My Life as an Author Part 25

CHAPTER XLII.

POLITICAL.

Throughout my lengthened spell of life I never was anything of a zealous politician. Well acquainted, as I have been, with many men of all manner of opinions, and having had much the schooling of Ulysses, who had "seen the cities of many men and had known their minds," I know perfectly well that there are in every school of thought good men, and bad men too, whatever may be their alleged principles, and I am quite willing to believe in an _honest_ man, and stand by him if need be. In that spirit, for many years when I was a West Surrey voter (indeed I am so still), I used to give one of my votes to Briscoe, the Whig, and the other to Drummond, the Tory, because I knew and trusted both of them for upright men as well as personal friends, and they sat together as our Parliamentary representatives. As a matter of course, n.o.body understood my duplex voting,--for they were partisans and I was not,--so in that as in some other matters I have always been a dark horse, quite independent, and of the broadgauge pattern rather than of the narrow.

For instance, having known him from youth to age, I do not even yet despair of Gladstone; though I have remained much where we both began, whilst he has gone down lower, step by step, to a zero of--what is it?--inverted ambition, whither I cannot willingly descend with him; and yet, I do not count him an enemy: he follows his conscience, as I do mine. Here was my judgment of the Man thirty years since, printed in No.

53 of my "Three Hundred Sonnets":

"Gladstone, through youth and manhood many a year My constant heart hath followed thee with praise As 'good and faithful;' in thy words and ways Pure-minded, just, and simple, and sincere: And as, with early half prophetic ken I hailed thy greatness in my college days, The coming man to guide and govern men, How gladly that instinctive prescience then Now do I see fulfill'd--because, thou art Our England's eloquent tongue, her wise free hand To pour, wherever is her world-wide mart, The horn of plenty over every land; Because, by all the powers of mind and lip Thou art the crown of Christian statemans.h.i.+p."

That high praise was once well-deserved, and was cordially given: but since, alas! according to my lights I have seen fit more than once to "palinode." The great man's rock of peril, whereon to wreck both his country and himself, is that fatal eloquence by which all are captured, but (as with birdlime) are captured to their loss. But I will not reproduce invidiously--as if false to a fifty years' friends.h.i.+p--any harsh reproach, however conscientious, whereby I may have publicly withdrawn my praise. Rather will I pa.s.s on,--and after my own fas.h.i.+on will here show my ambidextrous muse in a brace of political unpublished lyrics on either side.

"_Popularis Aura._"

"Liberty! dragg'd from the fetters of kings, Liberty! dug from the cell of the priest-- Rise to thy height upon zenith-borne wings!

Spread to thy breadth from the west to the east!

Slow, through the ages, unbound limb by limb, Thou hast been rescued from tyranny's maw, Only glad service still yielding to Him Who ruleth in love by the sceptre of law!

"Nations have torn thee by fierce civil strife From the usurpers who trod them to mud; Saints at the stake gave up agonised life That superst.i.tions be drown'd in hot blood!

Theirs was the battle--the conquest is ours-- Free souls and bodies the death-wrestled prize Won from bad kingcraft, despoiled of its powers, Wrench'd from false priestcraft in spite of its lies!

"G.o.d made the freeman, but man made the slave, Forcing his brother the shackle to wear; But all those fetters are loosed in the grave, King, priest, and serf meeting equally there; Here, too, and now, in these swift latter days, Freedom all round is humanity's right; Thought, speech, and action, enfranchised all ways, Eager for service in Liberty's might."

That may be truly labelled Liberal: the next, in honour of Beaconsfield, may be fairly ticketed Tory:

I.

"Great Achiever, first in place England's son of Israel's race!

Man whom none could make afraid, Self-reliant and self-made,-- Potent both by tongue and pen In the hearts and mouths of men, Wielder in each anxious hour Of the mighty people's power, Wise to scheme, and bold to do, Who can this be,--history, who?

II.

"Heaper of a new renown Even on Victoria's crown, Mightiest friend of blessed peace By commanding wars to cease, Paralysing faction still, Swift in act and strong of will, Forcing every foe to cower Under Britain's patient power, Like himself, firm, frank, and true, Who can this be,--justice, who?"

For other of my politicals, take this common-sense essay from my pen, hitherto unpublished:--

IS THE ONE-VOTE SYSTEM RIGHT OR WRONG?

In a nation self-governed through its own representatives, it seems reasonable to admit that each citizen should have a vote; each citizen, we say, simply as such; whether male or female, labourer, pauper, civil, military, naval, or official, every one not convicted of crime nor an attested lunatic, of full age, of sufficient capacity (evidenced by being able to read and write), celibate or married, rich or poor,--every person in our commonwealth should equitably, it may well be conceded, have his or her single vote in the government of the country. Poverty is no crime, therefore the Workhouse should not disfranchise; s.e.x is no just disqualification, therefore the woman should have her vote as freely as the man, for surely marriage ought not to suffer derogation and disgrace by denial of the common right of citizens.h.i.+p as its penalty; the soldier, sailor, policeman, government-official, and any other cla.s.s which may now be deprived of their birthright by law or custom, should certainly be admitted to the poll like other patriotic citizens; in short, manhood suffrage, it may be theoretically argued, is just and wise--manhood of course including womanhood, as suggested above; for even a wife either sides with her husband or controls him in common cases; and in the less usual instances where he rules, there need be no more tyranny about political matters than about domesticities, and so the home would scarcely be any the worse even for partisan zeal.

However, whilst admitting the theoretical propriety of a one vote for each citizen in the state, there remains to be considered the higher practical justice of many having more than one. Numbers alone are not the strength of a people; if of inferior quality they are rather its weakness. For the Parliament of England representation is demanded of all the virtues, talents, and acquirements, not certainly of the vice, ignorance, poverty, and other evils more rife among the lower rungs of the social ladder than to those above them. The single vote system (so far as the franchise has any influence at all) depresses and demoralises every cla.s.s, as reducing all to one dead level. The ballot plan is now law and cannot well be done away with; but it is manifestly a humiliation for intelligence to have to sign with "his mark" in order that ignorance may thus feel itself on an equality; and for honest geniality to be hushed into silent secresy, that it may not put to shame the cunning fraud of a partizan who wishes to hide his real opinion.

However, it is now too late to mend the ballot-box: let it be, and let the single voter use it if he pleases.

Another and a wiser scheme presents itself, practically (if possible) even now to avert the national ruin wrought by the machinations of a rash and blind self-seeking spirit of party, often, seen "hoist by its own petard," though too liable to destroy the foundations of society in the explosion. Shortly and simply, the scheme is this. Let every man, high or low, add to his one vote others as he may and can. Be there a vote for the Victoria Cross, another for the Albert Medal, another for long good-service in the household or the farm, another for any such intellectual exploits among the poor as Samuel Smiles has recorded; all these being accessible to the humblest, and so elevating them thus far.

And now to ascend a few rungs, let additional votes be given to owners of a stated number of acres, to possessors of a certain amount of money, to those who have been deemed worthy of public honours, and the like. A little further, let every mayor of a town have his official vote, and the Presidents of the Royal Society and Royal Academy, and perhaps two or three other chiefs of science and art; and so forth.

Thus, then, we might get, by way of counterpoise to the voting power of a bare and overwhelming proletariat, the worthier and far sweeter voices of those who have virtues and excellences of various kinds to recommend them,--so that if the lowest const.i.tuent counts for one, the highest may add up to six or eight. And thus, while no one of the mob is denied his one vote, those who rise above the crowd receive the more than one they have earned by good-doing or position, and plump them all accordingly to the worthiest candidate.

The method of ascertaining and ensuring such votes might be this. Let each man who has more than his single suffrage apply for the paper specially prepared to indicate the additional votes. They might be much as thus:--

_Surplus Claims--One Vote each._

For the Victoria Cross Signature of Claimant.

For the Albert Medal ditto.

For faithful domestic service in one family twenty-five years ditto.

For field-work on the same farm thirty years ditto.

As a famous self-taught naturalist ditto.

As owner in fee of 50 acres ditto.

As possessed of 1000 in Government funds ditto.

As publicly selected for honour by the Queen ditto.

As mayor of such a city ditto.

As President of the Royal Society ditto.

As President of the Royal Academy ditto.

&c. &c. &c.

Heavy penalties should attach to false claimants, who would be readily found by their own signatures.

All these surplus votes, openly avowed, of course, and not kept secret as the single one in the ballot-box, would be counted up in the scores of the several candidates.

The surplus-voting papers should be applied for, be supplied, and be returned when filled up--by post, and so all such voting be accomplished on paper, as in the elections for Oxford University, &c. It is a barbarism and anachronism at this time of day to insist on the great cost and inconvenience of a personal appearance, in many cases impossible.

If our people in every cla.s.s, and our legislators of whatever party, are dissatisfied with the present system of representation as by no means showing the nation at its best, and thus practically a mistake, let them consider this suggestion; one made long ago by the writer as proved by his published works.

_The Voter's Motto._

I.

For Church and State! our father's honoured toast; Dear England's ancient bulwark and her boast: Must we now cease to build and man the wall At base Sanballat's and Tobiah's call?

Shall Atheistic scorn and Jesuit guile Make Nehemiah quit his work awhile, That their Arabian host may tear all down, And trample in the dust our Zion's crown?

May G.o.d avert it! No surrender! No!

We will not yield the battle to the foe, Nor shall the children of our fathers thus Betray the heritage they left to us!

II.

For Church and State! While so we dread no storm, Let no man shrink from wise and just Reform; But with a firm and faithful, yet kind, hand, Prune cankers and corruptions from the land: Humble the pride of priestcraft! we are each Brother to him who doth Christ's gospel preach, And--though a trivial s.h.i.+bboleth offend-- One who serves G.o.d and man shall be my friend: Ay, and some loaves and fishes should be given By the rich state to Ministers of Heaven!

So shall both Church and State survive this strife, And dwell at peace with all, as man and wife.

III.

For Church and State!--Yea: though the King of Heaven As bridegroom to the Church Himself was given, Yet is He symbolled in this earth-bound sphere By the throned presence of our Sovereign here; And, ev'n as man and wife in figure show Christ and his spiritual spouse below, So by the eye of faith we gladly scan Our double duty--both to G.o.d and man-- In yielding hearts to love, minds to obey Religion's mandate and the Ruler's sway, Defending timely, ere it be too late, Our threatened fortresses of Church and State!

As to the disputed matter of Protection, I am for Free Trade so far only as regards the matter of provisions; but I desire Fair Trade on the reciprocity system where manufactured articles and their raw material are concerned. We absolutely require free food,--but are being ruined by the bad bargain of one-sided Free Trade otherwise. Our s.h.i.+ps (Mr.

Brockelbank tells me) go out empty, and return full; exports fail, but imports are redundant.