Mann and Tillett, Mr.Burns was a chief leader of the dockers.

Battersea returned him to the London County Council in 1889 and to the House of Commons in 1892.

The Liberal Party promised a wider sphere of work than the Socialists could offer; political isolation was a barren business; and Mr.
Burns gradually passed from the councils of the trade union movement to the Treasury Bench of a Liberal Ministry.

But the Socialist convictions of early manhood had a lasting influence on their owner.

These convictions have been mellowed by work; responsibility has checked and placed under subjection the old revolutionary ardour; experience finds the road to a co-operative commonwealth by no means a quick or easy route, and admits the necessity of compromise.