links which connect it with a scholarly past, and its promise of splendid achievements in the future. The aspiring blood of Hellendom will not sink in the ground. The place of Greek in education ought now to be more unquestioned than ever, because now for the first time is it beginning to be thoroughly realized how miraculous was that outpouring of the sense of Art on the ancient Hellenic world, which enabled them to initiate almost every form of successful artistic effort, and in most of them not only to lay the foundation but to put on the copingstone-not merely to show that this or that form of art was possible, but to supply the inimitable exemplar of its supreme perfection. ART. X.-Mr. Chamberlain's Speech at Birmingham on Provident Societies, January 5, 1891. HE working men of our United Kingdom, the immense majority both of the nation and of the constituencies, might, if for a time unanimous, command the rulers of the State; and they would consequently be in a position, by their votes, to rule, and guide, and govern one full quarter of the human race. A very serious problem, therefore, to be solved is, how these working men can thus be politicians of the most extended influence, requiring great knowledge of affairs and men, and yet compete as workmen with the working class throughout the world. As working men they must essentially remain, and yet they may, for good or evil, have an influence on the welfare, present or to come, perhaps, of every human being; a responsibility and power that heretofore were never known in the world's history. But though this power is so great, it is by no means independent; since accumulated capital, and social rank, and intellectual ability, all have influence on the working class. And if our working men increase in wisdom and in knowledge, they will seek harmonious concert and co-operation with the power and influence of wealth and station; so that there may be no gap, or strain, or want of fortifying combination, in the social fabric; but that aristocracy, professions, trade, and labour, all may be endowed with equal social rights, although in different spheres, and be esteemed with corresponding mutual consideration and respect. A change like this from the condition of society that has obtained in England for the last four hundred years, though gradual, will be enormous; but it must be made without regret or grudging. Society, of any rank or class, cannot be stationary, and and must not be retrograde. The social movement, therefore, of the largest class of all should be to those of higher rank a matter of much liberal-minded thought and active care; that every change may be a sound, legitimate advancement. The great parties in the State, both Liberals and Conservatives, have each had a share in causing an unprecedented and adventurous condition of political affairs. In their too eager competition for success, and yielding to the pressure of inferior men, they have imposed the burden of the franchise prematurely on a class almost entirely unfitted to sustain it. Such unfitness has for centuries been considered the appropriate condition of the working class; but now perhaps the great majority among us have begun to see that, under present circumstances, with a proletariat so powerful in politics, yet so devoid of educated statesmanship, the first care and duty of the nation is to liberate the labouring class from all unnecessary hindrance to their full development in intellectual power, in social sympathy, and in experienced judgment; and that for this object, for the good indeed of all, those questions that affect the economic interests and physical condition of the working class should be considered as not merely of commercial, or of social, but of great political importance. Thus, for instance, all observers who are interested in our widespread national affairs will understand that, for the safety of the nation, working men should have the highest rate of pay that they are fairly worth: and that, though a 'legal' eight hours' day would be for decent working men intolerable bondage, they should have, whenever possible, and by increased production during working hours, more leisure from their work; not only as a due to their own selves and to their families at home, but that they may gain such culture as will educate them for our general good government, and also will in reasonable measure fit these working men, in manners and intelligence, for a superior position in society. Such elevation of the working class would not be new in history; indeed the condition of accomplished artisans for the last three centuries, in Christendom, has been remarkably exceptional. In ancient and in medieval times the independent workman had a special, recognized career of social honour; in his sphere there were gradations rising to companionship with royalty. Thus those born gentle did not look on labour as a degradation; and in many parts of Asia working men still take precedence of the men of trade. With us the great development of wealth, and of exotic, esoteric culture in the sixteenth century, when the chief disposal of the nation's income was transferred from from the ecclesiastical to the commercial class, was not an unmixed blessing; but, in many ways, was to the working class a grievous injury. The workmen were deprived of their artistic self-control and independence, of the absolute direction of their own creative handicrafts; their ideality was thus neglected and untrained, and in their work the men became mechanical and commonplace, sumptuous, and vulgar. In each higher kind of work, in building, carving, metal-work, and even in stained glass and book illuminations, there was concurrent decadence; and the Renaissance, substituting for the English workman's recognized vernacular, a foreign, unknown tongue, completed the artistic and the social degradation of the highest working class. The direction of all public, and eventually of all private work in building and the cognate arts was transferred from the working men to a scholastic class, to men who, having formulated the proportions of the classic 'orders,' and made learning paramount, reduced art to a science; and the native artisan became a labourer merely, an artificer instead of a creative artisan. Indeed, so low has handicraft descended, that instead of making excellence of work their workmanlike ambition, the extreme desire of average modern workmen is to do no work at all. The relegation of the working class entirely to the lowest social rank leads inexperienced people to suppose, without perhaps a thought, that manual labour is a thing essentially apart from mental culture and from intellectual power; and the current notion that, in medieval times, priests, monks, or bishops, were in any general sense, or were at all, save as associated handicraftsmen, the designers of our ancient buildings is a curious delusion that arose a century or more ago among the half-instructed dilettanti. Wykeham* and others, now called 'architects,' were but the operarii, or clerks who told the men what buildings were required, and kept the accounts. The modern world perhaps can hardly understand that common workmen were not merely the designers and constructors of the buildings, but, still more amazing, were the inventors of the secular, artistic styles themselves in which the buildings were erected. They not only made their wondrous poetry, but these common, unhistoric working men developed the progressive, copious language in which, by their special, independent genius, it was elaborated; and this in a sense and to a degree quite equal to, or even much beyond whatever is attributed to our historic literary men. His handwriting, at Oxford, is distinctly that of an accomplished clerk, not of an artisan or artist of the period. Vol. 172.-No. 343. The recognized great architects and carvers of antiquity, and the old Italian painters, were men of the working class, or of the other classes who in their ambition joined the workmen. And even in philosophy and literature, many now forget, it seems, that working men were often masterful; that Socrates was first known as a decent carver, that Ben Jonson was a bricklayer, that Spinoza lived by grinding lenses, and Rousseau by copying music; that Robert Burns began life as a ploughman; that Charles Dickens had no literary instruction, other than self-education, in his boyhood; and that the painter 'Millet had been a shepherd.' These distinguished men were intellectual nuggets, specimens of native ore; and our so long neglected working class are a ubiquitous, but unworked mine of poetry, and science, and philosophy. At present, by our national school system, we are sinking the preparatory shafts to reach the abundant lode; when we have struck it, and have fairly worked the mine, the higher qualities in the entire community will be developed, and increased a hundred fold, to our incalculable gain. Still, though the restoration of the working class is actually begun, it cannot be immediately and perfectly accomplished. 'A good patriot and a true politician,' says Burke, 'always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country; he has a disposition to preserve and an ability to improve; and so it is not by abrupt reform and inconsiderate movement that the condition of the great majority in England can be raised. There has, for three generations, been an increasing change for good in the condition of our working class; the improvement of their circumstances is remarkable to those who recollect their state some fifty years ago. The average rate of wages has increased at least one half; and there has been a general reduction of a similar amount in the cost of such articles of clothing and consumption as are used by working men. Some of us can well remember the patched corduroys and flannels in which our superior mechanics used to be arrayed; and how their children, most of them, were clothed in rags. The economical condition of the artisan of 1890 is full twice as good as that of his grandfather at the time of the Reform Bill. His habitual style of living is, in all respects but one, much raised; he has schooling, such as his grandparents never dreamt of, for his children, almost free; he travels, and sees of the world ten times as much as his forefathers ever saw; and his proportionate improvement of condition far exceeds that of the upper classes of the people. The great number of all kinds of workmen who in freehold districts are now owners of their houses, with resultant dignity and force of character; and the continual increase of deposits in the savings-banks compared with the decrease of current interest on capital, are further evidence of this direct and relative improvement.* And besides all this, the workman, if he is discerning, and no miserable grumbler, has most hopeful visions of the future, and believes that the advancement of his class, if they are prudent, will continue until they attain to their legitimate position; and that, although in this advance there will be many different rates of speed, natural ability and thrift, sagacity and prudence will inevitably gain upon ineptitude, and waste, and folly, yet the general movement will go on; the working class will reassume their ancient self-control; and young men of the middle class will be led to seek, as an immense relief and benefit, advancement from their present often hopeless, impotent condition, to the higher and more honourable ranks of cultivated labour. With this fundamental and continuous change the centre of gravity of Conservatism, whether Whig or Tory, must be moving. It has been, for centuries, with the more wealthy classes, who have been opposed by those who, generally living in towns and being thus severed from the influence of property, had also little or no real property of their own. The unendowed have been in special opposition to the well conditioned; and the latter have had votes and influence to some degree in correspondence with their wealth. This is all ended; and, whether for good or evil, for the present, and in future, power, with intelligence, will follow numbers rather than property. It would be waste of time to deprecate or to lament this state of things. The care of all good citizens must be to raise democracy, directly although gradually, into an aristocracy of working men; to make our masses,' as they have so foolishly been called-but who at present, for the most part, are a fluid and * While these pages are passing through the press, Mr. Chamberlain, in his recent speech at Birmingham, the title of which we have placed at the head of this article, has called attention to these and similar facts: Legislation has done much; philanthropy has done something; the intelligent efforts of the working classes themselves have done more. All these things combined have helped to make our country a healthier, a happier, and a better place than it was half a century ago. Education has now been brought within the reach of every working man's child, and within the means of every parent. Protection has been afforded against excessive toil and overwork, and proper conditions of labour have been universally enforced. The laws against combination have been repealed. Trade unions have been legalised. The care of the public health has been recognized as a public duty, and enforced upon local authorities. The trammels have been removed from industry. The tax on food has been abolished. Facilities of travel and of inter-communication have been largely extended and developed.' Q 2 unstable |