CHAPTER I. THE EXECUTIVE. Independence of the older Central Government-Modern Bureaucratic Organization. -Compared with that of the Continent.-War-Minister.-No Minister of "Worship," "Justice," or "Police."-Subordinates not subject to be Displaced.— Separation of the Judicature from the Administration of Justice.-Financial System. No "special" men at the Head of Affairs.-Ministers shift from one Department to another.-Patronage.-Seniority.-Number of Officials. As compared with the continent, the sway of the executive in England is very restricted; the powers of justices of the peace are controlled by the right of appeal; over corporate towns the Government exercises but a limited right of supervision. So far as the gentry, by means of taxation locally raised and applied, control the local requirements, the Government, by reason of the social standing of the ruling gentry, remains unimpeded in its general action. Lords-lieutenant, sheriffs, and justices of the peace, are so constituted that they can bear with all possible equanimity the consequences of their not being acceptable to "the powers that be." When parties change, the individual who was found anything but agreeable under the retiring government, becomes the right man in the right place under the succeeding; on this account also, the old local self-government remains tolerably safe guarded from governmental encroachments. That lords-lieutenant and other local functionaries, who happen to be not approved of, should get dismissed, that a Lord Sidmouth, on the downfall of Napoleon, should try to egg on justices of the peace to a general razzia against the press-are rare exceptions. Many of the newly-created local boards, on the other hand, help out the action of the central Government; in this regard we find already, in full play, the mode of legislating, prevalent on the continent, i. e., by means of ministerial "orders" and "regulations." The acts establishing certain institutions empower the central Government to lay down, within a certain range, regulations having binding force. There is ample scope for the employment of such regulations in matters affecting the poorer classes. In lieu of the courts introduced by the Local Government Act of 1858, we find substituted, the arbitrary powers enjoyed by a "Minister of the Interior;" measured by a continental standard, however, such powers are, as yet, very restricted. The more, however, local bureaucracy usurps the place of local self-government, the greater will be the effort to introduce, through the agency of the executive, the inevitable checks and restraints ever accompanying the system. For the time being, it may be taken as a general rule, though subject to numerous exceptions that, in the most important concerns of state, the English Government exercises neither legislative nor judicial control by means of either "Rescript" or "Information." The functions of every branch of Government—jurisdiction over the church, the army, and the administration of justice, are, mayhap, more fully matured in England than elsewhere, but in almost every department there is wanting that ubiquitous "ministration" which, directed and controlled by one master-mind, serenely robed in light and power inaccessible, by means of a throng of agents intrudes into every sphere of action :— "Straight at one stroke unnumbered threads uplift, England, sooth to say, during the last thirty years has made regrettable progress in this direction, but the wide-spread arms of her bureaucracy are either not far-reaching enough, or are not uniformly developed. If we scan more narrowly the leading departments, we find them without any visible ministerial head; the army is sundered from the range of governmental life; by its officer-class it is intimately allied with the gentry, and yet leads an existence completely isolated both as regards the State and the community at large. The Secretary of War is merely a kind of mouth-piece in Parliament and the Cabinet for military affairs; he is a purely government-official, and has no direct action in military matters of a technical nature, or with the personnel; the commandership-in-chief is virtually under his control, but it is only in nominating to the higher posts that he represents the interests of his party. *Goethe. There is no "minister of worship;" the legislation in relation to church matters pertaining to the Sovereign and Parliament. The nomination of the dignitaries, so far as not otherwise controlled, depends on the Crown, or in other words, on the Premier for the time being, and the Lord Chancellor. The limited powers of the Education Committee of the Privy Council are not to be compared with those exercised by a "Minister of Instruction." Neither has England any "Minister of Justice." The Lord Chancellor, in regard to the new County Courts has, indeed, acquired certain powers of the kind, in respect to the nomination of the judges of these courts; the appointment of the other judges is exercised by him in conjunction with the Premier and the Home Secretary. Still less does England endure, in the continental sense of the term, a "Minister of Police," having under him an array of officials wholly subject to his direction. The really "acting" functionaries of the several departments are not affected by the change of parties. The patronage is merely "conveyed," the respective parties having too much consideration for the exigencies of the public service to displace the officials on every party change. The English Government, as influenced by "party," should be conceived of as a pedestal of bronze, whereon, according as circumstances urge, one or other partyleader is uplifted; it is of little moment whether to-day, Lord Derby, or to-morrow Lord John Russell, or the next day, Lord Palmerston takes his stand thereon, the pedestal will still remain solid and unshaken. The severance of the judicature from the administration has taken a course widely different from that prevailing on the continent. Government functionaries, as a rule, have no jurisdiction whatever, so that whatever devolves upon the ministers of justice is simply incumbent upon them in mere course of law. On the other hand, we find the courts of law acting as final courts of appeal in the case of certain government officials, magistrates, and justices of the peace. This separation of the judicature is further indicated in technical phraseology; the purely executive being styled "ministerial," and the other "judicial” offices. The functionaries purely executive are the officials of the customs, revenue, and post-office-so far as they have not to determine appeals-and, finally, the "police.” The centre of gravity of the State government lies in its financial system; the administration of the revenues pertaining to the State alone, without any co-operation on the part of local governing bodies. "Municipal" taxation is wholly distinct; the State deriving nothing therefrom; the coffers of the State, however, often afford aid for municipal purposes. The parliamentary chiefs of the several departments are, generally speaking, not men "specially" qualified; the Lord Chancellor alone, who is generally a lawyer of great repute, forming the solitary exception. The remaining departments are generally filled by men who have gained their spurs in parliamentary contests; as a matter of course they make over the actual government to the fixed under-secretaries of State and other officials holding permanent appointments; hence they are only able to act upon broad general principles. The routine of Government thus never gets disturbed, and so far as bureaucracy in its actual working does obtain in England, its machinery moves with greater regularity and smoothness than elsewhere. Disarrangements resulting from political pressure are just as little to be feared within the range of the ministerial departments as in the local governing bodies, seeing that antagonistic tendencies and principles of administration, especially within the sphere of the State Government, are not fostered by either of the ruling parties. How easily English ministers shift from one department to another may be illustrated by a few examples, taken partly from the present Cabinet. Lord Palmerston, the present premier, was, for a long time, "Minister of Foreign Affairs;" in 1852, under the Aberdeen Cabinet, he was "Home Secretary." The actual Secretary for War, Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, has been previously "Chancellor of the Exchequer" and "Secretary of the Home Office;" the present Secretary of the Home Office, Sir George Grey, was formerly Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; Mr. Cardwell, who now fills this office, was previously General Secretary for Ireland, and, in a former ministry, President of the Board of Trade. The late Sir James Graham was, in 1843, Home Secretary, and in 1853 became the First Lord of the Admiralty. The English Civil Service system is availed of as a refuge for the destitute, where the friends and supporters of the ruling ministry may be comfortably cared for. Little as it may interest "John Smith," the clerk, as to whether Lord Derby or Lord Palmerston be at the head of the Treasury, it is all-important to secure a patron among the ruling powers, in order to get the entrée into a department, the nomination of almost all the officials, from the "heads of department" downwards, being carried out by means of patronage. Complaints long and loud have oftentimes been raised relative to this monster abuse. "Nothing can exceed the greed, the selfishness, the insatiable appetite, and the blameable neglect of all claims that are based on merit and apt qualifications, as is too frequently the case with people in a high position,"* once exclaimed Mr. Windham, in the House of Commons. If a post in the "Stamp" or " Post Office" fall vacant anywhere, the minister writes to the respective member of the locality-provided he belongs to his party-begging him to propose a candidate.† Mr. Walmsley, a wealthy radical, once applied to the ministry for some favour, which they were unable to ensure, soon afterwards he received, by way of atonement, an open nomination for an appointment in the Post Office, everything being filled out saving the name. In several departments examinations have been introduced. Every candidate for an appointment is expected to pass the examination, should it however be "dispensed” with, patronage, as in the good old times, spreads its protecting shield over the examinee. However great the drawback presented by the English Civil Service system, it is withal protected from all sycophancy and servility which cannot, as in other lands, advantage the subordinates in any measure, promotion by favour being unknown.‡ Heads of departments are nominated for life, and are taken from the body of clerks, the rule of "seniority" being upheld by "esprit Hansard, Debates, xiv. 758. A universal thirst after salaried public employment is the worst of all social maladies; it infects the whole body politic with a venal and servile humour, which in no way excludes, even among those who may be the best paid, the spirit of faction and anarchy. It creates a crowd of hungry suitors, capable of every excess to satisfy their longings, and fit instruments for every base purpose as soon as they are in place. A population of placehunters is the most despicable of all people. There is no ignominy of which it it is not capable."-De Montalembert, Political future of England. Gneist, i. 592-594. |