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    THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT II. " Men that...

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    Hints To New M.P.'S. By An Experienced "...

    the House hy all means ; but meanwhile , if you go there , Jones , go to make the most of it as it is , and to manage it to your own ends ( otherwise those of your constituents ) in spite of it . There is one preliminary new men should pay some attention to . Those of the new members who are not new men , in the sense of being practised to fight through public work in public places , do not need the hint ; but it is indispensable for others . There should be a medical

    examination and a medical certificate for all new men facing the House of Commons . Clearly , great physique is one of the conditions of success in a life of action ; and in the modern career of a man who works with his generation , there is more veritable bodily labour than is undergone by a soldier in a campaign . Mark the men who win in public life ; and you will see that they are all men of the enduring build . It seems a truism ; but very few people observe this , and , at any rate , not one in ten thousand regulates his

    " choice of life" by a reference to his anatomy . I don't mean big men or broad men . I mean men with large heads ( proportionate to the trunk ) , thick necks , and deep chests . Other sort of men may write great books , or start the ideas for the men of action ; but this sort of man only succeeds in action . These are the men who " get on" in the world , commercial or political . " Industry , " the key to all success , is only endurance ; and endurance is a tangible physical quality , no sermons and no personal resolves can convey to a

    man . Force and vigour—pluck—are the certain accompaniments of a special general conformation of the hinder part of the head and of the neck ; and these qualities are to the forehead—to the thinking and creating faculties—just what the Tender is to the Locomotive , supplying all the coals . A certain animalism is indispensable to the effect , in moving masses of men , of pure

    intellectuality ; and so true is this , that great defects , so considered abstractedly , of character , arc necessary to political leaders—that , in short , the great thinkers , who are great by force of the exclusively pure intellect , cannot succeed in public life at all . This is a theory , like most of its kind , to be tested by application to the men around us ; and it is worth nothing if it is not true of the prominent leaders in our English politics . The Premier in esse and the Premiers in

    posse are certainly illustrations . A Premier reaches his altitude in these days of oligarchical supremacies by influence—by impressing himself on those around him ; and the strong , forcible , enduring , restless man only is equal to that most enormous and wearying of human labours , diplomatically and assiduously " making friends . " It is not a new distinction , that , between men of thought and men of action—between the official engrossers of acts of parliament and tho poets who have docreed tho truths on which statutes

    rest ; but it is new that the gentlemen who are thinking of the " honour of a seat" need not wait for experience to test their capacity to work out in labour their dreams of a career . They can obtain the knowledge by measuring their anatomies against fhe current Pitts and Peels of their day . Of course all this appears only to apply to a very few ; since every new M . I ' _, does not aim at being Premier . But it applies to all . It is a question of physique as to the fitness of every

    man , if fitted in respect to brains , for the wear and tear of popular agitation—House of Commons life being 1111 " agitation , " though now and again , only , " popular . " Certainly , to the man who goes into the House of Commons as he would go into a club , because it is " fhe right thing " to belong to if , and who contemplates a lounging career of back benches and silence , the specification of any physical condition is needless .

    Hindi persons , Lordlings and squires , are not fit for public life , because the choice of such a career betrayH tho want of common intellect and the absence of common honesty ; and I am speaking in reference , to tho average new men elected , possessed of presentable ability to judge on plain matters and _lietweeu competing leaders , and who comfort tbeir conscience with tiie conviction that they havo principles to work out , and that they can be of service fo their country .

    If they have been nt work before they saw the hustings—if they have been barristers , railway royalties , busy merchants , busy not only in tho counting-house but in the public business of their localities , they know precisely what amount of

    Hints To New M.P.'S. By An Experienced "...

    p hysique and what nice care of the best of frames is needed to stand the rush and crush of competitive existence . It is not a question whether the body can " stand it ; " it is a question whether the physical nature is such that the man can face , fight with , control , or at least keep abreast of , the crowds of rough , violent , fierce natures to be met in every mei _6 e , small and large , at committees and in public meetings . It is a question not only " Shall I last so many years if I work so hard and live so and so ? " but "Am I the sort of man to impress myself on others , and to stand out of the crowd of despised commonplace ? " That is entirely a question to be answered by the beat of the pulse .

    See what the fatigue of public life is—for those who mean to succeed in it . It is a sort of business in which so much work will bring such and such a return . Position in the House of Commons is what members who are practical men must aim at : and position is only accorded to those who labour hardest . In fact , those who give thems 6 lves up to the House entirely , induce the House to give itself up to them . Mr . Disraeli has lived in the House for twelve sessions

    Sir Robert Peel was the " greatest member of Parliament ever known . " Lord John Russell even talks in private with the House of Commons peroratory twang . Mr . Hume is reverenced by both sides and all parties , because in the hottest agitation he was deferential to the House : and because his individual labours have enhanced incalculably the aggregate estiirf & tion of the whole body . Among the lesser gods reward is proportionate to capacity for work . The Wilson Pattens , Ralph Bernals , the Greenes , and the Baines , and the Thornleys , work for the House , perhaps with results of which the public is not directly sensible , in the assortment , privately , of public business ;

    and the reward is not simply m the sense ot virtuous jog-trotism , but in the smiles which beam on them on all sides , in the acquiescence shown to all their wishes , in the power granted to them in regard to private bills , and in the setting aside of 1500 _Z . a year for Chairmen of committees . On the other hand the men who will not identify themselves with the Housewho don ' t sit through debates , who shirk committees , and who talk of their constituents , and give themselves the airs of persons only condescending to be members—signally fail either of intimidating the Senate , or of gratifying themselves . Mr . Cobden , for instance , has never

    adopted the House of Commons style or knackhas never attempted to manage the House ; and hence his position in the House in no way reflects his middle-class power out of doors . Mr . Bright is always member for Manchester—never member of the House ; and , therefore , he is without power of influencing individually or generally . More signal instances may be adduced of tho folly of men joining a body they intend to defy . Mr . George Thompson was Oh , oh'd , in his first speech ,

    and expressed his indifference to the opinions thus suggested ; and ho waa only heard or afterwards as a failure . O'Connell attempted , in turn , to bully and cajolo , and never did anything for Ireland iu consequence . And identification with tho House is only to be effected by working sedulously with and for tho House . Less work would make fortimen on 'Change , or fame at tho bar . With constituents to satisf y on the one hand , and the stipulations of the House of Commons to meet on the other , there is no rest . Thoso who

    havo private business as well as public duties to discharge cannot , meet the requirements of their ofliccs , and fall into the second rank of House of Commons heroes ; one reason why the lords , squires , and sons of vauveaux riches—the great disengaged beat the Radicals , who havo generally private worlds to look after , in legislative racing . Those who devote themselves to the House of Commons exclusively , to become

    conspicuous personages , live fhe hardest of human lives—live such lives , no doubt , because the labour is fhe excitement they love ; but whatever their abstract , intellectual admiration of fhe function of governing the British empire , their qualifications for if must he dependent upon the report of their physiologist . Even when men are gifted with , tho giant frame of a Hume ' , or a Graham , or a Peel , they must exist by the most stringent rules of feeding—must treat themselves as trainers treat , racers . There was a lime whim

    the newspaper report could be— " Mr . Sheridan staggered and said ; " when Fox would drop in alter thirty hours of picquct and talk at fever

    Hints To New M.P.'S. By An Experienced "...

    heat ; and when Mr . Pitt would be _leanim * a basm behind the _^ peaker _' _s chair , _dSff self of the port , and arranging the argument w $ _, " which he would , by and bye , destroy « 7 i talents . " But the House of C ommons m th days was only a magnificent debating society T these days , our Russells , and Gladstones _aS Djsraehs live by a regimen ; dull , _perhans in proportion as they dwell in rigid de cencies W thus only enabled to humour the genius of th ecnnnh a . r ? _of » _irto / -l 1-iT _rvso-no / _vf-alVla o _» J _ _l _^ _^^ _WSfwm _buu bm

    _w- _~~ - _„ _„ _* _„ _w one . A glass of sherry , m our era , might destroy a week s work , or change the fate of a debate Eighteen hours out of every twenty-four must be sacrificed by all men meaning great results in a brisk world ; and none can ke ep their legs in such a career , without shunning most of ' th < $ delights civilization provides for humanity without a " purpose . " My preliminary hints extend unm anageably - and what more I have to say must be post poned till next week .

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    The Co-Operative Movement Ii. " Men That...

    THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT II . " Men that are great lovers of themselves waste the public Divide with reason between self-love and society ; and be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others . "—Peakcis Bacok

    ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —The produce of the earth — all that ig extracted from its surface by the application of science , labour , and capital -+ is now divided , under the name of rent , profit , and wages , between three classes of society—namel y , the proprietors of land , the owners of stock , and the labourers , by whose skill and industry all wealth has been created . But if the principle of

    individual property were excluded , and land and all the instruments of production were held in common , the direction of labour and the division of produce would become public and magisterial acts , whether the division were made upon a system of absolute equality , or of apportionment to the wants or deserts of individuals , or upon some principle , or supposed principle , of justice or expediency . The first of these modes of distribution ia

    know n by the name of Communism , a word recently introduced into this country , although communities founded upon similar principles existed at the most remote periods of history The Communists entirely exclude the principle of individual property , and assume that every one has an equal right to an equal share of the common stock . Communism , in fact , being a system of rigid social equality , enforced by a more or less absolute authority . On tho Communistic scheme , supposing it to bo successful , there would bo an end of all anxiety concerning the means of subsistence ; but , as Mr . Mill has stated in his Principles of Political JEconomy . —

    " It is perfectly possible to realize the same advantage in n society grounded on private property ; and to this point the tendencies of political speculation aro rapidly converging . Supposing this attained , it is surely a vast advantage cm the sido of the individual system , that it is compatible with a far greater degree of personal liberty . Tho perfection of social nrrangumeutfl would bo to secure to all persons complete independence and freedom of action , subject to no restriction hut that of not doing injury to others . Tho scheme which we are considering abrogates this freedom entirely , and places every action of every member of tho community under command . "

    Socialism has been adopted by the English communists as the characteristic name for their own doctrine , although it does not _necessarily imply the absolute negation of individualism . Tho term , Socialism , is now generally app lied to any economical system by which land — _"" ' original inheritance of the human race—and all the instruments of labour , become the property of communities , or of associations . The modern Socialists , however , advocate a system , not <>' equal , but of unequal , division ; that all should

    labour according to their strength or capacity _, and share the product according to thoir deserts or necessities . Hitherto , the general policy /" Europe has greatly impeded the free _oireuhifio ' of labour and capital , both from emp loyment to employment , and from place to place . But j » spite of these obstructions , Labour has already passed through throe successive stages '" progress towards final emancipation ; _nann'ty _. irom slavery to serfdom , und from _sorfdoiii to hired service , under the _competitive system . _A'i < Mr . Mill acknowledges , that—'' we are , as yew

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 14, 1852, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14081852/page/14/