The Oxford Observer. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY APRIL 7th, 1894.

Oxford Observer, Volume V, Issue V, 7 April 1894, Page 2

The Oxford Observer. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY APRIL 7 th, 1894.

It is necessary, occasionally, to keep our "readers m Toucli with the doings and sayings of some who fill important functions m .the political, clerical or mercantile worlcl. JL-,_ .'J

Prompted by warm indignation we purpose making a few bold remarks which may prove of sufficient > public interest to secure the sympathy of many whose lob is not cast m very plea?ant The late Lord Mayor of London, Sir Stuart Knill, previous fco his term ; of office expiring,, gave a Mansion House dinner, and iv proposing the toast of •'Commercial Prosperity" had the shameless audacity to spnak of the "unnatural demand of the wageearning classes." ' This occurred during the great coal sttike when the unemployed m thousands were clamouring desperately m their midst foi work or bread, when still other thon sands were shivering m comfortless homes for want of a handful or two of coals, which to them at that time was an unattainable luxury, and when tens of thousands of gaunt, and famished miners were fighting desperately the right of the despised "wage-earning classes" for their right to a "living wage." Is there not something sardonically " unnatural m the spectacle of the great merchant princes assembled at the Mansion House, clothed m purple and fine linen, for the purpose of feeding on the fat of the land — "m honour of trade and commerce" r

Reflect upon the heroic, half - starved -wife of one of the miners when telling her sympathetic audience, at St James's Hall, of the little child that died for want of the daily pint of milk that it could not have, and contrast this gilt, gingerbread lord, replete with turtle and champagne, frothing to his equally sympathetic audience of luxuriously-fed merchant princes upon the unnatural demands of the class typified by the poor miner's wife who buried her child for want of a "pint of milk.'' The action of his Lordship, would lead anyone, with a spark of humanity m their nature, to protest most indignantly against this utterly unchristian and uncatholic utterance of . his (he professes to belong to the Church of Rome) but surely one would ask "Can this be the man who caused or allowed such loud trumpetings to be made of his strict religious principles ? Is this he who publicly toasted the Pope?" And would he dare venture to assert that one of the best of Pontiffs would countenance this speech of his? Does he forget who it was that proclaimed the " labourer worthy of his hire," and told the story of "Dives and Lazarus" or does lie suppose that : the wealth of a merchant prince commanding the resources of modern science may enable him to pass a camel through the eye of a needle ?" If not how is the inhuman cynicism of his utterance at the Mansion House to be reconciled with, his professions of strict adherence to ? "the Catholic faith? It would be charifcable^p suppose that the turtle soup ' ana the etceteras had the effect of

dulling the perceptions of Lis 1 >rdsbip's better nature, and so ennabling his pride of descent to sit upon his sense of christr charity when speaking of these inferior beings, the wage-earnV ers. Remembering that" this late lord, pro-tern, owns (amongst otheis) the princely name of " Stuart," it is possible that he may claim descent from the royal debauchee, the .descendants , Qf'^whose illegiti■mat^)7r,ogebs^are the principal figures m that glorious constellation known as our "Old Nobility." . Should jWs beFo, jof course it would fee easy to lunderstand that any demand iwhatever emanating" from the vulgar wage-earners should appear to his erst lordship as both unnatural and-uupardon-abl.e .To' the wage^earners of England': -tins^speech at ihe Mansion- Souse should- be con : clusTOp^ooi of whatT tH|| niay expecjfrom the" eiass^tjf "jvjich the late Lord Mayor was" the official head or. chief figure. And whoknows, to the people of London it , may prov;e tjße 'last straw.' upon, jbhe back of their endurance and so this 'unnatural' speech may turn out a blessing m disguise, making the utterance of ex-Mayor Knill the death knell of the ■"corrupt London Corporation."