YOUTH IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
IT is related that well within that period of his illustrious career during which he led the Liberal party, there once fell from Mr. Gladstone, not in public, the striking remark that the system of government pre- vailing in England before 1832 was one of the best known to mankind, but that, unfortunately, the people of England thought otherwise. Whether this anecdote, which we admit came from an Oxford source, belongs to the category of University myths or rests upon solid foundation, we cannot undertake to say. It is, however, a matter not of anecdote, but of actual record that Mr. Gladstone some fifteen years ago regretfully acknowledged his conviction that, great as might be the benefits which had resulted in this country from successive Reform Bills, they had brought about an undesirable elevation of the average age and wealth of Members of the House of Commons. That House, he said, had become older and richer than in former days, and he lamented the difficulties which in the case of large and populous constituencies appeared to stand in the way of the return to it of young men of ability, but of only moderate means. Nowhere, therefore, we may be sure, will Mr. Morley's opinions on the present House of Commons, as expressed in a remarkably genial speech which he delivered at a non-political luncheon at Forfar on Saturday, be more welcome than at Hawarden. After paying a. warm tribute, which, the balance of parties being what it is, comes from him with peculiar grace and effect, to the claims of the present House on the respect of the public, Mr. Morley continued : —"I am glad to notice another thing, and it is the great predominance among us of young men of con- siderable promise—not by any means most of them on our side—but young men of promise and serious attention to public business." We are aware that in some reports the words "not by any means" disappear from the sen- tence we have just quoted, and Mr. Morley is made to claim that most of the promising and serious young Members of Parliament are to be found to the left of the Speaker's chair. Our quotation, however, being taken from the first-person and verbatim report in the Scotsman, and being in accord with the third-person report in the Times, commends itself as likely to be authoritative ; and it certainly harmonises with the im- pressions as to the average youthfulness of the two sides of the House left by a glance at the birth-dates given in a "Parliamentary Companion." We take it then that, in Mr. Morley's view, there is a " predominance " in the present House of Commons, at least quite as marked on the Unionist side as among the Opposition, if not more so, of young men whose abilities mark them out as com- petent, and whose bearing and demeanour indicate that it is their earnest desire, to take a useful part in the treat- ment of national affairs.
There could be no better opinion on such a point than Mr. Morley's, and few signs of the times could be more cheering than the facts on which he has laid his finger as to the composition of the present House of Commons. They are cheering in more ways than one. It is by entering political life and Parliament at an early age that, as Mr. Gladstone pointed out in the speech- already referred to, men can best acquire that perfect familiarity with the working of the Parliamentary machine, and that intimate knowledge of the inter- relations of the various parts of our system of govern- ment, which are so much needed to qualify Members of Parliament for their responsibilities both in the matter of legislation and in that of watching, supporting, stimulating, or, if need be, checking, the Executive. Of course the training thus gained is gained, to some slight extent, at the public expense. Young Members are apt to make mistakes more freely than those who enter the House in middle life, because they are less afraid of making them. But it rarely happens that their mistakes are of such a kind as to produce seriously mischievous results either upon the course of legislation or upon administrative policy. They often, no doubt, inflict trials upon the temper of Ministers and other grave and reverend seniors, and that is real matter of regret, for the nervous wear and tear endured by all persons in public life who are fully conscious of their responsibilities is in these days very severe. Yet the wisest of the elder politicians, even under considerable provocation, share the frame of mind so genially manifested the other day by Sir William Harcourt when, after being not very civilly baited by the eldest son of the Prime Minister, who is really old enough to know better, be assured the noble lord that he envied him nothing so much as his youth and inexperience. Occasioeally, indeed, it may be difficult to repress a desire that this or that juvenile Member could be sent back by the Speaker or Chairman of Committees to have a disciplinary interview on the subject of manners with the head-master of Eton. But the harm done to the reputa- tion of the House of Commons by disorderly ebullitions of youthful spirits is transient and insignificant, while the gain to public interests in general, and to Parliament itself, from the maintenance and development of a class who have learned the art of politics on its central stage, is great and lasting. The existence of such a class must be of great value in all Parliamentary countries ; but it is of peculiar value in a country where the Constitution is un- written, where the theory and the actual practice of government differ widely at many points, and where a close and exact acquaintance with political tradition and with its ever-changing interpretations and applications can only be acquired by long and first-hand study. Such study, if not the only, is, at any rate, the readiest an surest, means of obtaining the power to forecast the probable working of modifications in constitutional law or Parliamentary practice, which may often depend for their net result on an inter-action of forces much more obscure and subtle than is discernible by any but the truly expert observer. In a word, English politics must always be the better for being pursued by a considerable number of men with that kind of special knowledge and aptitude which only a prolonged practical apprenticeship, begun ia early life, can be counted on to bestow. That there are plenty of young men in the present House of Commons is a statement which, as we have said, may be verified by a glance at a "Parliamentary Com- panion" or by a visit to the House on the occasion of any important debate. What is of far more importance is that, in the opinion of so competent a judge as Mr. Morley, they are in the main men of distinctly good abilities and with a genuine interest in public affairs. This is specially good hearing at a moment when Punch, and other public moralists have been calling attention, with some insistence, to the frivolities of the Terrace. It would be unfortunate if the constituencies were to take up the idea that for many of its Members the House of Commons is becoming little more than an adjunct to a kind of high-class tea-garden. In the light of Mr. Morley's testimony we may rest assured that, at any rate, among those younger Members who might naturally be supposed to be most susceptible to social distractions, there is abundant evidence of earnest attention to the business of the nation. Either they are not frequenters of the Terrace, or their appearances among the festive throng to be seen there are but brief intervals of recrea- tion snatched from the laborious study of public affairs. In good earnest, Mr. Morley's non-political visit to Forfar has come opportunely. The working-class electors cannot fail to be glad to know on such excellent authority that, speaking generally, the young men, many of them members of noble houses, who were sent in unusually large numbers to Westminster last year, are distinctly justifying the votes given to them by the spirit in which. they are applying themselves to the business before The House of Commons and, of course, its Committees. In many cases the election of these young candidates was an act of trust, and the knowledge that such trust was, in general, not misplaced is certain to encourage constituencies to make similar choices in future. Thus there is reason, in the light of Mr. Morley's Forfar speech, to regard the present House of Commons both as con- taining within itself a conspicuously large element of promising youth, and as lending support to the hope that the enlistment of men of high standing and influence in the conduct of public affairs will not only be maintained, but grow among us. We could hardly desire better grounds for keeping up heart with regard to the working of democracy in this country.
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