414 AN AGRICULTURAL PARTY 



The formation of this Independent Party may be impractic- 

 able ; but we shall require more conclusive arguments than any 

 yet put forward to convince us that it is so. 



IT IS UNDESIRABLE. 



The force of this opinion depends almost entirely upon the 

 point of view of the person making it. I say " almost," because 

 our opponents give as the ostensible reason for its undesirability 

 the condition of things in those Parliaments abroad where the 

 group system has become a recognised method of government ; 

 and from this point of view the group system can be shown to 

 have many disadvantages. But why should we take any foreign 

 method as the standard for emulation ? I have sufficient faith 

 in the good sense, and freedom from panic, of the average Britisher 

 to believe that under the group system he will act in the way that 

 will be best for the country as a whole. 



The Morning Post, on 6th January, 1908, referring to the auto- 

 cratic action of the present Government with regard to the 

 " guillotining " methods of last session, said : 



" Was ever a House of Commons since Cromwell's day 

 treated so autocratically ? Of course, it may be said that 

 the majority of the House is to blame for tolerating such 

 treatment. Obviously it is, but party loyalty is carried very 

 far in these days." 



It is indeed carried so far that the rights and privileges of private 

 members were practically extinguished by Mr. Balfour, with his 

 followers' consent, during his last administration. The reason 

 why members of Parliament do not occupy the same position as 

 formerly in the minds of the public is entirely due to this fact. 

 The man in the street recognises that the individual M.P. has 

 become a mere pawn in the hands of his leader, and values him 

 accordingly. We want those privileges restored. 



But the great point in this aspect of the question is that it 

 does not matter in the least whether we think the group system 

 desirable or the reverse. It is already with us. Apart from the 

 four main groups in the present House of Commons, there are 

 numerous sub -divisions (held together with some difficulty by 

 their respective leaders) and still others in embryo ; and the whole 

 present tendency is in the direction of more clearly establishing 

 this system. It is no use shutting our eyes to this fact, and the 

 sooner men realise it, and set to work to organise their own 

 industries, both inside and outside the House of Commons, instead 

 of wasting effort in a fruitless attempt to instil life into the dead 

 bones of the old parties, the better it will be for them. The two- 

 party system is some 250 years old ; it has done good work in 

 the past, but it has served its purpose and outlived its use. Its 

 demise has probably been hastened by over organisation, by the 

 too accurate numbering of heads, and by its destruction of per- 

 sonal thought and initiative. It prevents personal interest being 



