III.  There is one other point which those who have read the correspondence and comments upon the proposed institution in the papers have noted with amusement rather than with astonishment.  It is a point which comes out in everything that has been written on the scheme, except by the actual founders.  It is the profound distrust with which the more wealthy classes regard the working men—­not the poor, so-called, but the working men.  They do not seem even to have begun trusting them:  they speak and think of them as if they were children in leading-strings; as if they were certain to accept with gratitude whatever gifts may be bestowed upon them, even when they are safe-guarded and carefully regulated as for mischievous boys; as if the working men were constantly looking for guidance to the class which has the money.  It is true that the working men are always looking for guidance, just like the rest of us.  ‘Lord, send a leader!’ It is the cry of all mankind in all ages.  But that the working men regard the people who live in villas, and are genteel, as possessing more wisdom than themselves is by no means certain.

This feeling was, of course, most deeply marked when the great Drink Question arose, as it was bound to arise.  We have heard how meetings were called, and resolutions passed by worthy people against the admission of intoxicating drinks into the Palace.  At one of the meetings they had the audacity to pass a resolution that ’East London will never be satisfied until intoxicating drink of any kind is prohibited in the Palace.’  East London! with its thousands of public-houses!  Dear me!  Then, if East London passed such a resolution, its hypocrisy surpasses the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees.  If, however, a little knot of people choose to call themselves East London, or Babylon, or Rome, and to pass resolutions in the name of those cities, we can accept their resolutions for what they are worth.  Whether the working man will adopt them and put them into practice is another matter altogether.

Let us remember, and constantly bear in mind, that the Palace is to be governed by the people for themselves.  Otherwise it would be better for East London that it had never been erected.  Whatever we do or resolve is, in fact, subject to the will of the governing body.  As for passing a resolution on drink for the Palace, we might just as well resolve that drink shall not be sold to the members of the House of Commons, and expect them instantly to close their cellars.  If the governing body wish to have drink in the Palace they will have it, whether we like it or not.  But it shows the profound distrust of the people that these restrictions should be attempted and these resolutions passed.  For my own part, considering the needlessness of drink in such a place, the abundant facilities provided outside, and the enormous additional trouble, danger, and expense entailed by letting drink be sold in a place where there will be every evening thousands of young people, I am quite sure that the governing body—­that is to say, the chosen representatives of East London—­will never admit it within their walls.