Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, March 4, 1893

WAGES.

(A long way after Lord Tennyson.)

["Lord Wolmer ... pointed out that Mr. Gladstone's majority of forty would be wiped out if the 'paid mercenaries' of the Irish-American factions were withdrawn, or were even unable to keep up a steady attendance in the House of Commons."—The Times.
"The proposed Bill to Provide for the Payment of Members of Parliament ... is a bold attempt to transfer to the tax-payers of Great Britain the burden of supporting at Westminster the Irish Nationalist Members."—Ibid.]

Glory of Irishman, glory of orator, going it strong,

Paid by his countrymen's mites from across the Atlantic Sea—

Glory of Pat, to spout, to struggle, right Ireland's old wrong!

Nay, but they aim not at glory, or Home Rule (swears Wolmer, swears he):

Give 'em the glory of living on us and our L. S. D.!

The wages of swells are high; if high wage to a Minister's just.

Shall we have the heart low wages to hard-worked M.P.'s to deny?

Mercenaries? What then are those toffs in high places of trust,

Who live on our golden largess? Will Wolmer inform us just why

We may give wages to Wealth, and not unto Poverty?

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