POLITICAL LIFE IN ENGLAND
After cataloguing carefully the industries which occupy the working hours
of the Englishman and the sports which amuse his leisure, there would still
be left to be considered a great field of activity which can come strictly
under the heading neither of work nor of amusement, though it affords much
of both. That is the field of politics.
Huge amounts of time, energy, money, are expended yearly by the Englishman
on politics. To some of the wealthy and leisured, political activity in
some direction or another is the chief interest of life. To some of the
poor and discontented, politics seems to offer a way to better things. To
the middle classes a degree of political activity is dictated if not by
personal predilection then by the dictates of fashion or by the ambition
to "get on" socially. There is no better way of social advancement than the
way of politics. It is not only that knighthoods, orders, peerages even,
reward the political worker, but that entry into social circles otherwise
closed becomes possible when some mutual political interest smooths the
way. Thus the ranks of those genuinely interested in political issues are
recruited by a great crowd of social aspirants, sincere enough probably,
but with, as their main object, the desire to parade their excellent
political principles as a reason for advancement into "good society."
This aspect of political life is not peculiar to England. Wherever
representative institutions exist it may be found in some degree. But in
England it has gone to an extreme length. The existence of a very numerous
leisured class is partly responsible, no doubt. Another explanation is that
in England with political issues are inextricably involved personal and
clan rivalries. The Montagues and Capulets do not brawl in the streets of
London or Manchester. They fight out their rivalries on the hustings and in
the field of politics. Where there are no ready-made leaders of political
faction in a town or district they soon develop; or there may grow up a
joint-stock rivalry between the political clubs, in which the personal
leadership becomes of minor importance but the corporate struggle for
supremacy is tremendous. Then the position resembles the fierce but on the
whole good-natured contests between football clubs and their supporters.
The rival political organisations, under these circumstances, seek always
eagerly the man who can win or hold the seat, and their chief interest is
that the party platform shall be so framed that it will be most likely to
attract the "wobblers," who are not definitely and permanently bound to
either party. Victory carries with it intense satisfaction. With defeat
there is rarely any enduring bitterness. In politics, as in other games,
the Englishman is a "good sport," and if he loses to-day hopes to win next
time, or consoles himself, when he is permanently and hopelessly
outnumbered, that at least he has won a "moral victory." A "moral victory"
is won when you are decisively beaten, but would certainly have won on
account of the excellence of your cause but that Providence was on the side
of the bigger battalions.
Aside from the main party issue:
Every little boy or girl that is born alive
Is born either a little Liberal or a little Conservative.
English political activity finds expression in numberless leagues,
societies, organisations, and unions to promote some special idea in
politics. These usually have a nucleus of enthusiasts and a great body of
followers with no very precise idea of what they want, but an impression
that the league is a good thing because it has this or that personality
among its office-bearers. I tried once to make a census of the political
organisations of England, and gave up the task when the number passed into
the hundreds without the end being in sight. Each party has several
organisations to meet the needs of different types of supporters. Then each
idea claims its league to advocate, and often also its league to oppose.
Further, there are all sorts of leagues which aim at the abolition of
something, and again there are some leagues pseudo-political, which really
have no more serious purpose than afternoon tea.
But usually the purpose is serious and sincere. Else why the street
meeting, which in the English climate is usually a harsh tax on the comfort
of speakers and audience? My first impression in London of one of these
street meetings at first inspired in me ridicule, then a reluctant
admiration. At a street corner--brilliantly lighted from a public-house on
one side and a grocery store on the other--a little pulpit set up in the
road: from it a man speaking vigorously, almost passionately, apparently to
the idle wind, for no one is there to listen, unless indeed that horse
drowsing in the shafts of a cart at the grocery store is listening, and
what looks like sleepiness on its part is really quiet and intelligent
appreciation. This was strange enough to arrest attention. I forgot a
purpose to see from Primrose Hill the young moon rise over London on a
clear night, and stopped to listen. That was the first of the audience. The
speaker had announced, "We are met here to-night to----"; but that was, it
seemed at first, an unjustifiable optimism, for nobody had met; nobody
seemed inclined to meet.
But the speaker, after all, knew. There was to be, later on, a meeting, and
he, with a stolid courage that evoked an admiration strong enough to
smother the first sense of ludicrousness, was making that meeting. To speak
to a meeting which isn't, to pour out eloquence to an empty waste of
street for half an hour or so until the curious are attracted and an odd
bystander swells to a group, and a group to a crowd--that surely calls for
courage of the highest; it calls, too, for that stolid self-confidence and
imperviousness to ridicule which seems characteristic of the Englishman
when he feels that he is in the right.
But very depressing is the beginning of this street meeting. The speaker
has put up his little barricade, a street pulpit of deal, which bears a
placard urging "the electors to insist on a candidate who will support
British work for British hands"; but at first there is neither friend to
help nor enemy to fight. In a little while two supporting speakers appear
with bundles of pamphlets. Three small boys, attracted by curiosity, are
enlisted to distribute these among the audience (as yet non-existent). The
man in the pulpit talks energetically and sensibly. There are all the
essentials of a good meeting, except an audience. The horse at the street
corner still drowses. With irritating persistency a street beggar--a sturdy
young chap apparently, perhaps one of the victims of the political evils
that the speaker is talking of--plays a dismal tune again and again on a
concertina. The air is eager and nipping, and it seems hopeless to expect
that any number will give up their Saturday night to stand listening at
this cold street corner.
[Illustration: HYDE PARK, LONDON]
But gradually the crowd swells. There are at least 150 people listening by
the time that the first speaker has concluded and makes way for another. I
seek from him an explanation of this strange form of political propaganda.
Is this a casual incident or is it a habit? It seems that it is a habit,
the expression of the faith that is in them by a small group of enthusiasts
who think they see England in danger and wish to send to the people a
warning word. The meeting grows with every minute and livens up
considerably. A bystander, on whom Fate has evidently not inflicted a
drought, interrupts persistently, and finally accosts the speaker and puts
an affectionate and unsober hand on his shoulder and wishes to help him to
run the meeting; but the police interfere, and the speaker goes on pouring
out facts in vigorous phrases. Now and again a wife comes into the crowd
and draws away her unwilling husband; for there are Saturday night
marketing duties to be done, and on them political education must wait.
But such losses in the audience are made up by gains, and the meeting goes
forward to a cheerful, even an enthusiastic conclusion. It has dealt with
one of the big questions of the day. But--so strong is the political habit
of the English--it might have attracted almost as much attention if its
object had been the advocacy of the setting up of a Jewish Republic in
Jerusalem, or some amendment of the law to protect hansom cabs from
motor-cab competition.
But political life is not all street-speaking. Indeed, that is generally
left to the stark enthusiasts and to the faddists. When the big actors on
the stage of politics take the platform, it is in a theatre or a great hall
of amusement, and there is an orchestra; sometimes, too, eminent vocalists;
and even occasionally also a cinematograph entertainment, to make the
evening "go off well." I recall a nicely-balanced evening at which there
was a duke in the chair--a true nobleman this particular duke, but not at
all an orator, and he did not attempt to speak. Then a breezy speaker
filled in an hour with advocacy of "the cause"; after that music and moving
pictures for an hour. For the audience the winter evening had been filled
very comfortably. There was something of an atmosphere of "high society,"
some earnest and not very dull explanation of a political issue, and some
entertainment.
To make the pursuit of politics still more comfortable there are very many
political clubs. Almost every electorate has its Conservative Club and its
Liberal Club, to which the only qualification for membership is a sound
political faith. At these clubs there are newspapers, magazines, games of
all sorts, refreshments (at club prices), and occasional political
discussions and lectures. Then in the capital and the big provincial towns
there are clubs of a more "exclusive" type, membership of which is more or
less reserved. The two biggest political clubs are the National
Liberal--with a magnificent house fronting the Thames--and the
Constitutional (Conservative) in Northumberland Avenue. These are the great
popular headquarters for the young fighters of the two big parties. It is
almost necessary to be a member of the National Liberal Club if you wish to
show as an earnest Liberal. There is a popular gibe "from the other side"
which gives the definition of the "complete Liberal": "I have always
refrained from intoxicating liquors; I have married my deceased wife's
sister; none of our children have been vaccinated; and I am a member of the
National Liberal Club." The "other side," galled a little at this, has not
so far responded with anything better than this definition of the "complete
Tory": "I am incurably stupid; and a member of the Constitutional Club."
The party chiefs have their club citadels in Pall Mall, London--the Carlton
on the Unionist side, the Reform on the Liberal side. Here one gets sound
politics of one's own particular brand, with sound port, good dinners, and
comfortable chairs. (The English "club chair," by the way, is the standard
of manly comfort the wide world over. You find the English "club chair"
proudly announced as a luxury in all Europe, Asia, America, Australia, and
Africa; and "club" is a word found in every civilised language.) Membership
of these clubs is difficult to win, and it carries with it some claim to be
considered one of the managing committee of the party. (The Reform,
however, is not quite so rigidly a "party" organisation as the Carlton,
which will force you to resign if your politics do not remain sound from a
Unionist point of view.)
But apart from the great well-defined political clubs there are scores of
minor examples of these social-political organisations. Whenever a
political "group" is formed, it finds the need of a club where it may talk
over its enthusiasms at dinner. Thus when recently Lord Halsbury led a
schism against the main body of opinion among the Unionist peers, a
"Halsbury Club" was formed to band together in social as well as political
unity those who agreed with him. Not all these clubs acquire club-houses.
Sometimes they seek the hospitality of other clubs, sometimes are content
to engage a private room at an hotel for their periodical dinners and
discussions.
A very interesting political club in England is that secret organisation
known as "the Confederacy," a very advanced and extreme Unionist body,
which has a marked influence on political life, and which is proud of that
testimonial of its usefulness based on the declaration of one of its
opponents that it is an association of "political Jack-the-Rippers."
Who are the Confederates? The names, of course, cannot be disclosed. It is
allowed for any member to declare himself to be a Confederate if he so
chooses. But few care to do so. The strictest secrecy must be maintained as
to his fellow-members, and no report or record is allowed to be taken of
any proceedings of the Confederacy; not even a balance-sheet is ever
disclosed. There is a small inner circle of them--known as "the
Allies"--who manage the finances and administer the affairs of the
Confederacy generally, taking their instructions from the mass of the
members, who meet monthly in a strictly-guarded room of a private club, or
at the house of one of their number, from which all servants are excluded
as soon as the dinner (which ushers in all meetings) is over. The aim is
that no one shall be indictable in the camp of the enemy as a "Confederate"
except on his own confession.
"Who are the Confederates?" cannot therefore be answered with any list of
names. As a class, they represent the young bloods of the Tariff Reform
Party, the forward spirits who believe that in politics one should be
strenuous as well as politic. They have raised among themselves a big
fighting fund. They have at their command a list of speakers (who,
however, are not always allowed to know under what prompting they are sent
out into the political firing line), and they command by various means a
great newspaper influence.
The professed object of secrecy is to secure the greatest possible
efficiency. It is the Unknown that is terrible. A "Jack-the-Ripper" who
openly declared himself would have nothing like the power of one working in
the dark. These political "Jack-the-Rippers" recognise that fact, and do
not in the least object to the savage epithet which they earn by their
secrecy.
A meeting of the Confederacy is always preluded by a dinner. Thus, to the
outer world, and to the servants of the club or of the private house which
is chosen as a meeting-place, it is just a gathering of men to dine
together. After dinner, with the port and the coffee and the cigars, the
doors being barred against the intrusion of servants, business begins.
Every member is entrusted with the duty of observing some phase of the
political fight and reporting thereon. The chances in various electorates
are discussed. Funds are voted, when that is necessary, to assist
candidates "on the right side." Flights of orators are despatched to
points where they are needed. The newspaper side of the campaign is
canvassed. Executive action on all the points raised is left to the three
"Allies."
There is no Liberal analogue--so far as I know--to the Confederacy. But one
might exist without any one knowing of it except the actual members.
Certainly there are secret groups in all the political parties. Sometimes
the secrecy is dictated by real motives of expediency. Sometimes it is just
a device to give zest to a jaded political palate, and is comparable with
the elaborate make-believe of children.
Women are not banished from the political life of England. Almost every
party organisation has a separate branch for women, and the influence of
these women's organisations is very great. Indeed, some believe that the
drawing-room is more powerful than the platform in English public life. But
women do not confine their efforts to the drawing-room. They invade the
platform also and are sometimes very effective speakers indeed. Lately the
agitation for giving women the Parliamentary vote has brought a fresh
incursion of feminine workers into the political field, and some of them
have shown a remarkable originality in educational work. To raise false
alarms of fire so that the Fire Brigades may have useless trouble, to
destroy letters in postal pillar-boxes with corrosives, to break windows,
and to inflict mild assaults on public men--these are some of the recent
methods of political life in England introduced by the agitators for the
enfranchisement of women.
It is curious to note with what relative patience such political methods
are received. If any one attacked the people's letters for some motive not
political, the public indignation would know no bounds, and the sternest
punishment would be insisted upon. But "politics" explains most things,
condones most things. The English have a phrase, "politically speaking,"
which in effect means "not really." They have two great games, cricket and
politics. In cricket you must observe all the rules of fair play with most
scrupulous nicety. In politics there is practically but one rule--to stick
to your side. To say that something is "not cricket" is to signify that it
is within the law, but transgresses some delicate tradition of justice, and
therefore is reprehensible. To say that something is "politics" means that
it must be condoned, unfair though it may seem, because it has a political
motive.
In this chat about the political life of England I have sought to be
impartial and "non-party"; and that is, by the way, the one really serious
political misdeed. Every one must have a label of some sort, or otherwise
be accounted somewhat in the category of an unregistered dog.