Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1894 — ENGLISH POLITICS. [ARTICLE]

ENGLISH POLITICS.

The condition of a vast body of American voters is not one that the better class of American citizens can contemplate with a great deal of pride. Ignorance, prejudice, fraud and the demagogue’s appeal are the only influences capable of appealing to their grade of intelligence. All parties include in their membership this undesirable element, and no section of the country is altogether free from the corrupting influence of their unprincipled actions in disposing of their right of suffrage. Largo as this class is, however, it has not as yet wholly vitiated the body politic, as the frequent ups and downs of the great parties well attest. Iu England this class has attained a power, that Americans can hardly realize. Wo suppose that English politics are much like our own—with some great issue dividing the contending factions. We read of Home Rule and foreign and colonial policies, and think the sturdy Triton understands these questions at least as well as the average American comprehends the questions of free irade and protection, yet recent events have demonstrated that nothing can be farther from the trhth. Beer, and purely local interests,, personal influence and downright bribery, carry the day, The lower class of English voters know nothing about town meetings, primaries, or local assemblies, but are voted like so many “cattle", ol which, unfortu-

nately. we have too many samples in our own great cities. This class of alleged “citizens” forms ; the majority of the present majority party which controls the House of Commons. The Commons is, in fact, the government, for the Cabinet is only a committee of the House. The recent uprising against the House of Lords springs from this irresponsible element of the party in power. The movement may end in revolution. There are indications that such will be the ease. The House of Lords is the last bulwark of the oldtime order, and its abolition may end in a reign of terror and the destruction of all property rights and privileges that have been established as a result o f hundreds of years oi war and legislation. Able writers hold that the continuation of the House of Lords, faulty as its hereditary privileges may be, is far better than any condition that can possibly result from its abolition.