THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC LIFE. N OTHING is more remarkable in
regard to English public life than the educational effect it produces upon those who engage in it. Not only does it turn the dandies and the " bullet-headed" squires into reasonable men, but it actually gives seriousness and width of vision to the working-class agitator. We say actually, not because we think for a moment that the working-class agitator is naturally more impenetrable to reason, but because his surroundings seem theoretically to make it well-nigh impossible for him to look at things without distorting them. He cannot, except by a miracle, be educated, and, however real the evils he may be protesting against, he is practically obliged to flatter and talk clap- trap to the men whose enthusiasm he wants to arouse, and on whose support he is absolutely dependent. Yet, in spite of all that, give the English working-man agitator fair-play, put him into Parliament, or let him associate as an equal with the members of a Commission of Inquiry ; let him, in a word, share the responsibilities of Government, and see the machine at work from inside, and you will find that he at once begins to educate himself, that the old crudenesses, which were ignorantly supposed to belong to his class, and not to his circumstances, drop away, never to reappear, and that very soon his experience of public life changes the point of view of the agitator into that of the statesman.
A very remarkable example of the awakening process which thus takes place is to be found in the able and manly letter just addressed by Mr. Tom Mann to Mr. Drage, the Secretary of the Labour Commission. The letter was written after reading Mr. Drage's novel, "Cyril," in which, says Mr. Mann, he thought he should find much with which be could not agree. He considered, no doubt, that as the book was written by one of the "classes," to use the mischievous phrase invented by Mr. Gladstone, it must necessarily be antagonistic to his own views. The notion that men belonging to the classes might share his ultimate ideals, though they were choosing a different route in order to reach them, seems at first not to have entered his head. "I wish now," says Mr. Mann, "to say that not only did I find it interesting and instructive, but with regard to the aspirations and ideals of the author, I am in almost entire accord." The rest of the letter is so interesting, and so characteristic, that we shall make no apology for quoting it verbatim. "I endeavour to be cosmopolitan, but I desire most earnestly that our country, which has had so many advantages industrially, shall con- tinue to act as pioneer in every direction that makes for industrial harmony. I believe most thoroughly in inter- national arbitration, as against a belligerent spirit likely to lead to unnecessary wars ; but I would never knowingly subscribe to a policy of vacillation and indecision if it came to a point of forfeiting our honour, or in any sense be- traying the confidence of those who have a right to look to us, as a nation, for assistance and support. Whilst being a thorough Democrat, and, therefore, a determined oppo- nent of art, literature, and the beauties of Nature being monopolised by a small handful of the nation, my kind of man will support every measure calculated to develop the arts and sciences, and make them the common property of the nation." The letter ends by a reference to "the public- school men," which is touching in its naive sincerity. "If the public-school men," says Mr. Mann, in conclusion, "to whom you so constantly refer in Cyril,' are prepared to work on similar lines, we ought between us to make this a grand old country ; not at the expense of other nations, but by overcoming those obstacles that have blocked our path so long, and which I feel sure are removable by a national effort on the part of our young men." The letter shows, it will be admitted by all, how successful Mr. Mann has been in getting his eyes accustomed to the wide horizon which opens before those who are admitted into English public life. We were never inclined to regard Mr. Mann as, in the slightest degree, an agitator of the purely self-seeking kind, or as a man possessed with the bitter hate of the French Red. We confess, however, to have thought that he was one of what we may, for want of a better name, call the London labour demagogues,— that is, a man easily intoxicated by words and phrases, and capable of doing a great deal of harm by reason of his self-sufficiency and unteachableness. In a word, we should have been inclined to contrast him with Mr. Brad- laugh, and to have described one as the satisfactory, and the other as the unsatisfactory, working-class leader. We confess to have been mistaken, and to have mentally done Mr. Mann an injury, for which we are only too glad to apologise. Mr. Mann's letter shows that he is teachable, and that, though in times of great excitement he may let himself be run away with, he -is not the mere slave of catch-words. It is clear that his experience of public life—gained in a great measure, no doubt, on the Royal Commission—has shown him, in the first place, that the assertion so often made, and, we fear, so widely believed in among the working classes, that the rich are utterly selfish, and anxious, above all things, to keep the poor man down, is not true. He has learned, in fact, that the better part of all classes have the same ideals as he has, and want, quite as keenly as he does, to see them accom- plished. The realisation of that one fact is an enormous achievement, for it at once strikes the bitterness out of a man's mind, and makes him no longer liable to have his judgment warped by blind hate and jealousy. As long as a workman thinks that the rich as a body are dead against him, his judgment on public affairs is utterly worthless,—as worthless as that of the black reactionary who genuinely thinks that "the poor in the lump are bad." The moment a proposal for change or reform comes from one whom he holds to belong to the rich, his suspicions are aroused, and he feels that he will somehow be deceived and betrayed unless he works against it. It is a gift of the enemy, and must be feared. Mr. Tom Mann was once, if he will allow us to say so, inclined to take up this position. He has now emerged from it, and will, we think, find that he has immensely gained in power thereby. He may, for all we know, retain every item of his extremist views, and be as anxious as ever to carry them into prac- tice. If he is, he will find his new knowledge not an im- pediment, but the reverse. The men who know the facts will always go farther than the men who go blindfold.
As remarkable as the fact that Mr. Mann has realised the absurdity of the notion that the nation is divided into the classes and the masses, and that the chief object of the former is to keep the latter down, are the references to the place of England in the world. It is clear that Mr. Mann is quite alive not only to the national honour, but to the manifold duties and responsibilities that belong to us as a sovereign democracy. "I would never," says he, "knowingly subscribe to a policy of vacillation and indecision if it came to a point of forfeiting our honour, or in any sense betraying the confidence of those who have a right to look to us, as a nation, for assistance and support." This is the proper temper in which to approach the great Imperial problem, and one very different to that which is too often attributable to the working classes. It has repeatedly been said that the working classes are certain to fail in the management of the Empire. If, however, their other leaders learn as quickly and thoroughly as Mr. Mann—and we believe they will do so—there is nothing to fear. In their case, as in his, the sense of responsibility will grow with the new knowledge acquired by practical study in the great school of public life.
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