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The British Election of 1874: Frederic Harrison and the Liberal-Labour Dilemma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

H. W. McCready
H. W. McCready*
Affiliation:
McMaster University
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Extract

The role of such left-wing Liberals as Frederic Harrison, Professor E. S. Beesly, A. J. Mundella, Vernon Harcourt, and Tom Hughes in bringing the English working classes into politics on the side of the Liberals in the late 1860's and early 1870's has long been appreciated. What has not, perhaps, been sufficiently realized is the quandary in which these middle-class radicals found themselves when the general election of 1874 approached. The years following the Hornby v. Close case and the appointment of the great royal commission on trade unions in 1867 had seen a rapid development in the political consciousness of the workmen—especially of the unionists—which was, from the point of view of the radicals, all to the good; but they had also seen the politically conscious among the working classes turning bitterly against the Liberals. The milestones in the latter of these two important political trends were the Liberals' Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1871, the Gas Stokers' and Chipping Norton cases and the persistent refusal of the Gladstone Government to respond to the demands of the unions' lobby for the reform of the labour laws of the country. Labour feeling with regard to the Liberal party was reflected, for example, in the discussions of the Labour Representation League in 1871. A meeting of September 2 voiced strong disapproval of the Government's treatment of the working-class legislative demands and of its general attitude of hostility. The meeting decided to initiate discussions on the advisability of forming a third party. There was also a great deal of criticism of the Liberals at the Trades Union Congress of 1872 and, in the following year, the Parliamentary Committee of the Congress minced no words in discussing the matter in its report on the year's work. After reciting the fruitless efforts of the labour lobby during the 1872 session, the report concluded with the remark that a Liberal government under which such a legal situation could be consolidated was a mockery. And in two bye-elections in August, 1873, at Dundee and Greenwich, the workmen supported independent candidates in opposition to the official Liberals. Gladstone's cabinet shuffle of that same month probably did little to improve relations. Robert Lowe, who took the Home Office, was considered an enemy of the working classes and John Bright was well known as an opponent of unions and of all state action in industrial affairs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , May 1954 , pp. 166 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1954

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References

1 See, e.g., Gillespie, F. E., Labour and Politics in England, 1850–1867 (Durham, N.C., 1927)Google Scholar; Cole, G. D. H., British Working-Class Politics, 1832–1914 (London, 1946)Google Scholar; Webb, S. and Webb, B., The History of Trade Unionism (London, 1907).Google Scholar

2 Editorial, “Workingmen and the Liberal Party,” BeeHive, 09 9, 1871, 11c Google Scholar, comments on this.

3 See Professor E. S. Beesly's discussion of this matter in “The Criminal Law Amendment Act,” ibid., Jan. 13,1872, 1d–2b.

4 Ibid., Jan. 18, 1873, 6c-7b.

5 Ibid., Aug. 9, 1873, 1b–d; Aug. 16,1873,2a–d.

6 Harcourt to Bright, Aug. 8, 1873, Bright Papers, British Museum, Add. MSS. 43389—not foliated.

7 E.g., “The Coming Session,” BeeHive, Feb. 8, 1873, 1a–c.

8 On these points see, e.g., “The Republic,” an address delivered by Harrison to the Democratic Club, 1870, MSS. in Harrison Papers; Harrison to A. J. Mundella, Jan. 19, 1872, Mundella Papers, Sheffield University; “The Coming Session,” BeeHive, Feb. 8, 1873, 1a–c; “The Trades Union Bill,” ibid., July 1, 1871, 1a–c; speech delivered to the 1873 Trades Union Congress, reprinted ibid., Jan. 25, 1873, 1a–d.

9 Special Report of the Deputation to the Home Secretary, November 5, 1873, 8.

10 Ibid.

11 “F. W. Hirst to Gerhard, May 24, 1922. This letter was lent to the author by Hirst.

12 “The General Elections,” BeeHive, March 8, 1873, 3a–c.

13 Harrison to Morley, July 2, 1873, Harrison Papers, VIII. Harrison's extensive correspondence and papers are in the keeping of his grandson to whose kindness in permitting me full use of them I am much indebted. The Harrison papers are not foliated but are grouped in bundles according to year. The roman numerals used for reference in these notes indicate the particular bundle in which the letter may be found in its chronological position.

14 Same to same, Aug. 21, 1873, ibid.; part in Hirst, , Early Life and Letters of John Morley (London, 1927), I, 281–2.Google Scholar

15 “The General Elections,” BeeHive, 03 8, 1873, 3a–c.Google Scholar

16 Morley to Harrison, Aug. 20, 1873, Harrison Papers, VII; and Hirst, , Early Life and Letters of John Morley, I, 280–1.Google Scholar

17 Harrison to Morley, Aug. 21, 1873, Harrison Papers, VIII.

18 Harrison goes on to say: “The amount of help the employers get from these wretched bits of laws is 0. Only they have made it a fight for existence and as a principle it is now most important for the workmen to settle it in principle. Brace's secretary has been asking me why I make such a fuss about the law of conspiracy by which he says not a dozen men are punished in the year. I tell him I am quite aware how little the prison returns of the country are affected by it, but since they have raised a fight on this point it is of the last importance to the workmen to show that those who wield the political power of the country cannot afford to refuse a demand which is openly admitted to be just.”

19 Morley to Harrison, Aug. 22, 1873, ibid., VII; Hirst, , Early Life and Letters of John Morley, I, 282–1.Google Scholar

20 Harrison to Morley, Sept. 6, 1873, Harrison Papers, VIII.

21 Morley to Harrison, Sept. 6, 1873, ibid., VII; Hirst, , Early Life and Letters of John Morley, I, 282–4.Google Scholar

22 The letter is marked “Private. Please return. J.M.,” and is also initialled “J.C.”

23 Chamberlain to Harrison, Sept. 17, 1873, Harrison Papers, Misc. Letters.

24 Morley to Harrison, Oct. 10, 1873, ibid., VII.

25 Harrison to Morley, Aug. 21, 1873, ibid., VIII.

26 Same to same, Jan. 29, 1874, ibid., IX.

27 “Public Affairs,” Fortnightly Review, Dec, 1873, 817–8.

28 Howell Papers, Bishopgate Institute.

29 Cole, , British Working-Class Politics, 1832–1914, 73.Google Scholar

30 Harrison to Morley, Jan. 29, 1874, Harrison Papers, IX.

31 Feb., 1874, 294–6.

32 BeeHive, Jan. 31, 1874, 1a–d.

33 Harrison to Morley, Feb. 10, 1874, Harrison Papers, IX. Harrison's views were developed at greater length in “The Conservative Reaction,” Fortnightly Review, 03, 1874, 297–309.Google Scholar

34 Harrison to Morley, Feb. 10, 1874, Harrison Papers, IX.