h
the pen, formed a Society entitled "The League for Clean Government,"
with Mr. John Scurr as Secretary. This League specialised in
promoting the candidature of independent Members of Parliament for
such vacancies as occurred between general elections, and in
attacking Party "place men." Doubtless other elements were present at
some of these by-elections but the League boasted its success on
several occasions, notably in the three defeats sustained by C. F. G.
Masterman.

Charles Masterman had been with Gilbert and Cecil Chesterton a member
of the group of young Christian Socialists that drew its inspiration
in great part from Canon Scott Holland. He had gone further than most
of them in his practical sympathy and understanding for the
destitute. With a friend he had taken a workman's flat in the slums
and he had written a somewhat florid but very moving book recording
conditions experienced as well as observed. He was one of the Young
Liberals who entered Parliament full of ardour to fight the battles
of the poor. The sequel as they saw it may best be told by Belloc and
Cecil Chesterton themselves. In _The Party System_ they wrote:

. . . Mr. Masterman entered Parliament as a Liberal of independent
views. During his first two years in the House he distinguished
himself as a critic of the Liberal Ministry. He criticised their
Education Bill. He criticised with especial force the policy of Mr.
John Burns at the Local Government Board. His conduct attracted the
notice of the leaders of the party. He was offered office, accepted
it, and since then has been silent, except for an occasional
rhetorical exercise in defence of the Government. One fact will be
sufficient to emphasise the change. On March 13th, 1908, Mr.
Masterman voted for the Right to Work Bill of the Labour Party. In
May of the same year he accepted a place with a salary of L1200 a
year--it has since risen to L1500. On April 20th, 1909, he voted, at
the bidding of the Party Whips, against the same Bill which he had
voted for in the previous year. Yet this remarkable example of the
"peril of change"* does not apparently create any indignation or even
astonishment in the political world which Mr. Masterman adorns. On
the contrary, he seems to be generally regarded as a politician of
exceptionally high ideals. No better instance need be recorded of the
peculiar atmosphere it is the business of these page