“The socialism,” he finally remarked, “which you and I are interested
in, is Christian Socialism. You may be sure that in nothing I do or
say there will be found the least tincture of this deplorable modern
materialism. My own feeling is that the closer our efforts for the
uplifting of the people are founded upon biblical doctrines the more
triumphant their success will be. It is the ethical aspect of this
great struggle for popular rights which I hold most near my heart.
I wish to take my place in Parliament as representing not merely
the intelligence of this constituency but its moral and spiritual
needs--its soul, in fact, Mr. Taxater. There is no animosity in my
campaign. I am scrupulous about that. I am ready, always ready, to
do our opponents justice. But when they appeal to the material needs
of the country, I appeal to its higher requirements--to its soul, in
other words. It is for this reason that I am so glad to welcome really
intelligent and highly educated men, like yourself. We who take this
loftier view must of course make use of many less admirable methods.
I do so myself. But it is for us to keep the higher, the more ethical
considerations, always in sight.
“As I was saying to my son, this very evening, the grand thing for us
all to remember is that it is only on the assumption of Divine Love
being at the bottom of every confusion that we can go to work at all.
The Tory party refuse to make this assumption. They refuse to recognize
the ethical substratum of the world. They treat politics as if they
were a matter of merely imperial or patriotic importance. In my view
politics and religion should go hand in hand. In the true democracy
which I aim at establishing, all these secular theories--evidently
due to the direct action of the Devil--such as Free Love and the
destruction of the family--will not be tolerated for a moment.
“Let no one think,”--and Mr. Wone swallowed a mouthful of wine with a
gurgling sound,--“that because we attack capitalism and large estates,
we have any wish to interfere with the sacredness of the home. There
are, I regret to say, among some of our artizans, wild and dangerous
theories of this kind, but I have always firmly discountenanced them
and I always will. That is why, if I may say so, I am so well adapted
to represent this district. I have the support of the large number
of Liberal-minded tradesmen who would deeply regret the introduction
of such immoral theories into our movement. They hold, as I hold,
that this unhappy tendency to atheistic speculation among our
working-classes is one of the gravest dangers to the country. They
hold, as I hold, that the cynical free thought of the Tory party is
best encountered, not by the equally deplorable cynicism of certain
labor-leaders, but by the high Christian standards of men like--like
ourselves, Mr. Taxater.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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