COCKNEY CZAR CHELMSFORD.

NZ Truth, Issue 130, 14 December 1907, Page 1

COCKNEY CZAR CHELMSFORD.

THE CAPITALIST CONSPIRACY Against Labor la Queensland.

Governor Ckelmsford, of Queensland, is showing himself to be as miserable a failure- as a statesman as Ins father proved to be as a soldier during the Zulu v?ar m South Africa. When' the British forces^ were defeated and disgraced by the crushing cabastrophc of Isandula, the outraged British nation indignantly demanded to know how it came about that the present Lord Chelmsford's father name to be appointed Command er-in-Chief m South Africa at such a critican juncture. The only explanation forthcoming for such an outrageous exhibition of official nepotism was that General Lord Chelmsford was the son of Premier Disraeli's Lord Chancellor Chelmsford, a political pal and pet of that juggling Jew. The first Lord Chelmsford was a nepotistic uonenity on the woolsack ; while his son was s\ most murderously miserable .miscarriage as a military man m high command. . * » ■ That coxcomb of a carpet knight, Chelmsford,. having bungled and blundered 'utfxJng^fce^Zuiu war, even worse than gorging, guzzling General Redvers Buller did subsequently m the Boer war, he was superseded by Sir Garnet Wolseley. But without waiting for the arrival of Wolseley, this Piccadilly paladin forced on another engagement with the Zulus, and wildly and wantonly rushed the British. Army to a disgraceful and disastrous doom. Such is the family racord of the high and mighty Lord Chelmsford, who is now playing the pitiful part of a tin-pot Czar m the politics of Queensland. The best that can be said of this paltry political popinjay is that he is the worthy son of his sires. In mitigation of the chaotic conditions into which his contemptible con-duct has firelight the constitutional' affairs of Queensland, it can only be said that he is sustaining the shocking and saddening traditions .of a- fatuous family, famous or infamous for its fata! failures. * ■ * As a statesman this third Lord Chelmsford is proving -himself to be even a bigger political poltroon than did his first, his grandfather-, as Chancellor and keeper of her Majesty Queen Victoria's conscience, on behalf of Dizzy the Jew; or than did the second, his father, as the guardian of the 4ionoi: and glory and lives of the' British Army m South Africa. However he came to be Governor of .Queensland is one of those puzzles m •Imperial politics insoluble to all who have not the back-stairs entree to Downirig-street. Only on the "assumption that a single family of fools could not produce three incorrigibly, not to say idiotically incompetent administrators m absolutely direct descent from father to son, can this contemptible chap Chelmsford's appointment, be explained. "Siniilia similibus curantur" . may be a good maxim m certain cases ; as may also its English equivalent which prescribes a hair of the dog that bit Mm, m the shape of a glass of grog to restore a groggy patient. * •• • • The credulous assumption that hereditary ineptitude and incapacity, bordering on downright lunacy, could be expected to culminate m the third generation m conspicuous capacity, is against all the canons of anthropelogy and psychology. We have it on the authority of Holy Writ that the sins of the" fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. The curse of the Chelmsfords has been boobyism, of which the pcesent Governor of Queensland is affording a brilliant but baneful example. The inherent idiocy of the booby breed is bulking out so big and »black m this third generation, that* those citizens of the Commonwealth who are now suffering from tb? Chelhisfbrd curse m the third generation ma?, after all, have reason to thank political providence j that they are likely to be spared the i exacerbating experience of the same curse, when it sltall have degenerated to the fourth generation. » » • There are no other considerations that can be urged m extenuation of tbis cove Chdmford's con-temp tible, vet withal, execrable- escapade as a Constitutionalist. He may unconsciously have conceivetlj i« Sis nmn^

cible ignorance of constitutional precept, and political procedure,, and parliamentary practice, that he was doing the correct constitutional thing m trying to bring Ms personal friends, political pals, and club cobbers back to political power through the back door. Chelmsford, of course, does not consort with men of Kidston's kidney, or with men of his political persuasion ; nor. does his high, and mighty manikinship condescend to show a decent deference to the constitutional position of David Bowman as the leader of the Labor Party m the Queensland Parliament. All Chelmsford seems to have been concerned about m creating the constitutional crisis is to protect the capitalistic conspirators m the nominee Council of Looters, and to bring back into place, pay, and pqwer the band of boodlers consisting of the plutocratic push behind' Bob "Burns, Philp and Co." * * « That this corrupt crowd was recently ignominously defeated at the polls ;. that its policy stinks m tire nostrils of the people ; and that its personnel is made up of political pirates flying the false flag of Private Enterprise, are circumstances of little or no significance to this insignificant imported Cockney Czar Chelmsford. This pretence of a proconsul with the political instincts of a parrot, and the brains of a peanut, puing forth the perjurous platitudes put into Ms mendacious mouth by the Philp push, pretends to. be particularly anxious that the people should have an opportunity of pronouncing between ex-Premier Kidston on the one hand, ami the Legislative ( Council, backed by Chelmsford, on the other. In the present state of political parties and of public opinion m Queensland, and .m the light of the last general election 1 and of recent political events, there cannot exist the semblance of a" shadow -of reasonable doubt as to what will be the result of the appeal to the country which this creature of club soteries and capitalistic cliques has so inconsequentially and inopportunely forced upon the people. .* ' • • I Philp and Co. can by no rational I process of calculation expect to secure a majority over Kidston and I Laborites acting together .or apart. j Both Kidstonites and Laborites are each expected to come back . stronger than ever. As the forces respectively, led by Kidston and Bowman may be. expected to coalesce m constitutional, protest against Chelmsford's uricon* stitutional attempt to foist thi? Philp push upon the people, the chances of that rag-tar and bobtail reactionary mob of once more raiding the taxpayers' Treasury seems likely to be even more rempte after the election than "it was before. It may be true that David Bowman and the genuine Labor members whom he has the honor to lead, do entertain a feeling of deep resentment against Kidston, and those cunning contriVrers acting with him, m their attempt to side-track the Labor Party and shake its solidarity. But that feeling should not prevent an "entente cordiale" being patched up for the purpose of fighting the Philp push at the polls. Indeed, such a compact seems to be necessary for- crushing this Chelmsford conspiracy against the Parliamentary majority of the chosen representatives of the people. • • » Laborites may dislike and distrust the devious, dictatorial dodgery of a Kidston;- but they do, and needs must, dislike and distrust the j perfidious, .plutocratic policy of ai Philp much more. Besides, unless , Kidstonites march over, bag and baggage, to the Philuites, instead of , being willing to rule by the help and under the control of the Bowmanites, there need be no concern about the ultimate issue ,pf the present prisis. So far, as reasonable Democracy and Rational Socialism m Queensland are likely to be affected,, the outcome cafinot be other than beneficial. Whatever happens at the polls, whether there be more Kidstonites than Bowmanites returned or vice versa, one thing is highly probable, if . not positiveiv certain,! and that is that the Philpites can never afiain secure, by bcoX or by I

crook, a working majority - at the polls. * : * ■ . ; • But is Kidston likely to desert to the .enemy, ? If that be his. bent, better that lie be gone, and stand not; on the order of his going, but go at once. Such conduct would, of course, be a base betrayal of the people who have supported or tolerated Kidston m spite of his Caesarian capers and corrupt capitalistic compromising of the popular cause m the past. While absolving Mr Kidston of any present or prospective intention to perpetrate such a dastardly . piece of treachery, it has to be pointed out to him and his followers, to his old Labor colleagues, and >to the country at large, that it would ; .require a politic-ally stronger and personally more popular man than -Ivanny K.lds;ton to profitably' carry out so base a betrayal. That way lies political nerdifcion for Kidston. He can, and with good reason, boast that he has survived the Native Cat boodle ; bub should he desert to the enemy he would soon discover that the people have longer and more retentive memories for political treasons than they have for mere mining swindles. That "autocratic democrat, Abe Lincoln, declared that you may humbug part of the people all the time, and all the people part of the time, but you can't humbug all the people all the time. So, too, it may be said to Kidston m the present constitutional conjuncture : You financially hum/bugged (not to put too fine a point on it) a lot of people all the time, over the Native Cat Mine ; and you have politically humbuajged a lot more people part of the time ; but you're not likely . to be permitted politically to humbug the whole lot of the people all of the time. He has tried it and failed. Capable and clever administrator as he has shown himself to be, the i country can't and won't trust him "carte blanche" -with the control of the political destinies ,of Queensland. Kidston has 'been Premier under the Parliamentary surveillance of the Labor- Party. He never had,' and there are no prospects of his ever having, a majority behind him. He has held office on the sufferance of the Party he practically deserted; and if he is to have and hold office m the future, it must be by the consent and under the control of the same party. -• • * For Kids-ton to collogue and conspire with the Philpites won't profit him, but will probably 'damn him politically once and for all. Besides, the Philpites don't desire his company, and for good and sufficiently selfish reasons. They know that he can bring them no strong or perma* nent support ; and they know, too, that his domineering and dictatorial demeanor, and the determination rather "to reign m hell than serve m heaven," would make the already difficult job of satisfactorily sharingthe political plunder still more difficult. No, there is no hope for Kidston m that direction. He is between the devil and the deep sea. If ho attempts to avoid Charybdis he falls on Scylla. and if he avoids Scylla he falls on Charybdis. Let Kidston loyally join forces with the Labor Party to fight this general election ; and, having triumphed over the Chelmsford conspirators and Philpite plotters at the polls, prepare with the help of the same .party to put the Upper House of renegrades and reactionaries m its proper place either by mending it ' or ending it. ' '■''■, ■ » • ■ In that direction lies the path of public duty and patriotism. In choosing that path Mr Kidston is likely to have the strong and cordial co-operation of the Labor Party and its leader, as well as the moral and political support of the people; For him to hesitate is to be lost. Political Progress and Parliamentary Reform m Queensland do not depend upon Mr KSdston and his j minority of followers, whose numbers are threatening . to grow beautifully less. The popular cause is m the i present keeping of another man and 1 of another party — David Bowman and the party of which he is leader. The Labor Party is the really Progressive and Reform Party ■; it is the growing party, and the only party whose policy promises industrial emancipation and social salvation to the wage-earning producers, who constitute a 95 per cent, majority of the taxpayers anil voters of the State. Against . such a party, Chelmsford conspiracies and Philpite plots cannot prevail even for a season. The people are the depositary of their own destinies ; they possess the political power, and are the makers and unmakers of Ministries, the masters of Parliaments, the custodians of the Constitution, and the castigators of conspirators against popular rights. Chelmsford the satrap has appealed unto ' Caesar; unto Caesar! let him, go, with his push of plutish j pets, to the ballot box for Caesar's answer. * . • * • But as lor Kidston. he must choose this day whom lie will serve. Ho must either march with Bowman under Jhc banner of Labor against Legislative Council, or with Phiip under the banner of Bvorile against tlie

People. He is on one of the horns, of that political dilemma, and: must choose his born. He- is' -now -at the parting of the two $ays, i one -of which leads downwards to. the dark abyss of .' -Reactionary Renegadism! and ' the • other upwards to " the heights of Progress and Reform. There can be no excuse made or pardon given for the perverse choice between these two' plain paths. A proper performance' of public duty, m this crisis and after, heed involve Kidston m no recantation or prostration at the political penitent form. He has only to march straight against : the enemy - m order to secure salvation^ Behind- him he will fihd doughty David Bowtfiah with the strong, and ; sturdy, and steady, and stern phalanx of Labor. While no longer willing to be duped by dubious policies into crooked' paths, Labor and its leader; are content to ♦support a straight-goer m the struggle for Parliamentary Reform. This, . indeed, it is their duty to do, until such time as the Labor Party comes into its own heritage of political predominance and power under the sanction of a majority at the polls. ■■»■ * „ ♦ Therefore, let • riot Kidston waver or halt ; o.r.:'Mad" himself that he can "kid" either the Philpites, or the Laborites, or the People, into backing up Kidston merely for the sole purpose of serving Kidston's selfish ends. Kidston will only be tolerated by , the People and Parliament so long as he goes straight. Therefore, let him choose tire proper and better way without delay_. Before ?jfim are the. Philpites, who will poinard him as soon as he chooses to desert to them. But behind him is Bowman and the Labor Party — the only permanent political party m Queensland— ready to protect or punish Kfidston and all other political pretenders according to their pretensions and performances. In any event, whatever course Kidston choQses to take, the present crisis, (which, after all, is only the outcome ■of a capitalistic conspiracy against the Labor Party) will probably prove- •' -^he i unera.l -of- 'Chelmsford and his plutistr pals, who aro likely to find a grave m the pit which they have deliberately disced for Democracy. Let Kidston beware lest at last he finds himself buried with them m the same ignominous hole of oblivion, and thus m the end discovers himself dished, diddled, damned a/n-d done for for ever, as he ' is suspected of desire to dish, did-, die, damn, and do for others. JOHN NORTON. MOT D'ORDRE : "Crush the conspiracy, by bashing out the Bopdlers? brains at the Ballot Box. Old White Hart Hotel, Spring-street, Melbourne, November 26, 1907.