Macaulay’s Prophecy of Social Unrest

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 6, 1906

Macaulay’s Prophecy of Social Unrest

NEARLY half a century ago Lord Macaulay, England’s great historian, uttered a prophecy concerning the danger to liberty which would result from social unrest in America. In view of the rapid growth of socialism and the recent announcement that organized labor would hereafter be an active factor in American politics, it seems to be a fitting time to quote Macaulay’s forecast of a situation which may possibly be realized in the near future. He said:—

The day will come when in the State of New York a multitude of people, none of whom have had more than half a breakfast, or expect to have more than half a dinner, will choose a legislature. Is it possible to doubt what sort of legislature will be chosen? On one side is a statesman preaching patience, respect for vested rights, strict observance of public faith. On the other is a demagogue ranting about the tyranny of capitalists and usurers, and asking why anybody should be permitted to drink champagne, and to ride in a carriage when thousands of honest folk are in want of necessaries. Which of the two candidates is likely to be preferred by a working man who hears his children cry for more bread? . . . Either some Cæsar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, or your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by the barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman empire was in the fifth; with this difference, that the Huns and Vandals, who ravaged the Roman empire, came from without, and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country and by your own institutions.

The disregard of law and the betrayal of trust on the part of the wealthy capitalists have done more to hasten this time and this experience than all the extravagant utterances of socialistic orators. They have unchained a tiger which neither they nor any one else will be able to control, and the innocent will suffer with the guilty. The only safe place in which to lay up treasure is in heaven.