THE SILENT PARLIAMENT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1510, 7 February 1901, Page 7

THE SILENT PARLIAMENT

rib B SIM.

BY ROBERT BARR.

(Author of “The-Mutable Many/' etc.) [ALL BIGHTS RESERVE!).] SYNOPSIS OF INSTALMENTS I. TO V. The reader is introduced to a travelling lecturer, Richard Stanford, who is sitting on. the steps of liis van, smoking. He is a man about twenty-five years of age, with firm mouth and stubborn jaw. To him comes a horseman —the son of the owner of the surrounding land—who peremptorily orders him to move on,which, after a friendly conversation, he does. ’ He stops again in a quiet hamlet, and lectures to the villagers. A beautiful lady, reclining in a boat oiv the edge of a lake, is assailed by a rough tramp, who, in pursuit of money, is about to carry out his tlireat-s of violence, when Stanford is drawn to the spot by the lady’s cries for help, and sends the tramp off. An interesting conversation ensues, which is, however, terminated by the tramp, who, with great strategy, had silently returned, and dealt Stanford a blow which sent him into the water. He is rescued by fiome of Mrs Greenhow’s men, and carried to the Hall, where the doctor attends him. On regaining consciousness he finds the lady of the adventure by his side, and before he goes, holds a discussion with his hostess on the) subject of his life work. Although he hardly convinces her of the feasibility of ins scheme of reformation, she is so impressed. by his own genuineness that she offetrs £IOO,OOO to finance the movement. This consists, in short, of the employment of a small army of men to attack the constituencies at the next general Election. This dissolution comes at an early date, bringhi" keen disappointment to Stanfoi , for not one oLhis nominees is successful. Further efforts, however, on lines suggested by Mrs Greenhow, bring into existence a new party in English politics and every new election sees its growth in power, until Stanford is at last called to the premiership. That winter the distress among the labouring, classes is awfully severe, and a labour meeting in Trafalgar Square is charged by the soldiery with what Stanford’s political opponents term unexampled, sruelty. ' CHAPTER IX.—CONTINUED. Stanford rose to his feet for the first time in the British Parliament. The House was crowded, and every seat in the( gallery filled. Every “eye was turned towards the Prime Minister, and they saw there a face, resolute almost to stubbornness, a frame of iron, and, all in all, a man who evidently knew his own mind, and was net to be trifled with. His voice, without being loud, easily penetrated through the great hall, and made itself clearly heard in the remotest corner.

“It is my ambition,” he began, “to be at the! head of an assemblage which will be hereafter known as the Silent Parliament. There has been for several centuries, in this House, too much talk and too little work. It is not my intention in thd future either to excuse what we intend to do, or to explain the Bills we shall place before you. I shall endeavour to have those Bills couched in the simplest language, so that all who can read may understand what is meant by thelm. I say this now so that hereafter I may not be misunderstood if I refuse to rise and address this Houses Regarding the occurrence at Trafalgar Square, on Saturday afternoon, I belg to place before you the resolution I arrived at, when taking upon myself the cares of office. It is simply this, that the law of England must be obeyed by both peer and pauper. Not only must the law be obe/yed, but it must be promptly < obeyed. I have to congratulate the house, and the Country, and more especially these who congregated’ in Trafalgar square thdmselvfes, upon the fact that the police succeeded so easily in dispersing the people. If the officers of thd law Rad unfortunately been overcome, or if the task,had been greater than they could have accomplished, it was my intention to.have.had the Riot Act immediatdly read, and the soldiers would at once have fired upon the mob, until no one was left alive in Trafalgar Square to resist the law. Cries of “Oh, oh/’ and “Withdraw,” and “Shame,” resounded from all parts of the House. For a few.minutes the Premier made no- attempt to continue his address, but stood there, vcalmlv looking at the assembly. One Conservative member shouted! out at the! top of his voice: “And you pretend to believe in the people.’ ; “I beg the Honourable! Gentleman’s pardon,” said Stanford, which had the effect of instantly quelling the tumult, as everyone wanted to hear what he had to say. .

“I beg the Honourable Gentleman’s pardon,” he began again, “but I do not believe in the people. I believe no more in. the people than do in those who have heretofore looked upon themselves as the rulers of the people. If the people had not been fools for centuries, the state of things would not have come about, which has almost brought the

country to revolution. I say almost to revolution, for there will be ne : revolution in England, except such a one as shall be encompassed within the walls of this House. give fair and final notice to the people of England that if they assemble in mobs and attempt to interfere with me and what I am going to do, I shall have them shot down as ruthlessly as ever we>re the victims in any revolution which the Right Honourable Gentleman who preceded me can find an account of in the pages of the history of uncivilised nations.”

The uproar that followed this amazing declaration was for some time/ so great that the Premier made no attempt to continue. When it had at length subsided he went on :

“I shall now call your attention, gentlemen, to the spdeeh from the Throne. I imagine that you will find something in it of a controversial nature, and as there will be no discussion upon it from this side of the House, I hope that two hours may be sufficient for all you may have to' say. To-night i wish to have 'a short Bill passed through the House giving us power to apply some fifty millions of money to the relief of the unemployed. I need not add that it is a, matter of the utmost urgency.” “Ard you sure you would not rather use grape-shot ?” cried a voice from the Opposition Benches, and there was some applause at this home thrust. The Premier turned towards the interrupter and continued: “Yes, is better than the present condition of things. . It acts quickly, and is therefore merciful. The starvation to which our civilisation has hitherto condemned the unemployed is slow and cruel, destroying women and children as well as men. I intend that hdreafter in England no able-bodied man, willing to labour, shall lock for work in vain.’'’ bankrupt the country,” cried several members at once. “The British Empire,” continued the Premier, “in the Bankruptcy Court may not be to many of you an alluring spectacle, yet I am not sure! that the suggestion made with such unanimity eral Honourable Members is without merit. This House has always been, I will not say a den of thieves, but it has been at least a den of company promoters, and directors in more or less shady concerns, who have absorbed money which other people earned. It is but natural, then, that when the affairs of the! country come to be discussed, the minds of certain Honourable Mesnbers turn towards the procedure of public companies, when in search for a. similie. Let us now turn our attention to the British Empire, and regard it as a public company and see how it has fulfilled its functions. I venture to say that if the British comaU ‘T een a public company, and if the Honourable Gentlemen opposite had been the directors, it would have been wound up long ago, for the benefit of its deluded shareholders. Every Englishman may say ’ a shareholder in the British Empire. Many gentleman in this House who are now listening to my voice, have been on a board of very highly-paid directorates. A country, like a public company, should exist for the benefit of a . As shareholders. How lias the British Empire regarded itself when regarded m the light of a public company? It has paid huge dividends to a few individuals, and none at all to the vast majority. It has done worse than this a thing that would not be tolerated in any company that ever existed. It has actuaily made calls upon the great majority of its shareholders in order to enrich the others whom it favoured. Bankruptcy l you cry. Why not bankruptcy? What does the British Empire deserve except bankruptcy ? And .it lid worst of it is that the bankruptcy fb has been qualifying for during past centuries, is a disgraceful bankruptcy, a bankruptcy in which those concerned should not merely be censured by the Judge, but sent to prison for the remainder of their natural lives. If we go into bankruptcy, gentlemen, with this company, which we call the British Empire, investigation will show that it is a bankruptcy saturated throughout with fraud. Now, I stand here to represent these shareholders m this gigantic company who have never been paid a. dividend. I stand hdre at the head of a new directorate and I have a majority at my back. I therefore ask you, gentlemen on the pther side, who have up to’ date been directors of this great company, I ask you to give me your strongest assistance, so that we may escape, if possible, Die Bankruptcy Court, which is our just desert. I ask you to help me to carry on the business as a going concern. I want dividends paid all round, or none at all. It you are wise/, you will realise that a change has come. If you are foolish you will continue to do as you keen doing. I give you, fair notice that 1 am president of.this huge public company, and it is my intention to run thd organisation sc- that it will pay dividends all round. If this fails, then into bankruptcy we go, which is where the company ought to have been a hundred years since/-”

‘ -The Premier sat down in the midst of solemn silence/. Net only did the warty behind him refuse to speak, but'they also did not applaud. They sat absolutely and ominously silent. The extraordinary speech of the Premier had be eh. received with much interruption fro'm the Opposition Benches, with cries of dissent, and protests that the language used was un-Parliamentary and unprecedented, and that it must be withdrawal, but the Speaker sat like a statue

in his chair, and made no attempt to caL the Premier to order or to interfere in any way with the proceedings of the House. * Appeals to him might as well have/ been addressed to the Ring m the Arabian story who had been turned into black marble. The Premier himself had done much by his own example towards keeping the house within bounds, for not once during his speech did he/ raise his voice above its normal tone, nor did he show the slightest irritation or anger at the interruptions he met with. On the other hand, everyone! within the walls of the chamber were so anxious to hear what he had to say, that the mement he began to speak, after an exciting outbreak on the part of the House, silence instantly followed. When the Premier sat down, all eyes turned to the Right Honourable Mr Bond, who, after some hesitation, slowly rose to his fedt. England, he began, was evidently face to face with a crisis such as she had not been called upon to deal with since the days of Cromwell, if, indeed, the! Parliamentary methods of that extraordinary man were at all comparable with those the present Premier proposed to try. The British Empire when sanely governed, had always been in the van of progress, fcihe had been the great civiliser of the world. England had been a just, an honourable and a God-feiaring nation. Wherever the British flag floated between the sun and the earth, and cast its shadow on the ground, on that ground was liberty and freedom —on that ground every man was frete to follow his own devices, so long as he did not interfere with the comforts or the rights of his fellows. If truth has any meaning; if honesty stands for any more than the enjpty sound of the word, then it wdre a ghastly travesty on truth and honesty that now in the twentieth century a man holding the hitherto honourable position of Premier, the highest that the nation can bestow upon one of its sons, should stand up in this historical house and villify the country which gave him birth, 'and which had now bestowed upon him its .greatest office. Did the Premier imagine for a moment that he was to be allowed to bludgeon with words the Honourable members of this House as his police had broken thd heads of a peaceful assemblage in Trafalgar Square? Did he imagine that he was to be allowed te outrage the traditional customs and forms of the British Parliament ? Did he think he was able to browbeat and coerce Honourable members who represent the most enlightened constituencies of great Britain ?- If the people in a moment of madness had set him at the head~of affairs, it must not be forgotten that when they did so, the/y had no data before thorn, and were in ignorance of what the action of the accidental majority would be. The proceedings of Saturday afternoon outside of this House, and the proceedings of Monday afternoon within its walls, now set. before the country in a startling light what the British Empire had a right, to expect from those who had been temporarily placed in power. Drastic cruelty, and the, suppression of free speech, both outside and within the house, was one of the first results of a thoughtless election, and they must be prepared to see the ship of state jauntily steered upon the rocks of bankruptcy at the whimi of the unknown and Untried adventurer who, now, unfortunately, stands at the helm;. He (Mr Bond) had had no time to consult with his colleagues, but he believed'he spoke for them when he said there must be an appeal to the people. The Opposition would obstruct by every means known within the Constitution all such disastrous and Utopian proposals as the Government seemed! about to bring forward, and they would insist that before the country, started on the. steep incline which led to inevitable ruin, the opinion of the people must be taken. The tremendous cheering which followed the last sentence of the ex-Premier’s sneech showed that if me t with the United approval of the entire Opposition. The. Right Honourable Mr Bond was about to resume, when the Premier rose in his place and said : ; “Mr Speaker, I move that the quesrtion, be now put.” A storm of protest rose at this. Ories of ‘‘Gag” arose from all parts of the Opposite side of the House. One member, rising in his place, and shaking his fist at the Government Benches, said: "You have taken most of the time yourseelf, and now you ‘gag’ the leader of the Opposition.” • \Tbe uproar continued until it was seen that the Premier was upon his feet; then, as was always the* case while this extraordinary man, was in Parliament, there was silence. “Gentleman,* 5- said the Premier, slowly and deliberately, “it may be known to some of you that when a drunkard is suddenly deprived of his accustomed stimulant, he goes mad. A former leader of this House once compared rhetoric to an intoxicant, and it is not my intention to deprive you suddenly of the exhilarating effects of your own eloquence; but to-day, as I told you, there is urgent gent busineess to be done, and the business must be speedily done. Contrary to my own conviction, and out of respect to this house, I did you the honour of making statement to you. You see at once the evil effect of my deviation from duty. My short speech has but loosened a torrent of talk which does no good to anybody. I quite realise that this vile habit o speaking cannot be checked without disastrous results to some of you;

so it is my intention, after to-morrow, to give you ample time to talk. I intend on that day to introduce a short Bill, which will be called the Land Restoration Act. I shall then leave the House, so that I may give my sole attention to the burning question of the unemployed, with the aid of the fifty millions which this House is going to grant me this evening. For the next hundred days you will have nothing to do but talk. Lam amazed to notice that this statement is not received with rounds cf applause from the Opposition Benches. However, I suppose that we have all been taught that gratitude is rarely to be expected from an Opposition. During that hundred days not a man upon this side of the House will stand upon his feet. You will have a long innings’ 'gentlemen, so if I beg your forbearance, and offer this bribe, it is only because, as I have said, there is urgent work to be done, and that work andi talk do not go well together.” “Now, as I shall not be in my place after to-morrow, I shall make another statement, which is perhaps necessary because of some phrases uttered by the Honourable Gentleman who has sQ.reluctantly sat down. The Honourable Gentleman spoke feelingly about an appeal to the people. The enthusiasm which his remarks brought forth from tnl various parties which are under his guidance showed that the sentiments expressed by him met with the approval of what may be termed the combined parties opposed to us, which is not astonishing when it is remembered that lip-service to the people has always been a popular card to play. No man, as yet 4 has had the courage to stand up in the house and say ho didn’t care a rap for wKat the people thought, because ths House had been erroneously supposed to. represent the people for many centuries past. I am aware that I am mixing my similies to a certain extent, but I have told you that am no speaker and no logician. Now, as to this appeal to the people, as it is sure eventually to come, it may relieve your minds somewhat to know just when, and I have no hesitation in telling you. The Right Honourable Gentleman spoke of a moment of madness on the part of the electors. I would like to point cut that there were two moments of madness, one in June and the other in July, and I will say that the next time the electors get a. chance for a moment of madness will be seven years from the time of the last election. The Government is in power, and will do certain things while in power, and it will stay in power just as long as it lias a majority of thirteen or of one. My supporters, as you may have noticed, are nearly all young men. We have been characterised, by the Honourable Gentleman who preceded me, as unknown, which is not a disadvantage, because, as I have pointed cut, we are young, and there is still time to make ourselves familiar to the public, whom we expect to serve, not with our lips but with our deeds: I hope that during the seven years which we serve, none of us will die, and’ I am quite certain that none will resign. Now, Mr Speaker, that I have concluded the last speech which I hope to make in this House, I move that the question be put..” And accordingly the question was put, * Thus the Bill granting fifty millions to the unemployed was forced through the House of Commons. (To be continued.)