of disgust at a proposal to convert Westminster Abbey into a railway
terminus. “We don’t want that kind of Mayor or ex-Mayor; we regard
him as a savage.” Excellent John Bright! Your study of the style of
the Bible and Milton made you an orator, but not a wise man when
you expressed a hope that Industrialism would so prevail that smoky
chimneys should be everywhere as a sign of Wealth! You saw as a
sectarian, narrowly and ill! The beauty of our English lake scenery
would no longer exist if “The Plain Man” had had his way. The banks
of the Thames near to Chiswick, that precious bit of rural Suburban
London, was saved from destruction, but only just saved.
The promoters of the scheme held out plausible hopes to “The People,”
but were outwitted, thank Heaven, and the King’s Meadows were saved.
Had it succeeded Chiswick would have been under a smoke cloud, and we
should have said good-bye to the health and beauty of what is still
the most charming suburb of our grim, chaotic, dirty Metropolis. How
to treat London as a whole, is under consideration. It will probably
be broken up into self-governing sections. Much of it will have
to be pulled down and rearranged. Open spaces will be increased.
Public opinion will not, in these days of its greater enlightenment,
be the slave of Jerry-builders or Companies that, for the sake of
high interest, erected _Pig-styes_ and called them dwellings. It is
proposed to break London up, to equalise the number of the population
in every district, and not to permit their extension in the future.
One scheme I heard in my dream is to divide Central London from its
suburbs by a zone, entirely free of buildings, which shall be one
vast productive garden. It is thought to be a practicable scheme, in
point of fact, the simplest yet suggested. The total abolition of the
Smoke Fiend and the consequent clean and healthy air now enjoyed,
and the quantity of sunlight being doubled, experts say there is
no reason to doubt the healthy growth of fruit and vegetables in
the proposed rural zone. Within Central London only such factories
will be permitted which are entirely free from nuisance, disorder,
bad smells or smoke of any kind whatever. A plan is being thought
out to heat Central London by electricity upon the same system so
successfully applied to the New City.
§ 64
It is determined already that from London Bridge to Richmond Bridge
no factories will be permitted on the banks of our splendid river.
Imagination will supply a vision of what our river might be then.
Clear water, heaps of good fish, even salmon and trout, a place for
pageants, a healthy playground for the people and as beautiful a
river as any in Europe.
Centralization has received its death blow. Home rule, including all
responsibilities, has taken the place of a gigantic mistake. Each
County now rules itself. Only the best and most reliable men are
in a position of power. Class legislation is at an end. The rich
have no more power than the poor. The great or main effort of New
England is to _level up_. That desirable object, indeed more than
desirable, indispensable object, can only be attained by extending
enlightenment, and to do so the whole nation is now of one voice. To
sharpen our wits, as well as our tools, to enlarge the boundaries
of our outlook, and to maintain simplicity. Not to be time-servers,
but to recognise the debt we owe to aftercomers, and never to forget
that we are trustees, not only of the moment, but for the future. To
put big things before small. To realise, and profoundly, that every
poor as well as rich man is a responsible agent; that responsibility
is equal if different; the rich to use their money well, the poor
to earn honourable wages for honourable toil. Never to forget that
all labour is honourable, if well and honestly executed; and that
idleness and living upon the savings of our neighbours is a crime
against Society. Above all, to bear in mind that the _Soul of a
Nation_ must not be forgotten. Upon the purity of its conduct, the
elevation of its Ideals, carried into effect by constant and the
highest efforts, a nation keeps itself on the high road to dignity
and prosperity. To do this we must choose our guides, not from
platforms on Clapham Common, but from every class which, having
learnt the lesson of “Self-Rule,” is in a position to lead others to
attain it, and so to proceed with the delicate task of ruling others.
The foregoing statements are becoming truisms, so universal are they
becoming. And hence a Democracy is a possibility, even a probability,
as it is certainly the most consistent form of Government. To attain
it discord must cease! The discord which followed the Great War was
more dangerous to Britain than its great enemy, Germany. But, if that
discord is resolved into a concord, deplorable as it seemed to be, it
will have worked for good. The motto of the New England is an ancient
Benedictine proverb:--
“_Laborare est Orare._”
And so ends my Dream, which, when I woke, I thought might some day
grow to be a Reality.
§ 65
I can find no nobler words in all literature with which to end than
the prayer of Socrates, spoken at the end of the “Phædrus”:--
“Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me
beauty in the inward soul; and may the outward and inward man be
one. May I reckon the Wise to be the Wealthy, and may I have such
a quantity of gold as none but the temperate can bear and carry.
Anything more? That prayer, I think, is enough for me. Let us go.”
(_From Jowett’s Translation._)
THE END.
Transcriber’s Note:
Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent
hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged. Eight
misspelled words were corrected.
Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
this_. Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, upside down, or
partially printed letters, were corrected. Duplicate punctuation
was deleted. Final stops missing at the end of sentences and
abbreviations were added. One missing section (§) symbol was added.
Redundant word ‘thousand’ following ‘4,000’ was deleted.