YOUNG ENGLAND REDIVIVA.
SOME fifteen or twenty years ago Mr. Gladstone gave frank expression to his regret that since, and, as he seemed to think, largely through circumstances arising out of, the Reform Act of 1832, the average of the House of Commons had tended to become older (and richer) than when he first entered it. This tendency, however, as he would have been among the first to acknowledge, only came gradually into operation. In particular, the Parliaments of the " forties " contained the most distinguished representatives of that so- called "Young England" party of which Lord Beaconsfield was alike the founder and the prophet. There were, per- haps, some fantastic and unreal elements about the move- ment which found the expression of its aims and aspirations in " Coningsby " and "Sybil." But in its heart and essence it was thoroughly sound. For it illustrated an awakening among a number of young men of high station of a sense of the duties of the English aristocracy to the masses of the people, and a resolute effort towards the worthy discharge of those responsibilities. The calls, of which the imperative cogency was thus realised by the Young Englanders, were of a varied character, and related in large measure to the ser- vices which members of the old proprietorial class might render to their poor neighbours in the country. But, naturally, a prominent place was given in the activities of the Young Englanders to the work of Parliament. Especially was this so in the sphere of social problems. The "Condition of England question" was terribly prominent in those days; and there were several young men of ancient name in the House of Commons who laboured earnestly to inform themselves on social and industrial questions, and so to become fitted to influence the course of legislation in the best interests of the toiling masses. In a letter published a few years ago, the Duke of Rutland, who as Lord John Manners was one of the most influential members of the Young England party, placed on record his opinion that it was doubtful whether the Ten Hours Bill could have been carried by Lord Shaftesbury and Mr. Fielden against the violent opposition of the Manchester School, "had it not been for the help of Lord Beaconsfield and Young England."
The wholesome influences, traceable in various ways to the movement of which we have been speaking, never died out. But the House of Commons ceased to be at all prominently illustrated by tha presence of a contingent of young men of rank, animated by a common ambition not only to leave England better than they found it, which, we may hope most politicians cherish a vague wish to do, but to set about making it better without delay. No one, we think, would contend that there was anything like a steady succession of such elements, in at all considerable force, in the Parliaments of the later "fifties," the "sixties," or the "seventies." In the later "seventies" and early "eighties," no doubt, the attention of the country was arrested by that very striking phenomenon, the development of the "Fourth party." But brilliant as were its individual constituents, we do not suppose that any historian will claim—except in one case, i.e., that of Mr. Arthur Balfour—that "high seriousness," to quote a phrase much used by Matthew Arnold in another con- nection, was in those days their distinguishing note. The House of Commons was the gayer for their presence. Mr. Gladstone was far oftener " drawn " than would have happened 11/ in their absence. As Conservative leader, Sir Stafford Northcote was made very uncomfortable, and increasingly ready to accept the repose of the peerage he had so well earned. In fact, the mere " game " of politics was played with an amount of resource and address which afforded infinite entertainment, if some scandal, and the players acquired therein a mastery which went far to assure their subsequent political suCCCES. But if we are asked whether the spirit of English Parliamentary life, or the tone of English politics generally, is indebted to the Fourth party for any improvement, we must reply in the negative. In the country, Lord Randolph Churchill was, of course, by far the most conspicuous exponent of the gospel of "Tory Democracy," but, to our thinking, there was in many of his platform utterances a certain want both of scruple and of taste which made his undoubted popularity a somewhat unfavourable symptom of the tendencies of the electorate. With the lapse of years, there came in him to some degree a manifestation of that solidity of character and sense of responsibility which doubtless had always been latent. Mr. Balfour, as we all know, has developed a strain of lofty thought on political and politico-ecclesiastical subjects, which, associated with the unlost lightness of touch of earlier days, gives him a singular hold on the respect, as well as the interest, of his fellow-countrymen. But, in truth, it is not fair to regard Mr. Balfour as a member of the Fourth party. He may have acted with it occasionally, but he certainly was not of it.
The annals of the present House of Commons will be justly noted for the reappearance on a considerable scale, though under forms suited to the altered requirements of our own day, of that kind of combination of youth and high social position with a keen sense of public duty, operating in various directions, and in a large measure detached from partisan ties, which was the essential mark of the old Young England party. The justice of this remark will, we think, be recognised by every one who reflects for a moment on the part played since 1895 by such Members as Lord Cranborne and Lord Hugh Cecil, Lord Percy (first elected as Lord Warkworth), Mr. Evelyn Cecil, and Mr. Lionel Holland,— to name only some of those to whom the description just given most prominently applies. Is it not the fact, and has not the experience of the present Session given great emphasis to it, that on questions affecting the relations between Church and State, education, and the amelioration of the condition of the aged poor—those home questions which mainly engage public interest—the country looks, and is looking increasingly, for the opinions of one or more of those young " M.P.'s " ? We do not mean, of course, that their utterances avail at present to determine the mind of the English people, but that it is felt that before a decision is come to they ought to be heard. And that respect is rendered to them not merely because some of them, and Lord Hugh Cecil most conspicuously of all, have a gift for lucid and impressive speech, but because they are recognised as being animated by high national ideals, as devoting their time and thought conscientiously to the endeavour to master questions of great public concern, and as giving straightforward and independent expression to the opinions which they have deliberately and honestly formed. Quite early in the life of the present House of Commons Mr. John Morley bore testimony to the "serious attention to public business" manifested by the large number of young Members elected to it. And as the Sessions have slipped by the same charac- teristic has been observable. Indeed, if we extend somewhat the limit within which politicians may be quite reasonably looked upon as young—say, for example, those who were elected in 1895, or later, under or about the age of forty—we should include a very considerable section of Members of the present House of Commons who play a more or less important part in its life, and who undoubtedly "aim high" in their indi- vidual standard of public duty. Lord Edmund Talbot, Mr. Laurence Hardy, Mr. Alfred Lyttelton, Mr. Arnold-Forster, Mr. Griffith Boscawen, Sir Cameron Gull, are only a few of those who might be mentioned as affording examples of the temper in which important advantages due to birth, or large means, or special intellectual equipment of various kinds, should be applied, at the time of life's fullest vigour, to the service of the country in the sphere of the "private Member." On topics connected with religion, education, local government, or industrial issues, or, again, on matters affecting the security of the Empire, the country knows that among such Members as those whose names have been mentioned, and many others of a more or less similar type, efforts are steadily being made to arrive at the best light on the right course of national policy.
Facts of this kind are full of encouragement with a view to the future working of popular government among us. They show that the country can rely upon the readiness of a substantial portion of those who might be tempted to devote their various gifts—social, intellectual, and material—to mere personal uses, to discern and acknowledge the call to • Apply them for patriotic purposes. Doubtless, there is only too much of self-indulgence and materialism among our upper classes. But there is enough of a leaveu of an, idealistic, and yet not unpractical,. kind to .afford reasonable assurance that the atmosphere: of . British public life will be kept. whelesome. Aud democratic as our system of government is, there can .be.no doubt that so long as those with special natural, or acquired, advantages are ready to devote them to the. public good,. the English' people will heartily wekome, and reward with loyal gratitude, the service thus offered to them. It matters comparatively little how many of the. younger Members of, the House of Commons of whom we have spoken, or of those more or less sympathetic with them, rise in future years to Cabinet rank. Some of. them are quite sure to do,so, and to render, as Ministers of the Crown, high and honourable service to their country. But what is of vital moment is that the temper which, in various ways, these younger politicians illustrate should not only persist, but as there is. good.reason to hope is the case, should obtain increasing prevalence in the upper classes of , England.. So long as that is so, the problems of the future, whether domestic or Imperial, how- ever vast and complex, need not fill our hearts with any overpowering anxiety. If the English people are well led, they will give a good account of themselves on whatever field.
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