e defeat, have had much to do with the success that both
have won. For if Mr. Hardie remains a private member of the House of
Commons while Mr. Burns is a Cabinet Minister, Mr. Hardie has lived to see
an independent Labour Party of forty members in Parliament, and has himself
been its accredited leader.

Again, exceptional gifts may be noted. An eloquence of speech, a rugged
sincerity that carries conviction, a love of nature and of literature--all
these things, controlled and tempered by will and refined by use, have won
for Mr. Hardie a high regard and an affection for the cause he champions.
For years Mr. Hardie was misrepresented in the Press, abused by political
opponents and misunderstood by many of the working class. From 1895 to 1900
he was out of Parliament, rejected by the working-class electorate of South
West Ham. But nothing turned Mr. Hardie from his policy of independence, or
shook his faith in the belief that only by forming a political party of
their own could the working people establish a social democracy. Merthyr
Tydvil re-elected him to the House of Commons in 1900 at the very time when
he was braving a strong public opinion by denouncing the South African War;
and for Merthyr Mr. Hardie will sit as long as he is in Parliament.

It may safely be said that Mr. Hardie will never take office in a Liberal
Ministry. The sturdy republicanism that keeps him from court functions and
from the dinner parties of the rich and the great, and the strong
conviction that Labour members do well to retain simple habits of life, are
not qualities that impel men to join Governments.

Visionary as he is--and no less a visionary because he has seen some
fulfilment of his hopes--so indifferent to public opinion that many have
exclaimed at his indiscretions, with a religious temperament that makes him
treat his political work as a solemn calling of God and gives prophetic
fire to his public utterances, Mr. Keir Hardie may remain a private member
of Parliament; but he also remains an outstanding figure in democratic
politics, conspicuous in an age that has seen the working class rising
cautiously to power. Mr. Hardie's influence with the politically minded of
the working class has contributed in no small degree to the changes that
are now at work. The ideal of a working class, educated and organised,
taking up the reins of government and using its power in sober
righteousness, has been preached by Mr. Hardie with a fervour