Émile Boutmy, philosophical critic of the English, says that England, "transformed in all outward seeming, ... has just begun a new history." See his The English People: A Study in Their Political Psychology, London, 1904, for a keen analysis of English political proclivities.
[20] Parliamentary Debates, 5th series, vol. 21, p. 649. Speech by G. Lansbury.
[21] The new Liberal government invited John Burns into the cabinet. He is the first workingman in English history to occupy a cabinet position. The more restless Socialists are inclined to call him a Liberal because responsibility has taught him caution. But he still persists that he is a Socialist. He is a Fabian, and boasts of the three times that he was imprisoned for participating in labor agitations. About twenty years before his elevation he said in the Old Bailey, where he had been arraigned for "sedition and conspiracy" in conducting a strike: "I may tell you, my lord, that I went to work in a factory at the early age of ten years and toiled there until five months ago, when I left my workshop to stand as Parliamentary candidate for the western division of Nottingham."
It must be kept in mind that many of the Conservatives are committed to social legislation. They are not, however, in favor of the indefinite expansion of democracy, and are opposed to the adult suffrage bill as proposed by the Liberals.
[22] William Morris, Signs of Change, p. 4.
[23] Speech delivered in St. James' Hall, March 21, 1894.
[24] Speech delivered at Newcastle, May 21, 1894.
[25] In the British House of Commons the ministry and the opposition leaders sit in the front benches on opposite sides of the House facing each other. A "front bencher" always commands a hearing, owing to his high position in the party. The members of the party sit behind their leaders and are called "back benchers." The minor groups, the Labor Party and the Irish Party, sit in the cross benches at the lower end of the chamber and are called "cross benchers."
[26] See Annual Report Board of Education, 1909-1910.
[27] Keir Hardie, the dean of the Socialist group in Parliament, fathered this law. Sidney Webb, the distinguished Fabian, was made a member of the commission.