The public are no longer allowed unrestricted access to the Houses
of Parliament; its approaches are now strictly guarded by policemen.
In order to obtain admission it is necessary either to (A) communicate
in writing with the Speaker of the House, enclosing certificates
of naturalization and proof of identity, or (B) give the policeman
five shillings. Method B is the one usually adopted. On great
nights, however, when the House of Commons is sitting and is about
to do something important, such as ratifying a Home Rule Bill or
cheering, or welcoming a new lady member, it is not possible to
enter by merely bribing the policeman with five shillings; it takes
a pound. The English people complain bitterly of the rich Americans
who have in this way corrupted the London public. Before they were
corrupted they would do anything for sixpence.

This peculiar vein of corruption by the Americans runs like a
thread, I may say, through all the texture of English life. Among
those who have been principally exposed to it are the
servants,--especially butlers and chauffeurs, hotel porters,
bell-boys, railway porters and guards, all taxi-drivers, pew-openers,
curates, bishops, and a large part of the peerage.

The terrible ravages that have been made by the Americans on English
morality are witnessed on every hand. Whole classes of society are
hopelessly damaged. I have it in the evidence of the English
themselves and there seems to be no doubt of the fact. Till the
Americans came to England the people were an honest, law-abiding
race, respecting their superiors and despising those below them.
They had never been corrupted by money and their employers extended
to them in this regard their tenderest solicitude. Then the