But in the present
day their ordinary disposition is the very opposite: they willingly
make considerable sacrifices, especially of their pecuniary
interest, for the benefit of the working classes, and err rather by
too lavish and indiscriminating beneficence; nor do I believe that any
rulers in history have been actuated by a more sincere desire to do
their duty towards the poorer portion of their countrymen. Yet does
Parliament, or almost any of the members composing it, ever for an
instant look at any question with the eyes of a working man? When a
subject arises in which the labourers as such have an interest, is
it regarded from any point of view but that of the employers of
labour? I do not say that the working men's view of these questions is
in general nearer to the truth than the other: but it is sometimes
quite as near; and in any case it ought to be respectfully listened
to, instead of being, as it is, not merely turned away from, but
ignored. On the question of strikes, for instance, it is doubtful if
there is so much as one among the leading members of either House
who is not firmly convinced that the reason of the matter is
unqualifiedly on the side of the masters, and that the men's view of
it is simply absurd. Those who have studied the question know well how
far this is from being the case; and in how different, and how
infinitely less superficial a manner the point would have to be
argued, if the classes who strike were able to make themselves heard
in Parliament.
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