Divorce
tude towards the
Industrial Policy

of

Labour from Liberalism

The

Socialistic Atti-

Liberal Tradition

The

Liberal Attitude towards

Socialistic Proposals

Need

of a

more

Definite

Standpoint for our

Effects

of this

Want

of Definiteness on the

New

Progressive and on the Old

creasing Specialisation

Whig Liberal

Unity threatened by In-

in Politics Dangers of Programme-Making Abstract Principles need not divert Liberal Energies from Concrete Reforms The Lesson of the Local Veto Bill The Real Principles of Temperance Reform Liberalism as the Party of (i.) The Idea of Ideas Two Ideal Forces at work in Liberal Policy The Idea of (ii.) Individuality freed from Legislative Regulation

Attention

to

Individuality as guaranteed by State

in

ControlThe Liberal Paradox

Interference

Industrial

Politics

Legislative

encouraged by the
for sup-

Champions
in

of Individual

Freedom

Liberals and Socialists may agree

in the

supporting a Policy, but never

it

Ultimate Reasons

porting

How State
it

Interference promotes Liberty of

is

Statutory Regulation of Industry

petition, for

not inconsistent

Choice The with Active Comto the

merely records Preliminary Conditions attached

may be The Adcriticised from Two Points of View, Moral and Economic vantage of separating these Two Aspects in Discussion The Ethical
Contract between Master and

Workman Labour

Legislation

Aspect
towards
promise,
"

of

Industrial

Regulation Ultimate
is

Opposition
the

between
Attitude

Socialistic

and
is

Liberal

Industrial
it

still

one sense a Comin determined by the Consistent Application of an

Liability
Bill,
(h)

Positions What Questions ? Although

Liberal

Idea Employers'

Common Employment,"
in

No

(a) No 1893-4, illustrates this " Contracting Out "The True

:

Principles of Industrial

Legislation

and

their

Application Liberal
Liberal versus

versus Socialist

Working Men's Questions And

Tory.

1"^HE

title

of this essay

is

one which has long since

its

lost

all

claim to novelty;
"

alliteration

has

been used by

" Labour leaders to point a contrast and adorn a brand new programme, and by " Liberal

98

Liberals a.xd Labour.

recomis

worthies to plead a natural affinity and to

mend
as
in

renewed

alliance.

For,

serious

as

the

present position of the Liberal party

opposition
to
forces

when regarded
in

avowedly un-liberal

and patently illiberal in policy, the diffiit from without are insignificant by the side of the dangers which threaten it from These dangers are the foes of its own household.
tradition
culties

which meet

aggravated by the

spirit

in

which they are raised

which they are met. On the one hand, the prophets of the New Labour, though they are willing enough to claim that the mantle
and by the
spirit in

of Liberalism

has fallen on their

own

shoulders,

appear to be particularly anxious to repudiate the nay, even to doubt inspiration and the authority

the

honesty
it

of

previous wearers of that garment.

That
all
is

has been the glory of Liberalism in the

past to vindicate the claims of the individual against

vested interest and

all

monopoly,

is

a truth which

either denied or ignored by those

who

are

now

claiming to monopolise sympathy with the workers,

and who would

of the

fain

create for themselves a vested

interest in the purer emotions.

How

characteristic

claim
that
is

is

extreme section of the Labour party such a will be apparent from reflecting on the use
the more ignorant Socialists of such the
as
"

made by

a phrase

Manchester

school

"

phrase

which no
for

longer calls

up memories of the struggle

for

cheap food and Parliamentary representation

The Socialistic Attitude.

the poor, but which
is

99

fast

taking a place

among

the meaningless expletives affected

by a part of the
This un-

population

in

moments when
is

the precise signification

of abusive words

of

little

consequence.

reasoning hostility to the record, to the very name,

of Liberalism

hostility displayed

and encouraged

by some of the men who owe most

and
free

to the success of

that party in vindicating the rights of free speech

combination
of
the

is,

as

has

been

said,

an

aggravation

difficulties
;

which surround the

itself

Liberal policy for Labour

but in

the circum-

stance does not call for prolonged discussion, least of

all

does

it

justify insinuations of dishonest

and

selfish

motive suggested by those whose honesty and

dis-

interestedness in the past have often suffered under

unfounded suspicions.
the policy of the

Singleness of purpose, gen-

uineness of emotion, are no less clearly traceable in

New Labour
of,
is

party than ingratitude

towards, and ignorance

the achievements of older

Liberalism

and there

no need to discuss the

affairs,

question whether, in public

tion of the heart afford a

attacks of palpitafor actions

complete excuse

which suggest a tendency toward softening in the

head.

The attitude of " Labour" (to give the new movement its self-chosen title) to Liberalism would thus be
of slight importance save for the changing attitude of

Liberalism to Labour (using the word in

its

wider

and more natural connotation).

It

is

characteristic

icxD

Liberals and Labour.

its

members look with indulgence and sympathy on any revolt which claims
of a Liberal party that
to represent a progressive force.

And

the influence
less
its

of the Socialist
it is

movement would be much

its

than
turn

were

it

not that

original effect has in

become a new cause, producing results which depend

for their significance

on the vague and ill-regulated

enthusiastic Liberals.

sympathies of

many avowed and

The reason
tion taken
far to seek.

for this want of definiteness in the posiup by Liberals on Labour questions is not

The

record of our party in dealing with

those problems in which the workers are most

imme-

diately concerned has been in the past a history of

conflict

against compact forces of greatly superior

in

power
in

the

interests
units.

of oppressed,

disorganised,

and down-trodden
is

So long
is

as the employer

a position of vastly preponderating influence,

the message of Liberalism

rather,
is it

not misrepresented

is

given special point and directness

if it

put

in a

form which suggests that the interests of

chief, or
is

the worker are the

the party.

even the

sole,

concern of

But

it

well to

remember

that a time

may come when the very success of this policy may make it necessary to change the form of its expression.

The need
;

for

such emendation
it is
it

is

not, perhaps,

pressing as yet

but

even now important to

is

emphasise the truth that

balance
is

only so long as the

that

seriously

uneven

the

weight of
in

Liberalism can

be rightly flung exclusively

the

Sentimental Progressives.
lighter scale.
it is

ioi

To employ

a mathematical metaphor,

only so long as the forces of capitalism are

infinite, in

comparison with the forces of labour, that

the claims of capitalism can be justly neglected as

infinitesimal in

comparison with the claims of labour.

is

In theory, this application of the inverse ratio

re-

cognised by every Liberal

who speaks

of

"

equality of
;

opportunity" as the watchword of his party but in practice the truth has been obscured through the
circumstance that inequalities have
ably been to the advantage of one
tunities
in

the past invari-

class,

and oppor-

claims

of

have been invariably equalised by urging the Hence the problem of the the other.

limiis to the rights of labour has not as yet appeared

to Liberals to possess

more than a theoretic interest. immovable mass, as the schoolmen In opposing an remind us, it is never excessive to employ an irreand many earnest Liberals have no sistible force
;

better touchstone at which to test the proposals of

the

new
is

"

labour

movement " than

a vague sentiment,

which
posal,

ready to identify with Liberalism any proilliberal,

it

however
if

any claim, however prepos-

terous,

only

is

alleged to be put forward in the

interests of the working man.

In Labour questions, then, Liberals are face to face

new problems and with new remedies, and their attitude towards them is often wavering and uncertain. The present social policy of the party is ill-defined
with

and

ill-supported,

and

it

is

so because

it

is

not, as

102

Liberals and Labour.

by the
clear

heretofore, directed

and deliberate appli-

cation of Liberal principles to existing conditions

it

method which
success
to

in

the past

gave dignity, unity and were

Instead

the cause,

and which would,

resolutely pursued, inevitably do so again.

of

this.

Liberals have often approached recent prospirit,

posals in an opportunist

without grasping or
to

applying any principle

calculated

show which

should be taken and which should be

left.

The

result could

have been easily foreseen.

The

emotional Liberal, remembering the glorious traditions

of his party, and carried
is

away by a sympathy which

noble inspiration of a

as

indispensable for the

it

policy as
tion of
its

is

inadequate for the prudent determinais

content,

ready to recognise the features

of the old Liberalism in every misshapen offspring

fathered upon
it

by the new.
:

And

the cool-headed

Liberal fares no better

in

avoiding the exuberant

Socialist

emotions of the

latter-day

he contents

himself with the sterile formulze of the antiquated

Whig.

He

denounces every attempt to ameliorate by

law the conditions of labour as tyrannical interference

with the independence of working men, and blindly
resists
istic

every proposal that can be miscalled Socialits real

is

without any examination into

effects.

purpose

and
less

But a party of progress

stolidity

betrayed no than by
the

by the

of

the

Smug

flightiness of the Sentimentalist.

Neither of these classes of Liberals

is

altogether

Liberal Disintegration.

103

without a hold upon the great principles of the party,

but the point of view
is in

each case so limited, that

is

the application of these principles

often distorted.

"one

As

a consequence of

this,

the great

name

of Liberal

of the most beautiful words in the English

language," as
of losing

Lord Rosebery
of
in
its

said

runs

the

risk

much

traditional dignity.

For, as
critic

always happens

such cases, the anti-Liberal

concentrates his gaze upon that side of Liberalism

which

is

furthest

removed

from

himself

While
late

capitalists

and landowners are denouncing the

as revolutionary, Mr. Kelr

Government
to

Hardie points
the
first

the unsolved

problem of the unemployed, and

Mr. Asquith's

never remembers

Factory Act,
in

Railway Servants' Hours Act (which

eighteen months of
its

the

working brought some 10,000

unemployed
factories

into railway labour), or the adoption of

in

an eight hours day

(by

Government workshops and

than
30,000

which
It
is

more

workmen

were
critic
rival.

affected).
in turn

not enough to answer each

to the indignation of his

by pointing

general

who

is

assailed on both sides cannot

derive

much comfort from

the reflection that, however

strenuous be the attack from one quarter, his

will

army

be forced to maintain

its

ground by an equally
;

vigorous assault from the other maticians

tell

and although mathe-

us that a body, upon which two equal

forces are acting, remains in a state of

and opposite
rest, it
is

plain that the internal constitution of the

104

Liberals and Labour.

is

body
is,

liable to serious strain in the process.

all,

What

above

needed
of

is

more comprehensive grasp

in

of the basis of Liberal policy, both in order to justify

the

details

its

development, and
of
its

order to
parts.

establish

the

interconnection

several
life

The

increasing

complexity of

civic

and

the
in-

consequently increasing subdivision of political

terests has left

many

Liberals ignorant and careless

faith.
It
is

of the broader aspects of their

easy for
is

each of us to sec

how

his

own

political

hobby

rigid application of Liberal theory,

;

even

if

that theory

be but vaguely comprehended but it is difficult to appreciate the justice and importance of applications on which others lay chief stress. And thus we have
the uncdifying sight of teetotal Liberals negligent of

everything but Temperance reform

of a champion

of undenominational education hinting repudiation of Home Rule, because, forsooth, certain Irishmen are
willing to get

what they can

for Catholic schools

and
to

of a

Scottish

member

retiring in high

dudgeon

the Highland hills because the

Government which he

was elected
chief place in

to
its

support cannot give the crofters a

programme! more philosophic view of the Liberal programme a view which, if it details of a does not embrace " all time and all existence," at any

To

this plea for a

rate leaves each burning question in

its

true setting

amidst larger
centration
is

issues

it

may

be objected that con-

the key to success, in politics as in other

Temperance Reform.
branches of
is

105
"

human

energy.

"

One

thing at a time

the motto of the organiser of parties no less than of

;

the general of armies

and the history of

political,

no

less than of military, campaigns proves the importance

of the application of an undivided force at the

same

moment,
(and,

at the

same

spot.

Were

the question one of

tactics, such a criticism would not be out of place

indeed,

it

expresses a

truth which

not only
!

guides to victory, but also, save the

defeat).
it is

mark

explains
;

But the real question

is

not one of tactics

useless to ask in

what shape Liberal policy may

it

be most attractively presented to the world at large

until

we have

fully

grasped the ideas which

is

to

express.
is

In political, no less than in moral,

life

there

categorical

imperative

the

rule

to

act

from

principle.

An

instance will

show both the necessity

of concentrating upon these foundations of Liberalism,

and the slightness of the attention which is often paid The Local Veto Bill of the late Governto them.

ment
so,

is,

rightly

or

wrongly,

regarded as

largely
If
it

responsible for the present

Tory majority.

be
but

the blame does not rest with the Bill

itself,

with the mistaken view taken of its leading principles. Had the Bill been what its opponents were allowed
(too often, alas
!

without meeting with vigorous correcit

tion) to describe

to be,

its

unpopularity was natural

instead

enough.
serving

Why

did
in

not

Liberals,

of

pre-

a silence

itself

suspicious,

or giving

perfunctory denial to ludicrous misstatements, every-

io6

Liberals and Labour.

Bill

where emphasise the ideas on which the

based
?

was

If

it

had once been made

thing, but

clear that Local

Veto was no new

had long been exercised

by magistrates and landlords, what would have become of the contention that it was the new-fangled Liberals had creation of a revolutionary party ? in illustrations for their argument ready to hand
:

every constituency there was some magistrate's house

with no beershop in vulgar proximity, and in

many

upon which the landlord permitted no public-house to be built once it was known that the Bill proposed to transfer the power of regulating the

some

estate

position and
trates

number of public-houses from magisto

and landlords

the general public, and

for

to

those

who have
and
that

the

best reason

knowing
it

their

usefulness

their danger,

how

could

have been
in
it

maintained

the

"

poor
?

being "robbed of his beer"

man " was And when

peril

of

was seen

that Sir William Harcourt's legislation

would have
permitted to
a conspiracy
If the

secured

the control

of a monopoly by the whole

locality for the benefit of

exist,

which

it

is

who

could have dared

to declare it "

of a few miserable temperance fanatics"?

democratic tendencies of the measure had been more

fully realised, Tories could not

have posed as popular

champions

in resisting

it,

and the appeal to the love

of beer, so pitifully repeated

by the champions of

culture and religion, would have been as unsuccessful

as
it

was

irrelevant

and disgusting.

Tpvo Industrial Ideals.

107

The above example shows

more than a cant phrase
is

that

it

ought to be much

to say that the Liberal party

the party of principle.

In

are not flattering ourselves

making such a claim we by abusing our opponents;

in
fill

we

are merely noting the fact that the realisation of

for itself, occupies a place
it

an idea, by and

the
in

mind of Liberals which of necessity

tempers of another
has
its

cannot

political

mould.

Such an
its

attitude

special difficulties, as well as

unique com-

pensations.

The

reason

why

the politics of

Labour
if

are threatening to raise divisions in the Liberal party

is

precisely because

two ideas

vaguely, held

the Liberal mass.

precise

are exerting two divergent forces upon The precise magnitude even the direction of each of these ideal forces a
is
;

each

vigorously,

matter of dispute

those

who

claim to the clearest

grasp of the facts of the one, are often the most

confused
in

their

accounts of the other;

side

the ex-

tremists on

either

go so

far

as to

deny the
;

existence of the other influence altogether

resultant
activity

and the
neither

of the
regular.

Liberal
It is

whole

is

homogeneous nor

important, therefore,

justly to estimate these

two tendencies

to

examine
that

their nature, their force, their direction

in order

the Liberal policy for Labour

may be

seen to have a

better justification than hand-to-mouth expediency,

and may take

its

place as a reasoned product of the

party of principles.

The

first

of these tendencies

may

be represented

io8

Liberals and Labour.

by the idea of securing individual freedom through

the removal of restrictions of free development as a factor
evil,

of the value to the well-being of the

citizen
in

both to the character of the unit and to the

welfare of the whole body-politic, of every limitation

set

by law upon personal judgment and

choice.

The

abolition of commercial protection

and the removal

of religious tests were not merely the relief of one

j)art

of the

population

from oppressive treatment

expressions
of the

imposed by the blindness or bigotry of a special

interest

or

creed

they were

abstract principle (quite apart from consideration of

special
is,

material grievances) that the end of politics

in general, best attained

by a minimum of

legisla-

tive regulation.

sophic Liberalism passes to labour.

From commerce and religion philoThe restrictions

toil
"

under which manual

"

stepmotherly
life

"

than

was carried on were rather grandmotherly." The work-

man's

his

occupation, his hours, his wages

left his

was

controlled

by an agency which

own

interests

not merely unrepresented but actually unregarded.

In the early part of the century the old system of
industrial regulation

had lapsed into desuetude so

far

as

it

attempted to control the action of employers,

in

but survived

vigorous enactments for restricting

the freedom of wage-earners.

For ten years

after

Waterloo the old method of extracting a standard

wage from the masters was

the
right

entirely obsolete, while

of uniting and jointly

demanding

better

For and Against State Regulation.

terms was
still

109

resolutely denied to the men.

The
for

repeal of the laws against workmen's combination for

obtaining better conditions and

improved pay

their work, the establishment of the right to emigrate,

the extension of freedom of contract

all

such changes

were nothing but expressions of the idea that unrestricted free-play

was

all

that every citizen required

to attain

his just position in the

community.

Mill

crystallised the principle in a treatise which, once for

all,

vindicated the importance of individuality against

de-

the blessings of State-regulated existence, and

clared the
"
full

expression of personal character to be

one of the principal ingredients of human happiness, and quite the chief ingredient of individual and social
Side by side with this idea of individuality as

progress."^

secure

from

legislative interference there has

grown

up, in apparent contradiction, the idea of individuality

as secured by legislative interference.

Without enterthe
is

ing upon those speculations concerning

physics of free will with which Mr. Balfour
dilute the discussion of Irish whisky,
it

metato

wont

is

apparent
not leave
If

that the

mere abolition of

restrictions will

the individual artisan master of his destiny.

object
free
is

our
of

to secure for every

it

man

the

maximum

development,

is

not to be attained by leaving

each labouring unit at the mercy of the huge industrial

system which surrounds him.

*

"
iii.

The answer

of

On

"Liberty," chap.

no
competition
of industry
tions

Liberals and Labour.

is,

modern statesmanship
is

that unfettered individual

not a principle to which the regulation

may
it

be entrusted.

There may be condidegree desirable to

which

is

in the highest

impose

on

industry,

and

to

which

the

general

opinion of the
favourable.

industrial

classes

Yet

the assistance of law

may be entirely may be needed

to give effect to this opinion, because

in

the words

of the great

man who was now

(1844) preparing the

to reign

exposition of political
all

economy which was

through the next generation

only law can afford

it

to every individual a guarantee that his competitors will pursue the same course as to hours of labour and

so forth, without which he cannot safely adopt

self."
^

him-

Thus we

are

confronted

by the

seeming

paradox that the party which sets the highest store upon untrammelled individuality, has yet been the

most eager to
for

call

in

the authority of Parliament

the

regulation
result

of

the conditions of

industry.

Neither the

itself,

nor the part

it,

played by

Liberalism in producing
regretted

can either be denied or

Liberal.

by any present-day

Instead of the

Elizabethan code regulating industrial employment,

the last fragments of which disappeared in the early

years of the century, the last half-century has seen

the gradual evolution of an elaborate regulative code Not merely children for the protection of labour.
1

Morley's "Cobden," chap.

in Mill's

be found

"

Political

The quotation xiii. Economy," bk. v., chap,

referred to will
xi.,

12.

The Paradox of Liberalism.

and women-workers, but even adult men
daily occupations in factory and workshop,

hi
find their

mine and

warehouse, circumscribed by State-made conditions,

interpreted
in detail

by Government departments and enforced official inspectors. The vigorous and of the law between employer compulsory intervention and employed an intervention for which Liberal influences, both in legislation and in administration,
by

have been chiefly responsible

such lengths that
rather
"

has
in

now proceeded
"

to

we

find," as

Mr. Morley says,

the

the

amazing
in

result

that

country where

Socialism has been less talked about than any other

country

Europe,

its

principles

have been most

to regard as so

extensively applied."

On
many
there
"

this

claim of

"

Socialism
its

"

applications

of "

principles "

every inter

ference of Parliament with the conditions of labour,

is

much
"
is

that

might

be

said.
all

The word
it

Socialism

itself fast

losing

claim to be an
;

instrument of value

in

political investigation

is

meeting the
tions

fate

which awaits most popular abstracfamiliar

it

the more
it

becomes as a phrase, the

idea.
It is true,

less definite

grows as an

no doubt,
is

that in

the sphere of Labour legislation there

large field

where State interference

Socialist

is

approved alike

by the
party.

scientific

and by the Liberal who no more than a casual assume

retains to the full a belief in the old principles of his

But

this coincidence
it

is

agreement, and

is

entirely gratuitous to

112
that

Liberals and Labour.

reforms which

both

schools

of theorists

are

agreed to welcome can be justified only from the

Socialistic

point of view.

To

the

Socialist

(who

appears hardly to recognise any

qualitative difference

between the municipalisation of a natural monopoly

and of an ordinary competitive trade) every regulation controlling the conditions under which the
artisan

competes
of
it

for his

wage
;

is

a step towards the

Liberal,

abolition

competition
is

to

the

on the
but a
his

contrary,

a step

towards the adjustment of

is

surroundings without which competition

mockery.
"

The

individualist does

not renounce

faith in individuality

because he

is

ready to abolish

contracting-out," and because he desires stringent

;

factory inspection

he

still

believes in the all-import-

ance to the

workman

of free choice, and sees in the

statutory regulation of industry only an attempt to

secure to manual workers something better than a free

choice between
tions

employment under improper condiand no employment at all. When, for instance,

Mr. Balfour defends, in the

name

of individual liberty,

an arrangement which permits

employes,

in

return

for some form of consideration, to forego their title to compensation from the employer in whose service they may be injured, he not only ignores the repeated

and unanimous desires of the men, as expressed by their own organisations, but he entirely misses the
point of Mr. Asquith's
Bill.

It

is

precisely because

no individual liberty

is,

as a matter of fact, left to the

The Paradox Defended,

workman under
it

113

the existing law, that a

"

new one

is

imperatively demanded.

The trade
is

unionists assert
for

we have on an authority which, combined enwithout a thusiasm and knowledge, country "that the workman's consent to forego his
rival
in

this

legal claim

is

given practically under duress, since a

for

man applying

employment has no

free

option

whether or not he

will join the firm's benefit society,

and so relieve his employer from that pecuniary inducement to guard against accidents which the Act was intended to
afford."
^

While, however, the Liberal

may

join

hands with
he
the

the Socialist in securing certain definite applications of legal

restriction
in

the sphere of industry,

cannot act from the same

motives and with

at the
is

same

ideals in view.

Even when aiming

same

change

in the law, the object to

be attained

widely

different.

Face to face with the undisputed

fact that
in-

real

freedom of choice

may
it is

be denied to the

dividual

workman

while

enjoyed by the capitalist

employer, the Liberal aims at redressing the balance

by some very different means than the desperate method of annihilating freedom of choice altogether. The proper regulation of industry by law is only
an extension of the principle of collective bargaining
just as a trades-union

may

maintain a
its

minimum
in

rate

of wages by associating
1

all

members
in

one comReviexv,

Mr.

and

Mrs.

Sidney

Webb,

the

Progressive

Jan., 1897, p. 345I

14

Liberals and Labour.

bined demand, so the law of the land

inferior limit for conditions of

may

lay
in

employment,

down an the name

es-

of a whole
unit
is

class of workers,

which every separate

anxious to secure, but which cannot be

all

tablished at
alike.

without being guaranteed to everyone

principle
is

Liberal

not

sacrificed

by the

adoption of enactments which add the emphasis of law

to the reasonable

demands of the weaker

citizens in

their dealings with the stronger.

in
it

State interference
;

such cases does not limit the reality of free choice

bargain where

confirms the workman's claim to be heard in the

of a

striking

he would

otherwise
this point
it

negotiate at an unjust advantage. of view law

in
is

From
:

expressive, not impressive

records,

a form that cannot be disregarded, certain of the

stipulations of a contracting party in the industrial

compact, but

it

does not at

all

attempt to import

into the bargain conditions

which limit freedom of

it

choice

in

directions in which

can be reasonably

exercised.

While retaining

his hold

on the idea of

individuality, as secure from external restraints, the

Liberal admits the interaction of character and en-

vironment, and does not hesitate to give up some

psychological
reality.

shadow of freedom
is

for

its

material

In optics, what
in

lost

in

area illuminated
;

may

be gained

intensity of illumination
in
is

and
in

in

politics,

what
free

is

lost

the theoretic field

for ex-

ercising

choice

sometimes gained
is

the

concentrated power of realising what

chosen.

The Ethical Standpoint.

115

The object of the preceding pages has been to make some examination into the ideas which should
inspire Liberals in dealing with " labour " problems,

with

those

questions which

touch

most directly
men.

the daily lives and occupations

of working

This examination has been conducted rather from an ethical than from an economic standpoint, rather
with a view to investigating the effects of industrial
regulation upon character than upon wealth.

These

twin aspects of social development cannot, of course,

ever be really isolated
;

every variation in environcounterpart in

ment has
in

its

hidden

mental

dis-

position, as surely as the passage of electric currents

a helix of wire affects the molecular constitution

the
iron

of

bar

within

it.

But

subjective

and
dis-

objective change, though they never occur save as

closely

associated
in

phenomena, may

w^ell

be

sociated

discussion,

and with

all

the

greater

advantage, because the

double point of view has

not always been justly appreciated by Collectivists.

It

may
;

be easy and attractive to devise plans for a

in

wholesale revolution

the conditions of employless

ment

it

may
;

be no

attractive to attempt a

defence of such a revolution by some paradox in

economics
to

but

it

is

a thankless
step,

and painful task

subtle

estimate,

step

by

the

changes

in

individual

character which

might

be

expected to
Signs, indeed,
Socialists

accompany
are
I

these external upheavals.

that

not wanting
2

a few

thoughtful

ii6

Liberals and Labour.

are realising the danger of devoting to the machinery

of
its

life

an enthusiastic attention which

is

denied to

spirit.

But

this

danger, though
the

dimly appreleaders

hended
indeed,

by
is
it

some

of

intellectual

of

Socialism,

not satisfactorily met by them

and,
the
is

cannot be

met
is

at

all,

so

long as

communistic hypothesis
the

maintained.
in

Meanwhile
country

mass of

Socialistic

opinion

this

absolutely ignorant of the fact that any such danger

is

inherent in their schemes, and

Mr. Keir Hardie

cheerfully proclaims a policy of universal nationalisation without being troubled with

any misgivings as

to the effects of the abolition of competition

upon

the inner

life

of the workers. of competition, let us

It
is

With the economic aspect

repeat, the present essay has nothing to do.

concerned with that side of social questions which

is

none the

less

important because

it

is

difficult
itself to

accurately to
statistical

grasp, which does not

lend

treatment, and which cannot be reduced

to a question of profit
theless,
is

and

loss

but which, neverthe roots of

into

so

subtly

intertwined with

social
its

life

that

Socialists are

misled

ignoring

significance altogether.
" ethical "

It is in their appreciation

of this

aspect

of

social

problems

and
civic

remedies that true Liberals and ordinary Socialists

stand
absolutely
is

opposed.

To

the

former,

individuality

so important a factor in well-being

is

that the interference of the State

only tolerable

Socialism and Character'.

where
it

117

promotes
legal

real

freedom of choice by subfor

stituting

restriction
;

the

harsher tyranny

of unequal circumstance
of private wills
all
is

to the latter, the free play

in a

to be

swamped
in

Utopia where
evil,

forms of competition are

themselves an
is

and a complete system of State regulation

to the position of

elevated

an absolute good.
is

Between these
;

two standpoints there

and seek
shall
find
for principles

a great gulf fixed

if

we
we
in

abandon the loose language of common enthusiasms

instead

of catch-words,
is

that

ultimately

there

nothing
Liberal

common between
This
is

the Socialistic and

idea.

an unpleasant truth which

neither

party

has thoroughly grasped

to

a truth
common

which always tends

recognition

be obscured by a
of

of

the

injustice

unrestricted

competition,

and

by

common
remedies.

belief in the efiicacy of certain legislative

The
for

Socialist,

who

mistakes identity of

treatment
difficult

identity

of

diagnosis,

may

find

it

to understand

why

a principle which
all

prowill

motes the stringent inspection of

workshops

not countenance the public ownership and

manage-

ment of

all

workshops

to

him these two proposals

are two parallel

applications of a single idea, and

he convicts the Liberal who discriminates between

them
end

of a

want of courage
principle

to carry out to a logical

the

underlying

the

Factory Acts.
the
spirit

Such a condemnation
industrial legislation, as

entirely misses
it

of
;

is

understood by Liberals

ii8

Liberals and Labour.

and amid such suspicions of unworthy compromise our it is more than ever necessary to remove from
policy
clear

the taint
that

of opportunism,
principles

and to make
also

it

our
in

not

only justify

certain

advances

industrial

reform, but

provide a

definite limit to its

direction

and scope.

Now,
tions
is

the Liberal attitude to working men's ques-

determined, as has already been said, by a

reference to two
as secured

main ideas

to the

idea of freedom

by the absence of legal restraint upon one's own private choice, and to the idea of freedom as secured by the imposition of legal restraint upon others, or rather upon the community at large, in
one's

own
lies

private interest.

In so far as a truly wise

policy

intermediate between these two extremes,

the Liberal attitude one of compromise,

we may

call

and we may admit that every case for State interference must be decided on its individual merits. But this is not to say that the Liberal must roam at
large between these

two fixed boundaries without any

not merely to pick the

materials for guidance better than the exigencies of the

moment.

His object

is

path of

least resistance

between the impassable heights

of Individualism on the one hand, and the treacherous

quagmires of Socialism on the other. At the very moment when he appears to be abandoning ideals in
a compromise between

opposing tendencies, he

is

really applying to the solution of concrete difficulties

a higher principle which gives dignity to compromise.

No
common

Compromise.

119
in the direcpolitics

and unites tendencies seemingly opposed

tion of a

end.

We may

apply to

what Aristotle says of

to the definition of
its

ethics, that,

regarded according
is

nature, virtue

a middle state,
it

but viewed in
is

its

relation to

what
to

is

best and right,

the extreme of perfection.

In other words, the two

lie

ideas which

we have found

at the base of the

Liberal view of industrial questions are

not really

opposed
deserts

they are not divergent ideals which the

practical politician

must equally renounce when he

speculation for electioneering, and uses his

Principles (with a big P) in the manufacture not of a

policy but of a peroration.

Even the

details of a

sound programme must have a

fication
;

strictly theoretic justi-

and

it

is

only by retaining a grasp on the

theory that the practice of politics can be elevated

from the meanest of trades to the noblest of public

activities.

An
will

illustration
this

suggested by contemporary politics

clear.

make

more

The

recent

history of

employers' liability will show at once the twin tendencies which are to be traced in
all

Liberal reform,

anJ the unifying principle which reconciles an apparent opposition of ideals.

essentially of

Mr. Asquith's
it

Bill

consisted
first

two points:
the

proposed, in the

place, to abolish the doctrine of

common employto

ment

and

in

second

place,

prohibit
"

all

agreements between masters and workmen to

tract out " of the provisions

con-

of the law.

Here are

I20

Liberals and Labour.

two reforms, each urgently demanded by working

men, and each
fully included
in

the scope of one

Government
In

Bill.

Yet the
fiction

first

proposal asserts a

principle which seems expressly denied

by the second.

declaring

the

of

"

common employ-

ment " to be no longer recognised by law, we are removing a pettifogging restriction which limits the
individual rights of the artisan
;

we

are asserting his

claim to such treatment at the hands of his employer

as
is
;

the due of every other citizen

who

crosses his

path

we

are

securing to the

mill-hand that com-

pensation for injury to which he would always have

been entitled

if

he had not happened to be

in receipt

of wages from the mill-owner in whose service he has

been maimed

we

are

abolishing that

parody of
be denied

equity by which the workman, injured in the actual

performance of his daily occupation,

a reform in the law

may

the damages conceded to the chance passer-by.

is

Such

an obvious application of the

principle that the relations of master

shall not

and employe
;

be controlled by exceptional legislation

it

puts the

workman

in

the position already occupied

by the

rest of the

world with regard to the employer's caused by any of his servants,

liability for accidents

and delivers him from the ill-judged interference of

the State in his dealings with the holders of capital.

But the refusal to recognise an undertaking given by a workman to forego his rights to compensation for injury, in return for some consideration, appears

Employers' Liability.
to
it

121

embody a very
looks as
if

different principle.
Bill,

At

first sight,

Mr. Asquith's

while restoring to

the artisan his rights as an ordinary free citizen by abolishing

"

common employment,"

is

depriving him
"

of his newly secured status

out."

by abolishing

contracting

The

reasons which unite Liberal opinion in

support of the seeming paradox have been already

indicated.

No

"

Tory democrat

interests, forsooth, of the

who helped (in the very workmen whose organ"

!

isations he

abused and whose wishes he ignored

Bill

to

destroy Mr. Asquith's

that

has ever attempted to deny

many thousands

of

workmen have been compelled

fear of losing their

to contract out of the

Act through

employment, and that tens of thousands have had to

surrender their

own

choice on finding that such an

understanding is an invariablecondition of engagement.

To speak
said,

of the

"

sacred right of free contract

is,

under such unequal circumstances

a
"

as Mr. Asquith

pure and

unadulterated imposture," and

neither

Mr. Balfour's ingenuity nor the House of

Lords' obstinacy can persuade working

the boon of contracting out
the
is

men

that

anything better than

of

sham which
of
the

a long series
it

Trades

Union
limit-

Congresses have declared

ation

to be.

Thus the

common-law right of contract is workman the full benefits of the common-law right of compensation for inThe two parts of Mr. Asquith's Bill involve no jury.
necessary to secure to the
contradiction
;

they

may appear

to be applications

122
of
dififGrent,

Liberals and Labour.

even of contradictory, principles, and both hes a single simple idea.
of
"
"

yet behind

Alike
in

in the abolition

common employment " and

the

the abolition of "contracting out

object
in

view

to

relieve

we have the same workman from the

and material
;

disabilities of his surroundings, legal

to expose the heartless cant which would represent

the employer as a purchaser of lives and limbs as

well as of labour, and the employe as a

" free

agent

when he

is

only free
;

to choose between submission

and starvation

in

a word, to vindicate the right of

every artisan to live as a citizen

not

to exist as a

machine

in

the enjoyment of that self-respect and

self-reliance

which can only be secured by immunity

from the restrictions alike of unequal conditions and

of inequitable law.^

Thus the fundamental

loss of principle,
it

idea at the base of all

It
is

wise industrial legislation becomes clear.

is

not

not love of paradox, that has

induced the wiser school of individualist Liberals

'

The

present state of the law was explained with characteristic

clearness by Mr.
third person

Asquith at Dewsbury, on January

is

8,

1897

: "

If

who

not in

my employ
;

is

injured by the negligent act of

any servant of mine, I am held responsible to the uttermost farthing of but if the injured person happens to be a the damages he may sustain working man in my employment, althougli I might be supposed to be he under some obligation to take special care of his safety cannot recover a single halfpenny." Mr. and Mrs. Webb have pointed out that ihs case upon which this view of the law is based (Priestley v. Fowler, 1837) is now considered by some eminent authorities to have

...

been wrongly decided.

Free Choice secured by Law.

123

to put forward proposals for extensive State inter-

ference with

some

of

tlie

conditions of labour.

The
be

true Liberal has never denied that under our

modern
will

system of industry the wage-earning unit

the

unequally matched in his struggle with the huge

forces
itself

of capitalism,

until

community throws
But
to
;

on the side of the weaker combatant.

this
is

admit
it

not to denounce industrial competition

insist that

is

only to

the conditions of such com-

petition,

wherever prejudiced by serious inequalities

or
influence, shall first

of wealth

be equalised by

Parliamentary action.
Liability Acts

Factory Acts and Employers'

they only exState
really

do not indicate any surrender of the

of individual liberty
that
;

old principles

press

the truth

when
it
it

immunity from
often
is

control

does not

(and

does

not)

secure unrestricted choice,

to be exercised

better for restraint

at large in

by the community
interest.
is,

the
in

public
its

interest,

than by the predominant class

Legislative
as
it

own

private

interference

with industrial conditions

were, a homoeo-

pathic remedy, applied with the ultimate object of

correcting the baneful influence of external coercion

which

it

seems

itself to

embody.

On

the possibility of
is

free choice the

workman's
is

self-respect

based.

True,

but that free choice

not to be secured by isolation

amid
into

hostile surroundings in

an anarchic community

to be worth having, free choice must be translated

power

to effect our choice;

and

in industrial

no

less

124

Liberals and Labour.

life,

than moral
free.
It is

by means of the law we

shall

become
draw
in

no part of the design of

this essay to

out

a detailed

programme
are

of industrial

reform

accordance with the ideas on which emphasis has

been
logic

laid.

We

here concerned only with the

:

of Labour
in

legislation

we

are

advocating a

method

politics

which

in

these

latter

days has

been neither effectively preached nor earnestly practised.

still

Our main

object has been to insist that

it

is

possible to deduce a wise industrial policy, suited

;

to present and future needs, from general principles

what
firmly

is

essential

is

that these principles should be

grasped and consistently applied.

principles
in

Of

the

nature of these
said
:

much has

already been

they are not

themselves new, but they are

capable of wide and novel application to present-day

conditions.

true Liberal

still

holds "that Parlia-

ment ought not to legislate on matters on which the

people are, or reasonably ought to be, able to protect
themselves.
It

ought not to enact what people

in respect to self-regarding

shall

do or

shall not

do

matters

on which the people can

the duty of Parliament
possible,

fairly decide for themselves.

In respect to social reforms

is

and domestic concerns,

as
little

to interfere

as

and

only for the purpose of protecting

preventing acts which

health,

life,

or property, and

are in the nature of crimes.

Parliament should do
of self-reliance which

nothing to lessen that

spirit

The Liberal Future.

makes
society

125
it

progressive
:

wherever
is

prevails."

These are wise words

application
is
it

the pity

that their proper

is

so often misconceived.

What wonder
denounce
principles
its

that embittered and ignorant artisans

the older Liberalism,

falsely

when they hear

in

invoked by harsh employers

defence of a

selfish disregard of

the duties of capital and of the

hardships of labour

And

yet, rightly interpreted

still

and

honestly applied, these same principles are

to inspire
"

potent

and to

justify a great industrial charter.

What, then," the

is

Socialist

may be supposed

to

inquire, "

the prospect which these principles hold

? "

out to the labouring classes

No

complete answer

can be attempted here

positively

it

will
in

be enough to indicate,

and negatively,

merest outline, the path

which the heirs of the Liberal tradition should pursue.

Recognising the danger of serious inequalities
in the

distribution of wealth, they will boldly discriminate

between the taxable abundance

the irreducible

of the
;

rich

and

minimum

of the poor
thrift

but they will

not check the stimulus to

legitimate success which
its

by penalising the

exercise has achieved.

Holding that environment and character are closely

intertwined, they will invoke the aid of law to secure

better conditions

for

industry

but they will not

imagine that factory inspection can make the un-

employable
industrious.
^

efficient,

or shorter hours
inability

make
of
p. 31.

the idle

Admitting the

a wage-

Charles Bradlaugh's " Labour and

Law,"

126

Liberals and Labour.

earner to maintain unassisted his just claims in his

dealings with a wealthy paymaster, they will bring the
influence of the

community

to the aid of the

weaker

party

but they will not purchase complete indeat the price

pendence from the control of individuals

Believing that
control of their

of complete dependence on the dictation of the State.

all

free

men
no

should be equal
less

in

the

own

lives

than

in the

eye of

the law, they will promote opportunities for individual

choice by statutory restrictions upon the forces that

oppose

it

but they will refuse to regard as their

ideal a society
all will

where

all will

be equally free because

his turn, "

be equally enslaved.

" But," the

Tory may

object, in

why

claim a policy of steady and continuous industrial

reform as the exclusive possession of the Liberal

party
?
?

Has

not

Mr.

Chamberlain a

social

pro-

gramme

Is not Mr. Balfour a champion of Tory

? Are not you arrogating to yourself a sympathy with the worker and a desire to improve his lot which every honest man, be he Liberal or be

democracy

he Conservative, has equally at heart

criticism
it is

"

To

such a

difficult to

reply without the appearance

Let us make a member of the present of arrogance. Tory Cabinet the scapegoat. " Can we forget," said the present Duke of Devonshire in 1885, "what is
the composition of the Conservative party
.''

Is

it

reasonable to suppose that the Conservative squires,

by whose support the Tory party

so largely exists.

Shortcomings of Toryism.
really desire

127
in

any

radical

and complete alteration

the

Land Laws?
is
it

Do

they really desire legislation

which which

aimed

at the

breaking-up of those estates

their families

has hitherto been their pride to possess and

if

to transmit from father to son, even

have become

too impoverished to

do

justice to

them

Are we

really to believe that the landlord

and the

clergyman anxiously and sincerely desire to divest themselves of the power which they now exercise over the affairs of the country and the parish, and
to

hand
?

it

over to the selected representatives of the

interest,

people
to

Are we to believe that the publican

which the Conservative party has hitherto owed so much, is really anxious that the power of granting

licences

ferred

and of dealing with licences should be transfrom benches of magistrates to locally elected boards ? I must admit that I find it somewhat hard
to believe these things,

and

believe that whatever

may be the promises which Conservative statesmen may make with the object of gaining power, whatever may be their sincere conviction as to what ought to
be done on these subjects, they
material of which their party
will find great

and
the

insuperable difficulties, considering the

is

men and
in

composed,
^

applying
diffi-

any adequate and complete solution to those culties which they themselves see,"

Lord Hartington has changed more than

"

his
:

title.

Can we
1

forget

"

he asked a dozen years ago

at Rawtenstall,

and

Lord Hartington

October

lo, 1885.

128
the

Liberals and Labour.

Duke
it

of

Devonshire
is

has

ah'eady

forgotten.

Unionism,
virtues, for

would seem,

the greatest of political

sins.

it

covereth a multitude of

analysis of the essential shortcomings of

But this Toryism has

Inherent in
its

survived the recantation of

its

author.
lie

the very constitution of the party

the seeds of

weakness.

What

is

true of

its

attitude towards the

land, towards the Church,

and towards the publicattitude towards industrial

house,

is

doubly true of
" Is
it

its

questions.

" reasonable to suppose

adopt the Duke of Devonshire's young bloods who attacked the Board of Trade
desiring to arbitrate in the

we may phrase that the

for

Penrhyn

quarries' dispute,

can

fairly
?

estimate the justice of the claims of working

men
bury

"

Are we

really to believe " that

fair

Lord

Salis-

is

willing

and able to meet the

demands of

when he denounces trades unions as "cruel " Are we to believe " that workmen organisations " ?
labour,
will obtain better security for life

and limb from a

desires

party which puts the wishes of the North-Western

Railway directors before

the
?

repeated

of

workers throughout the country

It is

needless to multiply illustrations.

party

which is identified with limited material interests, which adopts the standards of one prosperous class as
its

own, which represents the established order as the

necessarily prevented from grasping

ideal order,

normal,

is

and confuses the conventional with the and

developing an ideal policy for the industrial classes.

The Liberal Opportunity.

It

129

remains for Liberals,

who have no

special clients

to serve
late

and no special privileges to

protect, to formu-

and carry out wise

social reforms,

which

shall

be

as far

removed from the spasmodic concessions of

one hand, as from the stereotyped

Tories on the

officialdom of Socialists on the other.

J.

ALLSEBROOK

SIxMON.

131

LIBERALISM IN
I.

OUTWARD RELATIONS.
Applied to General
:

Prevailing habit of Englisli Character

Politics And
;

more
(2) of

definitely to

Foreign Tradition

(i) of abstaining

from Criticism

Mechanical Continuity The Remedy To evoke Public ?"eeling ? Armenian Agitation no true example Crete compared Fear of such Control a Tory motive The Midlothian Campaign gives the Answer. II. National Morality Two Postulates Honour a motive

of the State
false

The Jingo

considered

(A
in.

expression of sound motives

reservation) Analysed as a the State Illustration from the

Individual

Late
it

general reaction

in

this

matter as elsewhere.

III.

Why
of
tions

we unpopular in Europe ? Egypt Foreign Suspicion England someway justified Italy Pan- Anglican Empire The
are

Empire as

is Federation a welcome codifying of confused relais

What the Principle guide Liberals these Questions Nationalism Applied Colonies To Ireland Further extended to Transvaal A caution against misconstruction IMilitarism of Essay defended and specified Legitimate spheres of War and Arbitration England and U.S.A. Democratic Control makes for genuine Continuity France. IV. Party Foreign Affairs Has any place?
to
in ?

to

this

in

it

Should
tion ?

Liberal Foreign Policy differ in direction as well as execu-

modified

Yes

How
an
till

to

elicit

Party direction
antipathies
national

again Party sympathies

themselves

initiative

Party
by

France

determining

reinforced

Germany

Italy Dynastic
:

influences

dismissed.

not by grudge V. General Re-

suming Summary
Shibboleths

Faults not coterminous with Liberalism

thinking and popular explanation

evoked
err

Democracy

And

Clear

Political
to be

Feeling

directed

Jingoism

realised in

and the other extreme How we Foreign Affairs Its Aims suggested

Conclusion.

CERTAIN
of national

English characteristics

may

be traced

in operation
life
;

throughout every corner and recess

conspicuous in
politics,

they are
in

nowhere

more
is

signally

exhibited

than

the
these

department of Foreign
characteristics
J

Affairs.

Chief

among

that

modified

materialism

which

132

Liberalism in
itself in the

Outward Relations.

expresses

English idolatry of the average

or the middle course.

We

live,

admire, think, and

the average every

govern by rule of thumb.

To
altar

Englishman
hold gods
of
;

sets

up the chief

among

his housesacrifice

to this he offers

up an unfailing
at
in

compromises compromises
life,

every side and

religion, but,

relation of

in

art,

in thought,

above

all,

in politics.

Instances need not be multi-

plied to prove the truth of a charge

which most of us

accept with satisfaction as a compliment, pointing

with suitable pride to a long calendar of material

successes as a decisive testimony to justify our habit.
In general politics the results of this rule are sufficiently

evident
:

in

many

of

our

most

cherished

institutions

no more palmary examples

perhaps

could be singled out for mention than the absence

of a defined Constitution, and the system of Party

Government.
Napoleon's dictum of the " nation of shopkeepers
"

might stand for the text of a sermon on the subject, and the homily might be pointed and embellished with abundant quotations gathered from any leadingarticle in the Times on any subject, at any date,

by any hand.
things

It is

perhaps the greatest of national

to

temptations, this
:

truckling

the

various

bias

in

not the

mind

to

master events and drive

straight

through material impediments, but rather

to accept every kick

from conflicting circumstances,

which perverts you from your destined line as a hint

English Materialism.

133

from actual nature to indicate the true course. And the true course so far as material success can pro-

claim

it,

or

the

consideration

of

past

experience

present that criterion

has

lain unquestionably in

that tortuous and fortuitous direction.

To

treat of

the value

and

force of the reservation in this last

fields

sentence would betray us into alien

sophical disquisition.

of philofact that

Let us collect the

the

English are

profoundly, essentially illogical

if

people which rejects with impatience,

not with
ideal,

contempt, any absolute

truth

or

idea,

any

except in the sense in which the word has been incorporated into the mechanical and unmeaning
claptrap of the stump orator from Cabinet Ministers

downward

any
"

logic,

except that beggarly assertion

relieves the hard-

of " consistency

which sometimes

driven arguvientiiin
in

ad crumenam

of

its

supremacy

political

reasoning.
its

This fact collected, we can

proceed to
this essay.

application to our special purpose in

it

In practice

appears mainly in certain

shapes, which

may

be generally formulated as Con-

servatism

where

Conservatism
is

is

madness,

and
great

Radicalism where Radicalism

sacrilege.

In comthe

mon

politics,
it

matters where

"

Time

is

reformer"

is

almost impossible to rouse a sluggish

native Toryism to

work against that

reckless revolu-

tionary

spontaneous

degeneration

escapes

the

general curse pronounced against change.

But

in things domestic, of the family,

matters of

134

Liberalism in
Tory hands
certain

Outward
are

Relations.

sentiment,

always readiest at the

levers for subverting a consecrated order of things.

Let

only
the

forms

and

husks be observed,
Conservative
the
spirit
it

and

modern
or

revolutionary

will

stolidly

cynically

deny
morc.^

that

and

kernel
to

are there no

Or, to bring
still,

down
as

more
in

definite

point

our

habit
is

nation

national
;

outward

relations
in

apathetic

unconsciousness
is

our golden rule

Foreign Policy

tradition.
is

First,

the whole question of Foreign

Affairs

traditionally
.setting
;

viewed,

accepted

in

a the

traditional

secondly,

the

form

of

answer

is

bound and determined by

first,

tradition.
this

To
is

take the

let

it

not be supposed that

at
;

mere discontented
tinuity
in

railing

the principle of conthat,

Foreign

Policy

a
is

matter to be
not here conis

presently considered

more

fully,

demned
all
:

in anticipation.

The complaint

this

above
a

that the tradition inculcates a general abstinence

from foreign questions.

my.stcrious

These are enveloped

inspection

in

halo to exclude the

of the

public eye.

They

are represented as things

beyond
for

the

common grasp too

slippery

and elusive

anything but the dry tentacles of the professional We acquiesce. If ever our leaders and diplomatist.
^ Between the writing and the printing of this sentence a perfect example has opportunely pointed the assertion with actuality. A Bill conferring sufTrage on women p.issed its second reading by a majority

of 71
150.

in a

House

of

Commons

containing a Conservative majority of

Parliament, Liberal by 40, rejected the thing in 1S93.

Traditional Apathy.

13S

governors deign to speak of Foreign Affairs (Lord

Rosebery, and others after his example, have lately

signalised an exception),

we

are treated probably to

some shadowy analogy for or against Irish Home Rule, drawn from Austrian examples imperfectly apprehended and appreciated, and still more imperfectly interpreted to an audience bewildered but

delighted.

Or

the orator, according to his political

is

colour, declaims that " Russia

our enemy,"
;

or, "

We
are

need have no fear of Russia

blotted out from the

"

"

Turkey must be
or,

map

of Europe,"

"

We

prepared to justify and

maintain the
is

integrity

of

Turkey"; and each dogma

swallowed, and either

speaker applauded to the unintelligent echo. But that an English audience should ever have explained
to

by one of the hierophants of this mysterious and esoteric caste, the Why and the Wherefore, any
it

inkling

of

causes,

conditions,

principles,

policies,

even facts and

to

figures,

that

it

might be enabled

form

its

own judgment, and with understanding

judgment of others
Express
this

to approve or reject the

that

is

more than

is

ever vouchsafed to us by the wiseacres

of the occult science.

opinion to the

farmer, the artisan, to the average

in

English elector

whatever class he

falls,

and

his

answer

will

in-

fallibly be,

"We
is

get on pretty well

"the unction
manureturn,

usually laid to the easily flattered soul of Hand-to-

mouth.
factures

Bread
go out

distributed in the country,

freely,

and

raw materials

136

Liberalism in Outward Relations.

money moves

what can

be wrong

Now

and then

poHticians tickle our ears with a luxurious suggestion of fear and danger from invasion
;

and we run and

Politically

vote a few more millions for ships.

we

cannot believe

it

possible

we may

die to-morrow,

because
essay
is

we

eat
to

and drink to-day.

convey the
likely

Not

that this

meant
;

least hint of

an alarmist

pessimism

most

we

are
if

nowhere near the

v/ere,

verge of a catastrophe

only

we
it,

ninety-nine

Englishmen out of a hundred would

nothing of
of
it.

have heard
nothing

it,

know nothing

of

believe

Our political do pretty well as we are." obscurantists play upon the weakness expressed in
"

We

that

smug
in

refusal to reason,

and they have powerful

reads no newspaper
is

allies

the great difikulties of instruction either of

oneself or others.
lives in the

The man who

;

dark

if

he reads one only, he

at the

mercy of a
you

biased, inadequate, inaccurate distortion

or selection of data.

Read many newspapers, and

gaining (over and
their insufifiency) only a criti-

will obtain the satisfaction of

above the knowledge of

cally extracted

modicum
ever

of trustworthy information.

No

specialist

respected

newspaper's
is

opinion in his

own

subject.

Their

influence

the

proof and the measure of our ignorance.

Few
this

can

travel,

fewer

still

can travel to acquire

in

kind of knowledge.

But certainly few weeks

a foreign country suffice to

show the

traveller

the

False Continuity.
omissions to instruct and propensity to mislead

137
of

English foreign correspondents. When every Englishman spins his own red tape, less many and less
various
tied

embarrassments were necessary to keep us

in a passive

and bound

ignorance coloured with

the

name

of respect for tradition.

to consider the

Now
tional

second, passing from

the

limitation of opportunities for

limitations

judgment
our

to the tradi-

which

enclose

view

when
of

formed.

For many years past our foreign policy

has carried the stamp of the fortuitous

a tangle

chances through which no main

line of action

has

been traced.
tion,

Chances land us
stick there
till

in a particular situa-

and we
again.

other chances wash us

;

down

We

never move, only counter-move

never seem to see ahead, to play the

prehensive system.

game on

a com-

Continuity becomes a dead nega-

tion of principle, the consecration of opportunism.

Certain powers,

certain

attitudes, combinations,

designs of powers were a danger a generation ago.

Certain friendships, certain acquisitions, certain positions

were then valuable.

We

continue to dread the

dangers of the past, to prize the advantages of another

epoch.

The

effects

mesmerically follow the ghosts or

shadows of causes actually vanished.

quarrel with France
;

W^e had an old

therefore, the

French rapproche-

ment
of

is

contrary to nature and impossible.

enthusiasts
in

clique

one-idea'd

certain

provinces

of
all

thought

and learning, taught us that we were

138

Liberalism in
together,

Outward
blood,

Relations.

Germans
character,

by

by

language,

by

and deluded us into glorying in our partial and remote connection with, perhaps, the most uncivilised of the nations in Western Europe therefore
;

through

all

temporary

strains

{ainantiiim

irce)

we

must hold fast by the great "natural tie" with Ger-

many, content
witted, because
cousins.

to
it

see ourselves thwarted

is

and out-

Disraeli,

by the jealousy and dislike of possessed by an Orientalism which

has generally agreed to
call vul-

Western
garity,

civilisation

hated Russia, and shrank from the prospect

of Constantinople as an outpost of the

East, a seat

West

in

the

of Christian empire

therefore, while

other terrors wax and wane, the bugbear of danger from Russia dominant on the Golden Horn (and vulnerable from the Mediterranean) remains too

obtuse

for

any

light

of scepticism

to

penetrate.

Learn nothing, forget nothing: that is continuity. If that is the complaint, where must the remedy be sought ? Whence must we seek to add the note
of the masterly, the imperial, the greatly conceived,
to

our pottering

feebleness.?

A
bred

great
at

statesman
intervals

could

do

it:

but

they are

of

centuries.
it

Statesmen of the second order could do

power,
if

if

given a motive
forces.

charged with com-

municated
trustee of

In fact, the spirit of the timorous

political

infancy must give place to the

plenipotentiary
representative
of

confidence of the
rational
citizens.

Responsibility once defined, loses

Public Feeling.
half
its

i39

anxious burden.
;

Create a public feeling in

at large

foreign affairs

let

Englishmen

have a voice

in

deciding whether they will label themselves "splendidly isolated," or deliberately take a part in Europe.
Is this

possible?

The

late

Armenian

agitation

in

England was no example,

essentially

as being (where genuine)

unpolitical much like the attempts of

a

the very uneducated audience of

melodrama
scarcely
to

to

lynch

the

villain

an

enthusiasm
If

be

classed with dramatic

political,

criticisms.

an

issue, plainly

by some

were to be presented to the English people fresh turn in the struggle against Turkish

misrule, the case

would be

different.

proposal to

incorporate Crete or Macedonia with Greece would

furnish a fair example.^

The Conservative party has

a
public opinion

foreseen
cast

the

possibility of

being
;

and trained to bear on external questions

cause
place-hunting) has been

and

probably no other
appetite of
for

(excepting the adaptive

more

efficient

the incorporation of clipped Liberalism

that

in

the

by fully disTory programme, than the hope tracting the people with local government and
parochial

concerns they will be able

still

to prey

securely on the direction of foreign policy, that choice

last preserve

for administration practised as a sport.

The

allusion to the late

Armenian

agitation intro-

1 Where events succeed each other with rapid change from day to day, no correction could bring this sentence up to date. ActuaHty of detail, greater or less, does not affect its function in the argument.

February, 1897.

r
140

Liberalism in Outward Relations.

:

duces the question

Why

has a great uprising of

if

popular feehng been possible,

at
least

not on this occasion,

analogies?

on an occasion presenting certain obvious Why were Mr. Gladstone's Midlothian

in

speeches

1879 punctuated
after night,

thousands night

by the applause of and echoed by the enon each

from the

thusiastic approbation of millions of readers

morrow
"

The answer may be drawn

historical

dictum of a great

and constitutional lawyer:

Paring down

In matters of the head the people are always wrong*

in

matters of the heart always right."

the picturesque overstatement,

left.

you have a great truth

alone

And
heart:

not only are the people right in matters of

in

the

those matters

they form

an

opinion, right or wrong.

But every great question

of foreign policy, rightly represented, can be

to appeal to the heart,

made

and not merely treated as a

It is

subject for the intellect.

a Liberal's duty to see

is

that this face of great issues

torate.

turned to the elec-

There

is

manner

in

which dry alternatives

of alliance or isolation, of closer or colder diplomatic

relations with this or that Power, can be

made

to

wear

an aspect of tangible humanity.

Englishmen can be
of

taught to see that they are not dealing with an

unrealisable

impersonal
officials,

parcel

diplomats

and

chancellery
of
^

but with a nation, a vast

body

men
It is

of like passions with themselves.^

worth while just naming
in a note

when England has been thrilled throughout

to a lively sense of

some few other occasions sympathy

Expert Obscurantism.
Then
tration.

141

representative government will have pene-

trated the last fortified corner of privileged adminisIt

has not been sufficiently recognised that

the supercilious peevishness of the expert

precates criticism
is

who

de-

perhaps the most powerful of the

in

defences of

privilege

administration.

Nobody

grudges the experts their monopoly of technicalities,

but they must not be allowed to fence the whole subject off from consideration by putting these forward
to disarm critics.

The importance

of technicalities

can be restricted and defined, and the matter presented

as a system of large plain questions, to be dressed,

and adapted, and applied afterwards as the experts But to the people these questions must go choose.
in

principle,

presented in the form best calculated

to elicit the popular judgment.

To

get at the general

feelings

mind you must touch the general

play through the heart on the head.

in fact,

The argument has

large
It

led to another question, far too

and

intricate to

be here included and treated.

in

has been assumed

;

the last paragraph that a

in that

State has feelings

and we are landed

vexed
it

region of dispute, the morality of nations.

Here
law

must
tion

suffice to

dogmatise summarily:
existence of

(i)

the posi-

that
is

the

international
is

and
inter-

comity
in

proof that there

some kind of

foreign

matters

the

year
its

1848;
stages

the American Civil

War;

the

unification of Italy in all

itself in

leaving

the moral to appear of

support of the general argument.

142

Liberalism in
morality
;

Outward
(2) the

Relations.
reservation that in
in

national

and

pursuing the analogy between morality

dividual and in the State,

the inall

we must

stop short of

moral feelings which are not essentially personal.

That

is,

all

such morality as in the individual

or
actively motived
is

is

consciously sanctioned

by
to

his

membership of a community,
State
;

inapplicable
in

because a State can be merged

Federation of Mankind
proportion,

no larger
a term

unit except the unsubstantial, visionary society of a

Cosmopolis, a

"

"

is

wanting
possible.

to the

making

calculation im-

But the springs of personal morality are

the

present in
citizens
is

State equally.

The whole body

and shares
in

of

capable at least of the passions of friend-

ship, hatred,

sympathy, jealousy

the

sensations of pride and humility, collective strength

and common weakness.

be

All which might almost

that
Jionour

summed by
;

saying
is

among

States

exists.

Citizenship

not the justification of honour

in the individual

nor can the non-existence of worldit

citizenship exclude

from the State.

phrase has here directly confronted us with

an objection, apparently powerful, towards which the

argument had verged

honour
in

before.

good Liberal may

is

be scared by the free assertion of the existence of

the

State
in

into
this

protesting " This

place

flat

Jingoism."

And

we may most
it

ap-

propriately consider the causes, the nature, and the

remedies of that disease.

For a disease

is

most

Jingoism.
surely
:

143

a perversion of certain natural tendencies, a

;

misrepresentation of certain motive feelings

in its

essence a kind of vicarious

resources not your own.

boasting, conceit

upon
and

Jingo speaks with the

" irresistible

same personal pride of our

"

fleet "

overflowing Treasury

"

that a vulgarian in a

minor

field

might display
in

in telling

what a big balance he

gilt,

has

the bank, or

how
iron

high, richly
railings

and imnewly
the

penetrable are the

round
is

his

purchased park.

But the vulgarity two

not equally

condemned
matter

as offensive in the

cases.

And

may

be explored a stage deeper by asking

the question.

Why

the

fat,

unwarlike

little

man who,
in-

from the security of a home which he has no

imaginary millions, sweeps the seas with paper
paints

tention of quitting for perils and adventures, expends

fleets,

whole continents and

atlas,
is
.''

territories

red

in

his

mind's

beards
treated

all

the Powers of Europe single-

handed,
braggart

as

anything else but

hear a

comic

Why, when we

man

asserting

the destined right of the Anglo-Saxon race to possess

the world, and proclaiming the infallible superiority

of

an

Englishman

over

two

Frenchmen,

three

Prussians, five Spaniards,

and so on ad

libitnvi,

do

we

not with one consent write him

down an

ass, if

possible convey to his notice

what we have
:

written,

To

refer to the locus classicus of the

want

to fight,

but by Jingo

^we

do,"

etc.

" We doii't nickname Jingo The words italicised, rightly

viewed, have considerable humour.

144

L/BF.RAus.\f /N
it ?

Outward
(It
is

Relations.

and have done with

only right to preface

that the creature sits on both sides of the House,

discredits both parties in so
far as

he

is

identified
it

with them.
the

For the

purposes here

treated,

is

same whether a Jingo proclaims the belief that a for spiritual is an armed mission organised purposes, or a joint-stock company for the acquisination
tion

by

all

means of the

greatest possible
itself

area of

landed property while imposing

as a divinely
in-

appointed oligarchy administering a world of

feriors).

The answer
selves

is

because he

is

a ludicrous repre-

sentative of instincts, sentiments, aspirations in themessentially

sound, natural

and wholesome

ludicrous, but

the only representative

grotesque

That fact alone lends him any strength or importance, and it may at him effectual strength and certain seasons lend importance. As you might say, we have determining no safety valve but this steam-whistle. What, then,
caricature where

we have no

portrait.

are these elements of national character which find

mutilated

and distorted expression through the

sick or decaying in

Jingo?

nation

is

which the pride

and satisfaction in its own strength and resources are dormant or extinct. Patriotism divorced from the academic military instincts becomes a nominal,

shadow

though these

may

express themselves sane

or corrupted, in chivalry or in brutality.

The

feeling

Misrepresented Patriotism.
which,
if

145

not continually effective, at least

stirs in

the

heart of an Englishman

who beholds a great English fleet or a body of English troops who reads of some courageous behaviour of an Englishman who meets a British blue-jacket in a strange port, or hears " God
; ;

Save the Queen

a
natural,

"

played

in

a foreign country
feeling.

that

is

honest and creditable

past
it

And

for

some time
till

has been sneered at and suppressed,

left it

no outlet was
It

but the

pitiful frothings of the

Jingo.

was a familiar butt

life

for the

type of

man

whose
novel
:

ideals in

are a

good dinner and a bad

Jingo, a legitimate butt
re-

as expressed

by the

though such criticisms justly did as much to

habilitate

the true spirit they attacked under a false

falsity

and shoddy form, as the

and shoddiness had

done

to discredit

it.

Similarly the
physical

sense of
is

pride and exultation in

strength

a sane and

healthy attribute

in the individual, but for more than a generation in England it has been misdirected into a coarse and
trivial athleticism.

An

outlet

was necessary
to
it

and the

natural outlet was

not opened

temperate,

organised, rational military feeling in the individual.

Thus, as the ideal of sport has been trodden and

obliterated under the heel of the professional, so the

more

real

forms of patriotism

the elevating sense of

have
been destroyed

collective prestige

and honour

by the Jingoes who stole and abused the representation of them. Meanwhile the causing mischief has

146

Liberalism in Outward Relations.

abated.

Of

late

we have seen

a great reaction against

the prevalence of the horsewhipped frame of

as

mind

substitute for sensitive

patriotism.

Here, as

elsewhere, signs are not wanting nor obscure to prove

that

we

are

upon the threshold of a new epoch

will

an
be a

epoch of which perhaps the prevailing note

return
to natural

sanity from a
in

number

of morbid

perversions
life.

and exaggerations

every direction of

And

these are just the times

importance to declare that the

is

when it is of crucial true work of Liberalism

reel

not to cry

"

Progress,"

and

blindly without

fixed aim or direction, caring only to move, but the

progressive (one might

or successive)
ideals
their

more

safely write continuous

adaptation to permanent established

presented elsewhere in
real this

ideals

book

in

most tangible and must not be

shape as the normal.^

We
is

afraid to be told that our Liberalism

if

turned reactionary,
its

by principle
;

it

has steadied

from

opportunist shiftings

we may

pull with our

faces set astern, but the boat goes ahead.

We
ments
:

have

been witnesses of
in

a potent, almost

universal change of opinion

potent, for
;

the matter of arma-

it

has given

us an

enormously
to

increased fleet protested

almost universal, for no party has

a

against

movement which

all

felt

originate deeper than

party oppositions and differ-

' II is perhaps hardly necessary even to hint a caution against confusing the normal (the ideal, as simply expressed by sane instinct) and the average, as considered earlier in this essay.

English Unpopularity.
ences dare to penetrate.

47

This change
its

in the

public
is
;

mind, this new

present

spirit

with

manifested powers,

at

common

property, unenclosed

ground

the

duty of the Liberal party, as

party,
for its

the

desire of every

must be

to capture
;

it,

appropriate this material

guide,

own impress

adopt,

and

direct this

impetus on the

lines
it

of
;

its

own

principles.

The
instinct
is

Jingo must not seize

scious

and the more

precise, con-

and

articulate

this

vague groping

towards a reformation becomes, the less the Jingo

to be feared.

Because he
without,
it is

is

the weakest point

we

offer to critics

an easy transition

from the analysis of

"

the Jingo to a consideration of the foreigner's view of

England.

The important
1

question,

Why

are

we

unpopular

in Europe " is Recent events abroad, with the stirring of some recent ideas on foreign policy at home, have caused it to be asked often enough, but always to be answered

worth asking yet again.

with a
so

smug impenitent satisfaction. Hypocrisy is much the besetting sin of the race, that it is all
for

but against nature

an Englishman
justly
It

in

any public

position quite to divest himself of the Pharisee.

pretext,

The
the

pharisaically
sets

alleged,

increases

odium

it

up

to account for.

was not pleasant

us proclaiming

reading for foreigners

ourselves
merits.

when they saw

our

unpopular from

very

strength

and

Nor was
2

it

true

or, if true,

a comparatively
far

small part of the truth.

Other factors are

more

148

Liberalism in

Outward Relations.
Power
;

in cause.

We

are a selfish

but

all

Powers are
at his

that.
clients'

What

statesman dares to be
practise

altruistic

expense? But we under the most elaborate forms of deception, with a

our selfishness

hypocrisy so intimately radical

fibre,

in

our very national

that

Why

are

we we
to

deceive no one so
still

in

Egypt ?
the
fortify
is

much as ourselves. The truth is, because

our position
in

we wish
prestige

control

Suez Canal, increase our

the

in

the

world,

Mediterranean.
nine Englishmen
"

But that

not the answer ninety:

out of a hundred will give you

civilisation to

Because we have a great work for

do

in Egypt; because we have introduced

justice, sol-

vency, prosperity, stability to a country where these

luxuries

West had been unknown." Your apologist's heart warms as he recounts it, and it becomes more than ever impossible for him to analyse his motives to the bottom. The natural
of the
passion in every Englishman cries out so strongly for

order and administration, that he really believes in

his divine right to

step

in

wherever there

is

mis-

management
siderations

or confusion, and establish his ideal

good, going business concern.

against
that
is

To

set

any other con-

doctrinaire pedantry to

him.

If Continental

Powers suggest that observance

loss,

of pledges comes before even the right of seizing to

run at a profit what others could only run at a

that
for

must be

their ridiculous- jealousy of our talents

government.

Motives of Policy.
Interest
is

149

the

motive of national policy

it,

every

nation

acknowledges

some with

sincerity,

some

under pretences.
against us
is

But the grievance of the world

partly also

not only the uncandid allegation of

;

other springs of action

it is

the meanness

of our conception of our interest.

Here, as elsewhere,

we have mistaken economics

idealist

for

morals

the

more

our judges, the greater the crime appears.

is

Our
that

heart

so habitually in our breeches' pocket,

when by some

curious

anomaly of character a
takes us, foreigners

genuinely unselfish enthusiasm

not unnaturally suspect that more sinister considerations

are

in

the

background.

The

commercial
lady

traveller

turned knight-errant can hardly complain

fair

of suspicions that he means to hit the

distress for a commission.
is

in

Our conception of

interest

mean, because

it

does not include goodwill and

to be sought for in the
first

prestige
place.

among advantages

Yet consider the striking example of Italy the one people in Europe which has a real affection
for us, affection expressing itself in every

imaginable

form, from literary sympathies (of long standing these)

to

the good

word spoken

in

our favour by every

Italian,

affection

other

Where does the come from Two men, more than any cause, we have to thank for the kindly feelings
from prince to cabman.
.''

of our Mediterranean
stone

ally

Palmerston and Gladoutburst of popular

a
foreign

two

men and
rare

warm
in

enthusiasm

enough

question.

150

Liberalism in
" interests "

Outward
we
to
is

Relations,
undoubtedly
;

Common
sure
to
in

have,

but

" interests "

are

weak
Italy

friendship.

produce such strong and the one European power

service, giving help

whom we
exchange

have done unselfish

for neither

money nor
own
we
of

provinces.

Ser-

vices

actuated

by

disinterested
in

enthusiasm
coin
;

have
alone

repaid

themselves

their

there

there would
feeling in

be a responsive

outburst of

popular
a

our favour were

to be involved in

danger, or threatened by a
alliance

calamity.
a

That

is

an

not

in

the

sense

business

contract

between Governments, but a union between peoples.

Personal feeling
factor

that

in masses the same is operative makes the Dual Alliance incalculably

:

stronger than the Triple

short

at

least, for all

purposes
is

of the

actual

battlefield.

That, surely,

consideration

which

may be urged
business

without
matters

the

reproach
sentiment.

of

desecrating

with

Indeed,

we do

profess at times and in certain refer-

ences, motives larger

rate in
scale,

and more honourable,

at

any

than our business interests.

Certain

enthusiasts talk of the triumph of the

race,
.shall

Anglo-Saxon

and look forward to a day when the whole world

speak English.
is

prophets

mind of these almost too humiliating to conceive and

state of
;

The

the theory
tions

is if

based on numerical

futilities

calcula-

which

made

three centuries ago in regard to

our own day, would certainly have given a result

Empire.

ludicrously discrepant from the present actual event

test

too

rarely
is

applied
foolish
;

to
to

them, unhappily.^ be worth considerof this

But nothing
view

too

ing in an adversary

and

in

consideration

we may
Principle.

fitly

introduce

few words upon

two important
tional

topics

the
if

Before

Empire and the Nawe speak of the English

it

race possessing the earth

is

well to reflect

what
such
if

we mean by our terms

the small

one

may employ
the

an unprophetic method.
English

People talk wildly, as

in

element

hybrid hordes

which occupy the vast

territories of the

United States
the empire of

of America entitled us to rank them as within the

field

of dominion of the English race

is

a race

a very

different

thing,

master-people

powerfully,

by government and
itself

civilisation, training

kindred successors to
lish

like

Rome.
every

The Eng;

genius
the

is

rather

colonising than

imperial

in

Canada
difference

English

become
remain

year

more
a
Briton,
fruit-

American,

the

French
a

French.

What

between

Romanised Gaul, or
!

and an Anglicised Hindu

ful

To

be permanently

empire demands two conditions

^

great superiority

What,

for

example, would a calculating prophet in Elizabeth's

time have foretold as the state of Europe, even in population alone,

three centuries ahead
?

Or even

fifty

years ago, as the state of the

!

Far East to-day ? Think of Petty's forecast of London Mr. John Morley admirably described prophecy as the most gratuitous form of mistake ; if so, prophecy by the ready-reckoner is certainly the most
war.ton form of blunder.

153

Liberalism in

Outward

Relations.

of one civilisation
to
assimilate.

among

races not too remotely akin

in

Empire
are

the

true

sense

of the

word
so

it

is
:

well to

repeat the truth

we

have not
empire.

much

colonies

not

properly an

The French

foreign possession?, of which

"

we speak
"

with a truly British judgment as

successful," are
seas.

not paying,"

not

an empire, a France extended over

the

Precisely

importance of the movement

lies in this,

towards Imperial Federation

that

it

would would

mean a

rational codifying of our present confused

federal relations with Greater Britain, such as

give the whole body a good

many

of the advantages

of an

empire.

We

now combine
:

a curious

com-

promise between the two

a compromise, as usual,
to

symptomatic of looseness, not

say absence, of
Indeed, only

thinking and indefiniteness of intention.

a large and precise principle can co-ordinate the big

unwieldy material of the question.

in a clear idea

It is to

be sought
in

of main purpose.

The work of a nation

the world

is

not to colour

maps

red rather than yellow,

and

indefinitely
its its

accumulate noughts at the end of the

its

figure of

revenue, but to express at

national
type.

highest

perfection

Governments

and

constitutions are the

grammar and syntax

of such

expression.

Therefore a good Liberal, while admiring

in the characteristics of his

and glorying
will not let a

own

race,

narrow pride blind him to the merits of

;

kindred types, even of the most alien types

is

patriotism

none the worse

for

looking beyond

its

own

waist-

Colonies and Ireland.

coat buttons.

153

The

doctrine of an apostolic mission

its

entrusted to the English race to inculcate

language

and habits

all

over the world, to the exclusion of other

reject with

concurrent civilisations, he will

disgust
say, as
like,"

and contempt.

If Liberals

do not any longer

if

some once
it is

did, "

The Colonies may go

they

not that they would be parties to a second folly

like the

American War, but

that they agree in desiring

them in union by other bonds than shackles. If any Colony were likely or able to develop itself into a distinct national type, it would be no longer
to hold

our duty to attempt to enforce an alienated connection.

We

find

no

fault with the

Duke

of Devonshire's state-

ment

that our naval resources are as

much

destined
in the

for the protection of

every English settlement

world as for the defence of our

own

shores.

But the

same
tain

principle which

makes us welcome and mainfield,

our free expansion as a nation, claiming no

small fraction of the world as our

equally to
recognise

compels us

every reasonable assertion of

nationalism within ourselves.

this

No

particular essay in

book has been devoted

for
articles

to a restatement of

Home
:

Rule
those
the

Ireland as part and parcel of our creed

rather

have been treated which

not one of these
possibilities.

for

moment

are the text of burning questions.

To

say that

Home

Rule

is

is

a frank

statement of
write,
^

tactics

and
of

While we
is

the

suggestion

material

grievance^

"The

Financial Relations Commissioners' Report," Jan., 1897.

154

Liberalism in

Outward

Relations.

proving so effective a solvent applied to the more

selfish

and hollow portions of the body of Unionist

that

opposition,
storation of

any moment may

Rule
the
priority
in

justify

the

re-

Home

to a practical

prominence
even in

corresponding to
affection,
it

interest,

occupies in every genuine Liberal.

We
our

are as determined as ever to allow nationalism, where

genuine and substantive, to express

principle

itself,

as

demands,
of

in

national

government.
sense of

Conthe

siderations

political

convenience,

inadequacy of the central Parliament to deal with

the
vast
it

body of imperfectly delegated provincial

necessarily neglects
at

affairs

present, desire

to

atone by even a tardy generosity for past sins and

unscrupulousnesses
cardinal
:

these

all

are operative, but the

motive which keeps us to

faith
in

Home
as

Rule

is

that

unshaken
in
all

nationalism

the the

prime
noblest

principle

greater politics, which

Englishmen have expressed

lessons presented
plain
to
in

for a century,

and which
fortify

every continent of the world,

eye,

the

dullest

from day to day

and

establish.

This national principle, even apart from any other

consideration of right or policy,
a Liberal's point of view
is

sufficient to decide

when he regards one of the

in

most momentous events

the foreign affairs of 1896

of one State

the violent invasion of

a band of independent

tlie territories

by

(let

us hope the epithet

justified)

may
free-

be

most

clearly

and unmistakably

Transvaal.
hooters, themselves

i5S

subjects of the suzerain of the

State they invaded.

of
Irish

Just as
so

nationality,

we call for the legalising we demand respect for

in

other nationalities
civilisation,

included

our greater unit of

though those be

insignificant,

unsympa-

thetic, or

even hostile to ourselves.

The Boer Re-

public (for which we have no reason to pretend the slightest sympathy or liking) was and is absolutely
justified in not largessing the privileges of citizenship

among

the motley horde of speculators

its

who gathered
is

to exploit

resources.
its

Else,

what defence has a

small State for

nationality,

when

it

master of

natural resources calculated to attract an outnum-

bering multitude of fortune-hunting settlers?

dancrers of a o
little

The

State of a few scores of thousands

to

hardly come

home

nation

of forty millions.

But that its right was not more readily and universally acknowledged in England is only one proof among many how suppressed and apathetic the sense
and very conception of citizenship are become among
ourselves.

We

say

here

no word either
all
;

for

or

against
in

the imaginary project of uniting a British Empire or Federation

South Africa
lies

that

not only
to

out of range, but beside the mark.

We may have
is

fight with the Boers to decide which of two possibly

incompatible races and nationalities

in

to prevail

but

that hypothetical contingency let us at least be

sure that our

method

is

an open hostility and not a

156

Liberalism in

Outward Relations,
for scale

burglary, rather

more romantic

and scene,

but otherwise not essentially different from the vulgar

every-day examples of housebreaking.

And

let

us

hear no more of the disingenuous apology which

justifies

Dr. Jameson's raid

by the

false

analogy of

the Elizabethan sea-captains

who
time

gained a great part

of the British Empire by methods at least akin to

privateering.
It
is

high

the

glamour was

stripped from the ugly dealings of militant finance.

Dr. Jameson's

men

attacked not the greatest empire

;

of the day, but a small isolated republic

a state
of war, but
in

not under

perfectly friendly relations.

"

Mr. Rhodes talks of our

sneer
that
is

unctuous rectitude
is

"
;

the

justified.

But

if it

our national calamity

all

our well-doing should carry the Pharisaical

still

grease,

we

shall

hardly consent to an injustice

off which,

merely to please a rough colonial opinion

perhaps, something
"
is

rubbed.

more than the grease has been Expansion " is, no doubt, a taking hobby,
its

but

it

one which, under other names, has carried

riders into
in

not a few of

Newgate.
phrase occurs,

Some way back

" military instincts

this essay the

may
";

express themselves either in

this business of the raid sug-

chivalry or brutality
gests that

great

part

of the

public

opinion

in

England has very imperfectly seized the

between the two
lessness
qualities.

difference
little

Apparently, a
inferior

reck-

thrown into the

scale

was quite

enough to equalise the balance.

Touch your burglar

National Principle.
v/ith

157

the least air of the highwayman, and he becomes

the perfect knight.

Admiration
for a
;

for

such courage as

was shown
tions
ditions)

(it

sinks pretty small after the full

deduc-

have been made

number
but
in

of other con-

was well enough

the

vacuum of
was
Poet
this

minds unbalanced by

principle, such sentiment

able to surprise and overthrow the whole judgment.

We

need not here

effusion

inquire

how much
to

the

Laureate's

contributed
least,

quieting

enthusiasm.
congratulate

At
itself

the
it

Liberal

party
consider

may
the

that

did

not

matter from this essentially feminine point of view.

And

the

failure

of

the

attempt
far
if

spared

us

the

eventual

demonstration

how
their

the raiders were

unsuccessful, they

justified in the

hope that though,

might be repudiated by

Government, success
this digressive
it

was sure of countenance and adoption. But the main point recalls from
illustration

this

faith in the national principle

is

our duty to foster and confirm.

Great orators and

it

great leaders in the past have not found

difficult to

make an

effective appeal to the belief.

It

has already

been urged that we must use the national interest as

a kind of greater personal interest to induce English-

men

to exercise their duties as self-governing citizens

shall

and argued that we

sense

be no

less patriotic

for

recognising elsewhere that

same national
is

unit,

our

of membership in which
past

itself patriotism.
;

Our

enthusiasm for

Italy

a nation

our late

158

Liberalism in
respect

Outward Relations.
for

uncongenial

the

Boers a nation

our

party's adoption and maintenance of the cause of

Ireland a nation: these stand

all

together, as kindred

manifestations of a principle which

has become a

deciding element in the formula of modern Liberalism.

There
include in

is

a constant difficulty in attempting to

small limits a statement, even rudimentary,

of the principles inspiring a set of beliefs in

any great

province of opinion.

The

scale leaves
is

it

open to the

reader to complete amiss what

hinted in outline,

and

to distribute

wrongly the emphasis and importof considerations expressed with

to
this

ance of

number
detail

insufficient

determine

their

proportions.

But the notion of

book was not a formal pro;

gramme composed

of articles exhaustively treated

but rather the expression of the guiding beliefs of

authors, essentially agreed, but freely differing in nonessentials, as applied to a selection of representative

topics

with the purpose of confessing, no

convictions
; ;

less

than
than

producing,

of suggestion

rather

demonstration

of indicating

and

inspiring,
difficulties

more
of the

than of elaborate instruction.

The

method can

be only

partially

neutralised

by an

attempt to anticipate the more obvious misunderstandings and objections. But one thing has been
so specially emphasised in this essay in particular as

perhaps to prove a stumbling-block a form, if a modified form, of militarism. The prominence given
it is

justified equally

by the excessive anti-militarism

Militarism and Conscription.

which infected the Liberal party
for

159

many

years past,
to a

and by the evident tendency to return

more
*

human view

of the question.

am

free to confess

my
(if

belief that the moral advantages of conscription

only as promoting that genuine, friendly, civic

equality,

whose home

is

the cafe of a Latin country,

but which political levelling seems unable to give us

in

England) incomparably outweigh the economic

;

objections

and to suggest that those who declaim

unconditionally against

war

are

very

imperfectly

conscious of the horrors of peace

another side view

But
all

upon

our
;

general

materialism.

this

in

parenthesis

these opinions appeared

too

personal,

not to say eccentric, for

me

to be justified in in-

troducing them in the body of the argument.

has

What

been written

above upon

the wholesomeness
instinct
is

and necessity of the military

sense of the word.
in

not to be

reckoned as a profession of militarism

in the offensive

Military insolence as manifested

of a citizen while on service
citizens
;

Germany

the claim

to

impose himself on

who

are
it

not

is

disgusting and horrible thing

^

where

does flourish,

In an article of extraordinary interest and brilliant ability by a publicist, who is as well informed about other peoples as he is critical of his own, I find the admirable phrase, " The army has

French

become
iSs

at

patriotic virtue."

once the bulwark of national security and the school of (M. de Pressense in Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb.

These words are a text I should much have liked to if the whole of this matter of conscription were not so subordinate, as well as so personal, as scarcely to justify more than a hint at two main heads of argument in its support.
1897.)

enlarge upon,

i6o

Liberalism in

Outward

Relations.

largely

due perhaps to such service not being repreNeither does this essay
;

sented as rendered to the country, the body of fellowcitizens.

call

for

war reckbeliever

lessly

and unconditionally

you may be a

in the duel as a wise

and honourable
Arbitration
;

institution,

and
all

yet not wish everyone to walk armed, and settle

disputes
practical
foolish

by the sword.
convenience

is

an admirable
is

universal

arbitration
sane, civilised

and feminine dream.

No

man

would
in in the

fight for the possession of a piece of property

;

dispute

but no honourable

man

takes damages

Divorce Court.

That we should submit the

is

Venezuelan Question to arbitration

piece of

a satisfactory

common-sense

if

statesmen can draw up a

all

general treaty providing for arbitration in

disputes
It is well

with the Americans, so

that
this

much
should

the better.

alternative

be

formulated
(it
is

and
no

organised.

Though
to put

they are our cousins

it

mere paradox
is

in

that

way
as

remote kinship
:

quite as effectual for hate as for love

what South
he

German

hates a

Frenchman

profoundly as

does his Northern kinsman?) we need not fight over

every commercial or material difference.

But those

statesmen cannot deceive themselves so

much

as to

suppose that their treaties of arbitration

will

not

shrivel to ashes in the heat of indignation which an

insult or a humiliation to

the national honour must

kindle.

The more
the

treaties of arbitration, the better

we welcome

logical

assignation

of

suitable

Democratic Continuity.
remedies to a particular class of they do not supersede war
the sphere of
It
its
;

i6i

difficulties.

But

only reasonably limit

proper employment.
this essay to enter

was no part of the scheme of

into the mmiiti<z of detail.

Detail has been the curse

of Liberal propagandism in every department during

these unfortunate last few years.

The same mischief

made

itself felt in

the particularism which has cracked

all

the essential unity of

Liberals into sections, and

groups, and individual monomaniacs.

little logic,

and so much might be done.

principle
is

The

re-assertion
it is

of

the essence of this book, and

for

only to

presenting principles

the

direction of outward
Details, to

relations that this essay

was addressed.

recur to a point treated earlier, are naturally below

the range of

common

popular consideration.

Their

importance in foreign affairs has been emphasised to

excess as a
precaution against
public scrutiny

those whose interest lay in such concealment.

strangely enough, the
foreign relations
I

by And,

sacredness

of continuity in
in justification.

was regularly alleged

have attempted to show that continuity, so misexternal critics as unprin-

understood, appeared to

cipled vacillation, as a casual, accidental sequence of

Opportunism.

If

we

look for the most conspicuous

continuity and the steadiest consistency in policy,

we

must turn our eyes

in

to the
is

most organised democracy

policy

Europe.

France

the golden example of estabso

that
logical

lished

principle

regulating

i62

Liberalism
is

/.v

Outward
The

Rblat/ons.
determining
is

continuity

apparent and

cardinally

through

all

minor variations.

reason

patent.

Every Frenchman knows

national

the great objects of his

of France

ambition.

The hopes and aims

and

arc actively present in every individual citizen

sent, in fact, with the liveliness

preEng-

force of a personal

sentiment.

Have we anything
there

of the kind in

land

Is

any principle of external

relations

which the average Englishman clings to with passion We have the preor is indignant to see outraged ?
dilections of individuals, as

we have
;

the half-academic

preferences of clubs and groups

larger

but for anything

for
politics

than that, the splendid

genius
in

which distinguishes Englishmen

matters domestic

seems

to desert them, leaving an unreasoning lethargy

rarely awakened.

We
;

have forgotten the meaning of

is

the word Ministers

it

as

if

the butler of a great

invite the guests,

house were allowed to choose and

plan
the

amusements,
interpret

fix

the scale of living, and

generally

authorised

delegation

to

ad-

minister as equivalent to abdication on the master's

part of his sovereign rights of decision.

But once more to

to suggest

return.

have not attempted

the

details

of foreign policy, to specify

relations with particular Powers, or define England's

attitude in particular questions or particular quarters

of the world.

It

remains, however, to reconsider from

a fresh point of view a matter already treated under

another

light.

Nothing has been said of continuity,

Party in Foreign

Affairs.

163 a party

regarded from the party point of view.

a foreign policy
?

Has

Is there a difference,

beyond the

personal, between

Lord Salisbury
as

at the

Foreign Office

and Lord Kimberley ? Can a Liberal Foreign Minister

feel

that his

work there

is

much

part of the exa Liberal

?

pression of his Liberalism,

as, say,

Home
The
and a

Secretary or Vice-President of the Council

question
to
is

of extreme delicacy

the answers exposed

every sort of misconstruction.

Deny

it,

great part of your political friends will cry out against

you

for a traitor

affirm,

and the enemy accuses you

Frankly, however,
still

of preferring party to
the answer here given
definite affirmative.

country.
will

be a qualified but

Liberals to-day need not scruple

policy has

to admit

that
in

their foreign

been often
always

unfortunate

the

past

perhaps

almost

through playing with our besetting

particularism.

sin of sectional

The

noisiest usurp the right of speak-

ing for
to

all,

and the faddist who has not logic enough

is

subordinate expediencies and classify duties

noisiest.

invariably the

Yet

it

is

still

doubtful

if

Lord Rosebery's wise warnings of

their trenchant justification
in

this danger,

and

event at the black

to teach the

election of

1895, have been

sufficient

party common-sense.
that point,
it

But, without prophesying on

in

may

be observed that

our foreign

policy Liberalism has displayed a

ful

recovery of nerve than

in

in

much more hopeany other department.

:

Nerve and confidence

L
2

a cause

those are

the

64

Liberalism in Outward Relations.

desiderata to

make

us once

more an organised and

Chaos
confidence kindled
Still,

powerful (not to add a triumphant) party.

hardly gives nerve,

nor

is

by
fact

having an encyclopaedia for a war-cry.

are signs of better things.

there

But putting aside the

that our lapses into incapability have perhaps been

more frequent and grievous than those of our rivals, with the reason for such inferiority, and resuming the question of difference between parties at the Foreign Office, I would repoint it and ask, Is there
difference of direction as well as of execution
"i

Has
is

Liberalism at

home
Put

natural affinities abroad, natural

?

sympathies
yes, with a

in certain quarters
b7it.
it

And

the answer

in this

way.

Suppose a body

of English electors

adequately informed (by those

is

whose duty,
informed, at

after

all, it

to be their instructors) of

the cardinal conditions of European politics

least,

so well
are
dis-

that France, Italy, and

Germany

something more to them than so

tinguishing portions of the
that
it

many names

unknown and made aware

is

the right and the business of every one

of themselves to form his opinion and express his

desire
in

foreign

questions

suppose,

further, that

an audience of such citizens

Liberals
nations
is

asked

its

preference

who call themselves among these foreign

whose

distinctions

and characteristics each

one

will

ex hypothesi have apprehended

at least, in

broad

lines

and rough

colours

will

not the same

opinions and beliefs

in virtue

of which he calls himself

DEAfOCRATir Affinities
a Liberal

165

make him

look primarily with sympathy at

one and antipathy at another Power before he comes

to
correct

and modify, as necessary, the partisan

that
first

result

of

view

by regard
?

to

his

own

country's collective interest

Surely a Democrat

will
;

discover affinities to a
the Liberals will surely

nation of Democratic genius

turn

with enthusiasm

to

the

country whence

the

sparks flew over to us which kindled that slow conflagration

of privileges

and inequalities that

is

the

history of Liberalism in

England during

this nine-

teenth century.
not once

Mr. Gladstone has stated publicly,

nor twice, his well-known sympathy for

belief

France, and his

that

England and

France,

two national two

others,

civilisations

more

deeply inter-influential

in past

more and present than any

essentially akin,
for

might together perform a great work

universal civilisation.

And more

than that

we

see in

France actually presented those principles which were once the backbone of Liberalism
in

England

proud,

individual independence of freemen in the congenial

sphere of an immensely extended peasant proprietorship,

or

directive

and an admirably universal sense of permissive participation and responsibility in the

acts

common

and counsels of the

in

State.

The most
faithful

convinced believer

the aptness
rule,

of

the English

people for monarchical

and the most

maintainer of the aptness of our Royal Family for sovereignty in England, will do no violence either to

66

Liberalism ix

Outward Relations.
by admiring the people

his principles or to his loyalty

who show themselves

That
is

capable of so honourable a form

of government as a Republic.

only the most elementary indication of a

thing that might be worked out with a great variety

of arguments

Liberalism
intended
;

actuating the choice of

national friendships, or, at least, determining the preferences of an unattached Power.

that
is

But a hint

is

all

here

other applications can

be

freely supplemented.

And now
sympathy
factor

for the reservation, the but.

This active
still

for other

democracies

will

be

only one

arc

among many. A number of considerations summed up in the golden rule of minding your own business as a nation though the rule is far from
;

absolute that interference between parties in a foreign

State

is

in

no case of
Still, it is

civil

war or revolution

to be

permitted.

nowhere our business to evoke

Liberals

a revolution.

Individual
in

may

sympathise
Foreign

with

Nihilism
is

Russia,

but

Liberal

Minister

perfectly entitled to improve our relations

with the Czar's Government even to the pitch of concluding an

alliance.

The French democracy does

in

nothing inconsistent

cordially attaching itself to

the Russian despotism, though nine Frenchmen out It is of ten may detest that type of government.

very probable that the alliance has already done a

great Liberalising work in Russia.

A good
is

Christian

who

is

intimate with an Agnostic friend

not incon-

AND Antipathies.
sistent,
is

167

only wisely Liberal.

in

On

the other hand, he

to

thoroughly justified
is

refusing

dine with

neighbour who Bad morals are

a notorious wife-beater

and

tyrant.

a public offence, bad opinions at most

Similarly,

a private difference.

sacred

though we

hold the principle of nationality, as above recorded in

these pages, a Liberal may, with a free conscience,

maintain our existing cordial relations with Austria,

the fortuitous aggregate of

many

nations.

In

fact,

sympathies of character and opinion

initiative, positive effect in establishing

may have
antipathies

an

and keeping a
of

particular

course

in

Europe

but

opinion will

forcing a sharp antagonism of interests.

if

only become considerable when reinFor example,

a certain
;

power consistently opposes and thwarts

its

us

if

a certain nation in

essential unoriginality

has been

drilled to conceive a

national ambition, so that this

tries to oust

copy of our English younger understudy

;

us from our part in the world

then the

patriotic grievance of threatened interests and

licious jealousies
will

maa
for a
civil

be

powerfully reinforced in

Liberal's

mind by

his proper political

contempt

people

who

allow the form of Parliamentary and

liberties

which they are incapable of realising to be reduced to a humiliating pretence by a morbid egoism aping the effete forms of mediaeval sovereignty. Once more the strongest bond, knitted of both kinds of tie,

may be
in

exemplified

in

our connection with Italy,

whatever precise category of relations

alliance,

i6S

Liberalism in

Outward

Relations.
:

entente, etc.

it

be

officially registered

the broad view

is

cares

little for

these pigeon-holes.
to

It

hardly ne-

cessar)'

here

speak of a third kind

dynastic
in

connections.

Their importance has been so greatly

reduced by popular feeling (indirectly reflected into

even
the

most autocratic monarchies), that

most
conspicuously
present,

the
to

instance

perhaps,

everyone's mind, they can merely be described as a

slight security for good, or a slight restraint

upon bad,

behaviour, for the nation, through

its

Royalties, to

hold or to exercise.

The concluding pages

marise

of this essay must sum-

and

reiterate,

must
it

emphasise

anew the

dominant
certain

notes.

If

began by a complaint of
only against the

mischiefs

chargeable not

party to

book appeals, but against the national character as a whole which harbours them,
this

whom

this

was not to imply a delusion that that character

be
transformed.
"

could

fine

psychologist

has

spoken of the

shameful pleasure of self-reproach,"

it

a pleasure from which Englishmen,

must be

said,

more than most indulge

of evil
are

in

an abstinence.
;

Prophets

indeed popular enough

all

Jeremiads on

declining trade are

sale
full
it

the rage

preachers of whole-

wickedness and damnation can always draw a

church.

But

in

politics things

run
to

otherwise

is

by no means

a popular cue
its

reproach the

English democracy with

dull

materialism,

when

a certain class of politicians belaud the .same quality

Summary Apathy.
as sound
its

169

British

common-sense

with a neglect of
confuse such

rights

and

duties,

when

flatterers

abstention with the wise general delegation essential

modern democracies. The whole of the opening of this essay was directed against faults which, if
to
in their acuter

forms they are simply Conservatism,

prevail almost universally in their less

varieties.

pronounced

The

Liberal party has to fight against a

:

permanent dead weight

then
into
"

world of pains shoves

it
it

the stone to the summit and poises

the force of nature " carries

for a

moment,

away headlong

six

years of

Tory administration.
us
:

We
there

have
are

standing

odds

against

certainly

moments when no
the adverse party
;

Liberal

regrets the
satisfaction
effect

strength of
is

and one

constant,

that whatever you can work or

stiff

upon such a

material

is

a strong and

abiding impression.

In Foreign Policy the ignorance

and apathy of the

party

people are more than

teachers,

elsewhere due to want of

of the

shortcomings

propaganda.

And where
their

teachers have not been wanting,

much

of

work no foundation of knowledge was laid. Nations and Powers, provinces and places are unmeaning symbols
and ciphers unless previously explained. " France," "Germany," "Concert of Powers," "Balkan Questions" these are idle shibboleths chucked about as

has been flimsy and ineffectual, because

freely

from tub-thumper to tub-thumper

phrases
as
"

as
"

such

deplorable

Social

Legislation

and

I/O

Liberalism in

Outward

Relations.

" Social

Question," which have become the bad coin

of poHtical
politics

humbugs

of every kind.

To dehver
this

and the English language of much of

stuff,

poor mechanically current

precision
will

little

masculine

and

definition in thought
If

and expression
be

suffice.

the very word

"social" could

tabooed,
the

much humbug would be choked.

it

With
trouble

former kind,

is

even easier

little

without that mental effort will do

it.

Go

to a village

audience, and try to give a pictureof a

Frenchman
from thembegin

how
selves
tirades

he

lives,

what he

eats

and drinks, what he

differs

thinks about and wishes,

how he

and how resembles

then,
with

and not before, do

France
to

upon our

relations

take an air of living reality.

" 0?te

half the zvorld

knows nothing of the life and government of the other," is one of those dicta which all the brag of material
science

and

improvement
it

leaves

very

little

less

essentially true than

was four hundred years ago. Partly because we prate about the Governments without first realising the life which inspires the
Governments.

The first object, then, is to produce make opinion possible. Next will come
will

feeling,

and

the question

of the direction which the motive power thus stored

take to express

itself

Here

it

has been con-

tended that Liberalism mu.st lay hands upon

much

good matter hitherto put to bad uses, applying to

Jingoism Lord John Russell's excellent saying about

Bad Extremes.
dirt.

i/i

We

have to capture and organise to sound

purposes

much good sentiment and crude patriotism about outward relations, till we can turn out an intelligent citizenship, master in its own house, conscious and proud of its own resources, fitted and
resolved
to

exercise
Little

its

right

of determining

their

employment.

Englanders as a party have

for them.

succumbed
idol of the

to a fate that cannot too speedily overtake

the barbarous

name which was found

The

group was a distorted exaggeration of the

;

pacific principles of Liberalism

an idol set up by a
unessential things

clique

and accepted,

as so
us,

many

are fetishised
till

among

with unquestioning deference,

at last a turn of

chance knocked the whole thing

its

to dust

and put an end to

sanctity.

sanctity

and

its

exist-

ence

an existence which
its
:

without other attributes

had caused
in the actual

So blindly do we acquiesce
its

a busy section imposes

fad without

hindrance

iconoclastic chance removes the burden

and

in a little while

we can hardly

believe

it

ever was

on our shoulders.
our apathy
that
it
:

Neither disease nor cure breaks

one might say of the British public

is

a good patient

but
will

a master of catching

illnesses.

Next, the English

qualifications
collectively as

people,

impressed with the

such

and

the

for

autonomy,
in

individually independent,

foreign

relations as in domestic liberties, will look

round and
the world.

freely select

its

friends

and enemies

in

1/2

LiBF.RAriSM

/.V

OuTWARD

RELATIONS.
filling

We have refrained, for

reasons before given, from

specifications
:

up the principle with

ferences

experts must

follow and complete the reformer, and personal pre-

must not be allowed

to discolour the principle.

But the suggestion may be repeated that our greatest

duty
is

to exercise our adoptive heritage of a part of

the Latin civilisation, to vindicate our

membership

in

the true Western unit.

Cosmopolitan Radicalism has

indeed been

exploded, or will finally be exploded

return to natural logic has rectified

when the promised

the

confusion

between
politics

the

reasonable spheres

of
:

religion

and

the

world

and the nation

But
for

Christianity an essentially cosmopolitan confession.

Nationalism the foundation of

politics.

an

we must look first vaguely to Europe, as far as Europe is an individual civilisation, and next, far more definitely, to the precise and organic unity of the West proper. We hav^e admitted, frankly, that England is selfish; Liberalism need not hope to do more than interpret
extended unit
in politics

that selfishness into determination to be true to our

own

selves.

We

are a cominercial people, but not

is

unaware that there

more
;

to be

done

in

the world

than buying and selling

in past

experience

we have

shown ourselves capable of acts of heroic justice and movements of generous enthusiasm. The merchant can
lose

himself

in

the

man, the

trading

company

in the nation.

Let us ennoble commerce by

realising the difference of the merchant-prince

and the

Conclusion.
petty huckster.

i73

vulgarity of

We, too, can redeem the adventitious commerce by magnificence of scale, and
in the aristocracy of nations

hold our heads high

by

employing our material wealth and industrial resources not as an end in themselves, but as rich and
proper means to the attainment of greater triumphs in fields of more ideal and lasting achievement, some-

way

the

Athens

or

the

Rome, not
S.

merely the

Phcenicia of a

new

cycle in history.
J.

PHILLIMORE.

175

A LIBERAL VIEW OF EDUCATION.

The
Liberal view of the

State The activity of the Citizen The place of Education Hostile influences The forces of political and religious monopoly Historical summary Oligarchic obstruction before 1870 Confusion of thought Later Reforms The Modern ProblemAttacks upon Education An ignoble spirit Contrast with Liberal

School Boards Motives of Antagonism expenditure exposed Short-sighted economy

ideals Concrete expressions of
(2)

this

hostility (i) Proposals to restrict

this attack (b)

to

(a)

Its

fallacies

Sectarian

bias The work

ligious

of the School

Boards The Voluntary Schools The

financial

claims of their advocates Support due to

rather than re-

motives The
its

injustice of private

Government The

Liberal

principle of democratic control

instance of

violation

Voluntary School an isolated Necessity for concentrating on this point

The

paralysing compromise Differential religious mistake of 1870 Sectarian control, not Sectarian teaching, the real evil instruction Suggested scheme Other Reforms The age limit Evening Schools

The

Technical Education
other Countries

Its relation to

Agriculture Comparison with

(Denmark) Skill,

not protection,

needed Technical

Education and industrial success (Wurtemberg) A striking instance But the primary school the basis Urgent Its relation to Labour need for increased efficiency Relation of Education to Liberal Ideals

The
'"T^HE
J_

civic spirit

The hope of democracy.

State

is

often spoken of in the language of

in

metaphor, and sometimes defined

brilHant paradox.

the terms of
difficult to

some
find.

The

reason

is

not
in

There

is

an absence of exactness

human

rela-

tions which gives society a certain indeterminate aspect;

and an unanalysed conception of the State lends

itself as

readily as other abstractions to the fancies

of epigram and the devices of analogy.

But

will

176

Liberal

View of Education.

content myself with a simple expression of the view which I think is implicitly recognised in Liberal

policy that

it is

the purpose of the State to develop

the conditions of civic activity, and to promote the

growth of individual character. For in association, however rude

qualities

its

form, those
are
first

which

are
;

specifically

human

brought into play

and the direct value of common more apparent than when the whole action is never of a society combines to mould its future citizens.
This
conception of
the

State

again

underlies

the great Liberal principles of freedom and equality The State makes freedom possible of opportunity.

by removing development, which yield

primarily
operation.

certain

restraints

upon
be

to an ordered

form of coonly

Equality of

opportunity
equitable

can

recognised

as the basis of

relations

men who acknowledge

common

interest.

by These

ideals are incompatible with an oligarchic constitution which restricts political rights, and degrades citizen-

ship

by making

it

than the essential

depend upon adventitious rather attributes qualities which diswhich

unite, the

tinguish, rather than those

members

of the State.
It
is

the
in

capacity to

freedom

this

promote and to extend positive sense of activity which is

;

the measure of a nation's greatness

to

it

is

the ability
similar
its

achieve

a continuity of
its

method by the
is

education of

citizens

which

the measure of

The Liberal Ideal.

permanency.
development,
frustrates
If
it

177

State

fails
its

to

stimulate
;

such

falls

short of
its

object

if it

actively

it, it

defeats

own

end.
clearly

The

Liberal

doctrine,
its

then,

does

not

begin and end with

application to the

form of

Government.

There

are

other

conditions

which
if

make

for

freedom, and which are indispensable

is

opportunity
restricted
first

not to be a monopoly, and activity

the fortunate

to

and the
in

rich

and the

of these

conditions

lies

the

nature of the

education.

That freedom implies education

which only requires to be stated to
diate assent.

is

a proposition

command immeis

The uneducated man

at the

mercy

of the forces of nature.

He

is

equally exposed to

the aggressions of his educated fellow-men.

activity
is

And

if

thwarted by the absence of provision for

is is

education, equality of opportunity

barred.

hopelessly de-

The
if

disability of poverty

stereotyped and
the means of
in

intensified
instruction.

riches

alone

command
in

career,

whether
is

politics,

the

professions, or in trade,
It is

only open to the wealthy.

impossible to find a sharper or a more cruel

line of cleavage

between man and man.

of elementary the
close

The
country
this

history

education

in

this

illustrates

relationship
for the

between
advance
for

question and

Liberal ideals,

of

education

has

strengthened
the

the

agitation

popular

Government, whilst

development

of

1/8

Liberal

View of Education.
for

popular institutions has quickened the demand

education.'

Education makes a
sonality,

man
;

conscious of his perartificial

and impatient of an

distinction

founded upon wealth or birth

while the extension of

popular authority enables the popular demand for

education to be realised.

These two conditions of

all

progress act and play upon each other, as do

the

streams that unite to form the main current of a

progressive society.
sures during
this

Three great educational mea-

century have followed closely on

the heels of important

Reform
in

Bills.

The Education
1867 preceded by
of Mr.
Forster's

Department was created

the
first

1839, seven years after

Bill of

Reform

Bill.

The

three years only the

introduction

measure of 1870, and the Free Education

1

Act of
in 1884.

89 1 followed the extension of the Franchise

The wider
enhances
in

distribution of political

power further
importance
of

another

respect

the

popular education.

For, with the growth of

demoexer-

cratic institutions the

cise

number

of citizens

who

some direct influence on Government, imperial or must be largely increased, and the absence of provision for education means that Government tends
local,

to

become empirical and

'

unscientific.

Cobden

in

184S

"In my

opinion every extension of popular

it

rights will bring us nearer to a plan of National Education, because

poor a stronger motive to educate their children, and the same lime a greater power to carry the motive into practice."
will give the

at

Oligarchy and Education.

179

monopoly of education
criticism
is

is

obviously the surest

safeguard of a monopoly of political power.

The

weapon of
disarmed.
diabolical

blunted and opposition largely

instinct of a

Thus

it

was the unerring

interests

sagacity for the

of a religious

oligarchy which prompted penal legislation in Ire-

land in the last century prohibiting the education of

Catholics.^

Hostility

to

educational
this

measures

in

England during a great part of

of existing oligarchic institutions.-

century has
for the safety

been largely inspired by apprehensions

Sympathy

rather

than ridicule was excited by the rhetorical ardour

of a speaker during the debate on Mr. Whitbread's
Bill

in the

Commons, who warned

in

the

House

that
Sir

"books had produced the French Revolution."^

John Gorst,
Review,

his

article

in

the North Auieyican

to
intellectual

speaks

of

that
is

"dislike

development which
aristocracy."

characteristic of a territorial

This dictum

may

be abundantly

illus-

trated from the history of education in

^

England during
which

It

was a condition of education

Protestants.
in the

in the Charter Schools, in

alone Catholic children might be educated, that they should be educated as

Mr. Lecky (Vol.

")

II.,

p.

204,

"History of
:

England

Eighteenth Century

thus speaks of the system

"The

Charter Schools offered a people thirsting for knowledge a cup which they believed to be poison, and sought, under the guise of the most
seductive of
faith."
^

all charities, to

rob their children of the birthright of their

till 1834. Doubtless, the landlords of the early century recollected Plato's

The

unsectarian system was not founded

shrewd observation, that a revolution

in education.
^

in politics begins with a revolution

Mr. Francis Adams, " Elementary School Contest,"

p. 66.

So

Liberal

View of Education.
The House
of Lords rejected

the present century.

Mr. Whitbread's

Bill in

1807, thereby postponing for

sixty-three years the creation of a national system

under local administration.

The same body

in

offered

a stubborn resistance to the creation of the depart-

ment

in

1839,

and
the

succeeded
rest

obtaining

the

withdrawal
educational

of

of

Lord
year.

John

Russell's

proposals
in

of that of

Conservative

statesmen

the

House

Commons,
have
been

with

few

honourable

exceptions,

equally

hostile.

The

friends of a religious

monopoly

in

education

can also boast a record of strenuous and uncomThere has always been a strong promising vigour.
party in English politics which has frankly regarded it as of greater importance that the schools should be
controlled

by the clergy than that there should be a

all.

system of primary instruction at

The Bishops
It

have been the chief spokesmen of

children should not be educated at

this view.

was

a less mischievous condition in their opinion that the

all

than that they

should be educated by persons

of the
clergy.

who were independent

less

Ignorance was a

dangerous

enemy of "virtue" than secular knowledge. It was idle for an educational reformer to explain that his
was merely intended to give the State some authority to insist upon a certain standard of efficiency, and was not directed in any hostile spirit
policy

against the influence of the Church.

The Bishops

An
upon
religion

Unequal Struggle.

i8i

only regarded his proposal as a more insidious attack

and morality.

Lord John Russell's Bill in 1839 was bitterly by Bishop Blomfield, who contended that the State had delegated to the Church its functions in
assailed

the matter of educating the poor.

1850,

Mr. Fox's
principles

Bill in

drawn up on

the

general

which

governed Mr. Forster's

Bill

twenty years

later, suc-

cumbed to Commons.

the influence of the Church Party in the

Mr. Lowe's measure

in

1861

for

im-

proving the quality of primary instruction provoked

the bitter hostility of Churchmen,
application of
for

who

resented the

any standard

at all to the education

which the managers of

political

their schools received a

Government grant.^ These forces of

united
in

and

religious

monopoly
efforts

the past to

frustrate

Liberal

to

obtain a national system of education,

difficulty

further
in

confronted

the

Education Party

the

extraordinary confusions of thought which have prevailed

upon

this question.

To-day
as

it

seems incredible
in

that the interference of the

Government
But

education

should have been

rights

regarded

an invasion of the
it is

and

liberties of the subject.

scarcely

half a century ago that educational proposals were

Lord Sandon's half-hearted award of a whilst the storm of indignation excited by Mr. still fresh in the public memory.

The same

outburst of ill-feeling greeted

to enforce

attempt in 1876

more

stringent terms for the

Government

grant,
is

Acland's circular

82

Liberal

View of Education.
The Manchester

attacked upon this very ground.

School of Economics
supervision beyond

will

scarcely be suspected of

having sought to extend the province of Government

its

legitimate

limits.

And
of

yet the

Cobden was one of the

statesmen

most prominent
fell

who

recognised that education

naturally

into the class of State obligations.

The

root of this

difficulty was, of course, a religious one.

Anglicans
control the

claimed that the Church alone should

education of the poor. but provide
the
if

The

State was to do nothing

necessary funds.
State
interference

Nonconformists

thought that

merely

meant

the co-operation

of the department with the efforts

it

of proselytising Churchmen,

was only a specious

tyranny.
It is
is

name for the most invidious form of now acknowledged on all hands that
duty owed by the State to
schoolmaster
policeman.'
is

education
;

its

children

that the State

no more an anomaly than the State

this truth

But

has only struggled slowly

into public recognition.

The Act
was the
first

of 1870 represented a great advance.

explicit

It

avowal by the Legislature of

"

this

view of the relation of the State to public instruction.

Education has since been made

" free " after

compulsory

"

and

years of Liberal agitation.

Compulsory
in

education was recognised by Liberals as necessary

i

Of.

"Mill on Liberty," Chap. V. :

'

Is

it

not almost a

self-

evident axiom that the State should require and compel the education,

up

to a certain standard, of every

human

being,

who

is

born a citizen

"

Latest Reforms.
practice

183

and sound

in

principle.

Education

is

necessary condition of activity

a
the

condition which

the State must provide, and with which the citizen

must comply.
" forced to

In this
free."
is

sense

citizen

must be

be

Free education

the logical corollary of compulit

sory education, but

tion.

has an independent justifica-

It is not, as is

sometimes urged, a pauperising

is

measure.

pauperising policy

vicious,

because

it

tends to stifle individual activity

tive.

and individual

initia-

Free education

is

a direct and powerful stimulus

to these forces.
like the free

The

free school, in

whatever grade,
city,

library in a

modern
its

or the free

theatre in ancient Athens, finds

vindication in the

encouragement

it

gives to intellectual development.

Free and compulsory schools have further been

proved by experience to be indispensable to the progress

of education.

Yearly

statistics

show

clearly

enough the influence of the Acts of 1880 and 1891.

The passing
tury.
is

of these Acts

is

amongst the most recent

incidents in the great educational struggle of the cen-

The gradual

construction of an effective system

efforts.

the triumph of Liberal

Every step taken

in the direction of raising the standard or improving

the conditions has been

servative opposition,^

won

in

the teeth of a Conall,

inspired, first of

by an

ill-

disguised hostility to popular instruction, and, in the

1

The Free Education Act

of

891 was passed by a Conservative

for
it

Ministry, but Liberals

had agitated

since 1869.

>

184

Liberal

View of Education.

second place, by a genuine mistrust of any system

uncontrolled

by the

Church.

Extensions

of

the
for a

franchise have strengthened the Liberal

demand

national system, whilst

its

necessity was demonstrated

by the glaring inadequacy of voluntary institutions. The Act of 1870 was a tardy recognition of the State's duty. A generation had grown up since Carlyle^ had uttered his bitter protest and Dean Alford ^ had drawn his lurid contrast between England and other countries. It was at last acknowledged that the State owed a duty to its children, and that it was a mischievous
condition to
leave

the

mass of the electorate

in

ignorance.

from

The modern problem cannot be understood apart its historical context. The forces which com1870
is

bined to thwart the efforts of educational reformers

before
battle
still

play an active part to-day.

for

The

no longer

an education department or
spirit

a national system.

But the

which made those

is

struggles severe and delayed their triumph

alive

and potent.
regards
it

There

is

still

strong party which

as of greater importance that the schools

"To impart the gift of thinking to those who cannot think and yet would in that case think this, one would imagine, was the first function Chartism. a Government had to set about discharging." Carlyle
'

Dean Alford
;

in
is

1839:

"Prussia

is

before us;

Switzerland

is

before us

There is no record of any people on earth so highly civilised, so abounding in arts and comforts, and so grossly generally ignorant as the Enghsh."
France
before us.

The Modern Problem.

185

should be controlled by the Church than that they

should be

efficient.

There

is

still

a reluctance to

concede to popular control any vestige of authority

possessed by a religious society.

Nor must

it

be

for-

gotten that

if

popular education had few friends half

it still

a century ago,

has

many enemies
?

to-day.

What
concerned
is

then should be the application of Liberal

principles to the

modern question

Firstly,

we

are

for the efficiency of education.

Education

so vital a condition of national welfare, so indis-

pensable to that free development which Liberalism

seeks to

make

possible, that

its

progress cannot be too

dearly bought.

No

arbitrary limit

can be placed

upon

the sphere of elementary instruction, for to dis-

tribute a

good education as widely

is

as the boundaries

of the nation

the

first

duty of the State.

not
is

This principle can be illustrated by a contrast;

It is

urged by some that an education which

to

is

restricted

the
for

merest elements of instruction

the
child

out

of place

of the

working man.

The

State

is

regarded as a society of
into

men who
;

fall

by some natural scheme

facility,

certain classes

the

children of the rich are to enjoy every educational

to use or abuse at their pleasure; the children

of the poor are to receive just

enough

instruction to

enable them to attend with

some degree

of

intelli-

gence to their appropriate avocations, and to prevent

their

committing
is

any

flagrant

breach of the

law.

Learning

to be a strict

monopoly, a luxury of the

86

A Liberal View
;

of Education.
poor
is

rich

the intellectual outlook of the

to be

determined solely by their occupations.

This senti-

ment

is,

of course, not usually avowed in such naked

it is

and unblushing terms, but

silence or expressed
quarters.^
spirit
It is

cherished in sullen

by

inarticulate

murmurs

in

many
only

strongly at variance with the Liberal

is

which refuses to believe that a nation

concerned to escape the incubus of an

incapable

proletariate or that education should merely serve a

negative purpose, as an auxiliary measure of police.

To

depress the standard of elementary instruction

;

is

to perpetuate existing inequalities

to intensify the
;

hateful tendency to class isolation

to banish that

sympathy, born of mutual knowledge and mutual

respect, unity.

which

is

the primary condition of true national

And

to prescribe

narrow limits to the

intellec-

tual activity of a large proportion of the

is is

to defeat the very purpose of the State.

community That man

is,

a rational as well as a sensuous creature

is

after

all,

a truth which
ently,

as old as Aristotle, although, appar-

new

to the

Prime Minister

whose suggestion
to the

that there should

be inscribed upon the portals of

counsel of perfection
"

Board

Schools as a

education enthusiast,
^

The School Board

rate should

"At

one time

it

was an almost

.iccepted rule that there should be

a liberal education for a gentleman and a limited one for a peasant. John Knox taught us that there should be one education for a man who

ought to be able to equip himself for any vocation in life that his " Subjects of Social Lord Playfair talents justified him to assume."

Welfare,"

p. 335.

Attacks on Education.
not exceed threepence,"

187
his

must take rank with

to parish councils.

immortal declaration
readily be

that the

agricultural labourer

would prefer parish circuses

it

And

will

admitted that a policy

like this,

which aims at reducing to a minimum the responsibilities

of the

State to

provide the
is

conditions

of

either

tantamount to a denial human, or humanity a two propositions which are bound up rational aspect principles. alike with common-sense and Liberal
intellectual

development,

that society has

Attacks upon education originating from Hatfield are

not to be treated as merely illusory dangers.

The

existence of a strong opposition to educa-

tional progress springing

from

this spirit

is

no empty
It
is

nightmare of the Liberal imagination.

mitted

adthe

by

Conservative

statesmen.

During

debates on the Education

Bill of last session,

Lord

Cranborne made a
the

bitter attack

upon the policy of

to place
in

London School Board, who had dared

in

pianos

their

schools.

Lord
the

Salisbury,

the

autumn of

1895, deprecated
;

payment of high

salaries to teachers

and, indeed, he seems incapable

of considering any other than the financial aspect of

the question.
limit
It
is

the refinement of cynicism

sacrifices

to
it

your view of education to the

at the

which

may demand
It is

hands of the ratepayers.

a great misfortune that this banausic view held by

should be

men who enjoy

the

more com-

manding

influence than

country squire.

The

88

Liberal

View

of Education.
ill

complaint

comes with an

grace,

as

Mr. John

Morley has remarked, from

no expense has been spared
enjoyed
all
;

men on whose education and the rich man who has

when he grudges
his

the

facilities

which the country can proof

vide, cuts a contemptible figure

contribution

to

the cost

supplying

elementary

instruction for the poor,

to
fall

who have no

other resources
re-

back upon.

Such an attitude suggests

flections

on the
of

sterilising influence of the

surround-

ings

of luxury

and of privilege on the generous

instincts

mankind.

The

proposal

to

place

an
for

arbitrary restriction

upon national expenditure

Bill of last session.

education was not the least remarkable of the extra-

ordinary provisions of the

The
at
in

temper
large
is

in

which

it

was received by the country

not likely to encourage further proposals

and Sir John Gorst has taken an early opportunity of disowning it in his article in the North American Rcvieiv. "To attempt to limit by a hard and
this direction,
fast line the cost of

elementary education

is

as absurd

as to attempt to limit the cost of a

But

its

inclusion in the

gun or a warship." Government Bill was an

proof,
if is

ominous phenomenon, and gave a

needed, that a Conservative

proof were
the step-

Ministry

mother of education.
tent

The
to

spirit

of jealous disconof

has long been

chafing under the progress

education,

occasionally
the

break

out

into

noisy
of
a

expression under

sympathetic

influence
will

Primrose League audience.

But

it

be an

evil

The School Boards.

day
for the

189

country when

it

comes

to

dominate the

Council Chamber

of the nation.

This antagonism to education has taken a concrete

form

in the

attack upon the School Board system.

Any

proposal to place restraint upon the freedom of

of the

action

School

Boards
It
is,

is

objectionable

to

Liberals on two grounds.

in

the

first

place,

an

interference with the administration of a local popular

authority.

School

Boards are elective bodies

re-

sponsible to the ratepayers,

who have
upon
if

the opportunity
policy every
is

of pronouncing judgment
three
years.

their

The remedy,
lies in

the

School Board

extravagant,

the hands of the electors.

Such a policy is, in the second place, a serious menace to the progress of education, for the history
of the advance which

education has

made during

recent years

is

the history of the enterprise and the

activity of the School Boards.

The

services of these

bodies to education in large towns are acknowledged

by

Sir

John Gorst

"

Two-fifths of the children of

school age are to be found in the Metropolis

and

in

the large county boroughs having their

Boards.
In these the

own School

members have been most generally elected from those who are sincerely desirous of promoting good education, and who take
most satisfactory
;

Act manner

of 1870 has worked in the

the

a lively interest in municipal government, and they

have established thoroughly

efficient schools."

Investigation of the field of

work upon which any

190

A Liberal View
Board
is

of

E ducat/ox.
to the

large School

engaged brings into prominence

the importance which such a

interests

body attaches
its
is

which have been entrusted to

for

charge.

The Liverpool Board,

provide education
in

example,

not content to

elementary subjects during the

daytime.

It

has established schools for woodwork,

metal work, and chemistry, and has instituted evening

classes for the teachers,

which

may

be attended by

teachers in voluntary institutions, as well as by those

in their

own.
fruits

The

of the School Board system are the

increase in the
struction,

number

of children

who

receive in-

and the improvement

which they
receive.

in the quality of the

instruction
tion
is

Elementary educa-

not confined to-day to reading, writing, and

;

arithmetic
schools

but in 1869 rather more than half of the

inspected

only

offered

those

subjects

for

examination.

To-day the education code embraces

and

English, history, geography, and elementary science

as
class

subjects
physics,

modern languages, mathespecific

matics,

amongst the
subjects
in

subjects,
in the

or

subjects taken
classes.

by individual children
are

upper

But these
in

taught far more

generally

Board than
grant

Voluntary schools.

larger percentage of

Board than of Voluntary schools

for a

earn the
1

highest

class subject,^ whilst

85 per cent, of Board schools earned the highest grant for and 87 per cent, for iccond ; Voluntary schools, 68 per cent, in both cases.
1894
:

first

class subjects,

Educational Progress.
19 per cent, of

191

the scholars in Board schools were

presented
1894,

for

examination
cent,

in

specific

subjects

in

and only 6 per

not
difficult, in
is

of those in Voluntary

schools.
It is

the light of such statistics, to

understand what
of the Board

meant by the undue competition

schools, or to see in such complaint the

most striking testimony to the value of the system. The Higher Grade schools which have been

by some School Boards are absolutely indispensable, in the absence of any definite organisaThese tion of secondary education in the country.
established

schools

are threatened

by any proposal

to

hamper

the School Boards.

For, although

many

Continental

countries possess an organised and graduated system

of education, extending from the primary school to

the university, in

England there is no such system. Twenty years ago Matthew Arnold drew attention
to the chaotic

condition of higher education in this

last

country

and the Report of the Commission of

year has served to bring this matter before public

notice.

The Higher Grade

ground alone
it

schools in
in

many

places

supply a very serious omission

our system, and

on

this

is

criminal folly to restrict

the expenditure of the School Boards.

There
history of

is

another consideration, suggested by the

is

the School Board system, which worth.

It

not

without

its

was urged by Liberal Edube

cationists before 1870 that education could never

192

A Liberal View
its

of Education.
it

rescued from

unsatisfactory condition until

was
ac-

entrusted to local elective bodies.

last

The

history of the

twenty-five years

shows

conclusively

the

curacy of this prediction, and vindicates the cardinal

Liberal principle of local self-government.

The

ad-

mission of the people to a control over this important

branch of

domestic administration

has

effected

revolution in the educational condition of the country.

Democratic

self-government

has once again

been

proved to be the secret of national progress.

Two

motives underlie

tlie

opposition

to public

expenditure on education.

sighted economy appeal to

faith in education
itself,

The counsels of shortmany who have little and who grudge the money
Such a

spent upon

it

as an unprofitable investment.

view has no claim to serious consideration. To argue with the man who would apply a commercial standard
to the results of education constrains an apology, as

acter in terms of hard cash, or that

implying an admission that you can measure charyou can describe

the purpose of the State in the language of the Stock

Exchange.

But

it

is

possible to
this

meet the objections

and to present an

which proceed from

source,

man who goes to his The following passage is ledger for his principles. taken from Sir John Lubbock's book, "The Use of Life " : "The year 1870, the year of the passing of the
overwhelming case
to

the

Education Act, was a most important epoch

in

the

False Economy.
social

193
that

history

of

our country.

At

time the

number of
1,400,000.

children in our elementary schools

It is
.''

was
has

now over

5,000,000.

And what
the

been the result

statistics.

First, let

me

take

criminal

Up

to

1877 the number of persons in

In that year
it

prison showed a tendency to increase.

the average

number was

20,800.

Since that year

is

has steadily decreased, and

now

only 13,000.

It

has therefore diminished

third.

in

round numbers by oneSince 1870 has been

But we must remember that the population

it

has been steadily increasing.

increased by one-third.
in

If

our criminals had increased

the same proportion, they would have been 28,000

instead
case,

of 13,000, or more than double.

In that

then, our expenditure

at
least

on police and prisons

^8,000,000
instead
is

would have been

^4,000,000.

of

In juvenile crime the decrease

even

Turning to poor-rate statistics, more satisfactory. we find that in 1870 the number of paupers to every
thousand of the population was over
as high as 52.
47.
It

has been

Since then
is

it

has fallen to 22.

The
it

proportion, therefore,

less

than one-half of what

used to
rates
is

be.

Our annual expenditure on the poor from

and supposing
it

;^8,000,000,
it

had remained at
;^i6,ooo,ooo,

the former rate,

or i^8,ooo,ooo

would have been over

more than the present amount. If, then, at the same rate as twenty years ago, the cost of our criminals would have been ;^4,ooo,ooo more than it is, and our poor rate

we were now paying

194

Liberal

View of Education
The
nation
is,

;^8,ooo,ooo larger.

therefore, saving

;^ 1 2,000,000 annually

in return for increased

expendi-

ture on education."

The

return of criminal statistics for the year 1894

cent, of the prisoners con-

shows that only four per

victed during that year could read and write well.^

These

figures

give

literal

accuracy to Victor

Hugo's assertion that "he who opens a school closes a prison," and .should satisfy even the uneasy apprehensions of the party of economy
in education.

There

is

another motive actuating this hostility to

School Boards.

Their expenditure and their

efforts

to raise the standard of education are discountenanced by some who consider that the interests of

Voluntary schools

suffer

in

consequence.
is

The imwatched

provement

in the

Board school education

it

with misgiving, because

necessitates

some improve-

ment

in the education of the Voluntary schools. Here

we have

a distinct illustration of the difference be-

tween the view of education taken by Liberals and

that taken

by the sectarian

party.

The

friends of

Voluntary schools are willing to sacrifice the highest interests of education for the immediate advantage of
their

own

schools and their

own

party.
"

Lord

Salis-

bury's advice to the Church party to

:

capture the

' Mr. Roebuck in 1850 "You make laws, you erect prisons, you have the gibbet, you circulate throughout the country an army of judges and barristers to enforce the law, but your religious bigotry precludes the chance or the hope of your being able to teach the people so as to prevent the crime which you send round this army to punish."

Sectarian
School
spirit.

Bias.
illustration
is

195
of
this

Boards

"

is

striking

The
in

progress of education

not regarded as
it

an end

itself.

Every question which

raises

is

considered and discussed without reference to national

welfare, but solely

from the point of view of the

in-

fluence of

Board schools upon the pockets of volun-

tary subscribers.
part

The

sacrifice

of the whole to a

the

only guiding principle of Conservative

statesmanship

determines

the attitude of the party

to this as to other issues.

The School Boards

is

are to

be crippled, popular education

the standard of national

to

be proscribed,
is

instruction

to be deter-

mined

solely

by

considerations of a sectarian interest.

But any proposal to hamper the freedom of School

Boards or to thwart their educational policy must be

met with a determined

resistance.

No

effort

must be

spared to safeguard one of the most valuable of our

democratic institutions. With regard to School Boards

in villages,
it

is

possible that

found necessary

in the direction of larger areas.

some change may be Such

more

a reform would not interfere with the principles of local

self-government, and might perhaps conduce to a

generous and a more public-spirited administration.

I

have thought

it

necessary to define at some

length the Liberal attitude to these particulars.

The view

that public provision for education

is

largess from the

bounty of the

rich for the benefit of

the poor, rather than the discharge of an elementary

obligation in the interests of the whole community,

196

Liberal

View of Education.
prominent adherents. Nothing

has, unhappily, certain

could be more fatal than the spirit of

utterances of public

many

of the

men on

education to the sense

of a civic relationship' transcending distinctions of

class,

which should unite with the

ties

of a

common

history and a

common

purpose to bind the members

of a State into the " Single city."

There

is

another question
definite

in

the

modern problem

which demands the

and unflinching applica-

tion of Liberal principles.

Before considering what should be our policy with

regard to Voluntary schools,
let

us examine the claims

politicians.

made on
It
is

their behalf

by Conservative
great

common assumption
that

of the Conservative of

politician

the a

mass
of
societies.

the

people

deliberately
is

prefer

system

education which

directed

by

religious

But

can

it

be

reasonably
extension
of

contended
of

that

the

comparatively

slow

the

School

Board

system
for

is

evidence

the

general

enthusiasm
?

definite

religious instruction with clerical control

In the

first

place, a parish

cannot always obtain a

of the Department has

School Board.
first

The consent

to be gained,

and such consent does not always There is little liberty Government in office,

follow an overwhelming vote in favour of the adoption

of the School Board system.

of choice with a Conservative
1

Who

has not noticed the influence in Scotland of the old custom

lairds of sending their children to the village school ?

amongst the

VOLUNTARYIST CLAIMS.

I97
in

and the present Vice-President of the Council has

one conspicuous instance overridden local sentiment.

The

provision which fettered local

autonomy

in this

respect

was one of the chief blemishes of the Act

not zeal for dogmatic

of 1870. In the second place,

it

is

teaching which has preserved the Voluntary schools

from

extinction.

One thousand
is

of

these

schools

contrive to maintain their sectarian existence on an

income not one penny of which

subscriptions.
suffices to

due to voluntary
content with

The Government

grant in these cases

is

maintain a school which

a low standard of efficiency.

The
it

present

Duke

of
to

Devonshire

said,

in

1876, that

was important

demand
tions,

that the assistance from the Imperial grant

should not exceed the amount of the local subscrip-

because a rough guarantee was thereby pro-

vided that a denominational school was not unpopular

in

a particular neighbourhood.

It is

unnecessary to

point out that no such guarantee exists in these one

thousand parishes.
of
all
is

But the most conclusive evidence

the policy adopted

by the managers of a
defiis

Voluntary school when they have to meet a

ciency of accommodation.

The appeal
for

for help

not justified

by enthusiasm
Mr.
Balfour's

religious teaching,

but by considerations of finance.

The

ratepayers are

warned,

in

language, that they are

threatened

with

School

Board.

contrast

is

drawn between the burdens of voluntary subscription

98

Liberal

View of Education.
rate.

and an involuntary

The
is

love of

the love of creed are dressed in the

money and same uniform,

large

and

their

common watchword
in

the Voluntary school.

places

Railway companies are

scribers to these schools,

some

sub-

and one cannot reasonably

regard them as animated by a strong preference for

a particular type of dogmatic teaching.

To

investiis

gate

the

origin

of voluntary
of

subscriptions

to

discover

the

motive
is,

the voluntary subscriber.

cases, to

That motive
But even
is

in

many
in his

be found

in

his

pocket rather than

if

conscience.

such considerations be ignored, what

of
the
test

the

strength
is

Conservative

contention

There

no better
which
it

of enthusiasm

than the
if

sacrifices

can command.*

Even

the in-

discriminate volume of voluntary subscriptions,

some
com-

i^8oo,ooo per annum, be placed wholly to the credit

of the denominational party, such a sum,

parison with
the
is

in

enormous

resources

of

wealthy

Churchmen,
But

not a very eloquent testimony to the

popularity of the denominational system.

if

the
in

profession

that

these

schools
in

are

maintained

the

majority of
is

instances
it
is,

the

interest of religion
original.

not honest,

further, not

The

party

which

seeks

to

perpetuate
in-

clerical control at the

expense of education has

its

herited the spirit and sophistry of

^

Conservative

It is

only

fair to

point out that the

Roman

Catholics have never

abandoned a single school.

The Sacrifice Demanded.

forefathers,

199

who

while subordinating every considerafor the influence of

tion to regard

the Established
It

Church, claimed to be the champions of religion.

was

in the

name
its

of religion that the country was comits

pelled to leave the education of

children and the

training of
society

teachers

in

the hands of a religious

for

which never affected any zeal

secular

instruction."

What

sacrifices are
?

to-day demanded of

us for the
built

same object

Schools which are badly

in

and badly equipped are to be maintained

;

perpetuity

the teachers are to be underpaid

;

and
ill-

subjected to religious tests

the children are to be

"

taught

the " religion of the parent

some cases to be slighted. The whose function it is to take an

at any

rate, in

intelligent foreigner,

impartial and a de-

tached view of our native institutions, would learn

with surprise that there are only nine Board schools
in

which religious instruction

is

not given, and that

is

the undenominational

teaching, which

regarded
it

with

such horror by some Churchmen when

is

is

given in a Board school,

in

the religious instruction

^ Lord John Russell's proposal to establish a State Training College 1839 was defeated by the opposition of the National Society. There are to-day 43 Training Colleges, of which 30 are Church of England,

Roman
-

Catholic,

2 Wesleyan,

and 8

British

and Foreign School

Society and Undenominational.

Vide Report of

Duke

It is interesting to

of Newcastle's Commission, 1 861. compare with the report which shows

that the

managers of the Voluntary schools were mainly, if not only, interested in religious education, the recent threat of the Guardian to the effect that the Church would employ her schools exclusively for the purposes of re-

ligious instruction unless her

demands

for further assistance

were

satisfied.

200
which
is

Liberal
all

View of Education.
day boys
continued
in the

given to

higher schools

of the country.^

We

cannot therefore accept the

existence of
those

hypothesis that the

schools
is

justified

by a

general

and

deliberate

preference for this type of teaching and control, or

that
it

is

a genuine apprehension that religion will

be otherwise neglected which prompts the majority of

subscribers to support them.

Now
is

turn to the question of their control.

In eight thousand villages the "National" School

the only school.
It
is

governed by a body of

men
and
of

over

whom

the inhabitants of the village and

even the parents of the children have no control,

such
autocratic

government
and

carries

with

it

opportunities

of unfair

ungenerous treatment

Nonconformists.

These schools are too often

regarded by the clergy as institutions for making

Churchmen
is

rather than citizens, and the atmosphere

consequently uncongenial to the child of Noncon-

formist parents.

The

trust

deed of
the

many

of these

schools

incorporated

with

National

Society

obliges the managers to

employ only Churchmen on

restriction
is

the

staff,

and undoubtedly such a

it

substantial hardship, as

means

that in a
is

of villages the teaching profession

conformists.

closed

number to Nonsuch
a
at

The
school

position,
in

therefore,
is

of

Voluntary
^

village
J.

flagrantly

Vide letter written by the Rev.

19th, 1896.

Llewellyn Davies to the Times

of

December

Control.
variance with
Liberal
principles.
it

201

The

school

is

public only in the sense that

receives assistance

from public sources, and that the children of the

inhabitants are compelled to attend
it.

Its

manageassociait

ment
tions,

is

private, secret,
is

and autocratic, and the tone

of the school

necessarily influenced

by

its

large

number of the
if

inhabitants regard
hostility
;

with indifference,

not with open

the

people are deprived of the invaluable training of

local

self-government,

and

there

is

no

room

for

public spirit and public pride.

Such a
results.

situation
clerical

is

pregnant with mischievous

is

The
it

manager

not always proof

against the demoralising influence of power as absolute as

is

petty.

The Nonconformists harbour an

will

inevitable resentment against an institution in which

they suspect that their religious sympathies

not
the

always be respected. ^
schoolmaster
is

It

often happens

that

called

are foreign to his

political

upon to undertake duties which ofiice, and compelled to adapt his

Indeed,

sentiments to those of the rector.

the position of the teacher,

who

receives an inadeis

quate salary and

little

consideration,

one of the

gravest abuses of the Voluntary system.

' agree with the Rev. W. J. B. Richards, Roman Catholic Inspector of Schools, that the Conscience Clause is not much use as a protection. think that it is in the management of the school and

"We

We

appointment of the teachers that the true securities for fair play and freedom from the danger of proselytism are to be found. "Royal Commission, 1888: "Minority Report," p. 363.
in the

203

Liberal

View of Education.
which might be devoted to

Energies and

abilities

the public service are exhausted in a bitter, internecine feud.

There
in

is

a genuine sense of injustice,

it

which revolts

the villages, as

does elsewhere,

from the exclusive enjoyment of public authority

ex

by a private and irresponsible person. The officio becomes the measure of all things.

rector

The extension

of democratic self-government has

substituted popular for privileged control in almost

every branch of local administration.

citizen

The English

may sometimes grumble

his contributions

at the extent of his

local burdens, but

he has at least the satisfaction of

knowing that

and

his interests are

in the care of a

popular and responsible Board, and

not, as in Ireland (the

illustrations

country to which one turns for

administered
has

of

injustice),

by private
such
for

bodies

over

which

he

no

control,

as

a Grand
county.
of the
true
it

Jury nominated by the Sheriff

In Great Britain,
if

the

we except
local

the licensing
it

distributors

of drink

and knowledge,
interest

is

of

almost

every

public

that

is

under public local control.

in
is

Education, which
of

yields
terests,

importance
in

to

no

other

these
still

in-

the

majority of villages

in

the

hands of private bodies.

its

The Voluntary

school draws
its

income mainly from public funds, and

scholars

from the children of a public compelled by law to send them to that school. So long as its manage-

ment continues

to be

private,

it

occupies a unique

Need
position

for Reform.

203

amongst

local institutions.
^

Here
itself.

"

taxation

without

representation,"

that

major

premise

of

political injustice, is still

maintaining
private

This fortress

of

the

administration

of

public institutions must be assailed

by Liberals with

a ceaseless, unflagging vigour.

Opportunities there

have been

for firm

and determined action; but our

and almost the
first efforts

hands have been

idle,

of

a powerful Tory Government have been directed to

perpetuating the injustice.

Liberal
this

Government

in

1870 gave

its

countenance to

abuse, and the

march of progress
left
it

to democratic self-government has

unremedied.
is

principle

fatal

to

That compromise on a any political success is

first

clear
;

from the paralysis which has numbed our energies

from
of

the

hesitating,
;

almost inarticulate, character

our declarations

from

the

hopeless spectacle
to
lift

of a party which has not dared

redress this v/rong,
in

a hand to
its

and has vindicated

inaction

the

name

of a truce which

rather resembled a

surrender.^

To break up
villages

this

odious monopoly, to release the

from an

irritating despotism, to give life

and

scope to public activity

^

these

are worthy objects of

It is scarcely

the supervision of the a code

^

worth while to notice the ridiculous subterfuge that Department extending merely to observance of

amounts to control by the taxpayers.

monstrous paradox that the State should supplement,

Cf. the

not supplant, the efforts of Voluntary societies which has confronted

us since 1870.

204
a

Liberal
effort

View of Education.
be none the
less

Liberal

which should
it is

determined because

tardy.

When
cussion.

this private control

has been abolished, the

question of religious instruction will be open for dis-

There

is

no necessary antagonism between

Liberal principles and differential dogmatic teaching,

under proper conditions and with definite safeguards.

Definite religious teaching has so long been associated with a hateful

and intolerable system that

But
I

it

comes

into court under a stigma.

venture to

think that the most hopeful solution of a controversy

which has gone near to bringing the very name of

religion into

contempt

will

be found

in

some scheme
in all schools,

admitting of denominational education

and private control

in

none.

A scheme could
time
in

be devised by which, at a stated

each school, teachers selected by the various

in

denominations

each locality should give instruc-

tion to the children of their several denominations in

religion, and, if necessary, in history.
If this instruction

were not a gratuitous service

their re-

on the part of the teachers, the cost of

muneration
would,
of course,
fall

upon

their

own

religious societies.

None

of the objections attaching to the present

system could be urged against such a scheme.

The

State would not pay for religious instruction, which

would be given at the expense of the denominations. The teachers would not be subject to religious tests,

Religious Instruction
for

Scheme.

205

they would
;

only teach

or

necessarily teach

secular subjects
all

whilst the effective public control of

schools, unlike the ineffective Conscience Clause,

would safeguard the system against the abuses of

sectarian
spirit.

But the essential preliminary to

the consideration of any such scheme (a return,

by
in

the way, to the

policy of

many good

Liberals

the past)

is

the establishment of an effective public

all

control over

the schools.
see,

We

might then hope to

what we have never

all

yet seen in England,' a genuine co-operation on

sides in the

work of education,
of
conflicting

liberated from the

distractions
satisfy

interests.^

We

should

the

sense of justice of

minority which

cannot accept undenominational

lieves that

religion

and

be-

moral teaching can only be given with

metaphysical sanctions.

certain definite

We

should

escape from the shifting quicksands of an illogical

compromise

(to

which we have

sacrificed the

freedom

of more than half the schools) to the firm rock of

a reasoned and intelligible system.

But the Liberal view of education demands more

than a readjustment of existing
irregularities.

The

agitation which has been excited

Bill

may
Note the

well

be turned to

by the Education account by directing

between England and

striking contrast in this respect

is

Scotland, where, of course, there

^

universal popular control.

What can be more

office

revolting than the treachery of men who take on a Board with the deliberate purpose of obstructing its work ?

2o6

A
more

Liberal

View of Education.
is

attention to other details in which there

for a

urgent need

active

and more generous

of
all,

policy.

There

is, first

the question of the age limit.

session

The Education
which children
the

Bill

of last

proposed that

twelve should be substituted for eleven as the age at

may work
is

half-time.

An amendment
In

of the education law

first

required on two grounds.

place, not only does the withdrawal of child-

ren from school at an early age under

any circumwaste, but

is,

stances involve considerable educational

steady attendance at school

till

a later age

in

par-

ticular, the necessary condition of an effective use of

the

facilities

for technical

education.

The

veriest
it

rustic recognises the folly of

is

working a horse when

too young.

If the question
it is

be restricted solely to

economic considerations,

an equally short-sighted

policy to allow children to be taken

away from
England

school
suffers,

and sent

to

work

at

an early age.
in

and deserves to
school.

suffer,

competition

with other

countries for the early age at which her children leave

There
last

is

another question closely allied with the

at

that

of attendance

evening schools.

The

growth of these schools, and the encouragement which they have received by a special code from the Education

Department, have done a great deal towards

schools conducted

rescuing education from the charge of ineffectiveness.

The evening

by some of the large

School Boards are

among

the most valuable of their

Evening Schools.
great services
to

207
girls

education.

Boys and

who

would otherwise have

tion gained
in

lost the benefit of the instruc-

the day school have been enabled to

add to
the

their store of learning,

and
in

to grasp

some of

principles
It

of the

industries

which they are

engaged.

would increase the value of these schools

if

very considerably

attendance were

sory up to a certain age.

tried with

made compulThe experiment has been

large firm of alkali
it

marked success by a

manufacturers/ who

make

a condition of employ-

ment

in

their

service

that boys

up

to the

age of
is

seventeen must attend an evening school.

Nor

the

compulsory clause regarded as a hardship by the

boys, for they have of the system.

compulsory
his

is

come to recognise the advantages The effect of making such attendance to protect a man from the consequences

of a merely temporary dislike of book-work during

as a

boyhood, at an age when he could not be regarded competent judge of his own interests.

There

is

much

still

to be

done within the province

of elementary education.

education are in a far

It is

But technical and higher more unsatisfactory condition.

in

only during recent years that serious attention

all

has been given at

widely

this

country to these

The Science and Art Department was till 1890 the sole public authority which was able to give financial assistance to the teaching
important questions.
of technical subjects.
'

The County Councils have

Mond &
Co., Northwich.

in

Messrs. Brunner,

2o8

Liberal

View of Education.
work during the
last six

many

cases done admirable

years by turning to good account the Local Taxation

(Customs and Excise) Act of 1890.

Instruction

The Technical

Committees, for example, of Cheshire,

Surrey, and the

West Riding
results.

of Yorkshire have con-

structed educational systems which are already pro-

ducing very striking

The importance

of improving our facilities for

technical instruction, to enable English industries to

meet foreign competition,

is

now happily

receiving

wider recognition, and the prejudice against substituting the methods of science for the traditions of age
is

succumbing before the

logic of hard fact.

It is

now

acknowledged that the sting of Continental competition lies in the Continental school.

This

is

true in

particular of one great industry, to which attention

has

been directed
is

for

some

time.

Agricultural deat

pression

theme of discussion audit dinner, where the country squire

the

every rent

joins with the

overrented tenant in paying a lugubrious

the broken idol of Protection.

homage
were

to

Conservative promises
in-

to help the agriculturist, as lavish as they

definite,

were scattered throughout the constituencies

during the late election.

The

legislation

of

last

Session indicates the spirit in which they are to be

carried into effect.

Liberals recognise as readily as

the opposite party the evils of agricultural depression,

but they do not find in an Agricultural

Land Rating
they look

Act the

salvation

of

agriculture,

and

Agricultural Education.

209

askance at the Protective policy which Conservatives

are

now

trying to galvanise into

life.

The

future of

agriculture rests largely with the agriculturists themselves.

It

should

be the policy of the friends of

restrictions

agriculture to

remove the

which hamper
help him
to

the enterprise of the farmer,

and

to

make

the most effective use of his skill and intelli-

gence, the only weapons on which he can rely in the

struggle.
action.

Such a policy suggests two courses of

An

antiquated system of land tenure must

be amended to give the tenant greater freedom and

greater security, and agricultural education

must be

more widely
It is

distributed.
I

with the latter policy that

am

concerned.

The Cheshire County Council has

an agricultural school, and
that this
it is

lately established

to be earnestly

hoped

example

will

be generally followed.
is

The
in-

value of these institutions

illustrated

by the

formation given in the Report of Mr. Plunkett's Recess

Committee.

We

learn from this

Report that there has been a

regular system
since 1848,

of agricultural education in France

and that Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Bavaria, and Hungary have, one and all,

well-organised systems of agricultural schools.

influence of such training

The

upon the
is

skill

and resource-

fulness of the agriculturist

well seen in the history

of Danish farming.

The

trade in butter, for which

Denmark
O

is

famous, has grown

up within the

last

2IO

Liberal

View oe Education,
in

twenty years, and the trade

eight
years.

bacon within the

generation

last

During the

last

Denmark

has been successfully converted from a corn-growing

to a dairying and stock-raising country.

Technical instruction

is

likewise provided for in

these countries on a generous and elaborate system.

The Report

of Mr. Plunkett's Committee gives

some

Wurtemburg.^ "Forty years ago, Wurtemburg," in the words of the man who had most to do with its subsequent uplifting, "was purely agricultural and impoverished by over-population." Its condition was then deinteresting information with regard to

scribed

as " deplorable."

To-day

it

is

one

of the

most thriving hives of manufacturing industry on the

Continent, and the British Minister at Stuttgart
able to report as follows
"
:

is

England now buys from Wurtemburg blankets,

chemicals,
furniture,

carpets, flannels, hosiery, linens, tissues, instruments,

types, drugs,

paper,
hats,

ivory goods, woodpianos,

carving, clothes

toys,

gunpowder,

and

stays.

once pre-eminently English,

The manufacture now is

of gunpowder,
a speciality of

Wurtemburg, and the Rottweil Mills have attained

such celebrity that they supply powder for artillery

and blasting
and Servia.
famous

to Bavaria, Russia, Holland,

England,

manufacture of small arms has also

obtained a footing, the Mauser factory being

all

now

over the world

'

for

its

repeating

rifles."

Pp. 57-58.

Technical Instruction Abroad.

To-da}', as the Director of the
told Mr. Mulhall,
"

211

Royal Bank

at Stuttgart

there

is

not a pauper in the King-

dom
in

of Wlirtemburg."

In the midst of the depresall

sion of trade

and industry which affected

"

Europe and

1886, the British

Minister had to report to his

Government that

the prosperity of the nation

well-being of the masses have suffered no interruption.

No

real depression exists here."

The Report proceeds

for the

to

describe the

methods and then

adopted by the Central-Stelle or Board of Industries

distribution of trade information,

passes on to an account of the very elaborate system

of technical instruction which obtains in the country.

It is

mainly to the enterprise and judgment of the

of

County Councils that we must look for the extension agricultural and technical teaching in its more
But the Provincial Colleges render
in the provision of special training, assist-

elementary stages.
admirable service

and they are

ance.

in

urgent need of increased State

deputation waited upon the Chancellor of

the Exchequer in the

the grant of
;f

autumn of 1895

to request that

15,000 a year to these colleges should be

doubled, but that request has, unfortunately, not yet

been granted.
this object

The

result of a

generous provision

for

upon the productive power of the nation

for
it

would be enormous,
influence of

is

impossible to ignore the

technical

education upon trade, or the

it

important part which

industries
in

has played
If

in

building up
industrial

other countries.

the

212

Liberal
it

View of Education.
ought to mean, the substitution

revolution means, as

of scientific principles for empirical methods, technical

training
is becoming more and more necessary. The true friend of British commerce is not the man who attempts to restrict the national view of Empire to the advantages of its markets, but the man who seeks to arm British industry with the only weapon by which foreign competition can be

successfully confronted.

Moreover, such a policy would do

much towards
increase

adding dignity and freedom to the status of the

employed.

Education

does
It

not

merely

the productivity of labour.

helps to release the

mind of the

skilled labourer

from the brute tyranny

only by edu-

of a machinery to which he ministers, but which he

otherwise does not understand.

cation
that

It is

men become

active^

and

sympathetic
it,

members of an
service
is

industrial society.

Without

their

too often only a mechanical process in an

unintelligible system. to

To

educate the wage-earner

is

make

industry more human.

But technical educaco-operation

for
;

tion

does not merely substitute the freedom of a

self-conscious

reasoning and

the
also

slavery of a service unthinking and untaught

furthers another Liberal ideal.
'

it

It

helps to equalise
for

Note the emphasis

laid

on education by the Society

Education
is

Promoting

Co-operative Production.

a necessary condition of the

achievement of the splendid ideal of this society. The efficiency of the school has contributed, with other obvious causes, to the growth of the

movement

in

France.

Secondary Education,
the status of employer

213
It
is

and

employed.

an

important factor
fictitious,

in

securing a genuine, and not a

dis-

freedom of contract by an equitable

tribution of those advantages which wealth otherwise

secures to one only of the parties to the negotiation.

The mutual
it

respect of employers and

employed

is

indispensable to satisfactory industrial relations,^ and

can only be secured by a wider distribution of

education throughout the industrial community.

Secondary education
condition.

is

in

still

more inchoate

The supply of such schools is hopelessly inadequate.^ The important part which they play in
the

making of
solely

citizens

is

obvious enough, and must

not be overlooked from a tendency to regard education

as

an immediate

preparation
It is

for

career in a particular industry.

interesting also

Technical instruction in Switzerland

it

" Here, as in Belgium and

is little

elsewhere, the authorities consider that

use to teach children

reading, writing, and arithmetic, unless you undertake to carry on their

life, and make them good members So thoi^oughly is this principle adhered to, that the ordinary artisan is often on the same intellectual level as his employer, and it has been observed by an English writer that Where master and operative are both educated men, as in Switzerland, they seem to get on " better, because, in a manner, on a footing of equality.' Report of

education in the practical duties of

of society.

Mr. Plunkett's Recess Committee. " It must be observed, however, that endowed schools, whether good or bad, afford very inadequate provision for the secondary education of The total number of scholars in the endowed the whole country.
schools
2
in

the selected

schools, such as

counties, even when we include non-local Rugby and Charterhouse, amounts only to 21,878, or

per thousand of the population." "5 Commission, p. 48.

Report of

Secondary Education

214

-^

Liberal

View

op Education.

to observe that the skill

and capacity of the Danish

Mr. Plunkett's Report

farmer

is

in part attributed in

to the training
in the rural

in history,

literature,

and language

distribution of land

High Schools, the other factor being the amongst small freeholders.
authorities, suggested
is

Organisation, such as the creation of one central

and many

local

by the Se-

condary Education Commission,

to bring existing agencies into

urgently required

some systematic relaendowments and, by means of scholarships, to place good schools within reach of every boy of ability. But to combine
tion, to

make

the best use of existing

with any proposals a stipulation that no rate shall be

levied

beyond the
Session,

limit provided

by the Technical
at

Instruction Act, as was done in the Education Bill

of

last

is

enormously to discount

the

outset the value

of such organisation.

To

bring

technical and higher instruction within the reach of

every boy and

girl

who

is

competent to take adjustifies a

vantage of

it, is

an object which

generous

expenditure of public money.

But the foundation stone upon which

structure of educational machinery
is

this superis

to be built
in

the Primary School.

Any

weakness

Elementary
renders
^

Education

vitiates

the whole system, and

Sir

nugatory the whole policy.

John Gorst

has

pointed out that the efforts of some of the County

Council Technical Instruction Committees have been

'

North American Review, Octol^er, 1896,

p.

435.

An Educated
incapacitated

Plebiscite.

215

frustrated, because ignorance of

elementary subjects
the

the children

of

peasantry from

taking advantage of technical classes.

Higher educa-

tion implies a certain standard of knowledge,

is

and

it

attempt to teach, for instance, the principles of agriculture to a boy who has not grasped the
idle to

elements of arithmetic.
If

primary

instruction

does

not

develop
further.

the

reasoning faculty, education will go no

Thus

the argument comes back in a circle to the Elementary School.

I

Hie fons
for

et origo mali.

have claimed

education that
freedom.

it

is

an

indis-

pensable condition of
those

For

this

reason
activity,

who

are the friends of a

monopoly of

whether
effort,

in politics or in

discourage

its

progress,

any other sphere of human and gladly avail

themselves of the pretext of economy to restrict in virtue of this quality It is distribution. its
that the cause of education
is

sacred to Liberals.
chief ally
in

They
citizenship

recognise in

it

their

their

endeavour to make Government more democratic,

more

real,

and national

life

more

self-

conscious.

They do

not fear to submit the issues

of an hereditary
tration to

reason to

chamber and decentralised adminisan educated tribunal, and they have no shrink from an educated judgment upon
of
local

the questions
form.
stupid.

taxation and land

for

law

re-

They have no motive

keeping the electors

2i6
It is

Liberal Vjfav of Education.

a political axiom of Liberal philosophy that

the good, or the activity, or the character, which the

State should promote

is

the good of the whole people,

class.

and not that of a particular

Liberal
policy, inspired

The

ideals of

by
It is

this

principle, are

con-

cerned alike with the abstract form and the practical

results of

Government.

only under democratic

conditions that the political institutions of a country

will at

once express and foster the character and the This doctrine of
faith

activity of the v/hole people.

compels the demand

for self-government for Ireland

and the denial of the arrogant claim of an hereditary Liberal principles chamber to legislative authority.
find expression again in the

attempt to reform systems

of land tenure and land taxation which operate to

the advantage of a class and to the prejudice of the

community
minimise the

at

large,

and also

in

the endeavour to

and the limitations of poverty by adjusting the incidence of public burdens and regulating the conditions of employment.
disabilities

But the demand that our schools and that they

shall

shall

be

efficient,

be the public instruments of a

place in a policy which

popular authority, rather than the private weapons of

a sectarian party, finds
its

seeks to give scope and effect to the free play of

personal

character

and individual

choice.

It

is

because education
character that

is so momentous we dare not trust its

in its results

on
to

direction to

any

but a public and popular authority, least of

all

The School and Democracy.

men who can
it

217
if

forget the claims of citizenship, even

be in obedience to the dictates of a Church.

No

influence has the power of education to foster or to starve the civic spirit, to nurture or to poison the

enthusiasms of a democracy.
that

For

it

is

in

the school

you begin

to

mould

the character and the

opinions of your citizens

their choice

who will one day make between true principles of Empire and Government and the false ideals of men who wish
rather

the State to suppress

than to express the

not

character of its citizens, or

who honour empire

as the sacred trust to preserve, but as a brute force to destroy the liberties of nations.
If the surface

be

ill-prepared, you may stamp upon it impressions of civic freedom and civic duty, and they will not survive order well your groundwork, and you to-morrow
;

need not fear that even the potent lye of material

interest will

wash out the fast-dyed

J.

print of reverence

for free and equal law.

Lawrence Hammond.

219

HISTORIC BASIS OF LIBERALISM.

Extinction of Yeomen Parliament established by Revolution of 1688 Deadness of National Life Peasantry deliberately pauperised French Revolution assists Reforming Impulse for the MomentSoon stifled by Dominant Class Which resists all Reform, even
after

1815 Liberal Party

slackens,

carried The Poor

Law Free

gathers Strength First Reform Bill at last Trade Movement 1848, and Ireland
at

Progress

1850-1865 Lord Palmerston,

Home and

Abroad Followed by Mr. Gladstone Disraeli and his Ministry The Berlin Treaty Evil Effects of, till Present Day Mr. Gladstone's
Second Cabinet Third Reform Bill Mr. Gladstone accepts Home Rule The Split: its Meaning Home Rule rejected Appearance of Labour Question Strikes and Riots The Education Election of Home Rule again Rejected by the Lords Retirement 1892

of Mr.

Gladstone 1895, the Great Defeat Dalliance with CollectivismBack to the Earlier Ideal The Promises of Socialism Its
Materialist
Ideals

Aims
Leader

" The

City

of

Pigs

"

Liberalism

v.

False

? The

Battle before us.

IN changed
there was

the

Revolution of 1688 the

masters.

Enghsh people

substituted the

For the authority of the king authority of the Houses

of

Parliament.

Thoughout the eighteenth century

the power of this

self-sufficing

body existed unquestioned as the It did everymeans of government.

thing

it

displaced ministers,
policy
in

made laws and

dictated
it

the national
all

war and peace, and

independent and
of

did

this without assistance from the nation at large.

itself,

Parliament stood by
In
17 14

isolated.

describing

the
to

Revolutions

1688

and

we

are

wont

say

that

they established

220

The Historic Basis or Liberalism.

;

Parliamentary government
is

the

word

"

established

"

well chosen.
it

The

Constitution was an end in

itself,

and

never crossed the minds of the statesmen of

the early Georges that something more was needed

to complete the national greatness than an elaborate

system of
could

"

checks and balances

in

"

whereby the Crown

the

live

harmony with

Parliamentary

Estates.
will

In none of the great documents of the time

find the suggestion that the people should

you

share in the work of government.

The makers

of

the Revolution were content with the Constitution as

it

then existed.

They never dreamed

of providing

any means
It is to

for the

removal of those defects, which

would inevitably appear.

the composition of the
that

itself

we must

look

if

House of Commons we would understand how

far

was the people from a share in government. Broadly speaking, the Commons were all members
the actual
squires
barrier.^

of the aristocratic class, separated from

peerage by but a narrow

They were
was
only

and great landowners

house
1
;

often

cadets of a great

Whig

the

merchant

element

scantily

,rom Assemblies of

need hardly remind readers that the House of Commons differs tiie Third Estate in other countries, in that, from Abroad, the the very first, it contained members of the noblesse. noble, however poor, was sharply divided from the burgher and the
I

peasant.

The "Knights

of

the

Shire,"

who had won many

their

con-

stitutional victories in the

Middle Ages, retained

history

power too long,

and became,
this

in the eighteenth century, a close, selfish oligarchy.

On

point,

see

any

constitutional

best

of

all,

lioutmy,

Developpement de la CoitstiUiiion Anglaise, translated.

An
represented.
statute

Aristocratic Parliament.

221

And

the landowners had just passed a

preserve their political

tendhig

directly to

powers and privileges by imposing a property qualification of i^300 a year for the borough and 600 a
year for the county members of Parliament.
the

To

get

modern value of these sums we must multiply by more than two. As this qualification was to be derived from real property, town and county alike were represented by members of the territorial class. Only from their ranks could members of Parliament
be chosen.

Over these members the constituencies had

or

little

no control.

The

qualification

for

the

county

franchise

was fixed by an Act of 1430 at a freehold Though this entirely cut out annum. leaseholders, and tenants at will the copyholders, did not set up a very it an increasing class
of 40s. per

high

test,

especially

in the value of

the

past

three

when we consider the great fall money that had taken place during The freeholders were centuries.
numerous down
to 1760.

the strength of the country during the seventeenth

century, and remained fairly

But

after that date their

numbers

already

on the

go down with alarming and extraordinary decline By the end of the Napoleonic wars the rapidity. Nor can we attribute the class has ceased to exist.
change solely to the pressure of economic conditions. Improved methods of agriculture had doubtless much
to

do with

their

disappearance

they could not

322

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

compete with the great capitalist landowner. The growth of the towns struck at their cottage industries, and also provided them with a refuge whither they might
retreat

when driven

off the land.

it is

But

after allowing

for all these considerations,

impossible to acquit

the squirearchy of a deliberate and conscious attempt

to o-et rid of the

yeomen and

force

them

to sell their

lands.

In a thousand ways, by curtailing their rights

of sport,

by

legal chicanery,
theft,

by constant
sold

pressure,

and

sometimes by open

the position of the

yeoman
and the
the

was made
villages

unbearable.

He

his acres,

country knew him no more.

There were

left in

How
them

few but the labourers and tenants at will. the squires and justices of the peace dealt with
will

be shown later. But if the independence of rural England was thus gone, what was the condition of the towns, where

The spirit of the territorial class had no footing.? The corporations had dead. civic life was utterly
long been close oligarchies, jealous of all outside their The municipal franchise belonged to a minute pale.
section of the inhabitants, wherever the corporations

up by co-optation. In the hands of of the the corporation lay the whole government town, and in many cases the election of the memA large town electorate was bers of Parliament.
were not
filled

utterly

unknown

in

any borough

in

England.

But

It was a seat in Parliament was eagerly coveted. of perhaps twenty or thirty men this small body,

Boroughs in the Market.

at

223

the

outside,

who

controlled

the representation.

Besieged on every side by wealthy landowners with political ambitions, who can wonder that they gave

way
as

to

temptation, and

allowed themselves to be

bought and

sold as readily

and

as

many
?

times over

Government stock on a

rising

market

Few

insti-

tutions were ever less representative or

more corrupt

than the English boroughs of the eighteenth century

save, perhaps, the

dominant

class,

the cause of their

corruption.

As

for the

growing towns of the Mid-

lands and north-west, they were generally without

representation at
all
;

but this anomaly only became

glaringly apparent towards the

end of the century.

The

rotten boroughs with which

England abounded

were a feature of the Constitution too famous to but since they have been require denunciation here
;

sometimes praised as providing

introducing young

"

a covered

way "

for

men of more ability than wealth may suffice to point out that they into public life, it brought in ten men like George Selwyn or Bubb
Doddington
for

one

like

William

Pitt.

With such a system, one is not surprised to learn that in 1780 some six thousand men returned an absolute majority of the House of Commons.

The

institutions
to

and teaching
Universities

which should have given light the people the Church and the

were
its

slothful

and stagnant.

Careless

of

its

higher duties, the Church was oppressive to

pale
;

those without

the Test and Corporation

224

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

still

Acts were
yet recent.

in force as

mementoes of persecution
it

Their provisions,

is

true,

were evaded,

but they remained on the Statute Book, to remind

all

Dissenters

that

their

very existence was

on

sufferance.

Cabinets had long been accustomed to

use the Church as a convenient field of patronage.

Bishoprics and Deaneries were

lines, to

filled

up on party
was a hard-

serve party ends.

The

rector

riding country gentleman, neither worse nor better

than the other Squire Westerns around him.

Universities were closed to
all

The

but Churchmen, and

as places of learning were negligible quantities.

Nor were symptoms

religious

of deadness wanting in the

bodies

outside

the

Established

Church.
its

The

religious fervour of Puritanism, with

great

faults

and

its

splendid triumphs, was extinct.

Only

through Wesley and Whitfield was a certain amount

of spiritual
nation.
life

at last infused into the

mass of the

England, therefore, was wanting

in

the very rudi-

ments of political freedom.

by the
also.
It
is

materialist rule of
:

The people were brutalised classes who lived on their

political privileges

they were soon to be pauperised

not

my

intention to

go through the events

first

that

lie

between 1760 and the

Reform
in

Bill in

any

detail.

But there

is

one great page

English social

history, to pass over

which would be to misunderstand

the whole of the Liberal

movement.

mean, the

"

The Speenhamland

Act'.'

225

Speenhamland Act" of 1795, and its consequences. What that "Act" was is well known. The justices of the peace of Berkshire met and passed resolutions The wages of the on the state of the peasantry.
"

labourer were

insufficient

to

support
therefore,

life

if

corn

continued

dear.
is.,

Whenever,

the

gallon

week This allowance was to be made up allowed him. As the labourer rarely makes a out of the rates
loaf rose to

the labourer was to have

3s. a-

childless marriage, something must be done for the

beings he brings into the world.

provision of
child
is.

Therefore a further
for

6d. a

week must be made

every

born to the labourer.

all

This precedent was

adopted

over

England

supplementary
little

grants

out of the rates.

What

resulted might have been

predicted in every detail.

All motive for thrift was

taken away
be,

the labourer did as

work

as

might

knowing

that the rates would prevent

him from

starving.
rates

He

married

and

begot recklessly

the

came
system

to his aid again.

By

18 19 one-fifth of

the population of England were paupers.

the
in

This was
they

action.

But the causes which lay

behind were no more purely economic than

had been

in

the case of the yeomen. the

As

before,

we can
classes.
all

trace

conscious

policy

of the
rural

landed

They had eliminated from

the

save the wage-earners.

England of Settlement had Acts

authority
of

put the wage-earners under

territorial caste.

the

To

maintain

this authority a little

226
longer,

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

and
to

drive

the

labourer

into

veritable

serfdom, it was necessary that the landlord should Only by preprocure for him a bare subsistence. venting wholesale starvation could they save themselves,

their

power,

and
the

their

privileges.

The

hopeless condition of rural England after the Great

War
can

is

one

count

in

long indictment which

be

framed

against

the

landed

gentry as a

ruling class.

To sum up
;

the latter half of the eighteenth cen-

tury shows us a close oligarchy tending to become ever closer towns without freedom or healthy life

a peasantry pauperised, debased, and almost without hope. To right these wrongs was an imperative necessity,

and as a

result

the

Liberal
lost,

movement

early

acquired, and has never quite

the character of an

attack on privilege, on oligarchy, on caste

thing, in short,

on every-

which derogates from the dignity and freedom of the individual man. The attack must be based on principles freedom and equality must be
;

put

first

and foremost as the basis of the nation's

very existence.

To

this

England there comes the

in

first

news of the

a highly abstract form. is swept away in a All Europe stands form. highly practical, concrete round expectant and interested. In England the
Social injustice of long duration

French Revolution, are reasserted in France

Political rights,

long dormant,

Revolution

is

hailed with joy.

Ever since the days

The Ideas of

'Sg.

227

of Wilkes there had been a small, able, and deter-

mined section of men clamouring

the State.

for

wide reforms

in

In

Fox

the country possessed an orator

of immense power, ardently attached to progress and Pitt,' the Premier, to Liberal nay, Radical ideas. a disciple of Adam Smith, was a believer in Parliamentary and economic reform and though he had
;

several
views,

times

failed

to

convert

Parliament to his

he had yet good hope of ultimate success. There was a stirring in the minds of men and an impulse towards a larger and truer national
life.

The

General Election of 1784 had got rid of the worst

political corruption

as,

who should

say, an earnest of

better things ere long.

The

events in France urged

men

on.

Fox

de-

clared the Revolution the greatest

world had yet seen.

and best thing the Everywhere advanced thinkers

societies for the furtherance

formed themselves into

of Reform.
festoes,

They held meetings and published maniand kept up communication with some at
Revolutionary leaders across the Channel.
all

least of the

But amidst
Burke.

this ardent

hope and passionate ex-

pectation appeared one hostile sign

the writings of

one of those extraordinary contradictions which could only have been produced in England. He was an almost fanatical believer in

Burke

is

justice

and good government, and

his

sympathies

went

beyond
1

his

own country
Whig
to the

they
his

embraced
life.

Pitt called himself a

end of

P 2

228

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

at large.

humanity
error

But he was passionately attached

to the order of things as then existing.

He

fondled

and fostered paradox

until

he came to be the

defender of rotten boroughs and close corporations.

His "Reflections on

the French Revolution" had

probably a greater influence on English history than

any other pamphlet or piece of writing. They marked a turn in the tide then came the September Massacres
;

and the execution of the king.

in

cry of horror arose

"

England, and Burke's voice rose higher.

cried, " is the

This,"
to

men
drift

end of Reform

Are

ive, too,
}

to

the

same end
lose,

the

same excesses

propertied

classes,

the

Church, everyone

The " who had

anything to

declaimed against the Revolution,

for forty years.

and the cause of Reform was postponed

of change was held for a Jacobin.
in

Henceforward anyone who dared breathe a word

Indeed, there arose

The Habeas Corpus England a White Terror. suspended, numerous statutes were passed Act was
against any

who should make

a society or publish a

any purpose which the judges might twist Thus we have that celebrated series of into sedition. trials in Scotland which form Lord Braxfield's best claim to the affection of his countrymen.' But though
book
for

no

man dared open

there.

his lips, the discontent

and misery

were
^

Riots, arson, rick-burnings,

were numerous,

Hermiston."

R. L. Stevenson has pictured Braxfield to us in his " Weir of Chap. iii. of that book gives a specimen of his demeanour

on the bench.

The Tory Rule.

even with the Frenchmen at our very doors
;

229

and

it

was probably the knowledge of the profound tion of many among the working classes which
duced Napoleon to think of invading England.
Great

disaffecin-

War came

to an

end

in

1815.

The Those who

before spoke no word for fear of seeming unpatriotic

or disloyal were

now

at liberty to take

up once more

the question of Reform.

The Tory
because

party, however, all-

powerful during the war, had no intention of yielding

their

position

simply

Napoleon and the

Revolution had disappeared.

land
in

the future as in the past, for their

They would rule Engown benefit.

this

The power
find
it

of privilege and territorialism was to be

no whit weakened.
hard to realise
ideals of their

Englishmen of

age would

how

utterly

degraded were the

countrymen during the years which

followed 1815.
military flavour,

The

territorial class

had acquired a
officer

and the

insolent,

debauched

who had
tempt

"

vanquished

the

French,"

became the

darling of English society.^

for the civilian,

He

had a profound conThis

and an arrogance towards the

rarely been paralleled.

plebeian which

has

caricature of an aristocracy possessed a worthy head

the Regent, afterwards George IV., who very nearly

in

succeeded

name and

idea of

making the working people hate the monarch altogether.

^ Thackeray, upon whom the times of George IV. had exercised a deep influence, has supplied us with many admirable instances of this more especially in the " Book of Snobs." Possibly, Englishmen class

who have

lived in the Berlin of to-day could supply a parallel.

230

Thf.

Historic Basis of Lidrralism.

steadily.
self,

The want and misery of the people increased The Government was perfectly sure of itand passed the Six Acts of 18 19, with a view to Only by leave opinion whatsoever.
magistrate could public meetings be held at

stifling all public

of a
all,

censorship.

and newspapers were subjected to a merciless The most peaceful gathering was liable

to a dispersal

ments
Baird.

for

by the military, followed by indictThus we have the Peterloo treason.

trials

massacre and the

in

Scotland of Hardie and

The years 1819-1S24

our history.

arc

among
is

the darkest in

To

a proper comprehension

of

the

period which follows,

the character of the
of 1832.
It
is

some

insight

necessary into

men who made men who

natural,

Reform Bill almost inevitable, that when

the

new
of
"

conditions arise the

fought the battle

freedom
"

in

the past should

date.

be sneered at as
in this

Whiggish

and out of

So they are

year

of grace 1897.

But that does not

did was of the
that

alter the fact that

the work

they

herculean

comparable
in
;

in

greatness to

Long Parliament

the

summer
quated.

of 1641.

Other needs have arisen

we have

other problems to face.

Their battle-cries are anti-

But we

may

be able to show subsequently

that there were principles underlying their

work that
only.
it

are applicable not to one time, to one

crisis,

There were the men inside Parliament, and

with them that the details of the fighting
lay.

was

Lord

The

Men

of i8p.

231

Grey, Lord Althorp, Lord John Russell, Palmerston,

Thomas Babington Macaulay these are names well known to everyone still. They were men of very
diverse

power, and of

various sympathies.

Lord

Althorp was an aristocrat of intelligence and integrity,

but an aristocrat

still.

Lord Grey had intense

belief in

convictions

and an unshaken

the people,

but neither he

nor Macaulay looked beyond the

middle

class.

Far more remarkable were the men outside Parliament,

who were

the inspirers and prophets of the

movement.
wit,

Cobbett had a rude, pungent motheris

and the boundless common-sense which

His
is

almost

originality.

the genius of the people, that

life

detests

shams and

sees

from the under-side, with-

out the gilding.

Bentham was the man who had

had been nourished and
gradually risen to a

lived in the existing order,

trained therein, and

feeling of
clearest
fruitful
its

who had
the

innate rottenness.
that

His was one of the

so

intellects
in

eighteenth century,

that type of mind, produced.

He

holds

fast to abstract principles to

guide him through the

Sciolists

mass of

sophistries that surround him.

and

petits-mattres

pick

holes

in

his

doctrines

at

their

pleasure,' but the

broad rule that government must

be by the people for the people has never been

shaken.
lost
in

James Mill has been almost merged and the fame of his greater son, but, as editor of
'

Cp. Raleigh, " Elementary Politics," chap.

viii.

232
the

The Historic Basis of

Libi-ralism.

Examiner, and afterwards of the

Westminster

Review, he was a powerful assistance to the doctrines

of 1830.

He was
if

in close

union and sympathy with

Ricardo and McCulloch, as well as with Bentham.

His mind,

somewhat
were

arid

and unimaginative, was

foremost
writers

strong and precise.

These,
thinkers

then,

the

and

of the time, and they unhesitatingly put

themselves at

the

disposal

of the

popular hopes.
lend their

They
order,

did not, like

many

in

later times,

intellect

and power of expression and outworn authority.

now,
in 1827,

to

the existing
to bolster

and seek by clever sophistries

the great

up

privilege

And
to

sweep over the country.

The

wave of reform began Liberals started by

indefensible abuses

attacking the

more glaring and which loaded the Statute Book

to annoy, were at last

the Test and Cor-

poration Acts, which had ceased to persecute but not

swept away.

Nonconformists
In

could at

length enter upon

for a

the heritage of which

they had been deprived 1829 the

century and a

half.

Roman
with

Catholic disabilities were removed;

though, with that insanity which marks most English

dealings
Ireland,

the

benefit

was

somewhat

neutralised

by

raising the franchise qualification in

the sister island.

At

length, in 1830, Parliamentary

Reform becomes the one and only question of the

day.

Into the long story of that struggle

need not

The Rrform
enter in detail.

Bill.

233
out that the

It will suffice to point

Reform

Bill

was met by the most determined and

embittered opposition from the vast majority of the

landowners.
clared

The Duke

of Wellington roundly deIV.)

(shortly after the accession of William

that Parliament possessed, and deserved to possess,

the fullest confidence of the country.

The
this

Universities

were

shrill in their

condemnation of

revolutionary measure.
the king openly hostile.
force

wicked and was aghast, The aristocracy

Living at a time when the
has been
largely

of

aristocratic

displeasure

minimised, we can hardly understand the courage

required

from

any member of the upper

the Reform
Bill.

classes

who
less

sought to forward

Scarcely

remarkable than the vigour of the opposition was

the extraordinary forbearance displayed by the nation

as a whole.
I

am

not ignorant that there were riots

in many parts of England, that Nottingham Castle was burned over the head of the owner who would " do what he liked with his own," that Bristol was for several

days

in a state of

anarchy.

But when we consider and

injustice

the extraordinary provocation which the nation had

suffered, the long oppression, insolence,
it

had undergone from the ruling

class,

the landthe Six of

when we remember Peterloo and Acts we shall applaud the moderation

owners

our

mind the behaviour of the men of Birmingham, led by Thomas Attwood, He and his a worthy forerunner of John Bright.
countrymen.
Let us bear
in

234

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

were at the head of an organisation to be
ten
tliousand.

collcac^ues

numbered by the
mind,
all

All

were of one

passionately eager for reform.

their
if

announced
en
uiassc

the

They had intention of marching to London Lords did not bow to their just
;

demands.

But not a weapon was raised

place,
it

and

if

the

march had taken

law-abiding,
liberty that

would have been that of a

on
gaining
the

peaceful

army, bent

was

theirs,

but not by the red hand of

not give power to the
the

revolution.

The
only
it

first

Reform

Bill did
It

people as a whole.
;

benefited

middle class
to the elec-

added but half a million names

torate.

As
it

a document, of

it

bears traces of
;

comin

promise, even

partiality

but to the

spirit

which

was conceived full justice must be done. The opposition was envenomed and unscrupulous, and it was only by doing less than they wished that
the

Reformers

could

accomplish

anything at

all.

Earl Grey and his followers said plainly that the Bill was but a portion of the wider justice that should be Even the "Finality" speech of Lord in the future.

John Rus.sell does not really imply that he regarded Moreover, as we have the Reform Bill as perfection.
said, there

were behind the leaders

ideals

in

Parliament a

body of men whose

sistent,

were thorough and conallow

the
Liberals to

and

who

did
first

not

stagnate after their

success.

The

virile

minds of

Bentham and James

Mill understood and proclaimed

The IVh/gs and their Work.

the sovereignty of the people
;

235

and, moreover, they

indicated with amazing clearness the

internal
effect.

method whereby
be carried into

and

social reform should

Bentham
Bill

lived just long

enough

to see the

Reform
for

carried

into

effect.

James

Mill passed on the

mantle to his yet greater son.

Grote was to be

many
if

years a pillar of philosophic Liberalism.

But

any proof were needed that the men of 1832 were no mere timid " Whigs " intent on their own privileges, it would be found in the torrent of remedial First legislation which marked the next few years. and greatest of all stands the Poor Law Reform of 1 834. We have mentioned the " Speenhamland Act," and
have alluded to the enormous evils it inflicted on the The evil had no whit abated. The rates labourers. were enormous, the land was in some places going
out of cultivation, the condition of the agricultural labourer was miserable beyond words. Yet, thanks
to the

Corn Laws, rents were high, and the squires

full

were

in

enjoyment of what was,

in

relation to

the misery of other classes, the fattest prosperity. The system of socialism under which the labourer
lived

was complete.
"

All thrift and industry, every

quality which goes to the

taken from him

making of
artificial

a citizen,

was

he was an

creation, not a

natural product of the race."

At one blow the whole fabric was swept away. The workhouse test was imposed. Outdoor relief was

236
limited
it

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

;

indeed,

if

the commissioners had prevailed,

would have been entirely done away with.

Once

again the individual was called upon to struggle for

himself, not to look for support from the

community.

The Poor Laws

lesson
for

of the past forty years had been an

interesting socialistic experiment,

succeeding

generations.

and an admirable The clear and

had triumphed

resolute ideas of the Liberal thinkers

over prejudice and mistaken philanthropy.

same time that this great reform was passed something was done to remedy the abuses of the Irish Church and the tithe question. Slavery was finally abolished, and public money was at last devoted to
the
education,
country.

At

one of the most

patent

needs

of the

The town
basis.

corporations were reformed, and

town government put upon a more popular

representative
It
all

and

would take up too much

space to enumerate

the reforms effected during

the years which followed 1832.

But the condition of England was

in

still

unhappy

the

extreme.

Bread was enormously dear

an

monopoly created for the benefit of the There was much want and discontent evil effects of half a century of Tory government the were not so easily got rid of. About 1840 came the
artificial

landowners.

Chartist agitation.

The

charter

was a demand

for

universal suffrage, annual Parliaments, and the ballot.

Jt
It

was a natural
will

result of the miseries of the time.

its

be seen that

provisions have

by no means

The Corn Laws.

been
fully carried

237

into law.

As

to annual Parlia-

ments, this cry seems to have disappeared.

For
(in

some

occult

reason, the
years,

mystic number
to

seven

practice, six)

seems

work

satisfactorily as

the limit to a Parliament's duration.

Septennial Act will remain on the Statute

ever
is

Whether the Book for

agitation

doubtful
it

but, at

any

rate,

little

against

can be seen at the present day.

suffrage,

Universal

manhood
matter.
still

however,
vote

is

more

important

"

One man one

" is

an all-important but

unfulfilled item

of the traditional Liberal proits

gramme. We are still some distance from ment, and the road thither has been one of
But assuredly that has been no
party.

fulfil-

difficulty.

fault of the Liberal

After the year 1841 the Corn

question of the day.
fast.

Laws became

the

The

population was increasing

The amount

of corn the country could produce

and, as foreign wheat
difficult to feed

was necessarily
tion.
It

limited,
it

was

jealously kept out,

was

the popula-

became absolutely necessary that the duties

on the import of corn should be done away with.

this

great crisis

men were found

fight.

of

At consummate

courage and strength for the

One
first

of them, the

Hon. Charles

Villiers, is

among

us to this day, the last

survivor of a great band, and the

member

of the
;

House
he
did,

of

Commons
will

to advocate complete Free

Trade

but, without in
it

any way disparaging the

sterling

work

be readily admitted that to two other

238

Thf. Historic Basis of Liberalism.

men

belongs the chief glory

to

John Bright and

Richard Cobden.

They

did incalculable good to

England, and they are two of the best examples of When the Liberal mind that could well be found.
Sir

Robert Peel accepted

and carried through the

principle of Free Trade, he frankly admitted that the

credit both for his

own
"

conversion and for that of the

the

country was due to

unadorned eloquence of
great

Richard Cobden."

That

thinker

took

his

stand on broad, logical grounds.

He

gave up time
it

and money

to the cause in

which he believed, and

was

his

unflinching energy that

made England

free-trading country.

Of John Bright it is hard to say anything which He would not sound the merest commonplace.
embodied some of the best
nature because
pose,
qualities

of the race.

His eloquence moved men to the depths of their

it

was
moral

instinct with the loftiest pur-

with that

seriousness

which
to

is

con-

spicuous in the English

character even

excess.

But no trace of cant

of John Bright.

marked the words and thoughts Everything he said came from the
to

very heart of the man.

His Liberalism was a creed that appealed

everything that was noble
in
it

humanity

it

was
to

animated by great ideals

tunism,

had no hint of oppor-

of

materialism.

It

may

not be amiss
spirit

quote a few of his words to show the

which

animated John

Bright.

Speaking

in

favour of Free

John Bright.
Trade
in

239
19th,

Covent Garden Theatre on December

is

1845, "It

struggle,"

he

said,
all,

"between the
in

numbers, wealth, comforts

the
;

fact

of

the

middle and industrious

union,

classes,

and the wealth, the

section of

and sordidness of a large

the

aristocracy of this empire

.
.

and we

have to decide
whether
in

now
in

in

this

great
live,

struggle,

this land

we will longer bear the wicked legislation to which we have been subjected, or whether we will make one effort to right the vessel,
which we
to

keep her

in

her true course, and,

if

possible, to

bring her safely to a secure haven.

the people, can only be, that

and impartial
whole people,

Our object, as we should have good government for everybody. As the we can by no possibility have the
;

smallest interest in any partial or unjust legislation

we do

not wish to sacrifice any right of the richest or

class,

most powerful
quotation

but we are resolved that that class

shall not sacrifice the rights of a

is

whole people."

This

but one

among many which might have

been chosen to

illustrate his attitude.

He

stood for

justice in all things,

and

his

whole

political life

was a

long struggle

against the inequalities around him.

Almost alone of English statesmen, he sided with the American Federals from the very first.

The Free Trade movement

several points of view.
It

is

interesting

from

was emphatically a struggle

landowners

of classes.

For generations the

politics.

had

dominated English

We

have sketched their

240

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

its

power and

sources during the eighteenth century.

Step by step their monopoly had been threatened

and undermined by an increase

factures,

in

trade and

manuBut,

by the mere growth of population.

with the blindness that characterises an unjust cause,

they thought that their rule would be continued for

ever,

and that a

little

strengthening to their power

was the one thing

celebrated Corn

needful.

Thus they passed

5,

the

Law

of 181

which

not

to refine

overmuch
wheat.

prohibited the importation of any foreign

interest

The landed

was thus protected "with

it

a wall of brass"; and, indeed,

was on no higher

grounds than the necessity of protecting the land-

owners that arguments

for the

Corn Laws were based.

The

attitude

of Protectionists

was naively

selfish

they put the good of their own class before that of

the nation
feeling
;

they did their

rich

best to

exasperate the

between

and poor,

to bring

on a

strife

of classes
tion

and they succeeded.

present

The

political situa-

of the
;

day

is

largely an antagonism

of classes
difficult

there has arisen a mutual exasperation

of removal and profoundly dangerous to the

future of the nation.

Another characteristic of the Free Trade movement was that it lay outside party lines. At first the Whigs many of them great landowners were as hostile to Free Trade as the Tories themselves. Lord Melbourne spoke solemnly of the " madness" of the

movement,

and

there

were

many weaker-minded

Free Trade.
Liberals

241

who

felt as

he

did.

But the whole party

;

Whigs alike soon came round they were convinced by the eloquence of Bright and the From the moment Sir Robert Peel, logic of Cobden. the Conservative leader, avowed his conversion, the
Liberals and

speedy victory of the Free Traders was assured.

Though

the monopolists, led

by

Disraeli

who

now

leapt to the front

fought to the last gasp, the measure

rush.

was carried through with a

measures,
of
that
all

Here, at any rate,

reformers had no cause to complain of those half-

weak-kneed

compromise which

defaces nearly

the tardy acts of justice that are

rendered to the workers.

England

at

once experienced an expansive

in

influ-

ence without equal

increased beyond
struck
It is
off,

her history.

Her
the

prosperity

all

knowledge

fetters

were

and the nation could move

freely at last.

frequently asserted that the workers have pro-

fited less

that the manufacturers

by the reform than should be the case, and used their power nearly as
which they
years
dis-

selfishly as the territorial oligarchy

placed.

But when we look back

the

fifty

we

shall

be forced to recognise the very great progress which

all

classes

in

community have made, and the

immense

rise in

the standard of comfort which has

signalised the victory of the Manchester school.

The
the

timely reform of 1846 saved England from

1

the revolution of

848. at

Holy Alliance

last

Abroad the Tory regime of proved intolerable, and

?4-

The Histon/c Bas/s of Liberalism.

in

outraged Europe rose

thought
justified.

arms.

England escaped
riots.

with nothing worse than a

few

The
had

fore-

and

wisdom

of

the

Liberals

been

Many wrongs had

been redressed, and

England, unlike other countries, had no grievance

that could blaze into revolution.

of view

it

But from one point may be regarded as a pity that England

touched by the revolutionary fervour of

was so
that

little

year.

Our own
lent

security

blinded

us

to

the

wrongs of Ireland.

Had we

been more embarrassed,

more willing attention to the complaints of that land. As it was, the Fenian agitaThe methods tion of that year produced few results. But the of the agitators were doubtless indefensible.
wrongs of Ireland were great enough
most peaceful
into revolt.
to

we might have

goad the

Every agrarian evil which flourished in England was exasperated tenfold on Irish soil. The stranger ruled, the stranger enjoyed, and the native starved.
During the
grain.

famine,

the

monopolists

of

England
survivors

forbade the opening of the Irish ports to foreign

Men

died

in

hundreds, and

the

emigrated.
yet

The
bitter

feelings of those that

remained grew

more

against

the step-mother

who had
those

ruined their land.

But there was

a limit to the re;

forming impulses of the Liberals of those days

impulses stopped short of Ireland, and the question of the Irish peasantry was left untouched till Mr.

Gladstone addressed himself to the task.

Lord Palmerston.
In
fact,

243

the whole reforming impulse had for the

itself out.

moment worn
was past
its

Lord John

Russell's career

meridian.

Sir Robert Peel died in 1850.

;

Mr. Gladstone had not yet shaken off his Toryism

and

Lord Palmerston was,

leader.

after 1854, the only possible

ward but

From 1846 to 1867 the nation moved forlittle. The causes are not far to seek the middle class had settled down to enjoy its victory.

Its ideals

were vulgar, and

its

rule

had a perceptibly
years of

materialist, Philistine tone.

Twenty

smug
Lord

prosperity intervened between two great

epochs of
in

progress and reform.

These years found

fills

Palmerston a

fitting leader.

This statesman's career practically

affairs

the

home
and a
was,

of England from 1850 to 1865.

His influence

was immense down

perhaps, the
country,

to the end of his career,

sketch of his character must be attempted.

He

most unideal man who ever ruled the

Pelham

and

North

not

excepted.

His

whole tone of mind was pitched low.

With high-

flown enthusiasms of any sort he had no patience.

He had

no love

for

reform at home, and during his

years of power did practically nothing for internal

questions.

He was
the

bluff,

off-hand

man, whose

essentially Philistine

pleasing to

average middle-class

and Jingo mind was infinitely Englishman.

tone of
politics

Probably the general moral

was

rarely lower than during his administration.

But

in his foreign

policy Palmerston played a wholly

244

^^^ Historic Basis of Liberalism.

different role.

existed a genuine

Somewhere in his commonplace nature sympathy for oppressed peoples, and this sympathy he showed on many occasions. He lectured Foreign Governments on their iniquities, and explained to them that they could not hope to rule
successfully
till

they had imitated the Parliamentary

It

institutions of England.

cannot be said that he

the

rendered very effective help to

insurgents

of

Hungary

or Italy.

But he winked at the assistance

men, money,
is

materiel

which

was given them un-

grudgingly by private Englishmen.

On

the whole,

it

certain that his attitude towards the revolution-

aries of

Europe did help on

this,

their

cause.

Side by
short-

side

with

however, was

the

amazing

sightedness which induced

Palmerston to approve
1,

Louis Napoleon's

cotcp

d'etat of 185

and thus to

commit England
adventurers

to an approval of

one of the worst

who

ever reached a throne.

Palmerston's

supremacy

is

not

particularly
zeal during

glorious page in our history.

Reforming

the years of his

administration was

at a very

low

ebb
a

but, as his career

drew to a close there came

fearless vigour

man who was

destined to restore the apparently

broken continuity, and carry out with

the

necessary changes

demanded by the growth of

life

Liberal feeling.

Mr. Gladstone began

as a Tory,

and remained with that party till middle age. He formed a strong attachment to Sir Robert Peel, and was converted with him to Free Trade. For some

Mr. Gladstone's Early Years.

years
after

245

Peel's

death he was
;

still

to

outward

seeming a Conservative
self

but he had shown himi

capable of moving with the times, and in 185

his

had proved

his denunciations of

sympathy with the oppressed by King " Bomba." He established his position by his attack on Disraeli's Budget of 1852, and by his own Budget of the year following. But the fall of Lord Aberdeen, owing to his mismanagement of the Crimean War, deprived Mr.
Gladstone of
office
till

1859.

Then, with the formaExchequer.

tion of Palmerston's

last

Ministry, he took up once

again

the

Chancellorship of the

The

time of stagnation was nearly over.

Mr. Gladstone

was
to

to begin the

new

era of change, and in so doing

a private

announce himself a Liberal once for all. In 1864 member brought in a Reform motion more,

we may

imagine, to

ease his

own

conscience than

from any hope of success.

threw down the gauntlet.
privileged, classes to

Mr. Gladstone suddenly

It

was
"

for the upper, the

prove

the unworthiness, the

of

incapacity,
classes."

and

the
this

misconduct

the

working

From

moment

Mr.

Gladstone
;

had
he

broken with

Peelism, as before with Toryism

was now a Liberal, the champion of Reform, of

political justice.

Palmerston died just after the General Election of

1865.

Earl Russell

better

known

as

Lord John

Russell

became
in the

Premier, with Mr. Gladstone as his

Leader

Commons.

The Government Reform

246
Bill

Thr Historic Basis of Liberalism.

was beaten, thanks
to the

immortal

"

Cave of
Lord

Adullam."

But the delay mattered

little.

Derby and Mr.

dignified

Disraeli brought in a Bill of their own,

which, after a vast

concessions,

amount of queer antics and unbecame law in August, 1867.

:

the The second great stage had been reached working men had at last been admitted to political Though this measure created inresponsibility.
finitely
less

noise

and
it

disturbance

than

its

more

famous predecessor,
tion.

was
that

far

greater

revolu-

The
to

Bill

of 1832 added less than half a million

;

voters

the register

of 1867

added some

1,300,000.

When

the General Election took place in

;

November of 1868, the Liberals swept the country new voters recognised who had given them their power, and returned them as their representatives in
the

the

a majority of nearly
old,

130.

Earl Russell was grown

Mr. Gladstone stood forward as unquestioned he became Prime Minister, and held office leader
;

till

1874.

He
in

proved at once how complete was his

faith

Liberalism by attacking and destroying one abuse

after another.

The Established Church

its

of Ireland
Its position

was the first was indefensible

people.

object to which he turned.

;

tenets

had no hold on the

Irish

The

usual outcry of spoliation was raised,

Bill

but the principles of Mr. Gladstone's

were so
This

obviously just that the opposition collapsed.

was the beginning of that long struggle

for Irish rights

Mr. Gladstone's Reforms.

vvhich only

247
from

ended

for

him with
this

his retirement

public
Bill

life.

Following

came the great Education

for national
in

which established School Boards throughout the

land.

The

Bill

was absolutely necessary,

in

education was at a lower ebb

other great European country.

England than

any

No

country can exist

where ignorance
Since
its

is

the normal condition of its citizens. the

introduction,

moral condition of the

in

people has improved enormously, and

generation
"

another

the

illiterate " will

have disappeared from

education are ex-

among
to

us.

But as the
the

politics of

haustively dealt with elsewhere,

discuss

it is

unnecessary here

Compromise of
last

1870.

One
of

reform

followed

another.
tests

After a struggle with the Lords,

University
bigotry

the were removed.

remnant
in

religious

Purchase

the

army

that

was abolished, Mr. Gladby a species of coiip d'etat. Finally, after a long struggle, the Ballot Act became law, and some of the worst forms of electoral intimidastronghold of aristocracy
stone securing his end
tion

were henceforth rendered impossible.

From

this

moment

the employe and the tenant could vote as he the employer or the squire

liked, with less fear of

depriving him of his means of livelihood.

Election of 1874 brings us to commodern times. The struggle was fought upon both sides by men still in the fulness of politiparatively
cal
still
life.

The General

The

questions at issue twenty years ago arc

undecided.

Events have come to pass whereby

!
248

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

the issues have been comphcated, but the main outline

of the

struggle

remains unaltered.
classes

The

land,

education, the
still

privileged

these

three items

lack settlement
It is

or finality.

important to grasp the meaning of the great

Mr. Gladstone's Government

Liberal defeat of 1874.

of the previous five years had accomplished an enor-

mous amount

of

work.

Its

labours can

only be
first

compared, as regards extent, with those of the

reformed Parliament.

The

privileges
tests

of the Irish

Church were gone. University

had disappeared,

and the effort to create a national system of education had at last been brought to a successful issue.
There arose the inevitable
too
fast
!

cry, "

The country

is
;

going

"

Many

people were frightened

vested interests or abuses had been touched.

many The

educational "compromise" had displeased the Dissenters,

who, at the General Election of 1874, drew away from the Liberal party in large numbers. A section of the people " oriented " from their old creed,

and turned the scale

party.

in

favour of Mr. Disraeli and his

The

timid, the slothful, longed for an era of

quiet and repose.

legislation,

They

did not want any further

and

their

votes threw the country into

the hands of the Conservatives for six years.

hard to describe adequately the character of the Disraeli Ministry of 1874 to 1880 without using
It is

the abuse of the gutter.

No

Ministry ever received

more noisy and boisterous

praise while in

power

no

Mr. Disraeli and

Ministry,
it

his Party.

249

would seem, was ever looked back to

its
its

with such passionate regret by

chief

supporters.

Its

was lauded

to the skies

watchwords and

catch-phrases can be met with on platforms at the

Yet it is safe to say that no Ministry modern times has been more thoroughly bad or It left worked greater harm to the community. behind an evil trail of false glory and false ideals
present day. of

from

which

the

nation

suffers

even

now.
;

The
leader

Ministry was essentially that of one

alone was
rose
to

man

its

of

importance.
till

eminence

its

respectable nonentities like

Lord Salisbury hardly last two years, and of Gathorne Hardy and Sir

Richard Cross one need say nothing.

the Ministry
rise
is

To

criticise

to

discuss Lord Beaconsfield.

His

to

power and the great influence he obtained

over his party have often been the subject of

much

comment and wonder.

able.
rate,

Nor

is

this

wonder unreason;

at any by the prejudices of his His career had been chequered. fellow-countrymen. He had once posed as a Radical. He had risen to

He was

a Jew, and almost a foreigner

quite

uninfluenced

notoriety
interest

by

his

virulent

advocacy of the landed

at the

time of the Corn

its

Law

repeal.

For

that landed interest,

selfishness, its ignorance, its

in his

economic

fallacies,

he must have had

heart the

most profound contempt.

and
it

But

"

he took the shot,

hit."

From

the

moment

of his furious attack

on Sir Robert Peel he stood forward as the one and

250
only

The Historic Basis of Liberalism. man who

could
lead

the Tory party in the more than a quarter of a He had to wait future. century for the consummation of his triumph but it came at last, in 1874. Then for the first time he led
;

the

Commons

with a real majority behind him.

His

opportunity, for which he had

patience,

waited with he do with

infinite
it
.^

had come.

What would

He had
as "the

conceived that amazing idea

known

in

the abstract as "

Tory Democracy,"

in

the concrete
If this

Conservative working man."

that the working

idea

has any meaning beyond the temporary needs of an

election cry,
it

is

men and

their

votes are to be used by the dominant classes for their own ends. They are to be deluded by promises of
" social

reform,"
life,

better

dwelling-houses,

healthier

conditions of

wise providence of a

and higher wages, thanks to the Tory Government. It is no

leaders of a privileged

new thing

for the

body to

pose as the guardians of the classes below. It is a familiar device in politics one that needs no explanation. as
it

But two

criticisms

may
a

universally applicable to such

is

be laid down cry first, that

that the

flagrantly

dishonest

and,

secondly,

lower classes
in time.

will

not

fail
is,

to repudiate the intrigue

Such a cry

in fact, the last

manoeuvre
its

of a despairing
privileges

oligarchy,

driven

to

maintain

by feigning

to protect those

whom

it

has

oppressed.

Let us see

how

the idea worked between

1874 and 1880.

Tory Policy at Home.

The
the

251

Statute

Book
the

is

studded with Acts giving to

acquiring
"

labourers

power of doing and

are " allowed
"

various things.

They

to

have better

dwellings, " permitted

conditions, "

to
"

work under more sanitary

encouraged

to acquire allotments.'
in
its

The

Conservative Government,
graciously allowed
rights,

paternal

wisdom,

the labourer certain

permissive

which

in

any

sound,

healthy community

ought to have been compulsorily secured.

Ministry were very careful not
to "

But the

do

"

" or " establish

anything, for fear of taking something from the privileges of their class.
result.

Their statutes had

is,

little

or no

And
by the

the only marvel

that the working

re-

classes,

having been tricked so thoroughly and so

Tories, should have trusted

cently

them

again.

But

Disraeli's
political

home

policy merits further notice.

Among
ent

reforms,

one was certainly

insist-

the Agricultural Franchise.

in

A Bill

for giving to

the country labourers that power of voting which was

vouchsafed to the boroughs

1867 was introduced

1874,
it

by

Sir

George

Trevelyan

in

1875,

1876,

1878,

and 1879.
majorities.

In each case

large

And

this

was rejected by simple fact shows the

condition
in the

worth of "permissive" and "concessive" measures.

Yet,

during

these

years,

the

of

the

aericultural labourer
^

was wretched

extreme

good instance of this kind of legislation is the Agricultural I' allowed compensation for unexhausted Holdings Act of 1875. improvements, " in cases where landlords and tenants have not objected to coming under the Act "
!

252

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

1875 marks the appearance of Joseph Arch and the

formation of agricultural trades unions.

Matters were

going

ill

with the rural population

is

but the landed

interest

its monopoly is not to be With the other items of Disraeli's home policy we need not deal. The opposition to Plimsoll was dictated by a different

sacred,

and

violated

by

reform.

oligarchy

the

trading and

shipping interest

but

the motive was the same.

Slave Circular of 1875

It
it

call

Nor does the monstrous for lengthy comment.

has long since passed into the dust-heap, but

is

none the

less

one more striking proof of the

Tory

distrust of personal liberty

even
is

in its

most

elementary form.

But the foreign policy of Disraeli

especially since

interesting

He
He

was,

we are suffering from it to this day. as we have said, an Oriental, and his
false ideals of

views and ideals were vulgar through and through.

debauched the English mind with

;

Empire

he

set

up a painted and gaudy goddess

;

whom

he asked us to worship

he ended by linking

England's future with that of the

most

rotten, cruel,

and indefensible Government that Europe has ever

seen.^

To

parallel the

rule

of Disraeli in

modern
his

times,
^

we must
is

look

to

Napoleon HI. and

This

no figure of speech.

Russia under Ivan the Terrible, the

theft,

Low

Countries under Alva, never experienced corruption,

in-

Wildly evil though Christian Governments have at times been, they have always condemned their excesses in anticipation by pointing to the extraordinary
tolerance, and massacre as a system of government.

The Tory as Turcophile.

nineteen years ^of rule in France.

253

For both of these

leaders were adventurers at bottom.

Each
in

strove to

exploit his country.

it

Each succeeded

corrupting

Each sought to perpetuate his power by leading the people away from the true line France, in 1850, England in of national advance.
with false ideals.
1874, were equally in need of internal reform, of an Both received extension of political responsibility.

instead the rule of a selfish adventurer,

to
fill

who

desired
their

men's minds with wind, and to

flatter all

We may add, that had more vulgar instincts. island, she would have met a England not been an
similar

punishment to that which befel France.

The facts of Beaconsfield's policy are well known. The Turkish Government was not worse than usual

only

little

more

outre.

And

the Servians and

Bulgarians

rose.

They were

suppressed, and

with

circumstances of horror which no one

save Sir Ellis

Ashmead-Bartlett^

now disbelieves
"

for

one moment.

No man in the habit of weighing evidence should have disbelieved them in 1876. But the Government chose
to

express

"

unqualified nescience

concerning the

disturbance in the Balkans.

it

By

the treaty of 1856

its

was bound to see that the Porte reformed

its

ways,

and treated

subject populations well.

England
of those

and abnormal conditions of the moment.

They never made

excesses a regular rule, a guiding principle of administration.

"The Hon. Member for the Yildiz division of Constantinople," Mr. Haldane has called him.

as

254

^'^^

Historic Basis of Liberalism.

had never raised a finger to carry these articles into Russia undertook to perform this vital office effect. After great difficulties and many mistakes, for her.
the

Russians took

Plevna,

and captured the

Pass.
at
its

last

Turkish army

in the

Shipka
was

Constantinople
gates.

lay open, and Skobeleff

England

was

therefore at the cross-roads.

Either she might

allow Skobeleff to right the wrongs of centuries, or she might boldly oppose Russia's further advance.
In the event
she
did
neither.

She

tore

up

the

San Stefano Treat)', and forced the compromise of Berlin, whereby she received Cyprus, and guaranteed
the further existence of a despotism which has not

renounced one jot of

its

savagery since

it

came under

the patronage of Tory Cabinets and Cockney musicThe past two years are a sermon on the text halls.
of the Berlin Treaty, so striking and so awful that I The year of the Treaty of Berlin will add no word.

saw the outbreak of a war prompted by the same

motive.

Beaconsfield attacked Afghanistan because

in

he feared Russian influence

Central Asia.
powerful, and
in

The
the

Afghans were
over them.
great
ideals
cost,

not

particularly

nation did not gain any great glory

triumphing
at

Yet

this

triumph
to

was only won

the
full

When

and it which animated Beaconsfield's foreign policy. he returned from Berlin, he announced to
illustrated

the false

England that he brought ''Peace with Honour." During the weeks when it lay in the balance whether

The Treaty of Berlin.

England would go
clubs
to

255
not, the

war with Russia or

rang with an
''

and

music-halls

unintelligent
Scientific

applause.

Mysterious catch-words anent

Frontiers," " Peace

and Empire," caught hold of a

section

of

the

nation.

They were allowing

most

the
fatal

Government
of
all

to adopt towards Russia the

policies

" willing to

wound, and yet afraid to

strike."
"

But they were so enchanted with the vulgar, mysterious " attitude of Lord Bcaconsfield and his
applauded to the echo
moral
his rarest

followers, that they

work of national dishonour, the Treaty of

It

Berlin.

needed

all

Mr. Gladstone's

force

and
its

earnestness to bring the nation back to a sense of

duties.

away

all at

But a bad thing once done is not swept once, and traces of Lord Beaconsfield's

flamboyant policy can be seen to-day.

The Jingoes
had no
sus-

who broke Mr.

the

Gladstone's windows

picion that their leader

was

"

putting his
did
"

wrong

horse,"

and

they

money on know that not

"

Lord Salisbury already felt the it has taken him nineteen years
Beaconsfield
is

misgivings

which
"

to express.'

Lord

dead

"

only when the idol of Primrose

dames
cannot

is

reduced to disclaiming a policy which he In any case it is through Lord defend.

stands committed
to

Beaconsfield that England

false attitude

as regards the Turkish Empire.

We
Lords,

have spent much space over the Ministry of 1874

1

Vide Lord Salisbury's

speech on the

Address

in

the

January 20th, 1897.

256

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

false
it

because only by stripping off the

glamour
can

wherewith Conservatives have surrounded

Party

we

account for the overwhelming victory of the Liberal

in

1880.

The General

Election declared emto be led

ideals

phatically that the nation

was not

away by
of

the hollow rhetoric

and debasing

Con-

servative foreign policy.

As

the Liberal Ministry of 1880 has received the

it

most unmeasured abuse,

out what
it

may

be as well to point
It

actually did achieve.

attempted resoIreland

lutely to deal with the question of Irish land.

had been so persistently put on one side by the

Governments of the past that any measure of

to
details.

relief
its

the tenant was welcome, however imperfect

Mr. Gladstone's

Bill of

1881 did effect some-

thing to stop the worst horrors of eviction, to prevent

landlords from
confiscating
tenants' improvements,
is

and

to begin the

system of Land Purchase which

yet

now
not

yielding such excellent results.

The Act may

it
;

have been a complete remedy

evils,

healed

and gave some justice to the Irish That it met with violent opposition from the House of Lords was only what might have been expected. Something in the same direction was acpeasant.

many

complished for England

in

the Agricultural Holdings

it

Act of

1883.

Unlike

its

predecessor of 1875,
its

gave

the landlords no power to evade

provisions.

But

the greatest work

the Reform
Bill

of the 1880 Administration of

was

1884

the

third of that

name

The Liberals of
and the most sweeping.
voters to the electorate,
It

iS8o.

257

added some two million

therefore, as far as

and was

numbers
It

go, a greater

change than the Act of 1832.

in the

was opposed by the Tories both

Lords and
were

Commons.
plausible
clear.
;

The

reasons

for

this

opposition
in

the underlying feeling was

any case

The

Tories were jealous of this invasion of

;

their stronghold

they grudged to the portion of the

nation that was most backward this chance of raising

itself

and assuming the duties of citizenship. That the Ministry of 1880 was guilty of very

grievous mistakes

may be
is

at once conceded.
all.

Let

me

go boldly to the most grievous of them

of General
tory.

The
in

story

Gordon

an unfortunate page
to

our hisrealise

The Ministry failed

meet

the peril in which he was placed until too

the record of that Government.

perhaps to

late.

His

death remains unquestionably a very grave blot on

The incident was used

Governaiifairs.

by Tory speakers
blotted

as a proof that a Liberal

ment cannot manage

out
of men's

foreign

minds the
remains,

Khartoum blunders of Lord

firmly believe, a

Beaconsfield, the story of Isandula, Candahar, Mai-

wand, and

Berlin.

It

source of weakness to Liberalism even at this moment.

But, even at
its

worst,

it

is

not an indictment that

the great services

should outweigh for one

moment

done to the country by the Ministry of 1880. After that Ministry had disappeared on a side

issue

the
R

Budget proposals of 1885

Ireland

suddenly

2 58

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

the one
"

became
of

burning question

"

of the day.

Mr.

Gladstone announced his acceptance of the principle

Home

Rule.

How

far the

Conservative leaders

had played with the idea

our time.

will

hardly be

known

in

But they condemned

Home

Rule as one

man, so soon as Mr. Gladstone and

it

his followers took

up.

Subsequent events are too well known to

need repetition.

Many

of his followers split off from

him
a

the

waverers were pulled this

way and
it

that

under conflicting influence.

And, indeed,

needed

man

of independence and courage to accept an

idea which, though so old in principle, was so

in application.

new

We

can hardly wonder that some of

the weaker-hearted were in

much

perplexity as to

what they should

was beaten
Coalition
in

do.

Briefly, the

Home
the

Rule

Bill

the

Commons, and
it

" Unionist

to

give

its

accepted

name

swept
This
for

the

country at the

polls.

Once again

the nation settled

rule.
is

down
Rule

to

six years of

Conservative

hardly the time to view the

in

movement

Home

a calm light.

It

is

not past history

it

is

a story of which
conclusion
is

we have not yet heard

however long
points
or
three

the end

its

inevitable,

it

may

be

in

coming.
indicated.
It

Two

may, however, be

has been a

common

sneer with the Tories that

Mr. Gladstone only accepted

Home

Rule when the

General Election of 1885 had

returned parties so

evenly balanced that the Nationalists held the key

Home
to the situation.
trivial

Rule.

259

Such a sneer may be put aside as

and impertinent.
first

The General

Election

of

1886 was the

that

had taken place under the

the Irish votes,

widened
for the

franchise.
first

And

now

cast

time, declared emphatically for

Home

Rule and the Nationalist party.^

The

Irish nation
its

had spoken
there could

about the unanimity of

doubt.

utterance

now be no

Mr. Gladstone and

the Liberals were convinced.

Of

those

who

left

Liberalism at that time,

later.

were certain to go sooner or

many They were the

weaker brethren, who

felt their

interests threatened,

who

lacked faith in the future and in the people, and

rest.

they have found a haven of

Liberals of
all

Secondly, that

classes accepted the light as soon as a

man

arose to

show

it

forth implied a self-abnegation

justice that recalls

and a love of abstract

days of Liberalism.

the early

They had been taught to distrust and fear the Home Rule movement they had condemned its tactics and its champions. Yet when
;

the issue

was put plainly

to them, they took the true

path, caring only to right the

far as in

wrongs of Ireland so
sacrifice
is

them

lay.

That

it

was a
from

only

the
1

superficial
Lord

view.^

But,

that

moment,

franchise in Ireland
strength.

Randolph Churchill had prophesied that the widened would mean a serious diminution of the Nationalist
*
'

- "I do not understand the word sacrifices applied to a movement which has for its end something which those who took part in that movement believe to be of sovereign good both for Ireland and for this island." Rt. Hon. John Morley, M.P., at Oxford, Feb. 20, 1897.

26o
in

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

eyes of the genteel, the correct section of

the

society, Liberalism

became more than ever a dangerrendered

called to

ous and discreditable creed.

Lastly,

due homage must be

party.

the

Nationalist
turers,

They have been

adven-

publicans and sinners.

Every kind of insinua-

tion, of sneer, of

abuse has been their portion.

little

Yet
dis-

whenever we get a
cover

below the surface and

sacrifices, their

how they
and

lived

their

constancy,

the hardships they endured

we
their

shall

applaud their
Their
is

devotion
struggle

reverence

patriotism.

against English insolence

and

injustice

a creditable page in Parliamentary history.

credit goes to the Celtic fringe.

But the

During the next six years Ireland continued to

occupy the front
place.

Coercion
land

Bills

were passed,
like

and

many
war.

parts of the

were

treated

besieged town.
civil

Lidecd, for a time, there was almost That comparative peace reigns once again

in Ireland

may

possibly be due not so

series of

much

to the

Crimes Acts as to the

due:
Irish

Land

Bills

enacted at
it

intervals during these years.

Credit be where

is

the

Land Act

of 1887 did

peasant.

His rent was

his

much to made less

on

help the
crushing,

and he could purchase

land

easier

terms.

Eor the

rest,

those years

Men

still

dispute as to
;

show a chequered record. the precise meaning of the

effects of the Nationalist

Parnell

Commission

and the

split are still painfully evident.

Whether

Home Rule

The Labour Question.

261

be accomplished shortly or not is a question but, at any that may be left to the political prophet the Irish Question is very far from the state of rate,

may

deadness which the Tories desire for

it.

If v/e are to look at the Ministry of

1886 from the

point of view of 1897,

we

shall

have to confess that

question

the country was

in

face

of a

yet

more

absorbing than Ireland.

ing classes
is

The

condition of the work-

at all
;

times more insecure than that of

the capitalists

they are never altogether free from

anxiety

or

want.

A
any

depression

in

trade,

which
the

means to the capitalist the sacrifice of a yacht or a

country house,
workers.
But,

may mean
at

literal

starvation to

rate,

from
itself to

1886

onwards,

the Labour Question forced

it

the front, and

is

now

the great question of the day.

We

can

summarise the mental change by saying that we now hear the word " social " where " political " used to be
the

common

epithet.

It is to

the relations of classes

and to the
their eyes.

distribution of wealth that

men now

turn

fallen into the background

Purely political questions appear to have the change is already

;

In seen in the attitude of thinkers and publicists. fact, the older political economy, in the eyes of many,

has become discredited.

large instalment of free

It

trade has only doubled wages and incomes.

has

not brought England to the millennium which

foolish enthusiasts had looked
for.

some

The

capitalist it

is

asserted by the illiberal and

262

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

the ignorant

has

reaped

all

the benefits of the in-

The workman has been used and thrown on one side. The unemployed are
crease in national wealth.

numerous, and their numbers are used as an argu-

ment

to prove that the

working

man

is little

better off

than he was before 1846.

The

distribution of wealth,

we

are told,

is

most unequal, and thus the very school

first

which took the

step in redressing the balance

is

now accused
Property,
rights.
it

of having introduced
is

the

inequality.

argued,

has far more

duties

than

If necessary, property

must be confiscated by
This
is

the State, and held as a national trust.

the

theory urged by

all

Collectivist writers.

The data

upon which the attack on the Manchester school is based are examined elsewhere in this book, and
arc found to be distorted or non-existent.

The

ideas

are not

new

they found

many

upholders

in the early

part of the century.

But the needs of the time give During the

last

them a new meaning.

Socialism has been
in all

ten years

men's mouths.

On
so
tention.

the practical side, this Labour Question

call
it

for

we must

absorbed
riots
in

There were

more and more of the unemployed

1887.
till

atin

February, 1886, and

November,
in

The
its

trades

unions were growing

trade had
its

strength,

nearly every

union, to

which most of
the

workers
of

adhered.

Then came
it

Dock

Strike

1889.

This was an event of infinite importance, and the

impression
left

on the minds of men was deep

The Dock Strike,

and
lasting.

26
in

For weeks the greatest port

:

the

world was idle

strike.

London was

filled

with workers on
it

To

any unprejudiced man,

on the main

was

at once
right.

clear that

issue the strikers

were

They had been working in a most precarious wise, They had been oppressed by for a miserable wage. if they were not to be ground the Dock Companies
;

into serfdom,
resolutely.

was necessary that they should The struggle was long and bitter.
it

resist

The
and

companies held on to
oppressive privilege.

their unjust position with the

assists

morbid tenacity which always

a rotten

How

they were beaten, and

to heal the

how

Cardinal

Manning came forward

quarrel,

everybody knows.
place

But from that moment

men's notice.

the working classes

and the distribution of wealth

in

claimed the

first

The

cry

grew
for

steadily,

"We

have had enough of Ireland;

us look nearer home."

Heaven's sake,
its

let

Thus
:

Ireland lost
it

position of absorbing importance

;

above

became a secondary matter social all the Labour Problem, took

questions,
its

and

place.

On

this latter the fate of the Liberal party will inevitably

turn.

But before dealing with the present situation we must just touch on the main events of the past few The Conservative Government of 1886 had years.
no
lack

of

energy.

It

fulfilled

an

essentially

Liberal

pledge by
It

increasing

the

scope

of local

self-government.

created

County

Councils.

Of

264
their

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

work
it

would

be

premature

to

speak.

London alone may be mentioned.

takes

In spite of misswift to take

whereof the Tories have been account the condition of the capital
proved very greatly.
Its state

has been im-

under the old Vestry-

system was a disgrace to the empire. London was It is now the worst-governed capital in Europe.
in a fair

way

to

be the

best.

Though much hampered

and by the Corporation,

by the moribund
It

vestries
is

the County Council

doing great things for London.

lines,

has worked on broad

and

it

has nearly

always possessed an active and progressive majority. It has become a parliament in miniature, of an importance that grows daily.

But by

far its best

work

has been to inspire

among Londoners

a civic feeling

of which they had previously been totally devoid.

In

granting free education

(1891) the

Conser-

vatives completed one of the measures that has been

the particular property of Liberalism.

to convince

It is difficult

some

of our opponents, even to this day,

is

that

money spent on education

not a mistake.

They
small
is
it

have declaimed loudly against the lavish ex-

penditure of Board schools, and have declared that a

modicum
for

of education

say "the three R's"

Now,

enough

the children of working men.

our national education

the

shows a singular blindness not to recognise that has been most inferior in
past
to

that

of foreign

countries,

and

that

England has

suffered in consequence.

But

this point

A
is

Liberal Ministry Once More.

:

265

developed elsewhere

absolutely clear is this

of

what we would wish to make all the needs and cries

out of

of the present day, none has a more purely abstract

end than education.

sight,

Its practical results are

or

only to

be seen when we compare the

relatively
see

commerce and wealth of

uneducated nations.

educated and
the effect of
invention.

You cannot
faith.

education as you see the effect of a

Its

new
is

value

is

a matter of
in

That
are

to say, those

who

believe

education,
its

who

eager

for

its

success and firm for

continued improvement, are

animated by that belief in ideals which characterises This state of mind involves a the real Liberal.
struggle, as
far

from the mark

In

we have seen. But we shall not be if we make a fervour for education

year
after

the canon of true Liberalism.

1892

the

the

passing

of

the

Education Bill came a dissolution, and the country returned Mr. Gladstone to power with a majority
of
forty

superiority

small,
hilt

but
to

sufficient.

The

Party was pledged to the

Rule, and accordingly the

bring

in

Home
saw a
House,

Session of

1893

Home

Rule

Bill

once again before the Commons.

it

After long delays,

reached the Upper

An and was rejected by an enormous majority. Juvenile whip had been sent round. urgent peers, whose laborious boyhood had been passed
anything but the study of great political problems, came from long distances to vote against a Bill they
in

266

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

The
It

had not read.

labours of a whole session were

for out-

thrown away.

must be a delicate matter

siders to pronounce definitely as to what the Ministry

.should

have done at

this

moment.

But, surely, a
as well as the

dissolution

would have been the best

boldest course.

The

Ministry had then a real cry

It

with which to go to the country.

fulfilled
its

had loyally
question

pledges.

The House

of Lords stood in

the

way

the

country

should settle the

between them.

Never again did the Liberal Government possess a programme so clear and explicit. Never
country
hension.

again
a

were

they

able

to

ask

from
of

the

verdict

on
an

facts

so

easy

compreit

They might have

have
been
It

been beaten, but

defeat

would

honourable

giving

earnest of future victory.

would not have been

the disaster of 1895.

But the Ministry refused to face

the responsibility of another General Election within The position must have been one of fifteen months.
great difficulty.

Doubtless the rank and

file

of the

Liberal

members were

strongly against a dissolution.

would have been the more honest course to As it was, the Ministry dragged on a pursue. humiliating if not ineffectual existence, and was

Yet

it

dismissed by a chance vote on a side-issue.

Its

latter

days were passed

in

struggling with
led Liberalism
life

great difficulties.
for

The man who had

is

nearly thirty years retired

from active

into

the strenuous ease which

his idleness.

Mr. Glad-

Mr. Gladstone.

267

stone at last determined to live for the future in the

intimacy of his great equals of the past.

Politics
it

knew him no more.

this

This loss to Liberalism

is

impossible adequately to measure.

Nor can we

at

moment attempt any

final

judgment on what he

has done for Liberalism.

all

Only we can say, that of the great statesmen of England there is not one
has accomplished as

who

much

as he in destroying

unjust privileges, in establishing for the people their

just rights.

Can we say more ? Is it possible for a ruler of men to leave behind him a nobler or greater Perhaps it is only now that the record than this ? leader is gone that we can see how commanding a
place he held in the
loss
life

of the nation, and

how

great a

the cause of progress

has suffered from his

retirement.

At any

rate,

the absence of Mr. Glad-

stone was one of the reasons of the defeat of 1895,

The

other causes must be reviewed at

if

some

length.

Their analysis,

correctly made, should contain the

future fortunes of Liberalism.

It will

be readily admitted that the

fall

of the

Liberal party in 1895 was an almost unprecedented We can scarcely call to fact in our political history.

mind any defeat

Liberalism
is

at the

polls

so overwhelming.

If

to regain the hold

it

which

it

had on the

country

in 1880,

can only be by constant struggle

and

effort,

and by pondering most carefully over the

that a large

causes of the recent disaster.

One

cause of the Liberal defeat

is

268

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

had
lost

section of the working classes

confidence in

the future and gratitude to the past of the Liberal

party.

Their leaders, from

whom

they have taken

" Liberal-

their political complexion,

no longer believe Liberals

sincere in advocating the rights of labour.

ism,"

they

say,

"is

controlled
file

by

gang

of

capitalists.

but

the
all

The rank and Whig section still

do not
intend
to

may

be

sincere,

controls

the

councils.

With

their professions of democratic sentiment,

Liberals

do

anything

for

the

working

classes.

Some
will

other body must be formed

for
;

which can and

work

them.
will

Liberals have

played with Collectivism

in real earnest."

we

push

it

forward

The

latter portion of this

indictment
in

is

true,

and
they

forms a second and important element

the defeat.
;

Some
work

Liberals have played with Collectivism

it,

have encouraged
in
its

and have given half promises to

;

direction

they have expressed a disof property.

belief in

the institution

One

or two

prominent members of the party are Collectivists

through and through
;

at

any

rate,

they join Tory

democrats

in

applauding every proposal which tends

Certain sound Liberals of mediocre

towards that end.

capacity, as well as

many

Collectivist agitators,

have

completely broken with the party.

The latter are often

and keenly eager

worthy
for

zealots, impatient of injustice,

the material well-being of the workers.

They

cannot understand

why

Liberals will not swallow the

Socialism in iSgs-

269

whole doctrine and write "Socialism" on their banners. From their own point of view nothing could be more
natural.

What
?

aspect does the Liberal party present

to them

It is a

mass of cliques without a rallying

It

word

in

common.

has no leader;
tell

it is

not homo-

geneous.

No man

can

what was the policy of

the party at the last General Election.

cried for Local Option,

One man

the Lords.

and another wished to end few put Home Rule first. No one

agreed with his neighbour.

To

all

these discordant
indif-

demands
ference.

the

workers displayed a profound

not been taught the
the
little

They had
too often

full

meaning
they

of these measures, and

information

possessed

came through the misleading

Perhaps
for not
it

channel of Tory oratory.

the party was paying

was the penalty

having dissolved on

the Irish Question in 1893. of the party was gone.

In any case, the morale

this divided

Against

were arrayed both the

solid hosts of

mass Tory prejudice

and often unscrupulous, opposition of The Liberals went the Independent Labour Party.

and the
down.

fiery,

They would not speak out their seemed mean and timid. The Collectivists
;

attitude

declared

that they

had no reason
is

for existence.

Here, then,

the

explanation of the discredit

us.

which has
again base
Its

fallen

upon
is

But where
this.

is

the remedy.?

The remedy
its

simply

Liberalism must once

claims on broad, abstract, moral lines.

fulfil

measures aim to

great moral ideas, not merely

270

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

In the days of Bright

to confer small material gains.

and Cobden, Liberalism appealed to great abstract It was fighting for rights which should conceptions. belong to every man. Its aim was to make each man a worthier citizen by giving him the capacity for
citizenship.
If
;

there
there

was
was

privilege,
injustice,

the

Liberals

attacked
abolish

it
it.

if

they strove to

They fought

for

material good to the

workers, but their struggle was based on higher considerations than shillings

and pence.
materialist

The Anti-Corn
crusade
;

Law

agitation was no

it

was

animated by higher motives.

Their philosophy was

human

equality

their battle cry, freedom..

title,

Though

they would have rejected the

they were certainly

the heirs of the French Revolution, doing for their

country what the Convention had done for France.

And,
lofty
cerns.

like the

Revolutionaries, they were amazingly

successful because their principles were simple

and

and

their

aims were above merely material con-

No

creed can conquer which does not appeal

to higher motives than the desire for comfort.

And

the Liberals of the past

against great odds.

won

a great victory, fighting

But of

late years

an entire change has come over

the tone of our thought.

The philosopher

notes a

reaction from the Liberalism of '48.

He
or

sees that

the force of these ideas has waned,

at best lies
It

dormant.
has

The wave
the

of reaction has run strong.

flooded

platform

and the

polling booth.

A Materialist
Everywhere we
that of the past.
find

Reaction.

271

men

addressing themselves to

the political problem in a totally different

way from

Yet behind these superficial appearthe

country, true

ances there remains, throughout

Liberal feeling in strong and even overwhelming force.

The
"

first

question the
this

reformer of to-day asks

our pockets
unprivileged
">

is,

How

will

affect

How

will

the

worker

and

the

be

benefited

pecuniarily
to such a to

by such-and-such a change?"

To speak
is

man
ears.

of liberty,

of justice,

to

talk

closed

He

stands

on different ground,
different

and events reach him through a

medium.
arises

He
is

is

purely concerned with the material aspects of

the case.

Thus we

find that each

problem as

it

dealt with on thoroughly unideal lines.

question of

Land

Nationalisation.

favour of this thesis will be as " originally belonged to the whole people
tion,

Take the The argument in " The land follows

:

a proposimoment's
It

by the way, which

let
it

will not stand a

"
;

examination, but

pass

it

has been appropriated

by a dominant
everyone

class

few

in

numbers.

must be
rent

again put into the hands of the

community, that

may

profit

by

it

alike, that the

may

go to the payment of national burdens. Thus the cultivator will be paying rent not to one individual, a

member
he

of a class pre-eminent in selfishness, but to

the whole people, partly therefore to himself

will certainly benefit,

Ergo,

and

his struggle for a living

will

be

easier."

This

is

no unfair statement of the

273

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

Land
Nationalisation as presented

case for

by the

Collectivist.

Now, how ought

Obviously the
the
will
first

this

matter to be approached
is

question to be asked

not " Will

national
it

comfort be

increased?" but
?

"How
"

affect

the liberty of the individual

Land
than such

Nationalisation would,
as searching

we

hold, set

up a despotism
thrift
if

and

far

more destructive of
its

even that of the squirearchy at

a despotism would result, then

worst.

And

Land

Nationalisation

must be avoided as we would avoid poison.

less to
is

But an

argument based on national character seems valuemost

political thinkers of the present day.
It

not theirs to discuss abstract propositions concernlike.

ing liberty and the

Provided their schemes have

a plausible air of affording greater ease and comfort

to a numerical majority, they are oblivious of

any

higher question.
best towards
at last.^
I

They,

at least, will
"

do

their little
"

making the

City of Pigs

a reality

have taken but one specimen to show

this atti-

tude of mind.
as
I

Instances could be multiplied.

But

do not wish to trench on subjects which are

I

dealt with elsewhere,

application.

shall

return to the historical

The

Liberal

party has

been

beaten

because
his

it

has attempted to meet the Collectivist on

own ground
in
'

because
:

with him

materialist
riato

it has tried to compete programmes and promises

ii.

" Repulilic," Book

False Ideals.
of increased comfort.
better ideal.
It It

273
to its earlier,

must return
its

must take

stand on the moral

It

grounds of liberty and

perity will
thrift, his

justice.

must teach the

his

individual his duties as a citizen,

follow.

and material prostake good care to

Stimulate his intelligence,

patriotism,

and he

will

improve

his surroundings.

To

that end the machinery

of local self-government has been provided.

It is

shown elsewhere what are the economic conwhich we would wish to bring about.
All
I

ditions

need

not speak here of the moral benefits of small holdings

and
is

profit-sharing.

am

concerned to point out

that with Socialism there can be no capitulation,

no compromise.
future as
it

We

must not coquet with

in

it

in

the

we have done
if

the past.
ideal

We

can see that

holds out a false ideal

an
It is

which would lead

bankruptcy.
all

to

despotism,

not to national
philosophy,

Its

watchwords,

its

run counter to

the

great ideas of the past.

debauching the workers

to be leading

with low ambitions

themselves.

it

is

depriving them of belief in

it

As we

believe

men

in

wrong paths and towards an end profoundly false, we will combat it as resolutely as we did the Tory oligarchy with
its

Socialism in the past.^

But the mistakes of less than a decade ought not to be allowed to weigh against a century's successful battle for the downtrodden and the oppressed.
Liberal ideas have carried the workers out of the
1

V. pp. 23s, 236.

274

The Historic Basis of Liberalism.

misery and ignorance which was their
;

frightful

lot

under the Toryism of seventy years ago

their

they
is

will

be

mainstay

in the future.

The work
principle

but half

done.
of

The House
;

of Lords clamours for the knife

reform

the

hereditary
life

everywhere
franchise
is

cankers the social

still
is

of England.

The

restricted,
in

and so manipulated that every obstacle

put

the
is

way
his.

of

the

labourer obtaining the

are

vote which
mediaeval

The Land Laws

more than

in

their

complexity, and they bear the

impress of the privileged class which

In

made them.
voters,

the

registration

of

land,

as

of
is

legal

expenses are preposterous.

There

Home

Rule,

which must be given, and the wrongs of centuries to

Ireland which are only half alleviated.

There are a
Liberalism

thousand

remnants of

injustice

which

tellects as clear

must grapple with and overthrow. There are inand as virile as of old, ready for the
But our leaders keep
remain
silence,

struggle.
in

and believers

Liberalism

perplexed.
evils

Until

someone

speaks out and impeaches the

all

which are patent to

men, the Liberal party must remain a vacillating

Time presses, and time is of The opportunity may easily be lost. Until one of our leaders has the courage to fhngaway the scabbard and commence the attack, the rank and
and incongruous body.
priceless value.
file

must be confined to semi-idleness.

a leader long enough, and

We

have been

withf^.ut

we

ask for a

man

with a clear head and unshaken faith to eive the word.

The Heritage which

is

to be.

275

We
basis

have dealt at much length with the

rests,

historical

upon which Liberalism

it,

the needs which

created
present,

its

record in the past,

for the future.

its

blunders in the

its

hopes

We

can see

how

it

has raised the people, given them power and understanding

national
;

how

it

swept away abuses and increased

prosperity.
It

wealth and national

But

its

principles are not of one time or age.

has taken a

certain very distinct colour from the special circum-

stances of

England
is
is

in the

nineteenth century.
is

Yet
are

the root idea

eternal.

Wherever there

inequality,

wherever there

unjust privilege, wherever

men

chattels rather than citizens, there will be Liberalism

and Liberals fighting to redress the balance.

hold
its

To

creed

demands
is

constant

effort,

constant

struggle.
its

But the creed

is

well worth the fight, for

name

Liberty.

Philip James Macdonell.

s 2

INDEX.
Army, Purchase
Acland's, Mr., circular, i8i
in,

abolished

by

Gladstone, 247

Arnold, Matthew, on higher education, 191

Adams, Mr. Francis, quoted, 179

Afghanistan, 254 Africa, South, 155-7

Ashmead-Bartlett, Sir E., 253 Asquith, Mr., quoted, 43-4, 121,

schools,

Age-limit in

elementary

I22;

his

Employers' Liability
119
seq.

206
Agricultural distress, Mr. Chaplin's

Bill, 112,

Athleticism and Patriotism, 145-6

Austria, 167

view
tion,

of,

67

Agricultural labourer under Protec-

47-8, 235-6, 240-1

Balfour,

B
?vlr., 109, 112, 121, 126; on threat of School Board, 197 Ball, Mr. Sidney, 72

Agricultural School established by

Agriculture, Basis
22,

Cheshire County Council, 209 of reforms for,

28,

209

not

ruined by
40.

Corn Law Repeal,

(See

Ballot Act, 247

Beaconsfield.
(See Disraeli.)
;

Land. Alford, Dean, quoted on Education,

184W Alien Immigration

Bill,

33W

Allotments to follow Free Trade in

Bentham, 231, 235 the Benthamite maxim, 66 Berlin, Treaty of, 244-5 Birmingham, Mr. Chamberlain and,
81W, 83
Blomfield's, Bishop, attack on

Land, 68 America, United States

Arbitration, 160

of,

160

Eduwith
grant

Animals Diseases Act, 33

Arch, Mr. Joseph, 252
Aristocracy,

cation Bill of 1S39, 181

Board
Territorial, 25,

schools

compared
schools,
;

Voluntary

in

The

229

earned, 190

teachers' salaries,

"Aristotle
;

according to Stewart,"

199 and noie ; extensive curri-

S6n quoted, 119 Armenian agitation, 139

culum of, 190 in villages, 195 Lord Cranborne's attack on

; ;

2/8
London
hchool

Essays in Liberalism.
Board,
187
for
;

Chartists,

Demands

of,

236-7

Lord Salisbury on rates 186 ; on salaries in, 187

advice to

Cheshire County Council's Agricultural School,

his

209

"capture," 194, cf. 205; Mr. Balfour on, 197; mischievous attempts to
fetter,

Chonler's, Mr., suggestion, 49 Christian Socialists, 61 and note

189
in

Church, The, in

last century,

195

religious

instruction
of,

Church

Schools.

{See

223-4 Voluntary

199

Tory treatment

197

Schools.)
Churchill,

Boers, 155

Lord R., Mistaken proof,

Bomba, King, denounced by Mr.

Gladstone, 245 Boroughs, Rotten, 223
Bovvley,

phecy
Citizen,

259;;
i,

The

Liberal,

6-9

Citizenship, Idea of, 155

Mr.

A.

L.,

on

Wage

"City of Pigs" the

272 Cobbett, William,
9,

Socialist ideal,

Statistics,

51-3

Bradlaugh, Charles, quoted, 124 Braxfield, Lord, 228 and note

Bright, John, 9, 238-9, 270
68, 69, 239
;

19,

231
;

quoted,

Cobden, Richard, 9, 238-9, 270 and Manchester, 74-6 ; on

State Education, 178^, 182
Collectivism,

Brougham, Lord, 9
Bryanism, 87 Brunner, Mondt&Co.
Bulgaria, 16
,

56-7,

71,

115,

262;
4-5
on,
;

an
Messrs., 207

attack

on

thrift,

Liberals

and,

99-101,
popular, 6

268,

272

Mr.
;

Gladstone

x
to

Burke,

Edmund, 227-8

(preface)

why

Colonies,

British,

152

how

retain them, 153

Common Employment,
120

Doctrine

of,

Canada, Free Trade

Capital, Distribution
tribution.)

in,

46
{See Dis-

Commons, House

of.

{See House.)

of.

Competition, Foreign,

German, 44-7
Board
Schools,"
ism,

208, 212 under Social-

"Capture

the

72

in

agricultural pro-

194-5, 20S Carlyle, Thomas, on

ducts, 66, 67

Corn Laws,

Compromise,
132-3
;

English
in

habit

of,

on Education, i84 Catholic schools, 179, I98 Chamberlain, Mr., 126 ; as Mayor of Birmingham, 8i, 83 43
;

what sense involved in Liberalism, 118; not to be a main principle, 2, 203

Compromise

of 1870, Illogical, 205.

Chaplin's, Mr., view of agricultural

distress, 67 Charter Schools, I79

{See Education, Forster.)

Conscience Clause, The, 20l

Conscription, 159

Index.
Conservatism, Revolutionary, 134 victory of, in 1874, 247-8.
{See General Election, Tory.)
;

279
of,

Democracies, Afhnities
another, 165

to

one

Democracy, Tory, Idea

Democratising
138-41
of

of,

250
policy,

Constitution established

in

1688,

foreign

219-20
Continental competition, 20S
Continental Liberalism, 16

Denmark, Agricultural education in,

209, 210 Sugeducation, Denominational gested scheme for national,

Continuity in foreign policy, 134,

162
Contracting-out, 112-3, 121

Conveyancing, 24
Co-operation, 95, 212;? Carlyle Corn Laws, 9
;

204-5. Devonshire,

(^''^'

Education.)
of,

Duke

quoted, 126-7,

agitation

against,

on, 43 237-41

153, 197 Discipline party,

104, 161, 163,
Disraeli,

Need
269

of,

14, 94,

effect of repeal

on agriculture,

241,

248-9,

251-6;

his

40 Cosmopolitanism, 172 County Councils and Technical Education, 207-9 County Franchise, 221, 251 " " Winter Evening Cowper's
quoted, 48

Orientalism, 138
Distribution of wealth, 15, 50, 53, 66, 261-3.

E
Economic
causes. Unconscious action of, 23

Cranborne,

Lord, attacks London

School Board, 187

Economic waste. Doctrine

Economists
traditionally

of,

69

Crime diminished
statistics,

by Education,

Liberals,

193-4
quoted,

Crimean War, 245 Cunningham, Professor,

38 Cyprus, 254

31. 32 Education a condition of freedom, 177, 215; economic reasons for public, 69,

206
;

diminishes
Ireland,
184;;,

crime,

193-4

in

202
191

on the Continent,
diminishes

pauperism,
for

D
Davies's, Rev.
J.

193
letter,

must be electively con192

;

trolled,

necessary
184-6,

Llewellyn,

national

welfare,

195,
of,

200

216
"Recollections of,"
Irish refomi,

proposal to limit cost

De Tocqueville,
Delay, Dangers

188, 192

quoted, 63-5
of, in

Education
of,
1

Department,

Creation

22

78; and evening schools, 206-7 opposed by House of

;

280
Lords,
1

Essays in Liberalism.
80
;

supervision

by,

Fox, Charles James,

Fox's Education

9,

227
l8l

203
Ediication, Higher,

Bill (1850),

on,

191

Matthew Arnold Report of Commis-

France,

16, 137, 152, 162,

165

sion on, 191

Franchise, 11, 15, 178, 237 Free choice secured by legislation,

114, 123

Educational proposals always follow

extension
of
franchise,

178

Mr. Forster's Act (1870), 178, 181-2, 184, 189, 247-8; Bill of Mr. Whitbread (1807), 179, 180 ; of Lord John Russell Fox {1839), 180-1 ; of Mr. Lowe of Mr. (1850), 181
;

Free Education Act of 1891, 178, l82-3, 264, 265 Freemen, Corrupt, 74, 75 Free Trade. {See Protection.)
Free

Trade
68
;

and

distribution

of

capital, 15; in land, 19, 65, 67,

a political axiom,
on,

33-5
37

(1861),

181

of 1896,

187-8,

Lord Salisbury
46M
of,
;

36,

205-6,

214

Lord

Sandon's

recent success in the Colonies,

history of, 237-41
;

Act (1876), i8l

Egypt, 148 Eight Hours Day, 103 " Empire," Meaning of,

effect

261
effects

French Revolution,
1

on Eng-

1-2

land, 226-8, 270

Employers'

liability,

11^

seq.

England,

why unpopular

abroad,

147-8
Entail, 26, 66-7

Equality of opportunity, loi, logic, 114,

122-3

Ethical z'^^'JWJ

Economic

.Standpoint,

General Election of 1895, Causes of reaction at, 62-3, 105-6

69-70, 115

George IV., 229

Evening schools, 206-7 Evolution, 60

Germany (Prussian), 138, Emperor of, 168 German competition, 44-7

Gladstone,

167

Mr.,
;

92,
his

242-6,

248,

Fabian Essays,

71, 72; syllogism, 56^; Tract quoted, 51M

Factory Acts, 69, 103, 117, 123

Federation, Imperial, 68, 152, 153 Financial Relations Commission,

words on Collectivism, preface x ; speeches of, in 1879, 140 ; and Italy, 149; and France, 165; and Home Rule, 258-60 Irish his retirement, 266
265, 267

I53.
Forster,

154
E., his Education Act,

Gordon, General, 257

Gorst, Sir John, quoted, 179, 18S-9,

W.

178, 181

214

referred to, 197

Index.
Graduated Income Tax, 87-9 Graham, Sir James, 58 Grant, Government, to elementary schools, igow
Grote, George, 235

281

Ideals,

Moral,

in Liberalism,

269-

70
Idealism, Political, 14, 17

Imperial Parliament, Duties

Imperial instinct, 60
;

of,

68

vulgar forms

H
Harcourt,
Sir William,

of, 150-2 Independent Labour Party, 269

Individual character prior to that

106

his

of State, 18

Budget, 79 Hartington, Lord, quoted, 126

Individual freedom in industry, 67,

108-9
Industrial ideals, 29, 95 Industrial reform. Twin tendencies
in,

Higher Education. (6"^^ Education. Higher Grade Schools indispensable, 191

107-9, 118

Home

Rule,

10,

12,

104,

153-4,
sacri-

Industry regulated by law, 11

Ireland, 22,

216,258-61, 274; not a

fice,

259 and note

first

Home
;

Rule)
in,

153-5 (^-^d see Home elementary education

;

Rule Bill, 258 ; second, 265 and House of Lords, see below Hooley, Mr., 89 and note

202

past injustice

to,

242
13

Church, 246-7 Irish Land Bill, Lords and,

Irish

Gladstone and, 256-7

of.
1

Hours House

of labour, Limitation
of

10

Irish Party.

{See Nationalist Party.)

Commons

aristocratic in

Interest as motive of policy, 149

i8th century, 220 and note, 221

International morality, 141-2

Italian unity, 10, 16,
Italy,

House
66

of Lords
;

an anachronism,

\\\n
England,

and Home Rule, 12-14, and Irish land, 13 265-6 need of reform of, 216, 274; opposed Education Department, 180 rejected Mr.
; ;

friendship

with

149, 150, 168, 244

180; right to pose as Referendum, 13 Houses of Parliament, Composition

Bill,
of,

Whitbread's

Jameson's

raid,

154-7
of,

Jingoism, Analysis
tinguished

142-5

dis-

220
Victor,

from

patriotism,

Hugo,

on

education

and
16,

144-6
171
;

how

to supplant, 147,
;

crime, 194

like Socialism, 5

origin
;

Hungarian independence,
244

10,

of the

nickname, I43

why

so popular, 4-6, 144

282

Essays in Liberalism.
Local

Government
Bill,

achieved

by

Liberals, 15, 74-6, 263-4

KeirHardie, Mr.,
Kidd's Mr.,

73, 103, 116

Local Veto

105-6
Council, 84, 264

" Social Evolution,"

London County

Knox, John, i86

Lowe, Robert, 181 Lubbock, Sir John, quoted, 192-3

M
Labour Party, The, 98, 99, 268 Labour Questions, two points of view, 69, 70, 115; present prominence of, 261
Laissez-faire, 82

Made

in

Germany, 44-7
75
33,
of,

Manchester, Charter of Incorporation,

Manchester school, Attacks on, work 70, 94, 98, 262

;

Land.

iSee

Agriculture,

Entail,

241

Protection.)

Materialism in Politics, 132-5, 224,

Land and citizenship, 22-3 Land Laws, Reform of the, 26-8,

65-8, 126, 216, 274

270-1

" Merrie England," 58

Middleman

in Politics, 54,

94 i82

Land Monopoly, 18, 24, 66, 79 Land Nationalisation, 271-2 Land Values, Taxation of, 80 con;

MiUtarism, 159-60
Mill, J. S., quoted, 109-10,

Mill, James, 231-2, 235

fiscation

of,

by

Christian

Missouri,

Member
in

for,

quoted, 39

Socialist,

6i
on
Charter

Monopoly
ficial,

land,
it
;

11,

24;

arti-

Landlordism, 24 Lecky, Mr., quoted

Schools, I79

how

raises

prices,

56-7,
of,

72,

Liberal defeat of 1895, Causes

of,

of,

theory artificial, 236 78-86 natural, theory U.S.A., in 72, 78-86

; ; ;

62-3, 163, 267-9 Liberal Ministry of 1880-5, 256-7

87-8
;

of education, effects

of,

179-80
Morality, International, 141-2

1892-5,

for policy 265-7; Labour, '125; sympathy with

national

movements,

9,

10,

151-7
Liberalism on the Continent,
16

Morley, John, quoted, 188, 259 on prophecy, I5i his "Life of Cobden " quote 1, 58, 75,
; ;

10, III
;

and Socialism, 69
ism)
;

[see

Social-

moral ideals in, 269-70 Liverpool School Board, 190

Municipal legislation, 76, 222, 236 Liberalism, 77, 78 ; ownership,

73.

{See Monopolies.)

Index.

283

N
Napoleon
III., 16,

Peel, Sir Robert, 241, 243

253
1885, 258-9;
5 1-8

National schools, 199/?, 200

Nationalist Party in
praise due to, 260

Penrhyn Quarries dispute, 1 28 Pessimism of exceptions, 44-7 Petty, Prophecy of, 15IM
Pharisaism, English, 147, 156
Piers the Plowm^an, 17

Nationality a principle,

Plato

on

Education referred

to,

Newspapers, foreign news incompetent, 136-7 Nonconformist grievance against Church schools, 182, 200-1

179, 272
Playfair, Lord,

on Education, 186

Plunkett's,

Mr., Report of Recess

Committee, 209, 210, 2I3

Pollock, Sir Frederick, 27

Poor Laws,
cialistic

Reformed, 235
before 1834, 236

So-

Poor-rate

limited

by Education,

Obscurantism,

Official,

in

foreign

policy, 134-5, 141. 161

One man one

vote, 11, 237 Opportunism, 34, 102, 118 Optimism of Averages, 44

193 Population, 151 and note Pressense, M. de, quoted in footnote, 159

Prices

Organic unity of the State, 60

and Wages, 41, 42 raised Artificial Monopoly, 56-7 Priestley v. Fowler, xizn
;

by

Principle essential to Liberals, 107,

269-70
Palmerston, Lord, 149
policy
of,

Production, Divorce of personality from, 5 ; personality and, 29

Progressivism, True and false, 53-4,

243-5 Pan- Anglican Empire, 150, 151 Paradox in industrial policy, 1

121

86
10,

Property

badge

of

fraternity,

Particularism
163, 165,

in

Foreign

Policy,

65 Prophecy,
Protection,

Numerical

Futility

of,

269

150, 151

Party Discipline, 14, 94, 104, 161,

163

Pauperism

limited

by education,
of,

American view of, 39 involves " a and Rents, 40 truth," according to Lord Salis; ;

193 Paupers, Manufacture

bury, 40
225, 226

36

Lord Salisbury on, Quack remedy for depres;

" Peace with Honour," 254-5

Peasant-Proprietors, 165. [See Yeo-

sion,

208
;

recent popularity

of,

35-43
39.

Sydney Smith on,

38,

men.)

{See Free Trade.

284

Essays in Liberalism.
S
Salisbury,

Protectionist philanthropy, 57-9

Public Institutions, Private administration of,

203

Lord, in

office,

Board school
capturing the

rates,

37 186

on on

Railway
103
Raleigh,

Servants'

Hours

Act,

Elemertary

politics,

23 1 Ratepayers
189, 197

Board schools, on impossibility of Protection, 36 ; on on the teachers' salaries, 187 truth " in Protection, 40 ; on the "wrong horse," 255 on trades unions, 128
194
;

on hops, 36

'

'

and

Education,

187,

Sandon,

Reform

Bill, First,
;

Men

of, 8, 9, 17,

San Stefano, Treaty of, 254 Lord, and educational grant, iSin
School Boards, Difficulty of obtaining, 196-7. [See

230-2, 234-5 history of, 232, 299; Second, 245, 246 Reform followed by Education Bills,

Board schools.)
in,

Scotland, Elementary education

178
Registration of land, 26-8, 274

I95
.Secondary Education Commission,

Religious

teaching

in

elementary

2I3, 214
Shibboleths, Political, 169-70

schools, 196, 199, 204; secured

by a new scheme, 204

Representation and taxation, 89 Revolution, Non-interference with,

Shipbuilding, Statistics

of,

44-5

Small holdings, 23

"Social" takes place of "political," 261

166

of 1848, 241-2

of 1688

establishes constitution,

219

Socialism,

262
in in

compared
;

with
of,

Rhodes, Mr. Cecil, 156 Richarck, Rev. W. J. B., on Conscience Clause, 201

Jingoism, 5

false

ideals

271-3 267-9

election

of

1895,

Roebuck,

Mr.,

on value of edu-

235-6, 273
term, 61,
Socialist,

France,63-4 ; Tory, vagueness of the

;

I94 Rosebery, Lord, quoted, 103, 163 and London County Council,
cation,

in, 170
61 and "
ttote

Christian,
to

equivalent

member

of

84
Russell,

Society," 61

Lord John,
;

171, 231,

234,

Socialists turning Liberal, 94

Soil,

245-6

educational

purposes

Demand

for the,

22
abolished,

(1839),

180-1

proposes State

Specialisation in politics, 104

Russia,

Training College, I99 Traditional view of,

166-7, 255

Speenham Land
138,

Act, 225

235
Stambuloff, 16

Index.
State, Liberal conception of,

285

175-6;

U
Unemployable, The, 55
Universities
in

individual character

prior to,

18

Stevenson, R. L.
Stewart,

228^
A.,
stagirising

the

i8th

century,

Mr.

J.

223, 224

Socialism,

86
in,

Switzerland, Technical education

213 Sydney Smith quoted, 38-9

Venezuela, 160

Veto

{see

Local)

of

House

of

Lords, 14
Villiers,

Mr. Charles, annual motion,

Taxation

and representation, 89-

91, 203; incidence of, 125, 216

Technical education, 206-7, 212

in

Denmark, 210;

in Switzer-

237 Managers, 90, Voluntary schools 91 ; V. Board schools in grant for class subjects, igow; policy, 194 ; claims examined, 196-8
58,
:
;

land, 213

subscriptions,

197,

198;

one

Temperance reform, IC4-6, 127 Terminology, Unmeaning change

59-62
Test Acts, 223, 224, 232
sity, 247 Tests for teachers
;

thousand, without subscriptions,

of,

197 201
Vote,

in

what sense public, 201

extraneous
one, 11, 237
duties,

teachers,

Univer-

income, 202

One man

204 Thackeray and Snobs, 229M

Tory

legislation.

Typical,

251

W
Wages,

Democrat, 248, 250 Toryism, why inefficient reform, 127-8

for

Labour

Tory theoiy
rise
in,

that
;

they

follow prices, 41, 42 the i8th

Towns, Constitution
in,

of, in
;

nominal

century, 222, 223

corruption

74-5 Trades Unions, 262-3 Tradition mechanical in

and comparison of (1770 to 1850), 4750 ; comparison of (i860 to

real
;

42

891), 52-3

doubled in value
Mrs.
Sidney,

Foreign

in thirty-six years, 53

Policy, 135, 138 Training College, State, for teachers,

Webb,

Mr.

and

quoted, 113, I22

I99
Trevelyan, Sir G. O., 251

Turkey, English and Russian policy

towards, 253-5

" Weir of Hermiston," 228 Wheat, Prices of, compared, 42 Whiggism, 102, 268 Whitbread's, Mr., Education Bill,

286
179;
'

Essays in Liberalism.
rejected

by

House of
,
.

Y
Yeoman
of last century, 19, 221,
<-

E. Willams, ,, Germany, 44-7

'

^ E.,

,,,,

"Made

in

Women s

r . ^^^ the 222 ; of .u future, 67 Young, Arthur, on Wages, 50

h\xms.ge,Jootnote, 134
88,

Wrixon, Sir Henry, quoted, 87, 90 Wiirtemberg, 210-11

Z
Zollverein. 47

Printed by Casseli,

?i.

Company, Limited, La Bem e Sauvage, London, E.C.

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The

I'rue

Kobinson Crusoes.

Jungle, Peak, and Plain.

throughout.

Illustrated

Cloth gilL

The "Cross and Crown" Series. Illu-strated. 2S. 6d. each. Through Trial to Triumph. Freedom's Sword: A Story of the Madeline B. Hunt. Days of Wallace and Bruce. By Fire and Sword: A Story By Annie S. Swan.
Strong to Suffer: A Story of the Jews. By E. Wynne. Heroes of the Indian Empire: or. Stories of Valour and Victory. By Ernest Foster. In Letters of Flame A Story of the Waldenses. By C. L.
:

By
of

the

Huguenots.

By

Thomas

Adam Hepburn's Vow: A

Kirk and Covenant.
S Swan.
:

Archer.

Tale of By Annie

No. XIII. or, The Story of the A Tale of Early Lost VestaL
Christian Days.

Mat(faux.

By

Emma

Marshall.

"Golden Mottoes"

Series, The.
the

Four full-page Original

Each Book containing 208 pages, with Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2S. each.
" "

By 'Nil Desperandura." Rev. F. Langbridge, M.A.

Pitt.

Honour

is

my

Guide."

By Jeanie

Bear and Forbear." By Sarah

Aim

Hering (Mrs. Adams-Acton). at a Sure End." By Emily

"

He Conquers who
the Author of "
Trial," Sic,

Searchfield.

Endures." By
s

"Foremost
Atteridge.

if I

Can."

By Helen

May Cunningham

Wanted a King"
;

Series.

Illustrated,

as. 6d. each-

Great Grandmamma. By Georgina M. Sjmge. Kobin's Eide. By Ellinor Davenport Adain*. Wanted-a Kine or, How Merle set tho Kursery By Maggie Browne. Fairy Tales in Other Lands. By Julia Goddard.

Khymes

to Bights.

Cassell's Picture Story Books. Each containing about Sixty Pages of Pictures and Stories, &c. (". each. Auntie's Stories. Daisy's Story Book. Little Talks. Birdie's Story Book Dot's Story Bo k. Bright Stars. Little Chimes. A Nest of Stoiies. Nursery Toys. A Sheaf of Tales. Good-Night Stories. Pet's Posy. Dewdrop Stories. Chats for Small Chatterers. Tiny Tales.
Illustrated Books for the Little Ones. gd. each. All lUusuated. Containing interesting Stories. the Garden.

Bright Tales

fe

Funny

Pictures.

Up and Down

Kerry

Little Tales. Little Tales for Little People. Little People and Their Pets. Tolcf for Sunday. Tales Sunday Stories for Small People. Stories and Pictures for Sunday. Bible Pictures for Boys and Girls. Firelight Stories.

All Sorte of Adventures.

Our Sund'iy Stories. Our HoUiay Hour's. Indoors and Out.

Sunlight and Shade.

Fine Feathers and Fluffy Fur. Scrambles and Scrapes.

Tittle Tattle Tales.

Rub-a-Dub Tales.

Those Golden Sands. Little Mothers & their Children. Our Pretty Pets. Our Schoolday Hours. Creatures Tame.
Creatures Wild.

Dumb

Some Farm Friends. Wandering Ways.

Friends.

Selections

from

Cassell

# Compan/s
The

Publications.

Cassell's Shilling Story Books. All Illustrated, and containing Interesting Stories.
1

Giant's Cradle.

Bunty and the Boys. The Heir of Elmdale. The Mystery at ShonoUfF School.
at Last, & Roy's Reward. Thorns and Tangles. The Cuckoo In the Robin's Nest.

Claimed

Shag and Doll. Aunt Lucia's Locket. The Magic Mirror. The Cost of Revenge. Clever Frank.

Among

the Redskins.

John's Mistake. [Pitchers. The History of Pive Little Diamonds in the Sand. Siirly Bob.

The Ferryman of Brill. Harry Maxwell. A Banished Monarch.

Seventeen Cats.

The World's Workers.

Series of New and Original Volumes With Portraits printed on a tint as Frontispiece, is. each. John Cassell. By G. Holden Pike. Florence Nightingale, Catherine
gal, Mrs. Rauyard (" L. N. R."). By Lizzie Alldridge.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon. By G. Holden Pike. Dr. Arnold of Rugby. By Rose

E. Selfe.

Marsh, Frances Ridley Haver-

Dr.
of Shaftesbury.

The Earl
Henry

By
Sir

Frith.

Father Mathew, Guthrie, Elihu Burrilt, George Livesey. By John W. Kirton. LL.D.
Campbell, Lord Clyde.
PhiUips.

Sarah Robinson, Agnes Weston, and Mrs. Meredith. By

Henry Havelock and

Lincoln.

Colin
E. C.
Foster.

By

Thomas

E. M. Tomkinson.

A. Edison

and Samuel

Abraham

By Ernest

Mrs. Somerville and Mary Carpenter. By Phyllis Browne. General Gordon. By the Rev.
S.

P. B. Morse. By Dr. Denslow and J. Marsh Parker.

George Miiller and Andrew Reed.

By E. R. Pitman.

Richard Cobdeu. By
Tomkinson.

Benjamin Franklin.
Handel.
By
Eliza Clarke.

R. Gowing. By E. M.
[Swaine.

A. Swaine.

Charles Dickens.
Daughter.

By

his Eldest

Sir Titus Salt and George By C. L. Mateaux. Moore. By J, Burnley. David Livingstone. By Robert Smiles. The above Works can also he had Three iii One Vol,, doth, gilt edges, 3r.

Turner the Artist. By the Rev. S. A. George and Robert Stephenson.

Library of ^Vonde^s.
cloth, IS. 6d.

Illustrated

Gift-books

for

Boys.

Paper,

is.

Wonderful Balloon Ascents. Wonderful Escapes.

Wonders Wonders
and

of Animal Instinct. of Bodily Strength

Skill.

Cassell's Eighteenpenny Story Books.

Illustrated.

Ups and Downs

Life.

Wee

Willie Winkie. of a Donkey's

Faith's Father.

Up

Three

Wee

By Land and Sea. The Young Berringtoas.

Jeff

Ulster Lassies.

the Ladder. Dick's Hero; and other Stories.

I'he Chip Boy.

Tom

and

Leff.

Raggles,

Baggies,

and

the

fimjaeror.

Roses from Thorns.

Gift

Worth more than Gold. "Through Flood Through Fire". and other Stories. The Girl with the Golden Looks.
Stories of the Olden Time.

Morris's Error.

Books
Bo.v

for

Y^ung

People.
in

By Popular
Cloth
gilt, is.

Authors.
6d. each.

With Four
By
the Rev.

Original Illustrations

each.

The

Hunters of Kentucky.
of

Major Monk's Motto.

F. Langbridge.

By Edward S.EUis.

Red Feather: a Tale

American
Frontier.

the

Trixy.

iiy

By
If

Edward Seeking a

S. Ellis.

City.

Rags and Rainbows: A Story of Thanksgiving. Uncle W^ilham's Charges; or, Tho

Maggie Symington.

Ehoda's Reward;
E'rank's

Broken Trust.

or.

Wishes were Horses." Jack Marston's Anchor.

Life-Battle;
oi

The

Pretty Pink's Purpose; or, Tha Little Street Merchants. Tim Thomson's Trial. By Georgi
Weatherly.

Three Friends.

The Two

Fritters.

By Sarah

Ursula's StumbUng-Bloek.
Pitt.

By Julia
the Rev.

Goddard.

Hardcastles. By Made

Ruth's Life-Work.
Joseph Johnsor

Une Bonavia Hunt.

By

Selections

from

Cassell

t;

Company's Publications.
Illustrated.

Cassell's Two-Shilling Story Books.

Margaret's Enemy. Stories of the Tower. Mr. Burke'6 Nieces.

I'eggy, and other Tales.

The Top of the Ladder: How Beach It. Little Flotsam. Madge and Her Friends. The Children of the Court. Maid Marjory.

May Cunningham's

Trial.

to

The Four Cats of the Tippertoas. Marion's Two Homes. Little Folks' Sunday Book. Two Fourpenny Bits.
Poor Nelly.

Through Peril to Fortune. Aunt Tabltha's Waifs.

In Miscliief Again.
Illustrated.

Tom

Heriot.

Books by Edward

S. Ellis.

Cloth, 2S. 6d. each.

Shod with Silence. The Phantom of the River. The Great Cattle Trail. The Path in the Ravine. The Young Ranchers. The Htmters of the Ozark. The Camp in the Mountaiua. Ned in the Woods. A Tale

The Last War Trail. Footprints in the Forest. Up the Tapajos. Ned in the Block House.

The Lost
of

Story of Pioneer Life in Kentucky. Trail.

Camp-Fire and Wigwam.

Lost in the Wilds. A Tale Lost in S; moa.
of ture in the Navigator Islands.
;

Ned on

Down the

Early Days

in

the West.

Adven-

MisBissippi. the River. A Tale of

Tad

or, " Getting;

Indian River Warfare.

Him.

Even " with

The "World
IS. 6d. each.

in

Pictures.'

Illustrated throughout.

Cheap Edition.

A Ramble Round France. All the Russias. Chats about Germany. The Eastern Wonderland
(Japan).

Glimpses of South America.

Round Africa. The Land of Temples (India). The Isles of the Pacific.

The Land

of

Peeps into China. Pyramids (Egypt).

Half-Crown Story Books.

In Quest of Gold; or, Under the Whajiija Falls.

Working
Perils

On Board the listntralda ; Martin Leigh's Log. The Cost of a Mistake.

For Queen and King.
Esther West.

or,

to Win. Afloat and Brigands Ashore. Pictures of School Life and Boyhood. At the South Pole. bhips, Sailors, and the Sea.

Books lor the Rhymes for

By William
100

Little Ones.

Fully Illustrated.

the Yoiuig Folk.

Crusoe.
Cloth,
s

CasseU's Swiss Family Robinson.

Illustrated.

Allingliam. Beautifully Is. 6d. Illustrated.

Cloth,

33. 6d.

gilt

edges, 5s.

Cassell's

Robinson
Illustrations.
gilt

The Sunday Scrap Book.

Illustrations.

Witli

With
3b.

ed;

edges,

Several Hundred Illustrations. Paper boards, 3s. 6d. ; cloth, gilt edges, 5s.
Cloth, iB.

The Old Fairy

Tales.

With Original

Albums

for

Children.
Authors.

3s. 6d. each.

The Album for Home, School, and Play. Containing Stories by

I'oiHilar

Picture

Album

of All Sorts.

FuU-iiage Illustrations.

Illustrated.

M,y

own Album
FuU-page

of

Animals.

The

\\ ith

Illustrations.

Chit-Ch.at throughout

Album.

Cassell

& Company's Complete

Catalogue

wilt be sent post

free on a/'/nication to

CASSELL & COMPANY, Limhed,

Lud^ate Hdl, Lonaon.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

Los Angeles

This book

is

DUE

on the

last

date stamped below.

Rp-rvlMIRl:

SEP 18

JAN 211986

MAR

2 8 1986

^'^3

m.
'^'OV

ir>rrERLlBRAR

URL

S19

Wl.OANS
RECEIPT

OCT 2 5 1972 TWO WEEK3 FR0;V1 D4TE OF

NON-RENEWABLE

^su-^^AiWfi-.Ts.
79

^^

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V.CO

,^1

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AUG

IBI

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