Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography
been aroused by the corrupt misgovernment of Greater London, passed the
"Local Government Act," which, among other provisions, made London into
a County, gave it a "County Council," and endowed that Council with
far-reaching powers. To social reformers this was a tremendous event.
For forty years they had been labouring to procure something of the
sort, and now it dropped down from the skies, and seemed at first almost
too good to be true. Under the shock of the surprise, London suddenly
awoke to the consciousness of a corporate life. On every side men were
stirred by an honest impulse to give the experiment a good start; to
work the new machine for all it was worth; and to make the
administration of Greater London a model for all lesser municipalities.
The Divisions of London, for the purposes of its new Council, were the
same as its Parliamentary Divisions, but each constituency returned two
members, and the City four. Every seat (except those for St. George's,
Hanover Square) was contested, and there were often as many as six or
seven candidates for one division. It was said at the time that "the
uncertainty of the issues, the multitude of candidates, and the
vagueness of parties made it impossible to tabulate the results with the
same accuracy and completeness which are possible in the case of the
House of Commons." Some candidates stood professedly as Liberals, and
others as Conservatives. The majority, however, declared themselves to
be "strictly non-political." Some leading objects, such as Better
Housing of the Poor, Sanitary Reform, and the abolition of jobbery and
corruption, were professed by all alike; and the main issues in dispute
were the control of the Police by the Council, the reform of the
Corporation of London and of the City Guilds, the abolition of dues on
coal coming into the Port of London, and the taxation of ground-rents.
In such projects as these it was easy to discern the working of the new
spirit. Men were trying, earnestly though amid much confusion, to
translate the doctrines of Social Reform into fact. "Practicable
Socialism" became the ideal of the reforming party, who styled
themselves "Progressives." Their opponents got the unfortunate name of
"Moderates"; and between the ideas roughly indicated by those two names
the battle was fought. The Election took place in January, 1889. The
result was that 71 candidates labelled "Progressive" were returned, and
47 "Moderates." The Act empowered the Council to complete its number by
electing 19 Aldermen. Of these, 18 were Progressives, and one was a
Moderate; so the total result was a "Progressive" majority of 41.
By the time of which I write I had become, by habitual residence, a
Londoner; and I hope I was as keen on Social Reform as anyone in London,
or outside it. But, after what I said in an earlier chapter, it will
surprise no one that I declined to be a candidate for the London County
Council. My dislike of electioneering is so intense that nothing on
earth except the prospect of a seat in Parliament would tempt me to
undertake it; so to all suggestions that I should stand in the
Progressive interest I turned a resolutely deaf ear. But, when the
election was over and the Progressive majority had to choose a list of
Aldermen, I saw my opportunity and volunteered my services. By the
goodwill of my friends on the Council, I was placed on the "Progressive
List," and on the 5th of February I was elected an Alderman for six
years. Among my colleagues were Lord Meath, Lord Lingen, Lord Hobhouse,
Mr. Quintin Hogg, Sir Thomas Farrer, and Mr. Frederic Harrison. Lord
Meath was accepted by the Progressive party, in recognition of his
devoted services to the cause of social amelioration, especially in the
matter of Public Gardens and Open Spaces; but, with this sole
exception, the list was frankly partisan. The Progressives had got a
majority on the new "Parliament of London," and had no notion of
watering it down.
Before the Council was created, the governing body for Greater London
had been the "Metropolitan Board of Works," which had its dwelling in
Spring Gardens. The old building had to be adapted to its new uses, and,
while the reconstruction was in progress, the County Council was
permitted by the Corporation to meet in the Guildhall. There we
assembled on the 12th of February, a highly-diversified, and, in some
respects, an interesting company. A careful analysis of our quality and
occupations gave the following results: Peers, 4; M.P.'s and ex-M.P.'s,
9; Clergymen, 2; Barristers, 14; Solicitors, 3; Soldiers, 4; Doctors, 5;
Tutors, 2; Architects, 2; Builders, 4; Engineers, 3; Journalists, 4;
Publisher, 1; Bankers, 5; Stock-Exchange men, 5; Auctioneers, 3; Brewer,
1; Clothiers, 2; Confectioner, 1; Drapers, 2; Grocers, 2; Mineral
Water-maker, 1; Optician, 1; Shoemaker, 1; Merchants, 22; Manufacturers,
13; Gentlemen at large, 8; "Unspecified," 10. And to these must be added
three ladies, who had been illegally elected and were soon unseated. A
current joke of the time represented one of our more highly-cultured
Councillors saying to a colleague drawn from another rank,--"The
acoustics of this Hall seem very defective"--to which the colleague,
after sniffing, replies--"Indeed? I don't perceive anything unpleasant."
Which things were an allegory; but conveyed a true impression of our
social and educational diversities.
The first business which we had to transact was the election of a
Chairman. Lord Rosebery was elected by 104 votes to 17; and so began the
most useful portion of his varied career. The honorary office of
Vice-Chairman was unanimously conferred on Sir John Lubbock, afterwards
Lord Avebury; and for the Deputy Chairmanship, a salaried post of
practical importance, the Council chose Mr. J. F. B. Firth, who had made
his name as an exponent of the intricacies of Metropolitan Government.
To watch the methods of Lord Rosebery's chairmanship was an interesting
study. After much experience of public bodies and public meetings, I
consider him the best chairman but one under whom I ever sat. The best
was Mr. Leonard Courtney, now Lord Courtney of Penwith, who to the gifts
of accuracy, promptness, and mastery of detail, added the rarer grace
of absolute impartiality. Lord Rosebery had the accuracy, the
promptness, and the mastery, but he was not impartial. He was inclined
to add the functions of Leader of the House to those of Speaker, which
were rightly his. When a subject on which he felt strongly was under
discussion, and opinion in the Council was closely balanced, Lord
Rosebery would intervene just at the close of the debate, with a short,
strong, and emphatic speech, and so influence the division in favour of
his own view. This practice is, in my judgment, inconsistent with ideal
chairmanship, but in the early days of the Council it was not without
its uses.
We had to furnish ourselves with a constitution, to distribute our
various powers, to frame rules of debate, and to create an order of
business. To do all this in a full Council of 137 members, most of them
quite unversed in public life, many of them opinionated, all articulate,
and not a few vociferous, was a work of the utmost difficulty, and Lord
Rosebery engineered it to perfection. He was suave and courteous;
smoothed acrid dissensions with judicious humour; used sarcasm
sparingly, but with effect; and maintained a certain dignity of bearing
which profoundly impressed the representatives of the Great Middle
Class. "By Jove, how these chaps funk Rosebery!" was the candid
exclamation of Sir Howard Vincent; and his remark applied quite equally
to his own "Moderate" friends and to my "Progressives." It was
characteristic of these gentry that they longed to call Lord Rosebery
"My Lord," and were with difficulty induced to substitute "Mr.
Chairman." The one member of the Council who stands out in my memory as
not having "funked" the Chairman is Mr. John Burns, whose action and
bearing in the Council formed one of my most interesting studies. The
events of February, 1885, were still present to my memory, though the
Councillor for Battersea had probably forgotten them. The change which
four years had wrought was extraordinary. He spoke constantly and
effectively, but always with moderation, good feeling, and common sense.
At the same time, he maintained a breezy independence, and, when he
thought that the Chair ought to be defied, defied it. This was awkward,
for the Chairman had no disciplinary powers, and there was no executive
force to compel submission to his rulings. As far as I could observe,
Mr. Burns never gave way, and yet he soon ceased to enter into conflict
with the Chair. What was the influence which tamed him? I often
wondered, but never knew.
The Council had got itself duly divided into Committees, and it was
noticeable that there was an enormous rush of Councillors anxious to
serve on the Housing Committee. The "Bitter Cry of Outcast London" had
not been raised in vain, and every man in the Council seemed anxious to
bear his part in the work of redressing an intolerable wrong. The weekly
Session of the Council was fixed for Tuesday afternoon, to the disgust
of some Progressives who hankered after the more democratic hour of 7
p.m. The main part of the business was the discussion of the Reports
brought up from the various Committees, and, when those were disposed
of, abstract motions could be debated. Some earnest Liberals were always
trying to raise such questions as Home Rule, Land Law, Enfranchisement
of Leaseholds, and other matters which lay outside the purview of the
Council; and it was delightful to see Lord Rosebery damping down these
irregular enthusiasms, and reminding his hearers of the limits which
Parliament had set to their activities. Those limits were, in all
conscience, wide enough, and included in their scope Housing, Asylums,
Bridges, Fire-Brigades, Highways, Reformatory Schools, Main Drainage,
Parks, Theatres, and Music-Halls, besides the complicated system of
finance by which all our practice was regulated. The Committees dealing
with these subjects, and several others of less importance, were manned
by able, zealous, and conscientious servants of the public, who gave
ungrudgingly of their time (which in many cases was also money),
thought, and labour. The Council as a whole displayed a voracious
appetite for work, and rendered, without fee or reward, a service to
Greater London which no money could have purchased.
In the autumn of this year--1889--some correspondence appeared in
newspapers and reviews about what was called "The New Liberalism." By
that title was meant a Liberalism which could no longer content itself
with the crudities of official politics, but longed to bear its part in
the social regeneration of the race. In an article in the _Nineteenth
Century_, I commented on the insensibility of the Liberal Leaders to
this new inspiration. "Who would lead our armies into Edom?" I confess
that I thought of Lord Rosebery as our likeliest champion; but I put the
cause above the man. "Wherever our leader may come from, I am confident
that the movement will go on. _Ca ira! Ca ira! Malgre les mutins, tout
reussira!_ The cause of Social Service arouses that moral enthusiasm
which cannot be bought and cannot be resisted, and which carries in
itself the pledge of victory. The terrible magnitude and urgency of the
evils with which we have to cope cannot be overstated. Those who set out
to fight them will have to encounter great and manifold
difficulties--ignorance, stupidity, prejudice, greed, cruelty,
self-interest, instincts of class, cowardly distrust of popular
movements, 'spiritual wickedness in high places.' And, in the face of
these opposing forces, it is cheering to think that, after long years of